"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 18: Flash Rip

 

After the locals' trials, the weather was a bit too mild for the competitions to truly start, and I spent the extra days on running, or borrowing a longboard and going out into the water to catch the small waves that were stirred up.

Three days after the trials, the wind started to pick up during the evening, creating larger bumps on the water, and we went to bed hoping that they would be good in the morning. I say we went to bed but I couldn't fall asleep, and I kept tossing and turning until Heero let out a suffering sigh.

'Duo, please,' Heero muttered, clearly tired and I settled on a position on my side, looking towards him.

'Sorry. Go to sleep,' I said in a whisper.

'Trying,' he complained and I let out a soft snicker. I lifted my arm to use it as a pillow and curled my hand in Heero's soft hair, gently brushing his scalp with my fingers.

He was asleep within minutes and I stayed for a while longer to make sure he wouldn't wake up before I crept out of the bed as smoothly as I could. I grabbed a pair of shorts on the way out and dressed once I was out of the room to avoid disturbing Heero any more.

The night was completely black but I could hear the crashing of the waves against the shore. I grabbed my board out of habit and when I realized I'd brought it I didn't want to go back up, so I put it down on the beach beside me as I sat down. I wasn't surprised when Zero showed up and sat down next to me. He still didn't let me go anywhere alone during night.

The water licked at my feet and the sand played around my toes as it pulled back for the next wave. The sand escaped from under my feet and buried them. I leaned forward and picked up some of the wet sand in my hand before turning it over. The sand fell in lumps onto the sand and created small craters where it landed.

Gundams.

If the waves stayed like this, I was sure that they'd announce the start of the first day. It was a bit of a double-edged sword. I wanted to surf the waves, and I had to admit I was missing the feeling of showing off to a huge audience. I missed hearing applauds, and I missed the pressure that you only got from knowing that someone was judging your every move. In an odd way, I missed the popularity.

But at the same time I knew it couldn't be the same. I didn't have sponsors anymore, and I'd be the odd man out. Gundams would be the last contest where I could choose whether everyone would know me as a talented surfer, or as a gay surfer. I could ask Heero that we go back to being as discreet as we had been, but even as I thought about it I knew I couldn't do it.

I would go to the competition, and I would handle everything as it came at me. There wasn't any point brooding over it. Everyone would know everything after Gundams anyways.

For once, I didn't want to run away. I didn't want to hide. It left me with one single option. Stay, and tell the truth.

I withdrew my feet from the water and lay down on the sand, head on my surfboard, looking up at the stars that had started to appear as the clouds dispersed. Zero curled up next to me and put his head on my arm. The sound of the waves and my own peace of mind quickly lulled me to sleep.

'Duo!' Heero called, and I heard running steps coming towards me at the same time as the weight of Zero on my arm disappeared. I blinked my eyes open tiredly, feeling as though I'd only just gone to sleep.

'Duo!' Heero called again, and this time I could hear the panic in his voice. I lifted my head to see what had happened just as he slid down next to me. He put his face at the same level that I was at, his eyes scanning over my body until his gaze landed at my eyes.

'Can you talk?' he asked, out of breath.

'Yeah,' I mumbled, confused what he was on about. I started to sit up, but he put his hand on my shoulder and kept me down.

'Stay down. What happened?'

'What do you mean?' I asked him, and I blame my sleep-deprived brain for not realizing that it might be a bit of a scare to see the body of your lover lying by the edge of the water. Especially when said lover had a history of surfing at night.

'Duo,' he said suspiciously, pulling out my name. He narrowed his eyes and took his hand away from my shoulder as he leaned back to sit on his feet. 'What are you doing?'

I sat up to get to his height and rubbed at my gritty eyes.

'Sleeping,' I told him and his lips tightened.

'Why?'

'I didn't want to keep you awake,' I said with a shrug, becoming more and more awake.

The skies were starting to light up in that pre-sunrise mix of yellow, blue and purple at the horizon, with the stars and the moon still shining brightly in the dark heavens above.

'Shit,' he muttered, took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He exhaled unsteadily, and not until then did I realize that I had scared him.

''Ro, I'm sorry,' I said. 'I needed to wrap my head around some things.'

'Without me?' he asked, sounding incredibly vulnerable, and I crawled on my knees to him where I pulled him into my arms. He tensed before he let himself lean against me.

'Not without you. You're the only reason I know what to do,' I said. 'I'll get out there today, and I'll do what I love. My sponsors have left, but I love surfing. I love competing.'

'Good,' he said and turned slightly in my arms to lock our lips together.

He pulled back and looked directly into my eyes.

'I'm still angry with you,' he said and I nodded. 'Never go to the beach to sleep again. At least not without telling me.'

'I wasn't exactly planning to -'

'Duo,' he chided and I gave him a slanted smile. He was right. At the very least I could have left him a note. I wasn't sure what it would have said. Not surfing might have been a start.

'Sorry,' I said, and he leaned forward to kiss me again, telling me that I hadn't screwed up hopelessly.

'The waves are nice today,' he said when we broke up and we looked out over the water.

'Yeah. I'm sure they'll announce first day for today,' I said, and the familiar excitement from knowing I was about to go surfing in front of hundreds of people grow within me.

''Ro? Let's go surfing?' I asked and he chuckled softly.

'I'll stay here and watch,' he said, and I frowned. He never rejected an offer to go surfing and I looked at him a little closer. His face was still drawn, but not in anger. He looked sad and unfocused, like he was thinking about something.

''Ro? Are you sure you're fine?'

'I'm not the one who was sleeping on the beach,' he said, eyes focusing on me and I shook my head. 'I'm fine, Duo,' he assured me steadfastly, and even though I knew he was hiding something I couldn't very well force him to tell me if he didn't want to share.

'You -'

'Yes! Go surf, you're losing the sunrise,' he said and I frowned. I didn't want to leave him with whatever thoughts he was going through, but at the same time, it seemed as though he wanted to be alone. I wished I knew if he needed to be alone, or if he needed me.

'Go,' he said again, softer, and I decided to take him at his word, but I resolved not to let it go until we'd gotten to the core of it. I was granting him a short reprieve; that was all. Until he was ready.

I grabbed my board and threw a final glance over my shoulder at Heero before I paddled into the waves. He watched me, or at least in my direction, with that unseeing quality of a mind lost in memory. I wouldn't have left the bed if he hadn't gotten annoyed with my tossing. But then again, I should have known better than to lie down on the beach to sleep as well. I couldn't blame anyone other than myself for whatever pain Heero was going through.

I caught a wave, and once I'd finished it, I looked intently at Heero, trying to see if he'd even noticed it. I didn't think he had and I only became more worried about him. I only caught two more waves before I headed up, back to Heero.

He jumped when I sat down next to him, my wet thigh flush against his, and my shoulder touching his shoulder. I didn't say anything, and we watched the remainder of the sunrise together until we silently got to our feet to head back to the deck for some breakfast.

When we started to set everything up for breakfast the tension dissipated slowly. After I'd finished slicing the bread Heero wrapped his arms around me from behind and kissed me gently on the side of my neck, right where it meets the shoulder.

'Sorry. I'll tell you everything later,' he said, and I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding.

There was a flurry of activity after that. Breakfast was eaten and the announcement was checked. Like we'd thought, Gundams first day would be that very day. Boards were gathered and then we all headed off towards the beach.

The first heat of the day was the final from the locals' trials, where the two best would go on to enter Gundams, matching up against the pros.

I couldn't do much more except cross my fingers that Trowa and Wufei would be the ones to go through. But I had hinted at them to pull out if Mueller tried anything. He'd already tried to kill me with fire once, I was afraid of what he'd come up with that involved water.

Wufei, speaking of fire, was on it. Within the first three minutes, he had caught two great waves and had a combined score of just over seventeen. While he wasn't safe by any means he could definitely breathe a bit easier, and had a high chance of entering the Gundams, even if he wouldn't catch another wave during the heat.

Mueller struggled, a lot more than he had in the previous heats, and I wondered if it was because of nerves. It amused me a bit to think that such a common thing affected him, as tough-skinned as he wished to appear.

Trowa waited long enough to make Quatre try to crawl out of his skin. When he finally grabbed his first wave, he made Quatre cry out as he fell when attempting to land his 360. It was unfortunate, because he'd made a decent barrel ride, and had added the aerial to show off. Then he waited again.

'I thought you talked to him after last time about not waiting so long?' I asked Quatre, and he slapped my arm.

'He never listens to me though,' he said.

'Far more often than he listens to anyone else,' I had to quip, and Quatre gave a small smile.

Trowa paddled once more, and popped up at the top of a wave. He slid down into the trough and stalled to get into the barrel. It wrapped around him and he put his hand in the falling water, letting us see the distortion his fingers made in the water.

'I did tell him to do that,' Quatre said with a blush on his cheeks, and I laughed.

'Keeping an eye on him?' I asked and Quatre nodded.

'Only if possible, of course.'

'Of course,' I said in amusement.

The wave started to pinch and the distortion disappeared as Trowa pulled his hand back, and then he got out with the spit. He skipped the aerial that time, but he couldn't avoid an extravagant exit off the board, through a backflip, and Quatre let out a loud sigh.

The points were high and put him in second place after Wufei. For the next few minutes we held our breaths as Mueller and the fourth surfer went for one wave each. When the siren sounded Quatre and I hugged each other in excitement. Both of them had made it through.

We walked off towards where Wufei and Trowa would come up, and saw them chat amongst themselves.

'Congratulations!' I called, and they looked our way.

Trowa smiled, and Wufei let his gaze continue even after he'd seen us. He scanned the crowd until it settled on something and then he smiled as well. Sally ran towards us, passed us, and didn't stop until she had launched into Wufei's arms where she proceeded to kiss him soundly.

The wistful look on Trowa's face made me feel a pang in my heart. Quatre and I walked at a more sedate pace, and when we reached them, we hugged each other. The only thing to indicate Trowa and Quatre might be a couple was the slightly longer than normal hug. If you looked closely, you could see Trowa give Quatre a slightly more affectionate pat on the back than he had on the rest of us.

'Next stop, Gundams,' Wufei said as I hugged him.

'I won't go easy on you two,' I said as I let go and both Trowa and Wufei glared at me.

'Vice versa,' Trowa answered, and I grinned.

'I'd never expect you to.'

We turned away from the water, about to walk back to our seats, but I stopped as I saw Trant and Hilde arriving. I couldn't walk away because Hilde was there, but I didn't much feel like staying and listening to what Trant had to say. He'd made it very clear he no longer was a friend of mine.

'Reaper, I didn't think you'd show up,' Trant said with a loud voice.

'I paid the registration fee, didn't I?' I said.

He laughed.

'It'll be your last competition then? I heard all your sponsors dropped out.'

'We'll find new ones,' I said, and started to move away from him.

'Running, are you? You killed someone else?'

I turned and jumped at him. I hadn't expected to be tackled mid-jump. I slammed down hard on the sand, with a body on top of me, soon joined by another. Trant's laughter was boiling my blood and I tried to squirm away from Wufei and Trowa's restraining holds.

'He's not worth it,' Trowa said.

'You'll be disqualified if you attack anyone,' Wufei said, trying to make me see reason, and I stopped fighting against them.

They let me up slowly, their hands still on my shoulders to be able to hold me back in case I would try something again. I shrugged them off. It wasn't necessary.

'What is wrong with you?' Quatre asked, and I looked at him in surprise, thinking he'd been addressing me, but saw that he had his eyes fixed on Trant.

'Reaper hasn't told you how he killed his friend?' Trant asked, and smiled smugly.

I tensed up, and Trowa and Wufei put their hands on my shoulders again, making me take a deep breath.

'It was a tragic accident,' Sally said from the side and Trant shook his head.

'He's convincing you with a lie. Solo never would have died if it wasn't for Reaper's incompetence,' Trant said with a haughty look, and the tension around us was probably possible to cut with a knife. I looked away, because he cut right through my heart with his words.

'Enough!' Hilde said, and walked in between us. 'It was a freak accident. And you yourself said it wasn't his fault. You comforted him! What has changed so much?' She sounded sad.

'Place blame where blame is due,' Trant answered, and sneered. 'Good luck with those sponsors, Reaper.'

He turned on his heel and walked away from us, letting me slump my shoulders. Trowa and Wufei removed their hands after squeezing softly in a show of support.

'Duo, don't mind him,' Hilde said. 'He's just trying to get a rise out of you.'

'I know, Hil'. He's succeeding.'

'Come on. Your heat starts in twenty.'

Making my head turn away from Trant and back onto Gundams was easier than I would have expected.

The surf on the first day of Gundams was great. The cheers from the audience were great when I could hear them over the crashing of the waves and the isolating water on three sides when I rode the pipes. I sailed through the first round with a high score, but almost felt sad that I wouldn't get to do any more surfing in the competition that day. The first round was a non-elimination round, and whoever won their heat went directly to round three.

Wufei was the only one out of us three that got the lowest points in his heat, meaning that he got to surf in the second round as well. He'd surfed against Alex in his first heat, and I hated to admit that Alex was quite good. His rank as surfer had indicated something else, but when I saw him catch a wave that didn't barrel on him, I saw the reason. He was absolutely great in the barrels, and had perfected the exits, seemingly knowing exactly how the wave would behave. When the wave didn't pipe, he was lacking, hardly above average.

Wufei ran his second heat of the day with a confidence on the rights that I hadn't seen before. Not even on the same day, which made me wonder what Sally had bribed him with. Whatever it was, he did great, and all of us were headed for the second day of Gundams.

On the second day, the surf was still great, with the occasional peak at twelve feet. It made for some awesome points in the first round of the day. I got a seventeen heat total and I was stoked to see what the waves would bring for the next round.

When Wufei came in after winning his heat, Sally looked sad as we went up to meat him. I bumped at her with my shoulder so she would turn to me.

'What's wrong, Sal'?' I asked and she shook her head with a small sigh.

'I watched the matchup for the next round. It'll be the three of you against each other.'

I almost laughed in relief, though the glare on her face made me stop myself.

'It's another non-elimination round. The winner goes on to quarters, the two losers get to go to round five,' I said and she looked at me out of the corner of her eye. She looked hopeful. 'Don't worry, Sal', we won't eliminate each other just yet.'

Though I wouldn't have held anything back even if it was an elimination heat. I wouldn't hold anything back now either, but the pressure to catch any wave possible isn't really there during the no elimination heats, so it's possible to wait for the great ones.

I wasn't the only one with that idea.

The three of us waited for minutes until I saw the wave that I wanted. I wasn't alone in wanting it, and in my peripheral vision I saw Wufei and Trowa paddle as well. I backed off, letting them have it as the peak split, letting both of them go in a different direction.

It was just as well, because the wave after that one was even better. It was going to be a left, and I started to paddle to the right in order to be able to drop directly into the barrel. I popped up and turned into the pit with the barrel being created around me and a few feet ahead. It would be a short one that pinched at the top so I steered high and gathered up speed as I hunkered down to get out.

The pipe spat me out before the wave was finished so I turned down and forcefully pumped a few times before I flew over the lip, aiming for a 540 in the air. It was probably a stupid move, I should have gotten a good point for the barrel already, and the air was just risking the exit. There was a moment of doubt, and I missed pressing down to make the board continue in the same pace as me, and suddenly I had made a full turn, the board had turned halfway, and I really needed to land.

I don't know how it happened, except that it was freak luck, and I landed on top of the surfboard. Instinct took over, and I pressed down, bending my knees, to try and stay where I'd landed. The board's tail was front so I did a quick turn, ending up with my back foot as front foot. It was unsteady, and probably not very graceful. But it was fun!

I laughed when I dropped into the water.

I paddled out quickly again, sharing a small grin with Wufei and Trowa. They caught their next waves within minutes, and were both picking up some great scores. I went for one more wave within a few minutes, pushing up my own score to contend against theirs but the wave was nowhere near as good as the previous one had been.

With three minutes left of the heat, I was decently certain that both Trowa's and Wufei's last rides had pushed their scores above mine, and I focused on the buildup of the waves as I tried to decide which one to grab.

'I thought you weren't going to go easy on us?' Trowa asked when he paddled up next to me.

'I'm not,' I said, and gave him a small, cocky grin. 'I'm just letting you think you have a chance.'

Trowa snickered, and we watched as Wufei grabbed his next wave.

Then it was coming. The wave that I couldn't let go.

'See you on the beach, Tro',' I said with a wink before I paddled for it.

It was huge. It felt as though I flew into the pit, with the rail of my board grazing the water. I grabbed the rail that was out of the water in order to keep the balance. The wave was so big that I wouldn't be able to reach the top even if I stretched as far as possible when at the bottom of the barreling wave.

I gently pushed with my foot to start to get higher in preparation for the pinch I was certain the wave was going to do. The board obliged willingly, vibrating under my feet.

Something went wrong then, and I was forced to the side, off the face of the wave. I couldn't begin to wonder what happened as I did the best I could to regain my balance. I thought I had it, that I could save it, when the foam ball caught up with me, destabilizing me further. I bailed, kicking myself off the board, and away from the falling lip of the wave.

I was too late to escape the force of the wave going into the water, and was pushed downwards quickly, harshly, and my back connected with the reef. I wouldn't be able to do anything against the force of the wave, so I tried to ride it and relax until it would allow me to get up.

My ankle was jerked at by the leash to my board and I tried to twist to reach it so I could release it, just as I felt the force from the wave let up and I took a quick stroke upwards instead, feeling how my lungs were beginning to burn from the lack of air.

The ocean didn't have any intention of letting me go however, and I was immediately slammed down by the next breaking wave, hitting the reef with my shoulder this time, and I slid along it until I felt the leash catch on something.

I reached for the Velcro around my ankle again, and frowned when I couldn't get to it. The reef was holding tight to my shirt and I struggled to rip it loose.

My instincts told me to open my mouth and grab a breath even as I was telling myself I would die if I followed it. My lungs were on fire, I was sure of it.

Don't panic. It's one of the first things I was taught. You can hold your breath longer if you don't panic. You can think better if you don't panic. But it's hard! When you're under the surface, held tight by a reef and pushed down by waves that refuse to let you go, panic is a pretty close feeling to grab onto.

I tried to rip myself loose once more. When I was still as stuck as before and I felt the force of a new wave hold me down again, I knew one thing for sure.

I was dead.

~ * ~

Chapter 19

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