Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or its characters.


In Sickness

Duo locked himself in his room and stayed crouched down in a dark corner. He had no real purpose for doing this because he had been living alone for a number of years. Across from him was a full mirror which he starred at himself in. His violet eyes glared back at him in disgust as he twisted his braid around his arm. There was something wrong with him that he couldn't explain, and it was eating away at him.

He had woken up that morning in a feeling of disgust. He could not understand why he was feeling so terrible. His eyes ached at the sight of light. Blindly walking through his apartment he shut off all the lights. His body felt unreasonably numb and he had no emotion. When he woke up the did not want to get out of bed, nor did he want to go back to sleep. He got sick at the sight of food and felt even worse by not eating. He didn't feel like this any other day and he was questioning many things.

He hated his image in the mirror, but not because he thought it was ugly. He seemed to hate it for no real reason. Just like he hated the light, just like he hated being awake, just like he hated not eating and just like he hated being alive.

There was no noise in the apartment aside from Duo's faint gasps for breath. To him the air seemed thick and hard to inhale, he felt cold, yet while he shivered, beads of sweat ran down his forehead. He was sick and he knew it, but it wasn't the physical trauma that seemed to ail him. He had a feeling that it was his mind that caused him to be like this, to act like this.

Without any warning he slid along the wall until he was on his side laying on the floor. His eyes were transfixed on the carpet beneath him. He didn't care, he couldn't feel anything, he seemed so empty. The carpet was in desperate need of vacuuming, old crumbs stuck to the side of his face, be he did not seem to notice. His mind was somewhere else...blanking in and out of reality.

Minutes seemed like hours and in the back round his phone begins to ring. He remained where he was on the floor, not listening to the blaring rings. His answering machine picked up and a voice was heard echoing in his dark apartment.

"Duo, are you there pick up, its Quatre. I thought we were going to meet the guys at today, are you alright? You said you were going to call before you go. Its 3:30 I hope you are awake by now. If I don't hear from you soon im gonna come over, I hope you don't mind. Alright, call me back when you get this, bye."

Click.

Duo heard what Quatre said and remembered what he was suppose to do that day. They had planned to spend the day with the rest of the boys. Since the war had ended, Quatre made sure that we all still got together once in a while. Duo slowly lifted himself off the floor, one side of his face had the carpet imprinted on it, but he did not seem to care. He dragged his feet over to his bed and crashed down hard onto the soft mattress underneath. He closed his eyes and tried to shake off the numbness he was feeling, but it didn't help.

His skin was hot and sticky from the sweat and he felt gross. Reluctantly he made his way to the shower and turned on the water. When it was warm enough he got in. The water felt good on his skin and he undid his braid to wash his hair. He was still in a daze and found it hard to stand. His mind constantly trailed as the steam from the shower surrounded him. His eyelids started to get heavy and his body seemed weak. Slowly things began to fade out, and the room went blank.


He awoke to find himself gazing into cerulean eyes in a brightly lit room. There were tubes running out of his arms and an oxygen mask was covering his face. He tried to lift his arm up to remove the mask, but his arms seemed to be to heavy. He recognized the owner of the cerulean eyes as Quatre, who starred at him in pity. Duo tried to smile, but he seemed to weak. Quatre placed his hand over Duo's and started to speak.

"Hey there, take it easy, you need to rest. I went over to your apartment a few hours ago and the door was open. I let myself inside and noticed that your shower was running so I assumed you just got up and were getting ready. But then you never got out, I found you passed out in the tube and called 911. The doctors haven't found out what is wrong yet, but you'll be just fine."

Ever since Duo had known him, Quatre had always been reassuring. It was like him to be so positive, even at a time like this.

Duo's eyes went in and out of focus as he scanned the hospital room. He spotted Trowa and Wu Fei sitting in the chairs at the far end of the wall. It figured the Quatre had them come along to make sure that there friend was alright.

Duo wasn't surprised at all to find Heero missing. Ever since they had broken up one year ago, Heero had never bothered to show up around him, despite Quatre's desperate attempts. It had been a messy break up and an even messier relationship. Duo once mentioned that being with Heero was like walking on nails, but they weren't the only ones dealing with a troubled relationship.

Not long after Duo's relationship ended with Heero, Trowa's and Quatre's seemed to fall apart as well. Even though they still remain in contact with one another, it was apparent that it was taking its affect on poor Quatre. It seemed that the four of them had lost a part of themselves when the split with the ones they loved. Even if Duo had his ups and downs in his relationship with Heero, deep down inside he secretly missed his former love. It was surprising that they five of them still (even if rarely) stayed in contact. Duo supposed it was there desperate attempts to relive older times, better times. Back when they were happy.

Duo slipped out of consciousness and drifted into a deep sleep. Quatre sighed and seated himself next to Wu Fei, who kept his eyes shut. He did not bother to sit next to Trowa, even though there was an empty seat next to him. The three of them remained silent until the nurse appeared.

The three of them kept there eyes on the nurse as she checked over the unconscious Duo. All three of them, including Wu Fei, were curious to know what was wrong with Duo.

Clipboard in hand the nurse jotted down notes with an apathetic look. She sighed and left the room. Trowa kept his gaze on Duo as Quatre stood up and walked over to the window. It was bright outside, but he wasn't paying attention to what was going on, or else he would have noticed a worried looking Heero quickly heading inside. Instead, Quatre focused his gaze on Trowa's reflection in the glass. His eyes soften and his heart sank. Trowa did not pay any attention.

It seemed that the three of them were not going to get any answers that day. Wu Fei was the first to leave, but Trowa and Quatre remained. Unexpectedly, Heero burst through the door and entered the room. He completely ignored Quatre and Trowa and put all of his focus on Duo. His back was facing the two of them as he stood at the side of the hospital bed. His hand closed around Duo's and he starred down at the beautiful boy. A worried look came across Heero's face as he noticed the cold skin of the violet eyed boy.

The scene going on in front of them pulled a cord in Quatre's heart. As he had wished for, things were finally going back into place. He kept his eyes on the two as he seated himself, unaware that he took the seat next to Trowa. His hand grasped his shirt above his heart as tears filled his eyes . He gasped when he felt a hand grasp around his. He looked over to find himself gazing into emerald eyes and smiled. This is how things were supposed to be, it just felt so right. It was all coming together, the only thing left was to have Duo get well again.

The nurse came back, accompanied by a doctor. The doctor took little notice of the patient, or the large amount of visitors. He just read off the clipboard and gave the prognosis.

"Your friend, Duo Maxwell, has been suffering from anemia. It seems to be the result of a poor diet. It will be a while, but he will pull through. All he needs is just a few more days in the hospital, enough time for me to run some quick test to make sure that is the worst of his problems."

He attached the clipboard to the end of the bed and left, nurse quickly trailing at his heals.

Trowa and Quatre both left together after a few hours as Heero remained. He had not moved since he had gotten there, his eyes not leaving the ill boy.

Duo awoke from his rest not long afterward. He was expecting to see Quatre looking over him, but was stunned to see Heero gazing down at him. He thought he was dreaming because it seemed the Heero was actually worried about him, and his was holding on to his hand. Duo squinted his eyes to make sure they were not deceiving him.

To assure the violet eyed boy, Heero reached down and removed the oxygen mask from Duo's face. He slowly bent down and kissed him softly on the lips. Duo eagerly responded and felt a sense of comfort flood over him. He felt like he was in the right place, and everything seemed to come together. He needed no explanation, he already had all the answers.

Owari


I wroke this when I woke up feeling much like Duo did. Im not sure whats wrong with me yet, but I got a doctors appointment at 4 so I should find out soon...On a happier note, I hope you enjoyed this oneshot, it is the outcome of my writers block... :) reviews appreaciated...thanks!