Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ It's Not Natural! ❯ It's Not Natural! ( Chapter 1 )

by WSJ

Kat, Rosie and I came up with this at around three a.m. while watching the second DVD of the series, followed closely by Endless Waltz. I don't remember who first asked how Zechs kept his bangs under his mask, but it evolved into this... Unfortunately, I was unable to work our first idea (sparkly pink barettes) into the fic. =(

Time line? What time line? All I know is that this takes place after EW, and the five G-Boys as well as Zechs are all Preventors.

Warnings: Stupidity, silliness, and possible OOC-ness. Mentions of Zechs/Noin.

I don't own Gundam Wing, unfortunately. (sigh)

()()()()()

It all started with a raid gone horribly wrong.

Zechs Merquise, Preventor Wind, had gotten seperated from his comrades in the long, twisting hallways of the underground base. To make matters worse, he'd run smack into a patrol of guards, and now he was dodging bullets for all he was worth.

Of course, this is an anime world, so he was never hit. He just swayed and twisted gracefully back and forth as the fangirls cooed and sighed in the background. But you always have to have the obligatory Near Miss. You know, the bullet that grazes the good guy's cheek and leaves him with an impressively bloody but completely unhindering 'wound'?

Poor Zechs. When it came time for the obligatory Near Miss, the gunner aimed just a tad too high.

Zechs gave a rather undignified squeal as a bullet whizzed by his temple, neatly severing the headband that was holding his long bangs out of his eyes. The stylish black band fell to the floor, and Zechs could only gape in shock as his bangs flopped in front of his eyes, giving him the look and vision of a very shaggy sheepdog.

"Damnit!" he cursed, and turned tail and ran. As he ran, he had to reholster his pistol, because he needed both hands to hold his hair out of his eyes. He really should have listened when Noin told him to get it cut...

He lost the men that were chasing him, and as he rounded a corner he nearly ran straight into Duo, who was busy picking a lock while the other four former pilots covered for him. Duo barely glanced up when Zechs rejoined them. "We were wondering where you'd gotten to, Rover."

Zechs growled, trying to ignore the braided baka's nickname for him in 'sheepdog form'. "How're we doing?" he asked, turning to peer back the way he'd come.

Heero grunted. "This's the control room. Once we get in, we should have a few minutes breathing space before we need to really get to work."

Zechs nodded, ignoring the way his bangs bounced against his chin. He irritably brushed them out of his eyes. "Good."

Within a few minutes there was a quiet 'aha!' from Duo, and the door slid open. He rolled in, gun blazing as he took out the men stationed in front of the consoles, braid streaming behind him, fangirls swooning in the background. The others followed him an instant later, and as soon as they were all in Trowa shut the door and applied the electronic jamming lock they'd prepared for just this eventuality. The six Preventors visibly relaxed, taking stock of their surroundings. Heero went immediately to work on one of the computers.

"Does anyone have hairspray, bobby pins, a clip, anything?" Zechs asked, shoving his hair out of his eyes once again. "This is going to drive me nuts."

Wufei smirked as he fished around in the pockets of his uniform. "Should have cut it like your onna told you to."

Zechs gave him an annoyed look, but it brightened when he spied the small tube Wufei had pulled out of one of his pockets. "What's that?"

"Industrial strength gel," Wufei said, holding it up. "Want some?"

"Ehhh..." Zechs imagined his hair slicked back like Wufei's and tried not to shudder at the mental image. "Thanks anyway, but no..." he looked hopefully at the other three pilots.

Trowa was also looking through his pockets, and a moment later pulled out a small bottle, holding it up for Zechs's inspection. The senior Preventor raised an eyebrow. "Rubber cement?"

"HA!" Duo pointed at Trowa, waving his finger back and forth in the clown's face. "I knew your hair couldn't be natural!"

Trowa gave him an exasperated look, but said nothing.

Quatre too was looking through his pockets. "Small change, a bit of string, dried frog pills in case of encounter with Zero System, a checker that I have no idea how it came to be there, emergency bottle of bleach for my roots..." The little Arabian stopped and colored scarlet. "Sorry, no hair clips," he managed to squeak.

Duo was nearly dying laughing. "You too, Q-man? Aw man, I knew no Arabian could have hair naturally that color!"

Quatre glared at him, a murderous, slightly Z-System look entering his eyes. Trowa quickly pulled out his own emergency bottle of dried frog pills, just in case. "Oh? I suppose you carry hair clips then, Duo, since you have so much of it and it's all natural."

"Of course," Duo said cheerfully, pulling up his sleeves. "Hm..." Rubber bands, hair ties, and scrunchies of various colors and sizes covered his arms from wrist to elbow, like some bizarre parody of a goth's bracelet collection. After a moment of inspection, Duo shook his head. "Nope, sorry, no clips." He turned toward the last member of their group, who was typing on the computer and oblivious to the conversation. "Hey Hee-man, Zechsie needs a clip or two!"

"Mission accepted," Heero muttered, eyes not moving from the screen. He typed one-handed for a moment as he fished around in his pocket, then pulled out an ammo clip for his gun and offered it over his shoulder. "Here."

"Sorry Heero, that wasn't quite what I meant..." Zechs sweatdropped.

Heero shrugged and put the clip back in his pocket.

Quatre smirked slightly. "What'd you expect?" he asked Duo. "Heero doesn't even carry a comb."

Wufei, who was standing slightly behind Duo, raised an eyebrow. "Baka Maxwell," he muttered, reaching for the back of his head. "You have a clip, and Merquise needs it more than you do." His hands landed on the silver hair clip barely visible among the rope of Duo's braid.

Duo's eyes widened in horror, and his hands flew to stop Wufei. "No, don't-!!"

Too late.

For a moment Wufei could only stare in horror as Duo's entire braid was suddenly in his hands, leaving the God of Death with hair that was barely longer than Wufei's own. Duo buried his face in his hands, mortified.

Zechs raised an eyebrow. "Hair extentions?"

Quatre and Trowa grinned at each other, then pointed at Duo and chorused,

"We knew it wasn't natural!!"