Hear the beating
Author: Nekocin
Genres: Romance, General, Angst
Warnings: Out of Character-ness (I apologize for that), (some) clichés
Rated: PG13, for not-so-nice words
Additional notes: Hetero, 1st person PoV (gah! This is really not my usual style)
Disclaimer: Gundam SEED doesn't belong to me. Mentioned copyrighted names or games also don't belong to me.
Author's notes: (Sorry about the long update; the 2nd chapter of this story has already been written before chapter 1 was posted here. I just didn't like the second part of the chapter and decided to re-write the whole thing) Hmmm, let's see. Thoughts of this chapter, huh? I'm not quite satisfied with how I'd described the characters. Argh! Why do they always go OoC on me TT.TT
Please forgive me for the OoC-ness. I hope they aren't -that- far off.

2.

I felt my jaw hanging when I saw the one responsible for dunking milkshake into Athrun's face, over his shoulder. Athrun seemed as shocked as I was since his back had stiffened the moment the cold drink was splashed into his face.

The one responsible for such an attack smirked, dropped the paper cup and dusted his hands off.

"Sorry. My hands just—slipped," He didn't look or sound apologetic for his eyes were of glaring amber, so I concluded he did it on purpose. He slid a glance to me, raised a hand, waved civilly at me and turned back to look at Athrun.

"I don't want to be mean, but I know you're going to make it harder for Kira. So you leave me no choice but to do so," He seemed sincere with his words and yet... dangerous.

"And you are?"

I immediately felt the hairs on my neck standing up when Athrun responded in an icy voice at last. They started glaring at each other...

"Elthman, your break is up! Get back to work!"

They didn't even blink when my boss' booming voice echoed through the small kitchen.

"Yes, sir!" I answered automatically, turned my back to Athrun and rushed off before I could get caught up in a pointless fight.
Sadly, I didn't catch the other guy's name.

My day had ended with nothing out of the ordinary besides the personal announcement of Athrun's break up with Lacus. People just came for ice cream (or any other sweets); some of them were on dates, others were among friends... the usual.

Sometimes I wished my days wouldn't have to be this--this ridiculously normal! As if someone up there had put 'auto' on if this world were to be some kind of machine. I wouldn't have minded a change, like say, a burglary, or a murder, or a celebrity stepping in—

But then again I wasn't much of a hero who could save the day by attacking the burglar head-on, or a detective who could puzzle out the mystery effortlessly and sadly, if a celebrity were to step into the shop, I would have -most likely- never noticed a thing (observing the costumers is not my job, that's for most of my female-colleagues, who will probably squeal it out once they see a celebrity stepping in).

I sighed to myself as I put on my jacket, zipping it up and burying my hands into the pockets to feel if anything was missing. Nothing. I took off my Flavorite hat, put it into my locker and closed the little metal door afterwards.

Time to go home.

"Good night everyone! See you tomorrow!" I called out over my shoulder before opening the parlor's backdoor. A series of 'be careful's, 'good night's and 'see you's were sent my way as I stepped outside-

-into the night with a content smile tugging at my lips, even though my day had, yet again, ended with the usual normality's.

- God! It's just good to be alive! - would always be chanted in my mind.

My feet carried me on the familiar littered path to the bus stop at which I'm always waiting.

Everyone (my friends, my parents, my colleagues) thought I would fear taking buses home after the crash and had endlessly offered me rides during the first week. I'd appreciated their concern of course, but I would rather go home on my own instead of constantly taking up someone else's time. And if it meant to use the public transportation—a bus—then so be it.

Once arrive at the bus stop, I noticed I wasn't the only one catching a late night bus ride there. There was somebody sitting on the lonely bench beside the bus stop. Someone in orange—someone with curled up, chin-length auburn hair—and for some reason the heart within me was pounding with a slightly different pace.

It wasn't because I was surprised. It also wasn't because I'd recognized the person on the bench as one of my costumers. Since it was neither one of the above mentioned possibilities, I'd branded the sudden welling of feelings as 'aliens'—while still hearing the thumping of my heart get louder and louder in my ears.

The first thing, which caught my attention, was her sad face. Her very sad face—and the tears.

Already knowing how signs of tears streaks looked like on a woman's face, I pulled my eyes away immediately, feeling guilty that I was disturbing something personal and fixed my eyes on the building across the bus stop.

A puzzling thing to mention was—my heart was the only thing that received the impact much heavier than it actually should. Perhaps the 'aliens' were at it again, I concluded.

Suddenly the sky let out a loud rumbling sound, indicating it was time to drop the heavy rain on the earth and wasted no time in doing so. And it began raining.

"Just my luck," I muttered sarcastically to myself and took cover under the small roof built on top of the bench. Hunching myself slightly, I sat down at the end of the white-painted bench and stared at the bus stop's sign just so I didn't have to -look- at the sad girl—for whom this heart seemed to be beating wildly for.

When's the late night bus going to show up?

I impatiently pulled left sleeve up, looked down at the time -21:49- and slouched in my seat out of boredom with a sigh escaping my lips. Being bored usually makes me have some advantages—or disadvantages, however one prefers--it's when I start to notice things...

There was a certain uncomfortable silence hanging in the air--only broken by the rain's consistent 'sha sha' sounds hitting the roof. There were no rumbling sounds of car engines nearby. No distressed cries of poor shaggy-looking dogs, which got caught up in the rain.

It was simply—too quiet—

"GAAGH!"

Before I even knew it, I'd screamed out.

Some rustling followed. I automatically looked at the girl on my right and caught her shifting to the other end of the bench. Probably thinking I was a madcap—hmmm, considering my sudden outburst I probably was one.

Out of habit, I rubbed the back of my head in embarrassment and mumbled an apology.

But before I could even voice it, the evening bus of 22:00 had arrived and stopped on the side of the pavement, opening its doors.

The girl hurried into it quickly, leaving me to cover the end, and she took a solitary seat at the very back of the bus. Whatever reason I was about to apologize for had immediately slipped from my mind as I plopped down in the seat right behind the bus driver.

And I suppose I'd forgotten about the girl with the azure eyes for whom this heart had been beating for, once I got home...

Left. Right. Punch. Bottom. Kick. Kick.

Aaah! No way to block. No way to defend!

"Die! Die! Die!"

"Argh! Yzak you big bully!"

"Eight to zero," He smirked arrogantly at me as his game character KO'ed mine effortlessly.

I really, really hated Yzak's smirk every time he beat up my poor Cronos. I wish I could just punch it, creating a big hole in his front teeth in the process. I harrumphed and challenged him into another round.

A week ago, right after I was released from hospital, Yzak had been the first one out of all my other friends who came visiting me at home. It wasn't quite a surprise considering he's my best friend... somehow.

When he entered my room he didn't know how to behave around me while I was bedridden, and oddly enough, I didn't expect him to be less awkward for he was Yzak—a serious hot-headed-somehow-turned-cool-headed guy whose sole purpose was to be beat me in videogames.

He'd bluntly commented that I looked like shit, promptly holding a small hand-mirror in front of me. As much as I would have liked retorting back that I was handsome as ever, I had actually let his comment slide—my hair was hanging limply down my face, my eyes looked kind of blood-shot, I had dark bags under my eyes and my face resembled a skeleton's head (aftereffects of having been knocked out by too much morphine or something).

We hadn't talked much that day—there was noting to talk about.

Yzak had tried to liven up our conversation but failed miserably. The next time he visited me, he'd brought along his Play Station and we played games to pass time. He just had a weird way of expressing his concerns.

Even though I am not confined in my bed anymore Yzak would come over on Sundays and challenge to a game. He would usually beat me when we played any sort of fighting tournaments-game like for example "Death or Alive" or "Bloody Roar" or "Tekken"—he's just good at aggressiveness. Besides fighting games, he absolutely sucks in the rest—including any sorts of sport game, that's where I beat him.

"K.O.!" The referee's voice of the game announced with his dramatic melodic tone. The words 'K.O.' appeared on the screen, mocking my loss.

"ARGH!" I let out in frustration as my favorite game character Cronos had died yet again.

Yzak sniggered triumphantly in my face. I narrowed my eyes at him, dropped the game controller and crossed my arms.

"I hate you." Urch! That damn smirk again!

"That has been the-," Yzak made a show of ticking his fingers off, "-fifty-ninth time you've said that to me, Dearka. Wanna make it to sixty?"

I could tell he was mocking me. His eyes showed. His face showed. His attitude showed—the most obvious evidence of them all was that (darnit!) smirk of his! Jerk!

"I really, really hate you," I bit out.

He nodded nonchalantly and shot down the game. "I know. Just needed to get back at you for beating me in Final Fantasy IX."

Yzak stretched languidly beside me, shook his arms a bit to get the numbed feeling out of his system and lied down on the gray carpet of my room. I did the same and copied his motions, string at the boring white ceiling above.

A silence settled between us.

"Yzak?" I blurted out before I could think up a reason why I interrupt our comfortable silence. It was moments like this that made me realize why Yzak's my best friend. I could share almost everything with him; childish secrets like my crushes on some random girl, painful memories like when I was at hospital, future dreams--even my most embarrassing moments.

And Yzak being Yzak would either bluntly advise me some Yzak-like thing or keep silent. He is not the type of person to use the stuff I told him as black mailing material—he's just too honest and too righteous (or something) to do such a thing—I think.

"Hm?"

"—I think I've yet another weak heart,"

Damn! That came out quite lame.

Yzak didn't say anything about the lameness in a second. "I see—your point being?"

I could see Yzak's eyebrows rising up in confusion even if I wasn't facing him.

"I don't know what went wrong—a few days ago—I believe it had been on Tuesday—uhm, how should I say this?—I suddenly had a heart stroke."

Yzak instantly sat up rigidly and glared with furious eyes at me.Furious eyes veiling his worries. I felt quite flattered when those eyes were fixed on me—

"Idiot! You should've told your parents sooner and made an appointment with a Doctor!"

-or maybe not.

See? That's an Yzak-thing he'd just advised. His eyes were boring into my face as if ready to shoot Star Wars-style laser beams into my brain and demanding it why it failed to use common sense. Hehehe.

"But I'm feeling just as healthy as before-!" I protested.

"That's just a trick of your brain, wanting to be 100 percent fine,"

"But I really do feel fine!"

"Elthman, if I say you're not fine, you're not fine. For heaven's sake haven't you had enough? Tormenting your poor mother's heart by not telling her immediately about this?"

He could be dramatic too—especially when it came to the word 'mother'. No one would have guessed just by looking at him, my best friend really has a -what you call- 'mother complex'.

"You are causing her pain and make her worry. Do you want your mother to live her life miserably for the rest of her life?" He continued to rant.

I rolled my eyes and sighed. "I didn't tell you about this little incident just so you can chastise me like you're my mother, Yzak! So stop talking like that. You're giving me the heebie-jeebies,"

He instantly shut up, twisting his upper lip into a scowl and glared at me. "Fine!"

Yzak could be -so- considerate. Hear my sarcasm?

"Besides—it didn't feel like a real stroke," I slid my clasped hands under my head and studied the blank ceiling.

"My heart was beating fine one moment and then the beating suddenly sped up in the next. It feels different—I mean a heart attack is a strong shock of pain in the chest area, right? You should know this more than I do—since you take extra Medical classes,"

"Heart pumping in full might, pressuring the veins till they burst and cause internal bleeding," Yzak cited automatically.

"Yah, whatever—the pain, which my heart has caused, wasn't because my blood couldn't go through my veins. It had been something entirely different-,"

"Entirely different when you had a stroke? Such a weird combination coming from you, Dearka,"

"Ch'. Anyway, so can it be that the doc has perhaps given me another weak heart?"

"That's not possible,"

"Why not?"

"Donated organs require a complete check-up beforehand otherwise it's pointless to have transplants when the receiver ends up dead in a few weeks just because the transplanted organ was infected or something,"

"I see-,"

"Maybe you should go see a doctor," Yzak suggested again, however, more calmly than before.

"—Yeah, just to make sure," I found myself muttering. There's a chance that the doctor might have overlooked this heart's weakness.

There had been nothing wrong with my heart. Then why did I get a simulated heart stroke the other day? The doctor had run a few scans of said organ and couldn't give me a satisfying answer to my question. So I left it at that.

The next few weeks or so, I was glad nothing out of the ordinary had happened—my heart was still beating quite regularly. My surrounding colleagues didn't turn into a squad of mother hens. My parents were slowly looking relieved as each day passed. Only Yzak was giving me worried glances now and then.

A hand was waving in front of my eyes and I blinked a few times. Wha-?
The hand had nicely-manicured, pale fingers attached to it—I raised my eyes to look at the owner of the hand and found—Lacus smiling at me.

"Hello, Mr. Elthman. Did I finally get your attention now?"

I smiled sheepishly at her when I noticed that I was half-slouching over the register machine as if I was ready to fall asleep.

"Hey, sorry about spacing out on you, Lacus. Can I take your orders?"

She smiled and peered curiously over my shoulder as if wanting to see something interesting. "Where's your friend?"

"Who?" I wondered blankly and blinked.

"Oh, oh -that- guy? He is at the back, fixing one of the ice cream machines that broke down last night. So now it's just you and me," I grinned, giving her one of my best all-knowing look.

She returned my look with her own and chuckled. "Sorry, today I'm on a date."
Lacus turned to look at someone over her shoulder, stepped back and linked her arms with the two customers standing behind her.

I observed her companions closely.

On her left (my right, actually) she had her arm holding a guy—who was a few inches taller than Miss Clyne.

The guy had a mob of messy-brown hair adorning his head, a pair of compassionate violet eyes, a small round nose and a pair of chapped-dry lips. He was wearing a casual white T-shirt under a red-white striped jacket and a pair of faded blue jeans. Not quite an ideal outfit when one is with the every-so-nicely-dressed Miss Clyne in her pastel-lavender sleeveless blouse under her white long-sleeved jacket and her long—almost—flowing deep lavender skirt.

"This is Kira!" Lacus introduced excitedly when she noticed me staring at the guy. "And this is-"

I automatically turned my attention to the other person being held by Lacus-

"-Miriallia,"

-and the world fell deaf in my ears. The next thing I knew, I felt as if the wind was knocked out of my body.

—Miriallia—

Have I heard this name somewhere before?

– END 2 –

TheNekoTalks:

1) The joke about the first scene was because some people keep mistaking Cagalli for a boy in the series n.n;;
2) Yzak sounds a bit Out of Character here too... :sighs: As much as I love the guy because of Seki-san's voice, I just can't seem to get the picture of him acting like this out of my head. LOL.
3) Cronos is a game character from "Bloody Roar" (Doesn't belong to me)
4) I'm not a Medic student. So I really can't say if above-mentioned medic stuff is right. :is pathetic:doesn't have medical encyclopedia nearby:

Thank you to:

C-town Chica - :blush blush: 1st person pov are usually easier (it's kind of hard to keep him In Character since I'm not done watching the GS-series and collecting some D/M fanfiction give me certain impressions that he's like this and like that) Ah, yes, I intended it to be so. I wanted to emphasize the point that Dearka and Athrun aren't that close, even though they're really on friendly terms. Doing the D/M action will be a bit difficult since I'm trying to keep it as spicy as I can. The storyline -is- very predictable. :3 Thank you for your kind comments! Thank you for reading!

purpleangel - :blush blush: Thank you. Describing ice cream isn't really that hard when I actually sell ice cream myself—and love ice cream. But that's beside the actual point. The point is that the ice cream description isn't really based on the real ice cream, only the names. I figured it was kind of cute to see Dearka as an ice cream worker. :3 Thank you for your kind comments. Thank you for reading!

Doctor Kiba - Ahahaha :sweatdrops: I knew Athrun's character would be a problem. :hangs head: Nope, the colleague is just a faceless Original Character, who won't get much focus time, I'm afraid. I just couldn't help but use someone else to take Lacus' orders instead of Dearka--my point being, she's a lot of admirers.
:sniffles: I couldn't write an Athrun/Cagalli story (I'm sort of obsessed with this pairing besides Dearka/Miriallia) so I decided I should test-writing D/M instead.
Ah, yes the problem of describing Tolle's character is that we don't know much of him. :sweatdrops: I guess I should try filling the gaps of his character somewhere in this story. :sighs:3 Anyways, thank you for your kind comments! And thank you for reading!

sworDieXeQtion - :3 Yes, sort of like that. But the storyline should be a bit familiar by now... I hope :sweatdrops: n.n;;
:bangs head: About the last notes...
shinigami—I didn't know there's a shinomegami. While writing, I was more thinking along the lines of "Yami no Matsuei" where they used 'shinigami' :sweatdrops:
dengue—yes, that's true. It can kill you unless you get proper treatment. I've a friend who had dengue once; she's fine now--only, she's lost one school year sadly. I didn't want to throw a whole doctor thing info into everyone's face. But I'm glad you've pointed it out to me... I thought it was okay to leave that one out (didn't want to give anyone headaches about tropical diseases). I'll re-upload that chapter later.
:3 Thanks for pointing it out. I'm okay with not being noticed. This story is more like 'testing the waters' for me—if you haven't noticed the amount of stories I'm balancing right now, you could say I'm trying out all fandoms at the same time... ehehehe n.n;;
Thank you for your kind comments! Thank you for reading!

Thank you for reading! I apologize for the long notes!

.:Nekocin:. (I'm changing my signs at the end of my stories, because the usual smiley faceandneko ears I'd signed in my earlier works cannot be used anymore and I find it silly every time I sign out with :smiley face:cin)