Itch and Scratch

by KatiKat


*scratch, scratch*

"Duo?"

"Huh?"

"What are you doing?"

"Well... scratching."

"You know you shouldn´t do that. It only makes it worse."

"I knooooooow, but it itches!"

*scratch, scratch*

Heero walked over to the other bed in the orphanage´s infirmary and caught Duo´s sock clad hands in his. Sister Helen had dressed Duo´s hands in thick socks not knowing what to do with him anymore besides tying him down to the bed.

"Stop!" said the blue eyed boy with all of the authority a five year old could have.

"But it iiiiitcheeeeees," Duo whined trying to pull away from the firm grip to scratch the offending red spots that covered all of his body. He even had one on the tip of his nose. He tried to look at the bright red spot and his eyes crossed funnily. "And the white stuff Sis Helen put on it is smelly."

Heero glared at him. "I know. I have it too. Thanks to you!" He didn´t really mean it but he was getting cranky too. Duo´s mood was infectious.

"Well, I didn´t know. How could I know that the small red dots on my skin were chicken pox? I've never had it before," the braided boy defended himself.

Heero let go of Duo´s hands hoping against hope that his best friend would stop to scratch himself. It made Heero´s spots itch even more. He folded his arms on his pajama clad chest and leaned against the pillow looking away from Duo. "Of course you didn´t have it. People get it only once in their life."

"Well, then you should be glad that you got it from me. You won´t get it in the future."

Heero frowned at the other boy´s twisted logic. He gave Duo a sidelong glance and saw his right hand sneaking up his left arm ever so slowly in an attempt to reach his chest and scratch. "Duo, I see you," he warned him without looking at him directly.

Duo pouted. "Then what should I do? I´m booooored," he whined again.

Heero sighed. He took the wooden doll sitting on the small nightstand and pushed it into Duo´s arms. "Here, scratch the doll."

Duo raised his eyebrows. "Huh?" He eyed the blue eyed boy warrily. Maybe his brain got chicken pox too.

Heero sighed and rolled his eyes. "You should scratch the doll and imagine that you scratch yourself."

The braided boy frowned. "And why should I do that?"

Heero frowned too. "Not sure. I heard the people in the hospital talking. It should help." Unconsciously he started to scratch his arm.

"Heero?"

"Yes?"

"You are scratching."

Hiding his hands under the blanket Heero´s cheeks coloured. "Was not."

"Was too," Duo retorted. But today he quickly lost interest in their usual fight. He looked at the doll in his arms and sighed. "Well, at least Shini can´t catch it from us."

Heero didn´t even bother to answer that one.

"Heero?"

"Hm?"

"I´m bored."

Heero sighed. That was the fifth time in an hour that Duo said that. Okay, so he was bored himself. And he was cranky. And every part of his body itched. And he wanted a strawberry lollipop.

"What should I do?" Duo asked in a pitiful voice while trying to get the doll to stand on its head.

"Count."

Duo let the doll fall down on the bed and looked at his best friend. "Huh?"

Heero turned his head to him and pointed at his red dots. "Count the chicken pox. You know how to count, right?"

"Yeah, but only to twenty." He looked at his dotted feet that were sticking out from under the blanket. "And there are"a lot more. Twenty won´t be enough."

"It will do." Heero would do anything to forget the itching.

Duo´s bored face brightened. "Okay." He laid Shini safely aside and then he pushed the blanket aside and started to strip off his pajamas.

After a while only the sound of counting aloud could be heard in the big white room of the infirmary.

"One."

"Two."

"Four."

"Three, Duo."

"Huh?"

"Three comes before four."

"I knew that."

"Right. Six."

"You forgot five, Heero."

"..."

"Seven."

"Eight."

***

Sister Helen finally got all the children to take their afternoon nap and was on the way to the infirmary to check on her two patients. It was suspiciously quiet in there.

She opened the door quietly and peered inside. What she saw made her smile. The boys were soundly asleep. Duo was curled up on his side facing his best friend and Heero lay on his stomach, head turned in the direction of the braided boy. She chuckled. They were just so cute.

She stepped into the room and walked to the beds. With raised eyebrows, she looked at the naked bodies covered with red dots. ´What were the two of them doing here?´ she wondered. Shaking her head, she bent down to pick up their pajamas and to retrieve the blankets that had fallen to the floor. She laid the pajamas aside and covered both boys thoroughly. The last thing they needed were for the two of them to catch colds.

She thought about how unusual it was that only the two of them had caught the chicken pox. When Duo came to her with an aching head and "itchy dots" she mentally prepared herself for an epidemic in the orphanage. But in the end only Duo and Heero caught them. She was convinced that Heero got the chicken pox only out of solidarity to his friend. She never saw two people who would be as close to each other as these two were and she prayed to God that nothing unexpected would happen to any of them. She knew that should they lose each other, it would kill them. Of that she was sure. It was as if they shared one soul in two bodies.

Tucking the blankets tightly around the boys she kissed them on their slightly warm foreheads and with a last glance she left the room.

And the boys slept peacefully, dreaming about wonderful things like lollipops and backscratchers.

The End