Gomen. The evil chibis told me to call it this.
by Anria Chiou Lalumin

Past Encounters
Part Eight: Discussing 05

"So you're Duo and Heero."

Trowa's voice was as calm and inflectionless as ever. It cut through the shocked silence in the room, snapping the other three men out of it.

Duo grinned, moving back to sit next to Heero, their thighs touching. "Yeah."

"For two people who are supposed to be deadly enemies, you seem fairly friendly," Trowa continued.

"About as friendly as you and Quatre," Heero said, and there was a look on his face that said he meant it in precisely the sort of relationship the two men had. Quatre choked.

Duo turned to Heero, a puzzled frown on his face. "Does that mean what I think it means?"

Heero smiled at him, one hand coming down to rest familiarly on Duo's leg, squeezing gently, the thumb rubbing gently over the top of his lover's thigh. "Yeah," he said.

Quatre had managed to recover himself somewhat from his shock and was now looking between the two men, sensing an opportunity to get to J and G. "I suppose you know the reason Trowa and I are here," he said cautiously.

"Yes," Heero said, looking back at him.

"Then why are you here?"

Both men gave him a ‘what-are-you-THICK?' look, and Quatre flushed. "Oh."

There was no need to articulate the reason; the relationship between Duo and Heero, with their respective loyalties to different organizations (and never mind the very relationship itself was the kind frowned upon -- to put it lightly), would never be allowed to be together even as friends as long as BG and BR were fighting.

"So." Duo slapped his palms down on the wooden desk. "What d'you need help with, Q-man?"

"Q-man?" Quatre sputtered. "I think I need to help you to not call me that."

"Fine, fine, take away all my fun why don't you. You didn't answer my question." Heero made a small noise in his throat that sounded suspiciously like a suppressed snort. "Okay, okay, maybe he did in a way, but not seriously."

"Explain to me what BG and BR were originally supposed to do." Heero's flat tone was suspiciously reminiscent of an order.

"BG, BR, BY, GB and BW were all originally created to help stamp out the kind of terrorism and mass destruction that BG and BR are currently employing -- "

Both Heero and Duo winced.

" -- I'm sorry but your organizations are. It appears as though J and G, on finding that the intended enemy had already been dealt with in these four kingdoms argued about what to do next and turned to fighting to settle the argument. You two were originally meant to lead the attacks on the wide-spread group of bandits who, under the name of bringing peace, were slowly and systematically trying to take over the kingdoms. It looks as though J and G have perverted your original intended course of action."

"And you and Tro have a position in two of the other organizations," Duo said, frowning intently.

"My name is Trowa," Trowa said calmly.

"Yeah, I know that."

"Yes, we do," Quatre replied.

"So, following on logically from that, I would assume that there is another person from the last organization -- BW? -- who has the same function as us."

"Yes." Quatre grimaced. "His name is Chang Wufei. He's Chinese and I am firmly convinced someone surgically implanted a stick up his ass -- "

"Quatre!" Trowa said, showing more emotion about that statement than anything else.

"Either that or he has steel reinforcing his vertebrae. He's so inflexible, and for what?"

"Hn."

"Heero, we have got to work on your conversational skills," Duo told him.

"Hn."

Duo rolled his eyes, then turned back to Quatre and Trowa. Both were regarding the two of them with amusement in their faces. Well, in Trowa you really had to look for it, but it was there. "So how do we get J and G to stop fighting?"

"My first idea was to just put them in the same room with each other and make them talk to each other, preferably without killing each other," Quatre said. "But that might not work, so we have to have backup plans."

"Threaten to leave them alone in a room with Wufei for a month or two," Duo suggested, a glint in his eyes. "If he's as bad as you say, G at least won't be able to take it."

"Oh?" Heero raised an eyebrow.

"Hell, why d'you think he picked me if he wanted some guy with a stick shoved up his ass?"

"Hn."

Duo rolled his eyes and considered telling Heero that if he was articulate when they were in bed, he could be articulate when they were not.

As if sensing his thoughts, Heero's hand, still resting on Duo's thigh, began squeezing.

"Hey! Ease up, Heero-man! Jeez, what did I do this time?"

Heero glared at him out of the corner of his eye. "I know what you were thinking, baka. Don't you dare."

Duo grinned at him. "Aw, Hee-chan, you know me so well!"

" ‘Hee-chan?' " Heero sputtered.

Quatre was giggling. "Looks like we're going to get along just fine," he said. "Now about this plan -- I have another idea..."

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