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"Bounty Hunters: The Case of the Stolen Yacht"Written By: Yanagi Disclaimer: I do not own or hold any rights to
[Gundam Wing]. Those rights belong to [Bandai, Sunrise, and the Sotsu
Agency]. These fan fictions were written for fun, not profit. However,
this story does belong to me. Please don’t snitch it. Warnings: the usual Beta: rogue53 Pairings: 1x2 Authors notes: The next in the Bounty Hunters
series and my NaNo for 2009. "Bounty Hunters: The Case of the Stolen Yacht" CHhapter 2 By the time dinner rolled around, Duo was more than ready for it. He had eaten his chips, then the cookies, now he was ready for real food, again. The steward maneuvered his cart with expertise, keeping it between the seats and on the floor. A glide system instead of wheels, helped with this, but not nearly enough. A big man decided that he had to get up and stretch his legs, despite the hourly warnings to remain in their seats. He bumped the cart hard which sent the cart into the air in one direction and him in another. The steward tried to cope with all this but his priority had to be the cart. It was filled with hot food, all in covered containers it was true, but one popped cover and people would get burned. The man, on his own, floated up, flailing wildly. This time it was Duo who launched himself to help out. He grabbed the man, hooking his foot into a nearby armrest to steady himself. The now outraged man flailed one last time, then wrapped his arms around Duo's waist and clung like a monkey. Duo maneuvered him back into his seat and ordered the wide eyed man. “Do. Not. Get. Up. Again. You hear me? If you need to pot, ask. Now fasten your belts and behave.” One look into Duo's eyes had the man nodding quickly, then he looked away, shamefaced and silent. Duo turned to the steward. “You ok? Even more important, is the food ok?” Duo grinned at him, read his name tag, and laughed, “Man, Clark, is it always this exciting?” Clark, the second steward on first class, shook his head. “No, thank goodness. This flight seems to be made up of newbies, idiots and arrogant assholes. With about four spacers thrown in just to keep the rest from crashing us into the sun. Thanks for the help.” Duo returned to his seat to see Heero laughing his ass off. “What?” “Shinigami came out a bit there. I was afraid we'd have a mess on our hands for a moment.” Duo snorted. “And hourly addresses to stay seated, call a stew if you need something are just so much hot air. Why the hell do these people think the crew keeps saying stay in your damn seat? What do they use for brains?” A voice from in front of them said in an amused tone, “They forget it's not an airplane. Then, they're all, 'well, shit, surprise' when they wind up floating near the ceiling. Nice work, young man.” Duo looked around Heero to grin at the Co-pilot, who was hanging on to a handy strap he'd stuck to the luggage overhead. “Glad I could help.” “Yes, and I do believe that both of you are due thanks. Mr. Yuy for rescuing that kid as well.” Heero snorted. “The child had more sense than the mother. Mom was screaming her head off while the kid was happy as anything, just floating around giggling. Cute kid.” The co-pilot stuck out his hand. “Captain Anderson, pleased to meet you. Mr. or do you still have a rank?” Heero glance at Duo, who shrugged. “I think we retired as Brigadier Generals or something. Got some money too. But you know how that goes.” Captain Anderson nodded. “I bet you got squat. I got about 6,000 euros. And I flew the big ships. But enough of that. Captain Reynolds would like to know if you'd like to come up to the captains table, other side of the for'ard galley.” Duo nodded. “Thanks, that would be nice. 'Ro?” “Yes, I'd like that. Thank you.” So they wound up eating with the pilot and co-pilot, while the navigator and engineer held the helm. They would eat next. The conversation ranged over a variety of subjects, it was lively and calmed Duo like nothing else could have. They returned to their seats to find the cabin lights low and most people trying to sleep. They drifted quietly into their seats and tried to sleep too. This time, Heero took the window seat, padded the armrest and wall with blankets and pillows and gathered Duo into his arms. Duo snuggled down against Heero's chest and pulled a blanket over them both, tucking a pillow in the crook of Heero’s neck. They talked quietly for a few minutes then both dozed off. The steward checked on them, pulled the blanket up a bit more, unknowingly putting his life in danger and drifted on to check on the rest of first class. (Heero had the window seat before, not sure how to correct that) The bump of the braking jets firing woke them both. Duo gathered up their blankets and pillows, folding the blankets with ease. The pillows he just fluffed and stacked on the blankets. “Ready?” Heero took the pile and switched places with Duo. They had to be in their reserved seats for docking. The steward came bay and took the pile of bedding from Heero, checked their belts and nodded. “Docking in about ten minutes.” Heero just grunted and checked what was going on around them. He sighed and pointed. “Better check that guy’s belts. I don't think he's got them buckled right.” “I see, Thanks.” The steward drifted away, stopped to stuff the bedding in an overhead and then to correct the man's seat belts. Heero glanced out the window and shook his head. The traffic around the station cum terminal was awful. “Duo, be ready, I don't think debarkation is going to go well. We'll probably have to snag at least a couple of drifters.” Duo peeked out the window too, noticed that the debarkation tubes were clear and sighed. “I'll be ready. You ok? You look a little weirded out.” Heero just rubbed fretfully at his ear. “I haven't been into space since the war. I'm ... just a little ... on edge? Not sure. Just ... I'll be ok as soon as I get my space legs back.” Duo patted Heero on the shoulder. “I'm right here, you get into trouble let me know, ok?” “Thanks. I'll be ok as soon as we get colony side. I didn't realize how much a commercial shuttle would affect me until it was too late. I just ... would you believe, I think the reason I'm having so much trouble is ... I have no idea where the safe suits are.” Duo just pointed to a red locker near the exit. “Right there. And they're those universal 'you-can't-fuck'em-up-if-you-try' things.' “ Heero relaxed, that slight tension that he'd held in all his muscles just flowing away like dirty water down a drain. “Oh, well. That's great. I do feel a whole lot better. I wonder if there are extra crew suits?” “Don't know, but if there are, I want one of them.” After a few more bumps and another shot from the jets, they were docked. The tube from the ship to the terminal was attached and the PA came on. “Ladies and gentlemen, please remain seated until the zip line is set up. When it is, I'll make another announcement, until that time, take a moment to look around you and make sure that all your possessions are accounted for. Thank you.” So, of course, some yotz had to ask what a zip line was. The attendant was already gone but the old timer spoke up. “It's a line that will go from the back to the front of the compartment. It's motorized so all you have to do is take hold of one of the loops and it'll take you up front. Don't try to crowd it and one person to a loop.” He settled back in his seat and shook his head. This was not going to be pretty. He looked around, caught Duo's eye and nodded to him. Duo nodded back and prepared himself to sort out the sure mess coming up. And a mess it was, everyone on board seemed to loose their minds. They stood up before they were told to and drifted every which way. Some managed to get hold of something and get back into their seats, other's drifted, flailing and wailing. Duo reached out and snagged the nearest one, shoving him into the seat below him, he snarled, “Stay there until someone comes to help you.” He countered his objections with, “I don't care who you are or what you want ... stay!” The man subsided at that and clutched the seat belt to keep himself from floating away again. Heero glanced around and wondered why the company allowed this sort of chaos to occur. He was going to have a few words with someone, via Quatre if necessary. He made his way to the front and realized that the stewards were in a mess as well. The zip line was tangled and there wasn't enough room to untangle it in the forward galley. He just sighed. “Ok, who's supposed to be keeping an eye on the passengers?” One of the stewards looked up. “That would be me. How did you get up here?” “Got space legs. You better get out there, you've got at least twenty out of thirty-five passengers either out of their seats or in the wrong one. My partner is taking care of as much as he can but someone is going to kick over the traces and tell him to take a jump as he's not part of the crew. And the air marshals aren't any help for some reason.” The two stewards both swore luridly. Then the senior steward, Mr. Franklin, just gave it up. “I give up. We're not going to get this thing untangled and I'm going to find out how it got in this mess and ... later for that. What can you do to help out?” Heero thought for a moment. “I can organize this mess rather quickly, if you'll let me.” “All I've got to say is, rules and regs don't cover this, captain has no time for it and there's shit all I know to handle something where I have no zip and not enough help. We're suppose to have six stews just in this class, but four called in sick and every other class is also full up and short handed. Blue flu is going around again.” Heero just gazed at him for a moment. “Ok. Here's what we do. My partner is a spacer born and was a sweeper. There's also one old timer that I know of. We get them both up here, stuff them into crew suits so they look official and that gives us five people, you two, my partner and I and the old timer. I think we can manage with that. Right?” Mr. Franklin gathered up the zip line, took a moment to scribble a nasty note and stuffed the whole mess into the locker it had come from. He found the old timer who agreed to help out and came back with a disgusted expression on his face. “We now have exactly eight out of forty-five people in their seats. The rest are either stranded or clinging to who knows what.” No one bothered to comment on this, they were all scrambling into the crew suits that Mr. Franklin handed out from the crews locker just behind the cockpit. After they got into the suits, Heero got on the PA. His tactics were a bit different than the stewards. “Ok, everybody shut the fuck up! If there's still someone screaming, smack 'em, gag 'em. I don't care what you have to do, but I want it quiet. NOW!!” It took only seconds for the screaming and yelling to stop. There was still a bit of sobbing but mostly from scared children. “Crew will be going through in a few moments. Do not talk to them! They've got enough to deal with without dealing with demands from people who can't even keep their butts in their seats. The first order of business will be to get you all into your seats again. Once there, stay there! Children will be our priority. After you are all in your seats with your belts fastened, further orders will be issued.” He waited for this to sink in, then went on. “If you are an air marshal and drifting, that's your problem. If you're not, stay in your seat. If we need you we'll tell you.” Duo had one hand pressed firmly against his mouth to keep from laughing his ass off. Heero's voice now usually warm and friendly, had returned to his pre-peace tone, flat and deadly. He didn't think anyone would disobey. They all quickly realize that it was going to be a bit more difficult than they'd thought. While no one actually grabbed anyone, all the passengers seemed to believe that the crew had nothing better to do than to cater to their demands at once. This caused the kind of chaos that Heero despised. Duo finally lost it completely, the sight of Heero's disgusted face had him laughing like a maniac. The sound, echoing around the cabin froze everyone for a moment. Then Heero took charge. “Everyone shut up! You ..” He pointed to a well dressed business man floating close to the ceiling and demanding that he be taken off the shuttle right now. “There’s no way to get you off until the doors open, then you will wait your turn. Turns will be assigned according to seat numbers. Numbers closest to the doors will go first. That is the way it will be done.” There were several audible gulps at that. Duo just started at the seat nearest the door and began getting idiots back into their seats. It didn't take the four men long to get most of the people back in their seats, Heero had to intervene twice. Once when a man insisted that he was next, by grabbing Mr. Franklin by the arm. Heero dealt with that one by putting the man in his seat himself, hard. He almost bounced back out, but Heero jammed him back down and fastened the seat belts himself. They left bruises. The second time Heero had to intervene was with a woman. She managed to get hold of Duo's braid and refused to let go, no matter what Duo did. Duo was afraid to force her, for fear of breaking her fingers. Heero didn't have any such qualms but his grasp on her wrist was enough to get the panic stricken woman to let go. Heero was actually pleased to see that all the children cooperated with the staff and actually seemed a great deal less upset than the adults, almost all the crying had been caused by the yelling of the adults. One little girl cried for her mother but when Heero asked her were she was, she told him 'L4'. Heero didn't believe that someone had actually put a 7 year old on a shuttle by herself. Now that everyone was back in their seats, Heero returned to the PA. “When your seat number is called wait until the staff gets to you, then point out your bag. You will be brought to the front, suited up and given your bag. Do not let go of it. If it drifts off, no one will have time to go after it.” After seeing Heero and Duo work in unison, the rest of the crew relaxed. The old timer was put on the suit up as he admitted that he was a suit tech. This left the two stewards and Heero and Duo to bring people up one at a time and help get them into suits. As the passengers were brought up to the door, the old timer, who announced that his name was actually Pop, pulled a suit out of the rack and opened it. After the passenger was in the suit and sealed, he checked the seals and handed them off to the waiting crew in the tube. It only took them an hour to get everyone into suits and handed off. Heero was disgusted to learn that the rest of the ship had been emptied in less than half an hour. By the time they were done, they were all hot, sweaty and tired. Duo was all for locking down and trying to make their connection, he was disgusted to find out that they were booked into a small hotel on the exchange point. It seemed that the company had rules about smells. Neither Heero nor Duo objected to the rule. There was nothing like being in a closed environment with someone who smelled. They disembarked, checked their luggage and went to find their lodgings. They kept the suits. No one argued. . Exhausted, they ate room service hamburgers and fries, showered and fell into the one king-sized bed. When they woke it was to a knock on the door and a too cheerful voice announcing, “Breakfast, courtesy of Galactic Transport.” Heero got up and opened the door, unashamed that he was wearing nothing but boxers and a scowl. “Hi! Here's breakfast for you. I hope it's ok. No one told us what you'd like so there's eggs, scrambled; bacon, toast, coffee, orange and apple juices and ... um ... some sort of danish. On the house, or rather Galactic. Did you hear about the mess in Flight 307's first class? Only two stewards for forty-five passengers.” Duo groaned and flopped back on the bed. “Yeah, we were right in the middle of it all. Don't remind me. Bleh!” Heero picked up his pants and fished out his wallet. “Here. And keep it quiet, we'd rather not attract a lot of attention. Don't like it, don't need it. Good-by.” The bellman let himself be crowded to the door. He thanked Heero for the tip and left. He later told the Manager that he'd never seen eyes like Heero's and didn't want to again. They ate quickly. Duo showered first, then settled to dry and braid his hair while Heero showered. They stuffed their dirty clothing into vacuum bags and Heero rolled them up to press out as much air as possible. Their clean clothing would have made most Earthers blink; but, not that they were in space, no one much paid attention. They both had donned 'ship suits', skin tight spandex one pieces, zippered up the front that allowed them freedom of movement and from flapping hems and sleeves. It also made it easier to get into and out of vacuum suits. Heero's famous shorts were another version of what most spacers called second skins. They then put on the suits that they'd liberated from Galactic. Heero checked his computer for their new reservations and they left for the proper docking bay. Few people realized that this was not a station in the regular sense of the word, it was Moon-1. The 'airport' from which all Earth's outward bound traffic departed, even traffic for the moon itself. Their connection was leaving in about 45 minutes. They got packed and went to check out. The cheerful man at the front desk announced that Galactic had paid their tab and paid for them to get transport to the proper dock. It was waiting outside the door right now. He wished them an uneventful trip, smiled in a knowing way and escorted them to the door. Waiting there was another of the ubiquitous 'golf cart' customer courtesy conveyances, driven buy a woman this time. She smiled and said, “Hop on. It won't take me fifteen minutes to get you to the dock. I'm assuming you won't yack at a bit of nul-G?” Heero grunted, “No.” while Duo snickered and said, “Sweeper? Not likely. We going through the core?” “Yeah, ground-pounders aren't usually allowed there but I got orders. Special case, but I'm glad you won't yack. Hate cleaning up bio-hazards. Sweeper, you say?” Duo jerked his thumb at his chest. “Me. Howard took me on.” “No kidding? He doesn't pick up many. You have to be really good for him to take you on so young. What're you doin' out of the nest.” Heero shook his head. “We've both been out of the nest for a while. We at the core yet?” The woman took the hint and quit asking questions. “Not quite, 'nother five minutes or so.” They settled back to ride in silence, Duo looking around, Heero just sitting enjoying the respite from the constant background yammering of people talking, working, living; and the sound of the machinery that kept the station livable. The closer to the core you got the quieter it was. Heero thought it was because most of the machinery was just under the skin of the station. It made it easier to maintain if you could get to it by just removing a hatch plate. The drivers cheerful, “Ready for flip?” brought him back to himself. 'Flip' was that one point at the absolute center of the terminal where you had to actually physically flip head to toe or you'd be oriented the wrong way when you reached the gravity of the other side of the core. You'd land on your head instead of your feet. They held onto the grab straps and the driver gave the orientation jet a squirt. They flipped and stabilized in a way that proved the driver had done this countless times. She was so smooth that they wouldn't have noticed except that she warned them. “Nice job! Smooth as silk.” Duo's compliment made her blush a bit. “Thank you, kind sir. We'll be at your gate in about another five minutes. Unless everything goes tits up.” Duo snickered. “Don't jinx us.” “Sorry.” The rest of the journey was completed well within the five minutes. They were greeted at the gate by a courtesy hostess who saw them through the gate and onto the shuttle personally. Nothing was said about yesterday’s adventures but every employee in the area went out of their way to catch a glimpse of the young men who'd saved their bacon, in more ways than one. Heero was uncomfortable and looked it. Duo was in his element and distracted attention from Heero by chattering cheerfully. They were shown their compartment and left to themselves. As this shuttle was a long haul transport, a shuttle that traveled only between colonies and stations and never set wheel on Earth or the moon, it was set up for a trip of several days. This leg of the trip, from the moon to L4 would take approximately three days and two nights. Since there was no gravity to pull them one way or another, the takeoff from the station was unfelt. The artificial gravity kicking in was announced by a simple PA announcement and they were off for L4. Duo examined their compartment and declared himself satisfied with the arrangement. It was a first class compartment and contained two beds, full sized but bunked. A small desk in one corner was big enough to hold a full-sized laptop and still leave room for paperwork. And the bathroom was well appointed with a sealing door and vacuum system so that they could shower. They spent the next three days researching Ameena, her hangouts and her associates; eating and sleeping when they felt like it. The room service was very good and the excuse that they didn't dine in the dinning room because it was full of newbies who let things drift and choked on their drinks was accepted with amusement by the steward for their section. On the evening of their last night he even shared a story. “You should have seen this mess. Some yayhoo got just drunk enough that he forgot and pried the top off his drink. Now, usually that's not a problem as we have gravity. But lunch was served, why I don't know, just as turnaround came up. We had about two minutes of nul-G right as he got the damn thing open. Of course, it went all over, drifting around in big blobs. Then the gravity came back on. The wine, yeah, red wine, fell. All over a table of high rollers and upper level executives of a casino. So, here we are, trying to serve lunch, wine everywhere and screaming, yelling hot shots threatening to sue someone. Mabel, you ought to meet her, tells the hot shots to sue the guy who opened his drink after being told a dozen times not to. Thought I'd die laughing when the idiot found out that one suit cost 5,000 euros and couldn't be cleaned. The silk dress was a designer original and ... you'll never believe that a dress the size of two hankies cost 8,000 euros. It's nothing but a scrap of lace and a few beads sewn onto a chopped skin suit. Not that she didn't look like a wet dream in stilettos.” Duo nearly hurt himself he laughed so hard and Heero did have a chuckle himself. They thanked the steward by tipping heavily and telling him he could hide in their compartment if it really got rank. He declined the invitation with thanks, took his tip and shut the door behind him. They docked in the middle of ship night and both of them woke up. It was usual for shuttles, especially trans-colony ones, to dock in the middle of either the ships night or the colony's night and disembark passengers in the morning. Well rested people were much less likely to lose their tempers. And arriving on-colony was almost guaranteed to make anyone cranky. Since they were already awake they packed up their stuff and went in search of help getting off the shuttle now, instead of trying to deal with the mess and crowding later. It didn't take them long to get to the stewards lounge. This was where the on-duty stewards waited for someone to ring for service. There were stewards on duty 24/7. Duo just stuck his head in the door, grinned and said, “How would someone like to get rid of the two of us early?” Heero snickered, trust Duo to put things in such a light. A young woman laughed and replied, “Honey, you two are the least trouble of all, but if you want, I'll get you off boarded right now.” Heero smiled slightly. “That would be very nice of you. Thank you. I really, really hate crowds and my nerves are about shot.” Duo snorted at this. “Shut it, you, they are. I don't like watching all these fools doing their best to kill themselves and anyone nearby. What is it with this flight? And what's your name, I can't see your badge and that makes me nervous too.” “Sylvia, sorry. First thing we have to do it get your baggage.” She started toward the hold. “This is all we have. I don't let my stuff out of sight. There's two changes of clothing appropriate to wash in a hand basin in here, as well as weapons that have no business out of my hands and the papers to confirm my right to carry anywhere in known space. Are we going to have trouble getting on colony?” Sylvia goggled at both of them for a moment, drew a deep breath and said, “Not if your papers are in order. Who signed them?” “Une.” Duo's short syllable made Sylvia sigh. “Um ... you won't have any trouble, but you might get a few ... er... unhappy looks.” Heero mumbled, “No shit,” shouldered his pack and motioned for Duo to go ahead of him. Duo just rolled his eyes and followed Sylvia. She led them to the shuttles main air lock, only because they had to present their tickets and be checked off the master flight list. This duly taken care of, they entered the airlock, the inner doors closed and the cycle started. Duo snickered, “I wonder when they're going to realize that we still have Galactic crew suits in our possession.” Heero shrugged. “Don’t care. As long as they don't want them back before we get good suits, not a problem.” “Right. Inner doors closed, cycle starting .... now.” Duo called the start of the exchange cycle, where air pressure from the ship and air pressure from the transfer tube equalized. The pumps grumbled and air hissed. Neither one of them realized they'd done it until later but both of them flipped their helmets up and sealed them to the body of their suits, second nature to both of them. The chance of the tube detaching, leaking or collapsing was minimal but training makes or breaks us. In this case, it did neither, nothing happened and they each took a loop of the horizontal zip line which took them to the other end of the debarkation tub with a soft whizz. They presented their passports, ID, and permits to the woman at the gate, unlatching their helmets as they did so. They waited while she read, stamped and refolded everything except the permits. These she set aside. “Because of the time of shift and the signatures, I'm going to have to call my supervisor. I'm not high enough up the chain of command to ok importing some of this stuff. Sorry.” Heero just shrugged, even on Earth, some of their stuff caused problems in crossing borders. They stood patiently until the super showed up, then followed him into a back office. “OK, guys, what's really up? Something bad?” The supervisor looked and acted like Alliance, upper rank officer at that. Heero blinked for a moment, then shook his head. “No. I know you?” “No, but I recognize you both. What's going on?” Duo laughed softly. “We're bounty hunters now. Preventers didn't appeal to either one of us. So ... we're doing a repo for Q.” The man relaxed then and chuckled. “Can't fault an old war horse for wanting to keep up on all the poop. Let me see your papers. I can't imagine what has Christina in such a sweat.” He started to read, stopped, scanned to the bottom of the page and whistled. “Holy cow! All this for a repo?” Heero smirked at him. “Old war horses have ideas of what they need and hate to be without it.” Duo nearly hurt himself trying not to laugh. The super did laugh, then he stamped their papers and handed them back. “Just make sure you keep those papers on you at all times and don't, for God's sake, lose any of that.” Duo gave a jaunty salute and said, “You got it. Can we go now?” “Sure,” the man sighed, hoping he was doing the right thing. Repo for Q had to be code for something bad, and he didn't want to know. “Go. Get out of here before I change my mind.” Heero just raised an eyebrow, gathered his stuff and held the door for Duo. They hurried into the back corridor before anyone could stop them and direct them into the main concourse. Neither one of them wanted to have to deal with it. Since this was the main entreport for the entire cluster the port was always crowded and teaming with activity. They needed to get from this check point to L4-33359. Duo opened a door, peeked through and crowed, “Jackpot! We're in the middle of rental row. What do you think about renting a hopper?” Heero thought about that for a second. “Sounds good to me. I haven't piloted a hopper since the war...” “And you're not going to now. I am.” Heero glowered a bit sullenly at that. “Don't sulk up on me. You never had a license. I'm certified and it's still valid.” Heero just snorted, grinned and stuck his tongue out at Duo. “Brat.” “You betcha.” Duo didn't sigh his relief, he knew that both he and Heero were stressed. The return to space was affecting Heero more than he wanted to admit and he, Duo, was feeling the loss of his ship more keenly than he'd thought he would. It was going to take both of them a bit of time to get back to normal, or what passed for that condition in them. He shook his head to himself and slipped out into the open area that most ports referred to as a trade node. Heero glanced around then pointed discretely, “There. WEIrent. They'll have exactly what we want. I'd like to get a hopper with reclining seats. It's going to take ...” Heero took a moment to make some mental calculations. “About another six to eight hours to get to 33359. We can each catch a nap on the way.” Duo eyed the counter for a moment. “Ok. Let's go see what they've got. I'd like a Sprite or an Omega, if we can get it. And flash that fancy card Q sent us. We might get better service or we might just piss them off.” “We'll probably have them falling all over themselves. But I'll show it, discretely.” It took a bit to even get service. The countertop had a big roll down shutter but it was up, however, no one was there. Duo pushed the 'for service' button and they waited. It took a bit but a young, pimply boy finally showed up. “What can I do for you? Sorry it took me so long, I was clear in the back, washing up a bit.” Heero glowered at him, then sighed. “What time is it?” “About ... 2:45am. Our time. You just in?” “Yeah. We need a hopper.” The boy dug a clipboard out from under the counter. “Here. Fill this out and I need a copy of your certs.” Duo dug out his certification papers, glad he'd kept them up, no matter how annoying it had been, he'd re-certified just two months ago. He'd assumed that Heero would argue about it but he'd just written out the check for the fee and remarked that they could take it off their taxes. Duo had passed with the first 100% the Bay Area testing facility had ever had. They clerk took his copy, the papers Heero filled and their credit card. He ran the card, filed the papers and produced the key card and docking slip for their hopper. He yawned, said good night and disappeared back into the back of the facility. Duo gave his back a worried frown. “I don't like this.” “Why not? It was way easier than I had expected. We practically get an escort from the ship to the rental, so why are you worried. Like is said, it was easy.” “That's what has me worried, it's too easy. Something’s going to blow up in a spectacular way, I can feel it.” Duo rubbed at the back of his neck, his frown deeper than ever. Heero gave Duo a tired look. He was well aware of his Sweeper superstitions, and this one was really usually right. But he was travel weary and really didn't want to think about it now. “Stop worrying. It's going to be fine. You'll see. Come on, let's get to our hopper and don't jinx us by talking about bad luck. Ok?” Duo shook himself once, like a dog shedding water. “Ok, not more bad luck talk. I just hope you're right. So, wonder what our hopper looks like. Probably a piece of pretty junk. You know, all paint and no guts.” Heero thought for a moment, then said in his driest tone. “Does it really make any difference? If you don't like the one he assigned us, we'll just hack something we do like. They can sort it out at their end later. It's not like we're not going to pay for it, right?” Duo laughed softly. “'Ro? When's the last time I told you, 'I love you.'?” Heero tugged Duo into a quick one armed hug. “It's been...” He thought for a second, “Six hours, twenty-one minutes, sixteen seconds.” Duo frankly goggled at him, “You keep track?” Heero smirked. “No, you don't. You ... baka!” Heero just pointed at Duo's nose and said, “Gotcha!” Then they turned their attention to the different hoppers in the large docking bay. There was a skeleton crew sitting around a table in one far corner and Duo pointed to them. “Why don't we just go over there and hand them the card, find out which ship we've been assigned and kick up a fuss if we don't like it?” Heero gave a small start, this wasn't war after all. “I don't know why not. Old reflexes are a bitch. We're both going to have to watch out that we don't get ourselves into some kind of trouble over this.” Duo bit his lip, a worried frown creasing his brow. “You're right. But, sorry, 'Ro, you're going to have to be more careful than I am. You have reflexes I don't. I was infiltration and stealth.” Heero nodded then said a bit sourly, “Yeah, and I'm more of a hammer. But I was trained by Oden Lowe, remember. I'll just be careful until I get ... my feet under me again.” Duo nodded, then took a deep breath. “Ok, here we go.” The group noticed the two bounty hunters before they got halfway across the open space in the middle of the bay. “Hey! What are you two doing here?” Duo just waved their paper work and the key card. “We got a rental. That boy at the front didn't tell us where to go so we just wandered around until we found you. And, man, am I glad. I just hope we're in the right place.” As he'd been talking, they'd kept walking toward the table. By the end of Duo's explanation they were met by the senior crewman. “Let me see. Yeah, you're in the right place, only you're supposed to be on the other side of that counter until we bring out your hopper. But ... never mind. It's night and no one's around to make a stink. My name's Joe and I'll just draw ... no, this one's on the sick list.” Duo made a face. “Why can't we just pick one we like and take it.” “Well .... no reason I know of, except cash. If you can pay for it you can have it as far as I'm concerned. So, guided tour sound good?” Duo rubbed his hands together. “Sounds great. Heero, why don't you show our credit card to the ... whoever wants to swipe it. Ok?” Heero just turned to look at the other people seated at the table. He waived their credit card at them all and asked, “Ok, who's the victim?” But they all took one look at the card with it's very distinctive logo. One of the men said, “Fuck me! With that you could buy this whole dog and pony show. We'll just change the paperwork with a comment that the Excelsior you were assigned was on the sick list.” Heero didn't bother to control his grimace, and Excelsior was a piece of crap. It would have been good enough if they were planning a short hop of not more than an hour, but they would have run out of fuel long before they reached their destination. He didn't bother to cover his flinch when he heard Duo's yell either. Duo was wound up and Heero knew that he was going to take this opportunity to blow off some steam. “An Excelsior? What the hell! Our destination is right here on the papers. We'd run out of fuel before we got halfway there. He trying to kill us or is he just stupid? Jaysus on a pogo stick!” Joe just listened politely until Duo wound down and huffed softly, blowing his bangs up in a way that left one lock sticking out sideways. Heero ambled over and smoothed it down grinning apologetically at Joe. “Duo, calm down. We'll just pick something else and they'll change the paperwork. The hopper we were assigned is out of order anyway.” “Yeah, ok. Just ... what the hell? You know?” Heero just agreed, “Yeah, I do know. But I don't think that boy had any idea. He's just clean up crew and had aspirations above his station as Wufei would say. Now, apologize for yelling at Joe and let's get on with picking a hopper.” Heero kissed Duo on the temple, making Joe smile. “Don't worry about it. I'd yell too if someone assigned me an Excelsior to make a six hour hop. Boy's an idiot but he's the owner's relation some way or another so what can you do? We've got a really nice Comet and there's a ... don't kill the messenger ... Maxwell. Newest thing on the market. Very nice.” Duo's jaw dropped so far Heero thought he heard it hit the deck. Duo's yelp of, “A what?” brought the attention of the rest of the crew back to them. Joe bent double, he laughed so hard. When he recovered, he explained, “Sweeper, me. Howard needed people where they could find out stuff. I'm one of them. I just like it here so I never bothered to leave. WEI just released the newest of their line of hoppers. There's one named for each of you, although almost no one realizes the significance of the names. We couldn't get a Yuy, they're way out of our price range. We could just barely afford a Maxwell. We've got a Barton and a Chang on the way, as soon as we get the dosh to pay for them. They're all five tippy-top of the line.” Heero blinked, wondered, then cracked up completely. The Yuy being the top of the top of the line amused him more than anything he'd heard in a long time. Duo patiently waited until Heero got himself back together. “If you're done laying that egg ...” he ducked Heero's easy swing at his head, “we'll go pick up my namesake.” Joe laughed at their antics and led the way, remarking, “I'll have to get you the right key card,” he turned and yelled in the general direction of the rest of the crew. “One of you assholes get me the key to the Maxwell, will ya?” There was some bumping and grumbling, then someone announced, “Only because you ask so sweet.” Duo and Heero just ignored this exchange as the hopper caught their attention. It was sleek and big. It took up the whole of the auxiliary bay it was situated in. Duo whistled softly. “Man, that's sweet. Room for?” He glanced at Joe. “Four. And a crew of two. The Barton and Chang models are smaller, room for two with a pilot. The Chang is faster but doesn't have the range. The Barton is slower but has about half again the range. The Yuy has both range and speed, but no cargo space at all.” “What about this one?” “It's got speed, range and room. A small but acceptable cargo hold. Holds about eight cubic meters of cargo, over and above the cubic yard per allowed for passengers and crew. We usually have a bit of something or other to send to whatever destination the hopper is headed for. It's a cheat but most people never even ask.” At Duo's inquiring look he continued, “Since we got caught off guard, there's nothing stowed and no time to get anything.” He grinned gleefully. “Doesn't hurt my feelings a bit. I think it's a cheat because the unknowing customer winds up paying for the fuel. Not my idea of fair. So ...” he turned to the man who handed him the key package. “Thanks, Hank.” He handed the package to Duo. “Here's the key, a manual, and your pilots package. Safe passage.” With that, he turned and left Duo to his business, sauntering away, whistling. Duo just headed for the cockpit, leaving Heero to stow both packs and check out the rest of the accommodations. A quick rundown of the preflight routine left Duo with a few moments to look around. The cockpit was roomy, clean and well organized, clearly designed by a pilot instead of an engineer. He noticed that all the readouts were better organized than any he'd ever seen outside his gundam. The most important gauges were right in front of him and the readouts were clear and easy to read. The rest of the gauges were organized by frequency of use and could be blacked out until needed. A simple computer program lit up the one the pilot looked at and left the rest dark. Duo heartily approved. He got on the radio and contacted the control 'tower', it wasn't actually a tower, in fact, as far as Duo knew, it was buried in the middle of the station. But the central launch control had been called tower from time immemorial. So he called the tower and filed his flight plan then waited for his launch time to be sent back. While he waited, he went back to see what Heero was doing. He was impressed with the rest of the accommodations as well. The back part of the hopper was divided into six compartments, situated around a large sitting area. There were four small sleeping compartments, a kitchen and a locker room where the luggage was kept in separate lockers. Behind that area was the cargo 'hold' which was nothing but an easily accessible room, separated from the front by a tiny air lock. “Well, very nice, if you ask me. Q did a good job. And I know he had more that just a hand in it. Wait until you see the cockpit. Speaking of which, I better get back and see if we have a slot yet.” Duo keyed the console and noted that they did have a launch time which was in about ten minutes. Just enough time to run through startup and taxi to the catapult. Heero took the co-pilots seat and read off the checklist. Duo flipped switches and read off data. He checked the fuel, noted that the tank was full and announced them ready to taxi. Heero contacted the tower, announcing, “Maxwell 037 to Tower, Tower do you read?” “Tower to Maxwell 037, read you 5 by 5.” “Maxwell 037, ready to taxi to catapult 06.” “Permission granted to Maxwell 037, taxi at will.” Heero nodded to Duo who fired up the engines and made the short taxi to their assigned catapult. There was a bump as they were hooked up, then the Tower contacted them again. “Tower to Maxwell 037, ready for launch.” Towers dry voice made it a statement rather than a question. “Maxwell 037 to Tower, fire when ready.” Duo's voice was calm and professional. “Tower to Maxwell 037, ready to launch in ...” “Five.” The winch took the slack out of the chain. “Four.” Duo revved up the engines “Three.” There was a sharp jerk as the catapult started its cycle. “Two.” They picked up speed and Duo opened the throttles to half. “One.” The catapult reached its apex and released them into space. Duo gave a whoop of joy, completely forgetting that he had his headset on auto. “Hey! Maxwell, Duo Maxwell? Is that you?” Duo, who knew someone almost everywhere, replied, “Yup, it's me. Who's this?” “Andy Diamond. You got a new ship?” Duo sighed. “No, man, gave that up as a bad job. Joined up with Yuy instead.” “Too bad, man. But Yuy, you say? That good?” “It's great, but we better can the chatter. You'll get an ass reamin' from the higher ups.” Then Duo switched his headset to manual and took it off. “Wow! That was so great. I'm ... I wish...” Heero knew what Duo meant. “I know. But as the old saying goes, 'Shit in one hand, wish in the other and see which one fills up first.' Set autopilot and get some sleep.” He held up a hand. “I know you just woke up, but I want you fresh for turnaround and landing. So take a nap.” Duo didn't argue after that, he just went to decide which room he wanted. As they were all the same, he settled for the one closest to the cockpit and left the door open. That way he could hear Heero if anything came up and he called. Heero settled back to try to find his equilibrium, he felt off balance for the first time in a long time. He knew it was coming back to the colonies. He also knew that he had to make sure that he didn't fall into the trap of returning to his pre-war persona. It wasn't healthy, for him or for Duo. He thought Duo was going to be battling some issues of his own. They'd just have to deal as best they could. He thought, worried and waited. He hardly ever let Duo see him worry. Duo couldn't help him not worry, it only made Duo worry too. Then he realized that, in this case at least, there wasn't that much to worry about. He decided to just give himself a rest. “Duo? Wake up, love.” Duo blinked and sat up. “We at turnaround?” “Not quite, but I'm kind of tired so I thought you could get up a bit early so I can bag some z's.” “Ok. You ok?” Duo's concerned look made Heero smile. “Yeah, I'm just a bit tired. Too much stupid worrying and ... I'm not dealing that well with returning to space, either. I feel off balance and I'm having trouble finding my center. I thought maybe a nap would help.” “Ok. I see. You need anything, let me know. I'll go up to the cockpit and do a bit of research. I had an idea and I want to see if it'll pan out.” Heero gave Duo a tired squeeze and crawled between the sheets. Both he and Duo were bare footed so there weren't even any boots to deal with. Duo smiled a bit. He wasn't very happy that Heero was having trouble but he was glad that he wasn't the only one. They needed to get their feet under them quickly or they were going to be in trouble getting their repo done. He spent a bit of time trying to figure out how to get both of them on 'track'. He decided that all they really needed was a day to just walk around and re-accustom themselves to the sounds and smells of a colony. So he started to plan a bit of a holiday, a sight seeing tour of the colony they were going to and a reservation in a nice restaurant. He also checked to find a hotel that was acceptable. He'd make reservations there as soon as he could. Heero usually took care of reservations at hotels and restaurants but Duo realized that he needed to take more responsibility in that. As he examined different hotels he tried to figure out how Heero picked. What were the deciding factors in hotels and restaurants. He realized that Heero always picked a mid range hotel but with excellent references. He checked his memory and decided that Heero always chose from the Diamond book, a guide to hotels and restaurants. They gave their awards purely on merit. Price was not a factor. Heero, it seemed, chose three or four diamond ratings in a mid-price range. Restaurants the same. Duo started going over the different guides to the colony's hotels. He wanted something in a four diamond rating, of course, but since they were going to be trying to run with the high fliers they were going to have to spend some money. He decided on the Savoy-Hilton. Then he turned his attention to finding some of the clubs and restaurants that Ameena frequented. And clubs, mustn't forget the clubs. He decided that both he and Heero were going to have to go shopping, after they saw the local styles. He got conformation of their hotel reservations, then checked the time to turnover. It was about four minutes away. He started calculations just for something to do. The computer would do the calculations from data sent by the control tower at L4-33359. This colony as at the fringe of the colonial cluster and one of the newest of the colonies at only thirty years old. The auto-pilot clicked, buzzed softly and started the countdown to turnover. At one minute a computer voice warned of the turn in a canned female voice. Heero woke and called to Duo, asking if he should come to the bridge or wait out turnover on his bunk. Duo decided to have Heero come to the cockpit, just in case. Heero drifted into the co-pilots seat and buckled in. It was very rare, almost unheard of, for something to go wrong on turnover, but better safe than sorry. Duo glanced at the computer and announced, “thirty seconds.” The auto pilot beeped and started a countdown by visual, a projected timer showed up in front of both pilot and co-pilot seats and started counting down from 30. At ten seconds the computer voice was back. At 'one' the ships rockets fired with a roar, the maneuvering jets blipped and the ship spun head to tail and they were ready for deceleration at the colony. “How long before docking?” Heero leaned back in his seat and put his feet on the central panel, not something anyone else would have done. “About 2 and a half hours. Feet off the dashboard.” Duo swatted at the nearest foot. Heero moved his feet. “You want to take another nap?” “Naw. I'm good. Wanna play a game?” Heero pulled a line from a compartment and ripped the hook and loop shackle apart. He wrapped the padded strap around his ankle and allowed himself to drift 'upward' as this was space there wasn't really and up or down but convention was, whichever way the seats were situated decided up and down. Duo laughed and stretched up to kiss him. “Checkers, chess, bridge or .... um ... Go?” Heero decided on Go, so Duo punched up the virtual board. They played until about ten minutes before docking. While they played Duo told Heero about his reservations and his reasoning. Heero thought about it while Duo was deciding on a move and agreed with Duo's reasoning completely. When they reached the colony and began final deceleration Heero contacted the tower and got their dock and so on. Duo docked efficiently and ran his shut down checklist. “Ok, that's it. We're shut down and checked out. Let's turn over the keys and find our hotel. I want a shower in gravity.” Heero just gathered up their things, stowed them, shouldered his pack and handed Duo his. “Here, I made sure we didn't leave anything behind.” “Thanks.” Duo glanced around. “Ah! There's the desk. I'll turn in the key. Why don't you find directions to the hotel while I get that done?” Heero nodded, striding toward an information kiosk. “Got it.” He typed in the address and got a hard copy map as well as one sent to his phone. He also gave the kiosk the number of Duo's phone. Both phones beeped to notify them that there was a new message. Duo glanced at his phone and nodded at Heero, then turned to complete the paperwork, turning the hopper back over to the rental agency. Duo's cheery voice rang out as he hurried over to Heero. “All done. Where's there in relation to here?” Heero consulted the hard copy map. “All the way to the outer ring.” His sour expression made Duo laugh. “Don't look like that. It's not that far.” Heero suddenly realized that there was no hurry. They had to establish themselves a bit before they could even begin the search for Ameena and the yacht. “Duo? What's the first thing we need to do?” Duo thought for a few strides. “First, we need to find our hotel, then we need to check out some of Ameena's hangouts. I've compiled a list. We need clothing, shopping trip. And we need to figure out what attitude is appropriate.” Heero smiled happily, trust Duo to know how to get people to talk to him. “Ok. Check out clubs, shopping, attitude. Got it.” They looked around as they walked and Heero realized that there weren't any combustion engines in sight. When he mentioned this Duo just sighed. “Well, there's not going to be any here. The colony outlawed them before construction was even begun. There's actually no facilities for them. All transport is electric, public and readily available. There's slide ways, bicycles, electric cars, carts and scooters. There are also several types of mass transit; like subways, buses and trains.” Heero blinked, “Subways?” “Well, that's what they're called, because they're in the access tunnels and stuff. Earth convention rather than reality.” Heero eyed the map for a moment. “This red line means we have to take on. Look for an entrance or whatever they call it.” Duo just pointed, just down the block was a huge red arrow pointing to the street. They went down the stairs to find the station was very like a subway station in Greater New York, but cleaner. They approached the ticket station, Heero showed the map to the clerk who sold them the proper tickets and gave Heero another map. This one of all the public transportation lines on the colony. Heero thanked her with Duo seconding the thank you. The clerk just smiled at them and reminded them that there was a hefty fine for littering and a severe punishment for vandalism. Heero glanced at Duo. “I don't remember ever being told that.” Duo shook his head. “Me neither. But I bet she has to say that to everyone.” “How can you tell?” Heero glanced back at the woman who was talking to an older lady, a slightly glazed look in her eyes. “See her expression? Read her lips. She looks like she's bored half to death. Bet it's a colony statute that she has to tell everyone. Not that I blame them. Casual vandalism is expensive. And littering costs a mint to clean up.” Heero agreed that Duo was probably right. They got on the subway and found out that like many such things, it was a bit of a misnomer. The train emerged from a tunnel and traveled over the surface, then plunged into another tunnel, there was a sight failure of gravity that told the two that they had passed through the core. Another five minutes saw them walking the few remaining blocks to their hotel, right through a shopping district. Duo amused himself with window shopping and Heero with his sometimes caustic comments on the displays. He was especially critical of one store. “Did you see that? Moses in a basket. Skin-suits aren't supposed to ... cover that little. And some of those holes? Excuse me, but no one's seeing the root of my dick except you. Thank you so very much. And i bet the price would make even Q turn green. How the hell can they charge so much more money for a bow and a string than they do for a whole suit?” Heero thought about that. “More engineering.” He waited, and Duo bit. “More engineering? What are you talking about? What engineering?” “The engineering needed to keep it from showing too much or falling clear off.” Duo nearly tripped his head whipped around so fast. Heero just gave Duo the sweetest smile he could manage. “Evil. You're just plain evil.” Duo cackled with laughter, hopping twice to keep from tripping. “I am not.” Heero put his nose in the air. “I'm the Perfect Soldier. You're the God of Death, so that makes you much more eviler than me.” They both cracked up and wound up hanging onto each other with people walking around them, amused expressions on their faces. Another three blocks found them at their hotel. They entered, nodding at the man who held the door for them. Duo glanced around and noticed that the hotel deserved it's five diamonds. The décor was elegant without being ostentatious. The help was unobtrusive but Duo noticed them eyeing their progress to the desk. The desk clerk was polite but distant. “May I help you?” Heero dropped his backpack on the floor. “We have reservations. The name is Maxwell and Yuy.” He produced the papers that Duo had printed out and handed them across the counter. The clerk accepted them with every evidence of distaste. Heero cranked his expression up from a sulk to a glower. Duo eased up beside him to say something conciliatory but the second the man read the papers he was suddenly all smiles. “Ah! You're that Yuy and Maxwell. Welcome to the Savoy-Hilton. We hope everything will be to your satisfaction. If you need anything, please ask. Shall I send for your luggage?” Duo just shook his head. “If you think we're actually trusting an airline with luggage, you're demented. We brought a change or two of clothing each, but the first thing on the agenda is finding out the most popular styles and shopping. Is there some place that you'd recommend especially or do we just wing it and wind up looking so last season.” Heero up-ed his glower to a glare and added a tapping foot. The desk clerk called the Day Manager, this was a bit more than he was prepared to deal with, checking in anyone from Relena Peacecraft to one of the Winner ladies, yes; two gundam pilots on the prowl for who knew what, no. Definitely no. Mr. Randall, the day manager, just greeted Heero and Duo as if he hadn't been called from his desk by a panicky clerk and filled out the registry himself. “If you'll sign there...” he pointed to the line with his stylus. “Both of you, please, I'll show you to the suit myself. If you'd like, I can send the hotel's fashion coordinator up to consult with you on what you might like, clothing wise. And, I do have to say, she is very up on all the latest fashions, for any age group and activity you might desire to participate in. From club hopping youth to bridge playing older generation and anything between.” Heero signed the pad while Mr. Randall was speaking and pushed it to Duo. Duo signed and replied, “That's good. We'll rest a bit, I think. Then we'll clean up. Let us know when she's available. We'll hook up with her as soon as we can. Key?” “I'll be bringing two. Will you be needing any more than that?” “No. We don't expect to have any guests. If we do we'll bring them up ourselves, but they won't need keys.” “Very well. This way.” He turned to walk toward the elevators. “Oh, would you like a bellboy to carry those for you?” Heero shook his head. “No, thank you. Wouldn't want him to strain himself or anything.” Mr. Randall looked a bit put out at that, then realized that Heero was not pleased at the fact that none of the available bell-persons had chosen to come see if they needed help. He decided that since they were so stupid they could just miss out on a tip. The elevator ride was accomplished in silence that none of them seemed inclined to break. Duo looked out the glass back of the elevator, watching the scenery as they rose. Heero spent his time looking at the view farther up. Since the colony's skin was partially transparent, especially made, heavy duty panels of clear plexiglas, the stars could be seen. Heero watched them and the traffic busily buzzing overhead. Mr. Randall took the opportunity to examine both of his new residents. What he saw was two young men, twenty-something at most, who were poised on the edge. They twanged with energy. They were in top condition and moved like dancers or martial artists. What they did not look like, was two young men preparing to party, dress in inappropriate fashions and drink and eat themselves in to a stupor. So, what were they up to? He'd keep an eye on them and hope to keep them out of whatever trouble they were hell bent on getting themselves into. The elevator finally got to the proper floor and Mr. Randall led them to their door. He swiped the key cards through the door reader and stuck a USB drive in a small slot in the top. He re swiped the cards and then did something to the lock. “Here you are, all keyed in a ready to go.” He handed them both a card and said, “That's my personal cell phone, I live here in the hotel so if you need anything, day or night, call me. I'll either come myself or send the appropriate person. Have a nice visit with us, and thank you for choosing the Savoy-Hilton.” With that he returned to the waiting elevator and let the doors close on him Duo sighed and opened the door. “I think we may have a real resource in that man. We just have to be careful how we use him.” He looked around at their suite. “Well, well, what do you think of the digs?” “Refined, elegant, exactly what we need if we're to break in with the 'right' crowd to find Ameena. Unfortunately, we might be a lot to young for her sort.” Duo nodded and started for the master bedroom, saying over his shoulder. “I'm afraid you're right. I'm definitely not cougar bait.” Heero followed after. “Me neither. You're too pretty and I'm not pretty enough. So, we'll deal.” Duo nodded. “Might manage by getting in with the kids of our targets.” “That's a possibility. We'll have to keep an eye out for chances.” “Ok. First, a general clean up. After all that traveling, I feel gritty.” Heero grinned. “I could use a shower too. We could save water?” Duo snickered, “Sure, save water, only proper thing to do. Visitors should leave as small a bio-footprint as possible, right?” Heero dug into their packs for clean clothing, this was the last clean change for both of them, and brought the clothing into the bathroom. While he was doing this, Duo had started the shower, which had made his eyes bug a bit. The thing practically took an engineering degree to operate. Heero stopped and blinked. “How many heads does that have?” “Eight, twelve when we get in.” Heero relaxed more and laughed at Duo's comment. 'Ok. And which two are we going to use?” ”Well, eight water one's and two others. Which two depends on how you feel. Tired?” Heero tossed his dirty clothing onto the pile of Duo's things already in a hamper. “A bit. But I could give you a blow job. Or we could trade off.” Duo grinned. “Trade off. You first.” Heero just dropped to his knees in the pouring water and sucked Duo into his mouth. Duo groaned and leaned against the wall while Heero continued his ministrations. It didn't take Duo long to reach a climax that left his knees weak. Heero held him up until he got himself back together. Then Duo returned the favor. Heero coughed once, then sat down on the small seat in the shower. “Wow! That was intense. I feel better.” Duo laughed softly. “Me too. Now, I'd really like to wash all the sweat out of my hair. Help me?” Heero reached out to unbraid Duo's hair. He finger combed it to allow water to reach every strand then Duo poured shampoo into his hands and Heero's and they began the process of washing nearly five feet of hair, thick hair. After they finished that job, they washed each other, with a little playful groping. Heero sighed softly in pleasure. “I just love warm towels.” Duo had to snicker. “That's why you grab them out of the dryer and head straight for the shower. You should have said. I'd have brought some to you so they'd be really warm.” “That's too much trouble for you.” Heero shrugged but smiled at the offer. “It's not either. You'd do it for me, right?” Heero had to admit that he would. Duo just shook a finger at him and wrapped a towel around his waist. As the colony was on a different time schedule than either the station or Earth, they were suffering from 'jet' lag. Heero stretched and groaned. “Agh! I ... what time is it?” Duo consulted his watch, which was self adjusting and on 24 hour or military time. All colonies used that as there was actually no day or night, just shifts. Some colonies, the older ones and ones which catered to tourists and business men, kept a day/night schedule. “It's 23:40. If we go to bed now, that'll give us ... 8 hours sleep to get us on a day schedule. Or would you rather sleep six, then take a nap and be on a second shift?” Heero thought for a moment then just shrugged. “In this case, I'll leave the shift to you. I have no idea when Ameena will be active.” Duo grumbled, “Well, neither do I. Why don't we go on a first shift schedule for now and adjust later, if we need to.” “Ok. I bag right side of the bed.” Duo jumped on the bed, on the left side. “You always bag right. Ass.” “Sleep.” Heero crawled under the covers and punched his pillow into shape. “Night.” Duo yawned. “Night. Wake up at 8:30?” “Yeah.” Heero turned out the bedside lamp and dropped off almost at once. Duo was right behind him. ~ * ~ tbc... |
