To Kira May Maxwell- Thanks; I needed that. I reread it at nearly midnight, and it struck me as appallingly corny, but I kept myself from deleting it and starting over. I won't give up, and I really hope Desi likes it, too. Yes, Heero and Quatre are a couple, and yes, Duo and Wufei will be one eventually.
To Jadah Krayne- I'm glad you read this fic, too; makes me feel loved. Although I wouldn't exactly call it exceptional. You want exceptional, you read Michael Palmer or Dean Koontz. I'm just okay. Yes, yes, the main pairing will eventually be 2x5x2. (revives) I'm flattered that I'm on your alert list, and I'll try very hard to keep this fic going at a reasonable pace and quality. Also, thank you for the numerous reviews you left on my completed stories; it's nice to know people like them, too.
To Vwolf Youjitsu- Interesting name; I'll get cracking on the next chapter.
To Onigami Nanashi- You have no idea how much I love your name. I'm glad you like it, but I hope you're not offended that Desi's opinion is very important to me, since it was written specifically for her. I hope the name comes; I hate having untitled stories. It's gonna focus on the lives of the boys, with some romance and stuff thrown in for good measure, if that's what you're asking. Trowa's around; he just hasn't been introduced yet. Yes, you've got the pairings right, and I have a pairing in mind for Trowa, too, although you might not like it very much…. How do you feel about Relena?
To RavynOwl- Erm... I'm glad you like it...
To Desi- Desi, you made it! I'm so glad you like it so far! Don't worry; Duo and Wufei will eventually talk to each other. Right now, though, they're just getting on each other's nerves.
Duo strolled casually into Wing HQ, which was actually the main building of Zero Electronics, whistling. He waved at one of the guards, who knew him by name, and walked to the front desk. The secretary was new, and looking at him disapprovingly, although her expression grew slightly envious when she spotted his braid.
"Package for Mr. Yuy." He said, hefting said parcel and grinning.
"I'll make sure he gets it." She said crisply, holding out her hand.
"Nothing doing, babe." He disagreed, pulling the box out of her reach. "I'm under strict orders to give this directly to Mr. Yuy." She frowned angrily and opened her mouth to argue, but he plowed right over her. "Look, you're probably new here, so I'll lay it out for you. This package was entrusted to me by one Miss Relena Peacecraft, to be delivered to Mr. Yuy and no one else. If I left this with you, they'd both kill me. We've been doing this for more than a year now, and letting me go up won't get you in trouble."
"I think I'll place a call to Mr. Yuy's office first, if you don't mind." The secretary said haughtily, and Duo sighed.
"Fine; have it your way."
She picked up the phone and did the secretary thing, then sat for a minute or so, making sounds into the handset, before hanging up and smiling smugly.
"Mr. Yuy doesn't wish to be disturbed right now; he's in the middle of some very important work."
Duo inhaled, intent on saying something, but someone else beat him to it.
"Duo, what are you doing here?" Quatre Winner in all his blond glory stepped up to the desk, slightly out of breath and smiling bright enough to light the entire city for at least a week. "Oh, another package? Heero's probably waiting for that; you should take it up."
"I would, Mr. Winner, but me and the lady here are disagreeing on that point." Duo said. It was his turn to smile smugly before continuing. "I didn't want her calling security on me; I might have gotten one of the guys that don't like me."
"You'll have to forgive Annette, Duo." Quatre said, still smiling. "She's only been working here a week. Annette, Duo and I are going up, okay? Please don't warn Heero; I want to surprise him."
"Of course, Mr. Winner." Annette's face was swiftly assuming the expression of someone in the throes of intense constipation, and Duo almost felt sorry for her.
As soon as the reached the elevator, Quatre sighed again, and his smile turned apologetic.
"Don't think too badly of Annette, Duo; she's only just out of school, and she's not used to the idea of exceptions to the rules."
"No problem, man." Duo said distractedly, trying somewhat successfully to balance the package on his head during the long ride to the tenth floor. "Thanks for getting me up, though; I've got me an independent study partner to rest up for, and I'm gonna need my beauty sleep to deal with this guy."
"That bad, huh?" Quatre asked as the arrived safely on the right floor and stepped into the wide, plushly carpeted hallway.
"Not bad, precisely, just…. Hard to deal with. Can't take the least bit of teasing. Doesn't like nicknames, either."
"It'll be a refreshing change, then." Quatre said, pushing open the door to Heero's outer office. "No, don't ring us in, Lucrezia." He told Heero's dark-haired main secretary. "This is a surprise visit."
"Your funeral." Lucrezia said, smiling. "It's unlocked, but don't be shocked if he shoots you before you can say the password."
"Thanks for the warning." Quatre said, managing to sound genuinely grateful and mockingly gleeful at the same time.
Contrary to the dire prediction, when Quatre opened the door to the inner office and stepped inside, there was no attack, save an absentminded kiss during which Duo looked politely away.
"Since you're staying overnight, I figured I'd better come make sure you ate something." Quatre was saying as Duo cautiously inched into the room. "Made your favorite tonight, too; beef stew and dumplings. And I'm not leaving until you finish it."
"Y'know, Mr. Winner, I don't think that's the right kind of incentive to use here." Duo spoke up, effectively calling attention to the fact that they weren't alone. "In fact, if I were Mr. Yuy, I'd refuse to eat at all under the circumstance."
"Which is why I'm me, and you're not." Heero said in his usual deadpan monotone. "I assume that package is for me?"
"Right you are, Mr. Yuy!" Duo said cheerfully, handing his burden over with an extravagant bow. "I don't suppose you're finally gonna tell me what's in these things?"
"No."
"Man, you're a drag! Not even a little hint? Is it love letters? Cake? If it's anything that's supposed to be edible, toss it. Relena can't cook."
"You can leave now, Duo." Heero said calmly, taking both Relena's package and the bag containing his dinner to his desk.
"Okay, okay, okay! I know when I'm not wanted. I'll just go home and cry myself to sleep; not like I have anything to look forward to tomorrow, except study sessions with 'Fei." He sniffed theatrically and slouched to the door, casting a melancholy glance over his shoulder before sighing dramatically and closing the door.
Seeing that Lucrezia was watching him, he kept it up, moping his way to the hallway, then collapsing against the doorjamb.
"I… I can't go on… I just feel so… so… so empty!" He exclaimed, startling some poor intern half to death. With a despairing cry, he turned and flung himself at Lucrezia. "Comfort me, Luce! I've never needed you more!"
Lucrezia neatly sidestepped his attack, and the crash when he hit the floor was spectacular.
Quatre listened to the fading banter of Lucrezia and Duo with a smile.
"Those two never quit, do they?" He asked with a wistful sigh, hoisting himself up on the edge of Heero's desk. "Ah, to be young again."
"You know for a fact Lucrezia Noin is nearly old enough to be your mother." Heero countered, already hard at work again, although he was dutifully eating with one hand.
"True, true." Quatre agreed, his smile fading. "I got another call from the school today."
That simple statement stilled Heero's hands like not even a nuclear explosion could.
"And?" The dark-haired man prompted.
"The vice-principal. He… he threatened to take Wufei away from us. Said we were unfit to care for a child." Quatre, who had never believed the saying that real men don't cry, felt tears welling up in his eyes. "He told me he could convince the school board the living with us was having an adverse affect on Wufei, and that he'd be gone before the week was out!" Unable to say anything further, the blond buried his face in his hands. Wufei was a son to him, and the mere thought of loosing the stern Chinese teen was horrifying.
"He won't." Heero said decisively, standing and placing an arm around Quatre's shoulders. "I'll see to it." With uncharacteristic tenderness, he pulled Quatre into a gentle hug and held him until he'd cried his fill. When Quatre's sobs had dwindled to silence, he spoke again. "Let's go home; Wufei needs to know about this."
Another morning, another surly Duo reestablishing his view on any time of day before a considerable amount of coffee.
His nectar of the Gods was long in coming, however, because the House was out and shopping would take hours. Rather than wait around, he trudged sullenly through the Saturday bustle to Beki's place. The heathen woman might not drink coffee herself, but there was usually some to be had anyway.
He reached the boarding house without any major mishap, although an unfortunate beer bottle had felt his wrath when he'd found it lying in the middle of the sidewalk just waiting to trip up an innocent kid. Her door was locked, thank goodness, and he let himself in with the spare she'd given him.
"Beki, I need fuel." He announced once inside, noting that the computer and stereo were on and she was up. "Now."
"Top of the bookcase, next to the Rivan Codex," Came the reply from somewhere in the mess of blankets on the bed. "Relena-lady called and said you were out."
"Bless you both." He sighed, stumbling across the room to the giant mug of sweet black sustenance. He downed most of it without pausing for breath, intent on becoming a real boy before he said another word. Hail to the Blue Fairy called caffeine.
"Feeling better?" Beki asked with a grin, wiggling her way into a sitting position without looking up from the book she was reading.
"Much. Say, have you ever given any thought to cleaning this place?"
"Now why would I go and do a silly thing like- okay, that's just wrong. Sick freak. At least as things are, I know where everything is."
"Where's your CD case?" He countered, used to the strange double-talk you got whenever Beki was reading.
"At least I know where all my books are." She amended with a smile, still reading. "As if, you loser! I oughta bitchslap you into next Tuesday!"
"What the hell are you reading?" Duo demanded, picking his way among the stacks of books littering the floor to sit on the foot of the bed.
"From the Corner of His Eye," She answered, her anger gone as suddenly as it had manifested. "I really like this book. I'm just sad that the Pie Lady had to die."
"Speaking of reading…." He spoke up suggestively, casting around the room for a certain book. "If I recall correctly, Thursday we left Damia in the thrall of an unknown alien power. I wanna know what happens, woman!"
"Duo, you are the only fifteen-year-old I know who still insists on being read to." Beki sighed, reluctantly sticking a bookmark in her book and setting it aside before accepting Damia from his eager hands. She opened to the magazine subscription they were using for a bookmark and cleared her throat. "Damia had just returned to Aurigae when she heard the Rowan giving the Tower official warning of the transmission of a personal capsule…"
"He's late." Wufei stated irritably, glaring at the unoffending wall opposite him.
Duo Maxwell was, indeed, late. More than just a little late- nearly an hour had passed since the appointed meeting time, with no sign of him, and Wufei was getting angry. After last night's news, he did not need this kind of aggravation.
He'd probably overslept, the twit. Although he was reluctant to do so, Wufei decided he'd just have to go to Duo's house and get him, or they'd never get any work done.
With a resigned sigh, he left the library steps, pulling the crumpled piece of notebook paper with Duo's address on it out of his bag.
Finding Duo turned out to be a lot harder than Wufei had anticipated. Just finding the place had been hard enough; probably because he hadn't expected to find Duo living in a four-story mansion. It also could have been because he was steamed and not paying close enough attention to the task at hand.
Whatever the reason, it took nearly half an hour to find it, and Duo wasn't even home. Thankfully, several people were able to give him directions to his probable current location, using landmarks instead of streets and numbers.
The walk to his new destination was relatively short, and took a little more than ten minutes. But he finally found the house.
It's the one with brick walls and an outside staircase. He told himself, mentally reaffirming the directions given him. Go all the way up the outside staircase and knock. He should still be there, but if he's not, the person there can help you.
He mounted the worn metal steps silently, half afraid the whole thing was going to collapse under him, but made it to the top unscathed. A battered set of mismatching numbers on the door read 307, the number he'd been told to look for, so he knocked.
"It's open!" A woman's voice called, indicating she had absolutely not intention of greeting him properly, so he eased the door carefully inward as the soft murmur of voices inside resumed.
"'-Isthia, Afra, and myself,' Damia said coolly, rather delighted to see her phlegmatic brother moved to temper, 'you must admit, Jeran, that we would have experience in recognizing threat.'" The thin woman sitting cross-legged on stacked mattresses in one corner of the large room was reading out loud from a paperback book in her lap. She flipped a small wave in his direction without pausing, although her rapt audience of one didn't even look up. "'This species does not pose one. In fact, hostility is the furthest thing from their thoughts. Their worlds have suffered from Hive attacks. They urgently desired to know how we repelled the Leviathan.'
'As I was part of that assault, I explained how we contrived,' Afra went on conversationally. 'The Mrdinis were very impressed that we needed no recourse to armaments to destroy it.'"
She was good at voices; Wufei had to give her that. He could clearly tell, although he'd never read this particular book, that Afra was male, and probably a very dignified male at that. She was also a compelling reader; normally, he'd be affronted at being ignored, but he was curious as to what was happening.
"Jeran rolled his eyes, noting the distraught expression on the commander's face. 'That was even stupider, Afra. Giving away information about our defense? That's the most horrendous breach of security that… that…' Words failed him."
Abruptly, the woman stuck a piece of cardstock between the pages and snapped the book shut.
"And that's all you get." She said cheerfully, grinning as Duo protested. "We have a visitor, and I think he's here for you." She added before turning to look at Wufei. "Sorry about the wait, but I didn't want to just stop in any old place. Feel free to clear off a chair and have a seat. My name's Beki."
Wufei nodded once and introduced himself, looking around for a recognizable chair. Most every flat surface, including the floor, was covered with clutter. There was a pile of laundry in one corner, a wastebasket overflowing with crumpled wads of paper against one wall, and books everywhere. Hardcovers, paperbacks, manuscripts, even graphic novels were piled on the bookcase, the shelving units, the desk, the nightstand, the chairs, the floor, even a few balanced precariously on the windowsill. He moved a stack of reference books on forensic science off a wooden armchair and hesitated, not sure what to do with them.
"Oh, just put those on the floor over there, next to the box of paper." Beki said dismissively, waving one hand in the direction a large yellow box with Premium Laser Paper emblazoned on the side. "Duo, pass me my soda. I feel as if I've been reading for hours!"
"You kind of have." Duo admitted guiltily, passing over a two liter bottle of Dr. Pepper and a small glass. "I was supposed to meet Wufei here at the library at 10, and you started reading at about 8:30. It looks to be about noon now."
"And why, pray tell, was she reading aloud to you?" Wufei asked as casually as his far-from-forgotten anger would let him. "I know for a fact you're not illiterate, Maxwell."
"Duo just likes hearing stories out loud." Beki shrugged, having downed half the bottle of soda in little more than a minute. "And he can't do voices or accents like me. Besides, I don't mind." She turned to face him without uncrossing her legs, and stared for a moment before looking sharply away.
"What?" Wufei demanded, frowning.
"Nothing. Didn't mean to stare, it's just…" She looked at him again and her eyes widened slightly. "So you're a firestarter?"
"What?"
"Oh, it's no use trying to pretend you don't know what she's talking about." Duo spoke up, grinning. "She figured me out a lot faster. Beki here's a living, breathing, Talent radar."
"I have no idea what you're babbling about." Wufei said adamantly, although he could tell neither believed him.
"Of course you do!" Beki countered, smiling again. "It took me a minute, because it's been so long since I last saw a firestarter, but I catch on quick. Here," She continued when he refused to respond, "watch this." She poured another cup of soda and set it on top of a copy of Voltaire's Bastards on the nightstand. With a slight frown, she stared hard at the cup.
For a while, nothing happened. Then the surface of the soda began to bulge, as if something were pushing it from beneath. Slowly, the dark liquid rose out of the glass, forming a shimmering orb in the air.
"Duo, bucket," Beki said distractedly, her attention focused on the task at hand, and Wufei watched in fascination as the sphere split into two, then four, then eight, all different sizes. Several drops no bigger than a dime formed as well, moving around each other in a strange ballet, until a miniature solar system of soda hovered in the air, circling in an approximation of planetary and lunar rotation.
As soon as Duo had a large plastic mop bucket under the display, it coalesced into a single orb again and fell with an impressive splash, although nothing escaped the bucket to harm any of the books nearby.
"That was… impressive." Wufei managed. "And what do you call that?"
"Water talent." Beki answered with a grin, and Wufei realized she was sweating and looked tired. "I can't do it often or for long, though; I'm only level 4. Duo here's a level 2 touchreader, and I'd gauge you at about level 2 or 3. Can you create, or only manipulate?"
"Create." He answered slowly. True, he'd been able to start and control fires most of his life, but he'd never shared that fact with a stranger, nor had he ever had his gift so neatly and efficiently categorized. It was an odd feeling.
"2, then; only levels 1 and 2 can create fires, even though we call them all firestarters." She said matter-of-factly.
"We?" Wufei repeated.
"We. The Talents. What, did you think you were the only one?"
Sorry, sorry… Couldn't resist. After so much Dean Koontz, I couldn't help myself. At least I'm not doing another prophecy, right? I swear, once I finish Voices, I'm never touching prophecies again.
Since I got this chapter out so quickly, can you please forgive me? Pretty please?