Perfect Part 15
In the waiting room, Quatre yawned and curled closer to Trowa, shivering slightly as he did. Trowa laid his jacket around his love's shoulders and allowed his fingers to caress the shining gold of his hair.
Precious angel. Desert rose.
He smirked to himself.
Titanium-coated gundanium demon with lively sapphire eyes clothed in velvet innocence.
No wonder he scares them so! he chuckled.
Quatre sat up. "Are you laughing?"
"Just a bit," he admitted wryly.
Desert Rose smiled winsomely and sighed. "Share, then. I could do with some amusement."
"I was thinking about you," said Trowa quietly. Wufei was meditating, or possibly on another astral plane and he didn't want to disturb him. "How sweet and adorable you seem; your childlike innocence. What a smooth and deceptive cover it is for your true self."
Precious Angel looked up frowning, unsure if he should be flattered, angry or taken aback. "My true self?"
Trowa smiled. "The unbreakable, unstoppable warrior underneath, of course."
Quatre regarded him from wide eyes. Sometimes his taciturn and thoughtful love was extremely deep. Core-of-the-earth deep. "Me?"
Trowa's smile widened to a grin, and Quatre's heart leapt. Just for me! A real grin! He wrapped his arms around Trowa's neck and kissed him quickly.
"I just had to!" he whispered when they parted. "Whenever I see that smile, I just HAVE to kiss you!"
"What are you two doing?" muttered Wufei, peering at them from a single slitted eye. "We're in a hospital, remember."
"Sorry, Wufei," Trowa apologized softly. "I was just thinking about Quatre, and..."
Wufei rolled his eyes. "The thought became the act. The two of you are as bad as Maxwell at his worst."
Quatre giggled. "Oh, surely his best, Wufei!"
"Hmph."
He uncoiled from his lotus and stood up to stretch. "You know, Barton, you still haven't explained what happened to Maxwell. I don't expect explanations from Yuy, but you're being less than forthcoming. Winner said it was bad, but he couldn't tell how."
Trowa looked at Quatre. "How?"
"I touched his arm when you were putting him in the van." He shivered and hunched his shoulders at the memory. "Horrible. What happened?"
Innocence lost... though never forgotten. Quatre had never forgotten his innocence, unlike himself or the others.
~*~
Duo awoke with a faint whimper. He forced his eyes open, trying as he did to sit up. A firm hand on his sternum held him down.
"Not yet. You just had surgery."
"Huh..." he groaned stupidly. He turned his head and saw a pair of deep blue eyes only inches from his own. "Heero..?"
"Yes. Are you in pain?"
Concentrating, Duo recognised that yes, he was in pain. He nodded.
Heero swung carefully off the bed to call a nurse. She came immediately with a capsule, which Duo swallowed meekly.
Heero sat on the bed, his hand resting over Duo's. "Better?" he asked after a few minutes.
"Yeah, lots better. What happened?" he asked drowsily.
"Perforated colon."
Duo swallowed. "Shit..." His giggle melted into a groan as he struggled not to laugh. "Bad choice... of curses," he gasped.
Heero smiled in relief. "I would say so, yes."
"Am I okay now?"
"The doctor says that you will be. Duo... I should have taken you to a doctor immediately. I'm sorry."
Duo lifted his shoulders. "Not your fault. Not mine either," he sighed. "Bad luck... Stinkin' bad luck. I'm really tired... Can I go back to sleep?"
"Of course. You can go home in two or three days, depending on how well you do. Go back to sleep. I'll be here."
"Thanks," he mumbled and yawned hugely. He fumbled for Heero's hand and clasped it as he fell asleep.
~*~
When next Duo awoke, he found not Heero, but Wufei sitting next to the bed.
He frowned, looking around the room. "Wufei..? Where's Heero..?"
"How nice to see you also, Maxwell. Barton and Winner threatened to carry him bodily from the room to get something to eat."
Duo relaxed, closing his eyes with a sigh. "That's good... I had a bad dream..."
Wufei closed his book and leaned closer. "A nightmare? I'm not surprised after what happened to you." Only a hint of his concern was audible; Duo didn't catch it.
"Ne," Duo waved it away. "Just a bad dream. I was here and Heero was on a mission and needed help, and I couldn't help him."
Wufei snorted gently. "Well, you ARE here, but the only mission Yuy has right now, is to swallow some of that disgusting cafeteria food. Go on back to sleep. I'll tell him to wake you when he gets back."
"Okay... You know, Wufei, you're really a great guy." Surprised, Wufei was about to reply when Duo smirked and finished, "When you aren't yelling."
"Just be glad you're incapacitated right now, Maxwell," he snorted. Smart-ass.
Heero didn't return right away, but Quatre did. To Wufei's raised eyebrow, Quatre explained, "Trowa drove him to the house. The excuse was to pick up the car, but he's going to make sure that Heero gets a shower and some computer time."
"Very good. He does get out of sorts when he's away from that notebook for any length of time."
~*~
Heero lifted his head to look down at Duo's pale face. The boy sighed and lifted his hand slightly, brushing at one of the sensors stuck to his chest. Heero's icy cobalt eyes softened and he caught Duo's hand in his.
"Shhh... It's all right, Duo," he whispered. "Nothing to worry about. I'm here; you're not alone."
Violet eyes opened briefly. "You're okay..." he sighed.
Heero raised one eyebrow. "Yes, I'm fine."
"Tha's good... Bad dream... 'Kay now..." He tried to turn over, winced and frowned.
"Let me help," Heero said quietly. He eased off the bed and helped Duo onto his side, keeping the tubes and wires out of his way. "Is that better?"
Duo smiled blearily. "Yeah..." He snuggled against the pillow with a deep sigh.
Heero thought he had gone back to sleep.
"Heero?"
"Yes, Duo?" He leaned in close to decipher his slurred words.
"Where's Snow...?"
Whatever he expected, it wasn't that. "Quatre is working on something for him and for the other street whores. A way for them to get off the streets."
"Oh. That's nice of Quatre... Heero... Rose had money... Bank account..." Heero listened without interrupting. "Can you find it... Fix it for Snow..."
"You want me to locate Rose's bank account and put it in Snow's name?"
"Yeah... He had a card..." He opened his eyes. "My local account... Put it all in Snow's. Shoulda known... Been more 'lert..." His violet eyes drifted shut and a moment later he was thrumming softly.
"Duo," he said gently, "it wasn't your fault, but yes, baka; I'll take care of Snow."
Quatre and Wufei had gone back to the house to sleep now that Duo was out of danger. Heero found Trowa in the lounge watching a nature program on the vid. He was happy to sit with Duo while Heero went to the house to do some hacking.
When Wufei cleaned up the scene and stripped Duo's motel room, he brought everything to the house. Heero found Duo's stuff in the laundry room along with a backpack that probably belonged to Rose. Inside he found a wallet confirming it. It took him less than half an hour to hack the bank, find Rose's account and make the necessary changes. The transfer from Duo's working account to Snow was accomplished in seconds. The final total was nearly 40,000. He blinked at the numbers. He had no idea of the money Duo had accumulated in only three weeks time.
At least he made the chikan pay well for the crap they did to him.
But it bothered him. Was this the only measure of his worth that Duo believed in? Heero refused to believe that, and he wouldn't allow Duo to believe it, either.
Never again. NEVER again for pay...
~*~
After he had finished his work, he went back to the piles of clothing and personal effects mounded on the floor. He began sorting it into different piles. Duo had also accumulated quite a wardrobe. The things that were obviously meant for the street he separated, thinking that Duo would probably never need them again. In doing so, he came upon the purple dress and sandals that Duo had shocked Wufei with. He pushed them aside, meaning to throw them out, but something stopped him.
Hesitantly, he lifted the dress, holding it at arms' length, trying to picture Duo in drag. To his surprise, the image came easily. It was no stretch at all to see the auburn-haired youth strutting and teasing in the thigh-grazing dress and towering heels, and that vision made him vaguely uncomfortable. He dropped it back on the floor. He couldn't throw it away; Duo wouldn't like being managed that way. But maybe he would get rid of it himself.
He hung his head wearily and sighed, then gathered his notebook to go back to the hospital.
The sound of the car leaving awakened Wufei. He wandered into Heero's room and saw that the notebook was gone. Presumably, he couldn't stand his withdrawal symptoms any longer. Wufei yawned, scratched his rear end idly and turned to leave. His gaze lit on the bit of purple cloth. He picked it up between thumb and forefinger and shook his head.
That idiot. Dressing up like a woman, for god sake. Anything to shock. Baka.
He dropped it again and returned to his bed to fall face down into sleep.
~*~
Leaving the hospital entailed getting Duo into a wheelchair for the trip from his room to the car.
He refused.
Heero insisted.
He reiterated his refusal.
Heero death-glared at him.
Duo stuck his tongue out.
Heero lifted him bodily into the chair and threatened to have Wufei sit on him to keep him in it.
Duo relented. He was still weak from the surgery and three days spent mostly in bed.
"I feel stupid," he muttered during the ride.
"It's their rule, Duo."
"I hate rules."
"I know."
"Baka."
"No, Duo," he offered patiently. "I am the hacker; YOU are the baka."
Duo twisted around to look at him in surprise. "What?!"
Heero looked down at him, all seriousness. "Wufei is retribution, Trowa is infiltration, Quatre is strategy, I am intelligence and you, Shinigami, are the comedy relief. Didn't you read your contract?"
Duo stared open-mouthed for a full minute; Heero knew he would never forget his expression.
"I'm... WHAT?! Comedy relief?! Hey, Shinigami does DEATH not comedy! Are you outta your fuckin'... Oh." Comprehension dawned as a smile spread across his face. "Heero! You made a JOKE! That was pretty good. You must have been practicing that for months, right?"
Heero smirked slightly. He hadn't, it had popped into his mind the moment Duo called him baka, but let Duo think he had been saving it.
"Hn. Don't call me baka again."
Duo settled more comfortably in the chair. "I won't; I promise." How about that?! Heero Yuy had a sense of humor hidden away after all. What a difference that could make. Then he sighed. But Heero probably wouldn't let it show again. Unless Duo could coax it out of him...
Hey, another goal to reach for!
TBC...
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