Prompted by Foxyladycpz: Duo and Heero boxing, with Trowa as a referee.
A/N: I know nothing about boxing except for what I just learned while reading how to properly tape your hands...
Warnings: Angst, language, violence, sex
Pairings: 1x2x3
Fight Night
Trowa wrapped the tape tightly, starting with a loop over the thumb and then over the back of the wrist and around three times.
"I appreciate you doing this."
Trowa looked up from the tape and arched an eyebrow.
"The tape. I don't know how to do that."
Trowa nodded.
Duo sighed.
"You think this is stupid."
Trowa shrugged one shoulder and returned to the tape, wrapping it over Duo's hand three times, then between his fingers.
"You'd do it, if you weren't still limping."
Trowa arched an eyebrow.
That was still a bitter subject for him, the wound from his last field mission. His last field mission, because the extensive surgery, the steel plate in his hip, the months of recovery and the fact that he would never have the full function of his left leg again all meant that that last field mission had been his last field mission.
"Sorry."
Duo's legs were jittery, a sign of his nervous energy.
"How is it stupid if I do it but not if you do it?"
Trowa snorted and gestured for Duo to hold out his other hand.
"Because I don't treat everything like a competition."
Duo made an offended noise.
"I do not treat everything like a competition. He's the one -"
Trowa gave him a look, and Duo shut up.
"Okay," he said eventually, after Trowa finished taping up his other hand and Duo flexed them. "Maybe we're competitive. Maybe I'm just as competitive as he is, but not about everything."
Trowa arched an eyebrow again.
"Sex isn't a competition," Duo pointed out, a leer on his face.
Trowa rolled his eyes.
"Fine. Sex isn't a competition. But this -" Trowa gestured to the boxing gloves on the bench beside Duo - "isn't sex. This is a boxing match. It's a competition. And you hate to lose to Heero just as much as he hates to lose to you."
"I'd rather lose to him than someone else," Duo muttered.
"And I'm sure he feels the same way, but that doesn't change the fact that tonight I'm going to be going home with both of you and someone is going to be cranky and both of you are going to be bloody and bruised and I'm not going to get laid."
Duo stared at him for a solid minute before he laughed and pulled Trowa close, tangling his fingers into the short hair at the nape of Trowa's neck and tugging slightly, until Trowa arched his head back and let Duo kiss him.
He could feel the smirk on Duo's lips, the teasing caress of his tongue and Trowa allowed himself to enjoy the kiss, the familiar, slow coil of arousal deep in his belly.
"I promise that Heero and I won't spend the entire night sulking," Duo said.
"Don't make promises you can't keep."
Trowa remembered the last time something like this had happened - two years ago, when Une had published the results of the PT tests, and Heero and Duo had spent months conditioning and training in attempts to achieve the best scores. It had been sheer luck that Wufei had actually scored better, and Trowa would forever be grateful for that, smug bastard that Wufei was about it, because he knew that it would have meant days or even weeks of snide comments at home.
But tonight there would be no last minute save from Wufei.
Tonight was Fight Night, the annual boxing match between the suits and the grunts, the Preventers intelligence officers and their field agents, and it would just be Heero and Duo in the boxing ring. Well, Heero, Duo and Trowa, who had not so much volunteered as insisted on refereeing the match.
For the last seven years the suits had won Fight Night, their victories assured by Heero Yuy's presence in their ranks. Strangely enough, over the last seven years, Duo and Trowa had always been away on assignment when Fight Night was scheduled. Duo had questioned that a few months ago, had gone so far as to call Heero out - Heero, who had a hand in most mission planning - and this year was the first that both Duo and Trowa were between missions.
Of course, Wufei was usually available, but he had sneered the first time the field agents had approached him about representing them - had called boxing an inferior form and refused to sully himself with it. He certainly wasn't above watching the damn thing - it was only because of him that Duo and Trowa even knew just how thoroughly Heero usually demolished his opponents in the ring.
Trowa glanced at Duo's long braid of hair.
"Do you have your bandana?"
Duo frowned.
"Yeah."
"Wrap your hair."
Duo arched an eyebrow, but then he shook his head and muttered to himself while he hunted in his locker for the red bandana he kept on hand when working out.
How many times, over the year, had Heero commented on what a liability he thought Duo's hair was in a fight?
And while part of Trowa agreed with Heero, another part of him was confident that Duo could overcome that liability easily - but a larger part of him knew that if Heero did try to take advantage of his braid there was every chance that Duo would shed his gloves and turn the fight into a bare knuckle boxing match that was guaranteed to result in at least one hospital visit.
Duo wrapped his hair in the bandana and then pulled on the battered boxing gloves.
"What's the prize for this again? Aside from bragging rights?"
Trowa arched an eyebrow and Duo sighed and rolled his eyes.
"I won't brag. Much."
"I think the pool was up to seven hundred dollars earlier today."
Duo whistled.
"Damn. I had no idea it was going to get that high."
Trowa shrugged.
"You're the first opponent who even has a chance against him."
Duo smirked, cocky and amused and Trowa resisted the urge to bang his head against the nearest hard surface. This was going to be such a disaster.
Duo punched his gloved hands together.
"Alright. You ready to watch me take down the Perfect Soldier?"
"I'm resigned to watching the two of you ruin my night," Trowa muttered.
Duo's lips twitched.
"Tro, it's not going to be like that hand to hand combat demonstration."
That hand to hand combat demonstration, that still, six years later, lived in infamy among the Preventers agents. Heero had roped Duo into giving the new recruits a demonstration of his… less than textbook maneuvers and after disabling every single opponent he faced in less than ten seconds, one of the recruits had suggested that Duo try to take down Heero. The result had been a fifteen minute struggle that had only ended when Trowa happened past and saw the two men dangerous close to strangling each other and pulled them apart.
"You realize the pool is so high because that's exactly what people think this is going to turn into."
Duo shrugged.
"People like a show. And ya gotta admit, Heero and I going at it is quite the show."
Trowa arched an eyebrow at the word choice and Duo laughed.
"Not that kind of going at it. Get your mind out of the gutter, Barton."
"I'd rather it was that kind of going at it."
It was Duo's turn to arch an eyebrow.
"You want me and Heero to fuck in public? Kinky."
Trowa refused to clarify what he had said - Duo knew very well that he wasn't interested in the entire world watching the two men have sex - and he wasn't in the mood to be baited.
He checked his watch. Almost eight.
"We should head down to the gym."
Duo nodded and jumped to his feet, dancing back and forth, loosening his muscles and probably working through his nerves.
As they walked down the hall from the locker room to the gym, Trowa became aware of the deep, thumping bass of music.
Wufei had said this thing was a party - some kind of excuse for agents to take out their aggression on each other and drink on the premises - and that he had seen men twice their age act half their age more than once.
A makeshift boxing ring had been set up in the middle of the gym, the stanchions from the mess hall were arranged in a rough square, and rows of folding chairs had been arranged around it.
It looked like half of the Preventers staff were in attendance - and Trowa was almost positive he saw Une sitting in the crowd.
As Duo entered a cheer went up from the field agents.
Duo had always been something of a god to them - everyone knew he was a former Gundam pilot, but they also knew he volunteered for dangerous missions that would have gotten most agents killed and usually came back without a scratch. The fact that he was chatty and friendly to them made all of the difference - Trowa knew that his own reputation among the other field agents was dramatically different. He was seen as being just as competent as Duo, more so by some, but scary as hell and a basket case to boot. Trowa didn't care much for the mess hall gossip, but as he looked at their peers cheering for Duo he felt just the faintest bit of jealousy. Not for Duo's charisma, but for the fact that Duo was still a field agent - still one of them.
And Trowa, with his gimp leg, was going to ride a desk for the rest of his career.
He forced himself to put that thought to the back of his mind. There would be plenty of time to wallow in self-pity late at night, when his insomnia and nightmares kept him from sleeping.
An even louder cheer went up when Heero entered the gym a moment later.
The intelligence officers far outnumbered the field agents, but the field agents did a good job of trying to out-shout them with chants of Duo's name as both men stepped into the boxing ring.
Trowa sighed and joined them.
Despite the feeling of impending doom, he allowed himself a moment to appreciate the sight of Heero and Duo in the satin boxing shorts, their bare torso's golden in the gym light, their faces set into determined, fierce lines.
It was common knowledge that the three of them were in a relationship, had been common knowledge for at least three years, ever since Duo and Trowa had last been partnered together on an escort mission and both ended up recovering in the med bay for three days and Heero had threatened to dismember the next nurse or doctor who tried to remove him from their room.
But this might be the first time that anyone saw the matching tattoos that Heero and Duo had, the spiral triskelion over their hearts. Trowa had the same tattoo, in the same location, but it was hidden under his black t-shirt.
Heero had been wary of the idea at first, of the three of them having a matching tattoo. He figured that if two of them were ever captured and the shared symbol discovered it would go badly for them, and while Trowa agreed with him, the likelihood of he and Duo ever being partnered together again after that escort mission was zero. Duo had also had mixed feelings about the tattoos, but when Trowa told them both the real reason he wanted it they had immediately set out to find a tattoo parlor.
While both Duo and Trowa were field agents, Duo tended to draw the missions that were of the go in and blow something up or apprehend the bad guy variety while Trowa usually spent weeks or months at a time undercover with terrorist cells. Having the tattoo, having even just that ink symbol on his chest and knowing the two of them had it as well had seen him through more than one difficult mission, had kept him grounded and reminded him that there was going to be an end to it, that he did have a home to go back to.
The crowd was still chanting Duo and Heero's names when Trowa signalled for that match to begin, and continued to chant as Duo and Heero circled around each other with predatory smirks on their faces.
They were lean and dangerous and maybe they were sexy as hell, but when Trowa stepped to the side of the ring all he could think about was the fact that they were about to beat the shit out of each other for no good reason.
As if to prove Trowa's point, Duo lunged forward and landed the first hit, a solid punch to Heero's left cheek that made Duo grin and Heero narrow his eyes.
The two minutes of that first round seemed to last forever, as the men danced and feinted around each other, neither landing a blow after that first by Duo.
Tension was thick in the air as Trowa signalled an end to the round and the two men backed away from each other.
The crowd called out, jeers and encouragements and all manner of insults that would never be tolerated during normal working hours.
Trowa rolled his eyes. Perhaps this was an accurate demonstration of why total peace seemed to elude humanity - they wanted blood. They wanted to watch two men who they knew were going to go home together punch each other until they were gasping and bleeding.
Which is exactly what Duo and Heero proceeded to do over the next five rounds.
By the time Trowa pulled them away after the end of the sixth round, both men were bleeding - Duo had a cut on his left eyebrow, and a split lip while Heero was sporting a bloody nose - and their flesh was already red and swollen. Trowa was sure that Duo was going to have a black eye and Heero was going to have to sleep on his left side instead of his right for the next few weeks while the bruises on his ribs healed.
They looked half crazed as they squared off for the final and seventh round, blood smeared on their faces, staining both of their lips and teeth as they bared their teeth in feral grins.
The crowd fell silent, had been quiet since the fifth round when Heero landed the blow to Duo's temple that resulted in the cut on his brow and two seconds of him laying completely still on the floor before he dragged himself up to his feet.
The match was close - either man could still win it off of this round - and Trowa resignedly signalled the start to the final two minutes.
It felt like an eternity, watching Heero and Duo land blows, block blows, pivot, pull themselves up from the ground and then finally, finally it was down to the last ten seconds and Trowa could hear his heart hammering just as loud as the crowd was cheering again. And then Heero landed a punch to Duo's stomach that had him doubled over and choking for air and that was it. The end of the match.
The intelligence officers cheered for their hero - the still undefeated Heero Yuy - and Heero allowed them to haul him out of the ring and parade him around on their shoulders while the field agents grumbled.
Trowa watched Duo draw in a deep, wincing breath and straightened.
He arched an eyebrow and Duo shrugged.
"I'll get him next time."
-o-
The drive home was silent.
Trowa sat in the back while Duo drove and Heero occupied the front passenger seat. It was their usual seating pattern, but Trowa was sure he wasn't the only one that felt the tension between Heero and Duo, Duo's simmering anger at losing and Heero's languid, triumphant smirk slowly driving that anger closer to a boil.
By the time Duo parked the car in the driveway, Trowa was contemplating getting back in the car and bunking at Wufei's for the night and let the two of them continue the fight without him there to referee.
He saw Duo wince as he pulled off his jacket and hung it on the door, saw Heero cringe as he did the same, and it suddenly struck Trowa as hilarious.
These two men would willingly - gladly - die for each other or murder the shit out of someone for each other's sakes, yet they were acting like pissy teenagers after a meaningless boxing match.
He laughed. He had too, looking at their wary, sulky expressions as they fought against the pain they had inflicted on each other.
Duo stared at Trowa as he laughed.
"I think he's laughing at us," Heero said when Trowa shook his head, still laughing, and walked out of the room and into the kitchen for a beer.
"Fuck. He is," Duo sighed.
He heard them following him and offered both men beers from the fridge as well.
He wasn't surprised when Duo, instead of opening his, pressed the cool bottle against his forehead.
Heero frowned and moved the bottle to the side and inspected the cut.
"I should clean that and bandage it for you."
Duo looked militant, as if he would rather let the damn thing get infected before allowing Heero to help him, but Trowa arched an eyebrow and Duo sighed.
"Yeah. Fine. Whatever."
Heero dug out the first aid kit in the bathroom and Duo sat down at the kitchen table and let Heero take care of the cut.
After Heero finished cleaning and bandaging the cut he trailed his fingers down Duo's face, to the cut on his now swollen lips.
"Does it hurt?" Heero asked, concern in his voice.
Duo had had far worse injuries - they all had - but Heero was looking at the swollen lip as though it was a limb facing amputation.
"I'll live," Duo said with a shrug.
Heero brushed his finger over the lip, his touch gentle, and Trowa heard Duo's soft intake of breath.
"I'm sorry," Heero said.
Duo looked up at him and then pulled him close, kissed him despite the pain the gesture had to cause.
"No you aren't, you smug bastard," Duo said when they pulled apart.
Heero smirked.
"I'm a little sorry," he amended.
Duo snorted.
"Yeah. That I'll believe."
They shared a fond look for a moment before Duo glanced over at Trowa.
"I promised him we weren't going to sulk all night," Duo said to Heero.
Heero followed his gaze and smirked.
"I take it he also complained to you about the fact that he wasn't going to get laid tonight after our match?"
Duo nodded and then two men exchanged another look.
This one, instead of being fond, resulted in them turning identical, predatory smirks on Trowa.
He felt his heart pound.
"It's a good thing I'm the one with the split lip instead of you," Duo said.
Heero nodded in agreement.
Trowa frowned.
"Heero's the one who's going to go down on you while I fuck you," Duo explained.
Trowa felt his mouth go dry as he pictured that. As he remembered just how good it felt when they had sex in the particular combination.
"But, you know, if you'd rather Heero and I just sit here and glare at each other all night…"
"You realize that I'm a desk jockey now, and next year I'm going to have the chance to kick your ass in this stupid fight instead of Heero."
-o-