Here's another chapter. The more reviews I get the faster you get the good stuff. I'm not above blackmail

Now the legal stuff. Don't own, because if I did, they would be too sore to pilot their Gundams!

Gimme Shelter

Heero marched up to the door of the Winner home. It had been four days since Duo had shown up for classes and he knew something wasn't right. Even when the braided baka lived with his old man and came to school with bruises and cuts, he still came. But since the day that the messy-haired boy had taken a small advantage of him, there had been neither hide nor hair of the violet-eyed beauty; that along with Quatre's evasive answers to his questions, made Heero's danger alert come to life. His father had sent him to multiple self-defense classes and he had just received his fifth level black belt. If there was going to be trouble, he planned on being beside and protecting Duo. They'd have to get through him first and he was a harder nut to crack that his friends. Never again would his lover….no, beloved, stain his hands with blood.

He pounded on the door and waited for one of the servants to answer. As soon as Rashid opened the portal, he pushed passed the man and headed up to Quatre's room. The little blonde and Trowa could show him where Duo was. He shifted his duffle bag higher up on his shoulder; he intended to stay until everything was all right. He reached the right door and let himself in and glared at the two seated in the comfortable chairs in the room.

"My old man told me there's trouble here, so don't give me that 'Everything's okay here, we're all fine now, how are you?' bullshit," Heero growled at his friends. "Now are you going to tell what the fuck's going on with Maxwell or do I have to drag it out of you?"

"Ah, Heero what are you talking about?" Quatre answered, looking at Trowa to help pull him out of the fire.

"Don't look at me," the uni-banged boy said, "I've been in favor of bringing Heero in from the beginning."

"The beginning of what?"

"Duo's father escaped from police custody and has disappeared," Quatre responded, finally giving in to the pressure Trowa had been putting on him for the last week. "We don't know where to look for him. Duo's older brother is still with the foster family he had been placed in; so, that's a dead end."

Heero sat on the edge of the bed, his brows furrowing. "No wonder my father's having kittens. Alright, you're stuck with me. I'll be staying in Maxwell's room."

"Heero, we….I….that…." Quatre stumbled over his words until Trowa covered his mouth with his own. "That sounds like a good idea," he said after they broke the kiss

Heero threw the pair a tight smile and waited for one of them to remember that he hadn't been in the house since Maxwell moved in. When the others got so involved with each other that they forgot he was standing there, very patiently, he cleared his throat loudly.

"Ah, sorry," Trowa mumbled. "He's right next door, between Zechs and Quatre."

"Hn," Heero responded, eloquently.

He walked over to the door and opened it, without knocking, and found himself nose to point with a very sharp looking knife. The hand that held the weapon shook, slightly, and then the blade fell down to the side of a very un-Duo looking Duo.

His luminescent eyes were hollow and ringed by dark bruises. The usually neat hair showed signs of not being brushed for days and needed to be washed. The slightly acrid smell of body odor scented the air and the clothing he had been wearing the last day he was at school still adorned his body.

"Maxwell, you're a mess," Heero said, closing the door.

"What do ya want Yuy?"

"I'm your bodyguard from now on."

"There's no way in hell."

Heero looked at the disheveled boy and canted his head to one side. "Look, I did something that was really stupid and my little brain did the thinking for my big one, for that I'm sorry. But right now you need me; I can protect you from that asshole."

"Wow, almost a whole paragraph, Yuy. Are you going for a record?"

"Nope, you just make me do things I normally wouldn't," Heero answered, a slight smile lighting his features.

"Don't give me that much power," Duo said, making a cross with his forefingers it advert any control he had been granted with.

"Now, you need a shower," Heero stated, coming toward the other boy. He grabbed the end of the dirty braid and took the ponytail holder out of it. He looked around the room and found the one thing he needed, a brush. For some unknown reason a song that he had heard as a child flashed through his brain and he found himself humming it under his breath. Why the 'Hairbrush' song from Veggie Tales stuck in his head, he'd never know.

He grabbed that dull, lifeless rope of hair and carefully unbraided it. Picking up the brush, he ran the implement through the dim, but glorious locks. The repetitive motions soothed him and seemed to have the same affect on Duo as well. Each pass drew a small moan from deep within the violet-eyed beauty and those little noises settled about four inches below Heero's belt. It took all of his famous self-control to keep him from throwing the lithe body in front of him down and ravishing it.

"I'm done," he huskily said, laying the brush down and combing his fingers through the chestnut satin before him.

"Ew, don't do that! My hair's filthy and it's got to be gross to touch."

"Then go take care of the problem. I'll stay right here; no one will get passed me."

"It's you I'm worried about."

Heero gave Duo a very serious look. "I promise, I won't do anything without permission from you. I was a fool and I always learn from my mistakes." He gave him a roguish grin. "Not that what I did was wrong, just the way I went about it."

"Peckerhead!" Duo swatted at him and headed into the adjoining bathroom.

Heero settled in at the window and waited. The sound of running water cast a spell of hypnotism on him and he fell into a light trance. His mind relaxed, but remained alert. Movement down on the street caught his attention. A shadowy figure lingered under a streetlamp, a battered fedora hat covered his face and a long trench-style coat cloaked the rest of him. The person was nowhere near the right height to be Owen, so he let him remain staring.

'That's a cliché if I ever saw one,' Heero thought to himself. The appearance of the mystery man made him more than a little nervous. That sonofabitch Simpson was still out there, somewhere and his freedom meant that Duo had become a prisoner in his own home and that Heero had a job to do. He just wished that the police had taken the threat to the braided boy a little more seriously. But they couldn't do anything but look for the asshole until he did something to make his presence known and he seemed too smart for that.

"Jackass," he muttered under his breath.

"Did ya say somethin', Heero?" Duo said from the doorway of the bathroom.

"Nope, just thinking out loud." He turned to face the other boy. "That didn't take long. Feel better?" His breath caught at the sight of the other boy. He stood framed by the light of the bathroom, wearing nothing but a pair of pajama bottoms; his hair hanging free down his back in soft, damp waves and loose curls. He looked delectable.

"Yeah, sorry I was such a bitch when you came in. It's just that things are happening so fast that my head's still spinnin', ya know?"

"My father always says that events are like horses; they speed up, but eventually they will slow down." He threw the damp beauty a cheeky half-grin.

"That's really deep," Duo responded, coming over to sit next to his new roommate.

"Don't be too impressed, he read it in some book and took it as his own." That confession made both young men laugh and they moved away from the window.

Solo Maxwell stared up at the window with a crease in his brow. He had just returned to the country to find that he'd been declared dead and that his sister had succumbed to breast cancer. The bastard she had married lived in luxury on their dime, all his money coming from a trust set up by their parents. And Duo, left by his mother's death, forced into sex slavery and almost killed by that egomaniacal jackass just because he didn't resemble Owen or his Neanderthal, dumb-as-rocks son.

He sighed and moved out of sight. The boy was safe for now and Solo would make sure that he would remain that way for the rest of his life. He turned and left, hiding in the shadows like he had for most of his adult life.

Heero woke up with an elbow to the gut. Duo lay beside him thrashing in the midst of a nightmare. The messy-haired boy grabbed slender shoulders and shook his bed partner into consciousness.

"Duo," he murmured. "Come on, wake up."

"Hee-hee-Heero?" he questioned, looking up at the other boy in confusion.

"You were having a nightmare. Want to talk about it?"

"I don't remember much, just my father rapin' and beatin' me. Then his hands went around my throat and I couldn't breath." He shuddered and took a deep, shaking breath. He leaned over and gently kissed the cobalt-eyed boy on the lips. "Heero, I know I'm not a virgin…"

"Shut up, baka," Heero growled. "I don't think that being raped means you've lost your virginity." He held up a finger to forestall the inevitable response. "Neither does being pimped out by your father. You've never done it just for yourself, have you?"

"Yeah, a couple of times; but he was using me just like everyone in my life." He stared down at his hands, tears falling onto his hands.

"Not me, Duo," he said, cupping the pointed chin in the palm of his hand. "Never me. I will never intentionally hurt you. I'm only human and I'm sure that there will be times that we fight. However, I will never go out of my way to wound you."

"Heero?"

"Yeah?"

"Make me forget. Show me how much you care and do what you want with me."

"Yes," Heero sighed, pulling the other boy into his arms.