Title: Holding Out for a Heero 7?
Author: Gaia
Pairings: 1+2, 3+4, 5+OC
Rating: PG-13-R
Warnings: slight language, slight sexual content, self-insertion, slight OOC, AU
Disclaimers: While I would love to own the Gundam pilots, I don't, so don't sue me. I'm just a jobless college student! Also, any songs mentioned are not my own, although I would love to own them because they are very good songs. Wanna give them to me for my birthday?
Notes: Please don't judge me too harshly… it's my first long fic! Feedback is always appreciated! Also, sorry I haven't updated in awhile. It's been an interesting summer, but I hope to work on all my stories at some point in the near future.
Part Seven: Deeper Into the Rabbit Hole
Duo uncurled. He had to take a shower. He smelled like… Heero. He stiffened at the thought and rolled off the pool table. He had to get that smell off of himself and snuck through the house, avoiding the kitchen. He knew that that would be where everyone gathered.
Slipping out the front door, Duo hurried across the yard and let himself into their house. He pounded up the stairs, ripping his Heero-scented clothing as he went.
He turned on the shower, standing naked in the bathroom. He tried to block the memories from the night before, squeezing his eyes shut as if it would help.
Plunging his head under the icy stream, he shivered. Duo stood under the cold water, trying to distract himself. All he could see when he closed his eyes was the look that had been on Heero's face. He saw the betrayal, anger, and fear.
Duo sighed and turned the heat of the water up, realizing that freezing himself to death wouldn't solve anything.
He scrubbed his skin roughly, remembering the night before. He hadn't been as drunk as everyone had thought he was. Mostly, he had been drunk on happiness of having Heero so close to him.
They hadn't done anything except snuggling, dancing, and a few kisses exchanged before falling asleep. Duo didn't know what to think now that Heero was acting like he had been betrayed. He shivered, even under the heat of the water, and pressed against the wall, sliding down slowly so he was sitting on the floor.
He huddled in the corner of the shower stall and cried.
Lissa sat at the kitchen table, wondering where Duo and Heero were. She knew that they weren't in the game room, which was where Sara had found them. She had checked. She shook her head and wondered what had happened last night.
Kaie came up behind her, slipping his arms around her shoulders.
"Hon, I have to go home and take a shower. Would it be presumptuous of me to come back over after I get clean?"
"Not at all. We're supposed to hang out with the boys today, so you can join us."
Kaie smiled and pulled her closer.
"I'll miss you." He slid his hand through her hair and gently pushed her face towards his, giving her a goodbye kiss.
When he pulled away, Lissa waved at him, dazed. She watched him leave through the front door before she finally snapped out of it.
Smiling happily, she decided that she was in definite need of a shower after the night of dancing. Skipping up the stairs, she disappeared with a flash of long brown hair.
Cobalt eyes watched her leave the kitchen. Already, a plan was forming behind those cold eyes.
Fifteen minutes later found Lissa standing in a towel in her bedroom, humming softly to herself. She looked through drawers, pulling out clothing that might work for the day. Unfortunately for her, none of them seemed nice enough for when Kaie would eventually arrive back at the house.
She stood, unaware that she was being watched, gripping a plain red t-shirt triumphantly.
Lissa turned and nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw Heero standing inside her door, staring at her.
"Hey, Heero. Where's Duo? We were looking for you two before. You missed breakfast and it was really good. Sara made pancakes…" Lissa trailed off as she noticed the look in Heero's eyes.
"What are you doing here, Heero?" Lissa started backing away as Heero stepped forward and swung her door shut.
"I'm here to prove something."
"What?" Lissa met resistance at her back and glanced behind her to see her dresser. She started to slide sideways, but was stopped by Heero's iron grip on her arm. "Heero, let me go. You're hurting my arm."
Heero stopped, his cold gaze moving to the arm he was gripping. He loosened his grip enough that it wouldn't hurt anymore and moved closer.
"I need to prove to you and to everyone that I feel nothing for Duo. Apparently my actions last night made you think that there is something between us. That is false."
Heero cut off Lissa's protests with his lips. He kissed her with bruising force, as if trying to make himself more enthusiastic about it.
When Heero finally pulled away from her, Lissa's lips were swollen but she was looking at him with sympathy in her gaze.
"Heero, no matter how many people you kiss, you will always have feelings for Duo. Why do you think we have been trying so hard to get you two together?"
Heero backed away from her quickly, shaking his head.
"It's not true. It's not."
Lissa stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Heero.
"Honey, you may not want to believe it, but you do have feelings for Duo. You have to loosen up. It may not seem right for you to have feelings for him right now, but if you relax and let those feelings come out, then you will find out how right it does feel when Duo returns those feelings." Lissa squeezed his shoulders gently and forced him to sit on the edge of her bed.
Heero stared at the wall, unable to come to terms with what she was saying. "How do you know I have feelings for him? What if what you think you see is really just our friendship?"
"Heero, it's our job to know. Sara and I make a living off knowing things like that. We knew from the moment we saw you and Duo together that you were both off-limits. I'm not even going to let you know how disappointing that was. Seriously, first, we lose the wonderful prospects of Quatre and Trowa and then we realize that you two are gone too? It was horrible. We were happy we at least had Wufei, but then Aneliya comes along and he gets scooped up." Lissa punched him lightly in the arm. "You don't have to be so hard on yourself or on Duo. Just let him in and you'll be surprised at what you find."
Lissa stood up when she finished talking and pulled Heero to his feet. "Now, I hate to be rude, but go mull over that for awhile because I have to get dressed and blow dry my hair before Kaie gets back." Lissa grinned and pushed him out the door.
Heero leaned against the door to Lissa's room and sighed. That plan had been blown to hell. He wandered through the house and ended up in the weight room again. Deciding that working out would clear his head; he set the nearest machine to its highest setting and went at it.
"So, what do you guys have planned for today? We have to do something, or I'll go crazy." Sara smiled at the boys sitting around the living room.
"Since we've known each other, you've mentioned that you used to play rugby in college. Do you think you could teach us and few others how to play?" Wufei spoke up when everyone else stayed quiet.
"Depends on who you have in mind…" Sara smiled jokingly at Wufei.
"I'm sure we can get a group big enough. How many people do we need?"
"Um... I think we would need fourteen people. I would assume that you three would be playing, right?"
Quatre grimaced. "I think I would rather watch. It seems like a pretty violent sport." Trowa tried to cover his snort with a cough, but not before Sara caught it.
"Okay, so you two, Duo, Heero, me, and most likely Kaie, since he's coming back are going to play. Do you think you can gather at least six more people? I'm going to try and get two others."
As it turns out, the only one that the boys could think of who might know people to play with them was Duo. Duo was, unfortunately, still missing in action, as well as Heero. Everyone that Sara knew lived much too far away or was too busy to be able to play.
Sara waited until Lissa came down from getting ready before she left to find Duo. She had seen Heero go into her weight room before, but she still had no idea where Duo might have gone off to. She had figured they would be joined at the hip today, but apparently, that was not so.
Ten minutes later, after she had checked the whole house, Sara was getting frustrated. She was sure that no one had left yet, but now she wasn't so sure. Duo was no where to be found.
Sara slipped out the back door and walked over to the boys' house. By the time she had reached the back door and slipped inside, she knew exactly where Duo was.
Sara walked through the kitchen and up the stairs to the bathroom. Steam was leaking slowly out from under the door and she could hear water running. She could also hear a faint, keening sob. Her heart reached out for the boy on the other side.
Knocking lightly on the door, she called his name.
"Duo? Sweetie, I know you're in there and I need to know if you're okay." The sob halted abruptly and she heard rustling.
Duo's breath caught at the sound of Sara's voice. Shit, shit, shit. She had come over here to check up on him. He stretched his legs out and stood quickly, hoping she hadn't heard him crying. He seriously doubted it though, because she wanted to know if he was okay.
"I'll… I'll be out in a minute." Duo turned off the shower and stumbled around, trying to find the towel he grabbed.
His foot hit a puddle in the middle of the floor and he fell backwards. He crashed down, his head connecting with the rack that held up the towels.
Sara jumped when she heard the crash. "Duo? Duo, are you alright?"
When Duo didn't answer, Sara jiggled the door knob to find out if he had locked the door or not. Relief flooded through her when she found it unlocked.
Pushing open the door, Sara gasped at the sight that met her eyes. Duo lay sprawled, naked, on the floor. His modesty was protected only by the towel that lay draped over his abdomen and legs.
Sara threw herself to the ground next to him, shaking his shoulders to wake him up. Tears started flowing when he didn't immediately start responding.
"Duo, please, wake up. Duo! Come on, you can't do this. You can't leave us, we all need you! Duo, snap out of it. Think of Heero. Please, Duo." Sara's voice became beseeching and her tears dropped onto his still face. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and let herself sob.
Duo felt someone clinging to him and groaned. He took a mental inventory of his body and wondered why he was on a cold floor, naked, with someone clinging to him and sobbing. Wait… sobbing?
Duo lifted his head just slightly away from the floor and opened his eyes. At first, all he saw was a blur of auburn. As his vision cleared, he focused and realized that it was Sara that was sprawled against his chest.
"Sara, what are you doing?" His voice rasped out of his throat and he remembered all the crying he had done.
"Duo! You're okay! I was so worried. You wouldn't answer me and I thought… but you're fine. Oh god, I'm so glad you're okay." Sara had pulled away to look at him, but she pulled him back to squeeze all the air from his lungs.
"Sara… Can't… Breathe." Duo gasped out the sentence and Sara's arms immediately loosened.
"Sorry, I was just really worried." Sara started stroking Duo's hair. "Why were you crying?"
Duo pushed away from her and started to get up. Suddenly, he remembered that he was naked but for the towel that was only barely draped over him. He looked at Sara imploringly.
Sara nodded and stood, hugging him gently before she turned and left the bathroom.
As he shut the door, she called out, "We ARE going to talk about this once you get that towel wrapped around your waist!"
Duo wrapped the towel around his waist slowly, in no hurry to go out there and talk.
He leaned his head back against the wall and sighed. He could hear Sara tapping her foot impatiently in his bedroom.
Duo looked in the mirror and grimaced at his hair. He worked it into a passable braid, trying not to pull on it too hard because he could feel the bump forming on the back of his head already.
When he finally opened the door, he saw Sara pacing back and forth in his room and knew he couldn't sneak past her. He wouldn't have clothes to put on once he was gone.
Duo walked into his room and rummaged through his drawers, pulling out a pair of black boxers. He slid them on under his towel and pulled out a pair of blue gym shorts. He threw the towel on the floor and stepped into his shorts while he looked for his black t-shirt. He pulled it on and turned around, surprised to see that Sara had turned her back and was waiting for him to give her the okay to turn around.
"You can turn around now."
Sara turned with a smile and sat on Duo's bed, patting the space beside her.
He sighed and, shoulders slumped, sat down next to her.
Sara immediately wrapped her arm around his shoulders and pulled him in for a hug. He stiffened and tried to pull away, but relaxed when she didn't let go.
"I don't know what happened, but I know you need to talk about it with someone. I'm here. Use me as your stress ball." Sara stroked Duo's hair as she spoke.
"I…" Memories of last night and this morning flashed through Duo's mind and tears pricked the back of his eyes.
"He thinks I betrayed him. I don't know what happened while I was sleeping, but I woke up to him accusing me of…of…drugging him…" Duo broke down and started sobbing in Sara's arms.
"Shh…it's okay, Duo. You didn't betray him and you certainly didn't drug him. You know that and deep down, so does he. If anyone betrayed anyone, it was Heero. He led you to believe something and then pulled away and accused you of things he knows you would never do." Sara pulled her head back and tilted Duo's head up so she could look him in the eyes. "He'll come around. Either that, or I'll smack him around a little." Sara wiped away his tears and hugged him again.
She pulled away slightly and looked down into his eyes. "Now, I want you to dry your eyes and come with me over to my house and we'll see what we can do about teaching you the wonderful sport of rugby."
Duo grinned at Sara and used the edge of his discarded towel to dry his eyes.
Lissa looked up from brushing out her hair on the couch to see Duo and Sara walked back into the room, arm in arm and giggling.
"And then I said to him, 'If you think those antics will get her to notice you, you can keep trying. All its doing is making you look like an idiot.'"
Duo giggled. "He was really doing all that to try and get her attention? Why didn't he just go up to her and say hello?"
"He never made it close enough for her to ask him. He passed out when he was about five feet away from her and didn't wake up before we had to leave. I wish we could have stayed at that club, but it was almost closing time." Sara shrugged and pulled Duo down on the couch with her.
"So, has he come up with any people to play rugby?" Lissa asked.
Sara blinked innocently. "Oops."
Lissa giggled and asked Duo if he knew anyone who would be willing to make a day of learning to play rugby.
He thought for a moment.
"Erm… I know three guys who might be willing to do it. Let me give them a call and see what they think. Be right back." Duo got up and walked out to the kitchen to grab the phone.
Sara sighed. "I hope he brings someone cute."
"You're not doing anything today? Great! Would you be willing to come meet us at the park to play rugby? You would? Awesome! You're bringing who? That's perfect. Thanks, buddy. See ya soon!" Duo hung up with a huge smile on his face and walked back out to the living room to let Sara and Lissa know of his success.
"So, it turns out that a few of my friends were bored and were trying to figure out what to do for the day. I called just in time. My friend Aaron is bringing Ryan and Ian."
Sara pushed herself off the couch. "Now, I have to go make my call and see if two or three people are available. While I do that, Lissa can call Kaie on the phone and see if he can bring at least one more person." Sara walked out of the room quickly.
Duo, curious to see who she would call, followed her and listened in on her conversation.
Sara stood at the counter, tapping her foot as she waited for someone to pick up the other line.
"Josh, hey. What's up and what are you doing today?" She paused, waiting for an answer.
"So, you have nothing to do? How would you feel about coming here to play a little rugby with some friends of mine? You would! Great! Would I mind? Of course not! They're always welcome. Sure. Twenty minutes. See you then!" She hung up the phone and danced quickly around the kitchen.
"Lissa, phone's free! If he can bring one person, we're good!" With that final statement, Sara ran up the stairs to change into an old pair of shorts and t-shirt.
Twenty minutes later, a group of sixteen people were milling around in the middle of Gould Manor. Sara's brother Josh had brought his friends John and Dave. Kaie bought his best friend Dakin. Duo introduced his friends Aaron, Ian, and Ryan.
Sara stood in the middle of the group and explained the sport of rugby as best as she could. Half an hour later, teams were decided and they set up the field. It was Sara, Duo, Josh, Dave, Aneliya, Trowa, and John against Dakin, Heero, Ian, Ryan, Wufei, Kaie, and Aaron. Lissa and Quatre were going to sit on the sidelines and be the official 'cheerleaders'.
The game started off well enough. Everyone had understood the rules enough to get by. The scrum was the hardest part, but not because no one understood, but because of the fact that Duo and Heero had to have their heads right next to each other and Duo was definitely uncomfortable with that.
During the time out, he brought his complaints to Sara.
"I can't do this anymore. I don't want to be so close to him. Can we switch my position? Please?" He looked at her pleadingly.
"I'm really sorry, Duo, but you're the only one who can do what needs to be done as the hooker (1). The game is only another seven minutes, you can skip out of the next game or something." Sara looked at him sympathetically.
"Yeah, fine." Duo headed back out onto the field, a scowl that rivaled Heero's on his face.
Six minutes into the second half of the game, Duo was running for the try line (2) and everyone was chasing him. He never noticed Aaron coming in from his right side.
Aaron hit him with enough force to knock him six feet to the left. As he crumbled to the ground, his head hit an almost unnoticeable rock and was knocked unconscious.
Everyone froze, waiting for Duo to move.
Thirty seconds passed and he still hadn't moved. Heero and Sara were the first ones to reach him.
"What's wrong with him? A rock this small would not have done anything to him!" Heero was screaming, a panicked edge to his voice.
"I don't know about you, but a rock that size would have done the same thing to me. However, Duo has already hit his head today…" Sara trailed off, knowing that now would be a bad time to let Heero know that it was because of him that Duo had been so oblivious to his surroundings.
"What are you talking about?" Heero's voice was like ice.
"He took a shower before coming back over to our house and when he got out, he slid on a puddle of water and his head hit the wall. He was out for about a minute."
Heero grumbled under his breath and checked all of Duo's vital signs.
"He needs to go to the hospital, Heero. I'll take the two of you."
Heero nodded sharply; and, as gently as he could, he picked Duo up and ran to Sara's car, Sara following closely on his heels.
End part 7
Not that kind of hooker. shakes a finger at the dirty minds out there It's a position in rugby.
Another rugby word. It's basically the goal line (think football).
Sorry I didn't explain more about rugby, but if I had gone into detail about the rules or the game in general, this chapter would have been at least eight hundred pages long.
points up Yes, you did see new characters!… But most of them are unimportant, so I'll describe and introduce the important ones in the next chapter. Sorry for how quickly I go over them, but if I described all of them, that's seven descriptions. I, for one, would be bored of both writing and reading them. More description in the next chapter, I promise!