Title: Knitting Lessons: Part I
Author: NinthFeather
Rating: G
Characters: Tieria Erde, Feldt Grace, Sumeragi Lee Noriega
Pairings: rather light TieriaFeldt
Summary: Tieria does not like to feel useless and tends to take things literally. Somehow, this results in his recieving knitting lessons from Feldt Grace.
WARNINGS: Crack, or at least a really weird, unlikely premise. And knitting. Hey, you never know what will offend people…
Disclaimer: Unless having a plushie replica of Exia counts, I do not own.
AN – This fic takes Sophie3's "Mission: Team Building" as canon, so please read that fic first. I wrote this as a result of my newfound obsession with knitting (my penname here is my screen name on ravelry), the fact that Tieria has a sweater, and the idea that the only first-season het pairing for Tieria with a prayer of happening would be TieriaFeldt, all of which combined into the related idea that a TieriaFeldt fic with knitting would go beyond cute. I apologize for the implausible nature of this whole scenario. Thanks to StormyMonday for beta-reading!
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Knitting Lessons: Part I
Since his arrival at Celestial Being, TieriaErde had been called many things. "Jerk" seemed to be the most frequent, though it was usually only muttered and he often got the feeling that he wasn't meant to have heard it, with "weird" coming in at a close second.
One thing, however, he had not been called was "useful". That was rather displeasing, since he'd expected to be the individual aboard Ptolemy most essential to Veda's plans. As it turned out, however, he was not. Far from it, in fact. While it was true that he had greater access to Veda than anyone, it was also true that much of the information restricted to him alone would not become relevant for months or years, and a good portion was, in fact, utterly useless. He was also a Gundam Meister, one of only four in the world who were selected to serve in that capacity. But until Celestial Being actually commenced their armed interventions, that fact had no consequence.
And while it was true that Tieria was easily many times as smart as everyone else aboard the Ptolemy, he was somewhat lacking practical skills. More accurately, he didn't have any, other than the computer skills and Gundam-piloting abilities which were currently unproductive. This was a situation that had to be remedied. Someone of his intelligence was wasted sifting through reams of useless data that had been needlessly uploaded to Veda and occasionally checking up on the production schedules of the Gundams. He needed another task, something truly useful.
Unfortunately, there were no such tasks left. Every position on Ptolemy was filled, its occupant selected by Veda, so Tieria could hardly complain or ask that he be allowed replace them. Besides, in a few months he would have a task, one vital to Celestial Being's mission. He couldn't lose sight of that. But until the scheduled date of the first armed intervention, he could do nothing but wait. Until then, he was useless to Veda and to the rest of Ptolemy as well.
This caused an odd, hot, uncomfortable feeling to well up in his stomach. He didn't know what it was, but it seemed suspiciously like one of the ridiculous emotions his crewmates put so much stock in. So, he tried to quash it, but it seemed that it was not so easily dismissed.
Finally, Ms. Sumeragi put a name to it for him.
"What's bothering you, Tieria?" she asked him one day while they were both in the cafeteria. "You look frustrated."
Frustrated? Tieria thought. It seemed the sort of rough, jagged-edged word that fit with the way he felt. But he wasn't about to admit that to Ms. Sumeragi.
"I am simply…at loose ends," Tieria said stiffly. "Until my duties as a Meister commence, I have little to occupy my time."
"What's wrong with that?" Ms. Sumeragi asked. "Enjoy your free time while you have it! Geez, you're so serious…"
"And you are not serious enough," Tieria snapped.
"Do you even know how to relax?" Ms. Sumeragi asked. She paused, then sighed. "Of course you don't. Kids these days…"
"I'm not a kid," Tieria snapped.
"'Course you aren't," Ms. Sumeragi said patronizingly, reaching out to ruffle his hair.
Tieria glared at her, and her hand drew back.
"So you have some time to kill," she said. "Big deal. Find a hobby or something."
"A hobby?" Tieria asked. The word was unfamiliar.
"Something you do in your free time, for fun," Ms. Sumeragi explained.
"Fun is unproductive," Tieria stated flatly.
"Well, then, find something useful to do as a hobby," Ms. Sumeragi huffed. "Learn to cook or make pottery…or…or knit, or something!"
"What is 'knit'?" Tieria asked.
Ms. Sumeragi looked at him, surprised. "Uh, it's making clothes and things like that out of yarn. You use needles or something, I think. Feldt used to do it."
"It is a method of creating clothing?" Tieria asked.
Ms. Sumeragi nodded.
"You stated previously that the amount of casual clothing I possess is insufficient," Tieria started. "Is that true?"
"Of course," Ms. Sumeragi said. "You've got one outfit beside your flight suit. That's not nearly enough."
Tieria was starting to have an idea. If what Ms. Sumeragi said was true, and the amount of clothing he possessed was in fact inadequate, then a productive use of his time would be increasing said amount of clothing.
"I want to learn to knit," Tieria said. "Please ask Feldt Grace to teach me."
"Uh, shouldn't you do that?" Ms. Sumeragi asked.
"She is still upset with me," Tieria said.
"You called her stupid again, didn't you?" Ms. Sumeragi asked.
Tieria maintained a judicious silence.
"All right," Ms. Sumeragi said, though she was looking at him oddly. "I'll ask her."
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About a day later, Feldt approached him in the hallway.
Tieria took a moment to study the girl. She was one of the youngest members of Celestial Being, only a teenager. Tieria's first introduction to that peculiar species had been Christina Sierra, but she and Feldt were as different as they could possibly be—Christina was a blur of color, enthusiasm and annoyance, while Feldt was serious, and quiet enough to fade into the background much of the time. Though Tieria was still largely unacquainted with the typical human idea of beauty, he supposed Feldt most likely possessed it—the contrast between her pink hair and green eyes was not entirely unappealing.
"Is this your idea of a joke?" she asked, frowning at him.
Tieria blinked. "I do not understand."
"I know you don't like me," Feldt said. "But if you're just trying to embarrass me by asking me to teach you how to knit, it's not going to work. My mom taught me how to knit. It's not something I'm ashamed of."
"You believe that this is to embarrass you?" Tieria asked, starting to get annoyed. If she didn't want to help him, she could say "no" without making something emotional out of it. "I am simply attempting to increase the amount of casual clothing I possess."
Feldt stared at him for a second, then, suddenly, giggled. Tieria had never heard her do so before; it was a surprisingly pleasant sound, he noted rather absently.
"You're serious!" she exclaimed.
"If I were not, I would not have asked," Tieria stated. "I fail to see what is so amusing about this."
Feldt giggled once more, then took a deep breath. "Tieria, most people who knit are girls. Actually, most of them are old women. For a man to want to learn…it's pretty unusual."
"Ah," Tieria said. "Does that mean you won't teach me?"
Feldt shook her head. "No, of course not. If you're serious about learning, I'll teach you."
Silence fell for a few seconds.
"You should say thank you!" Feldt blurted out, rather suddenly.
"Excuse me?" Tieria asked.
"You should say 'thank you' when someone offers to do something nice for you," Feldt explained.
"I see no need to thank you," Tieria said stiffly. "You are simply contributing as a member of Celestial Being to the overall effectiveness of our plans."
"How am I doing that?" Feldt asked, confused.
Tieria rolled his eyes. Was everyone on this ship an idiot? "According to Ms. Sumeragi, the amount of casual clothing I possess is insufficient. In order to remedy this, I have chosen to learn how to manufacture more."
Feldt was staring at him again. Why did she keep doing that?
Finally, she sighed. "Where do you want to have the lesson?"
"I do not particularly care, as long as I will be receiving instruction," Tieria said.
"My room," Feldt said at length. "Come to my room, tomorrow, at fifteen-hundred hours."
"All right," Tieria said, nodding. "This is…appreciated," he added as an afterthought. After all, he supposed she did deserve some thanks for her willingness to help.
Feldt's eyes widened slightly, and then, a smile appeared on her face. Tieria was surprised to find that this pleased him. Usually, he preferred it when those around him were not smiling—Lockon's smiles promised teasing and unwanted attempts at creating a friendship, while Sumeragi's usually meant that she'd been drinking and Christina's were a sign that she was about to launch into a monologue about clothes shopping. But Feldt's smile didn't seem to promise anything like that. It was just a smile. But he'd put it there.
He had no idea why that thought pleased him so much.
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A/N: Please forgive the crackiness of my premise. Oh, and review. Yeah, reviews would be nice.