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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 31: I put off calling my boyfriend until I'd left the clinic on Thursday evening, hoping he wouldn't mind too much if I called off our date. It was only one night, and we'd be going out on Saturday anyway. It wasn't any big deal. 'Hey, Quatre.' 'Trowa! I was just about to call you.' He sounded amazed at the coincidence. 'I'm afraid I'm running a little late; I'm actually just leaving the school now, so I mightn't be quite ready at seven. Is that all right?' 'That's why I called actually. Would you mind if we cancelled tonight? Or at least put it off 'til Saturday?' 'Oh! No, that's fine. I understand, if you have something more important to do.' His first gasp had been full of disappointment, but then he just sounded politely formal. 'It's not that. Honestly. I just had the world's crappiest day, and I don't think I'd be very entertaining.' 'Is something wrong? Can I help?' Oddly, it helped just hearing the warm concern in his voice. 'Not really. But thanks. I'm sorry, Quatre. I promise, I'll make it up to you at the weekend. I'm not fit company for anyone tonight. I just need to go home and crash in front of the TV and eat junk food.' 'Well, you could come over and do that at my house,' he offered. 'If you liked. We could just order dinner and play with Maggie and watch a film or something. You wouldn't have to talk if you didn't want to. I'll light the fire and you can crash on my couch,' he wheedled and that it was that last incentive that hooked me. OK, option one; I could go home to my empty house and my anti-social cat, and try to find a comfortable place to sit on one of my armchairs that had come from Sally's parents' garage and didn't have an unbroken spring between them. Or I could go with option two: collapse on one of Quatre's sinfully soft, squashy leather couches, with his adorable and playful puppy and my adorable (and hopefully) playful boyfriend beside me. No real choice there. 'Are you sure? I'm warning you, I'm in a pretty crappy mood.' 'Well, everyone gets like that sometimes,' he said gently. 'It doesn't mean you have to lock yourself away. Why don't you stop and get a couple of DVDs on your way over? I'll order us dinner.' 'Um, I need to go home and feed Leo and get changed and…' 'That's no problem. It's just after six; I'll ask for the food to be delivered for seven. An hour's enough time for you; isn't it? Wonderful! I'll see you then!' Exactly an hour later, I pulled up outside his house, still trying to work out how he'd managed to get me to reverse my decision. I'd had my evening all planned; frozen pizza, a couple of beers and whatever garbage was on TV. What had happened to all of that? Quatre met me at the door, all smiles, arms full of wriggling puppy. 'I'm so glad you came! I wasn't too bossy earlier, was I? I just really wanted to see you and then I thought that maybe you'd prefer to be by yourself and…' 'I'd prefer to be here,' I told him simply, giving him a kiss that would hopefully prove it. 'Oh, good! Come on in.' 'These are for you.' I handed him the two DVDs I'd picked out - the latest James Bond for a bit of mindless excitement, and a British comedy that Sally had recommended - and a tub of the chocolate and macadamia ice-cream he liked. 'Thank you so much. Um, I forgot I don't actually have a TV so we'll have to watch them on my laptop. Is that OK?' 'It's fine.' There would be a nice bonus to that; we'd have to sit nice and close to see the small screen. 'Why don't you sit down and I'll get you something to drink? What would you like?' 'I'd kill for a beer, if you have some. But I can get it myself.' 'Don't be silly.' He flitted over, kissed me on the nose, and gently brushed the bangs away from my face. 'You're my guest. Let me look after you.' So l let him, settling back luxuriously on that wonderful couch and rather enjoying the novelty of someone taking care of me. Maggie happily snuggled on my lap, and Taco, resplendent in a fancy new diamond-studded collar, studiously ignored me. 'Hey, that's a fancy new collar he's got.' I remarked as Quatre came back in, arms filled with food, drink and plates. 'Isn't it? Dorothy's uncle got it for him as a little gift. I don't think he likes it much, though. He keeps scratching at it. Now, I hope you like what I've ordered for dinner. What he'd ordered was total comfort food; soup, dumplings, chicken with noodles. Delicious. 'I don't want to pry or anything, Trowa,' he said quietly, 'but I'm here if you need to talk about whatever's upsetting you.' I shrugged, reaching over to spoon a couple of dumplings into my soup. 'What's the point, really? Talking isn't going to help.' I think it came out a little harsher than I'd meant, because he looked away from me, not quite quickly enough to hide the sudden pain in his eyes. 'Sorry. I'm sorry, OK? I told you I wasn't going to be any fun tonight.' 'I don't need you to be fun all the time,' he murmured, still not looking at me. 'That shouldn't be what this is all about. You've let me talk about my problems to you; why won't you tell me what's wrong?' 'Fine,' I muttered. What the hell; the two of us might as well be depressed as just one. I'd had to put down two dogs that afternoon, in the space of an hour. One was an elderly beagle; a much loved family pet and a total sweetheart. I'd got to know him and his owners over the past few weeks, and I'd been the one to tell his family that Sam wasn't responding to his new medication and that we'd run out of options. Still, he'd had a long and happy life. The second dog was a little terrier cross bitch brought in by a volunteer from the animal shelter. She was only a few months old; malnourished and sporting a broken pelvis from some sort of traffic accident. There was simply nothing we could have done; she wasn't strong enough to survive surgery. I'd waited with her until the last, giving her that one tiny bit of companionship. Quatre just listened. He didn't serve up the usual platitudes about how death was inevitable and animals had a short life span and a vet had to get used to this part of the job. He just held my hand in his, and let me feel he was there. 'Sometimes I just fucking hate my job. I've been qualified for over a year, and I still can't get used to that part of it. That isn't why I became a vet; to kill animals.' 'I don't blame you for being upset,' he said quietly. 'I could never do a job like that. But you did try; you told me last night that you'd tried every possible option for the Beagle. I don't think it's your job that's depressing you; you're trying to help animals. It's other people's cruelty.' 'You're probably right,' I admitted. It was…weird. I didn't feel happier or anything, just sort of lighter. Which sounds incredibly stupid. 'Did you ever think of getting into psychology or something instead of teaching?' He laughed. 'I think a lot of teaching is psychology, really. Especially with teenagers.' 'Is it what you always wanted to do? Teach?' I asked, reaching out for another dumpling, partly curious, partly just wanting to change the subject. I wasn't sure I was in the mood to be analysed. 'Oh, not at all.' He carefully divided a piece of chicken between the two slavering hounds at our feet. 'I know I shouldn't but I thought they deserved a little treat. No, I wanted to be a concert violinist, I'd never even thought of teaching as a career until I was in second year at university. The music department had - well, it still has, actually - a programme for students to help out in some less advantaged schools. I volunteered and I found I loved it.' He settled back against the couch, smiling a little when I draped an arm around his shoulders. Oh, Duo had been perfectly right about Quatre needing lots of physical affection. 'Are you feeling a little better now?' He reached one finger up to smooth the hair off my forehead. 'You sounded so sad on the 'phone earlier.' Had I? I'd tried to sound OK for him. 'Yeah, I'm OK. It helped that I didn't have to go to Wufei's place to dog-sit. He called me this morning to say he'd found someone else to take care of the fluffy demon. How's Zechs coping? I hadn't realised that he had dog-handling experience.' Quatre blushed faintly, chewing a mouthful of food very thoroughly before he answered. 'I think he has more experience with horses than dogs, really, but he loves animals. I actually called over early; Nataku was behaving angelically. She's adorable; I thought she was going to be a wolfhound or something the way you talk about her.' 'She's a demon in canine form,' I told him. 'I'm glad she was behaving herself though. Wufei was really worried about leaving her with a stranger.' 'It's a good sign, though, isn't it? I mean, he must like Zechs a little bit if he trusted him that much.' I shrugged. 'Not really. He was just at his wit's ends to find someone to take her for the night. His neighbours have threatened to call the police if he can't find some way to keep her from making noise all day, and nobody who actually knows her wants anything to do with her. Zechs was pretty much his only option.' 'Oh!' Quatre swallowed a spoonful of soup and licked his spoon sexily. 'I'm not sure if you're right, actually. I spoke to Zechs last night and he seemed to think they'd got on rather well on the drive home.' 'Yeah?' I tried to make my next sentence a little diplomatic. 'I'm not sure if that's what Wufei thinks. He told me Zechs kept going on about trees and that he seemed to be unhealthily obsessed with them.' 'Oh no!' He began to laugh. 'That was your fault! You told him to talk about the environment. He thought Wufei was interested. That's awful. But they're having dinner at the weekend; Wufei must like him a little, don't you think?' 'Look, Quatre, I don't think you should get too involved with fixing those two up,' I warned, noting the matchmaking gleam in my boyfriend's beautiful blue eyes. Why the hell did we always end up talking about our friends lately? 'Wufei's not looking for someone at the moment, and I know Zechs is your friend and all, but I don't see them being right for each other.' 'Well, you don't know that,' he argued, and then distracted me by doing that thing with the spoon and his tongue again. God, he had a perfect mouth, and the cutest little habit of chewing on his lower lip when he was thinking about something. I wanted to nibble at that pretty pink curve of flesh and then kiss it better. He was still going on about Zechs and Wufei and how lovely it would be if they were together when I leaned over and kissed him. Oh, he was lovely. Soft and yielding while I lost myself in that gorgeous mouth, and then a moment of playfulness at the end when he caught my tongue gently between his teeth. Just perfect. When I finally let him go, his lips were just a little bit red and swollen. Enough to make me want to grab him and repeat the performance. Except he moved a little bit away, helping himself to more noodles. 'I think they'd be good for each other,' he persisted. 'Zechs is a lovely person, you know.' 'Yeah, Duo gave me the pro-Zechs speech last night.' 'Oh, is that what the two of you were talking about in the café?' he wondered. 'Part of it, yeah.' I grinned at his expression; obviously dying to know what else had been discussed but not willing to ask outright. 'You'll find out the rest eventually.' He pouted up at me. 'I can just ask Duo to tell me.' 'He won't. I know you guys tell each other stuff, but this was between him and me.' That was something of a shot in the dark, really; for all I knew, Duo could have already told Quatre to expect a delivery of flowers, but my boyfriend just nodded, apparently accepting that. 'Was it something to do with me?' OK, maybe not. I had every faith in my sneaky blond's powers of persuasion to know he could probably wheedle the truth out of me in two seconds' flat, and I really wanted to surprise him. 'Wait and see,' I bent over to give him another kiss. 'So how come Duo broke up with Zechs, if he's such a great guy?' Hah! That diversionary tactic worked like a charm. Useful to know…. 'Well, there were a few reasons. Duo didn't think he was good enough for Zechs and that made him really insecure. Zechs wanted him to go to all kinds of official functions and parties and Duo hated that. I know he comes across as very confident but he's actually quite shy. They didn't have a major argument or anything; I think they just decided they'd be better off as just friends.' I made a face. 'Wufei wouldn't like any of that social schmoozing either.' 'The situation's a little different now. Relena's old enough now to go to social events and she actually loves that sort of thing, so it takes the pressure off Zechs.' 'Listen, Quatre. I know you think they'd be good together,' I said, trying for the tact thing again. I personally couldn't imagine a less suited couple in the entire universe, even if there did seem to be some sort of chemistry between them. 'But Wufei's happy by himself and I think Zechs is probably happy with lots of other people.' 'That's because neither of them has met the right person!' He went all gooey-eyed. 'Wouldn't it be marvellous if they got together? Our two close friends! We could double date and everything. I know they don't seem compatible, but I'm sure they just need a little help. It would be wonderful to bring two lonely souls together.' 'I think they're both capable of managing their own love lives without you meddling.' 'But Trowa, it isn't meddling to help people.' He gazed at me, those blue eyes gloriously guileless. Shit. If he looked at me like that, there was nothing in the universe I could refuse him. 'We'll have to see how the dinner date goes, but maybe I could invite them over here some evening next week? So they can spend more time together. Don't you think that would be a good idea?' 'I think we should watch the movie before it gets too late,' I said hastily. I hadn't realised my boyfriend's romantic streak extended to everyone who happened to come into his orbit, but I guessed that I would be expected to take part in his matchmaking schemes he dreamed up.' Hoping to distract him with the theme tune and opening sequence, I slid the DVD into his laptop. He looked like he wanted to protest, and then remembered that I was a guest in his home. 'Of course. Can I get you something else to drink before we start?' 'You wouldn't happen to have any aspirin around? I'm starting to get a killer headache.' That won me my boyfriend's undivided attention. 'You poor thing! You should have said something earlier. I'm not surprised, after your awful day,' he sympathised. Before I could blink, he had my feet up on the couch, Instead of jumping up to fetch me pain relief, he scooted in behind me. 'It's probably just tension that's caused it. I might be able to relax you a little bit and that would be better than taking a tablet.' 'Wow. That's…amazing.' I dropped my head as his brilliant, talented fingers began to play over my skin. One hand massaged my temples, very gently, and the other kneaded the muscles at the back of my neck. 'How the hell did you learn to do that? You have the rest of our lives to keep doing it!' He laughed softly. 'I took some massage lessons a couple of years ago. Duo, Zechs and I went on holiday to Thailand . Does it really feel good?' 'It's incredible. Utter bliss.' It was, too. We had two dogs curled up in front of the log fire, and he'd lit candles, and the world was suddenly a much improved place. Having my dreamily gorgeous blond boyfriend pressed up against me and touching me with those magic fingers was definitely the cherry on top of the cream on top of the icing on the cake. Actually, cream on top of my dreamy boyfriend would be rather nice….One day. I never did get to see much of the movie. One minute, we were watching the outrageous stunts, and then I was drifting back to consciousness, with my head in my boyfriend's lap, and his fingers gently stroking my forehead. 'Shit. Did I fall asleep. I'm sorry, Quatre; you must have been bored to tears. Why didn't you wake me?' 'I wasn't bored,' he murmured. 'I watched the film and then just listened to music.' 'What happened?' 'James saved the world and got the girl. As per usual.' 'No major plot twists, then?' I was laughing when I noticed what time it was. 'Damn. It's not really half eleven, is it? I've been asleep that long? I'd better make tracks before I drop off again.' 'You could stay,' he offered, very softly. 'If you liked.' 'You're sure?' He gave me a quick little nod, but didn't meet my eyes, staring down at the wooden floorboards. Right. He'd offered, he didn't seem terribly comfortable with it. A pretty big step; not that I imagined he was offering more than a place to sleep but still…. He'd told me regarded this house as his sanctuary and he was offering to share his bed, his room, his sleep with me. And he looked a little like he was regretting now. Sure, I could just refuse, or I could try to make it seem like less of a big deal… 'I'd better warn you in advance; if you're hoping to have your wicked way with me tonight, you're out of luck. I'll fall straight asleep once I'm horizontal.' That worked. His face lit up happily. 'I wouldn't dream of taking advantage of someone in such a weakened state,' he teased back. 'If you're at all worried about your virtue, I could make up a bed in the guestroom.' 'I wouldn't dream of putting you to so much trouble.' I sighed exaggeratedly, making him laugh. 'I'll take my chances with you.' 'Well then.' We tidied up together, let the dogs out for a last run, and locked up in a companionable silence. In his bathroom, he started to burble on about finding me a toothbrush, and a towel, and explaining the shower settings, and showing me how to operate the water heater. Yeah, he had the most amazing bathroom; walk-in shower, big, old freestanding bath-tub, more than big enough for two to share… 'Quatre.' 'Is something wrong?' 'Just slow down a sec, OK? You're practically going into warp speed.' 'I'm sorry. I tend to talk fast when I'm nervous about something.' He dropped his gaze, fingers pleating the towel in his hand. 'You don't have to be nervous, honey. Not with me. If you're not comfortable with this, I'm fine sleeping on the couch. Or I can go home.' 'It's not that. I just…I didn't want you to go home to an empty house, and I do want you to stay, but I don't want you to think that I …' 'Hey. Come here.' I sat on the edge of the bathtub and pulled him into my arms. 'Stop that. I'm not expecting anything, Quatre. I was serious when I said I was wrecked. I'd really like for us to share a bed again, but not if you'd rather not. I hardly ever snore, and I only grind my teeth when I'm really stressed.' He gave me the tiniest little flicker of a smile, all the tension leeching out of his body as he let me put both arms around him. 'I'd love you to share my bed. Truly.' His room was an Aladdin's Cave of carved, gilded furniture and jewel-bright fabrics. It was also pleasantly untidy; a jumble of clothes spilling out of his wardrobe, and books and Cds in a precarious pyramid on the bedside table. 'I'm sorry it's so messy,' he apologised, darting ahead of me, and scooping up a tangle of odd socks off the floor. 'Don't be. It's great to find you're a bit of a slob. The rooms downstairs are so tidy that I was starting to worry about you having a neatness fixation.' He laughed. 'No, I'm the opposite if anything. I try to keep downstairs tidy in case I have visitors, but no one really comes in here.' He chewed his bottom lip uncertainly. Just give it time, sweetheart. Oddly enough, I was willing to do just that. I knew he liked me; he wasn't just playing coy or hard to get, or some stupid power games. He'd been badly burnt and he was a bit nervous about sticking his hand - or anything else - back into the fire. I could wait for him. And I was getting some pretty nice side benefits along the way…. He collected a pair of dark blue pyjamas from the end of his bed, and vanished back into the bathroom 'to get changed'. OK. Pyjamas were probably good. Granted, my powers of self-control were reaching pretty damn epic proportions by this stage, but it was probably for the best if he wasn't going to sleep with me naked. I'd work on that when I had him in my house on Saturday
night, and lured him onto the futon.
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