Okay, I'm really sorry about the huge wait, but I swear that I am an innocent in all of this. Honestly. I'm just gonna go straight to the story.
*Warning* - There is shonen ai hints of 1x2 and 3x4. There is cursing, angst, and ... uhh ... oh! A little bit of Relena bashing. There. You've been warned.
Disclaimer - The Gundam boys don't belong to me. Miss Paisley and Sharon do. So there. Taco Bell is also not mine.
Only You
Chapter 8
I looked at the massive building and gaped a bit. It must've been seven stories high. At least. I turned to look at the impassive Heero, who was walking in front of me, seemingly not noticing that I had stopped. "This is a restaurant?"
Heero turned back to me. "Yes. A real restaurant. Unlike Taco Bell."
"Oh, you're just too funny," I quipped. Reluctantly, I followed him into the 'restaurant'. There was a man standing about three feet in front of us, and he turned from his partner behind the counter when the door shut behind us.
"Welcome," he said warmly. "Mister Yuy, will you be dining here again tonight?" I looked at Heero quizzically, but he ignored me and nodded. "Then go ahead to the elevator, sir," the waiter-guy said, and Heero led me to said elevator.
I kept my eyes trained on Heero's back while he pressed the `up' button and as he waited. Eventually, I knew, he'd get annoyed. Sure enough ...
"WHAT?!" he turned on me with his infamous glare, which I studiously ignored. "Do you come here often, Hee-chan?"
"Don't. Call. Me. That," he hissed.
"Whatever you say, Hee-chan."
I think I heard him growl. The elevator door opened, and we stepped inside. When the doors closed behind us, I turned back to Heero. "So? Do you come here very often?"
Heero shook his head. "No."
I blinked for a second, expecting him to expand. I mentally smacked myself. Again, who was I with? I'd have to interrogate the guy to get the shortest of answers. "So ... how did the guy remember you? Oh! Wait! I know! It was your charming personality." I slanted Heero a glance. "Am I right?"
Heero's mouth twitched. "No."
I sighed, exasperated. "Then what?"
"I left them a nice tip."
"Ah," I said plainly. "Yup, that'll do it." I stopped talking to Heero long enough to look around the elevator and ended up staring out the glass wall to the diminishing ground below. "How many stories are we going up?"
"Seven."
"Damn, I'm good," I muttered, and watched an old couple make their way across the parking lot.
"How so?"
I turned to see Heero smirking at me. "I thought the building was seven stories high. What are the other levels used for?"
Heero shrugged. "How should I know?"
I imitated his shrug. "I don't know. I guess I'm still used to you being the Perfect Soldier. I mean, with you in the Preventers, my mind just keeps seeing you as a soldier."
Heero remained silent.
"Heero?" I think the only reason he turned his gaze on me was that funny choking noise that came out of my mouth. I refused to give him the time to ask why and how it had slipped out. I didn't give him time to say anything. "That ... in the hospital, when I said that ... thing ... when I brushed you off. I'm really sorry about that."
Heero's face showed pure, genuine surprise, and something oddly warm settled in those cobalt orbs. I could swear that my body just melted into some puddle. A small smile settled on his face, and as the elevator door opened, he was washed in a golden light from the lights in the lobby. "It's ... okay, Duo."
Joy spread through me like mercury, setting my body on fire. "Heero ..."
Someone coughed, and we both turned as if the sound had been gunfire. My face flamed at the sight of a woman in a waitress' uniform trying to get us off the elevator. Heero just smiled at her, and her face immediately lit up. "Mister Yuy, it's wonderful to see you again. How are you?"
"Well," he said, and grabbed my good arm. He literally dragged me out into the lobby, and the woman smiled at me. I blushed harder.
"I know the lobby is large, but don't let that intimidate you."
I looked at her in shock. She must have known what had been going on in that elevator. Then again, what *had* been going on in that elevator? Were Heero and I just talking, or were we getting ready to ... to ...
"Duo!" I sighted Heero a few yards ahead of me and rushed to catch up. "Duo, what were you thinking about?"
I shook my head. There was no way I was going to tell Heero that I was imagining his lips roving over mine. "Nothing."
"Now you're the one clamming up," Heero told me, and I realized that he was right.
"Oh, pardon my Heero," I said, and surprised a laugh out of him. I basked in the sound. In the knowledge that I had made the infamous Heero Yuy laugh. "You have a nice laugh," I said, and bit my lip to shut myself up. I peeked up through my bangs to see if he'd heard.
"You're the third person to say that," he said musingly. "I guess I should let myself out a bit more ..." Something haunted came into his eyes. His despair brought my own sadness crashing onto me. There was no way I was letting Heero be sad.
"The ... third?" I parroted dumbly as we were seated, hoping that would bring some sort of change in Heero's attitude. "Are ... the other two alive or dead?" I mentally slapped myself. What a wonderful way to get his mind off of bad thoughts.
Heero shot me a look, though not THE look. "Yes, Duo," he answered, and his voice said that he was indulging a five-year-old.
"Who were they? Are they," I corrected myself. "Who are they?"
"Quatre and Relena," he told me, and her name sort of killed my already weakened good mood.
"Relena, huh?" I said, pretending indifference. "Speaking of which, are you two an item yet? Did I miss the wedding?"
Heero looked at me with what seemed to be horror. "W-Wedding?" He shook his head. "No, Duo," he said, and his voice was light and teasing. "You haven't missed the wedding yet. But tell me, what would you bring to our wedding?"
A gun with extra clips, to make sure she's dead when you finally decide to kill her, I thought, but didn't quite think that answer would go over well. "Gee, I dunno, Heero. Maybe a sticky note reminding you to put the seat down," I joked.
Heero groaned. "You haven't forgotten about that *yet*?"
I laughed. "Nope, and I won't. The great Heero Yuy, the best soldier in the entire solar system, the most respected man in the Preventers agency - or else, should be - was never taught to put the toilet seat down."
Another cough sounded, and we both jumped. The waitress was back, and she was looking at Heero with a pitying expression on her face. I watched in no small fascination as Heero's skin went crimson. "Same as last time," he muttered, almost too softly to hear.
I turned to her and winked. "I'll take the chicken and broccoli alfredo," I said with an innocent smile. "Please," I added.
She nodded. "Two chicken and broccoli alfredos, coming up."
"Two?" I said, and twisted around to face Heero as the waitress left. "You like it, too? I didn't think anyone else had even heard of it before. It's a really old recipe."
Heero smiled. "They specialize with old recipes here. That's why I like this place." He cocked his head. "How do you know about that stuff? You don't seem the type."
"It was the first real food I ate," I explained. "Professor G introduced me to it."
"'First real food'?" he echoed, and seemed to be waiting for a clarification.
I shrugged. "Growing up a street rat, you don't have many gourmet meals. Then, at Father Maxwell's, we didn't exactly have bushels of money, you know?"
"Street rat?"
"Oh, please! I knew you never listened to what I said back during the war! I must've told you like a billion times." I lifted an eyebrow in mock severity. "That's not becoming for a Preventer."
"Hn."
Oh, gods. Not again.
The waitress - I quickly scanned her name tag and found her name to be Sharon - surprised me by bringing drinks. I smiled and took a sip, surprised again to find that it was Mountain Dew. She left and I swung my head to Heero. "I don't remember ordering this."
"You didn't," he told me, and I sat there, baffled. I watched him drink his mineral water. "I ordered it for you."
How did he know what I liked to drink? And just when in the hell had he ordered it?? "Thanks." I took another sip, trying to figure the Perfect Soldier out. "Hey, Heero?"
"Yes?"
"Did you know that there's a `Return' button on that elevator?"
Heero gave me a strange look. "A what?"
"A `Return' button," I repeated. "I wonder what it's used for? I've never seen one before."
Heero shook his head. "You always did have a lot of curiosity. And you always forget what happened to that cat."
I made a face. "Yeah, but that was a cat. I happen to be human."
Heero continued to stare at me until our salads came. There was a special sauce on them already, which explained the lack of questioning on our choice of dressing. I immediately dug in, all too aware of Heero's intense gaze.
He silently got into his meal, and the only sounds were the other people talking and the scraping of the fork on the plate. Okay, the fork was me. I was purposely trying to be irritating.
"Duo ..." The warning came in a low voice, but was very clear. I had noticed that people were starting to stare, and Heero never liked that.
"So ... what were we talking about?" I asked, and I hoped that Brain Boy could get the hint.
Heero sighed. "Okay, okay, I get it. Just stop the noise."
I stopped instantly.
He sighed again. "We were vainly trying to find something to talk about."
"Vainly?" I prompted.
"Yes."
"A wonderful conversation, Hee-chan," I noted.
"Don't call me that."
"What? Oh, Hee-chan?"
"Yes, that."
"Okay, Hee-chan."
Heero growled. "Duo, omae o ..."
"Yeah, yeah, I know." I grinned impishly and finished off my salad, looking to the kitchen and urging the woman to come quicker. This was a bit difficult. It's always difficult to get Heero involved in any conversation other than a mission. "We were talking about my life as a street rat, weren't we?" I prodded, and his eyes sharpened.
"I thought you didn't want to talk about that."
"Why not? I'm not embarrassed. I was a damn *good* street rat."
Heero shook his head. "I don't understand you."
"Oh, good. I don't want to bore anybody."
Heero opened his mouth to say something, but a beeping noise interrupted him. He looked down and grimaced. "Excuse me, Duo," he said, and stood. I watched him get up and leave with a sense of impending doom. I couldn't explain it, but I knew something was wrong. I could feel it, inside me.
Not two minutes later, Heero was walking back to our table at a record clip. "Duo, something's come up," he informed me. "I need to go."
I caught on instantaneously. It was his mission. Miss Paisley. "Understood," I said. "I'll come with you."
Heero looked at my left arm and shook his head. "No. I can't put you in that position. You're a civilian now, Duo. You aren't a Preventer."
"I don't care. I want to help."
"You'd be of no help to me whatsoever injured," he snapped, and spun around to leave.
"Heero, dammit, I -"
"No!" he barked, and people turned to stare. "No," he repeated, more gently this time. "Please, stay here. Enjoy your meal."
Stunned, I could do no more than stare after him as he left. I turned back to the table, feeling incredibly foolish. We were having a civil conversation. I was even having fun. And then he was called away. Just like that, everything changed. I looked at Sharon, who was coming up to the table. "Where's Mister Yuy?" she asked, and I suddenly felt sick.
I noticed two twenty dollar bills on the table and fought back my nausea. Heero was on the battlefield. Sure, he'd been on the battlefield before. Thousands of times.
And I'd felt this way during every single one of those missions.
I stood and gave Sharon a sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry," I said, "but could you just ... I dunno. I've got to go." I looked at the food in her hand and felt ill for letting it go to waste. I just wasn't hungry anymore. "Could you put that someplace that it can be saved in, and take it to a shelter, please? I don't want to waste it. Here." I handed her one of my own twenties. "For the trouble."
"Both you and Mister Yuy are the same," she said with a smile. "You're both very kind."
Something inside me churned.
"Thank you," I breathed, and left. I took the elevator down without thinking about the `Return' button. Heero's car was gone, which was to be expected. I numbly walked a few blocks to the bus stop and sat on the bench. Thankfully, I was the only one waiting there. The sign said that the next pick-up was in twenty minutes. During those twenty minutes, I think I dozed. Or zoned out. Or something. The honk of a horn woke me with a start.
"Duo!" The call was Quatre's, and I saw him waving to me in a car. Trowa sat at the wheel. "Heero called us. We've been looking for you."
"Heero called you?" It made sense. Heero never left anything up to chance. He'd make sure I got back to my apartment safe. "Aren't you busy?"
"No, we're okay, Duo," Trowa told me, and I got up and hopped into the car. "We were actually taking a day off from all the office detail."
"We?" I asked, buckling my seat belt. Quatre, ever cautious, waited until he heard the click before letting Trowa get us on the road. "You, too?"
I could've sworn he blushed. "I pitch in a bit," he admitted.
"That's hardly fair," Quatre said. "You do a lot more work than anyone else. And you aren't paid. I should see about that."
"It's no big deal," Trowa murmured, and I witnessed his scarlet face darken still.
I laughed. "C'mon, Trowa, helping someone out isn't a bad thing!" I waggled my eyebrows. "Especially if it gives you a good excuse to hang around them."
Trowa's face seemed to have caught fire.
"Duo!" Quatre admonished, but he laughed. "Oh, Trowa," he said on a helpless laugh, "it seems the jig is up." He turned to me. "Have you told anyone?"
"Quatre," I pointed out, "it's only been about an hour since that fiasco at my apartment."
He nodded. "Please don't say anything," he begged, and I shrugged.
"Hey, it's none of my business."
"Duo," Trowa threatened, and I put up my hands.
"I won't tell anyone." I leaned back in my seat. "Then again, if our friends don't agree, then ... are they really our friends?"
Trowa glanced into the rearview mirror as Quatre twisted his body to stare at me in shock.
I grinned my `imp' grin and closed my eyes.
Silence reigned for a good many minutes before ... "Thanks, Duo."
I opened one eye and smiled warmly at Trowa. "Hey, no problem, Tro."
*
I walked into my house and listened to Quatre and Trowa drive away. I studied the light switch beside me as if it would have a post-it saying if it worked yet or not. I decided to leave it and walked into my kitchen. I pulled back a chair and sat at the table, resigning myself to a long wait. I stared at the phone and ordered it to ring and tell me that the package was secured and the party is unharmed. Or something to that effect. I only hoped the damned thing worked. I flicked the kitchen light and was momentarily blinded. Satisfied, I flicked it back off.
"Heero ..."
Better to think of the conversation that we'd been sharing than of what could be happening to Heero. Better to think of Heero's beautiful laugh than to imagine him going up in flames, or being torn apart by machine gun fire. Don't imagine him screaming in agony as he -
No. Best not to think about that.
"What am I going to do with you, Heero?" My head fell in-between my knees. I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the tight grip of fear that squeezed my heart. "Heero ..."
*
It was dark out. A beetle scuttled by my feet. I looked up and saw bumblebees buzzing above my head. I turned, trying to find someone. Someone to explain where I was. There was no one.
A sense of panic gripped me, and I turned again. Nothing. Nothing but the bees above and the beetle staring at me below.
Something permeated in the air and I coughed. My eyes stung; my throat burned. Tear gas!
The beetle looked up at me, and from nowhere - not from me, not from the bees, just from nowhere - a teardrop fell and landed on the beetle.
BRING!!! BRING!!!
"Uugh," I groaned, and opened my gritty eyes. I stared at the phone, and my mind muted the incessant noise. What had that dream been about? It was perhaps the stupidest thing my mind had made up, and that said a helluva lot.
I heard my answering machine pick up the call. "This is not an answering machine," I heard my voice say, "this is a thought-recording device. Please think about your name, number, and reason for calling, and I'll think about returning your call. Thank you."
Beep!
There was a tired chuckle on the other end of the line. "Hey, Duo."
I snatched up the phone, out of my daze in an instant after hearing that voice. "Heero?!"
"Yes, it's me. I was calling to let you know that the package is se -"
"That's nice," I spoke, cutting him off. "Are you okay?"
I heard Heero laugh, and my heart did a somersault, which didn't help my nauseous stomach. "Yes, Wufei and I are fine. I like your answering machine, too."
I grinned. "Cool, isn't it?" I tried to regulate my breathing. He's okay. Of course he's okay. You baka.
"Yeah. Duo, did you eat your meal?"
"Huh?" I tried to catch up. "Oh. No, I didn't really have an appetite." I shrugged nonchalantly. "Heero, I'm a rat. A night on salad is actually really nice."
"You're not a rat."
He said it immediately, as if instantly protesting, without a thought to it. "Sure I am," I laughed. "I just don't have that disgusting tail."
"Duo ..." There was anguish in his voice, I could swear it. It was strange, but it made me smile. It was nice to dream thedse things, at least. Dream of the things that his changes might mean.
"Heero, it's okay. It doesn't get me down."
"You shouldn't talk about yourself like that. You helped to save the whole Earth Sphere."
"I *helped* you learn how to bail someone out of a mess. That's about it."
"Duo, you ..."
I smiled sweetly. Believe it or not, you can actually hear facial expressions through a phone. "Yes?"
"You helped, Duo. More than you know. You did slow Oz, Romefeller, whatever ... you slowed them down. And ... you helped me."
My smile turned a bit more genuine. "Oh? And how was that, Hee-chan?"
"DON'T CALL ... WHATever." Heero hefted a huge sigh. "You helped me, Duo. That's all I'm going to say."
"What a surprise," I remarked, and deigned to roll my eyes. "So are you going to be back soon?"
"No."
I paused, taking that into consideration. "Understood."
Heero seemed to smile. "Thank you, Duo. I'll see you soon."
We hung up, and I grinned. "You'll see me sooner than you think, Hee-chan." I went to my bedroom to get ready for another of those damned suicide adventures Heero seemed so fond of.
*
A/N: Hope that was enough for this chapter. I'm really, really sorry for the HUGE delay. Damn this computer. Anyway, there you go. For those of you who are wondering about that button on the elevator ... well ... we'll get to that. Eventually. Probably many, many chapters later. Heheheheheheheh ...
And as for the dream ... yes, those things actually had significance. If you care, go ahead and tell me in a review (HINT) and I'll let you all know. ^_^ I hope everyone had a nice holiday, and Happy New Year, everybody!!!
And, just to let you know, I DON'T KNOW how Duo will know where Heero is. Maybe he hacked into Preventers' files or something. There.
And I'm really sorry for not being around. I'm here now, Thank God. And we have a day off school tomorrow for Election Day, so I'm hoping to have more time on this computer. Mother's taken over, so I'm gonna have a tough time getting on. Review if you're still here! I'm really sorry!
*Warning* - There is shonen ai hints of 1x2 and 3x4. There is cursing, angst, and ... uhh ... oh! A little bit of Relena bashing. There. You've been warned.
Disclaimer - The Gundam boys don't belong to me. Miss Paisley and Sharon do. So there. Taco Bell is also not mine.
Only You
Chapter 8
I looked at the massive building and gaped a bit. It must've been seven stories high. At least. I turned to look at the impassive Heero, who was walking in front of me, seemingly not noticing that I had stopped. "This is a restaurant?"
Heero turned back to me. "Yes. A real restaurant. Unlike Taco Bell."
"Oh, you're just too funny," I quipped. Reluctantly, I followed him into the 'restaurant'. There was a man standing about three feet in front of us, and he turned from his partner behind the counter when the door shut behind us.
"Welcome," he said warmly. "Mister Yuy, will you be dining here again tonight?" I looked at Heero quizzically, but he ignored me and nodded. "Then go ahead to the elevator, sir," the waiter-guy said, and Heero led me to said elevator.
I kept my eyes trained on Heero's back while he pressed the `up' button and as he waited. Eventually, I knew, he'd get annoyed. Sure enough ...
"WHAT?!" he turned on me with his infamous glare, which I studiously ignored. "Do you come here often, Hee-chan?"
"Don't. Call. Me. That," he hissed.
"Whatever you say, Hee-chan."
I think I heard him growl. The elevator door opened, and we stepped inside. When the doors closed behind us, I turned back to Heero. "So? Do you come here very often?"
Heero shook his head. "No."
I blinked for a second, expecting him to expand. I mentally smacked myself. Again, who was I with? I'd have to interrogate the guy to get the shortest of answers. "So ... how did the guy remember you? Oh! Wait! I know! It was your charming personality." I slanted Heero a glance. "Am I right?"
Heero's mouth twitched. "No."
I sighed, exasperated. "Then what?"
"I left them a nice tip."
"Ah," I said plainly. "Yup, that'll do it." I stopped talking to Heero long enough to look around the elevator and ended up staring out the glass wall to the diminishing ground below. "How many stories are we going up?"
"Seven."
"Damn, I'm good," I muttered, and watched an old couple make their way across the parking lot.
"How so?"
I turned to see Heero smirking at me. "I thought the building was seven stories high. What are the other levels used for?"
Heero shrugged. "How should I know?"
I imitated his shrug. "I don't know. I guess I'm still used to you being the Perfect Soldier. I mean, with you in the Preventers, my mind just keeps seeing you as a soldier."
Heero remained silent.
"Heero?" I think the only reason he turned his gaze on me was that funny choking noise that came out of my mouth. I refused to give him the time to ask why and how it had slipped out. I didn't give him time to say anything. "That ... in the hospital, when I said that ... thing ... when I brushed you off. I'm really sorry about that."
Heero's face showed pure, genuine surprise, and something oddly warm settled in those cobalt orbs. I could swear that my body just melted into some puddle. A small smile settled on his face, and as the elevator door opened, he was washed in a golden light from the lights in the lobby. "It's ... okay, Duo."
Joy spread through me like mercury, setting my body on fire. "Heero ..."
Someone coughed, and we both turned as if the sound had been gunfire. My face flamed at the sight of a woman in a waitress' uniform trying to get us off the elevator. Heero just smiled at her, and her face immediately lit up. "Mister Yuy, it's wonderful to see you again. How are you?"
"Well," he said, and grabbed my good arm. He literally dragged me out into the lobby, and the woman smiled at me. I blushed harder.
"I know the lobby is large, but don't let that intimidate you."
I looked at her in shock. She must have known what had been going on in that elevator. Then again, what *had* been going on in that elevator? Were Heero and I just talking, or were we getting ready to ... to ...
"Duo!" I sighted Heero a few yards ahead of me and rushed to catch up. "Duo, what were you thinking about?"
I shook my head. There was no way I was going to tell Heero that I was imagining his lips roving over mine. "Nothing."
"Now you're the one clamming up," Heero told me, and I realized that he was right.
"Oh, pardon my Heero," I said, and surprised a laugh out of him. I basked in the sound. In the knowledge that I had made the infamous Heero Yuy laugh. "You have a nice laugh," I said, and bit my lip to shut myself up. I peeked up through my bangs to see if he'd heard.
"You're the third person to say that," he said musingly. "I guess I should let myself out a bit more ..." Something haunted came into his eyes. His despair brought my own sadness crashing onto me. There was no way I was letting Heero be sad.
"The ... third?" I parroted dumbly as we were seated, hoping that would bring some sort of change in Heero's attitude. "Are ... the other two alive or dead?" I mentally slapped myself. What a wonderful way to get his mind off of bad thoughts.
Heero shot me a look, though not THE look. "Yes, Duo," he answered, and his voice said that he was indulging a five-year-old.
"Who were they? Are they," I corrected myself. "Who are they?"
"Quatre and Relena," he told me, and her name sort of killed my already weakened good mood.
"Relena, huh?" I said, pretending indifference. "Speaking of which, are you two an item yet? Did I miss the wedding?"
Heero looked at me with what seemed to be horror. "W-Wedding?" He shook his head. "No, Duo," he said, and his voice was light and teasing. "You haven't missed the wedding yet. But tell me, what would you bring to our wedding?"
A gun with extra clips, to make sure she's dead when you finally decide to kill her, I thought, but didn't quite think that answer would go over well. "Gee, I dunno, Heero. Maybe a sticky note reminding you to put the seat down," I joked.
Heero groaned. "You haven't forgotten about that *yet*?"
I laughed. "Nope, and I won't. The great Heero Yuy, the best soldier in the entire solar system, the most respected man in the Preventers agency - or else, should be - was never taught to put the toilet seat down."
Another cough sounded, and we both jumped. The waitress was back, and she was looking at Heero with a pitying expression on her face. I watched in no small fascination as Heero's skin went crimson. "Same as last time," he muttered, almost too softly to hear.
I turned to her and winked. "I'll take the chicken and broccoli alfredo," I said with an innocent smile. "Please," I added.
She nodded. "Two chicken and broccoli alfredos, coming up."
"Two?" I said, and twisted around to face Heero as the waitress left. "You like it, too? I didn't think anyone else had even heard of it before. It's a really old recipe."
Heero smiled. "They specialize with old recipes here. That's why I like this place." He cocked his head. "How do you know about that stuff? You don't seem the type."
"It was the first real food I ate," I explained. "Professor G introduced me to it."
"'First real food'?" he echoed, and seemed to be waiting for a clarification.
I shrugged. "Growing up a street rat, you don't have many gourmet meals. Then, at Father Maxwell's, we didn't exactly have bushels of money, you know?"
"Street rat?"
"Oh, please! I knew you never listened to what I said back during the war! I must've told you like a billion times." I lifted an eyebrow in mock severity. "That's not becoming for a Preventer."
"Hn."
Oh, gods. Not again.
The waitress - I quickly scanned her name tag and found her name to be Sharon - surprised me by bringing drinks. I smiled and took a sip, surprised again to find that it was Mountain Dew. She left and I swung my head to Heero. "I don't remember ordering this."
"You didn't," he told me, and I sat there, baffled. I watched him drink his mineral water. "I ordered it for you."
How did he know what I liked to drink? And just when in the hell had he ordered it?? "Thanks." I took another sip, trying to figure the Perfect Soldier out. "Hey, Heero?"
"Yes?"
"Did you know that there's a `Return' button on that elevator?"
Heero gave me a strange look. "A what?"
"A `Return' button," I repeated. "I wonder what it's used for? I've never seen one before."
Heero shook his head. "You always did have a lot of curiosity. And you always forget what happened to that cat."
I made a face. "Yeah, but that was a cat. I happen to be human."
Heero continued to stare at me until our salads came. There was a special sauce on them already, which explained the lack of questioning on our choice of dressing. I immediately dug in, all too aware of Heero's intense gaze.
He silently got into his meal, and the only sounds were the other people talking and the scraping of the fork on the plate. Okay, the fork was me. I was purposely trying to be irritating.
"Duo ..." The warning came in a low voice, but was very clear. I had noticed that people were starting to stare, and Heero never liked that.
"So ... what were we talking about?" I asked, and I hoped that Brain Boy could get the hint.
Heero sighed. "Okay, okay, I get it. Just stop the noise."
I stopped instantly.
He sighed again. "We were vainly trying to find something to talk about."
"Vainly?" I prompted.
"Yes."
"A wonderful conversation, Hee-chan," I noted.
"Don't call me that."
"What? Oh, Hee-chan?"
"Yes, that."
"Okay, Hee-chan."
Heero growled. "Duo, omae o ..."
"Yeah, yeah, I know." I grinned impishly and finished off my salad, looking to the kitchen and urging the woman to come quicker. This was a bit difficult. It's always difficult to get Heero involved in any conversation other than a mission. "We were talking about my life as a street rat, weren't we?" I prodded, and his eyes sharpened.
"I thought you didn't want to talk about that."
"Why not? I'm not embarrassed. I was a damn *good* street rat."
Heero shook his head. "I don't understand you."
"Oh, good. I don't want to bore anybody."
Heero opened his mouth to say something, but a beeping noise interrupted him. He looked down and grimaced. "Excuse me, Duo," he said, and stood. I watched him get up and leave with a sense of impending doom. I couldn't explain it, but I knew something was wrong. I could feel it, inside me.
Not two minutes later, Heero was walking back to our table at a record clip. "Duo, something's come up," he informed me. "I need to go."
I caught on instantaneously. It was his mission. Miss Paisley. "Understood," I said. "I'll come with you."
Heero looked at my left arm and shook his head. "No. I can't put you in that position. You're a civilian now, Duo. You aren't a Preventer."
"I don't care. I want to help."
"You'd be of no help to me whatsoever injured," he snapped, and spun around to leave.
"Heero, dammit, I -"
"No!" he barked, and people turned to stare. "No," he repeated, more gently this time. "Please, stay here. Enjoy your meal."
Stunned, I could do no more than stare after him as he left. I turned back to the table, feeling incredibly foolish. We were having a civil conversation. I was even having fun. And then he was called away. Just like that, everything changed. I looked at Sharon, who was coming up to the table. "Where's Mister Yuy?" she asked, and I suddenly felt sick.
I noticed two twenty dollar bills on the table and fought back my nausea. Heero was on the battlefield. Sure, he'd been on the battlefield before. Thousands of times.
And I'd felt this way during every single one of those missions.
I stood and gave Sharon a sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry," I said, "but could you just ... I dunno. I've got to go." I looked at the food in her hand and felt ill for letting it go to waste. I just wasn't hungry anymore. "Could you put that someplace that it can be saved in, and take it to a shelter, please? I don't want to waste it. Here." I handed her one of my own twenties. "For the trouble."
"Both you and Mister Yuy are the same," she said with a smile. "You're both very kind."
Something inside me churned.
"Thank you," I breathed, and left. I took the elevator down without thinking about the `Return' button. Heero's car was gone, which was to be expected. I numbly walked a few blocks to the bus stop and sat on the bench. Thankfully, I was the only one waiting there. The sign said that the next pick-up was in twenty minutes. During those twenty minutes, I think I dozed. Or zoned out. Or something. The honk of a horn woke me with a start.
"Duo!" The call was Quatre's, and I saw him waving to me in a car. Trowa sat at the wheel. "Heero called us. We've been looking for you."
"Heero called you?" It made sense. Heero never left anything up to chance. He'd make sure I got back to my apartment safe. "Aren't you busy?"
"No, we're okay, Duo," Trowa told me, and I got up and hopped into the car. "We were actually taking a day off from all the office detail."
"We?" I asked, buckling my seat belt. Quatre, ever cautious, waited until he heard the click before letting Trowa get us on the road. "You, too?"
I could've sworn he blushed. "I pitch in a bit," he admitted.
"That's hardly fair," Quatre said. "You do a lot more work than anyone else. And you aren't paid. I should see about that."
"It's no big deal," Trowa murmured, and I witnessed his scarlet face darken still.
I laughed. "C'mon, Trowa, helping someone out isn't a bad thing!" I waggled my eyebrows. "Especially if it gives you a good excuse to hang around them."
Trowa's face seemed to have caught fire.
"Duo!" Quatre admonished, but he laughed. "Oh, Trowa," he said on a helpless laugh, "it seems the jig is up." He turned to me. "Have you told anyone?"
"Quatre," I pointed out, "it's only been about an hour since that fiasco at my apartment."
He nodded. "Please don't say anything," he begged, and I shrugged.
"Hey, it's none of my business."
"Duo," Trowa threatened, and I put up my hands.
"I won't tell anyone." I leaned back in my seat. "Then again, if our friends don't agree, then ... are they really our friends?"
Trowa glanced into the rearview mirror as Quatre twisted his body to stare at me in shock.
I grinned my `imp' grin and closed my eyes.
Silence reigned for a good many minutes before ... "Thanks, Duo."
I opened one eye and smiled warmly at Trowa. "Hey, no problem, Tro."
*
I walked into my house and listened to Quatre and Trowa drive away. I studied the light switch beside me as if it would have a post-it saying if it worked yet or not. I decided to leave it and walked into my kitchen. I pulled back a chair and sat at the table, resigning myself to a long wait. I stared at the phone and ordered it to ring and tell me that the package was secured and the party is unharmed. Or something to that effect. I only hoped the damned thing worked. I flicked the kitchen light and was momentarily blinded. Satisfied, I flicked it back off.
"Heero ..."
Better to think of the conversation that we'd been sharing than of what could be happening to Heero. Better to think of Heero's beautiful laugh than to imagine him going up in flames, or being torn apart by machine gun fire. Don't imagine him screaming in agony as he -
No. Best not to think about that.
"What am I going to do with you, Heero?" My head fell in-between my knees. I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the tight grip of fear that squeezed my heart. "Heero ..."
*
It was dark out. A beetle scuttled by my feet. I looked up and saw bumblebees buzzing above my head. I turned, trying to find someone. Someone to explain where I was. There was no one.
A sense of panic gripped me, and I turned again. Nothing. Nothing but the bees above and the beetle staring at me below.
Something permeated in the air and I coughed. My eyes stung; my throat burned. Tear gas!
The beetle looked up at me, and from nowhere - not from me, not from the bees, just from nowhere - a teardrop fell and landed on the beetle.
BRING!!! BRING!!!
"Uugh," I groaned, and opened my gritty eyes. I stared at the phone, and my mind muted the incessant noise. What had that dream been about? It was perhaps the stupidest thing my mind had made up, and that said a helluva lot.
I heard my answering machine pick up the call. "This is not an answering machine," I heard my voice say, "this is a thought-recording device. Please think about your name, number, and reason for calling, and I'll think about returning your call. Thank you."
Beep!
There was a tired chuckle on the other end of the line. "Hey, Duo."
I snatched up the phone, out of my daze in an instant after hearing that voice. "Heero?!"
"Yes, it's me. I was calling to let you know that the package is se -"
"That's nice," I spoke, cutting him off. "Are you okay?"
I heard Heero laugh, and my heart did a somersault, which didn't help my nauseous stomach. "Yes, Wufei and I are fine. I like your answering machine, too."
I grinned. "Cool, isn't it?" I tried to regulate my breathing. He's okay. Of course he's okay. You baka.
"Yeah. Duo, did you eat your meal?"
"Huh?" I tried to catch up. "Oh. No, I didn't really have an appetite." I shrugged nonchalantly. "Heero, I'm a rat. A night on salad is actually really nice."
"You're not a rat."
He said it immediately, as if instantly protesting, without a thought to it. "Sure I am," I laughed. "I just don't have that disgusting tail."
"Duo ..." There was anguish in his voice, I could swear it. It was strange, but it made me smile. It was nice to dream thedse things, at least. Dream of the things that his changes might mean.
"Heero, it's okay. It doesn't get me down."
"You shouldn't talk about yourself like that. You helped to save the whole Earth Sphere."
"I *helped* you learn how to bail someone out of a mess. That's about it."
"Duo, you ..."
I smiled sweetly. Believe it or not, you can actually hear facial expressions through a phone. "Yes?"
"You helped, Duo. More than you know. You did slow Oz, Romefeller, whatever ... you slowed them down. And ... you helped me."
My smile turned a bit more genuine. "Oh? And how was that, Hee-chan?"
"DON'T CALL ... WHATever." Heero hefted a huge sigh. "You helped me, Duo. That's all I'm going to say."
"What a surprise," I remarked, and deigned to roll my eyes. "So are you going to be back soon?"
"No."
I paused, taking that into consideration. "Understood."
Heero seemed to smile. "Thank you, Duo. I'll see you soon."
We hung up, and I grinned. "You'll see me sooner than you think, Hee-chan." I went to my bedroom to get ready for another of those damned suicide adventures Heero seemed so fond of.
*
A/N: Hope that was enough for this chapter. I'm really, really sorry for the HUGE delay. Damn this computer. Anyway, there you go. For those of you who are wondering about that button on the elevator ... well ... we'll get to that. Eventually. Probably many, many chapters later. Heheheheheheheh ...
And as for the dream ... yes, those things actually had significance. If you care, go ahead and tell me in a review (HINT) and I'll let you all know. ^_^ I hope everyone had a nice holiday, and Happy New Year, everybody!!!
And, just to let you know, I DON'T KNOW how Duo will know where Heero is. Maybe he hacked into Preventers' files or something. There.
And I'm really sorry for not being around. I'm here now, Thank God. And we have a day off school tomorrow for Election Day, so I'm hoping to have more time on this computer. Mother's taken over, so I'm gonna have a tough time getting on. Review if you're still here! I'm really sorry!