A/N: Valentine's gift fic for Maevemauvaise. I have to also give a huge thanks to Amberlyinviolet for being super patient with some D/s questions from me as well as doing a great beta read. Any mistakes you see are my own and NOT her fault though.

A/N #2: This fic is complete in five parts and I will be posting a chapter every day or as I get it edited. So you're not going to be waiting months or years for updates on this. And yes, I'm working on updates for my WIPs.

Warnings: D/s, BDSM, fluff, angst, violence, language, smutty smut smut (of the 2x5 variety only). Also cliches because… I really wanted to do some fun things. And a few Star Wars quotes because Star Wars.

Pairings: 2X5, 3xR

True Romance

Wufei walked into the lounge and saw that Heero and Trowa were already there. Trowa seated on the couch with his legs stretched in front of him, cup of coffee in one hand and a battered paperback novel in the other, looked up at his entrance and nodded a greeting.

Heero, seated at the table in the center of the room with his hands cradling his own cup of coffee, glared at Wufei.

Naturally, Wufei smirked in response and walked over to pour himself a cup of the coffee, hoping that Trowa had been the one to brew it.

"I see you're still pissed about the PT results," he murmured, stirring milk into his coffee.

Heero, predictably, didn't respond.

Wufei turned around and leaned back against the counter while he looked at Heero.

He took a slow sip of his coffee, enjoying this more than he should if he was reading Trowa's facial expression correctly.

"You lost most of your time on the island hopper obstacle but I was impressed with how much you made up on the belly crawl. Then again -"

Trowa cleared his throat and Wufei arched an eyebrow at him. Trowa shook his head slightly, a clear warning for Wufei to drop it.

The level of frost in Heero's fixed blue stare was just another warning.

Wufei opened his mouth to continue, but Duo's timely entrance to the lounge no doubt saved both Heero and him from another disciplinary hearing.

"Morning all," Duo greeted them with a wide smirk.

He was, to their collective annoyance, an overly enthusiastic morning person while the rest of them existed in a state of only partial functionality before their morning caffeine set in.

Trowa didn't bother to look up from his novel, Heero barely spared Duo a glower, and Wufei tried very hard to not stare at Duo in his uniform.

He had been surprised, the first time he saw him in the Preventers uniform. He had somehow expected Duo to try to flaunt the rules - to forego the tie or leave his shirt untucked or roll up his sleeves or something other than look so meticulous as to be a recruitment poster.

After four years of seeing Duo immaculately turned out the surprise had worn off, but Wufei's appreciation hadn't diminished in the slightest. Duo's uniform fit him well, especially when he leaned against the counter next to Wufei and stretched to reach for the last clean mug in the upper cabinet.

Wufei forced himself to look away and in doing so saw Heero's arched eyebrow.

He glared and Heero smirked ever so slightly, that shit eating expression that Wufei hated the most.

"Anyway, it's good that I caught you all here. We've got some mission updates to go over."

Perhaps even more surprising than the way Duo filled out the Preventers uniform was his rise in the ranks. Despite the fact that Duo unabashedly despised authority figures, he was a diligent agent, cooperated with the higher-ups and even managed to become friendly with some of the veteran's left over from the pre-ESUN security forces. As a result it was Duo who was the highest ranking former terrorist, and Duo who worked with Commander Une to set up their missions.

Wufei would have resented Duo's success if the other man hadn't worked so hard for it or been so damn good at it. As it was, it still rankled on occasion to have the man order him about.

"Relena's going to some event on the Moon and needs an escort."

Heero arched an eyebrow.

"I didn't see anything on her schedule."

By default, Heero was usually assigned bodyguard duties for Relena, though they had all taken their turn at it.

"It's not associated with her political duties. It's a…" Duo rubbed his forehead, as if he had a headache, "it's a personal trip."

"Then she can hire a security firm," Trowa muttered, still not looking up from his book.

"Yeah except intel has been picking up a lot of chatter regarding her lately and the Commander doesn't think it's safe for her to go on vacation with an escort."

"Vacation?" Wufei echoed. He didn't think Relena even knew what a vacation was.

Duo shrugged one shoulder.

"It's some… I don't know, a friend of her's from school is getting married at some fancy resort on the Moon and apparently it's also Relena's birthday or something and - look. The point is she's going to the Moon this weekend and she needs an escort."

"I can -" Heero started but Duo shook his head in the negative.

"No can do. Relena was pretty adamant that she not feel like a prisoner. She didn't want the escort at all so we need to take a different approach."

Trowa arched an eyebrow, finally looking up from his book.

"Meaning?" He asked.

Duo sighed.

"Meaning this is technically an undercover assignment."

"Undercover how?" Wufei reluctantly asked.

"The escort is going to pose as her boyfriend. It's the best way to keep a close but unobtrusive watch on her. Which is also why you can't do it Heero - the whole Earthsphere knows you're her bodyguard."

Heero shrugged, not looking even the slightest bit upset. If anything, he looked relieved.

But if Heero couldn't do it that meant -

"And I can't do it because I have another mission that same weekend."

Wufei and Trowa exchanged looks. Trowa shook his head, as if to call not it.

Wufei sighed. He owed Trowa a few favors. Spending one weekend as Relena's boyfriend wasn't the worst way to even the score between them.

"Fine," he said.

"Ah, actually, 'Fei, it can't be you either."

Wufei arched an eyebrow at him.

Duo scratched along his jaw line and wouldn't meet Wufei's eyes.

"Une said over her dead body would she go through the paperwork and risk of interspace conflict that pairing you and Relena resulted in the last time."

Wufei found himself smirking at that.

Last year he had been assigned bodyguard duty to Relena during a trade negotiation trip to L1. She had goaded Wufei into teaching her a few hand to hand combat techniques by insisting that Duo had taught her no fewer than three ways to disarm someone and stating that she doubted Wufei knew as much. The end result had been an L1 representative hospitalized after he thought he could speed up the negotiations by putting his hand on Relena's ass.

Une had yelled at Wufei for nearly an hour upon his return to headquarters, but Duo had forced him into a hug and taken him out for a drink to commiserate and congratulate him.

"Duo, let me trade assignments with you," Trowa said and there was a thread of desperation in his voice.

Wufei turned to him in confusion.

Trowa's tone had also garnered Heero's attention and even Duo looked a little concerned.

"Tro I'm sorry but this is kind of a sensitive mission and -"

"I'll file your mission reports for a month."

"Okay, first off you procrastinate to the point of not doing your own mission reports until Une reminds you at least twice so why the hell would I trust you do to mine and second what's the big deal? You're the one with the most undercover experience anyway."

Trowa seemed to shrink into the couch. He was silent for a moment before looking up with an almost wild glint in his eyes.

"Maybe I need a break from all of the undercover work. Maybe I'm struggling to differentiate reality and my false identities."

"Um… if that's really the case we need to get you into some therapy but my mission is an undercover mission too so that won't help."

Trowa set his book down and ran his hand through his hair, making it even more disheveled than normal.

"Duo - is there no one else who can do this?"

"No one else that we can trust with Relena's life, no."

Trowa sighed.

"Tro - is there something you need to tell me?" Duo asked in concern.

Trowa sighed again.

"No. No it's fine. Of course it's fine. I'll do it."

"Okay…" Duo looked over at Wufei and arched an eyebrow, silently asking if he knew what was going on.

Wufei lifted his shoulders in a shrug. Trowa's behaviour was just as bizarre to him as it was to Duo.

"Well now that that's settled, uh, Wufei, I need you with me on my mission."

"Really?"

They rarely worked together, mostly because Duo, when he was out in the field, was usually on undercover work and if he partnered with anyone it was Trowa.

"I'm working with you on an undercover mission?"

Duo nodded.

"Yeah. Normally I'd work with Tro on this… but it's time sensitive and he's going to have his hands full with Relena."

Trowa muttered something under his breath that Wufei couldn't understand.

"Anyway," Duo said, giving Trowa another look, "it's, uh, well...it's regarding Lady Carmen."

That got all of their attention.

Lady Carmen had been behind more than a dozen terrorist attacks in the L2 and L3 colonies since the war. She had established a shady trade organization that was little more than a band of pirates and terrorists who took it upon themselves to establish 'order' on some of the outlying colonies by moving in, executing the ESUN officials and setting up their own members in positions of authority. On a handful of colonies, Carmen's people had de facto control over thousands of people.

While the Preventers had managed to bring in a few of her lieutenants, they had struggled to get much intel on her much less been able to develop any plans for her apprehension. They didn't even know her real name, and there was a group of senior intel officers who insisted that she didn't exist and that the name Lady Carmen was being used as an umbrella for a collection of terrorist groups.

"New intel?" Heero asked.

Duo nodded.

"Yeah. It turns out that Carmen is into BDSM and…" Duo seemed to stumble over what to say. "and, uh, well...we have a contact that… so Sally Po met a former slave or submissive or - let's just say that Sally met a former companion of Carmen's and we know where she's going to be this weekend."

Wufei frowned.

"I don't understand."

But Heero evidently did. His lips spread into a wide grin and he laced his fingers behind his head and leaned back in his chair, a move he had clearly picked up from Duo.

"You're going undercover to a BDSM party aren't you?" Heero asked.

Duo sighed but nodded.

Wufei looked between Duo and Heero.

"What? I'm going undercover to a what kind of party?"

"Why can't I go instead?" Trowa asked at exactly the same time.

Duo held up a hand to forestall any more comments from Wufei or Trowa.

"Wufei, it's - I'm sure it's not going to be as hard as it sounds."

"It'll probably be harder," Heero muttered, earning glares from both Duo and Wufei.

"And Trowa - you're straight!"

"I'm also a good undercover agent. I can do this."

"I promise I won't teach Relena more ways to kill people," Wufei added.

Duo shook his head.

"No. No, no, no. This is not a democracy."

"Actually -" Heero started to say.

Duo stabbed a finger in the air at him.

"Don't mess with me, Yuy. These two are already on my shit list. You do not want to find yourself on it as well."

He turned back to Wufei and Trowa.

"Trowa. You will spend three days pretending to be Relena's boyfriend and you will make sure she comes back from this wedding in one piece. Wufei. You are my partner for this and I am sorry but I can't use Heero and frankly there's no one else I trust. But if you really don't think you can do this we can… just let this chance pass by and see what else we can set up in the future."

Wufei scowled.

So either they let a murderous scumbag continue to kill people or he had to suck it up and -

-and what exactly? What exactly would attending this BDSM party entail?

Wufei's was about to ask, but he noticed Heero still grinning. Still looking triumphant and cocky and Wufei gritted his teeth.

"Of course I can do it," he said.

Duo sighed in what was clearly relief.

"Thank you. And you," he turned to Heero. "You're taking over my rotation on recruit training."

Wufei expected to see Heero's grin fade, but if anything, it grew even wider.

"Thank you," Heero said. He drained his coffee, put the mug in the sink and then sauntered out of the lounge.

"Did he just thank you for putting him on bolo duty?" Trowa asked incredulously. They all always did whatever they could to get out of dealing with training recruits.

"Yeah. Mark is overseeing PT this month."

"Mark?" Wufei asked and then he frowned. "Mark who oversaw the obstacle course time trials?"

Duo nodded.

"Yeah. He and Heero have a… thing." Duo made some vague hand gesture.

"Oh." Trowa arched an eyebrow. "I thought Heero was with -"

"No, no," Duo shook his head. "That was two months ago. No, apparently he thinks Mark is the one. Of course, he's kind of pissed that some asshole had to show him up during the time trials in front of Mark," Duo said, giving Wufei a pointed look.

"How was I supposed to know?" Wufei asked in self-defense. "And Yuy says that about every guy he dates."

"One of these times it's going to be true," Duo said and finished his own coffee. "In the meantime, try not to sabotage this one for him, yeah?"

"I didn't sabotage the last one," Wufei growled. "You were the one with the bright idea for us all to go on vacation together. How was I supposed to know that bottom feeder would try to sneak into my hotel room?"

"Fair enough," Duo agreed. He sighed. "Uh, I've sent the mission brief to your email. If you want to look over it, let me know if you have any questions. We're scheduled to talk to Sally this afternoon."

"Sally? Why? Why not just talk to the informant?"

"Because I don't know the first fucking thing about BDSM and I don't trust some informant to help me figure this out. So unless you've got a way more interesting personal life than I ever gave you credit for, we need Sally to teach us."

It was at that moment that Wufei fully realized what this meant.

It meant that Sally Po was into BDSM.

It meant that Sally Po - Sally, who patched him up in the med bay and always gave him lectures about eating healthier - had sex.

-o-

Duo couldn't decide which of them was more uncomfortable.

Even before Sally had started to explain the roles of Dominants and submissives, Wufei had that look on his face he usually got when the mess hall served their version of Chinese food.

Duo, meanwhile, found his overactive imagination trying to picture everything Sally explained to them. Which would be fine, if he wasn't busily picturing Wufei doing these things and if those mental images weren't starting to make him aroused.

Sally, on the other hand, looked as if she was having the time of her life. Duo wondered if she was trying to horrify them with all of the detail she was going into. But it wasn't until she paused to ask which of them would be the Dom that she got a reaction out of them.

"Me," Duo and Wufei said.

They glared at each other.

"Maxwell, you might be my superior here but there is no way I am taking orders from you while doing this completely degrading and -"

"Wufei, it isn't degrading," Sally interrupted. "Well, it is but the intention is for the Dom to assume control of the sub as part of caring for them. This is only for one weekend - just one party. I've talked you through a few scenes you might find yourself facing. I know it isn't… ideal but one of you needs to be the Dom and one of you will have to be the sub."

"So, this party - tell me again what it's going to be like," Duo requested in an effort to put off what was most definitely going to be a heated argument between him and Wufei.

"I know the Dungeon Master running this event and he typically keeps things very high protocol. Very few of his guests actually know each other - we're talking Old World elites here who live all over the Earthsphere now. Anyway, they like to do things very Old Guard. The Doms will be dressed to the nines while the subs will be… more or less naked."

"Define more or less," Wufei bit out. Every line in his body spoke of anger and Duo wanted to reach over but he knew Wufei would only slap his hand away.

"The subs who are owned will be wearing collars, of course,"

"Of course," Wufei echoed.

"And maybe some jewelry or fetish wear but for the most part they will be naked."

"So one of us is going to have to parade around naked."

"Well not out in public. This party is at the same resort that Relena and Trowa will be at, isn't it?"

Duo nodded. It was such a bizarre coincidence that it had him on edge about both missions.

"It's a very high end place - obviously. Master Bolton - that's the Dungeon Master - will probably rent out a penthouse suite and have furniture and a few toys set up for his guests to use. But you will need to bring your own toys as well. You should wear street appropriate clothes to the party and there will be somewhere for you to change when you get there - for the sub. The Dom should be fine to wear his clothes out and about."

"So… which one of you is going to be which?" Sally asked again.

Duo drew in a deep breath and looked at Wufei.

"Wufei I think you should be the sub."

The other man's dark eyes narrowed dangerously.

"'Fei, I can't go around mostly naked. You've seen my body - it would freak out the civilians too much."

Wufei's scowl shifted into an expression that Duo couldn't quite place.

"There is nothing wrong with your body, Maxwell," Wufei said in a low, fierce voice.

"I - 'Fei I am covered in scars. The burns on my chest alone are - look. The whole idea is to attend this party, get close to Lady Carmen and finally take her down. If we get thrown out because I'm a hideous mess then we're never going to catch her. I'm sorry. I know you don't want me telling you what to do or - or any of it," Duo swallowed hard as he pictured himself tying Wufei's naked body up, "but I just don't see how this will work any other way. Your body is perfect, Wufei. No one will be disgusted looking at you."

Wufei sighed and rubbed at his temples.

"Fine," he said at last. "I will play the sub."

Sally smiled slightly and gave Wufei's knee a soft pat.

"I think that's honestly the best decision, Duo's nebulous insecurities about his body aside. There's a store not far from here that should have the basics you will need. Would you like me to take you two shopping?"

"No!" They said at the same time, both blushing. Bad enough that they had just had to have what essentially boiled down to a sex and bondage lesson from Sally. Duo felt fairly certain he would die of embarrassment if she took them shopping for bondage gear. She was practically like his sister, or his mother. It was - it was too much to even think about.

Sally smirked.

"Okay. Let me write down a list of the things you will need. I'd suggest you try to practice a few things before you leave on Friday."

"Practice?" Wufei asked.

Sally nodded.

"If you want to be convincing, you're going to have to make it look like you two have been doing this for a while. Even if I tell Master Bolton you two are a new couple it wouldn't make sense for you two to go to a party for your very first scene."

Practice. Sally wanted Duo to practice this on Wufei.

The look on Wufei's face suggested that he would rather be dying from a lack of oxygen than going through with this.

Duo sighed and took the list from Sally.

"Am I going to find the clothes I need here too?" He asked her.

Sally shook her head.

"No. Well, they do have fetish wear there but like I said, most of the Doms in Bolton's circles wear formal attire. "

Duo had to smirk.

"I'm guessing my Preventers uniform is out of the question?"

Sally rolled her eyes.

"You don't own a suit?"

Duo shook his head in the negative.

"I've always been able to get away with wearing the dress uniform."

"I'll take you suit shopping," Wufei growled.

Duo arched an eyebrow at him.

"I've seen what you think passes for fashionable, Maxwell. You might be worried about the civilians seeing your scars, but I'm more concerned with us getting kicked out because of your terrible taste in clothing."

Duo glared at him but he couldn't really argue the point. He did have a reputation for dressing poorly. If it wasn't all black clothes or his Preventers uniform he tended to wear what Wufei had once dubbed 'centuries out of fashion' clothes.

As he and Wufei walked to the parking garage in tense silence, Duo had to wonder how the hell this could possibly end in anything other than disaster.