Title: The Underside of a Rainbow

Author: Bagelbunion & Skeren Dreamera

Feedback: Mickeofas (yahoo address), and Bagelbunion (cox. net address)

Spoilers: Preventers HQ

Pairings: 2x5, hinted at others

Disclaimers: We don't own the characters from Gundam Wing, nor from the other show that will have characters present in this story.

Notes: After.... An extremely long time, we finally come to chapter 2! Those of you on won't notice this as I forgot to post this there for the last... Well almost year, but the rest of you.. I know You've all been waiting.

.o.

"Mmm… Du…" Wufei moaned, rolling over and suddenly his eyes opened. -Aww…just when I was getting to the best part!- Wufei rolled over and noted that Duo was still asleep, spread all over the bed, as well as drooling slightly. Wufei smirked. He threw back the covers gently and got up and fetched the same pants that he was wearing last night when he "fell asleep", and put them back on. -Ah. Not a wrinkle on them.- Wufei chuckled out loud and looked at their alarm clock. It would go off in two minutes.

-Perfect.- Wufei thought to himself before he pulled on his uniform jacket. He straightened his tie and just puttered about the room until the 'beep beep beep' of the alarm sounded in the quiet room.

"Arrgle foof mukaa do…" Duo mumbled and blindly reached a hand out to hit the snooze button.

Thump. Bang. Thump. Whack. Tumble. Crash. Duo sat up straight, his eyes wide and darting around the room. Wufei threw back his head and laughed loudly. "Baka. You did it again." Wufei walked back over to their bed, bent over, and fetched the alarm clock from the floor and put it back on their night-table. "This thing has proved the test of time. How many times have you knocked it off?" Wufei smiled and sat down on the bed, next to the still-blinking-with-sleep-induced-shock Duo.

"Huh?" Duo asked in apparent confusion.

Wufei laughed softly again. "Get up. We have to be at work in about an hour."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Duo and Wufei had had a slight disagreement over how to deal with the case. Of course, Duo, being who he was, decided that the best way to get his point across was to let Wufei do his research. He also came home alone with the car they took to work together, confident that he would find an alternate way home. If not, he could always call. Duo smirked a little, bumping the door closed with his hip before moving to the kitchen counter and to set his two bags down. He'd gotten a few things they were running low on. After checking to see what needed to be put away in the cold, he then left the rest of the bags on the counter.

There was no exact reason he could say that he felt the need to check the apartment, but the entire place just felt weird all of a sudden. It was as though he was walking through an odd barrier for a moment as he opened the doors inside the apartment. He'd checked everywhere else. The only place left was their bedroom. He found himself oddly reluctant to open the door. -What if there's nothing? I am freaking out because of the pressure from the case?!-

He shook off the foreign thoughts and pushed the bedroom door open. -Well, that certainly wasn't expected.- Duo knew that Wufei was extremely careful about their home. -That was… way past interesting.- One of the items that had been on their 'Missing' list, was now lying on his bed. It was a fist-sized doll. It was made of gems and various other materials he didn't even begin to know how to identify. He moved closer to his bed, certain now that this little thing was what was giving him the problem.

It was the Baby Buddha.

He moved closer to his bed, certain now that this little thing was what was giving him the problem. It was the Baby Buddha. "Masaka…" Duo whispered. He quickly pulled out his gun and scanned the room. -No immediate threats…- He ran a quick search of the room only to find nothing. The gem eyes of the Buddha were watching him. Taunting him. "How the fuck?" Duo asked of no one, but still felt like the little idol heard. It was almost as though there should be an answer.

Duo suddenly dropped his gun as a chilling fear hit him and he ran from the room. He turned on every light in the house as he dashed to the kitchen. Grabbing the phone, he pushed the speed dial for Wufei's office, fumbling with it in his irrational panic before pinning it into his lap to hit the button.

It rang three times before Wufei answered with a terse, "Chang."

"Fei? It's me. You need to come home." There was a shaky quality to Duo's voice, and he stared toward the cause of his strange panic.

"Wha?? Du-"

"Now." Duo lowered the phone, looking over his shoulder nervously, not even waiting to see if there would be a further reply.

"Okay. I'm on my way."

Wufei put the phone down with a clatter, speed walking out of the corridor on his way to the parking lot. He'd never heard Duo so spooked before, and it was worrying him rather badly. He was so distracted that he passed by their empty parking place three times in search of the car before he realized what Duo had done. "Damn it! Now is not the time…" After only a brief hesitation, Wufei took out a key he had taken from Duo to prevent a prank, if only to maintain their tenuous truce, and advanced on Heero's car. "Yuy, we already both know you owe me."

Wufei sped home as soon as he was fastened in, not obeying any speed limits, nor any of the traffic laws. He wouldn't get the ticket anyway, so he could afford a little recklessness. -Who'd have the balls to pull over Heero Yuy?- He didn't really dwell on that, taking advantage of the unforeseen benefit as he skidded around a corner at a high speed while completely ignoring a traffic light. He was seriously concerned for Duo, and that was his first concern.

-Something must have happened. He sounded so… off…- Wufei pulled into the drive with a screech of tires and ran through the lobby. He immediately threw open the elevator doors and pushed the button for the top floor. "C'mon. Hurry up!" He yelled at the elevator as it failed to move as fast as he wanted. "It was probably faster to take the stairs!" -Although, I'd probably have passed out once I reached the 60th floor.-

Finally, the elevator reached the top floor, and Wufei shoved it open with his hands, too impatient to wait for it to do it on its own. It vaguely occurred to him that he might have broken it as he ran through the front door. "Duo?!" Wufei's voice was a worried shout.

"Duo?" He fell to a whisper as he saw Duo, still sitting frozen at the kitchen table, and the phone still cradled in his hands. He hadn't even registered his presence yet. Wufei walked over to Duo slowly, and placed his hands on his shoulders. Duo jumped slightly and turned. "Whoa! It's just me…" Wufei spoke softly, soothingly. To this, Duo suddenly grabbed Wufei and pulled him down into his lap.

"Oh Fei!! Thank god!" Duo wrapped his arms around Wufei and squeezed him tightly.

"Duo. I'm here. What happened?" Wufei asked with worry in his voice.

Duo shivered. "Come on." He reluctantly pushed Wufei off his lap gently and they both got to their feet.

"Duo?" Wufei asked again, but Duo only shook his head as they walked down the hall towards the bedroom. -Why are there so many lights on?- Wufei thought to himself as they reached their bedroom.

Duo pushed open the door, and Wufei glanced at Duo's face, noting the haunted look before stepping into their room. Unlike the rest of their house, this room was completely dark. Wufei reached over past Duo and flipped on the light. He completely ignored the feeling of uneasiness that the darkened room was giving him. Duo fidgeted, tugging on Wufei's arm and pulling him further into the room, then pointing at the bed, his voice low as though the ancient figurine could hear him. "I got home and that was there!"

"What do you mean, 'that was there'?" Wufei moved closer to the bed and looked at the Baby Buddha that was settled lovingly against their pillows. "You mean it was just here when you came home?"

Duo nodded and moved to stand next to Wufei, still gazing with the oddest expression at the figure. He didn't like it there. Wufei reached toward the figure, and Duo grabbed his arm, pulling him abruptly away from the bed with a yell. "DON'T! You'll get your fingerprints on it!"

"Duo, how else am I supposed to move it? We are supposed to be retrieve these items. This shouldn't upset you." Wufei gazed back at Duo, waiting to be released.

Duo was not so easily swayed, and held tight to his arm. "We are supposed to retrieve these things, not have them delivered to us!!" Duo suddenly seemed to come to a conclusion. "We should call Une, and have her come get it."

Wufei looked at Duo, blinking with an expression of 'have you gone mad?'. "We should do what?! Now that idea just won't work. If me touching the damn thing would be a problem, what do you think this…" He paused, waving his hand at the bed, "Little setup will do for us? They'll think that we are the thieves!"

"But… What else are we supposed to do with it Wufei? We can't just keep it!" Duo gave Wufei a look of worry, then suddenly a look of skepticism. "You aren't going to suggest we keep it are you?"

Wufei huffed out a breath, and glared at Duo. "Of course I'm not going to suggest we keep it! Baka. Maybe we could do something else with it. Maybe we should just… Put it back?"

Duo merely stared at Wufei in utter confusion. He could not have just have heard his justice devoted lover say that. "What was that Fei? I could have sworn I just heard you say to put it back."

"I did. We can't turn it over without the blame being cast on us and you know it. Just think of it as a training exercise. Like when we were still pilots." Wufei then leaned out of Duo's shock slackened grip and picked the figure up from the bed. "I'll clean this of my fingerprints and put it in a bag while you get ready."

Duo stared incredulously at Wufei as his lover left the room and did the only thing he felt he really could. He got ready to break into a museum to put something back. Sometimes, he really wondered what he did in his past to warrant this sort of treatment in life. All he ever wanted was a simple peace guarding job, but no. He gets to break into a museum to put back something he never even stole. Life wasn't fair.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Wufei pushed up the tile from the floor of the "Peace and Freedom for all Eternity Museum" and crawled slowly out. He was dressed all in black, complete with black leather gloves, a black backpack with the Baby Buddha in it, and a black wool beanie. He even wore his black hair down, completing the ensemble.

Duo followed, dressed in a similar fashion. He too, was wearing black leather gloves and was carrying a black backpack. He lifted himself out silently, carrying a mini-mag in his mouth. He was wearing a black beanie similar to Wufei's, and had on black sunglasses. Duo's hair was unbraided and put into two long tails on the side of his head.

Wufei pulled out his own mini-mag and turned it on. Duo stood up, and reached into his bag to pull out a spray can. He tossed one to Wufei while keeping the other one. There was no label on the can. "What is this?" Wufei gave Duo a questioning look.

"For the motion sensors. Spray it on the reflectors." Duo tilted his head in the direction of the nearest red reflectors.

"What's it do?" Wufei asked starting to walk towards the nearest reflector.

"Blocks their signal." Duo whispered. Wufei nodded and sprayed the reflector. -I wonder if our thieves have anything like this?- Wufei thought as he watched Duo go to work spraying reflectors left and right.

They entered the main showing room of the museum through a large stone archway. Duo stopped. "Stop." He commanded lowly, and held his arm out in front of him to block Wufei. Duo pulled a small grenade out of his backpack and pulled the pin with his teeth. He rolled it on the floor until it suddenly leaked gas with a small hiss. Duo turned on his sensor and measured the levels of gas. "When I say go, you run for the stairs okay?" Duo's tone was very serious.

"Roger- I get it." Wufei answered.

There was absolute silence for a moment and Duo's remote beeped and Duo whisper-shouted. "Go!" before they took off for the second floor stairs.

They dashed up the stairs and stopped on the landing. Duo's sensor beeping again as he put it back in his pocket. "What was the gas for?" Wufei asked.

"Blocks the sensors again, this time for large subjects. Only works for short periods of time," Duo replied, still serious, and continued walking to the second floor. "We don't have to be as careful on this floor. I can debug the security easily." Duo grinned and made a dash for the circuit breaker.

"Duo," Wufei interrupted with a disapproving undertone in his voice.

"What?" Duo asked, focusing on breaking the codes.

"Are you telling me you just had all this stuff lying around the apartment??" Wufei motioned the gas and sensors.

Duo shrugged. "Well…yeah."

Wufei scowled. "Why?" Wufei crossed his arms over his chest.

Duo shrugged. "Never knew when I might need it. Once a thief, always a thief? Right?" Now it was Wufei's turn to shrug. "They've come up with all kinds of gadgets in the past few years for breaking and entering. I figured I should invest." Duo punched in some more numbers and a small hatch opened up near the floor. Duo laid down on his stomach and began to rip out wires to splice them.

"Duo," Wufei said sternly, "I thought you gave up that life." Duo didn't say anything. Wufei sighed loudly.

Duo sighed in return. "You never know…we could be homeless and poor tomorrow…" Duo spoke softly as if it had already happened to him over a thousand times. Wufei just pinched his lips and said nothing. There was an electrical snap then a decrescendo as the power in the second floor lessened and went offline.

"Yatta!" Duo yelled softly with a grin. "Let's go." He led the way their flashlights making small bouncing patterns off the walls.

"Ne, Duo?" Wufei asked. "Do you have any idea where we are supposed to put this thing?"

Duo shrugged. "It should be an empty case somewhere in the middle of this room."

Wufei balked, stopping in his tracks. "What? That's all you know?!"

Duo shook his head. "I've only been here once. During the grand opening." Wufei raised his eyebrows at him. "Alright twice!"

Wufei raised his eyebrows even more. "Twice?" He crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"Alright four times!" Duo sputtered, trying to remember the others.

Wufei laughed. "That's what I thought."

He smiled and walked away while Duo grumbled under his breath, "Two of those times were with Heero".

-An empty glass case!- Wufei scoffed out loud. -Could he possibly be any more vague?! I'm not stupid! Even I know to put the damn thing in the only empty case in the museum!- Wufei grumbled more to himself and walked around the dark museum rather slowly. It wasn't really all that interesting to him. Mostly artifacts, old relics, nice artwork, tributes to technology, tributes to lives lost in the war and so forth. It wasn't his sort of museum.

-Ah-ha!- Wufei spied an empty glass case and yanked the Buddha out of his backpack before he threw it in. It landed softly in the velvet enclosure and settled in perfectly. Wufei grinned to himself and slung his backpack over his shoulders as he made a beeline back towards Duo.

He came up to Duo, who was studying a painting near the second floor landing. "Duo, what are you doing? I thought you were supposed to be helping me find an empty case." Duo turned, clearly suprised when he realized Wufei snuck up on him. Wufei's eyes narrowed as he noted that Duo looked extremely guilty. "You were… shopping… weren't you?" Wufei accused.

"No I wasn't." Duo replied, his tone implying anything but.

"You were." Wufei countered.

Duo sighed. "Did you put it in the case?" He asked, abruptly changing the subject, hoping Wufei would forget.

"Yes. I did. Now, let's get out of here." Wufei replied as he started to walk towards back towards the first floor.

"Did you put it in the right one?" Duo asked.

"What?" Wufei stopped in his tracks. "What are you talking about?"

"Fei!" Duo whined. "You do remember that more than one thing is missing from this museum, right?" Duo stomped his foot softly on the floor.

Wufei just growled. He wanted to get out of here now. -We are spending to much time here!- "Hurry it up. I want to get out of here." Duo nodded and Wufei quickly led him back to the case.

Wufei stopped suddenly when he noticed that Duo wasn't following him anymore. "Ooh. This is pretty." Duo was admiring a humanoid sculpture approximately three feet high. It was painted white and had blue paint in a mock weathered look over it.

"Duo." Duo looked up, guiltily again. Wufei sighed, annoyed.

"Aww… c'mon Fei. They won't miss it. Look, it's not even in a case like all the others." Duo wheedled.

"No Duo." Duo sighed and trudged after Wufei again.

"Ooh! This would sooo nice over our bed." Duo grabbed the painting by the edges and began to lift it off its frame, when Wufei walked up next to him.

"Duo. No."

"Fei!" Duo whined again, this time louder. "They'll never even know it's gone! We'll just say 'oh those thieves probably took it' and then we can say we never found it! C'mon! I want something to remember this trip by."

"Duo you take that home, you will sleep on the couch for a month."

"It's worth it."

"Two months."

"Still worth it."

"Did I mention no sex?"

There was a long pause and Duo looked back between the painting and Wufei. "Still worth it." He grinned.

"No sex for six months and you sleep on the couch." Wufei crossed his arms over his chest.

"Think you can last that long you nympho?" Duo teased.

"Nani?!? I can last that long. Put it back." Wufei scowled again.

"No."

"No sex, couch, and you have to do all your own laundry. And I mean all of it Duo."

"All of it?" Duo whined. "You wouldn't dare!"

"Wanna try me? Put that painting in the car and you'll find out. I'm serious about that no sex part too. I still have two working hands."

Duo grumbled and put the painting back. He didn't think Wufei would go through with the 'no sex' agreement… -But I'd be sleeping on the couch and I'd have to do my laundry!- Duo sighed again and continued to follow Wufei.

"Here." Wufei pointed to the case which now held the baby Buddha.

Duo threw back his head and laughed. "Fei!" he snorted with laughter. "This is the wrong case!"

"What are you talking about? I put it in the empty one!"

"Read the label."

Wufei moved closer to the case and pushed Duo aside. -The Teipian Vase. Made in the Va te faire enculer Kingdom, circa BC 238.- "So?" Wufei pouted. "Just throw it somewhere and let's get out of here. We've been here for too long."

Duo smirked. "But Fei, I thought you liked museums."

"Just find the damn case and let's go home!" Wufei yelled, irate.

"Geez Fei, no reason to get so mad." Duo walked over to another case and threw the Buddha in. "There." He smiled and dusted his hands off.

"Can we go now?" Wufei was getting really nervous.

"Relax Fei. No one knows we are here." Duo walked over to another case and pulled out a beautiful crystal dahlia.

"What are you doing?!" Wufei hissed.

"Let's go." Duo smirked and pulled out a small box and put the flower in it. "Fair trade Fei."

Wufei coughed and sputtered before yelling "FAIR TRADE!?! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?! DAMNIT DUO PUT IT BACK!!!"

"Whoa Fei. Chill out. Lower your voice. Do you know how long I've had my eye on this thing?" Duo put the flower in his backpack and started running towards the stairs.

"Duo!" Wufei yelled again and stomped his foot.

"C'mon on Fei we gotta get out of here, we've been here to long." Duo ran down the stairs, smirking to himself, and using Wufei's paranoia to get away with his own theft.

"Argh!" Wufei yelled and ran down the stairs after his lover.

Duo used another gas grenade and they ran through the main area in silence. They reached the front of the entryway again, they quickly located the hole that Duo had made underneath the museum. Wufei placed his mini-mag in his mouth and lowered himself down. Duo took one last look around the museum, smirked, and swung his legs into the hole before hopping down. He replaced the tile just where he had left it and the museum was left completely undisturbed as if they had never been there. Aside, of course, from the switch of missing items.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

The day after the robbery, Heero was on his way to delivering the report to the pair when he found --to his disbelief-- a pile of traffic tickets piled on his desk. He only had to look at the first one stamped with a 'Reckless Endangerment' tag in red letters to know they weren't his. Yielding to a feeling in his gut, he swept all of them up under the report to take with him and started to stalk to the other office. Shame nobody was there to see it. The halls were empty.

He opened the door to Wufei's office without so much as a knock, stomping his way in, ignoring Duo's wide-eyed look at the intrusion. Thankfully, Heero didn't catch them kissing each other this time. He handed the report to Duo, then tossed the tickets onto Wufei's desk, glaring. "Do you know anything about these?"

Wufei picked up one, marked 'Red light violation, fine: 350'. "No. Should I?" He cast his eyes up at Heero, his expression one of complete innocence.

Heero's eye twitched. "I don't seem to remember getting this many violations in a 48 hour time period."

Duo was looking back and forth between them as if he was watching a tennis match. He was starting to realize something that had been prickling at the back of his mind, but was only coming to the forefront as he watched.

"Maybe you should have Dr. Yaibin check your short term memory," Wufei suggested in a fake helpful tone. Duo snorted, covering his mouth to prevent his laughter from spilling out over his fingers.

"I do not have a problem with my short term memory," Heero retorted, incensed at actually being told he had an imperfection; especially by his self-appointed rival- Wufei. Particularly when he knew nothing was wrong with him.

"Then," Wufei reached out and picked up a ticket, waving it about. This one had a stamp of 'No Seatbelt', "Why don't you remember getting all these tickets?"

"Because these tickets aren't mine!" Heero slammed the palms of his hands down on the desk, narrowing his eyes at Wufei. He refused to say he'd discovered his car missing that morning, and had found it in the middle of a park.

Wufei held the ticket in his hand closer to his eyes, scanning it. "Plate number F0TY786, registered to a blue Saab. Isn't that your car?" He moved his eyes to Heero's face again, completely hiding the faintly smug sensation he was feeling. Heero narrowed his eyes even more, pinching his lips together in annoyance. "Well then," Wufei stood up, gathering the multitude of tickets up in his arms. "If you like, I can call Dr. Yaibin for you. He owes me a favor and I'm sure he could squeeze you in today." He smiled as he gave Heero the tickets.

"No, that's fine." Heero took 'his' tickets back with a glare. He left the same way he came in, stomping up a storm. He could hear Duo burst into laughter as soon as the door closed behind him.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Later that night, Duo was putting away the last of the dishes watching his lover curiously as he poked and pondered about the confrontation between Heero and Wufei in his mind. As he was making his way down the hall for bed he finally mentioned it. "Hey Wufei?"

Wufei glanced over his shoulder, already headed down the hall to the bedroom as his fingers started unbuttoning his shirt. "Yes?"

Duo followed immediately after his lover, fingers laced behind his back. He tried to keep his tone casual, as to catch Wufei in an honest moment. "How did you get home the other day…?"

Wufei continued his way into their bedroom, stripping his shirt on the way and throwing into the hamper. "Does it matter? I made it home safe, didn't I?"

Duo followed him, standing just inside the doorway as a slightly wicked smile lit his face. "So… you stole Heero's car, didn't you?"

"What?" Wufei glanced over at Duo before he sighed, although it was almost a snort. "So what if I did… Going to arrest me?"

"I don't know Fei… You really did a number this time. Give me some details about it and I'll think about letting you off the hook." Duo strode forward with a little grin.

"Or maybe, we will go back over the report that we neglected in that heist we pulled." Wufei picked up a folder off the nightstand and waved it at him.

"Spoilsport." Duo pouted but picked up the new report.

"Of course." Wufei then turned his attention to finding the appropriate file so they could match information. He handed another file to Duo as he sat on the bed, making him put the new report aside for the moment so he could flip through the old one. Duo pouted some more, fidgeting as he pretended to read the report, when actually he was watching Wufei. "What?!" Wufei finally looked up, annoyed with Duo's apparent lack of interest in their task.

"I was kind hoping you'd…" Duo trailed off, a sheepish grin on his face as he glanced at Wufei sideways again.

Wufei let out a frustrated sigh. "Duo. We have work to do." He sat up, leaning over Duo to show him the papers he was holding in an insistent manner. "Look, notice a pattern here? Our thieves started small and keep working their way up to bigger and bigger things." He flipped a few pages back. "They started with jewelry stores, then moved on to art galleries and museums, now they're moving up into government and information. They're getting bolder. I think we can use this confidence to our advantage."

Duo nodded a little then plucked the files out of Wufei's hands. "Great, wonderful, now, lets read the report about us eh?" He wasn't ignoring what was said, but he didn't want to work at the moment, he wanted to see what was said about them.

Wufei stared at his hands, then looked up to Duo as the man dropped the files well out of reach and came back with the report. "Fine, since you are being so insistent, but we will continue with that in the morning."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Duo gestured, then sat back down, opening the report. He let out a whine of disappointment as he read the little paragraph about his prank. "I don't believe this!"

"Hmm?" Wufei turned to him. "After all the fuss Preventers makes about these thieves, they barely even mentioned that the damn Buddha was back!" Duo threw the report back down on the bed.

"Duo?" Wufei raised his eyebrows, picking up the report to read over it, then narrowed his eyes on Duo again. "You should be glad that little stunt of yours didn't gain any attention."

Duo growled at him. "And you won't even let me put it on display!"

Wufei stood up, an almost serene look on his face. "Duo, it's a stolen item. Think about that. A stolen item we're supposed to be retrieving. How do you think that would look if someone just stopped by and there's the stolen crystal dahlia just sitting there screaming, 'Look at me! Wufei and Duo aren't doing their jobs! They stole me and kept me and nah-nah!'" His voice grew in anger with each word.

Duo crossed his arms as he stared up at Wufei, a disgruntled look on his face. "And who's gonna tell? Nobody we let into our house, that's for damn sure! Besides." Duo paused, a smirk crossing his face. "You're just grouchy that I got it, and you didn't get anything yourself."

"What!?" Wufei dragged the word out, his tone hinging on horror and disbelief. "That is so far from the truth that I don't even know where to begin to correct it!" He started to pace about the room. "I don't know how many times I told you to put that damn thing back, or how many times I scolded your sticky fingers for taking something, anything!"

"Fei, don't get so bent out of shape. I was only teasing." Duo shook his head, holding out a hand. "Don't get mad right now, okay? I'm tired, so I know you have to be tired. Just calm down so we can curl up into a nice long sleep, eh?"

Wufei's anger faltered a little as he looked at Duo, a vaguely considering look crossing his face. "You aren't going to get out of this that easy..." He didn't take Duo's hand but sat down on the bed next to him. "I'm sorry I yelled…" It was a whisper.

Duo dropped his hand to his lap with a deep sigh, looking away from Wufei. "Doesn't matter Fei. Lets just go to sleep, okay? I don't want to deal with this mess right now."

Wufei considered trying to get more of an answer out of Duo, then shook his head on a faint sigh. "Right, let's get you out of the rest of those clothes, eh?" It was a feeble attempt at a joke, but it was still an attempt.

Duo looked back to Wufei and snorted. "Fei... Don't try." Duo leaned over, giving Wufei a half hug before squirming out of what remained to his clothes and crawling under the covers. "Hurry up and get under here with me."

"Alright…" Wufei stripped off his pants and climbed in, not bothering to snuggle with Duo. He was still a little upset about the mini-fight they'd just had. Not to mention the stress from the case. Wufei prided himself on his ability to solve problems and this one left his head spinning with confusion. He sighed, hiding his face in his pillow.

Duo scowled, noticing a pattern when he wanted a little attention. For once unwilling to allow Wufei to ignore him, he rolled over, pressing his front tightly against Wufei's back and hauling him close. "I don't care if you are mad at me, I want to be able to sleep, and that involves having my Fei in my arms." Duo said it softly, making it clear to him he wasn't about to let up this time.

"Fine." Wufei sighed, relaxing into Duo's arms. He purposefully wore his boxers to bed that night, not that he didn't want to be close to Duo, on the contrary, he didn't want to be distracted. He had something on the tip of his mind. -If only I can figure it out!-

Duo kissed Wufei's nape, mumbling softly as he ran his hands over Wufei's stomach. He knew Wufei wasn't going to go to sleep, just by the feel of him, but he drew him close, rubbing his cheek against his shoulder before tossing his leg across Wufei's legs and drifting off to sleep.

Wufei didn't sleep for the longest time, wanting to get up and work but he couldn't get out of Duo's hold without waking him up. In fact, he couldn't have gotten out of his hold even if he had woken him, considering. That nagging little voice would just have to wait until morning. Heaving a put upon sigh, Wufei closed his mind against thoughts and fell into a restless sleep.

To be continued.