Author: KatiKat
Warnings: Short, pointless h/c, POV
Rating: PG
Pairings: 1+2 or none - you choose :)
Archives: KatiKat and Friends
Disclaimer: All standard disclaimers apply here.
Notes: My big thank you goes to DMx04! Great to have you back! *huggles*
This is a PWP, pointless. This fic doesn't have an actual beginning or an end. I just felt the need to write a story about a really caring and gentle Heero!
Past Midnight
It was past midnight when something woke me up. At first I didn't know what it was, but then I heard it again - a deep, gut wrenching cough coming from the room next to mine. Just listening to it made my chest ache. There was the sound of a wheezing breath in the pause between two coughing fits. Someone murmured something quietly. A door opened, the sound of footsteps echoed through the corridor, then another door creaked open. I heard the shower start to run in the bathroom down the hall. The steps returned just as the coughing started again. There was more mumbling, then the cough moved from the room into the corridor. When the door to the bathroom closed, all the sounds in the safe house became muffled.
Duo, it must be him, I thought. He didn't look good when he and Heero returned from their mission. When I asked him about it, Duo waved my concerns off as unimportant. But I noticed the concerned looks Heero was giving him.
All the pilots knew that Duo's health hadn't been the best since Heero rescued him from the Oz base. This episode hadn't been the first one and I was sure that it wouldn't be the last one either. Duo's immune system had been weakened and nothing short of a long vacation would be able to restore his health once again. Unfortunately, we were in the middle of a war and the Oz troops wouldn't just politely wait for us to get well again.
I listened to the low sound of Duo's coughing for a couple more minutes. This was the longest and most serious fit so far, and I tried to convince myself that I wasn't concerned. I decided not to think about a situation where Heero would have to make the decision to either bring Duo to the hospital and risk Oz detecting us, or watch his partner suffer and choke on the fluid filling his lungs. Better not go there.
With a sigh I sat up in bed, threw the covers aside and got up. I opened the door to my room and walked down the dark and narrow corridor. A small sliver of yellow light was seeping from under the bathroom door. I hesitated, then knocked on the door and opened it.
The bathroom was full of steam. Heero was sitting on the edge of the tub, holding Duo in his lap. He was holding Duo's hair out of his face and rubbing his back as Duo tried to rid his lungs of the phlegm that clogged his respiratory system. They were both dressed in shorts and t-shirt, their standard sleeping attire. The tub was half full of scaldingly hot water, clouds of team swirling around them.
Heero looked up as the door creaked open lightly. Our eyes met for a moment, before he turned his attention back to Duo. "Breathe, slowly. Shhh," he murmured, trying to coax Duo into pulling air into his tortured lungs.
"Hurts," Duo managed to croak, his breath wheezing. His cheeks were flushed and damp, his eyes closed tightly, tears shining on his lashes.
"I know, I know," Heero whispered into his ear. "But the steam will help. You know it will. It just takes a little time. Shhhh." He helped to hold a tissue to Duo's mouth as another coughing fit wracked his body, since Duo's hands were shaking with exhaustion.
I closed the door behind myself, and stepped closer to the two of them. "Do you need any help?" I offered.
Heero looked at me. "Yeah, you could hand me the box of tissues." He pointed at the paper box sitting at the edge of the basin, just outside his reach.
I took the box and laid it on the closed lid of the toilet just as Heero disposed of another tissue, throwing it into the waste-bin.
He nodded at me, and pulled another tissue from the box.
I watched them a moment longer. I wasn't used to seeing Heero, the cold Perfect Soldier, so gentle and it made me feel as if I was intruding on a very private moment. "If you need something, just shout. I will leave the door to my room open," I said and turned to leave the bathroom.
"Wufei!" Heero called my name when I was about to close the door behind myself.
"Yes?" I looked at him expectantly.
"Thank you," he said quietly, a small but genuine smile on his lips.
I nodded and closed the door behind me. This will be a long night for them.
OWARI
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