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1x2 and a ferret
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Pets
1x2
"Hey, darling?" An arm draped across Duo's shoulders and he was pulled close to a man who stank like a keg of beer. Three other men, snickering, surrounded him and hedged him in close to their apparent leader.
"You're not my type," Duo growled and attempted to shrug away from the first man.
"Aw, come on, beautiful!!" that man looked crestfallen, "Ole' Jim don't look that bad, does he?"
"Actually.." Duo started to retort but the man stuck his face very close and leered.
"You're such a good shot on the range," the man said, "We thought that you could give us some pointers, in a more 'personal' setting, of course."
"Of course," Duo growled as he reached up, grabbed the man's thumb, and twisted it. "Of course, no, is the answer."
The man howled and went to his knees, his free hand trying to shove Duo off of him. His friends grabbed hold of Duo's clothes, to help him.
Duo said, in a very deadly tone, "You have picked on the wrong man. I suggest that you let the hell go, before you find that out in a very bad way."
"I didn't think that getting fried chicken was so dangerous," Heero said, suddenly appearing and pushing through the men and shoving them aside.
Duo rolled his eyes as the men let go and stepped back. "Dangerous? Maybe to your cholesterol. If you think that I wasn't about to handle these morons...?"
Heero smiled, his eyes on the angry men, who still seemed ready for a fight, "I'm just hungry. I didn't want you delayed by these gentleman."
"Gentlemen?" Duo snorted as he gave the thumb another twist and then shoved the man away from him. "You have a strange sense of proper etiquette, then. As far as I know, one doesn't try and force another guy in line, at the Chicken Depot, to have sex with you."
"So, you were teaching them proper manners?" Heero chuckled.
Duo grinned. "Well, he did call me 'beautiful' so I wasn't going to hurt him too bad during the lesson."
"He has taste, at least," Heero replied, in an almost, offhand manner, as if he wasn't aware of his own comment. His eyes were still on the angry men, still expecting a fight.
Duo's eyes went wide and he felt a rush of heat go through his body. Was Heero agreeing with the man's 'beautiful' remark? Emotions warred with masculinity. Handsome would have been much better. That would have showed a bit more... respect... awareness that he was... what? Duo felt confused by his own reaction. He wanted Heero to notice him, to know that Heero 'swung that way'. This seemed proof, yet wasn't. It was too ambiguous and tainted by circumstances. Heero shouldn't be agreeing with a drunk asshole about anything, anyway.
Distracted, Duo almost missed the swing at his head as 'ole' Jim' regained his feet.
"Duo!" Heero exclaimed, shocked that Duo had dropped his guard as Duo blocked the punch and landed his own in the man's gut. The man went down with a whuff of expelled air, eyes bulging.
"Goddamn c---t!" one of the other men yelled and they rushed Heero to get at Duo.
"Don't have one of those," Duo replied smoothly. "You should take a biology class, man, if you don't know the difference between a guy and a girl."
Security broke up the fight, but not before Heero and Duo were able to land a few more satisfying punches. That didn't go over well with the captain of the security detail.
"They were assaulting me!" Duo complained. "I was just trying to get some damned chicken."
The man looked down at Duo from an impressive height and sneered, as his men picked their attackers off of the floor and handcuffed them, "What did you expect, looking like that, and hanging around here with another guy?" The contempt was clear in his voice.
"Like what?" Duo demanded and only Heero's hand on his arm kept him from punching the captain. "If you're trying to say that I 'asked' for that, I'll have your stinking badge."
"You're all alike," the captain retorted with a hand on his gun. "Freak long hair, tight pants, and an attitude, and then you complain when anyone takes what you're advertising."
Duo felt a rush of white hot anger, but it was Heero who punched the man first.
"Well," Duo sighed as the cell door closed and locked, with them on the inside. "Nice weapons convention."
"I've called Une and explained," Heero growled as he sat on a metal bench, bolted to the floor. "She'll have us out, shortly."
"I still didn't get our chicken," Duo complained as he sat beside Heero. "Think they'll feed us?"
Heero grunted and Duo looked sideways at him in worry. "Mad at me?"
Heero met his eyes, startled. "Why would I be angry at you?"
"I was wearing the tight pants and long hair," Duo replied. "I shouldn't have been flaunting myself."
Heero laughed. It was a good sound and Duo joined in.
"Your pants are not that tight," Heero finally said when he quieted.
Duo had chosen them just for the way that they hugged his ass, so he couldn't agree with Heero. He said instead, "Hope that didn't bother you."
Heero frowned. "The fight?"
Duo felt embarrassed and found his feet interesting. "The gay thing? We always seem to get flack, no matter how many years it is away from the freakin' stone age."
"That's why... I keep it quiet," Heero replied softly and Duo's head came up. Heero refused to meet his eyes.
"Yeah?" Duo needed confirmation.
Heero seemed to tighten up every muscle and then he relaxed and shrugged, giving in to the truth. "Yeah."
"Damn, glad I'm not the only one in the world," Duo snickered.
Heero broke into a smile and nodded. They were silent, each in their own thoughts and then Heero admitted. "Now I feel..."
"Weird?" Duo guessed. "Me too. I mean, we were living together and we didn't even know..."
"I knew," Heero told him.
"I didn't," Duo complained. "Aside from your love of ferrets you keep your preferences locked up tight. I mean... I've never even seen you go out with anyone."
"You either," Heero pointed out.
"Yeah, well..." and Duo couldn't follow up with another revelation, the one where he was in love with Heero Yuy. "Busy life," he ended lamely.
"Same here," Heero replied, looking just as uncomfortable.
Duo stood suddenly and paced to the door. "I hope Une gets here quick."
"She will," Heero replied and sounded almost hurt.
Duo looked back at him and found the man leaning back against the wall, face lost in shadow. "Worried about your ferret?"
It took a moment for Heero to reply, "Yes."
Wrong time. Wrong place. Duo wished they could have discovered their preferences safely in their hotel room. The conversation could have gone a lot better. There was a definite tension between them, now. Wait, he told himself. Wait for the right time and the right place.
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Duo sat on the hotel bed and then flopped backwards in exhaustion.
"Shower," Heero said and went to do just that.
Duo nodded, eyes closed, and decided on his own shower. The prison holding cell had stunk like heavy duty cleaners, but it hadn't covered up a cloying, unwashed, drunk and sick with it, stench that had permeated everything.
I should go in there, Duo thought. I should go in, undress, and join Heero in the shower. He'll be surprised, and then happy, because he's gay, too. We'll get down to business and he'll love me, after. We'll live happily ever after.
The devil, that was also reality, jammed a mental pitch fork in Duo's logic. After they find your broken, and bleeding, corpse in the shower, it said, they'll put on your ash box, 'Complete Moron'. Just because Heero is gay, it doesn't mean that he's been fantasizing about you. I think he would have said, before now, if he was.
"Yeah," Duo murmured with a sinking heart. Wasn't that the truth? So much time spent together. So many dangerous jobs. So much cohabitating in many situations. Two normal, healthy, males should have been humping long before now, if there was any interest. But, he was interested, dammit, and he hadn't made a move. Was it too much to hope that Heero had been in the same hopeless situation? The one where he hadn't wanted to mess up their friendship, their partnership, by asking for what the other might not want? Hadn't he said it? Heero had felt weird. Weird could snowball, very easily, into, 'Can't be around you anymore, because it's too weird.' Had it already happened?
Duo's cell rang and he answered it with a sigh. "Maxwell?"
"Quatre," Quatre replied. "You now owe me $125.00 for the 'animal specialist', that I hired."
Duo sat up, scowling. "What the hell?"
Quatre went on, anger clear in his voice, "I didn't have any choice. The specialist thinks that your ferret was abused. He certainly isn't socialized properly. Though he seems to trust Heero, anyone else is a potential abuser and he reacts accordingly."
"Meaning, he's going to keep on biting the crap out of people," Duo sighed. "That's not good."
"No, it's not," Quatre agreed. "Not for you, anyway."
"Tell me about it." Duo flopped back on the bed, phone pressed to his ear. "Don't worry, Quat, we'll take Musky Shark off of your hands tomorrow. Une says we don't play well with others and that we have to come home."
"What?" Quatre asked in confusion.
Duo related their trouble, omitting Heero's revelation, and Quatre sounded sympathetic as he said, "I wonder if we'll always have trouble over who we are?"
"Since there are idiots everywhere," Duo replied, "yeah, we will... unless they find a pill for 'Dumbass bigot' disease."
That got a laugh from Quatre.
"Look, I'm really sorry for the trouble," Duo apologized. "I won't dump him in your lap again. Heero's going to have to figure this one out, or take Musky Shark everywhere with him."
"Duo," Quatre pointed out, "You're not helping matters by being so resentful of Heero's pet."
Resentful. It was an interesting word to use, one that told Duo, that Quatre suspected how jealous he was. He didn't like to think that he was that easy to read.
"You need to gain it's trust," Quatre went on. "That may take time, and patience."
Peace with the ferret, peace with Heero, Quatre meant.
"I get it," Duo replied, "just stop being so damned... psychic."
Duo could feel the grin. "I'm not," Quatre replied, "But it's plain, to everyone, but you two, how much you care about each other."
"Me and Furry Hotdog?" Duo made himself sound shocked, but it almost wasn't an act.
Quatre laughed. "Hopeless, the both of you."
"Let me mess up my own life, Mr. Winner," Duo told him. "Just tell me how... Slinky... is doing, so that I can make Heero feel better."
"He's in perfect health and is happy sleeping in his ferret sling," Quatre replied.
"That's good, I guess. Thanks," Duo said.
He finished the call and then lay, with the cell phone held to his heart, until he heard the water from the shower stop. Then Duo was up and ready, with his emotions locked down, when Heero came out of the bathroom.
"Quatre called. He says that Slinky is healthy and happy, but missing his daddy," Duo told him. "He also says that his expert thinks that Slinky didn't have it so good, before you got him, and that's why he's a biter."
Heero looked pained and nodded as he adjusted the towel around his naked hips. "I'm sorry, Duo," he said softly.
"You didn't know," Duo almost choked the words out as he turned to hide a sudden hardness in his pants. Seeing Heero's bare legs, the way the muscles slid and played under his smooth skin, and the tantalizing show of one small part of his hip, was enough to send his longing into over drive. "We'll work it out," he managed to finish, and then closed the door between himself and the object of his desire. He turned on the shower and then leaned against the door, eyes closed and jaw clenched.
Heero might feel weird enough to leave him for good, but Duo knew that he couldn't go on pretending indifference. A barrier had dropped between them, on their trip, and it wasn't going back up again. Duo didn't have Heero's ambiguous sexuality to put the breaks on his own any longer. The truth had to come out.
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Heero was dressed, and sitting on the edge of one of the beds when Duo emerged, clean and braiding his hair. In shorts, and a tank top, he wasn't making Duo's control any better than when he had been naked. Duo, himself, had put on a well worn pair of sleeping pants and an old flannel, night shirt. Heero might be the subject of a wet dream, but Duo had tried for cleaned up bum, and he doubted that Heero would find much in his appearance to feel 'weird' about.
Heero watched him finish his hair, eyes moving back and forth as Duo paced and braided.
"How do you do that?" Heero wanted to know, "and not get it... crooked?"
Duo's mind shifted gears from sexual thoughts to hair braiding with difficulty. "I put in a hair band at the top, to hold it in place, and then braid. After, I can slide it off." He turned and let the heavy braid swing free, showing Heero the band. He slid it off and popped it at Heero. The man deftly caught it and stared down at it. "Any more useless information you'd like to have?" Duo snickered.
"I'm good, for now," Heero replied, but he looked thoughtful and not happy.
"What's up?" Duo wanted to know, as he sat down on the other bed and tucked up his legs comfortably.
"Can I be honest?" Heero asked as he popped the band towards the hotel dresser and watched it land perfectly.
"Better than not honest," Duo quipped, but Heero didn't smile. It made Duo's gut tighten in worry.
"It's been difficult living with you," Heero admitted, "and now that you know... how things are with me... it's going to much more difficult."
Duo felt his heart constrict, but he kept his face impassive, and his voice reasonable. "I understand, completely, Heero."
Heero's blue eyes came up, at last, and they were surprisingly sad. "You've been wonderful as a room mate. I never expected you to accept Slinky. You always... You've always been a good friend. I don't want to ruin that. I think..."
Duo found himself suddenly hugging his knees, a defensive gesture. "Come on, Heero, I get it. You don't have to explain. It was good when only one of us was gay, but now that we both know we swing that way, and that you don't feel comfortable with that, it makes sense that one of us finds another place to live."
Heero frowned. "I wasn't..."
"I'll go," Duo went on. "You do have Slinky's palace all set up, and the nifty gun rack safe. I've just got a few boxes and my gear.Everything else came with the place."
Heero swallowed hard, seemed at a loss for words and then said softly, "I have a confession to make."
Duo plastered on a grin. "What is this, a girl's slumber party? Next we'll be playing truth or dare and telling ghost stories." He started to stand up and leave, needing out of there before he broke down completely. "Ice, I think we need ice..."
Heero leaned forward and caught him by the arm. His eyes were intense and determined. "Don't run away. I need to tell you this."
Duo snorted and then said shakily, "What? That the thought of me, maybe coming on to you, freaks you out so much that you want me to move? Sorry, Heero, I didn't realize that I was such a troll."
Heero let him go as if he had been shocked. "It's not that," he was quick to say.
Duo wiped a hand across his face and took a deep breath, finding the wall very interesting. "No? Then what?"
Heero seemed at a loss for words then. It took a long time for him to finally say, "I don't want our friendship to end. It's important to me. I don't think that I can pretend, any longer, though. Maybe... maybe I don't want to, either. Maybe I'm tired of playing it safe?"
Duo shook his head in frustration and hated how he felt the sting of tears forming. He needed to get out of there before he broke down completely without Heero knowing why. The man would just think that he was nuts.
"I should just go, now," Duo turned to reach for his suitcase. "I can be home and start packing before you get back. You won't have to put up with me longer than you have to."
Heero reached out again and made Duo sit beside him on the bed. He didn't let go, his strong,sure grip on Duo's forearms, as he turned on the bed to face him. "It's happening already, don't you see? The end of our friendship. You think I'm rejecting you. I'm not. Duo... I'm in love with you."
Duo blinked. "Wh-Wha?" His mind had short circuited. Those had been the last words that he had ever expected Heero Yuy to utter.
Heero looked dejected, pale, and his voice was shaky, as he explained, "You are not the problem. I'm not rejecting you. I'm the reason that you should move out. Now that you know, you probably agree. I'm... I'm the troll."
They stared at each other for a long minute, Heero trembling and waiting for condemnation.
Duo exploded, shoving Heero onto his back and landing on top. Straddling him, Duo wrapped hands into Heero's tank top and shouted, furious, "How long? How long have you felt this way and never said a damned word?"he emphasized each word with a shake. "What the hell's wrong with you? You knew I was gay! You could have said something, anything, even given me a goddamn hint! Instead, I went all this time thinking it was hopeless, pretending not to feel anything for you! Do you know how many cold showers I had to take? How many nights I sat up, wondering how long I could stand loving you, so much, when you didn't?"
Heero's eyes were wide in trepidation, his hands up defensively, but unwilling to actually defend himself. As Duo's words sank in, he reached out and gripped Duo's wrists lightly, wanting confirmation. "You... love me?"
"Why else would I put up with the damned, pet from hell?" Duo exclaimed. "That little monster left scars, Heero! I love you, though, and you love it, and I can't stand to see you hurt, so I let it stay."
Heero's hands caressed."We've both been..."
"Morons," Duo finished, and sat back dejectedly, eyes on the ceiling as he tried to regain control of his emotions. Heero's hands, sliding up his ribs, though, made him look down again, startled. When Heero pulled him down for a deep kiss, he didn't resist. He didn't want to say that he melted, but Duo didn't have another description that fit the way that he completely surrendered to Heero.
When they rolled, Duo was putty, allowing Heero to rise above him and look down, searchingly, into his face.
"Say it again," Heero begged.
Duo blushed. "I love you."
Heero's emotions were plain in his eyes. He was overwhelmed. He replied, breathlessly, "I love you, too."
The clothes came off, then. There wasn't any uncertainty, or embarrassment. They had both been dreaming of each other for too long to be unsure now. There was kissing, grasping, and a meeting of bodies that had them both crying out in triumph, before Heero set a desperate rhythm that had them both panting and striving for completion. The release was violent, pent up passion held in check too long. It left them both shaken and limp, tangled together and sweaty, panting too hard to speak.
"Ow," Duo finally said softly and chuckled at Heero's sudden look of concern, to let him know that he was all right.
Duo changed an impossible position for a more comfortable one and Heero slid out. That had them both reaching for bedside tissue to clean up, their sureness of before reduced to awkwardness and uncertainty in the after glow.
"You're all right?" Heero finally had to ask. "I wasn't...?"
"Felt good... after a bit," Duo admitted. He lazily kissed Heero, a wide smile on his lips. "The rest was magic."
Heero smiled as well, a hand caressing Duo's heated body. "You are so beautiful.. so sexy... I never imagined that you would want me. I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry, too," Duo replied, seriously. "We both had a case of low self esteem, I guess."
"I love you," Heero told him and kissed him to seal it.
"I love you, more than anything," Duo replied. "I want to keep saying it. I've been keeping it inside so long..."
"Me, too," Heero told him and his lips started down Duo's neck, kissing and nipping. "Again?" he asked cautiously.
"Sore," Duo admitted, but his hands wrapped around Heero's arousal and he grinned. "We have other options, though, right?"
Heero slid down Duo's body for answer and said, "Let me show you how much I love you."
After, wrapped around each other, and dozing, Heero said tentatively, "About Slinky... I can find him a good home."
Duo rolled a sleepy eye at Heero and then closed it again as he gave a firm shake of his head. "Slinky will learn not to bite. I won't take away a pet that you love so much."
"I love you more," Heero assured him.
"I'm glad I'm loved more than a furry, musky, shark," Duo chuckled, "but we can work it out, Heero... or at least try. Slinky is going to have the chance to learn to be a good citizen of the Yuy-Maxwell household." He paused and then added slyly, "I do expect the same consideration when I bring home the St. bernard."
"What?" Heero looked shocked.
"Agent Jennings had one," Duo snickered. "I kind of like it."
"Maybe we could... talk about it?" Heero suggested.
"I could make him a huge habitrail around the kitchen... if you didn't like him wandering the house?" Duo deadpanned. "do you think Quatre would pet sit a St. Bernard and a killer ferret? We do have the shooting competition next month..."
"You are joking, right?" Heero asked hopefully.
Duo relented and laughed. "Yeah... well... for now... maybe I won't be joking, later."
Heero looked relieved as he pulled Duo in close for an embrace. He knew, without a doubt, that, like Duo, he would give the man, that he loved, anything that he wanted, and learn to live with it. Pets were a small price to pay to have what he had most wanted in the entire world, Duo's love.
The end
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