Authors Notes: REVISED! It's sounds better and everything! :D
Read!Love!REVIEW!
ENJOY!
~P.S I Hate You~
1000 Pictures
Chapter 1
x_x
"Well...shit".
As dishonourable and undignified as Wufei found it to swear, that's all that came to his mind.
The last time his mind blanked like this he was, as one would call it, in a more intimate setting. Wufei instantly banished the thought. He promised himself he would forget about that episode in his life, well, more akin to that season of his life.
As shocked as Jackson seemed to Wufei, Jackson still managed to say something; Wufei deemed "excellently appropriate", just like everything Jackson said. Wufei sighed; he was really trying to work on not thinking in sarcasm, but Jackson had the talent of bringing out the bestin people.
"It's bigger in real life".
That, Wufei assumed was what Jackson thought was an appropriate response to what they saw. Wufei always fantasized about teaching Jackson tact...through the use of interpretive violence.
"Wouldn't Yuy just love to see this", Jackson continued under his breath, still looking around the room. By his tone, Wufei could tell, Jackson wasn't being sarcastic.
"I suggest you keep your comments regarding my partner to a minimum, and focus on the situation at hand," Wufei said, his voice steely. It was mandatory to work with Jackson all day on this investigation, and patience wasn't a course offered through the preventers nor was it a part of training in the wars.
"Well this," Jackson gestured to the room which they were engulfed in, "makes me angry."
Like everything else, Wufei thought.
"And I don't care if you can't handle that. He's my fucking boyfriend and I don't like serial killers taking pictures of my fucking shit! "Jackson continued angrily.
"So it's okay if random people take pictures of Maxwell as long as they're not serial killers", Wufei mumbled. Jackson didn't hear him, he just continued in his rant.
"I told him to stop flirting around and talking to random people, but no, he won't listen to me, I'm just his boyfriend". Before Jackson was just aggravated, now Jackson looked angry. Wufei summarized this was probably due to a distinct lack of self control.
Wufei took a slight step back, angry people were irrational. Jackson was already irrational without being angry, and Wufei didn't have time to prepare for any more irrationality.
Jackson reached for a picture.
Great, Wufei thought, here comes the irrationality.
"I should take some of these pictures home, just to show him", as Jackson reached out Wufei instantly blocked his hand.
"That's evidence", Wufei hissed.
Jackson looked like he was going to attempt to grab at the pictures again.
Wufei narrowed his eyes.
Jackson may be well versed in mixed martial arts, but he had nothing on Wufei. Funny, it was only one of the reasons why Wufei never bothered wasting time sparring with him, that and Jackson was a jackass.
Jackson's version of why Wufei didn't spar with him was of course, a little different.
"Are you forgetting that this is a high profiled investigation?" Wufei all but yelled. "What makes you think you have the right to tamper with evidence?"
"The serial killer has over 1000 pictures thumb tacked to the wall of my boyfriend and your telling me that you don't see why I think I have the right to-", Jackson held up his fingers and mimicked quotation marks, "-tamper with evidence?".
Wufei eyes quickly scanned the room while mentally reviewing why they were on this case anyway. Jackson and Brown were investigating a low level homicide case where the killer had killed two women and removed their hair. He and Heero had been investigating a serial killer, who was up to five victims who had similar MO's; the serial killer would remove their eyes. The link happened when the serial killer had killed the sixth victim, leaving her with no eyes, and no hair, removed the same way it had been in the homicide case Jackson and Brown were working on.
They discovered this residence after a sketchy anonymous tip that was given to them by a caller.
The agents split up in teams of two, and did a sweep of the house. While Wufei and Jackson took the upper level, Heero and Brown had taken the lower one.
What Wufei found in the master bedroom of this seemingly quiet house disturbed him. The walls were covered from top to bottom with pictures of Duo Maxwell. It must of taken the psychotic killer years to get this collection, Wufei thought, as he saw a picture that displayed a slightly younger Duo than the one he talked to just this morning.
What Wufei found even more disturbing was that half of the pictures featured Duo in some sort of undress, or even wearing nothing at all. It was clear that the serial killer had some sort of sick fascination with Maxwell, and Wufei had no idea how to handle it.
Wufei was also concerned about what would happen when Heero saw this. Throughout the war, Heero was a perfect soilder, and now, he was even a more perfect agent. If Une wanted a revolving door shut, Heero would find a way to make it happen. He was logical, rational and efficient with everything and everyone, with one exception...
Duo Maxwell.
And although, no one knew where this irrationality came from, there was no way to deny it, it was there, and very obvious. Especially to Jackson, Duo's boyfriend, who made it no secret how he felt about Maxwell and began constantly competing with Yuy; the day Duo casually informed him that Heero and him were best friends. Or not so causally, Wufei thought. Even in his opinion, Duo spent more time with Heero than Jackson, and Duo lived with Jackson.
"I'm going to call the evidence team and report our findings", Wufei stated. At the moment that was the only other thing he could think of doing besides killing Jackson and asking Heero to help him dispose of the body.
The phone rang twice before someone answered it.
"Operations, Noin speaking".
"Noin", Wufei said as a greeting.
Wufei didn't know how to feel about Noin.
Well, actually he did.
"Oh Agent Wufei," Noin's voice perked over the phone, "How are you? I'm great by the way".
He hated her.
No one knew this except for Trowa, and Heero; and Zechs… Zechs had to know.
"Oh my gosh, did Zechs tell you?" Noin suddenly gasped "Zechs and I are planning a fall get together for his birthday coming up".
Who could forget, Wufei thought to himself, as much as he wanted to, he could never forget August 21th.
Zechs was a Leo.
"Are you coming?" Noin asked.
"Ahhh…."
Wufei paused, shocked that she stopped talking… for once, and at the fact that she was inviting him?
Did Zechs know?
Seeing them together was...
Wufei couldn't find an adjective he wanted to use, but when he did, it would be a negative one.
"You know Zechs don't you?" Noin said jokingly.
More than you know, Wufei thought, no matter which way Noin could interpret that sentence.
"Yes, yes of course" Wufei faked a laughed, as much as he hated the woman he vowed to never let her know.
Suspicion was definitely something he didn't want to create.
"Well?" she asked impatiently.
Anymore suspicion anyway.
"I will check my schedule", Wufei said speedily. "Now back to business. We infiltrated the residence and found a room with disturbing evidence of a delicate nature, protocol demands Une's immediate attention".
Noin pondered sceptically. Everyone knew that if an agent was threatened in an investigation, it meant serious business.
Une would need to go and analyse the threat, and Noin wanted in on details.
Noin was nosy, but instead she chose not to ask any questions. Her office lived on gossip, she would find out soon enough.
She instructed that Wufei hold for a minute and sent off an email to Une. A minute passed. She chose not to fill the wait time with small talk. Something always bugged her with the way Wufei and her boyfriend acted when they were in the same room together. It was weird. Almost like they were friends before but had an argument and stopped talking. But every time she brought up Wufei with Zechs, he would change the topic, and refuse to go back.
Her computer chimed with the email she received from Une, and she took Wufei off hold.
"Une states she will leave in fifteen, her ETA is one hour".
Noin hung up the phone after saying goodbye to Wufei. Whatever she needed to know about his past with Zechs she vowed to find out by the fall dinner party. She suspected that Wufei knew something about Zechs, something Zechs was hiding from her.
"Une will be here within an hour", Wufei said out loud to Jackson.
"Whatever", Jackson grumbled annoyed. Wufei didn't really care though; he was actually more upset to be stuck on the same planet with Jackson, the same room was inconsequential.
"Yuy, whats your 20?" Wufei asked through the radio. The sooner Heero was up here the better. He would need to brief Une on the evidence.
"On my way to your location", Heero responded. "The sweep of the basement is complete; we found some disturbing evidence".
The way Heero said it, Wufei knew it was not normal evidence, which in light of what he found, would make whatever Heero found much more significant. He heard Heero reach the top of the stairs, and mentally prepared himself for Heero's reaction to the pictures.
The master bedroom was dark where they were, there was only one dingy light to the entire room, but even then, it wasn't hard to see what they were dealing with.
"Wufei", Heero said evenly, the way Wufei became accustomed to when Heero was about to snap. "What the fuck is this?"
Wufei followed Heero's eyes around the room and was surprised that Heero maintained his cool through that sentence. Duo was Heero's best friend, they were practically joined at the hip.
"It seems like our serial killer has a thing for Maxwell", Wufei commented.
"Not much unlike Heero", Jackson interjected under his breath, throwing a heated glance at Heero. Wufei was actually glad Jackson was standing close to him, and not Heero. If Heero had heard that, he and Jackson would be at each other's throats.
But then again, they already where...if not physically; the glares between the two sufficed.
It was then that Wufei noticed something bagged in Heero's hand. Heero followed Wufei's eyes and handed the evidence bag to Wufei.
"It used to be a group picture of us that we took together".
"Used to be?" Wufei asked letting his voice drop.
Wufei looked at the picture with his flashlight, ignoring Jackson peering over his shoulder. He wondered if he ever told his co-workers that he found Jackson's height annoying, Jackson was 6'5...come to think of it, he probably didn't. However, he and Heero always joked about killing him. But most of the times, Wufei was under the impression that Heero wasn't joking; which worked out quite nicely...because neither was he.
Duo was in the centre of the picture, arm around Heero, bunny ears over Wufei's head, with a permanent smile on his face, looking at the Camera. It was a rare smile too, yes, Duo did smile a lot, but they were never one of these smiles. This smile looked genuine. Heero had a small smile on his face too, a rarity in the few pictures he was in. Quatre and Trowa were standing beside each other. Quatres arms were flung around Trowa, who also had a small smile himself. Quatres eyes twinkled in the picture, like there was some joke no one else knew but himself. Duo looked beautiful in the picture. Wufei remembered it being Heero's favourite picture...he guessed that would change in light of recent events.
The serial killer had edited the picture though, every pilots face was crossed out with a neat little X in what Wufei was pretty sure was blood.
"Well", Jackson quipped angrily, "when the fuck was that taken?" He glared at Heero with hateful jealous filled eyes, "and why wasn't I invited?"
"That information doesn't concern you", Heero said coldly. "The only thing that should concern you is information beneficial to the case".
Tension was building.
"Well in that case", Jackson said wittily, like he somehow now had the upper hand, "can I ask you why is your picture in the house where the serial killer once resided?"
It just dawned on Wufei...no wonder that picture seemed familiar; it was the one Heero use to have on his desk. Wufei would always catch Heero looking at it when he thought no one was watching.
Heero visibly tensed. He was furious.
"Can I ask you why are all the pictures on the wall were taken in or around your apartment, or just outside of your apartment?"
It was no secret, Heero hated Jackson. He hated Jackson the first day he was hired. In fact, Wufei remembered Heero telling him that the first day Jackson was hired he walked passed Heero and Duo in the hall, instantly checked Duo out, smirked at Heero, he then mouthed 'he's mine'.
Heero also told Wufei on another rare display of emotion that he could effectively eliminate the problem of Jacksons presence if he stopped talking to Duo. He didn't comment after that, but Wufei knew that that was one sacrifice Heero wasn't willing to make.
Jackson had the decency to look a little confused. His next statement not only revealed why, but visibly pissed Heero off even further.
"You know what my apartment looks like? I've told that little bitch not to bring his stupid friends over".
"I understand you think you superseded my anger because you are dating my best friend", Heero said coldly "but may I remind you, he isn't here, insult him, my partner and I again, and I will not hesitate to punch you in the face".
Maybe today wasn't that bad, Wufei thought to himself, at least the entertainment was free.
"I don't see why you care what I say about Maxwell, it's not like he's still your partner. I wonder how that got fucked up?" Jackson taunted, eluding to the fact that once, Heero and Duo use to be partners.
Wufei idly wondered who spread that gossip around. How did Jackson know that roughly two years ago something happened that ended Heero's and Duo's partnership?
"And I would wonder why you work low level cases, however I already know", Heero stated in response, referring to Jacksons consistently denied promotions. After Jackson's low blow, Wufei commended Heero for returning the favour.
Jacksons dark Hazel eyes flashed, everyone in the room could tell he was on the brink of losing his temper. Jackson was short tempered. From what Wufei and Heero thoroughly read through in their back ground check of Jackson, he had some anger management issues and often got into fights in high school and college.
However, as good as Jackson thought he was with his experience in mixed martial arts, high school football, and service in the second war, Jackson had nothing on Wufei and definitely nothing on Heero. Wufei could admit that Jacksons physical aptitude tests were good, better maybe than many of the preventers agents, but in comparison, he was confused as to where Jackson found the confidence to speak.
Jackson continued to glare at Heero.
He was going to kill him one day.
The first day that he met Heero he knew that Heero wanted Duo. But Duo was his. They started dating ever since Heero and Duo stopped being partners.
Jackson thanked Une everyday for making that decision, there was one time he even attempted to thank her physically and although she turned him down, Jackson knew she thought about it.
Jackson felt he was a pretty good looking guy. He had dark brown hair, which he kept low, and dark Hazel eyes, and to top it off his second home was the gym.
A guy like him deserved someone as beautiful as Duo Maxwell, and whatever Jackson wanted, he felt he had to get.
Heero on the other hand, according to Jackson, didn't. He and Duo were best friends since the first war, or so Duo told him, and Heero still hadn't dated Duo.
Heero may have been able to hide his feelings from everyone, but not from Jackson.
No matter how they glorified Heero for being the perfect solider and no matter how they worshiped him for his courageousness in the line of fire, Heero lacked the social drive the that he had.
Which in Jackson's opinion, is way more important than being perfect. Especially if that means he got to screw Duo Maxwell every night.
"Are we done now gentlemen?" Wufei inserted irritably, glancing between the two. He noticed that Jackson seemed to snap back to reality.
"Une will be arriving shortly and we should at least be able to fake civility".
Heero looked slightly embarrassed and nodded. Jackson just smirked.
"May I speak to you in private Yuy", Wufei asked, motioning for Heero to leave the room.
"I – su-", Heero was about to answer when Jackson cut him off.
"Aww, Heero, your partner has to talk you down", Jackson scoffed. "Down boy", he mocked.
Instantly Wufei attempted to block the charging blow to Jacksons face from Heero's fist, the most he could do was stop Jackson's jaw from being broken. Wufei slightly nudged Jackson to the side, who missed the warning signs for Heero's lightning quick blows.
Heero's fist then landed on Jackson's eye, resulting in an instant bruise, knocking Jackson to the ground.
"If you get back up and attempt to fight me", Heero seethed towering over Jackson, "the next thing you will see is the paperwork requiring your signature for a medical leave of absence".
Jackson didn't even look at Heero, he was staring up at the ceiling, a twisted grin on his face.
"What do you find so funny", Wufei hissed.
Where the hell was Brown when situations like this occurred, Wufei idly thought to as he shot him a glare, he guessed that Jackson and him weren't great partners, because manikins would have put more of a interference in this situation than Brown did.
"Well", Jackson said, his smirk back on his face, "I guess someone else knows about Heero's little crush."
Heero and Wufei both gave a confused look which only made Jackson smirk spread wider.
"Look at the ceiling".
Why no one chose to check the ceiling, was beyond Wufei, although he was grateful that Heero relatively calmed down. Explaining to Une why none of them had checked the ceiling before her arrival would make them look incompetent.
There wasn't enough light in the room for it to be clear. Wufei unclipped the flashlight off his belt and shined it at the ceiling, looking up, Heero and Brown following his gaze.
Brown finally spoke, he took the liberty of reading the cryptic message aloud, his low squeaky voice filling the room.
"02 is mine. I suggest you heed this 01. Ps. I hate you".
"Well at least we know where some of the victims blood went", Jackson commented crudely.
Wufei could smell the stagnant taste of blood in the air. It was very obvious what the killer had used.
Like Wufei thought earlier, Jackson always said things that were excellently appropriate, and his vow to stop thinking in sarcasm wasn't going to go dissipate if Jackson remained on the planet.
Heero was taught to give credit where credit was due.
This serial killer was definitely creative, but if the killer thought that this message was as foreboding enough to make Heero Yuy drop the only person he ... Heero chose to avert his thoughts, now was not the time to focus on weaknesses.
Heero narrowed his eyes again at the message.
This killer could go fuck himself.
x_x
Hope you enjoyed the first chapter, and please remember to review, I would love to hear from you.