Author: KatiKat
Warning: AU, Angst
Rating: PG
Pairings: 1+2
Archives: KatiKat and Friends
Disclaimer: All standard disclaimers apply here - means: I only borrowed them from their respective owners and play with them only for fun. No money made here.
Broken and Fixed
"Children!" Sister Helen called to get the children's attention as she stepped into the big playroom in the Maxwell Orphanage. She pushed a small boy in front of her dressed in blue pants and blue sweater and white tennis shoes. He had dark brown hair, cobalt blue eyes and a sullen expression on his face.
The children gathered around her watching the boy curiously. "This is Heero. He is five and he will be living with us from now on. I hope you will be good to him." The children nodded vigorously. Sister Helen turned Heero to face her and crouched in front of him. "I hope you will like it here, Heero. If you should need something, anything at all, just come to me, all right?"
The boy just looked at her, not even blinking. She sighed. She feared that this one would be really difficult. She read his file and what she saw she didn't like at all. The boy's parents had gotten killed when thieves had broken in their house. Since then he had lived with his uncle, some scientist or something. Nobody had known that he was abusing the child until his teacher in the kindergarten saw the bruises on his arms and torso. The social worker immediately took him away from his uncle, bringing him to the hospital first. As soon as he was in a better physical state they called her. The nun managed the small Maxwell Orphanage together with Father Maxwell and she loved the children with her whole heart and soul. She just hoped that Heero would be okay here.
"You can now go and play, dinner will be in approximately two hours so you have a lot of time to make some friends here," she said to him, caressing his shoulder lightly. She sighed when she saw that the boy didn't move at all and looked around for help. A little boy with long rope of chestnut hair and big violet eyes clutching an old wooden doll caught her eyes. He was standing nearby watching the newcomer with sad eyes. Duo... the child who had been here the longest time. He had been brought here as a newborn and sadly nobody had wanted to adopt him since then. A couple of pairs tried to take him in but they thought him to be too exuberant and always brought him back, never finding out how much that hurt the bright, lonely boy. Duo greeted every new child first, trying to make them happy, to make them smile. But he himself always had a sad look in his eyes, understanding that another child had been left alone in this world.
"Duo," she called. The braided boy dressed in violet sweats and brown softies trotted over to her, clutching the wooden toy tightly to his chest. "Duo, would you take care of Heero? Show him around, where everything is?" she asked him.
Duo nodded excitedly. "Will do, Sis' Helen."
Helen smiled and got up. Yes, Duo will take good care of the boy. She turned around and walked out of the room.
The braided boy turned to Heero and smiled brightly. "Hi, I'm Duo. What's your name?"
The other boy didn't bother to reply; instead he turned around and went to one of the big windows leading outside to the small garden.
"Hey, you didn't answer me and that's rude." Duo skipped alongside him. "Your name is Heero, right? What do you like to do?"
Heero frowned. Couldn’t the boy just go away? He just wanted to be by himself. But the loudmouthed idiot was following him around the room, talking about all and nothing. Heero sat down on the carpeted ground under the window and pulling his knees to his chest, laying his arms on them. He still couldn't believe that they took him away from his uncle. Yeah, life wasn't peachy with him, but he had had a stabile point in his life. But now... And the braided fool was still talking to him.
Duo dropped next to Heero on the ground. "You don't talk much, huh?" he asked when the boy didn't bother to acknowledge him at all. He looked down at the wooden doll in his arms. It was a simple toy. A hard trunk with long dangling limbs. But what brought Duo the most comfort was the smiling face of the toy. The doll was his only real friend - he called him Shini - and its smiling face had always been able to cheer him up. 'Maybe it would be able to cheer the other boy too?' He thought to himself. Caressing its face he offered the toy to Heero. "Would you like to play?"
The longhaired idiot - what was his name? Duo - was still bothering him and his cold attitude didn't help Heero in getting rid of him. Maybe it was time to take more drastic measures? He looked at the battered old wooded doll Duo was offering him. What a stupid toy. He took it from him and didn’t even bother to look at Duo's bright smile. But instead to play with it he threw it away with all his might. He watched the doll slam against a wall and fall down to ground - broken. That brought him out of the uncaring coldness that surrounded his heart and mind. He didn't... he didn't mean to do that. He didn't mean to break it...
Duo watched his doll drop to the ground broken in two pieces - and he couldn't believe it. His toy... His friend... Heero had broken it... He crawled over to the shattered doll and picked it into his arms. The head... the smiling face and carved hair... the doll's neck was broken and the head had fallen off. He clutched both of the pieces to his chest uncaring about the other children chasing each other around the room or playing with the other toys. His friend, Shini, was dead...
With a clenched heart Heero watched the braided boy embracing the toy he had destroyed. Duo's big violet eyes filled with tears and his shoulders shook with tiny sobs. Heero could feel his eyes burning too. He didn't mean it... He didn't mean to do it. He just wanted to be left alone. He didn't want to hurt the boy.
Heero embraced his bent legs, pulling them tightly to his chest. He didn't mean it... He didn't...
~*~
Helen yawned as she made her way down the hall from her room to the big sleeping room the children shared, the moon light her only source of light. She always checked on them a couple of times during the night just to make sure they were alright.
She was worried about Duo tonight. She had found out that Heero had broken Duo's doll. Helen knew that the toy was Duo's most precious possession. Father Maxwell had given it to him on his first Christmas here. Even as a toddler he had always been dragging the doll with him everywhere. She knew that it brought him comfort when even she or Father Maxwell couldn't help. But now...
She sighed and brought the bathrobe even closer to her body. With little money to spare, they couldn't afford to heat the whole orphanage up and mainly at night it was getting chilly within the corridors. She stepped to the door leading into the children's sleeping room when she saw a light under the door of the small office where Father Maxwell usually worked. She frowned, knowing that it wasn't him in there. Father Maxwell had to leave for a couple of days unfortunately. Now, when Duo would need him the most.
She crossed the hall to the office curious about whom it might be in there. She opened the door and peered inside. Her eyebrows shoot up when she recognized Heero sitting on the chair behind the table, dressed only in his blue pajamas with little red cars and with the tennis shoes on his feet, working on something in the light of the small table lamp. He was concentrating so much on his task that he didn't even notice her when she approached him.
"What are you doing, Heero?" she asked quietly while peeking over his shoulder.
The boy jumped up in the chair and looked up at her. "I... I..." he stammered and looked back at what he had been doing.
The doll, she realized. He was repairing Duo's doll. With a paste and an adhesive tape he had found on the table he had been able to attach the head back to the trunk. Helen had to admit that he was quite skilful. Only the bright piece of tape covering the doll's neck revealed where the brake had been. "That looks good, Heero," she praised him laying one hand around his small shoulders.
He lay the toy on the table softly, his hands resting in his lap. "I didn't mean to break it. Really. I didn’t mean to make Duo sad," he admitted quietly.
Helen sighed and kissed the boy on the top of his head. "I know, Heero. I know. But you must know that this doll means the world for Duo. It's something that belongs only to him where everything else he has to share. He considers the doll his best friend. You hurt him really badly when you broke it."
Heero was quiet but he hung his head a little. "I'm sorry."
"You don't have to say it to me. Apologize to Duo. He will forgive you, I'm sure of it. But you should really go to bed now. It's late and you shouldn't even be awake." She helped him get down from the chair and laid the doll in his arms. She smiled when she saw him clutch it tightly to his chest. With her hand on his shoulder they left the small and quite messy office after she had turned off the light.
They stepped into the sleeping room where rows and rows of beds on both sides of the room stood. In most of them small children where sleeping peacefully. Heero scrambled up his bed that was positioned next to Duo's and Helen covered him up to his neck. She stopped when she saw him still gripping the toy tightly in his left hand.
"I will return it to him in the morning. I promise," he said seeing her looking at the toy.
She nodded. "Okay, I trust you, Heero." She bent down and kissed him on his forehead. "Goodnight. And no other night journeys, okay?"
He nodded and with a light caress to his face she turned and checking on the other children she left the room closing the door behind her.
"His name is Shini, ya know."
The voice coming from Duo's bed startled Heero. He thought that the other child was asleep. He turned on his side and looked over at Duo seeing his big violet eyes shining in the moonlight. The braided boy was laying on his side too, one hand bent under his head.
"I named him Shini and he is my best friend," Duo whispered not wanting to wake the others.
"I didn't want to steal him," Heero whispered back. When he had gone to try and repair it he had taken the doll from then small nightstand next to Duo's bed where the other boy had laid it before going to sleep. "I wanted to fix it."
"Did it go well?"
Heero nodded and sat up in his bed. He raised his hand with the doll and offered it to Duo. The violet-eyed boy sat up too and reaching over the small gap between the two beds he took the toy back from Heero. He looked at the fixed neck, caressing the tape there. Then he raised his eyes back to Heero. "Thank you."
Heero shrugged and lowered his eyes to his blanket. Then remembering Helen's words he said quietly: "I didn't mean to break it. I didn't."
Duo only nodded, clutching the toy to his chest.
"I... I'm sorry..." There were tears in Heero's voice. He felt so lonely. Even living with his bad uncle was better than being all alone in the world like he was now.
After a moment of silence there was a rustle coming from Duo's bed and then the sound of bare feet on the ground. When he looked up, Duo was standing next to his bed in his white pyjamas with small green frogs. Some of his hair had escaped the loose braid and he looked adorably cute. "You want me to sleep with you tonight?" he offered. "You won't feel so lonely anymore."
Heero blinked uncertainly. He would like to but... Would Duo really... Would he do it for him after what he had done? Heero couldn't believe that Duo would be so forgiving even though Sister Helen had told him that he was. "Would you?" he asked finally, quite shyly.
Duo nodded, smiling brightly once again. Heero lifted his blanket and moved a bit to the right, allowing Duo to climb under the covers with him. They lay down on their sides facing each other, the doll lying on the pillow between them. They were watching each other for a while before Duo broke the silence with a whisper: "Y'know, Shini is great, but sometimes... sometimes he isn't enough anymore. Maybe... maybe we could have each other," he suggested carefully.
Heero thought about it for a while. It would be great to have somebody who would belong only to you. Just like Shini belonged to Duo. If Duo would be his and he would be Duo's they wouldn't be lonely anymore. Heero could feel a warm feeling spreading all over him just thinking about it. To have somebody who would really care...
"Yeah, it would be great," he answered, the longing evident in his voice.
Duo smiled brightly and reaching over, he caught one of Heero's hands in his own and squeezed it. "Kay."
"Kay." Heero smiled too, for the first time in years. He wasn't lonely anymore because now he had Duo. And he would never let him go...
OWARI
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