Author's Notes: When Fred came along and preferred Gunn over Wesley, there
was bound to be harsh feelings. Unrequited is a story about how Wesley
deals with it all. It takes place after "Waiting in the Wings".
It's rated G and I take no credit for the characters. They're all Joss's.
// Denotes internal monologue.
Enjoy!
**~**
Wesley watched at Gunn and Fred pretended not to notice one another. //It's disgusting, really. It isn't as if they weren't in public. In the job place, no less. In front of their boss! //
Wesley's shoulders slumped. //I wish she'd look at me like that. //
Wesley looked down at his papers and walked in the room, clearing his throat to alert them of his presence.
"Well he can't be far, and hiding doesn't seem like his style, wouldn't you say, Fred?"
Fred smiled as she took her eyes from Gunn and looked at Wesley.
"Yeah, Holtz seems to be a real go-getter. Why isn't he getting?" She seemed to puzzle this over in her head. Wesley watched the way her forehead crinkled when she was deep in thought. His eyes were drawn to the pouty look her lips took on, as she seemed to be sounding out the obvious answer, nearly on the tip of her tongue.
//Wesley slowly put down the paper as Winifred's eyes darted to his. Her hand went to her throat as she started to loose control of her breathing.
"Holtz is dangerous. But I'll deal with him. It's the least I can do for Angel."
"But Wesley," Fred said, her other hand making circles on her stomach, lightly, "isn't that dangerous?"
"Yes, terribly. But I must do what I must."
"Oh Wes."//
"WES!" Gunn shouted to get his attention.
Wesley licked his lips as his eyes darted around nervously from Fred to Gunn, wondering if any of them noticed his flight into fantasy. Gunn was shaking his head and Fred was still mulling over the problem in her mind. And what a beautiful mind it was too.
Wesley snapped out of it, taking his glasses off to clean them.
"Well?" Gunn asked. Wesley looked at him and tried to discern what Gunn had asked him.
"What do you think about The Moping One?"
"The what?" Wesley looked confused, his mind not focused.
"He means Angel. Haven't you noticed him moping around here? Ever since Groo came back." Fred said; her simple smile fixed on her face.
"Oh.Angel. Of course. Yes, well, I'd say there isn't anything we can do." Wesley looked at Fred in earnest. "Love unrequited is a terrible thing to have to suffer through."
Fred nodded and smiled a special smile to Gunn, not even seeming to notice the look of pain that crossed Wesley's face.
"Well, I should get to work on Holtz." Wesley turned to retreat to his office.
"What about a spell?"
Wesley stopped and turned back to Fred.
"What about a spell that will make him not hurt?"
"It would be too dangerous to do any unnecessary spells on someone like Angel, lest we accidentally free his demon."
"Yeah, besides, he'll get over it." Gunn said as he hopped off the counter and winked at Fred, who blushed. Wesley narrowed his eyes.
"Don't be too sure, Charles." Gunn stopped and looked at Wesley, a little surprised by the hostility in Wesley's voice. "I wouldn't expect you to know pain like that, but heartache causes a lot of smart people to do stupid things, and sometimes, people never get over it. Sometimes it just isn't that easy." Wesley turned and went into the office, closing the door behind him.
Gunn looked at Fred with his eyes raised. "I think Wesley is upset about something."
"Yeah. What about, do you think?"
"I think he's in love." Gunn slowly moved to stand in front of Fred and brought a hand up to smooth over her hair. Fred closed her eyes and leaned into his touch, clearly enjoying it.
"With who?"
"Isn't it obvious?"
Fred opened her eyes, frowning.
"I'm not good with the obvious."
Gunn chuckled. "Cordy."
"Suddenly Groo's back and he's upset."
Fred's eyes widened. "Cordy? I would have never known!"
"Well I heard them talking.they used to have a thing for each other back in the day."
"Wow.you think you know someone and then whoosh! Surprise secret love issues."
Gunn chuckled and sat down close to Fred.
"Maybe we should talk to Cordelia. let her know," Gunn suggested.
"But what about Angel?" Fred looked perplexed. "We can't set Wesley and Cordelia up and forget about Angel's feelings for Cordelia."
Gunn nodded. "True. Well, maybe if we kept Groo occupied Cordelia could make a choice between the two of them."
Fred's face lit up. "You're so smart, Charles."
Gunn snorted a little. "Nah, you're the brains. I just happen to know something about love." His eyes softened along with his voice as he leaned in and kissed her.
^^^^^^ ^^^^^^ (*)(*) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (*)(*) ___ ___
"You're hair has changed," he said as he brought her hand up to her lips. Cordelia blushed as she smiled at his kiss.
"Needed a change."
"I missed you. More than anything, I kept hoping that you'd come back, but I knew you could not. When it was time for me to leave my home, I knew there was no other place I could be but here, with you."
"Oh Groo." Cordelia smiled softly. She had missed him terribly. Especially the part where he adored her so much. Not like Angel who thinks she is gross and any certain mental image of her, practically naked while he kissed downward and she. well anyway, he thought it should be erased from memory completely. Cordelia shook the image from her mind and looked at Groo, who was busy studying the features of her face.
"Hey."
"Hi."
Cordy looked over at Gunn and Fred.
"Groo, buddy, you need some threads. Thought I'd do you a favor and take you to get some."
Cordelia frowned in suspicion.
"What's wrong with his clothes?"
"Well, Cordy, the armor, it's so last season," Fred said trying to imitate her lingo from the dress store.
Cordelia laughed at the way the words sounded coming from Fred.
"Guys, he's fine. Angel probably has something he can wear."
Gunn snickered. "Right."
"You don't think they're about the same size?"
"You remember when Angel was gone and Wes had to pretend to be him? Remember how freaked out Angel got when Wesley wore is duster? The dude isn't down with the loaning thing."
"Oh please, he'll get over it. He'd do it for me."
"But, Cordy, if Groo is going to be staying a while, we might as well get to know him better, and what better way to do that then while picking out clothes?" Fred went over and took Groo's large arm, pulling him up. Groo went, confused as to what was going on, but willing to do whatever his princess asked of him.
"Fred!"
"Nah, Delia, she's right. We'll take care of him, promise." Gunn started to steer Groo towards the door. Suddenly Cordelia was in front of him, her hand square on her chest.
"Spill."
"W-what do you mean?" Fred asked, a little unsure.
"What has gotten into you two?"
Fred looked down. "It's Wesley."
"Wesley?" Cordelia looked confused.
"Yeah. He's in love with you. We thought.if we got Groo out of sight for a while, he could make his move."
"In love with me?" Cordelia looked shocked and then laughed.
"Don't tell me you haven't seen him moping around, doing a fair interpretation of Angel," Gunn said.
"What's wrong with Angel?" Cordelia looked genuinely concerned.
"Well, he's." Fred stopped when Gunn put his arm around Fred and gave her a look.
".just Angel, you know him. King of Brood." Gunn said, covering.
Cordelia looked at Gunn and Fred.
"Wesley isn't in love with me."
"Why else would he be spouting off about unrequited love?" Gun asked, confused.
"Look, I really shouldn't be the one to tell you. Why not go ask him?"
"You know, don't you?" Gunn looked suspicious.
"Yeah, but it isn't my place to tell you." She looked at Fred. "Ask him."
Fred nodded.
^^^^^^ ^^^^^^ (*)(*) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (*)(*) ___ ___
Wesley opened his eyes at the soft knock on the door.
"Yes?"
His eyes opened wider when Fred entered the room, alone. He put the glass of scotch down and turned on a light in the office, illuminating what was just dark.
"Fred, come in. Sit down." He smiled warmly at her.
"Hi Wesley."
She seemed nervous.
"Is something wrong, Fred?"
Fred sat down and wrung her hands a little.
"Well, actually, that's what I came to ask you."
"Huh?"
"Well, earlier when you were talking about unrequited love, well Gunn and I thought maybe you might have possibly meant Cordelia." Fred waited, not even noticing how uncomfortable Wesley got when she mentioned the earlier rant on unrequited love.
"Uh, oh, well, it's nothing to be concerned about."
"But isn't that what friends do? Be concerned?" Fred moved her head, trying to get eye contact with Wesley, but his eyes kept eluding her.
"It's nothing for you to worry about, Fred. I promise, if something was wrong, I'd tell you."
"Oh." She looked down, knowing something was wrong, and not only was he not going to tell her, but he was willing to lie to her as well.
Wesley looked up at her and noticed how sad she was looking as she watched her wringing hands.
"Fred," Wesley stood up and walked around the desk, going to sit on the edge, right across from her. "I have never known anyone like you."
"I know. I'm weird, aren't I? I mean, I try to act normal, more like Cordy, but I'm still weird." She looked up at him, smiling a small smile, her statement rather matter-of-factly stated.
"You are not weird. And having only Cordelia to model yourself from, well." He smiled at his joke. "Fred, what I mean is, I have never known someone so warm, friendly, and open as you. You worry about me when you should be with Gunn, enjoying the thrills of young love." He tried so hard to be unaffected by those last words, and he knew he wasn't totally effective, but he hoped ducking his head and averting his eyes had covered enough for him.
Fred blinked up at him.
"My Lord."
Or not. Wesley looked to her face.
"It's me, isn't it?" Fred seemed stunned into stillness. Her hands stopped wringing and her body was frozen in place. Only her face, with its wonderful expressiveness, moved.
"What's you?" Wesley got up and walked around the desk, trying to avoid the question.
"Wesley," she stood up, "am I the unrequited love?" Fred put a hand to her throat, a blush creeping into her fine features.
Wesley couldn't look at her. All he could do was nod slightly.
Fred's lips parted and Wesley heard her say "Ahhh." Normally he might have thought she was teasing him, but the way she did it, she seemed surprised and charmed.
Wesley looked at her. "I don't mean to spring this on you now. I don't want to come in between you and Charles. I think it would be best if we kept this to ourselves. No need for anyone else to feel awkward around me." Wesley shuffled papers around on his desk, blind to what he was touching, but quite intent on what he was feeling.
He waited for her to walk out, he waited for the last nail to be hammered into the coffin where his heart rested, but it didn't come. Suddenly, thin arms were encircling him and Fred was hugging him.
Sighing, Wesley turned and wrapped his arms around Fred. "Thank you, Fred."
"I don't know what to say. I've always been.a geek. Before I hung out in libraries because only the books wanted to hang out with me. Then I was trapped in that world and, well, I wasn't treated very nice, and now, well now people suddenly like me. I don't know why really. Maybe cuz I'm not so normal now. But, I didn't know that anyone cared. Not even Charles. And now you. I feel like Cinderella!" She smiled and then looked up at him, her arms still around him. "Without the pumpkin and the fairies and the little mice that turn into hor..."
She was cut off as Wesley quieted her with a kiss. She slowly pulled away from Wesley, licking her lips, her eyes shifting.
"It's ok, Fred. I did that, not you. You don't have to tell Gunn, but you can if you want to. I just wanted to once. I wont do it again."
Fred nodded and then stopped. "Why? Was it bad?"
Wesley smiled.
"No. Not at all. But I don't want to hurt you or Gunn. You're my friends. Besides," Wesley smiled, "I'm a patient man. You're worth the wait."
Fred blushed a little as she backed away.
"So, we're still friends?"
"Of course."
She smiled and left.
Wesley sank down in his chair. Now if only he could convince his heart they were only friends, things would run a lot smoother.
It's rated G and I take no credit for the characters. They're all Joss's.
// Denotes internal monologue.
Enjoy!
**~**
Wesley watched at Gunn and Fred pretended not to notice one another. //It's disgusting, really. It isn't as if they weren't in public. In the job place, no less. In front of their boss! //
Wesley's shoulders slumped. //I wish she'd look at me like that. //
Wesley looked down at his papers and walked in the room, clearing his throat to alert them of his presence.
"Well he can't be far, and hiding doesn't seem like his style, wouldn't you say, Fred?"
Fred smiled as she took her eyes from Gunn and looked at Wesley.
"Yeah, Holtz seems to be a real go-getter. Why isn't he getting?" She seemed to puzzle this over in her head. Wesley watched the way her forehead crinkled when she was deep in thought. His eyes were drawn to the pouty look her lips took on, as she seemed to be sounding out the obvious answer, nearly on the tip of her tongue.
//Wesley slowly put down the paper as Winifred's eyes darted to his. Her hand went to her throat as she started to loose control of her breathing.
"Holtz is dangerous. But I'll deal with him. It's the least I can do for Angel."
"But Wesley," Fred said, her other hand making circles on her stomach, lightly, "isn't that dangerous?"
"Yes, terribly. But I must do what I must."
"Oh Wes."//
"WES!" Gunn shouted to get his attention.
Wesley licked his lips as his eyes darted around nervously from Fred to Gunn, wondering if any of them noticed his flight into fantasy. Gunn was shaking his head and Fred was still mulling over the problem in her mind. And what a beautiful mind it was too.
Wesley snapped out of it, taking his glasses off to clean them.
"Well?" Gunn asked. Wesley looked at him and tried to discern what Gunn had asked him.
"What do you think about The Moping One?"
"The what?" Wesley looked confused, his mind not focused.
"He means Angel. Haven't you noticed him moping around here? Ever since Groo came back." Fred said; her simple smile fixed on her face.
"Oh.Angel. Of course. Yes, well, I'd say there isn't anything we can do." Wesley looked at Fred in earnest. "Love unrequited is a terrible thing to have to suffer through."
Fred nodded and smiled a special smile to Gunn, not even seeming to notice the look of pain that crossed Wesley's face.
"Well, I should get to work on Holtz." Wesley turned to retreat to his office.
"What about a spell?"
Wesley stopped and turned back to Fred.
"What about a spell that will make him not hurt?"
"It would be too dangerous to do any unnecessary spells on someone like Angel, lest we accidentally free his demon."
"Yeah, besides, he'll get over it." Gunn said as he hopped off the counter and winked at Fred, who blushed. Wesley narrowed his eyes.
"Don't be too sure, Charles." Gunn stopped and looked at Wesley, a little surprised by the hostility in Wesley's voice. "I wouldn't expect you to know pain like that, but heartache causes a lot of smart people to do stupid things, and sometimes, people never get over it. Sometimes it just isn't that easy." Wesley turned and went into the office, closing the door behind him.
Gunn looked at Fred with his eyes raised. "I think Wesley is upset about something."
"Yeah. What about, do you think?"
"I think he's in love." Gunn slowly moved to stand in front of Fred and brought a hand up to smooth over her hair. Fred closed her eyes and leaned into his touch, clearly enjoying it.
"With who?"
"Isn't it obvious?"
Fred opened her eyes, frowning.
"I'm not good with the obvious."
Gunn chuckled. "Cordy."
"Suddenly Groo's back and he's upset."
Fred's eyes widened. "Cordy? I would have never known!"
"Well I heard them talking.they used to have a thing for each other back in the day."
"Wow.you think you know someone and then whoosh! Surprise secret love issues."
Gunn chuckled and sat down close to Fred.
"Maybe we should talk to Cordelia. let her know," Gunn suggested.
"But what about Angel?" Fred looked perplexed. "We can't set Wesley and Cordelia up and forget about Angel's feelings for Cordelia."
Gunn nodded. "True. Well, maybe if we kept Groo occupied Cordelia could make a choice between the two of them."
Fred's face lit up. "You're so smart, Charles."
Gunn snorted a little. "Nah, you're the brains. I just happen to know something about love." His eyes softened along with his voice as he leaned in and kissed her.
^^^^^^ ^^^^^^ (*)(*) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (*)(*) ___ ___
"You're hair has changed," he said as he brought her hand up to her lips. Cordelia blushed as she smiled at his kiss.
"Needed a change."
"I missed you. More than anything, I kept hoping that you'd come back, but I knew you could not. When it was time for me to leave my home, I knew there was no other place I could be but here, with you."
"Oh Groo." Cordelia smiled softly. She had missed him terribly. Especially the part where he adored her so much. Not like Angel who thinks she is gross and any certain mental image of her, practically naked while he kissed downward and she. well anyway, he thought it should be erased from memory completely. Cordelia shook the image from her mind and looked at Groo, who was busy studying the features of her face.
"Hey."
"Hi."
Cordy looked over at Gunn and Fred.
"Groo, buddy, you need some threads. Thought I'd do you a favor and take you to get some."
Cordelia frowned in suspicion.
"What's wrong with his clothes?"
"Well, Cordy, the armor, it's so last season," Fred said trying to imitate her lingo from the dress store.
Cordelia laughed at the way the words sounded coming from Fred.
"Guys, he's fine. Angel probably has something he can wear."
Gunn snickered. "Right."
"You don't think they're about the same size?"
"You remember when Angel was gone and Wes had to pretend to be him? Remember how freaked out Angel got when Wesley wore is duster? The dude isn't down with the loaning thing."
"Oh please, he'll get over it. He'd do it for me."
"But, Cordy, if Groo is going to be staying a while, we might as well get to know him better, and what better way to do that then while picking out clothes?" Fred went over and took Groo's large arm, pulling him up. Groo went, confused as to what was going on, but willing to do whatever his princess asked of him.
"Fred!"
"Nah, Delia, she's right. We'll take care of him, promise." Gunn started to steer Groo towards the door. Suddenly Cordelia was in front of him, her hand square on her chest.
"Spill."
"W-what do you mean?" Fred asked, a little unsure.
"What has gotten into you two?"
Fred looked down. "It's Wesley."
"Wesley?" Cordelia looked confused.
"Yeah. He's in love with you. We thought.if we got Groo out of sight for a while, he could make his move."
"In love with me?" Cordelia looked shocked and then laughed.
"Don't tell me you haven't seen him moping around, doing a fair interpretation of Angel," Gunn said.
"What's wrong with Angel?" Cordelia looked genuinely concerned.
"Well, he's." Fred stopped when Gunn put his arm around Fred and gave her a look.
".just Angel, you know him. King of Brood." Gunn said, covering.
Cordelia looked at Gunn and Fred.
"Wesley isn't in love with me."
"Why else would he be spouting off about unrequited love?" Gun asked, confused.
"Look, I really shouldn't be the one to tell you. Why not go ask him?"
"You know, don't you?" Gunn looked suspicious.
"Yeah, but it isn't my place to tell you." She looked at Fred. "Ask him."
Fred nodded.
^^^^^^ ^^^^^^ (*)(*) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (*)(*) ___ ___
Wesley opened his eyes at the soft knock on the door.
"Yes?"
His eyes opened wider when Fred entered the room, alone. He put the glass of scotch down and turned on a light in the office, illuminating what was just dark.
"Fred, come in. Sit down." He smiled warmly at her.
"Hi Wesley."
She seemed nervous.
"Is something wrong, Fred?"
Fred sat down and wrung her hands a little.
"Well, actually, that's what I came to ask you."
"Huh?"
"Well, earlier when you were talking about unrequited love, well Gunn and I thought maybe you might have possibly meant Cordelia." Fred waited, not even noticing how uncomfortable Wesley got when she mentioned the earlier rant on unrequited love.
"Uh, oh, well, it's nothing to be concerned about."
"But isn't that what friends do? Be concerned?" Fred moved her head, trying to get eye contact with Wesley, but his eyes kept eluding her.
"It's nothing for you to worry about, Fred. I promise, if something was wrong, I'd tell you."
"Oh." She looked down, knowing something was wrong, and not only was he not going to tell her, but he was willing to lie to her as well.
Wesley looked up at her and noticed how sad she was looking as she watched her wringing hands.
"Fred," Wesley stood up and walked around the desk, going to sit on the edge, right across from her. "I have never known anyone like you."
"I know. I'm weird, aren't I? I mean, I try to act normal, more like Cordy, but I'm still weird." She looked up at him, smiling a small smile, her statement rather matter-of-factly stated.
"You are not weird. And having only Cordelia to model yourself from, well." He smiled at his joke. "Fred, what I mean is, I have never known someone so warm, friendly, and open as you. You worry about me when you should be with Gunn, enjoying the thrills of young love." He tried so hard to be unaffected by those last words, and he knew he wasn't totally effective, but he hoped ducking his head and averting his eyes had covered enough for him.
Fred blinked up at him.
"My Lord."
Or not. Wesley looked to her face.
"It's me, isn't it?" Fred seemed stunned into stillness. Her hands stopped wringing and her body was frozen in place. Only her face, with its wonderful expressiveness, moved.
"What's you?" Wesley got up and walked around the desk, trying to avoid the question.
"Wesley," she stood up, "am I the unrequited love?" Fred put a hand to her throat, a blush creeping into her fine features.
Wesley couldn't look at her. All he could do was nod slightly.
Fred's lips parted and Wesley heard her say "Ahhh." Normally he might have thought she was teasing him, but the way she did it, she seemed surprised and charmed.
Wesley looked at her. "I don't mean to spring this on you now. I don't want to come in between you and Charles. I think it would be best if we kept this to ourselves. No need for anyone else to feel awkward around me." Wesley shuffled papers around on his desk, blind to what he was touching, but quite intent on what he was feeling.
He waited for her to walk out, he waited for the last nail to be hammered into the coffin where his heart rested, but it didn't come. Suddenly, thin arms were encircling him and Fred was hugging him.
Sighing, Wesley turned and wrapped his arms around Fred. "Thank you, Fred."
"I don't know what to say. I've always been.a geek. Before I hung out in libraries because only the books wanted to hang out with me. Then I was trapped in that world and, well, I wasn't treated very nice, and now, well now people suddenly like me. I don't know why really. Maybe cuz I'm not so normal now. But, I didn't know that anyone cared. Not even Charles. And now you. I feel like Cinderella!" She smiled and then looked up at him, her arms still around him. "Without the pumpkin and the fairies and the little mice that turn into hor..."
She was cut off as Wesley quieted her with a kiss. She slowly pulled away from Wesley, licking her lips, her eyes shifting.
"It's ok, Fred. I did that, not you. You don't have to tell Gunn, but you can if you want to. I just wanted to once. I wont do it again."
Fred nodded and then stopped. "Why? Was it bad?"
Wesley smiled.
"No. Not at all. But I don't want to hurt you or Gunn. You're my friends. Besides," Wesley smiled, "I'm a patient man. You're worth the wait."
Fred blushed a little as she backed away.
"So, we're still friends?"
"Of course."
She smiled and left.
Wesley sank down in his chair. Now if only he could convince his heart they were only friends, things would run a lot smoother.