Kracken
Disclaimer: I don't own them and I don't make any money off of this.
Warning: Male/male sex, graphic, language, violence, past NCS
Shingami's Lover Five
Storm Warning
"Traitor," Duo muttered as he leaned in the doorframe of the backdoor and glared at Hulitt and Heero. "Busybody.... You, old man, should mind your own business..."
Of course that wasn't fair, and Duo knew it, but his temper didn't feel like seeing reason. What it did see was yet someone else who wanted him to leave his home.
Hulitt pointed to the roof and the eaves of the house. "There's some bad spots there, Heero. I warned you about those some months ago and I put it on your list. Those are going to give you trouble now. If a good wind gets under there, it may pull it all up. Those trees, they're too close to your house. They should have been taken out. They'll come crashing through your windows, most likely. My advice is that you secure as much as you can and leave. These houses weren't built for that kind of weather."
"Are you leaving?" Duo couldn't help asking.
Both Heero and Hulitt turned to him, Heero with a long suffering sigh, knowing that his lover was about to make a point. Hulitt rubbed at his nearly bald head and then said, "No place else to go, really, and, unlike you two, I didn't let my repairs go undone. My house will be safe enough."
Heero tried to gain an ally. "Duo wants to stay as well, but I've explained to him, at length, all the reasons why we shouldn't."
Hulitt glared at Duo, his sun browned face going into severe lines. "Boy! Let me give you some good advice... ' Nothing is more important than your life.'. Forget about your house, forget about your things. All of it can be replaced." When he saw Duo's stubborn expression, he pointed to Heero. "Is what you want to stay for more important than him?"
"What?" Duo was confused.
Hulitt was brutal. "You stay, he stays. You die, he dies. Get it?"
Duo went pale, but he still didn't want to listen. He turned and walked back into the house, Soda nervously padding beside him. After a few minutes, Heero appeared in his peripheral vision. Duo ignored him and sat in a corner of the couch in the living room, drawing his knees up tight.
"I will stay," Heero told him, "if you refuse to go." He waited, but Duo didn't respond. Heero finally turned away, saying sourly, "I knew I came in third, after your braid and your cross, but I didn't realize that I was actually fourth in your heart, that this house was more important too."
Duo closed his eyes tightly and took a deep, steadying breath before he said, "If you want me to be rational, for the first time in my life..."
"I would like that," Heero replied.
"You'll be waiting a long time..." Duo finished.
"I have waited... a long time, already" Heero growled angrily.
"It's not," Duo said.
Heero looked at him then, clearly trying to keep his temper. "What's not?"
"The house," Duo told him in a small voice as he picked at the trim on a pillow. "It's not more important than you are."
"That's good to know," Heero replied stiffly.
"It's just..." Duo searched for the words and then snorted, hugging the pillow to him. "I'm just crazy... I can't leave. I'm like Tuberov."
Heero started, frowning. "What about Tuberov?"
"Remember?" Duo sighed. "He made a last stand during the war; tried to take over everything and run it all with mobile dolls. He lost, though, lost in a big way... but he still wouldn't believe it, still wouldn't surrender. Part of it was not thinking that he COULD lose, but a bigger part was the fear, the fear of losing his... world. He died rather than let that happen."
Heero's jaw tightened as he looked around the living room of their house, trying to understand. "You're saying that... this is your world?"
"Yes," Duo replied, "This house... with you and Soda, Harri, Mr. Hulitt, and, occasionally, Wu Fei, Quatre, and Trowa."The rest was more difficult to say, but he knew that he had to make Heero understand. "If I left it, and something happened... If we came back and the house was... gone... I..." He tried not to press his face into the pillow and forget everything, tried, fruitlessly to keep the old, painful memories at bay. "It'd be just like Maxwell church. Not just gone... but destroyed, taken from me..."
That last sentence came out choked and then Duo did hide his face, did bury himself into the pillow; laid bare and vulnerable.
Heero sat on the couch near him, sighing and sympathetic, but he didn't pull punches, knew that he couldn't, for both their sakes. "Duo, you can't fight a storm, you can't keep a house together, keep it from being taken from you. The storm will win."
"I know that!" Duo exclaimed in anguish. "But...I still can't leave!"
Heero frowned and then he played his last card, "Duo, I didn't let you commit suicide after the war and I'm not going to let you do it now. If things get bad, You won't have a choice. I won't give you one."
Despite the pills, despite his resolve not to, Duo found himself standing, fists clenched and adrenaline pumping. He knew by the look of trepidation on Heero's face that he was out of control. Knowing it, and stopping his reaction, was two different things. So much had been taken from Duo in his life, by men who had all the power. He felt the house being taken from him now and he felt helpless again. He fought against it the only way he knew how. He attacked, verbally, and he knew his words scorched the air as he told Heero exactly what he thought and just how much success Heero was going to have trying to make him do what he didn't want to. He saw Heero's face go pale, his eyes track him as he paced like a dangerous tiger, his hands tense as if he expected to have to defend himself at any moment.
When Duo was done, left panting with emotion, Heero said simply, "I love you, little baka. I'm not going to let you die."
Duo froze. He had a moment of clarity, a moment to realize just what he had said to Heero and that Heero wasn't defending himself, wasn't shouting back, wasn't doing anything other than... loving him, before he ran, straight up the stairs, to their bedroom, and into the bathroom. He locked the door and just stood; not seeing or thinking anything for a very long time while his agitated brain calmed down from it's panic.
"Duo?" Heero called finally and Duo wondered how long he had been standing just outside the door. Soda scratched and whined from the side where Heero was standing, not liking their separation. Heero knew why Duo was in the bathroom and he didn't try to open the door. Instead of attacking physically, Duo had learned to walk away, to leave the situation entirely. At least he had kept that much control.
"I'm not going to let you have your way," Heero told him through the door. "Say what you want, it won't change that. If I have to arrest you and take you down to Preventer Headquarters, I will."
"Stop saying that!" Duo sounded pathetic, even to himself, but Heero was just reinforcing his panic, reinforcing the part of his brain that wanted to fight to protect himself.
"I'm not going to," Heero told him firmly. "Because you have to hear it and deal with it."
It flipped a switch in Duo and he couldn't say what happened next. He knew he shouted some more, knew he wanted to open that door and... but when he came back to himself, not knowing how much time had passed, he felt aching arms from wrist to elbows, swollen knuckles, and a raging headache. His eyes cleared and he started. The door was cracked in several places and there was some splattering of blood... his. Duo sat down heavily on the floor, exhausted.
"Duo?" Heero called anxiously. "I'm coming in. I don't care what you-" Heero did open the door, then. It was hanging by one hinge, the top one broken. He stopped talking, hand still on the knob, when he saw Duo sitting on the floor, arms bloodied and bruised. "I thought you were kicking the door, not..."
Soda nosed Duo in concern as Duo looked at his arms. "Not pounding on it with my arms?" Duo finished. He winced. "It stings, but... it's not... bad..." He found the floor interesting. "Sorry."
Duo didn't expect that to heal things, didn't expect the last half hour to become nonexistent. The words he had shouted hung in the air between them and Duo knew that they would for awhile. He could see by Heero's expression that he understood, that he was already forgiven... forgotten, though, was something else entirely.
Heero didn't touch him, didn't come within reach. He tried to examine Duo from a few feet away and didn't like what he saw. "I think you should take a hot bath and soak your arms. When you feel... better, I'll look for splinters."
"I'm not going to feel better," Duo told him and Heero tensed, ready to back away again. Duo wrestled his fear back down and said, more calmly, "I won't feel better until this storm is gone and I don't have to-to worry about the house."
"Talk to me," Heero begged him.
Duo swallowed hard and ran a hand through his sweaty bangs. "Nice to know I'm still crazy. Guess I had myself fooled pretty good, that I was in control and better."
"Duo," Heero persisted.
Duo glared at him. "Okay, you really want to hear it? This house is me! You try and take it, you're trying to take me, got it? Just like... like... they did; L2 officials, Oz, pimps, the war..." He ducked his head and clutched his knees tightly, ignoring the pain in his arms. "They took every home I ever had and then they took me too.... They destroyed me." Duo gave Heero his due, though, choking on it because he was so very grateful and it hurt so much, that much emotion."You gave me a new home, a new life, a new me."
Heero looked upset. He chose his words very carefully and then he said, "This is just a building, Duo. It's what's inside that makes a home. It's what's inside that you love and want to keep whole. Please, separate the two. You have to, for both of our sakes. We'll pack things very carefully, make sure to store them where they won't come to any harm. If the house is damaged, we'll rebuild, right here, and fill it with everything, with us, again." He held out his hand tentatively. "Come on, let's bandage your arms and get to work. We don't have much time."
Duo stared at him, thought his words through carefully. His eyes roved over the bathroom, looked at the bedroom through the open door. Just sticks of wood, plaster, and paint, he told himself, and then thought of what was in it... photos, mementos, ... things, but things that were dear to him. If he could pack those things, take them with him to safety...
"Get boxes!" Duo said as he sprang up from the floor. "Now,
Yuy! We need to start packing!"
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"You need to sleep," Heero urged and reached out a hand to close over Duo's. Duo was holding packing tape, sealing one more box with a bleary eyed determination.
"No," Duo shook him off. "A few more things and then we need to move them. Quat has a place in town. We can call him and ask to put our stuff there."
"We have time." Heero soothed, took hold of Duo's braid and smoothed it between his fingers. We can start again early in the morning."
Duo looked towards the vid screen. It had been tuned to the weather channel, playing endless reports as the hurricane slowly inched towards them.
"Hear what he's saying?" Heero asked. "We have another day."
Duo blinked and leaned on the box with both hands. "Heero..."
"Love.... We've bugged out of safe houses in under five minutes," Heero reminded him. "I think we can manage to move our things in a day."
"Yeah, but we only had a duffel between us then," Duo leaned into Heero, trying to let go of the tension. "There's so much here I don't want to lose." His mouth twisted bitterly. "I guess the old soldier code was right, 'travel light and move like lightning.' Falling in love with things can get you killed."
Heero frowned. "No one's dying here, Duo." He touched the closed box. "Pictures, poems, gifts from our friends, my gifts to you, the first thing that you ever bought for this house... The wind might destroy them, but they'll always be in here. " He touched his heart and then his head.
Duo bit back, hands tightening on the box, "In case you hadn't noticed, baby, your memory isn't too good and I'm crazy. I don't think we make a good team for remembering things the way they were."
Heero was angry for a moment and then he let it go. "You're upset. I'll let you be a bastard tonight."
Duo started and looked up at him. "I... guilty as charged." His shoulders slumped and his hands caressed the box as he looked at the five he had lined up next to it. "There's nothing wrong with you, Heero. It's me... It's all me. You just... You get so damned poetic, sometimes, and... you're smarter than I am.... sometimes. You can make me feel... so not worth it." He picked up the box and carefully stacked it with the others near the front door. He checked the lock and then turned to Heero. "Come to bed?"
Heero sighed and nodded as he joined him on the stairs, Soda pacing quietly after them. Duo reached out and took Heero's hand. "Sorry."
Heero relaxed then. "It's not all right, but I do understand."
Duo looked stung.
"You are worth it, though," Heero told him and leaned it to kiss Duo on the edge of his mouth. Duo turned to deepen it, and then they climbing the stairs again, ready to go to bed.
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A pounding startled Heero into wakefulness. He sat up, blinking and reaching for his gun in the night stand. He aborted the movement when he saw Soda staring at him expectantly. The reason for his lack of barking was clear in the next moment when Heero heard Wu Fei's muffled voice shouting.
"Wake up, damned you two!"
The wind was whistling. A branch from the overhanging tree was slapping and scraping against the window pane.
Duo was up, hand reaching for a non-existent knife at his wrist. He groped and then swore. "What does he want?"
"There's wind," Heero replied as he stood up and yanked his robe from the back of a chair. He was throwing it around himself as he hurried out of the room and down the stairs. He passed the vid screen, still on and showing the hurricane, as he unlocked the front door and opened it. A wind caught it and almost yanked it out of his hand. He struggled as Wu Fei and Kong hurried in and helped him close it.
"Why didn't you answer your phone?" Wu Fei demanded furiously as he smoothed his disordered black hair back from his face. His eyes were dark and volcanic. He pointed to the vid screen. "Didn't you see what's going on? The storm picked up speed during the night. I thought you would be dressed and already heading for safety long ago! When you didn't call, or answer your cell phone, I had visions of Maxwell tying you up in the cellar and refusing to go. I felt compelled to risk my life and check."
"We were packing late last night. I thought we needed to sleep, so I turned the phones off," Heero replied, rubbing sleep out of his eyes and striding to the vid screen. His blood chilled as he saw the graphics of the hurricane racing towards them. It was almost on them. He spun on Wu Fei and swore. "Fool! You were driving in those kind of wind gusts?"
"To save some idiot friends," Wu Fei snarled back, "Yes!"
Heero swallowed hard, reached out, and gripped Wu Fei's shoulder in thanks, and then was racing back up the stairs, shouting, "Duo! Get dressed. We have to bug out. Now!"
On To Chapter Three
Back to chapter One