DISCLAIMER: Bandai and Sunrise own all. I'm just borrowing the boys and their world. The story, however, is mine.
PAIRING: 1+2, 3x4
RATING: PG-13
CATEGORY: yaoi, angst, ficlet
WARNING: Not a deathfic
FEEDBACK: oh yes, please!
NOTES: Takes place post EW, Trowa POV
AUTHOR NOTES: Thank you to Sharon for the beta!
SUMMARY: Heero wants to spend Valentine's Day with Duo, but he doesn't get the chance.
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February 15th
by Dev-Aki Basaa
"How much longer are you going to wait? It's already
after midnight."
He didn't answer me; didn't even turn at the sound of
my voice. I wasn't supposed to be here, anyway, so
what did I expect? Quatre specifically forbade me to
get involved, but here I am.
I had feared it would end like this.
When Heero Yuy became a romantic, I will never know.
Yet here he was, atop the Sanq Peace Memorial Tower in
the middle of the night, waiting. It's cold, blustery
- especially up this high. I know that coat he's
wearing isn't warm enough, but I've kept the thought
to myself. I'm not the mothering sort. That's more
Quatre's department. I just wrapped my arms tighter
around myself.
It had been Valentine's Day - well, until about 45
minutes ago - and I should still be at home, enjoying
my evening with Quatre. We'd had a wonderful dinner
and talked of making love in front of the fireplace
until the coal cooled and we had only ourselves to
keep warm. Instead, I was here, freezing to death
because I knew my best friend would catch pneumonia
before he admitted defeat on this one.
"I think you need to accept he's not coming."
"Go away, Trowa."
His voice was as cold as the fierce wind that whipped
around us and made my skin sting. That fireplace
sounded even more damn inviting now than it had
before.
Quatre was right, I shouldn't have come.
Only, I couldn?t stop worrying about Heero. He seemed
so certain that Duo would find the coded message he'd
sent skipping though hacker circles and Net circuits.
That he'd understand it; that he'd come running here
to his arms...
...and, deep down, I knew...he wouldn't. Yet I
couldn?t bear to tell this to Heero. How could I? Yes,
I agreed that there was some *spark* there between
them. More than that, even. I'd seen the devotion in
Duo's eyes as he'd sat at Heero's bedside, hovering
while he recovered after the Mariemeia incident. It
had been plain to me how Duo felt about Heero - the
strength of it echoing my own emotions for Quatre. I
knew - and knowing that, I knew that if Duo had
survived that salvage job he took a year ago, there
would be no other place for him BUT at Heero's side.
Heero thought Duo had left and not returned because of
something he'd done - or, really, something he hadn't
done. He feared he'd not reciprocated Duo's feelings
enough, hadn't validated this *something* that had
begun building between them. But that wasn't how I saw
it. Heero was more than capable, in his subtle way, of
letting those around him know how he felt. That
included Duo. I don't think Duo doubted his future
with Heero. I think he left for that job just because
he needed the money.
And when he didn't return, I knew then that something
had happened.
But tell that to Heero as he waited like some romantic
martyr on the highest point in Sanq, staring out over
the night-black ocean beyond? Tell him that what
should have been would never be? Confess that I
believed Duo to be dead? The words caught in my
throat. He'd have to accept it himself. I shouldn't
have come here to force the issue.
I squeezed myself as a shiver ran down my spine and
sighed, resigning myself to leaving Heero up here
alone.
"When you do leave here, why don't you come and stay
with Quatre and me for a while, okay? Just to...take
your mind off... things."
As expected, he didn't respond. But I knew he was
listening, so I just sighed again and turned my back
on the sad sight of him. I headed for the stairwell
and the long walk down. My footfalls echoed in the
narrow tower and the hollow sound matched how I felt.
I needed to rush back to Quatre and wrap him in my
arms - love him, appreciate him while I had him - for
who knows what might happen tomorrow.
To any of us.
When I pushed the door that led to the tower vestibule
open, the wind whipped in and almost threw me back
against the stairs with its force. I shoved hard,
grunting as I fought to get beyond the stairwell and
to the exiting door. Once I had the stairwell door
closed behind me, the room fell to pitch blackness.
The vestibule lacked the lighting of the stairwell and
it was just a few paces forward to the outside door,
only I expected to find it open. Why else would that
wind have been fighting against the opening of the
stairwell door? I then heard breathing that wasn't my
own and felt myself go suddenly taut, ready for
anything. I wished for the gun I'd not carried in many
years.
"Trowa?"
My heart slammed into my throat, pounding, and I
couldn?t speak for the shock. It couldn?t be... I
could see nothing, but I knew I'd never have forgotten
that voice.
"Is he still up there?"
I nodded before I realized he couldn't see me.
Swallowing hard, I answered him.
"Yes"
There was a long pause before he spoke again.
"I'm not too late?"
I heard the desperation in his voice, the fear, the
intensity. It reminded me of his eyes whenever he'd
looked at Heero. He was referring to more than just
the hour and the pause between his words and mine was
pregnant with both his hope and apprehension.
"No, Duo, not too late."
Though I couldn?t see him, I knew him well enough to
know he was smiling.
I'm surprised I didn't jump when his phantom hand
clapped my shoulder, but then I was watching the light
burst through from the stairwell, illuminating him
just enough so I could see his retreating back pass
over the threshold, his braid whipping behind him.
Then I was in darkness again.
I stood there for a long time, imagining the reunion
taking place above me, wondering on the joy Heero
would certainly feel. The joy I know I'd feel had I
lost and then found Quatre again. But also, a thousand
questions buzzed through my head: on where Duo had
been, why he'd been gone so long, if he'd truly run as
Heero suspected. Only I realized those answers didn't
really matter. It was enough for now that he was here,
giving Heero the Valentine's Day he'd hoped for.
Even if it was a day late.
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