Warnings: In the first part. Look or you might get a surprise.
Disclaimers: I don’t own them…duh.
Authors Note: This part is short, but I’ll make up for it later!!
After spending hours at the beach, in play, work, and relaxation, they returned to the house. After shutting the door behind them, Trowa hugged Duo to him, “Are you okay? You’ve been quiet.”
The smile Duo offered was genuine, “I’m fine. Today was fun.”
Stepping away, the long-haired man pulled off his shirt, blinking when hands ran across his chest and shoulders from behind. “I left marks on you, Duo.”
“That bothers you?” Duo actually liked knowing the tall man had lost control enough to put marks on his skin.
Fingers
caressed the outline of teeth marks as Trowa’s breath caught in a quiet gasp,
“This means you belong to me. It excites
me to see marks I made on you.
“I like it and no one’s going to see it, so you can do it all you want,” Duo smiled as he turned and stood on his toes to kiss the other man quickly. “I’m going to take a shower and review the footage from the camera.”
“Leave the footage until later. Take your shower and come back down,” Trowa instructed. “The footage can wait, Duo.”
“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you don’t want to catch Merick,” noted Duo as he stopped at the foot of the stairs.
“I want to catch him,” Trowa said, his voice subdued. “At the same time, I don’t want to, not so soon. His capture means our time here will be at an end; I’m not ready for that.”
Duo understood the sentiment, but wouldn’t allow his mind to dwell on it. His sense of justice urged him to capture Merick as soon as possible. The love he felt for his partner held him back from actively pursuing their target, giving him something else to feel guilty about. In the shower he thought about these things, sighing when he realized he was rubbing the marks Trowa had left on his body.
He hadn’t said anything to Trowa and he wouldn’t, but he had already made a decision that would change the course of his life even further. Aware now of how deep his feelings ran, it would no longer be possible to work with Trowa once they returned to the Preventers. After their first night together it had been difficult to work alongside the other man as if nothing had happened. After this interlude, working with Trowa would be unbearable.
For the time being he was able to hide the complexity of his feelings, but it wouldn’t take long for that to change. Their friends and the people they worked with were too observant not to see how he felt and that was something he could never allow to happen. Quatre must never find out about the affair; the best way to keep the blonde from discovering their indiscretions would be to cut all ties with Trowa.
It would be one of the most painful and heartbreaking things he had ever done in his life, but the pain would be his penance for doing something so stupid and wrong. He didn’t try to convince himself Trowa would be affected by his choice; the quiet man had been committed to Quatre for years and, in spite of what he said now, would eventually tire of Duo’s company. The thought was a depressing one, but Duo didn’t let himself think too much about it now, determined to enjoy the short time they had.
Out of the shower he descended the stairs, hairbrush in hand. Noises from the kitchen had him turning in that direction, freezing in the doorway when he saw the table already set with dinner, candles lighting the dishes arranged there with a soft glow, “What is this?”
Turning from the fridge with a bottle of wine in his hand, Trowa smiled at Duo, an expression filled with pleasure at the long-haired man’s clear wonder. “I told you I had a surprise,” he said softly, setting the wine on the table before crossing the room to pull the stunned man into his arms.
“How? Why?”
“I had the store deliver everything while we were at the beach. I wanted to show you how I feel about you.”
For a moment Duo let himself imagine what life could be like if he really did belong to the tall man; there would be laughter and love and small surprises like this to look forward to. His breath hitched on a sob he swallowed hastily, letting his head rest against Trowa’s chest for a minute so he could get his raging emotions under control. “It’s beautiful, Trowa. Thank you.”
Arms tightened around him. “What’s wrong?”
“Everything’s perfect. I can’t believe you did all of this.”
“I should have done something like this a lot sooner. In the future, I promise I’ll do better.”
The vow broke something inside Duo, though he hid the pain. Forcing a smile, he tilted his head up to receive the waiting kiss, painfully aware there was no future for them.