Disclaimer: Don't own GW.
Warnings: Yaoi
Duo?
Chapter 3: Ghostly Nights
Heero reached his room and opened the door very cautiously. "Duo?" he called. He stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. He glanced around the room and grinned when he saw a very solid, colorful - very unlike what he assumed ghosts looked like - boy sitting in his desk chair, balancing a pencil on his fingertip.
"Duo?" Heero called again. This time Duo grinned broadly and thrust his hand into the air, sending the pencil flying above him. He then snatched it out of the air like any normal person would, and set in on the desk.
Then the braided boy stood up and met Heero's intent gaze with his huge, violet eyes. "Yes, I'm Duo." The ghost's voice was surprisingly clear and seemed overjoyed to have someone to talk to. "Did Q tell you about me?"
Heero assumed he meant Quatre. "Yeah."
"How is he?"
"Wonderful," he said with false enthusiasm. He walked around to his bed, inspecting Duo very closely before sitting down.
"Ok..." Duo quirked an eyebrow at Heero before sitting down again himself.
Heero's logical mind finally barged into his train of thought. "Are you really a ghost?" he asked skeptically.
Duo looked mildly offended. "Yes, I am..."
"This isn't some sort of trick?"
Duo shook his head seriously. Heero didn't ask further and Duo smiled again.
After a few moments of silence, something occurred to Heero. "How did you die?" he asked quickly.
Duo's smile faltered.
"U-unless you don't want to talk about it..." Heero sputtered. Duo looked down at the wood floor sadly and shook his head.
Heero nodded. "I understand."
The silence between them grew ever longer until Heero thought he might burst.
Duo sighed and looked up at Heero again, his previous joy restored. "Your name is Heero Yuy, right?"
Heero nodded. "How did you know that?" Duo grinned and patted the top of Heero's closed laptop.
"Hn."
"Are you going to stay here?" Duo suddenly asked hopefully. Heero looked up in surprise and at seeing Duo's enormous, pleading eyes, nodded slowly.
Duo jumped up, knocking the chair over. "That's great! I'll finally have someone to talk to!"
"I thought you were supposed to be shy..." Heero said suspiciously.
Duo shrugged and stood still for a moment, listening, before quickly fading away.
"Oi, wait!" Heero said before his mother burst into the room.
"What are you doing in here!" she nearly shouted when she saw the chair still lying on the floor.
Heero scoffed. "It wasn't me, it was Duo,"
"And who, may I ask, is Duo?" she asked, placing her hands on her hips.
Heero sighed. "Duo is the ghost who haunts this house. He died when he was just 16 and I think he's lonely," Heero said defensively. That surprised him; he was defending a ghost. "Look, I'll tell you about it later, ok?" He rose from his bed and pushed her out the door, locking it behind her.
"Heero Yuy!" came her muffled voice from the other side.
"I swear I'll tell you about it later!" he shouted back. He heard her then stomping off down the hall and down the stairs. He turned around and walked back to his bed and sat down.
Duo then appeared, this time standing on Heero's bedstead. "Sorry... I am shy, around most people."
Heero arched an eyebrow. "Should I feel special that you let me see you?"
Duo shrugged and jumped off the bedstead. Heero could see the dip in the mattress where Duo stood, but felt nothing. "Is that supposed to happen?"
"What?"
"Am I not supposed to feel you?"
Duo shrugged again and stepped off the bed. "You can if I want you to, but I didn't really think you needed to because there wouldn't be much point in being a ghost if everyone could feel you."
Heero nodded. "But you said that I can ifyou want me to, how is that possible?"
"Well, I'm not entirely sure," Duo said as he examined Heero's tiny Gundam figurine that he set on his shelf. He then turned around and walked to the window. "I can make myself look like how I was when I was alive; which is what you see. I can make myself look like how people assume ghosts look like,-" He turned to face Heero and lost all the color in him until he was white. He shrugged and turned to look out the window as his color came back. "And I can disappear altogether. But you already knew that." Duo smiled.
"And that's another thing; why did you do those things last night? Like turning on my light,-" Heero pointed to the lamp on his desk. "Tossing my stuff on the floor,-" Duo started turning crimson. "and pulling back my comforter." The last statement from Heero's mouth was but a whisper, making Duo's blush darken a few shades.
Duo shrugged again and said, "Well, I don't know... I guess I was kinda lonely..."
"You could've just talked to me, like now," Heero pointed out.
"I was waiting until you learned more about me... I assumed Q would tell you, and since he did I found no harm in showing myself to you."
"There was never any harm in "revealing" yourself to me in the first place." Heero made little quotation marks with his fingers in the air. Duo chuckled.
"No, I guess not. I just thought you might take having a ghost haunt your house the wrong way." He looked down sadly. "Like the last family that lived here, and my parents..." He swallowed hard and looked up at Heero again with tears in his eyes.
"Well that's probably what would've happened if Quatre hadn't told me about you and you kept wandering around the house doing things to creep me or my parents out," he said thoughtfully. "Anyway, that's what I think would've driven us out because thatis kinda freaky." Heero gave Duo a lop-sided smile. Duo smiled back and looked again out the window.
"Ooh, look!" he said, pointing. "Q's back!" Heero got up and walked to the window to see.
"Who're they?" he asked pointing to the black haired one and the woman walking beside him as they walked with Quatre and Trowa. "I haven't met them before."
"Oh, that's Wufei and Sally, they're a few more friends of mine." Duo smiled fondly. "I don't really know Sally that well, but I guess you could call her a friend..."
Heero nodded. "Ok," he said turning to Duo. "Uh, would you like to talk to them again?" he asked.
Duo's eyes brightened, making Heero smile. "Yeah, that'd be great!" He turned and looked out the window again just as the doorbell rang.
"We'll be right back," he said and ran out the door.
He opened the front door. "Wufei and Sally, right?" The two looked surprised but nodded. Heero turned to Quatre and Trowa. "Why don't you guys come in, Duo said he wants to talk to you guys again."
Three pairs of eyes widened, but Quatre said, "Oh, that would be great! It's been so long!" Heero stepped to one side, allowing them in.
"I think he's still in my room," Heero said while shutting the door behind Sally. He walked around them and started climbing the stairs. He turned around when he got to the top and noticed Sally hesitating while holding tightly onto Wufei's arm. She looked around the house nervously and whispered something in Wufei's ear. He nodded and she turned considerably white.
He turned around and led the way down the hall to his room where everyone filed in and stood there looking puzzled. Heero came in last and noticed that Duo was either not there, or not showing himself. He hoped for the latter.
"Uh, Duo?" he called. He then noticed that his laptop was open. He walked over to close it when it started typing "by itself". Everyone shuffled around the desk to get a better look, the typing said:
Hi Q, Trowa, Wufei, Sally!
Heero groaned. "Duo!" he said exasperatedly. "I thought you wanted to talk to them again!"
I do!
"Then come do so!"
I can do it from here, thank you.
Heero put his hand on the back of his chair. "Come on, Duo, don't you want them to oh, I don't know...see you?"
Oh, fine...
Duo then appeared sitting cross-legged behind them on the bedstead. Heero turned around and raised an eyebrow at him. "You like it up there, don't you?" Duo shrugged and smiled nervously at the four pairs of eyes staring unbelievingly at him.
"Uh, hi guys," he said waving. Heero turned his head to see their reactions.
Sally was white as a sheet, Quatre was beaming, Trowa didn't react, Wufei raised an eyebrow.
"Hi Duo!" Quatre said enthusiastically.
"Hi, Q," Duo said nervously.
The silence that followed seemed unbearable except to Trowa, Wufei, and Sally - who was too traumatized to care. Heero sighed and looked from Duo to the others nervously. "Uh, Duo...?" he asked.
Duo's eyes shifted to Heero's. He raised an eyebrow at him when Heero smacked his forehead and dragged his hand down his face. "Ok, this isn't going as well as I'd planned," He turned to Duo's four guests. "Would you guys like something to drink?"
Quatre shook his head. "No thank you."
Trowa shook his head too.
Wufei looked at Sally, who was still clutching his arm rather painfully. "I think a little water will do her some good," he said as he pried her off his arm and made her sit in the chair. She was shaking horribly.
"Right." Heero nodded and rushed from the room.
Downstairs, Mrs. Yuy was reading in the kitchen. "Are you going to explain to me about Duo now?" she asked without looking up. Heero shook his head.
"I just came down here to get some water for Sally; she's in really bad shape after actuallyseeing Duo." He walked to the sink and filled a glass with cool water.
"When are you going to take the time to inform me about our poltergeist?" she asked as she turned the page.
Heero sighed. "I told you already! Duo Maxwell died here when he was 16 and is now haunting the house." With that, he stormed out of the kitchen.
When he got to his room, he saw that Duo was no longer there/visible, and Quatre was now kneeling next to Sally's trembling chair talking to her in a soft and concerned voice. Trowa stood behind Quatre and Wufei was now behind Sally's chair holding onto her shoulders.
Heero walked slowly up to the group and handed Quatre the cup of water, who tried to get Sally to calm down enough so she could drink it. Heero then went to stand next to Wufei. "What happened?" he asked him in a whisper.
"Duo said that he thought it best for Sally if he just left, and when he disappeared Sally just about had a nervous breakdown," Wufei replied, then kneeled next to Quatre.
xxx
"Duo, it wasn't your fault!" Heero told Duo for the billionth time that evening.
"Yes it was! I didn't see another ghost in the room that she could've been freaked out about!" Duo protested yet again.
"Don't beat yourself up about this Duo, it's not your fault you're a ghost. Besides, can you really blameanyone for being scared of a ghost?" Heero asked while typing something on the computer.
Duo sighed and stretched out on the bed. "No, I guess not..."
"Glad you're starting to think straight again."
Duo stuck his tongue out at Heero's back and pushed himself to the end of the bed so his braid touched the ground. "What're you doing, anyway?" he asked as he pushed himself further off the bed, head first.
"Nothing."
Duo looked up to glare at Heero when he saw that his laptop was closed and he had his chair turned so he could watch Duo. He quirked an eyebrow at Duo when he pushed himself off the bed too far and fell off the bed, but just before his head collided with the hard wood floor, he disappeared and wound up sitting on Heero's pillows.
"Hn," Heero snorted. He looked at the clock and was surprised to see that it was already 12:03.
Duo looked at the clock too. "Oh, bedtime!" He jumped up and disappeared above Heero's bed. Heero shook his head and clicked off the light. He let his eyes adjust to the dark before rising and heading across the room towards his bed. He looked down and scowled at the lump hidden under the covers with just one long braid sticking out. "Duo..." Heero warned. Duo's amethyst eyes popped out from under the blanket and blinked at Heero.
"I don't have a bed..." he pouted. Heero raised his eyebrows. "Hey, ghosts need to sleep too!" he said defensively.
"You didn't sleep here last night."
"Yes I did," he said casually.
Heero glared at Duo. "You did!"
He nodded. "Yes, for three reasons: One, this is still my room. Two, my parents took my bed with them when they moved out. And three, I'm tired." He rolled over onto his other side, away from Heero and pulled the comforter tighter around himself.
Heero sighed. "Well then could you move over?" His bedwas big enough for two people to sleep and have plenty of room left over. Duo happily scooted to the other side and rolled over on his other side to face Heero.
"Night, Hee-chan!" he said and closed his eyes before he could see the glare Heero shot at him.
Heero closed his eyes and sighed. "Don't call me that..." he muttered softly, causing Duo to open one eye and grin before falling asleep.