The future never lies 'gaku 22 dec, 09
Disclaimer: G-boys are not saru's…too bad
Warning: vague AU, imps, OOC…maybe undignified silliness, some adult issues coming ahead
7. List # 9: in sickness and health…
Fei Oji-chan had called Tou-san from his office about half an hour after Papa left the apartment in rage, he called about something Tou-san needed to handle by himself at work so he didn't care whether Tou-san was in sick leave or not; knowing that Tou-san would still take on his mission even if he was dying in a fight with only his fingers that were able to move; since he knew that Tou-san took a sick leave when Tou-san wasn't really sick that made the sick leave annulled when it concerned a word 'mission' for Tou-san. I remember Papa once joked that Tou-san would wake up from the dead just by etching the password 'mission' on his forehead; that was mean of Papa, but when Papa said that joke he looked somewhat relieved, that Tou-san had such kind of immortal impression on him; that somehow Papa wouldn't have to worry about Tou-san dying over him and leave him behind.
…wasn't all that really just a joke in the end?
Poor Papa; his Märchen-doping wasn't proven as sweet as he thought it would. But I kind of wondering what it would taste like from Tou-san's side; would Tou-san say it was bitter, or sweet, or otherwise tasteless?
Tou-san looked like he wanted to disappear when Papa was around.
So, Quatre-sama had offered himself to take Tou-san to work; and sometime even before that, Sun-nii was already gone somewhere he didn't mind telling me about, and left me alone in the apartment, since Tou-san and Quatre-sama thought that they left both of us. What weird was, that they didn't bother to make sure that he was with me before they left; they just said something like 'take care and don't make troubles' or such, as if they were facing the both of us, while they're actually only facing me at the door.
Funny, wasn't it?
Sun-nii must have done something with their minds before he left; that's so Papa-ish of Sun-nii, he must be tailing Papa because he was told not to.
I really don't mind spending the day alone… but what should I do spending my day alone? The List Papa left us didn't have such specific details that Sun-nii always complained about.
"Hello, there…! I must be lucky to have accidentally met someone in this building in the time of need; could you give me a hand with this?" A huge tree trunk was standing at the stairway, blocking the access. It seemed that it had itself stuck on the ceiling of the stairway entrance and couldn't force its way climbing the last step.
"Umm, …hello? Is anyone there? I thought I heard someone just now…"
Hmm, that was odd; someone could hear me walking? …and through a huge tree trunk nonetheless.
"I'm Cath the art-geek from the second floor? You must be one of the Preventer agents from the attic, right? Could you give me a hand, please? I'm really in a bind and-…"
"I'm not a Preventer agent…!"
"UWAHH! Hey, you're shrinking, man…!" a colorful head peeked from the side of the tree trunk and I actually got little butterflies in my chest that anyone would took me wrong thinking that I was either Tou-san or Papa.
"Hey, don't tell me; you're not into that… cosplay-thing, are you?"
I blinked at those colorful eyes; I've searched about 'cosplay' activity that the future-Papa had mentioned once in one of the records, but I didn't think that people could shrink themselves to contribute themselves in such activity. And why did this person said agents? Only Tou-san was the agent, Papa was a private detective; perhaps Papa left such impression too on other people. That made me smile.
"Aaahh…and I thought that Heaven still has pity on me in time of need, but I couldn't expect any useful helping hand from a small kid, right? Sorry, kid; could you ask anyone to come here and help me with this thing before I lost strength pushing this thing up, since if I don't do it this thing will tumble down the stairs again and somebody kind enough to help would have to help me getting this thing up to my room from the ground level again; please?"
The colorful person had somekind of weird grammatical sense to me; but I liked the way such long sentence made me have to wait until it's ended to understand what was talked about.
I chuckled.
"Hey…I mean it; pleeease?"
"I'm not 'kid', I'm En…!"
"Okay, En-kiddo; please get someone to help me?"
"You're actually a male…!" I smiled.
The colorful face laughed; "Yes; please?" and got a weird jumping-fondness in subjects, like Papa.
"You should get back one step and tilted this thing a little; it could fit adequately! Then you could move it by taking it by the length?"
"Duh! I'd tried that, kiddo! First, I wouldn't be able to make the turn on the stairs landing; and second, it's heavier taking it by its length. Don't they tell you in physic class?"
I blinked; he blinked.
"You have physic class, right…?" he asked with dull face; I smiled at his way of apologizing for sounding sarcastic.
"I'll guide you to fit the space, so you should try it at least one last time? Then we could take either ends?" I offered; I knew my sentence was a bit confusing too but I got the feeling the colorful male wouldn't even think of it odd-formed.
The colorful eyes drooped in skepticism, but after a minute passed the odd colorful-looking male sighed and complied.
"I'm telling you, I'm already losing much strength trying to climb this thing up the stairs so I might not have much energy to hold it too long, and you might have to give me-…"
"I'll hold this side!" I hold the tree trunk and pushed it a little to give the odd male some momentum to get a step back.
"WOAH! I'M FALLING!" he yelped and actually hang on to the tree trunk before finding his foot again one step behind; I thought from his expression that he found what happened was a little weird but he soon dismissed it as mysterious-luck and followed my instruction on how much he should tilted the tree trunk to pass the ceiling. And not long afterwards I got myself inside the odd male's apartment.
"What are you doing standing there? Take a seat anywhere available…!" the colorful male said with a relief smile with some cans in his hands.
There were many things that didn't look like seats so I just picked any flat surface that looked solid enough and didn't occupied by other things.
"Hahahahahahh! That's not a seat, actually; that's my teacher's bust!" the colorful male handed one of the cans and he opened the one in his hand; chugged down the liquid content and exploded his breath and burped loudly.
"Your teacher's bust?" I examined the face from between my legs, but didn't bother standing up; it's kind of comfy to sit on.
"Yea, it's a figure-assignment with my teacher as the model, my pick, and I like the concept myself…!" he grinned proudly.
"You had assignment to make bust figures and you pick your teacher as the model and made the concept that he lost the top part of his head, not really because he looked like that physically…!" I repeated.
The colorful male laughed again; "Yup! You got the idea, kiddo!"
"I'm En!" I looked up at him; "Why are you wearing yourself so colorfully?" I asked; he was choked by the content of the can and spilled some to his face.
"…I whaat?" he asked wiping his face using his odd colorful T-shirt, and left more colors on his face.
"Oh, those are paints!" I got it now.
He stared at me levelly for a few seconds and looked down on himself, and back at me; "I just finished painting…!" he offered.
I chuckled at his expression; he wasn't embarrassed or self conscious, he looked like he felt that it was odd of me that I thought he intentionally colored himself like that.
"So you make paints?" I asked jokingly, and he choked again. He was kind of fun to play with too, like I'd thought Papa would have been when I watched the records he left me in the future.
"So why does the tree trunk hollowed? Weren't you going to make a statue out of it?" I sipped at the can content and grimaced as the liquid was biting my tongue and throat.
"I'm going to carve it, yes." Cath grinned while patting endearingly at the tree trunk, as if it were a pet, and he rubbed his cheek on it and looked very contented; maybe he was the pet.
"Into what?" I put the can on the Mr. Teacher's Bust's chopped-brain top.
"A lamp case!"
I tilted my head at the tree trunk, and the idea. "It's not a see-through material…!" –like Quatre-sama; I commented.
"But you could make a lot of holes in it, like a lattice or a sieve, right?"
"Oh, you'd make tiny carvings on it intermingled with the holes so when you put a lamp inside the hollowed bough the light will cast different shadows like the silhouette-game!" I smiled widely. "And you could put some different colored lights inside the void when you make them turn on their places so you'd get variant outcome, too…!"
"Haahahahaa! You're genius, kiddo! Like me!" Cath patted my head twice; I winced a little, that was my first contact with a stranger -not to mention one that I had just met, eventhough he's a neighbor; and I might have flinched too.
"Oh, sorry; you don't like stranger's touch?" the colorful face marred with worry; was it really that obvious?
"N…not that…!" I tried a smile and wondered why I'd stuttered. My face felt hot, was I blushing or paling?
"Haaha! It's okay, I get that a lot; people think I'm weird so they often didn't want me touching them!" he fanned his hand. (-of course that's the normal reaction people would give him since he'd mostly go out without caring about his colorful appearance, sometimes for days without cleansing his paints from all over his face and all; some people wouldn't think of the smell of paints to be very pleasant, too…)
"…umm, it's not like that… I moved in from a closed environment and never had other people around…!" I felt like pouted a little; the colorful face surprisingly gave me a gentle liquid smile, it's like seeing a picture through a layer of warm water; and I thought it flushed me.
"I came from an orphanage, too; you could say I know how you feel. So, want something to eat? I could make simple dishes; join me?" Cath already half ran to his kitchenette and I couldn't refuse him; I wondered why. Perhaps because he looked about the same age with Tou-san and Papa, so I was just wondering what other youngsters their age would live their lives like; normal youngsters with normal lives, ones that didn't have to kill people in the war to survive.
Sometime I forgot about Papa and Tou-san's ages in this time; knowing the fact that they would be our fathers made it biased that I thought they were 'old', while they're actually not; they were only several years older than me and Sun-nii, a middle-aged man would classified all of us the same as only kids.
We were merely kids…
The deaf man living in first floor had an odd way of standing, he would hunch forward and tilted his head at either sides, as if he were trying to pick up noise while he knew he couldn't; he had a pair of small round glasses on his nose, almost didn't cover his small pair of eyes; and wearing an old tattered hat, with a walking stick that was out of age in one hand. People didn't take sticks with them when they walk anymore; the whole impression of him was somewhat looked antique, like seeing a black and white photo came to life. A blotchy tattered photo that was time-beaten and weary, but still survived.
He stared at me staring at him as he was opening his apartment door; he had wrinkles on the edges of his eyes, from squinting a lot I guessed; perhaps he tried to see so much when his ears couldn't fulfill its purpose. He entered the door and dragged a large wrinkled carton box in; the box was tied with plastic ropes and had some newspaper to cover its tattiness. It resembled his figure in a way.
I knew I shouldn't be staring, but something pulled me and I couldn't take away my eyes.
When the closed door opened again and his half-bald head stuck out the doorway, the small eyes narrowed adding the depth of the wrinkles at their ends; the man always had his lips pulled flat, but I guessed it was supposed to be a form of a smile at the time. He waved one arm beckoning me, and my feet just followed.
The inside of his apartment was filled with something grey and brown, like being invited to enter an old photo; he gestured me to sit on an old comfy chair as he rummaged his cabinet and got out a shabby clove-pictured can and pulled out some stick ginger candies from the inside. He offered them to me with a smile this time; a tight-pulled smile but a smile nonetheless.
Then he sat on a rocking chair across my seat and had one for himself. He had a flash of childish light in his eyes; then he stared at me when I smelled the candy stick repeatedly. He looked uneasy and waved at me to look at him; sniffing at the candy in his hand and shook his head while gesturing to his mouth.
He asked me whether I didn't like the smell. I smiled.
'no- I actually like the smell- it's unique' I showed him; and he looked caught a little when he realized I could communicate using sign language.
His real smile bloomed then.
'ginger and clove work just fine- don't they?' he signed back; and I chuckled.
'I wouldn't know- I never had nourishment with variant seasoning before'
The man's small eyes widened in curiosity; 'really? What kind of food you used to have before?'
I arched my shoulders while stuffing the candy stick into my mouth, the warm sweet taste felt pleasant on my tongue that I felt my cheeks somewhat warmer too; perhaps they were flushed.
'some canned sterile nourishments' I signed while smiling at the melted sweet taste filling my whole mouth when I rolled the stick around.
The man laughed outright with a deep pulled-inward sound, like from behind a sheet of glass or some other cover. 'if you'd like you can have some more for later' he signed and pointed at the still opened clover-pictured can on the small table; perhaps he took pity of me and whatever kind of life he thought I'd had and was happy when he saw the face I made with a candy-stick in my mouth.
I paused my candy-rolling and stared at the offered can, and stared up at the man's now gentle face, there was an excitement in his small eyes urging me to take more candy-sticks.
'but it's your saving' I signed.
'I did saving them when I was a child- it was to be shared with my childhood friend back then- but my friend was missing- so I still had them with me even now'
I widened my eyes; it was that old of a saving? Such expiry things as food must have needed such effort to keep them preserved that it could still be edible; I didn't know that it was such an important thing he'd treasured so much, and just took it freely…
The man might have took my suddenly standing up with widened eyes wrong, since he immediately made some calming gesture with his other hand and prompted me to sit back.
'they are still edible and safe- I exchanged the candy-sticks with new ones whenever it was nearing its expire-date- I only used the same can for storing them since it was my friend's- and my friend would instantly recognize the can of our candy-saving when my friend sees it', the man fast signed at me.
'I made the candy myself, child' and he added as an afterthought.
I stared at him and his worried half-dejected face and felt guilty seeing that old mask-of-sorrow face looked sorrowful; I shook my head too hard that I felt lightheaded.
'no- no- I didn't mean that- if it's such an important saving- than I shouldn't be having some' I signed in half panic.
The man's shoulders sagged in relief, and after some pause he chuckled. He slowly signed back; 'my friend is already dead- I just keep this as a memoir- we had a very hard childhood and sweets for us back then was beyond reach- it was just a past-childish-dream that I couldn't help but cling to even though I'm already this old'
He urged me to sit back; when I did, he continued; 'I'm glad that I could share it with someone who respects the meaning- I'm honored if you seemed like you would treasure it more than I do'
I blinked. He blinked; there was a sheen of wetness in his eyes, but he was smiling blissfully; his old complexion marred with a reddish hue that made his face looked somewhat childish. Somehow deep inside, I had a feeling that the deaf old man had seen and survived more than one war; it's not only the war that our fathers had contributed to end, but some older wars that might have occurred in the past farther years. I made a mental note to search about them; perhaps I might find out what he'd witnessed in his small eyes back then, the life that was his, -and his friend's.
I stood up, gave him a 90° slow bow, and took the offered can content and put them in the sealed plastic bag I had from the front pocket of my overall. The man lifted one of his old brows at the fact that I had such thing with me, but seemed pleased and asked nothing of it. After that he took out an old record and played it on an antique phonograph.
'is this fine?' the man asked; 'I can't hear it but my friend liked this song- if you don't like I will put it back'
'I like it, Sir- thank you' Perhaps he minded that I'd feel bored; and he was lonely enough that he'd want to lengthen anyone's company he could have.
And we sat there in silence rolling some candy-sticks in our mouths, truth was the old phonograph didn't let out a smooth sound anymore; eventhough sometime the man would checked whether the thing still made a sound by feeling the vibration above the disk with his palm. I wondered whether he used to play the record that often alone; it felt sad, and the melancholy song sung by a deep woman voice coming from the record only added the feeling.
…it gave me the feeling that the old man never had other friends after his childhood friend missing.
It reminded me of Papa some way or another; Papa must have clung to Tou-san's memories that much; might have even more so. To lose someone so dear to you was that hurting to feel; I'd try to be friendlier with Papa next time he came home.
I left the man's place after leaving a note of thank you on a paper next to his precious can on the table; he fell asleep on his rocking chair about an hour before I left, perhaps his old body beat him and the comfort of not being alone made him too comfortable. I was surprised to find that he had such a skinny build when I covered him with a blanket before I decided to leave, it didn't show on the outside. May be it was because he wore thick clothes, as if his shield from the cruel world outside.
It made me think whether our (future) Papa had such shield on him too; did our fathers in this world have shields with them too? …even the see-through Quatre-sama too? And the careful Fei Oji-chan…
Perhaps other people had shields on them one way or another… that plump lady in the convenient store we met the other night, for example.
And what about Uncle Trowa… we've yet to meet him in person, but from the stories our (future)Papa said he was a courteous man with a silent air and a streak of noble betrayal around him. What was so noble about betrayal act? If I asked Sun-nii he would just dismissed it with something like 'we'll see…' or something alike; but there was always something flashed in Sun-nii's eyes when he'd said that, however careful he'd covered it; it was manic-glinted and reminded me of our (future) Papa's eyes and left me feeling uneasy. Truth was, I'm scared of Sun-nii sometimes… We'd only just met, anyway, so I wouldn't know him that much.
"Oh, I didn't know that we have children in this building…!" an old woman's voice greeted with pleasant tone.
I blinked and just realized that I've wandered around the first floor to where the old couple lived. I reflexively looked behind just to check that she was talking about me and not anyone else behind me.
I looked at her again when I found no one behind me on the empty long corridor (…if anyone could sneak behind me without me realizing it, I'd might have blown them up just of alertness before caring to ask questions first); I smiled and gave a slow nod, there was something warm in my chest when she let out pleasant approving chuckles when she thought I was polite enough.
"I, and my brother, are currently living in the attic, Ma'am…!" I told her.
"Oohh… with those government's youngsters? Well, now that I looked closer at you, you do look like that gloomy child with brown hair…!"
I chuckled at the fact that anyone would classify Tou-san as gloomy, but something felt relieved when the warm tone called Tou-san as child; I wonder if Tou-san had anyone he'd ever called 'mother'.
"You look hungry; would you like to come in?" the old lady said while bending her body forward to examine my face; and I didn't thought that she'd smell that nice.
"You smell nice…!" I informed her; the more I breathed her smell my cheeks felt warmer.
The old lady blinked and let out a high-pitched chuckle… "Oh, what'd you know… you're a flirt, little man…! I was just finished with the laundry!" she straightened her posture.
I lost my smile and mulled at that piece of information; Tou-san or Fei Oji-chan didn't smell that nice after doing such activity, although I'd say Quatre-sama smelled rather nice after doing it. So why did the old lady smell rather much nicer with the same smell?
"…but our uncles didn't smell that nice after doing laundry…!" I pointed.
She blinked, and seemingly finding my answer worth some amused laughing; though I didn't find anything funny with my admission.
"Oh, you poor child; come in and I'll treat you something sweet…!" she ushered me into her apartment. "You do like sweets, don't you?"
"…uhmm… I don't mind, I guess…" I said hesitantly.
"Good. Good. Now, sit tight while I prepare something nice, alright?"
I stared at her while she disappeared into the kitchen.
"You said something, Dear…?" there was a deep old man's voice from the inner room, and a white bearded old man with a pipe in his mouth came out to the living room with a newspaper folded between his armpit. "Oh, we have company. Hello there, young Man, how have you been?" he sat on the sofa across mine.
"I'm fine, Sir. Thank you for asking." –but I wonder why he'd address me as if we'd known each other for a long time; perhaps this was what being friendly should be like. But I didn't know about Papa that much, or the future Papa for that matter.
"He would have a toothache with that much sweet…!" the old man said disapprovingly when his wife came from the kitchen with a large tray of a big cake and other sweets.
"Oh, come on, Henry; some sweets wouldn't kill anyone…!" she smiled as she put the tray carefully on the living room table. "Would you like some juice, Little Man?"
"I'd like that, Ma'am, thank you. You could call me En…!" I said fast.
"Oh, isn't he such a polite little fairy? Children don't know how to be polite anymore these days…!" the old lady chuckled and came back with definitely a fork and an empty glass and a pitcher of orange juice.
"Here you go, please have yourself…!" she patted my head after arranging the things she brought in front of me.
I blinked, and stared at the old lady nodding her head repeatedly urging me to eat, and at the old man who snorted with a smile while opening his newspaper; then back to the things on the table.
"…ummm… pardon me, Ma'am…?" I didn't know what to ask exactly.
"Lisa, he couldn't eat the whole cake all by himself. I doubt he could even lift it from the table…!" the old man said amusedly from behind his papers.
The old lady let out a short explosive chuckle and pushed the table to be nearer my seat. "Here, you don't have to lift the whole cake from the table, right?"
I stared at the cake; eventhough I knew lifting such a light object wasn't even difficult for me, but the problem wasn't even about that, right?
"It's alright if you couldn't finish it by yourself, you could take the rest for your brother. Where is he anyway? You seemed lonely wandering alone; in such a place nonetheless…!"
Did I really look like that? I stared her back at her words; "I don't know…" I confessed; Sun-nii didn't even bother to tell me a single 'I'm leaving' or anything such. Now I felt like Sun-nii left me out on purpose, or was I just finally realized that a little too late?
"Lisa, don't make him cry…!"
I caught myself when the old man's voice sounded disapproving again. Was I crying, or looking like going to? I didn't realize that…
"Now, now… A little sweet would take the pain away…!" the old lady sounded apologetic and brushed my head gently, while putting the fork in my hands on my laps.
…that's why Papa likes sweets…?
Quatre sometimes stole glimpses from the kitchen windows while preparing the breakfast; Soleil seemed blissfully busy helping with some chopping beside him. Wu Fei slept over in his office in the Preventer building saying something about some information that he had to wait all night long and that he was needed to be in his office to receive it, as odd as it may sounded as an excuse. And Heero was somewhere not in the apartment as well; he only dropped by yesterday evening to say that he wouldn't spend the night at home since he had to be somewhere else, and seemingly he was asking permission to do so to the brothers; and the boys had let him, saying that they didn't want to intrude on his work, as cliché as it sounded as a permit. So Quatre had used the study to sleep that night and had missed Duo coming home sometime in the middle of the night, and who was now blissfully sleeping on the couch making a loud snoring and didn't even bother to wipe the cream off his face (now it had dried on his face and he probably would make a fuss about cleansing it later on when he woke up).
En stood near the couch's end at Duo's feet and watched him without blinking since early morning. Quatre only found out about that about half an hour ago, and was very relieved when nothing had exploded now that he thought about the current situation again, it was only Duo (the explosive) and En (the trigger) and Soleil (the catalyst to whatever might explode or wouldn't explode) that were left by themselves (with him under the same roof, nonetheless) all night long.
"Are you worried about En or about Papa?" came a silent question from Soleil; it made Quatre jump in surprise but he refused to look flustered.
"Both?" Quatre admitted turning his not-flustered face to the calm boy next to him who refused to look at him.
"…they would find their ends…!" Soleil smiled but still not looking at him.
Quatre sometimes felt uneasy with the olden words coming from the boy's mouth; like now, perhaps he was saying about 'their matching-ends' or just sarcastically meant 'something that would end things…or lives'.
"How about you?"
"I'm fine…!" Soleil answered fast.
"Is that a good 'fine'?"
"… I'm fine as long as En is fine." the boy corrected softly. Quatre didn't like that generic answer, he couldn't have enough reading about the mini-Duo, and it's been disturbing him since the first time. En was childish enough to be humane, while Soleil was somewhat too old to be a human-child… that was underlined at the word 'human'; the boy was somewhat inhumane to Quatre's mind.
"Do you need something else, Quatre-sama?" Soleil smiled and looked straight into Quatre's eyes, as if challenging his thoughts while actually using the finished chop-work as disguised.
"Put them in…!" Quatre averted his eyes and stared at the soup he was stirring. Soleil did as told and they ended their conversation at that.
As a surprise, although he didn't exactly said when he'd come back, Heero came home just as the time when they would have their breakfast at the table. Or perhaps just a simple intuition to avoid explosive things exploded inside his living quarter, that was just in time as Duo woke up from his sleep and realized that the mini-Heero was staring at him sleep for God knows how long. With that, they were now sitting at the same table facing their respected breakfast and trying to be civilized with each other.
"…shouldn't we go to a church in Sundays?" suddenly Soleil asked without so much a warning it made Quatre choked on his bread.
"Umm… I'm not…-" he said looking a little uneasy and dropped the subject by himself.
Soleil smiled to his plate, "I know Quatre-sama…". Quatre cleared his throat and looked flustered while taking a gulp of water.
En was somewhat off of the atmosphere and he was only storing data from everything around him; such things like how Heero hold his dining knife or how Duo stole glances at Heero and doing exactly what he was doing: storing images of how Heero did things, even the simplest way. Sometime En glanced at Duo and knowing what they were doing, he looked guilty to some extent; perhaps he felt like competing with Duo and knowing it wasn't his right or that they didn't have the same right to do so, so he backed away but couldn't help himself not to continue, Quatre thought.
Heero might have felt the things occurring around him, being the too-heightened instinctive soldier under two explosive-stares, but it didn't take a soldier's senses to notice what was happening in such an atmosphere anyway; Quatre cleared his throat again, he was grateful that Heero had that-kind of battle endurance.
"I have to go somewhere else…!" the soldier suddenly said; and Duo was already too familiar with his soldier-mode tone.
"It's Sunday!" he pointed, eventhough he knew his words wouldn't undo Heero's plans.
"Because it's Sunday." Heero only gave that halve of a sentence as explanation, and Duo shut his mouth. "Going to church in Sunday is not in the List…?"
Soleil arched his shoulders at Heero's odd-toned question; "Father said he was an atheist, I was just wondering why that cross dangling there…"
This time it's Duo who choked, either by the boy's words about (the future) him being an atheist or just because Soleil had referred his neck as 'there'. "Excuse mee…?" Duo asked banging the glass he'd chugged down to the table.
Quatre sighed in his heart, trusted a Duo or two Duos to start a war over simple words, his mind complained.
"Papa…" En sounded hesitated but determined at the same time.
"What?" Duo barked at the soft call. Quatre only stared at them with more clouded eyes; his brows frowned disapprovingly but said nothing.
"… is it alright if I make acquaintances with other people?"
There was something calculated fast in Duo's eyes, that much Quatre knew and he was grateful enough that Duo would actually think of the situation to some extent. "Some ones I should know of?" though his tone was still sounded none too friendly for Quatre's taste.
"The neighbors downstairs. The elders from the first floor said that they're quite fond of you and Tou-san…" En sounded like he was trying to smooth out his permit. "If it's not alright, I won't wander around by myself anymore…!"
Soleil was staring at his brother from the end of his eyes, and he fast intercepted the conversation. "It's not in the List whether we can or cannot make acquaintances, Nii-san."
… before it developed out of hands; Quatre's mind recognized what Soleil was doing and made a mental note about it.
"But our-Papa didn't write we can, so we should ask-"
"This-Papa is not our-Papa, Nii-san…!" Soleil corrected calmly; "He didn't write the List, or perhaps yet…" he turned and stared at Duo.
"Since Papa doesn't contribute himself to doing the activity as what the List specified, Papa shouldn't interfere with what we could or couldn't do about it; isn't that fair enough, Papa?"
Duo's brows twitched at Soleil's tone; and Quatre was thinking that he would rather like it if Soleil's tone didn't sound as if he was trying to get Duo riled up again intentionally… then something popped up in his mind; 'why?' Soleil almost acted like he was envious… no, jealous! About En looking up to Duo? Or about En meeting other peop-… alone! En was alone, meeting up other people and… what? Did it normal for the boy to be jealous of his brother at all?
"…whatever!" Duo threw his fork on his plate, wiping his mouth with the napkin, threw the cloth down on the plate, and strode into the bedroom, presumably to take his shower.
Heero didn't say a word, and just took his and Duo's plates into the kitchen after he finished.
Soleil turned at Quatre and smiled before he took his own plate and trotted into the kitchen; "I'll help with the plates, Toucchama…!"
Quatre blinked, all too familiar with that light shone in Soleil's -Duo's- eyes; it was possessiveness. His slack fingers dropped the fork to his plate. "I'll be damned…!" he muttered under his breath, halve aware that he was currently staring at En, who was the only one left at the table aside from himself.
En only gave him a blink and sipped his cup of water without anything else; Quatre stared at the boy fixedly after that. Now it made sense, but it would turn to something devastating if he didn't work on the situation fast enough; an explosive Duo being explosively possessive over one Heero was already hard to handle; but two explosive Duos being explosively possessive over two Heeros was a WAR!
He needed to call Trowa to come back right away, his mind supplied. With that in mind, he cleared the table.
Sunday's traffic wasn't as crowded as workdays, and Quatre was satisfied enough that Heero didn't look too soldier-y right now; so he risked to start the conversation.
"…Duo seemed bothered enough, he looked jittery; he's not working on dangerous cases, is he, Heero?"
Heero was silent for sometime; after several minutes passed and he was only given silence as answer, Quatre thought Heero wasn't going to answer at all. He gave himself a mind-slap, and said a silent "…sorry for asking…" knowing he'd darkened Heero's mood somehow; perhaps he should have chosen other subject to beat around the bush with.
"…you're asking about me and Duo…" it wasn't a question. Quatre fast turned at Heero and back at the traffic, he swallowed his nervousness.
"Yes…!"
"What about me and Duo?" Heero asked silently without taking his eyes from something imaginary floating outside the window.
Quatre noted that Heero didn't say 'about us', and his alarm started to stir from its slumber in his mind.
"What exactly is about you and Duo; you looked as if you're staying out of his touch intentionally. I doubt even Duo himself wouldn't realize it by now, Heero…!"
Heero stayed silent for almost three minutes. "I…" when he finally spoke up he sounded afraid to say it.
"… I'm afraid of Duo…"
Quatre took a curious glance at that.
"No… terrified!"
Quatre's alarm now began to sound, but as Heero's tone was sounded as if he was having his mind elsewhere rather than contemplating, Quatre encouraged himself to ask further.
"Afraid of what of Duo exactly, Heero?" He was careful to make his tone sounded light and conversational without sounding like he took the subject as a light matter.
"… Duo will kill me…"
There was the shriek of tires as Quatre instantly hit the breaks and their car slid on the road by the momentum and stopped after making a 180 turn on the one-way road. Some cars honked them and surprised drivers gave them some curses as they passed.
Heero seemed like he had nothing drastic changed and was still staring at his imaginary-something floating outside his window. Quatre was, now that he had his alarm fully sounded at the highest pitch, currently gripping the steer wheel and giving a hawk-eye at the traffic now coming from their front but not actually staring at vehicles.
"Why do you think that, Heero?" Quatre still sounded conversational while his face didn't look like it; Papa will kill Tou-sa-… En's words ringing in his ears now, and he knew he hadn't heard it wrong back then.
"Because he's killing me everyday…" Heero didn't look like he cared about the words coming out his mouth, so a little voice in Quatre's mind was hoping that Heero was making an exaggeration of a sarcastic comment.
"He is?"
"… little by little…; with his words… or his eyes… or just his body language…"
"Heero…"
"… when he realizes what he's doing, he will definitely kill me with his own hands…"
"Heero! We're talking about Duo, right? The Duo? The same Duo who loves you…?" Quatre felt like pulling Heero by the shoulders (now that Heero was physically smaller than him it should be easy) but his hands were probably stuck on the steer wheel he was gripping too tightly; a little voice in his mind which tried to escape the shocking conversation was pointing to him that he would probably find two grip-dents on it later when he could eventually drag his eyes from his friend.
"… perhaps it was me that is the problem…!"
Quatre seemed like he would say anything but Heero turned to face him, and all words fled from Quatre's mind at those alien sorrowful prussian eyes, blackened by guilt and… love?
"… you sounded like you know Duo that much, Quatre… Tell me, do you know about me? Anything about me…?"
Heero turned his face away, "If you know what would make Duo kill me, you would kill me yourself, Quatre…!"
"Wha… What is that suppose to mean?" Quatre barked; and at the uncanny time, his eyes saw the patrol's car driving their way, so he turned his car around and continued driving Heero to some dirty place downtown; keeping his mouth silent all the way, knowing he would say something stupid and worsen the situation with the turmoil inside; but making sure he would talk Heero down and grill out some answer from him later.
… exactly what would make Duo blindly kill anyone without a second thought or without any thought at all…?
If anyone killed Heero, perhaps…
But how could that fact apply if it was Heero himself was the one talked about…?
If Heero betrayed him, may be; if someone stole Heero from him then Duo would probably kill that person at first sight.
The vid-link showed a smiling Trowa brightened at the popping image of undoubtedly Quatre at the other end, and was apparently caught by the expression he was making as of now; but Quatre didn't even say a greeting and just said, "… come back now; I'm waiting on the landing…!" and cut off their link.
Quatre stared at his dented steer wheel and massaged his temples, closed his eyes, let out a very long sigh and doubled over on his steer wheel; didn't even care that his car's horn sounded by his leaning body.
"…I'll be damned…!" he complained to himself.
Duo was staring at the bed room ceiling while playfully gripping and loosening the sheet on Heero's side; how he wished that he could be playfully doing something with Heero instead his sheet. He sighed for the -nth time and covered his eyes with his other balled hand.
Quatre was driving Heero to somewhere else and hadn't come back, eventhough it's been way pass noon. He didn't care about the mini-himself who had been openly declaring war to him that morning, nor the fact that that little imp now was nowhere in sight; if ever he was grateful for it. A little conscious mind stated that he was probably tailing Heero to that God-damned someplace else, but he fast dismissed the idea or else he would go berserk if ever that imp came back together with Heero; he realized he didn't want to put Heero between himself and those imps anymore than this since Heero might be siding more to them than he already was.
Duo sighed deeply; "…I must have my sweets…!" he said to no one. A little amount of sweets wouldn't kill me, he thought.
After that thought flashed in his mind, he heard something dull fell outside the bedroom, and he momentarily remembered about the mini-Heero staring at him with open hopeful eyes directed at him whenever he was visible from the couch the boy was occupying. That what had made him retreated to the bedroom in the first place; being alone with that miniature of the one he loved was unnerving to no end, especially if he couldn't help but taken by that miniature as well. He hated to admit it, but he dreadfully realized that he was gradually started to love that miniature-Heero, as well. The thought that if there came the time when he had to choose between his Heero or any-Heero at all terrified him to the bones; it's as if he only had one love for Heero and if he ever shared that love with any other Heero that it would mean that he's killing the real Heero, the Heero that he really loved.
He knew he didn't make sense, and in frustration he decided to take some nap. Glancing at his alarm clock he noted that it was already 3:38 in the afternoon. He made a growl at no one at particular at the fact that he was alone now, trying to avoid the miniature of Heero and that everyone else decided that he didn't need their company.
So Duo closed his eyes, lying on his side; pretending that he had Heero lying behind him and thinking how much that feeling comforted him; from a very long time ago since they were in the war, even in the coldest prison with aching wounds all over his body that thought always managed to lull him to sleep.
He fell asleep sometime after thinking that any moment now Heero would tear down the prison and saved him from whatever devil was clutching him; he didn't dream, though. There was only an odd feeling nudging his mind even in his sleep, and thanked to that he couldn't have his blissful sleep too long.
When he woke up and decided he only felt somewhat more and more uncomfortable with each passing time, Duo looked up at the clock and it showed 4:56. He grunted at the number, and momentarily reminded about an orphanage friend whose face he couldn't picture in his mind anymore, who was being too superstitious and once said that if anyone accidentally saw the clock making a set of number in its numerical order or reversed such as 1:23, or 3:45, or 4:32; then it was a premonition to something bad going to happen. Duo had dismissed it as just a baseless belief but that friend had insisted that her family members had all died after she saw such numbers on the clocks. If it happened more than three times then it's not just something accidental anymore; she had insisted.
"… may be that was just your luck, girl…!" he mumbled to the pillow. Right after that he thought he heard a soft moan coming from outside his bedroom, then another one; after he was positive he heard the third one, Duo stood up and checked outside his bedroom door hastily. The scene greeted him was the empty living room; so he checked the study, noted that someone (probably Quatre and Wu Fei) had tidied up his book stacks and papers and such; then he searched the kitchen and the other bathroom next to the laundry. Finding nothing, and no one, he dismissed it as just his mind playing tricks on him and decided to make himself a nice steaming chocolate and watched some TV. He sure had missed a couple episodes of 'Sarucchi's Trip Collections', his favorite anime show, and he intended to enjoy himself when he could.
An image of an agonizing little-Heero greeted him on the floor, between the couch and the living room table. En was lying there in a miserable heap, with one hand weakly clutching his stomach and the other lied limply near his face; he was breaking cold sweat all over his body and trembling slightly. Sometimes unintelligent moan came out from his blackish lips, while his eyes were shut in a painful mask.
Duo was so surprised at the image, that he dropped the chocolate mug from his relax grip. The hot liquid had splattered on his feet but he didn't feel it.
The sound seemingly have brought the small-Heero's awareness somewhat, as he tilted his neck and opened one of his eyes a slit. Such little efforts apparently had woken his devils and he let out a small mewl, clutching his stomach a little stronger while his body wrecked in small painful spasms.
Duo's shocked ears could hear it a little clearer now; that the small-Heero was calling out 'Tou-san' over and over, as if asking for help; even knowing that he was at the other room instead of Heero who was somewhere else and undoubtedly couldn't hear his cry for help. The thought broke Duo's heart and without thinking he pushed the blocking sofa and table away, didn't care when he'd knocked down the sofa and the table had bumped the TV cabinets and some things had crashed onto the floor.
He kneeled down and checked the small-Heero's vital signs; while asking "What's hurting?" in a hasty bark. A part of his mind pointed the dull falling sound he'd heard before he slept, so the boy had been lying there hurting for more than an hour?
"What's hurting besides your stomach?" Duo barked again.
En only scrunched his face up in pain and tears started to well up, he weakly shook his head; and Duo only got more panicked.
The boy made another agonized mewl when Duo ran to the bedroom and left him without a word.
"Sally It'semergency I'mcoming Getaroomready!" Duo barked to the vid-link, eventhough it was a record. He punched the off button but instantly punched the redial button; "The closed one!" he added and took off wearing his long coat on his way.
Taking the small-Heero into his hands swiftly but carefully, Duo said "I'm taking you to the hospital, can you make it?"
But the small-Heero was only answering with broken "…Tou-sa…"; and seeing his bluish complexion Duo didn't care who the boy was calling for help right now. Although the fact that the boy somehow didn't seem like he trusted him enough eventhough he'd been calling him 'papa' this whole time pricked his heart.
Oh, but weren't you the one clearly stating that you'd better off without them? His mind chided while he took the boy down the stairs; his ears minded every small moan when his movements had caused more pain to the small body.
Duo kicked the garage inner-door and punched the auto-open button with his foot, and mounted his bike putting the limp boy in front of him. "The road will be bumpy, bear with it until we get there, alright?" He said to the boy while covering his small body with the front flaps of his coat and tied their bodies together with the coat's belt, arranging the boy's legs to rest on his right knee while his left hand held his upper body close to his chest. He didn't care about the helmet waiting on the rack, and just took off when the garage door gave an adequate opening for his bike to pass.
As figured, when you're in a hurry usually there was an invisible power called The Inertia that thought a little opposite force would be funny to your effort; Duo was caught in the evening traffic when apparently people who were going out for the Sunday vacation decided to come home and used the same route at the same time. He cursed and yelled all the way and after fighting his way through the walkways, he managed to get to the 40 minutes-away hospital only in about 18 minutes or so.
Somewhere in the middle of their trek En had changed his reiteration, calling out weakly "papa" over and over, and it'd fueled Duo's adrenaline up.
Not even minding to spare some seconds to put his bike on its standard and just let it fell to the pavement, Duo ran through the emergency corridor and just yelled "I'm to see Dr. Sally Po!" while dodging anyone in the way. On her level, still wearing a bloody surgeon gown, and looking bewildered at the also bewildered parade behind an anxious looking Duo wearing his mission-mode face, Sally trotted to Duo's side, who didn't slow his pace at all.
"What's the emerg- …oh!" Duo let her see the boy's face that was covered by the front of his coat, and that's that.
"Room 345, it's a VIP. Let them in. I'll be there in a minute!" Sally said fast to Duo's back and to his bewildered parade and back to Duo's farther back.
Duo cursed under his breath at the room number, but he didn't really belief that baseless superstitious, so his mind whispered to him that it's nothing but a coincidence over and over.
The VIP's room was divided into two sections; the inner room was for the patient, while the outer room was for visitors with small furniture of a cabinet and a rounding sofa set and a table at the center, a sink and mirror at the wall near the doorway and a locker to store jackets and such. Duo put the small-Heero's body carefully on the empty bed, gravely aware that he was nearly unconscious at the time, and arranged his body to ball on his side since that was what he instinctively thought the most comfortable position for the boy.
"Be alright! …be alright; come on, Heero…!" he didn't fully realize what came out of his mouth while he brushed the cold sweating forehead repeatedly. The small-Heero seemed to have heard him and tried to open his eyes; they were dull and blackened by pain, but the blackish lips tried a failed smile, Duo noted. After that the boy was too weak to try anything else and Duo just comforted himself brushing his brown head while saying his comforting words, although they were more intended to comfort himself.
"What happened?" Sally suddenly entered the door without saying anything else; she might have just thought it was actually Heero shrunk by freak laboratory accident. Sally stopped short on her trek right after she saw En's long braided hair; so it wasn't Heero shrinking, that thought flashed in her eyes visibly and Duo almost found it funny if not by his anxiety.
"He seemed like having extreme stomachache, but I don't know why…!" Duo half reflexively answered, staring at Sally checking the boy's condition; noting Sally's creased brows and odd expression at something she thought to herself and the alertness showed on her face.
"It's not something fatal, is it?" Duo's voice sounded childish, and Sally glanced at his face.
'Who is this?' Sally mouthed to Duo.
Duo seemed taken aback and looked caught for two seconds; "…uuh…" he grimaced and reflexively scratched the back of his neck. '…something about fire…' he mouthed back uncertainly. Sally only lifted one of her brows at that answer.
"Hello, Kiddo; I'm Dr. Sally. What's your name?" Sally tried conversationally while checking En's pulse. The boy's eyes snapped open but instantly closed in a grimace, he let out a whining mewl and his shallow breath quickened.
"I'll be back with something that will lessen your pain, alright?" Sally patted the boy's shoulder twice and dragged Duo out. En moaned long on the bed as he realized he was alone in some stranger's hands; "…nooo… Nii-saa-" he called out weakly.
"What is it?" Duo seemed like he was ready to blow up; Sally only gave him an odd calculating stare and looked uncertain. That only made Duo more panic; "Whaat?"
"…I'm not certain, buut…" flicked her eyes to the doorway, Sally looked back at Duo with a deep frown. "I'll be right back. You shouldn't worry too much for now, Duo!"
When a doctor said to not worry too much, that meant something was going on; and Duo looked paler. Sally slapped her forehead at his comical face; "I mean it, Duo!" she said slowly, and decided to drive his mind elsewhere.
"Who is that boy?"
"Hu…?" Duo jerked visibly, noted Sally's interrogating stare and that she was determined to get the answer. "So…something like 'fire'… his brother is the equivalent to the sun…!" Duo said hesitantly. And then he blinked at his own explanation.
Sally stared at him flustered and paled at the same time and decided to just take that answer for now and do what she should be doing as a doctor. "Wait here…!" she said leaving Duo alone in the visitor room.
"Wai-… what should I do…?" Duo chased Sally to the door.
"Wait!" Sally pointed at him from the corridor.
Duo fidgeted and tried to relax himself on the sofa for about a full minute, repeatedly looked at his watch and the clock on the wall, and eventually he stood up; his mind said that he should at least call someone, but a soft moan from the patient room pulled him back to peer inside from the window's half opened drape. En was -thankfully- looked conscious enough, but he was now mouthing 'Nii-san' over and over, his small hand gripping and loosening the bed sheet distractedly.
'…here… Nii-san…' Duo could read his trembling lips moved.
Suddenly the door opened hastily and Duo jerked in surprise.
"What happened?" Quatre barked worriedly but still managed to tone down his voice; behind him trailed along a plain faced Trowa who seemed more curious than worried.
"…uuhh…-" Duo was a little disconcerted at Quatre's stare seemingly accusing him of something bad; perhaps he and Trowa had reached their apartment and found the mess in the leaving room, and somehow Quatre had thought that they had a fight or something like that. "…I don't know; I found him on the floor…!" Duo said fast.
"Alone?" Quatre asked while peering at the boy trough the window.
"Yes. Where have you been?" Duo couldn't help but sounded accusing himself since he was too consumed by his worry at the moment; at which Quatre snapped his eyes at his face, and his eyes smoothened a little realizing how worried Duo was. He relaxed visibly and blew a relieved sigh and took Duo to sit.
"What did Sally say?"
"Wait here…!"
"Anything else?"
Duo fidgeted and chewed his lower lip; "…wait!"
Quatre blinked and successfully managed to not rolling his eyes at Duo's answer. "Other than that?"
"…I shouldn't worry too much for now?" Duo looked paler, "That means I should worry, right?"
"Right?" he snapped at Trowa who only lifted his brows at the sudden question directed at him.
"Duo! I came back to take something I left in your study; what happened?" suddenly barged in a dark scowling Wu Fei without so much a greeting or a knock on the door. He must have checked the vid-link's history before coming here.
"Wu Fei, keep your voice down…!" Quatre cued at the patient room and Wu Fei inhaled his excitement in. "Duo found him on the floor, and brought him here." he supplied, at which Duo nodded with bobbing head. Wu Fei blinked and although still scowling, he assessed Duo's face and decided that he was worried enough already.
"… where is-" Wu Fei's question was cut by En's sudden hysterical yell from the patient room.
"Nii-san! Nii-saan!"
At the same time Sally was opening the door and yelped in surprise as a boy slid from behind her into the room.
"Here! I'm here!" the boy fast answered and in a flash already inside the patient room, leaving an "I'll take it from here. He'll be alright!" before closing the door, but instantly opening the door again and said, "Thank you!" as an afterthought.
That left the others in the visitor room gaped. That boy's face seemed relief and excited rather than worried, everybody thought.
"UWAAAAAHH! Noooo! It hurts, Nii-san…!" En's pained yell sounded from the toilet of the patient room and Duo jolted to stand up.
"It's alright, take it slowly…!" Soleil's voice heard encouraging his brother.
"WAAAAAAHH…!" En's yell was filled with tears; and Duo couldn't take it anymore.
"Sally?" he hurried to Sally who was currently still at the doorway with one hand still gripping the door handle, she had apparently some pills in her other hand but she fast put them into the pocket of her white coat; and Duo looked like he was ready to seize her by the collar and shook her.
Sally blinked, staring down at Duo's hands making menacing gestures unconsciously in front of his chest; and looked up to Duo's face. "That boy is only having constipation, Duo…!" she said calmly but matter of fact-ly.
Duo suddenly stopped 'ticking' in an instant; "…what?" his voice lost the emergency instantaneously.
"Constipated?" Quatre arched his left brow.
Duo spun around with a blank face; "…he's what?"
"Con-sti-pa-ted!" Wu Fei spelled slowly, and Trowa smiled at the Chinese's face knowing that he was trying to quell down his laughter successfully.
"WAAAAAhh…Nii-saaan…!" a louder scream mocking Duo's nervousness from the patient room and Duo's excitement shot up again.
"That can't be just constipated; he sounded like he's in extreme pain!" Duo whispered hard pointing at the direction the scream came from.
"Well…" Sally looked uncertain but decided to say her diagnose anyway, "…it seemed unlikely, but I think this is his first time!"
"First time of what? Being constipated…?" Duo asked skeptically.
"First time having his digestive system works…!" Sally answered calmly.
"Oh…!" Quatre realized something, "That's right. I only remembered him having water the past days…!"
"So, do the 'something about fire' boy and his brother of 'equivalent to the sun' have shorter names?" Sally asked slowly.
Then all eyes turned to Duo; "You don't even remember their names?" Quatre whispered incredulously.
Duo shrunk on his spot and stared guiltily to the floor. "…my brain's in a muddle…!" he mumbled defensively.
"Mini-Heero is En; mini-Duo is Soleil…!" Quatre said to Sally.
"Do you have to call them like that?" Duo muttered under his breath.
"It's faster that way!" Quatre sounded rather irritated, and Duo clamped his mouth shut, knowing Quatre's eyes somewhat looked angry at him.
Sally nodded to herself; "Should I file the boy in…?" she left it hanging noting the eyes of the ex-pilots spoken the answer of negation. "If there's nothing alerting happens after this, I think you could leave without staying the night…" Sally said lifting her shoulder dismissingly.
"That's it?" Duo sounded incredulously; and Sally stared him back disapprovingly.
"I have other patients, Duo. If anything happens just get me somewhere in this same building…!" she said and nodded once to the others and left.
The door closed and only after several seconds passed it opened again; by a calm-faced Heero nonetheless, he had two ice packs in one hand and a hand towel clamped between his elbow and body.
"Heero…-" Duo half exclaimed; and En's scream mocked him again, sounding painful and desperate that it made Duo jerked. Heero stared at Duo's guilty expression and dragged him to sit on the sofa; while handing the hand towel to Trowa who wetted it in the sink without needing to be told.
He noted that Duo refused to look at his eyes; perhaps he was afraid that Heero would blame him. "…slippers-biker…!" Heero said softly sounded amused, but his face didn't change.
"…what?" Duo asked when Heero kneeled in front of him and took off his slippers; and jerked by the sting on his feet.
"Soleil said I should get some ice for your feet. What is this, hot chocolate?" Heero asked accepting the wet hand towel from a silent Trowa, and he used it to somewhat cleanse the dried chocolate from Duo's feet carefully, seemingly minded at Duo's grimace at his stinging burnt skin.
Wu Fei snorted rather amusedly standing at his side; "…if you'd be that worry, you shouldn't have acted hostile in the first place, Maxwell…!"
Quatre chuckled for a moment but looked concerned again staring at the patient room window. Duo humph-ed with a flushed face, but grimaced again when Heero put the icepacks on his feet. "…it's cold!" he reflexively complained, and Heero only looked up at his face for only a couple of seconds long.
The sound of toilet flushed heard and everyone's eyes turned to the patient room, after some moment Soleil came out calmly; but after he closed the door he instantly ran and grabbed Heero by the chest and hugged him tightly, his whole body shook uncontrollably without a sound; hiding his face with his encircling arms.
"Is he okay?" Heero asked still with his usual composed tone. Soleil's head nodded several times, rather looking like he was rubbing his forehead at Heero's chest, and Duo felt the sting of possessiveness stirred in his own chest.
Heero looked usual for a moment, but then he frowned in disagreement. "If your brother would be traumatized by this for life, you shouldn't be laughing…!"
That jerked Soleil's head up, and he was indeed laughing until he cried out some tears, perhaps it hurts more since he didn't sound out his laughter. Waving his right hand dismissively at Heero's expression above his face, Soleil still looked like he couldn't stop his muted laughter any moment soon.
"Nii-saaan…!" came a teary whine from En in the patient room; and Soleil's face turned to normal in an instant.
"I'll be right there, En-nii; wait a moment." he said fast with his usual calm voice; but instantly broke into silent laughter again, the extreme changing even made Duo gawp at the boy.
Heero stared at Soleil's face critically; "You shouldn't show that kind of face to your brother…" he stated; Soleil waved his hand in a gesture of 'I know, but I can't help it; sorry'.
"Sun-niii…" En whined again.
"Coming. I'm coming!" Soleil separated himself from Heero still with laughing face; fast composing his expression before he opened the door. But En's voice instantly accused him before he could enter.
"You're laughing!"
And having it said to his face only broke his composed mask instantly; Soleil laughed out loud on his spot and En screamed hysterically bouncing on his bed.
"WAAAAAAHHHH! Nii-san hidoi-hidoi-hidoihidoihidoihidoiii-" with beet red face.
"Sorry! I'm sorry!" Soleil said with laughter and jumped onto the bed to calm his brother's hysterical tantrum, "…but I'm glad you're alright-you should've told me you've eaten something!" he said while catching En's flailing arms and hugged him down when En seemed he'd lost his euphoria by Soleil's last words.
Taking some labored breaths, he mumbled a remorseful "…sorry… I made you worried…"
"Hahaa…!" Soleil bounced happily on the bed taking his brother's body in his embrace along, "That's alright; I'm happy you're alright now…!"
En silenced hiding his face on Soleil's shoulder, but eventually complained ashamedly that "…everyone's staring…!" at five pairs of eyes staring from outside the window and by the doorway.
Soleil chuckled, "Everyone's worried about you…!"
En's face burnt hotly and he hid his face even deeper behind Soleil's shoulder; "…I want to go hide…" he muttered silently.
"Alright, let's go home!" Soleil said merrily; at which En answered with a long complaining moan and shrunk deeper in his brother's embrace.
"Shouldn't you have said it beforehand if you have circumstances…?" Quatre asked with a disapproving frown.
"It's nothing much to be worried about, Quatre-sama. We just didn't have common things you have here back there…!" Soleil said calmly and sipped his tea. "Uncle Trowa…!" he smiled a greeting to Trowa who was sitting at the armrest of Quatre's seat.
Trowa nodded to the boy but recognized his sweet -furtively impish- smile altogether, having seen it on Duo's face often enough to remember it.
En had fallen asleep halfway through the journey home in Quatre's car, hugging Soleil's body in the cocoon of a blanket he'd used as a hole to hide. He seemed like he would be traumatized for life but Soleil looked rather too happy with his broad smiling face the whole time. After they arrived at Heero and Duo's apartment and cleaned the mess on the living room and left En sleeping in the bed, Soleil knew he'd be questioned by all five of the ex-pilots and actually looked like he was anticipating it to happen.
So Quatre took the seat backing the doorway, with Trowa at his right side on the armrest; Wu Fei at the opposite seat across the width of the table and Heero sat between a frowning Duo and a merry Soleil on the long seat; having a civilized tea-time together. Soleil stole glances at Duo's direction for sometimes, seemingly satisfied that Duo grimaced repeatedly, looking irritated by his action; of which made Quatre sweat, there were two Duos in front of him and he could tell which of them was the one more childish despite their sizes.
"I should thank Father for bringing En to the hospital…" Soleil began, but Quatre knew when a mockery stated even with sugarcoated tone. "…but En is my Heero, yours is Toucchama; please don't confuse their identities again?"
Duo grimaced with a silent growl, "…it's just reflex…!" he muttered between his gritted teeth, but everyone could see his face flushed; and Quatre knew he should fill in before the boy teased Duo the wrong way, knowing Soleil had Duo's sadistic streak of teasing the people he liked to the verge of bullying as well.
"But you ate with us!"
"Hm?" Soleil turned his head to Quatre with clear eyes, "Oh… I've swallowed something once, so I know how my system should work…!"
The room fell silent for several seconds, the way Soleil have said it didn't give pleasant thoughts to the ex-pilots.
"Don't you eat at your place?" Wu Fei asked with a frown.
"We do. But not like what you do here…" he sipped his tea again, intentionally lengthened the pause, "…we have nutrient shots directly to our spinal cords from tubes twice a year…!"
Quatre blanched at the explanation, "…that sounded painful…!"
Soleil laughed, "We didn't have common food anymore, Quatre-sama…"
"Then how do people survive…-" Quatre's words stopped when Soleil sprang to his feet instantly with distant searching eyes; Heero caught the tea mug the boy let drop by reflex when Soleil jumped over his and Duo's heads in an instant, and at the same time the bedroom door blew up in mute explosion.
Soleil landed on both feet, sliding a little on the wooden floor and caught En's body which shooting out from the bedroom; the speed made Soleil had to bring his brother's body in a circling momentum to stop. "En-nii…!" he called out urgently.
"En-nii, wake up!" and called out again as En pushed him when he instantly had his right footing reflexively. "Wake uup…!" Soleil's voice filled with emergency shaking En's body while the walls exploded around them and made the ex-pilots ducked on the floor.
En gasped and faced Soleil's face, but his eyes were dull and unseeing. "…order-" En muttered.
"-the order… I don't want to-" he ranted in panic still trying to push Soleil backwards. "no-no… no explode…!" and started to yell in fright, banging his head to Soleil's chest.
"There's no such order!" Soleil barked and grabbed En's body and head with both hands, pressing him down to his body so he would stop hurting himself. "No order! Come back to me!"
"Come to my voice! Come back to me…!" Soleil's voice was trembling with urgency but didn't reach En's awareness; "Come to me! En-nii, come to me…!" he sounded almost begging at the end.
En shot his head up, exploding a breathless chough and wheezed in a seemingly painful breath; Soleil supported his suddenly lax body as En dropped powerless to his shoulder, and brushed his back comfortingly, swaying their bodies to the sides humming a gentle song.
When the explosion apparently stopped, the ex-pilots straightened their bodies almost at the same time. Heero was assessing his surrounding first and frowned at the multiple holes of various sizes in the walls, not to mention the other things besides the walls too. Duo stared with widened eyes at the sudden event, while Wu Fei cursed under his breath at the fact that he'd bumped his forehead to the table edge when ducking; and Trowa was supporting Quatre, who looked like he'd been electrocuted by invisible charge, back to the seat. Then they stared at the boys standing on the floor in front of the now holed bedroom door; Soleil was undoubtedly took En swaying in a slow dance to comfort him.
…in a sole heightened space…
where the birds rest their wings
and angels learn to fly…
…in the stars' embrace
bound by the Fate's strings
A lone egg waiting to hatch…
in the nest where the birds rest…
and the angels spread their wings…
and the Fate sings…
and the lone egg's waiting…
They heard Soleil hummed a sad lullaby, repeating the last stave over and over. Not long after En literally fell asleep on his feet, in Soleil's tight embrace, resting his head on his shoulder. After that, it seemed like Soleil that was caught in his own thought; still whispering the lines and distractedly stroking his brother's back; sometimes his body shivered by something only he could see in his mind.
"…Soleil?" Heero called when the boy didn't seem like he was going to stop. Slowly and jerkily Soleil's head turned, facing five sets of eyes staring at him and his sleeping brother with various surprise and shock and bewilderment.
Soleil let out a shaky breathless smile, he looked lost and in the verge of tears himself; after some deep breaths he whispered, "…it's just nightmare!"
"En had nightmares sometimes…!"
"It's only nightmares…!"
And the others knew the boy was trying to convince himself over something he himself didn't belief in.
Sweats... saru actually forgot to upload this chapter last year... sorry
