Basket Case
Chapter 2: Rest
Quatre Winner woke up to the warming aroma of coffee and tea being fixed in the kitchen, as he did habitually. The blonde brushed his hair a bit with his fingers and cleared it from his eyes. With a giddy step in his stride, he rushed out of bed and threw on his pinkish-shirt over his white tank. And, noticing how it had been folded neatly and stowed under his bunk, Quatre knew Trowa had taken it off for him.
His feet padded along the cold floor and he glanced at Heero on the couch as he entered the living room/kitchen, still steamy with tea and coffee. Quatre, features muted by the dimness of the room, smiled and carefully walked up to the other pilot. With his lips still curled innocently, he buried the side of his face into a warm surface and instinctively wrapped his arms around a thin waist. No flinching, no drawing back, just strong, compassionate understanding and support like he had come to depend on. Quatre tightened his embrace on the other pilot, and after a warm hand squeeze back, the other took the coffee pot out and was about to return to the counter.
"Quatre."
"Trowa."
"Quatre."
A smile. Muffled laugh. "Trowa."
"Quatre please let me have a cup of coffee."
The blonde buried his nose into Trowa's strong back and rubbed his forehead there. "Hmmm, no," he murmured. "I wish I could stay here forever; no more missions."
His green eyes focused on the little bonsai tree in the window and Trowa couldn't help but tilt his lips ever so slightly. Turning those emerald eyes to his koi, Trowa watched him from over his shoulder as Quatre hugged harder, trying to draw that seemingly endless warmth into him forever. He slowly put the coffee down.
Quatre knew what that meant.
After the standard exchange of five lip locks, with a French blurred somewhere in-between, the pilots broke finally from a deep kiss and Quatre buried his head briefly into the cove of Trowa's neck. For another few seconds of blissful silence, they stood there, with nothing moving or making a sound.
"So… when will we tell them, Trowa? You know, Wufei, Duo, and Heero? It won't be a secret if we keep openly kissing for long," Quatre said, his breath clouding on Trowa's skin. It felt even warmer when it reflected back to his mouth.
Trowa moved his arms around Quatre's shoulders and stared straight into those blue eyes. Those blue eyes stared right back. "If you're worried about being rejected, don't worry," he said confidently. Quatre reached up and kissed him lightly again.
"I'm glad you're optimistic, Love, but it doesn't stop me from worrying," Quatre said. "Although, you probably are right. We're all comrades; I don't think we'll separate after all we've been through. Wufei has always been detached but would never abandon us and Duo and Heero…"
"Quatre." Trowa suddenly went serious. Quatre sensed it instantly and cocked his head to side, still intimately close.
"What?"
"I don't think we'll have to worry about those two," he said softly, slowly easing away from Quatre, even if his innocent face displayed protest. He needed coffee to explain, which he knew he'd be doing for that statement. The oddly banged pilot finally eased Quatre's hand off his hip and got out a fresh cup of tea. Quatre accepted it and sat down at the counter. He could feel curious blue eyes and a question fresh in his mouth. As Trowa sat down at the counter, which overlooked the living room and the sleeping lump known as Heero Yuy, Quatre turned to him and leaned closer.
"What did you mean by that?" He sipped a little coffee but his gaze never slipped from Trowa's green eyes. Trowa loved the way he was always focused on who he talked to, so sincere and respectful. Never faltering. Trowa could swim in those eyes.
"I'm not sure if it's true, but I have been noticing it for a while," Trowa said softly, drinking his own strong coffee between speaking. "I can't help but see that same look in Duo's eyes that I noticed in yours a long time ago."
"Are you serious?" Quatre put down his steaming tea.
Trowa looked to his koibito. He licked some coffee from his lip after taking one more drink. Quatre didn't need him to answer, he could tell by the way he looked back. A maybe.
The platinum blonde leaned onto his shoulder and once again cuddled against his neck, with both pale hands clasped around his teacup as he sipped it. "Love is a many splendid thing. We won't the only ones, will we?" he murmured. A pause, a head resting on blonde hair.
"Maybe." Trowa rested his head even more against Quatre's and never once thought of stopping the romantic stuff. They sat there for a while longer, listening to the mechanics of Peacemillion run.
"Trowa?" Quatre asked suddenly, breaking a long stretch of blissful morning stillness.
"Yes?" he replied without moving.
The Arabic pilot wrapped his arm around Trowa's hip and asked with the innocence of a child, "When can we get married?"
Trowa laughed and kissed him on the cheek. "Soon."
Their content breakfast was interrupted suddenly by the alerting of a new mail message by Heero's laptop, which sat only down the counter, closed. It sneaked in five annoying beeps before Trowa separated from Quatre and opened it. The screen flickered a metallic greenish-blue before a menu popped to life. Quatre curled his legs up onto the chair and watched from a far as Trowa skillfully navigated around Heero's security locks and opened the vidmessage.
The dull black background Heero had installed was sharply contrasted as a smiling Duo Maxwell appeared on the screen, shoulders restrained and the familiar cockpit surrounding him. He wasn't quite as perky as Trowa expected him to be. His voice was lower and grumbly and the blackness around his eyes gave away that he hadn't slept very much. The oddly banged pilot glanced over to Heero on the couch, then back to the screen as he began talking.
"Yo!"
"Hello," Quatre replied, without realizing it wasn't in live time. Trowa tilted his lips.
"Sorry 'bout leaving you guys behind. Me and Wufei are going to Earth…" Duo continued, giving his full expressions to the camera in the cockpit. He even threw his arms behind his head, one of his biggest mannerisms, and became Duo again, despite the sleepiness.
Heero heard the word, "Earth," in his sleep and groaned, shifting over.
"…to blow something up. I'm not sure yet; they haven't disclosed the target in case the message I send you is intercepted. I'm pretty sure it's something to do with a mobile suit factory. I'd tell you where, but then I'd have to be killed." A sheepish smile and laugh.
Quatre smiled and sipped his tea.
"Anyway, don't worry about us. Heero's been acting fluish lately, that's why he's on the couch if he hasn't already gotten up. He'll be a little temperamental but just give him some water and he'll calm down. Dr. J granted him the day off, too. Wing's still not completely fixed up yet and we'll finish the job. Be back by dinner. Ciao!" Duo flicked his hand in a salute and the vidmessage ended.
By now Quatre had finished his tea, and shuffling over to the sink, cleaned it out and sat back down at the counter. Trowa closed the laptop, which reinstalled the security on itself with fierceness like Heero's, and went back to finishing his coffee at the counter as well. They conversed for a few more minutes, Quatre fantasizing over a wedding while his koibito watched his face light up. After the last of the coffee was downed, Trowa went to get dressed out of his sleeping clothes, a looser pair of jeans and yes, a turtleneck.
The platinum blonde washed up and headed down to the Gundam hangar to reinstall some faulty equipment on Sandrock. Trowa said goodbye and left for his bunk to relax and count up the money he'd been stashing away for something special.
Heero Yuy was still asleep and bare-footed on the couch at 11 A.M. The Japanese pilot, beginning to feel uncomfortable on the couch, continually shifted himself. To one side; the other; on his back; on his stomach; off his stomach, burying his face in the crack between cushions. His hair was slicked with sweat, even though he wasn't sick and wasn't at all drained. Even in the peace of sleep, his heart rate accelerated and the veins in his skin became more visible as his skin warmed as if from exercise. Heero was still confused about what was happening to him as he shunned dreams subconsciously.
Relena was furious. Her fist slammed against the keyboard and the screen died. No answer. She suddenly cried out in pain, seeing she'd broke her nail. The teenager cursed again, blowing on and shaking her hand.
"Miss Relena, are you alright in there?" Paegan's butler voice pierced through her door, above the crackling of the abused videophone.
"Fine, thank you Paegan," she replied politely. She didn't want him worrying about her too much. If he discovered what she was attempting, there was no doubt he'd give her some stuffy lecture about leaving him alone. All she wanted was love. Relena still could picture his Prussian eyes as cold as ice. She knew with a deep passionate conviction that he was just frozen inside him self and needed to warm up in order to come out and confess his feelings.
/Heero… why are you resisting me? I know you must love me, else you would have killed me…/
The honey-haired girl left her room, ignoring the videophone's distress and told Paegan to call a mechanic to fix it. The butler bowed obediently and exited for the older phone in the living room. Then she began another long, thoughtful walk along that golden beach where she'd encountered Heero for the first time. If she were lucky, he'd be there for her, even though she knew he was out in space.
Crackle. A bit of feedback, harsh to the ears. Duo's radio system was going again in the magnetic field of Earth. /Damn, didn't I just fix that? /
The American pilot adjusted the collar on his flight suit to let the sweat cool out on his neck. Meanwhile, Wufei proceeded to feed the briefing through the radio. It blurred his words and Duo kicked at the cockpit console a bit. The radio wavered then finally picked up Nakatu's signal clearly.
"There's a new mobile suit factory operating in Brazil. We need to destroy it before it gets a shipment of mercury and gundanium, or preferably both. We have intercepted some data that says they're planning to some how fuse the mercury into their weapons. Location unknown. They've hidden it somewhere in the rainforest with the help of some natives." Wufei's voice was strained with anger. "We'll have to find it first."
Shifting his violet eyes around the text displayed on his screen displaying information on the cargo truck carrying the load, Duo sighed. He ran his fingers through his hair. "Is there anyway we can do that without ripping up that rainforest?"
Crackle. Nakatu came on Deathscythe's monitors on the right as both Gundams powered toward the sleepy blue orb called Earth. "Yes. We'd have to use tracking devices, but stay above the canopy. They interfere."
"Then we'd be sitting ducks!" Duo said twisting up his face.
"Hn." Wufei grunted back and he saw the other Gundam surge forward a bit in anger.
The American tapped his fingers lightly along the joystick, trying to get his creative juices flowing his head. It didn't help he was drowsy from helping Heero and hadn't slept much after going to bed. He had lay awake, still pondering the events of the night. Now it was catching up to him, though. Hard.
"Can we uh… maybe just…" Even Duo could feel himself slurring.
"Maxwell, wake up! This is a mission!"
"Yeah, I'm up," he snapped back with a bit of frustration evident. "Just thinking."
Another 'Hn.'
Duo rubbed his lips and cheeks, a bit loose from the drowsiness. He felt like trying to just rub all his worries away, soon massaging his temples and piloting with one hand. "Uhnn," he groaned, "Can we set a trap?"
"Maxwell, we're not going to come to us. We're attacking, onna!"
"I'm not Anna…" Delirious.
"Dammit, why did you come?"
Duo slunk back against his cockpit seat, slumping his shoulders. Losing his posture let a bit of tension flow out of his muscles and into nothing and he soon found himself closing his eyes. "I don't know Wufei, something's making me tired. I swear… I was fine a while ago…"
"That American pop of yours is poison, I told you that," he remarked bitterly.
Duo growled deep in his throat. /Knock it off Wufei…/
/…Hn…. /
The voice again. It came with a sharp buzz in Duo's brainwaves then when the buzz died off, that rough, exhausted voice grunted sleepily.
/Oh, you again. You sound tired…/
Duo still slumped against the seat, drifting maddenly between a trance, consciousness, and a weak, unsteady sleep.
/Duo. /
/What? What… do you want? I want to sleep…/
/Duo. /
/No, no, shush. Too loud…/
/Duo! /
Duo didn't notice the rough voice in his head slowly blur into a bitter one snapping at him from the radio. His head filled with that painful hang up and he blinked open his violet eyes. They were misted but that didn't muffle the angry snaps of the Nakatu pilot.
"Duo!"
"Wha? Wha?" Duo bolted up. Wufei appeared on his screen, left eye almost into a furious twitch.
"What the hell are you doing, baka?"
The American averted his eyes away, locking them on his sweat-rivuleted hand clenched around the joystick. "I don't know… I think I'm aborting this one."
The Chinese pilot frowned but realized it was for the best. With Duo acting undependable, it could mess up the mission, fatally. He clicked off the communication screen and switched back to radio, fed up with the American's weakness. He couldn't watch him sit there like a helpless child trying to fight away his sleepiness.
"Just go back to Peacemillion, you weakling," he said, gunning the engine.
Instinctively, Duo killed the engines on his Gundam and let it float in space, letting himself relax. He watched the other pilot disappear. He closed his violet eyes dotted with a fatigue that had come from nowhere and guided himself back to Peacemillion by the voices on the radio. He felt a cramp in his stomach and tightness through his entire soul. It felt like something was compacting him into himself, a building pressure in his chest and throat.
"I hope we have aspirin."
Heero Yuy woke the to slam of a door and Trowa Barton lifted his head and stashed a pile of substantial money. When the oddly banged pilot poked his head out and discovered a fatigued Duo standing nearly lifeless in the door, he relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief. He slipped the money under his pillow and went out to check on the American pilot. Heero stared at Duo, still sprawled on the furniture. He closed them again and fell asleep.
"Duo, why are you back so early?" he inquired in a monotone voice.
Duo stared at him as he walked up through the hallway, and then weakly smiled.
"I need to relax. Don't worry," he reassured, trying to smile like he usually did. "Just a little drained."
"Are you okay?" Trowa prodded again. A protectiveness that only Quatre saw shone through to Duo. "It's not like you to get sick.
He weakly winked. "I'm fine." With that, he left the two stoic pilots, not bothering to even slip off his shoes as he entered the bathroom.
The American didn't slip out of his skin tight, black flight suit and sat down in the dry tub. He numbly twisted the knob and steaming hot water stung and swarmed around his toes. It stung his skin but he didn't care. It felt like a warm arm extending all around him that promised to evaporate his worries away for a few minutes.
Duo unbraided his hair and spread his legs through the clear water, soaking in the heat. The American fell into a conscious trance, staring at the water that flickered in the light. He closed his eyes and sighed.
Trowa watched him disappear into the bathroom with no comment, just a watchfulness and concern. The oddly banged pilot sat down on one of the chairs and returned to an old novel he'd left by the TV. For another half-hour, he sat there, his concern alternately switching from Duo to Heero.
He was alerted to another person in the room as Heero sat up groggily, at exactly 2:30 P.M. The Japanese pilot glanced at Trowa, locking into his green eyes. A flickering, steamy quality floated in Heero's eyes as he looked back, and his skin was gleaming with sweat and warmth.
"Where's Duo?" he asked. Where the pilot had grown accustomed to another flicker of brainwaves in his mind, there was silence. A tight ball of worry was lodged in his throat, but at the same time, he felt a sensation of frightening limpness.
Trowa didn't need to point.
Through the light under the bathroom door, water came leaking out.
----
Oh, I'm sorry! I don't like ending on cliffhangers, but I had too. Fear is on! 0.0! Now there talking about this tunnel where poor little kids got stuck and *shiver* I'm getting too scared to write anymore. There's this big empty, dark basement behind me cuz my computer's down here. I'm sorry, but my pacing seemed a little off at the end. You will not believe how many times I redid this chapter. -0-... I must have had 6 different beginnings, not counting this one. If you're a fan of green day, you would have noticed the theme. The titles and chapters are all green day titles. If you read the lyrics, they sometimes go with the chapter. "Rest" goes almost perfectly, I think with this. THANK YOU for all the reviews. I'm so happy that I got 12! ^-^ kind of pathetic, but that's the best a story of mine has ever done!! Arigatou arigatou arigatou! And like you asked, more 3x4 on the way. P.S. the money is important!
Hey can you hear me?
I'm calling your name
Hello? Or is this goodbye?
The gleam in your eyes
It troubles my brain
Will I see it again?
So I can rest my head
Angel...Angel! Dancing away
As all of my thoughts get rearranged
Angel...Angel! Turning away
Just when thing seem
To have changed
So I can rest my head
Hey can you hear me?
I'm calling your name
Hello? Or is this goodbye?
The gleam in your eyes
It troubles my brain
Will I see it again?
So I can rest my head
Chapter 2: Rest
Quatre Winner woke up to the warming aroma of coffee and tea being fixed in the kitchen, as he did habitually. The blonde brushed his hair a bit with his fingers and cleared it from his eyes. With a giddy step in his stride, he rushed out of bed and threw on his pinkish-shirt over his white tank. And, noticing how it had been folded neatly and stowed under his bunk, Quatre knew Trowa had taken it off for him.
His feet padded along the cold floor and he glanced at Heero on the couch as he entered the living room/kitchen, still steamy with tea and coffee. Quatre, features muted by the dimness of the room, smiled and carefully walked up to the other pilot. With his lips still curled innocently, he buried the side of his face into a warm surface and instinctively wrapped his arms around a thin waist. No flinching, no drawing back, just strong, compassionate understanding and support like he had come to depend on. Quatre tightened his embrace on the other pilot, and after a warm hand squeeze back, the other took the coffee pot out and was about to return to the counter.
"Quatre."
"Trowa."
"Quatre."
A smile. Muffled laugh. "Trowa."
"Quatre please let me have a cup of coffee."
The blonde buried his nose into Trowa's strong back and rubbed his forehead there. "Hmmm, no," he murmured. "I wish I could stay here forever; no more missions."
His green eyes focused on the little bonsai tree in the window and Trowa couldn't help but tilt his lips ever so slightly. Turning those emerald eyes to his koi, Trowa watched him from over his shoulder as Quatre hugged harder, trying to draw that seemingly endless warmth into him forever. He slowly put the coffee down.
Quatre knew what that meant.
After the standard exchange of five lip locks, with a French blurred somewhere in-between, the pilots broke finally from a deep kiss and Quatre buried his head briefly into the cove of Trowa's neck. For another few seconds of blissful silence, they stood there, with nothing moving or making a sound.
"So… when will we tell them, Trowa? You know, Wufei, Duo, and Heero? It won't be a secret if we keep openly kissing for long," Quatre said, his breath clouding on Trowa's skin. It felt even warmer when it reflected back to his mouth.
Trowa moved his arms around Quatre's shoulders and stared straight into those blue eyes. Those blue eyes stared right back. "If you're worried about being rejected, don't worry," he said confidently. Quatre reached up and kissed him lightly again.
"I'm glad you're optimistic, Love, but it doesn't stop me from worrying," Quatre said. "Although, you probably are right. We're all comrades; I don't think we'll separate after all we've been through. Wufei has always been detached but would never abandon us and Duo and Heero…"
"Quatre." Trowa suddenly went serious. Quatre sensed it instantly and cocked his head to side, still intimately close.
"What?"
"I don't think we'll have to worry about those two," he said softly, slowly easing away from Quatre, even if his innocent face displayed protest. He needed coffee to explain, which he knew he'd be doing for that statement. The oddly banged pilot finally eased Quatre's hand off his hip and got out a fresh cup of tea. Quatre accepted it and sat down at the counter. He could feel curious blue eyes and a question fresh in his mouth. As Trowa sat down at the counter, which overlooked the living room and the sleeping lump known as Heero Yuy, Quatre turned to him and leaned closer.
"What did you mean by that?" He sipped a little coffee but his gaze never slipped from Trowa's green eyes. Trowa loved the way he was always focused on who he talked to, so sincere and respectful. Never faltering. Trowa could swim in those eyes.
"I'm not sure if it's true, but I have been noticing it for a while," Trowa said softly, drinking his own strong coffee between speaking. "I can't help but see that same look in Duo's eyes that I noticed in yours a long time ago."
"Are you serious?" Quatre put down his steaming tea.
Trowa looked to his koibito. He licked some coffee from his lip after taking one more drink. Quatre didn't need him to answer, he could tell by the way he looked back. A maybe.
The platinum blonde leaned onto his shoulder and once again cuddled against his neck, with both pale hands clasped around his teacup as he sipped it. "Love is a many splendid thing. We won't the only ones, will we?" he murmured. A pause, a head resting on blonde hair.
"Maybe." Trowa rested his head even more against Quatre's and never once thought of stopping the romantic stuff. They sat there for a while longer, listening to the mechanics of Peacemillion run.
"Trowa?" Quatre asked suddenly, breaking a long stretch of blissful morning stillness.
"Yes?" he replied without moving.
The Arabic pilot wrapped his arm around Trowa's hip and asked with the innocence of a child, "When can we get married?"
Trowa laughed and kissed him on the cheek. "Soon."
Their content breakfast was interrupted suddenly by the alerting of a new mail message by Heero's laptop, which sat only down the counter, closed. It sneaked in five annoying beeps before Trowa separated from Quatre and opened it. The screen flickered a metallic greenish-blue before a menu popped to life. Quatre curled his legs up onto the chair and watched from a far as Trowa skillfully navigated around Heero's security locks and opened the vidmessage.
The dull black background Heero had installed was sharply contrasted as a smiling Duo Maxwell appeared on the screen, shoulders restrained and the familiar cockpit surrounding him. He wasn't quite as perky as Trowa expected him to be. His voice was lower and grumbly and the blackness around his eyes gave away that he hadn't slept very much. The oddly banged pilot glanced over to Heero on the couch, then back to the screen as he began talking.
"Yo!"
"Hello," Quatre replied, without realizing it wasn't in live time. Trowa tilted his lips.
"Sorry 'bout leaving you guys behind. Me and Wufei are going to Earth…" Duo continued, giving his full expressions to the camera in the cockpit. He even threw his arms behind his head, one of his biggest mannerisms, and became Duo again, despite the sleepiness.
Heero heard the word, "Earth," in his sleep and groaned, shifting over.
"…to blow something up. I'm not sure yet; they haven't disclosed the target in case the message I send you is intercepted. I'm pretty sure it's something to do with a mobile suit factory. I'd tell you where, but then I'd have to be killed." A sheepish smile and laugh.
Quatre smiled and sipped his tea.
"Anyway, don't worry about us. Heero's been acting fluish lately, that's why he's on the couch if he hasn't already gotten up. He'll be a little temperamental but just give him some water and he'll calm down. Dr. J granted him the day off, too. Wing's still not completely fixed up yet and we'll finish the job. Be back by dinner. Ciao!" Duo flicked his hand in a salute and the vidmessage ended.
By now Quatre had finished his tea, and shuffling over to the sink, cleaned it out and sat back down at the counter. Trowa closed the laptop, which reinstalled the security on itself with fierceness like Heero's, and went back to finishing his coffee at the counter as well. They conversed for a few more minutes, Quatre fantasizing over a wedding while his koibito watched his face light up. After the last of the coffee was downed, Trowa went to get dressed out of his sleeping clothes, a looser pair of jeans and yes, a turtleneck.
The platinum blonde washed up and headed down to the Gundam hangar to reinstall some faulty equipment on Sandrock. Trowa said goodbye and left for his bunk to relax and count up the money he'd been stashing away for something special.
Heero Yuy was still asleep and bare-footed on the couch at 11 A.M. The Japanese pilot, beginning to feel uncomfortable on the couch, continually shifted himself. To one side; the other; on his back; on his stomach; off his stomach, burying his face in the crack between cushions. His hair was slicked with sweat, even though he wasn't sick and wasn't at all drained. Even in the peace of sleep, his heart rate accelerated and the veins in his skin became more visible as his skin warmed as if from exercise. Heero was still confused about what was happening to him as he shunned dreams subconsciously.
Relena was furious. Her fist slammed against the keyboard and the screen died. No answer. She suddenly cried out in pain, seeing she'd broke her nail. The teenager cursed again, blowing on and shaking her hand.
"Miss Relena, are you alright in there?" Paegan's butler voice pierced through her door, above the crackling of the abused videophone.
"Fine, thank you Paegan," she replied politely. She didn't want him worrying about her too much. If he discovered what she was attempting, there was no doubt he'd give her some stuffy lecture about leaving him alone. All she wanted was love. Relena still could picture his Prussian eyes as cold as ice. She knew with a deep passionate conviction that he was just frozen inside him self and needed to warm up in order to come out and confess his feelings.
/Heero… why are you resisting me? I know you must love me, else you would have killed me…/
The honey-haired girl left her room, ignoring the videophone's distress and told Paegan to call a mechanic to fix it. The butler bowed obediently and exited for the older phone in the living room. Then she began another long, thoughtful walk along that golden beach where she'd encountered Heero for the first time. If she were lucky, he'd be there for her, even though she knew he was out in space.
Crackle. A bit of feedback, harsh to the ears. Duo's radio system was going again in the magnetic field of Earth. /Damn, didn't I just fix that? /
The American pilot adjusted the collar on his flight suit to let the sweat cool out on his neck. Meanwhile, Wufei proceeded to feed the briefing through the radio. It blurred his words and Duo kicked at the cockpit console a bit. The radio wavered then finally picked up Nakatu's signal clearly.
"There's a new mobile suit factory operating in Brazil. We need to destroy it before it gets a shipment of mercury and gundanium, or preferably both. We have intercepted some data that says they're planning to some how fuse the mercury into their weapons. Location unknown. They've hidden it somewhere in the rainforest with the help of some natives." Wufei's voice was strained with anger. "We'll have to find it first."
Shifting his violet eyes around the text displayed on his screen displaying information on the cargo truck carrying the load, Duo sighed. He ran his fingers through his hair. "Is there anyway we can do that without ripping up that rainforest?"
Crackle. Nakatu came on Deathscythe's monitors on the right as both Gundams powered toward the sleepy blue orb called Earth. "Yes. We'd have to use tracking devices, but stay above the canopy. They interfere."
"Then we'd be sitting ducks!" Duo said twisting up his face.
"Hn." Wufei grunted back and he saw the other Gundam surge forward a bit in anger.
The American tapped his fingers lightly along the joystick, trying to get his creative juices flowing his head. It didn't help he was drowsy from helping Heero and hadn't slept much after going to bed. He had lay awake, still pondering the events of the night. Now it was catching up to him, though. Hard.
"Can we uh… maybe just…" Even Duo could feel himself slurring.
"Maxwell, wake up! This is a mission!"
"Yeah, I'm up," he snapped back with a bit of frustration evident. "Just thinking."
Another 'Hn.'
Duo rubbed his lips and cheeks, a bit loose from the drowsiness. He felt like trying to just rub all his worries away, soon massaging his temples and piloting with one hand. "Uhnn," he groaned, "Can we set a trap?"
"Maxwell, we're not going to come to us. We're attacking, onna!"
"I'm not Anna…" Delirious.
"Dammit, why did you come?"
Duo slunk back against his cockpit seat, slumping his shoulders. Losing his posture let a bit of tension flow out of his muscles and into nothing and he soon found himself closing his eyes. "I don't know Wufei, something's making me tired. I swear… I was fine a while ago…"
"That American pop of yours is poison, I told you that," he remarked bitterly.
Duo growled deep in his throat. /Knock it off Wufei…/
/…Hn…. /
The voice again. It came with a sharp buzz in Duo's brainwaves then when the buzz died off, that rough, exhausted voice grunted sleepily.
/Oh, you again. You sound tired…/
Duo still slumped against the seat, drifting maddenly between a trance, consciousness, and a weak, unsteady sleep.
/Duo. /
/What? What… do you want? I want to sleep…/
/Duo. /
/No, no, shush. Too loud…/
/Duo! /
Duo didn't notice the rough voice in his head slowly blur into a bitter one snapping at him from the radio. His head filled with that painful hang up and he blinked open his violet eyes. They were misted but that didn't muffle the angry snaps of the Nakatu pilot.
"Duo!"
"Wha? Wha?" Duo bolted up. Wufei appeared on his screen, left eye almost into a furious twitch.
"What the hell are you doing, baka?"
The American averted his eyes away, locking them on his sweat-rivuleted hand clenched around the joystick. "I don't know… I think I'm aborting this one."
The Chinese pilot frowned but realized it was for the best. With Duo acting undependable, it could mess up the mission, fatally. He clicked off the communication screen and switched back to radio, fed up with the American's weakness. He couldn't watch him sit there like a helpless child trying to fight away his sleepiness.
"Just go back to Peacemillion, you weakling," he said, gunning the engine.
Instinctively, Duo killed the engines on his Gundam and let it float in space, letting himself relax. He watched the other pilot disappear. He closed his violet eyes dotted with a fatigue that had come from nowhere and guided himself back to Peacemillion by the voices on the radio. He felt a cramp in his stomach and tightness through his entire soul. It felt like something was compacting him into himself, a building pressure in his chest and throat.
"I hope we have aspirin."
Heero Yuy woke the to slam of a door and Trowa Barton lifted his head and stashed a pile of substantial money. When the oddly banged pilot poked his head out and discovered a fatigued Duo standing nearly lifeless in the door, he relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief. He slipped the money under his pillow and went out to check on the American pilot. Heero stared at Duo, still sprawled on the furniture. He closed them again and fell asleep.
"Duo, why are you back so early?" he inquired in a monotone voice.
Duo stared at him as he walked up through the hallway, and then weakly smiled.
"I need to relax. Don't worry," he reassured, trying to smile like he usually did. "Just a little drained."
"Are you okay?" Trowa prodded again. A protectiveness that only Quatre saw shone through to Duo. "It's not like you to get sick.
He weakly winked. "I'm fine." With that, he left the two stoic pilots, not bothering to even slip off his shoes as he entered the bathroom.
The American didn't slip out of his skin tight, black flight suit and sat down in the dry tub. He numbly twisted the knob and steaming hot water stung and swarmed around his toes. It stung his skin but he didn't care. It felt like a warm arm extending all around him that promised to evaporate his worries away for a few minutes.
Duo unbraided his hair and spread his legs through the clear water, soaking in the heat. The American fell into a conscious trance, staring at the water that flickered in the light. He closed his eyes and sighed.
Trowa watched him disappear into the bathroom with no comment, just a watchfulness and concern. The oddly banged pilot sat down on one of the chairs and returned to an old novel he'd left by the TV. For another half-hour, he sat there, his concern alternately switching from Duo to Heero.
He was alerted to another person in the room as Heero sat up groggily, at exactly 2:30 P.M. The Japanese pilot glanced at Trowa, locking into his green eyes. A flickering, steamy quality floated in Heero's eyes as he looked back, and his skin was gleaming with sweat and warmth.
"Where's Duo?" he asked. Where the pilot had grown accustomed to another flicker of brainwaves in his mind, there was silence. A tight ball of worry was lodged in his throat, but at the same time, he felt a sensation of frightening limpness.
Trowa didn't need to point.
Through the light under the bathroom door, water came leaking out.
----
Oh, I'm sorry! I don't like ending on cliffhangers, but I had too. Fear is on! 0.0! Now there talking about this tunnel where poor little kids got stuck and *shiver* I'm getting too scared to write anymore. There's this big empty, dark basement behind me cuz my computer's down here. I'm sorry, but my pacing seemed a little off at the end. You will not believe how many times I redid this chapter. -0-... I must have had 6 different beginnings, not counting this one. If you're a fan of green day, you would have noticed the theme. The titles and chapters are all green day titles. If you read the lyrics, they sometimes go with the chapter. "Rest" goes almost perfectly, I think with this. THANK YOU for all the reviews. I'm so happy that I got 12! ^-^ kind of pathetic, but that's the best a story of mine has ever done!! Arigatou arigatou arigatou! And like you asked, more 3x4 on the way. P.S. the money is important!
Hey can you hear me?
I'm calling your name
Hello? Or is this goodbye?
The gleam in your eyes
It troubles my brain
Will I see it again?
So I can rest my head
Angel...Angel! Dancing away
As all of my thoughts get rearranged
Angel...Angel! Turning away
Just when thing seem
To have changed
So I can rest my head
Hey can you hear me?
I'm calling your name
Hello? Or is this goodbye?
The gleam in your eyes
It troubles my brain
Will I see it again?
So I can rest my head