[Fic] Here There Be Reptiles 3/?

[saffiter]

Title: Here There Be Reptiles: Part 3

Rating: M

Beta: Bronze Tigress

Warnings: 3x4 Established pairing. Eventual 5+2. Swearing, eventual gory stuff (does being chomped by a ticked off dinosaur count as gory?). Shounen Ai/Yaoi (though no lemons, don’t think I could write one of those). Sexual references. Fusion/Crossover thingy with Jurassic Park.

Notation: This fic has been rated in accordance with the approved TTFF Rating System for Australian and New Zealand fiction.

Archive: www.wufeiduo.net and anywhere else it’s archived. If you want it just ask, I don’t bite.. Much *evil grin* I do have a tendency to glomp people though.

Disclaimer: I don’t own them. Either of them. The Jurassic Park stuff belongs to whoever wrote it. Gundam Wing belongs to someone who, unfortunately, isn’t me either (though I’d like to believe otherwise). I do own the box set though which means that I’m FINALLY going to be able to watch the entire series subbed! I’m just borrowing them. I promise to put them back in the same condition that I found them... Well mostly anyway *evil grin*

Comments: Erm. It’s been WAY too long since I last updated this fic, nearly a year... YIKES... WAY too long. This fic has been sitting on my bedroom shelf collecting dust while I’ve been meaning to type it up. I’ve been busy, what with dancing, and uni, one of my numerous uncles getting sick (he’s better now), etc. I didn’t really have time to scratch myself all year (I got REALLY good marks though so that’s something). THEN I got distracted with other stuff, other anime (Saiyuki, Fushigi Yuugi again, Yami no Matsuei, Fruits Basket...), LotR, Anita Blake, Pirates of the Caribbean (I’m currently trying to fight off a Barbossa muse *shudders* he’s rather persistent, and I’ve got a mildly angsty Jack muse poking at me too. I’m trying to ignore them, trying being the emphasised words here).

**thoughts**

"Speech"

//computer stuff//

I’ve still gotta work on Duo’s language...

 

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Landing on Isla Sorna went off without a hitch. OZ had either not spotted them, or they were yet to arrive. The pilots were hoping it was the latter. It would give them more time to explore the area, and give them a serious advantage should the need to hide arise. It was unlikely they had arrived first though. OZ did have a three day head start on them.

Heero set the boat on autopilot once all the equipment was unloaded. It would wait six nautical miles off the coast. A simple signal from their communicators would bring it back again at need.

The Gundam pilots were currently trekking through the undergrowth towards the position where OZ was supposed to be camping, much to Duo’s disgust. He was hot, tired, thirsty, and very quickly discovering that black was so _not_ the right colour to be wearing in this heat. He kept forgetting how quickly temperatures could change planet side, and he’d never been in a place like this before. He felt like he was going to broil any second.

"Hey, Heero. How much further, man? I’m roasting here." Duo called up to the front of their bedraggled line where Heero was.

"Their camp should be over the next ridge, so shut up before they hear you!"

It was a very good thing that Heero did not turn around as Duo poked his tongue out at the Japanese pilot’s back. **Oh, Heero is being soooo nice today. What died and crawled up his butt? Jerk!**

The ground was starting to incline upwards at a steep angle. Duo put his head down to watch his footing and to make the climb easier. It wouldn't do to trip and fall all the way back down the hill. The way he was currently feeling that was a definite risk if he didn’t watch his step. He was half tempted to pull a childish "Are we there yet?" on Heero just to see how long it would take to get a reaction.

Duo looked up as somebody approached him.

"Are you all right, Duo?" Wufei asked, looking concerned.

Duo’s heart started doing flip-flops. **He called me ‘Duo’, not ‘Maxwell’, not ‘Baka’, not a million and one other things, but _Duo_. He hardly ever calls me that.** He quickly mastered his features when he realized he was grinning like some sort of besotted idiot.

"Yeah, Wufei, I’m doing A-Ok." Duo flashed a victory sign and grinned. It was meant to reassure, but the effect was lost when he tripped on a tree root and plummeted nose-first towards the ground. Screwing his eyes shut, Duo prepared to make like a human tumbleweed.

Five seconds later he was opening his eyes again. **Usually you go _splat_ by now**

The American found himself securely wrapped in a pair of arms. He was being held off the ground. They were _Wufei’s_ arms.

**I could stay like this forever.** He wasn’t quite sure how the Chinese teen had managed to catch him, pick him up, and not go tumbling down the hill as well, but he wasn’t about to complain.

"Um, Wufei, thanks for the save and everything, but you can put me down now you know." Not that he really wanted to be put down, it _was_ kind of comfortable, but there were these two appendages called legs and Duo’s _were_ working perfectly fine.

Another five seconds passed... It didn’t look like Wufei was going to be putting him down anytime soon. He’d actually shifted Duo around a bit in his arms to get a better grip.

"Chang," Duo began again, this time with a bit more force behind his voice, "Down."

No response. Oh, boy.

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Wufei was worried about Duo. Usually he was loud and talkative, but as the trek through the jungle-like growth continued the braided teen slowly grew silent. Wufei had heard the note of exhaustion in Duo’s tone when asking how much further to the OZ camp, so he slowed down to make sure the American was all right.

Closer inspection showed that Duo was definitely _not_ okay. The weather had been hot enough for Wufei to discard his white over shirt before their trek had begun. Duo had discarded nothing and was dressed all in black.

Duo’s cheeks were flushed red and he was sweating profusely. His fringe was sticking to his face and his braid had seen better days. It had pieces of hair falling out all over the place.

Wufei, concerned, asked Duo whether he was all right. The braided teen’s gaze had been slightly unfocused as he’d looked at Wufei.

When Duo had tried to assure that, yes, he was okay, he had tripped on a barely raised root and made no effort to save himself.

Wufei lunged to catch the American in time, picking him up in his arms before anything else could happen. There was no way he was going to put Duo back down again, even if he was asked to. He was _not_ going to let Duo injure himself unnecessarily. **Admit it, you like holding him.**

"Everyone, stop!" Wufei called. The group stooped, turning around so they could look at him - and the boy he currently held in his arms.

"Duo!" Quatre, ever the mother hen, rushed back to make sure the boy was all right. "What happened?"

For some strange reason Wufei got the impression that question was directed at him. Ignoring the blonde, Wufei adjusted his hold on Duo and turned to Heero. "Is there a stream around here? The heat is affecting Duo."

"Wu, I’m _fine_! I just tripped".

"You do not _look_ fine." Wufei shot back.

Quatre and Trowa were, unsuccessfully, trying to hide smirks at the pair’s antics. Heero was, well, if Wufei didn’t know any better, he looked mildly, _very_ mildly, amused.

"There is a stream this way." Heero turned and headed off in a different direction.

Wufei followed, with Duo still in his arms. He kept trying to tell himself that it was only to prevent the braided American from hurting himself... and then gave up. **This might be the only time I get to hold him, I’m going to make it last.**

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Quatre had nearly started celebrating right there on the spot when he turned around at Wufei’s call. Then he got a look at Duo. **He doesn’t look good. All that black must _really_ be making him hot!**

He had to smile at Duo’s weak protests that he was "Perfectly fine. Stop fussing over me. Put me down damnit, Wufei!" As they headed towards the stream. **He’s probably loving every minute of this.**

"Trowa, isn't that the cutest thing you’ve ever seen?" Quatre asked.

"Duo shouldn’t have worn all that black." Trowa replied, eyeing the clothes the American was wearing.

"True, but when was the last time you saw him in anything but black?" Quatre ducked a low hanging branch. "I’m not sure if he has clothes in any other colour." He began making plans to take Duo shopping when this was over. The boy didn’t own much as far as he knew. He’d only ever seen Duo holding one small carry bag whenever they changed safe-houses.

Trowa nodded and held back a tree branch to let the smaller blonde pass. "You’re right. They are cute."

Stepping past Trowa, Quatre found himself at the stream. It was a picturesque spot. Wufei had placed Duo in a shady area on a fallen tree trunk. The Chinese teen appeared to be trying to get the American’s top off, while Duo was using every possible trick in the book, and inventing some new ones, to keep the top _on_. It was funny to watch. Quatre had a hard time suppressing his laughter as he saw Heero move over to help Wufei.

"Duo doesn’t stand a chance," Chuckled Quatre. "By the way Trowa, what _did_ Wufei want to talk to you about earlier? Was it about Duo?"

"In a way, yes." Trowa appeared to be finding the display being put on by Heero, Wufei and Duo fascinating." He wanted to know how I knew I was in love with you."

"Oh?" Heero and Wufei _still_ hadn’t managed to get Duo’s top off. Quatre had to give the American points for stubbornness.

"I figured it was about Duo and told him so." Trowa reached an arm out and wrapped it around Quatre’s waist. "It really _isn’t_ our place to interfere."

The sound of rending cloth, followed by an indignant yelp, caused Quatre and Trowa to look over towards the other three pilots. Heero, having apparently given up on getting Duo’s shirt off the normal way, had managed to rip Duo’s black top off... Only to reveal a white undershirt, which Wufei was giving the _strangest_ look.

Quatre didn’t blame him. "Oh, _my_! No wonder Duo was so hot."

**That shirt will be useless now. I’m definitely taking Duo shopping after this.**

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"Aah, Lieutenant Merquise, there you are! I’ve been looking all over for you. I can’t tell you how pleased I was to hear you would be assisting me with this venture. I must say, it is an _honour_ to finally meet the Lightning Count! I’ve heard _so_ much about you and now here I am, working with you!" A short, balding man wearing spectacles and a ridiculous safari suit was heading in his direction.

Inwardly Zechs cringed, and looked for somewhere, _anywhere_ to hide. Peter Ludlow was an annoying, shifty little man with the tenacity of a Pit bull and an uncanny ability to find him no matter where he tried to hide. "The pleasure is all yours, I’m sure." He muttered under his breath.

Unfortunately Zechs had to play nice. Well, relatively nice anyway. Ludlow was impressively wealthy and rather influential within the Romerfeller foundation. The little nuisance knew it too. **I’d like nothing better than to toss the him overboard.**

Taking a swig at his ever-present pocket flask, the annoyance continued, unaware of his audience’s discomfort. "I imagine you must be wondering what we’re going after here."

"I have heard rumours of..." Zechs began.

"Dinosaurs my good man!" Ludlow cut him off, slapping him on the back. "We’re going dinosaur hunting. Anyway, must fly. I have a thousand and one things to do before landing today. Toodleloo."

Zechs _really_ didn’t like that man.

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Duo was currently not a very happy camper. "I can’t believe you ripped my shirt, Heero. You could have just _asked_."

"Baka," The Japanese pilot made a grab for the white undershirt Duo wore, which was effectively dodged. "We did ask!"

"Noooo, you didn’t. You tried, cut it _out_ Yui!," Duo slapped the Japanese teens hands away from his shirt, again. "Quite successfully I might add, to rip. My. Shirt. Off! Unless you hadn’t noticed, _Yui_, I don’t exactly have the largest wardrobe around."

**He sounds mad,** Heero thought. **But we had to get him out of that top and he was _not_ co-operating.**

Faced with a handful of irate pilot, Heero fell back on a tried and true response. "Hn."

"Oh, _great_," Duo snorted, crossing his arms protectively about his chest. "The Grunting Wonder strikes again."

Heero just ignored the boy and passed the remains of the black top to Wufei. "Soak that in some water." Turning back to Duo, he cast an eye over what the American was still wearing. "Top. Off."

Duo opened his mouth to give a scathing retort... It never came. A loud *BOOM* resounded through the jungle, shaking the ground they all stood on. "What the hell _is_ that?!" Duo squawked. "That sure doesn’t sound like a mobile suit."

Heero pulled his gun from, well wherever he managed to hide the thing, and began scanning the area. The sound was growing louder. His eyes narrowed as the bushes to his left started to rustle. He took aim...

And backpedalled _really_ fast as something extremely _large_ came through.

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"Oh, oh my," Quatre’s eyes were searching frantically for the origin of the constant booming. "Trowa, what is that? Do you know?"

Trowa watched as Heero pulled his gun, from nowhere it seemed, and pointed it at some moving bushes. **I would _love_ to know where he hides that thing. I didn’t even know he was carrying.** He pulled his own gun and followed Heero’s lead. **I doubt that this will do any good on whatever is making that noise though. Sounds big.**

Heero’s eyes widened comically and he started backpedalling as he caught his first glimpse of... Whatever it was. If the situation hadn’t been so serious Trowa would have found it immensely amusing, both for Heero’s reaction and the constant teasing that the pilot of Wing Zero would receive from Duo.

Moments later Trowa could see for himself why Heero had reacted the way he did. Out of the bushes stomped a herd of, well, a herd of _dinosaurs_. **They really did it. They really managed to clone dinosaurs.**

"Holy _shit_!" Duo’s voice had raised a couple of octaves.

Trowa looked at his gun, towards the Dinosaurs, back to his gun, and then put it away. A gun would be too small to go up against something that large. A hand gun would be at any rate... Perhaps a rocket launcher... Or his Gundam, though it would probably end up with a dint.

"Duo," Quatre called, an odd note in his voice, "what are they?"

Trowa looked back at his lover. His face held an awed expression, and he _knew_ that tone of voice. It was the same sort of tone that was always followed by Quatre doing something stupid... Like trying to set up Abdul with one of his more psychopathic sisters. **Uh-oh.**

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"I’m not _quite_ sure what species they are, Q. They _look_ like a Stegosaurus." Duo watched the dinosaurs crash through the underbrush. "On second thoughts, I'm pretty sure they _are_ Stegosaurus. It’s a herbivore."

**Oh, God! They did it, they actually did it! I thought Heero was kidding when he said that. They’re so _big_.** The herd moved down stream and stopped around one hundred metres away. **There’s a mummysaur, a daddysaur, a babysaur, and all of its’ Aunts and Uncles!** The pilot of Deathscythe was almost tempted to start cooing, or at least giggling insanely.

Something Heero had said earlier popped to the forefront of Duo’s mind and made him freeze. **The way Heero was talking earlier, more than one species was cloned.** Frowning, he looked down at his feet, going over everything Heero had said earlier. **If they cloned more than one species, what did they clone? Four or so people died on that other island. There were no bodies.**

He looked up again and over towards Quatre, who was slowly making his way towards the Dinosaur family. **No bodies. Herbivores don’t eat meat so that counts them out. That means that carnivores were cloned as well.**

**If I were the head of InGen what would I clone? Something that would bring a lot of money, for sure. What is _the_ most famous Dinosaur predator known to man?** Duo swore softly underneath his breath.**Great, there goes the easy stroll in the park. So, we’ve probably got a couple of Tyrannosaurus Rex’s running around here somewhere. If we run into them we should be fine. It’s visual acuity is based on movement still, I... What the _hell_ is Quatre _doing_?!** Duo broke off in mid thought.

Quatre had managed to sneak up on the herd, near to where the baby was happily munching away on some shrubbery. It looked like he was trying to pat the baby.

Duo grabbed Wufei by the front of the shirt, worried. "Look, he has to touch it. He can’t not touch, he can’t not touch." Wufei wasn’t quite sure if Duo was talking to him, or if he was mumbling to himself, but the odd grasping movements that he was making to emphasize what was being said were quite endearing. "Once he sees something he has to... Look at that." Quatre was quite close to the baby now. "Once he sees something he’s got to.. He’s got to..." [1]

Unaware of the grip he had on Wufei’s shirt, all of Duo’s attention was focused on the blonde Arab. **Jeezus, Quatre! I know you’re touchy-feely and everything, but are you _insane_? This isn’t a fucking petting zoo you moron! If those adults think you’re a threat they’ll attack you!**

"Trowa," Duo called, finally releasing the front of Wufei’s shirt. "What the _hell_ is your boy-toy _doing_?!"

Trowa gave him a sheepish look. It didn’t look like he was going to get any help from that department. Heero and Wufei didn’t look to be helping much either. Wufei was hovering over him, and Heero still had his gun trained on them. Somehow Duo got the impression that the gun wasn’t going to do much damage to a Dinosaur... Piss it off, maybe, but damage it, not in this life time.

Duo’s worst fears were realized as Quatre stepped backwards. A dry twig snapped underneath his foot, startling the baby and making it utter a honking cry,. This alerted all of the adults to the blonde’s presence. They didn’t look happy. What was obviously one of the parents let out a bellow and charged.

"Shit! QUATRE, LOOK OUT!" Duo tried to run, to somehow help his fellow pilot and friend, but Wufei tackled him into the stream. No amount of struggling would dislodge the Chinese teen.

The next few moments passed as a blur. Duo could only watch what happened from where he was sitting, not by his choice, since Wufei had a death grip around his shoulders, holding him in his position.

Quatre ran into the centre of the herd, ducking as one of the adults swung its’ spiked tail. **Oh, god! He’s going to get shishka-bobbed!**

"Wufei, let _go_!" Duo struggled against his captor.

The blonde sprinted towards a hollow log and dived in. Moments later the adult slammed its’ tail into the log.

Duo struggled some more. **QUATRE!**

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Belatedly Quatre realized that patting the baby Dinosaur wasn’t the smartest idea he’d ever had, actually it was probably up there with some of his worst. He heard Duo’s scream but he was too busy trying not to get skewered by tail-spikes to worry about what had been yelled. **If I get out of this alive I’m _never_ doing something like this again!**

Those dinosaurs just wouldn’t leave him alone!

Spotting a hollow log out of the corner of his eye, Quatre made a run for it. He dove into it head first and started crawling for his life. He made it not a moment too soon. Tail spikes from the pursuing adult slammed down behind him, missing his foot by a hairs breadth.

Satisfied that the threat was over, the herd moved on.

"Quatre!" Trowa was calling his name though it sounded faint to his ears. He was feeling slightly dazed. It wasn’t every day you had a dinosaur try to kill you.

**I... I’m alive. I made it!** Quatre was barely aware of Trowa dragging him out of the log, checking him for injuries, and, once he’d sure the blonde was fine, pulled him into a bone crushing hug.

"Quatre, are you all right? What did you think you were doing? You could've been killed!" Quatre had never heard Trowa sound like this before, "Then the Manguanacs would’ve killed _me_!"

**I’m so loved.** Quatre gave a mental snort.

"Trowa, I’m fine!" That wasn’t quite true. Even he could hear the quaver in his voice, and his knees just wouldn’t stop shaking. "Duo said it was a herbivore, I figured that since it was a plant eater it would be safe to pat."

"Now those were big fucking lizards!" Duo had made his way over to where Quatre and Trowa were standing, under his own power it appeared - though Wufei was hovering just behind him. The American cast a critical eye over the two lovers. "I don’t know about you two, but I _really_ don’t want to see what the bugs are like around here!"

Quatre gave Duo a withering glare. "I thought you said that was a herbivore."

"It was. Think about it for a second, Q. They grow up having to defend themselves against predators. They saw you as a threat so they attacked. Law of nature really." Duo thought for a second before turning to lightly slap Wufei on the shoulder. "Damnit, Wu, stop _hovering_!"

It didn’t work, the Chinese teen kept hovering. Duo made an exasperated sound, glared, and went back to his explanation. "Just because I say it’s a herbivore doesn't mean that it’s not dangerous. Those spikes just aren't just for show. They’ll attack anything they think is a threat."

"Duo," Quatre had finally noticed the American’s less than pristine condition. The boy was dripping wet, his hair falling out of his plait far worse than it had been before. "What happened?"

Duo glared at Wufei again. "Wu knocked me into the water when I tried to help."

Quatre had to hide a grin at Wufei’s attempt at an innocent look. **It’s not going to take much to get those two together.**

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tbc

[1] A line from Jurassic Park 2, said by the character Ian Malcom.