Lurking in the Shadows [complete]

A/N: This isn\'t hard to figure out. Bolding or non bolding means a change in the narration voice. Enjoy! Read and review if you\'d like.


--------------------------


Duo snatched up the fortune cookie off the bill, cracked it open, and shook his head as he let the little slip of paper flutter to the table. \"Ya know,\" he said, \"I swear that someone let the fortune cookie factory in on that little \'in bed\' tradition, because they just don’t seem to fit anymore. What happened to the days when you\'d read something like \'your friends will look up to you\' or \'your reach extends very far\'?\"

He crushed the cookie in his hand and picked out the pieces that hadn\'t crumbled to dust. \"What about you, \'Wind,\' getting lucky in bed in your future?\"

Milliardo looked at the brunette over the edge of his glass, swallowed what was already in his mouth, and put the glass down calmly. \"As a matter of fact, no, and I think I\'d like to keep it that way.\"

He stared directly at Duo, thinking he couldn\'t get much blunter than that without putting up a \'no access\' sign on his neck. \"Now, how do you know Heero?\"

Duo grinned at him. Apparently someone was pretty fucking eager for information. He\'d known that from the fact that Wind here hadn\'t kicked him out of the car, but Duo was pretty certain the price was going to be pretty steep. He\'d find out just how bad this guy wanted Heero.

\"How do I know Heero?\" he said, leaning back in his chair and looking up at the lights overhead. \"You wanting the \'how we met\' or the \'do I know him biblically\' interpretation? Cuz dinner here gets you one, but not the other. Feelin\' kinda sleepy and we do have time to discuss this when we get back to your place.\"

The blonde\'s left eye twitched slightly, and he leaned back in his chair. Know Heero in the biblical sense? Milliardo had assumed that he was the only one to have ever \'known\' Heero like that. His cheeks flushed slightly, half from anger and half from the image of this man and Heero together on that bed, writhing...


This Duo character was trying his luck, but he had a hook in Milliardo\'s side, the same hook that kept the blonde coming back to that apartment and staring up at the windows, making his heart beat faster if he saw Heero walk past one of them. \"You didn\'t sleep with Heero,\" Milliardo said matter-of-factly, more to assure himself than to convince the long-haired man.

Duo\'s grin grew wider as he sat forward in his seat. \"You think not?\" He crossed his arms on the table and leaned forward, his eyes glittering with amusement. \"Cuz it doesn\'t look that way from where I\'m sitting.\" He stood up. \"Don\'t suppose you know what Heero looks like when he wakes up first thing in the morning. He looks a lot more relaxed after a rather good night\'s...sleep.\"

\"Meet you out at the car,\" he said, sauntering past the table, his plait of hair grazing Wind\'s arm as he did so. As long as he kept the blond wanting more, there was no telling what he could get out of him. He wanted to burst out laughing. Imagine that. Wind was jealous.

Milliardo swallowed hard, a frown creasing his forehead. He had been so sure he was Heero\'s first. As the brunette left, he found himself clutching the tablecloth. That man... with Heero? For how long? How often?

His mind was swirling with new questions. He stood rigidly and paid the bill, then headed to his car, where Duo was making impatient faces. Why did he feel stung, so betrayed? ...And, after all, Heero would stoop to sleeping with a cheap whore like himself, why not somebody who obviously wasn\'t as bad off as \'Zechs\' had been?

\"When? When did you sleep with him?\" he demanded of the brunette, forgetting that moments ago he had still been denying that it ever happened.

This time Duo did laugh. \"Not so hard to believe, is it?\" He opened the car door and got in, closing the door and waiting for Wind to take him home. He pulled the brim of his had over his eyes and reclined the seat. \"Told you,\" he said as soon as the driver\'s side door opened. \"I\'m feeling the need for a nice soft place to lay my head. Home, Jeeves. Sleep now, answers later.\"

Milliardo got into the car and promptly slammed the door. \"No! You\'ll tell me the truth, right now, or I\'m not taking you anywhere! I\'m not some... slave!\" He had almost said whore.

A shiver made goose bumps rise on his flesh; Milliardo had caught himself saying that a few times in the last several months, trying to convince himself of it. He wasn\'t a whore any longer. \"And I don\'t think I want to take you to my house, either. I\'ll take you to your place.\"

...Not to mention that he didn\'t really have anything in his apartment. A bed, a dresser, toiletries, some small amount of food in the little fridge, and a few changes of clothes in the closet. He could afford much more, but didn\'t feel the need to surround himself with luxuries.

\"Aaah,\" Duo said. \"No can do, pal. You want the scoop on Heero, dinner and shuttle service to my door just ain\'t cuttin\' it. Or maybe,\" he said, \"you\'d like to spend your time seeing the sights in town up close and personal. I understand there\'s an apartment building that musta been some sort of historical landmark, because it gets a helluva lot of scrutiny. One guy\'s probably taking an art class. He\'s been studying it like he\'s trying to commit it to memory. Can\'t say I\'ve seen him with a sketchbook, though.\"

Duo made a show of settling himself more comfortably in the seat. \"I can go to my place anytime,\" he said. \"And if you want to know anything, you\'ll stop trying to strong-arm me. Bigger men than you have tried,\" he said. \"Your call, pal. Or maybe...maybe you really don\'t want to know about Heero\'s plans to leave town...\"

Duo had to give Wind credit for trying, but as he\'d said, he\'d been threatened before. What the blond needed to remember is that Duo had something that he wanted, and nothing in life was free.

\"What?\" Milliardo choked on the word. He sounded desperate, and he knew it-- and obviously this man knew it as well. His will broke just a little and he turned the key in the ignition, pulling the car out of the parking lot and driving down Main.

His face was contorted in a mixture of disbelief, despair and desperation as he stared at the road and Duo fiddled with the radio. Heero couldn\'t just... just... leave! He couldn\'t! But, what was there to stop him from doing it? He thought that Zechs had left the city ages ago.

Milliardo pulled into his parking space and got out of the car, clutching his keys and trying not to appear as though somebody had put battery acid in his cereal.

He mounted the steps and opened the front door, then headed to the elevators, pushing the green \'up\' arrow with more force than necessary. \"We\'re at my house,\" he said in a whisper, knowing the long-haired man was close, \"Why is he leaving?\"

Duo smiled to himself as the blond started up the car. It wasn\'t the first time he\'d been underestimated. It was amazing the things one could get away with and the sorts of information one could pick up when everyone thought you were five beers short of a six pack. He had to hand it to Wind; he seemed to be grasping the rules of this game pretty damn quickly, for he didn\'t ask for further information until they were in the elevator, presumably on their way to Wind\'s apartment.

\"This might be news to you, pal,\" Duo said, \"but this ain\'t exactly Park Place we\'re living in. Ever think Heero wants more than what this place has to offer?\" He let those words sit for a moment, then added, \"Which is where I come in. You want Heero, you\'ve got to work fast. You\'ve got to know what cards to play, and when.\" The elevator doors opened. \"Gonna give me the grand tour?\"

Duo was taking his damn sweet time in giving straight answers, and it was driving Milliardo mad. He wanted to put his hands around the man\'s throat, and make that smile fade away. Jamming the key to his apartment into the deadbolt, he opened the door and held it open like a gentleman, but his gaze said otherwise. \"This is my house,\" he ground out tensely.

It was just as he had left it-- meticulously clean, and simple beyond necessity. There wasn\'t even a couch for this freeloader to sleep on. Milliardo winced at the thought of sharing a bed with anybody as Duo walked into the apartment and looked around. \"Bathroom. Bedroom. Living room. Kitchen,\" the blonde pointed out each curtly.

\"Balcony,\" he added as an afterthought, pointing to the window and quelling the different scenes he had acted out in his mind countless times when home alone with nothing but a bottle of whiskey. Heero sitting on the rail as the night air rustled his hair and the curtains, and Milliardo brushing his fingers across that smooth neck as he leaned in...


He closed his eyes and banished the thoughts, suddenly craving whiskey. \"Will a drink earn more information?\" he asked quietly, heading to the kitchen and opening the only thing that was well stocked in the place--the alcohol cupboard--and removing a large bottle of Wild Turkey.

It was clean, Duo noted. Apparently there was one thing Wind had in common with Heero, that and their insane, completely doomed, desire for each other.

He found Wind\'s tone of voice rather interesting when he\'d pointed out the balcony. He would bet money on what - or rather, who - was on Wind\'s mind when he gazed out at the glass door.

He was amused by the offer of alcohol. Apparently Wind hoped to kill two birds with one stone, although it seemed rather contradictory to Duo that he\'d want to numb himself against the very thoughts he kept pushing for.

The blond man opened up one of the cabinet doors and pulled out an impressive bottle of whiskey. Duo wasn\'t about to let himself be pulled into trying to drink this man under the table, but his tolerance was high, and he had no idea about Wind\'s. \"Guess there\'s one way to find out, isn\'t there?\"

Milliardo nodded and put the bottle down, then remembered he only had one glass, one bowl, one plate...

\"We\'re sharing the glass,\" he muttered, grabbing the large tumbler and heading towards the balcony. He opened the sliding glass doors, pulled back the curtains, and slumped down on the marble tiles, opening the bottle. He filled the tumbler to the brim and took back half the liquid, then held it out to Duo without looking at him.

\"Why is he leaving?\" the blonde repeated, his voice tired even though his mind was racing.

Duo accepted the glass and sat down near his host. He tossed back the rest of the whiskey and set the tumbler down between Wind\'s legs, leaning forward meaningfully. \"Maybe he has no reason to stay.\" He sat back and crossed his legs. One of knees was brushing Wind\'s leg. \"Like I said, this is why you need help.\"

\"Fine. Tell me more about Heero.\" He filled the glass again and took the entire serving for himself before handing the bottle and glass to Duo. He normally would have moved away from the contact between their legs, but figured it was best to please his company rather than ire him.

There were little signals, and then there were blatant signals; Duo was putting out a mix of both in a direction that Milliardo wasn\'t willing to go. There were many things he\'d do for Heero, but whoring himself was crossing the line... wasn\'t it?


He wasn\'t completely sure now that he thought about it. What was one more trick...?


No! He couldn\'t. He wouldn\'t-- even for Heero.


~