Category: Gundam Wing, 1x2
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Nobody needs me to write this, as thousands of other people do it over the net everyday, as do I. But anyways, I don't own Gundam Wing. Wish I did, but, well, I'm just plain unlucky.
Spoilers: None, this is an AU fic.
General Notes: I got this idea when I was in my German class. We were discussing about homelands and stereotypes and such, and we were given this sheet to work with, on which there were around six chickens, all dressed stereotypically for different countries. The Switzerland chicken had a tongue lolling out of its mouth and a barrel around its neck, and the teacher explained it as a chicken-ised version of a St. Bernard dog. Apparently in Switzerland, those dogs actually have barrels around their necks which contain some bread and whiskey, and the dogs scour the mountains looking for people who have fallen victim to avalanches and such. So yea, I thought it was kind of interesting, hence the reason behind this story.
Specific Notes: There really isn't much. This is a story set in an Alternate Universe, about my two favorite Gundam Wing characters: Heero and Duo. This is a 1x2 yaoi fic, so don't read if you don't like that sort of thing.
Music: Boulevard of Broken Dreams – Green Day; Chrno's Sorrow – Chrno Crusade OST; Find the Way – Gundam Seed ending; Loop – Tsubasa Chronicle ending; Lose Yourself – Eminem
Genre: Romance; drama
Summary: AU Duo finally manages to convince his unsocial, workaholic roommate to go on a holiday with him, but a twist of events lands the two in some terrible trouble.

Frozen

By Assassin

Duo's stomach clenched in guilt and irritation as he pulled his legs up under his chin, and wrapped his arms around himself. He felt terribly cold, not to mention the hunger that was creeping slowly into his system. He glanced hopelessly around himself, seeing a dimly glowing wall of ice. He shivered violently, his clutch tightening around himself. The sun would be setting soon, and then there would be no light at all. Their rescue would become all the more remote then, and somehow, he did not quite feel like dying right now.

There was a soft groan to his right, and Duo felt his worry increase when he turned to see his best friend Heero slumped against him. Sweat rolled off his forehead and his breath rose in small puffs of mist before him, dissipating and reappearing quickly as the blue-eyed boy breathed. He was clutching his right arm at an odd angle, and Duo could see the blood seeping through the hastily made bandage wrapped around the blue-eyed boy's right hand. Slowly, Duo wrapped a trembling arm around Heero, pulling the boy closer to him. The boy grunted when Duo's hand gripped particularly tightly around his arm, and the braided boy whispered a quick apology, cursing under his breath all the while.

'It will be dark soon.' Heero murmured, his voice coming out soft and strained. Duo felt his stomach clench again.

'I know.' He murmured back to his friend. 'Reckon anyone would find us before then?'

'It will be very unlikely.' Heero replied. Duo frowned and cursed himself once more; how had their holiday turned out so horribly?

It had taken him months to convince Heero to go on a holiday with him. The Japanese boy had always been such a workaholic, always taking on more tasks than he should and spending far more time at home than any sane person should. They had just graduated from university, and Duo had almost thought it would finally rid Heero of the many hours a day he spent taping away at his laptop. But the Japanese boy had found himself a full-time job immediately as a database administrator at an insurance company, not to mention three other part-time jobs where he worked as a programmer at home. The boy simply would not rest. Back when they had still be students, Heero had always been working. If he was not at a lecture in the university or studying down at the university library, then he was at home, sitting in that dark and inhumanly clean room of his, either perfecting his homework or taking on jobs as a free lance programmer. Perhaps the only time Heero was not working was when he was taking a shower and sleeping. The guy was even working when he was eating at the dinner table, his laptop open next to his plate, and his left hand flying across the keyboard while his right hand busied itself feeding him. As soon as the meal was over, it would be back to the bedroom and his hands would be typing at full pace again.

Duo had tried interrupting plenty of times. First, he stated that he was tired of always having to clean up the apartment and wash the dishes by himself, and that Heero, being a fellow roommate, should share the chores. Heero had agreed without question, and Duo had happily declared that they should decide who did what and when through a few games of poker. Heero dismissed the idea immediately, saying that poker was not necessary, and that they should use common sense and a sense of fairness to decide who did what and when. Duo shook his head immediately, saying that there would be no fun in deciding the roster if there was no risk involved. Heero had given him a skeptical look, and deadpanned that there was hardly any risk involved in deciding a roster anyway, unless Duo got a rush from avoiding vacuuming the two-roomed apartment they shared. Duo smiled at that. It was, after all, amongst the few things Heero said that could be construed as a joke. In any case, after a great deal of whining, the two ended up playing poker, albeit Heero was rather reluctant to engage in such a game. Not that it mattered, Duo ended up having to vacuum the apartment twice out of the two times available a week; wash the dishes five of the seven days a week; do laundry once and clean the bathroom all three times per month. In fact, the only thing Heero ended up doing more was cooking, and it had been more out of pity that Duo already had so many chores than anything else. Still, Duo had been pleased, having managed to waste away an hour of his roommate's valuable time.

After that, Duo had become more distracting. With the vacuuming as an excuse, he would commonly run into Heero's room to vacuum and make a lot more noise "cleaning" things, as well as engage the Japanese boy in random chatter. Heero ignored him most of the time, and very rarely did Duo manage to get some sort of response out of the other boy that did not consist of either a grunt or a few monosyllabic words. Duo fancied that the blue-eyed boy enjoyed his company to an extent, or else he would have just removed his room from Duo's cleaning schedule.

Duo's second attempt at interrupting Heero's work-packed day was to randomly decide to not cook on the days he was supposed to make dinner. Instead, he would drag the reluctant blue-eyed boy out and have dinner with him at random restaurants. Occasionally, he would get particularly hyper and take Heero window shopping with him after dinner, and even force a few movies down on the other boy. Heero complained about it constantly in that word-efficient way of his, and glared at Duo twice as much as before. But Duo was happy anyway, and unwillingly on the Japanese boy's part, they slowly became good friends. Duo knew that Heero would never admit it to anybody, but he was certain that the often silent boy liked him a lot, and to make up for Heero's lack of emotion, he expressed it twice-fold. The violet-eyed boy even began to take Heero out on nights when he was not supposed to cook, and despite the other boy's grouchy mood and dark expressions, he knew that Heero enjoyed it.

At some point, the Japanese boy's pride and common sense came in, and he stopped allowing Duo to take him out all the time. Duo had whined and grumbled and became three times as annoying as he usually was, until even stoic Heero Yuy could not help but frown and cave in. In the end, they reached a compromise which was definitely to Duo's liking: they would only go out a maximum of twice a week, and Heero would pay for half of their outings.

Having become friends, Duo began to visit Heero's room a lot more, even when he did not have a vacuum cleaner with him. He would spend hours at a time lying on the blue-eyed boy's bed, ranting about his day, the most uptight lecturer around, the mob of girls who trailed Heero everywhere on campus and definitely should be caged and put in zoos, Duo's latest girlfriend or his latest breakup depending on the times, the unfairness behind his last paper grade or even the weather. And Heero would always be sitting at his desk, either typing away at lightning speed on his laptop or pouring over a textbook or two, his right hand flying across his exercise book making notes. Duo sometimes wondered if Heero was listening to him at all, but contented himself with the idea that he was.

They had only just graduated about a month ago. Duo was under the impression that that would mean an end to Heero's "all work no play" attitude, but instead, it seemed to have intensified it. Back when they were still in university, there were papers to write, assignments to submit, exams to take and lectures to attend (or not attend, depending on whether Duo felt like it or not). Once those requirements were completed, they had all the time in the world. Or rather, they would have had all the time in the world had Heero been less addicted to his work. Still, Duo had managed to slot in days to drag Heero out for dinner and a movie. But once Heero graduated and found himself a job, all of Duo's previous hard work ended up in nothing.

Heero immediately fell into the nine to five schedule. He woke up everyday at six, went for a run, returned home to have a shower and breakfast and read the morning paper. But seven-thirty, the time when Duo usually woke up, Heero would be dressed in his suit, dark hair still as unruly as ever despite his attempts at taming it, and out the door by when the clock hit quarter to. He would spend the next so many hours working at the office, then return home at six, have dinner, work on a few of his "leisure" jobs until around midnight, shower, then sleep. Repeat cycle. Duo tried to interrupt it, but Heero became more firm than ever and cut him off before he could. The violet-eyed boy then tried to catch the other at work for lunch, but apparently Heero did not have lunch like a normal person, and remained working right through lunch break. The Japanese boy insisted that he had very large breakfasts and plenty of coffee throughout the day, which kept him going for long enough to come home and eat some more.

Duo attempted to maintain dinners out, but Heero soon quashed that as well. He was always too busy, even on weekends. The braided boy often asked Heero just what he was busy with, and the other would simply say work. When Duo tried to ask just why he was working so hard, Heero just grunted and continued with whatever it was he was doing. Totally unsocial. It felt like the first time they had moved in together again.

Duo on the other hand, had been taking things easy. Sure, he had a job, but it hardly taxed his time as much as Heero's. He became a free lance photographer, and sure, he did not make much money, but that was for later. He had a master in both law and commerce, and could go ahead and start his own practice or join another one when he wanted to. But at least he knew how to enjoy life, and was taking the first few months out of university easily. Heero and his doctor degree in I.T. and commerce had absolutely no interest in his own well being.

Needless to say, Duo became more and more worried about Heero's workaholic nature, and decided to pull the other out of it by suggesting a skiing holiday to Switzerland. Duo was a second generation rich kid after all, and had inherited a fortune off his parents when they died in a plane crash a few years prior. In any case, Heero had declined immediately, saying that he had a lot of work to do and could not afford to take a week off work to go on a skiing trip, and that he could hardly let Duo pay for him. Duo had done his whining thing, and Heero had held out longer than usual. But in the end, Duo managed to convince the Japanese boy to go on the trip, on the condition that Heero paid for his own expenses. Heero's boss had not been too worried about Heero taking a holiday, as long as he came back in the end. It only proved to Duo just how valuable Heero had become at his place of work, even though he had not been working for all that long.

The plane ride was uneventful, and Heero had been working all the way on his trusty laptop. Sometimes, Duo really felt like throwing that thing in the trash, but he knew Heero would never forgive him if he did. The Japanese boy lived off that thing, literally. To take a break from watching Heero stare at the laptop screen as if it had the meaning of life printed across it, he reclined his chair and fell asleep.

The hotel they stayed at was fairly simple. They shared a room with two beds, a television and an ensuite bathroom. The instant they entered the room, Duo plunged himself onto one of the beds, muttering complaints about planes and chairs that just did not recline enough. Heero did not say very much as he deposited their luggage in the space between the two beds, and headed for the bathroom. Duo supposed he was getting himself cleaned up, ready for a night's sleep. Duo did not think he would make it for a shower before he fell asleep though. They had departed at midnight, but he had not managed to get a wink of sleep at all. Now his head felt dizzy and his stomach grumbled about the in-flight food. Silently, he apologized to his stomach and heaved himself onto the bed before rolling over and falling asleep.

Heero woke him up in the middle of a very bad dream, and Duo flailed and kicked before he realized that it was Heero and apologized sheepishly. The other only gave him an amused look before jabbing a finger in the direction of the bathroom. Duo muttered something about not wanting to move, but Heero was relentless. When he realized that Duo was definitely not going to move on his own, he pulled the braided boy up and dragged him into the bathroom. Still Duo did not respond, even when Heero dropped him unceremoniously onto the tiled floor. The Japanese boy was pretty ruthless when he wanted to get something done. Duo found this out the hard way. He was just about to doze off again when he felt Heero pull at his jacket, followed by the sound of the zip being undone. Eyes opening immediately, he gave Heero a glare and asked him what he was doing. Heero then answered as stoically as ever that he was undressing Duo so that he could take a shower, so as to not look like a monster from a B grade horror movie when he woke up again in the morning. If Duo had not been in the process of mulling the thought of being undressed by Heero, then he might have laughed and took note of the joke.

Duo liked girls, strictly speaking. But he did not mind boys either, not that he ever went out with one, unless his dinners and movie nights with Heero counted. He probably would have remained straight if it Heero had not moved in with him. In fact, he did not think Heero knew anything about his attraction for the other boy, not that he wanted Heero to know. It had been a well known fact around campus that the Heero Yuy simply did not date, and if his fan club did not get the perpetrator attempting to seduce the Japanese boy, then Heero would do it himself. Duo fancied himself as the only person to date save the blue-eyed boy's parents, who could take a death glare without flinching. Then again, he had had a lot of practice, what with Heero being his roommate and all. Of course, getting back to the main topic, if Heero Yuy had not been so unsocial and love-life deprived, then he would have girls hanging off his arms, and the unfortunate thing for Duo was that he was as much a man as any male was.

So, halfway between trying to keep his libido in check and preventing his body from doing something stupid, Duo managed to fight off Heero and convey that he was awake and was going to take a shower. Heero smirked that smirk he always wore whenever he had achieved something particularly difficult, and was highly proud of himself for doing so. Duo's libido registered the smile as something exciting and immediately starting sending commands for his body to jump the other boy.

The braided boy managed to shove Heero out of the bathroom just in time before his body responded to his other brain's commands.

They decided to head out to the mountains early the next day. By early, Duo meant around noon regional time. In any case, they were pretty full when they got up to the mountains, though Heero ended up carrying a small collection of food in his bag anyway. When Duo questioned him about the pack, the other boy had shrugged and insisted that it was good to be prepared, and that skiing was a tiring sport, not that they ended up skiing.

The Alps were perhaps the most vast and beautiful collection of mountains Duo had ever seen, not to mention the coldest. He was wearing four layers of clothing under another large coat, and still ended up shivering. Heero insisted that it was because Duo would not move, and that standing at the peek of a mountain so tall was definitely not going to be the warmest experience Duo ever had. Duo's mind tallied that as the second joke within two days, and mentally smiled. In response to Heero's comment about moving, he simply said that he liked the view, and that they could ski later. Heero did not complain, and despite his emotionless face, Duo knew he was enjoying the experience.

They were on their way down the mountain when the avalanche fell. They had been trekking through a particularly human deprived passage when Heero heard the rumble in the distance and alerted Duo of the cascading ice and snow. Without waiting for the braided boy's reply, Heero grabbed his hand and started running, dragging Duo along with him. Duo meanwhile was frantic, measuring the distance between the approaching tumble of compact snow and them as well as searching for a shelter of some kind. He saw none whatsoever, and expectantly panicked. Heero was still running, dragging him along, although he highly doubted they would outrun the avalanche. The snow just about reached them when he found himself flung over a small cliff he had previously missed, followed by Heero who promptly grabbed him and pulled him back into a small area under what Duo now recognized as an overhang of rock. Seconds later, the avalanche hit, shaking the roof of their small shelter and surrounded, but not quite reaching them. Bits of the overhanging rock fell, and Duo found himself being thrown into the snow while Heero flung himself on top of him. Everything was loud and the ground shook wildly, and then it all stopped.

When Duo opened his eyes again, it was to find that he and Heero were entombed in ice. The snow and ice had built up around their small shelter, and it appeared that some had formed a cover over the bits of stone that had fallen off previously. There was still a large amount of snow around, having fallen from above, but not nearly enough to bury them. With a start, he realized that Heero was still lying over him, and he pushed the other boy off as he struggled to sit up again, his legs feeling numb. Heero groaned as he landed on the icy floor, and Duo felt himself freeze the instant he saw the other boy's condition.

He had definitely taken the blow for Duo.

Heero's arm was on a strange angle, and the gloves on his right hand were torn, showing a badly bleeding hand. His left leg was also bleeding just under the knee caps, and there was a largely swelling bruise at the nape of his neck. Duo did not think that was where the injuries ended, and that a large amount was being obscured by the other boy's clothing.

Slowly, Duo pulled Heero into a sitting position and brought the boy next to him, and leaned both of their backs against the only solid wall of the cave. Heero let out a small hiss when his back touched the wall, but said little else. After securing that the Japanese boy was sitting half upright against the wall, Duo made his way across the cave and scooped a bit of snow off one of the walls. When he was certain that it was not all too difficult, he began to attack the wall, managing to make a small crater before the surrounding snow and ice gave way. Duo retreated soon after that, afraid that any second attempts might have the entire cave collapsing.

So now the both of them sat with their backs against the wall. They managed to bandage Heero's hand with Duo's scarf, and his leg with Heero's own scarf. The leg had stopped bleeding a while ago, but crimson blood continued to gush out of the hand. Moving over, Duo secured the bandage once more, rewrapping it around Heero's hand with more force than previously. The other boy groaned and Duo frowned, the tightening in his stomach increased.

'Any ideas how we can get out of here?' Duo asked, watching the light fade slowly from the walls. Heero grunted a negative and moved himself slightly. Duo noticed belatedly that the other boy's cheeks were much redder than usual, and moved over to check. Lifting up the other boy's fringe, he pressed his forehead against the other's and discovered much to his dismay, that Heero had a fever. 'Oh crap.'

'I'm burning up aren't I?' Heero asked weakly, his face curling into a smile. 'Brilliant.'

'You better be sarcastic there.' Duo grumbled, settling down beside Heero once more and pulling the other boy close to himself, sharing warmth.

'Sarcasm is my middle name Duo.' Heero's smile grew. Duo felt his hackles rise.

'Don't go delirious on me buddy.' He growled, subconsciously tightening his grip on the other boy. Heero grunted when Duo got his arm, and Duo apologized yet again. Heero just smiled.

'It's getting darker.'

'No shit.' Duo growled. 'Come on, talk to me 'Ro.'

'What's there to say?' Heero asked as Duo pulled him to lean against his chest, attempting to fit as much body contact as he could without hurting Heero. 'I have never been in an avalanche before.'

'Neither have I.' Duo admitted, cradling Heero in his arms. 'It's somewhat unusual isn't it?'

'Cold.' Was all Heero managed, his eyes beginning to droop. Duo panicked at once. He might never have been in a similar situation before, but he knew it was dangerous for somebody to fall asleep while surrounded by cold. It meant hypothermia, and hypothermia meant death.

'Heero!' He said sternly, though his voice came out more panicked than anything else. 'Don't fall asleep on me buddy! Come on now, tell me, why do you work so much?'

'Work?' Heero asked, sounding surprised. 'Work distracts.'

'Distracts you from what?' Duo asked, trying to keep the conversation. 'And surely there must be other ways to distract someone.'

'Work distracts me from you.' Heero murmured, swallowing. 'When I work, I don't have to think about you.'

'Why would you want to distract yourself from me?' Duo asked, though more out of curiosity than to keep the conversation going. Heero was quiet for a while, and Duo rubbed his face to keep him awake. There was a sharp intake of breath, then the slow release.

'Because it's so hard to keep myself away from you otherwise.' Heero answered at last, his voice breathy.

'Keep yourself from me?' Duo asked, his voice quiet, his brain working on the information and turning it around and changing it into something that he did not want to believe in. He chided himself silently for getting ahead of himself. The last thing he needed right now was false hope, but still, his ears were straining while he waited for Heero's response. The other boy was silent, the puffs of mist before him the only indication that he was still alive and breathing.

'Yea.' He muttered after a while. 'Keep myself from you.'

'Why?' Duo asked, turning the other boy to look at him. Heero's eyes were dark and his gaze hooded and tired, his blinking becoming slowly lengthier. Duo slapped his cheeks hurriedly, both to keep him awake and to remind him of the question. Heero blinked once more, lifted his blue gaze to stare Duo in the eyes, and Duo knew the answer. Still, he refused to let himself believe it. There was just no way Heero could…he was not that lucky. But…

'I'm horrible aren't I?' Heero asked, his voice calm and quiet, with a note of quiver. Duo felt a tear slip down his face as he shook his head madly before pulling Heero into a strong hug.

'No.' He cried, clutching the boy as tightly as he could. 'Not at all.'

Pulling back slightly, he stared at Heero's blue eyes once more before leaning in and covering those lips with his own.

It was well into the night when they heard a scuffling noise to the side of the cave. Duo startled and Heero grumbled, struggling to keep his eyes open. The noise continued, and only grew louder, until finally, Duo spotted what appeared to be a white paw.

'A dog?' Heero asked. A second later, a black nose appeared, followed by more paws and a burly head. More scuffling ensued as another section of the wall was dug open, and a St. Bernard burrowed itself into their little cave, a small barrel swinging around its neck. Duo felt his mouth drop open, and Heero laughed, a weak chuckle that did not leave the confines of the icy cavern.

The dog padded its way over, until it was a mere foot away from Duo, the barrel shaking slightly from the dog's movement. Slowly, Duo reached over and opened the barrel, extracting a small ration of bread and a bottle of what he assumed was whiskey. Before he could say anything else, the dog had climbed out of the hole and was off somewhere. The braided boy cursed, brandishing the whiskey in the direction of the dog for leaving them. Heero assured him that it had gone off to find help, but Duo remained somewhat doubtful. Leaning back against the cave wall, he popped open the bottle and drank a bit, coughing slightly as the alcohol coursed down his throat, leaving a trail of warmth as it went.

'Wow! That's strong stuff.' He murmured, choking slightly. 'Want a drink?'

'I'm not good with alcohol.' Heero replied weakly. Duo let out a snort before tipping some of the stuff into the Japanese boy's mouth anyway. Heero coughed, and took in a breath loudly. Duo chuckled.

'Warms you up doesn't it.' Duo asked happily. He sensed a glare, and smiled. Any glare now was good news.

Help arrived not so long after. Duo and Heero soon found themselves lying in a ambulance van, with two doctors fussing over Heero's more visible wounds while a third questioned Duo about his own health. At sometime, Duo must have passed out, because when he woke up again, he was lying in a hospital bed. He sat up quickly, gaze flying as he attempted to locate Heero. The other boy was not far away, lying asleep on the bed beside him. There were no other doctors around.

Slowly, the braided boy climbed out of his bed and approached his friend's. Heero remained asleep, and Duo could see bandages starting from his neck and going under his white hospital shirt. The one visible right arm was covered in bandages, with several tubes feeding into his arm. Duo frowned, feeling guilt attack once more as he stared down at the sleeping Heero, completely covered in bandages. Gently, he moved his right hand over and caressed Heero's face. It was warm, and his fever had broken, much to Duo's relief. He wondered vaguely how long they had been there, then decided it did not matter as he rested his hand to cup Heero's face. The Japanese boy looked ever so serene, and Duo realized that he was smiling, a genuine smile he had seen very rarely before.

Then out of the blue, Heero's other hand shot over and grabbed Duo's wrist, keeping his hand there as blue eyes opened. Duo bit back a cry of surprise, and Heero's smile widened.

'Hi Duo.' He murmured, his voice somewhat croaky.

'Hi Heero.' Duo murmured back, feeling a tear slip out of his eye as guilt tore at him once more. 'Oh Heero, I'm so sorry.'

'What for?' Heero asked, eyes questioning.

'This trip, your injuries, it's all my fault.' Duo cried, falling to his knees. 'We should have stayed back home, then this would not have happened.'

'It wasn't your fault Duo.' Heero whispered. 'You did not make the avalanche happened, hence all subsequent injuries were not your doing. Besides, I found out something very important in that cold little cavern.'

'I suppose.' With a smile, he brought their mouths together for a sweet kiss. When they broke apart, both were smiling widely. 'You know what?'

'What?' Heero asked, genuinely curious.

'Next time we go on holiday, it will be Hawaii.'

Endnotes: Well , it was longer than I expected it to be, that's for sure. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed that. In any case, please review!

Assassin