Tybalt: Take Two
by Sprinkles
5/29/A.C. 195
Warmth. Air.
Warm air. On his neck.
//What the hell?//
Duo opened his eyes to find himself twisted around both the blanket and Heero in some improbable condition. Oh yeah. Duo slept with Heero last night. And that's all he did. Unfortunately, while he was in favor of giving Wufei something to have a nosebleed about and of demonstrating to Quatre (still screaming next door) that Heero could beat Trowa in the amorous arts anytime, Heero was still kinda shakey with the emotion thing. So he suggested that he and Heero sleep in the same bed just so he could get used to another person being with him.
Where was Heero? Well, Heero was breathing down his neck while snorting his hair. Duo had to smile, Heero was actually quite...cute when he wasn't trying to kill you. He had a faint smile on his lips and was almost trying to cuddle Duo.
//This is nice.// He stayed still so as not to wake Heero and just enjoy the moment.
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
//Shit.// Duo feigned sleep as Heero got up to answer the laptop that was beeping incessantly. Silence fell as Heero read whatever the message was and walked back over to Duo.
"Duo? Are you awake?" came Heero's faint whisper. Duo remained silent and still pretended to sleep.
"Duo..." Heero struggled with himself. Saying this to Duo was hard even if he *was* sleeping. "I'm glad last night...happened. It was nice waking up with you." He quickly fled to the bathroom.
The lone occupant of the bed began to grin.
Duo strode down the hallway whistling a nameless tune. The other pilots were already waiting for him in the sitting area, so, being Duo, he took his sweet time getting there. At last, he entered and sat down.
"Now that we're all here..." Started Heero with a very pointed glare at the late party. "We should go over the latest mission specs. Oz has developed a new kind of Mobile Doll which will scramble the radar of any ship within range. They will be testing these MDs tomorrow morning and our mission is to destroy them in the middle of their test in order to make Oz think twice about using them. This may be a dangerous mission owing to the fact that we will not have our radar and scanners to help us."
"It will be as if the MDs are cloaking?" Asked Trowa tonelessly.
"Essentially. We should all make sure to keep turning around so that the MDs can't sneak up on us."
Duo nodded along with the rest of the pilots. He was saddened by the fact that Heero was acting like normal, but on the other hand, nothing could ruin the fantastic mood that Duo was in and when everybody else left the sitting area, Duo remained because Heero remained.
Duo itched to tell someone about his happiness. It just didn't seem fair that he was the happiest he'd been in a long time and he couldn't shout it to the world. He hadn't talked to anyone but Heero since Tybalt.
Hey, maybe Tybalt would still be around the town. He'd understand how Duo felt.
Duo ran to the laptop.
"Heero, I'm taking the laptop when I go walking incase I have to talk to anyone." The voice was still set to Fred.
"Fine." murmured Heero. It vaguely registered in his mind that nobody but him would ever understand that strange sentence Duo had just typed. Oh well. Duo couldn't do *too* much damage by himself. Right?
Duo was just passing the lake on his way to the town when he saw a familiar cane leaning against a tree. Sure enough, Tybalt sat a little ways away, gazing out onto the water. Amazed to have found him so close, Duo scampered up behind him and placed a hand on Tybalt's shoulder and squeezed.
"Hey, is that you, kid?" Tybalt smiled.
Duo plopped himself down next to Tybalt and began typing.
"Yes. It's me." Smiling at Tybalt's raised eyebrows, Duo continued, "This is a text-to-speech program on my pal's laptop."
"Well, hell, kid. So how ya been?"
"The best thing has happened to me." Somehow Fred didn't sound too happy.
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah. It started when I almost tripped over my friend on the stairs of the house..." Duo typed on for about five minutes finally ending with: "...and then this morning when I pretended to sleep he said that he didn't regret it at all!"
Tybalt laughed. "I can understand your happiness. Must be the best thing to happen to you in a while." He continued to stare at the lake. Duo looked out at the lake to find what Tybalt was looking at, before realizing that Tybalt wasn't *looking* at anything.
He paused for a minute before typing his next question. "Why do you stare at the lake?"
Tybalt smiled. "The lake reminds me of my wife. We used to go to the sea near our home and sit and stare at it. When she died, I realized I couldn't look at any photographs or movies, so instead I go out to some lake or beach and just remember things."
"Do you with there was some kind of correction for your sight?"
Tybalt frowned momentarily. "I don't know the answer to that, kid. On the one hand, I'd love to have my sight back. I feel I'd appreciate every color a little bit more if I did. On the other, I'd hate to start judging things by their appearance, and I'd hate to forget the accident and the lives lost and how lucky I am to be alive. Considering it now, I don't know how much my sight really contributes to my life. I'm sure if I had my sight right now, I'd be remembering my wife with my eyes closed." There was a momentary silence.
"What about you, kid? If something could restore your voice, would you have it restored?"
Duo considered the point. "Before this happened, I was a real chatterbox." - Tybalt snorted at this - "When I had nothing to do or say I'd just start talking, despite my friends' attempts to shut me up. But now I have to learn to communicate without words, and this morning, when I woke up, I actually tried to stay as quiet as possible so I wouldn't wake my friend."
Another silence.
"Would I want my voice back? Yes. But knowing what I know now, I wouldn't waste it, I'd try to listen more, I guess, and maybe just sit and enjoy the quiet."
Tybalt smiled widely. "I think that's a wise decision. I also think you shouldn't give up hope. In this crazy world, you never know what can happen."
Duo didn't believe him, but squeezed his hand in thanks and stood up. "Well, I better get going. I still need to find a way to tell my friend how I really feel. Not with my voice, and not with this damn "Fred" voice either."
Tybalt gazed up at him. "This Fred thing does leave something lacking in conversations, doesn't it? I'd never heard such a depressing voice saying he was so happy!" They both snorted. Duo squeezed his hand one last time.
"Also, I'm sure your friend doesn't need you to tell him how you feel, if he's the guy you say he is."
//Maybe you're right.//
Duo walked back to the safehouse in about five minutes. In fact the lake was so close you could even see it from the house. Walking inside, he saw Heero at the window, staring.
"Duo? Are you feeling ok?"
Duo stopped at the strange question. Heero'd never asked about his health before. He gave the 'OK' gesture to Heero and then went upstairs for another night's sleep in Heero's bed.
He hopped into bed and pulled up the covers and didn't give Tybalt's conversation or Heero's question any more thought.
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