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As Hard as Stone
"Fuck it . . ."
Quatre looked up from his reading at the angry voice. Duo stomped through the kitchen towards the refrigerator, yanking open the freezer and extracting two of the ice packs the pilots always kept handy. Both were wrapped in paper towels, then one was pressed to his left hand, another to the rapidly swelling bruise on his right cheek.
Quatre frowned, pushing his chair away from the table. "Did you get in a fight with Heero again?"
Duo rolled his eyes, then winced at the pain the motion cost him. "Sorta, Q-man." Joining the Arabian pilot at the table, he sighed. "I don't know which hurts more, hitting that psycho or getting hit back. Swear to god his muscles are made out of steel or something."
"So what did you do this time?" Quatre asked as he marked his place in the book with a slip of paper. "I didn't hear your stereo on . . ."
"Aah, all I did was give him a friendly punch on the shoulder." Duo looked put out. "Next thing I knew, I was halfway across the room. He said it was reflex."
Quatre sighed. "Knowing Heero, it probably was. Do try to be more careful around him, Duo. You know what type of training he's undergone."
"Yeah, yeah," Duo grumbled. "But still . . . he didn't even apologize."
"Well, why don't you go talk to him again?" Quatre suggested. "He's not good with that kind of thing."
Duo cast his eyes toward the ceiling in a mock-plea to the gods. "And boy do I know it. All right, I'll go . . . if just to yell at him some more."
"Duo!"
"Kidding! Kidding!" Duo hastily said at the disapproving tone in Quatre's voice. "Sheesh." Getting up from the table, he stalked toward the stairs. "Some people really can't take a joke . . ."
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From the sound of it, Heero was in the bathroom. He wasn't taking a shower or anything else, so Duo just pushed the door open.
"Hey, Heero—"
The rest of his sentence died unsaid in his throat, as Duo stared at the Japanese pilot. His quick eyes took in the small jar he was holding, the off-white cream slathered on one side of his face, and the bare skin visible on the other. Especially the skin. Which wasn't exactly bare.
*thud*
Heero blinked at his unconscious partner, then scowled furiously as he applied the concealer to the rest of his face. Hadn't the American heard of the word "knock"? Then he winced as the tingling feeling set in, creating the sensation that there were a million ants trampling over his skin. It itched worse around his eyes and on the sides of his jaw, where the most work had to be done.
Quickly spreading the stuff over his hands, he waited impatiently for the prickling to stop, then washed it off. He checked himself in the mirror with a critical eye.
Good. The blue-gray patches were completely gone. Even the raised outlines weren't visible any more.
Just normal, human skin.
Sheah right.
It was at times like these that being partly rock was awkward, he supposed. He'd never really cared; it was just another result of his training with Dr. J. And the stone side of him really pulled through when it came to sustaining injuries. After all, even a genetically modified human like he had started out as would never have survived a fall from the 50th story of a building, then off a cliff.
Though he was damn glad that his human side had won out over his hair . . .
~owari~
Notes: *snigger* I had too much sugar when I wrote this. *dryly* We could tell, dear. Oh good. Anyway, for those in the masses that don't know diddly about Slayers, one character named Zelgadis is part Golem, part Blue Demon, part human. Not his fault, really. Or maybe it is. *shrugs* Anyway, he's like, indestructible. No, really. *raises eyebrow* *humphs* Fine, he did get his cheek smashed in during the first series. Among other things. Happy? *grin* Quite.
The hair comment at the end was because Zel's hair is made of metal. *snicker* Wouldn't you just love to see Heero's "just got out of bed" style be permanent? No, waitaminute, it already is . . .
I started this intending it to be a Trigun cross, with Heero having a gun in his arm like Vash-san does. It was also supposed to be a bit longer. *shrugs* Oh well, I liked this one better. ^_^