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"Close Proximity"Written By: Fancy Figures Disclaimer: I don't own 'em, wish I did, just
enjoy writing about 'em for free etc Pairing: 1x2, 3+4, Warnings: AU, Duo POV, drama, yaoi, lemon Rating: NC 17 Summary: Duo Maxwell and Heero Yuy are members
of the highly specialised Project Team, dealing with those matters
that are too sensitive for normal political channels. But there was
a time when they were something very much more than that – until
one particular mission went horribly wrong. Written for the 2005 Novella Challenge - voted 2nd place
"Close Proximity"
Chapter 1 Day One 05:30 I watched the five of them stumbling up my path with bags and boxes, but I didn’t go help them at first. In fact, I didn’t move from the doorway of my trailer at all. I just leant against the open aluminium door, cultivating the nonchalant look. The nonchalant, ‘I never asked you here in the first place’ look. Didn’t work, of course. It was so early in the morning that the sun had that pale white shine. The air was sharp and a little damp; there was nothing around except a wheeling bird high above us. I couldn’t mistake the twist of misery on Quatre’s face – he was genuinely distressed. His soft, blond hair looked like he’d run his hands through it a million times this morning, and dark shadows sketched in under his blue eyes. His whole expression said ‘I’m confused. I’m pissed. I’m out of my depth here.’ It hit me like I felt it myself – and I had, of course, in other circumstances. He was a guy who’d always got under my defences, and my hostility wavered. Relena was beside him. Her expression was less easy to read – nothing new there, then. But when she darted one of her glares at me, I stirred myself down the couple of rickety steps and sauntered along the path to take my share of the baggage. I took a couple of boxes off of Quatre and his assistant, and I helped Relena balance her radio on the top of some packaged books. Then I also took some suit covers off her PA, Cissy, slinging them over my shoulder. But I refused to help the other visitor – I reckoned he was strong enough to take the whole damned lot himself. We all tottered through the narrow doorway, one by one, and piled the stuff in the corner of my main room, wedging it between my shaky, tubular steel couch and a standard lamp that only works when there’s a storm brewing. It was the only free space available. Our huffing and heaving brought down a couple of the pictures I’d tacked up on the wall behind the couch, but I didn’t make a fuss about it. They were only cut out of magazines, after all. Instead, I stared at the baggage invasion: boxes; a couple of kit bags; a modest pile of clothing. The flap of a cardboard lid settled down suddenly, expelling a small puff of dust. A small enough collection of belongings, I guessed, for a single person. The sum total of a life, of twenty odd years. It had all been packed pretty hurriedly, I could tell. Some of the boxes were charred slightly at the corners; there was water damage on many of the book covers. Looked pretty pathetic. I swallowed down a comment to that effect. No-one was talking, apart from the panting. Relena sank on to the couch with a tsking sound, which was probably her only concession to admitting pain. She had a weak ankle; this removal business wouldn’t have helped it. She fell once on a mission, when she’d hurtled down two full floors from an outside fire escape. But as I heard it, she struggled on to the end, carrying an operative out of the building with her, and only then admitting she’d snapped a bone in her ankle. Tough cookie. Relena made some small gesture with her hand and Cissy and Greg – Quatre’s assistant – backed off outside again, to stand near the foot of the steps. They pulled the door closed behind them, but not completely. I breathed a little more steadily – it had been getting a tad crowded indoors. Just the four of us left, now. Someone cleared a dry throat. Quatre spoke first – he never could stand awkward silences. “It’s not for long, Duo, hopefully. But there’s nowhere else we could find – no-one else we dared ask. You know that, don’t you?” I caught Relena’s eye out of the corner of my own, and shrugged. “Sure, I know that. After all, I’m not exactly Employee of the Month, am I?” Quatre scowled. “That’s not what I mean, and you know it. He’s in extreme danger – we all are. The Board wants to involve as few people as possible outside of the Department. You’re one of the very few that has the highest clearance.” I glanced across and caught the full force of his open emotion. “One of the few that we can trust, dammit!” I bit at my lip. “Tea, anyone? Beer?” I resisted telling them there was no beer. I gave it up a while back – I found all sorts of maudlin feelings crept in when I allowed it around me. No-one answered my question, but neither did it stir them into any other action. There were glances being thrown around that excluded me by their very existence. It reminded me of when I’d last been part of that clique. When I’d been a damned critical part. Quatre sighed. “There’s a hell of a lot to be done before any of us can rest again. Oh, and a tea – yes please. I’ll give you a hand with it. Then we can talk everything through together. That OK with you, Duo?” “Yeah,” I answered slowly, making sure my eyes stayed on him. “Sure it’s OK.” * Quatre made his way out to the kitchen area ahead of me, pushing aside the tacky bead curtain with barely a glance. I kind of liked it, though purple and black wouldn’t have been my first colour choice. I needed to get in there with him before he discovered just how few creature comforts I actually had. I reckoned I could remember where there were a few tea bags left in a cracked pot; perhaps a couple of washed mugs. It’s not like I’d wanted to entertain, I thought fiercely. Didn’t say it to the blond guy with the tortured eyes, though. “You haven’t called Trowa or me for a while,” he said. His voice was low, and it didn’t sound like he put his whole heart into the rebuke. Even so, I felt like a major asshole. “Not a lot of news to share,” I replied, easily enough. He raised a cynical eyebrow. “Just so we know you’re OK. Don’t need CNN for that.” I nodded; shrugged. “OK. I’m OK. But your comment’s fair enough, I guess.” I flipped on the kettle, knowing we had a couple of minutes before Relena got impatient for us to return, and the noise of the bubbling water would hide our voices. “So let’s have the truth here, Quatre. I’ve been out of it for almost three months now. What the hell’s going on? Far as I know, there’s been nothing much going on in the Department since Mission Dove concluded…” “Far as you know?” His eyebrow rose again. “Right,” I sighed. “OK, so I’m not on the Project Team circulation list nowadays. But I can find out what’s going on if I want – y’know?” Quatre’s eyes sparkled with the smallest grain of amusement. “Yes, I imagine you can. You always did find access to all kinds of places. But you’re right – we’ve been busy with nothing more than housekeeping tasks and general support to the Department. The Project Team hasn’t been called up for any new missions.” “So…” The kettle shrieked and rattled to a boiling halt. The condensation dripped with familiar glee down my wall cupboard. “So what’s this sudden crisis?” His eyes were clear, but it was obvious that it took him an effort to appear calm. “I guess it’s important to get you up to speed. We’ve all been unwinding after Dove; maybe we’ve been too complacent. But most of us were just looking forward to taking a break: we were all exhausted; still pretty tensed up from it. As you know…” He glanced at me, and I knew what he was referring to. Not now, Quatre, I thought. Leave it. Mission Dove had been the last major exercise I’d been involved in, before I … left the Department. It had been the greatest, too – not that the Department could take any specific credit, working as it did behind the scenes. ‘Anonymous’ was the name of the secret game we played as its agents. But we all knew that the most significant peace talks of the last forty years had been concluded without incident, and that our highly specialised Project Team had been a major contributor to that success. We’d protected the political delegates and cleaned the conference sites; we’d had communication systems that’d shame the flight deck of a jet, monitoring any potential hostility across a couple of continents. It had been a damned fine time – the best work we’d ever done. Though I say so myself. But like Quatre said, there’d been a lot of tension and weariness in the aftermath. And the opportunity to let it take hold. I knew that better than all of them here today. “Duo?“ He was staring at me. “Work with me on this, will you? You were with us on that mission – you’ve been with us all the way since the beginning of the Team. Look, I don’t know what happened when you left – I don’t know the who or the why of it. But it’s important to talk about that time and fully trust each other.“ “Sure.” My gaze met his, steady as before, and he turned back to the matter in hand. “Well, like I said, things were calm. Then just a month ago, the attacks started. No warning at all – no formal threat – no obvious connection with any other current political or military event. We were alerted of random sabotage at locations where the peace talks had been held, although the whole event had always been under top secret cover. Also attempted assassinations of members of its Joint Committee. The strikes have all been a little amateur – but dangerous, nonetheless. There have been no other reprisals – and at first we assumed the sole connection was with Mission Dove.“
I frowned. “How’d anyone know where to strike? And who? The whole damned thing – the whole Mission Dove – was the most complex piece of concealment and confidentiality I ever saw.” Quatre put a hand on a mug as if he were concentrating on making the tea. Both of us knew he wasn’t. He didn’t seem to be able to phrase a response to that. “You mean a leak from the Project Team?” I breathed. A traitor sounded way too melodramatic – but wasn’t that what Quatre was implying? After all, who else would have had access to all the information? He grimaced. He was rolling a teaspoon between his fingers – I reckoned he’d spooned six heaps of sugar into his mug already, and I hadn’t even poured the tea yet. “No-one knows enough about it yet to make any assessment. Trowa…” His voice faltered, but he went on, the words tumbling out more quickly. “Trowa was – is following the trail right now. He’s been monitoring every communication in or out of the Team since Mission Dove was concluded; he’s been checking recent logs and reissuing access protocols. If there’s ever been any breach of security, he’ll find it. But it takes time.” I saw the flicker of something disturbed in his eyes. “There must be another explanation, Duo. No-one wants to believe that. We’re such a small team – we all know each other so well.”
Or not, as the case may be, I thought. There was a nasty little chill, nagging at the base of my neck. I held his gaze and saw the tendrils of panic in his expression. “You said – ‘at first’ you thought it was to do with Dove. There’s been something more since then, hasn’t there?” “Yes, there has,” Quatre continued, rather miserably. “Over the last couple of weeks the attacks have been extended to Project operatives themselves. The Team members – and people who worked for us, who were under our protection.” “But who the hell would know –?” He looked into my face, fiercely. Like I was the one giving him this grief. “For God’s sake, Duo, do you think we’re not trying to find out? There’s been barely any time to investigate how the enemy could have gained such information, because we’ve been too busy trying to defend each and every one of our people! Relena had brought most of them out of cover to investigate the attacks on Dove locations and participants – we never thought we’d be vulnerable ourselves!” “Trowa…?” Quatre glared at me – he often found it difficult to keep things hidden from me. “He’s OK – I think. I mean, he’s not been attacked personally so far. But he’s been working 24-7 on the communication trail to and from the Department, and he’s out in the field now.” I frowned again, but more gently. Quatre wasn’t telling me everything. It was rare for Trowa Barton to work out of the Department himself. “So where is he?” “I don’t know,” said Quatre, and the note of desolation in his voice was shocking. “I … need to get back and try to track him down. He hasn’t called in for over eight hours. He left just before the attack last night on the Westbridge apartment block –“ “Heero’s apartment block,” I said, softly. “Yeah. Relena told me the basics on the ‘phone.” Quatre flinched, and suddenly I felt the wave of emotion from him as clearly as I might see a sudden jag in a sound wave pattern. “The whole damned building could have gone, Duo! It’s the most significant offensive so far.” The blue of his eyes darkened to pewter with his anger, and the spoon clattered noisily back on to the counter. “So now they’re both on the danger list – both on the run. Wufei’s in the hospital under armed guard, with injuries so severe they won’t let anyone but Relena in there at the moment. And Heero’s here…” “So…” I was shaken, despite my pathetic attempt at not caring. “Why me? I’ve not been a part of it since Dove. I don’t need protection or anything. You know that.” “Whatever Relena may have said on the phone to persuade you to do this, she meant it, Duo. About us needing you. You’re the only one in such a unique position; no media exposure, very little public record, and the skill and training to vanish if you want to – hell, you’ve proved it already. It took me four days and all the resources of the Project to track you here!” He saw my startled look – saw it deteriorating swiftly towards anger. “Yes, Trowa and I found your location a month or so back. I had my orders, Duo! When the attacks first started, Relena wanted every Team member located, including you. Just in case.” It wasn’t worth getting upset about – and I was kind of disappointed it hadn’t taken longer, though I didn’t say so. I had been tracked by the best, after all. “I respect your need to get away, Duo – but we need you now. You’re the only one who can understand what’s at stake – what’s required. We just don’t have anywhere that we’re sure is totally secure any more. This place – your place – has never been anywhere near the Department’s books; it just doesn’t exist as far as we’re concerned. You’re the only one at the moment with a genuinely safe house.” “Trailer,” I said, pedantically. He looked confused – then smiled slightly. “Sure.” His eyes ranged over the lemon-painted walls; the slightly bulging window frames. I don’t think he’d registered much of my unusual décor. “Trailer. It’s good, I’m sure.” He sighed, gently. “I know you and Heero have … issues…” I carefully bit back the growl in my throat. “You won’t talk about it, either of you – that’s your right, I guess. But I have to force this on you, regardless. Even Relena has been targeted in the last week or so –“ “Relena as well?” I asked, alarmed. “How serious?” He dismissed it with an impatient hand. “Not serious. She won’t tell you about it, I suspect, and she’s OK. You can see that yourself. But we’re suddenly all in danger, with no idea as to why, whether it’s an organised campaign or random acts of revenge of some kind. We have to consolidate what we know – support each other in the Team. Find the weakness; seek the threat. Deal with it.” “Important stuff,” I said, just for the sake of something to say. I poured the water onto the tea bags with exaggerated care. “The Board is involved to the highest level, right?” Quatre was pale. “This is the single most serious threat since we created the Project Team, Duo. But no-one must know – there’s to be no official recognition of the problem. We have to clean up our own mess – without knowing what it really is. And we need you back on the Team, don’t you understand? If this is a chance to bring you back on –“ He looked very earnest, and I bit back that overwhelming desire to offer him whatever he needed – he had that effect on people. I knew why Relena treasured him so much. “Why are you hiding out here, Duo? You should have stayed - it could all have been sorted out, I’m sure. I never wanted you off the Team, you know that, don’t you?” I nodded, but so slightly that he might not have seen. It hadn’t been Quatre’s choice, whatever the circumstances. I knew exactly who to blame for my spell of exile, self-imposed or not. “It’s a given. Pick up that spare mug, man. She needs some, too.” He picked up his and Relena’s mug. Looked at the matching flower garden scene on mine. Just the three mugs. “What about Heero?” “Didn’t ask for anything,” I said, sharply. Why did my words sound like nails over a blackboard? “You’ll want to talk to him about all this, of course –“ “I won’t,” I said. My reply snapped the bolts down tightly on Quatre’s tentative suggestion. His eyes blinked, rather too quickly. “It’s not much to ask, Duo. You’ve always been a tolerant person –“ “That’s where you’re wrong,” I said. “That’s where your Team speech fails, Quatre. Because, just now and then, I’m fucking not. I’m doing this for reasons that stick in my throat, although I’ll stand by my word. But I don’t have to be tolerant at all. And don’t you forget it.” I ignored the splash of brown liquid on the counter and the burning handle against my thumb. I pushed through the bead curtain, and emerged back into the bubble of tension that was crowding my meagre main room. Which was now uncomfortably full of people I’d thought I’d left behind me. * It was like one of those Mexican stand-offs. I was balanced against the wall by the archway into the kitchen, paying about as much attention to my tea as I did to the Alaskan weather reports. The fourth inhabitant of the trailer – Heero – stood beside the couch, alongside the boxes he’d delivered to my home in a strange, bitter little parody of protection. His hands hung at his sides; he didn’t meet my gaze. He looked like he was frowning but I was pretty sure that was just the way his face had settled; meanwhile, his mind would be busy on other things. Quatre sat beside Relena on the couch – it only took two slim bodies, at the best of times – and stared at the two of us in despair. “We weren’t followed here – we’re pretty sure no-one knows about this place except for us. But you must inform us at once of any strangers on the site.” I snorted. I saw most people as they came and went, but only 20% of the population stayed on the park more than three days in a row. That was the nature of this place, didn’t he know? He continued, regardless. “Heero will have communication with us – I’ll leave you with a cell phone for that exclusive use, and the Team members know the number. But he mustn’t have any other external interaction. He mustn’t be seen; mustn’t leave here until we give clearance.” “You want me to sit through basic training again?” My voice was deceptively smooth; but Quatre winced at the low tone. “No, of course not. Don’t be so damned sensitive. I know you know your job. Just wanted to stress some things.” He wriggled on the couch, glancing over at the unnaturally still man standing beside him. So did I. Tall; a little slimmer than I remembered; dark hair looking pretty unkempt. The shadow of a cut under his chin. My gut shuddered a little. I didn’t think it was because I’d missed a couple of meals this week. Quatre glanced back and caught sight of my scowl. He grimaced. “Cut me some slack here, Duo! We’re very disturbed by it all. We need to work together – to support each other.” His voice was just the right side of pleading; just the right side of appealing to my better nature. He negotiated well, but he’d met his match in me. My better nature was snoozing in a corner wrapped in a blanket, hibernating for the season. I think he could see that in my eyes. “Look, we’re not thinking as clearly as we should, perhaps. You’ll need to discuss your own arrangements with Heero – work out your own timetable. And you’ll need 24-7 contact between the pair of you, of course, to monitor this –“ That’s when Heero’s head jerked up, when his eyes met mine at last. The frown was in the depths of his eyes, too. I felt a dryness in my mouth that was pretty unpleasant. “24-7 contact,” I echoed, wryly. “I rather think that’s the last thing I need. And though I’m the one you might expect to be kind of paranoid, I’m guessing that your colleague feels much the same way.” Quatre stood, rather abruptly. He looked from me to Heero, and then back at me. His eyes narrowed – guess he recognised the daggers drawn in two sets of dark pupils. I think I saw Relena’s hand stretch out slightly, as if to hold him back. I did notice that he hadn’t drunk a whole lot of his tea. His next words were spat out in that rare, but very powerful way that demonstrates just how awesome Quatre Winner’s anger can be. “OK, so maybe I wanted this to work just a little too much. But what the hell made me think that it would?” I turned my head very slightly, losing eye contact with all of them. I suppose I was trying to tune him out – I suppose I’ve always tended towards that cowardice. Always wanted to believe that my way is the only way – and the best. But I was in no mood today for Quatre, the Project Team’s mediator and Logistics professional – the man who ‘gets things done’. Couldn’t he see that? But he didn’t let up. “Dammit, Relena, look at them! Glaring like gladiators at each other. They’ll kill each other before any enemy has the time to track them down!” And then Relena herself pitched in. The slender, dark blonde woman who was currently sat on my couch and sipping at a tea that must have been more bitter than my shrivelled emotions. A woman with the fittest body I’d seen in a long time – and a sharp skill in all arts martial that no-one ever credited, until perhaps they were on the receiving end. The keenest brain that had ever thrashed me at chess and given me orders that I’d been eager to follow. The woman I’d listened to – been directed by – for a very long and very interesting time. The woman I’d been surprised to see here today, in person! Guess that’s what made me realise the whole damn farce was real. Her voice was sharper – and it was aimed towards me. Kid gloves off, OK? “Duo Maxwell, I don’t want to have to pull rank, but I will if I have to! This is for the good of the Team – not individuals, OK? This directive is by order of the Board, and if you want any chance of ever working in the field again – in any capacity! – you’ll do your damnedest to cooperate and keep Heero safe! Do you understand?” There was a sudden, awkward pause. You could’ve heard the last drop of condensation drip down in the kitchen on to the linoleum. “OK,” I said, slowly. “No problem. I understand all too well. I’m not aware that you – of all people – ever had any problems with plain speaking.” The insouciance was a ploy of mine, to play for time; to retain my dignity. We both knew that. I was actually quite shaken by her vehemence. Relena’s management of us had always been calm and reasonably voiced. “But you are asking me to put my home on the line, right? To come out of my quiet, anonymous little world – to offer it back up to your organisation, with all its devious little deceptions and its awesome dangers. You forget, perhaps, that I also know that rather too well.” “You’re still officially an employee of the Department,” she snapped. “And still on suspension, right?” I fired back. “Still on much reduced pay and benefits, right?” Her eyes narrowed; her cheeks flushed. “It was your choice, Maxwell. We could’ve discussed the financial implications. But as far as I remember, you told me to shove the benefits up my ass and twist them hard. Next I knew, your address was ‘gone away’. And yes, you’re still on suspension, though that’s open to final review in a couple of weeks time.” She caught my angry gaze and held it fearlessly. There was the hint of compassion in her eyes, too. “If you’d given me a chance, I would have told you to stay and see it out, Duo. You just weren’t listening to me at the time. I know it was tough back then – but that’s what you have to be, too. We can look at this is a partial return to active duty, if that’s what you want, and we’ll review the salary issue. If you can work with us here –“ “You ain’t the one I’m sharing my personal space with, here,” I grunted. Then Quatre was close again, hand at my arm. It was sort of a shock, being touched like that. He probably thought I’d missed it: the friendship; the banter. The Team. I was in no mood to debate that either way. “Duo, it’s obvious this is difficult for you. But there is no other way! Wufei’s out of circulation in the hospital, and we can’t trust any other Departmental locations at the moment. Trowa is isolated, out in the field with no support, and we must get to him to make sure he’s safe. Relena has the Board baying for blood, and a bunch of junior agents with a very justifiable fear of stepping outside their front doors. We must protect the ones we have left! The Project Team’s work must be maintained.” I could feel the urgency in his voice; hell, I once felt it as strongly as he did. “Duo, he has nothing left – nowhere to go! Heero needs you, Duo.” He’s gonna love that summary of his situation – of his life, I thought, a little hysterically. The warm pressure from Quatre’s hand was very unnerving. He’ll love it like failure, death and a wet bed all rolled into one. You hear that, Heero? Apparently you have nothing left! Except this… Except me. And so I turned back to face my new houseguest. Heero Yuy. Man with the boxes; man with the need for my home. Heero Yuy. Man I’d crossed state to avoid; man I felt nothing for except contempt; man I once said I didn’t want to see again until hell proverbially froze over. Let alone offer a mug of tea to. Heero… |
