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"Iron Fists "Written By: ELLE and Miss Murdered Disclaimer: If Gundam Wing was ours, there'd be ONE damned cannon kiss. All for fun, fun for all! :D Rating: NC 17 Warnings: post EW, physical violence, m/m sexual
relations, cursing, you know – the typical angsty stuff! Pairings: 1x2x1, Summary: In the world of illegal cage fighting there are no rules and only the strongest survive. It is a world that Duo has been undercover in for over a year and when the Preventers fear he may have gone rogue unexpected back up arrives... Author's Notes: Miss Murdered mentioned this little
inkling to ELLE one day and several weeks later after ELLE's desire
to get into a fight peeked, ELLE asked if they might team up and write
some delicious, sexy fight scenes. All Duo's chapters are Miss Murdered's,
all Heero's are ELLE's. Enjoy! "Iron Fists "
22. Epilogue The gentle whir of the tattoo gun over his skin, needles dragging through his flesh almost felt rhythmic, almost soothing now at this, his third sitting. Duo sat next to him as always, yawned, stretched out his arms and then threw them back in his lap. Heero watched, met his gaze, saw the restlessness there - but also there was something else, now. Patience. Dedication. Heero promised him silently that he would repay that in kind. "You sure you don't feel anything, huh?" Duo asked sceptically with one raised brow. Heero glanced back down at his chest, watching the quick strokes of shading he barely felt, and turned back to Duo. "No." "Shit, I got how many and each one of them damn hurt," he grouched, stared off at the distance, didn't say anything. Heero wondered if he was thinking about some of them, what they were like when he got them, what they meant then - but he never said and Heero never asked. Some things never changed. But then Duo turned back to him, smiled, stroked the back of his fingers against Heero's cheek for a moment. "My superman," he murmured, eyes kind, affectionate. Heero held out a hand. Duo reached back for it, twined their fingers together. It made Heero think back to the hospital - how he had woken up to those sterile white walls so unexpectedly. Hardly remembered how he ended up there, heavy sedation fogging his brain, but it didn't matter because Duo was there, holding his hand, waiting for him. They didn't say anything to one another for a long time, just stared, knowing everything was different now, unsure of how to proceed without the stress and desperation of the mission, without life and death, left with just the ordinary day to day bullshit they were forced to wade through just like everybody else. "Bad damn infection," he started and Heero blinked impassively. "Yeah." He paused, voice scratchy and Duo offered him water which he accepted through a straw. "How long have I been out?" "They put you in a medically induced coma so you'd rest. Three days." Heero scowled but didn't say anything, fairly certain that Duo was the one who recommended that course of action but then he was the one who put Duo down on his next of kin forms so he really had no one to blame but himself. Still wasn't happy about it though, but there was no use being mad now. Duo must've realized it and changed the subject. "Got Kerrigan - remember?" Heero nodded slightly. "Peacecraft?" Duo frowned. "Wufei's got him tracked down to a leftover piece of satellite colony outside L5." Heero guessed Milliardo was hoping Kerrigan would get a shot off to finish them and he'd be able to take back over after the Preventer extraction team left. At least Heero could rest content with the realization that even if they didn't ever bring Milliardo to justice, Duo and he lived long enough to destroy his credibility and he wouldn't have be able to recreate Kerrigan's empire. He'd be forced back to Mars where Noin might take him back or forced into the life of a fugitive. Duo chuckled. "Relena's fucking pissed." Heero couldn't help but smirk. "Yeah?" "Yeah, something about black sheep, letting him back into the fold, I don't even fucking know. Sure she'll tell you all about it when she comes to visit." Duo's hand tightened around his. "MJ has already made an official statement to Preventer." Heero was genuinely surprised. "Thought she was one of Peacecraft's." "Nah, 'parently not." Duo shrugged. "Guess she was on her own side in the end." Duo stood then, refusing to drop his hand. "Probably should get a nurse." But he leaned over and kissed him instead. The kiss was gentle, affirmative, no lust or need or desperation in it, just simple affection. And when Duo eventually dropped his hand, Heero let it wander to the hem of his shirt, stroking up underneath where he knew the eagle resided on Duo's side. But Duo grabbed his wrist tight, drawing his hand away. "You're in no condition," he warned carefully and Heero couldn't hide his amusement. Things really must be different between them if Duo was telling him he was in condition to fuck and didn't offer even once to break him out of this place. He resisted the urge to tease him about going soft - knew this was Duo's attempt at domestic, or as close to it as he could damn get. "I want one," Heero explained instead and Duo's eyes narrowed curiously. "What?" "I want one," he repeated. "A tattoo." Duo laughed, shook his head, and wandered to the door. "Yeah, we'll see. But first, I'm gonna get a nurse." The week after he'd been released they found a tattoo shop Heero liked and he went in for his first sitting, the winding snake that stretched across his chest in a series of loops first taking shape on his skin. He placed it there on his chest so that he could always see it, covering his heart, reminding him to live and breathe and feel, to allow himself that tenderness. "What's it mean?" Duo asked when they got back, buried in his flesh, tracing his fingers around the swollen skin but careful not to disturb the plastic covering. Heero wondered for a moment what Duo thought of his body now, huge scabs on his torso turning into scars, the scabs on the sliced up mess of his inner arm already flaked off. But Duo never seemed to care what he looked like - only ever wanted him. And as that was all Heero ever wanted, he never bothered to ask. Instead of replying, Heero stroked up Duo's side, across eagle talons and feathers as Duo moved slowly in and out of him, taking his time, feeling every damn inch of him. "It's an answer." Duo paused, snorted. "To what? It's just an eagle." Heero didn't believe him but he let him keep up the charade if he wanted too. Duo promised him in that hospital room he wouldn't run any more, but that didn't mean Heero had to take away every place he had to hide. "Then it's just a snake." But that wasn't quite true and they both knew it although nothing more was said. If Duo was the eagle, than Heero was the snake. The eagle might try to overpower the snake, snatching it in its talons, but the snake could twist back, could trap the eagle in its coils and hold on tight, never allowing the eagle to let go. And Duo had snared him, drew him up into the sky, showed him a world he didn't even know existed and he was never going to let go. Heero would go down fighting for him. "Fuck, can you turn this shit off?" Duo asked as he glared up at that TV in the tattoo parlour and the artist looked at him with hesitation. "I'm almost done," he said as he began cleaning up his work. "Fine, fine," Duo muttered and sighed grandiosely, crossing his arms over his chest as the TV news anchor rambled on about the apprehension of Milliardo Peacecraft three days ago; playing the same damn clip of Relena repudiating his actions, distancing herself from her brother, stating his involvement in the war as reason for his mental instability; discussing with clinical coolness the military tribunal he would face, the accusations levied against him by members of the ESUN, completely glossing over the heinous accusations levied against them. Heero understood why Duo was damn tired of hearing about it. Despite everything, despite their success, despite the fact that Milliardo would be brought to justice - no one knew about Wade. No one knew about all the men who died at the hands of the rich and powerful, who were manipulated or lost or too fucked up with too little help after the war to do anything but continue to fight. And it was sad and a little sick that they were the only ones who would really know the truth. "Finished," the artist announced and he appraised the piece before wrapping it up. Heero slipped on a loose button up and buttoned it to his chest, letting it hang open at the top and Duo chuckled at the sight of it, just as he did after the first two sittings. "Ready to go home?" Heero didn't miss the way his voice twisted on the word, just a little bit of resentment slipping through. "Yeah. I got something for you." But that piqued Duo's interest and Heero could tell he was trying hard not to badger it out of him the whole ride home - instead resolving to be uncommonly silent, irking Heero more than had he babbled incessantly. They walked into Heero's apartment and Duo's eyes followed him all the way to his office and back, where he handed Duo an envelope with a thick stack of papers inside. He watched as Duo slid the papers out carefully, eyes studying the cover page and staring up at him in shock. "Is this...?" "Right. My official resignation from Preventer." Duo whistled low and long as his eyes fell back to the papers in his hand. "Damn." He flipped through the pages a moment before carefully putting them back in the envelope. "But what's that have to do with me?" Heero took the envelope back and set it on the table behind Duo, standing close, slipping a hand in his back pocket and pulling him forward into a short, meaningful kiss. "It gives you the option," Heero stated simply, nose brushing across Duo's before he pulled back to look him in the eyes. Duo looked nervous, hesitant, unsure exactly what it was Heero meant. "If you want to stay with Preventer, I can take a private position in Relena's employ and stay here in Sanc - it would be like nothing changed. If you want to quit Preventer, we can go anywhere, do anything. Start a business, go work with Hilde on L2. Whatever you want. There's some lucrative government contracts up for bid on salvaging mobile suit parts in remote places like Antarctica." Heero paused, assessed Duo who was quiet, brows furrowed in confusion and, Heero dared hope, appreciation. "'Ro..." Duo breathed out quietly, head tilting to the side a bit to study him critically. "You'd do that? For me?" Heero nodded solemnly. "I can't ask to tie you down - just want to be with you." Duo swallowed hard, fingers finding Heero's face, brushing bangs away from his eyes with a gentle caress. "I want you with me," he confirmed, voice as serious as he'd ever heard it. "Always." Their lips met again and Heero knew that home was wherever those lips were, wherever Duo was there to hold him. He could only hope that he could offer the same home to Duo for as long as they both drew breath.
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