Trowa and Heero had arrived at their mission location approximately an hour ago, they were to pose as forest rangers and live in an outpost for a while to keep an eye on a new base close by. The outpost was a glorified tree house high in the forest; it had one bed, a twin and lots of radio equipment. Trowa was already dressed as a forest ranger. There was a cabinet and a small cooling unit as well, but little room for them to even both be standing at once.

Heero peered over at Trowa, pulling his own uniform on and adjusting it. He didn't bother removing his normal clothes, keeping the shorts as a sort of undergarment since he was uncomfortable without them. "How long are we supposed to remain here? That wasn't specified in the mission parameters."

Trowa shrugged and threw down his spare change of clothes. It was fairly rustic. There wasn't even a bathroom and their "kitchen" consisted of a sink in one wall and a small fridge in the corner. "Until we get enough information."

"You were a better choice for this mission than Quatre, why did they send it to him?" Heero sounded puzzled, gathering his gear together before pulling on his boots, his nimble fingers getting him ready to go within minutes, then he grabbed a dried snack bar and headed for the door.

"I don't know." Trowa began to look around for spare blankets. Their outpost had just screens as windows, and he knew it was going to be cold tonight.

Heero shook his head, lapsing into silence. He really didn't have to talk to communicate with Trowa most of the time, and was simply relieved the other quiet boy understood his brand of humor.

*This is going to be self-inflicted torture, I just know it.* Trowa settled into a seat on the floor and stared off into space, periodically glancing over at Heero. He considered for a moment, wondering why Heero would need backup for such a simple mission.

"I'd never seen a forest before I came to Earth." Heero dipped his head, listening to the night sounds of the forest as they got settled to watch the main gate. This first night was dedicated to evaluating what entrances to the area were most used. Heero had brought his laptop with him and was hacking into the systems he could reach for information while they watched the guards down below.

Trowa nodded as he peered out the window. "I felt the same way the first time I saw a forest." He grabbed a pair of binoculars and went over to one of the windows, peering out towards the base. He wasn't too nervous. The guards knew they were there, it was what made the cover so simple to uphold.

"Yes. The range of life it holds interests me." Heero glanced up from his screen, then looked back down to it, fingers flying over the keys.

Trowa nodded and continued to watch out the window in silence. Heero usually wasn't so talkative. Trowa was reluctant to try the night vision goggles not wanting to block his vision to anything closer up, and if someone looked at him, night vision goggles would give away that he wasn't a normal ranger.

"Try the night binoculars, they won't give anything away." Heero double tapped something, then winced as sound abruptly came from the laptop. He'd gotten where he wanted to go, but the damn thing had music playing in the files for the blueprints.

Trowa turned and looked at Heero, a funny expression on his face as he heard the music. He tried not to laugh. "Heero, I don't think there's a lot going on tonight, no matter if I did use the night vision or not. They are going to be nervous with us up here and will take some time for them to get back to their routine."

Heero nodded briefly, but his fingers were flying, trying to shut the music off and being met with no success. "Is their entire system a giant radio?" Frustration was clear in Heero's voice as the music changed from one kind to another but didn't shut off.

Trowa turned away and snickered into his hands as quietly as possible. *Poor Heero!* The laughter didn't last long though as five minutes passed and the music didn't cut off.

Heero tried another method, fingers flying again after a brief pause, and his eyes widened. "Trowa, we need to leave, this place is a decoy."

"What? Are we in immediate danger?" Trowa was baffled and he moved up behind Heero to read over his shoulder.

Heero turned the screen, showing Trowa the figure that spun on the screen, a joker dancing on a card, with the theme for Alice in Wonderland playing it's music, and one line fluttering on the bottom of the screen. ~Got You~

"What the hell?" Trowa leaned forward and clicked a few keys, but nothing happened with his tampering.

Heero turned his laptop, quickly tapping out the keys and managing to back out of the system, but he already knew it was too late as the system sudden started to spark, effectively killing the board. He'd have to get another as soon as possible. He was glad he had nothing of import on the system. "We need to get out of here!"

"Right. But I'm keeping the uniform." Trowa grinned suddenly and grabbed his duffel bag, stole some food from the fridge and snatched up some of the radio equipment they hadn't brought with them as he prepared to leave.

Heero snapped the laptop closed, giving it a mournful look as he realized he'd have to leave it behind, and grabbed his duffel as well, heading for the door on swift feet.

"So now what do we do?" Trowa kept his voice down as they made their way back through the quiet forest. "Blow up what little they have of the base and go back and yell at the Mad Five for the misinformation?"

"Advisable. I think perhaps we should take care of our missions independently for a time while we determine if this was intentional." They reached Heero's gundam first, and he swung up into it.

Trowa watched before heading for his own gundam. The conversation would have to wait. He stashed his newly stolen goods in Heavyarms and prepared to make some explosions. He grinned almost maniacally. He loved to blow stuff up. Heero powered up the Gundam, upset over the loss of his computer to what was clearly a virus like tracking program that he was stupid enough to allow into his system.

Trowa took care of the small half-built base, destroying the buildings. He took off into the sky feeling slightly better about having the chance to destroy something and take the edge off his tension.

Heero looked over the destruction, then blasted at the remains for taking his computer away from him. He then headed back towards the safe house, getting up above the clouds.

Trowa opened a communication link a moment later, eyes shining with glee his face didn't show. "So back to the house?" The amusement was also apparent in his voice.

"Yes." Heero was obviously grumpy. He'd put allot of work into that system!

"Ryoukai" Trowa gleefully stole Heero's phrase and gunned his engines back towards the house, choosing to fly on manual for a while.

Heero glared in the general direction of the other gundam and followed his lead. *What a waste of two days!*

Heero had slept in his gundam, letting the rest of the few hour flight back go by in a doze, returning to the forest about an hour before the others in the safe house were to wake. Trowa, still running on an adrenaline rush, decided to just go into the house and show off all his thieved radio equipment, he couldn't wait to play with it! The hour arrival before the others woke wasn't enough to get there before the house was busy however.

Zechs had ended up taking over Quatre's bed for the night while the smaller blonde had migrated to the only empty bedroom left. Overall, neither of them slept well, either through the wounds, or where they ended up in the house. Zechs woke the next morning with a start, climbing out of bed and managing not to fall in his early morning haze while he made his way to the bathroom, closing the door firmly behind him. Quatre wasn't far behind having decided it was time for him to get up so he groggily walked into the kitchen. He was quite grumpy, grumbling something about nap later.

Duo crawled out of bed, having been worn out at last by the overly amorous/possessive Wufei. He pulled on a pair of his skimpy black boxers in concession to Wufei, shaking his partner awake since he wanted to leave the room. He didn't even realize that his blue stripes were starting to stand out in bold relief all along his back, neck, and the outside edges of his chest and belly. He had stripes everywhere but his head, hands, and feet.

Wufei grumbled, resisting getting up. When he finally opened his eyes, he gasped wide-eyed at Duo's appearance. "Wha?" It almost looked as if Duo had been tattooed in his sleep.

Duo blinked at Wufei sleepily, his eyes having that bold cat sheen in the low light. "I'm gonna go to the kitchen. I'm hungry. C'mon Fei baby."

"First. I want a kiss." Wufei smiled deviously. He was hungry too, of course... But he was in a playful mood this morning. Those stripes had also been a bit of a shock.

Duo grinned, leaning over Wufei. "I can handle that!" He then dived down for a kiss, his hands on either side of Wufei's head. Wufei smiled brightly as Duo gave him a good morning kiss, drawing one hand into Duo's hair and rubbing slightly.

Zechs moved out to the kitchen, his lone article of clothing, namely his pants, the only thing he had on as he came into the kitchen only to be confronted face to face with a hyper Trowa Barton.

Trowa stumbled slightly, seeing two blondes in the kitchen and blinked confused. *Am I high or something?* He blinked again, looking back from Zechs to Quatre.

Heero followed Trowa in a minute later, his dark eyes blinking as he took in the tall half naked blonde in the kitchen with Trowa and Quatre

Duo leaned further into the kiss, purring low in his throat, his hands kneading the bed, though he pulled back again after a moment, hearing the door. Wufei grabbed him by the hair again with a slight growl and moved in for another kiss, not letting Duo get distracted so easily as that.

Zechs, however, was looking back at the two newcomers, slowly backing towards the kitchen door. He wasn't sure if *Trowa* would shoot him.

*I think I need more sleep.* "Am I on drugs or is Zechs Marquise in our house?" He asked, still blinking and looking back to Quatre for an explanation.

Duo returned the kiss but wrapped his arms around Wufei, tugging him up out of the bed without breaking the lip lock. Now he *really* wanted to go and see, there were people here! He heard them talking.

Heero moved forward on the skittish Zechs, studying him, though not saying anything. He took in the bandages with a vaguely amused look in his eyes.

Quatre watched, wary, he was now getting really worried that Heero *was* going to shoot Milliardo. He fidgeted. He didn't want that to happen. He'd really taken a liking to the other blond man these past 24 hours. *Why would Trowa be calling Milliardo Zechs?*

Zechs quirked his lips slightly, trying to conceal his nervousness. "Trowa Barton. That... Wasn't how I introduced myself." Zechs was looking back at Heero, still not worried that that pilot would shoot him.

"So..." Trowa drawled, "You are here. I'm not just seeing things?" It didn't really bother Trowa too much that Zechs was here, though he did want to know why he was.

"Well, yes. Let me properly introduce myself. Milliardo Peacecraft." Zechs tipped his head, only slightly as not to upset his still hard to control center of balance.

"I knew it! I knew you were related to that crazy girl!" Heero smirked, stepping back from Zechs and turning to bring in the bag he'd fetched from his Gundam, groceries from their hideout. To this Zechs looked affronted, but didn't say anything.

"Nice to meet you Milliardo." Trowa replied politely. "Would you like to examine this with me?" Trowa put his thieved treasures on the table for all to see.

Duo, meanwhile, was backing to the door, and heard the word examine in the front room. No more time for bedroom play, he wanted to *see* what was going on. He broke away from Wufei's lips, dragging him by the wrist to the kitchen. "I wanna see!"

"D... Duo?" Quatre almost fell over in shock as he caught sight of the braided teen. "What happened? Did someone come in and tattoo you in your sleep? Wufei, what did you do to him!?"

Duo halted, blinking at Quatre in obvious confusion.

Heero moved closer, his eyes a little wide as he looked over Duo. "Duo, why is it that you have stripes?"

Trowa looked up, looked Duo up and down, blinked slightly and then just turned back to his stuff. "Duo. I stole this stuff." He announced proudly, ever the one to remain unfazed.

Zechs looked over and simply froze, feverently praying he wouldn't develop anything resembling feathers, he then moved to the table.

"I'm fine, Wufei didn't do anything to me." Duo shook his head, moving over to the table to look over Trowa's goods and leaving Wufei with Quatre and Heero.

Wufei was having a similar reaction to Zechs, wondering what kind of crazy thing was going to happen to him now. It was short lived before Wufei shrugged and followed Duo, he was a little curious as to what Trowa had brought.

Quatre turned in on himself and just hugged his arms around his body. *I don't wanna know...I don't wanna know.* It was just getting to weird for him, and it was having a bad affect.

Heero moved over to Quatre, resting his hand on his shoulder. "How is it we have the Lightening Baron in this safe house?"

Zechs shook his head, picking through the items in avid curiosity, his fingers careful. He ignored the fact of how close Duo stood next to him, though there was plenty of space to stand elsewhere.

"I brought him here. Or rather, I found him in the forest. He was looking for us." Quatre was a little strung out on the lack of sleep as well as everything else.

Duo grinned over at Wufei as he saw him get closer then looped an arm around him, effectively sandwiching himself between the two bishounen. "Look at this!"

"What is it?" Wufei replied as he looped his own arm around Duo's waist and pulled Duo slightly closer to him.

"And apparently Duo only recently gained the... Pigmentation. Usually Duo is more suspicious of people, so what's all this about?" Heero vaguely gestured to the table.

Trowa suddenly pulled open a compartment and then did something very, very un-Trowa like. He giggled. With glee.

Duo turned his head, looking at Trowa incredulously. "Eh?"

Quatre looked up hearing the uncharacteristic giggle from... Trowa of all people. He raised an eyebrow. Wufei, too, looked at Trowa as if he was missing his head

Heero in turn turned and glared, still annoyed over the loss of his beloved machine. "And why are you so happy?"

"I stole this." Trowa pointed to the radio, a lop-sided grin on his face the whole time. Suddenly he leaned back and blinked. "Whoa..." he shook his head. "I need some sleep."

"Yeah, you just be happy. I have a machine to replace." Heero crossed his arms, still glaring at Trowa for being pleased with himself.

"I have all the parts right here." Trowa smiled at Heero. "You're welcome to use any of them if you like. Won't cost you a thing." Trowa laughed loudly at his own joke.

"Oh?" Heero immediately stopped glaring, joining the rest of them at the table.

"I think you need sleep too man, you giggling is just too creepy." Duo shook his head after he said that, leaning into Wufei before turning to look at Quatre. "You okay man?"

"Yes. I am fine." Quatre replied while still shaking a tad. "I think I need more sleep too."

Zechs shook his head slightly, setting down the electronics, only to have Heero immediately pick up the one he'd just set down, and he moved for the door. "Who gets to watch me bumble around this time then?"

"Me! I didn't get to practice yesterday! I'll go grab your shoes." Duo was gone out of the room in a flick of braid and boxers before anyone could say anything.

Heero paused, glancing over at Zechs. "Why would you be bumbling?"

"I had a run in with the people who are causing stripes on Duo's person." Zechs didn't elaborate, tilting his head to watch Barton flirt, then turning a wary eye on Wufei. Wufei was glaring at him, and not making a big secret about it either. He was not happy with Zechs for turning Duo's attentions away from himself.

"I'm gonna go to sleep. Ne Quatre? Wanna join me?" Trowa wiggled his eyebrows at Quatre.

Quatre snarled and suddenly leaned up and slapped Trowa. Hard. "How dare you?!" Quatre yelled before he got up and retreated to his own room, slamming the door as loud as possible.

Heero turned, following the direction of Zechs' gaze to Wufei, then turned entirely as Quatre slapped Trowa. He moved to Trowa's side. "I do not think he is pleased to see you."

"What was your first clue?" Trowa was grumbling, finally coming out of his giddy state. He suddenly sighed and slumped to the table.

Duo breezed back into the room, a black open vest on, shoes, socks and his special black boxers all he was wearing. He had Zechs' boots in hand, tossing them to the blonde who tried to catch them and failed, bumbling with them horribly.

Heero looked back to Zechs as the blonde man cursed, dropping his boots onto his foot, then moving too quickly, tipping him into Heero. "I think I understand now." Heero stepped aside, letting Zechs meet the floor instead of trying to help him catch his balance.

Wufei kept his back to Duo, trying to calm himself. He'd just have to follow them outside and try to keep them apart.

Zechs rolled over onto his back, bringing his hands up to cover his face as he turned red from embarrassment. "I don't believe this."

Trowa finally got up and without another word dragged his feet down the hall to his bedroom and shut the door behind him. "Stupid!" He cursed himself as he stripped and got into bed.

Heero turned, watching as Trowa left, then he giggled, just one, brief little peal before he covered his mouth, looking down on his greatest opponent. He then met Duo's eyes, seeing his mirth returned, but there was something a bit possessive in that gaze too. All the while Wufei fumed silently, glaring at the radio equipment on the table.

Duo looked down at Zechs one last time then turned to Wufei, pouncing on him to give him a sudden, deep kiss before pulling back.

"Huh?" Wufei blinked. He wasn't sure for a moment who had just kissed him.

Zechs came up to his feet, looking at Heero and shaking his head. "It is not funny! I've become a klutz overnight." Heero merely snorted again and shook his head, turning his attention back to the radio equipment as he started to take things apart.

Duo grinned at Wufei, nipping his nose lightly before releasing him and poking at Zechs. "Put your shoes on."

Wufei sighed loudly, then got up to do so as well. His shoes had been left by the front door and he put them on, forgetting about his hunger. He wasn't feeling very well this morning. Duo grinned as his order had a ripple effect and made a quick breakfast while the other two got ready to go outside, his fingers making enough for three. He'd make sure Wufei ate.