This could possibly be the most I have ever written in such a short period of time. I guess there's something to be said for deadlines, ne? My thanks to Wings for being an awesome beta-reader and Sharon for having such a great contest. Enjoy!

Escape Date
by Silver Shinigami

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"No."

"Pretty please with a cherry on top and lots of chocolate sprinkles?"

"I don't like chocolate."

"Everybody likes chocolate."

"I don't."

"You do, too. Pleeeeeeaase?"

"No."

"I'll give you my jell-o tonight."

"I don't take bribes."

"I'll hide the remote from you and leave it on the Soaps channel all day."

"Threats won't work, either."

"You suck, Heero."

"Duo, we are not leaving this hospital room."

"But it's so boring in here! There's nothing to do -- I can't even harass the neighbors since they demanded to switch rooms." Duo pouted, crossing his arms and sulking at the room in general.

"Then go to sleep."

"All I've done for the past week is sleep! I won't have to sleep for a month if I keep this up. Isn't there something bad that happens if you overdose on sleep?"

"All you've done for the past week is complain about having nothing to do; I haven't seen much actual sleeping going on. Now take a nap." Heero closed his eyes, intent on following his own advice.

For the next few moments, the only sound that interrupted the silence was the soft whirring of the fan and the occasional clicks of footsteps outside their door. Then...

"Heeeerooooo...."

Heero growled low in his throat. "Duo, I swear I'm going to kill you if you don't shut up."

"Aw, you say the sweetest things." Duo grinned and waved the end of his braid at Heero, then huffed and flopped back onto his pillows. "Can we please go outside now? If I have to breathe any more manufactured air I think I may implode."

"Sally will skin you alive," Heero warned him.

"I'll hide."

"She'll find you."

Duo grinned cheekily. "I'm a fast runner."

"I'm not taking any responsibility for this if we get caught, understood?"

Duo grinned widely. "Gotcha, Captain! It was all my idea; you were bound and gagged and dragged kicking and screaming back into the land of the living."

"You couldn't bind and gag me if you tried," commented Heero as he eased out of his bed. He stared at his blue-green gown. "I don't have any clothes."

Duo winked at him. "I've got you covered, He-man -- and I do mean covered." Duo laughed at his own joke as he handed Heero a bag from under his bed. "I had Quat sneak us in some civvies the other day. He knows how much I hate hospital gowns; he just didn't know I was going to hoard them for an occasion such as this." He cackled evilly.

"Do you always manipulate your friends?" asked Heero as he peered suspiciously into the depths of the plastic bag.

A saucy grin. "Only when they're being gullible."

Heero paused in the act of tugging a red shirt into place. "Am I gullible?"

"No, you're a spoilsport." Duo smirked when Heero threw him a sharp glare. "Now hurry up! It's almost time for the shift change..." muttered Duo as he cautiously peered out the crack between the door and the frame. "We should be able to make it past this station while the receptionist and her replacement sort things out. It'll be easier than sneaking into an OZ base!"

Heero snorted as he sidled up beside his partner in crime. "I should hope so. Sally doesn't exactly have us on 'dangerous prisoner lockdown.' They're both turned -- run!" He gave Duo a small shove and followed him out the door, bent slightly to take cover behind a row of chairs.

Duo paused at the end of the row of chairs, glanced quickly right and left, then darted out into the hallway and around a corner. Heero quickly followed suit, throwing a furtive glance back at the receptionist, just to be sure.

"You know," commented Duo as they crept down the hallway, hurrying past the doors that could reveal them to any observant doctors, "this could be termed exercise, which is good for you, right? Right? So we're actually doing Sally a favor by getting better faster. She should be thanking us!"

Heero resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He knew Duo was joking, but still... "That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. More exercise is hardly what we need after our last mission." His gaze flickered briefly towards the American's left. "Your arm is in a sling, for God's sake!"

Duo waved the bandaged extremity carelessly in the air. "It's just a sprain, and you know it. We should have been out of this war camp days ago."

"Days ago you were eating out of an IV."

"Psh. Details, details. Ah, here's our exit -- after you, Hee-muffin." Duo bowed gallantly. He also valiantly ignored Heero's ungentlemanly snort.

Within moments they were in the hospital parking lot, having successfully avoided a doctor, two nurses, and a man in a wheelchair who seemed to enjoy stabbing at people with a colorful umbrella he carried. Both boys had managed to escape intact, though just barely, in Heero's case. The bandages around his thigh made tight maneuvering difficult.

They didn't stop until they were safely across the street, and even then Duo insisted they hide behind a tree, though Heero held the opinion that this only managed to make them look foolish. He shrugged it off, though; when one was with Duo, dignity had little to do with anything.

"All right, Duo," he said, once they had caught their breath, "what do we do now?"

"Erm..." Duo blushed. "Actually, I hadn't thought it out that far."

Heero stared at him in disbelief, then said sarcastically, "Of course -- why would I think otherwise?"

"Hey," Duo protested indignantly, "I didn't think I'd actually get you out of your room, ok? And besides, it's always more fun to wing it than planning ahead all the time."

"I happen to like planning ahead."

"Of course you do, Hee-bear," Duo agreed placatingly. "Now, let's walk around until we find something interesting to do."

They hadn't walked long before something caught Duo's attention.

"A pet store, Heero! Come on; let's go look at all the animals!"

Heero shook his head, but allowed himself to be dragged into the small store. The bells above the door jingled merrily as they pushed their way through the door, and the sound of too many animals in too small of a space assaulted Heero's ears. Birds were chirping and chasing each other about wire cages, puppies were yipping and biting at each other, and to his left a cat uncaringly knocked over a jar of fish food as it jumped onto a high shelf. Children giggled wildly as they stretched on their tiptoes to reach into fish tanks, trying to capture the containers' squirming occupants. A glance to the right showed a lone employee, calmly munching on a sandwich and reading a magazine amid the chaos.

Heero shook his head in a vain attempt to clear it, and when he turned back, Duo was gone. Scanning the aisles, he quickly determined that his friend wasn't in the fish corner of the store, nor was he watching the birds. He was beginning to seriously contemplate going outside to wait when he heard a familiar laugh coming from near the puppies. He wasted no time in making his way over to the other pilot, only having to stop once to avoid stepping on a pink hamster ball that rolled across his path.

Turning a corner, Heero was relieved to find Duo sitting in the middle of a group of small dogs, luckily unharmed. The dogs ranged from small, furry puppies to mid-sized mutts to dogs he could actually tell a distinct breed of. They were all, despite their various breeding, extremely pleased that someone had deigned to pay attention to them, and they were showing their appreciation for all their worth, licking and rubbing and cuddling like there was no tomorrow.

Duo seemed to enjoy the attention as much as the dogs, and grinned happily while he tried to pet each of them equally. To Heero it seemed a futile effort, but Duo made sure none of the dogs felt left out. He was more than willing, however, to share his chore, and handed several puppies off to Heero as soon as he saw them.

Heero blinked, shocked for a moment, then looked down at the squirming mass of fur in his arms. When the puppy realized it was being observed, it began frantically licking Heero's chest and straining upwards to reach his face. The Japanese boy jerked his head sideways and held the dog slightly away from him, deciding straight away that he didn't want hyper-puppy drool on his face. Suddenly, his gaze caught on a slightly larger brown puppy, sitting calmly by his feet and looking up at Heero with liquid brown eyes.

A young girl in a pink dress appeared suddenly by the puppy and smiled happily at the dark-haired boy, waving cheerfully. Heero made a strangled sound in his throat at the hazy-looking child and dropped the dog he was holding, who landed with a slight yelp and scurried away to his bed.

Heero tore his gaze from the girl and turned it to Duo, who was watching him, concern clear on his features.

"I want to leave."

Duo nodded immediately. "Yeah, sure, man. Let's get out of here."

Heero let himself be ushered out of the store by Duo, but risked a glance over his shoulder at the puppy aisle. The girl was gone.

Once out in the streaming sunlight of the street, Heero felt an utter fool. He had forced Duo to leave behind something he obviously enjoyed -- something he probably didn't get to do very often -- because of a stupid hallucination. Duo probably thought he was insane.

They walked down the street in silence for several blocks, Heero studiously observing the stores and Duo watching Heero while pretending to look at the sidewalk in front of them. Eventually, Heero spoke, watching Duo out of the corner of his eye.

"I'm sorry." His voice was carefully blank.

Duo smiled reassuringly. "Hey, it's fine with me, man. Those dogs were getting annoying anyway."

Heero glanced at him, eyebrow raised, but Duo steadfastly ignored it. After a few steps, Heero nodded semi-gratefully.

"So," continued Duo as if nothing had happened, "what do you want to do next?"

Heero shrugged. If he had his way, he'd be in Wing making repairs right now...

"Okay, ice cream parlor it is!" Duo grabbed Heero's arm and dragged him towards a building to their right a few feet before stopping suddenly. "Wait," he remembered dejectedly, "I don't have any money on me." He pulled his pockets out remorsefully.

A split second passed while Heero hesitated, torn between wanting to go back and wanting Duo to stop looking like someone had just drowned his kitten. He sighed, disgusted with himself, and pushed Duo forward. "I brought cash."

Duo brightened and he gave Heero a 1000-watt grin. "Aw, really? That's too cool; I swear I'll make it up to you, Hee-bunny."

Heero's lips twisted in a scowl.

"Oh, you like that one?" Duo grinned unrepentantly back at him. "It's a personal favorite of mine."

"Just get your ice cream," grumbled Heero. He tried to ignore the sinking feeling in his gut as they entered the retro-looking shop. Somehow he felt he would be hearing "Hee-bunny" a lot in the near future. That was what he got for reacting. He shook his head at himself, surprised at his own foolishness. He'd seen what Wufei had gotten for taking Duo's bait; the poor boy's name could possibly never recover from the horrible butchering it had received.

"So, Hee-chan, what kind of ice cream do you want?"

He shook his head. "I don't want --"

"Yeah, you do. Now knock it off. Do you want Moose Traxx? Cookies and Cream?" Duo ticked the flavors off on his fingers as they approached the counter. "Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough? That's what I always get. Maybe Double Fudge Swirl?"

"I told you, I don't like chocolate."

"Pffft." Duo waved his good hand dismissively. "Are you still holding to that? Fine, be that way -- there're plenty of other flavors. You can have Strawberries and Cream, Butter Pecan, Black Walnut, Cinnamon, Strawberry Cheesecake, and sherbet, let's not even get started on that. Pick one. Now." Duo mock-glared at Heero until he nodded, defeated, and began to look over the menu.

Once Heero settled on Cherry Vanilla and Duo had his Triple Fudge Brownie Pecan Sundae in hand, they seated themselves at a table-for-two next to the window. Heero busied himself with stirring his peach-colored dessert while Duo expertly scooped his ice cream before any side of it had a chance to melt, humming with pleasure from time to time.

Heero's head turned back to Duo at a particularly loud hum.

"Mmm," mumbled Duo, his eyes closed. "This is so good." His eyes snapped open. "Want my cherry?"

Heero blinked and dropped his eyes to his dish of ice cream...and the red cherries scattered throughout it.

Duo laughed at himself and popped his cherry in his mouth. "Guess not!" he agreed around they cherry.

Heero snorted and went back to concentrating on his ice cream. It was slightly liquefied after all his stirring and didn't look particularly appealing. Several seconds later he realized Duo's mouth had not stopped moving, and he looked back at him. Surely Duo had finished the small bit of fruit by now...

Then Duo's jaw stopped working and he grinned impishly at Heero. A second later, a knotted cherry stem was proudly displayed between his teeth.

Heero blinked owlishly.

Duo dropped the stem onto his napkin. "Ha ha ha! See, I'm more gifted that you think, Yuy." His voice dropped and his eyes turned sultry. "Never underestimate the power of a talented mouth."

"I never have." Heero's voice was disappointingly steady. Duo had been hoping for a more dramatic reaction.

Never one to be defeated, however, Duo picked up the conversation from there and was sure to include plenty of risqué topics and comments. He never did get the rise out of the stoic boy that he wanted, but he did get Heero to loosen up enough to start replying in kind to certain remarks. By the time their ice cream was finished, they had pondered Zechs' true hair color, debated Dorothy's sexuality, and discussed the likelihood of Treize and Une's use of bondage equipment.

That last bit was enough to get them scurrying out of the ice cream parlor, lest they lose their appetites. On the way out, though, Heero paused by the counter and grabbed a cherry out of a dish set out by the register, popping the red fruit into his mouth.

Duo raised an eyebrow. "Geez, I thought you would have had enough of cherries by now, Hee-buddy. You did have a whole dish of them, you know."

Heero shrugged noncommittally and held the door of the shop open. Duo took his cue and exited, heading down the street, hoping to get Heero's attention diverted before he realized what time it was and how long they'd been gone.

"So, Hee-bunny, what looks good now?" Duo's head swiveled back and forth as he tried to take in all their surroundings at once. "Oh, there's a candy store...but no, I guess that wouldn't be a good idea. I'd hate to waste your money on more sugar right after we've had ice cream. Whoa, check out that chick; hasn't she ever heard of the fashion police?! Speaking of which, maybe we should go shopping for you, because if you wear that green tank top one more day in a row, I'm going to go insane. We'll get you a nice blue shirt; it'll look better on you, anyway. And some jeans. You could definitely use a good pair of cargos. Mhm." He nodded to himself, then seemed to realize Heero hadn't been participating much in the conversation, if it could be called such. He turned, taking a breath to speak, then froze.

Heero was standing slightly beside him, mouth partway open to reveal a twisted cherry stem that resembled nothing so much as a pretzel.

Duo gaped.

Heero spit the stem out, tossing it into a nearby trash can. "Like you said," he deadpanned as he passed Duo, "never underestimate the power of a talented mouth."

Duo stood frozen for a split second longer, then spun and raced after his friend. Nearly tackling the blue-eyed boy, he clung to him with his good arm as he verbally plowed him over with approving exclamations and questions.

While Duo was distracted with Heero's newfound talent, Heero managed to cross the street and get them walking back the way they had come from without having to deal with the fuss of physically dragging the long-haired pilot.

"Oooh." Duo tugged on Heero's sleeve when he had gotten over his shock. "Look at that arcade! Can we go, Heero, please?" He effortlessly turned large, pleading violet eyes on his friend.

Heero didn't stand a chance. He nodded without conscious thought.

"Yeah!" Duo cheered. He ducked into the dark establishment, which was mostly lit by the light from the games, fairly dragging Heero in after him.

The inside of the arcade was not much different than the outside led one to believe. It was crowded with teenagers, some playing the games, some clustered in groups talking or watching the game-players, and some sitting at the small snack bar in the corner. Duo immediately eased into the masses and began mingling, but Heero was more circumspect in his advances. He'd never actually been in an arcade before, not that he'd ever admit that to Duo.

The first thing he took note of was the side exit and the few windows at the front of the arcade. The second was the number of customers and employees, who he quickly determined were not a threat. Feeling more at ease, he spent some time observing the room's other occupants, seeing how they interacted and played each game, all the while keeping half an eye on Duo.

After fifteen minutes or so, a girl with shoulder-length reddish hair playing one of the games noticed Heero standing slightly behind her.

"Hey," she called over her shoulder as she blasted an alien to bits.

"Hi," he answered cautiously.

They were silent for a few minutes as the girl went to the next level and intensity of the game increased. Before too long she had used her last life and she sighed as her player died a gruesome death in the core of the spaceship she had been trying to get out of.

"So," she said as she slid the gun back into its holster, "do you want to play?"

Heero glared. "No."

"Yes, he does," came a voice from his left, and Heero felt a familiar arm sling around his shoulders. "Heero here is very good at this kind of thing."

"Oh, really?" the girl exclaimed. "That's great! I'm always looking for people to play against, but there isn't a whole lot of competition in this town." She sighed despairingly and Duo made the appropriate sympathetic noises while Heero grudgingly picked up the gun attached to the machine. He felt it would be unwise to point out that a real gun would be several times heavier.

To his constant distraction, Duo stayed slung over him and the girl was not far behind, close enough to touch but not actually making contact. Heero growled at them as he blasted his way through Level One, but they both ignored him, intent on the screen in front of them. When they hadn't moved by Level Four, Heero shrugged mentally and set out to ignore them. He couldn't afford to be distracted when he faced the Destroyer Queen in the Mothership.

By Level Six, Duo had moved forward to rest his chin on Heero's shoulder, and a small group of teenagers had crowded around behind the red-haired girl. Heero acknowledged a slight twinge in his leg, but decided it wasn't worth comment.

By Level Seven, Duo's left hand had crept under Heero's left arm, and was carefully holding onto Duo's other hand, effectively hugging Heero without impeding his movement. The crowd of kids had pushed forward until the closest space to the game was a good six feet away. Heero ignored his aching leg. He had a game to win.

By Level Nine, Heero was experiencing difficulty focusing on the screen. The crowd had increased until even one of the employees had wandered over to see what the fuss was. He could hear the light buzz of conversation surrounding the game as people munched on pizza.

He could hear Duo breathing in his ear.

At Level Ten Duo was getting into the game, muttering obscene comments about Heero's opponents and tensing whenever a bad guy popped out at them. Bets were circling through the spectators as to whether Heero would beat the game or not.

Near the end of Level Ten, Heero found himself facing a maze of androids and booby traps. He used his Vauss Cannon to dispatch the droids and employed a cloaking device to avoid the traps. A cheer went up from his fans when he reached the end of the maze, and he received a slight squeeze from Duo, which he barely managed to ignore. He refused to lose this close to victory, but the braided boy was making it very difficult to concentrate.

The Destroyer Queen proved to be more difficult to defeat than any of her guards had been, but the use of his Napalm Rocket and a strategically placed Impact Mortar brought her down successfully.

Heero heard 'ooh's and 'aah's as his score flashed on the screen: 2,394,658. He paused for a second when it asked for a name, then he smirked and typed in 'wing.' Duo laughed appreciatively while the girl who had invited him to play looked puzzled.

"Don't worry about it," Duo told her, still chuckling and hanging on Heero. "Inside joke."

Heero froze in the middle of holstering his gun. He and Duo had an inside joke... He smiled and relaxed slightly.

"Well," Duo was saying from his position at Heero's shoulder, "we'd better be going. Places to go, things to do, people to bother...you know how it goes. See ya later!!" He waved merrily at everyone in the arcade and dragged Heero towards the door. The red-haired girl laughed and waved at them, and Heero raised a tentative hand in reply as he was pushed out the door.

The sun had moved a quarter of the way across the sky since they had left the hospital, and there were shadows falling on the street as they walked back toward their current residence. After half a block, it became painfully obvious that Heero shouldn't have been ignoring his leg. As soon as Duo noticed him limping he quickly forced him down on a bench, plopping beside him with a groan of heartfelt dismay.

"Geez, Heero, what were you thinking? Sally is going to kill me!" He slumped down in his seat. He could have escaped her wrath successfully if neither of them had been hurt, but now that Heero's injury had been aggravated... "No, she won't kill me; that would be too kind. She'll lock me up in her evil hospital for the rest of my life and let her sadistic nurses do their worst!!"

"It's not that bad, Duo. I don't even need to be sitting here. We could be going back to the hospital right now."

"Yeah, no point in drawing out the inevitable, right?" came Duo's sarcastic reply. "Shit, man, you have blood on your pants -- that's hardly 'not that bad.' Can't you feel it?"

Heero shrugged. "I feel what I need to feel." He was surprised when Duo gave him a seriously pissed-off look.

"Damn it, Heero, you need to feel when you're hurt. Otherwise, you'll just hurt yourself worse." His voice snapped in uncharacteristic anger.

"I'm fine."

Duo glared. "Well, I'm sure you are, Prince Perfect, but your ass is not leaving this bench until I say so, got it? We're going to sit here until I feel like you can make it to the hospital without bleeding to death."

"Stop exaggerating."

"Who's exaggerating? I swear, you're going to be the death of me someday."

They sat quietly, Duo glaring and Heero attempting to ignore his irate partner. Finally Duo's unnatural silence was too much for the Japanese boy.

"Sorry about your pants." He fingered the bloody patch above his bandage.

"Psh. Don't worry about it. I'll get others."

Silence stretched again. Heero was beginning to regret agreeing to come out at all when Duo seemed to decide he wasn't angry any more.

"So, what was up back at the pet store?"

Heero tensed. Of all the things he had expected Duo to say, that had not been one of them. How could he explain what happened and avoid making himself sound like a raving psychotic? Did he want to explain it at all? Who was Duo to be prying in Heero's private life? He must have hesitated too long, because Duo sighed and nodded.

"All right, don't tell me. That's cool."

Heero could tell, however, that it was not cool; far from it. Duo looked as if he'd been betrayed, though Heero couldn't begin to guess how.

"It was the dog," he began after a moment. "It...reminded me of someone."

Duo murmured understandingly, but otherwise held his silence. What could he say to memories? He knew how they felt, and he knew that nothing he could say would make them disappear.

Heero was slightly shocked when Duo did not attempt to lighten the atmosphere with jokes and laughter, but he quickly regained his mental balance. He appreciated the gesture.

They sat until the sun was beginning to sink below the skyline of the city, then Duo heaved a sigh and lurched to his feet. He held his good hand out to Heero, who accepted the help after a second's hesitation. He didn't need help, and he knew it, but he also knew that blowing off Duo's offer would be taken as an insult. He didn't want to upset his friend.

Once they were standing Heero tested his leg -- it truly wasn't as bad as Duo was making it out to be -- and nodded an affirmative to the American. It was time to end their little outing. Heero was surprised to feel a pang of reluctance; he hadn't wanted to come in the first place!

The walk home seemed both too long and too short for Heero. Soon they were creeping past the parking lot and into the side exit door they had left from, navigating quickly through the hallways and past the old man with the umbrella (who was currently napping, umbrella settled across his lap in a seemingly non-threatening manner), and up to the waiting area outside their room. They paused at the corner, Duo poking his head out to pinpoint the location of the receptionist.

"I don't see her," the braided boy whispered over his shoulder. "Maybe she's running an errand or something? Let's make a break for it!"

Heero nodded once and tapped Duo's shoulder in confirmation. Holding up three fingers, Duo counted down to one, then both boys darted around the corner and down the hallway to their door, Duo taking point and Heero covering their rear. They were within ten feet when --

"Oh, you boys are back already?"

They stopped dead in their tracks and turned slowly.

"Because," continued the female-sounding voice behind them, "I wasn't sure what time you would be returning, but I thought it would be a bit later than this."

Duo's mouth worked soundlessly. Heero glared, for a lack of a better response.

"You knew we were gone?!" Duo finally managed, an expression of complete surprise covering his face. "But...but...why didn't you do something?"

The middle-aged receptionist blinked at them. "Why, whatever for? I think it's so adorable that you snuck out on a date!"

Duo gaped. "A date? But we weren't --"

"Thank you, ma'am," said Heero as he dragged Duo the few steps to their room. "We appreciate your help. Thank you." He shut the door behind them in a rush, then turned to Duo, who was still looking slightly shell-shocked.

"So..." the braided boy finally said, not quite sure how to react to their welcome home.

Heero held his arm out. "I'll walk you home."

Duo stared at him for a second, then laughed. He slipped his arm through the crook of Heero's elbow, walking the few feet to Duo's bed with him.

At the foot of his bed, Duo let go of Heero and ducked his head shyly. "I..." he began in a hesitant, feminine voice, "I had a wonderful time today." He glanced quickly at Heero from under his bangs.

Heero nearly snorted, but kept himself in character. He pitched his voice lower and struck an apathetic pose. "Yeah. You know. Whatever."

Duo snickered, then caught himself and recovered into a nervous giggle. "Call me?" he asked with a pathetically hopeful smile.

"Yeah. Sure." If possible, Heero sounded even more disinterested.

Duo ducked his head again and glanced over his shoulder at his bed. "Well...I'd better be going. Don't forget to call." Effectively, he peered into Heero's piercing eyes underneath a fringe of lashes one last time, squeezing out all the feminine charm a guy could muster.

Heero shook his head as Duo turned to get into his bed. "What, no good-night kiss?" he asked sarcastically. He couldn't believe people actually went on dates and had end-of-the-night rituals like the one they had just mockingly acted out; though he guessed real dates probably weren't as...cheesy.

He blinked when Duo turned around suddenly and blinked again when lips were pressed quickly to his cheek. He stared, disbelieving, at Duo's back as the other boy crawled into bed and pulled the covers over him.

Heero watched Duo for a few seconds, but the braided boy steadfastly ignored him, so he eventually gave up and walked over to his own bed. He crawled under the covers on autopilot and turned off the light with his remote.

They had laid in the dark for several moments when "Good night, Heero" came from the other side of the room.

Heero smiled with the assurance that Duo couldn't see him and ghosted his fingers over his cheek.

"Oyasumi, Duo."