Note: I can't seem to make my paragraphs stay paragraphs so the dots are there to separate the text where there should be spacing -- sry bout that.
Show of Affection
When it came time for Wufei to move into his new house once again all his friends gathered to help with the loading his stuff into the cars and taking it to the house. There wasn't a lot to worry about since the furniture was already in the house and Wufei had arranged that all before hand but there was still stuff to do. His books were the second heaviest things to carry in since he had boxes full of them and at least half of the boxes the boys carried in were simply full of lovingly packaged books which were carried directly into the library. Since Wufei had labeled everything all the items were soon in their appropriate rooms and everyone had assigned jobs as to what they were suppose to do. Noin just manged to convince Wufei to let her and Quatre start putting his books away and since Wufei had already made a diagram of which books he wanted on which shelves and so he couldn't complain about needing to make sure they went in the right place. While they did that and Wufei headed upstairs to put clothes away while Sally hung up the new curtains Wufei had bought for the various rooms but had been left in their shopping bags since he'd been busy with other things. Trowa went to work unpacking the heaviest boxes which were the ones carrying Wufei's set of weights which he soon had in the work out area Wufei had made, admiring the amount of light Wufei would get in the room and approving the boxes of other gym equipment yet to be taken from their boxes which was his next assignment. The rest doing this and that around the house it wasn't long before everything was done and admiring their work. It was a great house and had put the idea of their own homes in some of the helpers heads. Just before everyone was about to head out and leave Wufei to continue settling in there was a knock on the door and as was his habit Duo ran to the door to get it, returning shortly with a squirming ball of fur and a huge grin. "Hey Wufei, look who I have! I didn't know you were getting a dog!"
"Well now you do." Wufei said with a roll of his eyes as he watched Noin and Sally rush over to start cooing over the puppy, his dog apparently in puppy heaven as they went all gooey over him, Wufei thought with a shake of his dark head. Women, who could figure them. "His name is Patch." Wufei added since he knew it was bound to come up any second.
"And I can see why, he's absolutely adorable, Wufei." Sally said, beaming at him like he'd done something really great when all he'd done was buy the dog. "I'm sure he'll be great company for you, won't you, sweetheart? Yes you will." Sally cooed at the puppy who wiggled happily as though he knew he was being praised. Or he just liked women fussing over him like he was the next world leader and bringer of peace, Wufei thought with a smirk.
"Can I have my dog please?" Wufei finally said with an exasperated look and with obvious reluctance Duo handed the dog over to Wufei, the puppy practically leaping into Wufei's arms. The puppy nuzzling against Wufei's shirt sent the girls into awws as the men rolled their eyes at them. Holding the puppy against him Wufei and his friends chatted a bit more, Quatre and Noin giving advice on puppy care before they all headed out, the house seeming rather quiet without them in it. Setting Patch down on the floor Wufei followed him for a little as he watched the puppy investigate everything then decided to go outside for a little while and let the puppy stretch his legs and hopefully wear himself out. Opening the door for the puppy Wufei watched it stumble along and seeing disaster ahead picked up the puppy and carried it down the steps before letting it down again. Watching it romp in the grass Wufei had to smile, especially when it kept tripping over those ears of his. Shaking his head Wufei sat down on the porch steps and watched his puppy make a complete fool of itself for his entertainment.
o
o
Two weeks later
Noin, Sally and Relena walked into Noin and Milliardo's office having just come back from a rather tiring meeting. It was two o'clock in the afternoon and all of them were wishing that it were closer to six so that they could head home and put their feet up, something they didn't get to do at all often. There was a large ball to be held shortly and due to the number of politicians and diplomats that were to be there Preventers was more then feeling a bit edgy about it. They were in charge of the security but unfortunately the people putting the event on didn't care ow their ideas interfered with the needs of security and were being a pain in the ass. Sally had been dragged into it because one of the heads of the ball committee was Chinese and they'd hoped to win brownie points by having someone who spoke the woman's first language present, not to mention the woman's habit of making little comments in Chinese during proceedings. Nasty little comments at that, Sally thought with a dark look as she took a seat on the corner of Noin's desk then raised an eyebrow at what looked to be a small bakery box on Noin's desk. "Arrange for a little snack, Noin? Shame on you for not sharing."
"What are you talking about?" Noin asked as she looked over towards Sals and seeing the bakery box her friend was holding raised a eyebrow in surprise. "Where did you find that?" When Sally pointed to her desk with a grin Noin didn't know what to think. She hadn't bought anything from a bakery and it wasn't any special occasion. Who would have put it there? "I wonder how it got there, here, lets see what's inside." Noin said as she held out for the box which Sally reluctantly handed over. Setting the box down on the other corner of the desk with Sally and Relena hovering over her Noin opened the lid and all three gave a gasp of amazement at what lay there nestled in pretty white dollies.
o
o
"Those..those are Summerset brownies!" Sally gasped, her mouth already watering at the very sight. There was a bakery down the street that made the most spectacular brownies in the world but they sold out quicker then you could say one please. It was nearly impossible to get your hands on one and there were four in the box, the chocolate icing gleaming on top with pieces of nuts scattered across the icy surface and in the most brownie its self. The sight enough to make grown women beg for mercy..and a piece. " How much for one?" Sally demanded to know and was soon echoed by Relena, both giving Noin their best puppy dog looks.
Blinking Noin stared at them for a moment then back at the box, looking for some indication as to who she'd be hugging and kissing enthusiastically for these. Spotting a note in the corner Noin reaching out a hand and pulled out a simple note written in Italian though there were some small grammar and spelling errors to advertise the fact that this wasn't the writer's first language. But he'd given it a good shot, Noin thought as she read the message in Wufei's handwriting. The note said that he'd been in the shop when they'd come out and remembered that she'd once said she'd do anything for even one of the brownies from the bakery. So he'd bought her some and hoped she appreciated the fact that he'd had to fight off more then a few annoying onnas to get them for her. He didn't bother to sign it but he didn't have to. "He got me brownies." Noin sighed as she stared at the note, going all gooey inside at his thoughtfulness and just the fact that he'd thought to get them. Much less succeeded. She couldn't believe that he'd done something so sweet for her.
"My brother did this? He better have left some for me on my desk too or I'm going to hurt him." Relena said with a smirk thinking that maybe she wouldn't have to blow a what was likely to be a lot of money getting one of those brownies from Noin after all. Way to go big brother, Relena thought with a pleased smile on her face. Her brother had done good.
"They aren't from him." Noin muttered with a dreamy smile on her face as she picked out one of the brownies and bit into it, moaning in pleasure as she bit into the greatest thing her mouth had ever encountered. Chewing slowly to savor Noin swallowed and opened her eyes. "That..was better then anything ever created by the hands of man and beyond. Yummy, yummy, yummy. You guys can split one for ten bucks..each."
o
o
"That's just mean..and who sent you the brownies then?" Sally said even as she took out her purse, desperate enough to be willing to pay that ten dollars. Those brownies were the things of legends, supposedly better then any chocolate item known to man and for that any woman in her right mind would pay ten bucks. Watching Noin break off half and exchange it for the ten Sally did her best not to drool, before biting in, joining Noin in the land of chocolaty heaven where your mouth exploded with chocolate goodness and to hell with the calories. She could get as big as a house on these things for all she cared, they were worth it. That in mind who had sent them to Noin? They couldn't have been cheap and the guy had bought her four. In other words this guy had it bad for Noin and it wasn't from Milliardo. Now wasn't that interesting?
"A friend on mine..he was just in the right place at the right time I guess and remembered I liked them." Noin said with a smile which grew when Relena handed over a ten of her own and soon the three were wallowing in chocolate heaven.
"He huh? Have you been holding out on us, Noin?" Sally said as she raised an eyebrow, knowing she needed the rest of her money for groceries but tempted to try and bribe Noin into another half of one of those brownies. But then again the thought of Noin having a male friend who would go to this much trouble for her was almost as interesting as the brownies. "I mean these things are far from cheap and he would have had to fight tooth and nail for them. Seems to me a guy would only do that for someone special to him."
o
o
Blinking at Sally in surprise Noin's mouth opened and closed but no sound came out what so ever. In truth she really didn't know what to say. She and Wufei were just friends, good friends now but just friends, she wasn't special to him and he wasn't special to her. Sure she really liked him but she loved Milliardo and Wufei would never even look at someone else's girl, especially one who loved her guy. Right? Right. But then again..she saw Wufei ten times more then she saw Milliardo, Noin realized with a small gasp of surprise. She hadn't been out with Milliardo in weeks as a date, some office functions yes but no candle light dinners for two. And even some of those she'd turned him down because she'd had plans with Wufei for lessons or helping him with stuff for his house. And she hadn't even been overly tempted to ask Wufei to reschedule or rearrange her schedule to manage it. She'd stopped caring whether Milliardo asked her out or not..she'd been too busy with other things to notice. But how could that be if she loved him? Wait a minute..only if?....But...when had he stopped being the most important thing in her life?
"Noin are you okay?" Relena asked, taking Noin's hand which seemed cool to Relena as she tugged on Noin's hand who seemed to be in some sort of trance. " Noin don't listen to Sally. I'm sure he knows you're in love with my brother and just did it as a friendly gesture."
o
o
"That's not what I'm worried about. I'm nothing like the kind of girl he'd go out with." Noin murmured as she let Relena lead her over to her chair, insisting she sit down while Sally checked Noin's forehead on the slight chance Noin was sick. Not that she'd ever heard of Wufei dating and she would think that any girlfriend he had would have helped him with decorating his house and not her. Wufei would want the type to stay home and cook delicious meals and take care of the six sons the guy probably wanted. Of course she was a fairly competent cook and Wufei liked her cooking even though he was better at it then her surprisingly enough. She supposed living with four other teenage boys had made it necessary to have a lot of food in the house and the ability to cook, Noin thought with a hint of a small smile. And he would likely want a lot of kids, so did she for that matter and he'd make a good dad provided his wife had the backbone to make sure the sons didn't pick up too many of their daddy's bad habits. Noin thought that she'd likely make a good mom, she'd had a great example with her own mother after all and she would be willing, no insist on staying home with the kids as much as possible. After all the first five years were important and she wasn't going to let any child of hers think her job was more important then she or he. And how the hell had she gotten on that topic? This was all crazy and Sally was nuts and..and maybe this was just all her biological clock's doing. She was twenty seven after all, it was only logical that she would start wanting children. And since she couldn't even say she had a boyfriend since Milliardo wasn't really that...well it was only natural. All those hormones were playing with her head, Noin decided then blinked when she realized Sally had her hand on her own forehead. "I'm not sick, Sals. I'm fine. Just had some weird thoughts rolling around in my head I wasn't expecting in there. Guess all that chocolate went to my head."
"Right." Sally said drawing out the word so that her sarcasm was plain. "Now spill, tell us all about this guy of yours. You've seemed a lot happier and more cheerful these last few weeks but I just assumed it was because Milliardo wasn't going on any missions but I've barely seen him with you. Not to mention I have yet to see you all hyped up about a date or depressed when he cancels said date."
"I'm not that bad and..and I've been busy and so has Milliardo." Noin said with a dark look but knowing Sally well enough to know the girl wouldn't let up Noin decided to give her enough o get her to back off. Of course she couldn't tell Sals it was Wufei because Sally would be after Wufei in a flash and he'd never forgive her. "Look really, Sals. He's just a friend okay? We've known each other for a long time but we've recently got to be better friends..he helped me out with something. He's a nice guy but we're just casual friends and nothing more."
"Have you met his family?" Relena asked getting a bad feeling in her stomach. There was a warmth in Noin's voice that made it sound like this guy wasn't just a casual friend. It sounded to her like her brother had competition now and Relena wasn't sure her brother had the sense to even realize he might be losing his place in Noin's heart. She'd long realized that though her brother did love Noin he didn't quite see that he needed to do something about it. Or he knew and refused to do anything to protect himself even though the last person who would hurt him would be Noin. "Is he good looking? What does he do for a living? Just how long have you known him? How old is he?"
o
o
Blinking at Relena Noin was surprised by all the questions being hurled at her. From Sals it was to be expected but certainly not from Relena who was usually the type to let you tell her things when you were ready to. "Uhm I know a lot of the people who are like his family, his parents are dead and he was an only child. And I guess he's good looking..really gorgeous body actually. Not that I've seen all of it or anything." Noin blurted out then blushed slightly pink at the slip and the way said slip could sound. "And uhm he's a teacher and I met him during the war while I was an Oz instructor." Noin added in a bit of a rush. Since he did teach at the Preventers Academy part time and was teaching her swordplay she figured teacher was close enough to the truth. "And he's...younger then me so ha, he's just a friend since I'm not a cradle robber..would it be considered cradle robbing?...I'm not THAT much older then him." Noin asked out loud even though the question was aimed at herself. He was only twenty two in years but he was so much older inside and even though she was around four years older then him that really wasn't so much when you thought about it. Not that it mattered but hypothetically speaking. "Not that I'm interested in him." Noin added hastily when she saw the way they were looking at her. "What?" Noin said defensively, hunching her shoulders belligerently.
"Well it seems to me he sounds like a great guy." Sally said knowing that if she pushed now she might very well ruin things with Noin and this mysterious guy which was the last thing she wanted to do. Like Relena Sally did believe that Milliardo loved Noin as much as he could love anyone and that's where Relena and Sally parted ways. Relena was of the opinion that Milliardo would learn with time to love Noin with all his heart and the way ever woman wanted to be loved but Sally didn't think that Zechs was capable of it. He'd built so many barriers around his heart and taught himself far too well not to care about anyone or anything too much. She didn't think Milliardo was capable of giving his heart to anyone, even to someone like Noin who loved him more then anything or had. Sally was beginning to think something had happened and Noin was starting to realize that what she had with Milliardo was the way it was always going to be if Milliardo had his way. And Noin deserved more then that. She deserved to be loved and have children. She deserved to be the center of someone's world instead of the other way around. The center of Milliardo's world was and likely would always be politics.