Reputations

Chapter 2

I stood there in complete shock. Well, not even really shock. More of a daze. Yukihiro was a trust-worthy friend of mine. He couldn't be lying to me. I couldn't deny the fact that I did feel something for the shorter chestnut haired boy. But did that mean I was gay?

It had only been about a minute or so when I remembered Duo's whereabouts. Saying something close to an apology and excuse me, I dashed off. The bathrooms were right around the corner so it didn't look liked I'd been anywhere else.

Duo had chose to walk out of the bathroom just as I got there and immediately looked around and smiled as he saw me and proceeded over to me. At once, my heart skipped a beat at his smile. "I don't think these are feelings of friendship…" I thought now making sure I monitored my feelings at all times. I didn't know how to tell Duo what people were saying or why. Hell, it didn't make any sense. Duo had come to the school yesterday. Why were they-- "Oh," I thought. My outburst. That must have been it.

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The day most assuredly did not pass by smoothly. And when the bell rang, I waited until everyone else was gone except Duo and then talked with him outside the door of our classroom, Takahito-sensei having already locked the door and gone. I knew what I had to do and it was going to be hard.

"Duo-san," I started, "I have to tell you something."

Duo looked on with this look that said he was confused and interested at the same time.

I swallowed, "Kobayashi and his gang are spreading rumors."

"Rumors?" Duo asked.

"Yeah," I took another gulp of air, preparing myself for what I knew I had to say, "It's about… us."

"The two of us?" Duo asked still slightly confused.

"Yeah," I couldn't look at him at this point, I couldn't see his face when I told him what I knew I had to tell him, "More me then you."

"Well, what are they saying, Heero-san?"

"They're saying…" I looked at the floor, at my feet, "thatI'mgay."

"Huh?" Duo asked. It had all just rushed out of my mouth.

"That I'm gay…" I mumbled.

There was silence. The sort of silence you wish wasn't there. Slowly, I lifted my gaze from the floor. I knew how Duo would take it. And I didn't want to face the question. He looked at me with a calmness.

"Oh," he began, "I see…"

"Duo…" I started but he continued.

"That's fine. It's okay. I get it." He lowered his gaze to meet the floor's, his bangs covering his eyes.

I sharp ping went through my heart and I knew he was trying to hold them back.

"No, Duo, I--"

"I get it all the time…" he lift his head up and as he did so a smile took away the slight frown, "I'll be fine." He smiled at me, his eyes crescents of fake happiness.

I scowled and quickly grabbed his arms, "Duo, listen, I--"

But he broke away and ran a few tears falling past him. My eyes were wide. I glanced at my watch and found it was actually twenty minutes after school had gotten out. Duo must have missed his bus. I headed for the stairs to go find him and walk him home. It was my fault after all.

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I barely caught sight of him as he left the school gates so I ran. I stayed about 6 or 7 yards behind him. My heart was racing. I hadn't intended to stalk him like this. "What am I doing?" I thought. His house was far enough to need to take the bus but it wasn't so far he couldn't walk and I had a sinking suspicion that he walked more than he rode the bus.

His house was pretty big. It wasn't a mansion or anything like that, but it was bigger than most houses around here. This put another sinking feeling in my stomach. He still had ragged shoes and it looked like he never took a shower except when we were in P.E. and I knew that he brought no lunch money. But this house… it looked like he should be a little more better than what he was now.

Duo walked up to the front door and I ducked in some bushes. The slammed shut and I could hear mumbled yells. Wide-eyed in disbelief, I ran. I couldn't believe my ears. I didn't believe my ears.

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When I got home, Uncle Odin was already there. He was laid out on the couch snoozing away. I took off my sneakers and left them in the entranceway as I made my way quietly up to my room not wanting to wake him from his tiring day. Odin got up at four in the morning and worked until four in the afternoon, most days that is. See, Odin works for Human and Family Resources Services. Sometimes his job requires him to work extra hours. That could mean till 6 or 7 or 9 or 10.

I got all my homework done quickly and plopped on my bed closing my eyes trying to visualize Duo and what had happened. Slowly my eyes drifted shut and fell asleep.

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"Duo…" the boy said. The shorter boy was clinging to him.

"Heero… please… don't let him--"

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"Heero…" Odin's voice awoke me from my dream. I blinked my eyes open and sat up. Odin was standing next to my bed.

"Yes?" I asked, looking around the room I found the clock. It read 7:30.

"Dinner time, kid. What do you feel like tonight?" Odin responded.

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The next day was horrible for me. Duo didn't talk to me once and Kobayashi just made things worse by saying to Duo, "What? Did your boyfriend dump you, Maxwell?" I desperately wanted to punch his lights out. I had asked Odin the night before if I could have extra lunch money. He wanted to know why and I told him that I wanted to give it to a friend who I had upset the other day. Odin grinned and said, "I sure they'll forgive you when you give them food!"

When lunch came around I quietly left the classroom alone and went to the cafeteria to purchase two sandwich subs and then left the cafeteria as inconspicuous as I could, obviously not wanting to attract any attention from Kobayashi.

I found Duo right where I thought I'd find him: in one of the halls leading to the building. He was sitting down with his back to the wall reading something. I quietly walked over to him and plopped down next to him, handing him the sandwich. He blinked at me in surprise. "Here," I said, "Take it. My treat."

He took it cautiously as if I would snatch it back at any second. I smiled and we ate them together. When we were through I said to him, "Duo, I'm sorry about yesterday. I still want to be your friend. I was only telling you what Kobayashi was saying so that nothing he said to you directly would affect you."

Duo looked at me and took a deep breath, as though he were concentrating real hard on something. "Alright," he said, "I'm sorry. It was my fault for jumping to conclusions."

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That morning I had told Odin that I might be home slightly late.

You see, I had just seen Duo off to the bus and it had already left. I had told Duo I had to go see Takahito-sensei about one of the lessons in class that day. After the bus was off school grounds I walked down the same streets I had walked down two days ago. Yesterday, the day after Duo and I made up, Duo said that he might not becoming to school for a few days. When I had inquired why, he said it was a family thing, nothing I should worry about.

Needless to say, I worried.

So that morning I had decided to pay a visit to him. He showed up today, and for some reason, I was overwhelmed with joy. Ever since the first encounter with the slamming door and faint yells, I had been worried about him. So, here I am, walking down the sidewalk, cautiously, of course. I don't know if I suddenly see Duo rushing down the street, barefoot and bleeding, running to get away from the place he's suppose to call home.

Well, (thank God) I didn't see any such thing as I made my way to his 'house'. I hid in the bushes once more as I heard his door slamming, for the second time, through my ears. This time a man with blonde hair and a scowl imbedded on his face walked ferociously to his car, a Nissan Altima. Then, he drove away.

I took this as a chance and went up to the door only to find it locked. "Kuso…" I muttered under my breath. I ran around the side of the house just as a car drove by, or so I thought. Apparently Duo's uncle had forgotten something and came back because I heard the car park and someone get out. There were two windows close to me so I went to one of their corners and peeked in. My eyes widen at what I saw in that window.

I saw Duo, bowed low at his uncle Solo when he walked in. The first thing the older man did was hit the boy so hard that Duo was knocked off his feet and into the wall next to him which was the opposite wall of where I was currently stationed. Then he walked past him not bothering to check to see if the boy was okay. Then he came back to him dragging the bruised boy by the arm to a room out of my view. So I quickly dashed to the next window catching only another brief glimpse of the boy being dragged, still, into a room out of my view.

Solo didn't come out of the room for a while. And while I could not see him, the sounds of chains and sobs, and more hitting were making me sick to my stomach. Finally, after what seemed forever, Solo came out of the room and, after a few more long moments, left and locked the house before driving off again.

I was shaking. I wanted to hurl. I wanted to move, to see Duo. I… I had to see him, to see if he was alright. I took to my feet grabbing on to the windowsill until my knuckles turned white to keep myself steady. After I had regained my breath and stomach, I made my way further around the house to the back.

There were two more windows and the one I was closest to seemed like the one Solo had dragged Duo into. There was also a door. This door was in between the two windows. I found that the window closest to me was draped over. So I went to the back and to my utter surprise, I found it open. But just before I went in I stopped.

"What am I doing? I'm about to break into someone's house to save someone I--" I stopped myself. I what? I scowled at myself, "I love Duo. I really do. That's why I'm doing this. Even though I really should just call the police… but I don't care!" Quickly, I threw the door open loudly, and found the place deadly quiet. The place was fancy and very decorative. My mind went back to the scene with Duo bowing like a servant to Solo. I winced again and turned my attention towards the hall I found myself. I eased my way out of it to find the living room I had just witnessed the worst scene ever. There was indeed two rooms on either side of the hall. I walked to the room on my right-- the hall's right-- and heard faint sobbing. My eyes widen and I reached for the handle automatically. When I tried to turn it, it wouldn't go. So looked around the house for something to pick the lock, but I guess Solo didn't use hairclips. So I put my book bag on the floor and searched through it find something to use.

I pulled out one of my spiral notebooks and undid the metal spiral. Once it was fairly straight I dashed for the door and lock and began to pick it. It took longer than I had expected but I had finally got the door opened. I noticed the sobs had abruptly stopped. I was shaking again. I was scared to open the door to find Duo in such a state.

Slowly, my hand reached for the knob, and it turned open. I fell to my knees at the site that greeted me, tears staining my face. Duo's hands were handcuffed behind him and a chain ran through the middle of them and chained up high on the wall. He had a bruise that was deep purple-ish where Solo had just hit him. He also had a swollen lip and black eye.

"What are you doing here?" Duo voice was low and broken and sounded like he was whispering. He was crying and so was I. I got back on my feet and made my way to the boy chained and damaged. I took Duo's face in my hands and said, "Duo… I'm here to rescue you. I'm going to take you away from here. Okay? Just hold on."

I got my makeshift key and unlocked the chains at the top off the wall. Then, I gently lowered them so that they wouldn't hit the already bruised and battered boy beneath him. Then he carefully reached around Duo to unlock the handcuffs binding him. Once Duo was free, I quickly took him up into my arms to carry him. Carefully, I held him, his legs over my right arm and my left arm around his back and shoulder. He was like a glass doll that was so old and beat up it would shatter at any unseen moment.

I made a stop outside his 'room' and gently rested his lower half on the ground while I was kneeled over to swing my backpack over my shoulder. I took in my arms once again his arms weakly wrapped around my neck as I stood and walked down the narrow hall to leave this dreaded place and get to Odin's house. He'd know what to do.

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When I finally got to my house, Odin wasn't home yet. So I went in and went straight to my room, not even bothering to take my shoes off at the entranceway. I laid Duo down on my bed, letting him relax on a real comfortable bed. I took off my shoes and ran down to the entranceway to deposit them there. Then I made my way to the kitchen to find something Duo would like to eat before I realized he'd probably like to eat anything.

I made my way back to my room with two sub sandwiches and two bags of ice, all for Duo. When I opened my door, Duo was staring at my ceiling spread out in a sort of daze. I walked over to him, putting the sandwiches and one of the bags of ice on my desk, bring the other over to him. I sat down on the edge of the bed and took the ice to his eye, gently placing it on the swollen eye. Duo winced and shut both eyes taking the ice from me with his right hand.

"I, uhh, brought you some sandwiches and another bag of ice. If you want I can draw a bath for you," I said in a soothing, gentle voice. Duo took the ice away completely and looked at me with panic. "Heero…" he said in a teary voice, "Heero…! He… he's going to kill me!" he said as he lifted himself up and latched on to me. "Heero…"

"It's okay, Duo. I've got you. I won't let him take you away from me or do anything to harm you," I said holding him firmly but tenderly so as not to hurt him. "When my uncle comes home, I'll talk to him and we'll settle this, and you won't ever have to go back there again, okay?" And Duo nodded against me and pulled away from him, making him lay back down and getting him to press the ice against his eye and cheek once more. "I'll draw a bath for you, okay?" Duo nodded slightly and I smiled at him as I got up off of my bed and out of the room to the next one, the bathroom, to draw a bath for him.

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Hello once more. I am sorry for the long delay. I am currently writing another series that I'm head deep in, being that it's my own. To be honest I had forgotten about this fic because most people don't read or like my stuff. So, I'm very sorry for those of you who really like/liked this fic and had to wait so long. I will from now on, be updating this fic when I can. Thank you for reading and not giving up on this fic! bows Thank you very much, from the bottom of my fan girl heart.

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Disclaimer:

I don't own GW Please don't sue me! I need my yaoi fantansies! (Don't we all? XD)