Title: Freeport
Author: Maldoror
Genre: Action, investigations, my usual strange humour, tiny touch of angst,
some weird politics and a bit o' romance (yes, I still know how to write those
- just don't expect anything majorly fluffy)
Pairings: 2x5
Rated: NC17 - for language, violence, sexual content
Archived: http://www.raygunworks.net and GWAddiction under the pen-name Maldoror
Feedback: Please! Particularly what you like/don't like about the fic.
Spoilers: Some, for series and episode zero.
Disclaimer: Gundam Wing belongs to its owners (Bandai, Sunset, and a whole host
of others, none of which are me) and I'm not making any money off of them. The
very idea is laughable. See? This is me laughing. Ha ha. The songs/quotes used
in the chapter heads don't belong to me either.
Author's Note: Dedicated to Dacia!
Thanks for the beta, Anaitis :) I added some more stuff; I hope you enjoy it
when you get back. Huge thanks for all the reviews and comments; they helped
me through a difficult week!
"Existence well what does it matter?
I exist on the best terms I can.
The past is now part of my future,
The present is well out of hand.
The present is well out of hand.
Heart and soul, one will burn.
Heart and soul, one will burn.
One will burn, one will burn.
Heart and soul, one will burn."
---Joy Division, 'Heart and Soul'
Freeport by Maldoror
Chapter Twenty-Two
The water burst out of the wide showerhead with a furious hiss. Duo slung his leather coat over a nearby pipe and stepped under the flow. Wufei shrugged off his own jacket and joined him.
His clothes were rapidly soaked and the water ran unpleasantly down his pants. It was cold and stank of alkali. Its flow pummeled them, biting into whatever skin was exposed. They'd found the emergency shower near the exit of Recyc's chemical storage hangar, a first line measure of aid for chemical spills or acid burns. Wufei sheltered his eyes and watched as the water reddened Duo's pale face. It probably wasn't doing the braided hair any good either. But at least it would get the blood off. He closed his eyes again, the chemical mist was making them sting.
They wiped off the clots from their coats with Duo's wet shirt and wrung themselves out as well they could. Wufei checked the cut on Duo's lower back; it wasn't deep. It would be the long leather coat that would require a few stitches, not Duo's hide.
As Wufei turned away, Duo, without a word, caught his elbow and hauled him back under the raw light of the hangar's dirty neon. He tilted Wufei's head and felt around the lump near his ear. Satisfied, he jerked his chin towards the exit nearby. They walked out looking like two drowned rats, which was better than the perpetrators of a slaughter.
The Preventer's duty was a distant, niggling annoyance. It dictated that they should warn the authorities, get the bodies recovered, bring help to the survivors before arresting them if at all possible, and then hunt down those who had escaped.
But Wufei ignored it. The Preventer was not what had gotten them out alive today. Wufei had had to uncover a part of himself he'd cultivated during the war and tightly controlled since then; a killer of Carver's caliber. He could see the same wildness lingering in Duo's eyes. They had to go home, to their lair and safety. Hunker down and let the blood lust dissipate. Now was not the time to attempt anything constructive.
They walked away from Recyc without a word, alert for further attack they did not really expect. Their enemy had won this round, but had taken quite a blow in return; each side would retire and lick their wounds, and tomorrow the hunt would be on again. Wufei thought of two hard brown eyes, colder than death, and felt a frisson of anticipation.
They didn't take the shuttle; being around innocents at this time would be... unsafe. They walked swiftly through the back alleys that had become their haunts and highways. One sector, two sectors... the adrenaline and the anger and the dark thrilling freedom still coursed through Wufei's veins. Three sectors. Four. A shortcut down into the lower level to take a freight carrier through the underbelly of the colony, jumping off at Makhno.
They emerged like demons from a trapdoor below the level. Wufei could feel the chemicals and the leftover blood drying in his hair; it swung into his face, spiky and harsh.
Duo looked around his home sector as if he didn't recognize it.
"That was nine each if I didn't lose count," he suddenly said.
"Nine. Yes."
"Fuckers just had to come in pairs."
"I still say that I got that extra one at the start, the one you interrogated." The cold tally was automatic; it was all part of the joke that was life, death and the sword that cut between the two.
"That one didn't count," Duo argued.
"Then we're even."
"First one back wins it then."
Wufei stared open-mouthed at Duo's back - six feet away and accelerating - the black coat flapping like dark wings.
"Maxwell! You dishonorable cur!" he barked, breaking into a run, pursuing a burst of breathless taunting laughter.
They pounded through the alleys, jumping over yard enclosures, clambering over chain link fences and junkyard contents, avoiding civilians in their self-imposed obstacle course. In the distance women talked, children played; it was the middle of the day in Makhno. Darkness and murder ran on in the shadows, far from the reach of every day life.
Wufei didn't lose sight of Duo as they ran past the writings high up on the sector wall, but he could see the huge letters as if they were printed in the air in front of him.
'Only my freedom.'
His heart pounded wildly as he chased the darting black shape, braid dancing like a war banner-
'Do what you want if you think you've earned it'
He could feel every inch of his body, every sensual trickle of sweat, every hair whipping his face, every nerve singing a fierce pagan hymn to the pleasure of having survived and paid in blood those who had tried to stop them.
'Live now. Tomorrow we die.'
Duo slammed into the backyard door- he didn't have time for a breath, Wufei piled right into him.
"I won!" Duo huffed.
"Didn't." Words and gasps blended, melded with Duo's hurried breathing. "You cheated."
Duo's hands were hard as they grabbed his arms, swung him around and pinned him against the door.
"I won," Duo purred, and kissed him fiercely.
Live now. Tomorrow we die.
Wufei's fingers caught in thick hair, yanking carelessly at loose strands. Duo groaned in Wufei's mouth, pleasure/pain combined. The sound made Wufei's heart pound as hard as when they had been racing.
Duo's hands were on his ass, pressing their groins together. Wufei dug into the open mouth with his tongue. He got nipped by a sharp pair of teeth for his efforts. The darting flash of pain hardened him as much as Duo's rough movements.
His fingers tugged hard at the brown hair, forcing Duo's head to a better angle, giving him control of the kiss. Duo retaliated and pressed him back harder against the door. The back of Wufei's skull met hard metal, while his lips were painfully caught against Duo's teeth. Wufei's right hand ripped free of Duo's hair - a wince ran through the body plastered to his. He gripped a shoulder... the will to shove Duo away faded under the sensual feel of cool leather beneath his fingertips contrasting violently with the warm mouth taking his.
Duo tore his face away and leaned past Wufei to punch in the security code to the door with unnecessary force. The keypad beeped the 'Incorrect Code' signal and Duo whined under his breath and fumbled at the keys some more. No longer so badly pressed into the door, Wufei's fingers ran from the shoulder to the skin under the jacket, nails and fingertips scratching at drying sweat and damp flesh.
The door fell open and they staggered in. Duo kicked it closed without looking and shoved Wufei before him. Wufei was ready to go down right there in the junkyard, but Duo hauled on his wrist and staggered towards the door to the apartment. There was a bed in there, Wufei remembered, so he let himself be pulled forward, his other hand busy latching on to the coat, Duo's belt, his back pockets, anything his fingers could reach.
They stumbled like dangerous drunks up the steps. Duo managed to slip the key into the lock without breaking it, and they fetched up against the workbench, the door swinging shut idly behind them.
Wufei spun them around and cornered the warm, lithe body against the long, high worktable. Duo fought back immediately, bucking and pushing. Their bodies dragged against each other as they struggled silently, mouths nipping and touching more by chance than design. The workbench rattled and something fell over with a metallic thump.
Wufei flexed his muscles, blood singing through them, his skin so sensitive that the rub of his jacket's zipper against his chest was torture. He relaxed and let himself be pinned against the table. A hard thigh shoved his legs apart and pressed up slowly against his erection, making his knees tremble.
At the back of his mind, behind the adrenaline and the blood they'd shed and the desire burning through his veins, a calm, cold voice was listing all the reasons why this was a Very Bad Idea. But he wanted it too badly. He wanted to feel this darkness that matched his own; he wanted to touch that lust for death and life that wasn't ashamed of itself. Wanted to blend them together, take them in, give himself up to them.
Wufei broke the crude strap holding the sword on his back with a couple of frustrated jerks; the scabbard hit the workbench with a thud. He struggled out of his jacket, getting no help from the body still crammed against his so closely he had no room to maneuver. The jacket caught his arms, trapped his hands behind his back; an ugly tension shot through his body like an electrical current, his nerves still too raw from the battle. Before he could snap and fight his way free from all constrictions, Duo's hand left the hip it had been mauling, reached behind Wufei and jerked the jacket off. The hand then stuffed itself up his shirt, fingertips dragging across sensitive skin along his lower back, his ribs- Wufei relaxed marginally, and flexed his hips to rub against the thigh between his legs, his hands fisting in the leather over Duo's taut shoulders.
Duo was talking. Soft, panted whispers. They sounded harried, not quite as self-assured as the languid movement of Duo's body, rubbing against Wufei up-down, up-down-
"Sixty nine? Go down on ya. It'll be good."
Hell no. Wufei's body knew what it wanted, and it wanted it far too badly to be satisfied with anything less. But he could only groan.
The body against his leaned back a bit, easing up on the pressure nailing him to the workbench. He heard the clink of Duo's belt buckle. Wufei hauled the leather coat off of Duo's shoulders impatiently. Duo's fingers slipped from the belt, caught in the folds of leather-
The want was so big it was beginning to frighten him. It had never been able to blaze so freely, it had never met someone who could match him blow for blow and stroke for stroke. His usual control was scattered, and that feeling excited him even more.
"Lube?" he gasped, trying to focus on basics while he still could.
"No," Duo growled. No, he didn't have any? Or no- Duo shrugged off the coat. It fell to the ground with a heavy thump. Wufei's hands touched bare flesh where the wet t-shirt rode up, the skin peppered with small hairs that tickled his fingertips. Smooth, hard muscle beneath, live and tense, solid and male and strong-
"Do you-... have any-"
"No," Duo growled again, the word hot against Wufei's throat. Then fingers ripped off Wufei's shirt and t-shirt together - the air harsh and cold against his still-damp skin - and he was forced back against the bench. Something rolled off the surface and fell to the floor, and what felt like a spanner dug into Wufei's buttocks.
"Duo-"
Hands grabbed his wrists. Wufei tugged- but he was overbalanced backwards on the bench, no leverage. His hands were slammed into the wall behind him, bending him back further. Duo's body trapped his legs against the edge of the worktable.
The light of a streetlamp cut through the blinds of the window next to them, cutting Duo's features into a barbaric black and white mask. The cheerful persona still hadn't reasserted itself after the bloodshed; Wufei was looking at Shinigami. Cruelty and strength; passion, determination, graveyard humor, lust for life and a primal hunger.
"Sorry, Chang." The words were cold and challenging, whispered against his lips. "Maybe I'm nothin' but a fucking spacer street-rat, but I don't bend over for nobody."
The words weren't making sense, except that there was some kind of obstacle, and Wufei didn't want any. Obstacles meant thinking, and if he started thinking he'd never go through with this. Though that was probably the wiser course, a part of him knew he would regret it, and he had enough regrets, big and small, in his life. Duo's eyes, hard as the steel of his dagger, his hands on Wufei's wrists - alarming, but Wufei wanted-
"I don't care who you think you are, Maxwell! I don't let anybody fuck me dry. Do you have any-"
His hands were suddenly released, the pressure against his body gone. Wufei managed to catch himself before sliding further backwards and cracking his head against the wall. He stared up into a pair of narrowed eyes, weighing him suspiciously.
"You're letting me-... take you?" Duo asked slowly, his voice steely as if he suspected a trick.
"That's what I said!" Wufei snapped, then paused. Actually, he hadn't said it, he'd just asked for lube-
Duo's words flashed through his mind, the bitterness of 'street-rat' and 'bend over'-
"You sure?" Duo's whisper was dangerous, snapping Wufei out of muddled speculation. "I don't think you let gene-trash like me mount the likes of you, Lord Chang."
Wufei blinked, the words like a slap in the face. But the darkness within his own soul shrugged it aside; it couldn't fathom what Duo was talking about. What the hell did class or genes have to do with the blood they'd spilled together and the dark fire they'd lit between them? Even as the questions fused and crackled in Wufei's mind, his body was reaching out for what it needed. His hand slipped over Duo's chest and down to the rock solid mass between Duo's legs. Blue eyes hooded and Duo licked his lips as the fingers stroked.
"Actually, Maxwell... I'm allowing you to top because I happen to prefer it that way," Wufei murmured. "Tell me... "
Duo gasped and flinched as Wufei's fingers suddenly squeezed. Hard.
Wufei smiled, the same way he had in Recyc. "Tell me, does that make me less in your eyes because I'll let you fuck me? Less of a man, maybe? Do you think this is some kind of submission?"
Duo swallowed carefully. For an instant his eyes flashed, feral and cautious - 'street rat' - but then he laughed, a dark chuckle that didn't move any part of his body below his shoulders.
"I can be pretty damn stupid, handsome, but that stupid I'm not."
"No pet names."
"Okay... boss... " the words were breathed against his lips as Duo cautiously leaned forward. "How about letting go now? I'm gonna need that in a minute."
"This is just sex, Maxwell. Nothing more, nothing less. Take it or leave it."
"Oh, I'll definitely take it," Duo whispered into his mouth. "And it will be sex, no strings attached. But 'just' sex... ? Nuh huh."
Wufei's mouth was crushed shut by a brutal kiss before he could answer. His hand shaped itself more gently around the hardness in his palm. It thrust against his fingers, tentatively at first, then hard, as Duo's tongue forced Wufei's lips to open. Wufei twisted his legs free from the weight of Duo's body. He leaned back, sitting more fully on the workbench, and wrapped them around a tight ass flexing into his hand - the play of muscles, the promise of it, lit the fire again and consumed him.
"Ouch," Duo muttered, pulling away and licking the small teeth mark on his lower lip. "Lemme guess, you a biter?"
"We never did determine whether you have any lubricant," Wufei growled. Duo smelled of chemicals, sweat and blood, the heat from his skin was making the scents overwhelming.
"I got some-" Duo staggered back under Wufei's hard shove.
"Then go and get it, and we do this on the bed."
"Yes boss," Duo snickered, walking stiffly towards the small sink, his hands jerking at his belt again.
Wufei bent forward to unlace his boots. Far in the back of his mind, the list of ways this was going to blow up in his face kept scrolling by, and it meant absolutely nothing. The part of him that cared had been left behind in Recyc where it wouldn't hinder him as he slaughtered their way out. Wufei was still in the grip of battle. He wanted to feel alive. He wanted the freedom that came of having only one choice. Here and now, his body screaming, his mind blunted by blood and fighting fever, he wanted to believe he had no other choice than to act on the desires that had been piling up like dead regrets for the past two months. He could take this if he wanted to, and if Duo was willing. This decision was theirs and their alone, nobody else could be hurt or affected by it, and so really, it was no decision at all...
His wild musings - hardly even thought - were brusquely interrupted. He started; he was standing in the middle of the room with his pants undone, the only piece of clothing he had left. A hand was waving a small plain bottle in front of his eyes with 'EZ (anal lubricant)' on its label, and a voice was asking 'Does this stuff come with an expiry date?'
Wufei started to laugh uncontrollably. Probably a mood-breaker of major proportions, but it somehow didn't matter; there was no proper attitude to maintain, no planning, no schedule, there were no limits and no barriers and he could do whatever he wanted to, in this singular moment...
"You're fucking gorgeous when you laugh," Duo whispered, his grin hungry.
Wufei was tackled to the bed, still laughing and breathless.
"If you're going to change your mind, now's the time to do it," Duo growled above him.
"I could say the same to you," Wufei countered, gasping.
"True. Lemme see."
Fingers gripped the edge of his pants and peel them off slowly.
Duo had switched on the kitchen neon; it was shining at his back as he straightened up, one knee on the bed besides Wufei's legs. His gaze traveled over Wufei's body like a caress. Wufei laid back and let Duo take him with his eyes. The stare passed unhindered over his scars; Wufei's hand hadn't covered the ruined remains of his left nipple or the ragged edge of grafted skin over his pectoral. Duo had already seen the worst of him, after all.
Wufei's eyes explored every inch of the other body in turn. Duo had ditched his clothes at some point. The body Wufei had glimpsed that first day - and then spent weeks guessing at under tight pants and t-shirts - was there, before him, fully revealed. Bruises decorated the arms and legs making his skin seem even paler, and a trace of watered down grime painted a line down Duo's sternum. He held himself stiffly, the wound in his back probably burning in the cold air.
Wufei wanted to take his time admiring the play of muscles - not as developed as his own, but wiry and strong as steel cables - but his eyes kept dipping down to what he hadn't been able to see till now. Duo's cock was one more hard line on his body, curving up, flushed at its uncut tip, red against his otherwise pale skin and brown hair. Wufei realized he was spreading his legs already at the sight of it, and reined himself in again. Duo hadn't answered.
"Well?" he snapped - he didn't have to pretend, didn't have to act gently or seduce - Duo knew him, he'd seen Wufei's tightly controlled mask and the killer beneath, and was no more repulsed by it than by the scarred body.
Duo scratched his nose, his eyes twinkling as they made another slow pass. "What was the question again?"
"If you'd changed your mind, idiot."
"Nope," Duo drawled. "Nope, can't say I have."
"Lube," Wufei ordered, waving his hand.
"You always this bossy in bed?"
"Usually," Wufei answered tartly. Duo only chuckled and picked up the lube from the floor where he'd dropped it, as well as a foil-wrapped disk, and crawled onto the bed.
Wufei uncapped the lube and poured some on his fingers with total disrespect for Duo's sheets and cover. He was in a hurry. Fatigue was trying to slow him down. His limbs felt heavy as the adrenaline leached slowly out of his system. That little voice of reason was still making its dutiful objections... but the want burned under his skin, in his loins and along his cock. His fingers were trembling with both aching lust and the start of counter-reaction. It had to be now.
Duo's eyes were incandescent as they followed the movement of his fingers. Those mobile lips were lax, open around short, sharp breaths. A tongue darted out over them, and Duo's hands twitched.
"You want me to-"
"No," Wufei grunted, forcing himself to relax against the pressure of his fingers as he started to prepare himself. It wasn't easy. His body felt like a spring being slowly wound up, his muscles clenching and twitching with nerves. Now now now!
Duo licked his lips again and fumbled with the condom, nearly dropping it. His eyes were wild and too bright, his fingers were also shaking slightly. Wufei dug deeper, probing and pushing at the muscles, willing himself to be ready. Tonight he had no patience with the flesh, with rituals, with foreplay or with slow, controlled pleasure.
Duo had slipped on the condom, his fingers trailing along the plastic gingerly. He leaned forward over Wufei as the latter spread more lube in and around the muscles that were still resisting the pressure. Duo looked like he wanted to kiss him, touch him, but his eyes stayed riveted on Wufei's fingers, swirling and plunging deeper and faster-
"Now," Wufei hissed as the spring wound itself as tight as it was going to go. It was a wonder he could even breathe-
Duo seemed to shake himself out of a trance. A hand landed near Wufei's belly, making the mattress bounce, and the feel of plastic pressed against Wufei's ring of muscles, slipping and slithering away as it hit resistance and slickened skin. Wufei barely managed to roll onto his back - one of his legs was caught between their bodies as Duo grabbed his hips. Wufei felt blindly, reaching for Duo's cock and guiding it with his extended fingertips.
The thick uncut head pushed hard and sank in quickly. Duo's breath came out in a gasp.
"You-sure- you're- ready?"
Each word punctuated a thrust, his body too eager to care about Wufei's comfort.
Wufei could feel every inch force its way in; it burned and stretched, and he wanted more. His free leg looped about Duo's hips, pressing him closer - arms thrown out for balance, scrabbling at the sheets- other leg stuck awkwardly-
That body, whip-taut and wiry, that darkness, that strength, that lust for life in him- the spring gave a sickening lurch. Wufei screwed his eyes shut and held his breath, trying to keep himself in check.
Duo groaned breathlessly as he pulled out and forced himself in deeper. Wufei grit his teeth to avoid biting his tongue as the thrust shoved him helplessly across the sheets. He reached blindly - found the wall above his head- shoved back-
"Aah!" Duo choked the end of the cry, head thrown back - warm skin and pressure against Wufei's thighs, and his anal muscles were tight with effort as his body shook with pleasure. The spring gave another shudder- not going to last-
Duo's body flexed. Out- small sharp pain. Wufei gasped, his eyes flying open. Duo pushed in hard against the resistance. He grunted and pulled out again immediately and Wufei's vision blurred. His heart was going to explode- had it even slowed down since-
Visions of bloodshed and running and a thing of murderous beauty by his side killing and grinning - Wufei shouted as Duo's cock hammered into him again and his entire being centered around that and the muscles suddenly loosening with a rush of pure, unadulterated pleasure.
Duo chose that moment to stop moving, giving Wufei the heart attack he felt had been coming on for awhile.
"You-okay-"
Wufei's answer wasn't intelligible even to his ears. His hands scrabbled at Duo's hips and ass, clawing and trying to force the obscenely motionless body into doing that movement again and never stopping-
Duo's body was so close Wufei could feel every inch of it near him, warm and trembling. He felt the shudder run through it; the way Wufei had moved and jerked, and the sudden stress, had caused his muscles around Duo's cock to clench and grip. Duo groaned, a high sound like a creature in pain, and then he was moving again, hard and fast against the dwindling resistance-
Wufei braced against the wall- his arms were buckling - Duo's muscles were flexing beneath Wufei's encircling leg and it was as good as he knew it would be...
The slamming motion shuddered and broke. Duo's erection was hot and pulsing in him - a hand on Wufei's hip gripped hard enough to bruise.
Wufei felt the coiled spring give- the throb of Duo's cock, sensation rippling up into him, running over sensitive inner skin and gland-
His fingers reached blindly for his erection. They were cold with lube. The shock/pleasure and the last small thrusts in his ass released the spring before it could rip him apart.
Duo stayed close, his arms wrapped awkwardly around Wufei's waist, his cock still deep and real within him as Wufei arched against the cover, fist slamming against the wall near his head.
The last of Wufei's strength burned out with the sharp pleasure that was fading to a pleasant, exhausted warmth.
Panting, he blinked at the ceiling.
Duo sighed. A sweaty forehead touched Wufei's chest. A final wave of tired pleasure as Duo slowly pulled out. Crackle of plastic. Duo was breathing deeply, like a runner trying to catch his breath after the race was won. Something landed in the garbage can with a wet noise.
Wufei realized his eyes were closed. He should get up. He really had to get up, though offhand he couldn't remember why. The words 'sleeping bag' were running through his mind but not making much sense.
The sheets beneath his body were tugged away. Wufei curled his legs up instinctively, shifting his weight. The covers settled over him, and there was a warm touch on his thigh.
"You okay?"
Wufei absently wiped his hand against the cover. "Yes."
His eyes had closed again. He could feel his heart beat slowing now. It felt like it was slowing for the first time in hours
"Let's sleep." Duo's voice was a low rumble. The hand on Wufei's thigh squeezed slightly and then retreated.
We left the neon on in the kitchen, Wufei thought, a second before he blacked out.
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End Part 22