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"Chances"Written By: Honor Disclaimers: Ain’t mine. Ain’t gonna
be mine. I’ve just permanently borrowed them, no worries! Warnings: No spoilers, no timeline. AU, Romance,
lemon, some language (not much) Rating: NC-17 (maybe) Pairings: 2x1, 3x4 and 5xM established Author’s Notes: Drumroll, please! *crickets
chirp* Ah, yeah…anyway, here is the sequel to Take a Chance.
To all of those beautiful, wonderful people who C&Cd me, arigato!
*huggles* I truly appreciate it. If you wish to do the same to Chances,
I’m certainly not going to complain! And now, Lights! Camera!
Action! *emphasis* //phone conversations// " Chances"
Chapter Eleven: A War on all Fronts
Trowa and Quatre had waited until this morning before they broke the news of their engagement to their parents, since they had no wish to steal the limelight from the other couple. The Yuy’s took the announcement with delight, as was expected. Quatre had unashamedly basked in that approval, but now he was talking to his father, and everyone was on edge. He had been adamant about Trowa staying behind, saying that he had no desire to have anyone witness the explosion that would occur. For the past two hours Trowa had been pacing the living room floor, Duo following along a step behind, trying to distract him. When his cellphone went off, it almost sounded like an explosion in the graveyard silence. Trowa frowned slightly and pulled out his cellphone. “Yes?” Duo ground to a halt in mid-step, eyebrows steadily climbing as Trowa’s expression steadily darkened. By the time that Trowa hung up the phone, he looked ready to kill. “Tro?” “That was Quatre.” He took a deep breath before continuing. “He told his father about the engagement.” “Uh-oh.” Sara came out of the kitchen and moved to where she could see her son’s face. “Is he coming here?” “Yes.” Trowa turned to face her directly. “I want him to stay here.” Sara smiled slightly. She understood what he had meant exactly. “I have no problem with Quatre moving in. In fact, I’m all for it. Do you need to go help him pack?” Trowa shook his head. “He called just as he was leaving.” “Good.” Nodding firmly, she went back into the kitchen. Duo looked down at Heero. “Ah…I’m feeling like I walked in during the last ten minutes of a movie.” Heero shrugged. “You have. Quatre has been arguing with his father about his relationship with Trowa almost as long as they’ve been together.” “Oh. Hm…I’m glad he’s coming here then.” Duo waggled his eyebrows mischievously at Heero. “Gives me a partner in crime.” Before Heero could react to that, Duo had spun away and followed Trowa upstairs. “Hey, Tro! Need help rearranging stuff?” Heero followed the braided tail as it disappeared out of sight and groaned. Despite his misgivings, however, a smile slipped onto his face. It *would* be good to have Quatre here. + Quatre arrived roughly five minutes later, a duffle bag in one hand and a backpack slung over his shoulder. Duo caught the bag and carried it away, a spring in his step, leaving Trowa to greet his lover. Quatre looked up at Trowa with a helpless shrug. “I broke the news as easily as I could.” Trowa took the backpack and set it down on the floor so that he could embrace the blond tightly. “Don’t worry over it. Time will straighten everything out.” Quatre sank into the hold, letting Trowa support him for a moment. Then he stepped back, finding his center again. “What did your mother say?” “I said ‘Good’. And I meant it.” Sara responded, coming forward to get her own hug. She stepped back to give him a reassuring smile. “Personally, I’m glad it worked out this way. Now I don’t have to share you.” Quatre smiled back, but the smile was coated in weariness. “That’s one upside, I guess.” Trowa put an arm around his shoulders and started guiding him upstairs. “Come. Duo’s been helping me make space for your things.” “He would.” Quatre followed the silent lead, going upstairs without uttering another word. He paused long enough to accept a supportive hug from Duo, then continued his way to Trowa’s—now their room. Duo walked backwards so that he could keep a worried eye on Quatre. “Hey, ‘Ro, you think he’ll be okay?” “Quatre doesn’t deal well with arguments. He hates fighting with family. They drain him.” “Oh.” Heero sighed, reaching out and snaking an arm around Duo’s waist so that he could drag him over into his lap. “He’ll be fine, koi. Trowa will see to that.” “Right.” Duo twisted so that he could lay both arms around Heero’s neck. “I’m kinda like your mom, though. I’m glad he’s here.” “I think we all feel that way.” Duo grinned wickedly. “Especially Trowa.” “Hn.” Heero smiled slightly in agreement. Sara came over to sit beside them on the couch. “I’ve been worried over the last year about him. Quatre takes so much on himself. Here…I think he’ll find the peace that he needs.” “Yeah. He will.” Duo reached over to put a kiss on her forehead. “I did, so I can speak as an expert.” Sara blushed a little but accepted the compliment for what it was. “Well, I’m off to bed. Don’t stay up too late, I expect your help tomorrow.” The two exchanged puzzled glances. “On what?” Duo inquired. Sara’s dreamy smile, although she didn’t realize it, scared both boys down to their marrows. “Wedding plans.” + Approximately ten o’clock the next day, five male teenagers were making desperate escape plans from the enemy stronghold which had ensnared them. Quatre, as the acknowledged tactician and expert on the female mind, formulated the plan, leaving it to his troops to execute it. Wufei was the first to sneak out, on a pretext of answering his cell phone outside since he didn’t get very good reception inside the house. As soon as he was clear, Duo hung up the fake call and slithered out through the garage door, careful to leave it just open enough to where Heero could follow him. Next, Quatre volunteered to go get some lunch for everyone, which the two slave drivers masquerading as women agreed amicably to. Trowa climbed out of his bedroom window while his lover served as a distraction. In all, it took perhaps two minutes for the group to slip out of the house unnoticed, then they were Scot free. Since the Honda was large enough to hold all five, they chose that as their getaway vehicle and fled the premises before they could be caught and executed for their cowardice. Duo leaned back with a sigh. “Man, who knew how vicious women could be about details?” Wufei shuddered. “I swear to you, I had no idea what Meiran was up to. Otherwise, I would have sent out a warning.” Quatre, sitting on the other side of the Asian teen, waved this away. “We know, don’t worry. So, now that we have escaped a fate worse than death, what are we going to do with ourselves for the rest of the day?” It was a valid question, since it was the end of November. No one particularly fancied the idea of doing outdoor activities in this weather. “How about bowling?” Duo suggested. “It’s been a while since I’ve gone, and it’s something we can all do.” A quick consensus was reached, and Heero altered course towards Regency Lanes. There weren’t many people there at this time of the day. Most of the crowd wouldn’t appear until six or seven that night, so they practically had the place to themselves. It took a game for them to remember the tricks of the trade, then they started to compete seriously. At game three, Duo announced that he was going to waste away in front of their eyes from starvation if they didn’t feed him, then happily bounced over to the snack bar for some nachos. Two minutes went past and he didn’t return. Heero frowned, then went off in search of him. The snack bar attendant pointed him towards the bathrooms. Normally Heero would have left it at that and went back to the others, but there was this funny feeling at the base of his spine. Something wasn’t quite right, and it wouldn’t hurt anything to check. As he rounded the corner towards the hallway, his curiosity mutated into blood hot rage. Duo was pinned to the wall, a larger and heavy set man leaning over him, snarling obscene words. Duo was glaring back, fighting against the hold. Heero lost no time in crossing the remaining distance, grabbing a handful of hair and jerking the man roughly away from Duo. Dekim stumbled back and landed hard against the opposite wall, hand going instinctively towards his abused scalp. He took in Heero’s stance as he stood between the two, a living shield, and smirked. “So, the fairy’s got a boyfriend, eh? Oh, sorry, I forgot. It’s *husband*.” Duo came up to stand beside Heero, touching him on the arm in passing to let him know that he was okay. “Dekim, I have no idea how you tracked me down, but trust me on this: you don’t want to push this any further. Drop it, drop me, and just go. I won’t come after you.” “Hell no. You’re mine, you little gutless freak, and you have been from day one. Your pint-sized bastard of a husband isn’t going to stop that.” Quatre rounded the corner at that moment, Trowa behind him. They took in the scene at one glance, coming up to stand on either side of the couple without hesitation. Quatre pulled on his diplomatic smile, all cool politeness. “Duo, is this him?” “Yeah.” Duo was shaking in rage. He knew that Dekim didn’t stand a chance against Heero, much less the four of them, but he also had hoped deep down that Dekim would just drop it once he realized it wasn’t worth the hassle. The cretin wasn’t intelligent enough to do that, however, and was foolishly standing his ground. Wufei, growing rather bored on his own, chose this moment to join them. It now stood five to one, but Dekim couldn’t swallow the idea of five teenagers being able to best him. Besides, two of them looked like a strong wind could blow them away, and the other three weren’t much bigger. Cracking his knuckles against one palm, he stepped forward to claim his territory. + Some fifteen minutes later, the five were walking back to the car, a peculiar bounce in their stride and mile wide smiles on their faces. Quatre in particular was humming as he dialed a number into his cell phone. “Hello? Is there a division that handles crimes against minors? Yes, I’ll hold.” Duo stopped, looking at him in consternation. “Q, what are you doing?” Quatre held up a placating hand and continued to hum a little ditty under his breath. “Hello? To whom am I speaking? Lt. Anders. Yes, I’d like to report a case of attempted rape and assault against a minor. You’ll find the perpetrator in Regency Lanes, with all of the incriminating evidence waiting for you in your mailbox. Oh, and you might want to bring an ambulance with you. Good day.” Click. Duo was stunned. “Quatre, what—” “We did some research.” Heero told him quietly, coming up to lay a comforting hand on Duo’s shoulder. “Dekim is actually well known for this. It wasn’t hard to dig up enough evidence to convict him.” “I doubt he’ll come within three hundred miles of you for the next several years.” Quatre concluded cheerfully. “Now that we’ve slain our quota of ogres for the day, what say we get something to eat? I’m starving.”
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