Howdy, y'all! ^_^ Some of you may know that I recently hit 40,000 on my GWA page. Megan K. was my 40,000th visitor, and her request for a gift fic was a flufflet with Wufei and Duo. Now, I really did intend to write a brand-new story for my gift-fic, but... Tzi and I had this one already mostly done and collecting cobwebs. So! I dusted it off, and we tweaked it a little, and here it is - one genuine fluffy Duo and Wufei-type thingie! Megan, I hope you enjoy it, and thank you!
I guess I should go ahead and mention that we don't own Gundam Wing, and this fanfic is not meant to be taken as a claim to copyright of the characters or situations which were not created by us. Also, we're not making a penny off of this, and no offense or disrespect is intended towards the creators and rightful owners. There are characters from other anime series making cameo appearances later on, and we don't own them, either, nor is any offense intended by our misusing them the way we have. *^_^*
Almost a week after Duo's reconciliation with them, Wufei sat in class and smiled (just a bit!) with pleasure at the sight of his paper. A 98 -- he'd had a comma splice, even though he'd read over it four times. /Ah, well. English grammar still gives me fits some days.../
"Well, class," the teacher was saying. A group of jocks, who always sat in the back of the room and disrupted the class, had apparently earned themselves a disapproving glare. "I must say I was very disappointed with most of the papers. Yes, Mr. Saotome?"
"Will there be a curve?" Ranma asked.
"As our young Mr. Chang here has scored ninety-eight, I'm afraid there will be no curve," the professor said cheerfully. "Good job, Wufei!"
"Oh, yeah, good job, Wufei," Ranma parroted, quietly seething along with his football-team buddies. That only gained him the slow almost sarcastic raising of a dark brow and then the bell rang and class was out.
"Well, since Mr. Yuy answered all the questions correctly, including the bonus question, obviously I can't curve the exam grades. The rest of you need to keep in mind that there will be another test three weeks from today, so start studying. Mr. Yuy, you just keep doing whatever you've been doing. Remember, people, Physics is your Phriend!"
"Quatre Winner's exam was perfect, as we in the psychology department have come to expect from him. There will be no curve."
"Of course, I won't be able to curve the exam, since one of you actually scored a perfect 100. I don't believe I've ever had a perfect test in all the years I've been teaching Chinese. Mr. Maxwell, congratulations."
"We've gotta get 'em," Ranma said decisively, nodding at the group of men surrounding him. "There's nothing else for it. Otherwise, the football team's gonna be in really deep..."
"Well, we'll just be the laughingstocks of the school!" Vegeta interrupted indignantly. "We can't let a bunch of skinny little queer boys ruin our curve!"
Scowling, Yamcha crossed arms full of bulging muscles over his chest. "DEFINITELY not. I *need* that curve, or we're all out a line-backer!"
"Not to mention that they don't let you quarterback if you flunk English," Ranma added. "Well, men? What say we bust a few queer boys?"
"YEAH!" came loud cheers in response.
"Quatre..." Heero whispered as the two approached the cafeteria, keeping a careful distance between them. "I forgot today was immunization day for Duo."
The tall blond allowed his tourmaline eyes to widen as he glanced down at Heero in surprise. "Weren't we supposed to give him his medication the night beforehand?" he asked, blinking.
"I'd planned to do it at dinner last night, but it slipped my mind," Heero confessed miserably. "The nurse said a few hours, though, so maybe if we can get it in his breakfast it'll be okay."
Quatre nodded solemnly. "It sounds like the best option. You'd best remind Wufei, though..."
"Oi!" a familiar voice called from behind them. "Wait up!" Heero turned to see Duo trying to catch up to them, followed by a still-sleepy Wufei. In an unconscious gesture, he put his hands in his pockets, reassuring himself that the little pill packet was where he'd left it.
"Good morning!" Duo said cheerfully as he and Wufei finally caught up. "Isn't it a beautiful day today? You know how there are just some mornings when you wake up, and you know something great's gonna happen? This is gonna be one of those days; I can just tell!"
/Thank Allah I'm an excellent tactician,/ Quatre sighed mentally as he smiled at Duo and the rather distinctly sleep-flushed Wufei. "Some mornings are just like that, aren't they?" he asked sweetly, his voice carefully devoid of irony. "Let's go get breakfast!"
"Heero, whatcha got?" Duo asked, falling into step with his friends. Heero quickly snatched his hands out of his pockets, cursing himself for not being more aware of who he was dealing with. Duo had survived childhood by being able to tell when a person was carrying something of value... he had to think of a distraction, and fast.
"Nothing important," he lied, unaware that he was edging closer to Quatre. "So, I take it congratulations are in order? Everyone's been talking about how you blew the curve in Chinese."
"Oh, I suppose," Duo answered airily even as a deep blush worked its way over his cheeks, and he desperately tried to think of a way to change the subject. He didn't want his friends to think he had any special motivation to learn Chinese... even if there *was* an ever-so-slight connection between the language and his roommate. "But the exam wasn't all that tough..." Duo paused and his sharp glance went from Heero to Quatre, back to Heero again. "You know, if you two stand any closer together, people will talk."
"D-Duo!" Heero gasped, blushing deeply and taking another unconscious step closer to Quatre. "Omae o korosu!"
"He's blushing! Quatre, you old dog, you!"
"Unh?" Wufei asked, one black eye popping open momentarily before it closed again. He had discovered that he could sleep while walking, especially since Duo tugged him along behind him. Not waiting for an answer, he yawned, and went back to his standing doze.
"A...ano," Quatre said, also blushing. "Duo!"
"I'm proud of you!" Duo continued, slapping Quatre's back affectionately, then in an undertone he added, "But are you gonna make an honest man of him?"
"Duo!" Quatre said again, flushed brightly. "Some things shouldn't be discussed in public!"
"Wha~at? What public? It's just us, man! C'mon, tell me all about it!"
"Duo."
"Yes, Hee-chan?"
"OMAE O KOROSU!"
"Heard you the first time," Duo said with a wince, then backed off as Heero visibly bristled. "Fine, fine, don't tell me anything. But if you keep blushing like that, everyone will know anyway." Heero glanced helplessly at Quatre, opened his mouth as if to say something, then shaking his head he turned on his heel and led the way into the cafeteria, refusing to say another word.
"I was only kidding," Duo said to Heero's stiff back, and a wistful, sad look flitted across his face before his usual brash grin masked it. "Sorry, Q-man, it's just... sometimes I can't resist, you know?"
"I know," Quatre said, smiling helplessly. "Come on, and bring Sleeping Beauty with you. It's time for breakfast, and his towel is dragging the ground."
Sure enough, it was, and Wufei didn't even wake as Duo tucked it up closer to his arm, only made an unintelligible mumble which sounded remarkably like, "Five more minutes..."
Heero grimly palmed the pills while Duo was fussing over Wufei. It wouldn't be too difficult to get them into his food without his noticing; the ex-Shinigami pilot had a tendency to swallow his food without even chewing.
Heero breathed a sigh of relief as Duo finished the last bite of scrambled eggs. It had been harder than he'd thought, getting that stuff into Duo's food; who would have thought that Duo would keep such an eagle eye on his plate while surrounded by people he trusted? If it hadn't been for Wufei's sudden (suspiciously fake-looking) slide under the table, Heero would never have had the opportunity. He surreptitiously wiped scrambled eggs off his hands under the table, and allowed a small almost-smile of triumph for Wufei and Quatre.
Duo had swallowed the drugs.
Two hours later, Duo was still showing no apparent effect of the drugs; he seemed just as optimistic and up-beat as he had been that morning. Heero was beginning to get exasperated with waiting for the reaction to take place.
"You look tired, Duo," he said. "Don't you think maybe you should lie down?"
"I look tired?" Duo asked in reply. "Gee, that's funny; I feel great! We were up pretty late... but no, I don't feel tired at all, Heero! Thanks for asking, though... you know, you're looking like you could use some rest, yourself. All three of you, now that you mention it... say, what's going on here?"
The guilty look on Quatre's face would have probably been enough to convict him of any given crime at that moment. "What makes you think there's anything going on, Duo?" he asked, false innocence speaking louder than any truth could have.
"Well, you know, you guys are just acting a little differently, is all," Duo said, then after a short pause he added, "It's almost enough to make a guy suspicious."
"We're just concerned for you," Heero said.
"Yeah, that's what I mean."
Wufei cleared his throat and looked at Heero, finding it difficult to hold down the sheer *panic* he felt. In only forty-five minutes, they were supposed to be back at the infirmary. What if the sedative didn't work by then!? He'd be miserable if he had to see Duo so upset again...
"You're worried that we're concerned about you?" Quatre asked.
"Well, yeah," Duo said. "I mean, usually it's 'shut up, Duo' or 'omae o korosu, Duo' or 'MAXWELL! You're insufferable!' So why is everyone acting so weird today?"
Heero merely glared at him, mentally trying to calculate whether it was in the realm of possibility that Duo had somehow *seen* him stuffing pills into his scrambled eggs, and not eaten them. No, it wasn't possible. He'd watched those eggs like a hawk, and Duo had eaten every last scrap of them. So why the hell wasn't he sleeping yet?
Wufei looked at his fingers carefully, eyeing the ragged edge of a nail bitten even as Duo had questioned them. /What if it doesn't work?/ he panicked. /What if he does what he did last time? Can I stand to have him so angry with me again?/
"Okay," Quatre finally said with a shrug and a smile. "Shut up, Duo!"
"Fine," Duo said, waving a hand negligently in Quatre's direction. He didn't want to admit that anything might be wrong with him, but he was feeling more than a little woozy. With some effort on his part, he masked the dizziness and walked to a nearby bench with a close approximation of his normal stride. "I'm gonna go sit down over here."
"Fine," said Heero, stifling the urge to smirk. He might not be sleeping yet, but he was certainly starting to look tired...
"I'll sit with you," Wufei offered, moving after him. A strange sense of guilt and no little fear roiled in his belly as he watched Duo with careful eyes, very aware of the gazes of Quatre and Heero as well. /Had to be done,/ Wufei told himself. /It had to be done.../
Quatre smiled slightly at them. "Maybe *you* were the one up too late last night, Duo," he said.
"Maybe..." Duo felt an immense lethargy working its way through his body, and he sagged wearily against Wufei as though his leaden weight was too heavy to sit upright. "Or maybe..."
"Just close your eyes," Wufei offered, an arm slipping around Duo's shoulders. "It will be all right..."
Duo made a soft sound of protest before relaxing into the half-embrace, his head coming to rest on Wufei's shoulder. "I just feel... really tired," he whispered. "All of a sudden."
It was only through severe self-discipline that Heero was able to keep from smirking as the drugs started to do their work. Violet eyes blinked heavily and then closed, and Duo slumped bonelessly against Wufei, his breathing slowly evening out. Heero heaved a silent sigh of relief -- he didn't want a repeat of the last time -- and privately decided that Wufei and Duo looked right together. He had never seen the long-haired boy put so much faith in anyone, not even himself.
"Well," Quatre whispered to Heero very quietly, "that looks like that's about it." The guilty expression on Wufei's face was enough to kill him, though, and he moved forward only reluctantly.
"Sleep tight," Wufei breathed, face momentarily buried in the dark, spiky hair of the head now laying on his shoulder. Oh, he really didn't like this at all, but what choice was there?
"Let me," Heero whispered, and with a delicate gentleness incongruous with his fierce appearance, he lifted the slender body in his arms. He was slightly surprised at how little Duo weighed; the former pilot was hardly a burden at all. Duo made a soft sound, not quite a whimper, and then was still, his braid trailing over Heero's arm. With a toss of his head to indicate that the others should follow, Heero set off across the campus toward the infirmary.
The sheer amount of guilt that filled Wufei was overwhelming, his hands wringing tightly together as they followed on the way there. "I don't know about this," he said quietly to Quatre. "It's the *right* thing, but..."
"Just believe in that," Quatre told him. "It *is* the right thing, okay? He'll be all right."
"He'll be just fine," Heero murmured, softly so as not to wake Duo. "This way, he'll sleep through it, and he won't have to suffer any. He'll be less angry than last time."
"Well, he couldn't be any *more* angry," Wufei muttered, trudging along behind Heero.
The Winner heir was already shaking his head, though. "YOU didn't see what he had to say about Trowa when they finally talked about Deathscythe," the tall blond murmured. "Ouch."
"And that was *after* he'd had a few months to cool off," Heero added, smiling ruefully. It hadn't been an easy time to live with Duo, not that living with Duo was ever easy. "Trowa's lucky he'd gotten over the worst of it by then."
They *weren't* doing much to assuage Wufei's sense of guilt or the growing nervousness that this was, perhaps, not the right thing after all. "Thanks," he said, face puckering into a frown. "You're so helpful."
"You're welcome," Quatre replied cheerfully as they neared the infirmary.
"This'll be over in no time," Heero said. He walked up to the door and thought about trying to open it, then merely stood aside and waited. Duo hung limp in his arms, and Heero was conscious of the shaggy head resting on his shoulder, Duo's hot breath on his neck and the silky, dense weight of the braid trailing over his arm... but he only had eyes for Quatre, watching with something of a hungry gaze as the tall blond walked up to them. He wondered if it would be more polite to give Wufei a turn holding Duo, since there seemed to be a connection between them... if he were unconscious, he'd rather have Quatre hold him than anyone else in the world.
"Would you mind carrying him for a while? He's getting heavy," he lied. He could have carried Duo's slight weight for days without ever growing tired, but he turned to Wufei, who was looking distinctly miserable, and shifted Duo slightly in order to hand him over.
They traded him off, Wufei slipping an arm under Duo's knees and another behind his shoulders as Quatre opened the door, ushering them inside.
"Well," the nurse at the desk said, looking up. The infirmary was empty, which was more than a relief to them all. "I see you're back again."
"Yes, ma'am," Quatre said politely. "Duo Maxwell, delivered for his s-h-o-t s," he spelled out... just in case.
"Mm..." Duo sighed, snuggling a little closer to Wufei. Heero froze, and looked at him, horrified at the thought that he might come to before the shots were over with. But Duo had settled back down, his face buried in the crook of Wufei's neck, looking as contented as a cat with a bowl of cream and a sunny spot to sit in. Heero quirked an eyebrow, but resisted the urge to smirk.
"The faster we get this done, the better," he told the nurse. "He only took the pills approximately an hour ago."
"Oh, DEAR," she said, eyes widening. "It needs at least two to work properly! Well... maybe we can get it done without him waking. Come along, boys."
Again, Quatre held open the door for Wufei and Heero, and Wufei followed the nurse quietly, his agitation locked tightly inside of him. "Could we hurry?" he whispered as they stepped into the little exam room. He didn't want to let go of Duo at all, but...
"Mm-mm," Duo whimpered softly as Wufei lowered him onto the cold table; he wanted that safe, warm embrace again... but he was so tired...
"Hayaku," Heero whispered anxiously. "Hurry!"
"Just sleep," Wufei whispered, watching the nurse begin to lay out needles and single-dose vials. "Sleep, Duo. It's all right!"
"Cold," Duo whispered, and tried to open his eyes. The lids were so heavy... he was so tired... He subsided again, shivering slightly as he gave in to the undertow of sleep. The nurse pushed his sleeve up and swabbed his arm with alcohol, and he shivered again, murmuring incoherently.
The moment the first needle pierced his skin, he woke, violet eyes wide with complete terror.
"Duo!" Wufei said anxiously. "Duo, close your eyes. Go to sleep!"
Duo whimpered, and Heero quickly clamped his hands over slender ankles, lest the former pilot start kicking. With a heart-broken little cry, Duo turned toward Wufei and clutched at him with his free hand, burying his face in Wufei's shirt. To his utter shame, he started crying -- not just a few quiet tears, but great, hurtful sobs that tore the breath from his lungs.
He didn't fight.
And that was when Chang Wufei knew that his heart was going to be utterly broken if it didn't stop. "I can't stand it," he whispered, black eyes wide and blank as he looked at Duo's pale face. "I can't!"
"Shhh," Quatre whispered. His own eyes were filling with sympathetic tears, a shudder working through him. "Shhh."
"Can't you do this any faster?" Heero asked, only his eyes revealing his anguish in his otherwise dead expression. Duo was practically trying to crawl *into* Wufei in his efforts to get away from the needles, and while most of what he was saying was unintelligible, he was clearly pleading for mercy.
"Almost done..." the nurse murmured. *THIS* was the reason she'd chosen working in a college infirmary and *not* in a pediatric office, and it was killing her! "That's the last one."
"Don't cry!" Wufei urged. "Don't cry!"
"Make it stop..." Duo sobbed.
"It's over," Heero said firmly, tugging the long-haired boy's clothes back into place. "It's all over. She's putting all the needles away."
"Please, I don't want to..." Duo whimpered, but either the nurse's words had sunk through, or the drugs had kicked in at last. His grasp on Wufei's shirt grew more and more feeble, and finally his body completely relaxed. Heero turned him over, and his heart wrenched at the sight of Duo's tear-streaked face, his lips softly parted on little hiccoughs that didn't disturb his sleep.
Wordlessly, Heero scooped the limp form up in his arms, forgetting for the moment that Wufei should be the one to carry him. With a nod of thanks for the nurse, he stalked out, carrying Duo so carefully he might have been made of glass.
The fact that *Heero* had picked Duo up to soothe him before Wufei could absolutely broke the Chinese boy's heart, but he kept his face emotionless as he said a quiet goodbye to the nurse, Quatre nudging him along and back out of the infirmary to go after their friends.
Heero was oblivious to anything but Duo and his guilt at that moment, and it wasn't until he'd made most of the trip to the dorm that he remembered Wufei, and stopped abruptly. "Sorry," he said. "I meant for you to carry him; I just... I had to get him out of there." For once in their entire association, his misery was plain for his friends to see, not hidden behind a soldier's mask. His guilt, and his actions, mirrored those on the day he had carried a dead puppy away from the massive destruction he had caused.
"It's all right," Wufei answered flatly, continuing to walk 'til they reached the doors to the dorm and then opening the one closest to their room for Heero. "We just need to lay him down, so he can sleep it off."
With a great sigh, Quatre ushered them towards their dorm, gently nudging and pushing. He hated to see his friends suffering, and hated worse to *feel* them suffering! "Come on," he urged, gently nudging them along. "The sooner he sleeps it off, the better we'll all feel."
"Unless he hates me forever," was the Chinese man's miserable reply.
"He won't," Heero said, but he wasn't so sure. Duo had been so angry after the last time... Hesitantly, he carried Duo the rest of the way, feeling miserable. The rest of the walk to the dorm room was made in silence, and Heero laid Duo down on his bed with an uncharacteristic tenderness. The long-haired boy was still sleeping, the soft little hiccoughs having faded into slow, even breathing.
Wufei spoke decisively once Duo was tucked in, caramel features grim. "I'm going to stay here," he said quietly. "Make sure his professors know he's ill."
"Of course we will," Quatre said. "Can we get you anything? From the cafeteria."
"No, thanks."
"It will be all right," Heero said, knowing that he was lying to himself. With that, he turned on his heel and left, going across the hall to flop gracelessly over his bed.
"I'll bring you a sandwich later," the tall blond murmured softly, going out of the room and quietly shutting the door behind him, leaving Wufei alone.
The dark-haired young man knelt down on the floor, black eyes trained on the slim form of his friend -- no, more than friend -- laying so still upon his bed. His arms went slowly out to lightly touch the arm that lay close by, and then he buried his head against them, shuddering quietly.
"Duo. Oh, Duo. I'm so sorry..."
End Part 7
Yoiko
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