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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 to take
it to the vet. "Puppy Love"
Trowa's POV: Chapter 11: Looking around my new home, it was still hard to believe it was mine. Within the space of three days, I'd suddenly gone from being my older sister's reluctant lodger, to having my own apartment. Thanks to Barney the English Bulldog. He'd been my first patient on Thursday morning, and he'd managed to cut his two front paws on broken glass. 'Poor little Barney,' his elderly owner had cooed as I lifted the dog on to the examining table. 'The nice man is trying to make you feel better, isn't he? Yes, he is. You know,' she looked up at me, 'I'm just so angry about this, Mr. Barton. He's in pain because some stupid people were careless.' 'We see it all the time, unfortunately,' I murmured. 'People smash glasses and bottles on the pavement and dogs cut up their paws. It drives me insane.' She nodded. 'I know what you mean, but he actually cut himself in the apartment we'd had been renting out. I didn't want to rent to students, especially not an art student, but I play bridge with this boy's grandmother, so I thought he would be all right. I called around last night to collect the rent, and he'd totally vanished. Apparently, he's dropped out of university to go to Thailand or one of those places with a girlfriend. And you should see the state of the place! He'd painted on all the walls in the most ridiculous colours, and the furniture is only good for the dump, and there was broken glass all over the back garden, which is why poor Barney cut his paw. It's infuriating.' I made consoling sounds, sliding out another sliver of glass from Barney's left paw. 'Are you still looking to rent it out, Mrs. Lomax?' I asked, trying to sound casual. 'Well, yes. My husband and I are retired and we need the income. But it's going to cost a fortune to have it redecorated, before we can get another tenant, and then it's so hard to find someone mature and responsible. We're certainly not renting to any more students!' Twenty minutes later, Cathy having kindly agreed to cover for me for an hour, we were driving to see the apartment, a twenty-six year-old veterinarian apparently being a more attractive proposition than another batch of wild students. Particularly a vet who was willing to take charge of cleaning the place up and redecorating in exchange for a slightly reduced rent. Conveniently, the building was less that fifteen minutes' drive from the surgery - and approximately the same distance to Quatre's house - and it was perfect. A ground floor apartment that was just big enough for a man and his cat, and his not-very-big blond boyfriend, if I could ever tempt him to sleep over, and there was even a tiny back garden. Wufei came over on Friday evening after work, and, once we'd both made several trips to the dump with the previous tenant's abandoned belongings, and what was left of the Lomaxs' furniture, we spent hours covering the walls with some pale mint-green paint, left over from painting the surgery walls. It wasn't exactly the colour I would have chosen, but it was better than the art student's choice of décor, and it was neutral enough that Mrs. Lomax would probably approve. By midnight, we were both exhausted, and partly asphyxiated from paint fumes, but my new home looked a million times better. Saturday morning was spent getting my furniture, such as it was, organised. I had a few things I'd shipped home from University, and my friends had all contributed odds and ends from their garages and attics and garden sheds. Wufei had generously lent me his futon until I got around to buying a proper bed. Cathy had taken over organising what went where; Sally Po, who'd been at school with Wufei and me, discreetly changed things around when Cathy wasn't looking, while Wufei, Sally's boyfriend, Tim, and I took turns driving to our respective houses and ferrying new loads around. By one o' clock, we had most of the heavy stuff in place, and were taking a break for pizza., with only the small items like books and clothes left to be arranged. I couldn't believe I suddenly had so many possessions, and the girls were teasing me about soft furnishings and colour schemes. There was still no sign of Quatre. Stupidly, in all the rush, I'd forgotten to charge my 'phone battery, and I couldn't remember exactly when he'd said he'd drop over. I thought he'd such lunch, but maybe that was just wishful thinking and he hadn't actually specified. Or maybe he'd found something more exciting to do. He'd said a friend of his was moving in with him for a few weeks, so perhaps he'd needed to stay at home with her. 'I think we should have a toast.' Sally's voice broke into my meandering thoughts on whether or not I should just call him. Maybe he was busy getting his new friend settled into his house; maybe he'd think I was hassling him if I called. She raised her glass of cola. 'To Trowa's castle.' 'Trowa's castle,' we all echoed. 'And I want to thank you guys for all your help. Seriously, I'd never have done this without you. When I get the kitchen sorted, you're all invited to dinner.' 'And your new boyfriend?' Cathy asked slyly. 'I thought you said he was coming over today.' I'd stupidly told my nosy sister that he might be dropping in later, and she wasn't helping by asking every few minutes. Honestly, she was like a child waiting for Santa Claus. 'Can't you call him and check?' 'No.' I tried to keep the irritation out of my voice; she'd been very good about helping me move; covering my shifts at the practice and urging me to take whatever I wanted from the house. 'Well, we've got to go soon,' Sally changed the subject, getting up and starting to clear away plates. 'Tim has an afternoon shift at the hospital and I have to drop in to see a patient. Is Quatre a blond with a blue car, by the way?' She wondered suddenly, glancing out the window. 'Because there's a guy like that parked outside.' I gave him ten minutes before I went out, figuring that maybe he wanted to be alone for a bit. Any doubts I'd had about bothering him vanished once he smiled at me, and then he admitted that he'd been looking forward to seeing me. He even let me give him a shoulder massage and feeling the tight knots start to relax under my fingers felt nearly as good as getting my hands on him. 'Oh! I have something for you,' he remembered as were about to go inside. He fumbled under his seat and produced a slim package wrapped in shiny gold paper. 'It's just a small house-warming present.' 'Quatre, you didn't have to do that.' I was already ripping the paper off, trying to remember the last time someone had just handed me a gift out of the blue. 'Wow.' It was a wooden photograph frame, very simply carved and just chunky enough to show off the gleaming grain of the wood. 'Do you like it?' Quatre's blue eyes were fixed on my face. 'I didn't know what to get you, but I know you like photography so I thought it might be useful.' 'I love it,' I leaned over to kiss his cheek. 'It's Sanque Red Oak, isn't it? Have you ever been up to the forests around Lake Victoria?' 'Only once, when I was little. I keep meaning to go again, but I never seem to have the time.' 'If you're not doing anything one day next weekend, we could take a drive up there. We could leave early in the morning and spent the whole day up there. Take a photo of the two of us to put in the frame?' 'I'd love that,' Quatre beamed. 'We could bring a picnic lunch and then stop for dinner somewhere on the way home.' And maybe stop off at a nice little inn somewhere after dinner for the night… No, he'd probably think it was far too soon. Still, getting to spend a whole day with him would be amazing enough, without expecting more. Walking up the front path a pace behind him gave me a chance to admire his back view in dark blue jeans. I could tell he was still just a little bit tense, and had to wonder why such a cute, charming guy would ever need to be shy around strangers. Then we were at the gate, and I was wondering if he'd like my friends, and what he would think of my poky, dark little apartment, compared to his professionally-decorated mansion. It wasn't as if I even had proper furniture; just mismatched stuff that other people hadn't deemed good enough for their own houses. Sally and Tim were on their way out as I pushed the door open, pausing only for quick introductions to Quatre, goodbyes all around, and promises to drop by during the week. 'Cathy and I will bring in your things from Cathy's car,' Wufei announced. 'Why don't you show Quatre around while we're outside?' Cathy looked like she might protest, but my friend was already holding the door for her, and short of outright rudeness, she couldn't exactly refuse to leave. 'Showing you around won't take long,' I grinned a bit uncertainly at Quatre. 'I've only got a few rooms. You've seen the hall, and this is the sitting room. I know it's a bit small and old-fashioned, but it's just for me and Leo, so we don't need a huge place.' 'Oh, I really like it, Trowa. It's so cosy!' 'That's a polite way of saying it's not big enough to swing a cat, right?' 'Well, I hope you're not planning to swing your cat around.' He flicked me an impish grin. 'But really, I love how it has all the original features; those sash windows and the hardwood floors; even that lovely cast iron fireplace.' He wandered over to tap at one of my walls. 'My' walls. That still sounded good. 'What are you looking for? Narnia? Or a secret passage?' 'Wouldn't that be fun? No, I was just thinking that if your landlord didn't object, you could knock down the wall between this room and the hall. You don't need a big hallway and it would give this room so much more space.' 'Um,' I prevaricated. 'The owners are elderly; I don't think they have a lot of money, and they probably wouldn't appreciate me knocking down their walls.' 'It's only a partition wall; I could help you to do it. It wouldn't be a particularly big job.' 'What, you moonlight as a builder on the side?' I stared at him. 'Something like that,' he admitted. 'I worked for Duo's friend Howard all the way through university. He's a builder who specialises in restoring old houses and he taught me a lot.' 'You know, I find the idea of you with an electric drill kind of hot,' I teased, delighted when he laughed back at me.' Mmm, not to mention a pair of those baggy builders' trousers sliding down to show your butt… 'Back then, I still wanted to be a concert violinist,' he spread his hands in front of him and grinned. 'I was terrified of hurting my hands somehow, so I mostly did painting, and some of the office work. In my final year, I'd given up on that idea, so I learned to do a bit of everything. Duo and I did most of the work on my house; it was in a terrible state when we moved in, and we totally renovated it.' He grinned. 'My grandmother wanted to buy me a modern apartment, but I just fell in love with that house. We had so much fun doing it up; getting to do what exactly what we wanted and try out all sorts of decorating techniques.' Quatre, please don't talk about techniques - any techniques - when we're alone in a house together. 'Do you mind, that being a professional violinist didn't work out?' I wouldn't have asked except he'd sounded quite relaxed talking about it, not like he'd lost his one dream. 'Oh, no! I did a tour with the university orchestra in third year and I absolutely hated it. I was so scared of performing in public that I got sick before every performance; the solos were the worst, and I hated living out of a suitcase and moving on every day. Then I discovered that I love teaching so it all worked out for the best.' 'Good.' I couldn't help wondering how he felt about private performances. 'Now, my bedroom's through here.' 'You've got a futon,' he exclaimed happily when he saw it. 'I've never slept on one of those.' 'Well, we'll have to see what we can arrange,' I murmured, thinking that if I ever succeeded in getting him on my futon, he certainly wouldn't be getting much sleep. 'Now, this is Leo.' I winkled my cat out of the bottom of my sleeping bag, and tickled him under the chin. 'Leo, this is Quatre. Be nice to him, OK?' 'He's gorgeous,' Quatre scratched his ears, and Leo purred happily. 'I think he likes me.' 'Of course he does. He has excellent taste; how could he not fall a victim to your fatal charm?' 'I don't have any fatal charm!' 'Oh, yes you do, honey. And I should know, considering I'm a hopeless victim to it.' I winked. 'If you sit down, I'll let you hold him.' Leo - ungrateful beast - sat stiffly upright for a minute, before deciding to indulge the new human, and sprawling all over Quatre's lap, offering his tummy to be petted. 'He's drooling! I've never seen a cat do that before!' 'Some of them do. And I don't blame him,' I teased, delighted when Quatre only laughed. Leo, deciding he'd been gracious to the inferior species for quite long enough, jumped down, shook out his back legs, and then stalked disdainfully out the door. Even my cat apparently wanted to leave us alone together. I couldn't help wondering how Wufei was keeping Cathy outside for so long; he'd probably had to tie her up. I flopped down on the futon, feeling all the muscles in my back and neck protest. They'd had a rough twelve hours, what with painting and furniture removal. 'I'm going to have to paint the ceiling in here too. We were in such a rush yesterday to get all the walls done in time for me to move in that we didn't get everything done.' 'I can help,' Quatre offered. I groaned. 'Now I've got all kinds of visions of you climbing ladders with one of those sexy tool belts around your waist. Do you have one?' 'Well, yes,' he admitted, letting himself fall back on the mattress beside me. 'But I don't show it to people until the fourth date, at least.' 'One more to go, then, assuming this is a date. I thought we could have dinner later, if you don't mind hanging around for a few hours first while I get settled in. Or you could go and come back; there's a guy from the 'phone company coming so I have to stay here.' 'I'll stay,' Quatre decided, moving just a fraction
closer, enough for our hands to touch, and fingers to entwine. Maybe
it was just sheer exhaustion on my part that I didn't want more, but
just that little bit of contact felt wonderful. ~ * ~ |
