***I do not own Gundam Wing, I just use it for my own twisted purposes.***

Note: I reposted Chapter 1, with some changes. So, if you read it before, you might want to reread.

Summary - A college fic, not AU. 3x4 is the main pair, but this is going to be very Quatre-centric and Duo-centric. I don't know why, but in writing I released I concentrate a lot on Duo and his dilemma with college. After a bit though, I'll add Trowa in more.
Expect slight OOC-ness
Pairings: 3x4 (main), 1x2 (There will be 1x2-ness! I have been threatened! ^.^), 5x? (undecided, but if anyone it will be a female, sorry Wufei fans but I prefer him with a lady, and I disagree with anybody dating a professor, even if it is Treize…well maybe *naughty thought*…no no, bad, bad angel)


Mission Accepted: Operation College

Chapter 3


A Sunday in Late Summer, AC 198


A fast clicking sound was the first thing to penetrate Quatre's sleep-fogged brain. He slowly opened his eyes and rolled over, peering down into the room below, where he spotted Heero, awake and dressed, seated at his computer and typing rapidly. His eyes then slid over to the glowing red numbers of his digital alarm clock, which glared mockingly back at him: 8:25 AM.

"Heero," Quatre called, or tried to as his voice and mind were still thick with sleep. His words slurred together. "Heero, it's eight in the morning. What the hell are you doing?"

Heero responded without even moving his head. "Typing."

"Yes. I can see that. I just meant-" Quatre thought about continuing, but figured it was useless. He had a strange feeling this was going to happen quite often on the weekends. Damn Heero and his computer. Quatre sat up, feet dangling off the edge of the bed, and readied himself for the jump. He would have landed gracefully had he been awake. Instead he almost fell into his desk, as he was still half asleep. He steadied himself before turning to reach up to grab a pillow and a blanket off his bed and heading out the door.

Quatre envied Duo. At least Wufei was quiet in the morning. Heero and Wufei were the early risers of the five, but when Wufei woke he either left the room to do his exercises or sat quietly on the floor in meditation. Heero, on the other hand, preferred the company of a computer in the morning. Quatre was surprised he slept at all. He still had the perfect soldier mentality most of the time and needed very little sleep. A definite downside in a roommate if one liked to sleep, which Quatre did, as did Trowa and Duo. Now I wish I hadn't been so nice, Quatre thought. I could've had that single. Of course Quatre knew he could never not be nice to any of his fellow pilots, especially Trowa. Both he and Trowa could be up and ready early if they had to be, but if they didn't, not even an A-bomb could wake them before they were ready. Duo couldn't wake up for anything period. Quatre dreaded trying to wake him up for an early class.

Blanket and pillow in hand, Quatre stumbled down the short hall way and ended up at a door. He knocked once and waited a few minutes. When he received no answer, he checked the doorknob and found it unlocked. Shutting the door quietly behind him, Quatre entered and stood beside the bed.

"Hey," he said to the sleeping form. "Move over."

A muffled noise came from underneath a pillow.

"Move over," Quatre tried again, barely able to keep his eyes open, let alone form coherent sentences.

He heard Trowa's voice from underneath the same pillow. "Wha…? Why?"

Quatre answered simply, throwing his pillow at what he assumed to be Trowa's arm. "Heero. Computer. Too damn early. Move over."

The lump of blankets shuffled a bit and moved to one side. Quatre flopped face down on his side of the bed and fell instantly asleep.

~*~*~

Quatre woke for a second time that Sunday morning, but this time it was completely natural. It took him a moment to register where he was, as he looked down and noticed the floor was closer than it should have been. He rolled over carefully and sat on the edge of the bed, trying not to wake Trowa.

"Morning, Quat."

"G'morning Tro," Quatre sighed and lied down again, on his back this time. "Didn't wake you, did I?"

Trowa laughed softly as he rolled onto his back and shifted the pillows around. "Which time? Now or four hours ago?"

Quatre groaned. "I'm really sorry about that. I was seriously half asleep and didn't know what I was doing."

Trowa laughed again. "It's alright, Quat. I don't mind at all. And no you didn't wake me up just now, I've been awake for about ten minutes. I'm just too lazy to get out of bed."

"If anyone else heard that, they'd never believe it," Quatre chuckled lightly.

"Cathy would."

"But Cathy lived with you for years. I meant the other guys."

"Yeah, true." Trowa said. Silence followed as the both laid there lost in thought, or half asleep thought, which really isn't much.

I feel really bad, Quatre thought. I can't believe I just came in here, laid down, and went to sleep. It wasn't like they had never shared a bed before. Quatre had had to share a bed with Heero and Duo on occasions as well. It was just the fact that he barged in and demanded half of Trowa's bed without even asking.

"It's really alright, Quat," Trowa said, as if reading his best friend's thoughts, but of course, they had become so close over the years it wasn't really hard to do. "Better you than Duo, right?"

Quatre laughed. "Oh yes. You do not want to share a bed with Duo. He moves around too damn much, steals blankets, and has been known to kick…hard."

Trowa laughed again. Quatre had noticed the increase in such basic emotions recently, especially from Heero and Trowa. Smiles and laughter were becoming more and more common from the two normally stoic young men. Quatre was grateful that they were healing. They all had a chance to be normal and happy.

"So is this going to be a regular thing?" Trowa asked.

"Hm?" Quatre asked. He was getting too comfortable again, and slowly drifting back to sleep. "Is what where?"

"This. You, stealing half of my already too small dorm room bed. Is it going to be a regular thing?"

"Trowa…" Quatre groaned and rolled over hiding his head in the pillows. "I already said I was sorry!"

"I know, I know! I'm teasing Quat." Quatre could hear the smile in his voice through the pillows. "So is it?"

Quatre turned his head and looked over at Trowa. "Probably. On weekends. Unless the perfect soldier decides to let me sleep more than six hours. And only if you don't mind. I mean, I don't have to. I can go sleep in the common room when he wakes up."

"You don't want to do that. Those chairs are already uncomfortable enough when you're just sitting on them. I can't imagine what it's like laying down on them and trying to sleep."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Quatre."

"Hm?"

"Anytime."

"Thanks, Trowa."

~*~*~

Duo woke up slowly and was amazed at the quiet and peaceful atmosphere of the room. Dorm rooms weren't supposed to be so comfortable, were they? He rolled over and sat up rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He glanced over at his alarm clock and almost jumped put of skin when he saw Wufei laying down on his bed with a book and a small reading light.

"Jesus Christ, Wufei!" Duo exclaimed. "You scared the shit out of me."

Wufei glanced up at his roommate. "How'd I do that? I'm just sitting here and reading." His eyes moved back toward his book as he reached to flip over to the next page.

"Exactly. It's so quiet in here, I didn't expect anyone to be in here." Duo looked at the clock again, this time actually seeing it. 12:45 PM. "Damn, it's pretty late. I should go shower." He stood up and moved toward the dresser.

"Not a good idea to have slept so long," Wufei commented, still focused on his book, which Duo realized was actually his new philosophy textbook that had been purchased the day before.

"And why is that?" Duo asked, rummaging around in his dresser drawers.

"Because I'm getting your ass up at 7:45 tomorrow."

"What?" Duo exclaimed. "Class is at nine and its less then a five minute walk!"

"Breakfast." Wufei answered. "Go shower."

"Yeah, yeah." Duo gathered his clothes and headed for the bathroom. He heard the other shower running from the bathroom that Trowa, Quatre and Heero shared as well as the television and other noise from the common. Changing course, he peered through the doorway of the common room and spotted Heero in one chair and Trowa in another, remote in hand and hair still wet from a shower. "Morning, guys."

The two looked up. Heero nodded in his direction and Trowa gave a light "G'morning, Duo."

"How long you guys been up?" Duo asked.

"Not long," Trowa replied. "Half hour at most. Heero however…"

"I woke up at eight and that is not too early."

"Yes, it is," Trowa and Duo replied simultaneously.

"It's really not human to be up that early, Heero," Duo laughed. "Alright, shower time."

Stepping into the shower, Duo's stomach growled lightly and he began to look forward to the leftover Chinese food he had saved from the previous day. Saturday had involved a lot of errands and a lot of getting to know the campus area type things. They had gone out to pick up anything they had forgotten, which wasn't much, as well as heading to the grocery store for food and other necessities. The five had also had their first experience with one of the University book stores, which was thankfully located just a short walk from their dorm, unlock quite a few of their classes. It was a surprisingly big campus, which they had discovered as the five young men walked all around it trying to locate the buildings that would hold their classes. They were all in high spirits for most of the day. The campus was quite beautiful and virtually deserted so far. However, Duo's spirits dropped visibly as they went to pick up their textbooks. He flipped through a few and his head began to spin at what he was expected to know.

They had had lunch at a Chinese carry-out called Panda, which was just right around the corner. Quatre had checked out their hours and was pleased to note that they were open until 4:30 AM on weekends and delivered until 4. Apparently, if you were a drunken college student and you got hungry at 4 in the morning Panda was one of your only options as far as food went. The other was the convenience store on the other side of the street, which Trowa had gone to the previous day. Apparently they were open twenty-four hours and made excellent sandwiches. They got dinner there.

Today, however, was the first day for the dining hall, so Duo was looking forward to that Chinese food even more. Maybe I should save it for after we get back from the dining hall, he thought, just in case whatever they have isn't edible.

~*~*~

After that, it was a nice lazy afternoon for the former Gundam pilots. Six o'clock found five bodies sprawled out in various positions around the common room. Quatre and Trowa were engaged in a vicious duel of video games. Quatre had already kicked ass early in the afternoon, and was now in the process of fighting for his reputation as Nintendo King.

"You've been practicing," accused Quatre.

"And?" countered Trowa.

"How? You don't have any systems."

"But I have a computer," Trowa said with a smirk.

"Emulators. Bastard." Quatre scowled viciously and concentrated even harder on the game as Trowa and the others laughed at the expression on the blonde's face.

Quatre came out on top in the end, but it was a particularly hard battle. "Ha!" He jumped up from the floor and pointed at a still smirking Trowa. "Still the video game king."

"I'll beat you one day."

"But not today my friend," Quatre said and glanced at his watch. "You know the dining hall closes in a half an hour. We should probably get going if we want to eat."

His statement was met by four groans.

"Do we have to go there?" Duo asked.

"For once, I agree with Maxwell," said Wufei. "Can't we spend one more night getting delivery? From anywhere, as long as it's not dining hall food."

"Suck it up boys, and let's go." Quatre headed for the door, pausing with his hand on the knob. "Get delivery if you want, but I'm not paying for it." He stuck his tongue out at them and vanished into the hallway.

With many sighs the other four followed Quatre out the door.

"Um," Duo began, "where exactly is the dining hall?"

"Not too far," Heero replied, "but not close enough that I can see you going everyday."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Duo asked.

"It means you're lazy," Wufei supplied.

"Oh. Well, okay then."

"That might be a good thing," Trowa said.

"What? Duo's laziness." Heero raised an eybrow.

"No, that the dining hall is so far away," Trowa laughed. "If we're all too lazy to go get food, at least we know we won't be eating all the time."

"Or we'll just get delivery a lot." Heero said.

"Know what else is far away though?" Wufei said. "The gym. And that's about a thirty minute walk across campus."

"Ha!" Duo laughed. "Twenty minutes? The walk over there would be enough exercise for me."

"When the last time you were in a gym?" Wufei said with a snort.

It was barely a five minute walk to the dining hall. They entered through a set of double glass doors into a large open area with rows and rows of round tables. To their right was a row of cashiers as well as a set of turnstiles that led to stands of trays, glasses, and flatware along with various counters and stands of food. There was a decent selection, which surprised a few of the guys: a fully-stocked salad and soup bar, a deli, a grill, a rotisserie, and many others. The five walked through the turnstiles and toward the trays.

"Hey," Quatre called. "Are we eating here or taking it back?"

"We can take it back?" Duo asked.

"Yeah, I can see the takeout containers in the back."

Duo snorted. "Well, I'm getting mine to go. I'd rather eat my dinner in front of the TV."

Heero laughed. "Sometimes I think you'd rather live in front if the TV."

"And why not. It's highly entertaining. More so then reality."

They walked back and picked up the flimsy carryout containers, then moved to whatever happened to look edible enough for dinner, which was not very much. Quatre and Trowa ended up in the deli line figuring sandwiches would be safe at least. No questionable lumps of meat-like substance or strange congealed sauces there. Wufei, Heero and Duo were the brave ones, opting to try for something hot and possibly not edible. After obtaining their food and drinks, they went to the cashiers to pay with their university provided IDs and meal points.

The whole ordeal took maybe ten minutes and then the five young men were out the door and on their way back to their dorm. They settle themselves in front of the TV, in the chairs or on the floor, and sort of stared at their food for a few minutes before bringing themselves to actually try what they had picked.

Duo spoke up first. "You know this isn't half bad," he said around mouthfuls of something that resembled chicken. "It doesn't look all that great, but it tastes decent enough."

They all agreed, but no one was looking forward to a year of eating the stuff.

~*~*~

The rest of the evening was relaxing, for some at least. Heero retired to his computer early, also making sure the alarm was set and his things were ready for the following day of classes. Wufei read until it felt it late enough to sleep. Quatre and Trowa took the Nintendo controllers back in hand and played until their thumbs were sore. Quatre just narrowly avoided losing his throne and title. And Duo…Duo didn't know what to do. He walked back and for between the common room where the gamers were preoccupied and his room to stare at his computer screen. It was even worse when he tried to sleep. Instead, he found himself in the dark common room at around three in the morning watching infomercials until his eyes couldn't stay open any longer.

~*~*~


***I'm so sorry it took so long to post this. I actually had 3/4 of it done for the longest time and just decided to finish it today, I don't know when I'll get to the next chapter. I hope it's soon.