Author's Note: Sorry ShadowMajin but I'm afraid I won't be satisfying your desire for a body count today. Maybe later. Now for somemore suspense. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing

Warning: language, shounen ai

Schemers of the World Unite

"So what prompted this?" Duo asked as he gazed at his sundae in awe.

"Just felt like it," Solo answered, holding an ice cream cone in hand, an elbow propped up on the table as he observed the braided one indulgently. "Is it a crime to buy ya something just because I feel like it?"

"Not when it's this," Duo replied, eyes devouring the frozen treat before it could enter his mouth. Using his spoon to scoop up a wad of the ice cream, Duo paused and looked up at Solo, his mouth wide open and nearly watering. "This isn't some bribe, is it?" he asked.

Putting his hand to his chest, just over his heart, Solo put on a mock-hurt expression. "Do you really have so little faith in me?" he exclaimed. "That hurts, no really, it does. Do you honestly think I would stoop that low?"

"Yes," Duo deadpanned.

Solo gaped at him, his mouth falling open. Duo just raised an eyebrow and finally stuck his spoonful of sundae into his mouth, sucking the dessert off the eating utensil before taking it back out and spooning another bit of ice cream.

"Trying to catch flies?" Duo asked when the blond remained silent.

Snapping his mouth shut, Solo grumbled to himself and licked at his cone, purposefully stringing it out so as to taunt the braided one in some juvenile scheme to get Duo to feel hot and bothered.

It was a plan that was doomed to fail.

"Gonna have to do better than that," Duo commented absentmindedly, his undivided attention focused solely on the sundae in front of him.

Solo pouted but was ignored in favor of the sundae. By now, Duo should have known that Solo didn't take too kindly to being ignored. Just watching as Duo ate that thing…kinda made him…yeah… Maybe he should focus more on his own ice cream before he did something inappropriate in public. He didn't really care about what the public thought about him but Duo seemed more conscious of his surroundings, more so than any normal person should at any rate.

Still, the way Duo was so focused on that spoon and the way his lips were doing its magic on the small piece of metal or whatever it was made of, it was making him a bit hot under the collar and whenever he was hot under the collar, he usually began removing some clothes if you know what he means.

Duo was very lucky he was out in public, wasn't he?

"Whatever it is you're thinking about, stop it," Duo's voice suddenly cut into his musings.

Grinning, Solo replied, "So you're a mind reader now, huh?"

"No. You just have this dopey smile on your face and your ice cream's been melting all over your hand."

"It is?" Solo blinked and looked at said appendage. "Well what do you know," he said, as if the very thing he was looking at happened everyday.

"Are you going to clean it up?" Duo asked.

Grinning wickedly at Duo, Solo snaked his tongue out and began to lick off the melted treat sensually from his hand. He took in the perverse satisfaction that Duo was blinking at him owlishly. Winking at him, he was giddy as he saw the blush that grew on the braided one's face.

Perhaps this trip wasn't a complete loss after all.

Duo quickly adverted his eyes away and it was obvious that he was trying to ignore him and focus all of his attention on his melting sundae. This only fed Solo's overbearing ego but he was feeling generous today. He'd let his little braided one off the hook for now but when they got back home and the first chance they were alone…heh heh heh…

--

Continuing to watch the target, Odin scribbled into his pocket notebook again as he took a lick on his own bought ice cream. It was better than waiting out in the car and he didn't look half as suspicious as he would have had he just stared at the braided teen.

Already he had answered questions regarded his unusual activity with a story about doing research, either for a television show or for some sociological evidence gathering. Thus far, he was underneath everyone's radar and that was exactly how he liked it. Since he had given a good enough answer to the curious, he was invisible now.

Dispassionately, he observed the antics that the two teens were involved with. He kept his eyes busy by making them dart around the ice cream parlor to give some weight to illusion, periodically eating the fattening dessert that he would normally never buy. He spaced his licks accordingly so that he wouldn't be finished before the two teens. He didn't want to have to be forced to leave and endure being outside where he couldn't keep a close eye on them now would he?

Still, if those boys would stop fucking around and finish up then he wouldn't have to become concerned at how rapidly his ice cream was going. Under no circumstances did he want to buy another one, not because he would give him a big distraction but because he couldn't bear to eat another one and suffer the consequences of obesity that he was sure would follow. He made a mental note that he needed to work this junk food out of his system later on tonight; he was in the best shape of his life currently and wanted to keep it that way.

Finally, it seemed like the two teens were getting ready to leave. He left his table and threw the rest of his ice cream away, unable to eat another bite of it, and left the parlor long before the two teens even got up from their chairs. It would be too suspicious to leave right after them so why not leave before so you could get your car started up and ready to give chase?

It was how he operated and it hadn't failed him yet. Being able to blend in with a crowd was one thing but being able to use it was another and Odin was proud to say that he could do both.

It was why he had never been identified or questioned as an assassin before.

--

"So what now?" Duo groused as the limo pulled up into the driveway.

"What's that suppose to mean?" Solo demanded as he got out of the automobile, puzzled.

"You have something you're going to use against me to try and give you permission to do something against my father," Duo stated humorlessly, following the blond out of the limo.

"And what makes you say that?" Solo asked wryly.

"Well, you tried to talk me into it during school, you tried to bribe me with a sundae," Duo counted off, "and things usually come in threes, meaning you must still have something up your sleeve that you're going to use as a last ditch effort to get my blessings or whatever it is that you are after."

Solo blinked owlishly at the long explanation. A grin slowly began to grow on his face and he said, "Aw, you just want to know if I'm gonna do something to ya, huh?"

"Catching on, huh? So what is it?"

"You think so little of me, don't you?" Solo sighed dramatically. "Haven't you considered that I might not be thinking of something?"

"Impossible. You always have some sort of back up plan," Duo quipped. "I'm just not in the mood for waiting for it to come so get it over with already."

"Well, you're going to be waiting a long time then since I got nothing," Solo stated smugly and strolled ahead towards the front door.

Duo stood there, blinking, before his eyes narrowed and he began to walk quickly to catch up to Solo. "You know, lying really doesn't become you," he called out.

"And I don't lie," Solo shot back, an amused grin. He was indeed telling the truth on this one but it was entertaining seeing Duo trying to call him out on it. The guy just hadn't learned that no matter what, he would never win against him.

Still, it was cute how he always tried anyway.

--

Odin was no stranger to this part of the city, nor did he have any surprise as to whose mansion it was that he was idling in front of. He had seen and been in enough of these buildings before that he was not impressed in any way, shape, or form by them. He did note that this was the famed Winner Estate, but even knowing of the prestigious family that lived within those walls meant nothing to him.

What it did mean was that he would have to be careful when trying to physically go after the target. The Winners undoubtedly had a state-of- the-art home security system and while that hadn't stopped him from breaking and entering before, it was just that he was hired to kill just one person and one person alone. Others cost extra and since Tsubarov didn't want to spend the extra money, that meant his options were further limited.

There had to be a lot of people in there, hired help, the Winners themselves, any other person or people that were invited in, and, of course, the target. How was he going to get close enough to kill the boy without anyone seeing him? He recalled that Tsubarov didn't want it to look like some professional had come in and done the deed since it would endanger some sort of business deal that meant nothing to him. Thus his options were further limited.

His mind analyzed all sorts of methods he could call upon, a bomb being the one thing he kept coming back to for some reason. Why was he thinking about using an explosive? He wasn't being paid to take out the Winner family.

He snuck onto the estate grounds themselves to further contemplate what to do. As he drew close to a certain part of the mansion, a smell entered his nostrils and it took only a second to identify it as gas.

Then it clicked. An incendiary device combined with natural gas in the air itself! As long as the device itself was incinerated, it would be considered an accident and nobody would be the wiser. First, he needed to see if anybody from the local plant had been out here to fix the gas line that should be running beneath the house itself. If so, then it would make things trickier; if not, then he could have a legitimate reason for being on the estate grounds with no suspicions whatsoever. All else that was needed to be done was to somehow get the device into his target's hands.

All this paraded in his mind even as he left the grounds undetected and down a couple of blocks to where he had parked his car. As he got into the vehicle and started it up, he made a mental list of what he had and what he would need to get to make the bomb itself along with a container to hide it in.

--

Solo was amused by the end of the day to see Duo practically frazzled, holding whatever laughter that sought to bubble up out of him as it seemed like his poor boyfriend was at the point of tearing his hair out as he demanded to know what the blond was up to.

"I told you, I'm not up to anything," he said as began to strip, preparing to go take a shower if only to get out of Duo's ire temporarily. "What's so hard to believe about that?"

"But…but you always…!" Duo began, though the argument was blazing inside him, he was running out of the means to convey his reasons to why he thought the way he did. It was obvious to him, even now as he took off his wifebeater, that Duo was doing whatever it took not to lose whatever it was that he was fighting for.

"How many times do I have to tell you this: you think too much," he chided, a finger pressing itself up against Duo's nose, the braided one's eyes crossing to try and glare at the appendage. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go take a shower. Just lay your pretty little head on that pillow and wait for me, okay?"

Duo's eyes narrowed, as if trying to find some sort of possible plot that Solo could come up with while taking a shower. "Like hell you are," the braided one stated, his violet eyes blazing.

"Oh really?" Solo raised an eyebrow. "Well you'd better think again if you think you're gonna stop me. I'm going in there whether you like it or not so either you can go to bed or you can join me."

Duo just stared at him for a few seconds before his arms began to move of their own accord and begin to loosen up his clothing. "So be it," he grumbled.

If Solo showed any shock at this, it was hidden away well. In fact, Solo was quite pleased at this odd development in his day. In his perverse mind, he could see things rapidly heading in his favorite direction, the one which involved crossing home base.

It sure was going to be fun tonight.