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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" Five They both sleep it off and everything is normal the next morning as they both pretend it never happened, which is how Heero wants it. Duo abides by his request. As nice as it was to have some actual person-to-person contact, he wasn't going to risk his friendship just to add a slight thrill to his masturbation routine. That wasn't the point of last night anyway, he had only intended to make it less awkward for them to be "in touch with their sexuality" around each other – Exposure Therapy and all - obviously that backfired and Duo knows better than to push it again. Duo is suiting up, getting ready to run drills for the day. He's in his fatigues which feel cumbersome and sticky on his sweaty skin and he is standing under the absent mercy of the Afghani sun, packing up his backpack with stones, per his Staff Sergeant's orders. His entire unit is doing the same. Once they all have on their heavy backpacks, they palm their rifles and stand at attention, waiting for the Staff Sergeant to finish conferring with the Gunnery Sergeant who came walking up to him. Duo can't hear what the two men are saying, but his superiors shoot looks in his general direction and his worry only increases when he catches on they are actually looking at Heero. "What the fuck is going on?" He mutters under his breath. He keeps staring straight ahead and moves his mouth as little as possible as he speaks, to avoid being reprimanded. Heero doesn't reply, abiding by the instruction to "keep their damn mouth shut". The Staff Sergeant nods at the Gunnery and then approaches his unit. "Ready, ladies?" "Sir, yes Sir!" They bark in trained unison. The Staff has them run along the brick wall that lines the compound and at random times he fires off his rifle just above their heads and shouts orders at them, making them drop to the ground and crawl, get in defensive formation or tend to a pretend injury of one of their comrades while providing cover fire. The drills served a better purpose at Camp Delaram, where conditions were harsh but life was tedious. The only action they saw while stationed at Delaram, was the attack during which Heero got shot. At Sharana, they deal with insurgents on a daily basis, which effectively keeps them on their toes. But, as physically taxing as they are, Duo would rather run drills than have more time off. They had already watched all of the movies available on base and even the Foosball-table and basketball hoop were starting to lose their shine. Heero is starting to return to his old self, from before getting wounded. He had had trouble keeping up with the unit for the past few months. Everyone, including Heero, had underestimated how detrimental his injury and the six weeks of mandatory rest and slow recovery had been on his stamina. He used to outrun them all, nowadays, everyone considers it huge progress that he is able to keep up with them; slowing inching his way back to the head of the pack. None of the guys would ever admit to it, but they are all relying on the Corporal, and the better he is doing, the more secure everyone feels. After a second round along the outer wall, they are allowed to ditch their backpacks and the Staff has them doing jumping jacks, burpees, push-ups and sit-ups until he is satisfied that the entire unit is exhausted and then he has them take a knee and strip and reassemble their weapons, while timing them. Duo's fingers are shaking. His body is completely depleted of energy and his vision is fuzzy, but that is the point of the exercise. If your rifle jams during a mission, you have to be able to clean it out and get it functioning again, regardless of the circumstances before, during or after that time. He blows sand off the magazine, about to click it into place, when Heero jumps up next to him – his rifle assembled and clutched perfectly straight at his side. It distracts him for a moment. It is an odd relief that Heero still makes the rest of them look like they don't know what the fuck they are doing. He inserts the magazine, cocks the weapon to check and then flicks the safety back on before straightening up himself. One by one, the guys pop up from the ground and stand in line, waiting for the last to finish. Lindsey is last. The stress of one after another of his unit beating him to it is getting to him and he fumbles with the parts. It is no mystery why he was awarded the nickname "Fidget". He gets up and shoots an apologetic look down the line of red, sweaty faces before he assumes position and gives salute. "You owe me your congratulations, Private Lindsey," the Staff Sergeant bellows. "Sir, I'm sure I do, but if you would please explain, Sir." "You made me wait so long, I am now a hundred years old." "Sir, I apologize, Sir! Congratulations on your hundredth birthday, Sir." Both Follander and Duo can't help but snicker. "Everyone, turn around and take aim at the wall. Let's see which one of you ladies fucked up." They all spin around on their heels, prop the stock of the rifle against their shoulder and take aim at the wall. "Fire!" The shots go off nearly simultaneously and Duo is pleased at the puff of dust and the brand new hole in the wall straight ahead of him. That wall sees a lot of action, both inside and out, and the running joke is that they mean to leave it about as impenetrable as Swiss cheese for the next battalion that gets stationed at FOB Sharana, after their tour ends. At the far left of the line, someone curses under their breath as their rifle doesn't fire. It's Lindsey. The Staff Sergeant walks around them and steps up to the youngest soldier. He looks down at the ground at his feet and then back up. "Private Lindsey. Correct me if I'm wrong, but is that the firing pin of your rifle?" Lindsey looks down and his face contorts. "Sir, you are correct, Sir. That is indeed the firing pin to my rifle, Sir." "Now, in my many years' worth of experience with rifles – I am a hundred years old, after all," the Staff mocks, "I have never known a rifle to fire without the firing pin." The others chuckle. All but Heero. The Staff chuckles. "You think that's funny, men?" Everyone straightens their face and replies: "No, Sir!" "Yuy sure didn't think it was funny," the Staff Sergeant continues, "You know why? Because if we were outside of these walls right now and Corporal Yuy had just run into the line of fire to protect our unit from the blast of a grenade, relying on Private Lindsey to provide cover fire… our Corporal would be well and truly dead right now." Duo's heart sank. He certainly didn't think it was funny anymore. "I'm sure Corporal Yuy would rather grow to be a hundred years old. Let's all grow a hundred years old while we wait for Private Lindsey to properly reassemble his weapon." Lindsey understood his cue and kneeled down in the sand to start the process anew, being sure to blow the dust off all the parts before clicking them back into place and to not forget about the firing pin this time. After getting up he is instructed to fire at the wall again and thankfully the weapon fires without an issue. "Good. Now, speaking of stupid things like forgetting firing pins and running into enemy fire to kick a grenade like it's a damn football…" The Staff wanders back to the center of the line and comes to stand a few feet in front of Heero. "Step forward, Corporal Yuy." Duo swallows, watching his friend step out of the line. He wonders if the Staff Sergeant was seriously going to punish him for his actions. He knows the superior had been very stressed in the aftermath, when the decision fell to him to have Heero patched up – barely stabilized – and then have him flown across the world in the back of a Hercules to have his surgery at Bethesda, which was better equipped than the military's local trauma center. His dread worsens when the Gunnery Sergeant walks around them and comes to stand next to the Staff Sergeant, looking as serious and impossible to please as he always does. "Corporal Yuy, should history repeat itself and you and your unit find yourself in similar circumstances as they did in Janabad, would you make the same, ill-advised decision to run toward an armed grenade, beyond cover from gunfire?" The Staff challenged. Heero doesn't hesitate. "Yes, I will, Sir. Any day of the week, Sir." Smartass, Duo thinks to himself and he has to bite down on his lip to stop him from telling his friend to shut his trap. "That's what I thought," the Staff replies, sounding displeased. "And I suppose you quite like the others calling you Purple Heart now? It has a nice ring to it." "They can call me whatever they want, Sir." "Hm." The Staff shares a look with the Gunnery. "What if they start calling you Silver Star from now on?" Duo's eyes widen. "… Sir?" Heero replies, sounding unsure of himself for the first time in the exchange. The Gunnery Sergeant steps in and a rare smile appears on his weathered face. "Corporal Heero Yuy, I hereby inform you that you are being awarded The Silver Star Medal, for your heroism performed with distinction." "Holy shit," Duo lets slip, only to be scolded by his Staff Sergeant. "You defied instinct to protect yourself and instead showed incredible bravery, without a moment's hesitation, to save your men, and both Staff Sergeant Peacecraft and I wholeheartedly believe that you will do it all again, which is why we recommended you for the commendation." Heero is momentarily dumbstruck. Even though he is definitely not the type of guy who joined the Marine Corps for titles and medals, even the down-to-earth Corporal was speechless at receiving the third highest commendation for bravery. "The ceremony will be performed stateside, after our tour wraps up, so you can invite your mommy and make her proud," the Staff interjects with a teasing tone. "General Khushrenada himself will pin the medal on your uniform." He reaches out a hand to the Corporal. "Congratulations." Heero shakes his hands and then the Gunnery's hand. "Thank you." He still sounds shell shocked. It is taking all of Duo's willpower not to step out of line and hug his friend and keep quiet a squeal of excitement. "At ease, soldiers." Once they are dismissed and the two Sergeants have walked away, everyone crowds Heero, but Duo is the quickest to get to him and wraps his arms tightly around him. "Congratulations, you motherfucker," he mutters into Heero's collar. They all take turns shaking his hand and patting his shoulder. "Now I finally understand why you did something that stupid," Follander speaks up. "For the damn bling!" On the way to the Mess Hall for lunch, Duo easily drapes an arm over Heero's shoulders. Heero's body fits against his perfectly. He presses a kiss against the shaved side of his head, just above the shell of his ear, not even considering that the action might be weird after kissing his friend on the lips the night before. Heero is also unbothered by it, probably in a daze after receiving the news. Noticing the distant, disbelieving look in the blue eyes, Duo ruffles his hair until it messily falls forward into his face. "You okay, buddy?" He asks, keeping his voice softer so the others – walking ahead of them – won't butt in. "Yeah… just… surprised." Honestly, they could have known Heero would receive some kind of reward for his heroism, but neither of them ever concerned themselves with medals, ribbons, badges and promotions. Heero had been equally caught off guard when they had promoted him from Lance Corporal to Corporal. In the Mess Hall, half of the unit conquers a table and the other half gets everyone their food. Heero quickly steers the conversation away from his Silver Star, feeling self-conscious about being put in the spotlight like that. He has no trouble changing the subject; the other guys know what he's doing, but they understand. A few minutes later the rest of the unit returns with trays of food and drinks and plop down in the empty seats at the table, but Follander stands next to Heero, obviously hiding something behind his back. Heero looks up at him with a sheepish grin, waiting for the joke. "Since the ceremony will be performed stateside and we just can't wait to make this more awkward for you, I've decided we should have a little ceremony here." He scratches his throat and then continues on with a theatrical voice: "I present to you, The Silver Star. For showing the utmost imbecility in combat and proving to be the most insane out of all us." He brings his hands forward and displays "The Silver Star": an asymmetrical star made of crumpled-up tin foil that he snatched from the kitchen staff. Heero laughs and reactively shoots a look at Duo before cocking his head up at Follander again and he accepts the star from the Private. Follander bends forward, curling himself over Heero to give him a hug. "I love ya, man. Thanks for saving our be-hinds and making us all look bad in front of our superiors." He then takes a seat next to the Japanese-American. The other soldiers catch on as well and news spread fast, so when Duo stands up and raises his plastic cup in a wordless toast, everyone in the Mess Hall follows suit and for a few seconds it is dead quiet in the hall. Duo smiles at the blush that creeps up to Heero's cheekbones. Everyone takes a drink in honor of his bravery and then it is back to business as usual. ~ * ~ tbc... Next chapter is going to delve a little deeper in how Heero earned that Silver Star #flashback . I got a question about the ranks so I want to avoid confusion if it's unclear to more readers. I thought I had slipped in Duo's and Heero's ranks often enough and that the basic order of ranks is pretty much common knowledge; enough at least to understand the story. Especially since the ranks don't really matter within the frame of the story. But, to clarify, this is what has been established: General (Khushrenada) Not everyone's rank is mentioned because it's irrelevant. ~ * ~
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