PART THREE

"Wufei! You have a phone call!"

He looked up from his book when Li's pretty voice floated through the house. "Who is it?"

"He said his name was Allen."

"Okay," Wufei got up, marking his place in the story carefully, and took the phone from his Aunt. "Hello?" he asked, turning away a little.

Li smiled and stroked his hair. She liked it when he wore it loose, it made him look so much like her baby sister. She was so happy to finally have Wufei in her home - she'd wanted him before, but her elderly husband had been ill and she'd had to spend all her time caring for him. She hadn't minded so much, because she loved him despite the fact that their marriage had been arranged. When he'd passed away, she thought the loneliness would drive her insane. She'd applied to her grandfather, the leader of their family, for permission to take her nephew in permanently.

He'd hesitated, telling her the boy was nothing but trouble. For the first time in her life, Li had stood strong, positive she could get along with Wufei. She knew he was stubborn and rebelled against the relatives who had tossed him from house to house since his parents had died in a car crash when he was three. She didn't blame him; it was no sort of life for a young boy to live. He had never been able to make friends or to feel secure in a place. Every time he started to try and put down roots, he was yanked up and sent somewhere else.

The rumors that he'd been seen kissing a boy hadn't helped things. Not in their family.

Li didn't mind, though. She just wanted Wufei to be happy. She'd given him a few rules about homework and chores, asked him to be in by a certain time on school nights and to let her know when he'd be home on the weekends, and that was that. Wufei had waited for the rest of the list, about clothes and behavior and who he was allowed to date. When he finally accepted that Li wasn't going to give him that, he'd relaxed a little.

Enough to let her pat his hair, now. Any other relative, he would have shoved their hands off and stalked away.

Allen chattered happily in his ear, describing the movie he wanted to take him to this afternoon. It didn't sound like the kind of movie Wufei liked, but he wasn't going to turn down the idea of a date. Who knew, maybe he'd be able to get over his crush on Heero. Gods only knew, the boy would be so embarrassed if he knew Wufei was mooning over him...

"So, how about the four o'clock show?" Allen asked, dragging his attention back.

"Sounds okay," Wufei replied, trying to replace a mental image of messy brown hair and blue eyes with Allen's admittedly attractive face.

"Great! We can take my dad's car, or would you rather walk? The theater isn't that far away."

"I know. Walking's fine. I'd much rather go that way." He would, too - no sense in being trapped in a car with someone you didn't really know yet.

"Okay, great! So where do you live? I'll stop by for you!"

Wufei started to give him the address, then changed his mind. "That's okay, it's probably out of your way. I'll meet you in front of the school, and we can walk from there."

"All right! See you then!" Allen sounded a little too happy, but Wufei ignored it. He hung up the phone and told Li he was going out. He decided his jeans and tank top were good enough for the movies. Since four o'clock was only half an hour away, he grabbed a light jacket, and left.

"So - what are we gonna do?"

"About what, Duo?"

"Aw, don't play innocent with me, Quatre! About Allen, tryin' to steal 'Fei!"

"He can't steal Wufei, when Wufei doesn't belong to anyone."

Heero glared at Trowa, who had made that statement. "He's mine."

"So you've talked to him since the last time we saw him?" Quatre asked sweetly.

Heero switched his glare to him.

"C'mon, Hee-chan, they've got a point. You're gonna have to talk to him, or somebody's gonna steal him. If Allen hasn't already..."

"Which brings us back to what we're going to do," Quatre said. As much fun as it was to gently tease Heero, he didn't want to see his friend heartbroken if Wufei started to date Allen - or anybody except Heero. It wasn't like their protective circle was going to guard Wufei's state of singlehood much longer; once people found out he'd accepted a date with Allen, the others who had been circling would swoop in. If Heero didn't get his act together, Wufei was going to give in to one of them...

...not acceptable.

It would take him out of their circle, for one thing, and they already cared deeply about their new friend.

And he was the first person - ever - to attract Heero Yuy, so they couldn't let him get away.

Otherwise, Heero would probably spend the rest of his life lonely, and wind up on a park bench feeding pigeons.

Or throwing gravel at them, given Heero's personality...

"So, we're gonna come up with a plan?" Duo asked hopefully.

"Of course," Quatre said, "we have to save the pigeons."

He ignored the odd looks that statement brought.

Wufei hid a yawn behind a handful of popcorn.

This had to be the worst movie he'd ever seen.

Or maybe he just had bad taste - everyone else in the theater seemed enthralled by the young woman on the screen, and her search for the meaning of life. The search seemed to consist mainly of hopping from one bed to another, and spending the rest of her time wailing to psychiatrists.

Allen seemed completely mesmerized; he'd tried once to put an arm around Wufei's shoulders and gotten a deadly scowl for his trouble. Since then, his arm had remained at his side and his eyes stayed focused on the screen.

He'd even forgotten to eat the popcorn.

Sad.

Oh, look, her new psychiatrist was a young, attractive man. Well, the damn thing might as well be over now; everyone in the place should realize she was going to end up in his bed and live happily ever after.

"I'm going to get some more popcorn," Wufei whispered, holding the tub so that Allen couldn't see it was still half full. "Want anything?"

Allen shook his head, still watching the screen with his mouth slightly open. "How can you bear to leave? Isn't it fascinating?!"

"Oh, fascinating's not the word for it," Wufei said sarcastically, getting up and stalking down the aisle. There was no way he was coming back in here. He'd sit on the sidewalk outside and eat the rest of the popcorn. Wasn't like it was dark yet.

The sun was still rather bright, in fact. He stood there blinking, waiting for his eyes to adjust, when he heard someone call his name.

"Hey, Wufei! 'Fei! Watcha doin'?"

Even though he couldn't quite see yet, he knew whose arm had settled around his shoulders. "Hello, Duo."

"Hey, 'Fei... so - watcha doin'?" The braided boy stole a handful of the popcorn.

"Waiting."

"For what?"

"Allen."

"Oh?" Quatre's voice sounded mildly curious, and Wufei blinked at the pink-and-blond blur. "Where is Allen?"

"Watching the world's most boring movie."

"Er... why aren't you with him?"

"Because - it's the world's most boring movie." Wufei grimaced.

Duo laughed. "Which one?"

"'Martha's Misery.'"

"Whoa - he took you to a chick flick?" Duo nearly screamed with laughter, now.

"He seems to be enjoying it," Wufei sniffed.

"Does he even know you're gone?" Trowa's soft voice asked.

Wufei could finally see, so he knew which direction to look while shaking his head. "I seriously doubt it."

"Idiot." A voice behind him growled the word and he nearly jumped. He hadn't realized Heero was here, but he should have known. He was almost always with the others, after all. Looked like the only one missing was Zechs.

"So what are you guys doing after?" Duo demanded, not concerned at all about privacy.

Wufei shrugged. "He didn't say."

"Ah - so, no after-movie obligations. Good. We're here to see 'Revenge of the Mutilated Martian... you wanna go in with us?"

Wufei visibly brightened. He loved sci-fi - especially ridiculous, supposed-to-be-scary-but-doesn't-quite-make-it sci-fi. "Yes! Oh, but I guess I should wait for Allen..."

"No prob! Hee-chan'll go tell 'em you're with us... won't ya, Hee-chan?"

"Yes," Heero said, a tiny, very evil grin starting to curl his lips. Quatre shuddered and moved closer to his tall lover - that grin was scary.

Duo was grinning, too, his eyes maniacal. "Thought so. Have fun!"

Wufei gave Heero his ticket stub and watched as the boy vanished into the dark movie room. Have fun? What was that supposed to mean?

This was better.

Much better.

And it did not, Wufei told himself firmly, have anything to do with the boy sitting next to him.

Or the fact that every time Heero shifted, his knee brushed against Wufei's.

Zechs had joined them, and he and Duo, Trowa and Quatre, were sitting in the row in front of them. The theater was pretty crowded, there hadn't been room for them all to sit together.

Wufei hadn't minded a bit. He was more than happy to be right where he was.

He wondered vaguely just what Heero had said to Allen; the blue-eyed boy had come out of the other movie room with a definitely smug look on his face.

Maybe he'd just been glad to get away from the movie.

'Cause in Wufei's opinion, 'Martha's Misery' was the type that loved company. He'd never been so sick watching a movie in all his life.

This was soooo much nicer. Better movie...

...better company.

He settled back to enjoy the aliens and the warm touch of Heero Yuy's knee.

After that day, Allen didn't ask Wufei out again. He was probably upset, the Chinese boy decided, at the way he had left.

He certainly looked upset...

...turned pale and ran off every time Wufei even glanced at him.

So what? That would teach him not to ask his date's opinion of the movie before he bought tickets. That hadn't been very nice. Even his friends had asked if he wanted to see the Martian movie before just dragging him in. And they weren't romantically interested in him.

...too bad.

Well, as far as Heero was concerned, any way. Wufei would have given his right arm for Heero to ask him out to the movies.

Not that he didn't end up there with him.

Often.

Every minute of Wufei's spare time had suddenly been taken over by his friends - other people had asked him out, but he'd always had to tell them he was busy.

He wasn't interested, anyway. He and Heero were the only ones not paired up; they kept ending up together when all six of them went out. Sitting together at the movies, skating together at the rink, being bike-buddies on the trails at the park.

If Heero hadn't been straight, Wufei would have been in heaven.

Then again, Heero wasn't acting very straight. If Wufei didn't know differently, he'd think the taller boy was coming on to him. He kept getting those knee touches at the movies, and Heero would get his skates for him at the rink, or offer to buy him lunch when they were at the park. A lot like a boyfriend.

Wistful thinking.

Of course, Relena had vanished.

Rather suddenly.

She was always with her friends, now, though she watched Heero out of wide, heartbroken eyes. The boy never responded to her, to Wufei's relief. They must have broken up.

He wondered when that had happened, but it didn't matter. They weren't together anymore, that was what mattered! Now, if he could only find out if Heero had any interest at all in guys...

Maybe there was a way to do it.

They had a study date tomorrow - Wufei had been here almost a month now, just enough time that he had to do the final projects in Math and Chemistry classes. Heero was at the top of both, he'd offered to help any of his friends who needed it. Duo and Wufei had both taken him up on the offer, but Duo had a way of disappearing with Zechs into some dark corner of the Library, once the Head Librarian went home for the evening. The Assistants could care less what people did; they both sat behind the desk and surfed the Internet.

Maybe - maybe tomorrow was the day he should test Heero's preferences.

And his limits.

He just hoped he could do it.