Pairings: Duo/Heero, Quatre/Trowa

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

Author's comment: Got a little to busy to put up a chapter last weekend. But here's the latest update. Chapter 29 is for the most part done and I'm in the midst of working on chapter 30. And fun times, hope you enjoy!

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Operation Blank Conspiracy 28

Quatre couldn't deny being just a little bit curious about why the four of them were going to meet together. He knew they couldn't wait for Wufei to show up to continue on with this mission, but why was Duo going to be a part of this as well? Or was it the confirmation he needed to know that Duo was going to be one of them? No, he already knew that Duo would make it. The question came down to what Division he'd be part of.

Division 1 was obviously lacking with the death of their last elitist pilot. It was still a fresh wound to the four pilots and not one that any of them liked to talk about. There were other reasons as well that this loss hit so hard, but he didn't want to think about it.

A pilot's skills were the determining factors that led to what Division you became part of. For Quatre it had been his skills with the computer and hacking. He was quick with his fingers and could quickly change the way he worked if a person tried to intercept his hack. It was rare for him to go out into the field, yet it did happen from time to time. Sometimes they needed someone there to hack open a door that required a physical touch.

That didn't mean he couldn't fight. He was just as capable of defending himself as the other pilots were. He just didn't like to fight a meaningless battle. He blamed it on his family's views on pacifism and a father who couldn't see past what he wanted to see. So for Quatre, Division 2 would always be his best option.

Division 3, which Trowa and Wufei were a part of, was best at infiltration and espionage. Both males could sneak into a place with their hands tied behind their backs. They were good at reading people, good at manipulation, and could easily turn things around and destroy the place should it become necessary. But being in Division 3 was also dangerous in that if you were caught, your best bet was death before being kept alive and questioned ruthlessly. For someone like Duo, it wasn't a bad option. He couldn't feel the pain, that or he was just so used to it that he couldn't tell it was painful anymore. At least that's how Quatre saw it anyway. It was something he wanted to test out later when they had the chance, if Duo would let him that is.

So of the three Divisions, Quatre could see Duo being in only two of them, both 1 and 3. Division 1 was the one Heero was in. It required a lot of the skills that both Division 2 and 3 required. They did everything from assassinations, to escorting, to acquiring important items. They're best known for field work and usually worked solo though sometimes they're required to work as a team.

That wasn't to say that they were the only four that worked in these Divisions. All Preventer agents worked in Divisions. But depending on your skills, you worked at different levels of difficulty. Even just surveillance of a bank against a robbery was considered something. But for the four elitist, they got the hardest jobs out there. Why? Because it required them going to the most dangerous places and getting close to the most powerful people. And without them, a lot of what they did couldn't be accomplished. Without them, OZ would have no problem wiping them off the map.

"Is everyone here now?" Colonel Une walked into the room followed by Colonel Noin. The two of them walked to either side of the table taking their seats at the far end of the rather large conference table. Heero and Duo had come in a little after him and were sitting together close in Quatre's eyes. Maybe it was because he knew about their relationship though he wondered just how far things went with the two of them.

Not like it was any of his business. He had Trowa sitting beside him and chanced a shy smile in his direction receiving a small smile in return for his efforts. Sure, he'd liked Trowa since well…forever. But he wasn't able to just wow and woo him like how Heero had done with Duo. How did those two get together anyway? It seemed unreal, unnatural even. For someone like Heero, who most times hated being around people, hated talking, hated happy annoying people as he liked to put it, to be able to get with someone like Duo and tolerate him? Was that even possible?

But even Quatre could admit that Duo had a sort of…charm to him. It was hard to hate him. Even after being scratched up to death, which Duo had apologized for during their training, he still couldn't hate the guy. He wanted to be friends with him. Just like he wanted to be something special with Trowa. But this kind of work didn't really make having a relationship easy, well that and being into men made it a bit harder.

Quatre blinked looking at Duo noticing how the indigo eyes looked back and forth between him and Trowa before linking up with Quatre's eyes and giving a smirk along with two thumbs up. It surprised Quatre to see the action and made him blush bright red when he glanced to the side quickly, feeling relieved to see that Trowa wasn't even paying attention. Did Duo know he liked Trowa? Or was he reading into it wrong? Maybe it just meant something else.

"Alright guys," Noin said sitting in the seat next to Une. "Here's the shake down on what's going on." She looked down the table letting her eyes pass over each and every one of them. Normally she was a pretty calm and very nice woman. But when it came down to business, she was strong and her eyes were hard. This wasn't the time to play around, and they all knew that. "The first thing on our list is to figure out Duo Maxwell's status among us."

A large stack of papers was laid down in front of her and she didn't even look at it as her eyes flickered around to get their attention. "I'm sure you all already knew this but for being a Preventer agent and an elitist, he has passed with flying colors. And from the looks of it, I have no objections from the rest of you for him becoming our newest elite agent."

"We've already gotten the ok from Wufei before he left," Colonel Une inputted. "In case you're wondering."

"The important thing now is finding out what Division he works best in," Noin continued. "At the moment, it seems he would work best in Division 1. However...there's one more test I want to complete before we finalize that decision."

Behind the two ladies, the screen lit up showing them the images that Heero and Trowa had captured of the mysterious space station. Quatre glanced over noticing the frown on Heero's face. He'd apparently picked up on something he didn't like. Quatre was getting the idea of what that was too. Duo, on the other hand, looked oblivious though his eyes had remained suspicious ever since the two women had started speaking. Beside him, Trowa seemed nonchalant about the whole thing, which wasn't really a surprise to him.

"Trowa Barton. Duo Maxwell." Colonel Une looked at the two males as she said their names.

"Ma'am," Trowa responded out of reflex. Duo didn't say anything as he stared showing his more defiant side. He didn't do well with leadership apparently.

"Your mission," she said, "is to infiltrate the mysterious station now known as MS13 to find out who they are affiliated with. Your secondary mission is to destroy the gundamium held up on their base. Once you complete your mission, you are to return here as soon as possible. The mission starts at 0600 tomorrow."

"Is there a reason for why you're sending me on a mission this soon?" Duo asked. It looked like the question on everyone's mind because everyone seemed to shift a bit. Even Quatre was curious. Duo just became a gundam pilot not even hours ago. Why send him out so soon? Shouldn't he be practicing on piloting the gundam?

"To determine which Division between 1 and 3 you will be joining," she said staring at him, not even bothered by his strange colored, glowing eyes. "And to determine if you are really worthy of being a gundam pilot. If you manage to come back in one piece then we have no problems."

"Duo Maxwell won't have any problems," Trowa said standing up from his chair. "While on L2 he managed to evade all of us several times. He's also shown the ability to be able to fight. If anything, I believe you're ready for this." Trowa's eyes turned to look at Duo at those words.

Duo stared back at him, mouth open wide in surprise. Then it turned to a smile and Quatre could literally feel the happiness flooding in his heart pouring off the braided male like water over a waterfall.

"Then if there are no more objections…" When no one said anything, Une stood up along with Noin. "Dismissed." Everyone pushed back from the table preparing to file out. Quatre watched Trowa walk by and stared after him. He really did need to talk to him. Maybe it was time he steeled himself up and finally confronted the man about his feelings. He shouldn't be hiding himself like this. He needed to be strong about this. He was a gundam pilot, he faced dangers every day. He could at least handle this one thing, right?

Quatre's feet didn't even move as he watched Trowa make his way out the door without a glance back, never once noticing the moment of turmoil coming over his blonde friend.

"I see our little cutie has the hots for someone, huh?" He didn't have the chance to respond as an arm was draped around his shoulders and he turned his surprised eyes to meet the knowing ones of Duo Maxwell. Duo had this smirk on his lips that just gave Quatre the creeping feeling that he was up to something. It didn't stop his cheeks from turning red though, even if he was glad Duo hadn't said it loudly. "Since Heero said he wants to talk to the colonel that gives us some time to hang out and strategize."

"Strategize?" He knew that bad feeling meant something. And he knew he was right about it when he saw Duo's grin grow bigger.

"On operation get Trowa into your pants."

"Duo!" Quatre's face grew redder as he looked up quickly breathing a sigh of relief to see that Trowa had already made it into the elevator. He'd never even see Trowa naked before. He'd always made sure to turn away when Trowa got into his plug suit even if it didn't leave much to his imagination. Yet he not only had Heero teasing him but now Duo as well. "I-I really don't need-"

"Nonsense!" Duo threw an arm around his shoulder escorting him towards the end of the hallway where the elevator was. "We have all night to plan this out!" The grin seemed permanently stuck to his face. It started to make Quatre feel uncomfortable as he looked at Duo nervously. But part of him also felt excited. It'd be nice to finally have some of his questions answered, since Heero wouldn't tell him anything.

"F…Fine," Quatre said finally giving in to his urges. As they stepped into the elevator, Duo pressed the number one button to take them down to the first floor. "But only if you answer some questions for me as well."

"Sure, ask away." He seemed to barely register what was being said watching the doors close up.

"...How did you and Heero uh…get together?"

Duo wasn't prepared for that. He snapped his head around quickly to stare at Quatre, the color of red flooding into his cheeks as his wide, indigo eyes stared at the blond. "T-That uh…h-how do you know about that?"

"Heero kind of let it slip when I called him yesterday looking for you." Quatre cleared his throat looking away quickly. "But he's been avoiding telling me more ever sense."

"I didn't think Heero was the type to let anything slip," Duo said blinking his eyes like he was really trying to figure it out. "Anyway, to answer it easily we just…well…we kissed."

"And that was it?" Quatre said blinking not really believing it was that simple. When he saw the indigo eyes glance away and the pink tongue licking at lips nervously he knew there was more.

"More or less…" Duo said and coughed into his hand looking thankful for the ding of the door opening up. "But this isn't about me and Heero." He started walking and Quatre did little to slow him down as he followed him. "First off, have you even tried anything with Trowa?" Duo glanced over at him.

"If I did I'm sure I wouldn't be standing here," Quatre said frowning. Did Trowa even like men that way? He really doubted it.

"Well first you need to find out if he even likes guys."

"How exactly am I supposed to do that?" Quatre frowned stopping Duo by the soda machine as he turned around staring at him. Really, how was he? It wasn't like he could just walk up to Trowa and say, "Hi, are you gay?" Yeah, that would go over real well.

"Well maybe a change in appearance," Duo said giving him a once over. "You look pretty stiff in those clothes of yours."

"There's nothing wrong with my clothes, Duo." Quatre frowned looking down at himself. He liked his clothes. He didn't see a problem with them.

"I know that. But you're dressing like an old man. You're not gonna get a guy like Trowa to want to bang you if you're dressing up like his grandpa."

"Duo!"

"I'm just saying." He shrugged his shoulders like he was trying to ease the blow even though he grinned again with amusement. "Look, it's not about how you want to dress. You're trying to dress to impress, right? Catch the eye of the tiger."

"…The eye of the tiger?"

"You know what I'm trying to say," Duo said. He started walking again giving Quatre no choice but to follow him. "First we'll see about getting you an outfit that'll have him drooling all over you."

Quatre blushed at the words, glancing around to make sure people weren't listening in on their conversation. It was a weird one to begin with. "Are you sure I really need to-"

"Then we'll work on that hair."

"…My hair?" Quatre really frowned then. "What's wrong with my hair?"

"It's…well…." Duo looked back at him and frowned looking at the perfectly cut and styled hair on his head before he started walking again. "Anyway…here, let's try in this store." It was one of those young hipster clothing stores. A person wouldn't think one would be on a Preventer space station. But you never knew what kind of mission you had to go on. If you had to go out into the slums and pretend to be homeless then you needed to dress the part. The same came if you had to go out and be some kid in the common world.

But just to wear normally, Quatre wasn't into all this new fad stuff. He liked looking sophisticated and proper with his pants around his butt and not around his knees like he'd seen some people his age wear them. Granted he was eighteen, he did have his standards.

"Duo, I really don't think this will-"

"We need something to insinuate your figure."

"…What?"

"You know…" Duo started filtering through the clothes, looking for something to catch his eyes as his young prey stood back and surveyed the clothes with distaste. "You have one of those cute baby faces and I'm almost certain you have nice sized hips and a cute little butt to go with it."

"Duo!" He couldn't stop the blush coming to his cheeks. How could Duo talk so easily about this kind of thing? Did it have to do with being with Heero or was he always like this?

"I'm just stating the facts, Quatre." He pulled out a pair of shorts and turned around holding it up to Quatre's waist as he leaned back a bit to take a look to see if they worked. "You know what they say. If you have it, use it. I'll make you look so irresistible that Trowa won't be able to look away from you."

"I-Isn't that a bit too much though?" The shorts looked so tiny especially considering it was for men. Were they shopping in the kid section or something? He breathed a sigh of relief when Duo put the shorts back. "Do I really need to go through all of this to make Trowa…you know." He still had a hard time saying it. Hell, thinking it was killing him. But he really wanted Trowa to like him. And just him, not the clothes he wore.

"You're talking to an expert of hook ups here," Duo said as he pulled out a sweater holding it up against Quatre now. How did he go from something that was more a summer wear to something hot like a sweater? "Trust me, I've hooked plenty of people up in my past. Never two guys before, but it should still be the same principle here. Though it'd be easier if you were a…"

"I'm not dressing in drag!" Quatre yelled out before he ducked his head quickly, wishing the redness would leave his face.

"I was just kidding," Duo said looking like he was trying to keep from laughing. "Ok, we'll leave the clothes for now."

"Please, just something that doesn't involve changing my looks."

Duo decided for them that it was time to break for some dinner. And for once Duo didn't seem to mind stopping off to eat at the little café instead of going for the cheaper food in the cafeteria. The two of them sat at a table looking over the menu. While Duo ordered some chicken fingers with fries and a drink, Quatre decided on a distinctly delicious baked chicken for himself. He'd been here plenty of times to know that the food was delicious. He'd been here plenty of times with Trowa as the two of them tended to hang out sometimes, to discuss work and tactics together if they had a dual mission together.

"I must look really obvious huh?" Quatre said breaking Duo away from whatever random conversation he was having at the time.

"Hm?" Duo stopped talking and looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I mean…it seems like everyone knows I like him. Heero does, you do. Who knows how many others have probably seen it." Quatre looked up at Duo, worry shining in his blue eyes. "What if Trowa's already seen it too? What if he's ignoring the fact so he doesn't have to answer?"

"I seriously doubt that," Duo said chuckling. "A lot of times the person you like doesn't even realize that the one you're fawning over is them." His eyes seemed to glaze over as if remembering something similar before he smiled at Quatre. "We'll start off slow. How long has it been since you started getting these feelings?"

Quatre blushed looking down at the table. He waited when he saw the waiter come with their food before he continued, keeping his voice low. "A few years now."

"Whoa, seriously?" Duo blinked staring. "Wow, and you haven't done anything yet?"

"Sorry, it's not as easy as just kissing like how it worked for you and Heero."

"Well the only reason he kissed me was because he was jealous." Duo shrugged his shoulders. "Apparently he thought me and Wufei were getting together or something." Duo laughed slightly and took a bite out of one of his chicken tenders. "And here I had thought that he and Wufei were an item."

"Really?" Quatre looked up from cutting his chicken staring. "What'd he say when you told him that?"

Duo cleared his throat before he narrowed his eyes trying to do the best imitation of Heero as he could. "The last person I'd ever be caught dead with would be Wufei." He nailed it spot on. Quatre couldn't stop the laughter from pouring out of his mouth. He didn't even care that other people were probably looking at them like they were crazy.

"Wow, Duo, that was perfect!" he said rubbing the tears from his eyes. It at least got his mind off his own problem. "You should be a comedian."

Duo laughed with him. "I'd rather not quit my day job if you know what I mean." He smiled though before shoving another chicken finger into his mouth. "Besides, last time I tried comedy, I was booed off the stage."

"Aw really?" Quatre frowned. "They don't know what they're missing."

"Apparently not talking about sleeping with women and drugs isn't appealing to the guys in L2 bars." Duo shrugged his shoulders finishing off the rest of his meal before he pushed the plate back from him. "Alright, so let's work on technique then." He leaned back in the chair staring across the table at Quatre who was taking another bite of his seasoned chicken. "Then you'll pay him a visit tonight."

"T-Tonight?!" Quatre blushed red. "But he has to get ready for in the morning."

"With missions like this, isn't it better to talk to a person you like instead of sitting all alone?"

"Yeah but-"

"I plan on visiting Heero tonight," Duo said seriously, not even the least bit bothered by that admission. It's like he'd found the balancing point that kept him from feeling completely flustered. "I'm not saying you have to, you know…do that other stuff…but at least sit and talk with the guy."

"But-"

"Let him know you care, Quatre." Duo smiled after he said the words. "Otherwise, you'll just keep running around in a circle over this. At least give him a hint that you like him. The most he can do is say he's not interested."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Quatre said sighing before he swiped his card on the card reader at the table paying for their food. "I'll try…but I doubt it'll go the way you planned it."

"Hopefully it goes better than I planned it and you actually end up in his bed tonight."

"Duo!" His blush felt permanently stuck to his face as he listened to Duo's laughter at the teasing joke. But he admitted he wouldn't mind doing this again with Duo. Eating out and just talking and having fun. They'd have to do more of this in the future. It was fun.

TBC….

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I'm pretty sure you have an idea of what's coming next. ^^