Not because it's surprising for Quatre to be polite. He almost always is. It's because Heero has heard Quatre Raberba Winner when he's delivering his canned pleasantries, and in those moments there is none of the warmth that he detects on his... friend's voice now, and years later Heero is still getting used to existing in a universe where anyone is so genuinely happy to see him again that even he can see the hug in their eyes.
And this isn't even their usual universe. ]
Mm.
[ A single syllable of agreement, quietly understated, while his eyes dart towards the nearest item of interest on the adjacent wall.
It's all Heero can give without getting sidetracked by the expectations of a pleasant exchange with a friend, but Quatre understands that, too preternaturally perceptive to ever mistake these particular evasions of his for a snub. Whatever wavelength Quatre is uniquely attuned to, though it may defy logic, Heero appreciates that in his own way.
He returns the favor of being silently understood with his unconditional trust in whatever Winner has to say. ]
Centuries at least.
[ Whole pieces of what might have been a console installed into the wall flakes off alongside the caked-on dust with a brush of his hand. Even plastic and metal crumbles. Heero's exhale is frustrated, because that's the second one he's tried. ]
no subject
Not because it's surprising for Quatre to be polite. He almost always is. It's because Heero has heard Quatre Raberba Winner when he's delivering his canned pleasantries, and in those moments there is none of the warmth that he detects on his... friend's voice now, and years later Heero is still getting used to existing in a universe where anyone is so genuinely happy to see him again that even he can see the hug in their eyes.
And this isn't even their usual universe. ]
Mm.
[ A single syllable of agreement, quietly understated, while his eyes dart towards the nearest item of interest on the adjacent wall.
It's all Heero can give without getting sidetracked by the expectations of a pleasant exchange with a friend, but Quatre understands that, too preternaturally perceptive to ever mistake these particular evasions of his for a snub. Whatever wavelength Quatre is uniquely attuned to, though it may defy logic, Heero appreciates that in his own way.
He returns the favor of being silently understood with his unconditional trust in whatever Winner has to say. ]
Centuries at least.
[ Whole pieces of what might have been a console installed into the wall flakes off alongside the caked-on dust with a brush of his hand. Even plastic and metal crumbles. Heero's exhale is frustrated, because that's the second one he's tried. ]