A/N: Inspired by just about any supernatural sci-fi/fantasy thing I've ever read. In particular, a shout out to Jim Butcher's Dresden Files… 1x2, 3x?, 5x?, 4x? Expect multiple pairings, some het and some not, and also some breakups and…changes.
Warnings: Language, violence, sex, language. Angst. AU. Gore.
A/N #2: Thank you for the reviews! And as a reminder, if you aren't logged in and if you don't accept PMs I can't respond to your reviews. So… just know that I appreciate them!
A/N #3: If any of you are unhappy with Heero's lack of face-time – or time with Duo, for that matter – just know that it's going to be picking up, and his relationship with Duo is continuing to develop. Don't give up hope! This fic is not going to become a surprise 2x3 – Heero and Duo DO belong together in this story, but that doesn't mean that their relationship is going to be very conventional. If you want a straight 1x2 with nothing else, I'm going to tell you now that you WILL be disappointed. That said, expect to see a LOT more of Heero after the next few chapters. And with that more 1x2 action.
A/N #4: as of this posting, this fic has 20 reviews, 1800+ hits, is on 29 alert lists and 12 favorites! THANK YOU so much everyone!
A/N #5: I tried not to give away too many details about Chippendales. If you haven't been to one of their shows – I strongly encourage you to go. If you have an interest in working for the company – I also encourage you to do so. The guys are great, the pay is great, and it's a LOT of fun.
A/N #5: As if the number of notes wasn't an indication – this is a LONG chapter. We also get more back story (pun intended) on Duo.
A/N #6: Yar! Lemon straight ahead!
Umbra
Chapter 5
"Welcome back."
The voice was female and filled with a comforting, calm sense of humor. As Duo drifted back into consciousness and opened his eyes he was immediately struck by how cold he was.
When he had fallen asleep, he had been surrounded by warmth and other bodies, but now, he was alone and cold and he felt as though he had been hit by a bus.
He focused on the woman sitting in a chair beside the bed. She appeared completely unconcerned by the fact that Duo was completely naked, although the slight, knowing smile on her face seemed to indicate a certain level of appreciation.
She had ash blonde hair pulled into two braids on either side of her face, and her features were a strange blend of exotic angles, with her bright blue eyes set at an angle. She was dressed in a t-shirt and jeans and looked very casual.
"Who are you?" Duo asked. "Where is – where is Hilde?" Duo tried to reach out across their bond and could feel her, very faintly. She wasn't anywhere near him, and she seemed to be exhausted and magically drained. He frowned.
"I'm Sally Po, and Hilde – that's your servant, correct? She's recovering. I sent her home."
"Recovering?" Duo echoed.
Sally nodded.
"After you lost consciousness, your magic had a very strong reaction to the shape shifters. A very strong, very negative reaction. Catharine called me and I came to help."
"What are you?" Duo could feel a hint of magic from Sally, but it wasn't anywhere near as powerful as even Quatre or Hilde.
"I'm a dryad. You've probably realized that I'm not too powerful, but I am very skilled in channeling the magic of others, and I'm a doctor. I've helped the shape shifters in the past, and Catharine thought I could help you."
Duo rolled his shoulders, but aside from feeling sore, the biting pain from last night was gone. Whatever she had done seemed to have worked.
"So my magic rejected theirs. And you came in to save the day."
"Yes." She smiled. "I served as a bridge for their magic to heal you as much as it could, and then I used your servant and the Arbiter's magic to finish the healing process. It took more than I thought, and both of them are a bit drained."
"That was dangerous."
She shrugged. "They seemed to think there was more danger of YOU dying than them, and I was inclined to agree."
"It wasn't that bad."
She gave him a hard look. "I've been treating shape shifters who have been punished by the Council for years. It WAS that bad. Martha told me that their new vampire did this – I've seen her handiwork before, on a male shape shifter who died from his wounds."
Duo winced. He didn't doubt the truth of her words. Meilin truly hadn't known how to wield the whip well, and it was easy to see how she could kill or cripple someone with it.
"I guess I appreciate the help," Duo eventually said. He didn't like being indebted to this stranger anymore than he wanted to have to owe Catharine, Martha, and Ralph for their help, but all in all, he would rather be alive than dead.
"I have confidence that you are worthy of my efforts." She smiled again. "And if nothing else, I got to meet your servant. Her magic is delightful – it reminds me of the old shamans."
"How old are you?" Duo asked.
"Only a few hundred years old, but I was around to meet the native Ephemerals before the Westerners came. Hilde's magic is like theirs – wild and free."
"Yeah, I noticed that." Duo supposed that that was why he was so drawn to her. Like Dryads, Faeries' magic was more elemental than most Old Ones, and came from nature. Hilde's magic seemed to reflect that attitude as well.
"I've arranged to teach her some of the old ways. She doesn't have much training, but I think that her magic tends towards protection."
"Makes sense – she is a cop, after all." Duo didn't know how much he trusted Sally Po to train Hilde, but she felt good, in the same way that both Hilde and Quatre did. And Hilde desperately needed training.
Sally stood. "You should feel some soreness for the next day or so, but in two days you should feel completely recovered, and your magic should be up to its normal levels. Incidentally, your magic isn't very easy to work with."
Duo laughed. "Yeah, I've been told that before."
"I've met Faeries before – Dark Court and Light Court, but you aren't like any of them."
"Well I'm only half Faerie, so that probably explains that."
She nodded thoughtfully. "I hope that next time we meet it can be under different circumstances. I also hope that Catharine's willingness to assist you, even when it meant giving you her magic, will show you that shape shifters can be compassionate."
Duo groaned. "Not another one. Look, lady, I'm sure that Catharine is, like, as amazing as Mother Theresa – but Martha Vendomme? You can't tell me that she did that out of compassion."
"No, obviously not. But she did follow orders from her alpha."
"From her -? Oh fuck, Catharine has seriously organized an illegal pack? Does Quatre know? Does the Council know?" Duo's mind was filled with scenarios for how this could all go terribly wrong.
"Catharine told me to tell you about the pack. No, the Arbiter doesn't know, and as yet the Council is unaware. She wanted you to be aware, and wanted you to know that the lives of some three dozen shape shifters depend on your decision."
Duo shook his head.
"Unbelievable," he muttered.
She smiled.
"I'm sure you will make the right choice."
Duo snorted. The right choice would be to call Heero and hunt down this alpha and kill him – or her. He idly wondered if it was Catharine, but he doubted that she had the power to be an alpha.
"Thanks again for healing me," Duo told her as she left the bedroom.
"I could do nothing less," she assured him and then left.
A few moments later Quatre entered and blushed scarlet when he saw that Duo was naked. Duo smirked at the response.
"C'mon, Quatre, surely I've got the same equipment that you do."
"Right. Um – I just wanted to see how you were."
"I'm sure Sally filled you in on everything. But I'm okay."
"Good, good. I was wondering, could you give me a few tips on how to take care of Mariemaia?"
Duo had completely forgotten about the child vampire.
"Yeah – in fact, let's take this opportunity for me to give you a few tips on a lot of things."
Quatre frowned.
"I'm still not going to apologize for last night. We have to take a stand and protect those weaker than we are."
"Okay, okay, sure, but you need to take the right stand, and you need to be smart about it. Look – we're going to have to agree to disagree about last night, but I'd like to apologize. I've been trying to protect you from some of the Council's darker practices, and if I had just told you about them, maybe last night would have gone down differently."
"I think I'll grab a pen and some paper," Quatre said, and Duo took that to be acceptance of his apology.
They spent the next four hours going over information that Duo thought Quatre should know, about the Council, about the various Old Ones, and any details Duo could remember about specific Council members.
By nightfall, Duo was feeling both exhausted and better – his magic was returning to him, but he was tired from dredging up old memories best forgotten. He finally left when Quatre went in to work, and decided to return to his condo and try and get a decent night's sleep.
As he approached the door to his condo, however, he could feel a disturbance in the wards he had set up. Someone – it felt like an Ephemeral – had tampered with them. He could feel the faint, magical signature of someone still in his apartment. It wasn't anyone Duo had encountered before.
Duo drew one of his silver knives from his boot and held it in his right hand as he cautiously opened his door. It was dark – both the blinds and the curtains had been drawn to shut out all outside light. Duo closed the door behind him, anxious to contain whatever was about to happen so that his neighbors didn't become involved.
As he searched the darkness for any sign of movement, Duo projected a sense of fear and despair towards the other magic he sensed. It was an old trick he had often employed to find his enemies. If he created enough anxiety in their own minds, they would be forced into action.
It didn't take long – his would-be assassin was already on edge, and the panic Duo created in his mind tipped his hand.
The Ephemeral rushed at Duo in the dark, and Duo caught the knife that slashed through the air with his left hand and twisted the arm until the other man cried out and dropped his weapon.
He struggled against Duo's grip, but Duo just sent more waves of fear and pain at the man until he was crying out in pain and writhing in agony in Duo's grip. After a few minutes, Duo eased back on the sensations.
"Who wants me dead?" Duo demanded.
The assassin growled, but refused to answer. Duo could feel him reaching for something at his waist, but he beat him to it and tossed the gun towards the other side of the room.
"Do you even have any clue what you're doing?" Duo had expected someone with Heero's skill set, but this kid – and Duo knew it had to be someone young – was mentally weak, and despite his magical abilities, no match for Duo at all. Then again, Duo assured himself, he was a trained killer himself. And Heero was by far the most deadly human he had ever encountered.
"They just don't make them like they used to," Duo muttered to himself. He slammed the man into the nearest wall.
"Who?" He repeated.
"I don't care – so long as I get paid, it doesn't fucking matter to me," the man assured Duo, and then cried out when Duo slammed him into the wall again.
"Yeah, well, I've got some news to break to you: you AREN'T going to be collecting that five million. So, tell me what you DO know, and I promise to make your death quick."
"Fuck you."
Duo rolled his eyes, even though it was dark and the other man couldn't see him.
"Listen, if you want to be stupid and –"
"I'm not going to tell you anything, you animal."
That did it for Duo. He had encountered this type of racism over the years, from humans, who viewed Faeries as lesser magical beings because, unlike vampires and Ephemerals, they were never human.
Very calmly, Duo snapped the man's neck. He dragged the body with him as he fumbled for a light switch, and when he turned it on he was disappointed to see just how young the assassin had been. Even as an Ephemeral, he couldn't have been more than twenty-one.
It took him a few hours to dispose of the body. Duo and Heero had once compared notes on the best methods for getting rid of unwanted corpses – Duo preferred the traditional and surefire method of burning, but Heero was a fan of acid himself.
In the end, Duo managed to chop up the body into pieces small enough to cram into a large suitcase, and he hauled it downstairs to and into the trunk of a waiting taxi. Duo still wasn't that familiar with Las Vegas, so he directed the driver to take him out to Red Rock.
When they arrived in the desert, Duo asked him to stop and wait before he got out and hauled the suitcase about a hundred yards away from the car. He doused it with a bottle of vodka and then lit it on fire, watching over it long enough to ensure that it would be a clean burn. The screech of tires on asphalt clued him in to the taxi driver abandoning him, and Duo figured that watching a guy burn a suitcase was probably too weird for him to want the fare.
Duo briefly contemplated calling Hilde to come and pick him up, but decided that the woman needed her rest and didn't want to bother her in the middle of the night. So instead he walked ten miles back to civilization before he found another taxi and finally made it home just before dawn.
Exhausted, sweaty, sore, and smelling like burnt plastic, Duo collapsed into his bed without taking off his clothes.
All in all, it wasn't the best weekend he had ever had.
It was early afternoon when Duo woke on Monday, and he was disconcerted by the sound of someone pounding on his front door.
He rose from his bed and searched for the gun in his living room. He found it and put it in the back waistband of his pants before approaching the door. He looked through the peephole and saw that Wufei Chang was on the other side of his door.
With a groan, Duo opened the door.
"Good afternoon – to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" Duo asked as he gestured him inside.
Wufei scowled at him, and then sniffed the air disdainfully.
"You look terrible and you smell like a car fire."
"Thanks, it's a new thing – thought I'd try to ward off unwanted visitors by being disgusting, but apparently it doesn't work that well." Duo leveled a glare at him. "So, what do you want?"
"Hilde has been missing for the last two hours."
"Missing?" Duo repeated. He hadn't felt any distress from her. He reached out, and he could sense her, but no strong emotions from her. "She seems fine."
"She left to question a Council servant and I haven't heard back from her. I figured that you would be able to find her."
Duo frowned. He didn't necessarily like the idea of Hilde tracking down someone else's servant and trying to question them on her own, but he also trusted her – and their connection.
"Again, she seems fine. Plus, it's hours yet until sundown, so if you're worried about your wife being jealous and –"
Duo wasn't able to finish his sentence before Wufei had an arm at his throat and was shoving him against the same wall that Duo had, just hours before, used to batter an assassin.
"Shut your mouth," Wufei warned him.
Duo pushed Wufei away from him, using his magic to physically shove the Chinese man across the room.
"Remember who you're dealing with, Chang," Duo cautioned him. He was not in the mood to get pushed around by some null after the events of the last seventy-two hours. "And don't you think it would have been nice to mention that your wife was a psychotic vampire at some point to Hilde or Quatre?"
Wufei's scowl was fierce.
"How do you even know?"
"Because she works for the Council! She's an Enforcer for them – she tortures people, and she spent a few hours Saturday night torturing me with a silver whip. And I'm going to take a stab in the dark here and assume that you two never got into the bondage scene, because she sure as shit has no idea what she's doing with a whip. Unless, of course, YOU were the dominant one? But I'm pretty sure you'd be the submissive. Am I right?"
"If Hilde is injured, it's entirely your fault for getting her into this in the first place!" Wufei said, ignoring Duo's comments.
"If Hilde is injured, it's because she was doing her job. She's a cop – just like you – and she takes risks, just like you."
But Duo could admit to himself that he was a little concerned for her welfare. Being his servant made her more of a target than most servants were.
"You don't even care if she dies, do you?" Wufei demanded.
"Obviously I care. She's my human servant – it'd be a real hassle to go and get another one after only a few days with this one."
"You son of a bitch. You're just a monster, just like all the rest of them."
"Oh – like your wife?" Duo responded. He wasn't sure why he was goading the Chinese man, but it felt good to get into this kind of fight.
"You know nothing about Meilin!"
"So what's the story – she becomes a vampire but you stay human… did she have an affair? Did she get bored with you? Why'd she leave you behind? Or did you chicken out? Were you supposed to become a vampire too? I gotta admit, she's pretty hot – I'm impressed you ever managed to get her in the first place."
"Go to hell," Wufei growled before storming out and slamming the door behind him.
Duo shrugged and locked the door. He had been hoping that Wufei would actually tell him how his ex-wife had become a vampire, but getting rid of him so quickly was almost as good.
He took a long shower, taking care to wash his hair and scrub his skin clean of any scent from the fire.
When he got out of the shower he pulled on sweatpants and a t-shirt. He had a few hours still before his date with Trowa, and he wanted to clean his condo in case he managed to convince Trowa to come home with him.
Periodically he reached out to find Hilde, but every time she seemed perfectly safe, and after two hours of his probing she finally texted him to tell him that she was fine and to leave her alone.
Which happened to coincide with someone else knocking at his door.
Duo didn't know if he should anticipate an irate Wufei or another assassin, but he figured that a gun would come in handy in either case, so he grabbed it and cautiously stepped towards his door.
It was Heero, and with a relieved sigh, Duo swung the door wide open and ushered in the assassin.
Heero looked approving when he noticed the gun – Duo and Heero had long debated the merits of guns over knives, but, in this case, Duo was willing to concede that a gun could be more useful.
"I heard you had a visitor yesterday," Heero said as he walked in. He didn't even bother to be inconspicuous in his survey of the condo.
"Yeah – some punk kid. Not a big deal."
Heero nodded and, reconnaissance complete, sat down on the couch. Duo closed and locked the door before joining him.
"I… did what I could. You shouldn't have to worry about too many attempts on your life."
Duo arched an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? Five million not worth as much as it used to be?"
"Staying alive is worth more than dying for five million," Heero corrected.
Duo frowned.
"I'm not really following."
"I told you I went to visit some friends."
"Yeah, I figured you meant that you went to go and beat up some bankers or criminals or something."
Heero rolled his eyes.
"No, I met with a few of the more competent assassins I know. I convinced them that pursuing this contract was not in their best interests. They and all of THEIR crews will leave you alone. No one but the youngest and dumbest assassins who want to make a name for themselves will come after you. And after you kill a few more of them, not even they will."
"So… how did you convince them to drop this? Did you pay them more?"
Heero started to look uncomfortable.
"A few had heard of you, already, and decided not to pursue the contract."
Duo waited for him to continue.
"I told them that I would personally torture and very painfully kill anyone who managed to actually kill you."
Duo leaned back at the weight of the knowledge.
"Huh. That… must have burned through some of your street cred."
"I have a lot to spare, and they know that I meant it."
"Well, thanks. So… are you in town for a while, then?"
"No, I have a job in Singapore. It'll take me about a week or two."
"Careful, Halloween's coming up." Humans had various celebrations on the day, but for magic users, Halloween or All Saint's Day was the day when the planes of this world and the next were most closely aligned. The spirits from that other plane could be summoned, and could sometimes even interfere with this world. It was a dangerous time because magic was in flux during those twenty-four hours, and truly anything could happen. It wasn't a good time to try and assassinate a magic user.
"I should be done by then," Heero said after a moment's contemplation. "It if takes me longer than a week, I'll wait until after Halloween to finish the job."
"When do you leave?"
"Tomorrow morning."
"So you've got the night free?" Duo asked with a grin.
"I have to meet someone in an hour, and the meeting will probably take a few hours."
Which could mean anything: Heero might be getting new guns, might be robbing a bank, might be volunteering at an orphanage. He played things so close to the chest that Duo could only make wild, unfounded guesses.
"So…"
"I should be done by midnight."
"Okay, not a problem." Duo shrugged. He would have to cancel his date with Trowa, but seeing Heero this many times in one week, let alone one decade, was a rare opportunity.
"Did you have plans?"
"Nothing I can't cancel."
Heero frowned.
"Work?"
"No, Quatre's decided to keep Monday night's free – and he's feeling guilty about, well, he doesn't want to burn out." Duo did not feel the need to fill in Heero regarding his recent brush with Council punishment. His back was completely healed, and any soreness he felt was insignificant compared to the pain he had expected to be in just two days after the incident.
"A date?" Heero guessed.
Duo shrugged. "I don't mind cancelling it."
Heero frowned.
"Who is it?"
"He's a human. Ah… he's a performer at Chippendales, actually."
They had never talked about it, but Duo was fairly certain – he HOPED – that Heero saw other people during the time they were apart, and he had never made any attempt to hide the fact that he was also involved with other people. When Heero was in town, however, Duo had no problem setting aside any of his other relationships.
"You tend to avoid dating humans," Heero pointed out.
"He's different. Really different."
"You don't have to cancel your date."
"I don't mind. I'd rather spend the time with you. After all, you just convinced a bunch of assassins to NOT try to kill me. Surely you need some kind of reward." Duo winked.
"No," Heero assured him, either missing the joke or ignoring it. "I did what I needed to do."
Duo sighed. "Okay, fine, but I'd still rather spend the time with you."
" You don't have to change your plans. I'll only be here for a few hours, I'll stay at a hotel."
"I want to change them. Look, our relationship is complicated, but it's important –"
"We don't have a relationship," Heero argued, a hard look on his face.
That brought Duo up short.
"So, what would you call the last seventy years?"
"Our paths intersect every few years. I trust you, and I take a certain amount of comfort in your existence. That isn't a relationship. You have relationships."
"And you don't."
"You fulfill a need for me. That's all this is. If I need sex, I look for a partner. Sometimes that's you."
There was a strong level of conviction to Heero's voice that had Duo scowling.
"Right. So you went to the trouble of telling your assassin buddies to leave me alone because… what, sex with me every five years is worth it?"
"Yes." Heero said simply.
Duo clenched his jaw against the words he wanted to shout at the other man. It was hard for Duo to put a label on the feelings he had for Heero – they were very different from what he had felt for Anthony, or what he was starting to feel for Trowa, but they were still very strong feelings, and they involved more than the mere sexual release that Heero was describing.
"Okay, well, you've already gotten your fix, so… I guess I'll see you in five years," Duo finally bit out.
"You've never cared that much about this before," Heero pointed out.
"Yeah, well, maybe it's my recent brush with mortality and the knowledge that someone is trying to kill me –"
"Because that's new."
"- and anyway, you're the one who said that you wanted me alive."
"I do. It's nothing more than that."
Heero's blue eyes were hard and his face was unreadable. Duo finally gave in.
"Fine. Great. Fuck it. Have fun killing things."
Heero stood, but he seemed completely unphased by Duo's anger.
"Please be careful," Heero told him.
Duo rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, no problem. Wouldn't want all of your effort to go to waste."
Heero looked as though he wanted to say something, but instead he shrugged and left.
Duo glared after him for a long time before he could motivate himself to move.
They had never had anything approaching a traditional friendship or partnership, but Duo had always thought that Heero considered this to be more than just sex. The fact that Heero had gone to such effort to ensure that Duo didn't die seemed to emphasize that. And yet… yet he had just declared that Duo was only sex, and that he didn't think he was worth the effort of actually talking about it.
It took Duo too long to decide what to wear, and by the time he had finally put on his clothes, it was nearly seven. He had spent the better part of an hour fighting his anger over Heero's behavior and his own reaction to it, and by the time he had remembered his date with Trowa, he had worked his way into a very dark mental state.
He had finally settled on a light blue button up shirt tucked into a pair of dark, tight jeans. He left the top two buttons undone and put a charcoal vest over the shirt. He buttoned up the vest, and as he did so he reflected on the fact that fashion really did seem to move in circles. Vests hadn't been widely worn in years, and Duo hadn't worn one since the 1930s, but he was grateful they were back in style. He rolled up his sleeves to his elbows and added black dress shoes to finish the ensemble.
On a whim, Duo left his hair loose. He wore it in a braid almost religiously, but every once in a while, he liked to let it down. He was also still angry enough that brushing and braiding his hair was more of an effort than not. He decided the effect worked, and he left his condo in a rush to make it across town to the Rio before eight.
The box office attendant gave him a long suffering look when he arrived at five til eight, but she sold him a ticket and Duo's hand was stamped before he was ushered into the dark, bass-throbbing theatre that housed the Chippendales.
Duo knew this could go one of two ways – Trowa could be furious with him for coming to see his show without asking first, or he could accept the fact that Duo really couldn't resist the chance to see him strip in front of an audience. Duo didn't know Trowa well enough yet to know which way the performer would go, but after the last few days, it was a risk Duo was willing to take.
He found a seat at the bar in the back, preferring not to mingle with the masses of women who were already chanting excitedly in the rows of seats or at the café tables. He ordered a whiskey sour and then prepared to watch the show.
As soon as the lights dimmed the women started cheering wildly, and Duo could feel their collective excitement as it moved through the air like a hum of energy. He had met more than a few Ephemerals – and Old Ones – in his time who practiced sex magic, and he wondered if any had ever thought to just sit in the audience of one of these shows. Even Duo, who wasn't particularly in tune with sex magic, could taste their arousal and feel it course through his blood.
The dark stage started to flash with lights, and men wearing sunglasses and trench coats danced in and out of the light. Duo tried to pick out Trowa, but it was too dark, and none of the performers had bangs long enough to cover nearly half their face.
Duo had almost convinced himself that Trowa had made the whole thing up, but then some of the performers started to step forward into shafts of white light. These men had removed their sunglasses and coats and stood in black trousers and were bare chested except for the traditional cuffs and collars that were the Chippendales trademark.
Despite the fact that his hair had been combed back into a faux hawk, Duo recognized Trowa instantly. And he couldn't help the fact that his jaw dropped at the sight of his muscle definition.
Trowa literally looked like he had been sculpted by a Renaissance artist. His light golden skin was stretched across his upper chest and abdominal muscles and there was a sheen to his skin that made it practically glow. Unlike the man standing directing beside Trowa, the tall man's muscles weren't the scary, over-defined sort, but seemed to look like they had been achieved through an athletic lifestyle and NOT through steroids and a life-long dedication to weight lifting.
The men in the spot lights ripped away their pants just as the lights went out, and the women went wild at the brief flash of their toned legs.
Duo rolled his eyes and prepared himself for a very interesting night. He wasn't sure WHAT he had been expecting from the Chippendales, but the show was a strange mix of erotic and camp that had him torn between amusement and arousal for the next eighty minutes.
Trowa was involved in most of the numbers, and by the end Duo couldn't decide if he preferred him stripping out of his firefighter uniform or out of a white tuxedo more.
After the finale, several of the performers remained onstage to sign autographs and take photographs with the audience. Duo noticed that Trowa was not among them.
He paid for his drink and walked through the gift shop. He noticed that most of the performers had merchandise specifically branded with their name, and he found the section that had Trowa's items. He passed on the calendars and birthday cards, but he couldn't resist the coffee mug that said 'I heart Trowa.' The 'T' in his name was in the shape of a bowtie.
Duo paid for his mug and then went into the other bar attached to the theatre. A few more of the performers were already in the bar, mingling with the women from the audience, or relaxing at the bar and chatting with the bar tender.
Duo ordered another drink and decided to wait for Trowa to call him.
"I'll get that," a voice spoke up from behind Duo just as the bar tender handed Duo his whiskey sour.
He turned and recognized one of the performers, a man with short blonde hair, tan skin, and warm, dark eyes that seemed to be laughing at Duo. He had been one of the men who Duo had thought were TOO muscled, and seeing him now, Duo realized that he was actually a little shorter than him, making his body seem even more out of proportion.
"Thanks, but I've got it," Duo said.
The man shrugged and took the open seat beside Duo.
"I'm Chris."
"Duo."
"Did you enjoy the show?"
"Yeah, it was… very entertaining."
Chris chuckled.
"We don't get too many attractive men in the audience."
He had noticed that he was the only man in the audience, attractive or otherwise. He shrugged.
"I've been hearing about you guys for years and I decided to see what all the talk was about."
"And were you impressed?" Chris had on a confident smirk, and he didn't seem to be picking up on the fact that Duo was not interested.
"I was," Duo pulled out his coffee mug. "Think you could introduce me to Trowa? He was something else. Man, his body was incredible."
Chris lost his smirk.
"Trowa? He's okay. Nice guy – but if you're looking for a good time –"
"Hey."
Duo turned at the familiar voice and grinned.
Trowa had changed into a fitted, graphic t shirt and tight jeans. Now that Duo knew what was under those clothes it was hard not to stare. His hair was still in the faux hawk, and it helped to define just how handsome Trowa's face was.
"I was hoping to see you!" Duo said. "Would you sign my coffee mug?"
Trowa looked ready to say something, but he merely smiled and pulled out a sharpie.
"Who do you want me to make it out to?"
"Duo - and if you could add something about love at first sight, or your phone number, that would be amazing."
Chris rolled his eyes in disgust but got up and wandered off. Trowa took his vacated seat.
Duo waited while he scribbled something on the mug before passing it back to him. He put it back in the gift bag without looking at it, deciding that he would enjoy it later.
"Did you like the show?" Trowa didn't sound upset, and in fact Duo could make out a smile around the corners of his mouth.
"I did. I especially liked the parts where you didn't have clothes on."
Trowa chuckled.
"What happened to me calling you after?"
Duo shrugged. "I was going to wait for you to call me before I tried to talk to you."
Trowa rolled his eyes.
He started to say something, but several drunk young girls stumbled up to the bar and started to talk to him, ignoring Duo completely.
Duo watched in amusement as Trowa gave the girls a smirk that was clearly calculated to look sexy and aloof. They practically drooled over him as he signed their calendars and casually flirted with them. It turned out that it was the twenty-first birthday of one of the girls, and Trowa kissed her on the cheek, eliciting a round of excited giggles.
When they finally left to track down another performer, Trowa rose from his seat.
"Ready to go?"
"Sure – you don't have to stay?"
Trowa shook his head.
"We're encouraged to stay for half an hour and mingle – so now I'm a free man."
Duo followed Trowa out of the bar and into the main, open bottom floors of the Rio. It was still loud and crowded, but not quite so bad as it had been in the bar.
"What did you have planned for the evening?" Trowa asked.
"Well, I did have plans to go grab a few drinks and hang out for a bit before casually inviting you back to my place, but now that I've seen you nearly naked it's kind of hard to remember why I didn't want to just skip the drinks and get you in my bed as soon as I can."
Trowa laughed.
"One drink, and then we'll go." His green eyes were warm with amusement and arousal, and Duo enjoyed the growing sexual tension between them. It looked as though his luck was finally starting to turn, and Duo didn't mind waiting for a few more hours and allowing the anticipation to build.
"Did you have anywhere in mind?" Trowa continued.
"No, I was hoping you knew somewhere."
Trowa nodded and started to lead them around the people and towards the center of the Rio.
"Did you see me? How did you know I was there?" Duo asked as they walked.
"I didn't see you at first. Chris noticed some hot guy at the bar in the back and told everyone after the opening number. A few of the other guys had noticed him too, and they started to lay bets on why he was there, and who could take him home. The next time I was onstage I looked and recognized you." A muscle in Trowa's jaw jumped as he swallowed. He didn't speak for a few minutes.
"You were jealous," Duo realized.
"They were talking about you like some drunk audience member they could take home and brag about later." Trowa sighed. "Chris wouldn't shut up about it. Which is another reason we aren't encouraged to bring dates to the shows." Trowa gave him a hard look.
"Sorry, I didn't even realize there would be other gay men in the show."
"A few others, and a few who are bisexual. It isn't often that there are men in the audience, and we never have men who look like you in the audience."
"Like me?" Duo echoed with a grin.
Trowa rolled his eyes. "I'm not going to repeat what was said about you backstage. Besides, we're here."
Duo looked at the incredibly long line of people in front of them.
"Um… I'm sure this place is great, but I do have beer and wine back at my place."
Trowa smirked and started to walk to the front of the line. Duo fell into step behind him. When they reached the front, the bouncer looked up and smiled.
"Hey, Trowa, going up?"
"Yes, and I have a friend with me tonight." Trowa indicated Duo. The bouncer nodded and gestured them towards a dark hallway.
"Have a good time."
"Are you some kind of celebrity?" Duo asked.
"Yes. I'm a Chippendale."
"Right, but that was a really long line –"
"All of the performers – and the crew with the show get in here for free, and we get to skip the line."
"That's pretty cool."
Duo followed Trowa into a glass elevator. A few more people squeezed in with them and the doors shut.
"Turn around," Trowa instructed Duo, who had been facing the doors.
Duo did so just as the elevator started to rise and he grinned at the sight before him. The elevator shaft was on the outside of the Rio, and as the car rose, more and more of Las Vegas was revealed. The neon glittered like jewels in the night, and by the time the car stopped, far above the Strip, Duo could see the entire valley.
"Welcome to the Voodoo Lounge," Trowa said, and gestured for Duo to turn back around.
Duo followed Trowa into a dark club that practically vibrated with the bass of the music. Black lights were everywhere, and the walls, floor, and ceiling were decorated with florescent illustrations that glowed in the light.
The club was crowded, and Trowa grabbed Duo's hand and led him through the crowd and outside.
It was cold, and this far up there was a fair bit of wind, but there was more space, and the glow of the city was beneath them.
"The view is incredible," Duo said.
Trowa nodded.
"It helps put things in perspective."
Duo looked at Trowa and frowned at the slight thread of anger in the other man's voice.
"Look, I'm really sorry about coming to your work. I –"
"I'm not angry about it," Trowa interrupted him. He let out a sigh and shook his head. "But I'm not – who I am onstage, who I was with those girls – that's not me."
Duo gave a theatrical sigh of relief. "Thank god – because when you told that girl that Candy was a perfect name for her because she was so sweet I was seriously rethinking my promise to not try and break up with you again."
Trowa laughed, and Duo found himself smiling in response to the rich sound.
"I'm not very good at flirting. Especially when I don't actually care about the person."
"Well, you sure made her happy. Although you probably could have just sat there and read a phone book and made her night."
Trowa sobered. "I'm not embarrassed about what I do, but it's separate from the rest of my life. It's just my job. I'm not – I'm not just a decent body to be drooled over."
"You aren't a pet," Duo added, suddenly understanding Trowa a lot better.
"Exactly."
"I never thought you were. I'm not interested in you because you have a decent body – and for the record, decent is a ridiculous understatement – and I don't think that's all there is to you. If you don't want me to come and see you here, I understand. But – it was kind of hard to resist the temptation this time."
"You couldn't keep your eyes off me," Trowa observed.
"Ah, no, no I couldn't." Duo flushed and scratched the back of his neck. Duo couldn't help the fact that Trowa's body was as close to physical perfection as any he had ever seen. Nor he could help the fact that he found Trowa's intelligence and sharp sense of humor incredibly attractive.
Trowa smirked.
"So, how about that drink?" Duo asked.
"Sounds good."
They walked up to the outside bar.
"Two Rusty Nails," Trowa ordered before Duo could speak. "I noticed you drinking a whiskey sour earlier – I think you'll like this more."
Duo shrugged and waited for the drinks to be made. Sure enough, he took a sip of the slightly sweet, bitter drink and liked it.
"Good call."
Trowa smirked, and Duo was, once again, impressed by his sense of self-confidence.
"Before I agree to go home with you," Trowa said as he led them to a more secluded area on the patio, "I need to ask a very important question."
Duo prepared himself for the worst, and after his earlier fight with Heero, who KNEW just how wrong this evening could continue to go.
"What was your favorite part of the show?"
Duo chuckled in nervous relief.
"That's a really tough question. I think, after careful reflection, that I liked the scene with you in the white tux."
Trowa groaned.
"I hate that one – the three of us are onstage, basically masturbating!"
"Yeah, I noticed that. Which is part of the reason it was so hot. I mean yeah, a little goofy too, but mostly hot."
Trowa shook his head in despair.
"What? What is your favorite part of the show?" Duo challenged.
"I'm not in it this week, but I like the first audience participation scene. With the three guys – one is the carpenter, one the business man, and the other the rebel."
"Which one are you, usually?"
"The business man."
"Yeah, I can see how you would look amazing in a suit and glasses. Of course, you looked amazing in everything– even those stupid, patriotic boxers."
"They're the worst," Trowa agreed.
"You aren't going to get in trouble over me, are you?" Duo asked as they finished their drinks.
"No. No one knows that I'm dating you – and there is definitely no company policy that discourages us from taking home audience members."
"What about you being gay?"
Trowa shrugged. "It really doesn't matter. The women don't really care – some of them LIKE that, most of them don't know, and of course, there are always those who think that they can turn you straight. Those I don't really care for."
"So, if I take you home does it still count for you to win the bet?"
"I didn't join in."
"Too bad."
Trowa reached out and ran his hand through Duo's hair.
"I like it loose."
"It's a pain in the ass."
"I appreciate the effort."
The look in Duo's eyes told him that Trowa was just as ready to leave the club as he was.
"Ready to go?" He asked, and was rewarded with a sensual smile from Trowa.
"Yeah, if you are."
"Definitely."
They weaved their way through the crowd of people outside, and then inside, and had the elevator to themselves as they rode down.
"You don't have to come back to my place," Duo said, feeling that he should offer Trowa an out just in case he was moving too fast for the human.
"We could go to my place," Trowa agreed, "but your condo is closer. Unless you don't want me to."
"No, no I definitely want you to."
"Good, because now that you've seen me naked, it's only fair that I get to see you."
Duo smirked.
"So you want to come back to my place, have me put on some R. Kelly, strip and then masturbate for you."
Trowa chuckled.
"Not exactly what I had pictured, but I liked the part about going back to your place – and you stripping for me."
They reached the ground, and ceased their banter as they flowed back into the casino traffic. Trowa led them outside and to the parking garage.
Duo got into the passenger side of Trowa's Prius and couldn't help but smirk.
As he drove, Trowa glanced over and noticed the expression.
"What?"
"Nothing. I just – I've never met a human like you before. You're incredible."
"I know," Trowa agreed in a solemn tone, and Duo chuckled.
When they entered Duo's apartment, he had to check and make sure that Heero hadn't returned and planned another ambush, but as soon as he looked around and made sure the apartment was empty, he let Trowa in. He also reinforced his usual wards, making them strong enough to actually repel anyone who tried to break in, instead of just alerting him to the fact.
"Would you mind if I took a shower?" Trowa asked. "I'm covered in body oil and I smell like sweat."
Duo thought Trowa smelled just fine, but he shrugged.
"Sure."
"Sorry, I usually shower after the show, but –"
"But I ruined your plans." Duo felt a pang of guilt.
"No, well, no. I just didn't want to leave you alone in the bar for too long."
"Did you think I was going to go home with someone else?" Duo asked.
Trowa looked very serious for a moment, but he shrugged.
"You said it yourself – I couldn't take my eyes off of you. Trowa, if I hadn't already known you – if I hadn't already been planning on taking you home tonight – I would have seen you for the first time and not been able to think of anything else. I like you for more than your body, but I've got to be honest and say that your body is… amazing."
Trowa held his gaze for a long moment before leaning forward and kissing him. Duo responded instantly, wrapping his arms around the slightly taller man and pulling their bodies together. This close, Trowa DID smell like sweat and coconut body oil, but he still tasted amazing, that same dark, cinnamon flavor and now that was a hint of lemon from the drinks they had had earlier.
When Trowa pulled away, he wore a smirk, and his eyes were hooded with desire.
"I'll show you where the shower is," Duo said, smirking himself.
He led Trowa into the master bedroom and then into the bathroom, showing him where the extra towels were.
"Thank you – I'll just be a few minutes."
"It's fine, I'll just be admiring my souvenir coffee mug."
Trowa rolled his eyes, but went into the bathroom and closed the door behind himself.
Duo went back into the kitchen and pulled the coffee mug out of the gift bag to inspect Trowa's inscription on the mug. In clear, block lettering, Trowa had written:' Careful, may contain hot liquids,' with his name scribbled below in a sloppy, nearly illegible signature. Duo laughed and put the mug in a cabinet.
He was grateful that he had finally taken the time to straighten up the apartment from Heero's visit a few nights ago, because while Hilde had been very easy going about walking into an apartment that looked like it had been robbed, he doubted that Trowa would have been as impressed.
Duo absently flipped through a book on his coffee table. He realized, several pages in, that the book wasn't his. He flipped back to the first page and noticed a note.
'Thought you would enjoy this.' It wasn't signed, but Duo recognized Heero's writing. Duo had once confided his love of science fiction to Heero, and ever since the assassin would periodically give Duo a new book that he had found and thought Duo might enjoy. This book appeared to be new, and was called SUPER SAD TRUE LOVE STORY. It wasn't really science fiction, Duo noticed right away, but it drew him in and before he knew it he was curled up on the couch, twenty pages in.
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
Duo looked up and saw Trowa coming towards him wearing nothing but a towel wrapped low on his waist. Duo felt mildly guilty that he had become so absorbed in the book so quickly. He also felt a rush of anger towards Heero – sex and books every five years, and that was all this was for the other man. Duo knew that Heero HAD to feel something else, but he doubted that Heero would figure it out any time soon. Duo put down the book and pushed all thoughts of Heero from his mind.
Trowa's hair had clearly been towel dried and it was a bit of a mess, sticking up in a few places, and his long bangs were once again covering the left side of his face. Duo looked him over, and noticed a tattoo on Trowa's right hip. He had noticed it before, when Trowa was onstage, but Duo had been too far away to see any details.
"You have a tattoo."
Trowa shrugged and leaned against the frame of the bedroom door. The angle made the towel slip even lower, and Duo rose and walked over to him. Unable to resist, he reached out and traced the tattoo with one finger.
"It's a lion." It wasn't a very detailed tattoo, just a very crude outline of a lion in dark blue ink. It looked old and slightly faded. Duo wondered how long Trowa had had it.
"Yes." Trowa's voice was very neutral, and Duo thought it was an odd reaction.
"Do you…like lions?"
"I admire them. I don't particularly care for the tattoo."
"So then why did you get it?"
"I was young and stupid."
"You could get it removed."
Trowa shrugged. "Tattoos are pretty popular among the cast at Chippendales. It helps to break up the body, and the fans like to learn about the story behind them."
"And your story is that you were young and stupid and you hate it."
Trowa rolled his eyes. "No, my story for them is that I love nature and I think that the lion is the king of the jungle and I admire his strength and agility."
Duo managed to keep a straight face for all of two seconds before he laughed.
"That's such bullshit."
"The lion is the king of the jungle," Trowa insisted, but then he grinned. "The girls love it. They hear lion and somehow they end up picturing me cuddling with a kitten or something."
"Hmm." Duo ran his finger below the tattoo and around the edge of the towel. "I had a different picture in my mind."
"Oh really?"
"Yeah, it didn't involve this, either," Duo said and gave the towel a tug. It fell down and revealed Trowa's completely naked body to Duo's greedy eyes. He saw that Trowa was already half-aroused, and even now his erection was an impressive size. Duo licked his lips unconsciously, and Trowa groaned before pulling him against his naked body and kissing him again.
Duo walked them backwards even as Trowa started to unbutton his vest and then his shirt. They reached the bed, and Duo stepped back to pull off the vest and shirt before grabbing Trowa again and running his hands over his amazingly warm and firm skin. It felt like there was a fire beneath Trowa's skin, he was so warm, and Duo just wanted to bury himself in all that warmth.
Trowa's hands were running over Duo's back, and when his hands ghosted over Duo's scars he stopped and pulled away.
Duo let him, even though he instantly missed the feel of Trowa's body against his own.
"What happened to your back?"
Duo sighed, but turned around so that Trowa could see. In his experience, it was better to let someone see the scars before he explained – that way they were already prepared for the horror story.
"This wasn't recent." There was a sense of relief to Trowa's voice that Duo hadn't expected.
"No, these are almost six hundred years old."
Duo started to turn back around, but then he felt Trowa trace over the scars, following them from his shoulders down to the small of his back where they disappeared beneath his jeans.
"What did this? Who did this?"
Duo did turn around then, because he needed to see what Trowa's reaction was.
Even half hidden, Trowa's face was surprisingly easy to read in this moment. He was angry. Not disgusted, not filled with pity, but actually angry. There was a simmer of rage in his green eyes that surprised Duo.
He sat down on the bed, and a moment later Trowa sat down beside him, completely unconcerned with being naked while Duo was still half clothed.
Duo forced himself to look at Trowa's face as he explained the history of his scarred back.
"When I was younger, I worked with a group of Ephemerals who hunted down magic users who harmed humans. Originally, we were an order in the Catholic Church, a brotherhood. By the early 1500s, the Inquisition was in full swing, and it was becoming harder and harder to avoid persecution from the very people we were trying to protect, so we broke away from the Church. However, within a few years, WE became the hunted. We had the Inquisition after us on one side, and the Old Council on the other. Before, we had always been able to avoid run-ins with the Council because we could take sanctuary in churches, but without that sacred ground to protect us, it became easier for the Council to hunt us down. There were nine of us, to start, and by the end there were only two of us. The Council caught up with us near Calais, and we were taken to Paris to face judgment."
Duo noticed that Trowa seemed to be listening attentively, and so he continued, rushing through the next part as quickly as he could before he let himself think too much about it.
"The two of us left – myself and Solo – had been the leaders of our group, and we had been the ones that the Council wanted to make an example of. Solo was an Ephemeral – the most powerful Ephemeral I've ever encountered, but he was still just human. They tortured us for days, until they broke me. I told them I would do anything if they would just leave Solo alone. It was what they had been waiting for all along. I'm something of an oddity in the magical community. I told you that I was half Dark Court Faerie, but the other part of me – no one quite knows what I am. All that I know is that vampires think I taste really, really good. I was passed around between Council members for a while, and I figured that was going to be the rest of my life – they would treat me like some toy until they got bored, or I ran out of blood, and then they would kill me. But then I learned that they had killed Solo. I went a little crazy at that point. I killed three Council members – a vampire, a Light Court Faerie, and a shape shifter. I killed them with my bare hands, I was so furious about Solo, about their betrayal. I'd always hated the Council, as soon as I learned who they were, but at the very least, I thought that they acted with honor."
Trowa was still following the story, and now that he had gotten past Solo's death, the telling became easier for Duo.
"They wrapped me in silver chains and left me like that for five years before they brought me before the Head of the Council. Jason was, ah –"
"Jason? That isn't a very ancient name."
"No?" Duo shrugged. "He's more than three thousand years old, so…"
"Jason. The Greek hero Jason?"
"That'd be him. Anyway, Jason found me amusing, so he didn't want to kill me outright, and like I said, the vampires enjoyed the way I tasted. He's a vampire, too, by the way. He wasn't always, but after Medea sort of wrecked his world, he fell in with a bad crowd and was bitten. Jason decided that I was too intriguing to merely kill, so he decided to discipline me until I agreed to follow his commands. At the time, the Council Executioner was Gelanor. Um – by Executioner, I mean the man who carried out the punishments the Council decreed. Sometimes that was death, but most of the time it was torture. Anyway, Gelanor had a truly amazing collection of whips that he used to punish his victims. I'm talking the Louvre of torture devices. But his absolute favorite was a whip that a Dark Court Faerie had once forged. The whip was pure silver – the handle was solid silver, and out of the top came three separate silver cords, each about nine feet long. And at the end of those cords were silver scythes. He called the thing Deathscythe, and he reserved it for very special occasions. Not only was it entirely silver, but the thing is wrapped in so many layers of dark magic that just LOOKING at it can give you nightmares."
Duo shrugged.
"Long story short, I got the pleasure of suffering one hundred lashes from the thing before I agreed to follow the commands of the Council. And that's where I got the scars from."
"Silver scars Faeries? I thought it only scarred vampires."
"No, you're right about that. Silver burns like acid when it touches my skin, but it won't scar me. No, it was the magic – the very, very dark magic of this whip that made the scars on my back."
"What happened – after?"
"Well, I tried to destroy the whip, and when I failed at that, I tried to kill Gelanor – my plan was actually to kill us both and try to melt down as many of his damn whips as I could, but I failed, spectacularly, and as punishment Gelanor took me on as his apprentice, and eventually I became the Executioner for the Old Council. And then I moved to the States, and was their Executioner until I left the magical world, about a hundred years ago. And that is my life story."
An extremely edited version, but still more than Duo had told anyone else. Not even Anthony had known this much about him, and it bothered Duo that he had explained so much to Trowa.
"What happened to the whip – Deathscythe?"
"I inherited that with the job. I left it behind, though, when I walked away from this world." Duo frowned and wondered if Treize still had it. He wondered if he had had Meilin use it on anyone, and he shuddered at the possibility.
"Well, that was kind of a mood killer," Duo joked weakly. He drew his knees up and rested his chin on them. He was impressed that Trowa hadn't run screaming in the middle of the story, but he also didn't know just how the other man was taking all of this.
"You've had a hard life."
"It's getting better."
Trowa gave him a patronizing look.
"No, really. In fact, I just met this amazing guy, and he kind of makes me forget about all of the things that have happened to me." Duo grinned and crawled over to Trowa, forcing the other man to lay back on the bed as he crawled over his body.
"I fail to see how it's possible for you to forget what's happened to you just by watching me take off my clothes."
"No, that isn't what I was talking about."
"Oh? Is this some other guy?" Trowa sounded amused, but there was also a warning tone to his voice.
"No, it's you, but it's not your incredible body that makes me forget. It's that right there – your smirk. Damn, I love it when you smirk like that." Duo leaned down and kissed Trowa. The other man responded instantly, his tongue meeting Duo's and dueling for control of the kiss.
Duo ground his hips against Trowa's. The other man growled into his mouth and flipped them over, straddling Duo's hips and looking down at him with a hungry, predatory expression.
"You are beautiful," Trowa said, and there was a gravity to his voice that made Duo shiver. Trowa's green gaze seemed to stare right into his soul, and Duo couldn't shake the feeling that Trowa really could see that far into him – that he was looking past his body, looking past his history, and seeing HIM.
Trowa continued to hold his gaze as he ran his hands down Duo's chest, raking his flesh with short nails. Trowa stopped when he reached the waistband of Duo's jeans and started to undo his belt. He pulled it free and then undid the fly of the jeans before pulling them and Duo's boxers down in one swift motion. Duo kicked the clothes off of his feet and forced himself to remain still as Trowa looked him over.
By no means did Duo's body approach the level of perfection that Trowa's did, even without his scars, but Duo believed himself to be fairly good looking, and from the satisfied smirk on Trowa's face the other man agreed with his self-assessment.
Trowa kissed him again and Duo cradled the back of his skull, holding him against him and wishing that he could keep the taste of Trowa in his mouth always.
Their erections brushed together and both men groaned and arched into each other, craving more friction. Duo reached between their bodies and latched onto Trowa's erection, stroking the other man firmly until Trowa started to thrust against him involuntarily.
"I want to be inside of you," Trowa groaned into Duo's ear.
"Yes," Duo moaned in agreement. He released Trowa and twisted onto his side and reached for the lube and the condoms he had placed in his nightstand earlier that day. As he did so, Trowa moved down his body and licked Duo's erection.
"Oh fuck that feels good," Duo moaned when Trowa took him into his mouth.
He let Trowa suck him for a few minutes, but when he started to get close to orgasm, Duo made him stop.
"I want you in me when I come," Duo explained when he pushed Trowa away.
Trowa kissed him, and Duo could taste his own precum mixed with cinnamon. Trowa took the lube from Duo and coated two fingers with it before teasing at Duo's entrance, gently working his fingers into the tight ring of muscle and then pushing deep into him.
"I'm ready," Duo assured the other man when Trowa pulled back to look at him.
Trowa's smirk was back as he rolled the condom down his erection and then guided it into Duo very slowly, until every inch of his length was buried inside him.
"You feel incredible," Trowa groaned, his voice slightly hoarse as he held himself still.
"For fuck's sake please start to move or I'm going to kill you," Duo replied.
Trowa laughed even as he complied with Duo's demand, pulling almost completely out before thrusting back in. They groaned in unison at the sensation.
Duo was a little alarmed by how serious Trowa looked as he pumped into him, but when the other man started to stroke Duo in rhythm to his own motion Duo stopped thinking about anything else but the feel of the other man moving inside of him and working his erection.
"Come with me," Trowa encouraged Duo. "I'm so close."
"Me too," Duo groaned, feeling the pressure start to build.
And suddenly there was an explosion of light and energy so intense that Duo nearly blacked out. He could FEEL Trowa's orgasm as he felt his own, and the pleasure was like nothing Duo had ever experienced. But it was more than that, Duo could taste Trowa, even though they weren't kissing, he could feel the other man's wildly erratic heartbeat, and he could sense EVERYTHING. It felt as though a cloud of magic surrounded them. It wasn't the normal, dark hue of Duo's own magic, but something rich and golden and very, very warm.
Trowa had stopped moving, and the look on his face told Duo that he was feeling EXACTLY what Duo was feeling, and that it alarmed him as much as it alarmed Duo.
"What the hell was that?"
Up Next: Some explaining to do, and we find out what Hilde was up to.
Definitions:
Council: the body that presides over magical creatures and users in the US. The Old Council refers to the European Council.
Dryad: A nature spirit, like a Sprite. Another Old One. Usually associated with a tree, and different 'families' of Dryads are associated with different trees.
Ephemeral: a human who can use magic. Used interchangeably with witch.
Old Ones: the powerful magical races. Vampires, Shape shifters, Faeries, and a few more to be named later!
Old Ways: reference to the way that the European Council ran things or the way things were before magic was legal. Sally Po refers to the old ways – a reference to the practices of Native American Shamans, and NOT the Council.
Null: a human without magical ability.
Shaman: A Native American mystic or holy person. Used in this context to mean an Ephemeral.