Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Beautiful Symmetries ❯ 5 Simple Rules ( Chapter 5 )

Title: Beautiful Symmetries

Author: Maldoror

Genre: Romance, Humour, some angst just before the sap hits.

Pairings: 1x2x5 ! Or 1x5x2 more precisely.

Rated: PG13

Archived: http://www.raygunworks.net under the pen-name Maldoror
http://calic0cat.freeservers.com/
http://www.gwaddiction.com/

Feedback: Please! Particularly what you like/don't like about the fic.

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing belongs to its owners (Bandai, Sunset, and a whole host of others, none of which are me) and I'm not making any money off of them. Not a single peanut.

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AN: And here we go again! Yes, I did say I'd continue this piece if inspiration hit me. Well it did. Hope you like this! Now this fic has become rather open-ended, so who knows when it will be updated or where it will end up. The chapters will be fairly independent, a series of vignettes if you will. This will remain PG-13 however. Maybe I might write a side-fic with the lemon in it, if I feel inspired, but anything over that rating in this fic will happen 'off-camera'.

This fic takes off on the morning after the previous chapter left off. And remember...this is a light-hearted humour/romance with maybe a twist of angst but no more. It's not as serious as most of my fics :)

Chapter 5 - 5 Simple Rules

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I'm what you call a morning person. I've never needed an alarm. On any given morning I wake up on time and three seconds later I'm out of bed. I take about ten minutes to get cleaned and dressed, and then half an hour or so to do my morning katas, before settling down to breakfast and the daily Preventer report.

On that given morning I woke up on time and three seconds later I was in a different dimension altogether.

Heero was a solid, comforting presence on my left. His arm had slipped during the night and was now curled around my left forearm, fingers gripping lightly. His breath was teasing my cheek, in, out, in, out, slow and regular. I'd twitched towards that reassuring presence instinctively and caught a glimpse of a smooth cheek brushed by long lashes. He looked his age...My left fingers were twinned with his.

Duo must have tossed and turned during the night. He was spread out on the bed on my right perpendicular to my body, one leg dangling off the edge, his head resting on my upper thigh, a hand casually curled around my knee, warm through the cloth. His face was slightly turned towards me, I could see the impish features relaxed into innocence. I also noticed he was drooling on my sweatpants a little. My fingers were resting on the end of his braid.

I lay as still as I possibly could, though why they weren't woken up by the noise and concussive force of my heart exploding in my chest is a mystery.

The memories of the previous days stood in line to be the next to hit me with a mallet.

They weren't together...they were both in love with me...I was - insanely, utterly and compellingly - in love with both of them...and instead of kicking me out for that, they'd decided they were willing to share me...

I stared at the ceiling dappled in morning shadows, while my mind ran around in circles; it was desperately rooting around looking for the guilt and shame I had to be feeling about this situation. It bowled over the intense relief I was experiencing, elbowed happiness out of the way, upset gratitude no end, took a worried peak at my libido (which was starting to stir and ask some interesting questions), and started rooting through all the reasons this was going to end in disaster, looking for something to hit me with.

It found only a firm resolve. Maybe Heero and Duo would realize that I wasn't worth the effort of sharing, or even the effort of keeping under any conditions. Maybe one or the other or both would leave me. Maybe the effort of sharing would prove too much for their friendship and this would end badly for all three of us. Maybe, maybe, maybe. But all these things were actually beyond my control; they depended on Heero and Duo. All I could do was be myself, not deny them what they were willing to share with me, and give them all I was capable of.

It was an instant of enlightenment, and in it I found something I'd never felt before; the peace I'd fought so hard to bring to others.

"You look better than you did yesterday."

It was more a breeze than a whisper. The eyelashes had lifted over serious cobalt blue eyes. I felt a pang of regret. This moment of unadulterated happiness was ending. The rest of my life was waiting for me, busy preparing any number of traps and pitfalls. I said nothing, childishly hoping to make it last, and leaned over to press my forehead against his. I felt the eyelashes sweep my cheek as he blinked in surprise at the gesture. I guess I'm not the most affectionate person at the best of times.

Duo snorted softly and his hand slipped from beneath my knee to rub his nose. He lifted his head and cracked open his eyes.

"Whu." He said, as he looked blearily at the rumpled uniform he was still wearing.

"Wha-..." He added as he took in the fact he wasn't in his bed or in his room, glazed eyes resting on the dresser in confusion.

"Whaaa-?" His eyes widened and then widened again as he slowly turned to stare at Heero and me. At that point I remembered that Duo is not a morning person.

"Good morning, Duo." Heero said seriously, as if waking up in bed with two other men was something he did on a weekly basis. Duo just gaped.

"...coffee..." He finally said, as if it were the conclusion of a long and arduous equation.

"Breakfast." Heero said firmly, leaving my side - in the mundane light of morning and the gathering questions about us, I was able to relinquish their hold without whimpering like a damn baby. That memory had hit me along with the rest, not with a mallet but a sledgehammer. I felt mortified but that didn't stop me from feeling a pang at the sudden coolness on various points of my body (particularly where Duo had dribbled).

"You're eating." Heero added with a well-remembered death scowl in my direction. I was feeling hungry, which was a good sign, and fairly fit and rested as well. The body of the Gundam Pilot had fully recuperated from the stress of the previous days, despite no food and little sleep. The mind of the teenager inside the body was another matter. But I'm a proud and controlled man, I didn't let any of my worries and uncertainties appear on my face, and I silently followed Heero as he carefully steered the zombie - that would become Duo after the administration of some caffeine - towards the kitchen.

Duo put his cup of coffee down with a loud clunk. I looked up from the eggs and rice Heero had made me, and he glanced up from his protein drink and laptop. Duo stared at us with wide blue eyes slowly coming into focus.

"D'we all sleep in the same bed last night?!"

Heero looked surprised, and I grimaced as I said: "You know, Duo, if you'd dreamt that, and we hadn't...you'd be in so much trouble right now for even asking that question, that if you lived to be a hundred you'd still be in trouble."

Duo stared at me. "Uhn?" he said plaintively.

"Wufei, you probably don't know this." Heero told me seriously. "But you can't give Duo anything other than yes or no answers until his second cup."

" Uhn?" Duo said again, then shook his head. "We did, didn't we."

"Yes." Heero said gravely and went to fill Duo's cup again.

"Oh..." Duo said. Then nodded solemnly. "Cool." He started on his second cup.

I stirred but caught a look from Heero and a 'wait a sec' gesture.

Duo downed the cup and sat still for a moment, eyes turned inward. Then it was like someone had flicked a switch.

"So how are we going to work this? I think I've got to warn you guys, this isn't exactly something I've got any experience at! Man, you just had to be complicated, didn't you?" This in my direction. "Why did we fall for this guy again, Yuy? He's fussy, grumpy, doesn't have the sense to get out of the rain, and he ends up in police stations at odd hours of the morning!" A foot bumped and rubbed against mine around the edge of the counter, and a quick wink took the potential sting out of the words.

I watched in fascination. Heero didn't seem surprised by any of this. They'd had nearly a year of living together - even on an 'on and off between missions' basis - to get used to each other in ways that I, their...well, the man they were interested in, for want of another expression, could never rival.

"At least Heero and I don't live on different colonies, that would make things complicated! But with you on earth it's bad enough..."

Heero got up in silence and poured Duo another cup, while Duo snagged some bread off the counter and made some toast. He waited thirty seconds then popped the mechanism, fishing the two pieces out before putting more back in, leaving them longer until they were practically charcoal.

"At least me n' Heero have our own rooms, so whoever you-...but maybe I'm getting ahead of myself here." Duo added with a cheeky grin as Heero gave him a warning look. Duo jumped up to get some more stuff from another cupboard and the fridge. "'Ro, you want honey or jam?"

"I don't want any toast." Heero's eyes were once again on the laptop's screen and he answered absently.

"Honey it is then." Duo returned to the chair, took a sip of coffee and started buttering the lightly toasted bread and spreading the honey thickly. "Let's start from the beginning, Feifei-"

"Wufei."

"Sure, baby." I nearly choked on a mouthful of rice. "How long do you have here before you have to report back to Preventer central?"

"...well the original mission was going to take a few days, and I doubt Une will have anything for me right before the weekend. If no emergency comes up-" I watched, fascinated, as Duo sandwiched the two pieces of toast together and slid them stealthily and expertly into Heero's hand as the later reached for his protein drink. Heero didn't glance at it, eyes fixed on the computer. A slight frown crossed his face but that was all and he started eating the toast mechanically. "If no emergency comes up I should be able to stay till Monday." I finished weakly.

"Outstanding!" Duo caught my puzzled glance. "Oh, I don't let him get away with drinking only that blended protein garbage for breakfast when I'm here. If there's one guy in this galaxy that I know needs more fibre in his diet, it's Heero."

"I didn't want any toast." Heero said, suddenly realizing what he was eating. He gave Duo a glare that was part annoyance, part resignation, and bit into the toast, returning his attention to the laptop.

I shook my head slightly. Hard to believe these two weren't together. Hell, hard to believe they weren't married!

Duo caught the gesture but misinterpreted it. "Still not awake, hon?" My fork clinked in the remains of the eggs. "Want some java?"

"No." I said, and couldn't for the life of me think of anything else to say. My mind was a blank.

Duo buttered his own nearly-carbonized toast but he was looking at me with those violet-blue eyes of his, sharp and intelligent. He was intelligent enough to go from being an L2 street-kid to a Gundam pilot and master hacker and mechanic in a couple of years. But he also possessed a strong emotional wisdom far beyond his years. To my knowledge Duo had never been in a serious relationship but he knew people and he was not a stranger to his own heart like Heero and I. If anyone can get us through this, I thought, it's Duo. But I would have to be careful to-

"Well, let's talk about all this tonight, when we're all here, and not just in the flesh, hm?" He grinned at me and at Heero who was concentrating on his day's schedule. "Maybe we should all take a bit of time today by ourselves and think about what, well, what we want out of this. I think I know what I want to do with my half of the Dragon," He gave me a sly grin that was deliciously seductive and made me blush, "-but we need everyone's input in this. Time to get cre-ative!" He leered and his eyes gleamed. Duo was getting waaay too into this.

I found myself watching Heero's bowed head. I assumed he did this every morning, go through his day's work while having breakfast. I did the same myself, and Duo did not seem to find this abnormal. But I did. We were talking about, well, about our future together, about a relationship that was going to take a lot of work and emotional investment. The screen of the laptop seemed to be getting bigger and bigger in my still sleep-fogged mind, like a battlement.

I glanced at Duo but he was stuffing the rest of his toast in his mouth and seemed oblivious.

"What we need are some guidelines, I think." I said quietly, fishing.

"Guidelines?" Heero's head came up like a hound hearing a whistle, slight relief in the line of his shoulders. I'd been right.

Duo choked on his toast. "Gui - cough - guidelines? Like rules and stuff?" He glared at me, visibly horrified.

"Of sorts." I said carefully. Meet the two men in my lives, ladies and gentlemen, I think I will call them Scylla and Charybdis. "Just to delimit things, make sure we-...we should talk about this tonight." I didn't think I could make any kind of clear statement at this point. Nothing was clear in my own head.

Duo looked uncertain, catching something in my tone. Then Heero stood up.

"We need to get to work, Duo."

"Oh okay." He muttered.

"I'll go and get ready. That's okay, Duo." He added without turning as the braided man slipped from his stool. "You can- I'll be a few minutes."

He walked up the stairs to their bathroom. Duo and I followed him with our eyes. It took us a few seconds to realize he was leaving us a bit of privacy.

Duo's eyes were narrowed at the door that had closed behind his partner. "...Am I going too fast for him, Fei?" He finally asked.

"Yes. I think so." I said softly. And waited with my heart curling up in my chest for his answer. How would he react to this? The strength of friendship built during the war would stop them from being bitter rivals, I felt sure. But that was a far cry from accepting to cater to 'the other man's' problems.

Duo's smile was a bit rueful but there was warmth in it as well. "I gotta watch that. I guess Heero isn't used to-...hell, he ain't used to anything. I'll try to keep that in mind."

Then he leapt up and leaned over and planted a firm kiss on my lips, short but enthusiastic. He was gone in a grin and pirouette of braid before I could react. I kept my hands tight on my plate and fork, because they were trembling slightly with relief. It was way too early in the morning to negotiate emotional hurdles.

"I'll go and dig him out of the bathroom. I know he doesn't take that long to brush his teeth, and we have to go. We'll shower later at the gym, once we put out the first fires of the day. Apparently one of the heads of that armament ops is trying to counter-sue Preventers and saying we planted evidence to drag him in to-"

"Just him?" I asked, getting up.

"Yeah, he's only trying to save his own skin, so of course we'll get him that way. His friends will be on him like flies on shit." Duo said with an earthy snicker.

"Good. Do you have a spare uniform?"

"Say what?" Duo looked back at me quizzically from the stairs.

"Spare uniform. I can't go to work like this." I gave my rumpled jumper and sweatpants an acid look.

"Who says you're going to work at all! You still need rest. Yeah-" He snapped as I opened my mouth. "I know you're a tough Gundam pilot and all but we're not in a war anymore, you don't have to run yourself to the edge and beyond, you can take a day off if you want. Besides this is my spare uniform, the other is at the dry-cleaners to get the bloodstains out. Oy, Heero!" Duo was shouting and pounding at the bathroom door. "Get your rear in gear, I want to go kick some gun-runner ass! Go and smooch Fei and then we'll get!"

I thought I heard something fall in the bathroom and Duo grinned down at me. He barged into the bathroom as the door opened, and reappeared three seconds later with his toothbrush.

"I'll get this done at work, I don't want to have to come home late this evening!" He said with a cheerful leer at me as he hustled past Heero, pulling at his uniform to remove some of the wrinkles of the night before.

He stopped half way across the living room as if an idea occurred to him. "Hey, apparently my dating life is a hot topic with the secretarial staff for some reason." For some reason - I rolled my eyes. "I hear they have a pool going. I wonder what odds they have for this kinda situa-"

"Duo!" Heero barked just as I snapped: "Maxwell, don't you dare-"

A teasing laugh informed us we'd been had. "Get a clue you two. Although I insist that what most people will be saying, or at least thinking, is, 'there go three lucky bastards'!"

"What they'll be saying will certainly include the word bastards." Heero muttered. "Though I don't particularly care what people think of any of us, Duo, let's try to keep this to ourselves? It's nobody else's business."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll get the car started and all that, Yuy, but don't take too long." The leer was tossed Heero's way as Duo nearly knocked down the door to the garage and slammed it behind him.

The house seemed to expand around us, with the sudden silence of a mausoleum.

I approached Heero who was hanging at the foot of the stairs, glaring at the door.

"Are you okay with this? With us?" I asked quickly, knowing I didn't have much time. Besides, Heero never had any problems with blunt and to the point.

Heerolooked at me carefully, weighing my question.

"I know it's not..." I tried to show him I'd understand if he had reservations. "Duo assumes that everyone's going to be okay with sharing someone, and I guess he's got the enthusiasm to carry it, but I know it's not normal, and that-"

"Normal?" Heero said softly. I've worn my own hard-assed bastard mask for so long I can recognize someone else's, and I saw it slip for a moment. He was confused...but it wasn't because of having to share me with Duo. The whole thing was new and bewildering to him, and maybe just a little bit frightening. I could sympathise.

Heerosmiled and caught my hand, then tugged me forward and brushed my lips with his own. "We're not normal. Any of us. And we're good at achieving the impossible. I'm okay with it. I have to go."

"Do you have a spare uniform?" I asked quickly as he headed towards the door, my mind coming back to more practical concerns.

Heeroglanced at me in surprise. "No, it's at the-"

"Dry-cleaners." I sighed. "Damn."

Heerosmiled slightly. "You have your laptop, don't you? I'll give you access to the statement files once I get to the office. Can you formulate an outline of interrogation and research for the gun-runner outfit's middle-men? We're short staffed. I'll have some more stuff for you when you're ready."

"Anything." I said gratefully. I didn't want another day of staring at the kitchen counter.

"Don't overdo it." He said, hand on the garage door.

I snorted. "You have no lessons to give to me in that respect, Yuy!"

He nodded slightly. "We will do our best to get home not too late tonight." Although of course we both knew - and Duo did as well - that work came first. "And I'll have to take a little time today to think about what I want to do with my half of the dragon." His eyes glinted slightly and the smile became something of a smirk. I found myself blushing furiously and scowled at him until he left with an amused snort.

I went over to the counter to pick up the plates and tidy up, mind finally kicking into gear. I'd spent so long admiring their smooth relationship with each other - and rubbing my nose in their supposed bliss - that I'd missed the subtle gap between them. But suddenly it seemed to make sense what Duo had said, that they couldn't spend more than a few weeks together without driving each other crazy. They were close friends and partners but still so very different.

But they were both already making the effort to bridge that gap. For me, for my sake. I felt humbled and grateful, I would really have to -...to-...shit!

The plates crashed into the sink. I'd heard the car leave the garage at the edge of my awareness, so I lunged towards the front door. I ran down the short walk, vaulted over the fence and threw myself out into the road and in front of the car just as Duo was about to hit the accelerator. Fortunately he found the brakes just as quickly. I had a glimpse of four very wide eyes and two jaws hanging open as I ran around the car towards the passenger side. Heero was already opening the door and struggling with his seatbelt. I jerked the door further open and leaned in.

"Wu-" I grabbed him by the back of the neck and fastened my lips on his.

"Fei?! What kinda stupid stunt-?! I almost ran y-um omfer mma...mm?" I'd relinquished Heero, leaned over him and grabbed Duo by the collar and interrupted him in mid-rant.

I leaned back - one knee stuck on the edge of Heero's seat for balance - and looked at them both and said, quickly, before my usual reserve could recover its surprise and gag me: "I didn't actually tell you last night. Or this morning. I do-..." Damn it Chang! "I do love you. Both of you. I probably shouldn't, but I don't think I can even see how I couldn't. Not love you I mean. Both. I-...I'm grateful and- and honoured that you are willing to try to- to make me happy. I'll try to be worth it. You don't have half a dragon each. You have all of me, and more, and as much as I can give, the both of you. Erm. Have a good day at work." The last came out a bit strangled as that little gem of a speech replayed itself in my mind.

I started to close the door and Heero's hand stopped me.

"Wufei?" He stared at me, leaning out slightly. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"He's fine, Yuy. Close the door, I'll translate on the way to work." I could hear the grin in Duo's voice. "Have a good day, sweetie! We'll be home for supper. I hope."

The car drove away in a squeal of tires as Heero banged the door shut. I stared after it, then slowly turned as my war-honed instincts informed me that there had been someone else in the street all along.

The dog was one of those miniature boxer types. It was staring at me with bulging, goggly eyes. Its owner - thick-jowled, mid-sixties - was staring at me with the exact same expression as the dog.

I tried to smile arrogantly but it was so weak and pathetic I gave up and simply stared back.

The man's jaw tightened, he turned and jerked the dog, who had continued to stare at me with - I am sure - a look between amazement and contempt. I heard the man mutter as he walked away. It could have been any number of things, from the most insulting comment to a promise of calling the police when he got home, and I was ready for any of it.

Instead, and I know I heard it clearly and was not mistaken, he muttered something about 'three lucky bastards' and tromped off.

...Life is a lot stranger than you'd think...

---

Twenty five minutes later, after I'd washed up the breakfast plates and opened my laptop, I received the file access password from Heero and a short note.

'The outline of what we need is in the files. I repeat, don't overdo it. HY."

'Thank you.' I sent back, in honest gratitude.

Five minutes later another mail landed in my inbox.

'I can't believe Heero unloaded the entire second-level staff statements on you! Damn it I know you're tough but it's more than the last few days I happen to KNOW when it was you last took a break from your continuous solo missions you sad bastard, and even Une wouldn't mind if you took one day off you know!!! You can work on this but if Heero tries to get you to do more tell him to shove it! Now you're going to eat this lunchtime and we don't have time to come home and spoonfeed you but you are going to eat mate, and that's final. There's list of takeout places on the fridge. I recommend the Happy Hamster Pizza Parlour, but maybe you'd like Chinese. Don't order from the Japanese place, they don't cook their stuff right, only Heero can eat that shit and get away with it. Even bacteria is scared of him I guess. We should be home by eight tonight. Love ya! Duo. PS: If you don't eat anything I'll kick your ass.'

'Yes Mom.' I sent back. An answer bounced back two minutes later, its content was not something I would have sent through a company e-mail server...

I started sifting through the files. A part of me was still and holding on to the wonder and peace I'd felt this morning, like a ray of light that somehow refused to dim. My...my two-...my boyfriends. Night and day, sun and moon. My two loves.

I shook myself soundly and applied myself to my work.

---

"You know, he's really cute like that. Hey, maybe we should take a picture!"

"No, Duo."

I glanced up. As evening had drawn around the small house, draping the bland furniture in darkness, the fatigue from the previous two nights had returned and I'd taken a short nap before Heero and Duo showed up. They had approached without a noise and were standing above me in the same pose as the night before. I hid a smile. Then realized I didn't have to, and smiled openly.

Heero'seyes were warm on me as he graced my efforts with a small smile of his own. Duo grinned like a fox and lifted a finger in the air.

"I have the rules!" He said.

"Rules?" I blinked and looked at him in surprised.

"Yeah, well, apparently you guys need your hands held." He gave an elaborate 'whatever' shrug, which was too theatrical to take seriously.

I gathered myself up gracefully to sit cross-legged on the bed like I had done the previous night and nodded graciously for him to proceed.

"Rule number one! I actually thought about this real hard and I think you'll be okay with these. If I missed anything- anyway, rule number one! We talk it out, we don't run out - right Fei? Or shut everybody else out, and that one's for you, Yuy. I know what you're like when you're upset about something!" The tones were merry. A serious light lingered in his eyes. "If there's a problem, we talk. Or use grunts and sign language if you're Heero. But communicate either way."

I nodded firmly. Heero made a minimalist head movement. That one was fairly obvious.

"Rule number two: we stop all this self-sacrificing shit. We try to make it work together, and we stop the 'things will be simpler if I wasn't between you' bull, 'cause -...'cause I think, if nothing else, after all we've been through, I think there's one thing we live by. We don't leave a man behind. Right? Unless we shoot him but that could get messy and the law kinda frowns on that now and we're supposed to be the good guys this time around."

"Duo." I said patiently, trying to get him back to the point. Heero had crossed his hands on his chest and was listening seriously.

"Right. Rule number three! This one's particularly for you, Fei. It's not maths."

"What?"

"It's not maths. You can't run around trying to balance out the affection you're laying on one and worry you're neglecting the other. It doesn't work that way. I don't want it to work that way, and I don't think Heero does either. You give us what you want when it feels right, not because you have to. Okay?"

I frowned in concern. This was something that had been worrying me all day. "But that's-...that could be a problem. I mean, I do love you both-" amazingly that had come out with barely a stutter "but what if one of you doesn't feel it, feel like I'm being fair to-"

"Rule number one." Duo interrupted me with a sharp glance and a lifted finger.

"Huh?"

"Rule number one." Heero said quietly. "If one of us is unhappy, he'll say so."

"Yeah, we'll talk about it and we'll sort it out." Duo nodded firmly and beamed at Heero.

"...well, just make sure you talk clearly." I scowled. "If you recall, you both tried to drop hints to me while we were on our first missions together, about how you felt about me-"

"Good point. I'll amend rule number one. No grunts or sign language, Heero, make sure it's bloody clear because Fei-baby here can't pick up a clue if you shoot it at him with a Vulcan."

"Maxwell-" I started to growl.

"Rule number four! We make time for each other. We're all workaholics - well you two are, I'm more of a work-binger - so we're gonna have to work at that one, but we make time for each of us to have some one-on-one with Wufei. And me and Hee-kun make time to hang out on occasion too, just the two of us. This is just so I can continue to trash his ass playing hoops at lunchtime." The violet-blue eyes were fixed on mine with some trepidation as he said this, belying the joke, apparently worried that I might react badly to this. But I nodded firmly. It sounded like the best rule to date. "I think it'd be good if we can also go out the three of us too." Duo added, relaxing and smiling again. "If nothing else, it'll be fun, right, Wu-baby?"

I sighed.

"Rule number five!"

"No pet-names?" I suggested hopefully.

"Acceptable." Heero muttered.

Duo glared at the both of us. "Noooo. C'mon, guys, get serious."

The irony of that comment from Duo almost made me choke. I coughed instead as a pair of blue eyes pinned me to the bed, and made a gesture for him to speak.

"Rule number five..." Duo looked very serious, even grave. He put a hand on Heero's shoulder to emphasize his words and leaned forward slightly.

Heero is the strongest of us, but Duo is the quickest. Even Yuy's astounding reflexes couldn't save him from being shoved forward onto the bed and into my startled arms. Half a second later a second body hit us both and we fell down in a tumble of limbs on the bed.

"Maxwell!" I snapped - Heero just made a sort of low growl in his throat. He was face down against the covers, struggling to get an arm beneath him without hurting me but we were tangled together. I couldn't roll away from him because my other arm was hooked into Duo's as he lay on his side, chin in his hand, looking as cool and casual as if he were sunning himself on the beach as he watched us struggle, visibly amused.

"Rule number five..." His grin became a leer. "...is a rule we'll elaborate on later when you two straight-laced uptown girls are a bit less self-conscious about your bodies. Once you've outgrown this adorable teenage clumsiness we'll discuss it, assuming we've not figured it out alread- ack!"

Well, he was dealing with Gundam pilots one and five, right?

"Where did you say his weak spots were, Heero?"

"Ribs - hold him - sides but above all-"

"Don't you dare Yuy!"

"Feet.Hold his legs."

"Agh!"

Call them rules, or guidelines, or a roadmap to our future...Either way, we would probably be all right.

TBC...

Next chapter is already 3/4 written so should be up next week, I hope. After that...it's anybody's guess!