Work Text:
"White lines, pretty baby, tattoos,
Don't know what they mean,
They're special, just for you..."...Come on down to Florida, I've got somethin' for ya."
—Florida Kilos, Lana Del Rey
Relena didn't bother to hide her surprise when she opened the door and found Duo standing there with a sheepish grin on his face and a duffle thrown over one shoulder.
"What are you doing here?!" she threw her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. He picked her up off of her feet, an easy deed when she had stayed slim and small while he had shot up to a respectable 5'9" with broad shoulders to rival Trowa. "I thought you were still on colony!"
"Surprise?"
"A wonderful surprise," she kissed him again, ushering him into the small seaside house. "How did you know we were here? Everything was so last minute! Une and Sally threatened everyone with court martial and/or prison if they leaked our location."
"Babe, it's me," he let her take his bag while he took off his scuffed boots. "I'm almost as good as you when it comes to tracking down Heero."
"You mean he told you."
"Of course. Where is he, anyway?" Duo looked around the Key West-styled house. Everything was soft and pastel, a cool ocean breeze coming through the open windows and rustling the sheer white curtains. "Nice place, by the way."
"Thanks. It used to belong to a friend of my parents'. No one else knows about it." She led him into the kitchen, setting his bag down on the counter. "Heero just ran into town for some groceries. We were going to try the grill tonight."
"You and Heero? Cook? It's a good thing I got here when I did."
"Oh, you're so funny," she snorted, most unladylike. "Heero hasn't set anything on fire in at least two years and you know it."
"I can't let him live down the spaghetti incident, Lena. I just can't," Duo shook his head, opening his hands in a "what are you gonna do?" gesture.
"He's going to shoot you one of these days. Best friend or not." Relena opened the fridge and leaned in, her white shorts riding up attractive legs and clinging to her curves. Duo didn't bother to hide his appreciation, even when she turned back and caught his leering smile. She handed him a bottled of beer and rolled her eyes. "I might shoot you myself."
"Those days are long over, Lena," he shook his head, smile turning soft and sad and thoughtful.
"Yes. They are," she agreed, echoing his expression.
"How's Heero?" he asked, sitting down at the counter and twisting off the bottle cap. He didn't take a drink; he just ran his thumb over the label, distracting himself from the serious track their conversation had taken. Relena sat down beside him, looping her arms through his and laying her head on his shoulder. She sighed.
"He's... better. Most days. You?"
"Same, I suppose." He put his free hand over hers, sighing a little too. "You know it's easier when I'm busy. Easier when I'm not alone in my own head."
"Or just alone?" she asked gently.
"Right." He squeezed her hand and looked down at her, shaking off the darker thoughts and smiling. "I'd much rather be around friends. Around you and Heero."
"We prefer that too," she nodded. "Heero... he's better when you're around."
They had different demons, but Duo knew it was true. Relena was good for Heero, had come to love him unconditionally, once she'd grown to see past the ideal—her prince, her knight in shining Gundanium—and came to know him as a human being. Even so, she could never understand that part of Heero who was the broken soldier, the lost child with nightmares of blood and bodies. She'd needed to turn to Duo for advice and support. He had never worshipped Heero, but there had never been any denying his love for the man.
Or for Relena.
"I think I stayed away too long this time," he admitted, holding her gaze.
"You stay away too long every time."
"Lena..."
She half stood off of the bar stool, putting a hand to his jaw and leaning in to kiss him. It was delicate, a gentle butterfly press of her lips against his. Then a second. On the third, he looped his arm around her waist to draw her close, kissing back with firm pressure and closed eyes. She made a soft sound of appreciation and opened her mouth to his, letting him swipe his tongue over hers in a lazy slide. He liked kissing her this way, slow and deep, reacquainting himself with the way she let him explore and tease before pushing back—just a little—reminding him that she wasn't some passive princess. She slid her hand down his neck to his shoulder, the other going to rest on his thigh. He dipped his own hand into her hair, tousled and beachy and more blonde than ever. It was a good look for her, one that made him wonder what might have been, if she had been born to another life. If he had. A life on the beach, in a little house like this, where he could spend all day kissing her and—
They heard the lock in the door turn, heard it open and close. Duo broke away from Relena with another of those tiny kisses she liked, licking at her lower lip as Heero entered the room and cleared his throat. He had his keys in one hand and a bag of groceries balanced on his hip. One eyebrow was raised in silent question.
Relena blushed, but Duo just smiled and hugged her quick before getting to his feet. He met Heero halfway, gait rolling and languid, lazy in comparison to Heero's quick strides across the terra cotta tile. Heero's hand went to his hip, keys digging in between palm and worn out black denim as he yanked him closer, crashing their bodies together. Duo was the taller of the two, by just enough that he had to lean down slightly to catch Heero's mouth with his own, cupping his face with both hands.
It wasn't like it was with Relena. With Heero it was hard and aggressive and without reservation, the two of them claiming each other with lips and teeth and tongue. Duo made a sound in the back of his throat, not quite a growl, and yanked back with his eyes bright and the corners of his lips upturned. He gave a short laugh, bumping his forehead against Heero's.
His already low voice had fallen to a husky whisper. "Hi."
"Hi." Heero nipped at his chin, eyes half-closed, his breathing uncharacteristically ragged. Duo counted that as a win.
It was Relena's turn to clear her throat and they turned to look at her, their movements still in sync after half a decade. Her cheeks were flushed, but the way she leaned against the counter told Duo that her embarrassment had long since fled. She had always liked watching.
"How long do we have you?"
"Does it matter?"
To everyone's credit, they didn't tear each other's clothes off right away. Duo showered while Heero did another grocery run, picking up a third steak and a bottle of white rum. They cooked together—Duo inevitably doing most of the work—grilling steak, shrimp and rounds of fresh pineapple. Relena made mojitos while Heero chopped vegetables and put them on skewers for the grill. They played at domesticity, eating outside on the ocean-facing verandah and lingering long after they were done. They caught each other up on their lives, talking about work—politics, Preventers, salvaging—and gossiping about friends and coworkers. They placed mock bets about when Trowa would finally ask Quatre to marry him or when Noin and Zechs would have a baby. Relena told Duo about Une's frustration with Mariemaia as the girl entered her teen years. He told them both about Hilde's new boyfriend, rolling his eyes as he recounted the latest bit of posturing he'd had to endure.
"She's like my sister, and no matter how many times we both tell him that I'm fucking you two, he seems to think that he's gotta prove he's superior. I'd run him off but I think Hilde's going to do it herself soon enough."
"Living up to a Gundam pilot can't be easy," Relena pointed out. "Or Hilde's reputation either. Was he a soldier too?"
"Nah. He was lucky enough to never get drafted into either side." Duo leaned back in his chair, running a hand through his hair—he'd left it loose after his shower and it was still damp, falling in waves of auburn, mahogany and shots of gold. "I keep telling her to stop introducing me before the two month mark. They get nervous and twitchy, like I'm going to shoot them."
"You did threaten that lieutenant," Heero pointed out.
"I seem to recall you were the one with the gun," Duo arched his eyebrow at him, remembering that incident vividly. It wasn't everyday that one's business partner and their newest boyfriend walked in on two highly trained, highly reactive and heavily armed young men fucking in the salvage yard office. In their defense, it had been off-hours and neither had realized that Hilde had left her cell phone on her desk. Since they had been on Hilde's desk at the time, she had been less than amused.
"You two are as bad as my brother," Relena shook her head, smiling fondly at them both. "Hilde can protect herself, I think."
"Never doubt that," Duo laughed. "Those guys should all be more afraid of her than me. You should hear what she threatened Heero with over me."
"I don't even want to know."
"You don't," Heero agreed, looking a little pale beneath his new Florida tan.
"Poor Heero," Relena reached over, taking his hand into hers. He gave her a look that said he didn't appreciate being pouted at but squeezed her fingers anyway.
Duo watched them both with a half-smile, this interplay between them familiar and reassuring. Again, he caught himself thinking about what it would be like, just the three of them running away and starting over on a little beach like this one. Hilde had told him recently that she wished she could find just one someone like his two sometime someones. She'd also told him that she was more than willing to buy out his half of the yard if he ever decided to stay Earthside. Nights like these, with the sun long past set and the moon taking its place over the Caribbean, and Heero and Relena and this easy laughter between them...
It was tempting.
Relena looked up at him, her face soft and warm, as if she could read his mind. "I'm glad you could join us, Duo. This wouldn't be the same without you."
"I'm still a pleasant surprise?"
"Always." She canted a look to Heero. "Better than if we had planned it this way."
"The paparazzi should harass you into hiding more often."
"Don't even joke about a thing like that," she scolded, even though he could see that the idea appealed to her. She exhaled deeply, content, and glanced between the two men. "Does anyone want to take a walk? Or shall we just go to go to bed?"
Duo and Heero met each other's eyes, the silent communication between them quick and effortless, the way it had been almost since the beginning. The answered in unison, definitive.
"Bed."
Relena sat on the edge of the bed with a little bounce, scooting up on the white sheets and leaning back on her elbows so that she had a nice view of Duo and Heero standing at the foot of the bed. Her short summer dress rode up higher, displaying even more of her long tanned legs. Duo glanced at her from the corner of his eye, sharing a smile with Heero as his hands went to slim hips, Heero's to chest and shoulder. They swayed a little, keeping their gazes locked, challenging each other silently. Duo bit his lower lip and tipped his head to one side, leaning in but never closing the distance between them. Heero's eyes were full of heat, the intensity behind them as familiar and as overwhelming as when they were kids. It would be easy to let Heero burn him up until nothing remained.
Instead Duo teased him, brushing his lips as close to Heero's as he could without touching, waiting, knowing that he could make Heero lose patience. Lose control. Heero never gave up anything, never lost in anything. Yet when it came to Duo, he would always give in. Eventually. That's how it was. How it had always been. Duo teased and Heero responded, the give and take between them electric. It was Duo's favorite game, made headier knowing that Relena was watching, waiting.
He brought one hand up to Heero's throat, sliding work-roughened fingers around to the back of his neck, thumb to the edge of his jaw. He cradled the side of Heero's head that way, the two of them breathing deep and slow, watching each other with hooded eyes.
Heero broke first, the way he always did, and it never felt like he was submitting. Not when instead of leaning in those last few centimeters, he pulled Duo to him, hand fisting into his shirt and yanking. Duo huffed a laugh into the kiss, closing his eyes and letting Heero do what he wanted. He slid his hand to the small of his back, not quite but almost dipping past the waistband of his jeans. Heero's skin was warm and smooth under his touch.
Heero pushed his hips forward and let go of Duo's shirt to dig his fingers into that unbound hair, forcing him closer. Duo pushed back, rolling the length of his body against Heero's before stepping back. They looked at each other with darker eyes now, lips wet and cheeks flushed. Duo flashed him a smile that promised everything.
Heero smiled back, nodding towards Relena as he stepped into Duo's space again. Duo followed with his eyes, his own grin turning smug as he took in her expression: bitten lips, unsteady breathing and hungry blue eyes. She was beautiful like that, so far gone from the princess they'd first known, grown up into a woman who knew her own mind in everything, from politics to the bedroom.
Keeping his eyes on her, Duo nuzzled at Heero's neck, fitting his thumbs into his belt loops and pulling so that they were hip to hip. "You wanna join, or keep watching?"
She shivered, crossing her legs in a smooth, sensuous slide. "Keep going. I enjoy the view."
"Hah. As you like, princess."
That earned him a laugh and Duo turned back to Heero, gliding a hand up his torso, fingers catching the hem of his tee. "I enjoy the view too."
"That goes three ways," Heero reminded him, obligingly lifting his arms so that Duo could strip him of the shirt.
"Mm. Does it?" Duo mused, laying his palm flat against Heero's sternum, feeling his heart beating steady and strong. He made no move to take off his own shirt, preferring to sweep his gaze over Heero's lean, muscled torso. He didn't think the man had an ounce of fat on him, and peacetime had not let him go soft. He was all sharp angles and hard muscle, his skin darkened by the tropical sun, old scars healed and fading with time.
Duo traced the tips of his fingers over the worst of those scars—on his front, at least. It was from Siberia, he thought, but couldn't be sure. He wasn't sure Heero remembered where all of his scars came from anymore. He leaned down, pressing a tender kiss to the scar before kissing Heero's mouth again. They were more gentle this time, teasing more playfully as they nipped at each other's lips and gripped each other's bodies.
"Come on," Heero breathed, licking a line along Duo's jaw. "Fair's fair."
"And that's... cheating," Duo shivered, eyes fluttering shut as Heero sucked at the sensitive spot just below his ear.
"Yes." Heero pulled Duo's shirt up and over his head to reveal skin almost as scarred as his own, but much paler and decorated with colorful ink. He caught Duo around the waist with one strong arm and brushed back his long, long hair with his free hand. He smiled, looking young and impossibly handsome as he leaned in to kiss Duo again, cupping his cheek, stroking his temple.
Duo opened easily to the kiss, melting against Heero and thankful for the steady support of his arm. He could only tease for so long before he started to weaken—especially once the tension cracked. He remembered that he really didn't have the patience for slow foreplay after all. Not with Heero. Not with Relena watching and eager for them both.
"I want you," he whispered against Heero's lips, feeling the curve of a smirk against his own. The hand in his hair left, sliding slow and firm down his chest and stomach, the touch deliberate enough to make him draw a shaking breath. He was hyper aware of the blood rushing hot through his veins, muscles tensing in anticipation. The moan that left him when Heero's hand pressed over the tight front of his jeans was ragged, broken.
"I can tell," Heero took his turn to tease, tracing the outline of his hard cock through the fabric.
Reaching down to lay his hand over Heero's, he managed, "You're not funny."
Heero just snorted and kissed him again, a quick brush of lips and careful teeth that could be considered less of a kiss, more of a nip. He crowded Duo towards the bed with nudges of his hips and thighs, pushing lightly against his tattooed chest, until he was laying alongside Relena's legs.
Duo leaned over, keeping his eyes on Heero and a smile on his face, and kissed Relena's bare knee. He circled her ankle with one hand, lightly stroking her calf as Heero urged his knees apart so that he could stand between them.
Relena stroked her hand through his hair, murmuring their names. She slid down on the bed to sit behind Duo, letting him lean back in her lap as Heero stripped him of his jeans but not his black jockeys. She rubbed his chest, fingers studiously tracing the sacred heart inked at the center, and he caught her hand, raising it to kiss her palm. He traced the tip of his tongue over her heartline, her lifeline, grinning when she flinched, ticklish. He kissed the inside of her wrist in apology and looked up at her.
"You're still dressed."
"Yes, I am," she agreed, letting her hands run over his chest again. He shivered when she scratched her nails along his sides and over his collarbone. Duo wasn't muscled the way that Heero was, his body less defined and built up from hard work rather than genetics and the gym. Relena had never seemed to mind the differences, had always made him feel as strong as Heero when she touched him, memorizing the lines of his form with her fingers.
His interest was returned to Heero when the other man slid his hands over the inside of his thighs and higher, thumbs brushing ever so lightly over the bulge in his underwear as he skimmed along jutting hipbones, purposely avoiding Duo's cock. He teased at his waistband, fingers dipping before finally taking a firm hold and pulling, stripping Duo naked.
"You're so beautiful," Relena whispered, leaning down to nuzzle the top of his head. He reached up, arching his back and tipping his head so that he could kiss her upside down, catching the back of her neck in a gentle hold.
"So are you, princess."
Heero demanded his attention again with light touches against his belly, tracing along one scar near his hip. He met Duo's eyes with that calm, confident smile of his and took his erection in hand—finally!—and lightly stroked him just once, enough to make Duo gasp and arch his hips. Heero knelt at the foot of the bed between his open thighs and pulled Duo closer to the edge. The display of strength was effortless, smooth, and Duo cried out with something between a laugh and a moan. Relena resettled herself behind him, pillowing his head against her small breasts and framing one side of his body with a drawn leg. He looped his arm around her thigh, leaning back to watch Heero place a kiss against his knee, mimicking what he had done with Relena only a few moments before.
"Heero..."
Duo hadn't realized just how much he had been anticipating that moment until Heero took him in hand and kissed the slick crown, keeping his blue eyes fixed on Duo's face. Duo stuttered out a gasp of relief—he hadn't realized he was holding his breath either. His stomach jumped and twitched with the effort it took not to thrust up into Heero's hands or mouth.
"Easy," was all Heero said, pleased and reassuring all at once. He placed one palm on Duo's stomach, restraining him with a featherweight touch as he leaned back down and slid his tongue along the side of his cock. Duo moaned low in his throat and dropped his head back against Relena, closing his eyes as if to memorize the feel of Heero's touch.
Everyone thought that it was Duo's mouth that was made for sin, but he thought that clearly they had never contemplated the idea of Heero Yuy on his knees. Heero was as methodical and intent in his cocksucking as he was in his missions, licking Duo with long, slow strokes, rubbing at his base with his thumb, fingers wrapped tight to keep control. Duo was grateful for that firm grasp, for the soothing hands at his chest, because he didn't think that he'd be able to behave himself without them. He'd learned very quickly that blow jobs from Heero were not to be rushed, especially not by overeager thrusting.
"Breathe, Duo," Relena reminded him, tracing fingertips up his chest to stroke the side of his face and hair, massaging his scalp until he was nearly purring under her touch.
Heero chose that moment to slide his mouth over Duo's weeping tip. Duo bit at his lower lip, whining and squirming, valiantly trying to control himself as Heero sucked. When he finally opened his eyes, he could see that Heero was watching him, waiting for Duo to look at him. With a swirl of his tongue over Duo's tip, he offered the heated smile that made the moment fall heavy between them.
The tension brought on by their natural competitiveness had been replaced with Heero and Relena vying for his attention in a different kind of contest. Heero, admittedly, had the advantage, and Duo could see in his face that he knew it. It always made him a little nervous to have Heero look at him like that, confident and lazy, like a cat that knew it was only a matter of time before the mouse succumbed. Having Heero look at him like that from between his legs was positively thrilling.
And just like that—practiced, perfect—Heero swallowed his length down until it hit the back of his throat. Then he took it the rest of the way.
Duo nearly screamed, digging his fingers into the sheets and Relena's thigh, arching his back and pushing his shoulders against her when Heero wouldn't let him buck his hips. Breathing was no longer a problem because he was panting, eyes scrunched shut as Heero tried to murder him with pleasure. He'd forgotten just how good it could be between them, with Relena holding him, stroking his hair and whispering how beautiful they were, and Heero alternately swallowing the whole of his cock and sucking the head. He was never predictable; the only certainty was that his mouth would be hot and his tongue clever.
It was dangerously close to being too much, and the last thing Duo wanted was to end the night before he'd had the chance to return the favor to his lovers. "H-Heero... babe, please..."
Heero's eyes flicked up, shadowed under his mess of dark brown hair, and Duo realized—somewhat distantly—that this time Heero wasn't looking at him. Those blue eyes went higher, over his shoulder to meet Relena's eyes, and it really had been too damn long, because he'd forgotten. He'd forgotten that the two of them could read each other almost as easily, Heero long attuned to Lena's body language—for danger, for exhaustion, for lust.
"Don't hold back," she kissed his ear, sliding her hand down to find a nipple to roll between her fingers. He made a soft sound that he would deny later was a whimper and turned so that he could catch her mouth in an awkward over-the-shoulder kiss.
"Lena..." He couldn't gather his thoughts enough to tell her what he wanted. Heero was a deliberate distraction, shallowly swallowing him with quick bobs of his head, driving Duo closer to the end like it was a race he intended to win. If he'd been thinking clearly, Duo would have suspected that the point was to drive him crazy, to see what it took to make him forget his own name.
Relena smiled warmly, reminding him that she could read him almost as well as Heero. She scattered a trail of kisses over his neck and shoulder, lingering on a scar, a freckle, the tiny cross tattooed at his nape.
"We've got all night," she reassured him. "All week. As long as you want."
"Len..."
"Come for us, darling." She kissed him, slow and sweet. "Please."
He wanted to protest. He'd missed them too much for it to become just about his own pleasure, even though neither of them seemed to mind. Seemed quite of the other opinion, in fact, as Heero deepthroated him again and Relena slid her tongue into his mouth, swallowing his moan.
"I—" Whatever he was going to saw was lost to his orgasm. Vision gone white behind closed eyelids, he tensed and shuddered in his lovers' embraces, Relena holding his arching upper-body against her own, Heero pinning his hips with both hands and swallowing his release. All he could do was curl his toes, digging fingers into the bedding, and cry out, the sound torn from his chest sounding equal parts ecstatic and anguished.
Coming down from the high was almost as sweet as the climb. Duo couldn't help the shuddering that ran through his body, his hips free to buck as Heero stroked him through the last of it. He slit his eyes open in time to see Heero run a thumb over his lower lip and lick his fingers free of the come he hadn't swallowed, unashamed and unhurried. When he saw Duo's look, he smiled and it wasn't his usual arrogant smirk. A trace of a blush colored his cheeks and Duo was reminded again of how beautiful Heero was and how young they were all supposed to be. He smiled back, sighing, and relaxed against Relena. She found his hands, folded her arms around his shoulders and chest in a comforting embrace, their fingers twining. She kissed his hair, murmuring his name as he recovered his thoughts and his breathing evened out.
"Back with us?" she asked after a moment, smoothing his bangs back away from his forehead.
"Mm."
"Heero," she chided, saying his name the way she had when they were kids, "you made him speechless."
The smirk returned. Heero climbed up onto the bed beside them, still wearing his jeans, and kissed Duo, light, affectionate. When he kissed Relena it was deep, passionate. Duo couldn't suppress a moan when he watched Heero's tongue push into her mouth, sharing the lingering taste of his come. Caught between the two of them, he nuzzled Relena's neck and gripped Heero's shoulder, already hungry for more, though his body protested that he wasn't fifteen anymore and it would take a moment to be ready for Round Two.
Since Relena wasn't the only one who liked to watch, he thought that would be just fine.
They shifted to lay against the pillows with Relena in the middle of her two men, Duo tucked against her left side, Heero on her right. Once Duo had been able to move again, it had been nothing for them to lift her higher up on the bed, making her giggle in the process at their show of strength. They all knew that Heero—or Duo—could have done it alone, but the twin effort was always worth the reaction. It was part of what Duo encouraged between them, because as much as he loved the tension with Heero—tension that he was always surprised hadn't lessened with time—he cherished the tenderness, the laughter, the unabashed joy that only seemed possible when they were all three together.
Propped up on his elbow, Duo watched with hungry eyes and a half-smile as Heero kissed Relena, his hand on her neck and his thumb on the curve of her jaw, the way that Duo liked to do with him. They'd all picked up different tricks and habits from each other—the butterfly kisses before deeper ones, the reverent kisses to bare knees, careful grips on necks and in hair. It was hard to remember who started which habit sometime, but this one Duo knew was his own. Seeing Heero mimic him had always been flattering and erotic; it was no different at twenty-four than it had been at fifteen.
He leaned down to kiss Relena's bare shoulder, a single touch at the crux of collarbone and joint. She broke her kiss with Heero to glance over at him, smiling and bringing her hand up to touch his chin. He took the invitation, playing idly with the hem of her dress as he kissed her. Heero's hand went to his hair, stroking it back so that he could see the slide of their lips, the flutter of Duo's eyelashes as he chased Relena's tongue with his own.
When they drew back for breath, flushed and half-laughing, Heero used his grip on Duo's hair to pull him over for a kiss of their own. It wasn't as demanding as earlier and Duo sighed into his mouth, content to be shared between them. Heero pulled away, licking at his bottom lip with a teasing touch and releasing his hair.
"You should take her dress off."
Duo looked down to Relena, letting his gaze rake over her delicate figure, liking the way she squirmed under the scrutiny. "I should, shouldn't I?"
"Don't you dare tease me, Duo Maxwell," she warned. He laughed and kissed her again, sweet and promising.
"I wouldn't dream of it, princess."
"You would too, you liar," she grinned, arching her back as he trailed his lips down her neck and slid his hand up her thigh. Experience and the heat of her told him that she was already impossibly wet. He grazed the barest of touches against her panties and was rewarded with a half-muted whimper. He smirked.
"Caught me."
He might have made her wait another night. Might have taunted her with clever fingers until she was begging or frustrated enough to simply yank the dress over her head herself and make him fuck her. Instead he rolled the hem up past her thighs, kissing her hip just below the line of her pretty cotton bikinis. He bared her stomach like unwrapping a present, violet eyes going wide as the tattoo on her left side came into view.
"Holy shit. When did you do this?"
"After your last visit, obviously."
"Lena, it's beautiful," he shook his head, amazed at the white and blue lines tracing her side. He stopped taking his time with undressing her and she sat up so that he could pull the dress up and off. Where he normally would have been distracted by her bared breasts or the tiny diamond at her navel, now he ran his fingers over the geometric tattoo. It felt both new and familiar, recognition hitting him like a fist to the stomach. "Shit. It's..."
"Schematics from ZERO and Deathscythe. Yes." She was beaming at him, his reaction clearly everything she had hoped for. Heero too, judging from the pleased smile on his lips. "Heero helped design it."
"Fuck, Lena," he kissed her abruptly, "fuck. I don't know what to say."
"Speechless twice in one night," Heero smirked, chuckling when Duo kissed him too.
"Fuck you," he laughed, still shaking his head. He had never thought that she would do something like this, something so permanent. "I... really, Len. It's beautiful. Thank you."
She raised her arms above her head, twisting slightly onto her side so that he could more easily see the pattern. Beside her, Heero brushed back her hair and kissed her face, tender touches to her forehead, cheeks, lips. Duo kissed her too: on her hips, her waist, her ribs, everywhere she had been tattooed. It began under her arm, on her side and along the tender curve of breast, reaching around beneath to her rib cage and down to trail along her waist to end just above her hip. The lines were fine and delicate, the thicks and thins of them applied with a precise eye and steady hand.
Duo followed those lines and curves with his fingers and his tongue, memorizing the way they were mapped onto her skin the way they had been burned into his mind. He had spent over a year staring at those screens, learning their information and rhythm until it was second nature. Horizon. Radar. Weapons systems. They'd been simplified, been merged with the still-haunting spherical grid of ZERO, but he knew these lines, these patterns. He read the few numbers and letters that were included, feeling his heart pound as he realized that they were no arbitrary logs, but dates, locations. Their lives in white and cyan, etched into her perfect skin.
"Relena," her name was a prayer on his lips. "Heero."
They both looked at him, beautiful and impossibly his. He kissed them each in turn, skin feeling too small to contain everything that he felt in this moment.
"I love you both."
They hugged him close, echoing his sentiments with words, with kisses and tender touches. "Love" had never been a dirty word between them, but it was sacred, not to be said lightly when actions spoke volumes more. Relena's tattoo was a treatise on the subject.
"So when are we getting ours?" Duo rubbed his forehead against Heero's cheek like a cat. "Tattoos?"
"Whenever you want," he promised. "Would you want the same?"
"No. No," he shook his head, looking down at Relena, "that would... lessen Lena's. But I want something."
Heero nodded and Duo knew that he already had a dozen ideas, considering and discarding them as efficiently as he did anything else. He put his hand to Heero's face and kissed him. "Later. Later, sweetheart. Right now..."
He turned his gaze to Relena's. She had been patient, more patient than she usually was in bed—in the right mood, she could be downright demanding—and he didn't want to make her wait any longer. Nor Heero, who was always so attentive and determined to make his lovers happy. Duo had already reaped those benefits once, but there was plenty more left to share.
"Right now I think Lena needs to lose the panties and you need to lose your pants."
It was easy enough to say, made harder by the tangle of limbs on the bed as no one wanted to waste any more time. Duo stripped Relena of the pink and white patterned bikinis while she helped Heero undo his jeans and shove them down his hips, three pairs of legs twining and far too much hair getting in the way as Duo's auburn length mingled with Relena's blonde waves. It might have gone easier if they had all stopped kissing and touching each other in the process, but none of them had ever gone for simple.
Duo slotted his body between Relena's legs, her foot rubbing at the back of his thigh while he palmed her hips. Above, Heero kissed her neck and collar, the flat of his hand grazing over her breasts until she arched into his touch, demanding that he do more than tease. She slid one hand into Duo's hair, lightly scratching at his scalp while he kissed the sensitive spot on her right hipbone. He glanced up to Heero, more out of habit than to communicate anything. They knew what the other was doing, would do. They had perfected this dance, no matter who led.
Hitching one of Relena's thighs up over his shoulder, Duo took his time trailing his tongue in wandering patterns over her hip and belly. She was slim, but soft and curvy enough in all the right spots, the body of a princess, something to be cherished for its beauty as much as for the clever mind it housed. He wrapped his hand around the side of her waist, just above her hip, less to hold her down than to ground her. She was already squirming, anticipating his touches while Heero kissed and caressed her above.
He tossed his hair out of his face, wishing for one moment that he'd taken the time to braid it or at least knot it up into a bun, and licked the inside of her thigh, a long, slow stroke along the femoral artery to the crease where leg met body. She groaned out a protest as he kissed the hollow there, tip of his tongue rubbing at a frustrating spot that was all at once too close and not close enough. He paused to look up the length of her body, tip of his tongue flicking over one canine in consideration as he watched Heero kiss her with those quick, repeated kisses she liked.
He circled his thumb through the single thatch of dark blonde curls crowning her pubis; the rest of her was smooth—waxed, he knew—more for the benefit of her swimsuit than her lovers' preferences. Duo did prefer it though. Liked to get as close to her as possible, liked the silky texture beneath his tongue and fingers. He stroked her with just his thumb, opening her up slowly, her wetness making a slippery path as he traced each fold and wrinkle of delicate skin. She trembled when he finally put tongue to skin, sliding around the seam of her from tip to top and back again, tasting her with closed eyes and an expression of satisfaction when she moaned.
"Duo..." his name was sweet on her tongue, breathless and a little bit shaky.
"We're here, babe," he rubbed his cheek against her thigh, his breath a teasing warmth. "Gonna make you feel good. I promise."
She whined, arching beneath him, and he didn't tease her the way he normally might have. She was already slick and ready, wouldn't have protested if Duo had fucked her right then, but he liked to take her apart with tongue and lips and the barest edge of teeth. She squealed for him, gasping and digging her nails into his scalp while he sucked at her folds and then lipped the sensitive little nodule hidden at her peak. The pain didn't deter him—he rather liked it, to be honest—and he suckled at her clit more firmly, using his tongue to press down at a sensitive spot just below before giving her wide, soft licks across the nub itself.
He stopped holding her hips down, instead moving with each thrust and shuddering roll, grinding his own lower body down into the mattress. He didn't bother to conceal his own moan as he rubbed his reawakened cock between bed and belly. He knew Relena liked that he appreciated doing this, that it turned her on to hear him enjoying himself.
A second hand joined the one on his head, gentler, and he knew by feel alone that it was Heero. He pulled away from Relena, licking the fingers that Heero offered to him with half-closed eyes, sucking on them briefly before giving her his attention again. He dipped his tongue inside of her, spreading her legs wider so that he could get closer, loving the way she pushed against his mouth and pulled at his hair. Heero's fingers played at her clit, matching Duo's rhythm until she was panting their names, all but riding his face.
Her breathing was coming quicker, her sighs and little moans higher pitched, and Duo replaced Heero's fingers with his lips. He flicked his eyes up without breaking contact to see Heero with one pink nipple in his mouth, wet fingers teasing the other as she writhed for them. Duo shivered at the sight and slid two fingers inside of her, moaning when she moaned, crooking them to rub her inner walls with a quick and steady pressure that he knew she loved. Her reactions were all that he could have wanted, her hips rocking to meet his touch and crying out more steadily as he pushed her towards the peak.
Her hips stuttered, pushing up, up, up insistently into his mouth and hand as she arched her back, coming with an incoherent cry. She shook beneath Duo, tension melting into trembling aftershocks that he encouraged, sweeping the flat of his tongue over her as she whimpered. It would have been easy for him to push her into a second, third orgasm with just his tongue and fingers. He drew back instead, wiping his lips on the back of his hand and sitting up.
He looked at Heero, who—kissing Relena's mouth—slid his hand down to cup the mound of her, pressing firmly with his palm while she writhed and squeezed her thighs shut around his touch. He didn't do more than offer pressure against the ache. Duo swallowed hard at the sight—of Relena, flushed and shivering, of Heero, impossibly hard and dripping against her thigh—sending a new rush of blood down to his cock. It was somehow more erotic to watch the careful balancing game between them than if Heero were to start fingering her again.
"Please..." It was hungry, needy.
"Lena. Who do you want, baby?" he asked, already knowing the answer. It was the unspoken rule, but he still asked. Funny that he never needed to ask Heero, but with Relena—his Gundam's computer screens etched into her skin—he still needed to know that she wanted him.
"I want you, Duo," she whispered thickly, grinding up against Heero's hand.
He smiled, exhaling deep and slow with pride and pleasure and love. "Okay, princess. Okay."
Heero met his look then, quirking an eyebrow in silent question. Duo couldn't stop the soft laugh that escaped him. As he always needed to ask Relena, Heero always needed to ask him.
"I should make you ask for it out loud," he teased, leaning over to kiss him.
"I'm not asking," Heero purred in a voice that never failed to make Duo shiver. "I'm telling you."
"Oh, yeah?" Duo licked his lip, the challenge bringing their competitive nature rushing right back. Now he wanted—needed—to make Heero say it. "Telling me what?"
"I'm going to fuck you," Heero bit at his throat, "I'm just giving you the option to say no."
"And if I say no?"
Heero chuckled, breaking the spell between them. "You never say no, Duo."
He couldn't argue that. He laughed and kissed Heero quick before ducking away to stretch across the bed for the lube and condoms on the night-stand. "I guess there's no problem then."
"No," Heero kissed him back, taking the lube and leaving the condoms for Duo. The three of them had only ever been with each other, but Duo was the only one of them who could get Relena pregnant.
Relena welcomed Duo back to her arms with a kiss and a sighed, "Thank you."
"My pleasure," he teased, nuzzling her cheek. Behind him, Heero stroked his hips and thighs with gentle hands. He knelt up, pressing his back against Heero's chest and his ass into Heero's groin. They both moaned.
Heero kissed his neck and shoulders, slid his arms around Duo's waist and let his hands wander down his stomach. Duo bit his lips, letting his head fall back against his lover's shoulder. Heero took him in hand, stroking lazily, firmly, before plucking the condom from Duo's fingers and tearing the foil open himself. It was, as ever, strangely sexy to have Heero roll the latex down his cock while Relena watched.
Duo swept his hair to one side and crawled on top of Relena, savoring the way she embraced him with arms and legs, hands smoothing over his hair and lips brushing against his temple, trailing down to kiss his lips. He swept his palms over her body, splaying his fingers out over her ribs and then down to grip her small waist. She arched her back and brought her hands up to his shoulders, encouraging him and whining when he dipped his fingers down between her legs to stroke her.
Duo kept his touches slow, trying to build things back up slowly, to give Heero time to prep him. He might have argued against much prep, but that was never an argument he could win. He shivered to feel Heero sliding wet fingers between his cheeks, seeking without teasing. He made a soft noise of pleasure, pressing his palm against Relena as Heero slipped a single finger inside. They mimicked each other, Heero working him open quickly but methodically as Duo brought Relena back up to the brink, things moving faster as they lost patience for the slow intensity that had marked the rest of the night. For what, in their bed, counted merely as foreplay.
When he had Relena begging again, writhing against his fingers and digging at the sheets with her nails, when Heero had him panting and rocking back into that sure touch, Duo glanced back at Heero. They nodded at each other. Heero withdrew his fingers, adding a final teasing twist that made Duo groan low in his throat, even as he finished Relena. She came with a shudder, crying his name and reaching for him.
Duo gave her a moment, kissed her neck, her chin, letting her catch her breath. He settled himself more closely between her thighs, opening her legs up further with a nudge of his hips. She smiled when he quirked an eyebrow at her. She nodded once and then, holding her gaze the whole time, he guided himself inside of her with one smooth, slow push. Relena breathed out his name and rolled up to meet him, her body welcoming him like he had never been gone.
"Missed you," she breathed into his ear, "missed you, missed this. Us."
"Me too," he agreed, rocking against her with a single, lazy press of his hips that made them both gasp and close their eyes against the pleasure.
"Don't wait so long next time." Heero smoothed one hand along Duo's thigh, guiding his legs apart. Duo felt the brush of Heero's cock against him, anticipation making him bite his lips.
"No. No, I don't think I will."
He fell silent but for a long, low moan that Heero pulled from his throat as he eased inside, flesh hot and slick with lube. Duo's world zeroed down to sensations: Relena's tight, wet heat gripping him and the steady pressure of Heero's thick cock opening him up. The stretch sent shots of fire through his nerves and up his spine—his own fingers had been no replacement for Heero's sure touch. Never were.
He shuddered, exhaling deeply, and tried to focus.
"It's okay," Relena stroked his face. "Relax."
"Ha. Easy for you to say." His eyes were closed, face screwed up with a mixture of pleasure and concentration. His voice was tremulous. "Heero, please. Move."
"You're sure?"
"Yeah. It's been three months, not three years. You don't need to be careful and my control isn't as good as yours."
Heero smirked at the unintentional compliment and nodded. "Okay."
Taking Duo at his word, Heero gave one leisurely thrust of his hips. Duo grunted out something that might have been a name or a curse as Relena gasped beneath him. She arched up to meet Duo, he pushed back to meet Heero, and Heero shoved forward again to meet them both.
Familiarity allowed the three to find their rhythm and settle into each other, with Heero taking control over the pace. His hands on Duo's hips, body flexing in a steady back and forth, he urged them from slow and intense and steady to something more desperate.
Caught between his lovers, Duo could only close his eyes and let them overwhelm him. Relena's nails scratching at his arms and shoulders, Heero gripping his hip with one hand and his hair with the other. When he pulled against the grip, Heero pulled back, just like Duo knew he would do. The ache in his scalp was delicious, Relena's shuddery cries intoxicating. Her body, gripping his cock like they were made for each other, Heero sliding in and out of him like he had a personal claim on Duo's ass. Which of course he did, but Duo would never tell him that.
He found himself muttering their names over and over, punctuating them with "please"s and "fuck"s.
"Are you close?" Relena panted beneath him, her face flushed and taut. The concern that peaked out from her eyes made him kiss her.
"Yeah, I am."
"Me too."
"So am I," Heero reassured them both, draping himself over Duo's back to kiss his neck.
They rocked together faster, Duo kissing Relena's face and down her neck. He hadn't yet taken his chance to kiss her softly mounded breasts but he did it now, pleased when she arched up against him and clutched at what hair Heero wasn't already fisting. He splayed his hand over her belly, angling his thumb to rub at her clit. She didn't need it—he knew from experience—not at this point in the game, but the extra sensation made her squeal and buck. It was gratifying, as it ever was, to make her react so strongly to his touch.
"Lena first," he muttered to Heero. To himself. To anyone and no one at all.
"Duo..."
"Yeah, babe," he licked the flat of his tongue over her nipple. "Right here. I've got you."
He met her increasingly erratic thrusts with his own, faltering from the steady pace Heero had set up. She was quaking under his touch, familiar shudders that told him she was coming close and closer. He had to grit his teeth, force himself to concentrate on making her come rather than the way her body moved beneath his, the way her slick thighs opened to him, the way her walls gripped at his cock. If he thought about Heero at all he would be undone.
Relena sobbed out his name, clenching and shaking, as he buried himself into her one more time. She was tight, impossibly tight around him, and just when he thought that he would lose control, the tension released and she fell back against the mussed sheets, gasping for breath and shivering.
Those final twitches were what did it. Duo bucked into her, unable to help himself, and as she gave another helpless cry and last shudder, he came too. It hit him in a rush of heat, leaving him clutching Relena and only vaguely aware of Heero fucking him with short, ragged strokes. Oversensitive, aching, Duo could only let Heero pump into him while he jerked with involuntary spasms. A low moan of relief left his lips as Heero's body went abruptly stiff, the heat of his come filling him. The sound was echoed by Heero's own gasping cry.
They fell still, only the strength of Heero's hand keeping Duo from collapsing them both on top of Relena. For several long moments, they remained like that, the sound of their breathing filling up the room. Duo's skin was hot, sheened with sweat in the small bedroom that suddenly felt too stuffy in spite of the open windows and lazy ceiling fans. Before it could become oppressive, Heero pulled back, giving Duo room to do the same.
There were hisses and more moans—exhausted and weak—as they disentangled and resettled themselves on the bed, condom discarded, the wet spot deliberately ignored. A proper cleanup could wait until someone could stand. Heero stretched towards the controls for the ceiling fan and set the speed higher, encouraging the breeze downward onto their flushed, tired bodies.
Relena cuddled against Duo, on his back, with her thigh draped over his hips. They'd both shoved their hair up and away on the pillows, neither wanting the heat of it against their skin. Heero was on his back too, the length of his side touching Duo, his neck braced on Duo's outstretched arm and his head on the single pillow that wasn't covered in blonde or auburn tangles. He brought his hand up to lace his fingers with Duo's and Duo squeezed.
It was quiet between them, their breathing softer. The fan creaked and they could hear the steady crash of the ocean, the tinkling of wind chimes on the porch. The air began to cool, just enough to make Relena draw a single sheet up over their hips. They were content, comfortable.
"Did you mean it?" she finally broke the calm. "Duo?"
He frowned up at the ceiling, licking his lips. "Did I mean what?"
"That you're not going to stay away from us for so long anymore."
He paused, but not out of hesitation or to find a loophole to his earlier words. He smiled, fully aware that if they were looking at his face, he would be the one who appeared young, innocent. Genuine happiness did that, when he let it show.
"Yeah. I mean it."
"Really?"
He hesitated, not able to look at either of them. There were other answers he could give, some good, some bad, some that would change everything. Hilde had offered him the opportunity to seek out what he really wanted. They had offered this to him for years, making it plain that he only needed to say yes. There had been no conditions, no time limit, just an open-ended promise. None of them had ever expected Duo to take them up on it.
He had considered it, of course. Been considering it the whole day, just as he had for weeks, months. Since the last time he left and felt like he was running from something that he didn't want to run from. He was just afraid of wanting it.
Afraid of saying it. Making it real.
When things were real, that was when he tended to lose them.
They gave him time to answer, Heero squeezing his hand and Relena hugging him. Their reassurance made him brave, made him find the words.
"What if I just stayed?"
"For good?" Heero spoke first, cautious, straightforward. Duo knew it was because he was both protecting Relena and afraid for his own heart. There was precedent, after all. Most recently, three months worth.
"Hilde's open to buying my half of the business. If I ever wanted to sell." He felt Relena shift against his side, heard Heero's breathing still.
"And?"
"And... I love the Colonies. I love being on Earth but L2 has always been home. It's not home anymore." He turned to look at Heero, finding the words coming to him with ease and honesty. It felt right to brush a kiss against Heero's lips, then Relena's, and confess, "Home is with you two."
"Duo..." she whispered, surprised and pleased and breathless. "I'm so happy to hear you say that."
He kissed her again, gentle, afraid that his heart might break from being so full. "Heero? What about you?"
"Welcome home," he whispered against Duo's hair, kissing his cross tattoo like he was sealing a promise of his own. "It's about time you realized it."
—END—