Pairings: Duo/Heero, Quatre/Trowa

Warnings: possibilities of later violence, supernatural stuff, kinky moments, guns...um...gundams?

Author's comment: Yay another update! I have, unedited, chapters 20 and 21 mostly completed. And I had a lot of fun with all these chapters.

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Operation Blank Conspiracy 19

Heero found lunch to be mildly annoying. It wasn't exactly that the food didn't taste good, because it did, but it had to do with his colonel. He'd spoken to Colonel Une about the incident involving Duo Maxwell and the nurse. He'd flat out told her that he was against Duo seeing a nurse and that she'd almost gotten a few people killed. Making a person with Duo's strength do something he didn't agree with was almost like asking the guy to stab you in the chest.

Duo Maxwell didn't like doctors. That was a fact he'd made clear in his reports. So why would Colonel Une still attempt to make him see the nurse knowing this? Granted it would be good to learn more about what made Duo the way he was and if there were side effects, but doing it without the other's permission was like a camper trying to force a hungry bear to tap dance. It just wasn't going to happen.

The only answer he got in return, thanks to her being in her lady like persona, was that it was a requirement for preventers to go through the checkout. She said she'd let it go for now, but that eventually he'd have to have the test done. It put him in a foul mood but at least for now he knew Duo was safe from the dreaded nurse. Maybe it would help to ease things if he got to know her.

"What are you brooding about now?" Wufei asked sitting across from him having only a few things on is plate. He tended to eat light and generally preferred the fruits and vegetables when he didn't trust the meats. And considering today was meat loaf day….

"Hn." Heero eyed him frowning as he did. Duo seemed pretty attached to Wufei. He hated to say it bothered him but it did. He couldn't fully explain the reason for it though only that he felt like Duo should be relying on him and only alone. Maybe cause he'd been the one taking care of Duo for the longest time?

"The colonels tried to get Duo to see the nurse." He saw Wufei frowning at that. It was an interesting reaction considering that Heero and Trowa were about the only two that would know how much Duo hated the medical team considering they'd been the only two to hear the full story. Wufei must have learned about it from someone…or had Duo told him? "They sent the nurse to Quatre's room with no warning. Duo about had a nervous breakdown."

"Damn those idiots," Wufei said cursing under his breath and further increasing Heero's suspicions. "How is he doing?"

"He's fine," Heero said shrugging a shoulder. "He's been walking around barefoot since yesterday." Heero looked at Wufei after he said that. Duo had mentioned that he'd forgotten his shoes after training, the last of being with Wufei that day. But then he didn't tell Heero what had happened to make him forget them. Or if Duo had remembered, why didn't he go back to get them before continuing to Quatre's room?

"Yeah, he left his shoes in the training room," Wufei said. "I expected he would have come looking for them by now but they must not be that important."

"He has new ones now," Heero said giving him a look. "I bought them."

Wufei lifted a brow at the look, glancing down at his food as he pushed some of the vegetables around. "So…you buy gifts now?" Wufei gave him a look.

"Required items," Heero said frowning at the words. "He's required to have shoes to walk around in. You should have known that when he left without wearing them."

"He's a superhuman, Heero," Wufei said starting to get offended by his words. "I'm pretty sure that walking around barefoot for a day is not going to kill him."

"Hn." Heero took a sip of his drank to calm himself before looking at Wufei over the rim of the cup. "Is there a reason you're spending more time with him? You don't look like the buddy buddy type."

"Strange. Neither do you. But you seem to be making a bigger deal out of this than it should be." Wufei smirked at him, though his eyes looked hot. "Are you getting jealous now because Duo spends more time with me than with you? If so, I'd like to know the reason why something so trivial is getting to you."

"…"

"Hey guys, am I missing something juicy?" They must have talked up the subject of their conversation because Duo came over to join them, sliding into the seat beside Wufei with a plate full of piles of food. He didn't seem to mind the meat loaf either, something that every preventer agent seemed to loathe. He must have seen the tension between them because he frowned as he looked between the two of them. "This isn't one of those 'who has the best frown' competitions, is it?"

Wufei sighed seeming to visibly calm himself as he glanced over at the plate of food on Duo's plate. "When are you going to learn to eat healthier? You're going to clog up all of your arties with all that junk."

"Aww come on, Wufei," Duo said pouting a bit as he hugged the plate closer. "You're missing out on the best of the food world. Not to mention that meat is the number one thing to making your brain work faster."

"It's going to make you fat," Heero inputted folding his arms, thankful for the change of conversation even though he noticed Wufei watching him like he was trying to dissect him.

"It's going to make me a genius, thank you." And Duo stuck his tongue out at him not caring that it had food on it.

"That's disgusting," Wufei said making a face. He wasn't the only one as Heero had an interesting look on his face too.

"Says the man who only likes to eat wimpy carrots."

"I'll have you know that carrots are good for your eye sight."

"Yeah that's what they say to make you eat your vegetables."

Heero tuned the conversation out. He was supposed to meet the nurse today. He would have liked for Duo to come with him maybe to show him that it wouldn't hurt. Would Duo react differently if it wasn't about him? That's what he needed to find out. If he got Duo used to going to the nurse every day then maybe…
"Duo."

"Hm?" Duo looked up at him having half the meat loaf sticking out between his lips. Why did he look so sloppy when he eats? This was a man that could sneak through a whole apartment complex with no effort at all. And yet he eats like a ten year old.

"I talked to Colonel Une today," he said, forcing himself to keep his eyes on Duo to keep the other's attention. It was getting a little easier to look at him at least as long as nothing embarrassing happened like earlier today. God he didn't want to think about it. "She said she'd let the checkup go for now. But they still plan on getting to you in the future."

Duo frowned at that but otherwise didn't show much more reaction than that. Now time for the moment of truth.

"It might make things easier if you go by there every day just to visit the office." He already saw the eyes darkening with disapproval.

"There's no way in hell that I'm-"

"I'm going to be going there myself today for a check-up," Heero continued breaking through before the complaint could fully come out. "I want you to go with me." Duo seemed to hesitate at that. Heero could see he was contemplating his options. That was a good sign considering that he was really thinking about going. "I won't let them do anything to you. I'll stay with you at all times during the visit."

He saw Wufei staring at him from the corner of his eye but he ignored him. This was between him and Duo. Wufei had nothing to do with this.

"I'll…I'll think about it."

"It'll be right after Wufei's training with you," Heero said standing up from the table. "Think about it and meet me back at my room by three if you think you want to go." He waited until he saw Duo's nod before he took his tray to the trash and left out of the cafeteria. He could feel Wufei's disapproving frown on his back but he didn't care. He was still bothered by Wufei's closeness to the other. But he wasn't able to put two and two together.

Wufei wasn't a people person. So why was he spending so much time with Duo? Then again Heero wasn't the people person type either. Yet he was willing wanting to spend that little bit of time with Duo. Why? Maybe he wasn't ready to for that answer yet. He just wished it'd come soon.

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Today's training involved teaching Duo how to use a wooden sword. It seemed to be helping Duo to calm down after their conversation at lunch. It definitely was helping Wufei to calm down. He didn't know why he was so frustrated with Heero or why the thought of Heero and Duo being alone was bothering him.

Part of him knew it was because he'd become very protective of the other. And he didn't mean in the bodily way either. He knew Duo could kick his ass to space and back if he wanted to. He was strong, everyone admitted to that. But mentally he seemed to have a lot of issues that needed to be worked out. Such as how eager Duo was to get back at OZ.

Most people would be running with their tails between their legs at the mention of the place that mentally and physically abused them. But Duo wanted to find them and destroy them. He wasn't scared of them, at least so far that Wufei had seen. But he feared their doctors and scientists.

There was another reason for his frustration as well. He was being sent out on a mission tomorrow. He wouldn't be able to finish his training with Duo which meant leaving Duo in the hands of someone else. He didn't like that or the idea of leaving Duo behind. And right now he found himself questioning Heero's motives behind getting closer to Duo.

Heero wasn't the friendliest person. He seemed to hate people, especially the happy types. He didn't like social parties, regular parties, or hanging out with a group. Granted Wufei was the same way but he'd at least attempt a social party. He had to in his field. A lot of the places he infiltrated involved the boring social parties and getting to know his enemies.

Heero had to deal with those too sometimes, but not to the extent he and Trowa did. And Quatre never had to deal with it, the lucky guy. Then again sitting behind a computer all day could get boring.

So seeing Heero trying to get…somewhat friendly with Duo was suspicious to him. He wondered if it was something he was ordered to do by the higher ups. But it made little sense since Duo was getting to know them all on his own anyway. Did Heero actually want to make Duo his friend? Or was there something more to it than that?

"Earth to Wufei. You better pay attention before I smack you with this stick!" Wufei looked up just in time to see Duo standing over him to bring to the stick down. He didn't have time to move and only lifted his arm up to block it clenching his eyes shut. The stick lightly tapped him on the arm and he looked up finding Duo staring at him with worried eyes. Really his eyes weren't that scary. He didn't understand why everyone else couldn't seem to handle them.

"You ok, Wufei? You seem like you're out of it or something."

"I'm fine, Duo," he said finding himself smiling at the concerned look. "But I do have something to discuss with you."

"Yes oh awesome sensei-sanama something something," Duo said with a bad Chinese accent bowing his head and mimicking Wufei's greeting pose making it look nothing like how it was supposed to.

"Cut that out," Wufei said pushing him down though he found himself grinning at the gesture. Stupid idiot.

"So what are we about to discuss," Duo said sitting up and holding up quotations at the word discuss as if the word even needed them. Wufei sighed sitting down across from him.

"We're going to discuss," Wufei said mimicking Duo's actions at the word, "tomorrow's agenda."

"Oh sweet! So what are we doing tomorrow?"

"Well…I'll be going on a mission," Wufei said continuing even as he saw Duo's mouth drop open. "And you'll be continuing your training with Master O."

"You're going on a mission? …And who the hell is Master O?" Duo made a face at the whole idea. "Oh don't tell me he's a creepy old man."

"…Sorta," Wufei said smirking at his words. "He's tough but you'll get used to him. I used to train under him when I was little."

"Whoa, seriously?" Now Duo was really paying attention sliding closer like an eager child, a little too close in Wufei's opinion. "Tell me about it!"

"Another time," Wufei said standing up because as much as he liked Duo's company, this was a little too close for comfort. "In the meantime be good and listen to what Master O tells you. I probably won't be back for a couple of weeks and if not that then at least a month."

"That's a really long time," Duo said frowning again obviously not liking the idea. "What do you have to do?"

"Top secret," Wufei said then smiled reaching out and patting Duo's head. He really couldn't help it. It was like something was begging him to do it. "You'll be getting some missions too once you're one of us."

Duo smiled, his eyes softening at the patting before he blinked at the words. "One of you…. I really like the sound of that one."

"I really think you'll enjoy being part of the Preventers," Wufei said pulling his hand back and stepping back. "Aside from the good pay, it's hard to say you'll ever be bored." Even though it was a dangerous job, something he didn't like mentioning. It was one of those jobs where you could die at any time during any mission. It was why a lot of people celebrated hard when they got back.

"Do the others know?"

"Hm?" Wufei blinked at that. "Well they know I have a mission or they will know by the end of the day at least. It's something the colonels like to keep us up to date on…why?"

"It means we need to have a party tonight! Who knows how long it's gonna take you to get back! We should at least have some fun before you leave." Duo looked up at him and it was like he was pleading with him to agree. "Unless you hate parties…."

Wufei sighed. What was he going to do about this obligation he'd made himself? "I don't like them in particular…but I'm willing to go along with it this once." Oh he was going to regret those words later. "But no drinking. We're still under the age anyway."

"That's fine. We'll be playing strip twister anyway," Duo said standing up and stretching, his long braid flickering behind him.

"Yeah…wait…w-what did you just say?" Wufei stared at him and was sure his cheeks were red. Did Duo just say what he thought he said?

"Strip twister," Duo said blinking innocently. "It's when you strip down and get on the mat and everyone-"

"S-Stop! Stop! I don't want to know!" He said clenching his eyes shut, ears burning. "Just…if you're bringing games, bring normal ones that don't involve someone having to get naked."

"Fine," Duo said sighing though Wufei missed the teasing grin on his lips. "I'll go see if the others want to do it too." He headed to the door slipping into the new shoes that Heero had bought them. Wufei had looked at them and he could tell they were expensive. It just made him question what was going on in Heero's head even more.

"Duo, don't forget your other shoes. You left them here the other night."

"Oh right," Duo picked the shoes up and smiled back at him holding them in his arms. "Thanks a bunch, Wufei."

"Yeah, you're welcome." He found himself smiling back slightly. God this was getting infectious. "…Are you still planning on meeting with Heero?"

"I'm not sure yet," Duo said frowning as if just thinking about it. "I…I think I should give it a try. The last thing I need is to get caught by OZ one day and not be able to handle this." Cause there was that probability of being captured.

"Alright…let me know if you need anything." Wufei walked over to him reaching into his pocket and pulling out a cellphone that he handed to Duo.

"Use this to contact me if you need me. My number is already programmed in it."

"Whoa seriously?" Duo reached out hesitating before taking hold of the phone. He held it delicately, as if he were afraid of breaking it and looked up at Wufei with wide eyes. It wasn't just any phone. He'd gotten one that he thought would suit Duo's personality. Granted the company would give him a phone as well but…sometimes having something more personal was just better. "I can have this?"

"That's what I bought it for," Wufei said staring at him. He saw Duo glance away from him shyly and smiled softly at the gesture.

"Uh…thanks," Duo said glancing at him and scratching his head. "Wow, feels like I've been getting a lot of things from you guys. Wish I could do something for everyone."

"Don't think of it," Wufei said dismissing it with a wave. "Just get going before Heero gets even grumpier waiting on you."

"R-Right." Duo smiled at him giving him a little salute since his hands were full before he went out leaving Wufei behind to his own devices and his own thoughts. This was going to feel like a really long mission.

TBC…

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Hehe, MEATLOAF! D: I could probably do a double post this weekend. But I'll leave that for you all to decide.