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They needed a new trashcan. Not only was theirs painted bright yellow with little chickens on it—courtesy of Sally—but it was also much too small for the demands Wufei placed on it. As he struggled to pull the bag away from the chickens' fierce clutches, he reflected on their plan. 'Operation Desperate' he had silently titled it.

What bothered Wufei the most about Heero's, Duo's, and Quatre's reactions was how well they had all accepted the false relationship as true. Naturally, there had been some initial shock considering they had believed Trowa to love Quatre and Wufei to love Sally, but after a few awkward stares and swear words, the relationship had been welcomed literally with open arms. Trowa had written their reactions off with slight disappointment, having desired a blow-up scene, but the whole situation got under Wufei's skin.

If their closest friends didn't see a problem with them being lovers…then why shouldn't they be?

Wufei shook the thought from his head, pressing down the trash in the garbage bag with his shoed foot, hoping he wouldn't have to take it out if he could make more room. He told himself he was simply lonely. Almost immediately after their declaration in the Preventer's lunchroom, Trowa was called on a mission to the colonies, forcing him to be absent for the next four days.

The house had been empty when Sally left, but her leaving was expected. Everything Sally wanted or needed, he couldn't give. She wanted to party on the weekends, but the pounding noise and flashing lights reminded Wufei too much of the battlefield. His pride wouldn't let him admit that to her, so he sat on the sidelines while she danced and dealt with the nightmares later into the night. She wanted a bigger house closer to the city, one they could marry within and raise a family in. He didn't want to marry. He had already been married. He didn't want kids. She wanted real and warm conversation when they arrived home in the evenings. He couldn't open up to her, no matter how hard he tried.

Wufei threw the trash bag out the front door onto the porch. He'd take it to the dumpster later. He leaned against the doorframe for a minute, not wanting to go back inside. Whereas the house had been empty when Sally left, the house was flat-out lonely without Trowa. Strange, considering the unibanged man had only lived there for four days before being called away, but that fact didn't lessen the amount of silence Wufei heard inside.

Not that Trowa made much noise. In fact, he was almost too quiet. Especially when sneaking up on his dark-eyed friend to plant a jade-painted handprint on his favorite tank top. Wufei laid his hand over the long-fingered print with a smile, wearing the same tank top despite the resilient paint. What conversation they had managed had been nice though, even when Trowa insisted on being mischievous.

Wufei wondered exactly when Trowa had become so playful. He wondered how Trowa could be so playful and still so damn easy to open up to. Sally's teasing humor had made him clam up in angry defensiveness, but those emerald eyes always bore past his defenses.

In those two short days, he had learned a great deal about Barton. His favorite color was sky blue, his favorite food was chicken, he was scared of heights (Wufei was puzzled over that one—he needed to wrench out a back-story somehow), he spoke decent Chinese, he enjoyed tinkering in the yard since he hadn't learned to appreciate earth's beauty until after his time in the colonies, and he couldn't paint without making a mess.

Trowa had probably learned a considerate amount about him too. As they were digging holes in the yard, Wufei had somehow ended up explaining the origins behind Nataku, the name bestowed on his gundam. Trowa had listened without judgment, just as he had listened the night he lost the fight with Trieze and the night on Libra after he had defeated Trieze. He had asked Trowa if he had ever cared for an enemy. Not loved, just cared for. Trowa had said yes, telling him about an Alliance spy called Une.

Giving up to the slight chill in the wind, Wufei turned back to the house, deciding to fight the loneliness by taking a hot shower and heading off to bed with a good novel.

He woke to a tickling sensation on his nose. Jerking up his hand to flick the source of said annoyance away, he hit something rather large and solid.

"Good morning, boyfriend."

"Barton, what are you doing?"

Trowa shrugged. "Quatre called. He wants us to meet up for lunch at his house. If I'm going, you're going because Relena might be there. You wouldn't want to be responsible for the death of the vice foreign minister, would you?"

"How would I be responsible? What did you put on my face?"

"You wouldn't have been there to stop me. A dandelion. They appeared in my garden while I was gone. And you left trash by the door." Trowa tucked the yellow weed behind Wufei's ear.

"I tried my best. How was the mission?"

"Successful. Heero joined me yesterday morning, so we had little chance of failing. By the way, you have fifteen minutes before we have to leave."

"Why didn't you wake me up sooner?!"

"Because you look so cute when you sleep, darling."

Wufei threw the spare pillow at him, sitting up and sliding out of the sheets. His book had been discarded on the floor several hours earlier, so he bent to pick it up and lay it on the nightstand. Before he could straighten, the pillow was politely returned to the small of his back, knocking him over into the carpet.

"You do understand this could be war."

Trowa held up his hands. "I surrender. Not like you could beat me anyway."

Wufei grabbed the pillow. "Your surrender is not accepted." He lunged up at the older man, only to hit comforter as Trowa darted off the bed and out the door. Running quickly behind, Wufei followed him into the living room, cornering him near the fireplace. "Prepare to face feathers, Pilot 03."

"Not if you can't catch me, 05." Kicking off the wall, Trowa flipped over Wufei, landing with a light thud behind him. Wufei quickly grabbed his arm, pulling Trowa towards him, close enough to attack with the pillow in his other hand.

"Looks like I caught you."

"Not quite." Trowa fell backwards onto the armchair, causing the still-attached Wufei to stumble on top of him. Wufei dropped the pillow, catching himself just seconds before their faces crashed together. He glared at the smirking man centimeters away.

"I've still caught you."

"What are you going to do about it? You've discarded your only weapon." Trowa's breath played across Wufei's lips as he spoke, the gentle heat reminding Wufei's body it had been too long since his last kiss.

"You're right. We've reached a bypass." Wufei released his hold, jumping off his friend and the armchair.

"That we have." Trowa stood up, smoothing out his turtleneck.

"You're startlingly gullible, 03."

"What?"

Wufei quickly picked up the pillow and drew it back for another hit, causing Trowa to hightail it to the safety of the bathroom where he could lock the door behind him.

They were twenty minutes late. As punishment, Wufei was sent to pick up the food and Trowa was forced to make his sister's lemonade. Noticing Relena wasn't present, Wufei considered it alright to leave his pretend boyfriend unattended.

When he returned with the pizza, he dropped an item in Trowa's lap after he placed the to-go boxes on the dining room table. Trowa picked up the object, mouth turning upwards when he discovered what it was. "So you were paying attention."

Quatre leaned over, inhaling. "Isn't that a china berry?"

"It's also called a gardenia, but yes."

"Why did he get you one of those?"

Duo elbowed Wufei in the ribs. "Yeah! We all know you're cheap, Fei, but couldn't you have loosened a wee bit more for your lover? Where's the bouquet of roses?"

Trowa shook his head, fondling the short stem of the flower in his long fingers. "He knows they're my favorite. Gardenias grow on bushes, so gathering a bouquet really isn't logical." He brushed his lips against Wufei's cheek. "Thank-you."

"You're welcome, darling."

Upon Wufei's chosen term of endearment, the others at the table burst out laughing. Duo teased the amused Chinese man through his snickers, "Who are you and what have you done with Chang?"

"What are you babbling about, Maxwell?"

"You baby-talking Trowa! I didn't think the word darling was in your vocabulary!"

Wufei smiled, brushing his thumb across Trowa's jaw-line in a delicate caress. "He is my darling, but I suppose calling him my gardenia would be all the more accurate. His eyes are as emerald as the leaves. His skin is as white and soft as the petals. He's a presence in my life as sweet as the flower's scent."

The table was stunned into silence. Underneath Wufei's thumb, Trowa's cheeks burned with a fierce blush. His voice was calm, but no-one missed the waver in his words. Wufei thought he had pushed the acting too far, but the other ex-pilots believed Trowa's voice was effected by his own sentimental emotions. "Did you really have to say that in front of everyone?"

Wufei shrugged, removing his hand in case the older man decided to bite it. "I consider myself to be a blunt person. I say what I feel."

Quatre wiped at the happy tears under his eyes. "Wow. That was the most romantic I've ever seen you."

Heero smiled as he picked up a slice from the box. "No longer worried about how deep Wufei's feelings for you run, Trowa?"

The man in question cleared his throat, sending a warning glare to the grinning American before he could chime in. "Let's talk about something else."

He didn't glare hard enough. "So, Tro, what do you call Fei? You're his precious flower, but what is he to you?"

Trowa sent a little smirk to Wufei, who knew revenge was swiftly heading his way. "He's my rubber ducky."

Taken aback, Duo blinked. "Why?"

"Because he makes bath time fun."

Sitting in the passenger seat of Trowa's truck after lunch, Wufei sighed. "I suppose I deserved that."

"Yes, you did. You were making fun of me."

"When?"

"My eyes are like the leaves? My skin is as soft as petals? I can't believe they even fell for such bullshit."

For the first time, Wufei realized Trowa didn't know he was beautiful. Of course, despite the French man's confidence in his own abilities towards missions and piloting, Trowa was incredibly insecure about his worth as a friend and as an individual. Wufei quietly decided to correct this inaccurate self-discrimination. "I was not attempting to mock you. I meant what I said."

"You don't have to lie anymore. No-one's here but me."

"I'm serious, Trowa—your doubt of my honesty is insulting. I've always found you to be physically exquisite."

Trowa's mouth formed a small 'o' as he blushed for the second time that day, this time out of surprised pleasure instead of humiliation. After a few silent moments of driving down the highway, Wufei nearly missed his soft reply. "Thank-you."

"You're welcome."

"I thought you said you weren't going to romance me."

"Am I?"

"Getting me flowers? Flattering me? I remember Sally saying more than once that you never even opened the door for her. You seem to have little troubling doing stuff like that for me."

Wufei didn't want to delve into reasons behind the comparison. "We're acting. And you have small expectations in comparison to her."

"Has she found out? Said anything?"

"I'm sure she has, but I haven't met with her since last Thursday. The pitying looks have disappeared, though, so Operation Desperate appears to be working."

"Operation Desperate?"

"Yes. In fact, several agents have congratulated me for 'scoring' you. Others are jealous I got to you first."

"Desperate?"

"Are we not?"

Trowa shook his head with a low laugh. "From terrorists, to heroes, to desperate. What happened to us?"

"We won the war."

"We need to start a rebellion."

"And face Heero Yuy?"

"Eh, scratch that idea."

Wufei nodded, watching the gaps between buildings grow longer and thicker with trees. As they arrived at their house, Trowa tapped his fingers against the steering wheel nervously before cutting off the engine.

"Hey, Fei?"

Hearing his name shorted usually irritated him, but coming from Trowa, Wufei considered the personal nickname a pleasing testament of their growing friendship. "Yes?"

"You're exquisite too."