Chapter 1: Kai (Meeting)
Bars are not, by definition, very good places. For one thing they serve alcohol, which does not generally have good effects on people, and for another they are patronized by people who drink alcohol, who are generally affected in not-good ways. That having been said, the bar where Quatre was drinking was not, even by the low standards just laid out, a very good one.
If and only if he cared he wouldn't have worried. He was, after all, accompanied everywhere by his usual burly entourage of Magnuacs, although the majority of them were participating in a rowdy drinking contest halfway down the splintered plank of the bar. The rest were on the floor.
They had lost.
Quatre envied them; he had been swilling vodka straight without any real changes being made to the unpleasant, Trowa-less reality he was attempting to escape. At this point I would pay good money to be passed out drunk.
Of course, considering how much good money I HAVE, that isn't really saying much.
Quatre hated staying out late and drinking, because he never got disconnected from his life, but still got the violent hangover that was rejoining it. But he did it anyway. It was all he really had left.
At one point he would have stayed home happy and tried to think up new arguments to get Trowa to play Twister with him. Those days were gone. So was Trowa. The bang-ed (So to speak) young man had disappeared with a short note making some excuse about not wanting to drag his happy life down with misery neither of them could deal with, and a number for emergencies.
The number was the same as the one Heero had sent him when they parted ways after the war, and it took Quatre two days to start eating again, plus three more for talking and a full two weeks before one of Rashid's terrible jokes had made him smile.
Even if he was still confused and wasn't as interested in me as I was in him, I had a decent godamn life seducing that man, and trying to heal his soul. Just WORKING on those projects was happiness enough, although succeeding would have been a bonus.
But he left me for the perfect soldier, and no doubt they're even now screwing their brains out while I sit here wishing I were half the man Heero is
Quatre reached for his drink, which was conveniently not there. Neither was his wallet when he tried to buy another one. Neither was his cell phone when he needed to cancel the cards in the missing wallet.
No one should be able to get those away from me Quatre spun slowly on the crappy stool-
-and came face to face to the happiest person and best thief on the entire planet, who was flashing his trademark grin along with a sheaf of bills and credit cards while cradling the phone between shoulder and ear.
When he spoke the voice was slurred, which explained the total absence of the half-empty glass of vodka Quatre had been nursing. "Hello? Chang residence? Hey Sally, just wondering if Wu-man wanted to go out for a night of heavy drinking and male strippers. Maybe head back to my place afterwards, just bought some miracle whip-" He frowned. "She hung up."
Quatre groaned even as he smiled. "Please tell me you didn't really make that call, Duo, it would be just my luck for Wufei to have caller ID. I don't really want to wake up to him screaming about the injustice of dirty phone calls and pounding on my door with his sword at 6 in the morning."
Duo matched the blond man's smile and tossed back the phone and money. "I'm not THAT drunk, bang boy. Now, be helpful and change that with your nice, fat wallet. And please, once you're done tuck it a little farther into your pocket."
"Please, Duo, anything but bang boy' and I'll buy you the bar." The Arab man winced as he remembered the origins of that particular ignominious nickname, and exactly why he wanted them buried in the mists of memory forever.
"Fine my little kitty-Quat, you can start on the bar with a bottle or three of whatever you're drinking." Duo collapsed onto the stool next to Quatre and laid his head on the plank. Before lifting it back up with a yelp and a splinter.
"Drinks had best be better than the godamn décor" He growled, removing the offending sliver of wood and flicking it in the general direction of the floor as Quatre reclaimed his glass and ordered another one for himself and his companion.
"So what are you doing back on Earth, Duo? I was sure you would be raising a couple of chibi-baka(1) with Hilde by now." Quatre took a long pull on his newest drink while passing Duo his own glass.
"Eww! Nah, Hilde is to good a friendmarrying her would feel like incest." Duo took a swig that half-drained the glass of the clear, hard liquor. "Besides, our children might well kill and eat us before we could even potty-train them"
Quatre snorted through another long drink at the image, positive proof that the vodka was beginning to take effect. "Oh that's precious, I can just see you being ripped apart by a marauding band of braided infants" He finished the interrupted chugging and finished off another glass.
Eyeing the pile of such glasses that was nicely balanced on the splintery wood in front of Quatre, Duo added new credence to his theory on the effects of prolonged exposure to Arabian coffee on inebriation. He looked up from his calculations of blood alcohol levels when he heard his companion's voice. "Wha?"
"You didn't answer the question," Said Quatre, precariously forming a pyramid with his empty glasses. "Why did you come back to Earth? Not that we don't love your presence, but even if you aren't after Hilde I figured you'd be staying with her at the junkyard"
Duo heaved a sigh. "No babes! Or hot dudes for that matter. Plus having a live-in older sister was KILLING my love life"
"Yeah right! Really Duo, I was so sure you'd be happy finally having a home, settling downwhy'd you leave it all behind?" Quatre swirled the ice on his newest drink with a finger, which he then meticulously sucked so as not to waste a drop.
The braided pilot, or ex-pilot at least, sighed again, and almost set his forehead back down before he thought better of it. He responded while eyeing the bar warily. "I don't really know, Q-man. I fought to finally have a home, but now it seems like all I want to do is go back to dirty bars and drink with other soldiers.
"Speaking of which, what is gazillionaire businessman Quatre Winner doing in a shit-pit like this? And why isn't it Winner-Barton yet? Hell, where is my favorite clown anyway?" Duo seemed set on getting the ball out of his lap.
It was Quatre's turn to sigh and search the bar for a smoother looking place. Not finding one he just went ahead and confessed. "Trowa left. Went to Heero I think. Answers all three questions I think."
He drained the glass and there was little more talking for the rest of the evening.
*
After returning from the bathroom, a dark and frightening place, Duo gained a new respect for and envy of Quatre. That man's bladder must be bigger than his head
"So where you staying tonight, Duo?" Asked bladder-boy, Duo's newest moniker, whose eyes were still frighteningly clear after the massive pile of glasses piled next to him that been drained.
Duo was not doing so well. "Aaah dunno, char-tre," He slurred. "maybe ahhl jusht shleep heeee-ungh." He slumped, lifting his head long enough to grab hold of the end of his braid and tuck it under his chin as he collapsed onto the pillow of his arms.
Assigning a pair of mostly-sober Magnuacs to carry Duo, Quatre sighed. He'll never change. Irresponsible as always The thought was suprisingly fond, as was the look he threw at the sleeping boy's cherubic face. He looks so sweet and innocent, you'd never know he was a trained killer and trouble-making joker with a shady past
He heaved one more sigh, threw some bills in the general direction of the bartender, who had probably not been cleaned in at least as long as his establishment, and tiredly began the long trudge back to where they had parked the limo.
In Japanese, the singular form of a word is the same as the plural. Confusing, neh?The title is the Kanji character for meeting, or to meet. I'm really learning this stuff, cause I have no life. More chapters as I feel like it, I'm only writing 2x4 because it seemed like a fun-as-hell idea. Review if you wanna. L8r all. Love ya' Koishii.