Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Half Cocked ❯ Eleven ( Chapter 11 )

Eleven

Trowa sighed as he raised the cigarette to his mouth, then fished out the lighter. He stopped at the commissary and gotten himself a pack when the craving started haunting him. That was before they'd decided to double team and he'd basically gotten chased off into the jungle. Quatre was off with Jinli—because evidently they were one entity, and Heero and Wufei were working on Demigod.

Trowa's cell started ringing—hadn't that been in the dream? Though, that had gone straight to sex, hadn't it?

Maybe Duo had pulled his head out of his ass.

He shook his head, raising his phone to read the face...huh. He didn't know that one.

"Hello?"

"Brigadier?" the man on the other end was aggravated.

"That's a bit vague," Trowa noted. "Care to enlighten me?"

"Why is my son in Peru?"

Trowa blinked at that.

"Last I heard there was still fighting in South America. I wouldn't choose for my boy to be down there at all, let alone in Borde del Rio."

"Kiardane," Trowa noted, considering the man's annoyance. "Interesting. How come you're calling, again?"

The man went silent—it was the pissed sort.

Trowa sniggered slightly, looking around as he inhaled again. "Okay, so, for the record, I didn't invite him or suggest he come. In point of fact, I was ordered to leave him behind—the thing is, Maxwell got grabbed."

Kiardane sighed tiredly. "So I heard—you know, before I tried to call my son? It was the strangest thing because the line at his apartment just kept...going to voice mail."

"I can't help that," Trowa noted pointedly. "Nor can I help the fact that he hasn't called you. Just to be specific, I'm sort of in Brazil right now...so I can't give him the phone. Why are you calling me again? I'm pretty sure Blake is twenty."

"So help me lord, I'd skin you if he didn't think so much of you."

"You, uh, realize...we're sort of a couple now, right?"

"Considering all the shit that Williams boy has gone through," Kiardane noted pointedly, "there's a lot that could be said about it—but I am aware you've been bangin' my son pretty consistently for a couple months now."

"So do I get to look forward to these conversations all the time? Or just when he hops the flight to Peru Williams and Wong are taking? Because, uh, Maxwell got grabbed, and in case you didn't realize it, we're all sort of friends."

"You're paying for his trip, right?" Kiardane snapped. "He doesn't have much money, and lord knows if he even has a job after taking off like that."

"You know, it never occurred to me to ask," Trowa mused thoughtfully. "I have no idea how he got down here."

The man sort of growled at him.

"Listen, old man," Trowa muttered, "I'd love to let you bitch at me about your son being impulsive and all, but not only am I kinda happy he's here, but I'm sort of in the middle of this huge search going on in the Amazon jungle. It's down in Brazil, you know? On the South American continent? Well, it was the weirdest thing," Trowa flicked the ash from the tip of his cigarette, considering the cherry thoughtfully. He'd never hear the end of it if the others realized he'd even had one smoke, but he couldn't bring himself to care. "There were these enemies, and..."

The line cut.

Trowa grinned slightly, dialing Heero—or rather, Heero's extension, which he had linked to whatever console he was nearby by the simple expedience of his cell-phone and Pan.

"Yeah?" Heero asked with interest.

"Blake around?"

"Oh sure," Heero was nearly indifferent, and silence followed.

"Hello?" Matty asked uncertainly.

"Is Blake around?" Trowa repeated, wondering what Heero was doing that had his attention.

Matty laughed a little. "Sorry about that. Heero has his phone set to auto-answer for you guys; his phone beeps all weird and...he didn't even get up, he used his phone."

Trowa snorted at that.

"But I'll go get Blake."

Trowa rolled his eyes, moving closer to the tent as he inhaled again. Quatre had a print-out of a satellite scan, and he and Jin were pouring over it intently. He had all sorts of pins and flags and things set up, and Jin seemed to be following along. Trowa'd intended to at first, but that was boring.

"Hello?" Blake asked almost eagerly.

"Hey, lover," Trowa greeted him—then realized what he'd said. He rolled his eyes at himself, then dropped to the dirt. "I just got the most interesting call."

"Did you?"

"Yeah...it seems your dad didn't know you'd come down here."

Blake started laughing in disbelief. "Oh no! I was hoping he wouldn't realize I'd left at all! What did he say?...where's my...my phone is gone."

Trowa snorted.

"No! I'm serious! It was in those pants you threw across the room...aw, man..."

"So you've been avoiding his call," Trowa decided happily. "So he called me and was all pissy."

Blake sniggered.

"Nice, Blake, nice..." He inhaled again. "How did you get down here, anyway? I mean...there's no way you coulda had the funds."

"Jin...bought the tickets," Blake admitted. "I'm not sure how."

"So I owe Wufei," Trowa snorted slightly. "Alright...listen, if you need anything on the base itself just get Matty to swipe his card...we could do the espousal thing and join the club...might be easier in the end, but..."

"But then we'd have to divorce to end it," Blake noted. "And if I ever got married or anything again I'd have to explain."

Trowa snickered. "So no...no espousal for us...but...just get Matty to do it."

Blake snorted back. "Right...and I'll borrow from Heero or Wufei and let you pay them back, because unlike Matty and Jinli both, I'm perfectly content for you to buy me shit. Was that all? I need to find my phone—why didn't you call it, by the way? Or did you?"

"I didn't think to, I just figured you'd be with Heero...and you might get roaming charges down here. I suggest you use Heero's phone to call your dad, huh? It's cheaper that way. I gotta go...see ya in a few hours, huh?"

"Alright. Take care...love you!"

The call ended before Trowa could properly respond to that. He blinked a few times, then smirked, considering the phone a moment.

"Get in here and quit being a lover-boy," Quatre ordered, glancing up at him. "What do you think this is? And don't bring that damn cigarette in with you—you'll reek enough without it."

- -

"Did you just...get off on pissing Rab off?" Qingfu muttered curiously as Maxwell lay on the bed next to him. They were in Qing's bedroom again, and the brigadier was stretched across it comfortably. They'd been talking for a good hour, and Qingfu was sitting at Maxwell's hip.

"I suppose," Maxwell returned skeptically. "It comes off what way to hear him talk about it. We weren't the ones telling the seventeen year old blond he was nothing but a sex toy."

"Winner was all over the place," Qing protested.

"The how the hell did I get his virginity?" Maxwell retorted.

"That's not even the same," Qingfu protested. "He had girls..."

"You're not hearing me," Maxwell cut him off. "I got his virginity."

Qingfu blinked. "Oh...really?"

Maxwell nodded seriously, then yawned. "Okay...we gotta go do something or I'm gonna fall back asleep."

"You could probably use it," Qingfu noted. "You don't look half so bad as you did when you came in, but..."

"Yeahyeahyeah, I'd only let my boyfriend mother me so come on," he stood and stretched.

Qingfu stood himself, yawning, then moved to follow. "We should go check on the council."

"Remember?" Maxwell retorted. "They're scared of me?"

Qingfu laughed, moving after. "When are we getting rid of you, anyway?"

"When I get bored enough to wanna go," he shrugged, grinning happily. "You seem to keep me entertained, though."

"Oh, darn," he noted dryly as he took the took the lead. "You gonna give me permission to use your name, or do I have to keep calling you Maxwell?"

"As if I give a shit," the man retorted, then thought about it. "Well...I guess that means its fine for you, because anyone else doing it would annoy me."

He grinned at the guy.

"What about you?"

"I told you last night," Qingfu retorted, heading down the way. "Call me Qingfu."

"I should come up with some random ass nickname for you," Duo retorted happily, looking around. "Let's go find my spies, I sent them to ferreting info for me..."

"Ha! So you admit it!"

"What did you think they were doing?" Duo's tone was disbelieving.

"The keyword is 'admit', Duo," he retorted. "Keep that in mind."

Duo started laughing.

- -

Jaden rubbed at his face as the people on the council continued bickering, wondering if anything would ever get resolved. They'd started with if they would become mercenaries or not, then got as far as what they'd charge...before someone had gotten pissed enough to note this was only if they became mercenaries.

The entire thing was going in circles, and Jaden was pretty sure they were just trying to piss him off.

"It's a sound frickin' plan," Armend snapped. "He's right when he's saying about the perm..."

"Oh stop parroting your superior," Verice snapped.

Armed stopped, looking around to him in disbelief.

"Obviously he wants us to do this," Verice added, looking everyone over. "Has anyone asked why? I keep thinking that...he called us terrorists, so why would he give us an out?"

"Because the hassle it'd be to prosecute all of us," Jaden snapped. "Because we can help him."

People shifted back to see him better, blinking.

"Don't go assuming the asshole just wants us in deeper shit. If that was all he wanted, he wouldn't have called and told his friends what specifically he was doing. He'd have called and said for them to come get him...or just left us alone." He started to pace up and down the long side of the table—Maxwell had been doing that before, and as little as he wanted to admit it, it helped him feel a little calmer.

"But, sir..."

"But nothing," Jaden retorted, giving the woman a sour look. "And you," he pointed at Verice, "need to pull your head out of your ass before I cram it up so far you see daylight again."

The man ducked his head.

Jaden considered the others, realizing he'd half expected Qingfu to quip about a never ending cycle or paradox or something...something inane and irrelevant to the overall conversation...

He didn't like that Qingfu found Maxwell amusing.

He stopped walking, briefly amused by his own jealousy. "So I have something for you all to think about before I chase you out of here...what choice do we have?"

That made them look down and away.

"Which," he noted thoughtfully, "brings us back to the point where we were talking about charging. Think about that, ladies and gentlemen...and maybe later on today I'll bring you all back in here...but probably tomorrow."

There were nods all around as people started gathering up note books, not looking at him. He moved to lean against the wall as they slowly started to leave, then turned to look out the window to the ocean.

It was so strange...to be in charge. It was strange to make decisions and know they'd be followed. It was strange to...watch the ocean rising and falling all the way to the horizon with nothing to block the view.

"Mr. President?"

Jaden jumped, turning to blink at Clint.

The young man was standing at his place at the table with his lips lightly pursed. "I'm...sorry to...to bother you," he noted, picking up a folder in front of him. "But...I was told to give you this," he moved around and offered the file.

"And what is it?" Jaden asked dryly.

"Um...I'm not sure."

"Oh, don't lie to me," Jaden retorted, taking the thing and moving back to the table. "It's like you saying you know a spy when we all know better than that."

"I'm sorry, but you're mistaken..."

Jaden pulled the knife from his waistband and pressed it to the young man's throat, looking down at him from half-lidded eyes.

The guy didn't move.

There was an inarticulate sort of snarl from the door. Even as Jaden turned his head to look at who made the noise something slammed into his knife...hard. He was turning as the knife fell from his partially numb hand, raising his hands as Maxwell flew at him.

"He was testing me!" Clint squeaked...he actually squeaked.

Jaden slammed against the wall hard, a thrill of adrenaline bursting through him as he waited for the inevitable pain...and nothing happened.

He swallowed, blinking at the brigadier general in confusion a moment, then to Qingfu, who'd caught Maxwell's arm before he could punch.

That was an altogether alarming sight.

"Just...trying to prove...if I'm a spy," Clint rushed on, moving up beside his superior.

"Well?" Maxwell growled.

"Duo..." Qingfu was still holding his arm back.

A slight amount of tension left those shoulders, and Jaden realized he was about an inch away from being pummeled.

"If he's not a spy, why would he know my record?" Jaden returned, allowing himself to relax as well. Behind him on the floor, was his knife...and Qing's. He knew it, because Qing had this habit of marking his things with the character for qing. It wasn't like Jaden could read Chinese, but understanding came after seeing something repeatedly.

How had Maxwell gotten Qing's knife?

The man was glaring as he moved away, yanking his arm from Qingfu's grasp.

"I gave him the...folder," Clint added, looking around until he spotted the thing on the floor. It was open and the papers from inside it were scattered. "Like I was ordered...and he wanted to know what it was."

"What is it?" Maxwell muttered, shifting his shirt.

"The definitions used for applying for permits."

Jaden met eyes with Qingfu and rolled his own toward the ceiling.

"Well, pick it up," Maxwell gestured at the papers, then ran his hands through his hair...before turning to pick up the knives.

Clint didn't hesitate to dart to the ground, gathering the sheets up quickly.

"Here," the man muttered, passing his blade back to him before considering Qingfu's. "I'd apologize, but it'd be crocodile tears." He flipped the knife into the air, caught it, and tucked it into his belt.

Jaden nearly commented before Qingfu rolled his eyes...and took the thing. It had gone down the back of Maxwell's pants, and he didn't hesitate in the slightest to yank it back.

"Heyheyhey!" Maxwell protested, his eyes sparkling as he turned back to the other. "I have a man."

Qingfu grinned and traced the flat part of the tip under Maxwell's eye. "This is mine," he said happily. "See?" he showed the character. "Mine."

Maxwell grinned back at that, glancing to Jaden...for commiseration, of all things.

"You really need to get off my ship," Jaden informed the man in mild disbelief.

Maxwell laughed...it was a genuine laugh. It made his eyes sparkle, and utterly transformed his face—even without the shave he needed...he looked young. He looked young enough to be carded before giving him alcohol.

"How...old are you?" Jaden asked quietly, blinking at the man uncertainly. He generally felt Maxwell was near his own age, but...laughing like that...

"Twenty-two," Maxwell gave him an interested look. "Why?"

Twenty-two.

Jaden stared at the young man in a new light...really thought about his stories. He'd stated the ages of himself and the other pilots casually when he needed to, but the numbers hadn't meant much if they were compared to him and his friends in the Eve Wars.

"What?" Maxwell's amusement had tapered off, if not his good humor.

"You were just a boy."

The man's eyebrows shot toward his hairline, and then a wicked smirked settled into his eyes with the accompanying confidence, and he leaned forward to study Jaden's mouth a moment. "I assure you...I'm very much a man."

Qingfu started laughing and shoved at him...which made Maxwell start laughing as well and shove back. It led to a tussling mach as they tried to move one another. The game, because it was play, took that seriousness away from Maxwell's face again...

Jaden had never really gotten it before, how the brigadier generals, the almighty gundam pilots...how they could be with some kid...some nineteen year old kid...

But they weren't that much older than him.

Qingfu rolled them so he was pinning the man to the ground, and Jaden saw him concede...just...admit defeat to lay there and laugh.

Qingfu looked up proudly to Jaden a moment...and squawked as Maxwell rolled them again...starting to laugh twice as hard.

"Here you go...captain," Clint muttered, almost laughing himself as he moved back from the pair.

Jaden took the folder from him, watching as he moved back as well. The younger looked almost like he wanted to join the fun...and then chairs started falling on them.

"Enough! Enough already!" Jaden moved forward with a grin to clear the chairs off his second's back. Qingfu dropped over sideways on the floor, nearly breathless.

Maxwell's eyes were utterly sparkling again as he propped himself up on one elbow to look down at Qingfu.

Jaden wasn't sure he appreciated Qingfu quieting to hear whatever jewel of wisdom Maxwell'd come up with to grin like that...

"It was good for me," Maxwell noted, looking down the length of Qingfu's body. "Was it good for you?"

Qingfu started laughing harder, extending his arms to be pulled up as Maxwell rose. "Who said we were done yet? You wanna roll with the big boys, you gotta go all night!"

- -

Epiphany was a funny word.

Jaden sat back in the armchair of his room as Maxwell and Qingfu laughed more together, exchanging ridiculous stories. They'd covered all sorts of inane bullshit before landing on the topic of how many they could take one-on-one. Maxwell was the clear winner when it came to suits, so they'd decided hand-to-hand was worth the debate.

"And he's got me back like this," Maxwell extrapolated, bending over backwards and raising a hand to his throat to show how he'd been held...then raised one leg. "So I go all-knee...and just...fell..." he dropped back onto the bed. "Total ball shot, he's on the ground half on top of me, singing second soprano..." he glanced at Jaden's raised eyebrow. "Matty's sister's in choir—second soprano is super high...like, only dogs can hear it high...and..." he went back to telling Qingfu how he'd slammed his own head and had to then escape while half-concussed.

The wild thing about it all was that Jaden didn't think he was exaggerating.

And how old had he been during that fight? ...going one on one with an armed and fully trained adult soldier...

A door clicked, and Maxwell was instantly silent, his head turning to the door as he listened.

"Yo, Supreme?" Armend called happily, his voice heading for the room. "I'm totally going to interrupt the two of...uh...Brigadier!"

Duo smiled brightly at him. "Threesome, quartet...double the pleasure, double the fun?"

"Is it just me or are you far too sexually inclined?" Qingfu demanded skeptically.

"I totally haven't gotten laid in a week," Maxwell retorted.

"I'm going to go for some mature conversation," Jaden noted dryly to the men as he stood.

"Do you need something from me?" Armend muttered to Maxwell almost nervously.

"A quick blow in the back seat, a formal resignation...some lube..."

Qingfu started laughing, smacking at him.

"And what do you mean mature?" Maxwell called as Jaden started away.

"Not eighteen plus," Qingfu retorted. "Something with substance."

"Oh, baby, do it harder?"

"No no no," Qingfu retorted. "I'm gonna cum!"

The pair started laughing again.

Jaden looked back to Armend, who looked stunned. "Yeah," he agreed dryly. "They get along, I know."

"You're not...worried about it?" Armend asked almost hesitantly.

Yes. Qingfu's way too taken with him.

"What? No," Jaden shrugged as he headed for his little kitchen. "they're just being stupid...they're rather good at it."

"Oh!" Maxwell seemed to be responding to him. "What if he comes back!"

Qingfu laughed evilly. "He'll join us."

The laughter turned wicked...and it went quiet.

Jaden couldn't help it. He turned to look at the door to the room...and both men started laughing harder.

"Um...wanna...walk the hall?" Armend asked, blinking at them.

"Please," Jaden agreed, leaving the little apartment. "What's up?"

Armend leaned against the wall as he studied Jaden, his expression thoughtful.

"What?" Jaden asked quietly.

"How can you stand him? How can Rin? He drives me nuts."

"He's not so bad," Jaden protested. "I'm pretty sure he's just looking for a laugh most of the time..."

"Maxwell," Armend retorted. "You think that Brigadier General Duo Maxwell is looking for a laugh?"

"Did you hear them?" he demanded, gesturing back toward the room they'd just left. "And you only hear like...two seconds of conversation."

The man rolled his eyes.

"Come on, I know Qing doesn't have much leeway, but Maxwell's twenty-two...not exactly the most mature age, if I recall."

"Maxwell," Armend repeated pointedly.

"Yeah," Jaden agreed sarcastically.

"Rab may have been a little ambitious," Armend noted pointedly, "but he was right about one thing. The gundam pilots are...are..."

"Young," Jaden cut him off blankly. "I heard all Rab's tales about them and how they had to be doing everything to piss him off, but when you start listening to him..."

"Stop me if I'm wrong," Armend retorted, "but I sort of remember him and his friends going into some psychology shit?"

"I think they saw a shrink," Jaden retorted. "Which I'm starting to envy them. What did you need?"

"A proposition for payment," Armend noted, pushing away from the wall. "It's readily evident that I can't suggest things on council anymore, even though you only have this ship because of me..."

"Don't go getting all pissy at me because of them...you know I'll fucking vouch for you."

The man glowered at him and shook his head, starting down the hall. "I'll just submit it in triplicate...so you, Rin, and Maxwell can discuss it."

"Oh, don't even get all pissy!" Jaden protested, taking a step after the man.

Armend flipped him off.

Jaden glowered after him, watching him disappear down the hall, then turned and moved back into the apartment again. Maxwell was laughing hard as he shut the door, and Qingfu was talking animatedly.

Well...at least he had a ready distraction.

Jaden sighed, then started to pull his shirt off as he moved into the room. "I know Qing doesn't have much to offer," he noted. "But I assure you, I am much more impressive."

End