After Dark

Part III

By Mieren

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Despite his best efforts, Heero fell asleep three days into his constant vigil. Leaving only for a few moments at a time to answer the call of nature, he had neither slept nor eaten properly. The effects of the routine and his building stress left him completely worn out. Quatre frowned at him as he came into the room with the larger man's supper.

"I knew you had to sleep eventually," he smirked wearily. He set the tray he was carrying on the small stand beside Duo's bed and with no small effort, heaved Heero over his shoulder. It was a sign of his exhaustion that the dark-haired pilot didn't awaken to the rough treatment. Quatre made a face. "Phew. You need to take a break long enough to shower," he grumbled. "You reek." He almost made it out the door before bumping into Wufei, who immediately made a face.

"God, it's a wonder that Duo hasn't suffocated," he muttered, moving to help the smaller blond with his unconscious passenger. "So how's he doing?" he asked, draping one of Heero's slack arms across his shoulders while Quatre did the same on his other side. The blond shrugged.

"The last I checked with the surgeons, he's healing nicely. Even though his skull was crushed, there's no brain damage, so he could wake up at anytime."

Wufei paused at this and looked back at the unconscious brunette. He slipped out from under Heero's arm, ignoring the resulting squawk from Quatre, and made his way to Duo's side. Without preamble, he stretched out one hand and stolidly flicked Duo's right ear with a soft popping noise. He watched the expression on the pale face tighten.

"Damn it, Wu-man. Let me sleep," he groused, cracking one eye open to glare blearily at the stunned Chinese man.

"Shimatta," Wufei whispered. "I didn't think it would actually work."

"Ahou," Duo retorted, closing his eye again.

Quatre just stared, jaw gaping. Without noticing, his hold on Heero slipped and he dropped the larger man with a muffled thump. He heard the swearing coming from the direction of his feet, but ignored the steady death threats aimed at him. With two simple words, he brought Heero's tirade to a screeching halt.

"Duo's awake."

Heero scrambled towards the bed, actually slipping twice in his efforts to reach the braided pilot. Wide cobalt eyes stared down at the discolored face in shock.

"Duo?"

Once again, an unhappy violet eye cracked open to stare at the building group. With an immense effort, he opened the other past the swelling and locked his lopsided gaze on the cluster of people in the room. He huffed softly in irritation.

"Are you going to let me go back to sleep or not?"

"Not," Trowa answered, sprinting silently into the room and silently thanking the surgeon who had informed him that the brunette was awake. It paid to bribe the doctors that monitored his vital signs.

Duo sighed noisily. "All right, what do I have to do to make you let me go back to sleep?"

"Tell me where you were sent," Heero answered quickly.

Duo's irritated expression slipped to outright terror and he stubbornly closed his eyes and let out a resounding snore.

"Damn it, Duo!" Heero snapped. "I know you're not asleep."

For an answer, Duo stuck out his tongue and wiggled it around a few times. He snapped his jaw shut a moment later and issued another snore, this one almost sounding real. It took all of his concentration, but he ignored the steady stream of cursing and demands coming from Heero as he allowed his mind to slip back into unconsciousness. Finally, Heero shut up with a resounding grunt. That actually surprised Duo enough to bring him fully awake again. He rolled his eyes awkwardly to the side and looked at the other pilots. Unsurprisingly, Heero looked furious. He was shocked, however, when he noticed that Wufei was smirking and Quatre and Trowa were desperately trying not to giggle. They probably knew that such an action would result in Heero hurting them.

"How does your jaw feel?" Quatre asked, changing the subject. He knew perfectly well that Duo had no intention of saying anything about what had happened. Any attempts to pry information out of him would have been pointless.

"Um, fine," Duo answered slowly, a baffled look entering his violet eyes. He opened his mouth to ask why he had been asked that when his stomach roared loudly. Immediately, his eyes flickered to the tray beside his bed that had originally been meant for Heero. His jaw set in a stubborn line. "If that's hospital food…" he began hotly.

"It's not," Quatre assured him quickly. "I made it."

Duo's expression shifted immediately. "Oh! In that case," he paused, staring eagerly at the tray, "I want it."

"Can you eat lying down?" Quatre asked worriedly. "I can see if the doctors will let us raise the bed…"

"Can I eat lying down, indeed," Duo scoffed, rolling his eyes and gracing them with one of his manic grins. "Do you even have to ask?"

"The bottomless pit has a point," Wufei offered. At the mock glare he received from Duo, and the real one from Heero, he quickly moved to the far side of the room. He liked his limbs where they were.

Heero glared after Wufei and might actually have hurt him had Duo not whined plaintively. At the sound, he nearly jumped out of his skin trying to figure out what was wrong, his cobalt eyes frantic. The sight in itself was amusing enough to cause Duo to chuckle softly, momentarily forgetting that he wanted something to eat. His distraction didn't last long, however, as his stomach once again made its emptiness known.

"We'll just leave this to you," Trowa said softly. The normally expressionless pilot was twitching slightly at the wild expression on Heero's face as he ushered Quatre out of the room. Wufei didn't hesitate before following, certain that one of his comments would eventually end up causing Heero to turn him into the world's first human pretzel.

Heero watched them leave, looking a little lost and more than slightly frantic. Now that his friend was awake, he realized that he had no idea what to do or say. At a loss for possibly the first time in his life, he shifted his attention fully to the braided pilot as the brunette sniffled and whimpered, his violet eyes glued to the food-bearing tray. He quickly removed the lid and blinked at the shrimp stir-fry that had originally been prepared for him. Seeing him, Duo opened his mouth like a baby bird and made a fair impression of chirping noises.

There was a slight pause before Heero actually began feeding his friend. He hesitated with a fork in hand, trying to decide how best to go about his task without making a horrible mess or gagging the still chirping brunette. Many chirps, squawks and vicious expletives later, Duo managed to finish off Heero's meal, minus the random pieces of vegetable or shrimp in his hair that the confused pilot had accidentally dropped. Even fed, Duo's whining wasn't at an end.

"I'm thirsty, Heero," he complained.

He almost retracted his request a moment later seeing the perplexed look on his friend's face, quickly coming to the realization that anything Heero tried to give him to drink would quickly end up everywhere but in his mouth. The Japanese pilot's aim had for the first time in his life proven to be atrocious. It became apparent rather quickly that he had never attempted to nurse anyone in his life, though Duo would have expected as much without the benefit of half a meal tangled in his long hair.

"I want a straw," Duo added quickly, not relishing the idea of having the drink poured up his nose.

Heero nodded slowly and left the room in almost a sprint. Duo focused his hearing, grinning to himself when he heard startled squawks from some of the household servants and several loud crashing noises. He could only imagine the damage Heero was inflicting upon the kitchen trying to follow through with his request. After several minutes, the Wing pilot returned with a slightly irked expression, a small length of surgical tubing securely in hand.

"They didn't have any straws," he said calmly, dipping one end of the tube into the glass of tea and sticking the other end in Duo's mouth.

Duo could only stare at him in shock, torn between laughing his butt off and not choking on his drink. It appeared that, once again, the surgical staff had been harried by the uncharacteristically spastic pilot. If things continued like this, he had no doubts that he would soon be able to badger Heero into hauling him around the house and out of the room he was currently in. It was far too boring for his tastes. Besides, even if Heero wasn't carting him around, he had no doubt that he would bully the others into doing it for him. One way or another, he was going to get out of here without too much difficulty.

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Within the week, Duo found that himself being hauled around the house wearing more braces and splints than he could count. He had only to whimper or make a face to receive immediate attention from either Heero or one of the others. For the first few days, he was immensely amused to see that Wufei had a black eye, no doubt from his initial, and only, objection to moving Duo around. He had gotten off without serious injury only after quickly babbling that he was only worried about Duo's health. Duo knew this for the load of horse offal it was, since they both knew that no amount of rough treatment could inflict any further damage, but Wufei hadn't said a word since.

He had never thought that it would have been possible to convince the others to take him with them when they were reassigned, but somehow Duo had managed it. He still marveled how exceedingly simple it had been to convince Heero to cart him along with the others to the safe house at the far end of Japan. The pilot of Wing had even gone as far as to pack a variety of medical equipment and take a few of the surgeons hostage.

Two weeks after he had been brought in a bloody mess, the kidnapped surgeons pronounced that he no longer had to wear the neck brace. As was usually only typical of Heero, the bones had mended in less than half of the usual time and he was free of the only restraint that actually mattered to him. The brace removed, he could freely swivel his head, thereby making life a living hell for whoever had the current task of trying to feed him. He was well aware that he was being an absolute pain, but it was fun watching the other pilots trying not to rip his braid off as he tortured them at every meal.

"I'm so bored," Duo whined loudly, tossing his head back as he made his pronouncement, thereby evading the incoming spoon. Wufei sputtered on a curse and quickly wiped away the food that had slopped down Duo's neck. Duo quickly lowered his gaze in time to see the angry tick that had started in the Chinese pilot's cheek as the other pilot quickly scanned the room to make sure Heero wasn't going to kill him for accidentally making a mess. Luckily for him, the Japanese pilot hadn't yet returned from his current mission with Quatre.

Scowling, but trying to hide it, Wufei tried again, this time almost managing to get the spoon in the American's mouth. A loud bang sounded from the next room where Trowa was, and Duo automatically swiveled his head to see what he had broken. A spoon poked him in the cheek. Cursing followed.

Wufei was preparing to try again when gunshots sounded from the direction of the original slamming noise. He cursed and jerked his ever-present gun out of his waistband, already on his feet and running towards the next room. He had barely reached the door when several more shots were sounded. Duo felt the world shift slightly and his gaze immediately dropped to a smear of crimson blossoming from his shoulder. His gaze lifted again in time to see Oz soldiers swarm the room, still firing at Wufei, who was frantically dodging and hiding behind any piece of available furniture.

Pain shot through Duo's skull and the world spun. He slumped forward into waiting arms, vaguely swearing under his breath at the indignity of being pistol-whipped. He watched the floor spin with morbid fascination, barely aware that Wufei had deserted him in favor of fleeing. He was only momentarily irritated with his friend, knowing that his abandonment had been a move of practicality. No demands could be made on his life if no one was there to listen to them. If all else failed and he was killed, he was crippled and useless as a pilot anyways, so his death would amount to little. At the very least, one more pilot on the loose furthered his chances for being rescued.

Somehow, swiveling his head seemed to constitute a threat to his captors and another pistol butt came down hard on the back of his skull. Hopelessly disoriented and sickeningly dizzy, Duo simply gave in to unconsciousness. As darkness took him, a single thought embedded itself into his mind, bringing a slight smirk to his features.

Heero's going to be pissed.

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To Be Continued…

You know Duo must suffer a bit more, right? I'm too evil a person to allow for anything else. Please R&R, or poor Duo-kun will have to suffer even more. *pulls out black leather whip and laughs maniacally*