Oi, sorry about the long absence. I've finally gotten some things written out, and we'll see how everything goes. Thankfully, summer is nearly over, so I'll be able to write more and feel better as well. I hope you guys enjoy this.
Chapter 51: Three Months Later
:Entry 1586 : Oi, I haven't thrown up in over three months. I was sick a really long time, so I did really bad things to my body that I'm still paying for. It turns out though, that all of that played real havoc on my teeth. I… Well, the long and short of it is I just need to put this down. I never admitted this for so long, but up until I was 18, I did the bare minimum—brushed twice a day with a cheap tooth brush. Sometimes I couldn't—like if I got captured or something. Anyway, I never once had a cavity. Let's go over my dental work, less than three years later, shall we? I have a fake right bicuspid. I have crowns on two upper left molasr, an upper right molar, and a bottom right molar. I have caps on my upper central and lateral incisors, and my bottom left central incisor and left lateral incisor. Oh, and let's not forget the fillings on the rest of my teeth. But Quatre is now sending me back for even more dental work. This is after I think even he was amazed at how expensive my final dental bill was. That guy treats bills like a candy bar though… Anyway, like I was saying, Quatre trusts this new technology he's been researching for awhile. Actually, I think that means he put a small team in charge of researching it for a couple years. So it's off to the dentist again to start treatment to basically re-grow my teeth. Which is good, I think. My bottom right molar's been killing me; it needs a root canal. But Quatre said no to that because he was almost done researching the new procedure. So they're gonna try to reverse my tooth decay. No more wiggly teeth or crowns or caps, or having to worry about getting new ones...
"Fei!" The name was drawn out slowly. "Is it supposed to hurt this much? Why can't I have some stronger pain killer?"
"You can't have stronger painkiller because of your meds. Your sensitive toothpaste is probably taking the brunt of it. Try brushing with that again." Wufei said, rubbing his temples. It had been a long day and a half since Duo had gone in for his first dental treatment.
"But it hurts to brush! It hurts to move! It hurts to talk!" Came the whining reply.
"Then don't move or talk."
For all of two seconds Duo was silent and motionless. Then he burst out, "that hurts too!"
"You're like a little kid, you know." Wufei muttered. "Everything seems to hurt so much more to kids."
"So? It hurts! I'm bored! I have to drink lukewarm broth for another day and a half. I can't chew or anything."
An hour later, Wufei was delighted when Quatre called. They exchanged a few short pleasantries, which included a pained expression from Wufei. "He's a nightmare when he wants to be. I forgot he could get like this."
"What do you mean?" Quatre frowned. "What's wrong?"
"His teeth hurt, so he's degenerated into a whiny child complaining for hours on end."
"Oh dear, I'm so sorry… Perhaps I should have done more research on painkillers for such a case…" Quatre's frown was worried and Wufei could already see the blond turning the blame towards himself.
"I doubt you could have done more, Quatre. Remember why he's doing this? To avoid a lot of problems later on? His worst teeth were done; it'll be downhill after this." Wufei reminded his friend. "In a good way, for once."
"Yet uphill is always a bad thing." Quatre puzzled.
"Go figure."
"Will the pair of you still be able to come on Saturday?" Quatre asked. Wufei and Duo usually trekked out to Quatre's home every other Saturday in order to visit Heero. However, Wufei ended up spending most of his time there with Quatre and Trowa. It seemed that despite everything, they were best friends, as Wufei had thought during the last war. Duo and Heero had simply never realized it.
"Yeah. But I need to go distract Duo before he gets too many ideas." So they said their good-byes and Wufei wondered exactly what ideas he meant in reference to Duo. Some worried him more than others—the old habits especially. But Duo was virtually to the goal weight set by his nutritionist, so his body was no longer fighting him. This paired with a healthy diet had restored his energy, and Duo was a high energy person.
As had become custom two months ago, all five of them ate lunch in one of the sitting rooms. It was informal and a bit hazardous as far as balancing plates went, but after Duo's teasing and gentle cajoling in the month before, Heero dealt with it all, if precariously. So did Duo; he knew it was hard, and baby steps were still steps. It was strange for Wufei to watch Duo be careful around anything other than food, but he knew he was following Duo's example as well.
Quatre changed the conversation after a salad had been brought out and finished, and just after a plate of sandwiches had been brought in. "Heero, Trowa, and I have been discussing a particular matter for a number of weeks that we would like your opinion on." Respectfully, he turned to Heero and waited patiently. Wufei frowned faintly, wondering.
After a moment, Heero spoke, gruffly, "My… doctor," he had trouble saying therapist or shrink still, but they all knew what the Japanese was truly referring to, "thinks it's time I ended my association at the hospital." It made Wufei a little sad that despite everyone knowing about Heero's time at the facility and that he saw a therapist that the Japanese still could not say the words. The speech also sounded like something Quatre had prepared for his friend, which was likely the case. "Quatre did some research and found a new doctor in the city you live in." Quickly, Heero met Wufei's and Duo's eyes. "That is, I would like to move down to the city again, with you."
The Chinese glanced at Quatre; the Arabian was frowning very faintly. Like Wufei had thought, parts of the speech Quatre had prepared had been left out, and perhaps even out of order. Still, Wufei could piece it together well enough.
But Duo beat him to it, nodding. "All right. Yeah, we could do that, right Wufei?"
"Mmm," Wufei thought quickly, then agreed. "Indeed."
"I was hoping the pair of you would say that." Quatre smiled. "I hope this is not out line, but in hopes the pair of you were thinking along the same lines as I was, I went ahead and began preparing a list of potential apartments near where you live now." The look Quatre cast Wufei told him, would not be far from Lara's apartment. "That is, I thought a bit more room with three of you would be nice." That said, he went to the door and asked a servant to bring him the file.
It was not until later that night Wufei began to look through the files with Duo hovering at his shoulder. "So what do you think about all of this?"
Duo shrugged. "Sick?"
Wufei waved Duo into a chair. "So, scared and nervous. Sit! If you hover over my shoulder for one more second…"
Duo sat with a flounce. "Yeah…"
"You realized Heero would have had to bring that up with Quatre, and not the other way around, don't you?" Wufei asked, making Duo think a good deal.
"So I guess he really wants to come back here, and move in with us?" Duo mumbled, still unbelieving.
"Duo, you're his best friend." Sometimes, Wufei had no idea how Duo managed to be as bright as he was while being so incredibly dense.
"Wow…" Duo was silent a long time as Wufei flipped through the seven apartments Quatre had assembled in the file. None of them included prices, but the most posh apartment had seemed to be on top; Quatre's favourite. That omission meant that Quatre fully intended to foot the bill for a good while more. Wufei could accept that; he was going to school full time, and he knew he would have no time to work.
Wufei decided to break Duo out of his thoughts fifteen minutes later. "So, we're down to six apartments. I tossed out the Quatre's favourite."
"Good." Duo chuckled. "Did it have a suit of armour anywhere?"
"Yes…" They both hung their heads. Quatre seemed to be fascinated by the stuff and had several suits of armour in various locations through out his mansion.
"I'll bet this one was Quatre's second favourite. It says something about valet parking." Duo grimaced. "I dunno how he does it. It'd be like being watched all the time."
"I think he's so used to it he doesn't realize it anymore." Wufei told him. "Let's see if we can get this list down to three. Then we'll only have to do three tours." He disliked realtors.
"That'll be harder than it looks…" Duo muttered. "You know how Quatre is…"
"They're all three bedrooms, three baths, with kitchen, balcony, living room, and two have small studies. Four have pools and exercise rooms…" Wufei murmured.
"Out with the one without a pool!" Duo told him. "I've, uh, kind of wanted to try swimming again."
"Four down." Wufei said with a smile for more than one reason. Then Wufei pointed at a piece of paper. "I like this one best, so far as paper goes."
Duo went over it, murmuring bits as they attracted his attention. "Pool, exercise, roomy, lots of light it looks like, a balcony, a study—you want more books!" Duo groaned before continuing. "Three bedroom, three bath of course, a Viking stove—those are bloody cool. This place sounds cool."
"I hate to think what the asking price is…" Wufei shook his head. "But I've seen the apartment complex. It's nice, but it's not a posh place, thank goodness. The previous owners must have really added to the place."
"This seems really surreal, doesn't it?" Duo asked ponderously. "I mean, five years ago all of this would have seemed preposterous. A year ago, it would have seemed impossible…"
"Life does seem to have some strange twists and turns, doesn't it?" Wufei shook his head, and opened his mouth.
"Don't!" Duo burst out. "No philosophy lecture, I beg of you, future professor! I'm not a student!"
"I wasn't going to lecture." Wufei told him firmly. "I was just going to… enlighten you."
Duo snorted and bemoaned his fate living with Wufei. "I'm surprised you don't make Lara fall asleep!"
"We certainly have no trouble sleeping." Wufei murmured smugly. Lately, it seemed every few days either Lara had breakfast at Wufei's, or Wufei had breakfast at Lara's.
"I'm rolling my eyes at you." Duo told Wufei before elaborately demonstrating.
Several mornings later, Wufei and Duo went on their tour. They already knew that Quatre had surveyed each apartment already, or sent someone he highly trusted to do so for him as was probably the case, so they did not feel the need to look elsewhere. They did, however, feel a bit guilty because Quatre had done all the work.
They were sold on the second apartment they walked into; it had been their favourite on paper as well. Duo blocked the doorway to the study. "Wufei. Remember, it's just a study."
Wufei moved Duo and slipped into the study. Instead of grinning like Duo expected him to, he smiled wistfully, remembering an older time, before the wars. "Those shelves need to be filled with books."
Duo gave Wufei a curious glance, but did not ask about that smile. "…All of them? Why can't there be some books and some art or something?" Duo hid a grin.
"Because book shelves and bookcases are for books. Lots of books." Wufei told Duo flatly, but his eyes twinkled, and not just because of a solid wall of floor to ceiling bookcases.
Duo fell in love with the stove, much to Wufei's surprise. The American had become an entirely different person in some respects. The Chinese knew that Duo's cooking ability was newfound, and the American had once lived off of fast food and junk food. But more than that, Duo's reversal in his food attitude startled Wufei, in a good way. Now, his chestnut-haired friend loved to cook; the struggle was in eating the food, but the American came up with healthy solutions for that too. Duo, Wufei realized, also had a good deal of ingenuity to make absolutely healthy, bare bones food appetizing, and as he grew healthier and his cooking better, he dabbled into moderation more and more.
Wufei smiled. It would probably be hard when Heero came, but he thought it would be worth it in the end. Duo had a certain effect on people, which had been dampened by his long battle, but now that he was at his goal weight and healthy once more in body and usually in mind, that effect had come back once more.
So whatcha think?
