Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ In the Arms of the Angel ❯ Duo - 8 ( Chapter 17 )

Part XVII

Duo waited in the shadows for the drug dealer. He was supposed to get the rest of his Heroin tonight. He wanted to put in another order as well. He looked at his watch, the glow of its digital face casting his hands in sickly green. He checked his pocket to make sure that his needles were secure. Footsteps sounded off to his right and he turned to squint down the barely lit alleyway.

It was the dealer.

He stepped out of the shadows.

"Hey. I've got your package." Duo smiled. He would be feeling good tonight.

"Good. I've got your payment." The dealer stopped in front of Duo and took out a baggie that was filled with balloons. Duo knew that the balloons were each filled with Heroin. He handed a wad of cash to the dealer who immediately began counting it greedily. "I'd like to get another twenty grams in two weeks."

"Sure thing. Same time, same place." The dealer bid him a good night and left, seeking out other clients. Duo stepped back into the shadows, sliding to sit on his heels as he pulled out his syringe. Balancing everything on his thighs, he set to work preparing a dose of his heaven.

Stopping a couple of times to shoot up, Duo made his way to Quatre's house. He hadn't seen his best friend in what seemed like ages, and he felt like seeing him again. He hoped that Quatre was well, and wasn't too mad at him for not keeping in touch. He reached Quatre's apartment complex and stopped in the lobby. The building was a locked building so he'd either have to break in or call Quatre, but he wanted to surprise his friend. He decided to wait, he didn't feel much like breaking and entering, so he waited for someone to enter or leave. He didn't have to wait long. A starry-eyed couple walked into the lobby and let themselves into the building. Duo slipped in just before the door clicked shut. He looked around for a corner so he could shoot up once more before he saw Quatre. He was coming down hard from all of that walking, and he didn't like being sober.

With a fresh shot in him he boarded the elevator. If he remembered correctly, Quatre's apartment was on the tenth floor. He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall as the elevator ascended. In a fit of craziness, he decided not to get off at the tenth floor, but to ride it up to the top floor and back down again. He giggled and danced around as the elevator descended. Once he was back at the lobby, he pressed the tenth floor button and this time actually got off at the tenth floor. He wandered through the hall for a moment trying to remember which apartment was Quatre's. He stopped in front of the one he thought that he remembered and knocked loudly. He soon heard footsteps and the door opened.

"Yes? Duo!" Quatre cried out, flinging the door open and wrapping his arms around Duo's neck. Duo laughed and squeezed Quatre in return.

"Good to see you."

"No kidding! I was beginning to think that you hated me." Duo ruffled Quatre's hair as Quatre led him inside.

"Naw, just had some things to take care of." Quatre nodded.

"Heero said that he had been chasing you for six months." Oh shit. Duo looked frantically around the room, adrenaline pumping out the Heroin.

"He's not here, is he?"

"No. He called a few days ago." Duo slumped in relief. He felt a hand on his shoulder. "What happened?"

"Let's just say that I don't think Heero likes me too much right now and leave it at that." Quatre shrugged and turned to the kitchen as Duo sank into the couch.

"Okay. But if you do need to talk."

"I know. You're always there." Quatre smiled at him from the kitchen.

"Can I get you anything?" Yeah, another dose of Heroin for the one I just wasted. Duo smiled humorlessly to himself before answering.

"Some water would be nice."

"Sure." While Quatre busied himself in the kitchen, Duo found himself fingering his needles.

"Mind if I shoot up?" He didn't speak overly loud; just enough to convince himself that he had in fact asked Quatre.

"Huh? What? I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you." Quatre called from the kitchen. You weren't supposed to.

"Nothing." Duo hollered back. He filled up the syringe and wrapped the rubber tie around his arm. He had just put away the syringe when Quatre sat down beside him, placing two glasses on the glass coffee table. "So, what's been going on with you?" He leaned back into the cushions and let them embrace him.

"A lot." Duo turned to face Quatre, pulling his leg up on the couch. Quatre mirrored the move.

"Like what?" Quatre sighed.

"I got addicted to drugs." Duo perked up. Hell yea! Someone to get high with! He didn't hear the rest. "It's been a long time, but I've finally quit. I'm happier now." Duo was thinking about having Quatre try some Heroin. They would have a good time. It would be great. "I quit my job." This Duo did hear.

"That's great! You're now a bum like me!" Duo reached for his drug kit. "We should celebrate." Quatre's eyes lit up and a smile spread over his face.

"That sounds wonderful. What should we do?" Duo grinned and began unpacking his needles.

"I have the perfect plan."

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Heero hacked into the Spaceport computer. Finally, success! He looked through all of the passenger logs trying to determine where Duo had gone. He had finally managed to exhaust all of his options but the Spaceport. Heero had a sneaking suspicion that Duo had gone to L4, but he wanted to make sure before he took off in a possible wrong direction. If Duo had gone to L4, he would probably seek Quatre out, which meant that he would be safe. All he had to do was find . . . there. Duo Maxwell, one seat reserved for one-way travel to L4. He quickly reserved a ticket on the next launch to L4. He checked his watch. He only had to wait for four hours. He shutdown his laptop and searched for the food bar. He was hungry as all hell. Maybe after he ate, he'd take a short nap. He was exhausted as well, and he wanted to at least be functional when he got to L4, and he could never sleep on shuttle launches -- even from colony to colony.

But before he ate, he decided to call Quatre, maybe Quatre could start the search if he hadn't already run into Duo. He dialed the number and let the phone ring. It rang and it rang and it rang. He frowned and tried again. Still no answer. Quatre's voice mail picked up but he didn't want to leave a message, he wanted to talk to Quatre. He tried again. There was still no answer, so he resigned and left a message. He'd try again in a half an hour. Maybe Quatre was just getting something to eat.

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Quatre's jaw fell open as he saw what Duo was holding. A needle. A fucking needle. Holy shit. He tried to get his vocal chords to work, but he could only stare as Duo took a pinch of powder out of a small balloon. Holy fuck.

"This shit is great. I know you'll love it and it's the perfect way to celebrate. And, since you've already done drugs, I'm sure you'll appreciate this much more than a probie would." Quatre worked his jaw.

"Duo," he croaked, "you do drugs?" Duo threw a dumbfounded look his way, as if saying, well duh.

"Don't worry! I know you'll love this!" Quatre shook his head.

"I don't do drugs anymore. I don't want to do drugs anymore." Duo shook his head denying Quatre's words.

"Just wait till you try this shit. You'll never go back to being sober again." Duo giggled to himself. "Besides, being clean is so boring." Quatre stood up, backing away from the couch. How was he going to handle this? It was obvious to him now that Duo was already high, so no matter what he did, Duo probably wouldn't respond. He remembered how he treated people when he was high, so he knew that his refusals weren't getting through. He couldn't call anyone -- Trowa was surly on his way home by now and therefore unreachable. He could call Heero, but Heero was on Earth, so that wouldn't help him here. And he couldn't call the cops on his best friend. What the hell could he do?

"Duo, I don't want to try that shit." Duo looked up at him as if he had grown a third head.

"Oh Quatre. You're too nice. You don't need to worry about me not having enough. I bought a fucking motherload of this shit cause I knew it would be fucking fantastic." Duo turned back to where he was liquefying the drugs. "Its so much better than the Grade A shit you can get on Earth. So much fucking better." Quatre spun around in a circle as if the answer would come to him. It never did. He sat back down by Duo and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I have a better idea. Why don't we go hit the town? We can party at some dance clubs, make the girls go wild like we used to do. Let's do that, Duo. I'm sick of this apartment. I don't get out enough." Duo waved him off.

"Nah, dude. Trust me. This will be ten times cooler than some hyped up dance club. This shit is better than sex." Duo stopped and grinned. "Unless of course you're high and having sex. Oh man, now that is the shit!" Duo grabbed his wrist in a tight hold. "Now come on. I know you want this. I know you're itching to try this, and I promise you that you won't be disappointed." Duo picked up a length of rubber from the coffee table. Quatre yanked on his arm, but Duo had too strong of a grip.

"Duo! No!" Quatre began pulling his arm away from Duo while pushing Duo away with his free arm. Duo didn't even seem to notice. Duo always had been stronger than him, and now he was high, which added to his strength as the drugs pumped extra adrenaline through Duo's system.

"You're getting too excited, Quatre. Stop squirming. I need to prep your arm first." Duo was able to tie the rubber around his arm somehow. Quatre fought harder as Duo picked up the needle, his fight or flight instinct kicking into overdrive. This was no longer his best friend. The drugs had stolen his best friend. "I'm giving you a double dose so you can catch up to me." The needle came closer. Quatre yanked down hard, finally breaking Duo's grip. Once free, he bolted off of the couch and for the front door. He had to get the hell away from Duo. From the un-Duo.

He fell flat on his face as his foot caught his coffee table. He pushed himself to his hands and knees as Duo's hysterical laughter saturated the air. He gathered himself up and took off for the door again, but his fall had given Duo ample time to get to him. His arm was seized again and he was thrown against the wall. The air was knocked out of him as Duo slammed his body into Quatre, pinning him between Duo's body and the wall. Quatre couldn't move. He felt his arm jerked forward and his head bounced off of Duo's taught shoulder.

The needle poked against his skin and he panicked one last time. He jerked against Duo's hold, trying to pry his arm from Duo's iron grasp. He only succeeded in having the needle scrape along his arm. He squeezed his eyes against the pain. The needle pricked his skin. Everything seemed to slow down. All sound became muted. All feeling was fuzzy. He felt dizzy.

He could hear the phone ringing.

It wouldn't stop.

Why wouldn't the phone stop ringing?

Was it the phone ringing?

He was gently pushed back to his couch and encouraged to sit down. He couldn't feel the floor beneath his feet or the couch under his butt. He was floating in thin air. His head lolled to one side as he watched Duo inject himself.

"Wha'd you give me?" Quatre slurred. His tongue wouldn't work right. The phone stopped ringing.

"Heroin. I'nit great?" Duo's face seemed to waver a moment before righting itself. Quatre could feel all of his muscles unraveling from themselves. For the first time since he had stopped taking Angel Dust, he felt completely relaxed.

"Relaxed." Duo nodded and leaned back into the cushions.

"Hell yeah." They stayed in silence for a while. How long, Quatre didn't know. He counted time by the number of injections Duo gave him. He lost count at three.

Duo was saying something about how dragons existed; we just didn't realize it because the squirrels never showed their wings. Although it was highly possible that squirrels had lost their wings generations ago and that's why we never saw dragons. Quatre couldn't follow Duo's words, so he just concentrated on the relaxed feeling he had.

He didn't stay relaxed for long, though. His muscles didn't stop at unraveling from themselves; soon they began to melt from his bones, gathering in a congealed sort of mush in his butt, hands and feet. It was held in place only by virtue of his still intact skin. His feet and hands felt like they were going to explode, but then his skin began to melt, and his tendons and ligaments followed. Then his cartilage melted away leaving only his bones to grate upon each other. His bone marrow slipped out of his bones and he felt like he was going to throw up, the pain was so intense.

"Bathroom." He hoped Duo heard and understood him. He couldn't hear or understand himself. His ears and throat had long since melted away along with his brain. He was only hollow bone that was starting to splinter and crack. He flung himself at the bathroom door, sliding to the ground in front of the toilet. And that is where he stayed.

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Duo watched Quatre lurch out of the room. He clutched his stomach since he was laughing so hard. It was as if Quatre didn't know how to walk anymore. It was utterly hilarious. Duo bent over the coffee table to prepare another shot. Tonight was a good night.

The phone started ringing again. Goddamnit! Why couldn't that infernal thing shut the fuck up? What was so fucking important that the phone had to ring almost all night? Duo shrugged and continued to fill the needle. He would give Quatre more when he got back. Duo squinted and looked up, gazing around the room.

Speaking of which, where was Quatre? It had been a rather long time for him to be gone. Duo started to get up to look for Quatre; after all it was his first time using Heroin. But Duo decided against it when his legs wouldn't support him. He burst into more laughter as he sank into the couch again, leaving the unfilled syringe lying on the table.

Quatre would be out eventually.

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Heero hung up the phone for the hundredth time. Well, at least it seemed like the hundredth time. He looked at his watch. He had called every half an hour for the last two hours, and there was still no answer. He had two more hours to kill before the shuttle launched. He'd take a short nap and then call Quatre again.

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Duo's head shot up as he heard muffled sounds coming from the bathroom. He laughed, unable to do anything else. It felt so good to not be able to do anything. If you couldn't do anything, then you couldn't get into trouble. The front door opened and Trowa walked in carrying some grocery bags.

"Sorry I'm late, I decided to go --" Trowa looked up after shutting the door and saw Duo sprawled out on the couch in front of the drug-strewn coffee table. Duo laughed at Trowa's fish out of water expression.

"Hi Trowa. Want some? You'll love it! Quatre did!" Trowa's eyes narrowed and he dropped the bags he was carrying.

"What is that, Duo?" Duo grinned and swept his hand over the coffee table to bring attention to the drugs spread invitingly everywhere.

"Heroin." Trowa's eyes widened and his jaw worked. Duo cracked up laughing.

"You brought that shit into my house?" Trowa's voice rose in pitch and volume. Duo nodded proudly. Trowa's voice dropped. "Where's Quatre?" Duo pointed toward the bathroom.

"He's in the bathroom. Been in there quite a while too. I was about to see what was going on, but realized that I couldn't get up!" Duo laughed again. Everything was quite funny. Like the way Trowa's face drained of all color and he sprinted into the bathroom. It was also funny to hear Trowa's voice crack.

"NO! QUATRE!" Trowa's voice was as high as a girl's was as he screamed at Quatre to wake up. Duo could only laugh. "Oh my God! Quatre!"