Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the plot lines. Everything else belongs to someone else which I am well aware of lol. Hope you review cause I luv hearing from ya
What's The Difference
Wufei sat at his desk and twirling a pen absently between two fingers was lost in thought. He'd left the lunch table as soon as he could and now sat at his desk as various thoughts went through his mind as he tried to put things into perspective. At first he'd just been stunned and pissed off about the whole thing, a small part of him finding the whole thing a tad humorous while the rest of him was torn. It brought about several questions as well. One was the fact that even on the surface there were some very important things to take into consideration. One was that mentally aside she was his senior by four years and people were bound to latch onto that and blow it way out of proportion. A private person by nature Wufei could only shudder at the idea of being the center of attention but was sure that he could handle it if need be. But how it would reflect on Lucrezia was another matter and it wasn't just the age but the rank as well. Not only was she older but of a higher rank then himself which might cause some problems even though he didn't serve under her command. Biggest of all was the fact that if things went bad he'd lose her as a friend and perhaps even damage their relationships with mutual friends. She and Sally were very close and Wufei would rather cut off his own arm then harm his partner who'd been his friend for as long as he'd known her, whether he'd admitted it or not. Still there could be much to be gained..and it was all so confusing. Plus what did he know about women anyway? They were foolish, complex creatures that never made any sense and were always changing the rules. Impossible to live with under the best of circumstances Wufei had never pictured himself involved with one after his wife's death. And that was another thing that bothered him. Would he be betraying her memory if he were to pursue a relationship with Lucrezia? He didn't think she'd view it that way but since he didn't understand the way females thought he couldn't say for sure.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Quatre asked as he wandered over to sit on the edge of his friend's desk, having come looking for his friend. He'd noticed during lunch that Wufei had been giving off unhappy vibes and so he'd decided to seek him out. "Or no?"
"They aren't worth that much." Wufei said as he worked up a half smile since he knew Quatre was bound to worry if he didn't. His blonde friend was such a worry wort, Wufei thought with affection. And come to think of it, perhaps Quatre could help him..maybe. "Quatre if I asked you a question would you swear not to tell anyone about it..ever." Wufei said putting a great deal of emphasis on ever. Even if no one knew the question was related to Lucrezia he still didn't want any of this to get around. When Quatre promised not to tell anyone and even did that whole stupid cross my heart and hope to die thing Wufei rolled his eyes then hesitantly asked his question. "What's the difference between dating a girl and simply going out as friends?" Even though he was almost twenty three he'd never entertained the thought of dating girls because of course before the war he known his wife would be picked out for him. After the war he'd been too busy licking his wounds and working to care about females and then he supposed he'd just gotten into the habit of not thinking about ever finding another woman to bring into his life in a romantic sense. If he wanted female company he could spend an evening with Sally after all and wouldn't have to bring her flowers or go to chick flicks as Duo called them. But Sally had never appealed to him as anything other then a friend and he wanted to have more with Lucrezia. They'd gone out as friends, now he had to face the idea of dating. Scary thought indeed..he'd rather be dealing with terrorists. You could predict and understand terrorists.
Quatre blinked slowly once, surprised to no end by the question. He hadn't even been aware Wufei was interested in someone or was he simply jumping the gun? Thinking that Wufei might give more after his question had been touched on Quatre tried to think of how to explain. "Well aside from the obvious..uhmm..physical differences I guess it's the whole outlook on things. When you're dating a girl you usually foot the bill for things like a restaurant or movie tickets. And ahhh when you're dating you have to or I should say should go out of your way to do little things for her that you might not normally do with a female friend like get her flowers or take her to something she likes and you hate. Obviously if you're dating you can't date other girls and you need to remember not to treat her like one of the guys." Quatre said recalling Hilde complaining about Duo doing that more then once. "You have to take the time to compliment her on things like a new dress or hair style because believe me they get upset if you don't notice. Oh and with a date you show more affection, you have to verbally show her that you care since women prefer words to actions when it comes to romance. I guess the big difference between the two is that in a friend role you can get away with not showing you care so much and she costs you less." Quatre said with a chuckle thinking that the serious look on Wufei's face was telling. It was as if Wufei were memorizing everything he said. "Out of curiosity, why do you ask?"
"Curiosity." Wufei shot back thinking that dating didn't sound so bad the way Quatre made it seem. Really all he had to do was keep treating her the way he usually did only now he had to buy her things for no reason, compliment her more and not look at other girls which had never been a problem. "So why did you stop in?"
"Just felt like going for a walk and ended up here, I got tired of listening to everyone try to pump Noin for information on this new guy of hers. If you ask me they should just leave it alone but the girls would have tried to hurt me and there were too many kitchen utensils within easy reach." Quatre said with a chuckle as he pushed his bangs out of his eyes. "If they aren't careful they'll have Noin closed as tight as a clam on the subject."
"They're still hounding her?" Wufei asked, not at all pleased when Quatre nodded. He didn't like the idea of Lucrezia being hounded over this but he knew he'd only make things worse if he got involved in the fray. They'd be on them like a pack of wolves in milliseconds. "Has Peacecraft heard yet?"
"Yeah apparently. I passed by his office on the way here and he was sitting in his seat without moving so much as a muscle. I could feel the icy cold vibes coming off him in waves from the hallway. It's a shame really since he and Noin are such good friends, they were just never meant to be anything more then that."
Later that evening
Noin was so worn out all she wanted to do was collapse on her bed screaming. If just one more person asked her about her new guy she was quite sure she'd kill that person. The death would not be a quick and painless one, that was for sure. Why the hell was the identity of some guy she was interested in such a big deal to everyone? Wasn't there something more interesting to discuss? And how the hell was she suppose to brooch the idea of maybe even going on a date with Wufei when everyone was breathing down her neck? Plus he had to be seriously annoyed at the moment and as soon as anyone found out it had been him she'd been with on Friday not only would several of their friends keel over but she'd never hear the end of it. She hadn't had a chance to talk to him alone all day and now she was so frazzled she didn't know if she was up to calling him or not. Would he even want to talk to her? Everyone had blown everything out of proportion and some of the things they were calling him...Good God but it was a wonder he hadn't keeled over in shock. I mean all he'd said was good night and that he'd see her on Monday in slightly mangled Italian, not some hot come on like everyone was saying. That was the problem with European languages, they made everything seem more exotic then what it actually was. Hearing the phone ring Noin rubbed her hands over her face then picked up the phone. "Hello?"
"Hello, my baby. How are you? You don't sound so good to me. Long day?" Came her mother's voice over the line and Noin felt a smile come on automatically, feeling better already.
"Hello, mama. Yeah it's been..one of those days. How's everyone at home?" Noin asked walking over to her couch and flopping down into it, leaning her head against the arm rest as she settled back for a long chat. Listening as her mother caught her up on everything that was happening with everyone back home Noin felt a hint of homesickness and had to admit she was looking forward to next month when she'd be going home for two weeks for a visit. She could use the vacation and strange as it was the older she got the more she missed home. Or maybe it was just the concept of home she craved, she was pretty sure it was the latter. Once her mother was done with the usual gossip her mother asked about Milliardo and how things were going with them. "Uhmm actually, mom I'm not seeing him anymore. Actually we're not talking period." Noin said and soon everything was coming out in a flood. "I just got so sick of the way he kept me out of things and I guess I got just as sick of the way I was behaving too. We should have never tried to be a couple but I just wouldn't let up and all we did was mess things up. I mean we had lots of good times too but lately they just got so few and rare that I forgot about them and finally blew up at him. We aren't talking at the moment."
"Well you were the best of friends to begin with. You'll find your footing again." Noin's mother Marta told her wisely, keeping her voice neutral when what she wanted to do was cheer. She'd been waiting for years for her bambino to realize that the dashing prince was not meant to be her prince. Now it would appear the dream had ended and though her heart ached for the pain her daughter must be feeling she was glad her baby had seen the light before it was too late. "And I know you don't believe it now but you'll find someone else who will be the prince you have been waiting for."
"Uhmm actually I kinda..sorta..might be seeing someone." Noin said with an uncertain laugh, not quite sure about anything in her life at the moment. "I'm not quite sure what's going on there and whether he wants to give dating a try or not. I hope so but there are some..ah complications."
Blinking on the other end Marta didn't quite know what to say then immediately knew what to say. "Well tell me about him, Lucrezia! What kind of complications? How did you meet him? How well do you know him?"
Laughing because it was just so like her mom to ask questions like that Noin felt better then she had since lunch time. "Well I've known him since the war so around seven or eight years, there abouts. I met him..well I met up with him in battle actually when he was all set to blow me to kingdom come but decided not to since he has a slight female complex. He'd sooner blow himself up then a woman. And as for complications well there are quite a few actually which means the odds of anything coming out of this whole thing are questionable. He's younger then I am and well...he doesn't date ever and for some reason everyone in Preventers is interested in my love life and Wufei is a very private person."
"You mean the one that blew up your base, your students and nearly you?" Marta said with motherly note of outrage. What on earth was her daughter thinking? "And do you mean Wufei as in Heero's friend? The one you called a sexist pig and worse?"
"Well we were fighting on opposing sides for a large part of the war, mother. Logic would dictate that we would be trying to kill each other." Was Noin's amused answer, the irony not lost on her at all. Wufei had quite literally held her life in his hands that day in Victoria. His choice not to continue the fight had resulted in the continuation of her life, that and earth's life too since she wouldn't have been around to stop Milliardo from blowing it up if Wufei had already blown her up. "And yes I mean Heero's friend who can on occasion be a sexist pig but I've really gotten to know him in the last two months and I was wrong about him. I guess I've been wrong about a lot of things lately. You'd like him, mom. That is if you think of him as a friend of mine and not of how we first met that is. All technically, yes he shot me down but any other bad guy would have finished the job. So he really should get bonus points for that."
"Well we shall see about that. Does he come from a good family?" Marta wanted to know, as always thinking that you could tell a lot about a person from the family they'd grown up in. At the very least if her daughter had already met this Wufei's family then she would have more of an excuse to make her baby bring her Wufei to them so that she could get a look at him. She would decide if this young man was good enough for her little girl.
"Uhmm well I don't really know and I don't think he does either." Noin said, sadness creeping into her voice. Wufei rarely talked about his family and she knew that other then his grandmother on his father's side and some very distant relations Wufei had no birth family. "His parents put him into a boarding school when he was eight and before that he was cared for by a nanny. He was let out of school when he was around fourteen to follow through with the arranged marriage his parents had initiated with another clan. His parents, wife and the rest of his close family were all killed when he was fifteen during the war except for his grandmother who was away at the times of the attacks."
"Oh that poor boy." Marta said sadly, her eyes filling with tears as she pictured this boy, not even yet a man, who'd seemed to never have had a real family. To begin with being forced into marriage and then a short while later have his whole world completely destroyed in front of him. She knew that Wufei had been a gundam pilot who'd killed the mighty and seemingly indestructible Treize and now she could see why. Oz had taken everything from that boy and like a boy he'd done the only thing he could. Rise from the ashes to strike out at those who had done the destroying. Instantly forgiving the boy for nearly killing her daughter when he was too young to know better Marta decided this boy sounded like he needed someone like her daughter as much as her baby needed him. "How awful for him. And he lives with the other pilots right? I think Heero said something about that."
"He doesn't talk about it much. And actually no, he doesn't anymore. He moved out recently to have a place of his own and I've been helping him with it. Other then the disaster known as his kitchen it's the most amazing house, mom. Believe me, the guys would go nuts over it if they could see it and I'll bring pictures to show them. Anyway I wish I could talk longer, Mom but I am beat. Could I call you back tomorrow to continue this?" Noin asked as she bit back a yawn, blinking her eyes sleepily. Telling her it was no problem Noin and her mom exchanged good nights before hanging up. Putting the phone back Noin wandered out of the room and after changing went straight to sleep, not even hearing her phone go off.
The answering machine clicking in, a message was left. "Lucrezia it's Wufei. I guess you're asleep already since I couldn't find you before I left for home. Anyway I hope today wasn't to trying and if it makes you feel better this Mary is signed up to take one of my classes next term so in time she'll be made to wish she'd kept her mouth shut. Well uhmm I'll see you tomorrow and maybe...we could catch a movie or something this weekend..if you want. Bye." click.