UNDERLYING AGENDA
CHAPTER TWO
The elevators opened up and Duo stepped into the spacious gourmet kitchen of his one bedroom penthouse apartment. The stainless steel Elite appliances and Persian marble countertops gleamed beautifully. "There's some beer in the fridge. Make yourself at home," Zechs politely excused himself and disappeared down the hall, leaving Duo to his own devices while he changed out of his work clothes.
"Thanks…" Duo got a peek of the master bedroom as Zechs disappeared behind the frosted French doors. White elegance; appropriate for the elusive Prince of Sanc. The cool tile permeated his socked feet as he grabbed a beer from the well stocked fridge, almost immediately drifting toward the open dining and living room set before a breathtaking panoramic view of downtown Tokyo. "Oh, wow…" Zechs surrounded himself with taste and luxury, but this wasn't his home. The remnants of it were hidden away in the unpacked brown paper boxes sitting in a darkened corner. Carefully setting down his beer on the mahogany coffee table, Duo lugged one over to the couch and unfolded the first item from its bubble wrap cocoon.
"Ah hell…" Zechs had barely stepped out of the shower when his COM unit went off and by the sound of the ringer, he had a damn good idea who it was and why. He struggled to find a towel, and when he realized they were still sitting in the dryer in the utility closet, Zechs took his chances and slunk out into the hall despite the wailing machine. In mid reach for the freshly dried cotton, Zechs paused at the silence that followed after the persistent call ceased. Then he noticed Duo's muddy boots by the elevator doors, heard the soft rustle of paper, the Tiffany frames being placed gingerly on the glass sill of the unused fireplace.
Five years into world peace, and Duo barely recognized the late Lucretzia Noin. The once androgynous soldier had transformed into one unmistakably feminine Italian bombshell. Duo unveiled another photo and recalled the warmth behind her smile. She had been a breathtaking bride with her long, sensual waves of midnight hair, freckled skin, and marvelously kind features. The $64,000.00 mermaid wedding gown by Versace didn't hold a candle to her. In fact, about the only thing brighter was the sparkle of pride in Milliardo Peacecraft as he gazed down into her oval countenance, kissed her beneath the altar within the elaborate Cathedral of Sanc. Duo placed the last of the set onto the mantle and reached for another, warmed by their memories from the inside out-... "Oh, piss!" Duo winced as a stack of unsorted photos suddenly fell away from an unfinished album and spilled all over the living room floor. Quickly, he bent down and carefully worked to gather them up when what they beheld arrested him cold.
Blood splatter.
Skull fragments.
Blue lips.
"Oh, Jesus…" Duo shut his eyes as bile rose and carefully exhaled, startled as he looked up to see Zechs still figure just standing at the foot of the living room in a bath towel. The look on his face was unrecognizable to Duo. Not even in his darkest days had Heero Yuy ever held a look like the one Zechs held at that very moment; living death.
"What do you think you're doing?"
Duo picked up a photo and thrust it forward. It was a picture of Noin, or what was left of her after her skull hit the rocks. "You kept these? You look at these?"
"I didn't invite you here to meddle in my private life, Duo Maxwell." Ripping the photo from his grip, Zechs's face remained unmoving even as he, with a vicious sweep of his arm, sent the frames flying off the mantle to shatter on the virginal hearth below. "What the hell is it to you if I look at them?"
"It's just…" Now was not the time to get into it with the former Oz Specials Lieutenant. Not when his blood was up, and old wounds re-salted by Duo's rampant nosiness. Managing to look ashamed, Duo shook his head, "Nothing, you're right. It is none of my business." Duo sidestepped him, the glass in attempt to show himself out, but instead found himself sharply pinned to the elevator doors by the shoulders several inches off the ground. He lost grip on his boots and they fell soundlessly to the floor as Zechs leant in closely, his breath ghosting across Duo's cheek, flooding the shell of his ear. Zechs smirked into his fragrant hair and tentatively tongued the pulsing jugular, biting back the desire to trap his pulse between his teeth. Pliant in all the right places, from thigh to hip to shoulder, the blonde's mouth watered for a taste of the wild and lascivious 02. Zechs released his shoulders and the boy dropped down into a straddling position against the thigh he precariously planted between his knees. This left Duo with no choice but to clamp down on his shoulders, squeeze the exposed thigh for balance like an unpracticed cowboy. The broken prince's Siberian stare pierced through his resolve and he shuddered. Zechs quirked a platinum brow and he tilted his head in amused anticipation, "Are you scared?"
The danger of his instability and his purely masculine scent made Duo shiver, yes, but this was a man desperately trying to purchase control over his surroundings the way he once knew, before he lost the one thing worth dying another day for. Looking into his eyes, Duo searched them and shook his head. "Not as scared as you, Milliardo Peacecraft. A prince with no kingdom, a hero with no legacy, a husband with no wife…" The youth's eyes never faltered, not even as his feet slowly returned to the floor. Picking up his muddy boots, Duo hit the elevator button and shrugged. "Will you now walk like a corpse among the living too?"
Zechs said nothing but never looked away, not even as the doors opened and Duo backed himself into the space, waiting expectantly for a quip that never came. "Hey! I'm talking to you! Hey-!" The elevator closed and descended, ending the bitter buzz that killed the once promising evening. Duo sighed disappointedly; pulling out one of the only remnants capturing Zechs's passed happiness from one of his boots. "You're not dead yet, Zechs. If you can't see that on your own… I'll just have to damn well show you."