Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ The Psionic Saga ❯ Chapter Eight ( Chapter 8 )

Chapter Eight.

The five boys made the walk from the library to the dorms in silence. Duo was jumping around, practically climbing the walls, which was driving Trowa half mad. He looked at Heero hopefully, but the Japanese boy had his head down in thought and was rubbing his cheek. Trowa frowned.

They split at the third level stairs, Heero and Duo heading for their room while Wufei went to camp on the floor in Trowa's. Neither Trowa or Quatre minded; at least Wufei was tidy, quiet and well behaved.

Trowa did not want to contemplate what Heero would have to put up with before Duo finally fell into a semi-comatose state once more. Then again, he was not sure Heero would be in any state of mind to pay much attention. Not that Trowa could blame him. Duo had just blown their minds out.

Psionicists were real. Trowa was having a hard time accepting that, but he was not about to argue with hyper-active please argue with me so I can take my mind off the pain Maxwell. Oh no, Trowa was cautious, not suicidal.

As they entered their room, Trowa sighed heavily, looking around what had once been a tidy little island of tranquillity. Strewn about the floor were an assortment of clothing and blankets that certainly did not belong to the two boys who boarded there. Three empty boxes were stacked against the far wall, all that remained of the first aid kits he himself had at some point stolen from the school infirmary. Under the window was another pile of blankets and a few pillows; Wufei's bed. There were several strewn sets of books on the desks as well as a collection of Duo's pranking devices.

"It will take a month to get this place back to normal," Trowa hissed under his breath. He thought he heard a grunt from the window's direction and noticed Wufei was already lying down, preparing to sleep.

Perhaps sensing his gaze, Wufei looked up and shrugged.

"Heero will have some obscene plan in his head by morning," Wufei said by way of explanation. "Combine that with whatever madness Duo wants to try and I think you will want to be rested."

Trowa felt his head spin in a way that was becoming far too familiar. Without another word he dropped onto his bed, pulled a blanket over his shoulders and began to doze.

The hiss of paper against paper. Trowa wondered if he was imagining the familiar sound, but when he dared to peek over the blanket he saw Quatre seated at his desk, a small desk light illuminating his gold hair with a faint halo. The small Arabian was reading, rather quickly by Trowa's standards, pages whispering quietly in some private conversation human ears are not party to. Intrigued, Trowa sat up in the bed, leaning against the wall, intending to watch Quatre as long as he could.

He found the small blonde strangely alluring, which he should considering they had now been on no less than ten `official' dates. Trowa didn't want to think about the unofficial ones in case he lost control of himself with Wufei sleeping only a few feet away.

Quatre's was skimming. Trowa knew it the moment a page turned only an instant after the previous. As the page turned Trowa caught a glimpse of the page's heading in the small light; Psychic projection.

Trowa was used to Quatre reading those kinds of books. The small blonde had a strange affinity for the mind and his sisters went as far as to call him an empath, which slightly unnerved Trowa who tried so hard to hide his feelings, not that that mission was ever successful around Quatre.

What interested Trowa was that Quatre was skipping the parts about Psychics in his newest book and focussing on something else.

`One guess what that is,' Trowa thought sarcastically before he pushed off the wall and silently padded his way to Quatre's side. He placed a gentle hand on the shorter boy's shoulder.

Quatre did not respond to the touch for several minutes, which gave Trowa enough time to skim the first few lines of the page he was reading. No surprises.

"Anything interesting?"

Quatre finally looked up and his pale eyes sparkled. For a moment Trowa forgot the sun had already set.

"Some things. I want to talk to Duo. I think he'll still be awake. Do you mind staying here with Wufei?"

Trowa was surprised and did not want Quatre going anywhere alone, but he reasoned the blonde could take care of himself and it was only two flights of stairs to Duo's room, and once there Heero would keep an eye on them…

"I don't mind."

Quatre smiled and tucked the book under his arm. Before Trowa could protest Quatre was on his toes, kissing him gently on the cheek before hurrying out the door.

Trowa stared at the door in surprise for several minutes before switching off the small desk light and smiling to himself in the dark.

* * *

Quatre ignored the nerves in his stomach as he closed the door and heard Trowa flick the latch on the opposite side. He knew he could go back, that all he had to do was knock and Trowa would let him in, but he would think him a coward.

Forcing himself forward, Quatre hurried down the hallway and hit the stairs at a run. Just because he wasn't coward enough to turn back did not mean he was stupid enough to stroll about by himself as if nothing was amiss. He was scared, not afraid to admit it, and intended to reach Duo's room as quickly as possible.

He thought he might have made it in record time. In less than thirty seconds he was standing before the door, hand raised as the code was knocked into the hard wood.

There was a shuffling behind the door, a whispered curse in Japanese and then Heero was at the door, rubbing his cheek, eyes slightly fogged with sleep.

"Sorry Heero, but I need to talk to Duo. Is he here?"

"Hn," was all the reply Quatre expected. Instead he stood gaping as Heero opened the door, bowed his way in and said rather loudly "the master is in the study, currently occupied I believe with the creation of substances used for illegal trafficking within schools which will, inevitably, be used for some form of terrorism. As such, I am afraid he is not really interested in seeing to his GUESTS!"

Quatre jumped when Heero bellowed `guests' right into Duo's ear before retreating to his own side of the painted red line and falling on his bed. Quatre locked the door before daring to look around. When he did he was not surprised. Heero's side of the room was spotless while pigs would have been ecstatic, if not a little jealous, to find themselves in Duo's Sty.

Heero had a small heat pack against his cheek and was falling back into what Quatre assumed was a meditative state. He felt only a small stab of guilt that he had obviously pulled Heero away from his meditations. The guilt faded when he saw Duo, as he had thought he might, hunched over his desk, or `study', creating `terrorist substances'. Trying not to laugh, Quatre grabbed Heero's chair and dragged it over to sit beside Duo.

The desk had been cleared. The boxes that usually found the desk their home had been tossed on the floor, shutting off any access to Duo's closet. Quatre looked from the closet to Duo's clothes and grinned. The braided boy had not even thought to fetch some pyjamas before he set to work, let alone clothes for the morning.

Duo had several curved metal arm braces laid out before him and was threading several wires through holes he had punched in the metal. There were small circuit boards laid out to his right and some plugs. Quatre had no idea what any of it really was, but he had a feeling he knew what it would do.

"Borrowers?"

Duo looked up and Quatre thought the grin on his face would have had the devil running for cover, let alone a few Psionicists. It stretched from ear to ear as his fingers graced the metal with his slender touch, pulling the circuit boards into previously prepared brackets on the braces and connected the wires to their appropriate homes. Quatre watched it in awe, delighted by the way little lavender fireflies seemed to dance in Duo's eyes as he worked.

"Will it work?"

"Who knows," Duo shrugged nonchalantly. Quatre didn't think he cared either way. With Duo it was the creation that mattered, and the big boom that came after.

"If it does work, can you build me a set?"

Duo's hands stopped working. Quatre almost regretted interrupting, loving how the fine white spiders wove their mechanic webs, but having Duo's attention was much nicer. He smiled, happy to be spending time with one of his closest friends, especially now that he was awake, healing, happy, not writhing in bonds on his bed, fevered and furious.

"Why do you want a pair?"

"Well, I actually think we should all have a pair if they work. But…if you can make me a set that borrows from your set…"

Duo was already nodding, his grin, if it was possible, growing wider.

"The braces will make us artificial Psionicists, if they work," Duo thought aloud. "We can only have one set functioning at a time, otherwise the two polarities of the devices would cancel each other out…"

Quatre had not known there were polarities involved, but he noticed there were two small magnets connected to the top of the braces Duo was making and nodded.

"But," Duo continued, oblivious to the workings of Quatre's mind. "If one set borrowed the energy from around them, a second set could be made to borrow solely from the first set, or more specifically from the original set's frequency, ignoring those around it. Then you could use that frequency to boost your psychic ability…"

Quatre had only considered boosting his Psychic ability, but as Duo spoke and elaborated on the plans he had only just begun to think about, Quatre realised the full implications of their growing plot.

"Mind against brawn," Quatre whispered and Duo nodded in reply, his hands resuming their work at a more fevered pace.

"Quat, get me another set of all this junk from those boxes. And find me an old radio."

Quatre obeyed immediately, kneeling beside the boxes by Duo's cupboard and finding things that best matched the appearance of what Duo had laid out before him. When he thought he had it all, he began rummaging around for an old radio but couldn't find one.

Something tapped gently against his shoulder. He almost expected to see Trowa when he looked up, even though he knew Trowa was asleep two stories down. What he certainly did not expect to see was Heero holding his alarm clock out for the taking.

"But…!"

"I don't use it and I can always get another one. It has a radio built in."

Quatre nodding quietly and gathered his collection against his chest before returning to Duo's desk.

Duo didn't even look up.

"I won't use his clock. Mine is under my bed."

Quatre looked from Duo's determined face to Heero's and cringed. Heero's face clearly said that Quatre would lose a limb if he dared to give him back his radio, while Duo's said he would never talk to either of them again if they tried to hand him any clock but his own.

Heero moved before Quatre could get his thoughts clear. He grabbed hold of Duo's braid and hauled the boy bodily from his chair. He held the end of the braid and the alarm clock before Duo's angry eyes.

"Choose."

Quatre thought Duo's eyes were going to fall out of his head.

"But…you can't…its mine…your clock…."

"Take the clock Duo," Heero ordered.

Quatre was intrigued. He had always wondered what hold Heero had over Duo and thought he might have finally figured it out. They all knew how much Duo loved that braid, and if Heero kept threatening to take it, no wonder Duo always gave in. Quatre certainly didn't blame him.

"I'll pay you for it," Duo stammered, snatching the clock and slouching in his chair once more.

"You can't afford to and we both know it. I'm giving it to you and that's that. If you're that fussed about it, accept it as an early birthday present."

One, Quatre had never heard Heero talk as much as he had in the past hour in the whole time they had known each other. Two, Quatre had never seen Duo at such a complete loss for words. Three, Quatre had never been so completely overwhelmed by the feeling of other's emotions and still wanted to fall on the floor and roll around laughing.

It was all too much. Quatre fell to the floor. When he finally stopped wriggling and got his giggles under control he looked up to find two very confused sets of bluish eyes on him. He shrugged and headed for the door.

"Ready by morning?"

"Wufei's at seven," Duo said with a quick nod. "We'll test it on that thing I put in his microwave."

Quatre laughed all the way back to his room, no fear at all.

End Chapter Eight.