Okay, so I have a present for you guys. One that I've been working on and off again for the past year or so. Then it took me a month to upload. But, well, I have a Duo and Heero piece of art that goes along with this story. Le gasp. Anyway, it's at ( www. deviantart. com/deviation /55938545/ ) I'll also put a link to the picture on the main page, anyway, I hope you enjoy that!
Disclaimer: Alas, I do not own Gundam Wing, and alas, I am still dirt broke.
Dedication: DeathlySilence-lauren (Now, I am hugely intrigued by strufoli and am trying to track a recipe for it down!)
Chapter 49: Three Weeks Later
:Entry 1408 : Even though I am so totally excited about everything else, the very first thing on my mind is always Him lately. In less than a week, he's gonna be at Q's. I dunno what to think about that. It's just… It makes me feel, I dunno, something. It's really hard, and everyone is being too nice to me because they're all worried. I guess I'm worried too. What if I make him lose it again? But, yeah… onto other news.
I found Wufei the perfect present. I can't wait to give it to him. By the way,I really, really like Lara. Quatre was gonna take me shopping, but a big meeting came up so he couldn't. Then Lara called me up about getting Fei a present and she squirreled it out of me that I hadn't been able to get Wufei anything yet. I guess I sounded pretty morose so she begged me to come along with her to find something for him. Then we found her gift in under twenty minutes and she was so sweet over the next three hours it took for my gift. I really hop he likes it. Side note, I'm back to a normal schedule for these things. One a day. I like that. I never really liked routines before, but they help me stay focused in a way, I guess. But isn't that part of what got Heero into so much trouble? I'll have to ask someone about that… Still, today's the big day, Fei's out, and Lara's skipping out on work to—(end entry)
Wufei arrived at his apartment twenty minutes later than usual, his earlier worries about Duo and Heero's upcoming move put aside; tonight was his party and Duo's only request had been to pick up the cake. Duo had planned everything, right down to the creation of the cake so he had no idea what to expect. He hoped it would not be one of those soy cakes or what not. The ultra-healthy cakes that tasted more or less like the way mouldy bread smelled. However, when he walked into the cake shop, his fears were erased; the shop was full of decadent cakes covered in ornate scribbles of sweet icing.
"Be very careful with that box, young man." An older woman, who obviously liked her cake, if her plump form and cake plate by the register were any indication, told him. "Drive slowly! And do NOT peek inside that box. That's a request from the man who requested the order. A very fine young man, that one, he'd make an excellent cake decorator… Oops! Anyway, enjoy your birthday party, m'dear." She chatted amiably as they completed the transaction for the cake.
"I'm going to be very tempted now, ma'am." Wufei smiled. He was excited about his birthday; for once it was not just another day. Thanks to Duo.
When Wufei arrived at the apartment complex, he saw Trowa exit one of Quatre's chauffeured cars with a package. He knew that Quatre had come along earlier, but he idled by the side of the complex until the tall man was long past gone, giving them a chance to set up whatever it was that Duo had requested them to come early for. He knew it was not a surprise party; Duo was not particularly good at keeping secrets like that, nor was Wufei very receptive to the idea. He slid into his parking spot and very carefully picked up the three stacked boxes tied, Wufei noticed, very much like a gift with pale blue with paler blue circles on the boxes and icy ribbon shot through with deep blue, shining faintly. Wufei loved the colour blue.
By the time the Chinese made it past the elevator, Duo was holding the door open for him to bring the cake in, grinning like a fool. "Did you have any trouble with it?"
"Just with the peeking part." He looked at his friend pointedly.
More grins, and Duo directed Wufei where to put the boxes in the kitchen. As soon as the American saw that the boxes were safely put down on the counter, Duo grabbed Wufei's hand and pulled him to the living room. He had not seen the American this excited since they had celebrated Duo's birthday when he was seventeen and Quatre had given in and bought him a giant chocolate cake which all of Quatre's staff had a part of, on Duo's insistence, along with the rest of them. Heero had not come, and even then it had brought Duo down a bit, but none of them had really expected him either.
Duo's best and most dear friend had never celebrated Duo's birthday, Wufei realized quietly, but there was a chance he would be there for Duo's twenty-first birthday. Or at least he hoped so; despite all of Heero's recent progress, it was still very possible for the Japanese to slip back into the ways that had sent him to an institution in the first place. Wufei almost sighed before he reached the living room, but then all negative thoughts floated away as he was finally able to look around.
Balloon chandeliers hung from the ceiling in varying shades of blue and yellow, complimented by elaborate twists and falls of streamers in the same tones. Decadent streamer-bows hung on several vases packed with yellow flowers of a million varieties. Each arrangement matched itself in colour perfectly. They were in a row on the short table he usually tossed his keys onto; palest champagne, glimmering gold, and rich amber. The glass top of the coffee table had even been turned into an art piece with carefully crafted abstract designs in window paint. He had no idea any of them were artistic, but he wondered if it was Duo after the cake-maker's comment. Or perhaps Quatre; he always seemed to be fairly creative.
"Wow." Was all he could utter when Duo released him. He looked around, amazed. "It… wow. It looks amazing." No one had done something like this for him before.
The American glowed, and Lara beamed. So it was mostly their handiwork after all. "We bought too many streamers." Lara giggled like a young girl, pleased.
"And then Quatre just about turned blue blowing up balloons!" Duo added.
Trowa looked at his lover with a quirked brow, his lover blushed prettily. "Balloons are hard to blow up!" But it was all said in fun, smiles abound.
"So, I even made food for all of us." Duo gestured towards the kitchen table. "Mostly just a lot of finger food, but I tried making some Thai chicken wraps too."
There was also a bowl of white rice, and one of fried rice full of vegetables. Wufei tried to think of something smart to say, but he was just happy. "Well, it's a good thing I'm hungry." He finally said and grabbed a plate. There were chips and dips and candy on the table as well as a vegetable and fruit platter. His friend had really gone all out. For now, he made himself an appetizer of fruits and skittles with a few stray cucumbers.
When he brought his plate back, Lara gave him a strange look, then she smiled and shook her head. "Your skittles turned your cucumbers funny colours."
"Figures." He took a seat and waited while everyone else refilled cups and filled plates. Lara brought him a cup of tea, which he had forgotten. He swore he heard her mutter something about him on the road to becoming an absent-minded professor, but he was not entirely sure if it was his imagination or not.
"How are classes going, Wufei?" Quatre asked politely. The blond had never attended college, and never would. After the war, he had taken over his family business, as he had been trained to do since he was a child, and he was quickly proving to be more effective than many more formally educated people. That thought never quite sat well with Wufei because Quatre knew a great deal about business and strategy, and he was smarter than Duo, Trowa, himself, and possibly the old Heero. He would not place any bets on that one.
"They're going very well, except that my teacher on feminism studies dislikes me very much." He grimaced. The three ex-pilots gave him a sharp look remembering his days of prejudice against women, so he continued quickly. "I started my graduate classes a year younger than she was when she began hers and then she lectured me for correcting her on a quote from our text."
Duo snorted, then he burst out laughing. "You're going to be one of those nightmare students that make your teachers spin in circles by being smarter than them!"
Wufei grunted at Duo; the American was acting up. The act was most likely carefully constructed, but with good intentions. "How is everything going at your end, Quatre?"
"Oh, well, business as usual." Though Quatre said that innocently enough and to most it would have meant nothing new and generally the same sort of happenings at the company, it meant something different when he said it. It probably meant the blond had landed another multi-million dollar deal, made a new advance, and gave his employees a raise. Quite well was not used often, and usually involved billion-dollar deals. Modest though he was, Quatre expected nothing less than the absolute best. "Thanks to Trowa being familiar with at least one Mayan dialect, our last deal went over nicely."
The tall man smiled gently, seated beside his small lover. "He still spoke excellent English."
"He was absolutely pleased to be greeted in his native language. He spoke with you for quite some time in that dialect." Quatre said firmly. At times, it was impossible to argue with him. He was the most gentle of them all, but the most stubborn as well. It also seemed that Trowa working for Quatre was going well, which Wufei was almost surprised by since they were intimate. Trowa acted as an interpreter for the company, and was present often due to his mastery of a large number of languages.
Quatre soon drew Lara into the conversation with talk about the beautiful flowers that decorated the room with even more care than the balloons and streamers, to which she readily responded. Wufei was glad. He knew that it could have been awkward, especially because all of them, except Lara, had served in the war, and all of them were scarred; Quatre was too gentle and sweet, Trowa was too quiet, Duo too thin and almost overly cheerful. And he was too used to it all, sometimes. However, he soon forgot his misgivings and joined into the chatter and even spouted something overly philosophical and technical, to Duo's delighted teasing.
Eventually, the Thai chicken wraps were brought out, along with rice. Wufei watched Duo carefully select his own wrap, scoop out a small mound healthy fried rice with a measured eye, add pieces of fruit to his plate. It was a tenuous counting game, but Duo was the one in control still. The American hurried them through the meal, becoming ever more excited and jittery. He glanced at Lara often, and once or twice she smiled at him reassuringly.
Finally, Lara spoke for Duo, "Since we've eaten, why don't we make Wufei open his presents before Duo serves the cake?"
"Mine's last!" Duo told Wufei, and the forced cheerfulness barely covered the nervousness. Once in the living room, the Chinese was ushered onto a chair, with Lara close by, Quatre and Trowa once again side-by-side on the couch. Duo bounced around the presents. "Who wants to go first?"
"I will." Lara said boldly, and Quatre looked a bit relieved. He was always nervous as to how his gifts would be received. Duo nodded and picked up a pale yellow bag with darker yellow stripes and a large deep yellow flower in place of a bow with a field of pale blue tissue paper behind it.
Duo plopped it in Wufei's lap. The Chinese grunted, hit by the weight. Then he began opening the bag; there were three books in the bag. They were all philosophical in nature, and they all emphasized Lara's view of existence which Wufei had disagreed on. He smiled broadly and laughed. "Still think I'm wrong, huh?"
"Always!" Lara smiled. Wufei resisted the urge to ruffle her hair as Duo trotted over with a camera, sending brilliant flashes in his direction. Lara rolled her eyes at Duo. "And we just got over the flashing just before Wufei got here!"
"Dare I ask?"
"Just because I'm a little bit camera happy doesn't mean you can be mean." Duo put his hands on his hips and mock-glared at the other three who had helped decorate as they each began teasing him lightly. Then he accidentally took a picture of himself and blinked, owl-eyed. "Okay, maybe it's a little bit bright."
They laughed, and after a moment, Duo picked up a professionally wrapped gift done up in a simple, but elegant pattern in deep blue with an expansive gold bow, and handed it over to his friend. Wufei soon uncovered a three-disc collection of music from a Chinese-Japanese pianist he had become very fond of, as well as a boxed trilogy Quatre had recommended to him once that he had never gotten around to reading. "You always know just what to get, Quatre." The blond beamed; he always did the gift-buying and despite always finding something a person would like, he was always terribly nervous about how they would be received.
The flashing was not as frequent this time around, though when Quatre tugged the camera away from Duo, the Arabian managed to be every bit as camera happy as his friend. Lara shooed a suddenly hesitant Duo off to get his gift from Wufei's room. Then the American returned after a few long moments with a large box he carried very delicately. After setting it down delicately, Duo backed away quickly to watch.
Wufei heard something and glanced at Duo, but pulled the lid, which had an enormous bow in various blues attached to it, off the box. Immediately, something very small and fluffy jumped out at Wufei. A very small kitten landed with evident surprise on Wufei's lap and looked quite sheepish about it. Cautiously, she sniffed Wufei's outstretched hand, then saw everyone else and wedged herself between Wufei and the chair. The Chinese watched her in mild amusement, softly smiling down at the silvery tabby with perfectly white paws, a white tummy with silver polka dots, and a white chin.
"I figured, y'know, that you needed a cat too, and Demon needed a buddy n' all…. Oh! Don't worry about Demon, she's locked up in my room. This little one is a little girl, and she's had all of her shots and what not. I've been calling her Angel, but that's just because… you can call her anything--" Duo started talking, looking intent on continuing to talk for a good long while.
"Angel and Demon, huh?" Wufei shook his head. Though Duo's kitten had once been named Shinigami, it had changed to Demon after his insistence on the calling the black kitten that. "I guess so." He said absently as he convinced the tiny kitten to curl up on his lap instead. She promptly fell asleep, warm and happy, in a kittenish heap. "Duo, she's very…" He paused, thinking. "Thank you."
Duo grinned and ran off to play with the cake. Lara smiled as well. "I told him you'd like her. He found her and got so excited until he started worrying that you wouldn't."
"So I like cats." Wufei shrugged. Until he had finally gotten to meet Demon, he had not thought he liked them. In fact, he thought he had loathed them.
However, he was immediately diverted when the lights shut off and candle glow filled the air. A small, three-tiered cake sat on a platter that Duo held. It was yellow and blue with artistic, silvery, curling pieces sprung out of it, reminding the Chinese of spring. The room erupted in a chorus of happy birthday. He had not known Quatre was tone deaf, but the American was perfectly on key. Then Wufei blew the candles out. All twenty-one of them.
"What'dya wish for?" Duo asked, knowing he would not be told.
"For a good birthday. I got my wish early." Wufei told the American.
Cake was served out; it was spice cake with a sour cream icing. Wufei enjoyed it very much, then discovered that Angel liked the icing and let her lick up the remains as daintily as a lady after he finished. The Chinese was extremely surprised to see even Duo have a piece of cake. It was a tiny sliver, but he finished it, even if he looked a bit guilty, and made Wufei drink two shots. Wufei refused to take a third though, no matter how hard his friends urged him to. He knew something they did not. He had a low alcohol tolerance; any sort of alcoholic beverage put him right to sleep. But from Lara's sudden, quirky smile, he realized someone had him figured out.
A bit under a week later, Quatre called. It was late in the evening and the blond looked very tired in Wufei's eyes. "Well, he's here."
"Sounds like you've had a very long day." Wufei commented; Quatre had even neglected the usual courteous bits of chatter he always began a conversation with.
"It has been… Three panic attacks, and a lot of staring. It's unnerving. If it's like this everyday…" Quatre looked dismal and sounded defeated.
Wufei realized exactly why Quatre had called him, rather than talk to Trowa or his therapist. "The first couple of days are always the worst. He got used to one place, now he has to get used to an entirely different place and a different way of life. It gets easier." Reassurance first, questions later. Quatre was just too tired, and the Chinese knew he was receiving the brunt of the pain. "Try getting a punching bag."
"I… what?" The look on Quatre's face was so startled and baffled that Wufei had to laugh.
"A punching bag. Then, when you feel defeated, frustrated, upset, angry, snappish, or what not, go and hit it." Wufei glared at Quatre who was shaking his head already. "Do it. It helps more than meditation sometimes and it'll loosen up some of your muscles so you don't get as tense."
Quatre sighed, and Wufei knew tomorrow a punching bag would be bought. "But honestly, a panic attack about two red lights, followed by a green, followed by a red, then two greens?"
"Duo tried to throw up the first night he was back. Old habits feel safest, y'know?"
"You're right. You always seem to make the most sense of anybody these days." Quatre shook his head.
"Experience and an ever-expanding collection of philosophy literature." Wufei smiled. "So he's there, in one piece, more or less?"
"He refused to eat dinner, but fell asleep right away." Quatre looked down. "Here I am fussing and it was probably far harder on Heero than it was for me…"
Wufei glared at his friend and got a much desired effect. He had never lost the edge to his glare, and used it as needed. "Beating yourself up about a little rant won't do anybody good. You're doing the best you can, right?"
"Of course!"
Wufei almost chuckled at the Arabian's indignant reply. "Exactly. That's all any of us can do."
"Will you visit in a week or so?"
"Yeah, that sounds good. That'll give Heero a bit of time to adjust. And Duo too." Wufei sighed.
"I feel old."
"I have almost a year on you, kid."
"I guess those grey hairs make sense then." Quatre winked. The Chinese had to laugh if only because his friend had made a true attempt at a joke, and had teased Wufei in a way that the blond would once have been too fearful of making lest he upset the dark-haired man. "I really do hate to end this so soon, but I am absolutely exhausted. Please do give my and Trowa's regards to Duo, and Heero's as well."
"Of course." Wufei nodded and hung up.
So, what'd you think? Enjoy the chapter? Enjoy the drawing? (See top of page for link.)
