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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"
Chapter 27: Dropping off Quatre at Duo's house on Sunday afternoon and arranging to see him on Thursday hadn't seemed a big deal. It was only a couple of days, right? By Monday evening, I was missing the hell out of him. Shit. Was this the way it was supposed to go? Not like I'd never missed any of my other boyfriends, but it was usually when I was feeling horny and they weren't around. With Quatre, sex - full sex anyway - wasn't an option, and anything else seemed dependent on his current mood, so missing him didn't make a whole lot of sense. We called and texted each other all the time, so I was still getting to talk to him. Monday had been crazy at work; I'd been glad to get home and crash in my own home, all by myself, half sorry I'd invited Sally and Wufei over for dinner. I was wishing it was Quatre who was coming instead. Bad word choice. And I was feeling guilty about that, too. They were my best friends, whom I'd known for years. Shouldn't I be wanting to see them more than the guy whom I'd met a couple of weeks ago? They turned up just as I was starting to worry that the food might be spoilt, Wufei apologising sheepishly for being late, and Sally breezing past to hug me. 'Here you go,' she handed me a large cardboard box. 'It's a housewarming present from both of us. We thought now that you had your own garden, you might like to grow some of your own food.' 'You didn't have to get me a present!' I opened the box, which was full of herbs in small earthenware pots. 'That's a really great idea, though. Thank you so much!' She leaned over to kiss me on the cheek. 'It was actually Wufei who thought of it and I thought it was a brilliant idea.' My Chinese friend looked a little embarrassed at the praise. 'I'm so sorry we're late, Trowa. I had some problems with Nataku.' Uh oh…. 'How is the killer hound?' 'Oh, don't ask. I had one of my neighbours on the 'phone this afternoon; apparently she was working from home today and Nataku spent most of the day howling. Mrs. Elton was furious.' He sighed. 'I don't like leaving her alone all day but I don't really have any other option. Actually, I was wondering if I could ask a favour. Of either of you.' 'If I can,' I carried three loaded plates over to the table. 'More in the pot, guys. Help yourselves.' Wufei took a forkful and chewed thoughtfully. 'The thing is, I need to go to Nova on Thursday morning for work, and I'll be staying there overnight, and I need someone to keep an eye on Nataku. I'll probably be back on Friday afternoon, so it's really just for one day.' 'I'm really sorry, but I'm working that night,' Sally said quickly, and I had the feeling that, if necessary, she would beg, bribe or blackmail her colleagues to support this. She'd never liked Nataku since the dog had chewed a pair of her designer shoes. 'I don't mind dropping in to feed her and maybe take her for a walk, but I don't think I could actually have her here. Leo would be terrified, and my landlords live upstairs. They probably wouldn't be too keen on a dog howling all day. Why don't you ask one of your cousins? Or I'm sure you could try a boarding kennel.' 'Every member of my family already has a stunningly creative excuse as to why he or she is unable to dog-sit,' he said dryly. 'And she's been banned from most of the kennels in the city; one man actually threatened me with the police if I brought her anywhere near his premises. Apparently, my grandmother left her there last year, and she attacked his champion show dog.' 'Oh, dear.' I tried to stop my mouth twitching, then caught Sally's eye and we both had to laugh. 'Sorry. Listen, I'm quite happy to keep an eye on her if you can't find anyone else.' 'I'd be very grateful if you could. You know, when my grandmother asked me to dog-sit, I never thought it would be this difficult. She always seemed like such a sweet tempered dog when I visited.' 'She's probably still missing her owner,' I suggested. 'And that breed does form very strong attachments, as well as being rather stubborn.' He snorted. 'Rather stubborn! Yesterday, I didn't have time to take her to the dog park and she simply refused to walk around the block with me. She just sat down and whined until I carried her home. I thought one woman was going to report me for cruelty to animals. Do you think you could possibly come over and give her some obedience classes?' 'No problem. Maybe next week, when you get back from Nova?' Assuming it doesn't interfere with me seeing Quatre. Oh, damn. I was doing it again. Very bad. Friends always come first. 'Oh, how was your weekend, by the way?' Sally asked, apparently picking up on my Quatre-related thoughts. I was surprised she'd waited so long, actually. 'Fine. Would you like some more wine?' 'That would be great. Don't we get any more information than fine?' 'Don't you start.' I handed her a glass. 'I've spent my whole day dodging questions from my sister. She wanted to know every tiny detail about it.' Yeah, and every major detail as well. She hadn't quite come out and asked 'Did you have sex?' but she's asked pretty much everything else. 'Well, she's interested,' Sally took a sip of her wine. 'Come on, at least tell us if he liked the hot springs.' 'Oh, he thought it was a great place.' 'That's it? Trowa! We want details!' 'You want details, being a typically nosy woman. Wufei's not interested.' 'Well, I do hope it went well for you,' he said, a little stiffly. 'Not you as well! OK, we were having a good time, right 'til he broke up with me, and then we got back together and now everything's fine.' 'He broke up with you?' Sally gasped. I should never have started any of this. 'What happened? Why didn't you tell us before?' 'What did you do?' Wufei contributed. 'Thanks a lot. It wasn't my fault. There was no point telling you because we sorted it out. He just had some stupid idea that I didn't want a proper relationship and that it was all just a bit of fun for me.' I gave the stir-fry mixture a savage toss, remembering how I'd felt when he'd said he didn't think it was going to work. 'What is it with that, anyway? For some reason, everyone in the universe seems to think that I'm incapable of commitment?' 'Oh, I wonder why that is,' Sally murmured. 'Maybe because you're always saying how much you like your independence? Or because you tell all any potential boyfriends that you're not looking for a serious relationship?' 'I never told Quatre that.' 'Didn't you?' Wufei stared at me, one dark eyebrow slightly raised. 'Actually, no. I want it to be serious with him.' Damn. I hadn't meant to tell them that. Quatre was obviously rubbing off on me, with all the emotional sharing he was into. OK, Barton, don't think about Quatre rubbing off on you. Not right now. Later. 'Unbelievable,' Wufei drawled, both eyebrows heading for his hairline. 'You've actually met somebody you're serious about. And you're admitting it to us.' 'Why wouldn't I admit it?' Standing up, I spooned the leftovers from the pan into a serving dish and put it in the middle of the table, in the vain hope that more food would distract them. 'You never talk about the guys you're going with,' Sally contributed. 'Not really. You like him, don't you?' Wufei saved me from answering by snorting loudly. 'Like him! You should have seen him at the barbeque, Sally. Gazing at Quatre like a lovesick teenager for the whole night. It was utterly sickening.' He was smiling, though; and it widened when I showed him two fingers. 'Yes, actually, I do like him. A lot.' 'And he seems to like you,' Sally mentioned, helping herself to more chicken. 'The night I met him here, he couldn't keep his eyes off you. Maybe it was that sleeveless vest you were wearing! And he's really cute. I don't really get why you had the fight, though. Didn't you tell him how you felt about him?' 'I was trying to, and he sort of got the wrong end of the stick.' I filled my mouth with a loaded forkful of rice, not sure that I really wanted to talk about all this. I mean, Quatre and I had had an argument, we'd made up, everything was fine. Was there really any point in going over it all again? 'I don't know. I'm not much good at all the emotional stuff, I guess. At talking about it. There were a couple of things I said, and he took me up wrong. Like I told him that I'd told all my previous boyfriends I wasn't interested in any sort of commitment and he assumed that I meant I was telling him the same thing.' Sally rolled her eyes. 'I wonder where he got that idea? Honestly, Trowa! You're hopeless. Of course that's what he assumed you meant! Anyone would!' 'Well, it wasn't! I was trying to say that it was different with him, that I hadn't told him any of that.' 'He's not psychic,' Wufei told me. 'And I think that he's perhaps a little insecure. He always seems rather shy at the youth club; not with the children so much, but he never really talks to any of the other adult volunteers.' 'I guess. He is pretty shy, considering the way he looks and everything. I was just trying to be honest with him. I mean, honesty is good, right?' 'Of course. But tact is also a useful thing,' Sally said. He nibbled a piece of chicken. 'You know, next time you drop something like that, you might want to say first off that you really do like him, but there's something you want to tell him. Just so he knows you're not planning to break up with him.' Hmm. That wasn't a bad idea actually. I'd have to remember that one. Make sure my rather insecure boyfriend gets lots of reassurance that he's important to me. Which he is. And lots of romantic gestures. I'd never been into any of that. Roses and cards and stupid stuffed animals. I still wasn't, but I passed a florist on the way to work and this morning I'd found myself wondering what his favourite flowers were. God, Wufei would say I was turning into a woman if I told him any of that. Sal would probably think it was adorable. The truth was, I'd liked doing the whole romantic evening for him. Even if he hadn't wanted to put out, it would still have been good. And he'd obviously loved it. He really seemed to like me, in spite of everything. 'Listen, can I ask you guys a question? You don't think I'm too detached, are you?' 'You are …self-contained,' Wufei said carefully and Sally giggled. 'That's one way to put it, yeah! Trowa, I probably knew you for three years before you actually told me one personal detail about yourself.' 'There is nothing wrong with being self-reliant and possessing the ability to solve one's own problems! Women are far too dependent on their girlfriends, from what I have observed.' 'Oh, piff.' Sally flicked a grain of rice across the table at him. 'Sharing problems is a sign of maturity. The female of the species has evolved sufficiently to realise that, even if most of the opposite sex is too weak to reach out and ask for help.' 'Quatre tells his friends stuff,' I told her, over Wufei's desperate choking. 'Wow, an advanced male life form. What the hell is he doing with you, Barton? He seems like a smart guy and you normally pick your boyfriends for reasons other than their IQ, don't you? Or personality?' 'He thinks I should tell him things,' I muttered, ignoring the last part. 'Well, yeah. That's sort of what partners do, usually. Obviously, all your previous boyfriends were way too self-absorbed to care about other people, but Quat maybe isn't like that. Maybe he actually wants trust and sharing and intimacy, and I'm not just talking about sex, right?' She banged her wine glass down; that woman really should not be allowed to drink alcohol. 'Seriously,Tro, I love you to bits, but you need to open up a little bit sometimes. At least, I'm guessing you do if you want to keep your cute blond interested.' 'How come you get to tell me what to do?' More to the point, how did she know what I should be doing? Was it a girl thing? 'I'm the only one of us who's actually been with the same guy for nearly four years. I think that puts me ahead.' Ouch. Good point, though. 'Anyway,' I shot Wufei an evil little grin. Time to change the subject. 'It's not just me who's found someone lately, you know, Sal. Or hasn't he told you about Zechs?' 'What?' Aha, just as I'd though. She'd leaped on to the subject of our friend's love life like a hungry lion onto a one-legged gazelle. 'You never told me! Who's Zechs?' 'A friend of Quatre's,' I supplied, given that Wufei's jaws were clamped tightly around a mouthful of chicken. 'We met him at the paint-balling, and he took quite a shine to Wufei.' 'He was a conceited, arrogant ass,' Wufei snapped, slicing into a piece of chicken as though it had just insulted his honour. Mmm, he did have a great ass. No, don't think about that. You're in a proper relationship now; you can't have those sort of thoughts about Quatre's friends. 'You'll never guess who he actually is, Sal. Only Prince Milliardo Peacecraft.' 'You're joking! My God, I've seen pictures of him. He's gorgeous!' 'He's not technically a prince,' Wufei muttered. 'Since his grandfather abdicated, it's only a courtesy title. And royalty is an anachronism in a modern, democratic society.' Hmm. Interesting that he hadn't denied the gorgeous factor…. Maybe he didn't dislike Zechs as much as he'd claimed. Come to think of it, the two of them had actually spent quite a lot of time talking together at the barbeque. Interesting… 'Courtesy title,' Sally giggled, snorting wine through her nose. 'He's got all sorts of other titles too, you know! He's definitely considered Sanque's hottest bachelor, and the Sanque edition of Vogue is always printing the most yummy pictures of him.' 'Well, I'm not interested,' Wufei's mouth clamped shut. End of subject. Sally snorted. 'Oh, please. You really don't want to be swept off your feet by a handsome prince?' 'Not remotely. I have no time for that sort of thing in my life, and beside, in case you've forgotten, I've already had an experience with the Sanque aristocracy. I have no intention of making the same mistake twice.' I gave Sally a warning glance just to leave it at that, but she pressed on regardless. 'That was years ago, 'Fei. We both know how badly you were hurt, but seriously, you can't spend the rest of your life alone because of that. You can't let that bastard have that much power over you.' 'It's nothing to do with that!' His eyes flashed at her. 'If I do decide that I need someone in my life, it certainly won't be an over-privileged playboy who's slept his way around Europe. I rather think I can do better than that.' 'Don't be silly. He was just sowing his wild oats.' Sally's eyes took on the dewy look of a woman who's read too many romance novels. She'd always claimed she read the things to distract her from the pressure of medical school she'd qualified now and still had shelves of the damn things. 'It's such a tragic story. He lost his parents when he was just a boy and inherited the throne. It's no wonder he felt the need to break out a little. He's just looking for the right person to share his life.' 'Inherited the throne!' Wufei scoffed. 'Since Sanque is a democracy, I hardly think his duties are too onerous.' 'That's not really the point.' Silly woman; didn't she know when to leave well enough alone? 'Seriously, 'Fei. All I'm saying is that it would be nice for you to meet someone and get a little attention from someone. And if that someone happened to be tall and blond and utterly drool-worthy, well so much the better.' 'And I'm saying that I am not interested! Can you understand that?' Wufei snapped. Oh, God. She does this every so often; I know she means well, she just wants him to be happy and meet someone but it always ends like this, with both of them glaring at each other, and tension you could cut with a rusty spoon. 'I see that new Japanese film started last weekend,' Wufei said finally. 'I was wondering if either of you would be interested going in the next couple of days.' 'I'd love to,' Sally said immediately, grabbing the olive branch. 'But I'm working nights for the next week.' 'I'll go with you. I'm meeting Quatre on Thursday, but maybe Friday?' 'I'm not sure what time I'll be back from Nova and I may have to go straight to the office. Perhaps Saturday?' Saturday…Saturday was the night I'd been planning to entice Quatre over for a nice dinner, and hopefully a nice breakfast the following morning. Damn. I somehow wasn't sure if he'd be up for an epic swashbuckler set in feudal Japan with my best friend along as chaperone. It didn't really seem like his sort of thing. On the other hand, I didn't really want to tell Wufei I was blowing him off to spend the night with my boyfriend. Blowing…ahem. Down, Barton. Pure thoughts…. Sally came to my rescue. Sort of. 'He might already have something arranged with Quatre for the weekend. You can't ask him to give up a Saturday with his cute blond.' 'Of course not,' Wufei said, a little stiffly. 'I'm sorry, Trowa. It was just a suggestion; I'm sure Sally's right and you already have plans made.' Damn; now I'd managed to offend him. He was gazing into his glass sadly, no doubt seeing a bleak future where his best friend abandoned him for a blond love interest. How the hell was I supposed to keep both of them happy; my best friend and my boyfriend? Was I going to have to make a choice at some point? No, I had no intention of doing that. Then I realised that Wednesday was a no-Quatre day anyway; the night he went out with Duo. A perfect night for Wufei and I to do something together. 'If Saturday's the only day that suits you, that's OK,' I said suddenly, letting him know that he was still important. 'Or we could go tomorrow night? We could get dinner first, and catch the early showing. You could still be home by nine thirty, latest. Will that do?' Wufei brightened immediately, nodding and Sally gave me an approving little smile. Yay. Successful communication! Quatre was starting
to rub off on me…. ~ * ~ |
