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"The Princess With The Purple Heart"Written By: ExecutiveShrimp Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, it belongs
to Bandai, Sotsu and associated parties. Written for pleasure not
profit. Rating: NC 17 Warnings: Smut, angst, AU Pairings: 1x2, Summary: Don't ask, don't tell
"The Princess With The Purple Heart" Two During their daily drills the next morning, everyone picks on Heero, calling him slow and fat after his six-week leave. Duo joins in, but secretly keeps a close eye on his friend. He is not as fit as he is used to seeing him, jogging along near the back of the pack, rather than several strides ahead of everyone, but he just needs some time to build up his stamina and get used to the severe heat again. All of them have sweat staining their faded shirts at the back, chest and under their arms as they run along the inside perimeter of Camp Sharana, in the trail of their Staff Sergeant. Because of the temperatures, they were mercifully allowed to take off their jackets, but the Staff still made them carry their fifty-pound backpacks. After two miles, the Staff declares that they've run enough, but then commands them to drop down into the sand and tiger-crawl the next two hundred yards. Duo's limbs are shaky from exertion and it's a cumbersome process trying to crawl while balancing the backpack on his shoulders, which wants to topple sideways with each movement. Heero is beside him, grunting, but Duo doesn't ask if he's doing okay, he just keeps his pace purposefully slow to remain next to him. "I hate sand," Follander grouses. "Quote the Prequels and I'll fucking kill you," another threatens through gritted teeth. When they are allowed to get up on their feet again and put their backpacks down, Heero's breaths come out wheezing. His face is red and his hair is soaking wet. Rather than show concern, Duo mocks him, but it's his way of letting his friend know that he notices that he is struggling and all he has to do is ask for help if he needs it. "Yeah? Your mom seemed to like it when I got all red-faced and sweaty," Heero quips with a sparkle in his eyes. "Fuck you, Purple Heart." They finish with push-ups and burpees and are then allowed to hit the showers. Unlike at Camp Delaram, Camp Sharana has actual showers, with pressurized, hot water. They don't have to pull on a string to have cold water spill on them from a bucket. There is less privacy though. The entire unit crams into the tiled space with another unit that has just returned from their perimeter patrol and they are one showerhead short. Lindsey complains as he gets muscled away from the spot he had claimed and has to wait his turn. Being the youngest in the unit, he has little choice. Duo shamelessly observes Heero's naked body. They are standing next to each other under a spray of water that is comfortably warm. He studies the round scar on the front of his left shoulder, knowing there is a matching scar on the back from where the bullet cut straight through him. The two gunshot wounds high in his abdomen are obscured by the long surgical scar that runs down diagonally from his sternum to his side, following the lower ribs. The last time someone from their unit got shot, he died. Which is how they were introduced to Corporal Heero Yuy, who was added to their unit to even out the number. Heero catches him looking and says softly: "I'm fine." He correctly read the question in Duo's eyes. Feeling uneasy at being caught showing concern, Duo scoffs. "I wasn't worried. Just thinking to myself what a poor motherfucker you are. Those scars make you even uglier." They both laugh. One of the main reasons Heero had trouble earning the unit's respect when he first joined was precisely because he was so attractive he was actually pretty. Duo had been faced with similar teasing when he enlisted. Everyone used to call him "Pretty boy", and whenever he stood at attention, they'd say: "Strike a pose!". Nowadays they call him "Princess". He doesn't give a shit what anybody calls him, he knows they are his brothers and it's just what brothers do. The unit gets dressed and goes through the daily chore of checking their equipment and cleaning the sand out of their rifles. At lunch they gather in the mess hall and Duo cuts the line to ensure they don't run out of Mac and Cheese before it's his turn. While deployed, the Mac and Cheese served by the army cooks is his favorite meal, even though the cheese basically hardens to a yellow plastic when it cools. His favorite meal at home are barbeque ribs – they don't serve that in the mess hall. Duo always makes a distinction between his favorite things at home and his favorite things at war. He figures it is good to compartmentalize. But because he always whines about how much he misses the luxuries of being home – and because of how he looked in an old picture that they found of him – they started calling him "Princess". He gets two servings of Mac and Cheese and walks the tray with two plates back to the table where Heero and some of the other guys from the unit are already seated. It's hot in the mess hall, but it's better than being outside while the sun is at its highest point in the sky. The bright red sunburn in his neck hurts like a bitch. He never had that problem when he had his long hair, but when he joined the Marine Corps, he had to part with his long braid. Just like Heero, he keeps his hair as long and wild as the grooming standards permit: longer on top and faded down the sides. Since enlisting, Duo has gotten a lot of tattoos to rebel and express his individuality, in the absence of the hair that had become his trademark in adolescence. He drops down on the bench next to Heero and puts one of the plates in front of him. "I asked for the lasagna, Princess Peach." "You'll eat your Mac and Cheese and you'll like it, you kumquat. " Heero is already digging in. Follander cups his chin in his palm, propping his head up on the table and sighs dramatically. "I missed this." "Yeah, mommy and daddy bitching at each other – can't live without it," Chapple joins in dryly. Everyone becomes quiet as they wolf down their food. Not until the plates are empty does Follander speak up again. "So, how was home, Purple Heart? Worth getting shot?" He grins. "Cuz I'm not eligible for leave for another seven weeks, but my girl just sent me this picture...-" He doesn't finish the sentence but makes a sound that is plenty descriptive. "I spent most of my time stateside bedridden at Bethesda, away from my family, high on painkillers," Heero summarizes flatly and then concludes: "So it was pretty great." Duo lets out a laugh. Most of the men in his unit have a similar, dry sense of humor, but nothing amuses him more than the serious, stoic soldier cracking sarcastic jokes. He was very different when he first joined the unit and Duo likes to think that he has had a positive effect on him. Heero was a tough nut to crack, but he is pretty sure he cracked him. "What's the first thing you ate?" "Jello. At the hospital." Chapple snorts. "You know what I'm asking! What's the first thing you had?" "Chipotle." Everyone groans with jealousy. "What else?" "I don't know. Fucking everything." "Barbeque ribs?" Duo asks, while practically drooling at the thought of all the great foods he is missing out on in favor of the damn Mac and Cheese. "No." "Stupid! Here, I'll shoot you right now so you can go back and fix your mistake." The guys ask Heero more questions about his recovery, but they keep it light and silly, like asking whether he did the nasty with one of the nurses and wondering what hurt more: getting shot or having his mother slap him for getting shot. Heero plays along and his answers are a mixture of truths, half-truths and dirty, fabricated anecdotes, never sharing with them in how much pain he had been and how scared he was, having to be flown back to the United States for a surgery the medics couldn't perform here. He could have lost his liver and part of the large intestines. Heero had been much more candid with Duo the previous night, in the privacy of their shared barrack. He had cried recounting how fearful he had been that he would get discharged from the Corps and that he would be "abandoning" his unit. Heero shows none of that emotion to the others. He loves them all like brothers, but he doesn't let them see him be vulnerable, the way he allows Duo to see him. Duo laughs, but he can't help thinking back to that day, when they were on patrol through Janabad and took fire out of nowhere, with no place for them to seek cover other than the Jeep they were escorting. Three insurgents were behind a jagged ridge over a hundred yards away and pinned them down with an endless barrage of bullets. The driver of the Jeep had to get out and join them on the other side to shield himself. Every time they tried to look around the Jeep to get a visual on the enemy, they were targeted. They couldn't get a single shot in and they didn't see that two insurgents quickly crept up to them, until they were within throwing distance and a grenade landed by the rear, left bumper of Jeep, within a few feet of them. Heero hadn't hesitated. When all the others reactively curled in on themselves, as if that would have protected them from the blast and shrapnel, Heero got up from his position by the front tire – he would have been farthest away from the blast - and walked into the line of fire to kick the grenade away before it exploded. The first bullet cut clean through his shoulder and had him falling to the ground. The grenade went off in the distance, no one was harmed thanks to Heero's quick thinking. With the insurgents focusing fire on the grounded soldier, Duo and Follander were able to come out of hiding and pick them off one by one, but not before Heero got hit two more times. It had been the scariest moment of Duo's life. For the first time since joining the Marine Corps, he wished he hadn't been there and wished he had never met any of these men that he had grown to love so much. The unit had always been close-knit, but especially the conditions of Camp Delaram solidified their bond and Duo and Heero had gravitated towards each other. Duo had jokingly declared him his "BSF": Best Soldier Friend, different from his "BFF" back home – the friend he had known since Junior High. In spite of their friendship, they had never spent any time together stateside and had never met each other's families and hometown friends, having grown up on opposite coasts. As Duo applied pressure to Heero's wound, he dreaded having to meet the soldier's parents for the first time at his funeral. "Ground Control to Major Tom," Follander says, waving his hand in front of Duo's face to get his attention. Duo blinks and pulls himself out of his thoughts. He offers them an awkward smile. "Sorry." "You were still thinking about barbeque ribs, weren't you?" Heero jests, but from the look in his eyes it is evident he knows Duo's mind was lost in a more serious time and place. He doesn't point it out because he understands it would be embarrassing. "Yeah." He scratches the back of his neck and is grateful no one questions the lie, even if it might be obvious. The guys know better than to pry; none of them like exposing their emotions to the group, everyone has their own person within the unit that they confide in – one person that knows them better than all the others. With their lunch break over they head outside and suit up for their patrol duty.
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