PART TEN

Heero opened the door of room 6, and Duo Maxwell was there.

Of course.

Heero stood for a second, absorbing the man’s being, and the way he looked. The way he smelt. The way he smiled. As if he’d been there all morning, just waiting for Heero to get up off his lazy ass, and come outside.

Heero felt giddy. The air suddenly seemed electric; the sun brighter than before. The aroma of citrus teased at him, as ever. Though, perhaps, not as poignantly.

Duo looked fantastic! His eyes were bright, and alert. There was no sign of any mistiness – any mysterious ghostliness. Duo Maxwell was a tall, well-built young man, who held himself with confidence, and who bent his muscled body forward to lean on the doorframe, supported by his braced arm. The inside of his wrist was inches from Heero’s face; Heero thought that he could feel his pulse from there.

Oh – and had Heero registered how damned attractive he was?

Duo wore pants today, in a thin, silk fabric. An equally fragile, white cotton shirt, which was buttoned down only from the middle of his chest. Long sleeves, which had been rolled casually up to his elbows. His skin was smooth, and slightly tanned. The sun was as hot as ever above them, and Heero stared at the thin film of sweat in the hollows of that slender throat. He realised he’d never seen Duo in daylight before. Christ, he’d only met him in reality the night before! And look how that had ended…

Heero felt ridiculously shy. He looked quickly down at his crumpled shorts and the last clean tee shirt he’d had left in his bag. He hadn’t bothered to comb his hair – just ran his fingers through it, on his way out to find some food. Guess Duo would think he looked a complete mess!

“Tell me you don’t!” he smiled, flushing a little coyly.

“Don’t what, Heero?” asked Duo. His eyes were ranging up and down his body. Heero felt goose pimples follow in their tracks.

“I – didn’t you hear – think my thoughts - ?” Heero’s voice trailed off – he felt a fool.

Duo’s eyes flashed slightly – Heero thought he may have mistaken the shiver of his eyelids. When he raised his face back to Heero’s, his gaze was as assertive as ever.

“Walk with me, Heero. I want to be with you. I want you with me.”

“Walk -? Yeah, sure.” He shook himself out of his dreamlike state. He needed to get going, or the whole day would be wasted – he needed to eat, and he needed to bring some normal functions back into his life. Besides, had he thought Duo would want to push him straight back into the room, and fuck him where he stood? Had he wanted that himself? He sighed.

Duo stood to one side, levering himself back off the wall, and fell into step beside him. Heero started to amble up the walkway, waiting for Duo to suggest direction – but he knew where they would go; the courtyard. The only place to sit and be peaceful. The place that he’d always felt the strongest connection to. He thought now that it had been Duo Maxwell he’d always felt there – his presence; his influence.

His power.

He snatched a look up at the man beside him. Duo was looking ahead, but there was a slight smile on his face. His lips were moist, like he’d licked them a couple of times. His fingers brushed occasionally against Heero’s.

Heero felt ludicrously excited. His skin tingled like he was being stroked. He felt breathless.

He didn’t believe he’d ever felt this way about anyone before. And he knew he’d never felt like this about Trowa.

*

They sat on one of the benches, together. Heero had pulled on his sneakers without socks, when he got up – he toed them off now, and ran his bare feet across the bright, pale stones. Shadows from the palm trees dappled his calves and knees. Duo had stretched his own legs out in front of him, and his feet were also bare. Heero couldn’t remember noticing if he’d had boots or shoes on when he came to call. His foot reached, almost playfully, for Duo’s. He wanted to press his toes on the other’s long, slim foot; he wanted to run his foot gently up under the loose hem of Duo’s pants, and touch at his nakedness again. It felt so close as to be tangible; and yet was so modestly hidden from him. Duo allowed the pressure of their feet together; he sighed, then leant back against the wall, and stretched his arms above his head.

Then he turned lazily, and caught Heero’s eyes on him. His smile was wide and joyful.

“You were fantastic last night, Heero. I wanted you to stay with me – to sleep with me, all night. Every night…”

Heero jerked his foot away, and his brow furrowed. “But I didn’t -?”

Duo laughed, softly. “You wanted to go back with Trowa. To discuss things. Though I think that neither of you were in a mood to discuss anything!”

Heero frowned. “Sorry -?”

“No,” said Duo. He put his warm hand on Heero’s arm. “Whatever you want, you can have. It was acceptable to me. I will have plenty of time with you, myself. And now Trowa is with the others, yes? So – you can join me, properly.”

Heero felt a strange tug at his emotions. There was a frisson of delight, at Duo’s touch. But there was also the slightest stab of fear – at something he didn’t fully understand.

“I – we’ve only just met, Duo. You hardly know me –“

The hand was tight on his chin, though he had no intention of resisting it. Duo turned his face around, and firm lips came down fiercely on his half-open mouth. Heero moaned, and his tongue forced eagerly against Duo’s. He’d dreamed of this kiss – this taste! He’d been hours away from it, surely -? How did he bear with life, without it? His tee shirt was wet with sweat almost immediately – his cock pressed impatiently at the lap of his shorts. He put willing arms around Duo’s torso, and he deepened into the kiss.

“Jesus, Duo…”

“Hush, hush,” whispered the voice that spoke and probed into his mouth. Duo’s hands were up under his tee shirt, and he felt himself pressed back on to the bench – his feet lifting up off the ground. “Of course I know you! I’ve been in your head. I know how you felt when you arrived – why you wanted to escape. What you thought of your lover – and of Quatre and Wufei. I know what you dream of, Heero. What you lust for.”

“Not sure –“ Heero was gasping around the furious kisses, arching ecstatically against the pinching of his nipples. He tried to turn his head to clear his mouth, but the angle of the sun shone into his eyes, and he had to twist back. Duo’s mouth claimed him, again.

“Not – sure I want you to know all about me –“ he half-joked. He felt a ripple of tension in Duo’s body. “How can you see all that, about me? Are you some kind of medium?”

Duo laughed, and he didn’t answer directly. “I saw you through their eyes, Heero. Through their hands – through their bodies. You and Trowa - you were both ready for this place, you see. Ready for us. But you – you are much more than just a refugee. You carry strength within you that alerted me to you. It’s a strength that I admire. Sometimes - well, sometimes I can’t even see it all…”

“This is a trick –“

And now Duo was angry – Heero felt the sudden tightening of his body – the impatient breath from his mouth. “No, no trick, and you know that, don’t you? Because you have the same feelings that I do. Because you’ve felt it too! Don’t be a fool, now, Heero! It’s just something about this place that develops in us – that gives us a heightened awareness of our guests…”

“You have no other guests!” Heero protested.

“There have been many, Heero!” snapped Duo. “Do you think the three of us arrived together, one dusty day? No – we arrived separately. As others have. We are able to guide people here, who will benefit from our attentions. Who are looking for someone – as we ourselves are.”

He had ceased his fondling of Heero’s body. Heero still lay flat on his back, on the bench, with Duo’s hand up under his shirt. But Duo’s upper body had pulled away from him. The dark blue eyes fired distress and anger at him. The pupils were beyond depth – the irises were a well of sapphire.

“Looking for someone -?” muttered Heero. He could feel his skin cooling a little, where Duo’s body had been lying over him. “I’m not –“

“Of course you are! You’ve been looking for someone for many years! Your passion – you need someone to share it with you –“

Heero was aware just how impassioned Duo was becoming. His hand shook slightly, where it lay on Heero’s chest. Heero felt that he was being cruel, at pressing Duo further. But there were still so many unexplained things…

He pulled himself upright, with a sigh. “I had Trowa –“ He could hear his voice, and he didn’t sound as bereft as he thought he probably should. He found it difficult, when he felt the thrill of Duo Maxwell’s palm against his erect nipple.

“You did. But he was never going to be enough, was he? Not when you found your need growing. And it has been, hasn’t it, Heero Yuy? You can feel it inside you – the restlessness. The desire. The agony of not being able to be yourself!”

Heero stared at him. He didn’t know whether to be angry at his arrogance, or admire the truth of everything he spoke. “Trowa was my escape, Duo. I made that choice; to leave with him. To leave it all.”

Duo flinched, as if he were disturbed by the words. “But that’s not how he is now, Heero. He has decided that he belongs here. That he wants to stay here.”

Damn you! thought Heero. “You could let him leave -!”

Duo looked puzzled; a little wary. “It’s not a question of letting him leave, Heero. It’s his own decision. It has to be that way – no-one can force anyone else here. But if we can offer what he wants…”

“And that’s his true one?” sneered Heero. “Wufei? Or all of you? Looks like he’s spoiled for choice, eh? Guess you all get to stick your cocks up his ass -”

“Maybe,” said Duo calmly. He was unfazed by Heero’s crudeness – his sudden aggression. “It may be just one that he wants. Or more than one – a group, to belong to. Whatever he wants, it’s his choice – his interpretation of the thing we all seek for. The thing that will release us from whatever burdens we have.”

He reached again for Heero’s face, but Heero wrenched his head away. The damn sun poked its angry fingers into his eyes, and they watered suddenly.

“Release… burdens…you talk like you’re a prisoner here, Duo.”

Duo was stroking him again – his palm was wet with sweat, and his fingertips brushed against Heero’s nipple. The tip was painfully erect – the touch was agony, at the same time as joy. Heero felt his whole body melting in the sun – melting under Duo, so that they would become a single body. It was like a Dali picture that he once saw on a discarded magazine cover. It reminded him that he’d wanted to visit an art gallery, one day – he’d also wanted to spend time in a library. He’d wanted some money of his own, and a room where he could leave his stuff without it being broken up or hocked for booze. He’d wanted his own company, and friends of his choosing, and to wake up of a morning without the sick feeling of depression, and the wince of a bruise…

“Heero – stay with me,” moaned Duo. He was licking at his neck; his hands slid inside Heero’s shorts and caressed at the swelling flesh there. “A prisoner… I can see you might see it that way. But it’s by my own device, Heero. My own choice. It’s a place of sanctuary, here…”

This time, when he reached for Heero’s face, Heero let himself be touched. He opened his mouth for Duo’s tongue; his arms leant up and grasped Duo’s shoulders. He pulled him down, almost harshly. Duo gasped into his mouth; his teeth grazed Heero’s lip, drawing the smallest drop of blood.

Yeah, Heero thought wildly – it had been just days – it had been just hours since he’d been with Duo! And maybe he believed this stuff about Duo knowing him from the inside of his mind, and maybe he didn’t – but that was all academic, when he was with the guy, and his heart raced, and his mouth went dry, and he wanted to be every minute with him -!

“Kiss me, Duo!” groaned Heero. “Kiss me – fuck me!”

Their tongues warred for minutes more – Heero’s hands were gripped tight on Duo’s arms, and he arched under him in frustration. He wanted the man – now! Here, on the hard, stone bench – now, on the dust-red ground – he didn’t care where! He wanted to spread his legs, and open his arms, and let Duo have whatever he wanted. Because it would be what he wanted, too.

“Not – now,” smiled Duo, though Heero could hear his heart racing in his chest. “You need food – we’ll fetch some, and you can come back to my room. I want you there. You can be with me there.”

“Room?” stuttered Heero, his body so painfully aroused that he thought he might combust with the slightest spark of sunlight on the appropriate trigger. “What room? Where do you sleep, Duo?” God, he thought – but he’d never considered it! Did he think the man slept in the kitchen? In some cloud, like a celestial being, somewhere -?

Duo was laughing. His eyes were bright with fever, but he was in control of himself now. “You know that’s ridiculous, Heero! I don’t sleep much, but I have my own place that I return to when I wish. I have room number 4…”

*

There were empty, crumbed plates on the floor – a knob of butter smeared on a discarded towel. An apple core lay, browning, on one of the plates. A jug of water was on the dresser, half-empty, with two glasses beside it, their edges smeared with lip-prints and the lap of laughing tongues.

Heero knew that he had never felt better than he did now. Too much sex… he grinned to himself. Wasn’t that what he’d said before? But it was more than that. There was something that had been brought out in him – something that warmed and thrilled him, every waking moment. His life was awakening, somehow…

He lay, naked, on Duo’s bed. The same bed he’d slept in before, when he was hiding from Trowa. Yes – that’s what he’d been doing – hiding. But not any more!

They’d half-run, half-staggered away from the courtyard and back to Room 4 - Duo had pulled him playfully inside, pressing the door closed with his bare foot, even as he slipped the buttons of his shirt; even as he advanced on Heero, his tongue seeking enthusiastic response. Duo had peeled the clothes off both of them; surely, slowly, and very greedily. Heero’s sleepy sight saw that they lay scattered around the room – there was a shirt hanging half off the dresser. His shorts lay in a heap, left just the way they’d slipped down his legs. Just before Duo had grasped his waist, laughing, and spun him out of the cloth that clung to his ankles, and down on to the bed. Underneath him.

Yes, he sighed to himself. Duo had stripped him, and caressed him, and licked his way all over his body, until he’d almost wept for him. Begged him for more; begged to be able to touch him in the same way!

Duo had then pushed Heero off the bed, and on to his knees; he’d clasped his head to his naked groin, and Heero had gone down on him with a hunger that he never knew he possessed. He’d heard Duo’s yelps of pleasure – his groan of anguish, as his cock swelled in Heero’s mouth, and his thighs strained with the anticipation of climax under Heero’s firm hands. He’d felt the throb of delight throughout Duo’s limbs; felt the veins of Duo’s cock leap and explode in his mouth, and the river of coming flood across his tongue. It had been sweet, and sour, and more tasty than any food he could think of.

He had swallowed every glorious, sticky globule, until Duo’s cock was dry of it again, and he could feel him wince with the sensitivity of Heero’s harsh tongue on his sore flesh. And still Heero ached for more.

“Heero…” Duo had moaned. “You are magnificent! Show me what else you can do. What else you want to do to me! You cannot disappoint me – you cannot shock me -!”

So Heero had licked the smooth patches of Duo’s balls, trailing warm saliva and explicit, sexy words across the thin, sensitive skin between them and his ass. He had sucked at the sweat, and pressed his mark to Duo’s inner thighs. He’d been impatient, but also soothing and seductive, until Duo’s body had relaxed, and some life had returned to his cock – some arousal, that could be tempted to more, by Heero’s teasing, wet mouth. Then he’d allowed Duo to roll him over on to his back, spread his legs, and enter him.

It had been as amazing as the first time. And the second – and the others. He could still feel the memory of every thumb print on his flesh; the warm slap of Duo’s balls against his ass. The trickles of sweat down his heaving chest – the slick, crusty remnants of Duo’s cum on his legs.

He lay on the bed and stared at the ceiling. The mirror tiles were in better condition in Room 4, than they had been in 6. His own, bright blue eyes stared back at him through the blades of the fan. He saw his arms slung carelessly behind his head; his legs fallen wide apart as he lay there. The dark bush at his groin – the crease of the sheet beside him, where Duo had fallen off his body after climaxing, and lain curled up, still panting.

Heero wondered what time it was. Damn motel – he had little idea of time or place here! He realised that was because it was of so little importance. Why should it be, when he could lie and touch Duo Maxwell? When he could kiss, and suck, and fuck without restraint -?

The door of the bathroom creaked open, and Duo entered with hands full. Heero saw he’d not bothered to put on any clothes. He also recognised how that seemed to be Duo’s natural state – it was when he was clothed that he produced surprise, and interest. In one hand, he held a bottle of sparkling wine, or perhaps champagne, though Heero had never seen any supplies in the motel kitchen or dining room. It was pale through the green glass of the bottle, and already open – it’s bubbles were softly hissing. Heero had never had champagne before. Perhaps that was another experience that he’d always wanted to have. In his other hand, Duo held clean glasses, and a box of something that looked like soft fruit. Raspberries …the recognition glimmered in Heero’s mind. Soft, plump seeds – bursting taste. His taste buds watered; his cock stirred, ready for more play.

“Hey –“ called Heero, softly. “Is that where you keep your wine cellar?”

Duo smiled. “There’s ice in the basin – it kept it cold. But we must drink quickly, before it warms up.”

Heero watched him pour out two glassfuls. He wondered what decadence this was, drinking champagne in the middle of the afternoon! For surely it must still be day? There was the sun, slicing through the room, even though he had drawn the thin curtains. And the afternoon heat, pounding through the walls, making the sheets and their bodies slide against each other.

He heard the soft plop, as Duo dropped a handful of raspberries into their glasses. The liquid turned a soft, blush-pink. A sweetness, added to the sharp dryness of the alcohol.

Duo didn’t clink the glasses together. But he raised his, as if in a toast. “To us, Heero! To what we all want… to our true selves – to each of us, our true one!”

“Yeah,” sighed Heero, a little unused to such sentiment. But he imagined that Duo was never embarrassed; Duo would speak his mind, and others would – of course – listen. Heero sipped the drink – it was gorgeous. It was rich, and rare to him. He rather thought he could cultivate a taste for it! He laughed at himself, privately. It would be some years, perhaps, before he’d be earning enough to be treating himself to that!

“Duo –“ he asked. “Were you the first, here? How did you come here? Why? I – “ he saw Duo shifting, a little uncomfortably, on the bed beside him. “Please tell me about yourself.”

Duo was silent. He sipped; he looked down at his glass. Thoughtfully, he dipped in a hand, and rolled one of the fruits out between his fingers. It was dripping with the liquid; the reddened drops looked like blood on his skin. His voice was very soft. “You don’t need to know that, Heero.”

His other hand reached out, and pushed Heero gently back, up against a pile of pillows that they’d been using. Heero was half upright – his hand still grasped his own glass. He opened his mouth to speak again, and then Duo was pressing the fruit against his stomach – low down, catching against his navel. Heero sucked in his breath at the sensation - the raspberry was damp, and left soft, wet, dark red stains on the thin trail of dark hairs that snaked its way down to his groin.

“But I want to know. You know about me – I don’t know enough about you.”

Duo’s hand didn’t press any further. The raspberry stuck to Heero’s skin, and started to feel a little messy.

“I can’t remember, Heero.”

“Huh?”

There was a strange, almost stricken look on Duo’s face, though he hid it quickly and well. Perhaps he’d grown used to that manoeuvre in his past. He was obviously drawn to look at Heero – his eyes were hungry for his face; for his body. But he kept twisting his head away, as if in pain. As if there were something in Heero’s returning expression that disturbed him.

“I don’t remember my past. I don’t remember myself.”

“Your family –“

“I have no-one. Yes, I know that – I was running from that. There was pain, and a terrible loneliness, and I knew there was no-one left…”

“A - an accident?” murmured Heero. Had Duo been in an accident? Lost his family, or something -? And, perhaps, his memory. “Wasn’t there someone to ask -?”

“There’s no-one!” Duo’s sharp tone brooked no argument. He had accepted his loss, somehow, and wasn’t prepared to search any further. “There’s no-one out there that knows me – even my name was my own creation. This motel was abandoned – it had been called Maxwell’s, so I took the name, for a joke. Then I stayed. I was the only one here at that time, so in that way, I was the first. I got some supplies in – I survived on little enough. Then the others arrived, one by one. We made our own lives here. Our own arrangements…”

“And – is that it?” marvelled Heero. He felt pain from Duo, now – an astonishing thing. He wondered what it would be like to have no memories – no history. No anchor in life – even if, like his, it’d been an anchor that was dragging him down under the water.

“Yes,” replied Duo. His voice was calm enough. But Heero felt the words as if he’d spoken aloud. The words of pleading – of warning…

Don’t ask me more. I have no more to offer you there. No-one has asked me for that before…

“And in the future?” asked Heero.

Duo turned fully to him now. His eyes ran from Heero’s moving lips, still a little wet from the champagne, and down to the small puddle of sweet, soft fruit above his twitching cock. The feelings from him now were talking ‘desire’ – were talking ‘demands’. Were talking ‘delicious’…

“What do you mean?”

Heero lay back a little on the pillows – reached out and put his glass on the chair beside the bed. “You won’t stay here forever, surely – you’re young – smart –“

“I’m horny…” grinned Duo, bending his head to Heero’s stomach. His tongue ghosted over the damp skin, seeking to distract Heero. But Heero drew so much more from him now than mere words – under Duo’s lust, he felt a shiver of fright; he felt the growl of wariness.

“Yeah, sure, but – you’ll want to do something else with your life, won’t you? Besides run this place, and fuck passing runaways –“

Too late, he knew his flippancy had either hurt or angered Duo. There was a sharp stabbing in his head, almost like a slap to his face. “Don’t -!” he cried out, but more in anger than pain. His hand darted out and grabbed at Duo. “You won’t do that, Duo! You won’t treat me like that! Things have been tough on you, OK? But no more ‘n the rest of us! Don’t fuck with my head anymore, or I’m outta here, faster than you can pick your fucking raspberries!”

Duo jerked upright, and stared at his wrist – at Heero’s hand, so tight around it that the knuckles were whitening. He opened his thick, lush lips, and nothing came out. Heero felt the pressure in his temples ease… he felt the invasion relax and melt away.

“Heero – I’m sorry. I –“

“’S OK,” said Heero, gruffly. “Shit, I’d rather have that attention a little lower, y’know? I didn’t mean that about – about runaways…but if you wanna go back to the fucking part, I could definitely show some interest again…”

It was a feeble joke, he knew. And Duo’s sense of humour seemed different from his, in many ways. He released his grip on Duo’s wrist, but the braided man still sat beside him, as if stunned.

“I must stay here, Heero,” he said. His voice sounded some way away. “I can’t leave. I can never leave. The others need me - I need them. You’re the first that has affected me like this…”

“But that’s what I mean, y’know?” protested Heero. “What about you ? Don’t you need things as well? Things in your life – something more than you get here?”

Duo was shaking his head, slowly. He looked back down at Heero. “When I said I don’t remember my past – I feel like I’m between places, Heero. There’s confusion, sometimes. But this is the place that gives me peace. This is where I’ve belonged for a long time. I’ve always felt that there’s some kind of delay, you see…a decision to be made. And I’ve always assumed I was waiting for the true one to help me with that.”

Heero didn’t really understand much, except for the nagging ache in his body, and the desire to bring the other man’s confident, possessive hands back down on to him. He tugged at Duo, tentatively, and was more than pleased when the lithe body bent back down to his whim. He kissed him, and pressed him gently towards his chest; towards the small trails of fruit juice, now spotting out along his sides. Duo’s tongue was warm and familiar, as he began to lap at the raspberry-flavoured skin.

Heero sighed with pleasure. “Trowa and I were on our way to the city, y’know? There’s lotsa opportunities there. Plenty of other things to see – to do.” What was he trying to say? He wasn’t sure. But he suspected – feared? - that his conversation with Duo was far from finished.

Duo’s reply was muffled, as he sucked his mark on to Heero’s naked hip. “Trowa knows where he wants to be now.”

Heero didn’t know what made him persist in talking. Duo’s lips were already licking at the sodden raspberry, and swirling around the curling hairs of his groin. His chin caught at Heero’s rearing cock, and the dark-haired man gasped with the tantalising sensation. His head was swimming. “Duo – Christ – that’s good… but – listen - this true one business – ohhh…” Duo’s lips were rounding over the head of his cock, and the anticipation was like needles through his taut skin.

Heero struggled to continue. “I – look, I think I know what you mean – I think I feel the same – about you!“ He gasped, and laughed, and grasped a handful of Duo’s hair, trying to get his attention. Half-seriously; half-nervously. His flesh ached for him so much…”Duo – listen to me! Will you come with me, when I go?”

Duo ceased the licking – he ceased the sucking.

“What are you talking about, Heero? You’ve just seen what it can be like here! I want you with me –“

“Yeah –,” gasped Heero, reaching helplessly for him, begging him to continue. “And I want you with me. But not always here…surely?”

There was no reply.

*

Then there was a sudden change – Duo pulled away from him, and knelt up beside him on the bed. When Heero lifted himself up on to his elbows, Duo put his hands to his face, and stared deeply into his questioning eyes.

“Take me, Heero. Fuck me! I want you to. I want you inside me. I’m yours.”

“What?” Heero thought that the look on his face must be a wondrous thing to behold – a mixture of astonishment, and delight, and fear. What would Duo think of him? Some kinda virgin lover, he was…“You mean – me -? But I’ve never done it before, Duo! Not been seme. I don’t – wanna – get it wrong… I mean - hurt you. Shit…”

Duo’s voice was stronger now - more assertive. It slipped around his neck and mouth, and murmured seductively at his ears. “You want it to be Trowa? Your first? Or Quatre? He’s wanted you all along, Heero –“

“Christ, no!” exploded Heero. “I mean – no, I want you to be my first! I just –“

“Good,” sighed Duo. He put his hands down on to the bed, so that he was on all fours, and he wriggled his ass, as if to get comfortable. “I’d want to see you with them, Heero – I’d enjoy seeing your sweet body arching and wriggling and fighting with theirs. It would be a joy for me. But whatever you did, at the end of it, I’d want you in my bed, and your body to be mine.”

He turned his body so that his ass presented itself over Heero’s lap, and he gazed back over a dropped shoulder. “And I want your cock to be the only one that takes me.”

“I –“

“You will be my first as well, Heero.”

Heero had read those trash paperbacks that used phrases like ‘suddenly, time stood still’. But in that minute, he felt that it did. He sat up, paralysed with amazement and desire, and downright shock. “I – don’t know what to do, Duo –“

Duo turned again and faced him, reading the indecision in his expression. With the slightest of sighs, and a warm smile, he slid down on to the bed beside him. Slowly, he began to unbraid his hair – he loosened the plait until the heavy strands hung over his shoulders, and the curling ends teased at Heero’s chest. Heero stared, fascinated. He wanted to run his fingers through it – he wanted to lie in it – to bathe in it. “Hush…” smiled Duo. “Lie back again… let me prepare things for us…”

Duo’s lips were at his, kissing him; Duo’s hair was brushed back over his shoulders, but still tickled at his neck and warmed his ears. Duo’s hand was on his cock, stroking it gently, bringing it to a fiercer, thicker agony. Duo’s foot nudged a small bottle that was lying on the bottom of the coverlet, and rolled it up into their reach. The tang of citrus was in the air again, but this time Heero knew it was the smell of the lubricating gel. Then Duo had the bottle open, and was covering his fingers and palms.

“Hush,” was all he said, as he stroked Heero’s cock again. Except this time, his hands were cool from the gel, and impossibly smooth, and his fingers slid quickly and easily over the crown.

“I’m gonna come!” groaned Heero. “I can’t do it -!”

The ‘hush’ noise was soft, all around him, and he felt the agony abate a little. Duo shifted in front of him, rolling round, and lying with his back spooning into the harbour of Heero’s body. Heero felt soft, thick, sweet-smelling hair against his chest, and the warmth of an ass against his groin – his slicked cock probed desperately at the crevice between Duo’s buttocks. It slid across the pucker of Duo’s hole; it moaned its frustration with a weeping of cum, and a particularly vicious throb of blood through the vein.

“No need to rush,” sighed Duo. His hips were rocking on the bed, and when Heero looked down, he could see Duo’s hands reaching between his own legs, stretching to press gel-covered fingers into his ass. To prepare himself for Heero. The first man to take him.

“I’ll do that – “ Heero gasped, and reached for the bottle himself. He dropped the lid in his impatience and nervousness – his hands were shaking, even as he lathered gel over his middle fingers.

“Lie behind me, Heero,” hissed Duo. “Kiss my shoulders; grip my waist with your strong hands. Lift my leg, and slide your wet fingers into me.”

Heero wriggled up close to him – he gripped him round the waist, and felt Duo arch up against him. He reached down and pushed Duo’s upper thigh forward, so that he could slide his hand easily in between the cheeks, and probe for the gateway to his lover’s body. He found it; an impossibly small, tight pucker, offering fierce resistance to him, despite the heavy coating of gel all over his hand. Duo hissed as he slipped in his middle finger – Heero felt the muscles grip him, and marvelled at how different it felt from accepting fingers inside him. Like he always had. He slid another in, and began to roll them firmly – seeking to stretch the hole. But every time he withdrew his hand, he felt the entrance close behind him. He thought his nerve might fail him. Duo was panting heavily – his words were thick and guttural.

“I don’t want to wait any longer, Heero! I’m ready for you –! For God’s sake, this is what I want – I want you inside me, possessing me. I want to be nailed hard into this bed – I want to be hammered into the mattress. Be as harsh as you like – as greedy as you desire. Fuck me, Heero –!“

Heero pressed Duo’s legs wider apart, and placed his fiercely swollen cock at the pink entrance. Duo groaned. Heero couldn’t help the unbidden thought; Duo’s ass reminded him of the raspberries in their love play! He smiled, and relaxed a little, and then he could have sworn he saw the hole flex open for a second, and swallow the smallest drop of over-eager pre-cum. He took a deep breath, gripped harder at Duo’s hip, and forced the thick crown of his cock into him.

Duo gasped – he thrust his hips back hard against Heero’s groin, and the rest of his cock burst in smoothly.

Heero sobbed! He thought he might be doing that aloud, and for that he was embarrassed – but he had never realised it could feel so good! To be buried deep in a tight, hot sheath. To have hips grinding back into him, moving in rhythm with him. He felt squeezed inside, and he also felt harboured – and incredibly stimulated. Duo’s body fit snugly against his, allowing itself to be manipulated, almost passive in its acceptance, and matching Heero’s awkward thrusts with graceful ones of his own – he gave little moans of encouragement. It was astonishingly erotic. Heero knew that Duo had slipped a hand to his own groin, and was pumping his cock in rhythm with their bodies’ movements. Heero wanted to do that for him as well – but he didn’t think he’d be able to concentrate on more than one thing at the moment.

He moved slowly at first, savouring the incredible feeling of his cock sliding in and out of the tight channel; sucking its way out, tugged by the gripping muscles – then sinking eagerly back into the very depths, until he felt he was thrusting up into the heart of Duo himself. Then, encouraged by Duo’s enthusiasm, he began to thrust a little more speedily. Then, as the astonishing feelings and the tight, moist heat plucked at him, he lost all sense, and he thrust like fuck -!

“Heero!” groaned Duo. He rocked against Heero’s body, forced to follow Heero’s pace, whatever it was. “God – it’s so good – can’t you fuck me harder? Can’t you go deeper -?”

Heero slammed hard against Duo’s ass, so that the bed banged against the wall, and he felt the tight muscles of Duo’s buttocks against his pelvis. Duo cried out, and his hand flew back and forth between his legs, thrashing his own cock to completion. Heero clutched at his waist, holding him desperately. He felt the rush of feeling race from all his extremities, down into his cock, and burst up into the writhing man underneath him. He shouted, or something. Duo’s name was loud and burning and vibrantly coloured, and it filled his mind. He remembered wishing frantically that he could have made it last longer – he remembered the hot depths of Duo’s flesh under his fierce fingers – and then he lost coherent thought, and he remembered nothing except the pure, glorious sensation!

The voices were loud, and they cried out with the joy of it. They wailed; they panted; they screamed ugly, crude, arousing words. Hands were all over him; lips at his body, sucking and nibbling; the force of his climax was like nothing he’d ever experienced, even at Duo’s hands. It was as if several bodies met; as if many climaxes converged in him.

“Duo!” he cried, shuddering with the aftershocks of his coming. Still gripping the man beside him, barely conscious of the other climax, wracking Duo’s body and making him shake in Heero’s arms. “Wh - what is it? You’re in my head – they’re all in my head –“

Duo groaned, and went limp against him. His hair was slicked with sweat, and clung damply to both of their upper bodies. They were both panting loudly – Heero tried, desperately, to stay hard and to stay sheathed inside his lover. But natural exhaustion was sucking the energy from him, and Duo’s ass had sucked the sperm out – within seconds, his cock was soft and flaccid again, and he slid out of Duo with nothing but wet noise. Duo’s hole was red, and damp, and still beautifully erotic – Heero ached with the thought that he may have hurt him. Then he ached with the desire to take him again. He just ached, he thought to himself, with an exhausted resignation.

Duo’s sigh was one of pure satisfaction. He turned his head back, so that Heero could see his profile, and the shine in his eyes. The muscles in his arms were shaking with the tension – his lower thigh was partly trapped under Heero’s legs. As he helped him wriggle it out to freedom, Heero felt a trickle of warm, thick cum travel from between Duo’s cheeks and down on to his own outstretched leg.

“You hear them because we’ve both found our true one, Heero. They’re in celebration of that! It’s the only thing you could ever strive for – the only pure joy you may ever find. Nothing will ever be better than this!”

And, in that instant, Heero agreed.

*

There were voices in his head, again… Heero could hear them. They were calling, but they weren’t calling him. They were calling for Duo. Heero stirred, sleepily. What the fuck time was it? Why didn’t Duo answer? He could feel the man’s long-limbed, wiry body beside him on the bed. He felt his own cock bob gently at the remembrance. He liked this feeling; this feeling of sleeping with Duo Maxwell. And from what he could hear, Duo’s breathing was heavy – it was regular. He was sound asleep.

‘I don’t sleep much’, he’d told Heero. And Heero had certainly never seen any sign of him in room 4 before this night. But the unconscious body beside him told another story. This man was exhausted; sated; blissfully asleep. Sleeping with Heero Yuy.

Heero drowsed again, until the voices really did become too insistent to ignore. Then he groaned, and rolled on to his side to wake Duo.

But Duo was already up. He’d pulled on his silken pants, and nothing else. His hair was caught loosely behind him; Heero saw silhouetted strands of it blowing across his face as he moved around the room.

“What is it -?” he asked.

“Trowa’s calling,” said Duo, softly. “I must go to them. They want us all to be together – to celebrate Trowa staying. Come with me, Heero. We want you with us.”

“God…” groaned Heero. “Can’t I join in the party some other time? I need some sleep after the damned good going-over we just had –“

Duo’s teeth glinted in the dim light, as he smiled.

Heero examined his feelings. His tiredness; his nervousness. His curiosity – his excitement. He knew which one would win.

He swung his legs over the edge of the bed, and lifted his arms to take hold of Duo. They kissed for some time, until Heero reluctantly peeled himself away.

“Throw over my shorts, then,” he growled.

*

The others were all in the courtyard – it was as Heero expected. The night was as warm and still as the previous one – the participants were as naked as before. Naked, and gorgeous! Quatre rushed to him and Duo as they walked slowly into sight – he gave Heero’s shorts the briefest of looks, then was tickling and nibbling at his waist, until Heero laughed, and surrendered, and allowed the young blond to tug them off and discard them. Quatre took his arm, and cajoled him over to the pool – with a look of rueful apology at Duo, Heero again allowed the boy to have his way.

Wufei was lying nearby, on a blanket on the ground, propped up on an arm. Trowa sat in front of him, at his waist, leant back against his strong, broad hip. They were surrounded by a spread of food, and the familiar sweet, red wine. As Heero watched them, Wufei broke a pastry into pieces, and reached one up to Trowa – the chestnut-haired man opened his lips, and let Wufei press the food in. Trowa licked his lips, and smiled at the sugary taste – then he opened his mouth further, and sucked Wufei’s fingertips in after it. Wufei drew in a harsh breath – his head dropped back a little, and he dragged down at Trowa’s lower lip. Trowa’s even, white teeth held on to the invading fingers; his own breathing was speeding up. Wufei began to pump his fingers slowly in and out of Trowa’s mouth, and Trowa began panting in rhythm with it. His hand slipped to his lap – he started fondling himself. Wufei watched his hand in Trowa’s mouth – he watched Trowa’s flushed and excited face, as he grew more aroused. When they caught each other’s gaze, they smiled with genuine pleasure.

Heero stared at them, marvelling at their easy familiarity with each other. He’d never raised a smile like that in Trowa, not even during sex play. It had always been so serious…the man continued to amaze him.

Then Quatre dragged him down into the pool, and for a while he had nothing to concern him but to splash and roll in the warm, comforting water.

*

Duo had come to sit beside Heero, perched on the l