Pairings: Duo/Heero, Quatre/Trowa

Warnings: violence, supernatural stuff, kinky moments, guns...um...gundams, implied sex, men in drag, etc...

Author's comment: Sorry it's been so long since the last update. Had to take care of some IRL issues and such. Hope you'll enjoy reading this update. :)

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Operation Blank Conspiracy 46

The comforting warmth he'd felt upon awakening should have pulled him to full alertness except for the fact it felt too familiar. He'd missed it, his cheek snuggled against the body beside him, the scent of the man almost enough to null him back to sleep. He forced himself to open his eyes, his vision blurred for a second before he focused on the face sleeping in front of him.

Duo almost jumped in surprised before he got a speculative look on his face, feeling the hand holding his underneath the sheets. How long had he been laying here? Last he remembered he'd been in the boiler room. He must have fallen asleep there. So did that mean Heero had found him and brought him back? If that was the case, how had Heero found him?

Duo sat up slowly, his body moving a little more sluggishly than he was prepared for as his body pitched forward weakly before he caught himself, gripping the sheets hard with shaky hands. When had he ever felt so weak before? His head swam for a second before he managed to sit all the way up. The sheets fell from around him as he sat there staring down at Heero's sleeping face, feeling a bit more at ease now. The way Heero had acted earlier he thought he might have been angry with him. Yet here he was snuggled up against the man as if the events going on within the past few weeks hadn't happened.

He wasn't sure how long he sat there waiting for strength to return to his legs that barely seemed to want to respond to him. But when he felt like he had the strength to do it, he started moving, sliding his legs towards the edge of the bed feeling the chill in the air as they broke free from the covers. So Heero had taken his pants off, huh? In fact, the only thing he was wearing was a white tank top, and some light green boxers. His hair had half unraveled from its braid making him frown at the fact that he'd have to put in the effort to re braid it.

Well, he'd have to worry about that another time then. Duo was about to place his feet down on the ground when his stomach rumbled loudly, disturbing the quiet that filled the room. He tensed up, glancing back over his shoulder quickly to see if his partner had woken up from the sound. Heero was still asleep, which was surprising considering he would normally wake up at the sound of a cockroach walking under the door. Maybe he hadn't been sleeping well either? And speaking of sleeping, Duo didn't remember having a single bad dream last night, his lips turning into a frown. Why was that?

He closed his eyes giving a sigh then quickly regretted it when he felt the bed shifting. He opened his eyes seeing Heero sitting up, rubbing at his hair before sleepy, blue eyes shifted to meet his own glowing indigos. Duo looked away quickly, his stomach growling loudly again making him blush as he reached down holding his hand over it in the vain attempt to make it be silent.

"…Wait here." Heero slipped from the bed wearing his green tank top and slipping into a pair of jeans before heading out the door. Duo felt the breath leave his lungs as he started to breathe again, his body relaxing once more. He couldn't stop the feeling of his cheeks burning though and reached up rubbing them quickly. Why was this embarrassing him? It was like he'd fallen in love all over again.

The opportunity was free for him to just hop up and run to the safety of one of his other many hiding places. But something told him that Heero would still be able to find him, even then. Besides the fact that he didn't think he had the energy to even move. Was the Fly-Z in his body on vacation or something? He'd never had a problem with it before. Well, maybe he did when he'd heard that strange sound before. But it hadn't made him feel like this. He felt so weak.

The door opened again, Duo perking up slightly when he saw Heero coming back in. The smell following him inside came from the tray the man was carrying. Duo was mentally salivating at the thought of the food, his stomach seeming to agree with his mouth as it started growling again, twisting and turning with aggravation. So maybe going so long without eating hadn't been the best idea. But he'd done things like that for even longer, especially for the time he'd escaped from OZ the first time.

The tray didn't go far as Heero stopped in front of him appearing to glare at him before he sat the tray on down his lap. "Eat." As he let the tray go, Duo reached down keeping it from falling though his hands shook enough to make everything on the tray move like there was an earthquake. Why was he feeling so weak? He knew Heero noticed it as soon as it happened because the tray was suddenly pulled away from him and sat to the side before Heero was reaching down to holding onto Duo's hands, worry actually showing up on his usually blank features.

"Heero…?" His voice sounded feeble to him and he had to admit he was scared that something was wrong with him. Was the Fly-Z failing him now? Maybe it was like some medicines where the effectiveness eventually wore off. Would it mean he was basically killing himself now because he wasn't eating? Because he hadn't been sleeping? "What's happening to me?" It wasn't really a question for Heero but more one he thought of for himself. He had no answers for it though, his mind running through the many scenarios of what could be wrong with him.

As Heero sat down beside him, he eventually let his hands go as he reached around picking up the tray holding it in his laps. Reminded of the food again, Duo's stomach started to growl once more. But Heero didn't hand the tray to him again, instead removing the tray to release more of the delicious smell into the air. Duo temporarily forgot his weakness as he stared down at the food, literally fighting back the drool that threatened to spill from his mouth at the sight of it as he swallowed. Scrumptious mashed potatoes and gravy, juicy looking baked chicken, and some perfectly toasted rolls dripping in butter stared back at him demanding that he eat them. Such suicidal foods begging to be eat but he had no complaints.

He did do a double take though when Heero grabbed the spoon full of mashed potatoes up and pushed it to Duo's lips, the braided male responding on automatic as he opened his mouth to eat it, his eyes flickering to the side out of embarrassment. Was it so bad he couldn't even feed himself? But it was delicious. So very delicious. And before he knew it, he had his mouth open for the next spoonful. It felt like there was hesitation the next time making him look up to find Heero's eyes staring at him. But then the next spoon came and he ate the contents of it as well.

His stomach growled more as he leaned closer, reaching down to grab the bread. His hand seemed to shake less, but he barely even paid attention to it as he tore into the bread like it was the last meal he'd ever eat again. He didn't even realize when he'd stolen the tray from Heero's lap until he found himself staring down at the empty plate below him, swallowing the last bit of meat startled. Had he just blacked out? He didn't remember the last few minutes, didn't remember grabbing the tray and devouring the food like some starving animal.

Duo wasn't able to gage Heero's reaction from his facial expression except for a bit of apprehension that seemed to stand out in Heero's eyes before it fade away to indifference. He could feel his energy coming back to him, his stomach growling again indicating that he was still hungry. He'd never been hungry like this before. Sure, he'd eaten a lot in the past and loved the taste of food. But he'd never actually needed to eat. He'd done it just to seem normal.

"Do you think you can walk?"

Duo looked down at his legs, nodding slightly even though he didn't really feel the urge to move anymore. But he couldn't keep his hungry stomach waiting as he pushed forward pausing when his feet hit the cool ground before slowly pushing up to stand. It wasn't at hundred percent but he was better than he'd been earlier. He could feel Heero's eyes watching him from behind as he experimented walking around the room, before his stomach growled again loudly. Damn, was he really that hungry?

"Stay here," Heero said getting up from the bed. "I'll get you some more food." Heero didn't even wait for his response as he left out the room again leaving Duo alone again with his thoughts. Something more must have happened. Maybe the Fly-Z wasn't working anymore and he was on the verge of dying thanks to starving himself. He honestly didn't think that was possible, but seeing as how his whole body was craving food he assumed it had to be the case. Geez, it was almost like he was pregnant or something.

He tensed up at that thought, frowning. No way. He walked as quickly as he could to the bathroom, lifting up his shirt to stare at his flat stomach. Women started eating a lot when they got pregnant, right? Cause they had to feed two bodies versus the one. He also knew them to have weird cravings for things like ice cream pizza with pickles on top. But he didn't have any of those weird things. And it wasn't like he could get pregnant being a guy…but his mind still couldn't stop providing him the visuals to it.

What if he was pregnant? He panicked for a moment before he started to calm down. Maybe he needed more sleep. His mind wasn't thinking straight. Geez, though. The thought of having an offspring with Heero did sound…interesting. Would the kid end up having the Fly-Z in him there? He frowned. He didn't want that. No one else should have to live like that.

"What are you doing?" Heero was standing at the door with the tray in his hand frowning as he stared at him with his shirt up showing off his flat stomach.

"Heero," Duo said turning around looking completely serious as he stared at him. "I'm pregnant."

"…." Heero turned around ignoring him as he walked to the bed.

"Heero!"

"You're not pregnant," Heero said looking back at him having a more serious look on his face. "…I had Treize's doctors check it out."

"What?" Duo tensed up staring out the bathroom at Heero. Doctors were still a sore spot to him, especially after being captured by White Fang who somehow seemed worse than OZ had.

"They said the Fly-Z in your body is in an unstable state. Injecting more into you isn't making it any better. They just turn out the same."

"...When did they do the test?" Duo asked making his way back towards the bed.

"…Since three days ago," Heero said staring at Duo when the usually braided male looked up at him in surprise. "Since I found you in the boiler room."

"…So I fell asleep?"

"…You were…someone else," Heero said hesitantly as if he was trying to figure out how to word it. He frowned looking down at the bed before he sat down on it. "You've been…losing control more and more the past three days."

"Someone else?" Duo blinked slowly sitting down beside Heero feeling like he needed to sit or he'd end up on the ground one way or another. "I don't remember any of that."

"Because you never woke up." Heero frowned half turning to look at him, sliding the tray of food into Duo's lap. "I want you to do more testing."

"What? No way!" Duo almost jumped up but instead held on tighter to the tray. "There's no way, Heero!"

"…Duo…" The way he said his name, the way it sounded like he was pleading with him made Duo freeze up and look away. Completely unfair…that's how he felt. "I won't let them do anything harmful to you." He glanced back seeing the hardened look in Heero's eyes. "I'll kill them if they do. But right now, we need to find out what's happening to you." He looked like he wanted to say more but he clamped his mouth shut staying silent.

"…Fine," Duo said sighing as he grabbed a roll starting to eat it, his eyes lighting up more as the craving for food came back. All of it looked delicious, salivating. Even if he had just eaten the same thing not that long ago. He felt like he'd only blinked before he looked down finding the food gone, the plate completely empty. For a moment, it felt like he'd fallen asleep. The feeling bothered him and he glanced up seeing that Heero was once again staring at him with that worried, unsure look on his face.

He didn't understand it. He really didn't understand it at all, but his stomach seemed to rumble less even though he felt like he could still eat even more. But he'd never had cravings like this before, even though he was the type to talk about food all day long…except that weird stuff Heero ate. Worse, there was a sort of strange pulsing in his chest as if his heart beat echoed instead of beating faster.

"Let's…go see about the testing," Duo said swallowing slightly and gladly accepting the cup of water Heero offered to him. As he stood, he felt he had more strength to him, enough to walk at normal speed anyway. Maybe sitting around had helped him gain his strength back. Maybe it was the food he'd devoured in what felt like seconds that did it. Or maybe there was something else going on that he didn't know about.

This whole blacking out thing wasn't working for him. He held onto Heero when the other stood, just in case he did black out again and fall. The other's presence was a comfort to him at least. With Heero by his side, he boldly followed Heero out the door of the small room. He just hoped he wouldn't accidently kill someone there.

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Heero watched him carefully as they walked, his body helping to support the other male. Though he enjoyed looking at Duo's hair when it was down, he knew the other would feel subconscious about it later. He noticed that Duo felt more confident with the braid there. He'd been told once about the reason that he wore it, that Sister Helen had always braided his hair for him when he was feeling down or scared.

"Wait," Heero said stepping back to hold him steady. Duo looked at him in confusion and started to turn around when Heero walked behind him. "Stay still." Duo blinked and tensed up before he turned around again leaving his back to Heero. This was going to be hard to do without a comb or brush. Heero ran his fingers through Duo's hair watching the other's shoulders tense up at the unexpected action before he started to turn again.

"H-Heero?"

"Stay still," Heero repeated, waiting for Duo to settle into place again before he started combing his fingers through more of the long hair. It was a pretty quiet part of the hallway, mainly because Treize was kind enough to give them some form of privacy from all the soldiers on board. It might have been a little more active when Trowa and Relena had been onboard too. He gathered the hair in his hands and started to twist it slowly braiding the pieces together with a two-step maneuver, building his way down towards the bottom.

Even though it was such a simple action, he could see Duo's shoulders starting to relax. He worried only for a moment about how to tie the end off but Duo was already prepared for him, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a rubber band that he held up to Heero. He was quiet through the whole process, even when Heero intentionally brushed his fingers against his skin. He leaned forward barely brushing his lips against the softness of Duo's neck and gaining satisfaction from the shiver he felt run down Duo's body. Well at least he knew he could still get that kind of reaction out of him.

"Come on," Heero said moving to stand beside him again waiting until Duo was once more leaning on him before he started walking. "Let's go." Duo didn't start using the wall until they got closer to where people would start to show up. Their romantic relationship together wasn't a known thing here. Hell, it wasn't even a known thing at HQ. If Treize even suspected the two of them being an item, he never gave away any indication. Otherwise, they just appeared to be close comrades.

The closer they got to where the labs were the slower Duo seemed to get. Heero wasn't sure if it was because his strength was probably being drained from him again or if Duo was starting to get second thoughts about this whole thing. It wasn't something he could tell just looking at Duo. After all, the other was just as good a master at hiding his true feelings as Heero was, granted he went about it a whole different way. However, it wasn't the only reason that Heero couldn't read his face.

Since the time that Heero had found Duo standing inside the boiler room, he'd seen that unfathomed gaze on him several times over the course of three days. Sometimes blankly staring off, sometimes deliberately staring right at him. He'd never heard Duo say a word in that state. And each time, he felt that overwhelming power that felt like it would crush him. He'd had to fight through it every single time to call Duo back to him, just to watch the man fall asleep again.

This was the first time in those three days that Duo had stayed coherent without falling back into a deep slumber. It was the perfect opportunity to take him to be tested. Because the last time he'd done it, the other being that was Duo had awakened and come close to destroying the whole lab. He wasn't sure if the scientist there would even consent to testing Duo, not unless it was a direct order from Treize. Maybe he should ask the man first? No…maybe he could do the test himself. It wasn't like any of them were unfamiliar with some of the testing, considering they had to take care of themselves a lot of times during their missions.

Besides, he wasn't sure what it was about himself, but he seemed like the only one that was able to stop Duo from losing complete control. The question was, how long had Duo been like this? He hadn't been this way before their last mission. So had this started once they saved him from White Fang? Could it have happened even sooner? Or did White Fang do something to him psychologically to make him like this?

"Heero?" He glanced over noticing Duo staring at him worriedly, his hands resting on the wall like he was an invalid just learning to walk again. Why had his body weakened so much over the three days? Was the Fly-Z failing him? Was this what Wufei meant about him dying without it? Maybe they could inject him with more. But they'd already tried that with very unsatisfying results. What was he supposed to do? How could help Duo?

"Duo…" He stopped and turned around looking at him. "I won't let anything happen to you."

"…I know," Duo said frowning as he lifted a brow. "You already told me tha-"

"Not just at the lab. Whatever it is going on with you, I won't let it control you." Duo looked confused by what he said but Heero didn't wait for him to ask about it as he started walking again. He hadn't really told Duo about his other personality, or whatever it was. Because knowing Duo, he'd just leave the ship to keep everyone from being hurt. Heero couldn't allow that, at least not yet. Besides, there were things here that could maybe help him, the Fly-Z being one of them.

"This is it," Heero said stopping in front of the lab room doors as he looked over at Duo. "Just remember…I won't let them hurt you." Duo nodded, reaching out to hold onto the back of Heero's shirt for support as Heero went into the lab with his braided comrade following right behind him.

TBC…