Title: Bouquet
Author: Mephisto Waltz
Rating: PG-13 for Dorothy POV, language 'n such
Pairing: ?xD
Summary: At Relena's wedding reception, Dorothy gets hit in the face with the bridal bouquet (no thanks to her lover) and this is the aftermath.
Length: Far too long for the challenge
"Now, Miss Catalonia, can you tell me exactly what happened?"
". . .I got hit in the face with a bridal bouquet," I speak through the mass of tissues I'm holding to my nose. My bridesmaid's gown is ruined, speckled with blood and little Kleenex filaments.
"Is it broken, doctor?" asks The Man, dispassionately. I make sure to give him
the glare he properly deserves.
"No. You're very lucky, Miss," he addresses me with a smile. "However, there will be rather extensive bruising, I'm afraid."
"That's fine." The bane of my existence stands to shake the doctor's hand.
"Do be sure to keep your head tilted forward until the bleeding stops, Miss."
"*I'll* make sure of it," that frustrating man beats me to my answer, and ushers the doctor from my room. Just as I'm readying myself to verbally whip the arrogant bastard, a tornado of white lace throws herself at my bedside.
"Oh God, Dorothy! I'm so sorry! I. . ."
"Shouldn't have thrown a bouquet with a fibreglass handle, Relena," the ass pronounces. She acknowledges the fact with a self-deprecating smile. While the statement is true, he has no right to criticize her considering my present state is more due to his arrogance than her ignorance.
"Think nothing more of it, Miss Relena," I dismiss the fact in a regal tone, despite the new nasality. "It was a wonderfully aggressive throw- who knew you'd be able to reach me near the back of the hall?"
"Well, maybe your decision not to participate in the tossing went against fate's plan, hm?" her teasing sends a ripple of revulsion through my body. Ugh, just thinking about marrying *that man* offends everything I hold dear. My laugh is curt.
"Or, perhaps "fate" wanted to show me this cur's true self."
"Don't blame me for your inability to protect yourself, Dorothy," the man speaks and, oh, I just want to rip out his throat. "You are more than qualified to handle projectile flowers, even without the zero system."
My seething retort is interrupted by the bridegroom's arrival.
"Is she okay?" Straight to the point as always, Mr. Yuy.
"It was a face full of flowers," my ungrateful wretch explains with a sigh. Heero grunts and takes his leave. From Relena's eye-roll I can tell she's unimpressed, but grunts are better than the banal mouthfuls "mine own" gives me.
"I can't believe I threw it that hard. I'm so sorry, Dorothy." Though her mothering irritates me something fierce, there is someone in the room much more deserving of my anger. His presence is noisy, even if he's kept his mouth shut for most of the hour since the accident. I suppose it was good of him to fetch the doctor, but still. . .
"Don't blame yourself for the injury- you were simply an instrument. No, I blame my misery on. . ." I pause dramatically, then point out the culprit. "Him!"
"Big surprise," chuckles Miss Noin, passing in the hallway.
"Ungrateful harpy."
"Me or Dorothy?" hollers Noin.
"He's referring to me, of course," I answer. "If he didn't think so, he wouldn't have let that bouquet hit me in the face!"
"You are more than capable of. . ."
"You keep saying that, but the fact remains that you saw that it was coming and you neither warned me, nor tried to protect me. You're an arrogant brute!" I climb to my feet, exclaiming "You wanted to see me embarrassed, admit it! Admit it!"
"You're insane! There is no reason for me to wish that!" His nostrils flare when he speaks with zest. Even though I hate him, I can't help but admire his passion, it being the part I love most about him. . .*loved*. And then he says *it*, with his characteristic stupidity: "You are mine and it reflects poorly on me when you show how weak you are!"
". . .Umm, Dorothy, I'm. . .just going to, uh, getsomemorekleenex. C'mon, Noin!"
As they run off, I can't help but mutter a "cowards". The brute closes the door.
"I'm "yours" and my weakness makes "you" look bad?" I ask.
"Dorothy, stop. . ."
"You let me get hurt and now you're embarrassed of me? You selfish, ignorant . . ."
"Dorothy!" He shouts and grabs me by the shoulders. Ugh, his breath smells of the vinaigrette we had at dinner, which makes him even more repulsive.
"Kindly take your hands off me, sir-I've had enough of you already today!" I try to worm my way out of his grip, but his incredible strength always leaves me dominated. I smack him in the chest with my free hand. "If you don't let me go I'll run you through. . ." This is not a reference to my bout with Quatre- it's an ongoing promise to *this* particular bastard. I anticipate his horrible smirk, but he smiles instead (much to my irritation).
"Would you pay attention to your surroundings *then*?" Loosening his grip on my shoulders, he wraps some of my hair around his index finger. His voice has softened and his nostrils aren't flaring anymore, which just breaks down my defences.
Damn him and damn my weakness. I sigh, calmed.
"Why didn't you stop it? Forget that it was a "bunch of flowers", why didn't you protect me?" I should regret my words, but I don't.
"I'm sorry, I thought you'd seen it," he speaks sincerely. " I didn't want to insult your abilities or your independence."
He rarely apologizes for anything (even when he's *really* wrong) so I can't help but accept. But I have to straighten out his views for him.
"Thank you for considering my independence, Wu Fei, but you can still indulge in your delusional hero fantasies once in awhile. You could've saved me the agony and embarrassment because I *know* you saw it headed straight for us!"
"Yes, well. . ." he trails off with a flushed face, something uncharacteristic of him. I raise an inquiring eyebrow. "Even though I saw it, I don't think I could've moved to stop it from hitting you. I was. . .. frozenwithfear."
I blink. Twice.
"For heaven's sakes why?"
His answer-for all the aggravation he's caused me today - still makes me laugh.
". . .Because I'm your man and you were about to catch the bridal bouquet. "
Fin
Note: There is a pic for this (just a little sketchy in photoshop)
http: // mephistowaltz. kleigh. net //dotwu .jpg (take out ALL of the spaces)