Together Part 2 Paz Enai
Warnings: Uhm, language? Eventual 2x5x2, if i ever fini (YELL AT ME TO GET A MOVE ON! XO)
Jeff had come in early again to find Duo already working. Duo hadn't noticed Jeff come in, which was very unusual. Duo had exceptional hearing and usually looked up from his work long enough to see who had come in.
Since the phone call a week ago he was pretty much back to his old self, he was more chipper, though still reasonable and hard-working. Jeff walked over to him and tapped him lightly with the toe of his shoe, making the boy jump a foot from his squat in front of the maintenance armor that he was working on.
"Whoa, jumpy today? What's the matter kid? Haven't seen you do that before."
"... A friend called last night...But it wasn't too good. God if only I could..." He let out a heavy, un-characteristic sigh and Jeff immediately realized the weight of the situation. Duo was never this silent or serious unless it was well over his head. Jeff squatted down next to the armor with him. They were the only two workers in, it was, after all, only 6 AM; another thing that worried Jeff because Duo's shifts always started at 10 since he hated waking up early.
"Duo, when did you come in this morning?" The boy didn't respond at first so he changed the question "What's the matter? What happened that you needed to get your mind off of it by coming back in well before your shift started?"
There was silence at first, but the tension thick in the air made it clear that Duo really wanted to talk. He wanted someone to turn to, it was also clear that he didn't know what to say.
"Look, we can go in the Supers office before he gets in and talk if you would like. I have the keys to his room. He won't be in until 11 today, something he has to do for his daughter, or something."
Duo looked over to him and then backs down at the maintenance armor and nodded.
When Sally came into work that day she would have sworn that she'd died. Upon opening her office she found Wufei in his chair already, nothing unusual there. The problem was rather that he had his face hidden in his arms-which were wrapped around the knees he had pulled to his chest. A wonder he found room to fit like that on the small swivel chair, but a greater worry was why.
Sally immediately slammed the door shut. So what if it was loud, she didn't want anyone to see him like this. He looked up shortly and then put his head back. Had he been…crying? No, not actually crying, but...
"Holy crap Wufei… What happened?" she said in a slow, careful and caring voice. She knew she wouldn't be able to force anything out of him, but she was also genuinely concerned.
He shook his head, still in his arms.
"Wufei, seriously, what happened? There is no way in Hell that I am going to let you not talk now. There is clearly something wrong" She paused. "Does it have anything to do with Duo?"
His back tensed at he mention of the name, barely, but if you knew Wufei you picked these things up. Slowly he answered.
"I kind of, ah, got in a huge argument… And, ah… I've been here all night, actually. I was too upset, with myself, to leave…" he trailed off.
Sally gaped at him for a second before she regained control. Sure, Wufei was a workaholic, but he would never neglect his body with lack of sleep, he knew how to take care of himself better than that. She walked over to him and gave him a hug. There was no sound. He sivered once, but that was the only reaction she recieved from him. What had happened between him and Duo that would make this happen?
Slowly calming down he softly pushed her away and rubbed his eyes, possibly to clear his vision to the light of the day that he was only just acknowledging. She locked the door and secured the window screen in its usual pulled-down position and turned to him.
"Ahm, well." He let out a heavy sigh, "I know that you and Noin and just about everyone else thinks the same thing… that I don't really like any of the other pilots and all. Truth be told, I think I care about them more than I do about myself… That's why I got so… I don't know, upset I guess, when I found out what happened on L2 X1722…."
"Isn't that where Duo lives?" She said slowly. He nodded.
"Well…Actually, I was more or less snooping, but I found out that something happened to Hilde… Duo had mentioned something; the others and I keep semi-regular emails. He never said what happened though. Anyway, it turns out she's in the hospital. Has been for some time, actually… I called to asked what had happened and… Well, we got into an argument. He got mad at me for prying. I was mad that he didn't tell us all how serious it was… That was around midnight… He hung up on me and I've been here since."
"Why were you here until midnight in the first place?"
"I was 'prying'… I wanted to see what I could get from her medical records to find out what was wrong… I feel so, unclean." Silence for a long while "She's probably going to die, you know. They don't know what's wrong, much less how to cure it. It's severe too; she's been in critical for a week and a half. He never even gave the impression that there was anything wrong!"
"Wait, you're telling me she's in critical, and has been for almost two weeks?"
A nod in response.
" - And that the person you care most about called you last night because they found out and then you got into an argument?"
A nod.
"You hung up-"
Nod.
"And have been here since 2 am?"
Nod.
"And that you and Hilde are not seeing each other, never have been and never will because you're gay?"
Reluctant nod.
"Damn Duo, and I thought I knew all there was to know about you. How were you so able to hide that there was anything wrong with her? She's like you're little sister, then, isn't she?"
One last nod was all the response, followed by a few moments of silence until Duo finally spoke up. "That phone call I made to Earth last week… It was to the guy I have… Well, he's my wish. It'll never happen, he's too straight laced, but I guess that's part of the reason I'm so… He's just so fascinating. I missed him so much, that's why I called him. Just his voice, it was all I needed. I mean, " he paused to laugh at himself in pity, "I haven't heard his voice in two years. I miss im."
"I know how you feel, granted it was towards a woman, but love is love no matter who it's aimed for. So about this argument, did you go overboard, other than the hanging up part?"
"…yeah, pretty much the whole thing. He mentioned looking into Hilde's case, finding out about her condition and I just went off the wall, I mean, you know. It's not like I asked him to worry about me. I don't even know why he pried! I just…" He slumped over and put his head in his hands, propped up on one of his knees. He was seated in a corner of the office next to Jeff, who was in the Super's chair. "God, I've just been so confused since he called…"
"Yeah, I would be too. The love of my life suddenly gives me a call and tells me that they know about some traumatic thing that's going on and I never told anyone about it. I would be confused too. You think, maybe, he likes you too?"
He looked up to Jeff, "You mean as more than just a possessive friend who can legally look up anything he wants because he's a Preventer and can find a good reason to get into anyone's case? Naw. He's like that for all of us, I gather."
"Us? Wait he's a Preventer? How old's this guy?"
"Same age as me," He said sitting up straight again. "He's been in the Preventers since the war, like me being here. And the 'us' is me and my select few best friends with common goals. We, uh, fought together in the war."
Jeff let out a whistle. Nowhere else but in a post war world could you find veterans of 18, rather 16, when the war ended, who worked at highly specialized jobs.
"Preventers pretty strict about who they let into their ranks, must be a whiz."
"Yeah, certified genius. Heh, it's kind of cute actually. Think about it, an uneducated thief and a Chinese warrior-class genius. Fuck. Not going to happen…unfortunately"
"So if you're so concerned about how he feels why not give him another call?"
"What, so he can hang up on me again? Sorry, Sally, it's not going to happen. I'm sure he wants me dead. Damn, it's not my fault I care so much about them all! They just…"
"Make you worry?" She offered and he nodded.
"Yeah. I mean, look where we come from, we're all completely different but we all have one thing in common. The Gundams. Those Gundams left a similar impact on all of us. It'd be idiotic to ignore that we can't keep the war out of our heads. I'm just-"
"Now do you understand why I got so worried about you? We're pretty similar when it comes to wishing the best for our loved ones." He blushed a little when she said 'loved ones'.
"I don't 'love' them Sally, I care for them."
"That's what love is, jeez, you really are just a kid sometimes." This merited a classic Wufei glare. "Look, why don't-"
"Wait a minute. What do you mean we 'are pretty similar' have you been… spying on me!"
She continued, smiling a little at his quick perception, "Go up to his colony and talk to him, I'll even ask The Gordon to assign you some kind of mini-mission as cover."
"Her name is Patricia Gordon, there's no reason to call her 'the Gordon'-"
"I'm going to get you a mission right now. In fact, it's going to be in Duo's section, perhaps at the hospital Hilde's at, so you can visit her too. Maybe you'll be able to see him there 'coincidentally' and can apologize, and go from there." She said a little too chipper for Wufei's comfort.
With a sigh he replied "Alright, go make up a mission for me, if it will make you feel better."
"It will, and it will also make you feel better, I can tell," she said, greatly relived that for the first time in years Wufei had actually told her something about his inner workings.
"If you're so worried why don't you give him a call?"
"Who, Wufei? Naw, I like my head where it is man. That would be like sentencing myself to death," he exclaimed, visibly better than before. The talking helped him get it all off his chest, even if just a little.
By now there were other men working around the shop, all wondering, no doubt, why the two of them had been in the office all morning. It had been a long talk, Duo had almost cried twice, Jeff had felt his heart wrench the whole damned time, but things were a little better now. Tomorrow morning the two of them decided they would to go visit Hilde and see how she was doing and then they went off to work.
FINAL EDITED VERSION! please review! tell me to get my ass in gear, to get a move on, to stop slowing down the herd, to.. you get the picture...