A HeeroxDuo get-together fic told (mostly) by Wufei.

~W~

When Lady Une approached us about joining the Preventers I was quick to accept the appointment. Yuy, like myself, was relieved to be given a mission.

When it came down to it, we'd expected to die, or for the war to continue indefinitely, planning for our future was one of the things we'd never gotten around to.

I knew Winner had his corporation to run, Barton, as I expected, followed him back to L4. I was, in a way, happy for them, though Barton would have made an excellent agent. But Maxwell's refusal made no sense.

He had no home. No connections. No direction. Perhaps I was giving him too much credit in assuming that he'd recognize the opportunity to ease into postwar civilian life.

I'd also assumed his attachment to Yuy would keep him terrestrial. Perhaps I'd misread him. Duo was a master of masks after all. It'd taken me the better part of the war to understand that, to start learning to read him, the real him. Not the buffoon he paraded around as.

I sat at my desk, staring absently out the window. You could see the Sanc palace grounds from Preventers Headquarters. I'd been assigned an office with Yuy and a third, currently empty desk.

Yuy walked in, professional, observant, he carried a laptop under one arm, a coffee mug in the other. He glanced at my desk, at the one with his nameplate and then the third.

"Where's Maxwell?"

That startled me. Heero didn't know?

"He… declined… the appointment." I watched Yuy, the way his jaw tightened, the almost unperceivable display of emotion. I'd have missed it had I not been watching for it.

"Unacceptable." Was all he said, setting down the computer and turning around to face me. Mug in hand as he leaned back against the desk. Even relaxed he was still wired for movement. I absently wondered if that would fade with time, or if it was just a part of who he was now. A part of all of us.

"He didn't talk to you." It was both a question and a statement. I was unsure how Yuy would respond to my prying. But I found Maxwell's course of action irritatingly irrational. His refusal didn't make sense.

"No. He discussed his decision with you?" He raised an eyebrow, a cobalt eye flashed beneath the heavy fall of that hair, the only thing he didn't seem to have perfect control over.

I shook my head. "I was outside Une's office. I overheard and confronted him as he was leaving. He said something nonsensical about dogs in old women's purses."

Heero snorted a low chuckle into his mug, "That does sound like him."

I smiled too.

It'd been an act of self-preservation, during the war, Duo's irrepressible humor. But it had been a balm to us all. My mind drifted as I contemplated the additional mental scarring we might bear had Duo not been there to give us that release, those preciously small moments of laughter.

"Where are you going?" I asked Heero, his hand already on the door. Had I been so lost in my reverie I hadn't noticed him abandoning his beverage and striding across the room?

"To talk to Une about an assignment." I nodded, rose, and followed him. We'd been assigned an office together. I assumed that meant we were partners. It seemed logical.

Heero cowed Une's receptionist with a glare as he strode past and walked into Une's office without knocking. I smothered a grin. Une looked up from her paperwork, annoyance clearly etched across her face.

"I require an assignment on L2." Heero stated, firm, direct. I could tell his lack of introduction was irritating to Une. It's a shame he isn't here. Maxwell would have enjoyed this.

Une's eye twitched slightly and she turned her glare to me. "And you?"

"The same." I responded.

"You haven't been through training."

"Unnecessary." Heero responded. "Chang and I have years of experience working together and are highly trained in all forms of combat and self-defense."

"You are untrained in Preventer policy."

"Unecessary."

"How so?"

"I have read the New Employee Guidelines. There is nothing unclear about Preventer policy." He was messing with her now. Even I couldn't be bothered to read that pompous document.

"Clearly you missed the part about respecting other officers."

"Irrelevant." Heero's posture hadn't changed. But I sensed he was growing annoyed with Une's petty objections and unnecessary delays. "I require an assignment on L2." He said again.

"And if I refuse until you've completed training."

"I will offer my resignation, effective immediately."

Une glanced at me as if looking for conformation that he was joking. I shook my head. Negative.

Une sighed.

"This is NOT going to be standard protocol for you two. Go. I'll send you the details of your assignment while you're en route."

Heero nodded and turned and left the office. I shrugged, a movement I'd picked up from Maxwell, and turned to follow him out.

"Chang." I half turned to glance back at Une. "When you find Maxwell, tell him my offer still stands."

"Understood."

Heero was already packed as I re-entered the office. It shouldn't have surprised me that he'd have a bug-out bag already stashed here. I pulled my own out of the locker behind my desk and we made our way down to the elevator and then to the hanger.

The rumor was that mobile suits were being decommissioned. Ours of course had been immediately confiscated while we were being held as terrorists. Yuy and I boarded a small shuttle and took off without waiting for conformation. Une had a few nasty remarks to shout over the com lines on that as well.

I couldn't help but notice the smirk playing itself across 01's face.

"Duo would be proud." I observed, my own smirk finally tearing itself loose as Yuy's breath caught. "He always was a terrible influence."