Scarlet Love
Chapter Three:
Flitting Changes
By: NightChild
***
When Duo regained consciousness again, he wasn't sure where he was. He only knew that he was in a soft bed and that someone was in that bed with him. Slowly opening his eyes to keep from making his head pound any more than it already did, he looked around the room and recognized it as the room he had foggy memories of…those memories included Heero, too. He smiled at that thought. "Heero…" he half sighed, half whispered.
Heero snapped out of the doze he was in as he heard his name whispered on something that sounded a lot like a sigh. He had climbed in the bed with Duo in the night when Duo's nightmares had been so bad that he feared that he would do more damage to himself. He glanced over at Duo and saw that he was awake. "So…you've decided to join us in the land of the living again?" he was surprised at how easy it was to tease Duo. He used to never tease. He used to be all about the mission, with no room left for teasing…or anything, for that matter.
Blinking and stifling a yawn, Duo nodded feebly. "How long have I been out for?" he asked, pushing back the memories of his torture and nightmares. The nightmares that he had thought were reality.
Heero watched Duo visibly push something from his mind. That was something he, Heero, was good at, pushing things from his mind. Like his feelings for Duo. That was a prime example. He would never admit to anyone, including himself, that he felt anything other than friendship for Duo. There was just no way that he was going to do that…. But the way that Duo watched him through half lidded eyes made his heart beat with the power of love, need, and want…in all ways.
Duo watched Heero watching him; he saw the flits of emotions that flew across his face, they were so brief that unless someone knew exactly what they were looking for, they would never see those emotions flash across that once ice-like face. But Duo knew what to look for. He had learned to recognize what few emotions he could back in the wars. Back then, Heero had shown hardly any emotion at all. One was lucky if they could get anger out of him. But now…now it was different. Heero had changed. Just like the rest of them.
Stomach growling, Duo shook himself out of his musings. "Is there anything to eat around here? I'm kinda hungry." He smiled as best he could with his face swollen as it was.
Heero felt a smile fight it's way to his face, and he didn't try to push it back, there wasn't a point. It was a loosing battle. He couldn't control his emotions as he had once…but in this case he didn't think that it really mattered. Duo seemed to be on the mend, if only slightly, and that was what mattered. He went to stand, but Duo's hand gripping his arm stopped him. Looking at Duo questioningly, he grunted, returning to the minimal language he had used during the wars.
"How long have I been out of it?" Duo asked again, afraid of what the answer would be…afraid that he wouldn't get an answer.
Somehow sensing Duo's fear, Heero moved the arm that Duo gripped and gave his arm a brief squeeze, something he had never done before, for anyone. "Just a day and two nights." He answered lightly, surprising himself with the tone, surprising Duo with the tone and that only that short amount of time had elapsed.
Nodding, Duo let go of Heero's arm. He would've questioned the passage of time, but it would've just made Heero annoyed at him and he didn't have the energy to have anyone annoyed with him at that moment.
"I'll go get you something to eat." Heero said, before getting up and leaving the room.
***
AN:
I'm not going to reply individually to my reviewers because that takes up a lot of time and space….so…thank you all for reviewing and I hope that you liked this chapter.
I've survived my trip to Ohio and I'm now home, thank the gods, and can now write more. I felt so loved when I came home and there were so many reviews for this story. I know that this chapter was a bit short, but I wanted to get it out for you guys.
And, Demonic Little Sister came up with, "…made his heart beat with the power of love, need, and want…in all ways." So all credit goes to her for that.
Until next time,
Ja`ne.