Heart to Heart Talk
Wufei was expecting it and wasn't really surprised when two of Lucrezia's brothers finally managed to corner him without their sister there to get in their way. They were all over six feet and well built, Wufei had to look up both of them and he had the distinct feeling that made them very happy. Personally he preferred them to the grandmothers. They'd taken to asking him every possible little detail about his life they could think of regardless of how appropriate it was. Give him brawlers over cheek pinchers any day. The men were now seated outside on the porch, each with their wine of choice and the sounds of a lot of people talking coming through the open windows. Sipping his wine Wufei waited for them to begin. He didn't have long to wait.
"So we understand that you're a member of Preventers, a lieutenant to Lucy's commander right?" Michael said with a hint of a smirk as he lounged against the porch railing casually though he and his brother were giving Wufei the we could and might just crush you like a bug for the fun of it looks. This look had sent more then a couple dozen would be suitors packing and they were rather proud of it too.
"That's correct." Wufei said just as casually, having already anticipated that they'd want him to start the fight so that they could claim self defense or make him leave in which case he lost their respect and possibly Lucrezia's. Well they hadn't been forced into the company of politicians on a regular basis for several years. Putting up with idiots was nothing new to him.
"So did you serve during the war?" Michael continued, the brothers having agreed to let him do most of the talking. He was the biggest and the meanest sounding one after all.
"In a manner of speaking. I wasn't a soldier if that's what you're asking. I had no military rank when I joined Preventers." Wufei replied wondering if they intended to pull the good interrogator/bad interrogator on him. If they did he was going to enjoy playing with them by twisting everything around just to confuse them. He didn't anticipate that being overly difficult.
"So during the war what did you do? A paper pusher?" Michael continued, his voice saying what he thought of paper pushers without having to put it into words.
"No." Wufei said with a hint of coolness. "I was a pilot."
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"Really now? Well I suppose up in space it doesn't really matter who the pilot is so long as he knows what he's doing." Michael continued, mulling that over for a minute. He supposed that being a pilot didn't require any physical strength or a lot of mental strength either. Just good instinct and a coolness under pressure. This boy definitely was a cool customer. "So ever been arrested?" Michael threw in, hoping to catch the man off guard.
"Once for getting into a bar fight." Wufei said dryly, not thrown off in the least. He had interrogated and been interrogated plenty of times. These guys sucked at it. "A friend of mine hit on a girl, not knowing she was already taken. A fight ensued soon after the boyfriend returned to her side to find Duo there. We had to get involved before the idiot got his head busted in and ended up in jail for the night." Wufei said with a smirk, remembering what it had been like to spend a night in jail with Duo because the police in that town had been low on brains cells and too lazy to bother finding out the truth. He still has nightmares of Duo singing ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall.
"If it was like that why were you arrested?" Lucas wanted to know. "If it was as simple as that you'd think that they'd have let you guys off...unless your friend started it."
"Duo? Duo doesn't start fights, he starts problems. More then his fair share." Wufei said with a slight chuckle. "He's one of the most easy going knot heads I've ever met."
"Well guess we don't have to ask you if you've ever killed anyone since you said that fight was it for arrests." Lucas said jokingly, warming up to the kid. He was holding up a lot better then any of the other past boyfriends they'd interrogated throughout the years. Heck Tula's husband had ran to their mother for protection after five minutes while this guy wasn't even breaking a sweat. Points for him.
I have, not that I was ever arrested for it." Wufei said, taking a sip of his wine while the other two choked on theirs. "But if you're looking for names and dates I'm afraid I can't provide them."
"There's more then one?" Lucas demanded to know looking absolutely horrified. His sister's boyfriend was some psychopathic serial killer who was just calmly sitting there like it was nothing. "How can you just sit there calmly after saying that? If you think Lucy won't believe us when we tell her you said that you're sadly mistaken."
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"Or you could meet with unfortunate accidents before you get the chance." Wufei said dryly, unable to not take advantage of that opening they'd set before him before getting serious. The fact that they didn't automatically assume he was just playing with them was telling though. They really did expect the worse when it came to their sisters' boyfriends like Lucrezia had told him. "And your sister is well aware of my past including the fact that I have blood on my hands...just like she does." Wufei pointed out calmly, the brothers going silent, the shock on their faces clearly telling the story. Their little sister killing someone? In their minds it just wasn't possible. Not in their happy little world, Wufei thought grimly. "Did you think that Lucrezia spends all of her time doing paperwork and going to political functions? Do you even know what Preventers is? We're an organization that's dedicated to protecting the peace and insuring the safety of the world and colonies. When we aren't pushing paper we're in the field dealing with hostage situations, terrorists and all manner of fanatics. We get shot at, attacked and wounded on a regular basis and if we all come out alive that's a pretty damn good day for us. We both fought during the war and we're still fighting so that people can still look shocked at the thought of someone killing someone else. We fight and we kill so that the media isn't full of stories about death counts in the hundreds to thousands due to people who think their way is the only right way. I've been taking lives since I was fifteen. I don't try to hide it and I don't pretend it didn't happen. Neither does she. We, soldiers just don't talk about it with civilians. The only one that can ever truly understand a soldier is another soldier who's been there."
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Well that certainly had shut them up. What they knew about their sister's job was pretty much made up of letters, phone calls and e-mails from her telling them about it. Sometimes she'd go on trips and tell them about the places she went to but she never really went into any detail about why she was there or what she's done. But then again who wrote home to their family telling them about almost getting killed by terrorists? Or about the fanatic they'd been forced to shoot in a no win situation? Who wrote home to tell you about all the horrible things in the world that you liked to pretend didn't exist?
"She never really talks about work..except to complain about the paperwork." Michael muttered, more to himself then to anyone else.
"Not surprising. She wouldn't want to worry you. You really don't need to worry about her though. She's been a soldier for a long time and she can handle herself, she only gets stronger and more capable as the years go by." Wufei said, figuring he should at least offer some comfort to the lugs. Even if they'd likely called him out here in the hopes of sending him packing they'd only done it because they loved Lucrezia. For that alone he could forgive just about anything they tried to do to him. Well unless they tried to give him a buzz cut or remove his ponytail. If they did that then he'd really have to hurt them.
"And you do the same things? The same sort of things she does?" Michael wanted to know.
"To a certain extent. My partner is a doctor and when she's sent in to help treat the wounded I always go with her for protection and to help where I can. As Lucrezia's partner is Peacecraft she often deals with the more diplomatic area of negotiation and dealing with the problem. I play a more physical role while she plays a more verbal one though both are equally dangerous, more so depending on the situation." Wufei said with a shrug, simply stating facts. It was his job and that was pretty much how he saw it. Some people were teachers and farmers, some were soldiers and diplomats. Simple as that.
"Well Lucy isn't a push over. We taught her how to fight and box when she was little so that she wouldn't get picked on or bullied at school. Or hit on for that matter." Michael said with a sheepish look on his face. Of course they'd made it quite clear what happened to any guy who wanted to date either of their sisters but the fact that their sisters were equally dangerous hadn't hurt either. Up until now he hadn't really thought about how dangerous Lucy might of become and why she would need to. "But I guess you know that already having seen her in action and all."
"Oh I know." Wufei said with an inner wince having already experience first hand what their little sister was like when she was pissed off and looking for a fight. He'd had the bruises to prove it. "She can be..formidable when she wants to be."
"Tell me about it. When she was fifteen she broke my friggin nose in two places for scaring away her date for this dance thing." Michael said with a chuckle, absently rubbing bridge of his nose on the spot where there was still a slight bump, a result of him doing his brotherly duty as he saw it. "Mom said I deserved it and wouldn't even go get me ice for it." Michael added with a drawn out sigh for effect. "Do you have any sibs, Chang?"
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"No. I was an only child." Wufei said with a shake of his head. He'd never quite been able to decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing though. If he'd had them perhaps his parents wouldn't have put so much pressure on him but then again if he'd had siblings they would have been more people for him to lose.
"Ah ya, I think I remember mama saying you didn't have a lot of family." Lucas said thoughtfully, slowly remembering that his mom had said something about the poor boy being an orphan with only a grandmother to call family. His mother always had been a sucker for a sad story. He couldn't really imagine having only one relative though since he had so many. It had to be lonely. "So exactly how did you meet Lucy anyway? Around the office I suppose or were you one of her cadets originally?" Lucas wanted to know, less inclined to start a fight now. He was beginning to think the guy wasn't so bad even if he probably wasn't good enough for their Lucy.
"I met her in battle during the war. I was the gundam pilot that destroyed the training base where she was an instructor. She came after me in a suit and I shot her down." Wufei said, not at all surprised when both of their faces turned mutinous. Better they heard it now then later though. "Of course I spared her life as I'm not in the habit of killing women and children and I was in a hurry to get going too. We met up again at Preventers though so of course we've worked together on various missions."
"You shot our sister down?" Michael said slowly, wanting to make sure he got this straight before he killed the guy.
"It was war and your sister was on the opposite side, shooting at me. Was I supposed to just let her blow me up?" Wufei said dryly then seeing the looks on their faces surmised that letting her blow him up was exactly what they thought he should have done. "I don't suppose adding the fact that I could have very easily killed her but didn't is going to make you stop wanting to kill me. Is it?"
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"No but what I'll do to them if they harm a hair on your head might." Came a threatening voice and all heads turned to see Noin behind them having soundlessly slipped in behind them. "Nice try hinting to Grandma Noin and Grandma Marta that I was thinking of moving in with Wufei but they could only hold me captive for so long, you scheming bastards. It wasn't hard figuring out who put the idea into their heads."
"What makes you think we did it?" Michael demanded to know in his very best outraged and hurt at the same time look. Of course they had done it but there was no way in hell he was going to admit to it. He wasn't stupid after all.
"You can deny it all you want but I know you two did it just as I know that you know I can make you suffer big time if you pull a stunt like that again. Do you know how embarrassing it is to have your over seventy grandmas talk to you about sex?" Noin demanded to know, her eyes flashing dangerously. "And I swear if they go after Wufei now to make sure his intentions are completely honorable I will get you back ten times worse."
"Uhmmm..out of morbid curiousity...what's worse then having little old ladies talk to you about sex?" Lucas asked quietly, genuinely curious.
"You guys still sleep in your old beds when you come here to visit right?" Noin said with a glint in her eye as her brothers wearily nodded their heads. "Well then if you continued to cause Wufei and I problems we will personally christen each one of your beds this week so that whenever you come home and have to sleep on your old beds you can think about exactly what was done on those mattresses. Especially since mom is in the habit of never getting rid of anything until it's on its very last leg which means those mattresses will remain on your beds for quite some time. Understand?"
"Damn but you're mean." Michael choked out, he and his brother looking more then a little pale and sick at the idea while Wufei's cheeks were bright pink and his jaw perilously close to hitting the wooden porch.
"You better believe it. Now march your lying asses inside and tell our grandmothers you were just joking or else." Noin said as she pointed to the door, her brothers not stupid enough to argue as they filed through the door doing their best to block out the mental images the sneaky little bugger had put in their poor heads. "You okay?" Noin asked when the door was closed and she was sure her brothers were out of hearing distance. "How long did they have you out here for?"
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"Not long." Wufei managed to get out before taking a good size gulp of wine. Her brothers weren't the only ones with mental images in their heads now. "That was..some threat."
"Yeah, gotta love the looks on their faces." Noin agreed, completely unaware of Wufei's reaction for the moment. "They'll think twice before they pull another stunt like this again. So other then those idiots are you having an okay time so far? I know my mom was shoving a lot of food in front of you earlier. My brothers are all huge but whenever they come home she says they're not eating enough and does the same thing so don't take her 'you're too skinny' statements to heart. Anyone not as big as a house is skinny to her."
"You're mother is an excellent cook." Wufei replied, thanking God that it was too dark out for Lucrezia to see his face clearly. At the moment he had a feeling she'd be able to read him like a book which would not be a good thing. "And I don't mind her trying to feed me all the time. My grandmother does the same thing when I go to visit her anyway."
"It must be a mother thing." Noin agreed as she sat down beside Wufei on the porch. "It's a beautiful night out. It's nice to see the stars like this. No huge buildings in the way."
"Yes it is." Wufei agreed as he took another sip of his wine then offered it to her in case she wanted some.
"Thanks." Noin said as she took a sip before handing it back to him. "By the way all the bedrooms have name plaques on them so if my brothers have done something to the guest room come to mine and we can share." Noin added then turned her head curiously at the sound of Wufei choking on his wine. "You okay? Wine go down the wrong way?" Noin asked in concern, patting him on the back as he coughed.
"I'll be fine..on both counts. I'm sure your threat was enough that if they did set something up they're taking it down right now." Wufei managed to choke out between coughs. "Besides I think the males in your family would resort to serious violence if I were to switch..sleeping arrangements."
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"Wait a minute..is that why you choked?" Noin asked with laughter in her voice, finally catching on to what she'd been missing. "Scared to share a room with me, Chang? And here I thought you weren't afraid of anything."
"The thought doesn't scare me." Wufei said with a huff, his cheeks going from a dying pink to red rather quickly.
"Well the we'll have to try it sometime." Noin said as she leaned her head down to rest it on his shoulder with a smirk on her face, relieved and happy to know that she wasn't the only one who was a little unsure as to how their relationship or she should say when their relationship was going to get more physical. "But don't worry..I don't intend to jump you at my parents house."
"Thanks. I'll restrain myself from jumping you here as well." Wufei said dryly, aware that she was getting a kick out of this.
"So you have to restrain yourself from jumping me?"
"............."