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"Puppy Love"Written By: Waterliliylf Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing. All rights
remain with Bandai, Sotsu and associated parties. No profit being
made here. Rating: NC 17 Warnings: sap, angst, fluff, Alternating Trowa/Quatre
POV, AU Pairings: 3x4 get together, Background 1x2, 5x6
Summary: quatre gets a new puppy and has ot take
it to the vet. "Puppy Love"
Trowa's POV Chapter 35: I opened my front door to Quatre and Maggie at two o'clock on Saturday afternoon, and immediately had my arms full of adorably affectionate blond, with his puppy ecstatically licking my ankles. Well now! This was a good start to proceedings. Definitely. 'Thank you so much for the flowers. They're perfect!' 'You already rang to thank me,' I reminded him. 'And you're welcome. You should really be thanking Duo's friend Hilde, anyway. She made up the arrangement for you.' 'I'd much rather thank you, though,' he murmured, leaning over to kiss me again. Wow. I was going to have to find some way to thank Duo for the tip on having the flowers delivered. Some way that wouldn't get his boyfriend angry with me. And I'd have to remember to send my own boyfriend flowers on a regular basis. Yeah, very definitely. 'Now, what do you want to do this afternoon?' I asked, bending down to pick up Maggie who'd been scrabbling at my legs, wanting her share of my attention. It was a gorgeous Spring day; the sort where it would be nice just to stay at home and laze around the garden for a bit and….see what happened, if Quatre didn't have any fixed plans. No, he had plans. A torrent of them. 'Well. If you still want me to help you make bookshelves, I know a terrific DIY store where we can buy the wood, but they close early on Saturdays, so we'd have to go now. And I should take Maggie for a run at some point, if that's all right. And I haven't actually eaten lunch yet; I wasn't sure what we were going to do so I thought I'd better wait.' OK, it wasn't going to be a lazy Saturday then. Still, at least his agenda didn't include roping me into more of his matchmaking schemes. I could live with everything else. Well, maybe I could talk him out of this bookshelf project he was so fixated on. 'But if you'd rather do something else, of course that's fine too,' he finally wound up, giving one of those appealing little smiles. Damn. It looked like I was going to get lumbered - no pun intended - with those shelves, whether I wanted them or not. And, frankly, I wasn't sure I did. My books were fine, stacked against the walls. Easily accessible. But he was all excited about the project, and I couldn't remember exactly whether I'd agreed to it. He'd been talking about it for a while, now, and at some point I'd probably implied that I was interested. Oh, well. If it made him happy…. 'Sure. Let's do that to start and then we'll have lunch and take Maggie for a run.' OK, I could spend ten minutes or however long it took in this DIY place, if it was what he really wanted. How long would it take to buy a couple of planks of wood? Then, I could introduce a couple of plans of my own. I'd never really seen the attraction some couples had for spending their weekends wandering around DIY stores, looking at different colours of tile grouting, or whatever is was that they did. Seriously, did they not have better things to do with their time? Visiting Dave's DIY Warehouse with Quatre was - not too bad. Not something I'd want to do on a regular basis, but OK as a once-off. They stocked practically everything you could possibly want for a house and garden; by the time we finally made it to the wood, we had accumulated a pile of other stuff. A plastic shower curtain that would stop me flooding the bathroom whenever I took a shower, a teapot that (hopefully) wouldn't have a leaky spout, some earthenware window boxes that Quatre thought would be perfect for my new collection of herbs, and some strawberry plants. I already had visions of picking sun warmed strawberries first thing in the morning, and then feeding them to Quatre. Who in this nice little fantasy just happened to be naked and sprawled all over my futon. It made wandering up and down the aisles a lot more bearable. Quatre, who obviously knew the place inside out, was greeting all the people who worked there like old friends - apparently the place had been his second home when he was renovating his house - and all but salivating over a fancy new power saw. Maggie was having fun too, sniffing everything and being admired by everyone. And I got to enjoy watching her master. His clothes were a little bit more fitted than usual. A pale blue sweater made of some soft material that I kept wanting to touch, and dark jeans that were snug in all the right places, and nicely emphasised the curve of that place where hip flowed into ass. Very nice. That was one of his sensitive areas, right there. He'd all but purred when I'd stroked my fingers across that particular patch of skin. Damn, I really wanted to do that again. Probably not the best time, whatever Duo had said about pushing boundaries. Maybe when I got him outside and we were loading the wood into the car, there'd be a few opportunities for an accidental touch or two? 'Trowa?' He was looking at me expectantly, like he'd been trying to get my attention. I'd totally zoned out. After we'd spent fifteen minutes looking at planks of wood that all looked exactly the same, I chose the one he seemed to like best and that didn't cost the earth. 'Do you have your measurements with you?' What was that supposed to mean? Measurements? He was asking for my vital statistics in a DIY store on a Saturday afternoon, with one of the sales assistants standing beside us. That didn't make any sense. Anyway, he'd had plenty of chances to make those sort of measurements for himself, and he'd seemed happy enough. 'The walls in your living room,' Quatre elaborated. 'Do you remember? I asked you to measure them for me.' 'Oh! Right.' Those measurements. I rummaged in my pocket for that piece of paper, and gave them to Quatre, who in turn handed them to the shop assistant. 'Would you mind cutting these for us, Brian, please? We'll come around to the lumber yard and collect them. We just need to get some wall brackets.' My boyfriend smiled at me as we headed for the wall bracket section. Whatever that was. 'We might have to wait a little while, if they're busy in the lumber yard. I could do it at your house, but there would be sawdust everywhere, and I'd make rather a lot of noise.' Hum. I could live with him making a lot of noise. I was expecting him to, later. Although in a slightly different context. 'That's fine.' Selecting wall brackets didn't take too long, once I'd assured Quatre that I genuinely didn't care what size or colour they were, and twenty minutes later we were loading the car with my new possessions, all bought at wholesale discount which was even nicer. 'So how come you get a discount? Because you bought all the stuff for your house here?' I asked, getting into the car. 'Not really. Duo and Howard buy most of their building supplies here, so they get wholesale prices, and I work with them sometimes so Dave usually lets me have things at cost.' 'Oh, yeah. You were working this morning. How did that go?' 'Fine. It was just a couple of hours painting. We even got to finish early.' 'And was the house as fancy as you thought it would be?' He'd talked a little about it on the 'phone the previous night; how he was looking forward to seeing the mansion Duo was helping to renovate. He shrugged. 'It was a little overdone for my taste.' For such a chatterbox, he seemed disinclined to discuss it, settling Maggie comfortably on his lap and adjusting his seatbelt. Well, maybe he just didn't want to talk about work on a Saturday. 'Where are we going now? The park?' 'I was thinking about that.' I signalled to pull out of the car park. 'It's a nice day; why don't we take her to the beach instead? I need to pick up a few things at the organic market first so we can get some sandwiches or something for lunch first.' 'Oh, that would be perfect,' he told me happily. 'I just thought the park would be nice because it's close, and I wasn't sure if you wanted to spend the day driving around.' I took one hand briefly off the wheel to ruffle his hair. 'Wow, there I was thinking you were being bossy, and you were just trying to be considerate.' 'I didn't mean to boss you around,' he said quietly, laying one hand on my knee. OK, if he was willing to do that whenever we were in the car, I could probably live with him being a bit on the pushy side. 'I'm sorry.' 'I'll forgive you, provided you keep your hand just where it is.' Or even move it around a little bit. Predictably, that comment produced a little blush but the hand stayed in place, and even squeezed gently. Apparently cars were private rather than public and certain things were allowed, even in daylight. Good to know. 'What sort of things do you have to buy?' he wondered twenty minutes later, as we found a parking place and meandered off around the food stalls. 'Gosh, this place is amazing. I thought there would just be one or two stalls selling fruit and vegetables.' 'It started out that way, about five years ago. Now it sells pretty much everything, though. Have you really never been here before?' He shook his head, eyes widening as he took it all in. 'I've been meaning to, but I've never got around to it. I could stay here all day.' 'Yeah, some people do make a day of it. There's all sort of handcrafts up the other side; some of the artists do workshops as well, and they sometimes have concerts. We can come back some other time and look around properly.' I slipped a hand briefly under his elbow and guided him to the fresh produce stall. I had my own plans for later, and they definitely didn't include us spending hours gawking at buskers and stalls full of every type of olive in existence 'Now, let's see what I need. Some nice bread; vegetables; something for dessert tonight.' He gave me one of those adorable pouts. Right, I was going to have to get him somewhere private pretty soon, so I could kiss him. 'You didn't make me tiramisu?' 'Sorry, Quatre. I didn't have time this morning; Wufei called and wanted to meet me for an hour before work.' 'Oh, of course! He's going out with Zechs for dinner later. Is he excited about it?' More grimly determined to get it over with…. 'We didn't talk about it all that much.' That was true enough. Quatre frowned. 'Honestly, I don't know what you two do talk about! He's your best friend; aren't you at all interested in what he does?' 'Of course I am! And we did discuss it a bit, but it was confidential. You and Duo might be OK with telling the whole world what's going on in your lives, but Wufei's a very reserved person. He wouldn't like me to share a private conversation with someone he hardly knows.' Shit. Was that what Quatre wanted? I supposed I could get used to telling him all this intimate stuff about myself, but no damn way was I was I going to tell him things about my best friend. 'I'm sorry,' he said in a small voice. Maggie gazed up at me reproachfully, I'd upset her master. 'I didn't mean…for you to tell me anything private. I'd never expect that. I just thought…maybe he'd mentioned something about Zechs casually, and you could tell me that. I - I'm sorry if you thought I wanted you to break a confidence.' I shook my head. 'I'm the one who should apologise, Quatre. Look, what you said about me not being interested in what he does cut a bit close to the bone, that's all. I was feeling pretty guilty this morning about the fact that I haven't been around much lately. I know he was looking forward to me coming back here to live, and I still haven't seen that much of him.' 'Is that…my fault?' he asked uncertainly, looking more miserable than ever. Oh, God. How had we suddenly got to this point? Now, he was the one blaming himself for something I'd done. 'Of course not!' I pulled him off the path, finding a quiet little spot to the side of a tent selling handmade soaps and candles. 'It's a lot of things. I've been really busy settling in at work; ever since I started, there's been at least one person out sick or on holiday, so we've been short-staffed. I'm still learning the ropes and trying to get to know everyone.. And there was finding a place to live and getting that all sorted…and then there's this hot blond guy I met, and who I want to spend every minute with.' 'Really?' he breathed, giving me the most blinding smile. 'Well, yeah. Isn't it obvious? And Quatre, it's not your fault. It's something I have to deal with. I just need to make more time for him. I didn't mean to snap at you.' 'It's fine.' Whew. Crisis averted. Well done, Barton. Nice to know that we could work out these little blips without them becoming major disasters. 'I think you're a good friend,' he said softly, as we moved over to the cheese stall. 'You were willing to meet him early on a Saturday morning because he wanted to talk. I know you've tried to help him with his dog. And you're very protective of him.' 'Me? Protective? No way. And it's not like he needs anyone to look after him; he'd consider it a total insult.' 'It's not an insult to have friends who care about you,' he bent down to sniff a wheel of Sanque Old Blue, and I made the happy discovery that my boyfriend apparently shared my taste for the more pungent varieties. Excellent. 'And you seemed rather protective that night in the cinema. I don't know if you even realised, but you were glaring at Zechs.' I let that last comment slide. 'Speaking of Zechs, he called me this morning, just after I'd left Wufei. He wanted to get me to give him a bit of help for tonight; where Wufei would like to go, stuff like that.' 'Oh, that's so sweet.' Quatre accepted a sample of Brie from the stallholder with a smile and a little murmur of appreciation. I could make him do that. And I wouldn't need cheese as a prop. 'He is really making an effort, Trowa. That was a clever idea, to call you.' 'What?' I dug out my wallet and pointed to the cheeses I wanted; the stinky blue and the nice, creamy Brie. 'I'd assumed it was your idea. Didn't you give him my number?' 'I wouldn't have done something like that without asking you.' That was a bit of a relief, actually. OK, it wasn't a major deal, but my 'phone was friends only and I wasn't sure if Zechs fitted into that category yet. Quatre nibbled his lower lip, those perfect pearly teeth worrying gently at that perfect piece of pink flesh. I wanted to do that… 'No,' he elaborated, as I led him over to my favourite bakery stall. With luck, they'd still have one of those sourdough loaves; the one with chocolate chips and cherries. He'd admitted he loved Cherry Danish pastries for breakfast, but that was just because he'd never had this bread, warmed and slathered with butter. 'I did maybe think of asking you for a few tips; he called me last night and he was really nervous about their date, but you didn't really seem keen on getting involved so…I thought maybe I'd better not,' he shrugged. 'The thing is, I'm just not sure that they're compatible,' I explained. It was good that he'd apparently given up the matchmaking, but now I felt a bit mean. He really just wanted them to be happy; was that such a bad thing? Maybe a bit of attention from a gorgeous guy was with my friend needed. 'Look, if they get on OK at this dinner, we could think about getting together with them some evening next week. Just something casual, to let them spend a bit more time with each other.' Quatre nodded, beaming. 'That would be marvellous! Of course, we may not need to. They might arrange another date by themselves.' 'Maybe.' I didn't have particularly high expectations of that. Still, it was just possible that Wufei would be dazzled enough for that to happen. 'Right, enough about them.' I broke off a piece of sourdough. 'Taste this. If you like it, it's what we're having for breakfast tomorrow. Except then I hope we'll both still be in bed, and I'll be able to feed you.' The minute I said that, I thought maybe I'd pushed things a bit, but he just laughed. OK, it looked like it was definitely all systems go for this evening then. 'What? Don't I get a Cherry Danish after all?' 'I promise, once you've had this, you'll never want a Danish again. I used to fantasise about this bread when I was away at University; Wufei used to bring me out a supply whenever he came to visit. I know it sounds really sad, but this was bread was the one of the reasons I'd let Cathy pressure me to come back and work in Sanque.' 'Really?' he laughed up at me. 'I hope you've found another few reasons to stay since then.' 'One or two,' I teased back, watching him chew the still-warm bread. 'Well? Do you like it?' 'Oh, it's delicious.' Of course he liked it; how could he dislike fresh bread studded with chunks of dark chocolate, and sticky, sour cherries. 'Right, we just need to pick up something for lunch and then we can head off.' It actually took thirty minutes before we were on the road out of the city, my boyfriend having been distracted several times as we wandered back around the market. 'I thought we were going to the beach.' He sounded a little confused as I drove past the turn-off. 'We are; there's a really nice little cove a couple of miles up the coast. Not many people go there and I know you were talking about giving Maggie an obedience lesson; it'll be a lot easier in a quiet place where there aren't other dogs around to distract her.' OK, that was the official reason. This early in the
year, there was a pretty good chance that we'd have the place all
to ourselves; no reason to waste a deserted beach entirely on puppy-training. ~ * ~ |
