MoR fic part 2
Jul. 3rd, 2006 03:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
misanagiThis is supposed to be a one shot but LJ is evil and it wouldn't fit, so I split it. Sorry for spamming your friend lists.
An evening in Buenos Aires
Rating: R
Pairings: 3x4, 1x2
Warnings: Violence, language, some angst. Post-canon.
Summary: Quatre has spent two months on an undercover mission in Buenos Aires, until one evening the mission takes an unexpected turn.
Notes: Written for the 2006 Moments of Rapture "Mission: Get Together" contest.
Big thanks to Anne for the beta.
part 1
______
The good thing about it being a cold night was that Trowa had worn a pair of sweatpants and a simple black t-shirt to bed. If he had slept in boxers, like he usually did, he would now be sitting on the cold cell floor freezing his ass off even more than he already was.
The fact that he had known that the people in the organization would suspect him didn't mean that he would be ready when ten of them barged into his room in the middle of the night and escorted him out of the hotel. They had put a gun to his head, tied his hands behind his back with rope, blindfolded him and dumped him in the trunk of a car. By the time he had spent there, Trowa deduced that they had taken him from the hotel to the SV building.
It had taken Trowa almost an hour to get out of his bonds. The bastards knew how to tie a knot. The cell was dark, but a string of light sneaked in from beneath the steal door. There was a toilet and a sink in a corner but other than that, the room was completely bare. Trowa had sat against the wall opposite to the door and pushed his legs against his chest, trying to keep as warm as possible.
The mission had obviously gone to hell and he felt useless and frustrated. He had nothing to pick the lock on the solid steel door, and the room had no windows. The air came in through tiny holes near the ceiling that also let in a bit of light, but they weren't big enough to even put a finger through. He was trapped.
Worse, however, was the fact that he knew nothing of Quatre. The organization had probably already made their move against him, but the question was if Quatre was still alive. Trowa tried to tell himself that there could be more cells in the building and that Quatre could be in one of them. The fact that they weren't imprisoned together didn't mean that they had killed Quatre. It couldn't.
When they had planned the mission, they had never expected the organization to make their move so soon. Preventers had thought that Trowa would have at least a day to talk with Quatre before the organization took action against them. Evidently, Kress' informant network was bigger and more influential than anticipated.
The other pilots had come to Buenos Aires as back up. Wufei was going to confront Quatre's contact, but Heero and Duo had mostly come to support their friends, and Trowa knew they wouldn't let him down. That's what friends were for, to be there for each other. Quatre had forgotten that when he had decided to take the solo mission, without even telling anyone. He had forgotten that friendship goes both ways.
That was if they still were friends…
Trowa swallowed hard and closed his fists tightly. He suppressed the urge to hit something and instead focused on his breathing, trying to calm down. Being a prisoner gave him too much time to think, and right now that was the last thing he wanted to do.
He tried to distract himself thinking of the different parts of a mobile suit, and then organizing them in his head alphabetically. By the time reached "exhaust valve" he was back to thinking of Quatre and wondering just where he was. Trowa forced himself to start again and this time he made it all the way to "spark plug" before he heard noises from outside the cell.
There were two different voices but probably four sets of footsteps. Trowa stood up but remained by the wall, where he could have a clear view of what was happening outside if they opened the door. The tiny window on the door slid open and then a voice said, "Stay where you are or your Preventer friend here gets shot."
Trowa stopped breathing. He waited, his eyes fixed on the door, not even daring to blink.
The door was yanked open and the bright light of the hallway blinded Trowa momentarily. When his vision focused again, he saw a figure stumbling towards him, and even though his instincts told him to get out of the way, he caught the figure before it fell.
It was Quatre. His clothes were wet, he was blindfolded and his hands were tied behind his back. He tried to move away from Trowa but Trowa held onto him. "It's me, Quatre. Stay still."
Quatre stopped struggling and tilted his head in Trowa's direction, waiting.
"The bosses are coming in a few minutes and they want to have a chat with you." The guard at the door had a gun pointed towards them, and he was flanked by two other guards. "They think a Gundam pilot could be useful and they want Mr. Winner here to make one last donation before he…" the guard snickered, "before he leaves us for good."
The door was snapped shut before Trowa could react to the guard's words. He let out a low growl and held Quatre's shoulders tighter. Quatre cleared his throat and Trowa remembered the blindfold. He slowly removed the dark cloth and found himself staring at Quatre's eyes, frozen in place.
"Can you untie me?"
Trowa blinked and gave a small nod before turning Quatre around and starting to work on getting the knots untied. It was considerably easier than undoing his own bindings, but it would still take a bit of time.
Quatre winced slightly. "They took all my equipment," he said. "Even the one I had hidden."
It was no surprise. They had frisked Trowa too, doing a throughout job even though Trowa had only been wearing pajamas. "You are wet," he said.
"I fell in the river." The rope fell on the floor and Quatre moved his hands forward and turned around to face Trowa again. "Thank you."
Leaning back on the wall, Trowa used the little light in the cell to really look at Quatre. His hair was dripping and his clothes were wet and ripped in several places. There was a small cut just beneath Quatre's left eye and the rips in his clothes showed bruises and more cuts. Trowa remembered the wince Quatre had made and looked at Quatre's wrists, noticing that the left one had a deep purple bruise and seemed to be swelling. "Are you going to tell me what happened?"
Quatre took a step back and let his hands fall on his sides. "Are you going to tell me what you are doing here?"
Trowa glared. "I came here for you."
"For me?" Quatre snorted.
"Yes. Your contact with Preventers was a double agent. You were compromised."
"I guess we both were." Quatre walked to one of the side walls and sat down on the floor, his legs extended in front of him and his head leaning back.
"What happened?" Trowa repeated. He knew Quatre well enough to know that he was avoiding the subject.
"I guess I was set up." He sighed. "Vega's engine died mid-flight. I managed to eject but the explosion threw me away from the crash site and I landed in the river. I hadn't even reached the shore when they caught me."
Trowa could read between the lines. Quatre had fallen hard in the river and the current had dragged him, hitting him against the rocks and leaving him tired and drained. The night was cold and Trowa could only imagine how cold the river's water had been.
"What are you doing?" Quatre asked when Trowa started removing his t-shirt.
"You are wet and cold." He threw his shirt to Quatre. "Take off your sweater and put this on."
Quatre looked at the shirt in his hand and then shook his head. "I can't."
"Damn it, Quatre, do you want to get sick?" Trowa hadn't planned to be so brusque but he didn't regret it. Quatre could be very stubborn when he wanted to.
They just stared at each other for a few seconds before Quatre lowered his eyes. "Thank you," he murmured, and started to remove his sweater. Trowa noticed a few bruises and scratches before Quatre put on the t-shit.
"Stupid," Trowa muttered.
"Excuse me?" Quatre raised his head and gave Trowa an angry look.
"It was stupid for you to come on this mission without back up," Trowa said, louder. The look on Quatre's face didn't intimidate him in the least; on the contrary, it made him angry. "You got hurt, your plane crashed and you got caught. You could have died."
Quatre frowned. "You got caught too." He was sitting down on the floor and looking up at Trowa but that didn't make him look less intimidating. "You think I can't handle a mission? I was a Gundam pilot too. I'm fairly capable."
Trowa rolled his eyes. "What happened to 'we can do things better if we work together'? Have you forgotten that, Quatre?" Trowa swallowed. "I can understand why you wouldn't want me near you, but fuck it, Quatre, you could have told the others, you could have told someone!"
"Tell them what?" Quatre sat up straighter. "It was an undercover mission. Besides, I didn't think you would care anyway." There was a bitter tone in those last words, and they hurt Trowa more than a fist would have.
"So you hid? You ran away with the excuse of a mission?" Trowa started pacing. "You know how many times I called? I thought I'd lost you!" Trowa stopped walking and turned his eyes to the floor. His voice was barely over a whisper when he asked, "Did I? Did I drive you away?"
He heard Quatre let out a long breath but, before he could answer, they both noticed the sound of footsteps outside the cell.
"Someone's coming," Quatre said, his voice low and his tone neutral. He stood up, grabbed the pieces of rope the guards had used to tie them and handed one to Trowa.
They stood each in one side of the steel door, ready and waiting.
The small window slid open as a voice said, "You two shut up in there!"
Quatre and Trowa remained silent.
"What the?" the guard outside said. "Where the fuck are they?"
It was a long shot, and probably it wouldn't work but if there was the smallest chance that the guard was stupid enough to open the cell to check on them, Trowa was going to take it. It was probably their only chance to escape.
The sound of a key slipping inside the lock made Trowa hold his breath. One, two. The door opened just a few inches but it was all they needed. Trowa pulled the rest of the door open and launched at the guard before he had time to reach for his weapon. A punch in the stomach and a jab to the guard's eye put him out of commission, at least for a while.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Quatre jump the other guard. This one had managed to draw his weapon but Quatre kicked the gun away before the guard could aim. Grabbing the rope with both hands, he put it around the guard's neck and pulled. The guard fought but Quatre held on. Trowa moved towards the guard and knocked him out with a kick to the head.
They disarmed the men, pulled them inside the cell and closed the door.
"I need to find Kress and end this," Quatre said, and started walking down the hall.
Trowa caught up to him. "You are not going alone."
They reached the end of the hall. There was a wooden door separating them from the next room. "Ready?" Quatre asked.
Trowa nodded and kicked the door open. Five men were sitting around a table. He fired and hit one on the knee. Fired again and hit another on the shoulder. Turned to take a third but watched him fall from Quatre's second shot. Trowa took out the last one. Five men, five bullets.
Quickly they relieved the men of their guns and extra clips. The shots would have alerted the whole building of their presence. They would need all the firepower they could get.
"The executive offices are on the last floor," Quatre said, as they ran to the elevator. "Kress and the others should be there. If we get Kress, the rest will surrender."
"Attack the brain and the rest will fall," Trowa said.
Quatre shook his head. "Not the brain, the head."
They reached the elevator without any difficulties and Quatre pushed the button for the last floor. "I didn't run away," Quatre said, keeping his eyes on the small screen above the elevator door that signaled which floor they were on. "I needed to take the mission, and you couldn't know about it."
"Why?" Trowa's tone was as cold as ice. "I don't believe a simple order from Lady Une would keep you quiet. You don't seem to have lost your backbone."
Quatre glared. "I didn't. We are here."
The elevator doors opened and Quatre and Trowa came out, their guns ready. The hallway was empty. In the distance, probably a few floors below, they could hear gunfire. "The others are here," Trowa said.
"Do they hate me too?" Quatre asked as they moved down the hallway.
A man appeared from behind a corner. Trowa shot him in the arm. The man fell on the floor. "No one hates you, Quatre. We came here for you. We are here for you."
Quatre sighed. "That's exactly what I wanted to prevent." He signaled towards the door at the end of the hallway.
They took places on either side of the door, like they had done in the cell, and then Quatre opened the door. Shots came from inside before the door was fully opened. They took cover behind the wall.
"What do you mean, that's what you were trying to prevent?" Trowa shouted, over the noise.
"They would have sent you." Quatre looked at him. "Une couldn't even guarantee your cover. Either I took it, used my name and money to get in and kept quiet or they would send you, even though they knew it wouldn't work." He shook his head. "I couldn't risk it."
Quatre took a quick look inside and then pressed himself back against the wall. The shots kept coming. "Seven," he said. "Four on my side, one in front, and two on yours." He gave a slight nod and they both peeked inside the room and shot two bullets each before they took cover behind the wall again.
"Two on your side, one on mine," Trowa said. "Fuck, Quatre. You could have told me. That was stupid, and you know it!" He nodded once again they peeked inside and fired. "Clear," they said at the same time.
"I couldn't tell you. Not after what happened that day." Quatre walked inside the room with his gun ready. He kicked a man's gun away from his hand.
Trowa followed him inside. "I thought we were friends. You could still have come to me."
A man raised his arm and Quatre disarmed him and kicked him in the head. "After what I did, I wasn't sure you were still my friend." Quatre's voice was barely above a whisper.
"What you did?" Trowa frowned. Quatre had acted bravely, it was Trowa the one who had been confused and pushed him away, the one who had acted wrongly, who failed to explain… the one who had broken their friendship.
"You need me to say it, Trowa?" Quatre was angry again. "I went too far. I overstepped my boundaries and I acted selfishly. I'm sorry I made you uncomfortable and I understand why you felt you needed to be away from me. What I don't understand, Trowa Barton, is why you are here, yelling at me. You were clear enough that day, so why are you here? Why do you care?"
Trowa closed the distance between them in a flash and grabbed Quatre's arm to make sure he wouldn't pull away. "Because I fucking love you!"
* * *
"This is fucked up!" Duo said for the tenth time. "Quatre wouldn't just crash."
"But he did," Heero pointed out.
"Heero, he's a fucking good pilot! They would have had to mess that plane pretty badly for Quatre to crash like that. You saw the plane; there was practically nothing left."
Heero frowned. After hearing the crash they had run to the river, and arrived just in time to see five armed men push a bound and blindfolded Quatre into the trunk of an old car. They had managed to get the license plate number and had just finished inspecting what was left of the plane. Quatre must have ejected because there was no other way he would have survived a crash like that. "They sacrificed the plane to make sure Quatre would crash. Why?"
Duo took his cellphone out of his pocket and shook his head. "I don't know. I thought that the prototype was the most important thing for those guys."
"Unless that wasn't the real Vega, but a faux," said Heero.
"Fuck it." Duo used the speed dial and put the phone to his ear. "They want Trowa to test pilot the real one... Wufei, they got Quatre. He just crashed and some fuckers put him on the trunk of a car and drove away… we couldn't just run after them! We have the license plate number, yeah, yeah, LMF 451. Yeah, that's what we thought too. We're close so we are going ahead. Don't be too late."
"The SV building downtown?" asked Heero, already starting to run towards the building.
Duo followed a moment later and caught up immediately. "Yeah, Wufei agrees that they've probably already got Tro and they are holding them there."
"Front line assault?" Heero could already feel the brush of adrenaline he always got just before a mission.
"Quatre doesn't have much time," Duo said and increased his pace. "Wufei says he can follow with back up in twenty minutes."
If Kress' organization had gone as far as creating a faux Vega just to get rid of Quatre then Heero didn't doubt that they had little time before they disposed of Quatre in another way. They needed to get there fast and buy as much time as possible. There was no way any of his friends were going to die tonight.
They ran the rest of the way in silence. A few minutes later, the SV building was in sight. Without hesitation, they moved towards one of the perimeter walls. Duo used his hands to give Heero a boost up, which was all Heero needed to reach the top of the seven feet tall wall. He reached his hand down and easily lifted Duo up. They both jumped down to the other side of the wall.
Heero took his gun out and checked it, watching Duo do the same. "Ready?
Duo nodded and then grinned. "Always."
They made it to one of the side doors of the building without problem. The small steel door was locked. Duo handed his gun to Heero and Heero stood in front of him, keeping alert and both guns ready to protect Duo while he picked the lock. A click signaled that Duo was done. Heero handed the gun back and they both entered the building, closing the door quietly behind them.
The emergency stairs were thankfully empty. According to their intel, the cells probably were on one of the sublevels. Heero signaled 'down' and Duo nodded before moving down the stairs. There were three sublevels, but the last one was a storage room, so Quatre and Trowa were probably being held on one of the first two.
When they reached the first sublevel, Duo nodded towards the door and then opened it. The door leaded to an empty hallway but they could both hear moans coming from one of the rooms. They followed the sounds and arrived at the last door. It was wooden and it had bullet holes in it.
There were five men inside the room; three were unconscious and the other two were moaning loudly. They were all injured and their weapons were gone. Quatre and Trowa had passed through here.
Duo grinned. "Those guys can't even play the damsel in distress well. Don't they know they have to wait for us to rescue them?"
Heero closed the door and walked away from the room. Wufei and his reinforcements would take care of them later. Right now their priority was finding their friends.
"Where would they go?" wondered Duo as they headed back to the stairs.
"To complete the mission."
"Kress," Duo said softly. "Executive offices are in the tenth floor. Elevator?"
Heero shook his head. "Too risky." If Quatre and Trowa had already engaged in combat then they had to assume that the building would be in alert. The elevator didn't left a lot of room for contingency plans in case something went wrong. Right now, the stairs were a better option.
They managed to get to the seventh floor before they were detected. A large group of armed men, probably heading for the top floor as reinforcements, came up the stairs slightly behind them, and started firing.
Pressing against the wall, they returned fire. They didn't have enough visibility so some of their shots went wild, but the grunts of pain and what Heero could recognize as cursing in Spanish told them that many bullets had indeed hit their mark.
"We need to keep moving," Duo said as he changed magazines.
Heero shot twice and watched a man fall down the stairs. He followed Duo, climbing the stairs as fast as possible. They could hear shots coming from both up and downstairs. "Quatre and Trowa," Heero said, looking up.
"And Fei's down." Duo shot one last time and suddenly the only sounds in the stairs were the distant gunfire and the moans and whines of the wounded men. "I guess we are clear."
Heero shot another round and when there was no return fire, he nodded once. They reached the top floor and walked carefully into the hallway. There was a wounded man there, his gun too far away for him to reach and his arm bleeding.
The door at the end of the hallway was opened, and when they got closer Heero could see Trowa and Quatre inside the room. For some reason, Trowa was only wearing a pair of sweatpants, and Quatre was still wet from his fall in the river. They were standing in the middle of the room, surrounded by fallen men, just looking at each other.
"Erm," Duo asked, walking into the room. "Is this a bad time?"
* * *
Quatre turned his head away from Trowa and looked at Heero and Duo. Duo could see that he was upset about something.
"I need to finish this," Quatre said, and walked towards the door at the end of the room.
Duo looked at Heero, who gave him a small nod, and then followed Quatre. He changed magazines quickly, trying to focus on the mission. It didn't matter that after months, Quatre hadn't even bothered to say hello, at least not now. But when the mission was over Duo would let Quatre know what he thought of his lack of proper enthusiasm. He glanced at Trowa. Something had happened between him and Quatre but now was not the time to ask. Heero would take care of Trowa and Duo would make sure that Quatre didn’t do something stupid like getting himself killed.
Quatre kicked the door open, and Duo's heart stopped for a moment. Thankfully, no fire came from inside, and Duo followed Quatre into the conference room. There was a long wooden table and five men, dressed in impeccable expensive looking suits were sitting around it. On the head of the table was the man Duo recognized as Frederik Kress.
"Mr. Winner, I see you managed to make it out alive, despite the expectations." For a man who had two very angry Preventers pointing their guns at him, Kress didn't look scared.
Duo looked at the other men, matching their faces with the reports he had read before starting the mission. Hans Riz was glaring at Quatre. His fists were clenched over the table and it was obvious that it was taking him a lot of will power to just sit there. Vikram Mills had a calm expression on his face, but Duo could see the man's fingers fidgeting with his tie. He was nervous. Joseph Simmons didn't even try to project a calm façade. He kept his gaze down, as if he was afraid to meet Quatre's eyes. Martín Saavedra looked cool and collected, but he lacked the arrogance that Kress had.
"You underestimated me," Quatre said, in the same polite business voice Kress was using. "You are all under arrest for conspiracy, treason, acts of war, attempted murder, and whatever other crimes we discover once we go through your files."
"We are business men, Mr. Winner." Kress stood up slowly. Duo followed the motion with his gun. "These political games are beneath us. I'm sure we can come to an arrangement."
Quatre clicked the safety off his gun and pointed it at Kress' head. "I'm a Preventer. No deal."
There were sounds of steps coming closer but Duo didn't turn around. Heero and Trowa were out there, and they would take care of any enemies.
"Those could be my men." Kress had a small smile on his face.
"No. They are mine." Wufei walked into the room, followed by ten Preventers.
Duo chuckled. "Damn, Fei, you know how to make an entrance."
Wufei smirked in reply and, when he was sure that his men had the situation under control, he walked towards Quatre and gave him a one arm hug. "We've missed you."
Slowly, Quatre lowered his gun, and blinked a couple of times before turning his eyes away from the Preventers to look at Wufei. He smiled and returned the hug. "Me too."
Wufei patted Quatre's back once before walking towards the other Preventers making the arrests. Sensing that Quatre was more approachable now that they had Kress and his accomplices under custody, Duo stood beside him and put a hand on his shoulder. "So, wanna talk, buddy?"
* * *
Heero took off his jacket and handed it wordlessly to Trowa.
Trowa exhaled, loudly, took the jacket and put it on. He wasn't really cold anymore but that didn't mean that he enjoyed walking around shirtless. He buttoned it quickly, focusing on the task at hand instead of thinking of Quatre, of what he just said, or how Quatre had run away.
"Status?" There was another question hidden in that word, and Trowa knew Heero wasn't just asking if Trowa had any physical injuries that might compromise the mission.
"I'm fine," Trowa answered, but Heero would know that he really wasn't. "I told him," he added. There was nothing Trowa wanted more right now than to be in a bar, a beer in his hand, while he told this to Heero. But instead, he had to do it here, surrounded by fallen enemies and with Quatre fighting away his doubts and frustrations in the next room. "Maybe we should offer back up," he said, looking at the half open door Quatre and Duo had disappeared into.
"They can handle it. Wufei will be here any moment to finish the arrests."
Trowa smirked when he saw Wufei walking down the corridor. He nodded in greeting and pointed to the door. "In there."
Wufei grinned before he disappeared behind the door, and some of the Preventers stayed and began checking and cuffing the injured men. Since the situation was under control, Trowa walked outside, into the corridor, and leaned heavily on one of the walls.
A moment later Heero was leaning on the wall beside him. "What did he say?"
"Uh?" As the word left his mouth Trowa understood the question. "Nothing. You came in and he ran."
"He can't run forever."
It made sense but Trowa knew how stubborn Quatre could be. "He might try…."
* * *
"Wufei, hand me the cotton." Heero dipped it in alcohol before pressing it to Quatre's elbow and cleaning the shallow cuts there. He was expecting Quatre to hiss, since he really hated alcohol, but Quatre seemed lost in thought, looking out the window. Heero pressed the cotton to Quatre's skin until Quatre jerked away.
Quatre was glaring at him. Heero played clueless and wrapped a bandage around Quatre's arm. "You are lucky nothing is broken."
"He's lucky he didn't get sick after falling into the river," said Wufei.
"Trowa let me use his shirt." Quatre had gone back to watching the clouds pass.
It was almost noon and they were finally on a shuttle on their way home. They had spent the rest of the night and most of the morning making sure all the suspects were under custody, and going over the many incriminating files they had found in the SV building. They had also found the real Vega prototype in the basement, and learnt that the one Quatre had stolen was a previous version that was discarded because of a malfunction with the engine. They had planted the defective plane in the lab as a ploy to both kill Quatre and make Preventers think that Vega wasn't really a threat. The plane wasn't expected to be able to lift, even less in a strip as short as the roof of the SV building was. Quatre had managed something the people who built Vega had deemed impossible, but the engine had still given in, and he had crashed.
After they were sure that there was enough evidence to guarantee a conviction, they had decided to go home. Duo and Trowa had volunteered to pilot, and Heero was using the first aid kit to tend to Quatre's wounds, since Quatre had refused to go to a hospital to get checked.
Heero made sure to bandage Quatre's left wrist carefully. It was swollen and probably sprained. "You are lucky to be alive. You took unnecessary risks, Quatre."
"Preventers had bad intel." Quatre sounded defensive. "I acted accordingly to the information I had."
"We'll be talking to Lady Une about that." Wufei didn't look happy. "She shouldn't have sent you alone, or manipulated you that way."
"I wasn't manipulated." Heero could see Quatre didn't believe his own words.
"She insinuated that Trowa would die if you didn't take this solo mission. That's manipulation, Winner." Wufei stood up and headed for the only private compartment in the shuttle. "I need to contact Sally and give her a report of the arrests."
That probably could wait, but Wufei was a person who needed to keep busy, even when he was allowed time to rest.
"Are you angry at me?" Quatre asked after a moment.
Heero shook his head. "No. I understand your choices. We all do."
"Trowa doesn't."
After putting away the first aid kid, Heero sat beside Quatre. "He does. However, you and he have other issues."
Quatre chuckled, but there was no humor in the sound. "You can say it, Heero. I was a foolish bastard and left. He has every reason to hate me."
"True," Heero admitted. "But he was foolish as well; he let you go." He fixed his eyes on Quatre. "Trowa isn't in the habit of lying. When he tells you something, Quatre, you should believe him."
A thoughtful frown appeared on Quatre's face. "I don't know why he said that, I…" He shook his head fiercely. "He was clear enough that day. He doesn't want me."
"I thought you were smarter than that," Heero said. "You and Duo are very alike in this." He was no longer looking at Quatre but out the window. "Friendship, kindness, love… they don't scare you. You are brave." He paused but continued before Quatre could interrupt. "For Trowa and me, it's not that easy. You helped me with that, remember? Love, especially offered by someone we cherish, is a very scary thing." He fixed his eyes on Quatre now. "Don't act stupidly, Quatre. It doesn't suit you."
Quatre lowered his eyes and looked at his hands. Heero could almost see the different emotions playing in his face, and finally the determination when he reached a decision. He stood up and walked to the cabin, Heero following closely. He opened the door and looked at Duo. "I need to talk to Trowa. Let me take over."
Duo gave Heero a look but didn't move away from the pilot's seat.
Heero put a hand on Quatre's shoulder. "You shouldn't strain your wrist anymore." He moved pass Quatre and motioned Trowa to get off the co-pilot chair. "
Trowa stood up almost immediately and Heero took his place. He kept his eyes front and waited until he heard the cabin's door slid shut.
"Think they'll work it out?" Duo asked.
Heero nodded.
"They can be so stupid sometimes," Duo said, and laughed softly. He took one hand away from the controls, put it over Heero's and squeezed.
A smile appeared on Heero's face. "Yes, they can," he said, and squeezed back.
* * *
Quatre returned to the seat he had occupied only moments before. His first instinct was to look out the window again. Watching the clouds pass by was comforting; it allowed him to hide from what was happening around him, and if he tried hard enough, even from his thoughts. He stopped himself and looked at Trowa. The time for hiding was over.
"Is it true?" Quatre's voice was shaky and unsure. He cleared his throat hoping to be able to talk in a more confident tone. It didn't work. "What you said last night, is it true?"
Trowa sat beside him. "I've never lied to you, Quatre."
"You did," Quatre said. "Whether last night or the day I kissed you, you lied to me. I'm just asking which one was the lie."
"I didn't lie that day." Trowa pressed his lips in a thin line before continuing. "I never told you to go away. I never said I didn't want what you offered."
"Your actions did." Quatre lowered his eyes. In his mind he could see it again, the confusion in Trowa's eyes, the way he had pulled away, and then the horrible, condemning silence. "And then I walked away." Quatre raised his eyes again. "It was a mistake, but, Trowa, I need to know if--"
"I was scared," Trowa cut in. "Scared and confused. And when you left, I was hurt, but what I said last night is true." He took a hold of Quatre's right wrist. "We can't run away anymore."
Quatre swallowed. His heart was beating faster. A part of him told him to stop, to leave things as they were, but he ignored it. He knew what he needed to do, and he wasn't scared. He pressed his lips softly over Trowa's, just like he had done that day. This time, however, he kept his eyes open. He saw Trowa close his eyes just a moment before his lips parted, accepting the kiss. Quatre licked Trowa's lips with his own, tasting softly. He closed his eyes also and parted his lips further.
They were both smiling when they broke the kiss. Quatre ran his fingers slowly over Trowa's lips, tracing the outline. "I love you too," he said. The words felt strange but so right. "Always have."
Trowa's lips curled into a smile. "I know."
Quatre smiled, feeling suddenly a bit nervous. "When we get back home, we should go out. Just the two of us." They had spent two months apart, two horrible months, and Quatre intended to make up for it.
Trowa's smile turned into a smirk. "I know this tango place…"
- The End -
An evening in Buenos Aires
Rating: R
Pairings: 3x4, 1x2
Warnings: Violence, language, some angst. Post-canon.
Summary: Quatre has spent two months on an undercover mission in Buenos Aires, until one evening the mission takes an unexpected turn.
Notes: Written for the 2006 Moments of Rapture "Mission: Get Together" contest.
Big thanks to Anne for the beta.
part 1
______
The good thing about it being a cold night was that Trowa had worn a pair of sweatpants and a simple black t-shirt to bed. If he had slept in boxers, like he usually did, he would now be sitting on the cold cell floor freezing his ass off even more than he already was.
The fact that he had known that the people in the organization would suspect him didn't mean that he would be ready when ten of them barged into his room in the middle of the night and escorted him out of the hotel. They had put a gun to his head, tied his hands behind his back with rope, blindfolded him and dumped him in the trunk of a car. By the time he had spent there, Trowa deduced that they had taken him from the hotel to the SV building.
It had taken Trowa almost an hour to get out of his bonds. The bastards knew how to tie a knot. The cell was dark, but a string of light sneaked in from beneath the steal door. There was a toilet and a sink in a corner but other than that, the room was completely bare. Trowa had sat against the wall opposite to the door and pushed his legs against his chest, trying to keep as warm as possible.
The mission had obviously gone to hell and he felt useless and frustrated. He had nothing to pick the lock on the solid steel door, and the room had no windows. The air came in through tiny holes near the ceiling that also let in a bit of light, but they weren't big enough to even put a finger through. He was trapped.
Worse, however, was the fact that he knew nothing of Quatre. The organization had probably already made their move against him, but the question was if Quatre was still alive. Trowa tried to tell himself that there could be more cells in the building and that Quatre could be in one of them. The fact that they weren't imprisoned together didn't mean that they had killed Quatre. It couldn't.
When they had planned the mission, they had never expected the organization to make their move so soon. Preventers had thought that Trowa would have at least a day to talk with Quatre before the organization took action against them. Evidently, Kress' informant network was bigger and more influential than anticipated.
The other pilots had come to Buenos Aires as back up. Wufei was going to confront Quatre's contact, but Heero and Duo had mostly come to support their friends, and Trowa knew they wouldn't let him down. That's what friends were for, to be there for each other. Quatre had forgotten that when he had decided to take the solo mission, without even telling anyone. He had forgotten that friendship goes both ways.
That was if they still were friends…
Trowa swallowed hard and closed his fists tightly. He suppressed the urge to hit something and instead focused on his breathing, trying to calm down. Being a prisoner gave him too much time to think, and right now that was the last thing he wanted to do.
He tried to distract himself thinking of the different parts of a mobile suit, and then organizing them in his head alphabetically. By the time reached "exhaust valve" he was back to thinking of Quatre and wondering just where he was. Trowa forced himself to start again and this time he made it all the way to "spark plug" before he heard noises from outside the cell.
There were two different voices but probably four sets of footsteps. Trowa stood up but remained by the wall, where he could have a clear view of what was happening outside if they opened the door. The tiny window on the door slid open and then a voice said, "Stay where you are or your Preventer friend here gets shot."
Trowa stopped breathing. He waited, his eyes fixed on the door, not even daring to blink.
The door was yanked open and the bright light of the hallway blinded Trowa momentarily. When his vision focused again, he saw a figure stumbling towards him, and even though his instincts told him to get out of the way, he caught the figure before it fell.
It was Quatre. His clothes were wet, he was blindfolded and his hands were tied behind his back. He tried to move away from Trowa but Trowa held onto him. "It's me, Quatre. Stay still."
Quatre stopped struggling and tilted his head in Trowa's direction, waiting.
"The bosses are coming in a few minutes and they want to have a chat with you." The guard at the door had a gun pointed towards them, and he was flanked by two other guards. "They think a Gundam pilot could be useful and they want Mr. Winner here to make one last donation before he…" the guard snickered, "before he leaves us for good."
The door was snapped shut before Trowa could react to the guard's words. He let out a low growl and held Quatre's shoulders tighter. Quatre cleared his throat and Trowa remembered the blindfold. He slowly removed the dark cloth and found himself staring at Quatre's eyes, frozen in place.
"Can you untie me?"
Trowa blinked and gave a small nod before turning Quatre around and starting to work on getting the knots untied. It was considerably easier than undoing his own bindings, but it would still take a bit of time.
Quatre winced slightly. "They took all my equipment," he said. "Even the one I had hidden."
It was no surprise. They had frisked Trowa too, doing a throughout job even though Trowa had only been wearing pajamas. "You are wet," he said.
"I fell in the river." The rope fell on the floor and Quatre moved his hands forward and turned around to face Trowa again. "Thank you."
Leaning back on the wall, Trowa used the little light in the cell to really look at Quatre. His hair was dripping and his clothes were wet and ripped in several places. There was a small cut just beneath Quatre's left eye and the rips in his clothes showed bruises and more cuts. Trowa remembered the wince Quatre had made and looked at Quatre's wrists, noticing that the left one had a deep purple bruise and seemed to be swelling. "Are you going to tell me what happened?"
Quatre took a step back and let his hands fall on his sides. "Are you going to tell me what you are doing here?"
Trowa glared. "I came here for you."
"For me?" Quatre snorted.
"Yes. Your contact with Preventers was a double agent. You were compromised."
"I guess we both were." Quatre walked to one of the side walls and sat down on the floor, his legs extended in front of him and his head leaning back.
"What happened?" Trowa repeated. He knew Quatre well enough to know that he was avoiding the subject.
"I guess I was set up." He sighed. "Vega's engine died mid-flight. I managed to eject but the explosion threw me away from the crash site and I landed in the river. I hadn't even reached the shore when they caught me."
Trowa could read between the lines. Quatre had fallen hard in the river and the current had dragged him, hitting him against the rocks and leaving him tired and drained. The night was cold and Trowa could only imagine how cold the river's water had been.
"What are you doing?" Quatre asked when Trowa started removing his t-shirt.
"You are wet and cold." He threw his shirt to Quatre. "Take off your sweater and put this on."
Quatre looked at the shirt in his hand and then shook his head. "I can't."
"Damn it, Quatre, do you want to get sick?" Trowa hadn't planned to be so brusque but he didn't regret it. Quatre could be very stubborn when he wanted to.
They just stared at each other for a few seconds before Quatre lowered his eyes. "Thank you," he murmured, and started to remove his sweater. Trowa noticed a few bruises and scratches before Quatre put on the t-shit.
"Stupid," Trowa muttered.
"Excuse me?" Quatre raised his head and gave Trowa an angry look.
"It was stupid for you to come on this mission without back up," Trowa said, louder. The look on Quatre's face didn't intimidate him in the least; on the contrary, it made him angry. "You got hurt, your plane crashed and you got caught. You could have died."
Quatre frowned. "You got caught too." He was sitting down on the floor and looking up at Trowa but that didn't make him look less intimidating. "You think I can't handle a mission? I was a Gundam pilot too. I'm fairly capable."
Trowa rolled his eyes. "What happened to 'we can do things better if we work together'? Have you forgotten that, Quatre?" Trowa swallowed. "I can understand why you wouldn't want me near you, but fuck it, Quatre, you could have told the others, you could have told someone!"
"Tell them what?" Quatre sat up straighter. "It was an undercover mission. Besides, I didn't think you would care anyway." There was a bitter tone in those last words, and they hurt Trowa more than a fist would have.
"So you hid? You ran away with the excuse of a mission?" Trowa started pacing. "You know how many times I called? I thought I'd lost you!" Trowa stopped walking and turned his eyes to the floor. His voice was barely over a whisper when he asked, "Did I? Did I drive you away?"
He heard Quatre let out a long breath but, before he could answer, they both noticed the sound of footsteps outside the cell.
"Someone's coming," Quatre said, his voice low and his tone neutral. He stood up, grabbed the pieces of rope the guards had used to tie them and handed one to Trowa.
They stood each in one side of the steel door, ready and waiting.
The small window slid open as a voice said, "You two shut up in there!"
Quatre and Trowa remained silent.
"What the?" the guard outside said. "Where the fuck are they?"
It was a long shot, and probably it wouldn't work but if there was the smallest chance that the guard was stupid enough to open the cell to check on them, Trowa was going to take it. It was probably their only chance to escape.
The sound of a key slipping inside the lock made Trowa hold his breath. One, two. The door opened just a few inches but it was all they needed. Trowa pulled the rest of the door open and launched at the guard before he had time to reach for his weapon. A punch in the stomach and a jab to the guard's eye put him out of commission, at least for a while.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Quatre jump the other guard. This one had managed to draw his weapon but Quatre kicked the gun away before the guard could aim. Grabbing the rope with both hands, he put it around the guard's neck and pulled. The guard fought but Quatre held on. Trowa moved towards the guard and knocked him out with a kick to the head.
They disarmed the men, pulled them inside the cell and closed the door.
"I need to find Kress and end this," Quatre said, and started walking down the hall.
Trowa caught up to him. "You are not going alone."
They reached the end of the hall. There was a wooden door separating them from the next room. "Ready?" Quatre asked.
Trowa nodded and kicked the door open. Five men were sitting around a table. He fired and hit one on the knee. Fired again and hit another on the shoulder. Turned to take a third but watched him fall from Quatre's second shot. Trowa took out the last one. Five men, five bullets.
Quickly they relieved the men of their guns and extra clips. The shots would have alerted the whole building of their presence. They would need all the firepower they could get.
"The executive offices are on the last floor," Quatre said, as they ran to the elevator. "Kress and the others should be there. If we get Kress, the rest will surrender."
"Attack the brain and the rest will fall," Trowa said.
Quatre shook his head. "Not the brain, the head."
They reached the elevator without any difficulties and Quatre pushed the button for the last floor. "I didn't run away," Quatre said, keeping his eyes on the small screen above the elevator door that signaled which floor they were on. "I needed to take the mission, and you couldn't know about it."
"Why?" Trowa's tone was as cold as ice. "I don't believe a simple order from Lady Une would keep you quiet. You don't seem to have lost your backbone."
Quatre glared. "I didn't. We are here."
The elevator doors opened and Quatre and Trowa came out, their guns ready. The hallway was empty. In the distance, probably a few floors below, they could hear gunfire. "The others are here," Trowa said.
"Do they hate me too?" Quatre asked as they moved down the hallway.
A man appeared from behind a corner. Trowa shot him in the arm. The man fell on the floor. "No one hates you, Quatre. We came here for you. We are here for you."
Quatre sighed. "That's exactly what I wanted to prevent." He signaled towards the door at the end of the hallway.
They took places on either side of the door, like they had done in the cell, and then Quatre opened the door. Shots came from inside before the door was fully opened. They took cover behind the wall.
"What do you mean, that's what you were trying to prevent?" Trowa shouted, over the noise.
"They would have sent you." Quatre looked at him. "Une couldn't even guarantee your cover. Either I took it, used my name and money to get in and kept quiet or they would send you, even though they knew it wouldn't work." He shook his head. "I couldn't risk it."
Quatre took a quick look inside and then pressed himself back against the wall. The shots kept coming. "Seven," he said. "Four on my side, one in front, and two on yours." He gave a slight nod and they both peeked inside the room and shot two bullets each before they took cover behind the wall again.
"Two on your side, one on mine," Trowa said. "Fuck, Quatre. You could have told me. That was stupid, and you know it!" He nodded once again they peeked inside and fired. "Clear," they said at the same time.
"I couldn't tell you. Not after what happened that day." Quatre walked inside the room with his gun ready. He kicked a man's gun away from his hand.
Trowa followed him inside. "I thought we were friends. You could still have come to me."
A man raised his arm and Quatre disarmed him and kicked him in the head. "After what I did, I wasn't sure you were still my friend." Quatre's voice was barely above a whisper.
"What you did?" Trowa frowned. Quatre had acted bravely, it was Trowa the one who had been confused and pushed him away, the one who had acted wrongly, who failed to explain… the one who had broken their friendship.
"You need me to say it, Trowa?" Quatre was angry again. "I went too far. I overstepped my boundaries and I acted selfishly. I'm sorry I made you uncomfortable and I understand why you felt you needed to be away from me. What I don't understand, Trowa Barton, is why you are here, yelling at me. You were clear enough that day, so why are you here? Why do you care?"
Trowa closed the distance between them in a flash and grabbed Quatre's arm to make sure he wouldn't pull away. "Because I fucking love you!"
* * *
"This is fucked up!" Duo said for the tenth time. "Quatre wouldn't just crash."
"But he did," Heero pointed out.
"Heero, he's a fucking good pilot! They would have had to mess that plane pretty badly for Quatre to crash like that. You saw the plane; there was practically nothing left."
Heero frowned. After hearing the crash they had run to the river, and arrived just in time to see five armed men push a bound and blindfolded Quatre into the trunk of an old car. They had managed to get the license plate number and had just finished inspecting what was left of the plane. Quatre must have ejected because there was no other way he would have survived a crash like that. "They sacrificed the plane to make sure Quatre would crash. Why?"
Duo took his cellphone out of his pocket and shook his head. "I don't know. I thought that the prototype was the most important thing for those guys."
"Unless that wasn't the real Vega, but a faux," said Heero.
"Fuck it." Duo used the speed dial and put the phone to his ear. "They want Trowa to test pilot the real one... Wufei, they got Quatre. He just crashed and some fuckers put him on the trunk of a car and drove away… we couldn't just run after them! We have the license plate number, yeah, yeah, LMF 451. Yeah, that's what we thought too. We're close so we are going ahead. Don't be too late."
"The SV building downtown?" asked Heero, already starting to run towards the building.
Duo followed a moment later and caught up immediately. "Yeah, Wufei agrees that they've probably already got Tro and they are holding them there."
"Front line assault?" Heero could already feel the brush of adrenaline he always got just before a mission.
"Quatre doesn't have much time," Duo said and increased his pace. "Wufei says he can follow with back up in twenty minutes."
If Kress' organization had gone as far as creating a faux Vega just to get rid of Quatre then Heero didn't doubt that they had little time before they disposed of Quatre in another way. They needed to get there fast and buy as much time as possible. There was no way any of his friends were going to die tonight.
They ran the rest of the way in silence. A few minutes later, the SV building was in sight. Without hesitation, they moved towards one of the perimeter walls. Duo used his hands to give Heero a boost up, which was all Heero needed to reach the top of the seven feet tall wall. He reached his hand down and easily lifted Duo up. They both jumped down to the other side of the wall.
Heero took his gun out and checked it, watching Duo do the same. "Ready?
Duo nodded and then grinned. "Always."
They made it to one of the side doors of the building without problem. The small steel door was locked. Duo handed his gun to Heero and Heero stood in front of him, keeping alert and both guns ready to protect Duo while he picked the lock. A click signaled that Duo was done. Heero handed the gun back and they both entered the building, closing the door quietly behind them.
The emergency stairs were thankfully empty. According to their intel, the cells probably were on one of the sublevels. Heero signaled 'down' and Duo nodded before moving down the stairs. There were three sublevels, but the last one was a storage room, so Quatre and Trowa were probably being held on one of the first two.
When they reached the first sublevel, Duo nodded towards the door and then opened it. The door leaded to an empty hallway but they could both hear moans coming from one of the rooms. They followed the sounds and arrived at the last door. It was wooden and it had bullet holes in it.
There were five men inside the room; three were unconscious and the other two were moaning loudly. They were all injured and their weapons were gone. Quatre and Trowa had passed through here.
Duo grinned. "Those guys can't even play the damsel in distress well. Don't they know they have to wait for us to rescue them?"
Heero closed the door and walked away from the room. Wufei and his reinforcements would take care of them later. Right now their priority was finding their friends.
"Where would they go?" wondered Duo as they headed back to the stairs.
"To complete the mission."
"Kress," Duo said softly. "Executive offices are in the tenth floor. Elevator?"
Heero shook his head. "Too risky." If Quatre and Trowa had already engaged in combat then they had to assume that the building would be in alert. The elevator didn't left a lot of room for contingency plans in case something went wrong. Right now, the stairs were a better option.
They managed to get to the seventh floor before they were detected. A large group of armed men, probably heading for the top floor as reinforcements, came up the stairs slightly behind them, and started firing.
Pressing against the wall, they returned fire. They didn't have enough visibility so some of their shots went wild, but the grunts of pain and what Heero could recognize as cursing in Spanish told them that many bullets had indeed hit their mark.
"We need to keep moving," Duo said as he changed magazines.
Heero shot twice and watched a man fall down the stairs. He followed Duo, climbing the stairs as fast as possible. They could hear shots coming from both up and downstairs. "Quatre and Trowa," Heero said, looking up.
"And Fei's down." Duo shot one last time and suddenly the only sounds in the stairs were the distant gunfire and the moans and whines of the wounded men. "I guess we are clear."
Heero shot another round and when there was no return fire, he nodded once. They reached the top floor and walked carefully into the hallway. There was a wounded man there, his gun too far away for him to reach and his arm bleeding.
The door at the end of the hallway was opened, and when they got closer Heero could see Trowa and Quatre inside the room. For some reason, Trowa was only wearing a pair of sweatpants, and Quatre was still wet from his fall in the river. They were standing in the middle of the room, surrounded by fallen men, just looking at each other.
"Erm," Duo asked, walking into the room. "Is this a bad time?"
* * *
Quatre turned his head away from Trowa and looked at Heero and Duo. Duo could see that he was upset about something.
"I need to finish this," Quatre said, and walked towards the door at the end of the room.
Duo looked at Heero, who gave him a small nod, and then followed Quatre. He changed magazines quickly, trying to focus on the mission. It didn't matter that after months, Quatre hadn't even bothered to say hello, at least not now. But when the mission was over Duo would let Quatre know what he thought of his lack of proper enthusiasm. He glanced at Trowa. Something had happened between him and Quatre but now was not the time to ask. Heero would take care of Trowa and Duo would make sure that Quatre didn’t do something stupid like getting himself killed.
Quatre kicked the door open, and Duo's heart stopped for a moment. Thankfully, no fire came from inside, and Duo followed Quatre into the conference room. There was a long wooden table and five men, dressed in impeccable expensive looking suits were sitting around it. On the head of the table was the man Duo recognized as Frederik Kress.
"Mr. Winner, I see you managed to make it out alive, despite the expectations." For a man who had two very angry Preventers pointing their guns at him, Kress didn't look scared.
Duo looked at the other men, matching their faces with the reports he had read before starting the mission. Hans Riz was glaring at Quatre. His fists were clenched over the table and it was obvious that it was taking him a lot of will power to just sit there. Vikram Mills had a calm expression on his face, but Duo could see the man's fingers fidgeting with his tie. He was nervous. Joseph Simmons didn't even try to project a calm façade. He kept his gaze down, as if he was afraid to meet Quatre's eyes. Martín Saavedra looked cool and collected, but he lacked the arrogance that Kress had.
"You underestimated me," Quatre said, in the same polite business voice Kress was using. "You are all under arrest for conspiracy, treason, acts of war, attempted murder, and whatever other crimes we discover once we go through your files."
"We are business men, Mr. Winner." Kress stood up slowly. Duo followed the motion with his gun. "These political games are beneath us. I'm sure we can come to an arrangement."
Quatre clicked the safety off his gun and pointed it at Kress' head. "I'm a Preventer. No deal."
There were sounds of steps coming closer but Duo didn't turn around. Heero and Trowa were out there, and they would take care of any enemies.
"Those could be my men." Kress had a small smile on his face.
"No. They are mine." Wufei walked into the room, followed by ten Preventers.
Duo chuckled. "Damn, Fei, you know how to make an entrance."
Wufei smirked in reply and, when he was sure that his men had the situation under control, he walked towards Quatre and gave him a one arm hug. "We've missed you."
Slowly, Quatre lowered his gun, and blinked a couple of times before turning his eyes away from the Preventers to look at Wufei. He smiled and returned the hug. "Me too."
Wufei patted Quatre's back once before walking towards the other Preventers making the arrests. Sensing that Quatre was more approachable now that they had Kress and his accomplices under custody, Duo stood beside him and put a hand on his shoulder. "So, wanna talk, buddy?"
* * *
Heero took off his jacket and handed it wordlessly to Trowa.
Trowa exhaled, loudly, took the jacket and put it on. He wasn't really cold anymore but that didn't mean that he enjoyed walking around shirtless. He buttoned it quickly, focusing on the task at hand instead of thinking of Quatre, of what he just said, or how Quatre had run away.
"Status?" There was another question hidden in that word, and Trowa knew Heero wasn't just asking if Trowa had any physical injuries that might compromise the mission.
"I'm fine," Trowa answered, but Heero would know that he really wasn't. "I told him," he added. There was nothing Trowa wanted more right now than to be in a bar, a beer in his hand, while he told this to Heero. But instead, he had to do it here, surrounded by fallen enemies and with Quatre fighting away his doubts and frustrations in the next room. "Maybe we should offer back up," he said, looking at the half open door Quatre and Duo had disappeared into.
"They can handle it. Wufei will be here any moment to finish the arrests."
Trowa smirked when he saw Wufei walking down the corridor. He nodded in greeting and pointed to the door. "In there."
Wufei grinned before he disappeared behind the door, and some of the Preventers stayed and began checking and cuffing the injured men. Since the situation was under control, Trowa walked outside, into the corridor, and leaned heavily on one of the walls.
A moment later Heero was leaning on the wall beside him. "What did he say?"
"Uh?" As the word left his mouth Trowa understood the question. "Nothing. You came in and he ran."
"He can't run forever."
It made sense but Trowa knew how stubborn Quatre could be. "He might try…."
* * *
"Wufei, hand me the cotton." Heero dipped it in alcohol before pressing it to Quatre's elbow and cleaning the shallow cuts there. He was expecting Quatre to hiss, since he really hated alcohol, but Quatre seemed lost in thought, looking out the window. Heero pressed the cotton to Quatre's skin until Quatre jerked away.
Quatre was glaring at him. Heero played clueless and wrapped a bandage around Quatre's arm. "You are lucky nothing is broken."
"He's lucky he didn't get sick after falling into the river," said Wufei.
"Trowa let me use his shirt." Quatre had gone back to watching the clouds pass.
It was almost noon and they were finally on a shuttle on their way home. They had spent the rest of the night and most of the morning making sure all the suspects were under custody, and going over the many incriminating files they had found in the SV building. They had also found the real Vega prototype in the basement, and learnt that the one Quatre had stolen was a previous version that was discarded because of a malfunction with the engine. They had planted the defective plane in the lab as a ploy to both kill Quatre and make Preventers think that Vega wasn't really a threat. The plane wasn't expected to be able to lift, even less in a strip as short as the roof of the SV building was. Quatre had managed something the people who built Vega had deemed impossible, but the engine had still given in, and he had crashed.
After they were sure that there was enough evidence to guarantee a conviction, they had decided to go home. Duo and Trowa had volunteered to pilot, and Heero was using the first aid kit to tend to Quatre's wounds, since Quatre had refused to go to a hospital to get checked.
Heero made sure to bandage Quatre's left wrist carefully. It was swollen and probably sprained. "You are lucky to be alive. You took unnecessary risks, Quatre."
"Preventers had bad intel." Quatre sounded defensive. "I acted accordingly to the information I had."
"We'll be talking to Lady Une about that." Wufei didn't look happy. "She shouldn't have sent you alone, or manipulated you that way."
"I wasn't manipulated." Heero could see Quatre didn't believe his own words.
"She insinuated that Trowa would die if you didn't take this solo mission. That's manipulation, Winner." Wufei stood up and headed for the only private compartment in the shuttle. "I need to contact Sally and give her a report of the arrests."
That probably could wait, but Wufei was a person who needed to keep busy, even when he was allowed time to rest.
"Are you angry at me?" Quatre asked after a moment.
Heero shook his head. "No. I understand your choices. We all do."
"Trowa doesn't."
After putting away the first aid kid, Heero sat beside Quatre. "He does. However, you and he have other issues."
Quatre chuckled, but there was no humor in the sound. "You can say it, Heero. I was a foolish bastard and left. He has every reason to hate me."
"True," Heero admitted. "But he was foolish as well; he let you go." He fixed his eyes on Quatre. "Trowa isn't in the habit of lying. When he tells you something, Quatre, you should believe him."
A thoughtful frown appeared on Quatre's face. "I don't know why he said that, I…" He shook his head fiercely. "He was clear enough that day. He doesn't want me."
"I thought you were smarter than that," Heero said. "You and Duo are very alike in this." He was no longer looking at Quatre but out the window. "Friendship, kindness, love… they don't scare you. You are brave." He paused but continued before Quatre could interrupt. "For Trowa and me, it's not that easy. You helped me with that, remember? Love, especially offered by someone we cherish, is a very scary thing." He fixed his eyes on Quatre now. "Don't act stupidly, Quatre. It doesn't suit you."
Quatre lowered his eyes and looked at his hands. Heero could almost see the different emotions playing in his face, and finally the determination when he reached a decision. He stood up and walked to the cabin, Heero following closely. He opened the door and looked at Duo. "I need to talk to Trowa. Let me take over."
Duo gave Heero a look but didn't move away from the pilot's seat.
Heero put a hand on Quatre's shoulder. "You shouldn't strain your wrist anymore." He moved pass Quatre and motioned Trowa to get off the co-pilot chair. "
Trowa stood up almost immediately and Heero took his place. He kept his eyes front and waited until he heard the cabin's door slid shut.
"Think they'll work it out?" Duo asked.
Heero nodded.
"They can be so stupid sometimes," Duo said, and laughed softly. He took one hand away from the controls, put it over Heero's and squeezed.
A smile appeared on Heero's face. "Yes, they can," he said, and squeezed back.
* * *
Quatre returned to the seat he had occupied only moments before. His first instinct was to look out the window again. Watching the clouds pass by was comforting; it allowed him to hide from what was happening around him, and if he tried hard enough, even from his thoughts. He stopped himself and looked at Trowa. The time for hiding was over.
"Is it true?" Quatre's voice was shaky and unsure. He cleared his throat hoping to be able to talk in a more confident tone. It didn't work. "What you said last night, is it true?"
Trowa sat beside him. "I've never lied to you, Quatre."
"You did," Quatre said. "Whether last night or the day I kissed you, you lied to me. I'm just asking which one was the lie."
"I didn't lie that day." Trowa pressed his lips in a thin line before continuing. "I never told you to go away. I never said I didn't want what you offered."
"Your actions did." Quatre lowered his eyes. In his mind he could see it again, the confusion in Trowa's eyes, the way he had pulled away, and then the horrible, condemning silence. "And then I walked away." Quatre raised his eyes again. "It was a mistake, but, Trowa, I need to know if--"
"I was scared," Trowa cut in. "Scared and confused. And when you left, I was hurt, but what I said last night is true." He took a hold of Quatre's right wrist. "We can't run away anymore."
Quatre swallowed. His heart was beating faster. A part of him told him to stop, to leave things as they were, but he ignored it. He knew what he needed to do, and he wasn't scared. He pressed his lips softly over Trowa's, just like he had done that day. This time, however, he kept his eyes open. He saw Trowa close his eyes just a moment before his lips parted, accepting the kiss. Quatre licked Trowa's lips with his own, tasting softly. He closed his eyes also and parted his lips further.
They were both smiling when they broke the kiss. Quatre ran his fingers slowly over Trowa's lips, tracing the outline. "I love you too," he said. The words felt strange but so right. "Always have."
Trowa's lips curled into a smile. "I know."
Quatre smiled, feeling suddenly a bit nervous. "When we get back home, we should go out. Just the two of us." They had spent two months apart, two horrible months, and Quatre intended to make up for it.
Trowa's smile turned into a smirk. "I know this tango place…"
- The End -
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-07-03 08:37 am (UTC)*is very happy*
no subject
Date: 2006-07-04 06:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-03 08:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-04 06:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-03 12:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-04 06:31 am (UTC)I'm so happy that you liked the fic and the way it developed. I still can't believed you voted for me. Thanks!
no subject
Date: 2006-07-03 05:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-04 06:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-03 06:12 pm (UTC)I really enjoyed reading this story!
:)
no subject
Date: 2006-07-04 06:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-04 10:03 pm (UTC)Anytime, as long as it's not a PWP - I never know what to say to these, I'm more for longer stories. ;)
He was in character and well described. Personally, I'm in a "Wufei-phase" at the moment...funny, at first he was the character I liked less and now I'm becoming a fan! :)
no subject
Date: 2006-07-03 09:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-04 06:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-23 05:20 am (UTC)I read this at the Rapture judging page, and I liked it best there :3 It made me realize that while I had gotten around a bit to a lot of the best known GW fic authors back in my beta days, I had never actually read any of yours, although I'd heard of you. I looked up your Gundamium Line page, and I like your Briny Deep series too X3 But then again, I'm a sucker for a good Quatre/Trowa bit.
:O ALSO. I just loved the 'haunted house' bit you posted for windsorblue's meme on her lj. Are you going to do more with that?
no subject
Date: 2006-07-23 11:00 pm (UTC)I'm glad that you enjoyed the fic. I wanted the tango to have a strong presence so I'm really glad that it came through.
You've heard of me? Really? O.o
I'm happy that you are enjoying Briny Deep too. It's not done yet and I need to write more when I have the time.
The haunted house bit is part of a fic I started writing for last year SDQB
Halloween challenge. I ended up writing another story for the challenge because I didn't have the time to finish this one. I do want to finish it, maybe I can manage for this years Halloween. I'm happy that you liked it.
Thank you for the feedback and for letting me know you liked some of my stiff ^_^
no subject
Date: 2006-07-31 10:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-31 11:27 pm (UTC)Quatre and Trowa really needed someone to beat some sense into them. They can be silly when they want to.
I wrote all the pilots' POVs on this fic, some more than others but each at least got a scene. I do like writing Duo's POV too. He's fun to write. I'm glad that you liked it and think it works.
Thank you so much for commenting ^_^