Night had taken over the sky by the time Heero came back home with Duo, still cradled in his arms. He gently laid him down onto the couch and covered him with a blanket and headed for the kitchen. Not being much of a cook, he grabbed a box of cereal from the cabinet and made himself a bowl to eat.
He wasn't really hungry though, no, not at all. He didn't need food, but what he did need was a distraction. His head hung over the small bowl as he analyzed the shapes and the letters that made up his meal, occasionally poking at a marshmallow with his spoon. His eyes briefly shifted onto Duo, who was still passed out on the sofa, and then back onto the soggy mess that was his cereal. Something, a word, caught his eye and made him take a closer look into the bowl as if his eyes were deceiving him.
F A T E
He quickly pulled himself away and shook his head violently, not wanting to believe his
eyes. But he knew, in the back of his mind, that it was a sign. A foreshadowing of what was to come, and Heero didn't want to take it all in because, in his heart, he knew that his friends were going to die.
In a fit of rage, Heero slammed his fist onto the counter, causing his bowl of cereal to jump up and spill all over. The sound of the spoon crashing against the linoleum floor awakened Duo. He slowly sat up, rubbing his head at the same time before he started to speak.
"Heero, what happened man?"
Heero shifted his eyes to Duo for an instant without saying a word. He then turned around, grabbed a handful of paper towels and started cleaning the mess he had made. Duo stared at him for a moment with a confused look on his face before he started speaking again.
"Are you eating my Alphabet Cereal? I thought you hated marshmallows, is there any left?"
Heero ignored him, tossing away the soaked paper towels and rising out the dishes instead. Duo huffed at this and crossed his arms, he didn't like being ignored very much. Heero was too lost in his own emotions to concentrate on Duo though. He had his own demons to deal with for the time being. Without saying a word, Heero sat himself on the opposite end of the couch and lowered his head. Duo stared at him from across the cushions with curious eyes, he had never seen him act like this. Suddenly, without any warning, tears began to fall onto the carpet from Heero's eyes. His body trembled and he started gasping for breath, instinctively, Duo moved closer to Heero, slowly at first as if to make sure he had his approval. There was no resistance on Heero's part as Duo slipped his arms around him and held him close. It was a hard day for both of them, and now, in the quietness of there home, everything seemed to overwhelm them all at once.
Quatre struggled to open his eyes, but the amount of painkillers that flowed through his bloodstream made the task impossible. He felt so numb, yet, every now and then, sharp flashes of pain would go up and down his body making him cry out in agony. The nurses failed to tend to him anymore because of the incident between Heero and the orderlies. He was lucky that he was still hooked up to the machine that would pump morphine into his bloodstream every twenty minutes. That was the only relief he had now. He was too disorientated to fully comprehend where he was. He thought that he had died and was being slowly punished for taking his own life. He didn't care about the pain though, the only thing he cared about now was the person who happened to be dying in a similar room on the other side of the hospital. Although Quatre was unaware that Trowa was dying in a similar room on the opposite side of the hospital, he thought he could feel his presence close by. It was remarkable how Quatre, even in this state, was so in tuned with Trowa. Quatre was almost comforted by the thought of Trowa, but another flash of pain ran through his body causing him to scream out once more.
Trowa lay still in the hospital bed, eyes wide open, yet unfocused. It was very cold in his hospital room, as if the nurses purposely left that air conditioner on. Despite the cold, beads of sweat slowly rolled down his forehead and landed onto his pillow. Unlike Quatre, Trowa was still tended to by the doctors- maybe it was because Trowa needed more medical attention, or maybe it was because the hospital staff was unaware that he was also associated with the two boys who attacked the orderlies. Either way, he was lucky because his body desperately needed medical attention.
He suddenly felt tired and closed his eyes, trying to welcome sleep, but sleep wouldn't have him, not yet. Instead, the image of Quatre appeared, bloody and broken, the way Duo had found him earlier that day. At first, Trowa was confused by this, he couldn't understand why Quatre was covered in blood, but then the scenario changed. Quatre was still there, but now he wasn't drenched in blood. Now he was running recklessly through his mansion, tossing over vases and other expensive looking things that crossed his path. Tears poured out of Quartre's eyes as he picked up a shard of glass that was once part of a vase that held a bouquet of red roses, at the same time, Trowa's eyes began to swell with tears that flowed out of the corners of his closed eyes onto the pillow beneath him.
Duo held onto Heero throughout the night. To him, it was nice to finally be the one comforting, rather than being the one comforted. Heero had always been careful not show his emotions to other people, especially Duo, but now all that seemed to change.
Daylight crept through the blinds, awakening Heero. Duo was still fast asleep, it was easy to tell that he was because of the load snores that erupted from him every now and then. His arm was still wrapped around Heero's waist, as if in his dreams he was afraid of letting go of him. Heero remained in bed, not attempting to remove himself from Duo's embrace as he decided that he wanted to stay like this until Duo awoke.
Trowa was wakened by a nurse who placed a try of food in front of him without saying a word. He looked down at the hospital food before him and his stomach began to turn. Instead of eating, he pushed the try aside and made an effort to fall asleep again.
Quatre was still too disorientated to be fully conscious when the morning came. The nurses still continued to ignore him, and his morphine was running low. He knew that the pain would be coming soon...
Duo was awoken by the scent of Heero's hair that found its way underneath his nose. He gave a wide grin as he realized that Heero was still in bed with him, something that rarely happened. Sensing that Duo was awake, Heero rolled over so that he could be face to face with his lover. Duo was surprised to see that Heero greeted him with a smile on his face-another rarity on his part.
"We'll good morning sunshine,"Duo mumbled, trying to sound cheery despite the circumstances. Heero didn't answer with words, instead he pulled Duo closer to him and kissed him tenderly on the lips. They held each other close, neither of them wanting to separate from one another.
When they finally pulled apart, Heero's face was serious once again. This also caught Duo off guard, and he was a little disappointed to find that Heero had gone back into his serious facade. Heero sensed Duo's disappointment, and wrapped his arm around his lover to keep him close. Duo smiled at this, and opened his mouth to speak but he was quickly interrupted by Heero.
"I love you, Duo, I have always loved you. I am sorry for not expressing it as much as I should, and I hope you can forgive me for that,"He paused for a moment, letting his words sink in before he began again. "I've thought a lot about Quartre and Trowa and what they have been through, it made me think about our relationship and how much I take it for granted sometimes, but I just want to let you know that I will never take you for granted again. You mean the world to me, I would be lost without you."
Duo was overwhelmed with emotions, he couldn't believe what Heero just said. He pinched himself, making sure it wasn't a dream, which made Heero laugh. Duo was glad to find that he wasn't dreaming, and, that the boy in front of him no longer seemed like the cold statue that he normally was.
Reluctantly, Heero got out of bed and faced his lover. His words were still soft, but at the same time, enforcing all the same.
"It's time to check up on Trowa and Quatre."
TBC
Sorry again about the slow update...I hoped you enjoyed reading it.