Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Trial And Error ❯ Chapter 3

Title: Trial and error

Author: Maldoror
Genre: Humour, shonen ai, teensiest touch of angst
Pairings: 1x2. Eventually. Others to be figured out by the astute readers (you'll probably be a lot quicker than Heero)
Rated: PG13
Warnings: Mild swearing, a slightly suggestive conversation, and a lot of misunderstandings

Archived: http://www.raygunworks.net under the pen-name Maldoror, and on GWAddiction.
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: Thanks for the reviews! It's a great help to know that I'm on target humor-wise, as I don't have much perspective on whether it's funny or not, after writing the blinking thing. So help my comedy-plot-bunnies flourish by telling me what you think and which bits made you laugh, and which bits made you go ho-hum or lost you a bit, it all helps!

To answer some concerns; though there's mild Relena and Catherine teasing in this fic, there's no bashing. No hearts were broken during the making of this fic, though some were rather bruised and there's some Grievous Bodily Harm somewhere near the end. As for what happens and who ends up with who and who ends up by themselves...that's the fun part to find out! *evil snicker*

Chapter 3

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//Operation 'Equations'

Mission duration: 5 day 1 hour

Operation 5xSP
Status: Under way

Operation 3xCB
Status: Cancelled.

Next Step: Acquire more information about ways to foster an intimate relation between two people. RP source has proven valuable once, she might have other suggestions.//

"You seem very interested in romance these days, Heero." Relena was doodling on the margins of a very important international trades agreement contract.

"I am trying to broaden my understanding of human relations." Heero said crisply, which was in part true.

Relena seemed absorbed in her drawings. "Is that the only reason?" She asked softly.

"It is sufficient." Heero said, voluntarily vague. "Now, can you or can you not give me another example of what can attract two people?"

"Well..." Relena drew a series of little hearts, then looked up and smiled. "It's not easy to say, you know. Radically different people can become close. They have nothing in common, their opinions and ways of doing things are completely different, you'd think they wouldn't even get along and lo and behold, they do! Opposites attract, right? Take my example-"

"Isn't that piece of paper important?"

"What piece of paper? Oh drat."

Heero got her a new copy from the secretary while ruminating. Opposites attract, yes, he'd heard that before. That might lead to a few possibilities as well.

"Heero? You're deep in thought." Relena was signing in various spots as quickly as she could.

"Yes. I have something to attend to. I'll ask Mokotto to cover for me. I need to think."

"That's good, Heero." Relena said automatically. "But I think Mokotto is off today, isn't she? Isn't Wufei your fall-back on Mondays?"

"I sent him away."

"What?" The pen scored a tear in the contract. Relena stared at him in amazement. "You fired him?!"

"No! I only sent him on a three-day training course. He'll be back this evening." Heero growled and went to get yet another copy of the contract. His annoyance had evaporated by the time he laid it on Relena's desk though. He felt sure Wufei was taken care of by now. And he had another project to work on. Opposites attract, now what could he do with that...

"That was a bit sudden, wasn't it? He never mentioned a training course." Relena had picked up her pen and was glancing over the contract again.

"As his superior in the Sanq branch of preventers I can send him wherever I want when I want." Heero said firmly.

"Right. Erm, you're not mad at him, are you? For...anything?"

"Why should I be mad at Wufei?! I'm not mad with *anyone*!"

Relena leaned hastily back in her chair. "Right, right!" She squeaked. "It just seems a bit harsh, to send him off on his own like that at a moment's notice."

"Well you're a civilian, Relena. Chang does not have the same values. But if it makes you feel better he's not alone. Sally Po went with him."

"Well that's good, I guess. Although they'll bicker constantly. But Sally is not part of the Sanq branch of Preventers, she's Une's agent." Relena looked at him curiously. "Didn't Sally mind you ordering her off like that?"

"She didn't object." Heero felt that it was a positive indication of Sally's feelings towards Wufei.

"Hmmm. She must have had a fight with her girlfriend again." Relena said sadly as she started signing the fresh contract.

The silence in the office was only interrupted by the scratch of the fountain pen.

//Mission duration: 5 days 11 hours

Operation 5xSP
Status: Cancelled

5 and SP are still somewhere off in the woods but this will not lead to anything if source of information (RP) is correct. The possibility of anyone involved being gay had not been considered in the parameters of the mission.//

Heero stared at the whiteboard until his head ached and the lines jumbled.

In a way this was a good thing. It opened up the possibility of a lot more names and arrows. On the down side, it meant he required more information, of a personal nature, on his comrade's preferences, as well as anybody else on the board. He'd already erased Sally with some regrets.

//Next step: Finding out preferences.//

The big house was quiet the next morning as Heero descended the staircase, his mind on his plans. Duo was staying overnight at Hilde's, Quatre had left for L4 two days ago, Trowa was still in bed. Heero approached the available subject.

Wufei had come back the night before, tired and covered in mud, but Heero had avoided him while he re-evaluated the situation. From the stream of muttered mandarin coming from the room below his, that had probably been a good thing for the sake of Total Pacifism.

He found Wufei in the kitchen, eating breakfast at the counter while going over some papers.

Heero noted the tension as he entered and it puzzled him. He worked well with Wufei; the man was serious, reliable, an excellent fighter and a staunch ally once you persuaded him that your cause was just. Yet everybody - including Chang - was behaving as if there was a reason for Heero to be mad at the man, as if Wufei had done something that Heero might not approve of. But there wasn't anything that Heero was aware of...well, apart from joining Mariameia, attacking the earth and blowing Heero out of the sky - okay that was maybe a reason to be a bit peeved, but Heero had considered the matter done and dealt with two years ago already. He thought Wufei had gotten well past it too. He didn't understand the reason for the hot but wary look shot from black eyes, a mixture of sullen anger and guarded caution, but Heero decided it needed some clarification.

"Chang, let's get something straight, I'm not mad at you."

Wufei stared back at him but didn't look convinced.

"I sent you on that mission because I thought you'd get something out of it." Sally, to be exact. "It wasn't some form of punishment."

"That's good to hear, Yuy." Wufei said slowly. "I don't want any enmity between us." His shoulders were still tense as he bent over his papers again.

"Fine." Heero nodded and sat down opposite his fellow preventer, on the other side of the kitchen counter. "If that's settled, I have a question, Chang."

Wufei looked up from his papers again as he sipped his coffee.

"Are you gay?"

Fortunately the papers Wufei was holding were not that important.

After soaking the coffee stains from his shirt, Heero grabbed his laptop.

//Mission duration: 5 days 22 hours.

Operation Preferences

Subject 5 very nervous (might suggest cutting down caffeine intake when he's less confrontational). Answer to question was in mandarin. Knowledge of language minimal, but answer did not appear to be very informative.

Preferences are a crucial piece of information. Need to determine this for 5 and all the others!

Next step: Somehow obtain required information...but how?//