Sensation returned before awareness. Duo became conscious of warmth against his side, a sleepy-satiated feeling of contentment� but of significantly more concern was the sudden twinge of pain that manifested itself in his nether regions as soon as he stirred.
Oww�
That brought memory back, all right; Duo jerked upright in startled realisation, and what had been a twinge became a very present ache. "Fuck!" He squirmed, trying to rub his ass and take his weight off it at the same time, without much effect.
"Hmm?" Beside him, Heero stirred, his near hand groping at the sheets as though searching for something. Duo's body decided that lying back down was definitely a good idea, while his mind whirled in panic and his heart tried to beat its way out of his chest.
Heero's searching hand found his upper arm and stilled, apparently satisfied. Duo propped himself onto his side and stared down at the sleeping form of his partner � lover? God only knew. There was a far-too-familiar sinking feeling in his middle that was telling him that he might just have done something very, very stupid. It didn't stop his heart contracting at the sight of Heero, though. The Japanese man had his face buried in a pillow, only a sliver of happy-sleepy-satisfied expression visible beneath the untidy fall of his hair. And the rest of him� Duo swallowed, telling his body to behave itself.
Oh, Heero had definitely grown up since the last time they'd been in this position. Long planes of muscle beneath smooth golden-bronze skin disappeared into the mess of crumpled sheets that tangled both their legs. Duo felt a flush heat his skin as memories crowded for his attention, pointing out just how good that body felt� He bit his lip, forcing back the stupid grin that kept wanting to surface. Yeah, even with the sore ass, it was worth it, he decided at last. He just hoped that it � that he � actually meant something to Heero.
Although after the shuttle incident � well, we're friends, aren't we? He must at least care a bit.
As if something in him responded to Duo's inner turmoil, Heero twitched, hands balling into fists momentarily before he yawned and rolled onto his side. Deep-blue eyes cracked open, sharpening into focus as Duo felt another involuntary blush creeping across his face. He couldn't turn away, though. Not for anything could he look away from Heero now.
Their gazes caught and held for what felt like a short eternity, heavy with everything that remained unsaid between them. Duo held his breath, swallowing audibly, waiting for the bomb to drop, for Heero's reaction.
He wasn't quite sure what he was expecting, but it wasn't the slow uncurling of a shy smile. Duo felt himself flush even more, dropping his eyes as he tried to cue up some words, any words. Heero's hand on his face forestalled him, warm callused fingertips tracing along his jaw, lifting his head�
The kiss started out comfortable, a simple touch of lips on lips, but quickly became heated as Duo moved instinctively into the shelter of Heero's body, mouth opening involuntarily. Their tongues touched, slid slickly together as their bodies met again, skin to skin. Duo gasped into Heero's mouth as arms wrapped around him, hands caressing his skin, pushing him gently down into the mattress, body shuddering in a shiver that turned into an involuntary wince as the movement reminded him of his aching rear.
"Hmm?" Heero pulled out of the kiss, blinking down at Duo in concern, palms tracing warm circles across his shoulders. "What's wrong?"
Duo had to swallow before his throat would let him form words; his skin felt like it was on fire. "Nothing. Just� kinda sore, you know?" He had to look away; it was as though the limitless blue of those eyes was stripping away every defence he had. He wasn't ready for that, not yet. Maybe not ever; it kind of depended on Heero, now.
Heero was frowning at him. "I hurt you � why didn't you say something?" His hands slid around Duo's shoulders, tracing shivering lines down the muscles of his back, enclosing the American in his arms and abruptly tugging, rolling them over so that Duo sprawled atop him.
Duo snorted, wriggling into a more comfortable position that not incidentally pressed his hip against Heero's stiffening cock. Mmm� "Come on, it's not like I was complaining at the time." He paused, attempting to evaluate the look on Heero's face � in his eyes. Worry-regret-exasperation-fondness� and something else� "Lube might be a good idea next time, though." Duo propped his arms on either side of Heero's face, leaning down to brush their lips together softly.
"Next time?" Heero blinked up at him, then smirked, lifting his head to chase Duo's kisses, hands sliding languorously up and down his back. It was all of a piece; the shiver of gun-callused fingertips on his skin, the breathy meeting of lips, tongues, teeth� Heero was whispering in his ear, his breath stirring tangled wisps of Duo's hair.
"I think next time is my turn�" He nipped sharply at the earlobe, then pressed a soft kiss into the angle of Duo's jaw, flicking his tongue against the skin in a move that made Duo shiver helplessly, then pulling away and gently rolling Duo off him to the side. "But lubrication does sound like a good idea."
Duo reached for him, but Heero had already risen, and was making his way across the room, unashamedly naked and rumpled-looking. Deliciously naked and rumpled-looking, actually; Duo swallowed. "Hey, where are you going?"
"Bathroom." Heero opened the door in question and disappeared through it, calling back over his shoulder in a voice amplified by the tiled room. "A hot bath will help the soreness." Suddenly, painfully, Duo was overcome with a ridiculous surge of jealousy. This Heero was so very far from the confused, uncertain boy he had been; he wanted desperately to enquire exactly where all this knowledge came from. But he didn't have the right; one night five years ago didn't give him any claim on the man Heero had become. He curled up into a ball, ignoring the burning ache of abused muscles, and tried to put aside the insidious images of faceless others touching and caressing his Heero.
The soft splashing sound of the tub filling ceased abruptly, and Duo heaved a sigh, pushing himself into an uncomfortable sitting position just as Heero reappeared.
"Can you walk?" This confirmed Duo's realisation that Heero was definitely making a little too much out of what had only been a little bit of rough sex. The fact that he hadn't done anything similar for five years was probably more of a contributing factor than anything. He gave Heero an exasperated look, but couldn't help the touch of amused fondness that wanted to show through it.
"I'm sore, not crippled," Duo pointed out dryly, levering himself to his feet. Still, he walked the few steps across the room slowly and carefully, trying not to wince as every muscle between his ribs and his knees seemed to decide to protest at once. He was definitely feeling well-fucked� and if he could just persuade Heero into the bath with him life would be damn near perfect.
Heero knelt by the side of the tub while Duo climbed into the almost-too-hot water, seemingly intent on remaining there. "Better?" he asked anxiously � Heero was acting nervous, that was a turn-up for the books! � as Duo settled gingerly back into the water. He could already feel the heat relaxing him, easing the strain of over-used muscles.
"Yeah." He glanced down briefly, noticing that his skin was already pinkening to near-lobster colour from the heat, before looking up again into Heero's eyes. "C'mon in, there's plenty of room�"
"I�" Heero looked briefly indecisive before shrugging and rising fluidly to his feet, clambering into the tub with his usual easy grace. Duo couldn't help smirking appreciatively; it looked even better without all those clothes in the way. He shifted himself over slightly to make room, but the bath was easily large enough for the both of them. Heero settled in a semi-sitting position by his side, one hand stroking absently over Duo's chest, water rippling around them. It felt� nice. It felt better when Heero leaned down and kissed him again, lips tracing a gentle path along Duo's jaw and down the line of his throat to nip at his collarbone.
"Mmm." Duo tipped his head back, couldn't help the almost-purr of satisfaction that emerged from his mouth. "God, Heero�"
A breathy laugh in his ear and the world was suddenly inverted, water sloshing around them as Heero draped a too-far-gone-to-protest Duo over the rim of the tub. For a brief moment he felt the press of his partner's body all along his back, then the weight was removed and hands were making cool, shivering trails down his skin to grip his hips. Fingers were kneading gently at his ass, spreading him, and Duo was just about to point out that he was in no condition for a repeat of last night when a slick, wet tongue slid between his cheeks, tracing slowly along the cleft of his ass.
He couldn't hold back a moan. Heero laughed softly behind him (Duo could just picture the smirk the bastard was wearing, too), his warm breath ghosting along skin and sending fire through Duo's nerves. He felt his balls tighten, his cock recovering rapidly from the hot water, and just as Heero leaned in again, his tongue laving gently at Duo's still-sore anus, there was a cacophony of banging from the outer room that made them both jerk upright in startlement.
"Maxwell! Wake up!" The thunderous knocking paused for a moment, then resumed as Duo silently promised himself that Wu Fei was going to die slowly for this piece of work.
"Damn," Heero muttered almost inaudibly, hauling himself out of the tub and yanking out the plug. Duo was already hopping towards the door as he tried to towel his legs while moving. With luck, there might even be some clean clothing around the place, but first he had to do something about the sheer racket Chang was making.
"All right already!" Slinging the towel around his hips for the sake of propriety, Duo threw back the bolt and yanked the door open, glaring at Wu Fei's still-upraised fist. "I get the picture, Chang! Gimme a minute to throw some clothes on, and I'll be down!" Without waiting for an answer, he whirled, kicking the door shut and abandoning the towel as he headed for the wardrobe. Heero was already bent over picking his own clothes off the floor where they had been dropped; Duo swallowed and averted his eyes from his partner's ass in the interests of being able to fit into his pants.
Grabbing the first items of clothing he came to � jeans and a plain t-shirt that had probably been left over from a previous visit; Quatre was always encouraging them to treat his house as their own � Duo scrambled into them and stamped his feet into his combat boots without bothering with socks or underwear. His hair was on the verge of falling out of its braid, but would have to wait; he shoved a comb into his pocket for later and was out the door within thirty seconds, Heero right behind him.
***
"So what's up?" Duo entered what he was beginning to think of as the War Room with deliberate nonchalance, silently reassuring himself that it wasn't possible to tell how he and Heero had spent the night just by looking. It wasn't as though he had a neck full of hickies, and any marks on Heero could easily be explained by his captivity�
"Message from Une." Sally was sitting at the head of the table, bracketed by Dorothy and Hilde. Duo moved to sit carefully beside his housemate, holding back a smirk as Heero headed straight for his laptop, which was sitting where Duo had left it the previous day. Or had it been the day before that? It was Wednesday afternoon, so� he gave up trying to work it out when Sally continued.
"I'll wait until the others� ah, well here they are." The sound of running feet came from the corridor, and within seconds the door burst open again and Wu Fei strode in, followed by Trowa and Quatre, the latter two still adjusting their clothing. Duo felt slightly mollified; he obviously hadn't been the only victim of Wu Fei's atrocious timing.
"Right." Sally picked up a datareader, passing it to Quatre as he sat down. "There are two issues I need to draw your attention to at the moment, both involving next week's Parliamentary elections. Several candidates have informed Preventers that they've been receiving threats and harassment that appears to be aimed at forcing them to resign from the polls. From what we can gather, there seems to be a single source, more likely an organisation than a person. Une wants us to determine the actual level of threat posed, who these people are and what they want. There may or may not be links with the group who abducted Yuy." She glanced down at her notes. "Perfect Light � how much do we have on them so far?"
Quatre cleared his throat, pausing the scroll on the datareader as he looked up. "They appear to be a perfectly legitimate business, but try and scratch below the surface and you hit a steel wall. Their website � it's astonishingly uninformative about what it is they actually do. A lot of hot air about 'developing solutions to meet the needs of modern optics users' and so on, very little actual data."
"OK." Sally sighed, rolling her shoulders, and picked up another reader. "You and Dorothy have this one; the rest of us need to head out to L2-V221 ASAP. Seems we have a situation developing."
"Situation?" Duo caught Hilde's eye as he looked up; her expression was grim. V221 was one of the Colonies that had been harder hit by demilitarisation, and one of the group of L2 stations named on the suspicions list they'd got from their informants.
Sally sighed, raking one hand absent-mindedly through her hair, then scowling as she realised she'd disarranged it. "There've been some protests recently surrounding the elections � several of the Colonial incumbents seem very unpopular."
Trowa and Hilde snorted in unison; Duo grinned at the look of surprise on her face, but sobered as he listened to the taller man's quiet words. "There's always a certain amount of corruption in L2 and L3 politics, but people work around it."
Duo nodded tiredly, no longer even bothering to wish the situation was different. "Protests is definitely something new. Why haven't we heard anything before now?"
Heero looked up at last from his attention to the screen of his computer. "There was actually a short segment on the Sphere news a week or so ago. We've just been so concentrated on the current investigation recently that it wasn't a priority."
That was true, Duo realised. And then with the kidnappings� Heero was continuing.
"I thought it was a fairly small-scale problem, though. What's the situation?"
"It's growing." Wu Fei chipped in unexpectedly, reaching across Dorothy to snag the datareader from his wife's hands. The blonde woman gave him a cold look, turning pointedly towards Sally. "There have been several incidents when staff have tried to enter and leave the government complex; tension is rising. All the signs point to an explosion of violence if something isn't done."
Duo winced. "Riots?" He remembered far too well the last time L2 had gone up in arms. He'd been nine or ten, and the colony authorities had flat-out announced that they were handing over control to the Alliance. The fact that they'd been forced into a corner hadn't made a difference; half the population had marched on Government House when the new bigwigs were installed. Garbage-throwing had escalated quickly into near anarchy, and the death of a UESA soldier on security detail had provided all the excuse that was needed for a hefty retaliation. The carnage had been far too familiar to his younger self, the advance of the mobile suits what originally sent him on the mad dash that ended up at the docks in the hold of a Sweeper ship.
"All too likely," Sally said briskly, reclaiming her reader with a scowl for Wu Fei. "Une wants us there to back up the locals � they only have five Agents on-station, and they already have their hands full just liasing with the police on this. Our original mission takes priority; we need to investigate whether there are any links between what's happening there and the organisation behind the abductions." Her eyes flickered from Heero to Duo, who nodded.
"Too convenient, especially with the timing."
"And the fact that the kidnappers were politically motivated," Dorothy added thoughtfully. "Most of the L2 MPs and Senators are affiliated to the Progressive Pacifist party, which aligns behind Relena."
"Great." Duo flipped his hair over his shoulder with a sigh and glanced aside at Hilde again. "We've been hearing noises about a sudden rash of high employment on several of the poorer Colonies, V221 included. Somebody seems to be hiring up a lot of muscle and moving 'em around."
"So the riotous elements could be plants." Wu Fei's mouth twisted in a grimace as Dorothy rose from her chair, flicking a glance to Quatre.
"I'll leave the rest of you to it. Winner, where should we do this?"
Quatre bit his lip, gathering up his datareader and a sheaf of papers before exchanging a long glance with Trowa that almost seemed questioning. Trowa blinked serenely at him, then tipped his head forward in a silent nod, a smile quirking his lips briefly. Quatre exhaled in a rush of breath and rose, turning to Dorothy as they left the room. "This way � I have another room set up�"
"So we need to get to L2-V221," Heero announced after a moment, breaking the silence at the table.
"Yes." Sally nodded, consulting her notes. "It should take us six or seven hours, including docking procedures; we ought to�"
Duo snorted, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms with deliberate nonchalance. "Hardly. We'll take my ship and be there by six. Five-thirty if I push her."
Sally frowned, and Wu Fei rolled his eyes. "You just want to show off your baby, Maxwell."
"So?" Duo grinned. "Twenty creds says you're impressed, Fei."
"Whatever you say, Maxwell." The Chinese man had that irritatingly superior smirk on his face again. Why did that expression look so sexy on Heero but somehow manage to irritate the hell out of Duo when it graced Chang's face? "I suggest you pack what you'll need and meet us at the entrance in fifteen minutes."
Damn it. Duo scowled even harder when he realised that the corners of Heero's mouth were twitching. "Yeah, yeah, Fei, whatever you say, but I didn't hear an answer: do you take the bet?"
Heero's sudden burst of laughter made something warm uncurl in his midsection, and Duo had to fight to keep the stupid grin off his face as Chang spluttered at him about Agency protocols.
He just hoped the good feeling would last.
***
"So what exactly are we looking at?" Heero asked once the Inferno had achieved a constant speed � 30% greater than a conventionally-powered shuttle, as Duo fully intended on rubbing Wu Fei's nose into. He unbuckled the straps that had held him into the co-pilot's seat at Duo's insistence, kicking off to hang comfortably in mid-air, arms crossed. Duo glanced up from the command chair, their eyes meeting for a brief, warm moment before he turned back to his boards, keeping one ear open for the conversation. At least zero-G meant he wasn't putting weight on his ass; the pilot seat was padded, but it had still been uncomfortable before they'd exited the colony.
Sally passed something to Heero, probably another datareader. "We've got picket lines outside the governmental complex; best estimates have several thousand people between there and the main square. Pockets of violence have been breaking out on the edges, but it's mostly minor property damage at the moment. Duo," she raised her voice, "is there any way to monitor network broadcasts from here? I'd like to know what we're getting into if the situation changes�"
"Sure." Duo toggled a couple of switches, opening a Spacenet channel and feeding the Sphere News vid-stream to the main cockpit screen, displacing the forward camera view to a side screen. Almost immediately the colonial-accented voice of the main daytime anchor came on, explaining something about Northern European farming subsidies. Obviously whatever was going on in V221 wasn't serious enough to attract more than cursory attention from the media � either that or it hadn't yet been brought to their notice. He turned the audio volume down a little as Hilde began asking Heero about his captors.
Mariemaia had told them most of it last night, and Duo listened grimly as his partner recounted the tale again, giving details like the number of different operatives encountered and the level of experience and training they had seemed to have. A thought occurred to him, and he turned in the pilot seat.
"Hey, what about their weapons?"
"Weapons?" Heero looked across at him with a tiny frown that couldn't quite hide the smile buried at the backs of his eyes. "Fairly standard � M72ARs and military style sidearms, forty-five and nine-millimetre. Why?"
"Corresponds with the data from the smuggling thing." Duo shrugged, eyes darting back to his boards to check their vector. All on course and shipshape, so why was he having such difficulty meeting Heero's eyes for more than a couple of seconds at a time?
"You think it's linked." Sally's voice was heavy, and Duo could feel the weight of five pairs of eyes coming to rest on the back of his head.
"I think the idea that all of this just happens to be happening at the same time is a little far-fetched," he answered carefully, keeping his eyes forwards and flipping through read-out screens to give his hands something to do. He hadn't bothered with the hyper jammers this time � after all, they were officially on Preventer business now and he had a superior officer on board � but he was thinking maybe it might not be such a bad idea to go into V221 under stealth. If the alternative was identifying themselves as Preventers to a potentially hostile population... he didn't really want anyone taking it into their heads to 'investigate' the Inferno, damn it.
"He's right," Wu Fei muttered rather unexpectedly. "There is definitely too much of a coincidence here, and we already have circumstantial links between Ibsen and this organisation, whoever they are."
"So you think it's all planned?" Hilde made a noise that seemed to indicate polite disbelief; Duo glanced back over his shoulder and saw her shaking her head. Sally and Wu Fei were conferring in low tones while Trowa had withdrawn from the group completely, heading back into the main cabin with an armful of data disks.
"That would take a great deal of organisation." Heero frowned, turning his head to look down at Duo while one arm stretched out to grab the back of the co-pilot's chair and control the weightless motion. A strangled noise from Hilde attracted both their attention.
"So, Heero, you get those when you were bravely resisting captivity?" Her eyes were trained on the Japanese man's neck; Duo followed her gaze and made a choked-off noise of his own, sinking down low into his seat and wishing it would swallow him. Visible on Heero's throat just above the collar of his uniform shirt were two matching reddish-purple patches of bite marks, and he knew exactly where they'd come from.
Ohshit� Duo was sure he could hear Heero flushing to the exact same shade as the tips of his own ears. Damn it, he wasn't even sure himself quite what this thing with Heero was; he definitely didn't want anybody else poking their noses in. And knowing Hilde, she'd be all over the pair of them like gum on a pavement, probably insisting on blathering on about romance or some such girly shit. God, the only thing worse would be if Relena was here right now! Desperately, Duo cast around for a distraction.
He found one � and wished he hadn't.
"Crap!" One of his hands was reaching to adjust the volume on the audio speakers while the other brought up the stealth system screens. No question now, they were going in under cover. "Hey guys, get a look at this!"
The screen showed a panoramic view of a fairly typical colony interior; given enough time Duo could probably have worked out which station it actually was based on the configuration of buildings and streets shown, but since the news-ticker was currently reading 'L2-V221' it wasn't necessary. The fixed angle of the footage made it clear that the news station was patching into a static camera mounted on the colony wall; about a half-mile's worth of streets were laid out, centring on a fenced complex of large buildings backing what was probably the centre square of the station. It was difficult to tell for certain, because of the smoke coming from burning vehicles and buildings, but Duo was sure he could see people running down some of the streets and alleyways.
"�situation appears to have become critical," the unseen announcer was saying sombrely. "Widespread dissent has erupted into violence, and L2 is seeing its first mass riot in over ten years. We go over now live to our reporter Jenny Morrison just outside the V221 colony." The screen divided, half of it now being given over to a vaguely familiar woman's face.
"Well shit." Hilde was staring at the monitor with Sally, Trowa and Wu Fei crowded close and grimly silent behind her. Duo let out a rush of breath, leaning back purposefully into his seat. Back against the wall again�
"So what do we do now?" he found himself asking, eyes fixed on the monitor as someone finally managed to work the camera, zooming in for a close-up. Police officers with baton guns and plastic shields were lined up outside what was obviously a government facility, confronting a jeering crowd of what looked to be mostly youngish men. Even as Duo watched, the first flaming debris was thrown. A minor colony like this wouldn't have more than four or five regular Preventer agents�
"There aren't enough of us to provide any kind of effective backup," Wu Fei said at last when Sally seemed too engrossed in the news reporter's explanations to answer the question. "With any luck, it'll burn itself out before we get there. Maxwell, what's our ETA?"
Duo winced at the Chinese man's choice of words, then glanced at his boards. "Three and a half hours, within regs. I could shave an hour or so off that if I break a few laws�"
"I think the situation warrants it," Hilde muttered under her breath, turning away to propel herself hand-over-hand into the main cabin. Duo could hear her rattling around in the lockers there, obviously looking for something. He activated the ship-wide pickups without much thought, bringing up the engine readouts again.
"OK then. Heero, I'm gonna need you standing by on retros just in case; we're going to maximum acceleration. You guys, strap down." His attention was distracted by a quiet curse from Trowa, and he risked a quick glance at the screen. The police line had been pushed back and broken in several places, and what looked like molotov cocktails were now being lobbed by the rioters. It all had the feel of something far too co-ordinated for coincidence, and Duo said so. Heero nodded agreement, buckling himself into the co-pilot's chair again.
"I'd say we're going to need to concentrate on protecting the government officers and civilians in the compound," he said quietly, flicking a spare finger at the screen where tiny images were breaking through to the doors. "Chang, get on to Une and the locals, if you can."
"She's already sending backup," Sally broke in from directly behind, quiet snapping sounds indicating that buckles were being locked down.
"Huh." Duo frowned at the monitor again, assessing risks. "Five to one we're gonna need to break through a crowd of people to get in there. Hilde?" he called out, unwilling to spare the glance back over his shoulder.
"Yeah?" Her voice came back in stereo, both from the cabin doorway and from the speaker beneath the instrument panels. "Duo, you have some of the weirdest stuff in these lockers."
"You ain't seen nothing yet," he replied absently. "Try cargo bay one. Cabinet on the top left has sidearms, third on the right should have a few stun grenades. Locks'll take a badge number. Tro, go with her and get the stuff packed up. There might even be some body armour in there, if we're lucky." It didn't escape his notice that everyone but Heero gave a blurt of surprise.
"Maxwell, where�?" Wu Fei asked rather faintly, making Duo wish he could spare the seconds to take a look at his face.
"Part of the deal with Une over this shuttle is that it be used as a backup Preventer vessel in case of emergency," Heero replied crisply.
"Yeah, an' that's classified," Duo muttered, shooting an annoyed look at his partner. Damn it, Heero always had to bloody know everything, didn't he. Especially things he shouldn't. Scowling, he curled his fingers around the control grips of his ship, waiting for the hum of the engines to reach its peak. It crescendoed, rumbling in his earbones like the reincarnation of Deathscythe Hell, and he stabbed his finger onto the controls, shutting off the autopilot. Immediately, the Inferno began picking up speed, bucking beneath his hands as the Verniers kicked in.
"I think I am impressed," Duo heard Wu Fei mutter from the back of the cabin, and had to repress a grin. Matching speed to the colony station was going to be damn difficult after a three-thousand-percent deceleration, but he'd done it before, after all. Heero and he had survived the experience, but he didn't think Chang was quite as prepared as they'd been � or as foolhardy.
"Ladies and gentlemen, hold onto your hats," he announced on a whim, flashing a smirk at his partner. Oh, this was going to be fun; he hadn't tested his baby's paces like this since their first flight, and he'd been aching for speed ever since. "Let's get this show on the road."