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A New Future
Chapter Five: Miracles and Christmas
Heero kept his bad mood for the rest of the day. His eye was really turning
black now and his expression remained clouded with thunderclouds and he tended
to avoid all social contacts. Anyone who would even look do so much as glance in
his direction could expect a real death-glare to be sent his way. Duo couldn't
help but keep wondering what had happened back at the mall so later that evening
he decided to check how Quatre was doing.
However, he didn't get a chance to speak because he had yet to enter the room
when Quatre started overloading him with a mountain of fast, excited words.
"Duo, the strangest thing happened to me half an hour ago!" The blonde
said as he pulled Duo inside and closed the door. "I's playin' on m'violin,
just an old, sad song when sud'ly I heard som'ne playin' a flute an' whoever it
was, he played along with me! An' normally I wou'nt be so su'prised 'cept from
'e fact that I don't know 'nyone playin' a flute in the 'ole orphanage, but..."
Duo put his hands up as he tried to calm his blonde friend down in attempt to
follow the story. "Woah, woah, calm down buddy, I'm loosin'ya!"
Quatre paused a moment to think and then laughed shyly. "Oh, heh,
sorry."
"'S ok. Just try again, slower this time."
"Well," the blonde started over again, a little slower. "As I
said I was playing an old song on my violin when someone on a flute joined me.
But I don't know anyone in the entire orphanage playing a flute and the song I
played isn't that well known, yet this one managed to play it flawlessly."
Quatre was obviously very excited about this. Duo didn't see the big importance
of the whole scene, though. "So, who was playing along?"
"Well, when I was done I opened the door to my room to see who was playing.
He had to have been standing there because I could hear it so clear. But when I
opened the door and looked there was no one there! And I really want to know who
was playing the flute because it sounded so beautiful." He added dreaming.
"Then try playing the violin again." Duo advised the other boy,
completely forgotten about Heero now. "Maybe he'll come back."
Quatre smiled. "Yeah, maybe. But not now. I can't play like that right now
and somehow I know he won't join me if I play something silly." He was
silent for a moment as he was reminded of another problem. "But even so,
how am I going to catch him next time? What if he runs away again the moment the
song is over?"
"Simple!" Duo reacted. "Open the door before the song is over, or
never really close it so you can use your foot to open it."
"Yeah, that'd be great! Thanks Duo!" The youth smiled gratefully.
"So, what did you come over to my place for?"
Duo thought of Heero again, as he was the reason he came here for, but for some
reason he didn't speak up right away. He watched Quatre smile and wondered again
what it would be like to see Heero smile just once. Oh, what he wouldn't give
for that. It was sure to be a perfect smile. How he sometimes couldn't sleep at
night and he lay awake, watching Heero in his sleep. And if the elder boy had a
scowl on his lips he was always tempted to just walk over and touch him some way
or another and his scowl would go away and he would look so peaceful, soft. Or
at least not as hard and unhappy as usual. Heero deserved some happiness in his
life.
But never did he really have the nerve to climb out of his own bed and walk over
to his roommate to actually have that scowl disappearing. What if he woke up
before Duo was back in his bed? Or even when he was still touching him? What if
he saw the look in Duo's eyes which were sure to betray his intentions?
"Never mind." The braided one mumbled and then he got up again and
ready to return to his own room where, no doubt, Heero would be behind his
laptop, scowling as he had been when Duo left the area.
"You sure?" the blonde asked. "You looked as if you wanted to ask
me something when you came in."
"Yeah, I forgot." Duo lied as he opened the door to the corridor.
"See ya later, Q-man!"
"Bye." Quatre smiled, most likely thinking of whoever it could have
been played that beautiful song along with him.
Duo walked out of Quatre's room, but didn't return to his room. For some reason
he suddenly felt like being alone right now and even the presence of Heero was
too much. Though he knew the boy wouldn't speak up, just him sitting there,
typing things on his laptop, clicking with the mouse would be enough to irritate
Duo right now. No, he had to find a place where he could be alone. And that
might become a problem when living in an orphanage.
Right now he wished he had a room all to himself like Quatre and Wufei had.
Normally he wouldn't like being alone, it only reminded him of the time before
he met Solo and the things that happened in the other orphanage, but right now
he didn't care.
But where to go? In the main room the TV was probably on and no doubt some kids
were using the playroom as well. Duo sighed. He might as well stay just here in
the deserted corridor for a moment.
The braided boy glanced outside. It was raining again just as it had done
earlier that day when they took the bus. Large drops of water splashed against
the many windows of the old building as if trying to break trough it. From where
he was standing he could see the playground with the basketball field that
belonged to the orphanage, lit by the few streetlights and surrounded by large,
strong gates as if to imprison anyone inside, stubbornly refusing to let them
out.
It was dark outside, it had been for quite a while now since it was a cold
winter day, and if it weren't for the streetlights Duo wouldn't have been able
to see the gates. He liked the winters even though he disliked the cold. It
meant that darkness came early. Duo felt at ease in the darkness, almost as if
he belonged there. Though he didn't know anything about who his parents were
supposed to have been, he was certain that he was born at night. He imagined how
blackness surrounded him like family as he crawled out of that safe, warm world
into the darkness of the night, or at least somewhere in the shadows of a dark
alley or something, hiding from the bright light of the day.
There was another reason he liked winters so much. People went to bed even
before midnight to rid themselves of the long, dark nights and they always had
lots of food to make sure they'd be alright during the darkest months of the
year. For Duo, and so many others, that meant there was enough food to steal and
enough time to steal it. He remembered how Solo always knew to pick the right
places. He'd make sure that they'd have enough to last for days in the winter.
Duo sighed, missing the boy who had always been there for him at times like
these when for some reason or another he felt alone.
Then his thoughts shifted to Heero who, in his own way, also never failed to
give Duo the safe and secured feeling whenever he was around. But so unlike
Solo, this boy had never held him, never comforted him, never needed to comfort
him for he had never seen Duo cry. Duo didn't want to cry in front of Heero, or
in front of anyone but Solo and since he'd left the other orphanage, no one but
him had ever seen the braided boy cry, for he had sworn that no one but him
would ever witness that.
He was Duo, Duo Maxwell now, he would never cry in front of Heero. Not only was
he afraid of showing his weaknesses, afraid of being disliked by Heero even more
than he sometimes felt the elder boy already did, but also he didn't want Heero
to have to see anyone getting hurt. He wanted only happiness for his roommate.
He wanted to take away whatever caused that scowl to be on his face all the
time, for he wanted to see his roommate happy. And he wanted to be happy himself
as well.
Duo's stomach started acting weird again, the same as it had felt that night
Solo came by to say goodbye. Only this time he didn't dismiss it by the time of
the night, for he'd had this feeling more often. And every time he had thought
of Heero. Could it. . . Could it be that he wanted him as more than just a
friend? If so, then what should he do? Stay silent, keep out of his way? or
should he talk to him, tell him how he felt?
No. There was nothing more going on. And even if there was, never, not ever,
could he let Heero, or anybody else, know how he felt about him. He was his
roommate, a friend, nothing more than that. And to Heero the braided youth was
nothing more than an annoying roommate who borrowed his blankets because he
couldn't even stand a little bit of cold. No. Heero was never to find out. It
would destroy their friendship and it wouldn't make Duo more popular either.
Besides, what if he was wrong and he didn't really want Heero as much as he
thought he did?
But then again, if he didn't, then why had he been so disappointed not to get
paired up with Heero back at the mall?
Well, whatever it was, he would sort it out later. The rain had slowed down now
and Duo's feet were starting to ache from standing all this time. It was time to
return to the world of the living, or in Heero's case, the living dead, and put
on his happy grin again, pretending to be trying to annoy Heero, not as if that
was so hard.
~*~
Wednesday passed by rather quickly and before Duo knew it he was sitting with
the other guys having a real Christmas dinner. One glance at the huge pile of
food was enough to convince Duo he was dead and had gone to heaven, or at least
he was dreaming. Surely they only had this much food in heaven! Heck, he
wouldn't even be surprised if he wasn't supposed to touch any of it! How in the
world was all that food going to be eaten by just one orphanage?
The entire dinner room had been decorated in warm colours, mainly red and green
and many different sorts of food were placed in front of the kids, from turkey
to vegetarian hamburgers, from salad to potatoes to fish, and LOTS of it too!
Suddenly Duo began to worry about eating this. There were so many kids who
needed this more than he did. And they were out there now, relying on the
people's Christmas spirit to give them some money for food or clothes. When
Christmas came close, people started acting generous all of a sudden as if only
with Christmas the poorer ones needed to eat. But as soon as Christmas was over
and the people realised they'd plundered their entire accounts for the holydays
they stopped giving anything to anybody and only glared at the begging youth
that hung around the malls. As if they only needed to be generous for those few
days they called Christmas.
Solo and Duo had hardly ever begged for food, they usually just stole it.
Whether it was a matter of pride or simply because it was a lot easier and often
brought in more, Duo couldn't tell. Probably a mixture of both.
The ex-thief just got a bit of salad and was picking his food, not joining in
any of the cheerful conversations when suddenly he noticed Heero wasn't there.
They sat near the door so it would've been easy for him to get up and slip out
while the rest of the kids were still being impressed by the food. He was just
about to see if Heero was seated elsewhere when Quatre asked him why he wasn't
eating. He made up a quick excuse as he saw Wufei giving him a meaningful look.
Heero was trying to skip it again this year!
Duo did the first thing that came to his mind, he quickly ate the salad on his
plate and got up to see what was wrong with Heero. Quatre called his name as he
got up, but he just glanced his way for a moment, an apologetic expression on
his face, before he continued out of the room. Quatre was about to say something
else when Wufei butted in, telling Quatre to leave him be.
However, Duo didn't make it farther then the dining room door where he was
stopped by a teacher saying dinner wasn't over yet. Duo quickly explained that
Heero wasn't there and finally, after he had thoroughly searched the whole room
with his eyes, the teacher gave him permission to go and fetch him.
Duo suspected Heero to be in their room. So that was the first place he was
going to look. He walked up to their room, but halted in front of it, listening
to the door. Not a sound. He quietly opened the door and peeked inside. Heero
was sitting on his bed with his back turned to the door. He seemed to be
focussing on something in his hands and he didn't appear to have heard the sound
of the door opening.
Duo quietly entered and closed the door. He paused a moment, not sure what to
do. Heero always noticed everything. Now it seemed as if he were in some kind of
trance, completely lost in thought. This was highly unusual. Duo had never seen
him like that. And what was it his eyes were focussed on? Duo couldn't see.
Finally he decided to get the boy's attention first
"...Heero?" He said softly.
Heero didn't seem to react to his name at all. Had he even heard him? But just
as Duo was about to speak again, the other boy slightly tilted his head. He
turned his head just enough to see Duo's full form.
Duo frowned at the expression on the boy's face, for it wasn't his usual scowl
he gave him. Sorrow? Heero looked sorrowful? But the expression didn't last
long. Heero moved his mouth a little but Duo couldn't make out what it was he
was whispering. The next moment he turned around completely and got off the bed.
His sorrowful expression disappeared completely to make place for a rage so
intense Duo felt insecure for a moment. He was used to his roommate's death
glares but this anger seemed to come from so much deeper than that. And then his
eyes, they seemed to be shooting fire.
"I'll kill you." Heero said, keeping his voice calm as usual. "Say
goodbye, father." The last word was spoken with utter disgust.
Father? But before Duo had time to think about it Heero flung himself unto him,
causing Duo to fall backwards. The boy on top reached for Duo's throat who
desperately tried to kick the angry boy off of him. But Heero was the stronger
one here and he had the advantage of being on top. He managed to grab Duo's
throat and started strangling him. Duo struggled on as he grabbed the elder
boy's wrists and tried to pull his roommate's hands back so he could breath
again.
"Heero. . . look at me! Argh! . . .It's me. . . Duo." He managed to
say, but Heero wasn't listening.
"Petty excuses!" the boy on top sneered back. "Always making
things up when you hurt somebody! It was NEVER your fault what you did!"
If he was able to Duo would've flinched at the anger and hate in the other boy's
voice. What was going on here? Where did Heero get his anger? He had been tense
lately, but this couldn't all have been just under the surface waiting to be
released, could it? What was the elder boy talking of? What did he do?
He managed to pull the strangling hands from his throat a little and inhaled as
deep as he could before the hands were back in their place again.
"You got the. . . wrong guy, I, Ugh. . . I didn't do anything!"
The elder boy tightened his grip cutting off Duo's air completely now. He
squeezed his eyes shut as he heard the hate and disgust in the other boy's voice.
"No! You're drunk! You're always drunk! And now she's dead because you
killed her!" Heero was almost screaming now and Duo could feel the other
boy's hot breath on his own stone cold face. He just hoped someone would come in
soon, but he was certain that downstairs no one was listening as the music was
too loud and they were on the fourth floor. Crying out for help was probably
useless.
He had given up turning and tossing by now, solely concentrating on the hands,
for moving would only cost too much energy and he felt as if his life was slowly
dripping out of his body. He opened his eyes and saw the other boy was looking
at his throat as if that were his sole enemy. The hate and disgust were evident
in the blue orbs that were now bringing fear to his own.
"Heero. . . I didn't kill. . . anyone!"
"Don't lie to me, you bastard, you killed her! I saw it with my own eyes!
You threw her against the Christmas tree and then you hit her on her head with
the lamp and she was dead! You thought I wasn't watching, but I was standing at
the top of the stairs. You killed her, you deserve to die!"
Heero was now so lost in his words that he used his hands to emphasise his words,
giving Duo some in-between chances to suck in a little oxygen, but it wouldn't
do much good if this continued this way. Duo felt growing weaker by the second,
his hands were slowly releasing his attacker's wrists as he couldn't find the
strength to keep them there anymore. Soon he'd pass out and then the results
wouldn't be pretty. Just one more chance left now. If only he could get Heero to
recognise him!
"No. . . Look at me, Heero. . . Ugh Damnit. . ." he managed the best
he could. "It's me. . . Duo!" Finally the elder boy looked up,
straight into Duo's half-squeezed eyes. Recognition and confusion shot trough
the icy blue orbs and slowly his hands lost their grip.
"D. . . Duo?"
~ T.B.C. ~