Title: Trading Faces

Rating: PG-13, just because I feel like it.

Warnings: Profanity, violence, eventual 1x2 pairing, etc. Suggestions of 3x4 in this chapter, too, in case you care to know.

Disclaimer: Nope, they aren't mine. But I like to pretend that they are. Guess I'll have to settle for owning this story (not a fair consolation if you ask me…). Please tell me what you think in a review … I just love to hear what you guys think!

-           -           -

            It was mid-afternoon, and Trowa cautiously nudged Duo's door open. It hadn't been hard to coax the lock to open; the house was old and the locks dilapidated. He waited a moment before looking in, knowing the dangers of not giving Heero time to react if he wanted to. But nothing came, and so Trowa entered the room.

            Letting his lips pull into a rare smile, he looked at the two occupants of the room as they slept peacefully. The figure on the bed was curled into himself, covered mostly by the blankets piled around him. His frayed length of braid was the only part truly visible, snaking out and falling off the side of the mattress.

            Heero's figure was sprawled on the floor near the bed, his head pillowed on his arms and his injured leg propped carefully on a roll of torn cloth. He was clad in only a pair of Duo's pants, which Trowa wondered about until he realized that it was Duo's room, after all. Duo's clothes were the only ones available.

            With silent grace, Trowa bent and gathered the scattered components of the first aid kit that littered the floor. Heero must have been exhausted to leave the supplies in such a mess, Trowa mused as he replaced each piece and carefully shut the lid. Carrying it with him as he straightened, he cast one last glance around the room before turning to leave the two in silence. They deserved their rest, after all. There would be time for explanations later.

*          *          *

            Heero opened his eyes to a pounding headache, and he groaned slightly as he rubbed at his face with the heel of his hand. There was a shuffling noise to his right, and he turned to find a face that should have been his watching him. Duo.

            "You hit me," were the first words out of his mouth.

            "Heh heh," Duo laughed nervously, the expression awkward on a face that wasn't used to the feeling. "How ya feelin', Heero?"

            "You hit me." Heero bolted upright in bed, sleepiness replaced by anger.

            "Whoa! Sorry, Heero, but I had to do it! I panicked!" Duo said, holding his palms up in a sign of peace. "The others never would have believed that you were me! You couldn't act like me if your life depended on it."
            "Oh yeah?"

            "Besides, you didn't tell me you had been hurt!" Duo switched gears, pointing to his thigh. "I had to walk all the way home with a gaping wound in your …er, my leg, and I didn't even notice it was there! The guys were looking at me like I was crazy!"

            "That's because you are, baka!"

            "Well, it really blew my cover! It's hard to act like you when the others already think I've hit my head one too many times or something."

            "So … the others know?"

            "No! They thought I was just a little woozy from the blood loss, so they didn't think anything of it. Heero why didn't you tell me you were hurt?"

            "Hn. It wasn't imperative."

            "Spouting blood from your leg isn't imperative?!"

            "It had healed over well enough. You must have torn it open again."

            "Well you have one heck of a pain tolerance, that's for sure."

            "Hn," Heero frowned, and swung his legs out of bed. "Back to the subject, baka. Just why did you feel the need to knock me out? And why do we have to hide this from the others, anyway?"

            "Gee, I dunno, Heero," Duo rolled his eyes. "What were we supposed to say. 'Hey, guys, mission accomplished! Oh, except for the fact that Heero and I switched bodies and have no idea what's going on, but don't worry we aren't crazy, honest?' I'm sure that would have gone over well."

            "You have a point," Heero admitted reluctantly. "But what else can we do?"

            "Uh, get the disk and try to fix ourselves back to normal?"

            "It's worth a try. Where is it?" Heero asked. At that Duo grew nervous, and Heero's scowl returned.

            "Duo …"

            "Look, I didn't have time to find it before Wu and Tro showed up! I couldn't exactly ask them to wait while I looked for it! We'll just have to go back for it sometime when they aren't paying attention to us."

            "And in the meantime?"

            "We'll just have to pretend to be each other," Duo shrugged.

            "Will this involve knocking me out again?" Heero growled. Duo winced.

            "No. I'm sorry about that, Heero, really. It was a dumb thing to do," he admitted. "We're going to really have to work together if we're gonna pull this off."

            "For once, I agree," Heero said. "If you're so insistent that the others don't find out."

            "Do you want to be the one to tell them?"

            "…No."

            "Well then. We'll just get ourselves back to normal and they'll be none the wiser."

            "We'll have to tell them about the disk eventually. What if OZ has more?"

            "If OZ … oh god!" Duo gasped. "OZ!"

            "Duo, what is it?"

            "The researcher I killed. He threw the disk at me, and before I shot him it looked like he was almost rushing me … trying to get it back. He was going to try and steal my body, Heero!" Heero scowled, and stood up.

            "We need to look into this."

            "Yeah, I know. But maybe they all got destroyed in the explosion?"

            "We still need to look into it."

            "Sure, sure. But I don't want to alarm the guys. Not yet," Duo said.

            "…Agreed."

            "Okay then? What now?"

            "We learn to act like each other," Heero said tonelessly. "But before that … I need compensation."

            "Huh?" Duo looked up at Heero from where he sat, and at the malicious glint in his eye Duo jumped to his feet in defense. "Heero?"

            "I don't appreciate being hit, Duo, especially by an ally. I want compensation. Now get over here!"

            "No!" Duo shook his head, scrambling for the door. "I said I was sorry, okay? Stay away!"

            "Duo!" Heero growled, and Duo could tell he was serious. He flung the door open without a second thought and ran from the room.

            "You're insane!" he shot back, running down the hall.

            "I'm just going to hit you, baka! Come back here!"

            Wufei looked up with a puzzled expression on his stern face, listening intently to the crashing sounds from the second floor. Trowa paused next to the stove where he was making dinner, raising curious eyes to the ceiling.

            "It seems they woke up," he pointed out dryly, glancing at Wufei. The young Chinese man nodded.

            "It looks like Maxwell was in for it after all."

            The peaceful kitchen suddenly exploded in chaos as Heero's form charged into the room, deftly leaping one of the wooden chairs in his scramble for the door.

            "Move," he instructed Trowa gruffly, leaving the russet-haired boy mere seconds to get out of the way.

            "Heero, what …?" Trowa began, but was cut off by an annoyed shout from a voice that could only be Duo's.

            "Get back here! You can't run forever!" he roared, his violet eyes blazing with fury as he dashed into the room. Heero didn't spare him a look, he simply took off out the door. The braided boy was after him in a second, ignoring the two confused pilots left in their wake.

            "Well," Wufei said finally, blinking as the silence overcame them once more. "That was unusual."

            "It won't hurt that much, baka!" Heero shouted as he continued to chase Duo, forgetting the scene they had just caused for the moment. He would worry about that later, after Duo had gotten what he deserved.

            "You don't wanna punch me, Heero! You'd only be hurting yourself!" Duo threw back, scrambling across the grass.

            "Seeing as I'm not in my body right now, I don't really care if it gets one bruise!" Heero snarled, lunging for Duo and coming up short. "Stop fighting! It would be all over by now if you had just taken it like a man!"

            "But I'm not a man, Heero, I'm you!" Duo said, leaping back instinctively to avoid Heero's hands as the enraged young man came after him. "I gotta admit, Heero, your body's got stamina. I think you're faster than …well, I'm faster than…. Well, you know what I mean. This body is faster than that one!"

            "I suppose I'll take that as a compliment," Heero smirked. "But that doesn't get you out of this! Stop moving!"

            "Yeah, like I'm gonna listen to you!"

            "Don't make me take advantage of your injury," Heero said, and Duo's smile faltered slightly.

            "Wh-what do you mean? I'm doing just fine."

            "I'll chase you into the woods, and you won't be able to run easily over all the underbrush," Heero said calmly.

            "You wouldn't. That's low."

            "You're not being honorable. Why should I?"

            "Ah, you're crazy!" Duo said, and took off running again. Heero was ready, and with a cry of effort he managed to grab Duo's arm. Pulling him with all the strength he could muster, he twirled the boy around and slugged him in the gut. Duo wheezed, folding over and clutching his abdomen as he gasped for breath.

            "Hn. See, that wasn't so bad. I didn't even hit your face," Heero said. "I didn't hit you that hard, baka, so you can stop acting winded."

            "That's so low, Heero," Duo rasped, glaring viciously at his companion. "What happened to working together?"

            "We will work together. Now that we're even, we can start acting."

            "Well, you're lucky the guys didn't follow us. They have to be at least slightly weirded out by that little scene we just caused," Duo said. "They're gonna wonder why it looked like I was chasing you through the house on some kind of death rampage. Usually it's the other way around, you know?"

            "They are intelligent enough not to ask," Heero shrugged. "And if they do, we won't explain it. They don't need to know everything."

            "Yeah, I guess," Duo replied, keeping a hand pressed to his stomach protectively. "I was already beat up. Why'd you have to make it worse?"

            "You will heal quickly," Heero said. "It's my body, remember?"

            "Your faith in me is less than comforting," Duo muttered.

            "I could say the same to you," Heero shot back, then turned to look back toward the safe house. "I suppose we should head back then, before they get curious."

            "Yeah. You ready to pull off the act of your life?"

            "I don't really have a choice, now do I?"

            "Nope!" Duo grinned, throwing an arm around Heero's shoulders. Heero shrugged him off rigidly.

            "Stop that," he said. "And stop smiling. I do not smile like that."

            "Only if you stop scowling, Heero," Duo replied lightly. "I never look that pissed off, unless something major has happened. You smile, and I'll stop."

            "Hn. Fine."

            "It's not hard, Heero. This'll be easy, right?"

            Heero didn't answer him, he only quickened his pace toward the house. He couldn't think of one easy thing about being Duo Maxwell.

            They re-entered the kitchen quietly, Duo trailing behind Heero. They both looked up in relative surprise when they saw the occupants of the room. Quatre had returned, and was sitting at the table with Wufei nursing a steaming cup of what was probably some kind of tea. Duo immediately wiped the surprise and panic from his face, doing his best impression of the Perfect Soldier. Heero had managed a fairly-decent smile, considering he really had no idea what he was doing.

            "Hey guys," Quatre said brightly. "Are you both all right? Did something happen on your mission? When you both didn't return, we all thought … Duo, what happened to your face?" Heero raised a self-conscious hand to trace the purplish bruise immerging on his face, and shrugged casually.

            "It was nothing," he said, doing a surprisingly good job of sounding cheerful. "Some idiot thought it would be a good idea to try and knock me out. I got him back, though, no worries. What about your mission, Q? Everything okay with you?"

            Duo was, without a doubt, stunned. It sounded just like him. True, Heero did have his voice, but the words he had used sounded just like something he would say. Duo was impressed; Heero obviously didn't ignore him all the time, if he could imitate him so well.

            "Oh, everything's fine," Quatre grinned. "I was worried about you guys, though. Trowa was telling me that they had to go retrieve you? You were concussed, Duo?"

            "Uh … I was?" Heero said, turning to frown slightly at Duo. There was a glint in his eyes that demanded explanation.

            "Yes, baka, you were. You obviously don't remember," Duo said tersely, answering the look with one of his own. He'd have to explain later.

            "Oh … yeah, I guess I don't." There was an awkward pause where Duo and Heero merely stared at each other, and the others exchanged confused glances. Heero finally cleared his throat, and smiled widely. "Anyway, Tro, when's dinner? I'm starving!"

            Those simple words broke the tension, and Duo would have sighed relief if it wouldn't have been taboo for his persona. Heero must have sensed his feelings, however, because he turned to smirk slightly at Duo before going to the table and plopping into the chair next to Quatre. Just as he would have done. Duo fought a smile and slowly went to take Heero's place at the table.

            "It'll be ready in a minute, Duo."

*          *          *

            "I'm getting some weird vibes from those two," Quatre said quietly from where he sat on the bed, watching Trowa sift through the dresser of the room that they shared. "Something is going on with those two; I could sense it all through dinner."

            "They've been acting strange ever since they came back from the last mission," Trowa said, yanking out a random t-shirt and turning to give Quatre a reassuring look. "As far as we can tell, nothing went wrong with the mission itself. It's personal, whatever it is."

            "That makes it even more disconcerting. Do you think … something is going on between them?" Quatre said, reaching up to rub at his chest absently. "It's such an awkward feeling, and I can't place it no matter how hard I try …"

            "Don't worry about it, Quatre," Trowa said gently, reaching out to softly tousle the blond's hair. "They'll sort it out eventually, whatever it is. Duo isn't one to keep his feelings bottled up. If something is bothering him, he'll let Heero know."

            "What if it's something bothering Heero?"

            "I highly doubt that is the case."

            "Oh?"

            "Just before you arrived back, Duo was chasing Heero through the house rather aggressively," Trowa said. "Wufei and I thought it best not to pry."

            "I did see the two of them out in the yard when I got home, arguing about something," Quatre offered helpfully. "I didn't bother to look too closely, though. I was too tired." As if to accentuate his words, the blond yawned widely. Trowa smiled softly, and reached out to give him a slight squeeze.

            "You're exhausted. Why don't you try and get some sleep?"

            "Hmm, all right. You coming to bed soon?"

            "I have a few things to take care of, then I'll be here. I expect you to be asleep by then, but I'll be here when you wake up."

            "Mmkay," Quatre nodded sleepily. "Good night then, Trowa." Trowa leaned down, brushing his lips against Quatre's forehead briefly.

            "Good night, Quatre," he whispered, and then turned to leave the room.

            Upstairs, Duo sighed as he looked at himself in the bathroom mirror. Running one callused hand through his short, messy mop of hair, he frowned. He missed the comforting weight of his braid. Heero's hair was weird. It never stayed in one place, and it kept falling into his eyes at all the wrong times.

            Someone pounded on the door, and Duo froze. Turning from the mirror, he looked at the closed door suspiciously.

            "What?"

            "Duo!" a voice hissed back quietly. "Open up!" Duo hurried to the door, flinging it open to meet Heero, an exceptionally passive look on his face.

            "Something wrong?" he asked immediately, wondering why the boy was interrupting him.

            "Hn," Heero replied, his gaze hardening. "I never take that long in the bathroom. Get out."

            "No one else is up here, Heero," Duo pointed out.

            "I don't care," Heero said. "It will attract suspicion if someone does."

            "Whatever. Fine, I'm finished anyway," Duo said grumpily, pushing past Heero into the hall. "Goodnight." He started down the hall, but then Heero interrupted him.

            "Duo," he said quietly, and Duo looked over his shoulder to find Heero smirking at him. "You're going to your own room. You'd better sleep in my room. I'll take yours."

            Duo's eyes widened considerably, and he shook his head.

            "No way, man! No freaking way am I leaving you alone with all of my stuff!"

            "You'd be alone with my stuff," Heero pointed out.

            "I don't care! Your stuff consists of your laptop, which you'll probably take to put under your pillow while you sleep anyway! No! I'm sleeping in my room, case closed."

            "You're being terribly irrational for someone who doesn't want the others to be suspicious," Heero pointed out dryly.

            "Yeah, but …!" Duo began, then deflated with a frustrated growl. "I hate you, Heero."

            "It's not my fault. It's logic," Heero shrugged slightly.

            "Fine. You sleep in my room then. But I'm not sleeping in yours. We'll stay in the same room," Duo said. Heero frowned in confusion.

            "And how is that less suspicious?"

            "Look, we'll just close the door to your room and the guys will be none the wiser. Not like they'd come barging in on you in the middle of the night or anything. We'll shut my door too, and no one will know the difference."

            "…Fine," Heero conceded after a moment. "But Duo?"

            "Yeah?"

            "You're sleeping on the floor."

Continued