Author: CalicOcat
Disclaimer: Duo and Heero and the rest of the GW gang aren't mine. This story is. Nuff said.
See Part 1 for warnings

'Thinking'
"Speaking"
************ Time passing or scene change
*~*~*~*~*~* Major POV shift

Mission: Marriage + Chapter 11

Following Abdul through the Winner estate's garden, Lady Une took a deep breath as they passed beneath a rose-covered trellis. 'Ah. Roses. That scent certainly brings back memories.' As they rounded a curve in the path and Une spotted a picnic blanket. The remains of a picnic lunch were spread on it, and on one edge sat the infamous Pilot 01, back propped against a tree trunk, watching the equally infamous Pilot 02 sleeping, curled up with his head pillowed on 01's lap. 'I think Treize would like the results of peace.' In response to Heero's raised eyebrow, she simply smiled and nodded, not wanting to wake the other teen and spoil the peaceful scene. The blinding smile she received in response was accompanied by a silently mouthed "Thank you".

"You're welcome," she mouthed in return, then turned back to explore the rose garden.

************

"No," Heero said firmly.

"But Heero, you have to have a bachelor party. It's traditional!" Quatre insisted.

"No," he repeated as he walked away. "No bachelor party."

************

"Nope," Duo said firmly, shaking his head.

Quatre wailed in despair, "But you have to have one! It's traditional! Heero won't let me throw one for him either!"

"Q, what the hell kind of fun would it be when my best friend couldn't be at it?" Duo demanded. "Let Heero come and I'll consider it."

"But that defeats the whole purpose of a bachelor party!"

Suddenly suspicious, Duo added, "And no strippers either. The only naked hunk I'm interested in, I can see anytime I want."

"WHAT?! What's the point of even having a bachelor party if you don't have strippers? They're traditional!"

"And since when have any of us ever been 'traditional'? I'd rather have a fun night out with all of my friends then watch good-looking guys that I'm not even interested in strip in the company of only some of my friends." Pausing to think for a moment, Duo offered, "But if you really wanna throw some sort of party for us, I betcha I've got a suggestion even Heero will go along with. And it'll be fun, too."

"Oh, fine then," Quatre sulked. "What is it?"

************

Quatre was still sulking two days later when Trowa dragged him out of the car for the substitute bachelor party. "A co-ed evening of playing capture the flag in the Preventers' stealth training facility might qualify as 'fun', but it is not a bachelor party, Trowa!" he protested yet again.

"Stop complaining or I'm going to start thinking you were more interested in the strippers than giving your friends a fun evening of relaxation before the wedding!" Trowa warned semi-seriously.

"Of course not! I just... I just want everything to work out perfectly for them. Heero's worked so hard for this. I guess it just seemed like maybe following all the standard wedding traditions would somehow help everything go right." Giving his lover an apologetic look the blond asked, "Have I really been acting that badly over this bachelor party issue?"

"Yes." Seeing Quatre's wince, Trowa relented slightly. "Not really around the others, but it was definitely noticeable to me. Just have a good time tonight and all will be well."

"Okay. And really," Quatre said, starting to warm up to the idea, "it does sound like it's going to be fun."

************

"Would someone please remind me just why we thought it was a good idea to let Maxwell and Yuy both be on the same team?" Wufei demanded querulously, sounding slightly out of breath.

Leaning around the corner, Dorothy squeezed off a totally useless shot - Duo was definitely long gone by the time her hit-penalty had worn off and let her shoot again - before replying, "Does finding them both 'dead' and making out, each with the other's flag in their possession, in the service elevator less than five minutes after the start of the first short-lived game where they weren't ring any bells?"

"Ah. Right." The communicator was silent for a few moments, then Wufei's voice asked plaintively, "So why aren't they making out now instead of beating us ten captures to two?"

************

Snitching the flag and slipping away while Dorothy was preoccupied with Wufei's question, Duo snickered to himself. 'Heero and I both ended up "dead" because we each know how the other thinks too well. And once we were out of the game we figured we might as well make productive use of our time... Put us both on the same team, though, and that same knowledge of each other turns into an asset instead of a liability...

'And the score is now eleven captures to two, Fei-fei...'

************

The first faint hints of a colony daybreak were showing in the sky by the time the five former Gundam pilots, one former ally, and two former enemies staggered out of the building, yawning wearily. The final score: Une, Sally, Duo, and Heero had racked up 32 captures to the 14 managed by Quatre, Trowa, Wufei, and Dorothy.

"Heh. Guess Shinigami's still got it," Duo muttered sleepily, leaning on Heero's shoulder.

"Enjoy it while you can, Maxwell," glowered Wufei. "We'll get you next time!"

Quatre looked around at the weary but contented group. 'I think it's a good thing I didn't have this the night before the wedding like a traditional bachelor's party! We'd have to go straight home to get dressed for the wedding without any sleep!' Glancing at his watch, he groaned slightly as he realized, 'And I'm still only going to get about a few hours before I have to meet the caterer to finalize arrangements for tomorrow!'

************

Quatre stepped back, checking the placement of the decorations one last time, then sighed heavily.

"What's wrong?" Trowa asked. "That's the third sigh in less than five minutes."

"It seems like everything is almost going too smoothly," the Arabian boy admitted. "Virtually everyone actually sent in their response to the wedding invitations, Relena let Une transfer Heero, Heero seems to be making a lot of progress with Duo, all the decorations came in exactly as ordered..." He shrugged. "I know it sounds stupid, but I'm half hoping that there'll be a problem with the cake or the caterer or something, just to get the bad luck out of the way."

"There better not be a problem with either at this point, considering that the wedding's tomorrow," Trowa scolded.

"But Trowa, even the rehearsal went smoothly! And the rehearsal dinner!"

"Did you persuade Heero to follow tradition and not spend tonight with Duo or see him before the ceremony tomorrow?"

"Yes."

"Well, there's where your problem is going to be. I don't think he's stayed away from Duo for that long at once since Duo had Heero moved in with him. One or both of them will probably be a total basket case before the ceremony," Trowa warned. "I think those two can create enough problems on their own without you wishing for additional ones."

"I don't want additional ones - I want catering problems instead of the ones that they will create!"

"Ah. In that case - I hope the wedding cake gets dropped and the caterer is late."

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