Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or any of the characters in this story. They are owned by Bandai and several other companies, none of which I am part of.
At long last the upgrades were over. Quat no longer had anything for me to do, so I spent one morning shooting rubber bands in the general direction of Wufei's desk. 10 points if I hit the paper weight. 25 points if I hit Wufei. 100 points if I hit the paper weight into the shredder. So far I had hit the paper weight six times and Wufei three. 135 points total.
Then Quatre went over to Wufei's desk and sent him somewhere, Without Wufei there, keeping points wasn't as much fun, so I pulled up a design program on my computer and began coming up with a design for a rubber band gun that would shoot rubber bands at the exact right velocity to knock the paper weight into the shredder.
I was trying to calculate the mass of the paper weight in my head when Quatre came over to my desk.
"Duo," he said, "We've got a meeting in the conference room."
"Mmmkay," I mumbled, and put a figure into the computer. Then I thought of something. Didn't Wufei say it was crystal, not glass? How much different would crystal be?
"You have to be there, Duo," Quatre tried again.
Was there even a difference? What if crystal is just another name for glass, designed to make it sound better and-
"Wait, why?" I asked, suddenly realizing what Quatre had said.
"Because," he replied, "It's about your department."
"Oh," I conceded. "Wait, I have a department? Since when?"
"Remember that piece of paper I had you sign when I gave you this job?"
I nodded slowly. "Yeah…"
"Did you read it?" my boss asked slowly.
I thought about it, and shook my head. "No. It was boring and didn't have any pictures."
He shrugged, as though he expected as much. "But what were you doing when I was explaining it to you?" he continued.
Once again, I had to think about it before answering. "Oh!" I exclaimed at last. "That's the day I beat my high score in Tetris!"
My blonde best friend put his hand on my head. "Listen. You have a department. We have a meeting today because we're expanding your department and you have to be there."
"Oh." I understood now. "I get to be in the conference room? And sit in a rolly chair?"
Quatre nodded.
"Will there be food?" I asked excitedly. Wufei told me about one time they had food.
My boss laughed. "No, Duo, but afterward, I'll take you out to lunch, okay?"
I nodded. "Okay. When is it?"
Quat looked at his watch. "We should start within the next fifteen minutes."
"Oh." I saved my design and logged off. I stood up. "I'm ready, I guess," I said slowly, looking down at my clothes. "If I knew I had a meeting, I probably would have worn a tie."
"That's okay, Duo," Quatre laughed. "Really." He ushered me to the conference room and had me sit in one of the chairs on the same side of the table as the door, near the projector. Trowa was already seated, across and kind of to the side of where Quatre had me sitting. He nodded hello, but made no other indication that we had actually had a conversation recently.
After seeing me to my seat, Quat went to the front of the room and cleared his throat.
I looked around. Other than Quatre and me, Trowa was the only other person in the room. "Who are we waiting for?" I asked.
"A few others, but we have to start before they get here," Quatre told me cheerfully. "This addition is only to the executive branch of your department."
"But why do we have to start before they get here?" I persisted, still confused.
"They already know the part I'm going to tell you now," my boss explained patiently. "Now, do you have any more questions, or can I start?"
Folding my hands on top of the table, I looked at him, hoping I looked the picture of calm businessperson. "Go ahead," I told him.
Quatre smiled and nodded at Trowa, who started a PowerPoint presentation on the projector. I was impressed. Not that I hadn't seen Quatre do a presentation before, but you kind of forget every now and then how together that guy is.
"We are here today to announce the expansion of the programming department," Quatre began. "Recently we have successfully completed a merger with the Peacecraft group, and in that merger, received another branch office in Japan."
I thought Quatre looked a bit smug when he said that thing about taking over the Peacecraft Group, like a cat that had just eaten a family of baby mice, but I also didn't think anyone who didn't know him well would notice. Then again, maybe I hadn't really seen that expression and was just making things up.
"The condition brought forth by Miss Peacecraft was that all of the current Japanese employees had to remain on the payroll," Quatre continued. "Now your department has expanded considerably, Duo, but all of the employees under you have supervisors, as usual, so your roll won't change much."
"Okay," I said slowly. "So what am I here for then?"
Quatre grinned and nodded at Trowa to change the slide. It was yet another graph.
"We also have inherited one of the best computer programmers in the world. After you, of course," he added quickly before I could say anything. "And this is where you come in, Duo, because we are expanding your department on the executive level as well. We're giving you a partner of sorts."
I told my hopes not to go up too much.
I
turned to look. Wufei was coming through the door. I
frowned. "Wufei's my new partner? I thought he
already had a department. With actual people."
Wufei snorted. "How long did it take you to cover my
desk in rubber bands, Duo?"
I shrugged. "Once you left, there wasn't anything for them to bounce off of," I explained.
"Hn," someone grunted. My ears perked up.
"Wufei, I believe you're blocking the view of my new employee," Quatre observed gently.
Wufei made a face and stepped to the side. Behind him was…
"Heero!" I exclaimed. He glanced at me, a flicker of blue eyes in my direction, but he turned his gaze back to Quatre as though it had never been elsewhere.
My boss cleared his throat gracefully and the rest of us turned our attention back on him.
"If there are no questions, I believe Wufei and I have a business transaction that should be completed while the banks are still open," he said in his sweet voice. "Come on, Trowa, I'll buy you an ice cream cone."
Trowa winked at me before following Quatre to the door. Wufei simply stood there for a moment, figuring out what business transaction he had to complete.
"Hey, wait!" he called when Quatre and Trowa were halfway to the door. "Quatre, I called off the bet, remember?"
Quatre turned and smiled brilliantly. "But Wufei, that's when you thought you had lost. Now I have won, and I have no intention of calling off the bet." He turned and walked the rest of the way out the door.
"But-
wait, you haven't won yet! I have no intention of paying until their second
date is over!" I could hear Wufei all the way into
the hall.
When the glass door clicked shut, Heero turned his
stoic gaze on me. "Hello again," he said.
For a moment, all I could do was stare. "You came back," I managed.
"Baka," Heero said affectionately. "I told you it wouldn't end."
"Um," I bit my lip. "About what Wufei and Quatre were talking about," I began.
"They made a bet that you couldn't get a second date," Heero finished for me.
"How did you-"
"Trowa told me," Heero replied.
It occurred to me that Trowa and Quatre would be a dangerous team to have as enemies. "Wait, but aren't you mad?" I asked.
Heero gave me a strange look. "Why would I be?"
"Because… I wasn't being myself. I was lying about my personality so you wouldn't see my faults, and ask me out again…" The look on Heero's face made me shut up.
"You could never be anyone other than who you are," Heero told me. "Immature, irresponsible, loud, rebellious, annoying Duo." With every word, he took one step closer to me. By the time he finished, he was standing right in front of me. He looked like he was enjoying insulting me.
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" I grumbled.
"Duo. Look at me," Heero commanded. He was a couple of inches shorter than me, but since I was looking at the ground, I had to raise my gaze to meet his startlingly blue eyes.
"I don't love you in spite of your faults," he said quietly, "I love you because of them—because they make you who you are." With that, he leaned in and pressed his lips to mine.
I jumped back. "Heero! We're at work!" I protested. "Not even Quatre and Trowa kiss at work."
"Baka. Why do you think they closed the door?"
I had to admit that was a good point, and this time when Heero kissed me, I met his lips halfway in a kiss I knew was only the beginning.
***
"Duo," came Quatre's voice from somewhere to my right.
I broke the kiss, confused, and looked around. I hadn't seen Quatre come back in.
"Duo," he said again. He put his hand on my arm and was shaking me.
Oh, no, I thought, and slipped into darkness.
