"Kyaa! Fei-kun, look at this! It's huge!"

Duo Maxwell, a man who in his youth was never given anything, loved presents. Wufei allowed himself a small, and secretive, smile at the look on Duo's face. The box of chocolates was positively huge, ten inches on each side and four tiers of caramels, nougats, and creams. Someone was going to have fun brushing their teeth later that night.

"Fei, have some." The maniac slid the box over to him with a slight shove. The glossy gold paint slid easily across the few feet of polished wood, leaving nary a mark nor sound behind, aside from a small whisper.

Wufei shoved it back. "No, but thank you."

Leaning over their desks—for once Wufei regretted pushing the two together in the middle of the room—Duo waggled the box under his partner's nose. The edge pressed into his hips and he poked one leg out into the air to balance himself. "Come on! You know you want to!" His leery grin beckoned Wufei into his strange, dark, little world of candies and cakes.

Wufei grimaced, and reluctantly—well, not entirely so—took one that looked like a promising caramel. "Aren't you going to read the card?" he inquired. The white envelope, thick enough for the card to still be inside, was blatantly still sealed where it sat on the golden box's cover in striking contrast to the sparkles. He could see the tape holding it down and 'Duo Maxwell' scribbled nervously on the front, as if the giver had been unsure as to what he was allowed to call the braided ex-pilot. The handwriting had a definite masculine touch however; Maxwell would have a harder time throwing him off than his female pursuers.

Duo grinned, "Yeah, yeah, I'll even send a thank you note. But first," he grabbed the box, the first, empty, brown wrappers fluttering to the floor, and dashed to the back room, which they had set up with numerous state-of-the-art computers all connected to the Preventers network (as well as a few others secretly patched in from local and worldwide police forces). "Hey, 'Ro! Want some chocolate?" Yuy worked in there most of the time, searching for… well, anything that looked suspicious. He was there in near-constant vigil, scanning reports, articles, and security feeds.

A resounding 'no' floated out of the room and Duo pulled his head back out with a wry grin on his face. He strolled back to his desk with an air of nonchalance about him and sat back down. "Now if only that man was as much of a chocolate fiend as you, Wuffers."

Wufei sputtered and almost spit the chocolate he had been nibbling on out onto his hand in its entirety, but managed to choke it down at the last second, and all of this not because of the bastardization of his name. "Chocolate fiend!"

"Hell, yeah, you're already reaching for your second piece." He gazed at him slyly through his long eyelashes.

The man across from him snatched his hand back and turned an interesting shade of red, looking completely scandalized. "I did not intend—"

"It's all in the subconscious, buddy." Duo tapped his temple with a finger. "But if it makes ya feel better, I love it too."

"If you're suggesting that I cannot control—"

"I'm not suggestin' anything." He shrugged his shoulders and lifted his hands in the universal gesture of 'I don't know'. "In fact, I happen to know on good authority that all you keep in your refrigerator is carrots and broccoli!"

"I have more tha—"

"Okay, tea too, but that doesn't count as edible—"

"MAXWELL!"

Immediately, the lid was placed on the chocolates, and the box found its way to the corner of Duo's desk, dropped down in the middle of his 'take-home' pile, and he had profile sheets in front of him. He checked his watch, counted two seconds, and declared, "Welp, lunch break's over!" and set to work.

However, the other ex-pilot wasn't quite as quick at getting back to the grueling details of after-mission-recap, slowed by his grumbled curses and threats, most, if not all, directed towards his partner, and sounding very similar to "'Lunch break's over', I'll break your neck!" and repeated rather colorfully in several languages.

It was enough to cover the quiet chuckle that echoed from the inside room.

"Wufei, are you gay?"

When his coughing fit subsided, caused undoubtedly by the water he'd inhaled into his lungs when his companion posed his question, Wufei croaked and wheezed until his air passage was clear enough to give him back his voice.

"What!"

"Are you gay?" Tactfully, Duo waited until Wufei's water glass was no where near him before asking again.

The rest of the clientele of the small café slowly began to make noise again as they went about their business, recovering quickly from their surprise at the seemingly stable young man's outburst. A little girl was still making excited noises but her mother was quick to calm her down with a wary eye on the two teens.

"What kind of question is that!"

Duo shrugged and traced the rim of his glass shyly, peering up at Wufei's stunned face through his eyelashes. "Because I love you."

Wufei's face paled considerably and he began to inch his chair backwards. "W-what?"

But it was too late, as Duo rose to his feet in one smooth movement and leaned over the table, moving to cup his partner's cheeks in his hands. A hot blush formed where they landed. He brought their faces together and, when they were barely an inch apart, broke out a toothy grin at the other's stuttering protests. "Now gimme a smooch, Fei-babe!"

Wufei threw himself backwards as the first kissing sounds erupted from Maxwell's lips in a tangle of limbs, some his and some the chair's. He was brought back to reality by Duo's peals of laughter.

"Kekeke, I really had you going on that one didn't I?"

"That was not funny, Maxwell!" Wufei growled as he righted both himself and his chair. He brushed a few strands of loosened hair behind his ear and tried to once again ignore the people staring at them. "If you're going to invite me out to luncheon under the illusion that something intelligent might come out of your mouth, just to ask me personal questions and embarrass me in front of countless onlookers—"

"'Fei, calm down. No one's even looking anymore."

"That's not the point—!"

"The point is, are you gay or not?" Duo looked perfectly serious, despite his previous mischief, with his fingers woven together beneath his chin and his elbows on the table.

Wufei stared at him, manners be damned. After a moment he stood up. "I have work to finish." He was already to the door by the time Duo hurriedly tossed cash onto the table. He heard footsteps echoing after him on the hot sidewalk. He tucked another bit of hair behind his ear.

"Wufei! Wait up! Come on, man!"

He stopped when Duo caught his arm. "Look, if it makes you that uncomfortable, I won't ask again. I just wanted t'get to know ya," he ran his hand through his bangs, "I feel like I don't know anything about you."

Wufei looked at him closely, staring down his nose. "Why start with my sexuality? Why not my favorite color, or why I fought the war or my past?"

They fell into step beside each other, used to the company, as they trudged back to the Preventers building.

Duo shrugged gain, "When you're right, you're right. Not that I was lying or anything. I do know stuff about you, loads of stuff actually, but we could probably get to know know each other a little better. Y'know, like savoir and connaitre. Comme je te sais mais je ne te connais pas—"

"Your French is atrocious."

"Tais-toi."

They lapsed into silence and continued walking that way, side by side. They passed other agents on break, seated at the various restaurants, cafes, and delis found along the sides of the street. The Preventers' building came into view and within minutes they were at the door. Wufei paused for a moment, and Duo walked past him and was already opening the large door, getting fingerprints all over the glass instead of using the handle, before he noticed.

"'Fei? You comin'? You've been awful quiet."

Wufei rolled his eyes and bit back the automatic 'speak for yourself' that had been forming on his tongue. It was enough to calm the nervous flutter in his stomach and free his tongue, which suddenly seemed rather swollen. "Well, that is… er… if you really want to know, I don't know. I've never really—thought about it." He shifted uncomfortably.

Duo's eyebrows quirked in surprise. "You didn't just assume you were straight?"

He watched as Wufei pushed past him and entered the building. Without looking back, Wufei said, "If there's one thing I've learned in this lifetime, it's not to assume anything, Maxwell."

tbc...

A/N: Hiiiiiiiiii. I'm back from the dead. As for a few notes about the fic: it'll be ANGSTY (of course). What else did you expect from me? I mean really, you guys know me. So, leave a review if you have something to say and I'll get the next part up as soon as I have a few more parts written. Also: SURPRISE PAIRING. Lol not so much a surprise if you know my tastes.

And now a couple of plugs:

1) My fanfiction archive: The Ventilation Shaft- http/ Tasuku, my fanfiction contest- http/ enter this lol. It's very loose so you can't enter almost anything, you know? There aren't many restrictions. Do take care to read the rules though.

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