CHAPTER TWO
By the time Duo managed to drag himself out of bed the next day it was past noon. As predicted, it had been an awful night. The coffee kept his senses alert until way past midnight, and he could've sworn he heard Heero laugh sometime during the night, though he couldn't be sure. He had no idea what hour it was when he finally dozed off, but now it was almost twelve thirty and he figured that perhaps he should make an appearance.
He shuffled into the kitchen, his eyes still half closed and his hair in an atrocious mess.
"Nice of you join us, Duo"
He jolted, and noticed his friends sitting on the couch watching him. It was Quatre who had spoken. Slightly embarrassed, he replied:
"Umm…sorry, bad night…" Looking around, he added "Where's Heero?"
"Still in bed" Trowa informed simply.
"What?!" Duo exclaimed, there was actually someone later than him?! That was a first!
"He was still caffeine crazed till about one in the morning" Trowa continued "He was laughing at whatever it was he was doing with the laptop, so I decided to drug him"
"Think you used an overdose there…" Quatre shrugged "Anyway, we were discussing what we're going to do while Heero's in this…um…condition"
"Don't talk to me until I get my coffee" Duo put up a hand to stop Quatre "I can't think right now"
"But Duo, aren't you worried about him?"
"Worried? I've gone beyond that stage!" Duo started adding sugar to his cup "Just tell me what you've come up with"
"Well…" Quatre began hesitantly as he mentally kept count of the number of spoonfuls "I thought perhaps we should show him some familiar stuff, like photos, places, all that kind of stuff, maybe something will trigger his memory, and he'd come out of it"
"I hardly think any of that is stimulating though…" Duo said thoughtfully "The doctor did say traumatic events…"
"What kind of trauma are we talking about here?" Wufei questioned.
Duo just shrugged "Throw him off a fifty-storey building without a parachute then tell him to put his body back together"
"DUO!" Quatre exclaimed "That's crazy! He'd be dead!"
"I was kidding okay?" Duo hastily added "Sheesh! Don't you think I have common sense?!"
"There's a debatable question" Wufei muttered.
"Guys!" Quatre yelled, frustrated "Can we get back to this?"
"I think the photo thing is a good idea" Trowa quietly put in "A classic approach"
"Yeah perhaps the picture of that woman and her whole pink attire would be traumatic enough for him to bring back his memory" commented Wufei.
"Duo, are you going to stop it with the sugar?" Quatre suddenly asked "You're up to twenty-five spoonfuls"
"Oh!" Duo hastily placed the lid onto the sugar jar "So…is anyone gonna go and wake Heero?"
"Don't bother" Trowa stood up "Considering what I gave him he'd be out for a few more hours"
"What!" Duo exclaimed, bringing his cup to his lips absentmindedly 'What kind of drugs do you keep in the house anyway?!"
"Secret formulae" Trowa replied as he passed Duo on his way to his own room "And by the way, your cup's got no coffee in it"
Duo looked down, it was true. He was holding a cup of sugar.
Quatre giggled, Wufei just rolled his eyes and mumbled "baka"
Duo groaned…what a way to start the day…
* * *
Around three that afternoon, Heero finally made his way out of his room. Like Trowa had predicted, the drugs kept him knocked out completely until then.
He made his entrance in a similar fashion to Duo, the only difference being his hair not being long enough to mess up as much. He stumbled into the living room and flopped on the couch across from where Trowa and Wufei were sitting.
"Hey guys!" He greeted cheerfully.
Trowa nodded, Wufei just grunted.
"Sorry about last night, I was slightly over the top wasn't I?"
"Hardly the word" Wufei murmured, and Trowa shrugged.
"Oh...well…umm" Heero tried to come up with something to say, but failed. Instead he made his retreat to the kitchen where Duo was, yet again, looking for food.
"How do you manage to live here?" He asked while Duo proceeded to ransack every compartment of the kitchen.
"What do you mean?" Came the muffled voice from deep within the cupboard and Heero wondered if he tried hard enough to, whether he'd be able to shut Duo into the cupboard.
"Well, there are some pretty hostile people living here" Heero continued "They don't make very good conversation do they?"
A strange sound erupted from the cupboard. If he didn't know any better Heero would've thought Duo had chocked on something, but he could tell it was merely laughter.
"What? It's true!" Heero protested.
Duo emerged from his little hole "Heero, I wish I recorded you saying this, if you ever get your memory back I'd play it over and over again to you until you threaten me with your famous 'omae o korosu'…on second thoughts I'll just keep replaying it anyway."
"What are you talking about?" Heero asked, utterly lost.
"Never mind" Duo walked into the dining area, his arms loaded with snacks "What you do need to worry about if Quatre's plan on helping you regain your memory"
"Huh?"
"You're gonna be bombarded with a tonne of photographs later on" Duo explained, ripping into a package of Oreos "Quatre seems to think it'll trigger something"
"He's so cute!" Heero grinned "I just have the urge to…"
"Don't even think about it" Duo warned "Trowa's a very overprotective guy"
Heero moped for a second before asking "So I'll be shown a heap of photos…is that all?"
"That's all we have planned for now…unless…" Duo's eyes suddenly lit up "Hey! Why didn't any of us think of this before!" He leapt up, and, abandoning his food, he grabbed Heero and dragged him into the living room.
"Hey guys! I just had an excellent idea!"
"Idea, I'll take, excellent, that's up for discussion" Wufei commented.
"Whatever you want" Duo shrugged off the insult "Listen, instead of doing the whole photo thing, why don't we take Heero to his Wing Gundam?!"
"What?" Trowa looked up.
"Think about it!" Duo persisted "A lot of his traumatic experiences actually take place in or around his precious mobile suit, so maybe if we expose him to it again he'll remember!"
"I thought you said he couldn't fly it…"
"Oh well he doesn't need to actually use it, just let him feel it and stuff, maybe something will remind him of something and then one thing will lead to another and… you know, chain reaction and all that…I'm sure it'll work!"
"What was wrong with Quatre's idea? It seems a milder way to start" Trowa still looked doubtful.
"We don't want mild! We're trying to stimulate him remember?!" Duo was practically yelling by this time "Come on! Lets' try it at least!! Come on guys! Please!!"
Wufei sighed "Okay fine whatever. Looks like you're not gonna shut up until we do"
Duo grinned, that gets him every time.
* * *
Two hours later, Heero stood facing his Gundam
"Well?" Duo asked hopefully "Anything?"
"It's cool" Heero gazed up in awe at the enormous mobile suit "And it's mine?!"
"Err, yeah, don't you recognize it?"
Heero shook his head hesitantly, he did feel a strange bond with this huge hunk of machinery as soon as he saw it, but he couldn't see why.
The others stood around, exchanging looks with one another, not sure what to make of Duo's idea or Heero's reaction.
"Try getting into the cockpit and see if any of it rings a bell" Duo suggested.
Heero shrugged, and obeyed. With ease he made his way into the cockpit.
"See? He still has his natural instincts" Duo turned to the others proudly "If he just follows them I'm sure it'll come back to him"
The others still looked doubtful, and gazed worriedly up at the Gundam.
"What do you think he's doing?" Quatre wondered "I hope he doesn't hurt himself"
"Nah, he'll be fine!" Duo reassured "I'm sure he has a handle on the situation…just give him a little time and you'll see…"
Before he could finish, Heero stuck his head out of the opening and yelled
"Hey guys! What's this? What would happen if I pressed this button here…?"
He held out a small object with one hand, with his thumb on a small red button on one end.
It was the self detonation device.
* * *
"I can't believe this!" Duo exclaimed, sliding onto the floor in exhaustion "That was just too close!"
"You think?!" Wufei glared at him "It was your bright idea! Next time think before acting on such impulses!"
"Well how was I to predict this?!" Duo argued, and gazed at the tiny device he was clutching in his trembling hands "Man…even without his memory his instincts still direct him to search for ways to self-destruction!" He looked up at Trowa gratefully "Good thing you were here, your acrobatics really saved the day!"
Trowa shrugged "It's not part of the mission to self destruct without a cause"
"So is this enough to convince you guys to go back to the original plan?" Quatre asked hopefully.
"Definitely!" Wufei said decisively "No more heavy machinery or weapons for him for a while…Heero's instincts and Duo's nature just doesn't mix well when it comes to exploration of new things"
By this time, Heero was feeling completely bewildered.
"Anyone wanna explain to me exactly what just happened here?" He demanded "I mean, you tell me to come up here, follow my instincts, then upon the first opportunity I get to experiment with something, Trowa does a gymnastics move and takes it away from me?"
"He saved your life there" Quatre reminded him "If we delayed for one more second you would've blown us all out to space"
"Is that what that thing was for? Wow, this thing is cooler than I gave credit for!"
Duo shook his head, Heero wasn't afraid of the prospect of death. After all, he was still Heero, no matter how much influence he had on him he would still be Heero…
"Guys" Heero announced after a moment "I'm hungry"
Duo raised his eyebrows, speechless, after something like that all Heero could think about was food?!
Maybe his influence was stronger than he thought…