A/N: For Crown of Winterthorne, as a bribe for more of her AMAZING Westworld 2x3 fic.

A/N2: Title from the song by Stars

A/N3: Always, always thankful to Ro for beta reading and friendship. You are amazing.

A/N4: Okay, here's the deal. Writing is tough, especially for me. Over the years I've been lucky to have incredible people support me and tell me how much they enjoy my work, but I've also had those comments and reviews that just completely derail me and make me wonder why the hell I'm doing any of this or why I'm enough of an idiot to think anyone would even care.

So, no, this is not an update on any of the many WIPs I have going, and if you don't enjoy this fic then I am sorry.

But if you do, even a little, I cannot express how much it means to me to see that someone took the time to leave a review. Even if that review is "thanks" - it has a HUGE impact.

ALSO: THANK YOU SO SO SO SO SO MUCH to everyone who has left a review for this on and AO3. I seriously… I LOVE you all and am so so so grateful. I know I don't always respond, but I am just… I'm so very very happy every time I see one and I feel SO good about this story and I'm so happy people like it and just… thank you. Thank you.

A/N5: POVs are going to switch back and forth between Duo and Zechs. Might be two chapters in each or just one, depends on the pacing.

Warnings: angst, language, violence, sex, death, blood

Pairings: 6x2, others…

Midnight Coward

Chapter Eight

Finance and Fraud was located on the sixth floor, and it was a level that most field agents tried to steer clear of. There was a simmering feud between field agents and the sixth floor. The field agents thought the sixth floor guys weren't "real" agents, in the sense that they completed their annual PT recertifications but didn't break a sweat for the rest of the year unless it was to catch the elevator and leave for the day right at five. The sixth floor, meanwhile, viewed the field agents as dumb jocks who couldn't follow a paper-trail from their own desk to a trashcan.

It didn't help matters that Preventers was a largely meritocratic promotion system - if you took down bad guys and made the agency look good, you got promoted. If you kept your nose down and worked hard, well… that was nice, but not flashy enough for a promotion and pay raise. This meant that field agents would, if at all possible, do most of their own background investigative work, and Finance and Fraud would sooner cut their keyboards in half than hand over a juicy case to the jocks.

Duo, of course, didn't give a flying fuck about rivalries or promotions. Even so, he had only been on the sixth floor once before, had been invited down to prep some of their agents for a sting operation involving fraudulent immigration documents and, after casually mentioning to Wufei that the tie-clip guys seemed nice and he hoped the Russian mafia didn't send them back in body-bags, Duo had been gifted the case. He had stayed as far away from the floor since, knowing that they would hold it against him regardless of the fact that he had had no intention of stealing the case.

So, when the elevator doors slid open and Duo stepped onto the open floor filled with cubicles, only the perimeter bearing the doors of proper offices, Duo drew in a deep breath and prepared to be greeted with as much scorn as he would have been had he gone to the third floor and asked Reynolds for some back-up.

Duo tried to look casual as he approached the receptionist's desk, tried to look confident and at-ease and-

"What do you want?" she asked, looking at him with a sneer.

"I, uh, need an analyst for a case I'm-"

"What's your name?"

Strange, how relieved Duo was to realize that she hated him on principle and not because of who he was.

"Duo Maxwell."

She lifted an eyebrow.

"You want an analyst, or you want to steal another case?"

Duo rolled his eyes.

"Look, it wasn't like that. The Vory v zakone would have eaten your guys for breakfast, and I-"

"And you just had to jump in and play the big goddamn hero card. I know. We know. We all know."

She glared at him, and Duo shifted.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled.

"Uh huh. Well, you're lucky we don't hold grudges. We're professionals, here to do our work and make the world safer. Unlike some of the agents here, we care more about results than explosions."

"I appreciate that," Duo assured her.

"I'll bet you do. Eun Park can work with you."

"I… thank you."

"She's one of our best," the receptionist told Duo with a toothy smile that had him wondering if Eun Park even knew how to log into the Preventers database. "That way, cubicle 37."

Duo hadn't realized the cubicles were numbered, and now that he looked, he could see the little placards with the numbers on the sides of each. Bad enough to be in a cubicle, but to be in a numbered cubicle?

Trust Finance and Fraud to reduce even their own agents to numbers.

Duo walked down the row of cubicles she had indicated, and stopped hesitantly by cubicle 37.

It was, of course, empty.

Duo sighed and turned around, fully expecting to see the receptionist cackling at him. Probably Eun Park had been dead or reassigned for months, and this was just her way of getting back at him.

A petite, red haired woman barreled into him, digging her shoulder into his side and shoving him away.

"Sorry," she mumbled, not sounding sorry at all.

Duo arched an eyebrow, and then sighed as he saw her sit down in the chair at cubicle 37.

She dropped an armful of files on her desk and adjusted the thin-framed glasses on her face before turning to glare at him.

"You need something?"

Duo felt his lips twitch.

One of our best, my ass. He wondered how many times Eun Park had been written up.

"Yeah." He jerked his thumb towards the receptionist's desk. "I need an analyst, and she gave me you."

Eun's eyes narrowed.

"She gave me to you? Really."

She leaned back in their chair and crossed her arms.

Duo sighed again. Karma. Clearly, this was karma.

"Yeah, so I'm working a case and I need some financial investigations on-"

"You're working a case? How cute." She tapped the pile of folders. "I'm working seven cases."

"That's… impressive?"

She sneered at him, and Duo decided to go ahead and pull rank. It wouldn't make her any happier, but it was probably the only way he would get this taken care of.

"Look, my case has priority over whatever you're-"

"Do you even know what I'm working on?"

"No, but this-"

"I could be reviewing the ESUN financial disclosure forms. I could be tracking the bribes made to public officials on behalf of WEI to see if Saint Winner was involved. I could be looking into the war reparations funding that was supposed to fund colonial reconstruction but has mysteriously vanished. I could-"

"Wait, wait, what was that about WEI bribes?"

She smirked at him.

"Sorry, I'm not sure you have the security clearance for me to brief you on that. Now, whatever piddling data composites you need might seem difficult to your tiny brain, but I'm sure your fingers can use a keyboard and I know it's not as exciting as punching someone in the face, but, well, we all have to make sacrifices for the greater good."

Duo couldn't decide if he loved or loathed Eun Park.

"Last week, there was an assassination attempt on Zechs Merquise. The assassin was a Croatian national by the name of Ilija Horvat. We haven't been able to find any bank accounts, and we have no idea why he did it."

"Did you try asking him?"

"He's dead."

Eun shrugged.

"He probably just wanted to kill that prick."

Duo arched an eyebrow at her tone. It wasn't that Merquise was respected by Preventers - there were a few, especially from the old guard, who still worshipped him, but most of the younger agents viewed him with mild to extreme distaste.

"Probably, but Brussels wants us to figure out a better reason than that."

Eun made a frustrated sound, and threw her head back.

"I have important work! I do not want to be pulled off my cases to deal with this garbage!"

Duo felt the exact same way. Of course, he didn't have any important cases - had, in fact, been pulled off his couch to deal with this. But, all the same, he sympathized. Immensely.

"Merquise claims he has no idea who could possibly want him dead."

Eun snorted derisively, and Duo decided he definitely loved her.

"Yeah, and I have no idea who gives me Christmas presents every year marked 'from Santa.'"

"I've got a list of his holdings, a couple of business partners and investments."

Duo had typed the list up yesterday, after his appointment with Marisi, and he took a folded copy of it out of his pocket and held it out.

Eun stared at it until Duo started to wave it.

With a groan, she grabbed it from his hand and unfolded it.

"Labou-Marte Industries?"

"He owns it."

Eun whistled.

"With that kind of money, why doesn't he just have a private army follow his ass around and protect him?"

"Because he's an arrogant prick," Duo muttered.

Eun snorted, and Duo watched her look over the list.

"Hm. I wonder…"

She turned to her computer and started to type rapidly.

"Yeah. You've got Didier Beauchene on your list."

"Uh huh?" Duo had no idea who that was, which was why he had made a note of the name in the first place.

"He was the President of LMI - founded it twenty years ago."

"Was?"

"Yeah, a year after Merquise became the principal investor, it looks like he bought Beauchene out. And Beauchene went on to found Avenir."

"The med-tech company?"

"Yeah. Why is he on your list again?"

"Merquise is still paying him - over the last two years, he's made quarterly transfers of something like seven million creds a year into an account in his name."

"Hm. That's interesting. Especially considering the fact that Avenir and LMI are constantly in competition for government contracts."

At Duo's blank look, she rolled her eyes.

"LMI got that sweet deal in Russia a few weeks ago? They're supplying all of the bio-tech for the government hospitals? It was a huge contract. A lot of red-tape. Austin - cubicle 14 - was doing overtime for two weeks to make sure it was all legit."

"Legit how?"

"As in no traceable bribes to Russian government officials, no inflated or deflated values, no under-the-table deals."

"And?"

Eun shrugged.

"And it was legit. LMI's not making a profit, like at all, but those kinds of contracts aren't about that, anyway, are they?"

"They're not?"

Eun looked at him like he was a very, very slow and incredibly disappointing child.

"No, they're not. They're about getting a foothold in the government hospitals so you can run clinical trials for your tech. Free prototype testing."

"Right."

Unbidden, memories of the plague swam before Duo's eyes. The plague that had had a cure, that had been contained on his colony so that a pharma-tech company could study the efficacy of their vaccines.

"Anyway, Avenir's been under a lot of scrutiny for the past year. The chief operating officer was sent to prison in Qatar for taking bribes, and Beauchene's been trying to rebuild their image. Can't be easy with them losing so many contracts to LMI."

Duo nodded in agreement.

It wasn't that strong of a motive, but it wasn't nothing either.

"Can you give me details on LMI and Avenir? And dossiers on those other names?"

Eun turned back to him and cocked her head to one side, considering him.

"Maybe."

Duo sputtered.

"Maybe?"

She smirked and leaned forward in her chair.

"I want out of Finance and Fraud, and if you help me get into the field officers training program, then I'll get this intel for you."

Duo glared at her. The fact that she was holding this intel as ransom was one thing. The fact that she honestly thought he could help her get into the field officers training program was… almost comical.

"Han Reynolds runs the third floor," Duo pointed out. "And Han Reynolds hates me."

"Han Reynolds hates me too. And he doesn't run the Academy in Brussels."

Duo sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"I'm not exactly the best reference for-"

"You're telling me that Duo Maxwell can't pull a few strings with his old buddy Trowa Barton to get me into the Academy?"

She knew who he was, which wasn't all that surprising, but it had been nice to delude himself into thinking that she, like the receptionist, hated him because of the field agent logo on his sleeve instead of knowing that he had actually earned her hatred.

"Yeah," he said at last. "Trowa would take my word for it if I told him you were a good candidate. But I'm not going to put my reputation on the line and pull strings for you when I don't even know if you're worth it."

She grinned, her lips pulling back to reveal a lot of perfect teeth, and Duo realized he had been maneuvered.

"Then I'll work with you on this case. Not just getting you the intel, but doing field work. That, and you can train me. And then we'll call it even."

There were so very, very many reasons to say no to her.

But she had proven, in less than ten minutes, exactly why he actually needed her.

"Fine," he sighed. "But if you fuck up - if you aren't good enough to cut it - I'm not recommending you."

She smirked again.

"Deal. I'll have a prelim analysis for you tomorrow afternoon. And the day after that we can do lunch at the shooting range."

He wanted to argue, wanted to at least make her work around his schedule - but there was no point.

She had a look in her eyes that was eerily reminiscent of Quatre at his most determined.

Quatre.

"About those WEI-"

"You don't have clearance," she said, already turning away from him and starting to type on her computer again.

Duo might not have clearance, but he sure as hell had motivation. He made a mental note to hack into the servers later in the week and find out what he could.

Duo managed to escape the floor with only a baleful glare from the receptionist, and then he returned to his own desk on the third floor.

If the sixth floor had felt hostile, the third felt like a firing squad was taking aim.

As soon as he stepped out of the elevator, he could feel the glares of the agents as they looked up from their desks.

Duo pasted a shit-eating smirk on his face and shoved his hands into his pockets. He strolled through the desks, casual and leisurely, until he reached his own and sat down in front of the computer.

He'd been gone less than an hour, and some asshole had decided to leave a post-it note on the monitor.

Who are you going to get killed next?

Duo was painfully aware of the fact that people were still watching him.

He reached out and lifted the note and, instead of tossing it, moved it to the side of the monitor so that he could see the screen more clearly.

4:25.

Field agent hours weren't as regulated as the rest of the building, and before his suspension, Duo had rarely stayed until 5. He had, on more than a few occasions, stayed late into the night when it was called for. But the thing about being a field agent was that most of your time was spent in the field. Riding a desk didn't sit well with any of them, Duo even less so.

All the same, he wasn't about to get up and leave, to admit defeat.

So he opened the database and started to look for articles about Zechs Merquise and his acquisition of LMI.

Duo had read the extremely redacted file the agency had on Merquise in the database already. Had been pointedly told by Wufei that he didn't need to see an unredacted version and he didn't have clearance. Merquise's file, like those of the former Gundam pilots, was eyes-only for Une, and no one else.

Reading between the lines and giant black boxes, Duo had compiled a working dossier on the former would-be dictator.

But that didn't mean he knew him, or understood him. And it sure as hell didn't mean he liked him.

Two hours later, Duo realized that he was one of only a handful of agents still at work, and he shut down his computer. He hesitated, thinking he should probably take the time to code a better security network than the standard Preventers setup, but he also knew that it would probably inspire someone to go down to level two and get a guy from tech to hack the system.

His eyes flickered over to the note again.

Who are you going to get killed next?

Who indeed?

Duo noticed that Reynolds was still at his desk, and he offered the glaring man a jaunty wave that turned into a one fingered salute. Reynolds' eyes narrowed, but he didn't say anything or rise to the bait.

The trains home were crowded, civilians jostling Duo back and forth as they chattered on about their days, their ordinary lives.

After he got off at his stop, he walked three blocks over to Lee Chin and ordered his usual family-sized Moo Shu vegetable takeout order. It would get him through the rest of the week and, because someone was deluded enough not to hate him for what he had done, the woman who owned the restaurant loaded him up with their biodegradable plates and forks. He wouldn't even have to worry about dishes.

Once home, Duo scooped out a generous portion of the food before putting it in the fridge and grabbing a beer.

He settled himself on his couch and cued up the surveillance footage of Merquise's apartment from the previous night.

Duo already knew the prick hadn't been killed, so watching the footage was, more than his morbid curiosity, to find out who and what Merquise might be involved with.

The first half-hour was dull as dirt. Merquise didn't arrive home until after nine, which was within the same half-hour window that Duo had observed in the days before he had installed the bugs.

Of course, unlike those other nights, Merquise wasn't alone.

Duo didn't immediately recognize the man he had with him. Duo had set the foyer camera up to get a clear shot of anyone stepping out of the elevator, but Merquise went first and blocked Duo's view of the other man.

It wasn't until they were in Merquise's bedroom and the man spoke that Duo was able to identify him.

"When Alison told me you wanted to see me tonight, she warned me to be on my best behavior."

It was Mark, the attorney from the police station.

And Alison, Duo had learned from a series of increasingly annoying and unproductive phone calls, was Merquise's personal attorney. Mark's superior, he was guessing.

Merquise chuckled, the sound surprisingly warm.

"I'll bet she did. What else did she mention?" There was a sharpness to Merquise's voice, a warning that even Duo, across time and space, could recognize.

Mark took a moment to respond, and Duo watched as he walked around Merquise, deeper into the bedroom, and stopped beside the bed. He sat down on the edge and looked up at Merquise.

"She told me that if I pissed you off she would fire me."

"And if you don't piss me off?"

"Then she wouldn't fire me. I know not to have any kind of expectations."

Merquise took a long moment to consider the other man, but then he stepped forward and reached down to tilt Mark's chin upwards.

"If you don't want to be here, she won't fire you."

"I want to be here," Mark assured him.

Duo realized, belatedly, that he was about to watch them fuck. He had known, had figured that out as soon as they walked into the bedroom, and Mark sitting on the bed had definitely made it clear that that was the direction this was heading. But Duo hadn't really thought about the fact that he was about to watch them fuck.

Not until Mark reached up and started to unfasten Merquise's trousers.

Merquise reached down and rubbed his thumb over Mark's mouth, and Duo heard him chuckle again.

The video quality wasn't good enough to see what Mark had done, but it was clearly something Merquise had enjoyed.

The chuckle turned into a low groan when Mark leaned forward. Duo didn't need a clear line of sight or a diagram to guess that Mark was sucking the other man's cock.

And what a cock it was.

Duo flushed, remembering that first night, when Zechs had stripped down and Duo had found himself staring at the man's flaccid cock. Merquise's entire body was impressive, hard lines and trim, flexing muscles. The man was dangerous, and peacetime had done very little to soften him. And his cock, despite actually being soft, had not been small, had not been circumcised, and had most definitely been a recurring feature in Duo's fantasies when he masturbated.

Fantasies that had most definitely involved Duo doing what Mark was doing right now. Duo desperately wanted to see Merquise's cock fully erect, and he hoped Mark didn't get him off before he had the chance.

As Mark's head bobbed up and down the unseen shaft, Merquise ran his fingers through the other man's hair, encouraging him.

And he spoke to him.

"Good. Very good. Ahhh."

Duo had never heard Merquise like this, which wasn't at all surprising, considering their interactions during the war and since, but he hadn't even thought Merquise could sound that happy, that pleased.

He had the entirely unwelcome urge to hear Merquise's rough voice say those words to him, and Duo was so disgusted with himself that he leaned forward to shut off the video.

But then Mark released Merquise's cock, the wet, fleshy sound of his mouth parting with it coming through crystal clear thanks to Jayesh's brilliance.

And Duo watched, transfixed, as Merquise's cock bobbed, gravity warring with the hard length, and fuck.

Duo's mouth felt completely dry, and all of the blood in his body was surely heading straight for his own dick, painfully hard and trapped in his too-tight, itchy regulation trousers.

Both men stripped out of the rest of their clothes, and Merquise maneuvered Mark fully onto the bed, positioning the other man on all fours. Merquise opened the drawer to one of the nightstands flanking the bed and pulled something out before kneeling behind Mark on the bed.

"Are you allergic to Lenis-Vitae?" Merquise asked the man.

"No," he assured him.

"Good. LMI's most useful development to date," Merquise said as he ran one hand down Mark's spine and over the curve of his ass.

"Amen to that," Mark practically growled.

Sitting alone in his apartment, food abandoned on the coffee table, Duo had to agree.

Lenis-Vitae had hit the market almost three years ago, and the anti-viral spermicidal lubricant had gone a very long way towards eliminating the transference of sexually-spread diseases. It was particularly popular in the colonies, where the biohazard waste of used condoms had always been a minor problem. And it had also done wonders for reproductive rights, and Duo remembered the articles about LMI donating supplies of the lubricant to countries and colonies where women's rights were weakest.

Duo wondered if Relena had been behind that, or if Merquise had done it for the PR.

Merquise took his time preparing Mark, asking the other man how it felt, asking him what he wanted and listening to Mark's gasps of pleasure and his raspy voice assuring Merquise that that, right there was what he wanted, was more than Duo could handle.

He eased open the fly of his trousers and shoved the waistband of his briefs down to free his aching cock.

As Merquise slid into Mark's body in one smooth, sinuous thrust, Duo groaned in time with Mark.

The man's face was buried in the duvet cover on the bed, his hands twisting the fabric and his voice only slightly muffled as he made it very clear just how good it felt to have Merquise fucking him.

Duo could hear the ragged breathing of both men, could hear Merquise grunt as he pushed into the other man's body with one purposeful, forceful stroke after another.

And he could could hear his own breathing, could feel his thundering heartbeat and he moved his hand faster, gripping his cock tightly and wishing with every pathetic ounce of his body that Merquise was fucking him instead of Mark.

He wondered if Merquise would waste compliments on him, or if he would just snarl and whisper insults and commands as he pounded into Duo's body. Merquise wasn't being gentle with Mark, but he wasn't punishing him, either, wasn't battling against him or trying to put him in his place. Mark probably hadn't been roughly pushed against the wall of a bathroom and told he didn't belong, hadn't found himself getting painfully aroused while fighting with Merquise on the floor of his library, hadn't been pinned down by the other man and had to hold himself absolutely still so he didn't start humping against him.

Merquise gave another thrust, deeper than the others, and Mark groaned.

"Yes," Merquise sighed. "Yes." He gave a few more erratic thrusts, clutching Mark's hips tightly.

The man took a moment to recover, leaning forward to press his face against Mark's back while his harsh breathing echoed in Duo's apartment, silent except for his harsh breathing and the sound of his hand frantically working his cock.

Merquise straightened up, bringing Mark with him and positioning the other man to straddle Merquise's thighs. He steadied Mark with one hand on his chest, fingers splayed wide.

With his other hand, Merquise fiddled with the bottle of lubricant, managing to spread some over his hand before he wrapped it around Mark's neglected cock.

Mark gasped at the feel of the cold gel, and then gasped again as Merquise clearly did something he liked.

Merquise chuckled again, and the sound went right to Duo's balls, like an electrical shock, and Duo dug his free hand into his left thigh.

Fuck.

Merquise stroked Mark's cock and Mark thrust up into his grip, fucking the hand holding him and fucking the cock that was likely still in his ass at the same time, and Duo wondered if Merquise was hard, wondered if he was one of those whose cock softened almost instantly after ejaculation or if his erection lingered.

Duo came before Mark did, grunting with the effort, with relief more than any pleasure, and as he looked down at the semen on the front of his shirt, Duo felt a wave of disgust.

Jacking off to surveillance footage of Zechs Merquise fucking his lawyer.

That, he was certain, was a new low.

-o-

Footnote: I will NOT kill Eun Park. She will live. I won't say more than that, but I want to assure anyone who cares that she's not going to be sacrificed for more angst.

Also, I'm sorry that this chapter got a little long. There was some… well, there was some smut to attend to.