Pairings: 4x3x4, 1x2, poor lonely Wufei
Spoilers: Nanimo.
Disclaimer: Gundam Wing characters and universe are the property of the copyright owners. Bandai, Sunrise, etc.
Feedback: Hai hai! Any and all comments, feedback, critiques welcome, be they short or long.
WARNINGS: No angst! No pain! Nothing here but warm fuzzy feelings and lots and LOTS of shounen-ai, not to mention outright yaoi.
Rating: If I wrote lemons, this'd be one, but I don't, so it's not. That's the only reason this fic *isn't* NC-17 -- but to truly get a feel for the story, insert a classic 3x4 mutual-profession-of-love-followed-by-a-nice-lemon of your choice before this.
Quatre moved very carefully down the stairs that morning, his growing
hunger eventually forcing him to abandon his bedroom -- and all the
wonders contained therein -- in favor of breakfast. Before he entered
the kitchen, he carefully checked the arrangement of his clothes, and
that any telltale marks were kept tactfully out of sight. He didn't
plan to lie to the other pilots, if they should ask, but it would
probably be best to keep up a tactful silence in public, and let his
private affairs stop at the bedroom door. A slight twinge of sadness
intruded in his thoughts, at the idea of keeping his distance from
Trowa, but his... lover -- yes, his lover, what a wonderful word that
was -- was an intensely private man, and Quatre would do anything to
keep from embarrassing him.
All seemed to be in order; aside from the silly grin that he couldn't keep off his face, there was nothing to suggest that he'd spent most of the previous evening in a frenzied bout of lovemaking with the most wonderful man in the universe. The smile grew wider and a trifle dreamier as his memory volunteered some very pleasant flashbacks, but the growl of his stomach shook him out of his lovestruck daze. Food now. Eat later.
The other three pilots were already at the table when Quatre entered and began rummaging in the cupboards for something quick and easy. None of them looked up at his entrance or responded to his almost-normal-sounding "Good morning," and as Quatre shook some cereal into a bowl and lowered himself -- gingerly -- into a chair, he glanced at the three of them and a faint frown suffused his features. Heero was studying something very interesting out the kitchen window, and Duo was just sitting like a statue and staring with glazed eyes into nothing. Wufei fidgeted continuously in his seat as he picked at the bowl of rice in front of him, a scowl etched deeply into his features. He looked up as Quatre sat down, and glared fiercely at the little blond for a moment before returning his gaze to his breakfast.
"Ummm... is something wrong, guys?" Quatre asked anxiously, as the continued silence began to get to him. Not that Heero or Wufei were the most loquacious of people under the best of circumstances, but it normally took something along the lines of a ball gag to shut Duo up -- Quatre firmly headed off that line of thought before it could devolve into the hentai. Not going there. Think of something else. "Did we get new orders this morning?"
"No," Heero said, and that was all. The tone of his voice offered absolutely no conversational openings. Quatre looked from one pilot to the other, his confusion growing.
At long last Wufei cleared his throat and placed his chopsticks on the table. "We noticed," he began in a slightly strangled tone, "that you stayed in Trowa's room last night."
A flush began to creep up into Quatre's cheeks, and he ducked his head slightly. "Er, yes," he said awkwardly, and blushed a little more. "Trowa... and I... well..."
"We know." That from Heero, still fascinated by the view out the window.
"I hope you guys don't mind," Quatre mumbled, tracing little patterns on the tabletop with his fingers.
"Mind?" Duo spoke for the first time, voice abstracted. He swayed slightly in his seat, still staring into nothing. "No, we don't mind."
"I'm glad," Quatre said in a tone of heartfelt sincerity. "I know it would bother some people, to know that two boys -- well, that's the other part of it. Last night --"
Wufei gave an expressive snort as he pushed his chair back from the table and fixed Quatre with another strange glare. "Like Yuy said. We know. More than we ever imagined, desired, or wanted to know -- we KNOW."
"Shut up, Wufei," Duo said in a matter-of-fact tone, coming back to himself slightly. He focused on Quatre, a very strange gleam in his eyes. "He's right, though. Really. We know."
Quatre's slight flush deepened to a dark red, like a bad sunburn. "I'm so sorry," he began, embarrassment coloring his voice. "We picked Trowa's room because it's on the other side of the house, and it had the best soundproofing, but I'm sorry if we made noise --" A lot of noise, Quatre's memory whispered to him, and he mentally kicked himself for spilling his private affairs into the other pilots' lives. He supposed it was impossible to hide this sort of thing in a crowded safehouse like this...
"Noise? Simple noise would not be a problem." Wufei crossed his arms and glowered at the room in general. "It is not the noise that bothers me."
"It isn't?" Quatre repeated, confused. "Then what --"
Duo gave a small sigh, then a slight cough as Quatre looked to him for some explanation. "Ah, Quatre," he began, slightly hesitant -- "I'm not sure how I can break this to you gently..."
He broke off and shot an appealing glance towards Wing's pilot, who turned away from the window at last to focus his intense blue stare on Quatre. "Quatre. You have known for some time that you are an empath, is that correct?"
Quatre nodded, one hand unconsciously stealing up to touch his chest. "My uuchu no kokoro, yes. I can feel other people. It's something I've been able to do ever since I was a child."
"Hai." Heero leaned back slightly in his chair. "What you may not have been aware of is that in addition to sensing other people's emotions when they are strong, you are able to make your own feelings known to others. Possibly it is related to proximity, or perhaps to the bonds of comradeship you share with them, but you share your sensations on a very powerful level."
"Share my..." Quatre stared at Heero, nonplused. The blood drained from his face as the meaning of his words sank in. "Oh. No. You don't mean..."
"'Fraid so, Quatre," Duo spoke up again. "Whatever it is you were feeling last night --" a wicked grin accompanied these words -- "it musta been pretty intense, 'cause you were broadcasting it to Kingdom Come and back. So to speak."
"Oh, my God..." Quatre moaned. So much for privacy. "How long was I..."
"All evening." Wufei was practically shaking with fury -- or something -- as he stabbed a finger in Heero and Duo's direction. "Those... two," he was apparently unable to find a term strong enough for his liking, "lasted maybe ten minutes before they jumped each other and started screwing like minks. All evening."
Duo looked at Heero and grinned a very silly grin that Quatre recognized from his own expressions; Wing's pilot returned a very small smirk. A part of Quatre was very glad that those two had finally found each other -- each of them, in their own way, was terrible at expressing emotions, and they had both been desperately lonely. Most of Quatre, though, was trying to find some way to sink through the floor. "I... I had no idea, you guys..." he stuttered, his brain approaching critical overload. "How... how much did you..."
Duo took pity on him. "Nothing specific," he assured the Arabian boy. "No sounds or images or anything. Just a general unfocused feeling of... passion." His eyes glazed over again, and he licked his lips. "Well, maybe not that unfocused."
Quatre dropped his head onto the table with an audible thump. "Why didn't any of you stop me?" he moaned.
Duo just grinned, and captured Heero's arm. Heero somehow did not look particularly averse to being captured. Wufei scowled at the floor. "It was not your fault; I understand that you had no prior... experience with this sort of thing. I did not feel it was my place to interrupt."
Quatre just groaned again, and covered his head with his hands. "No prior experience..." he muttered to himself; so they knew *that*, which probably meant that they knew about... *that*, too. Not to mention... Trowa was going to be very upset. "I'm so sorry, guys," he said finally, straightening back up. "I didn't know... it'll never happen again, I swear it." Forlornly, he wondered how he was going to explain this to Trowa... and how he was going to survive without sex, now that he knew how wonderful it was to live *with* it.
"Never again?" Duo sounded shocked. "Whatever are you talking about?"
"What?" Quatre stared blankly at him.
"In point of fact, me and Heero did a little quick planning last night..." Duo glanced over at Heero, who nodded and produced a printed sheet for Quatre. Numbly, the blond boy read the first few lines, and his blush returned redoubled as it hit him exactly what the other pilots had in mind. Duo continued. "Now, we realize that we haven't got all this stuff in the house, but if somebody makes a quick trip to the grocery store this afternoon, then you can be all set up by tonight... right, Quatre?"
"You guys..." Quatre looked from Heero to Duo, and felt the painful restriction in his throat loosen as he realized he wouldn't have to lose Trowa after all. A shaky smile appeared on his face. "You guys are really perverted, you know that?" he said finally. Heero smirked as Duo nodded vigorously. That only left... "Wufei?" he asked, looking towards the Chinese boy.
Wufei was scowling fiercely as always, but it seemed a little more halfhearted than usual. "I have absolutely nothing to do with this," he declared. "But... neither do I plan to do anything to prevent it," he added after a moment.
Quatre blinked, stunned, and Wufei's eyes narrowed at the disbelief written in his expression. "What do you take me for?" he said in a quieter tone. "Did you think... having felt what you felt... that I would seek to deprive any person of that kind of love?"
"Oh, he's got such pure motives," Duo teased, but his tone was gentle as he smiled at the normally uptight Chinese pilot.
"Shut up, Maxwell," Wufei growled, but the bite was absent from his voice, and Heero actually cracked a smile.
"Hn. He's just jealous," Heero decided as he pulled Duo closer to him, and Quatre felt his breath catch at the sudden shared camaraderie that filled the kitchen. He took a breath to speak, but stopped as the kitchen door opened and closed behind him, and he felt Trowa's presence in the room.
A heavy, expectant silence filled the air as Trowa rattled around for a moment, collecting his own breakfast, and all eyes were on Heavyarms' pilot as he slid into the seat beside Quatre. Trowa looked at the blond boy and smiled a tender smile as he reached out and gently brushed his fingers through Quatre's hair. He realized that three other sets of eyes were fixed on him, and raised the one visible eyebrow in silent inquiry.
Duo, grinning like a maniac, was the first to break the expectant silence. "Well, Trowa," he began, "do you have something you'd like to share with the rest of us?"
~owari~
Duo: Oh, my God! This can't be happening!
Mikkeneko: What, you didn't think I was capable of writing fluff?
Heero: I think he was mostly referring to the fact that you actually acknowledged the existence of people other than Duo and myself in this story.
Mikkeneko: Hey!
Quatre: I liked it.
Trowa: ...
Quatre: Exactly!
Duo: Well, I think it's not fair!
Wufei: What are you complaining about? You got some! I was the one left out in the cold.
Duo: It's not that. It's just that Mikkeneko's FINALLY writing some nice funny sappy stuff, and it's *not* about me. She only uses me for the pain and anguish! Man...
Mikkeneko: Well, sorry. It was just this great idea I had, of Quatre's spaceheart suddenly switches from "receive" to "broadcast."
Duo (in a newscaster impression): Tonight... Quatre discovers sex. Everyone within a five mile radius discovers it right along with him. Briefs at ten, film at eleven.
Heero: You wish.
Wufei (thoughtful): I'd pegged you more as a boxers than a briefs type...
1/2/3: ...
Wufei: What?
Quatre: It's nice how you just automatically assume I'm a virgin, anyway!
Trowa: Was. A virgin.
Mikkeneko: Hey, from what I've heard, the only ones who have had experience beyond kissing are Trowa and Duo. So the rest of you are clean.
Wufei: I was married, you know!
Mikkeneko: You were both thirteen!
Wufei: So?
Mikkeneko: Anyway, that even leaves plenty of room left open for Duo childhood abuse stories...
Duo: nooo....