Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Denial ❯ who is he to you 2 ( Chapter 4 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Warnings & Disclaimers: see first ch, ‘nuf said. POV shifts, angst, sappiness, violence (film at eleven), a longer chapter, see first chap for full spiel.

Pairings: I’m not tellin’

AN: Still set in the past, at the end of this chap we go back to the Present Duo’s be ten and Solo's be eight. Thanks to my reviewers.

Feedback is always appreciated.

xXxXxXx- means transition or scene change

Denial

by priscel

three.2 - who is he to you

A grumbling Quin moped around the livingroom, sitting then standing again while peering at his Mother through the corner of his eyes. It was late afternoon, almost time for Duo and Solo to come home and their Mother toiled away at a stack of papers, some of which, he was sure were bills. She had decided to let Quin stay home but on the condition that he did the work he would have done in class, including the end of chapter questions. He had been finished for the past ten minutes and he was anxious to get out but Jadea was focused on a bill payment she was trying to make via vid-phone, regardless of the fact she was still on hold. He fidgeted, listening to the soft tones from the open phone line filling the silence of their living room/dinning room before he sat down again with an exasperated huff. ‘I feel like I’m trapped in an elevator,’ he thought leaning back on the couch, throwing an arm over his face. He let his mind wander as his left hand explored the lent-filled depths of the third couch cushion. He sighed and heard the ping of the other line and grumbled when his Mother answered it. He put up his feet on the coffee table, accepting that he wouldn’t be able to leave early and catch Duo and Solo on their way home.

There was a gasp in the silence that had filled in for the entrancing elevator music and then he could hear the flutter of paper. Quin peered from beneath his arm as he slid down to his side on the long couch that was against the wall facing the window. He glanced at the TV set in the bookshelf-like TV stand, and read the bright green words 'mute' so he knew the sound hadn't come from it.

He went to watching the door to his left and then looked back at his Mother in time to see the bill that she was about to negotiate, with the collector on the other line, fall from her hands. He noticed just how pale she was, it gave her caramel skin a sickening dusty pallor. There was a set line in her jaw and he had to wonder why she was keeping hidden any part of her anger or upset the current call was causing. He thought about it studying her face, the look was familiar to him, it was similar to her expression of disbelief, anger and hurt that she had had when Aiden died.

He could never call the man father. Father and Aiden just didn't relate to each other. He remembered how Aiden had accepted Quin’s decision on his status to him with a pained expression. Aiden was a good man and good at fixing things. Quin smiled to himself as a memory resurfaced, Duo would get into Aiden’s tools and wreak havoc on anything he could get: he dismantled, banged or broke the sacrificial object in the name of Shinigami. He remembered how all expression had been wiped from his Mother’s face the first year after Aiden’s death whenever Duo would do something destructive and cry out to Shinigami.

Quin’s head lolled to the side on the couch cushion, he hadn’t really been listening to his Mother’s conversation and decided he would prefer to listen to her than think about what he’d done, what he still wanted to do . . . Quin shook his head and ran his hands over his face and up in to his rakish bangs. He stroked them back as he looked up at the white ceiling, his hazel eyes tracing the bumps and off white specks while he listened to his Mother on the phone.

“. . . so . . . we suffer cutbacks because a CEO embezzled money from the company’s stock and trust accounts. . . ” Her voice sounded flat and small with a rising edge to it. “Instead of ensuring that people keep their jobs you guys reduce company debt by laying them off!” Her eyes narrowed as she glared at the hapless man on the screen, “. . . And this has nothing to do with my lawsuit against Ranger for his failure to follow safety protocols, failure to notify his tenets of the structural integrity of the complex and hull beneath it and his neglect to check up on hull maintenance!” Jadea almost shouted at the screen, causing Quin to flinch at his Mother’s abrasive tone.

“. . . I . . .I’m truly sorry Ms. Maxwell. We never intended to hurt people in doing this. Your case is still being handled by me and I can honestly say that that is not the reason for . . . you being laid-off.” The red haired man lean forward a bit as if he bore too much and his shoulders slumped with his deep sigh. “I did everything...” ‘I could for you...’ “... everything possible to keep some people on.”

“I know.” Came the quiet acknowledgment and Jadea unconsciously tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear as she bit down on the inside of her jaw. Jadea didn’t see the businessman reach out to touch the vid-screen before he quickly withdrew his hand.

“Thank you for all your hard work. Tell that Duo of yours I have an engine he can tinker with. I swear he’s going to be a engineering wiz when he gets older . . .” His voice deepen when he spoke again, “He’s so much like Aiden, Jadea, but he definitely gets all his looks from you.” He smirked at the light blush that bloomed in her cheeks, “If you ever need to talk or anyth-”

“It’s ok Peter, I know . . . Thanks for trying. IF . . . no we will be fine.” We have Father Maxwell, is what she would’ve said but she left it unspoken when Peter nodded knowing the elder priest had not abandon them.

“Ok. Keep in touch.”

Jadea nodded as the screen went black. The set line in her jaw and tenseness in her shoulders never left her as the words 'laided off' hit her hard and she rested her head in her raised hands mouthing, 'what am I going to do?'

Soon the long, tense silence was interrupted by the jingle of keys and laughter just outside the door.

“Haha. Short stuff! Short stuff!” Duo’s teasing voice came through the door with the jingle of keys again.

“Am not short! You- you Poohead!” Solo huffed and the doorknob was turned all the way then let go several times before a thump sounded by the door, forcing it open on the last twist of the knob and two voices squealed in surprise.

Quin watched with narrowed eyes as Solo and Duo came tumbling in. The boys tried to get up leaning on each other and end up falling back down in the open door way, bursting into a fit of giggles.

Duo stiffened, his laughter dying away as an eerie feeling of being watched settled over him. He gasped when he was suddenly yanked to his feet and away from Solo by the back of his shirt.

Solo's giggles ended with a rub at the corner of his eyes. He blinked owlishly up at Quin from his kneeling position on the floor. He quickly got up holding on to the door and pushing it closed to follow his brothers. Their home was too quiet, and it was scaring him. He stopped, his knee bent to follow his brothers when he remembered the keys and how they often got in trouble for leaving the door unlocked. 'Maybe that's why we're in trouble?' He thought and knew they were in trouble for something, if not for the keys, from the look on his Quin's face. He ran back to the door and on his tippy toes, he used the keys and locked the door.

The keys jingled again and Duo turned his head away from Quin to see Solo sitting nervously on the couch, fiddling with the keys looking like a lost pup staring up at them and glancing over at their Mother’s hunched over form at he dinning room table.
“Wh-”

“Don’t say a fucking thing!” Quin grated through his clenched teeth, his back facing their Mother as he gripped Duo’s face hard and forced him to face him.

Duo tried to turn away but Quin pulled him closer, leaning down into his face. Duo felt dizzy . . . with the hot breath in his face he barely registered his surroundings, catching a forcibly said “STUFF!” from Quin before he was doubled over and gasping for breath.

“Duo!” Solo cried out when he saw his other brother bend over with both his arms wrapped around his stomach. He jumped up from the couch and hovered near the armrest, twitching and ready to run when he felt Quin's eyes on him. He looked down at the the floor and started picking at the threaded fibers on the armrest before daring a glance at Quin. Quin was turning away and walking around the couch toward their Mother. Skittishly, Solo went to Duo and tried to coax a response out of him.

Duo could feel all his breath leaving him and in his mind he saw himself feebly try to, literally, catch his breath but it was no use. All of his breath was leaving him. He couldn’t get his lungs to work, air kept leaving no matter how hard he tried to breath in. He stumbled over to the couch's armrest. Everything was sharper; the light was brighter, he could hear and feel only his heart pounding through him so hard and rapidly that he thought he could see himself move with each thump. He blinked, Solo was there trying to help him, asking him something and looking scared with tears running down his chubby cheeks. Duo tried to speak, he could feel his lips move but wasn’t sure if words came out. It felt like he was falling, his mind and body screamed for air, but pain was all he felt.

‘What I do?’ His vision was becoming cloudy with tiny lights flickering in and out of it. And as suddenly as the breath had left his body, it was back. He gasped for it, choking on it as pain sang through his lungs and his ribs expanded to their limit and receded. His throat felt so dry. He barely heard his Mother say something in what felt like thousands of feet away although she was no more than three feet behind him, still sitting at the table with her head in her hands staring blankly at the black of the vid-screen. What he had heard though sounded so alien to him. Duo looked up to Solo, who was rubbing his back, “I mustuve fell down.”

Solo nodded, concern etched across his peach shaped face, taking in Duo’s pale face as he laid limply across the two seater. Solo glanced at Quin who sat on the couch along the wall closest to door. His eyes grew wider at the smirk that was on Quin’s face and then watched as it disappeared completely; almost as if it was never there to begin with. His eyes shot to his Mother’s slumped form. She hadn’t noticed. He stared at her in disbelief, his brows scrunched up in confusion when a wheezing sound brought his attention back to Duo. Their Mother had said that Duo deserved it and that she had told them not to play in Quin’s room.

Duo didn’t remember ever going into Quin’s room since the last time Quin had made him pass out. For an entire year after Aiden’s death, Duo destroyed things. Jadea couldn't get him to stop, everyone was saying it was just his ‘terrible two’ phase and that he would eventually stop. He didn’t. He had gotten into Quin’s room one day, he was about four then and he couldn’t remember what Quin had said but it had scared the shit out of him. Quin wouldn't tell their Mother what he had done, but he didn’t break things any more. Still, they were little kids and Quin was wrong to hit him that hard. He looked at their Mother and she remained unmoved as he tried to calm his wheezing. Duo focused on the crosshatching on the lining of the couch, it hurt that she believed Quin over him. She hadn’t even asked him his side. His eyes watered, he never lied.

He sniffled and Solo moved closer to him unsure of what to do. Quin had never hit them for going into his room before and they play fought all the time but not so hard. The way Duo had got blue in the face, scared him so much. He thought that perhaps Quin had broken something in Duo. Solo looked back at Duo, who was now sitting up, his eyes widen a bit as he saw blood trickle from the corner of his mouth to his chin and build slowly. He stared at the trickle and then saw thick drops fall to the front of Duo’s Spiderman t-shirt. Solo hadn’t seen blood before, curiosity got the better of him and he reached out to catch a drop. His brother didn’t move away from his touch, Solo’s green eyes ran up Duo’s face, past his upturned nose to see the brimming of tears in the dark violet pools. ‘His eyes changed color...’ Solo thought in awe and took his hand away when the blood started to pool in it.

He ran into the kitchen, glancing at their Mother again as he passed her into the kitchen. He wiped his hand on his jeans before he grabbed the stool that always sat in the corner near the fridge when he wanted to get something. He used it to get in the freeze where he took out a frozen juice stick and grabbed a dishtowel and a hand full of paper towels. Returning to Duo, he realized that Quin had left the room. He wrapped the juice stick in the towel and pressed it against Duo’s face. Solo remembered that when he had booboos their Mother would kiss them and put something cold on them so they wouldn’t hurt so much. He felt proud of himself when Duo reacted and held the towel in place giving Solo a meek smile as he swallowed what Solo was sure was more of his own blood. Solo grimaced and used the paper towel to wipe Duo’s shirt. Duo absently ran his tongue around the inside of his mouth, he had bitten the inside of his cheek when Quin hit him and it hurt like a ‘son of a bitch’ the phrase he loved using since he had learned it from this older kid at school.

He turned away from Solo and leaned on the armrest of the couch in silence. It felt like forever. Solo and Duo sat waiting for something else terrible to happen. They wondered if their Mother was going to work, it was almost 1700 and she was still there at the table . . . ‘... like one of those large beatle shells that were stuck on whatever it was on after it molts or floats or something. I wonder, can Duo help me look for one in the park?’ Solo thought, leaning against his brother’s side. They both turned to look over the back of the couch when Quin came storming in, as if he hadn’t just hurt Duo, with a grin on his face.

“Mama . . . Mama! I’ve got good news. I’ll work-”

“No! Not at that club!” Jadea snapped with such vehemence that Solo and that all three boys jumped.

“No Mama, not there. I’ll work for the Schbeikers and go to night school. I only have a year and a half left over.” Quin suggested, his hands raised slightly from his sides and open in a placating manner.

“No . . . no baby. I don’t wan-”

“Mama, it’s what I want to do. I wanted to be in the scarp business and an early start with Mr. Schbeiker will be to my advantage. The extra money I bring in will make sure we won’t lose the our home.”

“We . . . we are going to be homeless?” Solo asked, his green eyes peering at them over the back of the couch finding the words that Duo himself had wanted to ask. Duo slumped back down, the pain in his stomach making it hard for him to stay up for long.

“No . . . no honey. Everything is fine.” Her eyes were bloodshot but there were no tracks left on her face from the tears, she was more than tired. At the sight of the worry in the eyes of her youngest, her caramel color that spoke of her heritage returned some. “Quin, I don’t want you to work yourself into an early grave over us. We’ll manage. We always do. I want you to have the kind of life you want, not one forced on you because of our situation.”

“What about Father Maxwell, Mama?”

Jadea shook her head in the negative, “I don’t want to trouble him with my problems. He’s a good man and helped a lot when your father,” Quin visibly flinched and frowned, “passed away.”

Jadea had always been an independent woman, determined in finishing and reaching her set goals, that was part of why Aiden loved her. He had even asked her if he was one of her goals and she made to look as if she had to think about and he playfully swatted her butt. Her mind riveted back to the present, her stubbornness in asking for help complicated things but she didn’t consider that as part of the reason her sons suffered. It wasn’t her fault that sometimes the power or the water would be turned off when she was sent home early from work; other people had to work too. Or when they had little food a year ago and she had found Solo and Duo eating bread with toothpaste on it. It enraged her. She wanted more time with her boys and taking the off days she had then meant not enough food in their stomachs. It wasn’t because of her that they had lost their father, it was that reckless landlord’s fault. She couldn’t have them starving again and she was too proud to peddle her tail like she saw those unfortunate to be on the street corner. She didn’t pity them, she could sympathize with some of them. Some of them were beautiful people and she wish she could help them but she had to focus on her children so they wouldn’t end up out there trying help her by being stupid.

“Mama, it’s ok, I’ve always wanted to work with the Scheibekers. You know this.” He almost whined, turning his back to his brothers resisting the urge to check on Duo. He felt his stomach twist at the memory of Duo’s pale face and the sound of his cough riddled, heavy breaths. He hadn’t meant to hit him that hard, it just happen.

“Ok Quin. But the moment your grades start to drop-”

“Understood Mama.”

Solo gave a teary eyed smile, understanding that things were ok now, but his smile faded when he noticed that Duo was leaning on the couch arm. He glimpsed Quin look at Duo in a weird way before he walked out of the room again. He had never seen Quin look at anyone like that before, except maybe his girlfriend but he was always made to leave the room before he could ask why. His young mind worked to find the grown up meaning, regardless of whether anyone had ever told him
the expression for what he was seeing.

He sat next to Duo, his lips pursed and his fat cheeks puffed out slightly in thought trying to understand what was going on it and tried to think of away to make Duo feel better. He itched to ask Duo why Quin had hit him like that. He knew he asked ‘why’ a lot and it got on his brothers’. . . well Quin’s nerves to no end. Duo had an answer to just about everything and when he didn’t, they’d both bug Quin until he answered them. That was fun to do and he came to the conclusion ‘Grownups are weird and so are big kids.’

--- xXxX end flashback XxXx---

The next day before school, Solo couldn't eat anything and Duo decided he wouldn't either, so they both avoided breakfast and packed extra in their lunches. Duo wasn't sure that they would get passed her, even if the bruising on Solo's face looked like faint red smears. He knew he couldn't, if asked, lie. He busied himself in trying to find an excuse that wasn't a complete lie.

Solo could feel Duo's eyes on him in an unspoken plea to say something to their mother before they left. He shook his head once in the negative, and shakily grabbed Duo's hand, tugging him toward the kitchen door where their mother was waiting for them.

Duo decided that he would walk behind Solo, after they hugged and kissed their Mother bye, to make sure she wouldn’t notice Solo’s limp. They were almost home free until their mother held Solo's face in her thin and delicate looking hands longer than usual. Duo held his breath when her thumbs ran over Solo's fat cheeks and the beginnings of a frown smeared her face. He found himself moving his arms, wrapping them around their Mother's neck in a glomp that almost knocked her out of her kneeling position.

"Duo!" Jadea, laughingly admonished hugging him back and losing her balance when Solo glomped onto her as well. "Ok boys," after a tight squeeze she held them at armslength, "off to school with ya."

They both smiled at her and kissed her cheeks before scrambling out the door and off the open patio.

At the end of the day, Solo did as his brother had said and the bus driver was more than happy to have the company, but Solo was tight lipped in his responses to bus driver’s query about the bruises on his stomach when he stretched. The Driver believed him when he said he got in a fight. Solo didn't say anymore than that and Driver seeing that he didn't want to share anything else went on asking him what he wanted to be when he got older. His reply of ‘a bus driver’ got the fifty year old off into a rant about how he’d make a better teacher. Solo relaxed in his seat for the rest of the ride.

Tbc...


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Comments, Criticisms, Reviews are appreciated, craved and sought after. Cuz if ya don’t let me know what you think, your deep down honest thoughts, how else will I know how this story’s affects or if I totally suck as a writer?