Disclaimers and other Warnings: Well, I'm sure everyone has heard this whole thing before, but some people just don't listen, ya know? Anyhoo…Story mine. Characters not. Got it? Oh, and be warned, this is my first attempt at a GW fic…*nervous laughter* Erm, anyways, there is yaoi and shonen ai or whatever you wanna call it. ^_^ Enjoy. Oh, and C&C would be very much appreciated.

"Heero! Duo! Heeero! Duuuuo!" Quatre and Trowa's mingled voices reached the sleeping pair, rousing Heero, who picked his head up off of Duo's, hoping he didn't have an imprint on the side of his face. Duo was awake, too, but he wasn't about to give up his position until he had to.

Unconsciously, Heero's hand rose to touch Duo's face one more time. Duo barely suppressed the urge to turn into that hand and…Never mind. Heero took him by the shoulder and shook him slightly.

"Duo. Duo, wake up, they're here."

Pretending to have just woken up, Duo mumbled, "Who's here? Where are we?"

Ignoring the second question, Heero answered, "Quatre and Trowa. Possibly Wufei."

"Oh, goody, Wuffie is here," he muttered as the trio came around the opening.

"There you are!" Quatre exclaimed. "We've been looking for—"

"Have you got the information?" cut in Wufei. He did not appreciate having to come out here just to get a disk. It was a one-man job, not three.

"I'll get it." Heero stood and walked toward his Gundam. He turned back, feeling someone's eyes on him. Quatre was looking at him curiously. "Where's your shirt?" the Arabian asked him innocently, looking sidelong at Duo. "Ask him," he replied, jerking a thumb at Duo and continuing on his way. The blond boy's eyes widened slightly. Had they…No, no way, he told himself. Heero and Duo…get serious, Quatre. Heero wouldn't do anything…I wouldn't put it past Duo, though… The braided boy watched Heero until he couldn't see him, forgetting he wasn't alone. He turned back to Trowa, Quatre, and Wufei. They were all looking at him. Trowa raised his visible eyebrow. "Well?"

Duo blushed slightly. "It's on my leg. He had the generosity to loan it to me so I wouldn't bleed to death." A look of disappointment flitted across Quatre's face as he dropped to his knees beside Duo. Trowa followed suit. Disappointment?! Aw, hell, he was thinking that I…and Heero…that we…why am I not surprised? Everyone else knows about my feelings…everyone except Heero. "Aw, come on, Wufie, pull up a rock."

"Don't call me that." He remained standing. Duo grinned and ignored him as he told the story of the mission, meticulously leaving out the wrist and handholding parts. By the time he was finished, Wufei had pulled up a rock. And Heero was back with the disk.

"Let's go." Wufei said sharply as he snatched the disk, embarrassed to be caught sitting when he could have been standing.

"We can't," said Quatre and Heero at the same time.

"Nani?"

"Wufei," explained Quatre, "Duo has lost too much blood to be moved. He'll have to stay here for another day or two."

Wufei cast a skeptical glance at Duo. "Try to get up."

"Sure thing, Wuffie." Duo got a glare as he hauled himself up, trying hard to not put any pressure on his injured leg. He began to feel light-headed again.

It took all of Heero's self-discipline to not reach out to Dou to help him, to push him back down, to do something.

Duo swayed alarmingly and nearly passed out again as he put some pressure on his bad leg. Trowa and Heero grabbed him and lowered him back to the ground. Duo glanced at Heero to see him scowling, though it wasn't directed at him for once, Wufei being Heero's target.

"Don't try that again," Quatre said over his shoulder as he went to Sandrock.

"I wasn't planning on it," he replied, his leg still throbbing. "Damn, that hurt." Duo looked at Heero again, shocked to see an emotion that might have been concern on his normally immobile face. Wufei stalked out of the cave, but came right back in, followed by Quatre.

"Trowa! Will you c'mere and help me with this stuff?" The blond boy was buried under an enormous pile of what looked like food.

"Jeeze, where'd you get all that?" Duo asked, eyeing the food greedily. He hadn't eaten in hours!

"Sandrock and Heavyarms. You'll need it here. We can't let you starve while you recover."

"And we can't leave him here alone. Here," Trowa tossed a shirt to Heero.

"I could stay," the blond Arabian piped up, casting a sideways glance at the lanky Heavyarms pilot.

"No. We need you to look at the data on OZ's new prototype," said Wufei, earning a sharp glance from Quatre and Trowa. "Nani??" They ignored him.

Duo knew Trowa wouldn't volunteer if Quatre wasn't staying, and Wufei wouldn't, either. That left Heero. Everyone else seemed to have reached the same conclusion.

"Looks like you're stuck with me some more," he stated cheerfully to Heero. I wonder what they would do if I tried to jump for joy…

Quatre looked doubtful as the trio turned to leave. "Meet up with us at the base as soon as you can."

Heero nodded, not unhappy about his current situation, but not about to show any of the foreign emotion he was experiencing. He and Duo weren't alone.

They watched the three Gundams take off. Duo turned his eyes on the pile of food and grinned. "Let's eat!"

Heero smiled a small smile at Deathscythe's pilot. Maybe being stuck with him for another few days wouldn't be so bad…if he could keep whatever it was he was feeling from getting away from him.

"Is there anything in Deathscythe we could use to make a fire?"

"Um, yeah, there should be a lighter in there somewhere." Soldier Boy is going to risk a fire? So much for sharing blankets again. Duo sighed at Heero's retreating back. Oh well, at least I got one night like that. He turned back to the food.

Inside Deathscythe, Heero rummaged through everything he could find, even after locating the lighter. Eventually he came across another picture; this time it was of Duo and himself together. Heero flipped it over. There was a note on the back.

'Duo-

Thought you might want this.

-Quatre'

Heero's eyes widened. What did Quatre—and probably Trowa—know that he didn't? Duo likes you. Really likes you, the quite voice said with a hopeful tint to its tone. The rough voice kept quite. Wing's pilot put the lighter back where he had gotten it and, before his decision could be reversed, clambered out of Deathscythe as fast as he could.

"Couldn't find it?" Duo asked as he noticed Heero's empty hands…the hands that had touched him…Whoa there, down boy.

Heero shook his head and avoided Duo's eyes. He had a feeling that if he looked into those violet pools he would probably blurt out the truth.

"Is there water around here? I'm totally dry."

"Out there," Heero pointed.

"Great. I don't suppose we can find a cup or something anywhere?"

Heero shook his head again. "I didn't see anything in Deathscythe, and there isn't anything in Wing."

Duo pulled himself up again. The light-headedness remained at bay.

"What are you doing?!" Duo noted the dark haired boy sounded alarmed. Heh heh, I knew it. He isn't a heartless bastard after all.

"Dying of thirst isn't on my agenda for today." He took one limping step and would have fallen if Heero hadn't caught him.

"I don't think I was ready for that," Duo said. He tried again and nearly fell once more. Again Heero came to his rescue.

"Lean on me." Heero told him. Duo tentatively put an arm around Heero's shoulders and tried to walk again. Once again, he would have fallen if Heero's arm hadn't encircled his waist. The blue eyed boy didn't let go.

By the time they got to the stream, Duo was thoroughly enjoying himself, even though his leg felt like it was about to fall off. Heero carefully lowered Shinigami's pilot to the ground, close to the stream, but far enough away so he didn't end up with a wet butt.

Duo was relieved to be sitting once again. Heero drug a large rock over and indicated that Du should prop his leg up again. Heero crouched by his side, carefully undoing the strips of green cloth. Duo laid back, his hands under his head, to avoid looking at the gash. He could also better savor every brush of Heero's fingertips against his leg if he didn't see the stony expression on the other boy's face.

"Does it look as bad as it feels?" he asked as he felt the last strip being removed.

"Hn."

Duo rolled his eyes and sat up, narrowly avoiding knocking in to Heero as the dark haired pilot examined the wound. He leaned to the other side, away from Heero, until he could see his leg. The sight of the foot long gash made him lay back down quickly. It had looked like raw meat. Hell, it is raw meat.

Heero noticed the braided boy's reaction and couldn't resist chuckling.

"Oh, of course it's funny to you. That," Duo waved a hand at the wound, "didn't happen to you." Heero smiled and turned to the stream to wash the strips out. Then it hit Duo. Heero laughed. A real laugh. He actually laughed. Stone Face laughed at me! Maybe the real Heero Yuy was abducted by OZ or something…maybe I'm hallucinating…or dreaming… He pinched himself. "Ouch!" Heero turned sharply around.

"What's wrong?"

"N-nothing," Duo stammered, turning a few shades of red. Heero turned his attention back to the strips, spreading them out to dry. He flopped backwards, hands behind his head.

"You can drink now," he told Duo without looking at him. Eagerly Shinigami's pilot did so. Once his thirst had abated he propped himself up on his elbows, taking in their surroundings.

Heero shifted his gaze and looked at Duo looking around. The boy couldn't seem to hold still; he was completely full of energy. At least he's keeping quiet for once in his life.

Duo noticed Heero looking at him. His heart leapt and began to pound furiously. He was getting plenty of ideas, none of them unpleasant. He laid back down, fully intending to explore some of those ideas further, but the second his head touched the grass he heard Heero get up. He sat back up.

"Whatcha doin'?"

"Tying your leg back up, baka," he answered as he scooped the green strips up. "Exposing it for long amounts of time increases the risk of infection."

"Whatever you say, Dr. Yuy." Heero scowled at him. Duo grinned back, but looked away as Heero began to re-bandage his leg. "Ack! That's cold!"

"Take a last drink now before we go back," said Heero as he finished. Duo did take another small drink before he found himself being pulled upward by Heero.

"Oi! Warn me the next time you're going to do that!" Duo yelped as he fell into Heero's chest. They froze like that for a long moment until half-mumbled, half-whispered "Sorry," and pushed Duo away as his arm slipped around the slender boy's waist. Duo's arm reclaimed its place around the dark-haired boy's shoulders.

The contact with Duo had sent a shock throughout Heero's body. He had wanted something to happen and had been…disappointed…when nothing had.

Duo had wanted to cling to Heero when he found himself against his chest, but had restrained himself…because he had been unsure as to what the Japanese boy's reaction would be. No, he admitted to himself, I was afraid of complete rejection, which was what probably would have happened. But the "probably" stood out in his mind. Heero might not have done anything…he might have wrapped his arms around Duo and…What good does this do?! Nothing happened! It's over and done with!

In the next instant, Duo found himself falling face first into the ground. "OOF!" Heero had fallen with him.

"Well, I'd give that about a 9.8 on the grace meter," Duo choked out as he was convulsed with laughter.

"Timber," Heero said quietly, making Duo laugh harder. Wing's pilot began to grin, then joined in with his own laughter.

Duo rolled over onto his back and sat up, giggling and wiping at the tears caused by his mirth. One look at Heero, however, set him off again, this time laughing at the fact that it had taken them falling down like a couple of uncoordinated idiots to get some real—non-maniacal—emotion out of Heero.

Again wiping tears from his eyes, Duo asked, "What happened? Did I trip over a rock or somethin'?"

Heero flushed. "No, I-I think I did."

"The legendary Heero Yuy tripped over an ordinary rock? And he admits it?" Duo started to giggle again.

"Guess so," Heero said sheepishly, pushing himself to his feet and holding a hand out to help Duo up.

As they resumed their walk back to the cave, Duo grinned and asked, "Do you think we can get back to camp without you making us impersonate any more trees?" Heero merely grinned back at him.

At that point Duo was rendered speechless. He'd been expecting a scowl, not a grin. Wait a sec, Heero grinned. At me. ME! If he keeps doing things like that, I think I'll go over the edge…