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"Free Falling"Written By: Kaeru Shisho Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Gundam Wing
or its characters, nor do I make any monetary profit off this story. Rating: NC 17 Warnings: AU, rated for language, yaoi pairings Pairings: 2x1, 3x4 Summary: Duo searches for the key to happiness and love while free falling through life A/N: I couldn't have done this without Waterlily's
invaluable editing "Free Falling" Chapter Two "Duo, you are one strange guy." "Ah, I'll take that as a compliment, coming from the ice cube holding onto his place in the tray against all odds." I winked at 'Ro's souring expression. "Trowa's line," I explained. "He'd been looking at a photo shot of all of us at that last shindig of Relena's, remember that?" Heero winced. "Yes." Who could forget? "Quat and I were all smiles-- me for no fucking good reason, I might add—and the rest of you could frost over a Gundam engine in full throttle." "I'm not cold. I never was." "Maybe not, but I'm just saying, that's how you looked, how you all seemed in the picture. You and I haven't spent much time together since then, you know." "I thought you'd join Preventers, too." "I wasn't invited." His eyebrows shot up. "Impossible." "Is possible. It's true. No one ever asked me-- really." There. I said it to him, finally. I was the one no one wanted. Duo 'Reject' Maxwell. Now, Heero, it's your turn to get out of this timeshare thing while you can. I pressed the automatic garage door opener, wheeled the sports car into its allotted space, and turned off the engine. An overhanging, bare light bulb was all the illumination we had. I looked over to see that Heero was watching me like a sniper his mark. "What?" He faced me partway then moved closer, resting one arm on the back of his seat and the other across the steering wheel. "I would really like to kiss you, Duo, but I feel that I must warn you first." Kiss me? Kiss. Me. K. I. S. S. That caught me so totally off guard I'm sure my mouth was hanging open before I ventured a cautionary, "Warn me about what?" "About me," he lowered his voice to a husky rumble and inched closer. "Once I start, I might not be able to stop." What an inane come-on! I was insulted. What was with the cryptic conversation? What was with the weird seductive tone? "Start what? You think I'm gonna buy a line like that? What makes you think I want to have you within an inch of my person, huh? I already got a ... ah..." I was unable to articulate 'girlfriend,' because I didn't think Hilde was actually that to me. I didn't know, because it didn't feel like it. We had no promises either. "Because you don't want me to melt before we've had a chance." "Melt?" "Like ice." "Oh, Lord, are you back with that ice cube metaphor?" "Are you still fighting for the upper hand?" he snapped back. Heero was so close that I could feel his body's warmth multiplied by my own and that of the artificially set temperature of the car. I was excited, sated, jet-lagged, and confused. I was sure he was playing me for easy or a fool, and it made me a mite testy, which was my excuse for saying what I did next. "Yes, I mean... no. I'm always on top." "That's all I wanted to know." He leaned the final few inches into me, licked the tip of my nose, and smiled. Before I could yip and wag my tail, he backed off to grab the two doggy-bags of leftovers. "I'm flexible," he added and opened his side door. The blood rushed to my face. What had he said? "What did you just say?" No reply; I just heard his chuckle. "And that wasn't what I meant, whatever you're thinking. Hey, come back here! I just wanna clarify what was going on just now!" But Heero was already out of the car, amused, apparently, at my confusion, and heading for the apartment. He had no right to say that stuff, not if he hadn't meant it, which he couldn't have. He didn't know me, unless... Kill the Quat! I had to run to catch up, then turn around and go back to retrieve my stuff from the car, then scurry some more. Along the way, I sloughed off most of my 'mad' and let 'confusion' just make itself at home in my head. Then weariness slammed into me straight on. "Just leave the keys in the dish on the counter," Heero said the minute I walked into 'our' apartment. "'Kay." "I suppose you should shower first?" I looked as dumb as I was. "So your hair dries?" he added, "That is, if you're washing it. It's long. I imagine it takes a while to dry." "Oh, yeah. Thanks." So, he had a hair fetish, perhaps? "Towels in the cabinet." "Yeah." I hurried to unpack my pack, located the few items of interest, and ducked into the bathroom, relieved to be alone. I don't know what I would have done had he suggested, or worse, insisted that we share the shower. Probably have done it. I was unable to think for myself at the time. And Heero looked hotter'n hell. And, Jesus, I wanted a chance at his sweet ass. I was ten minutes into my shower, when the bathroom door opened. I could make out Heero's form through the foggy glass. What the fuck? Thank God for steam, because the dude just relieved himself at the toilet without a care in the world for privacy, his or mine, and not more than two feet away from me. There wasn't much to see but it was the idea. Okay, we'd been in prisons and tight spots where privacy wasn't possible, but this was not any of those conditions. I was sporting an erection in seconds. He didn't say a word. He did his thing and left, closing the door behind him like I didn't exist. I finished washing my hair and while I let the spray rinse out the shampoo I jerked off. I kept thinking that, shitola, this was going to be tough, awkward, and crazy hot. I dressed in a pair of running shorts, brushed my teeth, and left the door open, fan on, to air out the bath, and paused to see if there was anything I'd forgotten to do. Ah, yes, I could hear Hilde hollering at me to clean out the wad of hair I always left in the trap. I removed the clump, tossed it in the trash, and carried my brush along. I could do my hair anywhere. "Done?" "Yeah, I left you some hot water, too." With Hilde, I learned to take a fast shower and leave the place clean. I had promise, as she put it, "a potentially, moldable, model boyfriend." I removed the towel from my face and hair and there was Heero in all his naked glory. OhmyGodheis soooo tonedandhot! "Thanks." Okay. Heero Yuy cut, abs-delicious, and standing a foot away with those smoldering eyes melting through my reserves looked better than I imagined. Like Quatre, like me, Heero Yuy had grown up. I'd given him a once over, for sure, but a lickety-split one and now my eyes were on his. Safer that way. He was spectacular and I felt infinitely inferior. I had just had my shower and still I felt all pale and grubby in the golden glow of his skin. Who wouldn't? Then he stepped into the bathroom and closed the door, halfway, but enough to shut off the view. Free Falling. Wow. Talk about weightless! I was floating. It was so totally unreal a situation I had to chalk it up to drugs. My food musta've been drugged. That was all there was to it. One sizzling hot car, one steamy hot Heero. And he wasn't the least bit body shy, apparently. And he had said "kiss." One hot-bed-of-coals scorching hot bed coming up. I cast about for what to do next; my hair, of course, but what after that? I was stuffed, so eating was out. Read? Sleep? Crapalousa, how was I gonna sleep in the same bed as Heero the Hunk? How? I just managed to tie off the end of my braid by the time Heero emerged from the bathroom. He was wearing boxers and towel drying his hair. When he spotted me in the living room, he came to join me. "You cut your hair." "So did you," I told him. He ran his fingers through the unruly dark hair, which wasn't more than an inch shorter than I'd remembered. "Not as much as you did. What made you do it?" "It got caught in a piece of machinery. Only the last couple inches or so." "It's hardly noticeable," he said. "But you noticed." He nodded, followed by a long, pregnant pause. Real uncomfortable at first and more as it hung there. "Duo, I ah... How do you want to work this?" "You don't know already? You seem to be expecting things to just fall into some master plan, Heero. From the moment I arrived, too! I was wondering what Quatre said to you about me. Really wondering." He fell into a chair. I did a dainty balancing act on the arm of the couch. And waited. "He called to say you needed a place to live when you were working in the area. This condo building is Winner Corporation property, which is how he knew where to reach me." "Uh, huh. I thought before you said he called via Commander Une." I don't miss a thing, when I'm listening. "He tried both, actually. Une's office eventually patched the call through, after verifying the caller." "What else? He tell you I live alone? 'Cause I do. I don't share." "He said you had an apartment. And that you were gay." "Gay? He told you that?! Well, I'm not. I'm not anything or maybe both or whatever. Fuck! That was pretty personal information to be giving out." Now I suspected Quatre told him more. I let my imagination torture Quatre within an inch of his life and hoped his precious, little "space heart" felt it-- the meddler. Mean old me. "I asked. It was important to me to know. I'm gay." My wide eyes expressed more than I wanted them to. I may have messed around with Quatre and dug on Heero's body, but gay? Heero was gay? "I told you how I wanted to kiss you. I thought—" That's right. He did say he wanted to kiss me, but gay? Okay. I let that soak in a moment. Quatre should have told me all this. He sighed. "Winner didn't tell you." "No, Heero. Quat didn't tell me squat. I had no idea who was behind door number one until you opened it. I imagined Wufei's snarling mug for a second, seeing it was L5 and... Oh, well, I guess Quatre did tell me I knew the person renting me the room, but that was it." "Ah." Heero looked as unhappy as I did, I expect. "He should have." I felt better knowing Heero and I were on the same wavelength about Quatre. "Quatre should have told me I'd be renting from Heero Yuy with a single room and, yeah, he should have clued me in so I wouldn't be... whatever. That asshole has always liked to fuck with my head with crap outta the blue." "You're friends then?" "Well, I don't know about now," I flicked him a lopsided grin to show I harbored a few hard feelings but they didn't run that deep, "But, yeah. We were especially close for a while, until he got up the nerve to seduce Trowa." "But you're not gay?" "I'm not denying that I'm into guys. I'm just saying I'm not just that and he had no right to tell you about me and not tell me about you. That's sorta it." "I agree." Heero gave me a tiny smile. "So he and Trowa? Did it work?" "Money, charm, sunny personality—Trowa didn't have a chance." We both laughed a little too hard, but it relieved some of the tension. "So you and Winner were--? And then ... Barton?" I was glad he didn't try and fill in the blanks with words whose meanings I wasn't ready to define. He also granted me some dignity by leaving out words like "dumped" and "traded-up". "Well, more like he got me to get my head together, gave me a great job, and found me a place to live, and showed me a good time... in the course of moving on to circus-boy." For some reason I left Hilde out of it. Maybe I was a nice guy, no kiss and tell. And maybe I was not ready to share everything. Definitely not ready to tell him about my other life on L4. Definitely. Hilde and that relationship was like in another universe that had no part in this one. I was sure both Hilde and Heero would understand, pretty sure. "And no...roommate?" "Nope." At which point I decided I should mention Hilde some. I wasn't a monk or a recluse. "He got Hilde a job working on L4 too. Remember her?" "Yes." "So we're friends and all, but I got my own place and, of course Quat had servants all over the place, um, and I was his guest when he and I, er... Temporary visit. So, ah, I don't share." He started running his fingers through that mop of his. No wonder it was a mess. "Well, that's good." It is? "I guess. So?" "So, do you mind sharing with me?" he asked. Shoot me. "Not if you don't mind sharing with me." I felt bold now that he seemed unsure for the first time. He stood and held out his hand. I didn't need help getting off the couch, but the hand meant something more, and we both knew it; at least, I knew it and felt he knew it. Taking it meant I was allowing for sex between us; leave it, and platonic it was. Sex with Heero the Hunk or drive myself fucking insane thinking about it every second of our on again off again time together? An eye blink later, I grabbed that incredibly strong hand firmly and let him yank me to my feet, which brought me up to within six inches of his face-- four, but I was two inches taller than him. Those two inches felt real good, and I thanked the Gods that put my mom and dad together that one of them passed me some height genes. Heero had other terrific genes; he didn't need to be tall, too. "You grew," he noted. "Yeah." He drew a single finger down my chest from my collarbone to just above my navel. "Chest hair." "Yeah, you don't think a guy who could grow a head of hair this thick and long couldn't grow it everyplace else on his body. Heh, heh... by the time I'm 50 I'll probably have it growing everywhere and look like a monkey." "No, I don't think so. It's new. Nice." Heero rubbed his hard six-pack with the palm of his hand. He was hairless like a man in an underwear ad, and fabulously muscled. I wasn't bad, but he was, well, perfect. "You look great, man. Work out much?" He smiled and nodded. "I'll introduce you to my gym, if you'd like." "Okay, yeah." Although, I'd rather keep my workouts one-on-one with you. We kept the jaunt to the bedroom simple and quick. He clicked off the light, washing us in the soft glow of the distant bathroom nightlight, and cocked his head to the side. "Shall we?" I could have answered that a million ways, well two, er, I stuck with the one. "Okay." "So you obviously live alone, right?" I asked. He climbed over the mattress to the far side against the wall. "Other than you? Yes. There was someone else. It didn't work out." Someone else! Heero Yuy had been sharing a bed with someone else? "Who?" I blurted out with the sensitivity of a meat axe. I had one knee on the bed, questioning my next move. "Another agent. It didn't last because he tried to kill me. It turned out that he was a White Fang survivor." Oh, shit. "Geez, you'd think Une would do psyche tests on those nutcases before hiring them." "Some unbalanced ones get through, because they don't know what they have concealed deep inside; she accepted me, for instance." He turned to show me his back. "The scars he gave me are still sensitive." I hadn't noticed them before hidden in the glory of his beauty. "Stuff can get buried pretty deep, for sure, yeah." I sank onto the mattress and pulled the covers over us. We lay like that stiff, arms on top by our sides. Yep, we lay side by side for a while, and then he turned and faced the wall. Unaccustomed to denying myself pleasure, I snuggled closer to the source of all possible pleasures. If he'd shared a bed with another man, then he was accustomed to movement and noise and probably wouldn't do something rash if I moved. Of course, he didn't tell me what happened between them or how it all that ended for his, er, companion. I couldn't get past that a fellow agent had tried to kill him, Heero Yuy. Fuck. Did I even want to know the details? He didn't move away, so I became more adventurous. My hand slid beneath the thin cotton sheet, and his head rolled to the side facing me as he rolled onto his back. I locked my eyes on his. Trance-like it seemed. I met with no resistance so I touched him. There was a minute hitch in his breathing, but that was all. I continued gliding my fingers lightly across his stomach, making broad circles, and diving deeper with each motion. His eyes remained open, soft, and relaxed. I detected a deepening of his breathing through the long contractions in his stomach. My breathing matched his, keeping pace. I drifted off to some dreamy place I rarely visited and had never lingered, someplace peaceful my mind had conjured up for just this moment. My hand refused further directions and guided itself, unwilling to give up the object of its fascination. Hadn't he said in the car that he wanted to kiss me? Well, I was game and he was gay, so, why not investigate the possibilities, right? When one low sweep finally contacted my ultimate boxer-covered target for the first time, I felt him breathe in deeply. Suddenly, his eyes flashed blue and wide before narrowing, almost closing as the full force of what he'd felt me do raced through his body. The shock to his senses traveled through my hand and raced across my own body as well, ignoring any physical boundaries or limitations. Just as my hand probed further than before, his eyes widened again. I couldn't see well enough to be sure, but I thought I saw was a glimmer of fear mixed in with his passion. I stopped my hand mid-stroke. What stupid thing had I gone and done? His hand covered mine then clenched. Not a bone crushing grip, but close. "Let's not start something now. We have to get up in five hours." His hand released mine and slid up my wrist, grasping it easily, and pulled it back to a safer place on his stomach. Right. Good idea. "Okay. Um, just making sure you wouldn't kill me in my sleep if I accidentally... you know... bumped you. I'm not used to sharing a bed... to sleep and all." "Pretend it's the war. We did then with no problems." Yes, we did, asshole, but I wasn't in lust with you back then. "Okay. 'Nite." "Good night, Duo." I must have dozed off, because I do remember waking up like a blast from hell. Suggesting I pretend it was the war ignited my nightmares for the first time in months. My imagination took over, mixing with terrible memories and spreading the result through my sleep like a fire out of control. It overtook me before I even had a chance to move out of its way. I sat up panting, gasping for air in shorter and shorter breaths. Panic raged upon me. The drum beating in my head sounded one last resounding time, and then stopped. My mind parted from my body. My heart burned up and contracted into a knot of charcoal when my brain cut off any reassurance, and absolute mortification filled the void vacated by my abused heart. What was happening to me?! In a full state of alarm, I jumped out of bed and dashed across the room. Where fuck was I? I heaved for air in gasps, unable to suck in enough to stand. I'd reached the point of full combustion. The walls of the bedroom loomed and then the ceiling came crashing down on top of me. "Aaaaaaaah!" Heero must have watched this unfold. He certainly couldn't have missed the screaming and tearing around his room part. I heard him shout, "Duo, come back." I don't know how he did it, but suddenly there he was standing in front of me. "Duo?" His voice was soft and gentle with no trace of anger. He was there to pull me back from the flames. "Breathe, damn it!" I sucked in a lungful of air on command. He held me steady. We breathed together. He chanted his mantra over and over until my panic subsided. "One, two, three, four—now hold it and... let it out slowly through your lips, two, three, four..." My mouth went on automatic, seeing as my brain hadn't taken charge of it yet, so I didn't know what was coming out. "Ah shit." Gasp. "I don't know..." gasp, "... what happened." Gasp gasp. "This never happened before." "You are shaking." His embrace tightened, but not so much to prevent me from sucking in air. I got breathing running on automatic again and assessed the situation, coming up with: Duo goes mad. "God, I'm not really messed up. Really. I'm cool and fun." I heard Heero's deep sigh of disbelief. I stole a look hoping, I guess, to find some small glimmer of understanding in his face. His face was blank with the tiny suggestion of a frown, his usual. No reason to panic again, but I could have used a warm and agreeable expression. I couldn't bear the look in his eyes so I averted mine to the floor. His hand cupped my chin immobilizing me or I would have turned to the door and not stopped walking. Then I remembered the dream that caused all the uproar, something that I had crammed down hard in my mind years ago: Heero and I had been clinched together with a firefight blazing around us. Holding onto one another, we'd been attempting to shield ourselves from fragments of red-hot metal flying overhead. I had been terrified then, near to complete panic and breaking down, but Heero had stood by me, probably just as scared, but so rock-solid. We'd held on until it was over. When the barrage had ended and we'd discovered we were all right, still clinging tightly, clasped as if in a lover's embrace, there followed an awkward moment. That had been embarrassing at the time and I had forgotten it all. Until now. Talk about buried secrets. "Hey," he said. His smile cut through the pained look and he shook his head in some denial of the questions in my mind. "Where are you?" "B-back from h-hell," I mumbled. "Flashback." "I get them, too, sometimes." I still couldn't meet his eyes. I still couldn't stop my trembling. I scarcely could get air past the congestion in my throat, but, regardless of my body's disabilities, the nonsense in my head tumbled out my mouth. "Christ, I don't know what I was thinking," I started up. "You'd never be interested in me like that, I know. You never were. I don't know what made me think you might. Well, I do, but, man...I'm really sorry. And getting war flashbacks. How pathetic is that? I mean, just look at me!" I was shaking in his arms. "You want me to look at you?" He paused to make sure I was listening, I guess. He had all my attention. "Okay, I'll look at you." He freed me to move back a step, and when I looked his eyes held mine and would not let me go. His hands slid over my arms, refueling me with energy that had escaped my body earlier, and the warmth of his smile reassured me. I nearly jumped out of my skin when his contact turned sexual. A hand moved up the front of my stomach, brushing my tight nipples and sending shuddering waves back down my body. He rested his hands on top of my shoulders to keep me still a moment, then, just as I was molding to his body, one hand went astray and made a free-fall back down the middle of my chest and stomach, slowing to a crawl before diving well below and to my arousal. He touched me just for an instant. My lips fell open. "Oh!" Then he swept the hand back to my waist. He leaned forward with a sly smile and whispered, "Now we're even." "W-wa-at, huh?" The rest of my brilliant wit was lost to mankind when he crushed his mouth over mine. Our tongues high-fived in my mouth before he released my lips and leaned back to catch his breath. I'd given up on regular breathing around him. Air was over-rated. We stood in a trance for a moment. Our bare bellies warmed each other and our mutual arousals made contract through cloth. I didn't know where we were going next, but I was raring to explore, do a little sightseeing, and even enter in on some in-depth work. "You know you really are fun, like you say," he said. I answered with a snort. I hadn't even gotten started. "You know what I want now?" he asked. I sure had clues, signals galore from him, but I wasn't a mind reader. Sadly, I hadn't the guts to pitch a firm proposal of my own either. I couldn't resist him, though. "Anything you want, 'Ro." "Idiot," he muttered though a chuckle. He took my hand and led us back to his bed—the bed. He sat down and I stood there confused about what his expectations were. Was I to give him a blow job or was he going to do me or were we setting up for long examination period and some mutual stimulation? I was absolutely not making any awkward assumptions, so I let him do the honors and drag me closer. From this angle, and in the low light coming in the door from the bathroom, I had a good view of his back injuries. Raw and rather recent. "Get in behind me." Now I figured out what he wanted. It was a much simpler and more innocent request than I'd been thinking, obviously. I slithered in under the covers, his back against my stomach and chest, moving carefully and making sure not to rub up against any sore spots. I tucked an arm underneath his pillow and tucked my legs against his, nestling my face and lips into the warm spot on the back of his neck. I inhaled pure Yuy scent and felt giddy with relief. If Heero Yuy simply wanted me to hold him, then I would try to be that man for him. I didn't think I was incapable of living up to his standards. His wounds, harsh and brutal expressions of anger and loathing, might be soothed and healed by gentleness, tenderness, and affection. I didn't think it was, or thought to call it, "love" at the time, but that didn't make it anything less. (o) I awoke in the morning to the sound of activity-- not mine. The fact that I'd slept the night through was tribute to the company I was keeping, I'm sure. Well, that and the emotional wringer I went through between dinner and unconsciousness. Wartime flashbacks sucked royal. I knew exactly where I was, which was a step up from my middle-of-the-night shockeroo awakening. I was in Heero's bed. I didn't know where he was, but I could hear him and the apartment was small so he couldn't have gotten far. I dumped the contents of my suitcase on the bed, sorted for jeans and a t-shirt and clean underwear, and got dressed. I had a locker at the work site with coveralls and space wear. Hopefully, my boots and jacket were someplace. "Hey," was my universal greeting. This time it had to stand for, "Hi hot stuff making me breakfast in your underwear and looking good enough to eat," because I was not a good enough actor to say that aloud and look like I wasn't about to jump him. I wasn't sure what was okay to do. Honestly, I was perplexed as to what was kosher the morning after a "date sort of panic attack sleeping with Heero kinda" evening. "Hey," had to say it all. "Morning. Here, you butter the toast while I get dressed. Coffee's over there. You'll find the mugs, eventually." He flipped me a crooked smile and stalked off, knowing I'd follow him out with my eyes. Sigh. I found plates, butter, knives, and mugs. I found it all and divided the food onto two plates and waited for the coffee to complete its cycle. I had it all set out on the table and waiting by the time he reentered in his Preventers uniform. And then he leaned over and kissed me with minty breath. "I knew you could do it," he said as he pulled away and took a chair. "I-It?" My mind was stumbling over the kiss looking for a subject and a verb beyond the basic "fuck me". "Find everything." "Oh, yeah. You're organized so it's easy and you don't collect crap that gets in the way." Except me, apparently. "There's pasta, sauce, and salad makings. Whoever gets home first makes dinner, okay?" "Sounds good. Ah, cool." Heero flipped open his handheld computer notepad, and I couldn't help thinking that, wow, shit, and crapola, this guy was organized. "We need supplies," he said. "What do you like to eat?" "Food. There ain't nothing I don't eat that I know of." "That makes it easy, but you used to like pizza, as I remember. Any other favorites?" "Ah, beer?" "Food, Duo. For now." He typed furiously for a moment then without looking up said, "I'll do the shopping for food and you can purchase miscellaneous items." He continued typing lists and lists and lists, one of which he sent to the printer. I know because he sent me to go retrieve it; it was my list of items to buy. "You gonna trust me with TP? Toothpaste? Oh, I see you have the brands here. Okay. No problemo. I'll pick the stuff up on the way home tonight." He was staring at me. Waiting. "What?" Jesus, what had I said or done this time? "Do you cook?" "Some. I can do pasta and salad. Nothing gourmet, heh, heh..." "I'll try to be home earlier and cook, then." He jotted a few more notes. "I'll get some 'add water' meals and frozen entrées for when I don't have time." "You're assuming I can heat water and read directions?" "I—" He detected my sarcasm and snapped shut his mouth. He smiled and said, "Idiot." He looked at the dishes and I took the cue like a pro. I hopped over to the sink and began scrubbing the dishes. "He who cooks, eats. He who cleans—," I began. Heero wrapped his arms around my middle and ground himself into my back. "He who cleans makes the cook very, very happy." Finally! I usually had a knack for eventually saying the right thing, and I hoped I'd hone that talent to suit Heero. I wanted my efforts to translate into becoming a good roommate so things would get more comfortable between us and I could stay. "What time do you have to show up at work?" I asked. "I should leave now, but there's no absolute time. You?" "Same here. The sooner the better. If I got a crew working with me, that makes me fit to a schedule. Here on L5, I work alone mostly." "No back- up for the space work?" His brows knitted together to form a firm warning. "When I can, which isn't often." I fumbled for the keys to the car. "I know. It's dangerous. I get back-up when I'm floating out in space on a tether line, but mostly I'm in a craft collecting trash with a robotic arm. I ain't a big risk taker any more, except coming here, heh, heh... Yeah. So, do you have an extra set of keys to the apartment?" "Oh! I'll take care of that. You'll need a pass card. It works for the laundry room, garage entry, mail room. I forgot." At least he could admit his flaws. He also left off on the 'safety first' lessons. "Thanks, bud." "Bud?" Heero shook his head. "Let's go." "Damn it feels good to be behind the wheel of this car," I told Heero. "That's why I bought it." "So I could feel good?" I laughed when he rolled his eyes. I had not lost my touch entirely then. "Turn left at the light, then right at the next street and go into the second driveway to the back." "Sure thing. Pretty barren here still." There was little traffic and fewer streets that went anywhere. Store fronts were largely empty and real estate was available everywhere. "I don't see drunks in the alleys or pan handlers." "So far we've been able to keep the syndicates off L5 entirely. Everyone works at something. If you can't maintain a job, you get shuttled to the rock of your choice." "Tough love, huh?" "Something like that." "But it didn't keep out the psycho who cut you." "Wasn't here." I pulled into the Preventers driveway and waited him out. If he didn't want to talk about the assault, I wouldn't push him. After a count of ten he heaved one of those giant "might as well get this over with now" sighs. "It happened back in Sanc. We were messing around and he wanted to tie me up. I wasn't pleased, but since it posed no threat to me, I relented. He came at me with knives, attacked, and I retaliated by breaking his neck." Heero demonstrated his move in the air. I winced. "That must have been hard for you, ah, explaining the circumstances to your boss." "God, it was awful. I called Commander Zechs—he's Une's second in command... he's stationed on earth-- to report the...problem. Agent Po was first on the scene. I had pants on by then, but... not the other guy, so it was obvious what had been going on. I'd kept my homosexuality a secret up until that." "Still is," I told him. "At least, it was news to me." Heero's faltering recitation told me more about his distress than his words. I couldn't imagine having to face Zechs, once his arch enemy and now his superior officer, after all that. It must have been utter humiliation for a sensitive guy like Heero. "Being gay was enough of a shock to the department. No one knew how to act around me or how to treat me. Most of the worst was hushed up, thanks to help from Winner. It was part of the negotiations... my leaving Sanc." "I'm sorry, 'Ro. I didn't know." "You had your own problems to deal with. Everyone did. Preventers dealt with it all quietly. I was absolved of any wrong doing, but Zechs and Une agreed it best to keep a Preventers agent gay/bondage sex scandal out the limelight. I was to keep a low profile, while the courts continued to settle damages. I still have a few months." "So that's why you're on L5; that's pretty much out of the mainstream. But I don't get why there's still a trial going on. You were the victim." "This time." He looked away over my shoulder, thinking. "I was a Gundam pilot, a terrorist, a killer. I might pose a threat if I lost control some other time." "You, me, and the rest of us. But nothing's ever happened before that incident, and besides, it was self-defense." He shrugged. "The other agent's family is trying to get insurance money so they have their own case. That's all that's pending." He pointed out where I could pull up while he got out. "Wufei was kind enough to exchange jobs with me. It was short notice." "It works for me," I said. "Well, see you later," he said. I waved to match his brusque gesture. "I'll be home first to let you in," he said over his shoulder. Oh yeah, no keys. Well, I had his car. Zooom!
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