Warnings: Angst, violence, language, drug use, abuse, supernatural things, sex, yaoi, yuri, het. If you desperately need to know who is paired with who send me a message and I can tell you, but I'd rather you get to experience the evolution of the characters first.
A/N: Based on Misfits, but draws from X-Men, Smallville, and Heroes as well. These kids aren't the complete burnouts that the Misfits are, but they are NOT perfect angels. Be warned.
A/N #2: Thanks to the always amazing Cuzo, more than a beta and no less than a friend.
A/N#3: A special thanks to Snowdragonct, who has been so encouraging and supportive since I first started writing here. Thank you for your advice, conversation, and general brilliance. Also, you are a badass AND a classy lady.
A/N #4: Warning: Duo's kind of an asshole this chapter… and will be for a few more before he gets himself some sweet, sweet loving. From someone… who I will not name.
Deviant
Chapter Two
Duo needed to get laid. Badly.
It had been months since his last relationship had ended, and while he wasn't in the habit of one night stands, he was contemplating it with more seriousness each passing day.
Ever since last Saturday he had felt off: jittery and clumsy when he normally wasn't. He found himself walking into things, tripping, and moving too fast – which usually ended when he did one of the previous things. It wasn't just his feet either, but his hands as well. He would find himself reaching for something and, perhaps misjudging the distance or his coordination, knocking it over more often than not. It was almost as though his reflexes had gotten faster – much, much faster.
He knew it wasn't physically possible for him to have, suddenly and without explanation, developed faster than human reflexes. Getting hit by lightning had been a horrific experience, and Duo decided that the Event - as he and Hilde had taken to calling it – combined with getting high more frequently than usual had just messed with his brain.
So, on Tuesday, he decided to go cold turkey for the rest of the week – no more pot, no more alcohol. It didn't help with his reflexes, and if anything seemed to make them worse. He felt full of energy, to the point where, on Thursday morning, he had gotten up and gone for a run – the first voluntary run of his life – and after three hours of running by the lake he still felt like he could go three more.
Sex was what he needed. The trouble with that, of course, was that he lived in Clarkson.
The college town was liberal to the point that Duo often had to roll his eyes at the town council's efforts to embrace diversity. While Duo had never been faced with anger or aggression from the other locals, he also had not been asked out on many dates. By his reckoning there were five other gay men in town – two happily married for three years now with two adopted kids, the head librarian at the college, a philosophy professor at the college, and Duo himself. He didn't count the college students – he had dated one, once, and the train wreck that had resulted was bad enough for him to swear off of them for life. Likewise, he had no interest in breaking up a marriage – nor did the two men have much interest in him except for the three times they had paid him to clean their pool naked, before they had adopted their children; the librarian at the college was nearly sixty, and Duo simply did not have a thing for guys old enough to be his grandfather; and the philosophy professor, while undeniably hot, had only ever exchanged coolly polite thank yous with Duo when he bagged his groceries at the natural food market and a few, amused raised eyebrows when Duo tried to casually flirt with him or carry his bags to his car.
So Clarkson was a homosexual wasteland. Every once in a while, when Duo got lonely enough, he would make the forty-five minute drive south to the city and go to a club. He hadn't done so since before his last boyfriend, and he almost always regretted whatever antics he got into – but by Friday night he truly was desperate for some kind of relief.
Hilde worked late on Fridays, and in any case hated to go clubbing, so after his shift ended at the hardware store, Duo headed home, showered, and took the bus into the city on his own.
Duo spent the ride trying not to feel too slutty, but dressed as he was, in skintight black jeans and a sleeves black t-shirt, with a dash of stolen eye liner from Hilde, it was impossible not to. Especially when a four year old girl toddled over to him and insisted on reading from her story book while her mother glared daggers at Duo, clearly waiting for him to make a move and scar her dear child for life.
When the bus finally reached the city at nine, he practically dove over the girl in his effort to escape her and her angry mother.
He went to a few different clubs, trying to subdue his senses through alcohol, throbbing dance music, and strobe lights so that he would be calm enough to approach anyone to hit on them.
By eleven he found himself at Bar 316, and after downing his fourth Jack and Coke, was able to wind his way onto the dance floor and finally start to enjoy himself.
Duo was hyper aware of the lights pulsing, shifting colors moving in time with the deep throbbing of the bass heavy music.
After only a few minutes of dancing by himself, Duo felt the press of another man behind him, hips arching against his ass and hands snaking around to run over Duo's chest.
He turned, a little impressed by the confidence of whoever was feeling him up, and wasn't disappointed by what he saw.
The other man clearly felt the same, because he shifted his grip to squeeze Duo's ass and ground his pelvis against Duo's.
"I'm Alex," he shouted into Duo's ear over the music.
"Duo," he responded while doing his own share of groping.
Alex looked to be his age, and his black leather pants and tight, blue v-neck t-shirt looked painted onto his body.
They danced together until the song ended, although their dancing was more like dry humping, and Duo felt the pleasant buzz of alcohol and arousal working through his system.
As the song changed to something slower, Alex started to guide them off the dance floor, and when they were away from the crowd, and kissed Duo.
Finally, Duo felt like shouting. He kissed Alex back, savoring the taste of beer on his breathe, eager for the contact of another man.
"Want to go somewhere more private?" Alex asked breathlessly.
Duo could only nod as he kissed the other man again.
Alex pulled away and smirked at Duo before leading him outside of the club. Once outside, however, he kissed Duo again and grabbed his ass almost possessively.
Walking on uneven, broken sidewalk while simultaneously groping and kissing a near stranger was a greater challenge than Duo had anticipated.
Finally, however, Duo and Alex managed to stumble their way into the alley behind the club and Alex shoved Duo against the brick wall before reaching down to unzip his jeans and pull out his cock.
Alex kissed him again, nipping his lower lip with his teeth before he pulled away and knelt down in front of Duo.
"What –oh fuck!" Duo moaned loudly when Alex literally swallowed him whole.
He buried his fingers in the other man's short hair and tried to will himself to focus on only the sensation of Alex's hot mouth wrapped around him. At first, it was easy to do – it felt so incredibly good and it had been SO incredibly long for Duo – but it got harder to do after only a few heartbeats.
Once again, it seemed as if Duo's reflexes and his senses went into overdrive. He became acutely aware of the sounds of the alley – the rustle of rats in some distant garbage pail, the steady drip of water from a rooftop, and the moaning of another man.
The last made Duo look around for the source of the sound. It wasn't him – and there was no way that Alex was making THAT much noise with his mouthful.
His eyes settled further down the alley, the spill of a dim streetlight just catching them.
It was a man in a suit, and kneeling in front of him was a slim man or boy with messy, dark hair.
"Jesus Christ," Duo muttered. He had been approaching orgasm, but now, greeted with the sight of two other men engaged in the same act of debauchery he and Alex were, he started to lose his enthusiasm.
His muttered exclamation must have carried, because the suited man jerked away from the other man and actually shoved him away. The suited man threw a few bills onto the other man's prone body and then took off down the alley, turning a corner and disappearing from Duo's sight.
Duo eased away from Alex by putting both hands on his shoulders and pushing him back.
"What? I thought you were close." Alex protested.
"Yeah, I – sorry." Duo tucked himself back into his jeans and zipped them back up. "Look, you're great and all, but I'm not a big fan of audiences and –"
Alex looked around and his eyes landed on the man who was just now getting to his feet. He snorted.
"Who? Him? He's just some whore. Now, c'mon." Alex reached out, but Duo swatted his hands away.
"No, seriously. I'm sorry."
Alex angrily got to his feet.
"Well, fuck you. I can't believe I wasted half an hour on you!" He stormed off, presumably back to the bar.
Duo debated walking away or checking to see if the other man was okay. When the suited guy had shoved him away, he had fallen backwards onto his shoulder and it had looked fairly painful.
With a sigh, Duo approached him.
"Hey, are you –wait. I know you."
The other man was brushing dirt off his clothes, but he took the time to glare at Duo from intense blue eyes.
"You're doing community service down in Clarkson."
The blue eyes flicked across Duo's face and latched onto his braid.
"Yes," the other man ground out.
Duo frowned. He had no idea what the man's name was – but Quatre, that prissy blonde kid, had seemed to know him. Relena too. So he had to be a student at Clarkson.
"I always knew that tuition at Clarkson was steep, but I didn't realize they'd expanded their work study programs to include hooking."
If possible, the blue glare turned even colder. A sudden crash of thunder and a distant flash of lightning illuminated the sky.
"Fuck you."
"Naw, I don't like to pay for it."
Somehow Duo managed to avoid the fist that came his way. He had no idea how – the man moved fast! – but one second he was in front of him, the next two feet away.
The man looked just as surprised as Duo was.
"Anyway," Duo said, eager to get the hell out of the alley, "I'll be seeing you around, sweet cheeks."
He strolled away casually, hands shoved in his pockets, but his heart was pumping with adrenaline. Even when it started to rain – a near monsoon like downpour that had him soaked in seconds – Duo couldn't be bothered.
He had never moved that fast before. Had never seen anyone move that fast before – outside of the Matrix and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. But he wasn't Neo, and he wasn't a chick with a magic sword. So what the hell was going on?
And he hadn't gotten laid.
The next morning Duo had to drag a very hung over Hilde out of bed and they barely made it to their community service on time.
She had come stumbling in to their apartment a few hours after his own return at one, and together they had put a sizable dent in their liquor closet – technically their linen closet, but between them they owned five towels total and no spare sheets, so the closet was put to much better use stashing their liquor and recreational drugs.
Hilde had had a monumentally shitty week – probably worse than Duo's – she wouldn't tell him about it, except to say that it was 'fucking weird' and that she did not want to talk about it.
So neither of them were their best that Saturday morning.
When they strolled into the briefing room at 9:01, dressed in their fashionable orange coveralls and ready to shirk hard labor, the rest of the crew were already assembled and Officer Une was in mid-lecture. She stopped when they entered and her sharp gaze speared Duo.
"You are late."
"By like a minute," he pointed out. He looked around the room and spotted the man from last night – predictably scowling at him. "Hey there," he said and winked at him.
"Your lack of respect will not be tolerated."
Duo focused back on Une. He thought that she was taking his sixty second tardiness a little too seriously.
"Yeah, it's just, I had trouble tying my shoes, so –"
Her gaze instantly zeroed in on his sandaled feet.
"You will now complete an additional two hours of community service," she barked.
"Two –" he widened his eyes – "wow. That's definitely going to cut into my True Blood marathon."
She stalked over to him, rage flashing in her eyes, and hauled back her hand.
Duo stared at that hand in confusion – was she actually going to hit him? He convinced himself that she wouldn't possibly, but even as he comforted himself with the thought that it had to be against the law, her slap landed on his left cheek and rocked him back on his heels.
His shock was mirrored on every face in the room.
Une blinked and then shook her head.
"What did you do?" Her voice was soft and gentle and it sent chills down Duo's spine.
"What did I do?" Duo echoed. "You're the crazy bitch who just backhanded me!"
She shook her head slowly.
"No, no." She sighed. "Sit down?" It came out as a request.
Duo exchanged confused looks with Hilde.
"Please," Une added, and hearing the polite word from a woman who had looked ready to murder him terrified Duo into obeying.
He spent the briefing completely zoned out – fixated on Une's bipolar attitude and the fact that she had hit him.
They were shipped back to the park, with the gentle – disturbingly gentle – admonition to actually clean it up this time.
Just like last week, Duo and Hilde climbed the monkey bars and got high.
They spent the first few minutes in blissful silence, each lost in their own thoughts, but finally Hilde broke it.
"Duo, I'm really sorry about that."
He frowned at her.
"It's not that big of a deal – I made us as late as you did."
"No, not that. I'm sorry that I let her hit you."
Duo arched an eyebrow.
"You let her?"
She scowled and rolled their joint between her fingers before taking a long, meditative drag.
"I can see the future," she said in a rush as she exhaled.
"You what?"
"I saw it – I saw her hit you before she actually did it. I've been… seeing shit all week. I thought I'd just been smoking too much, but I stopped smoking and drinking after Monday afternoon and – holy shit, Duo, I can see the fucking future."
"Hil, let's get real here – I was kind of asking for that bitch to hit me. I mean, yeah, I didn't think she would actually do it, but it doesn't take Professor X to –"
"Duo, I'm being dead fucking serious here. I can see the future. That's why I've been so out of it this week." She drew in a deep breath. "Monday morning? When I went to work, I stopped by Mrs. Anderson's room and I saw her – I saw her die. Twenty minutes before it happened, I knew she was going to die."
"Hil, Mrs. Anderson was like a hundred and five and smoked two packs a day, again, it doesn't take –"
"Duo! You have to take this seriously! On Tuesday I saw a kitten get run over by a car – and then it actually happened three hours later when I was on my lunch break! I –"
"Hilde. Calm down. You –"
"And Professor X doesn't have precognition," she interrupted, her voice bitter.
"Huh?"
"You called me Professor X. But he doesn't have precognition – the ability to see the future. He's –"
"Oh my God, please tell me that you did not do research on the internet or some shit into super power –fuck me."
Things started to fall into place.
"Duo? What is it?"
"Hilde, when did you start to do this? See into the future or whatever?"
She frowned and shrugged.
"Monday? No, wait. Sunday night, actually."
"I've, ah, noticed some weird shit about myself recently too."
She arched an eyebrow.
"Duo, I'm not going to look at a rash on your dick again, that –"
"No, no. Not like that. I've noticed that I can move faster, and that I sense things more – like I can smell things more, or feel things more."
"Move faster?" she echoed. "Then why did you stand there like a moron when Une bitch slapped you?"
"I seriously didn't think she was going to do it. But –"
Hilde suddenly lashed out with her hand, aiming for his face. Duo ducked away from her so quickly he lost his balance and fell the five feet to the ground.
He landed on his back and stayed there.
She stared down at him.
"Aside from the clumsy as fuck part, that was kind of impressive," she said before gracefully hopping down and offering him a hand up.
"Right. Thanks. Anyway – I started noticing this shit on Sunday too – and I also tried to lay off the pot, but that's not what this is."
"No fucking kidding."
"Hil, I think this has something to do with the lightning strike."
"What, like… now we're super heroes?"
Duo snorted.
"Or super villains? I mean, we're fucking criminals, Hil. Look at us." He gestured at the park and the ragtag group.
Quatre was dutifully picking up every scrap of litter he could get his pristine hands on, Relena was sunbathing, her coveralls abandoned in favor of sporting a tank top and ridiculously short shorts, the Chinese guy seemed to be cursing the existence of all humanity as he dredged trash out of the fountain, Trant was busy kicking a metal trashcan off its post, the guy from last night was staring moodily at the gathering storm clouds on the horizon, and the good looking but creepily silent tall guy was just staring at a patch of grass.
Duo took the joint from Hilde's hand and took a long drag on it.
"If we're supposed to be super heroes, then the world is a lot more fucked up than even I thought it was."