See first part for warnings.
BATTERED – PART 2
Fighting his way out of a nightmare, Duo bit down on his lip in order not to cry out. He knew from experience that Heero hated it when he was woke up during the night, and he wasn’t willing to pay the price for waking his partner. Slowly, he forced his eyes open, wincing when he realized how swollen they were and wondering what had happened this time.
Realizing that he couldn’t see made him panic and a soft sound escaped his throat. Freezing in place, he waited for the anger from Heero. After a full second, he shifted painfully, taking stock of all the aches and sores that covered his body. It wasn’t until he moved that he became suddenly aware he was dressed in soft pants, which was strange because Heero insisted that he sleep nude.
He was gathering the strength to sit up when he heard a soft noise in the room. His entire body tensed on its own, not requiring any thought to protecting itself. When the side of the bed dipped, he heard the noise he made, one of a trapped and terrified animal.
“You’re all right, Duo. It’s just me.”
“Trowa?” he asked, then cursed himself for the slip. He had done the same thing once before, thinking he had heard Trowa’s voice in his sleep. It had been a mistake that had cost him dearly.
Since he was bracing himself for the hit he knew would be coming, when a hand touched him gently he gasped. “Sorry. I just wanted to let you know where I was. Let me take this off,” there was a pause as something was lifted off his eyes.
The room was dim but not dark, the only light coming from a lamp on the other side of the space. His face must have registered the surprise he was feeling, for Trowa leaned back and gave him plenty of space. “What happened?” he asked in a raspy voice, trying to figure out why he was here with Trowa instead of his own home.
“You called me to come and get you after Heero beat the shit out of you for leaving,” stated Trowa bluntly, though he kept his voice soft.
Duo started at the calm words, then winced as he began to remember the events that had led to him stumbling down the stairs, clutching the bag that held his belongings to his chest and hoping he would be able to make it somewhere safe before collapsing. “Shit.”
“You remember now?”
“Yeah, unfortunately. I’m sorry I got you involved in this, Trowa. I’ll leave first thing tomorrow.”
“You’ll do no such thing.” To soften the words, Trowa smiled, “It’s been a while since we got to spend any time together. I’ve missed you…missed getting to talk to you.”
Duo didn’t want to tell Trowa that he had missed him, too. The only reason he had stopped hanging out with the tall man was because of Heero’s jealousy. Jealousy that was, for once, justified. When a thought went through his mind, he frowned, making a small sound when he felt the cuts on his lips pull painfully, “How did you know Heero had done this?”
Emerald green eyes met his, showing much more kindness and caring than Heero’s ever had that Duo felt momentarily breathless. “You told me when I came to get you, but I’ve known for a while that things weren’t really…right between you. I just wish I had had the guts to say something before now. Maybe this wouldn’t have happened if I had said something.”
Emotions filled Duo, all of them just as painful as his physical wounds. Embarassment, anger…shame. “It wouldn’t have done any good, Trowa, and I think you know that. I had to be ready to leave. I had to admit that nothing I did would ever be good enough for him. I had to know that there was nothing else I could do to try and salvage what we used to have.”
After a moment where he thought Trowa would turn away, the other man asked softly, “And when did you make the decision to leave?”
Not wanting to talk about it but knowing he owed this man above all others the truth, Duo averted his eyes, “Two weeks ago he hit me so hard I blacked out. I hadn’t really done anything wrong…not really,” he repeated, trying to convince himself more than Trowa. “When I woke up, I was in bed and he was saying he was sorry and it wouldn’t happen again. Of course, he’d said that before, lots of times. That time, instead of believing him, I decided the next time he hurt me I would leave.”
“What happened today, Duo?”
“I saw a guy while we were at the grocery store, one whose car I had fixed a few weeks ago. The only reason I even remembered him was because he had a car like mine, an old corvette that he had gotten fixed and was having problems that no one could fix. He was so impressed by the job that I did he recommended me to a few of his friends that are into classic cars. I’ve worked on two of them already.” Duo sighed tiredly, “We were only talking about the car, but Heero was convinced that I was flirting. When we got home, he started to yell then he hit me, telling me it was my fault. He didn’t consider I would leave until I got to the door, and that’s when he really got mad at me.”
Feeling Trowa’s thumb wiping his face, he blinked, only then realizing that he was crying and Trowa was gently removing the tears. Taking a chance, he met Trowa’s eyes and didn’t see disgust, but sympathy. “It wasn’t your fault, Duo. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I know.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong, Duo. It was never you. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”
Mildly confused, Duo nodded though the movement was painful. “Yeah, I get it.”
Hands, large and calloused, gently framed his face and Trowa looked at him intently, not letting him look away. “Duo, it’s not your fault. It was never your fault.”
With his breath starting to hitch in his chest, he forced himself to nod, “Yeah.”
“Duo. It’s not your fault.”
Face to face with a compassion and gentleness he had never known in his life, Duo felt something inside of him break, allowing the dam that had held back his tears to come crashing down. There was no thought of objecting when Trowa lay down beside him and pulled him close, holding him as he sobbed out all the pain and confusion he had felt since the first time Heero had hit him.
There was no sense of how much time had passed when he finally stopped crying. He knew he was a mess and that he had cried all over Trowa, probably getting snot all over him in the process, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care. For the first time in a long while, he felt safe and knew it had more to do with the man holding him than he wanted to admit.
Too exhausted to sort out his emotions, he let himself simply enjoy the sensation of strong arms holding him close and hands rubbing softly up and down his back, careful of any of the wounds caused by Heero’s rage.
Overwhelmed by everything that had happened to him that day, he let himself relax. Just moments before sleep dragged him under, he managed to push words out of his tortured throat, “Please don’t leave me, Trowa.” He didn’t even know what he was asking for, but he knew it was important.
“I promise you I’m not going anywhere, Duo. I’ll always be right here for you, just like I always have been.”
Too tired to comprehend the meaning of the words, Duo let the darkness that was pushing at him pull him under, hoping Trowa wouldn’t lie to him like Heero had.
For a long time after Duo went to sleep, Trowa continued to rub his back, wondering how long he would be able to stay near the other man. Not necessarily the way they were right now, which he wouldn’t complain about, but in general.
He had never denied his feelings to himself and he had assumed he had kept them hidden. It was peculiar to realize that Wufei and Quatre had been aware of how he felt and had never said anything about it. For a long time he had been aware he was in love with the long-haired man, but had thought it best to stay quiet about his feelings. Perhaps if he hadn’t, Duo wouldn’t have been hurt so badly while trying to make things work with Heero.
When the phone, set to vibrate, began to shake, he grabbed it quickly. After checking the caller ID –it wouldn’t be good to take a call from Heero while holding his absent lover – he answered and kept his voice low. “Hi, Quatre.”
“How did you know it was me?”
“Because Wufei would have waited for me to call. You aren’t that patient.”
There was a moment of silence before Quatre huffed softly, “I can be patient,” he finally said.
“Not when it comes to your friends, though.”
“I guess you’re right. How is he?”
“Sleeping right now. He’s pretty hurt, but as far as I can tell, there’s nothing internal. I’ll feel better after Sally has a look at him.”
“Ho-How bad is he, Trowa, really?”
Hearing the wealth of worry in the other man’s voice, Trowa sighed. “Is Wufei with you?”
“He’s right here. Why?”
Not wanting to explain that Quatre was going to need his lover’s support after he heard the damage that had been done to Duo, he merely said, “Put the phone on speaker so I only have to say all of this once. I have to do this quietly, because I’m… in the room with Duo.”
After a slight hesitation he heard Wufei say, “We’re both here now, Trowa. Go ahead.”
From the tone, Wufei realized that whatever Trowa had to say was going to be bad. In the future he would have to remind himself that the Chinese man was much more observant than he had believed before. “You saw his face, so you know about that. Two black eyes, busted mouth. The inside of his mouth was practically shredded from where his teeth scraped over his gums. His nose was hit so hard it’s a miracle it didn’t break.” Closing his eyes he recalled the extensive damage he had discovered during his examination. Now, as then, he forced down bile and continued, “His left shoulder and two of his fingers were dislocated. I did manage to fix that. He has bruising on his upper body, along with several cuts. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that Heero was wearing a ring of some sort when he hit Duo from the marks on him. His ankle and wrist are both sprained, and I’ve bandaged both of them so Duo won’t be able to move them very well for some time.”
Hearing the soft sobbing, he took a breath. “From the marks on Duo’s body, this has been going on for much longer than I thought. Some of the scars are beginning to fade.”
There was a long silence. When Wufei finally spoke, his voice was filled with an anger that Trowa felt. “If Yuy even thinks about going near Duo again, I’ll kill him with my bare hands.” Muffled speaking led Trowa to think that the other man was soothing his lover. “Let me tell you what we found. Everything Duo had - all of his clothes and papers - were in shreds. It appears Yuy systematically tore up everything Duo owned before shoving it all back in the bag for him to take. I don’t think he really believed Duo would make it anywhere to get help.”
“You think he assumed Duo would die before he got some help?” Trowa wasn’t as aghast at the suggestion as he should have been, having had the same thought himself.
“No. I actually think he figured that Duo would be attacked while trying to find help. From the sound of it, Duo wouldn’t have been able to get far, and there was no way in hell he could have defended himself if he had been attacked. If Duo had died, Heero could have blamed it on the fact that he had left and absolved himself of any wrongdoing.”
“You’ve been reading up on abuse, haven’t you, Wufei?”
“Just like you have been, I believe. Researching and trying to find a way to help a friend get out of trouble.” Trowa heard more murmuring and assumed Quatre was still listening to the conversation, even though it was undoubtedly causing him unbearable pain. “What made Duo decide to leave?”
“It’s a long story, Wufei. One that I think needs to wait for another day,” he added as Duo shifted against him. He took a deep breath when Duo’s unharmed hand skimmed down his body, sending tingles of awareness through him. To distract himself, he asked, “Do you know of anything in the last two weeks that would have made Heero angry?”
“Not that I know of, but you know it could have been something that was in Yuy’s mind.”
Remembering the way Duo had acted when speaking of the incident, Trowa shook his head slowly, “It could be, but I don’t think so. I think there was something tangible Duo was aware of doing at the time. I guess we may never know, unless one of you were following Duo?” he asked, only halfway joking.
“If whatever it is happened while he was working, I wouldn’t have known about it,” Wufei said slowly, confirming Trowa’s belief that someone had been following Duo for some time. “A private investigator, hoping to find some proof of what we thought was happening. I had hoped to be able to confront Yuy with something, or to have some leverage to get Duo safely away.”
“Wait,” Quatre’s soft voice broke into the conversation. “We had that dinner party two weeks ago, didn’t we, Wufei?”
“We did. Could that have anything to do with what you’re talking about, Trowa?”
The night came back to Trowa immediately, mainly because he had had a chance to speak with Duo for some time without being interrupted by Heero. Heero had been distracted by Relena’s presence when she had drug him away to talk about the security for her next conference. Trowa had been thrilled when he had been able to remain by Duo’s side for over an hour, that pleasure compounded when the long-haired man had kept his attention on Trowa alone. He could also easily recall the anger that had appeared on Heero’s face when he and Relena had come back into the room and found Trowa and Duo in the corner of the room with their heads together, talking softly.
“Oh, shit. I think I might have been the cause of whatever happened. The night of the party I talked to Duo while Heero was occupied with Relena.”
“He wasn’t happy about that at all,” came a sleepy voice from beside him.
Turning his head, he found exhausted cobalt eyes regarding him seriously. “I’ll call you guys back in the morning, okay?” Trowa hung up the phone without waiting for a reply, knowing that neither of the men would be upset by it. “I didn’t mean to wake you,” he said softly, resuming rubbing Duo’s back without conscious thought. He did, however, notice when the slim body beside him arched into him just a little, his breath stuttering. “You should be sleeping,” he added, mentally cursing his voice for being husky.
Either Duo didn’t notice or chose to ignore the obvious breathlessness, giving him a weak and tired smile. “To tell you the truth, I’m completely exhausted, but I’m hungry. I didn’t get a chance to eat today.”
Knowing Duo well, Trowa was aware that the man rarely, if ever, missed meals if he had a choice about it. Duo had to eat often to keep up with his high metabolism. During the war, he could often be found eating a protein bar during the middle of a long battle to keep up his strength. “Why didn’t you eat breakfast or lunch? I can understand you missing dinner, but the other two?”
Moving slowly, Duo tucked his head under Trowa’s chin, effectively hiding his face. “The apartment wasn’t clean enough. I was trying to avoid making him mad, so I cleaned until we went to the store.”
It was difficult for Trowa to keep from tensing, but he managed to refrain. He didn’t want to do anything that would scare Duo, terrified long-haired man would be afraid of men in general after his ordeal. “Is there anything that you prefer?”
“Is there…is there any way I could have a cheeseburger? I haven’t had one in a really long time,” Duo nearly whispered the request, but the explanation was even softer. “Heero didn’t think it was a good thing for me to eat because it wasn’t healthy.”
Making an effort to keep his tone even, Trowa asked, “What do you want on it? I should have anything you would like, and I some fries to go with it.” Unable to resist the temptation with Duo so close, he tilted his head down and placed a soft kiss on the top of Duo’s head, breathing in the aroma of the other man’s hair.
He felt Duo go very still and mentally slapped himself. Now was definitely not the time to indulge in his long held fantasies. Quickly, he released the slim man and rolled off the bed to search in the dresser. “None of your clothes are here, and my clothes are going to be a little big, but at least you’ll have something on. If you need any help just call me. You know where the bathroom is.”
“Do I have enough time to take a shower?”
From the doorway, Trowa kept his back turned while he nodded. “Take all the time you need, Duo, and call me if you need anything, okay?”
“I promise, Trowa. I’ll call you.”