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

Part 2

"So are you going to tell me why you don't want the mission?"

Trowa looked up from the mug of beer in front of him and saw Heero.

Heero arched an eyebrow in judgement as he looked at the two already empty glasses in front of Trowa.

Considering that in eleven hours Trowa would find himself on a shuttle with Relena, headed for the moon and what would no doubt be the absolute worst weekend of his life, Trowa had decided to spend a few hours getting drunk at his favorite dive bar.

He wasn't even surprised that Heero had decided to track him down. The man was obsessed with Relena's safety and it wasn't as if Trowa had managed to hide his apathy for this mission at all.

"What happens if I say no?" Trowa asked after taking another sip of beer.

"Then I'll have to beat it out of you," Heero deadpanned.

Trowa snorted a laugh. Heero might be joking, but he probably wasn't.

Heero sighed and pulled up a chair. He straddled the back of it and looked steadily at Heero.

"It's not… I care about her safety," Trowa assured Heero.

Heero nodded.

Trowa sighed when Heero appeared completely unsatisfied with that response.

"I might have said or done something in the past that I'm not eager to have thrown back in my face," Trowa finally admitted.

Heero lifted his eyebrows.

"If you thought that answer was going to do anything other than make me more curious you're losing your touch."

"Two years ago - do you remember the War Memorial?"

"The Christmas Party?" Heero asked with disdain.

Trowa nodded. "The same."

"Of course I remember it. Duo was in the hospital and we didn't know if he was going to make it."

Trowa nodded again. He and Duo had been assigned an incredibly dangerous mission that had gone bad in just about every possible way. They had barely made it out alive and Duo had almost died trying to save Trowa from getting stabbed in the back.

Trowa hadn't wanted to attend the damn party - none of them had. But Wufei had been the one to draw the short straw and stay behind with Duo while Heero and Trowa were sent off to the party to represent the Preventers.

Trowa had been furious with Une, with Duo, with everyone there at the damn party but more than anything else he had been furious with himself. Not only had he almost gotten Duo killed, but he had realized, as he was frantically cussing at Duo and demanding he stay conscious while trying to staunch his bleeding, that he cared about Duo. That Duo was more than his partner, more than someone with a shared, fucked up past had caught Trowa by surprise. And he would very possibly die. Because of Trowa.

He had been five drinks in when Relena asked him to dance. He had agreed to it and then found himself in the utterly miserable position of having her ask him how Duo was while they were in the middle of the crowded ballroom. He had choked, stumbled and fled the ballroom. And of course she had followed him, because Relena Darlian was nothing if not persistent as hell. She had put her hand on his shoulder and Trowa had cried. It had been humiliating and he had never felt so useless and impotent as he had when she wrapped her arms around him and let him cry into her hair. Just as he had felt the immense pressure of anxiety start to lift, just as he found himself almost able to breath again, he had the intense urge to vomit. Trowa had only narrowly managed to avoid Relena, practically tackling her to get her out of the way.

As soon as he was able to pull himself together, he had walked away from her and left the party, protocol and Une's wishes be damned. He hadn't spoken to her alone since then.

"Relena and I… it's nothing," Trowa eventually said. "It's going to be fine. I'm just not enthusiastic about the idea of pretending to be her boyfriend for the weekend."

"You've gone undercover posing as Duo's boyfriend before."

"Your point?"

"My point is I don't understand why this is so problematic for you. You and Relena get along. You don't have to sleep with her - just hold her hand and kiss her a few times."

Trowa arched an eyebrow.

"Is that what you do with Mark? Hold hands?"

Heero glared and Trowa had to smirk at the successful derailment.

"Of course we don't hold hands. That would be ridiculous."

"But it's not ridiculous for Relena and I to hold hands in our fake relationship?"

"Of course it isn't. You're her arm candy."

"I'm her what?"

Now it was Heero's turn to smirk.

"I read the cover that Duo came up with. You're a male model she met through a mutual friend. You're there to look pretty so she can show you off - which she will do by holding your hand and parading you around."

Trowa had been none too pleased to discover what his cover was. He was sure it was Duo getting him back for bitching about the mission in the first place. A male model. He wasn't even sure it was believable that Relena, of all people, would have much in common with a model.

Trowa sniffed.

"The modeling lets me travel the Earthsphere. And I'm not going to be ashamed of being so ridiculously good looking."

"Yeah. That's the personality that won her over."

Trowa finished off his beer and decided, all in all, he should probably call it a night. It really would not improve the situation to be hungover for the flight to the moon.

He settled his tab, unsurprised that Heero was waiting for him.

"I'll take care of her," he promised.

Heero nodded.

"I'll kill you if anything happens to her."

Trowa rolled his eyes.

"Trust me, if anything happens to her I'll already be dead."

-o-

"So… how do you want to do this?"

They had put it off until the night before they left on the mission, but Wufei had finally agreed to come over to Duo's apartment so they could 'practice' their cover.

He had flat out refused to dress the part for their rehearsal, however.

Shopping for his costume had been something between horrifying and humiliating. They had finally found something that seemed to fit Sally's bill of more or less naked - black mesh briefs that left very little to the imagination. They had both drawn the line at Wufei being completely naked, however, and from the selection of bottoms the mesh briefs had been the least offensive to Wufei.

When he had arrived at Duo's apartment he had immediately spotted the black bag that Duo had purchased to store the toys in. He frowned at the sight of it, at the reminder of all of this.

Wufei folded his arms over his chest.

"Sally said we would either be invited to use the equipment or we would have to wait our turn but either way…"

"Either way we should practice me tying you up. There's a chance they might have cuffs available, but if they don't…"

Wufei nodded. He looked around Duo's small studio apartment for a location that would be suitable for this exercise.

"How sturdy is your dining room table?" Wufei asked, eyeing it.

"Sturdy enough I hope," Duo responded with a slight smirk, the expression conveying humor and his own anxiety over the situation.

That reminder did quite a bit to soothe Wufei's own anxiety. It was good to know that he wasn't the only one deeply uncomfortable with this.

"I ah…" Duo scratched his jaw. "Do you want to do this with your clothes on or…?"

He really didn't want to take his clothes off, but there was no point in keeping them on, not if they were trying to do an accurate simulation.

With a sigh, Wufei started to undress.

Duo watched him for a second, then turned away and started to root around in his bag for the rope.

Wufei stripped down to his briefs and laid his folded clothes on the arm of the couch before following Duo over to the kitchen table and helping him clear it off.

"Let me get a towel for you," Duo stopped him from laying down on it with a hand on his shoulder.

"Should I lay down on my back or my stomach?" Wufei wondered aloud.

"I guess it depends on what all we're doing? Sally said that they usually have that ice station. It sounded pretty tame compared to some of the other things. Do you want to give that a try?" Duo suggested.

Wufei looked over at him, noting the blush on his cheeks.

"Do you have any ice?"

Duo nodded.

"Might as well," Wufei agreed. "I'll lay on my back?"

It wasn't until he was stretched out and Duo was securing his wrists to the legs of the table that Wufei realized what a terrible idea this had been.

As soon as Duo straightened up and looked over his body Wufei felt himself grow entirely too aware of the other man's gaze.

"Right, uh - shit. We should have done this first, but Sally said to make sure we had a safeword? What do you want to use?"

"Ting," Wufei responded. It was the Mandarin word for stop - something he wasn't likely to hear from someone else and one that would come naturally to him.

Duo nodded. "Right. So if you say that I'll stop. I'm going to get some ice - are you sure the rope isn't too tight?"

Wufei tugged at his bonds. They were tight, but he wasn't in danger of losing circulation to his limbs.

"I'm fine," he assured Duo.

"Okay so… I've never done this before."

"And here I was thinking you were a master of kink," Wufei muttered.

Duo gave him a look and Wufei sighed.

"You sure you can do this?" Duo asked him.

"Honestly? I don't know. But that's the whole point of practising, isn't it?"

Duo nodded.

"I'd tell you to relax but you'd only scowl at me again," Duo said, his slight smirk back. "So just try focusing on your breathing. Remember when we were gonna die on the Lunar Base?"

"Not something I'm likely to forget."

"Right. Well, remember how you didn't panic - you focused on your breathing and your heart rate and you kept your shit together."

Wufei closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath, letting it fill his lungs and diaphragm completely. He released it slowly, visualizing the air leaving his body.

A few more breaths and he could already feel himself calmer.

He opened his eyes and nodded at Duo.

"So like, I don't think I should dive right in with the ice. I was doing some reading and I should touch you with my hands first - so don't freak out on me."

Duo moved so that he was standing above Wufei's head and he put his hands on Wufei's shoulders, the pressure light.

"Okay?"

Wufei nodded.

"Good, good." Duo slowly moved his hands down Wufei's chest, brushing over his pectorals and down to his abdomen in a light, ghost of a touch. Nonetheless it made Wufei shiver.

"Still okay?" Duo asked.

Wufei nodded again and decided he should close his eyes. The sight of Duo's frown of concentration was too distracting for him.

Duo's hands traveled back up to his shoulders and down his arms, the touch firmer now, and Wufei relaxed against the table.

He focused on his breathing again, tried to think of nothing else aside from the air slowly going in, and then back out. In. And out. In. And out.

In. And -

Duo had switched to the ice.

Wufei felt the sudden, painful shock of the ice as Duo dragged it across his chest and he hissed.

Duo stopped.

"Fei?"

"I'm fine," Wufei said, telling himself he was. Telling himself he absolutely was not in any possible way aroused from the feeling of Duo trailing the ice in a circle around his navel.

Not aroused. Not aroused. Not aroused. Not aroused. Not -

He moaned when Duo traced the ice over his nipples.

"Do you want me to stop?" Duo asked.

"No," Wufei said. "Don't stop."

He realized how that must have sounded - realized just how obviously he was enjoying this and he squeezed his eyes closed even tighter, humiliated.

"I think it's kind of natural, isn't it, to react to this sensation?" Duo suggested, clearly noticing Wufei's very definitely aroused state.

"I know it hurts but it's also got to feel good - the extreme sensation - or else people wouldn't do this, right?" Duo continued, his voice soothing.

Duo brushed the ice over Wufei's lips, his cheeks, and his jaw before returning to his chest.

"This probably won't feel as pleasurable," Duo said. "I'm going to hold a piece in one place for a few seconds. When it's too much just nod and I'll move it - or say the safeword and I'll stop everything obviously."

Wufei nodded and found himself holding his breath in anticipation.

A heartbeat later Wufei felt the sharp, frozen sting of the ice on his left nipple. Duo continued to hold the ice in place with one hand, while he gently rubbed Wufei's right shoulder with his other hand.

Wufei found himself drawing in shallow, uneven breaths as the sting became more and more painful. He wasn't sure how long Duo held the piece in place, but it seemed like they reached their limit of comfort at the same time - Duo moved the ice just as Wufei started to nod his head.

"Okay, um, I don't think I can hold it in place any longer than that without it getting too painful afterwards. How badly does it hurt right now?"

"It's not intolerable," Wufei assured him. He felt a strange sense of accomplishment, of pride even as the pain flared and then slowly, so very slowly started to fade.

"Let's do a few more minutes of this then," Duo suggested.

Wufei nodded.

Duo alternated between holding the ice in one place and running it over Wufei's skin. The latter produced enough pleasure that Wufei found his briefs growing uncomfortably tight while the former had him sucking in deep breaths and biting his lip.

It almost felt like an eternity when Duo set the ice aside.

He felt the soft press of a towel against his skin.

"I just want to dry you off a bit and then I'm going to untie you," Duo explained.

Wufei slowly opened his eyes, blinking against the light in the room.

Duo untied him quickly, methodically undoing the knots he had tied before.

"Hang here for just a minute, okay?" Duo asked.

Wufei frowned but he didn't move.

Duo walked into his kitchen and Wufei heard running water.

A moment later, Duo returned, a wet washcloth in one hand.

"It's hot - not too hot I hope." He pressed it against the back of Wufei's hand. "That feel okay?"

"Yes."

"Good. I read that heat should help with any residual pain. Does that - does that feel okay?"

Duo gently ran the towel across Wufei's chest. Wufei had found the trail of ice arousing. But this -

It felt more than okay. It felt entirely too good, in fact.

"I'm fine," Wufei growled and pushed Duo's hand away before he embarrassed himself even further.

Duo frowned.

"Are you sure? Sally said - and I was doing some reading - that aftercare is really important. I don't want you to -"

"I said I'm fine, Maxwell. This isn't - this isn't real. You don't have to treat it like it is."

"Wufei, you could get hurt. I need to make sure that doesn't happen. I can't be responsible for hurting you. Not you."

Wufei scowled at him.

"I said I was fine," he snapped.

But Duo was still frowning, still had that concerned look on his face.

Wufei sighed and grabbed the hot towel from his hands and used it on himself, brusquely wiping over his arms and torso.

"There. I'm fine."

He tossed the towel back at Duo, who caught it in one hand.

"What else should we try?" Wufei asked, his trepidation for this entire endeavor back in full force.

"Well, we have a flogger and a few whips - a paddle… I don't think I need to tie you up again, unless you do? But I think we should test at least one of those before we leave."

Wufei sighed. If ice had been that difficult - what was this next step going to be like?

"I don't want to be tied up again," he decided.

Duo nodded.

"That's probably good anyway - this is going to be a lot more intense than just the ice."

Of course it was. And if Wufei had managed to humiliate himself at just the touch of the ice what was he going to do next? At this rate he was going to have to request a transfer after this mission so that he never had to see Duo's look of concern again, never had to look at the way he bit on his lower lip when he was concentrating or -

"Maybe you should kneel down on all fours?" Duo suggested, interrupting Wufei's thoughts. "I, ah, I tried out the flogger a bit, to get a feel for it and I think it's what I've got the best handle on."

Wufei nodded and finally rose from the table.

He drew in a deep breath, almost unable to believe he was about to do this, and positioned himself on the living room rug.

He felt completely ridiculous - nearly naked, his ass up in the air, a few strands of his hair undone and clinging to his face, wet from the ice and the hot towel. He didn't even want to begin to wonder what Duo was thinking as he looked at him.

Out of the corner of his eye Wufei saw Duo kneel down beside him, saw him place the black suede flogger on the floor beside Wufei's hand.

"Okay, so the goal is for this to hurt but not - not to be more than you can tolerate. So you're going to need to tell me if I need to lighten up, okay? Wufei?"

He sighed.

"Yes, I understand the concept Maxwell."

It was Duo's turn to sigh.

"Fei, do you want -"

"Just get on with it. The sooner we do this, the sooner it will be over."

He felt Duo's hands on his back a moment later, the touch light, tender even and Wufei swallowed hard.

He let his head fall so that his forehead rested against the carpet and he closed his eyes again.

This was more intimate contact in one night than he had had months. He had to wonder what was more pathetic - that fact or the fact that he had spent years wondering what it would be like to have Duo's hands caressing his naked flesh?

Wufei could feel his body relaxing into Duo's touch, could feel his arousal begin to return and he knew his face and chest were flushed.

"Just get on it with," Wufei demanded. "There's no need to waste time with this - this -" he struggled to say the word, "foreplay."

"This is part of it, Fei," Duo said, his voice somehow gentle and firm at the same time. It sounded just like his touch felt. "This stuff isn't just me tying you up and causing you pain. It's about pleasure too and it's about trust. If we go in there and you stiffen up and glare at me the whole time it's going to be obvious you don't trust me. It's going to be obvious we don't belong together and that you don't enjoy this and it might get us killed. So, no pressure or anything but we need to practice the foreplay. And the aftercare. And everything in between."

"Everything?"

Sally had said that while some couples engaged in scenes that were strictly about Dominance and submission or bondage or discipline, at Bolton's gatherings very few - if any - were devoid of sexual play as well.

"Can you trust me, Fei?" Duo asked.

Wufei shivered as he felt Duo's palm glide down his spine.

Of course he trusted Duo. The idiot had risked his life more times than Wufei could count to protect him. He knew Duo cared about him, knew Duo didn't want to hurt him, knew that Duo was likely just as uncomfortable with this whole damn thing as Wufei himself was.

The issue wasn't trusting Duo. The issue was trusting himself. He was convinced he was going to look like a fool to Duo, convinced he was going to allow himself to get carried away by this and humiliate himself even further.

While he and Duo had not been close during the war, even after their near death experience, in the years since they had developed a close friendship that Wufei considered to be one of the anchors of his existence. The fact that he had been battling an attraction to his comrade all of these years was a nuisance, an annoyance that he was able to push aside most days.

But now Wufei was quite literally exposed.

"It's just physical sensation, Fei. I know it's not - I know you hate not having absolute control over your body or your reactions but just remember it's just sensation. It's nothing more than you reacting to stimulation and it doesn't mean anything. After this weekend, all of this is just - it's just going to be classified mission details and you won't have to go through any of this ever again."

While Duo was clearly trying to comfort Wufei, his insistence that this meant nothing and that it would be forgotten were doing almost the opposite.

How pathetic was it that Wufei wanted this to mean something? Wanted this degrading act to make Duo feel the things Wufei was feeling?

"So yeah, we need to practice everything. Once you feel like you're ready, I'll use the flogger on you. I want you to try the breathing again - it seemed to work for a while before. And after - when you get to the point of being done is there… is there something you can say so I know to stop with the flogger but not to stop everything?"

"Bu zai," Wufei offered.

"Okay, good, good. So when you've reached the point where you really can't handle more of the flogger just say bu zai and I'll… I don't want to do more than you can take, Wufei."

"Just do what you need to do, Maxwell. It's a mission. This isn't about my personal preferences or -"

"No, but if this doesn't look convincing, then we're fucked, so it kind of is about your personal preferences. And I know I'm not - hell, I know that even if this wasn't for the mission I wouldn't be someone you want to be intimate, with and I'm not asking you to tell me all of your erogenous spots or your secrets, but I at least need to know what you're comfortable with - maybe even a few things that you enjoy?"

Wufei wished a black hole would suck him away from all of this.

Duo really didn't think that Wufei would want to be intimate with him? Was he really so blind?

"Like I said, do what you need to do." He hesitated and he could feel the heat from his flushed cheeks. "I like biting."

"Okay. Biting. I can work with that."

Throughout the entire negotiation, Duo had continued to massage Wufei's back, but now his hands trailed down to Wufei's thighs, kneading the muscles there.

"Is there somewhere you don't want me to touch you? Anything you absolutely don't want me to do?"

"No," Wufei groaned, furious with himself for enjoying Duo's touch so much. "You can - you can do whatever you need to."

"Okay. Let's give this a try, yeah?" Duo shifted and a moment later Wufei felt the whisper of the suede tails on the flogger on his back.

He had to suck in a breath and he felt his heart drumming in his chest, felt his blood rushing in his ears and he clenched his hands into fists. He held his breath and he felt his entire body tense, felt so much anxiety at the thought of what was going to happen next that his lips even started to form the word ting but then the first blow landed.

It was sharper than he had thought it would be, the tails feeling like eighteen frozen burns of ice against his thighs.

He drew in a gasping breath and he felt Duo's hand on his shoulder, his grip firm.

"You okay?"

Wufei nodded.

"I'm going to keep going then. Just remember - tell me when."

Duo hit him again, higher up this time, directly on his ass and Wufei rocked forward slightly at the blow. His cotton briefs only provided minimal protection, and even then not to his entire ass.

It was another three blows before Wufei was able to force himself to breathe deeply, to focus on the act of pulling in air and then releasing it.

It was another two blows before he felt himself start to drift into into a space somewhere between the physical sensation of pain from the flogger and the mental exercise of breathing. He felt… adrift. Not quite numb but not entirely present either. He felt simultaneously hyper aware of his body, of the pain Duo was inflicting, and yet somehow separated from it.

Duo's hand shifted from his back to his chest, his strong fingers trailing over Wufei's pectorals in a way that almost brought Wufei out of his headspace but not quite.

Duo continued to hit him and Wufei lost count of just how many times the flogger had been raised, of just how long they had been doing this. He felt himself start to lose track of his own body until suddenly he felt the sharp pinch of Duo's fingers on his left nipple, twisting it hard enough that Wufei grunted.

He felt himself come crashing back to reality when the next blow of the flogger landed on his ass and he no longer felt distanced from the pain. It suddenly felt very nearly overwhelming - the ache of his back, his thighs and his ass; the anticipation of the next blow; his own thundering pulse and his unexpected and wholly unwanted erection; Duo's fingers touching him in places, in ways, that he had never dreamed would happen.

"Bu zai," Wufei gasped. "Bu zai."

He vaguely heard the soft thud of the flogger as Duo dropped it and for a moment he felt nothing at all - not Duo's touch, not even the burning ache of lust or pain and he drew in a shuddery breath.

And then he felt everything as Duo pressed an open kiss to the base of his spine. He felt the heat of Duo's mouth, felt the roughness of his tongue, the sharp smoothness of his teeth as they dug ever so slightly into his flesh and Wufei moaned.

He rocked forward, partially in an effort to bury his face in the carpet and just die from the humiliation he felt at hearing that sound come from his own mouth and partly in an effort to find some kind of friction against his hard cock, trapped in his briefs.

Duo mapped his way across Wufei's back with kisses and bites, all the while kneading Wufei's thighs and ass with his hands, all the while teasing Wufei without giving him any kind of release or even any hope of it.

"Please," he felt himself beg. "Please."

He wasn't even sure what he was begging for.

One of Duo's hands cupped Wufei's cock over the cotton of his briefs. His touch was light, loose even and Wufei rocked into it, desperate for more.

He let out a sigh of relief when Duo's hand tightened.

"Mhn. Please."

Duo's breath was hot against Wufei's back and he felt the press of Duo's lips again on his spine just as Duo slipped one hand up the leg of Wufei's briefs and eased his cock free.

Wufei bit his lip when Duo's fingers formed a fist around his cock and gave an experimental stroke.

He wanted to cry out. Wanted to beg for more. Wanted -

Duo bit down on the flesh between Wufei's left shoulder and his neck and he gave a hoarse shout of shock as he came.

Almost immediately he realized just how completely awful this was.

He had begged Duo for sex. He had moaned, he had cried out, he had - he had come into Duo's hand and he was sure that if he opened his eyes he would see the stain of his semen on Duo's rug and what the hell had he just done?

He felt his pulse start to race, felt his stomach roil and he struggled to sit up, pushing Duo away from him in the process.

"Wufei -"

"Don't," Wufei warned and held up his hands. He turned his face away from Duo's. He couldn't see whatever Duo was feeling, didn't want to know what he was thinking.

He rose to his feet, ashamed when he stumbled a little.

Duo was immediately there, reaching out for him but Wufei pushed him away again.

"Leave me alone, Maxwell."

"Fei, what - what did I - what can I do?"

"Nothing. Nothing. It - we practiced this. We did it. Now I'm leaving."

"Wufei you can't just - let me -"

"You've done enough. And I can do whatever the hell I want, Maxwell. This is all an act, remember?"

Wufei allowed himself a single fierce glare in Duo's direction.

He regretted it as soon as he saw the look of shock on Duo's face change to one of deep hurt.

Wufei turned away from him and grabbed for his clothes with numb fingers.

"Fei, please. I'm sorry. I didn't - I -"

Wufei felt his fingers fumble over the buttons on his dress shirt and he felt the sharp, hateful prick of tears in his eyes.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck this, fuck everything.

He drew in a deep breath and decided to hell with it and left his shirt open while he pulled on his trousers. Maybe he would be able to button it up once he was out of Duo's apartment, once he was away from the smell of sex, the soft rug under his feet, the sensation of Duo's fingers and his mouth and -

Duo stepped forward and caught Wufei's hands as he struggled with the button on his trousers as well.

He felt a single tear leave his eye as Duo pushed the button through the hole.

Wufei furiously swiped at his face while Duo did up the buttons on his shirt as well and he felt himself actually choke on a sob as Duo smoothed his hands down Wufei's chest after he buttoned the top button.

"Fei," Duo tried again, his voice soft, pleading. "Fei, please tell me what I can do."

"Let me go," Wufei ground out. "Let me go and just - just don't talk to me or look at me more than absolutely necessary during this mission."

Before Duo could respond, before Wufei could even judge the impact of his request on the other man, Wufei turned and awkwardly forced his feet into his shoes and fled the apartment.