Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing and it's affiliates, that much should be obvious or entire episodes would have a storyline like this ficcie here.

Dedication: To James, for being a friend, for the lovely cd's you sent me and to wish you a very happy birthday.

~*~ Kikyou ~*~

He entered the safe house, his clothes torn in various places; his hair caked together with mud, blood and grease. Not one part of his body wasn't hurting or bruised and it felt as if a miniature Heavyarms was stomping around in his head, it hurt so badly. All he wanted was to take a hot shower to wash the worst dirt away, a warm bed to crawl into and to sleep for a week or so. Maybe forget this entire mission at the same time as well.

He cursed the intelligence network that had given the doctors the idea for this mission and double-damned the one who had suggested that he, Duo Maxwell, was the most suitable candidate.

He dragged himself up the stairs, dumping his bag on his way and nearly crashing against the bathroom door as his legs started to give out with fatigue. Muttering another round of curses any good catholic would be shocked by he managed to open the door and get his body in without losing any too valuable parts.

If Duo was thankful for one thing that day it was the safe house, another one of Quatre's family estates. Those were usually quite big, but this time it was just huge! The bathroom where he stood now was about as big as an average classroom. Or like Duo himself had stated when they first arrived a week ago: "I could stash 'Scythe in here and *still* have enough space for a decent party!"

Right now, however, a party was somewhere on the very bottom of his to-do list. He just felt the need to be clean and in bed as soon as possible, preferably in that order.

Secretly he was also glad that the others had already gone to bed, just so he wouldn't have to face them in this state.

He undressed, simply dropping his clothes to the floor and not worrying about them, turned the hot water on and stepped into the overly large shower. He didn't move right away and simply let the almost unbearably hot water and steam wash over him. Duo reached back to untie his braid and reached out with his other hand for the bottles of soap, shampoo and conditioner. His hand found an empty soap dish. He was sure that was where he'd last seen them but he couldn't see anything through the clouds of steam and gave up on it quickly enough, really not feeling up to this.

Suddenly, two small, soft hands ran down his back and Duo tensed, until a voice, obviously belonging to the owner of the hands, quietly murmured a few soothing words. Too tired to resist and subconsciously recognizing Quatre, he relaxed and let the blonde, who had obviously taken the soap, wash his entire, slowly relaxing body. As sudden as they had come, however, the hands disappeared again, along with Sandrock's pilot.

Duo sighed, feeling much better now, and made a mental note to thank Quatre in the morning.

He soon added another person to that list when two entirely different, stronger and slightly calloused hands started to massage his scalp and wash his hair. The pampered pilot tipped his head back in utter contentment and let out a moan, resting his head on, what he guessed, just had to be Heero's strong shoulder. Wing's pilot didn't make a move to change that but instead gathered all the long tresses and placed a soft kiss on Duo's now exposed neck. The longhaired boy shivered and made a small step backward, but again, before he good and well realised it, the other was gone.

Duo sighed, wistfully this time, and decided that he was feeling much more like his normal human self now. He was just about to hunt for his conditioner when a third pair of hands, gifted with elegant, slender fingers, spread it out over the vast mass of his hair, occasionally caressing his back or lingering on Duo's hips. Pilot 02 enjoyed the gentle tugging at his hair but as soon as he felt the contact break, he spun around, wrapped his arms around the slightly taller boy's neck and pressed his lips against Trowa's, kissing him softly before letting that one escape the shower as well.

I suppose that only leaves Wufei then, he mused. Wonder what he has in mind…

Duo turned his attention back to the two showerheads, still spraying their seemingly never-ending amount of hot water but didn't miss the rustle of the shower curtain being pushed aside and someone stepping into the spray with him. The un-braided one turned around, put his arms around the startled Chinese boy's neck and snuggled deep into the other's chest.

"Dunno what you had planned but this is fine for me too."

Duo smirked lightly, it wasn't that he liked Wufei more than any other pilot, he just happened to be the one in his arms. He wasn't surprised when he felt Wufei's hands creep up his back and rub small circles there, applying just the right amount of pressure. He shivered involuntarily and hugged Wufei closer, nuzzling his neck and thoroughly enjoying the moment.

What did catch him by surprise was that, without his noticing, the three others had also slipped back into the shower and now encircled him, touching him everywhere they could reach, placing soft kisses on his shoulders and lower back and comforting him, in a rather strange way maybe, but their presence and their touch brought Duo completely out of his mission-imposed misery.

Deathscythe's pilot moaned and squirmed when two hands, belonging to two different pilots, slowly ran up his thighs and teased his nipples. He lost himself completely in Trowa's arms as Heero suckled on his neck and when Quatre slowly kissed him and slipped his tongue into Duo's mouth, the second pilot's knees buckled. The only thing that still kept him up was the strong hold Wufei and Trowa had on him.

The water slowly cooling seemed to bring them all back into the here and now again and in under five seconds they were out of the shower, four of them dressed in black and blue silken robes and Duo wrapped in the biggest, warmest and softest towel available. Heero proceeded by picking him up and carrying him down the hall. In a reflex Duo wrapped his legs around Heero's waist but he didn't even think about protesting as he considered sitting up a tiring activity right now.

They reached one of their rooms fairly quickly, not meeting any servants at this ungodly hour. Quatre rushed ahead to open the door before Heero could even consider putting Duo down and, once inside, Wufei and Heero installed Duo on a small plush couch while Trowa switched the lights on and dimmed them to a setting more appropriate for the mood they had going on.

First thing Duo noticed was that they were definitely not in his room, because in his room there was a decent one-person-sized bed, not the monstrosity of blankets and pillows that he could see reflected in the mirror in front of which he sat. Taking his surroundings in a little further he spotted a perfectly folded, pastel coloured shirt, neatly draped over a chair and realized that it was Quatre's room they were in.

He was then pulled from his reverie when Quatre spontaneously straddled his lap and placed several soft kisses all over his face and neck.

He's nowhere near as innocent and sweet as he would like us to believe, is he?

A gentle tug at his hair and someone pushing his towel away caused him to look up from Quatre's inviting lips. His wide amethyst eyes met intense black ones in the mirror and the brunette gasped as he saw the undeniably erotic picture the five of them presented.

He saw his own image, the dark blue towel already falling below his hips, touching the floor, straddled by Quatre, a very naked Quatre, who was very busy with giving Duo a serious hicky on his chest. Behind him stood Wufei, equally naked and more than just slightly aroused, the bronze skin of his hands forming a contrast with the pale skin of Duo's shoulders. Heero and Trowa stood next to the Chinese youth, or rather Heero stood and Trowa kneeled as he let the tip of his tongue explore the fine skin of Duo's leg. Heero slowly raked his fingers through the still damp hair, gathering it in his hands and putting it out of the way as he pulled a similar seat closer by and sat behind Duo, his growing erection pressed against the brunette's backside.

Duo moaned and felt his tired body rapidly losing control, his hormones taking over, but Quatre shushed him.

"Maybe in the morning, neh Duo?" Another small kiss to Duo's Adam's apple "You need your rest," he tugged at Duo's earlobe with his teeth, "we all do actually," his tongue trailed down, "we were worried," his pale fingers crept up to Duo's nipples, "we got a belated message from G that your mission was going to be a lot harder than expected," he pinched, hard enough to force a begging mewl out of his victim, "we waited for you…the entire time."

Wufei's teeth scraped over Duo's neck as Quatre continued and Heero and Trowa teased Duo as they took turns in running their tongues along the curves of his sensitive left ear.

"We waited the entire night, all morning, afternoon and evening and then you come home in the middle of the night…" The blonde's mouth met briefly with Wufei's, "and we don't even get a greeting…" The Arabian pilot was actually pouting, until Heero took the protruding lower lip into *his* mouth, that was.

Duo gasped and moaned again when talented hands ran up his spine and down his arms. He slumped backwards against Heero, the cool fingers still dancing lightly across his chest and when Quatre moved to sit in Heero's lap, Trowa was quick to move in between Duo's legs, dropping teasing kisses wherever he could reach, which was just about everywhere.

"We should get you," a small shower of kisses on his inner thigh, "to bed."

Wufei and Quatre, who had been trailing the well-toned curves of Heero's abdomen with their tongues, got up and lifted Duo up together, efficiently carrying him to the bed.

The five of them lay curled up together under the comforter, their arms and legs tangled, certain parts rubbing against other parts but it was more comfortable than any of them had been in a while.

"Guys?" Duo piped up. "Thanks"

"Yes, Maxwell, we love you too, now go to sleep." A suddenly very tired sounding Wufei answered, batting his one free arm in Duo's general direction.

Quatre sighed happily, Heero edged a little closer to Trowa and Duo latched onto Wufei with all of his sleepy might, but after about another ten seconds they all lay peacefully asleep.