"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"

Quatre's POV:

Chapter 26:

'I can wait for you if you like,' Trowa offers generously, pulling up outside Heero and Duo's house. 'I'm not in any rush; I can drop you and Maggie home.'

It is - almost tempting. I'd take him up on it if I could be sure of having my house to myself, but Dorothy will probably be there and I don't feel like talking to her right now. Besides, I really want to talk to Duo.

It's been a rather odd day. Not bad, just odd. We'd both finally fallen asleep hours after midnight. We'd kept conversation over breakfast light; I think, after all the soul searching the previous night, it was something of a relief to discuss food preferences and childhood holidays. We'd taken a kayak out on the lake for a couple of hours, and Trowa took more photographs, and we'd had lunch in the little café by the park centre before driving home.

'Thank you.' I give him a little smile to compensate for the refusal and the formality. 'But you don't have to do that. Duo or Heero will drive me home later.'

'OK.' He hesitates and then leans over and puts one hand on mine. 'When can I see you again? Tomorrow?'

I can feel my smile blossom as he asks. He does want to see me again. He does. 'I'd love to, but I have classes tomorrow night, I'm really sorry. '

He just nods. 'I'm working late on Tuesday, and Wednesday's your movie night with Duo, isn't it? How about Thursday?'

'Perfect,' I say very quickly, just in case he thinks I'm making excuses not to see him. 'I'd love that.'

'Good,' he echoes. 'I'll look forward to that. And Quatre. What I said last night, I meant it.'

He doesn't elaborate; he doesn't have to. He'd said he was crazy about me. No one's ever said that before.

As the front door opens, I brace myself for the usual Shinigami onslaught. Instead, Maggie scampers down the hallway, her tail waving frantically, making the oddest little whimpering sounds.

'Well, she's glad to see her daddy, isn't she?' Duo observes, as he puts out a hand to stroke her head. Maggie gives him a little lick and then snuggles back into my arms.

'I'm glad to see her too.' I say, meaning it. Actually, I hadn't imagined how much I'd mean it. It's wonderful to hold her again.

'Did she behave herself?'

'She was a total star. And she has Heero wrapped around her little paw. He was playing with her for hours yesterday; I was starting to get a bit jealous, actually.' Then he grins. 'Still, there're some games he only likes to play with me.'

'Where is he? And where's Shinnie?'

'Heero brought him and Zechs to obedience class.'

I shake my head to dislodge the bizarre image of Zechs parading around a training ring wearing a collar and leash. Actually, it's not really all that bizarre; he was rather wild when we were at university.'

'On a Sunday? I thought the classes were on Thursday evenings.'

Duo rolls his eyes. 'God, don't ask. There's some dog show coming up in a few weeks, so the dog trainer's offering extra classes for people who want to enter. Heero's decided to put Shin in the obedience trials, and of course he's determined to win.'

'Why did he bring Zechs?'

Duo laughs, leading the way into the kitchen. 'He thought that Chinese guy - Trowa's friend - might be there. He's really got it bad for that guy. You know, there's a puppy class if you want to enter Maggie.'

'I don't think so. I don't want to turn her into one of those show dogs with ribbons and all that.'

'But she'd look so cute! Anyway, never mind about all that. I want to hear everything. you guys got up to.'

'Duo!'

'Quatre!' He gives what is presumably meant to be a look of wounded innocence. 'I just want to know whether you went hiking, swimming, stuff like that.'

'Sure you do.'

'You always believe the worst of me. What'll you have to drink? Soda, juice, beer?'

'Just some orange juice, please. Or no, actually, may I have a beer?'

'Uh oh. That doesn't sound too good.' He takes two beers from the refrigerator, and snags a tube of Pringles. 'Let's go out in the garden. You can tell me the whole saga then. You are staying for dinner, right?'

'I'd love to. Thank you.'

'Now, spill!' He orders when we are settled on the bench outside with Maggie busily assembling all her toys at my feet. 'And I really do want to know everything.'

'It was…I don't know, Duo. I'll have to tell you the whole thing. Some bits were amazing; some bits were awful.'

Duo laughs. 'What; the HVG has awful bits?' He stops, looking at my face. 'Sorry, Quat. Stupid joke. Tell me.'

'Well, it started off absolutely perfect. We had a little cabin in the forest with the most spectacular view and…'

'Cabin?' he interrupts. 'What's the cabin? I thought you said you'd be staying in some staff dormitory or something.'

'Oh. Well, that's what I'd originally thought, but it was a real log cabin, right beside the lake. It was incredible. We had a campfire, and there were black swans on the lake and we had marshmallows.'

'What? On the lake?'

'No! On the fire! We roasted them; Trowa showed me how.'

'I've always wanted to do that.'

'We'll do it sometime. I know how to do it now, and I can show you. So we had dinner, and then he took me to a hot spring, right in the middle of the forest.'

'Hot, eh?' He winks. 'So I'm guessing you went for a little dip and one thing led to another?'

'Are you psychic or something?' I break off a tiny corner of crisp and feed it to Maggie. Oh dear. I shouldn't be doing that. It's probably bad for her. In return, she fetches her favourite chewy ball and deposits it in my lap.

'Nope, but you're blushing. This isn't the same as the last time, is it? When you were so freaked out after you got together with him?'

I shake my head. 'Nothing like that. We'd talked about it earlier, and I'd told him I wanted to, well, to change the rules a little bit. And then we went back to the cabin, and Trowa made a fire and we had cocoa and then we went to bed.'

'Bed as in bed single or as in beds plural?'

'Bed as in bed single. Or bunk, technically.'

'Wow. You're really starting to like him.'

'Yes, I know. Anyway, neither of us was really tired so we started talking.'

'Oh, I love that bit!' Duo cuts in. 'I can just see the pair of snuggled up and telling secrets. You're so cute!'

'Well, we started off by asking all those silly questions about what you'd bring to a desert island.'

'Huh,' Duo snorts. 'I asked Heero that once and he said the best thing to bring is a loaded pistol so you can blow your brains out when you realise you're never going to be rescued. Then he told me all about this time he and Odin had actually been stranded on an island for weeks, and that they'd had to eat raw fish and drink seagulls' blood to survive. It was totally gross.'

'Ick. Why couldn't they just cook the fish?'

He shrugs. 'I didn't ask him that. 'Course, he likes sushi so maybe it wasn't a big deal for him. Anyway, did the HVG say something really weird? Oh, God, he doesn't have some revolting fetish, does he?'

'No, he doesn't!' I take another sip of my drink. In their small, sunny garden, with Duo laughing, and Maggie cuddled on my lap, the world seems very different. 'It was…the thing is, the whole day had been utterly perfect, Duo. He'd been so romantic and thoughtful and attentive, and then it all just went wrong.'

'You'd better tell me what happened.' My best friend suddenly isn't laughing any more. 'What did he do?'

'We had a really weird conversation. He told me he wasn't romantic and then he actually told me he's never been in love with anyone. And he's twenty six!'

Duo just shrugs, taking a swallow of his beer. 'So? That's just like Heero. Maybe your Trowa just hadn't met the right guy.'

'Heero's different. Anyway, Trowa said he was perfectly happy like he was. That he didn't ever want to fall in love with someone. Don't you think that's strange?'

'Not really, no. I felt like that after Solo, that no way was I going to let myself care for someone so much ever again.'

'I know. But I can understand that; you lost someone who'd been your lover and best friend and all the family you'd ever had. And you still got over it.'

Duo takes another gulp of his beer. 'It took over five years, though. And it still hurts sometimes.'

'I know. I'm sorry. It was just - a very strange conversation. He said he'd told all his previous boyfriends that he wasn't looking for any sort of commitment, that he'd had relationships but they'd all basically been about sex and fun and nothing serious.'

'Whoa! I bet major alarm bells started ringing at that point!'

'Well, yes. And he said he didn't really ever want to be in love, because it just means that people get hurt.'

Duo just gazes at me. 'He's right, you know. People do.'

'Sometimes,' I concede. 'But not always. And most people I know would love to meet the perfect person, their soul mate. We both do, and Zechs falls in love every five minutes.'

Duo snorts, spraying beer all over us both. 'Don't make me laugh, Quat. He thinks he does. He thought he was in love with me, once, remember? And now he's fixated on that seriously uptight Chinese guy. There is a difference between love and lust, you know?'

'I know that,' I tilt my head back, enjoying the warmth of the afternoon sunshine. 'I just want to believe it exists, that's all. That there is one perfect person out there for everyone. And it happened to you; you fell in love with Heero the minute you saw him.'

'Did not! Don't you remember me coming home that day and ranting about the total prick I'd met at work?'

'Exactly.' I give him a smug little smile. 'You spent three hours bitching about what an uptight idiot he was, and then you told me you'd never seen anything so blue as his eyes. I think that was when I realised you were smitten.'

'Ha ha,' he mutters, but he is smiling faintly at the memory. 'So…what else did you find out about Trowa?'

'His mother died when he was only twelve. It was…scary, Duo, listening to him talk about it at first. He was just so … detached. Like he was describing something he'd read in a newspaper or something. Not like it had happened to him at all.'

'Yeah? It's called disassociation, Quat. It's what happens to people after they lose someone. It happened to me after Solo. I never wanted to go there again, open myself up to the possibility that I'd ever have to feel that sort of pain again. Then I met you and you convinced me that I still needed to have friends, people I could talk to.'

'It's never happened to me. Never.'

'Sure it has. I remember me and Zechs literally having to drag you out of your room after you broke up with Simon. You were saying you were never, never going to get involved with another guy. That you were never going to trust anyone like that again.'

'Oh! Did I really?' He nods; actually, I don't remember a lot of those first few weeks after Simon. 'But that was just after the break up. It didn't last. And it wasn't like I shut myself away from all of you; I needed your support more than I'd ever needed anything.'

'Well, that's you, Quat. Everyone's different. You're lucky, you know. You've got a group of friends who'd do any damn thing for you, and you don't have a problem sharing and asking for help. That's pretty rare for most people.'

'I'm not too….needy, am I?' I ask uncertainly.

'No, you idiot. If anything, you're the other way around. Your friends know there's not one single thing in the world you wouldn't do to help them. Shit, you go out of your way to help total strangers on the street if they need something.'

'I don't!' I can feel myself blushing.

'Yeah, you do.' Duo grins. 'Come on, you volunteer with deprived kids; you give free music lessons to students who can't afford it; you help out at the homeless shelter…'

'Stop! This isn't about me! I'm trying to tell you about Trowa. Do you know, he told me he believes people should be independent; that they shouldn't go running for help with every little problem, but they should sort it out themselves. Isn't that awful?'

He shrugs. 'It's what a lot of people think. Or maybe they just have to do it, because they don't have anyone to go to. Not everyone has this sort of relationship, where they tell their buddies everything. It's pretty rare, actually. I don't know; maybe we're all so close because none of us really has any family to speak of. You can't expect other people to be the same way.'

'I suppose not.' I pull one of Maggie's ears gently, and she lolls back against me, offering her tummy to be rubbed.

Duo leans over and tickles her. 'I'm guessing you guys somehow worked it all out, right? Since I didn't get distress calls last night?'

'Well, you very nearly did. Except it was the middle of the night.'

He snorts. 'That's stupid. You know you can call me anytime. Heero and I would've come and got you.'

'I know you would. But it would have taken a couple of hours, for you to drive from here. And I'm glad now that I didn't, because we did get to talk everything out properly.'

'Listen, d'you mind if we go inside for a sec? I just need to check on dinner.' In the kitchen, he slides a huge leg of lamb out of the oven, and arranges potatoes in the dish around it. Maggie circles around him, sniffing in ecstasy. 'I thought it might be nice to do the whole traditional Sunday dinner thing for a change. I've asked Hilde and 'Lena over as well.'

'I haven't forgotten somebody's birthday, have I?'

'No, nothing like that. I just had a sort of rough week at work and it seemed like a nice idea to have us all together.'

'You never told me things were going badly. I thought you were loving this job!'

'Yeah. The job's great.' Duo adds cloves of garlic to the dish, and places it back in the over, to the accompaniment of small whines from Maggie. 'Later, princess. It has to cook first. No, loving the job; huge old house to renovate, money no object, they want everything top quality. Just not so keen on the guy who owns it.'

'The one with the unpronounceable name?'

He nods, and then the front door opens. 'I'll tell you later. Don't say anything to Heero,

OK?'

Shinnie bounds into the kitchen, howling at the sight of his master, the smell of roasting meat, and then notices me, leaping up to lick my nose. I'm somehow not convinced that all these obedience classes are working out.

'Hi, Quatre.' Zechs follows him inside in a rather more restrained fashion. 'How was your weekend? Did Trowa mention if Wufei had talked about me at all?'

'Oh, God,' Duo groans, handing him a beer. 'Here we go again. Listen, where's my boyfriend?'

'He dropped us off and went to pick up Relena, since it's Pargan's day off. He said he wouldn't be long.'

'Had enough of you moaning about Wufei, had he?' Duo teases. 'And right now, we're actually talking about Quat's romance. Get in line.'

'Is everything all right?' Zechs stops in the act of raiding the 'fridge and gives me a long stare.

'Short version,' Duo grins over at me. 'Things started great, then they had this big, heavy conversation about love and commitment and Quat freaked out a bit.'

'It was awful, Zechs. I thought he was trying to tell me he only wanted a casual fling, and I told him I needed more and that I needed trust and intimacy and not just sex.'

'You told him all that,' Duo gapes at me. 'Shit! I'm surprised he didn't run for the hills. I'm surprised he's not still running.'

'I was being honest about what I want,' I tell him defensively. Maggie turns her head and gives my hand a pensive lick. She apparently approves.

Duo and Zechs exchange glances. 'Honesty is good and everything,' Duo says finally. 'But, you know, you've only known him a couple of weeks. Is it not a little bit early to get that heavy?'

'I wanted to know. Seriously. I didn't want to get into a relationship with someone who thought I was just a bit of fun. Maybe it is unreasonable but I just wanted to know that he was really interested in me.'

Duo shrugs. 'Look, if the poor guy stuck around for that conversation, I think that's a pretty big indication that he's interested. Really. And you said he's offered to help you house train Maggie; that's a major commitment.'

'Exactly,' Zechs agrees. 'But, Quatre, you don't do things like that; honestly, I think you need a few tips on dating techniques. Telling a guy all those things is on a par with a girl saying she can't wait to get married and pregnant on the first date.'

'Well, what was I supposed to do? I probably wouldn't have said all those things if he hadn't been so….he said he'd never been in love! He said all his previous relationships had just been about fun and sex and…'

'Oh, please tell me you didn't ask about his previous boyfriends!' Duo groans, dropping his head into his hands. 'Shit, Quat! What else did you do; ask him why he wanted to be with you?'

'Well…something like that.' I admit.

'What did he say?'

'He said…lots of very nice things.' I can feel myself blushing furiously as I remember.

'I'll bet.' Zechs winks at me. 'It was obvious at the barbeque that he was totally smitten with you, of course.'

'Was it?'

My two friends simultaneously burst into hysterical laughter. 'Duh!' Duo finally splutters.

'He couldn't take his eyes off you. Sure, he tried to join in whatever conversation was going on and be all sociable and stuff, but his eyes were glued to his cute little blond boyfriend.'

'It was utterly adorable,' Zechs chimes in. 'Really, there was one point during dinner, when I thought he was going to drag you under the table.'

'And you think that's adorable?' I wander over to the refrigerator and take out a bottle of water, hoping cold liquid might somehow cool my blushes.

'Absolutely,' they chorus.

'You do both like him, don't you?'

'Sure we do,' Duo says immediately. 'He seems like a really good guy. And he's good for you. It's great to see you all excited about someone again. And I liked the way he carried on at the barbeque; he got on with everyone but it was damn obvious who he really wanted to spend time with.'

'Wasn't it just?' Zechs agrees. 'It was so cute; he kept making sure you had enough food and wine, and then he ran off and got your jacket when you mentioned you were cold.'

'Oh, I love that about him!' I blurt out. 'He's so kind. Not like Simon used to be; he was always taking me to the most expensive restaurants, but he never really cared whether I enjoyed them or not. But Trowa always remembers little things like my favourite tea, and he's so sweet with Maggie. And he arranged the most romantic evening for us last night. I simply can't believe why he thinks he isn't at all romantic!'

'But that was because he'd never met the right person!' Zechs bursts in, eyes shining. 'He'd never fallen in love, and now he's met you and he has. And everything is all right! So can we talk about me now? Did Trowa mention Wufei at all ? Did he say if Wufei had said anything about me?'

'Not really.'

Duo rolls his eyes. 'Zechs, I know Wufei is hot and all, but do you really think he's your type? I mean, you don't even know for sure that he's gay, do you?'

'Of course he is!'

'You think everyone is gay!'

'Well, he is actually.' I put in, mainly to stop them squabbling over this for hours. 'But he's a very serious person, he's very involved in his work, and I don't think he's interested in having a relationship at the moment.'

'Well, then, he needs a wonderful man to show him just what he's missing, and to prove that there's more to life than work.'

Duo just shrugs. 'Don't bother saying anything, Quat. He's been going on like this for hours. Talk about smitten. Anyway, back to you, what did the HVG say about why he liked you?'

'Oh,' I can feel myself blushing hotly. 'He said some lovely things.'

'That you've got a cute ass?'

'No!' I can feel the blush reaching radioactive proportions. He had, actually, said something of the sort.

Zechs shakes his head. 'You've got such a need for approval. I hope Trowa is willing to spend the rest of his life complimenting you.'

'I'm nothing like that! And what about you? You were fawning all over Wufei at the barbeque to get him to notice you! Honestly, you practically rolled over to get him to rub your stomach!'

'This isn't about me,' Zechs says, rather irrationally. It's always about him. 'Do you think that would have worked? Has Trowa said something about him?'

'Duo…I don't constantly need approval, do I?'

'Well,' Duo says tactfully, 'it's more that you need positive reinforcement sometimes.'

'No, I don't!'

'Don't what?' Heero wanders in followed by Relena. 'Hello, Quatre.' He smiles at me, picks up Maggie, pulls Shinnie's ears and bends down to kiss his boyfriend. 'How was your weekend?'

'It was great,' Duo answers for me. 'They had rampant sex, and then they had a row, and then they had The Talk and now they're love's young dream again.'

'Duo!' Relena gasps, just before I can say anything. For a girl whose brother and close male friends are gay, she is rather prudish.

'Did you tell him about the DNA results?' Heero asks. 'I can't believe you forgot something that important. Quatre, Odin ran Trowa's DNA against the Interpol Criminal Database. He's clean.'

'Oh yeah, and he's not pregnant, he's not an alien, and he doesn't have any nasty diseases,' Duo chips in. 'Now, aren't you glad we did it?'

'I might be more reassured if I'd ever thought he was any of those things! And I still can't believe you stole his blood.'

Duo laughs. 'You're making 'Ro sound like a vampire. You're so boring sometimes, Quat. Wouldn't you like a boyfriend with an interestingly mysterious past?'

'Actually, no. And he has an interesting past, anyway. He grew up with a circus, remember?'

'So why did you and Trowa have a row?' Relena asks, sitting down with a cup of tea and stealing Maggie from Heero. For some reason, I never seem to be allowed to hold my own puppy. 'I thought he seemed very nice.'

'It wasn't really a row, as such. More a …difference of opinion. But we have it all sorted out.'

'Yeah,' Duo grins. 'Although actually I think we need to sit Quat down and give him a little course of topics not to bring up quite so early in the relationship.'

'Quatre seems to be managing quite well by himself,' Heero points out, conveniently forgetting the blood sample episode.

Zechs laughs. 'Of course, it does help that Trowa is totally infatuated with him. And doesn't seem to mind handing out constant reassurance.'

'Oh, please! I do not have a need for constant reassurance.'

'He actually said that with a straight face,' Relena giggles. Maggie, the traitor, curls up happily on her lap instead of trying to defend my honour.

'Well, you do sometimes,' Duo, who's been checking on dinner, lifts his head from the oven, and tries to be diplomatic. 'It's kind of weird, actually. You can make major life decisions no problem, and then you spend hours wondering what shirt to wear and need to be told that you made the right choice.'

'Or what to order in a restaurant,' Zechs contributes. 'Although you've eaten out with him a few times now, haven't you? He obviously doesn't have a problem with dizzy blonds.'

My best friend, who obviously feels he's been supportive enough for one day, gives me a wink. 'Don't mind them, Quat. It's probably good that he gets to find out all your faults early on. He doesn't seem to mind them anyway. I mean, he's obviously realised that you like all the romantic stuff, and he already knows that you're scarily competitive from the paint-balling, and that you apparently have a bit of a bondage fetish as well.'

'Actually, I think that's you,' I shoot back. Relena, and oddly enough, Heero both blush vividly.

'Touché,' Duo grins. 'OK, Quat, enough. Dinner's ready. Listen, I think what we're all trying to say, bottom line, is that we like Trowa, and yeah, we actually think he's got a cute bottom.'

'And a cute friend,' Zechs says wistfully.

'And a cute cat, according to Duo.' Relena is obviously glad to have another cat-lover in the group.'

'And a clear DNA analysis.'

 

~ * ~

Chapter 27

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