Author: CalicOcat
Disclaimer: Duo and Heero and the rest of the GW gang aren't mine. This story is. Nuff said.
See Part 1 for warnings

'Thinking'
"Speaking"
************ Time passing or scene change
*~*~*~*~*~* Major POV shift

Mission: Marriage + Chapter 12

"Dammit Heero, of all the 'traditions' Q came up with, why'd you have to agree to go along with this one?" Duo muttered, rolling over in bed again in frustration. 'Share a bed with the guy for a coupla lousy weeks and now I can't sleep by myself anymore! Screw this, I'm findin' where Q stuck Heero and gettin' a good night's sleep.'

Rolling out of bed, Duo stalked across to the door, yanked it open, and - froze.

"Back to bed," Quatre ordered, one hand pressed firmly against Duo's chest. "It's bad luck to see each other before the ceremony on the day of the wedding. It is now past midnight. Go back to bed! "

"But Q!"

"No buts! Bed!"

Resignedly, Duo retreated to the room, slamming the door in aggravation.

"And don't even think about going out the window, mister!" Quatre yelled from the hallway.

"Damn." Duo dropped his hand from the window latch.

Flinging himself back on the bed, he thought sulkily, 'Wonder how he'd like to have to sleep away from Trowa? Stupid bed doesn't even smell right!'

Shooting off the bed, Duo darted into the bathroom and opened the hamper. "Yes! Perfect! Now maybe I can get to sleep!" Clutching the shirt that Heero had changed out of before the rehearsal, he climbed back into bed. It wasn't as good as having Heero in bed with him, but it was better than nothing. Snuggling his face against the shirt, he slowly drifted off to sleep, automatically shushing the part of his mind that was asking incredulously just what the hell he thought he was doing, sleeping with his lover's shirt.

************

Lightly brushing his thumb against his ring in what was becoming a regular habit, Heero thought somewhat guiltily that he was glad Duo had been upset earlier. 'I didn't think he'd react that strongly when Quatre told him that I'd be sleeping elsewhere tonight and we wouldn't see each other again till the ceremony. The fact that that bothered him so much has to mean that he's starting to care for me at least a little bit more than before.'

The guestroom bed felt cold and lonely, and the sheets didn't smell right. Rolling onto his back, Heero realized, 'This is the first night we've been apart since Duo moved me into his room. Wonder if he's finding it as hard to get to sleep as I am?' Shaking his head slightly at that wistful thought, he scolded himself silently, 'Don't be an idiot, Yuy. It's too soon to hope for that much.'

************

Looking out the window, Quatre said incredulously, "It's raining. Trowa, it's raining. Why is it raining, it was scheduled to be a sunny day today!"

Pulling a newsfeed up on the computer, Trowa informed him drily, "Well, it looks like you got your wish for something to not go smoothly. According to this, there's a problem with the colony's weather controls. The rain is expected to continue all day."

"All day?" Quatre wailed. "But the reception was supposed to be in the garden! There's way too many people coming to have it inside!"

"And whose idea was it to invite so many people?" the brunet inquired none too sympathetically.

Quatre glared at him, then said, "Okay, we'll just have to move the reception. Or... find tents?" He looked up at Trowa hopefully.

"No. Absolutely not. There's performances scheduled today, Quatre," Trowa said firmly, nipping that idea in the bud.

"Damn."

Relenting, Trowa offered, "I'll call the caterer and see if she has any suggestions; this must happen to other people sometimes. Wufei's looking after Heero this morning, so why don't you go take breakfast up to Duo?"

"Okay. Thank you," Quatre beamed, giving Trowa a quick kiss before hurrying off to tend to one half of the happy couple.

Opening Duo's door quietly, Quatre was relieved to see his form still huddled under the covers. 'After all that fuss last night, I half expected him to have snuck out between then and now.' Moving closer to the bed, he spotted a bright splash of colour against the pillow. 'What on earth... That looks familiar... Wait a minute, that's the shirt Heero was wearing around the house yesterday before the rehearsal!' A slow smile spread across his face, 'Oh Heero, maybe everything will work out the way you want even sooner than you'd hoped...' Realizing that Duo might not react well to being caught cuddling Heero's shirt in his sleep, Quatre silently exited the room. He then knocked firmly and waited for Duo's response before taking his breakfast in to him.

************

Ending his call, Trowa was extremely glad he had called the caterer first. Apparently, weather malfunctions were more common than he'd realized because the caterer had her own tents in case of such an emergency and had automatically sent them. Her trucks should be arriving any minute with the tents and setup crew. Quickly glancing over the newsfeed again, he spotted another problem, however. 'Damn. Une knew it'd be tight, but she thought they'd actually be here by now.' Sighing, Trowa started another call, hoping that he could fix this problem as easily as the previous one.

************

"Zechs and Lu are going to be very late, but they should make it in time to surprise Heero," Trowa murmured to Quatre as they headed off to get ready.

"What? I thought their ship was due in this morning?!"

"It was. Engine trouble. They were re-routed to L3 since it was closest. Fortunately, one of the WEI shuttles was scheduled to make a pickup on L3 early this morning and I was able to get them on it for the return trip. But it's going to be very tight timing."

"I hope that's the last problem," muttered Quatre.

"So do I," Trowa answered. 'But I doubt it. After all, isn't trouble supposed to come in threes?'

************

Duo looked out the window at the line of cars delivering wedding guests. This was it. The point of no return was fast approaching. And much to his surprise, while he was slightly nervous about the ceremony itself, his doubts regarding the actual marriage were a thing of the past. 'I didn't realize how much I'd missed Heero while he was stuck on Earth. I guess after awhile I just sort of got so used to missin' him that I didn't really notice the ache anymore. But after having been in the same house for the past three weeks and in the same room and the same bed for two of those, even one night away from him seems like too long.' That quiet, somehow familiar, little voice that had been gradually growing more insistent over the past few weeks pointed out to him that those were awfully strong feelings for "just" a best friend and lover.

************

Watching guests enter the house, Heero was relieved that Duo had managed to persuade Quatre to keep the actual wedding guest list fairly short. No more than could be comfortably seated in the mansion's small ballroom - which was still more than he would have really preferred. All those other business and political figures that Quatre felt could not be ignored entirely had been invited to the reception instead. That, he could live with. 'A wedding should be for family and friends only. The reception's just a chance to eat, meet, and greet like any other social function. Though frankly, I wouldn't care if the ceremony had the largest guest list on record as long as Duo and I were married at the end of it.'

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