Notes: Sorry it took me so long to get this out, guys, but going to college has been a big change for me. Oh yeah, and the surfing contest should be in the next chapter. ^_~
Endless Summer Part 15
Infamy
With the question of the competition postponed, Duo Maxwell began to forget where he came from. Or why he had come to Hawaii at all. It just got lost in the raw wild beauty and warmth and comfort of the island, as if any particular purpose didn't have a place there.
On the third or fourth day he had stayed with Heero after finding out the contest was postponed, maybe even cancelled, he remembered thinking that eventually, they'd probably get it going again... but he wasn't too worried about it.
By the fifth day, he didn't see anything that was going on around him. All he could see was Heero's hair and eyes and mouth. Anything else he touched didn't even compare to the feel of Heero's skin underneath his fingertips.
Oahu was beautiful to him, not because it was generally a beautiful island (thought it was), but because Heero was there.
And because when you're in love, and it's summer, everything's beautiful.
It wasn't that he didn't know he was from California. It was just that California had become a dreamlike, almost mythical place to him now, and the "mainland" barely a familiar world.
He got closer to Wufei and all the rest. He fished with Trowa, and actually got up the courage to swim with the reef sharks. He swam with the girls and splashed and played. He ate Heero's cooking and cooked for Heero in turn, while they both washed and dried the dishes, talking while they did it, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. They made love and slept in. He lazed around, spending hours lying in the hammock or hanging out on the sea wall or just spread-eagle on the beach.
And he surfed.
~*~
A battle-cry pierced the early-morning stillness as a battle of dominance between man and beast commenced,
"Oh, you think you're funny, huh! You think you're such an Einstein?! Come here! I'm gonna turn you into a fur coat, you mutt!!"
Baka raced down the hall, a piece of toast clamped in his teeth.
Duo ran after the dog, hair an unbridled, tangled, wild mass trailing behind him. His bare feet thumped on the wood floors.
Baka stopped and stood Duo off in the doorway to the bedroom, shaking the piece of bread. Crumbs flew everywhere. Duo looked into the dog's mischievous face and would swear he could almost see Baka laughing.
Duo lunged forward. "Toast-stealer!"
The dog whirled around and scrabbled under the bed until nothing could be seen of him but the tip of his tail. A wildly wagging tail.
Heero's soft laughter rolled from the kitchen. "Give it up, Duo. I'll make you more."
"Heeeero, he jumped onto the counter and got it right out of the damned toaster. You're not gonna scold him or anything?" Duo's voice was plaintive as he walked back to the kitchen, sulking a little.
There was a gentle smirk on Heero's face. "Why would I want to do that?"
"Because he ate my toast!"
Heero got out of his seat, and Duo's jaw almost dropped as the Japanese surfer rolled to his feet in a liquid, sensual movement that was all muscle and slick oil and sex. He walked over to Duo in a stalk, sunlight dancing on his bare shoulders as he passed the window.
Heero grabbed Duo by the shirt and reeled him in, pulling the Californian to him. His voice was almost a purr. "I said... I'd make you another piece." He pushed Duo up against the counter, his breath whispering across Duo's cheek. "If you're still hungry afterwards, that is." He nibbled Duo's jaw gently.
Duo's breath came out in a shudder. "Maybe... I... uh... don't want toast, after all..."
"What do you want?" Heero whispered, lips moving over Duo's throat.
"You," Duo murmured back, pressing his hips against Heero's bluntly. There was no question in his mind what he wanted. He took Heero's face in his hands, tilting his jaw up to meet his mouth. He kissed Heero even as his hands slid over Heero's bare shoulders, feeling the warmth there where the sun had been hitting his skin through the window.
"Mmm..."
"Ahem." There was a sound behind them. They were oblivious. Duo tangled his fingers into Heero's hair, drawing the Japanese boy closer. "Uh... Heero..."
AHEM!"
Heero stilled, and Duo pulled back from the kiss gently, looking over Heero's shoulder. Wufei was standing in the doorway, face red as brick and practically giving off heat. But the Chinese boy wasn't looking away. Point for him.
"Oh... Sorry, Wuffers," Duo said, grinning sheepishly.
"Well, now that I have your attention..." Wufei muttered. "I was afraid I was going to have to cough up a lung."
Heero growled and turned his head back to glare at the Chinese boy, not moving from his position over Duo. "What? I'm busy."
Wufei blushed harder, but glared right back indignantly. "Sorry to interrupt anything, but I just got back from town, and I have good news and bad news."
Reluctantly, Heero turned around and leaned his elbows against the counter, eyeing Wufei. Duo glanced down at the slight bulge in Heero's boxers and smirked a little. He wasn't the only one who knew what he wanted. Duo dragged his gaze up to look at Wufei, who had turned towards the other counter and was pouring himself a cup of coffee, stirring in sugar.
"What's the news?"
"Which do you want first?"
"Good," Heero said immediately.
"Billabong just held a press conference. The contest is on in a week."
Heero nodded. "Great."
Wufei's expression was long-suffering. "That's not the only news, and not all of it is good." He took a rolled-up newspaper out of his back pocket and held it out; it had a very familiar name emblazoned on the front.
Duo paled. / Oh no... /
"Hn," Heero said, snatching the newspaper Wufei was holding out to him and glowering down at it. It was right there on the front page of The Atoll. It had even pushed the fact that they had found the family of the unfortunate Jake Hornsby and the announcement that the contest was back on in one week down to the bottom of the page.
"I'll be back later, seeing as you two are... ah... busy," Wufei said, still blushing slightly, and walked back out the front door as abruptly as he had come in, cup of coffee in hand.
A full-color page of the two of them graced the front page of the newspaper. Duo was lying on his stomach, raised up on his elbow, eyes half-closed in a lazy expression that looked deliberately seductive. Actually, he had been caught right before he was going to lean back down and close his eyes. He was looking down at Heero's dozing face, one hand resting on the other boy's bronze chest.
________________________________________________________________
THE ATOLL
AFFAIR BETWEEN HEERO YUY AND DUO MAXWELL: LOW-DOWN ON THE GRUDGE MATCH
Lovers On The Sand; Still Rivals In The Surf?
________________________________________________________________
North Shore, Oahu, July 30 - With only a week away from the Billabong Pro, The Atoll asks the question that everyone on North Shore is wondering... what is going on between Duo Maxwell and Heero Yuy? This reporter speculates from personal experience that the two are lovers. (See picture obtained above with a waterproof camera, at great risk to my personal health.) But with one question answered, more questions become pressing. If these two champions are having an affair on the beach, what is going to happen when they're pitted head-to-head in the world's most prestigious surfing competition? Are there chances that the contest will be deliberately thrown? And who will bow out?Will it be Heero Yuy? For anyone who has been living under a rock and is not familiar with this taciturn fallen legend, Heero Yuy was once the greatest surfer in the Hawaiian islands and most likely the Pacific. That all changed, however, when tropical storm Anna caused the drowning deaths of his parents and younger sister as their houseboat capsized a few miles off of Ponderosa Point. The victims were Arihito and Michelle Yuy, along with their seven year-old daughter Mary, who was also a rising talent on the waves in her own right. However, the tragic deaths of his family did not stop "Heartless" Yuy from competing in the Internationals... or from winning.
Or will it be Duo Maxwell, a competitor with a much darker past? Coincidentally, this surfer's family also died tragically in a car accident, one in which the surfer himself emerged unscathed. Surfer lore has it that the mysterious Shinigami walked out of the wreckage without a single scratch. While his own luck is legendary, it always seems that someone's luck runs out with they come face to face with the God of Death.
So who would you place your bet on? My bet's with Duo Maxwell. With his record for "mysterious" deaths and Yuy's knack for misfortune, I don't expect Heartless to survive the competition. But no matter who your bet is on (and we know that there are thousands of dollars in the hat) we all have to agree that anyone who competes against Duo Maxwell needs something even more important than a surfboard before hitting the breakers.
They need a will.
- Everend Walker, The Atoll
~*~
By the time he had finished reading, Heero was laughing softly under his breath. Duo glared at him. "What are you laughing at? That's not funny!"
Heero looked up at him, a gentle smirk still on his face. "Come on, Duo. You have to admire his tenacity. I mean... he did fish that camera out of the ocean. That takes dedication. I have to admire that. Even if he is an asshole."
Duo scowled. "There's nothing admirable about him. I wish he'd dedicate himself to something else... like finding a hobby that doesn't involve smearing our names all over Oahu. What are we gonna do about those guys, huh?"
"Give them something to talk about."
Duo looked up at him in surprise.
Heero put his hands on Duo's shoulders gently, looking into the Californian's eyes. His voice was a sultry whisper. "Do you really care that much if everyone knows we're together, Duo? Because I don't. If they want pictures..." He bit Duo's earlobe gently before pulling back, mischief in his dark blue eyes. "... let them have pictures. Who gives a fuck?"
Duo shivered from Heero's touch, but shook his head. "It's not that, Heero. It's just that..."
"What?"
Duo snuggled against him, rubbing his nose over Heero's neck. Heero growled contentedly, his arms tightening around the braided surfer. "I dunno. It's just that... I wanted something to just be for us, you know? Something no one else could touch."
He let out a gasp as Heero's hand closed over the bulge between Duo's legs, squeezing gently as his lips met Duo's forehead gently. He looked into Duo's eyes.
"We do. Nobody but me can touch you like this. Right?"
"Heero..."
And that was the end of that conversation.
TBC...
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