Notes: This chapter is dedicated to Aino Hikaru, who was nice enough to draw me a fanart picture of Surfer Duo w/ Baka! KAWAII!! ^_^
Endless Summer Part 4
The Legend that Was
Duo woke up to the sound of rain and the feel of something thick and warm and wet running across his face in slobbery laps. Dog breath! Gross!
He laughed softly and pushed the big yellow lab away from him, grinning. "Go fetch a newspaper, furface."
Baka chuffed amiably, slurping Duo's face one last time for good measure before leaping off the bed and running into the kitchen.
"You may not think much of me, Heero Yuy, but at least your dog likes me," Duo whispered, grinning.
Duo flopped backwards in bed and stayed perfectly still, trying to feel as if he was at home. It was nice to sleep in a bed in an actual house, instead of just another anonymous hotel room. He pretended for a minute that it was his house. He closed his eyes again.
*Thumpthumpthumpthumpthump* Baka was running around on the wooden floors, and Duo could hear the big dog's tail swishing happily. There was a louder thump as said dog's tail knocked something over, but it didn't sound like it had broken. Rain was sheeting down the window, throwing shimmery shadows across the room. Duo opened his eyes lazily, watching dust-motes dance in the light. The rich smell of coffee permeated the house. He could hear the rain beating on the roof.
He sighed softly. / This isn't my house. /
He sat up in the unfamiliar bed, feeling disoriented as he looked around. A pretty clean bedroom; there were airbrush paintings and portraits framed around the room. There were a lot of pictures of the ocean, and still-lifes with things from the sea, like gull feathers and shells. One of the pictures was a portrait of Baka. In the other portraits, he recognized all of the surfers he had spoken with yesterday.
"You sure got the life, Heero," Duo said softly to himself as he stood up, looking around the room. He spotted few framed photographs and went over to take a look at them.
One was a wide picture of a group of surfers, all striking poses. Again, Duo recognized all of the ones from the beach from the day before. The auburn-haired boy with the long bangs was standing with his arms around the blonde boy's shoulders. Wufei was standing casually with his fingers crossed behind his neck, smiling. The girl who had given the coin to him to make Heero's bet on the beach was lying across the sand at their feet, throwing the camera a seductive, challenging look. The other girls were laughing and trying to put bunny ears behind each other. Duo smiled as he looked at it. His eyes wandered over to the other photograph.
In this one, a much younger Heero Yuy was standing with an older man and woman. A little dark-haired girl was perched on the Japanese boy's shoulders, her little hands tangled in his mussed, choppy hair, and Duo touched his fingertip to the surface of the glass covering the photograph, tracing the smile on Heero's face.
Duo's own smile faded. / When's the last time you smiled like that, pally? /
Suddenly, he felt guilty, as if he had been going through Heero's private things. He shouldn't be touching or looking at Heero's stuff, especially after the guy was nice enough to let him sleep here. He grabbed his bag and his quiver, carrying them into the kitchen.
Wufei was sitting at the kitchen table, sipping a mug of coffee. His hair was slick from the rain, and his clothes were damp.
"Hey Wufei," Duo said, sitting down at the kitchen table across from the Chinese boy. "You just walk in here, or what?"
Wufei looked up at him, smiling a little. "Heero usually keeps an open door. If he knows you, you're pretty much free to walk in."
Duo grabbed a mug from the counter and then the coffee pot, pouring himself a cup before putting enough sugar in it to make a dentist faint. "Coulda fooled me. Practically kicked my ass just for sleepin' out on the dunes in front of the workshop yesterday."
"Maybe he just doesn't like you. Or maybe he does like you, considering you slept with him. Sure didn't take him long to pull you in, did it?"
Duo was sipping his coffee, and he sputtered and blushed as he realized the connotations of what Wufei was saying. "What?!? No! I mean, I did sleep here... but I just slept here... and he didn't even sleep in the same room!"
"So, you didn't even think about it? Sleeping with him?"
Wufei smirked as the Californian stuttered. // Caught you, haole. //
"My mistake," Wufei said coolly. "He probably doesn't like you. He's just too nice for his own good." He sipped his coffee.
Duo rolled his eyes. "Great, so why do I get to be the only person the guy doesn't like? What's his problem, anyway? Why is he all so, you know-" Duo mock-glared menacingly, crossing his arms across his chest and bowing his head, letting his bangs fall into his face. It was an almost uncanny impression of Heero, and Wufei laughed despite himself.
"He's not always like that. He just doesn't like pro surfers. Or the competitions at all, for that matter."
Duo scowled slightly. "That girl said he was the best surfer in North Shore. I heard her. You sayin' he doesn't compete at all??"
Wufei shook his head, taking another swallow of coffee.
"Why?"
Wufei's smile faded. He shook his head. "I don't think it's my place to say."
Now Duo was really curious. "C'mon, Wuff. I promise I'm not gonna mention it to him. I'm just curious. Seems like everybody likes 'em and all.Why was that girl makin' such a big deal out of him entering? He didn't seem too happy about it."
Wufei gazed steadily across the table at Duo, looking the braided boy over. "I'll tell you, but you can't mention it to Heero. He doesn't like to talk about it."
Duo crossed his fingers over his heart solemnly. "Hope to die. If I lie, let me go to hell and have to watch flat surf for all eternity."
Wufei gazed out the window, bringing his cup halfway to his mouth, then just holding it there thoughtfully. "I've known Heero since we were both little groms. He used to be the biggest thing in Oahu surfing. A real cheeky hotshot. He always competed, and he always won."
Baka came and laid his head on Duo's knee. Duo stroked the dog's ears softly, listening. "Yeah?"
Wufei's expression grew sad and distant, and he wouldn't look at Duo. "Yes. Four years ago, when Heero was thirteen, the Internationals were held right here in North Shore. Heero was the youngest surfer invited. But there was a storm off-shore a couple of days before the competition, when Heero and his family were out on their houseboat. The boy capsized, and everyone drowned but him. He was the only survivor."
Duo's eyes widened and he whistled softly. "No shit...that's terrible...."
"Yes, it was. I was very close to the family, especially Heero's little sister. She was like a little sister to me, too."
"So... what happened, about the competition, I mean?"
Wufei took the coffee mug and refilled his cup before speaking again. "He entered anyway. Said it was what his family would have wanted him to do."
"And?"
Wufei took a swallow, then looked straight at him. "He won. Don't you get it, Maxwell? He's never lost a competition he's ever entered. Heero Yuy is undefeated."
Duo grew quiet and leaned back in his chair, listening to the rain and thinking. Heero's whole family had been killed... he remembered the photograph in the bedroom and felt guilty for even looking at it...
Wufei continued. "He got a lot of coverage for that competition. I'm surprised you hadn't heard."
"I was still a little local-boy carver in Cali when I was that age," Duo replied, running his hand down the dog's side. "So, why does he hate the competitions so much?"
"The sponsors and the media tried to turn him into a tragic hero who beat all odds and won the contest in the face of adversity. Heero wouldn't cooperate. So then they had the media turn him into a ruthless bastard who would do anything to win, a guy who cared so little for his family that he won at Internationals without giving them a thought. So now he just doesn't compete. He just works in that little shop of his and shapes boards for the tourists."
"That sucks major," Duo said thoughtfully. "Legend on the rocks."
"Yes."
"So, where'd he go?" Duo asked, standing up.
"If I had to guess, I'd say he's out at Ponderosa Point. He always goes out there in the mornings. It's where he goes to think."
"What, he's sitting in the damned rain?"
"I would imagine so."
Duo snorted. "Well... that's stupid. I'm gonna take him a jacket and some coffee and see if I can talk him into coming back to the house. Doesn't he have any common sense, sitting out there in the rain? Geez..." The braided surfer rummaged through the cabinets until he found a thermos.
Wufei looked at him, his expression neutral. "Remember what you promised, Maxwell. Don't mention it to him. Or I will personally kick your ass all over this beach."
Duo blinked. The threat sounded pretty genuine. "Yeah. Sure."
He grabbed a thermos and the jacket, heading out into the rain to find Heero. Baka followed him happily, oblivious to either the melancholic mood of two boys he had been around or the hard rain falling around him.
He may have been stupid, but he was easy to please.
TBC...
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