Disclaimer: Not mine. Somebody else’s. There, I said it.
Warnings: Look in the first part. They’re all there.
JUST CURIOUS – PART 2
As Heero predicted, the explosions Duo had planned were perfect. Moving down the hallway I give Duo silent praise, checking my watch and wincing. His part of the plan is evidently going off without a hitch. Mine, on the other hand, has been chock-full of delays and obstacles. I’m already running a full five minutes behind and am staring at yet another problem.
Six armed guards stand between me and the lab I need to get inside, where there was only supposed to be one. Either our informant was wrong, or security has been beefed up at some point in the last twenty-four hours.
“Status,” Heero’s flat voice in my ear has me backing further into a corner, hoping his voice doesn’t carry to the guards currently carrying on a conversation between themselves.
“Clear here. Target is gone, repeat, target has been destroyed.” Duo is, of course, speaking of the drugs he had been charged with getting rid of.
My hesitation is clearly noticed, but it surprises me Duo is the one that asks the dreaded question. “Ten-by T?” he calls me by the letter of my first name, as he despises the numerical designations we were given by the scientists during the wars, later picked up by Oz.
“There have been complications,” I admit quietly, aware of the men mere meters away from my current position. “I’m off schedule by large margin.”
“Can you complete your task?” Heero remains professional, but I can hear the worry in his tone. We need this information.
“I will.” I refuse to fail.
“Ro, get the hell out. I’ll help T.”
“Damn it.” The frustration in Heero’s voice is easy to hear, but Duo ignores it, just like he does most things he doesn’t want to hear.
“My job’s done. Your part is the most important, but we need T’s info or it’s worthless.” I can hear heavy breathing coming through the com, and know Duo is already on his way, despite Heero’s tone.
Heero seems to hear it, as well. Clearly resigned that Duo is going to do whatever he wants, our team leader states seriously, “You have six minutes.”
“Yeah, yeah. Get out, Ro. We’ll meet you back at the house for a beer. T, what’s the problem?”
“Six armed guards at the end of corridor F. Our intel said there would only be one.”
“Ain’t that a pisser? We need speed and not finesse, right? Isn’t there a water line leaving the lab?”
“I believe so.” Already I’m getting worried. I have a bad feeling Duo is about to throw a wrench into our carefully crafted plan…not like there’s much of a choice, but some warning would be nice.
“Good. Cover your head. Flash bang coming,” is all the warning I get before I see an object whiz through the air past me.
There is enough time to identify the object before I’m taken down at the knees, too stunned to fight off the lean body that covers mine. It’s a good thing because I realize it’s Duo, shielding me from the blinding light, leaping off immediately after the explosion to chastise me. “Moron! I said cover your head. Were you just gonna stand there?”
“I’m used to agents being clearer about their plans.”
“I’m not an agent.”
Any response I could come up with would be unheard, Duo already running toward the stunned guards. By the time I reach his side, all six are on the floor unconscious. Duo is grinning crookedly at me, barely breathing hard. “After you, T. You’ve got the codes,” he gestures at the door lock.
I’m amazed there aren’t sirens going off all over the place and mention it as I open the door to the lab by keying in the code Duo spoke of. Finding a secure terminal, I quickly find the files I need and copy them before uploading a virus Heero created that will wipe out the entire network within minutes.
“There’s no alarm because there’s no one awake to set them off. We’ve got about two minutes before someone wakes up or the unconscious guards get found.”
“What about the four guards I passed coming down the corridor?” I work while talking, aware of Duo moving about the room.
“All down.”
“Impossible. The only way you could have done it that fast was by killing them,” I contest, hoping that isn’t how he got to me so quickly. The war is over and I hold life in high regard, even lives of scum.
“I was on the move when you didn’t reply right away. There had to be something wrong to keep you from responding.”
That Duo knows me so well is disturbing but I don’t have time to question him about it now, determined to do my job. The hiss of pneumatic doors grabs my attention and I look over in time to see the glass doors sealing us inside the lab. “They discovered our position?”
“Not yet. I shut the doors. It’s the only way to keep the blast contained in this room. You almost done?”
“Finished. Blast?” I stand, leaving the virus to work on its own and tucking the data disk into a case that’s practically indestructible, shoving it into the tight pack I have pressed against my chest. It’s the best way to carry small, breakable objects, specially designed for that use by the Preventers research lab. “What are you doing?” I ask when I find Duo prying open the lid of what appears to be a large water tank.
“You can swim, right? Or at least hold your breath for a few minutes?”
“I can swim,” I reply. I can see a plan forming in his mind. At least, I think I can. His mind works in really unusual ways.
He nods as he straps his own bag to him securely, a backpack he brings on all assignments with the Preventers. “Good. This tank empties into the sewer system. There’s a tunnel that goes topside about six miles away.”
“Are you out of your mind? If you’re wrong, we could get flushed into the ocean.” Not the most tactful thing to say when you’ve decided you might have feelings for someone, but I do better with a thought-out plan, this is why Heero and I work so well together.
“Ocean’s too far away. If I’m wrong, the farthest we’ll go is a lake about ten miles from here.” Duo looks at me from where he is crouching in the floor, hands competently programming a timer. “I’m not wrong. Trust me, Trowa.”
His eyes are pleading with me to trust in him, leaving me no choice. “Fine, but if we die, I’ll make your life hell for eternity.”
“We prolly ain’t going the same directions after we die, but I’ll keep an eye for you in my private spa in hell just in case you get tired of all the pretty angels fluttering around.”
Half of the time I’m convinced Duo is completely insane and the other half I’m sure he’s saner than anyone else I know. This is one of those times I’m positive he’s lost his mind. Why the hell he’s talking so calmly about death and hell, I have no idea. It’s terrifying to realize I do trust him, even though I’m not sure about his sanity status or understand his thought processes, and I always have. Why in the world do I have feelings for someone so convoluted and confusing?
There’s no time to figure that out as we hear shouts from the corridor. Duo tosses something into the corner of the room, filling it with smoke, then grabs my arms and pushes me toward the open tank, climbing in easily above me. “Start swimming to the bottom. When the release valve opens, we need to be as close to the hatch as possible or we could drown. We’ve got five seconds after I close the lid to get there, and the bomb will go off after thirty. We need to be long gone by then.” Seeing the expression on my face, he rolls his eyes dramatically, “It should take at least two minutes for them to get through the door; I jammed it with my own code. No one will be killed...it’ll just stop them from figuring out where we went, and hopefully they’ll think we were killed in the explosion, at least until they can go through the remains of the room.”
Having already learned my lesson about questioning his calculations, I nod once and dive down as he reaches for the lid. Murky blackness surrounds us, water pushing in from every side. Forgetting which way is down I falter, latching onto the hand that grabs me and trusting Duo to get us out of here so we don’t die a slow death by drowning.
Those five seconds seems more like five minutes, but the water is abruptly sucked out of the tank, taking us with it, rolling head over heels in the torrent. Somehow, Duo never lets go of me, his hand gripping mine as if it’s a lifeline. I feel him jerk once and his body slams into mine, but he never lets go.
Unable to do more than tumble at the mercy of the water, I can suddenly recall every moment where he’s had a kind word or a smile for me, surprising myself with how many of those memories there are. Perhaps it’s fitting that the last image in my mind is of Duo staring at me with those vibrant eyes, entreating me to trust in him.
The water is suddenly no longer supporting us, spitting us out on a concrete floor. Duo is trapped under me as I cough helplessly; clearing water out of my throat I sucked down in surprise. Pushing off him is a chore, my arms and legs weak for no reason at all, but I finally manage, realizing he’s muttering under his breath.
“Gol-durned heavy sum-bitch landin’ on me like ima bed or sumptin’. Don’t know how hard that is on certain parts, an’ my head aches like a tree just got drilled.”
“Damn it, speak English!”
“That was English,” he snaps, then begins to cough, rolling onto his side.
Letting him have some privacy as he spits out water I give the tunnel a good look, glad it isn’t as dark as the water tank. It’s not bright, but at least it’s not that suffocating black that can’t be penetrated. Unfortunately, it smells exactly like what it is…a sewer. Breathing through my mouth, I look back at him as he ceases coughing. “What kind of English was that?”
He takes a deep breath as his eyes also study the tunnel. Without looking at me, he shrugs, “L2 slang, most of it. It takes a while to understand. I tend to say strange things if I get my brains knocked around.”
Remembering the way his body had slammed into mine while tumbling through the water, I ask him, “Are you all right?”
Without waiting for an answer I pull him close, sitting on my knees as I inspect his head as well as I can in the dim light. It doesn’t take long to find the gash at his hairline above his left eye, going all the way from above his nose to his earlobe. He hisses as I prod and poke at it, feeling the sticky warmth of blood seeping from the wound. Knowing he’s usually prepared for every emergency, I question him, “Have you got a first aid kit and a light? We need to get this bandaged or it could get infected.”
“I have both in my pack. You’re gonna have to help me get it off.” Duo’s voice is subdued, something that catches my attention. He’s rarely quiet unless something is very, very wrong. During the war, Quatre used to say all was well until Duo got quiet. That’s when the shit usually hit the fan.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m pretty sure I dislocated my shoulder. I need the pack off so I can put it back.”
“Damn it, Duo, how did you get so banged up when I didn’t get hurt at all?”
“Because, unlike you, I had my eyes open and could see the obstacles we were going to hit.”
This means he was hurt protecting me; I don’t have to ask to know that. Shamed at the rough way I’ve been treating him, I try to be gentle as I remove his pack. It has to be painful, but the only sound from him is a hiss as I ease the strap over his shoulder, feeling the way it’s not where it’s supposed to be. “What do you want to do first? Deal with your shoulder or your head?”
“Help me up so I can fix my shoulder.”
From his tone I know he doesn’t want any help, so I get him on his feet, holding him still for a moment so I can wipe the blood from his eyes, then force myself to let him go. I turn away once he gets to the wall, digging in his pack for a flashlight and the first-aid kit, shaking my head when I find them taped together.
Setting what I need on top of Duo’s bag, I wait. Seconds later there is the sound of flesh hitting a solid surface, the sickening pop of a bone going back in joint and a wail of pain. Before I can think about what I’m going to do, I’m beside him, catching him before he can hit the floor. He isn’t unconscious but he’s close, eyes shut as he breathes hard.
Neither one of us speaks as I pick him up and carry him back to where his pack lies, realizing how small and delicate he is. Awake and moving Duo seems larger than life, exuding an energy that makes it easy to forget how petite he actually is. Within the circle of my arms I can feel how tiny his waist is and the way his ribs are prominent; I can easily feel the outlines of the bones where my hands hold him. “Do you ever eat?”
“When I get a chance,” Duo stuns me by answering. I assumed his pain was too great to speak. “In case you haven’t noticed, I don’t have a lot of spare time, between doing favors for Une and Howard bossing my ass around all the time.”
“Hold this,” I shove the flashlight at him after I set him down, turning it on and aiming it toward his head, attempting to keep the light out of his eyes at the same time. Since he’s given me an opening, I use it while I clean the wound, hoping to hide how concerned I am at the amount of blood. “You work for Howard?”
“If that’s what you want to call it. Damn man is a slave driver.”
“This is going to need some stitches, Duo.”
“That doesn’t surprise me. Everything you need should be in the kit.”
I find needles of various sizes, and several different types of thread. “You really do bring everything you could possibly need, don’t you? Is this silk?”
Duo glances down to see the blue thread and nods, “You never know what’s gonna happen on a job for Une…or Howard, if it comes to that. I’ve had to repack that kit so many times I keep a trunk full of replacement supplies in my bunk.”
The bunk comment catches me off guard. “You work on a ship?”
There must be some surprise in my voice because he laughs softly, the sound coming from deep in his throat. “Why is everyone so shocked when they figure out what I do? I work with Howard and the Sweepers, going between deep-sea and deep-space salvage, depending on where I’m needed at the time.”
“And you still manage to come when Une calls. Howard doesn’t mind you leaving?”
Duo doesn’t reply right away, likely aware of how difficult it is to stich torn skin while a patient is moving. Only when I set the needle aside does he answer, “That was the deal when I signed on. Une was upset I wouldn’t agree to be an agent, so I told her I’d help out when my particular skills were needed. When I went to Howard, he said he was okay with it, even though he argues every time I’m called in. Old man worries like a mom.”
Applying a bandage to the deepest part of the wound first, I leave my hand for a moment longer than necessary, surprised how warm the skin is at the edges of the gauze. His quizzical glance has me dropping my hand and clearing my throat in hopes of easing the tightness there. “Salvage is a dangerous business, Duo.”
Amused violet eyes roll to look at me. “I don’t have to go to work and worry about being shot at every day, Trowa. Salvage can be dangerous unless you know the risks and minimize them.”
“What are the risks and how do you minimize them?” I’m stalling so I can keep Duo from moving for a few more minutes, not only because I want to make sure he doesn’t have a concussion, but also because I’m enjoying the feel of his body against mine. He doesn’t complain or question me, but he does frown slightly.
After a few seconds, he shrugs. “Depends on where you are and what you’re doing at the time. In the water you have to keep an eye on your air pressure and your oxygen while watching for other dangers, like sharks or other salvagers. People can be more dangerous than the wildlife, to be honest. In addition to that, you have to trust the person you’re partnered with to know what they’re doing. It’s the same when you’re in space, other than having to keep an eye out for space debris that can kill you in an instant.”
“Sounds much safer than getting shot at,” I reply wryly.
I can feel his laugh more than hear it. “Like I said, you minimize the risks, but you can’t eliminate all of them. That’s why you have to be close to your partner.”
“You have the same partner for sea and space?” Just how close is he with his partner? Is it the same type of relationship I have with Heero, or is it closer than that?”
“Guy named Kip. He’s been with the crew since before the war, so I know him pretty well.” It’s a shock to feel him touch my face briefly, “I said he’s my partner, Trowa. Not my lover.”
“That’s not what I meant. I was just curious what you did when you aren’t helping Une.”
His eyebrows lift, wincing when the stitches pull, his hand dropping instantly. I immediately miss that soft touch of calloused fingers. “I do salvage. I help the Preventers when they need me. That’s pretty much it.” Struggling to sit up, he shakes his head fiercely. “Sorry for assuming anything; must be the knock on the noggin.”
I’ve hurt him. I can hear it in his voice. My first instinct is to let it go and act like nothing happened. Unfortunately, my instinct is also telling me if I do that I’ll lose any chance of getting to know him better. When he gets to his feet he sways, the injury and blood loss making him light-headed. Grabbing him by the waist, I support him until he can stand on his own. “You were right. I wanted to know.” I don’t elaborate because I don’t need to.
“I’m really not an idiot.”
“I already knew that.”
He glances up at me for an instant, then looks away with a nod. “We should get going. Heero will be looking for us soon.”
“Have any idea what he’ll do when we don’t come out of the warehouse?”
“Lucky for us, Heero knows me better than anyone. He’ll figure out what I planned to do. We need to go this way,” he says as he points to the right.
“How do you know?” I pick up his pack before he has a chance, putting my own bag inside it along with the first-aid kit but keeping the flashlight in my hand in case the tunnel gets darker than it already is.
“I looked up the plans for the sewer system before I picked you and Heero up. It never hurts to have a back-up plan, just in case. Not that I don’t trust you and Heero...it’s a force of habit. You guys didn’t have enough escape routes to make me comfortable.”
“Minimize the risks?” The thought is actually amusing. Heero and I believed our plan was foolproof… Duo had assumed it wasn’t.
“Something like that. I memorized the plans in case we needed another way out. It’s an old habit.”
Walking beside him, I match his pace. He keeps his arm still without complaining about how much it aches. Having my shoulder dislocated before, I know he must be in pain. “Thanks, by the way. For shielding me while we were in the water,” I explain when he glances at me with a questioning expression.
“It’s no problem. I didn’t want you messing up that pretty face of yours.”
The off-hand comment has me smiling. It’s so like Duo to make such a statement out of the blue to brush off any gratitude. I let it go, just as he expects. We travel in silence for a while, until I get him to stop with a hand on his wrist. “Let me check your shoulder. Do we have anything to make a sling out of?”
“We can use my t-shirt, but you’ll have to help me get this top shirt off.”
Either the Gods have decided to take pity on me or curse me, I’m not sure which. First, I make the mistake of wishing for more time to get to know Duo better and we end up together in a sewer. Now this happens. My fingers fumble as I help him pull his long-sleeve black shirt up; aware he’s watching me with amused eyes. “Stop laughing at me, damn it.”
“I’m not laughing. It’s cute how terrified you are that I’m gonna bite or something.”
“I’m not worried.”
“I’m not gonna jump you, either. Stop stressing. I’m not so desperate I’d jump on the first person that touches me. You’re safe.”
Honestly I don’t speak first and think later unless I’m around Duo. He brings out that side of me. It’s one of the reasons I usually make sure to be somewhere else when he’s around. “You’d have to be desperate to jump me?” Good grief, I need to staple my lips together. I’ll use stitches since there isn’t a stapler handy at this second. Thank god I manage to get the shirt over his head before I say anything else.
My face burns as we work his t-shirt over his head, barely managing not to stare at the sight of his bare chest, and then struggle to put the long-sleeved shirt back on. I’m thankful for the dim light that hides how I’m blushing, the burning of my face telling me that it’s bright red. I grimace at the sound of his harsh breathing, wincing in sympathy at the hiss of pain as I bind his arm so it’s immovable. “Are you going to be all right?”
“That’s gonna hurt like a bitch tomorrow, but I’ll live. No, I wouldn’t have to be desperate to jump you. I said I wouldn’t jump the first person that touched me. My schedule doesn’t leave a lot of time for socializing.”
On the move again, I try to decide if he finds me attractive or not. He said I have a pretty face and he wouldn’t have to be desperate. I’m going to drive myself crazy trying to decipher his riddle replies. It’s time to think of something else. “You said Heero knows you better than anyone else; he says he doesn’t know you at all.”
After stopping momentarily at another juncture, Duo takes a right turn then glances at me, eyes curious. “What else does he say about me?”
“That you won’t let anyone close. That’s why things didn’t work out between you two.”
Giving me a one-shouldered shrug, Duo speaks softly, “Heero’s right. I don’t like people getting close. It might have been different if we had more time, but when you’re the guy that saved the world people always seem to want something from you. Our schedules were too different to let me have time to convince myself it was okay to let him know me the way he said he wanted.”
I think about this, shaking my head in confusion. “Said he wanted?”
“He said he wanted to know me better and acted like it when we were together. The problem was that he didn’t want to make time to see me. I tried, Trowa, I really did. Hell, I even took time off work. I spent three weeks on Earth once, waiting to see him so we could talk. He had spare time for two days, at the very end of my stay. By then, I realized he didn’t want to know me as badly as he thought he did.”
“He was working?” I tried to recall a time when Heero mentioned Duo was staying for a while but couldn’t.
“He had two weeks off from the Preventers. As soon as everyone found out he had time away from work they began setting up meetings and interviews. For the first week, he was with Relena at her estate. The second week he was off planet, doing meet and greets, again with Relena. He called me the day he went back to work and said he would come by the hotel that night. He showed up four days later. There might have been more time, but Howard needed me on a salvage another team was moving in on.”
“Heero probably had a good reason, Duo. He wouldn’t forget.”
“That’s exactly what he did. Went home from work and fell asleep, exhausted from the busy schedule from the two previous weeks. I guess he realized it wasn’t working, because he sent me an e-mail the next week, telling me he couldn’t stay with me when I wouldn’t confide in him.”
For almost a year, Duo and Heero had been strained around each other. I had never understood why, but now I knew and felt sorry for them both. Duo had been willing to talk, but Heero hadn’t been available, proving he wasn’t worth talking to. A break-up email had to add insult to injury. “That was a shitty thing to do.”
“Which part?”
“All of it, but mostly the email. He could have picked up the phone. It wouldn’t have made it less painful but it would have been face to face, in a way.”
“You’re right. It’s okay, I’m over it
now.”
The offhand tone has me lifting a brow at Duo. Glancing at me, he sees it and gives a short laugh. “Okay, I’m mostly over it. Better?”
“What bothers you the most about it?”
Although he’s silent for a moment, I know he’ll answer. “We could have been good.”
“Would you want to try again with Heero?” Mental note to self: Bring duct tape next time I might be spending time with Duo.
“Nah. When it comes to relationships, I don’t see the point of trying a second time when the first one failed so miserably. Besides, Heero and I are complete opposites. He wanted someone to depend on him, but only when it was convenient for him.”
“What do you want?” I ask when he falls quiet.
“Someone to put me first in their head and their heart,” he answers immediately. “I think it’d be nice to have someone I could count on, but not have to revolve my entire world around them. That doesn’t make a damn bit of sense, does it?”
“You want to share a life with someone while still being able to have separate ones.” I can answer easily, because it’s always been the same thing I wanted with another person. “Someone to come home to or even work with as long as they aren’t attached to you all the time; they would have to make time for you to be alone, but not so often everyone else fades away.”
He stops and stares at me in wonder, “Are you in my damn head or what?”
“It’s the same way I feel, Duo. Did you think you were the only one?”
Walking again, he gives a chuckle that holds no humor, “When I was with Heero, I couldn’t get him to understand we needed time together that wasn’t on the phone or in bed. Now that I think about it, we would have ended a lot sooner if it hadn’t been for the sex. It was the only thing we had in common.”
My feet get tangled briefly and I shuffle several steps before being steady again. His grin tells me he had hoped for that reaction or one like it. “Why do you say things to shock me?” I frown.
“It’s fun seeing what surprises you. I didn’t know you were such a prude.”
“I am not a prude.”
“Then why do you get all flustered when I bring up sex?”
“I don’t get flustered.” I am not saying that I keep imagining having sex with him every time he brings it up. The words Heero had teased me with are running through my head. Prude? Not even close.
“Do you like sex?”
“Of course.” It’s hard not to worry where he’s going with this. As I’ve noted before, Duo thinks in strange ways.
“Want to have sex with me?”
Lucky for me, he’s looking in front of us, so I have time to drag my jaw back up from the ground by the time he glances at me. I do manage to pull off a shrug that seems nonchalant. “I like to be in a relationship before having sex with someone, so it means something.”
“What do you define as a relationship? We have a relationship, don’t we?” I can’t tell if he’s trying to get a reaction from me or not, his face oddly blank.
“We have a working relationship and a friendship. We would have to date and learn more about each other before we would have the right kind of relationship. I don’t really know anything about you, Duo. I know more than I did this morning, but that isn’t enough.”
“I guess sex is out, then. I’ve never been on a date.”
Duo’s damn off-hand statements are going to be the death of me. “You dated Heero.”
His smile is quick and predatory, “I had sex with Heero on a semi-regular basis, but we never went out on a date.”
“You never went out?”
“Not in public. Heero was horrified someone would see us together and recognize him. Can you imagine the headlines?” In the dim light, violet eyes are wide with false horror. After a second he gives a shrug, “It didn’t bother me until our time together became so rare.”
“How do you define a date?”
“Hell, I don’t know, Trowa. I’ve never been on one, remember? I guess the cliché would be flowers, dinner, and a movie, but that wouldn’t work.”
It’s the wistful quality to his voice that has me asking, “Why not?”
“Guys don’t get flowers, do they? Isn’t that kind of…girly?”
“I guess it depends on the flowers.” Save me because I’m starting to get an idea in my head, one I’ll probably regret, but this whole day is crazy.
Taking breaks, we walk for what feels like hours. Eventually, he tells me we should be nearing the exit point and I have to admit I’m not ready to leave the stinky, dank confines of the sewer. When we see the cover leading to the surface, I put the flashlight back in the pack and put it on, making sure he doesn’t try to climb the narrow ladder with one arm and a heavy bag. “Are you leaving right away to go back to Howard?”
Tilting his head, he frowns as he gives it a shake, “I have two days before I’m supposed to go back. I hoped to do some sight-seeing. I haven’t had any time off in a while.”
“Are you staying at your usual hotel?”
“Room 634. Why?”
Smiling slowly, I wait until he carefully works his way up half the ladder with one hand to reply softly, “Just curious.”