"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 2

Duo slouched into his office at twelve the next day. 'Hey! Come for a coffee with me? I'm bored.'

'You're supposed to be looking at your mid-year budget. You have a deadline.'

'Yeah, I did look at it. That's why I'm bored. I'm not a freaking accountant!'

Wufei grinned heartlessly. 'You're a technical liaison officer. You're supposed to oversee your department's figures.'

'Yeah, yeah. And I hate it. I thought I'd get to play with cool gadgets and stuff.'

'I'm sure Une made it very clear in the interview what you'd be doing.'

Duo hunched a shoulder. 'You know I never listen to anything she says. Entertain me, 'Fei? Please? Actually, you have to do what I say, 'cause I'm an agent and I outrank you.'

'You're an idiot,' Wufei told him amiably. 'Duo, I have work to do, even if you don't. Why aren't you pestering Heero instead of me?'

'I'm waiting for him to get out of Une's office. I've got a meeting with him after. So what's she got you doing now?'

'Looking over cold cases.'

'Oh, yeah, that makes great sense. Why bother spending time on current cases, when you can look into crimes that happened decades ago? Why does she keep giving you this crap?'

'You know why.'

'Yeah.' Duo twiddled the end of his braid, reaching over to snag a file with his free hand.

'It's not a total waste of time,' Wufei said. 'Most offenders, especially serious ones, don't just stop. A lot of these old cases are still relevant.'

Duo flung the file back on the desk. 'Sure. Have you seen how old this one is? The perp must be over a hundred. I really doubt he's still out killing people. So. How was dinner last night?'

'Fine.'

'I suppose that means that you and Tro had another fight?'

'No, it does not.'

Duo grinned. 'Don't sound so insulted. A couple of years ago, you guys couldn't be in the same room without you wanting to ram his teeth down his throat. I kind of miss it.'

'Good times,' Wufei muttered sarcastically.

'Well, it livened things up a bit,' Duo said cheerfully. 'You trying to strangle Tro and Quat crying and apologising for ever having looked at either of you and causing all that trouble, and Heero trying to pretend nothing was going on.'

'Oh, yes, I can imagine why you'd miss that.'

'It was better than the pair of you being so damn polite to each other that you make my teeth ache. Seriously, aren't you ever going to give the guy a break? He gets that he fucked up after the war, we all get it; but Quat's over it and happy and you're the one he ended up with. Don't you think it's maybe time to let go a little bit? Now that he's going to be around more?'

Wufei sighed. 'I know. I do try. It's just that he hurt Quatre so badly.'

'Five years ago,' Duo said instantly. 'When we were all pretty screwed up anyway. He hurt himself just as badly.'

'I don't understand why you're always so determined to make excuses for him. Quat's one of your best friends.'

Duo shrugged. 'Tro's my friend too. I just get where he's coming from, some of the time. I know it's not an issue for you, but Quatre's a damn hard act to live up to for most of us normal mortals. 'Fei, he's never not going to be part of Quat's life. He's part of the gang. You know that.'

'I know,' Wufei said again. Duo's conviction that they were all one big, close family was endearing when it wasn't irritating. 'It was just a lot easier when he didn't live here, and we only saw him a few times a year.'

'Well, he's back now. Listen, I'm meeting him for lunch; you could come along. See if you can survive a couple of hours in his company without Quat being around?'

'I'm far too busy. Especially if I'm going to have to look over those figures for you.'

Duo beamed. 'Really?'

'I suppose someone has to, if Heero's busy. Just email me the spreadsheet, all right?'

'Sure!' Duo whirled out the door and Heero walked in five minutes later.

Naturally. He and Duo had perfectly good, adjoining offices, but they still used Wufei's as a halfway-house. He'd thought, several times, about installing a revolving door.

'You just missed him. I think he went back to his office; he was going to mail me a file.'

'You really should stop doing his work for him,' Heero said without any particular conviction. 'If he comes back, tell him I'll be in the basement. The janitor's room.'

Wufei nodded. 'Of course. And I don't mind helping him out. It's not as if I have anything better to do.'

Heero cast an eye over the tottering pile of tatty files and grinned. 'I see that. How was last night?'

'Bearable. Awkward.'

'I can imagine.'

'I wish he'd just stayed in space.' He couldn't have said that to Quat, who would have been upset, or to Duo. Heero, though, had always been just a little wary of Trowa; unsure of where his loyalties lay during the war; edgy about his close friendship with Duo.

'I imagine he'll be travelling a lot,' Heero offered. 'Most of his clients are on the colonies; he probably won't even be here that much.'

'Probably not,' Wufei agreed. 'Anyway. Duo said you had a meeting with Une. Any developments on your case?'

Heero made a face. 'Just one. She's appointing Merquise to work with me.'

'He's only been here a couple of weeks. I thought he was still having psychiatric evaluations. He's been cleared for active duty already?'

'Apparently.' Heero shrugged moodily. 'I don't like that man. I don't like the way he looks at Duo.'

'So off all his quirks that's the worst?' Wufei teased. 'Worse than his little hobby of blowing up planets whenever he's having an off-day? If he's on your team now, shouldn't you be spending time with him, instead of finding some excuse to sneak around the basement with Duo?'

'It's not an excuse!' Heero said defensively. 'The tech department did ask me to try out some new photographic equipment.' Then he grinned. 'Well, it's a bit of an excuse. I'd better go. You know how easily he gets bored.'

Wufei was smiling as he turned back to the report he'd been looking at before all the interruptions. Did those two seriously believe no one realised what was going on?

Admittedly, Quat kept insisting that they were 'just good friends', but he usually smiled when he said it. He knew perfectly well what was going on. Quatre, in the framed photo Wufei kept beside his computer, just laughed and Wufei reached out and touched him gently.

Duo had taken the picture the previous summer, when the four of them had been at the beach. Quatre normally hated being photographed, going all stiff and solemn when anyone aimed a camera at him. Duo had snapped this one without him noticing and it was glorious; Quatre's eyes echoing the blue of the infinity of sea and sky behind him, and his smile brighter than the sun.

He'd been smiling at Wufei.

Stupid, stupid, to think that Trowa being around could change anything. He'd had Quatre for less than a year. Wufei had had five, if you included that first year after the war when Quat had been living on L4 and they'd really just been friends. No comparison whatsoever. In all likelihood, they'd hardly ever see him.

Trowa walked through the door at exactly one o'clock. When the door swung open again, Wufei didn't even bother to look up. It had to be Duo.

'He's waiting for you in the basement. With some ridiculously unbelievable excuse.'

'That sounds intriguing,' Trowa grinned at him. 'Who exactly is 'he'?

'What are you doing here?'

Trowa grinned. 'Hey, Wufei. Good to see you too. I'm supposed to be meeting Duo to come apartment-hunting with me, but his secretary says he's been held up in a meeting.'

Wufei nodded, unable to help a smile. 'Ah, yes. That would be the same meeting that's keeping Heero. I believe it's being held in the broom cupboard in the basement.'

Trowa laughed outright, something he didn't do very often, and came to perch on the corner of the desk, those endless legs stretched out in front of him. 'Like that, is it? Do they seriously think no one's noticed?'

'I don't know. But there are rules against fraternisation between agents.'

'Duo's never bothered about rules in his life; I think they're just having too much fun to tell us what's going on. I kind of miss that part; you know, the bit at the beginning where you've just got together with someone and can't keep your hands off each other.'

'Oh?' Wufei asked tartly. It hadn't been like that for him and Quatre. They'd had a slow, sweet courtship and fallen in love almost without noticing. 'When exactly have you had a chance to miss something like that? Every time we meet you've got someone new.' That was perfectly true. They'd usually been blond.

'Miaow. You jealous?'

'Hardly.' Wufei shot him a brief glare; Trowa just grinned in return. 'I think they're trying to be discreet until they decide just how they feel about each other.'

'Duh. That's been obvious, for how many years now? It's about time they copped on. Maybe when they finally come clean, Une will fire the pair of them and they can come and work for me.' He picked up the top file on Wufei's desk. 'Talking of work, don't they have anything more up-to-date for you to do? I know you like history but this is insane.'

'Reviewing old cases can be useful.'

'Yeah. No offence, but any moderately competent clerk could be doing it. You're better than this.'

'Not good enough to work with you though, apparently.' Wufei spoke without thinking, and immediately regretted it. Trowa did that to him; he'd had five years of learning to curb his temper, to learn control, and Trowa Barton could make him forget all of it. He hadn't even realised it still rankled; that Trowa had repeatedly offered Heero and Duo positions in his company, but never him. And letting Trowa know it galled him didn't even make any sense; it wasn't like he and Trowa got on.

'You seriously thought that?' Trowa swivelled around to face him, looking oddly troubled. 'Fuck. First off, I never thought you'd want to work with me. Second, 'Fei, I've read some of your stuff. You should be writing or lecturing in a university or something that you actually want to do.'

'Oh.' Wufei swallowed, feeling his cheeks burn. 'Well. Thank you.'

'I don't get why you're still working here. Une treats you like crap. Vindictive bitch.'

Wufei shrugged; he wasn't entirely sure either. It was partly to do with Duo and Heero; partly because Preventers had offered him shelter after the war, when he'd had nothing else.

Une had never wanted to employ any of them, hadn't wanted to sully her shiny new organisation with teenage terrorists. She'd bowed to pressure from above though, and it hadn't taken her long to realise there were certain advantages to having a number of very expendable agents. In the months after the war, there had still been fires which needed to be put out.

She'd wanted them to die, of course. It was probably what her superiors had wanted as well. There could have been glorious funerals and speeches about heroism and the tragic waste of young lives, and then they could have been conveniently forgotten.

It hadn't worked out. They'd all survived; although Trowa, at least, had apparently done his best not to, those first months after he'd left Quat.

'I want to finish my Masters first. Then I'll start looking around.'

'Quat would like that.' He glanced around Wufei's office; he'd never been there before. He'd never been in the building since his last, cataclysmic fight with Une, so far as Wufei knew, and he probably be shouldn't be there now, wandering around in a highly restricted area. 'Oh, nice picture of him.' He reached out one hand, almost touched the frame, then drew back. 'He looks happy.'

'He was. He is.'

Trowa grunted. 'Tell me something. What's wrong with him?'

Wufei sighed. 'What's always wrong with him? He thinks he has to fix everything in the universe; to atone for everything he did during the war, to do everything he thinks his father would have wanted.'

'Yeah. You know your problem with him? You two are way too alike. It drives me insane, watching you.'

'I have no idea what you're talking about.'

'Uh huh,' Trowa grunted. 'Let's see. Both only sons of very powerful, wealthy families. Both brought up to uphold all those centuries of tradition and duty and responsibility. You both lost people you care about when you were way too young, and you both blame yourselves. 'Fei,' he leaned over, touching one finger to Wufei's mouth to stop him speaking. 'I know you do. You're both obsessed with pleasing dead people, and atoning for every mistake you've ever made in your lives, even if it kills you.' He rubbed the pad of his finger against Wufei's bottom lip. 'I don't want that to happen. Not to either of you.'

'We're fine.'

Trowa had moved his hand, but he could still feel – imagine – it touching him. He shouldn't have let Trowa do that, shouldn't have let him get so close, but he simply hadn't been able to move and there had been boundless concern in those green eyes. For Quatre. Of course. 'Things are just a little hectic at the moment. It'll calm down.'

'When exactly? You've got a very demanding job, and don't give me any crap about being part-time because I've seen your schedule, and you're doing a Masters in your spare time. He's got a global corporation to run and now this damn charity he's obsessed with. I don't know how you get time to see each other, let alone have a relationship. When was the last time you fucked him?'

Wufei kept his gaze level. 'We make love, actually.'

'Yeah? That's a shame. He used to really get off on being fucked.'

Wufei took a deep, calming breath. 'He's not yours anymore. You don't actually have a say in his life, not since you walked out on him.'

'He was supposed,' Trowa said bleakly, finishing the sentence Quatre had interrupted the previous night, 'to come with me. To walk away from all the crap with his family and the business. He almost died and those bloody witches of sisters were hounding him to come home and take up all his family responsibilities. I tried talking to him and he wouldn't listen, so I left. I never thought he wouldn't come after me.'

'He couldn't just abandon them! You must have known that.'

Trowa picked up a stapler, fiddling with it. 'No. I didn't know him as well as I thought, did I? Oh, here's Duo. What perfect timing.'

'Hey, guys!' Duo whirled through the door, jacket askew and braid aslant. 'Sorry, Tro. Heero and me were testing these new surveillance cameras for Une. They're so cool; some sort of laser technology so they can actually take shots through walls, and we ended up trying them out in the janitor's closet in the basement 'cause it's got the thickest walls in the building.' He pulled off his jacket. 'Man! It was baking down there; right next to the furnace.'

'I'm sure it was very hot, with two of you in that little space,' Trowa said, dead-pan, and Duo nodded eagerly.

'You bet! Tro, I'm really sorry, but we took longer than we'd planned, and I've got a full schedule for the afternoon. I know you wanted me to go house-hunting with you but there's no way I have time now. Hey! You've nothing on this afternoon, Wu, have you? Why don't you go with him? You'd be way better than me anyway; you and Quat have your own place. You know all about buying real estate.'

'I have a job to do, Duo. I can't just take off.'

'Your job hardly sounds urgent. Actually, it sounds like a total waste of your talents.' Perched on the desk, Trowa winked outrageously. 'Come on, 'Fei. Just an hour; they're all local. And I'll buy you lunch. You like that sushi place by the harbour, don't you?'

He'd remembered. It didn't mean anything; just that Trowa Barton had a phenomenal memory. It was nothing personal. Still, the thought of getting out of the office on a lovely summer day, followed by a meal at his favourite restaurant was far more appealing than an afternoon spent burrowing in the archives for files so old they'd never even been computerised. It had nothing to do with wanting to spend time with Trowa, except that Quatre would be pleased to see him making an effort.

'If it will stop the pair of nagging me, all right. Fine. But I want to be back early.'

'No problem.' Trowa grinned at him. 'I'll get you back to your mouldy files before they finally disintegrate from old age. See you, Duo.'

'I thought you said these places were close,' Wufei remarked twenty minutes later, as they turned off the motorway to a side road leading to the coast. He hadn't really noticed where they'd been going until then. Trowa had been telling him outrageously funny stories about some of the jobs he'd done on the different colonies; a businessman who'd used his mistress's vital statistics as the password for his security alarm and wanted Trowa to double-check the measurements for accuracy, and how he'd played bodyguard to a famous actress who'd wanted a very personal service, in every respect.

'Well, they are,' Trowa grinned at him, pulling the car into a view point overlooking the sea. 'But I thought we'd take the scenic route. I can't imagine getting to see this view every day.'

'It is beautiful,' Wufei agreed.

Trowa nodded. 'D'you mind if we stay here for a few minutes?' He got out of the car and stretched, and then shivered at the sharp breeze from the sea. 'Isn't this meant to be summer?'

'It is summer. If you think this is cold, wait 'til winter. That's really cold. Snow for two or three months.' Wufei laughed, tucking a windblown strand of hair behind his ear. 'I thought I'd freeze the first year I was here.'

'That why you imported Quat back here; to keep you warm?'

'Very funny.'

'I thought so, yeah. God. I still can't believe I'm here, sometimes. Back on Earth. You know.'

Wufei nodded, knowing exactly what Trowa meant. He'd been living in Sanque for five years; the place still had the power to amaze him. 'Will you miss space, do you think?'

Trowa shrugged, wrapping both arms around himself. 'I've got lots of clients on the colonies. I'll probably be back and forth all the time. I just wanted somewhere to settle down, somewhere to come back to. I'm sick of living out of suitcases.'

'I thought you had that apartment on L3.'

'I've never really spent any time there.' He walked over to the cliff edge, Wufei a couple of paces behind, enjoying the way the sea breeze ruffled Trowa's hair, feeling unusually well-disposed towards him. They'd all been there at different times; all having to adjust to a new planet, a new life. It was natural enough that Trowa had wanted to settle near his friends.

'Everything's so damn different.' Trowa marvelled, gazing down at the waves. 'I still can't entirely believe I'm here.'

'I can pinch you if you like,' Wufei offered generously.

'Depends on where you're planning to pinch,' Trowa teased. 'Sorry,' he added hastily at Wufei's frown. 'Sorry. Just give me a chance, 'Fei, all right? I know you're not my greatest fan, but Quat wants us to get on. I'd really like us to try being friends again.'

For once, he seemed genuine enough, no mocking gleam in his eyes; just a vague expression of sadness that stopped Wufei from retorting that they'd never been friends. They could have been during the war, maybe, but Trowa had ruined that as well.

He didn't say it though, didn't fling the words into the air to float around them.

There was no point, so many years later.

Maybe Duo had been right; maybe it was time to move on. It had been five years ago, and Trowa had lost Quatre. That would be punishment enough for anyone, whatever they'd done.

Maybe.

No, actually. It wasn't like anyone had forced Trowa to leave Sanque in the first place. It had been his own choice to wreck Quatre's life and then abandon him.

Wufei nodded brusquely. 'I don't see why we can't act like civilised adults, for Quatre's sake. Now, I really have to get back to work some time today. We should go and look at these apartments of yours.'

'Fine.' Trowa's tone was brisk, but Wufei glimpsed a pained shadow in his green eyes before he turned back to the car.

Damn. It wasn't actually that he disliked Trowa, he told himself. And the man had a perfect right to live wherever he chose, and Quatre had a right to be friends with whomever he wanted. It had just been easier when Trowa lived on the other side of the world.

They didn't talk on the drive back to town; Trowa flicked on the radio and was apparently engrossed in the afternoon news. He didn't even look at Wufei until they were back in the city centre, pulled up at a traffic light.

'Do you want me to drop you straight back at Preventers? I don't imagine you want to spend any more time with me.'

'I told you I'd look at houses,' Wufei said gruffly. 'If I go straight back to work, Duo'll want to know why.'

'I hardly think he'll be shocked.'

Wufei looked at the people crossing at the street in front of them; office workers heading back from a late lunch; parents with small children collected from nursery school. People leading normal lives.

'I told him I'd try. And Quat.'

'You'd do anything for him, wouldn't you?'

Wufei blinked. 'Of course. Wouldn't you?'

'Yeah. I'd like us to try to get on a bit better. Not just for Quat's sake, or because Duo wants us all to be one big happy family. Not putting on an act to make them happy. Do you think that will ever be a possibility for us?'

'I don't know,' Wufei said frankly. It wasn't like they had a huge amount to build a friendship on.

'But we could try?' Trowa asked. There wasn't much space between the seats in the little sports car. He could see the few freckles across the bridge of Trowa's nose, the beginning of a furrow between his brows.

'We could try.' He'd forgotten that Trowa's eyes, close up, were paler than you'd think and very clear; malachite rather than emerald, but with a very rim around the iris. 'I can go to a few apartments with you if you'd like?'

'I'd like.' The lights turned green; they drove on.

Walking through the rooms of the first apartment, Wufei did his best to block out the estate agent's drivel about location and facilities and available upgrades. He and Quat had spent months looking for their dream house, and largely learned to ignore the patter. He could see Trowa was getting irritated though, giving increasingly brusque responses as the woman gushed about under-floor heating and south-facing aspects as they were swept from room to room. The place was nice enough. Instant living, if that was what you wanted. There was daily maid service and a restaurant on the ground floor and a gym in the basement.

'And this is the master suite,' the woman droned on, leading them through another doorway. 'The en-suite bathroom is through there, and a second smaller room that would be perfect for a dressing room or a nursery.'

'I don't think we're in the market for a nursery right now,' Trowa drawled, sliding an arm around Wufei's waist. 'Are we, baby? It could be a little personal playroom, though. What do you think, honey? Mirrors on the ceiling; maybe a hot tub And all those built-in wardrobes could come in useful, don't you think?'

The estate agent turned crimson, and yelped something about an urgent call she had to make, all but running out of the room.

'That wasn't funny,' Wufei snapped, jerking free.

'Yeah, it was. Come on, don't tell me she wasn't annoying the pants off you. So, you like it?'

'Not much. It's so soulless, like a hotel.'

Trowa made a face. 'Yeah. And Quat would hate it. He likes old stuff.'

Wufei crossed to the window; at least, there was a nice view. 'It doesn't really matter what we think, does it? You're the one who'll be living here.'

'I was hoping you'd visit.' Trowa came to stand beside him, arms just touching. 'That's kind of the point of me moving back here; that I get to see you all more often. Oh, that reminds me. I set up security for this new hotel in town a week ago. They sent me VIP passes for Saturday night. They're having an official opening. I've asked Duo and Heero already. Would you and Quat like to come?'

'I'm not sure. I'd have to ask him.'

'Whatever. You know, you guys would have a lot more fun if you didn't spend so much time compromising and consulting and checking every damn thing. Sometimes, he just likes being told what to do.'

'Especially in bed, I suppose,' Wufei gibed back.

Trowa laughed. 'Oh, you did manage to find that out. I wasn't sure sometimes. OK, I guess it's a no for here. Ready for the next place?'

'Once it's not going to take too long.'

'It's just down the road. Come on, 'Fei, couple more apartments, then I'll take you for lunch. Tell you what. Next time, you can be the one to shock the estate agent. Deal?'

~ * ~

Chapter 3

Back to Waterlilylf's Page

Back to GW Authors Index.