Author's Note: Chapter is what it is... just because it seemed right.
Random: We were working on editing chap five and when we went to load 5 we realized that we hadn't load 4 yet. So here's 4 first and we'll probably put 5 up shortly.
Warning: Boys in the shower together
Chapter Four: The Healing Power of Water
Duo knew that Trowa and Quatre were done with their showers by now and were more than likely standing behind him, seeing what they could through the half-open door. He waited for Heero's breathing to steady itself out, which it did after a few minutes. "Come on Heero. Let's get you cleaned up. You go take a shower, and I'll get stuff to bandage you up with."
The short haired boy nodded weakly and looked up at Duo. "I'm sorry." He whispered.
"It's ok. I'm still alive, you're still alive. That's all that matters." He bent slightly and moved the hand that had been buried in Heero's hair to under his arm and helped the bleeding boy to his feet.
Somewhere Else...
The short haired woman and the long haired man sat side by side, so close that their thighs were almost touching, staring intently at one of the eight screens; the screen labeled 01. "Noin. We may need to intervene." Zechs did not remove his gaze from the screen as he spoke.
The young woman took a sip of her coffee before answering, "I think Duo can handle this." She pointed at the screen labeled LR "The others won't let anything happen." Zechs tore his eyes from the Wing pilot's room to glance at the other monitor. The three other boys were standing and watching, in the doorway. 04 and 03 were crowded into the door frame and 05 leaned against the wall between his own room and the others.
Zechs frowned "Perhaps... but perhaps we should have Po ready with a team just in case." He sipped his coffee and glared at the monitor as Noin made the arrangements for the medical team to be on alert.
Back in the apartment...
Duo helped his best friend to his feet. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry" Heero whispered over and over as leaned into his friend's shoulder and put his arm around his waist to steady himself. The braided boy's skin tingled where Heero touched it.
"Relax ok? We'll just get you a futon, ne? And maybe we'll see if this place has a fitness center or something. With things you can hit that won't break so easily and tear up your hands." Keep talking, keep talking, don't think about how good he smells just keep talking.
Carefully, they picked their way through the destroyed bedroom to the door. The violet eyed boy was exquisitely conscious of the feel of Heero's iron strong arm around his waist, pinning his braid to his back. He wasn't sure if he was talking to distract Heero or himself. "We have to go out shopping today anyway so we can totally just pick up a new mattress for you while we're out. I bet this one was just as soft as mine, and I bet you couldn't sleep well on it either." Duo gave the others a look and they cleared out of the way, retreating to watch from the kitchen now that the main danger had passed.
Slowly they moved along the short distance to the bathroom, leaving a trail of blood from the wound in Heero's leg. The blood from his hands were rapidly staining Duo's white undershirt and soaking into his black pants. "When we're out we'll get some carpet cleaner too, or meat tenderizer, I heard that takes out blood. Glad my pants are black! Can't stain with blood. That's why I like black." Heero's grip on his shirt started to relax and as it did, Duo realized that the hand around his waist had a grip on the end of his unraveling braid. For some strange reason, even though Heero's blood was probably matting in his braid, a peculiar elation filled him at the thought of the cobalt eyed boy touching his hair. Now is not the time to go all dreamy like a schoolgirl Maxwell. He scolded himself as they finally reached the bathroom door. Now is the time to get Yuy in the bathroom and check to see if he is bleeding to death.
It seemed like it took hours to get across the room but he knew it could only have taken a minute or two. "Hey I'm pretty sure there's a first aid kit under the sink, or at least there was in the other bathroom." Trowa's towel was hanging on the rack nearest Duo's free hand and he snagged it and tossed it onto the floor in front of the sink. "Here, have a seat. You can't fall off the floor no matter how hard you try. Well at least on Earth anyway." Together they eased down into a kneeling position on the towel. As soon as he was sure Heero wasn't going to fall over, he let him go and looked for the first aid kit, or tried to. Yuy still had his hand around the end of Duo's braid. Concerned and confused violet eyes turned and stared into cobalt blue pools. I could drown in those eyes.
"Thank you." he whispered, still holding Duo trapped in his eyes and by his hair. Duo couldn't think. Couldn't blink, couldn't do anything but stare back until a warm trickle of Heero's blood dripping on his knee brought him back to reality.
"That's what friends are for, Heero. I was worried about you." He looked down at the redness rapidly spreading on the white towel. His voice quavered a little "AM worried. Let's get you patched up, OK?" He turned away again to reach for the kit. This time Heero moved his arm, still holding the rapidly unraveling braid end, so that Duo had enough slack to get the box out of the cabinet. It was a particularly well stocked kit which made Duo grin a little. "I bet we know who put this one together, hey?" He was rewarded with the tiniest twitch of lips from Heero, which he probably wouldn't have noticed if he hadn't been staring at those same lips. How he wanted to just reach out and... well he couldn't. What you really have to do right now, Maxwell, is bandage up this guy so he doesn't lose more blood than he already has. The violet eyed boy turned his focus to the worst of Yuy's wounds, the nasty puncture on his leg, and tried to stop thinking about soft looking lips and nice smelling hair and the hand that was still tangled in the end of his braid.
Somewhere Else...
Noin and Zechs stared in frustration at the view of the closed bathroom door. "Damn! We should have cameras in the bathrooms." Zechs looked at her incredulously. "Or at least audio equipment!"
"There are times when a man needs privacy." He said loftily, tossing his platinum hair out of his face.
"Still... I bet you are dying to know what is happening in that room." She smirked slightly because she knew she was right. She also knew that he would say nothing more about it. Still grinning she shifted a fraction in her chair so that their shoulders and upper arms were touching as well as their thighs.
Back With the Boys...
Duo frowned as he looked Heero over. "I really don't want to take you into the shower where you will bleed more, but I can't tell the severity without getting them clean. You think you can get clean without help?"
Heero nodded a weak yes. I sure as hell have to try. I hurt like hell, and must look like a fucking mess and I don't think I could not do something really stupid if I had to have Duo help me in the shower.
"You have to let go of my braid first. Unless you plan on dragging me in with you." He attempted to say as light-hearted as possible, part of him wanted Heero to say yes, but the other part of him was scared shit-less that he actually did.
Heero let go of Duo's braid, which was slightly caked in blood. Duo smiled at his friend and offered him a hand. Heero took it and Duo grasped his hand and with his other hand supported him at the elbow. The injured boy stood still finding his balance. He was slightly woozy, but he had had worse. Heero took a tentative step forward and felt his knee give way under him. OK that's not good. Fuck! He fell to one knee and looked at Duo. Why the hell am I so helpless at the moment? Duo's violet eyes were full of concern. "I'll be right back. I'm going to have Q call Sally and get her down here for some heavy duty healing." Heero nodded mutely, he knew he had no right to say no, and watched Duo walk out of the bathroom.
"Hey Quatre can you do me a favor and call Sally and get her down here with stuff to stitch him up and help stop the bleeding? I'm going to help him clean off. I can't see clearly enough to make any sort of judgment call." Quatre looked at him oddly and Duo looked uneasy. "He isn't standing so well." He looks to Trowa. "Can you grab some more towels out of the other bathroom and throw them in?" Trowa nodded and turned to go to the other bathroom.
Quatre could see the panic in Duo's eyes. "Go." Was all he had to say and Duo turned and bolted back to Heero.
Heero was still on one knee, his hand pressed against one the more stubborn wounds on his arm. He watched Duo walk back into the bathroom, close the door quietly and step by him to the bathtub. He fiddled with the shower head some and then got the water running. He sat on the tub's rim and ran his hand under the stream, at the same time unbuttoning his shirt. Duo fiddled with the temperature a bit with the hand that wasn't unbuttoning, then flipped the switch and the shower engaged. He stood and shrugged the shirt off, then pulled the white and red tee-shirt over his head and without thinking he unbuttoned and unzipped his pants, pushing them down and stepping out of them. This all took less than a minute and he walked over to Heero in just his black boxers and leaned over to pull the destroyed sleeveless green tee off.
Heero looked like he was about to protest, but he did see the wisdom in having Duo undress him. Less wiggling about, less reason to get the heart pumping and less blood getting pushed about to make him even dizzier. Heero stopped putting pressure on the wound on his arm just long enough to get the shirt off and then went back to applying pressure. Duo bent slightly putting his head between Heero's arms, their faces inches apart, and began to lift him to his feet. Heero couldn't close his eyes, couldn't protest, couldn't do anything but look into Duo's eyes as he undressed him.
Duo started to peel off the black spandex shorts and panicked slightly when he realized when he was done doing that, Heero would be standing naked in front of him. God, Heero, you couldn't be wearing underwear just once with these damn things could you? Ok Duo you can do this. You are helping your best friend, nothing sexual about it. But oh God there was. He pushed the pants down low enough for them to fall to the floor on their own.
Ok maybe I should get hurt more often if just to have moments like these more often. Stupid Yuy, he's just helping you nothing more. Stop making more of it than it is. But… Those hands… "Come on Heero." He turned, grabbed the med kit off the back of the toilet and walked Heero to the shower. Duo got in first the like warm spray gently hitting his skin and hair, then helped Heero in, still holding onto the kit. When Heero was in the shower Duo moved slightly so that his friend was getting the most of the spray so the water would start to wash the caked blood away. The American popped open the kit, rummaged through it and pulled out a pair of plastic medical tweezers. Heero looked at him oddly. "You decided to fight with wood. While we're in here I'm going to make sure you didn't collect any in your skin." He nodded and began to run his hands up and down his arms washing away the blood.
Duo looked at the red water going down the drain and became even more worried. "Don't worry. It looks worse than it is." Heero smiled, feeling better now that he was in the shower and grabbed the bar of soap Trowa had left in there. I'll get him some more. He rubbed the soap between his hands getting a good lather, put the soap back and started to wash his wounds. Everything stung and burned. He could feel his hands tightening up, in attempt to refuse to work as the soap touch the raw flesh on his knuckles. When he had rinsed off his arms Duo gently grabbed one and began to examine it, his eyes avoiding the rest of Heero to the best of his ability.
He made note of the cuts and punctures and ran his hand along his arm to see if there were any raised areas, which might contain something foreign under the skin. He pulled at least three hefty splinters from his right arm and one from his left. Heero had continued to wash his body while Duo examined. When his arms were finally free again he grabbed the bar of soap again and took it to his hair, rubbing the block against his head a bit too violently. This kept him from paying attention to the fact that Duo was on his knees in the shower, his hands running over his legs. Soap in hair, makes hair clean. Duo is just making sure your not dying, Yuy. Nothing sexual is going on. He even left his boxers on. He probably would have left my underwear on if I had been wearing any.
"Fuck." Heero yelped as Duo held up a rather large price of wood that had just been pulled out of his calf. "Jeeze Heero, I'm not letting you near wood for a long, long time." They couldn't help but laugh at this. "Ok rinse your hair and lets get you out of the water." Heero leaned a bit and closed his eyes, while letting the soap rinse away the blood and the grime. When he was satisfied that all the soap was out, he pushed his hair back, rubbed his face, the water still running red, and let Duo know he was done.
Duo turned off the water and got out of the tub. He smiled at the pile of towels on the ground. Thanks Trowa. And picked one up and tossed it to Heero, who caught it without thinking. "You feeling better?" Heero nodded. "You're looking better." They both smiled meekly. The boy with the long chestnut hair picked up the other stack of towels and walked back over to Heero. It was now obvious where he was bleeding, and he went about tending to the wounds. At least we should be able to slow everything down.
Heero looked down at himself when Duo was done and couldn't help but chuckle. White towels spotted with red were wrapped all over him. "I'm going to go see if they sent someone."
The Japanese boy nodded. "Hey Duo." He said almost too quiet to be heard.
"Yeah?"
Heero knew he had heard. "Thank you again." At that Duo Maxwell flashed Heero Yuy a smile that made him melt in the warm tingling sensation in his stomach. God you're beautiful. Was all that his brain could comprehend as the wet, half unraveled braid bounced out of the bathroom.
Damn, you're beautiful even when you're bleeding. Duo thought as he smiled at Heero. Oh Maxwell, you've got it bad. Afraid his body would betray his thoughts, and still concerned about the amount of red that had gone down the shower drain, the braided boy quickly turned and headed to the common room. The cold air on his wet shorts calmed anything that might have been there. How long have I been in love with my best friend? The violet eyed boy mused as he glanced around the common room, which was suddenly filled with people. Now is not the time Maxwell. The voice in his head scolded. Go find him some help and get him patched up first before you go lusting after him. Where did all these people come from? There were several strangers in medical uniforms milling about the room. Finally, his eyes lit on familiar faces in the kitchen.
Trowa and Wufei were talking to a tall woman with honey colored hair that hung in two twists on either side of her face. Quatre was sitting at the table with his head in his hands. They all seemed rather concerned The other two boys stopped talking when they saw Duo. Quatre looked up at the sudden silence and the woman turned. All of them stared at him. Duo tried to smooth out his snarled braid with his fingers. "Ah... I got him cleaned up and slowed some of the bleeding but he really needs an expert. I think he's lost a lot of blood."
They kept staring. Trowa, Quatre, and Po were blushing a little as well. Wufei glared at him and hissed "Pants baka."
Suddenly realizing he was still only wearing the wet boxers, the violet eyed boy blushed. "Sally, um... please take care of Heero. I'll be right back." With that he nearly ran to his room. Ripping off the wet black shorts Duo rummaged for clothing as fast as he could. Throwing on the first articles of clothing he found, he rushed back out into the living room. All the medic type people seemed to be crowded around the bathroom. Peeking in the door, Duo was relieved to see Heero sitting up on the edge of the tub being bandaged by Po and another medic. Po seemed to be giving him a similar lecture about hitting things that splinter and tear open your hands. When the cobalt eyed boy saw Duo, he made a face and rolled his eyes. Yep, he's definitely feeling better. Duo thought as he grinned back.
Assured that Heero was in good hands and spirits, he wandered off to find the others, damp hair unraveling from its braid as he walked. By the time he reached the others in the kitchen, two thirds of its length was flowing free in slightly snarled waves. Quatre was still sitting with his head in his hands, the other two were standing beside him. Quatre looked up with a question in his eyes. "Hey, listen. Heero is OK, I'm OK. Sally's patchin' him up so he'll be fine. I told him he's not allowed to have a bed. We'll get him a futon mattress today when we go shopping, and we can get him some nice soothing tea or something and maybe a gym membership so he has something he can punch without breaking shit like his damned hands. Isn't this the point of this place anyway? I mean, who better for us to get used to than each other, right?" Three pairs of concerned eyes blinked back at him.
"Hey! We all have our issues. Breaking shit and threatening people is Heero's. This situation is bound to bring them all out and throw them in our faces. Hey that's what friends are for, right?" He smiled his biggest smile at Quatre. "Now, how about that grocery list eh? I want pancakes!" Quatre blinked at Duo for a second or two. Then he smiled a little back but the smile didn't really reach his eyes. "Gimme the list and I'll go ask Heero what he wants and make sure that Po isn't ready to kill him or vice versa." Without another word he snatched up the crumpled paper from where it lay forgotten on the table and was gone in a swish of loose chestnut hair.
