"Three for Joy"

Written By: Waterliliylf

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing. All rights remain with Bandai, Sotsu and associated parties. No profit being made here.

Rating: R

Warnings: Romance, angst, sap, friendship

Pairings: 5x4 and (possible) 1x2. Copious references to past 3x4.

Summary: As far as Wufei is concerned, he and Quatre are a perfect example oftwo's company, so when Trowa moves back to Sanq will three be a crowd, or justpossibly, a joy to embrace?

Author's Note: Writing this story truly has been a joint effort. The original idea came from Standingontherooftops (as compensation for having broken her brain in a previous story) and she also suggested the personalities and pairings and gave huge amounts of positive feedback as it progressed. Kaeru Shisho gave me most of the plot, as well as many, many suggestions, edited many, many times, and then persuaded me it wasn't long enough so the whole process had to start again. All of this wonderful support meant that I was free to get on with the really fun business of actually writing and had massive amounts of fun.

Dedication: This story is affectionately dedicated to both the ladies mentioned above, without whom it would have been finished in half the time.

"Three for Joy"

Chapter 10:

Quatre came home on Monday evening, having prolonged his trip another few hours to visit a new mining satellite. Wufei was at the shuttle port an hour early. After buying a cup of quite undrinkable tea, and spending five minutes browsing in the small bookshop, he decided distractions weren't going to work, and just stood by Arrivals, waiting.

Quatre didn't see him at first; he had Rashid walking in front and was deep in conversation with some assistant or other. Then Rashid turned and said something, and Quatre's face just lit up, and he took off, racing into Wufei's arms.

'I didn't think you'd be here,' he gasped, breathless from running and then the kiss. 'You said you weren't sure if Une would give you time off work.'

'It wasn't a problem in the end,' Wufei assured him, kissing him again, and pulling back to look at him. 'Are you all right? You look exhausted.'

'I am,' Quatre admitted, sagging against him.

'Home then,' Wufei said firmly, taking his hand and leading him down the corridor. Quatre fell asleep the moment he got into the car. Wufei shook his head, taking a long look at his partner. No, this had to stop before he made himself sick.

He woke up to the sound of the gates opening. 'Oh. Are we home already? I didn't fall asleep, did I?'

'You dozed off for a bit.' Wufei parked the car and got out to open Quatre's door. 'Come on. Do you want dinner or just bed?'

Quatre shook his head. 'I'm not hungry. I just want to lie down, really.'

'Oh, we can definitely do that.' Wufei winked and then caught himself; he was sounding like Trowa.

Quatre just laughed though, following Wufei into the house. He paused at the foot of their staircase, looking at it like it was an obstacle to be conquered.

Trowa would undoubtedly have swept him up in his arms; Wufei offered his hand again, and Quatre clung to it all the way upstairs.

'I'm sorry. 'Fei, I'm so sorry. I know I said it on the phone, but I want to say it in person too. I shouldn't have said any of those things to you.'

'Hey.' Wufei stroked the soft, blond hair. 'Stop that. We had a fight; we said some idiotic nonsense to each other. That was all.'

He was probably quoting what Trowa had said, but it didn't matter. It was true. Yes, he'd been hurt at the time, but he'd got past that. They still loved each other. A few harsh words flung in anger weren't going to change the fact.

'Oh.' He saw the same realisation dawn in Quatre's eyes, and then the beginnings of a tentative smile. 'I suppose it was, really. And I've been so worried about it all. Honestly, I haven't slept at all since I left. I was so scared I'd messed us up.'

'Don't be such a blond idiot,' Wufei chided. 'Actually, I can see you haven't slept; it shows.'

His skin was even paler than usual, save for the dark shadows under his eyes. He probably hadn't eaten much either. He'd been alone on L4 for almost a week, and doubtless tormenting himself every second that he'd somehow ruined everything between them. 'You look terrible.'

'Thank you very much. I always like to hear things like that.' He probably meant for it to sound indignant; it just came out as tired.

'Oh, baby.' Wufei tightened his arms around the slender body. 'You have got to stop doing this to yourself.'

'I know.'

'Well, that's a start. Quat, you need to lie down before you drop. Bed.'

Quatre gave a little shake of his head. 'I'd love a shower first. I hate the recycled air on those shuttles. Please?'

'Of course.'

After, Wufei dried him off lovingly and found his favourite silk pyjamas and got them both into bed.

'Oh.' Quatre gave a little sigh of sheer pleasure, curling into Wufei's arms. 'It's so nice to be home.'

'It's very nice having you here. I missed you.'

'I missed you too,' Quatre said, in a rush. 'So much. I thought…you said you wanted to talk about us when I got home, and I was so scared that maybe you didn't want to be with me anymore and I'd ruined everything, and you just didn't want to tell me while I was away.'

'How did we get to be this messed up?' Wufei asked. 'I was terrified you'd want to break up with me.'

'Never.' Quatre pressed even closer. 'Never never never. Oh, I was so happy when I saw you earlier. You have no idea how much.'

'I saw, actually,' Wufei said simply and Quatre blushed. 'We do need to talk, you know. You do realise that we had one fight and we both assumed it meant we'd break up? That isn't how it should be.'

'No, it's not. You're being so sensible about all this,' Quatre said admiringly.

Wufei grinned at him. 'I've had Trowa giving me non-stop relationship advice since you left. Some of it was fairly good.'

'Oh, Trowa! I'd forgotten about him.' Quatre looked around as if he might suddenly materialise. 'How is he? Where is he?'

'Out. Helping Heero to move his stuff to Duo's actually.'

Quatre laughed. 'I can't imagine that will take too long. It's about time, isn't it? Honestly! There were so many times when I almost told Duo what was going on, but I thought he needed to work it out for himself, or for Heero to just tell him.'

'So you knew all along they weren't dating? You could have said.'

Blue eyes sparkled. 'But it was so much fun watching it all. Everyone believing they were a couple and Duo not realising what was going on, and poor Heero wracking his brains to find excuses to spend time with him.'

'I liked the frogs.' Wufei suddenly started to laugh as well.

'I thought the poltergeist was especially inspired.' He leaned over to press a light kiss to Wufei's mouth. 'I'm glad we never had to do any of those things, aren't you? I never thought it would take so long for them to work it out. So silly, the two of them. I thought it was about time I did something.'

'You didn't have anything to do with it.'

'Well, of course I did.' Quatre said smugly. 'Goodness, it took me ages to convince Duo to accept Zechs' invitation. It worked, didn't it?'

'Brat.'

'Mm. I'm not. Am I?'

'Stop that.'

Quatre laughed again, eyelashes fluttering. 'So tell me about your hiking trip? Did anything else happen?'

Wufei swallowed. 'Not really. Just Duo and Heero getting together.'

'And they slept together!' Quatre marvelled. 'That was fast, wasn't it?'

'Considering they'd had about five years of foreplay to get to the point, actually no. Not really. They seemed to get the logistics of it worked out pretty easily. And then decided to make up for all those years of abstinence in one go. Tro and I didn't get much sleep.'

'I can imagine.' Quatre rolled over, propping his chin on Wufei's shoulder to look up at him. 'What did you two get up to while all that was going on?'

Wufei threw his free arm across his eyes and forced a yawn. He would talk to Quatre about it. He would. Just not yet. 'We talked a bit. Tried not to listen to them.'

There. That was true. True, so far as it went. He'd just left out a few things.

'Poor you,' Quatre sympathised. 'That doesn't sound like much fun.'

'Parts of it were all right. I took Trowa up to your waterfall in the afternoon. He loved it.'

Quatre's lips curved. 'Good. I'm so happy you two are getting on.'

'I never said that.'

'I'm not stupid, Mr. Chang. You wouldn't have taken him there if you didn't like him even a little bit.'

'I never really disliked him, you know,' Wufei floundered. 'I just hated what he did to you.'

'We were all horribly messed-up back then, weren't we? It wasn't just him; if I'd been braver, I'd have gone after him. We were both just scared, really. I'm so lucky you decided I was the one you wanted to be with. And I'm very glad that we're all friends again; like a family, isn't it?'

Wufei muttered something into the smooth skin of Quatre's neck and the blond arched against him.

Gods. Wufei's breath caught at the sheer perfection of him. Such beauty; such love shining in his eyes. He'd spent all those lonely, miserable days alone on L4 and Wufei had kissed another man. He was a terrible, terrible person.

'There's something I have to tell you.'

'Yes?' Quatre, who had snuggled back against his shoulder, lifted his face enquiringly.

'I resigned from Preventers. Yesterday.'

'Oh, good,' Quatre said fiercely, and kissed him. 'That's fantastic. And about time.'

'It wasn't that bad.'

'It was.'

'OK, maybe it was, sometimes but it was mostly me trying to juggle too many things. A job, and university and the two of us, and yesterday Une tried telling me I'd have to work late today so I couldn't be there to meet you off the shuttle and that was that. She was furious.'

'Good,' Quatre purred. 'Evil woman.'

'She's not that bad,' Wufei protested, and then thought, well, maybe she was. 'Anyway. I thought maybe I could travel with you sometimes when you go on business trips. We could take an extra couple of days sometimes and do some touristy things. If you don't mind me being your kept man for a while?'

'Of course I don't.' The blond, in fact, looked utterly enchanted at the prospect. 'I'd like it more than anything.' He traced Wufei's jaw with one finger. 'You're going to be my toy-boy.'

'I'm only a couple of weeks younger than you.'

'It's the principle, I think.' The finger drifted gently down, tracing little circles on Wufei's skin.

'You're supposed to be tired.'

'I am. Can't you tell?' He leaned up, licking Wufei's mouth open; hot and sloppy and eager.

'Yes. Yes.' Wufei hissed it as one of Quatre's hands slid across his chest, brushing a nipple. After a week of missing Quatre, of pushing Trowa away, that slight touch was incendiary. He arched into Quatre's palm, and then twisted them both around so he was lying on top.

'Oh!'

Quatre gazed up at him, eyes very blue and shining; all uncomplicated love and wanting and trust, and Wufei tried, for the tiniest fraction of a second, to imagine Trowa like that, minus the masks and defences and barriers, and then had felt a bolt of pure terror that Quatre would know what he was thinking about, but Quat was still smiling, gentle and serene, waiting for him.

Quatre laughed, soft; hands coursing over Wufei's back. 'Goodness. Are you going to ravish me?'

'Would you like that?' His own desire was almost shrivelled away by guilt. He'd had his lovely, loving boyfriend in his arms and he'd been thinking about Trowa Barton.

The little blond laughed. 'I don't think it's ravishment if you ask first. Actually, I think the non-asking is the whole point. 'Fei, I'm not as …breakable as you seem to think sometimes. Truly.'

'I never want to hurt you.'

'I know. You never have. And I honestly wouldn't mind a little ravishment sometimes. If you wanted to? What you did, that Sunday morning before I left, I liked it.'

'So did I.' They'd never really talked about sex before; it was surprisingly easy. 'You know, if you ever wanted me to …do anything, you just have to ask.'

'What sort of thing?' Blue eyes gazed into his; clear and candid and gently enquiring.

'Anything. I don't know. Nothing.' No, he'd been utterly wrong. It was painfully embarrassing, talking about these sorts of things. 'Forget it. It's just that everyone we know seems to think that I should be dragging you around by the hair and jumping on you.'

'Everyone?' Quat looked uncertain, as if he wasn't sure whether it was supposed to be a joke or not.

'Well. Duo and Trowa.'

The light in Quatre's eyes dimmed a little. 'You've been talking about us to them?'

'No. Not really. Duo gave me some unsolicited advice because he was worried about us. I did talk to Trowa about some things. I know I probably shouldn't, but I was missing you and really worried about us, and he ….'

'What did he say?' Quatre asked sharply. 'I can't believe you asked my ex-boyfriend for advice on our sex life.'

'I didn't! I wouldn't have done that.' He hadn't needed to, in any case. Trowa had given it unasked. 'He just said we were over-thinking things and it wasn't the end of the world that we'd had a row. He said you'd been talking to him as well. I think he was sick of us talking to him instead of to each other. I didn't go around asking for his opinions, honestly.'

'I'm sorry, love,' Quatre offered. 'Please, I don't want to fight with you again.' His little sigh turned into a smile when Wufei nodded and then the smile became a kiss, all sparkles and sunshine, and then Quat squirmed underneath him.

'Please. Fei, please.'

'It's not exactly ravishing if you beg,' Wufei teased him, but his hands were already slipping buttons open, slowly, kissing the smooth pale skin underneath the silk. 'And you'll fall asleep on me and my ego will never recover.'

'I won't,' Quat protested, lifting his hips for Wufei to slide off his pyjama bottoms. 'I promise.'

Wufei loved him like this, sweetly pliant and affectionate, and … utterly fuckable, supplied a little voice that had recently taken up residence in his head and that sounded impossibly like Trowa. It was true, though. Wufei shook his head, trying to block out the whispered suggestion to nail him through the mattress; that wasn't how they were together.

Instead, he made it slow and sweet, charting Quatre's body with lips and tongue and fingers and cherishing every sigh and smile and shiver.

'See?' Quatre murmured drowsily, after. 'Didn't fall asleep.'

'Near thing, though,' Wufei whispered back, kissing him, and then gently unwinding himself to go into the bathroom. After he'd cleaned them both up, he pulled Quatre back into his arms, and fell asleep wrapped in the sheer rightness of it all, the two of them together.

The phone ringing wound its way into Wufei's dreams, a confused kaleidoscope of Quatre's gentle smile and Trowa, not smiling at all.

'Oh!' Quatre jerked upright beside him. 'I didn't steal the apricots,' he said very distinctly and then opened his eyes. 'What? Why is everything ringing?'

'My phone.' Wufei had scrambled out of bed and was searching for the damn thing.

'Make it stop,' Quatre pleaded, flopping back on the mattress and pulling a pillow over his head.

'I'm trying!' He usually put it on his bedside table before bed, but he'd been too distracted, undressing while he waited for Quat to come out of the bathroom. It had to be still in his back pocket, then, and there it was.

'Trowa!' Quatre catapulted back up. ''Fei, there's something wrong with him. I can feel it.' Suddenly he was off the bed, grabbing the still-ringing phone out of Wufei's hands.

'Hello? No, this is Quatre Winner. Who is this? Excuse me? Yes, fine, just a moment. We're coming.'

'Who was it?'

'Zechs Merquise,' Quatre said flatly, and then frowned, reaching for clothes. 'Or should we call him Peacecraft now?'

'Why is he calling my phone? And where are you going?'

'He's just pulling up outside. He's got Trowa with him.'

'What?' Wufei tugged on a pair of jeans, and raced Quatre downstairs.

Merquise, was leaning against the porch when he opened the front door, Trowa propped up at his side. Wufei had briefly seen him around the Preventers building a few times since his return from Mars but they'd never spoken. He was still unnaturally, unfairly tall, but the hair was shorter; cut to feather his jaw-line. He was still, as Duo had said, utterly stunning. If he'd so much as touched Trowa, he would kill him.

'What happened?' Quatre breathed, arriving one second later. 'What did you do to him?'

'Not a thing. He said he belonged here.' One pale eyebrow rose slightly; the tone was exquisitely cultured, utterly disinterested. The bored gaze took in the elegant hallway, and then Trowa, dressed in the ancient jeans and sweater he'd worn to help Heero move house. 'It hardly seems likely. If you don't want him, I can take him home with me.'

'No!' Quatre gasped. 'He does belong here. Doesn't he?'

Wufei nodded, stepping forward to haul Trowa through the front door. Once inside, he slid slowly, gracefully on to Quatre's favourite hand-woven rug.

'What's wrong with him?' Quatre flew over and dropped to his knees beside the limp form, eyes blazing.

Zechs slouched one shoulder in a shrug and then gave Quatre, all tousled blond hair and slender body in pale blue silk, an appreciative, appraising glance that made Wufei want to punch him. 'We had a couple of vodka shots. It's hardly my fault if he can't hold his drink. You might want to move him off that rug, by the way. He's already been sick in the taxi.'

'I don't care about the stupid rug, you detestable man! Wufei, can you please show him out? NOW!'

Showing Zechs out took only a second; he'd barely got inside in the first place. There were a few seconds of awkwardness, where he tried to be halfway polite, to thank him for taking Trowa home; after all the man was a senior officer. Then Wufei remembered he didn't work at Preventers any more, and how Zechs had dared to look at Quatre, and slammed the door in his face.

Quatre was bent over Trowa, stroking his hair back from his face. 'I don't understand,' he said slowly. 'Why would he want to go out and get drunk with him, of all people?'

'I'm not sure,' Wufei said, sure it was a lie, imagining Trowa, alone and heartsick and lonely, in a bar; meeting Zechs, trying to drown his sorrows….

Actually, no. That didn't make a lick of sense. Trowa wasn't like that.

'He was supposed to be with Duo and Heero. I'll call them.' He already had his phone out, speed-dialling. 'Duo?'

'Hey. Wufei? What's up? Heero, stop that, will you?'

'It's Trowa. Zechs Merquise just left him on our doorstep, blind drunk. You don't know anything about that?'

'Oh, shit! Fuck! It's kind of my fault. I totally forgot I had a date with him –Heero! You know damn well I didn't go! – and he turned up, and it was sort of awkward and then Tro said he'd go and have a drink with him and – will you stop doing that for one second! I know I made you wait for five years but that doesn't mean we have to make up for it in one go! – I don't get it though. I've never seen Tro pissed.'

'Well, he's pretty much unconscious now,' Wufei said. 'Apparently they were drinking vodka.'

'That Sanque vodka that's pretty much pure alcohol,' Duo guessed. 'OK, no wonder he's passed out. That stuff's lethal.'

'What should we do? Try to make him sick?'

'Ew. See if you can pour some water into him so he won't get dehydrated. Really, he just needs to sleep it off.'

'OK. You don't think we should call a doctor, do you?' Wufei asked, relaying the question from Quatre.

Duo chuckled. 'You and Quat really need to get out more, you know that? He's a bit pissed; he'll recover. Just make sure he has a bucket or something handy for when he does wake up and keep an eye on him so he doesn't throw up and choke to death. Listen, I've got to go before Heero spontaneously combusts. Call me in the morning, OK? And say welcome home to Quat for me.'

'What did he say?' Quatre demanded, glancing up. 'Do we need to take him to hospital?'

'He said we should let him sleep it off, and that we need to watch him in case he vomits.'

'Right.' Quatre looked slightly green at that. 'I can stay here with him. I don't mind.'

'Don't be silly. We can take him upstairs and he can sleep on the chaise-longue in our room.'

'Oh, that's a good idea,' the blond agreed. 'Poor Trowa. I can't believe Merquise did this to him! Hateful man. How dare he do this? And then he had the gall to look at you like that! I should have punched him! I'm so glad Duo never went out with him.'

Wufei grinned suddenly. 'That was all your idea. And if Duo had gone out with him, then we wouldn't be in this mess. Come on, let's get him upstairs.'

That was something of an ordeal in itself, with Quatre alternately fussing over Trowa, and fuming over Zechs, and Trowa a dead weight between the two of them. Trowa half-woke a couple of times, mumbling something incoherent, and it was a relief to get him installed on the chaise.

'He doesn't really fit,' Quatre said doubtfully, looking at Trowa's long legs dangling over the edge.

'He'll be fine. Can you get him some water? Duo said we should make him drink something.'

'Oh, yes!' Quatre paused for a minute. 'We should undress him, don't you think?'

'Really?' Wufei gave him a direct look, and Quatre blushed.

'I didn't mean…he won't be very comfortable in jeans, will he? And I think he's already been sick on his shirt.'

'I don't think he's really in any state to notice,' Wufei said dryly. 'OK, if you that's what you want.'

Quatre ran into the bathroom, and Wufei gritted his teeth. It was ridiculous. He'd seen Trowa nearly-naked before. They'd slept together in that tent. It was nothing to make a fuss about.

He tugged off Trowa's torn jeans, relieved that he was wearing surprisingly respectable boxer shorts underneath, and then the sweater. Any shred of desire immediately died as he shifted Trowa carefully on to his side. He'd never thought of it before, but Trowa, who was so unself-conscious about everything else, had always managed to keep his back covered. He'd never seen the scars before.

'I know,' Quatre said quietly, sitting down beside him, and taking his hand. 'It's awful.'

'What happened?'

'He doesn't like talking about it.' Quatre squeezed his eyes shut, and his free hand reached out to Trowa. Even without looking, he traced the scars, one finger whispering caresses over the ruined skin. Of course. He must have done it countless times. Wufei had to close his own eyes; it was too much, all of it.

'Fei.' Quatre took his hand. 'Don't.'

'Don't what?'

'Don't look like that.'

'I don't know how I look.'

'Lost.'

It was how Quat looked too, when Wufei opened his eyes, and he didn't think he could really cope with that, just then. 'I'm just tired. And I wasn't really expecting to have to baby-sit Trowa tonight. We should try to make him drink something and go back to bed.'

Quatre sat back on his heels, folding both hands carefully in his lap. 'But…No. You're right. I'll try to hold his head up.'

Half a glass of water later, Trowa was starting to wake up, but fell asleep again when they lowered him down on to the cushions.

'He looks so sweet,' Quatre murmured, carefully tucking a blanket around him.

Wufei snorted. 'I bet no one's ever said that about him before.'

'Well, he can be. Aren't you?' He bent to give Trowa a kiss on the forehead and at that point he woke up.

'Quat? What the fuck?'

Quatre laughed. 'How do you feel? We've got a basin if you want to be sick.'

Trowa groaned eloquently. 'Quatre. That is the worst come-on line in the history of the damn universe. Ah, why am I in your bedroom?'

'You don't remember?' Wufei asked.

'You're here as well!' Trowa's eyes widened. 'Shit. My head feels like Libra's exploding inside it. Tell me, we didn't have an orgy and I can't remember any of it!'

'Certainly not,' Quatre said primly, carefully holding the basin underneath his chin. 'You went out drinking with Zechs Merquise, for some unfathomable reason, and we took you back here.'

'Zechs, yeah.' Trowa's eyes drifted closed again. 'I remember snogging him now. Can't remember why exactly. You two are the ones I want to be with.'

~ * ~

Chapter 11

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