Because of a Game
Title: Because Of A Game
Author: KKchitown (karen, whatever)
Pairing: 2+3, 5xS, 2xH, 3xVarious characters.
Category: Most definitely AU, crossover with my life, and utterly,
utterly weird. That's the only way I can describe it. >.<
Rating: *snorts* R, to be on the safe side.
Warning: Okay, here we go. Ahem. Yaoi (big surprise there), language,
severe OOC--ness, especially in Trowa's case, attempt at humor,
obsession of coffee, root beer, and Dr. Pepper, references to drugs,
sex (hey, this IS college we're talking about), a lemon, possibly
more, and...you know what, how about this. If you like what you see
on fox family, this won't be for you.
Disclaimers: I DO NOT own Gundam Wing. *sighs* Damn I hate the
disclaimer.
Feedback: If you're so inclined, KKChitown@aol.com
Because Of A Game
-------
Part 6: The Shit Hits The Fan
"L-3 Communications. How can I help you?"
"Yeah, my name's Dermail, and the payphone I'm on ate my money. I
need you to patch me through."
Trowa went through the screens for information on that particular
payphone. Nothing came up. He couldn't do it. "I'm sorry sir,
courtesy calls are not available for that payphone. The only way to
connect you would be by calling collect or by using a credit card–"
"Bullshit! This payphone ate my damn money! Patch me through or I
will kill you!"
Trowa sighed. It was Friday. He was tired, had a semi–crappy day,
which would be worse by evening, and now he had to deal with death
threats. Not only that, he hated his job. Very much. Phone operators
should be put up for sainthood, in his opinion. "Sir, I can't patch
you through. There's no courtesy call on the phone. Besides, you're
not even in the same country as I'm in, let alone know who I am to
kill me."
A girl in the next cubicle, Noin, popped her head around. "Trowa, you
can't say that. They're monitoring calls today. You'll get fired!"
"Young man, how dare you insult me. You don't know what I'm capable
of doing!"
Trowa smiled. "Yeah, well, I'm not the one standing in front of a
payphone unable to make a phone call. You're so capable, make it
yourself. Operator disconnect."
Hitting the F–12 key, Trowa
disconnected the call. He removed his headphones and got up slowly,
unplugged his headset, thereby preventing incoming calls, and walked
to the entrance of the floor to clock out. Nearly skipping his way to
the supervisor's booth, Trowa knocked on the glass to gain his
supervisor's attention. "Miss Une?"
She opened the sliding glass door. "Yes, what is it?"
He handed her his ID badge. "I won't be back." Turning around, he
walked back to the entrance of the doorway, faced his co-workers,
and whistled loudly. He immediately gained the attention of everyone
in the room, his former supervisor included. With a small smile, he
raised both arms in the air, high enough for everyone to see, and
extended his middle fingers.
"This job blows!"
***
Trowa walked up the stairs with the groceries in his arms, silently
cursing himself for living on the second floor. The bag handles were
tearing and the sheer weight of them dug into the palms of his hands
and in his arms. The only good thing that happened today was that he
saw his sister, quit his job, and since it was daylight, Tsuberov
wouldn't be out.
The bags rested between his feet as he dug around for his key to
unlock the door. Just as he got it into the keyhole, the door jerked
open to reveal Quatre.
"Hey Quatre, what's–"
"You and I need to talk," he whispered heatedly.
"Uh, okay." He walked in past Quatre into the kitchen. With the other
boy's help, he had the groceries unpacked and put away in a matter of
minutes. After he snatched one of the colder root beers out of the
kitchen, Trowa went into the living room and sat down on the couch.
Quatre was about a step behind him and seated himself in the
recliner, but his hands gripped the arms to the point where his
fingertips were white. Both boys were locked in each others eyes.
After a moment of silence, Trowa spoke softly. "What's wrong?"
Quatre sniffed. "Hilde knows."
He shrugged his shoulders and shook his head in slight
bewilderment. "Hilde knows what?"
The blonde leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "Don't
give me that shit. This is me you're talking to."
Trowa was taken back by the venom in his friend's voice. In all of
their years of friendship, he had never seen Quatre angry. Truly
angry. "Quatre, I don't know what you're talking about."
He rose to his feet and stood irritably in front of Trowa. "Fine, if
I have to spell it out for you, so be it. Hilde knows you and Duo
slept together."
Trowa's eyes opened impossibly wide as his secret–his former secret–
was told to him. "You know?"
"Yes!" He shouted. "I came downstairs to see what the hell all the
noise was about and I see you two banging on the couch!"
Trowa stood up then. "Quatre, I'm sorry you saw that, but what
happened is between me and Duo."
"That's not my concern," he raised a hand, gesturing for silence, "I
know it's none of my business, and I could care less about Hilde's
feelings on the matter, but this poses a problem. I came home this
afternoon to find her tearing up the damn house. There are stains in
the carpet and holes in the wall. She has already notified the
management that I've been living there, and since my name is not on
the lease," Trowa cringed at what he was about to say, "they came to
me personally and told me to leave, or else they'll call the police
to personally escort me out. I have two days."
"Well, stay here–"
"I can't," he interrupted, "she's also notified them that I might try
to come here to stay instead. Wufei is down at the office now to
explain what is going on and to tell them that the only reason
they're getting rent money is because of me."
"Well, how does Wufei know? You told him?"
"Yes. As soon as the management told me to leave, I came right over
to tell him what was going on. While I was here, the manager of this
place, his name is Odin Lowe, came by and tried to kick me out, but
Wufei told him I was a guest here, so right now he's fighting with
Lowe and the police for trespassing."
Trowa sat heavily on the couch. "Great."
"Wait, there's more."
Trowa sighed remorsefully. "What do you mean `there's more'?"
Quatre frowned deeply. "Do you remember when Duo was trying to get
the approval for the townhouse, and they had to find out how much
money he made, so he gave them the number here and you pretended to
be his boss and lied to them about how much money he made?"
He placed the root beer can on the coffee table. "No, she didn't."
Quatre shrugged helplessly. "They might charge you with," he looked
on a pink sheet of paper that he had in his pocket, "attempt at
impersonating....oh the hell with it. They're charging you with fraud
basically, me trespassing, and I don't know what she's going after
Wufei for. But if found guilty, we all face fines and some jail time."
Trowa didn't say anything. He stood up and moved in front of the
window, staring across the street at the mentioned townhouse. "How
did she find out?" He asked without turning around.
At this, Quatre threw the sheet of paper he was holding against the
wall, but it only fluttered lightly in the air before landing on the
other couch. "The real question is how could she NOT find out. She
came in there this morning, and found Duo laying on the couch, naked,
with a tube of lube on the table, and your sock in the cushion! I
don't know if Duo told her the details of last night, I had to go to
class, but when I came back he was gone and she was destroying
everything. Then she called management, and the rest you know."
Trowa turned back around and ran his fingers through his hair, only
for his bangs to flop back in his face. "I don't have a clue on what
to do. We're screwed."
"No shit."
The door opened quickly and both boys jumped back. Sally instantly
closed it behind her, simultaneously talking to someone on the cell
phone. "Okay, yeah, no problem. See you in a minute." She hung up the
phone and put it in her purse. "Wufei is on his way. He'll be here in
just a second."
Quatre sat back down in the recliner, and Trowa sat down on the
couch. He sensed rather than saw Sally walk up to his side as she
placed a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to her and gave her a
weak smile, but a reassuring one. She then gently squeezed his
shoulder and winked at him before settling down on the opposite
couch. As if on cue, the door opened and Wufei walked in, where he
seated himself next to Sally. Trowa saw that the door was still open
and started to get up to close it when Duo walked in, followed by
Heero. Duo took an awkward seat next to Trowa, since that was the
only seat left, while Heero locked the door.
As soon as that was done, Heero then walked over to the coffee table
and sat down, straddling it and facing everybody. He ran his hands up
and down his thighs absently as Wufei whispered something into his
ear, nodding every few seconds. Trowa felt his fingertips begin to
tingle at his anxiety. A night that was so fun and carefree turned
out to cause an absolute nightmare. He might go to jail because of a
damn game–
"Okay, this is what we're gonna do." Trowa was shaken out of his
thoughts as Heero began to speak. "We'll deal with the easiest
problems first, then work on the harder ones, but we don't have much
time, okay?" Various nods and murmurs were his answers. "I don't want
to argue, but I'm taking charge, since I'm neutral in all of this.
Does anyone have a problem with that?" Nobody said a word. "Good.
We'll start with you Quatre."
He exhaled. "Okay."
"What do they have on you? Hilde or the police or Stable Bridge?"
Quatre eyes rolled up to the ceiling as he thought about it. "Nothing
really. Hilde told them my first name, I don't think she knows my
full name. Lowe was outraged that I was there and kept fussing at the
police to do something. I...I didn't know what to do, so I came
here." He shrugged.
Heero nodded. "Good. Okay, this is what we're going to do. Quatre, I
want you to hide out here for a while. Don't let anybody know you're
here, okay? You're...gone, that's all anyone needs to know. They
don't even have your full name, so nothing can really happen to you
if they can't find you. Later on tonight, around midnight or so, all
of us will come back and pack up Quatre's stuff. I want all of his
stuff out of there by morning. Sally was able to get us a U–Haul, and
if we get it back by morning, it won't cost us."
Quatre turned to Sally. "Thank you."
She shrugged. "Anything to help, blondie."
All of them chuckled slightly, and some of the pressure lifted from
the room.
"Uh, Heero," Duo began, "where is Quatre going? He won't be able to
stay here."
"He's moving into my apartment on campus, since it's a two bedroom
and I live alone." He smiled softly at Quatre. "It'll be nice to have
my favorite smoking buddy as my roommate."
"Oh lord." Duo sank further into the couch. "They'll never touch the
ground again."
"Oh shut up!" Quatre squeaked, playfully throwing a chair cushion at
Duo. "We are not that bad."
"Like hell," Wufei added in, "you two are the only people on this
planet that can probably smoke a god damn forest and still be able to
walk on a high wire."
"Anyway," Heero interrupted, "we're getting off task. We pack
Quatre's stuff and get the hell out. That's it. Any questions? Good.
Okay, Wu, she doesn't have anything on you, but be careful all the
same. By defending Quatre and Duo, they could use that against you."
"I'm aware and ready for them."
"Okay. Trowa," he sighed, rubbing his forehead, "this is what we're
going to do. Now, he is going to need all of our help." Heero looked
into everyone's face. "All of our help. They have all of his
information, and he could be looking at a felony, so we need to get a
story and stick to it. Any fuck ups and he could be in jail.
Understand?"
Everybody was quiet, and Trowa could feel the bile rise in his
throat. How could this happen? All of a sudden, his future hung
precariously on the edge of a cliff. A wrong move would destroy
it. "So what do we do?" He turned his head to Duo, who asked the
question. He sounded as scared as Trowa felt.
Heero smiled softly at Duo. "We lie."
"What?!" Quatre jumped out of the recliner. "We lie? No Heero, how? I
mean, Hilde told them what he did to help Duo get that apartment, and
Trowa lives here, making it even more feasible because we all
associate with each other–"
"Where's the evidence?"
Heero's question caught Quatre off guard. "What?"
"Where's the evidence that Trowa lied about Duo's income?"
Quatre crossed his arms. "There isn't any."
"Right. Without evidence, she can't prove anything."
"But what if they kept a record of the phone number?"
"We've had our number changed twice because of Treize," Wufei
supplied. "They could call it, but get no one to that number. Even if
they do, Duo's boss could always say he changed the number too."
"But what if Duo's boss doesn't go along with it?"
"He will."
"You don't know that, Duo."
"Yeah, I do. He owes me a favor. Working at a barber shop, it is
possible to make over $1500 with wages and tips in a month. Inflation
is our best friend." He smiled cheekily, but it didn't reach his
eyes. "He'll do it, because technically, he won't be lying. I didn't
want them to call the first time because I wasn't working there yet,
but I knew that he would hire me." He shrugged. "If I had known this
would get Trowa in so much trouble–"
"I don't want to hear it," Heero interrupted again. "We are not
fortune tellers. If it wasn't for Hilde snitching, which I find
strange since Trowa did that for both you AND her, you would've
gotten away with it. We could say that she had it done too, but it
would only add to Trowa's guilt. So, we say that she's lying. There's
no evidence, Duo does work at the barber shop, where he earns around
$1500 a month, and Quatre has mysteriously disappeared. That's all."
Wufei nodded. "That sounds good."
"Okay, now for the hardest thing." Heero turned slightly to face
Duo. "I don't know what to do about Hilde. We can help you clean up
the mess she made. Both of you are stuck, since your name and her
name is on the lease, but I don't understand why she would do
something that stupid. She can also leave again and ditch you with
the townhouse, which I think is for the best, but who knows."
Duo shook his head. "I want Quatre and Trowa taken care of first.
Once I know that they're on high ground, then I'll deal with Hilde
personally. She's my problem, not yours."
Heero shrugged. "Alright, but we're here to help you. Now, there is
something I want to say." He stood up, still straddling the coffee
table, and delved his hands in his jean pockets. "I want you all to
think about this tonight. Duo, Trowa, Quatre and Wufei. We've been
friends for over six years. We've had problems before, and we stuck
it out–"
"Yeah, we stuck it out, but we didn't face jail time and all that
stuff."
"I know this is huge Quatre, but we have to cover each other's asses
here. If Wufei, Trowa and I don't cover for you, they'll get you with
trespassing, or they'll go straight after Duo, because he allowed you
to stay there, or both. The same goes with Trowa if you and the rest
of us don't cover for him. We have to help each other out. Are you
hearing me?"
Quatre nodded. "Yeah, I know, I'm just...upset that things fell apart
so quickly."
He smiled slightly. "I know, but we can do it. It's us against her.
No contest. But after this is all done, I don't want any fall outs,
okay? We've been best friends for a long time, and half of us have
even been lovers." He looked pointedly at Duo, then at Trowa. Both
boys on the couch blushed. "I would hate that our friendships were
broken because of a girl."
After his speech, Heero walked to the door, followed by Sally, Wufei,
and Duo. "Trowa, we'll be back later on tonight. We're on our way to
get the U-Haul, then set my place up for Quatre to move in. You two
stay put. I'll call your cell phone if anything changes."
"Thanks Heero." He nodded once, with a tiny smile on his face before
turning to the others. At his unspoken command, they waved their
goodbyes and left, leaving Quatre and Trowa alone in the apartment.
"I'm sorry Tro. I shouldn't have acted the way I did. None of this is
your fault."
The phone started to ring during Quatre's apology, so Trowa left the
safety of the couch to answer it. "Don't worry about it Quatre. It
might not be my fault, but he and I shouldn't have, you know. I'm the
trigger regardless."
Trowa answered the phone as he finished his sentence, smiling at
Quatre, who blushed faintly at what indeed started this whole
mess. "Hello?"
"You slut. I can't believe I ever trusted you."
He stared at the receiver in shock before placing the phone back to
his ear. "Hilde?"
"Don't talk to me, tramp! I can not believe you're trying to take my
Duo away!"
He stared at Quatre at a loss of words before staring back at the
phone and resting it against his ear. "Hilde?!"
"Don't `Hilde' me! I can't believe you! Just wait until my friends
get off from work, you'll be sorry–"
Trowa, uninterested in the rest of the sentence, hung up on Hilde and
unplugged the phone base from the wall. Settling back down on the
couch, he blew his breath through his bangs and glanced at Quatre,
who was drinking a Dr. Pepper and watching him curiously.
"Some days, Quatre, I hate my life. Other days, I really hate my life."
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©2001 by Karen. Please do not remove without permission.
