Hi! Let's see . . . this one isn't finished, but I've just been given the chance to go to Egypt in about a week so I don't know when I'll be able to write more, so I figured I should just get this out. This is the third story in the series begun with Heist. Hope you enjoy!
Title: System Error 1/2
Author: girl_starfish
Rating: Pg13
Disclaimer: Don't own/make a profit

System Error + Part 1

Heero

Although nothing would have pleased me more than to listen to Duo's breathing and feel the steady rise and fall of his chest, I finally decided to file the sensation away in my memory and drop into low power mode. It was important for me to conserve my energy after all --

Who knew when the next time I'd be able to recharge myself would be? I must have lain in hibernation for hours as Duo slept. His pattern of breathing continued regularly with no interruption --

Until a sudden bell shattered the silence.

It rang, sounding close by. It seemed to be attached to a wall unit, some sort of speaker system. I sat up carefully, casting an anxious look at Duo. He was beginning to stir -- should I silence the bell before it woke him? It might be important -- perhaps I should leave it for him to deal with? After all, I had no idea whether he would interpret my action as invading his privacy --

Duo solved the problem for me by growling a couple of unfamiliar words into the blankets and thumping the wall near his head, on what I saw was a touch sensitive pad.

"What?" he demanded.

A familiar voice answered coolly. "Howard informed me of your return. I was surprised you hadn't reported in."

Wufei. I listened as Duo pulled himself out of the blankets to reply grumpily.

"You're not my keeper! What is it 'let's treat Duo like a little kid day'? Honestly, can't a guy make his own decisions?"

"Howard was worried. He had Sweepers out looking for you."

"He does that anyway. Talk about paranoid. After all, I've only fallen off a building once."

"Uh-huh. At least you could have called me. I need to know how your missions go. If you don't come back, I assume something's gone wrong."

"Aw, so you do care," Duo yawned. "What's the matter, didn't you get your merchandise?"

"It arrived safely, Duo. It was you I was worried about."

"How sweet. Now go away."

"Not until you tell me where you were and what happened."

Duo pouted. "If you really loved me, you'd let me go back to sleep."

I was alarmed. Was Duo talking about love with Wufei -- did that mean Duo was already with Wufei? "What do you mean -- if he loved you?"

"What? Oh, Heero, I don't mean it like that. I mean I kind of do, but not the way you think. It's just a joke between us, because we're friends, okay?"

I wasn't sure, but I nodded. After all, I could ask Duo about it later.

"Duo?" Wufei said carefully, sounding as though he was afraid of the answer. "Did you just say Heero? As in Heero Yuy?"

"Ah, possibly," Duo said. "I didn't catch his last name -- "

"You," Wufei said, in the same thin, polite voice, "have with you the Heero Yuy that has the entire downside in an uproar and a good part of the upside too? The Heero Yuy that is worth millions, the Heero Yuy that embodies the scientific future?"

Duo winked at me. "I don't know about that," he said. "But if you mean the Heero Yuy that's currently looking extremely good half naked in my bed, then yes, I do."

I couldn't contain my pleasure. I smiled. Duo thought I looked good.

"You like me?" I asked, but Duo was busy thumping the wall.

"Hello, Wufei? Fei-kun? Did I give you a heart attack? Don't die on me Fei-kun!" He swore, pressing the touch pad again, and keying in a code onto the number pad next to it. The bell sound returned only sounding further away. A few seconds later, someone answered.

"Yes?"

"Trowa? That you? Stupid question, only one person answers the phone with a monosyllable. Go next door right away, okay? I think I might have killed Fei-kun."

There was a beep then a dull ringing tone. Duo laughed as he used the touch pad again to end the connection.

"Trowa. Doesn't say a lot but he gets the job done."

He groaned, flopping back onto the pillows. "Stupid, Fei, waking me up! Now, it's going to take ages to go back to sleep -- "

"I thought you'd killed him," I said.

"Hee-chan, you take me too literally." Duo complained. He yawned, groaned and then sat up. "What time is it?"

"Past ten."

"Wufei better be dead. Otherwise, I'm really going to kill him."

I decided not to ask.

"You think I look good," I stated.

"Huh? Oh yeah, you're great eye-candy Heero." Duo smiled at me again, making my heart leap. "I like," he said, running his nose down my neck, "you a lot." Then he kissed my neck.

I lay back on the bed sighing happily, as Duo brought my upper chest and neck to life with his kisses. I was too taken by the sensations to even think of filing them away --

And Duo had said there was more.

"D-Duo?" I panted. "Last night . . . what you said . . . can I grope you?"

Duo chuckled, and his warm breath tickled my shoulder. "Grope away, sugar."

"How?"

"How? Didn't J teach you anything? No, I didn't just say that -- ugh, talk about unwelcome mental images. Ew!"

I discovered Duo sometimes needed to be guided back on topic. "How does one grope?"

Duo smiled at me. "I love you, you know that?" Then before I could reply continued, "It's just feeling someone up, basically."

"And I do that how?"

"Uh . . . well, you know feeling someone up -- touching them -- maybe a practical demonstration is called for. See if I were feeling you up I would put my hands down here and touch your butt like this . . ." I blushed as Duo's hands brushed over the curve of my rear. "Mmm, nice Heero. Do you work out?"

"My body's mechanism is based more on electrical energy than organic food sources," I explained. "Consequently I have little in the way of body fat."

"Oh. Right. Well, all the better for me then -- "

I yelped as Duo's fingers again worked the slightly sensitized padding of my butt -- this time without the interruption of cloth. "Duo!"

"How does that feel?"

I took a moment to run a quick diagnostics scan. "Good. I like it -- the readings given by the pressure points underneath my imitation skin are not unpleasant."

"Good," Duo breathed, hugging me tightly. "Now, Heero, if you were feeling really adventurous, you might decide to do this -- " He slipped a hand down the front of my trousers.

And paused.

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

"Uh, Heero? You seem to be missing something . . . kind of important."

I stared at him in puzzlement. My internal scan that I had performed upon regaining consciousness had not produced any abnormalities -- "My scan did not show any errors."

"Trust me, you're missing a fairly vital part." Duo sounded upset.

I lifted up the blankets to closer examine the area in question. It looked normal. "J said I had all parts necessary to function adequately in society."

"I'm beginning to hate J," Duo growled. "Heero, what about . . . you know, reproduction?"

"I lost that ability in the accident," I said, wondering what he'd brought this up for.

"But the act of reproduction itself, you know, sex. Didn't J consider that important enough?"

"Why are we talking about reproduction?" I asked. "I thought all of that was done with genetics and test tubes."

"In the upside maybe," Duo said. "Down here things are still done the old fashioned way. So you're saying you can't have sex? Not at all?"

"J never mentioned it in my training," I said. "Other than being a weakness and a distraction. Is it important?"

Duo struggled to reply. "No," he said finally. "Not at all. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go -- " he waved a hand vaguely. "Freshen up."

I felt extremely uneasy as Duo left. Despite what he told me, I had a feeling that he was not happy and that things weren't okay . . . My suspicion was borne out when half an hour passed and he didn't return.

I climbed out of Duo's room cautiously, not sure if this was allowed or not. My life-systems scan produced a reading around the corridor so I followed it to find a cluster of men leaning against the wall in discussion. They stopped as I approached.

"Duo's AI," one of the men explained to the others.

"AI?" Another of them whistled. "How did the kid pull that?"

"I'm dysfunctional," I explained. "If you don't mind, I am currently seeking Duo. Where might I find him?"

"I saw him heading into workroom 7 not so long ago," the man pointed the path out to me. "Just follow the signs."

Workroom 7 was as crowded as Duo's bedroom. In the middle it had a set of vices for holding really big bits of machinery, currently some sort of motor. I spotted Duo's plait beside the motor. "Duo?"

"Hey." He did not sound particularly happy. In fact he sounded quite the opposite. Concerned I walked around the motor until I was facing him, curled up in a little ball by the machinery. He had blotchy cheeks and sore looking eyes. I grew alarmed.

"Duo? What happened? Stay there, I will fetch a doctor." I hurried towards the door.

Duo stopped me. "What's up, Heero? I don't need a doctor."

I turned back to him, kneeling beside him and gently cupping his face in my human hand. "But . . . you're leaking fluid."

"This?" Duo tried to wipe his eyes. I stopped him, using the material of my shirt to dab gently at them instead. "It's normal. It's what happens when people cry."

"Cry?"

"You've never seen someone cry?" Duo stared at me. I shook my head.

"What is it?"

"Well usually people cry when they're uh," Duo hesitated. "Upset I guess."

"And you're upset. Did I do this?"

"I'm fine Heero and it's not your fault. It's just . . . I guess I'm disappointed. That's all."

In the half hour that Duo had been absent I'd put a good deal of thought into remembering my lessons of reproduction. There had been only one explanation that I had come up with. "Did you want to have a child?"

Duo blinked at me. "What?"

"That's the purpose of reproduction, isn't it?" I asked.

"I guess, but the act of reproduction is important for other reasons. See couples when they're together often have sex to experience this closeness with their partner . . ." Duo sighed wistfully.

"It is a good thing?" I asked.

"Yeah. Very good."

"J did not consider it important that I had relationships," I said. "He said emotional attachments were a liability and that I was better off without them. I thought he was right. And then I met you."

"You really do know how to say the sweetest things," Duo said, patting my cheek. I remained frowning.

"Are you going to send me back? Because I don't have the necessary parts?"

Duo hesitated. Finally, he looked at me and said, "I guess that's up to you. What do you want?"

"Do you want me to go?" I asked.

"I -- no, no I don't," Duo said. "This shouldn't change anything I guess. After all, I was saying last night most couples wait before having sex and who knows, by the time we're ready for that, if we are, you might have the parts you need. And, yeah I guess it was a bit of a shock, I am a normal, healthy, hormonal teenager after all, but I'll live and we can work this out and in the meantime we can still cuddle and stuff and -- "

I decided he was babbling again and kissed him to bring him back on topic. "What do we do now?" I asked.

"Go back to bed," Duo said firmly. "I still have a lot of sleep to catch up on."

+ + + + +

[cont]