The Stand Still

By: SukiNora

Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own them, I just like to play with them.

Pairings: 1+2, 3X4, 5x?

Warnings: Duo POV

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"Duo, I am not comfortable with this!"

I sighed, rolling my eyes and turned around to see my angry asian partner storming towards my team and I. It wasn't that unusual to see him like this, but I will admit that I was hoping to skip his little temper tantrum.

"Well luckily for me, it's not really your call." I told him matter of factly, crossing my arms over my chest.

I'm sure the newbies behind me were terrified. Ever since we joined up at Preventers four years ago, Heero had been riding the fine line between respect and fear among our co- workers, especially the newbies. Everyone respected his power and ability, but his talents also led a bunch of our co- workers to believe he was super human. Quite frankly I'm not so sure that he isn't. Even after the wars Heero still executed his missions to the highest level of perfection. And apparently this morning, I was his new mission. However, unlike our spineless co- workers, I had no intentions of letting Heero push me around, or try to intimidate me into letting him get his way.

We had become automatic partners when we joined up, big surprise right. But honestly, after watching each others backs during two wars it seemed completely wrong to partner with Wufei or Trowa. Granted, I loved the two of them, but they just didn't hold a candle to the balance Heero and I had together. Sure sometimes we were at each other's throats, but when push came to shove, we got shit done.

"I don't trust him," he growled out quietly, mindfully aware of the newbies behind us. Luckily for me, Heero had huge problems with people who didn't set a good example around the new recruits, so he wouldn't make too big of a scene. On the other hand, I had no problem making a scene where ever I was, something I knew bothered Heero to pieces. Something I'm slightly ashamed to say I've often abused.

"Well, that doesn't really matter to me. Now if you'll excuse me we have a shuttle to catch."

I began walking away only to be ripped back around by Heero. He grabbed both my shoulders, leaning down to look at me eye to eye. "You are not going," he said dangerously, his eyes turning that nice bright blue color they got when he was really mad about something.

I glared back at him. "It's none of your business, Yuy." Lifting both my arms, I broke the hold he had on my shoulders and began walking again. I should have known he wasn't going to give up so easily.

"Listen, 02," He growled, clamping his hand down on my arm. "I don't recall when being concerned for your partner's safety became an act of betrayal."

"This isn't Operation Meteor, Yuy." I snorted, beginning to claw at the arm holding me in place. He always pulled that 02 crap when I was doing something he didn't approve of. He must think of it as his own sick little way of pulling rank. "Believe it or not, I don't need my partner to decide who I can and can not trust."

Gritting my teeth, I became increasingly frustrated with my inability to get Heero's hand off me, not that it was much of a surprise. After all, he could bend steel with his bare hands at fifteen. But that was fine with me, Heero could resort to his brute strength all he wanted to. I learned how to deal with assholes like that when I was a kid on L2. "You let go of me right now, or I'm going to bite you," I warned.

"Well, I don't need a partner who thinks it's okay to leave this on my desk!" He roughly released my arm and threw a small post it note at me.

Catching it out of mere habit, I smirked as I looked down at it. I must admit, it was one of my more creative explanations. I realized right off the bat that if I had told Heero about the mission before it was supposed to happen, he'd find a way to convince Une to send some other agent. But I also knew if I just took off without telling Heero anything, he'd hunt me down and kill me. I thought the note was a healthy medium. Heero, went on low risk mission with Zechs to train newbies, be back in 3 days.

"Oh come on, Heero. It wasn't that bad of a note," I couldn't get it out without a little smile appearing on my face. It was that bad. It was even worse than bad. But that didn't mean I hadn't found it incredibly amusing. The note would have worked out perfectly if Heero hadn't cut me off on the way to the shuttle.

The glare Heero gave me and the rest of my team could have made Satan quiver in his red little booties. I remembered the first time I had ever seen that glare, it terrified me too, but luckily for me I was armed and loaded at the time. I swear the newbies must have stepped back at least three steps before they felt relatively safe again.

I crossed my arms across my chest and stared right into his glaring eyes. I've been on the wrong side of this glare many times, knowing full well what it meant. But I also knew Heero would never seriously hurt me while there were new recruits around. Granted, if we were alone, I probably wouldn't be provoking him as much as I was. Heero had filled out quite a bit more than I had. He'd ended up at about 5'11, while I only made it to 5'8 before I stopped growing. Consequently, Heero could pummel me even more efficiently than he could back during the war, if he could catch me that is.

He glared down at me for about a minute before realizing he wouldn't get any kind of response from me.

I smiled, this was when he gave up, sighed and walked away. I'd been in this situation before and it always ended in the same way. Heero would yell and threaten me, I'd make some stupid joke, he'd yell some more, I'd ignore it, then he'd get bored, call me a baka and go about his business.

This went all perfectly according to plan, he sighed, and then walked... past me?

"One of you tell me where this mission is," he snarled at my troops, pacing back and forth in front of them. I let out a strangled gasp, and grabbed his arm, forcing him to face me.

"You leave my troops out of this you..." I was so angry I couldn't even finish my sentence, I just stared at him in utter fury. He glared right back at me, completely unfazed by my anger. There were certain things that you just didn't do in the field, and bringing the newbies into it was one of them. They were just at that awkward point where they were starting to be completely loyal to their leader but didn't know what to do when they were asked something by another ranking officer.

"It's stationed on L2, sir," came a mousy reply, making both our heads snap towards my troops. Heero nodded.

"Thank you," he said curtly, giving me a dark smirk.

I glared at the little man who had dared squeal on me. "You are so off my team," I growled out, resisting the urge to pummel him into the nearest wall.

"That's fine, you can join my recruits," Heero stated, like it wasn't an attempt to undermine my authority in the lowest possible manner. "We're higher ranked anyway," he shot me a dirty smile and began walking away.

I gasped and yelled after him. "By like 5 fucking points you jerk!"

"Duo, are you okay?" I turned towards the new voice and smiled when I saw Heero freeze in his steps.

"Yeah, Zechs, I'm fine," I smiled reaching up and giving Zechs a light hug, lingering long enough to make sure that jerk Yuy saw it.

"Is that Yuy?" he asked, giving my shoulder a squeeze, before turning to address our team.

"Why, yes it is. He took it upon himself to turn one of our recruits," I said haughtily.

Zechs raised his eyebrow. "He what?"

Neither of us noticed Heero stalking up to us, until he viciously gripped my arm, pulling me away from Zechs.

"If anything happens to him, I'm holding you responsible," he growled out. Heero came nearly eye to eye with Zechs now, something he was very thankful for. When we first arrived here, Heero was about 5'7 and had to glare up at Zechs. It was actually kind of cute to watch.

Zechs sighed next to me. "When are you going to learn to trust me, Yuy?"

Heero glared, opening his mouth to say something. Luckily I was quick enough throw my hand over his mouth. "Now, Yuy," I chuckled nervously. "The recruits are right there," I mumbled, just loud enough so that he could hear me.

"It didn't seem to bother you before," he said shortly, pushing me away from him and shooting one last death glare at Zechs before he walked away.

I smirked after his departing body, it was painfully obvious that I'd won for now.

"Maxwell, just what did you say to him?" Zechs asked me, putting a hand on my shoulder.

I laughed, turning towards our recruits. "Why don't you all tell the Captain what you've learned about Captain Yuy."

At first no one raised their hand. They all looked kind of nervous actually. But I supposed that I couldn't blame them. After all, I've heard of some agents who'd wet themselves after coming encountered with an angry Heero. "I'm serious," I assured them.

One tentative scout raised his hand. "Williams," I called, pointing to him.

"Sir, Captain Yuy does not like it when he is not informed about missions," He remarked quickly, before falling back among the recruits.

"Very good!" I exclaimed, turning towards Zechs with a smile. He shook his head at me.

"You should know better than to taunt, Yuy," he said disapprovingly.

I smiled, placing my hands behind my head. "I'm still around aren't I?"

"Who knows for how much longer after this," he mumbled, walking past me down the shuttle corridor. I glared at the taller man walking our recruits down the hall.

I lightly jogged past the newbies so I was walking next to Zechs again. "What's that supposed to mean?"

I heard him let out a sigh. "You know you can't torture Yuy forever, don't you?" He asked, turning his head slightly so that we could look at each other briefly.

"Like hell I can't," I said with a bright smile, entering my pin code into the door leading to the shuttle.

See, the fact of the matter was that I could continue to torture Heero forever, or at least until one of us got killed on the job. Or killed each other. That's just always how it's been with Heero and I. I torment him, he gets all omae o korosu-y, and then never follows through. Torment was the whole underlying basis for our friendship. I knew how to push his buttons, and he knew how to push mine right back.

The door opened with a delightful swishing sound. I loved the sound of any pressurized thing being opened.

When the door was secure, I turned around to face the recruits. "We'll be getting on the shuttle now," I hated giving these damn talks but it was necessary for those who'd never flown. "Find your seats and lock down fast. I've gotten one of these things off the ground in a matter of minutes so you'll be in good hands." I wasn't kidding either. There had been numerous times in the war, especially when I was working with Heero, where it was lift off or get left behind.

We did a head count as each recruit walked through the door to the shuttle. Nine men.

"We're missing one," Zechs stated, looking down the hall.

I rolled my eyes. "No we aren't. I told you Yuy turned one of them," I reminded him, patting him on the shoulder before leaning down to enter the shuttle.

"You were serious?" He called after me.

I smiled as I plopped myself down in the pilot seat, fastening myself up. "I never lie, Zechs. You should know that."

He smiled at me as he sat down, and began strapping himself in as well. "You're right, I should know that."

"Damn straight," I responded, putting my head set on. "Mama Bear, this is baby bear requesting immediate lift off for mission 1357. Please respond."

A crackling came over the headsets, followed by a large laugh. "Good morning, Agent Maxwell, and how are you this fine morning?"

"I'll be a lot better once I get some clearance," I laughed out. One thing that's very important to remember about shuttle personal, the nicer you are to them, the faster they give you clearance.

"Let me look you up here," the deep voice responded.

"Thanks a bunch, pal," I smiled at Zechs. "Now all we do is wait." Leaning back I put my hands behind my head and crossed my legs out in front of me.

"Agent Maxwell, our logs say this mission has been cancelled."

My eyes automatically set themselves into death glare mode. I'm not saying at that exact moment I really wanted to kill Heero, but I can't honestly say that I didn't want something incredibly heavy to fall on him. Not to kill him of course, just incapacitate him for a few months.

"It's been what?" I growled out, leaning forward closer to the control panel. Sure enough it had been turned off.

"Sorry, kid," The man said before he cut transmission. I heard Zechs sigh next to me, and the sound of his headset falling onto the control panel.

I tried to remain calm through all this. I tried to stay calm listening to Zechs making the announcement, and watching my team climb disappointedly down the shuttle steps. It must have been the shock of the situation that kept me calm as long as I was. I was calm getting off the shuttle, and calm walking down the halls to Une's office. I was truly calm, running on complete auto- pilot, with only my objective in mind.

The door made a satisfying crack when my foot slammed into it, causing it to nearly break off it's hinges.

Une sat behind her desk, her hands folded on it's surface, staring calmly at the traitor sitting in the chair in front of her.

"You do realize, Agent Maxwell," she began, her lips pursed. "That my door has a knob for a reason."

"Get out, Heero," I growled out, clenching my fists at my sides.

"I do believe I called this meeting, Duo. I don't recall inviting you," he kept his voice calm, which infuriated me all the more.

"I mean it, Heero," I warned, spinning his chair around and gripping both arm rests with my hands. "I've shot you before and I'll do it again."

Heero raised his eyebrow at me before tilting his head towards Une. "I do believe I'm feeling threatened in the work place, Une."

"You're about to be more than threatened," I whispered, picking up a nearby pen.

"Both of you stop this!" Both our heads snapped towards Une when she slammed her hand down on the mahogany desk. "Sit," she growled, pointing to me with her long finger.

I was so scared I almost took a seat on Heero's lap because it was closer than the other chair. I'd never admit this to anyone, but Une still scared the shit out of me. I glared at Heero from my new seat. He knew I was terrified of Une, and that's probably the real reason he came running to her.

"I want both of you to tell me exactly what it is you want, one at a time, so that I can come to a decision," she said calmly, once again folding her hands on her desk. "Maxwell," she snapped out, making me jump and turn my head completely towards her.

"Yes?"

"What do you want," she spoke slowly, leaning her head towards me like a poisonous snake might do before it struck.

Clearing my throat, I rolled my chair close to her desk, setting a hand on it's surface. "I want you to fire Heero." My head automatically snapped around when I heard Heero snort. "It'd be a real quick fix," I added.

Une nodded towards me, turning her attention to Heero. "Yuy?"

"I want to be informed when my partner plans to go on a mission without me," Heero said stiffly. I almost felt like gagging, like she'd ever agree to something as stupid as that.

"Done," she said with a smile, picking up a few pieces of paper and handing them to Heero.

I stared wide eyed with my mouth hanging open like a fish. "Are you serious?" I cried, jumping out of my chair, slamming both hands down on Une's desk. "You aren't even going to consider my proposal?!"

Une set her hands on her desk, slowly standing, glaring at me the whole time. I shivered, and let out an anxious chuckle. "Not that I'm questioning your decision or anything." Putting my hands up in the air I began backing away from her, grabbing Heero's arm on my way to the door.

"Well, uh," I stuttered, trying hard not to look at the devilish look in her eyes. "Thanks, Lady Une, keep up the good work!"

When I finally made it out of her office I let out a long sigh of relief before turning to glare at Heero, standing next to me with his arms crossed, and staring at me with that damn smirk.

"I believe the term is," he began, placing a finger under his chin as though he was in deep thought. "Owned?"

I'm sure no one expected the strangled cry that erupted from me before I launched myself at Heero, only to be grabbed around the middle in mid- pounce.

"Let me go, Trowa!" I yelled, frantically waving my arms through the air. My vision turned a darker shade of red with each swipe of the air that came up short from grabbing Heero.

"Damn, Zechs told us you got him riled up," I heard Trowa get out as he hauled me further away from my prey.

Heero merely shrugged and began walking the other direction, his hands in both pockets.

I continued my struggle until Heero was out sight, and Trowa released me. I turned my death glare towards him, before viciously stomping on his foot and stalking off in the direction of Heero and I's office. The cry that erupted from him as I walked away only improved my mood by a fraction.

I swear people literally ran to get out of my way when they saw me coming down the hall. Preventers staff knew that the only other person that was more scary than Heero angry, was me when I was on the warpath.

When I finally reached our offices I saw that the door was wide open. I was slightly disappointed, kicking our door in would have probably felt as good as when it was Une's door.

"I'm not going to fight with you, Duo," he said sharply, not even looking up from his laptop.

I scoffed in response, it would figure. Heero was too good to engage himself in a petty spat.

Pulling out my roller chair I plopped myself down it, setting my feet on my desk and glaring at Heero, sitting across from me. I stared at him, waiting for him to look up at me, but he never did. Not really surprising. Whenever there was a choice between me and that damn laptop it didn't take a genius to figure out which one he'd pick. I sighed, putting my arms behind my head. I've had quite a few fantasies of destroying that laptop.

But it was probably about a fourth into the war when I realized I didn't really have to destroy the laptop. It was merely a matter of bugging Heero enough that he'd be so annoyed that he couldn't concentrate. I like to think I've become an expert at this over the years.

I pressed my foot against my desk, leaning back in my chair so it made a delicious squeaking sound. The slight pause in the clanking of keys told me I had found my revenge.

Smiling, I leaned back again, this time slower, making a long drawn out squeak. When I saw Heero's eyebrow twitch I nearly quivered in delight. I leaned back again, this time quickly and repetitively, creating my own little squeaking symphony, accented by Heero's stalled typing and facial twitch.

I continued making my music until I was roughly shaken from my thoughts by Heero grabbing the back of my chair, glaring down at me. I hadn't even noticed he had moved.

"Oh, I'm sorry," I said sweetly, flashing him a big toothy smile. "Do you not like it when I interfere with your work?" I fluttered my eyelashes for good measure, watching his lips purse as though he was ready to say something.

"I did what I did because I was concerned about you," he said haughtily, his death glare burning itself into me. "You're just doing this to be malicious." Pushing down on the back of my chair, he sent me tumbling to the floor before heading back towards his desk.

"Jerk," I mumbled, using the edge of my desk to pull myself back into my chair. It made me sick, he was right back to typing. One thing about Heero; he is not easily faltered. I leaned back in my chair quickly, making a high, quick squeak similar to the sound a mouse would make right before it's back gets broken in a trap.

No sooner had I thought these words, Heero hurled his pad of post it notes across our desks, hitting me square in between the eyes.

"Oh that's it!" I cried, hurling the post its back at him, which he dodged of course.

I stalked over to him and spun his chair so he faced me. "I have five fucking words for you, Yuy," I began. "If I had my gundam!" I yelled in his face, getting louder with each passing syllable.

Heero raised an eyebrow, placing a finger in between my eyes. "You'd what? Scratch Wing with it?" He asked, giving my head a firm shove.

I wanted to say something but the words just wouldn't come out of my mouth. When the hell had Heero picked up the ability to render me speechless? Where was my come back when I so desperately needed it to wipe that damn smirk off Heero's face? I've always been able to dish out a snappy come back, but today all I was able to do was stare wide eyed, with my mouth hung open, and pray for something insulting to fall out.

Slowly, but surely, I was realizing what was happening before my very eyes. I, Duo Maxwell, was being burned by no personality, no sense of humor, completely emotionless, Heero Yuy. No way. No fucking way.

I must have stared at him for a solid minute before either of us moved. It was too late to say anything in response, and he wouldn't care if I stormed out, I did that enough as it was.

I frantically searched my brain for something to say, anything to say. I wasn't even searching for a comeback anymore. I just needed something to make that damn smirk get off his face.

I started scanning the room, looking for any source of inspiration I could find. And that's when I saw it. See, Heero has this thing about staplers. He can get incredibly frustrated with the standard issue stapler that Preventers gave every employee for their desk. Apparently, when you needed to staple a report that was more than six pages, the staple from the standard issue stapler did not lay down flush with the page. It drove Heero absolutely insane. It drove him so crazy he actually brought in his own stapler that was up to "the standards of true workers."

Ripping the stapler off the desk, I grabbed Heero's tie and slammed it to the surface, slamming the stapler into it three times before stomping out.

Immature? Maybe, but frankly I could give a rats ass at this point. I was supposed to be on my way to L2 right now, raking in some major points for my recruit team and where was I? Hiding behind Trowa at the water cooler because I realized I had just destroyed Heero's favorite tie. It's been a really shitty day.

"You brought this on yourself, you know," Trowa said, taking a sip of his water.

I leaned back against the wall and let out a sigh. "I know. But he started it."

I didn't see Heero for the rest of the day. I'm actually kind of sad to say that I mostly sulked around, wading waist high in my own little pool of self doubt.

I've always had a problem with my temper, and Yuy going around messing up all my plans for the rest of the week didn't help it any. I sighed on the way to my car, dreading the next week of work. I'd probably get stuck doing a thousand pounds of paper work.

At first I didn't see him. I was too preoccupied with trying to find my keys to see him standing next to my car door. He let out a little cough and I nearly jumped out of my skin.

"Jesus, Yuy!" I exclaimed, putting a hand to my chest. "Trying to give me a heart attack too?"

He didn't answer. He just stared at me for a while before reaching into his pocket and pulling out what was left of his tie. Silently, he laid it on the hood of my car and began walking away.

Damn it, I thought to myself, why does he always know how to make me feel terrible. I grabbed the tie and jogged a little past him, stopping him in his tracks.

"If you have something to say to me, say it," I said sharply, thrusting the tie back at him.

He held it almost delicately in his hand, looking down at the torn cloth. "This was my favorite tie," he said simply, almost a little quietly. "You gave me this tie."

I crossed my arms across my chest, turning my head away from him. So what if I had given it to him? And so what if he did wear it five times a week. He deserved it! He deliberately ruined my mission and for what? Points? Pride? I have no idea because he never tells me anything. He just goes and does it whether or not it will do anyone any good.

"It's been..." he started, looking kind of confused. "Hard, for me since you started taking missions with other people."

I uncrossed my arms and turned to look at him. I'm probably one of the only people in the world who has seen what Heero looks like when we're feeling vulnerable, and I'd never seen him look quite so vulnerable as he did at that moment. He stood with his hands in his pockets, looking down at his shoes wearing a discontented look on his face.

"I only trust you to be my partner. Forgive me if it's hard to admit that you can be partners with anyone you want."

I was at such a loss for words that I just stared at him as he turned and walked to his car. That was the second time Heero had rendered me speechless today, but this time I wasn't just looking for an insult. This time I just couldn't find an apology.

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A.N. Well, I had the idea for this a long time ago and decided to finally write it down. I hope you liked it! I wasn't sure how the Duo POV was going to turn out. Anyway this will be a multi- part Heero and Duo get together fic, because everyone needs one, and will probably be a lot more action packed than Japan Air. Also, I'm not quite sure if I like the summary for this, so, if anyone has suggestions for one just drop me a line.