Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Business Proposition ❯ Four ( Chapter 4 )

Four      Jaden ran his hands along his arms, trying to lower the goose-flesh that had risen along them. The dead-silence of space was enough to drive any man mad, and the forced radio-silence of he and his group made things no easier.

Rab was a fool. Jaden'd known it for years, but he'd been a wonderful drinking-buddy. Someone to get drunk with and play a hand of poker...or billiards. The dart-games had cinched it for him. He'd been present at far too many gatherings before they'd all moved out to 27. If he'd balked, they'd have suspected him of betrayal, and he'd seen what some of the men had done to someone they'd thought betrayed them.

So they'd rallied on 27, and the sect that had tried to insist on proper protocol had been shouted down, forced into docility...and this was how it was ending.

The first protests about escaping 27—Rab's well-laid plans had backfired so many times, Jaden didn't comprehend how anyone would follow more of them—but the first protest about abandoning the damned colony had been met with the note that they didn't have enough MS, let alone enough armed MS... At least Rab hadn't been willing to leave a man behind who still wanted to follow.

It was strange to think of how many men had remained behind on the colony itself, and how many had agreed to make the final foray before giving him.

How many of those men had died?

Jaden rubbed at his arms again, then raised his hand to his neck. He'd had dog-tags once. He'd had them until that boy had taken his Kevlar jacket.

The man snorted to himself, shaking thoughts of the brat from his head. The idea of hostages hadn't appealed to him from the beginning when they could have probably gained sympathy from people like Darlian to begin with, if they'd approached the matter from the legal stand-point. Ranger losing his head over the boy and his phone...his damned phone.

The patch hadn't been the Chronus patch like so many people had tried to insist. There was no hint of that addition to the boy's phone when he'd gone back to look himself...

Jaden shook his head again, wondering where Ranger was. They had a rendezvous site on earth if the next stage of this plan actually made it to action. The Preventers had all sorts of monitoring systems, but a hacker in the right place could scramble the code...but drifting like so much space-dust with the earth an enormous marble below him wasn't appealing.

He checked his positioning again—that was the only monitoring device they were allowed to keep running. Entering the earth's atmosphere could turn deadly.

"Ho," Qingfu said in a quiet tone. "Atmosphere shields to position."

Jaden closed his eyes, then powered up his machine. Points of position flared to life all around him as everyone in the unit did as well, unfurling the heat-guard and praying that the material did as it was supposed to do and covered the machines from head to foot.

"Stand ready," Qingfu added, his voice still low. If he was half the hacker he was said to be, this would work—if he wasn't, they could be traced and hunted down like so many rabbits.

"Steady," Rab muttered, his own voice tense. "The rear-guard should disengage in moments."

Jaden closed his eyes again, waiting.

This could end badly...what if their rearguard couldn't disengage? They'd be sacrifices to Rabid Marsh's cause. They'd be the martyrs used to hearten the men and add new recruits—more kindle to add to the fire.

The Preventers were just as bad of fools as Marsh was, all-told. The Preventers had it in them to become the next Oz, and their leader...one Lady Une...she'd been second to Treize Kushrenada himself—the man's fool-child had raised a rebellion...what would his second in command do with as much power as the man himself and all the military might?

No, things couldn't remain as they stood—but there had to be other ways...there were far too many like Ranger who'd seize the reins of power...and Ranger was a man who shouldn't have been trained to torture, let alone be given any real power.

Deroy needed his head examined.

"Steady..." Rab's voice held an edge of anxiety.

Marsh's head needed examined...hell, his own head needed to be examined for joining a rebel group too fool to attempt anything at all remotely legal...

"They're down!" Qingfu exulted...and instantly booted his machine into gear.

Jaden took off as well, not giving himself time to hesitate.

If the atmosphere shields didn't work...well...he wouldn't have to find a way out of this mess.

- -

"The satellites are down!" Une was shouting as she flew down the aisle toward them. "The satellites were just blue-balled!"

Heero darted forward and yanked the laptop she had in her hands away from her. They'd arrived at the airport and had been hustled into a van. The van had broken most speed limits before the soldiers had politely shoved them into the building—with just enough time to hear an alarm go off.

"Williams," Une muttered, stopping long enough to smile at the boy—she also reached for his hair, but then someone was shouting demands at her about what the hell she thought she was doing.

Matty looked up to the woman in disbelief before looking around to Duo—Duo, though, simply moved up to one of the myriad consoles around the room and shoved the guy sitting at it out. There was a brief protest before the man actually looked at Duo, then he fell silent and stepped back, looking around darkly.

Quatre flashed him a grin...and Trowa floated by to the console next to Duo. That man had been watching Duo, so he saw Trowa in time to move.

"Shit," Heero snapped irritably, turning and looking around until they met eyes. "Hold this," Heero ordered...and deposited the machine into his arms.

Matty blinked, shifting the weight around to support it properly. He had to admit that watching Heero's fingers fly across the keys was amusing...and the notion that...

"Brigadier General Yuy," Une shouted over the noise around them—at a woman, Matty realized, "has control of my console, and control of any thing he wants to control."

Be it beast or object, Matty agreed silently, flashing a wicked grin up at his lover. He certainly hadn't signed onto the journey to be a table, but with the sirens going off in the background and everyone scurrying around like ants in a kicked anthill, he doubted it was time to complain.

"You," Wufei snapped, moving around Heero to point at the man Duo'd routed. He snapped his fingers, pointing at Matty.

"I'm sorry!" the guy apologized to him, his eyes looking wild. "I'm sorry, sir!"

Matty wasn't entirely sure how the man did it—he hadn't let go of the laptop, but he was no longer holding it.

"Come here," Quatre suggested, tugging him to one side—there was a sturdy table set up there, one of the metal ones.

Matty wished he hadn't noticed that—those metal tables reminded him of Ranger.

"Sit here and be cute or something," Quatre suggested with a wink, then turned and darted across the room.

Well, that wasn't offensive or anything.

Matty snorted, shifting back to rest against a low half-wall behind him. There was a monitor on the table below, but with the way the soldier had apologized to him, he probably wouldn't be chastised until the alarms settled.

"Engage the alpha!" Heero roared across the room. "Engage it now damn it!"

Someone cursed from around the corner, and Matty looked around to see how the soldiers reacted.

Most of them were staring up at Heero with very wide eyes.

"Next round," Heero roared the command—he hadn't taken the time to find the person he was talking to. There was no way anyone in the building couldn't hear him shouting like that, so that meant whoever it was would do it. "Be ready!" Heero's fingers flew across the keys again. "Now!"

Matty looked to a large screen set up on one wall—the room was u shaped...and from where he'd been told to sit pretty, he could see that the back wall of that side was covered in a large mostly-blue screen. Lines and dots were moving on the thing.

"Beta!" Heero snarled. "Beta!"

Something else on the screen moved, and then a third one shifted promptly...and a fourth. Heero'd been about to shout again, but evidently the people had caught on to whatever pattern it was supposed to be. It didn't take long before the screen showed a lazy arch with several flashing points.

"You're not supposed to see that, civilian," a woman noted, standing in his line of sight. "And you shouldn't be sitting on that table."

"I was told to sit here," Matty returned, kicking his feet easily. The woman's tone and stance annoyed him, made him want to ignore her entirely.

"Who would..."

"That was annoying," Heero noted, turning to Matty without even seeming to notice the woman. He moved over next to Matty, setting the laptop he'd been holding down. "I have no idea how far that scramble will go before it's all set back to alignment—whoever did it is going to be fined for the fuel."

The woman's mouth dropped open.

"If I had any real idea what you did, I think I'd be impressed."

Heero sniggered, leaning down to kiss him.

"Heero?"

Heero's head snapped around to the woman, and his eyes were confused. Matty had a brief moment's jealousy, thinking this must have been one of Heero's conquests...before Heero's eyes absolutely lit up.

"Hilde?" Heero demanded, stepping toward her in disbelief. "Hilde?"

"What?" Duo demanded, spinning around in his chair as Trowa's head also turned up. It took all of two seconds before Quatre returned...and then Wufei.

Matty hadn't even seen where Wufei'd disappeared to.

There was a laugh that almost seemed relieved as Heero pulled the girl into a hug...and two seconds later the others were all stepping in with disbelief clear in their tones—and delight in their greetings.

Matty narrowed his eyes at the woman.

"Is this that earth guy?" the woman demanded, turning to stare at him. "I'd heard you were robbin' the cradle, Yuy, but...damn."

The last vestiges of Matty's good humor vanished. He sat up, sliding off the table.

"And I suppose you'll call him a piece of ass, too, won't you?" Heero retorted irritably.

"I never said that," she noted, moving closer to smile at Matty properly and offer her hand. "I'm Hilde Schbleiker...you're Mattox Williams, correct?"

Matty frowned slightly and nodded—and realized that people that had been behind him were rising to their feet to look.

"No gawking!" Une snapped, moving around the group and gesturing irritably at the people. "You have work to do!"

Matty looked around to Heero—noting his confusion—then met eyes with Duo.

"How the hell do you know about Matt?" Duo demanded of the woman, moving up beside her with his arms loosely crossed.

She glanced up at him...then stopped and looked at him. "You cut your hair."

Duo stared back at her as she moved up into his personal space, her arms snaking up around Duo to tangle in those strands—Matty severely hoped Quatre would bite her head off.

"Uh..." Duo shifted back, raising his hands to disengage her. "I did cut it off, but um..."

"He's taken," Quatre said in a comfortable tone. There was no anger in it...not even his passive venom.

"What she doesn't know..." the woman started with a wicked smirk.

"By me," Quatre said levelly.

Hilde's arms dropped instantly as she looked at him.

"This is so not the place for this discussion," Trowa broke in, moving between the three in a way that meant they had to separate. "Une, if you have tasks for us to perform, I suggest you give them to us now."

"I need you to come with me," she noted, meeting all of their eyes before turning to specifically add Matty.

"I'll...I'll come," Hilde noted, stepping forward.

"That won't be necessary, Schbleiker," Une returned. "I need you to finish your task. The faster we get this all organized, the faster you lot can sit down and talk...Mattox?"

Matty wanted to dart to follow as the woman swept away without any further backwards glances. He wanted to worm his way between Quatre and Duo to stand between Heero and Wufei...but that woman...he cast a look back at her.

He could see in her expression—brown eyes, bright and sparkling...a slightly quirked bow of a mouth. She thought he was just a boy, and he'd be damned if he confirmed that for her.

"I'm afraid I summoned you in haste," Une was muttering as they swept down a hall—the carpeting was beige, and the walls were all glass. In the distance, the reflected sunlight shone brightly through the building.

Matty wanted to look back and see the woman alone behind him—left behind...but thinking that made him realize he was being petty. The moment he'd first seen the woman, she'd bugged him. It was an irrational response, he was sure, but if he was already diving into pettiness, he wouldn't be able to help it at all.

"We'd thrown back the first few attacks when I summoned you," Une was explaining more. "And another was breaking through—Zechs is waiting to take you all to Noin. She's stabilized, but her machine was totaled, and her control-board tried to embed itself in her stomach."

The pettiness vanished entirely as Matty darted up to catch Heero's hand and stare at the general.

"She suffered some severe internal trauma, but we're fairly certain she'll recover..." her eyes looked sad a moment. "But I'm sure Zechs will tell you all about it on the way to the hospital. I would have sent you right on if you hadn't all taken over like that."

"You get this note of panic in your voice..." Duo sounded vaguely amused. "And that means that we need to fix it, now."

She turned a truly affectionate smile onto him, then directed it to Matty again. "How are you?"

"I'm...all right," he said uncertainly.

Heero squeezed his hand reassuringly.

"I'm glad...I'm sorry to take you away from work like this," she added, "but we have no idea where Hanager disappeared to, and the idea of him getting ahold of you again..." she shuddered.

Matty shuddered as well, leaning into Heero. He hadn't been led to believe they were taking him with them...not in the way her words suggested. He'd thought the woman had simply allowed him to remain with Heero.

"The mention of that name is disturbing to Williams," Duo said quietly and firmly—Matty blinked back at him, but didn't get to meet eyes for it. "We'd prefer it to remain unsaid."

"Sorry," Une cast him an apologetic smile as they turned down another side-passage. "I'll tell everyone to hush—but you're the only person who had any extended contact with Gerrange."

"He came in and chased Ranger off from hurting me," Matty noted, raising his right hand to cover his left arm as the memory of the pain seared through his mind. He closed his left hand into a tight fist, then lowered both arms and refused to meet eyes. "I don't see that as being...extended."

"He actually spoke to you, and from the recording of the interview," she looked around to him, "he took pains to make you comfortable."

"I...um..." he looked around to his friends uncertainly.

"I'm sorry," Une shook her head hard. "I have far too many things on my mind right now...Zechs!"

The group slowed near an exit as the white-blond male swung out of a lobby area. He had dark rings under his eyes as he looked them all over, then smiled slightly. "Hey, fucker," he greeted Duo. "I can sleep, right? You'll let me..."

Duo moved to the man instantly, pulling him into a hug. It was a far cry from the last time the pair had been together. Before they'd headed back to earth, they were stabbing each other with words and attempting to sneak away to fight one another.

"I can't do this right now," Zechs hissed, rubbing hard at his eyes as he yanked away from Duo. "I just...I can't...I need to..."

"It's all right," Duo returned, his voice almost cold. The distance between them had firmed, and Zechs pressed his hands to his eyes. "Just take us to her."

"Watch him," Une whispered to Heero and Matty, grabbing Matty's hand briefly...then disappeared back down the hall.

"She said if you came," Zechs noted, looking tiredly to Matty, "that I'm supposed to carry you to her because your legs are too short."

Matty guffawed at that—he was pretty sure the comment had been made to help change the subject, and that was fine with him.

"Come on, we have a van waiting," Zechs turned and left without greeting any of the others.

"Is he okay?" Matty whispered to Heero, then met eyes with Trowa. "I know he's not okay," he clarified. "But...will he be?"

"He's exhausted," Quatre noted, following through them to the door. "If what I gathered from Une is right, Lu hasn't been stable very long."

Duo rubbed hard at his eyes.

Matty looked back to Quatre briefly, but the former-blond had moved out the doors.

"Come on," Heero muttered quietly, catching Matty's hand again. "If you take too long he will carry you."

"You seen Hilde?" Zechs asked, looking them all over. "With her pretty-girl hair," he indicated the sides of his head. "Makes me think of Relena with those braids she always wore."

"The look doesn't suit her," Duo conceded as the van started away.

"It's her eyebrows," Matty noted darkly. "They're far too bushy for her own good."

They all focused on him sharply.

Duo laughed a wickedly. "I don't know why you don't like her, but your expression tells the tale...and she is one of my dear friends, and you will show her respect."

"Yes, Daddy," Matty retorted bitterly, looking away. "I'd never dream of speaking bad of my elders."

Duo gave him a perplexed look.

"What's the matter?" Heero asked, catching his hand and trying to meet his eyes. "What happened?"

"I'm tired of being treated like a little boy and pet," he returned tiredly, rubbing his eyes. "I don't know why, but Une always touches my hair," he reached over and ruffled Trowa's hair like the woman would do to him. "She's done it since we first saw each other...and she always looks at me like..."

...like my mom used to.

Matty fell silent, then looked around to meet Quatre's eyes.

"I'm not going to read you unless you want me to," Quatre said quietly, studying his face. "At least...for now."

"What the hell happened to your hair?" Zechs asked into the silence that followed.

"I was walking down the street," Quatre explained seriously—and Zechs nodded, actually listening, "and there was this man...he was tarring a..."

Zechs gave him an absolutely disgusted look.

Quatre snickered, running his hands through his hair and shaking his head. "I'm just tired of people calling me blondie," he explained, making a sour face. "It just got old...so I fixed it as best I could."

"Oh," Zechs accepted that with aplomb. "I guess...Lu's gonna freak, isn't she?"

Quatre laughed lightly at that and shrugged.

"Call Tim," Wufei muttered, pulling his own phone out. "I need to call Jinli."

"It's five in the morning," Trowa retorted. "He doesn't wake up at five in the morning."

"He'll probably be grateful to know you made it safe," Wufei noted, glancing briefly up at Trowa, and his focused changed entirely. "Hey, Jin...it's me...yes, I am aware of the time, but I thought you might be interested to know where I am."

Trowa snorted.

"No! We haven't even been here a half hour...but a friend of ours is in the hospital, so we have to go make sure she's okay. I'm probably gonna be there a while. I don't know what we're going to be doing here now, though. Remind me to steal your phone later, huh? I'll let you get back to sleep, but we should meet up for lunch."

"Hey," Heero muttered, pulling Matty's hands up to his lips. "I don't think I understand why you're upset...but just know, I don't care what anyone else thinks. I'm happy with you."

Matty smiled back at that, feeling suddenly shy and lowering his eyes.

"Damn, he actually is cute," Trowa muttered in disbelief.

All eyes locked on him.

"I guess that was my problem," he added, looking around wryly until he met Wufei's eyes. "How messed up is that?"

Matty...wasn't entirely sure how to take that...at all.

- -

Trowa was beyond special. Wufei studied his friend as he rose to his feet, watching as the other reached over and lifted Matty's chin again to study his face. It made Matty blush again, avoiding looking at Trowa without pulling away. It was strange to think Matty could be bashful, but he was actually really good at it.

"His eyes are striking," Trowa muttered to no one in particular.

"Stop it," Quatre snapped, smacking Trowa's arm away. "You okay?" he added to Matty as the guy lowered his head again. "Matt?"

"I'm...all right..."

Quatre sighed slightly. That was all the response they could get from the kid.

Trowa hadn't said much more in the van, hadn't even looked at Matty, actually. When they'd first gotten in to see Lu, she'd had words for all of them...greetings, mostly. She'd been dismayed by Quatre's hair, but before that had settled, she'd been telling him how cute he looked...and while they'd been talking, Trowa's attention had landed on Matt again. After that, it seemed like every few minutes he was reaching over and raising Matty's chin to study something about his face.

Trowa started to move.

"Trowa," Wufei said brightly, startling the man. "Have you called Tim yet?"

The European male stared back at him a long moment before sighing and pulling out his phone. He rose slowly, and walked from the room.

'Thank you,' Matty mouthed to Wufei, meeting his eyes briefly before going back to his study of the floor. Heero, Duo, and Zechs were clustered around the head of the bed talking as Lu tried to stay awake to listen.

"I need to call...to call Jinli and make sure our plans are set," Wufei noted, meeting eyes briefly with Quatre as he moved into the hall. "I'm going to get breakfast," he added in a more serious tone. "Why don't you come with me?" he added to the teen.

Matty wasn't sure how to take that, but he did rise to his feet and move after. He moved to Wufei's far side as Wufei rounded Trowa, and nodded briefly at his friend.

"When he looks at me like that it makes my stomach flutter," Matty whispered, not looking at the guy as he moved quickly to keep up. "It's stupid."

"You never had real men interested in you?" Wufei asked curiously. He knew he himself had checked out females like that—he didn't touch them as much as Trowa was, but there was a decided consideration in Trowa's eyes.

"Real men," Matty snorted. "Before I met you guys the only...real...men I knew were my dad's friends."

Wufei flashed him a grin. "And Heero doesn't do that to you?"

Matty snickered slightly. "Heero does...other things...but Trowa..." he shrugged.

"Unfortunately, Trowa is self-assured," Wufei grinned as he said it. "He's also well able to get what he wants from anyone, and having the focus of that considerable attention would make me nervous, so I get where you're coming from. Don't worry, though, he won't go beyond propriety...we'll kick his ass if he does."

"That doesn't mean he won't," Matty retorted, then shook his head as they turned a corner, slowing. "And I don't think he will...it's just...he makes me shy, and then I feel stupid."

Wufei sniggered. "For what it counts, you are cute when shy. If you could master that," he ignored the dark look the boy directed up at him, "he'd probably get embarrassed himself."

"I can't even talk to you," Matty retorted, looking away in disbelief. "You've never been looked at like that by someone you admire."

Wufei flashed him a brief and wicked grin and shrugged. "I'm trying to be helpful, come on...I did have you come with me."

"You just wanted to help me get out of there, didn't you?" the teen protested, seeming to realize it for the first time.

"You need a minute to regain yourself without Trowa following along after." Wufei had thought it was obvious. "He doesn't mean anything by his stupidity."

"Fah," Matty retorted, tucking his hands into his pockets.

Wufei grinned down at him and pulled the phone from his pocket. "Keep sulking a few minutes, I really do need to call Jin."

Matty directed a severely dirty look at him.

Wufei smiled sweetly, and raised the phone to his ear.

- -

"Where...did Matty go?" Heero asked, looking around the room, then glancing into the hall. He could see Trowa out the door, but no one else.

"Wufei went to get breakfast," Quatre shrugged. "He took Matt with him. Come sit with me."

"I'm going to sleep," Zechs said tiredly to Duo, rubbing his hands over his eyes. "You'll stay with her? I only left her long enough to meet with you guys," he looked back to the woman tiredly. "I can't sleep in here."

"Go," Duo assured him. "I'll stay with her."

Zechs nodded, giving Duo a grateful look, then hesitated. "I know you care about her...as...as much as I do. I know you'll take care of her," he studied Duo a long moment. "Don't leave her."

"I know," Duo reassured him, looking sadly to the female on the bed.

Zechs patted his shoulder briefly, then looked to Quatre and nodded.

"Shouldn't you go talk to Duo?" Heero muttered as Zechs left the room to find a couch. "That makes me nervous to hear...nervous for you, I mean."

"I know the situation," Quatre reassured Heero. "I wanted to talk to you."

"About what?" Heero met his eyes, obviously interested.

"Trowa's been...studying...Matty," Quatre said quietly. "It makes Matty blush and look away. He hasn't said anything about it yet, but I think you'll need to have words with Trowa the next time he does it."

Heero frowned at that, glancing toward the door.

"I don't think Trowa even realizes what he's doing," Quatre shrugged. "You'll have to catch him doing it and scare him a little bit. I think if you're quiet too much longer, Matt might get upset with you."

"That's nicely convoluted," Heero returned dryly, looking around the room again. "What do you mean, studying? Why did you say it like that? Is that why he left?" he met eyes with Quatre.

Quatre was startled to feel irritation from his friend. With the way Heero'd been ignoring Trowa, Quatre'd thought he didn't understand the situation. "He went with Wufei...to get breakfast," the former blond noted quietly. "I think Trowa will do it at some point when you're watching without thinking about it, and you'll see exactly what I mean. I thought you didn't understand it...what do you think we'll do here in the colony?"

Heero stared at him blankly a long minute.

"Sorry," Quatre muttered with a grin. "The situation with Matty needed to be addressed, but that's an ongoing thing. Being here," he looked back to Lu, who was sleeping. "Being here is something else entirely."

Heero pursed his lips as he looked back to Lu as well, then shook his head. "After we eat, I'll head back to the base," he said quietly. "I want to strengthen the defenses as much as I can manage so that doesn't happen again. I think since the fighting was all but finished up here, after we see to her," he indicated Lu again, "we'll be able to go back down."

Quatre sighed and rose to his feet, moving across to the bed. The woman's pale skin was even paler than it had been. The steady beep of the heart monitor was reassuring and troubling at the same time...and seeing the tubes hooked to her face was disturbing.

Duo, who'd been studying her, raised his eyes to look at Quatre. He was holding one of her hands.

"Things are too complicated for us," Quatre noted quietly, looking back to the woman as he thought of Zechs' words. "We didn't need Hilde thrown back into the mix."

Duo laughed quietly, then looked around behind himself to find the chair Zechs had been using. "Don't remind me of her, Quatre...it's more than enough to have you and Lu on hand."

Quatre smiled slightly at that, sighing as he moved around the bed. Trowa'd moved back into the room at some point, and was speaking quietly with Heero. He moved up behind Duo and wrapped his arms around the other's neck. "I only just got you, asshole," he whispered in the other's ear. "Don't let me lose you this fast."

"I'm not that fickle," Duo returned, wrapping his free arm around Quatre's waist as best he could. "I'm yours, and I'll stay that way until you don't want me anymore."

"I trust you," Quatre returned, resting his cheek against Duo's hair as he looked to the wall. "I do."

"Then stop clinging to me like I'll disappear," Duo's tone was vaguely amused. "I will eventually pass out from lack of oxygen."

Quatre chirped quietly at that, releasing his hold on the other.

Duo sniggered pulling him to his side and closer. "I'd have told Zechs to stop being an asshole if he didn't look like he was walking a high-rope and trying not to fall off. That's why I didn't say anything to him. I think your insecurities will be the death of me yet—even if it is just because you pulled the trigger."

"Hey!" Quatre protested, meeting his eyes with a pout. "I'm not that bad."

Duo sniggered...but didn't seem to want to argue.

Quatre huffed down at him a moment, then looked back to Lu. "I think you're the worst choice for a first love."

Duo made another amused noise, pulling him even closer. "I do love you."

Quatre met his eyes, smiling and looking away from those eyes. He felt shy.

Duo chuckled, squeezing him again and looking around the empty room. "Where did everyone go?"

- -

"I'm surrounded by imbeciles," Jinli snapped irritably as he shoved into the hotel room, yanking his jacket off. "Every last one of them are idiots!" He tossed the jacket into a chair with a vengeance.

"Hey, Jinli!" Matt greeted the man happily, looking him over with interest. "I wasn't expecting you here."

"Where is everyone?" Jinli returned, blinking around the empty space.

"Duo and Quatre are still at the hospital," Matty returned easily. "Trowa ran off to collect his little clones...and Heero went back to the base. I haven't seen Wufei since he went to meet you for lunch."

"Great," the man grumbled, moving to the fridge to stare at the lack of contents. "Is there a mini bar in here somewhere?"

"What's wrong?" Matt persisted, moving around to pull the cupboard open. He'd been trying to put stuff away, but Heero'd sort of grabbed him from behind and his protest that he was putting the stuff away had been met with throwing everything in the cupboard.

"Why is..." the man started, then noticed Matty's expression. "Nevermind."

Matt sniggered, pulling the stuff out again. "Heero was in a rush," he noted, grinning sidelong at the guy.

The man rolled his eyes and accepted the can he was passed, moving to lean against the counter better. "I got fired."

Matty stopped completely, meeting the man's eyes in disbelief.

"When Wufei was staying with me," he explained, "we drank a lot. I ended up late and hungover a lot at work—somehow my boss didn't appreciate that," he grinned slightly, then sighed as he took a long drink. "I came in two minutes late with Wufei behind me and the man started glaring at me. One of the other guys was supposed to be giving me some papers so I could write up a report, and that was a day late," he shook his head. "Some other guys were trying to say I told them I'd do a report for them over lunch today, and it all just got snarled up, and Finerar just fired me...yelled it on top of his voice."

Matt frowned at that, opening his own drink.

"So I had to go get my crap out of my cubicle with the security guards trying to chew me out for not going immediately. When they realized what I was doing they stopped claiming they'd charge me with trespassing, but they were just watching me," he huffed. "You have a job?"

Matt blinked at that, then nodded. "I work at a hardware store in LA...selling carpets."

"You gotta get me in on that shit," the guy muttered tiredly. "I don't care how much I hate LA, I'm so tired of the colonies..." he took a long drink. "That's gotta be less stressful than paper pushing."

"You have to deal with people, you know," Matt returned, grinning at the man as he realized something.

They were speaking Chinese. The man had been since he'd come into the apartment...well, aside from 'imbecile' and 'idiot'.

The guy actually focused on him, studying his face. "I didn't know you could speak anything but English."

"So I look half-Thai to you?" Matt retorted. "I suppose my name is misleading, though, isn't it? My sister is Lifon...and my dad is Taofa."

"Where did Matty come from?" the man asked, blinking.

"Mattox," Matt retorted.

Jinli grinned at him, then looked around. "Sorry...I didn't mean to be rude."

Matty shrugged. "At least you're not all obsessed about how young I am," he noted, tossing stuff back into the cupboard irritably. "Everyone else is all demanding if Heero checked my ID before we screwed."

"That's harsh," Jinli noted, grabbing the twelve-pack. "Did he?"

"Yes," Matty retorted as the man slid the pack into the fridge. "That's the part that really annoys me. He was all dark temptation at the frickin' store, but as soon as I got into his car after work he wanted to look."

"In the store?" Jinli asked, meeting his eyes with interest. "Run that by me again in English?"

Matty blinked as he considered what language he'd been speaking—it had been English. The grin the man gave him was innocent enough to make him roll his eyes. "I met them when they were getting a carpet for their apartment—that's where we met. I was helping them with the order."

The man laughed, taking another drink as he moved around toward the living room. "So you really do have to get me in on this job of yours."

Matt had to grin at that, following after. "I just get so frustrated with their friends sometimes—everyone looks at me like a little boy." He directed an almost accusing look at Jinli.

"Don't look at me like that," Jinli retorted. "I was warned about your age before we met, and since then I've doubted it."

"Do I really act that immature?" Matt dropped petulantly on the couch.

"Well, you are now," the man retorted. "I meant I thought you were older."

Matty looked up at him, startled.

"So don't get all petulant on me. I just lost my job, so if anything I have the right to throw a hissy fit."

Matty smirked at that, then shook his head and sat back. "So...aside from getting fired, how are you?"

"I suppose I can't complain," Jinli returned, leaning forward and grabbing the remote. "My girlfriend left me, the guy who was my best friend moved off to L-2 for no more reason than he wanted to...and I got bludgeoned with all the shit from my youth I try to pretend didn't happen...nothing much."

Matty smirked at that, curling up where he sat. "I got grabbed and held hostage, tortured, and they can't find the guy who tortured me, so I'm tagging along on my boyfriend's coat-tails waiting for something to happen."

The man gave him an almost approving look. "I knew I liked you. What do you wanna watch?"