Title: Simplicity
Author: Fugu
Warnings: mild angst, sweetness, OOC
Category: kinda shounen-ai
Pairings: 2x5, 5x2
Disclaimer: Purely for entertainment purposes, no infringement intended.
~ Simplicity~
Finally finding a parking space after ten minutes of searching, Wufei jumped out of his car and ploughed, through knee high snow in the raging storm, to the hospital on the next street. Ten minutes later, he was in front of the reception desk of the ER.
"Duo Maxwell," he stated out of breath.
The plump overworked nurse give him an empty smile and checked her files.
" Yes, a Mister Maxwell came in about an hour ago. He's in surgery right now."
Wufei tensed.
"Is it serious?"
"I don't know, you'll have to talk to the doctor in charge of his case."
She barely finished giving him the directions that Wufei was already in an elevator going to the second floor. He came out as the surgery room's doors opened. A young woman with a strict and somber look on her face, walked towards him. She was dressed in the blue gowns of surgeons. She seemed to be deep in thought and didn't notice Wufei at first, even though he was the only person in this hall. She let her face smile a bit.
"May I help you?"
" I was told Duo Maxwell was going through surgery..."
"Ah," She cut in. " Chang Wufei I presume?"
He nodded once.
"Yes."
She motioned for them to sit down.
"Mr. Maxwell was victim of a car accident. According to the police, a truck carrying potatoes fell over due to the ice on the road. Mr. Maxwell couldn't break in time." She looked Wufei in the eyes. "The accident created a pileup. Mr. Maxwell was stuck in his car for thirty minutes before the paramedics could pry the door open. His heart stopped once on his way here and once in the ER." She rested her elbows on her knees and looked ahead. " We did what we could. His jaw is broken, his right arm in two places. He has four broken ribs, which almost perforated his left lung, a lot of serious bruising, especially on the legs and, " she sighed," he has a spinal cord injury."
This was not happening. As former Gundam pilots they had been trough outrageously "gone to shit" situations, accomplished suicidal missions and had survived through it all nearly intact. Yet a simple car accident had almost taken the life of one.
Wufei paled a couple of shades.
Recognizing Wufei's reaction, she promptly followed; "The operation went as well as we could have wanted with the given circumstances. He seems strong all depends on the what we find when the swelling on his spine has reduced...all we can do now is wait, but good thoughts are strong incentives." After all, she'd been practicing long enough to see a couple of miracles come to be. In any situation, optimism and perseverance were the differences between life and death. As a counterpart to miraculous recoveries she'd also seen healthy people give up and keel over.
"Would I be able to see him soon?" he whispered.
As the surgeon was about to answer, the operation room doors opened and a bed was wheeled out. Wufei and she both stood up and she motioned for him to follow the bed.
"They're bringing him to ICU, I will join you shortly after I have a word with the neurologist."
As he entered, the elevator, Wufei took a glimpse of Duo and promptly looked away. He was unrecognizable. All Wufei had seen was a horrible purple bruise deforming the right side of Duo's face. A very pale face with sunken eyes and huge black pockets under them. His breathing sounded difficult even though he had an oxygen mask on. His neck was in a brace and the blanket pulled up to his shoulders hid the rest of his body. The long chestnut braid was disheveled; its color faded and lay limp over the blanket. Wufei made a point of staring at it for the rest of the ride. It was the only thing that had remained fairly intact.
After Duo had been hooked all kinds of monitors and Wufei had had a talk with the neurologist and surgeon, he was left alone in Duo's room.
Even though it was four in the evening it was already dark outside. The snowstorm was calming down a bit.
He stood in the dark room searching the delicate pattern of frost. He could barely see the spiraling snowflakes being hustled by the howling wind. Around him was silence except for the unsteady beat of the heart monitor.
Five minutes later he was still standing at the window. Here, away from the prying eye he could be himself and let his fears show. He could afford to be weak. He just couldn't bring himself to walk to the chair at the other side of the room and sit by Duo's side and look at the stranger posing for his usually beautiful comrade. Even though he had shown a brave and unfeeling front during the war and was still using this facade in his daily life, now three years after the Mariemaia event, his true self had never been fully eradicated. And everyday despite his constant training of mind and body, it seemed harder to suppress it. He was weak, he had knew that and now he also accepted that his nature was overtaking his control in his solitary life. Only now, merely two hours before, he had received a call from the hospital, saying that a certain Duo Maxwell had been brought in and he was next of kin.
Wufei still couldn't fathom it. He was next of kin for Duo Maxwell.
During the War, two personalities waged battle in Wufei's mind, Meiran's and his. The storm raised a thick wall that was impervious to Duo's well meaning antics. More so, they had never been very close; he ruling in his tempestuous nature and Duo occupied in turning Heero into something close to human. After Mariemaia, he had thought himself lost. Meiran was winning and she could only exist in conflict. So he looked for another struggle in the Preventers but, a year later, he fully understood the doubt he had felt at the end of the Barton- Kushrenada Conflict. He couldn't keep up anymore and finally acknowledged that he was emotionally compromised. Deaf to Une's and Sally's protests, he resigned and cut the meager contacts he had. Considering that, how could Duo possibly have his phone number?
He sighed and rested his forehead on the cold glass as he contemplated his dark reflection.
Suddenly, he heard something other than the monitors and the murmur of the wind.
Duo fought through the different layers of unconsciousness and was hit hard by unexpected pain. The scream that ripped through his head came out as a feeble moan. His head was pounding to a techno beat, his chest felt like it was being squeezed in a vice and fire was periodically slashing up and down his back. There were other pains he felt like the skin of his face being pulled by a couple of tweezers but that was nothing compared to the rest. He moaned again. Damn, why'd he wake up and where was he, why was he hurting so much? To answer all these questions he would probably have to be fully conscious so he ploughed on through the pain to first get his hearing back. Okay, he could hear some kind of beeping sound not too steady and pretty fast and something like whistling, he also identified a voice, someone was there. He concentrated as much as his splitting head could allow him.
"Duo? Duo, wake up. It's me Wufei."
Wufei? How nice. Though he would have preferred Heero.
Wait a minute. Wufei!
It all came crashing down on him, he had been in a car accident, brought to the hospital and he remembered someone asking him whom they could call, he asked for Wufei?
Okay, time to wake up. Now!
He opened his eyes to be greeted by total blackness which receded a bit after a little batting and he found himself looking straight into Wufei's searching eyes. There was something showing in them like worry but it disappeared quickly. He looked around rolling his eyes slowly and found that he was in a hospital room. His eyes came back to Wufei who was frowning. A slice of light entered the room and the face of a total stranger replaced Wufei's. The woman before him smiled.
"Duo, how're you feeling? Do you understand what I'm saying?"
He batted his eyes once, swallowed and croaked "Hain."
She frowned. " A lot?"
"es" he whispered. HELL YEAH! he thought.
"Okay, let me check your dosage before I give you something stronger."
She was gone for a second, then back in his face for more questions. While she was talking he could hear some shuffling sounds at his side and soon he was floating in a very comfortable cocoon of wool. He would have smiled if his face wasn't so stiff.
The doctor had checked his pupil reaction before the drugs had kicked in and they were pretty good. She was very happy that he was conscious and alert which was a miracle, but she wasn't complaining. After he had fallen asleep again, she took Wufei aside.
"It's looks promising he's very alert and responding. " She beamed. "He should be waking up a little later, a nurse will come by to check on him." She squeezed Wufei's hand and he thanked her.
He went by Duo's side and sat down. While the doctor was checking on her patient he got to see the extent of Duo's injuries. He had seen that in addition to the huge bruise on his face Duo had a big stitched slash on his forehead. He was breathing by himself helped by a cannula, his teeth were wired shut for his broken jaw to heal. His chest was a bluish purple bruise almost black around the wraps holding his ribs. His lower trunk was in a light cast. His right arm was in a cast and his left had swollen to half its size due to the many bruises. When she had lifted the blanket to check his legs, he had seen that they weren't in better shape.
His stomach had flipped thrice. He wasn't close to Duo but still, he admitted Duo to be beautiful and nobody could stay impassive to such disfigurement.
He crossed his arms and leaned back in the chair. He should probably call the others. He knew that Heero and the American were like Siamese joined at the hip. He could get their phone number through Preventer. He stood to do just that.
"Hey."
He turned around to see Duo straining his eyes to the side of his head to see him. He went back to the bed.
"Are you hurting? Do you want me to call the nurse?"
"o"
"What is it then?"
Duo tried to frown, "othing." He expelled a frustrated breath.
" Duo your jaw is broken, if that's what bothering you. That's why you can't talk properly."
"oh," He closed his eyes.
Wufei looked at him with attention and took his hand. Duo's eyes shot open.
"I was thinking of calling the others..."
"O!" Duo cut in a little forcefully which made him cough. His eyes started to water.
"Y throat..." cough, hack, wheeze "...dry" cough, wheeze.
"I'll go get the nurse."
When they came back seconds later, he was chocking. The nurse pulled Duo's cheek out and after a few ragged breaths she pulled her finger out.
"Okay?"
"es"
He was still wheezing but at least he wasn't coughing his lungs out anymore.
The nurse then got him some water which spilled more over his chin than down his throat. After checking on him and his implements one last time she was gone.
Wufei decided against continuing the previous line of thought since Duo reacted so badly. He sat back in the chair waiting for Duo to recuperate a little more.
"Duo?..." He asked after a moment of silence and received no response. He had gone back to sleep.
Wufei shifted to find a more comfortable position for it seemed that he was going to stay here all night. He thought a moment and grabbed Duo's hand. He just needed a little reassurance however weak it was.
Every morning since then, Duo woke up to find Wufei's hand in his. It was all the encouragement he needed to go through the day.
The first few days had really been painful despite the drugs. His back was killing him, his headache downgraded from splitting to a dull pressure behind his eyes. On the other hand, after going through two full body scans, they had taken of his neck brace, which was nice. His jaw had healed enough that within two weeks they had taken the wires out. He was encouraged to move it some despite the pain and it had improved his breathing radically. Still his doctor had opted to keep the nasogastric tube in. Eventually, his surgical wounds had healed enough to be taken out of ICU. It was now safe for him to be turned from his back to his sides every two hours. So he wasn't always immobile although the extent of his nerves lesions wasn't fully known.
Wufei was there every morning when he woke up and came by during lunch and after work.
It was really weird, Duo mused, that Wufei was staying close of his one free will. Wufei didn't mind Duo's stilted speech nor just reading a book while he napped. Duo hadn't asked for such support but Wufei gave it freely.
Must feel honor bound by his values. He's never been a coward about difficulties and grief. I still don't know how he came out sane from L5's genocide, he thought while he lightly fingered the tip of his freshly washed and braided hair.
In any case Duo was fine with it. He didn't think that he would feel comfortable with the others taking care of him. He was really fond of the other three former Gundam pilots but he didn't want to be near them right now. That's why he had found himself so far away on that slippery road that afternoon.
He closed his eyes. He couldn't remember the entire accident still, but he had been assigned a psychiatrist to get through the trauma. He didn't think he should need one for the accident, he had seen a lot more ugliness during the war, but he wasn't going to tell him that.
Duo had been turned on his left facing the window and he was contemplating the falling snow. This city was really having a rough winter, why the hell had he decided to come here of all places? Why not a nice and hot destination like Mexico or go on the colonies were temperature was regulated?
He sighed, because he'd wanted to see Wufei, that's why. Moving his neck to look up at the clock on the nightstand he saw that the one that had given it to him was late. Lunch had started two minutes ago and Wufei was punctual.
The door opened to let in a big woman holding up a tray. Well, Duo couldn't see her since the door was at his back but he knew who she was when her voice boomed through the room.
"So lazing away on your ass while everybody else is hard at work." She joked.
"Well why not, Rosa, I'm on vacation after all." He chirped.
She chuckled and moved to his bed after putting the tray on his other nightstand.
"Time to move you, hun."
He nodded.
She pushed away the pillows that were maintaining his back straight while gradually turning him to a dorsal position. He bit his lower lip swallowing the whimpers of pain that were trying to escape from his throat. When he was finally flat on his back he just stared at the ceiling with watery eyes trying to cope.
He felt a hand squeeze his and looked to find Wufei at his side.
"Hey, you're late." He whispered with a wavy smile.
"Sorry, traffic. It hasn't stopped snowing since morning."
Duo nodded and looked at Rosa who was filling up a syringe with mash. She walked towards him and winked as she fed him through his nasogastric tube.
While Duo was eating. Wufei took his place on the chair at the opposite side of the bed and took out a book to read.
Sometime later when Duo had finished eating and the nurse was gone. Wufei took out his lunch.
Turning his head to look at the Chinese young man, Duo grinned mischievously.
"Why don't you eat lunch at the same time as me? I mean you come here obviously to have lunch with me, no?"
Wufei narrowed his eyes; oh he didn't like the glint Duo had in his eyes.
He chose to ignore him and a bite of sandwich was his response. Duo smiled, he was going to get him, and he always did.
"I mean come on it's not that disgusting, really," he continued innocently, "it just goes trough the tube, up my nose, down my throat and straight to my stomach, nod need to even swallow. Ah, that's the life."
Wufei was still ignoring him but seemed to be eating a little faster.
Duo laughed. "Remember the first couple o' times, when the nausea would hit me hard? I can still remember your face when it came up through the wired jaw on your shirt. I mean I would o' laughed if I wasn't choking on my vom..."
"Maxwell, enough!"
Wufei snapped throwing his barely touched lunch in the garbage. He was a little pale.
"Oh come on, just havin' a little fun, I'm bored here."
"That is your idea of fun!" Wufei stated indignantly.
He sighed at the laughing young man on the bed. Why bother, it was a routine after all, when he was late or when Duo was particularly bored he always teased him about that. That man had an unhealthy fascination with the gross and disgusting.
Yet, Wufei didn't really mind. He'd eat later when the memories weren't so vivid. Anyhow, Duo was having a hard time and Wufei was aware that he wasn't used to being so inactive. He didn't know much about Duo but he thought that he surely had had a very hard life and introspection wasn't his forte. He had understood long ago that the hyperactivity was a way for Duo to protect himself from his demons. He was sure he had lost someone precious, for the priest collar, cross and long hair were like mementos or talismans to ward of evil.
That's why he made it a point to come and spend as much free time he could spare from his business with Duo.
He reached in his bag and took out an mp3 player. He placed it in Duo's hand. At the sight of the device Duo's face lit up a hundred watts.
"For me! Really!"
"Yes."
"Which tunes?"
"Some of mine for the time being. I'll download some more on my tablet for you. Which ones would you like?"
Duo smiled. " Nan, Wu-man, yours'll be fine." He fingered it a bit.
"Could you help me put it on?"
The smaller man nodded and started unrolling the headphone cord.
Duo couldn't fully move his arms yet, just his fingers and he couldn't move his legs either, actually he didn't even feel them. The doctors had told him not to worry since it had only been a few weeks since the accident. They had said that he was actually healing faster than estimated.
"Hey, Wu-man tomorrow they're going to put me to a 15 degrees position, I think it's called Lower semi-Fowler, or somethin'." He grinned. " I wont have to look up into people's nostrils anymore."
Wufei stopped as he was putting the headphones on Duo's head.
"When?"
"Ah, around eleven, I think."
"I see."
Duo grinned. He knew that Wufei would be there. The latter put the player in Duo's hand and he felt his way on the buttons, fiddled with it until he was satisfied with the volume and bass and listened to some music. It was some kind of Chinese rock, even thought he didn't understand the words the beat wasn't bad, not bad at all.
" Okay, tell me when you feel something."
The neurologist started pricking gently Duo's toes one by one. Well that's what he though he was doing because he didn't feel anything.
"Sorry, man I don't feel anything."
"That's okay," the neurologist said as he covered Duo's legs again.
"Let's see the arms now."
Duo moved his fingers and turned his arms a bit.
"Good. Do you want to try and lift them for me?"
Duo did as told and lifted his left arm a little shakily. He then tried with his right, the results weren't as good because the cast on his forearm was heavy, but the doctor could tell that without the cast he would have succeeded. He smiled.
"That's very good. You're coming along well, two days ago you couldn't do that."
"Hey, I do my best to please."
He pat Duo on the arm and wrote the results on his clipboard. Wufei came in at the same time as the woman who had operated Duo, Sarah. She had insisted to be called by her first name only.
"Heya, Sarah."
"Hey. How are you doing?"
"Fine."
"Actually, he's doing pretty well," interjected her colleague and he showed her his report.
"Not bad. Not bad at all." She exclaimed.
"Well," she said as she clapped her hands together and walked to Duo's side " ready to be inclined?"
"Yeah, noses are interesting only to certain point."
She laughed and started chatting with Duo. Her colleague stayed in case complications arose and Wufei was holding Duo's hand at the other side.
She gradually started to lift the bed to a 15 degrees position while she checked the monitors. She continued chatting with Duo in the meantime until she heard him hesitate. They were at 15 degrees for about a minute. Duo's breathing had become shallow, she checked the monitor again to see that his pressure had fallen a bit and his pulse was racing.
"How do you feel?"
"Kinda...kinda nauseous."
"That's okay. It'll pass in a minute or two. Your pressure fell a little."
"'kay.."
His vision was swimming and he really felt like he was going to pass out. He needed to focus on something. He desperately stared at the bronze hand in his pale one.
He marveled at how dark it seemed against his skin. How small it was in his, yet it was plumper. While it had calluses due to martial art and sword maneuvering, it was surprisingly soft. He moved his thumb on its back and saw it squeeze his hand reassuringly. He looked up into the almond eyes.
Oh, shit wrong move.
The room was really dancing now; actually it was doing cartwheels. He started taking deep open mouth breaths as his eyes rolled back in their sockets and he was gone.
He woke up, when night had already fallen. The doctors were gone, replaced by a nurse checking on the monitors. She saw that he was awake.
"I'll go call Dr. Frank." She padded him on the arm and went to fetch Sarah.
He caressed the hand still in his and looked into the round Chinese face.
"You did it, Duo." Wufei smiled.
Wow! Wu-bear's smiling and calling me Duo? O~kay.
"Thanks, Wu-bear."
Three weeks later Duo sat at a full 90 degrees position everyday while sleeping at a 15 degrees position. Once lower semi-fowler had been achieved, the 30, 60 and 90 degrees positions had been easy. He could steadily use both his arms his jaw was healed and he could eat harder foods. His back didn't hurt anymore when he was turned every two hours on his sides, however hydrotherapy was a killer!
Wufei didn't seem to have gotten tired of his company yet, despite the fact that now Duo was chatting like a two hundred horse powered lawn mower.
Duo could still not move nor feel his legs, which was really starting to frustrate and depress him. He really felt that despite what the doctors said, he wasn't going to walk anytime soon. It was really getting to him, that and that godforsaken know-it- all psychiatrist that was pestering him about being in denial and the need to through the five stupid steps of grief. As far as Duo was concerned he was just living one big step right now! Anger, denial, bargaining, and depression were having a free for all in his fractured psyche and acceptance wasn't showing a glimpse of life. What a moron.
The more desperate Duo felt the faster his mouth flapped. He was talking to everybody except to his psychiatrist, of course. Still, his favourite person to talk to was Wufei. Although he was mostly silent now, Wufei had grown on him. He felt some connection mostly due to their shared past. Still, Monosyllabic Wufei seemed to be paying a great deal of attention to what he said. It often happened that Wufei would comment on something minor Duo had days earlier, while Wufei had supposedly been reading. Also, Wufei seemed to be weatherproof to all his moods.
Today Duo was in a particularly fowl mood, desperately trying to hide it behind his joking mask.
His psychiatrist was there and chatting along trying to coax him into revealing his feelings and all that crap.
Man, if I could just get my hand on a gun. I so want to shoot him in the head. Is that the way I sound when I let my mouth go? Nan. Wufei'd have strangled me with my tubing a long time ago if that were true.
While Duo was playing mind games with his psychiatrist and devising ways to kill him swiftly and efficiently, Wufei was half listening while reading his book. It still surprised him that Duo insisted he stay in the room during his sessions. He quickly looked up at slightly forced laugh from Duo, than again maybe not. He was probably there to stop Duo from committing bloody murder.
Duo really seemed like he was on his last straw with the man. To anybody else Duo sounded quite happy, but all those private moments shared since the unpleasant business of the accident had thought Wufei to read the signs. He'd realized early on that Duo and he were actually a lot alike. They had difficulty reconciling opposite sides of their personalities which had, to survive, taken on a life of separate and distinct, stubborn personas. Like him, Duo was succumbing to the pressure. These last few days, Duo had even gone so far as to let the mask fall for short periods of time when he thought the Asian young man wasn't paying attention.
Wufei was fascinated, by this friendship, to discover their similarities; to realize that they both searched for escape, that silence could be as loud or louder than speech, that they were both amongst the fallen.
Still, what pulled him back to this very hospital room every day was something more than just platonic fascination, Duo trusted him. More than Heero he had discovered. He was proud, honoured and fond of this trust. Moreover, the fey creature had come back to life. Even though he was still ghostly pale and too thin. Life was coming back to him. Duo's eyes big and clear in his sunken face.
He caught Duo looking at him and saw that right those same eyes were burning with some kind of madness. He quirked an eyebrow. He looked at his watch; the session still had 30 minutes to go. Wufei started worrying when he saw Duo's hands tremble, he was biting his lower lip quite often and was taking calming breaths when the shrink wasn't looking. This wasn't good; he couldn't care less about the shrink well being but strong emotions weren't good for Duo's health right now.
He was about to usher the man out when Duo burst.
"Oh for God's f***in' sake, shut the hell up!" He screamed. " I don't give a freackin shit about all your mental crap. I'm crazy okay! I'm freakin crazy! Nuff said. Now get the hell out of my room!"
The shrink fell mute, stood and fled in front of the murderous rage contorting his patient's face. If he was competent at all, he'd fled to call a nurse. Duo's eyes had almost become navy blue, he was so mad and Wufei wasn't easy with how upset Duo was becoming. He shot a look to numbers of Duo's pulse and blood pressure.
Wufei put a hand on one of Duo's trembling with knuckled fist.
"Duo, calm down."
He threw the man a glare that could probably melt the globe's polar caps if given half a chance and hastily withdrew his hand from its bronze imprisonment.
"Wufei, do not patronize me," he strained.
Duo's face had completely crumbled; he couldn't hold back the rage and the despair anymore.
Nostrils flaring, face red, he just let loose.
"I can't take it anymore. People always say they're listening well, fuck you! They only hear what they want. I can't fucking take the hypocrisy anymore! I've done my best alright can't I get a fucking break? For Christ sake, look where I'm left now; fate is toying with my sorry little ass! I can't fucking damn walk anymore! I'm am utterly useless shit! You wanted to know how I feel you moron! " He howled to the already gone psychiatrist. " Well you got it now asshole! Of course now I'm finally telling you, you run away, you god forsaken prick!"
He angrily wiped at his eyes. When had he started crying, sobbing even? He suddenly felt two strong arms embrace him. His face sheltered in the crook of Wufei's neck, he just, just for one moment, let somebody else hold him up.
" Why...why c.. can't I, I be happy too?" he hiccoughed " I can't walk. I won't walk, ever again. Oh God!" Duo felt his heart crush into a pulp and just clawed at Wufei's shirt. He shook so hard he thought he would break to never be put back again.
A couple of days later, Duo sat in a wheelchair for the first time. The ride by lifter had been a little uncomfortable, his blood pressure had fallen again and he had had some palpitations, but had stayed conscious this time around.
Two days after that he was really starting to get the hang of it, rolling in his room for minutes at a time even though his arms were weak. Slowly, he was letting acceptance smooth the rough corners of his psyche. He hid less and less. He'd not made Wufei run for the hills with his little nervous breakdown and most of the times anyways, he was too tired to care if he were being judged for being in a fowl, depressed mood. Acknowledging his emotions with somebody else helped him deal with them better and feeling true happiness even through the sadness was something he might still achieve one day.
Wufei had turned out to be the key. The ram to break the dam with staunch dependability and unwavering support; and it surprised him. Wufei would be the last person Duo would say was non-judgemental when he remembered the Chinese's hasty opinions and conclusions on situations and people he deemed beneath him or his frankly misogynistic comments.
Three weeks after Chair Day he was in Wufei's car on their way to his home. Two kindred souls were curious but not afraid of what laid ahead of them.
End
I did some research for the steps required before Chair Day and care for mandibular fracture surgery but I'm still sure I got it mostly wrong; and I romanced it for the purpose of the story, of course.