First of all, I want to thank everyone who stuck with Dirty Job until the end. I know I kept you waiting a long time, so it means the world to me that you were still invested enough to read the finale and that many of you were so kind as to leave a review.
As for this story: I started writing it three years ago (!) and I only remember how long it's been because I actually had some fun editing together a trailer for it on YouTube and I could look the date up there. The story is mostly written, only the final couple of chapters are missing. What I figured I'd do, is start posting chapters at a reasonable pace, which gives me enough time to complete the final part of the story, if it is received well enough. Because what I realized, reading those final reviews for Dirty Job, is that I am still invested in this fandom and reading how much all of you are also still in love with these characters and are enjoying my interpretations of them, can still light a fire under my ass.
Overall story warnings: unbeta'd, sexual, violent content (graphic, at times).
GROUNDED
Part I – Heero's POV
Many things in life are difficult, he had learned in the last five years of peace, but running wasn't one of them.
Heero ran in front, forcing the team to keep pace with him. They had managed for the first eight miles, but for the past three laps he noticed that the distance between them gradually increased. He heard their pants and one of them was groaning in pain. He knew without having to look which one was in trouble and probably wouldn't make the twelve mile mark. Their breathing was shallow and too fast as all six of them struggled to stay on his tail.
His own breathing was controlled. In through the nose – out through the mouth. His gait was long to minimize effort – unlike his team's short little half-steps for which they had to work twice as hard. With the sway of his hips and the relaxation in his joints, he kept the impact of each step low. He knew his own body well and he knew that he could keep up his tempo for ten more miles, given the climate and simulated altitude. He loved to run. It was so easy.
"Am I going too fast for you?" He called over his shoulder, with no intention of slowing down.
"No, sir!" They chimed in unison; all but one, who couldn't even spare the breath to respond.
One lap later he noticed the falter in the rhythm of the footsteps behind him, after which he could only distinguish five sets of running shoes hitting the ground. Heero didn't stop. As they rounded the track, he saw him standing right where he had stopped running, doubled over, clutching his side in pain. Heero ran past him without acknowledging him. Behind him he heard one of the others ask their teammate if he was okay in passing.
"I'm fine…" he grunted.
Heero didn't understand their concern for their teammate, nor their sympathy. As their captain, he was not asking them to perform an impossible task; he never did. Heero was right there with them, on the tracks, on the obstacle course, on the shooting range, showing them that it could be done if they were focused and dedicated. If one of them wasn't willing to push himself, he was holding the entire team back. He was a weak link. They didn't understand yet how dangerous that would be on a mission, perhaps that was why they still had patience for the man, when Heero did not. The weak link was where the chain breaks, when everyone's life is hanging by that chain.
Heero didn't see a teammate unable to run twelve miles in preparation for an annual physical fitness and aptitude test, he saw a man who would need to be rescued during a mission and put everyone's life at risk.
He completed the final lap and stood on the white finish line, waiting for the five remaining members of his team to catch up.
Once they stumbled past the line, two of them laid down on the ground and the other three bent forward, putting their hands on their knees. The sixth teammate came stumbling towards them from where he had given up.
"None of you have been putting in the necessary training," Heero concluded.
They all faced him. One of the two women argued: "We finished well within time."
"Yes," he concurred.
"That's good enough to pass the test."
"It's not good enough in the field."
She rolled her eyes at him and straightened up, but she didn't say anything else.
Heero turned his attention to the one that hadn't been able to keep up. "Beck," he started.
"I know. I know… I'm working on it,… Sir." He was still out of breath.
"Obviously you're not working hard enough."
Beck nodded miserably. "I'm sorry, sir."
"The Twelve are still two months away," Viver snapped, she was always the one least afraid to speak her mind, "He can do it. He still has time."
"What if the team is deployed tomorrow?" Heero countered. "Would he still have enough time then?"
She wisely kept her mouth shut, rather than starting in on an argument they'd had before.
"It was like this last year too, Beck," the captain chastised. "If you had kept up your training, you wouldn't be in this position right now."
"I understand, sir. I apologize. I won't slack off again this time."
"Honestly, what did you expect?" Viver bit. She straightened her shoulders and glared at her captain. "You've kept us behind a desk for two years. We became Preventer agents to work in the field, but we've basically been working a nine to five as pencil pushers."
"Exactly. Leaving you plenty of spare time to train. Now hit the showers," he dismissed them.
Heero paid them no attention as he went to clear away the weights they had used for their earlier exercise, while the six of them dragged their feet back to the locker rooms.
He knew he'd need an Advil later in the afternoon, as had been the case every day for the past two weeks. Dealing with the group was more exhausting than he had anticipated, without the support of his co-captain. Usually, he preferred to step back and let Duo take charge. Duo could handle their assigned team much better than Heero could.
They had both joined the Preventer agency three years ago and chose to be stationed together at the L1 office, as opposed to the headquarters on earth. For the first year they worked missions as partners, until Une decided they should head their own team. Normally a single, senior agent would be nominated by Une to lead a team, but Une recognized that the two of them completed each other and she named them co-captains and assigned them six of the new recruits, who had graduated from the Preventer Academy that year with the highest marks. Within months, the team of newbies became Team One, achieving the highest rank in the agency.
Heero hadn't wanted to head a team, predicting the headache the hassle of social interactions would cause him, but Duo had convinced him. It wasn't for themselves, it wasn't because either of them coveted authority or the title of "Captain". With the support of the team, the two best agents in the agency could perform their missions with higher efficiency. Not much changed and Heero was grateful for that. They still went out into the field together as a twosome, unencumbered by the inexperienced team members, whose function was limited to research, communication, technical back-up, strategic planning and preparing the gear. During downtime they trained and ran drills with their team. The six were understandably eager to go out into the field, but Heero deemed they weren't ready yet.
He finished putting away the equipment and headed for the locker rooms himself. The locker rooms and indoor gym connected to the Preventer L1 Tower - overlooking the training field - with a glass walkway. The tower was modest in comparison to the headquarters on earth; just twelve floors of administrative offices, a communication center, a medical facility, holding cells, strategy rooms and work stations for the agents based out of L1.
Heero halted outside the door of the men's locker room as his ears picked up on a heated exchange.
"I can't wait for Duo to come back. Yuy is such a dick."
"I know. I can't deal with him. Fucking arrogant asshole."
He recognized the two voices as belonging to Haytham Grace and Luca Swafford. They never dared to talk back to him like Havana Viver, but he had overheard them complaining about him behind his back before. At least he could respect Viver for her honesty. Grace and Swafford had some of the highest scores on the twelve disciplines but they were hotheaded ego's that Heero would never trust to have his back in the field. Duo agreed: guys who talk smack behind your back, don't have your back.
As expected, the two men fell silent the moment Heero pushed the door open and stepped into the locker room. They looked his way and their mouths formed tight lines. The four men in the room acknowledged him with a forced, courteous nod.
Heero ignored all of them and retrieved his towel and his uniform from his locker and went to the shower stalls in the back. Once the water started running, the foursome felt comfortable enough to speak again, but they kept their voices hushed and Heero couldn't make out what they were saying. He didn't care about their pettiness. He knew they resented him for not letting them into the field and they resented his authority all the more because, even at the faked age of twenty-five, he was younger than any senior agent in the agency; the official age difference ranged from three to nine years.
Duo and Heero were the youngest team captains in the short history of the Preventer Agency, even with their documents backdating their date of birth by three years. But Duo was easy to like, so they could swallow his orders better than Heero's.
He showered quickly and got dressed in his uniform; forest green slacks, a moss green button-up and a Preventer jacket with his rank denoted on the shoulders, above the Preventer insignia. When he walked back to his locker, he noticed three of his team members were still there, in the process of getting dressed. Isra Beck had left to get back to work, but it appeared Thiago Rubo had stuck around to listen to Grace and Swafford talk shit about one of their captains.
They all stared at him in silence as he put his shower gel, shampoo and his duffel bag with his laundry into his organized locker. At the end of his shift he would come back to pick up his bag to take home with him. He slammed the locker shut and the three of them flinched. He regarded them coolly. "When you're done wasting time, you should get back to work."
"Yes, sir," Grace said through gritted teeth.
"Almost done, sir."
Heero nodded and stepped out. In the hallway he was met with the other members of the team, walking out of the women's locker room. Viver and Ming-Na Cho had been laughing about something, but they fell silent when their eyes landed on him.
Without a word the three of them went up to the first floor and walked down the glass walkway to the main building, where they stepped into an elevator together.
As they passed the fifth floor, Cho announced: "Beck and I will finish the analysis on the confiscated hard drive from case F-177 by the end of the day."
He didn't know why she informed him of that. He was counting on them finishing the analysis today, since it was their given deadline. He suspected she merely wanted to fill the silence. Duo also talked a lot when silences stretched on too long. Heero used to like the silence, but not anymore. Still, unsure of how to respond to Cho's redundant statement, he grunted: "Hn."
The doors opened on the tenth floor and the three of them stepped out and parted ways. Viver and Cho worked in the bullpen with the rest of the team, whereas Heero had the office he shared with his co-captain.
Although many agents accused the two of them of getting special treatment behind their backs, that really wasn't the case. Sharing a team meant sharing an office and while the square footage perfectly easily accommodated one desk and file cabinet, as was the case for the other team captains, they had two desks and two file cabinets crammed into their office. It didn't help that Duo wasn't particularly organized and he'd let paperwork gather in stacks on his desk and even on the floor. Heero preferred his work space empty, but with their desks pushed together, Duo's mess typically spilled over onto Heero's. It wasn't uncommon to be caught off guard by a tower of paper collapsing onto his own work, or for a cold cup of coffee to get knocked his way, or for a pencil pot to roll across his desk.
Heero accepted the hassle because in turn Duo kept their moody team in check.
When Duo had announced he had to spend two weeks on Earth teaching seminars at the Preventer Academy, Heero had hoped he'd at least get a lot of paperwork done in the meantime, without Duo's constant distractions. However, over the course of the past two weeks, the Japanese agent had discovered that Duo's presence really didn't interfere much with his work, instead, he found his absence jarring. Heero had trouble remaining focused, with that empty chair across from him. It was unsettling and that restlessness was reflected during the nights as well.
Thankfully, his co-captain was on his way back – his shuttle was scheduled to land on L1 in less than an hour – and once he was back, everything could return to normal.
Heero liked normal. He liked routine. It was easy. It was easy like running.
He booted up his laptop and got to work. He revised his mission report for F-177 after it was sent back to him by Major Kurasawa, their direct superior, who oversaw the L1 office. The mission report had been deemed incomplete and Heero wasn't surprised. He always relied on Duo to help him be as detailed as possible in his descriptions. The debriefing had been a nightmare too. In his defense, debriefings and mission reports had never been part of his training – Doctor J didn't need to know how or why he did any of the things he did, as long as the mission was completed.
It had been his first solo mission since he started working at the agency and it was disconcerting to realize how co-dependent he had become to be able to perform at this job.
The efficiency of his work was hindered by how often he caught himself checking the clock in the bottom right corner of the screen.
His phone, placed exactly perpendicular to his laptop, lit up and he couldn't keep his gaze from darting to the text on the lock-screen.
Duo Maxwell:
Guess who's baaaaack?
He reached for his phone, even though he shouldn't interrupt his work to answer a non-priority text message. He typed: Will you be at the office before 4:30?
Was gonna skip the rest of the day and crash at home.
Why?
My mission report is due at 4:30.
Didn't you hand that in yesterday?
Heero pursed his lips. I did. He sent it back. "Incomplete" he wrote.
I won't be of much help. I wasn't there, you know?
He was very well aware. It had been an adjustment and one that he didn't enjoy. Heero didn't like adjustments anyway, but that one least of all. He had gotten accustomed to working missions with Duo and writing the mission report together. I know. But you always know what Kurasawa is going to ask.
At first the only thing he received in return was one of those silly smiley faces; this particular one had his eyes closed and a blush on his cheeks. Duo knew better than to try to communicate with him through emoji's. Heero had trouble reading actual, human faces, let alone interpreting such infantile caricatures.
I'll be at the office at 4.
Hang in there. Help is on the way!
Then Duo added another one of those yellow faces and Heero didn't even bother to identify which one it was. They were all equally meaningless to him.
He further improved his mission report to the best of his abilities, forcing himself to add details that he felt were redundant. He was startled by a knock on the door.
"Yes?"
Cho appeared in the doorway. "Sir, we have finished the analysis for F-177 and we'd like to go over the recovered data with you."
He shot a look back at his computer screen. He preferred to keep working in solitude, even if the mission report was a nuisance, but Duo hadn't returned yet to step in, so the responsibility was Heero's. "Yes, of course."
He followed her to one of the conference rooms where she and Beck had set up their computers and used the projector to present their findings. They had cracked the encryption code on the hard drive that Heero had confiscated, following the clandestine arrest of two L2 smugglers. Heero could have deciphered it in half the time it had taken Beck and Cho, but F-177 wasn't a priority case and Major Kurasawa had ordered him to delegate the work load so he could write the mission report and brief the interrogating officer on the information they had gathered prior to the arrest, as well as sit in on the interrogations.
The data on the hard drive specified several smuggling routes and identified a small fleet's worth of shuttles used in the larger, criminal organization that the two men he had arrested were part of, which linked them to an existing Preventer case, as suspected.
At his command, Beck and Cho relayed the information to the investigative team in charge of case file Ct-245, a case Kurasawa was personally in charge of and would be taking with him when he transferred to HQ in two weeks.
His headache had swelled listening to the two of them explain their basic encoding procedures to him, like he wasn't widely acknowledged as the most skilled hacker in the agency. He realized he had forgotten to take his Advil and he was relieved when the presentation was done and he could return to the privacy of his office to have a cup of coffee and a painkiller.
With a quick pace he made his way through the hall, to his office.
Heero pushed the door to the office open and was met with a familiar face, sporting a smug grin he had seen more often than he liked.
Duo sat in his own desk chair – finally it wasn't empty anymore – with his feet propped up onto the desk; his dirty boots staining a manila folder. He tilted his head to let his sunglasses slip down to the tip of his nose and he peered at his co-captain with mischievous eyes. "Did ya miss me?"
Heero considered lying, but he decided against it. "Yes."
"Really?" The American was as perplexed as he ought to be at the admission.
"I need you to help me with my mission report."
"Ri~ght," he drawled and just smirked at him. He pulled his feet off the desk and straightened up. He took off his sunglasses and tossed them on top of the duffel bag that was on the floor. He jumped up from his seat and directed Heero to sit down at his laptop.
"I'm gonna get us both some coffee," Duo announced, "and then I'll help you fill in the blanks on the report, yeah?" Once Heero had seated himself Duo put his hands on his shoulders. "Or would you rather have tea?"
"Coffee."
"Coming right up. Loosen up." He gave his shoulders a firm squeeze before letting go and heading for the door. "We still have twenty minutes, plenty of time to get your report up to snuff for Major K."
Heero nodded and watched him leave for the coffee machine down the hall. Maybe he should have asked him to bring him a cup of water and an Advil too, but his headache had already gone.
His partner was quick to return. Duo dragged his chair around the desks to sit next to Heero. He made himself comfortable, sipped his coffee and asked questions about the mission so he could help compile an accurate report. Duo had a lot more patience for getting into the minute details that Heero preferred to dismiss as irrelevant. The details weren't irrelevant, not when the case went to court. Heero struggled to adjust to that; during the war, he didn't have to worry about the legal proceedings. But peace-time was different. Even little things mattered if they wanted to achieve justice.
They finished in fifteen minutes and Heero emailed the updated version to Kurasawa.
"So, how did it go with the kids?" Duo inquired, now that their work was done and he decided they should catch up.
Heero knew by then he was referring to the team when he said "kids" – it had been confusing in the beginning. "Fine."
Duo let out a hearty laugh.
"Beck couldn't complete the twelve mile run."
"No worries. We'll whip him into shape before The Twelve."
"They need to be ready for more than just an annual test, Duo."
"They're not going out in the field anytime soon anyway," he countered with a wink, "my co-captain thinks they aren't ready."
"Your co-captain is right."
"He usually is," Duo replied smartly and he finished the last of his coffee, not caring that the drink had gone cold.
"When is WuFei flying in?"
Duo grimaced. "I just spent two weeks with the guy, do we really have to talk about him?" Correctly reading his partner's look, he answered in defeat: "He needs a few more days to wrap up his work at the Academy. He'll be here next week."
"You sound thrilled." Duo was about the only person who Heero could read – a little – because he was so overtly animated. When his tone was flat like that, Heero knew he wasn't excited.
"I got a taste of what it's going to be like to work with him. No, I'm not thrilled," he deadpanned.
"Not 'work with him'. Work under him."
The other agent let out an exaggerated groan. "Don't remind me."
WuFei was being promoted to Major and with Kurasawa's transfer in mind, he had been assigned to take over control at the L1 office. "You were offered the position first. You turned it down."
"Yeah, well maybe I wouldn't have if I had known they'd call in Captain Rule-Book."
"Major Rule-Book," Heero corrected offhandedly.
"Oh God, what have I done?!" He exclaimed dramatically and then shook his head at himself. "Nah, who am I kidding. I still wouldn't have wanted that job. If that job means Major K is a glimpse into my future, I say: thanks, but no thanks."
"Kurasawa is a respectable man."
"Exactly," the American grinned and mouthed: "boring".
The door opened without a knock and the Major leaned into the room. He never knocked. "Yuy, thank you for updating the report in a timely manner."
"Of course, sir. Does it meet your requirements?"
"It does. Beck and Cho briefed me on the intel recovered from the hard drive, it could prove to be pivotal in the Ct-245 case. Thank you for taking on F-177, even though your team was incomplete," he nodded at Duo who had been missing for the action, "Duo, good to have you back."
"Thank you for lying, sir. You are too kind," Duo shot back glibly. Everyone in the office joked that Kurasawa had aged ten years since Duo was assigned to the L1 office. He was an excellent agent – his performance second only to Heero's - but he had his own way of interacting with authority figures and testing their limits.
"You're welcome. I was notified Major Chang will arrive next week. I look forward to handing you over to him."
"I understand, sir. No hard feelings."
"Hn." He offered them both a curt nod as a way of saying goodbye and then stepped out, closing the door behind him.
Heero shot Duo a confused look when the man started giggling uncontrollably.
"I just realized," Duo managed between laughs, "Kurasawa is a glimpse into your future! And it is sca-ry."
Heero felt a smile tug at the corner of his mouth and he didn't stop it from happening because Duo had made him promise he never would again. He wasn't comfortable showing his emotions, but at least there wasn't much that could make him smile, so he didn't have to worry too much about it. Besides, whenever something did manage to draw a smile to his lips, he was always alone with Duo and he knew he was safe. Duo wouldn't use his emotions against him, or punish him for them.
Duo stopped laughing and focused on Heero's features. "I missed you, ya know?"
The Japanese agent swallowed and looked away.
Duo chuckled and patted his knee. "I know, I know." He pushed his chair back to his own desk. "I guess since I'm here anyway, I might as well get some work done."
They worked in quiet until six thirty. Even though the team had continued to handle cases and update the administrative work, Duo's responsibilities had been piling up for two weeks and he had a lot to catch up on. Usually, he cut out at six, like the rest of the team, but he stuck around and worked until he noticed Heero boot down his laptop.
"Ready?"
Heero rubbed his eyes. "Hmhm."
"Don't tell me you're tired," he bantered and added a wink.
"No. I'm fine."
They both grabbed their car keys and Duo stored his Preventer-issues handgun in the lockbox in his drawer. "Maybe you should take some work home with you," Heero suggested. Duo still had a big pile to work his way through, it would be wise to get a head start.
"I really don't plan on working tonight."
"Hn." Heero fiddled with his keys, waiting as Duo slipped on his leather jacket.
"Let's go." Duo led the way through the hallway to the elevator, along the way saying goodnight to the few co-workers that were still in their cubicle. Everyone seemed happy to see Duo had returned. He was universally liked.
They stood shoulder to shoulder in the elevator after Duo had pressed the button for the underground parking garage.
"Hold the elevator!" Someone called and Duo inserted his hand between the automatic door, prompting them to open back up. An agent that Heero recognized as the communications liaison of Team Three joined them in the small space. She nodded at Heero and flashed Duo a pretty smile. "Thanks."
"No problem."
The doors closed and the next twelve seconds Heero had to listen to their rushed exchange as the woman asked Duo about his stay on Earth, at the Academy – apparently she had family there. She was talking a mile a minute. Duo had mentioned her to Heero before; he said she had a crush on him. Heero had no idea how Duo could come to that conclusion with such certainty - she talked a lot, but she talked a lot to everyone, with Heero being the obvious exception, of course - but he had no reason to doubt his partner's observation.
When they reached the underground parking garage, each headed for their own car. Duo and Heero had been allocating neighboring parking spots close to the elevator, whereas the other agent was parked somewhere in the back. She waved goodbye and walked off, disappearing between the rows of cars. Two other agents were standing by their cars, talking and only paused their conversation to greet her and halfheartedly wave at Duo and Heero.
Their two cars were identical black SUV's; a company car was one of the advantages of being named captain.
"I'll see you tomorrow," Heero said.
Duo grinned. "Bright eyed and bushy tailed. I miss you already." He saluted him and then climbed into his vehicle. Duo sped off.
Before driving home Heero checked his email on his phone after the screen had lit up with a notification. Realizing it was work related but not an emergency, he pocketed his phone and drove away.
It was a short commute. Everything was a short commute on the colonies, even on L1, despite it being the biggest. Traffic jams were kept under control and exhaust fumes were regulated by not allowing every citizen to drive a car. Only a few professions warranted the use of a motorized vehicle. Everyone else used the elaborate, underground metro system, which was offered to the inhabitants free of charge to enable everyone's mobility.
Heero was grateful that he did have a car. The car was easy. He didn't like the underground trains; relinquishing control without a readily available exit strategy set off all kinds of alarm bells and he got so tense he couldn't function.
The white, modern house was quietly located, in as green a neighborhood as could be expected on a man-made colony in space. The footprints of the houses on the street were small, to make the best use of the available square footage, but with four floors, it was plenty spacious. The kitchen and dining room were on the ground floor, but a metal staircase on the outside of the house led up to the front door on the first floor, which was the living room. On the floor above there was a bathroom and two small bedrooms that had been converted into a gym and a home office. The bedroom with a small ensuite bathroom was on the top floor. Every room felt bigger than it was thanks to the big windows; they were mirrored on the outside, so the neighbors couldn't look in.
Heero pulled up and parked his car on the driveway, behind the other car. His phone beeped again, another non-emergent work email. It appeared Cho was working late. Heero knew it was wrong, but she was his favorite of the group. She was reliable and dedicated. However, she did need a lot of instructions, she wasn't a good independent worker. He quickly typed his reply:
Go home. This can wait until tomorrow.
It wasn't like him to tell someone to drop their work, but he knew she'd be contacting him all evening otherwise and he didn't want to get dragged into working that night. He switched his phone to silent and climbed out of his car and headed up the stairs.
He closed the front door behind him and listened to the music that played. He shrugged his Preventer jacket off his shoulders and hung it from the hook by the door and then he put away the leather jacket that had been strewn across the couch. Heero liked the house clean and organized, although maybe not quite as clean and organized as it had been for the past two weeks; it had looked like no one was even living there.
Footsteps came rushing down the stairs. "Already cleaning up after me," a boisterous voice said.
Heero turned and another small smile appeared on his lips. "Welcome home."
Duo closed the distance between them and crashed his mouth against Heero's. He wrapped his arms around his smaller body and lifted him up, holding him tightly against him. Their tongues sparred and Duo nipped at Heero's bottom lip. He was being more rough and sloppy than he usually was and the kiss was almost painful but Heero wanted more of it regardless. Duo lowered Heero back down until his feet were firmly planted on the floor again, freeing his hand to roam across his back and tug on his wild hair.
"Longest two weeks and two and a half hours of my life," the American muttered. He rained kisses along Heero's jaw and sucked on a sensitive spot on his neck before changing his mind and capturing the other's mouth again in a kiss that was getting no less needy. The opposite, in fact. "Wanted to kiss you at the office so bad."
"We can't," Heero breathed.
"I know. Fuck, I know." He forced his tongue into Heero's mouth, exploring it and reclaiming it as his own. "Wanna fuck you. Gonna fuck you so hard."
Heero could only moan in response. He didn't feel like himself whenever Duo touched him like that, kissed him like that, and talked to him like that. He wasn't himself and it was so liberating. It was so easy to let go of his control and let Duo overwhelm him. It was so easy.
The American agent pulled his own shirt off over his head and then got to work on the buttons of Heero's shirt. Heero helped, knowing that if it took too long, Duo would get patient and he'd pop the buttons ripping the shirt off him. The cuff caught on the watch on his left wrist and Duo chuckled before freeing his hand and letting the moss green fabric drop to the floor.
However, the smile melted off his face when his gaze traveled down Heero's exposed torso and something dark and scared appeared in his eyes. He reached out his hands, placing the left on the small of Heero's back, pulling him closer and holding him in place, while the fingers of his right hand carefully traced a scar that was still red and sensitive. "This is new," Duo observed, his voice was low and dangerous.
Heero looked down at the jagged scar under the lowest rib on the right side. He had forgotten all about it, like he always forgot about his scars. His skin was riddled with them and soon the new mark would blend in with the rest once the redness had faded and all that remained was a raised line. Maybe that one would be a little uglier than the rest, because it had been stitched so poorly, but Heero didn't care about ugly.
"You said there hadn't been any problems during the mission," Duo accused.
The whine that escaped him was so pathetic that it made him blush with embarrassment. He clawed at Duo's broad shoulders. He didn't want him to stop; he didn't want to talk. "It's fine."
"It's not fine!" Unknowingly Duo pressed his thumb into Heero's side, aggravating the newly healed wound. Heero tried, but couldn't stop himself from wincing in response; he didn't want to see that guilty expression on his partner's face. Duo relocated his hand to cup Heero's chin. He whispered: "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. But it's not fine."
"It's only a shallow cut."
"But they hurt you…"
"The second guy got the jump on me. According to the intel there'd be only one. I disarmed him easily enough."
"You shouldn't have gone on a mission alone," he lightly berated him. "Why did you leave this out of your mission report?"
"It's nothing…"
"And did you stitch this yourself?" Duo snorted at himself. "Obviously. This is classic Yuy-stitch-work." He pointedly looked at his own bicep where he had been grazed by a bullet during the war and Heero had been tasked to stitch the wound. The old scar was just as ugly as the new scar under Heero's ribs.
The Japanese man pinched his eyebrows together. He didn't like talking about the war. Talking about it invigorated the memories and made it seem like it was yesterday, like it was that morning, like it was that afternoon and like it would be tomorrow. His aged scars were the only things that could remind him how long ago in the past it all was.
The newest scar was five days old. Heero squeezed his eyes shut. It was five days ago. It's not here. It's not now. The groaning of the exhausted metal shell of the shuttle that he heard wasn't real. The stench of sweat from the bunk beds wasn't real. The warmth of blood on his hands wasn't real.
He pushed Duo's hand off his chin and collided their mouths in a desperate kiss. He knew how to coax his tongue out to take control. He knew how to drive Duo wild and to get him to give him what he needed. Two big hands grabbed his ass and lifted Heero up. He locked his arms around Duo's neck and let himself be carried to the couch. He was laid on top of the backrest, it was wide enough and soft enough for him to lay securely and comfortably. He'd been fucked there many times before; on the backrest or bent over it.
Duo stripped him of his shoes, socks, pants and underwear. He spit into his hand and then enveloped Heero's erection. The skin of his palm was rough, like Heero's own, calloused hands, but the saliva made it slick enough to wring cries from him as the fist pumped up and down. With his other hand Duo unbuttoned his jeans and he spat directly onto his erect cock. He spread it over his own length and spat again.
"Please, please, please…" Heero wasn't himself anymore and it was amazing. His calves were maneuvered up over Duo's shoulders. He used to get self-conscious about how exposed he was to Duo when the man first had sex with him, but he had let go of that, knowing of the rewards. He groaned like an animal when he felt the head of Duo's manhood press against his opening. He grasped at the cushions of the couch and gritted his teeth while he was stretched open by the thick shaft going into him. It hurt. He knew it would hurt less if he'd let Duo prepare him and get the lube from their bedroom upstairs, but the pain was part of his pleasure. The pain replaced the dull throb of the new scar. He knew he would feel it the rest of the day and tomorrow as well, but that was exactly what he needed. Pain anchored him. The pain made Duo real. The pain made his new life real. The pain made peace real. It was the only pain he knew outside of the war, outside of missions, and he needed it for balance. Sometimes, he wished Duo would scar him, or bruise him, so he couldn't only feel it, but see it too.
Duo's thrusts were deep and powerful. As he pounded into him, the swollen crown stroked past his prostate and the sensitive bundle of nerves was set alight. The stretch, the fullness, the friction and the stimulation of his sweet spot all worked together to make him see stars. The pleasure blanketed the pain. Duo's fist was still on him, but he only held him tightly at the base, squeezing to remind Heero to stay his orgasm.
Sex with Duo offered him such relief from himself that he could come in a matter of minutes, but he knew it was better to make it last as long as they could both bear.
"Fuck… Nnnn. Oh, God." He could never stay quiet during sex. In the silence he could think, and he didn't want to think. "Harder, Duo! Faster!"
The man obliged with a feral growl. The fingers of his left hand dug into Heero's thigh, into an old bullet wound that he had personally been the cause of. "You fucking love being fucked open."
It was a truth he was well aware of, but to have Duo snarl it at him unraveled his mind further. He curled his toes and bucked his hips involuntarily, moaning as he thrust himself into the tunnel of Duo's hand. "Make me come, please! I can't stand it any longer! Ah!" Mercifully, his partner jerked him off. His hand was rough, no longer slippery with saliva, but it was exactly what Heero needed. Before long he was overcome by his own orgasm and he felt streaks of his semen land on his chest and abdomen as the first contractions of his climax were powerful; the rest of his come leaked out over Duo's hand, making his fingers slick again and the touch less course while he milked the hypersensitive penis.
Once he had eased him through his release, Duo gripped both Heero's thighs, hard enough to hurt, and he thrusted into him erratically until he achieved his own climax. He called Heero's name before biting into his calf.
Heero was barely aware of any of it. His entire body was relaxed, the way it only was right after sex. His eyes were closed and he saw nothing; no flashes of unwanted memories. He didn't know how much time had passed when he heard Duo's breathy chuckle and finally cracked his blue eyes open.
"I missed you."
He considered lying again. But he was a horrible liar, especially when he was so sated. "I missed you too."
Duo kissed the bite mark he had left on Heero's calf and then pulled out and helped Heero sit up. "Can you get up? Otherwise my come is going to leak out onto the couch." His grin was entirely too self-satisfied.
"Hn." Heero got up on unsteady legs and just in time too, as he felt something wet trailed down the inside of his thigh. He looked over his shoulder and checked the couch, but other than his sweaty imprint on the leather, it had been spared.
They went upstairs and showered together and Duo started fretting over the scar again, ruining Heero's buzz, but at least he had the pain in his backside to remind him that he was home and not stowed away on a smuggler's rickety shuttle, waiting to ambush the pilot. They ordered in Chinese and ate it seated on the floor at the coffee table. Duo switched on the TV and picked something for them to watch. He would have asked Heero what he wanted to see, but he knew Heero would have no opinion on the matter. Afterwards they both drank two beers while Duo recapped his two weeks on Earth with colorful terms. Heero didn't have much to say about his two weeks alone. Duo already knew more about mission F-177 than he should and Heero didn't feel like talking about the team giving him attitude – it was nothing Duo wasn't already aware of anyway – nor his evenings alone at home, when he'd turn on the TV, with no intention of watching anything, just to drown out the quiet once in a while.
With Duo around, there was never silence and he had grown comfortable with that.
Duo was tired and he wanted to go to bed early. Heero followed him upstairs to join him in bed. As they lay side by side under the blankets, in only their underwear, Duo's hands started to wander. He pulled Heero against him and sweet kissed turned hungry. He wasn't too tired to make out and masturbate together, while reminding Heero over and over how much he had missed him.
Afterwards, Heero lay on his side, with Duo spooning behind him, his big arms possessively clutched around him and his nose pressed into the hair at the nape of his neck. Duo's breathing was evening out as he started to fall asleep. Heero should be tired too, but he wasn't, he was restless. He felt like tossing and turning, flinging his arms and moving his legs, but he couldn't, not in Duo's embrace. He stared at the clock and waited for Duo to fall into a deep enough sleep that he could extricate himself from his hold without waking him. Duo didn't like it when he wasn't in his arms and he didn't want to deny the man the peaceful sleep.
They weren't a couple. Heero didn't know what they were exactly, but there weren't a couple. Even though they had sex – and had been having sex for the past two years. Even though they were living together – and had been living together for the past eight months.
The sex, they had agreed early on, was just a necessary physical relief. They could get it with someone else, but it wasn't quite as good, nor quite as thorough. Neither could fully let go while being intimate with someone else; neither could let go of that alertness and distrust that had kept them alive in the past. They only trusted each other and they knew they were safe together. Heero confessed that his distrust had kept him from ever having sex with anyone else before and Duo said he wished he could say the same – Heero didn't quite understand that.
They were a good fit, sexually: Duo liked being rough and Heero liked getting roughed up.
Them living together had evolved more gradually. When they moved to L1, after both spending some time apart – Heero on earth and Duo on L2 – Duo bought the house with money he had saved up while Heero got a lease on a studio apartment closer to the office. It was small, but he didn't need much space. He only needed a bed, a shower and a kitchen. But when they had sex, it was common for them to sleep over. When they had sex more often, Heero spent more time at Duo's house than at his own apartment, until at one point they both realized sheepishly that Heero hadn't been home in three weeks. Heero went back to his apartment and they spent that night apart. In the morning, at the office, Duo cornered him and said simply, with a low tone: "I didn't like it". Neither had Heero, but he didn't admit it. After work, he went to his apartment, packed a duffel bag, and he went home. His home was with Duo. He couldn't explain it, but it was what it was.
Living with Duo was easy. Heero felt safer and more at ease, sharing a home with the other former Gundam pilot and second-best Preventer agent. Two pairs of eyes and ears were better than one. Sometimes, the Japanese agent allowed himself to let his guard down, trusting Duo to have his back.
Duo chased away the silence.
Duo released him of himself.
Duo anchored him to the present.
What he did in return to pay him back, he wasn't entirely sure, but he did let Duo hold him while he slept, even though being together in the middle of the bed meant they were both further away from their handguns in the holsters taped to the underside of either bedside table.
Hoping that Duo had slipped away into unconsciousness far enough to not notice Heero disentangling himself, Heero grabbed the other man's wrists and worked his arms open so he could roll out of his embrace. He was seated on the edge of the bed, about to get up, when fingers grazed the small of his back and hooked into the waistband of his underwear.
"Even tonight?" He asked brusquely.
Heero looked over his shoulder at Duo's face. The man had his eyes closed, too tired to open them. "Every night," he reminded him. The urge to apologize came and went. He checked the clock again. It was still early, he should just get it over with and then he could catch several hours of sleep before the alarm would go off at six am. It was scheduled to rain in half an hour, but he didn't mind.
Duo pulled his fingers out of Heero's underwear and retreated his hands. "Wake me when you get back, okay?"
"Hmhm." He got up from the bed and fetched his running gear from the closet and he tiptoed down the stairs. In the living room he got dressed in his skintight shorts, a tank top and a hoodie and he laced up his running shoes.
The atmosphere outside was warm and clammy in preparation of the rain. He pulled up his hood and headed down the street.
He didn't just run, he sprinted. He sprinted as hard as he could, for as long as he could. His legs and arms became sore from the exertion and with every greedy intake of breath his lungs hurt. He didn't think about anything other than the pain and he focused on the sounds of his own harsh breaths.
The rain started to fall, precisely on schedule. The heavy downpour quickly soaked through his hoodie and he knew he'd get cold later but he couldn't stop yet. If he wanted to be able to sleep, he had to utterly exhaust his body. Unless he completely drained his body of energy, he couldn't stop himself from reacting to every small sound – even the sounds that he knew were in his head only, like the creaking of metal as it warped around him and distant explosions.
When he felt he was reaching a point where his body could collapse from exhaustion, he started heading back. His pace gradually slowed down and he had to fight against his own body, against his cramping muscles and the sharp pain in his side, to keep it moving forward. By the time he arrived back at the house, he couldn't even climb the stairs up to the front door. He doubled over and let himself drop down into the small grass lawn out front. He gave himself a moment to catch his breath, to let his lungs stop burning and wait until he had control over his own legs again. He didn't know how long he had been gone, but it was long enough and if he didn't want to pass out in the front yard, he knew he had to head inside and go to bed.
He climbed up the stairs clutching at the bannisters and practically hoisting himself up the last few steps to the bedroom on the top floor. He was wet from the rain and his own sweat, but he was too tired to shower. He stripped off his clothes and crawled into bed.
Duo lay on his back, fast asleep and Heero positioned himself close to him and rested his heavy head on his bare chest.
The taller man woke up with a groan and reactively he encircled Heero with his arm. "Hey."
"…Hey," he breathed against his chest.
"Tired?"
"Hmhm." He sighed pleasantly when fingers delved into his wet hair.
"You're cold and wet," Duo pointed out, his voice laced with concern.
He tried to push himself up and get away from Duo so he wouldn't have to deal with a wet mop of hair on his chest, but he honestly couldn't move.
"Go to sleep, Heero. It's okay."
"Hnn."
"Want me to tell you something boring?"
Heero could feel Duo's smile as he pressed his lips against his forehead. "Please."
The man told him about meaningless gossip that he had picked up during his stay on Earth and his struggles with the coffee-machine in the teachers' lounge at the Academy. He rambled on in a flat tone, leaving out his usual, story-telling flourishes. The chest that Heero's head rested on vibrated as Duo produced his deep voice.
His head became heavier and heavier and it was like he was sinking into Duo's body. He fell asleep while Duo continued to idly speak to him.
TBC…
Some things you should know about this story:
1. This story will feature switching POV's, alternating between Duo and Heero
2. This story will not be as lemon-filled as this first chapter implies
3. Chapter length will vary widely
4. It is as cannon as it can be, considering the author hasn't viewed the original material (in full, at least) in nearly a decade.
Thank you for giving this first chapter a shot. Let me know if you're on board.