Perfect Part 5
Sitting at a patio table, in a small café in a seaside town filled with surfers, bicyclists and Goths at ten in the morning, Duo almost relaxed. The itching between his shoulder blades had subsided to a minor twitch, and Heero was being abnormally pleasant. Trying to make up for the autocratic bullshit of last night, Duo decided.
They might have been any two friends sharing breakfast and conversation. And the conversation eventually turned to an old subject.
"Wufei wants to kill you."
"So, what else is new?" Duo shrugged. "He's been threatening that almost since the day we met. If he hasn't done it by now, I figure he isn't going to."
"You freaked him out the other night."
Duo lifted his shoulders, his mouth full of scrambled eggs.
"This is a difficult mission. Everybody is on edge. And Wufei is not the most cosmopolitan guy in the world."
"What you mean is, he's a prude who'd rather not even think about plain vanilla sex, let alone anything yummy."
"He didn't expect you to be in drag."
"And that is my problem, how?"
"Duo, just give it a rest, please? If he comes back ranting again, I may have to shoot him and put us all out of his misery."
Duo gave a great theatrical sigh. "Fine. Wouldn't want little Wuffie's sensibilities to be ruffled, now would we?" he muttered sarcastically.
Heero stared at him until Duo looked up. "Is that really how you feel?"
Duo took another bite of his French toast and stared back. "Too many questions, Heero," he whispered. "I have no time for this. I'm doing a job here. Tell him to get over it."
"Hn..." sighed Heero. Dammit, the sooner they got Duo out of this, the better.
~*~
Heero put the convertible top down and drove back to the city along the coast. Duo tilted the seat back and propped his feet on the dash, arm resting along the door, enjoying the ride. He watched the waves and the surfers, the people running along the road, the sun worshippers baking on the sand. Neither said anything until Heero turned into the parking lot of Duo's motel.
"Duo..."
The other youth turned to lean on the door, eyebrows raised. "Yeah, Heero?"
"Why don't you come back to the safe house for the day? Take some time away from this."
Duo looked at him, then down and away. He didn't smile. His hand resting on the door trembled ever so slightly. "I don't think so, Heero. I don't want to chance missing him."
"Duo..."
"I'm okay, Heero. The other day was just frustration talking." He half-turned, gazing across the parking lot in a thousand-yard-stare. "I'm fine." He blinked slowly, then looked down at Heero, an obviously fake grin on his face. "Don't worry about me, I can handle it." He slapped his palm against the door and ambled toward his room. He turned a few meters from the car. "Almost forgot, thanks for breakfast. It was great."
Heero watched for a moment, eyes narrowed by a deep glare, then he put the car in gear and pulled away.
~*~
"And I'm telling YOU to deal with it! He's the one with creeps and weirdos crawling all over him! He pulled a prank on you; so what? He's in danger out there; don't you understand that?! I think your sphincter's so tight, the shit's backing up in your brain!"
"KI-SA-MA!!!"
"Heero! Wufei! Stop it! This is not constructive!" cried Quatre.
"Sit the hell down, both of you! Quatre, get out of there before they hurt you! I've had it with you both! We're supposed to be backing Duo up, not fighting among ourselves! Heero, get back on your laptop and FIND our quarry! Wufei, you KNOW Duo likes you and is just teasing because you're such a prick! Get the hell over it or get out there and take his place!" roared Trowa.
Heero and Wufei stared open-mouthed. Quatre gasped and turned away as his heart fluttered and his face reddened. He'd never known Trowa to be so... so forceful... It was... interesting...
Heero and Wufei glared at each other, then turned in different directions.
"I'll run our sources again," muttered Heero.
"I'll try not to take it personally," growled Wufei stiffly.
Trowa nodded to himself and turned to find Quatre staring at him in a very fierce and familiar way...
~*~
"I been lookin' for ya," said Rose breathlessly. Duo hitched himself up to sit on the cable box.
"Just got back. That guy was a weirdo. Saran Wrap."
Rose blinked. "Oh, HIM. Yeah, but he's pretty harmless. Listen, there's this guy, he's like a regular of mine. Sometimes he likes a three-way, like today. Usually Snow goes with, but he's on his own an' I don' wanna tell this guy no." He shrugged. "Wouldja help me out? I'll split with ya," he finished quickly.
"Yeah, sure. No prob." He hopped down and followed Rose around the corner to a café where the customer waited.
~*~
"Man, you are fuckin' PERFECT!" crowed Rose for the hundredth time, giving Duo's braid a gentle tug. "Whadidya do, go to school fer that?"
Duo couldn't help smirking. "Ah, ya know how it is, live and learn."
"Oh, yeah? Well, I've done a lotta livin' but I never learned THAT!" He brought it down a few notches. "Tomas was real impressed, ya know? He wants to see ya again; alone next time."
"Oh, yeah?"
Rose nodded earnestly. "Yeah! Listen, man; Tomas is real loose with his cash. An' if he likes ya, well, there's some... ya know, extras. Man, I think its yer hair; he really wanted to touch it."
Someone else had staked out the cable box. Duo sat down on the curb, leaning back on his hands. "What kind of extras?"
Rose sat next to him, leaning in. "Money. Stuff." He reached inside his shirt and pulled out a gold chain. "He gave me this. Man, he's easy."
The chain was nice and real gold. The tiny hairs on the back of Duo's neck began to rise. Easy... he chided himself. Don't get your hopes up...
"What kinda stuff do ya hafta do? I don't mind playin' around, but I draw the line at the truly weird. I'm tryin' to stay alive as long as possible, ya know."
"It's not even sex." The words tumbled eagerly from the dark-haired whore. "Ya just meet him for a date, an' he pays fer that, and then he gives ya something to give to another date. I'm not supposed to talk about it, so if he mentions it next time, play dumb."
Duo snorted, though inside he was hyperventilating, his heart pounding so hard he couldn't believe Rose didn't hear it. "What is this guy; some kinda spy?"
"Yeah!" Duo blinked. Sweet Mother of us all... "He does this business spyin' thing. Stealin' secrets from one company an' sellin' 'em to another."
"Industrial espionage," Duo squeaked, and could have slapped himself.
"Yeah, that's what he called it. Don' matter to me; money's money, an' I don' wanna be doin' this forever, ya know?"
"Yeah... Yeah, I know..."
~*~
"Will you shut up for a minute?! I'm trying to TELL you what's going on!" Duo rolled his eyes, holding the phone at arms' length while he waited for Wufei to stop screaming. "Are you FINISHED?! Look, it may be a wash, but it may be the guy. I'm going to meet him and do my stuff and see what happens. Just tell Heero we MAY; emphasize MAY, have our guy. I'll call after. Huh? Hell NO; why would I want you guys HERE?! I can take care of myself, Wu-man." He closed the phone, shaking his head. "One minute he wants to kill me, the next he wants to wrap me up in cotton wool. He's as nuts as the rest of us."
TBC...
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