Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ The Edulcoration of Duo Maxwell ❯ Lapsus Linguae, Lapsus Memoriae ( Chapter 40 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

The Edulcoration of Duo Maxwell - 40/?

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Warnings: AU, yaoi, coarse language, violence, angst, cliffhangers, red herrings, mention of various vices, random bits of useless knowledge, occasionally explicit sex.

Rating: NC-17

Spoilers: None for GW, and I'm now quite convinced almost nada for Pretty Woman.

Disclaimer: I don't really need to be Captain Obvious here, do I? No ownership, no money being made, yadda yadda. Written for fun, not profit.

Archived at:
http://www.atsui.org
http://www.gundam-wing-diaries.150m.com/gw /Mookie/gwmookie.htm

Edulcorate (verb) - To free from harshness (as of attitude); to soften

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Chapter 40 - Lapsus Linguae, Lapsus Memoriae

After finishing his lunch, Treize Khushrenada set down his fork and picked up his wineglass.

"Some people don't care for wine," he said. "Others drink it because it seems the chic thing to do. There is a difference between merely drinking wine..." he took a sip, swishing it about his mouth before swallowing. "...and tasting it."

He set the glass down and looked at his dining companion meaningfully.

"Not much of a wine connoisseur, are you, Milliardo?"

Milliardo might have been offended, or might have assumed the remark was intended as a slur of sorts, but he'd known Treize long enough to realize that he had a point to make, and he'd do it at his own agonizingly slow pace.

"I'm afraid not."

"When tasting wine, you call upon your sense of smell as well, of course. However, you must also take in the visual appearance. Swirling the wine in a glass," he illustrated by picking up his glass again and doing so, "enables you to judge its body.

"A white wine isn't white, of course, as you can see." He gestured to his glass with his free hand. "Depending on the grape variety, you might very well be able to judge a book by its cover, because a brown color could indicate that the wine has, quite simply, 'gone bad.'"

He held the glass under his nose and inhaled once, then set it down again.

"Swirling also helps release the aroma, giving you a chance to fully appreciate the bouquet. It should be contemplated sufficiently. It is as much a part of the wine's character as its taste."

Milliardo fought the impulse to roll his eyes, and was relieved when Treize finally took another sip, recognizing the next bit of wisdom would follow.

"The taste has its own characteristics. There is the palate of the wine, and the finish. It has body and length. All of the taste buds must be engaged, not just the ones at the front or the rear of the tongue."

He set the glass on the table and steepled his fingers together again before leaning forward slightly.

"A wine is chosen to complement the food, true, but also to complement other wines. There are those most appropriate for light dining, and others that provide an excellent finale to an elaborate meal. Some people spend far too much time in full-blown anxiety, trying to choose the wine that is just right.

"That much energy should not be spent choosing a single wine, but on choosing the appropriate medley of wines."

He sat back, and it was clear to Milliardo that he'd said all he'd planned on saying.

He felt his cell phone vibrate in his jacket pocket and reached for it, hesitating only slightly. Treize gave him a slight nod and he glanced at the unfamiliar number before answering it.

He was surprised when he heard the voice of his caller, but listened carefully to everything that was said before responding.

"Meet me at the Tiara at seven o'clock tomorrow morning. If you are not there by seven-oh-one, we have nothing to discuss."

~~~~~

Heero wanted to do nothing more than flee the confines of the suite, to walk out and start the first day of the rest of his life, as the saying went. Wanted to confront Quatre, resolve things between them, and then follow through on his other plans for the future.

And you're a big fat liar, a voice teased.

He actually looked behind him, expecting to see an impish grin and shining brown eyes teasing him.

Of course there was no one there, but for a split second, he'd so desperately wanted there to be.

Yeah, and if you actually saw her standing there, Yuy, you'd better look into finding yourself a good shrink.

That just reminded him of other things he couldn't bring himself to think about just yet. Not...just...yet. Just...just a little more time. That's all he needed.

Face it, he told himself. You had plenty of opportunities to change things, but you lost control of this game from the very beginning.

Except it had ceased to be a game a long time ago.

Where had things gone so wrong?

From the moment Duo asked him if he'd ever driven an Enzo.

The Enzo Ferrari. Heero had heard about it from some of the car enthusiasts he'd worked with. The type of guys that actually discussed and debated it, like they'd had a snowball's chance in hell of ever laying eyes on one, let alone owning one.

It had been no wonder that Quatre had reacted with such unadulterated shock at seeing one. It was rare for anyone who owned a vehicle like that to simply drive it around the city. The thing cost a fortune, literally. Even the oil that went into the engine cost more than a dinner for two. For a single quart.

He'd known then that the driver could afford any price he quoted, but had still been surprised when Duo agreed to pay him fifty dollars just for a set of directions.

But that surprise was nothing compared to his reaction to Duo's offering to let him drive it. He'd been nearly floored, but something about wearing the wig made it easy to immerse himself in his role. He wasn't Heero Yuy, he was...a nameless, mysterious stranger, one who promised carnal delights, for a price.

Even the lack of a set of keys hanging from the ignition had done nothing to change his opinion of the driver, a man whose temper had been evident from the moment he'd practically insulted him for not knowing his way around Hollywood.

What had he thought was going to happen when Duo had let him into the car? A fast fuck in an alley? Duo hadn't seemed the type, although that wasn't to say that wealthy businessmen didn't have their kinks. Seemed that a lot of wives were rather skilled at withholding sex, and fucking the mouth of a male prostitute seemed to be a surprisingly popular means of retaliation.

Using sex as a weapon. How are you any different, Yuy?

No. It wasn't Heero Yuy who was the prostitute.

His inner voice laughed harshly, sounding an awful lot like Duo.

No? Run that by me again, because it sure as hell looks that way to me.

He buried his head in his hands. This is what he'd done to himself? How could he ever face his coworkers, or his parents, again? How could he face himself in the mirror every morning, for the rest of his life?

How could he face Duo?

~~~~~

Duo breathed easier once he'd walked out the lobby doors and onto Wilshire Boulevard. He'd waved distractedly at Howard, the manager of guest relations, in greeting as he walked past the man, but hadn't really registered his surroundings until he finally stopped and blinked at the passersby in the light of day.

It seemed almost surreal, to see that things outside the hotel were unaffected by what had transpired so far that day on the fourteenth floor. It felt like he was experiencing cultural shock, as if he'd just been plunked into a foreign country without any of the amenities he was used to.

He could have easily ordered everything he wanted to be delivered to his suite, but he just needed time away from Heero.

And, to be honest, he felt like it would be more personal, somehow, if he went out and did his shopping without anyone else being involved.

He just hoped Heero didn't laugh himself silly when he saw what Duo had planned. He was a little embarrassed by it, especially after Heero's had showered him with some rather intense attention. He couldn't picture Heero actually breaking into a fit of giggles, but he felt the back of his neck grow warm at the thought of earning Heero's ridicule, regardless of how that might be expressed.

He'd wanted to explore his sexuality, wanted a distraction. He'd wanted someone to keep him from being bored at various business functions. Somewhere along the way, he'd also wanted to figure out the puzzle that was Heero.

Heero had alternately assisted and thwarted him in his plans for the week, usually when he least expected it.

Today, however...today he wanted to explore the other side of a homosexual relationship. Was it more like a relationship with a woman, or more like a relationship with a good friend? Or somewhere in the middle? What the hell did gay couples do when they weren't fucking?

Damn it, though, Heero had made it almost impossible to follow through on what he was rapidly beginning to think was an incredibly foolish idea.

Don't rethink this strategy now, he told himself. If you try to overanalyze it, you'll defeat the purpose altogether. You've always trusted yourself, if no one else.

He squared his shoulders and hailed a cab.

It wouldn't be the first time he'd jumped in with both feet. He just wished he'd worn a lifejacket.

But...where would the fun be in that?

~~~~~

Heero was leaning against the back of the loveseat, berating himself for his current situation.

Stubborn, misguided idiot, part of him cried.

Wounded, desperate soul, another soothed. It sounded a lot like Quatre.

Hell. It wasn't enough that he'd screwed up his own life, he had to drag Quatre into his mess, too. He owed his roommate an apology. Quatre had offered him something that he hadn't deserved.

He couldn't help picturing the way Quatre seemed to maintain a sense of optimism, how he'd smile, genuinely smile, as he manipulated people to do his bidding.

He wondered what Quatre would think of Duo.

Then he wondered what Kitty would have thought of Duo.

He'd been so careful to follow all of Quatre's precautions. Latex gloves. Adequate lubrication. High quality, best rated for protection against STDs condoms.

He had taken Duo in his mouth more than once without applying a condom first. It wasn't as if there wasn't an exchange of bodily fluids when Duo's cock started dripping that clear, salty fluid. Heero closed his eyes, remembering the way it had tasted, and how Duo's weight had felt in his mouth, how the texture of the skin felt against his tongue, so very different than latex.

It wasn't so much the fact that he found sucking Duo off to be a turn-on in itself as much as it was the way Duo responded. There was something about that sense of power and sensuality, the knowledge that he was the one responsible for Duo's condition. It not only made him feel in control, it made him feel...downright sexy. It called to him, and he was helpless to resist feeling the satisfaction of knowing HE made Duo react that way. It was HIS mouth that drove Duo to a shuddering climax.

The first night he'd told Duo to prep him prior to Duo's initiation into male-male sex, he'd neglected one of his usual precautions. He'd allowed Duo to use his bare hands. Very few of Heero's clients liked being told to put the gloves on first, but as Quatre had told him, the idea of fucking Heero senseless was a powerful lure. If any of those men had tried to approach him with what they had in mind under any other circumstances, they'd have been very sorry.

That was one of the reasons it had seemed so perfect as a means of absolution. It was nothing he'd ever done before, nothing he'd ever conceived of doing.

When he asked Quatre how he dealt with 'it' - he'd meant with the pain. With the emptiness, the incredibly hollow feeling. The hole in his heart. He'd felt it when they kissed. No man had ever tried to come on to him before. Quatre had seen the need in his eyes and had responded with that brief touch of lips, and he'd known then how lonely Quatre had been.

It had felt...nice. He'd kissed precious few times. He'd been so busy with school, and pursuing his career, that the sum total of his sexual experience was the requisite fumbling attempts in college, the ones that were supposed to be horrible and embarrassing.

Sex was far easier than kissing. Quatre had been right about that, too. Kissing was much more intimate than a quick fuck. Girls seemed to expect the sex to be awkward. Virgins seemed more afraid of the pain, so if they were penetrated and didn't hurt, well, that was good enough for them. Of course, he'd only had sex with a virgin once, which was good for him because he didn't have to worry about suffering in comparison.

The lack of pain wasn't exactly good enough, not for any woman, because sex shouldn't involve pain. Unless you were using it as some sort of penance, he reminded himself, in which case it was necessary.

He shoved the thought away and returned to the memories of a younger, more innocent Heero. The one who had figured out that a girl's pleasure seemed to be centered more externally than internally, and had experimented to discover that he could bring them to orgasm with manual stimulation alone.

He'd considered attempting to try his hand, or more accurately, his mouth, at cunnilingus, but that was too much like kissing.

And he had apparently been a lousy kisser, from most accounts.

Simple kisses, like the one he'd shared with Quatre, were no problem. A simple brush of lips, even when the lips under his parted slightly, was easy.

It was when he'd first attempted to slip his tongue in a girl's mouth that he realized that there was a technique to it, and that he hadn't mastered it.

He could still remember the way the girl had pulled away from his questing tongue and wiped off her mouth. The expression on her face suggested she'd tasted something bad, and he'd panicked for a moment, thinking he'd forgotten to brush his teeth or something.

He wasn't sure if he'd been too eager, or if she had been the type of girl who just hadn't welcomed a 'French kiss,' at least not until he saw her enthusiastically swapping spit with one of the guys from his Visual Basic class.

He'd heard some of the other students in his dorm comparing their girlfriends' talents, from the way they kissed to how enthusiastic they were in bed to whether they spit or swallowed. Of course the last one was met with disbelief for the few who claimed their girlfriends 'loved the taste.'

One of the guys confessed to kissing his girlfriend right afterwards, which was met by a round of groans and gagging noises. In a desperate attempt to distract them from that particular bit of shared information, he'd added that his girlfriend wouldn't 'go down on him' unless he chugged a bottle of soda about an hour beforehand, insisting it made him taste sweeter.

Heero had learned far more about fellatio than he'd wanted that night, not that any girl he'd been involved with had ever seemed so inclined as to grant him that favor.

Duo had enveloped his cock with that warm, wet heat the very first night, though. Why?

And he hadn't expected Heero to apply a condom first. He'd seemed impatient when Heero had stopped him to take care of that. Heero knew that latex wasn't particularly pleasant tasting, but it was always safest to take proper precautions before engaging in sexual activities. The so-called flavored condoms were for novelty purposes only and did little to protect against sexually transmitted diseases.

Heero wasn't being immodest when he acknowledged that he had quickly developed a knack for 'giving head.' Many times he'd felt the swelling of the latex in his mouth as the cock he was working exploded, and had welcomed it, knowing that, after orgasm, his client wouldn't expect to spend any more time with him. Oral sex was the biggest seller, which was how Quatre managed to continue working once he'd stopped having intercourse with his johns.

He wouldn't have realized that Quatre had changed his repertoire if Trowa hadn't pointed it out. They'd been watching the blond man weave his spell on another unsuspecting soon-to-be client. Heero had figured it was just good business, as most men couldn't get their wives or girlfriends to put their mouths 'there.'

Sex sells, he thought dryly. No wonder Nevada had legalized it. It was something that would never suffer a lack of demand. What a way to stimulate the economy.

He'd sold sex to Duo, too, but so much more than that. What the hell had he been thinking to accept the proposition that had been posed to him? For that matter, what had he been thinking, to spend the night with the man?

Then again, if he hadn't, he wouldn't have seen that picture, and he wouldn't have started to think about putting his life back together.

So was he sorry that he'd said yes?

He wasn't sure which was worse, spending time alone, lost in his thoughts and self-recrimination, or spending time with Duo, still lost, but in a completely different way?

As if his thoughts called upon the man, a knock sounded at the door. Duo must have forgotten his keycard, because no one else would dare arrive at the penthouse suite without calling first, and the phone hadn't rung once since Duo had been gone.

He had the door halfway open before he realized he'd watched Duo pocket the keycard on his way out, but by then he was staring right into the inky black eyes of Wufei Chang.

tbc

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lapsus linguae - a slip of the tongue

lapsus memoriae - a slip of the memory