Title: Death & the Phoenix
Author: Ebonydove
Pairings: 1+2/2+1, 3+4/4+3
Warnings: Possible episode spoilers, liberal use of GW characters,
OOC, yaoi, angst, violence, language, fluff... the usual.
Author's Notes: watch for flying gouda. The boys are working together and are
laying low from Oz. I'm not really following the series so there may be some
gaps. Feedback greatly appreciated!
Disclaimer: The characters are owned by those with higher earning
potential than me, so follow the money baby! Lord knows, none is being made here.
"Hey kid, wake up." Howard nudged the sleeping boy a few more times. "Come on kid, it's getting late. You can't stay in the office all night, especially when I shut off the heat."
Duo groaned and rolled over and promptly fell off the sofa with a thud. "Wha? Ouch, man that hurt."
"I didn't roll you off the couch." Howard let out a little chuckle as Duo rubbed his hip. "Look, like I said, you can stay with me if you want, but I gotta tell you, Heero has already found out you're here, and it's only a matter of time before he calls again or flat out comes to get you."
"You told him I was here?"
"Didn't have to kid. Seems he knows you better than you think he does." Howard winked and laughed out loud seeing the boy blush.
"Screw you man." Duo scratched his head and gathered himself up off the floor. "I guess I should head back. No sense in me getting everyone all worked up. If Heero knows where I am, Quatre will be calling soon then too." He stretched and headed out into the bay towards Deathscythe.
"Especially after I hung up on soldier boy." Howard laughed again as Duo almost uncharacteristically tripped over his own feet.
"What 'cha go and do that for?" Duo glared at him for a moment.
"I don't know why you love the little punk the way you do. He was trying to intimidate me into telling him your whereabouts. I don't like feeling pressured." Howard grinned evilly.
"Great, so now I get to go back and deal with a pissed off Heero, a overly protective Quatre, a silent, disapproving Wufei, and Trowa... who's, well... Trowa. Thanks man, remind me not to visit you for a while." Duo flashed him a smile as he got into Deathscythe's cockpit. With a quick wave he was locked in and had the engines roaring.
Howard watched affectionately as the huge mecha screamed off into the darkening sky. "Take care, kid. If we didn't love ya, we wouldn't care as much as we do." He shook his head a bit and shut off all the lights as he went to join the other Sweepers for a late dinner.
When he arrived back at the safe house, all was quiet. It was later than he thought he'd be back, but sleep came so easily for him in the warm comfort of Howard's office, that he hated to leave it. He crept through the dark house and clicked on the light in the kitchen. Pulling the milk container out from the refrigerator, he poured himself a glass and went to the cub board. In a small tin container, marked 'sweetener', he produced a small plastic bottle of prescription pills. Taking two from it, he replaced the bottle and downed the tablets with the milk.
"So that's where you were hiding them."
Duo choked and almost dropped the glass hearing Heero's quiet voice. From the shadow of the other room, he emerged and made his way into the kitchen. "Damn, Heero you scared the shit outta me! You want me to have a heart attack?"
Heero frowned as he got himself a glass from the cub board and poured some milk into it. Duo mentioning getting hurt in any way made Heero's stomach drop. "Didn't think you liked milk."
"I don't, but the pills make me nauseous, and the milk helps to coat my stomach." Duo shrugged. He wasn't going to lie to the guy; after all he had a sneaking suspicion that Heero had things pretty well figured out. He sat at the table and finished his milk. "So who told you, Howard or Quatre?"
"Neither."
"How'd you figure it out? It was the mission thing right? I knew I should have just pulled a disappearing act and not try to cover it up. I'm surprised you didn't think I was up to something shady, switchin' sides or somethin'." Duo smirked and fiddled with his braid.
"I did." Heero sat down and looked at the braided boy in front of him carefully. Although he seemed better, he could sense the fatigue and the usual spark in the vast violet eyes was a little less bright.
Duo tried to keep the look of hurt from his face, but the thought that Heero would think he would betray them to Oz made his stomach summersault. "What changed your mind?"
"Quatre."
"Q-man, never could keep things to himself, not like I blame the guy, just don't tell him something you don't want everyone else to know eventually."
Heero heard the note of bitterness in Duo's voice as his eyes dropped to the table. "I was concerned and Quatre seemed to have information that I didn't. I persuaded him to share it with me."
"I see. No need to be concerned, man. Nothing's wrong... really."
Heero stood abruptly. Lunging across the table, he grabbed Duo by the collar lifting him from his chair. His face was flushed with anger as he glared into the wide eyes of the boy in front of him.
"Damn, Heero let go." Duo growled at him matching him stare for glare.
"That's the first and last time you will ever lie to me, Duo."
"I never lie to you Heero. I just tell you a series of incremental accumulations of half truths." He smirked.
Heero's eyes blazed and sent a chill through Duo that he hadn't felt since his encounter with the Zero System. Before he could respond, he felt Heero's lips come crashing into his, shattering the chill replacing it with a white hot heat that spread from his cheeks to his toes. Completely caught off guard, he broke Heero's hold on his collar, bolted out of his chair backpedaling until he hit the wall. "For the sake of all that's holy... what the fuck are you doing?!" He gasped as he watched Heero from the other side of the table.
Heero calmly sat back down at the table and drank the rest of his milk, not responding to the startled boy who still hadn't moved from against the wall. Duo resembled a caged cat, ready to bolt if the path became clear. But Heero had situated his chair so that it was on the side of the table closest to the doorway, making Duo getting around impossible at best. "Like I said, I was concerned."
Duo relaxed slightly but still hadn't moved from the wall. "I don't want you to be concerned. In fact, I don't want anything from you."
"Too late." Heero looked at Duo, his eyes somewhat softer. He saw Duo shaking slightly and didn't quite know if it was from fear or anger.
"You say that like I don't have a choice in the matter." Duo growled defiantly.
"You don't." Heero smirked at the flustered pilot and poured himself another glass of milk.
"The hell I don't." Duo pushed himself away from the wall and paced a few times on the far end of the kitchen. He knew he couldn't get around Heero so he would just stonewall him until he gave up. He stopped short. "Shit, you're not going to give up on this, are you?"
"Nope." Heero smirked again and took a long drink from his glass.
"Fine." Duo had settled down considerably but it was right about then when the meds kicked in. With all the commotion, the milk wasn't settling his stomach at all. In fact, Heero Yuy giving him a bruising kiss on the same day he found out that he may not live to see the end of the war, much less six months, made his stomach do flip-flops again. He paled drastically and shot Heero a warning look, verging on pathetic.
Heero watched Duo as the emotions screamed through his eyes. He put down the glass sensing Duo's panic. "Duo?"
"Well, Heero you asked for it. You want me to come clean with everything?" Duo's body began to shake and his eyes watered as he desperately tried to fight off the waves of nausea that were surging through him. "Fine. But first... I need you to get the fuck... outta my way." Duo glared as he began to go for the doorway.
"What's going on?" Heero stood and looked at Duo with confused and concerned eyes.
"I gotta get sick, Heero, move." With that, Duo burst from the room and down the hallway to the bathroom where he proceeded to vomit harshly into the ceramic bowl.
Heero blinked as he saw the blur of Duo's black shirt bolt past him before he ran down the hallway after him. Shoving the half-closed door to the bathroom open all the way, he arrived in time to see Duo puke what little he had in his stomach out onto the floor and into the bowl. His heart ached at the sight of Duo spitting and sputtering, as he draped his lithe body across the bowl, clutching it like a buoy. He gently held his braid away from the bowl until Duo began to calm down and the fury of dry heaves ceased. "Duo? Are you alright?" Heero knelt next to his friend and rubbed his back for a few minutes. Then he reached up and ran the faucet. Grabbing a cloth from the rack, he ran it under the cool water and began to wipe Duo's face and mouth with it.
Duo opened his eyes and took a shaky breath. With a brilliant smile he turned and looked into Heero's blue eyes. Eyes that were full of concern and even a hint of that elusive emotion, love. "No Heero, I'm not alright." Not wanting to see the pain in those blue depths he quickly closed his eyes again. "I'm dying."
End Part 3
(:./ebony/death3)
