Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Above You ❯ Chapter 4

Four

Duo genuinely wondered what Matty thought about Heero giving them all his phone number. He actually seemed to appreciate the attention, sort of like he was okay with wandering around their apartment when Heero was doing his forms. It was probably an entirely new situation for him to have so many guys paying him mind at once.

Did he realize that Wufei was straight? It wasn't hard to get that Trowa and Quatre were, they almost seemed to walk around with it stamped on their foreheads...but Wufei was a little different.

Duo pushed through the doors to the office that Victor ran his space-end through.

"Mr. Temblar?" the receptionist asked, taking in his braid.

"Good morning...Miss?"

"Devi," she returned. "I'm Anita Devi."

"Good morning," Duo repeated, shaking her hand. "Is Mr. Reiver here yet?"

"He should be any moment now...ooh, is that the kit?" she asked, leading Duo toward a room behind her.

"It's my toothbrush," Duo retorted dryly.

She laughed happily at that, then licked her lips as she looked to it, then up at him.

He considered her a moment, very aware that this was her asking to see what he had in it, then shook his head and flicked it open.

She made a little happy noise, leaning forward.

"You can touch," Duo reassured her, shoving the case toward her. "You never been to Earth?"

"No," she returned, pulling out a piece of wood and raising it to her nose to sniff it. "I always wanted to go...but I can't afford the ticket, let alone a place to stay there."

"You should try for the next temp position," Duo muttered, straightening his tie.

"I don't have any experience," she protested, looking up at him.

"You never know unless you try," he shrugged, then turned to the white board and picked up a pen. "There's coffee and breakfast stuff around, right?"

"Oh, of course," she set the hunk of wood down and gave him an embarrassed sort of look. "I'll go get it."

"Sugar and creamer," he reminded her, then focused back on the sketch he was making of the house. He had pictures on his phone and on a memory stick...Victor's general thought-process was to spoil his clients. He'd been encouraged to take random pictures on the phone and to say that they were just him thinking the client would like to see the "real" work. He was game to play along, though. If he did a good enough job, he was promised a bonus. Victor had also pulled him aside to note that he was very aware that Duo was in charge of the house, but the client had been paying for Victor's name, so he would give him credit, but not all of it.

Victor was sort of an ass—but Duo completely understood where he was coming from. It didn't hurt that he liked Duo, either. Duo didn't mind him on a personal level, he was pleasant enough...and on the professional level he was rather highly sought after...but on the professional level he was an ass. He was happy to rely on Duo, though, and promised him the lion's share of the bonus.

He wasn't entirely stupid.

Duo shook his head, making the final markings for his picture.

"Here's the coffee," Anita muttered, moving into the room with a tray of the stuff. "We'll bring in a breakfast bar in a moment...if that's all right."

Duo smiled at her and nodded, moving back to his bag to pull out his laptop.

She hesitated a moment, then disappeared.

He booted up his computer...and stopped as his phone buzzed.

He pulled the thing from his pocket and smirked very slightly at Matty's name.

'You're the only one who hasn't told me good morning,' it read. 'You too good for me?'

'I'm about to cinch a deal that'll gross my company more money than you make in a working year...and you're worried that I'm not telling you good morning? '

He slapped the memory card into his computer, then turned and pulled the projector cords from the machine...and his phone buzzed again.

'Well excuse me. I didn't think you were a grumpy morning person.'

Duo grinned, listening a moment to make sure his client wasn't about to walk in. 'I'm fully showered, dressed in a 3 piece suit. The material is made of the finest ingredients and my shoes are so polished I could look up skirts and have a mirror view...if I'm caught texting on THIS job, it may be WORTH my job. I'll tell you good morning when I'm done and mutter sweet nothings in your ear until you swoon...as long as you wait until I text you back.'

'Oh...sorry. I didn't realize you were that busy.'

'Don't worry about it Willy...Billy...Billy-bob.' He knew the kid would have to think about that one. His last name was Williams...it was a bit of a stretch, but it was sort of like him running around calling Wufei 'Fian.'

'Billy-bob? You're totally going to explain that to me when it's not worth more than my car.'

Duo grinned tucked the phone away.

"Here's the waffle maker," Anita muttered, coming in as he turned back to plug the cords in. "The mix is being separated...and we'll bring in a few donuts and some muffins in a moment...is that good?"

"Wonderful," Duo reassured her, smiling again.

She smiled back and moved into the lobby again.

Duo started the projector, bringing up the pictures.

Really...he'd rather exchange casual insults with the nineteen year old...but priorities were priorities...and his happened to include putting food on the table.

He pulled his phone out...and altered the pax settings to only open messages for him for good measure. He also silenced the incoming texting, calling, and chat request. He didn't really trust his brethren to be able to leave him alone—they were notoriously bad at leaving people alone when they really needed to be.

...it was part of their charm.

- -

"He's ignoring us!" Wufei cried, laughing happily as he dropped back across his bed. "How can he ignore us!"

Quatre sniggered. He was laying on his stomach at the foot of Wufei's bed with his knees bent and his feet in the air. "Dear diary," he muttered, typing on his phone, "we were ignored today by Duo...we think he might be mad at us. I know there's this logical thing called a job that he's doing...and that texting his best boyfriends forever might be seen as uncouth...but we really think he might be upset..."

Wufei laughed even more.

"Who's hungry?" Heero muttered, moving into the room with a tray of food.

"I am! I am!" Quatre enthusiastically bounced to his feet.

"Heero, if you can knock them both out for the next hour," Trowa muttered, "I'll do anything you want me to."

"What?" Heero asked in amusement, setting the tray of food on the foot of his bed.

"He's being a stick-in-the-mud," Wufei explained, leaning forward to study the food. "I'm hungry."

"Here, hush," Heero retorted, tossing a burger at him.

Wufei's phone buzzed...and he squeaked, putting the burger down. "Uh...you two-bit whore, I know you're stalking me...don't make me hunt you down and teach you a lesson." Wufei all but giggled wickedly.

Quatre's phone buzzed, and he tilted his head. He grinned as he opened his message and looked up to Heero. "You still in with me on the plan? We can get the Chinese one muzzled with the full assistance of Mad-Max...let me know quick before Ian runs."

Heero grinned his Mad-Max grin at that.

Trowa's phone buzzed and he frowned as he pulled it out and looked at it, then grinned slightly. "You've been neglecting me, I feel unloved."

Heero's phone buzzed as well, and he pulled it out with a grin...and started laughing.

"What?" Wufei asked curiously, bouncing slightly. "What did he say?"

"You picked me up lunch, right?" Heero read, grinning more. "I'm starving, I'll be back in about five minutes. I hope it doesn't get cold."

Wufei started laughing.

Quatre perked up. "I'm telling Matty!"

- -

"He was licking my boots when I walked out," Duo summed up his day's business. "Purring and nuzzling against me."

Heero appreciated Duo's simmering pride. When he pulled something off, when he won his own personal games, his personality and tone...

"You had him eating out of your hand?" Wufei grinned. "Give him a sweet treat to keep him willing?"

Duo flashed him a wicked grin.

"So he picked all his wood?" Quatre asked lazily. He was laying on one side of Wufei's bed, and the Chinese man was on the other with the pillows supporting him. Trowa was similarly stretched out on Heero's bed, and Heero was sitting cross-legged by the foot. Duo seemed to be possessed by the energy of his success and had been languidly pacing between the ends of the beds and the television.

"His wood, his countertops...the stone for his mantle," Duo shook his head. "We figured he'd be more difficult about it, but I'd been happily showing him the pictures on the projector and flicking my phone at him..." he gave them all very level looks.

"Why were you giving him your phone?" Wufei demanded, mildly horrified. He'd been texting his friend fairly consistently.

"I took pictures of the site with it," Duo returned in a severely controlled tone. "You're damn lucky I use pax or he'd have been horrified."

Wufei's raven grin spread wickedly across his face.

Pax was a program that could choose what functions to pursue depending on who was holding the phone. It was widely promoted in the true business cultures.

"Yeah," Duo agreed, rolling his eyes. "I think he noted the text count piling up, though."

"Sorry...I'd never heard you to share your phone before," Wufei apologized, sighing and shifting back. "I wouldn't have done it so much if I'd realized."

"Me neither," Quatre agreed. "Sorry, Fei...but you gave pax a run for its money, huh?"

Duo laughed, then sighed and moved to sit at the foot of Heero's bed.

His phone started ringing.

"Matty!" Quatre piped up, his eyes sparkling.

"Shit, I told him I'd text him," Duo noted, looking to the face of the phone. "But no...it's Vic. Hold on...hello?"

They couldn't quite make out what the man was saying, but what they could hear sounded pleased enough.

"So what were you thinking for dinner tonight?" Wufei asked quietly, focusing on Quatre. The rest didn't seem to give too big a damn about what food they ate.

"I dunno, we should just find another diner," Quatre returned. "The one last night wasn't that great."

"Agreed," Wufei returned, looking to Duo, who pushed himself up tiredly from where he'd sat.

"Yeah," Duo muttered. "He seemed pretty pleased when he left." He flashed Heero a wicked grin at his own understatement.

"You always make Asian stuff," Quatre added thoughtfully. "I want to try other stuff...like...German or Spanish...probably Spanish, huh?"

"German can get a bit strange, and a bunch of it's sunk into the American...so Spanish would probably be the better bet...but you know, there's like Thai and Japanese...Korean. I usually just make the Chinese stuff."

"Heero seems happy enough with it," Quatre countered.

"Thai is different, though," Wufei reminded him. "Hell, we could try some Indian, too."

"Maybe," Quatre looked speculative. "We can see what the others say."

"You know they don't care," Wufei retorted. "But whatever."

"Yeah...well, my friends are all sitting here waiting for me," Duo noted strategically pointed. "We're discussing which nationality of food is more appealing...uh-huh. Yeah...well, I'm glad he's happy..." he laughed wickedly, sitting back down. "Yeah, but your ideas only go so far. You know I delivered in there, so don't even pretend he wasn't trying to hump my leg with excitement."

Heero laughed wickedly.

"That's your boss!" Trowa protested, smacking at Duo's arm with his foot.

Duo laughed and gestured Trowa away. "Yeah...yeah, I will. You too...have a good one. Sure, I'll get a couple pictures for your amusement and maybe pick you some sort of...souvenir up...yeah. All right, thanks, Vic...yeah. Uh-huh...bye."

He ended the call, then smacked Trowa's leg.

"Don't!" Trowa protested, rubbing the spot.

"I really really need to do something," Duo informed them all pointedly. "It's only three, it's not like we need to think about supper. Come on...what all does L-1 boast for entertainment?"

They all looked to each other, thinking about that.

"We can jump colonies, too," Heero noted. "In the cluster...it's like an hour's ride."

"So let's go," Duo muttered, looking around. "I don't want to sit here anymore."

Quatre considered Wufei a long moment, then used his feet...to shove Wufei off the bed.

- -

Trowa was grateful to whatever gods of prosperity and longevity that Heero or Wufei could come up with that they were only spending two days per colony. All told, they had four days on L-1. The first day had only been a handful of hours, the second day was supposed to consist of Duo readying his presentation, Monday had been the presentation itself, and then they had that evening and Tuesday. Their flight was leaving late Tuesday.

L-2 had a chipper feeling to it that came off in Duo's personality. Everyone smiling and pointing out that 'it's not worth worrying about.' The atmosphere was one of fun and good times...but late at night, like it was, the truth came out. Over a pint of some store-specialty beer, or with the extensive help of a bottle of vodka, the L-2 patrons slowly hunched forward and started muttering their woes.

Duo's energy level had spazzed their second day of being on L-1, and it had ended with him being the only one to stay awake for the flight to the next cluster. It had further hitched up as they went to meet up with the friends Duo had contacted before the trip.

Trowa knew Duo hadn't really wanted to go on the trip, and hadn't really wanted to talk to these old friends...and the feeling was made worse by the fact that none of the friends seemed to have done anything.

They'd gone home. They'd been a bit detached from Duo anyway, specifically on hearing what his job was now. They'd laughed and teased him for being 'some sort of big-wig,' but over their watery beer had admitted that they had tried to get better than what they had. They really had tried...but who wanted an L-2 street rat? They'd made due, and maybe if Duo could find them somewhere to work in his...no? No, he was a street rat, too, wasn't he? He'd gotten the luck of the draw.

For some reason, they didn't seem to realize that draw had been for the losing. He'd fought in two wars, he'd killed more men than he dared remember...and he'd been trained to be much more than a street urchin from a colony that hadn't fared well.

Trowa was glad they left.

Wufei had found a pretty girl in the crowd and was busily making plans with Heero to corner her and see if he could get lucky—but they all knew it was really him trying to get a rise out of Duo...trying to put him back in the stage of manic energy he'd been in all morning.

"Let's go," Quatre muttered tiredly, pulling his jacket off the back of his seat. "I wanna get out of here."

Evidently he'd had enough of the somber atmosphere, too.

"Yeah, good idea, Q," Duo agreed instantly, rising to his feet and considering the straight vodka he'd had poured into his cup. He was smoking, too. Duo wasn't a consistent smoker, but none of them begrudged his attempt at distraction.

He downed the glass...without shuddering. He carried it off like he'd taken the last drink of his pop.

Trowa...almost...envied that. He may have more if it had been rum.

"I don't get the girl?" Wufei protested, though he was rising to his feet and collecting his own cup and jacket.

"You really need something, we can play tonight," Duo retorted, pulling his jacket on.

"It's worth your time," Heero piped up.

Wufei flashed them both grins...but didn't pursue it.

He hadn't really meant it anyway.

- -

Quatre sighed as Duo puked again, wondering vaguely if it was a bad thing he was glad he'd roomed with Trowa again. Heero was in there with Duo, and who knew if he was ignoring the other pilot, or helping him. ...and as far as Quatre was aware, Wufei had gone back to the club before they'd even reached the hotel and picked up the girl. He'd heard her at one point, it just hadn't lasted very long.

What a drag.

Quatre rolled over.

The point where Wufei had gone back to the bar was the point where Duo stopped at the liquor store and picked up a bottle of vodka. The four of them, he, Heero, Trowa, and Duo, had hung out in Heero and Duo's room for half that bottle, then left the others to their own devices.

He'd gathered that neither Duo nor Wufei had wanted to take the vacation, but Heero obviously had, and he was going to be happy to see his sisters. They had to stop by L-3 and Trowa's surrogate sister Cathy first, but...

Why were they even going to L-5?

He rolled over again, hearing Duo have another go at the toilet.

"He must have finished the bottle," Trowa noted quietly.

"You are awake?" Quatre muttered tiredly, then rolled onto his back to study the ceiling. "You wanted to do the tour, didn't you?"

"Yeah," Trowa agreed. "I mean...I wanted to go to L-3 and L-4...and Duo needed L-1...but I don't see why we stopped here."

"Duo set it up," Quatre noted quietly. "Maybe we should just hang out with my family instead of going to L-5? I don't see a point in going there, never had."

"He needs to see the memorial," Trowa noted pointedly. "He needs to see if any of the survivors were his friends."

"Couldn't we do that in advance?" Quatre protested. "It seems needlessly cruel."

Trowa made a thoughtful noise that neither agreed nor disagreed.

Quatre sighed and pushed up. "I'm going to check on him."

"Fine," Trowa returned. "I'm showering."

Quatre left the room quietly, pushing into Heero and Duo's room. The door was cracked...so evidently Heero'd figured they'd come.

"I can't braid," Heero noted from the bathroom. "Quatre?"

"Yeah," Quatre agreed, moving to the bathroom door.

Duo looked back over his shoulder at Quatre in mild amusement...miserable, but still present. "You wanna help?"

"I could hack it off," Heero noted pointedly. It sounded like he'd said it before. He was holding the massive amount of hair between his hands, though some of it was still falling free.

Quatre grinned back, moving to take the hair and straighten it out down the man's back. It only took him a moment to have the clumps separated.

He wasn't good at braiding...but he could do it.

"He ignored me last time I said it, too," Heero noted dryly, sitting back. He was on the edge of the tub. "He wanted me to do it a couple days ago and now he's ignoring me."

"Don't pester," Quatre retorted, working his way down the thing. "You okay, Duo?"

"I will be in a minute," Duo returned, then groaned. "After I puke again..."

"I took the bottle away from him before he could finish it," Heero informed Quatre almost pointedly.

"Oh, shut up..." Duo groaned more, then his breath caught.

Quatre hook the fastener on the end of the hair...and darted from the bathroom.

Duo started laughing...and puked.

"What? You don't want to puke today, Winner?" Heero sounded amused.

"Screw you," Quatre returned.

Duo laughed somewhat again...but that didn't properly work, so he finished his heave before groaning miserably as the toilet flushed. "Quit doing that..."

"It's gonna sicken you either way," Heero retorted. "You done yet?"

"I should be," Duo agreed. "Don't come in yet, Q..."

Quatre hesitated as the water ran.

"Get me my toothbrush?" Duo asked after a moment. "I should be...done for now...god, my mouth is nasty..."

Heero moved from the bathroom, casting Quatre a mildly amused look, then dug into Duo's bag.

"You gonna want to lay down?" Quatre muttered, moving around to sit on the bed closer to the window.

"I need some more sleep," Duo agreed as Heero moved back in. "Thanks...I...it shouldn't be more than an hour or two."

"Okay...I'm not ready to be up yet, either."

"You and Tro have a falling out?"

Quatre snorted as the guy started brushing his teeth.

"He'll be okay now," Heero muttered, moving to the bathroom door. "Why don't you go back to bed?"

Quatre considered that a long moment, then nodded his agreement.

- -

'You're going to L-3 tonight, right?'

Heero agreed, tossing his socks onto the bed.

'What time? -bounces- we're going tonight!'

...that was interesting.

'Our flight is at six,' Heero noted. 'We won't get there until seven.'

'NO! You HAVE to get there by five! If you're not there at five my dad and my uncle will persist that they aren't leaving me behind and I'll have to go back out to their place...I wanted to spend the night with you.'

...that was happening. Heero wasn't quite sure how, but that was happening.

Duo made an amused noise from the bathroom. "Your girlfriend is begging me to move our flight forward...why does he think I'm in charge of the trip?"

"Open the door and talk to me," Heero retorted, setting his phone down to start on his socks. "I can't bloody hear you."

There was a moment before the door swung open and the man looked around the edge of the door at him levelly. He had the end of his hair in a towel, but jeans on.

"I don't know why he thinks you're in charge," Heero added. "Probably because he knows it was because of you we were coming up. I want an earlier flight...I'd imagine you really do...and the others shouldn't be hesitant at all."

"Agreed," Duo muttered. "Run it by them."

'Did he say yes?'

Heero grinned at the phone. 'We're getting the consensus. I'm asking the others.'

'I will!'

"He said he'd ask the others, but I'll just..." Heero slid his second sock on, then his feet into his shoes.

"Why does he want us to L-3 earlier?" Duo asked blankly.

"He's going at some point today," Heero explained. "If we aren't there by five, his dad and his uncle will insist he go back with them and he wants to spend the night with me."

"Why is your boyfriend nineteen?" Duo asked blankly.

"He's hardly my boyfriend yet...and if you reverse engineer it, it's because he was born in A.C. one-eight-three."

Duo snorted at that.

"Don't pester," he added after a moment. "You don't say a word against Wufei and half his consorts may not even be legal."

"If you checked Matty's ID," Duo countered, moving from the bathroom with the brush in one hand, "then you'll be damn sure Wufei checks theirs...though you're right, he might not really give a shit."

Heero grinned at that, then moved across the room. It only took him a moment to get to Trowa and Quatre's room, and they both looked up at him blankly.

"Uh...you guys wanna..."

"He messaged us already," Trowa noted. "We don't care."

Heero hesitated, feeling a stirring of excitement before turning and tapping on Wufei's door.

"I'll be packed in a minute," Wufei noted. "Arrange the flight before you or him have a cardiac instance."

Heero laughed at that, darting back to his room.

"Oh, look, he got consensus for us," Duo noted, showing Heero his phone. "It'll take me a few minutes to get my stuff packed up, and according to this, he's already half-way through his flight."

"This?" Heero echoed, distracted from his mission of packing.

"I synced up his itinerary stuff," Duo agreed. "This says his phone is the step down from mine...why doesn't he have it auto-linked? Mine does it when I text more than ten times to a number."

"You pay for that, remember?" Heero retorted, feeling a little defensive. Matty may not have had the most respected job in the world, but it helped him pay rent and bills at his parents' place. He could hardly be blamed for not having the most upfront of technology.

Hell, Duo only had it because he'd get bored and go research something.

"I forgot about that," Duo noted, blinking. "What else do I pay for?"

"I don't look at your bills," Heero retorted, then shook his head. Duo didn't mean anything, there was no point getting all up in arms about his off-hand comments.

'Okay, I'm going to look up flights now,' he told the guy. 'We're all ready to be out of here and packed, so it shouldn't take us long.'

'Yay!'

Heero grinned slightly and focused on his laptop.

Hopefully they'd all have a good night for this...his would be better, undoubtedly...but maybe hanging out with Matty would put them all in a better mood. Texting him aimlessly all day had worked well enough to begin with...

He'd have to ask his friend what he really thought of that. As far as Heero could tell, it was strange for a couple-night-stand to text aimlessly with all roommates in the house... But if what Duo said was true and he'd be Heero's boyfriend...wasn't it better for him to be friends with the friends?

Might be something interesting to talk about...if they got around to talking.