No Love
3-No Love For Link
---
How do I feel about insincerity? That's a very tough question to answer. I suppose I don't like being lied to, and who does for that matter? But I do acknowledge that it is a necessary evil. It's bad, but I would never say that it shouldn't be done. Lies are like your daily vitamins, they can do some good in very small doses, but too many and you'll be shitting you're guts out. See lies are an essential tool to avoid hurting people, people you don't want to hurt, people you may even love. Take me for example, do I lie to Pit? Yes, I do lie to Pit, but only because I don't want to hurt him. How could I ever hurt my little angel?
---
Pit watched out the kitchen window of their apartment as Link climbed into his silver BMW, a high school graduation gift from his father. As Link struggled to use the button on his keys to open the door the brunette casually scanned over the parking lot. Immediately a scruff of blue hair caught his attention, a stranger who didn't live in their building, loitering in the parking lot. The mystery man stood leaning against an orange Range Rover, a half finished cigarette between his fingers. The man was large, not much larger than Link, but large all the same. Pit couldn't tell his build under the tan trench coat the man wore, but he guessed muscular. Who are you mystery man, who are you?
---
Ike sat up against his Rover, his half finished cigarette no longer really appealing to him, sighing he let it drop to into a puddle by his feet. With a spacey, and well rehearsed, gaze he casually followed Link's every move with his eyes, all the while appearing not to. As soon as the blonde left he intended to get into his car, and follow the ass wherever he went tonight. As much as he bitched about it, he really did love nailing the asses of the world.
---
Walking across the hardwood of the kitchen, Pit swiftly made his way to the phone on the wall outside the kitchen. Grabbing the black plastic phone he punched in Link's cell phone number as fast as he could. It rang once. Please pick up your phone Link, just please do that for me. After two more rings he heard a click on the other end.
"I'll bet that you're not wearing anything but one of my dress shirts right now! Am I right?" Link said into the phone, happy as a clam. The small brunette's face turned beet red, mostly because it was true.
"Oh grow up!" The boy pouted. "I needed to tell you something that's actually important."
"Shoot." Link replied climbing into the car and reaching into the glove
compartment for some gum.
"Well, don't look now, but there's a guy who doesn't live in the building just sort of hanging around all suspicious-like. He's in the parking lot, blue hair leaning against the orange truck." Pit exploded the information into the phone in a flurry of words only somebody who knew him as well as Link could decipher.
"Yeah, I know, he's been staring at me since I left the building, it's really starting to creep me out." Link gave another casual side glance to the mystery stranger before he turned the key and started his car. As soon as he started his car the mystery stranger turned and climbed into his orange Rover, then started his own vehicle.
"Link, don't look now, but that guy might be following you!" Pit said into the phone, nervously eyeing the orange vehicle.
"Yeah I saw. I'm just gonna pretend like I don't see him for a while, see what he does." Link replied.
"Are you sure that's a smart idea?" Pit cried into the phone, clearly panicking.
"Pit don't worry, I can take care of my own shit. Beside's, you know I can take him." It was true, Link boxed and Pit knew from personal experience how strong he was.
"I love you, and try to relax." Link cooed.
"I love you too." The line went dead. Trying his best to follow Link's orders, Pit walked over to the living room and sat on the floor. Reaching for the remote he flipped to on demand.
"I hope he's okay." The boy thought aloud.
---
Ike was pretty sure that Link had no idea he was being followed, but just to be on the safe side he decided not to tail the blonde directly. The way he figured it he would just drive up about a block away from Soren's house, ditch his Rover, then wait for the blonde at Soren's place. If the blonde went to Soren's he could nail the guy, if he didn't go to Soren's than Ike really had no reason to care where the asshole was.
---
Link was very glad to have finally lost his 'tail' if he could even be called that. Either he and Pit were being paranoid or the strange blue haired man in the orange truck was a complete idiot because the blonde had lost him miles back.
Link turned the corner and carefully studied the armada of small houses lining the cul-de-sac, looking for the periwinkle blue one story house with the white trim and a small birch tree in the front yard. It amazed him how many times he had been to Soren's house, especially as of late, and yet he still did not know exactly where on the street the raven haired boy lived. Scanning both sides of the street the birch tree in the front lawn of one house finally caught his eye. With expert timing he guided the wheel with his palm and effortlessly slid into the narrow driveway.
As he turned the car off he studied the picture window on the front of the house, through it he had a perfect view of Soren scampering around the dining room, clearly trying to set something up. He closed the door of his car, not bothering to lock it as the jogged his way towards the front steps of the house. He had only just rung the doorbell when Soren casually opened the door. Link studied the boy, his black hair splayed about, no longer tied back into a ponytail. Link liked the way it looked, very sexy, and as if to add to the disheveled look Soren wore a pair of dress pants with an un-tucked maroon dress shirt. Sleeves rolled up, top two buttons undone.
"Hey sexy! You tryin' to seduce me?" Link said jokingly as Soren went in for a hug.
"Link It's so good to see you again!" The raven haired boy exclaimed as he drew the blonde into a warm hug, which Link kindly returned.
"Again? Soren we see each other on an almost daily basis."
"Well, maybe I miss you the days we don't see each other, ever think of that? Oh and the food just got here, hope Chinese is okay." Soren said walking his way into the kitchen to fetch a bottle of wine to compliment their 'fine' cuisine.
"Yeah Chinese is good, but I shouldn't eat much. Pit will probably be expecting me to eat dinner when I get back."
"How is Pit lately?" Soren asked, trying to maintain his balance on the chair he was standing on to reach the wine.
"He's just fine, better than ever. Do you want a hand with that?" Link asked watching Soren's struggle in the kitchen.
"Link I'm taller than you, of what help will you be?" Soren finally slid a bottle of Pinot Noir out of the top shelf. Strolling into the kitchen he popped the cork.
"Oh! Look at mister macho over here, you're only like an inch taller." Link retorted in a joking defensive voice.
"An inch is an inch, Link. Wine?"
"Yeah, wine." Link eyed the boy as he smoothly filled two glasses about halfway with the red liquor, his back to the blonde. After pausing for a moment he continued to fill the second until it was practically to the brim. Link eyed the glass quizzically.
"Tough day?" He asked putting his arms on Soren's shoulders from behind.
"You haven't the slightest." Soren replied taking a long swig of wine from the almost overflowing glass.
---
Ike for the life of him couldn't figure out exactly why he was as shocked as he was, he had no reason going into this to assume Link and Soren weren't having an affair. But it just didn't seem real until now. He also wasn't sure why he had gone through three cigarettes in the about fifteen minutes he'd been standing outside of Soren's abode.
It probably had something to do with how angry this particular case was making him. This of course gave rise to the question of why this case had him so hot under the collar. He didn't really want to think about the why at the moment though. In fact, frankly, he had been outright avoiding the word why all day.
Why was this so frustrating to him?
Why could he not stop thinking about Soren?
Why was everything so confusing to him all of a sudden?
He didn't know, or care to know. All he knew was that as he stood lighting his fourth cigarette his head felt as hot as embers. As he watched Link put his disgusting hands on Soren through the picture window, he felt fire, and not from his lighter.
---
"So how did it go?" Link said before sticking a piece of sticky General Tsao's chicken into his mouth.
"What, the interview? It went fine." Soren replied, delicately lifting a clump of white rice to his mouth with his chopsticks.
"You didn't do anything too stupid, did you? Man I'll bet you were a nervous wreck!" Link said pointing to the raven haired boy with his fork. Soren blushed slightly.
"I was not…I wasn't a wreck, okay!" Soren said aggressively shoving a string bean into his mouth.
"Did you come on to him at all?" Soren nearly spat half chewed string bean all over Link at the comment.
"Did I what?!" He gasped as he choked down the remnants of the bean.
"Y'know, did you put the moves on him, strut your stuff? Please tell me that you were at least a little bit flirty?" Link said putting down his fork. He was now fully invested in the conversation, and hanging on every word.
"I, well, flirty? Not exactly, I was…well I was friendly, I guess." Soren said, clearly embarrassed.
"Friendly? Damn it Soren! How's Ike gonna know you like him if you never once make him think you're interested? That's why we were coaching you for the past, I dunno, like two weeks. We've been building you up just for this, no way you're blowing it, not on my watch!" Link exclaimed. After a few moments of Soren not responding Link gently rubbed his back with his left hand.
"Look don't worry, I won't let you blow this, we're friends. Right? It'll just take a bit more work."
---
Ike finished picking up all of the paperwork off the hardwood floor outside of his office. He shoved it back into the manila folder and then quickly composed himself.
"Do you know about how long this has been going on for?" Ike asked in what he was surprised to hear was a very stern, professional voice.
Marth and Roy glanced at each other for a moment and Roy simply shrugged his shoulders. With a sigh Marth answered the question.
"Roy stumbled onto it about a week or two ago. He was going to pay Soren a visit, and he saw Link there acting all lovey-dovey with Soren. Or at least that's how it looked to him." Marth calmly explained.
"Fuck that! They're definitely fucking!" Roy shot as soon as the bluenette had finished talking.
"Thank you Roy, thank you for clarifying that!" Marth responded, gaping at his lover.
"What did you see exactly, Roy?" Ike asked, turning to the redhead.
"Well, they always ate at the table for a bit, had some wine. Then they would disappear off into the house somewhere. The only window you can really see through is the window in the dining room, but it was just really clear what was going on."
"You spied on them more than once?" Ike asked.
"Well I wouldn't say spied."
"About how many times?"
"I'd say about five or six." Roy answered, suddenly feeling like he should be on the defensive.
"But you never actually saw anything happen?" Ike asked back, not sure what he was prying for.
"Look man, whatever. I know what I saw! I'd bet anything that something's up! I mean this was almost every night for the past two weeks! It doesn't take a genius to figure that something is going on!"
---
Clenching what was now his eighth cigarette between his teeth he could see exactly what Roy had meant in that hallway. It was obvious. As he stood and watched the blond rub the raven haired boy's back, he felt his blood boil. Biting down too hard he felt the filter crush in his mouth. Quickly he spat the cigarette out and fished around the pocket of his jacket for another pack.
---
"Look, it's really easy, just say something like 'hey there sexy!' But do it in a joking way, see how he reacts. Then go from there." Link said, resisting the urge to even touch his food.
"But what if he's not gay, what if he doesn't like guys?" Soren said sadly, thinking back to that day at the diner. This isn't a date Soren… The words still stuck in his mind.
"No, see that's why you do it in a joking manner, you just 'pretend' hit on him, if you catch my drift. I did this with Pit for like a whole hour the first time we met. And you know what? It worked! In one hour I was sure that not only did he like guys, but that my chances were pretty good." Link said reassuringly.
"But this is different." Soren pleaded.
"How is it any different?"
"Well, its…Pit is just very obviously…well you can tell that Pit is gay. He's about as flamboyant as they come. Worse than Roy and Marth." Soren said quietly. There was a long silence, which was finally broken when Link let out the laugh he'd been struggling to holding in.
"I guess that's true isn't it!" Link said through his laughter. Now he even had Soren chuckling.
" I'm sorry, it's just that it is true." Soren said fighting his own growing laughter.
"That's not funny, that's not funny at all!" Link said practically on the verge of tears. After about another minute of laughing they finally had control of themselves again.
"Look Soren, the point of me coaching you these past two weeks was that you'd be able to just go for it. If you don't lighten up and just go for it, you're not gonna get this guy, alright? Besides, I wanna meet Ike the mystery man. If he's anything like you say he is he must be a blast." Link said.
It killed him to see his friend having such a hard time with something he really couldn't help him with very much. It was just two weeks ago that Soren had told him he was gay. It hadn't really surprised the blond, he always had a feeling. There had even been a time when he'd considered asking Soren out himself. Water under the bridge now though, he had Pit and that was all he needed.
"He is Link, he's really something. I just can't, what if Ike says no?" Soren said staring broodingly at the food on his plate.
"Say no! To smokin' hottie like you Soren? I don't think so."
---
Ike was fully aware of what he was supposed to be doing in a case at this stage, all the mistakes that could be made, the proper procedures. Which meant that he wasn't at all foggy on the fact that he should not be telling anybody other than his clients about the evidence he had found thus far. Because of this he couldn't help but wonder why he was in the phone booth outside his office rifling through the phonebook looking for the last name Litsky.
Pit lives with Link, so If I call now, while Link is still at Soren's, we can do a quick meeting somewhere. He finally found the address and punched it into the surprisingly clean metal keypad.
"Pit here!!!" A high pitched voice bubbled into the phone.
"Um, yeah, hello ma'am. I was just wondering if Pit was available." Ike said into the phone, wondering who the hell this woman could possibly be.
" I just said 'Pit here.' I'm Pit, you dolt. Speaking of which, who are you ?" The boy asked jokingly.
At this point Ike just wanted to crawl into a hole and die. Why is every boy in this town like a girl? Is it genetic? Something in the water? That's it, that must be it! The government is attacking our water supply with estrogen!!
" Ah, sorry about that. I hope you don't mind the misunderstanding."
"Not at all ." Ike immediately switched to the most assertive, tactile voice he had.
"I'm actually a private investigator Pit. My name is ." The boys tone changed to nervous immediately.
"Well, um can I help you with something then? I swear I didn't do anything!" The boys suddenly collapsed into near hysterics. Trying to calm him Ike started to spout anything he could into the receiver.
"No, Pit, wait, Pit! This is not about anything you did! Just calm down! Breath. Are you breathing, Pit?" Ike heard the boy rasp into the phone for a few moments.
"Yeah, sorry. I'm easily excitable. Link says that its cute, but he also says it can get me into trouble." Ike winced at the comment. That fucking rat bastard, what a cute kid.
"Don't worry. Look, while we're on the subject is Link home now?"
"No, do you have a message for him? Wait, did he do something wrong!?!" Christ, not again.
"No, Pit, don't do that again, Link did nothing wrong!" What a god damn lie. " I just need to talk to you. But you're not in trouble, so don't freak out on me please! Where is a good place to meet? Make it somewhere public, that way I can't try anything if you don't trust me." Ike switched tactics, going for a softer reassuring voice instead of a harsh serious one.
"Well…okay. Link left his address book here." Ike heard the sound of rummaging in the background. "Okay never mind the book, I've got one! How about 437 Bidel Street?" Ike couldn't believe he had possibly heard the address correctly.
"Um, Pit, do you know what exactly is on 437 Bidel Street? I think we should meet somewhere-" He was cut off by a loud banging on the other end of the line.
"Whoops, shit! Yeah its close to our apartment. Besides, I don't know many other places that would be open at this hour." Pit scrambled to put all of the movies he had knocked off of the shelf in the living room back onto the rack while holding the phone with his shoulder and chin.
"Look I've got to go Mr. Spiegel, meet you there in about fifteen minutes?" Pit reached out for the 'end' button on the phone.
"Wait Pit! I don't think you-" The line went dead in his hands.
"God damn it. Oh, god damn it!" Ike yelled slamming the phone into its hook.
As Ike trudged off towards 437 Bidel Street he didn't even notice the man in the black pea coat and pinstriped fedora who had heard their whole conversation. The man quickly fanned out the popped collar of the pea coat so that it almost fully concealed his face. Shoving his hands into the deep pockets of the coat, the stranger slowly walked down the sidewalk, the bluenette never leaving his sight.
---
"Alright, enough of this talking about our feeling bullshit! We're either watching a movie or having sex, right now!" Link yelled, his lips clearly loosened by the wine. Soren sighed and stood up from the table, looking at his first glass of wine, still half empty. He's way too gone to drive. Guess I'll have to take him home.
"Fine, sex it is." Soren said with a smirk. Link jokingly groped at Soren and laughed.
"You dumb ass, I was kidding! I'll look for a movie."
"Sounds good to me, but don't make it something gay. I wanna see boobies!!!" Link yelled stumbling slightly in his incredibly buzzed, but not quite drunken state.
"You're gay, you idiot!" Soren called to the man as he searched the cabinet in the living room for a DVD.
---
Standing outside of Paddy's Gay Bar Ike wanted to die. He just really, really wanted to die. Immediately uncomfortable, he pulled out what he thought was either his twelfth or thirteenth cigarette of the night. Sticking it in his mouth and lighting it, he anxiously glance at his watch, Pit probably wouldn't be here for about another five minutes or so. It was then that he turned and looked down to see a small brunette about a foot shorter than him standing directly in front of him. He recognized the small boy from the photograph immediately.
"Hey Pit you're early. I just-"
"Wait you're the guy from our parking lot!" Pit stammered staring up at the bluenette, wide eyed.
"Pit what are you talking about-"
"STRANGER DANGER!!!" Pit screamed, and punched Ike directly in the crotch. The small boy proceeded to run of down an alley next to the bar. Ike's whole body was screaming in pain and he felt nauseous.
"WHAT!?!" Ike screamed as he leaned against the wall, trying to process what had just happened, and resisting the urge to kill the brunette.
Oh I'll kill him, I'll kill that little bastard, son of a bitch, mother fucker… Still writhing in pain Ike, after giving a quick glance down the sidewalk for anybody who might 'misinterpret' the situation, took off into the alley. Looking down the small alcove he immediately spotted the boy cringing against the brick wall about twenty feet in. Dead end, Pit was all out of road.
Well thank god for that at least. Ike took a couple steps towards the boy before retreating slightly. The brunette looked ready to cry, clearly he was terrified. Ike put his hands up in surrender, trying to ignore the pain and adrenaline.
"Look, I don't know what that was about Pit, but I forgive you. I'm not here to hurt you." The boy seemed to calm down somewhat, but still looked wary.
"Why were you loitering around our parking lot earlier tonight? Are you stalking me." Ike knew he was going to have to come clean.
"Pit, I wasn't following you, I was following Link."
The boy stared up at the bluenette, confounded.
"Pit, I have to tell you something, something you're not going to like. Lets go inside, we shouldn't talk out here." He extended a hand to the boy, who took it, still confused. Leading the brunette towards the door to the bar, he felt horrible.
Besides, I could really use a drink.
No Love For Link, End