Subjects of My Sanity - Part 14 by
Terrasa
Standard disclaimers apply
~Subject: Trowa Barton~
The middle of my nice dream was interrupted as I was thrown from
sleep and into the world of wakefulness. The loud banging on my door
had me stumbling out of bed, passing the other sleeping occupants….
who seemed to be ignoring the knocking. I sighed as I reached the
door, hesitating to open it when I saw that I was only in my boxers.
Ah well, it was probably just some… hmm… some sort of
check up crew?
Well, I was a little more than surprised to see the head of the orphanage
standing outside the door. She usually didn’t associate with
us unless something big had happened.
“Barton! Come with me.” She demanded, walking away from
the door and expecting me to follow her. I looked one more time at
my state of dress. Ugh. Thankfully, there was a t-shirt left on the
floor by one of my roommates. I quickly snatched it, putting it over
my head as I walked out the door. My feet hit the cold wooden surface
of the bottom floor, causing my arms to tighten as the little bumps
started to appear from the temperature.
Hmm, I seemed to be following her to the working offices.
“Some crazy kid keeps insisting that he talks to you!”
She complained while opening her office door, ushering me in. Before
I could figure out what she meant by that, she added, “He’s
on the telephone, wouldn’t hang up until I got you!”
I froze, staring at the phone in her hand. My eyes looked to her
in confusion, silently asking what I was suppose to do with…
a phone… an instrument used for speaking with people over long
distances.
“I know, I know! That’s what I was trying to tell him!
He wouldn’t listen to me though!” She shook her head,
obviously irritated by this weird situation.
I hesitantly took the phone from her hand, staring at the black object,
trying to think of what I was suppose to do now. As I pressed the
phone to my ear I heard the soft humming of someone’s voice.
Seeing as I had not gotten the person’s attention, I reached
over to push one of the numbers on the phone stand.
“Ah! Trowa? Is that you?” I now recognized that voice
to belong to none other than Duo. Of course, who else would be crazy
enough to stand up to the head lady?
I pushed another button on the phone, the beeping sound was really
loud, causing me to wince slightly. I couldn’t remember the
last time I had actually used one of these weird contraptions. They
were very amusing.
“Ah, good, good. Anyways, I called Quatre awhile ago and me
and him want to go hang out with Wu today. Well, he didn’t really
think it such a good idea, but I talked him into it and then he said
that maybe we should get you an Heero to come and so I looked your
place thing-a-ma-bob up in the phone book and called when that weird
lady answered telling me that I couldn’t talk to you because
you couldn’t talk. Obviously, but that never stopped us before,
and yeah, I did think that it would be better to ask for Heero, but
I thought maybe you could force him cause he might have just hung
up the phone if I were to call, you know, refusing to go and all like
he usually does and since you live there anyway it would be fine for
you to go and get him. So yeah, me and Q are going to meet in front
of the school. He said he’d bring lunch for all of us! Which
is really cool since I am starving and everything.”
Finally, he seemed to slow his long rambling down a bit. “That
alright with you?”
*beep*
“Ok then! Meet you at the school at about noon, better hurry,
that’s like… what? Half an hour away?”
*beep*
Duo laughed then said a hasty goodbye before hanging up.
The head was looking at me weird as I handed the phone back to her.
My only gesture was a nod of my head in thanks before I left to make
my way in the direction of a certain Japanese boys room. The only
problem was, I was still dressed in my night clothes. Half way there,
I decided to turn back and get into something decent. Heero would,
most likely, not be pleased to see me dressed like I had just woken
up… not that he would be happy to see me anyways.
Twenty minutes later I was back downstairs. I had ended up taking
a shower instead of just getting dressed. Yes, that had taken a while,
but I really needed the hot water to wake me up and prepare myself
for the inevitable ‘convincing Heero.’
Heero’s… uh, room… was on the other side of the
orphanage. During the short walk over there I prayed that he wasn’t
feeling stubborn today. I did not really feel like getting into trouble
with the ever hyper Duo because I failed in my mission to abstract
Heero from his room. But of course, everything I plan out never goes
according.
As I knocked on the door to the… the closet in which Heero
had been staying, I heard some shuffling from within. A couple seconds
later a very wide eyed Heero appeared, staring at me in disbelief.
I bet he didn’t even realize I knew where he was sleeping…
or maybe he’s never had any visitors before.
Well, I bet we were a rather amusing sight to see. He just stood
there, silently… staring at me. And I just stood there, silently…
staring at him. A couple minutes later, I think he came to remember
that words were not my thing, because he sighed, before saying, “What
do you want?”
I just stood there, waiting for him to let me in, scolding myself
for not bringing something to write with and making this go so much
easier. He seemed to take the hint… finally, and moved aside
so I could enter his… very, very small living space.
“Duo.” He sighed, already seeming to guess the answer
for my visit. I nodded my head once before pointing to the door. Motion
telling him that we needed to leave. At least, I hoped that was what
I was gesturing for.
“What does he want from me now?” He didn’t really
seem to be annoyed, or mad… more like tired.
A pen and paper seemed to magically appear in Heero’s hand
and I took it, thankful for something to communicate with. Sometimes…
I wonder about my decision to not speak. Life would be so much easier
when dealing with people like Heero.
When he got my hasty note, the first word out of his mouth was and
annoyed, “No.”
My shoulders slumped when realization dawned that Heero was going
to make this very difficult for me. I knew it wasn’t going to
be easy, but I had hoped that Heero would at least… umm…
damn. Ok, so I had wished that Heero would, for once, not be so damn
stubborn.
It took nearly fifteen minutes to drag him out of his room. That
was actually less time then I expected, but we were already late for
meeting Duo and Quatre. By the time we ended up at the school there
was one tired looking Quatre and a pissy Duo.
“Finally! Jeez! You people really like to make people wait,
don’t ya?” Duo growled, getting up from where he had been
laying on the ground… practically in the middle of the street.
He reminded me of a kid… a very impatient kid.
I just pointed my finger in the direction of Heero, hoping that he
would take my hint and realize that it was not my fault… it
was his. Heh, aren’t I so good at blaming people?
“Alright, alright, lets hurry up! Wufei’s probably hungry!”
“How do you know he is even there?” Heero asked as Duo
took his arm, starting to haul him along. I don’t think it was
really necessary to drag Heero like that… I mean, he made it
all the way here without being pulled…
“Ah, Wu’s boring. Like he would ever make any plans.”
Duo answered as he pushed Heero towards the closed gate. The Japanese
boy glared at Duo for a second before finally taking the hint and
climbing over.
We followed Duo back up the old stairs and were once again standing
in front of the storage room doors. It was pretty amusing how we just
all stood there, exactly like we had just yesterday. Maybe a little
afraid to go further or waiting for someone else to take the first
step. Of course, Duo is always the first step taker, and so he was
the one who hesitantly went up to knock on the crappy job of a door.
Surprisingly, when Wufei answered, he looked like he was expecting
us. Hmm… maybe he is physic… or we are really obvious
people.
My eyebrow rose slightly when I took in his clothing, not the usual
black attire. He was wearing some baggy white pants with a blue tank
top looking thing. Interesting.
He move away from the door to let us through and we pushed our way
in, sitting down once again in his little… temporary home. I
said ‘temporary’ because there is no way he could stay
here forever… or even a long time. Winter was just around the
corner and if it was this cold now… I would hate to think what
it would be like then.
Speaking of the cold. I had been too absorbed in Wufei to notice
that Heero was, once again, shivering. Though, I could tell he was
having a hard time trying to stop them, or hide them from us. His
fist was clenched tight, as if that would do something to stop his
shaking. Hmm… we really needed to get him some warmer clothing.
“Wu, your food awaits!” Duo chimed, grabbing the bag
Quatre had brought in and starting the process of tearing it open
with a bunch of ‘oo’s’ and ‘ah’s’.
After we all had our food given to us by the over energetic Duo,
we just kinda started to eat… quietly. Even Duo was too absorbed
in his food to say much. It was nice, and actually relaxing in that
cold dark storage room.
Since there wasn’t any major discussions going on, it was a
little hard not to notice how Heero was shivering… even harder
now. You’d think his teeth would start chattering any minute.
I raised my eyebrow in his direction, which graced me with a glare
from him in return. Heh, so he really did not like me staring at him,
I think I figured as much a long time ago.
“Heero? What’s wrong with you man?” Duo sighed,
putting his food down and joining me in watching Heero. This seemed
to make him even madder and now he was glaring with even more anger.
“Well, at least Wu has blankets here…” Duo looked
around the room, like I was doing, trying to find wherever Wufei had
hidden the blankets.
We heard a cough from next to us and looked to see why Wufei was
biting his bottom lip.
“Wu? Where’d all those blankets go?” Duo asked,
looking to him with a frown.
“Well…”
“You couldn’t have given them away.”
“No…”
“You don’t eat blankets, do you?”
A snort and then a, “Baka…”
“Then what…”
“Maxwell will you shut up for two seconds?”
Two silent seconds.
“Ok, now tell us…”
“Alright! It rained last night!” Wufei yelled, crossing
his arms over his chest after that confession.
We just looked at him… not getting what he was trying to say.
“And…” Duo had a smirk on his face and I wondered
what he was thinking about.
“And… the water leaked in here.” Wufei was seemingly
a little too red, making me wonder why he was so embarrassed. Duo
seemed to know, because he burst out into a giggling fit that lasted
a couple minutes. This only caused Wufei to scowl murderously at him.
“Oh… Wu… I bet you woke up, all wet… hah…
probably thought you peed yourself!” To confirm Duo’s
suspicion, Wufei’s eyes went wide before he growled and started
to grit his teeth in attempt to suppress his anger.
I have come to the conclusion that Wufei uses anger as a back up
for any other emotions. It was amazing… if he is shocked, he
turns angry. If he is embarrassed, you can definitely find anger following
quickly behind. You know, him and Duo probably have a lot more in
common then they think… or wished to realize. Duo is similar
to Wufei in the sense that he uses humor as his shield from situations.
“Ok, ok… I’m done.” Duo said, dramatically
wiping the moisture from his eyes. “… so where did you
put your soiled blankets.” Duo started chuckling slightly once
again, which ended up aggravating Wufei even more. He really knew
how to get under someone’s skin, especially Wufei’s.
“They are hanging outside… over the railing to dry from
the ‘water’.” He purposely over articulated the
last word, trying to get his point across.
Duo had stopped talking, stopped his laughing altogether. That was
when I noticed his attention was turned on Heero, frown marring his
usually cheerful face. “Trowa… why the hell did you let
him come wearing a thin shirt like that?” Duo asked, eyes narrowing
slightly in my direction.
Oh… Heero seemed to be wearing only a thin long sleeved shirt…
I wonder how I could have missed that…
“I mean… jeez, you’re even wearing a thick sweater!”
Ok, I think he can stop pointing out the obvious now.
“Even Quatre! Heero, what’s wrong with you? Didn’t
I lend you that sweater?”
Heero just glared at Duo, whose eyes seemed to light up as if he
had just come up with an idea. His mouth was now twisting upwards
into that scary mischievous grin he shows when he is about to do something…
strange.
“He~ero.” Duo, ever so slowly, started to scoot over
toward where Heero was sitting. “Come‘ere Heero.”
He said, patting his knee in a come hither gesture, grin never leaving
his face.
Heero seemed to pale considerably as he pushed himself back as far
as the storage room wall would permit him.
“Come on, Heero.” Duo continued to pat his knee, chuckling
as Heero’s eyes widened in what could possibly be fright from
what Duo had in mind. I could see his dark blue eyes dart towards
the door, looking for a possible escape, only to be disappointed by
a smiling Quatre sitting right in front of it.
Hmm… what would he do?
It seemed like Heero was going to jump up for a moment, but Duo grabbed
his wrist, stopping any attempt made. He then yanked the poor Japanese
boy towards him… a couple seconds of struggle ended with Heero
being positioned in Duo’s lap, the braided boy grinning madly
the whole time.
I watched, wide eyed, as Heero started to transform into panic mode,
limbs flailing every which way in attempt to escape from the laughing
Duo, who was now hugging him from behind.
It was a very strange position, the one they were in. And what made
it look even stranger was how Heero was wiggling around like a worm
trying to get Duo to let go of him. Of course, in struggle, someone
is bound to get hurt.
“Fuck!” Duo yelled suddenly, pushing Heero away, catching
my attention as he hugged his stomach. Heero was now sitting in front
of him, frozen, the only movements being his chest rising and falling
from the rapid breaths. I think he was confused as to why Duo was
wincing in pain, eyes shut, teeth clenched.
A couple seconds went by before Duo opened his mouth to take a deep
breath and unlatch his hands from where they were circled around himself.
I think he finally noticed the silence and everyone staring at him
in confusion, because his eyes went a little big and I could have
swore he said some curse words under his breath.
“Duo?” Heero was looking intently at the braided boys
abdomen now, as if he could see through the thick sweater that hid
what was underneath.
“Don’t worry, it’s nothing.” Duo answered
quickly, grin settling back on his face.
“Why…”
“I said it’s nothing Heero.” He said a little louder,
as if barking at him to drop the subject. Heero didn’t seem
convinced, and in the next second a braid went ‘whack’
against the hard floor as Heero lunged on top of Duo, sending him
backwards. He seemed to freeze for a moment as the air was knocked
out of his lungs. That couple of seconds giving Heero the time to
lift Duo’s shirt and peer underneath.
“Stop!” Duo sat up, pushing the sweater back down quickly.
His action was a little too late, for we already saw what lay beneath.
A big fist sized bruise.
I think Quatre managed to see it from his position by the door also,
because he gasped, eyes becoming large as he looked to Duo.
“Did… Duo! Did you… that’s a huge bruise!”
His voice came out a little squeaky, causing a red blush to spread
on his pale cheeks.
“It’s nothing. Just fell down… er.. bumped into
something…”
“Bullshit, Maxwell!” Wufei seemed to have witnessed the
ugly discoloration also. And he didn’t seem to be happy with
Duo’s lie. It was more than obvious; I don’t think Duo
has had much practice in the untruthful department of life.
“What the hell, Wufei? You actually are joining into this?
Huh? Why the hell should I give a straight answer when you won’t
even give one?” Duo looked really pissed now. Maybe he wasn’t
used to people pestering him… instead he was usually the pest.
Wufei’s mouth dropped open before his eyes narrowed once again
in anger. “I don’t have to tell anyone anything, you don’t
either. But I don’t use lying as an escape from questions.”
Wufei spat, eyes staring coldly at Duo.
I think those words hit something, because Duo closed his mouth,
eyes falling to the ground. It was a couple silent minutes later before
anyone spoke, and it was Duo who managed the soft, “Sorry.”
Heero was still sitting in front of Duo and the braided boy grabbed
him by the waist to pull him once again onto his lap. This time, however,
Heero didn’t struggle. Maybe he was afraid that he would hit
another one of Duo’s bruises… if he had any more.
“Was it because you were late yesterday?” Quatre asked,
his lip sucked into his mouth halfway as he mumbled that question.
Duo sighed, arms moving to wrap tightly around Heero’s stomach,
chin resting on the tense shoulders from behind.
“Can we just drop it already?” Duo asked. He looked over
to me, eyes seemingly pleading for me to do something. Of course,
I was just as curious as everyone else… but I ‘was’
starting to feel a little sympathy for him. Not that I could help
him any.
No one spoke for a long while, as if trying to absorb all of those
odd bits of information. I used that time to watch Heero as he sat
in Duo‘s lap. He wasn’t shivering anymore… I think
he had stopped that during the struggle to get away, but… he
looked a little embarrassed… or nervous. Just why was Duo so
attached to Heero anyway? He seemed to be targeting him since the
first week of school.
“I’m running away from someone.” Wufei admitted
suddenly, causing more than one eyebrow to raise as the silence was
broken with his loud voice. “Your turn.” He said in Duo’s
direction.
Duo looked puzzled for a moment, probably mirroring my own expression,
before he finally managed to figure out what Wufei was trying to do.
“Oh…” His eyebrows crinkled together, as if unsure
whether or not to join in this new… game.
“… um… I got hit by someone.”
A little information, for a little information.
“Hmm…” Wufei’s eyes seemed to squint slightly
as he thought of his next confession. “I… saw something
I shouldn’t have.”
“My dad threw a coffee mug at me.”
Ok, if that didn’t startle me, Wufei’s next statement
certainly did.
“My boss killed one of his… workers.”
I heard Quatre gasp from beside me and turned to see him looking
almost horrified.
Duo’s shaky voice broke me away from the wide eyed blond. “Umm…”
He looked a little lost on what to say now. “That time when
you all came over… uh… she kinda… well… my
mom hit me.”
“But…” Quatre’s hand flew to cover his mouth.
I guess he was having a hard time not interrupting with a barrage
of questions. “Sorry… I just…”
“What?”
“That cut on you cheek…”
“Her ring.”
“…oh.” Quatre’s eyes dropped to the floor.
I think he was regretting asking that question. It wasn’t something
pleasant to think about.
I turned to Wufei, whom just nodded, as if accepting Duo‘s
confession as the truth. He then cleared his throat before saying,
“I helped get rid of the dead body.”
I think my mouth actually dropped on that one. And I wasn’t
the only one stunned by that announcement.
“Fuck!” I forced my eyes away from Wufei fast enough
to see Duo throw his hands up into the air.
“I give up! Wufei!? What the HELL!?” That was Duo’s
loud voice that yelled that, but I am certain I was thinking just
the same thoughts.
What the hell indeed.
*******
TBC
*******
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