"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"

 

Quatre's POV:

Chapter 8:

Trowa's supposed to be collecting me at seven, so of course Duo calls at twenty to.

'Hey, Quat. All ready for the big date?'

'Naturally,' I say, trying to sound cool, calm and collected.

'No way,' he crows delightedly. 'I know you're standing in your room with all your clothes on the bed and you're totally panicking over what to wear?'

'What?'

Of course, he's perfectly right. I have no idea what to wear. Trowa had mentioned having 'reservations' which suggested we'd be going to a nice restaurant and that I should dress up. But what if it turns out to be a local pizza place or something and he's in jeans?

Most of my clothes are indeed on the bed, as Duo said, and Maggie, who is developing expensive tastes, is curled up happily on my favourite cashmere sweater.

'How did you know that?' I demand. 'Did you get Heero to install cameras in my bedroom or something?'

It's actually possible; Heero came over on Monday to tinker with my alarm system. Maybe he felt the urge to add an extra bit of surveillance equipment.

'Of course not,' Duo starts to laugh on the other end of the line. 'That's an idea, though, especially if HVG is going to start staying over.'

'He's not!' I say defensively. 'And stop calling him that. You make him sound like a truck.'

'That's HGV, for Heavy Goods Vehicle,' Duo informs me. 'Totally different from Hot Vet Guy. And speaking of him staying over, you might want to get your dog out of the habit of sleeping with you. He mightn't appreciate that sort of threesome, not unless there's something seriously wrong with him, and in that case you'd want to dump him anyway. And, believe me, there's nothing worse than a crying dog when you're trying to make out with someone. The first time Heero and I….'

'Duo, stop.' I beg. 'I have no intention of sleeping with Trowa tonight. I promise.'

'Well, maybe not on the second date,' he allows. 'Anyway, the reason I know what you're doing is that I lived with you for years. You're such a girl sometimes!'

'Oh, right. This from the guy who has hair down to his ass,' I shoot back. 'I watched you get ready for your first date with Heero, remember?'

'That was just the one time,' he defends himself and then snickers. 'Not like Heero cares what clothes I wear anyway; only how easy it is to get them off. You always freak about clothes, though, so I thought I'd give you a hand. What you should wear is that turquoise shirt that brings out the colour of your eyes, and those dark dress pants.'

'That's not a bad idea, Duo. Thank you,' I say gratefully, rooting around in my piles of clothes. 'I hadn't thought of that.'

He laughs. 'I'm sure the sexy vet will appreciate it too. Oh, another thing, pass on that pink vest, OK?'

'Huh,' I snort. Admittedly, I don't have the world's best fashion sense - it comes of being the only boy amid a gaggle of girls - but I'd given that particular item away long ago.

'Just checking. Oh, Quat, wait a sec.' There's some muttering in the background as he covers the mouthpiece and then, 'Fine, Heero. I'll ask him. But I know he'll say no. Quatre? My insanely paranoid boyfriend wants to know if you'd like to borrow a wire for the date?'

'A wire?' What in the world is he talking about? Barbed wire? I know he and Heero indulge in the occasional bit of light bondage, but that seems a little hard core.

'You know; a listening device? So we can check things are going all right for you?'

'Oh! No, I don't want something like that! Thank you,' I add politely. I worry about those two sometimes; Heero especially. He has a tendency to carry on like he's the lead character in a spy movie.

'I told you he wouldn't go for it,' Duo informs Heero. 'And no, I'm pretty sure he doesn't want us following him either. Why don't you go and take Shinnie for his nice walk, and let me talk to Quat?'

'You can go with them, you know,' I suggest. 'You don't have to stay here and talk to me.'

'Nah, it's OK. Heero's been stuck in his office all day; it'll do him good to get out for some fresh air.' He laughs. 'He can give me some exercise when he gets back. So are you all excited?'

'I think so.'

Excited, terrified, impatient all at once. I'm longing to see Trowa again, but what if we don't get on? What if we bore each other to tears after ten minutes? In fairness, that's not very likely; we've spoken on the 'phone every day and still haven't run out of things to talk about, but this is an official date, so naturally I'm imagining all the many things that could go wrong.

I'd feel a lot more comfortable if I could bring Maggie with me, actually.

'Duo, I'd better go, or Trowa will be here. I'll call you tomorrow morning.'

'OK. Have a good time. And don't do anything I wouldn't do.'

Well, that gives me plenty of latitude, I think, as I get dressed, buttoning my shirt buttons just as the doorbell rings. Before I answer it, I take Maggie, still cosily wrapped in cashmere, into her puppy pen and close the door firmly. I've already made the mistake of leaving her loose while I go out and I definitely won't be doing that again.

Trowa's standing on the front step, hand raised to press the doorbell a second time. He actually looks rather taller than I remember, maybe because he's all in black, and my mouth dries slightly as he leans down to brush a kiss across my cheek.

'I'm sorry I kept you waiting,' I apologise. 'I was just making sure Maggie was all settled.'

'No problem,' he says easily and hands me a small bag. 'Here, this is for you. I thought it might be useful.'

'Thank you!' I rummage in the brown paper bag and take out a dog's leash. Useful? Whatever does that mean? Is he trying to tell me he's into bondage? That he wants me to wear the thing?

'Well, officially it's for Maggie,' Trowa elaborates. 'The lead you're using now will be fine in a couple of months, but it's a little heavy for her now.'

Whew.

'Oh. Thank you! Ah, would you like to come in and see her before we go?' I offer.

Trowa glances at his watch. 'We probably should head off now. The reservation is for seven thirty, and the traffic's pretty heavy tonight. Maybe I could drop in later?'

'That's fine,' I smile at him, and then realise that maybe he thinks that it's more than an invitation for coffee and conversation. Maybe he thinks it's an offer of rampant sex.

Which, of course, it isn't.

Although he looks awfully good in black.

It's a little awkward in the car at first. I can't actually tell him that sex isn't going to be on the menu tonight, but then maybe he'll come back to my house expecting it ….

Oh dear. There should be some sort of questionnaire one can fill in before dating, laying all this down in black and white, so there's no room for these sort of grey areas.

It's a relief when Trowa switches on the radio, and I start to relax as he flicks stations, and we can talk about music as we drive across town.

'Lek's?' I ask incredulously, as we pull into what an outsider might consider to be a nondescript parking lot. 'You actually got a table at Lek's on a Thursday night?'

He grins slightly. 'You did say you liked spicy food and this is supposed to be the best Thai food in Sanque. Is that all right?'

'Oh, it's perfect,' I assure him, charmed that he'd remembered. Simon had always taken me to whatever upmarket restaurant or club was currently popular with the 'in' crowd, regardless of whether I'd enjoy myself or not. I usually hadn't.

Lek's is - well, it's officially a restaurant, because the sign over the door says so, and there are menus, but it only has twelve tables and it's practically impossible to get one of them without booking six months in advance, or being related to the family. 'I just can't believe you managed to get a reservation here.'

'I have connections,' Trowa tells me smugly. 'My friend Wufei's grandmother is best friends with Mrs. Lek. They apparently came to Sanque around the same time, and attended English classes together. I've known them since I was a kid.'

'I'm impressed,' I beam up at him, as we walk inside. 'This is probably my favourite restaurant in the world.'

'Good.' As we wait to be shown to our table, Trowa gives me a relieved little grin. 'I'm was hoping this would be OK. You were talking about Thai food the other night; I know this place isn't fancy or anything, but I thought you'd like it. I wasn't sure if you'd ever been here before.'

'Not for a year or so, actually. The last time was a birthday party for my friend, Zechs, and we ended up being barred by Mrs. Lek.'

'Really?' Trowa's eyes gleam. 'What did you do? Smash up the furniture? Ask for tomato ketchup with your meal?'

'No! It wasn't my fault, honestly! It was Zechs; there was so much food left that we asked if we could have the leftovers to bring home.' I have to stop there for a minute, as a waitress shows us to our table.

'That sounds quite reasonable.' Trowa smiles at the waitress who hands over the menus.

'Oh, that bit was fine,' I can't stop grinning at the memory. 'The problem was that the waiter who came to pack up the food was really cute, and Zechs likes Asian guys, and the two of them got…rather friendly. He turned out to be Mrs. Lek's grandson, who'd just arrived from Bangkok, and she didn't like him being corrupted on his first day in Sanque.'

Trowa laughs along with me. 'So you were thrown out?'

I nod. 'It was a long time ago; they shouldn't recognise me now. Just so you know, though, if Mrs. Lek comes in, I'll probably dive under the table. She terrifies the life out of me.'

'I promise to defend you to the death against little old ladies and all other perils,' he tells me solemnly and then grins when I blush, grateful when the waitress comes back to take our orders. We let her recommend the evenings' specials, and choose dishes we can share.

'I know she's scary, though. She was always catching Wufei and me doing what we weren't supposed to be doing; it was like she had some weird sort of sixth sense.'

'So,' I can't help asking, 'what did you do that you weren't supposed to?'

He shrugs, grinning. 'All the stuff teenage boys get up to. You know?'

I don't, not really, but I nod anyway and change the subject. 'Are you and Wufei still good friends then? It must be nice to have been friends with someone for so long.'

'He's my closest friend. I think you know him, actually. He helps out at the Sanque Inner City Youth Centre.'

'Oh, Mr. Chang,' I nod eagerly. 'Yes, I do know him. I didn't know his first name; we just use surnames at the club.' I shrug. 'It's supposed to teach the kids respect for adults. How do you know him?'

'From school. We've been friends since we were twelve. Where did you go anyway? Somewhere in Sanque City?' He laughs. 'We probably have a few more friends in common. Maybe we met when we were kids, at a match or a sports day or something?'

I shake my head. None of the local schools, even the private ones, were considered good enough by my parents for their offspring.

'I went to boarding school in Switzerland.'

'Really?' Trowa sounds surprised. 'I've never met anyone who was at boarding school. Did you like it?'

'Well, I hated it at first, but I was only eight, so I suppose it was rather frightening.'

'You went sent away to school when you were eight?' He sounds positively horrified on my behalf. 'Quatre, that's barbaric.'

'Well, it's rather archaic, certainly, but it wasn't that bad,' I lean over to help myself to some more noodles, and brush my fingers against his. 'Most of the time, I really enjoyed it; we went on wonderful excursions and I learned to ski, and there was a superb music department.'

'But...didn't you miss your family?'

Oh dear. I hadn't really wanted to discuss that particular topic. He'll probably think I'm a horrible unfeeling person if I say I didn't.

'We weren't that close,' I say finally. 'My older sisters had all been sent to school and my parents were away most of the time. I missed our housekeeper more than anyone; she used to make me cookies and tell me the most wonderful stories.'

'Poor little rich boy,' he murmurs gently.

The main courses, when they come, look superb, and smell wonderfully aromatic. All my favourite foods, in my favourite restaurant, and I don't really have an appetite.

I eat mechanically, and even manage to sound appreciative when the waitress comes around to check on us, but all my attention is on Trowa. I've never, never felt like this before.

I just want to listen to his voice, to make him laugh, to watch the way his eye colour changes sometimes depending on his mood, to watch the way he sometimes sweeps his bangs back from his forehead, and sometimes just lets them hang over one eye.

He's in the middle of telling me about the apartment he's found, when the front door opens, and, a tiny, grey-haired old lady sweeps in. Before I even know what I'm doing, I've slid under the table, waiting for the two highly-polished black court shoes to click past our table.

Our table, incidentally, is a small table for two. There's not a lot of room underneath to accommodate me, in addition to Trowa's long legs. Oh, dear. I can just imagine the comments if Duo - or Zechs - could see me now.

'The coast is clear,' Trowa murmurs suddenly, reaching one hand down to help me up.

'I'm so sorry,' I stammer. 'That was stupid. I just saw Mrs. Lek come in and I panicked.'

'Oh, you don't have to apologise,' he says easily. 'I enjoyed it.'

I can feel myself turning the colour of an overripe tomato, and Trowa leans over, touching my hand under the pretext of picking up the drinks menu.

'I'm just teasing, Quatre,' he says gently. 'Really. I remember the rules, and I promise not to pounce on you. OK?'

'Sorry. I'm just a little nervous. It's a long time since I've been on a first date.'

'It's only been a few days, actually,' he teases. 'Remember? It was perfect. And I told you I wasn't going to rush you and I won't.' One corner of his mouth quirks. 'I'm not expecting you to sleep with me tonight if that's what you're worrying about. Although, I have to say, you are sending me some pretty mixed signals.'

'I am?' I glance up from my intense study of the tablecloth to find his grin has broadened.

That gets a fully fledged laugh from him. 'Well, you were on your knees at my feet, under a very small table. There was a minute there, until I saw Mrs. Lek, when I wasn't sure quite what you were planning to do.'

~ * ~

Chapter 9

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