Perfect Part 9

The balance of the night was business as usual. Duo scored a few more times, probably, he told himself cynically, the view of his ass draped over the cable box.

It was after midnight when Rose and Snow found him. Rose had his arm around Snow protectively in a firm hug. Snow's eyes were puffy; he'd been crying.

"What's up?" said Duo, straightening.

Rose's normally confident voice rasped with emotion. "Snow told me. He told me 'bout that guy. An' he said you took 'im tonight. Thanks, man. Thanks fer lookin' out fer my honey. I'm gonna kill that fuckin' sonuvabitch!" He gave Snow a squeeze and kissed his forehead tenderly; Snow clung to him.

Duo grinned and punched Rose lightly on the arm. "Glad to do it." He touched Snow's cheek. "Yer kinda young to be puttin' up with that shit. Gotta leave those guys to the professionals."

"I owe ya big, man," said Rose. "Anytime, anywhere, anything, ya just ask. Ya wanna help me kick that fuck's ass?"

Duo shrugged. "I don' think he'll around anymore." Rose looked a question at him. Duo gave him a slow wink and stretched. "Been a long day. Think I'll call it and head back," he grinned. He hugged them both, ignoring Rose's startled look. "See ya tomorrow."

"G'night," Snow smiled. "Thanks a lot; I was scared."

Duo leaned in and kissed Snow's lips lightly. "Yer a sweetie."

~*~

Trowa was waiting in his room with a picnic basket.

"Oh my God! Quatre cooked!" cried Duo upon seeing the basket.

Trowa smirked. "Not quite; I cooked."

Duo turned to him with a gasp. "Not... not... Oh, please tell me I'm not hallucinating! You didn't make your beef burgundy for me... Did you?" he asked almost plaintively.

"As a matter of fact..."

"Aaaaahhh! Trowa, I LOVE you!" He grabbed the taller boy around the neck and planted a wet sloppy kiss on his mouth. "Oops! Sorry! I know, no trespassing! But your beef burgundy..."" He turned to cuddle the basket. "Thanks, Trowa. Thank you for taking the trouble."

"It's no trouble, Duo; you know that. I noticed last time that you seemed a bit thinner. If Quatre notices, he will worry, and you know how I feel about Quatre worrying." He took the basket from Duo and began setting a place at the table. "Why don't you have a shower? You should be relaxed to eat."

"Okay! God! Beef burgundy!"

~*~

Trowa was somewhat reluctant to leave him when morning came.

"I'm okay, Tro," Duo insisted, almost pushing him out the door. "Go on back to Quatre. You know he hates sleeping alone." He gave Trowa a wink and a nudge, then kissed him quickly on the mouth. "Give him that for me, okay?"

Trowa regarded him with one eyebrow raised. "I can do that. But only if you swear to me that you're all right."

Duo crossed himself with a cheerful grin. "After that fantastic dinner? Cross my heart and hope to eat a lizard."

Trowa smirked. "I suppose that's the best I can hope for."

"Yep."

He nodded to himself. "Stay on track, Duo. We're almost there."

When he had gone, Duo leaned against the closed door and sighed. "Almost..." He slid down to wrap his arms around his drawn-up legs and rest his head on his knees. "Almost."

~*~

He walked into a huddle of whores on the corner.

"What's up?" he asked a doe-eyed Latino.

"'Nother dead john," he replied with a shrug. "Don't matter. Always one to take 'is place."

"Hn. Shot like the other one?"

"Nah. This'n's all cut up." He made a chopping motion. "Minced, like onions."

Duo's eyes went wide. "Really? Didja see 'im?"

"Nah, but that's what I heard."

"Wow. Musta pissed somebody off good." He sipped at his soda looking around at the group of about fifteen kids. "How come ev'rybody's hanging around?"

"Cops." He pointed to a black sedan. "They're talkin' to all of us," he sighed.

A uniform officer stepped out of the car and walked toward the group.

"Neeext!" sang an unidentified voice.

The cop looked at them. "Which one is Blue?"

Several people pointed at Duo, so he stepped forward raising his hand. "That would be me."

"Lieutenant Brawley would like to speak to you." He motioned toward the car.

Duo shrugged. "Sure. Can I bring my soda?" The cop nodded and Duo followed him, getting into the back seat. "Hi!" he said brightly to the sandy-haired investigator.

"Good morning," said the lieutenant. "Do you know what's going on?"

"Somebody said a john got whacked."

"That's right. Would you know anything about it?"

Duo snorted. "Can't be one of mine, cuz I haven't chopped anybody up in oh, three or four months," he laughed.

"Hn. That's interesting, because you were seen getting into his car about six-thirty yesterday."

Duo sat up straight, almost spilling his drink. "No shit? Oh my God!" He sank back into the seat staring at the cop. "Really?" he whispered, violet eyes wide and frightened.

Lieutenant Brawley consulted his notes. "George Leuton; 36; married, two kids; salesman for Indurotech." He looked at Duo.

"Names are pretty flexible around here," he said slowly. "What'd he look like?"

"Brown hair and eyes, light complexion, 185cm, 91 kilos."

Duo sighed, shivering slightly. "Geez, I don' know... Maybe..." He looked up at the cop. "I see a lot of faces, ya know... Goes with the territory... And that's not much of a description... Got a photo?" he asked hopefully.

Brawley drew several photos from an envelope and handed them to Duo. He flipped through them. On the third he gasped and the photos flew as his hands went to his mouth. The color drained from his face and he gave a faint whimper. The cop watched him narrowly.

"Shit!" cried Duo after a moment spent catching his breath. "Those are autopsy photos! Shit, man!"

"Do you recognise him?"

Duo stared at him for a moment. "I dunno. I'm not lookin' at those again!"

"Try this one." He offered another, smaller photo. Duo drew back suspiciously. "It's just a head shot." Reluctantly, Duo took it, looking at it from the corner of his eye first, then taking a closer look.

"He looks dead."

"He is dead."

"Oh. Ummm... Maybe." He studied it a moment longer. "I guess... I don' know, it could be a guy I dated, I guess... He's nothin' memorable..." He looked up at Brawley. "He's, ya know, plain. Ordinary, I guess I mean." He handed the photo back and wiped his hand on his jeans distastefully.

"So you can't say for sure whether this was the man you went with last night or not."

Duo shook his head. "Not for sure, no. Hey, mine were all alive when I left 'em."

Lieutenant Brawley nodded thoughtfully. "Okay." He handed Duo a business card. "Think about it; if you were with him, you might have seen something without realising. If you remember anything, give me a call."

"Sure." Duo got out of the car and walked over to sit on the curb. He was joined a few minutes later by Rose.

"You okay?"

"I guess. He showed me the autopsy photos," he mumbled. Rose grimaced.

"He's doin' that to ev'rybody. Shit." He gave Duo's shoulder a squeeze.

"Where's Snow? He okay?"

Rose shrugged uneasily. "I took 'im home. The dead guy's the one Snow was scared of."

Duo looked up in astonishment. "The one I took? Sonuvabitch! No wonder that cop was watchin' me so close!" He hugged himself. "He was fine when I left... It musta been after... Geez!"

"I'm sorry," Rose said in a low voice. "Snow passed out when he saw the pictures. I kinda had to tell 'em ya went with 'im..." he said reluctantly. "They wouldn' let me take 'im 'til I did."

"Don' worry 'bout it. Guess that creep got what he deserved, ya know?"

Rose nodded with a sigh.

~*~

Though the boys were unusually quiet, business returned to near normal once the police were gone.

Duo and Rose entertained the usual crop of lustful and eager men throughout the afternoon. The murder didn't seem to have upset the tricks to any extent; they still came, chose and paid. In the late afternoon, Snow crept back to sit with Duo for a while until Rose returned. He leaned against Duo silently and Duo stroked his hair lightly.

"It was that guy," he whispered after a bit. "The one ya took for me. They showed me pictures." He swallowed and shivered.

"I know. I saw them too. Autopsy photos. Really gross."

"Yeah..." He hung his head. "I... I fainted..."

"Rose told me. I'm sorry, sweetie. I wish ya hadn't seen those." He laid his arm across Snow's shoulders. "Are ya okay now?"

"I guess so. Sometimes, ya know, I see the pictures in my head. An' it scares me again..."

"I'm really sorry." He squeezed Snow's shoulders. Shit... Damn that cop!

Snow was quiet for a time, huddling against Duo for comfort.

"Didja do him for me? For what he did to me?" the boy asked faintly, not looking at Duo. Duo blinked.

"Umm, Snow... Do ya really want me to answer that? I mean, I will, an' ya know I never lie, but ya gotta be sure ya wanna know. Take a minute an' think about it," Duo said gently.

"I don' know," Snow whispered after a couple of minutes. "I'm glad he's gone, but... It was so... It was awful." He pulled away from Duo and their eyes met. "I don' need to know, Blue. But I'm jus' so fuckin' GLAD!" He threw his arms around Duo's neck. "I'm so glad he's dead. He deserved it! He hurt me an' I knew he'd do it again!"

Duo hugged him close, rubbing his back and murmuring softly, "Easy, baby... It's all right."

"I'm glad he's dead," whimpered the boy. "Thanks... for... for makin' me... feel safe," he said hesitantly. "Do ya think Rose, I mean, maybe he knows?"

"I don' know; he didn' say anythin' to me."

"Okay," Snow sighed. "That's good." He looked into Duo's eyes again and said earnestly, "We don' need to know 'bout that kinda shit."

"Nah," agreed Duo with a grin. "Stuff like that's a down; whatta we need with that crap?"

Duo bought him a soda and an enormous glazed donut and Snow soon relaxed. When he saw Rose jogging down the street toward them, his face lit up happily. Duo saw that Rose had eyes for Snow alone, and stepped away, lest he get trampled.

He leaned against a building for a while as Rose and Snow cuddled and whispered together. They're cute together, he thought wistfully. God, I hope they get the life they want.

TBC...

 

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