The Phoenix and the Dragon
Chapter 1"So what do you want? Chips, crackers, lolly pops, marshmallow, etc… you chose."
"I'm not hungry." Quatre stood on tiptoes and looked around the thickening crowd.
Wufei put an arm around him and pushed him gently towards the junk food stall again. "Come on, tell me what you want. I have to get you something."
"You don't have to. Besides, I have to keep a look out for Heero. With this crowd, he might not be able to see us here." Quatre tried to shrug off Wufei's arm.
"Fine fine, go look for your Heero, just don't come begging me next time in the subway station." Wufei let go and gave Quatre a push into the crowd, turning his back and feigned hurt in his voice.
Gotcha! Wufei though triumphantly as Quatre came back to him in an iota. "Sorry Wufei." Wufei turned away from Quatre and stared at the leaves on a tree. "I'm sorry, I'm just nervous, okay?" Wufei looked at the sky and whistled. Quatre sighed. "I'll have some popcorn then."
Surpassing speed of lightning, Wufei's arm was back around Quatre's shoulders. "That's more like it." He flicked out a finger and tapped on Quatre's cutely upturned nose. "You know you look really cute in this oversized red jumper?"
"Are you harassing my friend, Chang?" A nasal voice sounded behind them, perfectly audible even with the background noise of the markets and crowds.
"Heero!" Quatre was glad to see the messy brown haired boy come to a stop before him on his skateboard. With a skilled step, the skateboard bounced up perfectly into Heero's grip.
"Yuy, I was just going to buy my little boyfriend some popcorns. Want some too?" Wufei tightened his hold around Quatre a little, meanwhile casually putting a note onto the counter as he took a bag of caramel popcorns from the display stand.
"No thanks."
Rolling his eyes, Wufei passed the popcorn to Quatre and proceeded in manoeuvring through the crowd.
Quatre glanced back at Heero uncertainly, receiving a reassuring nod. Heero had silently promised that he would always be one step behind them. Quatre sighed quietly to himself, how had he managed to condemn himself into this awkward situation. It wasn't as though that he had a choice then – being the leader of the city gang, Wufei was not someone to mess with. Ignoring his embarrassingly flowery lines and deleting his phone messages became useless tacts when Wufei and a few of his gang members finally cornered Quatre in a subway station and threatened him into going on this date with promised violence otherwise.
Fortunately, his best friend Heero isn't someone to mess with either. Wufei actually agreed to let Heero accompany them on the date. What surprised Quatre even more is that Wufei did not similarly bring along one of his minions so not to be outnumbered. It seems Wufei has a great sense of honour after all. Hang on a sec – did he just insult himself?
"So, want to go on a paddleboat on the lake?" Wufei's husky voice by his ear startled him out of his musing.
"Ah… sure." He could only managed to get his vocal cords to work nervously. Again, for the hundredth time today, he was feeling immense regret in been such a pussy back at the subway station yesterday. Can't you take a beating? Anything is better than this!
The lake was already dotted with numerous little paddleboats, containing many doting couples and best friends. Wufei had already paid the staff and stepped into a swan shaped paddleboat. He extended one hand and bowed gentlemanly. "May I?"
"Stop that. It's not a ball." Quatre snapped in embarrassment, hoping that no one else apart from Heero was watching.
"Oh? I always thought you were the kind that liked to be wooed the old fashioned way." Wufei grinned.
It was not until that Quatre had sat down in front of the paddle did he realise that the boat has only two seats. Which means – he turned to see Heero been stopped by the staff.
"Sir, the boats are limited to two passengers only. If you wish to use a paddleboat, you have to hire another one."
"But-" Quatre tried to protest, but Wufei held onto his arm, preventing him from getting out of his seat almost effortlessly. Gosh I wish I had more muscle!
"Don't worry, your friend can follow us in his own boat." With that, Wufei gave Heero a victorious grin and paddled away from the bank. Claiming the nearest boat, Heero quickly followed.
"Hey, stop looking at Heero. I thought you were dating me." Wufei teasingly commented, then laughing as a surge of embarrassment flared on Quatre's cheeks once again.
"Slow down." Quatre merely turned away to the side instead.
A cool breeze brushed past and he shivered slightly at the sudden chill. An arm immediately wounded around him, pressing him against a surprisingly warm chest. Quatre's first instinct was to press his cold fingers to that warmth, but his logic soon gave a swift kick to his sense. This is CHANG WUFEI! Hello! The infamous city gang leader who threatened him into this date!
"I can't believe you can still be cold with that thick jumper on." That thin mouth was curved to what seems like a smirk again.
Quatre quickly extricated himself from the embrace, sitting up tensely in his seat. "I'm not cold." He looked back once again, letting out a small breath of relieve when he saw Heero was still a meter behind them. Quatre blinked, did the gap just suddenly grew bigger?
"Wufei!" He cried out in alarm. His companion was paddling the boat like a mad man, zooming through the water, swivelling the rudder left and right in order to avoid head-on collisions with other paddleboats.
There were occasional screams of surprise and fright from the paddleboats left and right. An old lady lost her bonnet as she shrieked and dived into the arms of her husband; a little girl dropped her ice-cream into the lake; a poor man's wig was blown away in the gush of wind as Wufei paddled past; a little dog yelped as water sprayed upon its little face in tiny beads of crystal. Quatre had to hold onto the side of the boat tightly in order to prevent himself from being thrown overboard.
"Have you gone nuts?" Quatre screamed as Wufei manoeuvred the boat through a narrow gap between two bypassing paddleboats, the sound of paint scraping paint was painfully audible. He dared to spare another look at his best friend at the rear despite the unsettling movement of the boat, catching the sight of Heero barely managed manoeuvring around the double barriers.
Before Quatre could even release a sigh of relieve, Wufei again swivelled the boat violently, somehow managing to send a splash of water spurting from the side of the boat and showering down directly upon Heero.
"Shit!" Before the distracting droplets of water had been successfully rubbed away from his eyes, Heero found himself on an inevitable head-on collision course with a speed boat.
The last thing he remembered was an unbelievably loud 'CRACK!' from somewhere beneath him.