Whisper

CONTENT WARNING: yaoi, 1x2, suicide attempt, language.

The rapid succession of the dull B flat of the alarm clock woke Duo with a start. Groggily, he groped for the source of his annoyance and gave it a quick smack once it was found. He rolled over and buried his head under the pillow, "Ten more minutes!" He mumbled, feeling his partners gaze on his back.

Heero rolled his eyes and tossed Duo's clothes at him, "Get up, we have class in 15 minutes." He groaned and sat up, glaring at Heero's bare back as he got dressed, "Yes mother." He said as he made his way towards the bathroom.

Duo slammed the door behind him and stared at his reflection in the mirror, making a face at himself, "Uh, morning hair." He splashed a handful of cold water in his face and grabbed his brush out of the drawer, brushing out his mass of tangled chestnut hair and skillfully twisting it into a braid, securing it at the end with a black hair tie. After that was done he returned to staring at his likeness in the glass surface, brushing his teeth and continuing with the rest of his morning routine as he did so.

The pounding on the door reminded him, rather frustratingly, of the time. "Come on Duo, we have to go." He glanced at his watch and cussed, "Shit!" He shouted loudly. With a yank he opened the door and dashed around the room, trying to grab his books and get dressed at the same time. Heero leaned against the doorframe and watched his partner in amusement, a ghost of a smile gracing his lips for a split second. Duo, however, was not the least bit entertained. He stuffed the rest of his papers into his bag and brushed past Heero angrily. Heero followed, barely having to speed up to keep pace. They walked the rest of the way in silence, Duo never taking his eyes of the pavement, as if he somehow found it interesting.

All of his classes seemed to pass by unbearably slow. It didn't help that all of the teachers seemed to take on a monotone as they talked. As if their subjects weren't dull enough, they had to make it even harder to pay attention to by adding no inflection to their voices. It was like they were daring the students to fall asleep. Duo mused over this as his physics teacher droned on in front of him. He hadn't paid attention to him the entire time he had attended this retarded school, and he didn't feel like starting now. Both he and Heero knew more than this guy ever would, so he never felt the need to listen. Heero, at least, feigned alertness, but at the moment Duo felt too tired to care.

"Mr. Seki, would you kindly wake up and tell us the angular momentum of a single particle?" Duo lifted his head off of the desk at his assumed name and sighed, reciting the formula without flaw. Then, as an afterthought added, "Please wake me when you have something important to tell me." This was apparently not a good move. Heero whipped around in his seat, giving him a patented death glare, which the teacher seemed to be mimicking his partners' ferocity with a glare of his own. He rolled his violet eyes and gathered his books, standing to leave before the teacher even suggested it. He knew this drill all to well.

"I will let the office know you are on your way." The teacher snapped at Duo, who heard nothing as the door slammed behind him for the second time that day.

He stalked down the hall angrily, pissed at himself for allowing the teacher to upset him, and at the teacher for doing so in the first place. He wasn't quite sure what was up with him lately. Even to himself he seemed a bit touchy and overly moody, which wasn't something he was willing to admit to all that often. Sure, he was human like everyone else, and was allowed to let the mask drop every now and then. But he didn't like to, and he sure as hell wasn't doing it on purpose this time around. It was that fact alone that was bothering him the most.

The woman in the office smiled kindly at him as he dropped down into one of the overstuffed office chairs. Whoever had decorated the place must have been blind, or at least mildly retarded. His brain supplied him with this comment nearly every time he 'visited', but it never ceased to be amusing or any less true. Everything was covered in a hideous floral pattern, going so far as to coat the wallpaper. He shook his head, 'Blind.' He concurred with himself.

Someone walked across his field of vision and he looked up, believing it to be one of the principles. It wasn't. It was actually a girl from his class. She gave him a halfhearted lilt of her lips and dropped her eyes almost immediately. He believed her name was Kara something, though he couldn't really remember, due to the trait she had just demonstrated; she was shy and tended to keep to herself. "Get in trouble?" He said, trying to make idle conversation.

She shook her head and looked up at him, eyes sad and afraid. "No. I think they might have some bad news for me." That was all of the information she was willing to offer, however, and he decided not to push it any farther. She obviously didn't want the company.

One of the office attendants came out and took Kara before him, which he found odd. Not only was he here first, but he was also here so often they would probably know what to do with him right away. He shrugged. It wasn't something he was going to complain about. Kara came out a few minutes later, a sullen yet oddly blank expression on her face. She looked up at him as she passed by and a bitter smile spread across her face. "I was right." She stated before continuing on without pause. Duo looked after her, "about what?" He asked. She stopped walking and turned towards him, "the bad news. My father is," her voice wavered and she corrected herself, "-was-, a soldier. He's dead now."

She said no more and continued walking, not noticing anyone as she went. He didn't need to ask how he had died. He knew. This was an OZ school, and therefore he was an OZ soldier. There was even the chance that Duo himself had been the one to kill him. His insides suddenly felt numb. How many of these people's parents had he killed? It had never really occurred to him before. It was easier to just think about them as a single entity, not individuals. It went against everything his training had taught him, but he began to dwell on it. Those soldiers had had families, children even. They began to take on faces instead of gray mass he thought of them as. He stood up, a dull expression in his eyes, and left the office. The attendants looked after him, confused, but said nothing as he wandered out and towards the dorms.

Heero looked around his math class angrily, searching for Duo's normally smiling face. Once he found the braided idiot he planned on berating him for endangering their mission. Mission parameters stated they were to infiltrate the OZ base by posing as students at a school located on the grounds. The school was only a cover for the base beneath. Getting kicked out was not part of the plan. Not seeing him anywhere, Heero slipped out of the classroom before the teacher had a chance to see him. Knowing Duo, he was probably back at the small dorm room they shared. He didn't deal well with orders, much less from OZ employees.

The door to the room was unlocked and all of Heero's senses went on alert almost immediately. That meant someone had pick locked the standard issue doorknob, an easy task, and was now inside. Duo, however irresponsible, was not so careless as to leave the door unlocked. He cursed himself for not taking better security precautions and eyed the door suspiciously. There didn't appear to be any forced entry, but that didn't necessarily rule out anything. Instinctively his hand fell to the gun tucked securely in the waistband of his gray, school issued uniform, and the perfect soldier took over.

He quietly twisted the doorknob and slipped his finger over the lock, pressing it as he shut the door behind him. If they wanted to get out, they'd have to unlock the door, and that would give him time to take them out. Cobalt blue eyes scanned the room for the intruder, but found nothing. He stood stoic for a moment, listening. The sound of water running through pipes was brought to his attention as soon as he tuned his senses towards sound. His eyebrows knitted together in confusion. The most likely answer was Duo, but again his mind was telling him that Duo would never leave the room so unsecured.

Heero drew his gun and pulled the hammer back with his thumb until it fell into place with a satisfying click. He aimed the barrel at the bathroom door. With his left hand he steadied the 44mm Glock 18, and with the right checked the door. Locked. Kicking it open or blowing the lock would draw too much attention, so he settled for picking it. He moved over to the computer and carefully removed the case off of the false modem, setting it on the floor. Under the metal casing he had hidden a few weapons, along with them his pick set. He drew out the short jag snake pick and the hook pick and inserted them into the lock. He pressed the hook pick against the chamber wall and worked the jag pick until he heard the tumbler slide cleanly out of place. He grinned and returned his tools to their resting place, then slipped the case back over the computer.

Duo sat with his knees drawn up to his chest, still in his school clothes. The cold water was turned all the way up and it poured over his body like ice, leaving the flesh pricked where it touched. His teeth chattered together violently, and whenever his body convulsed it sent the back of his head cracking against the tile behind him. Heero knew he was crying, he could hear his sobs, though what was water and what were tears he could not tell. "Shit!" He cursed loudly. He shut the water off with a violent twist of his wrist, causing the caulk to crack behind the knob, and knelt beside Duo. Only then did he notice the pink tint to the water. As gently as possible, he pried Duo's arms away from his body. The muscles were taught from being held in the same position for god knows how long. The ice water issuing in blasts down upon him hadn't helped either.

There was a tiny razor blade gripped firmly in Duo's hand. He was squeezing the blade so hard it had split open his palm, but he didn't seem to notice. Heero uncurled Duo's fingers and took the metal piece, tossing it in the sink behind him. The pale flesh on each arm was sliced from the wrist to the middle of the forearm. The skin was puckered and blood ran from the strawberry gashes.

"Baka!" Heero growled, reverting to his native language in his anger. He wrapped his arms around Duo's waist and hoisted him from the tub. He shivered as Duo's wet clothes soaked his own. The boys' body refused to stop convulsing and Heero found it hard to keep a grip on him. He slung Duo over his shoulder and maneuvered his way out of the small bathroom. He dropped the half conscious pilot on the bed and turned to the dresser, rooting through its contents for dry clothes. He tossed them on the bed and then turned to find medical supplies. He grabbed as much gauze as he could, along with a needle and thread, and returned to his friend. Heero sat on the bed and pulled Duo's limp body onto his lap. He brushed his matted hair put of his face and stared at him for a second before threading the needle.

Duo whimpered as Heero sewed up the slashes on his arms. The pain was pushing him more towards unconsciousness and Heero tried to get him talking, "You cut along the vein." he said gruffly as he pulled the thread taught. Duo winced and managed a small smile, "I like to do things right." His voice came out in a hoarse whisper and Heero tried not to panic. Doing so would not help his friend. Duo's shivering had not ceased, and it made it that much more difficult for Heero to stitch. "Omae O Korosu!" He huffed, tightening his grip on his partner. Duo choked out a laugh at the familiar comment, coughing up blood in the process, "I think I got to it before you did."

Heero finished his stitching and moved on to the bandaging the wounds tightly with the gauze. "You are not going to die. I won't let you." He muttered, more to convince himself than Duo. As if in response, Duos body once again seized and he was wracked in another fit of coughs. His lips were now stained a ruby red and he spat at the floor in annoyance.

Heero moved so that he was looking into Duo's violet eyes. They weren't focusing. He slammed his hand down on the wooden chair by the bed, "Damn it Duo!" Though Duo looked mildly confused, Heero stopped speaking and didn't give an explanation, opting instead to strip his partner of the wet clothes clinging to his skin. Duo yelped and tried to slink away from Heero's grasp, but in his weakened state was no match for the trained soldier. Not that he ever was... "Hold still." He commanded, trying to get Duo warm and dry as quick as possible. He placed a hand firmly in the center of his chest, pinning him to the bed. With the other he tugged off Duo's pants and pulled his shirt over his head. Duo stopped protesting, realizing the futility of his efforts. Heero scanned his body over once, looking for any other wounds he had missed. Finding none, he proceeded to grab the dry clothes and get him changed.

Duo shivered as Heero's warm hands contacted with his cold flesh while getting him into a pair of oversized gray pajamas. The touch left a stinging sensation behind and he squirmed, not liking the feeling of it. Duo's body had stopped going into violent convulsions, resorting to uncontrollable shivering and muscle spasms instead. Heero collected all the wet blankets out from under the other pilot and piled dry ones on top of his friend, tucking the ends under his body to keep the heat in. He finally slid into a chair next to the bed and looked at Duo angrily. "Why?" he asked. It was a simple question; one Duo found he didn't want to answer. "I don't want to do this anymore Heero..." he said softly through chattering teeth. "This was a mistake, letting us get to know the enemy..."

Heero shook his head, "Orders are orders Duo, and you almost fucked us over. Don't lie to me either, I know you're not telling the truth."

Duo shot him a death glare at the insinuation, "You know I don't lie," he hissed.

"Then you're not telling the whole truth. I'm not going to let you die 02, so there's no point in trying." With that he crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes. Duo buried himself under the covers. It had been a long time since Heero had called him that. What if I just lost all of his trust? He thought in panic. It had taken him so long to get Heero to open up to him even the slightest bit, what if he had just ruined what shred of a chance he had to break through Heero's carefully placed barriers?

Heero pulled the blankets back down, away from Duos head, "Don't fall asleep." He stated it gruffly, like an order, not a request.

Duo sighed in annoyance, "What, so I cant sleep now?"

Heero glared, "No, you cant. You have a concussion."

Duo averted his eyes, angry at himself for getting snappy with Heero, "Oh." He grimaced and tried to choke back a sob at the painful contractions his muscles were currently experiencing. Who knew dying hurt so much, he thought wryly to himself. Heero eyed him uneasily and seemed to be contemplating something in his head. With a barely audible sigh, he stripped down to his boxers and shoved Duo over, slipping in under the blankets next to him. He wrapped his arms around Duos waist, pulling him as close to his chest as he could manage.

Duo whimpered and tried to pull away. Heero's skin was like fire to his own, it hurt too badly to touch. Of all the times he decides to get in bed with me, I cant even stand to touch him! He thought bitterly to himself.

"You're body wont warm up on its own, it needs body heat. Stop struggling and sleep." Heero explained, no hint of emotion in his voice. "But, you said-" He cut Duo off, "I know what I said, if I wake you up every couple of hours you'll be fine. Just sleep."

The American did his best to relax as much as possible in his current situation, but found no matter how mentally and physically tired he was, he just couldn't fall asleep. "Heero." He said quietly, wondering if the boy holding him had actually dozed off. "Hn." Came his reply. He took in a shaky breath and started to say something, but thought better of it; no need to make him even more uncomfortable, "Um...never mind." He felt Heero shrug behind him and winced, even that slight movement had caused the skin on Heero's arm to drag across his own, recreating that burning feeling.

Duo slept restlessly through out the night, tossing and turning, either by cause of his fever or by the nightmares wasn't certain. He awoke rather slowly, a bit confused as to why the alarm clock hadn't gone off, or if he had missed it why Heero wasn't throwing things at him in an attempt to rouse him. He looked towards the window and was a bit shocked to find it was still night. He was even more shocked to find Heero was laying next to him, asleep, his arm draped across his chest in a rather possessive manner.

The events of earlier that day came trickling back to him slowly, and he groaned, Damn, I knew it was too good to be true. He tensed up as he felt Heero shift positions, and then realized that he was awake and staring at him. He smiled meekly, "Hi." Heero eyed him suspiciously and checked his forehead. The palm of his hand was cool against his skin and it felt rather good. Duo did his best not to blush, then almost laughed at himself, The man is half naked in bed with you and your blushing because he touched your forehead? Get a grip man.

"The fevers gone down, you should be fine to move around now." Duo nodded slowly and did his best to hide his disappointment when Heero got up and moved over to his own bed. "Wait a second, didn't you say you would wake me up every couple of hours?" It wasn't like the perfect soldier not to follow through with his word. He raised an eyebrow, "I did." Duo looked mildly shocked, not remembering any of this, "You did?" Heero nodded, "Hai. You hit me every time."

Duos violet eyes widened and he blushed, "Err, sorry, I suppose I'm not the best of patients." Heero snorted, "Hn. Go back to sleep Duo, tomorrow's our last day for classes before we complete the mission." Duo grimaced at the thought, as much as he hated OZ, a bunch of teenagers that didn't do anything wrong didn't deserve to die. "Um Heero...Is there some way we can get the students off the grounds? Or is that breaking mission parameters?" He asked bitterly, a bit surprised at himself at how that came out.

He was about to yell at Heero when he didn't respond, when he got up and moved over to his laptop. He lifted up the top and clicked it on, the whirring of the fan a tell tale sign it was booting up. The screen glowed a pale green at first, and then lit up to an almost blinding white. Heero immediately started typing away, making different screens and icons pop up every now and then.

"Heero! I asked you a question!" He kept his voice down enough so that no one would come to investigate, but loud enough to inform his partner he was annoyed. Heero ignored him and kept typing, then stopped abruptly. He scanned the screen a couple times and turned around to face Duo, "There's nothing here that says we cant, it only states we are to destroy the Mobile Suit weapons manufacturing storage unit beneath here." Duo smiled, the only real one he'd had for a long time, "Sugoi!" He sounded, eliciting his favorite Japanese word. "Now how are we going to get them off?"

Heero returned to his laptop, punched in a few thing and an e-mail screen popped up. He typed in the administrators code and send an e-mail stating that all students were to be taken off grounds at 0:800 hours. Duo looked at his watch, it was 11 at the moment, which gave them 9 hours to do whatever needed to be done. He sighed, sleep sounded good right about now. He laid back down and closed his eyes, resting his head on his hands. "Thanks Heero." He said before falling asleep. "Hn." Replied the pilot before shutting off the computer and going to sleep himself.