---------------------
  X'mas AC198 Part I
~ A Moment of Haven ~
---------------------
	"Well, it's far from the city, I'll give it that much," Duo 
observed mildly, miffed that he had to restrain his speed going up the 
gently winding mountain road.  It was more fun being a lawless criminal 
sometimes.  He consoled himself with the fact that their rental car was 
pretty crappy anyway.

	"The turn-off should be coming up soon."  Five seconds passed 
before Heero pointed with one hand, flipping his GPS nav system shut 
with his other.  "There.  That should be it.  Third property on the 
right, Quatre said."

	Duo turned dutifully when the time came and started looking for 
driveways.  "How big is this place again?  Eight rooms, he said?"

	"Big enough to qualify as a 'chalet'."

	"What the hell is a 'chalet' anyway?  It sounds snooty."

	"Guess we'll find out.  It probably doesn't mean anything, in 
terms of what it actually is.  He said it was big enough for small 
corporate off-sites."

	"Eight rooms?  Sounds like a freakin' hotel to me."  Geez, there 
was a driveway.  Finally.  One.

	"He said it was a company timeshare, so it sort of is, in a 
sense."

	"But why here?  I mean, his place on L4 was good enough."

	"I think he wanted to get out a bit, and no one else had this 
place booked.  I don't really see how it'll make much of a difference, 
here or L4.  We're here to get together, not enjoy the scenery."

	"Hm.  I guess there's three of us on Earth right now, anyway."  
Though the scenery was nice.  He spied a second driveway through the 
trees.  "Okay, one more..."

	"There must be a lot of land around the chalets, if they're 
spaced so far apart."

	"I think he said there wasn't anyone next door to us right now, 
too.  Hmmmm, there it is."  He turned into the driveway, only to find it 
was long enough to say that they weren't quite there yet.  "Sheesh."

	Despite Duo's complaints, they reached the front of the chalet 
soon enough.  Quatre had already arrived, which was good since he held 
the keys to the chalet.  Trowa was perched on the bumper of an SUV, and 
he waved at them as they pulled up next to him and turned off the 
engine.

	"What are you waiting for?" Heero asked by way of greeting, 
first thing after getting out of the car.

	"Quatre to figure out how the keys work."  Trowa glanced over to 
the porch, where the fourth of their number was huddled near the front 
door to the chalet.  A couple of suitcases kept him company.  "It's 
stuck or something."

	Duo chortled.  "Refuse to admit you're having a blond moment, 
Q?"

	"I am *not* blond!" he growled loudly, more at the doorknob than 
at Duo.  "If Trowa there would just get off his lazy butt..."

	A glance at Trowa showed that he was far more amused right where 
he was, thank you very much, so Duo volunteered to assist.  He had a 
good working relationship with locks.

	Heero took the opportunity to take a better look at the place 
they would be staying for the next two weeks.  It looked a lot larger 
than 'eight rooms' would imply, but perhaps he had forgotten about the 
kitchen, the bathrooms, and who knew how many common rooms.  Most 
importantly, however... "It's quiet out here."

	Trowa hummed in agreement.  "It hasn't started snowing up here 
yet.  Quatre figures that's the reason why this place wasn't booked.  
Most people are up here to ski."

	The air was still quite nippy.  With a mental smile, Heero 
wondered if there would be any fires built.  He spied two chimneys 
rising from the roof of the chalet.  "You came down with him?"

	"He gets a corporate discount."

	Duo's laugh and Quatre's protest diverted Heero's eye in that 
direction.  "How long has he been trying?"

	"Almost ten minutes now."

	"You were late."  A half hour later, and Duo probably would have 
been picking the lock, just for kicks.

	"You were early."

	"Duo drove."

	Trowa tilted an eyebrow at him, questioning his good sense.

	"We agreed to split the drive, and I'm not about to let him 
drive -down- the hill."

	"Hm.  Good point."

	"Got it!" Duo called out at them, waving them over as Quatre 
made his way inside.  "Musta had some bad weather out here some time.  
We're going in to check it out."

	Heero stared at him as he disappeared into the bowels of the 
chalet.  "I see he left me to get the bags."

	Since his bag was already by the front door, Trowa held out a 
hand in a silent offer to assist, but Heero turned him down with a shake 
of his head.  He objected to the duty only on principle.  They were 
light packers.

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

	"Where do you suppose they are?" Trowa asked conversationally.  
The place was large enough on the inside that they couldn't immediately 
tell, but the echo of another laugh led them to one of the back rooms.

	"Dude, check this place out!"  Duo gestured to the innards of 
the den.  There was a pool table, several plush sofas, and a fairly 
decent entertainment system.  "Quatre says we get to use all of this 
stuff."

	Quatre opened a cabinet in the wall next to the television set 
and found movies and board games.  "Ooh, sweet."

	Next to him, Duo opened another smaller wall cabinet and 
whistled.  "Ooh, sweeter."

	He poked his head around the door and peered inside.  "You 
drink, Duo?"

	"Not yet!" Duo chirped cheerfully.

	Heero frowned.  "Duo."

	He turned with a mischievous grin.  "What?"  When Heero's frown 
didn't waver, he laughed and shut the doors.  "Just jokin', Yuy.  Geez.  
Who was inviting you to the party, anyway?  Let's see what other perks 
this place's got."

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

	He knocked once, but didn't wait for an answer before opening 
the door and slipping inside.  Shutting it softly behind him, he 
shuffled through the pre-dawn hour with a yawn and wormed his way 
underneath Heero's blankets.  "Whose stupid idea was this, anyway?"

	Heero shifted to accommodate his presence, making only a neutral 
sound in response.  It hadn't been anyone's idea, really.  They'd all 
laid claims to separate rooms and the two of them had just sort of 
agreed to go with it after a wordless glance.

	"'s cold," Duo muttered, proving it by tucking his feet into 
Heero's warmth.

	He twitched, but let the cold feet stay where they were.  "Wear 
socks."

	"Dun' like socks to sleep.  Always get all..."  Duo stopped to 
tug the blankets more snugly around him.  "...twisted up."

	The cold had kept him from a decent rest as well, though he 
wondered how much of that was psychological.  They hadn't slept a night 
apart since starting to do it regularly.  If they'd been at home, maybe 
it wouldn't have seemed so lonely, but the big cold foreign bed with 
different fluffiness and different shadows highlighting the room 
probably emphasized a lot of things.

	He decided there were better things to do than think about it.  
With a contented sigh, he rubbed Duo's arm in welcome and fell back to 
sleep.

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

	Quatre knocked, waiting for signs of life from within.  He was 
just about to knock again when he heard feet hit the floor.  A handful 
of seconds later, and Duo opened the door and leaned against its edge.  
"G'morning."

	He blinked at the unexpected face, wondering for a moment if he 
had gotten the rooms mixed up before he spied Heero still lying amongst 
the blankets.  "Good morning, Duo," he responded.  "You two been up for 
a while?"

	A corner of Duo's mouth quirked upward.  "Well, I got out of bed 
a while ago... and I've been trying to get this guy's lazy butt out of 
bed, too."  He jerked his thumb over his shoulder.

	"Lazy?"  That didn't sound like Yuy.  "It's a vacation, Duo.  
Leave the poor guy alone."

	"Yeah?  Then just why were you a'knocking just now?"

	"I just wanted to see if anyone was up for some breakfast.  If 
you wanted to sleep in, though, I wouldn't be harassing you."  The hour 
wasn't all that early.  It was late enough to qualify as polite.  And he 
had already waited a bit before dropping by.  Wasn't Quatre's fault he 
was used to getting up early.

	"Hmpf."  Duo turned around partially to look over his shoulder.  
"Well?  Breakfast?  Brunch?  Food, in any case?"  He paused, then turned 
back to Quatre for another question.  "Nothing fancy, right?"

	"Nothing fancy," Quatre assured him.  "We're eating from what we 
brought, you know.  Though I hear from Relena that the two of you are 
apparently surprisingly good cooks."

	"Hey, I don't think I like the sound of 'surprisingly'.  We 
gotta feed ourselves, don't we?  Hey, wait, are you saying you're going 
to make us cook?"

	"Well, you have to feed yourselves, don't you?  Surely you 
wouldn't mind feeding one more?"  Quatre beamed at him with a deliberate 
brightness.

	Duo rolled his eyes, then turned back to Heero.  "Well?"

	There was a soft sigh before Heero spoke, and the word itself 
was like another sigh.  "Sure."

	He came back with a shrug.  "Guess we'll be down in a few, 
then."

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

	Duo eyed the spread on the kitchen island.  "Gee, Q.  Expecting 
something?"

	Quatre smiled innocently again.  "Of course not, Duo.  I just 
took everything out so you could see what your choices are.  I'd hate 
for you to eat cereal without realizing you could make french toast."

	"For example," Duo appended dryly.

	"For example."

	He glanced toward his partner.  "Guess we're making french toast 
for breakfast."

	"Aa."  Hiding his amusement, Heero headed toward the array of 
ingredients, running a hand through his hair as he did so and looking 
not quite pleased to be out of bed yet.  Skipping their usual morning 
run was supposed to mean being able to lie in bed for a little while 
longer.

	"I'm going to add this to the list of things we need to talk to 
Relena about, if you don't mind."

	Heero snorted, but continued his task of liberating slices of 
bread from the loaf that Trowa had brought.  There was a small market 
not too far from the chalet that would serve for perishables, but they 
had decided that they each would bring foodstuffs of their own to share 
to minimize the dependence on a venture down the hill.

	"What else is on that list?" Quatre asked.

	Duo shook his head.  "That girl so needs to get laid."

	"Duo."  Heero's disapproval was instantly manifest, and 
underscored by the rap of an egg against the rounded edge of the 
countertop.

	He spread his hands in a plea for understanding.  "Hey.  She 
does."

	Quatre smirked.  "You volunteering?"

	Duo flinched away from him.  "Eew!  Ugh, no.  God, no.  Ick.  
Why?  You testing out the waters?  Seeing if you have any competition 
from this end or something?"

	A drawer was slid home quite audibly.  "I don't believe this is 
appropriate breakfast conversation," Heero announced firmly.

	"Hmpf.  Oh, hey, let me get that."  Duo moved to take the bowl 
and whisk out of his hands, gesturing toward the breakfast nook with his 
chin, where Quatre sat on his stool, swinging his legs idly.  "You have 
such ideas about how breakfast conversation should go, then you talk to 
him."

	"Good morning, Heero," Quatre greeted with a small wave.

	"Hm.  Good morning," he added as an afterthought, easing himself 
onto a stool next to him.  He wasn't used to these rituals anymore.

	Duo interrupted the beginning of the conversation.  "Hey, the 
other guys coming down, too?"  When Quatre indicated in the positive, he 
surveyed the layout thoughtfully.  "Well, there goes a loaf of bread, 
then."

	"Don't worry about it," Quatre assured him.  "We've got, I think 
four more loafs where that came from.  We knew how much five growing 
young men can eat, after all."  He turned his discerning eye back to his 
nookmate, observing a few things that seemed off.  "Did you sleep poorly 
last night, Heero?"

	It was Heero's first instinct to sweep the matter under the rug, 
but he suppressed the urge to some degree and shrugged uncomfortably.  
"First night in a new place.  Still adjusting to the bed, and the 
temperature, too, I guess.  Just a little stiff, is all.  It'll go 
away."

	Well, that made more sense than Heero being lazy.  Quatre 
grimaced, though for other reasons.  "Yeah, my room was kind of cold, 
too.  Could just be the desert in me, though.  Hm, it isn't cold out 
where you guys are, is it?"

	He shook his head.

	"I miss the natural sunlight.  I need to get down to Earth more 
often."  There was a hint of longing before Quatre wiped it away with a 
smile.  "Is that a coincidence?  That you chose to settle down somewhere 
warm?"

	Again, Heero shrugged uncomfortably, though this one was caused 
more from shyness than muscle tightness.  "I confess... that was one of 
my... more 'indulgent' selection priorities."

	Duo took a moment out of inspecting the stovetop's dials for the 
one he wanted.  "Really?"

	Heero tossed him a sidelong glance, half in apology for never 
mentioning it, half in complete nonchalance since it really was a matter 
of little concern to him.  He had needed criteria to whittle down his 
choices.  The important ones had come first, of course, but once those 
were exhausted, there had been room for the less important ones.  
"Yeah."

	"Hm."  He'd think about thanking Heero for that later.

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

	"How are things in the Earth Sphere?"  For Heero, asking about 
politics, crime, and the state of peace counted as small talk.

	"The 'Earth Sphere' as we know it may come to an end, actually," 
Wufei informed him.  He had gotten in the previous evening, and hadn't 
yet had much time for idle conversation.  And yes, by his standards, 
this did count as idle.

	Duo sighed loudly.  "Damn, at Christmas time again?  Well, they 
can just forget about that.  We're on vacation this time."

	"I'm sure nothing will be done about it for many, many months, 
if even that quickly.  I was referring to the name.  It seems that 
someone has put forth to the Senate that the name ought to be less 
Earth-centric."

	"Well, that's only fair.  Even if it'll probably mean a whole 
lot of letterheads are gonna have to change."

	"Although we don't necessarily want to emphasize the role of 
Earth as our 'mother planet'," Heero pointed out, "we do have to 
acknowledge that this is the Terran system, just as a matter of fact."

	And trust Heero to be matter of fact about the whole thing.  Duo 
was inclined to make the concession to him.  "They could go with the 
Terran... System.  Or something.  'Sphere' implies a certain amount of 
roundiness already, which implies a certain amount of planetness, which 
is also not very colonyish."

	"Spheres of influence," Trowa offered as a counter example.

	Quatre added his two cents.  "Don't forget Mars.  They'll become 
a part of the union soon."  Relatively speaking, anyway.  It would take 
decades before the terraforming would produce enough results to support 
life, and then decades more before there was enough there to sustain a 
human colony.

	"'Union'."  Duo hummed thoughtfully before nodding.  "See, 
that's a good word.  It's all uniony.  Makes us feel like one big happy 
family."

	"Heh, can you imagine the Terran Family?"

	He laughed loudly.  "Man, if we ever got invaded by anyone 
outside the solar system, we'd be the butt of so damn many jokes."

	That would probably be the least of their problems in such a 
situation, Wufei thought.  "Well, we can't be 'allies'.  We're already 
stuck not using 'Alliance' or 'Federation' or anything of the sort."

	"But 'family' works so well!  They're all dysfunctional, right?  
You got room for the black sheep and the mamas and papas and the babies 
and the angsty teenagers.  It's the perfect word!  Heero, mention that 
to Relena, next time you talk to her."

	The item was duly inserted very far down Yuy's to-do list.  
"She's coming, isn't she?  She told me she'd try."

	"I may have spoken to her more recently than you," Wufei 
answered.  "She said her chances were good for being here around New 
Year's.  She sounded excited.  They say how you spend New Year's is how 
you'll spend the rest of the year, so I think she wanted to be among 
friends."

	"Do you really think she needs to get laid?" Quatre mused.

	"Quatre!"  Heero's eyes weren't the only ones that were wide.

	"What?  It's not breakfast anymore."

	Wufei had been here for less than twenty four hours, and already 
things had gotten strange.  "I'm sorry, where did this come from?"

	"I think Quatre needs to get laid," Duo declared.

	Naturally, the blond spoke up in his own defense.  "Hey.  This 
is the second time you've said that about someone else.  Are you sure 
it's not *you* who needs to get laid?"

	"Heh, who says I'm not getting laid?"  Duo paused just long 
enough for a smirk.  "And you're the one that just brought it up out of 
the blue.  At least I make some effort to connect it logically to what 
we were just talking about."

	"You said it out of the blue this morning."

	"You asked what was on my list of things to talk to her about, 
so I told you.  Perfectly logical to me."

	Wufei really didn't want to ask, but something compelled him to 
anyway.  "Why is that on your list of things to talk to her about?"

	Duo shook his head sadly.  "'Cuz I swear, that girl's about as 
hard up as Quatre here is.  Must be all that business and politics and 
stuff."

	"Hey!"

	"Yeah, we definitely need more love, less war, in the Senate 
House."

	Quatre drew in breath to retort before the mental image caught 
up to him.  "Ick."

	The image jumped into Duo's mind, and he made a face.  "...Okay, 
you're right.  Ick.  So not *in* the Senate House.  And not with each 
other.  I mean, come on, these old geezers are probably married, aren't 
they?  Really, more love, less war, and one big happy Terran commune, 
and life would be good, right?"

	Though that was an interesting question, Quatre seized upon one 
that seemed even more interesting to him.  "Wait, were you serious when 
you said you were getting laid?"

	Duo's look affected surprise, and he played it off as 
incredulity at being doubted, but a bit of it came from the fact that he 
was having this kind of conversation at all with the pilot he had 
considered to be the most proper of their little clique.  "You think I'm 
the type to kiss and tell?"

	There was someone here that could confirm or refute Duo's claim, 
and Quatre turned to him for the answer, but found a far from 
eager-to-please expression there.  "I don't think Heero here approves of 
our discussion."

	That was a given.  Duo rolled his eyes.  "Heero here refuses to 
admit he's a teenaged guy."

	Oh, Heero was fairly aware of that, given the recent 
developments in his relationship with Duo.  "I just don't find it 
necessary to discuss who's getting laid and who isn't."

	"We're teenaged guys, Heero.  This is a matter of life and 
death."

	"This is your fault, Chang."

	Wufei glanced up, a little startled.  He'd been trying to stay 
out of this conversation.  "Excuse me?"

	"I asked you how things were in the Earth Sphere.  You could 
have told me that there was an organized crime ring broken up in Spain, 
or that you stopped an arms smuggling group over in Canada, but no, you 
had to say something interesting."

	"What the hell is wrong with 'interesting', Yuy?" Duo huffed.

	"The 'Terran Commune', Duo?"

	"What's wrong with that?  And we can be all retro hippy and 
stuff.  It'd be great.  That's coming back in, isn't it?"  A thought 
struck him, and he turned to Trowa.  "Hey, what was that I heard about 
that one L3 colony trying to go nudist?  Was that just a trippy rumor?"

	"L3 Theta," Trowa answered.  "Interesting bunch."

	Heero turned with some determination back to the object of his 
original query.  "So, Wufei.  Anything else going on in the world right 
now?"

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

	"I hear you're teaching a seminar."

	Ah, at last, Heero thought.  A quiet conversation, now that Duo 
and Quatre were off somewhere.  Things had been oddly light and amusing 
for most of the day.  Perhaps that wasn't supposed to be 'odd'.  Despite 
their experiences, their bodies were teenaged, after all.  "I am."

	"I hear it might be something of an evaluation course," Wufei 
continued with a casual air, fingers paging slowly through a brochure on 
the national parks system that he had found lying on a shelf.

	Heero glanced up from his work for a moment before continuing to 
mend the seam that had broken along the cuff of Duo's jacket.  Since 
Heero had been the one nominally responsible for it, grabbing a hold of 
the cuff to restrain Duo from tackling Quatre for an imagined insult, he 
felt it only proper that he fix the damage.  "...For us, you mean?"

	"We're closing in on the official minimal allowable age, and the 
organization is growing."

	"I don't think I would be medically cleared for active field 
duty."  It was true, and it didn't bother him, but it felt like an 
excuse at the moment.

	"I don't think so either," Wufei stated baldly, flipping the 
brochure back onto the surface on which he had found it and going to sit 
in an armchair across from Yuy.  "But there are many other roles you 
could fill.  This seminar is an example."

	Heero pondered that over two precise stitches.  It wasn't as if 
they hadn't considered the option before.  "I... could find that 
acceptable.  So long as we didn't have to move."

	"Relena has told me of your town.  Your home," he amended 
softly.  "It sounded quite pleasant there."

	"It's 'home', now.  I'd be willing to travel a little.  As long 
as I had something to come home to."  Someone, maybe.  But somehow, it 
wouldn't be the same if it wasn't this house where they had 'grown up', 
in a sense.

	There was something about the way he said it that made Wufei 
think.  Maybe it was that sense of peace, of having found something that 
Wufei had been seeking for a while now.  "Hm.  I... 'wonder', sometimes.  
About where my path may have led me, had I not chosen to join the 
Preventers right away."

	"Something new, or something old, do you think?"

	"Something new, most likely.  I do not think I would be 
well-suited for something old anymore."

	"I am glad that I am no longer well-suited for something old," 
Heero offered, a more optimistic point of view to counter Wufei's soft 
tone of regret.  "I worried for quite a while that it was all that I was 
suited for, but it seems that I have changed.  In some good ways, maybe, 
and in some bad ways.  But change happens, whether we want it to or not.  
We just have to try and keep up with it."

	"Hm."  Wufei thought about those wise words, about whether he 
would really want to be able to go back to being the boy he had once 
been, and though his life had been more simple and peaceful, it had also 
been sheltered, and no, he would not want to go back now that his eyes 
had been opened.  "Perhaps you are right.  The world changes.  If we do 
not change with it... then I suppose we are not much better than those 
old aristocrats filling Romefeller's ranks, unable to relinquish the 
power they held in the past."

	Heero carefully straightened out his thread before continuing.  
"Sometimes I wonder... how Treize could ever have been a product of that 
society."

	Wufei required a controlled breath upon hearing that name, but 
nothing more.  The past was the past.  "The same way we could have been 
products of our societies, when the colonies were filled with oppression 
and lost hope, I imagine."

	"I would have liked to get to know him under different 
circumstances," he admitted, needing to get that out to someone that 
might understand.  Duo had never met the man.  It was difficult to 
discuss Treize with him.

	A heavy sigh answered him, though its sound did not stray far 
from its source.  "As would I."

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

	"Duo."

	"Hmmmm?"  Warm and toasty and why was someone talking to him 
right now?

	Heero nudged him in the side, knowing full well that Duo was 
still awake.  They'd only just settled down for sleep.  Duo's room, this 
time.  Heero had followed him in there as they had retired for the 
night, continuing the discussion they had been carrying on prior to 
that, and if he just happened to fall asleep in that room instead of 
returning to his own, then oh well.  The chances of that were high, 
considering they had crawled into the bed as soon as they had entered 
the room, but if pressed, Heero might explain that he'd just been 
helping Duo warm it up a bit.  He was forced to agree with Duo's 
assessment: there did seem to be a draft in here.

	Duo kicked him lightly in the calf, encouraging him to be silent 
and cuddly.

	He snorted, but did wiggle down a bit further under the 
blankets.  "Duo, could you please stop talking about how Relena needs to 
get laid?"  A snore followed his question, and he snorted again.  "You 
don't snore, Duo."

	"I do when I want you to shush up," Duo answered.  "Go to sleep, 
already.  It's not like I'm trying to disrespect her or anything.  And 
I'm certainly not volunteering to do the deed myself."  He cracked an 
eye open to peer at Heero in the semi-darkness.  "Or are you afraid that 
Quatre's gonna get some ideas?"

	That was not actually something that had occurred to him, and it 
made him pause for a few seconds of worried consideration.  "No, I don't 
think he'd do that...  I don't think."

	Duo snickered.  "Man, I don't know about that.  If he felt like 
doing it, I don't see him as having any problems with it."

	"But surely Relena wouldn't..."  Well, Quatre was 'safe', so to 
speak, and if they were both interested...  "Surely not while we're all 
together under one roof!"

	"You're such a prude sometimes, Heero."  Granted, they weren't 
exactly engaging in much sexual activity while they were here, but that 
wasn't all just for propriety's sake.  This wasn't 'home'.  They were 
five of the most dangerous men in the Terran Commune, but this just 
wasn't secure in the way that it needed to be for them to feel truly 
free here.

	"She hasn't seemed that desperate to me."

	"Trying to convince yourself here or what?"

	"You're not helping, Duo."

	"I know, but it's funny."

	Heero didn't think so.  He didn't seriously think the two of 
them would do it, either, but the thought still disturbed him.  He tried 
to pin it down to something definite.  Perhaps it was simply the way 
Quatre had been acting lately.  He hadn't spoken enough to their friend 
to determine if this was a pattern of behavior or just a result of being 
on vacation and free to act their own age for once.  "I was only worried 
that, if you continue to bring it up, that Quatre will have to tease her 
about it when she gets here."

	"So?  Let someone else shoulder that burden for a bit.  
Otherwise I might start running out of material."

	"So?  If she gets teased about it, then she'll just turn right 
around and start teasing us about it."

	"...Oh.  Hell."

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

	Quatre pulled his coat more tightly around him.  "I'm with Duo.  
It -is- cold here."

	"We're in the mountains in winter."  Personally, Trowa had no 
problems with the chilly weather, but maybe he was just more used to it.  
Maybe there was even a bit of nostalgia that had driven him to the back 
porch.  Quatre certainly hadn't had to come out and join him.

	"No wonder no one else had this place reserved.  The insulation 
in this place stinks."

	"Not up to your usual standards, Mr. Winner?"

	He hid a grimace behind some more snark.  "We should set 
something on fire.  That would help."

	"I hope you're referring to firewood, and not something else."

	"Duo said yesterday that fires were really good for heating a 
room up.  Of course, he had a somewhat suspicious look on his face when 
he said it, so maybe he was talking about something other than firewood.  
But I'm talking about firewood."

	"We'd have to chop some.  I saw a shed out back with some store 
in it."

	"Ooh, that sounds like fun.  Let's go."  It'd been quite a while 
since he'd gotten much physical activity.  He snagged Trowa's sleeve and 
tugged him in the indicated direction.

	Trowa freed himself and continued along at his own sedate pace.  
"I think you've been spending too much time with Duo."

	"I need to spend -more- time with Duo," Quatre muttered.  Duo 
was the only one that could be counted on to pretend that there wasn't 
anything at all serious happening outside of these walls, he thought, 
though with a bit of an internal wince.  He knew there was more to Duo 
than that, even if it didn't show sometimes.  "...I complained earlier 
that there wasn't much to do up here when there wasn't any snow out... 
but there's nothing wrong with just spending a quiet day inside with 
your friends."

	"Quiet?  Duo?"  The two of them had been anything but quiet, 
whether they were discussing the price of vegetables in the colonies or 
playing that competitive puzzle game they'd found for one of the game 
consoles in the entertainment room.

	"At least he's lively, and not just a loud complainer or 
something.  Ugh, those are the guys at work that drive me nuts.  At 
least the ones that are just looking out for themselves, they're 
tolerable if you're working towards the same goals, but the ones that 
always have to find something to bitch about... Anyway.  I don't care if 
all we can do is sit around and stare at each other.  I just needed a 
vacation."

	"You must, if you're losing your diplomacy, Quatre.  If we 
didn't know better..."

	He winced again, this time visibly, and contritely as well.  
"...Oh.  Sorry.  You know I miss you guys.  Of course I'd want to come 
and catch up with everyone, even if work was fabulous.  I just mean... 
I'm not going to take this time for granted.  It means that much more to 
me, compared to what I put up with every day.  People never relax at 
work, and here... why, look, even Heero seems so relaxed these days."

	"I would probably blame that on Duo."  Though Trowa wasn't 
surprised by Heero's capacity to relax.  During his recovery period, 
he'd shown the potential for it.

	"And Duo looks so settled these days."

	"I would probably blame that on Heero."  That one was a little 
more remarkable, but he supposed that Heero simply had a powerful 
presence.  He was likely a good influence without even trying.

	Quatre laughed.  "Heh, it's funny, if you think about it.  What 
if the base psychologists were right when they placed them together?"  
Supposedly, their room assignments had been selected according to some 
arcane compatibility assessment that they had all agreed was bull, based 
as it was on what little information had been gathered about the pilots.  
It was an unfortunate coincidence that the doctors seemed to have 
randomly guessed correctly in this one instance.

	"I wouldn't suggest that where Duo could hear you," Trowa 
advised dryly.

	"Of course not.  I may be bored, but I'm not *that* bored."

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

	The door opened and Duo peered within.  "Hey, there you are."

	He automatically noted his page number before shutting the book, 
though he thought it unlikely that he would be returning to it.  "Hey."

	"Taking advantage of the library here, I see."  Duo moved 
farther into the room, delivering a little tap back with his foot to the 
door to push it closed before leaving its area entirely.

	Heero shrugged.  "Just looking.  It's mostly top-ten-list 
fiction, I think.  A few classics."

	Duo perched on the low back of the room's couch and surveyed the 
shelves as Heero slid the book into its open niche.  It wasn't a large 
collection.  He wondered who was in charge of keeping everything in the 
chalet in stock.  "Wufei wanted to go for a stroll through the woods, 
wanted to know if we were interested in coming with?"

	"I doubt he used the word 'stroll'."  As for himself, he glided 
smoothly across the distance separating them to stand in front of Duo.

	"Well, he tried to use the word 'hike', but I don't think that's 
appropriate for this terrain.  But this is a discussion I already had 
with him."

	"Who won?"

	"Trowa made us agree to disagree.  Party-pooper."

	"We have plans to be in this house together for the next two 
weeks, Duo.  Try not to make any trouble."  He patted Duo's cheek with a 
patronizing smirk.

	Duo caught the hand around the wrist and glared at him, but his 
hold soon melted into a massaging action.  "You're feeling all good for 
a hike?"

	Heero smiled reassuringly for him.  "It's just a hike.  A 
stroll, even."

	"So you're feeling all good now?" he asked again, well used to 
Heero's ways.  He wondered if Heero was deliberately so evasive, or if 
it was just habit.  Neither of them was particularly accustomed to being 
open about their weaknesses.

	"It's better," Heero conceded, not contrite in the least about 
making the repetition of the question a necessity.  He manipulated their 
hands until their fingers were entwined.  The maneuverability of said 
digits was quite up to the task.  The first night had been cold, and 
he'd woken stiff.  The second night had been warmer, but still in Duo's 
drafty room.  Their third night was back in Heero's room, much cozier 
than the first night, and he woke up with far fewer complaints.  "But 
I'm no spring chicken."

	Duo stifled a chuckle as he shifted in his seat.  The sofa was 
generously cushioned and leather to boot.  Quite comfy, actually.  "Of 
course not.  It's not spring, and you're no chicken."

	"Not even a graceful metaphor about the springtime of the soul?"  
Duo kicked at him, but Heero sidestepped into the couch and slid closer.  
"I deny the existence of winter."

	"Strangely delusional of you, Yuy."

	"Winter's the end, you see.  Which sort of implies that that is 
the state that you'll be stuck in for the rest of eternity.  But we've 
already established that we're spending our eternity in hell, and I'm 
going to be in a world of trouble if it's ever winter in hell."  He 
kissed Duo's fingers.

	"Ergo, there will be no winter?  I know you're all, 'where 
there's a will, there's a way,' Yuy, but good luck on this one."

	"You aren't with me on this one?  I know you don't like it 
cold."

	Duo used his free hand to latch onto the front of Heero's shirt 
and pull him even closer.  "You're not liking it anymore than I am right 
now."

	No, Yuy was liking where he was just fine right now.  "I'll 
blame that on you."

	"Hey, just who do you think it is that's warming your bed at 
night?"

	He laid his fingers atop the scar on his upper arm.  "I wouldn't 
feel an ache here if you hadn't shot me."

	"'Kiss it and make it better' doesn't work on you?  You poor, 
deprived thing."

	"Maybe you're just not doing it right."

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

	"There you are."

	Quatre turned around and found Trowa and Wufei standing in the 
doorway to the room they had dubbed the entertainment room.  "Hey, 
what's up?"

	"Doing anything interesting right now?" Wufei asked him.

	"Just checking out the titles."  He shut the cabinet doors and 
walked over to them.

	"Did you want to watch a movie or something?"

	"Not right now.  I was just looking for later."

	Trowa smiled slightly.  "Trying to gain a tactical advantage 
over the rest of us by doing some early recon?"

	Quatre shrugged.  "Maybe.  Were you guys putting something else 
together?"

	"I was thinking about scouting out the woods around here," Wufei 
responded.  "Decided I'd ask anyone else if they wanted to come along."

	"Sure, I'm in.  Did you ask Duo and Heero yet?"

	"I sent Duo to look for Heero to ask.  We can go find them."

	"I think Heero was in the room with all the books."  He led the 
way toward the room.  "I don't think there's much interesting out there, 
though."

	"In the woods?" Wufei asked.  "Woods themselves can be 
interesting."

	Quatre smiled faintly.  "Guess it's that desert in me again."

	"You find an endless expanse of sand to be more interesting?"

	"Maybe."

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

	The door opened, but the sound didn't register for a second.  
Maybe because Duo didn't like backing down from a challenge and had 
decided to show Heero how rightly he could do things.

	Instinct kicked in quickly, a different instinct than the one 
that had gripped them just a moment ago, and Heero rolled for cover 
behind the sofa, taking Duo with him.  The slippery surface of the 
leather and the fluffiness of the backing facilitated their disorderly 
descent.  Heero landed on the cushions first, and a wide-eyed Duo 
falling on top of him managed to move his knee just barely in time to 
avoid connecting with sensitive parts of his partner's anatomy.  That 
unfortunately planted his balance closer to the edge of the sofa, and he 
half slipped, half tumbled off towards the floor.  There was an area rug 
beneath, but it was hardly excellent padding, and Heero automatically 
reached out to Duo to keep him from falling, and then the traitorous 
sofa booted him off the edge, too, and it was all he could do from 
landing with his full weight on Duo.  He pushed away from the sneaky 
piece of furniture and managed to avoid Duo, but clipped yet another 
piece of furniture, this time the coffee table, with his shoulder before 
finally coming to rest half underneath it.

	Quatre and the others blinked, the 'oof!'s and 'ugh!'s and 
'omigod Heero are you okay?'s all that confirmed this strange turn of 
events for them.  He rushed over to the sofa and peered over the top of 
it, and yes, there they were, lying in disarray on the ground.  "Are you 
guys okay?"

	Duo was on his back, peering under the coffee table and trying 
without laughing too much to fuss over Heero, whose upper body had 
managed to clear the space beneath the slightly displaced table.  After 
a few seconds, Duo looked up at their unexpected visitor.  "Um, yeah, 
seems like it."  The brief adrenaline surge left him a little 
breathless.

	Quatre laughed, a little unsure of himself, but gaining 
confidence when the others appeared by his side to observe the 
proceedings.  "What were you guys doing?"

	Under the table, Heero took Duo's hand discreetly and squeezed 
it for attention.  Duo glanced his way, saw the message passed along by 
those blue eyes, and smiled lopsidedly.  "Well, Quatre," he started, 
looking back to the others.  "In a strange twist of fate... it was 
probably exactly what it looked like."

	"Heh, looked like you guys were making out on the back of the 
couch."  Quatre chuckled again, with a little bit of an edge.

	"Well, Quatre.  Like I said.  In a strange twist of fate... it 
was exactly what it looked like."  There was a bit of silence as they 
digested the implications of that statement.  Heero took advantage of 
that to tug on Duo's sleeve, bringing another matter to his attention.  
"Oops, sorry," he apologized softly, shifting out of the way to allow 
Heero the room to worm out from underneath his shelter.  Once Heero had 
gained a position behind him, he touched the banged-up shoulder in 
inquiry.  Heero shook his head, and Duo let it drop.

	"...I beg your pardon?" Quatre asked at last, sounding a little 
strained, but hiding it well.

	Heero put a quiet hand on Duo's hip, hidden in the shadow of the 
sofa, and saved him the trouble of saying it again.  "Duo and I were 
making out on the back of the couch."

	"...Oh."

	Ironically, Trowa was the one that found the words to muddle 
them through this.  "You're together now?" he asked calmly, adding a 
little bit of raised eyebrow for nuance.

	Heero simply nodded, but Duo added a rueful smile to the answer.

	"For how long?"

	"Since, uh..."  Duo trailed off, trying to tally the days.

	"Spring," Heero finished, keeping things general.  It was 
difficult to determine the exact beginning of their togetherness, 
anyway.

	"Together?" Wufei asked, that one word something of a demand.  
Surely there was something here that needed to be clarified.

	Duo resisted the urge to snicker.  "Yeah, you know.  Like, 
involved?"

	"Involved... romantically?"

	There were only so many ways to put this without getting 
extreme.  Heero added another one to the stack.  "Personally, I think of 
it more like exploring the bounds of our relationship."

	Duo twitched his elbow into Heero's gut.  That probably didn't 
help clear things up at all.  "So, who's up for that hike?"  The quiet 
following that question was not so much shock this time as a reprimand 
for trying to change the subject.  He blinked innocently.  "What?"

	Quatre finally recovered partially from his stupor to try and 
clear up the matter.  "You two are... gay?"

	He slowed in the act of getting up and looked at Heero 
doubtfully.  "Um.  Sorta kinda?"  When Quatre blinked with 
incomprehension, Duo scratched the back of his neck looking for an 
explanation.  It was a question he'd asked himself on occasion, and he 
still hadn't come up with a satisfactory answer.  "Well... we are kind 
of physically involved with each other.  That has some implications, 
don't you think?"

	"And you're gay... together?"

	"Sure seems like it."

	Quatre wondered if he was the only one having trouble figuring 
this out.  It just seemed so far out in left field.  On another day, he 
might have thought Duo was just joking with him, but Heero wouldn't have 
gone along with it like this.  And Duo wouldn't have been so subtle 
about it, either.  If he was just playing, he would have really played 
it up.  Finally, Quatre came up with a way for it all to make sense.  
"So you two are... experimenting."

	"Um.  I think we've gotten a little past that, now."

	Damn.  Okay.  Attempt number two.  "So you two are... dating?"

	"Um.  We kind of already moved in with each other, if you know 
what I mean."

	He wasn't exactly certain if that was a metaphor or just a 
statement of fact, but he pressed on anyway.  "So you two are... making 
out on the backs of couches, then?"

	"Um."  Duo was about to refute that one, too, but then realized 
he obviously couldn't.  "Well, yeah, I guess.  But other things, too, 
you know."

	If Quatre was working his way down one end of the spectrum, then 
Trowa jumped to the other end.  "Are you two in love?"

	Duo parted his lips to respond to that question as well, but was 
not particularly surprised when the answer froze on the tip of his 
tongue.  He was about to glance nervously to his partner when he felt 
that strong hand settle unobtrusively upon the small of his back, and 
then Heero took up the role as spokesperson.  "We're serious about 
this," he said firmly, drawing a subtle release of tension from Duo.  
"We're long-term.  We're committed."  Let them take from that what they 
would.

	Little could say more to Quatre's ears.  When Heero Yuy said he 
was committed to something, he was *committed* to it.  Quatre was 
suitably impressed, if quite surprised.  And then peeved.  "So you were 
just waiting for all of us to walk in on you or something before you 
were going to tell us?"

	Since that was more or less his idea, Heero took the 
responsibility for it.  "I don't think we were 'hiding' it or 
deliberately not telling you.  I think we're just accustomed to being 
discreet about it."

	That was a nice sidestep, except for one small issue.  Duo 
coughed delicately.  "Er, present circumstances excepted, of course.  
Hey, don't look at me like that," he muttered, glancing over his 
shoulder.

	The tilt on Heero's lips turned wry.

	Well, maybe it had been his idea, but Heero was just as much to 
blame for it as he was.  "Hmpf, that time in the kitchen was all your 
fault."

	"What time in the..."  Heero stopped as his recollection caught 
up and reminded him of the one other time someone had caught them.  "You 
started that one."

	Did he?  Damn.  "You wouldn't give me the lemon."

	Heero glanced over Duo's shoulder to the others.  They observed 
the minor debate with a degree of cluelessness.  "I think we've 
digressed quite a bit.  We're used to keeping it to ourselves.  That's 
all.  And we will continue to do so.  You have no cause for concern."

	"No cause for concern?" Quatre repeated flatly, a slight twitch 
underscoring his words.

	Duo tugged subtly on the hem of Heero's shirt.  "Um, so who's up 
for that hike now?"

	"No cause for concern?"  The echo was sharper this time.  "Heero 
F. Yuy, we just find out that two of our friends are..."  He gestured 
vaguely.  "'Together'.  And you say it's 'no cause for concern'?  What 
are you on?"

	Did that 'F' in his name stand for what he thought it stood for?  
"...Is there a cause for concern?"

	"No!  There isn't!  So why would you even say something like 
that?  'No cause for concern'.  Sheesh.  Like, 'Do not be alarmed!'  You 
save that for situations like, 'Don't worry, I've already disconnected 
the self-destruct mechanism.  There is no cause for concern.'  When you 
tell people you're together, you're supposed to make it sound like 
-good- news!"

	"...I only wanted to reassure you that we would be discreet, in 
case it made you uncomfortable."

	"Yo, Q," Duo cut in when there seemed to be another twitch 
coming on.  "You okay, man?"

	"Of course!"  Was it just Duo, or did that sound a mite bit 
defensive?  "I'm just saying... Oh lord, you were just making out on 
that couch.  I have to sit on that couch!"

	"Geez, it's not like we were totally getting it on, Q.  We were 
just fooling around a little."

	"You two have been sleeping together in the same room all this 
time!"  And it had managed to sound so utterly logical when they had 
been called on it, too.

	"Hey, in my defense, it really is friggin' cold in my room.  Is 
it just me?"  Duo looked around for some support.

	"There's a bit of a chill in my room as well," Trowa 
volunteered.

	"See?  I never lied about that.  Hey, you know what I was 
thinking, actually, is we could probably borrow some of the blankets 
from the rooms we aren't using.  That'd probably help with the chill.  
And hey, see, isn't it great that me and Heero are sleeping together?  
'Cuz otherwise, there wouldn't be enough blankets to go around!  Right?  
See, this *is* a great thing."

	Heero made a sound behind him, sort of like an aborted comment, 
a cough, an amused grunt, and an exasperated sigh, all at once.

	Trowa cleared his throat.  "So.  Who's up for that hike?"



_________________________________________
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Kyuuketsuki Miyu, et al., is the property 
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http://www.cs.hmc.edu/~jchew/misc/gw.html

last modified : 3/12/2006 03:23:30 PST