by Neko Nasai
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disclaimer: Gundam Wing and all associated with it are
copywrighted to the people who created them and all that other
stuff. Moira Amoureux is my own creation, as it the story line.
If you like it, please let me know!
~Neko Nasai~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Part 2
When Moira woke early the next morning, she felt warmth behind her. She found herself with Quatre's body spooning hers, and Trowa's spooning his, both their arms laying over her stomach. It was strange for her, to say the least--despite the fact she knew that them being gay meant it wasn't something sexual toward her--but comforting in it's own way. She was able to sneak out of their embrace quietly and without waking them.
She saw them next about an hour later when the smell of good, home-cooked breakfast drew all five male Gundam pilots to the kitchen.
Quatre bounced over to her where she stood before the stove, stirring some eggs and sausages in different frying pans.
"MmMmm, that smells so good! What else are you cooking?"
"Smells like she's got some muffins going," commented Trowa, coming up behind his lover.
She smiled.
"Some blueberry, some chocolate chip, an' some cranberry-orange," she confirmed.
"Are you cooking any bacon?" asked Duo, who was sitting down at the table already.
"O' course, just as soon as I finish these sausages. Anyone like pour bread?"
"What's pour bread?" asked Quatre.
"Like biscuits, only they're poured into a frying pan."
"I like them with gravy," muttered Hiro as he walked in rubbing his eyes, before he remembered who Moira was.
"Then, I'll make some gravy for you. Who wants toast?"
"That would be me..." said Duo, coming over to look at the stuff she was cooking. "Actually... That there is me, that too, and that, and that and--well, I'll just take everything, how's that?"
Moira laughed, then grabbed the sausage pan and dumped them onto a plate covered with paper towels for the grease to soak into.
"Now this is more like it!" thundered Wufei as he entered the kitchen. The other four pilots were seated at the table by then. "A woman should be in the kitchen cooking good food for warriors like us."
Moira set down the plate of sausages on the table, followed by the eggs. Moments later, fresh muffins were piled on plates in front of them, and they could hear bacon sizzling.
Duo immediately dug in, spearing every stray piece of food within reach of his fork. The other four had to be careful of the darting utensil for fear they'd get stabbed.
Duo suddenly found two pieces of toast, sliced diagonally, next to his main plate. He looked up and saw Moira give him a smile, before retreating back to the stove.
"Yes, women should cook and clean and make babies, not fly Gundams or Mobile Dolls or fight at all," Wufei went on. He had actually relaxed quite a bit about Moira, now that she knew her place and was cooking for them, he was horrified mid-bite when she replied cooly and calmly to his comments.
"So what you're saying is, that if you weren't home and someone came into the house, where you have your beloved children, you wouldn't want your wife to be able to protect them? Or maybe you were there, but were incapacitated by some coma-inducing disease or severe battle wound. You'd want to watch your whole house-hold die just cause your woman' shouldn't be allowed to fight, just for prides sake?"
Wufei was silent. He didn't know what to say. In his head, his nature and logic were fighting over whether she was right or not. He wanted to say yes', because women couldn't fight, it just wasn't right. But common sense told him he wouldn't want to watch something he loved die, just because he said no, you can't.'
Moira didn't push, didn't say another word about it through the rest of breakfast, as though she'd never said anything about it. She'd given Hiro his biscuits and gravy and made more toast for Duo. She'd given them orange juice, or milk if they preferred it, to wash down their food and cleaned everything up when they were done. Quatre had stayed to help her, as did a quiet Duo.
"That was a great breakfast, Moira, thank you."
"Nay, it was nothing," Moira said with a smile, "I'm rather used to it with my brothers, as I told you before. They wouldn't eat their own Ma's food, only mine. I told them it was mean to do to their own Ma, but they didn't care. Da always said my food was good, too. I don't think he liked his wife's food, either."
"Well, we certainly enjoyed it. Oh, did you sleep well last night?"
"Oh... Aye, I don't even remember dreaming."
Quatre smiled.
"Good. Trowa and I were worried when we woke up and you weren't there. But I suppose you were just cooking all this wonderful food for us, huh?"
"Aye, all this food, indeed--shite!" she yelped as one of the bowls with a little muffin batter left in it splattered on the floor. "Now all the feckin' batter's everywhere, why does this shite happen to me."
Quatre exchanged amused glances with Duo and Quatre laughed a little.
" feckin'? shite'?" he asked.
Moira turned around and looked at him a little shamefaced.
"Sorry... My Da was always upset with me brothers, cause they taught me Irish swear words... They taught me Franc ones, too, but I didn't like them as much."
Quatre just smiled.
"No, it's cute to hear you say them. I don't mind."
"I'll still try an' avoid them. For my Da, even though hes not here, " she grunted in reply as she got down on her hands and knees to get the batter off the floor.
Quatre watched as Duo grabbed a bunch of paper towels and a sponge and got down on the floor with her, wiping away at the little batter that was left. He smiled to himself at the sincerity Duo was showing her. He was quiet, but he seemed to like her around. Quatre was glad to know that of the five of them, the ones who wanted her here out-numbered the ones who didn't.
"That should be it," she huffed lightly and stood up again, throwing the dirty sponge into the sink. "Feckin' batter..."
Quatre laughed again and she realized she'd sworn again.
"Eh, sorry..."
Quatre just shook his head and smiled at Duo's amused face before he led Moira out to the rec room.
Trowa was putting a CD into the stereo and Wufei had his nose shoved into a book about the different kinds of swords over history, which emphasized more on pictures than words. Trowa looked up and smiled at Quatre and Moira, watching Duo slip into the room behind them.
"Where's Hiro?" he asked, picking a little piece of batter out of his braid.
"With his Gundam," answered Wufei aimlessly.
"Thanks, see you later."
Moira watched Duo leave then returned her attention to Trowa when he kissed her cheek.
"Sleep well?" he asked quietly.
Quatre smiled brightly.
"I already asked, my dearest, she said she slept well."
Trowa smiled at his lover in return, half in relief that Moira was comfortable and half just because he was looking at him.
"Oh, Moira, Zechs came by while you were cleaning up, said he didn't want to bother you but wanted you to know that your Gundam is with ours. He brought some men who transported it for you."
"I want to see her. I usually spend some time with her every day."
"We can take you!" squeaked Quatre, jumping a little with innocent excitement. "I want to see your Gundam anyway!"
Moira laughed and nodded.
The hallways were confusing, but she made enough mental notes that she was pretty sure she could find the hangar again without too much problem.
"Don't forget that the code is cheese doodles, okay?" said Quatre as they entered the hangar.
She was laughing rather hard.
"Why is that the password?"
"Just because it's so dumb that it's probable no one would think of it," answered Trowa, giving her a nice, amused smile.
Moira laughed again, then squeaked when she saw her Gundam and raced over to her.
"How's my Kali-Ma? My big, dark babe?" she said, giving the metal foot a little hug.
"It's your baby, hmm?" piped up Quatre as he and Trowa caught up with her.
"O' course! Isn't she beautiful?"
Quatre had to admit the Gundam was impressive. All of them were, but this Kali-Ma was definitely different in a lot of ways. There wasn't any white metal on it, but grays and silver and black. It was also sleeker-looking somehow. It had slivers of metal spread out from it's back, much like Deathscythe's, but instead of six there were eight. And on what would be the center of the forehead on the Gundam, there was a jewel-like window made of a dark red color, making it look like a Indian bindi. The Gundam really did look like it was more likely female, especially beside the other five.
"Kali-Ma... Wow. How is she in battle?"
"I've never really had to use her for battle, much." The two boys looked at her. "No, you don't understand, no one's ever really threatened where I come from... Well, not until recently. That's why I was sent here..."
"What happened?"
"The town finally said that I should be protectin' them. That if I'm really a Gundam pilot, than why wasn't I with the other Gundam pilots."
"I see," said Trowa quietly.
"But I'm kinda glad they did, you know? Cause now you're with us!" said Quatre, ever the optimist.
Moira nodded and smiled.
"I suppose... Well, I'd like to spend some time with Kali-Ma by meself for a little while--that okay?"
"Oh, yeah, of course!" said Quatre.
"There's nothing wrong with that," added Trowa. "Quatre and I want some time together anyway."
Quatre looked at him and suddenly grinned.
Moira smiled at them and nodded. She laughed a little as Quatre gave her a quick hug and pulled Trowa back into the house.
"They're definitely odd, Kali, but I like them very much," Moira said to her Gundam as she climbed up toward the pilot's hatch.
She had no idea that Duo was watching her climb while on Deathscythe, who was beside Kali-Ma. She had no idea he was listening to her talking to her Gundam until she was almost to the hatch and, boy, did she yelp when she saw him perched by her.
"By all the immortal gods, you scared the livin' daylight out o' me!" she cried as she stood up on the open hatch door.
She saw him smile a little, but she didn't really see it. She saw the visage of a boy who was hurting for some reason. Her fright drained from her body instantly.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing," he said quietly.
"Sheep-shite."
A laugh escaped his lips, at the pure hilarity of the seriously said words.
Moira curled her body around into the hatch and punched a few things on the inside of the hatch and Kali-Ma extended her hand out to touch Deathscythe's shoulder. She climbed down onto Kali-Ma's shoulder and traveled down the length of her arm until she was on Deathscythe and then climbed back up so that she could sit next to Duo.
"Now, are ye gonna tell me or not? No one in the world wants to listen to what happened more than I do, right now."
Duo sighed beside her, then he looked up at her and his purple eyes reminded her of what she'd realized last night. He didn't shun her, he didn't rebuke her, and so she was even more glad that she wanted to help him now.
"I don't know what to do about Hiro..."
Moira resisted the urge to roll her eyes heavenward and nodded.
"What'd the bastard do to you?"
"Don't call him that..."
"Sorry..."
Duo sighed again, looked away, and was quiet a moment, collecting his thoughts together.
"He and I... I used to think he loved me. But lately, I don't know anymore. Like right now, I went to go see him and he told me to go away like he used to, y'know, before we got together and everything. But Relena's here, for some reason, and she's giving him all goo-goo eyes, like she always has, and he's not telling her to go away."
"Feckin' hell."
Duo looked at her again, then smiled a little, maybe even out of contempt. "Why do you care?"
"Why?" she looked at him with surprise. "I don't care who you are or what you do with who, but you never hurt someone you love. If you don't love them anymore, you tell them. But if you ever loved them, really loved them, you don't just tell them to go away. An' you especially don't leave them in the dark wonderin' whether or not you care. But then, that's just my opinion."
Duo smiled wider at her, this one much more genuine.
"I think I like your opinion."
"Well, I like you much more than I like him, anyway. He hasn't given me any reason to like him one bit. But, if you love him, then Ill try my best to be nice."
"Well, you were being nice to him this morning. You gave him biscuits and gravy."
"I suppose."
"Oh, and I have to say this--the way you shut Wufei up was great. I don't think any of us have ever been able to shut him up better than you did this morning."
"Does he always go on about how women should never fight?"
"Many times, yes. You see, Wufeis a typical chauvinist--he thinks women should--"
" Cook, clean, and make babies'," she quoted from breakfast.
Duo chuckled a little.
"Yeah, you've got it."
"Hey, I've got an idea... Why don't you come spend some time with me? I don't think I should go calling on Trowa and Quatre right now."
Duo chuckled louder, having heard and seen the two other pilots before they left. Moira smiled at him.
"How bout it?"
"All right, sounds good to me. Where to?"
"Well, first, I think we should get down. Kali-Ma."
The jewel-bindi on Kali-Ma's forehead glowed to life.
"Lift your hand so that Duo an' I can walk onto it."
Kali-ma moved her hand accordingly and Moira walked onto it. Duo looked her Gundam up and down.
"She's not a man-hating Gundam is she?"
Moira laughed and beckoned him to get on the hand.
"I'm not a man-hater an' neither is she. Come on."
Duo hesitated a moment longer and walked onto the hand.
"Set us down on the floor, Kali," she told the Gundam.
And it did. And very smoothly at that. Duo got off and stared up at the Gundam.
"Like her?" asked Moira.
"Oh, yeah... She's amazing."
"Careful, I might get jealous."
Duo smiled and turned to her, then held out an arm. "Shall we?"
"We shall."
~~~
An hour later, Wufei was doing his best to drown out the four voices in the rec room by concentrating as hard as he could on the swords in the book. But to no avail. The female voice of Moira was the hardest to ignore and he finally shot upand threw the book across the room.
"I'm trying to read!"
" Trying' is the key word," said Duo.
Wufei clenched his hands into fists and glared at Duo.
"Hey, Wufei, why don't you join us," invited Quatre. "We were just thinking of starting up our Dungeons and Dragons quest again, introducing Moira's character in. You want in?"
Wufei was caught off-guard by the question.
"What's... What's her character?"
"A priestess elf."
Wufei seemed to relax a bit.
"Yeah, she does lots of buck-naked rituals--if we're lucky we'll walk in on her during one."
Moira smacked Duo's shoulder playfully with a smile and Duo smiled back at her.
"No, she won't," Quatre reassured Wufei, then looked at Moira. "Will you?"
Moira laughed.
"Not if the Dungeon Master doesn't make it required in order for the spell to work."
"I won't."
"Then, no, I won't."
"Aww..." lamented Duo and Moira threatened another thwack, both grinning at each other.
"Then... I guess we can..." said Wufei, and he settled himself between Trowa and Duo.
~~~
"The God of Death commands you to DIE!!!"
Duo threw the dice and Quatre leaned over them to see how many hit points the last stubborn troll attacking them received.
"Uh... seven."
"WHAT!?"
Wufei started laughing, Trowa was smart enough to cover his smile because Duo's hand shot out and hit Wufei squarely in the nose, his nose started to bleed immediately.
"Your turn, Moira," Quatre said, ignoring the upset Duo and Wufei.
"I'll use my enchanted longsword of ice... " she blew on the dice and rolled them. "The Ice Queen cometh."
Quatre tallied up the hit points and smiled.
"The troll is dead with an overkill of twenty-one points."
"Oh, no way!" yelped Duo.
"A girl?! With a sword?!" started Wufei, until Moira gave him a look that amazingly shut him up right there.
Duo noticed the look wasn't threatening, but somehow it worked. But then he heard a very familiar voice and turned around to see Hiro walk in, and unfortunately, Relena was following closely behind.
"I'm telling you, I'm the best kisser ever."
"I believe you," she replied.
"No, I don't think you do. I really am the best there is."
"Oh, yes, the humble one himself," whispered Trowa to Quatre and Moira, causing them to smile very big to avoid laughing all together.
"I'm sure the guys would agree, right?" said Hiro, turning to the pilots on the floor.
But no one had a chance before Moira started.
"Well, it depends. Who're you comparing yourself to?"
"I'm the best in the whole world."
"No, I can't say you would be. Come on, the world's entirely too large for you to make that assumption."
"Then I'm the best of all five of us Gundam boys."
"I still can't say I'd think so."
Moira was going to leave it at that and so turned back to the other pilots, but she felt a pain in her scalp as Hiro grabbed her high-set ponytail and yanked her head back, pressing his lips against hers in something he would later call a kiss. She shoved him away and glared bloody murder at him.
"What in Hell was that?!" she screamed at him.
He shrugged. "A kiss. To prove to you I'm the best."
"Then I can definitely say that you are not!"
"Well, considering that she's never kissed the rest of us, she can't really be expected to judge whether or not you're better than the rest of us," said Quatre suddenly.
"What are you trying to say?" Hiro snapped at him.
Trowa eyed Hiro with a look that Hiro understood and he stepped back a little knowing that he should talk more carefully to Quatre, despite how upset he was getting.
"I'm trying to say that I think she should base her answer on experience. I think she should kiss all of us."
Wufei's jaw dropped a few feet, Trowa gave a little amused smile, and Duo was looking at Moira. Moira was shocked at the suggestion.
"Oh, I dunno about that..." she began.
Hiro just glared. He knew she would have to in order to really judge, but that didn't affect his mood.
"Come on, I don't mind, I'll do it. Who else is in on this little contest?"
Trowa put his hand up beside the one Quatre had already raised. Duo followed and they all looked at Wufei. Wufei looked like he was about to explode. Kiss a girl? No way! But for some reason he lifted his hand as well, muttering something about not wanting to be the only one not doing it.
"All right, this is great. You can start with me and we'll just go in a circle."
"Oh, Quatre, I dunno about this at all..."
"Don't worry about it, you're just going to prove whether or not Hiro's right."
"But, won't it be odd? I'll have kissed all o' you. Someone'd think me a slut."
"You are a slut," said Relena out of nowhere.
Moira's head whipped around in the blink of an eye and the look on her face scared Relena enough that she stepped behind Hiro like he was a shield.
"That's it, I'm not doin' it," she said and looked away from everyone, studying the carpet fibers or the dust on the coffee table nearby while crossing her arms.
But she felt fingers gently stroke her cheek and she looked up into Quatre's big, blue eyes. He was very close and he gave her the sweetest smile.
"You can never be what she said. You're dear to us and we would never let anyone think badly of you."
Wufei didn't have the guts to contradict him. Hiro rolled his eyes and shrugged off Relena's grabby hands.
"It'll be easy, you'll see. And no one will think any worse of you for it. Here..."
That was when he kissed her. His lips lightly brushed over hers first, before they pressed gently against hers in a way so sweet Moira had never even once begun to think that a kiss could be anything like it. He repeated the pressure a couple of times and then he pulled away.
She straightened, looked at his smiling, adorable face and started smiling in a dazed sort of way.
"Wow... That was so nice."
Quatre smiled wider, then looked at Trowa. Moira followed his look and realized she was supposed too kiss him next.
"Oh, good Lord, I dunno... Won't we all feel strange about each other after this?" she asked, getting the unsureness back.
"No, I don't think so. Come on, it's all right," came Quatre again.
Trowa leaned forward and Moira leaned in to meet him.
His kiss was so very different from Quatre's. His mouth widened to urge yours open as well, his tongue slid along yours like the caress of fingers on your skin. It was deep and very open and left you slightly numb in it's wake.
"Whoa..." she whispered as she settled back down away from him.
She looked up and saw Wufei across from her. He was as white as a sheet, his lips pursed into a thin line. She took a deep breath and crawled over to him so that she was close enough for him to kiss her when he was ready.
When he was he shot forward and gave her the fastest kisses she had ever encountered in her life. They were like flawlessly executed battle tactics, quick and efficient, but over like a flash.
Moira pulled back, surprised, but not enough to really show. That was when she turned to Duo, his eyes locked on hers.
"I guess you're the last," she said quietly.
He reached his hand forward, stroking her cheek gently with the back of his forefingers before they wrapped just as gently around the back of her neck. Then he brought his lips to hers and nudged her own apart slowly as their lips worked on each other. The kisses were soft, though not as gentle as Quatre's, and they were deep, but not like Trowa's. He reached his other hand up to her cheek and they switched angles in the middle of the kisses, but continued nonplussed. It was by the third angle-switch that they finally broke the kisses.
They glanced around awkwardly, Moira especially looking over at Quatre and Trowa. Quatre had his hand over his mouth his eyes a little wide, but Trowa wore a little smile. Moira didn't like the silence, or the fact people were kind of staring. She looked up at Hiro.
"Well, all four o' them were definitely better than you."
Color rose on Hiro's face and his hand darted out to grab her ponytail again. She obviously hadn't really paid enough attention to his first kiss. She hit his hand painfully away. She glared right back at him, her voice very clear and decisive.
"Touch me again an' I'll pull your intestines out through your bellybutton an' tie you to the nearest pole."
"You obviously don't know what a good kiss is when you get it!"
"No, I disagree with that. A kiss tells very much about a person."
"Oh, really. Well, what did all of these tell you?"
She looked at him as frostily as he looked at her.
"Your kiss was cold, forced, and painful in the end. That tells me you are a cold boy, and one who'll force people to get what he wants, even if it means hurting them." She looked at the other boys. "Is that pretty much how he is?"
They nodded. She looked up at Hiro triumphantly.
"You see, Hiro, Quatre's kiss was gentle, innocent, caring, and sentimental. Trowa's was deep, like he's searching, though it had the quality of mystery since it doesn't tell much about him, but it shows he is willing to share it with someone. Wufei is efficient in what he chooses to do, though impatient at times, he likes things done quickly and right. Duo's was very sensual, his lips wanting to tell you so much, but not with words, they showed a softness that can be loving and passionate. That is what I learned about them--and all with a kiss."
"Wow..." breathed Duo.
"You really can tell how people are with just a kiss," said Trowa.
"I'm glad we got her to do it," agreed Quatre.
Wufei was chewing his nails to the quick, his eyes on Moira.
Hiro stared down at Moira for a long, overly-drawn out minute, then dragged Relena with him as he stormed out.
"So, who's for going to bed?" asked Quatre.
"But we're having so much fun together," replied Duo.
"Hey! Let's have a little sleepover type of thing! I know, it sounds corny, but I say we all go to mine and Trowa's room and all pile up in the big bed tonight, whatdaya say?"
"I'm for it," said Duo.
"It's my bed, I'm going to be in it anyway," said Trowa with a smile.
"I was gonna stay in your room again, anyhow," agreed Moira.
Wufei pulled another "I don't want to be the only one out" number, but he looked more frightened and white than ever.
It just so happened that Wufei chickened out by the time the other four had gotten onto the bed and went to his room. They just laughed a little and Moira and Quatre laid on their backs, talking about something or other. Duo and Trowa only listened and occasionally smiled at how the two would phrase things. Soon, though, their talking wound down and they started dozing.
Trowa looked up at Duo, trying to tell him something with his eyes, then reached down and stroked from Quatre's temple to his chin slowly. Quatre responded by nuzzling his hand in his shallow sleep. Trowa looked at Duo again, still trying to tell him something. Duo didn't know what made him do it, but he mimicked what Trowa had done on Moira's face and found her nuzzling his hand like Quatre had Trowa's.
He looked up at Trowa quickly to see his reaction. He found Trowa smiling at him approvingly and then moved his hand so than he ran his fingers through Quatre's blond hair. Quatre turned a little and cuddled up to Trowa. Duo tried the same, running his finger through Moira's red hair, now loose instead of in a ponytail, and she turned onto her side and rested her head on his chest, the rest of her body snuggled up closer to him. He was amazed that simple touches like this could affect Moira and Quatre like this and then he wondered why Trowa was showing this to him.
When he looked back up into Trowa's eyes, they told him nothing to answer his question. He just looked at him a moment longer, then put his arms around Quatre and settled down to sleep, glancing at Duo one more time before closing his eyes.
Duo looked down into Moira's serene face, people's faces were always so peaceful when they slept. He stroked her cheek and she snuggled up closer, putting a hand on his ribs. That was when Duo gave up wanting to know. He didn't care anymore, because he just wanted to put his arms around her, like he was doing now, and sleep as peacefully as she looked.