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"That Which Mends"Written By: SkyLark Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing, or its characters. I just love playing with them. Pairings: 2x1x2, past 2xOC, 5xOC, 3x4 Warnings: Angst, Violence, Sap, Lemons/Limes, AU Archives: http://www.gundam-wing-diaries.150m.com/gw/SkyLark/gwSkyLark.htm
and http://www.mizunoamy.bravepages.com/skylark/skylarkfics.html Summary: Heero is a straight A student studying Psychology and finds his world turned upside down when he attends a Frat party.
"That Which Mends" [Love is where this begin Chapter 15
It was amazing how many places glitter and confetti could get into.
Snickering to himself, Heero bent over his bathroom trashcan as he shook out the last shimmering flakes from his unruly hair after his shower.
Despite the trouble that it was to clean himself after his so-called initiation, he couldn't help smiling to himself at the thought of his shocked classmates that he passed by in his return to his dormitory.
His new friends certainly had a way of keeping life interesting.
With a deep sigh, the psych major fell back against his bed. Folding his arms behind his head, he stared up at the ceiling to contemplate his next day's schedule.
He found it funny how much he was actually looking forward to spending more and more time with the Preventers considering how it wasn't too long ago he wanted nothing to do with them or their case that he had been pulled into.
Luckily for him, Villanova's spring break was less than a week away to open up his schedule so that he could- That thought was cut off as the student pushed himself upright when he cut himself off of that train of thought, Yuy blinked widely.
Spring Break. That was about to pose a problem he hadn't considered before.
There might be a way around this approaching dilemma. He would just have to bring it up to the others for their suggestions.
After all, if anyone knew out to find their way out of a fix, it was the Preventers.
* * * *
(Flashback)
Duo was nearly lulled to sleep by the steady beeping of the heart monitor a few feet from his head.
His muscles were still aching and his mind still tired from the hellish fight and the emotional aftermath that he had been through the night before. But he was not about to be anywhere other than where he was now, no matter how much sleep he might have needed.
Squeezing the hand that was limp in his own, the braided agent raised his free hand to gently brush a few loose red curls behind Anna's ear. The weapons expert had yet to regain consciousness after the shot she had taken during their botched recovery mission. And the surgery to remove her appendix, the toxins it had leaked and the bullet that had caused the damage took its toll on her body.
Downs lay on her stomach with her head facing Maxwell now, the back of her medical gown cut away from her waist up to reveal the thick gauze that was taped down in a diagonal line from shoulder to hip.
The wound had finally stopped bleeding and the nurses would occasionally stop in to check the stitching beneath the white bandages until over an hour had passed without a visit... a good sign then things were progressing as they should have been.
Finally, with a soft sigh, there was movement behind Fire's eyelids.
All but falling out of his chair as his whole body shot up, Scythe could already feel a tingling in his violet eyes when his best friend let out a small moan of pain before her blue eyes blinked open, slowly and with effort until they focused on him and grew.
"Hey, Anna," he whispered, a smile of relief spreading across his face.
"D-Duo?" her strained voice croaked.
Her lips turning into a deep frown of confusion, she began to ask, "But... what... where...?" Gasping sharply, the heart monitor hooked to her began to beep rapidly as her eyes grew as far as they could. "Oh God.. Wufei!" she cried as she tried to push herself up. "Is he alright?!" she questioned urgently when she felt Maxwell carefully move her arms back to her sides so she could stay flat on her stomach back on the bed.
By the time he sat down, the redhead was scanning the hospital room around them to catch the IV and machines she was hooked to. "H-holy shit," she breathed, her face paling at the full realization of her situation while the rhythm of the heart monitor slowed to a steadier beat once more. "Am I going to be okay?" she heard herself question as her braided counterpart met her gaze again.
He kept his sheer joy to himself when he noticed her toes wiggling underneath the white sheets covering her from the waist down.
As soon as the doctor came in, he'd be making a point to tell him there was no need for alarm over any potential paralysis before Anna would have to deal with the worry over whatever nerve damage she might have endured on top of everything else that had happened.
Biting her lip, Downs fixed him with a determined stare and pressed, "But Wufei is okay... right?"
Duo could feel his stomach dropping out as he cleared his throat at that. "Physically, yes, thanks to you," he answered honestly. Of course, he anticipated the deepening frown for clarification that he was given in response. Unable to keep his emotions in check any longer, he sucked in his bottom lip as the tears began to roll down his face.
Voice cracking, he managed, "Meiran ran into the scene to back the two of you up and... Fei had no way of knowing it was her when he..." Swallowing hard, he shook his head, "She didn't make it."
Her jaw falling open and skin turning as white as the gauze on her back, Anna whimpered, "Oh God... no." Ignoring the tears rolling down her own face, she moved to push herself back up as she insisted, "I have to find him... He has to be beside himself and blaming everything on him-" "Anna!" Scythe cried, gripping her arms fast again. "Don't make me call a nurse to have you sedated!"
Every last bit of fight Downs had in her completely evaporated right then. Well aware that he was not one to make threats without meaning them, she sagged back onto the bed and her resolve fell apart so that she could sob in her grief over Long's death.
Sniffling as he fell back into his seat, Maxwell brushed the tears from her cheek and murmured brokenly, "I know this hurts. And it's going to for a long time... for all of us, but we have to take this one step at a time. For you, that means taking care of yourself so you can get well."
Reluctantly, he added, "We have no idea where Fei is right now. He was supposed to be here with the rest of us, but he never showed. Lady Une and Quatre are going to be stopping in as soon as they're finished visiting Trowa and we're heading out to find him. And the last thing Fei needs right now is for you to push yourself into looking after him and possibly hurting yourself worse than you're already off right now."
Puffing out the air from his lungs, Duo rested their foreheads together with a sad smile. "That's my girl," he muttered affectionately. He felt her lean into his touch and silently soaked up just being able to have her still in his life to have the comfort of her company.
After a long pause, fresh tears ran unchecked and he took a deep breath, he requested quietly, "Promise me that you'll never die on me, Anna. I can't have you going and leaving me like everyone else... it'll kill me. You're my best friend and..."
Her eyes snapping open, the redhead vowed, "I promise." No matter how impossible a thing it was to swear, she knew he needed to hear it simply for the sake of hearing it. He had already been through enough and had no problem promising him the world if he asked.
Satisfied with that, Maxwell leaned in to press their lips together in a soft kiss for a few breaths. "Love you," he told her as their eyes locked again.
"Love you too," Anna, a small smile curling her mouth. Until a jolt of pain shot through her lower back. Wincing, she said, "Um... you might want to let the nursing staff know I'm up. Some morphine would be nice right about now."
Jumping to his feet, Duo replied, "On it." He spun on his heels and rushed from the room.
[End Flashback]
* * * *
Taping a box of her belongings closed, Downs smiled to her guest, "Thanks again for stopping over to help me get a head start on this. It'll make the actual move a lot smoother to have everything packed and ready by then."
"What are best friends for? At the rate we're going, we'll have you ready to go before the weekend." Maxwell grinned back. Holding up a hand as he held down the lid of the box he had just filled, he said, "Tape me."
Easily catching the roll that was tossed to him from the other half of the living room, he made quick work of securing the folds of the container and pushed himself up from his knees. "There," he smirked as he brushed his hands together, "All that's left to put away in this room are your pictures, then."
Mentioning the framed images throughout the space, he walked over to the mantle for a good look at the arrangement. Each stitch in time of different shapes and sizes were snapshots of fond memories stating from the time that he and Anna had joined the Preventers to complete the team.
But one particular shot stood out. In the middle of the display, in a heavy crystal frame, was the last image taken of the whole pack.
In it, Meiran and Anna were laughing at the camera in matching bridesmaid dresses- Lowe's in red and Downs' in deep purple- as they were forever captured in a loose embrace while their tuxedo-adorned teammates huddled in to be included in the photo along with Lady Une in her flowing bridal gown with her newly wed husband on her arm.
It was the last best day and night they would all have together. Less than a week later, Trowa would be sent off to embed himself into the seedy life of the streets believed to be run by a sex trade ring. And when they were reunited again...
"That was a great time," Duo sighed when he realized that he had taken up the frame to stare at it as the fond memories from their Commander's wedding came flooding back.
Righting herself onto her feet, Anna sighed, "Yes, it was."
With a snicker, the braided agent tuned the picture towards his counterpart. "I remember finding that glitter that was sprayed in your hair for weeks between my sheets and everywhere else in my place after that night."
Anna giggled, "Yea, too bad we don't remember much more beyond that. If the shape of your bedroom was any indication, you and I had one hell of an after party." Duo laughed with her, their heads shaking.
That was also one of the last times they would ever wake up naked in one or the other's beds. After Meiran had been killed... everything changed for all of the team. Downs' wilder days had taken a backseat while Maxwell only delved deeper into his own.
But despite the different paths they had taken in their lives, their friendship sustained... even strengthened all the more after that mission. In many ways, though they had lost the physical aspect of what they shared, they had only become all the closer than they had been as friends with benefits.
Peering to the other framed shots on the mantle, Agent Scythe frowned to himself. Meiran was included in many of the pictures from old game nights, get togethers, the office and other times when she had been a fixture in their existences... and those images following her death spoke volumes to what other changes had occurred.
There were smiling faces on the Commander and the Preventers in each capture, but those grins had a strained sadness behind them. Behind their eyes, the same sparks that were once there had been extinguished.
But then, there was a shift once more... beginning with the image of a private moment between Anna and Wufei at Trowa and Quatre's engagement celebration. The pair had only just begun dating at the time, the redhead only recently able to walk on her own following her long recovery from the shot she took for the pack leader.
Dressed in an emerald green dress of velvet and wearing gold jewelry that was gifted her to that night, Downs reminded Duo of a Disney princess and Chang made a dashing Prince Charming in his suit with his hands on her waist. Here their smiles were real. In this, their eyes that were locked on one another were bright once more. [1]
Everything from the picturesque scene from the balcony overlooking the city to the emotion in their gazes that they no longer kept to themselves was perfect. And from that snapshot going forward, there was no looking back for them.
A smile tugging his lips, Duo sighed and looked back to his former lover as he yawned and stretched his arms over his head. "Let's call it a night," he suggested. "It's getting late and I need to get in on time tomorrow to see what's come up on those plates I ran on the car Heero identified."
"Sounds good," Anna yawned back as she finished stacking a few of the boxes while her teammate walked off for the closest bathroom.
When he emerged, Maxwell was in a simple, white T-shirt and gray sweatpants for his overnight stay and collapsed onto the sofa with a loud sigh. Shifting himself onto his side as he pulled the blanket draped over the armrest onto himself, he patted the pillows under his braided head to adjust them so they were just right.
"Please tell me you're taking this with you to Fei's," he commented. "This is easily the most comfortable couch I've ever crashed on. I've spent a lot of nights on this and would hate to see it go."
Downs folded her arms across her chest, smirking, "Don't worry. It's going, too. And Wufei already knows that it's yours to use whenever you need it."
His violet blinking widely up at her, Duo all but whispered, "You really arranged that... for me?"
The redhead shrugged, "What are best friends for?" She laughed when she was suddenly scooped up into a fierce embrace when the other agent sprang up. Hugging him back as tightly, she said, "You know I would never leave you behind. I make a promise that I never would. Wufei understands that."
Swallowing hard, Scythe pulled back and rested their foreheads together. "Thank you," he breathed. "Love you." "No thanks needed and love you, too," Fire smiled in kind as she rubbed his arms. "Now get some sleep." That said, she began to walk from the living room while turning the lamps out on her way past them.
Biting his lip, Duo called to her when she was nearly away, "Annie..." She stopped to turn and watch him with a tilt of her head. "You know... if I hadn't realized that I prefer being with guys, I'd... we'd..."
Without hesitating, the braided agent nodded, "Right. You're totally right on all of that. I just kinda need to tell you, though..."
Drawing a deep breath, he stated, "I couldn't have hoped for a better guy for you than Fei. And I can't imagine him with anyone other than you so... You two have that perfect fit. And even through I might give you crap about settling down, I really am happy for you that you found that with him."
Taken aback by his sincere sentiment, Anna's eyes began to mist over in the dim light that remained beyond the doorway. Her bottom lip quivering, she closed the distance between them in a blink to throw her arms tightly around his neck. "Thank you," she murmured by his ear. Duo held her fast and kissed her temple.
Clearing her throat as she leaned back, the weapons expert cupped the side of her friend's face. "The only thing that'll make me all the happier is when you find that with someone," she smiled.
Staring at the floor, Duo heard himself ask under his breath, "I just... don't think I have it in me to trust like that. I wouldn't even now where to start."
Anna paused in the doorway, her red curls catching the light behind her in the hallway as she leaned her back against the doorpost to watch him. "Well, you can always start the same place Wufei and I did. Sometimes you just need to slow down and take a good look at what's been right in front of you."
Grinning to the violet eyes that lifted onto her, she offered a cheerful, "Good night," and spun around the disappear with the switching off of the glow from the main floor.
"Night," Scythe sighed. Falling back onto the couch, he stared up at past the darkness to study the outline of the ceiling in deep thought.
Oh, there was no mistaking who Downs was referring to with her comment. It was the same person she had been hinting to for a while up to that moment. Though she never came outright and said Heero's name, she undoubtedly believed the psych major had the potential to be more to Duo than one of his usual one night stands.
Chuckling quietly, the braided young man shook his head, "Nah. Don't even start entertaining that, Maxwell." He pulled the blanket back over himself, pillowed his head as he turned onto his side and quickly fell into a deep sleep. * * * *
"We have a problem," Heero frowned deeply as soon as he stepped onto the seventh floor of the federal building the following morning.
Walking towards the desk nest as his friends raised their heads to watch his approach. "Spring break begins after this week and the dormitories will be closed. If we're going to keep this act up, I'm going to need a place to stay until classes resume." Removing a small bottle of water from his backpack, he opened it to water his bonsai tree.
Her blue eyes growing, Anna's head turned so fast to Duo that he was shocked she didn't give herself whiplash.
While the rest of their team discussed the challenge amongst themselves, the two best friends glared at each other in a silent discussion of their own until Fire became the decisive winner by kicking her braided counterpart in his shin beneath their linked desks.
Heero cut him off with a shrugged, "Okay."
Paused in mid-sentence, Maxwell blinked widely with a surprised, "Oh-wha?"
"That works for me," Yuy replied matter-of-factly as he began.
Calm and cool as he appeared on the outside, he was silently reeling over how quickly he had agreed to stay with his one transgression. At first, it seemed a logical arrangement but the more he thought about it, perhaps jumping in so fast was not the best course of action...
...but he was in it now and it would have been rude to backpedal his way out.
He thought aloud as he took his place at his desk beside the braided officer, "I'll pack enough to get me through the week and we'll work out the other details later, then?"
Putting on his best smile, Duo answered, "Great." While the scholar and the rest of his teammates made themselves busy in starting out their days, he narrowed his violet eyes on the smirking redhead at his other side who was biting back her urge to laugh.
When their gazes met, she mouthed, 'Right in front of you.' And with a wink, she got up to return to her lab at the opposite end of the floor.
Grumbling so low only he was aware he was making the sound, Maxwell continued to glare at her back until she vanished from sight. He typed furiously against his keyboard and contemplated how he was going to get the redhead back for what she had just volunteered him for.
A whole week bunking with a former heat-of-the-moment flame... that was what she had gotten him into.
Oh, Shinigami would be getting her back good for this one.
From the corner of his eye, Duo watched Heero diligently going through his books and reports and felt his lips stretching into a small smile that he wiped away the moment he felt it come on. Diving back into his work, he banished any potential hint of anticipation over his situation.
Unbeknownst to his lover and teammates, Trowa was in a personal battle of his own as he tried to keep his focus on his research and not the thoughts that had been creeping up on him. However, when he caught himself tugging on his right sleeve at the subtle shaking in his hand, he sighed and gave up on resisting the inevitable.
Pushing himself from his chair, Night rounded the cluster to lean his hands on the edge of Yuy's desk as everything fell silent and all eyes fell on him. "Heero.... if you have a minute, can we talk?" he asked softly.
Jaws dropping, Duo, Wufei and Quatre forced themselves to resume their tasks rather than stare despite their disbelief at what was happening.
Equally caught off guard, the intern managed to regain his composure quickly. "I have all day if you need it," he chuckled as he stood up and led the way to his private office. Stepping aside for his new patient, he granted the tall agent access inside before following after him.
At the closing of the door behind them, Winner smiled in relief as he went on typing away while Maxwell and Chang exchanged stunned expressions. Never would either one of them have imagined that their Latin friend would ask for a visit with their counselor.
Inside his room, Heero made quick to gather up his notepad and pen as Barton took a seat at the long couch.
Perching on the chair in the across from the officer, he opened their session with a polite, "So... what would you like to talk about?
TBC
[1] Another beautiful work of T-shirt: {Pic for a link] |
