Relena giggled maniacally, her light skin flushed with excitement and anticipation as she slowly stirred her magical brew. This would at last make Heero fall in love with her-! Ever since the war had ended two years before, she’d been chasing him like mad, popping up where he least expected; in the row in front of him in the movie theater, in line behind him when he went to the supermarket. Relena’s narrow mind could not comprehend rejection, especially not for another boy.
The potion was a disgusting green color, thick and odorous like old socks. Giving the mixture one last tap with her wooden spoon, she dumped her potion out of the black iron cauldron and into a small vial, then stoppered it with a wine bottle cork.
"At last," she sighed, and ran out the door, throwing her hood over her head so as to avoid being spotted. Damn paparazzi!
Meanwhile, a few blocks away, Lady Une cackled as she put the finishing touches on her potion of eternal youth. She dumped in a few ounces of chocolate for good measure, and then reached for her secret ingredient, lemon juice.
And found the small glass bottle empty. She swore violently, and sighed. "Whatever shall I do?" Une wondered. "I have a date with Treize in ten minutes-I can’t drink it like this, it’d be too strong! I need lemon juice..." She sighed, and pulled on her jacket over her ridiculously short black minidress. "I can buy some on the way to the restaurant," she reasoned, and poured the potion into a small vial, stopped with a wine bottle cork. After all, she was already late. A few more minutes wouldn’t hurt.
Then she ran out into the night...
Relena rounded the corner, her eyes alight with discovery. Soon, so soon! She cackled madly, her eyes narrowing as she passed a woman with a long braid. That damn American baka! Always stealing Heero away from her! Well, soon Heero would fall in love with *her*, and only her! She smiled, imagining all the parties she could take Heero to and all the spinster-lady politicians she could show him off to...
She never saw Une rounding the corner, her long brown hair flying behind her, also holding a small glass container. All she saw was a blur of black, and then it felt as if she’d smashed up against a brick wall. The vial went flying out of her hand...
" Hey!" she began, then stopped as she recognized the woman who lay, disoriented and dazed, on the cold cement. "Lady Une?"
The woman moaned, and tried to sit up. "Relena?"
" Are you okay?" Une nodded, and motioned for Relena to continue on her way. She couldn’t let Relena see her drink the potion--!
" Go ahead, girl. It was an accident." The blonde Peacecraft nodded her thanks and grabbed one of the vials, taking off at light speed, her mind filled with images of Heero.
She felt around for her glasses and swore violently when she found them cracked. Damn Peacecraft! She never saw that the vial was filled with a liquid that was now dark green instead of light purple...Brushing the dirt off her dress, she marched into the convenience store.
"Heero!"
Duo winced as *her* voice cut through the quiet atmosphere of his apartment. Heero also looked up and gave him a wan smile, as if to apologize. Duo just shrugged and got up to answer the door.
No sooner had Duo unlocked the door than he was flattened by Relena Peacecraft, eager to find Heero. "Heero!" she shouted, waving him down. The Japanese pilot looked behind him, but saw no one else that she could have been talking to, and...
He grabbed Duo and ran, ignoring Relena’s pleading cries for him to stop. That girl was up to no good and he knew it. Now, all he had to do was find a safe place...
" The diner!" Duo suggested, pointing to a small silver café off to the side of the road. Heero nodded and ran past it, then dove into the bushes. As expected, Relena zoomed by, convinced that Heero was still running down the street. Snorting his disgust, Heero gently carried a shell-shocked Duo over to the diner, and set him down in a booth, ignoring the stares from the other patrons. A kindly looking waiter came over and dropped two menus onto the formica table.
" Jesus," Duo finally said, his eyes still wide. "I never thought we’d lose her." Heero nodded his agreement. "Well," Duo finally said, "whaddaya want to eat?"
Relena grinned wolfishly as she watched them in her handmirror. Her smile immediately disappeared as Heero reached across the table to grasp Duo’s hand in his. A bolt of jealousy ran through her, lighting her heart with flames of anger. That no good pilot! Relena fumed silently. Well, he’d get what was coming to him...
She watched as the waiter came to take their order, and her eyes widened as she saw that the boy was...flirting with Heero? By the look on Maxwell’s face, he was not too pleased with the fact that their waiter was touching Heero in any way.
Relena had learned to lip read in second grade when her teacher had sent her to timeout and refused to let her listen to storytime. Relena was not one to sit passively and be punished-she watched in her little Polly Pocket compact mirror and eventually figured out everything the old bat had said.
" I’ll have a chicken sandwich," Heero said, and smiled at Duo, who seemed to melt into his seat.
Ever resourceful, the devious Relena followed the waiter’s path with her eyes, then ran around to the back of the diner, sneaking into the kitchen just in time to see the waiter hand over a bill to a man in a chef’s hat.
She ducked behind a stack of pans. "Damn, that Japanese boy was hot!" he was saying, gesturing animatedly. The cook chuckled.
" Lemme guess...he’s taken?"
The waiter nodded as he handed over the slip, smiling ruefully. "You have no idea. The other boy wasn’t bad looking, but he looked ready to rip my head off and feed it to carnivorous cows." With that, he headed back out into the diner.
" Kids," the chef muttered, and began preparing the sandwiches. A few minutes later, the chef left on a cigarette break, and Relena made her move, dumping all of the potion onto the chicken sandwich.
She then darted out through the back entrance and re-entered through the public door. There was no way she was going to miss this!
Heero and Duo both immediately began chomping down on their food. Relena had interrupted their dinner, after all, and though Duo was nineteen and Heero was eighteen, they were both growing boys.
She slid into a booth behind him, eager to see the look on Duo’s face as Heero declared his undying love to her...
Suddenly, Heero gasped sharply, his glass falling from his hand and shattering against the tiled floor. "Duo...I don’t feel so good..." Instantly, the other boy was at his side, comforting the small teen. In the few years they’d lived together, though Heero had been a bit taller during the war, Duo had grown almost six inches and now towered over his diminuitive lover. It made him feel protective of Heero, made Duo want to shelter him from all the bad things in the world. They’d both seen enough of the evil side of humanity to last a lifetime.
Duo pressed a hand to Heero’s forehead, and found that he was burning up. Slapping a twenty onto the table, he slipped an arm beneath Heero’s bare knees and supported him against his chest. "Shh...I’ll take you home now," he whispered as Heero moaned in agony, his eyes rapidly dilating.
" Hurry," he said plaintively, then passed out, fine tremors racking his frame. Duo’s expression was unreadable as he ran from the diner, never seeing the surprised look on Relena’s face.
That wasn’t supposed to happen, she thought. Hmm...
Duo closed his eyes, hands clasped in front of his chest as he kneeled beside their bed, listening to Heero toss and turn in pain. The pilot had regained consciousness almost as soon as they’d gotten home, and proceeded to weep with the pain, every nerve in his body on fire.
That had been two hours ago. Now Heero’s screams of pain had dulled to mere whimpers, his hands tightly clenched into fists. Duo didn’t know what was going on, what was happening to his lover. It seemed to be only a fever, but...
He’d called the ambulance twenty minutes ago when Heero’d stopped breathing.
At first he’d thought the Japanese boy was asleep. Then he’d tried to wake him to give him some more medicine, and nearly had a heart attack as he discovered that Heero’s face was slightly tinged blue.
Somehow he’d managed to get him to breathe again, and now didn’t even dare to leave the room. There was nothing he could do. The ambulance was late, no one else was home. Duo was alone, with no one else to blame if Heero died.
There was nothing else to do.
So he prayed.
" Our father..."
Outside, he heard sirens, and sighed in relief.
" Who art in heaven..."
Then the sound of glass breaking and metal impacting metal floated in through the open window.
" Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come..."
Heero’s eyes suddenly widened, and he made a strange gasping sound, gesturing to his throat. Tears coursed down Duo’s cheeks as he tried to breathe air into Heero’s lungs. He alternated prayer with deep gulps of air.
" Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven..."
Heero gasped, his air passages suddenly clearing up. "Duo!" he whispered, clasping his hand. "Duo!" Then his head went limp, lolling against his shoulder.
" God, I’ve never prayed for anything before. I’ve done terrible things to people. But please..." He tried to speak through his tears and choked on the salty taste. "Please...I’ll do anything..."
A few seconds later, the EMCs burst in with a stretcher, looking slightly harried, but none the worse for wear. "Heero..." Duo simply pointed, unable to say a single word. They nodded grimly, and a few minutes later the ambulance, minus a right blinker and its headlights, took off for the hospital.
Duo entered hesitantly, the doctor’s words still ringing in his ears. "...delicate condition...guardian...stabilized...short visit..."
" Duo?" Heero’s voice was oddly childish, too high to belong to the very masculine man that was his lover.
Duo stepped to the metal railing along the bed and gasped.
" He-heero?"
" Is that you, Duo?"
A small child blinked up at him, Prussian blue eyes wide. He was so kawaii...! Duo just wanted to pick him up and hug him... He looked like Heero’s younger brother might look.
" Duo, when am I gonna get out of here?" Heero blinked owlishly at him, his face, which was usually carefully neutral, lit up with hope. "I’m okay now."
Duo just stared. After a moment, he found his voice again. "Heero...what’s going on?"
Heero shrugged. "I don’t know...must’ve been the chicken sandwich." Though he appeared young, his personality and dry sense of humor shone through. Duo sat down on the bed, examining this new Heero.
He had the same eyes, a beautiful blue that sparkled when he spoke. His hair was still messy, and Heero was still physical perfection, his chiseled face speaking of even greater beauty within a few years. Yet, he appeared to be no older than seven or eight, his small fist clenched tightly.
A thought occurred to Duo, and he lifted the edge of the hospital gown to peek underneath. Heero punched him, blushing furiously as he pulled his kneees up to his chest. "What was that for, baka?"
" Just checking to see if the equipment was still intact," Duo joked. Heero sniffed and turned away, nose high in the air. Again, Duo was seized with the impulse to hug him tightly, though he resisted its pull. And yet, the punch was only another reminder that things weren’t right. Heero’s normal punch would have sent him into orbit, or at least broken his nose. His cheek was a little sore-Heero had even missed his target!
" Well," Duo said after a moment, "we definitely have a problem."
" What’s the matter?" Heero asked smirking, "going through sexual intercourse withdrawal?" Duo scowled at the chibi-Heero, then his frown melted into a smile as Heero’s blue eyes quivered under the force of his glare.
" I should get going-"
" No!" Duo stared at him in amazement; Heero too seemed to be shocked at his outburst. "Please stay," he said thickly, and Duo was amazed to see large teardrops pooling in his eyes.
" Heero..." He moved to wipe them away, and Heero gave a small hoarse sob, slapping away his hand with his little paw. He wiped his tears on the pillow, then sniffled pathetically.
" It’s this body," he wailed. "It’s sensitive to psychological stimuli and I can’t make it stop crying!" Duo wanted to laugh, but restrained himself, knowing Heero would think he was laughing at him. He was just too kawaii!
Duo crawled over, and rested Heero on his hip. The small boy wriggled uncomfortably, brushing over certain areas that were best left to their own devices. "Heero..." The chibi looked at him over his shoulder and tried a pale smile.
" I’m tired," he announced, and was asleep within seconds. Duo simply shook his head, stroking Heero’s hair. Heero purred in his sleep, a soft rumbling sound that reminded him of a pleased kitten.
Then, he too fell asleep.
A few hours later, the nurse checked in on Patient Yuy, and smiled benevolently. Father and son...how cute...
She flicked the lights off and shut the door behind her.
To be continued.
End Part One
Bianca
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