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"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 5 Duo walked up the stairs to see Heero using the side of his fist to bang the doorjamb back in place. "Uhh... Do you want a hammer?" Heero grunted. "No. This is pine." Duo blinked. "What?" "Pine is a soft wood. A hammer would leave big dents that would be noticed. This is the best way to do this that I can think of." He concluded. "Oh." Duo said brilliantly. Unsure of what to say or if he should say anything at all, he walked past and entered his own room. He looked at the drawer that held his feathers. `No. They're Heero's feathers. They were never mine.'
Suddenly a thought occurred to him. `What if he doesn't want me to
have them? What if he feels like I'm keeping parts of him? And why
did he lose them? Is he sick? What if he wants them back?' He quickly
opened the drawer and carefully collected the four feathers before
taking them
Heero's eyes turned towards him as he continued his repairs, but then he returned his attention to what he was doing and acted as if Duo wasn't standing there. Duo waited patiently until Heero stopped hitting the piece of wood and tested it. "What do you want?" Heero asked, his voice only slightly annoyed as he tested another part of the jamb. "Um." Duo held the feathers out to him and Heero's eyes turned to his side. Scowling, he stared at them from the corners of his eyes for a moment before looking back to his project. "Yeah? So?" "I just suddenly realized that these are yours so I don't really have the right to keep them." He said softly. Heero looked back at the feathers for a second. "So burn them if you don't want them." Duo blinked. "Should I?" "Do what you want." Heero replied and stood up to test the top of the wood. Duo looked down to them. "Would you mind if I kept them?" "Once again, do what you want. I don't care." Heero answered. Duo grinned. "Thanks, Heero." He suddenly remembered the other thing he wanted to ask about. "Um. Don't get mad at me or anything, but..." Heero turned narrowed eyes to him. "Duo, just so you know, people hate it when you begin a sentence that way. It makes others prepare for the worst. What did you do?" Duo shook his head. "Nothing! I just wanted to ask how you lost them." Heero looked down to the feathers for a second before sighing and scrubbing his face with his fingers. "I almost always lose one or two." "How?" "Daily activity." He answered cryptically. Duo was a little peeved that he wasn't getting a straight answer, but he dropped it. The last thing he needed was another black eye. "Okay, so you're not sick or anything?" "No." Heero answered as he turned and examined the wall behind Duo. Duo turned and saw what Heero was looking at. "Oh, shit." He thought aloud. "Yeah, I think Quatre's going to say that, too." Heero muttered. Duo stared at the two dents in the wall. One had been made by his upper back and the other had been made by the back of his head. He rubbed the back of his head, but it was only a little sore. "Does it hurt?" Heero asked, not looking at him. Duo looked at the other pilot, but his head was hung slightly and his eyes were hidden under his hair. "If it hurts, I'll get you an ice pack." He said in a low voice. `Does he sound...sorry? Oh my god, this is an apology.' "It's fine." Duo answered. "I've had worse." He looked back to the wall. "Can I help fix it? Since it was my hard head that broke it in the first place?" Heero shook his head. "It's my doing, I'll take care of it. You go lie down." His voice was harsh, but it sounded like it was trying to be otherwise. Duo hesitated for a moment before speaking. "I want to_" "You can help me paint the wall tomorrow. I found some plaster in the garage the other day. And the same color paint. …I can do the plaster by myself. …If you want, you can help paint." Duo grinned. "Sure. Thanks." Heero didn't say anything, just walked down the hall and the stairs and headed for the utility room that connected the house with the garage. Duo smiled as he watched him go. `Well. At least he's trying. Maybe me knowing makes it easier for him. He doesn't feel like he has to push me away.' He looked down to their feathers in his hand. They were Heero's but he had said Duo could keep them. Smiling to himself, he walked back to his room and put them under his pillow and laid down to rest his eye and sore muscles. * * * Heero finished filling the dents with the plaster and
scraped off all the excess. He examined it closely from all the angles
and felt that it was perfect. Picking up his supplies, he returned
to the garage and put them back where he found them and then took
the can of paint down. He found a pair of brushes and set them down
on top Walking into the house, he washed his hands to remove the very small amount of plaster from them, and headed to his room. He sighed as he opened the door and took a look at the floor inside. Feathers were everywhere. There had to be twenty of them of all sizes and they were scattered all over the floor and some were on the bed and furniture. Rolling his eyes, he began to pick them up. `I should give them to Duo. He can start to make a pillow.' He thought. He tried to feel bitter about it, but he was moved in a strange way that Duo would want to keep his feathers. `It's probably just because they are new to him. If he had to deal with them every day, he wouldn't give a rat's ass about them, either.' He finished collecting them and headed downstairs. The living room had a small fireplace and he opened it and grabbed the matches from on top of it. Duo chose that exact moment to walk slowly down the stairs and he blinked at what Heero was doing. Heero scowled at him. `I guess he didn't actually go to sleep.' "Why do you burn them?" Duo asked, confused. Heero tore out a match and struck it. "Because throwing them away would be too suspicious. People could find them." He said pointedly. He really didn't see a point in pretending that Duo hadn't taken the one out of his bathroom anymore. Duo seemed to wince at that comment and stared at the match with a wide eye. "Why don't you keep them?" "Because if I kept every feather I lost, I'd be hauling around bag-fulls." Heero answered agitatedly. The flame on the match reached the bottom and burned Heero's finger and he threw it into the fireplace and stuck his finger in his mouth. `SonofaBITCH!' He took his finger out of his mouth and grabbed another match, lighting it and moving to set the feathers in the fireplace. "Wait." Duo stepped forward. "What?" Heero asked, glancing from Duo to the match to make certain that he didn't burn himself again. "Can I have one?" Duo asked shyly as he looked at the floor. Heero waved the match out and threw it into the fireplace with the other one and scowled at Duo. "Why do you want them?" Duo blushed slightly. "I like them." Heero narrowed his eyes at him. "I think they're pretty." Duo admitted again. Heero sighed. "I tolerated you saying that earlier because you didn't know. But now it has to stop." Duo looked up and shook his head. "I'm not going to lie. Again. I think they are pretty. If you give me this one, I won't ask you to give me any more." Heero hesitated for a moment but then held the feathers out to Duo. Duo smiled to him and then looked at the feathers for a second before choosing one of the larger ones. He pulled it out of the middle carefully and held it in his fist over his chest. "Thanks." Heero grunted and threw the others into the fireplace before lighting a match and setting them aflame. Duo watched them burn silently. Heero glanced to him every so often and the braided boy seemed thoughtful. When the feathers were gone, Heero closed the fireplace and set the matches back on top of it. "So..." He cleared his throat, not meeting eyes with the other pilot. "Why did you want that one? You have a bigger one already." Duo nodded and looked over to him. "Yeah, but I know where this one came from. I thought the others I had were from a gull or something. I know now for a fact that this one is yours. There's a good chance I saw it before you lost it. That makes it different from the others. More real." Heero was stunned and he looked at Duo with semi-wide eyes. Duo smiled at him, still holding the feather to himself. It was a warm _expression, and it was genuine, unlike the cocky grin he often used when he was joking around. Heero's heart suddenly seemed as if it wanted to live
in his throat. `What do I say to that?' "...Oh." He mumbled
and walked away from the fireplace and up the stairs. As he entered
his room, he closed his door very softly and leaned against it. `That
one feather * * * Heero studied the contents of the refrigerator while Duo slept. This time, Duo really was sleeping. Heero had checked on him and found him sprawled on his bed and snoring softly. Heero had also caught himself smiling as he had looked in on him. He reprimanded himself for his stray thoughts. He tried to think of what he was going to cook for dinner, but kept drawing blanks. Sushi was Duo's favorite, but they were out of what he needed to make it and they had just had it two nights before. `Would he want to have it again in two days?' He wondered. `I guess it doesn't matter. It's my turn to cook, and I can cook whatever I damn well please.' He justified as he closed the fridge. Scribbling a note about going to the market and signing it "H", he headed up the stairs and put it on the floor in the hall just outside Duo's bedroom door, should he wake while Heero was out. Heero knew that if Duo awoke and found him gone, he would think he had ditched him. `Which is what I would be doing if I had any common sense, but obviously I do not.' He thought as he walked back down the stairs and headed for the door. Stepping outside, he saw a pair of seagulls sitting in the grass no more than seven meters from the door. He growled and ran forward to chase them away. The animals flew off and didn't turn around. "Really. You'd think they'd learn." He grumbled as he stuck his hands in his pockets and walked towards town. * * * Duo awoke to the sound of dishes being rattled downstairs. He brought his hand up to rub at his eye, but stopped himself at the last second. `That's going to hurt if I rub it.' He thought. He remembered all the things that had happened that day and closed his eyes again. `That wasn't a dream. None of it was. …Heero...' He let himself think seriously about everything for the first time. `What does this mean? How do I act to him? Is he even going to stay here or will he find another safe house away from me? Is he still angry with me? Does he hate me?' Carefully sitting up as his abdominal muscles complained, he got out of the bed and walked down the stairs. He was clothed as he had fallen asleep before he could change into PJ's. As he walked into the kitchen, his eyes widened, one of them painfully, as he saw Heero placing sushi onto two plates that already had tempura, rice, and lotus buns on them. The other pilot looked up when he finished and saw Duo standing there. They both stared at each other for a moment before Heero put the large plate on which he made the sushi in the sink. "I was wondering when you would wake up." He said as he washed his hands, his back to Duo. Duo blinked and looked down to the plates. `He made my favorite.' "Uh... You made sushi?" Heero tensed. "...Is that a problem?" Duo shook his head, even though Heero was faced the other way. "No, not at all. I just figured that it was too much hassle for you to do it twice in a row." Heero finished washing his hands and picked up the towel to dry them. "I don't mind." Blinking again, Duo stared at him. `I think... Did he make this because he knows how much I love it and he's trying to be nice?' He analyzed Heero's choices of words and smiled to himself. `I think he did.' "Thanks." He waited until Heero turned around. When Heero placed the towel back on the counter and turned to face him, he scowled. Moving forward, he lifted a hand to Duo's face. Duo flinched away slightly before he could stop himself. It was a natural reaction after being punched in the eye twice in one day. Heero paused for a split second before narrowing his eyes and grabbing Duo's collar. He pulled him back into the brighter light over the sink and placed his hand under Duo's chin to turn his face up to him. Duo's eyes were painfully wide now. "H-Heero?" Heero turned Duo's face to both sides a little and Duo realized he was examining his eye. Although the hand gripping is collar was tight and strong, the touch to Duo's chin was soft and careful. Duo noticed that Heero was a little taller that he was. After a few seconds, he released his collar and dropped his hand from Duo's chin. "It's darker than before. It'll be black for a week or so." He moved past Duo and picked up both of the plates, handing one off to him. Duo stared down at the plate in his hands for a moment before walking towards the table where Heero was waiting for him. He noticed Heero was a little tense and watching him carefully and sat down across from where Heero was standing. "I don't hold bruises for very long. I give it two days. Maybe three." He smiled. A little of the tension left Heero's body and he sat down as well and grabbed his glass of water. Duo picked up the chopsticks that were laid next to his own glass and began to eat. * * * As soon as Duo was done, Heero stood up and headed for the door. "Wait." Duo called after him. Heero was already outside the house and had been closing the door, but he stopped it from closing completely at the last moment. He pushed it open a little and waited for Duo to speak, looking back to him expectantly. Duo was shocked that Heero had not only waited, but had stopped himself from closing the door while Duo was talking to him again. He remembered what he was going to say. "Where are you going?" Heero looked away outside the house. "Out." "I can see that, Heero." Duo said calmly. "But where do you go every evening?" For a moment, Heero scowled and looked like he was trying to think of an answer, before he turned his eyes back to Duo and opened the door completely. Standing just outside the house and framed by the doorway,
Heero pulled his tank top off over his head and threw it onto the
couch. Still scowling slightly, he held Duo's gaze with his own, saying
everything about where he was going with his eyes. "I'll be back."
He stared at the door with wide eyes. `He's letting his wings out.' He thought. He remembered the feathers he found on the cliff. `He must go to the cliffs every night. He goes late so that he is less likely to be seen.' He stared at Heero's tank top on the couch. He sighed then as something occurred to him. `Nothing has really changed.' He thought. `He's still going to hide from me.' * Heero reached the cliff by the tree and dove off of it. He let himself free-fall for many meters, enjoying the familiar sensation of plummeting as the wind whipped up past him, blowing his hair back. Times like this were when his love for spandex really bloomed. The material was the most comfortable and silent clothing he could wear. Any noise other than the air rushing by would ruin the moment. And what a moment it was. Sadly, he couldn't let himself fall forever, and when he was halfway down the cliff, he Unfolded his wings and let them catch in the air. His descent slowed abruptly and he beat them to gain a little altitude as he flew out over the water for a ways. Closing his eyes, he sighed to himself as he let the ocean air rush over him. `I wish I could tell Quatre how grateful I am that he owns this beach. That he owns land on Earth at all. I was never able to do this in the colonies. I love being back on Earth.' He smiled slightly as he opened his eyes and looked at the water that was so far below. `And beach is already great for this, but a cliff, to boot? I almost kissed him when he showed me the place. It can't get better than this.' Bending his left wing a little to create some resistance against the air through which he soared, he turned around and headed back to the cliff. Quatre owned the beach, he didn't own the sea. There could be ships. Coming up to the cliff, he forced his way upwards and came up over it to land at a run. He smiled and gazed out to sea as the sun set before he walked to the tree and leaned against its trunk on the front of a shoulder, giving himself the right angle to still have his wings out to his sides but slightly behind himself. He stretched them as far out as he could. It felt good to let them out and use them. Keeping them Folded all day was already a hard enough task, and this day had been extremely tense, so his back had been hurting from the strain. They simply were not made to be kept hidden all the time. He couldn't handle it. Sighing, he wondered if Duo realized now what he was doing every evening. He shook his head and pushed his wings down quickly, forcing the grass around him to whip in the air in a ripple-like effect. `What am I going to do with that Baka? I haven't even reported this to J yet, because if he orders me to kill him, I wouldn't know what to do.' He closed his eyes. Duo had inquired if Heero was going to kill him, and he had not been wrong to ask. With his answer, Heero simply had meant that he had not planned to kill him right then. He did not want to kill Duo at all, however that was not his decision to make. If J found out that Duo had discovered Heero, then the decision would be his. If that happened, it was out of Heero's hands. So he had not reported it yet. `I don't want Duo to die.' He thought as the very notion of it caused him discomfort. A cold wind suddenly hit him and he shivered. `Feels like a storm is coming.' Looking out to sea, he was able to see the barest hint of clouds on the horizon. Tilting his head back, he smelled the scent of rain. `It's been a while since I've seen real rain.' He stretched his wings and the wind suddenly picked up. Walking to the edge of the cliff, he let himself dive off. The wind was against him so he had to work twice as hard to go half as fast as he could before. `Perfect.' He closed his eyes, a small smile on his lips, as he headed out over the water again. * * * Walking home, Heero felt a few drops of rain land on his skin and looked up. The clouds had moved in quickly and were blocking the stars that would just be beginning to shine as the sky became dark. `Rain. And the clouds haven't even covered the sky yet. Looks like this will be big.' He thought as the wind whipped his hair into his eyes. Unwillingly, he remembered the first storm he could recall as he reached the top of the hill and looked at the house. He frowned as he saw someone standing out in front of it with a flashlight, but in the dark and with his hair in his eyes, he was unable to tell if it was Duo or not. The person saw him and the flashlight beam hit him. "Heero?" Heero sighed slightly in relief. It was Duo. `What is he doing?' He walked down the hill and Duo ran towards him. "What are you doing?" Duo stopped in his tracks and let the flashlight aim at the ground. "I was just worried. There's so much wind." Heero nodded and walked past him. `He figured it out. Guess he really isn't as stupid as he acts.' "I'm fine. It's going to pour in a minute. Come in the house." Duo's footfalls followed him closely and they both entered the house. Heero headed for the stairs, but Duo's voice stopped him. "Here." He stopped and turned to face him. Duo was holding his shirt out to him. Heero stared at it for a moment before returning and taking it. Just as he did, rain began to fall hard onto the roof, a cloud-burst. Duo startled and looked up to the ceiling. Heero turned and headed up the stairs so Duo wouldn't see his smile. * * * Duo did his best to read his manga in his bed, curled under the blankets, as the storm raged outside his window. Lighting flashed and thunder cracked as the rain pelted the glass and he closed his manga and covered his head with the pillow. Duo had only heard of storms from people on the colonies who had been to Earth. He had never actually been in one. He knew that they were supposed to be loud, but was THIS loud normal? He squeezed his eyes closed and noticed the he was shaking a little and cursed. `God, this is pathetic.' Thunder struck again and he startled and sat up. He looked at his watch. It was almost Midnight. `I can't sleep. I can't read. Maybe I should just head downstairs and watch some TV or something to wait it out.' He stood up from his bed with a wince and no sooner had he taken a step towards his door than the lights went out. He yelped and scrambled back into his bed and whimpered as lighting flashed behind the curtains and thunder boomed at the exact same time. `Shit, shit, shit! Doesn't that mean it's right over us?' The wind blew harder, and he heard it whistle past his window as the rain hit the glass pane even louder. He covered his head with his arms and waited, hoping it would get better, but it remained constant. `Okay. I can deal with not getting any sleep tonight. It's just one night.' Just as he thought that, lighting and thunder again attacked his senses and he bolted from the bed and moved as quickly as he could in the perfect darkness, down the hall, running his hand along the wall until he felt Heero's door. Swallowing his nervousness, he knocked. He barely heard sounds of movement and quiet rustling inside the room over the noise outside the house. "Duo?" "Yeah." More movement. "What do you want?" Thunder cracked again, making him jump. "Um, the storm's getting worse. ...Can I come in?" "No." Heero said quickly. Duo looked back in the direction of his room even though he couldn't see anything. `He must not be hiding his wings. That's why he doesn't want me to go in. I don't want to go back.' The sound of footsteps in the room reached his ears along with the sound of a light switch being flipped. "Duo. Why don't the lights work?" Heero asked, just on the other side of the door. "The power went out a minute ago." "Did it?" Heero said softly. "Shimata." He heard him walk to a different part of the room and the sound of him shutting down his laptop came through the door. "Heero..." Footsteps returned to the door and the other pilot spoke. "Ah?" Duo gulped and swallowed his pride. "I'm... I'm scared." There was silence on the other side. He went on. "I've never been in a storm before. This is the second time I've ever seen rain, and this is my first storm. Are they always this loud?" Heero's voice was a little less gruff than usual as he responded. "Many of them are. Some are not, and some are louder." "O-oh." Duo said and whimpered as thunder clapped again. "...Duo..." Heero's voice was soft. "Yeah?" "...Do you have the flashlight?" "No, I'll go get it." He turned to head down the stairs. "No!" Heero answered quickly and Duo stopped and waited for him to speak. Heero didn't say anything, but his door opened slowly. Duo listened as the hinges squeaked slightly with the door's slow movement and turned back to the doorway. It was pitch black inside the room as well, so he couldn't see anything, but Heero's voice was clearer as the door opened. "Duo Maxwell, fierce Gundam Pilot..." Heero said as the sound of him leaning against the doorjamb reached Duo's ears. "...Afraid of the dark." Duo gulped. "W-well, actually, if you want to get technical, it's the storm that I'm afraid of." Heero gave a small laugh, a single, short sound. He sighed and Duo heard him take a step backwards into the room. "If you want, you can stay in here. But when it's light again, you have to leave." Duo nodded in the dark and stepped into the room, skirting around where the sound of Heero's voice had been coming from. "Okay. Um. I'll sleep on the floor." "You will not." Heero responded gruffly and footsteps moved towards where Duo knew the bed was. "Take this side of the bed." Duo could tell Heero was standing next to the side of the bed closer to a wall. "Okay." He moved towards where he had heard him and his thigh touched the mattress and he climbed on, hearing it creak a little. Heero walked to the opposite side of the large bed and the mattress moved only slightly and did not creak as he got on as well. `He must be really light.' He thought as he laid his head on the pillow on his side. `I guess it makes sense. Flying, not to mention landing, would be easier.' He noticed that Heero stayed as far away from him on the bed as he could, but he couldn't really get offended. "Ne, Heero?" "Ah." "Thanks." Duo said softly. Heero grunted his reply and then everything was silent but the wind and rain outside. Duo kept his eyes open, even though he couldn't see anything, and he listened to Heero's quiet breathing. `I don't think he's hiding them. But since the power is out, he doesn't have to worry about me seeing them. I wonder if he always sleeps with them out and that's why I found the first feather in the bed. I wonder if he's doing that right now.' He knew that he couldn't try to reach out and touch him if he wanted Heero to ever trust him again, so he settled for not knowing. Just as he was about to close his eyes and try to go to sleep, lighting flashed outside Heero's window, illuminating everything through the curtains with blue-ish light, and he gasped. Heero was laying on his side of the mattress, facing Duo, his back to the wall that had the window, so Duo could not see his face. But for the fraction of a second that the light flashed into the room, Duo could make out the silver silhouette of a folded wing behind Heero's back, and he smiled in the dark. * * *
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