Disclaimer: Gundam Wing doesn't belong to me; if it did I certainly wouldn't be here. In no way, shape, or form am I being paid for this, it's merely for amusement.

Warning: This story includes violence, swearing, and yaoi (also known as slash). Pairings include an established 1X4 relationship, and others to come. Don't like it? Don't read it.

Notes:  I apologize in advance, as this story is not going to come out nearly as quickly as its predecessor.  There just aren't enough hours in my day to complete everything that I have to do.  Sigh.  In this chapter, I was going for cute, but I think I mostly failed, as undercurrents of something else kept sneaking in.  Tell me if you figure out what undercurrents those were.  Hopefully it will also be somewhat humorous.  Thanks for all the feedback I've gotten already, and not to be greedy or anything (oh hell, I am greedy) but please sir, I want some more. Chapter 2

Quatre pulled open his suitcase, lifting out his neatly folded clothing and depositing them in the hotel-provided dresser.  As he pushed the drawer shut, he had to take a moment and admire the seahorse-shaped handles.  In fact, the whole suite had a tropical island theme.  Verdant plants and hothouse flowers spilled out of every spare niche, permeating the area with a delicate floral scent.  The carpeting was luxuriously thick, and with its pattern of beige and light gray, it put one in mind of finely grained beach sand.  The king sized bed was shrouded by filmy white gauze, a reminder of the more romantic side of mosquito netting.  Surprisingly, none of these touches were tacky; some unknown decorating genius had taken the time to make sure everything was tasteful.  The result was a mix of opulent elegance and charm.  All in all, it was a fitting accompaniment to the Winner name.

Heero strode into the bedroom, tossing his suitcase on the floor beside Quatre's.  The black bag that housed his laptop received better treatment, as he gently set it on the right side of the bed, directly below the mound of overstuffed pillows near the headboard.  He followed after it, flopping down on the left side of the machine, hands folded comfortably behind his head.  Quatre's eyebrows rose as he took in the scene; the computer on his side of the bed, Heero sprawled beside it with his eyes closed. 

"I knew it was only a matter of time before that machine replaced me in your affections."

Heero's lips twitched in a barely perceptible smirk.  "I'm enough man for you both."

The blonde chuckled, and then with a wicked look that went unobserved by the boy on the bed, he took a running leap and launched himself at his lover's prone body.

But Heero had excellent reflexes.

Within mere centimeters of impact, he grabbed the blonde out of the air, using Quatre's own momentum to roll him so that he was on the bottom, pinned.  Heero looked at the madly grinning, but now trapped, blonde and smirked.  "Did you want something?"

"Just wanted to stake my claim."

"Hn.  I thought you were good at sharing?"

"No, I'm actually very selfish."

Heero chuckled, but then in a lightening change of mood, he frowned slightly and rolled off, sitting back on his heels.  "Speaking of sharing, I've got something to tell you about the others."

Quatre looked at him curiously, and then sat up.  "About Wufei and Trowa?  Actually I've got something to tell you about them too, or rather about Duo."

Now Heero looked interested, and oddly enough, or maybe not so oddly considering Duo Maxwell was involved, a little wary.  "Why don't you tell me first?"

Quatre looked at him thoughtfully, then shrugged.  "Duo got it into his head that he's going to play matchmaker again."

"He's not going to enter Trowa's name into the former Oz soldier personal ads again, is he?  That was really embarrassing for both him and Lady Une. "

"Heavens no.  Actually, he's got this plan where he thinks he can get Wufei and Trowa together by the end of the trip."

Heero's jaw dropped open, then closed, then opened again as he tried to speak.  He cleared his throat and then finally managed to speak.  "This is going to be interesting."

"What do you mean?"

"Wufei and Trowa, they, well, they are actually already together."

"What?!  Are you sure?"

"More sure than I want to be.  I've known about it for over a week."  Quite surprisingly, Heero was blushing, but Quatre was to flabbergasted to notice.

How could I have missed this?!  Why didn't anybody tell me?  Why didn't you tell me?"

"There's more."

Quatre stared wearily at Heero.  He visibly steeled himself, and then nodded.  "Alright, go ahead and spit it out." 

The other man took a deep, fortifying breath.  "When I was on the plane, I overheard a conversation between them.  They're actually planning to, ah, seduce Duo on this trip."

If Quatre had been drinking anything he would have sprayed it across the bed.  "Both of them?!"  He blurted incredulously.

"Yes."

The blonde was quiet for a minute, and then he frowned suspiciously.  "This had better not be some kind of sick revenge against Duo's matchmaking techniques.  If they hurt him in anyway I'll . . ."

Heero shook his head and interrupted hastily.  "It's nothing like that.  I talked with them about it.  Apparently they both have feelings for him, they have for a long time.  One night it accidentally came up and they talked about it, and decided that they could try and see if it would work out.  I mean, quite honestly, he has worse luck at dating and relationships then they do, so there's no one his life that they'd be hurting."

"No, I suppose not, but still, this could turn out to be the biggest disaster ever, or . . ."

"Or it could turn out to be exactly what all three of them need."  Heero finished firmly.

"I should warn Duo."

"No you shouldn't.  This isn't our business, Quatre."

The blonde frowned.  "Of course it's our business, they're our friends."

"You mean Duo's your friend."

Quatre looked at Heero strangely.  "No, I mean they all are.  What's bothering you?"

"I just think that we shouldn't get involved.  If Duo doesn't want to be with them there's nothing they could do to make him.  He's a big boy, Quatre.  They all are.  Our meddling might only end up messing things up.  Besides, I promised Trowa and Wufei that we wouldn't tell him.  It's their secret to tell, not ours."

Quatre frowned and then reluctantly nodded.  "You're right.  Fine, I won't say anything to him."

Pounding on the door interrupted them.  The blonde hopped off the bed and hurried out of the bedroom to the entranceway, galvanized by the frantic noise as Heero following behind.  Before Quatre could open the door it burst open, slamming against the wall with a crash.  Duo dashed into their rooms, waving something over his head and laughing manically.  Wufei sprinted into the room after him, holding a towel loosely around his waist.  "Where did you hide it Maxwelll?!"  He copied Duo's athletic leap over the leafy green couch and chased him around the room.

Quatre backed against the wall hastily, followed by Heero.  He turned away from the wildly whooping boy and his pursuer, glancing questioningly at Trowa, who had appeared in the doorway and was watching Wufei's nearly naked form appreciatively.

"Duo hid his suitcase and is holding his swim trunks hostage."  He answered Quatre's unspoken question without glancing away from the chase, or more accurately not looking away from the bunching muscles of his lover.  The blonde shook his head at himself in disgust, wondering how the hell he had missed their relationship.

Duo dashed into the bedroom, Wufei following.  Quatre winced at the accompanying crash; the sound of two bodies hitting the floor, flesh smacking flesh as Duo bore the brunt of Wufei's tackle.  There was sudden silence from the room, and the other three pilots looked at each other uneasily as the quiet stretched on.

Quatre was just getting ready to go check on them when he heard Duo's voice.  "Ah, Wu-man?"

"Yes Duo?"

"Did you notice that you lost your towel?"

There was a long pause, and then Wufei's disturbingly calm voice could be heard.  "Yes, I'm quite aware of that fact."

"Um, so are you going to get off and let me get up?"  Duo sounded strangled and a little breathy.

There was an even longer pause.  Quatre winced, as he wondered if Duo was aware of the other way that sentence could be taken.  Finally Wufei spoke up, sounding conversational.  "Are you going to give me back my clothes?"

There was silence again from the bedroom, and Quatre could only conclude that Duo had nodded his agreement, because several minutes later they both came out.  The violet-eyed pilot was looking a little flushed, while Wufei was now wearing his shorts and a smug expression.

Quatre glanced at Trowa again.  The green-eyed man was looking just as smug as his lover.  The blonde turned to look at Heero, who met his eyes with the same expression of bemusement that he was feeling.

"Well," Duo said after an awkward pause.  "Everybody ready to head to the beach?"

Quatre spread his towel out on top of the sand, than straightened to stare appreciatively at their surroundings.  Perfect white sand stretched out endlessly along the shoreline, unmarred by sharp rocks, dried sea weed, or dead fish; one of the perks of being on a synthetic beach.  In front of him the ocean extended all the way to the horizon, impossibly blue waters lapping gently at the shore.  It was all an illusion of course.  The liquid really only stretched about a mile out, where it hit a huge screen that created the mirage of limitless breadth.  The whole "island" was like that.  Abounding flora and fauna masked the metal constructs that were the skeleton of the Emerald Sphere.  But if you looked closely you'd notice that the so-called natural world was a little too perfect.  There were none of the pesky little insects that could be found in the real tropics.  Neither were there any snakes, in fact there were no dangerous animals of any kind.  The brightly plumaged parrots and other tropical birds were a little too tame, with patience and a hand filled with seed they could be coaxed to the ground.  The plants and trees looked random, but were actually precisely placed, with gardeners coming out everyday to trim up any imperfections. 

The affect was really beautiful, and yet it made Quatre a little sad.  Yes it was gorgeous and lush, but after seeing earth the perfection was almost too much.  Too contrived.  Human beings were trying to replicate their home, and yet not grasping the spontaneity that made it so special.

Wufei came up beside him and crossed his arms over his chest.  "It feels fabricated.  More like a dream than reality." 

Quatre nodded in agreement, than grimaced at their melodramatic antics and sat down on the towel, folding his bare legs beneath him.  "I hope that this place doesn't give other people that feeling, otherwise we'll be out of business before you know it."

Wufei looked around at the other people on the beach.  A gaggle of children chased each other over the sand, laughing and screaming in delight as the waves lapped at their toes.  Elsewhere adults relaxed, spread out on beach towels and lawn chairs, reading, sunning themselves, or people watching.  "I don't think you have to worry about it," he remarked dryly.

The blonde smiled, taking in the same scenes.  "No I suppose not."

Heero spread his towel out beside them, and then sat up and rummaged around in his bag, coming out with a small white tube.  "Here Quatre, let's get some sun screen on you before you burn."  He squirted a glob into his hand and then moved behind the fair-skinned blonde to oil his back.  Quatre immediately arched into the motion, enjoying the feeling of strong hands moving up and down on his skin. 

Duo looked at the practically purring blonde, a calculating expression crossing his features.  He picked up the discarded bottle and tossed it to Wufei, who automatically caught it.  "You should really help Trowa," he said casually.  "He could burn just as badly as Quatre."

Wufei looked at the braided ex-pilot intently, then shrugged and moved behind the green-eyed man.  Soon he was mirroring Heero's actions, and Trowa was acting like a cat being petted by his master.  His back arching into Wufei's touch as his eyes glazed over with pleasure.  Duo was looking smug, and a little turned on, as he watched their actions.

By the time Wufei had finished, his secret lover was reduced to a pile of contented goo.  The Chinese man glanced intently at Duo, who was shifting uncomfortably after their little show.  "You could burn too, Duo.  Trowa, why don't you do his back?"  The other man perked up immediately, and before the braided pilot knew what was happening, he was situated behind him, hands gliding sensually over his back.

Quatre came back to himself slowly after Heero finished.  Shifting slightly, he hoped that his blue swimming trunks would hide his erection.  He suddenly frowned worriedly when he caught sight of what Trowa was doing to Duo.  The violet-eyed man was leaning back against the former's chest, dark eyelashes fluttering against his cheeks as Trowa stroked the lotion up his arms.  He opened his mouth up to say something, but then Heero pulled him into his arms in the almost exact same pose as the other two young men.  "Quatre . . ." he murmured, the warning clear in his tone.  The blonde shut his mouth, but Heero could feel the tension in him.  The perfect soldier's arms tightened possessively.

By the time Trowa had finished, Duo was completely limp, (while most of him was), eyes at a glazed half-mast.  The tall pilot arranged him carefully on the towel, and then looked at Wufei, his expression looking subtly pleased.

They all sprawled out on their respective towels, situating themselves comfortably, though there was an underlying tension in all of their poses.  Duo had recovered from his Trowa induced coma, and was now shooting glances filled with a mix of confusion and something else less readily identifiable at pilots three and five.  Quatre was frowning worriedly at him, while Heero watched the blonde intently.

When enough time passed and nothing happened, everyone began to finally relax for real.  The fake sun beat down on the blonde, baking him and making him drowsy.  Before long he fell asleep.

He woke up some time later, sitting up groggily as he tried to pinpoint what had disturbed him.  He looked around, sleep-blurred eyes studying the other vacationers.  Nothing seemed amiss, and yet Quatre could not shake the uneasy feeling that had pulled him out of slumber.  It felt like someone was watching, the force of the unknown person's malevolence a violent storm brewing over his head.  Just as that thought crossed his mind the feeling faded away to nothing.  The blonde frowned as the world went back to normal and glanced around at the others to see if any one else had noticed anything.  The three prone bodies all looked comfortable and unconcerned.

Three.

Duo was missing.  Suddenly worried, Quatre stood up, brushing clinging particles of sand from his skin.  He glanced once more down at his friends, but they all looked so comfortable, and now that the feeling had faded worry seemed ridiculous under the bright sun, surrounded by chattering vacationers.  The blonde decided not to wake any of them up, and set out in search of his missing friend by himself.

He trudged across the hot sand, heading down the beach and carefully stepping over or around abandoned sand castles.  He noticed a boy ahead of him in the process of creating his own sand sculpture, then he suddenly stopped short as he noticed that the boy had a familiar braid.  "Duo?"  He said in astonishment.

The violet-eyed ex-pilot looked up.  Quatre hadn't recognized him at first because he was absolutely covered in sand, completely filthy; in fact, he was buried to the elbows in the ground.  "Hi Q!"

The blonde blinked as he got a better look at the structure that Duo was building.  It looked really familiar . . .

"Duo, is that an Oz base?"

"Used to be, until we blew it up.  Good likeness, huh?"  The blonde could only concur.  It really was good, he could actually recognize the various parts of the buildings; there was the armory on the side, the mobile suit hanger on the left, and the officer's quarters in the center.  Duo had a photographic memory, and at one point, probably just before pulverizing the place, he had obviously studied the plans.

"Want to help Q-man?  I think we need a big lake off to the side . . ."

Quatre looked thoughtfully at Duo's creation, and then at his friend, once again noticing how dirty he was.  He shrugged, decided that a little dirt might be fun, and then sat down, right at the junction where shore met waves.  He began to dig a big hole for the lake, scooping out dirt and mounding it into a big mountain beside it.

They worked in contented silence for a while, and then Quatre spoke up, broaching the subject carefully.  "So Duo, what was the purpose of that stunt with Wufei's clothes today?"

"That wasn't a stunt, that was my good deed for today, it was all for Trowa's benefit," he said, without looking up from carefully molding sand into a mobile suit.

"Kinda backfired on you, didn't it?"  Quatre said casually.

"Backfired?  No way.  Did you see how he was checking out the Wu-man's studly bod?  It went perfectly, except for the whole tackling thing . . ." Duo trailed off and looked up, eyes a little to bright, suddenly fighting back a blush. 

Quatre had to bite his lip, hard, to keep from spilling out the whole sordid story.  Luckily Duo was engrossed in his own thoughts and didn't notice.

They went back to digging in the sand, which continued uninterrupted until a shadow fell over them.  Both ex-pilots looked up, to see Heero standing there with one eyebrow raised as he took in the whole scene.  Two ex-terrorists, absolutely plastered with sand, building sand castles like five year olds.  Quatre waited for the ridicule to start, but instead Heero turned to Duo, frowning appraisingly at his little Oz model.  "You're doing it wrong, your calculations for the hanger are incorrect."

Duo stiffened and glared, offended.  "They are not!"

Heero hunkered down beside him, where they continued to argue, shaping the sand into little figures at the same time.  Quatre kept working industriously on his lake, creating mountains beside it with excess sand.

Several minutes later Wufei wandered over.  He stared in astonishment at the three pilots acting like children.  He expected this kind of behavior from Duo and Quatre, but Yuy was another matter all together.  He opened his mouth to say so, but stopped when he heard what pilots one and two were arguing about.  He abruptly changed his words.  "You're both wrong," he insisted loudly.  "It looked more like this . . ."  He sat down on his heels in order to demonstrate. 

While Duo, Heero, and Wufei kept talking animatedly about the exact dimensions of the base, Quatre was having his own problems.  The artificial tide was coming in, and the blonde had to build the walls of his lake bigger and thicker in order to keep the whole construct from being washed away.  He threw globs of wet sand into the proper place, working so frantically that he didn't notice the last member of their motley little crew arrive.

Trowa watched the argument for a second, than moved over to Quatre, and without a word set to helping the little blonde save his landscape.

The "sun" began to set, a spectacular display of pink and orange painting the horizon.  Meanwhile, five of the most feared men, in the colonies and on earth, continued to build sand castles until the stars flickered on like so many nightlights.

Heero pushed the door to their rooms open and headed inside, Quatre following behind him and wincing at the sand they were sprinkling all over the nice clean carpet.  He resolved to leave a nice big tip for the maid tomorrow morning. 

Heero suddenly stopped short, and the blonde nearly walked straight into him.  "What's wrong?"

"Someone was in here."

Quatre moved out from behind him and looked around.  What he could see of their rooms looked just as pristine as he remembered leaving them.  "How can you tell?" 

"The bag on the couch has been moved a couple of inches." 

The blonde frowned.  "It was probably just house keeping, Heero, nothing to get worried about."

His words didn't seem to reassure the other man.  "Maybe," he said tonelessly, prowling into the suite, checking into the other rooms.  Quatre crossed his arms over his chest and walked over to the couch with a sigh.  He was almost sure he was over reacting.

Heero moved into the bedroom, and the blonde frowned when he didn't come out again right away.  Suddenly, he was hit with a lesser feeling of the same unease he had felt on the beach. 

"Quatre, come in here."  The blonde looked up and began to move to the bedroom, hair prickling up his arms with the sense of disquietude, a premonition that he wouldn't like what he would find.

He entered behind Heero, and stopped short looking at the bed.  Heero met his look with an unreadable stare.  "Somehow I don't think we left this here."

 Arranged on the center of the coverlet was a small, and very dead, songbird.