LSE / 08-19-07
(Fly on Broken Wings - Chapter Thirty-One: The In-between)
rated: R - language, content, violence
shounen-ai/yaoi

The In-between

Quatre swirled around his gravy and gave the Salisbury steak a few half-hearted pokes. He sat alone in the far corner of the cafeteria, having been forced to abandon his station for dinner with no sign of Wufei. Panic drifted around in his middle, killing his appetite. He managed a few bites of mashed potatoes, however, and was pleasantly surprised when, halfway through the designated dinner hour, Zechs plopped down in the opposing seat. He frowned at the empty table. "Wufei not back yet?"

Shaking his head, Quatre sculpted the fluffy, starchy stuff into a passable approximation of Sandy's face before dribbling gravy over it. They ate in silence, right up until Duo marched up to the table and, arms firmly folded, stared at Zechs as if he was the only one at the table. "Where's Wufei?" he demanded.

"The hell if I know," Zechs snapped back, which was odd since the two of them had been getting along until now.

Duo's eyes narrowed, passing briefly over Quatre before he went away, braid bouncing against the small of his back. Zechs flipped him off under the table and Quatre had to hold back a giggle, even though he felt guilty for it. "But seriously," Zechs leaned forward, speaking in a low whisper. "D'you remember what he said about maybe having to leave? That was weird, wasn't it? Was that his mom or something that came to see him? She didn't look Asian or anything."

"Oh, um," Quatre flustered. He chewed at the rubbery steak, which had a consistency and taste of old tire, to buy time. "Case worker, I guess. Um, Meiran said he was a ward of the state."

Zechs considered this for a moment before persisting, "So do you think he's going to get released? No offense, but he is, you know, the whole split personality thing makes him a little too crazy. I guess he's harmless, though. I think? Is he?"

Quatre just shrugged, poking at his food. Zechs must have sensed his discomfort, because the older boy stopped questioning him and dug into his food with zeal. Quatre figured the boy was either determined or had taste buds of steel. Even for the hospital's sub-par standards, the meal was awful. The gravy tasted burnt and was lumpy, great chunks of powdery mix floating around in the watery base.

Zechs finished before him, but Quatre wasn't too keen on finishing his supper anyway. The two of them packed up and left, heading out into the commons and walking close to the nurses station, both to receive medication and sneak a peak for Wufei. Quatre's heart bounced; Wufei's case worker stood next to the station in deep discussion with the woman, the one he didn't recognize with the tight bun. As soon as he knocked back his pills, Quatre made an about face and walked briskly down the residential ward, heedless of Zechs calling after him.

Using his long strides, Zechs caught up easily as Quatre made a beeline for Wufei's room. The door was closed, to no surprise, and Quatre hesitated. Zechs glanced at the bronze name plaque and rapped sharply, to answering silence. He tried again, a little more insistent.

"G-guess he's not—" Quatre started to say, but Zechs pushed the door open, much to his horror. The sight inside, however, stilled his protests.

Normally, Wufei's room was an example of cleanliness rivaled possibly only by Relena, but not now. The sheets had been torn from the bed and wadded angrily into the corner, at least a dozen notebooks, some with pages torn out and crumpled, looked to have been thrown around at random, filled the distinctive pattern of three separate sets of handwriting. Some only had half-pages torn out, or angry scribbles across portions of them, the paper ripped in places where the pen had dug in too far. Books, some likewise torn or the spines bent at awkward angles, littered the floor by the desk. An old pair of glasses, Quatre assumed they were old because Wufei still wore his, lay shattered next to the boy himself, who sat cross-legged in the middle of the maelstrom methodically breaking pens and pencils from a tissue-decorated coffee can apart.

Eyes firmly focused on the task at hand –snapping the plastic and wood writing tools and throwing the two halves over his shoulder—Wufei didn't even look up as the floor swung open. Unable to do more than gape at the improbably scene before him, Quatre let Zechs drag him into the room. The older boy shut the door and leaned against it, letting out a low whistle. "Nurses are gonna flip if they see this."

"I'll – crack! – deal – snap! – with it," Wufei said flatly. He strained at one particularly tough pen for a moment before simply hurling it forcefully at the wall. It bounced off and disappeared under his dresser.

Zechs went and fetched the discarded pen and broke it using his foot as leverage. He presented the two halves to Wufei. Finally looking up from his precise destruction, Wufei just stared up at him for a long moment before giving a very faint smile and throwing the plastic bits over his shoulder where the rest were scattered. His hands were flecked and stained with blue-black ink from the assorted collection he'd already broken.

"So," Zechs said in a long, drawn out tone, eyes looking over the room. "Is there a reason your tearing your shit apart?"

"Not mine," Wufei said with emphasis. "Treize's. Only, some of these are Meiran's," he winced, breaking a mechanical pencil. The plastic scratched at him. "But I don't know which."

For the chaos that surrounded him, Wufei seemed incredibly calm. Quatre sat across from him on the floor and, when Wufei didn't stop him, picked a slender wooden pencil, painted white with a red rose print, from the coffee can. He snapped it in half and handed it to Wufei, who took it and broke it into quarters before discarding it. "I know that one was his," he explained.

Zechs perched on the edge of the bed behind the two of them. "What'd Treize do to you?"

"More like," Wufei gritted his teeth, "it's what Treize did to you." He turned his head and leveled a dark glower at the blonde. Zechs recoiled as if slapped. Wufei used more force than necessary and the ink pen angrily gashed the fleshy part of his thumb in retaliation. Ignoring it, Wufei reached for the last remaining pencil.

Neither Zechs nor Quatre had anything more to say, they simply watched as Wufei ran out of utensils and sat, shouders slumped in defeat, surveying the wreckage. Though he had them tightly balled into fists, Quatre could see his hands were shaking. Wufei stood unsteadily and went over to the dresser, jerking it open to look at the neatly folded contents. He slammed it shut and opened the next, from which he pulled out a ridiculous looking ceramic unicorn. He turned and, before either of his friends could stop him, spiked it onto the floor. Chunks of unicorn went flying everywhere, and Quatre quickly jumped to his feet to avoid them.

"What're you-?" Zechs stood as well. "Stop it."

"No," Wufei replied calmly. He took out a blue shirt imprinted with some band Quatre had never heard of and tore at it with his teeth. The cloth gave easily, and he ripped it cleanly in half with his hands. He reached for another, but Zechs stormed over and yanked it out his hands. Wufei glared at him.

"I don't think destroying his stuff is going to help."

"Yes, it will." Wufei sounded so absolute that Zechs let go of the shirt and took a step back, surprise evident on his face. Wufei ripped this one in half with a little more effort. "If you can't stand seeing me trash that worthless," Wufei struggled for a moment over the right insult. He vehemently slammed the drawer shut. "Look," he told Zechs, an uncharacteristic rudeness slipping into his voice, "I know it's not fair to get mad at you, so get out before I say something I'll regret. What are you even doing here, anyway? I told you to stay away."

"You said to stay away from Treize," Zechs said quietly.

This gave Wufei some pause. Quatre broke into the sudden silence. "Wufei…? How did…?" He fell silent as those dark eyes moved in his direction.

"I'll leave in a week," Wufei answered shortly. He grabbed for another shirt. "With good behavior." There was a glint in his eyes as he said this, and sudden understanding filled Quatre.

Zechs snatched the shirt out of his hands, a look of cold fury on his face. Wufei snatched for it, and the two tussled briefly, with the shirt losing as the fabric jagged tore down the middle. Overbalanced, Wufei staggered back and lost ground. Zechs slammed the drawer shut with his hip and stood in front of the dresser, blocking Wufei's access. The two glared at each other, tableau broken by the door suddenly bursting open, scattering hunks of broken unicorn.

"You fucking hypocrite!" Duo yelled, eyes roaming over the wreckage and landing on a flabbergasted Wufei. "Look at this!"

His face filled with color, Wufei made a few stammering protests before falling silent, guilt clear on his face. He crouched and started hastily snatching at the debris, as if to hide it. "It's nothing. Not what you think. Go away," Wufei muttered, looking anywhere but at Duo.

"Yeah, fuck off," Zech sneered.

Duo goggled at him. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

"Whatever the hell I want," Zechs shot back.

Quatre squeezed Sandy close. He began to gather up Wufei's notebooks, making a neat stack on the desk of them. Wufei dropped an armful of ripped fabric, broken plastic and ceramic into the trashcan and stared at Zechs and Duo, who were practically toe-to-toe and seething.

"Why the hell's shit everywhere? You trying to pick another fight, Milly?" Duo spat the name.

Red crept up Zechs's neck. "Call me that again and I'll rip your goddamn braid off."

"S-s-stop," Quatre spluttered weakly. No one even looked his way.

"Like to fucking see you try, pretty boy. C'mon, Wufei, I wanted to talk to you," Duo jerked his head toward the door and stared expectantly at Wufei, as one would a dog. Wufei stayed where he was, fidgeting nervously with his hands.

"Take the damn hint, he doesn't want to talk to you." There was a note of triumph in Zechs's voice.

"Fuck off, Mill— Argh!" Duo's head jerked back as Zechs proved himself a man of his word. He grabbed at Zechs's arms, scrabbling frantically at the back of the hand wrapped around his long braid. The wide band of leather loosened and flew off Zechs's wrist. "Son of a bitch!" Duo swore, still clawing wildly. The gauze snagged, ripped, and Zechs let go with a hiss.

His body moved unconsciously. If there was one place in the entire world Quatre needed to be, it was most assuredly not between Duo and Zechs. However, he found himself planted firmly between them with arms outstretched. His bear hit the floor. "STOP!" he shrieked.

Duo's mouth fell open. Everyone seemed to freeze, even Wufei's hands stopped moving. Quatre's chest felt too tight, he gasped for air. "J-just stop! Stop f-fighting! All of you!"

Zechs looked away, covertly tugging the gauze back into place as he hid the exposed arm behind his back in a feigned casual way. Duo stooped down and picked up Sandy, toying briefly with the black ribbon under the bear's chin before offering it out. Quatre snatched it from him and stuffed it up under one arm. "I'm sorry, Quatre," Duo said quickly. He sounded sincere.

From the corner of his eye, Quatre caught the affronted glare on Wufei's face that Duo missed. Duo noticeably withheld his apologies to both Zechs and Wufei, looking straight at his ex-roommate. Quatre gave a sort of half-shrug and bit down on Sandy's ear. Duo stood there awkwardly for a moment before visibly gathering up his tattered dignity, a considerable feat given the disheveled mess his hair had become, with loose bits of braid puffed out at random. Without a further word to any of them, he stalked out of the room the way he'd come, even slamming the door.

That left the three of them standing around avoiding eye contact. Zechs fetched his bracelet and turned his back to reattach it; Quatre politely tried to stop staring, but kept thinking about Trowa. Wufei nudged at one of the many broken pens that littered the floor with his foot, very obviously holding back tears. Quatre found this sight much easier to avert his eyes from. He stared instead at his own feet. One shoe was untied, now that he noticed. He left it that way.

"Here, let me help you clean up," Zechs offered quietly. His voice carried a strong note of apology.

"If you want," Wufei mumbled. He staggered over to the bed and sat heavily, mattress springs squeaking in protest.

Quatre jumped at the chance to be useful and started snatching up wreckage. Working together, he and Zechs had the room presentable fairly quickly. Wufei swung his legs as he sat staring at his hands, feet scuffing the floor with a certain hypnotic rhythm. With nothing better to do, Quatre retied his shoe. Zechs set the empty coffee can on the desk next to the current journal, the only one Wufei hadn't maimed. He hesitated before turning around. "Do you—"

Wufei cut Zechs off with a terse, "Get out." And then, in a much softer tone, "Please."

"Whatever," the blonde stuffed his hands into his front pockets. Quatre thought he looked a little relieved, and Zechs left without protest. Quatre thought this to be an excellent idea, and trailed after him, but Wufei calling his name stopped him.

"Thanks," Wufei's eyes didn't quite meet his. He started to say more, but fell quiet. Quatre gave him a shaky smile and received a small one in return.

Author's Notes: Whew, I really wanted to get this out before classes start up again (tomorrow). I'm so not looking forward to this semester of complete suck. Sigh. (even my history classes are disappointing! and I love history!)
I know, what a startling revelation! Wufei leaving? How could it be! You'll have to keep reading to find out what happens. I'll bust my chops trying to hustle out the next chapter, which will star someone you've all been dying to have appear again! Oh, oh, I hope I didn't give too much away...
Cat, don't apologize for being busy, hon! I'm just glad you're still reading! That goes to everyone, too, thank you so much for all the encouraging feedback. I'm continually amazed at the support this fic receives, and very grateful for it, as I dearly love writing these particular characters and story!
For anyone else dreading the looming first day of school, you have my sincerest sympathies. For those eagerly anticipating, you have my envy, for you must be taking more interesting classes than I!

Feedback/reviews are very much appreciated!
copyright 2007 - Gundam Wing & Co. (c) Sotsu/Sunrise
LSE - Violet Nyte (violetnyte dot livejournal dot com)