I'm not dead, i swear! this is proof! XD so, I wrote these over summer, but never posted them. i figured it'd be good to post them all now, since i havent posted anything in a while. i'm doing NaNoWriMo this year, so i'm only working on an original fic right now-which means the huge fanfic i've been working on for the past several months was once again put on hold T-T i wanna get that one finished as soon as i can, cuz i havent posted anything big in waaay too long. i'm so sorry guys XP

anyway, please enjoy these little tiny mini drabbles

Ten Genres, 1x2

Angst

"S-suicide attempt...?" stammered Heero, standing stock still in the front lobby of the hospital. The doctor nodded solemnly.

"I saw him myself, and his wounds are clearly self inflicted, so yes... I am terribly sorry, sir," she informed him grimly.

Heero was still in shock, "I-is he okay? Can I see him?" Heero went silent for a moment, "Did… did he leave a note…?" since when had Duo been contemplating suicide? He had seemed so happy…

"Not with him, no…" she paused, waiting a breath before answering Heero's other question, "He's in surgery right now, being treated for severe blood loss and shock…" her voice faded, and it was clear that she had a grim sense of the despondency of the situation. When she spoke again, her voice held the steady authority of a doctor, "He should be released soon, so you'll be able to see him then."

Heero nodded, somewhat dazed and in denial. He followed the doctor to the elevator, where she briefly gave him directions to where Duo would soon be. A clenching pain made itself known in Heero's stomach, and his legs nearly buckled beneath him at the sudden reality of Duo trying to kill himself… Why would he do such a thing?

AU

"But Heero—"

"Just drop it. I'll be fine."

Duo frowned, knowing Heero was much too stubborn to ever change his mind. But then, it was that same stubbornness that had allowed him to survive this long, despite the frigid surroundings—despite having nothing but his snowy, angelic wings to keep him warm during the long, icy nights.

Heero took a step forward, closer to the mouth of the cave. His dark green, summer tunic rustled against his tanned skin as a howling gust of wind whipped past the alcove, some of the frozen wisps dispersing into the cavern. Duo grimaced as the cold blasted him, even reaching to where he crouched near the back wall of the cave. Neither of them had gotten much sleep last night.

Duo wrapped his arms around himself as he rose to his full height, too cold to stretch out his black wings like they ached to. He stepped towards Heero, "Please, if you insist we keep moving, let me at least tend to your wound..." It was too cold, even for Duo, who grew up on the outskirts of this land of black ice. Not waiting for an answer, Duo slipped the glove off of his right hand, exposing an intricate web of both pale and gruesome scars all along the back of his hand, then up along his arm and wrist. He reached out to place his palm on the blackened, frozen over gash in Heero's arm. The other grimaced as Duo's palm made contact with the wound.

A purplish, black aura sprung up around the nasty cut, and a hazy, dark mist began to swirl around Heero's arm, faster and faster until it disappeared altogether. Duo staggered back as soon as the mist was gone, gasping for breath and clutching his scarred right hand against his chest. He could feel the marks growing longer, burning as they krept further up his arm. Heero gazed at Duo for a moment, worried, before his eyes were drawn down to the now healed bruise-colored mark on his arm. "Thank you..." he breathed, looking up in time to see Duo falling forward, his eyes beginning to flutter closed as his knees buckled beneath him. "Duo!" Heero rushed forward, catching the other.

Duo managed a small whimper as he lay in Heero's arms. His dark violet eyes were hardly visible as his vision faded—but it was enough for Heero to see the purple depths clouded to a deep, muddled black. "P-poison... Your wound was... poisoned..." Duo managed before he was out.

Crack

"Oh really?"

"Yeah really."

"I don't believe you, Duo. Show me."

"Egh… Don't say I didn't warn you."

"…Ohhhh…"

"What did I tell you?"

"And it was there when you woke up?"

"Yeah... I have no clue how it got there though..."

"And you can't feel it?"

"No."

Crossover

"Damn that program!" hissed Heero as he fishtailed to a stop next to where Duo had landed after his lightcycle was derezzed beneath him. Duo staggered to his feet, a little dazed but otherwise fine. "You okay, love?" asked Heero hurriedly, as Duo bent to pick up his baton.

"I'm fine," Duo growled, "But those guys won't be for long!" With a running leap, Duo disconnected his baton and letting his own energy run into it. The lightcycle rezzed back into existence, doing a wheelie as Duo sped across the grid. Heero followed, his lightcycle emitting a bright, pale blue light ribbon.

Duo grimaced, signaling to Heero as he turned on his light ribbon; he pushed his lightcycle faster, speeding towards the program that had just tried to derezz him.

…Not a fraction of a millicycle later, the opponent program shattered into a million pixels.

First Time

Duo stretched his arms up over his head, feeling the muscles tense then relax as he continued to walk down the busy hall of the school's main building. Duo always did love infiltrating schools as part of a mission—and he loved it even more when it was with Heero; Duo did have a near paralyzing crush on the 'Perfect Soldier', after all. Not to mention, they always ended up as roommates, even if the school itself didn't provide housing—it was awesome. Heero had sent Duo a text message not many minutes ago, not long before lunch got out, telling the smaller pilot to meet him up in the school's Tower Room for a meeting of sorts. Duo figured that Heero had simply come up with an important change to the mission strategy—something that couldn't wait to be disclosed.

Hefting his bag up on his shoulder, Duo made sure no one was following him, then ascended the flight of stairs. He entered the Tower Room, closing the door behind him, and dropped his bag to the floor. He found Heero leaning on the far wall, arms crossed, gazing out the long wall of windows. His cobalt eyes were hazy with some sort of emotion that Duo couldn't decipher. Heero looked up.

"What's up?" Duo asked, grinning despite the growing knot in his stomach that only served to twist in discomfort when Heero made an expression to match the one reflected in his eyes. Was... was that nervousness? Was Heero nervous? What was there to be nervous about?

Without a word, Heero took several stiff steps towards Duo, not stopping until he literally had Duo pinned to the wall. Nervous now too, and also a little bit scared, Duo glanced at Heero's hands pressed flat against the wall just above where his shoulders were leaning against it. Duo's heart was thudding a mile a minute now, nearly throwing itself against the bars of its bony cage; his breath hitched in his throat at the sudden proximity. His usually loud, sure voice was reduced to a tiny, stuttering squeak, "H-Heero...?" He could feel Heero's warmth radiating from only inches away, smell the intoxicating, musky scent that was undeniably Heero. Duo's violet eyes were locked with the perfect cobalt; they had never been this close before...

And then, those azure eyes closed in a gesture that Heero had seen so many other teens his age do time and time again. Heero leaned forward slightly, holding his breath; his lips met with Duo's a moment later, pausing as if unsure, before continuing on with the kiss. Heero's own heart fluttered as Duo began returning the kiss, as their lips meshed and tongues explored and hands slipped lower to hold the other's nervous, trembling body. Heero was the first to break away, staggering back a step.

"F-Forgive me," he murmured, shaking his head and averting his eyes as if he had done a terrible wrong. "My emotions got the best of me, I couldn't stop myself."

It took Duo eternally too long to find his voice; he pressed his fingers lightly to his lips, trying to decipher if what he had just experienced was real or not. Heero had just... kissed him! It was a dream—the dream he had nearly every night—come true! But Duo's silence lasted nearly long enough to solidify Heero's thoughts of resentment—the slightly taller pilot hung his head in shame.

"N-no, don't take it that way!" Duo managed to squeak, before taking a deep breath and fully regaining his voice... though not necessarily the coherence to voice his thoughts in their entirety. "I... You..." Duo shook his head, "I didn't know you felt that way about me." Heero looked up at that. "I didn't know you felt... the same way I feel about you..."

Heero smiled then, actually, genuinely smiled. Duo's heart began to flutter again. "I love you, Duo," Heero stated, stepping back so that he was incredibly close to Duo again. He placed his warm, calloused hand on Duo's cool cheek.

"I love you too, Heero," Duo grinned, just as Heero leaned in to kiss him again.

Fluff

Heero hugged Duo to him. The smaller Preventer agent smelled faintly of the light soap he used—it was a fresh, clean, and almost sweet scent, that perfectly complemented the warm, rich, loving smell that was Duo himself.

Humor

"Haha, Heero you are such a dork!" Duo smirked.

Heero was puzzled, "What did I do?" he could feel himself starting to blush already, though.

"What do you mean 'what did you do'? Lookit!" Duo was cracking up, the sight of Heero's pinking cheeks only making it worse. He gestured towards Heero's crotch.

Heero looked down, "And?"

"You honestly don't get it, do you?" Duo gasped out, still laughing.

Heero said nothing.

Duo took a deep breath, trying to calm himself, "Your gun. The way you shoved it in those tight spandex shorts of yours, it looks like you've got a hard-on." Duo paused, laughing for a short moment, "And since we're alone here, I'm gonna say that that's a hard-on for me!"

Heero stared down at the not-so-innocent place to carry his gun, "Oh..." If his cheeks could've gotten any redder, they would have. Duo let out a keening laugh when Heero proceeded to reach into his pants, and pull out the gun in question; he looked it over carefully, as if the gun itself had some perverted aspect to it.

"Hey, hey Heero, next time we go out in public together, you should shove your gun in your shorts there again. Make people think you really are horny," Duo laughed.

Heero was mortified, "No."

Hurt/Comfort

Shivers down my spine. A sense of confusion. Tears stream from my eyes and a shudder shakes me to the core. "H-Heero…" His arms wrap around me protectively.

"It's okay, Duo. You're gonna be okay," he whispers, murmurs, sighs. "I love you, remember?"

"Yeah…" I breathe shakily. Something painful clutches in my stomach, and a sob tears through me. I clutch Heero's shirt. He rubs my back, gently, and after a while the trembling begins to subside.

Smut

"Ahhh… Ahh—Heero!" Duo cried his lover's name, back arching slightly as a brief, yet intense wave of ecstasy rocketed up his spine. He couldn't stop his hips from instinctively rocking forward, couldn't think straight as the pleasure only increased. "HEERO!"

UST

Heero discretely bit at his lip, stepping over to Duo's desk. He placed his hand on the other's shoulder, forcing himself to refrain from simply grabbing Duo and making out with him then and there. Duo looked up, smiling at his partner, "What's up, Heero? Ya need something?"

"Duo…" Heero forced out, barely managing to mask the strain of his voice with a low growl. Heero leaned in then, unable to keep his eyes off of Duo's perfect lips. He could feel the soft warmth of Duo's breath mingling with his own when he suddenly realized what he was doing. Heero growled in earnest this time, pulling away and hurrying out of the room.

What the hell did he almost just do? What did he almost just do to Duo? Heero cursed himself mentally, hurrying down the halls and out of the Preventers building.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

It wasn't marked on the calendar, and it wasn't a spoken event. It was just some mutual affair that they all seemed to acknowledge. All five of them. Because without the reasons for this day, this memory, none of them would have met. Some of them wouldn't have survived to this point without their cause for reunion.

It saddened Duo to think it, and his heart always tightened and throbbed when he remembered the resilient button of the detonator he had used that day. He was always struck with the sensation that the hard plastic device had been telling him "No." But he had followed through anyway, as had the others.

And so, the five of them gathered every year, on the anniversary of that fateful day. The day that they had ended yet another war, had ended the final war. They had destroyed their all but living machines within twenty four hours of the end, despite the resentment. For some, Heero specifically, there was nothing left to destroy by that point. And on that day he had stood by Duo, knees trembling and threatening to buckle from the stress of the last battle, as he said a final goodbye to his partner, to his savior in more ways than one, goodbye to the mecha that had allowed him to bring the peace he was created to deliver. It was sad to see the metallic extension of himself disappear into the rubble, buried beneath the remains of his comrades' own machines.

The five young pilots did not remember this day often. No more than they had to, in order to keep it alive between them. But still, on that day each year, even as the next century of the After Colony progressed and stretched well into its new peaceful era, they went back to that place in the L-3 colony cluster every year. It was a monument now, well-visited in the year 217 AC, and the artificial sun shone bright overhead as a contrast to that dark 'night' that had ended the war.

And the five former pilots, well into their adult years, met up again and brought flowers to the glorified grave of their not-quite-alive machines. People stopped and stared, some undoubtedly recognizing, and others only sensing something faintly special, as they watched. The soldiers, armed with only the permitted 'weapons' of the era—clearly non-lethal tranquilizers and stun guns—saluted their superiors and stepped aside from their posts, granting closer access to the monument itself. It was a very moving sight, a small remembrance of the strife for the fought-for peace and of the deadly machines that let a minority's ideals become reality for both Earth and Outer Space.

And they came back every year, to lay flowers at the spot.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The dirtied white of Heero's bandages was what initially caught my eye as I entered the dark room. He was sitting at his computer desk, as usual, typing away at his mission report, undoubtedly. I hadn't even heard him come in... but then again, I had been sound asleep on the sofa up until a few minutes ago. I hadn't been expecting Heero to return until morning, and was about to go to bed and conk out for the night, yet here he was, back home again and in one piece, for the most part.

"Welcome back, Hee-chan," I greeted, stepping past the door's threshold and giving the light switch and upward whack. The ceiling lamp flickered on, and I saw Heero nearly startle, turning slowly, stiffly to look at me. Even if it wasn't clear in his eyes, or any other body language for that matter, I knew just by how he had turned in that creaky old chair, that he was hurting.

"Duo," he nodded in an acknowledged greeting before turning away again.

I spoke up before the clatter of keys could resume. My tone was grave, "How bad is it?" I asked and he turned again, slower this time. The look in his eyes was blank as I took a step forward, further into the room. I frowned when I saw a fleck of red begin to blossom from beneath the bandages over his left arm; he was sitting with it propped up over the back of the chair—a normally innocent pose, but it had obviously aggravated whatever sort of abrasion lay beneath the gauze. And yet, Heero's blank gaze only seemed to ask one question as reply to my own.

"How bad is what?"

Like he didn't know he was hurt. Or at least, like he couldn't feel it. Like he didn't care. I stepped closer to him, one foot forward, then another and another, till I was reaching out and my fingers were lightly brushing over the slowly darkening bandages at his arm. Heero's head bent and his thick, dark bangs shadowed his eyes as he gazed at my hand, gazed at his wound. What was going through that stoic mind of his right now? When he looked back up, it seemed as if he hadn't even noticed the blood—he gave it no regard, whatsoever. He didn't care. But I did, and I took it upon myself to care for him at times like this, when he simply would not.

Heero turned back to his computer, and the rhythmic clicking resumed as I stepped away, retreating to the bathroom to gather up our sparse medical supplies. There was a tension in my gut, telling me that his arm would need stitches... and that it wasn't the only place that would, either. I sighed; I really had my work cut out for me tonight... but then, what else was new? He was Heero, after all...

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

It was very early in the morning. It was still pitch black outside, and would be for at least a few more hours—hey, it was winter, after all. Duo had slipped out of his shared bed not ten minutes ago, having woken a few minutes before Heero's alarm had gotten the chance to shock them both back into the waking world. Smirking, he had made the decision to sneakily turn it off and let his lover sleep a bit longer, before they had to leave for their mission quite a bit later that morning. Heero had been more worn out than usual the night before, enough so that he had been noticeably incoherent. Duo knew that he needed rest, and waking long before the crack of dawn, with not even seven solid hours of rest, would only serve to bring Heero down even further. Duo didn't want to risk Heero being even remotely below his best, and he knew how important it was for his lover to rest—it wasn't uncommon for Heero to push himself to complete and total exhaustion when he simply didn't have the time to sleep; he was too dedicated to his work to make time. So that left the job of time-making up to Duo, who was more than willing to take on the responsibility.

There were still several preparations to be made before they were to set out, hence there being such an early setting on Heero's alarm, but Duo was confident that he could get quite a bit of it done on his own long before they needed to leave—Heero was extremely diligent when it came to such preparations, and usually tended to allot himself more time than needed. So, still not quite awake yet, but more than capable to deal with his and Heero's Gundams as needed—hell, he had done emergency reformatting on his own Gundam's software in worse conditions than simply being groggy—Duo headed out through the chilly darkness to where they were currently hiding their Gundams. He didn't have to worry about Heero waking while he was gone, since, when overly tired like he was, Heero was known for sleeping long past how many hours he claimed to need... given the sun remained below the horizon long enough for that to happen; dawn was like the kick start to Heero's internal clock.

Yawning hugely, Duo clamored up to Wing ZERO's cockpit and entered in his password combination—a long series of letters and numbers, along with a hand print and iris scan—so that the air locked compartment would open up for him. He eased himself down into the pilot's seat, taking a slow breath of the familiar musk that had long since permeated the leather and metal he was surrounded with. Reaching up—the Gundam was lying flat on its backside—he typed in the code to start up the core computers that ran the giant machine. Wing needed one last diagnostic run before it could surely be ready for the battlefield, and after the extensive amount of damage it had taken in the previous fight, the high speed computer was going to need at least half an hour to complete the task. So now, with the system scan running, Duo gave the cockpit's supply compartments a once over, making sure Heero had really restocked his first aid and food stores like he had needed to—Duo was glad to see that he had, since the task hadn't been done in quite some time.

Letting the computer continue to run, Duo climbed out and made his way to his own Gundam, entering the cockpit and running a localized diagnostic on the active cloak and hyper-jammer systems. They had both needed extensive repairs after his last mission, and he just wanted to be sure that his work had been complete. Everything, in both Gundams, turned out fine, just as Duo had suspected—there was no repair work left here to be done, so he returned to the safe house. It was still dark. Checking the clock, Duo saw that he had only been gone for about an hour.

Duo snuck quietly into the bedroom, smiling lovingly at the still-sleeping lump under the covers that was Heero, lying curled up on his side. His lover's end of the bed faced the closet, so as Duo stepped over to retrieve some clean clothes, he paused for a moment to glance at Heero's sleeping form—his cobalt eyes were still behind his closed lids, and his chest rose and fell in slow, deep breaths. He was sound asleep. Still smiling lightly, Duo eased open the closet door ever so slightly, reaching in to grab the first black shadows he saw hanging within—aside from Heero's spandex shorts, which faintly reflected the moonlight streaming through the window, there was no black in the closet aside from Duo's clothes; it was clear what belonged to who.

Still silent, Duo stepped out of the room and into the lone bathroom, where he brushed out his hair and turned on the shower. The water turned off after about twenty minutes, and Duo stepped out, clean and feeling a bit more awake—there was only one more thing he needed to wake him up completely, and that came after his shower: coffee. Mind on other thoughts, Duo once again brushed out his thick, wavy hair and braided it tightly, before mussing his damp bangs roughly with his fingers. He dressed, picked up his dirty pajamas from the floor and left the bathroom. The safe house was still silent, still dark. It was about half an hour till sunrise. Duo dropped his clothes into the nearly full laundry basket at the end off the hall, picking it up and taking it out to the garage, where the washing machine and dryer resided. One of the few things that needed to be done before they left for their mission was the laundry, which Heero preferred to do for some odd reason, even though Duo was perfectly capable of the domestic chore. He removed the load of towels that had been left in the washer overnight—it was winter, so nothing got smelly if left damp for a few hours—and transferred them to the dryer, turning the timer to 70 and letting it run. Most of the clothes Heero and Duo wore were dark enough to be washed together in one load, so Duo sorted the basket and dropped his pajamas, several of Heero's shirts, a pair of skull print boxers, and many other articles into the cylindrical machine. Duo checked the settings before turning the washer on. He returned into the warm house.

Not needing to flip on the kitchen light, Duo retrieved the coffee grounds from the cabinet and did his best to be quiet as he cleaned out the coffeemaker from its last use. With enough grounds and water to make more than enough of the morning beverage for both him and Heero, Duo clicked on the much-used appliance and went to get two mugs and a spoon. Since Heero would probably be upset—although secretly grateful—about oversleeping, Duo decided to wake him up with a nice, hot cup of coffee. Heero had never cared much for it, but after spending so much time with his lover, he had come to enjoy it, and even brew a cup for himself at times. (He usually wouldn't have any unless Duo was, since he seemed to see it as one of the little things they really only did together).

Duo smiled softly as he poured the coffee, putting noticeably less cream and sugar in Heero's cup compared to his own—Heero liked it bitter, but not totally black, while Duo was nearly the complete opposite.

And yet, for how long he had been quiet, letting Heero sleep as long as possible, Duo should've known he would've slipped up sooner or later. When he was turning to gently place the used spoon in the sink, it slipped from his fingers and clattered loudly as it hit the metal basin. Duo froze, turning his head abruptly towards the entrance of the kitchen, expecting to see Heero appear there any minute, having woken to the sudden noise and assuming it was an intruder. He must've stood there for a good three minutes, waiting, but Heero never showed. Maybe the fallen spoon hadn't been as loud in the back of the house, behind the closed bedroom door, as it had been in the kitchen.

Shaking his head slowly and heaving a relieved sigh, Duo picked up the coffee mugs, taking a sip of his own, and stepped towards the bedroom. Heero was still sound asleep in the bed, much to Duo's surprise, and it wouldn't be long until the rising sun woke him anyway—it was January, so sunrise was around seven in the morning. Placing both cups on the nightstand, Duo knelt beside the bed, gazing again at Heero's peacefully sleeping face. "Heero," he whispered softly, a hand on his lover's shoulder, "time to wake up, babe."

Heero stirred slowly, having long since learned not to jolt awake at the soothing murmurs of his lover's voice. His cobalt eyes opened unhurriedly and he smiled sleepily, seeing Duo's face not inches from his own. Clearly groggy, he pushed forward slightly, pressing his lips to Duo's in a 'good morning' kiss. "Hey..." he mumbled softly, "what're you doin' up already...?"

Duo chuckled softly, picking up Heero's coffee and holding it out for him, "For you."

Propping himself up on one arm, Heero took the hot cup gratefully. "Thanks, love," he smiled before taking a long sip, eyes closed.

"I took care of most of the chores already," Duo said, taking his own coffee and pausing to drink some. "I ran diagnostics on both our Gundams, and they're both at one hundred percent. The laundry's changed over, and all that's left is to get together our camping and stealth gear, then when the laundry's done, pack our bags and head out."

Heero was finally a bit more awake now, and he glanced at the clock. His eyes went wide. "Duo? ...Didn't I set my alarm last night?" he looked closer, seeing that the knob on the digital clock had been switched to Off.

Duo shrugged, "You needed sleep, and I woke up early. I turned it off before it could wake you. Did you sleep good, at least?"

Heero nodded, but his tone was reluctant, "Yeah, but... we have to leave for our mission in a few hours."

"And a few hours is more than enough time. There's really not much that needs to be done," completed Duo, before drinking more of his coffee.

"True," Heero said, "And I was really tired last night... I guess it's okay that you let me sleep in." The corners of Heero's lips curled up slightly in a half smile. He leaned in to kiss Duo again.

"No prob, Heero," Duo smiled, before taking on an expression of mock urgency, "Now drink your coffee then go shower, we gotta leave for our mission in a few hours!"

They laughed.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Unnnnhhh..." Duo moaned, finally coming out of the darkness he had fallen into three days ago. I had remained by his side this entire time, waiting patiently for this very moment. I gave his hand a gentle squeeze.

Duo's one unbandaged eye began to flutter open and stare up blearily, and his free hand lifted to reach at the white hazing to the left of his limited vision. Before his fingers could touch the layer of gauze, I let my free hand wrap carefully around the brace at his wrist. That seemed to get him to notice my presence, and he turned to gaze at me, confusion clear despite the groggy, unfocused look in his one visible eye. His lips parted as if he was about to speak, but I did so first. "It's okay, Duo," I assured him, "Your eye is fine. The shrapnel just missed it." Pausing, I lowered his wrist so that it rested over his stomach, "Does anything hurt?"

After several silent moments, Duo's still parted lips closed and he nodded his head slightly, "Mmm..."

"Where?" I asked, placing my palm gently over his braced one over his belly, as well as affectionately squeezing his other hand with my own.

Duo whimpered softly, but no coherent word made it past his lips.

"Is it your chest?" I supplied, remembering how bruised it had been when I had last gone over his wounds a few hours ago. He nodded again, but I suspected that wasn't his only ache, "What about your leg?" Another small nod, only with a pained whimper this time. I didn't need to name everywhere else that was surely hurting him. Slipping my hand from the one over his stomach, I turned slightly, reaching for the pre-filled syringe of morphine from the open first aid kit on the nightstand. I sighed, pulling off the cap of the needle and slipping it slowly into Duo's arm. His eye closed as the pain killing drug hazed away his barely coherent consciousness. Duo returned to the dark world he had hardly woken from only minutes ago...

. . .

Four days later had Duo finally completely coherent, and despite the pain, back to his normal self. I was glad about that, and though he insisted that he was okay enough to do so, I forbade him from getting up from bed and moving around too much—even with a crutch.

The cut near his eye was surely healed enough by now for the bandaging to be removed, so as Duo lay on his side, watching me with one violet eye, I gently pulled away the white gauze. The bedroom was dim, so that when Duo's finally uncovered eye was exposed to light, it wouldn't hurt his surely too dilated pupil. With the bandaging gone, Duo blinked at me with both brilliant violet eyes for the first time in an entire week. He smiled, pushing himself up onto his elbow, implying that he wanted me to kiss him. I obliged more than gladly, kissing him softly, lovingly. When we broke apart, Duo let the fingers of his braced hand—his wrist was badly sprained—ghost over the cut that had been under the bandaging. I had figured he'd want to see it, so I held out a small mirror; he took it, grinning.

"Whoa, that's badass!" Duo's grin only widened as he looked over the nasty cut, almost admiringly. I couldn't help but smirk. The scabbed cut was a perfectly straight slash, running diagonally from the bridge of his nose, through his eyebrow and up across his forehead, into his hairline—the shrapnel responsible had missed his eye by a mere fraction of an inch. "I really hope this leaves a scar—that'd be epic!"

I shook my head, having expected those very words since that first night, a full week ago. "I'm sure it will, babe," my tone betrayed my amusement. Duo had a thing for scars, whether they were on his own body or someone else's—that someone else namely being me—he just thought that, by default, lots of scars made a person 'cool'.

. . .

Duo seemed to be back on his feet in no time—his leg hadn't been broken—and we were piloting our Gundams and going on missions together again. My lover was sporting several new scars, although the one over his eye was clearly his favorite, and it seemed to become him. I could only imagine how much more of an intimidation effect his title of Shinigami now had when he killed his enemies face to face. A scarred, angry sixteen year old boy, claiming to be the God of Death as he pointed a gun to some Ozzie's head? No wonder his amused reports of his victims peeing their pants before even dieing came more and more often nowadays...

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"So, what should we do now, Heeeeero? It's only like... eleven thirty," questioned Duo, clicking out of the file on his computer that the two of them had just been looking at. Duo was perched on the old, creaky computer chair, while Heero sat cross legged on the air mattress on the floor. Heero remained silent.

"Hello? Uh, Earth to Heero..." Duo said after a few moments, before finally turning to gaze at the other pilot. He instantly smirked at what he saw—Heero had nodded off. The young Wing pilot was sitting with his back against the side of Duo's bed, his head bent and hands limp in his lap. Duo quirked an eyebrow, wondering how in the world someone could actually be tired enough to sleep so early at night. It wasn't even midnight yet! After a moment though, a mischievous grin spread across Duo's features—he had an idea. Quietly reaching over to the glass of ice water he had on the desk, Duo pulled out an ice cube. He then leaned back towards Heero, careful to not make his chair creak, and dropped the frozen water right down the front of Heero's green tank top. The smaller pilot then turned back to his computer, acting as if nothing had happened.

Not even a moment later, Heero was jolted awake by the cold sensation pressing against his stomach. He didn't have the slightest idea as to what it was... And, due to his lack of coherency, automatically assumed the worst: he was injured. To his sleepy mind, that icy feeling was most logically explained by some sort of painful wound. Perhaps he had been poisoned, and that was why it felt this way. And yet, it wasn't until Heero heard Duo chuckling quietly that he fully came to his senses. Clutching the cold, wet spot on his tank top, Heero glared up at Duo, realization clear in his hard gaze.

"Well that was a great way to wake you up, Hee-chan!" Duo grinned, laughing in earnest now. Heero just glared, simply too tired to deal—he'd just have to get Duo back in the morning, because at the moment, both his mind and body wanted nothing more than to go to sleep.

With a grunt, Heero stood. Having finally realized what it was that was causing such cold discomfort, he untucked his tank top and let the ice cube fall to the floor, not even bothering to pick it up. Instead, the Wing pilot just glared at Duo for a moment, then turned, going to climb into the warm sleeping bag on top of the air mattress. He was going to sleep now, whether Duo wanted him to or not.

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"Oi, Heero! Lookit down there! Looks like a great place to hide our Gundams and camp out!" I said into the comm., glancing at the monitor displaying Heero's cockpit.

"Affirmative," Heero's tone was nothing if not void of emotion as we began our descent. The land below was a green hillside, with a river not far from its end. Tall, tall trees—cottonwoods, according to Deathscythe's on-board intelligence banks—lined one side of the river, while the other was crisscrossed with some sort of overgrown orchard. Life-source scans of the nearby farmhouse picked up nothing—the place was abandoned.

Not minutes later, Deathscythe was settling down into the undergrowth of the hillside, nestled between two cottonwoods and their interlinking strands of vine—wild grapes, according to my Gundam. Heero landed Wing ZERO in a similar den nearby. By the time everything was shut down and covered in camouflage tarp, the sun was dangerously close to slipping below the far off horizon. It would have been impossible to see anything clearer than silhouetted outlines at ground level, had Heero and I not been trained for such settings; despite that though, it was still difficult to see, especially with the wind blowing and tussling every shadow. The rushing sound of the river, which was not far off, was the most distinct to my ears, closely followed by that made the rest of the surrounding wildlife—I heard no possible threats approaching.

"Heero?" I called lowly into the shadows, staring almost blindly into the near darkness. I knew Heero had better night vision than I did—which was really saying something, mind you—so I figured it best for him to come to me, rather than visa versa. I didn't hear a reply for many minutes and I stepped a few paces forward, away from Deathscythe. I spun slowly, looking around as well as up at the faintly indigo sky. I nearly panicked when I felt a hand clap over my mouth, as well as an arm locking around my narrow waist.

"Shh, Duo. It's me," Heero's voice was only a fraction above silent as it tickled my ear. I relaxed against him, obviously knowing he wasn't an enemy. Heero released me, only to take my shoulder and bring my ear to his lips again. "Not a word, Duo. Not a sound. It's too dark to cross the river and inspect that farm house. We'll camp out tonight." And then his hand slipped down my shoulder, taking my hand. He breathed one more word before pulling away, "Silence." Heero led me slowly, through the damp, knee deep undergrowth. I knew he could see well enough not too trip, but he kept the pace deliberate enough for me to test the footing of every step I took. I could only wonder where he was leading me as we headed deeper into this rapidly chilling night.

After what felt like hours of walking down one narrow path after the next, Heero finally stopped. He took a step away from me, still holding my hand, in a direction that I somehow knew was a stray from the animal trail. I felt him lower down, raising his arm as to not pull me with him, and I wondered what he was doing. But I knew not to speak; he had told me not to, and I understood why—we weren't supposed to be here, so silence was the key. A minute or so later, Heero gave my hand a pull, urging me to step forward a bit, then ease down to join him. I did so and, letting one hand probe the ground below me, I found that we were kneeling on a sort of bed of grass—someone must've flattened it all down and used it as a place to sleep not that long ago.

Heero's warm lips were next to my ears again, and his hot breath sent icy shivers down my spine, "We'll rest here for tonight."

I nodded, not sure if he could see it, and lay down on the damp, chilly grass. I realized then, that it hadn't just been Heero's proximity making me shiver—it was terribly cold now that the sun had been completely set for a while. Heero's near silence drifted into my ear again, "Lie closer to me. It's too cold." I realized then, that I was still holding Heero's hand. I didn't let go as I inched closer to him, my heart racing. His other arm slipped around my waist, pulling me into him all the way—I felt the warmth of his chest begin to spread through me. I had never lain with Heero like this before, despite how many times we had camped out... although this was also the first time that we had slept outside without anything to keep us warm on our own.

I was still shivering as Heero's legs wrapped around mine, linking them and pulling me ever closer. I began to wonder if this proximity was merely a means to keep warm, and not something more... my mind said it was nothing more than Heero's intense survival instincts, while my heart pleaded for it to be more, so, so much more. But I knew it wasn't, couldn't be more than just Heero's training—he was Heero after all; he had no compassion, no matter how much I adored, loved him.

But many minutes passed, and my fluttering heart began to slow. I was drifting off, but having trouble passing the line between wakefulness and sleep. Heero must've thought I had already nodded off, because I felt his hand, which was draped over my side loosely, move to gently begin to rub small circles in my back. It felt so nice, despite the fact that I couldn't believe that it was Heero showing such tenderness. After a while, his hand slipped back to my side, sliding to rest at my hip—I felt him lightly thumb the protruding bone of my pelvis; it was an odd sensation, but definitely not a bad one. His palm eventually slipped to the small of my back after that, and that silent tone of his murmured one more sentence, "Sleep well, Duo." I felt him shift ever so slightly, and then his lips pressed against the tip of my nose for a moment, before he pulled back.

...Heero had just kissed me! C-could it be true? Could he possibly like me? In the same way I liked him? It took all of my willpower to remain as if I were sleeping, as Heero thought I was, and he eventually drifted off into his own dreams. I heard his breathing slow as his body stilled beside mine. I surrendered to the darkness as well, my mind filling with dreams of Heero and his warming embrace. I think he did like me too...

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He was sitting there when I walked in. Sitting on the old computer chair, a serious look on his face for once. His expression had me so distracted, that I almost didn't notice the reason behind it, didn't notice what he was doing. Duo had his headphones on, so I knew he hadn't heard me approach—I decided not to alert him to my presence, decided to watch. And so I watched as he prepared the small length of gauze, and set out the sheet of tissue. He reached into his pocket, drawing out a small, shiny object—I recognized its shape immediately: a razor blade. He pushed up the long sleeve over his right arm, making a fist and baring up his pale, pale skin... and let the sharp metal sink into it. I could see the amount of pressure he was exerting, deepening the wound as he ran the razor through his smooth skin. The flesh parted unwillingly to the silvery intruder, allowing blood to seep out and bead at the surface.

Duo's expression remained unchanged as he sat there, repeating the clearly practiced motion once more, creating a parallel line. He seemed as if he was so full of sorrow, yet unwilling to shed it in tears. Rather than the clear, salty liquid, he shed his sadness in the form of the crimson, metallic fluid that coursed through his veins.

Duo completed a third parallel as I began to wonder: what caused a human to turn on itself and injure its own body? I knew that other animals were partial to the same acts, but why humans? Didn't our consciousnesses and higher levels of thinking nullify the primal instinct to inflict self-harm? I didn't know, and I wanted Duo to stop. Most of me wanted him to stop. A small, sickly curious part of me wanted him to continue on with this odd act of de-evolution, so that I could analyze it, so that I could figure out why he was compelled to do such a thing. But most of me wanted him to stop.

And yet I watched, indulging my curiosity as Duo finished up, placing the tiny razor on the desk. He took the tissue, holding it over the new wounds and soaking up the brunt of the blood. When he was done with that, I watched as he cleaned the razor with the tissue, then bent to bury the used paper at the bottom of the almost full trash basket next to the desk—I wondered briefly: how many tissues just like that one had gone unnoticed in the waste bin until now? Duo then wrapped the gauze around his arm, securing it and pulling down his sleeve.

He turned back to his computer, bringing up his music player and turning it off. Duo put his headphones on the desk as he stood, slipping the razor back into his pocket as he turned, gaze on the floor. He still hadn't noticed me.

"Duo..." my voice sounded almost... sad. Like I was disappointed in him for hurting himself like he had been—was I?

He stopped dead now, looking up at me with wide, undoubtedly fearful violet eyes. "H-Heero..." he stammered, taking a small step back. Duo paused, then in a strained whisper, "Did you... see...?"

I simply nodded in answer, stepping forward to counter Duo's retreating pace.

In response, Duo hung his head, his tousled bangs shading his eyes. I wasn't quite sure of myself as I took a few steps closer to him, reaching out and placing my hand on his sagging shoulder. Duo looked up right away at the sensation of my touch, "H-Heero?" But then he stammered and lowered his gaze, clenching his hands into fists. "I know you don't understand, but it feels good. It helps me cope. You probably think I'm really screwed up; you must think I'm like defective or something for purposefully hurting myself!" I saw a rush of tears slide down Duo's cheeks as he shook his head and pulled away from me, trying to get around me to the door. I wouldn't let him slip away from me just yet.

I reached to grab Duo's left arm, only for him to hiss in pain as my fingers wrapped around his slender limb. I instantly loosened my hold, only to slip down and grasp his hand tightly. Duo, frozen now, stared at me in shock. I stepped closer to him, and he managed to come back to himself enough to back away again, slowly, slowly, until his backside hit the wall.

"I–I... I..." Duo stammered, looking up at me now with his sad, scared violet eyes.

Not saying a word, I lifted Duo's left arm, the one I had grabbed. I gently pushed back the sleeve, noting how Duo grimaced and turned away. Wrapped around Duo's forearm was a layer of gauze, identical to the fresh one on his right arm. I pulled Duo's sleeve up higher, revealing many more already healed cuts. The scars ranged from hardly visible, to painfully obvious—Duo had been cutting himself like this for a long time... how had I not known until now?

Duo tried to pull his left arm from my grasp, but I wouldn't let him. He squirmed slightly, trying to get away; and yet he didn't say a word. It was like Duo was... subdued. As if whatever had caused him to cut himself had put him in a powerfully solemn mood—I didn't like it. While Duo was busy trying to escape my grip, I slipped my hand into his pocket, removing the razor and holding it up between two fingers. He froze, staring at it for a moment before reaching up and trying to snatch it back. But I pulled my hand away, slipping the tiny blade into the pocket of my tightly fitting jeans.

"How often do you cut yourself?" I asked, sounding a little harsher than I would've liked. It was clear that he hurt himself often, by the obviously unhealed wounds on his left arm, as well as by the fact that he had started to cut his right arm now.

Duo looked away again, having given up on trying to steal back his razorblade. He was clearly reluctant to answer my question, and it took him a few moments to finally do so, "S-sometimes once a week... sometimes almost every day..." And I instantly knew that right now was the latter of the two instances—he must've just cut his left arm yesterday, then today his right.

"I want you to stop." Duo looked up at me, shocked. "I don't want you to keep hurting yourself. It's not good... Come and talk to me when you're sad, instead." I couldn't quite believe what I had just told him, especially the last bit, but not even one fiber of my being protested against it. I cared about Duo, whether I wanted to acknowledge that fact or not.

"Y-you... you mean it...?" Duo asked, shocked and still relatively afraid.

I didn't hesitate for a second, "Yes." And then, tentatively, with Duo's hand still in mine, and my other slipping to rest at his waist, I leaned in closer to him. Our breath mingled and his violet eyes blurred in front of mine, as we were simply too near for my eyes to focus.

"Heero..." Duo's tone held a different fear and apprehension this time, and he tried to push back, further into the solid wall.

I pressed my lips to Duo's then, kissing him hard and impulsively. Duo moaned and I continued to ravage his mouth with my own. But after a moment, his free hand came up to gently hold my shoulder, and his lips began to fight back against my own. I deepened the kiss, holding Duo's hand pinned flat against the wall, squeezing and caressing his bony hip with my other.

I pulled back after some time, leaning my forehead against Duo's as we caught our breath, staring blurrily into each other's eyes. "Duo... I don't want you to hurt yourself anymore... please..." I murmured, closing my eyes and giving his hand a light squeeze.

"Okay..." was his quiet reply. Duo's hand slipped from my shoulder to my cheek, and he smiled softly, "Thank you, Heero..."

"You're welcome, Duo," and I kissed him again, knowing that I could get rid of his silvery razor—Duo wouldn't need it anymore.

and there you have it! haha i hope they were good.

i just wanna say, that the second prompt on the Ten Genre part, the AU one is serving as the basis for my NaNo novel. of course, i had to switch out heero and duo (duo was replaced by a girl, poor guy XD) and it's coming along quite nicely :D

well, hopefully it wont be tooooo long before you guys hear from me again XD