Title: 5lbs
Author: SukiNora
Disclaimer: Don't own em, just love em.
Pairings: 1+2

A.N. Just a one shot that came to me one day when I got a rather nasty surprise when I stepped on the scale... The Stand Still will be updated soon! I just wanted a nice little one shot to work on for a bit. I know Heero is a bit OOC, but I dunno, I feel like I could see this happening once he was semi adjusted. Anyway, happy reading : )

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"It's terrible right?" Duo asked, lifting his shirt a couple inches higher.

The former pilots sat at their usual table in the Preventer's HQ's cafeteria, all staring incredulously at their friends stomach.

Quatre tried to stifle a laugh, always attempting to be polite, but Wufei couldn't contain himself, and burst out into full blown belly aching laughter, attracting the attention of their surrounding co- workers. Duo blushed and looked around as various heads turned to look at the cause of the commotion.

"God, Duo," he laughed out, his hand slamming on the table twice in an attempt to calm himself. "What have you been doing? Eating butter?"

The braided American felt his face growing hotter by the second, but couldn't bring himself to lower his shirt and hide the embarrassing evidence of his now obvious weight gain. He couldn't explain how it had happened. After all, he worked out, stayed fit, but somewhere along the road of a month of never ending surveillance missions and an endless diet of fast food and pizza, he'd grown a distinct layer of pudge. "I like it," Heero said simply, taking another bite of his macaroni casserole.

The others shot him a number of shocked expressions.

"What?" He asked, sporting a somewhat offended tone. "Cute," he finished, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Duo scoffed and threw his shirt down. "Cute?" He exclaimed, plopping himself back down into his chair. "Is that your new way of confessing your deep, untold feelings?"

Heero threw his fork down on the table, slightly leaning in with a dark look. "Why is it so hard for you to believe that I love you."

Duo rolled his eyes. "Come on guys, it was funny the first twenty times you told him to say that, now it's just kind of getting old."

Heero shot Quatre a death glare, and the blond was careful not to make eye contact with the angry asian. It had been his idea for Heero to tell Duo how he felt about him, only to have the braided fool assume it was a practical joke instituted by the three other pilots. To Quatre's credit, if it had been a practical joke, Duo did enjoy it thoroughly.

"But seriously, it's bad right?"

Trowa nodded. "There are definitely signs of on coming love handles."

"Oh my God," Duo began, grabbing his hair and hanging his head. "I'm getting old and fat."

"You're twenty- five, and probably only put on five pounds," Quatre quickly responded, but still unable to keep the smirk off his face. "I highly doubt that classifies you as old and fat.

"I don't," Wufei laughed out, poking Duo's belly as the braided man wore a mortified expression.

"God, no wonder I haven't been getting any dates lately!"

"I'd date you no matter what you looked like," Heero said promptly, raising his glass towards Duo before taking a little sip of his water.

Duo reached over and patted Heero's hand. "I'm sure you would," he said in a tone only suitable to be used on a seven year old. Heero set his water down on the table and covered Duo's hand with his own.

"Would you stop!" Duo laughed out, quickly pulling his hand out from between Heero's and ran it through his hair. "What do you guys think I should do?"

"Date me and forget about it," Heero stated.

"Anyone besides Heero have an opinion?" Duo asked, glancing around the table, and carefully avoiding eye contact with his best friend.

"Well," Wufei began, taking a bite of his sandwich. "If you're serious about weight loss, I can help you during work out sessions."

Duo shifted hesitantly in his seat. "Yeah," he began slowly. "I don't know, Wufei."

"Why not?"

Duo shared a knowing look with the other pilots before letting out a deep sigh.

"Because you're anal," he began.

"You're controlling," Trowa continued.

"Not to mention the fact that you'd probably end up killing him," Quatre elaborated.

"And he doesn't need to lose weight," Heero finished, causing everyone to turn their attention towards him.

"What?" He asked angrily again.

Duo shook off Heero's statement, turning back to Wufei. "I'm sorry man, I just don't think my body could take one of your training courses. I've seen what you do to the new recruits. That 'training' for sure borders on some kind of physical abuse."

Wufei nodded. "The same kind of abuse I'm going to inflict on your thighs."

Duo still looked hesitant.

"Or should I say on your lonely handles," Wufei continued, lifting his head a bit. Duo's eyes widened.

"Fine," he gave in. "But if you make me cry, this is done."

Wufei nodded and extending his hand for Duo to shake. "Agreed."

++++

"Ten more," Wufei growled out as Duo's body hit the floor for the sixth time within ten minutes.

"You've been saying ten more for an hour," Duo gasped out. He has soon discovered why all the trainees requested to be in Heero's training sessions. He'd been doing push ups for two hours. His arms had long since felt like jello, and now they felt as though they were being impaled with multiple needles.

"When you give me ten good ones, we'll be done," Wufei responded as Duo sighed and raised himself back onto his hands and feet, prepared for the physical anguish of yet another push up.

Duo cringed as Wufei counted off the first three push ups, before he saw Heero entering the gym, and quickly called to him. "Heero!" He called out, pushing himself up from his starting position and running over to him, grabbing his shirt collar. "Save me, this guy is crazy."

Heero glanced over Duo's shoulder to see Wufei tapping his foot impatiently. "You know we're waiting for you in the cafeteria, right?" He asked, patting Duo on the head as he whimpered.

Wufei sighed. "I am aware," he shot out. "And when I get seven more push ups from Duo we will be down to join you."

Heero quickly calculated the amount of time it took Duo to do something he didn't want to, and then shook his head. "I'm hungry now," he said. "I don't want to wait another half hour."

Duo felt the horrific bonds of personal training break from his wrists. Free at last. A euphoric feeling rushed over him, as the slow realization that soon there would be food in his stomach set in. He looked at Heero, his savior, and smiled genuinely for the first time in two weeks.

"This shouldn't be allowed to be classified as food," Duo grumbled as he poured skim milk from a thermos onto the cardboard cereal Wufei had been inflicting on his stomach. He'd been reduced to eating that garbage for two meals a day, three days a week. Today was Tuesday, oh hated Tuesday...

"It is perfectly nutritious," Wufei responded, calmly eating his sandwich as he ignored the cringing faces Duo was making.

"You know, Duo," Quatre said, pointing his spork at him. "You probably wont have much longer to train. You're already looking at lot more defined."

"Really?" Duo responded quickly, his eyes lighting up as the possibility that this torture would be over sooner than he had anticipated.

"No way, Maxwell," Wufei interjected. "We had a deal. We aren't done until I say we're done." "Hmph," he snorted, dipping his spoon into the cereal, lifting a bit of it and then unceremoniously letting it drop back into the bowl, splattering little bits of skim milk onto the table.

"I feel I should remind you of the more obvious solution," Heero stated, raising the twinkie he had packed in his lunch slowly up to his lips before taking a bite of the delicious Hostess treat.

Duo's eyes glazed over as he watched the yellow pastry ooze a bit of cream onto Heero's bottom lip. He was so hungry that he almost considered leaning over the table to lick it off.

"Yuy!" Wufei exclaimed, slamming his hand down on the table and jerking Duo from his hostess pastry fantasy. "Stop encouraging this kind of eating behavior! The rest of us are trying to help Duo! I don't need you back sliding his progress!"

And it was true. Quatre had been enjoying a lunch of fresh fruit and yogurt, as Wufei nibbled on a lean chicken sandwich, and Trowa picked at a salad. No one really enjoyed the food, but they could see how hard the diet was on Duo, and didn't want him to feel left out. However, while the other three were providing support for their friends weight loss, Heero was not. He was convinced that Duo did not need to lose any weight whatsoever, and that supporting this ridiculous diet was putting a negative self image in Duo's head. He did everything he could to reverse the dieting process.

He constantly invited Duo over for dinner, stating that he had just picked up the most delicious looking ribeye steaks and had no one to eat them with, or that Relena had recently sent over a decadent chocolate fudge cake that he desperately needed help finishing. As he offered more and more, Heero saw the desire grow in Duo's eyes. He had reached the breaking point, and Heero was more than happy to be the straw that broke the camels back.

Today, he had been enjoying left over fettucini alfredo that he had made the night prior and washing it down with a mountain dew, which just happened to be Duo's favorite beverage, and completing the meal with the American's most beloved snack. The twinkie.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Heero said simply, taking a swig of the soft drink and tried not to cringe. "I love twinkies."

"Right," Quatre rolled his eyes. Trowa stifled a laugh. Wufei glared.

"Think of your lonely handles every time you look at that sugary, fat filled, pastry, Duo," Wufei replied. Duo rested his head on the table. He was lonely.

"If I stay fat I'll have to date Heero," Duo mumbled.

Heero's eyes lit up as his ears picked up Duo's confession. He shot Quatre a questioning glance. Quatre shook his head quickly, as if to say, no! Heero scoffed in response, turning his head to Trowa, who was at that moment eating a bite of his salad. Their eyes connected, and Trowa shrugged his shoulders, as though to say, sounds plausible to me, before he was promptly kicked by Quatre under the table.

"Ow!" He remarked, leaning down to rub his shin.

"Oh, sorry," Quatre responded quickly. "I thought that was the bar under the table."

But alas, it was too late. From that moment on, Heero had devised a new plan to make Duo his own. If he wouldn't listen to reason, and believe his confessions of love, then he'd have to try a new approach.

++++

Duo stared at the scale in front of him, half of him terrified, the other half relieved. The torture he had endured for six weeks all lead up to this one moment. The moment that would determine whether or not Wufei would free him from the bonds of dietry.

"Are you ready, Maxwell?" Wufei asked, standing behind his trainee as he was met with the ultimate test of his program.

"Ready," Duo replied firmly, taking that final and deciding step onto the scale. They both looked down, and gasped.

"You gained five more pounds?!" Wufei exclaimed, smacking Duo upside the head. "Have you been sneaking junk food behind my back?!"

"No!" Duo yelped, rubbing his head. "This must be one of those, muscle weighs more than fat things!"

"Yeah right, you heifer! You are back on the Special K diet as of now!"

"No! Please, I'll run an extra two miles everyday!"

"You should have thought about that before you decided to switch back to two percent," Wufei responded, his tone uncaring.

"Wufei please!" Duo called out, collapsing to his knees and extending his hand out to him. The thought of another six weeks of training with Wufei was just too much, he would rather die.

Too bad for him, Wufei was not swayed from his course of action. How dare Duo sneak fattening food behind his back! And he'd been so careful to make sure that everything in his house was healthy. It was an injustice! He'd worked so hard training Duo physically only to have it all be thrown down the drain for a little sugar! He was so infuriated that he didn't notice Heero was in Duo's kitchen until he was standing across from him, reaching for a box of Special K that was on Duo's counter.

"Yuy?" He asked, watching as Heero's back stiffened, before turning slightly.

"Yuy!" Wufei gasped, nearly dropping the box of Special K, as his eyes filled with horror.

Heero froze, his shoulders going rigid as he lowered the heavy cream he was currently combining with the skim milk Wufei brought over. Slowly, Heero set down both containers on the counter and made his way past a stunned Wufei. He threw a glance over his shoulder. "Don't judge me," he stated, and then exited the kitchen.

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A.N. I had a ton of fun writing this. Just totally ridiculous. But sometimes we all need a little of that in life : )