"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 5: Crush

 

It was painful to wake up. The memory of the water crushing me was fresh in my mind and I'd had nightmares about Solo. My body was aching, especially my left side, but over all, I felt a lot better than I had expected to. There was no headache, and I had stopped trembling.

A knock came and Quatre's head peeked in through the opening in the doorway. He smiled when he saw I had my eyes opened.

'Hey, Duo. How do you feel?'

'Like I've been crushed by a wave,' I said wryly and sat up in the bed, at which point I realized I was buck-naked. I quickly grabbed a hold of the blanket and pulled it over myself. Quatre politely looked away with red cheeks, but he wore an amused smile, which made me doubt the show of politeness.

'I'm making lunch, would you like some?' he asked. My stomach rumbled demonstratively at the mention of food, making me blush and Quatre laugh. 'I'll take that as a yes.'

'Yeah, please,' I said and leaned down to pick up my trunks from the floor.

As soon as Quatre had left I pushed the blanket away and got dressed. The trunks were still damp, and uncomfortable to put on. I needed to find where Heero had disposed of my backpack, so I could find my other pair of boardies.

I turned to make the bed and frowned when I saw small spots of blood on the sheets and the pillow, making me groan and rip the stuff out of the bed. Heero had been right after all, and I figured it best not to anger the man after the halfway decent conversation we'd had during the morning.

'Quat',' I called as I went out of the room.

'Here,' he answered and I turned in the direction of his voice. He was standing with his back against me in a small kitchen area. He had one pot on the stove, and was cutting vegetables into small cubes.

'Hey, do you have someplace I can wash these?' I asked, holding up the bundle in my arms, even though he couldn't see me, and he pointed with the knife over his shoulder. He aimed a door, which I opened and walked inside of. I found myself in a very small room, containing only a washing machine and a tumbler. I loaded the washing machine up with the white sheets and remembered that I needed to wash my own white t-shirt as well.

'Quat', would it be ok if I add some of my stuff to the wash?'

'Sure.'

'Do you know where Heero dumped my backpack this morning?'

'It's on the chair,' he said and I made my way to it, fished out my t-shirt and my second pair of trunks before going back to the small room where I closed the door. I changed trunks and threw the t-shirt into the washing machine.

'There's still some room, you have anything you need washed, Q?' I said, opening the door again.

'Nope,' he answered and I took a measure of detergent, added it and started the machine before I went back to help Quatre cook.

'What can I do?'

'It's finished in a minute, just grab three plates from the cabinet and forks are in the drawer below.'

'Three?' I asked as I took the plates and cutlery out and put them on the counter.

'Trowa works at Legends,' Quatre said, and it took me a moment to realize he spoke of the workshop I'd seen attached to the house. 'Speaking of which, could you tell him lunch is ready? The door over there.' He pointed at a door at the end of a hall.

'Sure,' I said, knocked on the door to make sure no one was standing in the way and opened it.

The shop was a lot bigger than I had expected, with surfboards every which way you looked. Some were dinged, and I assumed they were in for repairs. The only thing apart from surfboards seemed to be a small assortment of wax.

'Morning, Duo,' Trowa said, and I jumped, not having noticed him, making me look over the shop again. He peeked up from behind the counter. 'You look like shit.'

'Thanks, man,' I said in amusement and looked down at my bare shoulder where scabs had formed nicely. Only then did I notice that bruises were coloring my skin in different degrees over my shoulder, and as far over my back as I could see. 'Whoa.'

'Whoa? Sounds apt,' he said drily as he locked the front of the store and we went back to the kitchen.

'Oh my God, Duo!' Quatre exclaimed when we stepped in and I blinked, surprised.

'What?'

'You look awful!' he said and I blew out a harsh breath, and Trowa sniggered. How he had managed not see it while I was loading the washing machine and taking out plates went beyond me, but then again, he'd been quite focused on cutting the food up.

'Yeah, Tro' said pretty much the same,' I told him as I took my backpack's place at the chair.

'Does it hurt?' he asked, still looking at me with wide eyes.

'Nah, I'm just a bit stiff, but I feel fine,' I said, rolling my arm demonstratively, and he looked at me in disbelief.

'What did you do anyways?' Trowa asked as he filled his plate up with noodles, fish and veggies.

''Ro didn't tell you?' I asked and Trowa raised an eyebrow.

''Ro,' he said, putting emphasis on the nickname, 'didn't tell me anything.'

'I wiped out in a wave. I caught it badly and ended up on the top of the lip,' I said and shrugged before I started filling up my plate as well.

'Were you out at sunrise?' Quatre asked, his brows furrowed, and I didn't think he'd like it if I told him I'd gone out at night. The sun had just become visible over the horizon when I'd caught the last wave after all.

'Yeah, it's awesome,' I said. 'You can get every wave to yourself, and the light on the water during sunrise is stunning.' I took my first bite of the food. 'Quat', this is amazing!'

He blushed.

'It's just basic,' he said and I shook my head.

'It's perfect! I've been living on bread for way too long,' I said with a wide grin. The frown on both of their faces had me realize I probably should have kept my mouth shut and just enjoyed the food. 'Hey, Quat', do you still wanna go surfing?'

'Yeah, but...' he said and bit his lower lip.

'It's fine, I can take some small waves,' I said, and he smiled widely.

'Borrow a longboard from the shop, it should make it easier on your shoulder when paddling,' Trowa said, and I frowned. I really liked my own board, but he did have a point.

'Maybe,' I said cautiously and took another bite of the food. 'How much?'

'I said borrow, not rent,' Trowa said with a smirk, not even looking at me, and I nodded.

'Yeah, sure.'

'How are the swells?' Quatre asked.

'Five to six at the Surf. Around three at Coral,' Trowa answered quickly. I'd seen the screens with the information at the shop

'We'll go for Coral, I think,' Quatre said without asking me, and I was just as happy for it, not really feeling up to surf barrels that I had to bend down too far to get under after my tumble that morning. 'Do you want to join, Trowa?'

'Nah, I'll come by in a couple of hours if you're still there. I've got a board I want to finish today.'

We finished our lunch quickly and did the dishes. Then I headed into the shop where Trowa showed me the rentable longboards.

'Hey, you sure you don't want me to pay for it?' I asked as I took it under my arm.

'Don't worry about it,' he said and I was grateful, but I did hate charity. Thing was, I wasn't sure if this was charity, or just kindness towards a new friend. 'Quatre's been ecstatic since yesterday, he really wanted to go surfing with you.'

Ah, now it made sense. I wasn't about to complain that I was gaining from his wanting to keep his boyfriend happy.

'Thanks, man,' I said and left the shop with the board, meeting up with Quatre outside.

'We'll take the car, I want to keep your strength for surfing,' he said, nodding towards a jeep, car keys dangling from his fingers.

'Perfect,' I said and lifted the board into the back of the car, wincing as the move pulled at my shoulder. That move would have been easier with my board as it was lighter, but I definitely wouldn't have been able to paddle with enough speed to manage a single popup.

There was a lot of people at the beach, and a lot of surfers in the water, making me swallow. It had been months since I'd surfed when there were a lot of people around. Heck, it had been months since I'd surfed with any people around. Why did I agree to this anyways?

Looking at the surfers, there were a few beginners out there as well, and I'd have to be even more observant than usually. Maybe beginner was pushing it, the yellow flag was flying after all, but that didn't mean some beginners weren't going to go out. Challenging yourself is a great way of getting better after all.

I had to challenge myself. I'd said I'd do it, so there was no turning back.

'Are you sure you're okay?' Quatre asked, giving me an out, looking at me cautiously.

'Yeah, let's get to the lineup. You okay with catching the rip?' I asked. I'd seen him catch the rip current at the Surf to get a quicker ride out to the lineup, so I thought it was a safe bet he'd be fine with it here as well.

'Yeah, let's go,' he said with a wide smile and we were soon paddling our way out.

It was great to be in the blue water again. It isn't the same during the night; the visual beauty of the sea doesn't make itself known, and all you know is the power and the danger. During full moon it's better, but nothing can compete against surfing during the day.

I watched as Quatre nimbly caught his first wave of the day. He gracefully popped up in that fluent motion of his, making me doubt he had to consume any energy at all doing it.

I started paddling on the next wave and popped up. Another kid had caught it as well, but he was lying on his board, obviously intending to ride the wave in to the beach.

'Dude,' I called to gain his attention and he looked to his side, eyes widening as he noticed me. He was right in my path, and I easily turned back on the wave, to give him some time to move away a bit. I looked behind me to make sure he was gone before turning back around and continuing to ride the wave.

It was kind of nice to stand on a longboard again. It didn't require as much focus as the shortboard, and I even dared to try one or two of the tricks I'd seen Trowa do on his shortboard. I laughed cheerfully as I neatly ended up next to Quatre who was also smiling widely.

'Let's get back,' he said immediately and we caught the rip again to catch more waves. It was fun, to surf with someone again, and I realized how much I'd really missed it. How much I'd missed the easy camaraderie that evolved in the water.

We were catching waves for about an hour before my shoulder was objecting enough for me to want a bit of a rest and we headed back up onto the beach. We wedged our boards up and lay down on the warm sand. I put a bundled up towel behind my head and saved my braid from the sand through laying it over my shoulder and over my abdomen.

'I have to admit I'm a bit relieved,' Quatre said after a while and I turned my head to watch him, one eye closed to not have the sun blind me.

'Yeah?'

'Yeah, I might've had some... doubts, regarding whether or not you could surf.'

I laughed, but I understood him, since I hadn't gone into the water once, as far as he'd known.

'And could I?'

'Yes!' he said, laughing, and he sat up to look down at me. 'You were doing some great moves out there.'

'I stole them from Tro',' I said with a grin.

'I thought so.' Obviously he would recognize his boyfriend's moves.

'I've been wanting to try them, but I don't have the skill to do even half of them on a shortboard. So this kind of fit perfectly.'

'How's your shoulder, though?'

'It's not too bad, really. It's a bit stiff, but it gets better when I'm moving it,' I said, sat up, and started rolling my arm around to demonstrate that I had no problems moving it, when I heard a loud bark from behind us. A black dog in a red life vest was barging towards us.

'Zee!' I called in surprise, and he stopped right in front of us, pushing his head against my hand, almost begging me to scratch him behind his ears. 'You're such a suck-up,' I told him, but scratched him anyways.

'Hi, Heero,' Quatre said and I looked up.

He had red trunks on, and a rescue can in his hand, which I immediately translated to lifeguard.

'I'm sorry for making you work overtime this morning,' I said with a smirk and hugged the dog with one hand as he stepped closer to me. He gave me a sloppy lick on my cheek.

'Hn,' Heero grunted and I grinned wider. 'You look...' his eyes swept over my body, making me blush hotly, '...good.'

Apparently he was still a bit of an asshole, which saddened me, because I'd really enjoyed our talk at the beach that morning. I figured he was teasing me about the obvious reaction I'd had to his body the previous week, and it kind of rubbed me the wrong way.

'Wow, thanks,' I said ironically and he raised his eyebrows in surprise, making me stop myself from saying a cutting remark, because he looked confused, and if he'd meant to tease me he shouldn't have been so surprised at an ironic answer. Right?

'Excuse me,' someone said from the side, and we all turned to him. He looked quite young, maybe around twelve or so, and he looked incredibly uncomfortable, as though he'd rather be anywhere else than here. Actually, when I looked closer, I recognized him as the kid that had been on my wave earlier.

'What's up, kid?' Heero asked kindly, hunching down to be on the kid's level. Obviously his lifeguarding instincts were kicking in, and I wondered if that had been all it was that morning as well.

'Um, actually, I...' he hesitated and looked at me, and bit his lip. 'I-wanted-an-autograph,' he said quickly and took a deep breath, holding out his surfboard as well as a paper for me, and a marker.

I'd been out of the pro world in Elto for weeks, and I hadn't thought I'd meet anyone on Sanc who'd know who I was. The wide-eyed looks I saw on both Heero's and Quatre's faces made me blush as I accepted the surfboard and lay it over my knees. Then I put the magazine on top and recognized it as an old issue of Surf'd where I'd been featured in the mid-section so I opened it up on that page.

'Here?' I asked, pointing to the bottom of it, where there was just some water in the photo. He nodded.

'To Mickey Mouse, please. And you'll write Reaper, right?' the kid asked, and I only barely managed to avoid rolling my eyes at the nickname.

Nicknames tend to stick, especially in the surfing world. In my case, I'd been unfortunate enough to have my very first heat in a pro competition be interrupted by a shark. I hadn't even seen it in the water, and the fin of my board had cut its head straight open. Luckily for me, the shark had died; I'd fallen off my board when it stuck to the shark. Someone had thought Reaper a fitting nickname, and once it had been said, it travelled, and it stuck.

'Of course,' I said and I scratched it out on the paper, and then on his board, complete with a small set of bones beneath my signature. 'Don't put it in the water for a few hours if you wanna keep that, alright Mickey?'

'I won't! Thank you so much! I'm gonna tell all my friends in Elto!' he said, looking so ecstatic that I had to laugh. 'Hey, you'll be back for Gundams, right?' he asked then, and I stopped laughing.

'I... we'll see, there's still a while left,' I answered, and he looked at me sadly for a moment, before he smiled again.

'I'll cheer for you if you compete. Thanks for the sign!' he said, and ran off down the beach to his parents where he proceeded to point me out and tap at the signature.

'You're... a pro?' Quatre asked after a while of silent stupor, and I shrugged.

'I quit competing a while back, and came here with the last of my money.'

'Why?' Heero asked coldly and I looked down in the sand. I liked these guys, really, I did. But I wasn't exactly ready to share my life's ups and downs with them.

'I just didn't have it in me anymore, I guess,' I answered and felt Heero's intense gaze on me. I hoped he'd just let it go. He did, but he didn't say anything more regarding anything before he left us to get back to his tower, taking Zee with him.

'Well, that was awkward,' I said to Quatre after Heero had left.

'He... doesn't really like pros.' No shit? 'Thinks they're selling themselves.'

'They've also got to live,' I answered, but I'd had pretty much the same feeling when I'd started. It wasn't anything like that though. It was a job, like any other, and it costs quite a lot to travel around for the competitions. You're not even guaranteed a payout for it so most pros have sponsors. I was no different

'Believe me, I know. I haven't told you, I guess, but my full name is Quatre Raberba Winner.'

Winner. I'd heard it somewhere, if I could only remember...

'Winner! Zayeed Winner?' I asked and he nodded. Zayeed Winner had been one of the best pro surfers until about twenty or so years back, when his wife had died at childbirth. After that he'd gone into manufacturing business, creating the Winner Corporations that made surf gear. They had actually been on my list of potential sponsors right before Solo had died.

'He's my father.'

'Damn,' I said, idly wondering how old Quatre was.

'You don't know the half of it. It sucks a bit, having an ex pro surfer as a father. He's still always travelling, and he never thinks I'm good enough.'

'Q', you're great at surfing.'

'He would disagree,' Quatre said with a roll of his eyes. 'I've never wanted to go pro, and I think it irks him. We're not really talking to each other anyways, so I've stopped caring what he thinks.'

'You're not talking because you don't want to go pro? Don't take me wrong, but that seems a bit... petty.'

Quatre sighed and curled his legs together, wrapping his arms around them in a very protective position, making me frown.

'He... disagrees with my... choice in partners.'

I sighed.

'Trowa?'

'Oh no, he's never met Trowa, thank God. I'd be afraid of what he'd do to get him away from me, like he did with my first boyfriend.'

'I'm so sorry, Q',' I said, not needing to hear anything more about exactly what his father had done. Quatre's sad tone said enough.

'I'm over him,' he said with a small, forced smile. 'I've been working at my sister's law firm since I moved away from the mansion into the Safe house.

'Safe house?' I asked, intrigued.

'Heero's house,' Quatre answered with a grin. 'The four of us have known each other for ages, and then all of us came into some trouble at about the same time. It led us to move into the house that Heero had recently inherited. It became a safe haven for all of us. So we call it the Safe house.'

'Cool that it worked out,' I said and Quatre nodded and looked out over the ocean for a while. I'm not sure what he was thinking about, but he soon snapped himself out of it, and looked at me with shining eyes and a grin that was a little too wide.

'You wanna catch a few more waves?' he asked, and I flew to my feet.

'Race ya,' I called, grabbed the board and sprinted towards the ocean before he had time to react.

'Cheater!' was called after me and I just laughed as I entered the water.

This was life.

~ * ~

Chapter 6

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