A/N: This is for AngelStarlight, for her monthly patron fic. You are wonderful and generous and THANK YOU. The request was for something post-apocalyptic featuring Duo.
A/N #2: If YOU want to support me on and get cool things like monthly gift fics, exclusive one-shots not posted anywhere else, early updates and more - check me out on dot com backslash ClaraBarton (you won't find me by just doing a search, because my content is NSFW).
A/N #3: Dunno if anyone cares, but in a rare mood, I listened to Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet album while writing this. In case you wondered. Yeah. I thought it was weird, too.
A/N #4: So I'm not… really big into post-apocalyptic things. Wall-E, Children of Men, The Road (the book) and the Emberverse series are actually kind of my ONLY experience with them short of this really horrifying book I read in 4th grade about Japan accidentally nuking LA, and I will never forget the description of charred flesh and vomit. Anyhow. I'm just kind of… cobbling ideas together here.
A/N #5: Thank you, as always to Ro and Maeve.
Warnings: angst, language, violence, gore, sexy times
Pairings: 2x5, 2x3
The Lucky Ones
It was mid-afternoon by the time Duo realized just how very, very far into the danger zone he was.
The sun had been directly overhead when he had walked past of the Empire State Building on 5th Avenue and yeah, it had been stupid. Had been one of those things that Duo did because he was a fucking idiot, but he'd seen the group of Cans moving down Park and had followed, clinging to rubble and climbing through eviscerated office buildings, lagging behind at least a hundred yards.
He had been stealthy, as silent as possible except for the echoing hammer of his heartbeat that he was pretty sure even the Cans could hear above their grunts and jeers.
It was just a scavenger party, just five of them, but even five of them were more than Duo, still nursing an only-just healed broken arm, could hope to take on by himself.
So he followed, knowing with every block that it was a bad idea growing even worse, but the Cans weren't alone.
The scavengers had been successful - a lot more successful than Duo, whose backpack only had a few bottles of water and seven tins of beans and a box of rice - they had found a man and a woman, young and dirty and, judging by the constant stream of invective from the woman, angry as hell.
They had been tied up - wrists lashed together and put on a lead line - and were being dragged by the lead member of the Can party while the other four members surrounded their captives in a loose circle - far enough out of reach to avoid the woman's attempts to kick or hit them.
Duo followed them all the way to Old Chinatown before he realized that he had gone too far - that this was getting too dangerous.
Not only was Old Chinatown not his home turf, but they were now just two miles from Battery Park, where the Cans had entrenched themselves.
Duo either needed to make a move or leave the two captives to their fate.
He should leave them. Should really just turn around and try to find some more food or some medical supplies before the sun set and things got too dangerous. But-
"Fuck you!" the woman screamed, loud enough for her voice to carry clearly to Duo, loud enough for it to echo off the abandoned steel canyon, loud enough to startle a trio of scavenger birds into flight.
Loud enough, Duo was sure, to attract more attention.
He cast a wary eye towards Battery Park, even though he knew her voice hadn't carried that far.
But even the Cans looked around, knowing that they too were in enemy territory and not yet safe.
One of them backhanded the woman, hard enough that she staggered back and fell to her knees. It galvanized the man into action - he shoved at the man holding their lead line and headbutted him.
It took three of the Cans to subdue him, with vicious blows to his head and gut, and the woman got back to her feet and tried to interpose herself between them.
The Cans laughed, rubbed blood off the man's face and licked it.
Duo shuddered in revulsion, and decided he couldn't just leave them. They looked strong, able, and sure as hell weren't willing to go quietly.
His kind of people.
Duo waited until the Cans were crossing Columbus Park, the wide open, barren fields and fallen trees giving him an easy line of sight.
He pulled out his bow, hoping his arm held up to the strain, and notched the first arrow.
Duo sighted down the shaft, held his breath, and loosed the arrow.
The Can holding the lead line went down with a startled cry, and the other Cans immediately tried to take cover.
For a moment, no one gave any thought to the man and the woman, and Duo saw them start to run for it, but Duo's second arrow, as it landed in the throat of another Can, panicked them, and they threw themselves down on the ground.
One of the three remaining Cans crawled over, grabbed the woman, and held her upright in front of himself and put a knife to her throat.
Fuck.
Duo had been counting on those two running away so he could finish off the rest of the Cans. But now…
"Come out! Or I'll kill her!"
Double Fuck.
Unlike the Cans, Duo actually valued human life - and they clearly knew that about their adversary.
Not as dumb as they look, Duo thought to himself, as he strapped his bow back on and made sure his bags were secured and his knife in easy reach.
Carefully, he climbed down from the fire escape he had been using and dropped to the ground.
He saw the Cans turn their attention his way and he thought, not for the first time in the last five minutes, that this was a really fucking bad idea - even by his standards.
Duo rose to his feet and approached cautiously, hands held away from his body.
As he walked close, Duo could looked at the man and woman. They were both probably Duo's age, maybe in their early twenties. Her hair, loose and long, was a riot of auburn curls that seemed to suit her defiant glare and the harassment Duo had listened to her heap on the Cans for the last two hours.
The man, standing only when another Can walked over and jerked him to his feet, was tall, probably over six feet, and his hair was a lighter shade of red than the woman's, long bangs covering his face but not quite obscuring the scar that ran from the right corner of his mouth, over his cheek and under the hair. It gave his lips a curious tilt, as though he was smirking - but Duo was pretty sure he wasn't amused at having himself or the woman keeping their current company.
"Who're you?" the one not currently holding a knife against the neck of a hostage addressed Duo.
Duo turned his attention to the man. He was dressed like the other Cans - worn, practically falling-apart clothes and, of course, the vest.
It looked like leather, like dozens of patches sewn together, scavenged from coats and pants.
But Duo knew, having seen one up close, that it wasn't actually leather. At least, not from a horse or a cow hide.
"Who're you?" Duo shot back in response, sneering at the man.
The Can was taken aback, clearly not anticipating getting attitude from someone who looked like Duo - just under average height, too skinny for his wiry muscles to be intimidating at first glance, and of course, his long braid of hair that earned derision even from people who didn't underestimate Duo.
"Doesn't matter who the fuck I am," the Can snapped, and he tugged on his vest. "You know what this means?"
Duo snorted. "Yeah, means you've got a shitty fashion sense. And," he paused, sniffed the air, and grimaced, "it means you stink." Duo jerked his head. "Go take a bath in the East, will ya?"
The Can looked at Duo in shock, but his companions chuckled darkly.
"Shut the fuck up!" the Can yelled at them, before he took a menacing step towards Duo. "And you, drop your fucking weapons before I cut your tongue out."
Duo arched an eyebrow and made no move to follow the order.
"I thought you were gonna do that anyway?"
The Can smirked. "Well sure, but you can either be conscious for it or dead. Your smart mouth is getting on my nerves, though."
"Yeah. I've been told that before. Never by a Skull Fucker, though."
The Can roared at the insult and threw himself at Duo.
Duo, anticipating the move, sidestepped the Can's first wild swing with his knife. The second, however, caught Duo's side in a burning slice that made him cry out.
Fuck. Too slow.
Duo reached for his own knife, pivoted around another swing from the Can, and then kicked him in the knee, satisfied by the wet pop he heard as the socket gave way and the Can fell down to his knees even as he shouted in pain and rage.
"Now," Duo said, pausing to kick the Can's knife out of his reach when he scrambled for it in the rubble that had once been a mighty road, "you asked who I was."
He looked up at the other two Cans, saw their tight grip on the man and the woman, saw the deadly glint in the woman's eyes, the way her grip on the Can holding her changed subtly.
Duo kicked the knife away again, further, closer to the woman, when the Can at his feet started for it again.
"Ahem. I was speaking," he said, and cuffed the Can on his head. "My name is Duo Maxwell, and let me assure you, the pleasure is all mine."
He looked at the woman again and she nodded at him.
Duo drove his knife into the Can's neck, holding it in place even as the Can struggled with him, even as his warm blood spurted over both of their hands.
In front of him, the woman had jerked free of her captor and thrown herself onto the ground. Duo watched, awed, as she came back up, the knife in her bound hands, and threw it not at the man who was charging at her, but at the Can holding the other man. The knife embedded itself in his forehead and he dropped like a stone, his knife scraping across the man's chin as he fell.
The remaining Can took one look at his three opponents and took off running.
Duo sighed.
It wouldn't do to let him live - without captives, he could make it back to Battery Park in minutes, much quicker than Duo could get the hell out of here.
He released his hold on the knife in his Can's neck and drew his bow and another arrow.
Another heartbeat, and the arrow found its way into the fleeing man's back.
Duo looped his bow back over his shoulder and retrieved his knife from the Can's neck. He wiped it clean on the man's filthy shirt with a grimace.
He looked up to see the man and woman had cut themselves free and were, in fact, advancing on Duo.
They both had knives out, had determined looks on their faces, and Duo realized that saving them had earned him absolutely no points in their books.
He also realized that, really, he probably should have asked the Cans who they were before he threw himself in harm's way.
"Uh," he stood up and, once again, held his arms out, weaponless. "No thanks are necessary, really."
The woman narrowed her eyes at him. "You think we're just going to roll over and let you take us and turn us into slaves because you killed them?"
"Slaves? Lady, these guys," Duo kicked the body in front of him, "were Cannibals. They weren't going to turn you into slaves - they were going to turn you into dinner."
"And you?" the man asked, voice soft. He didn't seem bothered by the smear of blood on his throat and chin, and Duo assumed the cut had been shallow.
"Me?"
The man nodded. "Cannibal or slaver?"
Duo sneered. "I'm neither. I'm a free man, and I don't eat my own kind."
"Then what are you doing here?" the woman demanded.
"Rescuing you?"
"Why?" It was the man again, and his gaze was searching. This close, Duo saw that his eyes were a piercing, mesmerizing shade of green. Like grass. Like life.
Duo swallowed hard and looked back at the woman; her hard, dark eyes were easier to look at.
"Because you needed rescuing."
"And who is going to rescue you?" the woman asked.
Duo winced. "Probably no one. But, ah, if you don't speed along this killing the guy who kept you from being eaten alive thing, you're probably going to have to deal with more Cans or the Xìngcún zhě."
"Who?" the woman asked with a frown.
"The survivors," the man translated for her, looking around, as if just realizing where they were. "We're in Old Chinatown."
Duo nodded. "Yeah, and they don't take kindly to outsiders on their turf so… you might want to kill me or let me go. But either way, we need to wrap this up."
They seemed confused, and a little irritated, by Duo's attitude.
"You're just going to let me kill you?" the woman asked.
Duo sighed. "No, of course not. I'm going to fight back, and I'll kill the both of you, and then my entire afternoon will have been a total waste of time."
The man's lips twitched, his smirk momentarily growing more pronounced.
The woman traded a glance with the man, and he shrugged one shoulder. She sighed and lowered her knife, and he followed suit, tucking his away.
Duo let out an exaggerated sigh of relief and knelt down to start rifling through the dead Can's pockets and bags.
"What are you doing?" the woman demanded.
"My job. I'm a Sweeper."
"Oh." Her voice was full of contempt, and Duo rolled his eyes. He was used to that attitude.
Funny, how all Sweepers did was go around the ruins of New York City to scavenge, but they got treated as if they were just as bad as the Cans.
He jerked his head at the other bodies.
"Make yourselves useful and search them, will ya? Sooner we're done, the sooner we can get out of here."
"Who said we were going with you?" the man asked, but he knelt beside one of the bodies and followed Duo's instructions.
"No one. Don't go south - Battery Park is crawling with Cans. You head back north quickly and you might make it to St. Patrick's Cathedral before dark. They'll give you sanctuary. It's between Madison and 5th - right above 50th street."
"Is that where you're going?" the woman asked.
Duo shook his head. "Nah. I'm heading home."
He moved on to one of the Cans he had taken down with an arrow.
"Home?"
"Roosevelt Island."
He could feel their eyes on him, and he looked up to see them staring.
"You live there? You - take us with you."
"Just a second ago you wanted to kill me, then you wanted to run away from me, and now you want to come home with me?" Duo forced a grin. "My, how the world does turn with you two."
The man rolled his eyes, but it was the woman who spoke.
"Please. We won't kill you. Just-"
"Gee, thanks," Duo muttered.
"Just take us with you."
"I was planning on it already," Duo muttered. "Now check that last body and lets get out of here before I make any new friends today."
"What about getting reacquainted with an old friend?"
Fucking fuck. For fuck's fucking sake.
Duo turned at the all-too-familiar voice, and sure enough, there was none other than Chang Wufei and a band of Xìngcún zhě.
"Hey," Duo said casually, and rose to his feet.
There were twelve of them and, unlike the Cans, they knew this territory - and Duo.
"Long time no see," Duo said, trying to think of how the fuck he could get out of this.
"Not long enough," Chang pointed out.
Duo shrugged, and forced himself to look apologetic.
"Yeah, I just, ah, missed you too much to stay away?"
Chang snorted and gestured. "Take their weapons and tie them up."
"No!" the woman shouted. "Fuck you and-"
"And gag them," Wufei added with a raised eyebrow.
The woman fought against the men who moved to restrain her and the man.
Chang gave Duo a look.
"Interesting company you're keeping these days."
"I saved them from the Cans," Duo nodded at the dead bodies.
Chang sneered, turning the nearest body over with the toe of his boot.
"Barbarians," he muttered.
Duo nodded in agreement, and then sighed when two of the Xìngcún zhě moved over to him.
"Really? You really need to tie me up? I thought we were pals, 'Fei. Thought we had something special, and-"
"Don't forget the gag," Chang said, before turning around and walking away.
Duo shouted after him, his curse nothing but a muffled grunt as the gag was put over his mouth.
Chang led them deeper into Old Chinatown, a trek Duo was all-too familiar with, until finally they walked up to the tan stucco facade of the Mahayana Buddhist Temple.
Duo glared at Chang when the other man looked over his shoulder.
The last time Duo had been hauled into the temple after trespassing on the Xìngcún zhě territory had resulted in Duo's arm getting broken - among other things.
The Xìngcún zhě pushed them into a long, open room and shoved them to their knees while Chang left, likely to fetch Master Long or some other elder to mete out punishment.
They had told Duo, last time, that if he crossed over Canal Street again they would kill him.
And Duo had definitely crossed Canal. And then some.
Fuck.
Chang came back a moment later, and sure enough, elderly, crotchety Master Long was with him.
"So. You just can't seem to stay away." Long sounded amused.
But then, he wasn't the one on his knees with his hands tied or a gag in his mouth.
Duo wanted to offer up a clever retort, and he could see how amused Chang was over the fact that he was being forced into silence.
"The last time you were caught scavenging, I thought we had taught you a sufficient lesson. I see that was not the case."
Duo waited. Either they were going to give him a chance to talk or they were going to kill him. And there was nothing he could do - or say - to change that.
Beside him, the woman muttered something inaudible.
Master Long arched one bushy white brow and gestured for her gag to be removed.
"You have something to add?"
"He saved us. My brother and I were captured by a group of cannibals and Duo saved our lives."
"Hm." Long gestured again, and the man's gag was removed. "Is this true?"
The man nodded, which Duo, still gagged, thought was hilarious. He snorted a laugh, unintentionally drawing Long's attention.
Another gesture, and Duo's gag was finally removed.
"Well?" Long prompted.
"Well, what?"
"You came into our territory to save their lives?"
Duo nodded. "I'd been following them since the Empire State Building, but it wasn't until Columbus Park that I could make a move."
"And this exempts you from our rules?" Long asked.
"Er… I'm guessing no?"
Long did not look amused, but Chang, predictably, was smirking.
"Those two may go," Long gestured to the brother and sister Duo had rescued.
Their restraints were cut away, and the knives they had filched from the dead Cans returned to them.
"What about him?" the man asked, gesturing to Duo.
"I haven't decided yet." Long stared at Duo, his dark gaze unforgiving, and Duo was pretty sure that he had, in fact, already decided.
"Look, let me go, and next time I see some innocent people being led away to their murders through your territory, I'll just turn my back and let it happen."
"Are you suggesting we allowed this to happen?" Long's voice was deadly.
Chang's eyes narrowed in warning, but Duo shrugged.
"Well. I wasn't so much suggesting as stating it, flat-out, but yeah. You allowed this to happen because, unlike all of the other territories, the Xìngcún zhě refuse to come to the Council or-"
"That is enough. I will not be lectured to by a Sweeper."
Duo rolled his eyes and sighed.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm the scum of the earth because I look for useful shit in the rubble. Woe is me. I'm just as bad as a Can, and I might as well just kill myself and-"
"It would save us the trouble," Chang murmured, and Duo glared at him.
"We have chosen not to be part of your Council, Maxwell, and our decisions will be respected. Not all of us have the sanctuary of an island to hide on when things get rough."
Duo opened his mouth to argue. That was not what the Council did. They didn't run and hide and-
"Uncle," Chang said smoothly, speaking before Duo could dig himself deeper, "I do owe him my life."
Long scowled. "I seem to remember you saying the same thing the last time Maxwell was brought before me." Long paused. "And the time before that."
"Yes, I recall the same thing," Chang agreed. "And while I hope that you will continue to lead our clan for many years, it is only because of Maxwell that I am alive to take over that burden from you in the future."
Long scowled, glaring at both Duo and Chang.
He was silent for a long, tense moment, but then he nodded.
"Very well. Once again, you will be allowed to live. But, if you set foot on our territory again-"
"I'm dead, yeah, yeah, I know," Duo waved away the threat. He knew that, eventually, Chang wouldn't be able to bargain for his life, but there wasn't much point in concerning himself with that now.
"No," Long said, with a very satisfied smirk. "The next time you trespass onto our territory. You will remain here, as a slave in my nephew's house, since he places such value on your life."
Both Chang and Duo were shocked.
"Um-"
"Uncle, the Council-"
"I do not think the Council will risk a war over this one," Long sneered. "But, by all means, let him put it to the test. You value your Council and the peace you claim it protects so much - then uphold it and do not come to my land again."
Duo swallowed hard and nodded.
"Nothing to say? Well, that's a first. Nephew, escort him to the island and make sure his sentence is known. Maxwell, I sincerely hope to never see you again."
"Likewise," Duo said with feeling.
Long left the room, as did all of the Xìngcún zhě except for Wufei.
He remained behind and shook his head wearily.
"You're going to be the death of me," he muttered.
Duo grinned. "But what a death it'll be."
Chang smirked, and then gestured impatiently.
"Come, we only have an hour of daylight left, and we need to get to 59th street before dark."
Chang led them out of the temple and started heading north.
They were almost to the East Village before Duo thought to ask the names of the two people he had saved.
"Catherine," the woman said after a long, considering moment. "My brother's name is Trowa."
Duo nodded. "So how'd you manage to find your way into the tender hands of the Cans?"
Catherine frowned and slanted a look at her brother, and Duo knew it was unintentional from the way she quickly looked away with her lips pursed.
"Ah. Family drama. Definitely don't want to get in the middle of that," Duo said, and held his hands up as a gesture of surrender. "Why are you so desperate to get to Roosevelt Island, then?"
The question made both of them wary.
"Is it because of the pool? Because I know there's this myth going around that we still have a functioning swimming pool, but that's just a bunch of bullshit. Pool's been drained since The Day."
His words had no perceivable impact on either of them.
"The lighthouse? You two big on sight-seeing or something?"
Catherine glared at Duo, but Trowa looked thoughtful.
"The hospital - is that a myth too?" he asked, his voice neutral.
Catherine sent him a fierce look, and Duo pretended he didn't see the exchange.
"Nope, that's still there, working just fine."
They both seemed relieved by that news, though Catherine still looked tense.
"Why? You wanna play doctor?" Duo waggled his eyebrows suggestively, and Catherine snorted in disgust and picked up her pace, so that she was walking closer to Chang.
Trowa, however, continued to keep even with Duo.
"There aren't too many Sweepers still around," Trowa said after a few blocks of walking in silence.
"Nope," Duo agreed. "Everyone keeps killing us off."
"Seems stupid, since you know how to make electricity."
Duo nodded. "Most people don't care. The world that was is gone, and they want nothing to do with it."
Trowa surveyed the wreckage of what had once been the finest city on Earth.
"I can't really blame them," he murmured.
"I can. Killing off my kind just because we aren't content to live in the dirt and scrape by is bullshit - and it's surrendering."
"You think you can really make it like it used to be, before The Day?"
Duo shrugged. "Maybe. Gotta try, though, right?"
Trowa shrugged one shoulder noncommittally.
"Where were you, The Day?" Duo asked him after another few blocks.
"Chicago."
Duo whistled. "How the hell did you end up here?"
"I walked," Trowa said, his smirk once again exaggerated.
Duo wondered how long he had had the scar. It had healed cleanly, so Duo thought it had probably been before The Day - when medicine and doctors were available.
"If you were a Sweeper, you could have hot-wired a car and driven," Duo said with a smirk of his own.
"Maybe you can teach me," Trowa suggested, sending Duo a rather suggestive glance. "I'm a very fast learner."
Duo really didn't know what to say to that, and when he stumbled over some rubble and tripped, Trowa chuckled.
Duo righted himself, red-faced.
"I, ah, I'll consider it," he said lamely.
They reached 59th Street just as dusk started to turn violet, and already the glow of electric lights on Roosevelt Island glowed brightly.
Duo couldn't help but smirk at the way both Catherine and Trowa stared at it in awe.
Duo took over the lead as they neared the tram station.
"Yo!" he called up. "A Council son wants to go home!"
It took a moment, but a beam of light swept over them, momentarily blinding Duo.
"Maxwell? That you?"
"In the flesh, Harry. Let us up so I can get home in time for dinner, will ya?"
"This morning, you were alone - who the hell are all of these people?"
"I am Chang Wufei, and I have a message from the Xìngcún zhě for the Council."
"Really?" Harry asked, the one word full of contempt.
"He's a friend, Harry - and he comes in peace," Duo called up.
"What about those two? They aren't Xìngcún zhě."
"No, they're friends of mine."
"Maxwell, how many damn friends do you have?"
"What can I say? I'm a friendly guy."
"You'll take full responsibility for them?" Harry called down. "Any crime they commit will be on your head."
Duo looked at Catherine and Trowa, at their closed expressions.
"Yeah, I take responsibility."
"All right, opening the stairs."
A moment later, the metal gate blocking off the stair access to the tram lifted and Duo led his party upwards.
At the top of the stairwell, a tram waited for them.
"Yo - I got something for you." Duo paused before getting on the tram to give Harry the tins of beans he had found earlier in the day. "Your favorite."
"You remembered!" Harry laughed and took the cans. "You're a lifesaver, Duo."
"Don't I know it. Tell Martha and the kids I said hi."
"Will do. Keep giving 'em hell, Maxwell."
Duo got on the tram with Chang, Trowa and Catherine.
"I'd appreciate it," he said to Trowa and Catherine, "if you didn't get me into too much trouble with whatever you have planned once you get to the island. Unlike the Xìngcún zhě, the Council actually will kill me if you get me in trouble."
Catherine and Trowa stared at him, and it seemed like they weren't going to crack, but then Catherine sighed and rubbed at her forehead.
"I need the hospital. I - I need to see a doctor. That's all. We don't want any trouble. Just help." It sounded like it was physically painful for her to admit that, so Duo just nodded.
"Fine. I'll take you there. And you can use my name - it's not worth that much, but it's not worth nothing either."
"Just don't cause any trouble?" Trowa supplied.
Duo shrugged. "I'd tell you not to do anything I wouldn't do but… that wouldn't really be the same thing as telling you not to cause any trouble."
Chang snorted in amusement, but Trowa smirked again and nodded.
When the tram landed on Roosevelt Island, Chang was the first off.
He was stopped, immediately, by a dark-haired man with vivid blue eyes.
"Chang."
"Yuy."
Duo rolled his eyes. "Jeez, lay off the sentimentality, dudes. You're embarrassing me."
They both turned to glare at him, but Yuy's eyes lingered, looking Duo over for any wounds.
Duo held out his arms and wiggled all of his fingers.
"They didn't break my arm this time."
Yuy arched an eyebrow and turned back to Chang.
"I have a message for the Council," Chang said.
"Regarding?"
"Regarding Duo, of course."
"Of course," Yuy agreed. He jerked his head. "I'll escort you."
They left without another word.
"Come on," Duo gestured for Catherine and Trowa to follow him. "I'll take you two to the hospital."
It was another mile, but on the island, under the electric glow of the streetlights, the walk was easier, less fraught with tension - or rubble - than walking through the ruins of Manhattan had been.
Duo made two stops along the way - delivering the bottles of water to the Red Cross center that collected supplies to take over to the shelters set up on Manhattan, and then stopping by the commissary to drop off the rice - but eventually they made it to the hospital.
Duo hung back while Catherine filled out paperwork and Trowa, standing at her side, fiddled with the hem of his shirt in a nervous gesture that kept drawing Duo's attention.
"Alright," the nurse said as she accepted the paperwork from Catherine, "we'll get you taken care of, dear."
Catherine looked relieved, and she smiled for the first time since Duo had met her.
She reached for Trowa's hand and they started to follow the nurse.
"No," she said, and gestured towards Trowa. "I'm sorry, but we don't have the accommodations for any guests. He can come visit you tomorrow."
"But- We don't- He-"
"He can stay with me," Duo offered.
Catherine gave him an uneasy look.
"I promise I'll bring him back tomorrow - safe and sound. I'll even make sure he washes his face and hands."
Catherine was not amused, but Trowa's eyes twinkled. He squeezed Catherine's hand.
"I'll be fine," he told her.
"Just- don't- don't do anything stupid," she said, her eyes fixed on him.
Trowa nodded and stepped away.
Duo was dying to ask what Trowa had done to get he and his sister captured by the Cans, but he was pretty sure Trowa wouldn't answer him, so he kept his mouth shut and led Trowa to his apartment a few streets away.
"You… live here?" Trowa asked in awe as they approached the Octagon.
"Yeah," Duo sighed, embarrassed at the way Trowa looked around him, as though he had stepped into paradise.
Which, compared to Manhattan - hell, compared to most of the island - he had.
"Perk of being a Sweeper on an island that still uses electricity," Duo explained.
The Octagon was an apartment complex only for Sweepers and their families. When Duo had been promoted up the ranks, after serving a five-year apprenticeship, he had been issued an apartment of his own.
It felt weird, felt down-right wrong some of the time, to walk into the lavish apartment building that, if you hadn't known The Day had happened nine years ago, looked as unchanged as it had a decade ago.
Even though the elevator worked, Duo passed it by in favor of the stairs - it was only four flights - and Trowa wordlessly followed him, eyes still wide as he took everything in.
Duo's floor had five apartments - all smaller than the ones on the larger floors, all still big enough that entire families could live within.
As they approached Duo's door, he looked up and saw Chang leaning against the wall, waiting for him.
Chang arched an eyebrow at Trowa.
"They wouldn't let him stay in the hospital," Duo said with a shrug.
Chang nodded, and followed Duo into the apartment once he unlocked it.
Duo flicked on the lights and saw Trowa look around, yet again awed.
A computer was in one corner, one that worked and wasn't an empty shell being used like a planter - Duo had seen more than a few of those over the years. There were overhead lights and desk lamps, and boxes of loose electronic equipment that Duo was working his way through.
"Kitchen's that way," Duo pointed. "Food in the fridge and the freezer. Help yourself to whatever you want."
"You have a refrigerator?" Trowa sounded shocked, sounded beyond resentful.
Duo nodded. There was a reason he didn't bring people over often. Even on the island, having a fridge was a luxury.
"The stove is gas, though, so if you use it for anything, make sure you turn it off."
Trowa frowned but nodded. He was looking at Duo, curious, and Duo flushed and glanced at Chang.
"I'll, uh, I'll just be down the hall if you need help or anything."
"If you need help," Chang cut in, "figure it out."
Trowa arched his visible eyebrow, but when Chang reached out for Duo's hand, and Duo offered it, Trowa's face smoothed, his questions answered.
Duo could feel Trowa's eyes on him as he followed Chang down the hall, to his bedroom.
"You're such an asshole sometimes," Duo informed him as Chang closed the door.
"Coming from you, that's almost a compliment," Chang said. He pulled Duo close, wrapping his arms around Duo in a tight embrace, and kissed him.
It was only as Chang started to undress him, hands roaming over his sides, that Duo remembered the cut from the Can's blade earlier in the day.
"Shit." He pulled away from Chang's touch. "I forgot about this."
Chang frowned, at the blood on his hand and on Duo's shirt.
Duo pulled off the shirt and they looked at the cut.
"Not too deep," Chang decided.
"No," Duo agreed. "But I need to put a bandage on it. I'm not going to bleed all over my sheets just because you're horny."
Chang glared at him. "Because you haven't been thinking about fucking me since the moment you heard my voice this afternoon."
Duo grinned at him. "Well, of course I have." Duo pressed a quick, hard kiss to his lips. "But that's all I ever think about, 'Fei."
Chang chuckled, and stepped aside so that Duo could leave the bedroom.
Duo walked out of the bedroom and down the hall, to the bathroom.
The door was closed, and he assumed that Trowa was making use of the facilities. He waited, and a moment later he heard the toilet flush and the sink faucet run. He could only imagine the look on Trowa's face now.
Then the door opened, and Duo didn't have to imagine the look on his face anymore.
Trowa's eyes swept over him, from his face to his bare torso, and focused in on the knife wound.
"Need to clean it up," Duo said, unnecessarily.
Trowa stepped aside and let Duo into the bathroom.
"Need help?" Trowa asked as Duo grabbed his first-aid kit.
"Uh… I wouldn't mind it," Duo decided.
Trowa nodded and moved back into the bathroom, crowding Duo against the sink for a moment before they adjusted and Trowa sat down on the toilet lid.
"So you and him?" Trowa asked, voice casual, as he cleaned the wound with hydrogen peroxide.
"Yeah. It's, uh… it's complicated." That was the understatement of the century, but Duo wasn't feeling particularly inclined to explain just why and how he and Chang worked.
"Isn't everything?" Trowa muttered, smoothing a bandage in place, his fingers warm, the pads a little rough, and Duo shivered.
Trowa looked up at him, a question in his eyes. He ran his hand over Duo's ribs, up his chest, and Duo felt his throat go dry.
"Yeah," Duo agreed. "Everything is."
Trowa stood up and stared down at him, his hand continuing its upward path until it reached Duo's chin.
Trowa's own chin, Duo noticed, had been cleaned of blood, and his own cut was shallow, the edges raw.
Trowa's thumb found its way to Duo's mouth and traced over Duo's lips.
"I should… 'Fei's waiting for me." Duo stepped back, away from Trowa, and forced himself not to think of how good his touch had felt, how much Duo had wanted to lean in, how much Duo had wanted to touch him.
Trowa just nodded.
Duo turned, refusing to look back, and fled to his bedroom.
Chang had used his absence to undress, and was now lying on Duo's bed, completely naked, and very aroused.
Duo had the very crazy, very brief fantasy of dragging Trowa into the room as well.
He didn't think Chang would go for it.
So he pushed thoughts of Trowa away and stepped out of his boots.
"You know," he told Chang, "this is going to be a lot more difficult to do if I'm not allowed anywhere near Old Chinatown again."
"You don't want to become my slave?" Chang asked, rising to his knees when Duo climbed onto the bed and meeting him, flesh against flesh.
"No thanks. But you can be mine anytime," Duo added with a wink that had Chang growling and pushing at him.
They tussled, half in jest, half with the same aggression they always felt towards each other, and Duo found himself wincing as often as he smirked until, at last, he was sliding into Chang's body and the other man was moaning in pleasure, urging him on, begging for more.
After, they lay entwined, Duo's head on Chang's chest while Chang idly fingered through his hair.
"You could, you know," Chang said.
"Could what?" Duo traced over a scar on Chang's abdomen.
"Could… join me. I wouldn't treat you like my Uncle would. I don't hate Sweepers the way he does."
Duo snorted. "The rest of your clan does. You really think they'd tolerate me?"
Chang's hand stilled. "No. You're impossible to tolerate."
"Thanks, 'Fei. You say the sweetest things."
"Yuy said-"
"Heero needs to learn to keep his damn mouth shut. I'm fine here, and I'm not moving off my island. Not even for you, Lord Chang."
"Don't call me that," Chang warned him.
"Then don't ask me to be your slave like you're doing me some great favor."
They lay silent and angry until, at eleven, the lights went out. All across the island, block by block, the lights cut out and Roosevelt Island became just as dark as the world beyond.
There was a startled crash, a muttered oath, and Duo had to smirk as he imagined Trowa trying to make his way down the hall in the dark.
He heard the door open.
"The lights - I didn't do anything."
Duo had to laugh at Trowa's concern.
"No, you didn't," Duo assured him. "It's curfew. We kill the lights after eleven to conserve power."
"But, the hospital, what about-"
"Hospital's fine. Their exterior lights go out the same as everywhere else, but interior's just fine. Catherine is in good hands. Don't worry about her."
Duo couldn't see Trowa in the dark, but he could hear him shifting nervously.
"Who- Should I take first watch?"
"What- No, no, we don't need to."
"But what if-" Trowa stopped himself, realizing that, for probably the first time in his life since The Day, he didn't need to be scared to close his eyes.
"We have patrols around the island perimeter all night, and the bridges are closed to traffic after dark. Only way on or off is the tram, and it's guarded too. You're safe," Duo assured him.
"Safe?" Trowa echoed the word, testing it.
And alone, Duo realized. First time, probably, that Trowa had been without his sister since The Day as well.
Duo sighed and shifted closer to Chang.
"Come on - but take off your clothes. I don't need my sheets getting dirty."
"What-"
"Scoot over," Duo interrupted Chang's protest.
Chang didn't understand - couldn't understand. Not as the scion of a powerful family, even before The Day, who had been protected and surrounded by guards and servants and slaves ever since. Except, of course, for the night he had been kidnapped and Duo had saved his life.
But Duo, who had grown up alone, who had snuck onto Roosevelt Island by swimming and been fished out of the water by a Sweeper on patrol, knew what it was like to be afraid of the dark.
Trowa climbed into the bed, just as naked as Duo and Chang, and slid under the sheets, his leg brushing against Duo's.
"Well, not exactly my dreams come true, but close enough," Duo said into the darkness.
"Fuck off, Maxwell," Chang muttered irritably.
"I thought that's what you two had been doing already," Trowa murmured, on Duo's other side.
Duo had to laugh at that, and he pinched Chang's nipple when he mumbled something under his breath.
Chang covered Duo's hand with his own, and, after a moment, gave it a squeeze.
-o-
So this was WAY longer than I had intended. Apologies?
It was very difficult to end, because I kept wanting to continue it, to discover more of this world, and these relationships.
BUT this is the end (unless a certain someone wants more).
Just… imagine for yourself where things might go from here.