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"Rainy Day in Dublin"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: R Warnings: Duo POV, some fluff and sap and a little
angst. Pairings: 1x2x5 Summary: The guys are on holiday in Ireland and
surprisingly enough, it's raining " Rainy Day in Dublin" Part II: The rain only held off for as long as it took for us to collect our coats and head downstairs. The guy at Reception burst out laughing at our faces when we looked out the front door, told us the weather forecast was good and produced an umbrella from under his desk. It was a massive thing, big enough to shelter a family of ten, probably. I ended up being the one in the middle, trying to hold it up, with the guys on either side. I'm not entirely comfortable with the whole PDA thing - it still surprises me that they are, to be honest - but they've been together for nearly three years by now; I'm still a fairly recent addition . It was never a good idea on L2 to be too obvious about certain things; even though Dylan and I had been together for over a year, we'd never so much as held hands in public. I think Heero and Wufei were enjoying the chance to get close under fairly innocuous circumstances, Wufei's hand was just touching mine on the handle, and Heero was walking way closer to me than he usually does. Our hotel was located in an area called Temple Bar; it had been too dark to see much when we'd arrived so everything was new. Narrow cobblestone streets, winding past what Wufei said had once been old warehouses and which had been converted into shops and cafes and artists' studios. There was even an open air food market in one of the little squares. 'This is really cool, isn't it? Nothing like I'd imagined,' I remarked, turning to look at a girl playing a violin and nearly losing my footing on the wet cobbles; Wufei caught me before I slipped, taking the opportunity to slide one arm around my waist. 'What did you think it would be like?' 'I dunno, really. Lots of green. Sheep. Little cottages. Leprachauns. Everyone with red hair, wearing those knitted sweaters.' 'I think that's only in movies,' Heero grinned at me. 'But if you want to get that sweater for Hilde, that shop's got some in the window.' Wufei tried to practice his Gaelic on the shop assistant, but he turned to be Polish and thought at first that we were non-English speaking tourists. We were still teasing him about that as we wandered back outside (still raining, by the way) so we ended up ducking in and out of various little shops. Irish linen sheets were ridiculously expensive, but we got a set of table napkins and some crystal candle holders for the living room. It still surprises me sometimes, how domesticated those two are. Well, I maybe should have got a clue during the War; they were the only two of us who actually waxed and polished their Gundams. We ended up going to a museum, the Chester Beatty Library, mainly because it was too wet to do much outdoor stuff. It wasn't actually too bad; there was a cool little courtyard café where we had coffee first. I think we'd probably still be there if I hadn't pointed out that the sun had come out; Wufei had discovered a collection of books carved in jade from China, and Heero was practically drooling over some Japanese painted scrolls. Fortunately the sun came out after a couple of hours and we wandered down to the river, amazed at how fast the weather could change. The city looked totally different under a dazzling blue sky, with the sun sparkles dancing on the water. We took turns posing and taking photos on the cutest little bridge imaginable, adorned with antique lampposts and fancy wrought iron railings, and then found the perfect place for lunch. I think the guys had actually made a note of the Winding Stair Cafe from their guide book, but we just 'happened' to walk across the bridge and Heero suggested that the first place across the road 'looked interesting' and by then we were inside and I was hooked. A book-lined staircase wound up a couple of storeys, with more books piled into little rooms, so that by the time we were ensconced at a window table in the top floor restaurant we each had a bag of books, fighting for table space with the menus. 'I don't actually know what half of this stuff is on the menu, do you? What the heck is champ? Or boxty?' 'Something to do with potatoes, I think,' Wufei was frowning over the menu; he hates having to admit he doesn't know something. In the end, we let the waitress (red hair; yes!) interpret. Heero the fish addict got seafood chowder with soda bread; Wufei had bacon and cabbage with parsley sauce, which he claimed was the country's traditional meal, and I had bubble and squeak, just because of the name; it turned out to be mashed potatoes friend with turnip and topped with grilled cheese, way nicer than it sounds. Miraculously, the sun was still shining when we finally left, taking the 'scenic route' back to our hotel and wandering around leafy squares lined by Georgian houses, and back down Grafton Street, a long paved street with flower sellers and street musicians on every corner. Last stop was the Butler's Chocolate Café for hot chocolate; we were getting fairly good at weather forecasting now; the showers rarely lasted for long and were a nice excuse to get a drink or browse around a shop. The drinks were amazing - like drinking warm melted chocolate - and Heero also picked out a selection of handmade chocolates. 'More food?' I grinned at him; I'm usually the one with the sweet tooth and they're the ones handing out the carrot sticks. 'You're not still hungry, are you?' 'They might be nice for later,' he remarked, fairly blandly, but with a very slight smile that suggested that consumption of said chocolate would doubtless involve a certain amount of nudity and our very large bed. Wufei was wearing a similar expression, not quite looking at me, but nudging his foot discreetly against mine. Um, do I even need to mention we went back to the hotel pretty soon after that? Didn't think so. I was perched on the bed, unlacing my shoes when Wufei put the box into my hand, with Heero looking over his shoulder. It shouldn't have surprised me; they were always giving me presents. Small things, usually; the latest book by an author I liked, or a CD by a band I'd admired on the radio. Heero always managed to wrangle an hour away from the office on Friday mornings so he could drive to a French bakery and pick up a box of chocolate almond croissants for breakfast in bed on Saturday; Wufei had to fly to Tokyo once a month or so for work - he's with the Preventers' Asian Intelligence- and he always brought me back of a bag of my favourite Japanese candy. It was nice, but it was sort of weird as well. I wasn't used to people just giving me random gifts. Or gifts at all really. Dylan and I had exchanged presents at Christmas but that was pretty much it, and it had taken a while before I could just accept these little gestures graciously; it wasn't just me, they got each other stuff all the time, and I'd recently started dropping by a specialty tea shop to get Wufei some new flavours, and going out to buy sushi for Heero when he was working through lunch. So there I was, sitting on the edge of the bed, half dressed and holding a little green box, embossed with a golden harp, in the palm of my hand. It was a ring. There was a little white card with it, saying it was called a Claddagh ring and explaining the design. The heart was for love, of course; the hands clasping the heart stood for friendship, and the crown surmounting the heart represented loyalty. It was beautiful. 'Duo? Don't you like it?' 'It's doesn't necessarily mean we're asking for a commitment or anything. We just saw it and thought you might like it.' 'You don't have to wear it..' I looked down at my hands, clasping the little box. I'd only ever worn a ring once before and it had been a plastic one Dylan had got in a Christmas cracker, but he'd given it to me, and I'd worn it for a couple of months until it feel apart. This was - slightly different. There was a little list of instructions on how the ring should be worn in the box, and I slid it onto the third finger of my right hand, with the heart pointing towards me, towards my heart, knowing they would understand what that meant. 'It's gorgeous. Really. But you don't have to keep giving me stuff.' 'Why not? We like giving you things.' 'It suits you, love.' Heero picked up my hand and kissed it. 'And it'll show any prospective Romeos that you're taken.' 'Very much taken,' Wufei agreed, sounding quite smug about the fact. I privately doubted that anyone would try hitting on me with those two around, but they are both slightly on the possessive side. OK, that's something of an understatement. 'They'll only know what it means if they're Irish,' I couldn't help teasing them a bit. 'What about all the gorgeous French and Italian guys who're going to proposition me over the next couple of weeks?' 'Them, we'll just have to kill,' Wufei growled, pushing me slowly backwards on to the bed and following me down. 'There are other ways to let people know you're … not available.' That was Heero, spooning in beside us and fastening his lips to the side of my neck. 'Mmmm.' It's difficult to maintain any level of conscious thought when you've got not one but two seriously hot guys doing their level, devoted best to make you scream. The last thing that drifted into my brain before I surrendered was that I'd have to sneak off the next day and get a couple of matching rings for them. Didn't want any suave continental types trying to make a move on either of my boyfriends, after all. ~ * ~ The procedure for wearing a Claddagh Ring is as follows;
if you're single you wear it on your right hand, with the 'point'
of the heart facing your fingernails; if you're in a relationship,
it's the same hand but worn the opposite way ie the heart is facing
your knuckles. I think historically you're officially only supposed
to wear it on your left hand if you're officially engaged, or married,
but I know some people who are in long term relationships and do wear
their ring on the left hand.
~ * ~
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