Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Idle Hands ❯ Four ( Chapter 4 )

Four

Quatre yawned as he moved into the red-cross area. People were looking at him, soldiers jumping up to salute or nod respectfully. He saw quite a few of the latter looking at his hair.

Okay, he needed to do something about it, it'd grown out faster than he'd expected...but half of the fun anymore was Matty trying not to notice it.

He nodded to the men, reaching back until he found Duo's hand...but...that hand was rougher than Duo's...calluses in different areas...longer fingers.

Trowa sniggered.

Quatre rounded on his friend, starting to hit the man's shoulders as the guy danced backwards snickering his happily wicked laugh.

"Sorry! Sorry!" Trowa started warding off the blows by raising his hands. "Blake does that all the time! I didn't think about it!"

It was a lie, but Trowa wasn't trying to be mean or rude or anything. He was doing his thrill thing...which was evidently trying to get a rise out of Quatre.

Did this count?

Quatre smacked him again, glowering into his eyes. He wasn't sure what he really thought, but Duo had evidently stopped to talk to a soldier. He was half-strolling to them with his hands in his pockets and an amused expression. They met and held eyes, and Quatre decided it was okay to pout. He turned away from the pair and looked around the pavilion.

"To the..." Duo started.

"I can find him," Quatre retorted irritably, turning right. He could feel his friends.

"Hey, don't be mad," Duo protested, moving around—Quatre heard the sound of a smack, and Trowa snickered. "For what it's worth, it was a sorta...reaction...like, your hand went back and his went up..."

Trowa didn't respond, and Quatre decided it wasn't worth worrying his lover. He turned and gave Trowa a dirty look, then rolled his eyes. "There was a little more to it than that," he noted. "But that kinda was the simplicity."

The sound of Duo's footsteps changed, and Trowa laughed delightedly, bouncing backwards from the other male with his hands up again.

"Why were you bitching about decorum?" Quatre demanded, rounding on him. Trowa's actions had been making him wonder about the fit Trowa'd been throwing back when Zechs had been nabbed.

"We were in uniform," Trowa retorted, indicating his cargo jeans and t-shirt pointedly. "And he," he gestured at Duo without looking at him, "was lacing his words with such subtle innuendoes I wasn't sure if you knew what he was doing. Not only that, but I hadn't gotten laid...I get really pissy when I go long enough without."

Duo smirked at him.

"You could tell?" Quatre muttered, blinking at Trowa.

"I didn't know why he was fucking with you," the man retorted, starting to move again. "But he was."

"That was actually not long after..."

Quatre smacked Duo before he could say more, taking the lead again irritably.

"And, really," Trowa added happily, "he was eyeing Cardle."

Duo smirked at his friend, then rolled his eyes to Quatre.

Quatre rolled his own eyes, moving around one of the myriad walls strung up between the supporting poles.

Wufei looked up at him, his eyes still slightly unfocused...no...no, that wasn't his physical body.

"You okay?" Quatre muttered, moving around Heero's cot—the man was passed out and bandaged up anyway.

The...muzzy...look to the Asian man started to drain away as he smiled up at Quatre. A feeling of...relief or something...started to emanate from him as he looked to Duo and Trowa.

"Damn," Duo muttered, leaning down to be over Heero's ear. "You look like shit."

Heero grumbled in his sleep.

Duo smirked up at the others.

"Maxwell."

Duo turned to look at Timorre as the man came closer, then slowed to look at Quatre.

Quatre raised an eyebrow, sensing unease from the man.

Timorre raised his hands to about chest height, palms out and focused on Quatre. "I'm sorry."

Wufei snickered.

"What, now?" Quatre asked, looking around to his friend.

"I pointed out that we all wanted to strangle Duo for allying us with him," Wufei shrugged innocently. "Explained that Matty is working hard to keep Heero from going berserk on him...and that me and you...well...we aren't under those restrictions."

Quatre smirked at him, the concern and actions lining up as he looked back to the other man. He considered Jaden seriously, realizing with some amusement that the man actually was concerned.

"You're not exhausted or comatose," Trowa noted in his own amusement, considering Quatre a moment, then looked around to Wufei. "Why am I not listed?"

"Because you've been playing build-him-up with the big-wigs," Wufei smirked. "You can no more haul off and deck him than Duo."

"Oh, but I did," Duo protested happily, moving to shake hands with the other male. "We beat the hell out of each other."

Timorre smiled slightly, looking back to Quatre nervously—he'd glanced at Trowa, but wasn't nearly so worried.

"I wish I had the bottled violence to just jump you," Quatre noted to the guy, feeling a little better. "It'd be fun."

The man blinked at him.

"This is Trowa Barton," Duo noted, indicated Trowa. "The guy you ignored all day...this is my lover, Quatre Winner...you've met Wufei in all his grumpy glory..."

"Look at him!" Wufei protested, indicating Heero. "Actually look at him. What's the day after tomorrow?"

"Today's...the...fourteenth?" Trowa looked to Duo curiously.

"Your birthday," Duo returned, realizing it and looking back to Wufei to blink. "The day after tomorrow is your birthday."

Timorre blinked as well.

Wufei settled back in his seat again, running a hand down his face.

Duo focused on Heero, considering the various cuts and abrasions on his face. He had bits of gauze taped to his face and on his neck...and on what they could see of his chest and arms. It wasn't like a full-body wrap or anything. His skin was plenty obvious, but there were bruises involved...and little cuts.

He'd been fully patched up, dosed with Remalene, and sleeping for an hour or three. What had he looked like when Wufei had found him?

Duo looked back to Wufei, studying his eyes seriously.

"It's...nice...to meet you," Timorre noted hesitantly to Trowa, offering his hand.

Trowa blinked at him a moment, then offered his hand as well. "Thank you for this," he noted, indicating the pavilion. "Thank you for helping us. By supper tonight, our space-hearts should be here and we won't have to rely on you so heavily."

"We still have to run them through the bases," Quatre cautioned. "Once I can get what I need...a speech," he looked to Duo.

Duo rolled his eyes, not fully appreciating that.

"I can set up a pretty quick wipe base by base."

"No rush," Timorre's tone was amused.

"He needs money, honey," Duo muttered, leaning over to kiss Quatre. "They need honey."

Quatre smacked at him as Duo laughed, backing off.

Timorre was blinking at them.

"Oooh," Duo bounced back to the man's side. "The fact that I'm bi is all pretty jokes until you see me...if we were in private I'd ravish him for your entertainment."

"I should ravish Qing for yours," the man retorted.

"Get a third to run the camera," Duo suggested.

Quatre smacked a hand to his face. They all knew Duo had videos on his phone that he himself had taken—it was only since they were wiping the LA base that it was realized, of course, but they all knew he did it.

"I should," the man muttered dryly, looking around for reactions.

"He actually has videos," Wufei noted with amused interest from his seat. "Like...the one he sets for when I touch his phone is one he took himself."

Duo smirked at that, pulling the phone open...and jerking his head at the Asian male.

"I really...don't need to see..."

Wufei bounced around and took the new phone from the man—it was more silver than his old one had been, and Wufei was able to see his reflection in the back-side of it...and the audio was clearer.

Timorre stared helplessly at the front as Duo laughed wickedly, looking around to judge Quatre's reaction.

"How in the hell did you talk them into that?" Trowa asked blankly, considering the screen with actual interest.

Wufei decided he disowned his friends.

"They didn't realize I was filming," Duo noted in amusement, rubbing at his face as he also considered the video. "I'd gotten a text from one of you right before, and they were...rather...distracted."

Trowa's smile flashed brightly at his friend.

Quatre yanked the phone from Wufei's grasp...and blinked down at it as the video changed...and gasped as he recognized the clip. "Duo!" He pressed the front of the thing to his shirt as Trowa guffawed in disbelief.

Duo started laughing wickedly...and took his phone back almost delicately.

Timorre blinked a few more times, but Quatre'd moved fast enough to keep either of them from actually seeing the clip.

"Where's your decorum now?" Duo asked Trowa dryly, messing with the settings without acknowledging the accusatory glare he was receiving from his boyfriend.

"I left it in my other pants," Trowa noted, reaching for the phone. "Now I'm curious. How many of those videos do you actually have?"

Duo snickered and smacked Trowa's hand away as he tucked the phone back in his pocket.

"Right," Timorre muttered, raising an eyebrow at all of them. "Let's...change the subject, shall we?"

- -

Heero opened his eyes and blinked around the unfamiliar room, feeling the various aches and pains in his muscles. He'd woken up in a car at one point, and tried to complain that he hated being hooked to an I.V. drip, but...who had it been? One of his friends...Wufei. Wufei had told him to stop complaining and pee before they had to give him a sponge bath.

He smiled slightly, blinking more. He'd woken up several times, actually...given a moment to think it over. He'd been in an open-air pavilion that was draped in mosquito netting, then he'd been in a truck of some sort...and then when they'd put the I.V. drip in.

So...how many days had it been?

He really did have to pee.

Heero pushed himself tiredly up, feeling the pull of tape from the various gauze bandages that'd been covering his wounds.

What room was this?

He looked around some more, realizing that his and Matty's bags were both on the floor between the door and closet. The placement was directly in his line of sight, and that suggested to him that it'd been Duo who thought of it. The idea to reassure him that nothing was wrong...they'd talked about that sort of thing before and had both agreed that they preferred something familiar that wouldn't be in a bad situation.

Evidently they'd given him the liquid Remalene, too, because his wounds had that freshly-healed feeling to them. He pulled off a strip of gauze from his arm and considered the wound under it. It was beyond even scabbing. It might weep a little bit if he stressed it, but it was basically gone.

Where was Matty? Where were the others? They had to know he'd be waking up.

He shook his head, pulling the shirt off as he stood slowly. There was a bathroom, and he decided that a shower would be his next step. He doubted it'd be too long before someone came to check on him.

It didn't take him too long to strip and pull the gauze off his body. There was a gash on his back that looked like it'd gone deep, and that would need to be re-bandaged. Other than that, his bruises were gone and the smaller cuts were healed. He had a new speckling of scars that would probably fade over the next year, and his muscles ached.

The shower was nice. The heat of it loosened the muscles, and the feeling of being clean was just nice after plowing a few trees under with his chest—and at least one broken rib.

Heero ran his hands over the sore spot, deciding that it was more like two. It didn't matter—the healing offered by the Remalene would have lessened most of that—let alone having the liquid form of the drug.

Being a brigadier had benefits, like people thinking he needed the step up of healing.

He thought it was strange that he'd neither gotten any calls nor had anyone waiting for him when he left the bathroom. Where was Matty? Hell, where were his friends?

He pulled on some boxers, socks, and cargo-pants before dealing with the wound on his back. The gauze and tape were still in the bathroom from the last changing he'd had...and so was the trash from that. The others must have denied the cleaning people from coming in while he was unconscious—it'd probably been Duo again, though that one may have been Quatre or Wufei.

It was awkward to get the thing taped down, but he managed after straining both his ribs and shoulders to get into the awkward position...

And still, no one came.

Heero would almost call his mood at that petulant. He considered that and the emotions as he pulled on his shirt and badge, then focused on his boots. He was fully dressed with his wallet and phone as he moved into the hallway, and the fact that there were no guards outside the door made the feeling more prominent.

The jackasses had left him utterly alone and comatose under a Remalene-induced drugging, and hadn't given him any way to tell where he was. He didn't even know if he was in Peru or not.

Jackasses.

He glowered as he moved back into the room, looking around until he found the map for the emergency exits.

That didn't give him a proper destination, and he wanted to annoy his friends just as much as he was annoyed. He wasn't going to text or call any of them first—Matty might be upset by that, but he could explain later that waking up alone like that was less than ideal.

...his phone alarm went off.

He pulled his phone out in surprise at the startling sound, blinking as it said he'd crossed the line, then looked down to the floor...and the sensors there.

Oh...okay.

'You woke up?' Duo asked almost instantly.

'You sure you should be walking around?' Matty's text was a breath of a second later. 'Wait there, me and my guys will come get you.'

'Your guys?' Heero asked, wishing there was a way for text to portray a dry tone.

'Damn hot trio,' Matty agreed happily.

'Heero?' Duo asked.

'Sorry,' Heero returned quickly. 'Matty texted me, too. Where are you? ...and should I say I'm sleep walking?'

'I KNOW that was a stupid question,' Duo retorted. 'I just wanted to let you know we didn't just leave you off in no-man's land. We're doing the screening of some of the top-notches from Brazil.'

'Are we in Brazil?'

'No, we're still in Rio. We got a bunch of...oh, Trowa got tired of waiting after you got Wing, so he cleared the space-hearts. We used your vote, in case it comes up you agree.'

'That's interesting,' Heero retorted. 'You know very WELL that I agree. WHERE are you?'

'The meeting hall.'

Heero stopped next to another emergency exit map—the things were posted at almost every corner with the path to the closest emergency exit highlighted. The maps of the section of the base they were posted in.

'Anyway,' the other continued, 'we've got Trowa playing speech-leader and the space-hearts are pulling guys out as we go. We're probably halfway done, and Matty's disappeared with his entourage. You need help with bandages or anything? You hungry?'

'Not really hungry, no...and I've showered and stuff. I'm alright...just a little sore. Why was I alone?'

'Because Quatre hadn't cleared a secure guard for Matty before we left, and Matty didn't take into account that me or Wufei know what we're talking about. The bottle says you should sleep for another four hours or something so he figured he had time.'

'He doesn't realize how many times I've been rendered,' Heero smiled slightly at that.

'And since I'm assuming he told you to wait for him and you're not, you might want to tell him what hall you're in.'

'It's not Wufei's birthday is it?' Heero asked quickly...though he did see the time-stamp on his phone itself.

'Yes it is,' Duo retorted. 'He was spazzing that you hadn't woken up yet. That's inconsiderate of you, you know...but don't bitch at him. He's hung hard-core right now and Jin's done the lecture thing. When you didn't wake up before everyone went to bed last night, Fei evidently wandered off to a liquor store. He was puking most of the morning and is still half-miserable.'

Heero sighed, pocketing his phone as he moved down another hall. That, fortunately, was an area of the base he recognized. It bothered him that they hadn't just woke him up if Wufei was that upset. He could have woken up fine and had a few conscious hours.

The commissary was buzzing quietly as he moved into it, amused at the wave of startled salutes his entrance caused. Finding some antacids for Wufei, a protein bar and sports-water for himself...everyone would have given him instant access to the cash register—including the person half done with his purchase. That had never been Heero's style, though, and he had a happy argument with the men waiting as the cashier finished the first transaction.

"Sir...I don't want..."

"I'm in utterly no hurry," Heero cut him off, gesturing firmly at the man at the front of the line. "You're holding it up."

The guy froze, looking around, then darted out of the line...and so did the others.

Heero smacked a hand to his face, though he was amused. He put his purchases up and offered his badge to the reader. The cashier was amused and offered him the common salutations as he started off, waving at the others in the store.

It was irritating to have his rank back again, really. He wasn't special. He wasn't in a hurry, either.

"Heero!"

Heero looked up, smiling at the sound of his boyfriend's voice. The guy was to him in a moment...and that kiss put him in mind of returning to their room. He'd had two nights healing, and...

"Heero!" Blake squirmed up under his other arm as Matty stopped kissing him—that was surprising, and the immediate idea of the three of them off in a room was dismissed before he could embarrass either of the young men.

"Sir," one of the soldiers muttered proudly, saluting him...with a blue mark on his temple.

Ah. Matty's soldiers.

Heero grinned at the man, glad that Quatre'd finally got his shit together.

"Trowa's all impassioned," Blake bounced happily for his attention. "He's in there with the full dominance...waving his arms around and cowing everyone into silence."

"They were trying to bitch at him," Matty agreed, biting lightly at Heero's throat. "They were...but...he told them to shut the fuck up and has been giving everyone that look...so they're all silent as a painting. It was funny, because when our phones went off everyone jumped."

Heero grinned at that.

It was nice to still be alive...the almost dying thing tended to be followed by the best days of his life.

...maybe Blake wouldn't mind waiting for him...

He grinned at the young man.

"We are not," Matty noted firmly, amused. "No showers, no abandoned rooms, no offices..."

"Just our room," Heero protested as Blake moved back rather quickly.

"And we can't have him," Matty indicated Blake in amusement, "without Trowa, so don't even try to mention it."

Heero half giggled, slapping a hand to his mouth as he looked up to the skeptically amused soldiers.

Blake had his eyebrows up and was rubbing at one of them as he considered the nineteen year old. "He's busy yet," the guy noted. "It might take a while."

Matty started giggling.

"I could...keep us entertained...while we waited," Heero suggested...which made both young men start laughing.

"With all due respect, Brigadier," the one soldier noted, "I think even you might have a hard time entertaining five."

Blake hadn't been, but at that, he started giggling hard.

Heero looked the three men over—the two who hadn't spoken yet looked embarrassed and uncertain.

"Oh," Heero purred, smirking at the leader, "I think I could...I really think I could."

That man started giggling.

...yeah. This was going to be a good day.

- -

Wufei stared at the travel-size package of antacids that landed in front of him on the table, looking up to Heero as the entire room focused on the man.

"Ah, Brigadier Yuy," Trowa greeted pleasantly from the podium. "I'm so glad to see you're awake."

"Good...afternoon," Heero returned easily, looking the assemblage over. "Sorry to startle everyone."

Trowa grinned, looking around a moment as people realized he wanted their attention back. Heero sat beside his friend as he waited, then took a long drink off his sports-water and set it between them.

Wufei gave him a glumly amused look, opening the package as Trowa went back into whatever he'd been saying.

"Your friend is special," Matty whispered as he sat next to Heero, grabbing his hand. "He had all the soldiers giggling like girls."

"And you weren't?" Wufei returned, pouring the tabs into his hand. "I don't believe you."

Matty grinned wickedly as Blake sat down, running a hand down his face.

Wufei considered him a moment, seeing that he was avoiding looking at Heero, then looked back to the older male skeptically.

Heero grinned widely at him and shrugged nonchalantly. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Matty stifled his giggle behind a hand, shifting back in his seat so people would see Heero before him.

Wufei gave Heero another long look. He knew that whatever the man had said to the others was probably highly improper. To make grown men giggle, it was probably bawdy, too. He glanced back at the three men with the blue mark on their temples, noting that one was still flushed.

Right.

Wufei rolled his eyes, considering the tabs in his hand. He'd had two that morning, the last two from his bottle, and he could have up to seven before having to figure something else out. He was pretty sure those first two hadn't made a difference.

He felt like hell.

Heero shifted slightly, and Wufei looked up to him. The expression in his friend's eyes was steady and firm. There was no disappointment there, Jin had covered that angle all on his own...but Heero didn't approve. Wufei returned the look, then looked away.

He'd had a bad morning. He didn't know when he'd passed out, or how long he'd been in that state, but he was woken up by Jinli yelling at him to get in the fucking bathroom before he drowned himself. This was accompanied by being hauled into the bathroom and puking across the floor while his espoused seethed. The man had demanded why he'd even drank to begin with, ranting about him having any alcohol at all let alone...and then he'd realized Wufei had left the rooms to get it.

Those were the reactions he hated. When the others had first started realizing he was drinking too much, they'd done that to him. They'd lectured him on how bad an idea drinking that much was, they'd demanded why he'd thought it was an okay thing to do...they'd been hurt. Seeing it in Jinli had torn him up, and the sheer unexpectedness of it had caused him some shock.

Jinli was sitting down the table from him, on the far side of Blake.

He'd been too miserable to care that he didn't have more than two pills after he'd puked. This was supposed to have been a good birthday, and so far he wanted to go curl up on his bed and be left alone—more than to sleep off the hangover. Adding to it that they were on mission and that Heero hadn't even been awake...

Though that last little bit had worked itself out. Wufei tossed the pills into his mouth, sucking slightly at the chalkiness of them before crunching in. He felt that gagging sensation again as he chewed, and grabbed the sports-water Heero'd left open between them. He took a swallow of that...then another. The pills provided him a slight easing of the ache...and he took a third swallow.

Heero yanked the bottle from him, a wide grin splitting his face.

Wufei blinked a few times, wiping at his mouth as he swallowed. The relief of the pills would take another fifteen minutes to soak in, though with how much of that he'd just tried to drink in one go, maybe not...

Wufei grinned back apologetically, feeling tension ease from between his shoulder blades. It was slight, and though he knew Heero wasn't fully well, he was sitting there and awake.

He grinned a little more.

So what had Heero said to make three grown men giggle and one to remain red for five or more minutes after...or rather, how lewd had it been. Blake'd had that same sort of look, so presumably it was an offer of an orgy.

Well, Heero wasn't in uniform...

He snorted at his friend, glancing to Blake a moment before turning to a soldier leaning against the door. He had a blue mark already, and he met eyes with Wufei. He took the bottle from Heero and shook it with a nod. The man blinked, then nodded and stepped toward the exit. Wufei waved again, which made the man pause, he rested a hand over his stomach...and shoved a finger in his mouth a bit. The guy blinked, then nodded and disappeared.

"Smooth," Heero all but breathed. "Couldn't you have written it down for him?"

"He was at the door," Wufei whispered back, then looked down a moment. "Thanks."

"Happy birthday," Heero returned. "I assume this should be done soon and we can go do something fun."

Wufei smiled slightly at that, nodding his head.

"And you'll hold Fei back while I kick Jin's ass, right?" Duo whispered from down the table.

Wufei glowered at him—Jinli's tirade hadn't ended until Duo came in the room in confusion. He'd taken one look at Wufei by the toilet and yanked Jinli away from the bathroom door by the collar of his shirt. He'd snarled in the man's ear until the man stopped trying to fight away and hung his head...then stormed from the room.

It would have been okay...if Jin wasn't avoiding him. He'd tried to get Jin breakfast and coffee, but the man had breezed by him to grab it himself...and he'd tried to talk to him a few times but Jin was ignoring him. It had torn him up all morning, and it'd been while he'd been eating a bowl of rice that he'd decided to stop worrying about it.

He'd felt alone. His friends hadn't been giving him the cold shoulder at all, and Matty...well, he doubted Matty could really be mad at him at all. The thing was how disappointed Jin had been...

Heero tossed the wrapper from the antacids down the table, and Jin jumped, turning to first glower at Wufei—who was blinking—then blink at Heero himself.

Heero flipped him off.

...that sort of made Wufei feel good.

Jinli glanced at Wufei, then looked away, shaking his head. He didn't look mad at least.

"You need to get your bitch in line," Heero breathed at Wufei. "Why don't, when we're done here, you take him off to your room and seduce him fifty ways from summer solstice?"

Wufei met his eyes in disbelief a moment, starting to feel a little warmth. He blinked at his friend as the guy waited for his response, then grinned slightly. "But I only know forty-nine."

"I can show you another one," Heero whispered back, grinning wickedly at him and glancing past him at Blake. "We'll have to go over the ones you know first, though."

Wufei had drawn himself up as the man spoke, and smacked him hard as he started to actually laugh.

It drew them all the attention in the room again as Heero clapped his hands to his mouth and looked guiltily up to Trowa.

Trowa considered them a long moment as Duo raised his eyebrows—even Jin was looking.

"Coughing, sorry," Heero rasped as if he was holding himself back from doing so. He pushed his chair back, grabbing his drink. "I'll get out so I don't interrupt anymore...Wufei? Matty? Blake?"