12-Mar-2001
Title: Chasing the Crown, an Extended Family Fic
ExFam Authors:
RavynFyre - ravynfyre@hotmail.com
Diane Davis - fenwyck@radiks.net
von - sablexo1@yahoo.com
bonnejeanne - bonnejeanne@yahoo.com
*Guests to be announced*
Category: yaoi, AU
Rating: NC-17 for now, that will change
Pairings: 1x2, 3+4
Spoilers: Series, Endless Waltz, Mission: Arcadia
Disclaimer: Gundam Wing characters and universe are the property of the copyright owners.
Kenny, Duan, Wufan, Tryan, Carter, Jack and the Ripper, and everything relating to Rip & Jack's universe are ours. No money being made here.
Feedback: Any and all comments, feedback, critiques welcome, be they short or long.
Please feel free to direct feedback to any or all of the authors!
WARNINGS: AU (Alternate Universe), Original Characters, LEMON in some sections. Kiddie-Angst.
EXTRA WARNING: Yaoi LEMON/Lime type stuff here and explicit acts.
*SPECIAL NOTE: As you will see, Heero returns in this segment. Just for the record, I wanted to take a moment to run through the cast/credit list for the main cast characters:
Diane - Sallah
Ravyn - Duo
von - Heero, Duan, Wufan, Tryan
bonnejeanne - Wufei, Kenny, Carter, Ripper & Jack ^__~
I will update this list as additional major characters appear in the fic.
Heero walked into the house, listening for voices. He heard the kids and turned to head towards them.
Standing in the doorway, he saw Sallah and the five boys totally involved in video games. A small smile etched itself onto his mouth as he scanned the room for Duo, knowing that this would be an opportunity he wouldn't be able to pass up.
After a couple of sweeps of the room, Heero felt that sense of tension still him. He drew in a long, deep breath and let it out slowly. "I'm back," he called out, then turned on his heel to head upstairs.
Kenny had been aware of Heero's arrival from the first sound of the truck down the road. He looked up and said, "Hi, Heero," but the older boy was already going up the stairs.
He turned and looked at Duan for a moment and then returned to flying his space fighter Taurus to battle on the vidgame screen, where he had racked up some rather unheard-of points and bonuses.
"Too bad this thing doesn't have a level above 99," he mentioned casually.
Duan nodded. "Maybe we can fix that sometime," he said.
"It's not too bad. Kinda like the simulations back..." Kenny stopped and concentrated on his controller before the rest of the reference emerged.
Duan smiled. "Thanks, Kenny. That was a great suggestion."
Wufan shook his head and smiled. "Ma, you wanna try?" he offered.
Sallah turned back to face the boys, having been staring after Heero with a slightly perplexed look on her face. "Sure, that would be fun," she said, taking one of the controllers. "Though I won't last nearly as long as any of you do."
"Cool," Duan purred. "You'll do good, Sallah."
Sallah snorted softly, and then grinned. "Trust me on this one. I've played a bit when you all have been asleep. It wasn't pretty." She laughed, then eeped as her Taurus suddenly exploded. "Awww...!"
Kenny moved over and sat on his heels beside her. Quietly, he said, "The program tends to throw the new fighters in from the upper left quadrant so look there first - in fact if you fire in the direction before you even seen anything you'll hit six times out of ten."
"I never noticed that pattern...thanks!" Sallah hit the start button again, and then grinned as Kenny's advice proved more than accurate. "Hey, I see what you mean!" Her grin grew just a bit wild as she scored another good shot.
Kenny smiled. "Watch out for the space Leos, they're slow, don't look like much of a threat but one will keep coming until they get under your firing range... oooh... there's one..."
Caught up in the excitement, Sallah pounded the firing button. "Whoo-hoo! Gotcha! Eat my space dust!!" She giggled and winked at Kenny, then focused her attention again on the game, whooping occasionally as she got another Leo.
The kids all giggled as Sallah whooped.
Heero took the stairs two at a time. He reached the bedroom and threw open the door. Prussian blue eyes scanned the room like tracking laser beams for a sign of the braided one, but the stillness echoed back at him that he was alone.
"What the hell's the matter with me," he muttered, going into the bathroom. He knew it was insane and that Duo had probably just stepped out, but his senses drove him to just check and make sure. There was an off chance that Duo was about and just hiding in fun.
The bathroom checked out negative and soon Heero found himself standing in the middle of the bedroom again. He placed his hands on his hips and tried once more to reason with himself.
"Stop this.." he said, softly. Shaking his head, as if throwing off some imaginary opposition, he walked out of the room and down the hall to the furthermost end of the house. With a grim set to his features, he methodically and thoroughly checked each and every room.
With that completed, Heero walked into the room where the kids were with Sallah. He cursed his own stupidity, because the matter could have been cleared up much earlier and without all of the aggravation. Just ask someone, he thought, as he entered the room again.
"Has anyone seen Duo?" he demanded, hearing his own voice much harsher than he intended.
Everyone looked up at the sudden question.
"He left with Wufei," Duan answered, wide-eyed.
Heero looked down at the boy and blinked. "Wufei?" he repeated.
"Yes, Heero. They left hours ago," Wufan said.
Heero turned to look at Wufan, then to Sallah. "Did he mention where?"
"Sorry, no," Sallah shrugged. "I hadn't even noticed he'd left. I assume he'll be back for dinner, but I'm not sure of that...."
"Hn," Heero remarked, feeling the tension and understanding that he had a lot to do with it. "I'll be upstairs," he said as his voice achieved a more normal tone.
Kenny watched the older boy intently. He then glanced over and saw Carter doing the same thing and took a breath.
"Okay, Heero," Duan said, watching him closely.
"You ready for Level 14, Sallah?" Kenny asked.
"Yep!" Sallah turned back to the videogame, after one last apologetic shrug and smile in Heero's direction. "This is going great! You're a great tutor!"
Heero nodded once to Sallah in return, then turned and vanished from the doorway. He all but ran up the stairs and fell on the bed. Shutting his eyes tightly, he counted his heartbeats and slowed his breathing down. A short while later, his eyes opened and he shook his head. "You're losing it," he said, then turned on his stomach.
Suddenly, he got up from the bed and dragged out his laptop. Switching it on, he began checking and re-checking his tenuous leads. It kept his hands busy and his mind occupied. Later, he would be able to sort these things out and go back to face his loved ones, but he needed to be in better shape.
Shortly after Heero went upstairs against, Wufei's motorcycle could be heard driving up outside. The Chinese boy entered, waved at the roomful and sauntered off to his first floor room to take a shower.
Upstairs, Heero tensed when he heard the motorcycle. He forced himself not to move as he listened intently. He heard one set of footsteps enter the house and counted to ten. At ten, he moved to the rail outside the room and looked down.
Not... again, he admonished himself, then went back into his room and sat at the laptop to work. Two minutes later, he was standing at Wufei's room, knocking on his door.
Wufei came to the door and opened it, dressed in a towel and rubbing his hair with a second one.
"Yes, Heero?"
For a moment, Heero was silent. Then he said, "Have you seen Duo?"
"He caught a ride with me to the spacedock area. Not back yet?" Wufei shrugged.
"Hn," Heero remarked, "Thanks, Wufei," he said, then turned to leave.
Wufei nodded, watching Heero turn. He tilted his head, then shrugged again and closed his door.
Heero moved to the staircase, then stopped. Duo can go wherever he wants to. He is not tied to you by a string, he thought.
He placed one foot on the stairs, then turned and headed to find Sallah. He looked into the room where she and the kids were playing vid games.
"I'm going out for awhile. Be back in a second. I gotta check something out," he said.
Sallah looked back and nodded. "All right. Should I tell Duo anything when he gets back?"
Heero looked puzzled for a second, then shook his head. "I won't be out that long," he said.
"Ah, I understand. See you in a bit, then," she replied.
Heero nodded and then moved out of the doorway. He's not safe, he thought and left the house. A few moments later, he was in the truck and gone to find Duo.
Duo hummed cheerfully to himself, reveling in the feel of the air whipping past his face as he raced down the road. There was just something about a motorcycle that seemed to calm him, like flying on the ground. He cocked his head, braid tugging a little from where it was safely tucked into his leather coat, as he thought he saw a familiar truck turn down a side road far up ahead. With a mental shrug, he opened the throttle up another notch and shot ahead to catch up.
Heero focused on the road ahead, his eyes searching for Duo. As he turned down another road, he had just about convinced himself that he was not behaving in an efficient or sane manner. Just as he gave up and decided to find a park somewhere and sit, he caught a glimpse of a motorcycle in his mirror and slammed on the brakes.
Duo bit back a startled exclamation as the truck he'd been rapidly catching up to suddenly slowed to a stop directly in front of him. With combat-honed reflexes, he leaned hard to the left, jerking the steering to that side and narrowly missing the truck. As he shot past, throttling back as quickly as he could himself, he caught a quick glimpse of familiar tousled dark hair and piercing cobalt eyes following his quick maneuvers.
Once he had the bike back under control, he circled back around towards the truck, sedately approaching from the opposite direction, and tossing off a quick blown kiss to Heero.
"Hey there," he said, coasting to a stop beside Heero's door and leaning up to grin at his lover, "Everything okay in there?"
Heero's knuckles were white on the steering wheel. He turned to Duo locking eyes with the braided pilot. "Where... were... you?" he asked, slowly and with a deadly calm.
Duo's grin faded instantly, his expression bouncing between perplexed, surprised, serious, and hurt, all within the space of a second or two. He straightened a little, putting a tiny bit of distance between them as he opened his mouth to answer.
No sound came out at first.
"I... I went to get my bike... Did... Did something... happen today? With the... whatever you were doing?" he asked haltingly.
Heero felt his grip on the steering wheel loosen slightly. "No," he said. "The lead didn't produce anything." He felt himself uncoil a bit more. "Are you okay? I could have killed you back there."
"Yeah, I'm fine. You had your chance a while ago to do that... Still here," Duo replied with a ghost of his normal grin, "What... what's wrong?"
Dammnit, he's done it again, Heero thought. It was still a surprise to him that Duo could not only see through him, but would call him on it too. The image of Duan came to mind and Heero closed his eyes, realizing that the boy had the same instinct... maybe they all did.
"There's a park up there. Let's talk," he said, without explaining.
"Uh... O~kay..." Duo agreed hesitantly, his brow furrowed with concern as he tried unsuccessfully to blink away his confusion, "I'll follow you there..."
"Hn," Heero remarked and put the truck in gear.
He drove two blocks down and parked the truck. Climbing out, he leaned against the door and waited for Duo.
The big bike rumbled to a halt not far from the truck, shutting down with a well timed cough. Duo rocked it back on the kickstand and hopped off, stripping his leather gloves off as he walked up to his lover's slouching form.
"Heero?" he asked quietly, coming to a halt just inside arm's length.
Heero looked up, searching for words. Finally, he said, "I've been looking for you. There is nothing wrong with the kids, or the house. I just got back and you weren't there."
The violet-eyed pilot listened carefully, long acquainted with Heero's occasional lack of finesse with words, and likewise well used to ferreting out all the various nuances of his partner's speech.
"Nothing wrong with the house or the kids? Then how about you? You look like you're about to go off like a keg of nitro," Duo replied almost warily.
Before he could think, Heero reached out, grabbed Duo and pushed him up against the side of the truck. About two inches away, he said, "I... am. You're right. Maybe it's because I've been searching every inch of the house for you and jumping at every sound because I'm thinking it was you!"
Duo felt his heart leap into his throat as Heero wheeled him around and shoved him up against the truck. Before he could even form a coherent thought, he felt the warm presence of the gun materializing in his outflung fist. With a startled gasp, he willed the weapon back to its holster in his waistband, hoping that Heero hadn't noticed the split second appearance.
Heero's eyes grew round as Duo witnessed a rare surprised look on the Perfect Soldier's features. The surprise dissolved into a furrowed scowl as Heero growled deep in his throat. "I see," he said, not taking his eyes off of Duo or backing down.
Duo's eyes flashed with hurt for a moment before he straightened a little in Heero's grasp.
"You see?" he asked, his voice growing raspy as he concentrated on focusing the sudden anger at Heero's growl, "You see what, Heero? That you're scaring the shit outta me?"
"How, Duo?" Heero demanded, feeling the flash of rage grow. "You showed weapons! Is this love? Or do you want to play?"
"How?" Duo snapped, "How? Yeah, I flashed the first gun, but you weren't the one summarily slammed up against a fucking truck for asking a simple damned question! Why don't you tell ME if this is love, Heero? Why don't you tell me what the fuck is going on? Who the hell pissed in your pond today? Me? What, exactly, did I do, other than leave the house without your express permission? This isn't a game, Heero. I'm not playing..."
Deep blue eyes sparked with fire. "I'm not playing either, Duo," Heero responded, tightly. "And you don't need my permission to leave the house. I don't care where you go. And I'm not the one skulking around the house, either. I told you what was wrong. I came home. I looked for you... in every damned room. No one knew where you were. I left looking for *you*. You have a problem with that?!"
Duo clenched his jaw tight, biting back the bitter retort on his tongue as Heero told him that he didn't care where the braided youth went. As Heero's distress seemed to grow within Duo himself, he felt a wave of guilt rising within him. Words of apology and comfort leapt to his lips, and he was about to open his mouth to give them voice, to take the blame, to try and make the whole weird fight vanish.
His thoughts from earlier in the afternoon sprang at him from the back of his mind. His promise to himself to quit running from everything reasserted itself, and an irrational wave of anger overtook him for a moment before firm resolve filled him again.
"For someone who says I don't need his permission to leave the house, you're sure making it sound like I'm on a leash," Duo responded darkly.
Heero looked up sharply. "Maybe you should be," he said, quietly.
Duo blinked, both surprised by the answer, and not shocked by it at all, given the last few minutes.
"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" he asked in a tight whisper.
Heero heard the words and the response. His hands moved away from Duo's clothes as he looked down. "This..." he started, then shook his head. He looked back up at Duo, the expression changing in the dark depths of his eyes. "What I said. I thought maybe you should be tied to me on a leash. That way I could keep an eye on you... keep you safe."
Duo's eyes narrowed as he peered at his partner.
"I thought we agreed back in Arcadia that I didn't need you to 'keep me safe'..." Duo said slowly.
Heero moved a step back. He felt his chest constrict painfully, remembering Arcadia and their time there. "Hai," he said, softly. He turned and walked to a small patch of grass across from where Duo stood and sat down.
Duo watched his partner walk away, a sharp twist in his heart berating him for being so antagonistic towards the person he professed to love more than life itself. He balanced that pain with the ache of the shoulder that had struck the truck first, and shook his head to clear it. After a moment, he followed in Heero's wake and settled to a seat beside him.
"What's really going on, Heero? You've never been this keyed up before... Not even during combat," Duo asked quietly, resting his arms on his raised knees while he stared ahead into the distance.
Heero didn't answer for a bit. "I don't know yet." he replied. "I'm trying to figure that out."
Duo cocked his head to the side, still not glancing over at his partner as he spoke.
"What made today different, Heero? I've been in and out of the house on my own for the last few weeks. What made today so special?"
Heero looked down as he turned the question over in his mind. A great part of him had been wondering the same thing. Finally, he shook his head again. "I don't know," he said. "I've just been... trying to work some things through."
"Things?" Duo asked quietly.
Heero swallowed, suddenly feeling a slight wave of nausea assail his senses. "Hn," he remarked, licking his full lips. He tasted blood. Turning his head, he looked over at Duo. His head lowered and a frown appeared again on his brow. "You've been hurt," he said, as a statement.
Duo blinked in surprise and shot his partner a quick glance.
"No," he replied, his voice perplexed.
Heero grasped Duo's arm and looked directly into his eyes. "What happened?" he said.
Duo met his gaze unflinchingly, the amethyst depths growing dark and foreboding. It was a look Heero probably remembered well from their days piloting Gundams. A look of combat and fire.
"Gang turf war. No biggie," he said with a shrug.
"Explain," Heero said, succinctly.
"Why?" Duo sighed exasperatedly, "It's over and done with, and all she wrote. What difference does it make?"
Prussian blue eyes glanced over Duo up and down, then came back to lock on to Duo's eyes once more. "Because what you just said didn't make sense. What gang war?" he asked.
"Hell, I don't know who they were... I didn't exactly stop to ask them what they called themselves," he replied, shaking his head as he turned back to stare ahead for a moment. He remained silent for another moment or two before turning back to stare at his lover.
"You wanna know? Fine. I went back. Hadn't been there in a while. Bunch of gun-toting, drug-dealing punks thought I'd make an easy mark. They won't be making that mistake again. Turf war. Them versus humanity. Humanity won. Sort of," he said with a shrug.
Heero let Duo's arm go. "Hn," he remarked, feel the slow anger begin to build. "So, you left to go play in the streets and become the God of Death again while the kids were at home with Sallah unprotected. This isn't a war, Duo. The war is over. There are things out here now and we don't have Gundams or a cause to hide behind anymore."
"Shall I start from the top on that one? Yeah... the top sounds good. First off.... Do you think so little of them? I think about the only people in the known world that could possibly take those kids unwillingly would be the five of us Gundam pilots. Together. Working in concert. They don't need a nursemaid, Heero. It's taken me a while to figure that out. Next... I didn't exactly fire the first shot. I got fired on first. I figured you might have wanted me to come home alive tonight. Maybe I was wrong. Next time shall I just let them shoot me? As for the war? That war is over, sure. But you didn't grow up here, Heero. This war is never over. Ya know what I did today? I got some poor kid off the street and into a safe home... Should I have left her out there to get killed too? The cause? The cause is life, Heero... Decency. Yeah... so I'm the God of Death," he said, pausing to shake his head, "It's what I am, Heero. I thought that's sorta what drew us together once... that we understood each other. What's going on with us Heero?"
Heero lifted his chin, once again caught by Duo's question. "I don't know," he said, tightly as the words failed him once again. "I'm just trying to think and plan around the problem," he said, then looked at Duo. For a second, his expression was unguarded. "I just can't..." he began again, then stopped, unable to get the words out.
Duo felt his heart leap into his throat again as he saw Heero open up to him for once. Although, this time, it was so much different from the last time he was caught off guard. The gun stayed where it was, in his back waistband.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said some of that," he said softly, taking a deep, calming breath, "I- What problem, exactly?" he asked, wanting and insight into Heero's struggle.
Heero heard Duo's apology and felt the words and tone rip through his heart. Tell him, he thought suddenly as the war within him raged. Looking up at Duo, Heero felt both love and pain. Duo was his indicator that he retained a heart. Heero opened his mouth and moved closer. He placed a hand on Duo's shoulder, feeling his solid form under his hand.
"Part of the problem is the Crown," he said, softly. This time it was a bit easier to speak. "The other part is... is me. It's not a lack of focus, Duo. I don't know what it is, maybe too much focus."
"How long?" Duo asked quietly.
"Can't tell. Maybe since getting back," Heero said. He let his fingers wander up to touch a strand of Duo's hair.
"Why didn't you tell me? You- You don't have to... deal with this alone, koibito."
Heero looked up at Duo's face and touched his lower lip with a calloused fingertip. "I can't tell you what I don't know, Duo... what I'm not sure of."
Duo nodded thoughtfully, understanding as he'd been thinking something similarly for most of the day.
"You scared me... I'm sorry I called the gun... It was... I need to work on that."
"The gun... irrelevant," Heero said, softly, as his focus drifted to Duo's mouth. "Gomen, Duo. For scaring you," he said, tracing Duo's lower lip with his thumb.
Duo could feel his heart tumbling in his chest again as he tracked Heero's growing distraction. Unconsciously, his tongue darted out, wetting that lip, and catching the tip of Heero's thumb in the process. He swallowed hard, trying not to let Heero sidetrack him with the heat he could feel growing within him; it wouldn't solve anything. But that look in Heero's eyes was ever so much better than that tight control he'd been confronted with earlier.
"It'll get... real relevant... if I ever screw up and... shoot you..." he said slowly, deliberately.
A corner of Heero's mouth lifted as he moved even closer to Duo. His focus never left the braided pilot's lips. "You've shot me before," he said, nonchalantly.
"I was a lousier shot then," Duo cautioned, unconsciously leaning in towards Heero.
"No you weren't," Heero said as he leaned forward and brushed Duo's lips with his own. "You knew what you were doing."
Duo's whole body stiffened at that so brief contact. He felt his breath whoosh out of him suddenly, as the stress of the morning, with the fear and anger and adrenaline from the rest of the day caught up with him. He felt himself tighten painfully and had to clamp his eyes shut tight, to block out those burning cobalt eyes, before he hit the point of no return. He couldn't, however, halt the almost silent whimper as he inhaled sharply, getting a dose of Heero's singular scent in the process.
Heero felt a smile tug at his lips again. This time he moved in again and kissed Duo lightly. As he moved back, he flicked his tongue across Duo's mouth. "Now look who's quiet," he said.
Duo silenced his lover by pressing forward, sealing his mouth to Heero's for a fierce kiss, unleashing all his pent up apprehension in it. His arms snaked up as he shifted, turning more fully towards Heero and leaning in, almost looming.
Heero closed his eyes as he fell into the kiss. Deep inside, something bothered him, but it was quieted as he tasted Duo's fierceness and made it his own. He felt the strong arms slide around him and resisted the urge to laugh in delight. Opening his eyes, he saw the amethyst jewels clouded with desire in front of him.
Duo deepened the kiss another notch, as if he could make the whole last twelve hours of his life vanish, just by losing himself in the lips parting under his. Unfortunately, as if summoned by the very thought of his musings, they all came crashing back at him.
"No..." he choked out, pulling away enough to breathe, "...no... gotta... breathe... need..." he struggled to regain a sense of balance again, his grip tightening on Heero's body as he leaned his forehead against Heero's, panting for breath.
"What... what am I to you... right now, Heero?"
Heero felt his chest rise and fall rapidly. The sudden break took him a bit by surprise on one hand, but he found another meaning and a different take on things in the darkness. "My life," he answered. Moving his head to one side, he leaned over and kissed Duo's neck, tasting the warm skin and wanting more.
"Oh god... I..." Duo lost his power of speech as Heero's lips closed over his skin, his head falling back as he offered more of himself to his lover, "... can't... think... you..."
Heero moved to the other side of Duo's neck, repeating his actions. "Don't need to think," he growled in Duo's ear. "You want... here?"
"I thought... you had a thing... about public spaces," Duo managed to gasp, sagging in defeat against Heero's assault.
This time, Heero did laugh. "I do," he said, then glanced around. "It's getting dark. Who'll see?" he said, sliding his hand around the back of Duo's neck, massaging the knotted muscles there.
As Duo felt himself harden even more painfully within his jeans, all he could articulate in answer was a strangled groan. The whole damn day had been one emotional precipice after another, and he just didn't have the strength within him to resist anymore.
Heero looked at his lover, feeling the heat between them increase as he brought his mouth down on Duo's once again. Reaching between them, he grasped Duo's hardness, squeezing him with just the right pressure. "I can't lose you," he whispered, breaking the kiss.
"You won't," Duo gasped back, arching his whole body into that firm grip, "...love you..."
Heero sighed deeply, feeling Duo's response. "Love you," he rasped as his fingers tugged at the fastenings of Duo's jeans. Moving quickly and efficiently, Heero reached inside Duo's pants and curled his fingers around the braided pilot's warm, hard flesh. "Promise," he said, slowing pumping his lover's flesh.
Duo's passion-glazed eyes almost rolled back into his head as Heero's hand closed around him. Only his lover's voice managed to ground him back into reality, but only just barely. "Hn?"
"Promise me that I won't lose you... ever," Heero said, looking into Duo's eyes. "You don't lie. I'll believe it, if you promise."
"How?" Duo choked out, "The... Crown..."
Heero's eyes widened, then settled into a half-lidded mask of lust. His hand worked its magic on Duo's flesh increasing the pressure just slightly while increasing speed. "He runs and hides," he breathed, leaning up to move Duo flat against the grass. Moving over Duo, he looked down at his hand and licked his lips. "...but he never lies," Heero completed, then locked eyes with Duo. "So, you promise?" he asked.
"Not running away... from that thing... won't leave you... behind..." Duo replied shakily, trying to concentrate on maintaining the tenuous grip he still had on coherent thought, the grip Heero seemed intent on stealing from him.
Heero leaned down as he watched his lover. "No," he said, "I know you'd never leave a man behind, Duo. I'm not talking about that. Promise you won't leave me."
Something about the intensity of Heero's gaze, the fervor in his voice, the very tone of the demand, sent a warning trill of danger shivering up Duo's spine. It was the same foreboding tremor he'd felt when he'd listened to Dr. J surrender during the first war. The whole wrongness of the situation screamed at him to break away. But Heero's skillful hand, tormenting him so deliciously, and his blazing Prussian eyes pinning him to the spot held him helpless. He swallowed hard, trying to summon up some scrap of strength to resist, not because he couldn't make the promise, and not because he didn't share something of the same sentiment, but because Heero's very intensity was frightening him. The same way Heero had frightened him earlier by shoving him roughly against the truck. He opened his mouth to reply.
"Okay... Promise..." he heard himself say. Once again, he sagged in defeat, surrendering to Heero.
Heero shook his head. "Hn," he remarked, then looked down Duo's body. "I'll take it," he said, softly, then closed his mouth around Duo's cock, taking him in deeply.
Duo felt his whole body shudder and arch into Heero's mouth, an inarticulate cry ripping from his constricted throat as he went down in flames. Like Pavlov's dog, he received his reward.
Closing his eyes, Heero felt Duo shudder beneath him. He felt the warm liquid bathe his throat and swallowed hungrily. A short while later, he moved back, letting Duo slip from his mouth. He pressed a kiss onto the now flaccid flesh and moved to lean beside Duo. "Love you," he said, looking into Duo's eyes.
Duo panted heavily, trying once again to calm his racing heart and fight his way past the hazy fog invading his brain.
"Love you, too," he gasped automatically.
Heero brushed Duo's face with the back of his hand. "Always," he said, softly.
Glancing around, he saw that they were still alone. "Maybe we should get back home," Heero said, "We wouldn't want the kids to form a search party."
"Uh... yeah... They..." Duo broke off, a ghost of a rueful chuckle bursting from him and a slight blush overtaking him as he considered being found by the kids in such a position, "Yeah."
Heero nodded. Sliding his arms around Duo, he pulled him into his lap. "I feel like I should put you in the truck and load the cycle in the back. Don't guess you'd allow that, right?" he asked, hugging Duo, gently.
"I'm not that far gone, Yuy," Duo sighed, shaking his head.
"Yes, sir," Heero said. Nevertheless, he picked Duo up in his arms and stood. He then sat the braided pilot on his feet and smoothed strands of his long hair back away from his face.
Duo endured the treatment, swallowing back the acerbic retort he was going to make, and opted to humor his lover in this. While Heero busied himself with his hair, Duo fastened his pants back up, stretching a little to settle himself fully back within all his clothes.
"You're fussy today," he observed very quietly.
"What do you mean?" Heero asked, tucking a strand of errant hair back into Duo's braid.
Duo leaned into the touch a little, casting a pointed, yet amused, glance at Heero.
Heero caught the look and nodded. "Oh," he said, "I guess I'm learning to treasure what I have."
Duo felt his chest tighten again, a lump forming in his throat and cutting off his breath for a moment as he listened to Heero. How could he have ever doubted his lover and the strength of their commitment to each other? He bit his lower lip for a moment before leaning in to give Heero a tight hug.
Heero felt Duo's arms around him, holding him tightly. His thoughts cleared as he leaned against the braided youth. Suddenly, he could feel the slight breeze against his face as his arms encircled Duo's waist. "Duo," he whispered urgently.
"I'm sorry I scared you, Heero... I'm sorry I wasn't there when you got home... I didn't mean to be gone so long," Duo said quietly.
"No," Heero said, interrupting Duo. "Not that. This is a Colony Duo. There are only a finite number of places you can go. I... Be careful." Leaning back slightly, Heero looked into Duo's eyes. "You know me. Don't forget that," he added, feeling the wave of nausea return.
Duo nodded mutely, his face buried into Heero's neck for a long moment as he clung to his Japanese partner. When he pulled away at last, he met Heero's gaze once again.
"I'll be careful. You too?"
Heero nodded. "Let's go," he said, then headed them back to the vehicles.
"Okay," Duo agreed. As they approached his motorcycle, a teasing glint entered his eyes.
"I'll meet you at home... Only this time, you follow me," he said with a lilting grin.
"Hai," Heero replied. Turning, he slid his hands around Duo's face and kissed him deeply. "I'll be behind you," he said.
Duo moaned softly into the kiss, the teasing light returning to his eyes as Heero spoke.
"Hentai," he grinned, before hopping onto the motorcycle and rocking it off of the kickstand.
Heero slipped behind the wheel of the truck and started it up. He waited until he saw Duo move past, then guided the truck behind him.
TBC
End of Part 9
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ravynfyre@hotmail.com,
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