Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Devil's Due ❯ - 03 - ( Chapter 3 )

— 03 —

October 14, A.C. 204. Base. 8:30pm

Trowa rubbed tiredly at his face as he sat in the chair of the living room. He was tired, bored, and a little annoyed that he was single. Deb had been a good girlfriend...but Sandra had not been. Sandra had been good in bed but annoying in just about every other aspect. She'd been needy and clingy, and unlike most girls who thought their man was cheating, she was absolutely terrified that him cheating would mean him leaving her.

Considering that he hadn't been cheating, her incessant half-begging had grated on his nerves. She'd finally stopped calling him, though–he was pretty sure she'd gotten a new boyfriend.

So that left him single...but he wasn't alone in that. Wufei and Danielle Duvall, a girl from Jordan's team, had finally broken off their relationship. Wufei had definitely swept her off her feet with small tokens of affection, but after they'd gotten to the next level of serious, he'd stopped doing it. He hadn't meant to be mean or anything by it, it'd just been the end of that part of their relationship. He'd wanted to work on getting to know her and her family, but the end of her little treasures upset her...a lot, evidently. She'd been getting extremely pissy for a while, and had finally stopped talking to him for a week.

Evidently he was supposed to show up with a present, and when he didn't, she felt unloved or something.

That had startled Trowa, because he hadn't gotten the impression that the girl was really that shallow...or insecure? Whichever it was, they'd struggled on for another month before Wufei had regretfully noted that they didn't seem to work. She'd agreed, and they'd parted company without bitter words.

Trowa was amused by that, actually, because his fall out with Deb had been sparks and fireworks. She'd gotten pissed at him for some slight or another that he hadn't paid attention to, and dropped him almost on the spot. This had been followed by her cussing him out down the street whenever she chanced to see him...which was often...until he'd gotten tired of people looking at them and pulled rank on her.

There couldn't really be any more true an end than that. He'd even intended to figure out what his mess-up had been so he could fix it...but that wasn't exactly possible after that. She avoided him, and since she wasn't on any of their teams, there was no reason for them to come across each other on the base.

So...he, Quatre, and Wufei were single...Jordan was married and Heero had a wedding date about a month off.

The man rose to his feet, stretching his neck. He'd been trying to wait for Heero to get home. The man had gone to talk to Une earlier in the evening and hadn't been seen since. He wanted to know if she'd given him the house or not. Considering all of their loyal service, Une couldn't really deny him the place, or any of them if they asked for it, but if something had changed...

It didn't matter, he'd see the guy in the morning anyway...and Wufei, actually.

Trowa was a bit annoyed that he'd been home alone all evening. Waiting for his friends to come back made it hard for him to go do something, and Doug had to get up early to go play trade-off with Jordan.

He moved tiredly into his room and dropped onto his mattress, listening to the house before deciding to take the chance and have a smoke.

What were the chances, really, of them coming home within the next five minutes?

- -

October 14, A.C. 204. Base. 8:45pm

"So we'll be borrowing this equipment," Wufei summed up to Calvin Black. It was the empath that Chai had helped he and Morgan win over. They were in one of the testing facilities the base had. "We can only get it after hours," Wufei added apologetically. "So it'll be late at night...but if we can figure out a way..." he had his hands in front of him again. It looked like he was holding a ball, really.

Calvin nodded, appreciating his complete focus. The man was hell-bent on helping. He was nervous about his set up being seen as inadequate.

"You know...if you can get any friends to come, too," Morgan suggested a bit. "Only one or two at a time...just anyone else there."

"I'll try," Calvin reassured them dubiously, sitting against a table and looking the room over. "Maybe we could bring in a lamp, huh? This is dark."

Wufei nodded instantly, looking for a plug along a wall and going over what furniture he could access on short notice and haul around...

"I think I like you," Calvin noted, grinning slightly at the Chinese male. "Nothing against you," he noted quickly to Morgan. "He's just screaming at me."

"Screaming?" Morgan asked, moving around to set his notebook on the tabletop. "What do you mean, screaming?"

Calvin considered it a moment, appreciating the fact that both the men were very calm. "Let's see...you know when you're talking to someone...like this," he gestured between them. "We're just sort of talking, interesting, sure...but if anyone walked by they wouldn't more than glance at us...but then there's times when you talk to people who are talking fast, stumbling over words and bouncing...you know?"

Morgan nodded as he wrote.

"It's like that...but calm, if that makes any sense." He focused on his sense of the other man again. "Winner's called it a spark before...it just seems more like volume to me."

"How about Marks?" Morgan asked, raising his head.

The empath considered the man a moment and shrugged. "I dunno, he's withdrawn. I don't get close to him."

"So when you're in a room with him...he's not like a spark?"

"Not really, no," Calvin considered Morgan a moment. "Why?"

"Because Winner said..." he flicked back to the beginning of the notebook. "He said that when he enters a room he can sense the sparks, especially if he closes his eyes."

"Really?" that startled the other. "I hadn't...wait...do you write down everything?"

Morgan flashed him a half-guilty grin. "I'm hoping that there'll be a common thread. Whenever you talk about the power...I do write it down. Phrases...you know? Marks and Winner say a lot of the same type of things, but they're together all the time. I was starting to think they were common descriptions until I started talking to you."

"It's probably concepts," Wufei noted, leaning against his knuckles. "Different versions of the same thing...or maybe there's a difference in the level of powers."

"Let's not start theorizing yet," Morgan suggested.

"Yeah," Wufei muttered, settling back to frown as he looked the room over. "I have to decide on a plan," he added to his guest. "I need to figure out where to start–there's so much going on to begin with, it's hard to find a thread."

"I'm actually tired right now, too," Calvin noted, looking to his watch. "Hey?" he offered his hand to Morgan.

Morgan hesitantly passed him the pen, and the guy pulled the notebook onto his lap, flipping it around to the front and writing his name and cell phone number on it.

"Great," Wufei muttered happily, rubbing at his neck. "So I'll call you tomorrow and we can figure something out...are you busy during the day?"

"Not really," the man shrugged. "I have a class in the morning."

"So...you could...keep track of what hits you during the day," Morgan suggested, tucking the pen into the spiral bit. "Note what you feel when you're hungry and what you feel when you're tired...what sort of people catch your attention...just so we can get a base down."

"You got anymore of those?" Calvin asked, indicating the notebook.

"In the car," Morgan agreed.

"So are you busy during the work day?" he added to Wufei.

"Some days more than others. We're hitting a re-training spiral again."

"You could probably get others to help," Calvin noted. "Bring some of those spirals in at lunch some day and talk to everyone. Get'em to compare how they feel...some of them are on mood alterers..." he frowned at that one, "and some aren't...you could get the damn shrinks to realize that we aren't depressed because of a chemical imbalance."

Wufei smirked slightly at that. "I'm not entirely sure that one flies."

"You know what I mean," Calving protested, mildly embarrassed.

"I like it," Morgan noted to Wufei. "It'd help us find a common thread."

"So we can get some more tomorrow," Wufei conceded, looking around with a tired sigh. "Put in an options sheet...come on, let's get going."

Calvin followed obediently as Morgan looked the room over with a surge of hope, then turned to follow the pair out as well.

He couldn't wait until they got something done.

- -

October 14, A.C. 204. Base. 9pm

"Hey, buddy," Chance greeted Chip over the phone. "You heading to bed?"

"Yeah," Chip agreed, yawning. "Are you coming over tomorrow?"

"Yeah, after work," the former pilot agreed, heading down the stairs from Une's office. "Guess what?"

"What?"

"You know that house I was telling you about?"

"Yeah?"

"It ran away."

Chip giggled at that, amused in spite of himself. He knew he and his mom were supposed to be moving in with his dad, and houses couldn't run away.

Chance laughed a bit, glad the joke had worked. "Actually...I get it."

"Really?" Chip sat up excitedly as Shin turned to look at him. "No! You're trickin' me!"

"I'm not!" Chance protested. "I talked to the dragon lady and she said it's okay!"

Chip squeaked, absolutely beaming at his mother.

"So you know what I need you to do?"

"Yeah, Dad?" Chip focused back on the phone.

"I need you to go to bed, all right? You have school tomorrow, so you need to sleep."

"Okay," Chip agreed, all but throwing the phone at Shin and darting for his bed.

"Good...night?" the soldier asked uncertainly.

"And here I thought you wanted to talk to me," Shin retorted.

Chance laughed. "Hey, Baby."

"Hey," she returned. "What's going on now?"

"Une okayed the house," Chance explained excitedly. "It'll take until tomorrow evening...and we can move in."

"I think I'm going to have to pull you up short," she noted in amusement. "I'm not just transplanting my son to an entirely new house, no matter how excited he is about it. You can move in, and we'll come stay the night a few times and just start spending more time there. I want to make sure the move isn't going to bother him."

"That's fine," Chance returned, looking up to the sky. It was overcast, but for some reason that had its own beauty. "Mm...I love you."

"I love you, too," Shin reassured him. "Are you going to move in already?"

"I think so," he muttered. "I want to see what it's like to live alone, so I'll stay there until you move in."

"You might want to take gradual steps, too," she half teased, grinning. "Wufei and Trowa won't know what happened to them if you're gone, too. They'll have to make their own breakfast and everything."

Chance laughed at that.

"I have work and Zach has school," she muttered, considering her watch. "You should probably go to bed, too."

"I'm heading that way," the solider unlocked his rig. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"All right," she muttered, then looked up at her wide-eyed little boy, who was moving hesitantly from his room. "Someone forgot to say good night."

"All right, I love you."

"Love you," she returned, then passed the cell phone to her son.

"Dad?" Chip asked hesitantly. "I know you said to go to sleep...but..."

"It's all right," Chance reassured him. "You were trying to be good, but forgot to tell me good night. Good night, son, I love you."

"I love you, too, Dad," Chip noted, starting for their room as his mother herded him that way. "Good night."

"Night," Chance repeated, then smiled as the line went dead. He closed his own phone and leaned against the side of his car, staring up at the clouds.

Sure, Chip wasn't his son–Shin wasn't sure who his dad was, but Chance'd been the male figure in his life aside from his uncles and grandfather. Chance had gotten with Shin when she was two months pregnant, and it had been pointed out to him that he'd fulfilled the father's obligation from being in the hospital room with her to teaching the boy baseball. He hadn't gotten to help her take care of the child the entire time, though. He'd been busy on base and she'd been fighting him...but that was passed now.

How would Chip react if she got pregnant again? What would he do when they had more kids?

It didn't really matter, though. There were help books out there, and people who would help them along.

Chance headed for home.

- -

October 14, A.C. 204. Base. 930pm

Wufei frowned as he moved into his place. There was a strange scent hovering in the air. It was very faint, just enough of a difference to be noticed, but it was there. He moved down through the living room and looked into Chance's room, then into the room that had been Quatre's before and was usually used by Chip now.

It was a little stronger by Trowa's door.

The Chinese man tapped lightly, still trying to place it.

"Hm?" Trowa's voice was muffled and tired sounding.

"You sleeping?" Wufei asked.

"I'm detailing my car," Trowa retorted.

"Sorry," Wufei muttered, then hesitated. "You smell that?"

"Smell what?"

"I dunno what it is...I don't recognize it."

"So take the garbage out," Trowa muttered dismissively.

Wufei frowned some more, then turned back to the kitchen as Chance moved into the apartment.

"What is that?" Chance asked, looking around as he thought. "Is that vrit?"

"I don't know," Wufei noted. "I've never tried it."

"You're not missing anything, trust me," Chance reassured him, pulling his jacket off as he thought. "I think it is...where's Tro?"

"In bed," Wufei returned, watching the other man walk by.

Chance threw the door in question open and flicked on the light.

"Fuck! Heero!" Trowa rolled and covered his eyes at the same time. "What the hell!"

"I smell vrit," Chance retorted.

"I was with the guys," Trowa snapped, gesturing to his laundry. "Someone in the place was smoking it...is it really all over the damn house?"

"Yes," Chance returned, frowning. "You were smoking?"

"I don't smoke, Wufei smokes," Trowa retorted. "Turn that light off before I kick your ass."

Chance considered that a long moment before flicking the light off. "Crack your window or something...I don't want it to stick to my clothes."

Trowa grumbled bitterly at him.

Chance pulled the door closed, focusing on Wufei with a frown.

"What?" Wufei asked. "I smoke cigarettes."

"The smell of vrit doesn't stick to clothing," the soldier explained, heading to his bedroom.

"That's not very likely," Wufei protested, following after.

"I guess," Chance muttered, starting to strip down, shrugging at his friend. "I don't smell it in here, though. Your room should be even more fine since you close your door."

Wufei nodded, then shrugged and started away, then hesitated. "You get it?"

"Yep," Chance agreed. "She was perfectly fine with it and we sat there and filled out the papers...I can pretty much move in tomorrow after work."

"Damn."

"Yeah," Chance flashed him a grin. "I'm gonna try living on my own for a bit...Shin's not moving in until she's sure Chip is ready."

"That's a good idea," Wufei muttered, starting for his own room with a frown.

"You get your volunteers?"

"Got one, anyway," Wufei agreed, hesitating. "Guy named Black...he suggested we bring spirals in for them to keep their own notes."

"That's a sound notion."

"That's what me and Mor thought, too...so I'm gonna do that at lunch. Mor is gonna type up the stuff tonight...good night."

"Night," Chance agreed, then closed his bedroom door.

Wufei frowned as he looked to Trowa's room again, then headed to his own.