"Rip Current"

Written By: yaruna

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing isn't mine! I'm not pretending they are, I simply love messing around with the lovable characters. Any similarity to existing works is purely coincidental.

Rating: R

Genre: Drama, Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Romance…? Alternate Universe

Warning:Probably some OOCness. Kind of bastard Heero in the first chapters. Some swearing. Won't pass the Bechdel test. Somewhat cliché, I think. Hmmz… what more… oh yeah, I'm a bit of a sadist, people will get hurt… sorry about that

Summary: Feelings are running high on the shorelines. Duo has arrived on the shores of Sanc Island and is making new friends, and enemies, among the locals as they surf their way towards the big competition. AU

A/N:I live for feedback

Sit back, and let the waves take you for a ride.

"Rip Current"

Chapter 14: Rip

 

When the next qualifier came around I still hadn't touched a surfboard. They guys had done their best to convince me but their efforts fell short. I needed to wrap my head around it all. Nothing quite held up to the board I'd had. Which was stupid and utterly sentimental.

When I'd been out on the road with Solo, we'd had four different boards each. It's hardly possible to put all your chances on a single board. They get dinged and can break so to only have one when on the pro circuit is a breath away from stupid. The board that was now destroyed had always been Solo's favorite. After his death, it had become my link to him. The feeling of still surfing with him had been what had brought me back to the waves.

On the day of the qualifier the waves were great for surfing, if you were anyone other than Wufei. They were pitching in at around eight feet, peaked around ten, and exactly the type of waves Wufei hated.

He was looking over the waters with distaste clear in his eyes, which I found endlessly amusing.

'Stop it,' I said to him and he turned the glare at me instead. 'Don't hate the waves, 'Fei. It won't do you any favors.'

'I don't hate them,' he said but his voice and the anger in his face sure could have fooled me.

'Then stop trying to make them grow bigger through glaring at them,' I said and laughed when he looked at me with a self-deprecating, quirked smile.

'Am I that obvious?' he asked and I shrugged.

'Kind of,' I said, and he let out a long sigh. 'Don't worry, 'Fei. You've been doing great since you started working with Q'.'

'That's why I have to get a good score.'

'So you won't disappoint Quatre?' I asked in amazement and he nodded but kept his gaze locked on his board, avoiding looking at me. 'You've known him for far longer than I, and even I know he doesn't care about that.'

'It would be rude to perform at anything other than my best,' he said, barely loud enough for me to hear it.

'Are you planning to?'

'What?' he said, affronted, and finally looked at me. 'Of course not!'

'Then it doesn't matter what score you get. You'll be doing your best,' I said and he narrowed his eyes as he looked at me, but didn't say anything else.

He turned to watch the waves again, and so did I. The qualifiers today was at Choker, the same place as Gundams would happen. Typically, the waves here broke right, as opposed to the Surf where it was more common to have them break left. It wouldn't matter once he was riding the wave, but he did have more trouble dropping in on the waves when facing away from it.

'I'll go check in,' Wufei said and got to his feet.

'Rip it, 'Fei,' I said with a wide grin and he gave me a small smile, before walking off towards the check in area.

A few minutes later, he paddled out in a yellow shirt together with two more that I didn't know. I narrowed my eyes and looked closer when I thought I recognized one of the surfers.

'Hey,' Quatre said from my side. Zero got to his feet on my other side to go over and greet the new arrival before he came back and laid down, putting his head on my thigh.

'Hey, Q'. Is that Mueller in blue out there?' I asked with a nod towards the paddling surfers.

He shielded his eyes from the sun and so he could see, but lifted his shoulders in a shrug.

'I can't tell,' he said. 'I thought he was in lock-up,' he said contemplatively, referring to the incident at the shop.

'I think he got community service,' I said with a shrug of my shoulders. That part didn't matter too much to me. As long as he wouldn't try to ruin anything for Wufei it didn't matter.

'That's all?'

'Yeah, it wasn't too much anyways. He just broke a few bottles of bear, which he had to pay for.'

'And tried to break your leg,' he said, looking at me in wonder.

'Yeah, and that,' I said, grinning widely.

Ten minutes into the heat, Wufei had been falling more than I'd ever seen him do before. He caught too much air, or he pushed too hard, but whatever he tried to do to correct it he still didn't catch those waves- It was easy to tell that he was getting frustrated.

'We should have practiced those rights,' Quatre mumbled, sounding regretful.

'You kind of do keep to the Surf,' I said, keeping a light tone, not wanting him to think I was reprimanding him about it.

'It's our beach,' he answered simply, as though it was obvious, and I frowned. I'd heard him call it their beach once before but hadn't paid it a lot of thought.

'Yours?'

'Yeah. It's a private beach, you never saw the signs?'

'No,' I said, trying to recall any signs, but then Quatre laughed and I shoved at him playfully when I realized he was pulling my chain. Zero lifted his head and gave a loud bark at us before he was satisfied that we weren't arguing. He settled his head back onto my thigh.

'Everyone around here knows, but Heero doesn't really care. Though he does occasionally exercise the right to kick people off.'

'Like Alex and Mueller?'

'When they're being asses, yes,' Quatre said with a chuckle.

'Aren't they always?' I asked in mock surprise and Quatre laughed.

Quatre's eyes fixed on Wufei who had just caught a wave. It was little more than a decent catch but considering it was the first right he'd caught, it was great. His ride was awesome and he finished with jumping up over the lip. We cheered loudly for him, making Zero lift his head and watch me accusingly. I scratched his ear and he panted happily again.

'He just needs one more like that,' Quatre said, and I silently agreed. The other two in the heat hadn't been awful, and not great either. They had caught more waves however and had a higher score than him.

There were two minutes left of the heat with Wufei still only having caught one wave properly. Quatre was chewing on his fingernails. Everything was pointing towards Wufei getting eliminated.

'Chill, Q',' I told him, and he glared at me, making me widen my eyes in surprise. Quatre had never glared at me before. I wasn't sure I'd ever seen him glare at anyone before.

'Sorry, Duo,' Quatre said softly and I laughed.

Then Wufei got a left and Quatre whooped as Wufei popped up easily, and nailed the moves.

'He's so going to the next round!' Quatre said excitedly and got to his feet. He ran off to greet Wufei as he paddled in.

I stayed in my spot since I didn't want to wake Zero who had fallen asleep in my lap. Besides, the beach was full with everyone watching the competition and I didn't want to lose the great place we had managed to get.

I looked out over the ocean again and my eyes gravitated towards the jet skis. Or rather, they gravitated towards one of the riders. I scoured the water until my eyes settled on Heero. He was vigilantly watching the surfers, not intending to miss a single one that might need his help.

'Reaper,' was said from behind me, and I grinned widely as I turned.

'Hey, Trant. What's up?'

When I saw him, my smile slipped. He had a frown on his face and his jaw was clenched tightly. I got to my feet, displacing Zero from my lap. He shook himself as he also stood up next to me.

'What's wrong, buddy?' I asked, stepping closer to him to put a hand on his shoulder, but he flinched away from my touch. I let my hand drop.

'You. You are,' he said and I frowned.

'What?'

'You're gay,' he said with disgust in his voice, and I froze. He said it with such hatred that you might as well think I had committed murder. Solo had been right all along. He'd always told me not to tell anyone.

'I am,' I said, because I don't lie.

It wasn't a secret but I'd never gone out of my way to tell anyone either, especially not as a pro. Solo had constantly cautioned me about telling anyone, as it's not such a widely accepted orientation in the surfing world. He had known about my preferences, and G had known. G always said that it's all about the surfing anyways, but he didn't know how rough it could be between the surfers among the waves. How much testosterone is pumping when there's a battle of the waves, and how scared some people are to have their masculinity thrown back in their faces. A lot of men get upset if a woman is better at surfing than them, but luckily they don't do anything against them. A gay man is fair game.

'I should have known,' Trant sneered. 'Brother from another mother, like hell.'

I clenched my fist and Zero's lips lifted to show his teeth as he looked at Trant, and a growl emanated from his throat.

'Solo's my brother, nothing more!'

'Was,' he said coldly, and I exhaled sharply in surprise. 'Did he know then?'

'He knew.'

'So you just lied to me?'

'I never lied! You never asked.'

'Fucking fag,' he said, and I was close to stepping up and clocking the guy. Zero's growl became louder. He had lowered his head, and was looking intently at Trant, with his teeth showing completely. It made me come to my own senses and I put a restraining hand on Zero's collar. I didn't think he'd attack the guy, but I wanted to be safe.

'You won't lie to anyone else. I'll tell everyone. I'll give it to Surf'd,' Trant said, almost sounding as though there was anything I could do to convince him otherwise. 'You'll be done.'

I felt something grip my heart and squeeze it tightly, as though wringing out a rag. Did I care?

'Since I'm not really surfing right now anyways, I don't see how that will be a huge loss,' I told him despite my feelings, and his face dropped further.

'If you go public, I will bring you down,' Quatre said in an angry voice behind me. Zero growled louder again and pulled against my hold.

Trant backed up to get away from the dog's teeth, but looked at Quatre in defiance.

'There's nothing you can do,' he said. 'There's free speech.'

'All you have is rumors, who will believe you?' Quatre said.

'He just admitted to it!'

'And again, who will believe you?' Quatre asked, his icy blue eyes narrowed and staring down the taller man. If I hadn't seen it, I wouldn't have believed it to be possible for Quatre to ever be able to stare down a guy five inches taller than himself.

But he did, and Trant turned around with a sneer. Zero looked back at me and gave a hesitant wag of his tail, as though asking if he'd done good. I petted him and scratched that spot behind his ear that he loves so much, and his tongue was soon lolling out of his mouth again.

'Dishonorable cur,' Wufei said, looking after the retreating man, and I laughed. A little loud maybe, because both of them looked at me in shock.

'Surf'd wouldn't let him run it without proof,' I said. 'It's not really a gossiping magazine either way,'

I couldn't let go of that feeling that I'd cared when he'd said I'd be done. I'd been afraid that this was it. That it would be the final nail in the coffin of my short career as a surfer.

It didn't make any sense. I'd already given up on it, hadn't I?

What hurt the most was that Trant had been a good friend. The three of us had had a lot of fun together. But I had never even considered telling the guy about my orientation. It had never come up and with Solo's constant cautioning it was never at the front of my mind. I wasn't sure it would have been better if he'd found out earlier.

There was no use dwelling on it, but it was hard to focus on the competition after the whole ordeal.

Wufei was luckier during his next few heats, and caught a few lefts. In the semi-finals, he waited until the very end, avoiding any rights that came his way, and grabbed the single left.

'You're a coward,' I told him when he came back in. He narrowed his eyes and stared down at me. 'You'll never catch a wave without trying.'

'Who are you to speak?' he sneered, and I all but flinched at the words. I wasn't trying.

'I'm not trying to win a contest,' I answered coldly, and he lost his angry look, and just looked sad.

'Maybe not,' he said. 'But you're losing either way.'

He left, muttering something about needing some water before the finals, and I didn't say anything.

'Duo...' Quatre said and put a hand on my shoulder.

'It's fine, Q'. I was an ass,' I said and Quatre laughed a little uncomfortably.

'You kind of were,' he agreed, and I snorted.

'Fei'll be great once he gets a hang of the rights. But if you don't dare to get in them, you'll never learn.'

'Are you listening to yourself?' Quatre asked in mild amusement and I frowned.

If I don't dare to get in. But I couldn't do it. Though the waves were pulling at me, calling for me, all I knew was that Solo wouldn't be there with me. Could I learn to surf without him?

I wasn't so sure.

In the finals, Wufei was still waiting, sitting still on his board even as his opponent caught the best waves. There were no lefts, and his time was running out.

'He won't get any,' Quatre said softly besides me and I shook my head, agreeing with him. The next wave was going to be a right as well, and it was pretty much his last chance before the siren would call, announcing the end of the heat and Wufei's loss.

He paddled for it, and both Quatre and I got to our feet. Zero didn't seem to mind having gotten pushed off, because he was barking loudly right beside us.

'Go!' both Quatre and I shouted loudly, even though there was no chance of Wufei hearing us. He didn't need us.

It was perfect, and Quatre took a hold of my arm, squeezing tightly, as the wave started to barrel Wufei in. He squatted low to get in it and raised one hand to paint a streak in the water falling next to him.

'Yes!' Quatre shouted and I found myself holding my breath. 'He's got it!'

The wave started to close up, and Wufei leaned in slightly, and pulled out with the spit.

I jumped into the air, reaching my fist towards the heavens, and Quatre jumped right beside me. Zero started running in circles around us, and I laughed before sitting down on my knees and hugging the dog close.

When Wufei came up he looked me directly in the eyes.

'Your turn,' he said, and went off to get his second place trophy.

My turn to prove I wasn't a coward. My turn to get back to catching the waves. The pull was there, the need to find the perfect wave. But how could I?

Zero gave a loud bark, pulling me out of my thoughts. He'd gone up to Quatre and was whining in distress as he pressed his head against Quatre's hanging hand. I frowned as I looked at him. His phone was in a slack grip by his ear, his mouth was hanging slightly open, and his eyes were shining suspiciously.

'Quat'?' I asked softly and he turned to me, his face pale.

'My father had a heart attack. He's at the hospital,' he said and I felt my heart drop at his obvious pain.

'We'll go. I'll drive you,' I said and he nodded.

I wrapped my arm around his shoulders, in an attempt to show him my support, and he leaned into me a little as we walked up towards the road. It was a slow progress; Quatre was obviously shocked, and I wished I had a blanket to wrap him in. Or Trowa.

'Q', lend me your phone for a bit, I'll call Tro' and tell him where we're going.'

He nodded once and distractedly handed me the phone that he had still had in his hand. I pressed the short key for calling Trowa and lifted the phone to my ear, listening to it ring.

I almost gave up, but just as I was about to hit the key for ending the call, Trowa answered on the other end.

'Where are you, babe?' he asked and I grinned. I hadn't heard them call each other with a lot of nicknames.

'Hi Tro',' I said. 'Q's dad has been taken to the hospital. We're taking the car to go there.'

'I'll come,' he answered quickly. 'I'll tell Heero and Wufei. I'll be by the car in two minutes.'

'Great, see ya,' I said and hung up.

Quatre was staring straight ahead, but I doubted he could see anything at all. It looked like he was far away, thinking about something I couldn't begin to guess about.

Trowa hadn't been lying when he'd said two minutes. He was out of breath, but as soon as he came close enough he had Quatre gathered in his arms. Quatre almost fell then, and it looked like Trowa's grip was all that held him up.

'Zee, go to Heero,' I told the dog, feeling a bit guilty about that, but the hospital was no place for a dog, and there was no saying how long we were going to be there for. Zero wagged his tail once before he turned around and shot off towards where I assumed Heero was. Smart dog.

'Let's go,' Trowa said, and I opened the passenger door for them and Trowa helped Quatre get in.

I closed the door behind them and ran around to the driver's seat and we were off.

Quatre sat in Trowa's lap, and Trowa was whispering words of comfort to his boyfriend. I tried not to listen, and merely focus on the road, but with only the three of us in the small cab of the truck, it was impossible not to hear. I saw a very different side of Trowa during the ride to the hospital. I've always known how much he loves Quatre, but they hide their relationship from the public. In the Safe house, they are more open, but here... here they were gorgeous. Trowa was gently talking Quatre back to reality, and once we got to the hospital, he seemed a bit more like himself again.

'I'm here to see Zayeed Winner,' he told the woman at the reception. She didn't even glance up at him.

'Relation and ID.'

'I'm his son,' Quatre said, and handed her his driver's license. She typed something into the computer before giving the license back and then she finally looked up. Not at us however, but down the corridor, and she lifted a hand to point.

'He's in surgery, you can sit down in the waiting room, it's to the right over there.'

'Thank you,' Quatre said.

We sat down in the waiting room, and I was worried. More for Quatre's sake than for his father. Because even though they were at odds with each other, it was obvious Quatre loved his father. He'd craved for his father to love him back since he was a kid. Is it possible for a parent not to love their child? Maybe it is, but I didn't think that was the case here. Zayeed had, in a twisted way, appeared to care about Quatre.

'Iria,' Quatre said and I looked up to see a woman walk up to him. I recognized her name from when Quatre had been talking about his work and realized this was his older sister. They wrapped their arms tightly around one another before both of them sat down again, their hands wrapped together.

'Duo, Trowa, I'm sorry for making you worry. Please go home, we'll probably be here for a while,' Quatre said and I raised an eyebrow.

'I'm not going anywhere,' Trowa said simply.

I nodded. 'Yeah. I'm staying.'

Quatre smiled gratefully towards us and Trowa claimed his free hand.

It was more than an hour before a doctor came out through the door, and I saw it in her face. She looked exhausted, and when her eyes were about to meet ours, she looked down on the floor quickly before looking back up. He was dead.

'Family of Zayeed Winner?' she asked. Iria and Quatre stood up and walked up to the doctor. She made a motion for them to sit down, but they both shook their heads.

'Go to them, man. He's gone,' I said, and got a sharp look from Trowa under his bangs before he also stood up. He hung back until the doctor told them.

Iria took a sharp intake of breath, before backing up two steps and sitting down heavily in the chair. She leaned her forehead in her hands, and bent double.

Quatre went into that staring mode again. He didn't move, he didn't say anything, he only stared into the wall. Trowa took him in his arms then and moved them back to the chairs.

Iria had no one with her, and she looked as devastated as Quatre. I was moved to go to her and I slowly sat down on the chair next to her. I gave her plenty of time to refuse me to do so and put my hand on her shoulder.

She hitched a sob and looked at me with tears in her eyes before she buried her head against my chest. I wrapped my arms around her, and held tightly as she cried. It should have been uncomfortable to have a complete stranger cry on me, but all I could feel was sympathy. It wasn't such a long stretch for me to imagine what it felt like to lose a family member after all.

As soon as she started to squirm, showing signs of becoming uncomfortable, I let her go, and she sat up straight. Her eyes were red from the crying, it stood out in her pale face, but she had collected herself. She gave me a smile, mouthing a thanks, before she took a deep breath and stood up to go to her brother.

Quatre had leaned his head against Trowa's shoulder, and Trowa was holding him close. Protecting him. Iria hunched down in front of Quatre, and put her hand on his knee. Trowa never let him go, and Quatre didn't appear like he was trying to get loose either.

'Quatre, let's go home for today. We'll deal with everything tomorrow,' she said, trying to catch his eyes, get him to focus, but he still didn't quite look like he was there. She turned her eyes to Trowa instead. 'Trowa, please?'

Trowa nodded and helped Quatre to his feet and helped him walk out. I got up after them and hesitated when I noticed Iria hadn't moved.

'Ms Winner, do you need a ride?' I asked, turning to her, but she smiled.

'Thank you for the offer, it isn't necessary,' she said and I nodded.

'See you around then.'

'Surely, Mr. Maxwell,' she said, and I wondered if I'd given her my name until I realized Quatre had probably talked to her about me previously.

It was a very silent ride back to the Safe house. Trowa isn't much of a talker, but Quatre and I can normally manage well enough. With Quatre silent, it made the air so much heavier, and I was incredibly worried. There was something going on with him that I didn't understand. I could only hope that Trowa did understand, and that he could help.

I pulled up in front of the house and got out to open the door for Trowa and Quatre.

'I don't... I can't...' Quatre whispered softly, but obviously distressed, and Trowa stroked him over his head.

'It's all right, Quatre. You don't have to talk to anyone,' he said, and looked pointedly at me. I nodded, understanding what he was saying, and left them alone. I went around the house on the deck to find Heero and Wufei standing just around the corner.

'Eavesdrop much?' I asked with a small smile, and both of them looked away. 'His dad died, but I think he'll want to tell you when he's ready.'

'Damn,' Wufei said and sighed, and I looked at him in surprise. He wasn't usually much of a swearer.

'Yeah,' I said, agreeing. 'Quat's not really up to talking right now, I guess they'll just go into their bedroom.'

'We'll stay out here for a bit then,' Heero said and wrapped his own arms around my shoulders.

I didn't mean to, but I tensed up, and Heero let me go.

'Duo?'

'Sorry, 'Ro,' I said, shaking my head to get rid of the memory of Trant's words from earlier.

'Now who's the coward?' Wufei asked, looking at me intently before he turned around and walked to the back of the house. Could he read me so easily?

'Wu...' Heero started, but I put my hand on his mouth to silence him, and he frowned. 'What's wrong?'

'Trant told me he'd found out I was gay today. He wasn't... happy,' I said, and Heero sighed. He was fully aware of the stigma associated with being gay in the surfing world. We'd spoken about it a few times, and we'd decided not to hide our relationship, but we didn't exactly flaunt it to the world either. I retold our entire conversation.

'He can't print anything,' Heero said, and I nodded.

'I know,' I said. 'But with proof he could.'

'And... what? You think he's hiding behind the palms with a camera?' he asked, looking out towards the trees with a mock glare, making me laugh. He took a hold of my hand, gently rubbing his thumb over the top of it.

'No,' I said. 'But I wouldn't put it passed him. He was really angry.'

Heero smiled and pulled me into his embrace. I accepted it readily this time, and put my own hands on his back, trying to push us closer. Thoughts were running around in my head after everything that had happened during the day. I thought about Quatre and his father. About Wufei's second place that I still hadn't congratulated him for. And the question that I kept coming back to.

Why had it hurt so much when Trant had said I'd be done?

~ * ~

Chapter 15

Back to Single Authors Index

Back to GW Authors Index.