Okay, when I saw Wufei stood there, I admit I went totally brain-dead. Wuffers would probably try to be a funny guy and say that that's nothing new, but still.
He was fucking gorgeous.
I know, right? Duo Maxwell, having…appreciative thoughts about Chang Wufei? It doesn't work!
I heard this little noise, a half-snicker, half-sigh that I've learned to associate with Wu; so I looked. He was standing behind the door, half hidden by the doorframe, but I could see all of his face. A little half-smile was playing across his lips, one of those smiles that appears so rarely but makes him look…well, human, at least. I don't think I've ever seen him with his hair down, so I'm blaming that for the fact that my mouth fell open, rather than the fact he looked softer somehow; and bloody delicious!
I couldn't take my eyes off him. The other guys barely noticed that I'd tuned out, until Kitty-Quat turned around to follow my gaze. There was another silence as Trowa, Heero and Quatre examined what was visible of Wufei. The blonde bombshell beckoned him in and, surprisingly, he complied, breaking the eye contact I hadn't realised we had been maintaining.
'Fei stalked into the room, making his way into the middle of the circle of chairs to stand near me. I licked my lips. I couldn't help it! I could smell him; a heady mix of green tea and makeup and something that was indefinably Chang. I could almost taste the mothballs and sweet-pea sachets he kept in his closet, even though he wasn't wearing normal clothes.
Hee-chan caught my eye. I knew he'd noticed me going into a state of idiotic bliss at the proximity of Wuffers, and he gave me a tiny, wicked smile. Hee-bunny doesn't grin like the rest of us; his smiles are little twitches of the lips that you'll miss if you aren't careful, and that can convey a huge range of emotions if you know what to look for.
I've always loved 'Fei-'Fei's scent. There's something about smells that is just kinda…evocative to me; more so than my other senses. It helped that he was beautiful, of course.
I'm not saying I've got the hots for Chang, or anything. But no one could deny that he was absolutely shaggable. It was something about his eyes, I reckon. And with the makeup…wow. The deep grey served to accentuate the fathomless black depths, making his already intriguing eyes even harder to avoid. O' course, he was about as likeable – and easy to get to know – as a viper, once you'd talked to him. I had to teach that guy how to hold a conversation without reducing the other party to tears.
He was watching the three seated guys with an expression of defiance on his face. I'll bet he was deciding how to kill them if they laughed and he had taken a combat-ready stance; his muscles were loose but ready, feet apart and balanced and his hands were slightly raised. I couldn't resist.
"Hey Wu, ladies don't solve their problems with their fists," I chided, biting my lip to prevent a massive grin from swamping my face. His expression was priceless.
"Wow, Wufei. You look amazing," breathed Quat, saving me from a dose of Chang revenge by distracting dearest Waffles. Wufei frowned at Quat, not used to compliments as sincerely breathless as that one.
"I feel ridiculous," he groused, fiddling with the hem of his skirt, which was, I noticed, shorter than mine. I felt an odd sense of triumph at this. I snuck a glance at Heero, who was watching the two of us closely. I was sure I could see something in his eyes but he noticed me before I could figure out what it was.
The laptop beeped, signalling an end to the meat parade, and Wu and I took a seat. We both took about a million years to figure out how to sit in our skirts, but eventually it was sorted out and we were comfy. Well, as comfy as you can be while wearing a padded bra – which wasn't very comfy at all. Blondie was sitting by the laptop so it was he who finally opened the email...after spending some time laughing at my skirt-plight.
"Okay…we've got some schematics…blueprints for what is known of the school's layout and grounds, technical information about the newest OZ Mobile Dolls…the Doctors say to watch out in particular for patrols of Aries suits in the area…and a list of your soon-to be classmates. The daughter of the owner is on here, too; her name is Lucille de Fay. Heero's sorted out your records, and made sure that the two of you will be sharing a room." He shrugged, glancing up at us, "That's about it, but it says here that they'll keep updating you as they get the information."
I didn't miss that the Quatster could barely keep his eyes on the screen before him while he read. Those pretty blue eyes kept straying towards us – towards Wuffles. I figure Tro-baby probably noticed too, but he was little better than his little blonde lover, and Hee-banana (ooh, I like that one; bet he wouldn't, though) was staring unashamedly at us, switching his attention back and forth like he was watching a game of invisible midget ping-pong.
"Right-o dearies, if you've had your fill of the admittedly rather flattering staring, perhaps we could get those Gundams loaded?" I chalked up a mental point for me as a flicker of shame flashed across Hee-man's face. I had decided to keep a tally of all the times I got a reaction out of him that was unguarded, or at least as unguarded as Heero ever got. 'Course, thanks to me, that was a lot more than he had been trained for. Quat flushed bright red and Trowa simply smiled, and the three of them stood, following me out into the hallway where all of our pretty explosives and such were stacked.
I avoided eye contact with Wu-baby, seeing as how odd our little unintentional staring match had made me feel. I'm not one to back away from a fight, or go running with my tail between my legs from anything, but seeing as how I've gotta spend the next few months dressed up as a schoolgirl with the guy, I figured anything that might make either one of us uncomfortable should be avoided. Well, any more uncomfortable, at least!
The five of us managed to bundle the bags and boxes containing our stuff into the garage without too many girl jokes, and Wu and I set to work cramming stuff into the small storage spaces in our Gundams. Any excess had to go in the cockpit, so I made sure to stack the explosives and electricals in the storage first. I didn't relish the idea of one of Tro's incendiary devices going off in my face, but at least here the shock would be absorbed by 'Scythe's Gundanium plating.
Q-ball put his hand on my arm just as I was about to scramble my way into Scythe's control centre with a backpack. "Hey, Duo; I just wanted to say…well, you look really amazing, totally different. I almost didn't recognise you…" he trailed off, his sweet little face going red, probably from the look I was giving him. Hey, I couldn't help it! I knew the boy was totally head over heels for Circus boy, but that didn't mean a little teasing was out of order.
"Ah, Kitty-Quat. You'd best not let tall, dark and silent over there hear you flirting in such a wanton manner! If I wasn't so scared that Trapeze-boy would set his lions on me, I'd tumble you in a second. As it is, I wish you'd stop leading me on, sexpot." I winked at him and hopped up onto Scythe's foot, grinning at the beetroot colour he'd gone. I could hear him spluttering all the way to the door of the cockpit.
When I made my way back down after stashing my bag, Wuffers had rejoined the party. Quatre was still red and avoiding Tro's eye, so I figured I'd best have a talk with the lad. Wu was engaged in conversation – probably of a technical nature – with Heero, and Tro was stood on the fringes, listening in and occasionally offering his opinion.
"I was only teasing, Q-ball," I smiled softly as I approached him. He glanced up at me through those luscious golden bangs of his, and smiled back.
"I know, Duo. But this thing between Trowa and I is still kinda new, so I… well, I suppose I get a bit embarrassed about it sometimes." I was knocked a bit for six. Embarrassed? I was sure he wanted to spend the rest of his life with the guy. Nah, he couldn't mean that…could he?
My surprise must have showed on my face, seeing as he coloured up nicely once again and started to protest. "No! No, Duo, not like that! I just meant that…well, I feel so lucky, you know? That he actually likes me back? It's just overwhelming sometimes. I really…I don't know. Something about him is just so…"
"Perfect?" I supplied. A look of happiness spread across his face, which turned towards lion boy.
"Yeah," he breathed. "Yeah, perfect."
Wow. I teased them a lot, and god knows this relationship had been ages in coming, but I'd never realised…Well, I'd never realised they were in love. Lucky sausages. I said as much, fighting the urge to go 'aw'. What? I've got a sappy streak a mile wide, but don't tell Heero. He'd rip the piss out of me for weeks, until a mission or Princess Pink distracted him. Still, this small concession was worth it, just to see the look of bliss cross small, blonde and cute's face. Okay, so I've got a soft spot for Kitty-Quat too. So shoot me.
"Have you ever been in love, Duo?" he asked suddenly, cutting rather rudely into my internal, private conversation with myself.
"Oh sure," I replied flippantly. "Or at least I thought I was, but it turned out to be indigestion."
"Ha, ha," he said, with a grin. "Must have been excellent indigestion."
"Oh, it was. It really was." Our little confab was interrupted by the dulcet tones of one Heero Yuy, deadline's bitch, who informed me it was time to get my fine ass into 'Scythe and get out of his garage. Well, not in so many words, and missing out the 'fine ass' bit. Mostly, he just said "Time to go." Still, can't blame a guy for embellishing dull conversation, no?
Q gave me a quick hug, and I threw a mock salute in the direction of Hee-bunny and Tro-chan, before once more scrambling into my Gundam. I made sure no one could see up my skirt, though.
That was something for another day.