Warnings and Disclaimers: sighs The complete and utter annihilation of my plotline…
Confused aquamarine eyes were fixed on his friend, as he tried to comprehend what the American could possibly be talking about. "More complicated, how?" he asked, choosing his words with care as he glanced again at the information on the screen. If the almost-hysteria Duo had shown earlier had been frightening, this intense solemnity was, in its way, even more so.
The longhaired boy leaned forward in his chair, his eyes bright. "That scientist guy was right, Quatre."
Now he knew something was seriously wrong. Duo never called him, or anyone, by their proper names. "Right about what?"
Duo grinned. "The house. It's haunted."
For a long moment, Quatre didn't speak. Then he closed his eyes and took a long, deep breath. "Duo," he finally said, opening his eyes again, "please don't play jokes like that. You had me really worried!"
The braided pilot simply looked at him, not with a frown, but his customary grin was nowhere to be seen, either. "I'm not joking, Q. I kinda wish I was. Things were already complicated enough without tossing this in the mess."
The blonde sighed. "Duo, there are no such things as ghosts."
"That's what I thought, at first," the American half-agreed with a little nod. "I thought he was a hallucination." He stopped, pursing his lips. "Damn. I'm gonna have to apologize for that." Duo shook his head. "But the info he gave me checked out, about his name and all, so..."
The teenager stared blankly across the kitchen, and his friend realized he was still more than a little in shock. "He's real."
-
Harry poked his head out through the side of the cupboard and looked around at the empty hallway. Whatever had been happening before seemed to be over, though he could hear the sound of quiet conversation coming from the kitchen.
Cautiously, he stepped through the wall out into the open hallway. The conversation grew hushed as he approached the kitchen, and when Harry looked through the doorway he found the two still-living boys sitting at the table, a laptop very similar to Duo's between them. The little blonde was watching his friend with a worried look on his face. "Duo..."
Duo turned back around, shaking his head. "He's real, Q. It doesn't make sense, it doesn't follow the rules, but it's true all the same."
Harry blinked. He didn't mind, but he really hadn't expected the braided boy to tell... Did the American really trust his friend that much? Intrigued, he drifted closer, automatically taking one of the empty seats at the table even though he technically didn't need to. Human habits had a tendency of lingering on after death.
He was astonished by the reaction he got. Quatre squeaked and spun around, one hand going to his chest and the other to a pocket. Duo sat up in his chair, looking surprised. "Q, what is it?"
-
The Arabian's eyes were flicking wildly around the room, and Duo knew the hand in his pocket was clenching the snub-nosed revolver the blonde usually carried. "There's someone here," the other pilot replied in an undertone.
Duo tensed and reached for his own gun. "Outside?" How the hell could OZ have found them so quickly?
But Quatre shook his head, his eyes still frantically searching for something. "No. In the room with us."
For a moment the braided teenager stared at him, his violet eyes wide and his mouth open. Then, slowly, his lips began to curl upwards, and Quatre watched with dismay as Duo started to chuckle, then laugh outright.
"Harry," the American managed to gasp out in between guffaws, "it's kinda rude to eavesdrop, y'know."
Quatre blinked, then gasped. "He's... laughing," he said. "It's him I've been feeling!"
Duo gave him a bright smile. "Told ya so, Quat." He looked around, his eyes narrowed. "What are you waitin' for?" he asked, not seeing the ghost anywhere. "Come on out, ya don't need to be shy."
The other boy bit his lip, frowning in concentration. "He's sad, now. I don't think he can."
"Weird. He could just fine last night..." Duo tugged on the end of his braid. "Wonder if that's it? You can only come out at night? But the first time I saw you it was during the day," he asked the open air, tilting his head quizzically to the side.
Quatre closed his eyes, listening to his space heart. "That's very confusing, you know," he told their invisible company with a hint of censure. "I can't feel you right when you're projecting that many emotions." A few seconds went by, and the blonde head nodded. "That's much better, thank you." He opened his eyes. "As far as I can tell, that's a qualified 'no'. And might I mention that translating for a ghost is the strangest thing I have ever done?"
His friend laughed. "Just broadenin' your horizons, that's all. So, you can't tell us now, but can ya tell us tonight?" he again addressed to the empty air.
"A definite yes," Quatre told him, smiling.
Duo clapped his hands. "Well then, it's a date!" They shared an exhilarated grin, then jumped as they heard the sound of a car pulling the drive.
"That must be Trowa and Wufei." Quatre rose from the table, looking as calm as could be, but Duo knew inside his friend was really doing back flips of joy. The blonde always hated it when he was separated from his lover for more than a few hours.
He followed Quatre out into the hallway. They waited impatiently as they listened to the voices speaking outside, approaching the door. The Arabian leapt forward to open it, almost falling into his lover's arms. Trowa didn't even blink, just held him close as a bemused Wufei watched from behind. As the clinch went on, the Chinese pilot finally snorted and maneuvered past the two of them.
"Maxwell," he greeted Duo with a matter-of-fact nod. "Any problems?"
Duo grinned. "Not problems, per se. But the house is haunted."
Wufei gave him a flat look. "Now isn't the time for jokes, Maxwell. I've been traveling all day, I'm tired, I am not in the mood." With a tired sigh, he walked past the American and into the house.
For an instant shocked outrage filled Duo, but then he closed his eyes and forced it down. In a way, Wufei was right. This was the kind of joke he would normally play, and it wasn't like he was serious often enough for the other pilots to be able to recognize it. With a sigh of his own he followed the other boy inside.
"Hey," he called out, making Wufei pause at the head of the stairs and turn back to look down at him. "The master bedroom's Q and Tro's, the little one's mine. Pick either of the other two. And 'Fei?" The teenager, who had nodded and started to move away, again paused. "Wasn't jokin', man."
With that, he turned and walked back outside to make sure the two lovebirds actually parted in this century, leaving Wufei staring after him in disbelief.
-
Hours later, Duo lay back on his bed with his laptop sitting on him stomach, absently going over Ozzie supply routes as he watched the sun set through the window. It wouldn't be much longer now… Quatre had said he was going to show for the meeting with Harry, so he should be there in a couple of minutes, too…
As though the thought had summoned him, there was a knock on the door. "Come in," Duo called, shifting the laptop to the bed and sitting up. Quatre poked his golden head inside.
"Any sign of him yet?"
Duo shook his head, gesturing towards the window. "Still not dark yet. Maybe another ten minutes or so."
Quatre nodded and stepped inside, followed closely by Trowa. The braided boy wasn't all that surprised; Q would never want to leave his boyfriend out of something like this. "Think we can get the Wu-man in here too?" he asked instead of commenting on the European boy's presence. "The look on his face'd be priceless."
"And what look would that be?"
Duo grinned, bouncing up off the bed and over to the doorway. "The one you'll be wearin' when ya meet Harry," he told the Chinese pilot as he dragged him through the still-open door.
"And who, pray tell," Wufei inquired as he fought to free himself from Duo's grip, "is Harry?"
"He's the resident ghost," Quatre said with a serene little smile.
Wufei closed his eyes and took a long, deep breath, breaking free of the over-exuberant American. "So, he's roped you into this too? Come on, Winner, there are no such things as ghosts."
The smaller boy sighed and shrugged. "I don't know if he's really a ghost, but there is another person in this house."
Duo snorted, plopping himself back down in his original position. "He's see-through and floats a couple goddamn inches off the floor. That spells a freakin' ghost to me. Not to mention he's got a death-day an' all."
Trowa quirked a bemused brow, settling gracefully into the desk chair. "Death-day?"
"Well, if you have a birthday ya can have a death-day too, right?" Duo frowned. "Hey, wait, except he died on his birthday. Does that mean he's only got one?"
Wufei shook his head. "I don't know how he's gotten you wrapped up in this farce, but I've had just about enough of it. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go play non-imaginary games." He stepped back and turned around to leave.
Just as the last of the sun's rays faded from the skies.
Wufei let out a thoroughly undignified yelp as a translucent, faintly-glowing boy popped into sight right in front of his nose.
A/N: I just love abusing 'Fei… Guys, it's going to be a while before I update on this again. The reason is that I just threw out most of my plotting with this chapter; the other G-boys weren't supposed to find out for months. I need to work out just where this is going. Again.
And another chapter I had to retype up 'cause the bloody PDA wouldn't spit it out… grumbles
Our most sincere gratitude to A lilmatchgirl, Blackrosebunny, Bluespark, Bob the Almighty, bookfanatic84, Bunch-o-Nuts, Cattibrie393, Chara13, Cor-chan, DarrkKatt, DigitalAngel4U, Drusilla, E.A.V., Eve of Destiny, Fate, Firehedgehog, Goku Koneko Sage, Grey Mitten, Hikagi, J-chan8, Jewelle2, JJ CJ, jordan, Kaaera, Kimpatsu no Hoseki, kirstie hileman, Lady Manetsu (looks curious Could you tell me what that means? I've done the direct translation, but with Latin a lot of times the direct route doesn't lead to the true meaning), Lasgalenya Greenleaves, Maryna, maybeso, Mithros, momocolady, peacockgal17, Rena Lupin, Shini no Tenshi, silverkitcat, Skye-Chan 12, Sliver of Melody, stuck-in-a-tree, Sweetest Thang, Toki Mirage, Vwolf Youjutsu, and Wren Truesong for reviewing.
6 October 2005