Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ 2 Reign ❯ Plots and Plans ( Chapter 17 )

Chapter Seventeen: Plots and Plans

"I'm going to get Quatre laid," I informed Heero easily, "Are you helping me or not?"

"What?" he asked blankly, turning to look at me-then realized I was standing in the bathroom door of his bedroom, "Duo…"

"What?" I asked, "I know he's a big boy, but big boys need help sometimes, too."

He shoved passed me, looking toward the living room. I had no clue where Relena was, but imagined that was who he was looking for.

"Are you helping me or not?"

He looked about to snap, then studied the room a moment longer before narrowing his eyes at me, "What's in it for me?"

"Quatre's piece of mind."

Heero considered that, "And you?"

"What about me?" I returned, raising an eyebrow.

"What's in it for you?"

"Not much, maybe it'll stifle my urge to rape him."

"That's not funny," Heero informed me, turning back to the mirror-he was shaving.

"It would have been funny two years ago," I noted.

"Two years ago…" he trailed off, studying me in the mirror, then nodding his head in indication, "You didn't have that belt two years ago."

I raised an eyebrow at him, wondering what his little fascination was with my belt. I didn't bother to uncross my arms, "What does my belt have to do with anything?"

This got me an extremely level look before he went back to shaving, not saying anything.

"Really, Ro," I muttered, moving into the bathroom and shutting the door, "It's a belt."

"That you really know how to use," he gave me that same pointed look.

"Since…it's hard…to figure belts out."

This got a disgusted snort and he shook his head, "Never mind."

I decided that was probably the best idea. "The thought just occurred to me," I explained in reference to his previous question, "Do you know if he's fucked anyone?"

"He gets really drunk sometimes and we lose track of him," Heero admitted, "But as far as I know, nothing's come of it."

"Would Jacob know?"

"You're asking the wrong person. The only thing I know about them is that they have different rooms and pick at each other all the time."

"Huh," I considered the matter, "I don't know if he'd gotten laid at any point when we first got together."

Heero actually considered the matter, "You know…you're right."

I shrugged at him. I knew I was right, but it would be easier-ten times easier, to work with him instead of against him. Both would be fun, but that wasn't the point of the exercise.

He lowered the blade, thinking a moment before meeting my eyes, "Any ideas?"

"Not really," I admitted, "He was eying a few chicks at the pub, but he didn't approach."

"And then?" he asked dryly.

"And then I saw a man…" I laughed evilly, thinking back to the guy, "Needless to say, I got a bit distracted. I turned around at one point and saw Q against a bar with a guy on him."

"You aren't lying to me, are you?" he asked sincerely, studying my eyes.

I frowned slightly at him, shaking my head, "I wouldn't do anything serious to Quatre-not when he was drunk." I looked him over a second, "Why won't you just take me at my word? You knighted me."

His gaze went past me to the door and he considered that one, "Duo…when Kayla died, you changed."

I dropped my eyes, trying not to let the grief come to mind.

"You snapped that night in the waiting room and scared everyone. They had to sedate you. You haven't been the same since."

"I lost the woman I loved," I muttered, fighting to keep tears from my voice. My instinct was to react with anger, to shove the emotions away, but…

"I know you did, Duo," he said quietly, "We all loved her."

I met his eyes, shaking my head slightly, "I don't want to think about it."

"Fine," he muttered, still studying me, "What happened to you? You ran off on us…showed up for one day at my wedding, and the next time we see you…"

I shook my head, thinking over the last two years, "A lot happened, Heero. Too much for me to recount."

He was silent a long moment after that, then seemed to come to a decision. "Can I trust you? Honest and truly, can I trust you?"

"What do you mean? Trust me with what?"

"I don't question your dedication to the job-or the fact that you are my friend…but everything else. You shove us away and pull us closer…you've been fucking with Wufei…and now I get the impression that Quatre hasn't been spared your ministrations…and even me. I need to know that you won't cross the boundaries. We all know that if you put your mind to it, you can do anything. I need to know that I can," a slight smile crossed his face as he spoke, "…trust myself with you."

I looked away from his eyes, thinking about that, "I would never…hurt…any of you. I would never knowingly hurt you."

This was considered another long and silent moment before Heero nodded acceptance at me.

"So…are you going to help?" I asked finally.

"I think I will," he agreed quietly, smiling slightly, "It's been too long since I was naughty."

"Your majesty, your wife!" I protested.

He laughed, smacking me in the stomach before focusing on me again, "Is Jesse still in one piece?"

I choked on that one, smirking as I remembered his expression from the night before. I hadn't been able to resist fucking with him. "Mostly."

"Duo!"

I died laughing, trying to hop out of his reach and running into the bathroom door. We wrestled a bit before I could break the door open-not literally break, but get it open…

And Relena was staring at us.

We froze in an instant; he had me in a semi-chokehold and I was holding onto his arm with my hands. We stared back at her as she looked from me to her husband, then back again. She didn't say a word as she turned and walked out of the room.

Heero and I exchanged another glance…and started laughing.

-

"They're acting normal again, though," I muttered to Hilde, she was sitting across the desk from me contentedly, munching on a bowls of rice.

She nodded at my words, "This morning's wrestling match was entertaining. I thought Miguel was going to go homicidal on them, though."

"He's…such a bitch," I muttered, which caused us both to giggle. "Honestly, though," I added, "He acts like he can change everything about Wufei, and Wufei has let him so far. I'm going to feel bad for Miguel when Wufei gets tired of it."

"My ears are burning," Wufei informed us, pushing the door open and raising an eyebrow at me.

I smiled, "Fei! Sit and eat with us!"

"No," he didn't even apologize, "I'm looking for Duo."

I gave Hilde a long look, "He was in my apartment about five minutes ago."

Hilde giggled again.

Wufei blinked between us.

"He and Heero were…entertaining themselves."

His face cracked into grin before he shook his head sharply.

I laughed myself, "I don't know what they were doing, but they were in the bathroom and being loud. Duo may have taken off by now, though."

Wufei sighed, turning to go.

"What's up?" I called quickly.

"Miguel called Miraina, I swear he's a fuckin' baby…but she wants to talk to Duo."

"Oh," I blinked at this news, looking at my watch. It was already twelve-thirty, "Aren't you going to have lunch?"

He gave me a dirty look before taking Hilde's bowls of rice from her and darting out the door.

"Hey!" Hilde called after him, not overly annoyed.

I laughed.

"That was just rude!" she complained happily at me, "I'm eating for two, already!"

I laughed and passed her the second half of my sandwich.

"Thank you, your majesty," she muttered sweetly, biting into it, "This is really good…where did you order it from?"

"The kitchen," I replied wryly, "You'd be amazed at the extent of Heero's talents."

She started giggling.

-

I was singing to myself happily as I made myself a sandwich when Wufei came flying into my apartment. He swallowed quickly, looking around with a frown.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Where's Duo?" he demanded.

I blinked at him, then shrugged, "He took off a bit ago."

Wufei groaned, "Where?"

"To have lunch," I explained, "What are you doing?"

He kicked the doorjamb, then settled cross-legged on the floor and started to eat from a styrofoam bowl-thing of rice.

"Ah, I see," I replied conversationally, finishing my sandwich and moving around to sit a foot or two in front of him, "That's very intriguing, do tell me more."

He choked out a laugh at that, giving me a dirty look before swallowing again, "I was trying to find Duo, but he decided to be difficult today."

I tilted my head at him, "He came in here and left, that's not really difficult."

"He usually hangs out in his office at lunch time," Wufei countered, "I eat with him all the time. It just doesn't take him long to make other plans."

"Which is what he did today."

"What…are you doing?" Miguel asked from the hall, giving us both looks, "Where's Duo? Mom's waiting for him to call her. She said she wasn't going to leave the phone…where did you get rice?"

Wufei choked on that, swallowing again, "Hilde."

I studied the half-emptied bowl of rice a moment before looking up to Miguel, "Duo took off into town."

This got Wufei's instant attention, "So much for me finding him."

I smirked at him, "You should go into town alone. I want to see how many fuckers swoop down on you."

"Hahaha, very funny. Sorry, I'm not fond of chloroform."

I sniggered some more, looking up to Miguel who was now staring at me, "What?"

"Why are you on the floor?"

I started laughing, laying back again, "A king can do as he wills."

"But that leads to the question: should he."

I laughed some more, focusing on my sandwich.

"My mom is waiting, Wufei. What the fuck?"

Wufei was silent at this and I glanced up in time to see him giving Miguel a very dirty look. He pulled out his cell phone and hit a button. After a moment, I heard Duo answer, "Duo? It's me."

"You want to come to lunch with me?" Duo asked instantly, "I can turn around and pick you up."

"It's already going on one," Wufei countered, "I'm just gonna sit here with Heero."

Duo's laughter was evil, "Did he tell you?"

Wufei met my eyes instantly and I winked at him as Miguel waited impatiently.

"Not yet, I'll get him to in a bit." Wufei decided, "Miraina wants you to call her."

"Really?" that was startled, "I thought Miguel would have pulled the poor-baby thing with her and she wouldn't want anything to do with me."

I choked on my sandwich, trying to figure out how Miguel didn't hear this.

Wufei snorted as well, "No…he's right here."

Duo's laughter went even more evil.

"She's waiting by her phone for you, so if you could call her shortly it would be appreciated."

"All right, I'll do that."

"I'm gonna let you go-before you get me in trouble." the last was in Chinese.

Duo sniggered and I heard the phone click as Wufei pocketed his own phone, giving me a look.

"Join us, Miguel," I offered, gesturing at an empty bit of floor, "Pull up a tile."

He laughed at that, shaking his head as he ran a hand through Wufei's hair, "Sorry, I'm otherly engaged." Wufei gave him another annoyed look and he sighed in irritation, storming back up the hall. I watched him disappear at the end before looking to Wufei curiously.

"He was bitching about us all to his mommy," Wufei informed me in obvious annoyance, "Said we were all flirting with each other."

I snorted, "That's a rather cynical way of looking at it."

"I know, and then I mentioned that Duo was back and Miraina wanted to talk to him. Miguel was acting like a baby, trying to tell her he was at work, but she persisted. Then he informed me that Duo and I hang off each other all the time and we're starting to do it again."

"Thanks for noticing, Captain Obvious," I muttered, raising an eyebrow.

He rolled his eyes in an annoyed type of agreement, "No problem, Major Fuck-up."

I laughed.

He sighed, looking down, "I'm not sure if I should have said what I said, though."

"What's that?" I asked, sitting up again.

"I told him to get used to it and to get over it," Wufei confided quietly, "And then I told him I was tired of saving our relationship and that he was smothering me."

"Oh dear," I muttered. It seemed incredibly understated.

Wufei nodded, starting to eat again.

"So…what now?"

"Now I stop playing to his insecurities," Wufei muttered without looking at me. "Now I reclaim my friend and get him under a semblance of management before he hurts someone."

"Do you honestly think you can do that?"

"I do," he replied, meeting my eyes, "Because he's scared of hurting me."

I blinked at that, thinking over what I knew of Duo. "I also got to him today," I muttered, "I asked him if I could trust him…and he decided he wouldn't hurt us…or seduce us, whichever you prefer to pick."

That got a bit of a grin, "What did he mean, had you told me? Was that it?"

"Oh, no," I purred, then laughed, glancing down the hall to be sure Quatre wasn't in hearing range, "He's decided he's getting Quatre laid. When we get down to it, neither of us can vouch for the last time he had sex and we've both decided it would be better to remedy that."

Wufei's face split into an evil grin.

I laughed at the look, excited over the idea of manipulation.

Wufei laughed as well, the sound evil. He hadn't laughed like that in a long time.

I sat back…and really enjoyed my sandwich.

-

Jacob left my office as the clock hit one with a wink over the shoulder. I listened to him go before leaning forward and resting my elbow on the desk, running a hand over my throat and the very obvious hickies that were getting me all sorts of notice.

It bothered me sincerely that I couldn't remember what had happened at the bar. Duo had given me a Jacob-look, and that was all I knew for certain. The rest of the night was a fuzzy blur. Duo's strength had scared me in that momentary instance that I could remember, but if Jacob was telling the truth about Duo bruising people…

I didn't think Duo would sink so low as to lie to all of our faces. He was so certain of himself that there was no way in hell he'd hide what he'd done. If he was going to do something to us, he would do it and face the consequences. He also wouldn't try to do anything. If he'd wanted to fuck me, he would have, and I was very sure that he hadn't done that.

This left the mystery of what the fuck I'd been doing.

I groaned, shoving my food aside and folding my arms onto my desk, resting my head in them. I still found it fun to fuck with people, so I could have just found someone and started messing with them. I also could have gotten annoyed with someone and tried to scare them away…or I could have been really fucking drunk.

It aggravated me to no-end that I couldn't recall the night's events, and the fact that I could imagine how I'd gotten the hickies perturbed me…as well as the bite marks on Duo's throat. I did bite and bruise when I was frustrated, and I certainly had been before I'd gotten so smashed I puked.

I just had to trust Duo. He'd asked me to do that a few times, and he always seemed very sincere. If he were lying to us all…

I just had to trust him.

"Hey, Q, you want this?"

"No."

"You didn't even look!" Duo accused in protest.

"I don't want to see you."

"What?" that sounded almost hurt.

I growled at him.

He laughed his evil laugh, "Now you're speaking my language…"

I had to laugh at that one, sitting up slowly and forcing myself to see what hew as offering…

"Thai tea," he explained in his own special type of purr. He had two in his hands.

I was sorely tempted, but it seemed to imply that he would sit and talk with me…

He sat, uninvited, "Fine, I'll drink it myself."

I studied his throat a moment.

He laughed, shoving the second cup at me, "You aren't still obsessing, are you? If you want me to give you some hickies to prove my point, I suppose I can. It's asking a lot," he added, "But I guess I can manage."

I had to laugh at that, snatching the cup up to glower at him, "All right, smart-ass. What happened?"

"I told you," he replied happily, "We danced, I found a play-mate, I noticed you an hour later making out with some hot-ass who was keen on fucking you."

"No, you hadn't told me that," I replied easily, "And your own actions toward me in the past make me wonder."

"You have to trust me," he explained with a shrug, indicating his own throat, "I mean, honestly, this doesn't seem like something you would do."

"But I do," I returned, narrowing my eyes at him, "I hit a certain point and get very violent."

His eyes flashed in interest and amusement, but he didn't comment, shifting slightly in his seat, "I don't know what to tell you, then. If you only remember me shoving you against the wall then we're sorta in a downward spiral."

I considered that as well. There was something genuine in his aire, but I wasn't fool enough to believe that he couldn't act.

"I thought about how easy it would be to fuck you," he admitted, taking another drink and studying my eyes, "But you're sorta straight…and you're also a friend."

Which would explain the look I could remember in his eyes, "Why did you shove me against the wall?"

"Because he nearly had your pants undone and I had to act fast or give you up as a lost cause. I hope you're happy with yourself, I could have gotten screwed and didn't so I could help you."

I narrowed my eyes at him.

"You were wearing a belt, I might add."

I blinked, the sensation of the undone belt flashing through my mind without any other details.

"It's in my car," he added, frowning slightly, "Which probably will look really bad…but it was about to pull your pants down." he flashed me a grin.

I choked on my drink, looking away from his eyes.

He laughed, "As bad as that would have been," he added sardonically, "I figured that respecting your person was more appropriate than…inspecting…your person."

I choked again, starting to laugh.

He laughed as well, "Okay, I'll stop now…but really, Q, I didn't…I didn't do anything to you…" he ran his fingers over my hand as he studied my eyes, then thought about it, "While you were drunk."