Title: Jell-O Memories [side story to
Your Imagination]
Rating: PG
Warnings: pov, language, spoilers
Pairings: none
Disclaimers: GWing is not mine. Chances are that it's not your
either.
Author's Note: The conversation between Heero and Duo is pretty much
taken exactly from the series. It can be found in Episode 19.
It's amazing how comforting a bowl full of sugar, gelatin, artifical flavoring, Red 40, Blue1, and God-knows-what-other-shit can be.
My relationship with Jell-O goes back a long way. All the way back to the Maxwell Church, in fact. During my first winter there, I came down with a really bad cold. Can't remember what exactly it was, but I had a fever, head full of snot, sore throat, sounded like I was coughing up a lung or two- the whole bit.
God dammit, I can still hear her voice now...
"Duo, please, eat some of this."
"No," I croaked.
"Duo-"
"I'm not hungry."
"Duo, if you are ever going to get better, you need to eat something," scolded the lady, impatiently holding out a spoonful of soup. "Now eat it."
I still refused to open my mouth, little shit that I was. Well, I was telling the truth. I wasn't hungry. Besides, it hurt to swallow. And the soup tasted yucky.
Sister Helen let out a little huff and brushed a couple stray strands of cornsilk hair out of her face, tucking them back up under the headpiece of her habit. Finally frustrated with my obstinancy, she stopped trying to shove the orange juice and soup down my throat. When she got up and went away, I figured that she'd given up. For the next few hours, I tossed and turned, unable to convince my aching body to fall asleep.
Later that night, though, she came back. She sat down at my bedside, a bowl and spoon once again in her hands.
"Are you awake, Duo?" she whispered.
I opened an eye to regard her suspiciously.
"Here. Eat some of this. It won't hurt or taste yucky."
Sitting up, I tried to examine whatever stuff was on that spoon, but the room was too dimly lit to tell.
I looked her in the eye. "Promise?"
"Promise."
Hesistantly, I let her feed me a spoonful of it, bracing myself for whatever this mystery substance was. To my surprise it was... sweet, a pleasurable sensation to my eight year-old taste buds. The consistency was soft and smooth, yielding to my mouth and sliding fluidly down my throat, like some strange offspring of liquid and solid.
" 'S good."
Sister Helen frowned at me. "I promised you that it wouldn't hurt or taste yucky."
"Yeah," I said, "but you can't trust no one. Folks is always breakin' their promises."
" 'You can't trust anyone' and 'Folks are,' Duo," she gently corrected me. Then she sighed, really sad-like. "A promise is a sacred thing, Duo. You should never break promise, even if other people do."
"I always keep my promises," I said proudly.
Sister smiled. "That's because you have a good heart, Duo."
"No. It's 'cause Solo told me ta."
She heaved another one of those sad sounding sighs. "You do have a good heart, Duo. And so did Solo."
Well, if Solo had a good heart, I wanted to have one, too, so that made me more agreeable on the subject. While I was thinking that over, though, Sister fed me another spoonful of that mystery substance.
"Wassit called?"
"Hm?"
"That stuff."
Sister Helen smiled that beautiful, loving smile of hers. In the dim light of a malfunctioning lamp, I think I saw an angel. "It's called Jell-O, Duo."
"It's yummy. And it rhymes with my name."
She laughed and finished feeding me the rest of the Jell-O. Then, she tucked me in, kissed me goodnight on the forehead, and turned off the lamp. The room was plunged into near total darkness and I finally fell asleep.
That was so long ago. But it's all like yesterday. I guess that's what makes everything more painful- being able to see it, hear it, feel it right before you, then the pain of having it all torn away driving you mad.
Oh, yeah, that reminds me. I don't think I've mentioned this yet. I'm in the nutcase hall of some hospital right now. I think I tried to kill myself or something. A wasted effort.
Quatre and Hirde visit me just about everyday. Sometimes it's both of them. And if it's not one, it's the other. You've gotta love those guys. I don't know what they see in me. But I appreciate their efforts.
None of the others have visited, though. A bunch of them are with the Preventers and have better things to do than visiting me. I'm sure that they're off saving the world or something. It's sorta fun, saving the world...
Quatre's pissed about it. I can tell. Well, I wouldn't necessarily say that he's pissed about it. Disappointed may be a better word. Quatre's either his usual nice self or furious (and you do not want to be within a 100-mile radius of the guy when he's furious). He really shouldn't be, though. I'm not hurt; I understand.
Hospitals. Ah, the memories. I remember breaking Yuy out of a hospital once. That was fun. Really, the two of us had a kick-ass time. I'm sure that he hated me a lot, but he got over it.
Close? Yeah, I'd say that the two of us were close, in a manner of speaking. I mean, if you're staring down the barrel of some bastard's gun, then they fling you over their shoulder and save your God damned life, you're a teensy bit close.
"Heeeero," I remember whining as I lay in bed, recovering from my injuries (Seven years later and I was still a whiner.) "I'm hungry. Make me some Jell-O."
The Perfect Soldier vaguely "hn"ed from where he was sitting.
"Puh-leeeeeze? It'll help me get better faster," I offered.
"What will help you get better more quickly is if you lay still, shut-up, and not make me break your neck."
"Aw, c'mon, Heero. You're not being very nice," I pouted. "Jell-O always helps a man get better. It's the ultimate comfort food! The American way!"
No response, save the ever-present click-clack of Heero typing on the damned laptop.
"I always used to eat Jell-O when I was sick. Which wasn't often," I continued on proudly to no one in particular. I chuckled. "Jell-O Duo.... Yep, that's me. It rhymes, ya know."
"Kami-sama no tameni, damare!"*
"Come again?"
Mr. Cheerful composed himself with a disgusted snort. "Shut-up."
"Only if you say please!"
"Why didn't I let them shoot you...?"
I was ready to supply a number of smart-ass answers for that one. Really, it was all too easy. But I decided to lay off the guy, at least for now. He did save my life, I had to give him that. Another thing, though, was that he deserved a break, life-saving exploits or none. A guy like him doesn't get a break too often. With a loud sigh, I hunkered down in bed, which was quite a chore, at least if I wanted to avoid excruciating pain. (Other than that, it was a piece of cake.)
I suppose that I eventually fell asleep. I suppose that because I eventually woke up. Heero was all packed and ready to leave.
"Yo, Heero," I said, lazily opening an eye and sitting upright. "Where are you off to?"
Without giving me the courtesy of eye contact, he responded (though I suppose that I should have been flattered to get a response), "The lunar base."
"Hm, have fun..." Blink blink. "Did you say the lunar base?!"
"Yes," he replied mechanically. "There's a large amount of gundanium alloy being brought into the lunar base factory. It's probably for making a new type of mobile suit."
I mulled that over for a moment. "So what's your plan?"
"You'll get in the way. Stay here."
"What do you mean?!" Some plan that was! The only component to it being me staying out of his way, well, wasn't someone put on freezer burn today. I attempted to rise indignantly, but the quickness of my action jarred a couple of ribs, who protested the fact quite loudly. Okay, so maybe he had a point. "Considering all that's happened lately, I am gonna need some time to recover. But don't you think you could be a little kinder to me once and a while?" I wheedled jokingly.
I could almost see the irritation radiating from Heero's entire being. "Why not go to school instead of me? I've already gotten the enrollment taking care of-" ('Hm, how kind') "-under your name."
"What?!" I exclaimed. "You've gotta be kidding! Sure, your name would stick out here, but still, I mean-"
"Instead of complaining, why not spend your time resting and concentrating on getting better?"
"Fine, mother," I sighed, rolling my eyes. Okay, so maybe Heero had a point. For once, it seemed as if he was using common sense. Of course, he only seemed to use it at the expense of my pride, but hell, I've got a sense a humor (unlike some people I know) and know how to take things with a grain of salt.
The door shut. No "goodbye." That would have been too polite. No "See you later." There was no guarantee of that. Just him walking out and closing the door. Jeez. "Don't overdo it..." I muttered to myself, before laughing. "Like he's gonna listen. Of course he's gonna overdo it."
So that was that. I just sat there for a bit, thinking. Despite our hair-raising escapades together, I really hadn't known Heero for long. With his trigger-happy ways and penchant for destruction, you'd really think that he was a heartless psychopath. I snickered. Enrolled in a school under my name, saving my sorry ass, then going off to blow some OZies to hell. It was all too amusing. I heaved myself off the bed and gimped off to the refrigerator, to where my stomach was loudly advising me to go.
Opening the door of the tiny refrigerator, I surveyed my dinner prospects. There were always TV dinners and ice cream in the freezer if all else failed. In fact, I was about move on to the freezer when a tupperware container caught my eye. I frowned. I didn't remember that container. (And believe you me, I remember what I put in the refrigerator.)
I eyed it. There was a good possibility of it being food. Perhaps even edible food. Curious, I took out the container and pried off the lid. My mouth dropped open slightly.
It was black cherry Jell-O.
I stared at it a moment longer before laughing. "So... He does care! How sweet..." With another chuckle, I went off to scavenge a spoon.
And that's why I have a relationship with Jell-O. Fond memories, if you get my drift. When you've got all of the satanic memories like I've got, you learn to really treasure the nice ones.
Wait. There's an epilogue to this cheery story.
As I mentioned before, Quatre and Hirde have been being really good to me. I mean, really good. Those two are like angels. (Two angels tending to a devil. An amusing mental picture.) Also as I've mentioned before, Quatre has been sort of disappointed with the other guys, though he hasn't said it directly.
One evening after he left, I lay there, staring at the ceiling and thinking. Quatre had seemed sorta antsy. I'd lay my bets on one Trowa Barton. If anyone could upset Quatre, it was Trowa. Hm. I hadn't seen Trowa in... a long time. I wondered how he was doing. How Wufei was doing. How Heero was doing.
Hmph. No one, not even Relena, had heard from him or been able to dig up any dirt about him. It was as if he had erased himself from existence. I chuckled slightly. I couldn't blame the guy. Turning onto my side as I closed my eyes, I sighed. A guy like that really deserves a break.
I awoke the next morning at 7:50. No need to look at the clock, I knew it was 7:50. For some reason, I always woke up at about 7:50. Must be part of my craziness.
Despite my lack of audience, I went through my usual show of yawning and stretching, even though I was already wide awake. My hand came crashing down on the small table next to the bed and nearly sent something flying. I caught it as a reflex. Looking down at it, I frowned.
It was a tupperware container with a piece of paper taped to the top. I ripped the paper off the cover and somehow managed to unfold it, despite my fumbling in my haste.
"Duo-
I regret that I was unable to come earlier and apologize for not visiting in person. I am afraid that I would not be much use at the current time. If you require assistance in the future, I will be available. I am not good with words, but I would like to express my deepest sympathy.
Get well soon."
The note was typed and unsigned, but I had a feeling as to who it was from. Tearing off the cover of the tupperware container, I peered inside.
"Good morning, Duo!" Quatre's sunny voice called from the doorway.
"Hey, Quatre." I smiled. "Que pasa, dude?"
It was entertaining, the way Quatre was so obviously surprised by my good mood. (That boy reads like a book.) He tried to hide it, but his mystification was still evident. Eventually, I had to take pity on him and relieve his curiousity.
"Just a present from a friend of mine," I chuckled, showing him the container
of black cherry Jell-O.
* "For God's sake, shut-up!"