Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is not mine. Duh.

Fangs of the Wolf

Chapter 21

My December

Heero's house was nice.

It was annoying to admit, since the man had officially infuriated him on the drive over. Not by saying something annoying – no, of course not. Why would Heero actually talk? No, the bastard was absolutely silent. Worse, when Duo had tried to turn on the music, the man had immediately snapped it back off. He'd been ready to scream five minutes after the drive started.

Still, the house was nice. He'd heard others talk about Victorian houses – he winced as he remembered that Hilde was one of those others – but this was the first time he'd actually seen one up close and everything. It was a mix of soft tans and warm browns, something Duo hadn't quite expected from such an ostentatious dwelling. And hadn't he read something about Heero Yuy living in a two-story colonial or something? Something much simpler than this.

"My house will be the first targeted," Heero informed him, almost as if reading Duo's mind. He moved confidently through the ornate black steel gate and marched down the walk. Duo was about to follow when a man came up, tipped up a professional-looking cap, and proceeded to get behind the wheel of Heero's car.

Duo gaped in horror. The man had staff.

"They refused to leave," Heero said, once again practicing ESP. His face was momentarily sad, but it quickly slid off his face. Still, Duo found the pieces clicking together.

"Ah," he said, to let Heero know he got it, and they walked up to the door together.

It was the Odin Lowe guy. The one who'd been killed by J and his men. Heero, he remembered, had been left everything the man had owned. Heero had most likely tried to get rid of the people, but he couldn't make himself lose the house, and if people wanted to stay, Heero would most likely have let them. Because they were showing loyalty, either to Lowe or to him, or maybe both. And loyalty was gold to Heero Yuy.

"Hello, Mary," Heero said, greeting the woman who opened the door.

She was a beautiful woman, her hair short and black and simple. She wore a suit, which didn't quite match my picture of a maid in the household, but she smartly saluted Heero – or whatever it was, lifting up the cap on her head. "Welcome back, sir. It's been a while."

"Mary, you'll need to tell the staff to leave."

"Sir, we've already had this discussion." And the woman began to puff out her chest as if preparing herself for a long siege.

"That's not what I meant. This house may be targeted, and I don't want the staff here if it is."

Mary saluted him again, but this time there was something in her face. Duo grinned a bit ruthlessly at it, already knowing the woman's answer. "I understand, sir, and I'll tell the others. But I doubt any of us will be leaving. Have we permission for weapons on the grounds?"

Heero sighed loudly. "You're certainly Lowe's staff," he muttered, then said, "fine. And of course you can have weapons."

"If anyone shoots at you or your guest, they will be properly dealt with."

Well that sounded both ominous and promising.

Duo sent the woman a charming grin. "Why, thank you for that."

She merely sent him a professionally polite smile. "Any guest of Mr. Yuy will be welcomed in this house. As long," she warned, "as no harm is intended to be harmed upon Mr. Yuy."

"Mary, this is the reason I don't come here." Heero brushed quickly past her, allowing Duo a view of sweeping mahogany banisters and an ornate lobby. The items in the building weren't famous or extreme, but they were nonetheless high quality pieces. Duo looked around with a stunned gaze; this inheritance hadn't been properly detailed in the police force's documents.

He could have stolen from this house when he was a kid and been good for money until he'd graduated high school.

Heero led him past the lobby's tiled entrance – made, Duo easily saw, to elegantly mimic marble – and beyond the fluffy carpeting of the living room, which he could see led into a dining room-kitchen mix large enough for a small wedding reception, and then he was taken up those mahogany stairs. The upstairs was a little ridiculous, too; Duo easily counted six doors. He stared around as Heero skipped the one to the direct right of the stairs and followed him down the hallway on our left. They passed what looked like a sitting room – he'd had no idea those rooms even existed anymore – and then past a bedroom and what looked to be a closet, one activated from the actual hall. Then Duo assumed the door with less wall space was the bathroom, and finally only two doors remained. One, opened, showed an elaborate office space. Which meant the other was his room. Goodie.

"Here." Heero swung open the door, and just as he'd expected, a bedroom lay in wait. It was big for a spare bedroom, as big as his master in his place. The bed was a Queen and had a navy blue comforter on it, the pillow cases a dark mix of the same blue and a deep black. The room also had two nightstands, one on either side of the bed, a tall dresser and a walk-in closet. Not to mention three windows that looked out on the field behind the house. Duo blinked, momentarily overwhelmed.

"Make yourself at home."

Yeah, right. Duo swallowed down a snort. Home? This? He'd moved into a palace. Relaxation wasn't going to be high on his list.

Stupidly, his mind supplied him with a picture of just how thrilled Hilde would have been to enter a place like this. Fuck. He clenched his eyes shut and rubbed his temple. He couldn't think of her, of how... of how dead she was. He held no hope for her recovery; he felt like she'd already died. There was no way to recover from Shinigami's curse.

"Duo? Are you all right?"

Duo jumped a bit, surprised by Heero's familiarity. He remembered very vividly just how much of a baby he'd been earlier, and Heero's use of his first name alone was a reminder of it.

He cleared his throat. "Fine." His voice was raspy, his answer late in coming. He glared at Heero, already anticipating the argument.

"Somehow I doubt it. Try that again."

Dammit. He was on enemy turf, as it were, and that knowledge made the impossible conversation even more impossible. He was very aware of how he'd taken an unconscious step into the massive room, leaving himself trapped by Heero in the entrance. Shit, he was stupid.

"I'm tired, I'm pissed, and I'm freaking out," he said. "How's that?"

"You're scared."

He bristled. "Kiss my ass, Yuy!"

But Heero just stepped in after him, carefully keeping that exit blocked. Duo's eyes watched in hardly-hidden terror as Heero closed the door behind him. "You are afraid," he said again, "that you're friend will die."

His heart thumped. He couldn't deny it; the words, put together so matter-of-factly, left his body weak. He backed away a step, then turned resolutely to the window, trying to hide the moment of weakness he'd shown. "So?" he pushed antagonistically. His eyes raked the long stretch of field and eventually disappeared into a dense thicket of trees and shrubs. Any houses beyond were effectively hidden, lending an air of privacy that the gate in the front had initially enforced.

"If she dies, it's not your fault."

"Yeah, you already told me that." Duo's words were bitter, angry. A part of him, the logical, steady part of him, knew Heero was right. But no matter how much he told himself those exact same words, his mind listed out more facts: Solo, Father Maxwell, Sister Helen. Now Hilde, his closest friend. Who next? Wufei? Heero?

He shuddered. He couldn't do this. He couldn't work in a group. What had he been thinking? He would be sending the other four into death, working with them. He was going to get the others killed.

"So believe me," Heero pressed, and Duo heard a small shuffling against the carpet that warned of Heero's approach. He turned back to the room.

Heero had gotten dangerously close in no time as all, only a couple of feet from him. Duo could almost reach out and touch. His fingers burned against his palm as he clenched his fist. How could he back out on them now? Was it already too late? Or would it be better to tough it out, to be with them to try to make sure they were safe? And were any of J's men left? If so, then he couldn't afford to leave. Heero would be targeted. Again.

Then what the hell could he do?

He had no where to go when Heero moved closer to him. Those hard eyes were dark, inscrutable. Sharp. Duo could feel the warmth of Heero's skin, and immediately the hot flush of warmth caressed his nerves. Shit. This was a problem, too.

"Duo, we need you at peak performance tomorrow. We need your abilities and your focus. Not to mention your drive. Can you give us that?"

Fuck, and the man had the presence of mind to talk about such damn things when they were so close to each other! It was infuriating. He ground his teeth and fought to keep his mind on Heero's words. Too bad his damn body was so close. "I can handle it," he growled.

It took until Heero nodded and moved around him to the window to realize that he'd just agreed to be with them tomorrow. In an instant he understood that he'd been manipulated. "You bitch," he hissed, his body tensing to fight. Heero just sent him a bored look over his shoulder.

"Oh? You finally noticed? A bit slower than usual, aren't you?"

He didn't even think about it; his fist was in the air before he could blink. Still, Heero was faster, and Duo's fist was easily caught. Duo moved in closer and used the momentum to quicken his second punch from his left arm. Heero didn't bother catching this one, instead dodging quickly to the side and pulling Duo's captive hand toward him. Duo pitched forward, off-balance, and in another short instant he was on the floor by the wall, his body pinned below Heero's.

A slice of white-hot lust hit him like a sledgehammer. Suddenly his anger was finding a new, more interesting outlet. He fought it like a wild thing, but his breathing was only getting heavier.

Heero seemed oblivious to it for a very, very long moment, watching as Duo pushed up against the hands holding his wrists by his head and very carefully testing the strength of Yuy's waist and legs above him. And then finally the man's face began to contort a bit, into a slightly shocked look of... of triumph.

"Don't even fucking think about it," Duo hissed, guessing where Heero's thoughts were going.

"Why? You aren't a criminal, and I'm not a cop."

Duo blinked, surprised that the words had actually left Mr. Perfect's mouth. It made his mind blank for a moment, and Heero took the chance to secure Duo's legs a bit more, effectively rubbing them together, leaving it apparent that both found the sudden position quite pleasant.

Duo took two large, gasping breaths, trying to think about the reasons why this was a really, really bad idea. Unbidden his thoughts from the past minutes flooded him, and he flinched. He knew, knew as well as he knew his computer, that if he had sex with Heero Yuy, the man would end up dead in twenty-four hours.

The thoughts left him cold, as cold as a blizzard. He couldn't risk it. It was ridiculous, impossible – but he just couldn't let Heero Yuy die.

"Let go," he ordered, glaring up for all he was worth. But Heero only looked down at his assessingly, stripping his masks apart with practiced ease.

"Tell me that again in a minute," he said finally, and Duo parted his lips to tell him again now when Heero rushed his mouth down on his. A jolt arched Duo's back before he could quite think to stop it, an immediate spiral of heat that burst through his blood. Heero bent his head and nipped at Duo's bottom lip, surprising Duo into accidental surrender. Heero dove his tongue deep, his lips bruising Duo's, his fingers clenching tight enough to stop circulation to Duo's hands.

Duo was lost.

Heero's hips dug into his, grinding against him over and over again, until Duo found his own hips lifting in direct counterpoint, and before he could help it he groaned, low and deep, and the tension in him sagged and he surrendered.

Heero growled in victory and pulled Duo's hands above his head, braceleting them and grabbing Duo's hair with his free hand, forcing Duo's head back and to the side, giving him that small shimmer of deeper access, and he devoured. Duo pumped hard against Heero's pelvis, struggling for more, angry at the clothes between them. His breath rushed in and out of his nose, almost burning in its efforts. The heat spun and twisted inside him, too hot to bear, and his need to take drowned any other thought. He needed more.

But just as that thought slipped through him, Heero ended the kiss and pulled back, gasping, his chest wrenching breaths in and out. "Well?" he managed.

"Well what?" Duo demanded, tugging angrily at Heero's hand, still wound tight around his wrists. When it became apparent his efforts were useless, he tried another tactic, rolling his hips against Heero's. It at least had the effect of making Heero clench his teeth and shut his eyes, but Heero didn't reciprocate.

"Well? You wanted me to let go."

Duo hissed furiously, completely disbelieving. Heero lifted his hips up, freeing Duo's legs, and then he released Duo's wrists and gracefully stood. And then he backed away.

Duo practically choked, holding back his words. He couldn't quite manage to move yet, his body still begging for the fire of Heero's body. His arms remained above his head and he tried to regulate his damn breathing.

Fucking hell, he was in pain.

"You can't be serious," he demanded finally. His eyes fell to what looked to be an equally painful problem for Heero, but the man's face was absolutely empty. Duo wanted to scream.

"I'm absolutely serious," Heero answered. "Do you still consider me nothing more than a cop? And would you only want to do me now that I'm not? These are rather important questions."

"To you," Duo snapped. Heero's heated gaze finally told him just how he looked, lying down gasping with his hands splayed above him. Like he was waiting for Heero to come back and force him into submission again. He quickly stood. "What the hell do you want from me? I say no and you – you do that. And now you fucking stop?"

"Isn't that what you wanted?"

The innocent question ripped a snarl from Duo's throat. "You've caused me a huge inconvenience, you fucking asshole!"

Heero looked down to his bulging erection. "I don't know that it's that huge," Heero murmured.

Duo saw red. "Don't you fucking insult a man like that after you torture him!"

"Torture?"

"Shut the fuck up!"

Heero sighed and turned to the door. "We're done if you're only going to shout boring insults at me."

"Stop being so fucking intelligent! I can hardly focus right now! Or was this a game? Did you not really find it all that interesting?"

He couldn't believe the words even left his mouth. His breath was so out of control he was surprised he hadn't passed out; he wanted to physically harm something. And he wanted, desperately he wanted, and the harsh loss of the completion he craved was almost as bad as the throbbing pulse of his need.

Heero turned back to him, and finally Duo saw an emotion in those damn eyes: anger. "A game?" Heero's voice was silky soft. Dangerous. Duo was too livid to care. "No, it's not a game. I've never been more serious in my life." He strode straight back to Duo, right up to him, until their noses were practically touching. "Do you want to finish it?" he asked, voice low. "Because if we do, you're never leaving me again."

Duo blinked. "What?"

"You heard me." Those eyes were hard, almost blank in their decisiveness. "If we have sex, it will be more permanent than any relationship you had or will ever have. Do I make myself clear?"

Duo gaped like a fish. "What? Wait – you? I thought you didn't fucking like me."

"Oh, no. I have found that I do like you. Very much." Those eyes narrowed even more. "Fuck your curse. I have no intention of dying, and certainly not from a relationship. And I'm not in the mood for a quick fuck. What are your other objections?" Heero didn't give him a chance. "Timing? Well, I'm not going to wait for a holiday to arrive before making any monumental decision. Danger? I have staff. Place? Can't get beds more comfortable."

Duo's jaw just dropped lower and lower. He couldn't believe he was hearing this. And from Heero Yuy! His mind strained to think of a moment that might have warned this was coming and came up blank. Heero had hated him. Hell, if he'd had any rational responses at all during this whole damn episode, it was the short flares of hatred he'd had for Heero!

"So what's your argument?" Heero pressed. "And if you even mention the fucking curse, I'll punch you."

Duo hunched into himself protectively. "Next in line's Wufei," Duo said. "I can't add anyone more. I can't protect everyone!"

"Who the hell said you needed to protect Wufei? He's been my partner for a very long time. If I'd felt I needed to protect him, the both of us would be dead right now!" Heero stopped when Duo flinched. "So it is the curse. That's why you don't want this. Unless it's a game to you?"

"Shut up!" He didn't want to hear this. He couldn't afford to hear this. Heero had been the one to set up the damn walls. He'd been the one to cement the gate shut on their potential love life. Why the hell was he suddenly opening it? What was it that the man really wanted?

"Duo Maxwell," Heero hissed, his voice so low it was hardly more than a breath, "do you or do you not want to be with me?"

Trick question. Duo shook his head, his eyes wide, his mask splintered to hell. "I can't," he said brokenly.

"I didn't ask you if you could. I asked if you wanted to."

Duo's breathing was ragged, but now the reason was wholly different. Why was Heero asking this? Why was he pushing it? Why was he teasing Duo with pleasure and pain and confusion? He needed his mask back. He needed his control. He needed-

Oh, fuck.

"No way," he growled, and wiped fiercely at his face. Tears were dribbling down his cheeks and slipping to the floor. "Fuck me, I can't believe this." His voice cracked. "Shit."

"That," Heero murmured, "I take to be a yes."

"Goddamn you, shut up! I told you; I can't." He backed up as Heero walked toward him, until he found the windowsill digging into his back. "I said no!"

Heero slammed his hands on the window and leaned in over Duo, forcing him to bend back against the sill and lean at a backwards angle. Duo pushed roughly against Heero's chest, but the sill bit into him painfully and instinctively he stopped.

Heero understood the reason for the capitulation; Duo could tell by the determined regret in those deep blue eyes. Heero rubbed their erections against each other again in consolation, and the pleasure-pain that had dwindled as he fought with Heero immediately returned. Duo bared his teeth at Heero, ready to bite him back if necessary.

"I love you, Duo Maxwell."

He froze.

Heero's eyes were steady, his voice factual and intense.

Love?

His chest burned, a presence that grew proportionally to the clench in his gut. His throat worked for a time, but nothing came up. A cruel, sudden intake of breath told him he'd forgotten to breathe. He swallowed once convulsively, twice, then tried to speak again.

"How?"

But it was as if Heero had been waiting for him to ask, and Duo found that Heero had probably thought through every possible outcome, and that maybe that had been what had kept the fucker quiet in the car. He'd been treating his confession like a trial.

"I'd ignored it fairly well," he admitted, but there was no regret or grief at his words. Only truth. "I'd considered it attraction, a realization that maybe women weren't the only sexually attractive creatures on the planet. I disregarded the other feelings." Heero's arm muscles clenched around Duo. "Until Hilde."

Duo flinched.

"Until her, I was fine," Heero continued doggedly. "But when you began going into shock, I couldn't ignore the ridiculous concern. I'd had excuses before. You'd actually been in danger. But not this time. Yet still, I was afraid. Afraid that something might happen to you. And I was so damn territorial. No one was to go near you, no one was to speak to you. Not until I deemed you safe. That," he said harshly, "was love."

"I..." Duo couldn't find anything to say. He knew what he should have been saying – the three words right back. But it seemed clichéd, tired. Ridiculous. What could he confess? That he'd wanted to kiss Heero as soon as he'd seen him, or that he'd wanted to scream at himself, desperately not wanting to need a cop. Desperately wanting him near. It reeked too much of Heero's earlier condemnation.

"You feel something for me, too," Heero said, sure of what he said. Duo blinked. "You kept putting yourself in danger for my safety. No offense, but I can't see you as that altruistic constantly. You aren't Quatre."

It would have been an insult, but it was too true. From the start, he'd found himself attracted to Heero, distracted by him. It was Duo's turn to tense.

"I just need to know how much you feel for me. I need to know the answers to the questions I asked you before."

Duo pushed against Heero's chest again, pissed at his last words. Needed to know? Why the hell was he suddenly pushing a discussion that earlier he'd crawled away from? They'd both silently decided to leave this entire thing unsaid. Just because Hilde... Duo's thoughts stuttered there, again.

He couldn't. If Hilde died, then his curse was real. If Hilde died, then Heero was definitely on the list. F he cut away from the man, maybe he could spare Heero's life?

He couldn't risk this. He couldn't do it. No matter that Heero's words had opened something almost girly in him. No matter that he'd felt something in him fly when Heero said he loved him. He couldn't have Heero die. He'd prefer Heero's hatred.

He clenched his eyes shut and fought with his heart and the tears pushing against the rims of his eyes.

And the phone rang.

Heero looked steamed over the interruption, but he went to the phone and answered it. A quick warning was sent to Duo via a glare. Duo took the chance to move to the middle of the room. He wouldn't be backing up again any time soon. The small of his back hurt.

"It's all right, Mary, I got it. Yes." Heero paused, and Duo watched his eyes darken. "Yes. Yes, I did." He paused again, and his eyes flickered over to Duo. Pain pulled across his features. Duo felt something in his gut drop. "I see. Thank you. No, I'll tell him. Yes, thank you."

Duo paled as Heero hung up the phone. He thought he already knew what Heero had to say. He swayed where he stood.

Heero locked eyes with him. "Duo, I'm sorry. Hilde just died on the operating table-"

Duo's ears buzzed. His chest felt suddenly hollow, as if someone with a scalpel had simply slit him open and dumped the contents of his chest onto the floor. He vaguely saw Heero's mouth move, understood that some noise was from Heero's lips. Dumbly he waited for it to stop.

"It makes sense," he said dully, when he thought Heero's lips had finally stilled. "It's fine. Kind of like being a cop, right? People die all the time. It really is good you aren't one of them anymore. A cop, I mean."

His head whirled. He'd done it, right? He'd managed to do what he had to do and now he was done. Heero was silent, or maybe he was saying something, but Duo couldn't bring the sense to tell. He thought consciously that he might need to breathe, and he did.

"I think I'm going to take a shower," he said randomly, and slipped out of the room.

Now Heero thought he was still obsessed with cops, and now Heero might back away from him before he got the man killed.

He stepped into the room he'd cataloged as bathroom earlier and dimly saw that he'd estimated right. He went straight back to the tub and stepped inside, leaving the lights off, not bothering with his clothes. He turned the water on and jacked the temperature dangerously hot. Then the water was falling, and even he couldn't quite tell if he was crying or not.