by Hex
Line: "There's no point in fighting it. Once you fall, you're going down all the way."
For Haraamis.
"Relena!" Duo's voice cut across the stage like a knife. He was running at her, gun out, the braid trailing behind, snapping like an angry whip. Relena was already doing what she was supposed to do, moving, getting down and covering. But that didn't stop it from happening, it just stopped it from happening to her. Duo's blood sprayed across her face and the sound of a bullet ripping through his flesh was louder than the collective screams of the people around her. He tried to twist his body to stay upright but he fell towards her and she caught him. He was a strange, heavy weight in her arms.
"Relena." This time his voice was a whine. He slumped down, she steered him to use her lap as a pillow. They were at centre stage, the whole building in turmoil around them. He reached up and cupped the back of her neck. "We... we need to talk."
"It will be OK. We'll talk later." Relena cooed. "Just stay focused."
"Y-you should be somewhere safer." Duo gasped, a trickle of blood appearing at the corner of his mouth.
"Heero has probably already found the shooter. I'm perfectly safe." Relena replied, she ignored the hysterics around her. People kept running past them in panic, bumping and jostling her.
"Relena when he and I..." Duo coughed.
"I don't care. You were both happy. I don't care." Relena shook her head violently, several pins came loose and sections of hair fell out of the French twist.
"But it wasn't because he didn't love you." Duo continued. He was pulling down on the back of her neck until her forehead touched his chest.
"I don't care! I don't care! I don't care! Just don't DIE!" Relena screamed. She grabbed the material of his shirt and twisted it mercilessly in her hands.
"Heero and you and me..." Duo's words were muffled somewhere by her breasts and the top of her stomach. "We could... have been... happy."
"We are happy." Relena said, her voice breaking. "We are."
"I meant really happy, all together." Duo was whispering at this point, or maybe it was as loud as he could be, muffled against her stomach. "'Lena... I can see how pretty you are... even when you're crying..."
Relena felt her body jolt and the room tilted at an angle that made dinner climb to an uncomfortable place at the back of her throat. The room was dark. It was still the middle of the night. Relena snuggled down more comfortably into the bed and it's covers. The body behind her let out a low annoyed noise at the fact that she tugged on his blankets when she snuggled down. Relena clamped her eyes shut and scrunched up her face to keep from breaking down. If she started crying, he'd wake up. The body was warm behind her and Relena imagined the heat rolling off of it was borrowed strength, existing solely so she wouldn't cry. She let out slow deep breaths and let her features relax.
"I thought those nightmares stopped." A sleep laced voice rumbled.
"I don't think they'll ever stop Heero." Heero ran a thumb over her lips and Relena kissed it as much to comfort Heero as herself. She kept her eyes closed and imagined Heero's expression. She nuzzled his palm and kissed it. "I'll make my way through it."
With that said there was a pained sleep noise made and an arm flopped itself over Relena's waist. There was a disturbing nasal-cavity purging snort followed by a loud lip smacking at the nape of Relena's neck. Duo let out a contented sigh and Relena smiled.
"Sometimes I think those are more theatrics than anything." Heero muttered.
Relena let out a soft laugh. She grabbed Heero's arm and cuddled it like a teddy bear. The warmth and reassuring presence of the body pressed against her back lulled Relena to the brink of sleep.
"Duo's right." Heero whispered, finger brushing her hair from her face.
Relena made a faint questioning noise at the back of her throat. She was trying to fall back asleep with Duo's hand holding her breast.
"Being in love is like tripping down a flight of stairs. There's no point in fighting it. Once you fall, you're going down all the way."
"I never said any such thing." Duo muttered, from behind Relena.
"Told you, theatrics." Heero said and rolled over to put his back to Relena and Duo.
"You know, there's nothing more rude than misquoting someone." Duo sniffed. "I'm right here 'Lena."
"I know that." Relena said. She rolled over to rest her head on Duo's chest.
"Relena, are you happy?" Duo asked, his hand stroking through her hair.
"Yes." Relena replied.
"Good. I promise the bad stuff is the dream and not the other way around." Duo whispered into her hair.
"As long as you promise Duo." Relena said and kissed his neck. She tucked her head under his chin and waited to fall back asleep. She didn't have to wait very long.
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