/ Operation 'Equations'

Mission parameters:

Start date: 10th May 199.

Timeframe: Undefined

Difficulty: Unknown, probably moderate.

Objective: Preserve the peace by insuring that Gundam Pilots 2, 3, 4 and 5 are mentally and physically healthy, and ready and willing to defend it. To do this, objectives will be to help subjects adapt to peace, integrate them into society and insure their emotional wellbeing by pairing them off with compatible mates.//

Heero paused at the keyboard, wondering if he should mention Relena. It had been her idea, in a way. After some debate, he added her to his Information Source field, along with the ISBN of a romance novel she kept pressuring him to read. He was still trying to find an abridged version, he didn't really want to go through the whole thing.

Relena was the one who had pointed out the flaw in the peace. Well not much of a flaw, really. He did trust the other pilots. To an extent. But that messy interlude with Mariameia and Chang had demonstrated that Gundam pilots made dangerous loose canons.

Heero's whole life was dedicated to peace, and to a lesser degree, to Relena and the other people who had made it possible. It was his duty to watch over them and make sure they were okay, mentally and physically safe and unharmed, and ready to take up the fight for peace again if need be. The best way to do this was to keep an eye on all of them, personally. To start with this had been difficult. After the Eve War they'd all gone their separate ways, and ended up on different colonies. Heero had accumulated a lot of stress and shuttle-miles visiting and checking on each of his old comrades in turn, between his duties to Relena and the watchful eye he kept on the continuing peace. But after a few months of living apart and doing their thing all the other boys had drifted together again, back to the Sanq kingdom.

Now they all lived in the same house, an old, rambling structure that Quatre had bought and which he rented to the others for a nominal fee. It was close to the palace so that Heero could continue his job of protecting Relena properly with minimum inconvenience. Wufei still took Preventer missions in the field but when there was no call for a highly trained soldier - and as peace lasted there was less and less need for him - he had started to spell Heero in his surveillance duties. Duo wandered here and there, helping Hilde out for a few days, bumming around in Howard's new ship, but he always returned and stayed for months, taking small jobs and apparently enjoying himself. After the circus had taken up permanent residence in Sanq's year-round World Union Fair near New Port City, Trowa lived with them as a matter of course. And Quatre, though he shuttled to L4 frequently, also called the place home.

Heero had thought it an excellent arrangement.

Until that party of the second year of peace. Relena had looked at the four other pilots, hanging together at the back of the ballroom sipping their drinks and glaring at anyone who tried to break into their circle, and whispered to her bodyguard at her side that she just wished they could be happy.

"Happy?" Heero had looked at the four pilots and seen no visible signs of distress. He turned back to Relena quizzically, after an automatic scan of the ballroom for possible dangers.

"Yes. Can't you see it, Heero?" She'd turned towards him and fixed him with a particularly searching gaze. "They're not embracing life, they're not moving forward. They might pretend it doesn't bother them, but I know it does. It's not right to stay locked in one place, to stay alone -"

"Relena, they're standing together. There's four of them." Heero pointed out reasonably only to have Relena give him her exasperated 'you're being soldier-boy on purpose here aren't you?' look.

"Heero, listen to me. It's not normal for five healthy young men to live all cooped up together like you do. You should all be moving out with- with another person. A significant other person." Her cheeks had pinked slightly and she looked at him earnestly. "That's what's normal. I know you're all scarred by the past, but you'll never be happy until you let someone in. Let someone get close to you, help you move past it all." Relena's hand had plucked his sleeve hesitantly. "Do you know what I'm saying?"

Heero had looked at the four pilots talking peacefully together and realized that all their friends, and that was not a number that bothered with double digits, were old war companions.

"Maybe you're right." He'd said slowly. Relena had almost spilled her drink down her gown in surprise.

Heero had said nothing for the rest of the evening, even when that ambassador for some country or other had tried to engage him in conversation. The man had seemed quite offended for some reason - Heero wasn't sure since he never actually looked at the fellow - but the soldier didn't care. He had more important things to think about. First of all, his duty to guard Relena. Then his duty to his comrades.

They had done the impossible. They had saved the world and instated peace.

The notion grew on him slowly, unfamiliar parameters playing out in his mind. But once reached his conclusion was solid. His friends deserved to be happy.

Heero nodded firmly, fingers on his laptop again. This was right. He'd take on this mission.

He glanced around his room, which had become the War Room since that conversation with Relena. It was the smallest room in the house, under the eaves. He didn't require anything bigger and liked being alone on this floor, and hearing the wind blow over the tiles and through the rafters on stormy nights. Even a Spartan would have complained about the room's furnishings - one bed, military issue. One metal rack for clothes, mostly empty. Contents: Five preventer uniforms, Sanq Guard issue. Two sets of civilian clothes (issued by Relena along with some threats if she ever caught him wearing his old spandex and tanktop again). One cardboard box for shoes. A similar box for toiletries. The bathroom was down the hall. There were proper security measures on the door - he'd set some on the entire house but he liked his privacy as well. All in all he liked his room. It was sufficient, and his own space. He'd not had any place he could call his own before, except possibly for Wing's cabin.

The room had recently gained two additional objects.

One was a piece of paper on the door reading 'Keep Out' in three different languages.

Under the English version someone had scrawled 'Why?' in red marker.

An arrow in black marker connected the 'Why' to some words further down the paper: "I mean it, Duo."

In red marker underneath that: "Duo? Who said Duo wrote this? And what are you doing in there?"

In black beneath that, in words tall enough to cover what was left of the paper: "None of your business and keep out, DUO."

Someone had taped an extra sheet of paper to the first and filled it with red scrawl: "Or what, you'll shoot me? Why won't you tell us what you're doing in there? Man your security is good though."

The black marker had had no room to answer on the extra piece of paper and its dignity would not accept having to tape on an additional sheet as well, so it had simply removed the 'Or what,' and the first '?' from the red marker's previous sentences, underlined the result, and left it at that.

The second addition was a whiteboard on one of the unadorned walls. It had shapes, symbols and names on it, in code since Heero didn't trust his security to do more than slow Duo down if his one-time partner grew really curious. The names of the four subjects were set in a square in the center, the way they'd been at the ball. Around them, in a different color, were the names of every female acquaintance Heero could think of, which was unfortunately not many. There were already a few tentative arrows linking a few of the names.

Heero frowned at them. They were very tentative. As soon as he'd defined his mission, he'd run up against a pretty big hitch. He knew next to nothing about normal human relationships, beyond the camaraderie of war, and that had taken him years to accept and master. Odin had raised him with a little affection and a lot of distance. J had not raised him, he'd constructed Heero in much the same was he'd built Wing. Heero had no example, no template to work with, to show him anything more than the friendship his comrades had taught him, slowly and sometimes painfully during and after the war. He'd never had any contact with a loving relationship. This was a very big hurdle, but he was not in the habit of letting the fact a mission was impossible get in the way of its achievement, or he'd never have undertaken Operation Meteor in the first place.

His fingers flew over the laptop.

//First step: Gather more information regarding romantic relations.//

He put down the laptop firmly and picked up Relena's romance novel with a determined air.

//Mission duration: 2 hours.

First Step Correction: Find more reliable source of information.// 

Chapter 2

---

//Operation 'Equations'

Mission duration: 1 day 22 hours

First Step: find more reliable source of information on romantic relations. Check source of information Relena Peacecraft (RP). Since she is the one who raised the alarm on this situation, she should have a handle on it.

Note: Mission is, as usual, need-to-know basis only, so caution and subtlety must be used in getting the required information.//

"Relena, what can you tell me about love?"

Relena had been delicately pruning her roses, and nearly whacked off half the bush.

"Wh-what?"

"I read the book you lent me. It was very..." Heero's lips twisted but he decided to make a stab at diplomacy, "entertaining. But I should think that in real life people have a good deal less difficulty in finding a lover. Judging by the fact we still have a human race. How does it really work? I'm not familiar with the subject."

Relena was still staring and waving the clippers around so he removed them before she hurt herself.

"I-" Relena cleared her throat. "Well..." And suddenly her smile was brilliant and she looked at him with pure affection. Heero guessed she must be happy to see he'd decided to be interested in something other than work. It was what she was always pestering him to do.

"Oh Heero, I'm so glad you asked!" Relena gushed. "What do you want to know?"

"Well..." Heero felt suddenly at a loss. Relena had a meeting soon. She was so busy he couldn't monopolize her time by asking her to explain all the parameters of the 'love' issue. Considering how many books, songs, poems and movies centered on the subject, there was probably quite a lot to say. He had to be efficient.

"What forms the basis of an attraction between two people?" He asked.

Relena seemed a little surprised, but then she seemed to understand. She toyed with one of the pink roses she'd accidentally chopped off, then stuck it into her lapel, to join the small white rose she already wore there.

"There are many reasons why people fall in love, Heero."

Damn he knew it wasn't going to be that easy.

"Can you give me one?" He asked, eyeing his watch.

Relena appeared puzzled but then she said, looking at her gardening gloves fixedly: "Sometimes, when you work with someone...you're thrown together a lot, and end up spending a lot of time in each other's company. You get to know one another. You learn to rely on him, on his presence, you get used to the way he thinks and acts, and that can often lead to...affection. You see, take me and-"

"You need to go to your meeting, Relena." Heero had heard enough. Co-workers. That opened up possibilities.

"Wh-what? But that's not for-"

"You have to clean up." Heero nodded towards her gardening pants. Although much more comfortable and efficient than her suits, Heero doubted they were adequate for a meeting with the colony plenipotentiaries, who were unreasonably fussy judging from their reaction that first conference years ago when one of them had tried to kiss Relena's hand and found himself in an arm-lock with a gun to his head.

"Oh right. Okay, let's continue this while I change-"

"I have something to do, Relena. I'll leave you with Simmons. She can help you on with your dress too if need be."

"Erm, I'd rather-"

"Here she comes now. Goodbye Relena, I'll see you this evening. And thanks!"

He walked briskly up the path bordered by early-blooming pink and yellow roses and flowering lilac bushes. Though Relena had renounced the crown and turned Sanq into a republic within the hegemony of the world nation, the people had still gently but firmly insisted the foreign minister reside within the palace of her forebears. It was the old summer residence, not as imposingly grand as the old Peacecraft fort that had been burned and blasted years ago during the war. It was much smaller, more manageable, and could house part of the World Nation's foreign affairs division as well as Relena and her entourage. Relena had even described it as cozy, which had sent Heero to check the term up in a dictionary then shake his head slightly, but well, Relena's way of looking at things was always special...

He ignored the vast, pleasant gardens, the small winding maze-like yew alleys, the artificial lake...the material never had much impact on Heero, he'd only ever looked at the palace in terms of defense and security. He was even less attentive that day, as his mind ran over different equations. Co-workers, yes, that actually made sense - to his relief - that people who could work well and fight well together had a good chance of being compatible. Now to figure out some likely pairings...

//Mission duration: 2 days 9 hours

Project 1: Co-workers.

Two matches are immediately obvious. 5 and Sally Po (SP) are partners when he has a field mission, and they were allies during the war. That will be easy to arrange.

3 and Catherine Bloom (CB) work together in the circus, and 4 was commenting just the other day that to be partners in a knife-throwing act implies great trust and understanding. 4 said he did not have that kind of relationship with CB, which implies that he considers 3 and CB to be exceptionally close. Actually what 4 said was 'I'd never let that harpy hurl knives at me', but meaning was clear. Unfortunately CB is an unknown quantity and not much is known about circus environment. Known to involve lions and clowns but that is extent of current information. Further recon required.

But Operation 5xSP can start tomorrow.//

"You want me to what?!" Wufei stared down at the camping gear in his hands. Sally was looking through the backpack that had been hurled at her with a bemused air.

"You've not had field duty for awhile, Chang." Heero said firmly. "You need to keep fit if you are to be able to maintain your duties as-"

"What, Relena's...baby-sitter?" Sally put in, smirking at the sudden deadly scowl from her target. Wufei went a very strange shade of magenta. Sally was often teasing him about his 'cushy palace job' while she was 'out doing the real work', Heero remembered, and winced internally. Not the best of starts. Wufei was glaring at Sally and she was all but laughing in his face.

"Wufei-"

That got the glare turned in his direction. "What is this, Yuy? Do you have an issue with my performance?"

"What?" Heero blinked.

"Are you thinking of removing me from my present duties? Did I do something to offend you?" Wufei was looking at him fixedly. Sally suddenly stopped laughing and gave Heero an uncertain look too.

Where had this come from-...? Heero glared back.

"I just want to make sure you're in optimal shape, Chang. I count on you to insure the safety of Minister Darlian and that's of prime importance to me."

Wufei seemed to calm down a bit. "Very well." He said quietly. Sally started to smile again.

"Here's the map with the outline of the required mission, a three day trail hike. You will drive to - " Heero found it snatched from his hands.

"I can read a map." Wufei grumbled, hoisting the pack on his back. "I'll go do your little exercise. But I go alone."

Heero nearly bit his tongue but fortunately Sally got in before he did. "Alone? What's wrong with my company, Chang?"

"I'd make a list but I don't have the time or a sufficiently long piece of paper." Wufei smirked.

For answer Sally hoisted on her own pack with an acid smile. "Well orders are we go together, what a pity, hm?"

"But-"

"Shut up and *try* to take it like a man, Chang!"

"Are you insulting my manhood?! Sally? Get back here-"

"Hurry up, Chang! Oh boy, you're dragging behind me already!" Sally was out the door and heading towards the car. Wufei trailed after her, still arguing.

Heero stared bemusedly at the door. The hiking plan he'd given them would drag them through the woods of Sanq for three days. If this was a sample of what it would be like, they'd come back in love or in body-bags.

"Beautiful. Just beautiful."

Heero turned to find Duo leaning against the living room door with a newspaper in his hands and a dreamy look on his face.

"I came to see what all the yelling was about." Duo continued, catching Heero's glance. "Did you really bundle Fei off on a three-day camping expedition with Sally at a moment's notice?"

"Yes. For training purposes." Heero said firmly.

"How wonderfully devious and sadistic of you."Duo laughed delightedly. Then something like worry came over his face. "Er...you're not...mad at Wufei for...anything, are you?"

"What? No."

"Well..." Duo's paper crinkled as he smoothed it carefully. "Sending him away at the drop of a hat, maybe, uh, maybe you had a reason to get rid of him?"

"He's coming back in three days, Duo. A bit of field work will do him a lot of good, and will help him defend Relena all the better."

Duo blinked at him owlishly then grinned. "Sounds good then! But damn I wish you'd included a bug in that camping equipment. I'd love to eavesdrop on them. I can never get enough of Sally giving Chang an earful!"

Heero wished he'd thought of that too...though not for the same reason as Duo. He wanted to know if the operation was successful or not.

//Mission duration: 3 days 11 hours

Operation 5xSP
Status: Under way

Operation 3xCB
Status: Cancelled.

Further information obtained from 4, without compromising mission secrecy of course. Turns out 4 is quite happy to discuss 3 and CB relation at great lengths. In fact, considerable effort and a distraction were necessary to extract from conversation.

Memo: Plaster over bullet hole in wall and stop 4 from adding extra fly-paper to every room, since shooting flies, however annoying, is not actually a normal habit. Additional efforts to persuade 4 of that may be necessary, he seemed nervous and has been going around with a fly swatter since then. But as a distraction the subterfuge was efficient. And the fly is very dead.

Conclusion: Apparently the 3-CB relation is not as supposed. 4's conversation indicates they are like siblings rather than lovers. He described CB as 'protective big sister', 'no one good enough for her little brother', 'so joined at the hip the only time I can see him alone is when he's at home' and a few unflattering terms regarding CB which are unusual for 4, who is normally very understanding and diplomatic. His attitude is another negative re. 3xCB; it would not do to pair off one of the subjects with a girl that one of the others cannot stand, as this would compromise group stability. Re-evaluation of 3 necessary.//

Heero stood up and erased the arrow linking Trowa and Catherine on the whiteboard, and added a side-note to never even think of putting that arrow between her and Quatre. He might be ignorant about relations but he wasn't stupid.

He picked up the laptop again and, after scowling at the whiteboard some more, typed.

// Next step: Acquire more information about ways to foster an intimate relation between two people.// 

Chapter 3

---

//Operation 'Equations'

Mission duration: 5 day 1 hour

Operation 5xSP
Status: Under way

Operation 3xCB
Status: Cancelled.

Next Step: Acquire more information about ways to foster an intimate relation between two people. RP source has proven valuable once, she might have other suggestions.//

"You seem very interested in romance these days, Heero." Relena was doodling on the margins of a very important international trades agreement contract.

"I am trying to broaden my understanding of human relations." Heero said crisply, which was in part true.

Relena seemed absorbed in her drawings. "Is that the only reason?" She asked softly.

"It is sufficient." Heero said, voluntarily vague. "Now, can you or can you not give me another example of what can attract two people?"

"Well..." Relena drew a series of little hearts, then looked up and smiled. "It's not easy to say, you know. Radically different people can become close. They have nothing in common, their opinions and ways of doing things are completely different, you'd think they wouldn't even get along and lo and behold, they do! Opposites attract, right? Take my example-"

"Isn't that piece of paper important?"

"What piece of paper? Oh drat."

Heero got her a new copy from the secretary while ruminating. Opposites attract, yes, he'd heard that before. That might lead to a few possibilities as well.

"Heero? You're deep in thought." Relena was signing in various spots as quickly as she could.

"Yes. I have something to attend to. I'll ask Mokotto to cover for me. I need to think."

"That's good, Heero." Relena said automatically. "But I think Mokotto is off today, isn't she? Isn't Wufei your fall-back on Mondays?"

"I sent him away."

"What?" The pen scored a tear in the contract. Relena stared at him in amazement. "You fired him?!"

"No! I only sent him on a three-day training course. He'll be back this evening." Heero growled and went to get yet another copy of the contract. His annoyance had evaporated by the time he laid it on Relena's desk though. He felt sure Wufei was taken care of by now. And he had another project to work on. Opposites attract, now what could he do with that...

"That was a bit sudden, wasn't it? He never mentioned a training course." Relena had picked up her pen and was glancing over the contract again.

"As his superior in the Sanq branch of preventers I can send him wherever I want when I want." Heero said firmly.

"Right. Erm, you're not mad at him, are you? For...anything?"

"Why should I be mad at Wufei?! I'm not mad with *anyone*!"

Relena leaned hastily back in her chair. "Right, right!" She squeaked. "It just seems a bit harsh, to send him off on his own like that at a moment's notice."

"Well you're a civilian, Relena. Chang does not have the same values. But if it makes you feel better he's not alone. Sally Po went with him."

"Well that's good, I guess. Although they'll bicker constantly. But Sally is not part of the Sanq branch of Preventers, she's Une's agent." Relena looked at him curiously. "Didn't Sally mind you ordering her off like that?"

"She didn't object." Heero felt that it was a positive indication of Sally's feelings towards Wufei.

"Hmmm. She must have had a fight with her girlfriend again." Relena said sadly as she started signing the fresh contract.

The silence in the office was only interrupted by the scratch of the fountain pen.

//Mission duration: 5 days 11 hours

Operation 5xSP
Status: Cancelled

5 and SP are still somewhere off in the woods but this will not lead to anything if source of information (RP) is correct. The possibility of anyone involved being gay had not been considered in the parameters of the mission.//

Heero stared at the whiteboard until his head ached and the lines jumbled.

In a way this was a good thing. It opened up the possibility of a lot more names and arrows. On the down side, it meant he required more information, of a personal nature, on his comrade's preferences, as well as anybody else on the board. He'd already erased Sally with some regrets.

//Next step: Finding out preferences.//

The big house was quiet the next morning as Heero descended the staircase, his mind on his plans. Duo was staying overnight at Hilde's, Quatre had left for L4 two days ago, Trowa was still in bed. Heero approached the available subject.

Wufei had come back the night before, tired and covered in mud, but Heero had avoided him while he re-evaluated the situation. From the stream of muttered mandarin coming from the room below his, that had probably been a good thing for the sake of Total Pacifism.

He found Wufei in the kitchen, eating breakfast at the counter while going over some papers.

Heero noted the tension as he entered and it puzzled him. He worked well with Wufei; the man was serious, reliable, an excellent fighter and a staunch ally once you persuaded him that your cause was just. Yet everybody - including Chang - was behaving as if there was a reason for Heero to be mad at the man, as if Wufei had done something that Heero might not approve of. But there wasn't anything that Heero was aware of...well, apart from joining Mariameia, attacking the earth and blowing Heero out of the sky - okay that was maybe a reason to be a bit peeved, but Heero had considered the matter done and dealt with two years ago already. He thought Wufei had gotten well past it too. He didn't understand the reason for the hot but wary look shot from black eyes, a mixture of sullen anger and guarded caution, but Heero decided it needed some clarification.

"Chang, let's get something straight, I'm not mad at you."

Wufei stared back at him but didn't look convinced.

"I sent you on that mission because I thought you'd get something out of it." Sally, to be exact. "It wasn't some form of punishment."

"That's good to hear, Yuy." Wufei said slowly. "I don't want any enmity between us." His shoulders were still tense as he bent over his papers again.

"Fine." Heero nodded and sat down opposite his fellow preventer, on the other side of the kitchen counter. "If that's settled, I have a question, Chang."

Wufei looked up from his papers again as he sipped his coffee.

"Are you gay?"

Fortunately the papers Wufei was holding were not that important.

After soaking the coffee stains from his shirt, Heero grabbed his laptop.

//Mission duration: 5 days 22 hours.

Operation Preferences

Subject 5 very nervous (might suggest cutting down caffeine intake when he's less confrontational). Answer to question was in mandarin. Knowledge of language minimal, but answer did not appear to be very informative.

Preferences are a crucial piece of information. Need to determine this for 5 and all the others!

Next step: Somehow obtain required information...but how?// 

Chapter 4

---

//Operation 'Equations'

Mission duration: 5 day 22 hour

Operation Preferences

Next Step: Find out sexual orientation of all subjects. Somehow.//

Heero sipped his orange juice quietly and motioned to Duo that the braided man could finish off his pie if he wanted it. Duo grinned and grabbed Heero's plate but said nothing.

When he'd come home from Hilde's, Duo had taken one look at Heero and dragged him off to their favorite coffee shop. Heero was surprised, he hadn't thought his confusion and annoyance at another hindrance to his mission were visible on his face, but Duo had apparently picked up on it. Duo had been first his partner and then his best friend since the start of the war. He could still not read Heero very well; the later wore the soldier's mask as an old, unbreakable habit and it was nearly impenetrable. But Duo instinctively knew when to chatter and distract, when to talk little and seriously, and when to be completely silent and let Heero think.

He watched Duo demolish the pie and felt a bit better. Well, at least Duo was sorted and happy. If not, he would have been the first on Heero's agenda. He owed Duo a great deal, more than he could really fully express. It would definitely have been his duty to make sure the gregarious man found his soul mate. But as soon as he'd started his mission and thought about it, he'd put two and two together and realized Duo didn't need his help.

Duo's visits to Hilde's had been rare to start with, even when she'd moved to Sanq to open a junkyard here. But recently the stay-overs and the evenings out had gotten more and more frequent. Duo often seemed a bit depressed when he left the house, and he always returned in better spirits. Hilde was good for him, as a friend and, obvious even to Heero now, as a lover. Heero hadn't been sure about that relationship to start with, Hilde was a bit...tiresome. Always running and shouting and carrying on. Duo did some of that too but it was the froth on the pool of deep reflection and complete focus he was also capable of. Still, if it worked...Heero had made a note in his mission planner to persuade Duo to move in with the girl at some point, just to consolidate things, but that was far down his list of priorities now. He had other worries.

"Wufei is angry with me." Heero said abruptly. Maybe Duo could help him, even if Heero couldn't divulge any information about the mission.

"Oh yeah? Still mad about the stroll you strong-armed him into taking?" Duo looked curious as he gathered up the last bit of the pie in one big mouthful.

"He may still be a bit angry about that. And he seemed resentful when I asked him about his sexual orientation. Duo, you eat too fast! One day you'll choke!"

"Y- !" cough "You- " splutter "Y-?!"

"Here, have a sip of my-"

"You asked him what?!" wheeze.

"I asked him if he was gay. Why is that-...was I supposed to use the term 'homosexual'?"

"You-..." Duo's voice was a squeak. "My god, did he hurt you?"

"No."

"Did-did you have to hurt him?"

"No!"

"Did someone slip him a full tube of happy pills when you weren't looking?"

"What?"

"Never mind. Why on earth did you ask him that?"

"I wanted to know." Heero snapped. "Why is it such a big deal?"

"Heero..." Duo tugged his braid as if trying to anchor himself to the situation. "That's only one of the most personal and delicate questions you can ask a guy. Especially a straight arrow like Wu!"

"Straight? You mean he's not gay?"

"What on earth made you think he was?!"

"Nothing, I wanted to find out, that's why I asked!" Heero barked back.

"Well watch who you ask, 'Ro." Duo said seriously, eyes still wide. "You're lucky he's trying to stay on your good side or he'd have cut you a new one."

"I don't see why this is such a difficult question." Heero grumbled.

"Well some people are okay with it. Hell I don't give a damn who finds out I'm gay, though I won't shout it from the rooftops."

"So Chang is-...wh-..."

"Straight."

"What?!"

"If you swung him by the pony-tail you could use him to draw a plumb line, Yuy."

"You-..." Heero's orange juice cup crunched in his hand. Since it was non-disposable toughened plastic instead of styrofoam, and still contained a lot of liquid, this made him fairly unpopular with the waitress.

"You're gay?" Heero hissed once she'd removed her mop and her scowl.

Duo's face had settled into the joker's mask, with the small who-gives-a-damn grin. His eyes looked defensive though. "I wondered if you knew. I mean, if you though Wufee was gay you probably think the pope is too, but you'd miss me by a mile."

"I didn't know! Why didn't you tell me?!"

"Well, I thought I'd climb up on the podium at Relena's Peace party and declare it in front of national television but then I thought, nah, let's just-"

"Duo be serious!" Heero glared. "You're with Hilde."

Duo gave him a long stare. "Is that what you thought?" He finally asked quietly.

"You two are constantly-"

"Yeah, Hilde's like a little sister to me."

Heero sunk his head in his hand with a groan. "Big sisters, little sisters, or else they have girlfriends!" he muttered.

"Heero, the pie was fine so I have to ask," Duo's eyes were like saucers, "what did they put in your orange juice?"

"And Hilde?" Heero snapped. "What does she think?" If Hilde wasn't hopelessly in love with Duo...Hilde and Quatre? Hilde and Trowa? Hilde and Wufei?

"Hilde thinks her boyfriend of six months is the best thing that ever wore socks."

"Of course." Heero sighed in defeat. "And how about Trowa? Quatre?"

"What about -"

"Are they gay?"

Duo looked at him in silence for a few seconds. "You don't know?"

"No. They didn't tell me." Heero ground out.

"Well...then it's not really up to me to say." Duo scratched his head and looked baffled. "Heero, I have the feeling you're not going to tell me what's going on, and I guess I respect that, even though curiosity will probably kill me before the week is out, but seriously, you know, if you have anything you want to talk about...any, er, personal questions...or problems..."

I have a problem and you're now part of it! Heero fumed, but kept his feelings well hidden. At least he knew where Duo - and Wufei - stood. That was already some progress.

"Er...are you going to ask them? Tro and Q? About-..."

Heero grunted.

"Okay...they probably won't mind...but you might want to, I don't know, try to be subtle?"

There was a short moment of silence.

"Subtle?" Heero asked grudgingly. "Me?"

Duo was still laughing - and Heero smiling gently - as they left the cross waitress to clean up their table.

//Mission duration: 6 days 5 hours

Project 2: Opposites attract.//

Heero looked at his whiteboard carefully. It had suffered considerable reworking.

There was an urgent red question mark next to Duo's name now. Heero had been hurt to discover that his best friend wasn't as happy as he'd thought, and that he'd not known about it. It was probably quite obvious to someone who hadn't been trained as a weapon instead of as a friend.

Now that he thought of it, Duo had seemed fairly depressed for awhile now. Oh he was his usual relaxed self around others, but Heero knew that Duo was prone to occasional bouts of moodiness. He'd had them ever since Heero had known him, though they had been very infrequent during the war. They'd gotten steadily worse since Duo had moved in with the others. He always relieved them by going over to Hilde's. Heero felt a bit put out by that, though he acknowledged that he probably wouldn't be good at cheering Duo up. Actually it seemed that his strong suit was getting into a fight with Duo in those times, which would send the braided man storming out of the house to stay with Hilde, or with Howard or any other of his Sweeper friends for that matter. It wasn't that Heero was trying to provoke his volatile friend, but whenever Duo was in one of those moods he'd be hyper-sensitive to anything anybody said to him, particularly, it seemed, when it was Heero.

So now Heero had a chance to make up for it. He'd find Duo a good match. But there weren't that many options. He stared at the two names that might connect to Duo's.

The question of sexual preference was now paramount. Heero thought about it seriously but couldn't figure it out.

He'd have to ask. Yes, he'd go ask Quatre. At least he wasn't as excitable as Wufei.

The Winner heir was sitting in an overstuffed armchair reading a book. Heero paused at the living-room door, then went to sit on the couch opposite his friend, and pretended to flip through the latest Guns&Ammo while he covertly watched him. Quatre's laptop, briefcase and papers were beside him but his phone was turned off, the computer was shut down and he was obviously enjoying the last few moments of peace before he left on another business trip tomorrow. Heero didn't feel guilty about disturbing him - a mission was paramount - but it made him hesitate, try to formulate the question so it would be as quick and efficient as possible.

Quatre, are you- no, a vision of Wufei flashed through his mind, and Quatre was drinking tea. Heero didn't have that many spare shirts. Winner, do you like women?...No...Quatre, for my own information, what are your sexual preferences...?

He turned the question in his head this way and that and however he tried to formulate it, his mind ran it against those gentle blue eyes and innocent expression so prone to blush, and winced. Now that Duo had pointed out to him how delicate the question could be, he was acutely aware of it.

This was Quatre, he reminded himself. He might look soft and sweet but that was only an appearance. Behind it was a competent fighter, a brilliant tactician and a hardened businessman.

Quatre delicately reached down to the side table and picked up his cup of tea with two fingers gently clasping the handle without losing his place in his book.

The words seemed stuck in Heero's throat. He frowned at the magazine. He could feel Quatre's curious eyes on him but neither of them said anything.

Think Zero, Heero reminded himself abruptly. That should put the rather deceiving image of 'innocent' Quatre from his mind. He forced himself to remember the way Quatre had beaten him in Mercurius, almost killed him, very nearly killed Trowa, and blown up two colonies, all with a gentle, absent smile on his face.

Heero thought about Quatre, the Zero system and his question, then went and talked to Trowa instead.

The acrobat was warming up for his show in the backyard, doing pushups effortlessly.

"Barton?" Trowa's movements were smooth and steady, the early afternoon sunshine spearing through the leaves of the trees dappling the bare skin of his back. His muscles flexed and played as he bent and straightened his arms. One, two.

"Yes?" Three, four.

"Are you gay?" Five, six.

"Yes." Seven, eight.

"Good." Nine, ten. "And how about Quatre?"

Eleven, twelve. Thirteen. "What about him?"

"Is he gay?"

Fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen.

"You should ask him that yourself." Eighteen, nineteen, twenty.

"Hn."

Heero climbed the stairs to his room, deep in thought. That was important and promising information regarding Trowa. Quatre was still a question mark though.

He was surprised Trowa didn't know Quatre's orientation. After all, he was Winner's best friend, they spent even more time together than Heero spent with Duo. They would go out in the evenings occasionally, or Quatre would go with Trowa to the circus, or they'd disappear for hours on end in one or the other of their rooms to read manga or play video games. Well, presumably; that's what Heero and Duo did when they ended up in Duo's room on a rainy afternoon. Surely in all that time alone together the question must have - but then again Heero had never asked Duo, and the later had never mentioned the subject, so maybe it wasn't that surprising. Hmmm. On the balance of probability, and considering the incidence of homosexuality in their age group, chances were great that Quatre was straight. He'd work on that assumption until it was proven wrong or until he worked up the nerve to ask Quatre directly. At least he had one person to work with now. But was Trowa right for Duo?

He stared at the whiteboard for awhile, trying to imagine them together. It was hard for some reason. He'd probably gotten so use to the idea of Duo being with Hilde that anything else just seemed wrong...should he consider this a warning from his intuition? Odin had said to follow your feelings...

Then again the man had been single all his life and forced to adopt an emotionally crippled war orphan as his 'son', what the hell did he know.

If only he could be sure...He flipped open his laptop, always source of comfort and certitude. And this reminded him of the name of his current project. Opposites attract.

Well they were certainly quite different! Heero started typing furiously, laying out his plans. He didn't pay any attention to the quick rap on his door.

Someone slammed on the wood and a growl sent a bucket of ice water down his spine: "Yuy get out here! Relena's disappeared!!"

TBC...

Chapter 5

---

//Operation 'Equations'

Mission duration: 6 days 6 hours

Operation 2x3

Need to consider sdrfl-//

"Tell me what happened, Chang."

Their previous hostility was forgotten. Wufei was driving like a fiend towards the palace grounds while Heero checked and fitted a full clip in his pistol.

"Mokotto." Wufei muttered, as he sped around a corner on two wheels and sent a flurry of pigeons shooting off with the determined air of birds who'd decided to rediscover their migratory roots. "We're spread too thin, Yuy. She was up most of last night at the meeting preparation guarding Relena, then when Simmons came down with a cold-"

"Mokotto should have called one of us to replace her instead of taking duty herself!"

"Well she knows we were both off and needed to rest for that big tour and gala tomorrow." Wufei answered sharply. "Relena had no functions today, she was going to work at her desk quietly. Mokotto thought-"

"I didn't hire her to think!"

"Give her a break, Yuy." Wufei snapped. "Indications are Relena wandered off by herself when Mokotto fell asleep in her chair. She may be on the grounds somewhere-"

"May be!"

"I'm perfectly aware of the risks, Yuy. But that dumb woman should know better than to leave like that!" Wufei slammed his fist on the steering wheel and lapsed into mandarin.

Heero was happy Wufei was with him on this. Everyone else admired Relena so much, they just couldn't be strict with her. So much fawning would have gone to the head of a lesser person but Relena was steady and wiser than her years - these kind of stunts put aside! This wasn't the first time it had happened either. She'd managed to wheedle grown men twice her age, who should have known better and who were charged with her protection, to let her slip out of the palace incognito to wander around New Port City market or go to the movies.

That was why her guardians were spread so thin; there were so few people Heero could trust. Trust with the all-important duty of protecting a motivating force for peace. And trust not to let that motivating force twist them around her little finger and let her get away with something dangerous.

She never tried it with Heero of course but she did put every new bodyguard to the test. Simmons and Mokotto were alright; reliable and caring, and maternal and sweet enough that Relena had not wanted to get them into trouble. And of course Relena had met her match in Chang Wufei. The first time she'd tried to break out of the palace while he was on guard, he'd caught up with her at the back door, hauled her all the way back to her office in an arm-lock, handcuffed her to the desk and called Heero to tell him in no uncertain terms that Yuy could 'guard the crazy woman himself' from then on. Fortunately Heero had managed to persuade him to stay, realizing he'd found the perfect watchdog for the headstrong minister. Of course that had made Relena furious, she had not spoken to Heero for days after that, and neither had a sullen Chang, and they were certainly not speaking to each other. Heero had had a wonderfully quiet week but it hadn't lasted...

The car roared through the gates and screeched to a halt halfway up the long drive.

"You take left, I'll take right!" Wufei barked.

"Wait, let's check the arbor and rose garden first." Heero put his gun away. There was a marked lack of excitement from the gate guards and the palace staff in the distance.

"Waste of time! I'll go-"

"Indulge me, Chang. This way." Heero led at a very fast run, mind already on search patterns if they failed to find her.

He sighed with relief and annoyance when they approached the arbor. Relena was sitting on the handrail talking to someone in a preventer uniform.

She looked so young and carefree. The man was leaning over her, not too close but not that far either, it looked slightly flirtatious while still very polite. Heero found himself slowing to a walk.

Two years ago, he and Relena had agreed that they were both too essential for the all-important peace to have a private life. It hadn't been quite as solemn as a pact, more a tacit agreement. When Relena celebrated her twenty first birthday, they'd take stock of their lives and reconsider but until then, business only.

It had been no sacrifice at all for Heero, he didn't have any hobbies or interests outside maintaining the peace anyway. He had not thought it too big a sacrifice for Relena either. But for the first time in two years, as innocent, longing blue eyes turned towards him slowly, he wondered if it had been the right thing. She was just a young girl, and she'd suffered a lot as well. Should he really have discouraged her from making male friends? Men were always attracted to her and he hadn't wanted her distracted from her own mission, so he'd made every effort to insure her staff and personal bodyguards were very serious or female, or preferably both. Had that been fair? Considering she'd stayed in the grounds and was talking to a preventer, should he really be all that angry about her slipping out of the palace and flirting with someone?

He might have wavered, if only for an instant. But Chang Wufei proved to be made of sterner stuff.

"Are you mad, woman?! Do you realize the entire palace force is looking for you?"

Relena started and almost fell off the handrail. Her companion stopped her from tumbling with a considerate hand on her elbow.

Her gracious thanks turned into a squawk as Wufei marched up and grabbed her hand, jerking her away.

"Agent Chang-" The preventer started, a bit shocked.

"You-" Wufei spun and glared - Relena stumbling helplessly behind him - and then gave the man an evil smile. "Agent Yuy will be dealing with you. I'll be walking her Royal ex-Highness back to the palace she should never have left-"

"Wufei!" Relena screeched.

"- without proper attendance and her bodyguard!" Wufei jerked Relena just as she started to protest again. "Now are you going to walk, woman? Or will I have to carry you like a three-year! You're certainly acting like one!"

"Oh!" Relena gasped, completely speechless. Wufei dragged her away at that point. From the way two spots of color were dancing on her cheeks, Heero estimated that Chang had about ten seconds to get her out of earshot of anybody who might be shocked at what kind of language Relena had picked up in her short acquaintance with Gundam pilots.

Heero turned towards the young man - a couple of years older than himself but most people under the age of thirty seemed young to Heero. "Agent Daniels."

The preventer gave him a measuring glance. Heero noted that he didn't appear particularly intimidated. An overview of what he knew of the man had flashed through his mind as soon as he'd recognized Hugh Daniels, memorized data reassuring Heero. This was a recent addition to the Sanq Preventer branch, and he was on loan to the palace to cover their shortfall on ground and general security. He was a competent agent, a good shot, an excellent mobile suit pilot, and he'd been described as very able, though prone to boredom and conflicts of personality. Heero didn't see how the last fit, the slight, abashed smile and warm eyes were quite friendly.

"Agent Yuy. I'm sorry about that-"

"You should have called it in." Heero felt some of his anger return.

Agent Daniels blinked. He had deep brown eyes, almost black, and tanned skin which contrasted with fair shoulder-length hair the color of old honey.

"I did, Agent Yuy. I warned the staff ten minutes ago, as soon as I found her wandering around the arbor."

That explained the lack of panic. Heero ground his teeth. "Someone neglected to warn Chang and myself."

"I'll look into that, sir." Daniels said quickly and seriously. Heero was glad the man appreciated the problems a lack of communication could cause.

"Thank you. Report to me anything you find. About..." Heero glanced towards the yew alley where Wufei and Relena had disappeared.

"I hope you didn't think I was forward, sir. I was only entertaining Minister Darlian for awhile before I walked her back. She seemed a bit despondent when I ran into her."

Great, someone else's happiness to worry about. Heero managed to stop from rubbing his eyes wearily. "I appreciate that, Agent Daniels-"

"Hugh, please."

"What?" Heero's thoughts were momentarily derailed. Then he frowned. "We use last names only, Agent, avoids confusion."

"Daniels, then. No need to call me Agent, most days I remember what my job is."

Heero wondered how he'd offended the man, then realized Daniels was smiling. Oh right, a joke. The easy manner and the smile reminded him of Duo; it used to be that kind of personality would turn him right off but he'd built up some immunity now, even some appreciation.

"Very well, Daniels. You can call me Yuy as well." He'd never gotten used to people calling him 'sir'. "Now about Minister Darlian-..." He paused, wondering how to continue.

"No evil intentions, si-...Yuy. The Minister is a charming young woman but she is under my protection and I wouldn't consider anything inappropriate. Besides, I wouldn't be interested."

"You just said she was charming." Heero pointed out severely.

"Um, yes, she is. But I happen to be otherwise inclined."

"You're married?" That hadn't been in his personal data.

"No." Daniels said carefully. "I'm actually not in any relation right now, my boyfriend and I parted ways a few months ago."

"...Oh." Once more Heero felt he'd missed some obvious indication but Daniels had been nice about it and clued him in without embarrassing him too much. "Right."

"I was watching the premises, Agent Yuy." Daniels added quietly. "I was in communication with the guards at the gate, and I had called in at the house to-"

Heero waved aside his explanation. Daniels had been aware of their approach from a creditable distance, and had had his back to the arbor's pillar in an adequate defensive position. And...an idea started to unfurl a tentative sail in Heero's head...The man seemed a lot nicer and more patient with Relena than either Heero or Wufei...Relena had a lot to deal with these days, she shouldn't have to contend with grumpy bodyguards on a constant basis as well.

Heero was used to making rapid decisions. "Tell me, Daniels, would you be interested in taking turns of duty as the Minister's personal bodyguard in some functions? Chang and I are stretched a bit thin, and I think the Minister might enjoy the occasional conversation."

"I don't think I'd want to have a conversation with the minister while I'm supposed to be guarding her." Daniels responded carefully, which was of course the right answer.

"Well, you'll find that that's never stopped Relena from talking. You'll learn to tune her out automatically." Heero confided. "Of course in high risk situations you'd be working with Chang or myself as well."

"Ah? Well then, I must say I'm tempted, Yuy. I think I would like working with you." Daniels smiled warmly. Heero noted that Daniels would make a much better person to accompany Relena to balls; he was ready to bet the blonde could diplomatically refuse to dance with any lady who asked him to without offending them. Heero had never managed that and on two regretful occasions had actually made them cry.

"Minister Darlian will have to agree but that shouldn't be a problem. I'll run it past your superior officer." They continued to discuss it while returning towards the house.

Heero's sharpened senses picked up the echoes of a disturbance before Daniels did. He sent the other man to walk back to the house by himself and approached the yew tree alleys wearily.

He couldn't make out the harsh whisper, but he easily caught the answer.

"How dare you!?" Relena's voice was normally well-pitched and soothing but she could get quite a screech going when she wanted to.

The admonishing whisper - the sound of a normally hot-tempered man trying to speak calmly - bit off a few more words.

"You-...who do you think you are?!"

Heero thought the answer - he picked up the word bodyguard though he didn't catch the rest - was adequate but apparently Relena didn't think so.

"And do you think that gives you the right to determine who I choose to talk to?" Relena snarled.

"As a matter of fact it does." Wufei snapped back aloud this time.

Heero was trying to find them in the yew alleys, which were muffling their voices and making directional spotting difficult. He really wanted to interrupt this before it got out of hand; the way Relena was stressing her words was making his soldier's instincts prickle. He'd been right about Daniels, a little ease and diplomacy with Relena wouldn't hurt, and it would relieve Chang before the man developed an ulcer.

"You-...that is the most-...how dare you?!" If the normally articulate Relena was falling back on repetition and clichés, she must be fast approaching the end of her rope... Heero heard Wufei snort.

"Don't get me wrong, Minister, it's the sneaking out of the palace and talking to a man who has not been vetted by security that's got me upset. Next time run it past Yuy and have him escort Agent Daniels up to your parlor before you flirt with him."

Relena made a strangled noise and there was a muffled thud just as Heero rounded the right corner and saw them.

Peace principles momentarily set aside, Relena had tried to slap Wufei, and would have actually managed it if she'd had ten years of intense martial arts training and the element of surprise. Wufei was holding her wrist - without breaking it, Heero had to give him credit for that - and was looking down at her with a mocking sneer that was just going to add fuel to the fire. Heero cleared his throat loudly.

Relena turned towards him, then her face crumpled, she wrenched her wrist from Wufei's grasp and ran to her friend. "Oh Heero!"

"'Oh Heero', right." Wufei muttered sardonically behind her back. "Your knight in shining armor appears."

"Heero!" Relena threw herself into his arms, tears in her eyes. "He's being such a- such a beast!"

The beast was glaring at her. The man did take missions very seriously, Relena's little escapade had probably annoyed him considerably. Heero himself wasn't feeling much in 'knight' mode either. He saw Relena swallow as she caught the look in his eyes and suddenly realized there were two of the world's most dangerous men glaring at her as if she were ten years old with her hand trapped in the cookie jar.

"Maybe we should talk about this diplomatically..." She said weakly.

TBC...

Chapter 6

---

//Mission duration: 8 days 14 hours

Project 2: Opposites attract

Operation 2x3

Partially due to RP's escapade, a plan was formulated so that 2 and 3 could have some quality time together.//

The night was chilly and humid through the panes. Heero turned from his laptop, whose screen's luminosity had been carefully shielded, to look out the darkened window, twitching the curtain aside. He was in the old servant's quarters in a wing that was at right angle to the flat rooftop where his objective was standing, giving him a good view. From the laptop's speaker came the sound of shifting feet. This time he'd managed to include a bug in the subject's equipment. No more surprises.

Duo shifted again, apparently trying to warm his feet. He was hugging himself. His jacket was thick but he was only wearing jeans and black sneakers, to be ready for action if need be. His eyes were on the rooftops around him. When he turned to check the other side the light illuminating the palace facade caught on the gun stuck in the back of his belt.

He had spun and drawn it before Heero even heard the noise from the stairs leading to the flat roof.

"Ah there you are." Duo said cheerfully, though he kept his gun pointing towards the opening door until he could ID the new arrival. Heero was watching him through a night-vision scope slipped between the slit in the curtain, and he didn't feel encouraged at the way Duo's face fell when he recognized the man who had joined him on the roof. "Tro?"

"Duo." Trowa nodded as he walked towards his friend. In the scope's view his face looked slightly curious. "You were expecting someone else?"

"Well...yeah." Duo belatedly put away the gun, his eyes going back to scanning the rooftop, his mouth turned down at the corners. His voice crackled slightly in the laptop's speakers. "Heero said he'd be taking watch with me."

"He had to make up for some other shortfall in security tomorrow and he asked me to cover for him. He's apparently reluctant to let Relena out of his sight after what she pulled yesterday, and Wufei needs more time to cool off before he can take a shift without fighting with her." Trowa said placidly, eyes also scanning the rooftops. "I guess this threat they got on top of all that really made Heero nervous."

"Relena gets twenty death-threats a day before breakfast. It's like the votes in a popularity contest for politicians. Why's this one any different?" Duo grumbled, hugging himself against the cold again. He looked quite put out and not in the kind of mood to fall in love with someone but Heero knew how long and boring night sentry could be.

"We apparently were not required to know." Trowa said dryly. "You could have refused to take watch, you're not a preventer."

"...Heero doesn't often ask me for favors." Duo muttered, glaring at the tiles of the roof on the other side of the palace courtyard.

Trowa said nothing in a way that Duo apparently found annoying because he suddenly spun on the taller man, eyes flashing. "You could have refused too, why the hell are you here?"

Trowa shrugged. "It's Thursday, circus's night off. I didn't have anything else to do. And the house feels empty."

Duo seemed to deflate and leaned his elbows against the handrail separating the flat roof from the pitch of the tiles. "Quatre still away?"

"Until next weekend. Meeting got extended again."

"That bites."

Trowa shrugged, then took something from the pocket of his trench coat. "Want something to warm you up and help us drown our mutual sorrows?"

"Is it more than 50% proof?" Duo asked uninterestedly.

Trowa snorted. "If Heero did a round and found us drinking even a non-alcoholic beer, he'd skin us both alive with the broken bottle. It's cocoa."

"Cocoa." Duo muttered sardonically though he still extended a hand towards the cup Trowa was pouring from a thermos.

Heero watched them both lean in friendly silence against the handrail and click their plastic cups together.

"To two lonely idiots." He heard Duo say quietly.

"You don't need to be, Duo." Trowa said softly. "You're vibrant, outgoing, why do you stay stuck on-"

"Yeah, well, I'm a chump. Never denied it." Duo interrupted crisply. "A stupid, lonely chump. Right?"

"Right." Trowa whispered, and put his free arm around the braided man's shoulders.

Heero let the curtain twist back into place. It looked like it was going well, better than he'd ever expected in fact. He turned off the speaker, he didn't want to eavesdrop on his two friends while they had a discussion that seemed to be getting intimate. He wrote a summary of the situation in his laptop, closed it up and headed out. He'd covered security so thoroughly with those two on call that he could afford to go home and rest, to get ready for his duty tomorrow.

Heero's training had not made him emotionless, as some believed. He felt emotions, and he let some of them guide him, but he did not let them control him, or even speak up too loudly. He merely observed them and then put them away until they were needed, which was rarely.

He picked up and looked curiously at the strand of feelings weaving its way through his mind. He should be happy to finally see one of his operations succeeding. Instead...he kept seeing the look on Duo's face when he said he was lonely.

Relena had been right, so right. His four friends were lonely and were unhappy because of it. Heero tried to lock the emotion away using the knowledge that at least Duo - and Trowa too of course - were on their way to reversing this situation.

He found it exceptionally hard to do so. He must be tired.

It took him a few minutes to realize he was driving under a steadily increasing downpour. He winced, remembering that the roof was open to wind and rain and offered absolutely no protection. Damn. Well, hardship forged strong bonds, right? This was probably a good thing...

//Mission Duration: 8 days 15 hours.

Operation 2x3

Status: Under way

Next step: Require further information on methods of establishing a relationship between suitable women and 4 and 5.//

The rain of the previous night had drenched the garden and the morning sun had yet to burn the moisture away; it sparked off plants and grass like jeweled canopies. Heero thought all this sparkling could be dangerously distracting if a shooter were taking aim from the bushes so he kept a careful eye on the surroundings and didn't pay much attention to the first two times Relena sighed. But the third sigh sounded so much like the beginnings of an asthma attack he finally turned around to look at her carefully.

"Are you alright, Relena?"

Relena sighed again - on a slightly more lady-like register now that she had his attention - and twiddled the white rose she held.

"Heero...I talked to Daniels yesterday."

"Yes?" After her stunt, Relena had promised that she would be nice to Daniels and would not try to run out on his watch, so he hoped all this sighing wasn't leading up to the admission that she had driven him past all endurance already.

"He...the way Hugh was talking, it sounded like he's planning on taking on a lot of the shifts to guard me."

"It will be up to Daniels how much time he wants to spend on this duty. But I'm glad if he's willing to take on a good share, it will be a lot less stress on Chang and myself. I'm sure you'll appreciate seeing a bit less of us and more of someone nicer like Daniels too." Heero added. In hindsight, Relena had taken quite a lot of tongue-lashing the other day. Oh Heero would never back down from trying to get into her head how serious a breach in security was, but having Chang leap in to rant some more every time Heero ran out of breath had probably been a bit unfair on her.

"He's nice but I liked our present arrangement." Relena said in a small voice, staring at her rose in her lap.

"You really put us through our paces Relena...and we fight with you so much. I don't know how you put up with it." He added. Heero was perfectly aware that his obsession for security and details was considered, well, slightly over the top by many people; it was the heritage of war, of his training. Though Relena and his other friends were often at the brunt of this behaviour, they never told Heero to just -

"But Heero, I don't mind a good fight!"

That brought Heero's attention back with considerable speed, and he gave Relena Peacecraft, the ultimate symbol of peace, the kind of look usually reserved for people who claim that trees are alien invaders trying to take over the world.

"That didn't come out right." Relena mumbled. "But I know that - that some guys don't know how to show affection, so they do silly things, like fight or say cruel things to you or threaten you or-"

"Is that why you wanted to be my friend even when I threatened to kill you all those times and ripped up your invitation during the war?"

"Well -"

"Relena, that made no sense at the time and it still doesn't."

"I'm just saying that I know that sometimes a fight is a sign someone cares for you. In fact affection can be born from fighting, because that's when two people become really passionate about-"

Heero had tuned her out. Some things he'd never fully understood had abruptly clicked. The times he'd really understood Zechs were always when they were fighting. And...And Duo! He was Heero's friend and on their very first meeting Duo had shot him twice! The only person to actually manage to wing him during the entire war. Heero had respected Duo immensely for that - even when he was furious to start with - and look, now they were best friends! And Relena was his friend, after all the times they'd argued over peace, and he'd threatened to kill her...damn he'd lost count how many times he'd threatened her at the end...There was a pattern here.

Could that work for love, too? It might. If conflict and fighting could lead people like Relena and Duo to become friends with an emotionless stiff like himself - Heero knew, without caring much, that he was nicknamed the Ice Prince among the Sanq Preventers. He'd been rather flattered, actually; he knew he was cold and distant, so ice was a logical substance to assign him, and at least they'd given him a royal title to go with it, they must actually respect him. Duo had been extremely mad when Heero had told him about it and tried to persuade him it was an insult, but Heero didn't mind- that had also led to a fight, come to think of it. And yet Duo and he were still friends, and yes, it was when they were fighting that Heero could best see beyond Duo's jester mask, and understand him fully. It was when Duo was yelling at full volume that Heero had really understood that the nickname bothered his friend; he'd made some efforts to reduce its use after that, or at least make sure his colleagues knew better than to use it in front of Duo.

If conflict could help people like Relena and Duo be friends with a soulless killer, then it might foster love among normal people...Heero didn't have a clue what love was, despite all his research, but he was working on the assumption it was a very deep level of friendship with extra helpings of sex on the side. So yes, it all made sense...

"-so even if Daniels is a great guy and the best bodyguard ever, really, I'd rather not change anything to- I promise to be good, okay? I won't give either of you any more scares, so you won't be so tired when watching me but could we just go back to the way it was before? Heero?"

"Hm?"

"Are you even listening to me?! Oh Heero I can't wait for you to figure it out! I just have to tell you! I'm in-"

"Minister? Yuy?"

Heero nodded towards Simmons, he'd been aware of her approach for the past two minutes. Relena was quite caught by surprise though and had managed to snap the stem of her rose.

"Daniels is bringing the car around. The conference is in thirty minutes. You should go or you'll be late, and Minister Darlian is the first speaker."

Relena muttered something very unlady-like about the heads of ESUN she was meeting, but Heero decided not to comment. His mind was running over new parameters, a new project. This might have given him a new pairing to consider...

//Mission Duration: 9 days 9 hours.

Project 3: Hostility masking affection / love born of conflict

Possible subject: Dorothy Catalonia (DC). DC and 4 were fierce opponents during the war, on a very direct and personal level. They are still frequently in hostile situations, but it has been observed that they seem to thrive on it.//

Heero nodded at the keyboard. He'd notice how they'd both seek each other out at parties, even though all they ever did was argue politics and make verbal battle until it was well past time to go home. He'd wondered about that; when he'd asked Trowa, the pilot had said that Quatre and Dorothy liked each other in a strange way and enjoyed arguing. He'd filed it away as one of Trowa's rare and more bizarre jokes and kept a mental note to always keep Dorothy away from the sharper silverware when Quatre was invited to a party. But now...

They did get along. They argued viciously about peace, war and business but they obviously enjoyed it. Quatre's eyes would light up and gleam when he saw her, like he was getting ready for a battle, but maybe his eyes were shining with love; Heero wasn't sure he'd be able to tell the difference. So he had to count on actions. Quatre never avoided Dorothy. She made efforts to see him regularly. And he always gave her lavish presents at Christmas which she seemed intent on outdoing.

Hell she'd run him through with a sword at the end of the war, that had to mean something, right?!

TBC... 

Chapter 7

---

// Mission Duration: 9 days 23 hours

Project 3: Hostility masking affection / love born of conflict

Operation 4xDC

Status: Starting

Both 4 and DC are very hard to manipulate and are also very straightforward and resilient. The strategy for this one will be the direct approach of both subjects. 4 is unavailable for now, a talk with DC can be arranged this morning.//

Dorothy worked for Relena as her attaché and confidante, and he spotted her heading towards her office with coffee and danish as he climbed the stairs to the executive wing. Relena was going out and he had to go with her, and Dorothy rarely stayed in the office past noon on Saturdays, so he had to do this now. It shouldn't take long. Dorothy wasn't going to be fooled by some match-making ploy anyway, so he might as well ask her right out. It was really a simple matter.

"Dorothy?"

She was standing at a filing cabinet glancing over some papers, sipping her coffee. "Heero? What are you doing here? I thought Relena was-"

"Dorothy, I want to ask you a few quick questions." Heero said crisply, aware of time getting short. "It's about Quatre." He removed the coffee from her hand just in case.

"What's up with blondie?" Dorothy drawled but her eyes belied the tone of the question, she looked interested. Yes, thought Heero, good sign.

"I believe Quatre likes you a lot, Dorothy." Heero said firmly.

"Huh?"

"And I believe you like him a lot."

"Well I don't *hate* the little-"

"I think a relationship between you two would work."

Dorothy's jaw dropped.

"He's kind, polite, and he's rich, he would make a good boyfriend."

The split eyebrows shot up.

"And you'd make a goo- an adequate companion for him."

Dorothy made a strangled noise.

"Don't worry about the sword incident, I'm pretty sure he's forgotten about that."

"I-"

"And the fact you worked for Oz and then joined White Fang."

"Wh-"

"I'm sure if you're nicer to him he'll forgive the fact you conspired with Zechs to blow up parts of the earth."

"*What* -"

"In fact it's a good thing you're a violent, egotistical strong-willed woman because I hear opposites attract."

Heero looked at Dorothy's face which had gone blotchy. A doubt struck him.

"You do like men, right?"

//Mission Duration: 10 days 8 hours

Operation 4xDC
Status: In Doubt

DC was very unhelpful. Don't know where she learned such language. May have spent too much time among soldiers. Probably not appropriate match for 4 who is very reserved and polite.//

Heero sighed and started to close the laptop, then stopped. It was too depressing leaving it on that note.

//Operation 2x3

Status: Promising

Subjects returned early yesterday morning, and they were talking loudly and confidently. Word 'boyfriend' overheard several times, in 2's voice. Promising. Though there was a lot of swearing as well. Name 'Heero Yuy' mentioned so swearing may very well be in relation to the sentry duty that was required of 2. Hopefully 'boyfriend' was referring to 3. Will investigate and check status.//

Heero closed the laptop and waited for the small rush of good feeling that came from a mission that was finally going right.

It failed to materialize.

It was probably because he was jumping the gun a little. First he should go check on Duo and Trowa.

He was hoping to find them talking companionably or even snuggled together in front of the TV. He was not expecting to see Trowa come out of Duo's room. That was fast, Heero thought, a bit shocked. The 'mission completed' rush was a bit pale and worried.

"Heero." Trowa said at the door. "I was just about to fetch you."

Heero lifted an eyebrow. Fetch him? He suddenly had a flash of Noin rounding up all her friends to announce her engagement to Zechs and - whoa okay that was *way* too fast.

"Duo's come down with a bad cold, thanks to that little 'favor' he did for you two nights back." Trowa said, voice neutral but eyes intense as they fixed on Heero's. "With his immune system and boosted resistance he'll kick it off by tomorrow morning but he's going to be miserable until then. It will help speed things up if he can stay warm in bed."

"Oh?"

"But this being Duo, this means someone has to sit on him or he'll be up watching TV in his boxers, or biking into town for pizza, or any other stupid stunt."

"Oy!" Came a stuffed-up voice from within the room.

"Hn."

"I have to go get ready for my act tonight, Wufei's on duty with Relena, and Quatre is off-planet, so guess who-"

"That's okay, Trowa!" Duo shouted from inside the room. "Geez Louise whaddya think I am, ten? Heero doesn't need to-"

"You can keep him company and fetch him drinks and stuff." Trowa said loudly. He was still looking fixedly at Heero.

"Heero won't want to-"

"He said yes, Duo. He'll be there in a minute." Trowa said firmly and closed the door.

"Why should I be the one to -" Heero started, since he thought Trowa shouldn't take much convincing to forget the circus for one night and stay with Duo.

The words died in his mouth as he found Trowa an inch from his face.

"Let's get this straight, Yuy." Trowa said in his calm, neutral tones. "When it started raining last night, he persuaded me to go inside for a few minutes every hour to warm up, but he wouldn't have any of it himself. When it started really pouring down, he sent me to get him coffee but he wouldn't budge from his post. Now, as the one who persuaded him to do this, and as his best friend, are you going to watch him or am I going to have to break every bone in your body and tie you into a knot."

"I'll watch him." Heero said carefully. Trowa sounded calm but Heero knew that the quiet man had a protective streak a mile wide for those he considered his family and he could get downright nasty when he felt any of them had been treated badly.

"Good." Trowa said, voice still terribly quiet. "Make sure he drinks plenty of fluids and stays warm. And be nice, Yuy, or I'll cut you up and feed you to my lions."

Heero shrugged and went to fetch his laptop.

Duo's eyes brightened as Heero entered the room, then dimmed as he spotted the machine.

"Oh. You're going to work." He said and sunk back into the pillows. His normally perky nose was red and a bit swollen, his eyes were bloodshot and slightly glazed, his braid was limp and messy, his bangs drooped over a pale face. Shinigami had seen better days. Heero felt a twinge of guilt.

He put the laptop on the dresser and shook his head. "Maybe later, while you're asleep. Let's talk."

"Uh?" Duo sniffled, perking up and smiling teasingly. "You sure you're not the one with the fever? Did you really say 'let's talk'?"

"Yes. I'm sorry it's me and not Trowa, of course. But he has an obligation."

"Oh that's okay." Duo grinned. "I'd rather hang out with you anyway."

There was a moment of silence and Duo looked like he'd regretted saying that. Heero rather wished he hadn't either.

"Why?" Heero felt prickles run up his spine.

"Well...Trowa's my friend and all but...well, you're my *best* friend, Heero." Duo suddenly brightened. "Yeah. You know, Tro's nice, but on some things we don't see eye to eye. I mean, you don't give a shit if I watch TV in my boxers, right?"

"You know, Duo." Heero fished around desperately. "It's rather good that you two are very different. They say opposites attract."

Duo looked at him owlishly from behind a kleenex. "Well yeah I guess. In some cases. But most times, you're safer with having a mix of similarities and opposites, makes it fun without being an overwhelming -sniff- challenge."

Damn, I should have been asking Duo's advice all along, Heero thought. He seemed to make much more sense than Relena. The problem was, Duo was also a lot smarter than Relena, and he knew Heero better. It would be difficult to get information out of him without letting the purpose of it slip. It wasn't mission secrecy that concerned Heero, not where Duo was concerned; he'd trust Duo with his life. He'd trust Duo with the last chocolate bar if Heero wrote the name 'Yuy' on it. There would be blood on the kitchen floor before anybody touched what was Heero's while Duo was around. Duo would make sure Heero'd gotten it safely, then he'd give him that big blue-eyed starving-street-kid stare until Heero gave it to him voluntarily. But until then you could trust Duo implicitly.

So Heero knew how this was going to go. Sooner or later Duo would tease the plan's details out of him, and he would know that Heero was trying to pair him up and then all hell would break loose. There was nothing more difficult than to get Shinigami to do something that he hadn't thought of himself first.

So subtlety was key. Heero was honest enough to admit his track record with Subtlety was not brilliant up to date.

Duo was flipping through a magazine, looking bored. Heero tried to sound casual.

"So...you'd say that to get two people together, they should have some points in common, and some points where they are different."

"Yup." Duo sniffed and flipped a page. Well, that didn't entirely exclude Trowa, Heero thought, he and Duo did have some similarities.

"And I guess that it would help if they work together, or live together or something." Heero decided to run Relena's other suggestions past Duo as well.

"Yeah, I guess." Duo flipped another page absently.

"And maybe when they have a disagreement- " like watching TV in boxers or going for pizza with a cold "- that's really just a sign they care."

"...in a funny way maybe..." the page slipped limply from Duo's fingers.

"And that's enough to build a relationship?"

Heero realized that he was being too casual; Duo had apparently tuned him out, or else the article he was reading was absolutely fascinating because he was staring fixedly at the magazine and gripping it tightly with his fingers. Just as Heero was about to reformulate the question more forcibly, Duo croaked: "Why do you ask?"

"Just curious. It's some personal research. It's an area I'm not familiar with." Heero said, then frowned. "Maybe we should stop talking, it sounds like the cold is going to your throat."

"I'm okay." Duo said in a small voice. He'd practically disappeared behind the magazine, only one eye peeking out. "Er, research, what kind of-"

"I just want to understand the parameters of what attracts people to each other."

"Parameters?" Duo fumbled the magazine and stared at Heero. "That's a funny way of- oh you mean, what's someone's type?"

"Type?" Heero frowned. The expression was familiar. He'd never really understood it before.

"Yeah, you know, the sort of thing you look for in a guy, well, in my case a guy. The sort of thing that makes people click. 'My type of guy'. Er, when you say...personal research, what exactly-..."

"Well..." Heero tried to think of a plausible lie, but something else came out of his mouth instead, in a rush.

"I just feel so...cut off sometimes. We're friends and I know your fighting style and how you'll react in combat down to the split second but I didn't even know you were gay, and I thought you were happy with Hilde! I thought I got on well with Wufei but everybody seems to be persuaded I'm angry with him for some reason! And he's certainly cross with me now. Trowa's always been very calm and patient with me but just now-" it suddenly occurred to him that Trowa had probably been worried about Duo to threaten him like that, so he dropped that example quickly. "There's only Quatre I seem to get along with without too many problems and that's probably because he's an empath and as patient as a saint. I want to find out more about how people get along, normal people, I - sometimes I get it so wrong I don't even know why you guys still - " Heero shook himself abruptly. What the hell was wrong with him, he was whining worse than Une when he'd said he didn't want active preventer duty anymore.

"Heero."

He glanced up at the soft voice. Duo was looking at him seriously with his reddened eyes. "You're being too hard on yourself. Whatever happens, whatever little bumps and tiffs we have, we're your friends. We know what your training was like, what you went through. We know you grew up isolated, emotionally detached, so we understand that some things don't come quickly to you, but they do, Heero. You've grown and changed so much these last two years, can't you see that?"

"I have?" Beaten down by his recent failures, Heero had felt like no progress had been made at all.

"Well, do you remember any time during the war you'd have sat and watched me because I had a bitty little cold?" Duo sniffed with a wry grin.

Heero frowned, eyes turned inward. "You're right. I left you with major internal injuries to go and infiltrate the lunar base instead."

"Oy, none of that!" Duo leaned out of bed to poke him sharply on the knee. "Sure, you left me, but first you got me out of prison instead of shooting me. I kind of notice it when people don't shoot me. I like that in a man."

Heero found himself smiling. Duo always managed to make him feel better. "Thanks, Duo. I...guess I'm still in training, in a way. I'm glad you guys are willing to help me learn these things, and stick around me in the meantime. Nothing much seems to phase you...?" He was fishing a bit there, curious; he was aware that his attitude these last few days might have qualified as slightly unusual, but he wasn't sure if the others had noticed.

Duo blew his nose and folded the kleenex carefully.

"I won't pretend that we're not all a little...ah, curious about the questions you've been firing at us lately. But we know you'll talk to us when you're ready and not before; you're more pig-headed than I am, Yuy."

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are."

"No- I'm not going to win this one, am I?"

"No but I'll concede that we're both equally pig-headed." Sniff. "Anyway...having you go around and asking us intimate questions is all par for the course, really."

"What do you mean?" Heero didn't recall asking intimate questions before.

Duo sniffed again and looked at him with a wry grin. "It's just one more chapter of the interesting adventure that is living with you, Heero."

Heero frowned. On the face of it, it sounded like a compliment, but he also recognized the teasing light in Duo's eyes. "What do you mean? I think I'm a pretty considerate room mate. At least *I* clean up after myself."

"You're a super roomie and I wouldn't swap you for anything but you have to admit...well, remember when I found you scowling and threatening our house plants?"

"Relena told me they grow better if you talk to them."

"To them, not at them, and I don't think they take orders well. Then there was the time you drew your gun on that door-to-door salesman."

"He asked me what I would do if I was attacked alone at home at night."

"He was selling security systems but in hindsight it's a mark of progress you didn't shoot him out of hand. Remember the time you turned the house into a sauna?"

"Quatre wanted the heater repaired."

"Yes, repaired, not boosted five hundred percent. It's just a good thing Wufei intercepted you when you started asking around for a small fusion reactor."

Heero scowled. "Okay, in hindsight that wasn't very-...it would have been efficient, mind you." He saw Duo's grin and sighed. "I really am still learning."

"I know you are, Heero." Duo said in a gentle, serious voice. "And we're your friends and strange as it seems we like you just the way you are, so don't fret about it. We'll always be here for you. We'll help you learn as much as you want, and we'll...we've waited years for you to open up this much, we won't give up on you now. Take your time, buddy. There will always be someone waiting for you when you're ready."

"Thanks, Duo." Heero repeated, then frowned. "What do you mean exactly? Ready for what?"

"I..." Duo seemed to catch himself. "It's...maybe I'll tell you one day. Right now, I've got a fever, and my sinuses feel like a frag grenade and someone just pulled the pin. Erm, maybe I should take a nap." He did look a bit flushed and flustered.

"That's a good idea. Try to go to sleep." Heero said softly, and then talked a bit more, in a soft voice, telling Duo about Relena's latest peace plans until Duo abruptly nodded off, as he usually did.

Heero waited until Duo was fast asleep, spread-eagled and snoring with his nose blocked. He carefully tugged the blanket up under his chin without disturbing him; Duo had a gun in the dresser and a switchblade under the pillow and was not afraid to use either, especially when startled.

He gathered up his laptop and left quietly, switching off the light. He hoped Duo would rest. He'd go and sit in the living room on the couch where he could see up the staircase and keep an eye on Duo's door. Any attempt to go and get pizza would be severely dealt with.

TBC... 

Chapter 8

---

//Mission Duration: 10 days 10 hours.

Operation 2x3

Status: Uncertain

3 has strong protective feelings towards 2 and has even resorted to threats rather than leave him untended in a moment of vulnerability. This is promising. But 2 mentioned he considers 3 a friend. 2 is known not to lie.

This is going to be a problem. Fast running out of male acquaintances for 2. And it would be disastrous if 3 fell in love with him and it wasn't requited. This must be dealt with urgently. Maybe steps can be taken to persuade 2 - subtly of course - that 3 is a good match for him.

Additional objective: 2 mentioned having 'types', certain things he might find attractive in a mate. They seemed pretty important to him. Information required on that as well, quickly.//

The front door banged open and closed on the rainy night. A wet Quatre pushed pieces of luggage and his sunshine smile into the lobby.

"Hello! I'm home early-"

"Quatre, what kind of men does Duo like?"

"- the meeting got...cancelled......because.........what?"

"What's Duo's type of man?"

Quatre swayed a bit then looked back at the front door. "Am I in the right house?"

"Of course you are, Winner, you should know, you own the place! Now answer me."

Quatre walked slowly into the living room. "What brought this on?"

"There's someone who really likes Duo, and I think they may be right for each other, but I'm afraid he may not be Duo's type." Heero hedged. "What is his type? Do you know?"

Quatre's face almost exploded at the cheeks with the most brilliant smile Heero had seen on him since Cathy's skirt had been ripped off by a lion during the act. "Ohhh, wait. I see. Do I happen to know this person we're talking about?"

"Yes, you do, but I don't want to discuss it." Heero glared at him ominously, hoping he'd get off that line of questioning.

"Ah." The smile lit the room. "I'm glad. Okay. Duo's type. Well that's easy, he's been telling us all about his type for the last two years, there's been times I was ready to shoot him or myself just to avoid hearing it again."

Heero assumed that was a joke, Quatre rarely had any violent or homicidal tendencies nowadays. He nonetheless watched him carefully as the blond sat down, steepled his fingers and nodded wisely.

"He likes someone who gives him some challenge - oh boy does he like that - and who won't hesitate to tell him he's wrong when he's too stubborn to admit it himself. He likes someone who knows that he's more than a kidder, or a pretty face. Who listens to him and understands what he's saying, even the parts without words." Quatre started slowly.

Heero was busy taking mental notes so he almost missed the sharp look Quatre had given him. As if Quatre expected him to comment. Heero looked back at him blankly and Quatre continued, slightly deflated.

"He says his type has got a sense of humor, too, though it's not the obvious kind, but he likes - he would like Duo's jokes, and occasionally this ideal guy would pull a straight-faced one-liner that'd make Duo go all gooey for days."

"That sounds good." Heero said slowly. "But it's still a bit vague."

"Okay, okay, that's not all," the blonde added quickly, "his ideal guy would be strong, someone who knows how to handle himself in a fight, can pilot a mobile suit as well as Duo, knows what it's like to have been dragged through war, Hell and Hades then back again, as Duo puts it, and, er-..."

"Still vague, a lot of mobile suit pilots were severely tried during the war." Heero pointed out.

Quatre made a sound that could best be described as 'Nghnh!'

"Not finished! He's-...okay, I know looks don't make the man, but he does like them handsome, with dark hair, and slightly exotic features. And a face that is serious most of the time but when he smiles its like the sun's coming out. Still quoting Duo here. Is any of this ringing a bell?" Quatre was getting a bit red in the face.

"Yes...yes it does. I don't understand...why is Duo acting like he's not his type?" Heero muttered.

"Wh-what?" Quatre straightened in his chair, eyes wide and worried.

"Well, apart from the looks - and I don't think Duo is so shallow as to base affection on appearances - you could be describing this guy, but Duo didn't seem interested."

"Duo- looks - not- what- who is this guy?!" Quatre spluttered.

"Trowa." Heero admitted, feeling defeated.

"*Trowa*!?"

"Yes?" Trowa closed the front door, shaking rain from his hair. "Quatre!" His face lit up with a small smile - it wasn't a boiling ball of ultra heated hydrogen but it did have certain sun-like qualities in Heero's opinion - and he took a step forward. "You're back!"

"Am I?" Quatre said weakly, staring straight at the wall.

"Quatre? Are you okay?"

"I think I'm a bit tired. Er, Trowa? Could you do me a favor and help me take my luggage upstairs? *Now*?"

Trowa said nothing, just grabbed Quatre's suitcase and carried it upstairs quickly. Quatre stayed seated for a few more seconds, eyes wide and blind, hands loose in his lap, then he stood up slowly, gave Heero the strangest look, and left.

So much for Quatre understanding me better than the others, Heero thought sardonically, and tried to think of what to try next.

//Operation 2x3
Status: Discontinued

Was informed just now by 3 in no uncertain terms that he was not interested in 2. He looked a bit stressed, but there is no reason for him to be; he should be grateful to be set up with a great person like 2. Maybe he's coming down with 2's cold, he did seem to be quite agitated, and he kept rubbing his forehead as if he had a bad headache. Either way, he seemed very sincere when he said he was not interested. Completely incomprehensible how these two subjects who are friends and get on so well can be so certain they won't be good companions. Investigation required?

Next step: Get yet more methods for study, though am wondering if Relena is reliable source after all..//

"Friends?" Relena sounded very tired as she slumped at her desk, settling two white roses in a small vase on her desk with listless fingers. "Well, sure, friends make great lovers. Sometimes. I guess. But there's always the risk it won't work, and then the friendship can be ruined as well as the relation."

"Oh." Heero frowned. That was an inadmissible risk. Duo and Trowa had been right to not develop any feelings towards one another, apparently. He still had much to learn. He was getting a bit desperate. He'd even picked up a few more of Relena's romance novels, but somehow they weren't helping all that much either.

"So, it's better to fall in love with someone who's not a friend, is it?"

"Is it?" Relena's eyes were glazed. "I don't know anymore. I...let's just say, that's how it can happen. You're living your life, you think you have everything under control, you're not even thinking of romance, you're fine with just your friends, and suddenly, there he is, a complete stranger explodes into your life, you barely know him but deep down, you know it's *him* the instant you see him, and you can't stop thinking about him. Even when he ignores you, or when he makes you mad, or when he- Heero?"

"Yes?"

"I've got to tell you something-"

"Later, Relena, Daniels is waiting for me outside to-"

"*Godammit Heero Yuy, sit down, shut up and LISTEN!*"

The door crashed open, and Heero's gun was out and leveled at the figure there before the sound had even registered. Daniels also had his gun drawn and aiming at Heero, though he quickly twitched it up when he saw who it was. His brown eyes swept the room anxiously, settling on Relena.

"Minister? Are you alright? Who was shouting?!"

Relena was standing stiffly at her desk, her eyes fixed on Heero like a vulture watching something limping in the desert. "I'm fine, Daniels, please leave." She ground out.

"Er, okay, Yuy and I have to-"

"I need a word with Heero first, please. Leave." Relena was gripping her letter-opener in a strange way, and her eyes had not left Heero.

Daniels seemed to hesitate, eyes flashing towards the subject of her glare. "No can do, minister, we really need to take care of these details now, the peace rally is very soon and-"

Relena suddenly slumped down in her chair again. "Go. Take him away. See if he listens to you."

"Stay in the office until Wufei comes to get you. I'll be back after the rally and we can talk then." Heero said gently. He wasn't sure what Relena wanted to discuss but he had a feeling it was a good deal more personal than security details.

Relena seemed to perk up a bit at his words, and Heero closed the door thoughtfully behind him.

"I thought we had most of this afternoon covered, Daniels? Is there anything new?" Heero switched the Relena question off like a light, and turned to more immediate concerns.

Daniels looked at him with his usual serious expression, which melted into a smile. "Not really. But the way she was waving that paper-knife around, it looked like the minister could do with a time out before she went in front of a lot of mothers and kiddies and gave a speech about peace, love and understanding. Besides, did you really want to get chewed out?"

"Oh. I see. Thanks."

"Anytime, Yuy."

Heero wasn't sure he approved of lying to Relena but in this case she probably wouldn't have listened to sense. And she did need time to cool off, particularly since Wufei was the one who had to watch her this afternoon. The Chinese preventer was already pretty cross at the idea of guarding Relena during a Rally attended by women and the babies born since the end of the war. Heero had wanted Daniels to take that particular duty, as the idea of Chang in that situation made even the hardened soldier cringe; but it was Daniels' afternoon off, and Heero had to rest before taking Relena to the gala tonight. Heero winced at the thought of Relena and Wufei trying to act relaxed and cheerful while dealing with dozens of babies. Relena for one probably needed as much peace of mind before she went as she could get, Daniels was right.

That was what was nice about Daniels. As a preventer he was efficient and fairly reliable, but above all he was much better at grasping people's moods than Heero was. He knew how to listen to people, not just for information but their feelings and...

And...

Daniels...?

Daniels and Duo?

Heero stared at his colleague who had been reviewing the afternoon and evening's security arrangements, face serious. When he caught Heero staring, the serious look gave way to a smile, slightly uncertain. "Yuy?"

"Yes. That sounds adequate. This is your afternoon off, right?"

"Yeah. Er, you're off to have a nap before this evening I suppose?"

"No, I have something else to work on. I require little sleep."

"Oh. Ah, so, Yuy, want to have a coffee before you need to get to work on this 'something else'?"

The man apparently liked coffee a lot because this was the third time he'd suggested it to Heero. Also dinner, one time. He'd only recently moved to Sanq so he didn't have any friends here, Heero surmised, he was probably bored, maybe a bit lonely. Heero had refused automatically until now - he felt sorry for anyone who was lonely but he had enough of those to deal with at home - but this was perfect.

"Very well. I know a place nearby."

Daniels' smile grew even wider, and his eyes crinkled. He looked like he'd just successfully completed a particularly arduous mission. Heero knew his experience in human interaction was limited, but suddenly something clicked (he was rather proud of himself for that); Daniels must have been trying to become his friend. Heero frequently went out with Duo to that same coffee house, and he knew that Quatre and Trowa did too, it was something that friends did. That explained a lot. And was very promising if Daniels had not been turned off by Heero's past and soldier facade; it meant he would have the patience to deal with four other Gundam pilots, a braided one in particular.

TBC... 

Chapter 9

---

//Mission Duration: 11 days 9 hours

Operation 2xHD
Status: Under consideration

Spent two hours with Hugh Daniels (HD) in coffee shop.HD appears to have a caffeine addiction. That may be a positive point, paradoxically. 2 has one as well.

Pointscomparison against description of 2's type of man (source = 4):

- Challenge, can tell 2 when he's wrong:
Unknown, but likely. HD has told 5 he was wrong to call RP a 'silly woman' and that took more guts than most people have.

- Understanding:
HD visibly not afraid of Gundam pilots, and has made efforts to befriend two of them - 5 and the one he knows by reputation (Ref- 'Ice Prince' denomination) to be the most destructive, emotionless and anti-social one. Not the two easiest Gundam pilots to get along with. Either proof of HD's great patience or slight mental instability (verification required). Has war experience that might help explain his forbearance.

- Sense of humor:
Check. Not overwhelming but sufficient.

- War and MS experience:
Check, HD fighting for New Zealand rebels against OZ for years.

- Physical attributes:
Not an expert on subject of male beauty but mixture of deep brown eyes, tan, and golden hair should be classifiable as handsome and exotic. Actual hair color surely not important.

- Smile:
Warm. Sufficient?

Next step: Arrange a meeting.//

"I swear that kid over there just took one look at you and burst into tears."

Duo's teasing voice made Heero turn sharply. He was never at his most comfortable in a public place like this, even if the week-day shopping crowds were sparse. He was annoyed Duo had managed to sneak up on him.

"He was already crying before he looked at me." He informed the cheerful teasing smile seriously. "Apparently his mother didn't want to buy him a toy Gundam."

"Oh man that bites! When G said I couldn't have Deathscythe I was so upset I turned to shoplifting!" Duo chortled, keeping his voice low. His eyes were also flicking over the mall's crowd in automatic recon, but he was, as always, a lot more relaxed than Heero.

"Wasn't G the one who suggested-"

"Joke, Yuy."

"Oh. Well I don't think they should make toys based on weapons of war." Heero grumbled, and Duo rolled his eyes. It was one of their old, ongoing arguments.

"So just don't buy one of them for Relena's birthday then and get over it. Talking of which...what did you have in mind for the pink princess?"

"She hardly ever wears pink anymore and she prefers-"

"-to be addressed as Minister Darlian, yeah yeah. So are you going to get her yet another teddy-bear? 'Cause I think that girl's room is starting to look like a taxidermist's nightmare by now."

"That's why I invited you here, Duo, I was hoping to get another idea this year. Besides, I have to shop for you and Trowa as well."

"And we have to shop for you!" Duo nodded vigorously. It had become a custom among them, one of many. Since three of the five pilots had no birthday that they knew of, and Quatre's birthday was two weeks before Relena's as well, it had become a yearly habit to celebrate everyone's birthday at the same time.

"And here's Tro." Duo said suddenly, waving at the taller boy weaving his way gracefully through the crowd.

Trowa gave them his slight smile for greeting.

"Thanks for coming." Heero said politely. "I know you're busy."

"Yes, that new act we're working on takes up a lot of time. I can't stay too long in fact, I'll leave you two alone in an hour or so." Trowa added. His small smile seemed directed at Duo. Heero caught an answering grin and a faint flush from his best friend.

"Oh well, guess the lions can't wait or whatever. Let's go get Trowa's gifts, and then it's just you and me, Heero buddy!" Duo gave Heero a wide smile and a small punch on the arm.

"Actually there will be one more person with us." Heero said, just as a voice behind him murmured: "Oh I see your friends have arrived."

Heero turned and nodded to Daniels who handed him a cup. "Your orange juice, just like you like it; fresh pressed, with a dash of lemon, and I watched her make it so no funny stuff in it." Daniels had accepted Heero's paranoia with patience and humor, which Heero found promising.

"This is Hugh Daniels, I've mentioned him before." Heero said, turning towards Duo and Trowa. They both looked exceedingly startled. Heero realized he was probably the last one of the pilots they'd expect to make friends outside of their group.

"Yeah, you have." Trowa said absently, returning Daniels' handshake. "Trowa Barton." He added.

"I hope he painted me in a positive light?" Daniels smiled at Heero, who nodded seriously. He didn't know if Duo and Daniels would hit it off, but he had been telling all the others about the man and his positive points in the last few days, just to do some groundwork.

Daniels extended a hand towards Duo, who was looking nonplussed.

"I'm Duo Maxwell. Er, you just run into Heero while he was waiting for us?"

Daniels smiled. It was broader than the smile he usually gave Heero, it showed a few teeth. He took a few seconds before he said: "No, Heero invited me to come. He said he needed help with Minister Darlian's gift, and he wanted to introduce me to his friends."

"Oh really?" Duo was still shaking Daniels' hand. Heero, who always tried to limit physical contact when possible, wondered if this long handshake was a good sign. Duo was smiling too but his eyes were watchful.

Well that Heero could understand. He felt the same tension whenever Relena introduced some friends to him. A soldier couldn't be expected to relax when faced with an unknown quantity. But Daniels had been vetted and approved by Heero, so Duo had no reason to worry on that account. Heero put a hand on Daniel's shoulder, to reclaim the man's attention. He felt more than saw blue eyes rivet themselves on that contact; Duo would appreciate the significance of the gesture, an indication that Daniels was not a threat.

"Shall we start looking around? We three normally choose gifts for each other and for Relena."

"Sure thing, Heero." Daniels said pleasantly.

Heero almost corrected him, but they weren't at work now, and insisting Daniels call him Yuy when the others didn't would be strange. He also didn't make an issue when Daniels rested his hand just briefly on Heero's lower back as they walked away. He didn't really appreciate the contact but it was not a gesture he would have allowed a casual acquaintance, and this would also show Duo and Trowa that Daniels had been checked and was trustworthy.

"Coming?" Daniels asked, and Heero realized the hand on his back had been meant to indicate he had to slow down. Duo and Trowa hadn't actually moved. They were both staring at Heero and Daniels, bemused. Daniels had not only noticed they weren't following, but he was looking particularly at Duo, with a wide smile. Duo's eyes were twitching from the hand on Heero's back to that smile and back again. He had the strangest expression on his face, behind his usual 'who-me-care?' grin. Heero wasn't sure he'd ever seen that look on Duo before and he didn't know what it was; the closest it came to was a touch of Shinigami, but that didn't make any sense. Duo didn't seem inclined to move until Trowa put a hand on his shoulder and nudged him forward, then they walked up to Heero and Daniels. The former was thinking that this wasn't a very promising beginning, but the afternoon was just starting.

Heero wanted to maneuver Duo and Daniels together, but it wasn't that easy. Daniels didn't know the other two so seemed much more comfortable walking and talking with Heero. Normally you could count on Duo to be an efficient ice-breaker but for some reason he seemed strangely subdued today. On other occasions he'd taken over the conversation with strangers, letting Heero take a step back in relief but now it was Duo who was hanging back. He walked a few steps behind them, with Trowa, talking with the other ex-pilot quietly. Maybe he was still suffering from the after effects of that cold, Heero thought...But several times Heero caught Duo's eyes on Daniel's back, with an intent expression that could be promising.

Finally Heero managed to get Duo and Daniels off into a shop of sports and hunting equipment to discuss his and Trowa's present and he was able to stand back and discreetly watch them through the window. For all of three seconds, then strong fingers curved around his forearm and turned him towards Trowa.

"Heero who is this guy?"

"I told you about him -"

"Why is he here?" Trowa interrupted him curtly, watching him with a rare intensity for the reserved man.

"I invited him." Heero braced himself. With his usual efficiency, he had decided on two operations this afternoon, one of which was to take care of Trowa. Operation 2xHD was well underway; he could see Duo and Daniels talking near the hunting knives section. Duo was leaning against a display case, with a huge smile on his face as he twiddled a serrated blade between his fingers, his eyes on Daniels. The latter wasn't looking at Duo but at the display case. He was smiling too, and talking. Heero automatically read his lips. '- he's told me a lot about all four of you, actually. Just the other day, in the cafe - we go out after work, hang out for a couple of hours -'

'Oh really?' Duo's lips moved. His smile widened even more, turned up in one corner. Heero wasn't sure the expression was completely friendly but Duo could be hard to read when he wanted to.

'Yes, he was telling me about the time he had to punch your lights out to get you out of his way, during the Eve war.'

Duo tapped the knife against his knuckles and laughed. 'Oh yeah, that time. Heero has a funny way of showing affection, but I guess you wouldn't know. You only met him a couple weeks ago, right?'

'Yes, it's amazing how well we get along considering the short time we've know each other.'

"...Heero?" Trowa's voice was hesitant. Heero cursed himself. He'd been so engrossed in the conversation - and hoping it would go somewhere promising - that he'd forgotten Trowa's question. Trowa's eyes were wide, he'd probably caught Heero staring at Daniels through the glass. Heero didn't want Trowa to start lip-reading the conversation as well so decided to get on to the second part of the afternoon's program.

The suspicion Trowa was showing towards Daniels, even after Heero had shown him to be trustworthy, was raising alarm bells in Heero's mind. Could it be Trowa was a bit jealous? That he wondered who this man was, who had seemingly captivated Duo's attention? Heero had invited Trowa so that he could start working on the acrobat's case as quickly as possible. He had to find out what Trowa looked for in a companion and provide it, so that he would not get too attached to Duo.

"I told you, Trowa, I invited Daniels." He said firmly, getting back to Trowa's original question. "We met recently but I found him to be efficient, trustworthy and capable. And also fairly pleasant. Look how well he and Duo are getting along already!"

"Like a house on fire." Trowa said without even looking where Heero had tilted his chin. "Any second now I'm going in there and getting that knife off of Duo, but first, tell me...why...do...do you like this man?"

"Yes." Heero said firmly. "He's nice to work with, and he's very friendly with me. I know I'm not the easiest person to get along with, so that says a lot about his character I would say."

"That's not-" Trowa suddenly rubbed the bridge of his nose. When he spoke again his voice was quiet and intense. "We're friendly and get along with you too, that shouldn't be your only criteria."

"Are you saying I shouldn't make any friends outside of our group?" Heero asked him caustically. Trowa winced.

"No of course not, but, well, if you wanted a, a -..." He trailed off. Heero saw him glance through the window where Duo and Daniels were examining crossbows; Duo was leveling one at Daniels in a playful way and they both seemed to be finding something very funny, the way they were grinning at each other.

"All we've been through..." Heero's voice was so soft he knew only Trowa's trained ears could pick up his words. "We've become as connected as the fingers of a same hand. We all rely on that. But maybe it's time we started looking for more, or rather, for something different." He felt Trowa stiffen beside him. "If one of us decided that he'd found another kind of connection with someone outside of our group, we'd all be there for him, and wish the best for his happiness...wouldn't we?"

The acrobat slowly turned his head to look at Daniels and Duo, who was examining the crossbow bolts in their security case with a longing look. Heero made a mental note to see if that might make a good birthday present for his friend.

Trowa sighed, a surprising sound from the normally stoic man. "Yes, Heero, I know what you mean. I...I understand. Okay, if you're sure about Daniels, well...I guess it'll just be up to us to get to know him better."

"You'll like him." Heero said, with more hope than foreknowledge. It wouldn't be easy for Trowa to accept any stranger, much less one who was apparently getting along so well with Duo. What the man needed, of course, was a distraction and Heero knew just the kind. "Daniels has many positive points. Say, Trowa...what would you consider important in a relationship? What would it take for you to like someone?"

"He'd have to be nice to my friends. If he hurt someone I loved, he'd be dead before he knew it." Trowa said softly. He was watching Daniels again, and Heero winced at the warning in Trowa's voice. Well, if Daniels hurt Duo, Heero would exact vengeance long before Trowa could, but he'd be kicking a corpse; Duo himself would be the first to react.

"Sorry." Trowa said suddenly, turning back to Heero. "I didn't mean that to sound-...I'm sure Daniels is a nice man, Heero. Maybe you should bring him over to the house for supper one day. How about Friday, actually."

"That's no good, Duo is going to be at that Sweeper's party Friday."

"Perfect. I mean, pity. What a pity. But at least Daniels could meet the rest of us."

"Good idea." Heero knew that Wufei got along fairly well with Daniels - as well as with anybody, they argued noisily but so far Wufei hadn't actually injured him so it was likely they could become quite good friends - but he needed to make sure Quatre and Trowa did too. Duo couldn't be paired up with someone his friends didn't like, that would be hurtful all around.

Trowa had to leave for his act shortly after that, and Duo, much to Heero's disappointment, decided to go with him.

Heero and Daniels were silent, watching Trowa and Duo disappear, weaving quickly through the mall's shoppers.

"And that was your friends." Daniels finally said, turning to Heero with a smile.

"Two of them, yes." Heero hesitated, trying to look at Daniels without seeming to, wondering how to ask-

"So..." Daniels had turned towards a shop window, apparently quite intent in examining baby clothes. Maybe he had young nephews and nieces, Heero concluded. "Duo..."

Heero focused entirely on that word. Hah.

"He's just a friend, is he?" Daniels looked at something blue with a purple dinosaur on it, but Heero caught a brief glance in his direction.

Just a friend? That completely puzzled Heero. Friendship was something rare, individual and precious, like the pattern of light dancing on a lithe and playful rope of hair, the fall of bangs over a quiet, understanding green gaze, the geometry of the gentlest, kindest smile he'd been graced to see, the solid, reassuring presence of a strong sword arm at his back. It was something beautiful, like a flower handed to him in a world of cold death and machines. How could the word 'just' even come near something like that?

"Duo's my best friend." He answered, perplexed, wondering if there had been something else behind the question.

"Ah right. Bit of a sore loser, maybe?" Daniels was looking at him out of the corner of his eyes.

"Yes." Heero admitted. If you actually beat Duo at a game, you had to be prepared for the consequences, the least of which was a few days wasted as he played you again and again until he finally won, and then grinned like a demon into your face.

"Dangerous?" Daniels was still smiling, but his eyes had narrowed.

"Yes." Heero had to admit again. "But only to people who hurt him or his friends."

"Duly noted." Daniels said, his grin widening as he faced Heero fully. "He's quite a card, I'll give him that. Very nice. Funny sense of humor. Obviously loves teasing people. So...shall we finish shopping? I know a little place near here we can have lunch later, if you want. It's quite good, got recommended by-"

He nodded as he tuned Daniels out, listening to one word out of three and reconstructing the essentials of the conversation with the ease of practice he'd picked up with Relena. His mind was busy running over the encounter.

Heero knew he would not be able to recognize love if it came at him with a buster rifle, but he recognized hostility when he saw the slightest particle of it. After all, it was only in the matter of interpersonal and romantic relationships that his training had been lacking; it had been more than adequate when it came to mastering hate, anger, fear and fighting.

So he was quite aware that Duo's predominant feelings during their trip, hidden behind his jester's mask, had been hostility, defensiveness and a touch of anxiety, and all focused on Daniels.

But why? - Heero nodded absently at something Daniels said - Duo always got along with people even though he kept them at arm's length with his easy humor and relaxed attitude. He'd never behaved like this towards anyone before, not on a first meeting - hell, he'd not displayed this amount of concealed aggression since the war. Yet he'd not attacked Daniels, or challenged him; they'd had a whole conversation without so much as an insult, in fact Duo had appeared to be quite curious about the man. If only Duo wasn't so hard to read; the joker's mask was as difficult to break through as the soldier's façade when he wanted it to be. Other feelings could have been lurking there...

A prickle ran up Heero's spine - as he held up a jumper that Daniels insisted would make a good present for Trowa. Duo could not think that Daniels was an enemy in the classical sense; he trusted Heero like Heero trusted him, he'd not doubt him if Heero said Daniels was safe. But maybe the emotions running around here were not the kind Heero was used to, the ones you'd expect to find in battle. Maybe there was an element of interest, of attraction between Duo and Daniels that Heero was, due to his lack of knowledge, completely missing. The aggression could then be the result of uncertainty, or of what Relena was talking about - hostility masking an unexpected affection. Duo also had his war wounds, like the rest; maybe he didn't know what to do with these feelings he was experiencing towards Daniels...?

He wanted to catch up with Duo and ask what he thought of Daniels, subtly of course because he'd be walking on a mine field. He'd never had much doubt Daniels wouldn't be attracted to Duo but he wanted to see what the latter thought. Leaving Daniels now would probably be rude though, so he put his feelings of curiosity and impatience away for later that day. He would see what Duo really thought of Daniels by how the braided man acted this evening.

//Mission duration: 14 days 11 hours

Operation 2xHD

Status: Promising.

HD was very positive about 2. HD also seemed very pleased to get dinner invitation later, and mildly disappointed to hear 2 wouldn't be there. Said he'd 'miss the little firebrand'. Sounds positive. Unfortunately cannot check other side of the equation because 2 has unexpectedly gone to stay with Hilde Shreibecker (HS) for tonight. Will check later. On reflection, the strange hostility mixed with anxiousness, combined with the obvious desire to talk to HD and ask questions, might be an indication of interest from 2.//

TBC... 

Chapter 10

---

//Mission duration: 16 days 9 hours

Operation 2xHD

Status: Promising.

2 very curious about HD.//

Heero nodded at his laptop's screen. Very curious indeed. When Duo had returned from Hilde's yesterday, Heero had had no difficulties in getting him to discuss Daniels. In fact Duo took the forefront by asking him all sorts of questions about Heero's 'little friend' as he called him (despite the fact Daniels was taller than either of them). Duo wanted to know long had Heero known Daniels; did Daniels have a boyfriend or girlfriend; how long had he been separated from the last one; whose fault was it (that one had Heero stumped, for some reason that bit of information hadn't been in the Preventer files); had Daniels checked out as a Preventer; did Daniels have any odd habits that Heero knew of; did Daniels have a lot of friends; why not and why had he left New Zealand in such a hurry anyway. Heero, who had been reading a few more of Relena's romances, found the questions to be promising. Duo was obviously very interested in Daniels. Maybe this might work after all.

But that was the only positive point. Trowa seemed to be more withdrawn than usual, and Heero often caught him looking at Duo with somber eyes. Quatre was also quiet, and seemed prone to headaches and bouts of depression, particularly around Duo. Heero realized he also had to take care of the blonde. Maybe seeing Duo this interested in someone was reminding Quatre that he was all alone as well. Wufei's temper had grown steadily worse, but he seemed to be avoiding Heero. He supposed the Chinese Preventer was still mad at him.

Heero shut down the laptop and went to look out the window at the dying light of the afternoon falling on the garden, feeling the little joy he'd been experiencing at the mission's progress flutter out. The behavior of the other three worried him; he just hoped they wouldn't make the evening uncomfortable for their guest. Heero really wanted his friends to get along with Daniels. Even if it turned out the man wasn't Duo's type, it might still be nice to have Daniels get along with the group. Heero had to work with him after all. And besides...Heero had realized some time back already that if his plans succeeded, all his friends would probably go and eventually live with whoever he managed to find for them. From all he read in Relena's books, a romantic relation was very involving. He would probably see a lot less of his friends.

This was not a problem for Heero, in fact the idea hadn't even made him blink. He'd been alone most of his life, in one way or another. The others' friendship was very dear to him but it was a luxury, like his oath not to kill, or having a home, or being able to live and work out in the open instead of hiding undercover. Precious but not essential, these were things he accepted he might lose, so he had hardened and distanced himself to them without even realizing it. The bottom line was, his friends deserved to be happy. Heero's feelings were so far below in importance to that fact they may as well not exist. He'd still have Relena, for a little while at least. And when she too found someone to make her happy, then Heero would hopefully have the tools to make new friends; it was the gift Duo and the others had given him, the wedge that had taken off the hard edge that had isolated him from normal people. Daniels might be the first of this series of new friendships, not as deep or as intense as with the others of course, but not born of war and loss and bloodshed either. It would do. It was more than Heero had ever hoped for growing up, at a time when his idea of an ideal future was a swift death that would have some purpose to it.

"Heero, don't worry."

He started. Quatre had appeared at his shoulder, and he'd been caught unprepared he'd been so deep in thought. Once this mission was over, before he worried about making friends or anything else, he'd have to retrain himself; he appeared to be slipping.

"What?"

"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll like Hugh." Quatre smiled. He looked tired and pale but his smile was genuine and Heero, for the barest hint of a second, realized he would miss that gentle look on Quatre's face when the blonde was gone from his life. He sealed the emotion off expertly after acknowledging it. It was true, but it would not affect his performance.

Quatre left the room to oversee dinner preparations; Auda had agreed to come over and cook since none of the boys had much familiarity with anything that didn't require defrosting, nuking, or the addition of hot water and a stir.

Heero leaned his head against the window pane, keeping an eye out for Daniels, his mind reviewing the whiteboard again...who could he find for Quatre...Trowa was the greater urgency, though. And of course Wufei...

Movement from the corner of the house caught his eye. He stared, engrossed. Daniels had apparently shown up a bit early and was talking to...Duo! Heero had thought his friend had left fifteen minutes ago already, but he'd apparently held back to have this opportunity to see Daniels again. A prickle ran up the soldier's spine. This was not a casual meeting.

He could see Duo's face, almost in profile. He was serious. He'd only met Daniels once, and already he was showing him the inner man, the real Duo. Heero felt...ambivalent at that. It was a wonderful sign, an indication that he might have got it right this time, that he'd actually helped one of his friends towards the happiness they deserved. But to see Duo like this...Heero realized he hadn't actually thought of this, how it would feel to see Duo behave with anybody else the way he behaved with Heero. He caught the feeling, analyzed it, dissected it, accepted it and buried it. He would not let it interfere.

Heero realized he was catching the tail end of the conversation. His eyes followed it on their lips automatically.

'You don't have to worry Duo. I'm a nice person.' Daniels was saying. He was smiling widely. His hands were stuck in his pockets, his head tilted on one side.

'See to it you stay that way and we'll get along just fine.' Duo's answer puzzled Heero, it sounded like one of his jibes, but he had said it so seriously...well, Heero had never seen Duo with a possible love interest, it would be reasonable to expect him to behave differently than with his friends.

'So...if you've decided you approve of me after all...you're okay with it being a date? For the birthday party?' Daniels said, swaying back and forth on his heels, eyes fixed on Duo's face.

Duo nodded slowly.

Heero's felt a small rush as he turned from the window. A date? For Relena's birthday tomorrow? Apparently his misgivings had been incorrect! It was working, it was actually working...This love thing wasn't so hard after all...

Dinner went a lot more smoothly than he'd anticipated, though he wasn't really concentrating. He was analyzing what he'd seen of Duo's attitude, and what he knew of Daniels, and trying to anticipate what would happen next. Would they need any more help? Would it be presumptuous of him to try to help them if they did? He wasn't completely ignorant of how couples worked; he realized that love wasn't something you could fix like a broken Gundam. At some point, he'd have to let Duo go. He'd have to see if the relation would grow on its own or not. This was where having Duo paired with someone other than a friend was helpful. If Daniels actually did something to compromise the relation, Heero would feel no compunction at being quite thoroughly angry with him. But he wouldn't do anything, it was up to the two of them now. Heero was feeling some relief, even some contentment. Duo was taken care of, for now; he had a shot at a normal life. Now Heero had to take care of the other three. The pilots in question were all glancing at him in surprise, and Heero realized he had a smile on his face as he listened to Daniels talk. Probably not an expression the others were used to seeing on Heero, not where a stranger was concerned. But if Daniels made Duo happy he would definitely be a stranger no longer as far as Heero was concerned.

"Well, I better go." Daniels finished his coffee and stood. "Thanks for the evening, gentlemen, but I have to take a tour of duty at midnight. Care to walk me to my car, Heero?"

Heero nodded. He had a few last minute recommendations to make to Daniels regarding security in the west wing.

They opened the door and almost ran into Duo as he lifted his key to open it.

"You're home early." Heero was the first to recover from the surprise. Sweeper parties could normally be counted on to last until nearly dawn.

"Er, yeah. Decided to call it a night." Duo was looking at his boots.

Heero turned to Daniels. "Did you want to stay a bit longer? You have some time, maybe you and Duo could-"

"That's okay." Duo and Daniels said, in perfect synchronization.

"But you barely saw each other-"

"I'll see you tomorrow at the party, Duo." Daniels said with a cozy smile.

"Right." Heero had turned to see how Duo would respond and was watching a braid disappear through the door behind them instead, with that last word hanging in the air like a starting shot. What was that? Could...could Duo be shy? It had never, ever occurred to him, but then again, he hadn't known Duo's sexuality or types either. Still...a shy Duo...that almost rewrote the laws of behaviorism...

Daniels' hand was on Heero's shoulder, tugging him slightly forward and Heero filed the observation away under Duo's growing data, and accompanied his fellow Preventer down the path through the front garden.

The air was cool with a breath of promised rain. The gravel crunched beneath their feet. They turned the bend of the path and the lights of the house gave way to moonlight and the glint of stars off flowering shrubs and an early-blossoming rose bush, its white flowers hovering like phantoms in the gloom.

"...and make sure you do a round at three AM sharp-"

"Heero."

"- Jo Atakai has the bad habit of nodding off around that time, it's why I never put him on the staircase, it's too central a position for-"

"Heero!"

"What?" Heero glanced up in surprise at the interruption. They were almost to the garden gate and Daniels' car, and he still had some security details to go over.

"Let's not talk shop." Daniels purred, and grabbed Heero's shoulder. While the ex-pilot strangled his instinctive reaction to break Daniels' arm in three places, the taller man pulled him close, lifted Heero's chin with his other hand and leaned towards him.

The scene froze. Daniels' breath was warm and alien on Heero's lips, two inches away. The man was still in the same position, holding Heero close, but his eyes were on Heero's right hand.

"...do you always draw your gun before you kiss someone?" Daniels asked, a bit tightly.

Heero's fingers tightened on the grip, anchoring himself to the only thing he could rely on right now. Everything else had gone crazy in about one second, but you could always trust your gun. That was why he carried it everywhere, like a deadly security blanket.

"What...are you doing?" His voice sounded dazed even to himself. Belatedly he started to move back from Daniels and the screaming invasion of his personal space, only to find the man wasn't relinquishing his grip on his shoulder. Once more Heero had to restrain himself from reacting instinctively and harming his colleague.

"I could ask you that. Come on, don't play too hard to get, Heero. At least not with a loaded weapon. I don't find that much of a turn-on." Daniels' grip tightened but he kept his eyes on Heero's gun. For the moment it was directed upward, and trembling with the effort of not expressing Heero's horror and confusion in a more lethal way.

"I...what?" Heero was shaking too. His left hand was curled as if gripping a throttle, a sign of stress and uncertainty he thought he'd gotten rid of when he'd destroyed Wing.

"I know you're a bit new at this, and the whole soldier thing...my ex had some problems as well. That's okay, I guess I can work around that, you're hot enough to make it worth the effort. But I'd really feel more comfortable if you put the gun-"

Heero wrenched himself away, mind whirling. "Wait this is wrong." His voice had dropped back into the cold, dead tones he'd used during the war. "This is a mistake." A small part of him that wasn't turning to stone was hoping against hope that this was, indeed, a mistake, the kind that could somehow be rectified by talking...

"I'm beginning to think it was." Daniels had made no move to restrain him, fortunately for his own health as Heero's stress levels were rapidly approaching a dangerous level. The man's eyes were narrowed and hard. He was smiling but it didn't look friendly. "I didn't think I could misread a come-on so badly - not when it's from the famous 'Ice Prince' himself. Even your friends think it's a done deal. You sure you know what you want, Heero?"

"Yes, no-...you - I thought you wanted Duo."

"Maxwell?" Daniels' eyebrows shot up. "You thought I was-...where did you get that idea!"

"But Duo likes you." Heero's voice was still hard but it couldn't quite mask the confusion and pain.

"He does?" Daniels scratched his head. "If he does, then I gotta admit you Gundam pilots really are something else. Talk about completely crossed signals. Why did you- wait a minute." Brown eyes narrowed, lips pursed. "Were you by any chance trying to set me up with Maxwell?"

Heero said nothing, his only thought in his confusion was that he wished he had his laptop here to help him analyze what the hell was going on.

"Huh. One of us is a very mixed-up puppy and I don't think it's me." Daniels muttered. "Well, I'm not interested in Maxwell. Are you gonna give me a chance or not?" The voice was imperious and impatient.

"Chance? But...Why not Duo?" Heero was not sure he understood anything at this point, and was grasping at the mission like one clutches a life-saver.

"Maxwell's cute, I'll grant you that." Daniels was speaking too loudly for Heero's ringing ears, his pose, hands on hips, head tilted arrogantly, was grating against frayed nerves. "But I set my sights a little higher. I look for an equal in a lover."

Heero's head slowly came up from the dazed slump.

"You have excellent prospects with the Preventers. You have the minister wrapped around your finger for heaven's sake, and she's a shoo-in for the presidentials one day, when she grows up a bit and loses the pink glasses. You have discipline, strength, brains, you're very easy on the eyes...with my qualities we'd make an excellent team. I'm not looking for a one-night stand here, Yuy, in case that is what you were thinking."

Heero slowly put away his gun, since Daniels was keeping his distance.

"That's why it wouldn't work with Maxwell. He'd be a bit of fun, hell, he's got to be the best looking guy I've seen in ages, but he's a nobody, a drifter. It's bad enough he's an L2 street-rat with no parents or past, his war record can make up a bit for that. But look what he's done since. I don't think he's had one steady job in the last few years. And a temper to boot, so no wonder. You guys may not mind him sponging off of you and bumming around but as I said, I'm looking for an equal partner; not a hanger-on or a loose cannon. I wouldn't hook up with him except for a fling, and I'd be careful to keep it quiet. Talking of which, I would advise you to not get too buddy-buddy with him either, you might want to start thinking about your own reputation if you want to make any headway in Preventers."

Heero's eyes had widened slowly as he watched Daniels' mouth move, the curt hand gestures, the hard eyes.

"So, where do we stand, Yuy?" The man said sharply. "I'm giving up on the idea of getting you in bed, you're obviously not interested and I'm not suicidal. Are we going to be able to work together? I'm not sure I want to put up with La Darlian's tempers and foibles if there's nothing in it for me, though, so I think we might want to call that quits too. Well, what do you say?"

Heero nodded once, curtly.

"Right. I'll not leave you short, you can take a few weeks to replace me, I'm not that unprofessional. I have a career and at least I know what I want to do with it and my life." Daniels said with a reproving shake of the head.

"Acceptable." Heero's voice sounded very distant in his own ears. He turned slowly back towards the house. He heard Daniels snort softly behind him and stride towards his car.

"You were right."

Heero's voice was controlled, without inflections. The voice of his war-steeped childhood.

"Right?" Daniels swung back at the gate and took two steps towards him. "Right about what?" He looked suddenly hopeful. His eyes ran up and down Heero's frame in a way Wing's pilot was finally beginning to understand.

"You were right about Duo." Heero said slowly. He couldn't seem to lift his eyes higher than Daniels' chest. "He grew up in the streets of L2 where murder is commonplace, he survived more shit than even I did, nothing was able to break him, he broke the system instead; he joined the resistance at age twelve, he learned how to pilot a Gundam within a ridiculously short period of time to a level comparable to mine, he taught himself higher physics, mechanics, chemistry, electronics, computing; he took a stand, fought a war, he was the god of death, then he helped broker the peace, and through it all kept his sanity, his humor, his heart and his soul intact and always available to support his friends.

"You're quite right. Duo is not your equal at all."

He walked back in silence towards the house.

TBC...



Chapter 11

---

Heero closed the door quietly behind him. He didn't want to run into any of the others, particularly not Quatre. He'd probably give the empath an aneurysm in his present mood.

His emotions were hammering against the walls of his control, and he didn't dare to let them out. Or he might just run back outside, before Daniels had a chance to start his car, and-...

Wufei, face a bit grim, came out of the dining room carrying dirty plates as Heero walked past.

"Ah, Yuy." The Chinese Preventer immediately started to look uncomfortable. "You're, erm...finished. I mean, back."

Heero tried to pass him and found his way blocked by dirty plates.

"Heero, maybe, if you have a moment, I need to talk to you. About something."

"What?" Heero asked, brain still on automatic.

"You honored me greatly when you asked me to guard Relena with you, Heero. I...can't tell you how much your trust meant to me, after...after Mariameia."

Heero focused on Wufei. That was a name that had hardly ever been mentioned between them in the past two years. He was surprised to hear it now, he thought Wufei and he were well past that misunderstanding.

"I take my duties very seriously. You know that."

"Of course, Wufei."

"Now that you have Daniels, though, I mean, Hugh, I...the job, you see, I'm not sure I can still...I'm not saying this right, I have to start from the beginning. Can - can we sit down?"

Oh god. He thinks Daniels can replace him. Heero had often wondered how the warrior that was Wufei could get used to the fairly mundane task of guarding Relena, and had worried that one day his friend would have one fight too many with her and want to leave. He'd not leave Heero in a lurch- echoes of Daniels' words made him cringe - but of course now he thought there was someone Heero relied on who could take his place...

"Can we talk about this tomorrow, Wufei? After the party?" Heero could tell him then that, far from Daniels replacing Wufei, it would be the other way around, he'd need Chang more than ever. But not tonight. He didn't think he could say the man's name without starting to talk like the war-time Heero Yuy, and his friends didn't deserve the reappearance of that particular character.

Wufei was looking at him intently. "Heero...are you alright?" He asked softly.

"Fine." Heero was abrupt as he pushed past him, nearly upsetting the plates. "I'm tired. I'll see you tomorrow."

"...right." He heard the clink of cutlery heading towards the kitchen behind him.

Heero walked in total silence down the hall and turned towards the old servant's stairwell instead of taking the main staircase. He didn't want to see anybody else. He walked through the dark house like a ghost, trying to erase himself from this whole situation. The feel of Daniels' breath on his lips kept coming back to him, making shudders run down a back which was very much not used to them. It seemed insane, incomprehensible that Daniels had been attracted to him - forgetting all he'd said about Duo. Heero was trying very hard to forget what the man had said about Duo. Very hard. He would probably run into Daniels tomorrow, and he didn't think his friends would be happy to have to bail him out of jail on the day of their collective birthday party. So, forgetting what Daniels had said about Duo...forgetting that...forgetting what the bastard had said about Duo, why had Daniels been attracted to Heero? It had just...just never occurred to Heero that anyone could feel about him like that. Well, okay, a maggot like Daniels probably didn't qualify as something he should flatter himself about, but...why? Maybe the idiot had mistaken Heero's soldier's mask as the same calculating ambition Daniels had shown, something they might have in common. Was that why he'd assumed Heero would gladly lose a friend that could possibly stain his career? The possibility that Heero would rather lose all his limbs had apparently not even occurred to the man at the time...Heero shook his head abruptly. Ever since the war - no, ever since his friends had come to live with him and shown him slowly how to socialize and get along in a peaceful world - ever since then Heero had wanted to understand how 'normal' people thought and functioned. For the first time in two years he wasn't sure he wanted to know, if Daniels was any example. Warm breath on his lips - Ugh.

An unexpected sound from the lounge opposite the small back-staircase made him pause. For a completely illogical second he thought it was Daniels come back to press his case further and Heero realized he'd drawn his gun before he'd even turned towards the door. He was definitely going to have to calm down before the birthday party tomorrow. Daniels would not be able to get through security, so it must be one of his housemates in the lounge. He paused in the darkness of the hall and glanced cautiously through the partially open door, wondering if he could get past it without being seen and questioned.

The scene imprinted in every detail into his mind, but refused to make sense. Trowa was sitting on the couch. Duo was sitting next to him, his feet on the cushions so that his back would have been turned to Trowa if he hadn't been twisted around and buried in the taller man's arms.

Heero felt the numbness invade him again, the cold of shock. Duo had his face buried against Trowa's shoulder, his arms around his neck and waist. Trowa was rubbing his back, smoothing the braid against his spine, his other hand around Duo's shoulder.

The scene looked intimate, but Heero could feel it. There was only one emotion in the air. Misery. He knew that slump in Duo's shoulders, though he'd hardly ever seen it; he recognized the gentle, neutral look on Trowa's face...

Duo muttered something against Trowa's jumper. Heero thought he heard the words Why and Daniels.

"I know." Trowa murmured. The sound was a caress in the darkened lounge.

Heero was implacable to his enemies, but this was nothing to how he treated himself. He didn't try to hide from this. He watched his best friend suffer and dissected his share of blame down to the last fiber.

The date Duo and Daniels had been talking about...It must have been about Daniels inviting him, Heero, to the party. Presumably that invitation would have followed the kissing - Heero felt a shudder climb his spine again, a distant distraction. So he'd misunderstood that conversation. But he had not misunderstood Duo's interest in Daniels. None of the pilots ever paid much attention to people outside their circle and Duo had been talking about little other than Daniels for the past two days. Had Duo actually fallen in love with-....they'd only met once! But how long did love take? He'd heard of love at first sight...no. No no no. But there was Duo...Why else would he be so upset? What had Daniels said to him? How had they ended up talking about Daniels dating Heero? Had Duo asked the man out first? (No no no no-) Had- had Daniels actually said any of that hateful stuff to Duo's face? Duo had always been arrogantly proud of his background, his resilience, his willpower, his survival in the face of all odds, but how would he handle it coming at him from that angle, from someone whom he- no no no no. But the denial was a flash, a twinge, a reflex. Heero continued to examine the extent of his failure in the coldest, hardest way he could.

"I'm better." The grumble was a parody of Duo's usual indomitable tones. "You can stop coddling me now." He made a move away. Heero caught sight of a pale, set face and eyes burning with self-directed annoyance. Then Trowa's muscles tightened and forced Duo back into his chest.

"Hey!"

"You're not going anywhere, Maxwell."

"But-"

"But nothing. Shut up and take it like a man."

Duo's back stiffened, then he sighed, and slumped further into Trowa's arms.

"Well if you insist..."

"I do."

"If it makes *you* feel better..."

"It will."

"...did I ever tell you what a good friend you are, Tro?"

"Not recently. You owe me."

"...that I do. Thanks."

"Anytime."

Heero wondered if he dare feel some hope. This was looking like the plot of several of Relena's book. Okay, a teenage ex-terrorist like Duo was as far from an Innocent Young Heroine as you could get, but love was love. Yes, this was familiar. The Innocent Young Heroine falling for The Cad. Loads of Drama. Betrayal and Broken Hearts. And then she falls back into the arms of the Faithful Friend and they realize that they had been in love from the start. Heero had thought it extremely messy thinking on everyone's part, except, perhaps, The Cad, and since something awful invariably happened to him anyway, it wasn't much of a success story for him either...Could these stupid books be relied on? Well, they could be relied on more than a certain pilot 01 of course, but could a happy ending still be dragged from this mess, for not one but two of his friends?

A clink of china sent him ghosting into the shadows of the small stairwell automatically. He'd really slipped back into his wartime persona, but the seriousness of the situation justified it in his eyes.

Quatre came out of the kitchen carrying a tray with three cups and a pot, headed towards the lounge. Heero wanted to interfere, stop the blonde somehow, leave Duo and Trowa alone, but he didn't think he could speak in his present state. It was all he could do to bury his emotions, mask his presence from the most sensitive of his friends. Quatre swung the door fully open with his hip and hesitated on the threshold.

"Want some tea?" He asked softly.

Duo snorted against Trowa's shoulder.

"Tea, cocoa...what's with you guys, never heard of liquor being the liquid of comfort?"

"Now Duo-"

"At least make it coffee, man. Tea is for sissies."

"You don't need caffeine, Duo. This is herbal infusions."

"...not like you to kick a man when he's down, Q."

Trowa chuckled softly. Heero nodded. Duo still sounded pretty down, but not out, not by a long shot. It would take more than a piece of shit like Daniels to defeat Shinigami. Heero wanted to march in there and say that, but he didn't deserve to talk to Duo at this point. He would be better off never showing his face to his best friend again.

TBC... 

Chapter 12

---

//Mission Duration:

Operation

Everything cancelled

Why//

Heero sat on his bed in his bare room, staring at the whiteboard; the names captive of a maze of arrows that led nowhere. His fingers were frozen on his laptop's keyboard. The soldier persona he was using to steady himself was telling him to write a report, summarize the incident, reduce it, analyze it, learn from it. A failed mission; he deserved to be punished, to have his mistreatment of the situation fully acknowledged.

But he couldn't. He didn't know why he'd failed. This scared him. There was something here...he'd never been so little in control. No wonder he'd made such a balls-up. This was more than lack of information, or an understanding of human relations...Heero closed the mission planner and opened another program, one he hadn't used in a very long while.

It wasn't actually the zero system. That was destroyed along with Wing and good riddance. But Heero thought of the program as zero, because it made it easier to accept what he had to do with it.

It was when he not only failed to kill Relena but even saved her life that Heero had realized that his emotions were treacherous little curs. He kept them safely where they belonged, locked away in their kennels, properly trained to guide him but never interfere beyond that...only to discover they could still slip their leads and bite their master's hand when he least expected it. Zero had opened his eyes to what was really going on, what his emotions had been trying, in their underhand, back-stabbing way, to tell him about Relena and peace. Zero dragged out your deepest, innermost thoughts and fears and plastered them to your cortex. You couldn't hide from it. It was about as pleasant as being run over by a Gundam wearing cleats but at the end you knew where you stood.

In front of the thorough failure of all his plans, and the strength of the emotions howling and ripping at the barriers in his mind, Heero had to face the possibility that the flaw lay within himself. Maybe there was something else here, in him, that had been sabotaging his mission from the start. He had to face it. When his subconscious had saved Relena, and made him fight for a peace he knew nothing about, he'd been grateful to it, and followed his feelings once he became aware of them. Remembering Duo's back slumped in pain, he didn't think he'd be able to be quite so thankful this time. But if there was anything within his mind that was hidden from him, he had to know. It could not be allowed to interfere with his missions any more.

The program wasn't much; he'd found, when he looked for a substitute for zero, that he didn't' actually need something that complex. The laptop was his mirror, his reflection. The program prompted him to enter a header, then an explanation to the problem he'd put there, in free-hand text. It would then realign and juggle his thoughts and words, running through a number of complex patterns, until he could see the underlying logic in it. The important thing was to fill in the fields correctly and honestly, then let the program run and open his mind to the result.

*Mission was a failure*, he wrote.

The triggers he'd set himself when he wrote the program reacted as soon as he hit Enter, scolding him with a crisp warning. He'd programmed the database to pick up his own patterns of self-deceit. Heero scowled and muttered but turned the sentence around.

*I failed the mission.*

The word mission triggered another error message. Right, don't hide behind duty either. The mission was merely a set of parameters. What exactly had he failed? He deleted some of the words.

I

He stared and wrote a few words, always returning to that single letter with the delete key. I failed my friends. I don't understand what happened. I don't understand...

I

Heero frowned and opened up his mission planner again. Operation Equations...Start date...Difficulty moderate (yeah right)...

Amazing. He'd written page upon page of information, mission details, operation plans, and not once had he actually used the term 'I'.

He shook his head abruptly. This was heading into familiar territory. His lack of self-definition, born of having been raised for the single purpose of battle, and now facing a peace that made him obsolete. That...was a question for another time. He left the word 'I' in place so that the program wouldn't cough up a hairball - it's presence was a requirement for the first field - but decided to leave the tougher question for another day and concentrate on the issue at hand.

The program was prompting him for the next header. Now, what was the problem here? Ah well that was easy wasn't it?

//Love:
How can I understand and manipulate something that I do not have any experience in? I thought I could train myself, understand its parameters. I should be able to. Why do I feel like I know even less about it than before? Why is the attraction between two people such a mystery?? And why is it so hard to get it right??? //

Heero calmed down and stopped pounding on the keyboard. Love was very annoying. It seemed easy to pin down and then you found you'd nailed your sleeve to the floor and this love thing was ten feet away, smirking and playing with the hammer. He took a deep breath and continued.

//I am highly intelligent, I have more experience than most people three times my age, I have faced my own death many times over, I have taken life and I have let people live. I know so much why does this escape me? It didn't take me this long or this much effort to understand friendship. I was relying on the others to do their job even during the war so//

Heero paused and shook his head abruptly. He deleted the last two sentences.

// It did take me awhile to figure out what true friendship was. It was only when we all moved in together that I understood that friendship is more than just having competent allies you can trust. I found that, far from being a weakness as I feared, it could be a source of strength. Someone to rely on, to share the burden, the nightmares, the fears and doubt. Someone to help me. Someone to get me to laugh when I needed to, mourn when I needed to. Someone at my side. Someone //

Heero frowned. This was surprisingly lyrical for him - it seemed easier to talk to his laptop than another person sometimes - but it was going nowhere. This had nothing to do with his friends. Love was a problem, true, but nothing he'd written even nibbled at it. Damn.

...nothing to do with his friends? This had everything to do with his friends...one in particular...Heero deleted everything he'd written, apart from the paragraph header. Yes, love was the issue here, but he'd get back to it once he'd be able to write something other than drivel.

//Duo:
I managed to hurt my best friend. Way to go, Yuy. What should I do? He seems to be getting close to Trowa as a result //

Heero paused. His hands had trembled each time he'd written the letters of their names. He'd been using codes in his mission planner, numbers. Was that for discretion? No, anybody who had the ability to break into his laptop would be one of four people who would instantly know what those numbers stood for. No that wasn't the reason. He'd been trying to distance himself again.

He deleted a few of his words.

//Duo:
I managed to hurt my best friend. Is this because I wasn't treating him as my best friend, but as a parameter in a mission? But how else was I supposed to behave? How else can I help him? I have to help him. Duo deserves to be happy. He helped me so much during the war and after it. He was always there for me. He understands me better than any of them, I think, and I thought I understood him but I managed to hurt him. Badly. Why//

Heero blinked, then laughed. It was a cold sound, one he'd not heard since the start of the war.

//Well that's not hard to understand. That's what I do; I hurt people. I kill them. I'm an assassin, a soldier, I was raised for it, I thrive on it. //

The laughter bubbled up again.

//If Dr J could see me now, using his mission training and analytical thinking to make people happy, to deal with love of all things...the particles of his body must be spinning in their earth-bound orbit. Why did I ever think I could do this? Why did I even think it mattered? I've never known happiness, or love, no wonder I can't work with these things. Why am I so impatient to inflict these unknown quantities, these potential weaknesses, on my friends? On Duo? My aim should be to keep them safe and fit in case they are needed for another war. Not lose them in domesticity, or break their hearts for that matter. What madness possessed me to even try this? Why does it matter to me?//

Heero could feel it burning, deep down where his emotions were rioting and breaking the furniture. This mattered more to him than almost anything ever had before but why?

He snarled and deleted almost all he'd written, though he kept the header. Duo was still the issue, he had to correct his mistake, before taking an oath to never ever meddle in his friend's life again. But before he could deal with that, he had to figure this out. There was something within him. Now that he thought of it, it felt it might have been growing within him ever since the end of the war, as he became slowly used to the presence of others; losing his edge, as Dr J would say. There was some motivating force in him, in his feelings, and it was so big he'd not been able to entirely grasp it. Now what...was...it...

...

Heero had felt the cold of space nip at him through Wing's protective envelope. He'd fought the freezing ocean currents ripping at him. He'd fallen with the wind screaming past him, chilling him to the bone.

He'd never felt so cold before.

He was looking at his laptop. Strangely enough, it had given him the answer to his problem, without even having to run the program. At least he could always rely on his laptop, a sad little voice said within him. He heard a whimper from very far away, it had sounded like his own voice.

He'd deleted all the useless, self-deceiving crap he'd entered into the fields of his program, leaving only the headers each time.

They read out loud and clear.

I

Love

Duo

Heero shoved the laptop from him in a useless gesture of defense but it was too late.

Some doors, once opened, could not be closed that easily.

TBC... 

Chapter 13

---

//Mission Duration: 17 days and some hours.

I don't know what to do. I'm in love with Duo. I KNOW this but I can't explain it -why, how, when, what it means exactly- I just FEEL it- it makes no sense whatsoever.

I did try to understand it last night. I made a list of all the reasons I think I love Duo (Ref:List_love.txt). It turns out to be identical to the list I made nearly two years ago when we moved in together and I was trying to figure out if Duo and the others were, in fact, my friends (Ref: /backup/AC197/List_friends_reasons.txt). Nothing's changed, Duo is still my best friend. So where's this love thing coming from!! The others are my friends too but I'm not in love with them. Yet the only difference I can see between them and Duo is that they are not. Not Duo, that is. Where's the sense in that?! I can't analyze this...

And what do I do now? I'm a killer, a code name with no substance, with a few atrophied emotions and no idea how to behave, and I'm in love with my best friend who's just had his heart broken through my good offices and how will I ever go about explaining any of this to Duo?

Well at least I now figured out why my missions keep failing. I still don't know anything about love, I can't seem to grasp it, and that's because it's crept up behind me and stabbed me in the back.

One thing's for sure. Until I figure this out I can't say anything to Duo. He's my best friend and my track record with love is a disaster on par with Quatre thinking it was a really good idea to build Wing Zero. I won't ruin the one good thing I have in my life right now. Once I figure out this love thing, maybe

//

Heero stared with dull eyes out the window as Duo, Trowa and Quatre got out of the car. Security waved them through and Relena met them at the palace steps, beaming. Wufei was with her. Heero had decided he'd not be the best thing to guard Relena in his present state and has asked Wufei to take over during the party. He'd expected the Chinese Preventer to make a huge fuss; after all, he'd been trying to leave his post, not get saddled with extra duties. Possibly Wufei had picked up a fraction of Heero's mood because he had not complained.

Heero did not know what to do. He'd avoided Duo by leaving the house at dawn for the palace, and staying there until their collective party. But this was only a temporary measure.

Once he figured out this love thing - assuming he could - he should talk to Duo. Not that he knew what he'd say. 'Hi Duo, you should know that having Daniels break your heart was my fault, but actually it turns out I think I'm in love with you, although I'm damned if I can tell you why, or what it means exactly' just didn't seem to cut it.

And what would Duo do? Be shocked? Angry? Insulted? Would he laugh? Would he maybe get over Daniels long enough to give Heero a chance? That last possibility almost frightened him the most. What would he do then?! Thanks to Relena's damn books he knew how someone in love was supposed to behave, but he didn't think he could act that stupid even if he tried. He didn't think Duo would either...He just couldn't see it happening.

Well, first things first. His mind had somewhat recuperated from the shock of the previous night and was slowly regaining its orderliness.

Step 1: Try to put the Daniels thing behind them, help Duo get over the rat, that was the least he could do.

Step 2: Try to figure out what it was he was feeling. What this love thing was that made him tense and tingly and slightly uncomfortable every time he thought of Duo. Maybe he should sit down for a long session with Relena's romances, a book or two on biology and his laptop, and just brainstorm it until he'd figured it out.

Step 3: Talk to Duo and...well, it'd be up to Duo what happened next. He couldn't see his friend falling for him but then again the one thing that was obvious from all this mess was that he was missing a few parameters to understand and predict how love would behave. Maybe after he'd done some research he'd have a better idea if Duo loving him in return was even remotely possible or not.

But it would probably never come to that; he saw how Trowa had a hand on Duo's shoulder as they approached Relena on the palace steps. Duo looked a bit tired but otherwise his normal cheerful self. Quatre was talking to him, wearing his gentle smile that seemed to make everything less hurtful. And Trowa was walking on his other side, strong, protective...Heero sighed, his mind strangely divided between envy and relief. Maybe Trowa and Duo getting together would be for the best, though he no longer thought he could be a judge of that. His score with matters of love was worse than abysmal. You'd probably have to use terms normally reserved for quantum physics or cosmology to properly describe his lack of grasp on the matter.

"Hey Heero. Happy birthday! Say...can we have a little chat? Just a matter of...useful information."

Heero nodded vaguely at Sally, glad for the distraction. Relena kept their collective birthday party small. So far, there was Dorothy, looking at him contemptuously and fiddling with a long, sharp cheese-knife near the buffet. Catherine, glowering at him with the usual dislike she showed any of Trowa's friends she didn't approve of, which happened to be all of them. Hilde, also glaring at him and apparently trying to find the other cheese knife - he didn't know what he'd done to her, but at this point he wouldn't be surprised to learn he'd done something horrible - and Sally, looking at him clinically. This was going to be a great party.

"Actually your house-mates suggested we have this talk. Now, we're friends but remember I'm also a doctor, so I hope you feel comfortable discussing this with me."

"I had a checkup last month." Heero said dully.

"Yes I know. It's something else we need to talk about. Sometimes...young people have questions. About their bodies."

"You approved my fitness and training program yourself." Heero put in absently as he noted Relena and Wufei returning. Relena headed towards the buffet with the firm step of someone who is going to have the exceptional glass of champagne for her birthday and do her best to get drunk on it. She didn't look happy either. How did I screw her life up again? Heero wondered, and started going over the past few weeks in his mind.

"...when two people love each other, whether they are men or women, it's only natural that sooner or later - but maybe later is better, after all, this is not something anyone should rush, right?"

"Hn." Heero felt his heart, an organ which had only ever bothered pumping blood about his body before, clench in a most unlikely and unhealthy manner as Quatre and Trowa walked in. He didn't know if he felt relieved or worried that Duo was not with them.

"...important to be comfortable with yourself, fully know yourself. I think experimentation can be valuable, within reason. I have some books with loads of useful information, you know."

"Good." Heero watched Trowa and Quatre go to the buffet table and pick up a plate, not looking very enthusiastic. Quatre hadn't even seemed all that keen to resume his fight with Dorothy. Hell, how'd I hurt him? Heero thought with a touch of panic. I didn't even try to set him up with anyone he knew about!

"...now of course, when it's two men, things are a bit different. I mean, nature needs a helping hand there, so that's why there are these tubes you can buy at any pharmacy..."

A clink of plate brought Heero's senses fully back to the room. Quatre had put down his moussaka with a frown of inward concentration, as if he were trying to hear something faint and far away. He leaned towards Trowa and they exchanged a few words, then left.

"...though of course when I say protection, pregnancy is not actually an issue, but its still important, right? Even in these days and ages, there are some diseases which should be avoided..."

Where was Duo? Heero nodded absently and toyed with his orange juice, trying to even out the ring mark on either side of the glass.

"...and this part you wouldn't want to rush because things could get painful otherwise..."

Wufei's phone rang. Heero noted how his friend's brow furrowed when he answered and listened. Relena, near enough to hear the voice on the receiver, paused with an olive half way to her mouth.

"...now the most important thing, right, when you decide on a position, is to find something you're both comfortable with..."

"What did he say?!" Relena dropped her olive. It rolled away unheeded. Wufei's eyes had gone wide and then they drifted over the room until they met Heero's. Then he looked away quickly. "Understood. We're on our way." He said shortly into the phone.

"...and I know this is hard, but I guess you have to forget yourself, in a way, forget your restraints and self-consciousness, right? It's best to concentrate on your lover's needs..."

Relena grabbed Wufei's arm and hauled him almost bodily towards the door. Heero caught the man's elbow in passing.

"...in finality it can be one of the most beautiful and significant thing two people can do togeth- Heero?" Sally, who had gone rather pink in the last few minutes, looked from him to Wufei in confusion.

"What is it, Chang?" Heero snapped, ignoring Sally.

Wufei turned towards him. His jaw was tight but otherwise he appeared quite calm. Very very calm. He freed his arm and then patted Heero's hand reassuringly.

"Nothing, Yuy, nothing. Everything's fine. Er, Relena and I have to go...take care of the birthday cake. You stay here and...guard the buffet." He turned on his heels and followed an impatient Relena out of the room.

There was a pregnant pause.

"Did that boy just ask you to guard the buffet?" Sally asked after awhile.

"Yes."

"Hmmm." Sally was looking at the door Wufei had slammed behind him with a professional glint in her eyes. "I think I'm going to have to have a word with Wufei, The tension of the past few months appears to have gotten to him..."

"Probably. I have to go, Sally." As for the buffet, it could damn well look after itself.

"Yes, I think you'd better, Heero. Oh, just a sec. About what we discussed. Is everything...okay?"

Heero glanced back at her. "It sounded correct, Sally. I didn't hear any obvious mistakes. Of course, if you really want to be sure of your facts, you might want to speak to someone who actually has some sexual experience. Talk to you later."

"Riiiiight." Sally said behind him. He thought he heard her grumble something about the last time she'd do anybody a favor, then she was bellowing to Cathy to not stand between her and the bar. Heero made a note to have someone - someone who was not him - look into Sally's personal life and see if her relationship could use some working on. The woman was obviously quite distracted by something.

TBC... 

Chapter 14

---

Heero walked along the path of the rose garden, distractedly wondering where Relena was finding the white roses he occasionally saw her toying with. The palace garden only had pink and yellow roses. Maybe this was a mystery that the great Heero Yuy could actually solve since it involved horticulture instead of human emotions.

He had not found out where Wufei and Relena and the others had gone, and he didn't feel like wandering around in the palace. He might meet Duo. He might meet Daniels. Right now he didn't know which one he'd rather avoid the most.

Duo...He couldn't avoid his best friend for ever. He just wanted to give himself a bit more time to get used to the idea of being in love with him, and decide how best to hide it until...well...At least until Duo had forgotten Daniels. This was where the soldier's mask would come in handy. He was so good at hiding his feelings and now that he was trying to salvage the most important friendship in his life, he'd graft Gundanium to his face rather than let anything slip. Still, he instinctively pushed the moment of their meeting as far away as possible.

"...Heero?"

Were all his plans from this moment onwards going to systematically blow up in his face?! Oh this was just great. He wanted to hide his feelings, and now Duo had discovered him moping around a rose garden. He was starting to feel like the stupid Innocent Young Heroine himself.

"Duo?" He tried to look cold and impassive. Then he focused on Duo and almost lost it.

His best friend was pale except for two bright spots on his cheeks, burning like warning lights. His eyes were fever bright and filled with pain. His generous mouth was turned inward, he was biting his lip. Even his nose didn't seem as perky as usual. Heero wondered if someone would do him the immense favor of dragging pilot 01 out of Relena's garden and shooting him before this could get any worse.

"Hey Heero!" It was a parody of Duo's cheerful tones and he must have realized it because the next words were subdued. "Can we talk?"

"Sure." Heero turned and walked slowly down the rose alley towards the arbor. Duo followed.

"Heero...I...don't know how...can you promise not to shoot me until I'm quite finished?"

"What?" Heero spun and stared. Duo's eyes were fixed on the paving stones of the arbor as if they held the wisdom of the ages.

"You can always shoot me later. Hell you'll be doing me a favor. But just please hear me out first, okay? I didn't mean it, you have to believe that. If you don't believe anything else I tell you, I hope you know I never, ever wanted to hurt you."

"Hurt me?" Heero wondered when he'd fallen into a parallel dimension. Surely this conversation was exactly the wrong way around?

"Yeah...I know that...I...oh shit, there's no easy way of doing this. Heero, that-...that guy Daniels made a pass at me."

Heero had started at the name Daniels. The rest just floored him.

"What?" He croaked.

Duo was still staring at the stones beneath his boots. "I didn't encourage him, god knows what he was thinking...he said he'd heard I had a thing for him...maybe he's nuts...but I didn't encourage him, I would never do that..."

Oh god. Heero's soldier reflexes kept him standing but that was about all. Echoes rang through his mind like a hollow, well-beaten bell. His own voice: 'But Duo likes you!'...Daniels: 'Maxwell's cute...he'd be a bit of fun...'...and the ugly look Daniels had given him when Heero had put him down before leaving. Had Daniels decided to go for a safer bet? A bit of fun? Or was he simply trying to get back at Heero? It really didn't matter because in any case it was just one more way Heero had unintentionally hurt Duo *again*...Duo, who was still staring at the paving beneath his feet as if he were inviting them to rip themselves out and stone him. That knocked the necessary words from Heero's throat.

"I know, Duo." His voice sounded strange, dull. "It's not your fault."

Duo looked up and his eyes were bright with pain. "I'm glad you see that. I...I'm...sorry..."

"Sorry?" Heero's head felt like it might explode. Daniels had made a pass at Duo. What had the idiot been thinking! Daniels had *told* Duo he wanted to date Heero, and then he made a pass at -?

Heero understood love about as much as an amoeba understood metaphysics but he knew friendship and he knew Duo. Whatever his friend's feelings for Daniels, that move was bound to unleash the full wrath of Shinigami. In the row that had invariably followed, what had Daniels told Duo? Heero had been hoping nothing he'd do would compromise his friendship with Duo and it looked like it had already happened. Duo would be furious when he realized that this whole mess and his heartbreak was Heero's fault.

"What did he say..." He croaked.

"Nothing." Duo said, his mouth twisting. "Nothing but crap. Nothing you need to know. That...bastard...." Duo's voice was soft, and getting seriously ominous. "That...creep. I did my best not to listen, or I'd have done more than clock him one."

Oh great, Duo had hit Daniels. Though he felt no friendliness towards the fool, Daniels was only partly to blame.

"It wasn't his fault either." Heero whispered, mortified, guilty, but knowing that whatever the cost he had to set the record straight. "It's mine, Duo, I-"

"*NO*!" Heero gasped at the shout and the two hands that grabbed his shoulders to shake him. "Never - ever - say that again, Heero! Goddamn it this is not your fault! You are the victim here! You didn't do anything wrong - " Heero flinched " - he's the one who took what you had to offer him and threw it away! You finally did it, you finally let someone in and he- Goddamnit I wish Trowa had let me kill the bastard! Although Q was right, that would have been the easy way out! But if you ever, I mean *ever* say this is your fault, Heero, I swear, I'll kick the living daylights out of the rat! Although now I'm standing at the back of the queue. But that's okay! When the others have finished with him I'll give his *bruises* bruises!"

"What...?" Heero tried to understand the conversation but it kept heading off in unexpected directions.

"Just-...please Heero. Don't leave us."

The voice was an open wound. Heero stared in horror at eyes bright with pain.

"I know it hurts. I know it's not fair. I wish-...but please don't let this hurt you, Heero. Please? Don't shut us out. Don't shut me out. Don't go back into your shell. We'll help you through this, we'll be here as long as you need us. You'll find someone else one day. Okay? Someone a lot better than that - that....urg. Someone who will be worth it. Okay?"

Heero felt as if he'd been hurled through time, back to last night. He heard Daniels' voice saying: 'Even your friends think it's a done deal.' Among all the other revelations he'd not paid it any attention. But why? Duo had been rebuffed by Daniels in favor of Heero, but surely there was no reason for Duo - or any of the others - to believe that Heero returned that affection. Right...?

"Duo-...er..."

...with the effect of a bucket of liquid nitrogen running down his spine he suddenly realized how - quite accidentally - his behavior in the past two weeks might have led itself to a few, well, unfortunate...misunderstandings...oh-...his questions...the mall...coffee...dinner...oh shit...

"As for that...that slug! When he made a pass at me, and he said, he said those...nuts, I tell you-" Heero's attention focused back on Duo in alarm. "Anyway, I knocked him to the floor and tied him to the radiator."

"Radiator?" Heero asked weakly, his mind still spinning as the world and his view of the past few weeks flipped around him like his stabilizers had been shot.

"We'd gone to one of the conference rooms. I wanted to threaten- I mean, talk to him one last time, make sure he was going to treat my buddy right." Duo snorted, a raw sound. "Oh boy, did he ever reassure me on that point! I barely had time to open my mouth he tried to put his tongue in it. Nice little argument followed and he said-...he's really insane I think. I'm talking clinically here. They should check their recruits better in Preventers." Heero felt a prickle walk up his spine. Right now Duo was incensed but what had Daniels told him? And what would Duo make of it later when he had cooled down?

"What did he say, Duo?"

"Never mind, it was just...you're not an Ice Prince! You're a warm, loving human being and he's an idiot who wouldn't know a good thing if it shot him with both barrels! Anyway, I tied him up but before I could do much more, Quatre showed up out of nowhere. He must have felt something had happened and looked for me."

Yes, it must have felt like a volcano going off in close proximity to the empath. Well that was a relief. Heero had been alarmed when Duo mentioned hurting Daniels. The wrath of Shinigami was legendary. But what had Daniels said to Quatre when he showed up?

"Trowa was with him, and he tried to stop me from doing anything I might regret - his words not mine! Then I told them what Daniels had tried to do, what he'd said. And Trowa let go of me - I was mad but I actually wouldn't do more than cripple the bugger, so Trowa went and held on to Quatre instead. Q was smiling, you know? That weird little smile, and the way his eyes went all flat...scared even me. That bastard Daniels started to get really nervous at that point. Q can be really creepy when he wants to be, you know? And when he heard what Daniels had - Trowa was having a hard time keeping both me and Q away from Daniels, who was pissing himself by now and trying to yell something-"

Heero groaned and wished life were still simple and wired with a self-destruct button like it had been during the war.

"- so Trowa called Wufei to come help. Don't get me wrong, Tro just wanted to stop me and Quatre going to jail for first degree. He wants to beat Daniels to within an inch of his life too. No doubt about that! I could see the way Tro looked at him. Tro goes all funny when you attack his family...Anyway, Wufei and Relena showed up-"

Heero had been wondering if this had ended in mayhem. He knew what Quatre could be like when provoked. But if the serious, hard-headed Wufei showed up, and the pacifist Relena...that must have calmed things down.

"Of course, Wufei was right there alongside Trowa. Said we should just kick the dog out of the palace, preferably in his underwear, maybe cane him raw first, but he wasn't worth going to jail. I guess he didn't want a fellow Preventer dismembered on his watch. The thing is, if Trowa wanted Wuffer's help to restrain me, then he'd miscalculated. Wufei was too busy talking Relena down."

"Relena?" Heero croaked.

"Yeah, that girl has been hanging around us too much. Or else she'd been reading something other than romance novels when we weren't looking. Of course she pointed out quite calmly that none of us could afford to go to jail now, the peace still needed us and so did you, so she insisted we couldn't pulp the rat. But man, she had some interesting suggestions instead. She said- well let's just say she had an idea about what to do with duct tape that made even Quatre and me wince. I don't know where she learned all this stuff but she can be downright vicious when she's provoked." Duo sounded quite admiring.

Heero shuddered. "Duo-"

"Of course at that point, Trowa decided to take a time out. He kicked me out of the room, and dragged Quatre away to the bathroom to splash him with cold water or something, and left Wufei to glare at Daniels and stop Relena from doing more than scaring the living daylights out of him, and they asked me to come talk to you and are you alright?" Duo ended up miserably, his anger guttering like a candle.

"Duo...what did Daniels say?"

Duo ducked his head. He mumbled something at his boots. Heero heard the words 'come-on', 'signals', 'Ice Prince', and a few unflattering speculations as to Daniels' parentage.

"Yes but after that. When you tied him up, what did he say?" Surely with all those extremely dangerous people trying to decide how to deal with him, Daniels must have attempted to shift the blame on to Heero, who had instigated the whole mess.

Duo blinked at him. "Donno."

"You don't know?!"

Duo shrugged carelessly. "Oh he was trying to say plenty, and he looked pretty sorry for himself. But when I punched him, I broke his jaw, so no-one could make any sense out of what he was saying."

Heero sagged in relief. It would all come out later but hopefully by then he'd have the opportunity of trying to explain himself to his friends - for more than just the Daniels mess - and beg their forgiveness.

He felt Duo squeezing his arms. His friend looked like he'd taken a mortal blow and was waiting for death as a relief.

"I'm so sorry, Heero...so sorry..."

"Don't be." Heero said, straightening up and sighing. At least on one point he could put Duo's mind at ease. "It's embarrassing, that I didn't see what that idiot was trying to pull, but that's about as far as I am affected. I'm sorry he made a pass at you, though, that was inexcus-"

"Whoa." Duo's fingers had clenched on his arms. "What do you mean, not affected. You...you love this bastard. Right?"

"Certainly not." Heero said crisply and managed not to add that he was rather glad Duo had broken the larvae's jaw. He knew he should follow his feelings but he didn't want to encourage Duo in that kind of behavior either. They were supposed to advocate Total Pacifism and that meant no broken jaws. And no duct tape either, however applied, Heero added mentally, promising himself a little talk with Relena very soon.

Duo's mouth worked in silence for a few seconds. His eyes were wide and staring. "...you're just saying that to make me feel better...?"

"No Duo. The whole thing...I'm the one who should be apologizing, to you and to the others. Daniels did try to, er, make a pass at me, and I'm afraid I'm rather naive, I didn't realize-"

"You're not in love with him?" Duo's voice was a high-pitched quiver of tension.

"No, Duo."

"But-but-but-"

"I'm sorry for the confusion. I'll explain all this to you and the others when everyone's calmed down, but don't worry on that account. Daniels may have annoyed and insulted us both, but he never hurt me."

Duo made a strangled sound in his throat and swayed against Heero's arm.

Then, in a strange, quiet little voice, he said: "I thought I'd lost you."

"Don't be stupid, Duo." Heero said briskly, trying to hide his own feelings. "I should hope, whatever happens, we'll always be best friends. Right?" Okay, maybe a little bit of a plea had crept into that last word.

He felt his heart plummet to his feet - however unlikely that was anatomically - as he watched Duo's expression slowly change. The stunned look became focused, a dangerous half-smile danced on the corner of Duo's lips, his eyes held that dangerous devil-may-care gleam that had heralded a lot of very noisy explosions in the past.

"You just hold on to that thought-" Shinigami whispered, and pounced.

TBC...

Don't throw anything at me, there was really no good place to stop in this chapter! The fact I love to torture my readers has nothing to do at all with the place I chose to put the chapter break.

*Disappears into a bunker to finish polishing the last chapter for tomorrow* 

hapter 15

---

In the instant he saw Shinigami reach out to grab him, Heero had dropped his guard and closed his eyes fatalistically, knowing he deserved everything Duo could dish out and more.

So it took him a second of utter confusion to realize that the attack wasn't exactly what he expected.

Heere's eyes flew open to a close-up of Duo's bangs brushing his face, tickling his nose... and then he realized what the warm pressure on his lips was. But it didn't make any sense...

...Duo tilted his head, sending shivers of sensations ghosting over the slightly open mouth he had at his mercy. Heero's hands - without any instructions from him and against all standing orders - reached up to touch, just to touch Duo's arms as they held his shoulders...The lips were warm and firm against his own and Duo's hands seemed to generate low electrical currents where they grasped him, tingling and teasing, and Heero's entire body seemed to know exactly where Duo's body was and how close and how the air between them was warming up with their shared heat...It was completely illogical but Heero's last coherent thought was, logic was overrated...

Tension ran from Duo's arms to Heero's hands and jarred him from his pleasant state of non-thinking. Duo slowly leaned back. Heero, reluctantly returning to reality, took in the sight of a pale face, the worried look in blue eyes, the twisted half-smile.

"This...will be the bit where you shoot me I guess." Duo croaked.

Heero gave his right hand a frightened glance, but no, he hadn't drawn his gun this time. It was safely in its holster, and his hand was cupping Duo's arm gently, as if handling an explosive charge.

"Why did you do that?" He whispered, looking at the worried face of his best friend. His voice was soft, like a child's.

"I...I'm sorry." Distantly Heero realized that, for someone who'd never to his knowledge apologized before, Duo was now doing it a lot. "That was selfish of me, I know - I thought you loved Daniels and that meant you *could* love someone - just not me but I could accept that- "

- Heero's mouth opened - the whirling mass of confusion his mind had become was throwing up an interesting point and lining it up with another interesting point and a few other things he hadn't considered -

"- but then it turns out you weren't in love with the bastard so you probably don't really know what love is yet and so you probably do feel like shooting me now, or punching me and then calling the guys from the funny farm, I know you don't really understand this emotional stuff, and you're probably better off actually 'cause it's a bitch, trust me -"

- Heero swayed slightly as his brain spun wildly, connecting a whole lot of other dots together into a comprehensive, if barely believable, picture -

"- but I had to let you know how I feel about you because if you ever actually do think you might fall for someone one day then I want you to know I'd really want to be that guy, and I'm not going to stand by anymore and have some other Daniels come in and steal you away without at least letting you know that you have a choice but that doesn't mean you actually have to pick me of course there's no obligation it just means you do have a choice and I just want you to be happy and all and so do the others and that's why -"

The complete picture that had hit Heero with a pair of brass knuckles had paralyzed his vocal cords and the small shakes he'd been giving Duo to interrupt the flow weren't being effective so he followed a hunch and gagged the open mouth with his own, which proved quite efficient in stopping even Duo Maxwell from talking.

Common sense took another coffee break - a long one, double-cappuccino with extra cinnamon on top and a bun to finish, roughly that long - but Heero leaned back when he felt Duo stiffen under his hands again. Once more his arms had completely bypassed the chain of command and had taken upon themselves to curl around Duo, tugging him close, and now every inch of Heero was informing him of the way Duo's body felt against his and it was very distracting.

Duo's face was vastly improved. The horrible pallor had disappeared, replaced by a slight flush. His eyes were wide with shock but no longer bright with pain, and his mouth was open in a small 'o'. A strangely distracting, very tempting little letter...Heero tore his gaze away to look into Duo's eyes.

"Why did you do that?" Duo echoed Heero's earlier question, looking completely stunned. Apparently his reflexes and reasoning abilities had joined the rest of Heero's intellectual capacities for lunch.

"No reason." Heero said, a bit ruefully. Duo's eyes looked haunted and uncertain, so he explained, what there was to explain, and that wasn't much. "I finally got it. This love thing. Why it didn't make any sense and fit into mission parameters. It's not supposed to. It's like schizophrenia. It puts you into a different mind frame, one that makes absolutely no sense from the outside but it has this strange internal logic that completely overwhelms you and you're - why do they bother writing books about it? You can't put this into writing. It just ends up reading like that awful bullshit Relena lent me, and it doesn't-"

"What are you saying?" Duo's voice was pitched several notes higher than his usual baritone.

"I think I love you, Duo." Heero said simply - as Duo had said, might as well get it out in the open. It was only a few words but it made Duo flinch. He was probably confused - Heero was and had been for ages now. "In fact I'm sure of it, but I also know it doesn't make any sense, that I can't even explain what that means, much less give you reasons for it. Then again you say you love me - at least that's what I understood - and I'm about as unlovable as they come so you should agree it's completely illogical."

"...huh..." Duo's eyes had gone a bit glassy but then they suddenly focused. "Say that again?"

"What? I'm pretty unlovable, Duo, I was a trained killer before I was eight, I-"

"Before that." Duo whispered, eyes focusing on Heero's lips.

"What? I love you?"

"Huh-uh." He felt Duo shudder again. For some reason, despite his rather brutal invasion of Duo's personal space, something which Heero was normally very sensitive about, his arms had refused to release the braided man. He was really going to have to go through some serious retraining after all this. It was bad enough his emotions didn't obey him; he drew the line at his body.

"Right...just wanted to be sure I wasn't hallucinating." Duo muttered. He seemed to be relaxing. A lot. Except for the two strong arms curled up around Heero's neck that inexorably pulled their lips together again.

Reason, common sense and all the higher brain functions were starting to pack their bags, feeling an extended holiday coming up, when an abrupt, strangled cough broke through Heero's new form of zen-like meditation.

There were two huge eyes and a gaping mouth at the entrance to the rose arbor, with Wufei somewhere behind them.

"What the-...Maxwell, we said, 'put down that hammer and go see if Heero's okay', we didn't say go and give him mouth to mouth resuscitation - what the hell are you two doing?!"

"What's it look, like, Fei?" Duo growled, his arms curling further around Heero's shoulders and pulling the latter to him possessively. "Why don't you come back when we're finished - say in a month or two?"

"But-but-but-"

"I already said that. Oh yeah, the mess. Don't worry about the rat-bastard, I mean, Daniels. Heero doesn't love him - I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation for all this crazy stuff and one day I'll be curious to hear it-" Heero tensed "- but right now I don't care because - can you say it again?" Big blue eyes plunged into his.

"I love you, Duo." Heero said, and watched completely puzzled as Duo's face relaxed, his pupils dilated, and he blinked slowly like a cat being scratched; it was an almost alarming reaction to a few simple words that were in every book, song and cheesy Valentine's Day card Heero could remember. He didn't understand this reaction at all, it was like a shot of morphine or something. He prodded the remains of his analytical processes that weren't buzzing and sparking and stuttering to a stop. The only thing that came back was that this would require further observation and experimentation. A lot of experimentation...

"Right." Duo purred. "I hope you don't get tired of saying it because you only have a few years' worth of them to catch up on and I'll get you to say every one of them. Shinigami always gets his due. Now where were we-"

"You-what?!" Wufei shook his head sharply. "But- we thought-"

"Wufei? Bit of privacy?" Duo snapped over his shoulder. "Come on, I never barge in when you and Relena are kissing, so how about you return the favor?" He leaned back in for another kiss but Heero was suddenly a bit distracted.

An interesting little silence curled around the arbor for a few seconds, sharpening a knife with studied nonchalance.

"Erm Heero?" Duo's eyes hadn't left his but Heero felt Duo's attention had shifted a bit. "You- er, say it again?"

"I love you, Duo." Heero said, a bit automatically.

"Good. So you wouldn't let him kill me, right?" Duo moved slowly in Heero's arms until the latter was between him and a lit fuse, rapidly counting down to zero.

"Maxwell...." It was a hiss. It was somehow a lot worse than the usual angry shout.

"Hey, hey don't get mad at me!" Duo put in quickly, though he was still sheltering behind Heero. "This was the plan, right? You'd keep dancing around Heero and try not to let him know you were romancing his lil' princess, but as soon as Heero finally found someone, then you and the others could get on with your lives, which in your case means finally moving in to that fancy room Relena's been preparing for absolutely ages somewhere in the west wing of the palace and if she pampers and wall-papers that thing one more time you won't get in through the door anymore."

Heero made some inarticulate sound in his throat and Wufei's attention centered on him.

"Anyway, this is not my fault! If anything it's Relena's!" Duo continued, oblivious. "She was the one who decided to force the issue! I swear, when I thought about Daniels I was ready to make her swallow those bloody romance novels until she choked! We were supposed to let Heero get to this stage by himself, and I just know she's been trying to feed him clues about you two for ages now! How a guy should really not live with a bunch of room-mates but move in with his girlfriend who just happens to live in a big palace and employs him as a bodyguard, and-"

"Maxwell shut up." Wufei snapped. His face was a funny shade of pewter, and he seemed to be having problems looking at Heero. "Yuy, I-...I didn't know if you'd approve or not, if maybe you'd even be angry... I know Relena is like a sister to you-...I didn't want to do anything without your permission but we didn't think you'd understand."

"Roses." Heero said numbly.

"...what?" Wufei's eyes flicked around the arbor then returned to him cautiously, as if he was afraid Heero would grab the said flower and start beating him with it. Duo shifted to look at Heero with some worry in his eyes as well.

"Roses. There's a white rose bush in our garden. Back home. There aren't any here." Heero felt a tiny portion of his control return at the resolution of that inconsequential puzzle.

"Heero, you okay?" Duo's hand was gentle against his cheek. "I know it's a bit of a shock. Relena was so worried about how you'd react, what with this sort of unspoken agreement you guys had about her staying single until she was older and all, but don't be mad at Wufei. As you said, love doesn't have to make sense-"

"Working together. Opposites attract. Fighting doesn't mean you're not in love."

"-although I like it when *you* make a bit more sense than that. Heero? Erm, buddy?"

"...I'm okay...I...this is a good thing, I guess...takes care of both Wufei and Relena, though I didn't have her on my whiteboard."

"Maybe we should take him inside. Give him a glass of water."

"I'm okay, I'm okay...how long-...?"

"Few months." Wufei muttered, talking to the arbor's paving stones, who'd not had this much attention paid to them in ages. "Actually, since shortly after I started working here. We had a fight. Erm, another fight. A rather *big* fight. It sort of just...happened."

"Oh...oh. Okay." Heero found himself nodding like an idiot. Then he stopped as another thought struck him. It was as if this infection called love that was eating away at his brain was compensating the destruction of his analytical capabilities and emotional restraints by lifting the veil on a different side of people, one that he'd never seen before, though it had been right in front of his face. Suddenly a lot of things were very different and yet very obvious.

"Trowa...Trowa doesn't actually love you, does he?" He asked, turning slightly towards Duo.

"What?! Trowa? Whatever gave you that idea?!"

"...I can't remember." Heero shook his head slightly, as if trying to shake the reason out from between his ears. He'd thought Trowa was in love with Duo because...because he couldn't see how Trowa could *not* be in love with Duo. "He's lonely though. Er...right?"

"Well only when Quatre is away." Duo said, looking at him with a worried air. Then the heart-shaped face scrunched up. "Dammit! I wasn't supposed to talk about that either!"

"Why not?" Wufei growled. "You might as well, you've apparently spilled everything else we weren't supposed to talk about. Why did OZ ever bother interrogating you, Duo? They should have just let you shoot your mouth off and you'd have spilled everything they'd wanted to know plus a considerable amount they didn't."

"Hey be nice Wuffers! I'm the guy who's been covering for you when you nip out to go and smooch with Relena - and take her flowers apparently, hmm? You didn't think I'd let that one slip by me, did you?"

"Maxwell!"

"Trowa...and Quatre..." Heero muttered, bringing both their attention back to him. "But...they...can they really be together- like that?"

"Damn didn't Sally have The Talk with you?" Duo frowned. "You see, when people fall in love, they want to -"

"No I meant-...Why didn't any of you tell me anything?"

Duo and Wufei exchanged glances, and then dropped their eyes to stare at the paving stones, who were thinking of taking up show-business to money their natural charisma.

"If you and Relena were-....and Duo...and Quatre and Trowa never said anything, they don't even share a room-...why are you guys all living together, pretending like nothing is going on? Why didn't you all leave?"

"We didn't want to."

The soft voice was not Duo's or Wufei's, it came from behind him. Quatre and Trowa had walked up in silence, possibly some time ago. They were holding hands, almost gingerly as if they weren't used to the gesture out in the open. They hadn't been the only ones to approach. A soft patter of feet and Relena ran past them and threw her arms around Wufei, who looked at once rather pleased and completely mortified.

"...why not?" Heero made one last attempt to make a stand for reason and logic, though the way Duo was hugging him tightly made them seem rather unappealing right now.

Quatre looked mature and serious, though the slightest smile played on the edge of his eyes. "We left to live our lives in the colonies after the war ended but...we realized it hadn't ended for one of us. We're not blind, Heero. Or did you think we didn't notice that the only time you left Relena's side was to come and stay with one of us?"

I wanted to make sure you were all safe, in case there was a new war...Heero thought it but didn't say it. He was suddenly not so sure of that himself.

"I thought you were going to have a nervous breakdown." Relena said in a small, miserable voice, her face buried against Wufei's shoulder. "You were traveling so much, you were so tired...I know you're tough but even you were getting to the end of your rope...you just couldn't seem to stop, you were spinning wildly between protecting me, peace, your friends, like you couldn't find anything to actually live for...I didn't know what to do..."

"So we agreed." Trowa said simply. "You're family, Heero. We couldn't leave you lost like that. Quatre bought the house and we all moved in, as soon as our different businesses were taken care of."

"No one had to, I told everyone I could give you a home by myself." Quatre pointed out, to hear a series of snorts. Even Relena scoffed.

"As if that was going to happen, Winner." Wufei snapped. "Heero is a friend to all of us, and it would be dishonorable to leave a comrade in need."

"Plus look what you got out of it!" Duo teased the Chinese Preventer who was holding Relena close while trying to pretend he wasn't.

Duo's arms were warm and firm around Heero's shoulders, anchoring him as everything he'd ever believed was turned neatly inside out.

"It wasn't a burden. Actually it was fun." Trowa said that last word with a small, surprised smile. "I think it wasn't easy for any of us to adapt to a life without war so quickly. Our group was a refuge for us too. And when we saw you settle down so well, adopt the house as your first-ever home, rely on us and accept us as friends, and start to live, to grow -...it wasn't a burden at all."

"Although we were maybe beginning to wonder when you'd be ready to leave the nest." Quatre dimpled. He suddenly looked happier than he had for a long time. "We didn't want to let you know about us getting together, we didn't think you'd understand, we were afraid it would make you feel excluded, cut off from us. We were hoping you'd be able to able to understand that feeling someday, share it with someone. Some day soon! It's fun all living together but we have to grow up eventually. Don't worry, we're not moving out." Quatre must have felt the flash of pure, unreasoning terror that had made Heero suddenly grip Duo to him like a life-line. "But it's about time Trowa and I moved into our own set of rooms, and...maybe leave the other part of the house to another couple. Well, let's not jump the gun."

"I don't mind." Duo muttered against Heero's neck "Let's jump all the guns we want. Hell, I can scramble over a Vulcan missile launcher if I get a good run at it." But Quatre ignored him.

"Wufei might be moving out soon - you gathered that, right? But he'll still be close by. Nothing much is going to change. We're still your friends. We're still here for you. Nothing fundamental will change, just the little details."

"Little details like a certain Agent Daniels tied to the radiator in one of the conference rooms." Trowa suddenly pointed out. "Did you guys cover that bit before Quatre and I got here? I'm rather curious about that, after having to pick up pieces of Duo all over the house for the past week."

"Yes, what on earth was that about? Do we have to beat him to within an inch of his life or not?" Quatre sounded puzzled.

"No beating." Relena said firmly. "No scandal, peace is still too important to compromise over personal revenge. Whatever we do, it mustn't leave too big a mark."

"Do we have to do anything? I swear I don't understand anything about your behaviors these past few days, Yuy!" Wufei barked. "Did this man seduce you and break your heart or not?"

"Yeah, we never did get to the bottom of that." Duo said, lifting his head away from Heero's shoulder. "What was all that about?"

Heero looked around the circle of his friends - the walls that had sheltered him from the huge unknown that was a life without war, and let him adapt at his own pace, until he was finally ready to step outside on his own.

"...Duo?"

"Yes?" Bright blue eyes plunged into his own. Duo was looking at him in that serious but strangely tender way that Heero thought he could get very, very used to.

"...I love you, Duo." Heero didn't know much about the strange new world he'd entered, but he had the feeling that those simple yet cryptic words were a bill of safe-conduct that would get him out of this and other trouble in the future, as long as he was not afraid to say them and mean it.

//Operation Equations

Mission Duration: 18 days 12 hours

Mission cancelled.

Mission premises were false. There was only one Gundam pilot who needed help adapting to peace.

New mission: Operation 1x2

Objective: Insure future happiness of Gundam pilot 02, who put up with a lot of shit from me in the past two years without me realizing it.

At one point I'll have to come clean about the whole HD mess, at least with Duo. The others listened to my very brief outline of the events of the past few weeks and have accepted my apology - actually they seemed to find the whole thing very funny in retrospect. But I think Duo will want a bit more information. I just need to wait for HD to move back to New Zealand - I was afraid at one point that he might try to get back at Duo, but apparently being tied up and having four Gundam pilots and RP deciding what to do to him after he hurt their friend is an experience he is unwilling to want to repeat; in fact I've heard he's gotten into the habit of ducking nervously whenever he sees a braid or someone under the age of eighteen. RP bought him a ticket and guaranteed him a place in Preventers in New Zealand on the condition he left before his jaw healed and he leapt at the offer.

So I'll tell Duo the whole story when he's in a good mood (memo: kissing seems to put him in a good mood) and then I'll get ready to dodge until the wrath of Shinigami has passed.

And then I'll get on with the rest of the mission.//

In the attic of a big old house, a cracked and yellowing whiteboard rested against a utilitarian bed, an empty metal clothes-rack and a few other items. It held arrows and shapes and symbols. There were four symbols in the middle, set in a square. A black marker had added a few arrows, connecting 3 and 4, and 5 and a newly added RP, correcting the diagram. A red marker had added a 1 to the drawing, with a big sloppy arrow connecting it to 2. The extra symbol was in the centre of the protective square, where it had always been.

Since it turned out, after further investigation and a bit of recrimination, that the red marker was, in fact, permanent and not even meant for whiteboards anyway, that had pretty much shortened the whiteboard's life to this one mission.

But that was all right. It was no longer needed.

- OWARI -

Whew, nearly 37000 words, mostly written in about a month! My humor plot bunny is on life-support by the way. But remember that random encouragements can do wonders to revive the little fellow! So please tell me if you liked that and if it made you laugh - it's apparently the best medicine and no need for medicare - and I'll see what I can do to resuscitate the critter one day!

Thanks for reading, and thanks to Casey once more for beta-ing the plot and the humor, and Arith for the title, and the rest of the War Room for poking me with a sharp stick to remind me to bring out the next chapter...and a huge thanks for all the reviews and encouragements, I can't tell you how much they made the effort of twisting these little plots - and G-boys - around perfectly worthwhile.