NOT FORGOTTEN

Heero's naked form tensed and he smiled bitterly up at Duo, blood dripping slowly from between the fingers clasped tightly over his thigh. "Duo." the word was more an accusation than a greeting. "You saw what you came to see, now you can get the hell out of here and tell our dear friends what you learned." he spat the statement at Duo's shocked face. "tell them that I'm fucking the vilest piece of shit on L2, and I hope they choke on it."

Duo flinched, taking a few tentative steps towards Heero. "Looks to me like he's fucking you." he observed calmly. Heero was just lying there, like he'd seen so many people lying their, including himself, covered in blood and cum, naked and pale, his eyes completely drained of all will or real emotion but the temporary warmth of anger. He had bruises, new and old, marring most of his thin body, which was trembling from aftershock.

Carefully Duo reached out and lifted Heero's hand away from his leg, hissing in sympathy. Blood dripped sluggishly out of a gash on the soft inside of Heero's thigh, torn open and jagged.

"How can you do this to yourself?!" he asked in pain as Heero tensed beneath his hands. He dropped them away from the boy in front of him and went to look for something to clean out the tear. It was unnerving to see someone so perfect go through something so demeaning and painful. Duo wanted to curl into a ball and cry. He could barely hold back the flood of memories, of tears he hadn't shed for too long. When he found ointment and bandages he took a deep breath and walked back into the bedroom, only to find Heero wincing his way into a sitting position, jaw clenched. Duo pushed him back onto the bed, afraid that Heero would tear something. "How did this happen?" he asked, his hand hovering over the torn flesh. Heero flinched a little, wanting more than anything to pull the blankets over his exposed (vulnerable!!!) body and sleep off the pain, to try and forget. But he answered Duo anyways, because he obviously expected him to. "Spikes. Jake never takes them off; he thinks it's a power sign or something. And I guess it works too."

Duo shuddered, trying to be gentle while he rubbed ointment into the wound. After he was done he wrapped Heero's leg tightly with the bandages and went to wash his hands. He felt more like taking a shower than just rinsing his hands though; a very long, hot shower. "At least you didn't need stitches." he told Heero, suddenly feeling cold, and unbelievably angry. He knew it wasn't Heero's fault that any of this had happened, but damn him for being so stubborn, so self sufficient and unwilling to come to any of them for help. Furious tears stung at his eyes and he turned away to wipe at them. When he turned around the emotion was gone, replaced by something darker.

Heero flinched a little. He hated to see Duo so unhappy and serious looking. It didn't fit what he remembered of his old lover at all. Then again, that was the problem wasn't it? He hadn't remembered that Duo had thoughts and feeling, that he required love and that he needed Heero to show him how much he cared about him, constantly. That was what had driven his lover away in the first place. So it was natural that Duo would be angry at him. As angry as Heero was at Duo for leaving. They had a lot of things to work out, and Heero didn't want to deal with any of it right now. What he wanted right now was to curl up into a ball and be treated kindly by someone who cared, someone who didn't just want him for sex. Someone who could call him something other than a whore or a slut. Someone who wanted what was best for him, and even if that person wasn't Duo, he was all Heero had right now, and no one could be worse than Jake's calculating cruelty. Telling himself that it was just a mechanism Jake resorted to using to break him didn't help Heero ignore the degradation and pain of the last two years since Duo had left. It didn't make things any easier to deal with, and it sure as hell didn't comfort him. But it was all he'd had for so long.