Title: Orange Crush (1/1)
Author: Bronze Tigress
Pairings: 3+D; possible 2+5
Genre: general action; get-together
Rating: PG/PG13

Warnings: Spoilers for Episode Zero and Blind Target; possibly
shounen ai; OOC?

Author's Notes: This fic is a sequel to both Orange Sherbet and
Strawberry Swirl. Much is explained by the fact that it is, again, from
Trowa's perspective. Thanks go to Sheena for beta'ing this and Swirl,
and to TJ and Cassima for this one. Thanks also go to Ashkara for the
pairing, even if it was a throw-away, and to Czarina for Heero's chair!

Disclaimer: Not my characters! I only wish. But I had great fun dressing
them up and making them do stuff... Oh, yeah, they're all fine; they
can go home again as soon as we get them cleaned up and back
into their regular costumes...

~*~*~*~*~

mid April, AC 197

Trowa's business with the Circus doesn't take him nearly as long as he
thought it might. The Manager, who has in truth begun to become a
little bit frustrated with Trowa's continual comings and goings, is able to
find a new person to permanently take over the care of the lions within
a few days, and Trowa's usual stand-in as Cathy's target is asked to
continue in that role until they can find a permanent replacement for
that act as well. He certainly doesn't have much packing to do. And
even Cathy can see that, much as the Circus has become a home to
Trowa, it's time for him to grow up and move away. So there is
nothing to delay his return to his new job on Earth with
the Preventers.

In less than a week, Trowa is back on Earth. On Wednesday morning,
he walks calmly into Preventers' Headquarters carrying a pair of
well-filled duffle-bags, completely flouting the security protocol
which forbids such a thing, and going largely unnoticed in the
process. He marches directly into Une's office, and within half
an hour he is headed for a set of quarters labelled, in neat
institutional letters, #203. He drops off his bags, then heads
down to the requisitions department for a set of uniforms.

That evening, Trowa calls upon one Miss Catalonia, having used
part of his settling-in time to locate her current address and
vidphone number. They spend the evening in quiet conversation
over coffee. Dorothy has by this time recovered enough from the
shock of the hostage experience to be able to talk about it, and the
long-suppressed memories of her childhood that it had caused her to
recall. In fact, she tells him, in the wake of those memories, she has
been rather rethinking her stance on war, peace, and fighting in the
past week, and it's nice to have his perspective as a counterpoint
to her musings.

Trowa, for his part, ends up telling Dorothy a great deal about his
part in the War, and the various peacekeeping efforts the five pilots
had been engaged in afterwards. "Ex-pilots, I should say, I suppose;
the Gundams are gone now. We're still fighting the same battle, though,
really. I'm not quite sure how to stop. I've never really been anything
but a soldier, or a soldier between engagements. At least, now, I'm not
some lone vigilante any more, and it's a good feeling to know that the
people I'm trying to protect are backing me up for a change."

"Nonsense. You are still a pilot, even without a Gundam. You've done
more for Earth and Space already than most people will ever dream of
doing, and you've barely even started. Don't sell yourself short," he is
told. Trowa blushes faintly at the praise in Dorothy's tone, and is only
too happy to accept her offer of a repeat of the evening -
say, sometime that weekend?

As it happens, then, these evenings over coffee and conversation
become a regular event. When Dorothy approaches Une in mid-June
concerning a position with the Preventers, Trowa will be the only one
who is not surprised. And when, as spring turns to summer, the coffee
dates become lunch, or the occasional dinner, or a Saturday
afternoon stroll in the park - well, once again, neither one will
be surprised. But - that's getting ahead of this story.

~*~*~*~*~

When he first hears about it, Trowa is quite surprised to learn that two
of his comrades have actually agreed to share quarters. What surprises
him the most about it is learning which two it will be. Nevertheless,
he turns up on the first of May to help Duo carry Wufei's bookshelf
down the halls to the apartment the two will be sharing, while Heero
and Wufei carry the boxes of books, and Quatre trails along with
boxes of lighter articles. Zechs appears from the other end of the
hall just as they get the door to the new apartment open, carrying
an armload of metal bedframe parts and followed by two burly men
carrying a mattress.

"Hey, Wufei?" Zechs asks, "You got a double? Or is this thing Duo's?"

"What," Wufei throws back at the tall blond man, a flash of amusement
in his eyes, "you do not believe me capable of finding someone willing to
share it with me?" Duo stares, surprised, at Wufei for a moment, before
shrugging expressively and directing the delivery men to the back
bedroom with their cargo. Quatre is left speechless at the forthright
nature of the reply for a moment, before he collects himself, and the
box of shirts, to carry it into what is, evidently, intended to be Wufei's
room. Heero merely raises an eyebrow.

The ribbing Duo gets when the second double bed set arrives
only results in his cocky declaration that, of course, the Maxwell
charm is irresistible. Duo's grinning pose is slightly hampered by
the fact that he's carrying a box of kitchen utensils at the time, and
it is Trowa who motions the delivery men to the front bedroom, where
the small stack of Duo's new uniforms has already been deposited.

The move is completed in plenty of time for lunch, and the six
Agents are only too happy to extend their morning off by going to
eat together. Afterwards, they head back to help load Quatre's few
things into his jeep, so that he can take them over to the apartment
he's taken closer to the main new Winner Inc. buildings ten minutes
away - in case of family emergencies, he'd said. The 2nd floor corridor,
which had that morning housed all six ex-pilots, is unusually quiet that
evening with half their number gone, and Trowa is only too glad that he
has already made arrangements to see Dorothy for coffee that evening.

~*~*~*~*~

One day not more than three weeks later, a security-sealed envelope
from a genetics laboratory on L4, addressed merely to Preventer
Agent Rain at the HQ address, is placed on Trowa's desk. He looks at
it, then sets it aside without opening it. Then he gets up, walks down
to the door of Heero and Quatre's office, knocking lightly before
slipping in to speak briefly with them. He then walks back, and on
past his own door, into the corner office shared by Duo and Wufei,
and bangs loudly on the door. Their partnership never ceases to
amaze, and amuse, him - and the rest of the group as well - and the
sight that greets him is no disappointment.

"Hey, Tro, whatcha shakin' us down for?" Duo's voice is as cheerful
as usual, but the pinched expression on his face and the headphones
hanging around his neck indicate that he's been working through
sound samples again. The details of this particular pursuit - something
involving toned timers - are rather fuzzy, but the braided man has
been with headphones more often than not over the last couple
of weeks. Peering over Duo's shoulder, Trowa spots Wufei,
leaned back slightly in his chair, an open file folder in his hands,
a small pair of glasses balanced on his nose, and lost to the world.
Even with the headphones, somehow Trowa's not surprised that it
is Duo who noticed the door's vibrations first.

"Poke Chang there for me, would ya? I need you both," Trowa replies.
Duo blinks at him, then obligingly slips around behind Wufei and pokes
him, ducking immediately out of range of the arm that swings around to
catch him as Wufei starts out of his chair into a full defensive position
with all the speed of a feral cat.

Two doors down, Quatre's voice is raised in laughter as Wufei's
enraged cry of "MAXWELL!!" echoes through the section.

"Love ya too, W'Fei, but Trowa's here to see us," Duo informs
his partner, who freezes in the act of reaching out to throttle the braided
young man, then visibly relaxes before turning towards their visitor.
Wufei's expression is carefully neutral by the time Trowa sees it.

"What can we do for you, Barton?" Wufei asks.

"I got an envelope in the mail this morning. I'd like you to drop by
my quarters after work, if you wouldn't mind? It may be of some
concern to you as well. It's not specifically work related, but I'd
appreciate it if you'd come."

Duo and Wufei exchange glances, then Wufei nods, and Duo speaks.
"Sure thing, Tro. What time do you want us there?"

"Oh, say 1830hrs? Time for us all to eat first that way," Trowa says.
They nod, and he backs out of their office again to return to his own
desk and partner, to whom he extends the same invitation in turn. Trowa
spends the rest of the day studiously ignoring the large manilla
envelope turned face down on the corner of his desk.

Trowa is, of course, oblivious to the discussion the unlikely pair
holds following his exit, of which the only truly important portion
is the following cryptic exchange:

"Really?"

"Really."

~*~*~*~*~

When Duo and Wufei knock on the door to Trowa's quarters at
1828hrs that evening, it is Zechs who opens the door.(1) He has
apparently just arrived himself, as he is still struggling with his
second boot. "Never gonna get used to this sockfoot thing you
guys do," he grumbles as he finally gets loose. "Come in, come in,
sit down," he says, in a louder and more polite tone, flashing them
a quick smile. "You're the last, so we can start as soon as Trowa's
ready I guess."

The three find places to sit, Wufei retrieving the kitchen stool,
and Duo perching on the arm of the couch, since Zechs has just
taken the last actual seat on the cushions thereof, and Trowa has
already claimed the only other chair in the room. The envelope
and a small throwing knife are the only things on the desk, and the
decor is still quite empty, although a small bunch of daisies in a
plain vase graces the low table.

"Sorry about the seating; guess they don't expect us to throw too many
parties in these places," Trowa begins, tone shifting between concern
and amusement before he sobers and comes to the point. "I asked
you guys here, because of this." He picks up the envelope, gripping
it tightly. "It's from one of the leading genetics research labs on L4;
they do genetic materials comparisons, and I asked them to do a
comparison test for me, between a sample of my blood and one of
Catherine's."(2)

There are nods from all of the pilots except Zechs, who obviously
doesn't recognize the name.

"I didn't tell Cathy," Trowa continues. "She cut herself sharpening
one of her knives, and I managed to get some of the blood on me
while cleaning her up. I know she didn't think of it before, or we'd
probably have had the check done long since. I didn't want to raise
her hopes, you see. She's still my sister by adoption, even if this is
negative. Duo, you called me 'brother' last year(3), and I realized later
that you were right - you guys *are* my brothers. I never thought I'd
ever have a family. But I wanted you to be here for this; you deserve
to know, and..." he trails off, then picks up the knife, saying, "shall we
see what it says?"

Trowa carefully slits the envelope open, with surprisingly steady
hands, and puts the knife back down on the desk before upturning
the envelope. The papers inside fall out into his hands, which hold
them a little too firmly as he unfolds them. Yes, it is most likely that the
blood samples belong to a pair of siblings; it would be ideal to test
suspected parental samples to confirm that conclusion, of course,
but there is definitely a blood relationship...

"Hey, man, that's great! You found your name! Congrats!" Duo is first
into motion, as he throws himself onto Trowa in an enthusiastic hug,
pulling his quiet friend up out of his chair.

Trowa stands, still frozen with the shock of revelation, for a moment
until the sense of Duo's statement seems to percolate through his brain.
A brilliant smile spreads across his features as he slowly but firmly
returns Duo's hug. "Yeah, I guess I did, didn't I?" He has to free a
hand for Heero to shake, then pulls him in for a quick half-hug as
well. Duo is still doing his best to cut off the air to Trowa's brain
when Heero lets go so Trowa can take Quatre's hand and
congratulatory hug as well.

"Duo, let Bloom-san go now; he needs to breathe - and it's my turn."
Wufei's voice seems somewhat amused. None of the young men
gathered are very surprised that Wufei has addressed Trowa so.
However, Quatre gawks a little when Wufei steps in to untangle
Duo's arms from their death grip on Trowa's ribs and separate the
two with a well-placed hip. Wufei gives Trowa a brief, if respectful,
bow and then clasps his friend by the shoulders with both hands and
smiles. As he turns away again, Wufei shoots out an arm just in time
to neatly corral Duo, who appears intent on launching himself back into
the interrupted hug. Wufei keeps his arm firmly around his wayward partner's
waist as he hauls Duo back out of the way so that Zechs can come
forward and offer Trowa his own much more sedate congratulations.

Zechs moves forwards, then, to clasp Trowa's hand and forearm,
and murmur softly, "I'm happy for you; it's good to know that some
of the ills of this war can be, if not repaired, at least resolved. And
thank you, for considering me family enough to be included in this;
I am deeply honoured by that."

"You're my partner; you deserve to know stuff like this. And - I was
thinking, you know, it was Quatre's idea to get us together, and
Duo's to call us that. But you oughta be in this with us, too. And
knowing these guys, if any of them didn't like it, we'd already have
heard something about it."

An indignant squawk from Duo draws everyone's attention. Wufei has
now not only got his arm wrapped firmly around his partner's waist,
not incidentally managing to draw their bodies together from hip to
shoulder, but also has the end of Duo's braid wrapped around his
other hand, and has apparently just finished whispering something
into Duo's ear, as he seems to be waiting for an answer. "Well?"

"Oh, all *right*, but I still *eep*! Okay! Okay, already! Sheesh..."
Duo stops struggling and looks somewhat repentant, as if he has
been told in no uncertain terms that his intended prank is being
called off.

"Good, thank you," Wufei says, as he releases his hold, making sure
that Duo has caught his balance rather than simply dropping his arm.
He turns to the other four men present - who are all looking on with
various expressions of shock and surprise - and says, "My apologies,
gentlemen."

It isn't that Wufei has never reached out and yanked Duo to a halt before.
He has, in fact, been doing quite a bit of that in the last month, since
they were assigned as partners by Une. In the time that they have
been working together, Duo's tendency to start moving before Wufei
- or lag behind instead - has resulted in Wufei making more than a
few very loud requests to Une for a leash and collar for his excitable
partner. Usually, however, the grab has been made for Duo's collar,
jacket hem, or perhaps wrist. This, however, is practically a full-contact
embrace - and *nobody* grabs Duo's hair.

Even given that the two are sharing an apartment, under the
circumstances none of the others had thought anything of it
except to wonder how long both of their friends would survive
in such close quarters with each other. The twin facts that the two
frequently engage in loud verbal sparring matches, and that Duo
is often seen blithely making his escape from a patently irritated
Wufei after playing him some prank or other, makes this current
behaviour that much odder.

It is Trowa who first gathers the wit to wonder where Wufei's pod
is hidden. Duo blinks hugely at him, then doubles over in helpless
laughter. Wufei has evidently also heard the reference, for he raises
an elegant eyebrow. "Pod? I blew it up along with my Gundam - and
the clone you met," he says, and then a smile flashes across his face
as his eyes sparkle briefly with amusement. "So sorry, you will just
have to adjust to the original. Speaking of which," he turns the
question back to Trowa, "what *is* this name you have found?"

"Triton; my name is Triton Bloom..." His voice is filled with a
subtle wonder at the fact.

Duo manages to get himself together, and then announces,
"Right! Okay, everybody, we celebrate now, right? Half an hour,
our place, right, Wufei? I'll go set up, you guys go tell Une and
Sally and whoever, and..."

Wufei turns Duo towards the door by the shoulders and tells him
firmly to get going, then begins issuing assignments, concluding
with his own course of action. He is interrupted not more than three
minutes after Duo's exit by Trowa, who calls him to the vidphone -
where Duo requests that his "sweetheart" scrounge up something
that could be used as vegetable dip on his way back. "Yes, dear!"
Wufei replies, in a chirrupy, high-pitched voice, then turns at the
sound of a distinct *thud*. Quatre's mouth and Trowa's eyes have
gone very wide indeed. Zechs looks rather confused, as well. Heero,
however, has gotten the worst of it; he is sprawled across the floor,
having evidently tried to sit down on the chair, and landed on his
back and one elbow instead.

Wufei takes a good look at the three men still standing, before
laughing. "You all look like... oh, like you just saw Tsuberov dancing
about in a pink tutu... Here, Duo, look for yourself..." He swivels the
monitor so that Duo gets a panoramic view of the room.

On the other end of the connection, Duo promptly dissolves into
laughter. "Okay, you win!" he gets out, before collapsing.

"I don't mean to be rude, Wufei, but... what was that about?" It is,
perhaps unsurprisingly, Zechs who manages to get this question out.

"Oh, just something Duo said this afternoon. He owes me twenty
creds now..." Wufei is now wearing a self-satisfied smirk that
rivals Duo's usual grin.

Quatre blinks, decides the whole episode was a joke, and giggles.
"Well, it's nice to see you're developing a sense of humour, Wufei,
although I'm not sure it's such a good thing that you're developing
*Duo*'s sense of humour."

On opposite sides of the room, Trowa and Zechs smile and
chuckle softly, at the joke, its explanation, and Quatre's
obvious delighted amusement.

"Bah," Heero remarks from his position on the floor, rubbing gently
at his elbow. "Maxwell's a bad influence on you, Chang. Next thing
you know you'll be running around the department in a red dress
and waving your sword around, screaming like a fishwife
about 'injustice'."

Wufei just *stares* at Heero for a moment, stunned by the complete
incongruity of the image he has just provided, before drawing himself
up stiffly, and informing him rather tersely, "I'm afraid, Yui, that you
have gotten me confused with my wife..." Of course, that particular
phrasing, under the circumstances, only gathers him more blank
looks. He shakes his head, not wishing to go into the details on
this happy occasion. "A story for another time; remind me later."
The hint of pain in his voice is gone almost before it becomes
audible, except that Quatre abruptly stops laughing, and files
quietly out to begin his search for fruit juice. "Well? Do we not have
a party to set up for? Come on, people..." And Wufei, too, heads
out the door - in search of vegetable dip and cake plates.

~*~*~*~*~

When half a dozen ex-Gundam pilots decide to get something done,
it doesn't take very long to organize it. It is no more than an hour
after Trowa first called them together that a small party is in full
swing in Duo and Wufei's apartment. Celebratory music is playing in
the background, people are circulating, and someone - probably
either Dorothy or Relena - has even stopped by a bakery on their way
over to pick up a small, rather plain sheet cake that has been inscribed
with the words "Happy Name Day!" in a dark purplish-blue icing, and
decorated with some very small multicoloured flowers. A large bowl
of punch has been mixed up - and is being very carefully guarded
against being inadvertently spiked - by Quatre, who is busily setting
out enough small paper cups of the murky pinkish liquid to serve
all of the guests. Wufei has borrowed a stack of small plates and
forks from the cafe, along with the dip, and Duo has just brought
out a tray of assorted vegetables to put on the table.

Seeing that everyone who probably should be present has already
arrived, Duo whistles loudly, and when he has attracted everyone's
attention, he announces loudly, in his best imitation of the barker
for the circus, "Listen up, ladies and gentlemen! We're here today
to introduce y'all to a very special person! Some of you may think
ya know him, but it is my *distinct* pleasure to present to you, for
the first time ever, the new, the improved - Triton Bloom!" The new
name rolls off his tongue with a decided flourish, and Trowa steps
forwards, pinking slightly, and gives his friends his best stage bow.
The assembled group claps, cheers, whistles, and laughs delightedly
at the performance, and those who have not already done so, step
forward to congratulate the new man on his naming.

Soon the congratulations swirl into general mingling and happy
inconsequential chatter, and as the conversation becomes less
important, so the music gradually becomes more suited to dancing.
It isn't terribly long before people begin using the cleared centre
of the floor for dancing, passing partners around as if it would be
bad luck, or at least bad form, to dance with the same person twice.
Even Heero, whose preparatory assignment involved a visit to the
infirmary to find Sally and getting his sprained elbow iced and strapped,
has taken a turn on the floor. Only Triton doesn't seem to join in the
general merriment, waiting until Dorothy has completed her rounds
and turned to him again.

"Aren't you dancing, Triton? It's your party after all," Dorothy exclaims.

"Of course I am, now that you're here," he replies, standing and
holding his arms out to her in invitation. "Shall we?"

Off on the side, Quatre, who is back to ladling punch after his own
tour of the floor, comments to Duo, "how very sweet they are together,
don't you think?"

~*~*~*~*~

(1) While all the boys have been assigned code names, of course,
Wind generally goes by 'Zechs' when code names are not required;
it *is* what he's most used to, after all. And while the OZ Special
was certainly famous, Milliardo Peacecraft was positively infamous
as the madman representing the White Fang. The Prince, incidentally,
is not dead, but is currently undergoing mental evaluation and
treatment at an undisclosed private facility, according to certain
carefully cultivated rumours...

(2) Based on the fact that it's a travelling circus, and there really
wasn't time for Wufei to get to two colonies and back to Earth
again, it's most likely that the circus was on L4 at the time of the
Preventers 5 operation - and the circus would likely still have
been there the week after when Trowa returned to it.

3) A reference to _Blind_Target_, at the beginning of Chapter 3;
in the Japanese, Duo addresses Trowa as "oniisan".

Next ---> Rainbow Sherbert p

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