Disclaimer - I don't own any part of Gundam wing. I'm writing purely for the fun of it.

Note - Many thanks to the wonderful Kaeru Shisho and Snowdragonct for working through this one with me.

Guys' Night Out:

Trowa had worked with large predators at the circus who'd exuded less sense of danger than his two companions, one in particular. It was presumably unusual for three apparently unattached, not unattractive men to occupy a table in a bar - gay, straight or whatever - and to be totally ignored. It was understandable in this case.

The place had been crowded when they'd walked in; it was a Saturday evening after all, but in no time they'd managed to acquire a corner table surrounded by a wide radius of personal space.

It had taken almost fifteen minutes for them to be served, however, as the bar staff debated over which of them was to sacrificed to the scary, glaring guy. Trowa still wasn't sure how he'd come to be here, how any of them had ended up in a bar in the shadow of Florence's cathedral.

He couldn't remember the last time he'd even been to a bar on a Saturday night. Quatre rarely drank and the security risk would have been too high anyway. It had probably been on one of his trips to Duo in Florida, embedded in a crowd of Duo's friends from the university and whatever guy he'd been seeing at the time. The boyfriends had always changed between visits.

It was, according to the sign outside, a traditional Irish pub and there were the requisite Guinness advertisements on the walls, brass fittings on the bar and some sort of fiddly diddly jig music playing on the stereo. Beyond that, it served a wide variety of Swiss and Belgian beers, Tex/Mex cuisine and the red haired waitress had a definite Australian accent.

After Duo had left, Merquise and Heero had spent thirty minutes or so upstairs in Heero's study, completing what Zechs had called the 'transfer of Duo's ownership papers'.

Trowa had assumed Merquise would want to leave straightaway, to return to his perfect life, but instead, he'd met Heero's increasingly pointed suggestions that he no doubt had better things to do, with that infuriatingly bland smile, and the comment that Wufei and Duo would want to spend some time alone.

In fact, he'd seemed quite content to sit in Heero's kitchen, leafing through the newspapers, with Honey, who tended to be indiscriminately friendly with all the wrong people, curled blissfully at his feet. Heero was ignoring him, ignoring both of them in fact; standing at the sink, arms deep in soapy water and scrubbing viciously at a frying pan that had apparently been used to stir-fry charcoal.

'Give it up, Heero,' Merquise advised finally. 'Buy a new pan and I'll take you both out to dinner.' It was still a surprise that Heero had accepted; Trowa could only assume that he wanted to talk about Duo and that Zechs would be a good source of information.

Zechs Merquise, or Peacecraft, or whichever name he was currently using, was something of an unknown quantity. Trowa had encountered him during the War, of course, but not exactly under the best of circumstances. Pilot 06 had treated them with honour, though, and since then he'd become a close friend to Duo, and had somehow managed to seduce Wufei.

Pilot 05 and the Lightning Count. Still a couple that boggled the imagination. It had come as enough of a shock that Wufei was even gay, given that he'd dated Sally for a while after the war, let alone that he would hook up with Zechs Merquise. They certainly seemed happy with each other, though.

Oddly enough, after the War, he and Heero were the ones who had had no particular problem in supporting and sympathising with Relena's efforts to save her brother. A former mercenary was in no position to judge another man's shifting loyalties, and Heero had considered Pilot 06 to have been an honourable enemy who had ultimately tried to make amends for what he'd done.

Duo, on the other hand, had originally taken Zechs' various attempts to kill Heero very personally, and Wufei had considered the man an unprincipled traitor.

It was incomprehensible, the way things turned out.

He and Heero had been friends for years, of course, since they'd first met during the war. At the beginning, their conversations had revolved around mission specs and planning. It was only later, while Heero was recovering from his self-destruction attempt, that he had told Trowa about a little girl and her puppy, dead in the rubble of an apartment building and Trowa had spoken about a dead group of mercenaries.

It had been later yet before he dared to broach the topic of Quatre and the way the little blonde made him feel; in truth, that Quatre made him feel at all had been terrifying. Trowa hadn't even known he could harbour those sort of emotions, based on so much more than physical need.

He still considered Heero to be one of his few close friends, even if maintaining that friendship had been awkward since Duo's accident. Quatre had informed him back then, that if he genuinely wished to associate with the person who had ruined Duo's life and broken his best friend's heart, then that was Trowa's own choice, but Quatre refused to have anything more to do with Heero and there was nothing more to be said on the subject.

Trowa had tried, several times, to point out that there had been mistakes on both sides, that Heero had admittedly screwed up, and that perhaps it would be fair to hear his side of the story, but of course Quatre and Duo had that mutual adoration thing going on, and his lover had firmly refused to believe that Duo might be in some way at fault.

So his subsequent meetings with Heero, over the past five years, had largely been marked by things unsaid. They had discussed politics and books and Heero's latest case and a new security system Trowa was having installed at WEI, but nothing more personal than that. He'd broken that rule, fairly recently, about Quatre because he had desperately needed to talk to someone, but they'd never talked about Duo.

Not that he hadn't tried, once or twice, but Heero had made it all too clear that Duo was off limits for discussion.

And somehow it hadn't really mattered because he'd had Quatre. The irony there being that Heero and Quatre had been close once; and that Quatre would have been the one person in whom Heero would have confided, in different circumstances.

Merquise, who'd ordered a ludicrous amount of food for them to share, was busily sorting out silverware and napkins, and Heero was glaring at nothing in particular, carelessly shredding a beer coaster.

Not a good sign, that. They'd barely spoken since Heero's arrival home. He'd rushed back, after hearing the first newsflash about the L4 bombings, to find Trowa still nursing an ice pack to his face, and Duo upstairs packing, with Wufei and Merquise on their way to Florence.

Of course, they would know each other fairly well, Heero and Zechs. Apart from their various encounters during the war, Merquise had spent over a year in at the palace in Sanque after he'd been released from prison, and would have met Heero, who'd been with Relena back then, on a regular basis.

He'd thought the two of them were fairly friendly, but Heero had been giving Merquise the silent treatment. Then again, he'd thought Merquise had seemed to like him; he'd been a welcoming host and they'd been out several times while Trowa was a guest in his home. Of course, he presumably blamed Trowa for whatever was up with Duo, and probably correctly.

He had no idea what was up with Heero and Duo. He'd spoken regularly to Duo over the past few days and Heero had scarcely been mentioned, except that he was helping with the court hearing and spent most of his time in his study. He'd assumed Heero would be thrilled to have Duo out of his house and out of his life, but instead he'd been furious, in that icily emotionless way of his, treating Trowa to a glare that would have iced lava, before storming upstairs to talk to Duo. It was all too complicated. Quatre, of course, would coaxed them to confide in him; Trowa had no idea what he could say.

'He isn't dead.' Trowa hadn't, really, meant to say it aloud, except he didn't think he could leave it unsaid for any longer; that in some perverse, irrational way, speaking the fear would banish it from his soul.

'Of course he's still alive. He's not much good to anyone dead, is he?' Zechs said airily.

'He's right,' Heero said grudgingly, the first words he'd spoken since ordering his drink. 'They won't hurt him, Trowa. They could have killed him with the others if they'd wanted him dead. He's too valuable.'

Valuable.

That was it; Quatre, his life's love, reduced to the one word that might keep him safe, that he might be traded for something of even more value.

'They'll probably be glad to get rid of him, whoever's got him.' That was Zechs again. 'Little blond twit, going around screwing up Duo's life.'

Heero actually looked like he might agree with that estimation, but wisely refrained from saying, so as Trowa's fingers clenched around his knife. 'Milliardo, shut up. Trowa, don't worry. They'll find him. I talked to Lucrezia earlier and the Preventers are making this case a number one priority.'

'I might feel more confident if I weren't the chief suspect.'

'They let you go, didn't they?' Zechs paused in the act of loading a Nacho with soured cream and salsa. 'Duo said they didn't have any hard evidence.'

Trowa snorted inelegantly. 'Apparently not. I'm to report to the Preventers' Office tomorrow morning. For some sort of further questioning.'

'If they'd had any actual evidence, I'd have heard something,' Heero told him. 'It's routine, in any missing person enquiry, to question family and friends.'

'Twice in as many days? Trowa's tone was laced with bitterness. 'Heero, there's something I haven't told you. I'm mentioned in Quatre's will. That's going to give me another motive for getting rid of him.'

'His family's going to love that,' Merquise commented. 'Although of course you won't be able to inherit if they can prove you were involved somehow.'

'That's enough,' Heero snapped. 'Milliardo, no one asked for your opinion! Trowa, no one who knows you could possibly suspect you of having anything to do with this. There still isn't any real evidence against you.'

'I should be on the way to L4 to look for him, not sitting around here being treated like I'm the one who did something to him.'

'Did you?' Zechs wondered, dipping one finger in guacamole and licking it clean. Their waitress, who had been handing around fresh glasses blushed bright crimson and hurried off.

'No, I bloody well didn't, you bastard. I'd never hurt him! I love him!'

'No accounting for tastes,' Zechs took a swallow of beer. 'So what was the whole Duo thing, then? Just a convenient fuck while you were away from Blondie?'

'No!' Trowa snapped. He had no wish to talk about any of it, not right now, and especially not in front of these two. Heero was looking like he didn't know which of them to hit first. In all fairness, he couldn't blame either of them for being angry; he'd screwed up and they were only defending Duo.

The young couple who had been about to take seats at a nearly table exchanged worried glances and quickly walked back to the bar.

'It wasn't like that.'

'It bloody well looks like it. So what happened this morning then, Barton; did Heero hit you for dumping Duo or for getting involved with him in the first place?'

'For the record, Merquise, not that it's any of your fucking business, Duo was the one who dumped me.'

'He did?' That was Heero, chiming in neatly with Zechs' 'Did he, now?' Heero was looking slightly less homicidal and bloody Merquise was grinning for no apparent reason.

Bastard, treating this like it was some sort of entertainment laid on for His Highness's amusement. Trowa felt bad enough about Duo as it was, without Merquise making a joke out of it. He was supposed to be Duo's friend; he'd been friendly enough to Trowa while Trowa had stayed with them, had even seemed to approve of him and Duo.

'Why?' Heero insisted, leaning over the table and displaying the first bit of animation he'd shown all day. 'When?'

Oh, God. He should have just stayed at home. He should be on a flight to L4 and screw the bloody Preventers. Trowa drained his glass and slammed in back on the table top.

'When did he dump me? About an hour after I'd arrived at your house. He could see how hung up I was on whatever's happened to Quatre. Why?' He shrugged. 'Take your pick. He realised it had been a mistake. He realised I was still in love with Quatre. He realised I'm not the person he wants to be with. Christ, Yuy, work it out.' He absently ate an onion ring, gesturing to the barmaid for another round of drinks.

'What?' Heero Yuy, articulate and fluent lawyer, apparently reduced to one word questions of one syllable each.

Trowa selected another onion ring, dipping it in salsa and glanced up to see Merquise watching him.

'I think 'How?' should be your next question, Heero. Come on, I thought you were supposed to be intelligent. God, even Barton can see it. I'm in disgrace with Wufei right now because Duo called me in the middle of your little date last night, and I didn't advise him correctly.'

'You took him on a date?' Trowa briefly wondered if this was all some crazy nightmare. 'Duo?'

'We went for dinner. It wasn't a date.'

'It sounded like a date, from what Duo told me.' Merquise lounged back, all that smooth, gilt hair streaming over his chair and apparently loving every moment of this. 'Didn't you proposition him, Heero? He seemed to think that was what you were planning..'

'No, I did not. I merely - Trowa, I'm sorry. At the time, I had no idea that you and Duo were…' Heero paused, clearly searching for a suitable word, '…involved with each other.'

'Duo has been somewhat remiss in keeping you up to date with developments in his personal life, hasn't he?' Merquise's eyes sparkled. 'Both of you, from the sound of it.'

'Well, we're not involved any more,' Trowa said quietly. 'It was a mistake from the beginning, I think.'

'So Duo's up for grabs, now. Isn't that interesting, Heero? Or did you manage to seduce him last night?'

'None of your business.' Heero looked over at Trowa. 'I'm sorry, Trowa. I only found out that you were with Duo when he told me this morning. If I'd known, I never would have dreamed of saying anything.'

'Well, they're not together any more,' Merquise said briskly. 'Heero, you did tell him you feel?'

'He ... is aware of it, yes.' There was no particular emotion in Heero's tone, but his hands clenched around the stem of his glass, the knuckles stark white.

'Well, I hope you said it with a little more passion than that! Dear gods, I've ordered a round of drinks with more emotion.'

Trowa nodded. 'He's not a mind reader, Heero. And you hurt him, you know that. He's going to need to know exactly how serious you are about this.'

'Precisely,' Merquise handed around the basket of potato wedges. 'He's Duo's ex; he should know what he's talking about, so I hope you're listening to what he advises.'

'Why?' Heero demanded bluntly. 'Why are you trying to help me?'

It was a reasonable enough question, after all. Merquise was Wufei's lover and Wufei blamed Heero for messing up Duo's life every bit as just as much as Quatre did. It was yet another thing Trowa didn't quite understand. Wufei had been Heero's friend, not Duo's; they'd spent time together during the war, they'd joined Preventers at the same time, but nonetheless Wufei had unequivocally taken Duo's side after the break up and it was years since he'd had any contact with Heero.

Merquise took a long swallow of beer before he answered Heero, very quietly. 'He has nightmares about you dying. About not being there to save you.'

'You think he might be ….interested in me?'

Trowa exchanged pained glances with Zechs.

'Are you naturally that oblivious or do you have to work at it?' Zechs wondered. 'Listen, Yuy, this is Duo we're talking about. He's crazy about you, but he won't admit it even to himself because it's easier to run off and hide behind the fact that you hurt him once and he's scared. If you want him - if you really want him back - you'll damn well have to prove it to him.'

Trowa nodded. 'He's right, Heero. Duo loves you. I don't think he ever stopped.'

'I didn't know.' It was the barest whisper. 'He never said anything. I thought he'd moved on; he always seemed to be with someone.'

'Well, you were sleeping with my sister, so you don't exactly have any claim to the moral high ground,' Zechs noted coolly. Heero's glass shattered suddenly. Zechs tutted and handed him a pile of napkins. 'Relax, Yuy. I'm the last person to cast judgement on anyone else's mistakes. I can't believe that you seriously thought Duo was with Wufei?'

Heero nodded.

'From the very start? When we didn't even know Wufei was gay?' Trowa asked sceptically.

'Well, it damn well looked like they were together! It was a reasonable assumption to make.'

'I did the same, actually,' Zechs admitted. 'When I first saw them together.' He produced one of those sudden, dazzling smiles. 'Duo said you thought the three of us were involved. Is that true?'

'You didn't!' Trowa couldn't help grinning at the idea of that.

'Oh, come on, Milliardo! I saw that bloody picture of you with him in Florida a couple of years ago. It looked like you were trying to climb down his throat!'

Zechs smirked. 'That was fun! Oh, relax, Heero. You can't kill me; believe me, if you ever want to get back with Duo, you need me on your side. We were just winding up the press; it looked good but there was no tongue involved.'

'Hn.'

'Heero, you have actually met Wufei, haven't you? You must have some notion of his ideas on loyalty and honour. Apart from the fact that neither Duo nor I would ever hurt him, he would slice us both into very small pieces.'

Heero's mouth quirked wryly. 'Is this the part when you threaten to kill me if I hurt him?'

'It's not me you'd have to worry about; I'd have to go through Wufei first. Although I might empty a few bullets into your corpse after he's finished with you.'

'And that friend of his, that Hilde woman,' Heero commented dryly. 'She still sends me regular death threats.'

'Well, that should liven up the courtship. Now, Yuy, what you need to do is to romance the hell out of him and convince him how much you want him back.'

Heero shook his head. 'It's Duo's decision to make. I'm not going to try to influence him.'

'Madness.' Zechs snapped. 'This is the same Duo Maxwell we're both talking about right? Christ, it usually takes him two hours to decide what toppings he wants on his pizza, and you expect him to make a decision like that on his own? If you don't make a definite play for him, Yuy, I can guarantee he'll talk himself into believing you're not interested.' His eyes sparkled. 'You need to wear him down and you'll have to be serious about it, because Wufei is probably trying to convince him it'll never work out. You could send him flowers for a start. He'll like that. Orchids are his favourite.'

'Sunflowers,' Heero said definitely.

They both looked at Trowa, who shrugged. 'I thought he liked those big daisies.'

'No wonder he dumped you,' Zechs said scornfully, taking a long swallow of beer. 'Wufei isn't really into flowers. He thinks they're too girly.'

'He likes peonies.' Heero raised one hand to signal for another round of drinks. 'The dark red ones.'

'Quatre likes delphiniums.' They'd been hiding out in the mountains; just the two of them for a change, in a tiny cabin surrounded by an old-fashioned garden. Quatre, who had grown up surrounded by extravagant gardens and hothouses filled with exotic flowers, had been captivated by the rambling, half-wild flowers the same colour as the sky, as his own eyes in sunlight.

Fuck. So much easier not to think about him.

'I don't need your help, Merquise.' Heero was saying.

'You damn well need someone's. Unless the last five years have all been part of some master plan to get him back.'

Heero shook his head. 'I don't deserve him. He was miserable when we were together and it was my fault. He almost died because of me.'

'Well, that's a wonderful attitude to take. Very positive,' Zechs said sarcastically, glancing at his watch. 'Time for me to leave, I'm afraid. Well, it's been wonderful talking to you both.'

'You don't have to go,' Heero said grudgingly.

'I do, actually. My beloved has arranged for me to be the guest of honour at an Embassy dinner,' He grinned. 'If I leave now, I should be there just as they serve coffee and hopefully they'll leave soon after that.

'He really has you on a short leash, hasn't he?' Heero sounded scornful, but Zechs only winked at him.

'Only for special occasions. Good luck with Duo.' He squeezed Trowa's shoulder as he walked past. 'Don't worry too much about Winner. Treize always said he was the one we should fear most.'

Trowa nodded, appreciating the gesture, and waiting for Heero to speak.

'Did you sleep with him?'

'Would it matter? You don't exactly have a claim on him anymore.'

Heero looked up from shredding his beer coaster. 'He was upset when he left. I don't know if it was because of you.'

'Heero, he is desperately worried about Quatre. He's terrified about this court hearing or whatever it is. I don't know if you even realise how hard the past few days have been for him, staying with you. Duo's been pining after you for years, he didn't think he ever had a chance to get back with you, and you suddenly spring that on him. I think I am probably quite a long way down his list of things to worry about.'

'You're right. I shouldn't have said anything. '

'Not if you're not prepared to do anything about it!' Trowa frowned at him. 'Why did you decide to say it now?'

Heero developed a sudden interest in his drink, gazing fixedly into the depths. 'I didn't know when I'd get to see him again, if he'd ever want to. I just wanted him to know that I - I still care about him, even if he wants nothing more than friendship. That I'm here for him.' He took a deep breath. 'I'm sorry, Trowa; I wouldn't done it if I'd known you were with him. I still have no idea how serious you two were about each other.'

'It was a mistake,' Trowa sat back in his chair, sweeping the hair from his eyes. It had been, probably; he'd hurt Duo and doubtless wrecked their friendship, but fuck, he would never forget the way Duo had looked at him, all that fire and passion and wonder, or the way Duo had felt in his arms. He could never say that to Heero, of course.

'Don't you dare to say that about him, Barton! If you're so concerned about Duo, then maybe you shouldn't have been fooling around with him.'

'That isn't what I meant, all right? It wasn't like that. He was - I was missing Quatre. I was trying to convince myself I was over him, and Duo….I was incredibly flattered. I don't know how serious it was for him, Heero. If it's any comfort; it was his decision; I think he guessed all along how I still felt about Quatre. It's probably for the best, anyway. I'm not the person he really wants to be with.'

Some beer had slopped over Heero's glass; he dipped a forefinger in the liquid and traced a pattern on the tabletop. 'You really think he might consider giving me another chance?'

'I think you should try to convince him. Merquise was partly right, you know. About the grand gestures. If you want Duo back, you'll damn well have to make him see how much you want him.' Trowa took a deep breath, thinking how much better Quatre would have been at this.

'You'll have to talk to him, Heero. I don't know exactly what happened between you two, but you need to discuss it.'

'I know,' Heero lifted his head and looked at Trowa. 'I don't think I deserve him.'

Trowa shrugged. 'I never deserved Quatre. But I loved him. I still do. He said that was what counted most.'

'What happened, Tro? Have you any idea who's doing this to him?'

'It's my fault. If I'd been there none of this would have happened. I'd never have let him go anywhere without proper security. I could have kept him safe.'

'Or been killed along with the others,' Heero noted clinically. 'And been in no position to go after him.' He grinned at Trowa's expression. 'I'm not quite so oblivious as everyone thinks. I think you should wait, though. We've no idea yet what we're dealing with. You don't know if he's even still on L4. At least, wait 'til the forensics team issue their report.'

'I don't know how long that will take.' Trowa sat up straight, a challenge in the dark green eyes. 'You're not going to try to stop me?'

'Could I?' Heero wondered mildly. 'I do think you should wait until we have some idea what's going on and then formulate a plan.'

'Could you do that, if it were Duo who'd vanished? Just sit back and wait?'

'Touché.' Heero conceded. 'I don't want him involved, Trowa. I'll do whatever I can to help but Duo stays out of it. He's not even supposed to leave the city until the trial, let alone go jaunting around in space. I'm not having his case jeopardised. That's non-negotiable. Or I'll have every Preventer in Italy sitting on you.'

'Understood. I'll try to keep him out of it, Heero, but this is Duo. You know how he feels about Quatre. Do you really think you can stop him going after Quat if he sets his mind to it? '

'We can try.' Heero's mouth thinned. 'I'll only be able to cover for you up to a point, Tro. I seriously doubt that your rushing off to L4 will accomplish anything, save landing you in even more trouble.'

'I'll find him,' Trowa said resolutely. 'You'll have to watch Duo. Maybe you could let him go through the Preventers' evidence or something.' He flicked Heero a sudden grin. 'Unless you can think of a better way to distract him?'