Wu Fei: …hey, Trowa?
Trowa: Yeah?
Wu Fei: If neither of us are married by thirty, I call us getting married.
Trowa: Awesome…
Wu Fei: …
Trowa: …
Duo: You're racing each other now, aren't you?
Both: *nod nod*
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I peeked cautiously into the recreation room from my hiding spot on the stairwell. Despite my attempt at stealth though, I was spotted immediately.
"Hey, Cas! C'mon in!" Hilde called and waved enthusiastically. I felt myself blushing and slowly ascended the rest of the stairs until I was fully on the second floor. Hilde scooted over a little on the battered couch and patted for me to have a seat. "Don't worry… They're harmless…" she smiled and glanced towards Heero and Wu Fei who were wrestling right next to her for the controller of a game consol.
"Heero, hand it over! You're been playing forever!" Wu Fei yelled and dug his fingers under the taller boy's ribs. Heero was already dangling precariously close to the edge of the cushion, but Wu Fei's attack sealed his fate and the two Asian boys tumbled to the floor, still laughing and clawing at each other.
"No way! You said play til we lose! It's not my fault I own at this game!" Heero replied, holding the controller above his head and exposing vulnerable tickling targets. Wu Fei immediately went for his ribs. Any normal man would have succumbed to a giggling fit and drawn in upon himself, but Heero ignored the assault and instead grabbed the hem of his friend's shirt and pulled it up until it was over the boy's head. He then pushed Wu Fei off and lunged for Wu Fei's exposed stomach.
"Enthusiastic, aren't they?" I chuckled and sat instead on the arm of the couch. I tried to look casual and in truth I felt pretty comfortable. I was warm, full, clean, and fully awake.
"Work hard, play hard," Hilde grinned and drew her feet up onto the couch to avoid being kicked by the two boys.
"AUGH!!! MERCY! MERCY!" I looked back at the two boys. Heero had Wu Fei pinned down completely and he looked like he was biting the shorter boy's neck. Wu Fei was laughing and calling for a surrender. Heero sat back on his knees and climbed to his feet, grabbing the controller on the way up and dangling it triumphantly.
Wu Fei sat up and rubbed the side of his neck. "This is gonna be a fun one to explain," he said. When he removed his hand, there was a dark red mark below his ear. Heero really had bitten him. And given him a nice little souvenir to remember it by.
"Just be glad I'm not Duo or it would have been a lot worse," Heero replied and rubbed his left shoulder near his neck. His loose, dark grey tank top did nothing to hide the fading patch of destroyed capillaries there. He turned and addressed me. "Are we too weird for you, Cassie?" he smirked.
"Ha! Not at all. It's better than a bunch of quiet people," I replied.
"That's the spirit!" Wu Fei agreed. "Now, about that game…"
"Ah, I don't even wanna play anymore." Heero tossed the controller to Wu Fei and flopped unceremoniously onto the couch next to Hilde.
"But that takes all the fun out of it…" The Chinese boy leaned over and shut off the consol.
"Did you save?"
"Er…no."
Heero rolled his eyes.
"So now what?" Hilde asked, looking back and forth between the boys.
Wu Fei sat down next to Heero and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "Where's Duo?"
"He's asleep on the couch," I replied, grateful for the opportunity to join the conversation.
"Good… Trowa better get to bed too." Heero glanced at his watch which may have been the only accurate timepiece in the house. "If he's not back by now, he probably fell asleep in Duo's room."
"Think Kowareru'll make it through the night?"
The Japanese boy shoved his grinning Chinese friend playfully. "You know Duet'll end up outliving us all… She's just building immunities." He stood and stretched, then ran a hand through his hair and walked over to the minifridge. Opening the door, there were a few solid clanking noises. "Anybody want some ones and snack pockets?" When he turned to face us he had two beer bottles in one hand held by their necks and a box of microwaveable stuffed biscuits in the other.
By process of elimination, I assumed by 'ones' he meant beers. "I'll take one." Heero popped off the top of a bottle in the bottle opener attached to the wall above the fridge and handed it to me. I nodded my thanks and took a sip. He opened a beer for himself and set about heating up a snack pocket in the microwave on the little shelf above the fridge.
"Yuy, you just had dinner…" Hilde scolded, leaning across Wu Fei and reaching for a drink for herself. Heero ignored her comment and retrieved something malted for her, then went back to staring blankly at the microwave.
Wu Fei tossed a pillow at the boy to get his attention. "Gimme a diet cola." Heero opened the fridge again, plucked a cola off the six-pack and leaned over to hand it to his friend.
"Diet.. Who the hell drinks diet soda?" Hilde mumble and took a sip of her drink. "It's not like you have weight issues, you beanpole."
"Diet tastes better," Wu Fei retorted. He tapped his can a few times and snapped it open. Instead of drinking it, he toyed with the tab. "So…what are we calling today's mission?"
The microwave screeched, announcing the completion of its task. Heero snatched his biscuits out and leaned against the wall to face us. "It was a failure. No two ways about it. We completely missed our target, endangered civilians, and caused tons of collateral damage." Shrugging off his own comment, he took a bite of his snack and chased it with some more beer.
"I wouldn't say it was a complete loss," Hilde smiled, patting my leg.
"Yeah, at least something positive came out of it," Wu Fei added.
I laughed. "Definitely bettered my life.
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Tori: 'Kowareru' means 'broken'. It's one of those nicknames that gets tossed around, most often when she's sick or hurt…which is about every other week.
Duet: Losing your civilianhood is like losing your virginity. Most of the time, there's a lot of crying and bleeding involved and afterwards, you don't feel that different, but everyone treats you different.
Tori: *stares at Duet*
Duet: Yanno, my sociology teacher made the same face.