Insomnia Part One: Heero
by Angela
I couldn’t
sleep. It was crazy—I was so exhausted
and I couldn’t sleep. I rolled over and
peered at the clock on the table. 2:30. Fuck.
I’d been lying there for three and a half hours, unable to relax enough for
even a short nap. We had an important
mission coming up—catching a few winks in the lounge of the Peacemillian
assured us that we’d be together and ready to go when the time came.
I closed my
eyes, and once more the image of that irritating girl filled my mind. Relena.
I had at almost four hours to get through before dawn; was her face
going to confront me every time I closed my eyes?
How was I
supposed to fight if I couldn’t even sleep?
I got up. The floor was cold tile; I was careful not
to gasp at the shock of its smooth surface against my warm feet. They were all sleeping soundly and didn’t
deserve to be bothered. All except
Duo—I knew he was just as alert as I was, no matter how quiet he’d been. Not wanting to bother with a light, I picked
my way through the dark lounge to the tiny kitchen. Maybe a drink would help.
The light from
the refrigerator hurt my eyes, so I grabbed a beer and quickly shut the
door. I didn’t usually drink—I didn’t
want to risk losing my reaction time.
Tonight I didn’t give a damn. I
popped open the can and took a swig.
Ugh. Bitter stuff. I sat at the kitchen table, shoving Quatre’s
sheet music onto the floor. I was
getting kind of tired of staying with the four of them on board this ship, but
it’d have to do for a while, until we figured out what Zechs was up to and were
finally able to end this war. I still
couldn’t figure out what a guy from the Peacecraft family was doing with a
terrorist group like the White Fang.
Zechs would be better off backing his sister’s naive idea of total
pacifism. At least then he wouldn’t
betray his own family.
Unbidden, the
memory of meeting Relena at school that first day came to me. I didn’t understand what was wrong with me,
why I hadn’t been able to kill her like I should’ve. She was pretty, but I’d seen lots of pretty girls, most of them
not as strange as Relena Darlian, or Peacecraft, or whatever she called herself
these days. I shouldn’t have wasted
another thought on her, but our paths kept crossing, and lately I’d kind of
liked it.
Weaknesses kill
gundam pilots. Relena Darlian is a
weakness. I couldn’t let her get me
killed. As I took another drink,
another thought came to my mind. I
couldn’t let her be killed, either.
What was wrong
with me? What did I care about that
stupid girl and her ridiculous feelings?
I downed the rest of the beer and sat staring through the dark
doorway. What was is to me if she got
herself killed? Since when does a soft
voice and long shiny hair obligate me?
She wasn’t my friend, and even though she said she was fighting on my
side, how did I know? If you fight me,
you are my enemy. Her father was my
enemy.
Trowa’s quiet
face came to mind. I once told him that
it was all right for humans to act according to their feelings—maybe I should
follow my own advice. My own
emotions. What were they? I suddenly felt a surge of resentment toward
both Trowa and myself. What did I
know? I hadn’t analyzed my emotions in
years—who was I to hand out that kind of advice?
I jumped up to get
another beer.
This time the
light didn’t bother me, so I left the fridge open. The yellow beam cast strange shadows on the walls. I studied them. I didn’t want to probe too deeply into my feelings. I was sure there was some scary stuff down
there, and I wasn’t ready to deal with it all.
With any of it. With my eyes I
followed the line between light and shadow across the wall. I opened the beer, sipping it. It didn’t taste so bad now, and I was
starting to relax. Maybe I would be
able to sleep after all, even without digging into my psyche.
The light
followed the contours of the walls, down the counter, toward the trashcan. A folded newspaper lay on top, a creased
picture beneath a bold headline.
Relena. I jumped to my
feet. Relena? Was she everywhere?
I snatched up
the paper, squinting in the semi-darkness.
It was her. She smiled
pleasantly, looking important and confident.
A girl like that didn’t need me worrying about her—she had bodyguards
for that. Was I worrying about
her? What the hell was wrong with
me? Why was I so obsessed with this
girl? I threw the paper onto the table
and slammed the fridge shut, immersing myself in darkness. I took a long drink. It was time for me to figure this out.
Pacing across
the room, I tried to uncover my feelings about Relena. I wanted to protect her. It was my duty as a soldier. No.
I paused. No, my mission was
my duty. Relena was something
else. I stopped being a soldier when
she was in danger. My urge to protect
her went deeper than that. I didn’t
know how deep. I didn’t want to know.
She seemed to
have some kind of faith in me that was unreal.
Tracing patterns in the condensation on my beer can, I thought about
that. She seemed to know me so well. She knew what I was going to do before I
did, and worse, she knew what I was thinking.
That scared me. We’d barely
spoken, yet she acted like she had some insight into me. I hated that.
Not true. The alcohol was making it harder for me to
lie to myself. She knew me. No one else had bothered, but Relena knew
me. Seeing her, being seen by her,
brought me some peace.
So why was I
wide-awake in the middle of the night?
When I was with
her, I felt awake, alive. I closed my
eyes, picturing her. By now I had her
memorized—her long legs and tiny waist, her hair, her eyes, her mouth. I didn’t know if it was the beer or the
direction of my thoughts, but I started to get warm all over. I took off my tank top, tossing it onto the
counter. Sitting on the edge of the
table, I finished my drink and contemplated a third. She was beautiful.
I wanted
her. I crushed the can in my hand. The urge was sudden and powerful. Her image burned itself into me—her hair was
tousled and her blouse unbuttoned, and— I growled. I’d never felt like this before.
I wanted to hold her, and kiss her, to touch her. To touch her everywhere. Suddenly I ached with arousal. Damn!
I wanted to sleep with Relena Darlian.
I wanted to know her, to have her.
“For the rest of
my life,” I whispered out loud.
I couldn’t
believe my own voice. What the hell was
I thinking? I flung the smashed can
onto the floor and headed back into the lounge. Without caring how loudly I was walking, I hurried between my
sleeping comrades and flung open the door to the bathroom, half-heartedly
closing it behind me. What was
happening to me? Flipping the light
switch on and twisting the knob for the cold water, I splashed my face again
and again. The water was cold and
shocking. It cleared my head.
It was all right
to be turned on by the girl. I was
fifteen—the only reason I hadn’t felt like this before was that I’d been too
busy being a pilot to be a boy. I
stared into the mirror. “For the rest
of my life,” I repeated. I looked like
a stranger. It was my hair and my eyes
and my face—all streaming with water—but something didn’t make sense. “What the fuck is wrong with you, Yuy?” I didn’t answer myself.
I closed my eyes
and saw an image of Relena, gazing up at me from an unmade bed. Her hair was loose and she was naked—her
eyes were large and insistent. She said
my name. I let my imagination linger on
her breasts, her stomach . . . In my
mind she reached up to me, asking me to help her.
I stumbled
forward, hitting my head on the mirror.
My eyes flicked open and looked back into themselves. Get a hold of yourself, Heero! I shook my head hard, trying to free myself
of this obsession. Staring at myself in
the mirror, for a moment I saw Heero Yuy—gundam pilot and soldier. I exhaled slowly, relieved. The image faded quickly, though, to be
replaced by the lingering daydream of her smiling face.
I stepped back a
few steps, finding the closed toilet seat and collapsing onto it. So Relena Darlian had finally gotten under
my skin. I couldn’t deny it anymore. I didn’t care—all of a sudden I just wanted
to go to sleep. I bent over, resting my
head on my knees. My hair was wet and
cold. I had to think of some way to
relax, to deal with this. Even if it
took the rest of the night.