God, it was hot. Sticky with sweat, they clung to each other, hands grasping and clutching, bodies sliding and rubbing slickly, mouths hot and wet on skin. The sheets were cool but they were both flushed with heat, moving together almost in desperation, clumsy with inexperience and impatience. He felt the scrape of teeth against his skin, the slight tug of callused hands in his hair, pulling him down, on, in�
God, the tightness of him, the heat� he cried out, on the edge, panted and gasped and wrestled himself back under control. Fingers clutching at his shoulders, nails digging into skin providing a focus point. Blue eyes staring up at him, hazy with desire and fading pain, trembling with the need that echoed his�
Movement, and oh god, friction, tightness, heat surrounding him and burning him up, he felt the seizing shudders that rolled through the other's body as they found the angle, the rhythm, and then they were lost, moving together, and there was nothing in his mind but white heat, nothing in his eyes but the deep blue of eternity as the world exploded through him�
***
It was the blaring of the alarm that finally woke him. Duo groaned, rolled over sluggishly, and slapped at the thing, hitting the snooze button on the first try by pure luck. Slitting his eyes open mutinously, he wondered for a moment why he was on top of the duvet rather than under it. Then the previous day came back to him with a rush, accompanied by the nagging aches of slightly overstressed muscles.
"Shit." It was about all Duo could say after five hours of sleep, and for a wistful moment he contemplated turning off the infernal alarm clock, rolling over and going the hell back to sleep. The only problem with that little scenario was that it was currently three PM on a Friday afternoon, and quite aside from needing to get his body clock synched back to day shifts, he had places to be.
With a pained groan, he hauled himself upright and staggered towards the kitchen in search of coffee, passing numerous scattered articles of clothing on the way. While the percolator dripped its way towards his caffeine fix, Duo contemplated the contents of his fridge and wondered if it was worth cooking that night. He'd be going out with Hilde and the others, after all, and they were bound to end up ordering some kind of takeaway. But the chicken needed using, and he hadn't eaten since the early hours � maybe he'd just make something simple, and see if Hilde wanted some too? She wouldn't even be back from HQ until six, and they were meeting the others at nine�
Mind made up, Duo poured himself a mug of black coffee and wandered into the lounge, poking through the clutter on the coffee table for a pen and the sticky-note pad. He scribbled a brief offer of dinner on a sheet, tore it off, and took himself and his coffee out of the door and down the stairs to attach it to Hilde's door. Back when he had first joined Preventers, Duo had moved between crappy bedsits in the low-rent end of town with depressing frequency, unable to bring himself to accept Heero's offer of shared tenancy. He'd known what would happen if they'd spent any length of time as roommates again, and it simply wasn't fair to do that to his friend.
It had been Hilde's arrival at HQ, having made a tidy profit from the sale of the L2 scrapyard, that had provided the catalyst for change. She had been searching for an apartment that, in her words, 'could remotely be described as liveable,' and they had happened to overhear a discussion between a couple of co-workers about their own difficulty in finding accommodation. The end result had been the decision to lease out an entire building between the four of them; Agents Lapage and Suketo took the two adjoining ground floor apartments while Hilde occupied the slightly larger second floor and Duo lived on the third, directly beneath the attic. The converted townhouse was detached, giving Duo's four rooms windows on all sides and nice views of the rear garden � most of which was taken up with the garage and sheds which housed his and Hilde's mechanical projects.
Wandering back up the stairs in his bare feet, Duo wondered absently what Heero was doing now. Had he even slept at all? Duo knew that the Japanese man had immense endurance and stamina, but the ability to operate on little or no sleep was something that could be lost over the years. He grinned to himself, imaging Heero's head nodding over his salad while Relena droned away at him, but his amusement quickly soured.
Duo knew he had no right to feel jealous of the girl, it was just� Lately it seemed like every time he tried to ask Heero along to some group activity or other, the Japanese man had a prior engagement. With her. Duo knew, rationally, that the two weren't anywhere near as close as gossips would have them, but it still grated on him. He had never got on all that well with Relena, though they were capable of having a perfectly civilised conversation if necessary. Their worlds were too different.
Swallowing the remnants of his coffee, Duo slumped down on his couch and wondered what to do for the next couple of hours. There was the TV, games console, his laptop and the files he should probably review� except then he caught an inadvertent whiff of himself.
"Fuck," he complained, lifting his braid to sniff at it gingerly. Obviously last night's little escapade had produced its usual reaction, and he had been too tired upon crawling home at dawn to shower. Shit, I stink! There's no way I'm showing my face in public like this� Cleanliness was definitely the first order of the day� evening� whatever.
He was braiding his still-damp hair when Hilde wandered in, barefoot and with a newspaper under one arm. "Hey." She toed off her shoes at the door and collapsed on his couch as though someone had cut her strings. Duo regarded her amusedly, snapping an elastic onto the finished plait and tossing it back over his shoulder.
"Work sucking again?" He rose from his own seat on the sturdy coffee table, snagging his empty mug and meandering back into the kitchen to refill it, adding milk and sugar to another mug for Hilde.
"You have no idea," she grumbled as he returned, accepting the hot drink gratefully. Duo plonked himself down beside her and put his feet up on the coffee table.
"I work there too," he pointed out mildly.
"Yeah, but all I was doing today was cross-checking fuel allowances with payload weights," she complained, taking a cautious sip of her coffee and sighing with relief. "You're a lifesaver, Duo."
"I try." He grinned at her, and she rolled her eyes.
"I arranged a load and set the bugs yesterday," Hilde said. "Mostly circuit boards � I made it a small enough load that it'll have to go up on one of the regular shuttles, so it could be up to a week before we hear back on that. I've set up recording, though."
"Okay." Duo rolled his shoulders; he was still a little stiff from his unaccustomed exertions. "We'll see what that nets us." He nodded to the paper she still had tucked beneath her arm. "That got a sports section?"
"What?" Hilde started a little, as if she'd forgotten she was carrying the thing. "Oh yeah � hang on." She unfolded the sheets and rifled through them, pulling out a smaller section and handing it over. Duo regarded it unfavourably.
"Hil, why the hell are you reading the Post?" He grimaced at the lurid tabloid headline on the front page the other agent was still holding. Who the hell actually cared whether football players were cheating on their wives?
Hilde glared at him. "I'm not. Look at this." She opened the paper to a middle page � the gossip columns, Duo noticed with resignation � and practically shoved it in his face. Confronting him with a full-colour picture of Heero Yuy, blank-faced but still gorgeous, in a blue button-down shirt and with Relena Darlian-Peacecraft clinging to his arm and simpering at the camera.
"Well fuck." Duo rolled his eyes expressively and flicked the thin pages away, pretending intense interest in a report on the expansion of American baseball leagues. "What is it this time, marriage? Babies?" He spoke without looking up.
"Just gossip." Hilde sighed. "There's nothing prejudicial to our case in there, at least, or his�" she fumbled for words.
"You mean they haven't found out about the Gundams yet," Duo filled in neatly. "If they keep digging long enough, they will, though."
"I don't see why they can't just leave it alone," Hilde grumbled. "They're just friends going out for dinner occasionally, not a couple!"
Duo didn't reply, and after a moment Hilde prodded him suspiciously in the ribs. "Duo?"
"What?" He turned a page, to all appearances fascinated by basketball results.
"Duo Maxwell�" Hilde's voice had that tone that reminded him of all the times she'd kicked his ass since she'd followed him off the lunar transport six years ago, and he cringed. Damn, what is it about women�?
"All right, all right," he surrendered. "They're not a couple, but that doesn't stop Her Highness from wishing. And since she's never seen with anyone else, all the media fuckers jump on Heero like flies on shit."
"Well hell." Hilde sighed loudly.
"Yeah," Duo muttered bitterly, trying to think of a way to change the subject before she started in again. "'S pepper-chicken noodles all right for dinner?"
"Fine." She laid one hand on his arm, preventing him from rising. "Duo? I know you like him."
He looked back into her concerned eyes. "Heero? Of course I like him, Hil, he's my best friend."
She snorted, but let him go, although Duo had the feeling he hadn't heard the last of the subject.
Wandering into the kitchen, Duo pulled the chicken fillets out of the fridge and began chopping them, wielding the knife with rather more force than necessary as he tried to rid his mind of thoughts of Heero and Relena. Hilde followed, leaning against the counter and flicking the radio on, searching for a good station through clouds of static.
"Duo, this piece of crap needs fixing," she complained, fiddling with the tuning buttons and the pre-set channels. Without looking up from his knife, Duo reached out and flicked a single switch, then brought his fist down hard on top of the device. With a defeated crackle, music began to play.
"It's got a couple of loose connections, I keep meaning to rebuild it." He swept the chicken into the frying pan and added oil, turning up the heat until it began to sizzle. "Hunt me up a couple of tomatoes, would you?"
"In the fridge?" Hilde poked her head into the appliance and made a sound of disgust. "Duo, you need to go grocery shopping, there's nothing in here but milk and beer."
"The four main food groups � chocolate, takeaway, caffeine and alcohol," Duo deadpanned. Hilde rolled her eyes at him.
"We can both go tomorrow, I need some stuff too. Where are these mythical tomatoes of yours?"
"Vegetable crisper." Duo pointed with the spatula, careful not to drip oil on the floor. The chicken was almost done, so he filled a pan with water from the kettle and set it to boil on the back burner, fetching the noodles from the overhead cupboard. Hilde handed him a pair of tomatoes and he chopped them quickly, tipping them and their juice into the pan with the chicken. Two tablespoons of black-pepper sauce, and it was almost done.
"So, where are we going tonight?" Duo dropped the dry noodles into the boiling water, yelping a little as he was splashed. Hilde laughed as he brought his knuckles to his mouth, sucking on them with a scowl.
"Pub and then L'Oscure, I think. Anji and Ryou said they'd meet us at the Anvil. You drinking tonight?"
"Yeah, we'll get a taxi downtown," Duo answered absently, poking at the noodles with the spatula. "I think these are done. Get a couple of plates, will you?"
"Sure." Hilde reached them down from the cupboard as Duo mixed the noodles in with the chicken. He dished the food up and they went back to the couch to eat.
"So," Duo mumbled in between mouthfuls of hot, slippery noodles, "what's the latest gossip?"
"Oh, nothing much. The girls are already planning a baby shower for Sally." Hilde rolled her eyes; she had always had a healthy contempt for those sorts of frivolous feminine pursuits. "I think Gerhardt's seeing that woman from Pathology, Sopers." She shrugged. "Doro's still not back; she left me a message to say she'd call tomorrow night after some grand ball or other."
"How the other half lives," Duo murmured wryly; Dorothy was probably having the time of her life with champagne and caviar, all expenses paid.
"Yeah." Hilde raised her chopsticks and grinned at him. "So, what are you wearing tonight?"
***
By the time they got to L'Oscure, Duo was pleasantly buzzed and starting to feel like dancing. They were early enough that there were very few people queuing at the blank metal doors, and they made it inside quickly, paying the cover and making for the bar. As he waited for his ordered beer, Duo examined the flyer he'd got at the ticket office.
"What's that?" Ryou Iwasaki popped up beside him, his usually neat brown hair spiked in a manner that would have had their superiors frowning at him. Duo handed the ad over, accepting his drink from the bearded barman with a nod of thanks. Ryou ordered a screwdriver, then examined the paper.
"Live night next Wednesday?" He turned it over, eyes widening. "I didn't know Sweet Temptation were in town!"
"Me either." Duo took a judicious sip of beer, glancing across the cavernous black-painted room to the stage, which was currently set up with a DJ's booth. "Wanna go?"
"Hell yeah," the Japanese Colonial exclaimed, then laughed as he was handed his drink. The noise level wasn't yet high enough to inhibit conversation, although a pounding bass from the high speaker stacks provided a background to the sounds of drinkers. There were no dancers on the floor this early, although the tables set into the alcoves surrounding the space were becoming well populated.
"Where are the others?" Duo asked, since he couldn't spot either Hilde or Anji in the crowd of black-clad punks.
"I think they went to the ladies' room." Ryou rolled his eyes and jerked his head towards a free table over in one corner. "C'mon, let's grab some chairs�"
"Yeah�" Duo followed him, the two agents weaving agilely through the growing crowds and nabbing the battered pub table for themselves, stopping to greet a few acquaintances on the way � other regulars.
"Hey!" Hilde plopped herself down into the seat beside Duo, cradling a bottle of soda between her palms. She was looking good tonight, Duo thought with approval, in plain black leather pants and a tight midriff top that read 'I don't discriminate. I hate everyone' across her breasts. By contrast, Anji, who sat down a great deal more circumspectly by Ryou, was positively dressed to kill in a ragged, lace-trimmed black velvet gown over fishnet stockings and heavy studded leather boots. A die-hard Goth, she wore her hair tied into spiky knots trimmed with silver chains, and her face painted bone-white, eyes deeply shadowed. Duo, in his torn and frayed black jeans and shirt, might have felt a little underdressed, if he could have been bothered to care.
"Hey." He raised one hand in a wave of greeting, then went back to sipping at his beer. He had already decided that there would be no tequila for him tonight, in fact nothing stronger than wine. He was in no mood to repeat the antics of the previous week. Duo shuddered at the thought, turning to check out the crowds at the bar just as a new song came over the sound system, the DJ turning up the volume so that the opening guitar riffs resounded through the cavernous hall of the dancefloor. Duo felt a grin beginning to spread across his face, entirely without his volition, as he recognised the ancient song.
Hilde laughed with delight and tugged at his arm. "It's your song, Duo! Come on, we have to dance!"
Faking a sigh, Duo allowed her to lead him to the centre of the dancefloor as the singer came in over the drums. Leaving the drinks, Anji and Ryou followed, entirely familiar with this small ritual. Taking advantage of Hilde's grip on his hand, Duo spun her out into a twirl as they began to dance. Laughing, the others formed a cluster around him as he lifted his arms over his head and let the music flow through him, singing along shamelessly.
Their abrupt entrance onto the floor seemed to have galvanised others; they were joined by a slow trickle of dancers, people spreading out across the sticky sheet-metal flooring, heavy boots thudding and hair flying. Duo grinned, yanking Hilde in towards him again and mouthing the words to her. "Come on, baby, don't fear the reaper�" Hilde laughed and obligingly scooted up against him as the song came to an end and a much harsher metal intro took its place, screaming guitars picking out the tune.
They danced, moving together with the ease of long practise, Duo with his hands on Hilde's hips and she with his braid pulled over her shoulder, forcing him to move with her. Duo let the sheer volume of the music flow through him in the dim, smoky atmosphere, lifting him up on a dizzying wave of pure sound, vibrating through his bones so that he almost felt he could fly in truth. The beat carried him; he ceased thinking for a few precious moments and just lived the music, letting it take him away from the cares of work and the ache of frustrated desire, letting it free him.
When he surfaced from his semi-trance, pounding thrash was playing and Hilde had disappeared, though he spotted Ryou over by the stage, shouting into someone's ear. Thirsty from his exertions, Duo made his way off the dance floor towards the bar, using his elbows judiciously to force his way through the crowd. Ordering another beer, he leant folded arms on the polished slab of wood and took the opportunity to check out the night's crowd.
L'Oscure was a popular destination among the 'alternative' population of the city, catering mostly to the Goth and punk crowds. Dark and dingy, it looked like a complete dive, but the glasses were always clean, and so were the bathrooms. The clientele were actually fairly respectable, despite their tough appearance, most of the guys and girls in black leathers or jeans and heavy boots. Duo hadn't seen a fight there for quite some time; the rougher elements were strongly discouraged, though the casual observer might have been forgiven for thinking otherwise, with the numbers of tattoos and piercings on display.
Taking his still half-full bottle, Duo wandered over to a clear patch of wall that looked about right for leaning on, still people-watching. There were quite a few cute guys around this Friday night, mostly attached to cute girls, but Duo did spot the odd loner. He could tell already that he himself was being eyed up by patrons of both genders, not a few flirtatious winks and glances being sent his way. His eyes were caught by one dark-haired boy over by the edge of the dancefloor, who had caught his gaze, tipping his glass up in salute with a shy smile.
Duo smiled back, raising his beer bottle with a wink and relaxing against the wall as the guy smirked a little at him, cocking his head invitingly. Duo fought with himself for a moment, instincts warring with desire, heart lurching with muddled emotions he couldn't understand. Despite all his misgivings, there was something endearingly familiar about that messy dark hair, the glittering eyes beneath heavy brows, and before he really knew it Duo was moving through the crowd with sinuous grace, eyes fixed on his prize.
***
"Fuck." Duo groaned miserably, beating his head against his folded arms on the countertop.
"There, there." Hilde patted his back with scant sympathy, keeping an eye on the service hatch for their orders. Duo just moaned into his bare forearms, berating himself for his own stupid hang-ups.
"Every fucking time," he mumbled to himself piteously, feeling both humiliated and depressed. It was barely one AM, still hours before closing time in the clubbing district, and the two of them were currently sitting in a kebab shop waiting for their food to be done.
"Duo, you're an idiot." Hilde ruffled his hair with one hand, sliding off her stool with alacrity to collect a pair of styrofoam boxes from the man at the counter. "C'mon, let's go home."
They hailed a taxi out on the main strip, piling into the back of the cab and nibbling at bits of spiced meat and nan bread. When the taxi driver remarked that it smelled good, Duo opened his takeaway box and let the man snatch some of his fries, making a weak joke about tipping in food. He wondered if the guy could tell that his heart wasn't really in it tonight.
When they got back, Hilde refused to let him escape up to his apartment, instead dragging him into her own flat and shoving him onto her couch, fetching a bottle of cheap red wine from her kitchen.
"Now." She sat down next to him, handing him a glass. "This probably won't go very well with sauce and chips, but it's better than nothing." Duo set the filled glass down on the table, munching gloomily on a french fry.
"Life sucks, Hil." He scowled blackly, then realised just who he'd stolen that expression from and hastily blanked his face, but it was too late. Memories resurfaced� old memories of need and skin and touch� newer memories of hasty groping, of hands that touched him too lightly, a body too pliant against his� He groaned, pressing the heels of his palms into his eyes and trying to think of something, anything else.
"What happened, Duo?" Hilde was sipping at her wine, making a face. "Might as well be drain cleaner," she muttered, setting the glass aside. "I saw you with that guy � I thought you were having a good time, until you dragged me out of there like the fiends were after you."
Duo bit his lip, realising for the first time that it hadn't been only his evening out that he'd cut short. "Sorry, Hil, I didn't think�"
"It's fine." She patted his shoulder reassuringly, climbing up onto the couch and tucking her feet beneath her. "I'm going to make you pay though, by telling me what the hell is going on with you."
Duo winced. "Hil, it's� I really don't wanna talk about this�" he tried weakly, twisting his fingers around his hair.
"Tough. After last week, and then this� and I know it's not the first time, Duo." She twisted round to look at him. "It's getting pretty obvious that you have something else on your mind, and I think I can guess what it is."
"I'm fine," Duo protested, not really liking where this was going.
"Bullshit." Hilde raised a sardonic eyebrow. "You're behaving like a schoolgirl with a crush, Maxwell."
"Argh." Duo flung himself backwards onto the arm of the couch, almost overbalancing. "Hilde, I told you to leave it!" He knew instantly that he had made a rather serious miscalculation. Her eyes positively gleamed. Duo suppressed a shudder; women could be so scary when they were trying to turn your life upside down.
Hilde pounced, leaning forward avidly. "So you do like him!"
"No!" Duo protested immediately. "I�" He choked on the words. "Just leave it, Hil. You don't understand, OK?"
"Huh." She flipped one foot up onto her coffee table, folding her arms. "Well obviously not, since you won't frickin' tell me!"
"It's complicated," Duo said shortly, tipping his head back so that his braid dipped to trail along the ground.
She snorted. "You're in love with Heero Yuy; I'm not fucking surprised."
"I'm not in love with him." Duo tipped his head forward slowly to stare at her, willing her to see the truth in his words and leave off badgering him. Hilde raised her eyebrow, shrugging as if to say 'whatever' even as she silently begged to differ.
***
Duo tapped his fingertips irritably on the vidphone casing as he listened to the line ringing. Five times, six, and then it cut to the answer machine. "You have reached Heero Yuy's voicemail�"
With a growl, Duo slammed the handset down, breaking the connection, and stormed into the kitchen to restart the coffee machine. He had already left three messages for Heero, one on his home line and two at the office. Damn it, he thought furiously, he could at least have had the courtesy to call me yesterday! Bastard. With a distracted tug to his braid, he snatched up his mug and stalked back to flop down on the couch and stare at his laptop through narrowed eyes.
The downloaded cargo manifests seemed to mock him, scrolling slowly through their lists of facts and figures. Facts and figures which made no damn sense without the mainframe copies, which Heero had. Heero, who'd said he'd call on Saturday to discuss the case. Well, it's now Sunday fucking evening. Duo glared at the screen as it faded out, switching to screensaver mode and beginning to cycle through the photographs he kept on the machine. He'd got through most of the work, checking the manifest lists for anything overtly suspicious, but he'd wanted to get a head start on comparing the paper copies with the database Heero's downloaded.
Fucking Heero. Duo tugged a little too forcefully on his braid as an image of himself standing before Deathscythe's feet and waving a victory sign faded into view. He was supposed to damn well call me, not swan around with Vice Ministers to gallery openings and operas. Oh, he knew he was being uncharitable, but he couldn't seem to help it; the bad mood had gotten a good hold on him. The likelihood of Heero actually being with Relena was pretty small; it was far more probable that some emergency had come up with Preventer security that required his partner's special expertise. That didn't make Duo feel any better.
He checked his watch and sighed; seven PM. There was always someone on the desk at HQ.
Duo stared at the vidphone a few moments longer before picking up the handset with a groan and dialling the number.
"This is Preventer Headquarters; how may I help you?" Duo didn't recognise the uniformed woman, but that didn't mean anything; the admin shifts rotated frequently, and Agents always spent a lot of time out of the office.
"Hey, this is Agent Duo Maxwell, badge number 721144113D02." He waited while the woman brought up his file on her screen and matched his face to the picture.
"Agent Maxwell, how can I help you?" She smiled professionally, but Duo could read tiredness in her eyes. It was probably nearing the end of her shift.
"Can you tell me whether my partner � Agent Yuy � is in the building, or on an assignment?"
"Agent Yuy?" She tapped a short query into her computer. "No, he's not signed in since Friday afternoon."
"Okay, thanks." Duo gave her a nod and hung up before he was tempted to violence. Damn it, Heero, where the hell are you? Almost without thinking, he found his fingers punching in his partner's mobile number, and brightened, wanting to smack himself for idiocy. Even if Heero was out of his apartment, he could always be contacted. He pressed the Connect button and waited� and waited� as the line clicked and whirred. Only to be greeted with that same damned emotionless recording. "You have reached Heero Yuy's voicemail, please leave a message."
"Fuck!" Duo narrowly refrained from pitching the handset across the room, a fate the laptop almost met too, as his eyes fell on the photograph it was displaying � himself and Heero in flight suits, in the corridor of Peacemillion. "Fucking up-himself 'follow-your-emotions' idiot of a soldier boy!" He only realised he was trembling with rage when the vidphone handset made a grinding noise in his hand; he looked down with surprise to see a crack appearing in the fascia. He hadn't thought he'd been holding it so hard.
***
"Come on!" Duo pounded on the plain varnished wooden door again, his clenched fist making dull thuds that he could hear echoing through the rooms beyond. "Damn it, Yuy, we're gonna be late, get out your fuckin' door!" There was a marked silence from Heero's apartment, and Duo seethed. Ten seconds more, he told himself, and then he really was going to make a break for it, whether Yuy needed a lift or not.
Fifteen seconds had elapsed by the time Duo whirled with an inarticulate growl and stalked back towards the elevators to the parking lot. He had decided to assuage his worry-tinged annoyance over his partner's lack of responsiveness to messages or email by dropping by Heero's apartment to pick him up that morning; he'd left a message to that effect. Obviously, Heero had decided to go the hell ahead and get the metro anyway. Duo seethed all the way back to his car, only calming down slightly once he'd gunned the engine out onto the road.
It wasn't just irritation with Heero that had Duo so knotted up, really. There was a good deal of hurt mixed in with it as well. He'd thought that, despite their history, he had Heero were friends as well as partners. But with the way Heero had been blowing him off lately (always to take Relena out somewhere, his traitorous subconscious whispered), and then this sudden lack of communication�
Lack of communication? Duo snorted; it sounded like something out of a women's magazine. He'd seen some of the things Hilde read in the breakroom, finding himself torn between amusement and mild horror. Do women really have nothing better to do than over-analyse every tiny aspect of every relationship they're involved in? They spend more time on that than actually having the relationship, it's weird. Maybe it was a good thing he wasn't interested in women. But then again, maybe they just weren't made to be comprehensible.
Duo frowned as he pulled into the underground parking garage that served Preventer HQ. Is it my imagination, or are there a lot more cars here than usual? Most of the Agents' spaces were filled, and Duo had to drive almost to the opposite side of the building before he found a vacant slot. A lot of the cars looked somewhat hastily parked, too � or maybe he was just a better driver than the rest of the guys. Grinning to himself, Duo tossed his keys into the air, snatching them back again and stuffing them into his jacket pocket. Maybe he'd missed the notice for a training day, and that was what Heero'd been so busy working on. At least that was more palatable than the idea of him with Relena.
Sauntering up to the elevator banks, Duo swiped his ID card through the slot and obediently opened his eyes wide for the retinal scan. The computer pad beeped in acceptance and informed him that an elevator was on its way.
It took longer than Duo expected � longer than was usual � for the metal doors to slide open and admit him. Of course, with all the cars, the place was obviously busy. Duo punched the button for the fifth floor and his office, consoling himself by planning out exactly what he was going to say to Heero.
There was absolutely no one in the corridor when Duo exited the lift car, though he thought he heard noises from the briefing rooms down the hallway. Shrugging, he sauntered up to his office door and turned the handle, frowning in perplexity when he found it locked. If Heero's not here� where the hell is he? Fumbling his keys out of his pocket, Duo opened the door just wide enough to verify that his partner was indeed absent, letting it fall shut behind him as he stalked down the corridor towards the admin department.
He never made it that far. Halfway there, a blur of golden hair and disarranged uniform barrelled into him out of a side corridor, almost knocking him to the ground.
Duo automatically clutched at the person whom his mind absently identified as Dorothy. She looked� dishevelled. Haunted. Nothing like he'd ever seen her. "Doro? What the hell?"
"Maxwell?" Dorothy blinked up at him from exhausted ice-blue eyes. "Come on." She made an abrupt about-face, stalking towards her office with a new infusion of energy. Much to his annoyance, Duo found himself tagging on behind her.
"What the hell is going on?" he repeated somewhat more forcefully as he passed the open doors of empty offices, despite regulations that demanded unused rooms be locked. "And where's Heero?"
"Yuy?" Dorothy didn't so much as look at him as she strode into hers and Hilde's office. Following her, Duo saw his housemate sitting behind a desk piled with vid-discs and surveillance devices, looking almost as frantic as Dorothy did. "I have no idea, and I don't care as long as you find him. Mariemaia's missing."