Foolish Games

Warnings: yaoi-ishness, lemonishing, not much angst (thank god), language, more references to sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll, Wufei POV, humor, songfic



Author's notes: Yeah, I am breathing a little better with this fic. It's a breeze and has a lot of info. It's got a bit of humor here and there too. Enjoy.



The song is Politick by Coldplay.



Rating: Actually, I think this one could pass for R. Nice, huh?



Disclaimer: I do not own that which is property of Bandai Sotsu and all those other nice people. I do not profit from this fic. Please do not sue.







Politick

***





Solitare.



Sometimes I wonder if I actually do like it better being alone. I seem to be a lot happier around people. Especially my friends.



I'm practicing kendo on the roof of my flat, like I do every morning before I go to work, and, like every other morning, I take this time to think. I think about philosophy, I think about the wars and my part in them, I think about peace, and I think about my friends.



//...Look at us...

...from outer space...//



I think I would probably go mad out here if Sally didn't work at the same base. Our Unit is in a random and very reclusive spot in the Tsing Penn pass. It's beautiful, but it's in the middle of no where. Noin thought I'd like the recluse. Hell, *I* thought I'd like the recluse, but I don't, not really.



I mean, it's nice sometimes. Especially when I'm studying philosophy or Haiku or something of that nature. After a while, though, it can become dreadfully boring.



Sally feels it too. We've made a religious habit of flying into town every weekend to enjoy the fast-pace nightlife of the city, and into Hong Kong once a month, and every six months we take a vacation.



I never thought it would be possible to be this bored.



Our location is perfect for reconnaissance missions, though. I must say, we do get the more exciting missions. Still, the downtime is torture.



//...everyone...

...must find a place...//



I put my things away and take a shower. Afterwards, I clothe, pull on my Preventer jacket and my boots, climb into my jeep, and take off down the dirt path, beginning the two hour trek to the Unit base that I commute every single day.



I nod to the soldier who waves me in at the gate, drive down the airstrip, and park in Bunker Four. I'm not sure why I insist on parking my jeep in the bunkers and not the parking lot. It just seems odd for a former gundam pilot to have to park their car in a parking lot.



//...give me time...

...and give me space...//



I grab my briefcase and my duffle bag and take Corridor E to the elevator, and then up four stories and to the right and I'm in my office.



Sally smiles at me from behind her desk. Despite myself, I grin and sit in my chair.



"Anything new?" I ask.



Sally's smile widens and I see a mischievous twinkle in her bright blue eyes. I thought about asking her to marry me once. Why not, right? I decided against it, though. We've always had more fun as friends. And, everyone knows, this woman's gotten me out of my shit more than once. If it wasn't for her giving me a third chance at a normal life after the Mariemeia disaster, I'd probably be in jail right now for treason.



It's strange, the single adult life. I have so many lovers, it's unreal. Even Milliardo climbs into my bed when he's at odds with Noin. I grin, thinking of the platinum blonde. I don't know what moves him to fly all the way to China every time he gets into an argument with Noin. They're a strange couple, to be sure. Noin visits Sally more often than would seem professional and I wonder if that's what she's grinning about now.



//...give me real...

...don't give me fake...//



I raise a brow. "Well?"



"We've got a rat," she murmurs, trying to hide the glee in her voice.



I nod, smirking at her excitement. She looked for the entire world like a lioness on the hunt. "Rat?" I ask, pressing for clarity.



She coughs, ice blue eyes darting around the office. She jumps up and closes the office door, dropping a file on my desk.



I pick up the file and begin thumbing through the paperwork. I concentrate on a sub file that had a short summary of a convicted felon from L2. I frown, staring at the man's picture. He looked an awful lot like the gentleman that waves me into the gate at my Unit every morning.



I close the file and toss it on my desk. "Oh, you mean a mole."



Sally waves her hands imperiously at me. "Whatever. What do you wanna do with him?"



I laugh, seeing the child-like excitement bubbling up. We really do get that bored at this base. "Why haven't you arrested him yet?"



Sally's mouth quirked as if she didn’t understand the question. She looked at the file and then back at me. I sigh and pick the folder back up. Sally watches me with her arms crossed impatiently as I read through the rest of the file.



"Oh," I say when I had finished.



//...Give me strength...

...to deserve control...//



The man was affiliated with a powerful crime lord from the outer space colonies that we were currently in the workings of staking out.



Sally peeks through the blinds of our office window. "Do you remember the outline for Operation Orphan?"



I lean back into my chair. "Yes. I wrote it. It was nil because the mission was too dangerous for a lone agent and more than one agent would blow the cover. It was scrapped because Une wouldn't let me do it and she couldn't think of anyone she could trust that she'd be willing to lose if the operation went bad."



Sally nodded. "That guy was sent here to get a peek at the operations details."



"Why? The operation was scrapped."



Sally shakes her head at me, the cheerfulness gone, replaced by a solemn air that makes her look like royalty.



I frown. "Operation's a go?"



Sally nodded. "Nobody said you weren't quick."



I roll my eyes at her and lean forward, concerned again. "Who the hell did she send?"



Sally shrugged, a slightly helpless look playing across her features. "I don't know. I wasn't exactly privy to all that information."



I nod. She was bored and probably tied the connection when she found the mole. Or maybe she was just doing her job.



I rub the back of my neck. "That mission was too dangerous. Why did she send an agent out anyway?"



And then I was angry. "And how the hell does she come off thinking that another soldier's life is less important than mine?!!!"



Sally grimaced. She knew that had to be coming.



I fumed about that for the rest of the day. How dare she? What the hell? AND she knows I'm bored out of my fucking mind!



At five, I climbed back into my jeep, scowled at the mole at the gate, and drove home.



//...give me heart...

...and give me soul...//



I unlocked my front door and tossed my jacket on the couch. I hung up the keys and the whirled around, my pistol pointed at the intruder.



A flash of white teeth and I'm grinning back. "Another fight with Noin?" I ask.



Milliardo rolled his eyes. "I think we're starting to fight on purpose now."



I switch on the hallway light. "You could call ahead, you know. Like normal people."



He grabs my arm and pulls me against him. "We're not like normal people," he whispers before kissing me.



Ah, well.



//...give me time…

…give us a kiss...//



Later, as he lays next to me, gloriously naked, propped up against the pillows, and reading a book, I tell him about the mole. And then I tell him about Operation O.



He puts his book down and looks at me seriously. "Orphan is active?"



I nod and watch him chew on the inside of his cheek.



"There's not many people who could pull off that mission," he says. "Do they have the agent's rehabilitation program set-up?"



"They should," I said. "It was part of the operation. I'm not sure, though."



"Une could get in a lot of trouble if it goes bad."



"Because the agent died?" I snort. "Or because it'll look bad on her damn resume?"



//...tell me of the politick...//



Milliardo laughed softly and picked his book back up.



"Is there any way to find out who the agent is?" I ask.



"I'm sure there is," he says, turning a page.



//...And open up your eyes...

...open up your eyes...//



I settle back into the pillows, thinking. Sally wanted to keep the mole unawares so it didn't endanger the agent in the field. We both new how serious that operation was. The plan was to take out the underground crime circles on L2 in one go. It seemed improbable, but I found a way that it could work. I really don't like the idea of some hapless soldier carrying out a crazy, insanely dangerous mission that I thought up on a whim. Especially without my notification.



//...open up your eyes...

...open up your eyes...//



I'll contact Une in the morning.



I folded my arms behind my head and thought myself to sleep.



In the morning, I left Milliardo sleeping in my bed, knowing he'd be gone when I got home. I drove to my Unit, scowled at the mole again, and parked in Bunker Four.



I walked into my office, two minutes late, to find Sally pacing our office like a caged tiger and wringing her hands like a worried mother.



I closed the door and leaned against it. She paused to look over at me and opened her mouth to say something then closed it.



I raised a brow at her. "Spit it out," I say.



"I checked your e-mail. I know you haven't in weeks, so I did, and I found a message from Winner."



"From Winner?" I ask worriedly. "What's wrong?"



//...give me one...

...'cause one is best...//



"Duo's missing."



I froze half way to my desk. "What do you mean, 'Duo's missing'?!" I demanded.



"The message said that he and Heero had had an argument and left. He's been gone for six weeks."



"No contact?" I am confused. Duo and Heero arguing isn't exactly a national crisis. They're in love. That's what lovers do.



//...in confusion...

...call for deaths...//



"Trowa found him on L2. He says he's a wreck." Sally was pacing again, not quite meeting my eyes.



"Wreck?"



"Dressed like a businessman, lost a lot of weight...Trowa thinks he's using again."



My shoulders slumped. Oh, no. Duo had been addicted to everything under the sun before he started training for Operation M. We had found traces of meth in his blood after the war. He had said he used it to stay awake on missions. He had to be clean before working for the Preventers and he had been tested every two weeks for a few years so the Preventers were sure he'd been staying clean. It hadn't seemed very difficult for Duo to stay clean and everything had been dealt with very quietly.



It's been years since he's used. I honestly don't think that an 'argument' would drive him back to it. Duo always said that it was the worst circle of hell.



//...give me peace...

...of mind to trust...//



Sally was staring at me.



"What?" I demanded. "I'm thinking, stop staring."



She frowned and looked away. "Well, while you're thinking," she said, taking a seat behind her desk. "Remember, Operation Orphan went into effect six weeks ago."



A chill passed over me. There's no way...



"You don't think she'd actually send..."



Sally met my eyes. "I do," she said.



//...don't forget the rest of us...//



I lost my temper. It momentarily blinded me and, with wrathful shout, I shoved the modem and the piles of clutter and paper off of my desk. I cannot believe that bitch would actually send DUO of all fucking people! This mission is NOT for someone like DUO! If it doesn't kill him, it'll drive him MAD!!!!



What the goddamn fuck is she thinking?!!



//...give me strength...

...to deserve control...//



I took in a deep breath. And why the fuck would he TAKE the damn mission in the first place?



He's an orphan who fucking sold his body for food when he was living on the streets of L2 15 years ago AND he's a recovering drug addict! What the hell was HE thinking?



And then a thought seizes me and I find it very, very hard to breathe. I wrote this mission. I wrote the mission that is destroying Duo Maxwell, my annoying yet clever comrade, good friend, and sometimes lover. I wrote it. Dear gods, I've killed him.



I put my head in my hands and groaned. I'd so much rather be bored right now.



//...give me heart...

...and give me soul...//



"I've already arranged for a helicopter to pick you up in an hour," Sally said. "It'll take you to where a jet is standing by, which will take you directly to New York."



I stand slowly to my feet, my fingertips resting on the polished surface of my desk, my head bowed.



Sally stands up and walks over to me. She grasps my shoulders and asks me to look up at her. I do.



"This is not your fault," she says. She knows I won't believe her, but I'm thankful for her kind words anyway.



I kiss her full on the mouth before leaving the office and heading down to Bunker Four. I drive away from the pick up point and stop at the gate where I promptly break the mole's neck and drop his criminal file on his chest.



//...use the heel...

...to crack the fist...//



Then I drive back to the pick up point and wait for the helicopter to land. I duck inside the bird and it takes off. We land at the airstrip where the jet is and I jump out. I jog over to the jet and take the little stairway two steps at a time. I don't seem to register the shock of Milliardo sitting there, looking stricken, and waiting for me.



"Please tell me you didn't know about this," I growl.



"I didn't," he says, shaking his platinum head. "Sally called your house after you left, looking for you. She told me and said to meet you here."



//...Tell me of the politick...//



I nod and sit next to him. The jet hums and rumbles and takes off.



We are in the sub-stratosphere before Milliardo speaks again.



//...Open up your eyes...

...open up your eyes...//



"I...don't really know Maxwell all that well," he says, softly. "We've never had a proper conversation, I don't think. But I do know how much you care about him and how important he is to you five."



I look at him blearily. I'm in no mood for his cultivated speeches and sugared condolences.



He touched my cheek tentatively. "I'll do what I can. We'll get him out alive, I promise you."



I blinked. Tenderness was never really a part of our relationship. Wry humor, sexual need, and playfulness just about sums it up. Tenderness, never. Until now.



I'm blinking back tears and I lay my head on his shoulder.



//...open up your eyes...

...just open up your eyes...//



"Don't make promises you can't keep, Zechs," I murmur.



"I don't," he responds.



I don't want to think about how Heero is going to react to this. But I do anyway. I don't want to think of how miserable Duo is right now. But I do anyway. I especially don't want to think about how hard it's going to be to NOT kill Une when I see her next. But I do.



And I don't want to think about how L2 will never be a safe colony if we blow Duo's cover with a rescue mission. But I do. And I despise my own thoughts.



//...Look, give me life over...

...life over...

...life over this...//



I shut my eyes and pray to whatever ancestor was listening for Duo's safety.



You know? I really thought this dramatic bullshit was over. Really over. Heero told me to believe in the world we live in today. But this world is still a cruel place. I tried to understand. I really fucking tried. And I believed.



And now this shit.



//...I...//



The blood in my veins starts to churn again and I try to hold my rage at bay. Operation Orphan is about to get a swift kick in the ass...or, at least, that's how Duo would say it.



//...Give me life over...

...life over...

...life over this...//