~ * ~

Duo was anxiously waiting for Quatre to get ready. They were going to the mall to see the new game that was going to be unveiled.

Quatre rubbed his forehead. He already had a headache. Duo was driving them all a little crazy.

He, Duo, was a bundle of contradictions. Loud, bouncy, friendly, kind and considerate. He could also be quiet, sneaky, distant, cruel and hard hearted. Depending on his mood; or the necessity of the moment. Right now he was trying to keep up his spirits by bouncing all over the place, getting into everything, and chattering incessantly. Chang Wufei was considering a visit to Outer Mongolia.

Trowa just let it roll off his back saying. ‘Once he gets used to the idea that he really can visit anytime he wants he'll get over this.'

Quatre hoped the trip to the mall would help Duo get rid of some of his excess energy.

Duo sighed and flopped onto the couch. He knew he was being a pain in the ass to the others, but he couldn't help it. He just wanted to spend as much time as possible with Heero. He'd gotten caught on the way back from the prison by Quatre. He hadn't seen him that angry in a long time. Just after Heero's sentencing to be exact. He'd quietly asked Duo if he was trying to get himself committed. So now he was patiently waiting for his visitor's permit to be approved. Quatre said that there was no reason it wouldn't be but it had to go through proper channels which took time. Time Duo resented wasting.

So Quatre had decided to accept the invitation to come to the grand opening of the arcade and the new total emersion game.

Wufei snagged Duo from his sprawl on the couch. "Come on. If we don't hurry, we'll be late. It won't look good."

"What do you care? I. . . sorry ‘Fei, that didn't come out right. I'm just pissed. I got to see Heero for such a short time. And now I have to wait. Q said he'd peach on me if I didn't stay away.

Wufei brushed Duo off and straightened his shirt. "If you get caught, it'll be more trouble than it's worth and you know it. Just be patient like the turtle. "

Duo grumbled, "Turtle? What does that have to do with anything?"

Wufei just rolled his eyes and mumbled something about ‘ancestors' and ‘patience.'

When they were all finally in the car Duo rather contritely apologized for being a pain.

"Maxwell. I know you don't mean to be a nuisance. We all do. We're just as antsy as you are. When we get our visitors passes approved we'll all be much happier."

Wufei reached over and patted Duo on the knee. He'd gotten much more touchy-feely in the last months. His people weren't demonstrative, so he'd never realized how comforting a simple touch could be until lately. Now, he found that he craved touch, they all did. Quatre was a hugger and Trowa was much more affectionate than you'd have expected. Duo was, as Quatre said, a huggy bear. Wufei wondered how Heero would handle all the hugging and such that went on now.

They rode in companionable silence until they reached the mall where the crowd was rather more dense than they'd expected. However, they were met at the car by a rather obnoxious little man from the game company. He led them to a side door and explained that, since they were ‘personalities,' they were to be brought in from the back of the store. The unveiling was in one hour and they were expected to be on the stage exactly on time.

Duo eyed him with some distain and shrugged. "Sure whatever you say. Umm. What is the game? No one bothered to tell us."

"Sorry, it's a big surprise. No one knows. Frankly, not even me."

They all just gave up. They were determined to have fun, so they would; nasty little man or not.

~ * ~

When they were led to the stage, Quatre recognized the shell of the game it was from one of his fabrication facilities. He blinked for a second, then turned to Trowa, "Trowa, that shape. It . . . looks . . . oh, . . ." Quatre started snickering while Trowa just smiled.

Wufei poked Duo and hissed. "Maxwell, close your mouth. You'll swallow a bug."

"Done did. Holy, crap. Chang Wufei. Will you stop poking me and really look at that."

Wufei turned to examine the contraption and nearly choked on his own spit.

They all recognized the shape; each one of them had spent hours and hours in just such a thing.

Just then the curtains opened and the host started in on his Spiel.

Ladies and gentlemen. Galactic Games is happy and proud to present their first full emersion game. With this game you can do it all. Just like the real thing. There is no difference in this game and the real deal. Every action has it's consequence. Step up and be a . . . GUNDAM PILOT."

"These units are exactly like the trainers the real pilots used."

The Host turned and gestured to the four young men behind him.

"In fact they will be the first to play the new game. Just so they can testify to the reality of the game."

Quatre walked up and plucked the microphone from the Hosts hand.

"No, we won't. This isn't fair. Too many of the people here waited all night for the chance to be first. I know you'll yield your place to us, but we don't want you to. We'll wait our turns just like every one else."

The groans from the crowd turned to cheers. Quatre went back to the others and motioned for one of the servers. When he came over Quatre simply asked for chairs for them.

They spent the next hour watching as the operator strapped people into the pilots chair and started them out on the easiest level. There were six levels; trainee, Journey-man pilot, pilot, leo pilot, taurus pilot, or Gundam pilot. And at the Gundam level, it was possible to pick which gundam to operate including Tallgeese.

Not one person had managed to complete trainee level; much less go on to the next. People were beginning to complain. And leave.

Quatre sighed, this was boring, really boring; even he was beginning to get restless. Trowa leaned over and whispered. "One of us had better try it out. What if they jiggered it too hard, instead of too easy?"

Quatre whispered back. "Let's let Duo. He's about to fall asleep here."

So Quatre got the Host's attention and suggested he let Duo try. "You've got a real problem with this."

The Host sighed. "Thank god this is only a beta unit. The company wanted to launch the game as soon as possible, but the developers are ivory tower types. Real game freaks. I don't think this game is going to go over very well. No one can win it."

Quatre glanced at Trowa, who poked Wufei. Duo was off in la la land somewhere. Humming softly.

"Duo." Quatre watched as Duo clicked back in. "It's your turn."

"Cool." Duo sauntered over to the attendant, braid swinging.

The attendant eyed Duo for a second then opened the door to the simulator. Duo tugged off his jacket and handed it to the attendant. Dressed in jeans, soft boots and a t-shirt, he looked small next to the attendant. Duo shrugged his shoulders, cracking his neck. Then he stepped into the pilots seat and settled himself in the padding. He buckled the belts over his body and tightened the straps carefully. He'd actually been watching most of the time and he'd noticed that the attendant didn't fasten the harness nearly tight enough. The unpleasant sensation of feeling like you were about to part ways with the pilots seat was one of the things that was causing gamers to loose points. It was distracting.

He nodded to the attendant who shut the door. The entire compartment was clear. It was easy to see right into it the cameras that focused on the operators face and various other places in the cock pit made it easy to see what couldn't be seen directly.

When the door shut Duo picked his level overriding the attendant. The attendant just shook his head. This little guy was just asking for it. But if he knew enough about the game to over ride him he wasn't going to make a fuss. He was just as bored as everyone else.

Duo grinned. The levels had sub-levels. Each sub-level consisted of walking, running, and if capable, flying. The second sub-level introduced use of hand to hand weapons, then arms like buster rifles. Duo walked, ran, and flew. Then the combat started and Duo blossomed like a star burst shell.

He'd picked Gundam level of course. He also picked Deathsythe mode. It was just like the simulator that he'd trained on. And he was really enjoying himself. The computer finally threw everything there was at him including talgeese. He beat them all and finally staggered out of the cockpit sweating and exhausted.

"Wow! That was fantastic. The feeling was just like the trainer. And the seat is better, the padding and the restrains system work lots better. Wufei, you have to try it. See what you think. Oh . . . thanks, man."

Duo accepted the water bottle from the attendant and took a deep drink. He was recovering rapidly, but he was always thirsty after a battle. He settled into a chair and watched as Wufei entered the trainer. He looked around, it was very quiet

All the spectators were just standing watching as Duo proved that flying a gundam wasn't for just anybody. The silence was deafening. No one noticed the smell of burning insulation.

The Host babbled something about leaving it to the experts and adjusting the lower levels but no one payed him much attention. They were watching Wufei as he strapped himself into the pilot's seat.

Wufei spent thirty minutes whipping the unit through some heavy maneuvers and finally shut it down when it started to over heat.

The entire audience went crazy. Wufei stepped out of the machine, accepted his own bottle of water and a small towel from Duo. Quatre and Trowa both looked slightly disgruntled. They wanted to try it too, but it was now closed for repairs.

"Well that was interesting. I hope . . . I know that we'll take over that franchise. I'll have . . . no, Duo will . . . hmmm adjust . . . and . . . " Quatre's mind wandered off into the labyrinth of programming adjustment and merchandising.

####

Heero wandered into the dining room for breakfast. He'd put his new computer together and was anxious to show it to Zechs.

He sat at ‘their' table with his back to the wall. The waiter approached carefully and gently placed a glass of water on the table and handed him the menu.

I'll have coffee for now and . . . French toast, eggs, bacon, hash browns and orange juice . . . in about thirty minutes." Heero handed the menu back to the waiter and glanced around. Not many of the men here approached him. The one's who did seemed to regard him in an avuncular light. Which was fine with him. The few that didn't want to ‘father' him, regarded him with either indifference or and odd mixture of trepidation and condescension. He didn't mind. None of them bothered him.

Zechs arrived ten minutes later and walked right to the table.

"Well, waiting for me?" Heero nodded. "You shouldn't have. What if I had decided to eat in my rooms this morning?"

"You can't cook. You've never missed a meal in the dining room, unless you were sick or out with . . . Relena?" Heero made it a question.

Zechs gave him an indignant look and snorted. "I'll have you know I'm an excellent cook. I took classes. Escofier gold medalist."

"You? Well, I would never have guessed."

"Oh yes. I can do wonders with military rations." Zechs pushed at a stray strand of hair and made a moue of disgust. "Dammit."

Heero smiled at that face and offered to rebraid ‘that mess' after breakfast. Zechs took him up on the offer and turned to look for the waiter. He caught his eye and made an imperious gesture, signaling that he wanted a menu.

The waiter brought over a menu and water for Zechs, he also brought Heero's breakfast. He started to slam the water glass, but Heero cleared his throat sharply. The man gulped and set it down carefully.

Zechs raised his eyebrow at the man and remarked rather acidly, "If I'd known bending flatware was what it took to get quick service I would have done this months ago." The waiter goggled at the bent spoon and hurried away.

Heero started in on breakfast and watched as Zechs drank coffee. They both preferred tea but this was America and the tea was ‘unfit'; as Wufei would have politely put it. Not that Americans couldn't make good tea, it was just impossible to find it in a ‘public' place.

"I really miss tea. Is there anyway to get some? Real tea, I mean."

Zechs put his cup down and shrugged. "I gave up on tea a while ago. I don't like to make a whole pot just for myself and I find those individual brewers don't live up to their reputation."

Heero shrugged. "Then you've been using the wrong one. Quatre had some that worked quite well." He poked at the last of his eggs. "I'd like to go back to the mall and see if I can't find some good tea. Will you go with me?"

"Certainly. Two trips in one week . . . the dissipation is sure to go to my head." Zechs smiled at Heero who made a face back. "Did you get your computer put together? Is it satisfactory?"

"Yes and yes. I brought it to show to you. When you're finished with your breakfast. . . if you'd like."

Heero suddenly looked his age, and shyly peeked at Zechs through his messy bangs.

"Certainly, I'd like. I'm somewhat of a techno geek myself. In a quietly elegant way, of course."

Heero snorted and finished his breakfast in two bites. Zechs proved that he had a childish side as well, he had coffee and danish for breakfast.

After breakfast was finished and the dishes cleared away, Heero pulled the new computer out of his pocket. Zechs blinked. It was so small.

Heero gave in to his enthusiasm "Here. This is the key board . . . and this is the monitor. It's all state of the art."

Heero put the computer on the table. It was no bigger than a thick paperback book. He plucked two small cubes from one side of the case and placed them on the table. One projected a laser generated virtual keyboard onto the table top. The other cube projected a virtual monitor, Zechs coveted it instantly, the visual just hovered over the table; clear and bright.

"That's incredible. The power consumption must be outrageous. How long does the battery last?"

Heero smirked "No battery. It has an energy cell that's good for six years of continuous use."

Zechs eyed the tiny unit with undisguised lust. "I want one. Really bad. If I buy the components, will you build me one?"

Heero shrugged. "Sure. That'll make three in the known world. I sent the plans to Duo via email. He'll build himself one before the end of the week or I miss my bet." Heero put the computer away with a satisfied air. "Mall now? Please?"

Zechs laughed softly. "Yes. Mall now."

Heero was much more confident about the signout procedure, but when the officer started to give Zechs the same lecture he'd given him the last time Heero couldn't help rolling his eyes and obviously wishing the man would hurry up. Zechs patted him on the shoulder and told him to start on his way. Heero started off, glad that he'd finally graduated to a cane. His therapist had said walking was good for him, if he didn't overdo.

When Zechs caught up to him, he stopped and tugged him over to a bench. Seating Zechs on the bench Heero unbraided the sloppy braid and accepting a folding brush from his ‘victim,' he brushed out the long blond mane and rebraided it.

"There. It wasn't that bad. You just had a lot of stragglers that you didn't catch at the very beginning. You'll learn. We going to the mall now, or would you like to walk for a while?"

Zechs ran a hand over the braid and shrugged. "Whatever you'd like. I'm in no hurry to get there."

"Walk, I think. You look like you bit into a lemon."

"I just get so tired of that same lecture. That's why I don't go out so often. It's not like I could forget." Zechs tugged his cuff over the bracelet and flushed slightly.

Heero sighed. Putting that bracelet on Zechs was like chaining a lion. He wondered at Relena.

"Why doesn't Relena do something?"

"It's not politically expedient."

Heero made a sour face. "Oh. Well . . . fuck."

Zechs shook his head. "Good of the many, you know."

They walked in silence until they reached the mall. Heero took one look at the banners and crowds and looked for another way in. Zechs steered them both to a side entrance and down one level.

"The tea shop is here. I haven't even bothered to go in. I . . . never mind. Come on."

They entered the tea shop and Heero went directly to a shelf display containing ‘one-shot' or one cup tea pots and brewers. He located the type he'd liked best and also picked out a pot. He considered for a moment, then picked a brewer for Zechs.

Heero went to the counter and examined the canisters of tea on shelves behind it. The clerk approached him, asking if she could help. Heero asked for some Silver Needle.

"Oh, that's a good selection. This year's crop was excellent. Much better than last year's. If you like that there's also Monkey Fist. And a very nice jasmine."

Heero considered. He liked all of them, but he wasn't sure if he wanted that many different green teas.

"Perhaps a white of some sort; instead of the Monkey Fist." Heero went back to looking at the canisters.

"Here, taste this." The clerk handed Heero a small cup with a smile. "It's Kokoro." The white tea was excellent; flavorful, with flowery after notes. Heero sighed, it was the first taste of good tea he'd had in more time than he cared to think.

Heero eyed the canisters again, he wanted some of most of the types there. Zechs walked up behind him and pointed.

"That is one of my favorites. Which sort do you like best?"

Heero pointed in his turn. "That one. And that one. I like oolong the best, but white is second."

"Not genmaicha? I thought."

Heero was already shaking his head. "Don't particularly care for it. I think it tastes like boiled hay. What does your favorite taste like?"

"It's Ti Quan Yin. Oolong, peachy, with a touch of spice, that one is special. It has just a bare hint of jasmin."

Heero considered for a moment. "I'd like some of that. And that. And that. A quarter each, I think."

The clerk looked at Heero's selections. "Very well. But I must warn you. That white tea is Royal White Darjeeling, it's $280 a pound. I can't sell less than a quarter."

Zechs just smiled at her. "Oh, I think I can afford it. Anything he wants."

Heero shook his head and brandished a credit card. "Q sent it to me. I'm buying." He turned his head to look at Zechs. "I'll be offended if you refuse. Now pick something." Heero glared at Zechs who held up his hands in surrender, shaking his head and laughing.

Heero indulged himself. He bought several sorts of tea; two white, an oolong and a black. He also bought a tetsubin, a bodhum, and two one-cup brewers. He distracted Zechs for a moment by asking him to see what the ever increasing noise was about. He motioned for the clerk to measure out a quarter of the tea Zechs liked. She smiled and nodded just as Zechs came back.

After Heero was through paying for the two packages and arranging for them to be delivered, Zechs motioned for him to come to the windows.

"The noise is coming from the next level. There's a new game being introduced. One of the full emersion one's. There's a complete set up of some kind, I think. I can't really tell from here. You want to go up and see?"

Heero thought for a minute. "Would it be ok, do you think?"

Zechs nodded. "As long as we don't break any rules, we're fine. And I don't see either one of us assaulting anyone or stealing anything. Do you?"

Heero snorted in amused agreement so they climbed the stairs and investigated.

Heero nearly fell over. And Zechs wasn't far behind him. They both had spent enough time in one of those things to recognize it on first sight.

"Gundam trainer? You have got to be kidding me. Who . . . this is ridiculous. Most of these people aren't in good enough shape to withstand operating one of those. But . . . " Zechs closed his mouth before he said something stupid.

Heero sneered, the person in the ‘game' was about to be killed by his own inexperience. Sure enough, before he could even point it out to his companion, the gamer tripped over his own ‘feet' and fell hard enough to crack the carapace. Since he was ‘on mars'; he suffocated.

Zechs poked Heero and pointed. There seemed to be no way they could get anywhere near the stage, but they could look, and Heero did, with his heart in his eyes. Duo looked so good; they all did. He wanted to get closer, but the crowd was thick and security was fair. Zechs eyed the stage then whispered. "If you want to get closer, we can manage if you'll have a little patience. Force won't do it but . . ."

Heero nodded. "Yeah, we can work our way around the edges until we're close enough for one of them to see us. Quatre will let us in. Come on."

So they spent the next half hour or more alternately watching Duo, then wufei in the trainer/game, and easing their way to the stage.

####

Duo nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard Heero.

"Trust you to bust it before I get a turn."

Heero was immediately surrounded by the rest of the pilots while Zechs looked on in amusement.

They hugged and babbled; Heero tucked Duo under his arm and turned to look at Zechs. Zechs nodded and turned to look at the trainer. He couldn't think of it as anything else, and he was interested.

The operator walked over to the group and sighed.

"Well, that tears it. It's out of commission until I can replace the servos. I told them the things were too small."

"Do you have larger units?" Duo felt bad. Between them he and Wufei had burned all the servos and grav plates out.

"Yeah, but it'll take at least six hours for me to replace them."

Suddenly Quatre spoke behind them.

"Do you actually have the units, or do you have to send for them?"

"Mr. Winner." The operator nodded to Quatre. "I've got them right there. I brought them along because I figured I'd replace the burnt out units as they went. But instead of one at a time, they all failed at once. So I'm gonna have to rebuild the entire servo system at once."

Quatre examined the burnt out servos with interest. Then he stood, stroking his cheek for a while, thinking.

"If you'll allow me, I think I can get it online in less than three hours. If you would close the curtains, please."

Quatre went to the Host and explained what he was going to do. The host sighed. "We're going to have a lot of disappointed people, they have waited a long time; some of them since early this morning."

"Yes. I know. But. . . most of the ones who have waited are tired. I hate for them to lose their places, but I hate for them to wait . . . hmmm."

Quatre glanced around, but Trowa was the one who came up with the solution.

"Look . . " Trowa pointed to a coffee shop. It had a little numbered slip dispenser right by the door.

Quatre talked to the Host; who agreed that this idea would work.

Trowa went into the shop and talked to the manager. The manager nodded and produced a roll of the tickets. It was outdated and bright pink. Trowa offered to buy it from him, but the man just shrugged and pointed out that the free offering on the back had expired. He smiled, said ‘good advertising' and waved Trowa away.

Trowa took the tickets to one of the assistants and asked him to start handing them out. "And make sure that they understand that the offer on the back is void. We don't want to cause the coffee shop problems, since the manager was kind enough to give us the tickets free."

While Trowa was talking to the assistant, the host was announcing that the game was closed for repairs but that the pink tickets would be honored first and in numerical order. There were a few groans, but many more cheered.

~ * ~

Duo sighed. He was going to work on the machine, no doubt about that. but he liked this outfit and it was going to be ruined. There was no way to work on something as complex as this without crawling and groveling.

"Look, pal . . . what the hell is your name?"

"Huh? Oh George. Chief Assistant, head mechanic and general ‘it's all your fault' guy. You're Duo Maxwell. I know all you guys. Pleased to meetcha."The man offered his hand. Duo took it and pointed to the other assistant, the one who'd helped him into the game. "He any good?"

"Well, yes and no. He's better with people, so he's contact guy. I'm just a mechanic. As for being any help with fixing this; no. Good goffer, but that's all."

Quatre walked up, looked at the mess of wires, servos, and gravity plates and then at the game unit.

"What do we have? What do you need?"

"Time and hands. You do the meet and greet thing. I'll need Heero, Trowa and Wufei. This guy is too big to be of much help in the actual installation. Ummm oh shit." Duo clutched at his chest dramatically. Zechs had walked up to the group and come at him from a funny angle, so Duo hadn't seen him until the last minute.

"Give a guy a heart attack, why don't you."

Zechs bowed slightly. "I'm sorry. Maybe I should wear a bell." Zechs felt a little hurt. All he wanted to do was help.

Duo caught the scowl and head shake from Heero, so he decided to be nice. Heero would explain that look later.

"I'm sorry too. Just . . . I got a few twitches. You know. Big guys kind of freak me out sometimes."

Zechs gave Duo a sad look and started to move away. Duo stopped him when he was about two feet away.

"That's good . . . I don't feel like I'm crainin' my neck. Thanks . . . umm . . . what did you want?"

"I'd like to participate, if I could. I'm a fair mechanic."

Duo snorted. "Fair my ass. You maintained Talgeese yourself, or I miss my guess."

"Actually I didn't. I didn't have time; between one thing and another. But I was trained so that I could do any repair in an emergency."

Wufei inserted himself into the group. "Well, that's all well and good, but if you intend to get this done, we need to quit yacking and get working."

Duo looked around; when it came to quick repairs, he was the master, so he knew that all the others would look to him for assignment.

"Ok . . . well. Zechs, you won't fit anymore than that . . . George, so help him with the unpacking and initial set up. Trowa . . ."

"Excuse me, but all you have to do is take off the access plates and I can reach in to the shell proper and. . ."

Duo cut the man off gently. "Look . . how long does it take just to get off the plates. " George got a tired look. "Yeah. I thought so. We're not going to waste forty minutes or so a plate taking them off. Quatre, Heero and I are going to crawl around between the shells and mount the new units and we're going to replace the grav. plates at the same time. Wufei can do that. That leaves you, Trowa and Milliardo to keep us fed. Got it?" Duo looked around at everyone. "Any questions? . . . Any complaints . . . good ideas that I missed?"

Head shaking all around. George just motioned to Trowa to come with him with a nod to Zechs.

"Umm. Mr Maxwell. . ."Duo turned to look at Zechs. "I legally changed my name to Zechs Merquise. Please call me Zechs."

Duo gave him a jaunty salute. "Sure, Zechs. Ummm . . one thing. You hurt Heero in any way and I'll gut you."

It took Zechs a moment to realize exactly what Duo had said. The cheerful tone of voice totally belied the words. But he didn't doubt Duo's seriousness for a second.

George delighted everyone by producing coveralls in various sizes; along with bandanas and gloves.

George seemed to be somewhat in awe of Zechs, but soon got over it as he; one, refuesd gloves as getting in his way and; two, seemed not to mind taking orders from him. Trowa just got to work. He started uncrating the units and handing the servos to George. Zechs realized that he was going to wind up preparing the grav plates. Not that he minded, he was better at the electronics than he was at the more mechanical servos.

It took them almost half an hour to get the first units ready. While they were doing that, Duo, Heero and Quatre dismounted as many of the burnt out servo units as they could.

Wufei started on the burnt out grav plates, grumbling about the way they were mounted.

"Wufei, what's the matter with how they're mounted?" Duo stuck his head into the gap between the inner and outer shells. They'd accessed the whole unit from the unsealed bottom and Wufei was half way up the side, braced between something and something else.

"Half the energy is wasted. They're just jammed in here. I've never seen a more inefficient use of resources in my life. I don't care if it is just a game, it's criminal. No wonder everything burned out."

"What do you need?"

Duo crawled up beside Wufei to examine the mess for himself. "Needs a real bracket not that . . . What the hell is it?"

Wufei unscrewed a piece of the mount. "Looks like a cheep piece of mounting strapping. Like you'd use to keep pipe from rattling."

Duo took the bit of metal from Wufei and nodded. "Sure is . . . Cheep fuckers. Damn . . . We better look this thing over good. No telling what other corners the cheep skates cut. Shit . . . uumm. I'll see what I can come up with. Just rip it all out."

"Ok I'll . . . if. . . um. . . see. . . " wufei wandered off into his head. Duo just crawled out and started sketching on a piece of paper. Wufei crawled out with a grav plate in his hand. He handed it to Duo.

"Burnt the fuck up completely. Damn. Well . . . what do you think ‘Fei. Look ok?"

Wufei examined the sketch for a minute. "Good. That'll work a lot better. But where do we get it?"

"I'll machine them myself. George has to have a small lathe. And the metal is mild steel. The plates don't have to withstand any side stresses, so it'll do fine. Just concentrate on getting the fried units out for now. Be sure to check all the wiring. Ok?"

Wufei sneered cheerfully at Duo "Think I'm an idiot? . . . go . . . machine or whatever and leave me to do my job." Wufei smacked Duo gently on the back of the head. Duo laughed and hurried off.

~ * ~

"Hey, Zechs. You any good as a machinist?"

"Yes, I'm actually quite good . . . but I can't."

Duo eyed Zechs for a grim moment. "I thought you said you wanted to help?"

"I do, but I'm not allowed."

Duo grunted sourly. He'd hoped to get the machining done without having to take himself away from the main work. But if Zechs wanted to be stubborn, he was going to have to redistribute his resources.

Heero came up behind Duo and wrapped an arm around him. "Ask him why."

"Ok, I'll bite. Why?"

Zechs held up his arm showing the bracelet. "I'm not allowed near any cutting implements. Including lathes."

Duo took Zechs' hand in his. He carefully examined the bracelet and recognized it for what it was. "Fuck. Might as well just jam a leash up your ass. Sorry."

Zechs looked into calm violet eyes and shook his head. "Don't worry about it, it only stings a little."

Duo grumbled. Heero soothed. And they went back to work.

Duo machined the mounts, Quatre and Heeroworked on replacing the servos, and Wufei the grav plates. Zechs unpacked the grav plates and got them ready for installation. Trowa prepared the servos that George unpacked. George also ran supplies to Quatre and Heero, while Zechs brought the prepared plates to Wufei.

They got filthy, greasy and sweaty. They also had more fun than any of them had had in a very long time.

"Hey an' no one shooting at us. I hardly know how to act."

Zechs, hanging from one hand while he manhandled a grav plate up to Wufei, offered to see what he could do.

"No thanks. Too many civilians around. I'd offer to let you run the WEI obstacle course, but . . . well, I am. If you can, that is."

Heero grunted, he'd heard a lot about it. "Hey, Zechs, as my sponsor isn't it your duty to accompany me on my first few furloughs. I think I'm eligible for a twelve-hour one next week."

Duo let out what could only be called a squeal of joy. "Hey, Q, Heero's up for a furlough. We could do something. Zechs is coming too."

Wufei dropped upside down from inside the shell, reached for the plate and snarled, "Maxwell. I'm trapped in this echo chamber with you. Have some respect for my eardrums. . . thank you, Mr. Merquese. If you are coming, please let us know enough in advance that we can plan around your. . . limitations."

Zechs felt completely pole-axed for a few seconds. Duo smiled, Trowa and Quatre had already accepted Zechs almost without question. *Put grudges aside. Start new.* "Ok, I'm accepting my own advice. Zechs, stop standing there like a burnt out leo and get humpin'."

Zechs returned to his work with a slightly stunned expression. *They're just going to allow me into their circle? Heavens above.*

~ * ~

Zechs sighed and blew his bangs off his sweaty forehead. Trowa did the same. Heero and Duo too some time to neck unashaimedly.

Wufei pulled the elastic off his pigtail and swiped the stragglers back under control. Quatre just flopped onto the floor flat on his back and groaned.

George came around and grinned. "I can see why we won the war." He gave Zechs an apologetic shrug, Zechs flapped a weary hand back. "You finished it in two hours and change. You're all fantastic."

Quatre sighed "thanks. It was fun. But we better get going, we're all sweaty and . . ." He sniffed himself. "Odiferous"

Duo snickered, "Polite talk for stinky. Wu. You got a brush?"

Wufei shook his head. No, sorry." Wufei turned his head. "Ask George. He might have one, or maybe could get one."

George did better than that. He produced several very nice brushes from the promotional gifts. "Here. Least I can do."

Then there was some odd shuffling. Wufei needed help, as his arms were sore from the position he'd had to hold them in. Zechs was still not really capable of doing his own. And Heero wanted to do Duo's hair.

So they wound up in a sort of daisy chain. Wufei was cross-legged in front of Zechs, Zechs also seated on the floor in front of Duo, who was in a chair, and Heero standing behind Duo. Each with a brush in hand, except for Wufei, who was holding all the elastics. Heero and Zechs finished first, with Duo close behind. None of them noticed the flash of a camera.

~ * ~

George brought them all sodas and got them into a small back room to wait until the crowds calmed down enough to let them leave without being swarmed.

Most of the people waiting for the game had stood around and watched. The clear shells had given them an excellent view of exactly what was going on. Unknown to them, a vid crew there for the opening, had filmed most of what was going on. Including Zechs, calmly helping, working along side his former enemies.

"Ok, we did good people. Especially you George. You really did good. Stepped back and let us do the job, even though it might have made you look bad to your bosses. Q, make sure he doesn't get in trouble, will you." Duo turned to Zechs. "Thanks for helping out. I'm sorry about that little misunderstanding. Trowa, that ticket idea was great. Q. You have anything to add?

Quatre smiled at Duo. Whoever thought he was just a pretty face was in for a sorry surprise. Underestimating Duo wasn't good.

"Just that we all performed up to expectations again. Mr Merquese, we couldn't have done it without you. Thank you for helping us."

Zechs was surprised by the warm glow Quatres praise gave him. He knew a lot about all the pilots, he'd read reports about them for months. But the reality was much better. He felt hope for the first time in over a year.

"You're welcome. It was my pleasure. Some spot of brightness in an other wise dull existence. Please . . . all of you must call me Zechs."

Heero snuggled with Duo, wondering how long it would be before they had to part.

"Sorry, people, it's going to be a while. The crowds aren't leaving anytime soon. Might want to make calls."

The attendant popped back out and Zechs sighed. Fishing his phone out of his pocket, he called the Warden to explain what was happening. Much to his surprise, the Warden already knew all about it.

"Well, that was interesting." Zechs eyed the phone as if it had answers to his questions.

"What?"

Zechs explained that the Warden had told him not to worry about curfew. "He said, since we were with Mr. Winner, he would extend the curfew to whatever we need . . . interesting."

Zechs kept his own counsel, but looked at Quatre. Quatre met his gaze with a level look of his own. Zechs raised an eyebrow, but refrained from further comment.

The organizer finally arrived with a flurry of excuses, he'd been on L3, left late, gotten caught in traffic, etc.; but he was grovelingly grateful to the group for fixing the beta unit. Duo started laughing and had to explain the reference.

Zechs sighed, trust Maxwell to like anime and manga. References to the newest out were going to be hard to keep up with.

Duo laughed at the expression on his face. "Don't worry. I don't drown you in references just one every now and then." Wufei snorted indelicately and Trowa rolled his eyes. "What? I don't!"

"Only because Trowa threatened to burn your manga if you did."

"Pillock."

"Brat."

"Jerk."

Heero kissed Duo and Quatre grabbed Trowa to do the same. Wufei shifted from foot to foot and gave Zechs an apologetic look, Zechs just shrugged at him.

~ * ~

Sorry the chapter is short. But they end where they end and I don't try padding them. It usually doesn't work.

Notes

LGVK's do exist. See here. http://www.virtual-laser-keyboard.com/index.asp