Burning Daylight

He woke up slowly, but kept his eyes shut and his head down. It would not do to let the enemy know he was awake before he had a good grasp of the situation and, at the very least, a sketch of an escape plan. His body alerted him that he was not lying down, but sitting. He could feel the cold metal of handcuffs around his wrists, though they were not bound to each other, but apart, apparently to the arm of the chair where he sat. Same thing could be said about his ankles which were each bound to one leg of said chair. Both his jacket and T-shirt were gone and so were his boots and socks, but whoever had captured him had been decent enough to leave his jeans and underwear on.

The room where they had left him was completely quiet, indicating he was probably alone. He could feel the soft carpet underneath his feet and none of the smells he captured were unpleasant or resembled the smell of blood in any way. Maybe they did not mean to harm him after all or maybe they were just waiting for him to wake up so they could start the torture. Not wanting to wait and find out, he opened his eyes.

He was in some sort of hotel room or a guest room of some fancy house though whose house he could not guess. It did not resemble any of the blueprints he had studied for his latest mission. His chair was facing the door with its back against the bed so he could not tip it over. It was a heavy, sturdy wooden armchair and there was no chance he would be able to break it restrained as he was. The handcuffs allowed him very little movement and there was not a thing around that might help him damage them in any way. He would have to try and squeeze his hands out.

The door flew open before he could start trying and suddenly he found himself staring at Dorothy Catalonia's trademark smirk. He gave her his most venomous death glare, but she seemed unfazed as she approached him, dangling a pair of keys on her index finger. She did not say a word and neither did he. He had never expected her to yank the waist bands of both his trousers and his underwear and drop the keys inside. Horrified, he met her eyes trying hard not to gape. Was that an excuse for her to 'get in his pants'? Surprise was suddenly replaced by cold raw rage. He had learned at some point that those who played with his life were his enemies. Dorothy had just gotten herself a permanent spot on that list.

He watched her step away and towards the door and had to grit his teeth. The keys were cold against him, but that did not bother him enough to humiliate himself by asking for her help. If that was what she had wanted she was in for a surprise. He had been called stubborn before, but no one knew just how stubborn he could truly be.

When Dorothy was gone, he finally started trying to free his hands from the handcuffs. It was not as easy as it used to be when he was fifteen… His hands and wrists had grown thicker and, though he would never be the bulky muscular type, the handcuffs fit just a little too tightly now for him to be able to squeeze out of them. He had been at it for almost twenty minutes when the door opened again and a blonde young woman came stumbling in. It took him a fraction of a second to recognise who she was and almost a minute to come to terms with it.

Relena had fallen on her knees, wearing nothing more than light pink lingerie. A black silk ribbon had been used to blindfold her and another to tie her thin white wrists behind her back. Heero could feel his breath catch at the sight of her and had to force the blood that was desperately rushing south to return to his head. Whoever had brought Relena in had left them alone and this might be their only chance to escape.

'Relena.' He called her softly, but though she frowned she did not seem to have heard him. 'Relena.'

'Heero?' her surprise was obvious, but then she blushed, realising just how little she was actually wearing, and turned her back to him almost panicky remembering her hands were tied and she could not conceal herself with them. 'Don't look!' she added over her shoulder.

He wanted to agree, to tell her he would not be looking, but then he would be lying. It was not that he wanted to look at her pale skin, delicate shoulders and perfectly round ass… He had to look at her because he needed her to get… 'Fuck.' He threw his head back and swore under his breath. That was what Dorothy had planned all along…

'Do…' Relena started, bringing his focus back to her. 'Do you think you could untie me?'

'I can try if you come closer. I'm under restraint myself.'

She turned a little to the side so she could address him more comfortably without exposing too much to his eager eyes. 'What do you mean?'

'Dorothy's had me handcuffed to a chair.'

'Oh…'

'I can't stand up, but if you come closer I know I can, at least, remove that blindfold.'

Relena took a deep breath as if inhaling more strength, then she stood up finally turning to him. 'Tell me what to do.'

Heero wondered what he would have done if he had not been restrained… He wanted her… Had wanted her for an awfully long time, but he had thought he was stronger than this, stronger than his hormone driven impulses. His entire body seemed to respond to her half-naked presence and he had to take a deep breath himself to regain his control. 'Take a small step to your right.'

'Is this enough?' she asked shyly.

'Another one. Yes, that's enough. Now, walk forward slowly. In about four or five steps you will bump into me.'

Now, why did that make his heart speed up so dangerously? He had to hold his breath in check as he watched her take one step and then another. She looked tense and the blush would not leave her cheeks, but Heero guessed that was because she was walking blindfolded in her underwear. He knew he could have told her to stop before she reached him, but he did not. Her left knee bumped lightly into his right one. Their breaths caught and he could see her blush deepen.

'Heero?' her voice was but a whisper. He raised his hand, sliding the handcuff down the arm of the chair until he could graze her hip with the tip of his fingers. She shuddered underneath the touch and he almost could not hold back a groan. Without waiting for a reply, Relena kneeled by the hand and tilted her head forward so he could reach the blindfold. Against his better judgement, he allowed himself to caress her hair and the side of her face before his finger hooked under the black ribbon.

Relena pulled back, causing the blindfold to slip off her head. She blinked at the sudden brightness, and Heero found himself enraptured by her eyes. It was like a shift in power had just occurred. Before, he had had an advantage over her because he could see and she could not. Now, she could walk, move around, while he remained stuck to that chair. He tested the restraints again just to be sure, but there was no escaping them without those keys.

'Do you think you could untie me now?' she turned her back to him, waving her bound arms behind her.

He need only glance at the knot to know he would need both hands to undo it. It was a tricky knot and he was still bound to that uncomfortable armchair. 'No.' he shook his head. 'I'm sorry.'

She did not need an explanation, she understood his reasons and nodded. Her eyes fell on his handcuffs. 'Do you know where the keys are?'

As hard as he tried he could not stop himself from blushing. It gave him away, but he was not willing to trust her with that information. 'Dorothy must have a copy.'

Relena frowned at him. 'The door is locked, Heero. And even if it wasn't… I could never take the keys from Dorothy with my arms tied behind my back.'

It angered him that he saw logic in everything she said and that as hard as he might squeeze his brain cells he could not come up with a reasonable alternative plan. For once, he refuted logic and settled on being stubborn. 'I could try untying you with my teeth.'

'You really think that would work?' the sceptical tone with which she said that and the way she let her head fall slightly to the side as she raised an eyebrow at his words made her look like she was fifteen all over again. He wanted to kiss that look off her face, thankfully the handcuffs held him back long enough for his annoyance at her response to subside. There was no use trying to fool her… She could read him like a book. 'Heero, if you know where the keys are why don't you just tell me?'

Heero sighed in frustration, but decided to do as she said. He met her eyes seriously. 'The keys are inside my boxers.'

She gapped at him, but he could see an incredulous smile insinuating itself on her lips. 'You're joking.'

'I don't joke.'

The look on her face was worth the humiliation or so he tried to convince himself. If she had been pink before now her face turned a nasty shade of red and she actually flipped it away. 'You don't think Dorothy's got cameras in this room, do you?'

Relena still would not meet his eyes, and he could only wonder whether that meant she was going to try and retrieve the keys or whether it was just something she was wondering at out of curiosity. He scanned the room in careful consideration. The thought had crossed his mind before, but he had been too busy staring at soft breasts and sinewy hips. He should have listened to Duo when the man told him to hire a street girl before his neglected libido got the best of him. 'No, I don't think there are cameras.'

'I don't think Dorothy would stoop so low…' she agreed staring thoughtfully at the carpet. The blush was gone, replaced by a worried frown. 'But then I can't believe she went this far…'

'What happened?' he asked quietly.

'She invited me here for tea. Then had me try on some lingerie… So far it was no different from what I had done with other girlfriends before, but then she came up with some bondage story about some guy she met in a function and she said she wanted to show me how he had bound her. I told her I had had enough, but no one denies Dorothy anything. She knows how to push your buttons. Next thing I knew I was blindfolded and she was dragging me out of the room…' Relena sighed both regretfully and acceptingly. Nothing could change what had happened. 'What about you? How did you get here?'

He snorted as he thought on it. 'It was a mission. A supposedly simple one. To investigate an abandoned Romefeller facility in the middle of the eastern forest… I went alone. I had already confirmed the place was deserted when the self-destruct alarm sounded. I managed to escape and was already outside when I heard a shot. It hit me on the neck, but it was no ordinary bullet… It was a dart, a tranquilizer. I woke up here. Like this.' He scowled, angry at Dorothy and Une and Preventers, but most of all at himself. So much for being 'perfect'… He did not even know which day it was… How long had he slept?

'Heero?' Relena sounded shy, almost childishly so.

'Hn.'

'Do you trust me?'

Did he trust her? Of course, he did. He had put his life in her hands when he had decided to fight for her and the things she stood for. Heero had never known peace and, for all the information he got, it could hardly classify as the best option for a soldier, yet he had defended it, he had helped humanity conquer it… All because he trusted her. 'Yes.'

She nodded, and he could see the conviction that now shone in her eyes. His heart started a mad race as she crossed the short distance between them. The distance had seemed almost infinite before, but now it took her only three steps to be standing right between his thighs, staring down at him hesitantly. Was she waiting for him to tell her what to do? He wanted to tell her to forget about it, that Dorothy would not let them starve to death and therefore she would eventually return and release them, but he was not sure he believed that.

'I think I should…' she laughed nervously as she turned around, but it did nothing to ease the tension. He was breathing loudly as she squatted slowly until her knuckles grazed the rough fabric of his trousers. His body seemed to reach out to her even though he was trying to shrink away. Relena fumbled with the button in quiet concentration. Heero tried to will his mind away from the situation or else the tightening in his groin might make it even more difficult for her to open that tricky button. He thought of Dorothy and all the horrible things he would do to her when he was free.

Then Relena lost her balance and fell on his lap, her bare arms hitting his chest. She took a sharp breath, shivering against him, and he knew she was aware… He knew she was aware of how much he really wanted her. 'I'm sorry.' Was all he thought to say.

'No…' she shook her head, intoxicating him with the smell of her hair. 'I am sorry.'

'I should have asked you out.' They said in unison and it was even more embarrassing than the fact that Relena had not moved from his lap and he had not asked her to. For some reason though, the silence that fell around them was not uncomfortable, merely regretful.

'Now would be a good moment for Dorothy to show up and say we passed her test.' Relena chuckled somewhat hopelessly for a moment.

Heero snorted and that pretty much said all he thought about Duke Dermail's granddaughter. He watched as Relena pushed herself back up. She had managed to pry open the button before she fell and now she went for the zipper. It proved to be a much simpler task, but they soon found themselves facing yet another problem. His ankles were bound apart which made lowering his trousers a difficult task. Relena turned around looking from his groin to his face as she contemplated the problem. She seemed to have overcome her embarrassment. Heero was not so lucky, he could feel himself blush under her gaze and scowled.

'Just yank at them until they are low enough.' He told her, amazed at how under control he managed to sound.

'Alright.' She nodded, stepping back between his thighs and turning around. It was not like they had any other choice.

Her hands followed his knee, up his thigh and then sideways where she grabbed a fistful of the fabric. He raised his hips as she tugged, thankfully his arousal seemed to be helping now instead of complicating things. Still, the jeans clung greedily to his skin and Heero knew they would be at that forever. He would have thrown his head back and groaned if he did not think it would have been inappropriate.

'Relena, stop.'

'What?' she turned around again to meet his eyes.

'This is ridiculous…' it was not a comment directed at her, but at their situation as a whole and she seemed to understand that. 'Even if you manage to lower my jeans to my ankles it will be impossible for you to fully remove them and they will only restrain my movements further and make things more difficult.'

'But, then…'

'Would it disgust you…?' he choked on the words.

'What?'

'Would it disgust you to touch me?'

She blushed that nasty red colour again, but managed to hold his gaze. 'I… I would not use that word.' Was all she said. He was sort of expecting her to tell him what word she would use, but he had the feeling she did not know it herself. 'Do you… Can you tell where the keys are?'

'Yes, I…' he had to clear his throat. 'They are not too far from…the surface. So you won't have to dig in too deep.'

She resumed her place between his thighs unasked. The mere thought of her hands on him was nearly driving Heero insane… He could only guess at what would happen when she effectively touched him, so he braced himself for it. Her hands settled on his chest before she trailed slowly downwards. If she were anyone else he would have sworn she was doing it on purpose, but it was Relena. He trusted her even if he could not trust his own body. She ended up with her head on his shoulder pushing her shoulders against him to keep her balance. If her hands had been tied in front of her, they would have been gone by now and Dorothy would be having nightmares about their upcoming revenge, but as it was Relena had a hard time getting her hands into his underwear.

When she finally did, he closed his eyes and hissed between clenched teeth. He tried to evoke his training, to regain that absolute control he had had over his body at some point, but to no avail. She was breathing just as hard as he was and right beside his ear. The smell of her hair, her perfume, her skin was all over him and the fact that he need only turn his head to be able to taste her was not lost on him. He bucked involuntarily against her hands and had to swear under his breath.

'I wished I could see your face.' She said and to his ears it sounded almost like she was moaning.

'Just be quick about it.' He urged her in a strained tone of voice and not even he was sure what he had meant by that.

Relena did find the offending keys rather quickly and retreated back to an almost innocent sitting position on his lap. He could feel her own desire soaking through his remaining clothes and that nearly undid him. Perhaps Dorothy was not the only one having fun at his expense after all… 'What are you going to do?' she asked quietly, a touch of worry to her voice.

'I was hoping you would open the handcuffs.' He frowned, unsure of what she had meant by that. He did not have to say it twice. She pulled away from him, touching the metal handcuff around his wrist until she found the key hole. Once his right hand was free, he took the key from her to unlock his left hand and both his ankles. 'I'm going to kill Dorothy. That's what I'm going to do.' He decided as he started tugging at the black ribbon around her wrists.

It came undone in a minute and Relena massaged her skin absentmindedly. 'I was hoping you would stay here with me a little longer…' she was avoiding his gaze on purpose, and he realised he had been staring at her. All of her. The blood had not fully returned to his brain yet. 'Maybe finish what we started?'

His heart sped up again and his entire body begged him to say 'yes'. 'Are you sure that's what you want?'

'Absolutely.' She took a step closer and met his eyes with a healthy blush and a loving smile. The most beautiful smile he had ever seen. He allowed her to lead him to the bed, all thoughts of revenge temporarily forgotten.