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"On the Wings of an Eagle"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, male/male pairings, language Pairings: several Summary: When Trowa Barton and Duo Maxwell pay Quatre Winner a visit, he coerces them into archeological site destruction and matchmaking A/N: My deepest thanks go to the kindness of Snowdragon and WaterLily for editing and encouraging me to complete this. Sequel to For a Lark "On the Wings of an Eagle " Chapter Eleven 'Tween steel and glass and stone Freshly scrubbed and shampooed Duo lolled over the bed, his loose hair fanned out over the edge to dry out. I was resting on a chair, pulled up to the bed with my legs stretched over the mattress. The door and window were open and the early evening breeze tugged at wisps. For the first time in days we weren't in physical contact; well, just my foot against his hip. And that wasn't really true because we'd been apart during the telling of "the prince and the corporate head" romance story and bathroom breaks, but the point was that Duo insisted on some contact and I loved it. I watched him over my book. My hair was dry. I had it trimmed regularly, even the bangs, though I still kept them chin length. But his hair was incredible. It wasn't just the length that amazed me. Chang still wore his jet-black, shoulder-length hair pulled tight as an onion skin and tied off at the nap of his neck. I'd never seen it loose. Merquise no longer wore his platinum mane to his ass, but kept it just below his shoulder-blades and drawn back into a loose ponytail. Winner was neat as a pin, perfectly groomed, making Yuy and his untamed, dark mop look all the more rakish. Duo, though, had so much hair, and as he aged it wasn't only on his head. He had furry legs, giving him soft edges. He said my hair was the color of caramel candy and he once tried to kiss all my freckles. I'd told him he'd never be able to get them all because new ones appeared when I got into the sun. He said I could try and keep up by kissing all his hair. I'd never reach the end. Maybe that was the point? I reached to switch on the lamp, the room too dark to read any more, and then changed my mind. The setting sun glinted off his hair at that moment, burnishing the brown locks with copper and gold. Yards of it. And then I was on my knees, burying my hands in that hair, my face finding his forehead under a thick fringe. I worshiped him with my lips. This gorgeous man spread naked on my bed smiling in contentment because I was touching him, loving him—how could it be true? Then he groaned. "No sex. My thighs ache like I've been spread all day." "Fuck me then." One somersault onto the bed, over him, dragging him over me, sliding under him, and there was nothing but that hair tenting me, tickling my chest and arms and legs, brushing my erection—all that hair and his deep, rolling chuckles when I moaned and whimpered. I couldn't help it. When he touched me sound erupted from deep inside. I said things. I begged and cried and completely fell apart when he entered me and pounded my prostate. The words I held back, my reticence to speak my mind, the love I stockpiled away, it all gave way when we made love. "Love you, 'Tro, when you let loose like that. You just can't imagine how much." Yes, I can. (o) "This'll be a piece of cake," Duo said, oozing self-confidence. "More like chicken curry and rice." He looked at the bag of food on his lap, dinner delivery for Yuy and Chang, and made a face. "Don't go literal on me. We drop this off, chat a bit, then go—" "Pretend to go," I corrected. "We actually GO but turn back and go around to the other road—" "A road which is invisible in the dark," I said, pointing out the problem. "There aren't street lights out here. I hope we don't break an axle." "That would put the "shaft" firmly into getting fucked, wouldn't it?" I smiled. "Yes." "Which is why we got that crate'o'crap from Quat. Night vision goggles, flashlights—" "Have you ever wondered what he needs with all that equipment he has stowed away?" I asked. "Winner could supply a small army." "He does—his Maguanacs remember?" "Oh, yeah." How could I forget that the men arranging flowers and food for the "young master" were really Winner's privately armed corps? "He still has the layouts, diagrams, and plans to build a Gundam and the Zero system, not to mention the financing and manufacturing plants to do it," he went on. "I'd say Quat could take over the world, if he wanted." "And he's got half the Peacecraft inheritance and a trained military colonel sucking his dick," I mused. "Best we stay on the fellow's good side." Duo chuckled. "Yeah, all right. So back to the plan. I'm not so sure about how we're supposed to make enough noise to alert them but not have them breathing down our necks." Them? Yuy and Chang. More like at our necks. It made me think of a lion attack. "Hey, lover, they may think they're hot stuff, but you have the advantage of knowing you are, because I say so." That got me to smile. "They may try to dominate, but you're never bossy around people and that makes you likeable. Just be confident and be relaxed. If you get bored, then talk about the things that interest you." "You interest me." Duo rolled his eyes and smiled, "Well, then shit. Talk about me, heh, heh." I spotted their lantern glowing up ahead and pointed them out. "We'll have to move fast to get away," I said. "Yuy moves fast. Chang faster. We'll have to move lickety-split on ice." "I brought some rope." Duo moved to catch my eyes for a moment. "You have an idea to buy us some time? Good. Knew I could count on you." Always, love. There was nothing interesting about shoving a sack of food at the two gullible souls. The entire venture stunk of "setup" to me, so much so I wondered how both men accepted it at all, but then I knew it was one. Or maybe it was the food smelling up the place? They plowed through the food and I noticed they sat a little closer together than necessary and didn't wince when I leaned over and kissed Duo for no reason except I could. Oh, yeah, there was some showing off involved, very out of character for me, and I bet Duo would bring that up later, in private. Over a dessert of rich cookies, Chang updated us on the curious coyote and scurrying mouse activity. Since nothing more exciting had happened at the site, according to Yuy, conversation lagged then dwindled then dropped off to an extended silence Duo couldn't put up with. "Well, I gotta good book back at my room so see ya later?" he announced. For a moment, I was afraid Chang would jump at the chance to return to his book of choice and ask to return with us. When his eyes betrayed his thoughts and slid sideways to catch a glimpse of Yuy, I knew the attraction was for real. "I'm feeling lucky tonight," Yuy said. I'll bet you are. "Justice will be served," Chang declared. Or serviced. Or both. We returned to the jeep and the road we came in on. "There's the turn off," Duo said. He was wearing the goggles with the glow of red and I trusted him as I shut off the headlights. "Chang didn't put up much of an argument when Winner told him his night-vision equipment was all in use," I noted. "He was ogling 'Ro's ass at the time, did ya notice? He's sunk if Heero doesn't feel that "gay" is his orientation." "Oh, I think he's tilting Chang's way just fine," I said. Squinting into the darkness and doing my best to avoid colliding with boulders. "See anything yet? The bunker of booty ought to be around here." Duo swept the area a couple times, scanning for clues; I drove, inching along another foot or so then he spotted the cache. "Stop." This was the tricky part of the operation, but he and I were skilled at stealth. While I used my rope and some sticks and boxes I found to rig up a plausible distraction, Duo explored the shallow cave, found the "treasure", and moved it to the jeep. The difficulty in carrying this out was magnified by the need for absolute silence so we wouldn't set off any of Yuy's mental perimeter alarms. Not actual ones, because-- conveniently for us, tragically for the two guardians of the dump-- Winner had been "tragically" out of all his portable surveillance equipment. Again, I wondered how Yuy's suspicions hadn't been triggered. Thumbs up and ready to get the hell outta there, we both jumped aboard the jeep, and I started the motor. We had no more than a minute before they could reach this location on foot. "Cut the rope when you hear it dragging stuff," I whispered. I knew Duo well enough to be certain he had a knife on him. I floored the accelerator. The rope drew taut then there was scraping, a crash, and more crashes as boxes and rocks fell over in the cave, and then more scraping for a second... and then just the sound of our engine. "Free," I heard next to my ear so close it tickled. I drove into a shallow, rock lined gulch, currently a dry creek, then out the other side. At the top of the ridge, I spun the wheel, braked, and gunned it in a new direction a few yards onto the back road then stopped. "Cover the tracks." He got the idea and for thirty seconds we shoved rocks and brush over the new turn we'd taken out of the gully. It's possible they'd assume that the robbers took the creek route out. Possible. After that we high-tailed it to town. "Wowee! That went smooth!" Duo was charged up and ready to bar hop, but I convinced him we should get the jeep and the telltale evidence to the proposed meeting spot, as per Winner's plans. "You always were a rule follower," he said. "Religiously," I agreed in jest. "That's how I got so far in life. Keep an eye out for the Oasis." He was first to see the lurid signage. I parked illegally in a handicapped space, leaving the engine running outside the nightclub, proving I wasn't a conformist. I didn't see any Maguanacs lurking about, but I knew they'd show when the time was right. "Maybe I got time to go in and grab us a couple brews?" Duo asked, mostly to fill air space, was my guess because we'd already had that discussion and he'd agreed to stay put. "Ah, here comes Siraj. He wears the striped vest, see?" "Okay. Who's the other one?" "Um, I dunno." Duo squinted to find something remarkable about the man to identify him in the dim light. "It's Amid, the floral artist, remember him?" "Oh, yeah?" He winked at me. "I was mostly looking elsewhere," he said, concentrating his attention out the window at the two men approaching the jeep. Yeah, Yuy. "I didn't know you could mix up flowers that way." His eyes slid over to meet mine then to my lips and back up. "Trowa Barton, a man of many hidden talents." Me? The rear of the Jeep opened and we both got out. "This all?" Amid asked me as they each balanced boxes on crates to carry away. "Yeah," Duo said. "Need a hand?" At that moment, one box slipped and fell onto the concrete. Something spilled out. I swept up the artifact while Duo secured the box again and walked the two men around the corner where their getaway car awaited them. When he returned I started the jeep. "Two more Maguanacs were there talking to a bunch of rough-looking characters. What do you think they got up their caftans now?" "More robberies? I'm sure Winner will let us know soon enough." "Yep." He picked up the hideous little figure. "This is what dropped? Ugly as sin itself, but it's not cracked, just some chipped paint. What should we do with it?" he asked. I examined the figure under the internal car light. "Hide it. Look." He rotated the object then chuckled. "Made in China? Where do you think Winner got all these things on such short notice? Shit, if Chang saw this---?" "He would be insulted to the core." "God, Tro', I hope this plan doesn't fizzle. I hope it all works out for them." "Me, too." "They will fucking kill us for interfering like this. Man, maybe we outta cut and run now while we can?" Shoring up a tentative relationship, not my own, was not my strong suit. I had a gift for disappearing into the woodwork, not building anything. Duo, my lifeline, had a way of making molehills out of mountains, which was not a building exercise at all and didn't fit my metaphor very well, but it was true. "It'll be okay. We haven't done anything they can pin on us. Winner'll take the heat if it fails," I said with more self-confidence than I had any reason to feel. But Duo was cool with it. "Yeah, and he's got Merquise as an excuse—brain failure." We drove by a fast food restaurant, through the drive-thru, bought sodas, and chucked the cheap trinket into the garbage. Out of sight, out of mind, out of trouble.
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