Disclaimer: The GW characters don't belong to me.

Note ; Many thanks to KS for editing, and for everyone who is adventurous enough to keep reading…

Warnings: Ahem…maybe not for 3x4 fans….*ducks and runs for cover*

Chapter 21:

In which the 3+4 equation becomes a little more complicated, following the introduction of a new factor.

He should never have brought him, Trowa thought ruefully. Oh, Quatre was trying his polite best to be interested, but not quite hide managing to hide the fact that he was bored out of his skull. It had been a mistake to mention the rally in the first place, and the fact that he was taking part in one of the races.

Quatre had insisted that he wanted to see this part of his boyfriend's world and Quatre, Trowa was finding out, was extremely good at getting exactly what he wanted. Although he was probably regretting this. A muddy field on a cold, damp, spring day wasn't exactly the perfect environment for Quatre Raberba Winner. Trowa had caught him casting rueful glances at his shoes, and he'd managed to get mud splashed on his pink – 'crushed raspberry', apparently – sweater.

'We can go if you like,' he offered, and Quatre smiled up at him. 'I know this isn't your thing.'

'We can't. I have to introduce Heero and Zechs, remember? Anyway, your race is on soon, isn't it? I really want to see you in action.'

'I could just take you home, if that's what you want.'

The blond's cheeks were a sudden, blazing scarlet but he gave Trowa another lovely smile.

'Or we could do both. Race first and then…..action?'

'Sounds like a plan,' Trowa agreed, and then realised he'd lost all of his boyfriend's attention.

Instead, he was beaming – that radiant smile that Trowa liked to think belonged to him – at a total stranger.

Except he wasn't really a stranger; the Chinese man walking up to them had to be Wufei.

Trowa had imagined some bespectacled, scholarly type, probably wearing one of those tweed jackets that professors wore in the movies. Wufei was hot. Hot in capital letters with exclamation marks after. It didn't hurt that he was wearing worn, tight jeans and a beat-up leather jacket.

Competition, in other words.

He stepped a little closer to Quatre, and caught Wufei's amused dark eyes noting the gesture. This was stupid. Quatre was with him; he wasn't the sort to cheat and Trowa wasn't going to get into some sort of territorial pissing contest over him.

There was still the shadow of a smile of the Chinese man's lips when he leaned over to shake Trowa's hand.

'You must be Trowa. Hello, Quatre. It's nice to see you again.'

'Isn't it?' Quatre asked happily, apparently oblivious to any awkwardness. 'You never said you were going to be here.'

'It was a sudden decision. Heero mentioned he was meeting you here and I thought it might be fun to come along. I've entered for the 3.30 cross country race.'

'That's the one you're in, isn't it Trowa?' Quatre asked cheerfully. 'How exciting! Wufei, where's Heero? I'm supposed to be introducing him to Zechs.'

'He just stopped to look at one of the bikes. Oh, here he is.'

Heero, Trowa decided, wasn't the sort of guy you'd kick out of bed for farting either. Blue eyes, great body, messy hair that looked like he'd just tumbled out of bed. Pity he was straight.

'It's so lovely to meet you again, Heero,' Quatre sounded like all his dreams had suddenly come true.

'He's just got engaged, right?' Trowa asked. 'To a girl?' Heero, he thought, was looking far too happy to have a cute blond guy interested in him.

Wufei nodded. And two sets of eyes settled grimly on Quatre and his new friend. Quatre was jabbering something about how he and his sisters had known this Relena person for years, and some painting, and Heero was lapping up the attention.

'This might be a stupid question but why is your straight, engaged friend cruising my boyfriend?'

'It's not a stupid question at all,' Wufei responded quietly.

Quatre finally turned back to them, eyes shining.

'Heero can't stay long, so I'm just going to take him to find Zechs. I'll be back in a minute. Good luck, both of you!'

He blew Trowa a discreet kiss, and whirled off, Heero in tow.

'I think we've been dismissed,' Chang said, sounding rather amused about the fact. 'Well, we'd probably get to the starting line.'

It started to rain again as they walked; the sort of sudden downpour you got in Sanque, before Summer finally arrived.

'This should make the course a little more challenging,' Chang decided.

'More muddy anyway,' Trowa replied. He wasn't much good at small talk; he wasn't particularly interested in talking to this guy. 'Not a bad thing; should weed out some of the amateurs.'

It did too; by the time they got to the starting line and collected their bikes, there were only a dozen or so other entrants. The guys who were only doing this to impress their girlfriends or whatever had obviously pulled out. He was surprised Chang hadn't, actually.

He'd met these sorts of guys before – executives who wanted to have a tough, macho hobby away from their nice office so they could use it as a chat up line. The bike was just the sort Trowa had guessed he'd have. A nice, shiny model that had probably been bought straight off the shop floor, on the recommendation of some assistant with an eye to commission.

Jerk.

Trowa nodded to a few people he knew vaguely; if Duo had been there, he would have been dragged along into socialising. Alone, he didn't bother.

'Do you fancy a small wager?' Wufei asked, appearing on his right side. 'Just the two of us.'

'Why not?' It wasn't like he'd lose. The other bike looked like it had never been ridden off road in its life. 'How much?'

'I wasn't thinking of money. Perhaps something we both want?' He grinned, revving his engine. Show off. 'Or someone.'

'He's not a possession to be won. Besides,' Trowa smirked over at him. 'I already have him.'

'If he's not a possession, then he can't be had either,' Wufei retorted.

Trowa dropped one eyelid in a deliberate wink. 'Oh, I assure you that he can. Not that you'll ever know anything about that.'

The Chinese man's growled response was drowned by the starter's pistol; by the firing of engines around them.

Wufei took off like he'd been shot out of a canon, which was utterly insane given the terrain. The trail he'd chosen was uphill; treacherous given the mud underfoot. Under wheel, Trowa thought with a grin. The other competitors had taken the safe route – a twisting path up the mountainside, as opposed to driving straight up a precipice.

Black tendrils of hair whipped under Chang's helmet as he turned around to call over one shoulder. 'Should I slow down for you?'

Asshole; Trowa was grinning as he fired straight up the slope. Fuck, he hadn't felt like this, on a bike, since Duo had stopped competing. It had always been neck or nothing between them.

He forged ahead just as they reached the top, catching a glimpse of the other man's face in a blaze of concentration, and raised two fingers casually as he drove past.

'Want me to wait?'

'Screw you!' Chang yelled over the beating rain, coming up fast.

In your dreams, Trowa thought, swerving around a fallen tree, and then swivelling around. 'Be careful at this bit. The ground's like soup to the right.'

'Thanks.' Chang negotiated it expertly and swung to a halt. 'I think we've gone off course, somehow. I don't see any flags.'

'You only like driving on nice safely laid out courses?'

'Not in the least.' He tilted his helmet back, lifting his face to the rain. 'What do you think; a race between the two of us? Back to the starting line.'

Trowa nodded. 'And the prize?'

'To be decided by the winner?'

'Which will be me,' Trowa shot back.

'Talk's cheap, Barton.' Wufei gunned past him, spinning his wheels so that mud spattered all over Trowa.

Maniac.

'You're going to pay for that!'

The next few minutes were frantic, frenetic, more fun than he'd had in ages; just the two of them swinging their machines through the trees, whipping past lower branches and skidding over rivulets of gushing water.

Trowa was actually in the lead when the accident happened; his own fault entirely. He just hadn't been able to resist turning around, and the bike just somersaulted over something and for a minute he was flying and then smacking straight into the ground.

'Trowa! Are you all right?'

'Fuck.' He dragged himself up. 'What the hell happened?'

'Your rear wheel caught on an exposed tree root,' Wufei explained. 'Are you sure you're not hurt?'

Trowa ran both hands over himself; a few sore places, unsurprisingly, but nothing that refused to move, or hurt too badly. 'I'm fine.' He flashed a quick grin. 'Nothing broken. Just a bit battered.'

'And your bike?'

Duo would have asked that too.

'I think I'll be walking back,' Trowa said ruefully. His bike was going to need a new back wheel, at the very least. 'Can you ride back and get someone to pick me up? The stewards have maintenance trucks.'

Chang shook his head. 'I can't leave you here in this downpour to get pneumonia.' He hopped on to his own bike and patted the saddle behind him. ''I'll give you a lift.'

He'd never ridden double before with anyone who wasn't Duo. So many things he'd only ever done with Duo, if he thought about it. It felt odd putting his arms around Chang's waist, but there wasn't anything else to hold on to, and even though he was taking it easy, with his passenger, the trail was still rough enough to need some sort of support.

'Do you want to go to the medical tent?' Chang asked as they bumped back to the car park.

Trowa shook his head. 'I've got a kit in my truck. It's just scrapes and bruises.'

'Which way?'

He actually grinned, the bastard, when he saw Trowa's truck. OK, maybe it wasn't the world's snazziest vehicle but it went all right.

'Do you actually drive Quatre around in that?'

'He's never complained.' Trowa opened the cab, and rummaged in the glove compartment for the first aid box. 'I hear you took him whizzing around on a motorbike. And broke into the National Museum.'

'I did not,' Wufei said hastily.

'Bullshit,' Trowa snapped. 'There's no way employees are allowed to swan in and out at night. I can't believe even Quatre fell for that one. And from what he says, you were very careful to time your visit around the security guards' inspections.'

'I wonder how on earth you know that particular piece of information,' Wufei mused. 'Here, give me that. You should put some antiseptic on those cuts.'

'I know someone who works security there. And you don't need to hang around. I can do this by myself.'

'I'm sure you can.' Wufei rolled up his right sleeve, and winced. 'You'll need to keep this one clean. It's a pretty deep cut.'

'Thanks; I'd never have figured that out myself. So do you take all your dates on breaking and entering parties?'

'Only the ones I really want to impress.'

Trowa snorted. 'You don't seem like you have any issues in the self-esteem department.'

'I don't, usually. What did you do for your first date?'

'Why d'you want to know? If you're so interested in Quatre, why did you give him up so easily?'

Wufei smiled. 'Who says I've given up? I've probably seen more of him in the past week than you have.'

'I doubt that. He's not the sort to cheat on someone.'

Wufei threw back his head and laughed. 'I wasn't talking about sex.'

'Yeah, sure. You don't want to sleep with him; you just want a nice little companion to escort to art galleries and tea shops.'

'Of course I want to have sex with him,' Wufei said firmly. 'But I can wait.'

Trowa nodded. 'Right. So tell me, do you have some sort of master plan to get him back?'

'I haven't actually needed one, to date. You've been doing quite a good job of throwing him at me. Inadvertently, of course. But I have been reaping the benefits.'

'Yeah, sure. You got to drink tea with him a couple of times. I'm not worried about that. I trust him; he's a principled guy.'

'I imagine that's why we both like him so much.' Wufei wound a length of gauze around his wrist. 'Well, shall we say, one of the reasons? Of course, in my experience, Quatre's principles extend as far as breaking up with one person before moving on to the next. I'm not worried either.'

'Very sure of yourself, aren't you?'

'Very.' Wufei grinned at him. 'Are you?'

'He's mine.'

'For now.'

'Is that a challenge?'

'A ….warning. I plan to get him back. I tend to be rather good at getting what I want.'

'He's not up for grabs.'

'Oh, Trowa, of course he is.' Those white teeth flashed again; either superb genetics or an obscenely expensive dentist. 'It's rather interesting to meet the competition. I can understand what he sees in you.'

'And what's that?' Trowa tossed his forelock back.

'I'm sure you're well aware. You know, you're nothing like I'd imagined.'

'Do I want to know what that was like?'

'Probably not. He has good taste.'

'Are you hitting on me?' Trowa asked bluntly. 'Is this part of your plan; seduce me and then tell Quatre what happened?'

'I hardly think Quatre would want either of us in those circumstances, do you? I'm not the sort to kiss and tell.'

'So you are hitting on me?'

'Perhaps.' He flicked Trowa one of those infuriatingly enigmatic little smiles. Probably thought he looked like the Mona Lisa or something. It was damn annoying. Sort of sexy though; the way his lips parted a fraction, just enough to show the tip of a pink tongue. He'd be interesting to kiss. Just to see if it would wipe that Cheshire Cat smugness off his face.

'Sorry, but I'm not the sort to cheat on my partner. Which you obviously are.'

That comment produced a scowl. 'Certainly not. Perhaps I should point out that I'm the one who's currently single.'

'Hardly surprising, given your personality.'

Wufei burst out laughing. 'Tell me, are you permanently grouchy or is it just me? I'm surprised Quatre puts up with you.'

'Quatre gets plenty of compensation.'

'Hmm. I imagine Quatre does.' He rolled up Trowa's other sleeve and winced. 'All right. This is going to sting for a second.'

'Ouch.' Trowa said it obligingly, just to make him laugh, liking the way those black eyes shone when he was amused about something.

God, this was stupid. He shouldn't even be talking to this guy, let alone ….talking like they were friends. Like he might have talked to Duo. Quatre would probably have whisked him off to the first aid tent and charmed the doctor into seeing him straightaway. Or had him airlifted to the nearest private clinic.

'You done yet?'

'Almost.' Wufei placed a small plaster neatly over the scrape and looked up. 'I'll just clean up your face a little bit.'

'It's fine.'

'Stop being so stubborn. Quatre will have a conniption if I let you go back to him covered in blood.' One hand pushed Trowa's hair off his forehead.

'You're not responsible for me.'

'If I hadn't goaded you, none of this would have happened.' Those long fingers traced his jaw-line, very delicately. 'You could have been seriously hurt.'

'No guilt trips, Chang. You didn't force me to do anything. And I had fun.'

'Me too,' Wufei responded softly. 'Do you normally compete in these sorts of races?'

'I used to, with a friend. Then his partner wanted him to give it up. I really only came today because Quatre suggested it. I bet he's sorry.'

'It doesn't really seem like his sort of thing,' Wufei agreed. 'What are you planning for your next outing; a monster truck rally?'

Trowa grinned at the idea of it. 'God, can you see him at something like that? What are you planning, incidentally? Take him to Paris so you can break into the Louvre?'

'Perhaps. I've been working there for the past few years. I do actually know their security systems. Are you going to tell him what I did?'

'Nah. It was sort of cool. I owe you actually; otherwise, he'd have wanted me to take him to the damn exhibition.'

'You don't like art?'

'Not when I have to queue for hours to get to see it, and then stand in a crowded gallery.'

He took out another antiseptic wipe, and wiped Trowa's face. 'Does that hurt?'

'A bit.'

'Sorry. I don't know if this should be stitched.' He leaned in, peering at the scrape in Trowa's left cheek. 'It's still bleeding.'

He was close enough for Trowa to feel warm breath whispering across his skin. Those dark eyelashes curled, ever so slightly, at the tips, the way Duo's did. There were tiny, metallic flecks in the midnight darkness of his eyes; copper and gold and bronze. Like stars.

'It's fine.'

'At least let me kiss it better for you.'

They were close enough that Chang just had to lean in another couple of inches, and cant his head slightly, and that mouth was moving against his.

There was the weirdest, weirdest sense that this had all happened before, or maybe just had been planned out by some part of his brain. The kiss wasn't strange; it felt like something they'd done before.

It felt like the first time he'd kissed Duo. Not déjà vu, but a memory. It had been either very late or very early. They'd stayed up late in some fleapit motel after a job, watching a dumb Hollywood heist movie, and picking up the holes in the plot, with a Picasso propped against the bedroom door.

It was something he'd wanted to do for years, quite literally, and the sudden, sweet inevitability of it had taken his breath away. Duo had leaned across him to get another beer, and at the same time tilted his to head to watch what was happening on screen and that had been that.

Three months later, he'd met Treize.

Chang's eyes were closed, the lashes fluttering very slightly, and a faint rose coloured bloom on his cheeks.

Oh shit.

'Get the fuck out of my truck!'

'Trowa…'

'I said, get out.' Trowa leaned across him, wrenching the door open, half shoving the other man out.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.