by: Kracken
Disclaimer:I don't own them and I don't make any money off of this.
Warnings: Guy/guy sex. Graphic. Violent. Major language alert. (Duo, you have such a potty mouth) (Well, I am a teenager, dear) Heero angst and torment.

After The Rain series + Part 2
Hormonal

There was a tension between Duo and himself, Heero felt, too many things unspoken hanging heavy in the air. Heaviest of all was Heero's refusal to acknowledge that he had read Duo's journal and that he had been sloppy enough to alert Duo to the fact. Duo's knowing smirk, when he returned from the gym, let Heero know that he wasn't fooling the young man this time either.

Choosing to ignore Duo, Heero concentrated on his homework. He was sitting at the small table, his laptop open and his fingers busily dancing over the keys using the rapid, two finger method. The hairs on his neck prickled when Duo, without warning, suddenly leaned close to his ear. He smelled strongly of sweat and he was pulling off a white bandanna and wiping his face with it.

"Make some mistakes," Duo told him. "We're supposed to be learning this stuff, remember?"

Heero sat stiffly, Duo's face very close to his own. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Duo's hair, spiky with perspiration, and his large, clear, amethyst eyes, almost glowing like a cat's in the light of the laptop screen. Duo swiveled those eyes to regard Heero. His ever present smile grew wider. He knew Heero was looking at him while pretending to ignore him.

Heero stood up, fists clenched. He was angry, ready to explode, but he didn't know what to say, or what, exactly, was making him so angry. The look on his face made Duo wary and Duo backed up a few steps, giving himself enough room to defend himself if he needed to.

Duo regarded Heero for a long, tense moment and then he said, surprising Heero, "Sorry, Heero. I'm just used to being... Well, it's hard to explain without putting myself down, but, hey, I grew up on L2. Being sneaky and playing the con was bread and butter there if you wanted to survive. I know a lot about manipulating people, making myself appear to be something I'm not. Oz ran L2 with an iron fist. They made survival a game of wits and I, " He recaptured his grin, "I was the champion of the game. No one was slicker than the Kid at conning Oz soldiers out of supplies, out of information, and out of being taken by the sweepers to the institutions for the destitute. Trust me, that wasn't a charitable organization. It was more like a death camp for the poor and the troublemakers."

The Kid. The name tattooed on Duo's leg. Heero filed that slip of the tongue, if slip it was, along with the other information he had just been given. It all still had to be confirmed, of course, Heero thought. A person who admitted to being the champion of the con game might very likely be running yet another con.

"I was slicker than grease at getting away from them," Duo was saying proudly. "Still am."

"Not always," Heero replied as he turned off his computer and shut it. His anger was suddenly cooling as he found a sudden weapon that Duo himself had handed to him. "You have an Oz tracking number on your leg."

Duo's face went very ugly. Heero looked up in time to see it before it smoothed out into a pleasant grin again. A mask, Heero realized. A cover. An act. A con. Duo said very calmly and precisely. "Don't go there, Yuy. Ever."

Heero brushed that off. He felt immensely better for having found a flaw in Duo, an indication that he wasn't as capable or as confident as he pretended. "The first part of our mission must be implemented tomorrow night," Heero told him, "We'll leave the campus separately with explanations for our absence submitted ahead of time. Finish your school work before then. Everything must be in order so that our absence doesn't draw suspicion."

Duo began to strip off his sweat soaked clothes as he replied, "Worry about yourself, Yuy. You're the one who keeps drawing suspicion."

Duo trailed clothes as he walked into the bathroom. As the last pieces, his black socks, hit the floor, and Duo hopped and balanced from one foot to the other to accomplish the feat without stopping, Heero was given a full view of a very slim body, angular hips, a rounded ass, and a clear look between Duo's legs. As Duo turned to shut the door behind him, Heero was given an almost full frontal view of Duo Maxwell hidden only by a glittering gold cross on his breast.

Heero only had time to wonder why Duo didn't have any hair below his navel, a warmth spreading below his own, before pain lashed him like a whip. It was like molten lava, electrocution, blinding, intolerable pain that was worse than anything Heero had ever felt before. He bowed under it, hissed and panted, clutching at his forehead.

"Is this the crap they give us for soap and shampoo?" Duo's voice swore through the door. "Why don't they just whip up a vat of lye?" The rest of his grumbling was drowned out by the shower turning on.

Heero fell to his knees. He shut off all sensations and all thoughts of Duo. He filled his mind, instead, with his mission, running over timetables and blueprints with the cold efficiency of a computer. The pain lessened reluctantly and then faded, leaving him white and shaking.

Heero tore himself off of the floor and stood, with hands balled into fists, staring at the door of the bathroom. He could have happily murdered Duo just then if the young man had been standing in front of him. That wash of emotion was enough to clear his head completely and he felt a surge of contentment as a reward. It whispered to him, Duo was unimportant except where he pertained to the mission. His body was important only because it had to be strong enough to carry out that mission. All other considerations had to be eliminated. Duo was a tool, nothing more, nothing less.

When Duo stepped out of the bathroom and began to dress, Heero was composed again and at his laptop, back turned firmly away. He heard Duo pause and stand quietly. He could feel Duo's eyes on his back.

"Look, man," Duo said at last. "Let's not get off on the wrong foot, k? We're partners. Let's get along and finish the job. I won't stick my nose in your business and you'll stop snooping around in mine, agreed?"

"No," Heero replied.

"No?" Duo echoed. Heero could imagine Duo scratching his head, perplexed.

"I don't know anything about you," Heero elaborated. "I don't like unknown factors. I'll follow orders and be your partner, but I will continue to investigate and make certain of you. If I discover that you are an Oz operative or a counter terrorists, I will eliminate you."

"So," Duo replied irritably. "Does that mean you'll follow me around too?"

"If it becomes necessary, yes."

"Then I hope you aren't prudish," Duo laughed grimly. "Because I'm going out to try and fuck someone I met at the gym. You may get an eye full."

Heero did turn then, control complete. Duo was dressed all in black and his hair was braided neatly down his back. He looked grimly at Heero from under his long chestnut bangs and his eyes were glittering dangerously, lacking in the humor his voice was portraying.

"You should be studying the mission," Heero said, not understanding. "Fraternizing with the civilians of this school endangers our cover and distracts you from our mission priorities."

"You're a virgin, aren't you?" Duo asked with a grin, "or one of those uptight people who can't get their head around the fact that people have sex?" He sunk his hands into his pockets and cocked his head sideways at Heero impishly. "I may be a Gundam pilot and a terrorist, Heero, but I'm also a teenager jacked up on hormones. Maybe you can jerk off and keep yourself happy with endless streams of mission parameters, but I need to fuck someone besides my right hand or I'll lose it." He smirked. "Don't worry. I picked a nice quiet guy who won't give me any trouble. He doesn't want anything but a quick suck or a bang too. Either way, it should take all of three minutes. Not long enough to jeopardize anything, even my time. I'll be back memorizing mindless streams of data before you know it."

Heero didn't reply. He wasn't sure what he could say. They weren't in a regular military. He wasn't Duo's commander. Dr. J. had given him an order to allow this man on his mission as an expert in bomb making, stealth, and computer hacking. So far, Heero had yet to see a demonstration of any of those abilities. The only demonstration Heero had seen so far, was of Duo's ability to play at being something he wasn't, a regular teenager going to school.

"If this mission doesn't succeed, and it is because of your lack of preparation-," Heero began, but Duo cut him off.

"I know! I know! You'll kill me, right?" Duo chuckled and his humor seemed genuine now. "I was trained by the best, Heero," He said as he headed for the door. "I was trained by life on L2. I won't disappoint you."

Duo paused at the door. He smiled very wide, like a cat with cream as he gave a parting shot over his shoulder, "Have fun."

Heero scowled, wondering at the significance of that remark. As soon as Duo was well away, Heero sat at his laptop and hacked into the school security camera system. At once, he picked up Duo walking briskly through the halls with his hands in his pockets, braid swinging behind him. He met another young man at the end of the row of dorms, a tall, thin, plain looking person with a thatch of black hair and a wide, worshiping look in his dark eyes. Duo motioned to him and the young man followed him out of the building like an eager puppy.

That Duo was homosexual didn't bother Heero. Sexual orientation, and sex for that matter, were of no importance to him. Sex, love, friendship... they were all things reserved for people who weren't soldiers, who hadn't given their life to a cause. That Duo was indulging himself in the behavior that Heero had denied himself, indicated to Heero a lack of dedication to the cause and a glaring weakness. Heero was forced to put Duo into a category he wasn't comfortable with, one of uncertain loyalties.

The cameras picked up Duo and the young man walking towards a small campus park. There was a bench. Duo sat on top of the back of it, feet on the seat, and jacket across his knees.

The young man talked nervously, rubbing hands against his thighs and looking around as if afraid of discovery. Heero could see that Duo was replying, calm and collected. At last, the young man nodded and then kneeled in front of Duo.

The darkness was almost complete, only a lamp, set high on a post, giving long shadows to everything. The young man was hidden by Duo's coat. Duo's hands gripped the bench top hard and his chin tilted back, eyes closed and a large grin plastered on his face. Heero could just make out some movement of his hips.

Heero counted the minutes. At least five passed before Duo jerked and leaned forward. The young man stood up, wiping off his mouth. Duo gave him a smile and then they were rearranging their clothes and standing up. The young man looked embarrassed. Duo was reassuring him of something and shrugging. Heero read his lips.

"Next time, " Duo was saying, "You'll make it until I actually do something to you." And then he laughed and the young man nervously laughed too, still embarrassed.

They walked back towards the dorms and Heero turned off the laptop. He sat for several long moments, analyzing what he had just seen. It hadn't been titillating for him. It had made him angry and judgmental. It was those emotions he was analyzing. Neither of them seemed called for. Duo had been discrete, just as he had promised. The young man who had serviced him did seem quiet and easily manipulated. It had taken two minutes longer than promised, but Heero felt that Duo hadn't been serious about that time table. He took longer to eat a meal, Heero thought.

Duo was generating far too many new and disturbing emotions in him, Heero thought, and knew it was the young man's very nature that was causing it. Heero had only dealt with Duo and the other pilots briefly. He was a loner in life and on missions, liking it that way, wishing nothing more than to give his life without question to the cause and to do it perfectly. Forced into a room with a man who seemed his complete opposite, it was natural that he would be off balance and confused by Duo's rough and irreverent style.

Heero worried about the mission. He went over it in his mind once more, paying particular attention to Duo's role in it. He tried to imagine Duo going through the mission parameters with the exacting perfecting it required. Heero couldn't match the image with the scenario of mission completed.

The door opened. Duo stepped into the room and then stopped, eyebrows raised on his cheerful face as he saw Heero standing at the center of the room not looking at anything, but deep in thought. His amethyst eyes studied Heero, looking for some clue as to Heero's mood. When he didn't find any, he opted for boldness. He sauntered past Heero confidently, sat on the bed, and then pulled out his own laptop to study the mission.

"I'll pretend to be sick in the morning," Duo said as he stared at the screen of the computer. "Stomach flue, I think. It will get me out of classes and I can spend the day making the bombs. He pointed to the blueprint of the Oz installation on his computer screen. "This section here has very strong supports. I'm going to need a lot of firepower. It'll be dicey carrying around charges like that. I'll have to be quick, but careful."

Heero had already calculated the time it would take to make the bombs and the extra time needed to move carefully with them. He nodded understanding when he didn't really understand at all. The Duo sitting on his single bed before him, going over the mission with the steady, serious, informed air of a man twice his age wasn't the Duo who had left him a scant twenty minutes before to have another young man kneel between his legs to have sex. This Duo seemed the epitome of professionalism.

"Well?" Duo prompted with a small, smile that told Heero that he knew precisely what he was thinking.

Duo was extremely perceptive, Heero thought. Duo was picking up cues from Heero that revealed his thoughts and intentions so clearly that Duo might as well have been mind reading him. It made Heero feel vulnerable in a way he hadn't felt since he had been very young and in training. Heero had thought his defenses impenetrable, his cold, passionless stare and attitude a wall between himself and other people that no one could breech. Duo was making a mockery of it, passing through it as if it had never existed, laying Heero bare to his scrutiny as if Duo were strip searching him.

Again, Heero felt angry. That anger was rewarded by a feeling of deeper contentment. He should be angry at other people, that contentment told him. He should resent and hate people when they appeared to be better than he was. It was his duty to excel, to be the best, to be perfect. He needed to be all of those things if he was going to win the war. He couldn't let Duo confuse him and make him think otherwise. He couldn't let Duo rattle him with his clever perceptions and observations.

Heero looked down at Duo and suddenly saw something in those large, oddly colored eyes; an edge, a hardness, a clever glint that didn't match the pleasant smile on Duo's face. Heero saw calculation there and that was something he understood completely. It was almost a relief to find it. Safe ground to climb onto in the maelstrom of uncertainty Duo had tried to drown him in. That look in Duo's eyes told Heero that Duo wasn't what he seemed. He wasn't a teenager able to be happy, to mix pleasure with mission, to live a normal life while secretly planting bombs and killing whole sale. That glint of hardness was the same as the one in Heero's eyes. It was the hallmark of a mind that was planning, thinking death and destruction, calculating how to get the upper hand over an enemy.

An enemy, Heero thought grimly, yes, everyone was a threat, a potential enemy. Heero, for the first time, began to have a little more confidence that Dr. J had made the right decision in including Duo in the mission. It wasn't until that moment that he had understood his real reluctance where Duo was concerned. His fear, he realized, had been that Duo wasn't cold blooded or dedicated enough to complete the mission, that he didn't have the proper personality of a soldier, that he wouldn't be able to kill when it was called for. Now, Heero didn't have any doubt of it at all.

"Acceptable," was all Heero said at last in reply to Duo, but that one word said volumes.

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