Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ 2 Reign ❯ A Little Black Number ( Chapter 8 )

Chapter Eight: A Little Black Number

I watched Jacob pace back and forth outside my bedroom door and wondered what the hell his issue had been for the past week…no, more than that. He'd started tweaking around when Duo had substituted for Trowa. Several things had changed since Duo had actually started working…hell, since Duo had come back. Jacob was one of them. He was continually hovering on the verge of the way he had once been and what he'd become. Things were relatively calm, though, or as calm as a person could imagine with a ticking time bomb in the room.

And Duo really was a time bomb.

"What are you pacing for?" I demanded finally. I'd been expecting Jacob to come to me since not long after he'd started doing this, and after three weeks of it, I was tired of waiting.

"I'm not sure if I should tell you." Jacob admitted as he stopped in the door a moment, thinking as his eyes strayed toward the living area.

"You can spend the night with someone," I informed him, wondering if he'd found someone to fuck, "You can even move out if you feel you should."

He laughed slightly nervously at that, "It's not…not…" he cleared his throat, not meeting his eyes.

"Then what?" I asked, startled. If he hadn't found someone…

"I told you," he muttered, "I don't know if I should tell you."

I stared at him as he turned and started down the hall, "Jacob!"

He paused.

"Get in here!" I snapped, listening as Lea's playing paused. She was in her room watching a movie, and it'd take something fairly serious to pull her away from that…like me yelling at Jacob.

He came into the room like a chastised little boy.

"You've been on the verge of a nervous break-down for the past three weeks now." I muttered, thinking back to the night I'd first noticed it in him. He'd been dressed nicely with cologne on, but he hadn't actually ended up leaving the apartment.

He laughed nervously, "That long, really?"

"Jacob, what's with you?" I asked seriously, frowning at him.

He smirked at me, shaking his head before laughing, "Three weeks?" he disappeared into the hall, and then into his bedroom.

I blinked curiously, reaching for my phone. I couldn't think of who I should call, though, so I ended up staring at the face a moment before setting it down and giving up.

There were some things I just didn't need to know.

I went back to my book.

-

Selena was singing.

I'd hopped into the shower, and now that I was drying off, I could hear her voice. She had a very nice voice. I didn't know the song she was singing, but it was fairly evident that she did.

"Duo?" she asked suddenly.

"Yes'm, Nira?" I returned.

She giggled, moving into my sight, "You're listening to me?"

I smiled back, "You have a nice voice."

She smiled at me before disappearing. I could hear that she'd moved down the hall.

I stared at myself in the mirror, wondering about the past month. She and I had never spent more than a week together, maybe two. She'd get on my nerves or I'd have found Ace despite her efforts to mislead me and we'd go our separate ways for a month or more…sometimes only days.

It was…kinda nice.

Everything was nice now. Trowa was no longer angry with me for my attack, and Heero was starting to bring me up to beat on more of his plans. Quatre's behavior toward me hadn't changed since I'd first come back. Wufei was, however, an issue.

When I'd initially left after Keith, I hadn't intended it to be a two-year trip. That had been why I didn't bother telling the others what I was doing-other than the fact that Heero would know. When six months had past I'd wrote my first letter…

Wait, I hadn't given those to Wufei yet.

I moved into the bedroom again, hearing Selena start to sing again as I dug into my duffel bag. That might help him. He'd truly been hurt by my sudden disappearance. He'd always had his fun little issues, but now I was part of them. If anything, the fact that he wore the ring I'd given him under his engagement ring told me that.

"Mike?" Selena called sweetly.

"What?" I returned in a mock of her tone as I picked up the letters, tossing them on top of my dresser before buttoning my jeans and digging down to pull out another shirt.

"Are you hungry?" she asked, still in that…drawl.

"Yes I am."

She giggled, "Knock it off!"

I grinned, grabbing socks and moving down the hall to look at her as she stood in the kitchen, "Why?"

"Because I'm making steak." she replied, indicating a package she'd pulled from the fridge.

"How in the hell did you get that?" I asked, blinking at her.

She giggled, "I told the staff." she explained, pulling a note-pad off the fridge that I hadn't bothered to investigate but had noticed, tossing it to me.

It was a request form.

"So they come in while you're hanging out, or what?" I muttered.

"They come in while you're at work, but it's kinda odd for them to be around with me here, so I go take a walk or something."

"They don't get into my shit, do they?" I demanded, focusing on her.

"Of course not," she muttered in mild exasperation, "If you leave shit on the floor they tend to pick it up if they're vacuuming, though."

I considered that, then nodded.

"Anyway, you just write what you want on that and leave it on the counter."

"Oh…" I studied the thing, "So can you request like…your car to be out front at any given point?" I met her eyes.

"I imagine you could," she replied, blinking at me, "If they have your keys on hand."

I touched my pocket, thinking about that.

"I think that's what Mr. Trowa does." she added, thinking about it as she put more meat on her skillet.

"Oh." I muttered, tilting my head at her as I realized she wasn't dressed up, "I thought you and Hilde were going out again?"

"She started to feel down a while ago," Selena explained, "So we decided to nix our plan. You didn't have anything planned, did you?"

I flashed her a grin, moving into the living room and sitting at the couch to pull my socks on, "Nothing I took very seriously."

She snorted, "I hope you can cancel, then."

"What? You don't want to threesome?" I asked sweetly.

She gave me a dirty look at that.

I laughed, "Okay, so why don't we go to a movie or something?"

She turned to stare at me, her eyes opening wide, "Like…a date?"

My stomach turned inside out and my heart fell ten floors as I stared at her, anger building up, "Who told you about that?" I demanded.

"What?" she asked blankly.

"Who told you about that!" I demanded again, raising my voice slightly as I stood.

"Told me about…what?" her eyes were confused and rounded.

I sneered at her a moment before turning and storming from the room into the hall, barely remembering to grab my shoes before slamming the door closed behind me.

Fuck her if she was going to mimic Kayla at me.

-

Miguel jumped away from me when the front door to our apartment slammed opened and Duo came in, slamming the door closed again, obviously in a towering rage. His nostrils flared as he met my eyes, taking a deep calming breath as he plopped on a chair and started to put on his shoes.

"What's the matter?" Miguel asked as I blinked at my friend.

"What have you told her about Kayla?" he demanded of me as if Miguel hadn't talked or was properly dressed.

"Nothing." I replied, blinking at him and re-buttoning my jeans, "When we realized how fuckin' unreasonable you were about the topic, we stopped talking about it."

He blinked at me a moment, finishing his shoes before rising gracefully to his feet and disappearing back out the door.

"I think I should see what's got him so riled up." I muttered when Miguel focused on me again.

"Are you sure that's wise?" my fiancé muttered, "You saw what he did to Tro."

"Yeah, well…" I thought back to how he'd reacted when I asked him if he'd hurt me, then to a conversation I'd had with Quatre about it where Quatre admitted he'd used subterfuge of fear and submission to turn the violence away from himself, "I think I can deal with it." I muttered, grabbing my shirt.

"But, Fei…" he protested, realizing that I was dressed again.

I smiled slightly at him, "Sorry." I darted after my way-ward brother.

"Duo!" I called as he started down the stairs at the end of the hall, annoyed when he ignored me, "Michael!"

That made him pause and blink at me.

"What's going on?" I demanded, amused that this other name had worked and wondering what he'd do if I called him Tailor or Mr. Johnson.

"Selena thinks she's clever."

"I doubt that." I muttered, catching up to him and tugging at his arm, "Please, talk to me before you go shout at anyone else."

He frowned at me.

"Really, Duo," I muttered, wondering what kind of soft spot he had for me that I could actually make him stop his insanity. I twisted his ring around my finger, remembering his expression when he realized that the diamond on top of that was engagement.

He swallowed, grief suddenly clouding his expression before he shook his head violently and started to pull away from me.

"Are you sure she was doing it for why you think?" I demanded, not bothering to chase him now. I could tell he was listening to me.

"Why else would she do it?" he snapped.

I wondered what she'd done.

"She's a woman." I muttered, "They think somewhat alike and we're not supposed to understand them."

He shook his head again, reaching the landing, "No one else has ever asked me anything like that."

"Like what?"

He paused, blinking up at me, then, "Heero himself said that Kayla was odd when she said it." he snapped, starting down again, "Trowa probably told her."

"You know, I don't think Tro's breathed a word about Kayla since you fucking attacked him." I snapped over the railing since he was on the lower portion of the steps.

He paused.

"Trowa's not so stupid as to repeat the same mistake twice."

"Then who else would have told her?" he demanded, his brown eyes hard as agates as he looked up at me.

"I'm telling you," I snapped, "We don't even talk about her with each other."

His eyes narrowed.

"Give her the benefit of a doubt before you flip out on her." I added darkly.

"What did I say?" Selena's tone was near tears as both Duo and I focused on her as she came down the stairs.

"What did you say?" I muttered quietly.

"He asked me to the movies," she replied, her eyes slightly watery as she met mine, "And then he got all mad…"

"Oh, please!" Duo nearly shouted at her-I could hear a door open down the hall, "As if you would ever even think about asking me that!"

I blinked between them.

"Ask you what?" Selena's tone was becoming harder now as she probably realized this wasn't something she'd done.

"Like…a date?" Duo was obviously mimicking.

Selena's jaw dropped, "You're pissed at me for that?" she demanded. There was definite anger there.

"Dude, what are you on?" I muttered, blinking at him in amazement.

He drew himself up.

"What's going on?"

We all focused on Relena, who was standing a few feet from Duo now. None of us had noticed her approach, which was saying something about our darling queen.

"I'm not really sure." I muttered, "Duo's freaked out at Selena for something."

"For what?" Heero asked, joining his wife to look questioningly up at Selena.

"He asked me to the movies," she snapped, though her anger wasn't directed at Heero, "And I asked him if he meant a date…and he freaked out on me!"

"Oh," Heero muttered, comprehension in his eyes as he looked back to Duo.

Duo was glaring at Heero, "Did you tell her?" he snapped, "You were the only one who knew."

"Knew what?" Selena's voice had risen several octaves.

Heero raised an eyebrow at Duo, "As much as I'd love to pick a fight with you, I'm not that stupid."

Duo's eyes narrowed.

"Knock it off, both of you." Relena muttered, looking up to us again, "Come down here, you two."

I sighed, moving down the stairs to join them.

"Now tell me what's going on and lets see if we can work it out." she frowned pointedly at Duo.

"There's nothing too work out, Relena." he snapped, starting down the hall.

Heero grabbed his arm before he passed, but Relena was faster.

"Get back here now." she snapped at him.

Duo turned to look at her.

Selena was also staring at her.

"You aren't going anywhere until I make sense of this bull-shit." she snapped, her manner imperial.

Duo fell into stance, his face going expressionless.

"What did he mean, you were the only one who knew?" Relena demanded of Heero as if she'd expected that, "And how did you get drawn into this?" she added to me.

"He came into my room." I replied quickly, "And I was trying to figure out what was going on."

"To make a long story short, when Duo and Kayla finally started a relationship," Heero muttered, making a hushing gesture to Duo when he looked about to speak up, "He'd asked her to the movies and she'd asked him if he meant a date. She had been used several times," he added to Relena with perfect objectivity, "So the fact that he wasn't only fucking her took her by surprise." this was accompanied with a pointed look to Selena.

Duo's jaw was clenched.

"How in the hell would I have known that?" Selena snapped at Duo, thinking a moment, "And do you really think I'm so callous as to repeat something like that?" she looked truly offended.

Duo's eyes narrowed.

"Well?" Relena snapped when he didn't say anything.

"Oh, I can talk now?" Duo demanded pointedly, looking to Heero.

"Tcch, knock it off."

"Whatever my king wishes." Duo replied darkly, focusing on Selena as Heero opened his mouth to snap, meeting my eyes in obvious irritation.

"Sir knight," Relena muttered formally before he could say anything, "That is most unbecoming."

Duo blinked at her.

"As a knight of the Peacecraft family," she swept on as we all blinked at her, "You are expected to be cordial, polite, and caring. Especially of your friends. To date, you have verbally attacked each and every one of them, even attacking one of them-a fellow officer. You disrespect any person who disagrees with you, and your temper is almost insanely out of control. I've turned a blind eye to this behavior simply because I was unsure of a course of action. I will, however, begin to react to these things. You are my knight, even though my king knighted you, and you are my sworn officer. If I have to take steps to reprimand you, I will take steps to reprimand you."

Duo looked too shocked to respond.

"I hope you'll excuse me." Relena added, glancing us all over as she turned on one heel…and marched down the hall as if her entire country was watching her.

Heero laughed a slightly evil laugh, "I love it when she does that."

Duo focused on him, his eyes narrowing.

I ran my hand over my face, shaking my head and wondering what would happen next.

…In today's episode of The Royal Circus…

"What's…going on?" Jacob's voice seemed slightly nervous.

We all blinked at him as he hung out of the front door to Quatre's apartments.

Duo focused on him, taking in his outfit with a slight grin. I myself had to think about that one a moment. Jacob was wearing jeans that were just tight enough to set off certain aspects of his figure with a wife-beater that hugged his entire torso. His hair was spiked back and…well, he looked good.

"Were you…coming to visit?" Duo asked, glancing to his watch.

Jacob's cheeks flushed and he shook his head quickly, looking us all over, "I heard voices…"

"Are you sure?" Duo pressed, looking slightly disappointed.

"He's even wearing cologne." Quatre muttered, shoving the guy into the hall and looking us over.

"You were serious, weren't you?" Selena muttered, studying Jacob, "That's why you wanted to know if I was taking off with Hilde."

Duo smirked at her.

Jacob flushed even more, looking between them, seeming flustered.

"What, now?" Quatre asked, giving Jacob a pointed look.

Duo seemed to have recovered his good humor. Instead of answering any of these questions, he turned back to Selena, "Are we going to the movies, then?"

"Um…" she muttered, blinking at Jacob again.

"Come on, a few good ones have come out that I know you wanted to see."

She smiled slightly at him, seeming not to remember the past ten minutes.

Quatre started whispering to Jacob, who started shaking his head in return. Quatre was bound and determined that none of us actually heard what he was asking, though.

"Is this a formal gathering that I didn't get a memo on?"

I jumped as Miguel's voice sounded directly behind me, wondering when he'd come out of the room.

"Not really," Heero replied easily, "Duo was just suggesting we all go to the movies."

"I want to go!" Trowa muttered, coming out of his rooms as well.

Selena wasn't the only one blinking at the group of us. Duo seemed completely unfazed, however. "The only condition on the invitation is that Nira's picking the movie." Duo informed us all, finally looking around.

I wondered if this was his way of apologizing to her.

"Me?" Selena demanded.

"That's fine with me." Quatre said happily.

"Are we taking Relena?" Heero asked.

"She'd want to choose the movie," Miguel countered.

"She needs a night off," Heero returned, "We can all go out to a café or something, then hit the movie of Selena's choice."

"Me?" she squeaked again.

"What about the girls?" Quatre muttered, "I doubt they'd want to see anything we did."

"Hilde's not gonna want to go." Trowa replied, "So she'll probably keep an eye on them."

"Mr. Trowa!" Selena protested, her eyes rounding as if he'd betrayed her.

"What?" he asked, "You don't want to go?"

"Mr. Trowa?" Quatre asked in amusement, "That's new."

Trowa laughed, "I like it."

"You would, freak." Quatre returned.

They started tussling.

I couldn't help but join the fun when Selena looked to me for help, "Hilde will be happy if we bring her back something to eat…her and the girls, right? Fast food or something. The girls never get fast food so it will be a treat."

"Good idea!" Quatre said enthusiastically, laughing hard as Trowa knocked him to the ground.

"Heero, go tell Relena!" Duo suggested happily.

I wondered if he even remembered that he'd just tweaked out completely on Selena. Jacob was eyeing us all in mild amazement.

"You look fancy," Trowa noted, suddenly noticing the guy, "Why are you all dressed up?"

Duo laughed an evil laugh, "Yeah, really?"

"I'm not dressed up," Jacob countered in a breathy tone.

"He's not really," Quatre agreed, "Unless he used to dress up to come see me." he winked at the guy.

Jacob let out a sudden laugh at that, his eyes opening wide.

"Is it just me," I asked Miguel, "Or does that make it seem like Jacob really was dressing up for Q?"

Miguel sniggered as Heero darted down the hallway.

"Mike," Selena muttered, moving forward to intertwine her fingers in his, "Don't make me choose!"

Duo smirked at her, leaning forward to kiss her cheek lightly.

Her expression was stunned.

I smiled, realizing vaguely that no one else had seen that as Selena met my eyes with her own huge ones.

I grinned at her in acknowledgment that this had really happened and she blushed slightly, lowering her eyes almost coyly as she focused on Duo again.

He only smiled.