Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Attempted Bystanding ❯ 02 ( Chapter 3 )

Two

"Holy shit..."

Trowa woke up slowly, blinking at the floor—and Timothy, who was still fully clothed in his slacks from the day before. Someone had gotten him a pillow and blanket, but he was laying on the floor by Trowa's bed.

Wow...they had drank a lot, hadn't they?

Trowa blinked a few more times as his stomach squirmed uncomfortably.

"This is new carpet?" Timothy asked tiredly.

"Yeah," Trowa returned, dropping back as his entire sense of equilibrium argued with itself.

"I shouldn't puke on it then, huh?" Timothy noted.

"No, that'd piss people off," Trowa agreed.

"Mm..." the man groaned, then pushed himself up from the floor...to stagger out of the room area.

"You hung, too?" Duo muttered.

"Yes," Trowa returned. "I don't remember...what the hell happened?"

"After you ate you had another drink because I said I'd take him to his car...but he wanted another drink...after a while I realized he wasn't going home and got into the drinks myself."

"Oh..." Trowa listened a moment. "Man...what time did we pass out?"

"He passed out at about one," Duo muttered. "You got him a blanket and pillow and just kinda laid down on your bed. I don't think you were out until two...I went to bed at two-thirty. Quatre?"

"Shut up," Quatre returned.

Trowa raised his head to look down the line of beds at the other. Quatre was curled up in the middle of his mattress.

"He was mixing," Duo noted. "Who the hell is that?"

Trowa laughed weakly, then groaned as it upset his stomach. "Shit...Timothy. Co-worker. He's in billing. Most of my shit gets passed to him."

"So why did you bring him home?"

"He thought I didn't have any friends," Trowa noted in amusement, considering the far distant ceiling. "He was trying to get me to go have coffee with him because he thought I was alone all the time."

"You're...never...alone," Duo noted.

"Yeah, you and me know that, he thought I made you all up. Must've thought I was pretty pathetic, huh? I told'em all about living here and when we came in he was noting that we had to have a pass to park in the lot and trying to suggest I not park in the pent-lot."

Duo guffawed.

"Yeah...was all confused that I tipped Sean, too...I wish you coulda seen his face when he realized I had a pent-card."

Duo sniggered.

The toilet flushed and they fell silent as the bathroom door opened, listening.

"If you want water," Duo noted, "there are cups in the cupboard beside the fridge...our tap tastes fine, and the fridge is just as good."

"Right," the guy muttered.

Trowa grinned slightly, then pushed himself over so he started to fall out of bed. "You think Max'n Matt had a good night?"

"When don't they?" Quatre demanded sourly. "Damn...what time is it? Lu is coming..."

"Huh?" Trowa asked, righting himself slowly as his equilibrium swam.

"Lucretzia is coming," Duo noted. "Her flight lands at three."

"Good morning!" Heero called as the front door opened. "Good morn...hello, who are you?"

Trowa laughed slightly.

"He's cute," Matty whispered loudly to Heero.

"Yeah," Heero noted. "You fuck War?"

Timothy spluttered.

Duo started laughing.

"He's with me," Trowa retorted...and realized what he said.

"Damn...you coulda got a room, Rige," Heero noted happily, moving across the apartment. "Head count!"

"Ian's actually thinking about living," Duo noted. "Jase's still torn...I just haven't gotten up yet, and Rige isn't sure if balance really is an inborn trait."

Trowa grinned at him.

"Morning!" Matty muttered, bouncing brightly into the bedroom to look them all over with shining eyes. "Were you all so disappointed that you didn't have me all night that you drank yourselves into oblivion?"

"Yeah, that's what we did," Duo retorted dryly.

Matty started laughing, bouncing around to look up at Trowa's face curiously.

"What's this?" Heero asked, kicking Timothy's pillow so it hit Trowa's legs.

"He passed out," Trowa returned, blinking blearily at the other. "You're disgusting, do you know that?"

"Am I?" Heero asked, tilting his head slightly.

"I hate you all," Wufei noted, rolling over and groaning.

"You're in such a good mood," Trowa agreed, ignoring Wufei.

Timothy moved back into the room with two cups, passing one to Trowa.

"Thanks," Trowa muttered, dropping back to sit down. Timothy moved over and dropped down next to him, setting his cup on Quatre's nightstand. He sat there a moment, then collapsed backwards.

"What did you guys do?" Heero asked blankly, looking around at them all in confusion.

"We drank," Wufei returned dryly. "It's this thing you do a lot of on holidays you don't like."

"As if any of us gave a shit it was Valentine's," Timothy retorted.

Heero grinned at that, then looked back around to Wufei.

"I'm going to die," Quatre informed them. "Do me a favor and hide my body."

Heero laughed, moving down the row of beds to sit on his own. "Okay, so now that we're all aware of our situations...what are we going to do about it?"

Matty bounced across the room to drop in Heero's lap, kissing him.

"Right now?" Heero asked, pushing him off slightly. "Really not a good time."

Matty laughed at that and crawled around behind him to the bed and sighed contentedly as he lay down.

"So a couple more hours sleep are in order," Duo muttered. "We can actually get up at eleven."

"What time is it?" Timothy demanded.

"Doesn't matter," Duo reassured him. "The only one in a state of sobriety is Max...which means even if he took you to your car, you couldn't drive it. Just fall back asleep."

"Here," Wufei muttered, pulling something out of his nightstand. "We all need some of these..." and he hucked the thing so it hit the bookcase behind Trowa's bed.

They all flinched at the noise of the thing and looked around to Wufei irritably.

He laughed a little. "Sorry..."

"How many?" Trowa muttered, grabbing the bottle of antacids and opening it.

"Two or three," Wufei returned. "And you'll probably want to wash it down with the water...if you could pass that down, too."

"Right," Trowa agreed, pouring a couple of the things into Timothy's hand and then his own. He tossed the bottle at Quatre, who'd shifted around, then chewed the chalky tablets up himself.

When they were in his mouth, his urge to throw-up was fairly strong, but he washed them back with the water like the other male had suggested...and after a minute, his stomach thought about settling.

"Here," Timothy muttered, taking that cup and passing it to Quatre, who'd chucked the bottle to Heero so he could chuck it back to Wufei. "Did I puke last night?"

"No, why?" Duo muttered, catching the bottle as Wufei passed it to him.

"Because I feel like I really have..."

"Heh," Duo flashed him a grin. "None of us have yet...though I think it was a near miss with you. You probably would have if you stayed up any longer...thanks," he added to Heero. The guy had taken him the cup of water from Wufei.

"There's a cheery thought," Timothy noted, dropping back onto the mattress.

Trowa was sort of glad he had a king-size bed. He didn't really have the heart to chase the guy back onto the floor, and more sleep was definitely in order.

"So we get up by noon," Duo muttered, taking a drink, "shower our asses in mass...then get ready for Lu."

"What?" Heero asked, stopping. He had been about to lay down again.

"Lu is coming at three," Duo explained again.

"Why?"

Quatre started sniggering.

"Because she's going to fuck me," Duo retorted.

"Okay, we all know that's a lie," Heero retorted, laying down as Matty shifted the bedding around them. "So why really?"

"Princey took off again," Duo returned quietly. "She's upset about it and wants to get away."

"Oh, Christ," Heero muttered with a groan. "Hasn't that asshole figured out yet that he can't live without her?"

"Evidently not," Duo returned dourly. "We made sure he hadn't been grabbed..."

"I figured," Heero retorted.

"Oh...well...yeah," Duo sighed. "So she's coming to spend a week or something like that here. I told her she could have a room over in the other apartment."

"You really are buying that, you rich son of a bitch?" Timothy demanded of Trowa.

"Yeah," Trowa retorted dryly. "Why the hell else would we have keys for it?"

"My neighbor has keys for my place."

Quatre sniggered.

"We are," Trowa repeated. "They wanted a yard so they moved out...poor-fuck."

"Wow," Heero muttered. The insult had been an afterthought. "What'd I miss last night?"

"Not getting laid," Duo returned. "I'll trade you places next time."

Matty laughed happily at that.

"You sleep by the wall," Trowa muttered to his...friend. "I've got this lovely paranoia thing."

"He'd take the bullet for you," Quatre muttered in amusement.

"Yeah, I suppose," Trowa muttered, kicking at the other so he'd move. He wanted to lay down again.

"Fine...fine...but if I come again I'm bringing a damn air mattress."

"If I thought you were staying the night I'd have gotten ours out for you," Trowa retorted.

"You were going to...but you were too drunk to find it," the guy noted.

Heero started laughing helplessly at that.

Trowa grumbled disconsolately, more at the laughter than at the words.

"It's in the laundry-room," Wufei noted in a tone of realization. "It was in the closets but we moved it to the laundry room."

"Wow," Quatre muttered. "We were all drunk, weren't we?"

Duo sniggered as well.

"Don't tell anyone at work that I slept with you," Timothy muttered irritably to Trowa.

"Why not?" Trowa retorted. "We could say it went all night and you couldn't sit down all day."

"Why me?" the man retorted.

"Because Trowa's dick enough he wouldn't take it," Duo noted in amusement. "Besides, if everyone else at work thinks he's got imaginary friends, too, just roll your eyes at them when he says it and don't bother explaining the penthouse part."

"Imaginary friends?" Heero asked blankly.

"Heero," Quatre whined.

"Trowa?" Timothy asked blankly. "Heero? I thought you said his name was Max..."

Matty started giggling.

"You're so stupid it hurts me," Trowa informed Duo.

"Shit, huh?" Duo agreed. "But I'm not the only bad one...Quatre."

"I'm too hung-over to give a shit right now," Quatre informed them all. "We're all ex-soldiers with high profiles, dillweed. We changed our names to go incognito and if you tell anyone we'll kick your ass...sound good?"

"Dillweed?" Timothy retorted. "Did you honestly just call me Dillweed?"

Trowa, who'd been thinking pretty much the same thing, started laughing.

"So your name isn't Rigel?" he added, turning to look at Trowa.

"Makes it awkward, screaming the wrong name..." Trowa muttered.

Matty laughed wickedly. "Depends on the name."

Heero started laughing.

"No, seriously!" Timothy protested. "You're not making shit up, blondie?"

"Why does everyone call me blondie?" Quatre sighed. "I should dye my damn hair."

"You wouldn't work as a brunette," Wufei noted. "Try red."

Quatre snorted.

"What's it matter?" Trowa muttered, staring at the ceiling again. "Let's just go to sleep a couple more hours and then you can pretend this was all a liquor-dream and forget about it."

The guy was quiet a long moment, then sighed.

"I'm glad I didn't take that approach to it," Matty muttered quietly to Heero. "That'd have hurt my feelings."

Trowa snorted.

"Go to sleep," Duo suggested, yawning. "We can deal with it when we wake back up."

- -

"I totally just tripped," Noin informed Duo happily through speakerphone. She'd gotten off her flight and called him immediately. "I didn't notice the seam in the walk way and totally looked like an ass..."

"I like your ass," Duo informed her helpfully.

She laughed at that.

"You totally just called me like...ten minutes after I dropped you off," Trowa muttered to Timothy in disbelief. "And you thought I had imaginary friends?"

"You wish it was some obsession," the man retorted. "I just left my damn jacket there."

"I'll bring it Monday," Trowa reassured him easily, then smirked. "Or are you worried that I'll tell everyone we slept together?"

A woman who'd been walking by turned her head to focus on him.

"You wish anyone would believe that..."

Trowa snickered. "And why wouldn't they? We did, didn't we?"

The woman sniggered to her companion and they bounced away whispering.

That was funny.

"Only in the most basic of terms," Timothy retorted, obviously bothered by the conversation.

"So who do I jump first?" Noin asked sweetly.

"Me!" they all more or less replied at once, even Matty.

Noin started giggling again, and they finally saw her.

"Hey, I gotta go," Trowa noted. "I'll bring you the jacket on Monday—if you want it before then you'll have to come get it. Just tell the doorman you're there to see me. Rigel Eston, not any other name."

"Shit, I forgot that was assumed," the guy noted, obviously taken off-guard. "Yeah...I don't remember what that guy called you anyway. So...yeah, I may come get it later or tomorrow."

"Right," Trowa agreed. "Bring your blankie if you have one...and an overnight bag."

The guy laughed happily at that. That made Trowa wonder if he really was trying to be a friend. Probably figured it wouldn't hurt after seeing that Trowa lived in a penthouse. Trowa didn't really blame him, they'd had a lot of fun thinking of insults to throw at each other before they'd gotten too drunk to function.

"Warrick!" Noin squeaked.

"Later," Trowa noted as the woman ran at them, closing his phone and tucking it away. If she really noticed it she'd call him on liking someone better than her and keep on it until the end of her visit. She also tended to jump into their arms, one at a time. She was very aware that her weight was scant as far as they thought it.

"I missed you so!" she cooed...and kissed at his throat.

This greeting made a few bystanders grin at each other.

Duo looked a little startled—not that they all weren't. The pair tended to throw the sexual jokes at each other, but Noin had never actually responded to him in that fashion.

Trowa had the severe feeling that this visit was going to be one to remember.

"Maxillion!" Noin squeaked, jumping into Heero's arms. "Oh, look at you! And the boy..." she turned her considerable attention onto Matty, who grinned back at her.

...yes, Trowa decided. She definitely was going to cause some shit to happen.

This oughta be interesting.

- -

"So I told her she could shove it," Lucretzia summed up her fifth or sixth story. Quatre wasn't sure on the number, because he'd zoned out briefly. "This is yours, right?" she asked, indicating the new apartment.

"Yeah, we'll show you in a bit...if it's clean," Duo noted pointedly to Heero and Matty.

"We didn't make a mess in the main rooms," Matty retorted.

Noin turned to look at him with consideration. "What, now?"

"They were using it last night," Duo explained, opening their main apartment. "Heero made him dinner and stuff."

"And stuff?" Lu asked, her eyes sparkling as she considered the boy.

"Lotsa stuff," he agreed, quirking an eyebrow at her.

They both giggled at that.

Quatre wanted to roll his eyes, but contented himself with sliding his shoes off.

"Oh! New carpet!" Noin bounced in and looked around before giving Duo a confused look.

"It's in the room," he supplied, gesturing.

She squeaked happily at him, toed her shoes off, and bounced across to the curtain they used for separation.

Heero and Wufei gave Duo amused look.

Duo gestured his confusion back to them with an over-exaggerated shrug of his shoulders.

"Oh! I love this color!" she cooed, moving back from the door to look them all over with a happy smile. "It's a good one...whose was it?"

"What?" Quatre asked blankly.

"I mean...which manor did you steal it from? That's what you did, right?" she gestured at the furniture.

Quatre grinned wickedly at her.

"No, we bought it," Heero explained, moving toward the couch. "That's how we met him," he indicated Matty, who had started for the kitchen.

"Seriously?" Noin asked, looking around to him. "You picked him up buying carpet?"

"Well," Heero returned, tilting his head. "I tried to, but it didn't work...he picked me up."

Matty focused on Heero in disbelief

"We were leaving," Wufei explained, knowing the boy probably didn't understand how they defined things in general. "Heero had given it up as a bad move on his part and Matty gave him his number as we left."

Noin squeaked, turning to look at Matty happily.

He grinned back at that, looking a little abashed.

"So, I'm going to work out," Trowa muttered, stretching his neck.

"Ooh," Noin muttered, moving to stand in front of him and give him a coy look. "Can I watch?"

"Would I ever tell you no?" Trowa purred back at her.

She laughed wickedly, then bounced past him toward the couches with Heero.

Matty blinked at Trowa.

"Our friends are incredibly special," Duo noted, pulling drinks out of the fridge. "Never forget that. They're all a bunch of nutcases and trust us enough to let us see the full depravity there-in," he indicated the female.

"Depravity, Duo?" she asked sweetly. "Why don't we go check out the new apartment?"

He smirked at her, heading toward the door. "I like that idea...I really do."

- -

Matty couldn't help his smile, and really wanted to call into work and claim sickness or something so he could hang out with her more. Her sense of humor matched his really well, and she totally understood things no one else seemed to get.

"Matty!" she whispered, darting into the kitchen to his side. "Matty!"

"What?" he asked quietly, looking around curiously. Heero and Wufei were doing their forms in the gym while Duo and Quatre did a workout. They were laughing and joking with each other, and Trowa was sitting on the couch.

"I just got this great idea," she informed him.

"Oh?" he asked skeptically. Considering that he'd only talked to her over the course of a couple hours, he was never sure when she was being serious.

She nodded eagerly, glancing at Trowa, who had noticed them but was pretending not to pay attention. She leaned forward to his ear. "Don't go to work," she whispered.

Matty snorted, pulling away to look at her.

Her eyes were absolutely sparkling. She nodded her head eagerly at him, then leaned forward again. "Call in sick, right?" she whispered on. "Tell them you can't come in because...because you're having a stomach problem, curled up on your bed...and then me and you can go to the mall."

"What makes you think I want to go to the mall?" Matty demanded, meeting her eyes properly.

Trowa was openly looking at them as Heero started laughing. Duo added something that made Heero laugh even harder, and Trowa glanced up.

"Do it," Noin whispered, staring happily into Matty's eyes.

"Hey, Heero?" Matty muttered, moving around her into the living room proper.

"Yeah?" Heero returned happily.

"What would happen if I lost my job?"

"You'd have more time to hang out?" he asked in return.

"You guys were saying I should just move in and pay you some rent," Matty retorted. "If I lose my job, I lose my income."

"Mm," Heero realized the issue. "You'd have more time to hang out?"

Matty tilted his head.

"We don't need your money, kid," Trowa noted in amusement. "The rent thing was so you don't get a guilty conscious."

"Seriously?" Matty asked blankly.

Trowa shrugged.

"Besides," Quatre noted, "if you lose this one you could just get another one...I know I'd hate not to have my own income."

"Yeah...but I was thinking about not going to work tonight...and I have a feeling the lady here is going to get me to stay home again before she goes. Not exactly great job-planning. I can't exactly take more time off, I used my vacation time for that damn L-5 trip."

Heero moved over to the edge of the loft, looking down at him with sparkling eyes. He tilted his head after a moment, his expression endlessly curious. "You'd have more time to hang out?"

Matty grinned at him.

He grinned back, and moved back toward his place on the matting.

"So...call in?" Noin asked, indicating the vid on the wall between the bathroom and laundry room.

Not many people had those in their houses; but it was a penthouse.

"Okay, I'm not going to just quit," Matty retorted, pulling out his cell phone. "I'd actually rather not lose this job, especially when we build the door between the two places," he indicated the bedroom. "My discount will help a ton, and the crap I can borrow from them since I'm an employee...it'll make it ten times easier, so I'm going to do this the smart way." He turned and headed toward the room.

Noin bounced happily after him.

"I always knew I liked your boyfriend," Trowa noted toward the loft. "He comes in all sorts of useful."

"I rather enjoy him myself," Heero noted.

"Hey, now," Matty warned, sitting on Heero's bed. "If I start feeling like an object, you'll all wish you hadn't found me."

Heero sniggered.

Matty sat still a long moment as Noin sat with him, watching him with interest. He flashed her a brief grin, then focused entirely on the nightmare he'd had where Ranger had come into the apartment with Jaden's gun. He hadn't actually seen Ranger's weapon, but he had seen Jaden's. The fear and uncertainty that had surrounded the whole ordeal, up to the end, had attacked him in that nightmare. The guy had come into the apartment and held them all at gunpoint. He'd seen Heero avoid that easily on his escape, but in the dream none of them had been able to do anything.

It had been terrifying...and Heero'd woken him up out of it, so his mind hadn't been able to give him an escape route. It had shaken him badly the rest of the night—most of those nightmares did, and even laying in Heero's arm didn't help to make him feel less helpless...not even hearing the other four men sleeping around as well.

They'd all saved him—but he knew all too well what it felt like to be alone and helpless.

That was why he'd attached to Jaden the way he had—Jaden had given him an ounce of control.

"Casto Hardware, this is Pamela," Pamela chirped happily.

"Hey, Pam," Matty muttered, allowing himself to drop backwards on the bed as Noin gave him a concerned look.

"Matt?" she asked in concern. "Are you okay?"

"I guess I will be," Matty returned, passing a hand over his eyes—Noin caught it, concern obvious in her eyes. He shook her off, looking away. "I know its short notice...but..."

"Are you okay?" Pamela repeated, her tone more concerned. "You don't sound so great."

"Well," Matty returned, swallowing as the feeling of the fear passed through him again. "I kept waking up last night from these dreams..."

"Rick said something happened on your vacation," she noted. "I thought you were just making stuff up until I saw you...I take it you don't feel that great?"

"No," Matty agreed. "I'm going to curl up here and try to get back to sleep...I'm sorry I didn't call earlier, I really thought I'd be able to work tonight."

"What happened?" she asked in concern. "Rick keeps telling us to ask you."

Rick was Matty's supervisor.

"I'd...I'd rather not talk about it," Matty noted, smiling slightly at Noin. The apartment had gone remarkably silent.

Trowa pushed through the curtain leading to the room, his expression troubled as he moved closer to the bed.

"I mean...I'll tell you about it some time," Matty added. "But...not right now, okay?"

"All right," Pamela muttered. "Take care of yourself, huh? Get some sleep."

"I will," he reassured her.

"All right," she muttered, and he could hear a keyboard clicking. "Bye."

"Bye," Matty returned, ending the call.

Heero pushed into the room as well, his eyes concerned as he moved past Trowa.

"I'm all right!" Matty protested at all of them, smiling at his boyfriend. "I'm okay! I was just making...a good excuse, you know?"

"You didn't sound okay," Noin noted, grabbing his hand. "With all the stuff we've gone through, being taken prisoner or hostage isn't much more than an inconvenience...but you weren't raised like that. You weren't trained like that..."

"I'm okay, really," Matty protested, sitting up and not letting Heero grab him. "I just know that Rick keeps telling me that if I feel like I need a day off they'll understand. Really," he added, looking between Heero and Trowa a moment, then glancing over to the loft where Duo and Quatre were standing.

He didn't really feel completely all right, he'd been ignoring those emotions during the daylight hours. They were things of the past, or deep dark nights...not of the day with the laughing group of friends that surrounded him. Quatre would know the truth, and he looked at the blond with sincere eyes...hoping...

Quatre sighed, looking away a moment. "He is okay," the blond lied. "He's a good little actor, though."

Matty smiled slightly up at him, grateful.

"You sure?" Heero muttered, running his fingers through Matty's hair and pulling his head so he'd rest it against his abdomen. "Really?"

"I am, really," Quatre reassured him, meeting his eyes. "I'll pull him aside and talk to him later to be completely sure, huh?"

"All right," Heero agreed, moving to sit next to him and study his face. "Don't do that to me...I thought you were about to start crying."

Matty smiled back at him as Trowa hesitated, then took a step back. He hesitated again before taking another, then another...and turning to leave the room.

"So..." Noin muttered, still considering the younger man's face. "What were you saying about the mall?"

"I didn't say anything about the mall," Matty retorted. "You were the one on about it."

"So what do you say about it now?" she asked, grinning at him.

He gave her a look, then looked around to Heero. "I wanna call Taili and Abel," he muttered. "I haven't been spending any time with them...we could all go to the mall...if you don't mind," he noted to Noin.

"Who're Taili and Abel?" she asked, her eyes sparkling again.

"Taili is eighteen for a month or two," Matty retorted. "Abel's nineteen."

She laughed at that, casting Heero a naughty look, then bounced to her feet. "I'm gonna go do my makeup, then we can go."

"Oh, gee, can we?" Matty asked, giving her a look.

She laughed at that, and bounced away.

Heero kissed Matty as he stood up. "You call your friends."

Matty nodded, watching him walk away, then raised his phone again.

He knew that Quatre meant what he said about pulling him aside—and if he could get his friends to hang out with a game console it'd give the blond less a chance of catching him alone.

Heero'd said he wanted to get to know Matty's friends, hadn't he? It was probably time that process started.

- -

E/N: Thanks for the review, dkAdeena! I'm glad you're enjoying the story!.