*Based on the song 'Animals', by Nickelback
Disclaimer: I don't own them and I don't make any money off of them.
Warnings: Male/Male sex, graphic, language, violence.
They hadn't held him long. Duo was too good at escaping. He was on the street and hiding under the radar after only two weeks of playing, 'perfect prisoner'. It seemed that the officials had decided that he was the eldest one, and had put him into juvenile detention without much paperwork or consideration. Obviously, the loud mouthed, and insubordinate ex pilot of Deathscythe, had convinced the usually obedient Heero Yuy to go on his crime spree.
Heero did continue to be the obedient one, after Duo's escape, and that gave credence to their assumptions.It also gave Duo something to be angry about. Heero must have known about his escape. Duo had seen himself on the front page of every newspaper that he had passed; Ex-gundam pilot escapes. Duo doubted that anything, short of death, could have kept Heero from leaving that low security school, if he had chosen to go. It was apparent that he had chosen not to, and to let Duo go his own way.
Duo could have seen that as Heero's attempt to abide by the law, for their future lives together, but, instead, he saw it as an abandonment. He had experienced far too much of that during his short life and it was a long time before he stopped cursing Heero Yuy with every other breath. Other things took the place of his anger, survival for one, and avoiding the police, another.
Duo drifted, from place to place, before settling in a big city. Afraid of finding work, and being reported, he lived off of whatever other people threw out and holed up in an abandoned apartment building. His fire gutted, upstairs, penthouse, with a wide balcony of rusted, fancy grillwork, looked out at a blighted neighborhood, but it was home.
Duo ticked off the days, but then lost track, as his bare knuckled lifestyle gained him friends and foes alike among the roving gangs and general citizens. It was easy to control raging hormones, as well, when his next meal was always uncertain and staying alive meant becoming lean and meaner than a cornered sewer rat. The few friends he did allow in his 'safe space' were both straight and uninteresting in that way. The rest were willing to pay for it, or to make it quick and one sided, but Duo found that unappealing enough to avoid. He had come around too many corners to see people plastered against a wall, pants down, and in the act, to not notice the blank eyes and the grimaces. Even though he had only had a small piece of Heero Yuy, the fire of that 'first time' still showed him what it could be, and what he would be missing if he took someone else for a backalley tryst.
Duo wasn't sure if, once Heero reached legal status, and was released, that he would ever come for Duo and finish what they had started, but he had set the bar high and even Duo's overpowering need couldn't let him settle for anything less. If it wasn't Heero, then Duo knew that he would have to find someone just as good.
Duo leaned against the brick wall of a deli, hands in ragged jeans pockets, and kept in the shadow of another building. Peeking out of that spot, he could watch for opportunities without anyone watching him in return. It was his favorite place to 'watch the world go by' and think, and it gave him a sense that he wasn't alone, but sharing the day with the people passing by. Those people were going about their business, unaware that the poor and starving were only a few steps away and waiting for them to toss half a donut, a nearly empty cup of coffee, or part of a deli sandwich into the bins along the sidewalk.
A newspaper hit the trash, the owner not pausing in his stride, and Duo slipped out, surveyed the street carefully, and then snatched the paper up and tucked it under his patched jacket. Slipping back into his 'place' he unfolded the paper and caught up on the news. The article about Heero Yuy, leaving his mandated school, and joining Preventers at such a young age, was front and center.
"That's not goddam fair!" Duo snarled. He glared at Heero's picture, crumpled the paper up, and tossed it back into the garbage as he headed for the transport station. Digging in his pockets, he produced a few meager credits. He would have to beg or steal the rest, because it was time to leave his self appointed exile and join the world again. He had something to trade, now, to have his charges dropped, and didn't intend to miss the opportunity. He was going to join the Preventers and, maybe, have a chance to punch Heero right in the mouth.
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