Chapter 3 – The Trip There.
Two hours passed by uneventfully with Heero and Duo fast asleep in the back seat and Trowa, Quatre and Wufei talking quietly. However, as Wufei turned onto the ramp leading to the beach, the mini-van became a member of a long line of cars. Duo's sub-conscience told him the vehicle had stopped moving, and he woke up.
"Are we there yet?" he asked groggily.
Wufei sighed and drummed his fingers impatiently on the dashboard. "No, we're caught in an enormous line of traffic. You can go back to sleep again, Maxwell."
"Would if I could, but I can't so I won't." Duo grinned. I'm wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide awake now!"
Trowa rolled his eyes and said almost to himself, "Here we go again." But he turned and gave Duo a good-natured smile.
For about five minutes, everyone was quiet. Then, they all heard a very distinctive voice singing.
"Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall…"
Heero, who had been pretending to sleep for about ten minutes now so he wouldn't be expected to talk, opened his eyes. "Quit it, Duo."
"… Ninety-nine bottles of beer. You take one down, pass it around, ninety-eight bottles of beer on the wall. Ninety-eight bottles of beer on the wall, ninety-eight bottles of beer…"
"Duo." Trowa said warningly.
"… You take one down, pass it around…"
Duo's voice cut off abruptly as he ducked when Trowa turned around and took a swing at him. "I'm sorry, Trowa. I was only teasing."
But Trowa seemed to have woken up on the wrong side of the bed that morning, and he took another swing. Quatre sprang to the rescue, unbuckling his seatbelt and grabbing Trowa's arm just in time. Duo seeing he was safe made a face at Trowa.
"All right you guys." Quatre sighed. "Break it up. Look, why don't we play a game or something to pass the time?"
"A game?" asked Wufei, glancing back.
"Yeah." Quatre said. "In fact, I just had a great idea."
There was a series of groans around the van.
"Aw, come on. Here's what you do." Quatre was beaming at the thought of his idea. "We asked each other questions. Either the person answering has to tell the truth or they have to get out of the van and walk beside it for five minutes. We're going slow enough for that anyway."
"Seems like some of us need to take a walk anyway." Duo stated, glaring at Trowa.
"My thoughts exactly." Trowa returned.
Heero cleared his throat, not exactly anxious to see another fistfight break out. "I'm not playing."
"Aw, come on, Heero!" Quatre whined.
"I'll play but I won't pay any attention."
"That's not playing!" Wufei growled, but Duo silenced him with a wave of his hand.
"Fine, Heero. I'll answer for you."
Heero looked resigned to that idea for a minute, but as it sank in, he gave Duo a warning look but said nothing.
"So, who goes first?" Quatre asked.
"You go first, Quatre, you made up the game." Heero said, sounding like he really didn't care WHO started the game so long as SOMEONE did, therefore preventing another commotion.
"Ok." Quatre said. He thought for a minute about what the perfect question would be to start off. "Ahhhh, I know. Trowa." Trowa grimaced. "What's your favorite color?
Trowa looked relieved as he answered, "Red."
"Ok." Quatre said, "You ask next, Wufei."
Wufei looked thoughtful for a moment, and then turned to Duo. "Maxwell, how many times have you been arrested?"
Duo looked accusingly from Heero to Trowa and answered, "Five times to be exact." His gaze fixed intently on Heero. "I remember the last time in particular when someone said, "Duo, I have a favor to ask you."
Heero looked away sheepishly. Trowa stifled a giggle, and Wufei and Quatre exchanged confused glances. Trowa recomposed himself and turned to Heero. "I have a question for you, Heero." A hint of curiosity touched Heero's face as his eyes met Trowa's. "Have you ever allowed your hair to be dyed, and if so, did you like it?"
Jaws dropped around the van. Had TROWA really asked that question? On the other hand, who knew what really went on in the mind of their generally quiet bystander?
Duo, seeing as Heero wasn't about to favor them with an answer, grinned. "Actually, yes he did. You see I dyed his hair green one time to match his favorite muscle-shirt. Duo started rambling excitedly like a twelve-year-old. "Anyway, he didn't seem to like it that much, so I took it upon myself to "help" him like it. You see I led him to the bedroom, and I…"
The van suddenly veered to toward the shoulder of the road as Wufei realized what Duo was about to say. "Maxwell! Stick only to the essentials of your answer. That is too much information."
"But those are the essentials. You see…" Duo started to explain, but Heero cut in.
"Quatre. I have a question for you now." The tone of his voice silenced Duo, who put on a somewhat sulky expression and moved as far from Heero in the seat as possible. "If you could date any movie star, who would it be and why?"
"Hmmmmm." Quatre pondered Heero's question carefully before answering. "I guess it would have to be Brendan Fraser. I mean, I don't know much about him, but it seems he can play so many different characters that he must be a pretty smart guy. Plus he seems pretty sensitive. And of course you gotta admit that he looked awfully good in The Mummy and The Mummy Returns."
Everyone seemed happy with that answer, and then Wufei spoke up. "Hey, Yuy. I have a question for you."
"But didn't he just go?" Quatre asked.
"So, I've got another question for him." Wufei looked at Heero in the rearview mirror. "What is the best come-on line you've ever had anyone say to you?"
Heero sat there helplessly as four sets of eyes trained themselves onto him. He was just thinking there was NO WAY he was going to answer that question when his heart stopped in horror as he heard Duo say, "That's easy. It was when…"
"DUO!!!!!!!" Heero thundered so loudly that everyone jumped. He stood up and headed for the door of the van with a curt, "Shut up."
"Aw, come on!" Duo whined, looking pleading at his koi. "I wouldn't really have told them about the "rubber-maid" one!"
Heero turned so pale that his complexion looked lighter than Quatre's. He opened the door and got out, not even humoring the other four pilots with a word or a glance. For about two minutes he walked almost mechanically, staring straight ahead and trying to regain his composure, when he heard the van door slide open. Turning, he saw Trowa getting out, looking as though he were ready to hurl any minute. Trowa only looked at him briefly and then started straight ahead. "Don't even think about asking."
The game kept on for a good forty-five minutes. Finally, everyone had taken his turn walking outside except Wufei. They just couldn't seem to stump him. The worst part was, he quickly learned to answer them truthfully with, "I can only answer by saying that to disclose that information would be to embarrass myself." This frustrated everyone immensely, and finally Duo had had enough.
"That does it, Wu-man. I've got a question, and you'd better not have a smart-alecky answer either."
Wufei smiled. Even if he couldn't answer Maxwell's question, they wouldn't be able to make him walk since he was driving. "Very well, Maxwell, ask."
Duo's eyes twinkled as he asked, "Are you too weak to answer my question, or strong enough not to answer it?"
Gasps arose throughout the van as Wufei's face turned purple with the realization that he'd just been had. "That question was unjust. However, since I am driving, you cannot make me get out and walk, and so you must find some other way of punishing me."
Heero, Duo, Trowa, and Quatre all inter-exchanged glances, and then basically moved as one being. When Trowa jumped from his seat, he reached up and opened the driver's door just in time for Quatre and Duo, who had darted forward from the back seat, to push Wufei out. To finish the job, Heero scrambled over the middle seat and into the driver's seat, and jammed his foot on the brake just in time before the van smashed into the little sports car ahead of them. "New mission." Heero said, pressing the vehicle's auto-lock system for the doors. For a moment or two, everyone was quiet, absorbing what they had just accomplished, and then all four of them dissolved into hysterical giggles, especially when Wufei started screaming at them from outside.
"I'll get you for this! Upon my honor, you will PAY for what you've done!"
Heero grinned as he relaxed in the driver's seat. The pilot's mind had already elaborated on his "New Mission" statement. "Trowa." Heero asked. "What percentage of the time do you daydream about other gundam pilots. Forty, sixty, eighty, or ninety and above?"
Quatre looked aghast, and Trowa looked at Heero as if to say, "You're kidding me!" Finally, Duo chuckled from the back seat as Trowa stood and opened the door, climbing out.
When he was gone, Duo turned to Quatre. "What was your most embarrassing moment ever?" he asked with a gleam in his eye.
Quatre looked at Duo and then opened his door. "I just can't answer that." He answered. "It isn't fair to… um someone in particular if I do." The door shut behind him.
Duo grinned triumphantly. "Alone at last, Loverboy!" He came up, touching his lips to Heero's cheek before sitting into the passenger seat.
"Not necessarily." Heero commented, his voice just touching on amusement. He turned and looked tenderly into his koi's eyes. "Duo, will you marry me?"
Duo looked way quickly, his face burning red. This was now the sixth time that Heero had asked him this, and quite seriously at that. Although about eighty percent of his being screamed "yes" every time Heero asked, twenty percent was paranoid of the :m: word. Giving Heero a vengeful look, Duo opened the door and slipped out.
"I love doing that to him!" Heero thought. He knew for a fact that Duo was going to say "yes". Heero had learned that the best time to ask Duo questions he would never regularly answer was when he was sleeping. But Heero usually asked silly questions. One night though he'd been frustrated and had asked Duo to marry him. He then consoled himself on taking advantage of his koi's vulnerability by realizing he never would have survived his battle the next day without a decent night's sleep without finally knowing the truth. However, he had never told Duo about knowing. He knew it wouldn't be fair to accept the answer to his question in that manner.
In any case, Heero relaxed in the driver's seat again and murmured, "Mission completed," as he locked the doors. For fifteen minutes he sat there contentedly, pretending not to notice the now-furious pilots outside who were trying every bribe in the book to get back in out of the heat.
Finally, Wufei looked at the others. "I know how to get back in again!" His eyes twinkled as he pulled his van's new self-detonation button out of his pocket and waved it in front of Heero's face. The pilot hit the automatic lock button quickly, trying not to let the expression show the shock he had felt. Everyone else climbed into the van thankfully, although three of them caught their breath in relief as they pondered whether Wufei had finally gone insane or not.
All five pilots sat silently for a bit, their eyes trained dismally on the traffic ahead of them. Then Quatre pointed to one of the signs ahead. "Hey look, there's the exit for the parking lot way up there."
The other pilots craned their necks. "You weren't kidding when you said WAY up there." Trowa noted.
Heero scanned the traffic around him. For ten minutes now there hadn't been a single car going in the opposite direction. From where they were, he could see a canteen on the left side of the road with a set of traffic lights at the driveway, which led straight across the beach parking lot. Turning to take in the other pilots, he noted that Duo, who was sitting right beside him in the passenger seat, and Quatre who was sitting in the middle seat with Trowa, didn't have their seatbelts on. "Alright everyone, buckle up. I don't want to be pulled over." He allowed himself a small sigh of relief as Duo, Quatre, and even Wufei fastened their seatbelts. He took one more look to assess the traffic, and then said in his usual monotone, "Now hang on."