Quiet Chatter(revised with new co-author insert)

Chapter 6: Wufei POV

The six of us ended up going to dinner after the show and I was surprised that Maxwell actually lived up to his word when he said it was his treat. What wasn't surprising was that he took us all to a retro, 50's style burger place where the waitresses wore thigh-length pink and blue dresses with white aprons and a white ribbon tied into a bow around their pony tails. Also, it seemed that part of the uniform involved white roller skates with wheels matching the dress.

The jukebox in the corner played nothing but oldies and the floor was tiled with a classic black and white checker pattern. The tables and chairs had a pastel pink and blue theme and from the ceiling hung old vinyl records on fishing line.

"This is a very nice place," Quatre said as we all crammed into a round booth in the corner.

"How did you find it?" Heero asked.

Duo just shrugged, grinning impishly, "You can't expect me to give away all of my secrets, can you?"

Just then, a waitress arrived on her skates, notepad at the ready to get our drink orders. She took them, after giving us the menus, then skated away to get our beverages. I had to admit, I liked the service here.

"Don't you be looking at those girls in the short skirts, Wufei," Meiran warned, crossing her arms.

I couldn't help but roll my eyes, "Onna, will you stop? I am not looking at them."

Quatre giggled as he snuggled closer to Trowa, who conveniently, took the seat that allowed him a quick exit. I supposed being around Maxwell so much trained him to keep himself in the position of a quick getaway.

"What's so funny, Blondie?" I asked, rather peeved at Meiran's suggestion that I had wandering eyes.

"Nothing," he squeaked.

"Oh no, you don't, Q-bean," Duo said, grinning, "I wanna laugh too. Spill."

"It's just," he giggled again, "Wufei is practically a monk, vow of celibacy and all, and Meiran is scolding him. I doubt he's ever ogled anyone in his entire life!"

There were snickers going around the table, Quatre giggling, and Duo laughing and nodding as if in agreement.

"Dishonorable!" I glared at them all. "Just because I prefer not to degrade anyone by 'ogling' as you call it, doesn't give you license to mock me!"

Moodily, I propped my menu up and began scanning the selections, ignoring my so called friends, their boyfriends, and Meiran.

A few minutes passed and the waitress came back with our drinks and took up our orders. I refused to give up my menu-made fort and kept the laminated paper propped upright in defiance… until the first projectile flew over my barrier and hit me square on the nose. Looking at the offending object, I noticed it was the paper wrapper of a straw and peeked over my menu fort to find Maxwell grinning from ear to ear, straw in his mouth.

"This means WAR!" I declared as I ripped the paper from my straw around the middle and taking away one end, leaving the other half of it on the straw. I placed the uncovered part of the straw in my mouth, took aim, and blew through it, causing the paper on the other end to fly over my menu and land in Duo's hair.

He retaliated by grabbing a sugar packet, getting it nice and soggy in his root beer, and flinging it at me. That didn't sit well with me since it landed on my napkin, ruining it so I fished out an ice cube from my iced tea with my spoon and used the spoon as a catapult to send the ice cube sailing through the air and to my great amusement, into his shirt.

I watched as he squirmed about trying to get it out while Quatre and Trowa just laughed. That's when Heero got involved and grabbed the lemon off of HIS iced tea and squirting it at me, getting just a little of it in my eye. I clutched my eye, but realized it hadn't really got in, but it was too late for Yuy. By now, Meiran had joined our little battle since the odds were now two on one, and grabbed the discarded lemon. She gathered the seeds and began flicking them into Heero and Duo's hair mercilessly as they both tried to duck and cover.

"HEY," Duo squeaked at Quatre and Trowa, "Don't just sit there, HELP US!"

Quatre laughed a little, snuggling Trowa, "No way. You're on your own. We've decided to be Switzerland."

"Thanks a lot, Quat!" Duo grumbled.

Unfortunately, the diner table war was ended in a draw as the waitress came back, giving us a dirty look for being so loud and messing up the table so much. I supposed I couldn't really fault the woman, after all, Duo was so juvenile.

We ate our meal in relative peace with only just a handful of fries, three tater tots, a pickle slice and a few shreds of lettuce sacrificed to the now muted diner table war, but I believe we won since Duo got a piece of a tater tot stuck in his hair without him noticing for about twenty minutes.

It wasn't until desert that I noticed that rodent had come along with us. That just had to violate some sort of health code, but it remained hidden from plain view, only eating the nuts Trowa managed to scrape off the top of the banana split he and Quatre shared. Duo ordered a root beer float while Meiran ordered cherry cola float. Heero asked for some peach cobbler, and I enjoyed my mango and wheat grass smoothie.

I had never expected our little group to become so large. In fact, I thought it was kind of strange the way that we all paired off with someone at roughly the same time. Coincidence just didn't begin to cover the weirdness of it all.

I watched my friends chattering quietly with each other, with the exception of Trowa. He was a quiet kind of guy, and I liked him because of it. He didn't get on my nerves, he didn't purposely try to ruffle my feathers, and he didn't seem to be jumping at the opportunity to take advantage of Quatre. The fact that he had given Quatre a present at all was a feat in and of itself.

It was hard to shop for people like Quatre that can get the best of anything they want. I liked it that the man was trying. I didn't agree with their preferences, but as Aristotle once said, "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." And I pride myself on being educated. Just because I didn't accept the way of life my friends had chosen, didn't mean I wasn't going to accept them as the people they were and tolerate our differences.

In all honesty, it's the dynamics of our group that keep me interested. We are nothing alike, any of us. Meiran and I squabble over every little thing, Duo and I just can't stop being argumentative, Heero and I have very little in common, as do Quatre and I, and as for Trowa, I don't know him well enough to tell… but I doubt I have anything in common with a circus worker.

I inwardly sighed, knowing that my mind was taking the scenic route in my thoughts. I really wanted to get the nerve up to give Meiran something very special to me. Inside my pocket, was the ring that I was going to give her for our engagement.

Granted, it was a bit sudden and she just found out about our betrothal today, but I had been thinking about it for a long time. I hadn't known about the Long Family downfall, and I was expecting Meiran to come back ready to marry me when we turned twenty one. I knew that my marriage to her was imminent, so I took the liberty of having a ring made especially for her.

I realized that there was a big chance it wouldn't fit, but after consulting with my mother today, she assured me that it would. I took her word on it since mother and jewelry seem to have a special bond.

Sitting in a black velvet box in my pocket was a ring made to match my family ring. Mine was a heavy platinum dragon coiled around my finger, holding a miniature of the family crest in it's claws. The ring I had fashioned for Meiran, was similar, but more feminine. It wasn't nearly as bulky and it lacked the family crest. Hers was a platinum serpentine dragon that coiled around twice with emeralds for eyes.

I had the inside of the ring engraved with the words, Meiran, my friend, my partner, my life, in traditional Chinese characters, and I felt very strongly about the meaning behind those words.

I cleared my throat and looked around the table, taking a breath as the conversations stopped.

"I…" I cleared my throat and began again, "I would like to take advantage of us being gathered together in good company to make an announcement."

Trowa and Heero raised an eyebrow, Duo tried not to giggle, Quatre looked interested, and Meiran was doing a poor job at hiding her curiosity.

"Meiran and I are engaged as per our parents' wish, but I'd like to have some say in the matter if I may," Turning to Meiran, I blushed slightly, and slid out of the booth. I dropped to one knee, pulling out the velvet box from my pocket, and in one swift motion I flicked it open. "Long Meiran, will you do me the honor of being my wife?" I asked.

I had never imagined the feeling that was currently riding through me. I felt my pulse quicken and my heart pound heavily in my chest. I felt as if ants had taken to crawling through my veins as a swarm of butterflies assaulted my stomach.

I held my breath for a moment, letting it out in relief as I saw Meiran nod, her voice muffled by the clapping and cheering of the entire restaurant.

(As a side note: this added part came from a very talented woman who will possibly help me with the rest of this series. That is, unless Jess decides to come back. So, read what happened afterward and let me know if she's a keeper. Once that's known, then we can keep these series moving along.)

"Oh Wufei! The ring, it's beautiful!" Meiran exclaimed as I slipped it on her finder, once the excitement had calmed down. "It's the perfect size too."

Quatre spoke up, "I think we should hold a little get together. An engagement party! How about 3 weeks from this weekend? We can have presents and we can hold it at the safe house."

I smiled, nodding, but to my surprise Meiran spoke up. "I can't. That's the weekend of the tournament I'll be competing in."

I looked at her and felt shocked. "What do you mean you're competing in the tournament?" I asked loudly.

"Perhaps we should leave this discussion until later," Quatre commented, trying to defuse the situation before it got out of hand.

"Absolutely not." I felt quite put out that she hadn't talked to me, or told me about this. "I don't want you competing in that tournament. Period." I turned back to my desert, feeling confident the discussion was over.

"But I have to, Wufei! If I don't, then I can't win first for the Chang Dojo and your father's approval of our engagement!" She said frantically.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. She expected to fight for my hand in marriage? This was unacceptable I felt the need to leave the table and this nightmarish situation. "Excuse me." I stood up and walked away from the table. I could not believe the nerve of that woman! How dare she try and defy convention and tradition?

"Wufei!"

Unsurprised by her following me, I still didn't want to talk to her. "Go back inside." I heard the ice in my own tone.

I heard her stop walking. Good, I thought, perhaps she was going to follow convention for once and listen to me.

Oh how wrong I was.

"CHANG WUFEI! You... you... MAN!"

I stopped and turned around, slowly facing her. Her dark eyes were glaring at me with rage. "Is that really such a bad thing? Being a man? Not wanting my WOMAN to enter in a tournament for MY hand in marriage? I should be in a tournament for YOU! Not the other way around. It's just not right!"

"Who said we still lived in the stone age? I can protect myself. I don't need a MAN to do it for me!" Her tone spoke of how annoyed she was by my words.

I felt all my anger boiling over. Why didn't she understand? What kind of a man would I be if I allowed my future wife to fight for me? "If I'm not SUPPOSED to protect you, then what AM I going to do? I'm going to be your HUSBAND! PROVIDE for you, LOVE you, PROTECT YOU!" I shouted at her and turned around feeling the need to get into the car and get away from this.

"Who said I wanted to be barefoot in the kitchen and pregnant, Wuffles! Maybe I want to PROVIDE for you! Maybe I want US to protect each other! To LOVE EACH OTHER!"

I turned on her. "OF COURSE WE WILL LOVE EACH OTHER! I JUST DON'T WANT YOU TO FIGHT FOR ME! I DON'T WANT YOU TO HAVE TO PROTECT ME!" I yelled all this at her and as I saw her glaring at me, I saw the strength and beauty in her. I looked up at the sky and realized something. She is one of the strongest people I have ever met. And that scares me a little. "You don't understand, Mei," I said softly, still looking up at the stars. "I don't know how to be protected. I don't know how to do anything other that what I know I can do." I decided to take a chance and tell her my thoughts. "You are the strongest woman I have ever met Mei, but that doesn't change what I feel."

She was silent a moment before she answered me. "Why can't you trust me to be able to do this for us? My honor is at stake. As is my family's. So is your families... and so is yours. It took a lot for your father to accept me. If this is all he asks of me, then I shall give it to him."

Dammit. Why did everything she said have to make sense? I felt a headache coming on and put a hand on my head. I needed to sit down, and decided to just sit on the curb. It was below me to do something so base, but at the moment I didn't care. I exhaled a long breath and looked up at her. "You really need to do this, don't you?" I looked down and sighed. "Don't answer that. I know the answer. I... I just feel like the role should be reversed and I should be the one doing this. It's hard for me to accept." I heard her laugh and sit down next to me. The warmth of her body next to mine was calming.

"Since when have I ever followed things as they were meant to be?"

"True enough," I answered with a small laugh. I looked at her. "I want you to know I'll be there with you, and I... I guess I'll just have to accept you fighting for my hand." Looking into her ebony eyes I felt a new emotion. Like if she wanted, she could reach in my chest and just pull out my heart, perhaps even tear it apart if she wished. I didn't like it, so I decided to bring things back to even footing. "Though if you expect ME to be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen, you are dreaming woman!"

Meiran laughed, "You would make big money if you could be the first pregnant man."

I made a face and shook my head. "I'd rather not have the extra money and not be pregnant, thank you very much." She giggled and I smiled at her. Bumping shoulders with her, I felt a sharp pain on my arm. "Ouch, what's that?" I pulled up my sleeve to reveal to both of us a nasty palm sized bruise and five little finger bruises around it. It was an ugly yellow and brown color. I looked at Meiran and saw the blush rising in her cheeks. "Sorry about that. I was so worried about Duo that I guess I got carried away..."

I smiled at her. "It's alright. It doesn't hurt. Much. But he looked alright to me in the restaurant."

"He... he doesn't like to toss knives at people. At live targets in general."

Interesting. Curious and intrigued, I wanted to ask more, but seeing her dark look, I decided not to probe. "I can't imagine I would like it either. When you have a sword in your hand, you are in complete control, but with a throwing knife, there is no telling what might happen."

I looked back at the restaurant and heard her murmur, "Any weapon is deadly, whether it is in your hands or not."

I stood up and reached my hand out to her. "We should go back inside. I need to apologize, and we should show our friends that we are a happy couple as well as a hotheaded one."

"Are we a happy couple?" She asked me as she stood up.

"I'm happy." I said smiling at her. "Are you happy?"

She nodded. "I'm happy." She leaned forward and kissed my cheek. It surprised me, but I was pleased.

"That would be the definition of happy couple then," I said smirking and reached to hold her hand.

I smiled and blushed slightly when I head her shy "Wufei... Thanks." Sneaking a glance at her, I saw some pink in her cheeks as well.

Opening the door of the restaurant for her, I gave her a soft kiss on the lips and she blushed again. I smiled and we walked into the restaurant where I immediately heard Maxwell's loud call of "Way to go, Mei-Mei! I want one too!"

As we walked toward the booth I heard him exclaim "Ouch! Aw, Q-bean! I was just playing!"

Aha. So Quatre still stepped on people's feet where they were less than polite and Maxwell had just learned this. I whispered to Meiran as we approached, "Quatre steps on people's feet when they are impolite and Maxwell just felt it." She giggled.

"Hee-chan! Your friend is being mean to me!" Duo said with a pout as Meiran and I sat down.

"Well, I assure you he wouldn't if he didn't like you, Duo. Quatre's just that kind of person."

Meiran slid into her seat and I slid down next to her as she turned to Quatre. "Thank you, Mr. Winner, I can handle Duo on my own though." She shook a finger in Duo's direction, "Duo, if you don't behave, I'll tell Clare what you did last week at the mall."

I raised my eyebrows in amusement as Heero asked "And what is this? I'm curious myself," just as Quatre said "Ooh, I love blackmail!"

I smiled as I watched Meiran tap her chin thoughtfully, "Now should I tell or shouldn't I?"

"Come on, Mei-Mei! Don't you dare!"

"So tell!" Quatre interjected.

She smiled at me. "It's nothing really. But Clare's terrible when it comes to things like this. She'd never let him live it down." She said to the other guys.

"What are you talking about? YOU don't let me live it down, either!"

Heero sent me a pointed look at said "We know someone like that, don't we Wufei?" I nodded and we both sent pointed looks at Quatre, who eeped and blushed slightly.

Duo sat back and crossed his arms "I just know you're gonna tell them anyway."

"Yep!" Meiran said with a smirk. "Duo went to a dress shop with me one day. He got so bored he allowed the sales woman there to think he was a girl and tried on over twelve outfits... including a pale black bikini. When the woman found out he was a guy, she asked him out on a date...as did her boss, who had been taking with Duo from the beginning. Too bad he was an old man of fifty," she finished with a laugh.

"A black bikini, huh?" Heero asked.

I felt it coming long before it did, and I tried to hide it, but I just couldn't. I burst out laughing. I heard Heero and Quatre join in and heard Maxwell's "Go ahead, laugh it up." But it was too funny. I tried to gain composure, but all I had to do was look up at Maxwell's stubborn pout and Heero's shaking shoulders as he laughed on the table and I was cracking up again.

Eventually I composed myself and looked at Maxwell's hurt face. "I apologize, Max-err, Duo. I imagined the saleswoman's face and the bikini and I'm not sure what came over me. I'm sorry to have hurt you."

"Go ahead, laugh it up, Wuffles. I don't want to see this ever again."

Meiran leaned in close to me. "I'll tell you more stories, later. I've got a ton of them." She whispered.

"I can't wait." I whispered back. I sat up and looked around the table. "I'd like to apologize to everyone actually, for storming out a little while ago. It was juvenile and immature. I am sorry."

Duo nodded at me and then turned his attention to Meiran, "Don't you dare tell any more of those tales, Mei-Mei." He looked at me again and smiled this time. "Don't sweat it Wuffles. Everyone is allowed a moment like that."

I nodded. "Perhaps, but I try not to take them." I looked down at my watch. "It's getting late. Should we call for the check now, or wait a little longer?"

Maxwell raised his arm and the waitress walked over with the bill. He pulled some money out of his wallet and handed it to her."Keep the change for the tip." He said to her with a smile.

"Thank you sir, that's quite generous!" She exclaimed.

"It's for putting up with us." He said smiling at her. She left and he turned back to the table.

Meiran punched him in the arm. "Oi, Duo. Knock it off already. I think we can all tell you can charm anyone."

I looked at Maxwell. "You didn't have to pay for that alone." I said flatly, but feeling Meiran's arm at my side, I said "But thank you for doing so, anyways."

"I said I would, didn't I?"

I smiled at him. "You have proven to be a true man of your word... or even a man of someone else's word as well." I said with a specific look at Meiran who blushed.

"Yeah, yeah. Stop it. Both of ya!"

I smiled at her, and began helping her into her coat. "Never, my dear."

Maxwell laughed and said to her "Oh man, you've met your match!"

"Moron," was her single word reply. What I really loved was the raspberry she blew at him.

"Very mature," I whispered to her, and she lightly punched my side.

"Come on, Duo," Heero said, as they stood up.

"See all of ya later!" Duo called as Heero pulled him out of the restaurant.

Quatre and Trowa stood up as well, and Trowa hugged Meiran while Quatre and I just watched. "Time for us to leave as well. Goodnight you two. And congratulations," Quatre said as we all walked towards the door.

I looked at Meiran and offered her my arm, "Shall we?" I asked motioning towards my car.

She nodded and took my arm. "Thank you Wuffles," she whispered as we walked through the night to my car.

I leaned down towards her. "You are welcome, Mei-Mei," I said with a small smile.

"Did you just resort to nicknames, Dragon?"

"Perhaps I did. Maybe I should spend less time with Maxwell. That might alleviate the problem." I teased her as I opened the door for her.

When I got into the car she looked at me seriously. "He's a dear Wufei. I happen to spend a lot of time with him, so you'll have to get used to him."

I smiled at her and started the car. "I'm sure with time it will be no problem at all." I pulled away from the curb and began driving towards home, happier than I had been in a long time.