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"Countdown"Written By: t-shirt Disclaimer: Gundam Wing and its characters are
copyright to Sunrise, Bandai, Sotsu Agency, and associated parties.
I make no money with this fic. Rating: R Warnings: Post War Cannon, Supernatural, Angst,
sap, mild language, very mild lemon Pairings: 1x2, 3x4 5+all Summary: When Hiiro is injured and left in a coma while assisting Duo in battle, the braided pilot is forced to fight for his partner’s life. However, strange dreams and hidden desires complicate matters when forces that seem bent on pulling the plug seemingly push Duo to the very brink of sanity. "Countdown" Ch 4 I was grateful when he didn’t mention anything to Quatre when he arrived and shared our pizza with us. He looked almost as tired as I felt but I knew I had him beat when I dozed off sitting in the chair while they went over all the stuff that hadn’t panned out that day. The lawyers were still looking for some leverage and Wufei had flown to the capital to argue syntax with the military but wasn’t having much luck either. Apparently, Sally was sleeping in the director’s office so she could dig through medical files in the hope that there might be some way of waking her patient and I felt really bad for having yelled at her. “Haven’t you slept at all?” Quatre asked prodding me awake. “Yeah, sure,” I sniffled but I felt like I could’ve slept for a week. “We should let you get some rest,” he nodded packing away what was left of the pizza. “Sorry,” I sighed rubbing my eyes. “I don’t know why I’m so tired. Seems all I do is sleep anymore.” “Do you dream about him?” My cheeks heated up in spite of the fact that I told them not to when the memory of those dreams flooded my mind. “Maybe that’s why you’re so tired,” he smiled laying a hand on my arm. “Maybe you should cut him off,” Trowa grinned standing to join his lover by the door and I just wanted to find a nice dark hole to crawl in when Quatre raised a brow. I slept that night. But I didn’t dream. It was the lack of Hiiro’s presence that brought me up out of my bed gasping for air and in a state of panic. I hadn’t heard a peep out of him all night but it was morning before the exhaustion of the past few days released me enough to know and I couldn’t get to him fast enough as I fell out of bed and stumbled across the floor. He was alive, the sound of his monitors still filled the air but he was silent and I had never been more terrified in my entire life. “Hiiro?!” I gasped touching any part of him I could reach. “Hey, man. Talk to me.” “Sorry.” “Hiiro!?” Holy shit. “Don’t scare me like that!” I half yelled half screamed at him but my worry was eating at me because I couldn’t see his eyes. Nothing of my visual apparition had manifest in the morning light. “I though you needed to rest,” he told me but I wasn’t buying it. Something was wrong. “Show me a smile and I’ll give you a kiss.” I needed to see him, to know he was still with me but he didn’t respond for so long I could feel my hands beginning to shake. Then slowly his eyes began to open and I felt a rush of relief even though his real eyes remained closed. It seemed to take a great deal of effort but he smiled for me and I kissed him for what turned out to be a little to long. “Duo?” Ok, so I jumped two feet in the air at the sound of Sally’s voice. Trowa understood, I had no clue what a trained physician and fellow soldier was going to think. “They said talking to him might help,” I explained though I knew exactly how lame it sounded and she sure as hell didn’t look like a fool. “Interesting choice of words,” she replied and I blushed clear down to my thumbs. “Has there been any change?” she asked and I breathed again grateful that she had turned her attention to Hiiro. “He flinched,” I told her hopefully. “A piece of paper hit him in the nose and he flinched.” “That’s muscular reaction,” she informed me while she checked his blood pressure and fluid levels. “How are you feeling?” Now that was a loaded question if I ever heard one. “A little tired but I’m ok.” She went about her check up, changed two of his bags that were low and took a good long look at the respirator tube in his mouth. “Is something wrong?” I asked not caring for the amount of time she was spending examining the tube. “It’s shifted,” she informed me and I suddenly felt ill. “What does that mean?” She finished her examination before turning to face me. “It will have to be corrected.” “No way,” I replied firmly. If they took it out he could die. “We don’t have any choice,” she told me. “Another few hours and his windpipe will be too swollen to even attempt it.” “He’ll die!” I snapped. “He’ll die for sure if we don’t.” “DAMN IT!” I growled flailing my hands in the air because I really needed something to hit and it would have been bad to make it her. “Calm down.” “Why the fuck should I?!” I shouted at him. “You knew this was happening didn’t you?!” “Duo?” Sally interjected glancing cautiously from me to Hiiro. “I didn’t want you to worry…” “Then wake the fuck up!” “Duo!” “What!?” Shit. Now she knew for sure I was a raving lunatic. “Shit.” Ok. “Look, I’m really tired ok?” I had to find a way to explain. “I just… sometimes I forget I’m awake.” “It’s ok,” she soothed. “I see him so much in my dreams.” “I understand.” “If he would just wake up.” “Relax,” she coaxed guiding me back onto my bed and I was so distraught I didn’t feel the needle until it was too late. “No,” I breathed but whatever she had hit me with was killer because I suddenly couldn’t feel my legs. “Rest,” she said pushing me down and my eyes locked onto Hiiro’s begging for all I was worth for him to still be alive when I woke up. The fog was gray. “Hiiro?” “Here.” “Hiiro!” I gasped running into his arms. He was wispy and vague but he was there and I could feel his arms around me. “They’re going to turn off the respirator,” I hurried to tell him but he refused to let me go. “We can’t let them! Your body can’t breathe without it!” “All I need is you,” he said softly as he kissed me and I felt hot tears wet my cheeks. “You have to keep breathing,” I choked. “You are my breath,” he said and kissed me again but I felt his form fade even as he held me in his arms. “Please,” I begged. “Please don’t leave me.” “I love you,” he said and I felt as if my very existence was draining out of me as he slowly faded away. “BREATHe!” I shouted feeling a fury like I had never experienced seize me but there was nothing to grapple with but the dense clouds of my own thoughts. “IF YOU REALLY LOVE ME THEN BREATHe GOD DAMN YOU! Don’t die! I never even got to know you!” Gods in Heaven please. “Do you hear me?!” Come back. “HIIRO!” I couldn’t find him. No matter how hard or how fast I ran but I refused to give up. “HIIRO!” I could feel him, he was still with me, nothing more than a thread on the wind but he was there. “Hiiro!” “Duo.” It was just a whisper but set my feet in motion and I prayed for time as I dove head first into a pit of pitch black. “NO!” I heard him shout but it was too late, I had come for him and I wasn’t about to leave without him. “Breathe god damn it!” I demanded over and over again sinking my fingers into the pitch. It was cold and slipped through my fingers as fast as I could grab it but I kept snatching at it with all my strength. “Duo.” “Come back,” I choked feeling my determination take complete control. “Or take me with you,” and the pitch suddenly exploded. “He’s breathing!” “Duo!?” “No! Hiiro!” “On his own?!” “Get the mask off him!” “Duo?! Can you hear me?!” It was Quatre but there were a whole lot more. “Hiiro?” I croaked not understanding why my throat felt so raw. “He’s breathing!” “He’s breathing, Duo!” Quatre’s watering face grinned over me. “Help me.” “Lay still,” he told me pushing me back down. “I need to see him,” I begged. “We almost lost you, too,” he informed me. “Just lie still for a minute. Sally thinks you had a reaction to the sedative.” Bullshit. Hiiro had saved me. Again. “Trowa?” “Trowa?” Quarter echoed but his tone was one of dismay instead of the pleading tenor I had uttered as his lover slipped his long, strong arms beneath me and carried me to Hiiro’s bed. He understood. “Hiiro?” His eyes were still closed but the tube was gone and his chest rose and fell on its own. “No,” I whispered. “He doesn’t know about the dreams,” I protested when Trowa went to lay me in the bed beside him but he didn’t listen. “You shouldn’t…” Sally began but Trowa cut her off. “He is the only reason he’s still alive,” he told her tucking my blushing body in beside Hiiro’s and I suddenly just damn well forgot they were in the room. “Hiiro?” He looked so frail. His lips were red and swollen and I could smell the stench of stagnancy hovering over him but nothing could have pulled me away. “You can wake up now,” I smiled hardly noticing as the orderlies and nurses, doctors and our friends faded away into the distance. “Please,” I entreated softly brushing a hand over his cheek. “I’m tired, ok?” I couldn’t stop myself from kissing the corner of his mouth and welcomed the tear that rolled down my cheek when I felt him softly smile. There was a collective gasp in the room as I felt his right arm lift and rest clumsily against my back and I grinned like I had just witnesses the very first dawn when crusty, blue eyes slowly fluttered open. His first rasping, garbled word was… “Kiss?” Shocked doesn’t even come close. “You felt me kissing you?” I suddenly needed an ice pack or something or I was going to burst into flames but he shook his head looking very irritated with his inability to speak. “Kiss,” he rasped again and I got the message when his arm urged me closer to him. I couldn’t believe it but I leaned down and laid my mouth on his and I’ll be damned if he didn’t moan and try to lift his other arm to hold me. “Slow down,” I chuckled feeling more than a little dizzy. “You’ve got some major healing to do.” His voice had abandoned him and he looked so tired I wanted to just rock him in my arms but there was a sparkle in his eyes that told me he was definitely going to be ok. Still, I wasn’t quite prepared for it when he smiled and mouthed, “I love you.” I didn’t get it. Not until much later when he regained his voice enough for us to have conversations and I still can’t explain it to this day. He remembered it all. I sat in the bed beside him with his arms wrapped tightly around me and listened to him tell me the tale of my fall from sanity in great detail until I just couldn’t deny that he had actually been with me all along. It was nearly three weeks later on a sunny afternoon that he had coerced me into a make out session in his bed when I realized just how much he really recalled. “I don’t think you’re quite up for that yet,” I chuckled intercepting his hand before it could slip down my pants. “Oh, I’m up for it,” he grinned moving my hand to his groin to prove his point and I lost my breath. “Not until you can walk all the way to the lobby,” I insisted but my hand was working on an entirely different train of thought. “You were much more complacent when I was in a coma,” he grinned. I really needed to work on the whole blushing issue. “I just wanna take you home,” I reminded him and he relaxed, relented and convinced my hand it should find another hobby for a while. “Where’s home?” he asked tracing patterns on my chest. “Anywhere you like.” “Will you be there?” “Yes.” “Then it doesn’t matter,” he smiled leaning to kiss me again. It was all just so hard to comprehend yet there he was trying his best to crawl inside me and I couldn’t wait until he was well and we could fully explore the depths of our feelings. Relena had been by and though I knew it was hard for her to see him doting over me I could see true happiness in her eyes. I expect someday she’ll find the right moment and thank me for not giving up but it was enough that she supported us and honestly wished us well. “Hiiro?” “Hn?” “We need to stop,” I breathed knowing if he went much farther I wasn’t going to have the will. “Did I ever thank you?” he smiled down at me. “Thank me?” I snorted. “For almost getting you killed?” He shook his head and kissed me gently before he replied. “For saving me.” “You must’ve hit your head,” I chuckled. “You’re the one always pulling my fat out of the fire. Remember?” “No,” he smiled with this look of utter adoration in his eyes that made me feel about five years old. “You saved me a long time ago.” “You’ll have to refresh my memory ‘cause I sure as hell don’t recall it,” I laughed.
“You did,” he insisted kissing me again. “You made me want to live.” He had done it all… for me. “When did I do that?” I breathed unable to find my center in the dizzying fog that had overtaken my mind. He smiled that smile that tells me he knows he has won and kissed me on the tip of my nose before he gently replied, “The moment you stole my heart.” I let him make love to me that day though it was awkward and exhausting. I just couldn’t deny him and as he lay sleeping beside me, his energy for the day spent I realized why we had been able to connect on such an extreme level. We are one of a kind, the two of us. We just belong together and not distance, time or the lack of a human heartbeat was ever going to take that away. He was a part of me. I fell asleep in his arms feeling completely at peace because I knew in my heart, no matter what, he would forever be mine. owari :)
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