Chapter Nine: Quatre's Fortune

Fortune stood under her gundam, greasy, sweaty and tired. Brandishing a crescent wrench triumphantly she uttered one word :"Finished."
When she first got to her gundam early that morning, her first job was to oil every single joint. Being the first thing that she was ever able to call her own, Fortune Kincaid cared for the Gundam Phoenixfire the way a man would pore over a new car. At 5:30 p.m., it stood washed, polished and immaculate; red, orange, white and black. It looked worthy of the name "Phoenixfire".
Then she felt them: two light green-blue eyes on her back. Quatre.
Whirling around she saw him leaning in the doorway in some grungy clothing she would never though the impeccable dresser to own. In one hand he held an old rag, on his face he wore a smile.
"So, that's where the cleaning stuff went. I've been looking for it for over an hour. SandRock's a mess." He gestured to his gundam second to last from the wall.
Fortune smiled brightly. " I was just cleaning Phoenixfire for my first mission tonight. I wanted her look as good as SoulShriek." She jerked a thumb towards the dark blue, gray, black and white gundam. SoulShriek was also washed and polished. It stood first in the line against the wall in the shadows, dark and foreboding.
Quatre smiled as he neared Fortune, picked up the cleaning supplies, and straightened again.
"Oh, but Fortune, I think that Phoenixfire is prettier than SoulShriek. It's very fiery and beautiful." Quatre started to walk toward SandRock and half turned. "Why, Phoenixfire is almost as fiery and beautiful as the one who pilots her." Turning all the way around, Quatre continued to SandRock.
Fortune whirled around, but only in time to see a set cheery red ears under the shaggy white blonde hair of the Arabian boy.
Rushing up to walk beside him, Fortune strolled with him to his mobile suit. The silence was awkward, so she posed a question.
"Do you know the other pilots? They hardly speak to me and my friend."
Quatre stopped walking and looked up at her. "Yes I do know them. Do you see that mobile suit right beside yours?"
Fortune nodded.
"That one is Gundam Wing, it belongs to Heero Yuy. He is very quiet, very military minded. He's the guy you see walking around here in a green tank top and spandex shorts."
"Ah." Fortune knew who he was. She had seen him a couple of times, his nose always buried in his laptop, giving glaring glances to whoever looked at him for more than five seconds. Creepy guy, she thought.
Quatre pointed to the gundam beside Wing. It stood tall and proud and was a shiny black and dark gray and held a staff beside it, like a guardian. It's very ambiance was dark, foreboding, and seemed to suck the very life out of the area around it. "That is Gundam Deathsythe. It belongs to Duo Maxwell. He is the jovial guy who wears black all the time and has a long braid. He is a nice guy, but he is slightly psychotic. " Quatre lowered his voice. "He also has a thing for you friend. He really likes her a lot."
Fortune smiled and nodded, "This I know, Quatre. She has told me, from the first time she saw him, she was struck by his beauty."
Quatre also smiled but a small sad smile. "Do you see that mobile suit beside Deathsythe?" He pointed to a red and orange mobile . "That one is Gundam Heavy Arms. It belongs to Trowa Barton. He's tall, has his hair combed to the front of his face, wears incredibly tight pants-"
Fortune held up a hand, "I've got the picture."
Quatre grinned and blushed again. "Okay, the last one is that one right beside SandRock. " He pointed to a yellow, blue, white, and red Gundam. "That one is ShenLong. It belongs to Chang Wufei. He's the Chinese guy who likes wearing poofy white pants. Stay out of that guy's way. He has serious issues about fighting alongside women."
Quatre looked at his watch and his eyes widened. "Oh no! I only have an hour to clean SandRock!" He hastily picked up the rag that was lying in the bucket and walked over to his mobile suit. Looking up, he had a look of hopelessness on his face. Then setting grim determination on his face, he set to work washing SandRock's left foot. Fortune looked at the blonde boy with admiration in her eyes. Using the rag she still had in her hand from cleaning Phoenixfire, she set to work on SandRock's right foot. Quatre looked up from his work and saw with growing happiness Fortune helping him clean his gundam. Stopping his work, he walked over to her, looked at her for a brief second, brushed aside the long curly locks that hid her face while she cleaned, and kissed her softly and sweetly on her cheek.
Fortune looked up, startled. Then she smiled sweetly at Quatre and softly brushed a lock of hair off of his face.
"Let's get back to work", she said quietly. "We want SandRock to look good for tonight's mission.
He nodded happily and returned to SandRock's left foot.