Disclaimer: I don't own of the characters from Gundam Wing. All characters and their quarks belong to their original creators. I'm just borrowing them for my own amusement.
Any other character that doesn't belong to the series is mine, so no takey. Understand? Good. Otherwise… Enjoy! (^-^)
Chapter Three
Unexpected News:
What?!
What do you mean there're two more girls?!
The clatter of pots and pans resonated throughout the kitchen as Jesse bustled about, preparing dinner. A cook book laid out on the counter, open, ready for viewing. Cupboard doors banged and the refrigerator door opened and slammed shut repeatedly. She was gathering the proper ingredients for the stew she planned on serving: traditional beef stew. She paused briefly, hearing the sound of explosives and shouts, floating into the kitchen from the living room. After deciding to let the five ex-pilots stay with their cheerful band, the boys wanted to have a Gundam Wing marathon, so they could view their involvement of the war through a detached point of view as spectators. May and Eliza happily complied and immediately switched the controls of their flat screen TV from the video game council to the DVD player. Jesse wasn't sure, but it sounded like they made it to episode twenty or somewhere around there. With a quick shrug, she diligently went back to work.
Quatre poked his head into the kitchen, having needing a breather from the intense painful memories the anime brought back. Timidly, he watched Jesse shuffled around the kitchen and cleared his throat to get her attention.
The girl turned to him, cocking her head, acutely. "Is there something you need, Quatre?"
He grinned sheepishly. "I was wondering if you needed any help with dinner?" he replied, desperate to distract himself from the depressing memories that still tormented him from his time in the war.
Jesse smiled, understanding the trouble look that crossed his fair skinned face and the way it reflected in his gentle open aqua green eyes. "Sure," she said and pondered over what kind of job she could stick him with to help ease the pain that clearly shown on his face.
"Mind if I help?" another voice inquired, startling the two. Trowa Barton stood behind Quatre, a faint smile showing on his usually calm and collected facial features.
Quatre's eyes widened, stunned. "Trowa."
The unibang pilot smiled, politely. "I may not look it, but I've had experience in preparing my own meals before, when Kathy was busy at the circus," he explained, coyly.
Jesse laughed, a little surprised that Trowa actually knew how to smile properly and cook for that matter. Maybe there were a few things she didn't know about the Gundam pilots. They probably had changed since the war ended, getting used to a world enveloped in peace and not in a constant state of chaos.
"Uh-oh. I wouldn't do that if I were you," Eliza piped up, sticking her head into the kitchen just in time to catch them in the act of offering to help make dinner. "Jesse's usually kicks May and I out of the kitchen when we try to help her fix dinner. I'm warning you, she's a bit of a control freak. I remember this one time she threw a fit-?!"
Conk!
The reassuring sound of metal colliding with skin vibrated throughout the open aired space after Jesse stealthily chucked a frying pan at Eliza, hitting her square in the face. Trowa and Quatre winced, feeling sorry for the redhead.
"Go back to your anime marathon!" Jesse shouted, in no mood to deal with Eliza's wise cracks. Peevishly, she motioned for Trowa and Quatre to accompany her. "Don't listen to dipshit over there. The only reason why I don't let her or her sister help out is because something always catches on fire or they nearly burn down the entire kitchen."
Trowa and Quatre both looked to each other and then at the cursing redhead on the floor, rolling around holding onto her bruised face. They joined Jesse after seeing that the redhead was fine when she sat up, shot her best friend a dirty look, and went back into the living room to continue watching the anime without further protest.
"Trowa, you're on broth and beef duty. Quatre, mind helping me chop up these vegetables for the stew?" Jesse ordered, instantly putting them to work.
"Sure," came Trowa's reply as he set about his given task.
"Okay," was Quatre's reply, picking out a knife and followed Jesse's instruction on how big the slices they wanted and what was supposed to be diced according to the recipe.
**********
Heero Yuy looked up from the anime to see Eliza come lumbering back into the living room and plopping herself down onto the floor in front of the TV. They were currently watching episode 23, where Duo tries to sneak onto an Oz carrier under the alias of an Oz solider in training so he could make it to the lunar base.
"What happened to you?" Heero asked, noting the red imprint of the back of a frying pan glowing with aggravation on her normally pale face.
Eliza snorted. "Oh nothing… just the usual- like Jesse chucking a fucking frying pan at me," she mumbled, annoyed and flinched when she reached to touch her face.
"That's what you get for trying to instigate things, Eliz," May commented lightly, her eyes glued to the TV screen.
Eliza chose to ignore May who was currently lounging on the far end of the leather couch. She scowled. "I was trying to warn you friends of the impending dangers of trying to help Jesse out in the kitchen."
Heero raised a questioning eyebrow. It was Wufie though, who voiced his unspoken question. "Why? How dangerous could one woman be in the kitchen?"
"Look at my face, Chang! What the hell do you think?" Eliza spat, heatedly.
Wufie grimaced, seeing the red frying pan imprint. "Oh," was all he said before turning his attention back to the screen. He quickly made a mental note to not tread into the kitchen while Jesse was preparing a meal. He did not want to end up like Eliza.
"Well, you can't exactly blame her," May respond after a long moment passed as they were immersed in the mists of the action going on in the anime. "We aren't the most trust worthy cooking assistants on the face of the Earth."
Duo jerked his head away from the screen for a moment. He blinked, looking to May, curiously. "And why is that?"
She grinned, sheepishly. "We usually burn whatever it is we're cooking. Neither Eliza nor I are the best cooks in the worlds. We kind of suck at it. Last time we nearly set the entire kitchen on fire."
Duo whistled, impressed. "Wow and here I pegged you as the type of person who would be a professional in the kitchen, May," he completed, causing the brunette to blush from her perch on the couch. He grinned from his position sprawled out on the floor and turned back to face the television.
"Yeah hell! Go me!" Duo cheered when they got to the part where he stole one of the mobile suits. "You know for anime made in the late nineties based upon the future. They sure got a lot of things right. I could watch this all day."
"That coming from you, Maxwell," Wufie commented, absently, "I'm not surprised. You are conceited like that after all."
Duo sniffed, looking over his shoulder to glare at the Chinese pilot seated on the couch right behind him. "Look who's talking, Wu-man."
"I told you not to call me that!" Wufie shouted, angrily. "It's Wufie! Get that straight in your thick skull, Maxwell!"
Duo grinned, impishly. "Only when you start calling me by my first name and not my last," he drawled back, smirking. "Wu-man."
Wufie snarled and kicked Duo in the back of the head, agitated. "Damn you!"
"Hey! What the hell? Did I say you could hit me in the back of the head?"
"Just shut up and watch the damn show, Maxwell!" Wufie hissed, glaring viciously at the scowling shinigami as he rubbed the back of his sore head, miffed. He grumbled underneath his breath--something along the lines he would get revenge against Wufie for being a pompous self righteous ass hole-- and turned around to continue watching the show.
***************
Back in the kitchen, preparations were under way. The broth was made and boiling in a large steel pot on the electric stove top. Trowa already finished slicing the pound of roast beef into thin slithers and emptied the cutting board's contents into the broth.
"I think that's about it," Trowa said. He turned to Quatre and Jesse. "Are the vegetables ready?"
Quatre nodded, delighted. "Yep." Jesse and Trowa stared him, questionable, sweat dropping as he held up his hands, displaying the fact he hadn't been exactly careful with the knife while cutting the carrots and peeling the potatoes. His pale nimble fingers were covered in nicks and cuts. He blinked puzzled. "What?"
Trowa sighed and took his best friend's hand. "You got to be more careful," he scolded him, gently, and examining the cuts. "Luckily, none of them are too bad. Just swallow cuts."
Quatre laughed, smiling, shyly. "Guess, I'm not so great with a knife."
Jesse squealed, loving the cherished moment between two friends. "Oh my Gawd! Yaoi moment! Ah, SO CUTE!!"
Trowa and Quatre gawked at the bizarre fan girl, frightened, sweat dropping heavily. "Yaoi?" they echoed together, too afraid to even ask. They seriously did not want to know what that was. Whatever it was, it sounded extremely wrong.
Jesse chuckled, nervously, rubbing the back of her neck. "Heh. Heh. Right," she muttered and hastily retreated from the kitchen, calling, "I'll get the first aid kit."
*************
"Sorry about that," Jesse apologized after they patched up Quatre's injured fingers. "My inner fan girl got the best of me. 03x04 shipping is fairly popular here."
"Shipping?" Trowa's face twisted into a grimace. Apprehensively, he took a step back from the girl a she continued on with her explanation.
"Well yeah. It's common among many anime genres. Shipping is basically male times male relationships. My personal favorite is SasukexNaruto from Naruto. I also find Heero with Duo is very cute too," Jesse carried on, grinning, blushing a faint pink in the cheeks. "Better known as 01x02 in the fan fiction fandom. Although 03x04 is pretty popular too. You guys make such a adorable couple!"
I have a good sense of mind to run as far as I can away from here. This girl is really starting to scare me! Trowa thought frantically, taking another wary step backward from the simpering yaoi crazed goon. His face turned a nice shade of tomato red at the little piece of information.
Quatre blushed and cleared his throat, eager to move onto a different and less embarrassing topic. "So you girls live on your own? I always thought back in the twenty-first century kids lived with their parents till they graduated from college. Where are you parents if you don't mind me prying?"
Jesse smiled and went to fish a wooden spoon out of one of the cupboards. "Not at all," she said, stirring the stew while it shimmered. "Actually, May, Eliza, and I are starting our first year of college this up-coming fall semester. We're freshman and since we're all going to the same school, we threw our money together and bought this house you see around you. You see, it was pact the three of us made together at the beginning of high school, that when we graduated we would all attend the same college for our first four years. It took some persuading to get our parents to agree, knowing how parents are these days. They thought we were going to be irresponsible and neglect our duties as homeowners. We've been living here about a month and so far everything's turning out fine. A little chaos here. A little destruction there. Hey you can't expect us to be perfect angels, right? Especially if we're all living under the same roof twenty-four-seven. Some one's bound to get on the other's nerves sometime. Hence the reason why Eliza and I fight like cats and dogs."
Jesse paused in her task, mulling over something. "Which reminds me." She turned promptly to Trowa and Quatre where they were seated around the peninsula. "I should probably warn you. May, Eliza, and I are expecting two of friends ours to be joining us soon. I hope that's not going to put a major dent in your plans."
"WHAT?!" The two boy's indignant cries filled the house, rattling the sturdy walls of the split-level, disrupting the peaceful air, shattering the five teenagers' concentration on the anime out in the living room.
May and Eliza poked their heads into the kitchen, staring idly at the two boys' startled gaping faces. Heero, Duo, and Wufie were right behind them, wondering what the hell was going on.
Eliza looked to a exasperated Jesse. "Let me guess. You told them about Wendy and Tyler, right?" she asked, already figuring the answer.
Jesse sighed, sweat dropping. "Yep." She went back to stirring.
Duo looked from Heero to Wufie, baffled. "Who's Wendy and Tyler?"
May waved for the three boys to join their friends around the peninsula. "You guys better have a seat. I have a feeling you'll thank me for this later after we tell you the news," she replied and wandered over the refrigerator searching the gallon of orange juice and then wandering over to the cabinets positioned over the sink, grabbing everyone a glass. Everyone expect Jesse. The poor girl happened to be allergic to orange juice. It gave her hives.
Wufie glared over Jesse, his gaze like a dagger burrowing into the back of her skull. "Just what does this have to do with us, woman?" he demanded, irritably, taking a seat next to Trowa. "What are you not telling us?"
"Tone down the bitching, Chang," Eliza said, waving her hand in front of her, swatting away his concern. "It's nothing to get your panties tied in a knot over."
Wufie sneered at the redhead, maliciously. "Why you!"
"Wufie, cool it!" Jesse snapped from the stove top, taking her preoccupied attention from dinner to the filled-in peninsula. "Look, before you guys showed up, the three of us were expecting a couple of friends to join us for the fall semester. Like I was explaining to Trowa and Quatre here; May, Eliza, and I pooled our money together to purchase this split-level for the our next four years at the local community college. A couple of friends of ours are going to be joining us before the fall semester starts."
"You've got to shitting me!" Wufie was first one to exclaim, leaping to his feet, angrily, and glaring at the shortest girl, pissed off. "We have to deal with more bothersome onnas?!"
"Hey, don't give me that look, ass hole," Jesse spat back, his attitude fueling her own fiery temper. "You want to sleep out on the streets tonight? Last time, I checked you were the ones who came looking for help and now you have it. Don't go throwing our hospitality away just because you're a fucking sexist pig! Not all woman are weak you know! I could easily beat you're lily-loving ass if you pissed me off enough, so shove it!"
Duo snickered. "Way to go, Wufie," he chuckled warily and clapping his hands to emphasis his sarcasm. "Smart man. Piss off our kind hostesses with you're big mouth before the day is even through."
"You want me to force eat your own words back down you damnable cocky throat, Maxwell?" Wufie demanded, turning his threats on the grinning shinigami two seats away from him.
"Wufie, that's enough. You have to calm down," Heero warned, spying the ominous irk mark pulsing on Jesse's forehead.
"You know what, Yuy? I will not calm down. I have stood for this injustice long enough!" Wufie preached, rattling off the hook like a steam engine on super drive. "I have been humiliated, harassed and-ACK! Hot! Hot!"
"Can it, ya pussy!" Jesse shouted after nailing him with a spray of piping out broth scooped fresh from the boiling pot of stew. She glared after him, disapprovingly as he squirmed about, holding onto his afflicted face in agony. "Honestly, I've never heard a man bitch so much in my entire life. Don't you have a off button or something? Jesus."
"Dammit, woman!" Wufie shrieked. "That hurt!"
Eliza snickered. "Ah, poor baby," she cooed, feeling not a ounce of pity for the complaining boy.
"You go here," May said, handing the cursing Chinese pilot a glass of orange juice after she made her round at the peninsula. She turned to the others staring after Wufie, freaked out.
May ignored their aghast gazes. "Wendy Fong and Tyler Weston are friends of ours. We met them at a anime convention two years ago in Dallas, Texas. The five of us had a ball together and so we kept in touch over the years by email and stuff like that," she explained, cheerfully. "Last year just before our senior year of high school, we met up at Sakura-con and there we all thought it would be fun to attend the same college together. Wendy Fong is from Seattle, Washington. She won't be moving in us with until the first week of August since college is starting during the last week of August and is fast approaching. Tyler is currently on a cross-country road trip with her parents. She just called yesterday, saying that she'll be coming down in a week from today."
A collective sigh radiated through the five ex-Gundam pilots. They stared in disbelief at the three grinning girls peering back at them awaiting their response. "Great," was all they could muster.
The mental stress from living in a household of three hormonal volatile women was already exhausting them and it hadn't been a total of twenty-four hours yet. Now they had worry about two new additions that would be joining their slowly growing happy little family. They really did have their work cut out for them.
A/N: And there you have it!! Two new mysterious figures are now looming on the horizons!! Just exactly who are Wendy Fong and Tyler Weston and will their arrival mean more trouble for the boys? And to think just when the Gundam pilots thought they had enough on their plates… Oh well… They're problem right?
MHUHAHAHAHA!!XD Man, I'm so evil….
Any who… I would like to thank Cakezloveanime2 and Roxas is mine!!!!:D for their super awesome reviews!! Glad you're enjoying the peanut fest. There's plenty more where that comes from. Trust me!!
Stay tune and find what kind of mayhem and new surprises are in store for our jolly little band!!!! Until next time… Peace out!! XD