An Exercise in Creativity
by Irishfae and Sylenctone
Authors Notes:
' --- ' - Denotes mini POV changes. We didn't do full out POV changes, but had the 'camera' follow different people around.
We don't own Gundam Wing. Irishfae could settle for Heero, Duo and Zechs as her personal playthings though. Sylenctone likes to play with all of them, preferably together!
This is the first collaboration between the authors. It started out as Irishfae becoming bored at work and suggestion to Sylenctone that they should write a fic together, hence the name 'An Exercise in Creativity.' It is a rather long pretty much PWP - as in there is no plot save for getting the boys together - with the set up for real plot, which will more than likely be a brand new fic. Much of this fic was written at our respective jobs, which we probably shouldn't have done. But too late now.
Setting: After Endless Waltz. We may go back and fix stuff as we actually re-watch the anime. It has been a while so forgive any errors. Feel free to give us a friendly heads up.
CHAPTER ONE: WHERE THE BOYS EXPLORE THEIR NEW PLACE
Debriefing, hah! The 16 year old Japanese boy mumbles as he kicked the corner of his bed. Well not his bed, he really didn't have a bed. So this was probably better than nothing. The Preventers had one condition for allowing the Gundam Boys to join their team: They go through extensive debriefing and intense psychiatric evaluations. In other words they were all being thrown into a room together to be observed for the next month or two for their mental stability.
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Well at least the roof doesn't leak. The violet eyed boy toyed with the end of his long chestnut braid as he stared out at the rain lashing against the tiny window. Put us all together and if we don't kill each other we're fit for society, eh? he mused as lightning lit up the sparsely furnished room. We'll see. Turning from the window, Duo lounged against the door to the common room. The storm brewing inside should prove to be far more entertaining than rain, and possibly more deadly than the lightning.
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There was a large crash of thunder and Heero's intense blue eyes darted to the window and glared at it as if challenging the storm to come to him. He looked around the room. There wasn't anything there. It was sparse, sterile and Heero Yuy was seriously second guessing his decision to join the Preventers. He kicked his mattress one more time for safe measures and flopped face down on the bed. Despite its stark white appearance, the bed gave and he sunk into the nest of soft comforting whiteness. The boy's anger dissipated as his lithe form sunk further into the bed, and within moments his blue eyes closed and he fell asleep. A sleep so deep that, for the first time in his conscious memory, he slept a night where his dreams did not contain violence, death, and destruction. In fact, if asked later on he would say that he hadn't dreamt at all.
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Violet eyes surveyed the common room that would be their home for the duration of this little experiment. The door directly across from his was slightly ajar and muttered Chinese curses wafted out like a bad smell. His eyes lingered on the door to next to Wufei's, but it was closed and dark.
With a sigh, Duo turned and wandered into the kitchen. "Heya, Quatre! What's cookin'?" The blond pilot was staring into the open refrigerator. Chuckling, he moved aside to reveal sparkling clean white shelves, devoid of food or even condiments.
"We're going shopping tomorrow!" his aqua eyes sparkled and he seemed way too excited about a supermarket run.
"Damn! Ah well. G'night Q!" Flipping his braid over his shoulder, the violet eyed boy went back to his room, casting one last look at the closed and dark door across the room. Throwing himself on his bed, he watched the lightning flicker shadow patterns across the ceiling until he at last fell asleep.
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Not bad, was Trowa's only thought looking around his room. He systematically opened every drawer and closet, taking note of the space he had to work with. Not that he had a lot of things to put away, but he still wanted everything strategically placed. He picked up his bag and started to unpack his things placing everything in neat piles on his bed. It was a short task, nothing more than a handful of shirts, three pairs of pants, underwear and socks to last a week. War's over, guess I'll be needing more civilized clothes. He smirked slightly. Not that I looked horribly uncivilized during war. At least I wore more clothes than Heero. He couldn't help himself but laugh at that.Having completed his survey of his room Trowa walked out of his room in time to see Duo briefly look at Heero's door and retreat into his own room. Interesting. He smirked and then caught sight of Quatre, who seemed to have every cabinet in the kitchen wide open. On the counter he saw a few cans of soup but nothing more than that. "Quatre?" Turquoise eyes answered looking innocent as ever surrounded by a sea of open cabinets. "What are you doing?"
"Exploring." It was a simple answer, but the slight upward turn of his lip cast a mischievous smile on his otherwise innocent face, which meant trouble for all those involved.
"I can see we're going to need the household stipend Lady Une gave us to get started in this place! There isn't anything here but a set of ugly dishes and cheap silverware." The shorter boy grinned up at Trowa. "Tomorrow morning I think we all need to go out and re-supply." Still grinning Quatre hopped up on the kitchen counter beside taller boy.
Trowa looked at the blond teen doubtfully, "All of us? Do we all need to go shopping together?" Quatre nodded enthusiastically "And I bet that Heero especially needs to buy clothes. I bet he has five sets of the exact same spandex shorts and tank top." And besides, he added to himself, this is the best way to get everyone talking to each other. We never really had time to do anything together that didn't involve bombs or guns. "C'mon, it'll be fun! Une gave everyone clothing stipends too, and I bet if we left Duo to pick out his clothes alone he'd just buy new versions of the exact same thing he always wears." Quatre smiled down into Trowa's eyes from his seat on the counter top, trying to look as innocent and guileless as possible.
Trowa looked at Quatre skeptically. What are you up to Quatre Raberba Winner? Why do I feel like you are plotting something? He thought and the blond merely smiled back at him, which made Trowa feel uneasy. Yet, despite whatever plot the blond was up to he knew that whatever it was he was going to go along with it because he didn't know how to say no to him. Maybe two years ago he could have, but even then he had found it hard to do so. At this though, he smirked and Quatre eyed him amusement dancing in his turquoise eyes. "I don't know if fun is the right word. But I would like a say of what food gets picked up." He frowned and looked down at his attire. "And from unpacking it has become clear that I too need a bit more in the clothing department." Quatre beamed at this. "Good. I'll organize everything when I get up tomorrow."
Trowa just closes his eyes and shakes his head. "You're too excited about this Quatre." The blonde's lips curl into an innocent smile, but doesn't say anything else. "I'm going to bed." He takes two steps away from the blond and turns around and looks at the man on the counter. "You should too." With that he turned around and walked to his room. When the taller boy had cleared most of the living room, Quatre gracefully turned about on the counter getting his legs underneath him and stood up on the white tile to get a better view of the top shelves. But just before the blonde's cabinet recon continues, he steals a quick peek across the living room to Trowa. There is something much more than mere admiration in his turquoise eyes, and he smiled happily to himself. The man with light brown hair felt the blue-green eyes sweeping his body, and he turned around just as he was about to enter his room in order to try to catch the blonde in the middle of watching him. But when he turned all he saw was the perfect form of Quatre standing barefooted on the counter. This isn't going to be a good thing. He shakes his head to no one in specific and walked into his room and closing the door behind him.
