Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Psychotic America ❯ Gotta Catch 'Em All... ( Chapter 3 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: Manga-Chick 
The introduction of the mad man
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Hentai / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 09.20.2005 | Pages: 3 | Words: 7.4K | Visits: 420 | Status: Completed
The introduction of the mad man
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Hentai / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 09.20.2005 | Pages: 3 | Words: 7.4K | Visits: 420 | 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 Three:
Gotta Catch ‘Em All
Wufei tried to keep his cool. He tried telling himself over and over that he should be used to two males bickering over whose powers were the coolest and who should be the leader. But as the two homeless boys battled it out in a flurry of words and powers, he found himself trembling with the need to explode. Catherine had joined Sally to help make breakfast; Trowa was too busy being the very best; and Heero was...well, Heero couldn’t stop staring at the blond, and if Wufei didn’t know any better, that pillow on his lap was there for a very good reason.
Duo was screaming about how happy he that the boy was still alive, and the other guy was screaming in some other language and thickly accented English about what a liar he was. The pair of them were currently in mortal battle near the front door. Without their powers, the two homeless boys, frail from malnutrition and starvation, did nothing that looked harmful to the other.
They hit hard, but they didn’t seem so menacing because of the lack of strength behind it. Wufei was saddened that they were so thin and weak, but his pity was quickly dashed away when Quatre used his powers to slam Duo into the floor, and Duo used his own powers to teleport quickly for an up close contact fist to the face.
Finally, when a sickening thud of body against wood registered, someone’s shout of pain ringing throughout the house, Wufei rose from his position with a low growl and stomped over.
“You go, girl,” Trowa muttered from his chair, and Heero grunted some kind of answering reply. Wufei ignored them both as he stepped between the battling mutants. He grabbed one’s braid and the other’s ear, yanking them from any contact with each other.
“I am SICK and TIRED of this!” Wufei howled, shaking both as Catherine emerged from the kitchen, looking relieved at the intervention. “BOTH of you SHUT UP, sit DOWN, and DON’T MOVE! Any one of you MOVES, even LOOKS in the other’s direction, I will personally CHOP OFF your damned manhoods and spoon feed it to YOU! GOT IT?!”
“Just a quick question,” Duo managed, holding up a finger.
“WHAT?” Wufei growled, peering at him, grip tightening.
“How in the world do you move in those pants?”
Wufei paused, startled at the question, and was very self conscious all of a sudden. He looked down at his pants, never once noticing their fitting condition. Then, because Duo had noticed, Wufei was suddenly very embarrassed. Because if one homeless nobody noticed the way they fit, how many countless others had as well? He let go of both, muttering underneath his breath as he stalked away to annoy Sally, to ask in privacy what she thought of his pants.
Duo rubbed his scalp, frowning as he watched very high, very hard buttocks shift in those tight pants. He whistled lowly. Quatre rubbed his ear, wincing, and frowned as Duo watched Wufei walk off.
“You like that?” he asked lowly, giving his rival a grimace.
“Ooh, very much,” Duo answered, rubbing his hands. “We’re surrounded by guys with tight, firm asses and look as if they save damsels in distress every day! What’s not to like?!”
With a disgusted frown, Quatre muttered under his breath about eunuch homos and walked off. Duo heard the comment, and whirled. He opened his mouth to give a reply when Trowa called from the other room, “Wufei! They’re fighting again! You’d better come back here and feed them!”
When Wufei stalked out from the kitchen, Duo took off running for the safety of the living room, flying to land on the couch. He pulled a pillow against his chest as Wufei eyed him menacingly when he entered the living room, then relaxed when the Chinese resumed his own sitting position nearby. Sighing with relief that he’d escaped, Duo looked at Heero. The mutant quickly turned his head to look in the other direction to somehow avoid any conversation with the homeless boy.
“So...who are you dudes?” Duo asked, blinking as he eyed one attractive face to the other. All three were spectacularly built, individually handsome, and quite annoyingly perfect.
From what he’d seen, Heero and Wufei were the same height, five foot nine, but Trowa stood two inches taller.
Heero was packed with firm, tight muscle on a lean body. His clothes fit in such a way that his legs appeared long and his fists quite large. His piercing eyes were often clouded with an intense scowl, his Asian features very pronounced in the thin bones and narrow facial structure. He strutted his stuff with his shoulders straight, his back completely rigid, and his feet eating up ground. He exuded a particular aura of dangerousness that seemed to overwhelm any normal human. He made Duo feel as if he had to tiptoe constantly around him, and to avoid making any sudden movements.
Wufei was slender, but moved with a feline grace with every movement he made. His limbs were thin, but ridged with tight muscle. With every step he took, Duo thought he was going to start running at any instant. Anybody who moved with their toes had killer calves, and he was caught wondering what Wufei’s looked like. The boy (man, really, but he acted so much like a boy) had a exotic face, with black, slanted eyes that were dusted with thick lashes. He had regal eyebrows that were really thin lines of black feathered hair above his onyx eyes, and lips that were constantly curved with unsettling disapproval. Duo really liked the look of him, simply because Wufei looked the type to rile very easily, and he loved to rile people.
Trowa was tall, but he had a thin frame and looked absolutely indifferent to everything around him. Sure, his hair was weird, jutting out from his forehead and constantly in the process of hiding one side of his face, but the boy’s features were pleasant enough to ignore the bang. His uncaring green eyes were shrouded by long, reddish lashes, and there was a smattering of light freckles over a straight, pointed nose. Duo liked his lips most of all because one was fuller than the other, curving into a pout. Duo had to wonder about the freakishly stylish thin build he had, through–the guy looked as if he carried muscle, but he sure didn’t show it.
Then there was his rival. His rival (what the fuck was his name?!) was just as slender as he, skeletal in fact, and he had all his teeth, damn him. They were white, straight, and annoyingly healthy. If Duo didn’t know any better, this guy must’ve stole some bucks to take his stinky ass to the dentist regularly. But besides that, he had extremely white blond hair that was in the same condition as his; dandruff ridden, lice infested grunge that needed proper maintenance and repair. He also had somewhat delicate features, with a heart shaped face, bow-shaped lips that looked annoyingly pretty, and eyes that were the color of the sea...they were surrounded by lashes that were long and the same color as his hair. Delicate brows were pulled into a current frown, and Duo wondered if he had any competition in trying to snag one of these deliciously handsome men that had rescued them from a monster unknown...
He wasn’t sure, he thought the guy preferred girls, but who knew? It was further annoying because the guy was...well...pretty in a way. Not pretty as in Gee-The-Girls-Would-Be-Jealous, but pretty as in Ryan Philipe pretty. The kind that gave drag queens jealous fits.
Well...he always thought that Ryan Philipe was a fag, anyway...
“No one you should be concerned with,” Wufei grumbled to his earlier question, settling back on the couch. “Who wants the remote?”
“Ooh! Ooh! I do! I do!” Duo shouted, raising his hand.
“I didn’t ask you...”
“Damn it! Fucking Evee!!” Trowa cursed, hurling the Gameboy Advanced across the room. Quatre ducked just in time to avoid collision.
Heero smirked in Trowa’s direction. “Couldn’t catch ‘em all, huh?”
“Damn straight. Fuck off, Yuy. I don’t see any Evees in your collection.”
“What are you doing digging around in my collection?”
Duo stared from one bickering face to the other, stunned at the sight of two, twenty year old males, equipped with some of the coolest powers he’d ever seen in all this time, arguing over Pokemon. If he were an anime character, an extra large sweatdrop would be posted over his head. He looked away from the rising voices and looked at Wufei.
“So....who are you guys?” he asked again, shifting closer to the Chinese to allow himself to be heard over the deep voices.
Wufei immediately scuttled to the love seat to avoid Duo, then looked at Quatre wearily. Just being near the two made his scalp tingle. They were a far cry from what they had been before their baths, but just because they’d scrubbed their scalps with shampoo and rinsed off enough dirt to clog the drain, didn’t mean that the lice bugs were gone as well.
“How far do nits jump?” he wondered aloud, forcefully resisting the impulse to reach up and scratch out of reflex.
Quatre immediately hunched his shoulders, leaning far from Wufei to keep his bugs from jumping, face burning with embarrassment. Duo frowned and looked at his braid, picking through the straggly strands, then scratching behind his ears.
“I seriously don’t know,” he answered. “They never bothered me before...”
Wufei groaned, rising from the love seat and walking off, roaring for some sort of plastic hair covering. He walked into the kitchen, to ask Sally for some hair protection. The woman whirled on him, pointing at him with a spatula.
“I have twenty dollars in my purse. Go to the store, pick up at least seven boxes of Rit,” she commanded.
Wufei’s eyes widened with annoyance. “I AM NOT DOING SUCH A THING! EVERYONE WILL THINK THAT I HAVE LICE!”
“DO IT NOW!” Sally screamed, making him wince.
Slinking off, Wufei muttered underneath his breath as he did what she said. He figured that he wouldn’t stop to pay for it–he’d just risk this one time to run into the store, pick up the boxes, and leave before anyone was the wiser. Thank science for his mutant gene in granting him superspeed...
As he left, Sally sighed heavily, shoulders hanging. Catherine smiled in fond affection in her direction, withdrawing plates from a nearby cabinet to set the dining table. She had added two more leafs to it, to accommodate their new additions. The rectangular table was long enough to seat six on each side, with one at the head and end, and they usually sat in normal disorder during all their meals. Sally believed in firmly set time lines, and tried to have their meals at the table during appointed moments of the day. Since it was nearly nine, it was breakfast. At noon, they would have lunch. Dinner was always at six.
“I seriously don’t know what to do with these guys,” Sally groaned as she straightened from her heavy position. “They’re twenty fucking years old, and they act more like ten! Especially Trowa and Heero!”
“Men never grow out of it,” Catherine declared as she walked into the dining room, setting the table. “They stay young no matter their age...”
“Yes, I suppose that’s true,” Sally muttered as she returned to her sausage. She frowned as she realized she’d burnt one side. “How much do you think those other two will eat? I seriously think Trowa has a eating disorder...are you watching him?”
“Sally, he’s not throwing up his meals!” Catherine insisted, rolling her eyes at the old argument. “He’s always been that way!”
“And Heero...shit, this entire batch is barely enough to feed him...and Wufei doesn’t eat meat...those other two will probably eat anything that’s set in front of them...”
“Yeah...give them extra. Do we have any protein shakes?”
“Are...are we keeping them?” Sally asked cautiously, lowering her voice. Catherine peered at her, pausing in setting the last plate down on the table. Then she shrugged, Sally turning back to the stove. “They are homeless...it’s not like anyone would miss them, and they are mutants...J could use them. Duo’s powers are pretty interesting...I know they sometimes have trouble infiltrating places because they can’t get around certain obstacles...and J’s always wanted someone with mental powers.”
“Does he read minds?”
“Who?”
“Those boys...any one of them...”
“I don’t know, unless we ask.”
“When are those old bastards coming over?” Catherine then asked, helping Sally carry out their breakfast, setting the serving dishes through the middle of the table.
“Around eight tonight. Plenty of time to give those guys a break...they’ve been up all night looking for that guy.” Sally put down the last dish, and hollered for Heero and the others. While she waited for the troops to walk into the dining room, there was a cold rush of air that hit her, letting her know that Wufei was back.
Panting, Wufei held out a plastic bag, stuffed full of Rit. Sally took the bag, grinning. “Excellent. You can help me later on.”
“I WILL NOT–!”
“Do it, or DIE, Chang!”
“Get Trowa to do it,” Wufei muttered as said subject walked in, catching his name.
“What?”
“Pick nits.”
“Ew. Why would I want to do that? Let them do it on their own–it’s their hair,” Trowa muttered as he took his usual post at the right end, next to Catherine. The other three sat, but Duo and Quatre lingered near the entrance way, salivating at the smells.
Sally gestured at them to join them, and Duo bounced right over, taking a seat next to Wufei with a broad grin. Wufei stared at him suspiciously, then scooted his chair closer to Trowa. Trowa made a low growling deep within his throat at the invasion of space, but Catherine batted his knuckles with the back of her spoon. Sally looked at Quatre, who continued to linger, looking quite uncertain about the entire thing.
“Come on, man!” Duo waved at him, Sally making him a plate. “Get over here and eat.”
Quatre shook his head, taking a step back from them, eyeing them all in suspicion. “No.”
“Why not?” Duo asked, mouth full of food. His attention moved from the abundant breakfast to focus on the lone figure that stood in the entranceway, ready to flee at any moment’s notice.
Quatre shook his head again, crossing his arms over his growling stomach.
“How is this not a trick?” he demanded, having been fooled before. Nothing came for free–there was always a price that one had to pay. “No. How do I know this isn’t a trick?”
“We aren’t going to do anything to you,” Catherine cajoled, gesturing at the seat next to Heero. “Just take a seat...we promise we won’t do anything...”
“No.”
“Jesus fucking Christ, quit wasting your time,” Trowa muttered as he began picking at his eggs. “If he doesn’t want to eat, let him fucking starve.”
“Look, we’ll test your food,” Sally said, quickly whipping up a plate and taking a bite out of everything she’d served. After a few chews, she gestured with the plate. “See?”
While his stomach growled in frustration, clenching and roiling with both unease and the need to consume, Quatre didn’t want any part of it. This was simply too good to be given freely–there had to be some drawback to the entire thing. The rescuing, the healing, the cleaning, the clothing, the food...there was something to be had at the end of the line, and he didn’t want to stick around to find out. Yet, the house was warm, the clothes didn’t stink, and he felt clean...and there was so much food in front of him... He wanted to give in, but he just didn’t trust the situation.
Duo began to realize this as well, having crammed nearly everything on his plate before doing so. He rose from his chair, hurrying to stand next to Quatre. After swallowing what he had in his mouth, Duo narrowed his eyes, staring at the stumped features of the people before them.
“Yeah! What the hell, man? What the fuck is with the free stuff? What’s the kick?”
“There’s no kick,” Sally answered, lowering Quatre’s plate to the table. “There’s absolutely nothing...you both hadn’t had this type of thing in quite a long while, and we’re giving it to you...there’s nothing to be afraid of. You can trust us.”
“Yeah, right, lady. There was this guy I knew? And he was a bum like us, and this group of people gave him the same shit that we’re getting now, and we never heard from him again!” Duo snarled, but the effect was lost because his mouth was covered with crumbs and ketchup stains. “Actually, we heard he got sold into some slavery ring down in Mexico and then ended up working for the mafia, but then again, he could have just gotten a job and didn’t bother letting the rest of us know...”
“This isn’t any sort of sex slavery ring, or anything of the sort!” Wufei exclaimed, lowering his fork. “We’re just helping you out. It’s very rude to refuse our hospitality...”
“...it’s better to be rude than foolish,” Quatre muttered as Duo nodded, wiping his mouth.
“Did it taste poisoned?” Heero growled at Duo, lifting an eyebrow. “Are you feeling any effects?”
Duo rolled his eyes to the ceiling, touching his shifting tummy. It wasn’t settling well with the delicious food, but he just had to wait. He wasn’t sure what to expect from poisoned food, but suspected that it was something similar to spoiled food. Waiting for a few minutes, Duo shook his head.
“But really, there’s shit out there that won’t kick in until, like, twelve hours later!” he added.
“Fine. Let them starve,” Wufei muttered, returning to his plate.
“Please...I know that you two have suffered quite a great deal of trust issues and things like that out there, but it’s not like that here!” Catherine pleaded, rising from her chair. “We just want to help you, not hurt you!”
Quatre shook his head once more, and Duo stubbornly crossed his arms over his chest, but couldn’t ignore the hungry sounds from his stomach. He had a taste of that good grub, and he wanted more. But now that he understood what was causing Quatre to hesitate, he had to admit that his rival had a good point. He, too, had been tricked before. He was foolish, but hey–he got along.
Heero gave a low growl, pushing his chair back with a furious expression. He then strode over to them both. They didn’t have the chance to turn tail and run as Heero grabbed Duo’s braid and Quatre’s hair, yanking them both to the table. He forced them down into their seats, slapped the remaining serving dishes of potatoes and eggs before them, and roared, “EAT!”
Duo winced, hurriedly picking up a fork and eating without abandon. Quatre cringed, but folded his hands on his lap and refused to move.
“Gee, Heero, can you terrify them a little more?” Trowa drawled, pushing his eggs aside to create a pyramid out of potatoes.
Sally pointed her fork at the display to Catherine, who rolled her eyes and kicked Trowa’s shin underneath the table. He winced and concentrated on eating.
Heero glared in his direction, trying to concentrate despite the suffocating smell of Quatre’s scent wafting into his nostrils.
“Can you do better?” he asked, looking entirely sarcastic.
“As a matter of fact...”
Trowa wiped his mouth, sniffed, then shifted into the shape of a black mamba, slithering through the table settings and posting in front of Quatre, who stared at him with terror. Heero crossed his arms as the snake hissed threateningly, rearing upward, ready to strike. With a quiet hum, Quatre’s telekinetic power slammed into place, swatting the snake clear off the table as Heero laughed mockingly.
Trowa shifted out of the snake to human form. He whirled quickly to face the offender, fists raised. Heero grew intensely murderous at that instant, and moved to intercept.
Wufei was there between the both of them, growling as he shoved both boys away from each other.
“Can’t we just sit and eat in peace, for ONCE?!” he screamed as Sally hung her head into her hands and Catherine rubbed at a headache. Duo, seeing that Quatre wasn’t going to eat, snagged the serving of eggs and began to cram that into his mouth, humming with appreciation.
“LOOK!” Sally then caught their attention, slamming her hands down on the table and rising from her chair. Pointing at Quatre with a spoon, she said, “If you don’t want to eat, fine. Just know that there’s food there in the fridge and the cupboards, and if you’re hungry, you’re welcome to help yourself to what’s there. If you need help, just let any of us know, all right?”
When there was no answering reply or confirmation, Sally turned to the boys. “SIT YOUR CHILDISH BUTTS DOWN and FINISH your food!”
“I’m not hungry,” Trowa muttered, stalking off as Wufei glared in his direction. Heero resumed his seat.
“Bloody Christ...I’m too old for this shit...” Sally mumbled as she sat back down in her chair, resuming eating.
Catherine watched as Wufei took his seat once more, glanced over the table at the quiet blond, then resumed eating. She figured that if he got hungry enough, he’d manage to get something to eat.
O0o0o0o0o0oO
Wufei blinked as he watched the boy fidget before them, nervously shifting from one ass cheek to the other, eyeing all of them with simple regard. Duo didn’t seem to sit still for even a second, and Wufei wondered where all that energy came from. He knew that Duo was feeling rather sick from his large meal, and he couldn’t blame him. There was a point and time when he was the same way, when he gorged himself on all that he could, sure that he would never have the same chance again.
Duo was holding his stomach, trying to ignore the noisy shifting and gurgling of the extremely full organ, but he was too intensely focused on the conversation between Sally and Heero that kept the boy from losing all that he’d consumed.
Really, Duo wasn’t all that bad looking. Wufei would never consider himself homosexual, but he did find appreciation in his fellow males’ bodies. It wasn’t something obvious, the way Duo was doing with the rest of them, but something of an admiration.
It was completely different from the way he viewed his two ‘brothers’. Sure, the pair were absolutely exasperating, but that was what made them so unique. He suspected that Trowa worked Heero’s nerves simply because he knew how, not because he liked it. And Heero had an abominable need to control and dominate over a great deal of things in his life, simply because he hadn’t had the chance before Dr J.
Sally and Catherine were the closest the boys could come to in terms of mother and sister figures–they were pretty tough when it came to discipline and etiquette. And Wufei had come to love them in terms of his own. Trowa was indifferent by both, and Heero didn’t like it when a woman tried telling him what he should think or feel. But then again, Heero didn’t like it when anybody told him what he should be doing...
That was just how they were. Their personalities and opinions most often clashed, but they weren’t trying to kill each other...and they all got along well on a certain level. Trowa and Heero compromised only when confronted by danger, or if, by some rare chance, they agreed on something. Wufei loved them the way a man would love his brothers–they were a pain in the ass, but hey, they were there.
So he wondered what the two newcomers thought of their ragtag group. Duo was intensely fascinated by them, Wufei could tell. It was very obvious. And from what his personality showed, Duo was pretty much reliable. Resilient. Eager to please....but there was something lacking in those wide, violet eyes of his. Something...entirely off. Duo would be looking at something, focusing on it entirely, but he was hiding something. Wufei wasn’t sure what, if it were good or bad, but when Duo had to look away from Heero’s ass or from Trowa’s crotch, Wufei caught the dark flickers of something else. What that something else was...Wufei wasn’t sure.
He didn’t feel that the boy was wrong on any level–he was comfortably neutral. But it bothered Wufei that Duo was hiding something. Be it dangerous or soothing, it was something Wufei had to keep an eye on. If their group was threatened by something that could destroy them without them realizing that it had been a threat in the first place, he would never forgive himself. So, Wufei kept a close eye on that one.
The other one...the other one completely fell off his threat radar. Quatre was so...harmless. Meek.
He didn’t volunteer anything about himself. Duo had just finished giving them an hour long speech of his whereabouts (he’d migrated throughout the Tri-State area during his twenty or so years of life), his origins (he was born in the Bronx, but didn’t feel any real ‘connection’ there), what mixed ethnicity he was(he wasn’t sure if he were just plain Caucasian, or something exotic, like Canadian), what color he liked best (black, duh), what food he liked (anything warm), how much he loved their pants (how embarrassing) and why he had his hair long (likes it that way). And the other didn’t utter a word.
It didn’t matter that Quatre obviously didn’t speak that much English, but he looked intelligent enough to try. Whatever question he was asked, he’d answered it in a stilted way, putting together sharply accented words to the person’s satisfaction. When it came to asking where he came from, if he had a family, Quatre simply shut his mouth and stared at the table without bothering to answer.
Wufei had to commend Sally and Catherine for their determination in trying to draw out the blond’s origins. They were very persistent, and he had to admire that. Quatre didn’t give him his name nor bothered to volunteer it, deciding against such things in an effort to keep from being pulled into some imaginary trap. Duo, being the ‘close’ bro that he was, didn’t even know his name.
So, when it looked as if the ladies were giving up, everyone moving to either take showers and head back to bed, Heero took the stand. He waited for Sally and Catherine to leave. When Quatre tried to, Heero rose from his seat and stood behind the blond, preventing him from leaving. Confused, Quatre had tried to get out from his chair, but Heero prevented him from even shifting away from his seat. In fact, invading his space, he leaned forward to slam both hands down on the table on either side of Quatre’s frame and kept him pinned to the table, breathing down his neck.
Wufei lifted an eyebrow as he slowly resumed his seat, Duo clutching his stomach and muttering curses underneath his breath. Wufei wanted to know why and how Heero wasn’t worried about getting lice from the meek subject he was trying to intimidate. The man had nerves of steel, all right.
“Even if you don’t want others knowing where you come from, we have to know what your name is,” Heero commanded in that nasal monotone of his as he tilted his head to address Quatre’s profile and not his neck. He was also giving his most fearsome glare to date today. Quatre merely folded his hands on the table and stared at them, shoulders hunched, as if expecting violence. Wufei drummed his fingers on top of the table, looking from one to the other.
“For all we know, you’re in association with the mutant,” Heero continued. “This could all be a ploy to capture us with our guards down...”
“Who are you people, anyway?” Duo interrupted, wincing as he leaned forward, arms over his stomach. “You never did let us know...If you ain’t slave drivers or the IRS, then what the hell?”
Heero pierced him with a blackened stare, and Duo cringed, drawing his chair near Wufei. Wufei automatically reached up to play with his scalp, which was tingling at the thought of nits from the homeless boy jumping on him.
Quatre shook his head, then, settling his hands on the table. “My name is Quatre.”
“Are you French?” Wufei asked.
Quatre simply stared at him, not giving any answer or explanation to the origins of his name. Heero frowned, shifting away, giving Quatre room to breathe.
“But not American?” he asked.
Quatre hesitated, but shook his head.
“Illegal alien?”
He nodded, rather sheepishly. His fingers twitched, then, signaling his nervousness, but he quickly flattened them on the table. Wufei frowned, blinking, figuring that was about as much information as they were going to receive. Which should be satisfactory, considering that the homeless thief really wasn’t anything of importance, but just a victim of circumstance. He looked at Heero, who looked over at him, tilting his head. Wufei shrugged slightly, and Heero moved away from the chair, turning to rummage through the kitchen for some leftovers.
Wufei drew back from his chair. “I’m going to bed...”
“My stomach hurts...where’s the bathroom?” Duo hissed in his direction.
“If you’re going to do some exploding, go downstairs to the basement bathroom,” Wufei said in disgust, pointing at the basement door.
Duo nodded in relief and hurried toward the swinging door, disappearing down the narrow stairway that led to the single stall. Wufei watched as Heero continued to glare at the silent blond as he rummaged through the fridge for a flour tortilla to mix up the leftovers for a burrito, then walked off to see what Trowa was doing.
The green-eyed boy was playing Gameboy Advanced once more, tongue caught between his lips. Catherine was talking a one-sided conversation as she watched Springer, and Sally was busily reading the instructions on the Rit containers.
“Well?” she asked, looking at Wufei. “Did your fearless leader drag out some answers?”
“His name’s Quatre. And quite possibly, he’s just as stubborn as Heero is,” Wufei muttered, taking a seat next to Trowa, pulling a pillow against his chest. “Heero deserves it, unfeeling prick.”
“He’s not using violence, is he?”
“That’s how he got me to talk,” Trowa reminded Wufei, not looking away from the screen. “Remember? Then I had to show him who was boss...”
Wufei rolled his eyes, leaning on the armrest. Then he lowered his voice to a small hiss, leaning forward in his seat to keep his voice from being heard by the others in the kitchen. “I think Heero’s...you know...”
“No...what?” Catherine asked, interested.
“He’s very intensely...He really likes...” Wufei tried and failed to find the appropriate words to say how much Heero enjoyed the blond’s very presence without sounding vulgar.
“Heero’s in heat,” Trowa said loudly. “I can smell it.”
“Trowa!” Catherine exclaimed, but leaned toward Wufei with an excited expression. “He’s crushing on the boy? I didn’t even know he was that way! I mean–! This is Heero! Heero’s like.. .indifferent to relationship of that sort...He doesn’t even look at girls! I mean, that should have told me something, but then again, he doesn’t even look at boys...”
Trowa chuckled, looking away from the Gameboy screen as he caught an Oddish, which he thought was pretty cute for a turnip.
“I wouldn’t say that, older sis. Heero wants to fuck. That’s entirely different from what you’re thinking. Seriously, you females are so damn romantic and crap. Always thinking that crushing on somebody equals love and picket fences...Christ. There’s such a thing as wanting to just fuck, and that’s all Heero wants.”
“Okay, Trowa...no more Sex and the City for you,” Sally grumbled from the love seat while Catherine’s mouth dropped wide open at her brother’s frankness.
“Aw...and I was really liking Samantha and the guy with the little dick...”
Wufei stared at Trowa in incredulous bewilderment. Then he shook his head.
“Sometimes, Barton, I really wish I knew what was going on in that head of yours,” he murmured.
“Never!” Trowa exclaimed in a heavy Russian accent, flicking the buttons madly in an effort to keep the Oddish from escaping his Pokeball.
Wufei sighed, rolling his eyes as he looked at Catherine. “Anyway, I guess that was what I was trying to say. Christ...Trowa...now you got me thinking of Heero like a fucking dog...”
“That’s what homos do, don’t they? Fuck like dogs? You and me doing it like mammals! Let’s do it like they do it on the animal channel,” Trowa sang without looking away from the screen.
Catherine drew back, shrugging. “Well, it’s not like you boys have had girlfriends, anyway...I’m pretty sure that would be your normal reaction to someone you find attractive. I mean, it would have to be normal for you all to start developing...wants and needs...you’re all developing pretty late, aren’t you? Don’t hormones start kicking in sometime around puberty? I, personally, think it’s about time you all started thinking of other people as attractive...ooh! Sally! Our boys are going to bringing dates to the house!”
“Oh, God...just wear a condom,” Sally sighed, rubbing her face. “I don’t want to be a grandma...”
“Ew,” Wufei muttered, thinking of his ‘brothers’ bringing home ugly girls and boys and expecting everyone to approve of their choice. Personally, he wouldn’t be able to stand it.
“Well...the guy’s attractive, I suppose,” Catherine added.
“Ooh...Heero finds him attractive, all right!” Trowa chuckled, shutting the device off after saving his newly expanded collection. He rose from the seat, dropping it behind him as he stretched. Then he tapped his nose, grinning rather maniacally. “I can smell the pheromones. I think the guy likes it.”
“Do you get off on that, Trowa?” Sally asked in curiosity as Catherine drew in a shocked breath and hurled a pillow in her lover’s direction.
“No,” Trowa muttered in disgust, walking off toward the dining room.
“You better not start anything!” Sally warned, turning to press her head against the newly settled pillow underneath her head. “Well? Wufei?”
“What?”
“What’s on the agenda tonight?”
“I already let Dr J know that we found the victim, and he’s interested enough to abandon his drinking buddies to come over and ask a few questions,” Wufei reported in a bored tone. “He’ll be here around eight.”
“That’s what he told me.”
“I’m going to bed. Are they staying?” he then asked, hesitating near the stairway.
Sally and Catherine shrugged, both not knowing the fate of the two homeless boys. Wufei shrugged as well, and disappeared up the stairway, heading for bed. Today had been a long day, and despite his curiosity over what was going to become of the boys after the doctors briefed them on their encounters with their subject in question, he had to rest. Making his way upstairs, he sighed as he heard what sounded like a serious shouting match between the two rivals he grew up with. But he didn’t want to concentrate too hard on it, especially when it all concerned Pokemon.
O0o0o0o0o0oO
He stared hard at his hands. His nails were immaculate, the moons pale, and he’d never had calluses. Flexing his hands, he listened to Mozart in the background and tried not to concentrate on the office setting he’d left behind during his lunch break. His entire being growled with hunger, and he closed his eyes, wincing as he lowered his hands from the air to the empty table.
It wasn’t food he was hungry for...he needed energy. Blood. For some reason, he needed it more badly than he ever did before. The homeless scum he fed off of wasn’t enough. His ability to track mutants were still in tip-top shape, and he did pick rather strong ones, but it wasn’t doing it for him anymore. What did he had to do to feel full again?
He blew a noisy breath as he leaned back in his chair, the settings of the Italian restaurant dim and shrouding him in darkness. His limbs were quivering madly, the need to hunt causing his stomach to clench. The one and a half mutants he’d fed off this morning hadn’t been enough to satisfy his hunger, and he’d been interrupted in feeding off one powerful mutant. The memory of that made him shudder in powerful remembrance. The massive power surge that swept through him as he fed had made his entire body tingle, but then another mutant had startled him in the process...and his mind made the irrational thought that why not have another mutant, save the one he was feeding off of for later?
But then he hadn’t counted on that last mutant to have teleportation as his gift...and when the homeless boy had run off, he had to run off as well, to avoid being caught. In the resulting end, he’d left that stronger mutant behind...Which was a stupid mistake, because he was really craving one now, and he couldn’t hunt until after dark! His body felt entirely weak and anxious, and his mood was rather sour.
Fiddling with the roll of sourdough bread and oil, he tried to ignore the way his hands shook violently, and his quaking thirst for blood caused his throat to dry, no matter how many water glasses he had refilled after each drain. The wine he’d ordered was just going to his head, and he’d stopped sipping at that.
He looked up when his friend gave an exasperated growl, noticing the state that he was in.
“Didn’t I tell you to stop?” his friend, Alex, asked.
Scowling, Mueller licked his lips and tried to appear normal. “I thought I was still in control.”
“I can see that this morning didn’t satisfy you at all. You’re needing more just to satisfy your stupid craving.”
“Give the man a reward, he stated the obvious!”
“You’ve got to cut out this bullshit, Mule. Hunting on the hobos isn’t helping you any...I told you that if you kept that shit up, you’re going to get fucked up. Look at you, now! Everything now depends on your nightly adventures! And you look like shit. Which, in turn, makes me look like shit!”
“Thanks,” Mueller snapped, brushing crumbs from his table. “Look, if you’re just here to fuck around with me, I’m letting you know now, you aren’t very much appreciated. Leave me alone.”
Alex sighed, shaking his head as he leaned back in his seat. “You know I can’t do that, Mueller old man. You can tell me to walk as many fucking times as you want, and you damn well know I can’t.”
Mueller rolled his eyes, leaning forward on the table. “Well, just keep your stupid mouth shut, all right?”
“But what would I do without giving you my honest opinion every five seconds? Besides, I’m am feeling rather smug that you’re in a rough spot. Serves you right, you stupid, impulsive bastard.”
Mueller sighed, closing his eyes. His food was served, the waiter looking more than eager to get the hell out of there, sensing the thick tension that coated the area. His hands shaking, he quickly dispersed with the usual formalities, then quickly left.
“Mm...looks good,” Alex commented, raising an eyebrow as he looked at the huge plateful of tortellini. “Too bad it isn’t a foul-smelling mutant, huh?”
“SHUT UP!” Mueller shouted, slamming a fist on the table. Utensils jumped and his glass of wine tipped, spilling over the tablecloth. The restaurant went entirely silent, the other patrons looking over at the men sitting at the table in the far back, nearly hidden within the shadows.
Mueller ran his hands in fury throughout his thick hair. Ducking his head, trying to ignore the stares of those that were interested in what was going on at his table, Mueller quickly took out his wallet and slapped a few bills down, leaving before even taking a bite out of his food. He wasn’t hungry for food. He was hungry for something else.
It was still mid-afternoon, and he was going mad. Mad. He couldn’t wait for nighttime. He had to feed now.
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 Three:
Gotta Catch ‘Em All
Wufei tried to keep his cool. He tried telling himself over and over that he should be used to two males bickering over whose powers were the coolest and who should be the leader. But as the two homeless boys battled it out in a flurry of words and powers, he found himself trembling with the need to explode. Catherine had joined Sally to help make breakfast; Trowa was too busy being the very best; and Heero was...well, Heero couldn’t stop staring at the blond, and if Wufei didn’t know any better, that pillow on his lap was there for a very good reason.
Duo was screaming about how happy he that the boy was still alive, and the other guy was screaming in some other language and thickly accented English about what a liar he was. The pair of them were currently in mortal battle near the front door. Without their powers, the two homeless boys, frail from malnutrition and starvation, did nothing that looked harmful to the other.
They hit hard, but they didn’t seem so menacing because of the lack of strength behind it. Wufei was saddened that they were so thin and weak, but his pity was quickly dashed away when Quatre used his powers to slam Duo into the floor, and Duo used his own powers to teleport quickly for an up close contact fist to the face.
Finally, when a sickening thud of body against wood registered, someone’s shout of pain ringing throughout the house, Wufei rose from his position with a low growl and stomped over.
“You go, girl,” Trowa muttered from his chair, and Heero grunted some kind of answering reply. Wufei ignored them both as he stepped between the battling mutants. He grabbed one’s braid and the other’s ear, yanking them from any contact with each other.
“I am SICK and TIRED of this!” Wufei howled, shaking both as Catherine emerged from the kitchen, looking relieved at the intervention. “BOTH of you SHUT UP, sit DOWN, and DON’T MOVE! Any one of you MOVES, even LOOKS in the other’s direction, I will personally CHOP OFF your damned manhoods and spoon feed it to YOU! GOT IT?!”
“Just a quick question,” Duo managed, holding up a finger.
“WHAT?” Wufei growled, peering at him, grip tightening.
“How in the world do you move in those pants?”
Wufei paused, startled at the question, and was very self conscious all of a sudden. He looked down at his pants, never once noticing their fitting condition. Then, because Duo had noticed, Wufei was suddenly very embarrassed. Because if one homeless nobody noticed the way they fit, how many countless others had as well? He let go of both, muttering underneath his breath as he stalked away to annoy Sally, to ask in privacy what she thought of his pants.
Duo rubbed his scalp, frowning as he watched very high, very hard buttocks shift in those tight pants. He whistled lowly. Quatre rubbed his ear, wincing, and frowned as Duo watched Wufei walk off.
“You like that?” he asked lowly, giving his rival a grimace.
“Ooh, very much,” Duo answered, rubbing his hands. “We’re surrounded by guys with tight, firm asses and look as if they save damsels in distress every day! What’s not to like?!”
With a disgusted frown, Quatre muttered under his breath about eunuch homos and walked off. Duo heard the comment, and whirled. He opened his mouth to give a reply when Trowa called from the other room, “Wufei! They’re fighting again! You’d better come back here and feed them!”
When Wufei stalked out from the kitchen, Duo took off running for the safety of the living room, flying to land on the couch. He pulled a pillow against his chest as Wufei eyed him menacingly when he entered the living room, then relaxed when the Chinese resumed his own sitting position nearby. Sighing with relief that he’d escaped, Duo looked at Heero. The mutant quickly turned his head to look in the other direction to somehow avoid any conversation with the homeless boy.
“So...who are you dudes?” Duo asked, blinking as he eyed one attractive face to the other. All three were spectacularly built, individually handsome, and quite annoyingly perfect.
From what he’d seen, Heero and Wufei were the same height, five foot nine, but Trowa stood two inches taller.
Heero was packed with firm, tight muscle on a lean body. His clothes fit in such a way that his legs appeared long and his fists quite large. His piercing eyes were often clouded with an intense scowl, his Asian features very pronounced in the thin bones and narrow facial structure. He strutted his stuff with his shoulders straight, his back completely rigid, and his feet eating up ground. He exuded a particular aura of dangerousness that seemed to overwhelm any normal human. He made Duo feel as if he had to tiptoe constantly around him, and to avoid making any sudden movements.
Wufei was slender, but moved with a feline grace with every movement he made. His limbs were thin, but ridged with tight muscle. With every step he took, Duo thought he was going to start running at any instant. Anybody who moved with their toes had killer calves, and he was caught wondering what Wufei’s looked like. The boy (man, really, but he acted so much like a boy) had a exotic face, with black, slanted eyes that were dusted with thick lashes. He had regal eyebrows that were really thin lines of black feathered hair above his onyx eyes, and lips that were constantly curved with unsettling disapproval. Duo really liked the look of him, simply because Wufei looked the type to rile very easily, and he loved to rile people.
Trowa was tall, but he had a thin frame and looked absolutely indifferent to everything around him. Sure, his hair was weird, jutting out from his forehead and constantly in the process of hiding one side of his face, but the boy’s features were pleasant enough to ignore the bang. His uncaring green eyes were shrouded by long, reddish lashes, and there was a smattering of light freckles over a straight, pointed nose. Duo liked his lips most of all because one was fuller than the other, curving into a pout. Duo had to wonder about the freakishly stylish thin build he had, through–the guy looked as if he carried muscle, but he sure didn’t show it.
Then there was his rival. His rival (what the fuck was his name?!) was just as slender as he, skeletal in fact, and he had all his teeth, damn him. They were white, straight, and annoyingly healthy. If Duo didn’t know any better, this guy must’ve stole some bucks to take his stinky ass to the dentist regularly. But besides that, he had extremely white blond hair that was in the same condition as his; dandruff ridden, lice infested grunge that needed proper maintenance and repair. He also had somewhat delicate features, with a heart shaped face, bow-shaped lips that looked annoyingly pretty, and eyes that were the color of the sea...they were surrounded by lashes that were long and the same color as his hair. Delicate brows were pulled into a current frown, and Duo wondered if he had any competition in trying to snag one of these deliciously handsome men that had rescued them from a monster unknown...
He wasn’t sure, he thought the guy preferred girls, but who knew? It was further annoying because the guy was...well...pretty in a way. Not pretty as in Gee-The-Girls-Would-Be-Jealous, but pretty as in Ryan Philipe pretty. The kind that gave drag queens jealous fits.
Well...he always thought that Ryan Philipe was a fag, anyway...
“No one you should be concerned with,” Wufei grumbled to his earlier question, settling back on the couch. “Who wants the remote?”
“Ooh! Ooh! I do! I do!” Duo shouted, raising his hand.
“I didn’t ask you...”
“Damn it! Fucking Evee!!” Trowa cursed, hurling the Gameboy Advanced across the room. Quatre ducked just in time to avoid collision.
Heero smirked in Trowa’s direction. “Couldn’t catch ‘em all, huh?”
“Damn straight. Fuck off, Yuy. I don’t see any Evees in your collection.”
“What are you doing digging around in my collection?”
Duo stared from one bickering face to the other, stunned at the sight of two, twenty year old males, equipped with some of the coolest powers he’d ever seen in all this time, arguing over Pokemon. If he were an anime character, an extra large sweatdrop would be posted over his head. He looked away from the rising voices and looked at Wufei.
“So....who are you guys?” he asked again, shifting closer to the Chinese to allow himself to be heard over the deep voices.
Wufei immediately scuttled to the love seat to avoid Duo, then looked at Quatre wearily. Just being near the two made his scalp tingle. They were a far cry from what they had been before their baths, but just because they’d scrubbed their scalps with shampoo and rinsed off enough dirt to clog the drain, didn’t mean that the lice bugs were gone as well.
“How far do nits jump?” he wondered aloud, forcefully resisting the impulse to reach up and scratch out of reflex.
Quatre immediately hunched his shoulders, leaning far from Wufei to keep his bugs from jumping, face burning with embarrassment. Duo frowned and looked at his braid, picking through the straggly strands, then scratching behind his ears.
“I seriously don’t know,” he answered. “They never bothered me before...”
Wufei groaned, rising from the love seat and walking off, roaring for some sort of plastic hair covering. He walked into the kitchen, to ask Sally for some hair protection. The woman whirled on him, pointing at him with a spatula.
“I have twenty dollars in my purse. Go to the store, pick up at least seven boxes of Rit,” she commanded.
Wufei’s eyes widened with annoyance. “I AM NOT DOING SUCH A THING! EVERYONE WILL THINK THAT I HAVE LICE!”
“DO IT NOW!” Sally screamed, making him wince.
Slinking off, Wufei muttered underneath his breath as he did what she said. He figured that he wouldn’t stop to pay for it–he’d just risk this one time to run into the store, pick up the boxes, and leave before anyone was the wiser. Thank science for his mutant gene in granting him superspeed...
As he left, Sally sighed heavily, shoulders hanging. Catherine smiled in fond affection in her direction, withdrawing plates from a nearby cabinet to set the dining table. She had added two more leafs to it, to accommodate their new additions. The rectangular table was long enough to seat six on each side, with one at the head and end, and they usually sat in normal disorder during all their meals. Sally believed in firmly set time lines, and tried to have their meals at the table during appointed moments of the day. Since it was nearly nine, it was breakfast. At noon, they would have lunch. Dinner was always at six.
“I seriously don’t know what to do with these guys,” Sally groaned as she straightened from her heavy position. “They’re twenty fucking years old, and they act more like ten! Especially Trowa and Heero!”
“Men never grow out of it,” Catherine declared as she walked into the dining room, setting the table. “They stay young no matter their age...”
“Yes, I suppose that’s true,” Sally muttered as she returned to her sausage. She frowned as she realized she’d burnt one side. “How much do you think those other two will eat? I seriously think Trowa has a eating disorder...are you watching him?”
“Sally, he’s not throwing up his meals!” Catherine insisted, rolling her eyes at the old argument. “He’s always been that way!”
“And Heero...shit, this entire batch is barely enough to feed him...and Wufei doesn’t eat meat...those other two will probably eat anything that’s set in front of them...”
“Yeah...give them extra. Do we have any protein shakes?”
“Are...are we keeping them?” Sally asked cautiously, lowering her voice. Catherine peered at her, pausing in setting the last plate down on the table. Then she shrugged, Sally turning back to the stove. “They are homeless...it’s not like anyone would miss them, and they are mutants...J could use them. Duo’s powers are pretty interesting...I know they sometimes have trouble infiltrating places because they can’t get around certain obstacles...and J’s always wanted someone with mental powers.”
“Does he read minds?”
“Who?”
“Those boys...any one of them...”
“I don’t know, unless we ask.”
“When are those old bastards coming over?” Catherine then asked, helping Sally carry out their breakfast, setting the serving dishes through the middle of the table.
“Around eight tonight. Plenty of time to give those guys a break...they’ve been up all night looking for that guy.” Sally put down the last dish, and hollered for Heero and the others. While she waited for the troops to walk into the dining room, there was a cold rush of air that hit her, letting her know that Wufei was back.
Panting, Wufei held out a plastic bag, stuffed full of Rit. Sally took the bag, grinning. “Excellent. You can help me later on.”
“I WILL NOT–!”
“Do it, or DIE, Chang!”
“Get Trowa to do it,” Wufei muttered as said subject walked in, catching his name.
“What?”
“Pick nits.”
“Ew. Why would I want to do that? Let them do it on their own–it’s their hair,” Trowa muttered as he took his usual post at the right end, next to Catherine. The other three sat, but Duo and Quatre lingered near the entrance way, salivating at the smells.
Sally gestured at them to join them, and Duo bounced right over, taking a seat next to Wufei with a broad grin. Wufei stared at him suspiciously, then scooted his chair closer to Trowa. Trowa made a low growling deep within his throat at the invasion of space, but Catherine batted his knuckles with the back of her spoon. Sally looked at Quatre, who continued to linger, looking quite uncertain about the entire thing.
“Come on, man!” Duo waved at him, Sally making him a plate. “Get over here and eat.”
Quatre shook his head, taking a step back from them, eyeing them all in suspicion. “No.”
“Why not?” Duo asked, mouth full of food. His attention moved from the abundant breakfast to focus on the lone figure that stood in the entranceway, ready to flee at any moment’s notice.
Quatre shook his head again, crossing his arms over his growling stomach.
“How is this not a trick?” he demanded, having been fooled before. Nothing came for free–there was always a price that one had to pay. “No. How do I know this isn’t a trick?”
“We aren’t going to do anything to you,” Catherine cajoled, gesturing at the seat next to Heero. “Just take a seat...we promise we won’t do anything...”
“No.”
“Jesus fucking Christ, quit wasting your time,” Trowa muttered as he began picking at his eggs. “If he doesn’t want to eat, let him fucking starve.”
“Look, we’ll test your food,” Sally said, quickly whipping up a plate and taking a bite out of everything she’d served. After a few chews, she gestured with the plate. “See?”
While his stomach growled in frustration, clenching and roiling with both unease and the need to consume, Quatre didn’t want any part of it. This was simply too good to be given freely–there had to be some drawback to the entire thing. The rescuing, the healing, the cleaning, the clothing, the food...there was something to be had at the end of the line, and he didn’t want to stick around to find out. Yet, the house was warm, the clothes didn’t stink, and he felt clean...and there was so much food in front of him... He wanted to give in, but he just didn’t trust the situation.
Duo began to realize this as well, having crammed nearly everything on his plate before doing so. He rose from his chair, hurrying to stand next to Quatre. After swallowing what he had in his mouth, Duo narrowed his eyes, staring at the stumped features of the people before them.
“Yeah! What the hell, man? What the fuck is with the free stuff? What’s the kick?”
“There’s no kick,” Sally answered, lowering Quatre’s plate to the table. “There’s absolutely nothing...you both hadn’t had this type of thing in quite a long while, and we’re giving it to you...there’s nothing to be afraid of. You can trust us.”
“Yeah, right, lady. There was this guy I knew? And he was a bum like us, and this group of people gave him the same shit that we’re getting now, and we never heard from him again!” Duo snarled, but the effect was lost because his mouth was covered with crumbs and ketchup stains. “Actually, we heard he got sold into some slavery ring down in Mexico and then ended up working for the mafia, but then again, he could have just gotten a job and didn’t bother letting the rest of us know...”
“This isn’t any sort of sex slavery ring, or anything of the sort!” Wufei exclaimed, lowering his fork. “We’re just helping you out. It’s very rude to refuse our hospitality...”
“...it’s better to be rude than foolish,” Quatre muttered as Duo nodded, wiping his mouth.
“Did it taste poisoned?” Heero growled at Duo, lifting an eyebrow. “Are you feeling any effects?”
Duo rolled his eyes to the ceiling, touching his shifting tummy. It wasn’t settling well with the delicious food, but he just had to wait. He wasn’t sure what to expect from poisoned food, but suspected that it was something similar to spoiled food. Waiting for a few minutes, Duo shook his head.
“But really, there’s shit out there that won’t kick in until, like, twelve hours later!” he added.
“Fine. Let them starve,” Wufei muttered, returning to his plate.
“Please...I know that you two have suffered quite a great deal of trust issues and things like that out there, but it’s not like that here!” Catherine pleaded, rising from her chair. “We just want to help you, not hurt you!”
Quatre shook his head once more, and Duo stubbornly crossed his arms over his chest, but couldn’t ignore the hungry sounds from his stomach. He had a taste of that good grub, and he wanted more. But now that he understood what was causing Quatre to hesitate, he had to admit that his rival had a good point. He, too, had been tricked before. He was foolish, but hey–he got along.
Heero gave a low growl, pushing his chair back with a furious expression. He then strode over to them both. They didn’t have the chance to turn tail and run as Heero grabbed Duo’s braid and Quatre’s hair, yanking them both to the table. He forced them down into their seats, slapped the remaining serving dishes of potatoes and eggs before them, and roared, “EAT!”
Duo winced, hurriedly picking up a fork and eating without abandon. Quatre cringed, but folded his hands on his lap and refused to move.
“Gee, Heero, can you terrify them a little more?” Trowa drawled, pushing his eggs aside to create a pyramid out of potatoes.
Sally pointed her fork at the display to Catherine, who rolled her eyes and kicked Trowa’s shin underneath the table. He winced and concentrated on eating.
Heero glared in his direction, trying to concentrate despite the suffocating smell of Quatre’s scent wafting into his nostrils.
“Can you do better?” he asked, looking entirely sarcastic.
“As a matter of fact...”
Trowa wiped his mouth, sniffed, then shifted into the shape of a black mamba, slithering through the table settings and posting in front of Quatre, who stared at him with terror. Heero crossed his arms as the snake hissed threateningly, rearing upward, ready to strike. With a quiet hum, Quatre’s telekinetic power slammed into place, swatting the snake clear off the table as Heero laughed mockingly.
Trowa shifted out of the snake to human form. He whirled quickly to face the offender, fists raised. Heero grew intensely murderous at that instant, and moved to intercept.
Wufei was there between the both of them, growling as he shoved both boys away from each other.
“Can’t we just sit and eat in peace, for ONCE?!” he screamed as Sally hung her head into her hands and Catherine rubbed at a headache. Duo, seeing that Quatre wasn’t going to eat, snagged the serving of eggs and began to cram that into his mouth, humming with appreciation.
“LOOK!” Sally then caught their attention, slamming her hands down on the table and rising from her chair. Pointing at Quatre with a spoon, she said, “If you don’t want to eat, fine. Just know that there’s food there in the fridge and the cupboards, and if you’re hungry, you’re welcome to help yourself to what’s there. If you need help, just let any of us know, all right?”
When there was no answering reply or confirmation, Sally turned to the boys. “SIT YOUR CHILDISH BUTTS DOWN and FINISH your food!”
“I’m not hungry,” Trowa muttered, stalking off as Wufei glared in his direction. Heero resumed his seat.
“Bloody Christ...I’m too old for this shit...” Sally mumbled as she sat back down in her chair, resuming eating.
Catherine watched as Wufei took his seat once more, glanced over the table at the quiet blond, then resumed eating. She figured that if he got hungry enough, he’d manage to get something to eat.
O0o0o0o0o0oO
Wufei blinked as he watched the boy fidget before them, nervously shifting from one ass cheek to the other, eyeing all of them with simple regard. Duo didn’t seem to sit still for even a second, and Wufei wondered where all that energy came from. He knew that Duo was feeling rather sick from his large meal, and he couldn’t blame him. There was a point and time when he was the same way, when he gorged himself on all that he could, sure that he would never have the same chance again.
Duo was holding his stomach, trying to ignore the noisy shifting and gurgling of the extremely full organ, but he was too intensely focused on the conversation between Sally and Heero that kept the boy from losing all that he’d consumed.
Really, Duo wasn’t all that bad looking. Wufei would never consider himself homosexual, but he did find appreciation in his fellow males’ bodies. It wasn’t something obvious, the way Duo was doing with the rest of them, but something of an admiration.
It was completely different from the way he viewed his two ‘brothers’. Sure, the pair were absolutely exasperating, but that was what made them so unique. He suspected that Trowa worked Heero’s nerves simply because he knew how, not because he liked it. And Heero had an abominable need to control and dominate over a great deal of things in his life, simply because he hadn’t had the chance before Dr J.
Sally and Catherine were the closest the boys could come to in terms of mother and sister figures–they were pretty tough when it came to discipline and etiquette. And Wufei had come to love them in terms of his own. Trowa was indifferent by both, and Heero didn’t like it when a woman tried telling him what he should think or feel. But then again, Heero didn’t like it when anybody told him what he should be doing...
That was just how they were. Their personalities and opinions most often clashed, but they weren’t trying to kill each other...and they all got along well on a certain level. Trowa and Heero compromised only when confronted by danger, or if, by some rare chance, they agreed on something. Wufei loved them the way a man would love his brothers–they were a pain in the ass, but hey, they were there.
So he wondered what the two newcomers thought of their ragtag group. Duo was intensely fascinated by them, Wufei could tell. It was very obvious. And from what his personality showed, Duo was pretty much reliable. Resilient. Eager to please....but there was something lacking in those wide, violet eyes of his. Something...entirely off. Duo would be looking at something, focusing on it entirely, but he was hiding something. Wufei wasn’t sure what, if it were good or bad, but when Duo had to look away from Heero’s ass or from Trowa’s crotch, Wufei caught the dark flickers of something else. What that something else was...Wufei wasn’t sure.
He didn’t feel that the boy was wrong on any level–he was comfortably neutral. But it bothered Wufei that Duo was hiding something. Be it dangerous or soothing, it was something Wufei had to keep an eye on. If their group was threatened by something that could destroy them without them realizing that it had been a threat in the first place, he would never forgive himself. So, Wufei kept a close eye on that one.
The other one...the other one completely fell off his threat radar. Quatre was so...harmless. Meek.
He didn’t volunteer anything about himself. Duo had just finished giving them an hour long speech of his whereabouts (he’d migrated throughout the Tri-State area during his twenty or so years of life), his origins (he was born in the Bronx, but didn’t feel any real ‘connection’ there), what mixed ethnicity he was(he wasn’t sure if he were just plain Caucasian, or something exotic, like Canadian), what color he liked best (black, duh), what food he liked (anything warm), how much he loved their pants (how embarrassing) and why he had his hair long (likes it that way). And the other didn’t utter a word.
It didn’t matter that Quatre obviously didn’t speak that much English, but he looked intelligent enough to try. Whatever question he was asked, he’d answered it in a stilted way, putting together sharply accented words to the person’s satisfaction. When it came to asking where he came from, if he had a family, Quatre simply shut his mouth and stared at the table without bothering to answer.
Wufei had to commend Sally and Catherine for their determination in trying to draw out the blond’s origins. They were very persistent, and he had to admire that. Quatre didn’t give him his name nor bothered to volunteer it, deciding against such things in an effort to keep from being pulled into some imaginary trap. Duo, being the ‘close’ bro that he was, didn’t even know his name.
So, when it looked as if the ladies were giving up, everyone moving to either take showers and head back to bed, Heero took the stand. He waited for Sally and Catherine to leave. When Quatre tried to, Heero rose from his seat and stood behind the blond, preventing him from leaving. Confused, Quatre had tried to get out from his chair, but Heero prevented him from even shifting away from his seat. In fact, invading his space, he leaned forward to slam both hands down on the table on either side of Quatre’s frame and kept him pinned to the table, breathing down his neck.
Wufei lifted an eyebrow as he slowly resumed his seat, Duo clutching his stomach and muttering curses underneath his breath. Wufei wanted to know why and how Heero wasn’t worried about getting lice from the meek subject he was trying to intimidate. The man had nerves of steel, all right.
“Even if you don’t want others knowing where you come from, we have to know what your name is,” Heero commanded in that nasal monotone of his as he tilted his head to address Quatre’s profile and not his neck. He was also giving his most fearsome glare to date today. Quatre merely folded his hands on the table and stared at them, shoulders hunched, as if expecting violence. Wufei drummed his fingers on top of the table, looking from one to the other.
“For all we know, you’re in association with the mutant,” Heero continued. “This could all be a ploy to capture us with our guards down...”
“Who are you people, anyway?” Duo interrupted, wincing as he leaned forward, arms over his stomach. “You never did let us know...If you ain’t slave drivers or the IRS, then what the hell?”
Heero pierced him with a blackened stare, and Duo cringed, drawing his chair near Wufei. Wufei automatically reached up to play with his scalp, which was tingling at the thought of nits from the homeless boy jumping on him.
Quatre shook his head, then, settling his hands on the table. “My name is Quatre.”
“Are you French?” Wufei asked.
Quatre simply stared at him, not giving any answer or explanation to the origins of his name. Heero frowned, shifting away, giving Quatre room to breathe.
“But not American?” he asked.
Quatre hesitated, but shook his head.
“Illegal alien?”
He nodded, rather sheepishly. His fingers twitched, then, signaling his nervousness, but he quickly flattened them on the table. Wufei frowned, blinking, figuring that was about as much information as they were going to receive. Which should be satisfactory, considering that the homeless thief really wasn’t anything of importance, but just a victim of circumstance. He looked at Heero, who looked over at him, tilting his head. Wufei shrugged slightly, and Heero moved away from the chair, turning to rummage through the kitchen for some leftovers.
Wufei drew back from his chair. “I’m going to bed...”
“My stomach hurts...where’s the bathroom?” Duo hissed in his direction.
“If you’re going to do some exploding, go downstairs to the basement bathroom,” Wufei said in disgust, pointing at the basement door.
Duo nodded in relief and hurried toward the swinging door, disappearing down the narrow stairway that led to the single stall. Wufei watched as Heero continued to glare at the silent blond as he rummaged through the fridge for a flour tortilla to mix up the leftovers for a burrito, then walked off to see what Trowa was doing.
The green-eyed boy was playing Gameboy Advanced once more, tongue caught between his lips. Catherine was talking a one-sided conversation as she watched Springer, and Sally was busily reading the instructions on the Rit containers.
“Well?” she asked, looking at Wufei. “Did your fearless leader drag out some answers?”
“His name’s Quatre. And quite possibly, he’s just as stubborn as Heero is,” Wufei muttered, taking a seat next to Trowa, pulling a pillow against his chest. “Heero deserves it, unfeeling prick.”
“He’s not using violence, is he?”
“That’s how he got me to talk,” Trowa reminded Wufei, not looking away from the screen. “Remember? Then I had to show him who was boss...”
Wufei rolled his eyes, leaning on the armrest. Then he lowered his voice to a small hiss, leaning forward in his seat to keep his voice from being heard by the others in the kitchen. “I think Heero’s...you know...”
“No...what?” Catherine asked, interested.
“He’s very intensely...He really likes...” Wufei tried and failed to find the appropriate words to say how much Heero enjoyed the blond’s very presence without sounding vulgar.
“Heero’s in heat,” Trowa said loudly. “I can smell it.”
“Trowa!” Catherine exclaimed, but leaned toward Wufei with an excited expression. “He’s crushing on the boy? I didn’t even know he was that way! I mean–! This is Heero! Heero’s like.. .indifferent to relationship of that sort...He doesn’t even look at girls! I mean, that should have told me something, but then again, he doesn’t even look at boys...”
Trowa chuckled, looking away from the Gameboy screen as he caught an Oddish, which he thought was pretty cute for a turnip.
“I wouldn’t say that, older sis. Heero wants to fuck. That’s entirely different from what you’re thinking. Seriously, you females are so damn romantic and crap. Always thinking that crushing on somebody equals love and picket fences...Christ. There’s such a thing as wanting to just fuck, and that’s all Heero wants.”
“Okay, Trowa...no more Sex and the City for you,” Sally grumbled from the love seat while Catherine’s mouth dropped wide open at her brother’s frankness.
“Aw...and I was really liking Samantha and the guy with the little dick...”
Wufei stared at Trowa in incredulous bewilderment. Then he shook his head.
“Sometimes, Barton, I really wish I knew what was going on in that head of yours,” he murmured.
“Never!” Trowa exclaimed in a heavy Russian accent, flicking the buttons madly in an effort to keep the Oddish from escaping his Pokeball.
Wufei sighed, rolling his eyes as he looked at Catherine. “Anyway, I guess that was what I was trying to say. Christ...Trowa...now you got me thinking of Heero like a fucking dog...”
“That’s what homos do, don’t they? Fuck like dogs? You and me doing it like mammals! Let’s do it like they do it on the animal channel,” Trowa sang without looking away from the screen.
Catherine drew back, shrugging. “Well, it’s not like you boys have had girlfriends, anyway...I’m pretty sure that would be your normal reaction to someone you find attractive. I mean, it would have to be normal for you all to start developing...wants and needs...you’re all developing pretty late, aren’t you? Don’t hormones start kicking in sometime around puberty? I, personally, think it’s about time you all started thinking of other people as attractive...ooh! Sally! Our boys are going to bringing dates to the house!”
“Oh, God...just wear a condom,” Sally sighed, rubbing her face. “I don’t want to be a grandma...”
“Ew,” Wufei muttered, thinking of his ‘brothers’ bringing home ugly girls and boys and expecting everyone to approve of their choice. Personally, he wouldn’t be able to stand it.
“Well...the guy’s attractive, I suppose,” Catherine added.
“Ooh...Heero finds him attractive, all right!” Trowa chuckled, shutting the device off after saving his newly expanded collection. He rose from the seat, dropping it behind him as he stretched. Then he tapped his nose, grinning rather maniacally. “I can smell the pheromones. I think the guy likes it.”
“Do you get off on that, Trowa?” Sally asked in curiosity as Catherine drew in a shocked breath and hurled a pillow in her lover’s direction.
“No,” Trowa muttered in disgust, walking off toward the dining room.
“You better not start anything!” Sally warned, turning to press her head against the newly settled pillow underneath her head. “Well? Wufei?”
“What?”
“What’s on the agenda tonight?”
“I already let Dr J know that we found the victim, and he’s interested enough to abandon his drinking buddies to come over and ask a few questions,” Wufei reported in a bored tone. “He’ll be here around eight.”
“That’s what he told me.”
“I’m going to bed. Are they staying?” he then asked, hesitating near the stairway.
Sally and Catherine shrugged, both not knowing the fate of the two homeless boys. Wufei shrugged as well, and disappeared up the stairway, heading for bed. Today had been a long day, and despite his curiosity over what was going to become of the boys after the doctors briefed them on their encounters with their subject in question, he had to rest. Making his way upstairs, he sighed as he heard what sounded like a serious shouting match between the two rivals he grew up with. But he didn’t want to concentrate too hard on it, especially when it all concerned Pokemon.
O0o0o0o0o0oO
He stared hard at his hands. His nails were immaculate, the moons pale, and he’d never had calluses. Flexing his hands, he listened to Mozart in the background and tried not to concentrate on the office setting he’d left behind during his lunch break. His entire being growled with hunger, and he closed his eyes, wincing as he lowered his hands from the air to the empty table.
It wasn’t food he was hungry for...he needed energy. Blood. For some reason, he needed it more badly than he ever did before. The homeless scum he fed off of wasn’t enough. His ability to track mutants were still in tip-top shape, and he did pick rather strong ones, but it wasn’t doing it for him anymore. What did he had to do to feel full again?
He blew a noisy breath as he leaned back in his chair, the settings of the Italian restaurant dim and shrouding him in darkness. His limbs were quivering madly, the need to hunt causing his stomach to clench. The one and a half mutants he’d fed off this morning hadn’t been enough to satisfy his hunger, and he’d been interrupted in feeding off one powerful mutant. The memory of that made him shudder in powerful remembrance. The massive power surge that swept through him as he fed had made his entire body tingle, but then another mutant had startled him in the process...and his mind made the irrational thought that why not have another mutant, save the one he was feeding off of for later?
But then he hadn’t counted on that last mutant to have teleportation as his gift...and when the homeless boy had run off, he had to run off as well, to avoid being caught. In the resulting end, he’d left that stronger mutant behind...Which was a stupid mistake, because he was really craving one now, and he couldn’t hunt until after dark! His body felt entirely weak and anxious, and his mood was rather sour.
Fiddling with the roll of sourdough bread and oil, he tried to ignore the way his hands shook violently, and his quaking thirst for blood caused his throat to dry, no matter how many water glasses he had refilled after each drain. The wine he’d ordered was just going to his head, and he’d stopped sipping at that.
He looked up when his friend gave an exasperated growl, noticing the state that he was in.
“Didn’t I tell you to stop?” his friend, Alex, asked.
Scowling, Mueller licked his lips and tried to appear normal. “I thought I was still in control.”
“I can see that this morning didn’t satisfy you at all. You’re needing more just to satisfy your stupid craving.”
“Give the man a reward, he stated the obvious!”
“You’ve got to cut out this bullshit, Mule. Hunting on the hobos isn’t helping you any...I told you that if you kept that shit up, you’re going to get fucked up. Look at you, now! Everything now depends on your nightly adventures! And you look like shit. Which, in turn, makes me look like shit!”
“Thanks,” Mueller snapped, brushing crumbs from his table. “Look, if you’re just here to fuck around with me, I’m letting you know now, you aren’t very much appreciated. Leave me alone.”
Alex sighed, shaking his head as he leaned back in his seat. “You know I can’t do that, Mueller old man. You can tell me to walk as many fucking times as you want, and you damn well know I can’t.”
Mueller rolled his eyes, leaning forward on the table. “Well, just keep your stupid mouth shut, all right?”
“But what would I do without giving you my honest opinion every five seconds? Besides, I’m am feeling rather smug that you’re in a rough spot. Serves you right, you stupid, impulsive bastard.”
Mueller sighed, closing his eyes. His food was served, the waiter looking more than eager to get the hell out of there, sensing the thick tension that coated the area. His hands shaking, he quickly dispersed with the usual formalities, then quickly left.
“Mm...looks good,” Alex commented, raising an eyebrow as he looked at the huge plateful of tortellini. “Too bad it isn’t a foul-smelling mutant, huh?”
“SHUT UP!” Mueller shouted, slamming a fist on the table. Utensils jumped and his glass of wine tipped, spilling over the tablecloth. The restaurant went entirely silent, the other patrons looking over at the men sitting at the table in the far back, nearly hidden within the shadows.
Mueller ran his hands in fury throughout his thick hair. Ducking his head, trying to ignore the stares of those that were interested in what was going on at his table, Mueller quickly took out his wallet and slapped a few bills down, leaving before even taking a bite out of his food. He wasn’t hungry for food. He was hungry for something else.
It was still mid-afternoon, and he was going mad. Mad. He couldn’t wait for nighttime. He had to feed now.