Thinking Logically
Interlude I of the "Chasing Down the Moon" Arc
Rating: PG
Series: Gundam Wing
Genre: General
Pairings: 1+2+1
Spoilers: A Few.
Warnings: Mainly just Heero's thoughts.
By Moon Faery

Archived: Moon Faery's Garden ; Kiss of Death ; Lev's Lair [THANK YOU, Lev! *huggles*]

Disclaimer: A statement created solely to save one's ass from becoming lawn for the proverbial legal mower. I do not own Gundam Wing. All materials are used without the permission of their various owners. However, this story line, original characters and plot are MINE. (Holds fic close to her.) Grrrr....

Author Notes: This goes between "Comforting" and "Of Panties and Starlight". (III and IV) Yes, I realize that no one requested this, even when I asked, but I did it anyway. >>;; Heero's character was gettng fairly confusing; I know what's going on in his head, but I just don't see how anyone else can. Add to that that Unbroken (which is likely to get a name-change soon, since the plot point that provided that title didn't appear like I thought it would) 04 isn't working out well, so I needed a change to get the old muses working again. ^^ It's short, but enjoy.

***

Heero slammed the door to the studio appartment he'd rented for the sake of the mission, cursing his idiot professors under his breath. There was a satisfying snap as it shut, leaving a long crack in the wooden doorframe. Looking around the apartment for something else to break, he realized that there wasn't much. The room was very nearly bare of furniture, which he should have remembered earlier since he'd specifically set it up to look that way. The struggling college student he was pretending to be wouldn't have the finances for anything beyond food. He found himself mildly surprised at the condition of his meager furnishings. He'd only been there for three weeks and already everything in sight showed signs of heavy mending. Compared to the furniture the holes that he'd punched through the drywall were almost not worth mentioning. The landlady was going to have a seizure when he moved out and she saw the damage.

All at once, Heero's anger drained out of him. Running weary fingers through his bangs, he kicked a pizza box out of his way and let himself drop onto the battered couch.

He'd admitted to himself two weeks ago that it wasn't coincidence that Quatre nearly always managed to assign himself and Duo to the same missions, or that Wufei was always convieniently "busy with another assignment" and Trowa undercover almost constantly. It could have been coincidence, numerical order or even the simple fact that they worked well together, but Heero doubted it.

'It's more likely that Quatre just spends too much time re-writing bad romance novels, and Trowa and Wufei are just happy to play along,' Heero thought to himself wryly. The last time he and Quatre had ended up in the same school, the blonde had been sent to the dean's office for complaining - loudly and in the middle of a lecture - that the book he was reading was completely unrealistic.

'Only a complete idiot would fall for a guy who thought she was a hooker! And she's a DOCTOR, for goodness's sakes, not some over-dressed prostitute!'

Their physics professor had not been amused.

A few days after his first revelation about Quatre's plots, he managed to accept that the blonde boy's subtle pushes weren't unwelcome, and Duo's cheerful friendship was sometimes the only thing keeping him from snapping under the stress of the revised Operation Meteor. It had taken nearly three chairs and five holes in the wall to figure it out, though. The couch had very nearly gone the way of the chairs after that revelation.

Unfortunately for Heero's security deposit, Quatre hadn't been able to arrange their mission schedules as seamlessly as usual this time. Duo's stealth and creativity were badly needed with Wufei in Northern Europe, and his computer skills were required in a damned American college, where he was forced to consume a steady diet of stale pizza and beer for the sake of his cover.

Which was exactly why the back of the couch had just gone crunch under his hand.

He was going to be more than relieved when he finally finished planting that false evidence into the Romafeller database and he could get to that cabin in the North American continent. According to the plan, he would be there for three whole days before Duo and Wufei joined him. Then they'd recieve thier next assignments and would split up again.

At least Duo would be there to keep him from working himself to death for a few days; somehow, he always did. Until that moment when he had tucked Duo in, he hadn't really thought of the other boy as more than a friend and some-time partner. Since then he'd been contemplating axactly what their relationship was. It certinly wasn't strictly work-related; the little things they did for each other proved that, and the word "friends" just didn't cover all the depths of their interactions.

Heero pulled a bottle of warm water out from under the couch, where it had been hidden from casually prying eyes. Unscrewing the lid, he took a gulp, letting the luke-warm mosture trickling down his throat distract him from the headache taking shape. There was something infinitely frustrating about the lack of definition of his and Duo's relationship, and thinking about it always lead him back to the same place: a bottle of water, a headache, and Quatre's questions ringing in his ears.

'Did you and Duo have sex?'

If they had, it might have actually solved more problems than it caused. At least then they both would have had something to lean on, a distraction from fighting when it could be afforded, and an understanding partner when it could not. The risk of emotional attachments being used against them were far outweighed by the benefits of having something stable in their lives.

Something would have to be done about that.

Duo's unconcious work to relax everyone around him, combined with the plan that had been forming in the back of Heero's mind since that last damned mission, might be the support they both needed. Logically, if Duo's friendship kept him from falling over the knife's edge of sanity, something deeper than friendship might be able to stabalize him in ways that nothing else could.

And that just might win them more than the war.

***OWARI 03/09/03***