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Disclaimer – Gundam Wing is not mine. Dammit.
Quatre stepped in and tried to flick on the lights by habit. When they didn't come on, Duo thought, is when it really hit
home on how bad a shape he was in. Without a word Quatre left them standing in the small living room as he went around the
rooms, leaving Duo with Trowa, Wufei, and Heero. He wanted to run.
The silence ate at him like a thing alive. He shifted nervously, but that brought on a glare so monstrous from Heero that
he just decided to stand at attention like a soldier. Trowa seemed to want to break the silence, but had no idea of how to
do it. Wufei seemed to be fine with the silence, and Heero would probably shoot Duo if he dared open his mouth. He would've
been happy for Quatre's return if it wasn't for the mix of anger and sadness that swirled in his eyes. That look made Duo
want to smack himself until he had bled to death. Again.
Quatre got up in his face, and he saw the tear streaks that were evidence of Quatre's already obvious emotions. "If you ever..."
And then the anger died and Duo found himself crushed into Quatre in a fiery embrace, and Duo circled his arms around the
blond and hugged him reassuringly. "Why didn't you tell me? This... if I had known..."
Heero left off for his own search without a word. Duo watched him with a sense of trepidation. Would Heero be disgusted with
him because of his... financial status? Would he see something of his that he really didn't want him to see? What would he
think of someone who he already hated after he saw just how pathetic they had become?
Duo's heart twisted in pain.
"Duo, you have no water. Or food," he added. Wufei looked at Duo with such intensity he thought he was going to scream.
"Yeah, well..." Duo shrugged. "You can't exactly buy food and keep water without the money to..." But he saw the stricken
look on Quatre's face and decided, again, to just shut the hell up.
Trowa was looking at Quatre with a strange look on his face. Duo watched him with an avid interest. Were he and Quatre an
item? He wasn't sure; he had never asked Quatre about it, but it seemed like they were close. Were they “friend”
close, like he thought Quatre and himself were, or were they a bit more?
Duo grinned evilly. Something to hold over Trowa's or Quatre's head if they got on his case too much.
Quatre looked over Duo's shoulder and muttered something about bills and papers. Duo blinked at him, but he had already run
through the door. He turned to look at Trowa to ask him what the hell was happening, but he was pulling a very, very
reluctant Wufei out my door. He stared at them for a moment, thoughtful.
And then he felt the glowering heat only one person could give off from sight alone.
He thought he groaned. He definitely groaned.
He turned, rather theatrically, and stared into Heero's burning gaze. He had a sinking feeling that they were going to have
it out.
Heero stepped forward menacingly, and Duo rather predictably took a step back. He rushed forward then, a blur of wind and
anger, and grabbed his left arm roughly. Duo struggled to get out of his grasp. Struggled like a little kid, because something
in his eyes had changed, and Duo found that he really didn't want to run anymore.
Heero's grip loosened, and he stepped forward one more time. There was... something odd about the Perfect Soldier now, something
that Duo had never seen before.
"Hee... Heero?"
That seemed to snap Heero into more movement. He dragged Duo's reluctant form into his little kitchenette or whatever you
called that closet with an oven and glared at him. "Where do you see food?" he snapped, and Duo winced at the tone.
Duo acted as if he was really searching. Then he shrugged. "There's a couple pieces of bread in the -"
"That couldn't feed a fucking rat," Heero snarled, and Duo was caught dead-on with the worst Omae-O-Korosu-You-Stupid-Baka
looks ever.
"Actually," Duo started, "It might sustain the -"
But he was cut off again. "What in the hell were you thinking when you left Quatre out of this?"
"I already said this, Heero," he said, his voice suddenly clipped as he tried desperately to hide the strange hurt that flitted
through with Heero's statement. He had left Quatre out of it. Not them, not him. Quatre. "I didn't want everyone to be fawning
over pathetic little Maxwell."
Heero looked at him oddly again, but wrenched his arm free and went to grab his shoulders, probably to shake him.
"Arm!" he shouted on reflex, backing away a bit. Heero stopped cold and glared at Duo's arm, then to him. Duo tried his dumb
grin for him. "Shake me later, Heero," he said lightly, and started to move aside.
Heero blocked him. "What... What the hell do you plan to eat?"
He blinked at Heero, shocked. He though that, since the tirade was over, Heero's communication would again go down to a bare
minimum. "Uhmm, actually," Duo started, "call me silly, but I was thinking of eating the bread. You know, because it's the
only food in the house?"
Heero glared at him again, and he wondered why he wasn't wilting. "Duo," he growled, "I can... we can go out."
Duo just stared at him. Go... out? With Heero? The Heero? The Heero that had once always said that going out wasn't
safe, that one should stick to the mission and think about nothing more, who was so anti-social he would even sit alone in
school and hole himself up in his room with his laptop the rest of the time?
Duo quirked up a real grin, though it was a bit tired. "Sure!"
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