Notes: Dedicated to the 1x2 ML and to Scott McNeil, Duo's VA, who was most of the inspiration for this fic.
Here's a pic found by Dev Basaa. Not for my fic, but terribly inspiring anyway. ^_^ In fact, there's a location in the fourth chapter named after the artist. (http://zerotwofan.com/rapture/commissions/pondloverspoint.jpg) The picture is by Ponderosa. Cool pic Ponderosa helped my visualization a hundred percent And thanks to Dev for finding it for me If anyone wanted to do fanart for me (On ANY fic, not just Endless Summer) I'd dedicate stuff to you and publically grovel at your feet.
Endless Summer Part 3
Of Hotdogs and Hammocks...
::--father and mother were already gone....but Mary's hand was below him, he reached for it and he felt her fingers, but he couldn't reach her...couldn't reach, she was sinking-they were all sinking, he was sinking, falling beneath the waves while the storm raged over the waves..in the water it was so dark...so cold...sinking---::
Heero sat up in bed in total darkness, heart jackhammering, breathing in rapid gasps. He was completely disoriented, so dizzy he had to reach out and grab the frame of the bed to keep himself from falling.
He closed his eyes for a moment, forcibly holding himself together, trying to dispel the nightmare. It was a common one.
// I'm in...I'm home. I'm on Oahu, I'm on North Shore, I'm on Pipeline. //
Heero felt slightly better after figuring out that he was not drowning, but he was still shaken. He reached over beside the bed, reaching for a handful of fur to comfort himself, fingertips stretching for his dog and not touching anything but air. Baka was not lying next to the bed.
Heero scowled. Baka always slept next to the bed. And usually, by morning, the big yellow lab had jumped into the bed and wriggled up next to him. He swung his legs out of bed, whistling softly as he looked for the dog. "Baka... Baka!"
A soft whining from outside. He followed the sound, and saw a dark form lower on the beach.
He walked across the sand in his boxers and bare feet, heading towards the indistinguishable lump. A full moon was high over the ocean, making the low tide shine like liquid silver. A soft, cool wind whispered in the palms.
It was the not-so-shubee surfer. It was Duo Maxwell.
The braided boy had pulled a blanket from his backpack and arranged his quiver and backpack into a pillow as he laid on the sand. Duo was sound asleep, flat on his back, face slack in slumber, snoring softly. One hand was curled loosely in the sand; the other was resting on the head of Baka, who was lying against the boy with his head across Duo's bare stomach.
When the dog saw Heero approaching, he whined again softly, wagging tail raking a pattern in the sand.
Heero scowled, whispering to the dog. "Traitor. Whose side are you on, anyway?" Baka chuffed, tail wagging faster.
He kneeled down next to Duo. Watching the boy sleep, his expression softened a little. Why was Duo sleeping on the beach? Why wasn't he sleeping in a bed somewhere, in a hotel or something? Didn't he have the money?
After watching Duo for almost ten minutes, observing the way his fingertips twitched on the hand as he dreamt, his chest rising and falling rhythmically, the way the boy's bangs fell in his heart-shaped face, Heero reached for him, putting one hand across Duo's chest, ignoring the flare of heat in his face as he touched the other boy's skin.
He reached for Duo's braid and pulled. Hard.
"Mmmm... mow! OW! Hey, what-"
"What do you think you're doing?" Heero asked flatly, dropping the thick plait of hair and pulling his hand away from Duo's chest.
Duo sat up and glared up at him, rubbing the back of his head. Baka stood and licked Duo's hands while the braided boy patted him absently.
"I was sleepin', til some kook ass who shall remain nameless came along and tugged my rope. What's the big idea? You already insulted me, and now you wake me up? What is your deal??"
"You can't sleep on the beach here, Maxwell. Go find a hotel."
Duo snorted. "There are no hotels open now. They're all full. Billabong Coed Pro. What, a big time glider like you forget about the most important surfing contest on Oahu?"
"No. But you can't sleep here."
"Why not? It's a free beach."
Heero scowled. "Wrong. See that workshop?" He nodded his head to the side. Duo looked past him, seeing a rattan shack close to the seashore.
"Yeah."
"See the house that's connected to it?"
"...Yeah."
"That's my house. You're sleeping in my front yard, haole. So beat it." Heero started to walk back to his house.
"But where am I gonna sleep??"
"Great question. Now ask me if I care."
Duo stood up, looking after him, his expression pleading. "Oh c'mon, man! I'll be gone before you get up in the morning, just give me a break I don't have anyplace else to go."
"Not my problem."
Heero walked back towards the house, aware of the braided boy's eyes on his back. Baka barked behind him, and to Heero, it sounded almost reproachful. Finally, he stopped and hitched a deep sigh. Without turning around, he spoke to Duo again, his voice a flat monotone.
"Fine. You can stay at my house. But if you go in my shop, haole, I'm gonna break your boards. And then your arms."
"Deal." Duo grinned, following him with bags slung over. Baka heeled next to the braided surfer, tail wagging happily.
Heero led Duo into the house and headed straight to his bedroom. "In here, Maxwell. You can sleep next to the bed. Where I can keep an eye on you."
Duo looked at the wood floor doubtfully. "I gotta sleep on the floor?"
Heero gestured around the room. "Do you see another bed? You didn't seem to have a problem sleeping out on the beach."
"Sand is soft."
Heero snorted and got back into bed, whistling for his dog. The lab jumped up on the bed, stretching out next to him.
Without complaining, Duo laid out on the floor next to the bed. Heero started to close his eyes and go to sleep, but he was disturbed by the sound of Duo shifting around on the cold, hard floor, grunting and wiggling around as he tried to get comfortable.
Heero rolled his eyes and grabbed a pillow off the bed. He threw it over the side of the bed onto Duo's face, then kicked his blankets off the bed and onto the braided boy.
"There. Happy?"
"Quite."
Satisfied that he had done something in order to make his "guest" more comfortable, Heero turned towards Baka and pressed his face against the dog's fur, closing his eyes.
*rustlerustle*
....
"Nn...hm. HN..."
*rustlerustlerustle*
Heero squeezed his eyes tightly shut. "Duo! Go to sleep!"
"...I can't. Your floor is hard, dude."
Heero leapt out of the bed and picked the blanket wrapped boy in a swoop. Duo didn't even have time to yelp in protest. Heero threw the braided surfer onto the bed, and Baka scrambled to get out of the way.
Heero reached down and-with a final flourish-threw the pillow at Duo.
"There. Now you have the blankets, the pillows, and the dog. If there's anything else you need, don't hesitate to ask. I'll be outside."
He stalked from the house.
Duo leaned over and ruffled Baka's ears, scratching them thoughtfully and talking to the dog as soon as Heero left.
"How do you put up with that guy, huh?"
~*~
As Heero walked out next to the house and flopped down in a hammock thrown between two palms, he silently berated himself, staging a furious internal debate.
/ What is your problem? All he needed was a place to stay. You've let backpackers stay in your place before, or just sleep on the beach if they wanted. What is your problem with him? /
// He's a commercial hotdogger, that's my problem. Carries around a damned marker to sign autographs with, for God's sakes. If he's in the competition, and he's such a great surfer, why doesn't he have the sponsorship or the money to get a hotel room? Why is he sleeping on the damned beach? //
/ Why did you take him into your house then, huh? Why didn't you just let him sleep on the beach? Or even take the hammock? Why the bed? /
// I...don't know. //
/ I think you do. You should have asked him to share the bed. You saw the way he looked at you. I don't think he'd argue too much. /
// Shut up. //
Heero blushed as he thought about it. He didn't want to admit it, but he knew the reason he was so angry was because he was embarrassed. He had practically came out and called the boy a shubee, and Duo Maxwell had been winning the Australian nationals and other international competitions since he was thirteen.
The only thing Heero didn't understand was; why didn't the braided boy call him on his mistake? Why didn't Duo gloat that Heero had thought he was just another clumsy tourist? Heero knew if their positions were reversed, Heero wouldn't have wasted any opportunity to shove it in the other boy's face that he had made such a wrong judgement.
There was something about the Californian that fascinated Heero. He was so loud and clumsy when he walked around and talked, a regular kookabarn on the shores, laughing and goofing off wildly. But once he was in the water...he was epic. Cool as a cucumber and completely focused. It was as if he had never been built to walk on land at all.
He sighed and looked out to sea, watching the waves. Listening to them lap at the shore. Forgetting about the mysterious braided surfer with the violet eyes, he closed his own and drifted off to sleep listening to the sound of the surf; he couldn't even imagine living in a place where you couldn't go to sleep listening to that sound...
TBC...
RIPTIONARY: Surfer Terms
Hotdog - n. hotdog: a showoff v. hotdogging: paddling hard in order to get ready to catch a wave
Kookabarn - Goofball, idiot
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