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"Standing Outside the Fire"Written By: Honor Disclaimers: Mine! Mine! Mine! Pairings: 2x5, 3x4 Warnings: AU, language, twisted humor, lime, lemon,
some angst, significant OC, brief moments of sap, romance, a bit of
violence Archived: On Gundam Wing Diaries Betas: Velvet *huggles* Author’s Notes: You know those dreams that
you keep dreaming over and over again for weeks? The ones that don’t
go away until you write them down? Yeah, that’s exactly what
happened. I passed the idea by one of my betas, to see if it was worth
putting on paper. Her response was “Write it. NOW.” So I
wrote it. The rest is…ah, what follows after my insane notes.
Feedback is my diet…and I’m getting
pretty lean so send me something to munch on, okay? Flames will result in me tormenting you for your
inability to read warnings. And I’m good at tormenting. Just
ask the boys. *emphasized* /thought/ //phone// "Standing Outside the Fire"
Chapter Nine: Toys "Baldric, you wouldn't know a subtle plan if it
painted itself purple and danced naked on top of a harpsichord, singing
'Subtle Plans Are Here Again.'"
Wufei and Quatre exchanged identical smirks. “Mission accomplished, Mother Goose,” Quatre reported with a snappy salute. “Trowa wants a 1969 Carrera Camaro, red with a black leather interior.” “Duo,” Wufei added smugly, “wants a 1966 Corvette, preferably a convertible. Black.” “And Heero wants a 1967 Shelby Mustang, GT 500. Cobalt Blue,” Quatre finished in a triumphant air. Jamie rolled her eyes. “They *would* choose muscle cars. Teenagers.” She said the last word with the same inflection that one would say ‘politicians’. “Right. And do either of you have any idea on where I’m supposed to find these cars in three weeks?” Wufei shrugged. “No idea.” Quatre pulled his cellphone out of his pocket. “Actually, I do. A man in town helped me find my Triumph. He’ll probably help us on this as well. And he’s *very* good at his job. He can polish the cars up to show quality in no time.” Jamie nodded. “Call him.” Quatre dialed in the number, absently rocking up and down on his toes as the phone rang. “Hey Howard? It’s Quatre. Fine, just fine. No, she drives like a jewel, no problems there. Actually, I’m calling to ask a favor…” + [Time 6:05 am. September 21] Very quietly four cars pulled into the driveway in front of Jamie’s large two story house. The Nissan Titan (driven by Meiran, who had been drafted for the purpose) pulled off to the side of the house, but the other three cars parked side by side, at a slight angle. Jamie climbed out of the Shelby Mustang—a trifle reluctantly, since driving the car had proven to be a lot of fun—Wufei slid from the Corvette—also reluctantly—and Quatre from the Camaro. The four co-conspirators shared grins of victory. Jamie had woken them up early that morning for the sole purpose of picking up the birthday presents. Howard had been chortling with glee when he handed the keys over, and everyone could understand why. The cars were gorgeous, and shone like jewels in the morning sun. They quietly snuck into the house and hastily wrapped the keys into small jewelry boxes. Then like little thieves they stole up the staircase on tiptoe and into Heero’s room. Jamie’s three sons were sleeping peacefully, all tangled up together. That was before Meiran rang the gong in her hands. *BOOOOOONNNNGGG!* Three teenage boys instantly started awake, looking around wildly. When they discovered their audience, Duo collapsed back onto the bed with a groan. Heero and Trowa shared dry looks. “That was fun.” Meiran looked thoughtfully at the gong in her hands. “Can I do it again?” “NO!!!” After she swallowed her laughter, Jamie burst out into, “Happy birthday to you—” The other three quickly joined in. “Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday Heero, Duo and Trowa~! Happy birthday to you!” Jamie took a step forward, beaming, and handed them each the small boxes. The three on the bed exchanged a puzzled look—not much can fit into a box that size—before they opened them. Well, actually, Duo tore his apart to get to the goods, and Heero removed each piece of tape before he unfolded the wrapping paper. Duo lifted the pair of keys in his hand, staring at them. His brothers, on either side, were just as perplexed. “Keys?” Then Duo noticed the faint lettering in the metal. ‘Corvette’. “NO WAY!” Duo tore out of the room at Warp Ten, feet barely touching the stairs as he flew down and out the front door. Trowa and Heero were only inches behind him, and Meiran, Quatre, Wufei and Jamie were close on their heels. Duo skidded to a halt on the front porch as he took in the sight. Three cars were lined up side by side. Red Camaro, black Corvette, blue Mustang. “Shit,” he breathed reverently. With a war whoop he darted forward and started running kisses along the corvette’s right front fender. Heero dazedly walked forward, lightly touching the hood of the car as if to assure himself that it was real. Then he eagerly slid in behind the wheel and fired the engine up, revving it. The car purred and roared, eliciting a Cheshire cat grin from its new owner. Trowa walked completely around his new car before he touched, noting that it was *exactly* how he had pictured it in his mind. Following Heero’s example, he slid behind the wheel and revved the car up. Then he laughed. “Guys!” Duo had been happily checking out the engine while his brothers played, but now he looked up with a grin. “These cars are in PERFECT condition!” /They darn well better be,/ Jamie thought to herself. “I’ve *got* to see how she feels.” Duo started to climb into the car. “Hold it.” Jamie shook her head despairingly. “You’re forgetting something, Duo.” Duo hesitated, half in and half out of the car. “Ah…like what?” “It’s a little thing that started with the letter ‘L’.” “Love?” Duo suggested hopefully. “Uh-uh. ‘License’.” Duo looked from Jamie’s face to the sweet little car under his hands and whimpered piteously. “I promise I won’t get caught.” “No can do, kiddo. Of course, DMV opens in two hours. If you can pass the test by then…” The three birthday boys shared a look. “The driving manual is available online,” Heero suggested. “Get it,” Trowa ordered. “Ryoukai.” Reluctantly they started to part with their new toys, but Quatre waved them back into place. “Wait a second. We have birthday presents for you too. Check out the passenger seat.” Puzzled, the three did so. There were two packages side by side on each seat. One of them held Oakley sunglasses, gifted by Quatre. “Cool,” Duo told Quatre, grinning in approval as he tried them on. “That’s the idea,” Quatre informed him smugly. The other package held a miniature key-chain version of their cars, from Wufei. The minis were immediately put onto the key ring with approving laughter. “This must have taken time,” Heero noted. “It wasn’t easy,” Wufei admitted. “Finding the car was easy enough, but getting it the right color wasn’t. I finally wound up painting them the right color.” “It’s a cool idea, Fei.” Duo bounded forward to hug him and Quatre. “Thanks, guys.” Then he turned and hugged Jamie tightly. “This…we never expected this. Thanks, Jamie.” She hugged him back tightly. “You’re welcome.” Heero came up to her, waiting until Duo stepped back before hugging her tightly. “Arigato, Ka-chan.” Jamie’s eyes welled up a little in tears. It was the first time any of the boys had called her mother. “You’re welcome, Heero.” Trowa observed her reaction to Heero’s words, frowning slightly. He had thought of and referred to her as his mother, but he realized then that he hadn’t called her such to her face. It was an oversight, and he needed to correct it now. As soon as Heero released her he snuck in to hug her too. “Thanks, Mom.” Jamie just knew that she was going to break down and cry her eyeballs out. She hugged Trowa back hard before sniffing and wiping a little at her eyes. “Right. Get studying.” “Wait.” Meiran stepped forward and handed each boy a twenty dollar bill. “I couldn’t think of what to get you, so I’ll buy your first tank of gas. NOW go study.” It wasn’t as easy as that, of course. Meiran had to get her round of hugs too. After that Duo led the race back up the stairs to Heero’s laptop so that they could find the DMV driving manual and start some serious cramming. “Now if they were only as enthusiastic with their regular school work…” Jamie mused. “Never happen,” Meiran told her dryly. “I know.” “WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN’T LOG IN?!!!” an anguished voice cried, its horrified tone drifting through the entire house. “This is going to be entertaining,” Meiran smirked, eyes twinkling. “Very,” Jamie agreed. + In between bites of birthday cake (which also served as breakfast) there was a serious cramming session going on the front porch. None of the cars’ owners were thrilled with the idea of being out of sight of their new toys, so the study session had been moved to accommodate them. Heero had found it necessary to print three copies since his brothers were unwilling to share. After reading it through very carefully he used it as a pillow and stretched out on the porch swing, eyes closed. Trowa and Duo, more active learners, were pacing to and fro reading and muttering under their breath. Periodically Wufei would call out questions, which either of the boys would attempt to answer. If they paused too long, Quatre would tell them the answer. And get bonked with training manuals for his efforts. Duo ignored Heero for a while, but when he started snoring softly, the American wasn’t able to let the matter lie. Rolling his manual he reached over and thwacked Heero on the head with it. “Hey, idiot. Don’t you want to pass?” “Osmosis,” Heero informed him, closing his eyes again. “In other words,” Trowa translated dryly, “you’ve memorized the thing from cover to cover.” “Hn.” “That is so unfair,” Duo lamented. “I want a photographic memory too.” “I’ll see if we can’t order you one.”
Jamie fought down a smile. “Well, I hope that you’ve got
it all in your heads, because DMV opens in about twenty minutes. You
have five minutes to get ready to leave.” “Music?” Wufei repeated blankly. “I don’t want to know,” Quatre stated firmly. Jamie had heard what Duo termed ‘music’. “I don’t think I do either.” + The middle-aged woman sitting at the desk called out in a bored voice, “Next.” Jamie led her group forward, handing her the necessary forms to register the cars. The boys were already celebrating because they had all passed and were given a temporary license. Heero had aced his (naturally) but Duo and Trowa had only missed three on theirs, which wasn’t bad considering that they had only been studying for about two hours. Under Jamie’s watchful eye, the woman looked at the forms they had filled out, giving the make and model of the car, as well as the specialized license plate request. Her eyes roved the page…backed up to the top…and stared incredulously. In careful movements she went to the next registration form, read it carefully, then to the last form and read it. “Let me get this straight. You’re letting three 16-year-old boys drive a Shelby Mustang, a Corvette, and a Camaro?” /You know, when she puts it that way, it does seem as if I’m tempting the fates, doesn’t it?/ “That’s right.” “Lady, you have too much money to spend.” This observation didn’t bother Jamie in the slightest. “Yup.” With another ‘do you know what you’re doing?’ look at her, the woman went back to typing all the information in. As the printer started spitting out the registration papers, she started in on the license plate forms. Duo had chosen ‘Bad’ for his license plate. Jamie hadn’t thought he would be able to keep it—surely someone else in the state had already thought of and used it—but to her surprise it went through without a hitch. Duo did a little happy dance next to her when he was informed that his plates should reach him by mail in the next two weeks or so. Trowa had gone for ‘Smooth’, and gotten it. She had to wonder what Heero had chosen since he hadn’t written his down until they were standing in line. Jamie hadn’t been able to see it. The lady looked at the request, a little baffled. “3VOM?” “You have to look at it backwards,” Heero explained. “Like you would in a rearview mirror.” She tried and failed, shrugging and shaking her head. Jamie was a little puzzled too. 3VOM? “May I borrow a piece of paper?” Heero requested politely. When it was handed to him, he took the chained pen on the desk and wrote the letters out, large enough to be easily seen. Then he held it up to the mirrors that covered the wall of the DMV office. MOVE. Everyone burst out laughing. “Now that,” Quatre noted in approval, “is creative.” “I like it.” Jamie grinned at Heero, who was preening slightly. “It certainly fits the car,” Wufei noted sardonically. The DMV lady was laughing a bit too. She entered it into the computer and nodded. “No one else has thought of it, either.” The papers on the printer was gathered efficiently up and handed to Jamie. “Put the pink sticker in the left side of the window until the plates are put on.” “Thank you.” Jamie paid all the fees (which added up to a very tidy little sum), and nodded to her graciously before leading everyone back out. “Now. I have one more thing to say before I turn you loose. One, don’t wreck the cars, because I’m not replacing them. And two, you’re paying for any speeding tickets. Go.” The boys darted for their waiting cars, slapping on the DMV pink sticker quickly before firing the engines up. Quatre slid in next to Trowa, and Wufei immediately jumped in next to Duo. It was at this moment that Jamie understood what Duo had meant when he had said they needed the right music. From Heero’s car came the song “Low Rider”. Trowa, a beat after his brother, started playing “I’m Too Sexy”, and Duo had “Born To Be Wild” going at full blast. Jamie rolled her eyes skyward. “Appropriate music indeed.” ~*~*~*~ Honor: *giggle* I had too much fun writing that. |
