Yaay! Shella! A reviewer from my last story! I feel so loved!
I'm so glad you're liking this so far (cause you're not gonna
like me after this chapter I can tell ya that). Thanks you all
for reviewing!
*hides* dun kill me! I'm getting ready to live up to my Queen of Cliffhangers title!
Warning: Alcohol, drunkenness, angst, violence...You all know the drill. Evil Cliffhanger...
Oh yeah, and I don't own anything related to GW. So don't sue, cause I spent all my money on Gundam models and manga. ^^ So I'm broke!
***
The next night, everything from the previous evening was extremely hazy and Heero had managed to reassure himself that Duo had just been an illusion. He had to have been.
But then, the shipyard -was- just two blocks down from the bar and there -was- a couple of freight ships broken, Heero had heard of their collision a few days ago because of misinterpreted transmissions.
Though he had still managed to convince himself that it -hadn't- been Duo. Until he returned the next night and found that same group of Sweepers had come back too, the braided boy at their head, talking animatedly and not showing any signs of having downed over twenty shots of tequila in the drinking contest the night before. Heero immediately began to retreat out of the door, but the bartender spotted him and puled out a glass.
"The usual, Silent Guy?"
"I have a nick name now?" Heero chose the seat furthest out of sight from the rest of the bar.
"Yeah, the kid over there suggested it, said my description of you matches a guy he knew a while ago," he continued, wary at the fact that the Japanese boy was actually holding a conversation with him and not scowling. When not drunk, he was really quite scary.
Heero went quiet, his expression characteristically stoic.
That was the bartender's cue to hurry away, saved by the Sweepers, who were calling for rounds of Jack Daniel's this time. Heero sat lost in thought for a while, occasionally getting his glass refilled by the bartender, until he was roughly brought back to reality by someone tapping on his shoulder. It was the guy that had pointed him out the night before prior to his swift exit.
"Hey, drink with me? They're bettin' I can't beat Maxwell's twenty-five."
Heero looked slightly amused. "I've already had a few though, it would be unfair."
"C'mon, please? It's my mission tonight to beat twenty-five!"
His ears perked at the word 'mission' and his expression hardened. "Anything for a mission." The guy was taken aback at the abrupt change. "But no one can see me."
"Whatever..." He called the bartender over and orders shots of tequila.
One. Two. Three. Four.
A couple of Sweepers filtered over to watch, Heero ignored them, as long as it wasn't the one he was hiding from.
Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine.
More Sweepers had joined the gathering crowd.
Ten. Eleven. Twelve. Thirteen. Fourteen. Fifteen.
The only ones who hadn't come were Duo and few others, sure that the guy wasn't going to make it.
Sixteen. Seventeen. Eighteen. Nineteen. Twenty. Twenty-one.
Heero's challenger was clearly plastered, yet he remained calmly upright and still ordered for more shots. The crowd was beginning to root for 'the Japanese Kamikaze'.
Twenty-two.
His challenger passed out cold, dropping from the stool to the floor like a rock. Bets were on that 'the Japanese Kamikaze' was going to beat Duo.
Twenty-three. Twenty-four. Twenty-five.
A tie. Then-
Twenty-six. Twenty-seven. Twenty-eight. Twenty-nine. Thirty.
Heero was finally feeling slightly off balance and all his thoughts of trying to hide were gone as he offered to heightened the tally more. That was until, Duo's voice raised over the laughs from behind the large crowd.
"Alright- I've gotta meet the guy who beat -me-, move over!"
Dazedly, Heero thought 'Run now, before he can get up here.' But it was too late.
He had been spotted.
Bright amethyst eyes went wide in shock and the huge grin faltered and died, all color draining from the American's face.
"Heero..."
***
"You know him?" The challenger, who had woken up just as Duo broke out of the crowd, slurred.
If possible, the Japanese boy was paler than he was and looked as if he were ready to run, all tensed and poised to spring right over everyone's heads to get away.
And positively mortified as the blank mask began to fall.
"D- Duo, I-"
Shock burned into a rage Duo didn't know he was capable of feeling. 'All this time...'
"Get away from me," he said dangerously to the Sweepers around him, who instantly complied as the short braided boy towered in anger. Duo couldn't form any words, he just shook.
Heero's eyes suddenly glazed and he stumbled from the barstool. Losing all furious pretense, Duo reflexively reached out and scooped the thin ex-pilot up, holding him up with an arm slung around his shoulders, which was kind of difficult owing to the fact that he was a good few inches taller in spite of his light weight. Without any indication of a 'see you later' to the others, he helped Heero outside into the cool night air where he seemed to come more to his senses.
"Where are you staying?" Duo asked brusquely.
"A- around the corner, first floor of the apartment complex."
At first he was going to ask 'What apartment building?' but from the sign nailed into the peeling pallid blue grout of the extremely dilapidated three-story building at the end of the block answered the unsaid question. Elite Apartments. Duo couldn't decide whether to laugh at the contradictory sign or be scared that the place might collapse on them at any given moment.
"Which one is it?"
"01." Duo glanced uneasily at Heero, who didn't appear to notice in the least as he opened the door, having been left unlocked, to the really crappy hellhole trying to pass as an apartment. He thought of all the times he had complained about his choices of safe houses and now thought they were luxurious compared to his 'apartment' as Heero dropped onto the moldy, moth-ridden couch.
"Water?" Duo said hesitantly, his anger starting to be replaced by sympathy.
"Aa, onegai."
But not enough so that he wouldn't be chewing Heero's ass out when he returned with water. Duo stood over him menacingly when he came out of the tiny kitchen, he was too afraid to sit on anything for fear of it breaking under him.
"So how long were you planning on avoiding us, Heero? Do you know how worried the other and I were?! When you disappeared, I worked my ass off trying to find you, even when I knew you'd probably covered any traces! I was lookin' for you for ages! And just when I began to lose hope, up pops Mr. Perfect Soldier in a fucking -bar-, of all places! Do you know how much it hurt to see Quatre's face every time I came up with nothing?! Do you?!"
Heero winced, but his blurry gaze that turned to the mottled carpet was cold. "I wasn't planning on ever being found." He chose to ignore the stinging questions about how upset the others were and Quatre's reaction. Which didn't calm Duo in the slightest.
"OH- well I'm glad we meant so much to you, after all the shit we went through together I'd at least think you'd have a little bit of respect or something, but nooo, damn Mr. Almighty Perfect Soldier -still- insists on being alone! The wars are fucking over, or hasn't that made its way into your thick skull by now?!" he exploded furiously.
"I know they're over." Heero snapped, his patience worn thin. "I KNOW THEY'RE OVER! Why do you think I ran Duo?!" His head was throbbing like mad and all he wanted to do then was take some aspirin and go to bed, but he couldn't. Duo look taken aback by the vehement reply.
"I was made to kill. To fight to the death. When the wars were over, I didn't know what to do with myself! I tried, I tried so hard, Duo, but I just couldn't do it! I am a soldier and there's no room for soldiers now, not with this peace that we fought so hard to attain! I am left with -nothing-." Heero glared dangerously up at the stunned braided boy, biting out the words that had rankled in his mind night and day since he 'vanished' like bullets to the heart. "Have you ever felt that emptiness, the calling to fight when there's no one there to fight with? The urge to go out into a battle that doesn't exist? When it dawns upon you that there's -nothing-, you feel like -nothing-."
Duo let out a sigh, slowly nodding in understanding. "I can't deny that we all haven't had moments like that," he reached out to put a comforting hand on his shoulder but Heero knocked it away violently.
"Don't touch me." He growled, his head pounding worse. That was all he needed to top the day off, compassion.
"Heero-" Duo began soothing, but he clearly wasn't going to listen to anything more he had to say.
"Just leave me alone. You never saw me."
"Heero-"
"I said leave me the hell alone!" he snarled. Duo's expression crumpled slightly, he was usually the only one who could get through to the Japanese ex-pilot, but it seemed like he was getting nowhere. Nonetheless, he backed up against the wall opposite of the couch.
"Please, just let me help you-"
"Omae wo kuruso!" Heero flew unsteadily to his feet, a gun in hand procured from God knows where. "I swear-"
"You wouldn't..." Duo said faintly, blanching. "W- we're friends- "
Bang.
He fell to the floor.
***
EEP! *hides* Dun kill meh! But please review! ^.~
*hides* dun kill me! I'm getting ready to live up to my Queen of Cliffhangers title!
Warning: Alcohol, drunkenness, angst, violence...You all know the drill. Evil Cliffhanger...
Oh yeah, and I don't own anything related to GW. So don't sue, cause I spent all my money on Gundam models and manga. ^^ So I'm broke!
***
The next night, everything from the previous evening was extremely hazy and Heero had managed to reassure himself that Duo had just been an illusion. He had to have been.
But then, the shipyard -was- just two blocks down from the bar and there -was- a couple of freight ships broken, Heero had heard of their collision a few days ago because of misinterpreted transmissions.
Though he had still managed to convince himself that it -hadn't- been Duo. Until he returned the next night and found that same group of Sweepers had come back too, the braided boy at their head, talking animatedly and not showing any signs of having downed over twenty shots of tequila in the drinking contest the night before. Heero immediately began to retreat out of the door, but the bartender spotted him and puled out a glass.
"The usual, Silent Guy?"
"I have a nick name now?" Heero chose the seat furthest out of sight from the rest of the bar.
"Yeah, the kid over there suggested it, said my description of you matches a guy he knew a while ago," he continued, wary at the fact that the Japanese boy was actually holding a conversation with him and not scowling. When not drunk, he was really quite scary.
Heero went quiet, his expression characteristically stoic.
That was the bartender's cue to hurry away, saved by the Sweepers, who were calling for rounds of Jack Daniel's this time. Heero sat lost in thought for a while, occasionally getting his glass refilled by the bartender, until he was roughly brought back to reality by someone tapping on his shoulder. It was the guy that had pointed him out the night before prior to his swift exit.
"Hey, drink with me? They're bettin' I can't beat Maxwell's twenty-five."
Heero looked slightly amused. "I've already had a few though, it would be unfair."
"C'mon, please? It's my mission tonight to beat twenty-five!"
His ears perked at the word 'mission' and his expression hardened. "Anything for a mission." The guy was taken aback at the abrupt change. "But no one can see me."
"Whatever..." He called the bartender over and orders shots of tequila.
One. Two. Three. Four.
A couple of Sweepers filtered over to watch, Heero ignored them, as long as it wasn't the one he was hiding from.
Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine.
More Sweepers had joined the gathering crowd.
Ten. Eleven. Twelve. Thirteen. Fourteen. Fifteen.
The only ones who hadn't come were Duo and few others, sure that the guy wasn't going to make it.
Sixteen. Seventeen. Eighteen. Nineteen. Twenty. Twenty-one.
Heero's challenger was clearly plastered, yet he remained calmly upright and still ordered for more shots. The crowd was beginning to root for 'the Japanese Kamikaze'.
Twenty-two.
His challenger passed out cold, dropping from the stool to the floor like a rock. Bets were on that 'the Japanese Kamikaze' was going to beat Duo.
Twenty-three. Twenty-four. Twenty-five.
A tie. Then-
Twenty-six. Twenty-seven. Twenty-eight. Twenty-nine. Thirty.
Heero was finally feeling slightly off balance and all his thoughts of trying to hide were gone as he offered to heightened the tally more. That was until, Duo's voice raised over the laughs from behind the large crowd.
"Alright- I've gotta meet the guy who beat -me-, move over!"
Dazedly, Heero thought 'Run now, before he can get up here.' But it was too late.
He had been spotted.
Bright amethyst eyes went wide in shock and the huge grin faltered and died, all color draining from the American's face.
"Heero..."
***
"You know him?" The challenger, who had woken up just as Duo broke out of the crowd, slurred.
If possible, the Japanese boy was paler than he was and looked as if he were ready to run, all tensed and poised to spring right over everyone's heads to get away.
And positively mortified as the blank mask began to fall.
"D- Duo, I-"
Shock burned into a rage Duo didn't know he was capable of feeling. 'All this time...'
"Get away from me," he said dangerously to the Sweepers around him, who instantly complied as the short braided boy towered in anger. Duo couldn't form any words, he just shook.
Heero's eyes suddenly glazed and he stumbled from the barstool. Losing all furious pretense, Duo reflexively reached out and scooped the thin ex-pilot up, holding him up with an arm slung around his shoulders, which was kind of difficult owing to the fact that he was a good few inches taller in spite of his light weight. Without any indication of a 'see you later' to the others, he helped Heero outside into the cool night air where he seemed to come more to his senses.
"Where are you staying?" Duo asked brusquely.
"A- around the corner, first floor of the apartment complex."
At first he was going to ask 'What apartment building?' but from the sign nailed into the peeling pallid blue grout of the extremely dilapidated three-story building at the end of the block answered the unsaid question. Elite Apartments. Duo couldn't decide whether to laugh at the contradictory sign or be scared that the place might collapse on them at any given moment.
"Which one is it?"
"01." Duo glanced uneasily at Heero, who didn't appear to notice in the least as he opened the door, having been left unlocked, to the really crappy hellhole trying to pass as an apartment. He thought of all the times he had complained about his choices of safe houses and now thought they were luxurious compared to his 'apartment' as Heero dropped onto the moldy, moth-ridden couch.
"Water?" Duo said hesitantly, his anger starting to be replaced by sympathy.
"Aa, onegai."
But not enough so that he wouldn't be chewing Heero's ass out when he returned with water. Duo stood over him menacingly when he came out of the tiny kitchen, he was too afraid to sit on anything for fear of it breaking under him.
"So how long were you planning on avoiding us, Heero? Do you know how worried the other and I were?! When you disappeared, I worked my ass off trying to find you, even when I knew you'd probably covered any traces! I was lookin' for you for ages! And just when I began to lose hope, up pops Mr. Perfect Soldier in a fucking -bar-, of all places! Do you know how much it hurt to see Quatre's face every time I came up with nothing?! Do you?!"
Heero winced, but his blurry gaze that turned to the mottled carpet was cold. "I wasn't planning on ever being found." He chose to ignore the stinging questions about how upset the others were and Quatre's reaction. Which didn't calm Duo in the slightest.
"OH- well I'm glad we meant so much to you, after all the shit we went through together I'd at least think you'd have a little bit of respect or something, but nooo, damn Mr. Almighty Perfect Soldier -still- insists on being alone! The wars are fucking over, or hasn't that made its way into your thick skull by now?!" he exploded furiously.
"I know they're over." Heero snapped, his patience worn thin. "I KNOW THEY'RE OVER! Why do you think I ran Duo?!" His head was throbbing like mad and all he wanted to do then was take some aspirin and go to bed, but he couldn't. Duo look taken aback by the vehement reply.
"I was made to kill. To fight to the death. When the wars were over, I didn't know what to do with myself! I tried, I tried so hard, Duo, but I just couldn't do it! I am a soldier and there's no room for soldiers now, not with this peace that we fought so hard to attain! I am left with -nothing-." Heero glared dangerously up at the stunned braided boy, biting out the words that had rankled in his mind night and day since he 'vanished' like bullets to the heart. "Have you ever felt that emptiness, the calling to fight when there's no one there to fight with? The urge to go out into a battle that doesn't exist? When it dawns upon you that there's -nothing-, you feel like -nothing-."
Duo let out a sigh, slowly nodding in understanding. "I can't deny that we all haven't had moments like that," he reached out to put a comforting hand on his shoulder but Heero knocked it away violently.
"Don't touch me." He growled, his head pounding worse. That was all he needed to top the day off, compassion.
"Heero-" Duo began soothing, but he clearly wasn't going to listen to anything more he had to say.
"Just leave me alone. You never saw me."
"Heero-"
"I said leave me the hell alone!" he snarled. Duo's expression crumpled slightly, he was usually the only one who could get through to the Japanese ex-pilot, but it seemed like he was getting nowhere. Nonetheless, he backed up against the wall opposite of the couch.
"Please, just let me help you-"
"Omae wo kuruso!" Heero flew unsteadily to his feet, a gun in hand procured from God knows where. "I swear-"
"You wouldn't..." Duo said faintly, blanching. "W- we're friends- "
Bang.
He fell to the floor.
***
EEP! *hides* Dun kill meh! But please review! ^.~