note: The Quatre and Trowa subplot is for Ladyglen because she
saw something in Mission Three that gave her Happy Thoughts.
^_^ This picks up right where M3 leaves off in the library. ...and
yes, it's gotten even worse...

Duct Tape GW
Mission 4: I'll Save You, Duo!
by Ebonhawk

Quatre turned away from where Heero lay on the hard marble, moving back toward the open doors of the library. He stepped carefully over Wufei and continued on, pausing only when he came up beside Trowa. The tall boy was a slim figure of grey across the floor. He looked closely at those green orbs that were studying him and was suddenly reminded of what had entered his mind before the skirt fiasco.

It was time to visit the kitchen and then find a trampoline! He grabbed his duct taped companion by a long trailing piece of tape and skipped down the hall, dragging Trowa along the floor behind him as he hummed a cheery tune.

Trowa watched the ceiling pass overhead. What was Quatre up to now?! He closed his eyes for a brief moment and forced himself to remain calm...he was good at that.

For some reason, when the blond boy had first leaned over him, Trowa had gotten the distinct impression of...bouncing? How and why, he had no idea. He was more than certain, though, that he was going to find out sooner than he might want to. The loose piece of tape that Quatre was using as a tow line then dropped to the floor.

"Now, you stay here, Trowa. I'll be right back," said the gentle voice as sky blue eyes blinked down at him.

Like I could go anywhere if I wanted to! Trowa thought, the duct tape gag keeping his lips from frowning properly. He wriggled a little. Nope. Still impossible to get out of. Of course, this was not necessarily a *bad* thing. Not with the way Quatre would occasionally turn around to peer him...with that tiny, inviting smile...the hooded, lazy azure eyes...the pale gold tumble of-

WAITAMINUTE!!! What the *hell* was he thinking? If he could've moved, he would have been slapping himself upside the head at that moment but, as he could not do so, he did it mentally instead. It wasn't anywhere near as satisfying as the real action would have been, though. How unfortunate.

Anyway, Quatre looking at him funny was *not* a reason to get all googly eyed and fluttery in the tummy! ...tummy?... Trowa smacked himself mentally again. He hadn't used that word in he didn't know how long and he wasn't going to start again at his age just because Quatre was looking at him funny!

Well, that internal conversation just went full circle, Trowa berated himself. What was wrong with this picture? A question easily answered! He was thinking to himself the way Duo talked to himself - far too many aimless words that did nothing but chase each other's tails all day! This was highly irregular.

But...Quatre had been looking at him funny...almost like he wanted to-...naaaaaaaaaaahhhhh. Not Quatre!

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pulling open the door of the large cooling unit in the school's kitchen, Quatre sought out a little jar of maraschino cherries. They *had* to have at least one! Spying one stuffed way in the back, he practically climbed inside, using one raised foot to hold the door open behind him. When he dropped back to the floor, he placed the jar carefully on the counter...next to the skirt which he hadn't yet been able to return. Face scrunched in thought, he reached back into the refrigerator for the pressurized can of REAL whipped cream. He couldn't stand the wannabe-real, fake stuff.

He was in luck! Not only was the jar of cherries only barely touched, the can of whipped cream was brand new!

Pausing when he looked again at the folded skirt lying on the counter, a new idea began to form in the back of his mind. Hm. He needed to stop by the room he was sharing with Trowa and snag something else before moving on to the trampoline!

Trowa watched as Quatre returned and noticed he seemed thoughtful...as if he were considering something new. He would have asked what the blond boy was up to, but the grey tape slathered across his face made speaking completely impossible. With a tiny sigh, Trowa figured it had something to do with...bouncing.

When the young Arabian boy picked up the duct tape leash once more, Trowa's unlooked for adventure of being dragged through the school's halls while looking like some B-movie's mummified space alien resumed.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Elsewhere...

"OW OW OW OW!!!"

"Would you hold still?"

"But it HURTS!"

Duo squiggled and squirmed as large, strong hands tried to gently peel the tape away from his tender skin. Who would have thought that someday he'd have Treize Khushrenada within ten feet of him without them attempting to kick each other's asses?! Well, him attempting to kick Treize's ass, at least. Now, though, the man was endeavoring to free him from the painful results of yet another duct tape session! Then, uncontrollably, his eyes spazzed open wide. "YOWCH!!! That was my *hair*, nimrod!!!"

"Well, I'm sorry. It's rather difficult to *avoid* your hair, if you hadn't noticed. Shall we see if Zechs or Lady Une have found anything that will dissolve the adhesive?"

"You'd better!" Duo exclaimed violently, shrinking away from the fingers that stretched closer and closer to pull even a tiny bit more of the tape away from his bare arm. Flexing the muscles of his legs, he began to wonder if he'd ever be taped while wearing more than his gym shorts and a tanktop. Hm...maybe if it wasn't so close to summer? It was way too warm to wear anything else and reasonably survive these recent days of monster humidity...unless you were Heero...which he wasn't.

He was well aware, of course, that he would be taped again...and more than once. Quatre had given up his turn to Zechs and was likely to get him at a later date. Trowa...well, he had yet to even *try* taping him.

Duo snickered. Yeah, he could see Trowa taping him, but what would he have to do to get Trowa that miffed at him? Steal his secret stash of gummi bears? Make fun of his James Bond fixation?

"Barton. Trowa Barton," Duo murmured with an incredibly bad - yet somehow suave - accent before cackling and snorting like an insane rodent hopped up on some strange new happy drug. His mirth was silenced, though, when several inches of tape were torn from his tender skin. "OW! Stop it, Treize, you *moron*!"

"I'm sorry! It's just so much like unwrapping a present." The man was practically salivating all over the young pilot.

The young pilot could feel his eyes grow large and round - quite the size of large oranges, really - and squeezed them shut before they could pop out of their sockets. "NONONONO!!! I DON'T WANNA BE A PRESENT!!! ...not for you, anyway, you deviant."

"Oh? Then who would you like to be one for?" Treize inquired curiously, strangely ignoring the slur on his personage.

With a dismissive sniff, Duo quickly replied, "Never mind. You didn't hear that."

"C'mon! Tell me. I won't laugh," Treize wheedled. "Is it...maybe...Relena?"

Duo immediately went into full-body spasms and an extensive series of severe gagging motions, making all sorts of horrendous retching noises to accompany them.

"Oooookay, maybe it's not her. Um...maybe it could be that other girl... What's her name?"

"Who?"

"You know, that one girl! Is it her?"

A vague noise and expression of "you're *losing* it, buddy..." as his answer. Treize let one corner of his mouth twitch upward. It was going to be *fun* learning what he wanted to know.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back at the school...

"So, are you going to go after him?"

Heero didn't even favor Wufei with an irritated glance as he ripped one last piece of duct tape from his arm and searched through the mess that was his and Duo's room for only he knew what. "I have to." He shoved aside yet another pile of Duo's stuff. It was amazing...braid-boy's mound of things (and whatever micro-scopic or rodent-sized form of life might exist in it) seemed to be expanding. Multiplying, even. Each pile pushed aside revealed at least two more.

"Says *who*? Can't we let them keep him? At least for a little while? I'm sure they'll get sick of him and send him back sooner or later." Wufei was intent on talking Heero out of rescuing Duo. Absolutely *anything* to give them a break from the American's continual pestering and jabbering and other aggravating habits...even the risk of Duo spilling everything to the enemy!

"You know we can't allow that," Heero muttered, almost as if he had read Wufei's mind. "I hope you've been watching your Jackie Chan movies, Wufei, because you're coming with me."

The hopeful little smile that had been on Wufei's face landed on the floor with a loud thud. It was bad enough that Heero was going after Duo... Now *he* was expected to go??? He crossed his arms and stood stiffly. "You dishonorable cur! Blackmailing me into helping you to rescue that annoying...*thing*...with my Jackie Chan movies!"

Heero turned to look at him mildly, a small backpack crammed full of whatever he'd grabbed off the floor slung over a shoulder. "If I were to blackmail you, I wouldn't use that." He snagged up a pair of Duo's pants that were lying on the floor and reached into the pocket. "I would use this." From the pocket, Heero retrieved a small, hard rubber figurine of...a Smurf. Not just any Smurf, either. This was Papa Smurf in bondage gear. "I had a feeling you were into kinky, older guys but isn't this a bit much?"

Wufei snatched the keychain out of Heero's hand and scowled. "If word of this gets out, *everyone* will know about those Tinkie Winkie pjs I saw you wearing last night!"

Never before had the Japanese pilot's eyes been so huge or his voice so filled with rage. "You *wouldn't*!"

The tiny, supremely evil twisting of Wufei's lips showed exactly how serious he was. "Try me, 'Tubbie-boy."

Heero suddenly and surprisingly relented. "Fine. You're still coming with me, though." He caught hold of the Chinese boy's arm and proceeded to drag him out of the room.

"One question," Wufei said, pulling Heero to a halt. "*Where* does Duo keep all this crap when we're on the move?"

"You don't wanna know."

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Elsewhere, a bit later...

As the helpful liquid was flushed over his skin where it was still trapped by the sticky, one-sided, grey adhesive strip, Duo tugged at his braid. The liquid had an irksome stinging quality to it, but it was eating away the glue on the duct tape...much better than having the tape *yanked* off. Going through that process again would probably take off the few layers of skin he had left.

"Man, this stuff burns!" Duo complained. He was nearly free of the tape now. Only a few loops were left - from his calves down to his ankles. Wiggling his legs a bit in his impatience to be liberated, he asked, "What the hell are you using on me?"

"It's acetone," Zechs answered quickly, sorely tempted to smack the squirming, too-talkative boy. It was as if it were required by some divine law that anyone around this young Duo for any decent length of time had to hit him...hard.

"Oh...*that's* why it burns." The young gundam pilot slurped some of the strawberry milkshake Treize had so kindly ordered made for him up through the twist and turns of the novelty straw. (Lady Une had been so vexed at being made to play the demeaning role of kitchen help that she'd practically thrown the ice cream beverage at Duo before stalking away to sulk in another room.) The treat was so thick that he looked very like his face was going to implode by the time he got any into his mouth. He wiped the back of one hand across his lips. "That's good stuff, man," he complimented. Then, frowning, "Would you please stop drooling on me, Treize?"

The man was instantly whapped upside the head by Zechs, who followed it with, "Must you really act like a dog looking for a bitch in heat?! You could at least wait until we start the bath!"

He then turned to thump Duo on the back when the young pilot suddenly began to choke over his milkshake. Whether the cause of this was laughter or horror had yet to be decided.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back at the school...

Trowa stared hard at Quatre...

The blond boy had changed back into the skirt...and panties...after a quick run upstairs - thankfully without him! - to their shared room. Trowa could only imagine how painful it would have been to be dragged up the two flights of hard-edged steps and then back down. Now, he couldn't even begin to guess where Quatre was taking him. He sighed and resolved to face his fate bravely. Trowa knew that soon he would find out what the strange premonitions of...bouncing...were about.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Elsewhere...again...

"Oooooooo! Bubbles!" Duo exclaimed, then he sniffed and picked up a delicate scent. "Hm...smells like roses." He looked knowingly at Treize, who was already relaxed in the wonderfully heated water. "So, what's the deal with you and roses? Is it like a fetish of some sort? Maybe obsessive-compulsive disorder? You should really think about having it checked out, man."

"Shut up, strip, and get in the water already," Zechs directed as he himself slipped into the massive tub...maybe a little *too* close to Treize, as Duo saw it.

"Uh, do I have to be naked?"

The ginger-haired leader of the Specials let a tiny, shrewd smile slip across his lips. "Of course. *We* are. I've yet to meet anyone who wears their clothes while bathing."

Duo considered. "Oh, why the hell not?"

The scanty amount of clothing he was wearing was soon flung to the other side of the large, opulent room (a skill Duo had long ago mastered). He snatched up his milkshake - mmm! strawberry! - and splashed into the water, sneezing violently when bunches of bubbles went up his nose. Calming himself after the scented, soapy bubbles stopped their attack, Duo sniffled and asked curiously, "So, do you two always bathe together?"

Suddenly, Duo became intimately aware of the inquisitive toes that were slowly working their way up the skin of his inner thigh. For the third time since he'd been there, his eyes went wide.

"Keep your damn feet where they belong!" he squawked while shoving Treize's feet away. Duo set his milkshake off to the side and glared at the man with frisky feet, only to be shocked out of his tender and burning skin when another set of toes brushed along the line of his rear. He turned on Zechs, one finger fiercely pointed. "You, too! I will not play footsies with you guys! Especially when you're not after my *feet*!!!"

Treize smirked. "I'll stop if you tell me who you'd like to be a present for." His toes again tickled high on Duo's thigh.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Outside...

"What's going on?" Wufei whispered, crouched low and leaning against a pillar just out of sight of the French doors. Heero, on the other hand, nearly had his face pressed right against the glass, his breath making little, foggy, streaky clouds.

"I can't believe him..."

"What?"

"..."

"Heero? What's going on?"

"He...Duo...he's..."

"He's WHAT?!"

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Inside...

Duo was swatting yet another foot away from his crotch when he heard something that most definitely sounded like...Wufei? "Did you guys hear that?"

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Outside...

Heero grabbed Wufei by the scruff of the neck and shoved his face up against the glass. The Chinese pilot's dark eyes suddenly went round. He could *not* be seeing this. Duo, Zechs, and Treize...hanging out together in the tub?!

"No way... I didn't think Maxwell had it in 'im to do that," Wufei breathed in astonishment. "Lucky..." He was then yanked away by the hair and practically thrown off the patio as Heero growled and climbed to his feet. Shaking away the sharp pain of several hairs being ripped from his scalp (even with the black length tied firmly back), Wufei jumped forward a little too late. "Heero! No!"

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Inside...

The doors leading outside into the garden were suddenly flung open, the glass miraculously remaining intact. That was completely unnoticed, though, because a very scary looking Heero had quite captured all the attention.

Duo blinked in surprise and slowly let himself start to slip below the water. He was nearly submerged when feet pounded across the floor and a hand grasped his water-logged braid tightly. The long-haired boy flailed madly as he felt himself being dragged up and out of his bubble-covered sanctuary. In a last ditch attempt to save himself from Heero, Duo flung himself at the closest thing and clung for all he was worth...though his head was wrenched back by the unrelenting grip on his hair.

"Why, my sweet Duo, I didn't know you cared," Treize smirked.

Then the young pilot yelped loudly when he realized his mistake, immediately backhanded the man, and was hauled from the water. His naked form was flushed an ever-deepening pink (actually, now it was nearing a bright red) from many adding factors - the tape, the acetone, the water, the humiliation...

Struggling to remain on his feet as Heero proceeded to pull him along by the hair and out the door, Duo muttered, "Geez, you could at least let me get my clothes back on."

Obviously, Heero wasn't listening. He simply continued to drag Duo (wet and totally naked) along behind him, braid in hand, as they hit the perfectly manicured lawn and beyond.

Wufei watched with a little frown from the patio as his fellow gundam pilots disappeared from the estate. "Hmpf. So impulsive."

He turned back toward the open doors thinking he really should gather up what little clothing Duo had been wearing and return it to him before Heero packed him all the way to the school without so much as a stitch on.

The Chinese pilot slipped quickly inside and began searching out the items, deigning not to notice the two still sitting dumbfounded in the bubbles. He had nearly all of Duo's belongings gathered when one of the men finally spoke up.

"Say, young dragon, would you like to join us?"

Wufei stopped to stare at Treize. Then Zechs. Then Treize again. With a shrug, he replied, "Sure. Why not?" He dropped Duo's clothes to the floor, slipped off his own clothes, and jumped into the water, sloshing bubbles everywhere. Rubbing a few bubbles from his face, Wufei spotted the barely touched milkshake. "Oh hey, can I finish that?"

With a grin, Zechs passed the treat. "It was your friend's."

Wufei eyed the thing for a moment, trying to decide if a yummy looking strawberry milkshake was worth getting Duo germs... Oh yeah! Most definitely. He sipped at the pink stuff, having a much easier time than Duo because it had melted some.

The raven-haired boy felt toes brush against his shin. A slow, sexy smile twisted over his mouth and he sent his own foot sliding up that long leg with a soft touch...striking it rich when he saw Treize twitch and glance at Zechs before turning back to gawk at *him*.

"Zechs, buddy, I think we found ourselves a winner."

"I thought Winner was the blond boy."

Treize sighed. Zechs could be such ditz sometimes. "Never mind."

Wufei slipped under the water, laughing hysterically.

END

Heero: Time for 'tubbie bye-bye!
Ebon: GAH!!! Get back in your box!!! *shoves Heero inside little
cardboard box in which she keeps all the g-boys, duct tapes the top
closed* Heh...now they'll never get out.
Duo: *pitifully from inside box* ...help...pleeeeeeease?