“We’re here.” Heero turned off the engine. It was already past lunch hour-- the interrogation had taken the whole morning. The headlights of the car dimmed. Duo sat in the passenger seat, tucked away in his black coat. He still looked pale and he was obviously lost in thought.
“Duo?”
He snapped out of his reverie. “Oh, we’re home already?”
“Yes, we are. We’re safe.”
They both exited the car and Heero examined the parking lot they were in. There was nobody in sight. He took Duo’s arm again and they walked to the elevators, footsteps echoing.
“I feel better,” Duo said. “I don’t feel like I have to throw up anymore.”
“Good. Do you want some lunch? A sandwich? You’d better eat something before you go to bed.”
“I’m not that hungry.” He hesitated. “I don’t want to go to bed.”
“I’ll make you some broth and then you will go to bed to get some rest.” Heero ignored Duo’s answer.
“Yes, mom.”
Heero pecked Duo’s cheek. He still held his hand when he punched the button for the elevator.
“What did they ask you?”
“Hmm?”
“The detectives,” Duo nudged him, “what did they ask you?”
“Stupid questions.” Heero frowned. Duo nudged him again.
“They kept trying to intimidate me that my alibi wasn’t waterproof and so on, and so on. They thought they could catch me off-guard. They’re both full of hot air.”
“They’re not intimidating you, Heero. It’s their job to ask questions. And well... our alibis aren’t that good, now are they?”
Heero slowly turned his head. “What are you implying?”
Duo looked at him with eyes big as saucers. “I’m not implying anything. If I were a detective, I wouldn’t really be impressed with an “I was asleep at that time” either.”
“We both could account for our presence at the estimated time of death. And as I said to the detectives, we don’t keep cameras at our room so they could verify it.” He stalked forward and punched the button for the elevator again, hard.
They arrived at their apartment five minutes later. Duo noticed he was feeling pretty exhausted after all, and went to the bedroom. He changed into a comfortable pyjama and pulled back the covers of the bed.
Slipping between the sheets, he saw Heero coming in with a steaming mug in his hand.
“Here. You can’t go to bed without having something warm in you first.”
Duo took the mug. It was broth and he took a few sips. “I really feel better.”
“Great. I’ll call the rest of your students to cancel the lessons. You need your rest.”
“The rest of my students…” Duo shivered. “Soon, I won’t have any students at all. They’ll be dead or they’ll have run away from me.”
He didn’t notice the look on Heero’s face. He busied himself with drawing circles on the cover and waited for Duo to finish the broth. Heero took the empty mug and put it on the nightstand.
“Why did he ask for Chopin’s nocturne?”
“What? Who?”
“Quatre Winner. He asked you to play the nocturne, as long as Hilde hadn’t… arrived.”
“I don’t know.” Duo sounded surprised. “I really don’t know.”
“How did he know it was \\my\\ favourite piece?”
“Come on Heero, there are lots of people enjoying Chopin’s nocturne…”
“The way you always tease and talk with your students, it’s getting too personal,” Heero hissed.
“Heero, quit it. You’re… scaring me.”
He took Duo by the wrist. “I told you before that you shouldn’t bond with your students. Don’t you see you are torturing yourself? What if another one of your students gets killed? You’re a survivor, but can you survive that?”
”You’re hurting me,” Duo whispered. His hand cramped.
“You’re safe with me, always. I’ll protect you.” Heero whispered. “I’ll protect you from everything and everyone in this world.”
“You’re hurting me!”
As if he was stung, Heero let go of Duo’s wrist. He immediately rubbed at the offended spot. It wasn’t really painful, but Heero hardly knew his own strength. The silence that fell was strained.
“Play for me, please?” Heero stroked Duo’s back, running his hands in smooth circles. He leaned forward and kissed him in the neck.
“No, not now,” Duo looked at him with big eyes. The incredulous look on his face spoke volumes. Heero embraced him. “I’m so sorry, love. I was wrong, I know. Forgive me.”
“What’s gotten into you these days? Have you been with Khushrenada and Marquise again?” Duo could’ve bitten off his tongue. He didn’t want to bring Heero’s war buddies up again.
“You know where I was yesterday and today. Here with you.”
“Heero, we need to talk. You seem…” Duo gulped. \\Paranoid? Disturbed? Agitated?\\
“… somewhat off. Does it have something to do with the detectives… the… situation?”
“I’m here for you.” Heero traced the lines of Duo’s face with his thumb. “You’re so strong, I want to be as strong as you. My Duo.”
Duo waited at least a minute before he spoke again. “Why did you get an extra supply of Clorazil? There was enough in the cabinet, you know.”
“I overlooked it when I searched for it. I needed it fast for you and when I couldn’t find it, I quickly decided to get it.” Heero didn’t hesitate for a second. Duo cocked his head.
“Heero… you don’t overlook anything. You’re the one who recalls our exact expenses on food and beverage from three months ago. What’s going on?”
“Play for me tonight?”
Duo suppressed a sigh. The walls were impenetrable if Heero wanted to. This was all he would get out of his lover for today and he gave in.
“Do you want to hear Chopin?”
“No!” Heero fairly screamed. Duo pressed himself into the pillows, taken aback by his vehemence.
“But… Chopin was your favourite.”
“Not any more.”
Duo searched Heero’s face, but he couldn’t find anything that would answer his one million questions, about his lover he thought he knew, but realised he didn’t know him at all.
He tried to smile. “I’ll play Beethoven for you then.”
“Beethoven it is,” Heero confirmed. He adjusted the cover to tuck Duo in. He fluffed the pillow and stole a quick look at the alarm clock. “I’ll wake you up in a few hours. Get some rest.”
Duo closed his eyes. He knew Heero would wait until he fell asleep. He was so exhausted from all the events that it didn’t take him long to drift away. Heero checked if he was really asleep, gave him a kiss on his brow and smiled.
“You’ll always be music to my ears, sweet Duo. Rest now, I’ll be here to guard you.”
Duo hardly recalled that Heero woke him up, fed him some dinner and let him rest again. The early morning light already shone through the curtains when he glanced at the alarm clock and bit back a panicked scream. Quatre Winner was always early for his class, and it was way past time to get up! He threw back the covers and jumped out of bed so fast, that the sudden movement made him feel dizzy.
“Take it easy,” he heard Heero’s voice not from afar, “he’s not coming.”
Duo didn’t have to ask who Heero was talking about. Slowly, he made his way to the bedroom door. Heero stood in the middle of the living room, slipping on his coat.
“Where… where are you going?”
“I’m going to get the newspaper and then walk straight to the police station to give detective Chang the receipt.” He almost snorted when pronouncing the detective’s rank and name.
“Has everybody called off for today?” Duo felt sick and suddenly very, very alone. He had slept very deep, and even though he hadn’t had a nightmare, he had dreamt restlessly. The events of yesterday, the questioning by the two detectives, had stirred up several of his issues he had pushed away in the far corners of his mind-- one of them being his career he had given up, primarily for Heero, to stay at home and teach from there. If none of his students were to come, ever, afraid of the deaths he now inevitably was associated with, he would be alone for the rest of his life- alone with Heero. //‘Are you sure you chose? You weren’t forced?’\\
He shivered. The cotton t-shirt he always slept in made him feel naked, vulnerable.
“Mr. Winner has called. He said that his son would be taking a break of the lessons. Indefinitely.” Heero delivered the news in a tone of voice that could mean anything. “None of your students said the same, but when I spoke to them, they sounded rather… hesitant. I don’t expect any of them to come today.”
Duo lifted his head. He could’ve sworn he heard a smug undertone in Heero’s voice, but when he looked at him he couldn’t detect anything in his face that could confirm it.
“Why don’t you stay at home and get some rest,” Heero suggested. “You’ve been through a lot lately.”
Duo felt as his limbs were slowly freezing. Stay at home. Stay at home. \\Stay at home.\\ He realised he was lost in his thoughts when he only heard the last words of Heero’s sentence:
“… and I’ll be home shortly, okay?”
“Okay,” he answered numbly and remained standing in the door opening until he heard the front door audibly click. It resonated like a church bell in his head.
“… I even didn’t play for you last night,” he slowly murmured. The silence in the apartment weighed as tons of lead on his shoulders.
Chapter 9 | Chapter 11 |