Orphan Stage Part 13 - Stage Confessions
by Terrasa
Standard disclaimers apply
Orange and red lights flooded the dance floor, I could barely tell
one person from the other in the large crowd. Music blared loudly
through the speakers behind me. I had entered through the back of
the ballroom, had to sneak in. If you haven’t guessed already,
I was at the Prom. Lowe High School Prom, they wouldn’t let
me in normally, so I had to bribe a band member to leave the door
open in the back. I had promised him I’d introduce him to a
pretty girl, heh. Some guys are too easy. Now, if only I could find
Hilde to uphold that promise… What the?
From across the room I could see Hilde and Wufei dancing with…
matching outfits. Damn, who knew Wufei would actually go with Hilde…
and Wufei was actually at a dance! Now who am I gonna get?!
My worries were cut short as I finally spotted my original prey from
across the room. Heero… sitting in a chair? Where was Relena?
Just as that thought came, I heard a squeal of laughter from behind
me. Turning towards it, I noticed that the blond was… dancing
with someone else! How dare she leave my Heero all alone like that!
Well, I wasn’t ‘that’ mad. I’d be more angry
if Heero was actually dancing with someone other than me, even though
it was my fault he was here in the first place, heh, evil Duo!
I had planned on seeing Heero and everyone a couple days ago, until
I found that pink flyer on my kitchen counter. It was one of Relena’s
‘vote for me’ flyers. Cant really remember ever taking
one home with me, oh well.
So, I stayed home and rested… well, I didn’t really do
the sleeping kinda rest, I just stayed off my bad leg so it would
heal enough to where I could go off my one crutch. That would be a
little too obvious at a dance don’t you think? Walking around
with a giant stick… I didn’t want to draw any unwanted
attention… and get kicked out. Nope, cant have me getting kicked
out before I see my Hee baby!
Pushing through the crowd, I snuck forward, trying not to disturb
the messy haired boy. His eyelids were shut and he had his head tilted
to the side as if sleeping. He really needs to get more sleep, I never
knew someone before him who could doze off in such odd places. My
eyes raked over his body, he had dismissed the tux jacket and was
now just wearing the white undershirt, with black pants that fit him
perfectly.
My feet carried me a foot in front of him, still he did not wake
up. Smirking, I leaned in closer, taking in his scent and admiring
his beautiful sleeping features. My mouth moved in to press against
Heero’s tempting lips in a light feather kiss, causing him to
stir under my ministrations. Finally coming to his senses, his eyes
snapped open and he jumped to his feet angrily.
“What the Hell wer…” Blue eyes widened, he blinked,
then fell back into his seat as he realized it was me.
“Du…o?” His voice was a little shaky and I was
starting to worry about him. Moving closer I leaned down and embraced
his sitting form. Hands moving to brush through his hair as he recovered
from his shock.
His strong arms came to wrap around my waist, pulling me closer.
Head burying into my lower chest, he whispered a soft, “Your
back.” I could feel his breath, taking in gulps of air as his
arms clutched tighter around my waist. “Your really back?”
His head finally moved to look up at me, eyes moving over my black
long sleeve shirt that fit tightly on my small frame. I could feel
him shudder as he moved his gaze back up to catch mine.
I smiled at his pleading eyes, begging me to confirm that I was in
fact ‘really’ here. “I’m back for good.”
I whispered softly running the palm of my hand over his cheek. His
face brightened and a soft smile appeared on his lips. I took a step
back as he stood up, but was pulled forward once again as Heero kissed
me. His lips sought all that I had been missing in the two weeks I
had been gone. Our lips parted and I moaned as he pushed his tongue
through, kneading together with mine, making my knees feel weak. I
had to cling to him in order to not fall over.
His arms tightened their hold on me, causing me to wince as my shoulder
was squeezed. I had hoped he hadn’t noticed it, but he did,
of course he did! He pulled away from me with wide confused eyes,
“Duo?”
I couldn’t help but smile at his reaction, he was really cute
when he was worried. But I did feel a little irritated that our kiss
was broken. “I… uh… kinda got hurt, but its alright…
its just still healing.” I blurted out quickly.
His eyes searched mine for a moment, reading them for the answers
I wasn’t giving him.
Sighing, he loosely embraced me once more. “Your going to tell
me everything later… but for now…” His lips were
on mine again and he pushed against me hungrily. I sighed softly into
the kiss, feeling completely blissful. I had missed him.
“DUO!” A shocked cry caused me to break away from Heero.
Turning around, I saw Hilde with her hand over her mouth in shock.
“Your… back…”
Wufei was standing beside her with a red face, obviously flustered
from the little show me and Heero must have put on. He opened his
mouth to say something when a blond bundle of energy pushed him over,
running full speed towards me.
“Duo! Duo!” Quatre ran up and embraced me tightly, pushing
Heero slightly to the side. I could hear him growl angrily at Quatre,
but I chose to ignore it. I was too busy trying to stop myself from
laughing at the blond, jumping up and down questioning me excitedly.
Trowa appeared right after, giving me an apologetic smile. “He
saw you from across the room, couldn’t hold him down.”
I smiled brightly, relieved that Trowa was on good terms with me
again. “What did you give him? Caffeine pills?” I joked,
while running a hand through his long blond hair. “Jeez, when
was the last time you cut this? Its getting past your ears!”
Quatre just chuckled and hugged me tightly, causing me to recoil
slightly in pain. Ugh, I forgot how emotionally huggable people can
get! Big eyes looked at me concerned, “Duo? Are you alright?”
His hand came to touch my shoulder and I cowered back another step,
holding up my hands in apology.
“I’m alright, just don’t touch the shoulder.”
Light blue eyes widened again and he stared hard at my right shoulder,
like he wanted to see through the fabric of my black silky shirt.
“Duo… what happened? How come you’re back so soon?”
I bit my lip and internally groaned. I knew they were going to ask
that question, but I didn’t think it would be so soon. I know,
I could tell them the truth now… since I didn’t have anything
to worry about anymore, but the prom wasn’t really the place
to say these things. Dances were meant for fun, not creepy past event
news.
But, they were all staring at me, expecting an answer… what
was I suppose to do?
“I uh… don’t want to tell you.” My truthfulness
seemed to make Quatre even more worried. Sighing, I ran my hand through
my bangs, trying to figure out what to do next. Everyone was so damn
curious these days! “Look I’ll tell you eventually, but
do we really have to talk about this now? This is a dance! So lets
go dance.” I tried.
“Screw the prom, I’m more interested in where you’ve
been for the last couple weeks! And now you come back injured?”
Hilde’s hand came out to touch my shoulder like Quatre had tried
to, but before she could make contact, Heero caught her wrist and
growled in warning.
“I was… shot.” I mumbled the last word a little
to softly for anyone to hear. My arm reached out so I could clutch
onto Heero’s hand. Trying to get any amount of strength I could
from him. There was a sting in my leg and I realized that maybe I
shouldn’t have been standing so long.
My weight shifted to my good leg, causing Heero to look confusedly
at me before asking, “What?”
“I got shot.” I said loud enough for all of them to hear.
Heero’s grip on my hand tightened, but I wouldn’t look
in his direction to see his reaction. I knew it wasn’t going
to be good. Hilde on the other hand, looked almost amazed, and I couldn’t
help but smile slightly at the gaping mouth that Wufei was showing
me. A shocked Wufei! Wish I had a camera.
Quatre’s hand had come up to cover his mouth and he stared
at my shoulder again with a pained look on his face. “Your shoulder?
You got shot in the shoulder?” He asked, gripping Trowa’s
hand like I had Heero’s, for support.
Maybe I shouldn’t tell them about my leg… ah shit. There
going to find out anyway. Taking a deep breath I managed a quick,
“And the leg.” Before turning my eyes downcast to the
floor. I really didn’t need to see their faces after that one,
I already knew what would be on them. Probably some filled with pity,
Quatre’s with horror… and I don’t blame them. It
made me sound like I was in a gang, and we had a shoot out. Who knows
what weird conclusions they could generate in their skulls.
Heero growled slightly beside me before spitting out, “Hall.”
in an angry tone. My breath quickened and I pushed my eyes back off
the floor towards my brother. Quatre’s eyes were huge and he
was staring at Heero like he had just announced his death.
“Did… you say Hall? Duo?” His eyes moved to me
in pleading, asking me to confirm it negative. “Our father?”
“’Our’ Father?” Hilde arched a brow at me
in confusion. “Will someone please clue me and pumpkin in on
who the hell Hall is!?” Wufei rolled his eyes at the nickname,
but looked to me just as curious for the answer.
I groaned slightly before pushing Heero down to sit in the chair.
He fell, looking at me with an arched eyebrow before I sat down on
his lap. Arm wrapped around his neck, I sighed happily. I don’t
think I could take standing any longer, especially through the speech
I was about to give.
It took me awhile to get started, I had to start way back in the
past. When me and Quatre were kids. It got easier talking though,
probably cause I love to talk. I didn’t even pause when I told
them about the day Hall had shot me. Of course, I didn’t mention
my crying or any of the embarrassing things that day. I told them
about Jack, and how she hates her life in the small town, and about
my visit to Kemp… how he still blamed himself for what happened.
The best part though, was seeing there faces when I told them about
my hospital stay, my fun tormenting the nurses. I think they started
to feel sorry for those poor souls in the hospital, people they never
even met before. Heh, I was bored! I couldn’t help it!
When all was said and done, I looked up to see their quiet figures,
all eyes slightly downcast. No one spoke for a long while after that,
all trying to sink my information in. All except for Quatre, he was
having a hard time not breaking down right there on the spot. His
hand was still covering his mouth, his other his heart, as if in pain,
emotionally. I wondered if he was slightly mad that I had never told
him about this… but then… he might have broken down like
he was about to now.
My eyes looked to Trowa and he seemed to understand my silent question
because he grabbed the blond and pulled him into a comforting embrace.
Murmuring comforting words too softly for my ears to catch. It seemed
to help though and I felt a big weight off my chest. My eyes closed
and I leaned my head into the crook of Heero’s neck, kissing
it softly before resting my forehead on it. I could feel him relax
under my touch, he was pretty high strung from listening to my story.
I was going to get chewed out by him later, I bet.
I felt weary all of a sudden, and I cursed myself for actually feeling
tired. I guess resting for weeks made my stamina weak or something.
Heero seemed to notice and looked down at me worriedly. “Are
you alright?” He whispered. I could feel him lean over to press
his face into my hair, taking in the smell of my shampoo, the same
citrus stuff I had him use when he had showered at my place.
Hilde cleared her throat, trying to get someone’s attention
and I looked up to see her with a smirk on her face as she looked
at me and Heero in our little cuddling position. I blushed slightly,
realizing that all of them had been staring at us.
Hilde opened her mouth to comment, but Wufei cut her off. “When
did THIS happen?!” He asked, pointing his finger at me and Heero.
I grinned slightly and pointed back to him and Hilde. “When
did THAT happen?” His ears turned a little red and he growled
something under his breath. Chuckling, I snuggled closer to Heero,
my wiggling on his lap caused him to smile slightly. It was good to
be back. Now, if only I could stay like this forever!
A loud cheering went through the crowd and I looked up towards the
small stage where the band had been. A man was talking to the crowd
but I could barely hear him over the yelling and screaming of promy
people. Everyone seemed to turn their head towards a big screen behind
the man. I think it was time to announce prom queen and they were
going to show the scores on the screen. I had missed the actual voting
day, but I still thought that Relena would win, hands down.
Numbers flicked over the screen next to all four of the candidate
names. I smirked as I saw the large number in front of Relena’s
name. It ‘had’ to be the highest.
“Hilde… Hilde Schbeiker.” The man with the microphone
said, staring at the screen behind him in confusion. I felt my eyes
widen as I saw Hilde running up stage to take her crown. My gaze fell
on the number of votes in front of her name, she had… TWO VOTES
more than Relena!
“No way! No freaking way!” I stood up to get a better
look, wobbling a little as I rested my weight on my good leg. “Hilde
won?” I could hear Heero grunt in acknowledgement beside me.
His hands came around my waist to help me stand, obviously seeing
my trouble. My body leaned against him as I watched Hilde dance with
the king, some guy I had never seen before. “How the hell?!”
I just stood there, stunned as the dance ended and Hilde came bounding
over to me with an evil grin attached to her face.
“And ‘who’ said I wasn’t going to be Prom
Queen?” She mocked, walking closer to me, the scary grin spreading
on her lips. “Now… what was the bet again?” She
asked, head titling to the side in mock forgetfulness.
I resisted the urge to pull my hair out right there… Hilde
had won! I had to be her slave!
“Don’t listen to her Duo… she cheated.” Wufei’s
voice drew me from my painful thoughts.
“Cheated?” My eyebrow raised as I looked over to Hilde
for confirmation.
She just shrugged slightly before mumbling, “I had Heero hack
into the system and change the votes.”
“EH!? How…?”
“Everything about this school is run on computers… didn’t
I already tell you that?” Heero smirked, obviously proud of
himself for his little prank. “All the votes were counted by
the computer… so, it was pretty easy to make it so Hilde would
win.”
“Heero! How could you?” I glared at him angrily before
crossing my arms and turning towards Hilde. “You cheated! I’m
not going to be your slave.”
“What? I won! That was the bet!” Hilde shot back, looking
really determined to have me as a slave. “You ‘have’
to be my slave!” I got a little uneasy feeling in my stomach
thinking about what she had planned for me.
“No! You didn’t follow the rules!” I snorted.
“Rules? We didn’t set any rules!”
“You cant cheat! It’s… it’s common knowledge!”
“You didn’t say anything about me not being able to cheat!
Give it up Duo, you have to be my slave for a ‘whole’
week!”
“Hell no! You cheated!”
“I won the bet!”
“No you didn’t! You cheated! You cant win a bet by cheating!”
“I just did!”
“That’s not fair and you know it!”
“Oh? And helping Relena against my back was fair?”
“Yes… yes it was.”
“That’s enough you two.” Wufei grabbed Hilde’s
arm, pulling her away from me and our argument stopped. From the corner
of my eye I could see Heero giving the Chinese boy a grateful look.
Heh, so we got a little out of hand, no big deal, right?
Heero’s hand came out to pull me into his arms. He looked amused
for some odd reason, and I was just about to ask him what was so funny
when I caught site of Relena from across the room. Her hand was covering
her face, tears running down her cheeks. Jeez, who’d of thought
she’d take losing so bad.
An idea came into my clever little mind and I pushed gently out of
Heero’s arms and started over to her with a hasty “Be
right back.” to Heero. I limped my way close to her and managed
to slightly bump into the sobbing blond, just enough so I could catch
hold of something in her purse. Woohoo! Mission Complete.
I looked at the object I had successfully obtained from her…
I think it was a lipstick holder or… something. Oh well! Pocketing
it, I walked over to the stage where I spotted the man whom had let
me in. He growled angrily and impatiently asked me if I had someone
for him yet. I couldn’t hold back my smirk as I handed him the…
makeup thingy… and pointed in Relena’s direction.
“She dropped her… lipstick holder… you might want
to go give it back to her.” He looked at it surprised and his
eyes followed my finger to Relena. A look of determination came over
his face. “She looks pretty upset… you might want to ‘comfort’
her.” I chuckled as he nervously brushed a hand through his
shiny black hair while slowly walking towards the crying girl.
My curiosity was killing me, so I inched forward a little in order
to hear their conversation.
“Uh… e-excuse me ma’am… y-you dropped your
lipstick case.” Even from my distance and in the dark lighting,
I could see a blush spreading on his tanned cheeks as he spoke.
Relena looked up, startled and her eyes widened slightly at the object
held out to her. “Oh… that’s not a lipstick holder!
It’s a tamp… ah!” She snatched the object away and
turned her eyes to the ground, blushing even more than the poor guy.
“Thank you.” She mumbled, looking embarrassed.
“The name’s Abdul! I’m apart of the Maganac’s!”
His hand came up to rub the back of his skull, a nervous gesture.
“The what?” Relena was starting to look a little irritated
and I could see her eyes starting to search the floors for a possible
escape already.
“Damn… come on Abdul man, pull yourself together!”
I muttered under my breath.
“The band, I’m part of the band.”
That seemed to draw Relena’s attention and she smiled at him
while checking him out with her eyes. I could feel myself cheering
inside as they started a conversation. Knocked two birds with one
stone! Or… something like that. Relena was looking happy and
so was Abdul… though he was still blushing profoundly.
“What are you doing?” A soft voice asked from behind
me. Startled, I turned around quickly and nearly fell over as I saw
Heero only a couple inches away. I hadn’t even heard him come
up! Well, its probably because of the music… or maybe I’ve
gone soft from the stupid hospital.
“Aa… just meddling in other peoples business.”
I admitted, grinning from ear to ear as Heero rolled his eyes. “Heero…
do you think you can help me out. I kinda… used up my walking
limit for the day and this damn injured leg is killing me.”
Without a word, he grabbed my arm, throwing it over his shoulder
and we started our hobble towards the exit. As we made it out the
door I could hear Heero sigh softly next to me before saying, “Thank
God, I was suffocating in that place.”
I chuckled lightly and placed a small kiss on his cheek. “Where
we gonna go?”
He just shrugged, leaving the decision up to me.
We ended up going to his house. I don’t know why I wanted to
go there… maybe I was starting to like his room. The windowless
hole away from the world. Or maybe it was because I never got that
lonely feeling like my apartment gives off. As we made it to the dark
staircase leading down, Heero actually picked me up off the ground
before starting his decent.
“Heero! Your going to drop me!” My wide eyed face buried
itself into Heero’s shirt. I think I lost it a little, my mind
went to another place, because the next thing I knew I was on Heero’s
bed and he was looking over me worriedly.
His hand came out to check my forehead and I rubbed my eyes, trying
to take in my surroundings. “Did I go to sleep?” I asked,
trying to sit up. My shoulder was still sore and I winced as I tried
to move my arm.
He pushed me back down and I fell on my back with a light giggle,
remembering how Jack would always do that.
My eyes widened as Heero started to unbutton my shirt.
“Heero?”
“I need to see.”
I don’t know if it was because of the dimness of the room,
but Heero seemed to be sad about something. Or maybe it was confusion
on his face. Gah! Why was I having such a hard time reading him today.
I think I was more tired than I thought. Damn stupid hospital went
and made me weak!
I exhaled the breath I had been holding when his gentle fingers started
to unbutton my shirt, it came sliding off and I was starting to feel
a little nervous now. He was just sitting there, poised over me, eyes
taking in my half naked form.
A gentle hand came up to rest on my right shoulder, just above the
injury. I flinched, not from pain, but from the thought of someone
touching my shoulder. It was supposedly getting better, but I was
getting sick of the aching feeling I’ve had for all the days
out of the hospital. I wasn’t even able to tell if it was going
away or not, pain slowly fading. Guess I hadn’t been paying
too much attention. My mind had been occupied with Heero… and
getting my leg healed enough to go to the dance.
Heero’s body leaned forward and I could feel my breath hitch
slightly as he pressed his lips to the ugly stitched up bullet hole.
His kiss was feather light, I could barely feel it, but it sent shivers
down my spine. My good arm came up and I grabbed him by the collar
of his shirt, pulling him towards my face where I could stare straight
into his dark blue eyes.
“Duo?”
“Hmm?”
“Why do you like me?”
My eyes widened and I could feel my lips twisting into a playful smirk.
“Have you been worrying about that?”
I could see the tiniest hint of a blush on his cheeks as he nodded,
eyes now downcast.
“Hmm…. you’re my pillar of support.”
His eyes widened slightly before he said. “That’s all?”
I couldn’t help it, I laughed, totally ruining the mood.
*******
TBC
*******