Pairings: Duo/Heero, Quatre/Trowa

Warnings: possibilities of later violence, supernatural stuff, kinky moments, guns...um...gundams, implied sex

Author's comment: Updated!

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Operation Blank Conspiracy 25

Master O was…strict. He was really really strict compared to how Wufei trained him. The man didn't take to his mistakes lightly, often hitting Duo on top of the hard with a ruler whenever the braided male messed up a pose or a particular move, not that it really hurt but still. He didn't talk unless instructing him, and didn't break a single smile when Duo tried to make a joke with him.

His head still felt the dull pain of the ruler hitting him though it was nowhere near as painful as it should have been if he weren't medically altered like he was. He could still fake it pretty well though, yelping and rubbing at his head as if it'd really struck him painfully. He didn't know how much this guy knew or even what his position was with the Preventers. Was he really just here to train agents on how to fight?

Well he'd asked him once but he hadn't gotten an answer out of it, instead being kicked off his feet when he wasn't paying attention. And he was supposed to be faster than this guy! But he didn't want to give it away. He was still pretty wary of the guy and wanted the class to end as quickly as possible.

So when he looked up at the clock on the wall by the door, his eyes lit up as he quickly moved out of his pose and gave the master a bow like he'd given Wufei. The man didn't say anything, just staring at him making Duo blink in confusion.

"Ok well…I need to get to my next training so…"

The man still didn't say anything and Duo frowned backing towards the door. He didn't know why the lack of a personality bothered him. At least Heero and Wufei showed some emotions every so often. He blushed thinking about Heero. In only a few more hours, he'd get to see him again. The thought excited him for a moment making him forget about the tall master standing in front of him.

"Maxwell."

"…Yeah?"

"You're going to be late if you keep standing there. Proficiency is Efficiency."

Duo's smile slowly dropped from his face at the words and he looked up at the man trying his best to not get the "are you stupid" look on his face. But the man didn't even seem to care. Sighing, Duo just turned away heading out the door. He felt like the man watched him the whole way but he didn't mind as long as he was able to escape. When he slipped out of the training room, he took off down the hallway quickly missing how a guy with mushroom shaped hair was watching him from behind.

He only paused for a moment when he found himself moving past the station store. He still had time, so his cellphone said, and ducked inside quickly. His eyes scanned around looking for the cellphone section to get some straps. It was hard to find, tucked away in one of the corners, and his eyes lit up as he walked over to it. There were quite a few straps here. It sucked he didn't know what Wufei's phone even looked like.

But he found one that kept drawing his attention. The little image of the ninja panda bear with a ponytail just reminded him too much of Wufei for him not to get it. Apparently when the phone rang, the nose was supposed to light up as an indicator. And it just looked too cute! He wasn't even sure if Wufei liked cute things at all, but he was going to get this no matter what.

Duo picked up the keychain and carried it to the register paying for it. He also bought a somber looking bookmark that looked like it fit Wufei's personality. It wasn't a phone and nowhere near as expensive, but it was coming from the heart. That's all that mattered right? So he bought his goods, folding the bag up into his pocket before he headed off for his training with Quatre.

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While Duo was in his training with Quatre, Heero was lying on his bed thinking about the meeting today. He tried to ignore the fact that the sheets still smelled like Duo and therefore still like sex. But when it got hard to ignore he sighed and sat up moving over to his laptop and starting to type on it.

Tomorrow's mission was supposed to be simple. There were a group of rebels not too far away from where they were drifting that were transporting gundamium metal to some unknown location. The job set up for Heero and Trowa was to tail the group back to their hideout then report back to HQ about their location.

Normally any agent could do this kind of a mission but Heero had a feeling Colonel Une just wanted to get him out of the space station for a while. After all, he was just wasting away without anything to do. Besides, it'd be a reason for him to fly around in the Wing Zero gundam, something he felt like he hadn't done in months.

The colonel had told them not to worry about the training, that she'd have someone there to training Duo while the three elitist were away. He frowned and had asked her who it would be but he didn't get an answer.

He didn't let it bother him long, searching online for any new leads to OZ. Nothing. The Preventers still didn't have anything new to say on the matter. Heero sighed and closed everything out about to shut the whole computer down before he frowned looking at the "Dear Diary" folder on his desktop. He'd never gotten around to tampering with it further. Every time he started to open it, he'd see Duo's violet eyes staring at him in disapproval in his head. The man trusted him and he was really starting to feel the same way. Why should he lose that man's trust by snooping into his personal files?

Heero sighed shutting the computer down, like he'd done so many times before. It wasn't like it had anything to do with a mission anyway. Besides, if it was a diary it probably wasn't anything but eating candy at a carnival or something like that. It wasn't like there'd be anything bad inside it.

Heero leaned back in the chair, his fingers brushing against his lips as his thoughts turned to the braided male. He found he had the other on his mind a lot lately. Duo seemed to have no problems with invading his thoughts just like he'd invaded his dreams. Heero didn't seem so bothered by that anymore. He liked the little things he'd learned about the other, like how he tugged on his braid when he was nervous or how he licked his lips when he got anxious. He liked seeing the smiles and hearing his laughter when he was happy or how he looked worried when he stared at Heero in the nurse's office.

The preventer agent sat up a little staring into the blank monitor that showed his reflection. He thought he saw a sparkle to his eyes that he didn't remember ever seeing before. There was the slightest of a smile on his face and he had to admit he looked…happy. Or was that even how happy looked like?

The knock on the door drew his attention away and he got up walking over to it and pressing the button to open it. His eyes widened slightly when he saw Duo standing there. Was it three o'clock already? He glanced at his phone seeing that it was fifteen minutes till three.

Duo seemed a little nervous, turning his eyes down to the ground and licking at his lips. "I uh…was just seeing if you'd already left for practice yet or not."

"I didn't," Heero said frowning at the fact that he just stated the obvious. "Why are you here?"

"I uh…well…I figured we could walk there together." Duo looked up at him hopefully, cheeks a bit tinted in red. "It gives us some body ti- bonding time! I meant, bonding time." His cheeks really were red this time though it was his own fault. "So we can maybe…t…talk more."

He was nervous. Heero couldn't blame him though because he was feeling just as nervous himself. So Heero just gave a brief nod of his head and a quick ok. It seemed to be enough for Duo who looked relieved before a smile showed up on his face. Aside from his phone, Heero didn't need anything else from the room and let the door auto lock before he started off down the hallway. He resisted the urge to reach down and hold Duo's hand remembering what happened the last time they'd unintentionally did that and received a lot of attention for it.

Duo was walking beside him quietly, looking straight ahead with his hands shoved into his pockets. He was worrying his lips with his teeth and looked like he was really thinking about something.

"How did your training go today?" Heero asked. It was at least a way to start up a conversation. Plus, it gave insight into how well Duo should be doing with everything. It looked like that's all he had to say to get Duo back to chattering a bit.

"Geez, I don't even want to think about it," Duo said groaning out and making Heero smile a little at the reaction. "Since Wufei's not here I got stuck with that Master O guy. I swear he's nothing but a tyrant! If I could feel it, I'd be sore all over!" Heero relaxed more in the other's presence. Talking like this wasn't so bad, even if he was doing more of the listening. "Quatre had me learning how to hack programs, like I don't know how to do that already." Duo frowned slightly but he didn't elaborate further on it.

It got quiet for a moment and Heero looked finding Duo staring at him with a small frown on his face. It made him slow down made him want to ask the other what the problem was. But then Duo was moving quickly again, heading off down the hallway towards the gym. Heero watched after him for a moment before following after him.

"So what are we supposed to be learning today, Heero?" Duo looked over at him as he stopped in front of the training room. Heero frowned slightly. He still wanted to test his limits against Duo's strength. He wanted to get stronger, strong enough at least to be able to protect the other.

"We'll start off with some of what we did last time," Heero said going inside the room and slipping his shoes off before getting on the mat. "I'll figure out what we'll do after that."

Duo was frowning again and looked over at him. "Heero, I really don't think that's-"

"This isn't just for you," Heero said looking up at him. "It's training for me as well." He mentally saw the eyes of 01 staring at him and frowned. He didn't want to lose so pathetically to that man again. They'd gotten lucky before but he seriously doubt they'd be so lucky again. He was also going to walk by the weapon's tech office and see about getting some custom made bullets. At least it sounded like a good idea anyway.

Duo sighed then shrugged his shoulders. "Fine, whatever. Don't whine to me if you end up being all bruised up again." Heero just grunted and gave a gesture as if to say come get me.

The practice went by quickly. Though Heero had been flipped and tossed down several times, he'd managed to get the upper hand at least a few times. He was getting better able to read Duo's movements and would find ways to move his body to lessen the blows.

The last move had Heero on his back with Duo hovering on top of him pinning him down. Both men were panting from exhaustion and sweating bullets. In Duo's case, it just meant that Heero actually managed to put him through a workout. Heero stared up at the face so close to his, the eye closed so that Heero was able to take in every detail.

He found his free hand moving up, his palm brushing against Duo's cheek forcing the other's eyes to open up to stare down at him. He couldn't look away from those hypnotizing violet eyes. His thumb gently caressed Duo's cheek, the eyes closing again from the soft touch. He didn't even care that his finger was now covered in sweat. It was Duo's sweat so it was ok.

He lifted his head up kissing the other's lips again, his hand sliding back behind Duo's head to pull the other down to meet him. The braided male made a sound against his lips and Heero started to push his tongue into his mouth before Duo sat up quickly, eyes widening slightly as his cheeks redden.

"You…you did this before."

"…Huh?" Heero stared up at him, his eyes still dazed from the kiss and the look on Duo's face.

"This…the k-kiss…you kissed me before…" Duo blushed more, hands resting on Heero's chest as his fingers gently twisted in Heero's shirt. "When I…I think when I was losing my mind about the nurse and…you kissed me to calm me down or something." Duo sighed softly, a small smile on his lips. "I thought something was missing in my memories. I'm glad I gained this back anyway."

"…Is it common for you to black out when you get like that?"

"...Well it's only happened to me twice that I know of. Once when I was really little living with Father Maxwell back before they knew the…full details of what I was. I broke a few doctor arms back then too before they learned that I didn't do well around medical teams." Duo sat up more, looking thoughtful as he thought back to his past. "Then Father Maxwell ran up and wrapped his arms around me hugging me and telling me everything would be ok. His gentle voice and the pats on the back really helped me to calm down and come back to myself."

Duo chuckled leaning down resting his head on Heero's chest as he continued talking. "Then Sister Helen braided my hair for me. She came up with some story saying that it was a magic trick that would help protect me from the bad things. Before that I hadn't been too close to them, always avoiding them and watchful of everyone around me. I stayed because it was hidden from OZ, because I got free food, clothes, and a place to sleep.

"But that moment, when Father Maxwell and Sister Helen had looked at me, I could see the care in their eyes. They weren't staring at me like some kind of monster. They looked like they really cared. They wanted to help me, to protect me. And I couldn't help getting attached to them. They grew on me, all smiles and life lessons. And when I disappeared once for weeks only to find myself crawling back to them, they were there for me surrounding me with love and caring feelings like only a real parent could do."

Duo's eyes closed as he spoke and Heero thought he might have fallen asleep, reaching out and resting his hand on Duo's hair listening to him. "It's not like I know what real parents are like anyway. But if I had some, I'd hope they were like those two. That's why they're so important to me."

"I'm sure they're fine," Heero said and he thought he could feel Duo relaxing on top of him. "They're safe. The preventers won't let anything happen to them."

"I really hope so," Duo said frowning as he sat up again and stared down at Heero. "OZ is still looking for me, I'm sure of it."

"I'm even surer that they already know where you are," Heero said giving a confident nod of his head. "They won't mess with HQ. They won't try to invade us to get to you. That'd just cause a lot of problems for them and would just show how guilty they really are."

"But that means they'll try something else." Duo stood up again leaving only a chill where his body had once been. Heero missed his warmth already. "They're planning something. They have to be. I could probably get that information out of 01 but…"

"01 would just take you back to OZ."

"I know that but…" Heero stood up watching Duo, watching how the other was looking down at the ground frowning again.

With a sigh, Heero walked over resting his hand on Duo's head and waiting until the other looked up at him before he spoke to him. "We're here to protect you rather you believe it or not," Heero said enjoying the flush on Duo's cheeks as he stared into his eyes confidently. "We won't let OZ or 01 harm you. If they do, it'll be over my dead body."

"That's the part I'm afraid of," Duo said not explaining it further when Heero gave him a confused look. "Anyways, we've got more training to do right? Let's keep going." He smiled though it didn't quite reach his eyes. But Heero didn't elaborate on it further. He just let it go giving a nod as he started them on their next task.

TBC…

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Because I just love these two. x.x