Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Crimson Nights and Scarlet Dawns ❯ Chapter 7

/this/ indicates thoughts

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SEVEN:

The door, when they finally reached it, was anticlimactically plain. Just a plain panel at the end of an otherwise empty hallway, with a bit of peeling paint on one bottom corner and a peephole glaring at them from eye-level. There was certainly nothing to indicate that it was the entrance to the home and headquarters of the infamous Dayhunters.

Duo very nearly asked Heero if he was sure they hadn't made a wrong turn. But the other man reached out and put a key into the lock on the knob, then without any hesitation pushed the door open. The entire action was carried out with the kind of easy familiarity that only came from constant repetition, and that more than anything told Duo that, to the other man at least, they were home.

The first room was little more than another segment of hallway, differentiated from the world outside the door only by the quality of lighting-- two warmly glowing bulbs instead of the cold gleam of fluorescent-- and the few personal touches, like the little key rack fixed to the wall beside the door, or the elastic bands hung over the knob on the coat closet.

Heero toed off his shoes, and waited for Duo to do the same. Then, he padded silently forward and opened the inner door. He vanished within, leaving Duo to follow a bit uncertainly in his wake.

Beyond the entryway, it was like a different world-- Duo felt the change in the atmosphere as soon as he stepped over the threshold. The empty, somewhat sterile feel of the halls was gone entirely, and was replaced by that vague yet unmistakable sense that this space, unlike those previous, was occupied. It was warmer, somehow, and more comfortable. It was a feeling that brought back, for a moment, the memories of Hilde and her little family in their odd little dormitory.

Duo stopped just inside the doorway, trying to take it all in-- the rich soft furnishings, the subtly painted walls, the warm brown hardwood floor that he suddenly ached to walk across in his bare feet-- and only after a moment realized that he was the focus of several guarded gazes.

He froze for a split second before autopilot took over and gave them his best grin. "Hi."

Only one of the three watchers gave him a smile in return, and that was a quiet, tentative thing. Duo latched onto it nonetheless, turning to face its blonde-haired bearer full-on. He was slender, small-looking in the overstuffed depths of his chair. His light-skinned face was rounded and soft in the glow of the room, lips turned up in a sweet smile.

But his pale blue-green eyes, when they met with Duo's, held a startling spark of hardness, coldness. The one who owned those eyes was fully capable of smiling like an angel while cutting you apart slowly. Duo found himself doing a hasty mental backpedal as he revised his first impression.

/Gotta remember, idiot, that he's a Hunter, the long-haired man chided himself. There are certain traits you've gotta expect from them, not the least of which being that they are dangerous, dangerous people--/

As if to illustrate the point, Duo suddenly realized that while his attention had been fixed on the blonde man-- /distraction/, his mind hissed at him-- another had come up on the side he'd exposed. He whirled to meet flat green eyes from no more than two feet away. A pall of tension and near-menace hovered in the air; he tensed as he automatically reacted to the perceived threat, old reflexes taking over.

The door finally clicked shut behind him, sealing him in, and he throttled down a brief surge of panic at the sound.

The tableau held for drawn-out moments, while Duo's pulse thundered in his ears and his muscles quivered in readiness. And then it abruptly ended as the tall, green-eyed man lifted one hand a made a brief gesture towards the duffel bag still clutched in Duo's fingers.

Duo blinked as the aura of tension in the air vanished without warning or trace, leaving him reeling and somehow off-balance. /Hunh?/

"Your bag," someone said in a quiet, pleasant voice. Duo turned a bit too quickly to find that the blonde man had risen from his place in the chair. The ice buried in the pale eyes had melted somewhat, leaving Duo feeling an almost ridiculous amount of relief-- the cold, deliberate menace coming out of that innocent-looking face had been very unsettling. /I feel like I've passed some sort of test. Maybe I have--/

The blonde made a gesture that was nearly a mirror of the one the green-eyed man had made. "Let Trowa take your things," he explained patiently. "We've cleared out a room for you, but we should probably talk before anything else."

With great effort, Duo bit back the dozen sarcastic quips that immediately jumped to his lips, swallowing the words before they saw daylight. /No. Bad Duo. Yes, you're off-balance, but for the love of god don't start in with that right now!/ He found himself suppressing a shiver as well, at the memory of tension in the air, the ghost of which still hovered in the corners of the room. /Let's not do anything that might end in homicide, hmm?/

So he avoided even thinking the word 'butler' and just cranked up his grin again, spreading his arms in an open half-shrug as he handed over the bag. "Whatever you think, man. Talking would probably be good. Get to know each other, and all that jazz."

/You're babbling. Shut up now. / And he did, but not before there came a faint snort of disdain from the third person in the room, who as yet hadn't even moved.

Duo tried to study that third person as he moved towards the chair that the blonde indicated for him, hearing the almost inaudible whispers of movement behind him as the silent Trowa no doubt made off with his luggage. But all that was visible, behind the screen of a newspaper page, was a glimpse of dark hair.

The blonde re-seated himself as Duo settled in, and from somewhere both Trowa and Heero reappeared to join them, the latter dropping onto the third and final chair, the former slipping himself onto the couch beneath the extended feet of the hidden fifth man. Duo blinked, suddenly struck by the odd picture that one presented: casually stretched across the couch, turning pages in his paper and appearing completely unaffected by the odd tensions that had and still did permeate the room.

/So maybe it was some sort of bizarre test. Presenting both threatening and non-threatening subjects, and seeing how I reacted? Checking my reflexes? Something else entirely? These people are making my brain hurt, and I've been here all of two minutes./

Heero barely moved, but all attention in the room was inexorably drawn to him. He sent a glare and a hint of a frown towards the newspaper. "Wufei," he said in a warning tone.

The corner of the paper flipped down, revealing a black eyebrow lifted over an equally black eye. Then there came a faint sniff, and the paper was carefully folded and set down on a nearby table before the dark, scornful gaze was turned on Duo.

Satisfied, Heero gave a faint grunt and turned his attention away. He gestured to each of the three strangers in turn. "Trowa Barton. Quatre Winner. Wufei Chang." The introductions were accompanied by a slow blink, a faint smile, and another disdainful sniff.

Duo found that his grin was still hanging around, and tried to keep it from showing the clenched line of his jaw. "Duo Maxwell. Pleased to meet ya." /Oh my dear fucking god, this is killing me here, would somebody please say *something* and let me know where I stand, or something? I'm not sure I can keep myself on my best behaviour for much longer, if this walking-on-eggshells shit keeps up--/

Quatre gave him a quick, narrow-eyed look, then his eyes softened a little more. Almost as if he had read Duo's thoughts, he started to speak. "Yes, we know," he said with a little teasing smile. "In fact, we know a lot about you, which isn't exactly fair, is it?"

Duo quirked an eyebrow at the blonde, but couldn't help smiling a bit more as the tension in him began to dissipate. /Charming little bastard, isn't he?/

Shrugging one shoulder disarmingly, Quatre continued. "So perhaps we should see about making things a bit more even?" He leaned in towards Duo ever-so-slightly, as if drawing him into some conspiracy. "And since I doubt any of these three will volunteer any information, that leaves it up to me."

Duo had to admire his technique, even as he did exactly what the other man probably intended, and turned his attention towards the three impassive faces in the circle. "Yes," he dared to say, dryly. "It does seem that conversation is not one of their strengths."

That comment earned him two hints of glares and another slow blink, as well as what might have been a muffled snort from Quatre. "Not as such, no," came the delicate reply, and the glares shifted to rest upon their teammate, who simply shrugged them off. He turned a little conspiratorial smirk toward Duo, who found himself returning it.

Quatre turned first towards his immediate right, where green-eyed Trowa watched from beneath a thick fall of brown hair. "Trowa here is actually the youngest of us-- with the exception of you, now." Another smile was directed in Duo's direction. "For all that he looks the oldest, even Wufei has a good ten years on him."

Wufei took the opportunity to glare again, before turning away entirely. Trowa didn't visibly react at all. Duo, for his part, looked at each man in turn as they were named. It was true that Trowa looked older than the rest, by a few years at least, though he was still a very young man-- no more than a few years older than Duo's own twenty-two, certainly.

Glancing around the circle, Duo did a quick survey and was faintly surprised to realize just how young all four of them looked. /With the exception of tall, dark and silent there, I look older than all of them. Though I suppose that doesn't mean much, since they no doubt age slower than normal. Wonder how old they are, really?/

He shook of his thoughts as he realized that Quatre was still talking. "The two of them have the usual Hunter mix of healing and strength, though of course they're not light sensitive, as is the case with us all."

The blonde nodded towards Heero next. "Heero, though, is a shapechanger-- like you, Duo." Another disarming flash of smile, though the darker blue eyes across the circle never shifted. "He's also the oldest of us-- which leaves me in the middle." He made an odd little half-bow of introduction, even seated as he was. "I'm the psychic of the group, mostly empathic-- I can pick up emotions from people around me," he clarified. "Sometimes I can get bits of words or images, but only if they're very strong."

"Ah. Yeah, the Doc mentioned something about that sort of thing," Duo said absently, suddenly very conscious of his own racing thoughts and tumultuous emotions. /Hope I haven't been giving him a headache--/

Heaving a mental shrug when Quatre didn't say anything else, Duo cast a swift glance over his new teammates, sifting through what he knew-- and coming to one clear conclusion quite quickly. /Clever, clever little bastard-- I really don't know any more about these guys than I did before. He didn't tell me anything that isn't probably common knowledge. So he put me at ease without saying anything of real importance. Very neat, Winner, and very well done. I almost didn't even see it./

/But there's no use in pushing things now. There will be time enough./ He did one more survey of the four, then glanced around the room again. /I *am* going to be here for a while, after all./

Heero chose that moment to lean forward and place a folder on the table, giving it a slight shove in Duo's direction. "This is tomorrow's mission," he said flatly. "It was planned for four, so you won't have much of an active role. But you should be familiar with the specs anyway."

"Of course." Duo reached out and snagged the folder, opening it briefly and flipping through the pages long enough to see an impressive collection of photos, maps and data. He closed the cover again with a small, pleased smile hovering on his lips. /One thing I've got to give them, they do their research. If they're half as thorough and competent in the field--/

Apparently that was the sign that the meeting was over, because Heero gave a brisk nod and was

quickly gone. Trowa drifted from the room more slowly, and Wufei simply vanished behind his newspaper again. That left Quatre, standing beside his chair and still smiling slightly.

"Come on. I'll show you around a bit."

They walked through a door and up a set of stairs, across a sumptuously soft carpet and then up another level. Duo noted as they walked that the place didn't look much different than a house-- a large house, of course, and one that was completely without windows-- but still--

And then they went through the doors at the top of the second stair, and Duo gave a mental sigh and quickly revised his opinion again. /Should have known it was here somewhere./

The top level was one big room, floored in wood and containing a truly incredible array of workout equipment and weaponry. To one side was a series of punching bags suspended from the ceiling, which were currently being brutally attacked by one Heero Yuy.

Quatre let him look around for a moment, before motioning him away. "You're welcome to whatever equipment you can find free at any given time." He cast a glance backwards, then smiled wryly. "Basically, whatever Heero's not using. He's always up here." He started down the stairs, leaving Duo to follow. "Oh, and Wufei does tend to be protective of his swords, but I know for a fact he keeps his favourites in his room. So as long as you clean them up and put them away when you're done, it shouldn't be a problem to use the ones up there, if you like."

They went slowly through the lower hall, giving time for Duo to glance curiously into the rooms they passed. All of the doors were open, revealing glimpses of what he guessed were bedrooms, though there were only three-- Duo did a few quick mental calculations using the studio upstairs as a reference, and lifted his eyebrows in appreciation as he came up with a very generous estimation of room size.

/These guys certainly don't skimp on their comforts. Would that all barracks were like this!/

After a quick glance through the bathroom at the end of the hall, they went downstairs yet again.

Wufei hadn't moved from his spot on the couch, though it appeared he was on to a different section of the paper. Trowa had returned and was tucked under the other's feet as before, reading a book of his own. The green-eyed man glanced up as they came into the room, blinked slowly then returned his attention to reading, absently brushing back the hair that kept sliding forward onto his face.

Quatre led Duo into a side hallway that was little more than an alcove with two doors attached. One proved to be a huge closet, stuffed with various mundane supplies. The other--

Duo stood in the centre of the nearly empty room, almost offended somehow by the stark white walls, the bare bulb in the centre of the ceiling, and the narrow cot in the corner. "This," he said slowly, "is my room?"

Quatre nodded, glancing blandly around the echoingly empty space. "It was a storage room up until now," he said with a shrug. "But we cleaned it out and primed all the walls-- we have a few suppliers we use for furniture and such; I'll bring down the catalogues for them later."

Blinking, Duo turned to face the blonde. "Catalogues?"

That calm little smile made a reappearance. "Well, it's going to be your room-- you should be able to choose what you put in it." He turned to the door again. "You should find paintbrushes and trays in the room across from you, though they may be a bit buried. Come on, I'll show you the kitchen." And he was gone.

Duo blinked again, and took one more look around, feeling-- relieved? /Yeah, face it Duo, you thought that this was all you were going to get. But I suppose it makes sense. If this is going to be-- to be *home*, it shouldn't start out like a guest room./

Fighting down an entirely silly grin, Duo went to catch up with Quatre.

As they passed, Quatre gestured towards another alcove similar to Duo's. "Heero's room is in there, and more storage." They continued on into the spacious kitchen-- floored in warm reddish tiles that made Duo's toes twitch as he again imagined walking across them barefoot.

/What is with me and flooring today?/

After a few more words, Quatre nodded and left, leaving Duo to his own devices. He just stood and looked around for a moment. Then, remembering, he quirked a grin and walked to the fridge. Opening it, he looked inside and couldn't hold in a quick laugh.

/Two jumbo-sized jars of dill pickles, one bag of jalapeno peppers--/

A footstep behind him drew him from his study, and he turned to find the black-haired Wufei entering the room with his paper tucked under one arm.

Duo allowed himself a moment to study the man as he hadn't earlier. He was of obvious Chinese descent, his colouring and the delicate slant of his eyes giving that fact away instantly. He appeared slight, and Duo blinked as him mind forced himself to realize that the other came up no further than his shoulder-- though, like Heero, he didn't by any means appear short. The black hair was pulled back into a tail at the base of his skull.

The sharp black eyes met Duo's own blue for a moment, then slid away. With yet another disdainful sniff, Wufei dropped the paper on the table and turned away, dismissing Duo from his attention.

/Arrogant prick/, Duo seethed, his eyebrows drawing down in a frown. /But if we're going to be working together-- this won't do. Ah, hell, if I can bite my tongue for Heero-frigging-Yuy--/

Throttling down his annoyance, Duo cleared his throat slightly, drawing the other's attention back to him. He nodded his head in the other's direction. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Chang Wufei. I look forward to working with you."

Those black eyes widened in momentary shock, then narrowed again in consideration-- because both of them knew fully well that he had been introduced in the usual western way, with his family name last.

Duo had to exert all of his control not to look smug. /Not quite as ignorant as you thought? Well, maybe you won't be so quick to assume things about me next time, though I doubt it. I have the feeling I'm going to have to earn every iota of respect from you-- from all of them. Wonder why the hell they're all so defensive?/

Finally, the other man gave him a slow nod in return. "Wufei will do," was all he said before he turned and left, but it was enough to bring a grin to Duo's face.

/It's a start./

Sighing faintly, Duo stood for a moment, staring at the door. Then he shook off his thoughts and turned his attention back to the kitchen. It took him a few tries, but he eventually found the expected cupboard with its stacks of Synth cartons. He took one from the stock and made his way back to his bare little room, where he found the promised catalogues from Quatre. He flipped through them for a while, lying back on occasion to stare at the walls and try to picture what should be there.

Then, he shoved them to one side, opened up the mission folder and began to read.