Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, or the characters and any other affiliations.
Authors Notes: Don't ask, even I don't know what possessed me to write this… maybe it's the fact that it's twelve thirty in the morning (finished two day later)
Warnings: 3x5 1x2, shonen-ai only, language (as always),
Moving Day
By butterflyshurricane
The day had come all too quickly for Trowa, even though it had been only three days since he heard the news. He knew that it was all too quickly, but it had felt like a lifetime as he agonised and thought about the situation constantly. He had barely had any sleep the previous night. He was one of those who, once something had bothered him, did not let it go, for hours, or days at a time. He knew it was partly his fault, but mostly Wufei's. The Chinese man had suggested it, but it was Trowa who had agreed to it. Now here they were, waiting.
Wufei was stood at the window, arms crossed and glaring up and down the road outside their apartment. Trowa was sitting in a chair across the small flat, looking as passive as he could muster, but to the trained eye, like Wufei's, he could tell he was pissed off.
"They're late." Wufei murmured, leaning further towards the window until he bumped his head against the glass. He swore in Cantonese and then turned to Trowa, rubbing his head. He caught the tiniest hint of a glair in the green depths.
"Don't look at me like that; it's the right thing to do." He could see the Chinese man did not want to explain himself, but rather try to get him to say something. "You agreed to it."
"How could I say no when they were stood right in front of us?" Trowa said, evenly. Wufei turned back to the window, careful of the glass. Trowa sighed and stood up. He walked over to stand by his lover and put his arms around him. Wufei leaned in. Their bodies moved in time with their breathing, silently watching the traffic pass below them.
"It'll never be this quiet again." Trowa murmured, enjoying the sound of Wufei's breathing.
"True."
"There will be a constant mess." He whispered against Wufei's earlobes.
"They can clean up after themselves. I'm sure they are conscientious." That earned him a look from the taller man. He was about to say something, but was stopped when Wufei straightened up at the sight of a truck down on the street, coming from the left. It slowed and turned into the car park.
"They're here." The shorter said and turned towards the door. They both left the apartment and walked a steady pace down the five floors. Trowa's legs felt like lead. It should not be this bad, but he knew better than to expect anything but the worst. Damn pessimistic attitude. Sometimes he wished he was more upbeat, but then remembered that upbeat people annoyed him.
They reached the bottom of the stairs, Wufei in the lead. He followed his lover through the door to the car park. As the door opened, he could already hear the disturbance that was to become his everyday life from now on. Slowly, like a man being sent to his death, he began towards the removal truck that was just starting to be unloaded. Wufei looked like he had had a pole shoved up him, for all the rigidness that was there in his back. They approached from the front so that the inside the truck was not visible, only the man stood outside could be seen, accepting a box from the back.
"You managed ok then." Wufei asked, signalling to the dark haired man that they were there.
"Eventually." Heero replied, looking over to them both, nodding curtly.
"You're late." Was all Trowa could say. Heero looked over to him as he heaved a box to the ground and looked from one to the other with a black look.
"Duo is to blame." He said curtly, looking into the back of the truck.
"It's always my fault, isn't it?" Duo's tenor came from inside the truck.
"Yes, it is." He said in a matter of fact way, still staring into the truck. Suddenly Duo jumped out of the truck and squared up to Heero.
"And it's my fault were in this mess, oh, no wait, that was you! You got us kicked out of our fucking home!" Duo shouted, levelling a stare at Heero.
"Here they go." Wufei muttered to Trowa, rolling his eyes. Trowa could feel a head ache coming on.
"I'm not solely to blame! We had five strikes Duo, five strikes in a year!" Heero shouted back.
"I wasn't the one who punched that pig out!" Duo cried out, motioning emphatically, becoming louder.
"I guess you should have stopped me!" Heero matched his volume.
"Stop you? Jesus Heero, you're a raging fucking bull in that situation, you think I'm gonna stop you, you dumb fuck!"
"Daddy!" A small voice sounded from the side. They all turned to see a small, round face crowned in dark blond curls. The little girl was looking at Duo sternly, who looked like a child who had been caught stealing. "You shouldn't say them words, you said they were bad."
Duo looked skywards before going to his daughter and picking her up.
"I know. I'm a naughty daddy, I'm sorry." He said giving her a hug. "Here, go say hi to your fave uncles." He said as he let her down and sent her off while he returned to the trailer, giving a sour look to Heero, who returned a glower.
The little girl skipped over to Trowa and Wufei, smiling happily.
"Hi Uncles!" She beamed a smile, just like Duo, expecting to be picked up. Wufei obliged and lifted her up, holding her tight.
"Hello Mary."
"Dad said we are going to live with you and uncle Trowa." She said in a matter of fact voice, like Heero, playing with Wufei's collar. He looked at his lover with a smile before answering.
"Yes, for a little while." He responded.
"Hopefully." Trowa muttered, but the little girl didn't pick up on it.
"Daddy was being naughty, as always." She said as she mimicked what could only be Heero talking. The four year old could switch between Heero and Duo-isms, with frightening easy. "Dad and Daddy were shouting this morning, but I made them behave."
Another argument erupted from the van. Duo had stayed in the van this time as he and Heero argued about something else. The little girl in Wufei's arms motioned to be let down and stomped off to her dads.
"Why did I let you pack? I should have known you couldn't be trusted with simple little things." Heero seethed, throwing a box of clothes down.
"Well, I'm doing a great job with you, aren't I?" Duo shouted back, trying not to smirk.
"Stop it!" She yelled in her best Heero voice. Both looked down at her, like she had materialised out of thin air.
"You are very naughty daddies. I'll send you to my naughty chair." She said, shaking a finger at them. Duo laughed and Heero knelt down to address her.
"I don't think we'll both fit on your chair."
"I guess you'll have to sit on my knee, ne Heero?" Duo suggested, winking. Heero shook his head, smiling.
"We'll behave. Why don't you go see our new place with your uncles?" He said as the other two men had approached closer.
"I'll take her. I need a bit of peace." Trowa said, holding out his hand to the little girl. "C'mon, I'll show you your new home." And on they went, the little girl chatting away as Trowa listened intently.
"You know, we only agreed because of her, right?" Wufei said as he turned to Heero and Duo.
"We know. If it was just the two of us, we would have rented in a hotel, but… it's not fair on her." Duo replied, arm above his head as he leaned against the side of the truck.
"But is this better? You only have two rooms. I cannot help but feel like we are imposing." Heero said as he lifted a box. He turned to Duo. "I'll start taking them to the lift, if you keep unpacking, ok?"
"Sure babe." Duo said as he wandered back in to the van. Wufei stayed with Duo as he handed boxes to him.
"All of us together in cramped quarters, this is just like the old days." Duo had said, laughing as he threw a bag out, onto the ground.
"Tell me, do you always argue like that?" Wufei asked a smirk present on his face. Duo chuckled as he pushed a box along the van floor.
"Not really. It's a stressful day, and we're both short fuses. Plus he was right, I have packed everything wrong. This box is heavy." Duo huffed out.
"As long as it's not going to be like that all the time. Trowa likes his quiet time." Duo stopped pushing and looked at Wufei solemnly.
"I know. We do feel bad that we have to impose."
"I didn't mean it like that. So, Heero punched a cop?"
"Oh man, it was the funniest sight. We had pissed the neighbour off again, she hates kids and Mary is always 'terrorising' her, apparently a four year old has caused her emotional worry, y'know. She's just a fag-hater, so she called the cops on us again. They turn up, we start arguing, the cop said something I can't remember, and Heero just belts him, right between the eyes. Then I shout at Heero, but I can't stop laughing. He gets a night in jail and we get an orange notice the next day. He's right, the residents get five strikes before being evicted. I didn't think we were horrible neighbours." Duo managed to reel off. He was sat on a chest of draws.
"I think you just need a place with a garden, preferably detached. An apartment block just won't do. So that arguing isn't anything serious?" Wufei asked, jumping effortlessly into the van and sitting next to the L2 man. Duo was playing with his braid, not looking up.
"Nah. We've been together a long time. We know what things really hurt, and what we'll just brush off, so I know I'm not offending him. I guess it's a stress relief. But so is sex. Since Mary's gonna be in our room, I guess we may be a bit on edge." Duo laughed.
"Try to keep it down then, or to a minimum." Wufei sounded like he was scolding him, but his face was friendly.
"We can do quiet, snarky arguments?" Duo offered, getting up.
"You're always snarky." Came Heero's voice. He had one arm leaning against the truck. Duo smiled at the man for a brief moment before responding.
"Only cause you're so annoying."
"You're the annoying one. No one tells me to shut up all the time."
"What about your toenails and..." The little argument carried on as the three helped unpack and within the hour, their boxes in the apartment.
Mary's things were unpacked first, so she could adjust better. The rest were shoved in corners and the guest bedroom for another day. A small camp bed had been assembled next to the double bed with all her teddies and dolls on it, so she could sleep easier. At bed time, her two daddies where telling her a made up story, rather than reading from a book. It was amusing to watch them twist the story so that the other had to top the others exaggerations, until Zech's was a ferocious fire-vomiting demon and Heero and Duo were knights slaying demons on a mountain. She had become excited about hearing about princesses that did not really need saving, but soon fell asleep before the stories end, much to Duo's annoyance.
"Did we do the right thing?" Duo asked Heero quietly as the four adults sat in the small living room later that night, Heero was sat in the chair and Duo was on the floor, head on Heero's knee. Trowa and Wufei lounged on the sofa.
"Yes. It'll only be for a while, until we save enough for a deposit for a new place. By the way, how much do you guys want?" He addressed the other two. Both looked stunned at the offer.
"We don't want anything. You could help keep the place tidy, that's about it." Trowa said quietly looking pointedly at Duo as he was about to say something.
"Why don't you get your own place? I mean, why don't you buy your own place? You could get a house, like we talked about." Wufei suggested, settling back in his seat.
"We are trying, but renting takes a lot of money, we're saving, but it's a slow process. She'll be in collage before that." Duo said, looking at a distant point somewhere near the floor.
"Well…" Wufei started, looking at Trowa, a silent communication running between the two, an entire conversation, before Trowa nodded and Wufei turned back to them. Duo had been oblivious to this exchange, but Heero had seen and analysed it, jumping to a conclusion.
"We won't accept any money from anyone." Heero said clearly. Duo looked up, confused.
"No one said anything." Duo commented.
"No, we wouldn't offer money, we don't have enough to help you like that, but if you were somewhere with less money demands, you could save more." Wufei offered. The other two men looking at each other, another silent communication.
"We couldn't… getting enough for a deposit on a flat would be a few weeks. A deposit for a house? Do you know how long that would take?" Heero said, looking unsure.
"You lot move into another apartment and you'll be kicked out again. You need a bigger place. Let us help you in this way."
"We couldn't-," was all Heero could manage to say.
"Heero, think about it. I think we should do this." Duo spoke up, getting up off the floor and sitting on the chair arm, leaning back with his arm along the back cushion.
"Duo-,"
"C'mon man, this is the break we need. Are you guys sure about this?" Duo said. The others smiled.
"As long as Quatre doesn't become homeless, then we'll be ok." Trowa deadpanned, gaining a quiet fit of giggles from them all.
"The day he's homeless is the day you start Morris Dancing." Duo laughed.
"Looks like our bells and hankies are safe for another day." The tallest sighed, gaining more laughter. The air in the room felt lighter, now that three of the apartment's occupants' future was a little brighter.
"It'll be close to a year before we have a good enough deposit for a decent house. Are you sure you want us around until then?" Heero said.
"Trust you to do the maths. Thank you, this means more than you could imagine."
"It's nothing." Wufei motioned with a hand. Signalling the conversation was over. They lapsed into an easy banter, making decisions about chores, cooking and noise. Trowa had, in a serious manner, made Heero and Duo promise not to get them kicked out of their apartment, and to make sure there is coffee brewed in the morning. Later that night, the two's who apartment it was, admitted that it was good to have the small family safe with them, but they should not have to know that.
End.
AN: Aw, I really enjoyed writing this. I am sad now that it's finished.