New Found Friend

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or any of the pilots. I do own Eya Musc, though, so no using her without my permission.

Author's Note: This fic takes place shortly after Endless Waltz. Quatre is now working at a construction site.

Quatre Rebarba Winner looked down at the construction plans in confusion. "Is that beam supposed to go there?" he asked no one in particular. He reached up to scratch his head, but instead scratched his hardhat. Quatre frowned. This had not been a good day for him. First he forgot to pay for his apartment, so now he was going to get hit by a fine. That meant less money for groceries. Second, the water was shut off in the entire building this morning, right while he was in the middle of a shower. Third, the tire on his bike went flat, and since he didn't yet own a car, he was late for work that morning. Quatre backed away, trying to get a better view of the building. He stopped when he felt himself bump into someone. He turned to face who he had bumped. "Excuse me, my mistake."

"I'm sorry, my fault."

Quatre's face came almost an inch away from the face of the girl. She had short blonde hair, almost as short as his. Her hair had been tied back in a ponytail, which showed off her blue eyes very well. The hem of her white T-shirt hung loosely under her brown belt that wrapped around her faded blue jeans. Neither of them expected to find themselves that close to each other, and both dropped their copies of the construction plans in surprise. They both got on their knees to pick up the pieces of paper.

The girl picked one sheet up. "I think this one's yours..." She read the name on the top. "... Quatre."

Quatre read the name on the top of one sheet he picked up. "Then this one's yours, Eya." They both stood up and managed to situate their papers before the lunch whistle sounded. Quatre took off his hardhat and wiped his forehead on the back of his hand.

Eya took off her hardhat. "Well, since I have nothing better to do, would you mind if I ate lunch with you?"

Quatre paused, surprised and unsure on what to say. Finally he managed to blurt out, "Um, yes, I mean, no, I mean... OK." Eya smiled and Quatre's spirits seemed to lift just a little.

"Silly me. I forgot to formally introduce myself. My name is Eya. Eya Musc." She held out her hand.

Quatre smiled and shook her hand. "Quatre. Quatre Rebarba Winner."

After they both got their lunches, they sat down at an empty table and started unpacking their lunches. "Ugh. I never have anything healthy in my apartment," she said as she looked into her lunch box and wrinkled her nose.

"Here." Quatre passed her an apple. "So, you live in an apartment?"

"Thanks. Yes, just a few blocks from here. The only apartment building in town."

"Really? What floor?"

"Second."

"Me too."

"Wow, really? Who would have thought! I live in B20." Eya put the apple in her lunch box. "I'll save this for dinner tonight."

Quatre smiled. "Don't bother. I'll take you out for dinner tonight. That is, if you want to."

Eya's face lit up. "I'd love to!"

"When can I pick you up? I don't have a car, so we'll have to ride my bike."

"How does 6:00 sound? I don't have a car either, so it doesn't really make a difference to me."

"6:00 sounds great."

The workday had passed and Eya walked home. She was excited about seeing Quatre again. `There's just something about him. He's so polite, he's got a great smile, and I enjoy being with him,' she thought to herself. She sighed happily as she entered her apartment. The first thing she did was checked the water to see if it was working again. When she saw it was, she took a shower and put on a change of clothes. Then she waited anxiously. Quatre was the first guy to ask her out to dinner. She didn't know what to think. The knock on her door startled her. She quickly checked her hair one last time then opened the door an inch. She looked through to see Quatre waiting for her. He was wearing clothes similar to what he wore at the construction site. Eya opened the door wider and smiled. "Hi."

Quatre smiled back. "Are you ready?" Eya nodded and stepped out of her apartment, shutting the door behind her. Quatre offered her his arm and she gladly accepted it. He escorted her out of the building and helped her onto the handlebars of his bike.

"Are you sure you know how to do this?" she asked as she griped the handlebars for balance.

Quatre smiled and nodded. "One of my friends and I used to all the time before he got his own place." With that, they started on their way. At first, Eya was nervous about falling off. Then Quatre put one hand over hers. Her fear instantly melted away. The rest of the trip was a joy ride. With a light breeze blowing through her hair and Quatre close by, she felt carefree. But the ride ended all too soon. Quatre stopped the bike as they arrived at the restaurant.

"Wow, it must be interesting to have four friends with such diverse personalities," said Eya.

Quatre put down his drink and nodded. "Maybe you'll get the chance to meet them someday. I think you and Duo would get along great."

"What about Trowa, Heero, and Wufei?"

"They don't like strangers. They're hard to get along with, but if you want to meet them I could set something up."

Eya smiled. "Have to at least give it a try."

Quatre smiled. "It's getting late. We have work tomorrow." Both Eya and Quatre stood up and Quatre paid the bill and left a tip. He offered Eya his arm and she gladly accepted it again. He escorted her back outside and helped her onto the handlebars of his bike. This time Eya enjoyed every minute of their ride. She was almost sad when the apartment building came into view. Quatre stopped at the driveway and helped her off, then walked the bike the rest of the way. He escorted her back to her apartment. "Well, we certainly learned a lot about each other tonight."

Eya smiled. "I still find it hard to believe you have 30 sisters."

Quatre smiled. "It wasn't easy living with all of them. So, I'll see you tomorrow then?"

Eya nodded. "Looking forward to it. Good night!"

"Good night!"

Eya shut the door behind her and listened to Quatre's footsteps mute to the background. She sighed happily and got ready for bed. As she was falling asleep she had a smile on her face, thoughts of Quatre running through her head.