Author: Mair
Disclaimer: I own nothing. I wish I did but I don't. Everything belongs to folks far richer than me. Lucky bastards.

Love Potion #9 + Part 7

Heero slowly awoke noting the difference of having Duo in the same bed. Last night they switched to Duo's bed, his having a bit of a mess in it. Heero flushed slightly at the memory. He was glad he yielded to Duo.

He looked down at the sleeping soldier in his arms. He couldn't see Duo's face but that didn't matter. He knew it probably had a smile on it. This would complicate things but he was satisfied with the outcome. Duo's arm tightened over his midsection briefly then relaxed. He watched as Duo tried to rub his face into his chest and suppressed a laugh as his bangs tickled his neck. The tensing of his abdomen must have woken Duo, because a moment later sleepy indigo eyes looked up at him. "'Hayo..." he murmured.

"Ohayo Duo."

Duo blinked blearily at him, a slight blush coloring his cheeks. "I'd kiss you g'mornin' but I think it might hurt..."

Heero's mouth twitched. "And I would return it and then we would never get out of bed and we do have school today."

Duo inched his way up to Heero's mouth and lightly kissed him. "Lets play hooky."

Heero smirked at him. "I cannot. I did not attend classes yesterday. If we did stay here Relena might come and try and play nurse."

"So let me play doctor..." Duo kissed him again.

"Duo..." he returned the kiss. "No. This is our mission..."

Duo pouted. "Well fine. If that's the way it's got to be I have first dibs on the shower."

"You'll use all the hot water!"

"Not if you join me."

"Duo. No."

"Have a happy cold shower then." Duo said, extracting himself from the tangle of limbs they slept in. "Or maybe a cold shower is exactly what we both need."

"Baka."

Duo snickered and rose up off of the edge of the bed. "You always say the cutest things Heero..." He glanced at the clock. "Oh shit."

"What?" Heero asked and looked over at the clock. He frowned and threw back the covers.

"I'll get the water running if you clean up the bed."

+

Classes were hell, no two ways about it and the teachers didn't help any. Duo squirmed in his seat wishing the bell would ring. At present, the teacher droned on about something that happened about 300 years ago. He sighed and looked over at Heero.

Heero sat in his seat, occasionally taking notes. Every once and a while, he'd give the note Relena set on his desk a poke with his pen. Duo sighed and looked down at his own page, covered in scribbling. He looked up just in time to see the note fall off the corner of Heero's desk. Duo smiled and looked down at the doodle page. His pen moved along filling in the black lines of hair on a chibi Heero.

Suddenly the bell rang, causing him to jump. Immediately classmates voices filled the once almost silent room. Duo slammed his notebook shut and slipped the pen in the side. He grabbed his books from under the desk and joined Heero at the doorway.

"Heero! Wait for me!"

They both turned to see Relena making her way down the isle toward them. Duo never noticed it before but she was beautiful. Better looking than Heero. Duo watched as she approached them, forgetting Heero next to him. So graceful, so picturesque with the light from the window lighting her honey colored hair. Her eyes looked like pools of cool water for him to drown in. He watched as she latched onto Heero's arm. Such sweet pain.

"Heero, I'm so glad you're feeling better. I was so worried when the Dorm Mistress said you'd gone out. I know you Heero, you never remember to stay warm enough and I was almost positive that you'd gotten sicker." She rattled on, half dragging the captivated Heero out the door.

Duo watched them leave, then snapped to his wits. "Hello Relena! Heero and I were going to go out for pizza after class. Would you like to come?"

Relena smiled at him. Duo felt as though his heart would stop at the loveliness of the sight. "Thank you for the invitation, I'd hoped to go out with Heero afterwards. But, would you mind if it were only us two?"

Duo nearly died of happiness. "Us? You and me?"

Relena shook her head. "I'm sorry Duo, but "us" as in Heero and I."

Duo's heart sank. "Oh. Well... I guess I wouldn't mind. But you must let me invite you to the school dance!"

Heero glared at Duo.

Relena smiled serenely, "I'll consider it!" She tugged on Heero's arm again and they left an ecstatic Duo behind.

+

Trowa flipped open a communication window and called Quatre. A moment later the blond appeared on the screen.

"Trowa!"

"There is something odd going on."

Quatre looked surprised. "No hello? Ok... What do you mean odd? It must be something serious."

Trowa nodded. "Last night Duo and Heero went on a date. They had me hold off Relena."

"That's wonderful! I'm so glad Heero told him." Quatre smiled. Then he looked at Trowa curiously, his smile fading. "What is so odd about that?"

"Nothing. Today Duo came and used me for a confessional about Relena. That's what's odd."

Quatre's eyes widened on the screen and all traces of a smile or curiosity disappeared. "He did - WHAT-?"

"He came to my room and told me about Relena's charms. He waxed poetic for about a half an hour, then tried to come up with an idea for a gift for her, then he spaced out for a few minutes and asked me what in the hell he was thinking. Then he ran out of the room."

Quatre stared at him. Then, "About how long was he in your room?" he asked.

Trowa thought back. "Class released about ten minutes before he came in, he stayed approximately 50 minutes before leaving."

Quatre bit his lip. "That sounds like Duo's love potion."

"He has a love potion?"

Quatre nodded. "The night before last he tried it on Heero. I went to their room to ask Heero to take care of the school transfer and accidentally fell under the spell of it. It's voice activated and the effects took about an hour to wear off. When Heero turned up yesterday morning he told me about it."

Trowa stared at the screen.

"Why would Duo use the potion to fall for Relena though?"

Trowa shrugged then remembered that he hadn't seen Heero in classes the day before. "Heero played sick yesterday and there was a note on their door mentioning he went for a walk. There was also a bowl of soup outside the door. Do you think Relena managed to find it?"

Quatre nodded, a grim expression covering his face. "If she did then things could get very bad very quickly. How long ago did Duo leave?"

"I called you about a minute after he left."

"He didn't happen to say where Heero was did he?"

Trowa nodded. "Down town."

"I'll take Wufei and ear plugs and see if I can't find them. Can you go find Duo and ask him to call Heero?" Quatre looked at him hopefully.

Trowa nodded and gave him a soft smile, disconnecting the call. He got to his feet and turned the screen of his computer off. Trowa glanced out the window; he hoped Quatre found them before the potion wore off or before Heero killed Relena.

He turned and walked out the door. Trowa pulled the door shut behind him and walked down the hall toward Heero and Duo's room. The closer he got, the louder Duo's voice got. Trowa frowned and opened the door.

"Heero? ... Heero?"

Trowa watched as Duo slowly lowered the phone.

"Duo?"

Duo looked up at him. "He hung up!"

+

"So then he accused me of being jealous. I don't even like Relena! She's a pain in the ass and she's out with my boyfriend! He wouldn't even listen to me when I tried to tell him he was under the influence of the love potion. He said that the only person with it was me and there was no possible way he could be under its influence and then he hung up!"

"You can explain everything when he comes back tonight."

"No I can't! I checked the school computers and they have me listed as having requested a different room and they now have me in with you! The dorm lady won't change me back and if I'm not out of the room by the time he gets back then I get tossed from the school which'll endanger the mission and completely blow my chances!" Trowa sighed. He didn't want to deal with this. "Calm down Duo, everything will be fine. Relena can't stay in the dorm which means that in the morning Heero won't have been exposed to the potion and everything will get sorted out then."

The phone rang.

Trowa resisted the urge to sigh. They'd gone over this repeatedly for the last forty five minutes. If Duo kept this up, he would have to smack him. He picked up the phone.

"He proposed."

Trowa blinked. He didn't even have the chance to say anything.

"We found them just in time to see him propose."

"Trowa? Who is that? What's going on? Is it Heero?" Duo asked. Trowa waved Duo back down into a chair. "Tell me again. Slowly. I want to know that what I just heard is a joke." He said, finally formulating a coherent sentence.

"Heero proposed to Relena. He doesn't have a ring but he did it with an army of guys from the school around so they all know that she said yes. We've been using hearing translators so we don't get sucked into the spell but every male around has hung on her every word since we arrived." Quatre replied.

Trowa took the phone away from his ear and stared at it. He raised it again. "I'm here with Duo. He wants to know."

"Don't tell him anything!" Quatre nearly shouted.

"Do you think I want bodily harm?" Trowa shot back.

"What's going on, please, tell me Trowa?" Duo pleaded.

"Duo, sit." Trowa requested. "Quatre, get Wufei and come up to the school and bring some hearing translators with you. We can't afford to get sucked into this. In the meantime, we'll work on the mission and see if we can't get out of here sooner than expected."

"Right. Be careful Trowa and don't tell him." Quatre said.

"You as well." Trowa said and hung up the phone.

Duo stared at him. "What. Happened."

Trowa studied Duo. "Nothing that I'm going to go into now. The mission is supposed to be done in a couple of days. Let's finish it tonight and get out of here."

"Trowa? I didn't ask about the mission. What did Quatre say?" Duo demanded as he stood up.

Trowa grabbed Duo's bag. "Pack your things and move into my room. I'll trace the digital paper trail to OZ. When you're done and Quatre and Wufei are here, I'll tell you." He tossed the bag to Duo and marched out of the room.

+

"He WHAT?!"

Quatre sighed. "You heard me Duo," he said as he returned the ice pack to his eye.

Duo felt like his head would pop. "No. I didn't. What I heard isn't possible."

"We spoke with Yuy after we hung up with you and now he won't speak to us either. He doesn't believe that she has your love potion. He refuses to believe it. After the third attempt by Winner, Yuy had enough and that's when he punched him." Wufei replied.

Duo sunk to the bed shaking his head. His stomach churned and his head spun wildly.

"What's more is that he told us that Relena was his new mission. He didn't give a damn about anything else except her happiness. He told us that if we interfered in any way he'd kill us." Quatre said leaning back and stretching out on Trowa's bed.

Duo closed his eyes, clapping his hands over his ears to shut out his voice. There had to be some other way, something that he could do.

"Duo, she asked when the wedding would be. He said as soon as possible. While Winner got ice for his face I heard him set a departure for Las Vegas for three days from now."

Duo closed his eyes and shook his head. He shouldn't ever have bought that potion. He should have just told Heero how he felt and to hell with the results. If he hadn't bought the damn thing Heero wouldn't have gotten pissed at him, Quatre wouldn't have a complex, and Relena never would have gotten hold of it.

"I think we should finish the mission. Quatre, you take out the computer back door and erase the contact information. Wufei, take out the contact. I'll keep watch." Trowa pushed off of the wall. "Duo, we need Heero. Anything you can remember about that potion that we don't know would be helpful. Ingredients especially. If we know that we may be able to counteract it."

Duo shook his head, mind still reeling with the fact that Heero proposed to Relena. "Nothing will counteract love potion number nine..." Zorah's cigarette voice filled his mind. "The love potions take away free will... All but love potion number 10." He whispered. Quatre removed the ice pack. "What?"

"Love potion number 9 is temporary but 10 is permanent. Love potion number 10 is the kiss of fate. A sip of that by both parties and a kiss will either grant everlasting never ending love and trust or it will grant absolute love and devotion on one person's behalf and unadulterated disgust on the others." Duo continued to whisper. "I bet love potion number 10 would override 9."

Wufei looked at him oddly. "What are you talking about Maxwell?"

"Zorah... The woman I bought the love potion from back at the bazaar. She mentioned there was a love potion more powerful than the one I bought. It's... risky though." Duo whispered.

"Explain." Trowa demanded.

"The way I understood her was that love potion 10 is permanent. In other words, if it's used, the initiator is granted never-ending love and devotion to the person that they dosed. However, if that person isn't the one they are meant to love for the rest of their lives, that person will hate them for all eternity."

Silence filled the small room.

"We could get the potion and give it to Relena as a gift for before the wedding." Quatre piped up.

"She doesn't trust us after this afternoon's episode." Wufei reminded.

"Oh."

More silence reigned the room until Duo broke it. "I'll give Heero the potion. It's safer than having Relena tagging along with more reason than she already does. That potion would do that. If I dose Heero then I won't be any worse off than I already am. If he loves me as much as he told me he did then this will break the spell Relena has him under and return him to us."

Quatre blinked at Duo while the other two just stared. "Duo there has to be another w-"

"There isn't! Look, Quatre, I love him enough to risk having him kill me for that love potion trick. I almost lost my chance with him and it was only because he felt the same that he came back and owned up to it. He let loose his control when I asked him to, he trusted me! I can't turn my back now. I can't." Duo half shouted.

Quatre stared. "Are you sure?"

Duo lifted his chin to meet Quatre's eye's sqarely. "Gonna let me borrow the family jet?"

Quatre nodded. "Just let me make the call."

+

[part 6] [part 8] [back to Mair's fic]