That morning Heero was having a tough time getting dressed. His ass hurt like hell and whenever he crouched or sat the sharp ache served as a blunt reminder that despite Trowa's ability to appear and act demure in costume he was a ravenous, rough, amazing fuck in bed.
He had woken first the morning of their mission and checked his phone for any new correspondence with Wufei but found none. He had gotten dressed in one of his more upscale casual business outfits. Thankfully Relena had always preferred he dress that way for nearly every social occasion, so he was adept at putting on cufflinks and polishing his Italian designer shoes. He checked himself over in the mirror and saw that he looked the part of the self-made, pompous business elite and hated himself for it.
He really hadn't wanted to do this mission. He had personal ties to much of it, but he felt that he needed to get this done quickly and effectively for Wufei's sake. The Chinese man had put up with a lot of bullshit from him lately, and he knew he needed to make good with him.
He ran his hand through his messy hair, frowned up at it in the mirror and dug around in a bag that Catherine had left behind for Trowa to use until he found some weird waxy pomade. He inspected it before wetting his hair and using it to slick it back. After a couple of attempts he managed to subdue his crazy locks. He blinked in the mirror. It wasn't often he saw his whole face without some form of hair slipping over his eyes. He looked older, and his expression hard and impenetrable. So this is what other people saw when they spoke to him?
He finished primping and checked his watch. It was nearly 9 am and they were set to be outside town to meet their point of contact for their qualifier interview. The contact would meet them at a bar in a small village outside Berlin and essentially check all of his paperwork, cross reference his story asked identity (in this case his fake Preventer provided one) and then inspect his "goods" he had for sale.
That would be his peacefully sleeping lover curled on his side in their massive hotel bed. He could see his auburn head poking just faintly over the top of the fluffy white down covers. He sighed at the sight, mentally cursed Preventer and the powers that be for interrupting what could have been Snuggle-Fuck Fest AC 205, and reluctantly approached Trowa's side of the bed and tapped his lover's shoulder gently to rouse him.
When it didn't work he decided to try another tactic. He inched around to the opposite side of the bed facing Trowa's back and slipped under the blanket, inched across the bed and hugged his sleeping partner from behind. He nuzzled his neck and resisted the urge to steal a nip or nibble. He had managed to get through the previous night's heated exchange without leaving a single mark on the other man's body. He deserved a fucking reward for it. He slid his arms around to Trowa's chest and pulled his naked form back against his own clothed torso and kissed the nape of his neck.
"Wake up," he murmured in a low voice. "I've got to sell you to a bunch of old, fat, rich degenerates today, remember...?"
The sheets were so soft and the bed was warm. Trowa didn't want to get up but he knew it was going to take time to get ready. He groaned softly and opened his eyes, sitting up. There was makeup and cum stains all over the white hotel sheets. "Why did I think it'd be a good idea to sleep in this?" Trowa reached his hand up and felt his face, knowing makeup was smeared all over and he probably looked like some hung over chick who'd been out all night for bachelorette party, too drunk to take her makeup off before passing out in bed. "I'm not in sellable condition." Trowa stretched his limbs out as he straightened up and swung his legs over the side of the mattress. "I need a shower… and coffee." And he needed to hurry and get his ass ready.
Heero smirked. "I'll handle the coffee," he said as he stood up and straightened his grey silk tie. He slipped his feet into his shoes and vanished down to the lobby to get coffee and breakfast pastries and when he returned Trowa was showered and working on his makeup. He slid the coffee across the bathroom vanity at him, leaned against the doorway and crossed his arms over his chest. "We need to decide what our emergency plan is. If we get separated..." If he lost sight of Trowa during this mission he was liable to go postal. "I still don't like the idea of you not having your own gun..."
"I have a knife." Trowa finished up with the eye shadow before moving on to his brows. He wasn't as good as Catherine was at applying makeup, obviously, but he made it worke. "Are we going to get separated? What happens if they want to buy me? Do they just hand over a wad of cash and you surrender me?" He wanted to make sure they had a clear plan before going into this. No way in hell was Trowa going to become a sex slave overnight, although he would be offended if they didn't make an offer. A decent offer.
"Don't worry, I won't be surrendering you anytime soon. We won't be separated unless shit hits the fan and we end up in a combat situation. Then I want you to just get out of there and let me handle it." He ran a hand down his lover's back and sighed. "I'm not looking forward to this mission, Trowa..." he confided plainly, a frown crossing his face. "I have been in your upcoming role before."
Trowa put the lipstick down and looked at his boyfriend through the mirror. "How so?" Had Heero been involved in sexual trade? Or human trafficking in general, possibly in the form of a child soldier? Trowa knew what that was like, to an extent, having grown up with mercenaries since before he could remember. He waited for his partner to explain, green eyes watching the other man closely, carefully.
Heero shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. "I didn't know why I didn't want you to go to Manila until the other night. The organization we are infiltrating provided me to the CLO." He chewed his lower lip and stared down at his feet thoughtfully. "I ... after my father was killed I was alone, and they picked me up after that."
"Picked you up as a child soldier?" Trowa asked, wanting to clarify. If Heero had been a sex slave, he was pretty sure his life would have been much different. And the other wasn't currently experienced enough to have been a child sex slave. Not that being trafficked as a child soldier was any better…
"Thankfully." He replied. "I was taken to Manila before Doctor J purchased me." He pursed his lips and rubbed the back of his neck with a palm. "I don't know how objective I can be about this one."
Trowa reached out and grabbed Heero's hand, giving him an understanding look. He wasn't sure what to say. It was only normal that given Heero's past he'd have trouble staying objective on this mission. "I'll be there. I can help in whatever way you need." He offered. "Let's just get this over with so we can continue with our vacation and put this mission behind us." Trowa felt lame saying those words, unable to vocalize the comfort Heero needed right now. But he had faith the other agent would get through this alright. He'd made it through tougher missions.
Heero nodded and frowned. He wasn't sure how he as going to react to seeing that environment again, but Trowa was right. He just felt like he should warn him, in case he tried to do anything rash. He glanced down at the array of makeup spread out in front of his lover and grabbed a golden tube, opened it and twisted it, inspecting the creamy red lipstick that extended out the center thoughtfully. He grabbed his lover's chin and tilted his face toward himself and studied the shape of his mouth. "You're beautiful without this shit."
"Well… it goes with the outfit." Trowa bit his bottom lip and pulled his chin away so he could finish getting ready. Heero's smoldering look burned into his memory and he saved it for later. Red lipstick touched his lips and he slowly painted them in, the last step in transforming into Keira.
Heero left the bathroom and came back with Trowa's thigh holster and the thin, rubberized sheath and narrow knife for his bodice. While his lover was working on his hair he knelt to the ground beside him and began strapping his thigh holster high onto his thigh. His fingertips glided gently down the inside of Trowa's thigh as he adjusted it. "When we get to the bar in the village we have to talk to their external auditor, they call it. He's going to decide whether we will have access to tonight's auction."
"How is that decision made?" Where they going to make him take his clothes off or something, and inspect his body? Trowa scrunched his nose up at the thought. Heero clearly had been giving all the information on this mission, leaving Trowa to just play along and go with the flow. And if they had access to the auction, then what? Was he actually going to get bid on? "Details, Yuy. I need to know what to expect."
Heero stood up and abruptly unzipped the bodice of Trowa's dress from the back and slid his hands into the bodice to hide the second knife under his arm. "The first assessment is mainly to make sure I am who I say I am to gain access to auction. The auction is at a hidden location. It is up to me to decide whether to put you for sale or not." He finished straightening his bodice before tugging the zipper up again. "I'm not going to let anyone touch you," he said darkly. "You just stay next to me and look pretty." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small credit-card sized camera and reached around Trowa while he dressed and slipped the microcamera into the front of his bodice. "We need pictures of faces. Any faces. Preventer will analyze them later."
He pulled back and studied his lover's back for a moment. "Our mission is to collect names and faces."
"Understood." That wouldn't be hard. Trowa ran his hand down the dress and smoothed out any wrinkles. He checked to make sure there weren't any stains from the night prior. "Ready to leave when you are." Turning to face his partner, Trowa noticed a loose hair brushing Heero's forehead. He reached up and tucked it back. "Nice hairdo." He teased. Today neither of them could hide behind their fringe.
Okay, Trowa was killing him with the casual affection. Heero blinked at the comment about his hair, grabbed the hand he used to push the loose lock from his eyes and resisted the urge to kiss him. "Please don't make lipstick a regular thing," he grumbled irritably. He knew too well how stubborn that red was to get off of his mouth, and they were too strapped for time to risk it. He offered him an arm and led him out of the hotel and through the lobby.
His long-legged, stunning lover got many curious and approving glances as they made the way out to the street in the now noonday light. He called a ride, which instantly appeared on the street by the valet stand. Once inside Heero attempted in wonky German to tell the driver the address they needed. He checked his phone as soon as they got moving. A message from Duo blinked on screen. He eyed it, considered ignoring it, decided he had nothing better to do and opened it anyway. An image filled his cracked screen of their cat wearing a yellow paper V on its forehead with the words "Gundam Cyrano" typed out underneath. He smirked and handed the phone to Trowa.
"I can't believe he sat still long enough for that." Trowa smiled at the photo, thinking it was cute. Maybe he'd make that image his lock screen on his phone. "At least we know he's still alive."
The car pulled up to the address Heero had spouted off, and the driver turned towards them for payment. Trowa handed him some cash and the couple got out of the car, the brunette first and then the taller man with the heels. He grabbed Heero's arm like a polite lady and followed him over to the sidewalk. "Should I still play mute?" Trowa's voice was barely audible. He wasn't going to be able to fake a feminine voice, so he just preferred not to talk.
"I think you should talk. I feel like maybe this... um... " he honestly didn't know the proper terminology for what it was Trowa was portraying. "May work to our advantage and get us in. It's rather a unique aesthetic. Don't you think?"
Heero knew someone there had to have this kind of kink. He had seen auctions before that included pretty boys who were often dressed androgynous or in women's clothes at auctions. He hadn't understood the appeal before now...
"Alright." Trowa would go along with it, even if it felt odd.
They walked inside the restaurant and he looked around, taking everything in and checking for entrances and exits just incase. Trowa was suddenly on guard. It was early afternoon so the place wasn't very packed, a few people littered the tables here and there. The bartender looked bored, washing down the counter and stacking glasses from the night before. Trowa followed Heero in the direction of whoever they were meeting.
As they entered the bar area Heero spotted the man they were supposed to be making contact with. He had been informed that his contact would be wearing a German flag pin on his right lapel. Sure enough there he was, a slight blond mustached business type in his early thirties. He wore modern tailored slacks, a brown tweed fitted sport coat and thick framed black designer glasses. He spotted them as they approached and stood quickly as they neared. He began speaking quickly in German. Heero blinked. He hadn't expected that.
"You're early," the man said, his German clearly not his native language but adequate. "Ah, and this is your lovely merchandise?" The man held his hand out to Keira, grasped it gently and kissed the top of it before pulling her chair for her.
Heero's first instinct was to punch the motherfucker. He grit his teeth tightly, sucked in a deep breath and tried to behave himself.
"Our driver was quick," he said slowly, his German average but oddly paced. Heero could speak many languages, but Germans guttural noises always threw him off. He resisted the urge to cross his arms so as not to appear aggressive, gestured at Keira casually. "Sie ist schön, ja?" It felt weird talking about his lover with a female pronoun, but the part about him being pretty was definitely sincere.
"Very. Such a fox..." The man said, giving Keira a lecherous smile, eyes looking her over. She had this sexy androgynous look, and a toned body. Those green eyes were stunning, those lips pouty and perfect. Numbers flashed through his head as he estimated how much she'd make at the auction.
Trowa understood and spoke German at an intermediate level. He'd been here enough to pick up on the language. He offered a soft smile at the mustached man, eyes darting away in a slightly submissive behavior, but didn't say anything. So this was what it felt like when women were seen as objects and not as human beings. Gross.
"Where'd you find her?" The man tore his gaze away from the eye candy and looked back at Heero. He talked as though Keira wasn't at the table, much to her annoyance.
Heero's eyes widened slightly as Trowa gave the man a silent performance. How did he learn to do this? He cleared his throat and returned his attention to the man in front of him. He tilted his knee to the side to rub gently against Keira beneath the table in a hidden gesture of reassurance.
"Purchased her from a man in Japan," he explained slowly, trying to keep from smacking the guy's eyeballs out of his head every time he stole glances at his boyfriend. This was excruciating. He reached into the front of his own sport coat and tugged out a folded leather envelope with his fake passport and paperwork and handed it over to the man, who pulled out every document and studied each closely.
"You sell what exactly?"
"I develop security monitoring programs for high end retail companies and confidential government agencies," Heero recited his script.
"Your name?" Clearly the guy was quizzing him. Heero had a photographic memory, there was no way he could catch him in a lie.
"Takahito Masume. My birthday is August 30, AC 181." Heero sighed and leaned back in his chair. A server came to bring them coffee in a white carafe and set three matching cups in front of them. He resisted the urge to pour Keira a cup and offer, instead he played his part and gestured for her to serve them with a stern glance and a flick of his hand.
With nimble, exquisite movements, Keira picked up the carafe and poured coffee for each gentleman. She gently set a cup down in front of Heero first, and then one in front of the mustached man who had no interest in talking directly to her. After they had each taken a drink, she poured herself a cup. A red outline of her lips stained the side of the white porcelain.
"Why are you selling, Mr. Masume?" The man motioned in the lovely ladies direction with a tilt of his head. He was still studying the paperwork close, flipping through page after page. "She's clearly not Japanese…" He searched for the ownership documents to find her origin of birth.
"She's a colonist. L3 cluster, Russian descent." Heero explained plainly. He resisted the urge to gawk at Trowa performing elegantly beside him. "I just need something more... exciting. New."
The man shrugged a shoulder before he settled his eyes on his sensuous partner. "You know, you don't need to go all the way to auction to sell, I would be happy to give you an offer."
Heero frowned, sipped his coffee and raised an eyebrow. "How much? I don't know if you could afford her. I paid quite a bit, I intend on making profit."
"Hm..." the man, who had failed to give his name and appeared that he wasn't going to, turned to Keira again and gave her a once over. Heero tensed as the man reached over at his lover under the table to touch him. He couldn't see what he was feeling, but he had an idea.
Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. He tried to appear as careless as possible but inside he was feeling particularly murderous.
"Oh. Ohhhh..." the man's face erupted into a bright, wicked smile. "Mister Musume, it appears you are quite the deviant. This lovely creature is a rarity. I would give you 2.5 million for her..."
Heero was clutching his coffee cup so hard it threatened to shatter. "Not enough. Worth more than that. Much more. Besides, I intend on buying, so I must go. No deal."
Keira shifted uncomfortably in her chair, closing her legs tightly. She gave the man a look, eyes narrowed. "Excuse me, sir." Well he already knew he had dick, so no need to disguise his voice.
Mr. Touchy-feely laughed and retreated his hand. "Lovely. Maybe I'll bid on the auction and we'll see how much she really goes for." He brought his hand up to his nose and sniffed, and Keira's cheeks turned red more from anger than from embarrassment. This guy was disgusting. "Or maybe I won't allow you admittance to the auction and you'll just have to settle with selling her to me." The man grinned.
Heero's mind was screaming. Fuck this mission. Fuck Preventer. I am going to kill him!
He forced a cold exterior before replying placidly, "you don't let us in, I'll just keep her for myself. She deserves a chivalrous owner with tact," he said back-handedly. He narrowed his eyes at the man and reached out to take his paperwork back. He began tucking it into his sportcoat.
"If you don't have any interest in letting us into the auction that is all very well. I am sure your competitor organization would be glad to have my business."
The man blinked and laughed loudly. "Mister Musume, wait. Wait, it is fine. If I let this beautiful opportunity pass up my boss would have me killed." He dug into his pocket and handed Heero what looked like a motel key with the number 31 stenciled on it in black. "Hamburg Hotel. Eight pm. You will be searched and blindfolded before being escorted by car to the auction."
"What's the attire… for the auction?" Keira spoke up, tired of being silent. She needed to know what she was getting herself into. The man was motioning for his coffee to be topped off, so she picked the carafe up carefully and poured the coffee into his cup, resisting the urge to dump it in his lap.
"Formal, and a masquerade." The man replied casually. Heero quirked an eyebrow at that. He had never seen such a thing before in his experience, and the idea that people were going to be masked seriously hindered their mission objective from being accomplished.
"Alright," they needed to get out of there and contact Wufei. He stood up and offered his arm to his partner. He didn't make any departing statement just simply led his lover casually out of the restaurant.
Once they got into a hailed ride he openly snarled and reached up to loosen his tie. He needed to hit something, but there was nothing nearby that wouldn't break under his fist. He simply clenched them and looked over at his partner. "You okay?"
"A little miffed, but I'm fine. You don't look ok." Trowa crossed his arms over his chest and looked at his lover, noticing the clenched fists and red knuckles. "Masquerade? That seems a bit much." He was thinking the same thing his partner was. It wouldn't be easy to get video of people's faces.
To say it would be uncomfortable watching men and women get auctioned off was an understatement. Preventer hadn't given them orders to interfere, but Trowa already felt like he should do something. He hadn't even seen the victim's faces yet but after their encounter with the perverted Mr. Touchy-feely, his skin was crawling.
He looked out his side of the window and stewed. Human trafficking was wrong on all levels, but the sex trade really made him uncomfortable. "I'll have to find something more fitting to wear tonight…" Cathy had left behind a few clubbing outfits. That wouldn't work. He needed a gown or something. What a headache…
Heero nodded mutely. He didn't trust himself to talk about how he felt. He was pretty sure the bible length torrent of curses that would have spilled from his mouth would have embarrassed their driver. Instead he leaned forward and asked the man to take them to a high end fashion district in Berlin. He was familiar with the area, Relena had dragged him through what was essentially Berlin's version of Rodeo Drive a handful of times.
Once they had arrived he escorted his leggy companion down the sidewalk until something caught his lover's eye. As they strolled he called Wufei.
"Masquerade? None of our intel said anything about that..." Wufei replied over the phone in surprise. Heero sighed. "Should we abort this mission? To be honest, Wufei, I don't have a good feeling about this..." Heero was beginning to feel like a fucking Newtype with all of this premonition he was having lately.
"What did they give you? Tell me you at least have an address?"
"No." Heero admitted. "Only a hotel room key..."
He swore he could hear Wufei's eyebrow twitch over the line. "Use your discretion. We really need you to get this location at the very least, if not the faces of the attendees..."
Heero frowned, nodded and hung up. He realized they had stopped in front of a massive picture window with live, human models posing in elegant black dresses in front of a glowing white screen. He peered through the glass at the moving display before glancing up at Trowa. "We don't have to do this. We can call it now." He was going to leave it up to him.
"We can't abort the mission. I want to help end this." Trowa was firm with his answer. Giving up on the mission wasn't an option. Human trafficking was wrong and they had to do something, even if it was as little as finding the location of the auction and gathering as much surveillance as they could. He took Heero's hand and pulled him into the store to find a dress.
Heero stared at Trowa as he slid out of the changing room with a particularly handsome, friendly and accommodating dressing assistant trailing behind him.
"This is exquisite. Truly. You look fantastic," the man was saying enthusiastically as he trailed along behind Trowa. He gestured to a massive half-moon of floor length mirrors. As Trowa stepped into them with a lacy black dress on Heero felt a shockwave of electricity pulse up his body. He straightened on the purple velvet settee the man had parked him in and stared at Trowa's long, lean exposed back.
He frowned as his lover turned to inspect himself, stood up and marched across the small shop and grabbed his hand and tugged himself back toward the dressing room. He saw Trowa's eyes cast a questioning look at him. He scowled and shook his head. "No. Not this one."
The attendant overheard him. "Heavens, why not? Does she look ravishing? I haven't seen anyone else pull this dress of the way she does..."
Heero narrowed his eyes at the man. "No."
"But why?" The man was frustrated and surprised.
He looked up at his partner and sighed. "It looks too nice. You need something... else." Like a burlap sack, he thought. Though he suspected Trowa would look amazing even in that.
This was the 4th dress Heero had said 'No' to, and Trowa's patience was starting to wain. "I'm supposed to look nice, remember?" He said in a hushed tone, lips close to his partner's cheek. "Heero… this one fits like a glove. We are running out of time and still need to find a suit for you." He was acting like this was no big deal, like they were casually shopping for a dress for a gala. "Plus, the long sleeves and the length cover up my body so I look less like a man in a dress. And I can hide a gun." Trowa hoped his boyfriend would listen to reason.
Heero sighed in defeat. Trowa's logic was hard to argue, though he still had his doubts. The man had said they would be searched before they were taken to the location. He was going to have to find some creative ways to hide a weapon. He looked down at the dress and it's long, drapey fabric at the bottom and shifted from concerned lover mode to tactician mode. He could think of quite a few ways to hide weapons in this dress.
"Alright," he finally conceded. He stepped aside and waited for Trowa and the attendant to work out the cost, accessories and all that crap before he himself was dragged off into an adjoining building where the men's department was to be fitted for a matching tuxedo. It wasn't the first time he had been subjected to such a thing. As he stood awkwardly waiting for the woman to finish measuring his inseam he began to consider more of their mission. Trowa seemed adamant on going. He already didn't care for this assignment to begin with. He thought that he could harden himself to the sick atrocities he was about to see but after seeing his lover objectified and assaulted by a stranger he was shoved back into the dark realm of his memories.
He hadn't been a sex slave, but that hadn't kept him from the same sort of sexual assault Trowa had experienced. He hadn't understood what was happening at the time. He was only a child of ten, but he had been old enough to maintain detailed memories of grown men grabbing him, pinning him against walls, rubbing themselves on him...
He glared at himself in the mirror and felt his body involuntarily tense at the formerly repressed memories. Trowa was right. They couldn't just walk away from this.
There was a soft knock on the dressing room stall. Trowa had finished paying for the dress (with his Preventer card. No way was he paying for a five thousand dollar dress out of pocket) and wanted to check in with his lover. "Let me see?" He called out. Heero opened the door and stepped aside so his lover could enter. "You look… stunning." Trowa rubbed the back of his neck while his eyes traveled over his partner's fit form in that stylish tux. He looked dashing and Trowa wanted to take him right then and there in the stall. "I might be distracted tonight." He reached out to straighten the collar on the jacket.
The corner of Heero's hard normally stern lips perked with amusement. "Nobody's ever used that word to describe me before," he said plainly. "But thank you."
Deadly. Intimidating. Angry. Short. Handsome, sure. Never stunning.
Heero swat his hair from his own eyes and sighed. The pomade or whatever it was he used had finally lost its battle with his messy mop. His bangs had begun to come back with a vengeance. It didn't matter. "Masks. We need masks," he explained. "Nothing too constrictive or obstructive." He sighed and reached up to caress the right side of his lover's face, recalling Trowa's mobile suit Heavyarms and how it, too, had once wore a mask.
"Masks… I get so tired of wearing them."