Joe Black\'s First Big Mistake

Joe Black’s First Big Mistake

Author: Ebraheart

Pairing(s): Duo X Heero

Warnings: AU, weirdness, Fluff/Romance, some violence, humor and a Lemon/One-Shot!
Disclaimer: GW isn’t mine...I just borrow the characters to write fiction. It’s good fun really ^_^

Ebra’s notes: Any physical or mental problems that the G-boys have after I’ve returned them aren’t my fault! Besides that, I wrote this fic because I was feeling a little melancholy. Plus, I always wanted to write one of those great bittersweet stories that make people sit back and think. Here’s my kick at that particular can. Please review and tell me how I did!

P.S- I might have to write this in two or three parts if it gets too long…-_-;

~!@!~

{Intro}

Sunday; past midnight

Heero is leaning against the window, his whole being focused on the rain falling outside. He presses one hand to the chilly, unsurpassable glass and feels the cold seep into his skin. His head is killing him, but having the coolness of the glass against his forehead is slowly relieving the ache. His thoughts are disassembled and distant. He can’t remember when he had his last injection, but he knows that it must have been at least three hours ago. His head was still buzzing. He slowly sat up straight, moving his head away from the glass, and moved from his chair to his bed. He tripped once and nearly fell over, but his reflexes, although dulled, enabled him to stay upright. He climbed into bed and tried not to think about the thing in his head that was the cause of the medication, the isolation, of the x-rays, injections and daily tests. He tried to forget about it being the cause of him missing school, his friends.

His whole life.

He rolled himself up into a cocoon in the sheets and forced his small lungs to take another shallow breath. He pressed his face into the pillow and tried to fight down a sudden wave of nausea. This wasn’t fair. He shouldn’t have a brain tumor.


He felt his stomach quiet down, and turned so that he was facing the window again. As he watched the rainfall, well past midnight, he managed to forget. He forgot as he watched the rain swirl against the glass, watched it slide over the world and disappear into the darkness that was the blanket that covered this side of the world while the other side was wide awake and breathing, working, playing, *living*. His blue eyes traced the rivulets of water. Soon, he was remembering again. He was cold and nearly empty inside. He wasn’t like the rest of the world. He was neither living, nor trying to live. He’d stopped doing either a long time ago. Now, he was just fading. Slowly fading, until the pain went away and he slowly melted and became part of the black and white world that you can sometimes see on the other side of your mirror, or in the puddles after the rain. He was waiting for it all to leave him behind. Then, he’d be better. Then he’d be okay again. And things like pain wouldn’t exist anymore. Then, he’d be free.

Heero rolled over again; away from the window, and fell asleep. The drugs in his system had managed to put him to sleep. He’s stopped fighting mainly due to exhaustion though. He thought of the test he would have tomorrow, and of the new physician he was going to meet, and of the new mediation he was going to be taking and decided that he was going to need all the rest he could get...

~!@!~

{Heero}

The sun was far too bright for a Monday morning. I turned over, feigning sleep, even as a medical aid walked in a shoved the blinds aside so that the sun could get in. I tried to go back to sleep but the light was just too bright. It invaded the dark space behind my eyes and made me turn my face into my pillow. I settled down when I grudgingly acknowledged that I wasn’t going back to sleep anytime soon. I listen to the person walking around and find that I don’t recognize the walk.. I listen harder and realize that it’s a guy, and not a girl. That means that it isn’t Carol. I liked Carol, but it was normal that they replaced her. They didn’t want me getting too attached. I was aware of this, but it didn’t stop me from getting annoyed.

The footsteps move closer to my bed and I roll over, onto my back and stare unblinkingly out the wide-open window. The sun burns at my irises for a minute before it stops hurting. I turn my eyes towards the figure standing at the base of my bed.


It is a boy, but it’s someone I don’t know. This realization makes my perpetual frown even deeper. I know everyone in the hospital and if there is someone I don’t know, that means they are new. I mull over this for less than a second, and shrug it off. I take a minute to sit up and look the boy over. He is tall. Much taller than I am. He is starring back at me blankly, and I can only see one eye, since the other is hiding behind a fall of auburn hair. I tilt my head to the side. Emerald green. His eyes are emerald green. It’s an unusual color and it makes me wonder about his ethnicity. He tilts his head too, and this makes his hair look more natural than intentional. I smirk when I come to the conclusion that it actually grows like that. It’s actually rather amusing. I note the way his eyes sparkle, but continue to stare. I am honestly curious. I’ve been told that it’s a bad thing...

He moves from the end of my bed and walks along the edge until he’s standing within touching distance. He turns briefly to look out the window and when he turns back it takes him a second to hop up onto my bed and stretch his legs out. I raise an eyebrow at his actions, but he just stares at me blankly. Now, the silence is starting to bother me. Not because I don’t like it, but more because there is a stranger sitting in bed with me and not explaining to me who the hell he is and what the hell he’s doing in here.

Forcing myself to speak, I do my best not to sound pissed off, “Heero, and you are?”

The boy seems amused. Not because he thinks I’m funny but more because I failed to sound peaceable. He indulges me though and speaks. His voice is soft and measured, “Trowa, pleased to meet you”

I cock my head and glance out the open door for a moment while taking careful stock of the situation, “New babysitter?”

Trowa shifts next to me, “Nope”

I frown, thinking, “Candy-Stripper?”

Trowa seemed to find that funny, “I like candy but I won’t necessarily strip if you give me any”

Ha. Funny guy. Feeling the slow rise of my temper, I turn back to him. Green eyes stare coolly back at me and it doesn’t look like I’m going to get anything out of him by losing my composure. Blinking, my anger dissipating, I shrug, “Playing doctor maybe?”

Trowa laughs softly before replying, “Do you usually like to guess at peoples occupations or is it a new pastime that you suddenly found interesting?”

I find myself smiling at the mix of sarcasm and general humor in the statement. I shrug, “I get bored enough if that’s what you mean…”

Trowa runs a hand thru his hair slowly, “I’m supposed to make peace with you for the sake of your poor new physician who has heard so many horror stories about you that he’s having serious doubts”

I smile slightly, “You’re a ambassador of goodwill?”

Trowa nods, slight smile curving his lips, “Somewhat. More like a pacifist though”

I raise an eyebrow at him, “Ah”

Trowa grins and moves off my bed, “I must interrupt this rather nice conversation for the sake of encouraging you to have your shower”

I roll me eyes but get out of bed anyway, “Am I going somewhere?”

Trowa nods ardently, “Either you do it now or risk being late for group therapy”

I groan, “You can’t be serious”

Trowa pretends to think it over a minute, “I am”

I collapse back onto bed, “Just kill me now”

Trowa leans over me, blocking the sunlight streaming in, all the while looking decidedly amused, “Afterwards, I promise”

~!@!~

After having a shower and getting dressed, Trowa was brave enough to ask me to sit in a wheelchair and roll me about in it like some helpless retard. I didn’t hold any grudges against mentally or physically disabled people, but I really had no desire to be babied when I can walk fine on my own. I used to play sports as easily as I breath air, I think I can still walk on my own two feet.

I was already beginning to like Trowa and since I guess he was the one who was going to be replacing Carol, I would be civil. Anyway, Trowa, for my sake, didn’t laugh too much when I stonily asked for help to sit in the damned wheel chair. I’m really skinny. I hardly look in the mirror anymore but I really have changed in the half year that I’ve been interned at the hospital. I can hardly do much of anything anymore. About a year ago, it was discovered that I had an abnormal growth under the left lobe of my brain. It started small, like all tumors and cancers do, and quickly became a problem so big in managed to ruin my life in less then a month. I suddenly grew ill early in November and by December, my mother had been worried enough about me to have me put into a specialized clinic for other cancer and tumor cases like mine.

I’ve been here ever since. Though I haven’t had an operation yet, I known enough people to tell you that they aren’t very successful things. I’ve seen people, my age, some younger, others older, go into the west wing where all the operating rooms are and come out on stretchers with big white sheets over them. Lots of people have died around here. Death actually doesn’t scare me as much as it should, but I figure that it’s because I’ve become a bit used to this endless cycle that my life had become. I forgot to mention that breakfast for me is a needle and about six different colored pills. I can’t actually have solid food till after lunch. Lunch usual means chemotherapy. That’s the worst part of every second day of my life. Chemo is evil but apparently, it’s doing wonders for my little brain tumor.

That aside, I have to explain a few other things. Like I said, the west wing is where all the operating rooms are. The central building in for all those fatal cases that don’t, or aren’t, expected to last more than a year. The adults call it the Temp-Sector. As in Temporary. Where I am right now is the east wing. This is where those of us who have to suffer longer before we go, stay. There are living quarters, recreation rooms, and just about everything that the doctors think will help. There are only three other people my age (16 and a half) that actually stay here. Most of the others, or so I have been told, stay in the Temp-Sector. Carol used to tell me I was lucky since, habitually, ‘the young ones always go first’. I’m in slightly better condition then most.

My last physician had done everything she could. Most of the others doctors around here talked about Mrs. Jovanny like she was loony or ‘a bit unconventional’. Just because she didn’t insist on stuffing me full of drugs twenty four seven, or that she encouraged me to do as many different activities as I possibly thought I could handle without hurting myself, or let me eat before Chemotherapy even knowing that I would vomit afterwards but respecting the fact that I liked having something in my stomach just for the comforting feel of normalcy that it provided, and never babied me or forced me to do anything idiotic like write weirdo journals about how I felt just so that she could read them and try to asses my mental stability, didn’t mean she was unconventional or odd. It just meant that she had a real head on her shoulders and not a bag of straw I suspect that many of the other doctors have.

The sad thing is that word gets around. It doesn’t have to be good word to get around fast either. Rumors and crap have a habit of bouncing from mouth to mouth better than compliments do. My mother caught the tail end of a conversation where two doctors from the west wing had expressed their ‘revulsion’ for that ‘air headed’ Mrs. Jovanny’s ‘absurd and unscientific’ approach to ‘healthcare’. If there’s one thing I can say about my mother, it’s that she’s a woman who always goes after what she wants. The second she heard that she revealed to me later ‘that I deserve better’ and that she would take care of it immediately. Not more than a week ago, Mrs. Jovanny had been relieved of her post and returned to live with her boyfriend in Chicago. She had a small ‘Goodbye’ party with me before she left and let me eat cake. She promised to write and come down to visit but she still had to leave at the end of that week. To say I was pissed off was an understatement. Let’s just say that if it weren’t for Carol, I may just have killed a few people out of simple irritation.

It was decided that I would get a new doctor, some specialist from Dallas, and would have a completely redone schedule. My new to-do list included these total wastes of time that people around here call ‘Group Therapy’. It’s another way of assessing your mental health by forcing you to sit in a room with a bunch of people that don’t really want to be there any more then you do and ask you stupid questions that they already know that answers to. It isn’t so bad because of the others but more because our therapist, Alice, is an ignorant, impressionalistic children’s doctor has been. Basically, she has as many brain cells as a hippie. Not a fucking lot if I had to make a guess.

So, that’s where I’m headed now. It wasn’t such a bad prospect now that I thought about it. Trowa would be there and so would Wufei. At least I wasn’t going to catch stupid or die of boredom.

~!@!~

The room we have for therapy is painted entirely in baby blue. It’s supposed to make us feel at ease or something. Other then the fact that the walls are painted with little cartoon characters that you see on Saturday morning TV, there isn’t anything remarkable about the place. When Trowa and I get there, only Wufei and Marin are there. I met Wufei the day after I first came here. Wufei, unlike me, is prone to not speaking but physically demonstrating his intense dislike for chemotherapy and any other such undesirable administrations of medical procedures to his person. His med-aid, Liam, had tried to force Wufei to stay still during a few needle injections and had ended up with a very broken arm. Wufei wasn’t mean or sarcastic like I was prone to being but more reserved. He confided in me later that he actually nearly killed Liam, not because of the threat of getting pricked, but because he hated being manhandled. I tended to agree. I mean, do you really want some guy pawing you?

Simply put: Heck no.

Marin is someone I met a little later. She was very polite and came from a very well off family. Then again, everyone here comes from a well off family. Marin generally doesn’t speak. Unlike Wufei, it is simply because she can’t. Wufei and I learned some simple sign language so as to be able to communicate with her more. It was a bit more difficult with Marin since she ‘spoke’ a mile a minute and we had a bit of difficulty following her. She was very short for her sixteen years and had, at one time, had brown hair. After her first chemo session, most of it fell out. She was crushed and a little out of it for a while, but when it finally started to grow back a bit Wufei suggested the she should have fun with it. She ended up dying her hair a vivid poison purple. Wufei had approved. As much as I had originally thought it would just look freaking weird, it turned out for the very best. Her eyes were a light hazel color and her skin was very pale.

They both greeted me and Wufei and I exchanged an exasperated look. Seems both Trowa and Liam think it a good idea to wheel us around in wheelchairs. Marin has been left on her two feet but only because they want her to get a bit more independent. Her aid, Noin, was a bit too easily pushed into doing whatever Marin wanted. She was too soft, but really a nice person. Our aids, as if on cue, left to sit on benches provided for them on the side of the room. They didn’t actually participate in the group discussions, just sat around listening and laughing on occasion.

Wufei peered around me at Trowa, “Who is that?”

I shrug, “He’s a pacifist named Trowa as far as I know”

Marin blinked at me and I started to sign-talk as well as talk out loud, “Trowa over there as a pretty good sense of humor. He isn’t a bad guy”

Marin nodded and looked over. Wufei blew a raspberry, “I hope you two get along better then Liam and I do”

I smile slightly when Wufei says that. Liam actually has a really big crush on him. It was no secret to anyone. Wufei though, was about as dense as a mountain and was capable of being just as cold. Liam often tried hard to be nice to Wufei but came off as being smothering and Wufei, likewise, didn’t understand Liam’s motives and tried to be doubly disagreeable.

I shrug lightly, “You’re just a big pain in the ass is all”

Wufei sniffs and turns away, dark eyes laughing silently. Marin grins and points to the door. We all turn and look as a few other people that are part of our group are wheeled in. All of them are older then we are. I’m sure that I mentioned before that there are only three people under twenty here. They are Wufei, Marin and I. The last person to totter in was Alice, the therapist herself.

She was wearing a bright yellow sundress and brown sandals. Now, that alone made her scary but it only gets worse. She has these horrible red horn-rimmed glasses and even has the things hanging off those weird rope attachments that keep them slung around her neck. She is wearing several jangling bracelets on each wrist and a bell necklace around her neck. So she’s simultaneously jangling and tinkling when she walks. She has this really crazy red hair, which has currently been put up in a decidedly untidy bun. Wisps of the excessively curly hair are falling around her shoulders. She was trying to look relaxed and carefree but only managed to look scruffy.

Wufei blinked at her then turned to me, barely managing not laughing, “Good lord”

I muffled a laugh and Marin glared at us. She has told us countless times before not to make fun of ‘Miss Alice’. In my opinion, it just couldn’t be helped.

Alice smiled gently at us all and sat in a chair close to the window. She’d told us before that is was bad luck to have your back to the door. When we, as politely as possible asked her why, she replied that it had happened to her before that she had been too close and someone coming in had banged her head. Wufei had politely thanked her for explaining and had spent the rest of that session giggling behind my back.

She smiled around again and set her large orange canvas bag on the floor next to her. She did a quick attendance, sort of like teachers do in class, and chewed thoughtfully on her pen for a minute. Leaning over she reached into the canvas bag, which she had nicknamed it her ‘Magic bag’ since she was always bringing in new things for us in it, and pulled out another one of her cartoon covered folders. Promptly, she stood again and motioned to someone just beyond the door.

“Ladies and gentlemen, it pleases me to present to you this new addition to our little community. Come along Mr. Maxwell”

To my surprise and the rest of the room’s, judging by the collective gasp that sounded as the boy entered, everyone was as amazed as I was.

The boy must have been the same age as me. The first thing that struck me were his eyes. Large, expressive, and a very bright violet, they stood out starkly. The next thing was how…pretty…he was. Small face, cute ears and bright smile. When he walked by us, towards Miss Alice, we all had a chance to see the long braid that bounced steadily off his bum as he walked. His hair color was a startling mix of chestnut brown, red and even a bit of blond seemingly woven right into it all. He wore a pair of loose baggy pants with a studded belt holding it up right around his hipbones and a red muscle shirt that had a hood. Black DC shoes were on his feet. A ratty old black cap sat on his head backwards. The only jewelry he was wearing was a very ornate gold and silver cross slung around his slim neck. Part of a rose-thorn tattoo peeked out at everyone were the short-sleeve hoodie dipped into his chest. The boy, reaching Miss Alice, turned about face and waved cheerily while looking at each of us in turn.

Miss Alice started talking again, “This is Duo, everyone. He was admitted last week and will be spending some time here. He comes to us from Mooreland Hospital in New York. I hope you can all become friends”

The newly named Duo stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked around some more, still smiling warmly. I was watching him so intently that when his big violet eyes settled on me and he winked I nearly fell out of my wheelchair. And that is definitely saying a lot. Wufei looked from Duo to me and a slow smile spread across his face. I ignored that evil look and turned away, both from Wufei and Duo. Around me, I was aware of Miss Alice speaking again and talking about some sort of group activity that she had planned for today. I heard vague details about partnering up and something about trying to draw portraits but ignored it all. I always do. Wufei and Marin often partner up and let me watch in on what they did. I never felt inclined to participate though. Carol said I was exasperating. Or at least she used to. The sight of her face, firmly set in my memory, pouting and demanding that I try made a small smile come to my face.

People started getting into groups and I slowly backed up, making sure that the adults overlooked me. I was probably in the clear already but Duo isn’t an adult. He probably has more sense, too. He walked over casually and crouched down in front of my wheelchair, smiling still, and held out a hand, “Hiya, what’s your name?”

Blinking at him, I didn’t react fast enough and Duo reached out to take my hand in his. Violet eyes shone up at me through bangs, “Mute?”

Wufei chose that moment to make an appearance, “His name’s Heero. Say hi to the nice boy Heero”

I glared at Wufei who only grinned evilly at me from over Duo’s shoulder. I looked back down at Duo and felt color flooding my cheeks. Duo was still looking up at me expectantly, “Hi”

Duo stood then, my hand still in his, “Well, Heero, I need a partner and it looks like your it, buddy”

I nodded dumbly before taking my hand back. Duo grinned and moved away, towards one of the table settled around the room, “C’mon”

I hesitated and Wufei prodded my wheelchair lightly with a foot, “Go on”

I was close to loosing my temper already but I wasn’t going to give Wufei the satisfaction of thinking that I was peeved. Smoothing all emotion from my face, I looked over at him briefly and said a dismissive ‘Hn’ before going after Duo. I was highly amused to see Wufei stick his tongue out at me.

Turns out that the activity was to try and draw your partner. The point of the damnable exercise was to draw the parts of that person’s face that drew the most attention with as much emphasis as possible. Then, we were going to compare, show-and-tell, as well as explain our drawing to the rest of the group.

Holy cow…

Duo seemed perfectly happy to start first. He sat directly across from me, both feet propped up on the table, hat sitting in the middle of the table, and sketchpad sitting at the ready in his lap. I sat myself across from him; wheelchair tucked under the table and folded my hands diplomatically in my lap. Duo looks up at me then and seemed to be studying me curiously. I blink back at him impassively and that wide grin spreads across his features again, “Loosen up man, I’m drawing a guy right? Not a marble statue…”

I blink once, but give into the temptation I had to slouch. Duo smiled approvingly, “Much better. So hold still, alright?”

Nodding mutely, I watched as Duo started to sketch. Even judging by when he had only first started I could tell that he’d either had experience or knew, more than I did, how to go about doing this. Thankfully, I didn’t have to talk much and Duo seemed otherwise occupied with sketching. He only looked up every few moments and between each glance up, I had enough time to look him over a bit before looking away and not getting caught. Now that I was closer to Duo, I noticed how pale he was. Ever since he’d first walked into the room, I had thought that he didn’t look like he belonged here. It made a single question come to mind: What does he have?

Probably a cancer or a tumor of some sort if he’s here, obviously. Yet, still, it didn’t look as if anything was fatally wrong with him. He looked a bit tired but other than that, he might very well have been flawless.

For the first time in a while, I actually felt like talking to someone.
“Is New York a nice place to live?”

Duo seemed not to have heard me at first, but a smile peeked out at me from beyond the shadows that cast over Duo’s slightly lowered face, “Yeah, any place that’s home is nice. Do you come from around here?”

I paused, “Yes…”

Duo paused too, and looked up curiously, “And?”

I shrugged, “There isn’t much to tell”

Duo looked around the room slowly, his eyes settling over me when he’d finished, “We’ve got a lot’ a time here, man. Sides, for every question I ask you, you can ask me a question back”

I must have looked doubtful because Duo laughed a bit, “Don’t worry about asking weird questions, I ain’t easily offended”

I shrugged. What was wrong with talking to him?
“I live up in Elmwood…”

Duo nods and chews the end of his pencil before starting to faintly shade something, “What were you up to before you got stuck up in here?”

I didn’t answer right away, not because I didn’t want to, but mainly because I was remembering, “Sports…I played a lot of sports…”

Duo glanced up at the sound of my dull-sounding voice. His eyes seemed to darken understandingly and he smiled, “I used ta play sports too but they always tell you that you shouldn’t because you’re in poor health…”

I smiled faintly, “Or that it’ll only upset your condition more…”

Duo grinned back, “ Or maybe they just think you’ll drop dead if they let you try…”

I paused and absentmindedly reached over and took Duo’s hat, “Exactly…”

Duo went back to shading, “Typical Doctor’s diagnosis…they all say the same thing. They prescribe sleep and medication and all kind’s a crap…”

I shrugged while turning the hat in my hands, “It’s supposed to be good for us though…”

Duo stopped drawing all together and leaned forward until he could rest his elbows on his knees and look over at me…while still being seated at the table. I eye him, surprised, and vaguely wondered if that’s what being flexible was all about. That looked like it hurt…

Duo brushed bangs out of his face, “Yeah, it’s helping but I still say fresh air’s just as good…”

I smiled slightly at that. Duo sat back and starred at the drawing pad a moment, “I guess I’m done. Wanna peek?”

I nod and Duo sits up, takes his feet off the table and slides the portrait across to me.
I couldn’t believe how good the drawing was. A practically perfect re-creation of my face on paper starred stoically back at me. I looked at Duo, “Where the hell did you learn to draw like this?”

Duo smiled secretly, “Here and there…”

~!@!~

I was reluctant tot leave Group Therapy that morning. Trowa noticed too. Tactfully, he left me be. I was going for Chemo in maybe an hour’s time. I wasn’t allowed to eat anything before hand. Grimly, I sat in the lounge until Trowa came by to pick me up.
I was still in the wheelchair but had gone back to my room to change into those weird hospital scrubs they make you wear. I starred out one of the big, arch windows and just gave a few things some thought.

I didn’t get any reprieve really because I heard a noise at the door and turned in time to see Wufei open the door cautiously and slip in. He irritably brushed loose black hair out of his face and sighed. They never let him wear an elastic because he was always using it to fling wasps at people. I grinned to myself. He probably just escaped poor Liam.

Wufei turned about and caught me looking. He smiled and walked over. He then plopped down in an overstuffed couch like thing that was on my immediate right.
“Well, don’t we look comfortable…”

I glared mildly at him, “Cheeky…you were in a wheelchair not more then fifteen minutes ago, I should’ve thought that you knew better then to tease me about it…”

Wufei grinned indolently, “Yes, well, I’m not in one now am I?”

I raised eyebrow at him, “Hn…well, Liam must be climbing the walls looking for you by now…”

Wufei sniffed delicately, “Who cares, all he ever does is fuss…he’s worse than a stupid onna…”

I turned and looked back out the window, “Baka…he’s just concerned”

Wufei didn’t answer right away. He looked out the window with me instead.

When he did speak again, it was almost five minutes later, “You and that Duo seem to get along well…”

I shrug, unresponsive.

Wufei isn’t put off by my lack of response, “What’s bothering you exactly?”

I peered out the window, “I don’t like to get attached…”

Wufei nodded, “Agreed, but currently you’re moping, so I think that you’re contradicting yourself…”

I thought this over a minute, “Hn…”

Wufei absently brushed hair out of his eyes again, “Right again aren’t I…”

I smiled at that, “You get a kick out of harassing us all don’t you?”

Wufei smiled smugly and sank, if that was even possible, even further into the couch, “No…you’re just all so easy to read. Besides, I really get a kick out of pissing Liam off…”

I turn to look at him, “You’re just cruel and sadistic”

Wufei laughs, “Don’t forget cheeky and very good looking”

“Not to mention vain…”

Wufei mock pouted, “I hate you…”

I grinned, “I hate you too…”

After that, there were no more jokes.

We sat in passive silence until Trowa came to pick me up. Before I left for chemo, Wufei smiled and half hugged me.
Before I could say anything to him, he was out the door and gone.

Trowa was smiling faintly after him.

I wrapped my arms around myself briefly, remembering the hug that already seemed like a memory and went to chemo feeling less apprehensive then I usually do…

~!@!~

It would seriously blow to be claustrophobic if you had a head tumor or cancer.

That’s mostly because when they have to treat you, they stick this big facemask thing on your face, leaving a hole only over the area where the abnormality growing in your head is. They then bombard that area with radiation. It isn’t a pleasant procedure and it isn’t a pleasant sensation either.

Often, there isn’t anyone else present when it’s happening. The procedure is conducted from afar by trained professional doctors. In my case, they allowed Trowa to stick close, to see how it’s done. He isn’t actually in the room with me, so I feel less nervous, but I know that he’s somewhere watching me along with any other doctors that are observing me at the moment.

Thankfully, today’s session is short, seeing as how my tumor has shrunk a bit.

Or so I’m told.

The throbbing headache that I usually have afterwards is still there but instead of making me feel pain, it only makes me queasy. I’m given a few needles and by the time Trowa is all set to take me back to my room for a nap, I’m drugged-up to the point that I can hardly sit up in the wheelchair.

I’m asleep before I leave the room.

~!@!~

I wake up a little after two o’clock the same afternoon. I feel shaky and a bit tired still, but the pounding headache has had a chance to die down and the drugs I was given earlier have had a chance to run through my system and dissipate. I look out the window and take stock of how high the sun still is. Trowa is nowhere around which means they probably expected me to be asleep longer. Looking around the room, I see that the wheelchair is tucked into a corner.

Hn…I don’t like that. It means that it’s going to become something standard for me.

The door is shut so any passing medical staff won’t see me get out of bed. Pushing the heavy quilt off my bed, I peer over the edge before swinging my legs over and dropping down. My mother is a European but my father is Japanese. All this makes me not only short but also gives me a rather unique personal look. My bare feet hit the floor with a barely a sound. I have practice not making noise since I often go visit Wufei in the dead of night. It’s the best time to do stuff like that since the night nurse is hardly ever paying enough attention to catch any of us.

Presently, I feel a little unsteady, but that’s probably because I’ve hardly been walking at all today. Surprisingly, the less you walk, the less you actually remember how. I steady myself using the high hospital bed and head for the closet when I’m ready. I don’t have many personal belongs but among these few things are a variety of pajamas (they don’t want us wearing anything else around here), my favorite sneakers and a basketball. The basketball was something a friend of mine managed to smuggle in for me when she came to visit.

There is a gym in the basement of this wing. I didn’t get to go there often but I often sneak out and go down. I put on a pair of spandex shorts and a green tank top and pull on an oversized jersey and sweatpants. Now that I look more inconspicuous, I grab my Nike backpack and stuff my basketball and my sneakers into it. Once I’m ready, I slowly pull the door open and peer out. There isn’t a soul around. Cautiously, I walk out and quietly shut the door behind myself with a mild click. I stay where I am for a full minute, trying to judge if there really is no one else around. I look right and left before going straight down the hallway in front of me. When I near the end, I slow down and peer around the corner. I have an immediate advantage, since I’m bare foot, but I still have to be careful not to make any noise. The nurse is sitting at the main desk, drowning in paperwork.

Making a spur of the moment decision, I get down on all fours and creep quietly on the floor, right beneath the desk, until I reach the other hallway. Rounding the corner, I breathe a sigh of relief and look around again. This is the hallway where Wufei’s room is. I doubt that he’s there though. I only have to make it to the stairway and evade the camera. There is also an elevator but you need a key to use it and stealing a key would most definitely result in more security cameras being set up. The cameras are all in the stairways so I wouldn’t risk causing any trouble that would help add cameras.

A door opening to my left alerts my attention and I stand and back up into the shadow of the doorway I’m leaning on. A medical aid rolls a cart up to the elevator and pauses in front of it. He uses the key to gain access to the elevator before pushing a button for the basement floor and wheeling the cart in. Abruptly, he runs out of the elevator. I guess he forgot something. Taking another chance, I dash across the narrow hallway and slide into the elevator before it shuts. I sit on the floor and catch my admittedly short breath while the whole thing makes its slow descent down.

It reaches the basement within the next five minutes and when it opens, I walk out. I leave the cart where it is and try to remember if I need to go down the left or right corridor to reach the gym area. My question is answered for me when I hear voices talking about medication floating down to me from the left hall. Footsteps too.
I run down the right hall and reach the big gray double doors at the end right when the two people reach the elevator. I slip thru unnoticed and step into a dark room. I know that it must be the gym especially judging by the echo and the wooden floor under my feet. I take a few steps along the wall and reach out tentatively. I flick the light switch and the whole place lights up around me.

Dumping my jersey and sweatpants on the floor, I put on my sneakers and grab my basketball. I dribble a bit, getting used to it again and take a few shots. Four out of five go in clean. I can feel myself smiling slightly. I missed this; I know I did.

I practice for a long while. I’m half trying to remember how to do moves and half realizing that I never really forgot. Behind me, I hear the door inch open. Shocked, I drop the ball and whip around. It takes me a minute to realize that I haven’t been caught. Those purple eyes don’t belong to any medical personnel I know.

The rest of the body follows and Duo is standing and starring at me. He’s grinning and I can only think to ask him one thing, “First one to three wins?”

Duo continued to smile, “You sure you wanna play me?”

I smiled back, confident in my skills as a basketball player, “I’m sure”

Duo shrugs good naturedly, “Your funeral…”

I smile slightly at that, “Who says?”

Duo grins, “You’ll see…”
I dribble the ball a bit more and Duo looks from me to the net, “Ever done a Do or Die shot?”

I shook my head absently. Duo grinned, “Shoot then…”

I stopped and looked at Duo, “From here?”

Duo nodded and his grinned slowly widened at the look of disbelief on my face. I really was surprised since Duo was suggesting that I shoot from beyond half court. I knew my shot wasn’t that good. Duo cocked his head to the side and studies me, “Well, if you’re chicken…”

I scowled, “Just watch…”
I try a typical three pointer shot and give the ball an extra push when I shoot. Duo and I watch as the ball makes it’s way thru the air…and clean into the net.

Duo laughed, “Oh, my boy’s got game. Now we really gotta play…”

I grin slightly again and get the ball.

Duo stands between the net and me, “You got the shot, you start…”

No sooner do I start dribbling does Duo steal the ball from right under my nose. Surprised, I stand and watch as he makes some distance, jumps, turns almost 360 degrees and shots the ball before he lands. The shot goes in clean. Duo gives me an amused look, “Think you can keep up?”

I grin fully for the first time in a while, “I can do more than that…”

Duo retrieved the ball and set me between himself and the net, “Bring it….”

Duo starts dribbling and as soon as I get too close, he bounces the ball from his right hand to his left, around the back and out of my reach. I turn to see him lay the ball up into the net. Duo catches the ball and turns to me, “One more and I win…what are you waiting for?”

I shrug, thoroughly enjoying myself, “You’ll see…”

Duo dribbles over and looks at me skeptically, “Uh huh…”

This time, when Duo starts, he manages to move us up a bit and tosses the ball roughly. It bounces off the backboard hard and he catches it again. Keeping my eyes on the ball, I watch Duo take a step away and try and do a fade away shot. The ball isn’t too high and Duo shot early. Jumping up, I pluck the ball right out of the air.

Duo put one hand over his mouth in mock-shock, “Oh no you didn’t…”

Taking my newly stolen ball, I make a break for the net. Duo catches up and is practically on me before I know what I’m going to do. I turn in Duo’s face, switching the ball from my right hand to my left and lay the ball up into the net.

Duo grins, “Now were playing!”

I smile, “Check”

Duo passes the ball and goes on the defensive. He practically runs into me. Thinking fast, I bounce the ball around Duo and break away. I reach the net and do a simple lay-up. We both watch as the ball rims and then finally falls in.

Duo raises both eyebrows curiously at me, “Losing your touch or what? That should’ a been a swish…”

I just shake my head at his playful tone.

Duo passes the ball back to me. Before I even start to move, the ball is gone. Duo grins cockily at me before taking a few hopping steps back. I go back and try to steal the ball but Duo fakes to the left, trips me up, and turns 360 degrees and jumps up, shooting before he hits the ground. Again, we both watch as the ball makes it’s way to the net. It hits the back of the rim, bounces off the backboard and goes in clean.

Duo was already grinning, and if possible, the grin got considerably larger, “That’s game”

I watched my basketball roll into the far corner, “Hn”

Duo, standing somewhere behind me, walked closer, “Your not mad, are ya?”

I smiled slightly and turned to him, “…it’s been a long time since I remember playing…”

Duo nodded, quietly walking by to retrieve the basketball. He walked back and handed it to me, “Won’t be the last time we play…”

I looked down at the basketball in my hands and thought, for the first time since I’ve gotten here, that maybe it really wasn’t so bad after all.

“Yeah”, I said quietly, small smile still on my face.

Duo grinned his maniac grin and punched me lightly in the shoulder, “First guy to get back upstairs without getting’ caught wins round two…”

I glance up and make to refuse, but think better of it and take off, fast as I can. I skid to a halt where my stuff is, grab it all, turn off the light and bolt down the hall. Duo’s shouting about cheating somewhere behind me but I can tell he isn’t mad.

I swear I must have been smiling all afternoon after that…

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End Of Chapter One

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Ebra: Tired but finished. Enough said. Review if you feel like it, but obviously, you don’t have to…it would just make me totally happy though…lol, see you all next chapter ^_^