Author's Note: Another chapter for you to read, yay! ^o^

Disclaimer: We do not own Gundam Wing.

Warning: language

Quality Time in the Sun

"Has anybody seen Duo?"

"What? Wasn't he just here?"

"He wasn't here when I woke up. I thought that he was in the bathroom or in the kitchen."

"Don't tell me you've already lost him, Winner!"

The silent scuffle of someone stomping away…

"Trowa? Is something wrong with Heero? He looks upset."

"Just stay out of his way, Hannah. He gets like this sometimes."

"Damn it, why is it always so hard to hold on to that idiot? Winner, do you know of anywhere he could have gone to?"

"We just got here Wufei! How would I know where he would go?"

Listening to all this was a certain long haired blond leaning against the wall just outside of the dining area, arms crossed over his chest and head bent down, eyes shut. While he was worried about where his missing friend was, Solo wasn't panicking just yet. To be honest, he already had a good idea as to where he could have gone.

That idea, of course, popped into his head when he looked out through the sliding glass door that led to the balcony and notice how nice of a day it was outside.

Add to the fact that he was most likely the expert in knowing who Duo was and how he acted; it didn't take much of a stretch for him to figure out what was going on. After all this time, did they all honestly believe that Duo was just going to sit down and obey an order when he was in the middle of an island paradise? Like hell he would; the brat most likely got up early and snuck out with some beach stuff. He could totally see the other doing that.

And what was the big deal with that? As long as he had someone with him, he shouldn't be in too much danger. Then again, he didn't know how the Collective worked and what they would do to get their hands on Duo.

Guess he was just going to have to show these guys how they did things on L2.

Leaving them to worthless talking, he went up to the room that he hadn't slept in last night, preferring the couch on the lower floor of the suite than to sharing a room with Heero of all people. However, his stuff was still in there and if he recalled correctly, as soon as Duo had learned just where rich boy was taking them, he had hustled him over to the nearest clothing store and gotten him a swimsuit along with some other stuff that Duo claimed was vital to going to the beach.

Ignoring the glare Heero was giving him as he changed, he whistled a jaunty tune; dressed only in a loose shirt, swim trunks and sandals with a beach towel draped over a shoulder. While the others were running around the place like chickens with their heads chopped off, he left the suite without any trouble and in a few minutes was trekking down the long stretch of sand where other vacation goers were laying about.

It didn't take him long to spy out a peculiar braid and he smirked as he stopped right next to none other than a topless Duo who was resting on the ground on his stomach, back displayed to the ever inviting sun.

"Ya know the others are lookin' for ya," he commented as he plopped down next to his friend.

Duo only chuckled at that. "So what else is new?"

"Nothing new, eh?" he commented as he looked down at his old friend. "Guess it wouldn't matter that they're pulling their hair out right now tryin' ta find ya…again," he mused.

"Hey, I left a note," Duo huffed, not moving from his current position.

"Ya did?" Solo blinked. That was news to him.

"They probably didn't see it," Duo grumbled. "Well, this oughta teach them ta pay more attention ta their surroundin's."

"Kid, you're lapsing," the blond sing-songed.

"As if you don't do it yourself," the braided one snorted.

"So you plan on spending da day out here gettin' a tan?" Solo asked, deliberately changing the subject because he didn't feel like losing an argument.

"Yep," Duo chirped. "Why else go to da beach?"

It was truly a shame that Duo had his eyes closed and wasn't looking at him else he would have seen the mischievous smirk on his face. Peeling off his shirt, Solo answered, "I can think of a lot of stuff 'sides doin' something boring like that."

Then without further ado, he grabbed hold of the braided one and lifted him up off the ground, quickly making his way towards the ocean. Yelping in surprised, Duo tried to squirm out of his grasp but Solo wasn't planning on holding him forever anyway. He had just wading a few feet into the surf before he gave a big heave and toss his unsuspecting friend into the deep blue water that seemed to stretch on forever.

Bursting out of the water from the unexpected drench, strains of the salty liquid pouring off of him from various points on his body, he glared at the blond who was currently doubled over, clenching his stomach with both arms as he laughed his ass off at his expense.

Eyes narrowing, Duo declared war and struck his friend down.

---

Emerging from the sea, the two longhaired boys panted as if their lives depended on it, both sharing shit-eating grins. By God that had been fun! Duo hadn't felt so free like that in a long time and of all the people to share it with, it was with his best friend.

So what if they had acted like a bunch of kids, it was fun. It put a whole new spin on the old fashion, childish roughhousing they used to do when they were younger and there was no one else around to impress. Sure there were also people around here who he had caught staring at them but they weren't important. They were probably just some stuck-up rich people who had too much time on their hands and had no clue as to just how relieving it was to forcibly dunk your best friend's head underwater.

Collapsing on their abandoned beach equipment, the two shared a look before bursting out into laughter, both having the time of their lives. Never before had either of the two imagined doing something like this before, especially back when they were kids on L2. Well look at them now!

"Damn, Kid, when did ya get so tough," Solo panted, grinning nonetheless.

Duo beamed at the praise. "You're not the only one who's changed, Solo," he countered. "I ain't the same brat that you can just give noogies to anymore."

"I noticed," the blond replied. "You can give noogies back now. Good."

Smirking, the braided one stretched an arm out and around the other's neck and pulled him into a head lock, proceeded to dig a knuckle straight into the cranium. Why did he do this? Just to prove that he actually could, that's why! Solo actually had to struggle to get out of his hold but when the blond finally succeeded, there was admiration in those green eyes that the braided one adored so.

"Damn, you really did get strong," the blond praised.

"Of course," Duo said with a shit-eating grin, flexing an arm to show off a bicep. "I wasn't a Gundam pilot for nothing!"

"So you're a brat that can win at arm-wrestling now, big deal," Solo huffed, crossing his arms childishly.

"Oh? Is someone jealous?" Duo teased, his violet eyes lighting up.

A peculiar rumbling suddenly interrupted them and Duo found himself staring at Solo pointedly. Well, more like staring at Solo's stomach pointedly.

"Someone forgot to eat breakfast," the braided one chuckled.

"I wasn't hungry," Solo muttered, glancing darkly at the other.

Taking pity, Duo patted the other's naked shoulder. "Tell ya what, I spy an ice cream stand nearby. I'll run over there and get ya a cone, 'kay?"

Solo looked hopeful for a second but then seemed to get suspicious. "Maybe I should go with ya, make sure ya don't eat it first," he said with a distrusting voice.

"Hey, one of us has to stick around here and guard our stuff," Duo said, purposely neglecting the fact that they had abandoned said stuff earlier to play in the sea. As luck would have it, Solo agreed with him, probably completely forgetting about that fact but Duo wasn't going to complain. 'Sides, it made him feel good to give something back to the guy that practically raised him, even when he thought he was dead.

"Back in a flash!" he chirped as he leapt to his feet and dashed off, leaving the blond to stare dumbly at the spot he had recently vacated. Why did it feel like he just got tricked all the sudden?

The journey to the ice cream stand went by in a snap and then the only thing Duo needed to worry about was which flavor to get. Ah, so many flavors to choose from but which to get… If he remembered correctly, Solo had always had a taste for chocolate…so why not?

It was only then that he came upon his next problem. While sticking his hand into the pocket of his swimsuit, he frowned when nothing met his fingertips. Patting around the only piece of cloth on his body, he came to the realization that he had left everything back with his stuff…which included his wallet with the cash inside of it.

Looking back to where Solo waited, he pouted. Aw man, it was so far away…and he didn't want to go back empty-handed all just so he could grab some cash. Solo wouldn't let him hear the end of it; it was L2 all over again, he swore. Whenever he made a mistake like this, Solo would embarrass the hell out of him on purpose "so you can learn from your mistakes."

Damn, that had been years ago…

"Is something wrong? Money troubles, perhaps?" a voice chuckled from behind him, raising the hairs on the back of his head.

Whipping around, ready to knock this asshole's block off, he found himself pausing at the sight of a tall, pale man who was smirking down at him, dark sunglasses hiding his eyes from sight. He was dressed pretty much like tourist would be from the God-awful Hawaiian shirt and cargo shorts to the feet exposing sandals that shouldn't be revealing those pale-ass feet at all. Over all of that, it was the strange man's silver colored hair with the noticeable black bangs that captured most of the braided one's attention but he quickly got over his wonder quickly and drew himself up, trying to make up his obvious height disadvantage.

But damn, this guy was tall! Taller than Trowa, he bet.

"I'd appreciate it if you mind your own business, pal," he growled, glaring at the pale man who didn't look like he had gone outside in a long time. Damn he was pale…

"Excuse me then," the man unexpectedly apologized, "but I just saw that you were searching your person for something and since you were right here, I assumed you were searching for some currency. Guess I just proved what they say about assuming, right?"

"Making an ass out of you and me, yeah, I know that," Duo said, relaxing slightly but not completely.

"Tell you what, let me make it up to you and purchase your treat," the man suggested. "It's the least I can do for insulting you so."

"You didn't really but hey, if you insist," Duo shrugged before looking back at the stand's selection of ice cream. "Ooh, those look really nice," he murmured.

"So what'll it be?" the pale man asked, looking down at him indulgently.

"A cone of chocolate and another with Neapolitan," Duo decided.

"Two? You sure you won't get a stomach ache?" the pale man asked.

"One's for my friend. I just figured I might as well get one too," Duo replied. "You are still paying, right?"

"Of course, of course," the pale man said, pulling out a wad of cash from a pocket and earning a whistle from the braided one. The man only smirked at the reaction and slipped out a few bills while Duo simultaneously took hold of his order.

"Thanks, I guess," Duo said, not looking very comfortable.

"It's no problem," the pale man said as he slipped his shades off, revealing his pitch black eyes that seemed to devour him. "I have the problem of spoiling every beautiful person I come into contact with."

Duo blushed at the compliment. Now, he would have snapped out something like he wasn't beautiful or anything but the guy just bought him ice cream…and that was starting to melt a little…and yeah…

"See you later, then," Duo said as he scurried off, leaving the pale man behind.

---

Smirking, Morrigu didn't take his eyes off the braided figure as he hurried off. He hadn't been expecting to meet the Death Mage like this and to discover that he was so enchanting. Perhaps he wouldn't be so bored after all.

Still, he had a job to do and business always came before pleasure, much to his ire.

Turning and walking away, he took out a cell and speed dialed the first number on it. "Found him," he reported. "He's not alone, it seems, but I doubt that will make any difference. Tell Bryce to hurry his ass up and get here. Who knows how long it will be before we lose him again?"

---

"Voila!" Duo chirped as he plopped down beside Solo, handing him a cone laden with chocolate flavored ice cream. "Eat up before it melts, Solo."

"Double scoop? Ya shouldn't have!" the blond said in mock-gratitude, greedily consuming the sweet, frozen treat. It was very rare when he had the chance to get his hands on something as sweet and bad for you as this; he could probably count all the times on one hand and that was if he was really thinking hard about it.

Damn, how did Duo know to get chocolate? The kid could read him like a book sometimes.

Glancing at Duo from the corner of his eye, he frowned slightly when he caught sight of the other's snack. What the hell was it? He could tell there was chocolate in it and was that vanilla? And what was that pink part? Why did he get to have three flavors and he only got one?

Noticing his look, Duo chuckled and held his ice cream out towards him. "Wanna taste?"

As if he needed an invitation. He leaned towards it eagerly and swiped his tongue against the cold cream, doing his best to get a bit of each flavor. The three flavors conflicted on his tongue and he savored it, trying to figure out where one flavor ended and where another began.

"You like?" Duo asked as he swiped his tongue against the snack.

"What is it?" he asked, taking another bit of his pure chocolate.

"Neapolitan," Duo answered. "Vanilla, Chocolate, and Strawberry ice creams all mixed into one brand. Never really know which flavor to go for first and which to have for last."

"Why not have them all at da same time?" he wondered.

"That's what I ended up doing," Duo replied, taking another lick. "A lot of people, though, try to only eat one flavor at a time for some reason. Me, I think the reason why there's three flavors is because you have to have all three at the same time. Makes it interesting, eh?"

"Guess so," Solo shrugged, choosing to take a bite and ruining it immediately as the cold made his teeth incredibly sensitive.

Seeing this, Duo chuckled at his misfortune, causing the blond to pout. "Don't eat too quickly; you might not like what happens."

"You're a bit late," the blond said testily. "I could have used that a second ago, ya know."

"Last I recall, you were the type that always had to learn the hard way," Duo said.

Solo frowned. "Now you got that backwards. You were always da one that had to learn da hard way. Half da stuff ya used ta screw up on were things I already knew and tried ta teach ya but did ya listen? No, you had ta do it your way."

Slurping up some melted ice cream that had trickled onto his hand, Duo simply replied, "Whatever."

Solo could only shake his head at that. "Glad ta know some things haven't changed," he said dryly.

"Hope you like the stuff that did," Duo retorted, winking at him.

He blinked at that. Well that was a bit brazen wasn't it? Then again, Duo had never been one for subtlety. The corners of his lips quirked upwards as he resumed eating his frozen snack, playfully making a bit of a show out of it as he dragged his tongue over the rapidly shrinking scoop of cream, pulling the pink muscle back and making a smacking noise with his lips.

He noticed that Duo had been mesmerized by his little performance, so much so that his eyes were glazed over and he was neglecting his ice cream. Was he going to get to first base or was he going to get a strike?

Blinking, Duo seemed to come out of his thoughts and pinkened slightly from embarrassment. Solo smirked triumphantly and received a "hmph" from Duo in return. Chuckling, the blond returned his attention back to his ice cream; eating it rapidly as he realized that if he didn't hurry, it would melt all over him and he couldn't have that yet.

"So, how'd ya pay for these?" he asked aloud, making it sound like he was just trying to start up a conversation.

"With cash," Duo replied slowly, giving him a look that gave the impression to the blond that the braided one was beginning to think he was slow. All in due time, kiddo, the blond thought to himself, knowing that that time was now.

"Oh? Ya did?" he asked.

"Solo, where are you going with this?" Duo demanded.

"I was just curious," he shrugged. "I mean, it's kinda hard ta pay for something when ya don't have your wallet on you."

Duo gave him a deer-in-the-headlights look and Solo couldn't help but revel in that. He had him now. "I'm hurt Kid," he said melodramatically. "I thought I taught ya not ta lie."

"It…wasn't a lie," Duo muttered, looking away. "Someone else did pay for them."

"Oh? And who might that be? Some girl I bet?" the blond teased. "Always knew you were gonna be a lady killer."

"Actually, it was a guy…" Duo trailed off yet facing the blond without looking away. "It was pretty nice of him."

Solo paused and his teasing came to a halt. Wait…some guy bought Duo ice cream? For some reason, he didn't like hearing that, not one bit, yet he couldn't explain why he felt that way. To try and take his mind off of those unpleasant thoughts, since for some other unexplained reason the image of a stuck up Heero kept popping up in his head, he decided to change the topic to something else.

His chosen topic, though, turned out not to be the best one to pick…

"Uh…who was that chick?" he asked. "The one in your wallet."

Duo froze up again but this time it wasn't surprise. "Did you go through my wallet?" he asked ominously, his violet eyes darkening in a way that Solo didn't like.

"I was bored!" he whined. "You were taking so long and I didn't feel like going after you. 'Sides, ya told me ta stay with the stuff."

"Solo," Duo sighed, his anger draining out of him, giving the blond the impression that Duo may have been bipolar or something. No one should go through so many emotions that quickly and in such a short amount of time. "Don't you know you shouldn't go through someone else's stuff? It's called privacy."

"Alright, whatever you say," he said, making a note not to go through the other's sock drawer. Instead, he supposed he'd have to go through Hannah's in a panty raid…as long as Trowa wasn't in the nearby vicinity, of course. Guys could get really protective about their girls and the guy in question also happened to be a trained killer. He hadn't needed to watch his steps like this since he had been back on the streets. "So who was she?" he prompted, asking the previous question regardless of the potential backlash and ire it might earn him.

Curiosity killed the cat and all.

Duo gave him a look that blatantly said that he didn't want to talk about it but Solo returned the look challengingly, visibly saying he wouldn't drop the subject without a good reason.

Sighing, Duo answered, "Her name was Hilde, alright? Gonna drop it now?"

"Something happen?" the blond asked, not yet wanting to drop the subject now that he got some sort of answer from it as well as Duo's own reluctance to talk about it. It had to be something troubling but the blond had heard from somewhere that talking about whatever it was would make it better.

Let's see if it's bullshit or all true.

Sighing again, Duo took a bite out of his cone, chewing deliberately as if he was trying to stall. Solo remained patient, watching the other intently and taking a bite out of his own cone. Finally, after a minute, Duo gave in and answered.

"She's in a better place right now."

Solo frowned. "She leave you?"

"If you call getting run over by a truck leaving, then yeah, she did," Duo bit off bitterly, ignoring the melted ice cream that streamed onto his hand.

Solo's eyes widened at that. "Crap, sorry. Didn't mean to…ya know…yeah…"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Duo said listlessly. "That's just the way things go, ya know."

Frowning again, Solo cocked his head. Something about that didn't seem right. There was more to this than from what Duo was telling him. "Is there something you're not telling me?" he asked, no hint of his street grammar in his voice. "It was an accident, wasn't it?"

Duo looked up at him in surprise before deflating somewhat. "You could always tell when I leave things out," he said ruefully. Sighing, he said, "It was an accident in terms of her being in the wrong place at the wrong time. You see, after the wars were over, I got into the salvage business with her and ended up back on L2. By the time I started working there, though, the business was going under big time and both of us had to do some things in order to keep just above bankruptcy.

"Now that that's set up, here's what happened. The truck that hit her was carrying a bunch of illegal weapons and since the driver didn't stop, he left her there to die. When she didn't come back, I went looking for her and found her body. Since the L2 police sucks, it was me who went to any witnesses and after I tracked down the truck, I tortured the driver, wanting to know who he was working for.

"William Bryce. That was the guy who was in charge, though the guy did say something about there being some other guy. He kinda died from blood loss before I could find anything else out."

"Wow," Solo stated, eyes wide. Who knew that Duo could be so…coldblooded?

"After that, I found out the Preventers were going after Bryce," Duo continued. "Since I didn't know where the fucker was or how to find him, I decided to get involved with the investigation itself and catch the bastard. Nothing like life in prison to make someone suffer you know? Hell, I'd gladly pay the taxes to keep him there too."

"So you catch the guy?" the blond asked, riveted.

"Just last week," Duo told him, lips curling upwards. "Of course, I did kinda wreck the city up a bit chasing him down. At least I'm on paid vacation; all I have to do now is wait for the trial so that I can testify and make sure he never gets out."

"So you were close to the girl, Hilde?" Solo asked.

"Depends on your definition," Duo shrugged. "I guess that you could say we were. Heero for some reason didn't like her."

Competition, Solo thought to himself. He could see why though; Duo was a very fine catch and anyone who could grab him would be the luckiest person on Earth and the Colonies. Heero must have been jumping for joy when he heard that Duo would be working with them, he mused. No competition in sight and an open field. Well, not anymore it wasn't.

"I guess things haven't been easy for you," he said. "Man, I wish I had been there to look after ya."

"I've always landed on my feet," Duo shrugged. "It's just that these things always happen to me. I've gotten used to them."

"But you shouldn't have," he argued.

"And I have no use for might-have-beens," Duo interrupted. "There's only one direction to go and that's ahead. You can't move if you're always looking back at the past."

"Did ya get that from a fortune cookie?" Solo asked after silence fell on them.

"Kinda," Duo admitted, scratching the back of his head.

"What am I gonna do with you, Kid?" he chuckled, shaking his head in amusement.

Their time was then interrupted as a shadow fell over them. Slowly looking up, the two stared up into the face of an impassioned Heero whose body seemed to be trembling. Narrowing his eyes, Solo could tell that this intruder was pissed and he tensed up, just waiting for one wrong move to be made.

"Hey, Heero," Duo greeted. "Finally find my note?"

Without even saying a word, Heero grabbed Duo by his arm and hauled him up harshly to his feet, heedless of the other's wince of pain. "What do you think you were doing?" the Japanese man snapped. "I've been looking for you all over!"

"Sorry," Duo whispered, looking away much to Solo's surprise. "I just wanted to get out of the hotel for a while…"

"Of all the irresponsible…!" Heerp swore. "Don't you ever think?"

"I'm not a child, Heero," Duo shot back, frowning. "Now let go!"

However, at that moment Solo was already acting, taking control of the shadows but only using them subtly to wrap around Heero's feet. The moment Heero tried to move, he found that he couldn't lift his feet, no matter how hard he tried. Solo smirked at that; it wasn't that he didn't want to utterly trash Heero right now but he didn't think making this scene bigger than it already was would be good.

Who knew if those Collective bastards were nearby? Not that he didn't think that blondie's logic was wrong but it didn't hurt to be careful now did it?

Getting up, he tried to peel Heero's grip off Duo but found much to his surprise that his rival was much stronger than he looked. He was so surprised, in fact, that he didn't see it coming.

Pain in his face and then his ass is what he felt before he realized what had just happened. Did…did that asshole just punch him? And then make him fall onto his ass? Oh hell no; it's on now!

However, before he could do anything, he heard Duo cry out Heero's name followed by an odd crunching sound. Next thing he knew, Heero was in front of him on his knees, hands clutching onto his groin tightly and eyes squeezed so tightly together that tears were beginning to leak out.

Standing over him, Duo glared down at Heero. "I learned from last time," he growled, his violet eyes beginning to glow eerily.

Well this didn't look good. He recalled what had happened when Duo had gotten pissed off before and he was the only one alive to tell the tale about it. Plus he didn't think that it'd be smart for him to let loose in such a…public place, even though he had no clue if Duo could do that transformation thing or not.

Better safe than sorry.

"Duo, let's just pack it up and go back," he said, sighing. "You can kick his ass later if you want ta. I'll help."

Duo continued to glare, muttering, "What's gotten in to you?" to Heero before turning towards Solo and deflating somewhat. "Guess this means no night out on the town," he said wryly as he trudged over to his beach stuff. He paused for a second, staring forlornly at the remains of his ice cream, having dropped it when Heero had hauled him up. He hadn't even finished it…

Unfortunately for Solo, he caught that look and he felt the stirrings of pity well up inside of him. Glancing down, he realized that he wasn't holding his cone either, groaning when he spotted in a few feet away. Must've dropped it when Heero slugged him; he could have given it to Duo and get raised up an unneeded notch or two. He was going to make that Asian bastard pay when they got back up to the room!

"There's no use dwelling on it, Solo," Duo beside him, holding everything he had brought down with him in his arms. "But look on the bright side, there's always another opportunity!" he tried to chirp though he trailed off miserably at the end.

Solo frowned at that; now why did Duo look and sound like he was going to his doom? Was there something about the relationship Duo had with the others that he missed? As he picked up his towel, he made a mental note to himself to find out.

Of course, that meant when he left that he had forgotten his spell on Heero was still in effect and he wouldn't recall for a while after…

Meanwhile, that gave Heero some time to consider and review what just went wrong. Unfortunately, Heero was in too much pain to even think at that moment except for two things. Somehow, he needed to talk to Duo and explain himself. Then kick that blond bastards' ass for getting in his way.