Standard disclaimers apply, i.e., these characters are not mine; they belong to their owners thus it's no use suing me. I have no money!
Something was tickling his face, percolating even through the muzzy layers of wine-hazing hungover consciousness. Irritably he brushed at the curl of Duo's hair that was sweeping over his face, muttering sleepy vows of vengeance. Although he loved the unbound masses of Duo's shining hair -- especially tossed back over his shoulder, rippling gently with each beat in the midst of their lovemaking -- there was no time when the impulse was stronger to cut it all off than when it tickled his face after a really bad bender.
He shoved a little harder, and something soft and cool yielded under his fingers. One slitted eye revealed that it was a pillow. A feather pillow tickling him.
Not Duo.
His eyes slowly cracked open as a hand wandered through the crisp patterned sheets, encountering nothing... no supple warm hip, no soft endless cascade of hair. Duo was...
He sighed and pushed himself upright, slowly gathering the sheets into his lap and eyeing the vast expanse of unused bed. He supposed it was his own fault. He could have stayed last night, but he'd been angry, and disappointed, especially when the trip he'd made into town had only been for Duo's sake. And now here he was in a big, double bed... with barely half of it in use, the other half of it still mostly made-up. If Duo had been here...
With a muttered curse he vaulted out of bed. Well, they'd been too drunk last night to do anything even if Duo *had* been here.
He pulled on shorts and tank top with swift, efficient movements, just in time for the knock on the door. He had the barest fraction of a second to entertain the hope that it was Duo before isolating the sound as distinctly not-Duo.
"Yes?" he called shortly.
This was it. If it wasn't Duo, it must be Relena. He'd lost the bet. His freedom, for today, was forfeit... to a girl he did not want, and was fast learning to despise.
"Heero-san."
It was Haruka.
"Hai... ?" She sent her *servant* to order him around? Last he recalled, that hadn't been part of the deal.
"Relena-sama would like her breakfast in bed."
Quatre roused to the sensation of long slender fingers running through his hair, and felt himself tucked securely into the length of Trowa's lean warm body, head nestled under the point of his chin. He shifted a little, sleepy half-lidded eyes dazzled by the mote- brilliant beams of slanting sunlight that cut swathes across the carpet.
His stomach roiled. It felt sour.
With a little whimper he buried his nose against the hollow of Trowa's throat, and the pilot of Heavyarms chuckled softly, his arm tightening. "I got drunk?" he released a soft mournful huff.
"You just can't hold your liquor," Trowa replied, pressing a brief kiss to his hair.
"Mmh," Quatre whimpered agreement, trying to burrow his aching head into shelter. "What happened last night?"
Trowa moved a soothing hand over his back, rubbing out the tension in the muscles he encountered. "Don't remember?"
Quatre voiced a blurry phrase of encouragement, relaxing somewhat. Trowa's skilled fingers encountered the base of his neck and soothed away the knots. The blond boy went limp with relief as the fingers zeroed in on his temples and the headache began to subside, mercifully.
"I knew there was a reason I don't drink," Quatre bemoaned quietly, kissing the hollow of his lover's throat in gratitude.
"Do you remember the flatware and the cutlery that almost leveled you?"
He cracked open one eye and stared into Trowa's amused green one. "Ohhh... " he recalled, and winced. "And the glasses."
Trowa stretched to kiss his lips in apology, hooking a secure arm around his waist.
"I didn't tell anyone, did I? ... about us?" Quatre inquired anxiously. He knew he had a penchant for blurting things out when he was under the influence.
Trowa kissed his brow, then cheekbone. "Quatre, I wouldn't care if you had," he replied quietly.
The blond Arabian wriggled happily in the comfortable circle of his lover's arm. "Trowa, I love you," he exhaled, content. He stretched to kiss him and they traded unhurried, open-mouthed kisses for long stretches of heartbeat before subsiding back into a warm pile of sprawled, tangled limbs. Trowa's fingers dug softly into the nape of his neck again, massaging, keeping the headache at bay.
Quatre gave him a sleep-hazed smile. He was so lucky.
A small frown clouded his face. Duo, what had happened to Duo? With all the tension running through the room, it had been a wonder Heero hadn't jumped up and decked Duo, or vice versa. And after Heero's belated entry... and Duo's taunting prod to Relena... it hadn't been surprising that Duo had sunk even deeper into a wine-clouded haze of cheerfully-masked misery.
He hoped things would work out between them.
"Feeling up to some breakfast?" Trowa inquired mildly.
Quatre's breath hitched up into his throat and suddenly his mouth felt vile. He tumbled out of bed in his haste to get to the bathroom, clasping the cool porcelain basin between his hands. Trowa sat up, startled, in the wake of his noisy passage and raked a hand through the tangled brown bangs.
"I suppose that's a no," he observed ruefully.
Quatre wiped at his mouth, paled, and nodded.
One eye peered from underneath the tent of rumpled pale blue sheets, slitted, and then an incoherent moan emerged from the piled disorder of the bedclothes. Duo clutched at his head, did his best to look pitiful, and levered himself up on one elbow, poking at the mound of comforter.
"Oi, Heero, I--" Oh.
Kuso.
Vaguely he remembered drinking a lot of wine. And... acting like a jerk. And damn near acting like a possessive, jealous jerk instead of just any plain jerk. And... drinking more wine. And... urging Relena to... bet Heero for his freedom?
Duo smacked a hand to his head and moaned in earnest. "Oi, what have I DONE?" He scrambled out of bed, tripped on tangled sheets, and fell in a heap at the foot of the double bed. And what an empty double bed it was.
"Shi-MAT-ta," Duo swore, beginning to contemplate various things Relena might order her servant-for-a-day to do. 'Heero, fetch my drink.' 'Heero, get my slippers.' 'Heero, sit and talk with me -- and smile, Heero!' 'Heero, tie my shoe.' 'Heero... give me a kiss... '
He ground his teeth together, then his eyes went wide and he clapped his hands to his mouth and made a beeline for the bathroom.
"Something MUST be done."
Five minutes later he emerged from the bathroom feeling like Death warmed over and giggling at the thought, but at least his teeth had been brushed. Yoshi... he was on a mission now, to make sure Relena didn't try to do anything too damaging to his Heero. If she did... well, then he'd just have to try and think of something.
He threw some clothes on -- black, of course -- and skulked in the direction of Relena's suite, which would doubtless be the quickest place to discover where his lover had gone. He paused outside the door, set his ear to it, and listened.
Nothing.
Duo wrinkled his nose, preparing to seek out the nearest servant and casually inquire the whereabouts of Relena-sama... when he heard footsteps. Frantically he looked around for a place to hide. Nothing... wait! Some of those convenient potted palms, that seemed to be scattered everywhere around the resort as if Relena had been at a loss for any other type of vegetation, were clustered across the hallway. He dove madly for them.
No... those weren't servant heels... it was a softer sound, like...
Duo repositioned himself, peering through palm fronds and spotted the worn sneakers moving over the floor. Waitaminute, that was--
Heero. Carrying a loaded breakfast tray in his hands.
His face was stony, even as Duo stared incredulously. He was serving Relena breakfast in bed? The Shinigami pilot slumped against the wall, disheartened. If this was the kind of start she'd had planned out for the day... how bad would it get?
Heero opened the door, calling out, "Relena... breakfast." Duo winced. When had Heero *ever* brought him breakfast in bed? Well... nevermind the fact that he was Relena's servant-for-a-day, and not exactly willing to boot. It was just completely unfair. And this was supposed to be a vacation.
Abruptly, the only thing he wanted to do was leave... just take Deathscythe and get the hell out of here. Maybe if he was *really* lucky, Heero would catch up to him someday.
Then the door closed behind Heero and he was overtaken by the overwhelming urge to see, and hear, what was going on in that room. Duo cautiously extricated himself from the potted palms, looking around self-consciously for any servants that might be nearby, and crept around the hallway to one of the open windows.
The damned building was strewn up one side and down the other with ivy latched onto white trellis frameworks... if he was careful, he should be able to climb around and peek into Relena's window.
When his head popped into the corner of the wide, open window, Duo very nearly toppled backwards in surprise, tearing the wooden framework off the building with him. Relena was reclining towards Heero, fixing a coy, demure look onto her face, the nightgown hanging down so low in front it was a wonder one of those didn't pop out and smack Heero in the face.
Heero just sat back further in his chair, that had been pulled up very close -- probably at *her* orders -- beside the bed.
Duo strained to pull himself a teeny bit higher, listening with all his might.
If he even heard a syllable that *resembled* kiss, he would... he would...
*God -- I HATE HIM!*
No, that was dreadfully misplaced. *I HATE HER!!* Maybe it was a good thing his nearest firearm was back in his room...
"Heero... " Relena began, toying with the edge of the comforter. She shot a sidewise glance at the boy seated on the chair beside the bed, his spine stiffly vertical. Then with a small smile she turned back to her breakfast tray. Heero was shy with her... painfully shy, as he hadn't said much more than two words since he'd entered the room. He was being so formal -- body language rigid, his words impersonal, eyes averted. She wondered what she could do to loosen him up.
"Nani, Relena?"
Despite the formality, he used her given name, without the barriers of honorifics that others accorded her. She smiled again.
"Want to go swimming?"
Heero shifted slightly in his chair, one cobalt-blue eye peering at her from a tangle of dark hair. "Do *you* want to?"
How considerate!
She admired the pure-fire intensity of his eyes. She had known, ever since the moment he had reached to save her, the giant unyielding hand of his Gundam shielding her from falling rubble, that his heart belonged to her. He was hers. Whether he knew it or not.
Thoughtfully she nodded. "Aa. Did you bring a suit, or do I have to provide one?" She tilted her head at him. She'd been wanting this kind of opportunity for the longest time -- to see the bared, clean lines of Heero's strong body. A flush heated her cheeks.
"I have one," he replied in a monotone.
"Good." Relena climbed out of bed, leaning forward a little, trying to capture Heero's eyes as she put one modest hand to the neck of her nightgown.
Heero's gaze didn't even flicker near her cleavage.
There was a scuffling noise, coming somewhere from near the window -- sounding almost like a squirrel, or some kind of agitated animal.
Relena was somewhat disappointed as she crossed the rug to open her extensive closet. Then she decided she was pleased at his display of gentlemanly behavior. She held up a patterned bikini to her chest, casting a coy look at Heero. "What do you think?"
"Colorful," Heero grunted.
"Too colorful?" she fretted.
Heero shrugged.
Anxiously Relena picked out another bikini top splashed with yellow and held it up, draping it over her chest. "How about this?"
Heero barely twitched. "It's fine."
"Really?"
"Aa."
"Good!" Relena enthused, satisfied. If Heero said it looked fine, then he must really like it -- she knew his way of understating things.
"Heero, could you go get changed, please?"
Silently the Wing pilot got up to leave the room, and that scuffling noise started up again, even more furiously. Relena frowned, about to ask Heero to check if an animal was nesting outside her window -- but he was already gone. She exulted. She would have him all to herself this morning... and swimming together would hopefully give him some ideas, as he ran his eyes over her in the bikini.
Daringly, Relena wondered how he would respond if she ordered him to kiss her.
As they approached the pool that was nestled into a hollow of land in the middle of the four-building complex, Heero could see a familiar braided figure sprawled out by the edge, sunning himself, and his stomach tightened. Had Duo known they would be swimming? Or was this just an awful coincidence? He was acutely aware that he and Relena looked like a couple, as she'd latched onto his hand and was dragging him behind her to the water.
Duo sat up, squinting in their direction, bracing himself on his elbows. "Yo!" he called out cheerfully, but Heero had seen a momentary shadow settle over his face, quickly banished.
Relena nodded at Duo, lifting her free hand, keeping her viselike grip on him as she dragged him to the edge and dipped a toe in.
She was eyeing Duo.
Duo pretended not to notice them at all.
"Too cold," she shuddered.
He nearly snorted aloud, but controlled it. He knew it was far likelier she wanted to cart him off someplace where they could be alone. "What do you want to do, then?"
Relena was casting her eyes about almost aimlessly. They lit on a bamboo chair nearby, suspended from a swing. "Let's go over there and talk."
He didn't like the sound of that one bit. As she was tugging him off again, he turned to ask Duo to come with them.
A massive splash was his answer, a few droplets spraying up to strike him in the face.
Coolly Heero wiped them away as Relena hauled him off again.
"Heero... I think I'd like some iced tea," Relena smiled up at him as they reached the small rise.
He raised an eyebrow. "You want me to get it?"
She tried to smile coyly, managing only to look sinister. "Yes, please."
He snuck a glance over at Duo's lithe body in the pool as he trudged off, and couldn't help thinking how much more appealing the lean, muscular lines of Duo's masculine body were to him than the plump, fledgling curves of Relena's girlish one. He wasn't entirely sure anymore if his preferences were due to how he felt about Duo versus Relena, or if he *was* homosexual, but it didn't seem to matter anymore. As long as he knew what he wanted.
Relena had been trying to entice him with flashes of her body all morning. And, while surprisingly developed, he had to wonder what her reaction would be if she knew it did absolutely nothing for him.
Yet, again, he wasn't sure if that was because she was female... or because it was *her.*
Like a dutiful fetch and carry boy, he grabbed an iced tea from the kitchens and brought it back. Duo paused in his splashing and laps to hoist himself on the edge of the pool, watching him approach Relena, something indecipherable but pained scrawled all over his face.
His eyes jerked away as they met Heero's.
Heero gritted his teeth and raised the tea on its tray a little. "Your tea." He wasn't quite sure who to kill for this -- Duo, Relena, Trowa, or... himself. For agreeing to the stupid bet in the first place.
Relena turned to look over her shoulder, raising her bottom a bit, giving him a pleased smile. "Ah, Heero, that was quick!" Her eyes were two limpid pools.
"HEEro and ReLEna sitting in a TREE! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Duo shouted out from the edge of the pool, then ducked swiftly under the water again.
Heero turned to give him a murderous glare, growling "Omae o--" but Duo was already cutting through the water halfway across the pool.
"Aiyah, Hee--"
He was already turning in the middle of the girl's yelp; his movement had overbalanced the tea. He caught it before it could slop over and tilt, then, a reluctant smile tugging his lips at Duo's antics, he proffered the tray.
"Arigato, Heero," Relena purred, raising her arms a bit higher on the ropes that strung the chair to an overhanging tree -- to give her small bosom a lift, he supposed.
Heero nodded curtly and set the iced tea on a nearby table. "Relena... I'd like to take a few laps around the pool." It galled him to ask like that, but he needed respite... as well as an opportunity, hopefully, to clear up things with that baka.
Relena looked slightly disappointed, but gave him a nod. "I'll be watching."
"I'm sure you will," he muttered out of earshot, as he beat a hasty retreat to the poolside.
Duo had hoisted himself out of the water and was seated on the lip of the pool, arms wrapped around the knees raised to his chest, the sopping wet braid wrapped around his waist. He barely glanced at Heero as the Wing pilot seated himself on the edge, a good three feet between them.
"Duo, what's wrong?" Heero inquired somewhat testily, fed up with Relena's incessant demands. All he needed now to top that off was a sulky lover. Was he still upset from last night? Whatever it had been... he *still* didn't know.
"You *know* what's wrong," Duo muttered into the space between his knees, eyes moodily fixed on the rippling, sun-scrimmed water. "I'm sick of seeing her flirt with you. I'm sick of pretending we're nothing to each other, when other people are around. I'm tired of not being able to touch you in public. Yesterday you disappeared for hours, and I had to pretend not to notice... or care. And I just want to not be here, right now, watching the Queen of the World come on heavily to my boyfriend while I can't do a damned thing."
Heero rocked back a bit from the forceful avalanche of his words, catching himself on the rim of the pool. "Oh."
"Yeah, oh," Duo said, all his earlier cheeriness fled. "And you... you won't even admit you *like* me, much less give me any sort of idea how permanent things are between us. If they are at all."
"Uh... "
Heero's eyes were a bit wild. This particular topic wasn't one he was ready to deal with yet... he was still trying to psych himself up to...
Duo chose that moment to look over at him, and shut his own eyes abruptly. "Would you just leave, please, Heero?" His voice was tight.
Heero felt helpless. And suddenly like the worst person alive, to make Duo feel like this... to allow him to go on feeling like this. Obviously Duo had taken the look on his face for rejection, again. He couldn't even touch Duo, which was normally the quickest route to assuring his violet-eyed lover that he was still first in his affections.
"Duo... "
"*GO!*" Duo barked at him, eyes still closed, balled up in a miserable curl of limbs.
Heero remained frozen, unwilling to leave Duo like this. But he was unable to reach out for him, to reassure him with simple touch. Reflexively he glanced over his shoulder, at the figure of Relena beneath the tree.
Her eyes were fixed intently on them. Watching.
Duo's eyes followed the movement of his, then narrowed at him. "If you're so concerned about her opinion, why don't you just *go* to her, then?" His voice was vicious, cutting, with the intent to hurt.
Heero glared at him. "She doesn't mean anything to me and you know it, Duo."
Beyond the innocence he had seen, at their first meeting, and a childlike simplicity that had reminded him of a little girl, not too terribly long ago... he had no connection to Relena. The only thing preventing him from killing her had been that other little girl's wide eyes, superimposed over Relena's only slightly-more-mature features.
*Niisan... are you lost?*
He closed his eyes. He had been, until Duo.
"I. Don't. Want. You. Here," Duo gritted out, shutting his eyes tightly and scooting even further away. His knuckles were white from strain.
Heero stayed where he was. He needed this boy, whose open smiles and honest heart had won him, had forced him to at least express his feelings, if he hadn't been able to admit them. Yet, here and now, there was only one thing that would convince him.
It would only take more courage than anything before in his short life. Because offering up his own death had never committed any great part of himself.
This was committing his *life.*
"So go," Duo prodded again, nearly chewing out the words.
"I'm not going. I'm not ever going, Duo." He hesitated for a heartbeat, then finally forced the words out in a rough blurt, from deep inside where they'd been locked for so long. "Duo-I-love-you."
Duo's eyes popped wide open.
"What... what did you say!?"
Heero scowled. "Don't pretend *now* you didn't hear me."
"I heard you," Duo breathed, a beatific smile crossing his face. His limbs slowly unfurled. His whole posture softened and he smiled, leaning towards Heero, giving him an unmistakable look of pure ardor. One hand reached out towards him, then fell. He looked distressed. "Oi... Heero... I want to... "
Heero's fingers twitched. He wanted to touch Duo, too.
Duo's eyes were sparkling, his face restored to his open, happy expression, but that look in his eyes was only one that Heero had ever seen. Only for him. "I don't care where. I have to -- Heero, you *said* it!"
"Yeah," he muttered, looking down briefly into the water, something small and scared trying to hide inside him, flinching away from the look in Duo's eyes. It was too much... Suddenly he, too, wanted to hug Duo -- bury his face in his hair, feel strong hands caressing his back...
"Heero... find us a private place *now* before I roll you over and screw you on the edge of this pool right in plain sight."
Heero was a bit startled. "Duo... I know it's been a whole day, but isn't that a little excessive?"
Duo caught his eyes, put a finger to his own lip, then trailed it down his wet torso, glistening in the striking sunlight. "Heero... do you know how long I've been waiting to hear you say that?"
Heero remained silent, unable to answer either way, but his eyes were riveted to the finger playing down the texture of the sun-kissed muscles, then toying with the rim of Duo's red swim trunks.
It was impossible to deny; as if the words themselves had been a trigger, or Duo's sensual demeanor was affecting him, he could feel the same curls of desire unfurling with a heady rush, almost like the wine last night but burning more fiercely, taking hold.
"All right," he breathed, as the finger just barely slipped into the edge to snap the trunks. "Now... where?"
Duo grinned happily at him, equilibrium completely restored. "Whatever you wish. But one way or another, I'm gonna jump your bones." He sprawled out on the edge of the pool, dabbling a foot in the water, intense wide violet-indigo eyes fixed on Heero's cobalt- blue ones.
Heero's lip quirked. He had to admit -- whether they just hugged, or full-out made out, he wanted Duo, too. He cast an eye around their surroundings. Pool... no. Little hilly area... no. Bushes... um... no. His eye lit on the cabana at the other end of the pool.
"Duo. Two minutes. The cabana," he jerked his head in its direction, getting to his feet.
Duo winked. "Got it."
He walked around the pool, steeling himself and hoping against hope that Relena wouldn't call out his name and give him any more stupid errands to run. She and her stupid bet had nearly caused trouble between him and Duo. He pushed open the door to the cabana, walking inside, and paused to wait, body beginning to tingle just at the knowledge of what they were about to do. Of all the places -- this had to be one of the most... open...
His nerves were still jangling -- he couldn't believe he'd actually *said* it. He'd had to seize up the fight-or-flight reaction that had struggled to take over his body.
But Duo had needed to hear it -- and *he'd* needed to say it. And now, of course, his skin was prickling with anticipation. Expressing his feelings out loud would shortly lead to expressing them in a much more direct, physical fashion. Hmm... maybe he'd finally figured out the secret of Duo's libido, considering he usually said those words at least once a day, usually in bed.
The door swung open behind him.
Wufei roused, startled. "Where--" He sat up quickly, then subsided with a low noise of discontent. His head was pounding. His mouth tasted like something scraped off the bottom of a Gundam foot after hours of a particularly bloody fire-fight. The gurgling in his stomach was *not* one of hunger.
And he was sleeping draped over a chest-of-drawers.
As he shifted a little, puzzled, trying to figure out what he was doing sleeping there and not on the floor as he usually did -- the bed was far too soft for a warrior -- Wufei fell. With a startled yelp he hit the ground, blinked a few times, and then the jolt seemed to trigger his memory a bit.
He'd gotten drunk last night.
"What a stupid thing," he grumbled, getting to his feet and moving to the bathroom to splash water on his face. Resolutely he ignored the splitting throb that seemed to center insistently in the very center of his forehead, radiating outward.
Wufei threw some clothes on and contemplated what to do. Normally, when he had free time he spent it practicing his form and sitting in contemplative meditation at the feet of the silent Nataku. But, he shamefully admitted, he felt too queasy for that. So he might as well... his mouth contracted... he might as well socialize with the other pilots.
His frown deepened. He knew he wasn't very good at socializing. He'd spent a large portion of his life studying, after all, and honing his strength to become a weapon for the colonies. That didn't leave much room in the way of people skills. Yet here he was, for some reason, having accepted Peacecraft's invitation to join the other four pilots at her resort. Somehow, he knew it wasn't due entirely to the fact that he wanted to avoid Treize, at least for a little while.
Perhaps it was just... that humans needed the contact of other humans, occasionally.
Wufei nodded to himself and started out to the hallway. Trowa and Quatre paused, turning at the sound of a door opening, and the blond boy's hand fell away rather hastily from Trowa's elbow.
"Wufei!" Quatre greeted him cheerfully. "We were just about to go swimming... it's so hot out, ne? Would you like to come?"
Wufei considered it. Swimming. It was practical... being at once both a way to cool off, yet providing opportunity for exercise.
He inclined his head. "I will join you."
Quatre's sudden smile was a bit startled, but sunny and welcoming nevertheless.
The door to the cabana swung open behind Heero.
"Hello... " Duo's voice uttered, a little hesitant and trembling. Strong sinewy arms wrapped around him to pull him taut against Duo's slender body.
"Yo," Heero responded, a little breathless still, not quite believing he'd had the courage to say... what he'd said. He laid his head against Duo's shoulder behind him, pulled the strong arms tight around his waist.
They stood for a few heartbeats in comfortable silence. Then Duo rubbed his nose over Heero's ear, brushed it with his lips, nibbled gently as his arms drew him as close as humanly possible. "Say it again," he demanded, voice hoarse, tugging on the lobe with his teeth.
Heero snorted. "Once is enough, with you. You're already set to jump me. Another might send you over the edge."
"Heero!" Duo uttered forlornly, his arms tightening. Heero let his head fall back against the other boy's shoulder, pushing his bottom back into the hard lump tenting up Duo's damp swim trunks. With a little grunt his partner pushed back. "You mean you're only going to say it once for the rest of our lives?"
He paused, barely breathing, his body wire-tense against Heero's. He seemed stunned by the enormity of his own implication, but desperately needing a response.
"...for the rest of our lives... " Heero echoed, his voice barely rising above the strength of breath. "You'll have to wait and see, Duo."
Duo began to kiss him suddenly and fiercely, a low groan escaping his lips. "I love you. I love you so much, Heero," his breath twirled over the most skin his tongue had laid bare to preying heat. He bit Heero's neck and pressed one hand flat against his lower belly, and even as his stomach muscles and skin tightened at the pressure of the warm fingers, Duo slipped the other hand into the band of his blue swim trunks. "I was worried... after yesterday, that you wanted some distance. That you didn't want--"
"Duo no bakaaAhhh... "
Duo sought and found the hard immediacy of his erection, his breath a hot close rush past Heero's ear as he grasped it. "So... you're *not* mad at me?"
He tilted his hips with a huff, head rolling on the shoulder behind him. Heero was only able to manage a few pants for a reply, his jaw slack. Biting his lips to stifle a cry, he rocked his body between the skillful hand dragging up and down his length, and Duo's own need beating rhythmically against the covered cleft of his buttocks.
The American kissed his ear. "No? Not mad?"
The hand vanished too soon but Duo's hips kept up a dance against him in long, slow pushes gyrating against his rear, only making him growl for more. "No, I'm not mad, already... don't stop!" He started to squirm and felt Duo tugging off his shorts. He wriggled his bare skin against the rough damp swim trunks plastered to Duo's hard-on. "Hurry up."
"Saa, Heero, you want me?" he murmured, dropping a kiss to his bare shoulder, then between his shoulder blades.
"... I... " He heard the wincing sound of Duo's knees cracking, then a cool moist kiss pressed into the base of his spine. He swallowed hard. "Of course I want you, Duo."
Another soft kiss, this one pressed to the very pit end of his spine, and Duo's tongue dipped into it. He squirmed uncomfortably as his penis throbbed harder at that flickering taste.
A rush of breath escaped his lips and he rubbed back experimentally, feeling Duo's smooth cheek against his rear. Duo caressed his hip with light fingers, then moved to stroke the erection that jutted up, bobbling a little. His index finger pressed into the glistening fluid gathering in the tip, and Heero's body trembled. "Dammit... " The sudden push of another finger, this one from behind, parted the tight clenching lips of his anus and Duo pried around, soothing him at the same time with a rolling stroke of his palm and fingers.
"Unh... " He pushed back harder as Duo's searching finger jolted over the inner wall. "Duo. Now."
Duo's tongue was a wet squirm over the curve of one buttock. "All right," he agreed breathlessly. The warm radiance left his back and the next instant heard Duo's swim trunks plopping to the ground. He noted absently that the long-haired pilot had tossed them nearly halfway across the cabana.
"The floor?" Duo asked him. "Or that bench there?"
Heero was contemplating the bench when Duo's hands grabbed his hips.
"I'm too impatient. Now, right here," Duo said into his ear as he sank down onto his knees. He could hear the grin in that voice. "Besides, the floor is closer."
Duo clasped him in his arms again, loosely from behind, his erection pressing up hard against one cheek and Heero closed his eyes. "I love you so much," Duo murmured, voice low and rough with emotion and need.
Heero nodded mutely. It had taken all he had to say it once.
Then Duo pushed him gently, urging him onto his hands and knees. He was already breathing harder in that moment of anticipation when the thick tip of Duo's penis slid into the cleft and touched him there, nudging him lightly. Then he closed his eyes again as Duo *pushed* and his body lurched forward even braced, rocked by the sheer pleasure/pain of the penetration.
Heero panted, struggling not to make a sound as he rolled in sensation, pelvis moving steadily back into the repeated thrusts and he bit his lip to prevent the utterance of the smallest betraying groan. Duo plunged forward harder, and blood trickled down his lip. His lover -- his Duo -- was making tiny, smothered noises behind him, that clawed up out of his throat. Duo's hipbones beat against his bottom, speeding up as he gasped harshly for air and Heero's mouth hung open as the strong warm hand clasped him again, pulling to the same time as the delicious deep jabs that filled him and suddenly--
"WHAT are you DOING to him!?"
The voice was starkly unfamiliar for a moment only because it was so dreadfully out of place.
This wasn't happening. He decided firmly it couldn't be happening.
Heero let out an explosive breath, shoving himself back harder onto the penis embedded deep in his rear, but Duo had stilled with shock.
"Get OFF of him, you freak!" Relena shrieked. "What are you doing!?"
Duo's penis twitched feebly inside of him, then he shifted a little. "Relena -- I don't think... he WANTS me to... "
Heero snarled in frustration. He could feel his erection simply *wilting.* He shifted, too, rubbing himself back against Duo, trying to guide Duo's erection further inside to that wonderful glowing spot...
"Why wouldn't he? GET OFF!"
"I'm trying," Duo replied forlornly, and Heero snickered.
Then reality came crashing down around him.
His head craned over his shoulder. "Relena -- WHAT are you DOING here!?" Absently he wondered if he should detach Duo's still-hard length from his rear, then decided it was already too late for that and there was just the barest fraction of hope that they could finish it. No... no, this was *Relena.* Their tryst was finished.
"Looking for you!" Relena sputtered, her face crimson.
"You found me. Get out," Heero snapped, pushing against Duo's lax fingers still wrapped around him.
Automatically the hand pumped once more, then withdrew. Heero gave the blonde-haired girl a flat vicious glare as Duo pulled out and scrambled hastily for a colorful beach towel nearby -- his shorts being too far. He tossed Heero's balled-up trunks at him, face red and furious as he wrapped the towel around his waist quickly.
Heero pulled the trunks on and stood up with a sour grunt. His erection was pretty much wilted past the point of no return, and he felt vacant.
Well. *This* was certainly a scenario he'd never considered. But... maybe she'd realize he was, in fact, not interested. And that there was a very good reason.
Relena was eyeing the reason with venom in her eyes. "Just WHAT do you think you were doing with MY boyfriend!?"
"*Your* boyfriend!?" the two pilots chorused.
Relena nodded stiffly, her eyes a little glassy. "He's... he's MY boyfriend."
Duo broke into slightly hysterical laughter. "Girl, are *you* delusional! Relena-san, you walked in on us having sex, and you *still* think he's yours?"
"You... he... oh," Relena uttered in a very small voice, her cheeks going from red to pale. "But... you're both... I mean, how... so THAT'S what--" She shut her mouth with a snap, and turned even more crimson than before.
Duo was struggling very hard not to laugh. "You mean you didn't know how it worked before, Relena?"
Her furious glare was answer enough.
Heero was wondering what the fastest, most painless way to get out of this was.
Relena fixated on him. "Heero. Obviously this... this *freak* must have seduced or tricked you into... into *that* somehow." She nodded firmly, eyes hardening. "Tell him you're mine, and I can forget this ever happened."
Heero stared her in the eye, not quite believing the nerve of it, and a muscle jumped in his cheek. "I may be your servant-for-a-day, but you can't order me to do *that*."
Relena's face went white with fury. "Your honor is at stake here, Heero-kun. Tell him you're MINE."
Heero raised an eyebrow but turned to Duo, his jaw working.
Duo looked at Heero expectantly, his expression already crestfallen.
"You're mine," Heero said firmly.
Duo's face lit up.
"NOOOO!" Relena screeched furiously. "*You're* mine. YOU'RE mine!!"
Duo unsuccessfully tried to control a smirk. "Can I get another 'I love you?' Just for added effect?"
Heero frowned at him. "You're trying to play this up for all it's worth."
Duo latched his arms around Heero's waist. "Of course," he replied, batting his eyelashes at the apopleptic girl and lifting a hand to toy with Heero's nipple. Without changing his stoic expression Heero punched him.
"This is NOT happening. This is NOT happening," Relena said, mostly to herself in a very convincing tone.
Duo rubbed his nose mournfully. "Itai!" he complained, winding his arms around Heero's waist again, more carefully this time.
Relena broke. "Get your perverted hands off of him!" She stamped a foot, eyes wide and consumed with thwarted fury.
"Heero, do you want me to get my perverted hands off of you?" Duo appealed, tightening his arms and resting one hand low and hard on his hip.
"No, but if you'd move that one down and to the right, that would be great," Heero replied in a monotone, face perfectly expressionless.
Relena's eyes went very wide. Her nostrils flared.
"This is some kind of joke," she spat, trembling. "Heero is mine... he's always been mine! He belonged to me since the first day we met!"
Duo stared her down. "Heero's with me." He pressed a kiss to Heero's neck. "Ne, Heero?"
"B-But you can't be gay!" Relena blurted. "Duo I could believe... but you, Heero! Masaka!"
Duo's body was a tense wire against him, suddenly. Heero's gaze hardened. "Get out." The words dropped flat, with no inflection -- deadly in the utter lack of emotion.
She glared at Duo. "I'm going to *finish* you for this," she threatened.
He squirmed in Duo's arms, caught a strained, grim expression from the corner of his eye, then hooked his own arm around his lover, pulling him close. "If you so much as *try,* I won't simply threaten you next time. You won't see me coming." His tone was cold as ice and much harder.
"Heero -- you can't want that... that perv--" she stumbled over the black look in Heero's eyes even as Duo stiffened at the insult in her tone.
He didn't answer verbally. But he did turn his head, maintaining eye contact with the flushed, infuriated girl, then cupped Duo's face into his mouth, his eyes never leaving hers as he exchanged a spit- swapping, tonsil-probing, soul-searching, needs-a-private-room-NOW kiss with a very enthusiastic Duo.
"Duo Maxwell. I don't know what you've done to trick him into this, but when I find out, he's MINE."
Relena stormed out of the cabana, hair swirling in her wake, along with the scent of scorched ego.
Duo was practically purring in his ear. "I can't believe you did that." He licked his lips and wriggled happily.
"I was sick of her questioning my taste in men," Heero growled.
Duo nuzzled his ear. "Well, I can't say I dispute *hers,* he replied, delicately biting the lobe, nibbling a little, then sticking his tongue into his ear.
He looked down to eye the upright lump of colorful beach towel rubbing over his tensed thigh. "I take it you want to finish what we started?"
"What a smart person you are!" Duo observed brightly. He slipped his hand lower and snapped the waistband of Heero's trunks. "Still want to?"
Heero caught his wrists and faced him, squaring his jaw and Duo looked a bit startled. Then he leaned forward and kissed his long- haired lover on the mouth, lightly.
"It's something of a relief... "
He took both wrists into one hand, drawing Duo close into his arms. The heart-shaped face was surprised, caught off-guard as he hugged his lover, twining his hands into the long chestnut hair, breaking the elastic band around his braid with a jerk and unraveling the drying soft masses in his fingers. Duo was tense in his arms at first. Muscle by muscle released as he continued to finger-comb his partner's hair, fingers working soft and slow, reassuring. He placed kisses down the cord of Duo's neck, which softened under his lips. And Duo sighed.
"You're not a pervert, or a freak, and you didn't trick me into anything." He kissed his neck again. "And I'm not going anywhere."
"I know," Duo said agreeably against Heero's neck. "It's just... she's so... "
Heero's lip twitched. "Determined? Obsessed? Single-minded?"
"Yes, all of that," Duo agreed, applying teeth to the meaty juncture of shoulder and neck. Heero jerked then grabbed the towel around Duo's waist, stripping it away in a single yank.
"Now, we don't have to pretend anymore," Heero said simply.
Duo gave him a flushed, ecstatic smile, then hands delved into his trunks, digging into the curves of his buttocks and he pulled him roughly against him, so hard and close that Heero rose to his toes for an instant and he snapped at the corners of Duo's mouth, nipping none too gently, before tracing over the upper line of the long, sensuous lip, then pushed between them for a deeper taste.
"Good," Duo murmured back. "But do you really think it's going to be that easy?"
Jolted by the naked arousal pressed firmly between both their bodies he grabbed Duo's slender waist in his hands and succumbed to his instincts, pushing hard against the track of Duo's inner thigh. Duo groaned against his tongue biting down and then letting up to push back, breath huffing into Heero's mouth in rhythmic fits. The fingers on his rear flexed hard, then Duo stripped his trunks off and grabbed his shoulders.
"Mmh?" Heero mumbled, his panting breaths mingling with Duo's. He didn't want to be distracted from the so-satisfying feel of flesh on flesh, velvety and damp, a wet trickle pressing to mark against his thigh.
Duo's blue-violet eyes were fixed so utterly on him, full of a great deal of lust but strangely soft all at once. He wanted to reel back from that look, that utter trust in his lover's eyes that gave up all of himself when he didn't feel deserving of the smallest part of what Duo was determined to give.
"Make love to me," Duo demanded, his voice a sultry rasp, and with a low 'unh' he pushed his naked length against Heero's hardness.
Heero dropped his face into the curve of Duo's shoulder and neck to get away from that look. "...I..."
"Hnm?"
He bit into the cord of the neck, ignoring Duo's slightly pained cry, responding to the increasingly hard, quick shoves with similar pressure, rubbing against and past each other and he sucked into the teeth marks, bloodying them. Then he took Duo's mouth again. "Mine," he told him firmly.
Duo only smiled and rubbed his nose against Heero's. Then he squawked as Heero's hands left his waist and he was grabbed up in strong arms and carried over to the cabana bench and deposited on it in a heap, legs splayed.
Heero seated himself beside the long legs and ran a hand up the inside of his thigh, eyes fixed curiously intent on Duo's expression. Duo lifted his hips -- uselessly, remaining untouched as Heero pushed him back onto the bench and slipped a hand down below, to thrust a finger inside of him. Duo released his breath in a rush, head falling back as he braced himself on the bench by elbows, rich brown hair pooling down onto the wood of the bench and spilling between the slats. He gritted his teeth then parted his legs wider, pushing himself onto the questing finger.
"Ahh~h--*" His breath crackled into the charged moment. Heero leaned down to kiss his tight stomach, ignoring the upright angled flesh that bobbled a little, opalescence gleaming at the tip.
"Heero," his lover pleaded as the fingers stroked deep, pushing against the spot that made him groan and squirm. Duo hooked his legs over Heero's shoulders as he climbed all the way onto the bench, fingers still buried deep and working, his thumb stroking over the perineum. Then Heero pulled them out and braced himself over Duo, looking down at the flushed, wanton face, shifting a little to press against the crease of his offered buttocks, and felt Duo's legs tighten, the heels digging into his back to pull him closer. There was only one thing left to do.
He reached down and pushed into him with a low groan more felt throughout his bones than heard, and slipped deeply inside, all the way in, burying himself within Duo to lean forward and kiss his lips, the corners of his open, panting mouth, and whispered inside. "Ai shiteiru."
He applied its refrain to the next few world-shuddering thrusts, the words spilling from his lips as he closed his eyes, pushing himself into the secure embrace of Duo's body. Hands caught at his face, fingers stroking over his cheekbones, his lips, the closed contours of his eyelids that he refused to open, unable to face Duo's ecstatic expression. Then he buried his face in Duo's salty hot skin, shuddering but still choking out the same enslaving phrase that was the only one with the power to set him free.
He paused then squirmed closer, Duo's hands cupping him securely, to expend himself utterly in the space of three hard thrusts, breath fluttering into the sweaty chestnut hair. At the same time he felt wetness jetting against his stomach, and unwillingly smiled against Duo's neck, the expression safely hidden.
They remained entwined for long heartbeats, neither of them wanting to move. Heero didn't want to pull himself out of the tight warmth enclosing him, and Duo seemed quite content to just lie on his back, all his limbs wrapped loosely around Heero's body. Even though his knees were jackknifed up to his chest he seemed comfortable.
"Thank you," Duo whispered against his hair.
Heero remained silent. He knew Duo wasn't just talking about the sex.
Finally he disengaged with a grunt and Duo shuddered, then wrapped insistent arms around him. They curled up together on the narrow bench and he let Duo hold him, stroking his hair. "I was stupid to think you'd leave... "
"Yes," Heero agreed.
Duo socked him in the arm. "Hidoi!" he whined. "You don't have to agree!" Then he subsided, kissing Heero's neck, lips soothing the bruise he'd made earlier.
"You're right, though... " Heero mumbled. "Somehow, it's not going to be that easy."
He hugged Duo tighter, brushing lips over the mark he'd bitten into Duo in silent apology. As long as he and Duo pulled through this, nothing else mattered. Not Relena, or her pride... not judgment, or orientation... just love.
Quatre stretched his legs to catch up with Trowa's long-limbed strides, tossing his towel over his shoulder and looking at the pool with eager eyes. First living in the colonies, and up in resource satellites for most of his life, and then spending most of his time on Earth in desert areas, he hadn't had much experience with water. At least, not water one could submerge in.
His desert-bred heritage still stood awed at the thought of so much water to waste, that it could play over one's body, and still have plenty.
"Maybe if we find Heero and Duo, we could play a game," Quatre suggested hopefully. Games were another thing that, as a pilot, he simply hadn't had much time for.
Trowa's mouth was fixed in an upward curve as he looked at him.
"Oi, isn't that Relena?" Wufei called to their attention. "Heero won't be far behind -- he's her servant-for-a-day, ne?" There was a sly smirk in the Chinese boy's voice.
Quatre giggled. Whatever consequences it had for Duo, the thought of the completely crestfallen look on Heero's face when he'd lost still provoked mirth.
Relena's face was stormy as she charged up the incline from the cabana, back towards the resort buildings. She saw the trio of Gundam pilots, blinked, and hesitated, looking for a moment as if she might change course. Then her mouth firmed and she kept walking.
"Relena-san, daijoubu?" Quatre asked, concerned. She looked like she was barely suppressing tears, an expression at odds with the anger clouding her aquiline features.
"Iie!" Relena burst out, voice choked with fury. She started to brush past him, but he touched her shoulder, confused sympathy reaching out.
"What happened?"
She stopped, back taut, then turned to face him again. Her fists were clenched so tightly that the drawn skin over her knuckles pulled white. "Heero... Heero was... " She stopped, and looked for a moment as if her face would crumple. "Duo was... they were... "
"Oh." Quatre took a step back, comprehension flitting over his face.
It dawned on her slowly, a light of sick understanding that burned in her glassy blue eyes. "You--you knew?"
Wufei tilted his head at her. "You didn't?" He sounded puzzled, as if the fact of Heero and Duo's relationship were intrinsically obvious.
Relena choked, and in a fanning arc of golden hair spun to stumble back to the main building, breaking into a run.
"I thought everyone knew," Wufei said defensively, his dark sloe eyes matter-of-fact as Quatre and Trowa fixed him with dubious gazes. "Oi! Give me some credit! It wasn't *that* hard to figure out!"
After a brief hesitation they resumed their walk to the pool. Quatre darted a glance at Wufei. "Wufei-san... how did *you* know?"
Wufei sniffed, drawing his shoulders upright. "*I* was the one who was locked in a prison cell with them while *he*--" and Wufei flicked an accusing finger at Trowa, "was living it up with the OZ officers."
"They didn't," Quatre blurted, surprised.
Wufei gave him a withering glance. "Of course not. But Heero waited until he thought I was asleep to make sure Duo wasn't seriously injured... and then he held him and soothed him until he could sleep without having nightmares."
"That's so... " Quatre trailed off, speechless. He offered a tentative smile to Trowa.
"Isn't it?" Wufei's expression was enigmatic, but the blond Arabian thought he detected a hint of wistfulness in that normally impassive bronze face.
"I wonder what Relena-san will do now... " Quatre mused, throwing a glance over his shoulder at the building where the Peacecraft girl had disappeared.
"I don't think Heero and Duo will stay for much longer," Trowa observed.
Quatre's skin shivered as he recalled the look in Relena's eyes -- wild, completely furious, over and beyond the reaction of a young girl who had lost her first love. She'd been deeply hurt... and now, she would lash out at that source, regardless of consequence. And a girl of her power and wealth had considerable means with which to strike.
The eyes of a wounded animal.
No, a woman scorned.
The bright lines of sunlight filtered through high-set windows, and Duo's eyes lingered over the interplay of shadow and consuming white. He hadn't really noticed, before, how truly beautiful the day was. Sunny and warm, and the light burning sunshine throwing back the darkness. He felt like he could gather up happiness in his hands, it was that thick around him.
He shifted, his hip grating over the hard bars of the bench slats beneath him. Heero stirred a little, one hand absently tracing circles in the small of his back, reaching up to tease his spine with a shiver-shock of sensation.
"I still can't believe you did that," Duo rubbed his nose ecstatically over Heero's cheek.
"Did what?" Heero replied dryly. "At that point, anything I did was moot. And perhaps, only better made Relena realize she's not what I want."
"Mmh." He stretched to plant his lips on Heero's sweat-damped temple.
Duo squirmed a little in the tightened circle of Heero's embrace - - exactly where he wanted to be, but Heero didn't know his own strength, sometimes. He released a tiny sigh of content into the thick dark hair, fingers still lazily flexing around his loose grip buried in the thick dark locks. Heero's arm let up a little and his nose slid along the line of Duo's jaw, nudging him, resting in the hollow where ear joined neck and jaw.
"We should go soon."
"You're right, we've been here for awhile," he agreed amiably, still massaging Heero's scalp.
"No... Duo, I mean we should leave the resort."
"Oh." Duo heaved a sigh as Heero disengaged, padding soft-footed over the cabana floor to gather up the bright spill of beach towel, then turned to give him a wry, sexy smile.
"Did you see the look in her eyes?"
Mutely Duo nodded, still a little overwhelmed at the expression of pure, absolute hatred Relena had leveled at him. When she said she'd finish him... she'd *meant* it.
Heero's face dropped back into expressionless mode, with an almost chilling glint. "Don't worry. We won't give her the opportunity to--"
Duo bounced up and put two fingers over his lips. Heero stared into his eyes, raising one eyebrow, but Duo just gave him a tiny shake of the head, a smile tugging his lips. He didn't want Heero to say it, not even the thought that Relena could ruin things. She could try. But nothing could spoil this, the precious gift that Heero had given him. The words that -- for the longest time -- he thought he'd never hear.
Heero fingered one endless lock of hair, eyes inscrutable, and rubbed his mouth softly against the fingers. Accepting the silence.
It was funny. He'd never thought, before, that anything Heero could do could make him love his Japanese pilot even more. He'd been so wrong. Having Heero's love, for certain sure... he thought he might burst. He wanted to yell it out to the whole resort. The whole damned planet.
He replaced his fingers with his mouth, and they kissed -- softly, sweetly, Heero's lips pliant against him as a contrast to the hardened exterior he presented to everyone else. A brief memory flashed through him, the first time... even then thoughts of Relena had overshadowed their first kiss, yet Heero had allowed him to move closer, to daringly place his hand on that smooth cheek, to edge into his personal space and claim his lips. More than his lips.
He pulled his mouth away and Heero looked so solemn, so focused on him that he couldn't help it. He tweaked his nose.
Heero's eyes crossed, then righted, then burned with blue gas- flames and Duo skittered back, chuckling softly.
He turned to search determinedly for the hair-band that Heero had yanked free, and picked it up with a sour expression. Broken, again.
"C'mon, let's go back to our suites and pack... and there's something I want to give you." Heero turned, gesturing him to follow.
Duo gaped at him. "Heero! Already!?"
Heero blinked at him, opened his mouth, then shut it. And glared. "Duo, your mind is a non-stop gutter party."
He wriggled happily, pleased. "Only when I'm with you, koibito."
"Don't call me that," Heero growled automatically, more out of habit than any conviction.
They paused briefly outside the cabana, seeing Trowa, Quatre, and Wufei making use of the pool, but continued to the house. Duo was intensely curious now... did Heero mean he had a present for him? Heero had never given him anything before. Nothing tangible, when all their belongings had to be stuffed into one carisak. And Heero wasn't the sentimental type -- he didn't have keepsakes.
"Start packing," Heero tossed at him, as Duo paused at his door, giving Heero a quizzical look. He shrugged, nodded, and pushed the door open.
"Oi, oi... what a pigsty!" Duo cheerfully bemoaned the state of his room. Quickly he found another hair tie and braided his still mostly-damp hair, making a face at the mess the chlorine had made of it. He'd definitely have to wash it later, but Heero wanted to get out of here *now.*
He didn't blame him. Relena's face...
Duo shuddered, then grabbed up some scattered clothes. He turned at the knock on the door.
Heero pushed the door open unceremoniously then paused at the threshold, his face uncertain. "Duo... here." A small object arced through the air, flying for him.
With a yelp Duo dropped his armful of clothes and caught it. "Oi, Heero, what--"
The soft click of the latch answered him. He was talking to empty air. Duo sighed and ran a hand over the top of his head, wincing as he encountered tangles. He'd *definitely* have to take care of his hair. Then he eyed the box dubiously. Just like Heero. Why didn't he want to stay while he opened it? What could come in such a small package.
Thankfully, *not* lingerie.
Duo snickered and cracked the box open, peeping in.
It was a small, glittering...
His jaw dropped.
The box nearly tumbled from his suddenly-lax fingers.
Someone rapped on the door again, more hesitant this time. A grin stretched his features. So this was why Heero had left; he wanted to give him at least a minute to think about it. He pranced over to the door, flipping the box shut, knowing he looked like a grinning idiot but unable to care. He'd never thought in a million years that Heero could be *this* traditional, or sentimental... This was even better than a lot of 'yoroshiku' or a little 'ai shiteiru.'
"Oi, Heero, why'd you leave bef--"
Not Heero.
Relena.
Duo sucked in an uneasy breath and looked back unhappily at the steady, needle-sharp gaze of the Peacecraft.
"Relena, I--"
"Duo," the girl cut him off coolly, stepping over the threshold.
He took a step back, unsure of her and unable to gauge her potential reactions.
"Do you have any idea what you've done?" Her tone was calm and steely, reflective.
Duo blinked. Somehow, that scared him more than if she'd flown at him in a screaming rage. Whatever he'd expected, this was not it. "What do you mean?"
"To me, and to Heero. Heero and I," the girl clarified. Red spots stood out against her cheekbones, as if she were feverish... her eyes were *too* bright...
"There *is* no 'you and Heero,' " Duo contradicted. The uneasiness doubled, roiling the pit of his stomach.
"You don't know what you're talking about!" Relena flared, lunging forward suddenly, in his face. "Heero is mine! He's always been mine! And I'm not going to let some long-haired faggot boy get in the way!" She spat the words at him, raking out with sharp nails.
Duo caught her wrist, face suddenly grim. Her face contorted into a parody of the delicate aquiline features and with a sickening thud she brought her knee up. Duo reeled, collapsing to the floor, moaning in pain. He hadn't expected her to go so swiftly for... Ouch. Or, rather, that the refined, sheltered Relena would stoop to kneeling her boy-rival in the groin. He gasped for breath, clutching at the injured region and was unable to do more than stare at the foot heading for him with terrifying swiftness.
The world exploded in a starburst of white and red and suddenly he couldn't feel anything but the hot outward-blazoning pain consuming the center of his face. The nose, she'd broken his nose. He crawled over the carpet, stunned and groping for comprehension -- caught off guard, he was a Gundam pilot, *how* had she...
A freight train connected with his temple, and white and red drained away, eclipsed only by darkness.
A small cardboard box tumbled out of Duo's loosened fist.
Relena halted the rain of kicks she had been visiting on the limp frame, and breathed hard. She stared at the body of the braided boy at her feet, eyes twitching from his blood-smeared face to the crimson marking one shoe. She hadn't expected...
She tucked one strand of wheat-blonde hair behind one ear, nervously.
He was so still. Not even a shudder. Relena bit her lip. Something had snapped under the point of her shoe, with that last kick.
"Haruka... " she whispered, mouth working.
One of his hands was sprawled over the carpet, stretched towards a small white box that had fallen from his grip.
"Haruka!" she gasped out, backing away from his too-still form.
His face was stained, it was covered in blood. She'd meant to hurt him, to really make him *feel* what he'd done to her, to her and Heero, but now he was lying too still and there was too much red, everywhere...
"Haruka!" she shouted into the hallway, beginning to run. Her seneschal would take care of it, he had to.
Haruka always took care of small inconveniences when they arose.
"Ita--WAUGH!!" Quatre screamed, thrashing in the water. He clutched at his chest.
Never a strong swimmer, he slid under the water, choking on another throttled shout. A stream of bubbles fluttered to the surface, his mouth silenced.
Encased in cool wet, Quatre curled around the agony, barely recognized as not his own, and rocked shuddering as he felt impact after impact, a twisted, vengeful face looming over him, until bright vermilion spots swam up to cover his vision.
He sank to the bottom, stone-weight.
A steel band was pinching his chest and Quatre tried to sob for breath, for the pain, but there was no air. Everything black was his world, bled of light.
Warm lips were on his.
*Trowa... his kiss is bringing me back... always... *
He tried to tell him, but something was heaving up into his throat, sucked inescapably. Trowa's lips, pulling the heaviness from his chest. Quatre turned and vomited chlorinated water to the beat of steady thwacks on his back. He blinked up, his throat and chest burning, into Trowa's openly worried green eyes.
"My uchuu no kokoro... " he rasped, then coughed again, his throat seizing up.
Violently Quatre shook off Trowa's restraining hands, urging him to rest, to stop talking. Cool strong hands gripped his shoulders. "All right... what is it?" Trowa's eyes were still troubled, and only for him.
"Duo... it's Duo!" he tried again, nearly crying. "But I can't feel him anymore!"
He threw the last item in his pack, then cast a quick look around the room. He would be glad to leave it... except for finally breaking through the thin remaining shell that had continued to separate him from Duo, coming here had been a mistake. He wasn't sure if it was because of Relena's presence, or in spite of it, that he had finally been able to choke out the words that were a mere token of the feelings inside of him. The feelings he'd had to overcome years of training and conditioning to share.
But as for the gift... Heero felt suddenly uncertain.
He knew that Duo loved him. He'd said it often enough, repeated it through various, endearing actions that he was finally convinced of that. But what he was offering Duo... It was stupid of him, they were in the middle of a war. It was foolish to ask for anything more permanent than their shared feelings.
Yet now that he was able to *say* more, he wanted more.
Heero hoisted the pack onto his shoulders, and left the room. The walk down to Duo's suite seemed endless, as he agonized about what look might have crossed Duo's face when he'd opened that box... maybe that soft, lit-up smile... or a look of utter surprise. The uncertainty was what had forced him to leave before he could watch Duo open it.
His eyes played over the curve of the hallway; hesitated over the open door. Inside, Duo's clothes were still scattered in a heap near the foot of the bed.
"Duo," he began, irritated. "We're supposed to *leave,* you baka, so what--"
The box.
It lay on the carpet, the top edge of the lid crinkled, as if had been opened and hastily shut.
It hurt. He'd never realized something could hurt like this, as a gleeful little demon seized his chest and told him so. A small, smothered sound worked its way through his throat, but he wouldn't let it escape. He had been wrong. So wrong. What was the use of even trying to break through the barrier of cold emotion, when that was the only defense he had? Where was he? "Duo... " He cast about the room. Duo's clothes, his belongings, even his hairbrush... everything was still strewn carelessly around the room. Had... had it panicked him, that much?
Grimly, Heero bent to scoop the little white box off the carpet.
Duo was gone.
She peeked around the corner of the door. Heero stood in the middle of Duo's room, that box Duo had dropped clenched in his fist. His back was taut, almost shaking, and the dark head was bent.
"Heero... ? Is something wrong?"
It was so hard to keep the brimming triumph suppressed in her voice.
He whirled, cobalt-blue eyes wide and burning for an instant, taking her breath away with scorching beauty, before they narrowed to thin slashes. "Relena." Quickly he shoved the box in his pocket.
Her heart exulted. She loved it when he said her name like that, a quiet word dropping onto the weighted surfaces of the unspoken acknowledgment between them.
"Yes, Heero?" She smiled at him, advancing, pushing back a strand of long hair. Haruka had done his job, and there was nothing in the room to betray the collapsed figure she had left behind her. Duo was gone.
No more obstacles. No more pretending.
His lips thinned. "Where is Duo? Have you seen him?"
She scowled suddenly, her perfect scenarios disrupted. "Why are you always thinking of *him?*" she demanded angrily. "Why don't you just let him go, and accept what's between us, Heero!? Just give it a chance... " Her tone turned wheedling.
His eyes were cold and empty. She reeled back a bit. This wasn't the Heero she knew; his coldness was a facade, he was pretending, he was only waiting for the moment when she broke through his mask...
"Have you seen Duo?"
He didn't answer any of her questions. Her mouth twisted, but his face was unyielding. He almost seemed to look *through* her. Maybe he really--NO! Heero was hers, and she would not permit any other thought to violate that firm reality!
"Why are you so fixated on him!?" she cried, growing angry. "I've done all I can to break through your cold mask of unfeeling, but you're not helping at all! The least you could do is be nice to me, you know."
Heero's chill blue eyes barely flicked over her. "Why bother?" He turned on his heel, surveying the room, taking in the messy, crumpled black clothing spilled over the floor, the unmade bed, the bag dumped on the bed that was partially filled. "Where is Duo, Relena? Did you see him?"
She sniffed, hurt. It was an effrontery, that he continued to mention *that boy,* as if she weren't even here. "What does it matter?"
He spun to face her, eyes working furiously over her face. A little smile tipped the corner of her lips, working at the balance of her heart. He was looking at her, finally looking at HER.
"Did you say something to him?"
Relena faltered. In her ears, the aching sound of that last snap repeated endlessly. The face had been still, eyes closed, skin sticky with blood. "I--I didn't say anything... "
Cold steel confronted her, irises harder than the barrel of a gun. "You're lying."
"I'm not," Relena denied desperately, cringing in the face of that impassive deathly mask.
"Where *is* he?"
Relena broke. "How can you keep up this pretense, like you actually care for him!? He's not *here* anymore, Heero, you don't have to keep pretending that this isn't what we both want. So stop it! I even go so far to get rid of him, and still all you can do is ask--"
"What did you say!?" His breathless, furious interjection startled her into silence. Suddenly Heero's hands were gripping her wrists and she squirmed at the unexpected pain.
"Let go of me!"
"What have you done to Duo?" he demanded, his eyes narrow and boring into her, dark sapphire gems that reflected her face. Only her face, as it should always have been. This afternoon had been a mistake, a dreadful mistake, and now...
"The obstacle has been removed." She contained her smile, knowing that he wouldn't understand at first. But she'd done it for them.
"What the hell are you talking about!?" he exploded, his hot breath washing over her cheek and she squeaked, startled, as Heero's face turned into a mask of rage before her eyes. "What did you do to Duo!? I just left him--he was just here!"
"He's gone now!" Relena burst out, struggling in his too-tight grasp. "Let go of me. Heero, let go, you're hurting me!"
His bitter laugh startled her. "You still don't get it, do you?"
She paused, bewildered. "What do you mean?" His hands were still closed, unyielding, around her wrists. She controlled a pained wince. The bones were beginning to grate together.
"I *don't* love you." He hesitated for a moment, eyes boring into her with the full weight of anger, an intense searing load that she tried to look away from, but Relena was mesmerized even as he spoke the words that unmade her. It was sick fascination. "I haven't loved you, Relena, and I *won't.* I love Duo." His voice faltered a little, over the last.
She wrenched free and stumbled back a step, nearly falling. "Uso."
His eyes were steady and matter-of-fact.
"No, you don't, it's a lie!" she screamed. "Why else would you save me? Why else couldn't you kill me? You love me!" She felt numb all over, submerged in pins and needles, as if this wasn't real -- as if with a single touch, she would awaken... "You're *mine,* you're my prince fallen from the sky, you came for *me* and now after all I've done for you... Heero... "
Heero pulled something out of his pocket -- the white box that had fallen from Duo's hand -- his eyes never leaving hers. He opened it, and held it up. Relena's eyes quivered before they left his, traveling slowly downward until they encountered the open box. "I gave this to Duo today."
Relena felt bile rising up into her throat. It was a ring.
A simple, flat band... a wedding band.
"You're disgusting," she choked out. "Chigau yo... how could he seduce you into this, how can you still continue to want him... "
Heero's face was frozen. He snapped the box shut and shoved it back into his pocket. "You don't understand, Relena. And I don't care if you do."
She turned to leave, shuddering. This was impossible... her mind simply refused to digest this, that somehow Heero would willingly bind himself to that--that--with satisfaction she allowed herself to think of the limp, lean body that had jolted underneath her kicks. She hadn't overreacted, after all.
A strong hand closed over her upper arm.
Relena met Heero's eyes, a sudden frightened bird fluttering trapped in her throat. The look in his eyes truly did mean death, this time... and her body sensed it even if her mind refused to accept it.
"Where is Duo?"
"Quatre, what are you talking about?"
Firmly Trowa kept a hold on his hands, chafing warmth back into them, the wet long bangs of his hair plastered to one side of his face. Normally the sight would have provoked a giggle or two and a teasing comment, but he was far too distraught for any joking.
"Duo, he's been hurt!"
"What happened?" Wufei demanded, popping up on the other side of him. His dark wet hair was slicked back from the water, still tightly pulled back in the snug ponytail. His eyes were dark and fierce.
Quatre closed his eyes tightly and that face threaded over the gray haze was still there, the vengeful lines paling into shock and distress. "Relena. It's Relena... "
"She did something to Duo?" Trowa prompted him, a thumb still rasping soothingly over his palm.
Quatre nodded, the sharp jolts along his ribs still sputtering with pain. He shivered. Trowa cast a long, measuring glance at Wufei, then slowly drew the golden-haired Arabian into his arms, rubbing at Quatre's chilled wet flesh.
Wufei averted his eyes, but Quatre could sense it was more from a desire to be respectful, than from disdain.
"We have to find him," Quatre shivered against Trowa's chest. "She's done something to him, I can feel it and he needs help... "
"All right," Trowa replied to his insistence.
Wufei spoke up. "Shall I try to find Heero? I'm sure that he'll want to know... "
Trowa's mouth was grim. "Yes, and when he *does* find out... he may have to be restrained... "
Quatre shivered again, but not from the cold. He had seen death before in Heero's eyes, and he knew that the slim Japanese pilot wouldn't hesitate to retaliate swiftly and decisively, if Relena had harmed Duo in any way.
He had seen blood. So very much blood.
Finally, moments after Wufei had scrambled off in pursuit of Heero, Trowa helped him to stand. "Do you know where he is?"
Quatre opened his eyes, taking comfort in the color to be found in Trowa's brown hair, threaded with the barest glimmer of honeyed tones, and the bottomless green of his eyes. The soft warm flush of his skin, and the slightly darker tint of his lips. Color, and life. He wished he *didn't* know.
"It's so dark where he is... so cold... "
Wufei pounded up the stairs, intent on his mission. Well... it wasn't truly a mission per se, but preventing the head of the Sank kingdom from being strangled by a Gundam pilot seemed important enough to give it such merit. He wasn't precisely certain how Quatre had known Duo was in trouble, but the blond boy had been right before.
"Where is Duo!?"
The rage-riddled tones pierced the air, and Wufei ran faster. Heero's voice, distorted and thick with fury... he only hoped he wasn't too late, knowing how badly things could get out of hand, when control slipped. And from what he'd seen before, Duo had the key to Heero's controls, and if Duo really *was* hurt...
He hoped, for both their sakes, that Duo wasn't badly injured or worse. They would lose more than a damned fine, strongly-committed Gundam pilot.
They'd lose two.
He skidded to a halt, one shoulder crashing into the doorframe.
Heero had grabbed the golden-haired girl's arm, his face barely recognizable, eyes slitted, lips stretched in a snarl. Relena's back was turned to him, her posture stiff and startled.
"Where is he?"
Heero's voice had grown dreadfully quiet, and he made a visible effort to control himself. His eyes did not even dart to Wufei to acknowledge his presence; he kept them adamantly fixed on Relena.
Nervously the girl lifted a shaking hand to tuck back a strand of hair behind her ear. "Heero... Heero, I did it for you. I did it for *us.*"
Wufei stared incredulously. Was the girl mad? What had she done?
With a low growl Heero grabbed both her shoulders and as Wufei started forward he began to shake her violently. Relena squeaked helplessly, her head snapping back, and Wufei laid a warning hand on Heero, whose head jerked up to stare at him, his expression peculiar, barely aware. Almost absently the Japanese pilot released the girl's shoulders and she crumpled to the ground, dazed. She moaned a little, rubbing at her neck.
A tear tracked from Relena's eye, a slow downward spiral.
"You can't kill her," Wufei said matter-of-factly.
Heero swiveled on him, the dark blue of his eyes single-minded in their intensity. "I don't care what happens to her."
The implication hung unsaid. Duo was the only one who mattered here.
Relena let loose a soft whimper at his feet, one hand groping uselessly through the air in the Wing pilot's direction. Heero stepped back, out of range. "Heero... you don't mean that. You're just angry now, but you'll come to understand. He has no place in the world we're going to make, he's just a--"
"Shut up."
Wufei's eyes skipped from the pathetic figure at Heero's feet, to the Japanese pilot's face again. He had never heard such barely- controlled fury before, not from Heero or anyone. He had to get Heero out of here, before the girl said something to provoke him further -- it wouldn't take much to send him over the edge.
Heero's face was a mask of indifference. He flicked a splayed- finger hand in Relena's direction, eyes holding Wufei's, indicating that the Chinese pilot could take over the questioning.
Wufei nodded shortly then turned his attention to the weeping girl at their feet. It was a good thing Heero knew his limits -- that he couldn't stand much more dialogue with the girl's ravings. "Kisama... it will go easier if you tell us where he is. If not, I cannot promise that harm will not come to you."
Heero's tiny, matter-of-fact nod chilled him a bit.
Relena shuddered and her tears flowed faster, dripping down the waxy cheeks where spots of scarlet stood out starkly, shockingly. "I don't understand why he keeps asking me where he is... "
Heero made an abortive movement towards the girl but Wufei gave him a piercing glance of warning. "Heero-kun, Quatre is trying to find Duo. Perhaps you could help them, and leave this to me," Wufei suggested, tone deliberate.
The fierce blue gaze slid away, and Heero nodded. His body was thrumming like a live wire, ready to spark... they both knew if he stayed much longer, and met with continued frustration, there was a very good chance real harm would come to Relena. The Japanese pilot's right hand was twitching convulsively, squeezing the trigger of a gun that wasn't there.
Heero jogged swiftly out of the room, without a backward glance for the piteous figure Relena cut, kneeling on the carpet and scrubbing away futile tears.
Tears for the loss of a heart she had never captured... yet continued to covet.
Wufei hunkered down to her eye level, glaring solemnly at the cornflower-blue orbs that refused to meet his, as if already acquainted with the censure she would meet in his gaze. Relena continued to cry softly into her palms, rubbing her nose red and raw. Wufei scowled, then lifted one hand and slapped her sharply, giving her a hearty crack over the cheekbone.
The smack of his palm meeting her flesh soundly tumbled through the air, eclipsing the noise of her hiccuping sobs.
Relena rocked back, eyes wide and stunned. But finally focusing on *him.*
"How DARE you!" she spat, face drawn in fury. "How dare you touch me, you peasant!"
"Actually, I was a part of the upper echelons of my society," Wufei corrected her calmly.
Her face dissolved into a confused sort of helplessness.
"Now," Wufei began, grabbing her chin with inexorable fingers.
Relena fixed on him, startled. At last he'd gained her full and complete attention. A touch of fear etched into her expression and Wufei smiled grimly. Good, she was at least a little afraid now... She hadn't been, of Heero. Foolish girl. That could have gotten her killed.
"Let's try this *again.*"
It took five minutes between the pool and foyer to convince Trowa that he didn't need a human crutch. The tall, lean pilot of Heavyarms had been unusually protective lately, treating him like spun glass, and although Quatre loved him for it and understood how Trowa could feel that he wanted nothing to harm him, nothing at all... it was beginning to get on his nerves.
They stood in the foyer of the house, Trowa hovering near his elbow and ready to steady him at the slightest waver. Quatre wiped damp beads from his brow, still feeling the haunting aftershocks of pain, a dull ache radiating up his ribcage informing him that it wasn't over, yet.
"Quatre, don't push yourself. You nearly drowned. I'm sure Heero and I can find Duo on our own," Trowa offered calmly. His forest- green eyes were darkened, his face closed, but Quatre could read the tiny signs of solicitousness.
"I know where he is," Quatre insisted.
Heero tumbled down the stairs, his face cold and set. "Duo is--"
"I know."
Quatre stepped forward, resolute. Beneath the automated response of expressionless-ness, he could detect the cracks -- he could see Heero's concern running deep. He had seen into Duo's heart, once before... now he saw into Heero's and realized the depth was returned just as strongly, every bit as much.
"I felt it. My uchuu no kokoro... "
"Do you know where he is?" Heero cut him off, his eyes raking about the room, a searchlight glare, as if he could discover Duo huddled behind a potted palm.
Quatre nodded, faltering again. He felt a hand touch his shoulder.
"The wine cellar."
Even Trowa flinched back from the look that kindled Heero's eyes with pure, unadulterated wrath.
One thought pounded in his brain, one thought fluttered, ragged on the refrain, superimposed over a heart-shaped face with laughing violet eyes and a wide, sensual smile. He should have killed her. He should have killed her when he'd had the chance. Even bare moments ago, that slim neck had been so easily within reach.
The thought of Duo lying trussed up in a dank wine cellar like an animal was enough to eclipse his vision, for a moment, in pure red. Quatre blinked and took a step backward... Trowa looked discomfited.
"Let's go," he clipped.
His reconnoiter yesterday while avoiding Relena was proving useful. He knew where the cellar was, and broke into a run as soon as he'd finished his words. The rapid tattoo of heels on the floor behind him was indication enough of company.
As he jerked open the door, the seneschal of the resort tottered back on the cellar stairs, blinking wide eyes at him.
Heero's lips thinned to a slash.
Haruka's distinguished features failed to conceal the guilty evidence of involvement. Briefly he considered grabbing a hand of the man's shirt and demanding Duo's whereabouts, but what a waste of breath. He shoved the seneschal aside, and the man sagged against the wall with relief, his face white. Heero grabbed the railings and slid down to the ground floor, disdaining to use the stairs.
Trowa and Quatre clattered down behind him, flicking on the lights.
"Duo." His voice stabbed out into the darkness.
The wavering light of the single naked bulb didn't illuminate all of the shadowed corners, as it bounced off innumerable glassy surfaces, the round green of row on row of bottles refracting the light. But it was just enough to shed splinters of light over the sprawled figure that had been dumped in one corner, partly hidden at the juncture of two large racks. Duo was still in his swim trunks, his pale torso caked with dirt from the packed floor of the cellar... or were those bruises, dark against his ribs? Heero growled and started forward.
Duo's face was covered in blood, already sticky and drying, and for a cold moment that gripped his entrails he thought the body was *too* still but he could not even allow the possibility to enter his head as he checked the pulse quickly. He pressed his fingers to the carotid artery and held his own breath, closing his eyes, mouth working in silent prayer.
He'd never prayed before.
A throb flickered beneath his fingers, slow but steady, and the breath Heero released was ragged as he gathered the unconscious American into his arms, replacing his fingers with his lips to continue to feel that blessed pulse. He kissed the sensation of the blood beating regularly under his skin. Alive, he was alive -- he'd be fine.
From Relena's rambling, she had made it sound as if she'd k--done something permanent to Duo. And perhaps she thought she had. The Peacecraft didn't strike him as a very apt or determined killer. Doubtless she would even be remorseful, when she calmed down enough to realize what she'd done.
He intended to be far away by then, Duo securely in hand.
He remained still for long moments, unsure if he should try to wake him or just take him upstairs and get him some first aid. Slowly, almost unconsciously, he began to rock Duo in his arms, until the slim body stirred.
One eye slitted open, a cracked gleam of violet with caked blood flaking from his thick lashes. "Heero."
"Right here," he replied quietly.
"Yokatta, yokatta ne... " Quatre's voice chanted softly in the background.
Both eyes opened, and Duo gave him a weak parody of his accustomed cheery grin. He winced at the twinge of pain from his broken nose, and Heero felt even grimmer, if possible. They would *have* to leave soon, because if he saw Relena again, he'd return the favor.
"Hi," Duo spoke, distracting him from vengeful thoughts.
"Yo," Heero returned, hands gentle as Duo winced again. Those shadows on his ribs *were* bruises, maybe even broken bones. Very carefully, he gathered Duo into his arms.
"Heero," Duo said against his neck, voice forlorn.
"Aa?" he replied, ready for Duo to rail against Relena, or pronounce himself happy to be found, or to ask for some aspirin, or to...
"Where's my ring?"
It provoked a startled chuckle, forced from his closed-up throat. Heero ignored the upsurge of sensation in his chest and fit Duo into the crook of one arm, then pulled the battered white box out of his pocket. The American pilot watched him expectantly. His eyes were sparkling as he held his hand up, and Heero slid the band onto his finger.
Their eyes met, in that instant. And Heero knew, from the bright love that lit Duo's eyes, that he'd made the right decision. Duo would never again question how far he would go to be with him.
A diffident cough echoed through the cellar behind them. Heero crumpled the box and tossed it into a corner, then lifted Duo into the air, ignoring the pained grunt, and met the eyes of Trowa and a flushing Quatre with perfect unconcern. Duo wriggled in his arms, wincing as he did so, tugging at a strap of his tank top.
"Ne, Heero... you forgot something."
"Nani?" he inquired suspiciously. It was a wedding band, he knew that for certain. Duo had taken it, it was on his finger... what was left?
"We have to seal it with a kiss," Duo blinked up at him innocently, face completely serious.
Heero glanced down at his lover's earnest face. His gaze flicked to the two other pilots, who looked ready to turn away.
"Hell with it," he muttered.
He and Duo had already outed to Relena -- NOT the most sympathetic of parties. Compared to that, Trowa and Quatre -- most certainly already a couple, themselves -- were nothing.
He bent his head to Duo's, ignoring the splashes of crimson that tracked from his nose and smeared over his mouth, and captured the parted lips under his own, swallowing the startled gasp. Duo hadn't expected him to do it. Duo responded timidly at first, then enthusiastically as he realized Heero wasn't going anywhere.
Not now, or ever.
Then he winced, and Heero broke away. Duo touched the bridge of his nose and pulled a long face, cringing even as he did so. "My nose... my poor nose... " he mourned. "I hope it heals straight... Heero, we have to set it right away."
"Baka."
"Heero, will you still love me if I have a crooked nose?"
A soft huff. "Baka ne."
But his arms tightened around the slender body in his arms, until Duo squeaked a little in protest, then gave him a melting smile.
The Chinese boy's eyes were narrow as they regarded her, and his grip on her chin was excruciatingly tight, but Relena was afraid to protest. The look in his eyes left no room for compassion. He could never understand her pain.
"You broke his nose."
A tiny, barely perceptible nod.
"And kicked him in the temple."
Another small nod.
"And kicked him until he stopped moving."
Relena's mouth tightened, and she dropped her eyes. The way Wufei said it, it *did* sound excessive, but all she had to do was recall Heero shoving that box in her face, the filthy evidence of how far this misguided tryst had gone, to feel justified once more. Duo had gotten in the way; he had harmed the delicate balance between herself and Heero and damaged it so badly, she was unsure if it could be repaired.
The Chinese boy's face was almost frightening as he drew a fist back once more and Relena squeaked, hiding her face. There was no solace in her rank, now; Wufei had already proved he had no compunctions about hitting a lady.
Knuckles brushed over her cheek with stunning swiftness and she lurched back, tumbling onto her bottom, whimpering. He hadn't missed. He couldn't have missed. So why... ?
"I should break your nose," Wufei informed her coldly, "but no real man would hit an unarmed woman."
Relena huddled into a miserable ball, pulling her legs in tight to her chest and wrapping her arms around them.
Wufei's face was tight and his lip curled. "You have no honor."
Relena was startled. "N-nani? What do you mean by that?"
Wufei grabbed her chin again and her arm and she cried out in pain, muffled into a bronze palm, as her arm was twisted behind her back. "It is dishonorable for a man to attack a woman, under any circumstance... Duo knew that and he was unable to retaliate. Yet you pressed your cowardly advantage, knowing he would not fight back, to lash out and satisfy your childish whims."
"Ch-childish?" Relena stuttered against the thick callused skin.
"Hai, a child. You are like a little girl coveting someone else's beautiful bauble, and when you can't have it you lashed out."
Wufei's words made her squirm inside.
Duo hadn't fought back, that much was true. She had almost been surprised by that. But he'd deserved it... Relena closed her eyes against the backsplash of blood rising up to confront her, the crimson sight of Duo's face, eyes sagged shut, a livid bruise already standing out against his temple. What had she done...
"I did it for Heero," Relena whimpered, but her world was crumbling around her. "It's not right -- it's not natural, for him-- for he and Duo to--"
"What right have you to judge what you don't understand?" Wufei's voice struck her with the fury of a whip. "I made that mistake once before, and I was wrong. Yet no one was hurt from my mistake."
Relena flinched.
"If Duo is badly hurt, I don't think any one of us will stand between you and Heero. Even if we were able."
So limp. So still. When Haruka had hoisted his body up, carrying him out of the messy room, Relena had been shocked by how unmoving Duo was, even yet... she hadn't been sure if he was breathing or not.
Hot, scalding tears surprised her, spilling down her cheeks again.
Wufei's grip loosened.
"Do you understand?"
She pulled away, sagging back to the floor in a tangle of maroon skirts. She'd been hoping the uniform would remind him of the first days when they had met, when he had subtly professed...
No. He'd never professed to love her.
"He doesn't love me," Relena replied dully. Her eyes flickered.
Wufei gave her a tight nod. "That's right." His eyes moved over her measuringly.
Relena placed a hand to her reddened cheek, where Wufei's handprint still stood out in bright relief.
Wufei seized her arm again, hauling her roughly to her feet and ignoring the shrill protests that tumbled from her lips. "Let go... let go of me!" She'd admitted it, what he wanted to hear -- wasn't that enough? Wasn't he satisfied!?
"Not," Wufei replied grimly, "until you've made restitution. It's up to Heero -- and Duo, if he's all right -- to decide what to do with you now."
Relena shrank back, but his hand was iron-hard.
"Do... do with me?"
Something very small and frightened --and intelligent--inside of her was shrieking at the top of its lungs. Heero's chilling face flashed over her retinas again, imprinted with the knowledge of what she'd done to Duo, his still, limp body and she knew, she absolutely knew, that if she'd killed Duo she would follow straightaway.
Quatre leaned wearily against Trowa. At last, it was over... mostly... and he allowed his lover to thread an arm around his waist. True to his word, Trowa didn't seem the least bit concerned that either of the other two boys would realize what was between them -- but Duo already knew, and Heero certainly wouldn't care. Not now.
He was too busy fussing over Duo.
Oh, to any other eye it certainly wouldn't seem like fussing -- Quatre smiled. Heero had bullied a servant into giving him a first aid kit, and was busy patching up every bruise, and swabbing every scrape, while giving Duo a running commentary on how stupid he'd been to allow Relena to get near him with his guard down. He added a few choice words, too, for some things he'd like to *do* to Relena, and remarks involving her improbable ancestry.
"Baka. That was *another* mistake you made, not twisting out of the way of her foot, somehow... " Heero growled, as Duo winced, one hand lifting involuntarily to his nose. "And she could've given you a concussion. You should've--"
"Well, I *didn't,*" Duo replied testily, picking at one of the bandages on his ribs. Bruised, but not broken. Heero smacked his hand sharply.
Wufei's sour voice interjected the soft, terse exchanges. "Minna- san, our hostess." He had descended the stairs gripping Relena's wrists in one hand, his face grim. His dark sloe eyes flickered instantly to Duo and he nodded once, satisfied. "Duo-kun. Yokatta."
Both Heero and Duo's expressions were a study in grim, set-faced anger as they regarded the subdued, blonde girl who would not meet their eyes. The silence hung so heavily, strung with a tension Quatre could barely breathe around.
"Get her out of my sight."
Heero's voice was flat and charged with unspoken violence. The Chinese pilot simply nodded, snagging one of Relena's wrists again. But Duo lifted a hand, his expression unreadable.
"Matte."
Relena's eyes jumped up, startled, to meet those of the braided boy she had injured -- if she could have, without facing the consequences, she would have left him for dead. Quatre was mournfully sure of it, and dismayed to find that even amongst the supposedly most peaceful, hidden violence still lurked.
"Relena... I'm not going to ask why, or even suggest that you pay in some kind for what you've done," Duo said quietly, pushing back scattered wisps of darkened chestnut bangs. He released a tiny, weary sigh. "All I want from you, now -- and you OWE me -- is your word that you will stay away from us."
The Peacecraft girl looked as if she would crumple. Her eyes moved desperately over Heero -- searching, probably, for one last spark of feeling, for anything from the young pilot she had chased so determinedly. So fruitlessly.
He refused to look at her.
Quatre nodded. Wise.
"I... " She faltered, then met Duo's eyes again. The wide violet orbs were very determined, and deadly serious. "I promise I'll stay away." Her voice dropped to the barest, wracked whisper.
Heero stood in one leonine, fluid motion, his body canting slightly towards Duo and his hand brushed over the American pilot's cheek. Duo closed his eyes. Quatre could hear a tiny, keening whimper from Relena, overlapped with the sight of Heero's face -- there was a smile there, the first he'd ever seen -- tiny but real.
"You're much more generous than I am."
With that statement, the Japanese pilot turned and crossed the terra cotta-tiled floor with a few swift strides. Relena barely had time to squeal as the clenched fist crashed into her face, and she was thrown back. Wufei stepped aside, his expression carefully blank. The girl hurtled into the wall, hitting it with a painful thud and sliding down to the tiles, gasping for breath.
Her blue eyes eclipsed shock as one hand groped for her face. The other was hidden by a fold of her skirt.
"An eye for an eye."
Relena kneeled on the tiles, a small mewling noise crawling its way up out of her throat, and rocked back and forth. "Broken," she gasped. Her hand tentatively felt at the bridge of her nose, and she shuddered.
Heero looked down at her, his face still completely cold and impassive. "Feel lucky," he replied harshly. "I don't have the stomach to inflict the rest of Duo's injuries on you."
Relena whimpered again.
Duo nodded to Wufei. "Now get her out." His tone was a little stunned, but still hard.
Relena's head was bowed under the weight of shame as Wufei hauled her to her feet, and led her forcefully from the room.
Quatre watched her, troubled. Then the light pressure of Trowa's arm around his waist recalled his attention, and he smiled at the sight of one dark green eye, focused calmly on him.
Duo was irritably pushing away Heero's hands, holding out more bandages. "Oi, Heero, you'll turn me into a mummy," he complained. "Just fix my nose. My poor, beautiful nose... "
"Not the nose again," Heero snorted.
Quatre snagged Trowa's hand, and gently pulled him from the room.
Relena frowned at Wufei's stiff back, but remained quiet, not protesting the firm tug at her wrist. Surreptitiously, she removed her fingers from a fold of her skirt, uncrossing them.
Duo tossed his bag into the back seat of the cab, climbing in and moving carefully to avoid the protesting twinge of his ribs. Relena had only managed to bruise them -- one was fractured, but not badly -- and he was *very* grateful that his nose would heal straight... and that Heero hadn't killed Relena, in a fit of rage. All they needed was more bad press flying around from another 'incident.'
He knew he should be reproachful that Heero had broken her nose, too, but all he could feel was a shamed sort of satisfaction.
Heero glanced over at him from his seat behind the wheel. A rare smile tugged his lips upward, an expression that always made Duo's heart soar.
"You ready to go?"
"Aa," he replied, giving his lover a thumb's up and a muted, but nevertheless cheerful, smile. He tucked his black cap more securely over his forehead and sank against the door, trying to find a comfortable position. "Where are we going?"
"Far away from here," Heero replied shortly, the all-too-brief smile collapsing as he leveled another black look at the resort. "Some vacation."
"So take me on a real one," Duo suggested. Then he gave Heero a suggestive leer, leaning forward a bit, ignoring the pained outcry from ribs and bruises to drape one arm over Heero's shoulder, displaying his hand, eyeing the ring on his finger thoughtfully. "Why not a honeymoon?"
Heero looked startled. Then, slowly, he smiled again.
"I love you," he said quietly, the words almost consumed by the roar of the engine as he started up the truck.
Duo edged back over to his seat, and gave him a smug grin. "I know."
After all the times he'd said it, after all the times he had wondered...
Heero gave him a tiny, genuine smile. It was something Duo couldn't resist, and if he ever failed to respond to Heero he knew that would be the day they buried him. He leaned forward, scrunching up his face in protest at wincing pain, then grabbed Heero's jaw with one hand, turning his face to kiss him.
The Japanese pilot wriggled a little bit, still obviously uncomfortable about kissing in plain sight -- Duo grinned -- then he relaxed, lips parting to take Duo's breath away.
"I love you, too."
-Owari-
(:./talya/tgtf2)
