Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Psychotic America ❯ Determined Bounds ( Chapter 2 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: Manga-Chick 
Hiiro, Trowa and Wufei discover that they may have brought in more than they bargained for with the induction of Duo and Quatre.
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Hentai / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 09.20.2005 | Pages: 3 | Words: 8.5K | Visits: 458 | Status: Completed
Hiiro, Trowa and Wufei discover that they may have brought in more than they bargained for with the induction of Duo and Quatre.
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Hentai / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 09.20.2005 | Pages: 3 | Words: 8.5K | Visits: 458 | Status: Completed
Alternate Universe, fusion, out of character charas, very disturbing information and scenes and Pairings: 1x4, 2x5 3(?)
Standard Disclaimers Apply: Don’t own Gundam Wing nor X-Men
Notes: Some stuff was changed around, here. I deleted some stuff, added some stuff, so it’s still the long winded, pompous bag that ya’ll are familiar with–just with some differences.
O0o0o0o0o0oO means scene change
Chapter Two:
Determined Bounds
Duo heard something that didn’t fit with his tormented dreams of cold and snow, so when he awoke to hear soft laughter and moving bodies on the fire escape above his head, he grew wide awake. Listening, wondering if he were some kind of danger, he then heard what sounded like grotesque body noises. Wincing, Duo hunched his shoulders within his comfortable Dumpster bed and pulled his wool cap over his ears.
Grumbling about thrill-seeking people in the throes of sex, he wiggled more firmly within his bed and tried to settle into a mode of sleeping once more. But then laughter escalated to harsh whispers, of which made the hairs on the back of his neck rise as he listened to promises of death and bodily destruction. Then there were sudden wet plops of thick substance dripping onto his exposed cheek, and the abrupt feel of warm liquid stunned his entire system.
His eyes opened wide and his whole body stiffened as the man laughed softly again. The creaking of metal let Duo know that whatever was going on was going to be extremely messy. He didn’t want anything dripping down on him while some monster got his rocks off in murdering whomever, so he quickly shifted up and out of the Dumpster. With his movement, he looked upward to see a startled man. He was looking over the railing of the second floor fire escape, cradling a motionless body against him.
Duo frowned at the sight, wishing he’d grabbed his bags first, but turned and began walking, shivering at the cruel gaze the man had given him. There was a sudden creaking of metal that had him very wary, so he turned, in time to see the man leaping over the railing and advancing on him, hands opened and thrusting outward.
It took only a second to realize that within the palms of those hands were small mouths. There were tiny pointed teeth displayed within the flesh, pale skin turning dark purple as the man reached for him. Screaming aloud in startled terror, Duo slipped into a shadow, appearing further down the alley. He turned to see the man’s confusion show as he searched for the homeless boy, and Duo took that opportunity to turn tail and start running.
Panting heavily, out of shape, Duo hurtled down the sidewalk, his eyes wide at the sight he’d seen in that man’s hands. He slammed through various people, ignoring their startled yells as he slipped into another shadow, emerging near the homeless shelter that was located seven blocks away from where he’d been sleeping. He ran in, arms above his head, shouting for help.
Hilde emerged from her office, stunned and wide-eyed, and he tried breathlessly tried to explain what he’d seen. Hilde nodded her head repeatedly, turning to race away to call the police while Duo drew a curious crowd. Panting heavily, wishing that he was in some semblance of good shape, Duo rested his hands upon his knees and bent at the waist in an effort to catch his breath.
The man’s face had been hidden by the various shadows of the alley, so he wouldn’t be able to identify him, even if faced with him. But those hands...he would recognize those hands no matter what. Those tiny mouths–the way the skin suddenly mottled dark purple and black when they began reaching for him---the way the man laughed softly under his breath---it made his heart race, even as he thought about it!
So that was the thing that was killing off the homeless, he thought, straightening. It had to be! And it had killed someone nearby!
Duo wondered how the guy had killed that person he was holding, and was kind of disturbed to relive the memory. He could see things more clearly now that he was wide awake, and had the last surges of adrenaline running through him.
The guy’s clothing had looked entirely familiar, but Duo couldn’t place it right at the moment. The man had been in the process of tearing off his victim’s jacket and shirt, exposing luminously pale skin and the jutting bones of the guy’s shoulder and joints. From what it looked like, the man had his mouth embedded deep within the throat area, drinking continuously leaking blood, laughing and whispering at the same time.
Duo shuddered, holding himself awkwardly. That man would have been doing the same to him if he hadn’t the ability to teleport via shadow. He looked around himself, watching as the others shuffled back to their previous areas, and Hilde approached him with worry, holding a warm cup of coffee and a blanket.
He took both graciously as she said, “The cops will come by to question you, but if that thing isn’t there when they check it out, they’re just going to let it go...”
Duo sputtered. “That thing’s dangerous! I wouldn’t be here right now, if–!”
“I’m sorry, Duo,” Hilde apologized, looking entirely pained. “You know how it is, buddy...”
Duo sighed uneasily, shaking his head. “It’s just not fair...we don’t have the same rights as everyone else, so things like that could pick us off without anyone really caring!”
“Did it hurt you?”
“No...but it had a guy...I think...I think he was dead, anyway...”
“Oh, Duo,” Hilde breathed, shaking her head as she stepped away from him. She couldn’t imagine what horror he was feeling. He was paler than usual, and his violet eyes were wide with panic. “Well...get warmed up here, buddy, and the cops should be here in a little while to take your incident report, all right?”
Duo nodded as Hilde turned away, sighing tiredly as she walked back to her broom-space closet. Duo closed his eyes as he sipped at the warm coffee, feeling entirely freaked out by the whole thing. Just knowing that something was out there, killing them for fun, and having no one really give it any mind left him feeling quite wretched. He felt that that none would be safe because the homeless weren’t held in the highest regard.
We’re still people! He thought in frustration as he walked to the cafeteria. He sank into an old metal chair and cradled the cup within both hands.
The police arrived more than an hour later, taking his report with nothing more than bored expressions and half-hearted promises to drive by the area to check it out. When they left, Duo was frustrated by the lack of response he’d received by their promises.
He then remembered that he’d left his life possessions in the Dumpster. He decided to leave the shelter to get them, watching as the cops he’d just spoke to cross the street to pick up an early breakfast at a nearby diner.
Growling in frustration, Duo slipped into a shadow, and cautiously emerged from one near the alley he’d left behind nearly two hours later. It was empty, the light of morning wiping away all traces of the darkness he’d left behind, and that man was no where in sight. Just to be sure, he lingered near the darker shadows as New York slowly came back to life.
His eyes searched for any cranny the man may be hiding in, and he chided himself for being so damned ridiculous.
The man had thousands of homeless to feed on–why bothering focusing on one soul, especially his? Cautiously, he began walking forward, eyes darting from side to side as he made his way to the Dumpster, where he’d left his things.
He eyed the fire escape level, seeing that dead guy still lying there. Shuddering, not wanting to come in any contact with some dead body, Duo hurried over to the Dumpster. He awkwardly climbed in to locate his two bags. He found the both of them and pulled them over the edge. He began to move away and start back to the shelter, but he found his attention drawn back up to the motionless body above him.
Frowning, thousands of questions and scenarios racing through his mind, Duo couldn’t help that he was intensely curious as to what that man had done. Sometimes, dead bodies were neat to look at.
Gulping nervously, Duo dropped his bags and climbed on top of the Dumpster, looking for a way to catch a hold of the ladder. It was nearly seven feet up from the Dumpster’s uneven slope roof. He walked to the edge of the Dumpster and tried leaping upward as high as he could. He ended up scraping his fingertips at the bottom railing of the fire escape ladder.
He caught hold with just the tips of his fingers, but couldn’t draw enough strength to pull himself up from that position at that moment. So, he turned away from the ladder and focused on the first level of the escape. It was the same height and distance, but he felt he had a better chance at climbing up from there. He eyed the thick railing that made up the bottom lining, and prepared to jump. It took several tries, but he finally managed a hand hold.
Grunting and struggling, legs kicking with the effort, he was able to throw an arm through the open bars of the metal floor. He managed to catch hold of one of the metal beams that kept the floor aloft with the tip of one of his worn shoes. Using that as leverage, he awkwardly pushed himself over the edge, grabbing hold of the railing, and pulled himself up into a standing position with a heaving sigh. He’d just gripped the railing with both hands to look over at the poor soul lying motionless on the floor level when loud laughter rang out.
Duo nearly fell as the sound surprised him. He looked down to see a boy his age, standing with his hands on his hips, staring up at him in amusement. His odd hairstyle hid one side of his face. He’d been watching Duo struggle with the climb all that time.
“What are you doing, bum?” the guy asked, voice deep but full with amusement. His handsome face was full of smirking mirth, but Duo noticed how empty those green eyes were. “Returning to the scene of the crime?”
“I didn’t do it!” Duo yelled back at him, suddenly afraid that he was going to be wrongfully blamed for the murder. He gestured wildly. “A man did it! I just came back to see if he was still alive!”
“Liar! You killed him!”
“I didn’t! I swear on Jesus I didn’t!”
“Oh please, don’t give me that religious crap,” the guy muttered, looking away with a shake of his head. Duo returned his attention to the lone figure lying on the fire escape level, noting that the guy was indeed familiar. It was his rival, and he looked deader than a doorknob. Wincing, Duo climbed over the railing, carefully stepping over the dripping blood that pumped slowly from gaping wounds .
He made a disgusted expression, his mouth contorting into a grimace. His entire body gave a violent shiver that sent hairs standing straight up. His rival’s skin was flayed in certain areas, allowing a direct view of drying muscle and fat. The dark blood that dripped from these open wounds smelled thick and made him hold his hand to his mouth.
“Well?! Is he dead?!” the guy shouted from below.
Duo frowned as he crouched, hanging onto the railing behind him. The guy couldn’t be dead if the blood was still pumping, right? He reached out, fingers shaking as he touched the large bruise he’d given the guy earlier during their previous fight. His rival’s skin was very cold to the touch, and it was obvious the guy was dead...but then, the blood was still flowing...
Frowning, figuring upon another way of determining if the guy was dead, Duo glanced over the railing at the guy below to see if he were watching, then subtly held out a hand, fingers shaking.
It was another gift of his that had crept up upon him one night, when a drinking buddy of his keeled over from natural causes...Duo had discovered upon accident that he could control the dead. It didn’t matter what shape or design the dead person was in; Duo could control him. Like...a necromancer.
And he wanted this dead body to rise and await his next command...but nothing worked. He tried again, willing the body to sit up and look at him. When there was no response, his heart leapt in relief. There was a chance that this young man might live. He leapt up.
“He’s still alive!” he shouted to the guy below, relief causing his words to break with a barking laugh.
The guy looked annoyed, then sighed in tired response, shoulders hanging. Then, right before Duo’s amazed eyes, the guy’s body shifted to that of a crow. The huge black bird took flight to land just outside the unconscious guy’s feet. The crow shifted to the guy’s lanky human form once more, and Duo stepped back to give him room, clutching the railing as the guy examined the unconscious boy’s injuries. With a frown, the guy began shifting the boy’s clothing back over his shoulder and neck area, and scooped up him easily within lean, strong arms.
“Catch!” he barked, speaking to someone that Duo couldn’t see. He watched in horror as the guy tossed the unconscious boy over the railing, toward the pavement below. A young man around their age appeared suddenly from the east end of the alley, just barely catching the frail form before impact with the street. Duo’s eyes widened, looking from one guy to the other, wondering what in the hell these mutants were doing.
“Barton! You fucking idiot!” the Chinese youth yelled in annoyance as he set the limp body down on the pavement, examining the wounds. “He...he’s still alive!”
“Who are you people?” Duo asked in stunned shock, watching as Barton looked at him with much indifference. Then, ignoring his question, he leapt over the railing to form into the crow once more. Duo repeated his question to the Chinese youth below, who was using his own jacket to stop the blood spurts that were now emerging from the blond’s neck.
The Chinese looked up at him with a frown, then gestured for him to come down. Awkwardly, Duo did as he asked, but lost his footing and fell into the Dumpster with a loud grunt. When he emerged, there was a Japanese youth running over from the west end, dressed the same way as the other two. He had an expression of annoyance as the crow pecked and flapped around his head with loud shrieks. Duo cautiously held his position near the Dumpster as the crow shifted back to human form, the Japanese youth crouching at the half dead boy’s side and examining the mangled throat.
“Sally can heal him if you hurry,” the Japanese said, in the coldest voice Duo ever recalled hearing. His face, set with a grim expression as his cobalt eyes perused the alley, was one of the handsomest he’d ever seen. Looking at the three now, Duo realized how attractive they all were, and raised his eyebrows with appreciation.
The Japanese looked at him, taking in his outfit as the Chinese lifted the homeless thief into his arms with a grunt, and was suddenly gone.
“What’s he?” the Japanese asked, jamming a thumb in Duo’s direction.
The other guy shrugged, transforming into a massive bald eagle and taking flight without another word. The Japanese frowned hard at the flying bird, then began walking toward Duo.
Duo immediately threw up his hands in surrender, crying aloud, “I didn’t do anything!”
“Did you see what happened?”
“Er...kind of...they were up there,” Duo said, pointing to the fire escape.
The Japanese focused an intense gaze at the homeless boy. “You saw who did this?”
“Not really...but it was a man...a man with really fucked up hands...he was like, drinking his blood,” Duo winced at the image, shivering. “And then he came at me, but I...like, used my powers to leave. Cuz I was freaked out.”
“What kind of powers? Are you a telepath?”
“Er..what’s that?”
“Can you read minds?”
“No. I wish, though. That would be fuckin’–”
“What kind of powers do you have, then?”
“Er, I can...control dead bodies. And, um...teleport through shadow.”
The Japanese gave him a bored expression, hips shifting with a cocky stance that revealed his indifference to the boy’s modest admission. Duo tried to smile, but his beard felt suddenly too cold to tolerate, and he was reminded that he had blood dripping on him earlier. He reached up, finding the matted mess near his left eye, and scratched at it.
“So...you saw a man, in the throes of...sucking blood? Like a vampire?” The Japanese guy repeated, raising forked eyebrows.
Duo was too busy staring at the tight pants that the guy was sporting, and looked up when he realized he was being asked a question.
“Er...yeah. You know? ‘I vant ta suck ya blood!’,” he reported in a very bad accent, hands raised and showing his canines. “That kinda thing...”
The Japanese youth was unimpressed, but set his lips grimly. He lowered his arms to his sides, beginning to walk away.
Duo followed after him, forgetting his bags. “Um, I gotta question for you...how do you get into those pants? Er...hello? Um...guy? Guy in the leather pants...hey!”
The Japanese turned, frowning in annoyance in Duo’s direction. He clenched large fists, and Duo took a few cautious steps back, noting that there was a sudden shortage of shadow in the alley. He shrugged sheepishly, hands crawling into his pockets.
Seeing nothing else to do, not wanting to hang around if that monster-man was hanging around bums, Duo hurried after him. “Listen, if you don’t mind...I’d like to hang out with you guys...I mean, that was my closest friend, and he’s the only one I’ve got in the world, and–”
“You’re a liability. Go rot in the alley somewhere...”
“Ooh...harsh, man. Way harsh. But seriously, that was my little bro! He was my bestest friend since–since we were really young, and I would hate that–!”
“Bullshit! Bullshit!”
Duo paused in place, wondering where in hell a parrot would dare address his lie that way. He looked around wildly as the Japanese searched as well. There, clutching the railing of the roof, was a green parrot. Another glance around told Duo that the eagle was missing...
He continued after the Japanese, continuing his protest. The parrot reverted back to the eagle, soaring off into the distance as they reached the sidewalk.
“So, is it all right if I hang out? I mean, I know what the guy looks like, and that’s my best friend he fucked over, and–!”
“Get out of here!”
“You can’t take him from me!” Duo shouted after him, pausing in the middle of the sidewalk. People began to stare as the Japanese continued to stalk away, powerful legs eating up the distance between them. Duo grunted with annoyance, stomped his foot, and howled, “USING HIM AS A SEX SLAVE WON’T HELP THE FACT THAT YOU’RE A MUTANT!!!”
Everyone began to stare in earnest as the Japanese cringed, then whirled to take care of the loudmouth homeless guy. Duo squeaked, turned and began to run, looking for a shadow to use to get away faster. But hands that had to be carved out of steel grasped the back of his neck and yanked him off his feet. He found himself on the cold sidewalk, being forcefully bent backwards in an uncomfortable angle to face the Japanese.
Looking down at him in fanatical fury, the Japanese hissed, “I will not tolerate your foul comments directed at my person, and the status of my genetic flaw!”
Duo grimaced, trying to ease the steely grip on his very fragile neck. “Er...I just...I just need to be there for him! He’s my best friend, my little bro–! I can’t just abandon him! He has issues, he has really powerful powers, and when he gets upset, he’s really, really powerful! I need to be there for him, cuz sometimes he just...he just explodes! He’s mentally fragile! He can’t handle this! He’ll kill you all–!”
“He might be telling the truth, Yuy.” Duo looked away from Yuy’s face to Barton, who appeared out of nowhere, looking unmistakably grim. “We don’t know what kind of powers he has, nor what mental stability he has...You know these bums...Maybe having his friend nearby will keep him calm...”
Yuy hesitated in letting Duo go, thinking over this possibility, then grunted as he released the small neck. “Fine. You bring him back with us, then, Barton.”
“I don’t wanna–!”
Yuy moved off in a sprint, and Barton growled in annoyance as Duo picked himself up from the sidewalk with a grin, brushing off his clothes. Barton looked at him in growling frustration, then suddenly merged into an Arabian, four legs prancing in agitation. Duo shook his head, backing away, not wanting any part of riding the animal. The horse shifted into that of an enraged silverback, of which frightened a great deal of pedestrians as they scattered from the offensive animal. Duo hurriedly moved toward the roaring animal, which shifted back to the Arabian. With an awkward fling of his body and a curse, Duo climbed onto its back and held tight to the mane.
The Arabian, decidedly unfit for the street and sidewalk with its unequipped hooves sliding all over the pavement, moved into a dashing sprint that had Duo howling in panicked fear. He hoped that wherever the mutant was taking him was much safer (and warmer) than it was here.
O0o0o0o0o0oO
The Victorian style house was set in the lower middle class environment near Staten Island, enclosed within a lovely, snow covered yard that was bordered with a picket fence. The four bedroom home was their safe house. It was the place where Wufei had taken the homeless thief.
The porch was empty, save for the dripping remains of melting snow in various areas, and Heero made sure to wipe his feet on the Welcome mat before pushing open the wide wooden door and walking into warmth. The stairway leading up to the third floor was carpeted in muted green color, matching the soft borders throughout the wood panel walls. He took the stairs three at a time, then emerged into the narrow third floor hallway that had a soft, green runner spread from one end of the hall to the other.
To his left were their shared master bedroom, where the boys had shared a room since day one of meeting Dr J, and their bathroom. Another room off to his left was the office in which Dr J had spoken to them previously, and the room in front of him consisted of the women’s work area, where they worked on their uniforms and fiddled with necessary electronic equipment. To Heero’s right was the women’s bedroom, the only place in the house they were forbidden to enter.
The large door was half open, and he could see activity within, so he stalked forward to that area. He pushed through the worn wooden door that led into the bedroom, bypassing Catherine Bloom sitting in a rocker nearby. She looked up from mending one of Wufei’s destroyed jackets. The petite, auburn haired woman was Trowa’s older sister, and had the ability to fix things. It didn’t matter if it were electronics, wood, clothing, or whatever–if it were broken, the woman had the touch to fix it. She was the eldest sister of the group, keeping the ‘boys’ in line. She was also Sally Po’s live-in lover, and had been for over twenty years.
“Where are they?” he asked, practically growling the question.
Catherine, her cheery eyes flitting over Heero’s scowl, nodded her head in the direction of the bathroom that was across the room. The room was large enough to accommodate a king sized bed, a hideously large armoire, a wooden chest, three dressers, and various odds and ends that women needed to have desperately in their bedrooms.
Amid the comfortable sights and smells of the room, the Japanese could smell the slight, wafting stench of an unwashed body and ventured over to the bathroom, pushing open the swinging door. He saw that the healer, Sally, was busily repairing what had been torn on the homeless thief. Wufei was assisting her, tilting the greasy head in one direction while Sally’s soft fingers mended torn skin. With a barely concealed grimace at the smell of an unwashed body and the sight of the ruined pale skin, Heero leaned against the doorframe and waited.
The bathroom was quite large, larger than their own, and it consisted of both a shower stall and tub, a wide sink with cabinets set around it, and a large walk-in closet just opposite of the sink. The toilet was encased within its own private stall, and decorated with girlish daisies and sunflowers. The room sickened him with its overkill of womanly presence, and he felt suffocated.
Sally Po and Catherine Bloom had worked with Dr J and his associates for years, assisting in the healing of his small staff and surrounding team members if they were ever hurt in battle. Her gift was appropriate for her caring nature, the woman quite knowledgeable in the art of medical science. The woman’s hands only had to smooth over broken skin and it was healed, necessary measures automatically taken with just a touch of her fingertips. Already, the young man’s throat was healed, and she was working on the sporadic puncture wounds that had destroyed gentle shoulder curves.
Heero frowned at the state of the homeless thief that had taken his wallet the other day, feeling intensely saddened that the monster they had been hunting had managed to take him. It wasn’t as if they knew each other, and Heero definitely didn’t care what happened to individuals outside their group, but this...this was somewhat different.
And he was feeling different. Foreign. Suddenly alien. Because as he stared at pale skin marred with sores due to malnutrition and harsh treatment due to the cold environment, he could feel a twist of agony in his belly. It was alien. Unknown. It made his chest clench and his throat clog with unknown emotion.
And as Wufei winced and tried holding his breath, Heero couldn’t help the sudden wave of protective annoyance over the stranger. Of course, the homeless couldn’t help that they were unclean. It wasn’t as if they had access to hygienic measures the way that they did. And so, it irritated him that Wufei was acting so damn...uncaring, when the Chinese youth definitely knew what it was like to go without hygienic measures for weeks on end.
“There!” Sally said, smiling as she covered her nose, wincing as her eyes burned at the foul stench. Waving her hand in front of her, she signaled for Wufei to straighten. She left the bathroom, smiling at Heero in greeting.
Heero shifted to allow her by, then watched as Wufei struggled to prop the homeless thief against the sink cabinet. Frowning in confusion, wondering what they were planning on doing with him, Heero turned to look after Sally, opening his mouth to question her. The sound of running water filling the large tub emerged quite suddenly from the bathroom he’d turned from.
Sally looked up sharply as staccato noises emerged into her impeccably kept Victorian house, Catherine emitting a tiny growl as a full grown Arabian burst into the quiet bedroom, with a howling boy clinging to its mane.
The animal was far too large to stand comfortably in the bedroom, mussing up throw rugs and various wooden stands as the three people struggled to stay out of its prancing hooves. The wooden floor underneath the sashaying horse creaked and groaned under the constant motion of the agitated animal.
“TROWA BARTON!! What did I say about having animals in the fucking house?!” Catherine fairly shrieked as Duo snapped his mouth shut upon realizing that they’d stopped.
Opening his eyes to catch a finely decorated woman’s room, he found himself falling unceremoniously to the hard wood floors when the Arabian horse shifted into a normal human frame.
“Oh? Who’s this?” Sally asked. Sally indicated Duo, looking at Heero for an explanation.
Heero muttered, “Says this guy’s his friend. Said he was a powerful mutant with mental instabilities, and that he was the only one that can calm him.”
“So we have a tagalong, huh?” Sally raised her eyebrows as Duo rose from the floor, legs shaking and weak from the maddening task of trying to stay atop of that mutant. “Well, it’s nice to meet you. Er...you’re homeless, too, I gather?”
“Whatever gave you that idea?” Duo asked on a grin, and Sally winced at the rotten tooth, and the absence of a few near the back. She was sure that she could fix what damage had been done, but expensive dental work would have to fix what was lost.
But as such, she shouldn’t make future plans when she didn’t even know what these two homeless boys were doing with the rest of the group. She was sure the trio had a plan or some sort, since the first one had definitely encountered their killer, so she trusted their judgement. After all, they were the ones best experienced with such things.
“I’m sure it wasn’t my impressively good looks,” Duo continued, looking at raggedy fingernails.
Sally snorted, and dropped what she had been she was carrying. Catherine looked away from Trowa to see what her lover was doing. Sally laughed as she picked up the various items she’d dropped.
“Whatever, man. Just... if you’re going to be here with your friend, you need to get cleaned...I will not tolerate such a stench in my home.”
“A free shower? Warmth? Lovely men and women to hold me hostage in strenuous sex hostage captivity? SURE!”
“We aren’t that way!” Heero growled at him, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at the grinning homeless boy with all his force.
Duo winced.
Sally stepped between them, raising her voice over the running water coming from the bathroom. “Trowa, get these boys something to wear...and find them fucking razors! I am not housing hideously ugly mountain men in my home...”
“Hey,” Duo complained, running his hands through his dark brown beard. “I am not shaving this off...this keeps me warm!”
“Shave it, or leave,” Sally growled, eyeing him. It was the first time in his life that Duo found himself nodding furiously to a command. With a smug smile, she walked over to Heero, depositing her things into his startled arms. “Towels...wash cloths, and these sweats should fit him. He might need a shirt and some...er, underwear...if you boys can help out in that aspect, I don’t think they want to be wearing Catherine’s or mine’s lacy underwear sets...”
“I have no problems against that,” Duo said.
Heero nodded, and Trowa walked away to do as Sally said. Fretting at the seemingly good deal of a shower and a warm place to stay, no matter that he was here on a very obvious lie, Duo fiddled with his greasy braid. He eyed the open door of the bathroom and the sounds from within.
“Er...is that guy dead, yet?”
Heero moved out from the bathroom, having heard the question. “That’s some way to address your ‘little bro’!”
Sally lifted an eyebrow. “He’s your brother?”
Duo reddened, nodding his head. “Yeah...my bestest friend...we’ve been wandering the streets for over...well...since I was...ten.”
“How old are you, now?”
“Er...maybe eighteen or nineteen...I lost track awhile ago. Being on the streets, it doesn’t really matter what age ya are.”
“Hmm. Any ID?”
“Yeah, right–!” Duo looked in horror upon himself, realizing that he was without his things. “Oh no! NOOOO! I left my things in that alley! I need them! I need–!”
He glanced around quickly, huffing and puffing, while Sally and Heero watched in confusion. Duo fell to the floor, discovering convenient shadow underneath the king sized bed and threw himself within. Sally and Heero wondered what Duo was doing underneath the bed when minutes ticked by in silence.
Confused, Heero moved past Sally, lifting the mattress to see that Duo was gone.
“He’s not there!” Sally exclaimed, looking around them. “What, does he regularly use beds to disappear?”
Heero remembered what Duo said about teleporting via shadow, and quickly dropped the mattress, moving away from it. Not even a few seconds later, Duo was crawling out from underneath the bed with both of his totes, grinning in satisfaction.
“They were still there!” he announced, setting them aside.
He began unwrapping himself, revealing nearly three layers of clothing over a skeletal body. Once settled in a pair of worn, gray sweats and a Pantera tee, Duo began shifting through his canvas bag, withdrawing a small leather book. He opened it to reveal his birth certificate and social security card, and held them out to Sally. Heero felt himself staring in Duo in pitying disgust–he remembered all too well how it felt being hungry constantly and dealing with a body that produced hideous side effects from starvation.
Duo was shorter than they, standing around five foot seven, and looked to be nearly a hundred pounds. His arms were thin, dusted with thick brown hair that was the body’s defense against the cold. His head was large in appearance, cheeks sunken, teeth pushing against his lips.
The straggly brown hairs of his beard concealed the harsh angles of his jaw, just barely disguising his mouth. His violet eyes were much too large to be attractive, and his nose was thin and very pointy. Heero could see more jutting bones in the form of his clavicle as his shirt collar hung loose and low. It certainly wasn’t attractive, to be that skinny. It wasn’t healthy, it wasn’t natural. But that’s how the street treated its people, and because he’d been there before, Heero couldn’t judge the young man.
Sally took the papers in confusion as Duo carefully replaced his things. Heero then looked at Sally as the woman read the information.
“This doesn’t list your parents,” she stated, looking down at Duo’s thin face.
“Yeah...I was slated for adoption, but...” Duo shrugged helplessly, hands falling into his lap. He actually had a pleasant voice, deep to avoid being labeled as girlish and too high to be labeled as a man. He was almost childlike in appearance, except for that ugly beard of his. “I don’t know what happened after that...preferably, I’d rather not think about it...”
“But you have no family?”
“No. If I did, do you think I’d be living out there?” Duo asked, reaching up to scratch behind his ear, then the back of his scalp.
Sally noticed the movement, and stepped back, hands fluttering protectively to her hair. She blinked as she looked at Heero. She then looked back at the bathroom. “Wufei! He might have lice!”
“Fuck!” Wufei howled from the bathroom, the sounds of water splashing ceasing suddenly.
“Oh, stop,” she muttered, feeling that familiar itch upon her scalp when one is in close proximity of someone with lice. Heero, without realizing it, reached up to scratch his head as Duo frowned at them in annoyance.
He held his braid protectively within both hands.
“You aren’t cutting my hair,” he growled in fury, startling the two from their thoughts. They looked down at Duo, growling like some caged animal, and assessed his threat.
Heero then straightened his shoulders and tossed his papersat Duo’s feet. He drew his body up, muscles flexing beneath his clothing, and clenched his fists.
“Put that away...get cleaned. When you’re ready, we’ll need to debrief you both...” he snarled, immediately asserting that because he was the strongest, he was the more dominant in this room.
Duo read the signals loud and clear. Like a beaten animal, he ducked his head and hunched his shoulders to admit his defeat against this menacing creature.
Sally merely rolled her eyes, entirely used to the constant bickering and assessing of male dominance within the household.
“What are you, military or some shit like that?” Duo asked, dropping his braid as he cautiously looked up at Heero, then Sally.
Heero grunted, not answering as Trowa walked into the room, carrying a laundry basket full of clothes he’d gathered from their room. He dropped the clothes on the bed, sniffed in Sally’s direction, then walked off, automatically punching Heero’s arm on the way. Heero growled, ready to leap at him, but calmed himself when he remembered that someone new was here and needed to be appropriately set in his place.
Sally scowled at Trowa’s back, then turned to Duo.
“Well...so be that...Look, I’ll leave you to your privacy, all right? Help out your friend, and call us when you’re ready to come out. He’s all healed, so he should be wakening up in a few minutes...just...try not to make so big of a mess, all right?”
Duo nodded as Wufei emerged from the bathroom, looking annoyed. He looked down at Duo in confused discovery, and pointed at him, mouth opening to give voice to a question. Sally rolled her eyes, slapped his hand out of the air, and pushed him toward the door.
Looking over her shoulder, Sally said, “And above all else, do not open any drawers and sniff any underwear...my woman likes to carve her initials in anyone that bothers her things without her permission...”
Duo saluted her as she pushed a stuttering Wufei from their room, slamming the door shut.
With a low whistle, Duo leaned back on his elbows and stared around the beautiful decorated room. Then, when he heard a low moan in the bathroom, he took a deep breath and rose from the floor, entirely prepared to meet his rival at his most vulnerable. Well, hell, at least they were warm and they were surrounded by hotties, right?
What wrong could come from this?
O0o0o0o0o0oO
Nearly an hour later, Catherine winced at the suddenly loud screams and shouts that were coming from their bedroom above their heads. She looked over at Heero with a questioning expression. She was worried about the condition of their room, and didn’t want Sally to get upset.
Everyone was seated in various areas throughout the spacious living room, either watching the morning news or fiddling with various personal forms of entertainment. Though she was worried about what was happening upstairs, she relied on the other three boy’s reactions. She figured that if they weren’t panicking, there was no need for her to panic.
“You said they were close, right?” she asked Heero, lifting an eyebrow.
The Japanese shrugged, having shed his jacket, gloves and boots. He was sitting in a wingback chair far against the back wall. Wufei had his jacket off as well, elbow-length gloves still in place, and he was concentrating on the television set. Trowa had abandoned their conversation in favor of becoming the very best Pokemon Master Trainer on his Gameboy Advanced.
“They had better not fuck up my glass animal set!” Sally growled as she emerged from the nearby kitchen. She was in the process of making breakfast, and she was growing discomfitted by the crashing sounds from their room.
There was the sound of running feet on the floor above their heads, causing her head to snap upward. Heero frowned, looking away from his fingernails at Wufei, who was shaking with the need to interrupt what was going on up there. The shouts were muffled, due to the soundproof walls, but the floors were thin, and they could hear the two boys running around in frenzied fury above them.
“Go check on them, Trowa!” Catherine growled, hurtling a throw pillow in her brother’s direction.
Trowa looked up from his Gameboy Advanced, and snapped his gum, looking annoyed that he was interrupted. “I wasn’t the one that wanted to bring them home. Get Heero to.”
“Trowa! You’re oldest!”
“But I’m dumber...I’m not capable of such things like Heero is,” Trowa complained, focusing on capturing an Evee with a Master Pokemon Ball. He cursed when the evil thing got away.
Heero smirked in his direction while Wufei shook his head.
“It’s about time you admitted that, Barton,” Heero snorted, rising from his chair.
“I am all that is man!” Trowa muttered.
Heero stalked out from the living room, making his way upstairs. He touched foot onto the last floor in time to hear Duo scream about being let go. He pushed the bedroom door open, and froze as two homeless boys looked away from their mad battle. The entire room was destroyed. There was a very quiet, but discernible hum that reverberated throughout the bedroom. It was quiet enough not to be disruptive, high enough to be noticed.
Heero blinked at the bedframe that now sat at an angle in the air, bed sheets hanging in a showering mess from the mattress, the whole thing inches from smashing into Duo. Along with the floating bed mass was the armoire, two of the dressers, the wooden chest and Catherine’s rocker. They were all waiting for their turn to smash Duo to a pancake form. Everything was floating–held in place by power unseen. Duo was hanging upside down, mashed against the far wall, braid dangling over the floor. He was clean shaven and wearing what looked to be Wufei’s old sweat set. It was obvious he was entirely out of shape. His face was red with exertion and sweat dripped from his every pore.
He was very different from what they’d seen an hour earlier. Heero had to perform a double-take just to make sure that it was the homeless boy. But it was, and what a change it was. Even from this angle, Duo was obviously very attractive. Well...he needed at least thirty more pounds to look healthy, but even so...Heero winced at his thoughts and looked at the other boy.
The other boy was dressed in Heero’s work out clothes, and was just as clean as Duo was. Heero found himself unwillingly mesmerized by the wide, panicked eyes that were neither green or blue, but an intriguing combination of both. Just as clean shaven as Duo, but with shaggier white blond hair and with a similar build as Duo’s, the boy was the most beautiful creature Heero had ever seen in his life. For the life of him, he couldn’t remember why he’d come up to the bedroom, and things just seemed to...filter out.
And what managed to filter in were small things–the way the frightened boy drew in a startled breath upon recognizing him, the way his pupils expanded to panicked size, the way his scent seemed to drown him with its intoxicating odor.
His mouth went dry and then suddenly very wet in almost the same instant. His breath caught in a thick pocket of pressure in his chest. He’d never felt such a reaction before, and was confused. Even so, even as if he’d felt time had suddenly stopped upon seeing the clean homeless thief for the first time, the others’ sense of time was still flying.
Suddenly, the heavier objects aside from the bed were thrown his way, and Heero jerked out of his spell by the need to protect himself, ducking underneath the flying armoire. The dressers slammed into him with crushing force. His strength was caught unprepared by the assault as Duo screamed for help from his position on the wall. Heero, finding a surge of maddened fury that stemmed from his surprising reaction to the boy and from the attack, reacted with a fierce shout.
He punched through the wooden containers, clothes showering everywhere, wood flying in various direction. Through the cracking explosions, he plowed past the armoire, and reached out to grab the telekinetic, to force him to stop the attack. But the telekinetic shifted attention, lifting the bed from Duo and slamming it full force into Heero. Wood shattered once more, and Heero found himself merging into the thick, sound-proof walls of the bathroom. The bed crushed him with both its mass and the enormous pressure exerted by the telekinesis, but he managed to slip out and slide to the floor. The bed and its frame slammed into the wall, the heavy posts breaking through the wood and plaster.
Duo shouted in surprise as he was slammed into Heero as a last resort, the homeless boy hitting hard into Heero’s unmovable frame. With a grunt, Duo hit the floor, knocked windless and senseless as Heero stepped over his falling frame and grabbed Quatre’s throat, cutting off air.
The boy stiffened in his grip, releasing his concentration on his powers and clutching at Heero’s arm. Heero found himself intensely riveted by the large aquamarine eyes that stared at him in fear. Freshly shaven skin felt warm within his hand; it was smooth, moistened with sweat... Heero found himself in the same state as before, with his mouth a combination of wet/dry, his chest clenching with pulsing reaction, his gut twisting.
Only now that he was so close, touching...breathing...feeling...things were different. His belly curled with heat, and his skin tingled with intense awareness, prickling almost painfully. His groin filled with an uncomfortable fullness, and there was a ringing noise in his head that didn’t stop. So close to this beautiful being, so close...it was as if all his senses had up and left him, leaving behind the more uncomfortable, unknown ones.
Wufei was on him suddenly, shouting words Heero couldn’t understand amid the roar of blood in his ears. The clamor of stunning lust, of captivated cognizance of the enchanting mutant he held in one hand had him completely shut off from the outside world.
When he finally realized he was killing the boy with his grip, he released him immediately. The mutant began coughing violently from the sudden intake of air that he’d lost from the crushing grip, trying to breathe normally despite the aftereffects of being choked.
Feeling as if he’d just run a grueling triathalon throughout the Tri-State area, Heero inhaled sharply. Blinking dazed eyes, Heero had to turn and stumble away, in massive confusion over his feelings and the utterly odd reaction he felt just being near the guy.
He stumbled past Trowa, who had noticed his state of being. Frowning after him, not even bothering to react with his usual pestering, Trowa then looked back at the boy Wufei was trying to reassure, and frowned harder.
Emotions of the caring nature were beyond him. Trowa had never cared, liked, or anything in such sense toward anyone. Catherine had worried that he was some sort of sociopath, unable to connect with others on such a level, but he was quite capable of feeling annoyance, hate, and frustration...and many other things...he just didn’t care for anyone.
And so, when he saw Heero’s surprising reaction to a creature that looked entirely incapable of anything dangerous, Trowa had to wonder what in hell was in store for the lot of them, for the future.
Standard Disclaimers Apply: Don’t own Gundam Wing nor X-Men
Notes: Some stuff was changed around, here. I deleted some stuff, added some stuff, so it’s still the long winded, pompous bag that ya’ll are familiar with–just with some differences.
O0o0o0o0o0oO means scene change
Chapter Two:
Determined Bounds
Duo heard something that didn’t fit with his tormented dreams of cold and snow, so when he awoke to hear soft laughter and moving bodies on the fire escape above his head, he grew wide awake. Listening, wondering if he were some kind of danger, he then heard what sounded like grotesque body noises. Wincing, Duo hunched his shoulders within his comfortable Dumpster bed and pulled his wool cap over his ears.
Grumbling about thrill-seeking people in the throes of sex, he wiggled more firmly within his bed and tried to settle into a mode of sleeping once more. But then laughter escalated to harsh whispers, of which made the hairs on the back of his neck rise as he listened to promises of death and bodily destruction. Then there were sudden wet plops of thick substance dripping onto his exposed cheek, and the abrupt feel of warm liquid stunned his entire system.
His eyes opened wide and his whole body stiffened as the man laughed softly again. The creaking of metal let Duo know that whatever was going on was going to be extremely messy. He didn’t want anything dripping down on him while some monster got his rocks off in murdering whomever, so he quickly shifted up and out of the Dumpster. With his movement, he looked upward to see a startled man. He was looking over the railing of the second floor fire escape, cradling a motionless body against him.
Duo frowned at the sight, wishing he’d grabbed his bags first, but turned and began walking, shivering at the cruel gaze the man had given him. There was a sudden creaking of metal that had him very wary, so he turned, in time to see the man leaping over the railing and advancing on him, hands opened and thrusting outward.
It took only a second to realize that within the palms of those hands were small mouths. There were tiny pointed teeth displayed within the flesh, pale skin turning dark purple as the man reached for him. Screaming aloud in startled terror, Duo slipped into a shadow, appearing further down the alley. He turned to see the man’s confusion show as he searched for the homeless boy, and Duo took that opportunity to turn tail and start running.
Panting heavily, out of shape, Duo hurtled down the sidewalk, his eyes wide at the sight he’d seen in that man’s hands. He slammed through various people, ignoring their startled yells as he slipped into another shadow, emerging near the homeless shelter that was located seven blocks away from where he’d been sleeping. He ran in, arms above his head, shouting for help.
Hilde emerged from her office, stunned and wide-eyed, and he tried breathlessly tried to explain what he’d seen. Hilde nodded her head repeatedly, turning to race away to call the police while Duo drew a curious crowd. Panting heavily, wishing that he was in some semblance of good shape, Duo rested his hands upon his knees and bent at the waist in an effort to catch his breath.
The man’s face had been hidden by the various shadows of the alley, so he wouldn’t be able to identify him, even if faced with him. But those hands...he would recognize those hands no matter what. Those tiny mouths–the way the skin suddenly mottled dark purple and black when they began reaching for him---the way the man laughed softly under his breath---it made his heart race, even as he thought about it!
So that was the thing that was killing off the homeless, he thought, straightening. It had to be! And it had killed someone nearby!
Duo wondered how the guy had killed that person he was holding, and was kind of disturbed to relive the memory. He could see things more clearly now that he was wide awake, and had the last surges of adrenaline running through him.
The guy’s clothing had looked entirely familiar, but Duo couldn’t place it right at the moment. The man had been in the process of tearing off his victim’s jacket and shirt, exposing luminously pale skin and the jutting bones of the guy’s shoulder and joints. From what it looked like, the man had his mouth embedded deep within the throat area, drinking continuously leaking blood, laughing and whispering at the same time.
Duo shuddered, holding himself awkwardly. That man would have been doing the same to him if he hadn’t the ability to teleport via shadow. He looked around himself, watching as the others shuffled back to their previous areas, and Hilde approached him with worry, holding a warm cup of coffee and a blanket.
He took both graciously as she said, “The cops will come by to question you, but if that thing isn’t there when they check it out, they’re just going to let it go...”
Duo sputtered. “That thing’s dangerous! I wouldn’t be here right now, if–!”
“I’m sorry, Duo,” Hilde apologized, looking entirely pained. “You know how it is, buddy...”
Duo sighed uneasily, shaking his head. “It’s just not fair...we don’t have the same rights as everyone else, so things like that could pick us off without anyone really caring!”
“Did it hurt you?”
“No...but it had a guy...I think...I think he was dead, anyway...”
“Oh, Duo,” Hilde breathed, shaking her head as she stepped away from him. She couldn’t imagine what horror he was feeling. He was paler than usual, and his violet eyes were wide with panic. “Well...get warmed up here, buddy, and the cops should be here in a little while to take your incident report, all right?”
Duo nodded as Hilde turned away, sighing tiredly as she walked back to her broom-space closet. Duo closed his eyes as he sipped at the warm coffee, feeling entirely freaked out by the whole thing. Just knowing that something was out there, killing them for fun, and having no one really give it any mind left him feeling quite wretched. He felt that that none would be safe because the homeless weren’t held in the highest regard.
We’re still people! He thought in frustration as he walked to the cafeteria. He sank into an old metal chair and cradled the cup within both hands.
The police arrived more than an hour later, taking his report with nothing more than bored expressions and half-hearted promises to drive by the area to check it out. When they left, Duo was frustrated by the lack of response he’d received by their promises.
He then remembered that he’d left his life possessions in the Dumpster. He decided to leave the shelter to get them, watching as the cops he’d just spoke to cross the street to pick up an early breakfast at a nearby diner.
Growling in frustration, Duo slipped into a shadow, and cautiously emerged from one near the alley he’d left behind nearly two hours later. It was empty, the light of morning wiping away all traces of the darkness he’d left behind, and that man was no where in sight. Just to be sure, he lingered near the darker shadows as New York slowly came back to life.
His eyes searched for any cranny the man may be hiding in, and he chided himself for being so damned ridiculous.
The man had thousands of homeless to feed on–why bothering focusing on one soul, especially his? Cautiously, he began walking forward, eyes darting from side to side as he made his way to the Dumpster, where he’d left his things.
He eyed the fire escape level, seeing that dead guy still lying there. Shuddering, not wanting to come in any contact with some dead body, Duo hurried over to the Dumpster. He awkwardly climbed in to locate his two bags. He found the both of them and pulled them over the edge. He began to move away and start back to the shelter, but he found his attention drawn back up to the motionless body above him.
Frowning, thousands of questions and scenarios racing through his mind, Duo couldn’t help that he was intensely curious as to what that man had done. Sometimes, dead bodies were neat to look at.
Gulping nervously, Duo dropped his bags and climbed on top of the Dumpster, looking for a way to catch a hold of the ladder. It was nearly seven feet up from the Dumpster’s uneven slope roof. He walked to the edge of the Dumpster and tried leaping upward as high as he could. He ended up scraping his fingertips at the bottom railing of the fire escape ladder.
He caught hold with just the tips of his fingers, but couldn’t draw enough strength to pull himself up from that position at that moment. So, he turned away from the ladder and focused on the first level of the escape. It was the same height and distance, but he felt he had a better chance at climbing up from there. He eyed the thick railing that made up the bottom lining, and prepared to jump. It took several tries, but he finally managed a hand hold.
Grunting and struggling, legs kicking with the effort, he was able to throw an arm through the open bars of the metal floor. He managed to catch hold of one of the metal beams that kept the floor aloft with the tip of one of his worn shoes. Using that as leverage, he awkwardly pushed himself over the edge, grabbing hold of the railing, and pulled himself up into a standing position with a heaving sigh. He’d just gripped the railing with both hands to look over at the poor soul lying motionless on the floor level when loud laughter rang out.
Duo nearly fell as the sound surprised him. He looked down to see a boy his age, standing with his hands on his hips, staring up at him in amusement. His odd hairstyle hid one side of his face. He’d been watching Duo struggle with the climb all that time.
“What are you doing, bum?” the guy asked, voice deep but full with amusement. His handsome face was full of smirking mirth, but Duo noticed how empty those green eyes were. “Returning to the scene of the crime?”
“I didn’t do it!” Duo yelled back at him, suddenly afraid that he was going to be wrongfully blamed for the murder. He gestured wildly. “A man did it! I just came back to see if he was still alive!”
“Liar! You killed him!”
“I didn’t! I swear on Jesus I didn’t!”
“Oh please, don’t give me that religious crap,” the guy muttered, looking away with a shake of his head. Duo returned his attention to the lone figure lying on the fire escape level, noting that the guy was indeed familiar. It was his rival, and he looked deader than a doorknob. Wincing, Duo climbed over the railing, carefully stepping over the dripping blood that pumped slowly from gaping wounds .
He made a disgusted expression, his mouth contorting into a grimace. His entire body gave a violent shiver that sent hairs standing straight up. His rival’s skin was flayed in certain areas, allowing a direct view of drying muscle and fat. The dark blood that dripped from these open wounds smelled thick and made him hold his hand to his mouth.
“Well?! Is he dead?!” the guy shouted from below.
Duo frowned as he crouched, hanging onto the railing behind him. The guy couldn’t be dead if the blood was still pumping, right? He reached out, fingers shaking as he touched the large bruise he’d given the guy earlier during their previous fight. His rival’s skin was very cold to the touch, and it was obvious the guy was dead...but then, the blood was still flowing...
Frowning, figuring upon another way of determining if the guy was dead, Duo glanced over the railing at the guy below to see if he were watching, then subtly held out a hand, fingers shaking.
It was another gift of his that had crept up upon him one night, when a drinking buddy of his keeled over from natural causes...Duo had discovered upon accident that he could control the dead. It didn’t matter what shape or design the dead person was in; Duo could control him. Like...a necromancer.
And he wanted this dead body to rise and await his next command...but nothing worked. He tried again, willing the body to sit up and look at him. When there was no response, his heart leapt in relief. There was a chance that this young man might live. He leapt up.
“He’s still alive!” he shouted to the guy below, relief causing his words to break with a barking laugh.
The guy looked annoyed, then sighed in tired response, shoulders hanging. Then, right before Duo’s amazed eyes, the guy’s body shifted to that of a crow. The huge black bird took flight to land just outside the unconscious guy’s feet. The crow shifted to the guy’s lanky human form once more, and Duo stepped back to give him room, clutching the railing as the guy examined the unconscious boy’s injuries. With a frown, the guy began shifting the boy’s clothing back over his shoulder and neck area, and scooped up him easily within lean, strong arms.
“Catch!” he barked, speaking to someone that Duo couldn’t see. He watched in horror as the guy tossed the unconscious boy over the railing, toward the pavement below. A young man around their age appeared suddenly from the east end of the alley, just barely catching the frail form before impact with the street. Duo’s eyes widened, looking from one guy to the other, wondering what in the hell these mutants were doing.
“Barton! You fucking idiot!” the Chinese youth yelled in annoyance as he set the limp body down on the pavement, examining the wounds. “He...he’s still alive!”
“Who are you people?” Duo asked in stunned shock, watching as Barton looked at him with much indifference. Then, ignoring his question, he leapt over the railing to form into the crow once more. Duo repeated his question to the Chinese youth below, who was using his own jacket to stop the blood spurts that were now emerging from the blond’s neck.
The Chinese looked up at him with a frown, then gestured for him to come down. Awkwardly, Duo did as he asked, but lost his footing and fell into the Dumpster with a loud grunt. When he emerged, there was a Japanese youth running over from the west end, dressed the same way as the other two. He had an expression of annoyance as the crow pecked and flapped around his head with loud shrieks. Duo cautiously held his position near the Dumpster as the crow shifted back to human form, the Japanese youth crouching at the half dead boy’s side and examining the mangled throat.
“Sally can heal him if you hurry,” the Japanese said, in the coldest voice Duo ever recalled hearing. His face, set with a grim expression as his cobalt eyes perused the alley, was one of the handsomest he’d ever seen. Looking at the three now, Duo realized how attractive they all were, and raised his eyebrows with appreciation.
The Japanese looked at him, taking in his outfit as the Chinese lifted the homeless thief into his arms with a grunt, and was suddenly gone.
“What’s he?” the Japanese asked, jamming a thumb in Duo’s direction.
The other guy shrugged, transforming into a massive bald eagle and taking flight without another word. The Japanese frowned hard at the flying bird, then began walking toward Duo.
Duo immediately threw up his hands in surrender, crying aloud, “I didn’t do anything!”
“Did you see what happened?”
“Er...kind of...they were up there,” Duo said, pointing to the fire escape.
The Japanese focused an intense gaze at the homeless boy. “You saw who did this?”
“Not really...but it was a man...a man with really fucked up hands...he was like, drinking his blood,” Duo winced at the image, shivering. “And then he came at me, but I...like, used my powers to leave. Cuz I was freaked out.”
“What kind of powers? Are you a telepath?”
“Er..what’s that?”
“Can you read minds?”
“No. I wish, though. That would be fuckin’–”
“What kind of powers do you have, then?”
“Er, I can...control dead bodies. And, um...teleport through shadow.”
The Japanese gave him a bored expression, hips shifting with a cocky stance that revealed his indifference to the boy’s modest admission. Duo tried to smile, but his beard felt suddenly too cold to tolerate, and he was reminded that he had blood dripping on him earlier. He reached up, finding the matted mess near his left eye, and scratched at it.
“So...you saw a man, in the throes of...sucking blood? Like a vampire?” The Japanese guy repeated, raising forked eyebrows.
Duo was too busy staring at the tight pants that the guy was sporting, and looked up when he realized he was being asked a question.
“Er...yeah. You know? ‘I vant ta suck ya blood!’,” he reported in a very bad accent, hands raised and showing his canines. “That kinda thing...”
The Japanese youth was unimpressed, but set his lips grimly. He lowered his arms to his sides, beginning to walk away.
Duo followed after him, forgetting his bags. “Um, I gotta question for you...how do you get into those pants? Er...hello? Um...guy? Guy in the leather pants...hey!”
The Japanese turned, frowning in annoyance in Duo’s direction. He clenched large fists, and Duo took a few cautious steps back, noting that there was a sudden shortage of shadow in the alley. He shrugged sheepishly, hands crawling into his pockets.
Seeing nothing else to do, not wanting to hang around if that monster-man was hanging around bums, Duo hurried after him. “Listen, if you don’t mind...I’d like to hang out with you guys...I mean, that was my closest friend, and he’s the only one I’ve got in the world, and–”
“You’re a liability. Go rot in the alley somewhere...”
“Ooh...harsh, man. Way harsh. But seriously, that was my little bro! He was my bestest friend since–since we were really young, and I would hate that–!”
“Bullshit! Bullshit!”
Duo paused in place, wondering where in hell a parrot would dare address his lie that way. He looked around wildly as the Japanese searched as well. There, clutching the railing of the roof, was a green parrot. Another glance around told Duo that the eagle was missing...
He continued after the Japanese, continuing his protest. The parrot reverted back to the eagle, soaring off into the distance as they reached the sidewalk.
“So, is it all right if I hang out? I mean, I know what the guy looks like, and that’s my best friend he fucked over, and–!”
“Get out of here!”
“You can’t take him from me!” Duo shouted after him, pausing in the middle of the sidewalk. People began to stare as the Japanese continued to stalk away, powerful legs eating up the distance between them. Duo grunted with annoyance, stomped his foot, and howled, “USING HIM AS A SEX SLAVE WON’T HELP THE FACT THAT YOU’RE A MUTANT!!!”
Everyone began to stare in earnest as the Japanese cringed, then whirled to take care of the loudmouth homeless guy. Duo squeaked, turned and began to run, looking for a shadow to use to get away faster. But hands that had to be carved out of steel grasped the back of his neck and yanked him off his feet. He found himself on the cold sidewalk, being forcefully bent backwards in an uncomfortable angle to face the Japanese.
Looking down at him in fanatical fury, the Japanese hissed, “I will not tolerate your foul comments directed at my person, and the status of my genetic flaw!”
Duo grimaced, trying to ease the steely grip on his very fragile neck. “Er...I just...I just need to be there for him! He’s my best friend, my little bro–! I can’t just abandon him! He has issues, he has really powerful powers, and when he gets upset, he’s really, really powerful! I need to be there for him, cuz sometimes he just...he just explodes! He’s mentally fragile! He can’t handle this! He’ll kill you all–!”
“He might be telling the truth, Yuy.” Duo looked away from Yuy’s face to Barton, who appeared out of nowhere, looking unmistakably grim. “We don’t know what kind of powers he has, nor what mental stability he has...You know these bums...Maybe having his friend nearby will keep him calm...”
Yuy hesitated in letting Duo go, thinking over this possibility, then grunted as he released the small neck. “Fine. You bring him back with us, then, Barton.”
“I don’t wanna–!”
Yuy moved off in a sprint, and Barton growled in annoyance as Duo picked himself up from the sidewalk with a grin, brushing off his clothes. Barton looked at him in growling frustration, then suddenly merged into an Arabian, four legs prancing in agitation. Duo shook his head, backing away, not wanting any part of riding the animal. The horse shifted into that of an enraged silverback, of which frightened a great deal of pedestrians as they scattered from the offensive animal. Duo hurriedly moved toward the roaring animal, which shifted back to the Arabian. With an awkward fling of his body and a curse, Duo climbed onto its back and held tight to the mane.
The Arabian, decidedly unfit for the street and sidewalk with its unequipped hooves sliding all over the pavement, moved into a dashing sprint that had Duo howling in panicked fear. He hoped that wherever the mutant was taking him was much safer (and warmer) than it was here.
O0o0o0o0o0oO
The Victorian style house was set in the lower middle class environment near Staten Island, enclosed within a lovely, snow covered yard that was bordered with a picket fence. The four bedroom home was their safe house. It was the place where Wufei had taken the homeless thief.
The porch was empty, save for the dripping remains of melting snow in various areas, and Heero made sure to wipe his feet on the Welcome mat before pushing open the wide wooden door and walking into warmth. The stairway leading up to the third floor was carpeted in muted green color, matching the soft borders throughout the wood panel walls. He took the stairs three at a time, then emerged into the narrow third floor hallway that had a soft, green runner spread from one end of the hall to the other.
To his left were their shared master bedroom, where the boys had shared a room since day one of meeting Dr J, and their bathroom. Another room off to his left was the office in which Dr J had spoken to them previously, and the room in front of him consisted of the women’s work area, where they worked on their uniforms and fiddled with necessary electronic equipment. To Heero’s right was the women’s bedroom, the only place in the house they were forbidden to enter.
The large door was half open, and he could see activity within, so he stalked forward to that area. He pushed through the worn wooden door that led into the bedroom, bypassing Catherine Bloom sitting in a rocker nearby. She looked up from mending one of Wufei’s destroyed jackets. The petite, auburn haired woman was Trowa’s older sister, and had the ability to fix things. It didn’t matter if it were electronics, wood, clothing, or whatever–if it were broken, the woman had the touch to fix it. She was the eldest sister of the group, keeping the ‘boys’ in line. She was also Sally Po’s live-in lover, and had been for over twenty years.
“Where are they?” he asked, practically growling the question.
Catherine, her cheery eyes flitting over Heero’s scowl, nodded her head in the direction of the bathroom that was across the room. The room was large enough to accommodate a king sized bed, a hideously large armoire, a wooden chest, three dressers, and various odds and ends that women needed to have desperately in their bedrooms.
Amid the comfortable sights and smells of the room, the Japanese could smell the slight, wafting stench of an unwashed body and ventured over to the bathroom, pushing open the swinging door. He saw that the healer, Sally, was busily repairing what had been torn on the homeless thief. Wufei was assisting her, tilting the greasy head in one direction while Sally’s soft fingers mended torn skin. With a barely concealed grimace at the smell of an unwashed body and the sight of the ruined pale skin, Heero leaned against the doorframe and waited.
The bathroom was quite large, larger than their own, and it consisted of both a shower stall and tub, a wide sink with cabinets set around it, and a large walk-in closet just opposite of the sink. The toilet was encased within its own private stall, and decorated with girlish daisies and sunflowers. The room sickened him with its overkill of womanly presence, and he felt suffocated.
Sally Po and Catherine Bloom had worked with Dr J and his associates for years, assisting in the healing of his small staff and surrounding team members if they were ever hurt in battle. Her gift was appropriate for her caring nature, the woman quite knowledgeable in the art of medical science. The woman’s hands only had to smooth over broken skin and it was healed, necessary measures automatically taken with just a touch of her fingertips. Already, the young man’s throat was healed, and she was working on the sporadic puncture wounds that had destroyed gentle shoulder curves.
Heero frowned at the state of the homeless thief that had taken his wallet the other day, feeling intensely saddened that the monster they had been hunting had managed to take him. It wasn’t as if they knew each other, and Heero definitely didn’t care what happened to individuals outside their group, but this...this was somewhat different.
And he was feeling different. Foreign. Suddenly alien. Because as he stared at pale skin marred with sores due to malnutrition and harsh treatment due to the cold environment, he could feel a twist of agony in his belly. It was alien. Unknown. It made his chest clench and his throat clog with unknown emotion.
And as Wufei winced and tried holding his breath, Heero couldn’t help the sudden wave of protective annoyance over the stranger. Of course, the homeless couldn’t help that they were unclean. It wasn’t as if they had access to hygienic measures the way that they did. And so, it irritated him that Wufei was acting so damn...uncaring, when the Chinese youth definitely knew what it was like to go without hygienic measures for weeks on end.
“There!” Sally said, smiling as she covered her nose, wincing as her eyes burned at the foul stench. Waving her hand in front of her, she signaled for Wufei to straighten. She left the bathroom, smiling at Heero in greeting.
Heero shifted to allow her by, then watched as Wufei struggled to prop the homeless thief against the sink cabinet. Frowning in confusion, wondering what they were planning on doing with him, Heero turned to look after Sally, opening his mouth to question her. The sound of running water filling the large tub emerged quite suddenly from the bathroom he’d turned from.
Sally looked up sharply as staccato noises emerged into her impeccably kept Victorian house, Catherine emitting a tiny growl as a full grown Arabian burst into the quiet bedroom, with a howling boy clinging to its mane.
The animal was far too large to stand comfortably in the bedroom, mussing up throw rugs and various wooden stands as the three people struggled to stay out of its prancing hooves. The wooden floor underneath the sashaying horse creaked and groaned under the constant motion of the agitated animal.
“TROWA BARTON!! What did I say about having animals in the fucking house?!” Catherine fairly shrieked as Duo snapped his mouth shut upon realizing that they’d stopped.
Opening his eyes to catch a finely decorated woman’s room, he found himself falling unceremoniously to the hard wood floors when the Arabian horse shifted into a normal human frame.
“Oh? Who’s this?” Sally asked. Sally indicated Duo, looking at Heero for an explanation.
Heero muttered, “Says this guy’s his friend. Said he was a powerful mutant with mental instabilities, and that he was the only one that can calm him.”
“So we have a tagalong, huh?” Sally raised her eyebrows as Duo rose from the floor, legs shaking and weak from the maddening task of trying to stay atop of that mutant. “Well, it’s nice to meet you. Er...you’re homeless, too, I gather?”
“Whatever gave you that idea?” Duo asked on a grin, and Sally winced at the rotten tooth, and the absence of a few near the back. She was sure that she could fix what damage had been done, but expensive dental work would have to fix what was lost.
But as such, she shouldn’t make future plans when she didn’t even know what these two homeless boys were doing with the rest of the group. She was sure the trio had a plan or some sort, since the first one had definitely encountered their killer, so she trusted their judgement. After all, they were the ones best experienced with such things.
“I’m sure it wasn’t my impressively good looks,” Duo continued, looking at raggedy fingernails.
Sally snorted, and dropped what she had been she was carrying. Catherine looked away from Trowa to see what her lover was doing. Sally laughed as she picked up the various items she’d dropped.
“Whatever, man. Just... if you’re going to be here with your friend, you need to get cleaned...I will not tolerate such a stench in my home.”
“A free shower? Warmth? Lovely men and women to hold me hostage in strenuous sex hostage captivity? SURE!”
“We aren’t that way!” Heero growled at him, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at the grinning homeless boy with all his force.
Duo winced.
Sally stepped between them, raising her voice over the running water coming from the bathroom. “Trowa, get these boys something to wear...and find them fucking razors! I am not housing hideously ugly mountain men in my home...”
“Hey,” Duo complained, running his hands through his dark brown beard. “I am not shaving this off...this keeps me warm!”
“Shave it, or leave,” Sally growled, eyeing him. It was the first time in his life that Duo found himself nodding furiously to a command. With a smug smile, she walked over to Heero, depositing her things into his startled arms. “Towels...wash cloths, and these sweats should fit him. He might need a shirt and some...er, underwear...if you boys can help out in that aspect, I don’t think they want to be wearing Catherine’s or mine’s lacy underwear sets...”
“I have no problems against that,” Duo said.
Heero nodded, and Trowa walked away to do as Sally said. Fretting at the seemingly good deal of a shower and a warm place to stay, no matter that he was here on a very obvious lie, Duo fiddled with his greasy braid. He eyed the open door of the bathroom and the sounds from within.
“Er...is that guy dead, yet?”
Heero moved out from the bathroom, having heard the question. “That’s some way to address your ‘little bro’!”
Sally lifted an eyebrow. “He’s your brother?”
Duo reddened, nodding his head. “Yeah...my bestest friend...we’ve been wandering the streets for over...well...since I was...ten.”
“How old are you, now?”
“Er...maybe eighteen or nineteen...I lost track awhile ago. Being on the streets, it doesn’t really matter what age ya are.”
“Hmm. Any ID?”
“Yeah, right–!” Duo looked in horror upon himself, realizing that he was without his things. “Oh no! NOOOO! I left my things in that alley! I need them! I need–!”
He glanced around quickly, huffing and puffing, while Sally and Heero watched in confusion. Duo fell to the floor, discovering convenient shadow underneath the king sized bed and threw himself within. Sally and Heero wondered what Duo was doing underneath the bed when minutes ticked by in silence.
Confused, Heero moved past Sally, lifting the mattress to see that Duo was gone.
“He’s not there!” Sally exclaimed, looking around them. “What, does he regularly use beds to disappear?”
Heero remembered what Duo said about teleporting via shadow, and quickly dropped the mattress, moving away from it. Not even a few seconds later, Duo was crawling out from underneath the bed with both of his totes, grinning in satisfaction.
“They were still there!” he announced, setting them aside.
He began unwrapping himself, revealing nearly three layers of clothing over a skeletal body. Once settled in a pair of worn, gray sweats and a Pantera tee, Duo began shifting through his canvas bag, withdrawing a small leather book. He opened it to reveal his birth certificate and social security card, and held them out to Sally. Heero felt himself staring in Duo in pitying disgust–he remembered all too well how it felt being hungry constantly and dealing with a body that produced hideous side effects from starvation.
Duo was shorter than they, standing around five foot seven, and looked to be nearly a hundred pounds. His arms were thin, dusted with thick brown hair that was the body’s defense against the cold. His head was large in appearance, cheeks sunken, teeth pushing against his lips.
The straggly brown hairs of his beard concealed the harsh angles of his jaw, just barely disguising his mouth. His violet eyes were much too large to be attractive, and his nose was thin and very pointy. Heero could see more jutting bones in the form of his clavicle as his shirt collar hung loose and low. It certainly wasn’t attractive, to be that skinny. It wasn’t healthy, it wasn’t natural. But that’s how the street treated its people, and because he’d been there before, Heero couldn’t judge the young man.
Sally took the papers in confusion as Duo carefully replaced his things. Heero then looked at Sally as the woman read the information.
“This doesn’t list your parents,” she stated, looking down at Duo’s thin face.
“Yeah...I was slated for adoption, but...” Duo shrugged helplessly, hands falling into his lap. He actually had a pleasant voice, deep to avoid being labeled as girlish and too high to be labeled as a man. He was almost childlike in appearance, except for that ugly beard of his. “I don’t know what happened after that...preferably, I’d rather not think about it...”
“But you have no family?”
“No. If I did, do you think I’d be living out there?” Duo asked, reaching up to scratch behind his ear, then the back of his scalp.
Sally noticed the movement, and stepped back, hands fluttering protectively to her hair. She blinked as she looked at Heero. She then looked back at the bathroom. “Wufei! He might have lice!”
“Fuck!” Wufei howled from the bathroom, the sounds of water splashing ceasing suddenly.
“Oh, stop,” she muttered, feeling that familiar itch upon her scalp when one is in close proximity of someone with lice. Heero, without realizing it, reached up to scratch his head as Duo frowned at them in annoyance.
He held his braid protectively within both hands.
“You aren’t cutting my hair,” he growled in fury, startling the two from their thoughts. They looked down at Duo, growling like some caged animal, and assessed his threat.
Heero then straightened his shoulders and tossed his papersat Duo’s feet. He drew his body up, muscles flexing beneath his clothing, and clenched his fists.
“Put that away...get cleaned. When you’re ready, we’ll need to debrief you both...” he snarled, immediately asserting that because he was the strongest, he was the more dominant in this room.
Duo read the signals loud and clear. Like a beaten animal, he ducked his head and hunched his shoulders to admit his defeat against this menacing creature.
Sally merely rolled her eyes, entirely used to the constant bickering and assessing of male dominance within the household.
“What are you, military or some shit like that?” Duo asked, dropping his braid as he cautiously looked up at Heero, then Sally.
Heero grunted, not answering as Trowa walked into the room, carrying a laundry basket full of clothes he’d gathered from their room. He dropped the clothes on the bed, sniffed in Sally’s direction, then walked off, automatically punching Heero’s arm on the way. Heero growled, ready to leap at him, but calmed himself when he remembered that someone new was here and needed to be appropriately set in his place.
Sally scowled at Trowa’s back, then turned to Duo.
“Well...so be that...Look, I’ll leave you to your privacy, all right? Help out your friend, and call us when you’re ready to come out. He’s all healed, so he should be wakening up in a few minutes...just...try not to make so big of a mess, all right?”
Duo nodded as Wufei emerged from the bathroom, looking annoyed. He looked down at Duo in confused discovery, and pointed at him, mouth opening to give voice to a question. Sally rolled her eyes, slapped his hand out of the air, and pushed him toward the door.
Looking over her shoulder, Sally said, “And above all else, do not open any drawers and sniff any underwear...my woman likes to carve her initials in anyone that bothers her things without her permission...”
Duo saluted her as she pushed a stuttering Wufei from their room, slamming the door shut.
With a low whistle, Duo leaned back on his elbows and stared around the beautiful decorated room. Then, when he heard a low moan in the bathroom, he took a deep breath and rose from the floor, entirely prepared to meet his rival at his most vulnerable. Well, hell, at least they were warm and they were surrounded by hotties, right?
What wrong could come from this?
O0o0o0o0o0oO
Nearly an hour later, Catherine winced at the suddenly loud screams and shouts that were coming from their bedroom above their heads. She looked over at Heero with a questioning expression. She was worried about the condition of their room, and didn’t want Sally to get upset.
Everyone was seated in various areas throughout the spacious living room, either watching the morning news or fiddling with various personal forms of entertainment. Though she was worried about what was happening upstairs, she relied on the other three boy’s reactions. She figured that if they weren’t panicking, there was no need for her to panic.
“You said they were close, right?” she asked Heero, lifting an eyebrow.
The Japanese shrugged, having shed his jacket, gloves and boots. He was sitting in a wingback chair far against the back wall. Wufei had his jacket off as well, elbow-length gloves still in place, and he was concentrating on the television set. Trowa had abandoned their conversation in favor of becoming the very best Pokemon Master Trainer on his Gameboy Advanced.
“They had better not fuck up my glass animal set!” Sally growled as she emerged from the nearby kitchen. She was in the process of making breakfast, and she was growing discomfitted by the crashing sounds from their room.
There was the sound of running feet on the floor above their heads, causing her head to snap upward. Heero frowned, looking away from his fingernails at Wufei, who was shaking with the need to interrupt what was going on up there. The shouts were muffled, due to the soundproof walls, but the floors were thin, and they could hear the two boys running around in frenzied fury above them.
“Go check on them, Trowa!” Catherine growled, hurtling a throw pillow in her brother’s direction.
Trowa looked up from his Gameboy Advanced, and snapped his gum, looking annoyed that he was interrupted. “I wasn’t the one that wanted to bring them home. Get Heero to.”
“Trowa! You’re oldest!”
“But I’m dumber...I’m not capable of such things like Heero is,” Trowa complained, focusing on capturing an Evee with a Master Pokemon Ball. He cursed when the evil thing got away.
Heero smirked in his direction while Wufei shook his head.
“It’s about time you admitted that, Barton,” Heero snorted, rising from his chair.
“I am all that is man!” Trowa muttered.
Heero stalked out from the living room, making his way upstairs. He touched foot onto the last floor in time to hear Duo scream about being let go. He pushed the bedroom door open, and froze as two homeless boys looked away from their mad battle. The entire room was destroyed. There was a very quiet, but discernible hum that reverberated throughout the bedroom. It was quiet enough not to be disruptive, high enough to be noticed.
Heero blinked at the bedframe that now sat at an angle in the air, bed sheets hanging in a showering mess from the mattress, the whole thing inches from smashing into Duo. Along with the floating bed mass was the armoire, two of the dressers, the wooden chest and Catherine’s rocker. They were all waiting for their turn to smash Duo to a pancake form. Everything was floating–held in place by power unseen. Duo was hanging upside down, mashed against the far wall, braid dangling over the floor. He was clean shaven and wearing what looked to be Wufei’s old sweat set. It was obvious he was entirely out of shape. His face was red with exertion and sweat dripped from his every pore.
He was very different from what they’d seen an hour earlier. Heero had to perform a double-take just to make sure that it was the homeless boy. But it was, and what a change it was. Even from this angle, Duo was obviously very attractive. Well...he needed at least thirty more pounds to look healthy, but even so...Heero winced at his thoughts and looked at the other boy.
The other boy was dressed in Heero’s work out clothes, and was just as clean as Duo was. Heero found himself unwillingly mesmerized by the wide, panicked eyes that were neither green or blue, but an intriguing combination of both. Just as clean shaven as Duo, but with shaggier white blond hair and with a similar build as Duo’s, the boy was the most beautiful creature Heero had ever seen in his life. For the life of him, he couldn’t remember why he’d come up to the bedroom, and things just seemed to...filter out.
And what managed to filter in were small things–the way the frightened boy drew in a startled breath upon recognizing him, the way his pupils expanded to panicked size, the way his scent seemed to drown him with its intoxicating odor.
His mouth went dry and then suddenly very wet in almost the same instant. His breath caught in a thick pocket of pressure in his chest. He’d never felt such a reaction before, and was confused. Even so, even as if he’d felt time had suddenly stopped upon seeing the clean homeless thief for the first time, the others’ sense of time was still flying.
Suddenly, the heavier objects aside from the bed were thrown his way, and Heero jerked out of his spell by the need to protect himself, ducking underneath the flying armoire. The dressers slammed into him with crushing force. His strength was caught unprepared by the assault as Duo screamed for help from his position on the wall. Heero, finding a surge of maddened fury that stemmed from his surprising reaction to the boy and from the attack, reacted with a fierce shout.
He punched through the wooden containers, clothes showering everywhere, wood flying in various direction. Through the cracking explosions, he plowed past the armoire, and reached out to grab the telekinetic, to force him to stop the attack. But the telekinetic shifted attention, lifting the bed from Duo and slamming it full force into Heero. Wood shattered once more, and Heero found himself merging into the thick, sound-proof walls of the bathroom. The bed crushed him with both its mass and the enormous pressure exerted by the telekinesis, but he managed to slip out and slide to the floor. The bed and its frame slammed into the wall, the heavy posts breaking through the wood and plaster.
Duo shouted in surprise as he was slammed into Heero as a last resort, the homeless boy hitting hard into Heero’s unmovable frame. With a grunt, Duo hit the floor, knocked windless and senseless as Heero stepped over his falling frame and grabbed Quatre’s throat, cutting off air.
The boy stiffened in his grip, releasing his concentration on his powers and clutching at Heero’s arm. Heero found himself intensely riveted by the large aquamarine eyes that stared at him in fear. Freshly shaven skin felt warm within his hand; it was smooth, moistened with sweat... Heero found himself in the same state as before, with his mouth a combination of wet/dry, his chest clenching with pulsing reaction, his gut twisting.
Only now that he was so close, touching...breathing...feeling...things were different. His belly curled with heat, and his skin tingled with intense awareness, prickling almost painfully. His groin filled with an uncomfortable fullness, and there was a ringing noise in his head that didn’t stop. So close to this beautiful being, so close...it was as if all his senses had up and left him, leaving behind the more uncomfortable, unknown ones.
Wufei was on him suddenly, shouting words Heero couldn’t understand amid the roar of blood in his ears. The clamor of stunning lust, of captivated cognizance of the enchanting mutant he held in one hand had him completely shut off from the outside world.
When he finally realized he was killing the boy with his grip, he released him immediately. The mutant began coughing violently from the sudden intake of air that he’d lost from the crushing grip, trying to breathe normally despite the aftereffects of being choked.
Feeling as if he’d just run a grueling triathalon throughout the Tri-State area, Heero inhaled sharply. Blinking dazed eyes, Heero had to turn and stumble away, in massive confusion over his feelings and the utterly odd reaction he felt just being near the guy.
He stumbled past Trowa, who had noticed his state of being. Frowning after him, not even bothering to react with his usual pestering, Trowa then looked back at the boy Wufei was trying to reassure, and frowned harder.
Emotions of the caring nature were beyond him. Trowa had never cared, liked, or anything in such sense toward anyone. Catherine had worried that he was some sort of sociopath, unable to connect with others on such a level, but he was quite capable of feeling annoyance, hate, and frustration...and many other things...he just didn’t care for anyone.
And so, when he saw Heero’s surprising reaction to a creature that looked entirely incapable of anything dangerous, Trowa had to wonder what in hell was in store for the lot of them, for the future.