CaseyCuervo: Thanks :)

Snowdragonct: Thank you for reading and reviewing. I hope you will stick with the story to find out how this is going to blow up in everyone's faces. There is definitely sadness up ahead and plenty of warning signs along the way. I'm very sorry to have kept you waiting for so long, but I hope you will like this update.

Color2413: I hope you will continue to read to find out how/if they pull it off. Thank you for your support :)

PrussianTails: Duo and Heero were my introduction to yaoi as well and I haven't deviated much from them since that discovery many years ago. Other couples come and go, but Duo and Heero are definitely THE OTP. Thank you very much for reading my story and for leaving a review. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting all this time.

Dyna: Thank you very much.

Zombietdactyl: Thank you for your review, I hope you will enjoy this long awaited update.

Guest: Thank you very much. I'm glad you are enjoying it. Sorry for the long wait, I feel really bad about it, but I hope a writer's block like this won't happen again.

JJ: Thank you for your review! The entire story is already planned out, I know exactly how it's going to end. This is true for all of my WIP's. I hope you will continue to read the story to find out :)

ToXicStArCaNdy: I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter. My apologies for the long wait, I hope you will like this update as well.

Shin-Guest: I'm glad the website offered some depth for you. Big mansions always have a lot of bedrooms, even when the current resident has no use for them. It was fun designing the house, I do it for all residences in all my stories, it helps me envision the environment, but for Dirty Job I thought it would be helpful for the reader to get to see the layout as well. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting so long, but I hope you will like this new chapter. Thank you for your review.

Celestinasong: Thank you very much. Typos will always be my kryptonite :S

CircleKV12: Thank you for another supportive review, I really appreciate it :) I understand "Brothers" is off putting to most readers. I hope you've given "Three" a try and that you enjoyed it.

NekoA1: I certainly hope it won't be straightforward. Thank you for your review and let me know what you think of this update.

Sei: Thank you so much for your incredibly kind review. It left me speechless (but I'm never speechless for long, so…). I'm so happy to read you are enjoying the story, I hope I won't disappoint you. Trust me when I say I feel horrible for taking this long to update, I hope it won't happen again. Thank you again for your kindness.

Hikaru Itsuko: Thank you very much for taking the time to share your thought with me. I hope you will like this update. Sorry for the long wait.

Duaimei: My muse has been a little devil as of late, I'm afraid. I'm sorry it took me so long to get this chapter out. Thank you for your review.

Nyebe: Thank you for giving this story a chance and for taking the time to leave a review. It means a lot to me. I'm glad you like the side-characters as well. More breakthroughs in the future! Thanks again :)

Negasonic Teenage Warhead: I'm so sorry for the long wait. I feel horrible. I hope you will like this update and I'll do my best to not let this long absence happen again.

DejaVu: Thank you very much :)

Aena: I'm happy you like Gerry. I'm so sorry to have kept you waiting for so long, hopefully this update will make up for some of it.

Wind Dancer 1981: There is definitely sadness up ahead, but I can't spoil the ending for you. I hope you will keep reading to find out what happens.

Epifonia: Thank you very much for your kind word, it means a lot to me. I hope you will like this new chapter.


Author's note:

I am very sorry for my incredibly long absence. I don't know what happened but obviously something did happen and it flicked a switch in my brain and I simply couldn't write. In fact, the mere thought of writing made me angry and exhausted and discouraged. I'm not 'back on the horse' quite yet, but I've reached a point in my 'writer's block treatment' where I felt it was manageable enough to be able to write something and I knew it wasn't fair to keep you guys waiting any longer. However, to keep it doable, I've kept the chapter short. I didn't want to push myself and only end up resenting the work and giving up on it/myself all over again.

I hope you will like this chapter, please let me know what you think, I could really use the encouragement at this point.

Next, I'll be working on "Brothers", for which the final chapter might be split into two parts if I need to stick to this short-chapter-strategy.


Dirty Job

Chapter Nine

The conman arrived at the mansion on Sunday, right on time, for sushi. He really didn't like sushi, but that was the least of his concerns.

Gerry's greeting was professional, but his smile was warm. "It's good to see you again so soon, master Maxwell."

"Please don't call me that." Duo made a face at the older man.

"What would you prefer me to call you, sir?"

"Just call me Duo."

Gerry's lips tightened at the suggestion.

Smugly, Duo pointed out: "It would be rude if you refuse to heed my request."

"That is correct. Follow me… Duo." He started towards the double doors underneath the twin winding staircases. "Master Yuy is in the TV room."

Duo stopped dead in his tracks. "He watches TV?" His tone was hopeful, but equally confused.

"CNBC stock exchange."

The American was disappointed, but he shouldn't have expected differently. He fell in step behind the butler and was led to the left in the main gallery. The second door to the right was open and Duo could hear the indiscriminate murmur of voices. Gerry stopped in the doorway, rapped his knuckles on the doorpost and announced Duo's presence.

Yuy was seated on the couch, facing the television, his back towards the door. He didn't acknowledge Duo, nor Gerry. The butler mumbled an apology when he noticed his employer had his cellphone to his ear. He gestured for Duo to head inside. In a whisper he offered Duo coffee, but the offer was declined. He offered a different refreshment of choice, but was declined again. With a bow he excused himself.

Duo stood merely two steps into the room. The TV room was connected to the formal living room, which in turn was connected to the kitchen. He peered through the open archways at the distant sound of activity and observed a chef, sous-chef, two maids and Gerry bustling about in the kitchen. Dinner was nearly ready, by the look of it. Gerry directed the maids to finish setting the table in the formal dining room while he kept an eye on the chefs and stepped in wordlessly whenever his assistance was required.

The businessman ignored all of it. He was focused on the television screen, leaning forward. He had the phone to his ear but hadn't spoken a single word. A newscaster was giving an analysis of the plummeting stocks of some company that didn't interest Duo.

He was unsure of what to do. Of course it irked him that Yuy was preoccupied with work when he had let it be known previously that he didn't appreciate that and for some reason he had hoped Yuy would take that to heart. But he was too far along in the game to give up on principle. He checked his reflection in the glass of a display cabinet with valuable but impersonal trinkets. He had made the bold decision of wearing all black again, hoping it would provoke something if he just stuck with it. His torn, black jeans were entirely inappropriate for dinner at the mansion and his turtleneck was too tight and bared the small of his back whenever he sat down, but as much as he resented it, he wanted to present himself to Yuy as a sexual being – maybe even as a sexual object. Considering the extreme reaction the implication of sex had caused before, he wanted to subtly probe further and gauge the man's reaction. He had to keep gathering information.

Satisfied with his looks and mustering up the confidence to make it through another evening with the cold-hearted man, Duo circumvented the couch and plopped down next to Yuy on the plush cushions; both of them bouncing in their seats as his weight settled. He flashed a grin when a blue gaze darted his way.

Yuy spoke, in Japanese, only curtly before disconnecting the line and placing his phone on the coffee table.

"Trouble?" Duo wondered, although he really couldn't care less and he didn't expect much of an answer.

"I've been trying to buy Gallagher Holding since last quarter but the board kept holding out on me. Now that their stocks are down, they want to take us up on our last offer. Of course that offer no longer applies. The company isn't worth half what we were willing to pay before."

Duo raised his eyebrows, surprised that Yuy actually bothered to explain it to him. "Do you still want to buy it?"

"Yes. Even more now that it's on sale," He said coolly.

"But isn't it pretty much worthless now?"

"As a company, yes. But there are sub departments that I want, which are still very valuable when merged with one of my companies."

"So it's like a busted-up car? As a car it's useless, but you can strip it for parts."

Yuy nodded. "Last month it was an older model sedan with engine problems, but right now it's a total loss. The parts I need still work, so it's just as valuable to me, but technically it's worthless, so the GH board has to drop the price."

Duo pursed his lips. "Isn't that kinda… unfair? If it's still profitable to you, why not pay him what you offered before? It's not like you don't have any money to blow, and the owner of the company needs the money more than ever."

The sparkle that was in the blue eyes before faded away when the eyes narrowed at Duo's comment, which seemed to register as an insult. "It's not unfair. They could have sold-out months ago, but they were arrogant and overestimated their ability to turn it around in the next quarter, in an economic climate that has only gotten less conducive to their business model." His hands folded together and Duo could see the tension in how the fingers clenched.

He tried to play innocent to amend his mistake. "I'm sorry. What I said was stupid. I didn't understand. All of this goes over my head, really."

Yuy eyed him with apparent suspicion. It seemed like he was about to snap at him but Gerry interrupted.

"Dinner is served."

Duo fidgeted under Yuy's stare and couldn't breathe again until the businessman had risen from his seat and followed Gerry to the dining room. Duo followed shortly.

On the table before him was an assortment of different kinds of sushi; each carefully constructed piece tasted much better than the supermarket junk he had tried before and he was pleasantly surprised. To lighten up the atmosphere he decided to share his experience with supermarket-sushi, but Yuy wasn't amused. The man ate quietly and Duo couldn't even tell if Yuy was listening to him or if he words fell on deaf ears.

After sushi, Duo was served dessert – the 'commoner's dessert'. He enjoyed the slice of the staff's crumbly apple-pie while Heero sipped at his wine, completely absent.

"I haven't thanked you for your gift," The American started.

Finally, Yuy looked at him again. His face was impassive, but the eye-contact in itself was an improvement.

"And I'm not going to," He stated boldly. "I told you not to buy it for me. So while I appreciate the thought, the gift burdens me. Presents are like contracts, reciprocation is part of the deal, and obviously I can't return a gift of similar value. The suit was already too much."

"You think I expect something in exchange?"

"Don't you?"

"No." His stare made Duo shiver. "As you stated, you have nothing to offer me."

That's not exactly what I said, Duo grumbled inwardly, but he understood the man purposefully misconstrued his words to get a rise out of him. He realized Yuy was probing him, trying to provoke a reaction to establish a benchmark to help him read him. The fucker is working me the way I'm supposed to be working him! He smirked. It was disconcerting, sure, but also thrilling. "You don't have to buy me gifts, Yuy. You're already paying me for my company."

"It's not like I don't have money to blow."

Having his words thrown back at him confirmed to Duo that he had hit a nerve earlier. Yuy didn't like it at all that Duo looked down on him precisely because of his wealth. He was used to his wealth earning him respect and admiration. It both aggravated and puzzled him that Duo was not impressed. It hinted at an insecurity below the surface, perhaps the man lacked the confidence to think he had anything else to offer that could awe his guest and it exposed an imperfection; he didn't know how to assert himself in a social situation if he couldn't throw money at it to secure his dominance. However, if this hunch was correct, the man was hiding it well. He looked aloof and unconcerned. The piercing gaze caused Duo's own confidence to waver. Not knowing what the Japanese was thinking as he scrutinized him from across the table was unsettling. What did he see with those eyes that seemed to look right through Duo's hardened mask?

Gerry appeared to clear away Duo's empty plate and offer them both another glass of wine.

"No more wine," Yuy said, making his statement all the more definitive with a sweeping gesture of his hand. "Duo and I will take to the squash-court later."

The thief raised his eyebrows. "Squash? Squash-court? I didn't bring a change of clothes."

"I will lend you clothes."

"But I-"

"It's Sunday. I always play squash on Sunday."

Fucking Yuy and his schedule. Duo could do nothing but nod.

Only a few moments later Gerry walked into the dining room again, holding Yuy's cellphone, which was ringing. Gerry shot Duo an apologetic look when Yuy accepted the phone and left the room without excusing himself.

He lingered to fill the gap and drowned out the foreign sounds of Yuy's one-sided conversation by politely inquiring: "Did you enjoy the apple-pie?"

Duo smiled at him. "It was delicious."

"One of our maids made it herself, you should know. Not even the French chef can outdo her apple-pie."

"I hope it isn't an inconvenience to save me dessert."

"Not at all. There is always plenty."

Yuy returned, pocketing his cellphone. "If you aren't too full, I'd like for us to get changed before it gets too late."

"Right. Squash." Lacking all enthusiasm Duo rose from his seat.

"Please take mister Maxwell to the dressing room by the squash court," Yuy ordered Gerry. "I'll change upstairs."

There wasn't any time for a last-effort protest against the idea of playing squash. Yuy left and Gerry led the way through the main gallery to the right, rear wing of the mansion. He opened a door and flicked on the lights to reveal the indoor squash court; nothing more than a rectangular room with polished, hardwood floor, white walls and red lines that were meaningless to the American. The butler crossed the room and opened another door: a dressing room with a bathroom. Placed on the bench was a set of clothes.

"Good luck," Gerry said. He closed the door to the dressing room behind him.

Duo stared at the black clothes with the tags still on. A thin, airy shirt and loose shorts with red piping down the sides. Clearly Yuy didn't have these work-out clothes lying around, he bought them especially for Duo, for this evening. Interestingly, the man had taken notice of Duo's preference for black clothes and, more importantly, he didn't seem to mind someone else wearing black while he himself still avoided the color in his own attire. Duo could only guess at what that was supposed to mean. As he stripped out of his clothes and pulled the tags off the shirt and shorts – ignoring the prices – he noticed there were three sets of identical, black sneakers waiting for him by the door leading back to the court. Size nine, ten and eleven. The third pair was a good enough fit.

He emerged from the dressing room to find Yuy wasn't at the court yet. Impatient and a little insecure about being out of his depth with this odd sport, he grabbed one of two rackets propped up against the far wall and retrieved a black ball from the basket beside them. He tossed the ball a couple of times and bounced it off the floor and the wall, testing it. It was rubbery and soft. He threw the ball into the air for a serve but hit it with the rim of his racket, sending the squash ball to the far left, bouncing miserably off the wall and rolling right by his feet. He chased after it and tried again. This time he managed to hit the ball right. It bounced against the wall and returned so quickly that he didn't have ample time to respond and it hit him square in the abdomen. Suddenly the ball didn't feel so soft anymore. When he went to grab it again, already frustrated with the game, Yuy stepped into the room and picked the black ball up from the floor.

Duo stared at the man, wearing a white copy of his own outfit: loose shorts and a thin shirt, so thin Duo could see dark nipples through the fabric. He wasn't used to seeing the man like that, he had only see him in a suit before, or slacks and a button-up that one time, at his most casual. Just as the slim-fitted suits suggested, the Japanese man had a shapely, athletic body. The fabric hung off his well-set shoulders nicely and the short sleeves exposed wiry arms. His legs were toned and tanned, covered in fine, dark hairs.

Yuy was an undeniably attractive man but it left Duo feeling conflicted. He shouldn't look at his target that way, yet it was hard not to.

"Getting started without me?"

"I was practicing. I've never done this before." He felt impish.

"It's a little bit like tennis."

"I've never played tennis either."

Yuy nodded. "We will keep it simple. The first person serves the ball, from either the left, or the right service box," He pointed at the lines marking squares on the floor where they stood. "The ball has to hit the wall between the service line," He nodded at the middle line, nearly six feet high on the opposite wall, "And the top out-line." The out-line was near the high ceiling. "The ball is allowed to bounce once on the floor before the second player has to hit it back. Then the ball may hit the wall anywhere between the top and the bottom out-line and a player can also let it bounce off either sidewall, which makes it more difficult for the other player to hit. The ball goes back and forth between the players, this is called a rally. When a player is unable to hit the ball before it bounces on the floor a second time, or if the ball goes out, the other player gets a point and then the ball is served again for the next rally."

It seemed simple enough, but Duo knew it would be a challenge to adapt to the new game once he was in the heat of it. Still, he couldn't back down. "Who wins?"

"The first to reach ten points."

"Alright."

"I'll serve first," Yuy asserted and he got into position in the left service box. He spread his feet, bent his legs at the knees and leaned forward, getting into position.

Not knowing what else to do, Duo copied him. He looked sideways to watch his serve.

Yuy tossed the ball up, stretched his body and hit the ball with a mighty swipe of his racket.

Duo was vaguely aware of the dull thud of the ball hitting the wall, but before he could react he saw it bouncing past him. He looked at it dumbly as it lost momentum and bounced off the wall behind him.

"Your focus has to be forward, not to the side." Yuy retrieved the ball. "Unlike in tennis, you don't have time to follow the ball after a serve, the distance is too short. You should watch the wall and when you see the ball bounce off it, you have to react quickly."

"Okay," He drawled. He didn't appreciate Yuy's attitude. What did he expect? He had made it clear this was his first time playing this goddamn game.

"Eyes on the wall," Yuy reminded him and the went right into his serve.

Duo saw the speck of black against the white backdrop of the wall. It bounced off the floor and he moved his racket to the left of his body, thinking that was where the ball was going, but as soon as he had extended his racket he realized his mistake and he couldn't change his position in time to stop the ball from flying by him on his right. He let out an exasperated sigh.

"Better," Yuy said, but his gruff tone implied his frustration level matched Duo's.

Another powerful serve. This time Duo was right to step to the left to intercept the ball but when he moved his racket to return the serve, he ended up hitting the back of Yuy's thigh while the ball slipped between the opening between his arm and torso. He smiled flippantly when Yuy glared at him.

The businessman moved to get the ball, rubbing the back of his leg as he bent forward. "Three to zero," He announced.

"Oh, come on! Those points don't count! I'm still getting into it." Duo pouted. He didn't want the game to last, he preferred for it to be over as quickly as possible and if that meant Yuy scoring ten points in a row that easily, that would be fine with him. But this evening was for business, not for pleasure. He had to stretch the game so he could learn as much about Yuy as possible in this strange situation.

"Fine. I'll allow you some time to practice." He handed the ball to him. "You serve."

"Oh. Okay." Mimicking Yuy's technique he served the ball to the best of his abilities. He was rather proud to succeed on his first try. The ball hit the wall and bounced on the floor once.

Yuy caught it in his hand.

Duo frowned at him.

"The ball has to hit between the service line and the top out-line," He reminded him, gesturing at the front wall. "You were too low." He tossed the ball back to him.

"Fine. Excuse me," He grumbled petulantly.

He repeated his serve and gripped the rubber handle of the racket tightly as he saw the ball hit the wall below the service line again.

Yuy caught it in his left hand effortlessly. "Again."

Feeling tension in his entire body from the single-word command didn't make it any easier. He tossed the ball into the air and swung his racket.

The ball hit the floor.

Goddammit. He shot Yuy a look.

"Again."

He accepted the ball as it was handed back to him and got into position. He took a deep breath, threw the ball up in the air and moved his racket, hearing it swish as the netting of synthetic strings cut through the air.

The black ball hit the wall about a foot off the floor, far below the service line.

"Again?" He asked with a sigh, already defeated.

"Again."

And again his serve was too low.

"This is impossible. This is useless."

"You're hitting the ball too late, because you're hesitating. By the time you hit it, it's already down to here," He reached out and his hand nearly touched Duo's hip. "To be able to hit it at that point, you're angling the racket down and moving it in a downward motion. This sets the ball on a downward trajectory. When you serve, you're in control, this is not the part where you have to work to chase the ball. Hit it while it's between your shoulders and your midriff and keep your racket low, so you don't have to bring it down to chase the ball, but instead you can swing it up, because the ball has to hit the wall high for the serve."

"Okay. Yeah, okay."

"And stand closer to the wall. One foot in the service box, the other closer to the wall. The closer you are to the wall for the serve, the easier it is. Just remember to step back to give yourself more time to react once I return the ball."

Duo stared, surprised at his calm and helpful instructions. He noticed the man was more comfortable talking like this, as opposed to having a real conversation. So he wasn't shy, he just didn't know what to say in a regular, social situation.

"Again."

Oh, fuck him. Duo got into position, closer to the wall. He kept his racket low and rather than focusing on imitating Yuy's powerful swing, he focused on completing the serve. He tossed up the ball, not as high that time and swung the racket before it dropped too low. His eyes followed the ball as it hit the wall about two feet above the service line, bounced on the floor and approached Yuy.

Without even adjusting his footing, the Japanese man twisted his body for a backhand stroke. The sound with which the ball hit the ball was nearly deafening and completely different from the soft thud after Duo's serve. Rather than immediately bouncing to the floor, like what Duo was prepared for, the ball hit the sidewall first, which changed its course. The ball sliced across the court, hopelessly beyond Duo's reach.

The American stared at his instructor with his eyebrows pinched together and fumbled to catch the ball when Yuy tossed it to him.

"Again."

Incited, Duo didn't waste time grumbling under his breath. They continued their practice and Duo knew he was starting to get better when his partner needed to move around more to return his serve. Yuy showed him more techniques; 'volleys', 'drop shots', 'kills' and 'nicks'. Duo imitated the techniques with varying degrees of success but was never able to let the ball slip past Yuy's racket. However, he did get more apt at recognizing when Yuy was about to do a deceiving shot and managed to respond to some of his tricks in time. When they were both panting, the businessman decided it was time to start their game officially and it was his turn to serve. Duo felt confident he had gotten better and might stand a chance.

Yuy was quick to disillusion him. As expected, he served the ball hard and although Duo was able to return it, he had to move all the way to one side of the court, rendering him incapable of returning the next shot in time; he was in the wrong place and even a leap and the stretch of his long arm couldn't help him hit the ball back to the front wall.

"One."

Duo released a sigh.

"Your turn to serve."

He had no trouble serving the ball correctly after his short practice, but his swing was weak, making the ball slow enough to give Yuy ample time to get into an ideal position. He lowered his upper body, getting his racket under the ball and hit the ball as it came towards him. With perfect aim the ball hit the front wall in the lower right corner and bounced against the side wall, also in the very corner. This meant the ball landed on the floor less than a foot away from the front wall and Duo couldn't possibly get to it before it hit the floor again and simply rolled towards them.

"Two."

"Just serve the ball, Count Von Count."

Yuy steadily kept scoring more points although the rallies lasted longer every time. The Japanese man was a technically excellent player, but Duo was quick to learn his game was riddled with tells that were easy to discern for someone like him. When he lowered his upper body, he was going for a dropshot or a kill, which meant Duo had to go closer to the front wall. When he was getting ready for a lob – a soft return that causes the ball to bounce high off the wall and all the way to the back of the court – he moved forward to catch the ball at the highest point of its bounce. Backhands and forehands betrayed direction.

"Six. Your serve." Yuy was sounding a little out of breath.

The next rally started. They played the ball back and forth.

"Who do you normally play with?" Duo wondered, stealing sideway glances to keep track of the other's strategy.

"Myself… or my personal trainer."

He grunted as he rushed to the left to return a volley. "Never with friends?"

"I don't have any friends."

The response was pathetically matter-of-fact. Duo almost pitied him. "How long have-" He groaned as he made an awkward backhand stroke, but he managed to keep the ball in the game, "-how long have you known your personal trainer?"

"Four years."

"Then wouldn't you consider him a friend?"

"Not at all." His attempted drop shot failed, giving Duo enough time to react. "He's a vegan."

Duo let out a laugh. "Vegans are people too! Why couldn't you befriend a vegan?"

"Because that's all he is. That's all he talks about."

"To you," Duo pointed out. "Maybe he's different with people he likes." He didn't intend for that to sound quite as harsh as it did.

Yuy didn't seem to take it to heart. "You're probably right. But the result- Ugh! – Is the same: we aren't friends."

"What about Gerry?"

"Gerry?"

Duo rolled his eyes. "Gerard. Carran. Your butler."

"He's my butler," Was the simple response. He managed to surprise Duo with a cross court shot and boasted with a slight smirk: "Seven."

"But you're close, right?" The American continued to probe, bouncing the ball off the netting of his racket, stalling his serve.

"We spend a lot of time together and he knows me very well. But that is all part of his job."

"Maybe you shouldn't compartmentalize him that much. Just because it's part of his job, doesn't mean his interest and care for you isn't genuine."

"We aren't friends," The other emphasized. "He knows everything about me but I know very little about him. And I don't need to know anything about him. I don't need him to be my friend. I don't need anyone to be my friend." He sounded childish and like he knew damn well that he was lying.

"If you don't need any friends, then why am I here?" He decided to serve the ball, hoping that if Yuy's focus was on the game, he might let the mask slip.

The man couldn't answer the question and only grunted as he returned the shot.

"Are you even gay?" He boldly asked, keeping up the act of playing dumb. "Because you've hired all these male prostitutes but as far as I've heard you haven't slept with any of them."

Yuy stumbled forward but failed to connect his racket with the ball and it bounced right between his spread legs to the wall behind them.

Duo stared and a grin formed. "One."

The man glared at him. He swept the ball off the floor with his racket. "What else have or haven't you heard?"

Duo shrugged. "That's basically it. That you keep inviting these guys over but that you never do anything." He waited for Yuy to say something in response, but all he did was serve the ball, halfheartedly. "So?" He pressed, returning the serve. "Are you gay?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Why would you say that?"

"My sexuality is irrelevant to our arrangement."

"Right. Okay. That's fair I guess." He smiled when he successfully pulled off a volley. "Then I also won't tell you my sexuality."

"Unn! Fuck…" Yuy hissed as his opponent managed to score another point. The conversation was distracting him from the game and it was the first time since they had met that Duo had observed him losing his cool. He considered it a small victory.

"Come on. You didn't think that just because I'm a male prostitute accepting male clients, I'm gay, right?" He flashed him a smirk. He enjoyed toying with the man.

"Of course not," He lied.

It was apparent to the conman that the implication that Duo might be straight unnerved him. He became more self-conscious and refocused on the game. He scored his tenth point mere minutes after the exchange, working hard to prove his masculinity. Obviously, Duo knew Yuy was gay and the man seemed more at ease with himself when he trusted Duo to be like him in that regard, even though sexuality was supposedly 'irrelevant to their arrangement'. This hinted at deep rooted insecurity regarding his sexuality and feeling inferior and less manly when surrounded by straight people, which almost always boiled down to daddy-issues. "Is that why you hire male prostitutes?" Duo continued even after the game had ended and Yuy padded his forehead dry with one of the towels from a stack in the corner. "Because you're looking for a friend who won't judge you for being gay?"

"I'm not looking for a friend," He reminded him. "And I didn't say that I'm gay."

"Sure. Sure." He resisted the urge to tell the man that he had lied before and that he was gay. It would have been an easy way to make the businessman feel safe again and on equal footing with him, but Duo wondered if the shift in balance could help him find out more about the man. Having the edge of suddenly being able to intimidate him could prove useful and if not, it was easily amended by coming out to him later on. Like an animal displaying his masculinity, Duo refused a towel and instead picked up the hem of his black shirt and pulled it up to wipe the sweat from his face. He pretended not to notice that Yuy stole a peek at his abs. "So what do we do now?"

"You can take a shower and then you can go home." He headed for the door. "Take your time. Gerard will be waiting for you with your payment when you are done. You can keep the clothes and shoes."

"I told you I don't want your gifts."

"Then throw them away. I have no use for your sweaty clothes."

"When do you want me to come back?" Duo asked before Yuy could leave the room, choosing the verb want deliberately.

Remembering Duo had expressed his distaste for steak every Friday night, but unwilling to change-up his menu, Yuy paused in thought before curtly suggesting: "Thursday. Pasta." Then he left.

Duo shrugged and headed into the dressing room. He didn't take a shower, he was ready to go home. He changed back into his own clothes and dumped the work-out clothes on the floor in the corner, along with the shoes he had worn and the two other pairs. He took the time to re-braid his hair and then walked outside.

Gerry was waiting for him in the hallway and guided him back to the foyer, where, as always, the envelope with the money was waiting on the table with the orchid. "Did you have a good time?" The older man asked.

"I had a good work-out."

Gerry nodded. He opened the front door and snapped his fingers to get the attention of the guard standing by the golf cart. He wished Duo a nice evening and then waved him off.

The electric engine of the golf cart hummed and the gravel crunched underneath the wheels as the guard sped the kart towards the front gate.

Duo found his way back to the drop-off and pick-up point around the corner. Neil's black SUV was just pulling up. He climbed into the car and nodded in gratitude when Neil wordlessly handed him his cigarettes and lighter.

The Russian scrunched up his face. "What's that smell?"

"That would be me."

"You stink."

"We played squash." He lit a cigarette.

"Is that a euphemism for something gay?"

Duo let out a laugh. "No, it's a stupid sport. It's like golf, but for the physically fit rich assholes."

As if that made sense, Neil said: "Ah, okay." After keeping quiet for as long as he could, he started: "So how did it go?"

"Fine."

"What does that mean?"

"Look, I'm making progress, okay, let's just keep it at that. I don't feel like justifying myself and giving an analysis every time you drive me home."

"When is your next date?"

Duo released a sigh. "Can we please just… not?"

"I'm not asking because I'm prying," Neil bit back. "I'm asking because there is something we need to do, but you need to be back in time."

The American turned sideways in the passenger seat. "What do we need to do?"

Neil smirked darkly. "We're going to visit a friend in Florida."


Yep, that's all I have for now. Sorry. I hope to be able to write more soon and if necessary I'll stick to short chapters like this, until I 'get my groove back'.