Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Angeface ❯ Chapter 1

 

Trowa parked his battered car in front of the great mansion and all of his hard accomplished self-confidence faltered. It was completely different to show up without having a police summons as legitimation. For some moments Trowa simply sat there frozen in his car and looked at the building. Then he swallowed hard and screwed up his courage. Angelface was expecting him and the Mafiosi would surely be not very pleased if he didn't show up.

 

On his way to the door Trowa remembered again why they took their dinner here of all places. But Angelface had insisted, had argued that they couldn't be seen together in public. Trowa agreed, but he nevertheless had a weird feeling to go straight into the lion's den.

 

When he arrived at the front door Trowa took a couple of breaths then he used the knocker. Yes, a knocker. The mansion of the Winner family didn't own something as profane as a doorbell. It would probably be way out of place compared to the ambience.

 

His knock had hardly died away when the door was opened by Rashid. The gigantic Manguanac looked at him with penetrating eyes and a frown, and Trowa's hand reached automatically to his inside pocket as if searching for his badge.

 

“Ah, Lieutenant. Mr. Winner is already waiting for you,“ the man said and stepped aside to let Trowa in.

 

Trowa took a deep breath once again to gear himself up and entered. Rashid helped him out of his jacket as soon as he trespassed the threshold. “If you would follow me, please,” the Manguanac said after he had taken the jacket and gestured towards the parlour.

 

Trowa had to bite on his tongue. The situation was almost surreal. A Manguanac, a big shot in one of the most feared Mafia families acting like a perfect English butler. Simply unbelievable.

 

But as it probably would be an affront to laugh out loud right now Trowa refrained from it. Instead he simply followed the giant.

 

He was quite familiar with the house, after all this was the place he mostly came across Angelface when they needed him at the police station.

 

Because he knew his way around he wasn't really paying attention to the route they took. Which wasn't really all that bad, it gave him time to admire the grandeur and elegance of the mansion. It was quite impressive and could easily distract and intimidate.

 

After some moments they reached the parlour. Rashid entered the big room first and announced, “Your guest, Mr. Winner.”

 

“Ah, finally,” a clear voice sounded that normally could impress each and everyone.

 

Trowa's eyes wandered through the room for some seconds. Everything looked really classy - at least from Trowa's point of view. Everything sparkled and flashed, a long dining table was set with valuable china. Candlesticks were everywhere and lightened the room, as well as an open fire. Yes, all in all Trowa was reminded of the interior decoration of a very expensive restaurant or of a historical movie.

 

After he had taken in the ambience for some moments his eyes finally found Angelface. When he saw him Trowa had to swallow. He looked so incredibly gorgeous. Angelface approached him and offered his hand to greet him; at the same time a beaming smile crossed the young man's face.

 

Trowa was immediately captured by this sight. Quatre Winner moved always as if he owned the whole world - and at least for the better part of the town it was the truth. But despite of all the power he radiated he had never lost his youthful charm. He wore a light suit that fit like a glove and had probably cost more than Trowa's police salary for a whole year. The blond hair looked very skilfully - and probably very expensive - tousled. His ocean blue eyes beamed when he grabbed Trowa's hand. Trowa absorbed the sight like a man dying of thirst. He tried to memorise every little detail, to save it for all eternity into his memory.

 

“Lieutenant. I'm glad you could finally make it,” the smile on Quatres face lightened the whole room.

 

“Thank you for the invitation, Mr. Winner,” Trowa replied awkwardly.

 

Angelface smiled again at him and then he turned to the Manguanac. “Rashid, you can go now that Lieutenant Barton is here.”

 

“But Mr. Winner…” the giant tried to protest.

 

Angelface quickly raised his right hand and silenced the Mafiosi with the gesture. “Rashid, I want to be alone with my guest. Everything is prepared; I don't need your services now.” Apparently the Mafiosi wanted to reply something but Angelface simply kept on talking, “You don't have to worry about security. The bad guys have been caught now and besides, the Lieutenant is here to protect me. I want you to go.”

 

Trowa was busy blushing at these words so he only marginally noticed that Rashid bowed shortly and then actually left the room.

 

When the door closed Angelface took Trowa's forearm and led him to the dining table. “Ah, finally alone,” the blond man said with an amused undertone. “I gave my staff and the Manguanacs the day off. We won't be disturbed. Only Rashid had insisted on staying until you arrived, Lieutenant. Here, sit down please.”

 

Trowa was a little bit overwhelmed by the situation, even though nothing had happened yet. He tried to understand why Angelface had made sure that they would be completely alone in the house. But that probably only meant that the blond man didn't want anyone outside of his confidants to know that he had anything to do with a cop - even if only cursory. “Thank you,” Trowa murmured absently and sat down on the offered chair.

 

Quatre sat down too and then he raised one of the heavy wine glasses and said, “To an enjoyable evening, Lieutenant.”

 

Trowa nodded and raised his glass to the other man too. When he tasted the wine he immediately knew that it had to be a really exquisite wine. He had never drunk anything that good.

 

Once again he asked himself what he was doing here. It was more than obvious that he and his adored angel lived in two different worlds. Not only that they were standing on different sides of the law, no their worlds were completely different. For Trowa this evening was the epitome of luxury. Something he would never experience again - at least not if he would keep on abiding the law. For Quatre Winner this was nothing special, almost as though they were at the McDonalds. Somewhere that Trowa wouldn't have felt quite so out of place

 

Angelface set down his glass again. “Well, Lieutenant. How have you spend the last weeks? Is your leg completely healed?”

 

Trowa nodded. “Yes, everything healed quite well and I've been on active duty again for two weeks now. Just in time, I almost went mad in the hospital because I couldn't do anything.”

 

Angelface laughed. It wasn't a loud, rumbling laughter but rather a chuckle. Definitely a noise that sounded really pleasant in Trowa's ears and made him blush again.

 

“I can imagine, Lieutenant. The staff in the hospital had more than once complained over the stubborn patient that I placed in front of their noses.”

 

“Thank you again for the treatment. It really wasn't necessary - but nevertheless very generous of you.”

 

Angelface waved the comment aside with a gesture. “Of course it was necessary. You were injured when rescuing my life. What's a little hospital bill compared to that?”

 

For someone like Quatre Winner it probably really wasn't worth mentioning. “Thank you anyway.” Trowa had decided to be as politely as possible. He wanted to make the best impression after all.

 

“My pleasure,” was the answer. “And how are your short-tempered colleague Maxwell and his excessively proper friend of the prosecutor's office doing these days?”

 

“They're doing quite well. They have a lot to do. The police force is undergoing major changes. They are quite stressed out at the moment.” Trowa didn't want to think of their last big case. There had been many casualties and too many problems had been posed. People Trowa had thought to be his friends had proven to be the bad guys. The police force would never be the same. Duo and Heero would see to it that the corruption would be contained.

 

Surprisingly they began an interesting conversation. They talked about anything and everything while eating the delicious dinner that Angelface's chef had prepared. Trowa couldn't really believe how fast the time went by. And due to Angelface's calming manner he had lost his nervousness almost completely.

 

When they both finished eating the dessert Trowa said, “Thank you again for your invitation. The meal was delicious.”

 

“Yes it was,” Quatre answered entirely unhumble. “I'm glad that you liked the evening. Was that everything you expected from this meeting, Lieutenant?”

 

Trowa, who was just taking a sip of wine started to spew and spread the dark liquid all over the tablecloth. He immediately blushed furiously and wanted to sink through the floor. “What… what do you mean?” he stuttered.

 

“Well, I couldn't help but notice the looks you were always casting my way, Lieutenant.” Although Angelface kept on smiling and beaming all over his face his voice sounded almost piercing. As if he was interrogating Trowa.

 

“Uh,” was Trowa's clever reply.

 

Angelface paid no attention to Trowa's unsuccessful attempts but kept on speaking calmly. “And therefore I'm asking myself if you were pursuing some ulterior motives with your request for a dinner. In terms of that I have to show my gratitude in other ways too.”

 

“By no means!” Trowa almost stuttered and shook his head vehemently. “Believe me, I never had such thoughts! How could I dare?” Trowa knew that he had to be honest now; Angelface Winner was known to smell a lie ten miles against the wind. “I admit that I admire you. I have always admired you. But I just wanted to spend some time with you. Without us being…”

 

“What?” Angelface interrupted and raised his left eyebrow quizzically.

 

“Without us being cop and… businessman. I never hoped for more,” Trowa assured.

 

Quatre smiled and nodded. “Then it's alright,” he said and pushed his chair back to stand up.

 

Trowa imitated him. Nervously he put his napkin over the spots of wine on the tablecloth he had made and asked, “Shall I go now?”

 

A long, free laughter sounded in the room. Suddenly Angelface was standing beside him and gripped him at the elbow. “Why should you, Lieutenant? Now that we have clarified the matter we can continue as planned. The evening is still young and I haven't even shown you my house. Please don't tell anyone what a bad host I am.”

 

Trowa could only stare unbelieving and let himself be led by the smaller man out of the parlour without much resistance. The whole matter was extremely embarrassing for him and he just wanted to go home to lick his wounds. But Angelface wanted to keep him here and Trowa would never be able to deny the blond man anything.

 

So he followed him completely confused and was led through the different rooms of the big house. It was a really grand mansion and it was noticeable that the Winner family had always known how to make life better with money. Trowa already had searched a lot of houses belonging to many criminals, but none of them could match the Winner mansion regarding elegance and culture.

 

Trowa didn't really know why Quatre showed him all that. Firstly he already knew some of the rooms from his earlier visits, and secondly he wasn't an estate agent who would be really interested in it. But he nevertheless enjoyed it to be so close to the other man and listen to his voice while they explored the rooms.

 

Meanwhile they reached the first floor. After two more or less exciting rooms Angelface opened a wide double door and announced, “And this is my playroom.”

 

Trowa stepped into the room and stopped then as if he had come up against a brick wall. After they had already seen the poker room and the poolroom he had expected something similar at the mentioning of a `playroom'. But whatever he had imagined, THAT wasn't it. “The… the… the!” Trowa stammered without making sense.

 

Angelface smirked from one ear to the other as if he were a cat. “The playroom,” he confirmed. And with these words he closed the door.