Hey, look at that. I got it updated in a reasonable time. Quick warning, there's non-consensual drug use but nothing else.
Duo couldn't find Heero for the life of him. He spent the next few weeks keeping an eye out for him wherever he went, but there was never any sign of the other man. It didn't help that Duo had no idea why he was even on this planet, much less in the same city as him. If he did, then at least he might have an idea where Heero might turn up at or if he was even still here.
At first, Duo thought that maybe Heero had come to see him for some reason. It would certainly explain why he happened to be so close to Duo's apartment. Could've stopped by his place, realized no one was home and started to leave, only to find Duo getting pulled into an alley a couple of blocks over. But Heero wasn't really the type to make social visits just to chat. Wherever he went, he had a reason for. Instead, he saved Duo's butt, walked him home, patched him up, and then left with hardly a word. If he had come to see Duo specifically for whatever reason, why not discuss it right after everything was over?
That led Duo to think that maybe Heero was in town for something business related, and running into Duo that night had truly just been a coincidence. It was completely possible, though unlikely.
Duo didn't even know what Heero was doing for work now. After the war, he had just kinda disappeared. No one, not even Relena, had known where he went or what he was doing. The closest anyone came to tracking him down had been Quatre when an associate of his had heard news of Heero being spotted in the area. Of course, by the time anyone got there, Heero was long gone and there wasn't any sign as to where he had gone. Everyone had more or less stopped searching for him after that; everyone had agreed that since Heero seemed to be perfectly fine and healthy, they would leave him be. They had to trust that he would show up if he ever needed or wanted to.
As it turned out, Heero was showing up whenever he damn well pleased and, as Duo had come to find out almost a month and a half after the whole mugger incident, at a time Duo least expected him.
"Come on, Maxwell." Said a black haired man. The person Duo was drinking with was a supplier for the store named Kegan. He and Hilde had been working with him for over a year now and he and Duo had gotten along pretty well at first. He could throw snark with the best of them and Duo appreciated that in the people he had to work with. Unfortunately, it had became pretty clear early on that he was crushing on Duo. He would always talk with Duo about anything when given the chance, even when it was something that honestly Hilde was better at. He often asked Duo out for drinks or meals, but Duo had mostly refused the offers. He actually would like having a drinking buddy, but he felt like accept might give Kegan the wrong idea and he just didn't want to deal with that. Tonight had been one of the few times Duo actually agreed to go out drinking. It had been a hellish day at work and Duo couldn't disagree that he really could use a drink. Plus Kegan was paying and Duo had no intentions of turning down free food and drinks.
As Kegan pointed to one of the many drinks listed on the menu, he slide it across the surface of the table to in front of Duo. "You need to try the Strawberry Daiquiri here. I guarantee that you haven't anything like it."
Duo glanced at the menu, only briefly scanning it's contents. He slowly swirled the melting ice in his current drink around. "I've had a Strawberry Daiquiri before. They're a little too sweet for my tastes."
Despite Duo's lackluster response, Kegan isn't discouraged. He leans a little sideways, pressing uncomfortably close to Duo and asks, "Then kind of drinks do you prefer? They can make just about anything here."
Duo thought for a moment. "I usually go for a Boulevardier; the flavors are more balanced. But when I want something a little more fruity and strong, I usually go with a Corpse Reviver."
Duo smirked and quietly laughed to himself, thinking back to his Gundam, Deathscythe and his self given title of Grim Reaper. Kegan wasn't aware of Duo's past however and only looked confused and a little put out. The violet eyed man sighed. A nice drink hadn't improved Duo's mood like he hoped.
"Alright, I think I'm done." Said Duo. "Thanks for keeping me company, but I got work in the morning so I'm gonna head out."
Duo started to stand, but Kegan quickly grabbed his arm and tried to tug him back into his seat. "Wait! Before you go, let me buy you one more drink."
"I'd kinda rather leave. I don't want to be dealing with a hangover tomorrow."
Kegan kept tugging and eventually Duo allowed himself to seated back down. Kegan quickly waved down the bartender to give his order.
"Last drink. I promise." Said Kegan. As they waited, the other man continued talking about some co-worker of his. Duo wasn't really listening though. He was considering downing the glass as soon as it was finished and then leaving. Duo also thought to himself that he wasn't accepting any more offers to go out drinking with Kegan again. The guy was friendly, but too pushy and Duo only had so much patience.
As Kegan's words drifted in through one ear and out the other, Duo glanced at the bartender. The guy was a little weird. He seemed to be sticking very close to them since they got here, almost never more than a yard away from where they sat, despite the fact that people at the other end kept trying to get his attention to place their own orders.
The bartender finished making the drink and placed the glass in front of Duo on the counter, never once making eye contact the entire time. Then he finally left to go tend to the unhappy group at the other end without a word to them. Duo slowly brought the glass up to his lips and took a sip. Meanwhile, Kegan continued on, not even bothered by the fact Duo hadn't yet responded to anything he had said.
"Seriously, you would not believe what my supervisor said during our last meeting-"
It wasn't long before Duo started to realize that something was off. Halfway done with his drink, a feeling of nausea was rising in Duo's stomach. It was so odd. He hadn't ate anything in the last few hours that might cause it. Maybe it was stress? The store had been nonstop chaos from the minute they opened and they had ended up staying late. He should really consider taking a sick day.
"We finally got the equipment back up and running but by that time-
Three quarters of the way through the glass and Dou felt a strange wave of drowsiness was falling over him. His mind felt fuzzy and the background noise of the rest of the bar almost seemed to be fading a bit. Duo shook his head to try and clear it, but to no avail. The feeling wasn't getting better. Perhaps he should start going to bed sooner. Or eating out less. Probably both.
"Our latest earning reports were pretty good. Not to brag, but I think I see a raise in my future-"
Duo was down to the last shallow in the glass, but he wasn't sure he could get it down. Instead, he slowly swirled the ice in the drink like he did earlier. A particularly loud yell from down at the other end of the bar made Duo jerk his head up to scan his surroundings out of instinct. But the sudden movement made the whole bar spin and blur. Duo grabbed the counter to ground himself, trying to keep himself from falling out of his seat as he waited for the dizziness to stop and everything to come back into focus. As the world slowly settled back down, he stared down into the bottom of his glass. It took a moment before his mind fully caught up and he realized something very, VERY wrong about his drink.
There, at the very bottom, was a ever so slightly fizzing white glob. It was almost completely dissolved in the remaining liquid.
Kegan had stopped talking and Duo slowly turned to his head to look at him. There was a force expression of calm on his face, but his eyes couldn't stop darting between the glass and Duo's face. Even though the fuzz of his mind, Duo could make out the anxiety in the other's eyes as clear as day. Kegan gulped nervously but said nothing. He just kept watching Duo.
Through the faze, Duo's mind screamed DANGER!
Dou turned towards the bartender a few feet away, opening his mouth to say something to get his attention. However, the bartender was already looking at him. He stared back, completely unconcerned. He then turned towards Kegan, gave a single nod of his head, took Duo's glass and walked away towards the sink.
Duo and Kegan both suddenly rose from their stools at the same time with Duo making a beeline for the entrance. Kegan was following close behind. Duo definitely wasn't as quick as he normally would be; nothing would stay still and it was all Duo could do to keep from vomiting where he stood.
"You've had way too much to drink, Duo." Said Kegan, grabbing his arm. "Let's get you home and-"
"Don't touch me!"
Duo jerked his arm out of Kegan's grip. His arm came free more easily than he had anticipated and he almost fall backwards into a table. Through sheer force of will, Duo managed to stumble his way towards the first door with a bright glowing red, exit sign above it and push his way through it.
The door lead to the alley behind the bar. The dim orange light coming from the single bulb above the emergency exit door reflected off various puddles of rainwater. The concert ground and brick walls of all the buildings were still damp from the recent rain, giving it all a weird, grimy sheen. Before Dou could back track, Kegan was through the door too and a loud slam echoed throughout the alley as the heavy metal door slammed shut.
"Fuck!" Thought Duo. Locked out in a back alley with the only other person around being the guy who had his drink drugged?! This was a very bad situation. Duo had always considered himself too well trained to ever fall victim to something like this, but apparently he was still just as susceptible to such situations as anyone else.
Speaking of the guy who spiked his drink, Kegan stepped closer and once again made a grab at Duo's arm. "Alright, it's time to go before anyone comes along and finds us here. The sooner I get you out of here,
Duo tried moving away from the other man, but the movement was sluggish and he ended up stumbling. He ended up falling to his ass on the ground, barely a few feet away from his original spot. Kegan just stood there, staring down at him in mild annoyance. "Fine." He said, placing his hands on his hips and relaxing his posture. "If you're going to be difficult, I'll just wait for your 'drink' to fully take affect and knock you out. It shouldn't take more than a few at this rate."
Duo wasn't actually hearing anything Kegan said. There was a strange, quiet buzzing in his head that was drowning everything else out. He tried getting to his feet, but he couldn't get even an inch off the ground. His limbs were shaking almost violently and it took all of the strength he had left to just remain sitting up.
"I can't...move."
The last of his strength faded and Duo fell sideways to the ground. As he laid on his side, staring at blurring, moving colors in the direction of the only light source, he vaguely felt something nudge his limp arm and his side a few times. Just before he completely blacked out, the few, slowly moving blurs suddenly became a bunch of quickly moving blurs, along with a sudden hike in noise.
And then Duo completely lost consciousness.
Conscious came back to Duo slowly. First he floated on the very edge of sleep and the waking world for a while, before eventually waking enough to try to open his eyes. Opening them even half way took a few times and after that it took awhile to to blink his surroundings back into focus. A large, only ever so slightly blurry figure moving into his line of sight as someone leaned over him to stare down at him.
"-ou."
The violet eyed man stared blankly up at the face above him. The face frowned back.
Luckily, the frowning face only had to wait for a few more minutes for Duo's mind to actually wake up. The moment it did, Duo pushed himself into a sitting position in the upper corner of the bed as much and as quickly as he could, trying to put distance between him and the other person. It didn't really work considering Duo still seemed to be lacking most of his usual strength and because the bed itself was pushed into the corner of the room so he literally had nowhere else to go. Still, Dou managed one good swing at the other person with everything he had. Sadly, the person dodged with total ease, not even bother to try and stop him.
"Dou."
Wait, wait, wait. Duo knew the voice.
"H-heero?"
The frowning face nodded.
"Wha-...what is...going on?"
"You were drugged. I brought you back to your apartment."
Duo slowly looked around the room, recognizing his dresser, his bed, and all of his other furniture. Then he looked down at himself. He had been changed out of his clothes from earlier and he was in just his boxers and one of his grey nightshirts. He still felt kind of sick, but he didn't think he was gonna start vomiting or anything. But how the
"Okay, can you explain exactly what is going on?"
"I've been doing surveillance on that bar for the last few weeks. It's been suspected of running a side business of distributing narcotics and I've been assigned to investigate to see to what extent." Explained Heero. "I had hacked their security system weeks ago and had seen you through the cameras last night. As soon as I realized something was wrong, I came to intervene. It took me a few minutes to get to you since I had been hiding out a few streets away, but I got there just as you passed out."
"So what happened to Kegan?"
Heero's expression subtly darkened. "I took care of him."
"Riiiiight." Replied Duo, starting to smile. "So is he in the hospital or the morgue?"
The blue eyed soldier stood up, walking towards the door. "He's not so lucky to be in either yet."
"Dude!" Yelled Duo as Heero disappeared into the hallway. "You can't just leave me hanging! I wanna know!"
Heero refused to tell Duo where Kegan was or what had happened to him, but a few days later, he showed up at the store at closing time and walked Duo home.
He explained that Kegan had confessed to paying the bartender to lace Duo's drink with a drug that would make him feel ill before knocking him out. Apparently he had grown frustrated with Duo never reciprocating any of his advances and thought that he might win Duo's favor by taking care of him after becoming 'sick' while out drinking. Now Duo realized why Kegan had insisted on them going to that particular bar. Not only would they sell him the drug, they would even slip it into a person's drink for him so he wouldn't have to take the risk of getting caught that would come with doing it himself. Of course, the whole plan had kinda fallen through when the poorly produced pill hadn't fully dissolved in the drink like it was supposed to and Duo caught sight of it at the bottom of his glass. Kegan was gonna figure out what to do next after getting Duo back to his apartment, but Heero had shown up and beat his ass before he could.
That had made the whole night a bit more distressing in hindsight. Even though he hadn't gotten a full dose, it had still affected him so quickly and strongly. He really didn't want to think what state he would be in if he had gotten a full dose. Even worse would be if Kegan had gotten him back to his apartment without anyone knowing. Knowing that Duo knew what he had done, would Kegan have killed him to make sure no one else found out? Let him recover and hope Duo didn't remember anything? Bribe or try to threaten him to keep silent?
Well, regardless of whatever could have happened, Duo didn't have time to worry. A new representative from the company Kegan worked at took over his position as it would be a long time before he recovered enough in the hospital to return to work. Assuming he still had his position and how his pending court case went.
Now, if only Heero hadn't disappeared again the moment Duo's apartment building came into sight.
"Damnit." Thought Duo, looking around the empty street. "I still don't know where he's stay or how long he'll be around."
Duo decided to start checking around every corner and in every alley for Heero in the future.