Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Half Cocked ❯ Four ( Chapter 4 )

Four

"I'm so fucking hungry," Duo muttered as they moved off the plane, looking around the port. "Food here or there?"

"There," Heero muttered tiredly, looking around. "I want to get to our quarters and call Matty."

"You talked to him most of the way here," Wufei protested.

"I need to call Blake," Trowa muttered, rubbing at his face. "And I don't want to be here longer than I have to. I'm leaving my phone," he added, rubbing at his face. "I'll pick up a throw-away, but it won't have Pax or anything on it...but I can toss that out, too."

They nodded, looking around to each other.

It was weird to think that Trowa was driving a couple hours down the coast to get his gundam.

"Why don't we go talk," Duo suggested, looking around to him. "You won't come back into town during daylight anyway, so a few more hours here won't hurt."

"It shouldn't take that long," Trowa muttered through gritted teeth, then shrugged and nodded. He was actually more dreading the talk with Duo that hoping for it to help. He had been sort of relieved to admit the need, but that was before Heero'd made his lovely comment at the start of the flight. Heero was awfully stressed about leaving Matty like that. He'd cemented that notion firmly by calling a half hour after they left.

Trowa hadn't called Blake, and hadn't gotten any texts about it, either.

They moved through the port as Wufei lagged more and more behind. He was barely with their group when Trowa turned to look at him.

"Carry me," Wufei suggested as the others stopped as well, moving up to lean against Trowa. "I think my lungs decided to stop giving me oxygen."

"CPR?" Trowa offered helpfully, though he did take Wufei's weight.

"Try it and I'll skewer you."

"How do you know that's not what he wants?" Duo muttered sidelong, more to Heero.

"Quatre needs to come back and screw him," Wufei muttered tiredly, focusing on his breathing.

"Would that actually help?" Trowa returned quietly, listening to the sound of the other's chest. "I know when I've gone a while without, I get worse when I get it."

Wufei laughed weakly at that.

"Are you okay?" Heero muttered, moving closer.

"You need to inhale," Trowa said quietly. "It'll hurt, I think, but you need to inhale."

"It hurts," Wufei whimpered slightly.

"Try?" Trowa offered. "You're not taking very deep breaths...you're gonna like...pass out if you're not careful."

Wufei took a few more of his panted breaths, then started to inhale slowly. The noise he made was a strange one, but there was no mistaking the pain in it.

"We have to get him something to numb that shit," Duo muttered, pulling out his phone. "I think one of those stupid nebulizers, the little ones? I don't think he needs a full dose of medication even, just something to numb his lungs so he can breathe."

Wufei gasped the breath out, leaning against Trowa again. He dug his fingers into Trowa's forearm with the next breath.

"I hate to...to...interrupt," Trowa muttered, gritting his own teeth. "But I seem to have a taste for...pain...and..."

Wufei started laughing helplessly, pressing his face into Trowa's upper arm.

"What the hell did you do to your lungs?" Heero demanded skeptically. "How in the hell did you get bronchitis?"

"Someone at work had it and gave it to someone else..."

"Bronchitis itself isn't contagious," Trowa noted. "Right?" he added to Duo.

Duo waved him away.

"Not that, stupid," Wufei muttered through pants. "That hurts..."

"We're at the gate, and Chang needs a portable nebulizer," Duo informed whoever he called. "It would normally take us ten minutes to get to the front of this monster, but I think it'll take longer. Have a doctor check Chang's medical files and get whatever he needs to the front. Oh, he needs something numbing, right? Thanks," Duo muttered after a moment, then closed the phone and looked around.

"I guess we could carry him," Heero muttered. "He's not too big, and..."

"I can walk," Wufei grumped at him, still holding Trowa's arm as they started to move. "You may not realize it, but I am better."

"You're right," Trowa agreed. "We hadn't realized it."

Wufei sniffed at him, then forced another breath...that snapped into a gasp. Wufei croaked slightly, turning to press his face back into Trowa's shoulder.

"He doesn't have allergies does he?" Trowa muttered to Duo as the thought occurred to him. "It may be something in the air."

"Pick him up," Duo gestured vaguely. "If he keeps this up he'll make himself pass out and lose anything like dignity."

Trowa grinned at that, turning slightly and scooping his friend up by the legs. Aside from Wufei not floundering to be lifted like that, he was startled at how light the Asian really was. It made him a little worried, too. They hadn't realized he'd gotten sick until it turned into bronchitis. How long had it been?

Moving through the port carrying Fei went smoother than he'd expected. The only ones who really stared were the small children, and people got out of the way. He was also taken aback that Wufei allowed it.

"Oi," Duo muttered as they finally neared the front. He indicated the main entrance...and Trowa realized there were soldiers there.

"What?" Wufei muttered, turning his head to look at them, then sighed and regained his feet as Trowa lowered him. He took a moment to straighten his hair, then pushed away from Trowa completely.

"If you're in this condition when shit goes down," Heero said quietly, "I'm flying it."

Wufei made a dismissive and irritated gesture at that, starting forward.

"We got the portable nebulizer as you ordered, sir," one soldier muttered, moving forward with the handful of equipment. "I'm a clinic nurse," he added, focusing on Wufei and moving to him with the stuff. "Do you need me to explain this, sir?"

"Just put the damn medication in it and give it to me," Wufei returned tiredly.

The man's eyes covered Wufei's face before he frowned, then focused on the stuff he held. He closed the small tank and passed the mask back to Wufei. It was obvious he was about to hook it around Wufei's head—it had a band for that—but Wufei took it from him and pressed the mask to his face.

"Um...your parcels arrived an hour ago," one of the other soldiers noted quietly. "We were told to report the items are in good repair."

"If you salute," Duo warned pointedly to a younger male who looked about to freak out.

"I'm sorry, sir," the guy squeaked, cramming his hands into his pockets.

"Our luggage was with the parcels," Duo noted, looking back to the main officer. "We can go now."

"I need to check your stats," the nurse informed Wufei.

"Kiss my what?" Wufei retorted.

"As a colonel level airmen," the guy retorted, "denying me defers the case to your espoused, and I honestly am not above calling him myself."

"How the fuck do you know about Jin?" Wufei demanded irritably as they moved to climb into the waiting van. "Check my stats, fuckin' nebulizer..." the grumbles faded to inaudible as the others followed him.

Trowa had a feeling that 'getting carried through a port' was in his list of complaints, but they were all pretending that hadn't happened.

"God this burns," Wufei pulled the face-plate away, gasping a few times. His lips compressed, but he didn't show any other signs of the extent of the pain.

"I'm sorry, I should have warned you," the nurse made an irritated face. "I'm...it's...the medication was picked by the doctor who reviewed your case. It will burn right-off, but after that, it'll fade away and numb. It will also reduce the inflammation without interacting with the amoxicillin or steroid. It's got a mild dose of Remalene in it as well. Remalene is known to knock people on their ass, but the dose is far below that."

"Wonderful," Wufei muttered, moving to lean against Trowa's arm...and curl up against him. "Even low doses of Remalene knock me on my ass."

Trowa glanced very briefly at Duo, then moved to accommodate his friend. Wufei did that sort of thing with Jinli all the time, but not usually with anyone else—granted, Wufei was straight and slept with Jinli all the time.

So did their espousal cover that?

Trowa snickered.

"What?" Wufei asked darkly.

"Our nurse looks about to call Jin," he said quietly. "You might give him a wrist so he can satisfy himself."

"That...sounded...dirty," Duo said almost hesitantly. "You know that don't you? Was that why you snickered?"

Trowa laughed at that and gave him a look—Wufei was right, Quatre did need to show up.

"How would he satisfy himself with a wrist?" Heero muttered, staring out the window.

The nurse started laughing helplessly, accepting the hand Wufei offered him...but strangely, didn't seem about to argue.

- -

"This is weird," Trowa whispered, looking sidelong to Duo. Heero'd called Matty and talked a long while before falling asleep on one of the beds in the room. There were four total. One was a double, and the rest were supposed to be singles. Trowa was on the one he intended to sleep on—and Wufei was curled up between him and the wall, sleeping heavily.

"I know," Duo muttered quietly, considering the Asian male as he draped a spare blanket over him.

Wufei cracked his eyes open very briefly and smiled as his hand moved from clutching the side of Trowa's shirt to pulling the blanket down for a clutch.

"I think it's because Jin," Duo added, sitting at Trowa's feet and situating the blanket properly around the other. "I don't know why, but they touch a lot."

Trowa nodded, resisting his urge to stroke Wufei's hair...until he realized that Wufei normally slept with it down. He claimed the band at the back of his neck was a disturbance. He grinned slightly, then leaned down and carefully pulled the elastic out...and got snuggled for it.

He blinked in mild alarm at that before looking up to Duo.

"If you ask me what's wrong with him," Duo noted dryly, "I will smack you."

Trowa snickered resting an arm on Wufei's shoulder and shaking his head. "It's so beyond weird."

"You know, when me and Heero kept teasing about making you come to our side...we didn't think you'd do it."

"Don't flatter yourself," Trowa retorted. "I don't notice guys, I notice Blake."

"And Matty," Duo retorted.

"And Matty," Trowa made a face. "Shut-up with that before Heero attacks me."

Duo grinned at that, tilting his head. "You were the one saying you wanted to talk."

Trowa groaned slightly, sinking where he sat as he thought. "I don't think I'm in love with him."

"Promising start," Duo noted dryly, laying over sideways on the bed. "Somehow, though, I'm not surprised. Let's get the doctor patient routine started out right. Why don't you tell me what you know you feel about him, huh?"

"Guilt," Trowa retorted.

Duo rolled his eyes. "Aside from lust, guilt, and not-love."

Trowa snorted at that, then decided he may as well give in. He'd never had a Duo-talk, but he knew both Wufei and Quatre had.

"I think about him all the time," he muttered with a sigh. "And I try to impress him."

"Classic signs of like," Duo agreed.

"If you're going to be an ass," Trowa noted, "I won't bother. Heero hears me out."

"Oh, calm down," Duo grumped at him. "You think it's weird that Fei's curled up to you, but you don't know what it's like for me to be talking to you about emotions. You don't have them, you know. You have none."

Trowa laughed at that and kicked at him lightly. "Ass."

- -

It was cold.

Wufei reached out for Trowa, trying to figure out how the other had disappeared on such a little bed...and found nothing. He pushed himself up from the mattress, looking around to see Heero curled up on a single bed...and an empty room.

His lungs were starting to hurt—they'd been mercifully numb when he'd fallen asleep. What time was it?

He groaned as he moved his chest around to lay on his back and look at the watch.

It'd been noon in LA, but three in Peru when they'd arrived. That meant he'd had the medication around three-fifteen...and he was only supposed to take it once every four hours.

That was lovely.

So had Trowa left? He couldn't have left already. It was barely five. Granted, he was taking a bus to the city near the gundams. Since he was by himself...well, Duo had been talking about driving out there with him, right?

Wufei swung his legs around, blinking at his feet as he realized he'd had his boots on.

Okay...so Trowa had taken his boots off for him...

His hair fell forward, fanning around his face.

Wufei snorted.

"Okay, I'll admit I'm awake," Heero grumbled, rolling to look at him. "Why do you want me to?"

"I did not want you to," Wufei retorted, looking around blankly. "Where are they?"

"Trowa left like, twenty minutes ago," Heero grumbled, pushing himself up as well. "Why are you huffing and puffing if you don't want me awake?"

"I wanted to keep Trowa close because he's warm," Wufei retorted before he thought about it. "The point is moot. Where did Duo go? Did he go with Tro?"

"I haven't a clue," Heero returned, running his hands through his hair as he stretched. "That was a nice little nap...he went out with Trowa, but they'd have messaged us if he'd decided to go."

Wufei nodded, then frowned.

"Huh?"

"My hair-tie isn't here," he explained, starting to dig through the blankets. He grumbled to himself as he dug into his pockets, then moved to look at the floor.

"Where'd you put it, genius?" Heero shifted to pull his boots on.

"I put it in my hair...this morning, after my shower."

Heero blinked at him.

"I also fell asleep with my boots on," Wufei added, extending one foot so Heero could see his sock.

"Duo probably has it, then," Heero muttered, rising and stretching. "I refuse to wear my uniform."

"I refuse to wear mine," Wufei retorted, sliding his feet into his boots. They were placed at the end of the bed. "Where the hell is my hair-tie?"

"I'm sure Duo has it," Heero protested. "Calm down...how are your lungs?"

"Sore," Wufei retorted. "And I have two more hours before I'm supposed to take more. I think that's one of the reasons I woke up. Deepest sleep I've got in days...and I was snuggled against Trowa." He made a face.

Heero laughed at that a little, moving to pull him up off the bed by his wrist. "Let's go."

"I want my damn..."

"Wufei," Heero cut him off in a pointedly happy tone, "Duo."

Wufei grunted in response, grabbing the nebulizer and a couple of the vials of the medication from the nightstand—Heero was still pulling him. He clipped the nebulizer to his belt, then tucked the vials into his pocket as they moved into the hall.

At the very least, if Duo didn't have the tie, the packs were fairly cheap.

- -

"So this checks out," Duo muttered, kicking at a part on Deathsycthe. "That makes me good...Wufei? You breathing?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Wufei grumbled. "It's fine, too."

"You sure?" Duo asked curiously as the soldiers focused toward the other. They were in the military hangar looking their machines over with some of the best mechanics the ESA had to offer.

It was sort of fun, really, because they were people Duo could argue with.

"I'm just letting these guys play," he noted, gesturing to the group of soldiers that were inspecting the bonds between the two machines Demigod was made of...or was it four? Two, four...six...eight...who do we appreciate?

Duo bit his lip to keep from grinning—the commentary was far too stupid for anyone to call him on. He didn't want to admit that an actual thought-process changed to a child's chant.

"Oi," Duo muttered after Wufei disappeared again. "Time."

"You're such a good fucking wife," Wufei retorted irritably, then started muttering to his crew.

"You want me to play wife?" Duo demanded. "We got a day before Quatre gets back, what he don't know don't hurt him."

The soldiers looked up to Duo nervously as Wufei started laughing.

"Um...he's happy...in his relationship," Duo noted to the men. "So'm I, but he left it wide open and seems to forget that I'm openly bi."

"Kiss my what?" Wufei demanded, rounding from where he was standing on the shoulder to glare down at Duo.

"I'm trying to convince them neither of us would cheat," Duo complained. "Don't ask me questions when you know what I'll say and it's counter-productive."

Wufei started laughing, starting to mess with the little nebulizer.

"See? He moved on," Duo grinned at the men. "So...who wants to look at his innards?" he indicated the machine.

"Can we?" one of them asked, eyes glowing. "You'll let us get in and look around?"

"No tools, no cameras, and if anything gets fucked I will personally skin you all alive, but yes."

They all started muttering excitedly.

"There's a catch," Duo protested as they started for the machine. "We pick one area, and that's what you all can look at. I'm not letting you tear up my weapon."

"Didn't you just refer to it as male?" one of the women asked blankly. "Why refer to it as a weapon if you give it a personality?"

"You don't know nearly enough about AI if you're asking me that," he retorted, moving to sit on the walk-way that was chest-high. "I'm trying to refrain from letting it have a personality again."

There was a group acknowledgment to the words before they all went back to talking—there were a few too many interesting things in a gundam. Duo raised his eyes to look at the mecha's face. He'd just as soon never go over it all again, but telling them they could look inside the thing had given them all a sexual-fucking-thrill.

He almost wished something would happen so he could get away from the people who were all older than him and attempting to please him. It was like a whole bunch of teacher's pets waiting to get pet...a pat on the head to make them glow.

"Duo?" Wufei muttered. He'd been watching his friend had slumped after sitting, a slow rounding of the shoulders. He put the mask back over his face until the other pilot looked at him. "Call Quatre," he suggested. "Tell him you made a few dumb jokes in public so he's forewarned if anyone decides to talk to him."

Duo smiled back at him, his eyes brightening before he moved to pull out his phone.

- -

Trowa stared down the cliff-side at the dark ocean breaking against the dark stone. The sound of that and the wind was all he could hear, at least at hand. In the distance, he could hear seagulls or something.

"No time like the present," he muttered to the distant ocean, turning back to the port-hole he'd already opened. Locals believed the area was haunted, and it had scared them enough that they didn't live close.

Actually, on his walk out to that cliff-side, no cars had passed him—and that was quite the walk. Well, it would have been if he walked it. Walking got boring pretty quick when there were miles to cover, so he'd had himself a nice jog.

He almost wished he'd have remembered a rope, but that would have brought him more notice on the...oh look at that.

There was a part inside of Trowa that wanted to complain about the rope dangling down into the pit. Quatre, Heero, and Duo had come out here before, and when they'd left the gundams initially, they had not left a rope. It was secured to the edge of the pit, at least, not the surrounding rocks. If it had been secured to the rocks, it would have been visible.

Trowa lowered himself carefully into the hole, letting the rope take his weight gingerly. It was more because he wasn't harnessed than anything else. It was hard to hang suspended like that and pull the cover back over the hole, but well...he wasn't leaving through that exit.

Fiddling in the dark wasn't really fun, but he hadn't wanted to chance a light above-ground. Hanging from a rope suspended in midair, surrounded by utter darkness didn't strike him as the time to dig out his headlamp either.

How far was it to the platform? Twenty feet? Or had it been ten?

He could smell...oil. Mechanics. That was a familiar scent, and remarkably clean...and yes. That was a person's scent. Who the hell's scent did he associate with motor-oil? He'd been raised and trained by men, not one man. No one particularly stuck out in his thoughts, so whose scent was that?

He didn't exactly have a lot more to think about as he lowered himself carefully hand-under-hand down the rope. If he'd been smart, he'd have brought gloves, but evidently that title escaped him, because if he'd been smart, he'd have put the damn head-lamp on above ground, closed the hole, then flicked it on before dropping slowly into nothing.

Hell couldn't even be that empty.

His feet hit something, and he extended one foot carefully to be sure it wasn't some anomaly. The guys had told him the gundams had all been shifted by presumably earthquakes. Earthquakes could have knocked something out of line in the...okay. That extended more than three feet in each direction.

He let himself off the rope, half expecting to just start falling...and didn't.

Okay, step one done in the dark without dying. Good job, idiot.

Trowa started digging in his cargo jeans until he found the headlamp...and flicked it on. He looked around, being sure he was genuinely where he thought he'd be, then looked up and yanked the rope. It took him two flicks to make it come off, and he stepped back as it slithered through the darkness to land in a random pile of loops near him.

Where was...

The headlamp, which he'd placed on his head, illuminated the stairs, and he turned to go to those. From there, he'd run back and flick on the generator.

Something dark caught his eye, and he glanced down at the hair-tie around his wrist. It made him grin as he pulled it off, because he knew for a fact that it'd drive Wufei nuts not to have that when he woke up from his little nap. He hadn't meant to keep it, but his little talk with Duo had distracted him—the tie had been something to fiddle with and focus on.

Trowa shook his head, looking to Sandrock. Quatre hadn't picked it up from where it'd fallen. That looked eerie, like the machine was falling away from a person on the platform...and then he saw Heavyarms

He stopped in the middle of the stairs, looking at his machine...kneeling.

He would never kneel.

Trowa tsked in annoyance, then started down the stairs.

He would never kneel.

- -

Wufei opened his eyes, wishing his lungs would stop hurting...and not start again. It was such a novel concept—and annoying to have to use the drugs. At least he was getting sleep. He sort of felt bad for his friends, having to deal with him like that. Not to mention having to hold him down to give him a shot—that was just childish.

Wufei made a face, pressing himself up onto one elbow and looking at the clock. It said it was eleven, and he'd needed the next dose at ten.

That was sort of exciting.

It wasn't exciting that eleven in Peru was the same as eight in LA. He wouldn't be sleeping back home without the influence of the Remalene.

It didn't take long before he had the nebulizer set up, and he sighed, realizing he wasn't alone in the room. Duo and Heero were both pretending to sleep.

He sighed, moving across the room and into the hall. He put the strap around his head, then dropped his weight against the wall, crossing his arms.

The thing was that he was tired. Breathing in that chemical no longer burned, it had sort of the second time he'd taken it. The relief in his lungs was stupid...

He blinked at a noise, looking up...and blinking at Trowa.

"Sorry," Trowa muttered, offering him a hair-tie. "It stayed on my wrist when I pulled it out." He yawned, shaking his head and rubbing his eyes. "I'm damn tired. I'm going to bed."

Wufei watched him go, blinking at the hair-tie. His friend left the smell of motor-oil behind him...but it was a mix that was uniquely Trowa.

The Chinese man slid the band around his own wrist, then clicked the nebulizer off. He pulled it off his head and took a long slow breath.

It was nice not to hurt.

He moved back into the room, dropping the machine quietly on his nightstand, then looked around as Trowa started to make himself comfortable.

Wufei hesitated a brief moment, then moved across the room to climb over his friend. He settled down, appreciating the familiarity of the scent as he realized he was about to pass out again—well, not really pass out. He was just...really...tired.

He yawned, grabbing a handful of Trowa's shirt as Trowa settled down himself.

Man...he was tired.