Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Winning Duo ❯ Chapter 4

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
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Title: Winning Duo
Chapter: 4/?
Author: Calic0cat <calic0cat@fastmail.fm>
Story Started: Jan. 2003
Genre: Romance, Humour, Angst
Pairing: None yet, working towards 1x2x5; others may be implied
Rated: NC-17
Warnings: OOC, Swearing, Shifting POV
Archives: At Mediaminer.org under Calic0cat. Anyone with archive permission for my other
fics can help themselves; anyone else, please ask.
Disclaimer: Duo and Heero and the rest of the GW gang aren't mine. This story is. Nuff said.

Notes: Starts one year after Endless Waltz. POV changes frequently.

'Thinking'
"Speaking"
*** Time passing or scene change

Author's Notes: I usually write 1x2x1, so a 1x2x5 is a first for me (well, writing one is - I've been reading them for quite a while now, that's the *only* threesome I actually *like*). This fic is courtesy of Quin, my romance/humour muse. Feedback is appreciated.

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The auction was getting ready to start and Duo was feeling decidedly frustrated. Not once all morning had he been able to get a moment alone with either Heero or Wufei. He had hoped to get a chance to try and find out whether they had any particular plans to bid in the auction and maybe even to hint that he was hoping those plans included him. But the two of them were practically attached at the hip - never seen separately for more than a moment at a time. Despite those appreciative looks at breakfast, he was beginning to fear his earlier supposition at the "Peace Anniversary" party had been correct - they were interested in each other and simply hadn't worked things out yet.

As his turn to step up on the auction block approached, Duo swallowed hard and summoned up his old jester's mask. He couldn't quite manage a genuine smile.


***


As the bidding for Duo started, Heero waited, biding his time. Quatre had already bought Trowa, and with the rule of one bachelor per bidder, that left him out of the running. Thank god. If Quatre had been able to bid and had decided to "help out" a friend by running his price up, Heero would have never had a chance of affording Duo.

Before the auctioneer could finish saying "Going Twice" on the top bid - there was no way of knowing whose since all bidding was done electronically - Heero put in his first bid. And met a glare from across the crowd. Ah hah. So Chang *was* the other bidder. No real surprise there. Well, they would soon see who had been the better hacker during the war. And maybe who was willing to dip deepest into their savings as well.

Heero had figured out precisely how much he could afford to spend without reducing himself to penury. It would be distinctly foolish to spend so much money at the auction that he then could not afford to spend anything on Duo during their week together. But he was also determined not to allow Chang the advantage of a full week alone with Duo.

Although he was fairly certain that Duo would be willing to allow the losing bidder a chance to get together if he should request one - which Heero was quite sure Chang would do, as he certainly would do the same should he perchance lose - that week would be a difficult advantage to overcome. Knowing that there had been at least attraction on Duo's part back during the war, a week spent showing him how well they could work and play together might just be enough to forge an unbreakable bond out of that attraction. Or at least that was Heero's hope if he won. And his fear if Chang won.

Casting a quick glance up at Duo's face as he placed yet another bid, Heero was disturbed to realize that he was seeing the jester's mask, not a real smile. Had Duo agreed to this only to regret it? What was wrong? He had seemed happy enough earlier this morning...


***


Growling under his breath, Wufei raised his bid. The other bidder *had* to be Yuy. He just hoped he had enough money to wipe that self-satisfied smirk off of Yuy's face. As the smirk turned to a tiny frown of - concern, he thought, Yuy was damn hard to read - Wufei followed his gaze. And immediately saw the cause of the concern. That was *not* a genuine smile on Duo's face. What had happened? He had seemed to be in a good mood earlier...

Wufei placed his last bid with a feeling of dread. It wasn't going to be enough. Yuy had more, he was sure of it. And that was confirmed a moment later as he was outbid once again. Damn. Well, he would *have* to make sure he got to speak to Duo for at least a few moments, long enough to arrange to get together after Duo's week with Yuy. And he would have to hope that a week was not long enough for Yuy to tie Duo to him in an unbreakable bond.

Already resigning himself to having lost to Yuy, Wufei was shocked when the bid was again raised. Jerking his gaze back to Yuy, he saw the minuscule change in his face as he became increasingly tense. Obviously, Yuy was getting close to his own limits. Who could possibly be bidding against him?

A quick look around found the culprit. Merquise was looking decidedly self-satisfied. Catching Wufei's eye, he raised one eyebrow and mouthed with what Wufei was convinced was sarcasm, "Yours?"

Damn. Not good. Merquise didn't have a history of screw-ups with Duo and he had far more money to play with than Yuy was likely to have. And his appreciation of Duo's looks had been perfectly clear this morning. Him winning was unthinkable.

Losing to Yuy would have been bad enough. Losing to Merquise? Infinitely worse.

Reaching a decision, Wufei jumped up and headed through the crowd.


***


Fuck. He wasn't going to have enough. Merquise was going to beat them both. Heero could have lived with losing to Chang. Chang had screwed up with Duo just as badly as he had. As long as he had let Duo know that he would like a chance to get together after his week with Chang, he was pretty sure he'd have had an even shot at winning Duo for himself.

Merquise, on the other hand, had *no* history with Duo. There was no guarantee that Duo would even be interested in him, but he also had no outstanding black marks on his track record. If only he had some more resources...

Reaching a decision, Heero jumped up, electronic bidding device in hand, and started through the crowd towards where he had last seen Chang.


***


Seeing Heero and Wufei independently reach the necessary conclusion and start towards each other, Zechs smothered a smirk of satisfaction. He carefully waited till the very last possible second to place his next bid, deliberately delaying in order to give the two ex-pilots time to settle this.

Zechs had done a lot of thinking about Duo's situation since their conversation yesterday. Seeing the reactions of the two ex-pilots this morning at breakfast to Duo's appearance - and to his own seeming interest - then watching them consistently block each other's attempts to speak with Duo alone throughout the rest of the morning had made it clear that both Chang and Yuy were indeed interested. Very interested. But also very competitive and possessive, which did not bode well for the young man in love with them both.

Somehow, they needed to be pushed out of "competitive" mode and into "cooperative" mode if Duo was to have any chance of avoiding having to choose one over the other. Giving them some outside "competition" to force them to cooperate was the only possibility he could come up with on such short notice.

Watching the two of them conversing hurriedly, Zechs thought, 'Duo, I just hope you don't make this too easy for them. Make them squirm a little. They deserve it for leaving you hanging all this time. And if you really want them both, you're going to have to force them to accept that. This is the best chance I can give you, kiddo. Call it payback for all the times you saved sis's ass when she didn't really deserve saving...'


***


"Share?" Heero demanded urgently, listening as his bid was beaten and the auctioneer started calling for the next bid.

"Share," Wufei agreed, handing Heero his pre-approved bidding chit to run through the bidding device's scanner.

"All or nothing?" Heero asked, finger hovering over the "Maximum Bid" button.

"Go for it," Wufei answered, nodding firmly.


***


As the bid abruptly jumped, increasing by over two-thirds in a single bid, Zechs directed a smile over his shoulder towards Noin. He had warned her what he was up to in advance, since if this had backfired and he'd ended up winning Duo, he wouldn't have been able to bid on her. She was fond of the "God of Death" herself and had readily agreed to Zechs's plan. Fortunately, it had worked. Heero and Wufei had been forced to cooperate in order to win Duo. Now, it was all up to Duo.

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