Author: PlaidDragon

Pairings: 1+2, 3x4, 2+4

Warnings: Yaoi, angstish

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing and its original characters do not belong to me.

NakOdo

"Duo..."

He tips back, letting gravity pull him onto his back with a grunt of pain.

"What's up, Quatre?"

A faint susurration of air.

"Are you worried?"

::I don't know; am I? Let's see, my head is about to split wide open and spill what few brain cells I have left all over this rock. I can barely breathe; those friggin' ribs are broken, I know they are. And I so want to kick that sonuvabitch's balls clear to his sinuses. Nah, I'm not worried...::

"They'll find us, Q-man. Or the Marquis de Sade will make a mistake, and we'll get ourselves out. Don't sweat it."

"Sorry..."

Silence. Duo's eyelids slip down. Darkness welcomes him, enfolds him, wipes away the pain.

Quatre sits beside him, hugging his knees, trying to conquer his anxiety, and make his roiling stomach be still.

::What if..? What if...? He hurts... He needs... He wants... I'm afraid. Oh... god...::

"...I don't want to die..."

Consciousness. A startled gasp. Pain. The raw shifting of broken bones.

"...Same here... Shit! Um... Quatre, it's okay to be scared."

"Are you?"

"Hell, yes! I'm practically petrified."

Delicate fingers brush his braid, feel their way up to his head, down to his shoulder, his arm, his hand. They twine with his fingers.

"I... I don't know if I can do this..."

"You can. You're strong, Quatre."

Fingers tense on his.

"No. I'm not strong. Everyone thinks I am, but... I don't... I'm not..."

Duo moves slowly, carefully, to find his teammate's face and strokes his cheek tenderly.

"You. Are. A. Gundam. Pilot. That makes you strong, kid. You think we don't know how strong you are? You think the Maguanacs would lay down their lives for a man they considered weak? Scared doesn't equal weak. I'd be a quivering lump of... of... of crap right now, if it did!"

Quatre smiles; Duo feels it in the darkness and returns his own unseen grin.

"You never look scared."

"It's dark; you can't see how terrified I am right now."

The silence stretches out, broken only by soft breathing.

::Oh, kid... If you only knew... Ah! Sweet mother of- Shit, that hurt!::

Duo arches his back, trying to take pressure off his broken ribs. He succeeds, to a certain extent.

"Let me."

Quatre lies down next to him, urging Duo to lean against him and to use his arm as a pillow. He feels the heat radiating from Duo's body. Fever. Duo is never this warm.

"Thanks, Q-man..."

It is the barest of whispers. It might even be his imagination.

Reluctantly, Quatre closes his eyes to concentrate. Opens a tiny crack in the protective armor. Pain floods that crack, threatens to shatter that hard won armor. He forces it closed and shudders.

::No... I can't...::

Cut the strings and watch the marionette fall...

He touches his friend's bruised face.

"Duo..."

No answer to his whisper. Duo is asleep or unconscious.

Quatre draws his hand down Duo's arm and buries his face in the loose tangle of chestnut hair. He smells blood, oil, sweat, the lingering trace of raspberries from Duo's current shampoo and another, spicier scent, strange and yet familiar. He closes his eyes against tears, against fear, against the darkness, and tries to rest.

~*~

The cell door opens. Feeble, dying-bulb light slithers into the cell. Touches Duo's face. He reacts by slitting his eyes.

::Oh look. They're baaack.::

Quatre gets nervously to his feet. His turn has come.

The silhouette in the doorway moves its head, looking from one pilot to the other.

Another slides around the first and into the cell. He ignores Quatre; goes instead to drag Duo to his feet.

"No!"

Quatre jumps forward. The man, with his hand tangled in Duo's hair and collar, slams Quatre with a fist to the chest. He staggers; goes down, gasping.

Duo's lips thin, relax. Pupils flare, then contract.

Shinigami is not amused.

The man hauls him from the cell. The door closes. The lock engages.

Quatre kneels, head down, trying to catch his breath. Trying to understand why they take Duo. Duo is the strong one. Duo will give them nothing. He'll die before...

Breath hitches in his chest.

::Why?! I don't understand! Why...::

~*~

Duo doesn't waken, doesn't hear Quatre's pleas. The blood dries, caking into hard crusts. Bruises bloom and darken. Swellings simmer with fever.

Quatre lifts his friend's body into his arms, holding him carefully. He strokes the tattered hair, sticky now with blood and sweat, and checks Duo's pulse every few minutes.

There are bad things in the world, he decides at some point. And then there is evil.

When Duo rouses, Quatre asks the question.

"Why you? Why not me?"

Duo grimaces; Quatre takes it as the smile it's meant to be.

"Cuz you don't have anything they want..."

"And... And you do?"

Faint, so soft and hesitant it's nearly a thought.

"Sportsman never shoots a sitting duck."

The irony does not escape Quatre, but he doesn't understand it.

"Duo..."

"Hey."

His voice is stronger, less constricted. His purple eyes lock on Quatre's, holding him silent.

"Shinigami takes care of his own, Q-man. Whatever it takes."

Quatre's throat tightens. He nods as if he understands. He doesn't.

"Duo, please -"

"Talk to me, man. I need to stay awake. Just talk to me."

"Okay."

"Tell me what your family is like; all those sisters."

Hesitantly, Quatre begins to describe his sisters, his father and the life he left behind. Duo listens, asks occasional questions, and concentrates on keeping the ache in his own heart at bay.

"I haven't seen any of them since I went for my training. Father disowned me... The family have been pacifists for generations. I dishonored the family name -"

"Bullshit!"

Duo's purple eyes are throwing sparks of righteous anger.

"You haven't dishonored anything! Peace is a fine ideal, but there's always gonna be somebody who wants more and doesn't mind using force to get it. It's not dishonorable to stand up for yourself."

He pauses to cough, every indrawn breath triggering more coughing, until he's struggling just to stay conscious.

Quatre allows a tiny crack in the barrier within him, this time accepting the pain in a thin stream, managing it in such small doses. He strokes Duo's hair softly until the other's spasms ease and he is able to breathe without coughing. Quatre closes the crack in his armor and sighs.

A few minutes pass silently. Then Duo lifts his hand to Quatre's arm.

"Thanks," he whispers.

Smiling faintly, Quatre gives him the tiniest of squeezes. "You're welcome."

~*~

"Who do you like working with the most?"

Quatre blinks. What an odd question. He hesitates, not wanting to hurt Duo's feelings.

"After me, of course," smirks Shinigami in the darkness.

Much easier now.

"Trowa," replies Quatre without further hesitation. "He just seems so solid, so relaxed. But not cold..." Absently, he winds a loose strand of Duo's hair around his finger.

"Wufei talks to Meiran. Or maybe Nataku. I'm not sure which, and I'd rather die than ask. And he yells almost as much as you do." A small smile. "He startles me sometimes. Heero, on the other hand, is just... silent. It makes me uneasy, as if he isn't really there. But Trowa... I think we're on the same frequency, mentally. And I just like having those big guns at my back. Who do you like working with?"

"Heero." No hesitation. "I yell and swear and he hardly says anything. But sometimes I think I know what he's thinking. I can feel him and Wing in battle. I can tell where they're going to be a few seconds before they get there. It's almost like he's an extension of me. Weird, huh?"

"I don't think it's weird," says Quatre loyally. "It's natural to anticipate your partner's movements.

"Hn," snorts Duo, in almost perfect imitation of Heero. Quatre chuckles and squeezes his hand.

"So," says Duo lightly. "Have you told Trowa you like him?"

Quatre blinks. "N-no... I... He might not like me as much as I like him," he finishes quickly, as if saying it would make it true.

"Shiiii... And what if Trowa's telling Heero and Wu-man that he can't tell you that he likes you because you might not like him as much! One of you has to say something."

"But... But why does it have to be me?" Quatre's heart thundering in his ears almost drowns out the sound of his own voice.

Duo doesn't answer his question.

"When Heero left on his mission," he begins instead. "I told him that I love him."

Quatre's mouth drops open. "Oh my god!" he hisses. "Duo!"

"He kissed me, Q-man. He didn't say it back to me, but he grabbed my arms and slammed me against his chest and kissed me so hard and so deep, it made my toes curl and my braid float." He rubs Quatre's arm where it lays across his ribs. "I don't care if he never says it back to me. I'm gonna tell him I love him every time we part."

Duo's eyes are open, glimmering shards of purple in the faint light of their cell.

"They'll come and get us, Quatre. I know they will."

"I hope so," Quatre breathes.

~*~

Quatre wakes as rough hands shove him across the floor.

Quatre Raberba Winner, only son and sole male heir to the Winner Empire, Gundam Pilot, terrorist, assassin, soldier and uncertain empath, does not awaken well when startled.

Not well at all.

::Goddammit! What the fuck?!::

He hears a groan as Duo is hauled to his feet. Squinting into the light from the doorway, he sees a large figure dragging Duo across the room.

"Ribs, man!" gasps Duo. "Hey, watch the ribs! Shit!"

The man slams a fist to the side of Duo's face. Duo goes down like a stone.

Quatre growls deep in his throat. His sapphire eyes narrow to slits.

::My friend.::

::MIIIIINE!!!!!::

"Fuck! Getcherdamnfilthypawsoffahim!" bellows Quatre, throwing his weight at the back of the man's knees.

Not expecting resistance, the man sprawls forward; his chin hits the ground. He starts to push himself up, but Quatre is on his back, hands clenched in his short dark hair. With strength born of fury, he slams the man's head into the hard floor, again and again, until the body under him has no movement left.

Panting, still lightheaded with adrenaline, Quatre takes the man's sidearm, chambers a round, and pulls Duo to his feet.

"C'mon, Duo, Shinigami says it's time to GO!"

"Huh...? Yeah... 'Kay... Lesgo..." Duo shakes his head to clear it, coming back part way. Enough to stay vertical and hang onto Quatre as they escape the cell. "Damn... Heero's late... 's never late... Why's my head hurt...?"

A figure steps out of a cross-corridor raising a weapon. With a snarl, Quatre shoots him dead. He scoops up the saw and wraps Duo's fingers around it, at the same time giving him a shake.

"Wake up, 02! Incoming!"

Duo's eyes snap open. His hand closes on the saw. Quatre glances at him. One whole side of Duo's face is bloody, but his purple eyes are on fire and his lips are curling into a snarl.

"Attaboy! Okay, Shinigami, let's go the hell home. I gotta tell a man I wanna fuck his brains out, and then propose by candlelight!"

Duo laughs, or perhaps Shinigami. "Banzai!" he yells, loosing a burst of fire down a corridor.

~*~

"You shoulda seen him, Wu-man! He was like a freakin' werewolf on crack!"

"You've said that at least six times, Maxwell, and don't call me Wu-man. It was amusing the first time, but now it's just tiresome."

"But you don't believe me! You just keep rolling your eyes like I'm outta my mind or concussed or something!"

Wufei starts to roll his eyes, then stops himself. "Winner does not lose control. It is you who behaves like a werewolf on crack!" He huffs and glares and Duo subsides into the bed where Heero has ordered him to stay.

"Yeah, well..." Duo grumbles. "You just ask Heero, when he gets back. He'll tell you how Q-man was when they got there. Or ask Trowa. Yeah. Just go ask Trowa! He'll tell you!"

Wufei casts him a sideways glare, even as a blush sneaks over his face. "I would, except... Well... He and Winner are locked in the bedroom, and they won't come out." He huffs again. "In fact, I find it extremely inconsiderate of them to leave me to care for you, while they... while they..."

He glances at Duo, now grinning like the Cheshire Cat.

"Oh, shut up! Kisama!" The whole house rattles as he slams the door on his way out.

Duo settles back against the pillows, remembering how tightly Heero held him and how solicitous he was. Not to mention a few other things...

And Quatre! Dipping Trowa like that! And that look of astonishment on Trowa's face! He's damn cute when you can see all of his face. And he didn't seem to hate it, being kissed like that.

Oh, no, he didn't hate it at all...

Writing in the air, Duo murmurs aloud, "Shinigami: a googol and one, everyone else: zero!" He looks down at the pad of paper on his knees.

"Okay... Who's next?"

OWARI

 

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