30-Oct-2000
Disclaimer: Neither Gundam Wing nor any of its characters belong to me, nor do I make any money from it.
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: 4x3 lemon, 2x1 shonen ai
This is part 13 of my Belle Of The Ball Series. C & C most welcome.
He could not believe his luck, he had entered the used bookstore on a hunch and it had paid off. In the corner of the store where all the old periodicals were displayed was a treasure he'd been looking for and had never expected to find. It was a first issue of Bronze and it was in pretty good shape. It wasn't odd that it was the only manga in the stack, they were hard to find. He quickly but gently flipped through it, looking for torn or missing pages, it seemed to be complete. // The gods must be smiling down on me today // he thought as he approached the sales counter. He wondered if the bookseller had any idea of what he had. He hoped not, for as much as he wanted it, he couldn't afford to spend a fortune for it.
He handed the manga to the cashier,"How much is this? There is no price on it."
The cashier looked at the cover and carelessly thumbed through the manga, making him cringe. "I don't know, let me check," she said. "I don't remember this coming in." //God, I hope she didn't damage it// he thought anxiously. She looked through her inventory list, "It's not listed, but since it is just an old comic, let's say ten credits."
He was about to inform this uninitiated boob about the differences between a comic and a manga and quickly bit his tongue. Ten credits was a very good price and he almost blew it. He paid the ten credits then left the store. Too bad he was so engrossed over his good fortune he didn't notice the pair of eyes that had been on him since the moment he picked up the manga, or the hand that signaled the two sets of feet across the street to follow him. Of course he wasn't expecting to be followed.
He walked a couple of blocks where his motorcycle was parked, tucked the manga into his jacket pocket, started his bike and rode off. The two sets of legs stopped and made note of the license plate number, then turned and walked back towards the bookstore.
"Well, where is it?" their 'captain'asked.
"Where's what?" one set of legs asked.
"The comic book, you fool!"
"Were we supposed to take it from him?"
"Why do they always stick me with the idiots?" he implored, looking heavenward as if directing a plea to any 'powers-that-be' who might be listening. "Of course you were supposed to take it from him."
"We did get his license plate number," the second set of legs offered quietly.
"Give it to me," the 'captain' demanded. Dufus and Goofus had already screwed up enough today, he didn't trust them to do this right either, besides, he had a connection at the DMV who would be more than happy to get that information for him. All it took was a little wining and dining and spending the night at her place. He shuddered as an image of her appeared unbidden in his mind, her lank hair, her big nose, and her missing front tooth. He should get a medal for the sacrifices he made sometimes..
Heero was busy at his laptop, cleaning up his files and doing his daily security check, when Duo walked into the room, removed his jacket and hung it up. "It is getting pretty breezy out there, you can really see and feel the seasons change here, it's amazing. Go outside with me for a while, feel the wind and the sun on your body and breathe in the fresh air. I'll get the cook to pack us a picnic, we can make an afternoon of it." He bent down and gave Heero a long, sweet kiss.
"Ummmmmm," Heero moaned, leaning into the kiss. "Maybe in a little while."
"Come on Heero, once our missions are done and we leave Earth, it will be back to controlled environments and stale air. We should enjoy this while we can."
"I can't, at least not right now, I've detected a security breech in the computer."
"I promise, it wasn't me, I learned my lesson the last time, I will not answer anymore e-mails," Duo said with a feeling of guilt. The memory of Heero spending hours deleting all of the 'spam'created by a 'chain'e-mail, was so recent, Duo still got embarrassed thinking about it. Heero had forbid him to ever touch the laptop again.
"It's not any thing you've done, or at least it had better not be," Heero said as he gave Duo a stern look. Duo's little incident with the 'spam' had messed up a very special evening Heero had planned for them. Duo had felt so sorry and so guilty he couldn't do enough to make up for it and Heero was enjoying every minute of it.
"I haven't touched it, I swear," Duo said with a solemn vow, holding his hand over his heart.
"I know you haven't,like I told you,it's in my security program, Oz must be trying to trace this computer." Heero said with a concerned look on his face.
"Are you sure it's Oz?"
"Yes, I have security links set up in my route, once another computer connects to one of them, the link sends a warning to my laptop."
"And one of the links has been triggered?"
"Several of them,in fact. They must have their own security program attached to "Tin man'which notifies them when any computer accesses the program. It's probably automatic and alerts them to any computer that has accessed secure files, including their own systems with security clearance. You have to admit, it is a smart way to surveille all sensitive files. And since I apparently set it off, I need to find out just how close they are to finding us."
Heero keyed instructions into his computer to run a reverse trace as well as a time frame simulation. He needed to know how much time was left before Oz completed the trace. The problem was, it would take hours and he didn't know if they even had that long. He had better tell the others.
"Well, so much for the picnic," Duo muttered with disappointment.
The C. O. of Oz's Information Corp sent a quick memo to the Commander in Chief informing him of the breakthrough they'd had. They had done their part and had tracked the hacker to his location, now it was up to the Oz regulars to do the rest.
Chang Wufei entered his room, closed and locked his door, took off his jacket and removed his treasure from its pocket. Reading yaoi, especially shouju, was a guilty pleasure as well as his most closely guarded secret. He had a hardnosed image to live up to and didn't want anything that might be considered a weakness interfere with that carefully cultivated persona.
He still couldn't believe his great luck, he had been looking for the first issue of Bronze for some months now. He had all the issues of Zetsuai and had read them all, many times. He also had some issues of Bronze, but had not touched them yet, he didn't want to read them out of order. He had initially been attracted to the artwork of the manga, he considered it exceptionally beautiful with an ethereal quality to it. But after reading about the roller coaster relationship between the two main characters, Koji and Izumi, the story had become addictive. Would those two ever get together? Would Izumi ever admit to himself he felt something for Koji? Would Koji ever get his life straightened out? Would Izumi ever rid himself of the guilt he felt over his parents'tragedy? Would he ever be able to keep a job? He was about to find out, he hoped.
He buzzed the kitchen and asked them to bring him a pot of chai. He was about to enjoy a relaxing afternoon with one of his favorite teas and reading the further 'adventures'of Izumi and Koji, when Heero called a meeting. He put the manga away, not realizing he would not get a chance to read it any time soon.
The 'captain' had called his contact at the DMV and made a date with her. When he arrived at the Italian Restaurant they had agreed upon, she was already there, waiting at the bar.
"Georgie!" she yelled as she spotted him and waved him over.It was so nice of you to give me a call while you're in town, it's been some time since we've last seen each other."
"Hello, Gertrude," 'Georgie' greeted, giving her a small kiss on the cheek. It had been some time since he had last seen her, as it had been sometime since he was last on Earth. She had made some changes to herself, some very nice changes, he was pleased to note.
The lank hair was replaced with an attractive permed hairstyle, she'd had her teeth fixed as well and the whole effect seemed to decrease the size of her nose. // Maybe this night won't be so bad after all// he thought.
They sat at the bar and enjoyed a couple of drinks as they waited for their table. They made small talk about her job, his 'job', the weather, and the latest bestseller. Their table was finally ready and they were seated at a cozy booth for two. After looking over the menu, they ordered dinner and a bottle of wine, he would wait until later to ask her for that 'favor', he didn't want to seem too anxious for the information.
The next morning he awoke early, gave Gertrude a soft kiss on the lips, got dressed and left before she even stirred, but at least he left her a note. After a few drinks, a great dinner and a couple of bottles of wine, she had been most obliging and with a simple phone call, had gotten him the information he needed. He had spent the rest of the night 'thanking' her for her help.
Treize Khushrenada had just returned from the mandatory visit to his parents' summer estate, they always expected him at the end of summer, he suspected it was as much for him to help with the closing of the house as it was for his parents to show him off to the eligible young ladies at their last cotillion for the season. He hated every moment of it, but like a dutiful son, never disappointed them. After reading the memo currently displayed on his monitor, he wished, this year, he had.
"We have traced the hacker," the memo read, "Waiting for further instructions." The memo was dated almost two weeks prior.
"Col. Une, get in here NOW!" he bellowed.
"Lord Treize, is there something wrong?" Lady Une asked as she entered the room. She had seen him angry, she had seen him in a rage but she had never seen him in the state he was in now.
"Why wasn't I informed of this as soon as this memo was sent?"
"What memo, sir?"
"This one!" he said, pointing his finger emphatically at the screen.
Lady Une walked over to his desk and read the memo. "Oh, my God, Lord Treize, I am so sorry. This is all my fault, I told them not to disturb you while you were at your parents, unless it was of the utmost urgency. Apparently someone didn't think this was very important. I mean, no one here knows anything about a hacker. You never informed them. I would have contacted you if I had been here, but you insisted I take the time off as well. Even without you answering that memo, sir, they still should have fallen back on standard orders and informed the nearest base."
"No they wouldn't, I gave the Information Corp strict orders not to say anything to anyone else about this, that I would handle it personally. I apologize Lady, for losing my temper, I tripped my own self up on this one."
Treize Khushrenada got on the phone, he had some ass covering to do.
Wufei was finished with putting his things away in his new apartment. It felt good to be alone for a change, he hadn't been alone for a long time. The apartment was sparsely furnished but suited his needs, he still needed to get groceries, and so a quick trip to the store at the corner was in order. He grabbed his jacket and locked the door behind him.
He walked to the grocer's and passed the book store where he had found the Bronze issue a couple of weeks earlier. He had liked the area when he had visited the bookstore before. It was a blue collar middle class neighborhood, just average people living their lives the best they could. And with the amount of apartments in the area, the people were used to seeing new faces around. He would simply be one of the new faces and did not expect anyone to get too curious about him. Later he would stop back at the book store. He wanted to see if they had any books on poetry and philosophy. It would give him a chance to catch up on some reading, plus books on the shelf always made a place feel more like home.
He was returning from the store, groceries in hand, when a pair of eyes recognized him. 'Georgie' couldn't believe it, he thought he had lost this guy, and the comic book, forever. The name and address Gertrude had given him had been a dead end. There was no such person as Herman Munster and there was no 1313 Mockingbird Lane. This told 'Georgie' the young man he was staring at was someone who didn't want his true identity known. He followed Wufei, he wasn't going to do anything now except find out where he lived, and who he was. Dufus and Goofus would do the dirty work later, in the dark of night.
Quatre and Trowa had moved to one of the cottages Quatre's family owned. It was small, only two bedrooms, so Quatre had given the servants time off, with pay, until they reopened the estate house again. He had convinced Rashid, finally, that it would be best for him to return to the Maganacs until this whole thing was resolved.
But it still felt strange not to have the others there with them, sharing dinner, plans and laughter. The decision they had made to split up, at least for a while, had been a sound one. But that didn't mean Quatre couldn't miss his philosophy discussions with Wufei,or Duo's latest joke, or the person that had unfolded before his eyes known as Heero Yui.
Trowa did all the cooking and Quatre was surprised as well as delighted to find he was exceptional at it. They shared the other chores and Trowa was, in turn, surprised by how self sufficient Quatre was. He had expected to have to teach Quatre how to do housework, having been raised wealthy and waited on by servants. The only thing Quatre was having trouble with was doing laundry and they both now had pink underwear to prove it.
They sat at the dinner table, and prepared to eat their meal. Trowa had fixed Cornish game hens, braised in a ginger sauce and stuffed with barley and wild rice. Cold asparagus spears, tossed with Italian dressing was served on the side. A lemon torte was the evening's desert.
"You're awfully quiet tonight, love." Trowa's words broke Quatre out of his reverie.
"Just wondering what they're doing." Quatre sighed, he was feeling something akin to 'empty nest syndrome' and was feeling a little foolish about it.
"They're fine," Trowa said, "They are soldiers after all and they were taking care of themselves long before you took them under your wing." But Trowa had to admit to himself, he missed them just as much as Quatre did.
"I know, but I can't help but feel there is something wrong."
"When isn't there?"
"No, this is something different, but I can't put my finger on it."
Dufus and Goofus, whose real names were Nabor and Stefan, were under Wufei's bedroom window. Stefan gave Nabor a leg up to check the window, they were hoping the young man was careless and had left the window unlocked. He wasn't, he hadn't. Nabor took a glass cutter from his pocket and cut around the glass where the lock was located. He then took out a suction dart, wet it with his tongue and stuck it on the glass.
Instead of sticking to the glass, the dart pushed the cutout into the apartment and he could hear the crack and tinkle of breaking glass as it hit the hardwood floor. Stefan heard it too, and he put Nabor down.
"You forgot to stick the dart on the glass before you cut it, again, didn't you?"
"Ye-e-s-s," Nabor sighed.
"When are you going to learn? Dart first, cut glass second."
"Alright, alright, I screwed up, ok? Boost me back up so I can see if he heard anything."
Stefan gave Nabor another leg up as Nabor slowly raised his head to the window at eye level. The lights were still off in the bedroom and he could see no shadows indicating movement coming from the living room lights. The young man evidently hadn't heard and apparently wasn't even home. Nabor breathed a sigh of relief.
"I'm going inside, there doesn't seem to be anyone home." Nabor unlocked the window, slid it open and crawled in. He leaned out of the window and helped Stefan inside.
"Now where do you suppose that comic book is?" Stefan whispered.
"It's a manga, not a comic book." A voice came from the dark.
"Wha...?", the two yelped in pain as the darkness enveloped them and they slipped into oblivion.
Quatre and Trowa had finished their dinner. They cleared the table then washed and dried the dishes by hand, with only the two of them, they saw no need to run the dishwasher, and besides they both enjoyed doing these little chores together.
After the last dish was put away and the kitchen was wiped down, Quatre wrapped his arms around Trowa and pressed their lips together in a deep, long, hot, inviting kiss that was a promise of things to come.
"I am going to take a bath," Quatre announced, giving Trowa THE LOOK.
"I think I'll join you," Trowa responded, THE LOOK made every hair on his body stand on end, giving him goosebumps. He loved it when Quatre did that.
The bathroom was the one true luxury built into the cottage. It was as large as one of the bedrooms, a vanity took up half of one wall complete with a big mirror. The rest of the wall was taken up by a glass enclosed double shower. On the other side of the room were the commode and the bidet, discreetly separated from the rest of the room by a built in divider. But the focal point of the room was the bathtub. It sat in the middle and it was large and deep, big enough to hold four people. It stood above the floor, tiered steps surrounded it. The finishing touch was the Doric columns that ended in a latticed canopy covered with a variety of blooming vines, honeysuckle, morning glory, columbine and freesia.
Quatre turned on the water and started filling the tub. He added some bubble bath, and started the water jets. He turned towards Trowa and slowly unbuttoned his shirt, kissing and licking the exposed skin as he did so, inching his lips and his tongue down Trowa's muscular chest and stomach as he made his way down to the buttons on Trowa's jeans. Trowa's guttural moans and growls were music to Quatre's ears, he loved the sounds Trowa made when he aroused him.
Trowa removed his shirt as Quatre started undoing the buttons on his jeans, Trowa was already showing quite a bulge in his briefs and almost leaped out of them when Quatre nuzzled him as he pulled Trowa's jeans down. Trowa stepped out of them and started undressing Quatre, pulling his t-shirt over his head and then kissed him, thrusting his tongue deep into Quatre's mouth as he unfastened Quatre's pants and slipped one hand inside his boxers and gently massaged him. Quatre hummed with delight at the feel of Trowa's hand on his body.
They removed the remainder of their clothing and stepped into the tub and immersed themselves in the warm water. Trowa began gently kissing Quatre around his mouth, across his cheeks, forehead and on his eyelids. He then nibbled Quatre on the chin and down the neck, then worked his way up to Quatre's earlobes. Quatre had very sensitive earlobes and started giggling when Trowa nibbled one and then the other. Trowa then sought Quatre's lips with his own. Quatre buried his tongue deep into Trowa's mouth as Trowa's tongue found it's own purchase.
They lathered up their washcloths, then started bathing each other, with sensual movements they spread the lather over each other, the water jets relaxed them as they gently caressed each other, never getting enough of the touch of skin against skin.
Trowa picked up the tube of waterproof lubricant they kept in the soap dish and handed it to Quatre. He enjoyed the feel of Quatre's hands on him as Quatre applied the lubricant liberally over Trowa's engorged erection. Trowa then applied some to his own fingers, reached behind Quatre and gently entered Quatre's opening with one finger, sliding it slowly in and out, allowing Quatre to adjust to the sensation. He then entered a second finger, moving the two fingers around, stretching Quatre as he then entered a third and stroked Quatre's prostate, Quatre moaned with the pleasure of it. Trowa then removed his fingers and positioned Quatre for easy entrance, holding Quatre's head above the water then leaning his head and shoulders against the side of the bathtub as he thrust into him.
Quatre wrapped his legs around Trowa as Trowa rhythmically moved in and out, slowly at first and as his passion grew his strokes became quicker. They both moaned as Trowa increased the intensity of his lovemaking. As Trowa stroked, his stomach rubbed Quatre's own erection, creating a double pleasure for him. He didn't know what was better, the feel of his lover inside of him or the feel of his lover against his own engorgement. Trowa kept moving in and out of Quatre and as he did so, Quatre was busy kissing and licking Trowa's mouth, neck and chest. Trowa once again seized Quatre's lips with his own and thrust his tongue deep into Quatre's mouth, matching the rhythm that would soon bring them both great pleasure. Quatre starting moaning in short quick pants, Trowa knew his lover all to well, Quatre was getting ready to come.
Trowa sped up his thrusts a little more, to send Quatre over the edge of ecstasy. Quatre let out one long, loud moan as he climaxed, shooting his seed into the water, to mix with the bubbles. Trowa thrust even harder as his own orgasm spread throughout his body a moment later. Quatre pulled Trowa's mouth to his, finishing their lovemaking with deeply passionate kisses that also spoke of love. Trowa withdrew from Quatre and they lay in the water with their arms wrapped around each other as the water jets beat softly on their bodies.
Then the telephone rang.
TBC
End of Act 1
KwyckSylver
Please send comments to: kwycksylver@yahoo.com