By Kaycee Ronin

Okay, who do I blame this one on?!

Muses: ::look at each other::

Kaoyo: Uh...the kawaii 1x2 stuff is me...

Yuukie: I have nothing to do with this at all...except for planting those mushrooms.

::fwaps Yuukie::

Rasuberry: The completely insane plot is mine!

::rolls her eyes:: Gundam Wing doesn’t belong to me...how sad. ::plops down in a chair and pops a mushroom into her mouth::

Uh oh...

“Almost finished!” Duo Maxwell called to his partner as he tightened the camouflage canvas around Deathscythe’s leg. He quickly leaped off the Gundam’s kneecap and landed gracefully on the ground, his long chestnut braid flowing behind him. He took the end of the canvas and buried it under a pile of dirt and leaves, concealing it until one would not begin to know where to look for it. Pleased with his work, the American pilot wiped his hands, tossed his braid over his shoulder, and turned with a wide smile to the Japanese boy in the midst of performing the same task. Duo looked at the two giant machines, now both completely covered with a specially made canvas, which blended in perfectly with the mountainside and valley. He turned back to the other boy, still working diligently to hide any trace of his mobile suit.

Duo leaned one hand against the canvas and put the other on his hip as watched the lean figure with his wide trademark smile. Heero Yuy. The only person on the entire planet he had ever truly loved...ever would love. Despite the chaos of missions, constantly having to pack up and move, and all of the other assorted and discombobulated things in his life, Duo Maxwell was actually pretty happy. He had the one thing that mattered to him. Heero.

His hand slipped as he tried to stand up straight without taking his eyes off Heero and Duo almost fell flat on his face. “Klutz,” He murmured to himself as he casually started towards his lover.

“You’re going to get yourself killed one day, tripping like that,” The Japanese boy spoke flatly as Duo approached.

“Well I had a bit of a...distraction,” Duo replied, his smile returning. “It wasn’t my fault.”

“Hn.”

Duo looked at the two Gundams again. “Ne, Hee-chan,” He began, tracing his finger along the outline of a generic patch of grass. “Are you sure no one will find Deathscythe and Wing here?”

Heero stood up straight as he jumped down from Wing and regarded Duo with a serious look in his dark blue eyes. “This location’s remote enough that no one should accidentally stumble upon these. Besides, they’re concealed, no one would notice them sticking out, and I don’t think anybody’s going to be out looking for them any time soon.”

The braided boy laughed and flung his arms around Heero, impressed with how well this little scheme had been thought through. “You think of everything Hee-chan!” He cried happily, kissing the Perfect Soldier on the cheek.

“It’ll be dark soon,” Heero commented as he glanced at the orange tinted horizon to the west from underneath a mask of dark brown hair. “We should get going. It’ll take about an hour to get back to the safe house from here. We have to walk.”

“Walk?” Duo squawked. “But it’s like, three or four miles from here! I can’t walk! I just spent the past three and a half hours trying to hide a machine five times as big as a house and you want me to walk?!”

Heero rolled his eyes and shook his head as he started for a path. “Fine,” He said coolly. “I’ll just tell Quatre to only make four plates of spaghetti, not five.”

Duo didn’t wait another second; he darted after Heero as soon as the mention of food left the Japanese boy’s mouth. Typical of the braided boy, if nothing else could get him moving, just one little mention of food could do it no problem.

Checking one last time to make sure the two Gundams were secure and completely out of site, the pair started down the closest forest path, Heero in the lead and Duo following close behind.

They hadn’t gone far, less than a mile when the violet-eyed American pilot began to complain. “Hee-chan,” He began in a whiney childish tone. “I’m hungry. Can we stop and eat something? Please?”

When Heero didn’t respond, Duo frowned and whined more urgently and annoying.

“Heeeeeeerooo, I’m starving! I gotta eat something’ before I pass out!”

“Hn,” Heero grunted angrily. “We don’t have any food with us Duo. Stop complaining, it won’t be much longer. Just don’t think about food and you won’t even realize that you’re hungry.”

"That doesn’t work,” Duo whimpered, his eyes beginning to dart from side to side, keeping a lookout for something...anything edible. All he saw were tall green plants and trees on either side. The American sighed sadly as his stomach growled. “I need to eat or I’m gonna die right here and now.”

“You’re being over dramatic Duo.”

“No I’m not, I--” Duo’s eyes fell upon a rather large cluster of mushrooms gathered near the base of a tree trunk. They were strange looking--a light blue color with strangely pointed tops and a sort of shiny appearance. However, Duo didn’t care. It was food for God sake! He was much too hungry to care about minor details, like the mushrooms could possibly be poisonous or sprayed with something. “Food!” The braided pilot cried gleefully as he picked one of the larger mushrooms.

“Duo,” Heero began sternly. “You can’t eat that. You don’t know if it’s poisonous or not.”

Duo looked up at Heero, smiling and pressing the top of the mushroom against his lips. “Hee-chan, I honestly don’t care right now. I gotta eat something.” Seeing that Heero was still glaring, he added, “If I pass out and start screaming or having hallucinations or something, I give you full permission to pump my stomach and then scold me as much as you want.”

“Hn.”

Without another word, Duo bit into the mushroom he was already holding, swallowing more than half of it in one bite. He quickly finished that one and reached for another. And another. He had eaten four of them by the time he was satisfied enough for Heero to pull him away.

“Can we go home now?” The Japanese boy asked with an irritated sigh.

Duo smiled and nodded, feeling much more content than he had been just a few minutes ago. “Hai.” He said cheerfully as they continued on.

It was after dark when Heero and Duo reached the safe house; Duo had gotten slower, which slowed Heero down as well. He was lagging pretty far behind the Japanese boy as they entered the yard. Just before Heero reached the front door, he turned and examined his love closely. His skin was pale and his eyes held slight pain and unawareness. Overall, the braided boy just didn’t seem to be his normal self. “Are you all right?” Heero asked in a flat tone.

Duo’s head shot up quickly and he looked at Heero and quickly nodded. “F-fine...” The American said. “I’m fine. Just hoping Deathscythe’s okay.”

Heero shrugged. That explanation seemed logical enough. Sometimes the Japanese pilot honestly had to wonder if Duo loved his Gundam more than he loved him. And besides, if it was the mushrooms that were going to hurt him, they shouldn’t even be affecting him yet. Heero didn’t consider it anymore. He opened the door and he and Duo walked inside.

“Welcome back!” A cheerful voice called from the hallway next to the entrance. “Are you both all right?”

“Just fine Q-man,” Duo called cheerfully to the Arabian boy.

“Dinner will be ready in a few minutes,” Quatre said, his blue eyes lighting up with a smile.

“Yay!” Duo cried before darting up the nearby stairs. “I’m starving! I want two bowls, maybe three!”

Quatre and Heero looked at each other and shrugged as they heard Duo’s door shut. “Long walk?” The blond boy asked as he headed back to the kitchen.

“You have no idea.” Heero replied flatly as he walked to the stairs. “Just kept talking about how hungry he was until he found some mushrooms to eat--”

“You let him eat wild mushrooms?!” Quatre asked in alarm. “Most of those are poisonous!”

“Don’t worry,” Heero said. “I watched him and there doesn’t appear to be anything wrong so far.”

Quatre smiled in relief. “That’s good...but I think we’d better keep an eye on him...just in case.”

Heero nodded as he walked up the stairs after Duo.

A sharp pain shot through Duo’s stomach as he entered his room and shut the door behind. He gasped quickly and clamped one hand over his mid-section and whimpered. It hurt badly. “Must just be food poisoning,” The braided boy wheezed as he made his way to his bed, knowing far well that this pain was much more than simple food poisoning. Duo managed to reach his bed and collapse upon it just as another jolt of pain speared through his stomach. He clenched his teeth to keep himself from crying out. “Itai, itai, itai,” He moaned as he rolled onto his side and tucked his legs up to his chest.

Only seconds passed before Duo heard footsteps in the hall and tried to sit up, not wanting anyone to see him like this. He knew what Heero would do if he caught him in pain after eating those mushrooms. He would get the “I told you so and if you’d just listen you’d get in a lot less trouble” speech.

The footsteps were growing closer, and Duo nearly panicked and forced himself to sit up. Amazingly, the pain vanished as he did so. Just a moment later, Heero entered the room, his dark eyes focused on Duo with an expression the braided boy couldn’t read. “What are you doing?” Heero asked coldly.

Duo looked at his lover with wide innocent-looking violet eyes. “Doing? Um, nothing.”

“Those mushrooms aren’t making you sick, are they?” He took a step toward Duo and reached a hand out intending to check his temperature, but the other boy managed to squirm out of the way before Heero could touch him.

The American quickly shook his head. “Nope, I feel just fine. I think--”

“Dinner’s ready!” Quatre called from downstairs.

“Thank you God,” Duo whispered. He glanced up at the ceiling with a grateful look in his eyes as he bounced off the bed and made a dash for the door. Heero looked after him, shook his head and sighed. The braided baka always had been a good actor.

Heero never once took his eyes away from Duo during dinner. The second the violet-eyed pilot showed any sign of pain he would be all over him. But Duo truly was a good actor, he kept himself in his overly cheerful character from first to last bite. Trowa noticed Heero’s look of concern, more surprised to see any emotion present at all, than the fact that it was over Duo. He glanced at the Deathscythe Pilot, his green eyes narrowed questioningly.

“Are you all right Duo?” He asked. Trowa studied the other pilot’s face before he answered.

“Just fine,” Duo said cheerfully without looking up from his bowl of food. “Man you wouldn’t believe how hungry I was earlier. I thought I was gonna keel over and die of starvation,” The braided boy paused briefly before continuing. “Good thing Q-Man here made plenty of extra food.”

Trowa dropped it at that. Duo was as talkative and cheerful as usual and there didn’t seem to be anything wrong. Perhaps Heero was just being paranoid with his lover. He would have to inquire about that subject later.

Just a few minutes more passed before Duo finished his third bowl, set it down on the table gently, thanked Quatre, then raced up the stairs back to his room.

The four remaining boys stared at each other for a moment in disbelief. Quatre was the first to go to the doorway. He looked after the braided boy with unease as he made a dash for the upstairs. He watched until the dark figure disappeared into his room, then looked at the others. “Duo didn’t even wait for dessert,” He commented worriedly. “He must be sick. It‘s chocolate cake! He can‘t even wait for chocolate cake!”

“Aa,” Heero nodded in agreement, rising from his seat. Without so much as a word to the others, he left the kitchen and walked up the stairs. He heard Duo moaning in pain from the hallway and he quickened his pace. The Japanese pilot flung open the door to the bedroom with a full intent to scold the baka for eating such strange and potentially dangerous food without checking it first. However, once he saw Duo curled up on the bed, whimpering softly, he let it all drop. The Deathscythe pilot had learned his lesson.

“Guess you were right Hee-chan,” Duo murmured softly upon hearing his lover coming close. “I promise...I’ll never eat anything weird again unless it comes from a refrigerator.” He moaned, clasping his hands around his knees to lessen the pain stabbing through his stomach.

Heero almost smiled at that comment as he sat on the bed. “You don’t seem to be too badly off koi,” He said as he ran his fingers along the silky contours Duo’s braided hair. “Not much of a fever and you haven’t thrown up. I don’t think you need to see Sally or get your stomach pumped.”

“I guess that’s good news,” Duo murmured in response, tensing slightly as one of Heero’s hands reached his back. He squirmed a bit and rolled onto his side and looked up at his lover with false innocence. “How dare you try to take advantage of me while I’m sick. I...itaiii...” He trailed off as pain threatened to overcome him again. “Gomen Hee-chan,” The violet-eyed pilot whispered hoarsely. “I don’t think we can do anything tonight. I’m kinda...not in the mood, y’know?”

“That’s fine,” Heero replied, snuggling next to his lover as another wave of pain rippled through the braided boy’s body. “That just means we’ll get twice as much tomorrow.”

Duo laughed slightly and snuggled closer to Heero. ::Damn mushrooms:: He thought in annoyance. ::Just ruined my whole night of fun:: He closed his eyes and fell into an uneasy sleep. He tried his best to ignore the pain that was very slowly but surely starting to ebb away.

* * * * *

Usually Heero was the first to awaken in the morning. Duo would almost always sleep until noon before dragging himself out of bed. The Japanese boy was utterly surprised to wake up and find himself alone in bed. It just wasn’t normal. He sat up and looked around, rubbing his eyes as they became adjusted to the light just beginning to shine in through the window. Light appeared from the bottom of the closed bathroom door as well, which told Heero exactly where his koi was. Hopefully he wasn’t losing last night’s dinner.

The blue-eyed pilot sat up slowly and dangled his feet over the edge of the bed. Before he could stand, a horrified scream came from the bathroom. Duo’s scream.

“OH...MY...GOD!!! Heeeeeeeeeroooooooo!!!”

Despite the fact that Duo had just managed to sound almost exactly like Relena Peacecraft, Heero lunged himself from the bed and reached the bathroom in three steps. He yanked the door open just as the other three pilots entered the room, just as concerned as he was.

“Duo!” Quatre cried as he bumped into Heero and was bumped into by Wufei simultaneously. “What’s wrong?!”

The braided boy turned to face the four of them with an unreadable expression on his face. “What’s wrong? WHAT’S WRONG?!” He shrieked.

Duo reached one hand behind his back and yanked it forward holding something furry and brown. A tail. A cat’s tail.

“THIS IS WHAT’S WRONG!”

Now Neko-Kaycee: Um...that was random, but that’s what working in heat will do to you! I don’t recommend it. What do y’all think? Should I continue? Yay or Nay?