Archive: http://www.fanworkrecs.com
Disclaimers: I don't own the characters from Gundam Wing, I just play with them for non-profit fun until they run screaming back to their creators.
Warnings: AU - AAAAAAAAAAAU. Some yaoi, lemon, violence, language. You should be a legal adult to read this. Open-mindedness helps, too.
Pairings: all over the map; Duo-centric. yaoi and het.
Author's Notes: A huge helping of "suspension of disbelief" would be appropriate before you read this. I'm sure J or G could explain the science behind it, but they're kinda dead right now...
Part 7 ~ Premeditation
He was flying as he hadn't done in years, revelling in the sheer speed. He felt powerful, alive, in complete control. When he began to descend towards one of the bright shimmering points of light, he sped up, laughing with joy as he dove as fast as he could.
There was a brief perception of colour, and a pattering sound, and then he arrowed into something heavy and confining, his lightness shattering and being absorbed by leaden limbs that crumpled beneath him.
Fiery agony in his chest made it difficult to comprehend anything but the realization of pain. He gasped repeatedly - the air in his lungs seemed thicker than oil and he couldn't get his breath. His vision grayed out and he hung on to consciousness by the thinnest of threads.
How long he lay sprawled, just struggling to breathe, he couldn't say. It seemed a long time before he slowly registered three things:
He was cold. He was wet. And he was alone.
This last sensation seemed the worst, an unbearable condition to his hazy mind. Remembered despair echoed through him, threatening to rise up and drown him. He felt bereft - there had been something warm and comforting, but now it was gone.
With a supreme effort, he blinked open his eyes and raised the ton-and-a-half rock that was his head to look around. He was in a shower, he realized, with cold water spraying down on him. He squinted blearily, his mind reluctantly becoming more aware by the second.
A door opened somewhere and an anxious voice called out, "Duo!?"
"Here," he answered automatically, his voice too weak to carry over the sound of the falling water. As an afterthought, he began to push himself upright. The slight movement was enough to trigger violent shivers throughout his body, and he was unable to do more than brace himself up on his elbows.
First the door to the bathroom, and then the sliding door to the shower was thrown open, letting in a swirling gust of cold air. A second later the water shut off, and Duo was being pulled out and bundled into a large fluffy towel.
Strong arms swung him up, cradled him, and held him safe. He watched the hallway walls swaying past him, and then looked up into Wufei's concerned face. He smiled, feeling secure and, despite the shudders that wracked him, content.
"H-Hi," he said softly.
"Your lips are blue, and you have a gash on your temple," Wufei said by way of greeting. "Did you slip in the shower?"
Duo frowned slightly, concentrating. "I... f-fell," he admitted through chattering teeth, remembering uncooperative legs too weak to support his leaden body.
Wufei laid him down gently on a bed in a light, airy room and held three fingers up in front of Duo's face. "What day is it?"
Duo smirked at the trick question. "T-Tuesday, May s-six-t-teenth." As soon as the words left his lips, he wondered if they were correct. Wufei merely nodded, so he continued, "I d-don't think I lost c-consciousness."
Wufei nodded and checked his pupils for dilation reactions. "So, you fell and hit your head, and then decided to just lie there until the hot water ran out?"
"I happen to enj-j-joy a refreshing ch-change every once and a w-while," Duo said loftily, ignoring the dull headache throbbing in time with his pulse.
Wufei snorted, a relieved smile crossing his face. "Well, I don't think you're concussed," he concluded. "Crazy, perhaps, but not concussed."
One golden hand reached for Duo's waist, and for a happy moment he thought Wufei meant to strip him of his towel. Instead, the Chinese man picked up a second towel that Duo hadn't realized was resting in his lap, and carefully wrapped it around Duo's head, gathering his long, wet hair together with practiced ease.
"Dry yourself off and get into bed, Duo. You still look chilled. I'll get the first aid kit to tend to that cut," Wufei said, standing in an easy, graceful motion and heading for the door. "And I'll have to call and reassure Quatre that you're still among the living."
"Q-Quatre?" Duo wondered aloud, rubbing the towel gingerly over his sore head with one hand and making a mound of pillows to sit back against with the other.
"He's the reason I'm back so early," Wufei called from the beyond the bedroom. "Trowa called just after the shuttle landed and said that Quatre insisted you were dying. He'd already tried to contact you here and gotten no answer. Zechs said he would handle the initial mission report, so I came straight here from the port."
Duo nodded to himself as he scurried under the covers, keeping the towel around his hair and leaving the other at the foot of the bed. It made sense. Quatre's spaceheart must have picked up the distress Duo had felt as he had arrived in this universe, or maybe the blond had felt the death of Duo's counterpart's soul.
Wait a se- WHAT...?
He huddled into the blankets, shivering, as the startling memories of the past week or so - well, of subjective time, anyway - cascaded through his mind: the black hole generator, Zero Syndrome, the scrap yard, and the terrible combination of loneliness, grief and worthlessness that had permeated his last experience.
But he also remembered the look in Wufei's eyes when he had floated free of his previous body - the look of longing and need, of frustration and... love?
And now he was here, in a room that boasted messy piles of discarded black clothing mixed with half-assembled mechanical gadgets on one side, immaculate neatness accented by Wufei's carefully-hung sabre on the opposite side, and one large bed in the middle.
He was still blinking in stunned realization when Wufei returned with the first aid kit.
The midafternoon sun cast a warm light through the window, highlighting Wufei's golden skin as he paused to press the speed-dial on the vidphone. Duo's mind helpfully supplied a matching image from a recent universe - Wufei answering a late-night vid-call, his naked torso rising from tangled sheets. The light from the bedside lamp had caressed him with that same soft glow...
Duo took a shaky breath as Wufei approached and then settled himself onto the bed. He managed to keep himself from blushing, but he was still intensely aware of the Chinese man's presence as gentle hands started to clean and bandage the gash on his temple.
But what should he say? 'Thanks, Wufei, but I'm not really your lover, just a visitor from another reality, and it was the shock of my arrival that made this body fall in the shower.' Oh yeah, that would go over well. Wufei would assume that the crack on the head had done more damage than he'd originally thought. Great idea, Maxwell, show your gratitude by worrying him to death.
"Duo!" Quatre's voice distracted his gaze to the vidphone, and his jaw dropped. Or at least it would have, if his teeth hadn't been chattering. He was vaguely aware of Wufei speaking, but his attention was rivetted on Quatre.
The blond empath was sitting on a sofa, wrapped up in a blanket - and Heero's arms. Trowa was sitting on Quatre's other side, one arm draped around Heero's shoulders, the other hand resting possessively on Quatre's thigh.
Quatre was with Heero and Trowa?
He blinked. He supposed it made a certain amount of sense - Quatre and Trowa had always been tight, and even in his own universe Trowa had had a bit of Heero-worship going on. Perhaps in this universe Quatre's and Heero's sojourn in Sanc together during the war had led to a more intimate relationship, or maybe they had...
"Duo?" Quatre's voice brought him back to the conversation, which he realized belatedly had started without him. "Are you sure you're all right?" The blond was rubbing at his chest with a puzzled look on his face. On either side of him, Trowa and Heero stared out of the screen with matching expressions of muted concern, like curious bookends.
"Wufei said he wasn't concussed," Heero said, breathing the words into his ear. Quatre nodded, but kept his gaze on Duo, anxiety in his eyes.
However it had happened, in this reality it seemed that the five of them had somehow found a balance, with all of them still friends, and none of them left out or hurting. He wouldn't do anything to jeopardize that. He let his gratitude and determination flood his soul, and smiled at the screen. "Yeah, Q-Quatre. I'm all right - everything's g-gonna be fine."
Quatre smiled with relief, and Duo could see Trowa and Heero both relax slightly. Now, if only he could figure out how to act around Wufei...
Quatre quirked a funny little wince at him, and Duo realized that the empath must have felt that thread of doubt and embarrassment. The slender Arabian looked fondly at his two lovers, saying, "Would you excuse me, please? I'd like to talk to Duo alone for a moment."
Heero nodded and unwound himself without comment, stalking off the screen with a soft, "Be well, Duo." Trowa nuzzled Quatre's hair briefly before sliding off the sofa. He nodded once to Duo as he silently followed Heero out of the room.
Wufei gathered the contents of the med-kit and rose from the bed, murmuring, "I will fetch you some tea." Duo couldn't help sneaking an admiring glance at the man as he left, grace and power evident in every movement.
"Duo..." Quatre was leaning forward slightly, as if he could put a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder. "I know you and Wufei have been going through a rough time lately, what with all the misunderstandings you've had, but..." Duo almost missed the next words in the shock of the first ones. It seemed the situation was not as rosy as he had assumed.
"...he really does love you. I can feel it, strong and clear. Wufei loves you. Don't ever doubt that."
Duo had to smile at Quatre's earnest expression, even if he half-wished the little blond hadn't revealed the cracks in his counterpart's relationship. It was sort of like reassuring the passengers on a suborbital shuttle that the wings weren't about to fall off - as soon as you opened your mouth, people who hadn't even thought of the possibility began to worry about it.
"I'll remember it, Quatre," he said, managing to avoid stuttering with cold for the first time since he'd been pulled from the shower. I'll remember it and do all I can to avoid jinxing it, he vowed to himself.
"Are you sure you're all right, Duo?" Quatre persisted dubiously. "No matter what Wufei says, I know what I felt. It was just like when Heero self-detonated in Siberia - your..." he waved one hand vaguely, "soul... was in agony, as if it had been ripped out of your body. I was sure you had died."
Quatre shivered, looking suddenly small and lost in his fuzzy blanket. "It was awful. I could feel you again a moment later, but..." his eyes glazed a bit as he peered at Duo "you still feel... tenuous, like you're not really there, somehow." He frowned, and shivered again. "I'm sorry, I'm not making much sense."
Duo blinked, unsure what to say. He couldn't honestly tell Quatre that he'd imagined it all, but he didn't want the blond to worry either - he looked like he needed comfort right now, not another problem to face. Duo had to admit that he felt the same way.
"Don't worry about me, Quatre, I'm fine now."
"But what if it happens again?"
"It won't," Duo said quickly, only to realize a second too late that it was the wrong thing to say.
"How...?" Quatre's eyes lost focus, and he nodded to himself. "You're sure it won't happen again." Abruptly his gaze sharpened on Duo. "You know what caused it, don't you?"
End Part 28
(:./wingnut/alter28)
