Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Devil's Due ❯ - 51 - ( Chapter 51 )

— 51 —

March 5, A.C. 205. Base. 8 am

“Please tell me we’re first,” Xane muttered as he moved into Jordan’s living room.

Jordan turned to look at him blankly from where he was sitting in boxers, eating something that involved a tortilla. “What?”

“Are we first?” Xane demanded as Duane hesitated in the door. He’d been to the parties enough that the house wasn’t unfamiliar to him, but he’d never been there when a superior wasn’t even dressed.

“Morning, Jor,” Paris muttered happily, moving around the man to sit on the couch next to him and steal a bit of tortilla as he studied the plate. “I’m starving.”

“What?” Quatre asked grumpily, moving from his room and stopping. “Oh…Pair…”

“Winner,” Duane saluted quickly…and noted that the man was also in boxers.

“Don’t play formal when I’m not even awake,” Quatre retorted, waving that away as he yawned, then rubbed at his elbow. “What’s going on?”

Xane pulled two figurines from his pockets, displaying them at the man with a flair.

Quatre blinked at him.

“Give me,” Jordan ordered, extending one hand backward…then stopping to smack Paris as he went for more food. “Get your own.”

“Is there any more made?” Paris retorted, looking a bit offended.

“Yes, there is,” Chai agreed from the kitchen, sounding amused. “Don’t come back yet, though. I’m not dressed.”

“She’s in my shirt,” Jor noted with a smirk to the man.

“You’re so lucky,” Paris muttered dryly to Quatre.

“What?” Simone asked from behind Quatre.

Paris’ eyebrows arched high.

“Don’t be crass,” Quatre muttered, smirking briefly at his friend…as Chai darted into her bedroom.

“I’m gonna come right out and say that I’m not entirely comfortable with all this,” Duane noted, blinking back to Jordan. “Does she always do that?”

“With me and Cat it doesn’t matter,” Jor retorted, rolling his eyes as he took the figurines from Xane. He blinked at one, then the other, then back up to his second.

“What?” Xane asked nervously.

They’d found an abandoned school that’d had some gang-fights to find one of the little statues the previous afternoon, but Xane hadn’t been completely content with that. He’d made sure they went out and found the other object.

He didn’t relish the idea of training new recruits…at all.

The second figure had been in a park.

“You brought them both?” Jordan demanded of him levelly.

“You said not to bring the wrong one, and you didn’t say which one was wrong.”

“Whatever,” Jordan retorted, offended. “If you couldn’t figure out that the one in the park…”

“How?” Xane retorted. “You had two references to school and two to something else.”

Jordan rolled his eyes.

“They didn’t live in Angels, baby,” Chai reminded her husband as she moved from her bedroom with pajama pants on. “You can’t expect them to know the local culture.”

“I suppose,” Jor muttered, rolling his eyes.

“In case he hadn’t said,” she added, looking to Xane. “You are first…are you hungry?”

“Starving,” Xane agreed, following her toward the kitchen as Paris did as well.

“You suck,” Quatre noted to Jordan, then moved back into his room and closed the door.

Jordan grinned slightly, then went back to his very good breakfast.

- -

Xane and Paris happily crashed on the floor while Duane dubiously joined them. They’d slept poorly in an empty apartment overnight, and had woken up early. This had been followed by finding the second figurine before walking from the center of Angels to the bar. Jon had informed them that they’d walked as far as they had without him, and that he really wasn’t supposed to be helping them, so they could cover the short remaining distance to the Rest and Xane’s car…which they’d then done.

As the morning progressed into afternoon, Judas moved in with his two guys, demanding if they were first before spotting Xane and his companions on the floor and sighing heavily. Quatre’s guys there had decided they wanted their own beds and left Judas to shove his way between Xane and Judas so Chai didn’t have to get another mattress. She wouldn’t have let him get it or her husband…and if she had, she’d protest them trying to get their own bedding…so he’d made Paris deal with it since Xane probably didn’t give a damn either way.

As afternoon wore on to evening, Riley and Max moved into the house with sighs. When Chai had supper well underway, Danielle and Trent moved in…before finally, Raul and Simone showed up with Carson Bird.

Carson had been the man of Quatre’s team to start having a breakdown, and he’d insisted he’d recovered enough to go on the outing, but Raul quietly noted to the blond that it didn’t really seem to be the case.

“I’m glad, really,” Jor noted quietly to Xane when everyone else had settled in the living room to eat. “I didn’t really want any of you going to train with basic for a week, let alone two of you.”

Xane nodded.

“Come on,” Jor added, turning and leading his second in. “As I promised…you get my comrade of choice to train with,” he indicated Chance, Quatre, Wufei, and Trowa with a sidelong gesture.

The four looked at him curiously.

“Okay, is that my choice?” Xane asked, blinking at them.

“Yes, it is,” Jor agreed, dropping onto the couch.

“What am I weak in?” Xane asked him curiously, studying him with interest. “I mean…”

“According to Paris you were fine with them,” Quatre noted. “Not that I don’t want you hanging around, but I doubt you need me for anything.”

Xane grinned at him.

“Me, I’d imagine,” Chance noted, considering him with interest. “Or Trowa. According to Wufei you’re damn good with the hand-to-hand.”

“I’d almost rather go with him,” Xane mused, thinking about it.

“It’s your reward,” Chance reminded him. “You get to pick which skill you want honed.”

“I’m trying to be logical…” Xane muttered, shaking his head.

“How were Paris and Duane?” Quatre asked him, tilting his head.

“What?” Xane blinked at him, then shrugged. “They were fine as far as we needed them to be. They reacted exactly how I needed them to.”

Quatre studied him levelly a long moment, then turned to look at Paris.

“What?” Paris asked blankly. He’d been happy with the praise, and hadn’t even thought that his superior might have his necklace off…the chain was still on his neck, and Quatre usually removed that. It only served to reason, really…

“You were all proud of yourself,” Quatre returned, “and he’s nervous,” he pointed at Duane.

“We were just praised,” Paris noted, looking around to the other occupants of the room with his eyes.

“Yeah,” Quatre considered the floor a moment, then looked to Duane pointedly.

“Yeah?” Duane asked, sitting up slightly.

“You don’t have to do that,” Paris muttered, sagging slightly where he sat.

“I don’t trust Mouthy as far as I could throw his fat-ass,” Quatre retorted. “Plus, he was making all sorts of suggestive comments…one reason I had you with him. You know how to re-direct his energies.”

Paris flashed him a grin and avoided looking at Xane at all.

“Did Featihl try anything inappropriate?” Quatre added, looking back to Duane. He was reading the guy as he spoke. There was a flicker of something almost like guilt.

“Hey!” Xane protested, straightening.

Quatre raised a hand, palm-out to the guy.

“No,” Duane muttered, meeting Quatre’s eyes almost uncomfortably. “I was teasing him some here and there…but there was nothing inappropriate.”

“So now…I’m gonna go with Wufei,” Xane noted, looking around to him. “I like what I’ve learned this far and…”

“Did Featihl manipulate you?” Quatre asked Duane, ignoring the other.

“Of course he did,” Paris protested. “What are you getting all serious on us for?”

“Because if I don’t cover my bases and make sure you’re all safe,” Quatre returned, looking to his friend, “then when shit goes down I’m thrown under the truck.”

“I didn’t do anything,” Xane said quietly, studying Quatre seriously. “We were on a mission and he had to rely on me. I wasn’t going to…abuse that trust,” Xane looked to Jordan. “You know that, don’t you? I…you know me…”

“It’s not my matter,” Jordan noted quietly.

“Can’t you defend me?” Xane demanded of him irritably, crossing his arms.

“I know I don’t have to,” Jordan returned, tilting his head slightly. “I know you wouldn’t do anything inappropriate, despite our jokes. Quatre has to be sure, though, and Quatre deals with his own men.”

Xane looked away.

“He kept us safe,” Duane noted, looking from Xane to Quatre. “There was an instance when a man tried to rob us and he made sure we were safe. There was an instance where a man was watching us closely and he warned them off…he found us a place to sleep that was relatively warm and spent most of the night awake to make sure we stayed safe.”

Quatre nodded at him approvingly, then looked to Paris.

“He made Werey keep his physical reactions under control,” Paris noted. “I think if they train together more he’d be able to help Werey control himself better.”

“Is that your last name?” Jordan asked Duane with a curious look. “I thought you were West.”

“No, West was with Jude,” Xane muttered, shaking his head.

“I take it that you two aren’t lying to me,” Quatre noted, looking between the pair. “With Maxwell’s permission, you can train more with Featihl,” he added to Duane. “And…the two of you get Monday off.”

Paris’ face lit with a wicked grin and he turned to look at Chance.

“What?” Chance asked, taken aback.

“I’ve been sleeping with Illia,” he noted.

Chance blinked at him.

“As your friend, can I ask a favor of you?” Paris added happily.

“What?” Chance asked warily, looking the man over skeptically.

“Can she have Monday off?”

Chance narrowed his eyes at him.

“Oh, come on,” Paris protested, moving in closer to him. “There’s…Triad Key is in Remington tomorrow night and she’s dying to go.”

“You want me to give my girl Monday off so she can go to a concert tomorrow?” Chance asked him blankly.

“Come on, Chance,” Paris muttered, looking to the ceiling. “What can I offer you?”

“Watch my kid,” Chance returned promptly.

Paris focused on him.

“My wife wants me to take her to Sins,” Chance noted, studying his eyes. “We won’t come back until three or four in the morning, and our son needs to be at our house. Watch my kid.”

Paris blinked at that.

“Tonight,” Chance added, looking to his watch as his leg started to bounce. He pressed his foot back to the floor, meeting the man’s eyes.

“You’re joking, right?” Jordan asked him blankly.

“No, I’m not,” Chance returned, meeting his eyes curiously. “He baby sits for me tonight, he gets laid by Doe tomorrow, Monday morning they sleep in and I turn a blind-eye to Doe not showing up when I call them to me before roll-call. Any problems?”

“A few,” Jor noted, raising an eyebrow. “None to voice in mixed company.”

“Yeah, fuck you,” Chance returned, then looked back to Paris.

“Just stay at your house with your boy until you get home?” Paris persisted.

Chance nodded.

“You’re wrong, you know that?” Wufei muttered, then moved to head into the kitchen.

Chance watched him go, rolled his eyes, then looked back to Paris.

“All right,” Paris agreed. “I’ll have to call her and tell her…can she come over?”

“After my boy is sleeping, I don’t care as long as he doesn’t get woken up and the house isn’t mussed.”

A flicker of a grin crossed Paris’ face and he nodded his agreement.

“I’m gonna go tell her,” he noted, hopping to his feet. “Thanks for supper, Chai. It was wonderful.”

“It’s no problem,” she reassured him with a smile…and he darted from the room.

“What?” Trowa asked blankly, looking around. “Am I the only one dumb?”

“I think so,” Quatre noted, focusing on him. “Granted, I’ve got the magnet off the necklace or I probably wouldn’t have followed that one either.”

“Why is he wrong and stuff for taking his wife out?” Trowa added, gesturing after him.

“He’s taking his wife to Sins,” Quatre noted, rising to his feet with a slight grin. “Shouldn’t that be enough?”

“Maybe, if Jor didn’t do the same thing.”

Jordan flashed him a grin, then looked back to Xane. “You talk to Wufei about when he wants you to show up.”

“I wanna go to the concert,” Chai noted, looking to her husband curiously.

He blinked at her. “You know the group?”

“I’ve seen some music videos,” she agreed. “I hear them on the radio.”

He stared at her in complete confusion.

“What?”

“Why are you only mentioning this now?” he returned.

She gave him an arch look.

“So…” Jor looked to Paris. “Looks like we’re going to the concert.”