|
"Birds Of A Feather" Written By: Stone Angel
Disclaimer: I WISH I was making money off this.
And I wish I owned the characters. But, sadly, they're just my playthings
and other people who are richer and happier than I can claim otherwise. Rating: R Warnings: TWT, shounen ai, sap, fluff, occaisional silliness, humor, angst, blood, violence, language, kinda super natural. Archive: Steal it or any parts of it and I WILL
kill you. I’m not kidding, I’ve seen me do it Pairings: 1x2 Authors Notes: It's Super Natural in a really wierd way(that isn't even a good way to describe it), *NOT* SCI-FI, *NOT* DARK in the least, and it's something that I'm sure many of us have thought of at one time or another but I've never read anything about it so I'm changing that. Hmph. I hope you like it. ^_^ Spoilers: Yeah, a few. Unfortunately, they are from several episodes from all over the the series(including the Episode Zero manga) so listing them all would be pointless. And they are things that I think everyone knows already. But, to cover my own ass, if you have not seen the show, don't read. Also, why would you be here? 0_o Feedback: I will love you forever if you let me know what you think. Good comments adored, CC welcomed, flames laughed at. THANKS TO... KOHAKU!!! (glomps!), who helped me
work out a few things with the fic. You rock!
"Birds Of A Feather"
CHAPTER 10:
Duo was drinking his coffee over the paper the next morning when Heero walked into the kitchen. He was fully dressed, but his hair was even more disheveled than usual, falling over his bandage, and he looked like he was still half-asleep. One of his smaller feathers was in his hair but he obviously didn’t know as he walked past the table into the kitchen with shuffling footsteps. Duo’s eyes widened. ‘That is the CUTEST thing I’ve EVER seen!’ He grinned. Heero seemed to sense him grinning at his back and turned his head quickly to glare at him over his shoulder. Just as quickly, Duo turned around immediately and began to read his paper again. ‘How did he know?’ “You’re quiet.” Heero said to him. “Why?” Duo realized that this was the first morning he had not said something to Heero when he first saw him. “Just reading.” He answered. Heero snorted. “Uh-huh.” He said in a disbelieving tone. The sounds of filling the kettle with water and setting it on to boil along with a few other noises came from behind Duo. The footsteps did not return and Duo turned around to see Heero standing by the stove, a cup with a tea bag in it to his side, and watching the kettle with half-mast eyes, waiting for the water to reach a boil. He shook his head. “Haven’t you ever heard the saying ‘A watched pot never boils.’?” Heero turned to glare at him, the feather catching a little air and moving slightly in its place stuck in his dark locks. “That saying is bullshit. I always watch the pot and it always boils at the same time AS I watch it. Why did Americans ever start to come up with these sayings? They are all useless.” “Not ALL of them.” Duo argued and turned back to his paper. “There are a few good ones.” * Heero shook his head and turned back to his kettle of water to find it boiling. His eyebrow twitched a little as his eyes closed in irritation and he wanted to claw at the wall, but he resisted and poured the water into a cup with a teabag. Looking for the sugar bowl and seeing that Duo had it at the table, he grabbed a spoon and sat down across from the braided pilot. He reached over and took the sugar from its place by Duo’s coffee cup and added the amount he liked. Duo watched him with wide eyes. “I hope J knows a good dentist.” Heero glared as he stirred and sipped his tea. “I think you have a sweet tooth, Heero.” He said with a small smile. Heero raised an eyebrow. “THIS from the man who bought SIX loaves of angel food cake, a substance not much more than sugary bread?” He took another sip of his tea. Duo didn’t answer, but he reached over and pulled something out of Heero’s hair, holding it up and grinning. Heero stared at the very small feather that looked like it had come from near where his wings met his back but then sipped his tea. He was getting too used to Duo getting his paws on his feathers to care too much anymore. Duo set it next to his coffee. “Tagging along for the ride in your hair...” He said with a small smile. “...It was really cute.” Heero coughed at the word “cute” and almost sprayed his tea out of his nose. No one had ever said the word “cute” when referring to him. It just wasn’t a word meant for him. And he was fine with that as he didn’t want people thinking he was cute, anyway. He was a warrior. Not a puppy. He swallowed and continued to cough and glare at Duo at the same time. Duo just grinned at him. Heero finally managed to breathe and took another sip of the tea to calm his throat. “You are SO WEIRD.” He said to Duo. Duo just laughed. Apparently the idea of a winged-Gundam Pilot calling a ‘normal’ Gundam Pilot “weird” was just too much. Heero tried to keep from smiling at the sound of that laugh, but a small one formed on his lips anyway so he took another sip of his tea to cover it. When he lowered his teacup, he looked to Duo’s eye. It was still black, but it was almost back to normal and the swelling was completely gone. “That looks better.” He said as he looked away. Duo nodded and opened his mouth to respond but didn’t get the chance. Just then, there was a knock at the door and Heero immediately reached for the butter knife on the table, the closest thing he had to a weapon at the moment. At the same time, Duo grabbed the feather and stuck it in his pocket. Grasping the knife tightly, Heero silently ran into the living room, avoiding the windows. Duo followed him, also silently. Heero took one side of the door and Duo took the other. He nodded to him and opened it, dull blade at the ready. Quatre smiled at him from outside the doorway, holding a duffel bag by his side. “Hello.” Heero lowered the ‘knife’ and opened the door all the way. “You are extremely early.” He stepped back as Duo pushed him out of the way and tackled Quatre. “Long time no see!” He said happily as he hugged the blonde pilot. Quatre hugged him back and smiled to Heero. “I see you two haven’t killed each other.” He looked at Heero’s head, apparently noticing the bandage and he frowned and pulled back out of Duo’s embrace to look at his eye. “Although you obviously tried.” Duo waved a hand dismissively. “We had a mission and we both kinda got hit.” Heero blinked. ‘He just totally lied without lying at ALL. He didn’t say that’s where the black eye came from and we DID both get hit on the mission. Segoi.’ He felt relieved that Duo was comfortable misleading others to protect Heero’s secret. And, because it was not a lie, per se, neither of them was compromised. Quatre smiled brightly. “I see. Well, I’m starved. Would you mind if I joined you for breakfast?” “You want to have breakfast? In your own house? Absolutely not.” Duo replied sarcastically and took Quatre’s bag for him. “I thought you weren’t coming back for a LONG time. Hey, where’s your Gundam, anyway?” Quatre shook his head. “It needed some repairs so it’s elsewhere. That’s why I’m out of action so early. But I much preferred coming to be here with you two.” He said as he stepped into the house. “Speaking of Gundams.” Heero said as he walked out the door. “I have to tend to mine.” He didn’t want to be there while the two of them chatted it up. And besides, he had repairs to do. “Okay.” Duo called behind him cheerfully. “You know your way back.” Heero headed to the hangar. ‘Well, I hope he keeps his word and doesn’t spill anything to Quatre. I would have a REALLY hard time trying to make J understand how TWO people found out.’ He felt a slight jealousy at how happy Duo had been to see Quatre. And a slight hurt at how easily he had let Heero leave so he could be with him. ‘I don’t know what I expected. Quatre is a better friend to him than I could ever be. Of course he would rather be with him.’ He thought. ‘Still... I wish it didn’t hurt so much.’ * Duo watched Heero go for a moment. ‘So, now that Quatre is here, I guess he feels like he doesn’t have to be so friendly to me anymore.’ That thought hurt. He sighed as he gazed at Heero as he walked away before Quatre tapped his shoulder and he shut the door. “Oh, sorry.” He grinned. “Let’s get your stuff put away and then I’ll make you some toast or something. Or we have this cake stuff.” Quatre had a strange look to his aqua eyes as he watched Duo after Duo had watched Heero, but he nodded and let Duo lead him up the stairs. * * * Duo sat across from Quatre who stirred his tea. “So how long until you go back?” “Actually, I can’t stay for very long. They said it should be done tomorrow morning which means that I must leave this afternoon.” Quatre responded with a smile. Duo didn’t know how to feel about it. But Quatre was thinking of something else already, frowning and shaking his head. “So you and Heero had a mission and you both ended up injured? That’s never happened before.” Duo blinked. “Well, it was a tough mission. Some people had to get blew up.” He grinned. Quatre smiled and shook his head. “Uh-huh. That’s a good one. But how are you going to explain the holes in my wall?” Duo was certain that his eyes went wide, though he tried to keep them from doing so. “You saw them?” “Yes, I kind of noticed the plaster over the paint in my once perfect hallway.” He smiled brightly. Duo placed a hand behind his head. “We were gonna paint it yesterday but we got called away for the mission. Sorry.” “It’s fine. How did it happen?” Quatre asked. Duo smiled sheepishly. “Heero got kinda mad at me and he threw me against the wall.” Quatre’s eyes widened. “He got so angry that he hurt you?” Duo frowned slightly in confusion. “Is that so hard to believe?” “Yes.” Quatre nodded, also frowning slightly. “Oh, Allah, is he the one who gave you the black eye, too?” Duo looked down. He didn’t want to lie, but he didn’t have to say it aloud for Quatre to know. Quatre shook his head in disbelief. “Duo, what did you DO?” Duo frowned. “Why are you acting like it’s so weird for Heero to actually hit someone? You’ve seen him do it.” Quatre sighed. “I’m not shocked by the fact that he hit SOMEONE, Duo, I’m shocked by the fact that he hit YOU.” Duo raised an eyebrow. “Huh?” “First tell me what you did.” Quatre said and took a sip of his tea, but his eyes never left Duo’s. “And don’t try to change the subject on me, please.” Shaking his head, he replied. “I can’t lie about it, but I can’t talk about it.” He stirred his coffee as he gazed at it thoughtfully. “Mm-hmm.” Quatre sipped his tea. He frowned and, in a casual tone, asked his next question. “Say, have you been finding any feathers in or around the house?” Duo’s head snapped up and he stared at him with wide eyes. Quatre smiled widely. “Ah. So you have.” Duo’s mouth worked but no sound came out. “I found one in the hangar the day I brought you two here. But it wasn’t the first one I’d found. I found one once on a beach where Heero and I were staying after I had thought that I had killed Trowa.” He sipped his tea. “It was the darnedest thing. I wondered for a long time about its origin. I don’t think it was from a bird.” Duo looked back down to his coffee and stared at it as he stirred it. When he spoke, Quatre’s voice was strangely sly. “...You’ve seen wings.” Duo felt like he had been shot. He snapped his eyes up to Quatre. Quatre smiled brightly. “I had a feeling you had found out.” Duo sputtered. “You KNEW?! HOW?!” Smiling wisely, the blonde responded. “I’m Quatre. I know these things. Why do you think I brought you two to this house? Isolated, hidden from people, plenty of space, and a beach with a cliff?” He sighed. “Really, Duo.” Shaking his head, he continued. “So my guess is that Heero hurt you when you found out his secret.” Duo gulped. ‘Heero’s gonna kill me.’ “...Yeah.” “Ah, there’s that honesty I love you for.” He smiled. “Has he hurt you since?” “No.” Duo shook his head quickly. “He’s actually being nicer than usual. It’s a little weird. But he still acts very Heero-like so it’s not too much of a change. He just seems more patient.” Nodding to himself, Quatre set his tea down and grabbed a slice of the angel food cake Duo had brought to the table. Duo picked at the tablecloth. “Ne, Q? What is he? Do you know?” Shaking his head, Quatre sighed. “No. I don’t know what his origins are. But, I know that he has a very strong reason for being here.” He looked into the living room at the door briefly before meeting eyes once again with Duo. “Heero was born to help win this war and bring it to an end. To give peace to the Earth and colonies. It is his destiny. He has obviously accepted that fact, and so he fights to fulfill his future. Even if he wanted to, he couldn’t escape it, so he’s trying to do the right thing, even though he has no choice.” Duo chewed his lip. “Really?” Quatre nodded. “That’s what my heart tells me. And that is all that I know about him.” Duo knew better than to question that and sighed as he gazed at the wall across from him. “So tell me about the mission.” Said Quatre, completely changing the subject. “It went well?” “Pretty well.” Duo agreed, snapping himself out of his thoughts. “No loss of limbs or getting taken prisoner or killed, so it was a success in my book.” “And many others, I’m sure.” Quatre replied with a smile. “What did you two have to do?” “Oh, it was a meeting of some the officers of OZ in Rome. We had to go and do the usual death and destruction.” He grabbed a piece of the cake but didn’t move to eat it. He frowned as he stared at the table. “And... Heero...” He sighed. “You saw the bandage on his head.” “Uh-huh.” Quatre took a small bite out of the cake and smiled as he tasted it. “He got that wound because of me.” He set the cake down, not interested in it anymore. Quatre frowned slightly. “How?” Duo put his hands in his lap. “I blew up the building with the officers and the explosion sent a mobile suit flying right for Deathscythe.” He glanced to Quatre’s eyes before looking away. “Heero jumped in front of it.” He looked back to the blonde. Quatre looked like he was trying not to grin but failing miserably. “Did he, now?” Duo nodded. “Anyway, I think he’s more injured than he lets on because he was having some problems afterwards. He’s fine now, but it kinda freaked me out.” Setting the cake down on a napkin, Quatre cleared his throat. “Understandably so.” He sighed silently as he looked into Duo’s eyes. “So he jumped in front of you. Have you given any thought as to WHY?” Raising a brow, Duo shrugged. “Not really. I think it was just because I didn’t see it coming so I wasn’t prepared for it but he was.” Quatre shook his head. “Even if that was the case, why would your not being prepared for it matter to him?” Not sure he understood the question, Duo frowned slightly. “Uhh… Because he didn’t want me to get injured?” Nodding, Quatre continued. “Now, why would he put himself in danger so you wouldn’t get injured?” Duo’s eyes widened and he shook his head that he didn’t know. Quatre smiled wisely. “Figure that out. You’ll be a lot happier.” As the blonde once again picked up his slice, Duo looked down at his coffee and took a sip, deep in thought. * * * Heero wrung out the large rag he had been using to clean Wing. The flight back had removed the dirt from his fall, but the smoke from the enemy mobile suit had clung to the metal, dulling it. Seeing as how it was useless to try to camouflage something so big anyway unless in was grounded, in which case he had netting, he preferred that it was clean. He looked at the large clean patch he had made for a moment and then looked into his bucket of water. The water looked like liquid smoke. Sighing, he dropped his rag into it and jumped down, holding the pail’s handle in one hand. He walked to the hose that was just outside the small door of the hangar and dumped the water onto the grass to refill the bucket. As he walked in with clean water and a relatively clean rag, a voice behind him called his name from the doorway. “Heero.” He turned to see Quatre standing there. “Ah.” Quatre smiled brightly. “I just wanted to see how Wing was. If you need any repairs, let me know. I’ll have my people here in a day. I told Duo the same thing.” Heero turned and climbed up his Gundam to where he had been working a moment before. “It’s fine. I only have to replace the halter. I have a spare. I can do it myself.” He began working again and watched through the corner of his eye as Quatre walked towards his Gundam’s leg. The blonde stared at the smoke residue, wiping some off in a clean line with a finger. “Duo said it was a mobile suit that hit you.” “Hn.” He continued to clean the metal, but he began to worry. ‘What else did Duo say?’ “You stepped between it and Duo?” Quatre asked. Heero’s eyes narrowed and he sighed silently and sat back on his heels to look at Quatre. Quatre just smiled sweetly the way he always did. ‘Why don’t I get that weird feeling when he does it, but I get it REALLY badly when Duo does?’ He wondered but forced his mind back to the present. “Ah.” “Other than that, how did the mission go?” “Well.” He said as he continued to wash the Gundanium. Quatre turned and looked at Deathscythe. “Is it true that he caught you?” Heero was annoyed now. “Is there something you want?” “Mm-mmm.” Quatre said and turned to look back at him. “I’m not the reason I’m here.” ‘I really hate it when he riddles.’ Heero sighed again and jumped down, walking towards Quatre slowly and deliberately. “So then this reason would be...?” Quatre smiled innocently again. “To ask you if you needed repairs. And what you thought of the mission.” Confused, Heero scowled. “What I think of the mission?” “Yes.” “I think it went well. We completed our objective and live to do it again. Why would I think anything else?” Quatre shook his head. “What do you feel about the mission?” Heero blinked at him, but didn’t respond. “Have you thought about why you and Duo did what you did?” Understanding where Quatre was going with that, Heero scowled again. “I jumped in front of him because he would have been seriously injured had I not done it.” He said as convincingly as possible. Giving him a small, knowing smile, Quatre shook his head again. “Even if it was as simple as that, there’s still the matter of him catching you.” Heero was silent as he waited for him to continue. “You jumped in front of him to keep him from getting hurt. He caught you for the same purpose.” He looked into his eyes. “But I think that his reason for doing so was the same as yours. Even if you want to believe it as simple a thing as fellowship...” Heero’s heart began to race again and he stared at Quatre with wide eyes. The blonde continued. “...We both know otherwise.” Heero’s mind was racing. ‘He knows. He knows that I like Duo more than a fellow soldier. He knows that Duo’s friendship is what I want more than anything.’ He scowled at his thoughts. ‘It doesn’t matter. I can’t have it. He’s already endangered himself by finding out about me. He would end up killed if he got closer than that. J would never let him live if he knew, and we would never be able to keep it from him. He would find out. That’s why I keep trying to make Duo leave it alone and forget about it. If he doesn’t, he’s going to die. I can’t have what I want. It would kill him.’ Heero glared at him. “I think the time has come for you to leave this alone.” Quatre waved a hand. “It’s long passed.” He said lightly. “I’ve said everything you needed to hear. You and Duo have to work this out yourselves.” He walked away towards the door but stopped and turned to look back at Heero. His sea-green eyes were a little sad as he spoke. “...He cares for you, Heero. He cares for you so much. I wish you would let yourself care for him in return. You own his heart. All he wants to do is share yours. ...I wish you would let him.” And then he stepped out. Heero stared at the door with wide eyes. His heart rate sped up and he felt like he had dived into an ice-cold lake. ‘He doesn’t mean...’ He swallowed as he replayed the last several days in his mind, taking heed of many things for the first time. Suddenly, the strange feeling he had been having whenever Duo smiled or laughed made sense. He knew why he felt so comfortable when Duo was near. He knew why he felt so warm when Duo did something he thought was nice. He knew why his heart raced as he realized all these things. ‘What I want from Duo is more than friendship.’ He realized with anguish. He punched the metal wall to his side, denting it and bloodying his knuckles, tears forming in his eyes. A pain had hit him between his lungs, feeling like it wanted to split him in two. The tears fell from his eyes and he stifled a sob at the last second. He was shaking now and he knew that the feeling he had would never go away. And it hurt. It hurt so much. He had had bullet wounds that had hurt less. ‘I never let myself see it until now. But it was what I wanted all along. And, if Quatre is right, that’s what Duo wants, too.’ The pain on his hand was nothing compared to the one in his racing heart and he sank to the floor with it as tears rained from his eyes to the concrete. ‘...And that is something that we can’t have...’
~ * ~ Back to
Stone Angel Fics |
