Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Above You ❯ Chapter One ( Chapter 1 )

A/U: I just wanted to say that when you see a number, like 27, it's meant to be read as "two-seven" not "twenty-seven". Also, 0 (zeros) aren't meant as "zero", they're meant as "oh"...so A0206 is "A oh two oh six"...just to differentiate why there actually are numerals in the text. That aside, I didn't get around to explaining it in this story, but the "As" of their "As model phones" stands for "active sensor" or "active scan" something along that lines. It's one of those ones that some people have and some people don't. I'm also using the concept of clusters when referring to the colonies—meaning that L-5 consists of 4 individual colonies where L-4 is 5 or 6 individual colonies.

There is a fair bit of adult language and content in this story—reader discretion is advised. I don't own Gundam Wing or any other brand name that might sneak its way into pop culture. Anyway, I'll stop rambling now and sum this all up with the note that I hope you enjoy this, I had fun writing it. -Kye

One

What were his perverted roommates doing now? Trowa couldn't quite muster the effort to come awake and dissect the possibly explicit words that had woke him.

"Think carpet," Wufei encouraged, his tone almost wicked.

"Think cock," Trowa retorted, rolling over.

Duo guffawed as Quatre made a slight mewing noise of confusion.

"The hell you tellin' us your fantasies for?" Wufei demanded, still highly amused as he studied the recumbent man. The rest of them were sitting together on the floor.

"Maybe it's a clue," Heero suggested, his tone darkly amused.

"You can do that research," Quatre noted.

Duo started laughing.

Trowa turned his head to look at the group of them again. Wufei and Heero on one side and Duo and Quatre on the other. Wufei and Quatre were closer to him...and they all had cups. Wufei had his insulated and portable coffee pot between them with sugar packets he'd bought and creamer Duo'd stolen from a diner...

They were all looking at him...all amused...

"He wouldn't be walking tomorrow if I did the research," Heero quipped to Quatre...who started blushing as he laughed wickedly.

Yeah...Heero would be the one not to care about sexual orientation.

Trowa pushed himself up to raise an eyebrow at the guy.

Heero laughed his happy laugh, understanding that he hadn't only gotten a rise from Quatre with that comment, even though Trowa was making a valiant effort to keep his face straight.

Wufei snickered as well, picking up his cup and looking back to Trowa.

"What are you dumbasses doing?" Trowa demanded, looking beyond them to the wall-closet behind them.

They lived in a very large studio apartment. They'd rolled a die for their bed positions, and had the sleeping quarters sectioned off from the main room by an over-sized oriental screen that Wufei had helped Heero make, and a large bookshelf that Heero'd made on his own.

Trowa was fairly certain there was metal between one side of the wood and the other—even though it was a huge piece, it still seemed heavier than it should be.

His bed was against that and the wall. Quatre's bed was next, then Heero's. Wufei had his bed in the corner, and Duo's was along the far wall. There were myriad windows in the apartment, and they started about a foot from the ground and went up well into the vaulted ceiling.

Heero had actually built the closet himself...and again, Trowa was certain he'd used metal, since they'd sent him ahead of them and he'd had the place to himself for a week.

"The floor," Wufei informed Trowa almost pointedly. His amusement was true, though. He genuinely appreciated Trowa's instant assumption he was talking shit. Wufei would, given half a chance, talk about his weekend antics.

Trowa could only assume this was because Quatre would blush like the sweet virgin he was, Heero would call him a liar, and Duo actually wanted to hear.

Trowa snorted and rubbed his face, sitting up.

"So why you spillin' fantasies?" Wufei pressed, grinning fairly openly at his friend. "You about to indulge in a wet dream before it occurred to you we were all right here?"

Trowa flashed him a wicked grin, swinging out of bed and realizing why this question had been asked.

He had to pee.

"No, darling," he muttered, starting away. "I figured if I said I'd said it, you'd think it...and you know you want me."

Wufei guffawed. "I'd have Duo before you, Barton."

Duo laughed wickedly.

"Duo'd have anyone who'd have him," Trowa retorted.

Duo gave him a raised eyebrow glare.

Trowa flashed his friend an apologetic grin and moved through the curtain that separated the room from the main of the house.

House? It was a studio apartment with a loft.

He glanced up at their in-home gym.

Considering that they'd been successful teenage terrorists, people in the government had considered it their all-important duty to keep them happy and fed. The idea of them joining the military had been thrown around like rapid-fire, but they were done with the wars. The wars weighed heavily on their souls. They'd all decided the same thing with a look and had absolutely terrorized anyone who had the balls to give them an order.

At one point they'd nearly been court marshaled, but something about the teenage ex-terrorist tag had made the heads of state reconsider. Sally Po had sweetly stepped into that void and had taken 'her boys' aside for a pleasant supper and 'civil conversation'.

They'd been out of the military a week later.

The officials had allotted them each an amount of money to find their own housing, and Quatre had noted that it would probably be nicer if they all had the same apartment building. That had spiraled down to the fact that there were not five apartments open in any building across the United States.

Trowa finished his bathroom business in short order. The bathroom was between the entrance to the building and the kitchen, so he made a brief detour to grab himself a coffee cup.

He really had no clue what he'd woken up to, and he knew they weren't going to let him live down assuming it was another of Wufei's sex-eds...but he could live with that. It'd had been a while since he'd made an ass of himself, so he almost felt like it was his turn.

He pushed back through the curtain and received wicked grins in greeting, though Wufei obligingly lifted the coffee pot.

"...but whatever we end up doing we're going to want curtains," he explained. "So if we get carpeting first, we can match curtains later. Regina said she'd help with that."

"Regina?" Trowa echoed the name blankly, thinking over Wufei's myriad girlfriends.

"Light brown hair," Wufei supplied, measuring a length beside his neck. "Kinda short...comes over all the fucking time?"

"Oh! Reg!" Trowa laughed in mild embarrassment.

Reg, or Regie as they usually called her, was one of Duo's coworkers.

Duo gave him a mildly amused look.

"Sorry, just woke up," Trowa muttered, dropping down and grabbing up some sugar packets.

"Do we want an area rug or the floor done?" Wufei added, studying Trowa's face.

Trowa blinked at him.

Wufei gestured, again obligingly, at the floor they were sitting on and back toward Duo's bed.

"Uh..."

"Yeah, that's the response," Wufei noted, rolling his eyes and looking back to the others.

"I don't give a shit," Heero explained to Trowa. "A throw or a floor of it would warm it up in here," he shrugged. He wanted something done and could live with that. "Either way works."

"We'd have to vacuum," Duo noted, frowning slightly.

"We should sweep anyway," Quatre retorted.

"We have a broom, we don't have a vacuum," Duo returned.

Trowa took a drink from his cup and was glad no one was watching him, reaching forward quickly to grab a creamer.

"We can get a vacuum in like...twenty minutes," Heero noted pointedly. "We wouldn't make you vacuum anymore than we make you sweep."

Duo flashed him a grin and shrugged.

Duo wasn't the type for menial chores. He was working as the second to an architect, supposedly some sort of pupil. They could get him to clean the kitchen and bathroom, but the rest of it was beyond his scope.

Actually, the chores were fairly straightforward. Someone cleaned the gym in total, someone swept the downstairs, someone cleaned the bathroom, and someone cleaned the kitchen...that left the last person to take care of the garbage and recycling. If you tossed the trash and recycling at Duo as he left the apartment, he had absolutely no issues taking them out...but he couldn't seem to sweep or ever clean the gym.

Granted, cleaning the gym included maintenance on the workout equipment...

The chores weren't really that well balanced.

As for the kitchen and bathroom cleaning, the former L-2 pilot had deep-seeded disgust if either place seemed remotely dirty. He'd admitted the issues one night when they'd all been somber and had been drinking. The kitchens and bathrooms at his orphanage had been clean, but after that had all been blown to shit and he'd jumped the sweeper carrier...they hadn't kept their bathroom clean and almost everyone had gotten sick, and similarly, their kitchen had been sub-standard and he himself had gotten sick pretty bad. He was fairly OCD about it, and since none of them particularly felt joy in cleaning the bathroom, they left him to it, though occasionally—to be fair—they shoved garbage duty on him.

"You might like vacuuming," Trowa noted, meeting the guy's eyes. "You never know until you try."

"What does my liking and disliking have to do with anything?" Duo retorted, though it wasn't an angered or annoyed response.

Trowa grinned and took another sip of his coffee.

It tasted pretty damn good, actually.

"I think we should just get the floor done," Wufei added, studying Trowa. "What do you think?"

"I think Duo's avoiding the idea of carpeting, Heero doesn't give a damn...you're for it, and Quatre probably likes the throw-rug notion."

Quatre grinned at that.

"We still have to get a vacuum for a throw," Heero noted to Duo.

"So that means it's one vote all and one vote small," Wufei said calmly. "Heero will go with majority, and Duo's screwed himself."

Duo snorted.

Trowa grinned, considering them all a long moment and looking back to Wufei. If he wasn't aware of the fact that Heero honestly wanted something done about it, he'd have gone with Duo's argument. Considering that he couldn't rightly do that, all things considered, he decided the next best route—it was possibly even more amusing. "I don't give a damn."

Heero started laughing his wicked little chuckle. It wasn't loud or intruding, it was like the madman whose evil plots were working out to his benefit.

Wufei glared at Trowa.

Trowa snickered and looked away.

"I hate you," Wufei informed him—but considering how often those words came out of his mouth, none of them felt particularly stung by the sentence.

Trowa grinned more and went back to his coffee.

- -

"You're kidding, right?" Quatre muttered, staring at the pile of paper on his desk. "You didn't just put that all in my inbox."

"We were waiting for Anali to get back," Terry muttered almost tightly, looking to the ceiling. "She had to sign off on all of that before we could get them to you..."

"And you expect me to get this done before my time off?" Quatre snapped irritably.

"You're efficient," the man noted, meeting his eyes. "You'll get most of it done...and the rest...the...I..." he sighed, looking away again.

Quatre rolled his eyes.

He'd get it all done for them, if he didn't, it would fuck up the entire workplace almost as much as Anali's strategic vacation.

Stupid woman.

Quatre sighed and dropped into his seat, logging onto his computer. Terry knew it as the dismissal it was and darted out the door.

If Quatre had just taken the job his sister had wanted him to in Winner Industries, he wouldn't have to bother with the menial paper-pushing. If he'd taken it, he'd just be making all the damn decisions for the entire company.

He had to remind himself of that every now and again, or he'd start longing for the salaried position of CEO.

Well...it wasn't really CEO, but considering who he was, the actual CEO would happily play figurehead for the masses.

...and it wasn't the part of him that was a Gundam pilot, either.

Getting this job had seemed like a dream come true when they'd actually hired him. The owner of the company was a man Quatre's father had done a favor for before his death, so taking on the man's son hadn't been an imposition. Actually, the man had lectured him for most of the first visit that he was trained for much greater things. The military role he'd had hadn't been just a lackey with a gun. He and his roommates had been in charge of a large portion of men. They'd been eighteen, though, and hadn't felt any particular need to be ordered around.

They'd had enough of that during the wars.

Veterans at twenty-two...honored veterans...who'd fought the entire war.

Quatre shook his head.

He did really prefer this quiet life-style. His job in the company was necessary, but not life-altering. If he missed a few days of work, the pile in his inbox might get a bit tall, but the entire company was efficient enough that nothing was ever down to the wire.

Going home after eight or twelve hours of that to his roommates was far from troublesome. He agreed that it might have been nice to use the extra money on partitions so they could have a semblance of private bedrooms...but he couldn't say he regretted all the windows being bulletproof glass instead.

Actually, they didn't let that be common knowledge and persisted that they'd spent the money for the partitions on their gym. It sounded reasonable enough, though truth-be-told, Quatre had taken the equipment from one of his myriad family mansions.

Might be nicer to move into one of them, actually. His sister was starting to talk about selling them off...

He shook his head, his fingers flying over the keyboard as he replied to the an email his boss had sent, confirmation on his request for time off and his final approval on the strategy they'd use to fill his void.

He didn't really care, but the boss liked his approval.

He'd been taking shorter and shorter days, leading up to his vacation time. He wanted everyone to be sure they understood what it would be like with him gone—that was how he could sit around the room all morning arguing with Wufei about a carpet or a throw-rug.

Maybe they could go hit one of the family manors on time off...find a new place to live in warmer climes where they wouldn't have to keep their stereo level down to appease the neighbors.

He grinned slightly as he considered their apartment.

Heero had built the bookshelf, and from what Quatre had gathered from the material invoice, he'd used Gundanium in it...a lot, actually. Which probably meant the closet was lined with the stuff, too. That'd save their asses from mortar rounds or any such fancy. Heero's paranoia of being attacked had settled back, but it would never truly be gone. It made him who he was—not the paranoia, but the training that caused it.

It was sort of like the fact that both he and Wufei still practiced their martial arts...actually, the top of the closet was a few feet above head level...and covered in matting. It was used for meditation—actually, Wufei had taught Duo how to do it at one point, so even Duo would hop up on top of the thing to find his center.

Whatever that meant.

Quatre grinned more, falling into the rhythm of his job.

They had the tatami matting on the gym floor. There was a large half-round window in the loft that faced east, and during the spring and summer days, Quatre knew he wasn't the only one who watched the twin shadows of the Asian men going through a routine older than time itself. The...what had they called them? Katas? Forms? It was all some sort of martial art, and the graceful shadows on the west wall of the apartment were almost as good as a screen.

He could think of worse ways to start his day, not that Trowa waking up and commenting the way he had was a bad way to wake up either.

They had a comfortable camaraderie, picking at each other like brothers would and relying on each other as friends. They all had ways to get their own space, and they all knew when it needed respected. Most people thought they should have torn each other to shreds after a month, but it had been a bit more than a year now.

So why was Wufei suddenly so worried about carpeting?

A small inner voice at the back of Quatre's mind perked up at the rhetoric question and noted very pointedly that it was because Heero'd been complaining about it. The voice was very aware that Heero's complaining wouldn't come off as complaining to anyone else. Random statistical notes about the approximate temperature of the floor, cautions to the other pilots to buy slippers to avoid said temperatures...what else? A note that the air seemed chill and the large windows might need reinforcement before the next winter came around.

That actually explained the curtains that Wufei was suddenly very interested in, too.

It wasn't really like Quatre didn't understand. Heero had come out of a shell of iron over the years—initially only with Duo or Wufei. That had blossomed into him opening up with curiosity and confusion for all four of them. The way Heero'd been "raised" had meant that his discomfort was to be ignored. It had taken them all a lot of persuasion to get him to even note that he felt discomfort.

It would be stupid to ruin all their progress by ignoring this...and unfair, considering that the rest of them would have just ordered a carpet in some form or another. Heero did few things like that for himself. He'd gotten to the point of buying his own clothes and hitting on women...but the clothes were always brought home for immediate approval...and the women weren't any of their business.

Even though Wufei felt the need to share.

Quatre grinned a little more, moving on to the next file.

He'd concede to Wufei when he got home and let the man pick the carpet. He'd state the need for a darker color, but let Wufei and Heero figure out the rest. Hell, they'd been the ones to decorate the rest of the bedroom anyway.

The little voice that had piped up before snickered at Quatre—or Quatre snickered at his own hypocrisy in that statement.

He didn't really have any ground to stand on there...he'd done the living room.

- -

Duo flashed Reg a wicked grin as she stopped to stare at the runner he'd sent to give her her orders. She was a carpentry specialist that could give Heero a run for his money, and the fact that their employer was a colony-born dolt who wanted real wood—he thought it a special order, and was going to swoon when he realized that there was more than one choice for real wood on Earth. It was expensive enough, but not too bad for someone with money to burn.

Reg turned to stare directly back at him, and Wufei's words were burning in her eyes. 'I hate you.'

He laughed happily at it and went back to the checklist he'd been working on all morning.

Really, he was the one that had to present the choices to the man. It was one of many reasons they were all taking a vacation. He had to hop out to L-1, and while he was at it, they were going to join him and do a tour. Quatre had siblings, of course...and he had some old friends. Wufei hadn't been too thrilled for the trip, mainly because his family was gone...his colony was gone. This was going to be hard for him. He hadn't been back to L-5 after the wars had ended.

He didn't really even look at the stars.

Heero didn't seem to care, but he was one of the first to arrange the time off when the idea had been suggested. In the Yuy book, that meant eagerness. Who knew why the man wanted to get back out to space? ...Though Duo had the sneaking suspicion that this was because they'd get to pilot suits again at L-4. The suits were disarmed now, used for outer maintenance on the colonies and such nonsense...but they still moved.

The Gundams were gone as far as the public knew or cared...they used the footage of Shenlong exploding to help that myth along.

Wufei was the only one who could actually part with his Gundam when it came down to it. He'd done it entirely on his own and had noted that he'd thought the others might, but had been more inclined toward the truth of the matter—Heero was too much of a strategist to destroy his trump card. The bastard was a damn good liar, which helped Duo in a lot of ways.

He didn't like that he'd lied...or that he'd done it successfully...but he didn't have to keep up the guise, Heero did it for him.

He shook his head, focusing back on his work.

He wasn't actually looking forward to going back to the colonies. He'd been far more inclined to get his job done and come back to finish the ground-work. It had been the others who'd pounced on the idea of the tour, and Heero's obvious desire to get back to it had jump started the rest into action.

He knew he'd enjoy himself, if only because the way Wufei and Trowa bickered or the way Heero talked absolute shit to either of those males—hell, Quatre getting all flustered and embarrassed about Wufei's stories was amusing, too.

But really...if he'd had his way, he'd have taken Wufei's route and stopped thinking about the past.

...but for some reason, he couldn't stop looking at the stars.

- -

Heero ran his fingers through a shag carpet, considering the feeling of it. It almost seemed sticky to him, so he didn't like it, but he wanted to give it fair consideration.

He was happy that his friends were okay with the notion of a carpet. The wood floors of the apartment had been nice enough at first, but as the weather had turned toward winter again he'd realized the one downside to them.

They didn't stay warm.

Growing up, his only consideration for warmth or cold had been whether or not it would damage anything permanently. There'd been a drive to conserve fuel somewhere in the mess of thoughts, so he hadn't actually pursued it until Duo had randomly shown up in his cockpit and whined about the heat.

More to get him to shut up the noise than anything, he'd turned the heat up. It'd felt good and almost naughty, and Duo had fallen asleep not long after. He hadn't turned it down until the heat of summer had caused him to sweat so much there was a slight smell. It had taken him a while to clean that out, and using the air conditioning had ran through his logic as a need to keep his body hydrated.

It amused him to think back to the first comfort he chose for himself...the vast lie he'd let his mind cling to. It had been his guilty pleasure, and had led him to do more little comfort things later—adding blankets to his bed or adjusting the heat of the rooms they were in...he'd set things to 'comfort zone' when Duo was coming over...and...those were distracting thoughts.

Heero grinned to himself as he moved onto the next sort of carpet. He'd really enjoyed the time he'd spent with Duo. He could admit to himself again that the physical desire hadn't been as big a hassle to deal with as he'd pretended. He'd been grateful that Duo'd obliged him...Duo probably knew very well that he'd been lying...probably didn't give a damn either, because it wasn't like he hadn't enjoyed their time together.

Actually, once in a while Heero would note the look in Duo's eyes from before...one that he'd come to realize was lust. It hadn't been so clear in the beginning; it had totally taken him out of everything he knew. Duo's over-nights would turn into three-day affairs if Heero didn't have anything else going on.

It was sort of too bad Duo'd ended that relationship...but Heero knew that Duo wanted a relationship, not a fuck-buddy. That was the difference between their takes on it—Wufei had explained it to him before...

Heero frowned at the too-short feeling of that rug and looked up the line. There'd been a carpet at a hotel once that had felt really good on his feet. It had been soft and not long...he moved on, trying to find one like that.

...maybe Duo'd oblige him again.

Heero smirked at the idea. There'd been a point where that was an honest consideration, but anymore he knew what he meant. Maybe Duo'd want to fuck again, he'd have to pursue it next time he saw the lust in Duo's eyes. He knew for a fact that Wufei would understand that. Quatre would be embarrassed at the blatant desire...Duo might or might not be game...and Trowa would probably be the funniest one to watch react.

Living with his friends had given him multiple personalities to observe...ones he didn't mind imitating. He'd been watching others back on the base before the guys had stopped wanting to live there, and he had a feeling that was where his amusement for the relationship he and Duo'd had came from. As far as he'd gathered, he should be looking at the living arrangements as living with an ex, but Duo was still his friend, and a damn good one. They hadn't broken up like he'd heard the other guys talking about either. 'Breaking up' usually entailed yelling and name calling, occasionally begging and, very frequently, bitterness. He felt none of this for Duo...and theirs had ended with Duo one day sighing and telling him point-blank that it didn't work.

He'd been annoyed later when he saw Duo with a pretty woman. He'd been even more annoyed later to find out that Duo was sexually frustrated because she hadn't allowed him to bed her...but there was something else in Duo, in his personality. At that point he'd been happy.

That relationship had ended with yelling and Duo being hurt...he'd been the one to call it off, but she'd said some things that had wounded him.

So...that could rest where its complications went beyond Heero's consideration.

He stopped in front of a thicker looking carpet and touched it gently.

"Can I help you?" a semi-Asian salesman asked with interest, stopping near Heero. "I'm sorry I didn't get here before, but we're busy," he indicated the customers moving around the store.

"It's fine," Heero returned, noting that the guy was pretty—sort of pretty like Duo. He knew enough about himself to know this interest was piqued more from his lack of sex in the past few weeks...but the guy had a very interesting mouth.

"So...are you," the guy shifted, his slightly almond shaped eyes lowering almost shyly. "Are you looking for anything specific?"

Shy? That implied interest.

Heero filed that away for the time being. The guy wouldn't be able to give him his personal information while working—unless he wasn't closely watched by his supervisors. Heero looked around without moving his head a moment, then indicated the carpet. "I was in a hotel once. It had a carpet like this..."

"Max!"

Heero looked around to Wufei, then glanced at his watch. Wufei'd barely gotten out of work, what was he...

"Max!" Wufei repeated, bouncing in closer to smile at the man helping him and look around. "We got the go. Q said he wants it brown but aside from that we can do it."

The salesman blinked at Wufei, starting to withdraw.

Damn it.

Heero stretched his neck pointedly before nodding, then indicated the one he was looking at.

"How much is padding?" Wufei asked the salesman. As far as he was concerned, that stretching of the neck was Heero snapping at him not to be annoying. He wasn't sure why his approach annoyed his friend, though...maybe he'd been having a bad day? He'd have to ask...oh.

Pretty boy.

Wufei blinked at the salesman a moment, then grinned. "The really thick padding," he added, stepping back slightly.

It was always funny to remember that Heero was genuinely bisexual. When they went out or did anything in a group, his attention was firmly fixed on the females Wufei and Trowa generally noticed. On his own, Heero could find any random female...and just as often any random male. He felt no shame in his indiscriminate tastes, and really, did he need to? His comments about Trowa not walking were very very genuine, and that fact was probably the only reason why Trowa hadn't had a snappy comeback.

Wufei ran his tongue along his teeth, trying not to grin at his friend's prey. He hadn't meant to cock-block, but looking for a carpet hardly seemed like the place to pick-up a bedmate.

"What are you grinning at?" Heero asked Wufei in Japanese.

The salesman stuttered to a stop. He'd dealt with Wufei's approach and was working as the salesman again, but at the question, his eyes flicked up to Heero nervously.

"We're thinking one of the thickest might be best," Wufei noted to the man, trying to figure out how to make it plain that he wasn't a life partner. "He's uh...got a throw by his bed, but the place has got hard-wood floors. I don't particularly need the soft by my bed, but it'd be stupid to cut the carpet up."

He felt more than saw a bright smile cross Heero's face.

Okay, he'd made up for the annoyance he'd offered with that one.

"Max?" the guy asked, looking to Heero, shy. He tucked a lock of his shaggy black hair behind his ear and licked his lips in a way that Wufei had observed distracted Heero from anyone—just what the hell had Duo done? Wufei was almost curious to know if the American man would be wiling to demonstrate...but had a feeling it would be left on the level of a bad joke.

"Yeah," Heero returned, eyes sparkling. "I got a couple roommates and we're all sick of the cold floor..."

The guy tucked the stray lock behind his ear again, almost smiling at that.

He was kinda cute in an androgynous way...if Wufei wasn't aware that it was a guy he might have had his head turned.

"We have some examples of the padding...over here," he pointed toward a back corner.

"I'm gonna look at more carpets," Wufei noted to Heero with a grin, considering his friend as he ran his tongue along the back of his teeth.

...until that caught Heero's attention.

He grinned more and pointedly closed his mouth.

Heero snickered and smacked at him, then turned and followed the salesman away.

Wufei grinned more, running a hand through his hair as he looked at the carpet Heero'd picked. As long as it wasn't shag, he didn't particularly give a damn...but Quatre had insisted on a brown color that wouldn't clash with the other colors of the room...and while Wufei longed to tease him about being secretly gay, he had agreed to let Regina help him with curtains. That had entailed him promising to color coordinate, and the fact that he was going to pick the curtains ended the gay-jokes before they could even properly start.

It was too bad really...maybe Trowa would get the jokes in anyway. He was aloof enough from the goings on that he could say them without being a hypocrite.

...and really, they really needed to be said.

- -

"What was your name?" Heero muttered, glancing at the guy from the pillow he was pushing on. Well, it wasn't really a pillow, but it was soft enough.

He could see why Wufei'd said that he didn't need the full soft.

"My name is Matty," he explained, gesturing at his nametag. The thing actually said Matt, but Heero wasn't going to protest being given the familiar version. "What's Max short for?"

Heero shrugged. "Maximillion."

Considering the leader that the original Heero Yuy had been, he and his friends had decided that he needed a new public name. Maximillion wasn't that Asian, but they'd made up for that fact with his last name. Maximillion Tsuyo.

"You work here long?" Heero added, setting the thick bit of padding back down and picking up a thinner one.

"A year or two," the guy agreed, shifting slightly in that same nervous dance. From what Heero could tell, the guy was interested in him, and probably thinking about how much trouble he'd get in if he were caught flirting. Either that or Heero's own interest in him made him antsy...hard to tell. He'd never been able to really read if guys were straight or not...he could get them into bed either way, Duo and Wufei had helped him hone those skills...but it was usually easier to deal with'em if they liked guys to start with.

Was that a bastard thing to think? He could hear Duo cackling and telling him he was a bastard.

"Mm," Heero muttered, setting that down and picking up the next. To the guy it probably looked like he was going through the motions.

Return interest now, idiot.

That sounded like Wufei...his friends had really colored his thought processing.

The guy bit his lip and shifted again.

Ah. Interest.

Heero grinned slightly and met his eyes.

The guy smiled, almost blushing, and gestured vaguely at the padding.

"It's the one," Heero agreed, passing it over. "I should get your number, in case I change my mind."

That got the most genuine smile he'd ever seen from the guy, sparkling eyes and a hint of reproof.

"No?" Heero asked, grinning more. "Come on, I thought it was clever..."

The guy laughed, looking toward the main of the store quickly. "I'm not giving you my number..."

"No?" Heero considered him with interest a moment. "I asked too soon...damn..."

The guy's cheeks flared.

Heero sighed a bit forlornly. "I thought so," he gave up on the endeavor and passed the padding he picked over. "We need to get my friend to sign off on this...we can set up the details of installation and shit, too."

The guy looked almost disappointed, but nodded his assent as he considered the swatch he was holding. "It's on sale," he offered, looking up to Heero again. "This one is on sale..."

"Even better, I'm thinking the carpet I picked is expensive," he flashed the guy a grin. "Come on..."

Wufei looked to him in confusion when he saw the way the other was following, and he could see that Wufei understood that Heero's move had failed. It kind of reassured him to see the startled confusion in the look the guy gave him—nice to know Wufei had faith in him, even in a silly instance.

"What happened?" Wufei muttered in Japanese, taking the bit that Matt was holding out to him.

"Thought I had him and moved in," Heero shrugged. "Too fast, he's a submissive one, not confident yet."

"Uh..." the guy hesitated, looking between them.

"Is he even of age?" Wufei retorted, then nodded at the padding and pulled down the color chart for the carpet. "We'll want this one," he indicated a dark chocolate brown.

"All right," Matt muttered, obviously memorizing the color name before turning and starting to a little desk. "Have you measured the space yet?"

- -

Wufei was amused at how utterly efficient Matt was...even after whatever had played out in the back area. By the looks the guy was giving Heero, making them as unobtrusive as he could possibly manage, the move may have been too fast, but the interest hadn't abated.

...what had Heero said?

Wufei fought the grin that kept pricking the sides of his mouth. The kid wasn't stupid, he'd recognize the amusement if Wufei didn't keep himself in hand...but the way he'd annoyed Heero on his approach had totally intrigued him for the whole ordeal. He'd never seen Heero work on a guy, and according to some of the shit he'd said—and even the reaction of the guys he'd been with when Wufei was picking him up from a hotel room—he was very capable of netting the most unlikely of bedmates.

Maybe that was it...Heero wouldn't mess with legal limits, and if the guy was under eighteen he wasn't going to pursue...

"There," Matt muttered, writing the information down on a card and passing it to Heero. "We'll get ahold of you tomorrow to set up the key exchange and sign the insurance policies," they'd told him they'd be out of town for the installation.

"Thanks," Heero muttered, taking the thing and pulling out his wallet.

Wufei noted the little boy noticing the condoms that were in the thing.

...that was funny, the look on his face...

He mastered it, though, after the briefest of moments. Heero wouldn't have seen it...and then his eyes flicked to Wufei, noting the scrutiny.

Wufei grinned and looked down the way to the side—a woman was standing there with a very low cut shirt.

Matt snorted very slightly...and seemed to decide something.

"You were very helpful," Heero was muttering pleasantly as he gathered himself up to leave...he probably hadn't realized that the piece of paper Matt had torn up wasn't part of the job requirement...and his hand had a slight twitch in it that was almost a shake as he started writing.

Wufei stood slowly, wondering when Heero would realize what the twit was doing.

"I truly hope your day is good," Matt noted to them...in Japanese.

Wufei started snickering.

He held the bit of paper up to Heero, meeting his eyes as he waited.

Heero took it, blinking back in confusion a moment before glancing at the sheet. Matt would never realize he'd memorized the number in that glance...he grinned slightly, looking down to the guy.

"Maybe...you have roommates?"

Heero's grin turned abruptly wicked.

Matt almost blushed and looked down a moment before meeting Wufei's eyes. "I get off at seven..." his voice had barely faltered.

"And eight," Heero mused, starting to walk away as the boy blushed again. "Maybe nine if I'm lucky," he added for Wufei's further amusement.

Wufei laughed happily, appreciating the brazen balls that giving his number like that really had to have taken the kid...and bounced out of the store.

He really was having a very good day.