The Stand Still
By: SukiNora
Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own them, I just like to play with them.
Pairings: 1+2, 3X4, 5x?
Chapter 3
A.N. I deleted this chapter because I finally had an idea how to end it, if you've already read the first part just skip to the bottom.
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Not for the first time in the past week, I craned my neck to see around the corner from the bathroom, searching for any signs that would show Duo still being awake. When I deemed it safe, I let out a sigh of relief and clutched my towel to my waist with the strength of a kung foo master as I inched along the wall to my bedroom. Duo had been living with me for a week now, and I spent each second of it in a paranoid state. I realized within the first day that I'd be doomed to look around corners in my own home for as long as Duo remained with me.
But it wasn't as though I regretted my decision. I loved being able to see Duo every moment of the day, especially since I had my epiphany in the office six days ago. Not to mention the fact that I doubt Relena will ever be able to look Duo in the face again, and that always puts a smile on my face.
When I finally reached the safety of my bedroom I sprinted quickly into it and shut the door behind me.
"Are you avoiding me?"
I clutched the door knob tight in my hand, silently praying that I had imagined the voice.
"Well?" The voice came again.
I let out a deep sigh, releasing the door knob and turning around. Duo was sitting in the middle of my bed in his boxers wearing a very grim expression.
"I'm not avoiding you," I said stiffly, clutching my towel a fraction tighter. "Now get out."
I couldn't help but smile as he let out a little chuckle before bounding off my bed. "Alright, but I'll be back," he laughed out, flinging my door back open and running across the hall to his room, slamming the door behind him.
Laughing softly, I re- closed my door and pushed the lock in. Living with Duo had definitely made things interesting. I've never had to lock a door in my apartment for the entire four years I've lived here. Now, all I do is wonder if I forgot to lock the door to the bathroom when I'm in the shower. Duo has no idea what privacy means. And I truly mean that.
He has no problem walking to his bedroom naked after a shower, he says his hair ranks higher in towel priority than his penis, and he has no problem walking into the bathroom while I'm in the shower if he needs something in there. That was something I was not expecting, which is why I'm wearing a band aide above my left eyebrow.
It was his first night here, and he was still getting situated, which basically means that he was going through all my stuff while I was in the shower. I was just getting the shampoo washed out of my hair when the shower curtain was ripped to the side. I let out a yelp and flung myself against the side wall, old war habits die hard I guess, but I slipped and hit my head on the soap stand.
He leaned over me, holding a bottle of my pills in his hands. "What are you taking a prescription drug for?"
Ever since then I've been incredibly paranoid. I'd forgotten how stealthy Duo can be when he wants to go unnoticed, obviously stealthy enough to get into the bathroom while I was in it without my knowledge, and being reminded of that frightened me. There are certain things I like to keep private. Certain things I wanted to be sure that only I know about. And ever since Duo's been here he's slowly finding out all of them.
I did not want Duo to find the bag of mint milanos I have in the cabinet above my refrigerator, but he did anyway. I did not want Duo to find out that I own a copy of The Notebook, but he did anyway. And I certainly did not want Duo to find my journal, but he did anyway, and read specific parts aloud at the office the day after.
I've become a paranoid wreck.
I shook my head and walked towards my bureau for my pajamas. I checked the lock on the door one more time for good measure before removing my towel and putting my flannel pajama pants on.
I plopped down on my bed, falling back into the covers when I heard footsteps running down the hall, and then a loud thud against my door followed by an "ow!"
I burst out laughing, curling onto myself. Living with Duo had certainly made things interesting. He certainly kept me on my toes. Before he lived here I went to bed at 10 p.m. sharp, now it's 1 a.m. and I'm just now getting out of the shower. A lot of good this baka has done me. I'm paranoid and sleep deprived. I honestly don't know how he stays so perky during the day.
It only takes him a minute to pick the lock and before I know it, there's a skinny twerp flying through the air and landing on my bed next to me with the force of Shamu.
"Pajama party?" He asked innocently, batting his eye lashes at me.
I sit up and can't help but smile. He's laying on his stomach with his face resting on his hands staring up at me with, I don't know, hope I suppose.
"I am not having a pajama party with you, Duo." I tried to sound like I meant business, but I can tell from the smirk breaking out on his face that he can sense weakness. Or he can smell fear, I don't know which, but both are relevant. "Don't you have work tomorrow?" I decided to try a different approach.
"Nope," he responded jovially, twirling his feet in the air.
Dammit, I thought to myself. I had tomorrow off as well, and that meant he could be in here for as long as he saw fit with no repercussions from the following work day. I tried hard to think of another excuse to get him out of my room before I realized... "Wait, yes you do."
"I'm sick," He groaned, bringing his fist towards his mouth and coughing into it twice.
"Get out," I said bluntly, pointing my finger towards the door. "Or I'm calling Une to tell her you're faking."
We glared at each other for a good minute before he decided it wasn't worth the risk of me ratting him out to Une. Getting up from my bed he walked towards my door backwards, glaring at me the whole way. "If I leave right now can I stay home?" He asked, obviously not willing to leave until he got an answer.
"No, I'm going to tell her regardless."
He flew through the air again and landed once more on my bed, this time grabbing one of my pillows and holding it to his chest. "Well fuck that then, I'm staying."
I let out a long sigh as I reached over him and grabbed my other pillow, pushing him with one leg to the other side of the bed. I wasn't really surprised that he was in my room again. He'd practically been living in here ever since he moved into the apartment, not to mention sleeping in bed with me.
Throwing my pillow to my side of the bed, I flung my feet to the floor and stood, heading back towards the hallway.
"Where are you going?" He asked, sleepily, craning his neck to see over his shoulder. When he put his mind to it he could be asleep within seconds, all of the pilots could. In war, you had to sleep whenever possible, and sometimes you didn't have the luxury of being slowly lulled to sleep.
"Bathroom," I muttered, closing the door behind me.
I stood with my ear pressed against the door for several seconds before I heard the tell tale sounds of Duo getting comfortable in bed. Only then did I begin to make my way into the bathroom.
Shutting the door behind me and making sure it was locked, I sat down on the edge of the bathtub, rubbing my face in my hands. Living with Duo certainly kept me on my toes, and I vaguely wondered how long I could continue keeping secrets from him. Reaching under the toilet tank, I removed the item that I had been dying to have for the past three days. My contacts case.
That was one thing I wanted to be sure Duo never found out about, or anyone else. The only person who knows about it is Sally. During our annual physical she began noticing certain slips in my statistics, and started giving me eye exams regularly. Each time my vision seemed to be declining before finally, she said that if I didn't wear glasses or contacts my position as an agent could be compromised.
Unscrewing the caps to my contacts I reached into my eyes and plucked the little circles out of them. I let out a happy sigh. I've been wearing these contacts for three straight days, ever since Duo decided he was going to sleep in my room with me. Luckily, yesterday he had dinner with Quatre and that gave me enough time to properly hide my contacts as well as my thin, small, oval shaped glasses under the toilet tank. It was only a temporary spot before I came up with something better.
It wasn't like my eye sight was horrible. I could see perfectly well up to about five feet in front of me, but then, past that things begin to get blurry, something that's completely unacceptable for a Preventers agent, as well myself. I've been raised since day one to be the perfect solider, and now here I was, losing my perfection one eyeball at a time.
I replaced the contacts case under the tank and flushed the toilet, just so Duo wouldn't start getting suspicious, and washed my hands.
When I returned to my bedroom Duo was already under the covers, hugging my pillow to his chest with his mouth open slightly. I couldn't help but smile as I laid down next to him, turning off the light, amercing us in darkness with only the street lamps outside as a light source. I never thought living with someone could change how you viewed them so quickly. Well, how my view of them changed so quickly. Duo has always even since the war tried to share my bed. I think somehow just having someone next to him made him feel better about things. It had certainly made me feel better during the war, which is the only reason I tolerated it.
I laid facing him. His face was so peaceful that I felt compelled to stare, as though that face could disappear at any moment, which wasn't too far from the truth. And just like that, his eyes snapped open.
"Stop staring at me."
I snorted before placing my hand over his face and giving him a firm shove. "I wasn't staring at you," I muttered, turning myself onto my opposite side, trying to will myself to sleep.
He scoffed at me and purposefully bounced up and down on the bed for a while, seemingly trying to get comfortable.
He stirred most of the night, keeping me from sleep. It didn't really bother me though. With each small movement, each shift in weight, I was reminded that I wasn't alone, and that was worth any amount of lost sleep.
When the stirring became frantic, I flipped myself over, expecting to see Duo in the throws of a nightmare. I smiled. His tongue was hanging out, and his legs twitching madly. I couldn't help but think of him as cute, he must have been running in his sleep again. He's grown to have some very strange sleeping habits when he's in a safe place.
I woke up with Duo's foot in my face.
"God, Duo," i muttered, pushing his foot away from me. I blindly reached my arm out to my end table, reaching for my watch. 6: 07. "Wake up," I said with a yawn, smacking the lump I felt under the covers next to me. It moaned in response.
"You have to go to work," I tried, smacking the lump a little harder.
"I'm sick..." Came the mumbled response, and the lump seemed to contract into the center of the bed. I smiled a little against my will. Duo hated it when he had to work and I didn't.
"Maybe mentally," I said softly, pulling myself to sit up and position my foot against the lump. I gave it a swift kick, smiling as it plummeted to my bedroom floor.
"You're a horrible friend," Duo mumbled, grudgingly standing up and stretching his arms over his head with a look of utter discontent gracing his normally cheerful face, and his hair sticking out in all kinds of directions from his braid.
"You're a horrible employee," I shot back, sitting up against the wall, my legs still under the covers.
"Yeah, yeah," he muttered under his breath, scratching his head as he walked out of the room.
I stayed in bed until I was sure he had left the apartment. Wait five minutes after the shower, ten minutes to get dressed, one minute to realize he's late and run to his motor cycle. Perfect.
I flung my feet over the side of my bed and began Duo proofing the apartment. After two hours of hiding, carving, and re- plastering I was satisfied. I really had no idea how many things I wanted to keep secret, and thus the hiding process was actually a bit of a chore. As I sawed little holes into the bottoms of drawers I wondered, was this wrong? After all, Duo was living with me now, and that meant a certain level of trust had to be extended.
I had stopped numerous times in mid- saw to contemplate this thought, but eventually continued, deeming that Duo's sense of humor and need to tease justified my lack of faith in him.
I had been just sitting down to have a nice lemonade and relax for a while after my hard work, something I'd actually be able to do since the cause of my paranoia was at work, when the vid phone rang.
Letting out a frustrated sigh, I grudgingly stalked into the kitchen and viciously pushed the answer button.
"What," I dead panned, obviously not wanting to be disturbed. My expression softened when Wufei's concerned face popped up, but only a little bit.
"You might want to get down to HQ as soon as possible," he mumbled, avoiding eye contact, something he always did when he was hiding something.
I glared at his picture. "Why?" I questioned sourly.
"It's about Duo," he started, but I never heard the rest of his statement. My fist slammed against the disconnect button on my way out of the kitchen. I threw on my old sneakers and ran out of the apartment in a daze.
I went on autopilot, the drive was a blur in my mind, but I vaguely remember a ton of people honking and others switching lanes to avoid me. Acutally, I'm amazed I didn't get a ticket, not that it would have stopped me anyway.
When I finally made it to HQ I could barely register the shocked looks on people's faces as I, Heero Yuy, stormed into Preventers HQ wearing pajama bottoms. Just like on the road, people nearly jumped to get out of my way as I ran down the hall to Duo and my office.
Wufei was waiting at my desk. "Where is he," I growled, looking around our office.
He tilted his head to the left, motioning for me to follow him as he stood and walked from our office.
"I just want you to know, I called as soon as I found out about this," Wufei said. I could tell from his tone of voice that he had been yelling at someone recently, and because the call was about Duo I didn't really have to wonder who. While this bothered me, because I knew in a few moments I was most likely going to be angry as well, a feeling of relief flooded over me. At least he wasn't hurt. I was thankful until I realized where he was leading me, my glare deepening with each passing step.
We ended up at the shuttle bay, and I found myself staring at a shuttle seconds from departing. I found myself staring at a shuttle, piloted by Zechs Merquise and my new room mate.
"Goddamn-it," I muttered to myself, one of my fists clenched at my side, the other slamming in front of the bastard who gave Duo clearance.
I stared at Duo, making the finishing adjustments on his controls, and wondering how he could betray me this way. Didn't he see that I just wanted to keep him safe? And how was I supposed to do that when he ran off with the one person I hated most in the world. I wouldn't trust Zechs with a pet fruit fly let alone Duo.
Just before the shuttle took off, he looked back at shuttle dock, seeing me through the glass partition. His eyes went wide for a second, and I thought I caught a glimpse of remorse. He obviously hadn't expected to see me standing there.
Zechs put a hand on his shoulder, making his avert his gaze from me. I glared at the man sitting next to him as Duo turned back towards me. He looked from me to Zechs, and let out a small smile. I saw red. That little bastard winked at me.
Suddenly it all made sense. Agreeing to move in with me, not leaving me alone, wanting to sleep in my bed, and worst of all, pretending to want to stay home with me. He knew exactly what I would do, and he knew that if he got close enough to me I wouldn't kill him when he got back. Unfortunately for him, he was sorely mistaken.
"I'm sorry, Heero," Wufei said, glaring out at the shuttle as it took off, putting his hand on my shoulder.
"Not as sorry as he's going to be," I muttered, shrugging off his shoulder, giving the shuttle personal one last glare before I stormed out.
I stalked down the halls again, Wufei hot on my heels, trying to tell me something about over reacting. I've always felt like I've been a calm person, and I wasn't going to over react now.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing!" I screamed, slamming Une's door open so hard it nearly bounced back and hit Wufei in the face.
Une stared up wide eyed at me. "What?" She questioned, her face full on confusion.
"Why did you let him take that mission," I growled, setting my hands on her desk, crumpling the papers underneath them.
She sighed and rubbed a hand over her face. "There was nothing I could do. He's well within his bounds."
Wufei put his hand over my fist as I clenched it tightly. He probably thought I was going to hit her, which may not have been too far off.
"I want the mission report."
A.N. That's better ! Happy reading! New chapter of Japan Air will be up next!