When I was doing drabbles, one of them, Plaid's drabble, came out sort of big for a drabble. Well, those guys had a bit more to say- I guess they wanted to get their story sort of squared away and all. So, here's a bit more for plaid's drabble...
Something Furry Part 2
"You have to be the luckiest bastard in the world, you do know that, right?"
Heero looked up from the crystal balls he was polishing and lifted an eyebrow at Wufei. "I thought you just came in to get that book from Sally- and then you had to run right back home again."
"I got it," Wufei waved the book at him. "But then I asked her why it looked like we had a new employee." He tilted his head towards Duo, who was listening patiently to a customer tell him why she needed a different tea-leaf book than the five she already had. "I was thinking that you must've had a really good night-"
Heero dropped his gaze, willing himself not to turn red.
"And she told me about the visit you had this morning."
Heero sighed and looked down at the cloth in his hands. "It was a surprise-"
"I'll bet it was, but damn, how lucky can you get? He's gorgeous, he's patient with the customers- and he's yours."
"Yeah, I may be lucky, but he's not. The situation sucks for him, don't you think?" Heero said softly. "Handed off to some stranger just to make a connection for your family? Not having any choice in the matter?" He dropped his voice further. "And to have your first time be- well, in that sort of situation?" He'd been thinking about it all day, once he'd recovered from the shock of suddenly acquiring Duo. "Maybe I should figure out a way to let him go- no matter what Sally says."
His new mate looked over his shoulder at the magician and the dragon, his eyes narrowing slightly, before he turned back to the customer with a smile. Heero wondered what was wrong- Duo couldn't have heard any of the conversation, could he?
Wufei rolled his eyes. "Humans used to do it all the time," he informed his former student, blowing out a whiff of smoke. "You can't blame the Pride for doing the same. Besides, he doesn't seem unhappy. Sally says he's been having a good first day- a natural with the customers- even learned the trick with the register the first time around. So unless you really screwed up the sex part..."
Heero glared at him. "It still doesn't seem right to me, and I'm not sure how fitting in here means anything-but-"
Sally chose that moment to appear. Without even looking at Heero she smacked the back of his head and frowned at Wufei. "Your customer is going to be mad if you're late- and if you don't leave in the next minute..."
"I have plenty of time," Wufei countered, but he still slid around the counter and headed for the door. "See you tomorrow!"
"Not until almost noon," Sally smirked and then turned to Heero. "Nearly done or have you been thinking too hard to work?" Duo was leading the customer back towards the register, a small pile of books in his arms.
"Of course I am," he said and gestured at the stack in front of him. "Just two more."
"Good. Once you've finished, you can go home. I can handle the rest of today."
"Not a lot of customers coming in? Usually we're busy-"
Sally shook her head. "It's going to start raining in about an hour. You'll want to get home before it starts. Go ahead and finish up and then the two of you can leave. Remind Duo to get his bag, too, okay?"
She vanished into her office and Heero went back to his task. The customer took their package from Duo and left cheerily predicting that she was going to be back next week for more. Heero watched her go, knowing that she would be. The woman was one of their regulars.
He nearly dropped the crystal ball he was holding when Duo breathed in his ear: "I had a choice." He turned his head slightly and found Duo beside him. How had he moved that fast?
"What?" Had Duo somehow heard his conversation with Wufei?
"I said I had a choice. Grandmother had several files- she said I got to choose which one she was going to give me to."
Heero's eyes widened. "And you chose me?"
Duo rolled his eyes. "Don't look so surprised!" He poked Heero gently in the ribs. "I did. Grandmother said there was going to be some complications- and to be honest I thought I was supposed to get the curse removed as a means of introduction- and then try to court you. But Grandmother is not very patient sometimes. I didn't know about how the spell was supposed to be removed until you showed me- and then I knew what her plan was."
"And she'd made you promise not to tell me about your, uh, status."
Duo nodded. "I truly am sorry." He leaned against Heero's back. "It's just- you looked- like you might need someone." That statement made something in Heero's chest tighten a little and he had to take a breath before he could reply.
"None of the others needed someone?"
"Doubtful. All the others were already mated several times."
"Several times?"
"They had multiple spouses." Duo smiled at his surprise. "It's not uncommon among the Pride."
Another surprise. "All the others were Pride?" Duo hadn't wanted someone from his own people?
"Yes." Duo rubbed his cheek against Heero's shoulder. "Are you very upset with me?"
"No," Heero managed, still trying to assimilate all this new information. "I just- I'm still sort of getting used to all of this."
Pulling away, Duo smiled. "I can understand that. Did Miss Sally say we could go home when you were finished?"
"Yes."
"Good." Duo's voice dropped to a purr. "I'm looking forward to a repeat of last night- without the removing the curse part."
Heero was glad there wasn't anything too flammable around him, because he was sure his face would've ignited it.
"Duo-"
"I'll get my bag."
Heero finished and put his cleaning supplies away. He could hear the soft murmur of Duo and Sally's voices in the back, but since he didn't want Sally to smack him again, he just waited for Duo to finish.
Was he really taking Duo home with him? For good?
"Yes!" Sally called from the back.
Heero refrained from smacking his head into the wall. Why did he even try?
Duo was smiling when he appeared, bag in hand. "Ready?"
"Yes," Heero headed for the door, Duo a step behind him. "I usually walk- I know you had a car before-?" He wasn't sure what he was going to do about that. His building didn't have many spaces.
"It wasn't mine. I borrowed it- and the clothes- from one of my cousins." Duo grinned. "Grandmother wanted me to look like I could pay a lot for the removal, though she said you weren't known to be greedy."
"Ah, sounds like she did some research-" Heero wasn't sure what he thought of that. "Um, you really are sure about this-?"
Duo nodded and reached out to take Heero's hand. "Yes. I told you. If anyone should be having doubts or getting mad it's you."
"I-" Heero thought about it. Maybe he should be mad. But it was really hard to get mad with Duo looking at him like that.
"Let's go home," Duo tugged his hand. "We can talk more there. Miss Sally said it's going to rain. Is she ever wrong?"
Heero groaned. "Not that I've ever seen. I wish." He followed Duo down the street, noting that his new mate still was doing that scanning of the area thing. It was enough to almost make Heero jumpy. Did Duo expect something to leap out at them?
They were almost home when a couple of young boys walked past, looked at their linked hands and muttered something only half under their breaths. Before Heero could react, Duo had turned around and snarled at the youths.
Who promptly turned pale and fled down the sidewalk.
Heero didn't blame them. It wasn't a sound you expected to hear from a human throat. It was a sound from the jungles, something that made your shoulder blades itch and your guts turn to water. He filed away the thought that perhaps it would never be a good idea to argue with Duo.
Duo was still wearing a satisfied smirk when they entered the apartment.
"Dinner?" Heero asked after he kicked off his shoes. "I think I have something I can make. Frozen pizza maybe?"
"I'll do it," Duo left his bag by his shoes and headed for the kitchen. Heero shook himself and went to check his messages. Duo was on the couch when he finished, studying at the bookshelf beside it.
"Fifteen minutes," he told Heero.
"Thanks. I was thinking," Heero sat down on the other end of the sofa, "that I'd let you have the bed. This couch turns into a sleeper, and I can sleep here." Duo frowned and slid down the sofa towards him. "I know where all the bad springs are-" Duo dropped into his lap and Heero had to take a breath.
"I told you. I'm sleeping with you."
"You don't have-"
"I do." Duo put his cheek against Heero's. "I'm your mate. I sleep where you do." He laughed softly. "I want to try it when we don't have to stop in the middle to remove a curse-"
"We should've stopped right afterwards-"
"I didn't want to. Don't you remember?" Before he could think of a response, Duo moved closer still and whispered in his ear: "Let me remind you? Please?"
If the timer for the pizza hadn't gone off thirteen minutes later, Heero wasn't quite sure what would've happened. As it was, somehow his shirt had mysteriously moved to the other side of the room...
"I'll get it!" Duo slid out from underneath him with a mischievous grin.
Heero put his head down on the sofa and groaned. What was he doing? Why did all his common sense fly out the window the moment Duo smiled at him?
Shaking his head, he got up from the sofa and made sure his jeans were securely fastened before heading for the kitchen. Duo was carefully pulling the pizza onto a cutting board.
"I wasn't sure which plates you use- the real ones or the paper?" He said as he placed the cutting board on the counter.
Heero smiled as he opened the fridge to pull out a few sodas. "Whichever are fine, I usually just eat over the sink."
"Less cleanup works for me," Duo laughed.
As they stood companionably eating their dinner over the sink, Duo eyed the curse mark that circled Heero's arm. "How is it?" He asked and Heero shrugged.
"Don't know yet. I wasn't going to try it out until Wufei had a minute to watch- just in case something happened when we did the transfer."
"I am glad it's not on me, I much prefer my own shapes." Duo shivered a little.
"Did the Pride really give you a bad time?"
Duo nodded. "Of course. Like I said- I'm already low in the ranks. Any sign of weakness is a bad thing."
"Why are you low in the ranks? Is it an age thing? You have to work your way up over time?" He wondered how old Duo really was- his Grandmother hadn't looked more than 25...
That made his mate laugh. "No. Well, you do, but in my case, I'd never get very far up the ranks."
"Why not?" Heero swallowed his last bite of pizza and searched for something to do that didn't involve going back to the couch. "Want to grab your bag and get settled in?"
"All right." Duo finished his can of soda and tossed it at the recycling bin. "I'd never get very far up the ranks," he said as he followed Heero back into the living room, "Because I have the wrong shape."
"But we got rid of the wolf."
Duo laughed and picked up his bag. "Not that shape. My normal shape."
"Okay, I'm confused." Heero led the way back to his bedroom. "Go ahead- there's space in the closet- and the bathroom is across the hall."
"Thanks." Duo opened his bag and started to unpack. "How much do you know about Pride?"
"Practically nothing. Sometimes we have one come in the store, but that's really the extent of it. Wufei has done a few jobs, I think, but he's never said much."
"Well, think of big cats. What's the best one?"
Heero frowned. "A tiger?"
That made Duo laugh. "No. Though I'm sure those Pride members who have that shape would agree with you. Pride considers lions to be the best."
"Ah. So if you have a lion shape, then you're already high in the rankings?"
"Exactly. Lions are the main body of the Pride- thus the name. Those of us who have other cats as our shape are automatically lower than they are."
"That doesn't really seem fair- it's not like you can control it-"
"Sure you can. If you're a lion, you breed with a lot of other lions and have lots of lion babies. Other cats will also try to breed with you in order to have lion children. Thus the multiple spouses thing- it's the lions that have them."
"They don't just end up half and half?" Heero remembered that all the other matches he had been offered had multiple spouses. Why had Duo turned down a match with a lion?
Duo laughed. "In a normal cat population, sure, but we're shifters. My mother was a lion- but my father wasn't- and I got his genes."
"So what do you turn into?"
Smiling over his shoulder, Duo asked: "Want to see?"
"Sure."
Heero had to swallow hard as Duo began pulling off his clothes. "It's easier to shift without getting tangled in the fabric," he said with a grin when he finished- and changed.
Sitting down on the bed, Heero studied the large cat in front of his closet. "A jaguar?" He said after a moment, and Duo leaped up on the bed beside him. Carefully, he touched the rosette markings on Duo's coat, letting his fingers sink into the soft fur. "Amazing."
A moment later, human Duo was beside him again, Heero's fingers tangled in his hair. "Not too bad?" He asked softly and Heero shook his head.
"Not bad at all. I'm wondering what the big deal about lions is." Duo laughed and tackled him down onto the mattress.
"Now that we've had dinner, and my things are put away- maybe we can go back to what we were doing on the couch?"
Heero opened his mouth, but before he could speak, Duo's lips covered his.
And he was lost again...
~*~
The phone rang.
Heero opened an eye and glared at it.
It rang again.
Duo groaned and buried his head against Heero's chest. "Who would call so early?"
"There's only one person I know of-" Heero reached for the phone. "Sally," he said into the receiver. "What is it?"
"We have a job," his boss said brightly.
"This early? You couldn't have warned me yesterday?"
"Nope, because then you would've used getting up early as an excuse for not doing what you did."
"Sally-"
"Just hop in the shower and get dressed, will you? Bring Duo, you're going to need him- but don't take the shower with him- I need you down here faster than that." She chuckled in his ear and hung up.
"We have a job?" Duo asked, yawning.
"We do." Heero threw the covers back and sat up. "And I have a feeling it's not going to be one of the easy ones..."
TBC...
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