Chapter 2: The News
Quatre glances
up at the dinning room clock. It’s
nearly
And during this time, the connection between himself and
Duo’s younger sister has become harder and harder for Quatre to ignore. She reminds him of himself when he had run
away from home to fight in the war. So
full of energy and conviction and adventure.
When he looks in her eyes, sometimes he thinks he can see a ghost of
himself.
Quatre examines his apartment and sighs. So little of that other life he’d once lead
still remains. And he misses the
others. How long has it been since he’d
seen them? Perhaps he should send a
message to Trowa, to say “Hi.” Perhaps
Yokaze is on L2 by now... Quatre
smiles. The last message Trowa had sent
him had mentioned her return date. It
doesn’t take a genius to figure out Trowa has been looking forward to seeing
her again. Without a doubt, Quatre’s
best friend had been counting down the days, hours, and minutes to her
arrival. In Quatre’s mind, Trowa’s
affection for Yokaze is a matter of fact.
But Quatre doubts that Trowa has ever confessed it. Perhaps things will be different this time...
The door chime intrudes on Quatre’s thoughts. Relieved, he crosses the common room to answer
the summons.
“Bisho,” he says.
The sight of her has of late always managed to leave him feeling a bit
breathless.
She smiles. “Hey,
Quatre. How’s your week been? I’ve got the most amazing news, that’s why
I’m late. I’m really sorry about that, by
the way. They just called me... Quatre, I got it.” And with that, she throws her arms around his
neck and hugs him fiercely.
Laughing, Quatre kicks the door closed and hugs her
back. “Got what? What’s your amazing news?”
She pulls back. “The
internship. I got it. It’s on that new, privately funded
colony. They’re looking for some
engineering students to develop this new ventilation system...” Bisho stops and grins. “You don’t want to hear about all that boring
stuff.”
Quatre smiles. “Sure
I do. Have you told Duo yet?”
She shakes her head.
“Not yet.”
He gestures to his study.
“Why don’t you call him? He might
be at the academy if he’s not at the garage.
Yokaze just flew in today.”
“Thanks, Quatre. Can
brunch wait while I make the call?”
“Of course. Go. Call.
Share the good news.”
With a smile, she heads for the study, unaware of the
strange emotion pressing in on Quatre’s chest in her wake.
“So, Duo... What’s new?” Taki says, sitting down across
from him at the kitchen island.
“Not much.”
“Is Heero still a grouch?”
“Every morning.”
“Ah, well, it’s nice to know some things in this universe
are a constant.” Taki watches Duo as she
examines his reply: Every morning. Dare she read anything into that?
Duo laughs. “Yeah,
Heero is pretty constant. Although he
did scare the crap out of me the other day.
Suggested we paint the garage pink.
I think he was joking. I hope he was joking.”
Taki blinks. “Yeah,
I can see how you’d be... traumatized by that.”
Time to get down to business.
Taki takes a deep breath. “And
how’s your love life treating you?”
Duo laughs again.
“What love life? I’m a small
business owner, Taki.”
“But Heero helps out with the garage, right?”
“Yeah. I don’t know
how I’d manage on my own. I’m lucky he
likes to tinker around on gadgets and gizmos like I do.”
“You two have good chemistry. That helps.”
Duo blinks at her. “What?”
Taki frowns. “Geez, Duo. Heero
could get a job working at another garage anywhere. But which one does he choose?”
“You think he... that he works at the garage because I’m
there?”
“Well,” Taki says, thinking fast, “how many friends does
Heero have? I mean, if that’s not the
shortest list in the world... It’s just
a thought. You don’t think so?”
“I’ve never thought about it,” he admits.
Taki lazily lifts a shoulder in a casual shrug. “Maybe you should,” she replies quietly. “I mean, in all honesty, I have no idea if
you two are involved or anything—“ She
ignores the strangled sound Duo makes.
“—but I always thought you two would get together eventually.” From Duo’s stunned expression, Taki decides
that no such miracle has occurred... yet.
Duo stares at Taki.
He opens his mouth to comment, to say... something, hell, anything.
“Sorry.” Cathy’s
voice floats over to them from the doorway.
“Duo, you’ve got a call from Bisho.”
“Thanks, Cathy.”
“In the library,” she tells him as he passes. After Duo disappears around the corner, Cathy
turns her attention to Taki, who is trying very hard to look anything but devious. “I know what you’re up to,” Cathy says.
“Really? You wanna
help?”
Cathy laughs.
“No. I’m staying out of it. My own life is hard enough to stay on top of
as it is.”
“But you’ve got to admit that Heero and Duo—“
“—will work everything out in their own time.”
Taki grumbles.
Cathy laughs.
“You’re hopeless, Taki.”
She sighs. “Yeah, I
know. But I’m addicted to romance.”
“Well, the first step is recognizing the problem,” Cathy
says wisely.
Taki sends her a peeved look, then smiles. “Oh, Kath.
I just wouldn’t be me if I
wasn’t messing in someone’s life.”
Yokaze glances
up from her laptop to watch Trowa noisily puttering around the kitchen of their
apartment. She listens to water boiling
on the stove and the sound of hands rummaging for something in the knife
drawer. All day both he and she had said
nothing about their... er... encounter that
morning. And she seriously doubts Trowa
will bring it up. But from the crashes
and bangs issuing from the kitchen, he is probably still a tad bit distracted
by it.
With a sigh she sets her computer to suspend mode and
stretches. It looks like she’s going to
have to make the first gesture here. She
strides to the kitchen and leans against the doorway, just watching him
move. She knows he senses both her
presence and her gaze. The muscles
across his shoulders tense. He is
preparing to chop some fresh parsley when Yokaze steps forward.
“Here,” she tells him, holding out her hand. “Let me take care of that.”
He hands her the knife without more than a glance. She takes it, letting their fingers brush,
then sets it aside and laces her hand through his.
“Trowa.”
At last, he looks at her.
Yokaze holds his gaze, trying to glimpse his thoughts. “Should I apologize for this morning?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I’m starting to wonder if I didn’t give you a choice
one way or the other with that kiss. I
didn’t mean to... force—“
“You didn’t.”
“But you held yourself back.”
Finally, Trowa offers her a tiny smile. “Your timing really sucked.”
She laughs. “Yeah,
yeah, it did.”
They stare at each other for a long moment. Once more, he starts tracing circles on her
skin with his thumb.
“How’s now?” she asks huskily.
She watches Trowa swallow with difficulty. Silently, he nods once, his gaze never leaving
hers. Yokaze wonders which of them is
the more desperate soul-searcher. She
steps closer, closing the space between them and brushing her body against his. Yokaze lifts her face to his. Her lips find the corner of his mouth. He turns toward her, his lips seeking hers.
Trowa tries to push the chaos from his mind, the unanswered
questions, the inability to comprehend the why
of this situation. He forces himself to
think only of the now. Now, Yokaze is teasing his mouth open with
her own. Now, she is sliding her other
hand up his shoulder to his pulse. Now,
he can hear the small noise she makes in the back of her throat as he threads
his hand into her hair. He wonders at
how it is so easy to kiss her now, to fulfill this fantasy he’s been entertaining
ever since he’d seen her sing at The Red Eye so long ago.
“We kiss like we’ve been doing it forever,” she whispers
against his lips.
He opens his mouth but no sound emerges. Instead, he slants his mouth over hers once
more. What is it about her that brings
out the unease, the tension, the hunger in him?
Why is it that when he feels her hands and mouth on him, does he feel so
alive? As if he’s truly himself. As if his true self is something beautiful
and precious.
“Yokaze,” he mouths.
“The one and only.
Thank you for the name, by the way,” she whispers into his pulse.
“I should have named you after...”
“After?”
Trowa tries to concentrate with her lips worrying his
ear. “After I began to truly care for
you.”
“A mere technicality,” she replies. “I like my name. And I like that you gave it to me, Triton.”
The sound of his true name in her hushed and husky voice
loosens the knot holding his composure together. He gently but firmly twists Yokaze’s arm
behind her back, pushing her body closer still.
She looks up at him as he releases her hand and slides his palm lightly
up her spine.
“So,” she says, bringing both of her arms up to rest on his
shoulders. “What were you saying about
sharing that room? For or against?”
He smiles. A chuckle
rises out of him as he holds Yokaze. She
grins back, her cobalt eyes shining with mischief. Taking a deep breath, he rests his forehead
against hers. “Guess.”
She shakes her head.
“Tell.”
“For.”
“Thank God.”
“Amen.” Trowa
brushes his fingers against her temple and into her hair. He watches her eyes slide closed, leans down
to her mouth, whispers her name against her lips. Cradling her head in the palm of his hand, he
toys with her mouth. Her fingers tighten
in his hair.
Slowly, a sound asserts itself over the boiling water on
the stove. Yokaze ignores it,
concentrates on Trowa, on this kiss he
is giving her. But then he pulls back. For a moment, their lips cling. And then Yokaze hears it: the knocking on the
door.
“God damn it,” she mutters.
Trowa smiles. He
caresses her lower lip with the pad of his thumb once before stepping away and
heading for the door. With a deep
breath, she runs a hand through her hair, marvels at their chemistry—at their intense and highly volatile chemistry—then
follows.
“Heero,” she says, turning the corner. “What’s up?”
“Duo just got a call from Bisho,” he replies, his gaze
moving from Trowa to Yokaze then back again.
“She and Quatre are going to be visiting this weekend.”
“Great,” Yokaze says.
“You and Duo staying over?”
Heero shakes his head.
“No. We’re heading back to the
garage now.”
“Well, I’ll stop by tomorrow and give you a hand.” Yokaze knows that visiting her today has cost
Duo and Heero precious time that Maxwell Mechanics cannot afford to lose. With an extra person they have a prayer of
making up the lost time.
“You don’t have to—“
“I want to. So just
shut up about it.” She walks over and
gives him a hug. “Thanks for being here
today, bro.”
“My pleasure. I’ll
see you tomorrow.”
“Undoubtably.”
She waves and smiles as Heero strides away and Trowa closes
the door. For a long, breathless moment
they simply stare at each other. Then
Yokaze smiles. Trowa grins. They laugh.
“My timing really sucks,” Yokaze says, gasping for air.
“You’re jinxed,” Trowa replies, holding out a hand.
Yokaze takes it and grins as Trowa spins her around once
before pulling her close. At that moment
when they are face to face, mouth to mouth, Yokaze’s stomach grumbles. With a little smile, he suggests, “Shall we
make dinner now?”
“Yeah,” she replies, grinning. “Good idea.”
~End of Chapter 2~