Trowa Barton/Quatre Winner, Five senses: hearing
Title: Fallen 2/5
Author/Artist: Misanagi
Theme: Five senses: hearing
Rating: G
Warnings: AU. Fusion (mostly) with the movie City of Angels. Quatre's POV
Summary: An angel and a human… it's happened before.
Thanks to Anne for the beta.
---
My time with Duo hadn't been that long. Heero had returned soon and he hadn't moved from Duo's bedside until the both of them had fallen asleep. I watched them, wondering what dreams were like, what would it feel to sleep. The rhythm of their breaths changed during the night and their faces made different expressions, probably tied to whatever it was that they were living in their unconscious state. I watched them for hours, standing at the door of their room. Duo seemed happy; I knew he had never regretted his decision, not once.
"Who are you?"
I turned around, aware at that same moment that I had made myself visible sometime before.
Trowa was standing there.
He looked tired as if he was just waiting to find a place to rest. His hands were in his pockets and the light of the hospital hall made him look pale. He spoke again and his voice was vibrant and soft at the same time. "Are you a visitor?"
I smiled and nodded. It wasn't a lie. I was here because of Duo... well mostly because of him but either way I was visiting someone.
His expression was blank. "Visiting hours are over. You need to leave." There was something sad hidden in that voice and I couldn't quite grasp what. I stopped the urge to listen to his thoughts, telling myself that it was enough to listen to his voice, to talk to him the way humans do instead of calming him with my touch the way we do.
"Why do you have those?" I took a couple of steps towards him, getting away from Duo's doorway so the noise wouldn't wake him. "Hours… Do you think people only need visitors at certain times of the day?"
"It's hospital policy." He crossed his hands above his chest but something in his gaze was curious now; curious about me. "Are you a friend of Mr. Maxwell's?"
"He's my best friend." I didn't mention it had been years since we had talked last or that the day Duo decide to join the human race I began to understand what the loneliness humans wrote so much about was.
"He's going to be okay." His tone was reassuring now. "I don't expect any complications." But I didn't expect any complications with the little girl either.
I hadn't meant to listen to his thoughts but that one was so loud and so charged with emotion that I couldn't ignore it. "I know he'll be fine." I glanced at Duo's door for a second and then looked back at Trowa. "Even those who don't make it are okay, just in a different way."
He broke eye contact with me and when he spoke his voice was neutral again. "Your best friend needs to rest now, Mr…" One of his eyebrows rose slightly as he waited for an answer.
"My name is Quatre, Trowa."
His eyes turned suspicious immediately. "How do you know my name?"
"Duo," I answered truthfully. "I'll go now, Trowa. I'm sorry I disturbed you." I smiled at him. "Maybe you should get some rest too." I put my hand on his shoulder as I walked by and his eyes softened slightly.
---
"If I'm not dying, Q," Duo said as soon as Heero left to go home and take a shower, "then why are you hanging around here all the time?" His eyes focused on me as soon as I made myself visible and he gave me a slightly worried smile. "I understand you dropping by once, but you've been around for days. It's not that I don't like you but knowing what you do, this is making me a bit edgy."
I walked away from my corner and moved closer to him, making myself visible at the same time. "My duties include more than taking them. You know that."
"Still, you are hanging way too much with me and if you aren't here for me then…" His eyes brightened and a mischievous smile appeared on his face. "Could it be the doctor?"
I didn't reply but I knew my face gave me away and Duo could always read me like a book.
"Hah! This is just too good, Q! I thought maybe someday you'll take the dive too. You're way too curious about human sensations not to, but I didn't dare hope it would be in my lifetime!"
Not caring about the IV connected to his arm, Duo sat up on bed, swung his legs over the side and started to hop awkwardly on one leg towards me. I caught him before he could fall and he threw his arms around me. "This will be so great! I've missed you, man. I've told Heero about you but it's not like I can introduce you. I've done enough just by telling him about me and how I used to have a friend then, but now you can be one of us and you can meet him, like really meet him."
Duo kept talking as I helped him back to his bed. "And I will help you so things won't be as weird as they were for me at the beginning, it'll be great!"
"You are reading too much into things," I said as I put the covers over him. "I don't even know Trowa. I've only talked to him once an-"
"Wait!" Duo interrupted. "You've talked to him? Already?"
I nodded. "Last night."
"You talked to him," Duo repeated and his smile got even bigger if it was possible. "You're in deep. Talking to a human because you want to and not because he needs you? It took me ages to appear to Heero. You're already way ahead of me."
Those words stopped me. Was I getting in too deep? I knew I was intrigued about Trowa, even drawn to him, but what Duo was suggesting was too much. Could this really be more? I shook my head. It didn't matter anyway. Trowa didn't even know me as more than Duo's friend. Why would he care, and didn't he deserve better?
"I'll stay until after the surgery," I told Duo. "But then I have to leave."
…Before I'm not able to.
---
Heero was worried. His face looked blank but his thoughts were a messy jumble of 'what ifs' that was impossible not to hear. And, entwined with all the worries, was his deep love for Duo. Humans could give and love with all their souls the way no other creature could. Duo deserved that.
Trowa was operating on Duo while Heero waited outside. I put a hand on Heero's shoulder and his thoughts calmed immediately. The worry was still there but the near panic from before had vanished. Knowing that Heero was okay for now I walked into the OR.
Duo was unconscious, his mind calm. I stood beside Trowa and allowed myself to listen. His thoughts had the same rich quality of his voice, the same softness I've heard before.
Good, good. Almost done. Things will be okay and you'll make it, Duo. No more dying. One little girl a week is enough. You'll live, Duo, and go back to your lover. You'll live because you have someone you can't leave. You'll live and maybe you'll give me Quatre's phone number. And then maybe I'll have so…
I took a step back, a surprised smile on my face. I wanted to hear more but at the same time I didn't. I wanted to hear Trowa's real voice; I wanted to hear him talk to me.
After the operation I made sure Duo and Heero were alright and then I followed Trowa home. I knew I was crossing a line by doing so, that I was doing the same thing I was trying to avoid; I was getting too attached.
"But you don't even know me," I said, knowing I wouldn't be heard. "You are human and you can have so much more."
Trowa put on a record, leaned back on his sofa and closed his eyes, his feet moving in time with the music. As I listened to Trowa's soft hums, I could begin to understand why Duo had chosen not to hear the celestial choirs at sunset and sunrise anymore.
* * *
Author/Artist: Misanagi
Theme: Five senses: hearing
Rating: G
Warnings: AU. Fusion (mostly) with the movie City of Angels. Quatre's POV
Summary: An angel and a human… it's happened before.
Thanks to Anne for the beta.
---
My time with Duo hadn't been that long. Heero had returned soon and he hadn't moved from Duo's bedside until the both of them had fallen asleep. I watched them, wondering what dreams were like, what would it feel to sleep. The rhythm of their breaths changed during the night and their faces made different expressions, probably tied to whatever it was that they were living in their unconscious state. I watched them for hours, standing at the door of their room. Duo seemed happy; I knew he had never regretted his decision, not once.
"Who are you?"
I turned around, aware at that same moment that I had made myself visible sometime before.
Trowa was standing there.
He looked tired as if he was just waiting to find a place to rest. His hands were in his pockets and the light of the hospital hall made him look pale. He spoke again and his voice was vibrant and soft at the same time. "Are you a visitor?"
I smiled and nodded. It wasn't a lie. I was here because of Duo... well mostly because of him but either way I was visiting someone.
His expression was blank. "Visiting hours are over. You need to leave." There was something sad hidden in that voice and I couldn't quite grasp what. I stopped the urge to listen to his thoughts, telling myself that it was enough to listen to his voice, to talk to him the way humans do instead of calming him with my touch the way we do.
"Why do you have those?" I took a couple of steps towards him, getting away from Duo's doorway so the noise wouldn't wake him. "Hours… Do you think people only need visitors at certain times of the day?"
"It's hospital policy." He crossed his hands above his chest but something in his gaze was curious now; curious about me. "Are you a friend of Mr. Maxwell's?"
"He's my best friend." I didn't mention it had been years since we had talked last or that the day Duo decide to join the human race I began to understand what the loneliness humans wrote so much about was.
"He's going to be okay." His tone was reassuring now. "I don't expect any complications." But I didn't expect any complications with the little girl either.
I hadn't meant to listen to his thoughts but that one was so loud and so charged with emotion that I couldn't ignore it. "I know he'll be fine." I glanced at Duo's door for a second and then looked back at Trowa. "Even those who don't make it are okay, just in a different way."
He broke eye contact with me and when he spoke his voice was neutral again. "Your best friend needs to rest now, Mr…" One of his eyebrows rose slightly as he waited for an answer.
"My name is Quatre, Trowa."
His eyes turned suspicious immediately. "How do you know my name?"
"Duo," I answered truthfully. "I'll go now, Trowa. I'm sorry I disturbed you." I smiled at him. "Maybe you should get some rest too." I put my hand on his shoulder as I walked by and his eyes softened slightly.
---
"If I'm not dying, Q," Duo said as soon as Heero left to go home and take a shower, "then why are you hanging around here all the time?" His eyes focused on me as soon as I made myself visible and he gave me a slightly worried smile. "I understand you dropping by once, but you've been around for days. It's not that I don't like you but knowing what you do, this is making me a bit edgy."
I walked away from my corner and moved closer to him, making myself visible at the same time. "My duties include more than taking them. You know that."
"Still, you are hanging way too much with me and if you aren't here for me then…" His eyes brightened and a mischievous smile appeared on his face. "Could it be the doctor?"
I didn't reply but I knew my face gave me away and Duo could always read me like a book.
"Hah! This is just too good, Q! I thought maybe someday you'll take the dive too. You're way too curious about human sensations not to, but I didn't dare hope it would be in my lifetime!"
Not caring about the IV connected to his arm, Duo sat up on bed, swung his legs over the side and started to hop awkwardly on one leg towards me. I caught him before he could fall and he threw his arms around me. "This will be so great! I've missed you, man. I've told Heero about you but it's not like I can introduce you. I've done enough just by telling him about me and how I used to have a friend then, but now you can be one of us and you can meet him, like really meet him."
Duo kept talking as I helped him back to his bed. "And I will help you so things won't be as weird as they were for me at the beginning, it'll be great!"
"You are reading too much into things," I said as I put the covers over him. "I don't even know Trowa. I've only talked to him once an-"
"Wait!" Duo interrupted. "You've talked to him? Already?"
I nodded. "Last night."
"You talked to him," Duo repeated and his smile got even bigger if it was possible. "You're in deep. Talking to a human because you want to and not because he needs you? It took me ages to appear to Heero. You're already way ahead of me."
Those words stopped me. Was I getting in too deep? I knew I was intrigued about Trowa, even drawn to him, but what Duo was suggesting was too much. Could this really be more? I shook my head. It didn't matter anyway. Trowa didn't even know me as more than Duo's friend. Why would he care, and didn't he deserve better?
"I'll stay until after the surgery," I told Duo. "But then I have to leave."
…Before I'm not able to.
---
Heero was worried. His face looked blank but his thoughts were a messy jumble of 'what ifs' that was impossible not to hear. And, entwined with all the worries, was his deep love for Duo. Humans could give and love with all their souls the way no other creature could. Duo deserved that.
Trowa was operating on Duo while Heero waited outside. I put a hand on Heero's shoulder and his thoughts calmed immediately. The worry was still there but the near panic from before had vanished. Knowing that Heero was okay for now I walked into the OR.
Duo was unconscious, his mind calm. I stood beside Trowa and allowed myself to listen. His thoughts had the same rich quality of his voice, the same softness I've heard before.
Good, good. Almost done. Things will be okay and you'll make it, Duo. No more dying. One little girl a week is enough. You'll live, Duo, and go back to your lover. You'll live because you have someone you can't leave. You'll live and maybe you'll give me Quatre's phone number. And then maybe I'll have so…
I took a step back, a surprised smile on my face. I wanted to hear more but at the same time I didn't. I wanted to hear Trowa's real voice; I wanted to hear him talk to me.
After the operation I made sure Duo and Heero were alright and then I followed Trowa home. I knew I was crossing a line by doing so, that I was doing the same thing I was trying to avoid; I was getting too attached.
"But you don't even know me," I said, knowing I wouldn't be heard. "You are human and you can have so much more."
Trowa put on a record, leaned back on his sofa and closed his eyes, his feet moving in time with the music. As I listened to Trowa's soft hums, I could begin to understand why Duo had chosen not to hear the celestial choirs at sunset and sunrise anymore.
* * *