Chapter Text
Winner Family Compound
L4-V05001
21 December 210
Wufei had arrived from Geneva. Quatre had not bothered to send a car; from past precedent, he knew Wufei would have avoided being detected by any driver he sent to the shuttle port. Quatre had instead greeted him at the door to the estate with a warm embrace.
“How was the trip?” Quatre asked as he stepped aside, letting Wufei enter the large main foyer.
“Fine. Long,” Wufei replied.
“I know,” Quatre acknowledged, having taken the route more than once now in economy class. No more chartered shuttles for the Winner Heir, so long as he was on the government dime. Nodding up the stairwell before them, he suggested, “Go do what you need to to feel human again. We’ll have a bite to eat and then—before anyone else arrives—we’ll go to the venue and I’ll show you around.”
“You allowed to take me behind the scenes after hours?” Wufei asked, sounding amused but also in no small part relieved.
Quatre could feel the man’s nervousness roll off him in waves. He plastered a reassuring smile on his face as he retreated a few steps. “Of course. I’ve already told the set up crew I would probably be swing by later tonight. It shouldn’t be a problem.” Gesturing toward the stairs, he urged, “Please. I trust you remember where your room is.”
Wufei laughed at that. “Yes, though you may need to stage a sword fight for me to fully recall.”
Quatre groaned loudly as Wufei retreated up the stairs and out of sight. Alone once more in the foyer, he took a steadying breath. Keeping a straight face would be more difficult than he had originally expected if Wufei failed at keeping his emotions checked. Quatre only hoped he would not inadvertently reveal the plans for Christmas Eve.
Glancing up the stairwell, he smiled. Even with Wufei’s nerves there was such a tremendous sense of rightness to it all, a culmination of so many things over the years, so many of them circling around Relena. It made his heart ache at the sweetness of it and, brushing at a stray tear that betrayed him, he laughed quietly to himself and moved through the house to the dining space. They had precious little time together, him and Wufei, before the others descended—or ascended as the case may have been—and he’d be damned if they didn’t use it to their advantage.