Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Idle Hands ❯ Eight ( Chapter 8 )

Eight

Wufei swore as he dodged the blast from the damned Aries. The weaponry for his suit was to par with these beasts...but he was used to being better than his enemy in more than skill. He cursed a few more times as he shot at the machine...then remembered the whip. He grabbed it out, laughing wickedly as the power surged along it with a crackling sound.

"Well, then," Heero said. "If you're gonna waffle..."

"Winner?" Wufei demanded, ignoring that. Heero's sense of humor was appreciated, but he had other things to focus on...like an Aries that was trying to put him out before his little toy was fully lit.

"I need the range," Quatre retorted.

Wufei swung the whip around in a wide arc. The power shot up the thing as it swung, and the tip hooked around the ankle of the enemy suit. The machine almost seemed to freeze in midair...and promptly lost power.

Quatre made a thinking noise.

The Aries plummeted toward the ocean, and at the point where Heero was ready to send out the men to retrieve the pilot, the MS opened up and the seat ejected.

"Right," Quatre added, refocusing. "Let's go with...uh..."

"Uh?" Trowa demanded irritably. "You just said uh?"

"Wufei, take it up the middle," Quatre retorted. "Duo, come in low from above...Trowa?"

"Yeah?" Trowa asked dryly.

"Don't run out of bullets."

Duo started snickering as he and Wufei went in at the cluster of suits.

"Barton! The scraps!"

Trowa went for the MS that tried to peel away from the attack.

Heero grasped the railing of the ship he was on with both hands, watching as the dance played out. Quatre was in the main observation deck behind him, and there wasn't much for them to do until suits started dropping.

"Why did I come, again?" Matty muttered, moving under Heero's arm as he watched the distant suits.

"I didn't suggest it," Heero noted pointedly, glancing further up the railing at Blake. Blake was clinging to the railing himself, so intently focused on Heavyarms that he didn't seem to realize that he was ducking and dodging with it.

"Damn," Jin muttered, moving out onto the deck with them. "Things are about to get hectic up here, aren't they?"

Heero turned to look at him, then down to his lover. He smiled slightly, then shoved him to Jin.

"What?" Matty asked blankly as the Asian man pulled him back to the building.

"We have to have you safe, and have our room to run," Heero explained, moving over to grab Blake's upper-arm.

Blake turned instantly into his embrace, clinging to him as he watched the fighting.

"Come on," Heero suggested. "This is a bunch of Aries. He could take this whole unit out by himself."

Blake looked up at him, a scared expression on his face.

"Come on," Heero encouraged, tugging him. He got him into the comm. room with Quatre, nodding his head slightly to Jin. He grabbed the man's forearm, half-hugging him...then turned to kiss his lover one last time.

He knew it wasn't likely that anything would happen to him in this fight...but something could.

He moved back onto the deck, starting down the stairs as he watched the fight continue in the water, gesturing for his team to get their shit ready.

- -

"My fuel's blown!" Trowa snapped irritably, turning his machine to head back for the ship. "I need to land!"

"Shift the ballast!" the captain shouted, turning and gesturing. "Ready for the weight!" he disappeared from the room.

"Hold on!" Quatre shouted as Blake and Matty both darted from the room. "Damn it! Wong!"

Jinli came in from the hall, looking to Quatre in alarm.

Quatre pointed toward the running young men. "Grab ahold of something!"

Jin darted out the doors, realizing that people were shouting all around. Blake and Matty had made it most of the way down the stairs to the level of the landing strip. He decided that Trowa was close enough to landing that he could take a leap of faith, and jumped to the railing. There was a horrible moment of uncontrolled sliding before the younger men both came out on the flat level...Heavyarms was coming over the ship, and more people were shouting.

Everyone had ahold of something.

Jinli cursed as he launched himself after the younger men.

Heavyarms' engines cut.

Jin caught Matty around the waist, swinging him toward the railing...then reached out and yanked Blake to him as well...as the entire ship rocked.

The weight of the gundam wasn't beyond the ship to take, but the ship wasn't an actual transport. It wasn't made for MS.

"Hold on!" Jin shouted at the young men as they started to slide. Blake's feet were swept from under him on the wet surface, and for a horrible moment Jinli thought they were both going into the wet.

The sound of the gundam dropping onto the deck was deafening, and the ship swayed dangerously. A huge spray of water washed up the far side...and as their edge shifted even higher into the air, Jin realized they were getting wet.

The water was icy cold as it sprayed around them, and Blake gave up on trying to hold onto the wet metal—he decided Jin could do it for him. Unfortunately, Matty had that same thought process, so he had about a third of a second to get a grip on the wet railing before all three of them took a swim.

"Alright there, Wong?" someone shouted.

"I'm alright," Jin reassured whoever it was as the ship stopped attempting to capsize.

...so much for the first ocean trip, right? Sounds like good fun...get on a Navy vessel and go watch the fighting from a safe distance...check your sea stomach and smell the ocean air...

Right.

Matty and Blake were still gasping when they realized they were safe, looking around as they all but dripped and shivered.

"Alright?" Jin asked, looking between them.

They both nodded, wiping at their faces.

"Blake!" Trowa shouted, launching out of the cockpit and sliding down his machine. "Blake!"

Blake turned a little unsteadily and darted for his lover. He didn't run.

"What are you doing out here?" Trowa half complained at his boyfriend. "You shouldn't be out here..."

"Way to center it, Barton!" someone shouted, moving away from the railing as well.

Trowa sniggered, looking around to the man...and along the edges at the wet people. "Sorry," he muttered loudly. "I was running on fumes and there was a good breeze."

That got men laughing and groaning.

Matty moved up to Trowa, shaking hard as he curled into the guy's chest.

"What's this?" Trowa asked in a sort of bracing tone. "You're not that cold, are you?"

"I'm not shivering from the cold," Matty returned, clinging to him—Blake was too, while they were at it.

"Thank you, Jin," Trowa noted, looking up. His voice wasn't meant to carry beyond them. "I saw them coming and then saw you going for them—I suppose I should have been watching more what I was doing."

"The water is cold," Jin noted intelligently, plucking at his shirt.

Trowa grinned at him.

"I'm serious," Jinli protested, moving up to pull the man into a quick hug since the other two had pulled back. "I was scared for a few that all three of us were going in."

"And wouldn't you be something then?" Trowa smirked at him, then looked back out to the battle. "You did good," he informed the Asian, then turned to kiss Blake—to cat calls from the men behind.

Blake looked a little embarrassed a he met Trowa's eyes again.

"I'm likin' the coy," Trowa noted, kissing his temple, then leaned over to kiss Matty's temple. "We're okay," he noted to them, starting to walk. "What are you doing down here, anyway?"

"I wanted to make sure you were okay," Blake said quickly, clinging to his arm as they started back for the stairs. "I didn't mean to..."

"Were you trying to capsize my ship, Barton? What the hell, man!"

Trowa turned to look at the exasperated captain. "I'm sorry, Captain," he said. "I thought I had it lined up."

The man sighed, then looked between the younger men. "That was the stupidest thing I've ever seen done," he informed them—they were both instantly embarrassed. "And you there, colony-boy," the man looked up to Jinli. "Good save," he smiled a bit. "You can't be on the sea the first time without getting wet, huh? You'll probably take a swim before we go inland, but that's what Earth is for, huh?"

Jin blinked at him several times...which was evidently funny. The man was laughing as he turned away.

"You touched it," Trowa noted, indicating the shirt with a jerk of his head. "You hear the waves, you've touched the water...you'll never want to go into space again. Hell, it'll be too quiet in Peru tonight, huh?"

Jin smiled grimly back at that, following them toward the stairs again.

"All I have to say," Trowa noted happily as he burst into the control room, "is that I didn't run out of bullets."

Quatre flashed him a grin. "First time for everything, huh? What now?"

"I have ten minutes for them to refuel," Trowa added. "Where's food?"

Quatre pointed, then looked between Blake and Matty.

"We feel stupid enough already," Matty muttered, looking away.

Quatre snorted at him, and Jin led the pilot from the room.

- -

"That was all of them," Heero muttered as their little motorized thing came up alongside the larger ship. He caught the ladder before the craft had stopped and pulled himself up by his arms until his feet could gain purchase. "We got a handful of the soldiers who were flying, but all eight of those damned suits were down. There was a transport that came up during the fighting and took the damned cargo, though. A good handful of those pilots got to the transport. The way I figure it, really, is that Gerrange's forces are down to twenty-five."

"Not a bad start from five thousand," Wufei mused, hauling the guy over the rail.

"What's this I hear?" he added, focusing on Matty and Blake. "The two of you decided to take a dip?"

"Haha," Matty retorted, moving to hug and kiss him.

"Good man," he muttered, half hugging and half patting Jinli on the back as they started for the main stairs again. He stopped, though, looking to the pro and tilting his head.

"Hm?" Wufei asked, looking up to Demigod and Heavyarms.

"Where's Deathscythe?"

"Well, after Trowa tried to capsize the ship the first time he landed, the captain decided he didn't want to chance all three on here. He wasn't too up to me landing Demigod, but I didn't do more than make it bump," he looked pointedly to Trowa.

Trowa sniggered, squeezing Blake a bit. "I landed it right the second time, give me a break."

"Well?" Quatre muttered, appearing at the head of the stairs.

"Well what?" Heero asked dryly.

"Where's Duo?" Quatre retorted, looking around.

"He's not here?" Heero looked blankly to Wufei.

"We thought he'd be coming in with you...but he's on her," he pointed toward a second ship.

"He's probably overseeing the maintenance," Heero retorted, pulling Quatre into a brief hug.

Quatre sighed, grumbling.

"Come on," Wufei muttered, grabbing Jin's upper arm and tugging him away from the group.

"What's up?" Jin muttered, watching as the rest of the group moved into the warmly lit comm. room. The sun had set, and the ship's main lights were down.

"I figured you'd been inside since sunset," Wufei explained with a slight grin.

"Listen, Fei," Jin muttered happily as they moved toward the very rear. "I know we've been testing the waters here...but I want a divorce."

"I won't sign it," Wufei retorted, then sniggered.

Jin snickered himself, leaning against the railing as the yelling of the men on the ship started to fade.

"When we take down Gerrange...I will, you know that, right?"

Jinli sniggered. "I'm more amused by it now than anything...it's funny when people hear my name."

Wufei nodded, then gestured toward the ocean. "Look."

Jinli turned to the ocean and blinked a few times.

"Listen," Wufei added.

Jinli focused on the sound of the shifting waves, focusing on the dark sea. He took a slow breath, then looked up to the dark skies...cloudless for once.

"This," Wufei said quietly, "was the one thing that kept me sane when I thought everyone was gone...I wished you were here then."

Jinli leaned against the railing.

"When this is done...and we can find everyone again...I want to get a yacht. I know a place where we can rent them, huh? We can put to sea and anchor..." he laughed a little, "off the port-bow of nowhere...and get drunk."

"Everyone?" Jin asked quietly.

"Anyone who'll come," Fei agreed quietly. "Have you...called them?"

"Most," Jin agreed. "They bitched at first...but...so far they're all game. They're networking together again."

Wufei focused down on the ocean below them.

"How did you ever leave this?" Jin asked quietly, staring out at the water...then looked properly up to the sky.

Wufei looked up to the stars as well, smiling vaguely. "I could only be so alone," he noted. "When Duo was done at sea, I either had to go in with him or...be left alone."

"Your life had to be hell."

"Yeah...it was," Wufei dropped down to dangle his legs over the edge. "But we're here now, huh? You're here...and it's not like I'm getting' laid tonight."

Jin snickered, dropping down next to him. They were both leaning against the railing posts. "How are we gonna work that one out?" he muttered. "I'm not gettin' anymore laid than you are. Everyone knows you and everyone knows me. What should we do?"

"We'll have to reach outside the military," Wufei returned in amusement. "Which means another month probably."

"We should...go into port," Jin suggested in amusement, gesturing in the vague direction of land with his head. "Get them to leave us a truck behind and get a couple rooms at a hotel."

Wufei snickered. "If we present it right, people will just think it's me and you, huh?"

"I had a similar thought myself."

Wufei snickered more, then sighed. "So while we wait to go back inland...I'm hanging out here. You?"

"How private a party is this?"

Wufei and Jin jumped, turning to look back at Duo. He had his hands in his pockets as he stared out at the water himself.

"Hey...you okay? Why isn't Quatre attached to you?"

Duo grinned and looked down to Jin a moment, then moved to sit on Fei's other side. "I greeted him, and he decided it's colder out here than he's ready to deal with. I was on a ship, did you know that?" he asked Jin as he straddled a post. He was leaning forward against the thing, studying the waves. "I missed this."

"I knew I'd find you out here," Trowa muttered, moving up behind them with Blake and Matty in tow. "You're the only psychos who'll stay out here. Jin, when you get cold come in, these two numbskulls have weathered enough storms that it blew their brains out."

Duo grinned up at him.

"We're taking a helicopter back to base," Trowa added. "You guys gonna hang out?"

"I am," Duo noted quietly. "Is Quatre with you?"

"Yeah, he looked out here and decided he was cold," Trowa made an amused noise. "Jin?"

"Me'n Fei are gonna get a room at port."

"You don't have to say it like that to him," Wufei noted dryly. "We both want to get laid," he added to the group.

"We can call ahead and make a reservation," Trowa informed him happily. "Honeymoon suite, huh?"

Wufei and Jin both glared at him.

Trowa laughed happily, then turned to head back for the comm. room.

"See you guys tomorrow," Blake muttered, smiling between the three of them. "Be safe tonight, huh?"

Duo smirked at him.

Matty moved over and pulled Wufei's hair out, fussing with it a moment thoughtlessly—Wufei was deciding not to comment—then the young man re-looped the band around the hair and choked Wufei from above and behind. "Don't get an STD."

Wufei guffawed, turning to snatch at him as the kid giggled and waved at Jin...and disappeared.

- -

Rab paced wordlessly along the walkway, focused internally. Eight of his suits had been fucked. They'd gotten the supplies, but eight of the suits...

What was he going to do now?

"Sir?" one of the soldiers muttered, moving up the area Rab was in hesitantly. "Sir? We think we have an idea...on how to make Obsidian space-worthy again."

Rab stopped, turning to look at him.

The soldier flicked a blow-torch on and smirked.

- -

Jaden yawned as he dropped next to Qingfu on the bed, considering his friend skeptically.

"What is that look?" Qingfu demanded.

"I'm debating if you just lost your mind this morning," Jaden explained. "And then if we should talk about it."

"I think you're overcomplicating it," Qing retorted, shifting around where he lay. "And am therefore done talking about it. Simple question, yes or no?"

"Yes or no?" Jaden demanded. "Yes or no what?"

Qingfu gave him an amused look.

"Can I think about it?" Jaden asked half petulantly, visualizing an actual relationship with the capricious Asian.

"No," Qingfu retorted. "It's like...me or that secretary chick of yours."

"But she's whiney," Jaden protested. "Can't I pick someone else?"

"No."

Jaden snickered at that, considering the guy. "And what, exactly, brought this on?"

"Brought it on?" Qingfu asked dryly. "We've been running around together since the beginning of April...I suppose you haven't realized it, but its September. Before midnight it was September eighteenth. That's like...forever. You're kidding, right?"

Jaden snorted at that.

"So...yes or no?"

Jaden pressed his face into the pillow a brief moment, then shifted around to pin the other male to the bed. "Yes...I guess."

"You guess?" Qingfu demanded, exasperated. "You guess?"

Jaden snickered, darting in to bite at the exposed skin of the guy's throat. "Okay, bad phrasing," he muttered when Qing hesitated. "I'll make it up to you."

Qingfu snorted at him...but allowed the distraction to stand.

- -

"Morning, Tim," Trowa croaked into his phone as he rolled out from under Blake. Blake grumbled at being moved.

"Are you okay?" Tim asked. "I've been worried. There was a big battle last night...and aren't you the pilot of Heavyarms? I saw the footage."

"Sorry, I didn't even think to call," Trowa realized, rubbing at his mouth. "Shit...I'm sorry about that. I'm fine...we're all fine. Our machines weren't even damaged. The most exciting thing going on with it is that Wufei and Jinli decided to go to port when we were done."

"Go to port?" Tim asked blankly. "What do you mean?"

"They both wanted laid, but they're espoused. No chicks on the base will look at them twice for it...not to mention how inappropriate it would be if Fei pulled it off. They decided to stay in town and find non-military girls."

"Oh...that makes sense..." Tim hesitated. "When are you coming home?"

"Oh, you miss me?" Trowa sniggered. "We totally have to bring down Gerrange. We decimated his little suit-rebellion...at least that he's put out so far. All we have to do is pin Obsidian down and pluck him out. I'd say we had a week, but at the same time, I thought that about three months ago."

Tim snorted at him.

"Maybe I can get you down here some weekend," Trowa mused. "That way you can see how calm it really is here."

"Or it'll be like that day you took me out to that cave and paced the area with a gun I'm sure could have destroyed a ship."

Trowa sniggered at that. "Not even...I may go out in Heavyarms again, sure, but you'll be fine with Jin and the boys."

"You were only planning to be there like, three days," Tim accused. "What happened to that?"

"You've been watching the news," Trowa retorted. "Why are you asking me that nonsense?"

Tim snorted.

"So," Trowa added, "figure out what weekend you want to come down here, and I'll arrange it."

Tim made a thinking noise. "I don't know if I want to come down...that seems...hard."

"Blake is here," Trowa noted dryly. "Blake and Matty both."

"I heard that Duo got grabbed...what happened with that?"

"He sort of escaped on his own," Trowa shrugged. "And then he ended up out on Timorre's ship. He stayed out there a lifetime or two and came back in."

Tim considered that.

"It's actually pretty safe. I mean...we had Matty and Blake with us out there, right? Tonight, they were on the ship...you could probably see it in the footage you watched. We had them out there with us."

"I'll think about it," Tim muttered quietly. "I'll let you know if I want to do that or not."

"I'm quitting," Trowa noted through a yawn. "This is far more than long enough and I can't even see when I'll come back in. How's work? How is everyone?"

"We're all right. I slid into your job, so your absence hasn't killed our branch yet. I guess if you did quit, things might start really going again."

"I'll call after a bit...what time is it?"

"Three," Tim admitted quietly. "I waited until I was sure you weren't calling...I need to go to bed soon."

"Hm...so I'll call into work here in an hour or three—you okay?"

"Yeah," he noted in a lighter sort of tone. "Yeah...I actually found a chick. She's...pretty neat."

"Pretty neat?" Trowa demanded.

"Tro, it's six in the morning," Blake muttered, rolling to cover his head. "What are you doing?"

"Talking to Tim," Trowa retorted. "I'm not leaving; you don't have to get up when I go anyway."

Blake made a noise at him.

"Who was that?" Tim asked blankly.

"My boyfriend," Trowa noted in amusement, realizing that Tim hadn't been around for the development.

Tim...didn't say anything.

Trowa snorted slightly, moving into the bathroom. "Things just sort of worked out here. I've been...doing pretty good, really. If you're not busy...I'm game to chatter."

"I suppose," Tim agreed in vague amusement. "That's that kid, huh? The friend of Matty you were playing around with? What happened to you being straight?"

"I haven't figured that part out yet," Trowa returned happily. "I'm working on it."

- -

Lucretzia moved off the shuttle with Zechs a few steps behind her, looking around the port with interest.

"You okay?" Zechs asked for the millionth time.

"I'm fine," Lu retorted, smiling back at him. "Are you?"

"I'm not the one who's been recuperating," he retorted.

"Oh, hush," she looked back around again. "I like this port. Do you suppose it's warm outside?"

"Warmer than up north," he agreed, moving close beside her.

"I bet it's like Africa," she noted happily, running a hand through her hair as she followed the signs pointing her toward the baggage claim. "I miss Africa."

"You would, weirdo," Zechs agreed pleasantly.

Lu snickered at that, looking around more. "It'll be fun, Matty said that Blake found some guy that shows them all the weird bugs and stuff. I'm kinda excited to meet Blake—I think I did a little bit at his work, but..."

"That's the guy Tro's bangin', right?"

"It's his boyfriend," Lu protested, giving hers a look.

"I'm not going to start claiming that until I hear Trowa say it," Zechs retorted, looking around again himself.

"Whatever," she muttered almost petulantly. "Anyway, they go into Brazil to the base camp and look around for whatever animals, and the guy's been telling them facts about it and stuff. He's probably a bio major or something."

"Sure," Zechs agreed, not caring.

Lu ignored that. "So I'll be running around with them, and you can play soldier with the rest."

"Play?" he asked dryly.

The woman sniggered happily at that, bouncing around a corner and stopping to figure out which claim was theirs.

"Look," Zechs pointed at the reader-board to their right. "Come on."

Lu bounced after him.

"Oh good lord," Duo muttered as they neared the group waiting for them. "What are you doing here?"

"Protecting my girl from you," Zechs retorted.

"Lu!" Matty bounced around the male to hug her excitedly. "This is Blake! Blake! This is Lu!"

"So you're Tro's..." Lu trailed off as she realized the guy was saluting her. She smiled back at him, saluting him back.

"It's an honor to meet you, Ma'am," Blake muttered.

Lu giggled at that and pulled him into a hug.

"His dad is a colonel back in L.A.," Matty noted, blinking a few times. "I guess he half grew up on base or something—I forgot about that."

"It's nice to meet you," Lu muttered to the young man, then turned to face her fiancé. She could see that Blake was nervous, and wondered if it was more because of her or him. "This is my fiancé, Zechs Marquise or Milliardo Peacecraft—however you want to call him."

Blake saluted Zechs as well.

"Call me Zechs, kid," Zechs suggested, wrapping an arm around the younger male's shoulder as he looked around to Trowa.

"What?" Trowa asked curiously, extending his arms.

Blake beamed up at Zechs a moment, then darted into Trowa's arms. Trowa leaned down to whisper in his ear, and Blake half giggled in response.

Zechs blinked at him.

"What?" Trowa asked, pulling away as Blake turned to smile at the new pair again.

"I'm still trying to figure out why you're here," Duo added happily to Zechs.

"Oh, stop," Matty muttered, swatting at him.

Duo laughed at that, then moved over to hug Lu and kiss the side of her neck. "I'm glad you're okay."

She smiled back at him as he shook hand with Zechs and Quatre moved to hug her. "Hey, Tro?"

"Yeah?" Trowa returned as he also shook Zechs' hand.

"Zechs refuses to acknowledge Blake as your boyfriend."

"What?" Trowa asked blankly, grabbing Blake's hand. "Why not? He is," he added, looking to Zechs. "Blake is my boyfriend."

Blake smiled shyly up at Zechs, leaning against Trowa's side.

"Told you," Lu noted happily to her boyfriend. "So...how hot is it outside?"