AN: Here. I'll trade you my shoes for your anime. No? *Shrugs* Your loss.
What Happens When We Play
"This looks like a good spot, Heero." Makoto tossed the end of her quilt. "Let's set it down here in the shade." The quilt in place, Makoto placed her pies down on a corner to keep them out of the grass. She thought about what Heero had said when he arrived at her apartment earlier.
"I thought that you were 'Miss Cookie.'"
"I do pies too. Consider me a versatile baker." He had merely raised an eyebrow and offered to carry here works while she grabbed her massive green quilt from her linen closet. Now here they were, sprawled on said quilt, waiting for the others to arrive.
"Mmmm. I'm glad Rei suggested the garden around the gazebo. Smell those flowers!" Makoto watched with a half smile as Heero made a show of closing his eyes and raising his head to inhale the scent. Her eyes widened as the man followed his nose and leaned in towards her neck.
"The scent of roses is strongest here." Makoto felt her face flush and her heart somersault when he opened his eyes and looked up at her. Makoto was in a state of constant giddiness around this man! He was the strong silent type, most of the time speaking in monosyllabic words, but Lord! When he did talk, her body was pulled like a magnet to his opposite charge! Heero's mouth was slowly getting closer and Makoto felt the sparks between them flare to life.
"Hey, Makoto! We're here!" Makoto felt herself and Heero go flying to their separate corners of the quilt when Minako's shout brought reality back into focus. The bouncy blonde was all smiles as she led her friend over. Makoto felt her eyes bug out. Either Minako had lost her mind and had decided to tempt a man of the cloth or the latest fashion fad had a definite religious flavor.
"Hi, Minako!" Heero and Makoto both stood to greet the new arrivals. "I'd like you to meet my friend Heero Yuy. He's a great carpenter!" Minako shook Heero's hand and then pointed towards herself.
"I'm Minako Aino and I'd like you both to meet my two new friends." She caught priest-boy's long braid between her fingers. "This is Duo Maxwell, priestly only in the fashion sense and this," she pointed to the marmalade ball of fluff curled in Duo's arm," is Suki, Duo's new cat." Makoto laughed at the strange face Heero made.
"I think he wants to know why you brought your cat to the picnic, Duo." Actually, Heero was having horrifying visions of marmalade colored hair clogging the keyboard on his precious laptop, but he let Makoto draw her own conclusions. Duo shrugged.
"I couldn't leave her alone at my place. Not with this thing strapped on." He moved his arm slightly to reveal the huge cast that wrapped around the kitten's leg all the way up to the hip. "She had an accident last night, but she'll bounce back in no time." Makoto made sympathetic noises and, with Minako's help, quickly made a pallet inside the basket she'd brought the quilt in. Suki settled into her make-shift bed with a few broken purrs before going back to sleep.
"My cat Artemis will show up soon and he'll be nursemaid for the rest of the afternoon." Minako then opened up the sacks she had been carrying. "I hope you guys like potato chips. Duo and I couldn't agree on which kind to bring, so we brought a bag of every flavor." Makoto laughed at her friend's ditziness, but Minako wouldn't be herself without her patent bouts of being a dumb blonde.
"So, Heero! You're a carpenter by trade?" The two guys eyed each other, but Duo had broken into an easy smile.
"Yeah."
"Not much for conversation, is he," Duo asked as he turned towards the girls with a grin on his face.
"Oh, he's just shy. Be nice, Duo." Minako play slapped his back. Duo snorted but kept his thought to himself.
"How about we dig into these pies," Duo said as he drooled. "Oh, man! Apple, my good old American favorite!" He turned towards the tall brunette girl and dropped to one knee with a serious expression on his face. "Do you need a husband or at least a slave willing to work for pie?" Makoto and Minako both burst out with laughter, but Heero rolled his eyes and placed a strategic foot on Duo's shoulder. With a swift push, Duo was rolled into the grass ass over teakettle style. The girls just laughed louder at the braided man's dazed expression.
"Hey, guys!" The group turned to greet the newest arrivals.
AN: Hi again! This fic doesn't have too far to go, so I'd like to say another thanks to all of those who've read and enjoyed it so far.
