Another Version of Events
by Karan Seraph
Chapter 32
The song that Trowa was to sing and thus imagined in his head was much faster in tempo than the song Duo had just sang. It had to be, for the hypnotic rolling of Trowa's hips was quite rapid as well as overtly sexual. If it was a competition Heero might think it a draw.
Trowa made some trilling yodel-like sound and broke rhythm to swing his hips hard to one side and then the other. "Ya he ya he ya la he... ya he ya he ya la he."
Quatre made a happy sort of high-pitched sound.
Trowa only had to lift a brow slightly to signal him and that made Heero think Quatre knew the song. He turned back to the table and beat a drum roll on the wooden tabletop with his fingers.
Trowa made his movements quick again and snapped his fingers as he snaked his arms about his body. When he sang, the lyrics were in English, rapid-fire and strongly accented.
"Oh, you know I have seen a sky without sun, a men with no nation, saints captive in chains, a song with no name for lack of imagination... ya he ya he ya la he... and I have seen darker than ebony... ya he ya he ya la he... you know it seems that I, without your eyes, could never be..."
Trowa, literally, danced a circle about Duo while keeping up the wild rhythm that Heero suspected was very like belly dancing. "My one desire, all I aspire is in your eyes, forever to live, traveled all over, crossed lands and oceans, there's nothing that I wouldn't give... came from Bahrain, got to Beirut, looking for someone, comparing to you, tearing down windows and doors, and I could not find eyes like yours..."
Well it wasn't all in English...
"Rabboussamai fikarrajaii, Fi ainaiha aralhayati, Ati ilaika min haza lkaaouni, Arjouka labbi labbi nidai."
"And take me to the bridge," Duo chanted.
Trowa sang softly and wordlessly and then continued the staccato-like singing from before. "Oh, you know I have seen a woman of means and rags and begging for pleasure, crossed a river of salt, the specter, I rode the ship that sunk in the desert."
And then Trowa made a graceful transition from the gyrations into a dervish-like spin and sang wordlessly the melody he was hearing. He went still then and sang, "eyes like yours," and then bowed.
Quatre stood up and clapped his hands.
Trowa straightened and hugged himself. "I think that was the most femme thing I ever did," he whispered. He looked at Wufei to ask if this might be true.
"I can not say, Trowa. I do not know all the other things you did. I imagine that some things you do no woman would want to, so that can't be considered femme."
"It does not matter if a man or woman dances like that," Quatre said, "It is just sexy!"
"Yes?" Trowa asked, pulling hair into his face.
Quatre smiled brightly.
Trowa smiled.
Duo mimed a chain of tiny explosions between Quatre and Trowa, by making fists and then opening them, and said, "sparks... sparks... sparks."
There were sparks flying between them. There was nothing to see except the slight darkening of skin and wide eyes and Duo's clowning but Heero could feel sparks. Hot pinpoints of something that glowed and spread and faded into the increasingly warm atmosphere of the room.
"I could have been a contender without the busted leg," Duo said, to Wufei it seemed.
"Neither one of you has converted me yet. Still a draw."
Was that the game? That seemed like a very stupid game to Heero. Convert Wufei to homosexuality and win? Neither one of them was interested in Wufei personally. Heero did not see why Wufei would cooperate.
Was talking about keeping score part of the joke?
Don't be angry, Heero told himself. You are the one who is different. It is not their fault you are overwhelmed here.
"I wish I could take you both home," Quatre said as he stood hugging Duo's arm, "you are both so entertaining when you are together."
There was something about Trowa... if Quatre was indicating that this level of exhibition was entirely new then something had changed.
Trowa whispered something at Duo's far ear. Heero did not hear the words.
"Oh, that is so tempting," Duo said, melodramatically sinking toward the floor so that Quatre had to hold him up.
"I think I really want to do it!" Trowa said. He looked at Quatre and nearly panted. "Quatre do you... dancing... we could all go out dancing together!"
"You can't go out dancing," Heero said flatly.
The nervous laugh. Duo toyed with his braid. "Well, I was going to ask you to come too, Heero!"
Heero shook his head. "What about school in the morning and the mobile suit project and work?"
"That's it! You're not my Daddy anymore," Duo pouted. An instant later his face appeared happy again. That was an act.
Duo, Heero thought, I hate when you are like this.
"Wufei, you'll come out with us!" Duo said.
"Afraid I will not be coming out tonight, Duo," Wufei said, smirking, "I am not opposed to a night of clubbing with you, but it is short notice and I do have meetings tomorrow. Actually, maybe we should settle our bill."
"I will take care of it," Quatre said.
"You do not have to," Wufei said.
"It is no problem. It was good of you to have tea with us so late."
"Sorry if I was moody, I..." Duo started.
"I understand," Wufei said, "I hope you have a good night." He left the dining room shortly after.
As Wufei was leaving Duo smiled and then grabbed Quatre's arm. "You can pay for me too, Quatre, but I'll pay for Heero. He's my date."
"Maybe we should just all call it a night," Quatre said reasonably. "I know I have a lot to catch up on."
"Don't you want to go dancing with us?" Duo asked.
"I do," Quatre said, "I just questioned if it was the best... plan."
"You should come with us, Heero," Trowa said, "Will you?"
"I do not think it is my sort of activity," Heero said. If he could not tolerate Duo dancing in a small room with Trowa then how was he to tolerate Duo dancing in a crowd of people who might actually be interested in him?
Duo leaned across the table. "Please, Heero," he whispered, "I haven't been out clubbing in weeks."
Weeks. The amount of time they had been together. How was it a good strategy for them to visit Duo's old haunts where he would no doubt feel comfortable and find plenty of willing companions and where Heero would only feel awkward and unsure of how to act? What could he say? If he told Duo not to go it might come across as very needy and smothering.
Was he needy or smothering or dependant? No. Duo should be allowed to have his own friends and interests and Heero should do the same.
If he went with Duo, he would probably hold Duo back. He might prevent Duo from sharing activities that were relatively innocent and well within his right to pursue happiness. That might be smothering.
Maybe.
Heero did not have the data he required to make this decision with confidence.
"You should not let me hold you back," Heero said finally.
"You don't care if I go without you?" Duo asked.
"I-I care... I just do not wish to go clubbing, but wish for you to go if you decide that is what you want."
Duo leaned his weight back and folded his arms across his chest. "Well, this is a familiar arrangement, huh?"
"Actually, I better stay around..." Quatre said.
"Quatre?" Trowa demanded.
"Go with Duo. The past week hasn't been much fun for any of us. You both deserve to do something purely fun. Take the R and R and do not worry about me."
Trowa's right hand rose. "Thank you..." He trailed off and stared at his hand. Heero thought Trowa had been about to salute Quatre. Instead he turned his back on him.
"C'mon, Trowa, we'll take my shuttle." Duo took Trowa's arm and pulled him from the room. Trowa offered very little resistance.
Heero sighed deeply then poured himself another cup of sake. Quatre sat opposite in the chair Trowa had previously occupied. He pulled the bowls of cherries and chocolate, which Duo had abandoned, toward him.
"He almost saluted," Heero said after a while.
"I know." Quatre dragged a cherry through the thickening chocolate sauce. "You saw he questioned himself. I am going to keep pushing him until he just says no to me one day."
"You would never ask Trowa to do something that he would feel the need to say no to."
Quatre took a cherry pit from his mouth and tossed it over his shoulder into the garden. "I might," he said.
"No, you would not."
"He needs to be pushed."
Heero said nothing.
"Not too much. In a positive way."
"I just thought using military jargon and command might not be the best way."
"I will note your protest," Quatre said, "I do not speak to Trowa that way often. The point is for him to refuse the orders. I really have enough people waiting on my orders; I do not need Trowa among them."
"Aa. That bothers you."
"You noticed?"
"Just now. He has always done it?"
Quatre sighed. "Heero, he is so frightening a soldier and I let him surrender to me. I gave him orders. I outfitted and supplied him. I nearly killed him. And he would die for me."
"I thought... I heard that it was you who surrendered."
"I just lowered my defenses first. I clearly had weaponry and backup when he did not. He had no power to keep me against my will."
"Aa... but even if you had the power to take him, I don't think it was against his will."
"It was good strategy to accept my terms. I offered supplies, shelter and freedom if he only stopped resisting me."
"A generous if suspicious offer."
"He was suspicious. Then he was not. He was... protective."
"He..."
"Loves me?" Quatre asked. "I know. You can say it. Trowa loves me as much as he is able to love anyone. I love him as much as I am able to love anyone. That is not good enough."
"He loves you. He is crazy about you. Someone probably has started a pool at HQ as to when you will get together."
"People have to be equals to be lovers. I love Trowa and I have no wish to waste time on acting more or less domineering or claiming top or bottom or vying for control. I want nothing less than my equal."
Heero laughed. "You are rather domineering."
"Well, that can't be helped, but I do not want a slave. I want a lover. So, he's got to be strong enough that he can stand up for himself, especially against me. I know I am madly in love and I have idolized him, but at least I have a healthy amount of pride in the good things I have done. Yes, guilt issues, but I do not hate myself. Trowa thinks I am wonderful, but he seems to still think quite little of himself. You can't be lovers if one is up on a pedestal and the other is beneath the sand."
"Unless a storm buried the pedestal," Heero said.
Quatre laughed half-heartedly.
"Or, the sand rose up into a dune level with the pedestal."
Quatre just laughed. "I fear I am hopeless. This is not the only strategy I have tried. I tried being kind and friendly and flirtatious and so many other things. I feel I am loosing my mind!"
"Quatre... did you do something to make Trowa change his hair?"
"I slept with him." Quatre shrugged.
"You...?"
"Slept. Apart from us driving each other mad pretending to fall asleep in the same bed last week. On the shuttle. I have a pilot for my shuttle so neither of us had to remain in the cockpit. We went into a bunk in the cabin and we slept. I don't think either of us had had more than three hours of sleep at one time the entire week before. The pilot had to wake us when we landed here. So, after checking in at Headquarters and getting showers we were wide awake. Trowa came to my room and suggested the movie and I accepted the invitation gladly."
"When you slept, did one of you hold the other?"
Quatre shook his head. "I do not remember. I think that when we woke we were very close, but I do not think there was anything like holding."
"That sounds equal."
"You think?"
"Maybe it is not the strategy but the timing. You must have the correct combination of approach and timing for your strategy to succeed."
"Yes..."
"He stopped trying to hide how beautiful he looks."
"Indicating confidence and a healthy self-image!" Quatre gasped.
"He wanted you to dance with him."
"I know. I wanted to go. I thought Duo would feel bad if there were just the three of us."
"You three usually get along well."
"Duo wanted you to go with him."
"I know. Quatre, I hated seeing him dance with Trowa. It was not jealousy exactly. It was... I don't understand what that was. Maybe it is a kind of jealousy. Not of Trowa. Of Duo. I feel jealous that Duo knows how to be so very social and that he can joke and sing and dance and flirt and everyone thinks it entertaining. If I went to a nightclub I would hide in a corner. That would not be fun for any of us."
"You are afraid Duo would run off to dance with someone who was more social and leave you in the corner?" Quatre whispered.
Heero nodded.
"He is afraid that you will decide you do not want him."
"I want him!"
"Trust me, Heero, I know." Quatre smiled warmly. "The trial seemed like a good idea but there have been so many interruptions and now, as you find the end closing in, you are both very anxious. When Duo gets anxious, it is not his instinct to face things."
"He runs or hides."
"Please trust me on this, Heero, but do not ask me to explain. You do not have to worry about Duo. Just be yourself. Things will work out."
"I am failing him!" Heero said. "I let him run and hide again. It was not smothering. He asked me to go. I failed him."
"There's time for a rescue I think."
"Quatre, I have to go after him!"
"Yes."
"But... I still do not know how to act at a club."
"Well, do you know anyone else who is a particularly social person?" Quatre asked.
Heero felt very foolish. Quatre had foreseen this point in the conversation before Duo and Trowa had even left them. "Quatre."
"Yes, Heero?"
"I could really use some backup and advice on strategy right now and you are so good with these things... will you please help me?"
"Of course, Heero. Let's settle the bill to start."
Quatre paid for the meal and for the taxi that drove them to Heero's apartment, after Ursula had said she thought Duo had said he was going to stop there and that she thought Heero should go after him. Quatre said a change of clothes was a good idea. On the way to Heero's he called his pilot to prep his shuttle for them.
At the apartment Heero found all the locks locked and only Koi greeted them. Duo had been there; there was a shoe near the door. Duo sometimes removed his shoes at the door and forgot to put them in the closet. Heero picked up the boot.
"This is your apartment?" Quatre asked. "It is gorgeous."
Heero had re-hung the draperies and art before they left for the theater. "Aa, it is nice. I have a decorator." Heero walked into the bedroom as Quatre was greeting Koi. There was a litter of clothing and makeup on the bed and dresser that said Duo had been in a hurry.
Quatre and Koi came into the bedroom. "Oh, who did that painting?" Quatre asked with awe.
That was the other clue that someone had been here. Propped against the wall on which Ursula's landscape was hung there were two new pieces of art. Shizen's work. Heero recognized the print he had ordered but there was a second, rather large, painting beside it.
"Shizen," Heero said. She had painted Heero and Duo. They were not characters that almost looked like them, it was them, or a Heero and Duo, floating or perhaps falling against a background of impossibly arranged stars and cobwebs and machinery, millimeters from kissing each other and wearing some manner of ancient robes that threatened to slip from their bodies completely if gravity exerted any more force.
Heero walked around the bed and sat down upon it, facing the new painting. It was a beautiful painting.
"That one's not... Akairo?"
"You too?" Heero growled.
Quatre laughed. "I just know him from some doujinshi I looked at."
"I should change my clothes," Heero thought aloud. "What do you think I should wear?"
"Not much," Quatre said.
"E'?" Heero turned to look at Quatre.
"We know where they went." Quatre pointed to the note on the mirror.
Heero had seen it but not deciphered Duo's scrawl before Quatre had asked about the painting. "Ibiza?"
"Ibiza." Heero noted the pronunciation and decided it must be Spanish. "I am sure he means the one in Luna Sea."
One of the Lunar tourist districts, Heero reminded himself. He had been to the Moon before, even to it's tourist areas, but never to the Luna Sea dome. "What do you mean, 'not much'?"
"Heero, what is the most crowded, wild, sexy, loud, hedonistic place or event you have ever been to?"
Heero thought. He had traveled to many cities within the Earth Sphere and seen many strange things, but overall he had kept to himself. "Duo took me to the Gotham Movie-Show Theater."
"Luna Sea nightclubs are all at least 100 times more intense than a movie-show and on a Monday Ibiza might be the most intensely hedonistic of them all."
Heero had heard of the Lunar nightclubs, though he had never been to any. They only closed for a few hours each day and when one closed there were others open so that the district contained a never-ending party. They featured low gravity dance and recreation environments and sometimes large spinning rooms that simulated higher levels of gravity.
No doubt this partying involved a great deal of sex, drugs and loud music and if rumors were true, bizarre stage shows and décor added to the unreal atmosphere.
Heero decided the most revealing and trendy clothing he owned and was willing to wear was the Cheong-Leen shirt and the vinyl jeans Duo had given him. Quatre said he had clothes on his shuttle that he might wear. Heero needed shoes that magnetic materials in the soles, which he could dance in, and which he wouldn't mind getting wet or dirty. Quatre would not explain why any part of Heero would get wet or dirty, but the implication was that all of Heero's clothes should be wet-washable or disposable.
Heero zipped up an old pair of OZ-issue boots then washed his face, brushed his teeth, combed his hair with his fingers and borrowed some vanilla lip gloss from Duo's pile of stuff on the dresser.
"You look good for someone who never goes to nightclubs," Quatre said as Heero was gathering the ID and cash cards he would need.
"I just ask myself, 'What would Duo do?'" Heero put his cards in a holder attached to a chain and then hooked the chair to a beltloop. "Should we take Koi? He's been inside a while."
"They would adore him, but I do not think Koi would adore the club."
Heero stooped and pet the dog. "You will be OK, Koi. Usually we would both be asleep now. I will get you breakfast and a walk as soon as I get back."
Heero ushered Quatre from the apartment then and locked the locks again.
They took another taxi to the port and went through the various checkpoints to Quatre's shuttle. It was not corporate, just Quatre's, though he probably arranged reimbursements from company accounts to personal accounts when he used it for business trips.
Quatre spoke to his pilot outside the main boarding hatch that led into the cabin. The pilot opened the door then and they stepped inside.
"It looks... expensive," Heero said.
Quatre laughed. "A little, not ridiculously so. The furnishings are all straight out of a catalog and mass produced; it's not a custom job. I travel so much that I thought this justified."
"Aa." It was not unusual for passenger shuttles to be furnished with various chairs and sleeping facilities and even dining areas, it was just that the interior of Quatre's shuttle looked like someone's apartment more than it did an aerospace craft. The chairs had harnesses, but resembled in shape and arrangement overstuffed couch and matching arm chairs.
He even had accessories, like art on the walls and small statuary.
"This all survives take-off, zero g, and landing?"
"Yes. A great deal of real Velcro holding the smaller items down and the furniture is all quite securely bolted into the frame, or to extensions of the frame. I am going to go into the bedroom and change."
Heero sat down on the couch. The interior surfaces were all clean, synthetic and white but the furnishings were in darker more earth-toned neutrals. Here and there Heero saw something green. That was important, to have greenery, even if it was the color of a vase or a pillow.
The throw pillows had strips of many tiny hooks on one side and the couch and chairs had various companion strips of many tiny loops so that the pillows could be moved into various positions.
There was even an upholstered ottoman with a tray on it, and the tray had a stack of old books and vase on it. A silvery cable ending in alligator clips held the books on the tray. Velcro and some sort of floral foam held the vase and white roses in place.
There was a dining room and a computer desk and beyond that two panels of white fabric suspended between floor and ceiling.
"Quatre?"
"Yes?"
"Do you know your silhouette is projected onto the panel when you stand there?"
"Yes... do you want me to turn off the light?"
"No."
Quatre laughed. He did a dance behind the screen to test if Heero was still watching. Heero saw it, but then he turned his attention elsewhere.
Some time after launch from the Colony Quatre called to Heero, telling him that he could come into the bedroom if he wished to. Heero unstrapped himself from the seat and tested his shoes on the floor. He could feel the slight pull between plates in the shoes and metal structure beneath the floor.
Heero stood and walked into Quatre's bedroom. He had glimpsed parts of it before. He noted the white furnishings and large bed and then he saw Quatre. "Damn..."
"Thank you."
It was just pants and a jacket, but then the pants looked like something poured over Quatre's skin and the jacket was not only translucent but snug across Quatre's chest and shoulders, so that with only his hands and face bared Quatre had exposed the shape of his entire body.
Heero raised his eyes and saw Quatre smiling. "I get that a lot."
"Ee?"
"You were going to tell me how I have grown."
"But then you might have thought I was making a bad pun... and I was not."
Quatre laughed. He turned toward the mirror opposite the bed. "It is sick that someone with this body should still be a virgin."
Heero blinked slowly. He had no idea what to say to that.
"You understand," Quatre said simply. He did a turn before the mirror. "Some of it is genetic and I did used to have issues over whether I was natural born or not and whether I could be proud of the way I looked... but I worked for this body. I eat good food. I do an obscene amount of yoga. I tweaked the resistance on my mobile suits..." Quatre did a pose that showed the muscles in his arms.
Heero smirked, but he understood. It took some amount of strength to pilot a mobile suit. It was not just pushing buttons; the operation required resistance on the controls to give the pilot a feel for where the suit's limbs were placed. Legs were worked, but mobile suits pilots usually did have good muscle tone in their arms and upper torso.
Quatre kicked up off the floor and floated. "I really dislike this teen angst stage I seem to be going through," Quatre sighed. "I looked completely baby-faced and slight of build for more than sixteen years of my life and even though I have been lethal terrorist disowned by his family, successful teenaged CEO of a very large financial combine, government representative and national defense force officer there are people who can still think me innocent and naïve and in need of protection. I worked so hard to carry all my responsibilities and I waited for my body to grow. I am tired of waiting."
Heero stepped in front of the mirror. "What exactly is your complaint, Quatre?" Heero asked, "Right now you do have a impressive body, obscene wealth and an excellent social reputation. You are not waiting."
"I am waiting for Trowa."
"I am beginning to see Duo's point," Heero growled.
"You mean that argument they always have?"
"You really do know."
"Of course. They do not even whisper most of the time." Quatre laughed softly then tucked his legs and rotated so that he could stretch his feet to the ceiling. He walked across the ceiling and then stooped down so that he looked Heero eye to eye. "What should I do, Heero?"
"You are asking me for sex advice?"
"Relationship advice."
Heero rolled his eyes. "You are asking me for relationship advice?"
Quatre smiled. His image registered as upside down but Heero was able to read his expressions just the same.
"There should be a discussion. You don't have to be very emotional or admit everything, but you should state your intentions. Duo thinks that you and Trowa are in love and that if you have sex everything will suddenly be worked out. Duo and I had strong feelings about each other and we tried sex and it did not work out right away."
"But it has, right?"
"Yes, but after we had a brief but sincere talk about our basic position and intent toward the subject..."
"Heero?"
"I am you."
"Pardon?"
"I am Quatre and you are Trowa. You are dancing at a club."
"You are asking me to role-play with you?" Quatre he walked down the wall onto the floor.
"In a purely therapeutic and educational manner, it is not a fetish or a fantasy game."
Quatre nodded. "I am Trowa."
"You are dancing at a club."
Quatre started dancing. This was a slow sort of dance, but Quatre looked good doing it.
"You are thinking about me, about Quatre."
"Right."
"What are you thinking?"
"Duo's cute and all, but I wanted Quatre to dance with me."
"And now you see I have arrived," Heero said. He looked steadily at Quatre. "Oh, Trowa..."
"I can't hear you."
"You can read lips a little and you can see that it is me."
Quatre smiled and kept dancing.
What would Quatre do? Right, he would know that Trowa had been thinking that he wanted to dance with him and he would go dance with Trowa. Heero shrugged then stepped in close to Quatre and tried to follow his moves at least enough that they did not crash into each other. He rested his arms on Quatre's shoulders.
"You don't think I would lead?" Quatre demanded.
"I do not know what you are talking about, Trowa, you are leading. You are so good at dancing, you should just lead and let me follow for now."
"That was good!" Quatre said giddily.
"I know. That is what you should do with Trowa. Now, after we dance for a while, after you and Trowa dance..."
"What if he isn't dancing when we get there?"
Heero considered that. Contingency plans were valuable. "Save this strategy for when Trowa is dancing."
"So, after we dance?"
Heero smirked. "Trowa, are you hot, or is it just me?"
Quatre laughed. Then he made a very Trowa facial expression that seemed to say he could not answer the question.
"Would you like to go get a drink with me?"
"I don't think he can hear me on the dance floor."
"Trowa does not need to hear to know what you are saying. But, if you are concerned, you will just have to try body language. Duo is good at it. Like this." Heero tried to act like Duo would. He smiled darkly and winked slowly and then tipped his head in the direction they should walk. Finally Heero slipped his right hand down Quatre's arm to his hand so he could pulled Quatre after him if he did not understand he should follow.
"So, we go get a drink."
"Is there anywhere that is not very loud in this club?" Heero asked.
"Well, there are these booths..."
"Oh..."
"But mostly people go in there because there is a curtain... to have sex... if they are not content to find a more public place."
"People are having sex... in the club?"
Quatre nodded and grinned wickedly. "All the time! Of course, I never have."
Heero sighed. "Trowa, let's go in that booth there... I just want to talk to you."
"Quatre?"
"Unless you had something else in mind?"
Quatre laughed giddily. "Talk. Good."
"We are in the booth now," Heero said.
"You want to talk to me, Quatre?" Quatre asked.
"Trowa, look at me."
Quatre looked.
"It is sick that someone with this body should still be a virgin!"
Quatre gasped.
Heero continued. "Trowa, I love you. All the beauty and wealth and fame is nothing if I can't have you. I want to be your lover. I need to know if you want me. If it is too soon now, can you tell me how I can help you be ready? I am so ready... Trowa."
Quatre leaned in and stopped just short of kissing Heero.
"You smell like clove," Heero said.
"It is my shampoo. Do you think Trowa would kiss me if I said all that? I want him to kiss me."
"If he does not kiss you, if he looks like he will leave... you could say, 'I did not mean to pressure you. May I hold you? Trowa, I want to.'"
"Oh, That's nice. I would mean it, you know." Quatre took a step back.
"Of course," Heero said.
"It would mean I was making the first move."
"It is more an invitation."
"Have I been wrong, Heero? Have I thought him fragile the way he has thought me fragile?"
"Honestly, Trowa is still not fully in sync with his own emotions or very able to express them. He is getting better. Maybe Duo's idea would be like shock therapy. I have no idea if that would work."
"Well, it sounds like Duo's plan is... well to do everything right away. As much as I want Trowa, I think I would settle for a kiss to start."
"Are you..."
"Safe sex?"
"Can you do that with everyone?"
"Not everyone, I can read you fairly well, though."
Heero nodded.
"I thought by the time we would do anything risky I would know whether it would be a purely monogamous arrangement or not."
"Right."
"Hey, I can't say for certain, but I have a feeling that, if you can just treat Duo well during the rest of the trial you agreed to, everything will be worked out very well."
"I hope so."
"I heard that make up sex is good."
"Make up?"
"After an argument. I heard that if you argue and then make up with each other the sex is good. I think it is the added emotional rush. You know: I love you, I am sorry, I missed this."
Heero smiled to himself. "It is always good with Duo."
"Oh, I hate you!" Quatre insisted, though Heero knew it was a lie.
"So, tell me about this club. What do we need to know?"
Quatre chuckled. "You need to look sexy, watch your wallet, watch your drinks, keep in mind that the very coolest people are probably paid to be there and to seem like they enjoy your company and that the rest are likely wealthy tourists who want to be cool, tripping on whatever's popular and that the bubbles and glitter and lights all look especially interesting when one is on drugs."
"And Duo and Trowa went there?"
"It is not the only sort of nightclub Duo enjoys. Mainly, I think it is for the dancing and staged stunts Duo and Trowa chose this club. Duo really enjoys dancing. I think it can be spiritual and cathartic for him without drugs."
"Works his aggression out?"
"That too."
"Aa."
"So, let's work on some moves together," Quatre said.
"Moves?"
Quatre laughed. "You got much too confused when Trowa and Duo danced for us."
"For us," Heero repeated.
"Right. That's the real reason they do that. They are showing off for us. Like peacocks, eh?"
Heero giggled and then he covered his mouth because he could not believe he had giggled. "That is so male of them."
"Yes, but look how we are dressed. You have no plans to take anyone but Duo home, but you chose to wear that. I am aware of the assets of my outfit..."
"Shows all your assets."
Quatre laughed and shook his head. "Right. But I was saying, look in the mirror. Leash for a belt: very kinky."
"Well, Duo is probably running around half dressed and wearing his collar. Someone else might be tempted to put a leash on him if I do not."
"So kinky."
"What kind of music will they play?"
"Many different kinds, they have many separate rooms and there are DJs for each space. Even the bathrooms. They have the less experienced DJ's play rooms like that. Mostly it is dance music. Electronic dance music of some form, heavily mixed by the DJs of course."
"Well, that is no problem," Heero said, "One only has to move to the music, not know actual steps or moves."
"You dance? Club sort of dancing?"
"Well, I do have excellent sense of balance and rhythm. I just have to get into the music."
"Really?"
"Dance was part of my training."
Quatre shrugged. "Duo taught me."
"He did?"
"I did not know how to dance at all. I just had never done it before. I could move around to the music, but it was not fun to watch. Duo taught me. Trowa's good! Did you see Trowa dance?"
"Yes."
"Right. I knew you did. I knew he could. When he would write me or phone me he would say that he went out with his friends from the circus to nightclubs."
"He is not only a soldier anymore."
Quatre smiled.
The shuttle docked along the ground level ring at the base of Luna Sea's dome. Their first glimpse of the Lunar surface and of the domed tourist district was from a walkway just inside the transparent dome. Outside there was the gray Lunar landscape and inside a dense, glowing collection of architecture and suspended above a sign in the sky that read: Luna Sea.
Once it the sign had read: Luna Seaside, but then a rebel-sabotaged shuttle early in the conflicts had broken through the dome and obliterated the last four letters. The district having evolved into its specialized nature by that time, the new name stuck. The pun seemed more appropriate that way for the dome on the shores of the Sea of Tranquility.
"Now we just have to find Ibiza in all this," Heero said. Below the walkway and stretching for several kilometers was something like a city, only it was entirely commercial and every business was a nightclub.
Quatre led Heero down to the street and they walked. There were no casinos here as in Playa del Stardust or Las Vegas or Monte Carlo. There was no beach. There were no hotels or restaurants. Each nightclub was self-contained and offered access to their own dinning and lodging facilities.
The most important thing did seem to be the music. Quatre confirmed this. Though vice was rampant Luna Sea was most of all a place for music. DJs, musicians, dancers and industry reps all came here to get their music played or to learn what styles were popular.
Bright signs of neon and giant video screens advertised nightclubs and the music they played. All of Luna Sea seemed to vibrate, to dance to the bass beneath the music.
Most of the clubs were named after places on Earth, usually cities known for their own party or music scene, Like the New Orleans with its vine-covered façade and jazz music. Other clubs used a party theme to attract visitors, like the Roswell where one could listen to trance on their unique 'gyrating dance floor' amid animatronic alien creatures and special lighting effects.
Some were quite clever in concept, Heero thought, like the club named Mecha, which looked like a giant Borg cube, that played Middle Eastern music.
The Tokyo was a skyscraper standing beside a reproduction of the Tokyo Tower and which, Quatre said also played forms of electronic dance music as Ibiza did, but their lyrics were in Japanese or English, not Spanish, and their décor was much more Industrial. The Moscow looked nearly like a miniature Kremlin and featured live Rock 'n' Roll bands.
The Ibiza was of a Spanish Colonial style and had palm trees planted around it. Like many of the clubs there was a long line outside.
"Here's the trick," Quatre said. "If you are really cool and live nearby they will let you in for free and might eventually pay you to be the life of the party. If you are some rich person that thinks you are really kewl, particularly a tourist from Earth, they want you to wait in line and pay. If you are a celebrity, they want to get you inside, but depending on whether the doormen realizes or not you might have to either wait or pay. Being Quatre Winner, Most Eligible Bachelor in the Colonies and Most of Earth they'll let me in, but since I don't bother to rent a limo for the kilometer it takes to get here or show up with an entourage I have to wait until one of their spotters recognizes me."
"Why can't you just go to the door and announce yourself?"
"That would be pretentious, don't you think?"
"Duo and Trowa are in there!"
"We especially cannot tell them that. Never tell a doorman that your boyfriend is in the club. They assume that your boyfriend is cooler than you are and that the party would be better if they did not appear taken."
Heero thought about this. "What if I went over to the line and started a rumor that I had spotted Quatre Winner?"
"Let's not use propaganda techniques."
"Then I will have to talk to the doorman. It would be convenient if I could just manipulate the force." Heero waved his right hand before Quatre's face, "You will let me into the club now."
Quatre laughed. "Jedi." The word seemed to amuse him. He waved his hand in the same manner Heero had.
Heero tried glaring at the doormen to get their attention. "They are not even looking over here. They are talking to those girls."
"Those girls are Swedish pop stars," Quatre explained.
"Oh. Let's go over there." Heero checked to see that Quatre followed and then approached the rope between the doormen and security guards and the street. One guard lifted a section of the rope for the girls to move through. The rope came down again in front of Heero. He glared.
"You see they are quite jaded and calculating," Quatre whispered.
"Oi, my boyfriend is inside."
No response.
"Heero look at the monitors," Quatre whispered.
Heero looked. The monitors displayed live scenes from inside the club, to entertain the people waiting in line. "Oi, look at me. That is my boyfriend, Duo Maxwell, providing you with publicity on the club cam and if he finds out you did not let me go in to see him he will kill you and then feel guilty about it and I will have to cheer him up by fucking him on your grave!"
The doorman drew back his fist and glared, but then he realized who was threatening him. "You're Heero!"
"Aa... I do not want you to let me in because I am Heero Yuy. I want you to let me in because my lover is presently dancing and being drenched in water up on all these monitors..." Heero sucked in a breath. He had to sell this guy completely. "And I think you know these people never believed they had a chance with him and it would be a much better show if I was in there with him."
The rope came up.
Heero slipped through. "And be sure to let Quatre in... just because he is wearing the sexiest pair of pants in the Earth Sphere."
Quatre smiled then stepped through to the other side of the ropes. The guards and doormen waved them through as far as the security scanners. Everything thumped in time with the music. Heero felt like his heart would fall into time with the music.
They were waved through the scanners and then they were inside the Ibiza. Heero nearly passed out from the sensory overload. A thousand mobile dolls attacking from different directions, New York City, Tokyo... Heero could handle that, no problem. He could not process everything that he was exposed to here and so he could not tell if he was threatened in any way or not.
It was frightening.
"You just risk it, Heero," Quatre shouted, "Watch your money and your drink, but otherwise you just trust that no one is out to get you."
Music, sweat, smoke, shouting, palm trees, strobes, wire stunts, perfume, porn star, UV, cheering, pop star, spinning lights with colored filters, his heart racing.
"We will start in the water party room!" Quatre shouted.
Heero slowly nodded. When Quatre offered a hand Heero grabbed it. Don't panic, Heero told himself.
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