Chapter 9: Find

As much as I hated the idea of a naked Heero being ogled by anyone but myself, I knew that Trowa, Quatre and Wufei had to be informed about this new and frankly speaking quite bizarre turn of events.

"Heero," I said politely, valiantly trying not to sound too regretful, "you, um, should get dressed now and then we should go and see the others. We... have a lot to talk about."

"Ok", Heero mumbled, still somewhat embarrassed about lying stark naked and face-down in front of me... on my bed... showing off his tattooed backside.

"Right then, I... guess I'll just wait outside. Take your time." Half embarrassed, half hurt by Heero's obvious discomfort, I hurriedly fled the room. Curiously enough, at that moment even such a marvellous thing as finding a heap of gold and getting filthy rich paled in comparison to the dream of having the person you care about love you in return. For a pirate, that was a truly staggering thought.


As expected, Quatre, Trowa and Wufei were elated to learn that the much sought after map was finally within our grasp – figuratively speaking.

"Let me see it," Wufei enthused, obviously thrilled to get rid of his job at Doc J's shipyard before it was too late and the strange ship really lived up to its promise and sank like a stone.

"NO WAY!" The words were out before I even noticed and everyone was staring at me oddly.

"Well, I mean, Heero was really uncomfortable doing it the first time, we... shouldn't force him to get naked all the time."

"No one is thinking of forcing him, Duo. And certainly not all the time." Quatre replied reasonably.

"I guess so, but, come on, I told you it's there, so you don't really need to look at it again, right? Don't you trust me?"

"That's actually an interesting question..."

"Wufei. We are through with his topic."

"Thanks, Quatre."

He sighed. "Don't mention it. Ok, we should get back to what's important now. The map... before Heero changes his mind."

After much back and forth, it was decided that the map would have to be transcribed first before we could get down to the business of deciphering it. Someone had to redraw the tattooed map on Heero's back on paper, which basically meant starring at his naked body for hours on end and I was eager to volunteer.

"I don't mind doing it," I offered. Which was an understatement if there ever was one.

This time, however, Trowa chimed in. "No, I think Quatre should do that, he knows how to read and write, it could be useful."

"Yeah, I know, but—"

And then, something really remarkable happened. Heero, who had been silent so far and had not really contributed to the conversion unless necessary, spoke up.

"I agree. Mr. Quatre should do it." His face was as expressionless as ever as he said it, but I hadn't spend months distilling rum with Heero for nothing and so I caught the tiny nervous flicker in his eyes when the rest of his face remained perfectly impassive. Heero was feeling so uncomfortable getting naked in my presence that he went out of his way to ensure that the situation would not repeat itself, while I was clutching at every straw available to see that it did.

A horrible, painful sensation gripped me then, similar to falling into a frigid sea and forgetting to breathe because of the cold. Or the shock at realizing you just lost your precious ship because of one unlucky hand of cards. I'm sure if I hadn't known before that I liked Heero, I would have realized it then. Hurt by what was not even an open rejection but just Heero's taciturn way of brushing off another suitor, I tried to at least save my pride.

"A-alright", I croaked completely undignified. "It's no big deal. Quatre can do it."

The matter was settled. Yet despite the advanced hour, there was another exceedingly important matter that had to be addressed before anyone even thought about going to bed, and Wufei wasted no time addressing it...

"If we find the treasure, we'll split the profits equally?"


This story will soon get an award for longevity;) Well, I felt really sorry for it (and all the effort I poured into it O_O''), so I decided to once and for all finish it. Whether you want to take that as a threat or a promise, is up to you:)