Author: Kracken
Disclaimer: I don't own them and I don't make any money off of this.
Warning: Male/male sex, graphic, language, violence, abusive situations.

6x2

Band Aids + Part 5
Complications

Duo was carrying groceries for a small wizened old lady who was walking ahead of him, motioning with her hand animatedly as she talked. He nodded to everything she said, smiling and saying repeatedly, "Yes, ma'am."

Milliardo raised a pale eyebrow as the old woman finally stopped at a ramshackle apartment building, patted Duo on the arm, and then took her bags inside. Duo chuckled, scratched his head, and began heading back for the scrap yard. Milliardo moved to intercept him, smiling as well at the picture of  Duo acting the part of  boy scout.

"Heard you're single now, " a man growled as he came out of nowhere and hooked an arm around Duo's neck. Duo stiffened as the arm closed tight, forcing him to stop as the hulking man with a crew cut, leaned in close and began whispering something with a glint in his eye. Duo listened, frowning sourly.

Milliardo didn't need any one to tell him that this was another of Duo's lovers. The man's body language was familiar and over bearing.

"A nice piece like you needs someone like me," the man said more loudly, sounding angry at something Duo had said. "I know I left you, but Logan just didn't measure up. He rolls over and begs too damn easy. I like a fight and you like riding my big stick , so let's let's forget what happened and go fuck.." He clapped a hand against Duo's cheek and then curled it behind Duo's neck. Grinning like a wolf ready to devour a meal, he jerked Duo along with him into a side street.

Milliardo's first reaction was to rescue Duo, but he knew that Duo didn't need it. Duo had gone willingly with a man who had spoken his language. Still, his concern for Duo urged Milliardo to at least see where the man was taking him, even as he chewed over the night before, wondering how he had come up lacking, so lacking that Duo had felt the need for someone else.

Milliardo found them under a fire escape. They looked as if they were wrestling for a moment, but then the man was jerking on Duo's pants and chuckling. "Come on, bitch, and bend over for me. I want to see that round ass up in the air." Duo's pants came down and the man mauled Duo's ass with his big hands, kneading and squeezing as if he couldn't get enough of him.

Duo struggled, but it was only token. He seemed to enjoy the man roughing him up, pulling, squeezing, and using his body as if it were a malleable doll. It was part of the control, Milliardo realized, that leashed violence that never went over the edge, but threatened to. The man owned him at that moment and Duo let him, playing at being weak, but defiant.

The man groaned. "I'm not gonna make it. Suck me off!" He grabbed Duo and forced his face downward as he opened his pants and let out a very impressive erection. "Swallow my cock and suck it down, bitch. You know you want it."

Duo struggled, tried to thrust back and away, but the man had a hard grip on his head. He grabbed his big erection and forced himself between Duo's lips. Jerking Duo's head up and down furiously, Duo's mouth filled to capacity, he fucked Duo's mouth.

He was right that he wasn't going to last long. The man came with a shout, and a low growl, and then he was pulling Duo up and laughing. "Good, boy!" he crooned, kissing Duo's semen covered lips and then tucking Duo hard under his big arm. "Come with me, now. I'll take care of you."

Milliardo watched Duo's face. It had never  looked weak or beaten. Instead, it looked suddenly warm and pleased. He went with the man and leaned into his embrace.

Milliardo ached. He retraced his steps and took some time to arrive at the scrap yard. He hadn't found the sex act exciting in any way. His emotions had run the gamut between hurt and confused, to hate for the man who had been using Duo. When Duo finally appeared through a back door of the shop, buttoning his overalls, Milliardo was ready to ignore what had just happened, and ready to let Duo go. Confronted by the man now, Milliardo was confused again, his heart telling him that it wasn't going to be that easy.

"Something wrong?" Duo asked, but he seemed distant, perhaps not really caring about the answer.

Milliardo suddenly grabbed Duo by his overalls and jerked him close, letting his fury bubble over. "You will not fuck any other man while we are together. You're mine." He shook Duo hard a few times and then let him drop. Hooking a hand behind Duo's head, he pulled him in close, ice blue eyes glittering with emotions. Milliardo thought that he could smell the man's semen on Duo's breath and see slight bruising from the force of the man's excitement.

Milliardo said, enunciating each word, "I will take care of you, no one else."

"I need..." Duo floundered helplessly, but he looked into Milliardo's eyes with hope. "I need someone to...I just can't...I can't help it!" he shouted fiercely and one of his fists pounded once on Milliardo's chest."If you want me, you have to keep me!"

Milliardo grabbed Duo, a hand on either side of his face. "Have you considered, that you need that from them, to force you, to control you, because they aren't who you really want? You need and you satisfy that need, absolved from guilt because you call it something else, demand that someone do it to you, so you can play the victim. You want love, can't you see that?" He pointed to Duo's heart. "You want to be taken care of here."

Duo blinked at him and Milliardo saw a shimmer of tears before Duo half turned away, scowling fiercely to cover it. "You know so much about me?"

"I do," Milliardo whispered.

"How?" Duo choked out, hands clenched into fists.

"Because I care about you... love you... and they don't," Milliardo said and saw Duo stiffen. "They'll never give you what you truly want because they only want to fuck you."

Milliardo moved up behind Duo and wrapped arms around him. "What did you feel... with him?"

Duo took an unsteady breath. "He tossed me to the curb before, but he was good. You were good too, but... you didn't really want to make it rough enough. You were holding back when I needed that really bad."

"Why?" Milliardo wondered, kissing the side of Duo's face.

" 'cuz it shows me how much you want me, how you want to... keep me," Duo replied, sounding uncertain about revealing that.

"You don't trust emotions to be enough, do you?" Milliardo guessed.

Duo didn't speak for a long moment and then he nodded, swallowed hard, and said, "Fucking's a lot more basic and trustworthy than... love."

"Tell me how you feel... about me," Milliardo asked.

Duo tightened and hunched into himself. "I... I think I love you too. It's scary and strong and I don't know what to do about it. I've never felt this way before. I don't know if I can trust it so... I wanted to be a good fuck for you, just to be sure."

"And you wanted to have that man fuck you, because...?" Milliardo pressed.

Duo shivered. "Insurance policy? In case you dumped me?"

"Or to compare us... to be sure about how you feel?" Milliardo asked, not letting him give the easy answer.

Duo swallowed again and then said, "Yeah, I think so."

"You left him," Milliardo observed.

"Yeah, had to go to work," Duo evaded.

"Duo," Milliardo pressed and nibbled his earlobe.

Duo's skin turned red and he said, "He was stupid and he... didn't feel like you. I wanted you, kept thinking about you even when he jerked out that big... well... I guess there's more to life..."

"I don't expect you to trust me right away," Milliardo told him. "But give me a chance, please?"

Duo nodded, ducking his head. "Yeah... sorry. Start again?"

"No," Milliardo said as he turned Duo and kissed his forehead, not wanting to taste that man on Duo's lips. "Then I would have to pretend that we didn't make love in the shower."

"Make love?" Duo snickered. "More like, humped like camels."

"Like camels?" Milliardo raised eyebrows and chuckled.

"Yeah," Duo laughed as well. "I saw-"

"Are you freakin' done now?" Lori's acidic voice came from the back room. "I need to get some goddam work done!"

Milliardo colored and pulled at his collar in embarrassment. "Yes, sir!" he replied. "I'm very sorry, sir."

"Yeah, get the hell to work or go find a room!" Lori grumbled as he came into the office with a steaming cup of coffee. He slumped into a chair, sipped loudly, and jabbed a finger at the door. An obvious dismissal.

Duo took a breath to steady himself and then he pulled Milliardo along with him as he headed for the door. "Come on, let's get the welding done on panel six. We can talk love life and my screwed up mental state later."

"Better set aside a few months for that," Lori mumbled over the rim of his coffee cup.

Firm, Milliardo told himself, yet caring. Don't back down and don't take the diplomatic tone with Duo. He didn't understand it. He needed blunt and almost crude. He wanted direction. He wanted orders... yet he wanted his autonomy too, and striking that balance was going to be the most difficult task of all.

"Don't screw up my hull!" Milliardo growled as he collared Duo and pulled him to a blown fuse. "That could have failed when we were connecting oxygen and blown a hole through one of us."

Duo grunted. "Blame Lori, he's the one who bought the cheap part."

Milliardo glared. "I blame you for not testing it."

"Okay, okay," Duo groused as he bent to replace it, but he was looking relaxed and not angry. Control. Protection. Direction.

Duo's cell phone beeped. He took it out as he continued to work, cradling it between chin and shoulder. "Maxwell..."

Duo listened and then looked angry. "He's not leaving until I have his hull done," he said. He listened a moment and then snarled. "He told me tha0t." Another pause and then a heavy sigh. "Okay." Duo scratched his head and looked at a loss. "Yeah, we've been... getting along. Guess that's not getting anywhere if he's gotta leave."

Milliardo yanked the cell away from his ear. "Is this Chang?"

Wu Fei sounded cautious. "Yes, sir."

"Explain."

"You're being recalled," Wu Fei told him. "They want you to deliver an offer to Maxwell and then return to your duties."

"Don't they realize how important he is?" Milliardo exclaimed.

"He's a wildcard and you know it," Wu Fei replied. "They know they can't depend on him unless he commits one hundred percent to working for Preventers."

Milliardo tossed the cell to Duo and turned away, furious.

"Okay, well... talk to you later, Chang," Duo said uncertainly, and then he pocketed the cell. He continued to work on the fuse.

"I need your decision," Milliardo growled as he turned back to him.

Duo shrugged.

"Then let me take the decision from you," Milliardo said. "You will pack your things and say your goodbyes."

Duo blinked. "Just like that?"

There was a world of insecurity in Duo's eyes.

"I'll need this hull shipped and I'll need you to finish working on it on site," Milliardo told him and saw Duo's insecurity lessen and turn into eagerness.

"I'm certain orders are waiting for me at my room," Milliardo told him. "They won't give me much time to respond."

Duo thought for a moment and then nodded. "I know someone with a freighter ship. Their birth is large enough. It'll cost you to get bumped up in the shipping roster, though."

"Preventer's credit," Milliardo assured him.

Milliardo grabbed Duo suddenly by the shoulder and pulled him up. He bent to look very closely into Duo's face. "I will take care of you," he said fiercely and then gave Duo a hard push. "Now, follow orders."

Duo grinned and then was suddenly off the ground and into Milliardo's startled arms. Legs wrapped around him tight, as well as muscled arms, and then Duo attacked his mouth with his own. It wasn't loving, or feminine. It wasn't submissive. It was strong and forceful and all Duo. The legs wrapped around him had rock hard muscle. They bruised flesh and squeezed internal organs. Duo humped him rapidly in a crude manner, erection thumping Milliardo's groin, and then Duo was jumping off and walking away, braid swinging behind him.

"Like jet fuel," Milliardo breathed, his body aching and wishing it had gone further. He knew what he had to do in the next moment. His hand snaked out and grabbed Duo's braid. He hauled him back and into an alcove of metal and open circuitry and then shoved Duo down onto his knees. "You left something unfinished," he told him as he undid his pants. "Finish it. Now."

Afterward, Milliardo felt a deep satisfaction, both sexually and emotionally. Duo seemed a part of him, more than ever, and he could see that Duo was looking more confidant, more open, as he went to arrange transport for the hull. He hadn't needed to hurt Duo or debase him. He had simply been strong and unapologetic about his desires.

Lori met him at the gate of the salvage yard after he had caught his breath and put his clothing back into place. The man was frowning and wiping his hands on a rag. "Duo told me that you're both taking off. You're clever, I'll give you that, and I guess I have to thank you." He paused, swallowed, and then looked very hard at the rag. "Doc said I don't have long. I don't want him seeing me when... well, you know."

"I'm sorry," Milliardo said, feeling how hallow that sounded.

Lori shrugged and grimaced. "I'm old and I used up all my luck, I guess. That's my own business. Make Duo yours. Don't let him come back and rot here. That boy's crazy, that's true, but I can see you're willing to take him in and treat him right, maybe keep him from wanting jerks hurting him and making him trash. He's a good kid, heart of gold, really. Make him see that."

"I... I love him, "Milliardo admitted, knowing that he should say it aloud, to this man who needed to hear it. "I'll take care of him, if he'll let me."

Lori grinned and it seemed so much like Duo's manic smile that Milliardo blinked, wondering if there was any genetic connection between the two. "See, you know how to treat him, despite how he acts. I don't have to worry. I'll say my goodbyes to him, now."

Lori nodded and Milliardo watched him walk back to the office and felt sadness eat at him. It felt wrong to take Duo away from a man so close to his time, but he had respect for the man's wishes. He looked over the ramshackle yard and saw a place that was a waste land for Duo. It was a place for old men to end their days, not young men with so much potential. The eagerness in Duo's eyes had convinced him of that. No matter what Duo said, he was excited about going with Milliardo. He would make certain that Duo didn't regret it.

[part 4] [part 6] [back to Kracken's fic]