Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Jokers Wild ❯ Three ( Chapter 3 )

Three

Qingfu was happy as he bounced into the port area, then blinked at Jaden. The transport was returning, and after having a fairly boring day, Qingfu was happy that the group would be back. He started down the stairs, considering his lover.

Jaden was standing at the edge of the walk, bending his knees and bouncing very slightly up...with his arms weird.

. . . he had his fingers out and crossed.

Qingfu sighed to himself as he got nearer, wondering how many people in the docking area had seen their supreme ruler bouncing.

"Please let it be empty," Jaden whispered as he bounced. "Please let it be empty, please let it be..."

"Den," Qing chided.

Jaden laughed happily, turning to kiss him briefly.

The door-seal hissed...and Jaden went back to his bouncing and muttering.

Duo appeared as the door slid open, looking somehow rugged in his regs...with a sucker in his mouth. He eyed Jaden a long moment, then moved from the ship and pulled out the sucker.

"Damn," Jaden muttered, lowering his hands.

"Double-cross is bad-luck," Duo noted. "Didn't you know that?" he put the candy back in his mouth.

Jaden grinned, shaking his head as he looked Duo over.

"I want one," Qingfu protested, stepping forward.

"Ooh," Duo returned, stepping into him...which set Qingfu back. He liked Duo, he was fun to hang out with and kept the boredom away—but with his hair mussed...and whatever it was about him, and that...

The sucker waved in front of Qingfu's mouth, and he pursed his lips, trying not to lick them.

Duo laughed wickedly, spinning as Jaden watched skeptically...and pressed himself into Qingfu's chest.

"Uh..." Qingfu was trying to think fast, but there was a definite musk about the man...and wow, that was his ass.

"Duo," Quatre chided casually as he slinked out of the ship himself. He had much the same aire as his lover...which probably meant they'd fucked on the ship. Nice.

It didn't give Qingfu the ability to extricate himself, though.

"Weren't you talking about threesomes earlier?" Duo asked sweetly...and pressed the sucker to Qingfu's lips.

Qingfu opened his mouth to protest...then realized it was plastic. He pulled back, looking down...to see a wrapped sucker being offered.

"Sorry," Quatre muttered, moving to lean in close to Duo's face before flicking his eyes to Qingfu. "He's feeling playful."

Duo laughed wickedly, darting forward for a kiss.

Jaden snickered.

Qingfu moved away from the pair as quickly as he could manage with anything like dignity. He'd never seen Duo as a sexual interest, but that image was now quite firmly in place.

Gods...if the rest of them were...

Jinli appeared next, his expression irritated as he spotted the two leaders. "I'm going to skin them," he noted, indicating the pair of males. "I'm just going to skin them...they've been like that the whole flight."

Qingfu blinked.

"Did you get close to him?" he demanded, indicating Quatre. "He set them all off!" he indicated the ship with an irate sort of gesture.

"Calm down," Wufei muttered casually, rolling his eyes as he moved out himself.

"Are we playing showcase?" Jaden asked curiously, glancing back at the ship. "You're all coming out one at a time."

"The rest are slowly getting their stuff together," Wufei shrugged. "Jin doesn't know how to deal with us when we're feeling...confident."

Jinli spun to glower at him.

Wufei laughed, moving back.

"I applied," Quatre noted, moving around Qingfu to be behind Jaden, looking up at him from the corner of his eye. "I put in my application."

"...for what?" Jaden muttered, shifting back. Qingfu understood that totally. He had already moved away from the man...but he could feel that Duo was right behind him.

"I wanna be a general," Quatre purred, studying Jaden's eyes.

Jaden was put-off by that. Qingfu could see the thoughts passing through his mind. They'd had years of association with Rab, and Rab's overall opinion and expected responses about Winner were of the sex-toy nature. The notion of him gaining that rank was a bit...confusing, actually. The association was far too new to be immediately accepted.

Quatre laughed a wicked and low laugh, deep in his throat as he moved even closer to Jaden.

"He's reading you," Duo muttered over Qingfu's shoulder.

Qingfu jumped slightly, moving away from him, too.

"Enough," Trowa chided casually as he moved from the ship himself. He had that same confidence, but from him that was a more natural state. There was something in his eyes that was unnerving, but he wasn't overbearing.

Duo turned to look at him, his eyes alight.

"You don't know what you think about me with that rank," Quatre purred up at Jaden, moving into his chest.

"I'm half worried I'll grab you," Jaden informed Quatre.

Quatre laughed wickedly...and spun away.

"Tease," Duo teased his lover.

The pair disappeared into the margin again as Jin moved nearer to Jaden and gave Qingfu a put-upon look.

The next person to appear was Matty, and he darted up to grab Jaden's wrist. "Tell him you're sorry," Matty whispered. "Just say that and don't argue or add anything."

Jaden blinked down at him as Heero appeared.

Qingfu's heart leapt...but that was more like fear than anything else. He watched as the man moved from the ship with the body-language of a half-sated tiger. 01 wasn't a man to be trifled with, and the amusement in his eyes looked too much like the shots that had been taken of him during the wars.

Jaden had that same moment of fear...but mastered himself as they met and locked eyes. "I'm sorry," Jaden said, though he looked half-ready to fight.

Heero stared at him a long moment, almost seeming to wait. When nothing more came of it, he focused across the room behind them. When his eyes landed thoughtfully on Qingfu, Qingfu was half ready to bolt...but the attention passed.

Yuy stepped forward, and offered his hand.

Jaden hesitated a brief moment, then accepted it.

"If you cross me again," the man all but purred. "I'll kill you...but you know that."

Jaden nodded.

Heero nodded himself, letting go...before turning a smile onto Qingfu. "I can see you've been...uh...accosted," he noted, stepping to extend his hand. "We didn't realize what Duo was about until he was out of our bounds...hope he didn't put you off too badly."

Duo laughed a low wicked laugh. "I didn't put him off," he noted. "Other things, maybe...not not that."

Qingfu nearly threw the sucker at the male, then focused on it in confusion.

He didn't remember taking it from Duo.

Quatre laughed.

"Did Quatre tell you, then?" Heero added as Matty moved up under his arm. "He's decided to apply for the rank-upgrade?"

Jaden nodded.

"The rest of us would be happy with a one-step upgrade," Heero noted happily. "But Quatre wants to rival Une...I think the chemicals fried his brain," he indicated the brown hair. "But he's put the papers in, and in a few weeks we'll get a response of some sort."

"Actually, I'd be happy not to upgrade," Trowa noted, then pounded on the side of the ship.

Matty smiled, looking to Jaden. "Blake is a little off-put."

"He's just begging them to fuck with him," Wufei agreed, rolling his eyes. "Qingfu, if you could start away, Duo will follow."

Duo laughed wickedly, moving around Quatre to step at Qingfu.

Qingfu fled backwards a few steps, realizing that Quatre was following with an evil smirk.

"I'm going to skin them," Jinli informed Jaden again. "All of them! A blanket of the hides of the brigadier generals would catch a high price," he shot after Duo.

Duo started laughing, turning to look sidelong at the other male...and pulling the sucker very slowly from his mouth.

Jinli started hissing and spitting, starting forward...only to have his wrist caught by Wufei, who was laughing.

"We should totally go unpack," Quatre noted to his lover.

Duo started laughing wickedly...and groped Qingfu.

"Hey!" Qingfu protested, managing a bit of ire at that...but evidently it was a form of good-bye, because Duo and Quatre were disappearing across the docking area.

"If they're going to pretend to have other motives for running off," Wufei called loud enough for them to hear. "They should at least grab their bags."

"You're a pal, Fian!" Duo called, turning back to wave happily at him. "Thank you!"

Wufei started laughing.

"You okay?" Matty asked, moving closer to him. "You look a little...uh..."

"He grabbed me!" Qingfu retorted, moving back to them to gesture after the men. "He totally grabbed me!"

"You're lucky that's all you got," Blake noted from where he was standing in the door to the ship.

Trowa laughed, moving to wrap an arm around him. "We do have some bags to drop off at our rooms, then I'll come debrief you. Give me say...fifteen minutes, maybe twenty. We brought my guys," he added to Jaden. "Don't let them get you alone in a hall."

One of the men who'd been chasing them in Sierra Leon, the blond, appeared. He looked between Qingfu and Jaden with an almost flat expression.

"This is Cardle," Trowa added. "He's under orders to be civil."

The man flashed them a toothy smile with very little in the way of greeting in it.

"This is Raymond," he added as the brunette stepped out. "He's either more or less likely to go homicidal on the two of you, but also under orders...and this," a Hispanic looking male moved from the ship, considering them one at a time. "This is Ricci. If he starts looking dangerous, ask him about his son—how old is he again?"

"Seven months," the man supplied, turning to meet his eyes.

Trowa smiled back at him. "These three are mine specifically, loyal as fuck to Matty and well taken with Blake now. You okay?" he added to his boyfriend.

"Duo groped me," Blake protested. "Inside my pants."

Jaden dropped his head back to look at the ceiling.

"When?" Trowa protested.

"On his way out," Blake gestured back at the ship. "I had my back to the aisle, and..."

Trowa swore, turning around to glower at Heero almost accusingly.

"Can I just...go to bed?" the pilot asked of Jaden and Qingfu, looking more than put-upon. "Please?"

"They were like that the whole way?" Jaden asked.

The guy nodded, not looking at them.

"You earned it," Qingfu agreed, gesturing back the way he'd come. "Feel free."

"Thank you," the man muttered...and darted away.

"Bye!" Heero chirped happily after him—he was happily ignoring Trowa. "Have a good day!"

Trowa started laughing.

"Mm," Wufei muttered, looking back to the ship. "I guess that means I'm in charge of Deathscythe and Demigod."

The words made Qingfu feel cold inside as he followed the man's glance back to the ship.

"Wait," Jaden protested. "Only those two? Isn't Z...Hea...Heavyarms...on there?"

"Quatre got himself a toy," Trowa noted, rolling his eyes. "I'll offload it."

They all looked to Heero.

"If they're all off in suits," Heero noted, "I'm not leaving my husband to the winds of chance," he squeezed Matty slightly, shrugging a bit. "And we have two more brief guests coming with the second load."

"Two more brief guests?" Jaden echoed, his tone losing heart.

"Lu!" Matty chirped excitedly. "She came up with the suits!" he actually bounced. "She wants to stay a few nights and I told her I'd ask," he informed Jaden. "But she had come down to visit us on Earth and then you hijacked us," he smiled brightly. "You hijacked us."

"You could try subtle," Qingfu hazarded.

"Nah, I'm not good at it," Matty smiled at him.

Jaden sighed heavily...and walked away.

"Hey!" Matty called after him, then started giggling when he didn't respond.

"Right...so...this way," Qingfu noted, indicating the man to the group of them...and ran for it.

- -

Trowa shifted back out of Heavyarms, rubbing the back of his hand across is forehead. There was nothing wrong with his machine, but he figured he may as well check the cogs and wheels visually before the serious fighting began.

For all that they'd been set a time-limit—which in effect gave them free reign to do what they saw necessary—Matty, Lu, Blake, and Heero were chatting happily on one of the risers.

Duo was off meeting with Jaden and Qingfu, and had Wufei with him. For some reason, that also meant that Jinli was with him...Wufei and Jin had decided they were connected at the hip at some nondescript point over the past few days, and were giving most people the remarkable display of a happily married couple...or something.

Quatre had gotten an official call from the ESA.

Trowa nearly ran his hand through his hair before something black caught his attention, and he focused on the oil smeared across his hands. He had a feeling his face was covered in the stuff, and knew for a fact that his shirt and pants were. He hadn't thought that checking the machine would make him filthy, but he wanted to be damn sure things were doing what they were supposed to be doing around the oxygen supply.

"Barton!"

Trowa jumped hard, a shard of memory flashing through his head...a dark hanger, quiet, with a similar scent of mechanics.

He blinked, looking to the hanger to make sure it was the right shade of bright and color.

"Barton!" Zechs repeated.

Trowa climbed out of his hole, looking the hanger over as he considered what he'd remembered. It wasn't traveling with the mercenaries, it was around when he'd changed from No-name to Trowa.

"You look a little pale," Quatre noted, tilting his head. "You okay?"

"Random memory flare," Trowa explained, climbing out to consider the distance to the riser. He knew he could make it, but he hadn't recovered his mental equilibrium yet.

"What of?"

"Nothing, really," he hopped, looking around for Blake briefly. "Just Heavyarms," he looked back to the machine, blinking. "Just...me doing this same thing in Heavyarms before Barton was shot."

Quatre flinched appreciatively.

"You okay?" Heero asked.

"It was nothing," Trowa shrugged. "I...I think Trowa was actually watching me."

Matty and Blake exchanged a look.

"Someone shouted Barton up at him and scared the shit out of me," he gave Zechs a look.

The man smiled at him.

"We love you, Trowa," Lu muttered, moving up to plant a chaste kiss on one of his cheeks. Matty was a moment later to kiss the other...and Blake leaned in for a proper one.

Trowa laughed, pulling away to give the guy a look.

"So...I say again," Zechs muttered after a moment. "Barton."

"What?" Trowa half-whined, meeting his eyes as he took the rag from Blake to wipe his hands.

"Yuy?" Quatre offered.

"I'm going to kill him!" Jinli shouted rather loudly as Wufei doubled over with laughter. They were coming pretty much the same route Quatre and Zechs had.

The quiet that had fallen around the hanger faded away after a hesitant moment—well, quiet aside from Wufei.

Jinli lunged at the other Asian, and Wufei actually took off...and Jinli was after him just as fast.

Duo and Qingfu, who were both laughing happily, moved to join the group as...Wufei moved for Trowa.

"Hey!" Trowa protested as the man caught him around the waist with one arm...and turned into his back. He was all but giggling as he pressed his face into Trowa, and Jinli stopped in front of them with an obviously frustrated yowl.

"What are you doing?" Heero asked in amusement as Wufei kept giggling.

"Your...comrades...have some...untoward...patterns of speech," Qingfu noted hesitantly, though he was still grinning. "There was something said about consummating...and Duo's mouth. I'm...not sure I followed the full implications."

Heero giggled himself.

Qingfu gave Trowa a hopeful look.

"Duo evidently...has a very good mouth?" Trowa looked from Heero to Quatre for confirmation. "I'm not sure how Fei and Jin consummating plays into it..."

Wufei squeezed him, calming in his laughter...and leaning into him.

Trowa looked over his shoulder, but Wufei hadn't pulled away at all.

"It's been an ongoing conversation for the last hour," Jinli explained dryly. "But mostly they were just hinting at things back and forth around me."

Trowa grinned at him.

"They did it in ways that I couldn't rightly argue," the man added, crossing his arms and settling into the circle. "I got tired of it."

Qingfu grinned.

"We found Obsidian," Duo offered, looking around. "We put a trace on it and reported it to the ESA."

"They're putting my application to the question," Quatre noted, looking around. "No matter how my personal bid turns out, we're all going to become lieutenant generals."

"Oh great," Qingfu muttered, rolling his eyes. "As if you psychos weren't powerful enough."

"What are you going to do if I become a general?" Quatre demanded.

"Marvel at the pretty stars," Qingfu retorted. "I will, anyway, when you hop from one star to three and skip the two-stage."

Quatre grinned at him, looking around.

"Doesn't that mean I can order more people around?" Matty asked happily, then turned to Blake. "Do it, seriously."

"I don't want to have to divorce to break up with him," Blake retorted.

Trowa made a wry face, meeting eyes with Duo.

"But you can't really tell people what to do," Matty protested. "The lower ranks are all content enough to, but the people we'll be dealing with after this will be...less inclined."

"After this should be after this war," Blake retorted. "We were given a deadline for that..."

"We," Trowa noted sidelong to Wufei, who'd popped his head over Trowa's right shoulder—his left arm, though, was still wrapped around Trowa's waist. "What are you doing?" he added to his friend pointedly.

Wufei gave him an interested look, pressing his face into Trowa's back again...then somehow slid under Trowa's left arm.

Trowa blinked at him.

"Are you coming to bed tonight?" Blake asked curiously.

Wufei shrugged. "Depends on my mood."

Qingfu guffawed.

Trowa, though, had a sneaking suspicion Wufei meant it.

. . . he didn't have to have that conversation with him, did he?

"You smell interesting," Jinli muttered, moving closer and leaning into Trowa. "I don't know what, though."

"Oil," Wufei returned.

"No, there's something else," Jinli, evidently, had forgotten that they were bickering with each other as he moved around to Trowa's right side, still sniffing at him.

"And...no one...will help me?" Trowa appealed to the others.

"This isn't normal?" Zechs asked curiously.

Heero snickered.

Jinli raised his hand after a moment, squeezing at Trowa's upper arm.

"I'm not game for an orgy," Blake informed Heero.

"Oh, but it's fun," Heero argued back at him.

Trowa opened his mouth to retort that Heero had never, but Jinli pressed a hand against his peck. "Now, damn it!" he protested, pulling away from the inspection. "Quit now..."

Jinli pulled his hand away, looking startled, then tilted his head as he considered Wufei.

Wufei pulled away himself, shrugging slightly as he looked back to the others.

"Jaden is talking to the ESA coordinator," Qingfu added, looking them all over. "It's about supper time, so we figured the whole lot of us should just head up to our suite and talk things out while we eat. If you'd rather, though, you can just come up."

"I need my man," Duo noted, looking them all over.

Quatre raised his hand in mock hesitance.

"Not you," Duo retorted. "My other man."

Quatre flicked his hair. "I'm leaving you," he noted.

"Why don't we go to the room and talk about that," Duo stated happily. "And after I've had my...say...we can see where you stand."

Quatre snickered, looking around. "I haven't seen him in a few days."

"What?" Heero asked blankly, thinking the exchange over.

"Robbs," Qingfu explained. "A spy-boy that infiltrated Rab and followed us when we threw our civil war."

"Oh," Heero nodded as his mind placed the term. "He's here?" he added, looking around. "Where?"

"I haven't seen him in a few days," Quatre noted happily.

"I didn't think he saw so well with the lights out," Blake noted happily to Lu.

"I'm official," Lu retorted to him, sticking her tongue out. "I have to make serious conversation."

Matty snickered.

"That's like, 'hush, children, the adults are talking', isn't it?" Blake appealed to his friend.

"Horribly. They can fuck us all night, but when it comes to..."

"If you have something to add," Heero noted happily, "you can say it," he patted Matty's head.

Matty swatted at him.

"Why are we not getting anything done?" Zechs asked in mild confusion. "I thought we were like, all official and shit."

"And we were all sleeping over on Illicit because we were helping mount the weaponry," Heero retorted. "Jaden totally kidnapped us on accident."

Zechs stared at him.

"He didn't remember we were on the ship until the pause for atmosphere-boost," Duo added happily.

"Shh," Qingfu hissed at him. "He'll beat you soundly for telling."

Duo snickered wickedly.

Zechs scratched as his chin as he considered that, then nodded and shrugged. "You know?" he muttered. "It sort of figures."

- -

There was something about the five men that was markedly different from when they'd left to 25...and adding in Lucretzia Noin and the forsaken Lightning Count, and a situation was created that Jaden would rather avoid. The idea of having all seven of them, plus Matty, Blake, and Jinli in his personal apartment for a professional meeting boded about as well as a rigged game of Russian Roulette.

He shook his head as he moved down to the civilian layer of the craft.

He, Duo, and Wufei had worked out a plan of secure contacts on 25 to relay spot messages to the proper authorities. It had served to Jaden's logic to send Matty and Blake...and Jinli himself. The three of them were neutral enough for what Jaden wanted accounted for, but Duo and Wufei had disagreed.

It had to be someone from Illicit.

Jaden stopped, blinking at the lobby area in front of him.

The man he was looking for was a nineteen-year-old named Varner. He, like many of the older teens on the ship, had decided the children needed more tending than free-run of the halls. Specifically, gathering the children made it possible to put the secure-code on the area where the children would be. That code would make it impossible for any MS to attack that area of the ship. If there was even a slight chance the area could be hit, the firing mechanism would shut down.

. . . the lobby was filled with boxes.

"Mr. President?"

Jaden looked up, blinking at the Robbs boy. He'd originally known the kid as Maron Clint, and had found out when Duo'd shown up that he was actually a first-ops kid named Clint Robbs. Duo was looking for him...so of course, Jaden found him.

"Captain!" Varner rose from the box he was near. "What's up?"

"What...is this?" Jaden asked blankly as his mind worked things out better. The lobby area was strewn with refrigerator and ration boxes. There were whole boxes spread through the thing...and a lot of flattened out ones.

"A maze," Robbs explained.

"Supreme is here?" a little boy asked in an excited tone. "He's really..." the sound of the motion changed and both Robs and Varner focused down.

The kid started crying.

Jaden blinked as a second cry started, watching as the two men both darted down to the children.

A maze? Of cardboard?

Well, the kids seemed happy enough, running around through it or hiding in the forts. They were like cats like that...a box was their favorite toy.

He grinned a bit, starting into the maze opening and starting to wind through it. Little children peaked out at him and squealed in delight as they crawled away...and older kids looked up at him with bright happy eyes...before darting away.

It took him a while to realize they were trying to stay out from under his feet.

"Uh...there's...a path around," Robbs noted when the children had calmed. Jaden was mired halfway into the maze, of course, but he was letting him know.

Jaden gave him a look.

"This way!" a cute little blond girl muttered, starting down another path—when he took a step after her...the children squealed in delight...and scattered. They were all telling him which way to go, and he stopped utterly as the blond he'd been following doubled over in deep belly giggles.

Wow.

"Uh...Captain?" Varner asked hesitantly. "You can step over the walls."

The helpful children broke into giggles and protests at that—evidently he was supposed to go through it right if he was going at all. It sounded like a rule, and Jaden was torn. He wanted the kids to follow the rules that were set...but...

"You all got him lost," Varner retorted to the little boy. "Not only that, but he can step over it all without ruining it, which none of you little shorties can manage."

That brought more happy giggles.

Jaden almost sighed as he started to carefully step over the things.

"Giant!" one girl squealed...and mock screams of terror came from the area...as, evidently, he smooshed a farm-house.

He grinned, walking at one of the little girls who laughed delightedly and squealed as she ran away.

All in all, taking that few moments to play with the children helped clear his mind remarkably well. It took him a bit to clear the maze, and by the time he did, the two men were giving him interested looks.

"You're wanted by Marquise or Maxwell or...Wong-Chang," he noted to Robbs. "One of that lot...and you're wanted by me," he added to Varner.

"What's wrong?" Varner asked instantly.

"Nothing is wrong," Jaden reassured him. "We're starting our plans and want to ask the pair of you—though you might get orders," he added to Robbs. "We're meeting up in the captain's suite to eat, so if you both could come up in about...a half hour, it would be appreciated."

"Of course, Varner muttered, looking startled. "Uh...I'll have to find someone else to..." he gestured to the kids, who were going on about hunting giants.

Jaden nodded. "That's fine...I'd just appreciate it if it was the shorter end of an hour."

"Right," he muttered, nodding his head.

"I'll go tag out to Jenny," Robbs muttered. "And let Evanie know you're needed."

Varner nodded, then smiled at his captain.

Jaden nodded, turning to follow Robbs as the guy led the way around the maze. Some of the kids were giggling as they spotted him, and darting to hide.

"I think this stupid maze is the best idea any of us has come up with yet," Robbs muttered as they started back for the less civilian section of the civilian section. "There's some architect girl running around, and she was drawing up mazes on paper—and the kids all cooed about wishing they could really play in a maze. Leave it to the kids, huh?"

Jaden nodded at that.

"Hey," the guy stopped before his turn off. "They're gonna be thrilled that you went through the maze...that was fun of you. You might think about...interacting more with the non-military portions. Families decided to follow you, not just soldiers."

Jaden made a wry face and nodded at that, watching the young man disappear. He turned, though, meeting eyes with a passing woman.

The only problem with that was the fact that they weren't sure when Rab would make his move...and they had to be ready when that time came. For now, at least, he didn't have the time to shake hands and kiss babies. He'd have to see to that...when they weren't part of a war.

Une had given the pilots a month...they could wait that long, right?