Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, and am making no money off of this fic.
AN: Written for the June 14th Cocktail Party prompt found here: gwcocktailfriday . tumblr .com(/)post/185450918908/cocktail-friday-post-responses-on-friday-june. (Without the spaces and parentheses.)
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Someone (or Two) New by luvsanime02
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Relena sets down her fruity drink with a sigh of pleasure. She picks out a cherry and chews on it happily before taking another sip from the glass. It tastes just as good as it looks, and Relena mentally applauds the bartender. Maybe this night won't be so bad, after all.
That mostly depends on whether or not Relena's best friend is trying to set her up on a blind date again. Though, she doesn't think that Dorothy would use their S.O.S. signal to trick Relena into showing up for a date. If for no other reason than because she could only do that once before Relena would never reply to that kind of text ever again.
Dorothy knows what Relena's limits are. She knows when not to push too much. They've had their signal established for years, by this point. One of them texts "cherries", and the other person knows to show up at their favorite bar and settle in for a long night of complaining.
It's been over half an hour, though, and Dorothy has yet to show up. Relena's actually starting to get worried that it might have been a real distress signal, and not just asking to meet up and drink. Relena checks her phone again, but there's no other texts after Relena asked Dorothy where she was ten minutes ago. She puts it away again.
"Waiting for someone?" the person to her left asks.
And that's another reason why Relena is suspicious that this is a setup for a date. There's no other reason that she can see for such an attractive man to be sitting beside her. He's tan and dark-eyed, with silky-looking black hair drawn up in a short ponytail, and Relena has been ignoring him since she came in and sat down, but now that he's speaking to her, she doesn't want to be rude.
Relena smiles politely. "Yes, my friend asked me to come and meet her, but apparently, she's running late," she explains.
The stranger nods. "Seems we're both stuck waiting for a friend," he says, and Relena has noticed that he's alone, too. He's also been tapping the bartop for the last few minutes - quietly, but fast enough that Relena can practically feel his restlessness. Then again, maybe that's just her own impatience.
Still, Relena hasn't completely dropped her suspicions just yet. She wouldn't put it past Dorothy to try and 'accidentally' set Relena up on a date, either. "Your friend wouldn't happen to be a woman named Dorothy, would she?" Relena finally asks, and she can't quite keep the wariness out of her tone.
His lips quirk up into a slight smile, and god, he's really handsome. Relena desperately hopes that he's not here because of Dorothy. "No," he says simply. And just like that, all of Relena's worries about this being a blind date vanish. "My name is Wufei," he adds.
She nods slightly. "Relena," she offers, and brings up a hand to shake his. Wufei's grip is firm, like he's not afraid of accidentally crushing her delicate fingers, or whatever nonsense some men think when they shake her hand very softly. "Been waiting long?"
Wufei rolls his eyes. "Almost an hour," he says, and ouch. Relena thought that Dorothy was bad. "I'd leave, but then I'll never hear the end of it. This is actually less annoying in the long run."
Relena smiles more naturally this time. "I know the feeling," she says, but can't help taking out her phone and checking the time again. "I'm actually a little worried, though," she admits. "Dorothy isn't the type to take this long to-"
The front door of the bar opens, and in steps Dorothy. Relena's friend is wearing a tight, gold dress that comes down to mid-thigh, and that glitters under the bar lights. She takes a moment to spot Relena, and then stalks forward like a runway model. Every eye in the place is turned towards her in surprise, even Wufei's, and Relena can't blame them. This is definitely the first time that Dorothy has shown up to one of their drinking dates looking like she's just stepped off the runway at a fashion show.
Relena blinks, and blinks again, and that's when she finally notices that someone entered the bar behind Dorothy. This stranger is lithe but clearly muscular, and gorgeous, with long, brown hair pulled into a braid and blue eyes that look almost purple when he passes right under a bar light. Amethyst, Relena thinks, feeling stunned. He's wearing a black leather jacket, with tight black jeans and black combat boots, and he looks like every teenage girl (or boy's) bad boy fantasy come to life.
He turns and raises an eyebrow at Relena, and she realizes abruptly that she's staring. Oh my god. Her cheeks flush. "Sorry," she says sincerely. Really, Relena can't believe that she's being so rude. She gets stared at enough to know how uncomfortable that can be, and here Relena is doing the same thing to someone else.
But wow. If Dorothy looks like a runway model, then this man looks like a magazine photographer's dream come true. The two of them are a study in light and dark, opposites but equally compelling, and Relena honestly feels a little blindsided.
"You're late," Wufei says to the man, because of course this is the friend that he's been waiting for.
"I walked," the friend says, voice just as smooth as the rest of him. Nice. Still, Relena turns her head back towards Dorothy, trying to only pay attention to her friend, though she can't help but listen to the conversation going on beside her. "I am never going on another blind date again."
Sounds like the guy is as fed up with dating as Relena is, at the moment.
"What happened this time?" Wufei asks, failing to hide his amusement. Not that he's even trying to, probably.
"He tried to pay me for sex," the friend says bluntly.
Oh. Relena winces, now even more sorry that she was staring earlier. How awful.
Feeling ashamed for listening in, Relena leans closer to Dorothy. "What took you so long?" she asks. About five minutes ago, her tone might have been accusatory, but now, Relena's merely curious.
Dorothy shrugs. "Had a date that didn't go so well," she says, tapping the bartop and getting the bartender's attention right away. Relena remembers her own drink and takes another sip. "Tried to pay some young man for sex, and he got offended."
Relena chokes on her drink, and hears the conversation next to her go silent. "You what?!" she asks, appalled that Dorothy would do such a thing.
Except when she looks back up at her friend, Dorothy is smirking. Relena lets out a sigh of great relief, and gives Dorothy a chiding look that has no effect on her friend whatsoever. Beside her, Relena hears Wufei snort in laughter, and can't help but smile.
"He tried to insist that while he's only a regional manager now, he's well on his way to becoming a division head, and I needn't worry about staying at my job because he'd be perfectly willing to buy me anything I could ever want," Dorothy says, finally through with the teasing. She seems tired, really, now that Relena looks closer.
Relena wonders if Dorothy walked all the way here as well. "I'm sorry he was so full of himself," she says simply. Sadly, Dorothy gets this sort of reaction from men quite often. They see her success as a challenge, and love to reassure her that she doesn't need to work so hard now that she's dating them. As though her wealth is a direct reflection on their existence as a human being, or something else equally ridiculous.
"Maybe we should set your date up with mine," Wufei's friend says suddenly, showing no hesitation at insinuating himself into their conversation. Not that it wasn't obvious before that all of them have been eavesdropping on each other. "See which one of them cracks and flees first."
Dorothy laughs, looking delighted by the idea. Relena would try and stop her, but really, she thinks that both of their dates deserve each other, from the sounds of things. That, and she's never been able to stop Dorothy once she gets an idea in her head.
Wufei shares a long-suffering look with Relena. "I have the feeling that we're going to be here for a while," he says dryly, not sounding upset in the least. Dorothy gets up from her seat, walks over to the one next to Wufei's friend, and promptly sits down. "Dorothy Catalonia," she says, holding out a demanding hand.
Dorothy can be intimidating, but Wufei's friend only grins and puts his hand in hers, looking thrilled. Relena can see a disaster friendship in the making, and can do nothing to stop it. "Duo Maxwell," he says, and at least Relena knows his name now. So she knows who to curse, along with Dorothy, after whatever trouble they get into from now on.
"I'm almost afraid," Wufei says, clearly seeing the same doom approaching that Relena does.
Relena nods, and tries to ignore how warm Wufei's glance her way makes her feel. "The world is going to burn," she says, "but maybe it needs to every once in a while."
Wufei gives her his full attention after that, looking surprised, and then pleased, and then admiring. Relena gives up, and admits to herself that she's very happy Dorothy texted her tonight, of all nights. Sometimes, things work out after all.