Bonus

50cc Dream Sequence

(I'm lookin' at you, 'Duo's 1st Confession'!)

(Hopefully this will hold you over until the real chapter. ;) )

"This'll catch him for sure," Duo whispered with a devious grin as he rubbed the entire length of his braid with the marking chalk he had found in Heero's toolbox.

His Wing Gundam pilot companion had been stealing touches of his braid for a few weeks and Duo had decided that it was time to catch him in the act. He finished applying the light, nearly translucent layer of grey chalk to the entire length of his coiled hair before getting back to work making minor repairs to Deathscythe. He let his braid carelessly drape out and over the nearest Gundanium panel as if it had settled there on its own.

Eventually the other pilot had walked by and Duo felt a faint tug against it as the other pilot's hand secretly slipped over it. He feigned ignorance to the intrusion and continued making his repairs.

If anyone else had touched his hair he would have pummeled the shit out of them, however there was something about the laconic and mysterious Wing pilot that had made him more permissive about the encroachment of his personal space. He wanted to see where this would lead, and what the guy was going to say when he caught him red handed.

An hour later Heero had come back and was standing on the panel above him trying to get his attention.

"I need to borrow a socket wrench," the Japanese youth said loudly. Duo pretended not hear him and instead began clanging against the inside of the panel he was working on as loud as he could to drown the other pilot's voice out.

"Hey! Do you-" CLANG! "Socket-" KABONG! "Hm." CLUNK!

BANG! BONK! CLANK!

Duo's slamming and clanging was interrupted by a pebble landing against his shoulder. Startled, he looked up to see Heero holding a handful of pebbles, peering down at him from a perch atop Deathscythe's leg. His face was covered with grey smudges from the marking chalk.

"Hey! What's the big idea?" Duo exclaimed. He picked up the rock that had hit him on the shoulder and launched it at Heero's head. The other pilot had ducked out of the way just as the rock whizzed past his face.

"Socket wrench," the other pilot said tersely, his dark blue eyes narrowing on him as he waited expectantly for an answer.

"Sure, I'll give you one," the Deathscythe pilot said with a catlike grin. He leaned back against the inner workings of his Gundam and smiled brightly up at the other pilot's dirty face. "You just gotta answer one question."

"...fine."

"Why've you been touchin' my hair, huh?" Duo taunted loudly. He saw the other pilot's face harden at the accusation.

"What are you blabbering on about?" Heero growled.

"Don't play dumb, guy. I'm not as stupid or oblivious as you think I am. You've been feeling up my hair for a while now, so what gives?" Duo said with a chuckle. "There is no use denying it."

"You're delusional," the Wing pilot grumbled. Duo saw him attempt to make a quick retreat as his face vanished from view. He wasn't going to let him off the hook so easily. He climbed out of his suit quickly to pursue him. The Japanese boy had already made it across the dark woodland clearing that they had made their temporary hiding spot and was standing beside his own suit. Wing Gundam was lying flat on its back, parallel to Deathscythe and hidden safely beneath camouflage netting and the thick, green summer canopy of the forest.

"Why can't you just admit that you want to touch it?" Duo teased as he followed him. Heero spun around to launch another pebble at him but he twisted his torso just before it could make contact. He laughed and dodged yet another rock that had been aimed at his head as the now clearly embarrassed Heero Yuy attempted to escape the topic.

"Don't flatter yourself," the Japanese boy said flatly as he climbed into the cockpit of his own mobile suit. Duo followed him up to Wing Gundam's chest and peered over the side of the cockpit at him. Heero had launched his final pebble as his face had come into view. It smacked him right between the eyes.

"Ow! Shit!" Duo flinched. He cradled his forehead with his hand for a moment before scowling down at the other boy who was now sitting with his arms crossed tightly over his chest in the pilot seat, glaring daggers up at him. "What the hell!? You coulda taken my eye out!"

"Get off of my suit," Heero growled in a low, threatening voice. Duo knew he was getting to him. He knew he should leave him alone, but he just couldn't help himself. Heero had fucked him over and dropped some pretty vicious comments on him ever since he had saved him from the military hospital almost four months before. He had stolen his mobile suit's parts, and used him and his resources to his advantage. He wanted to get him back. He wanted to make him feel stupid for once.

"Next time you wanna be a sneaky pervert and touch on me, you better ask permission first," Duo said with a snarl. "And you can stop lying about it. I caught you in the act. The proof is all over your face."

He saw Heero reach up to touch his own cheek and then inspect his dusty grey fingertips. Duo grabbed the end of his own hair and twirled it hard, sending a grey puff of dust into the air as he did.

He saw Heero's normally narrowed eyes widen to the size of dinner plates.

"Yeah, that's right. Who's the idiot now?" Duo didn't give the other pilot a chance to reply. He hopped quickly off of Wing Gundam and marched proudly over to his own suit and grabbed his socket wrench. After he hauled himself up onto Deathscythe's chest he began to aim at Wing. He licked his finger and raised it to check the wind playfully before winding his arm up and chucking the wrench across the clearing. It landed loudly into the dark hole of Wing's cockpit. He heard the other pilot's voice curse faintly from inside.

Duo smirked and sighed happily. As much of a weirdo as the other Gundam pilot was, he was still glad to have the company.