Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Chimaera ❯ Chapter 73 ( Chapter 73 )

See previous chapters for disclaimer, notes, warnings etc.

Chapter 73

Duo yawned and stretched, he felt much better now he'd taken a nap. He glanced at the bedside clock to see that an hour and a half had passed since he'd lain down. All was quiet outside so he assumed that Trowa must have sorted out the baby seat. He snickered to himself as his memory reminded him of Trowa's soft curses as he'd drifted off to sleep. Rolling to the side of the bed, he eased himself up to a sitting position and paused for a moment before standing. Finding his sneakers, he slipped them back on and headed out of his room, intent on finding Trowa and seeing how the Latin had fared in his match with the baby seat.

Slowly making his way down the stairs, he listened carefully for any sound of Trowa and his whereabouts. Faint noises seemed to be coming from the direction of the kitchen so he headed that way. He couldn't hear anything that indicated Quatre's presence and he wondered where the blonde could possibly be hiding. He paused in the doorway to the kitchen and stifled a snicker.

Trowa was stirring something in a pot on the stove, but that wasn't the cause of Duo's mirth. Rather it was the pink apron that Trowa was wearing. Hearing the soft sound from the door way, Trowa turned around, Duo took one look at the unibanged man and then he really did burst into laughter.

"What the hell happened to you?" Duo asked as he sauntered into the kitchen still laughing and took a seat at the table.

"If you are referring to my apparel then I'd better warn you, it isn't mine," Trowa said calmly as he indicated to the apron he was wearing. "I found it in the linen closet, I think it's Heero's."

Duo nearly choked. "Heero's? What makes you think that Heero would own something as cheap and gaudy as that pink apron, Tro?"

"Oh, nothing except the tag that was on the plastic cover which said, 'Merry Christmas, Heero. Love Relena'."

"Well, that would make sense." Duo rolled his eyes. "Actually, I wasn't referring to the apron, even if it does look cute on you, rather I was asking about your face."

Trowa paused and ran a finger over his eye and cheek where a large bruise was forming. "That obvious, huh?"

"Yeah, you could say it sticks out like a dunny in a desert, Tro," [1] snickered Duo. "Man, Quatre is gonna have kittens when he sees that. At least then he might leave me alone for a bit if he's fussing over you."

Trowa shuddered at the thought of his protective husband; he hadn't considered what Quatre might say about his injury. If he wasn't careful his blonde partner would have him ensconced in bed and feeding him chicken soup; and Trowa hated chicken soup.

"So, what happened?" Duo's voice permeated the Latin's thoughts.

"The baby seat bit me if you must know."

"The baby seat bit you? What the hell are you on, Trowa?"

Trowa gave a sigh. "I was trying to fit the seat into your car; by the way, where are the instructions for that thing?"

"Dunno, Heero opened it up and must have put them somewhere; anyway, no changing the subject."

"I'd managed to figure it out, or so I thought. I was tightening one of the straps but the bolt wasn't secured and next thing, wham! The strap with the bolt came flying at me. I ducked but as you can see, it didn't miss."

"Shit! It must have hit with some force to have got through that hair of yours and connected with actual skin," sniggered Duo and copped a glare for his trouble. Duo stood up and walked over to his friend. Gently he pushed the bangs aside so he could see the injury clearer. "Fuck! It really did a number on you, Tro," he whistled through his teeth. "Have you put anything on it? Ice or something?"

"Frozen peas."

"Pardon?"

"I put a packet of frozen peas on it."

"You're gonna need more than frozen peas, buddy. I'd suggest a steak."

"Are we having steak for dinner?" came a soft voice from the back door.

Both Duo and Trowa spun around, neither one of them having heard the blonde return.

"Trowa! What on earth happened to you?" Quatre's eyes were wide as he took in the bruising to his husband's face.

"He tried to get it on with the baby seat," snickered Duo helpfully.

"He what?" Quatre spluttered as he moved towards his husband, dumping the grocery bags to the table, spilling most of the contents in his rush to attend to his injured spouse.

"I was fitting the baby seat to the car when the strap with the bolt decided it didn't want to stay in place and attacked me," sighed Trowa as he tried to wriggle away from his husband's probing fingers.

"Attacked you? I'd say more like tried to murder you," growled the blonde as he investigated the bruise. "The stores shouldn't be allowed to sell such violent and vicious items, especially if they are intended for babies to use. I've a good mind to write to the manufacturers and complain. At the very least they should put a warning on the box."

"And what sort of warning would you like them to put on there, Quat? 'Warning, installation of this apparatus may be hazardous to your health? Undertake at own risk?' Or do you have something else in mind?" Duo couldn't help himself.

"This wouldn't have happened if someone hadn't lost the instructions," scowled Trowa.

"I still think the manufacturers should know what a lethal weapon they're putting out."

"Shame we didn't have it in the war, Quat. Would have been a great ally."

"Huh? What are you going on about, Duo?" Quatre ceased his inspection of Trowa's face for a moment to look at the American. Trowa seized the opportunity to put a little distance between himself and his protective mate.

"Think about it, Q-ball. If the mad five had had half a brain between them they could have manufactured something along a similar line to the baby seat for the OZ mobile suits, you know, made out that it was a new top secret proto type pilot's seat for the Gundams and 'accidentally' let the blue prints fall into the Ozzie's hands. We wouldn't have had to worry about half the battles then."

"I don't quite follow your reasoning, Duo. Trowa... get back here, I haven't finished looking at that bruising yet."

Trowa scowled but ceased in his retreat.

"If the Ozzies thought they had something special here, something that would improve their MS design then naturally they would mass produce it and have it installed. Only when they came to install it, the straps would let loose, retaliate, attack the fitters and bingo."

"Bingo?"

"Knock out the assembly crews and there is no one left to build the suits, no suits, no battles." Duo smirked at the blonde.

"Duo?"

"Yup?"

"I agree with Heero. You're an idiot. Trowa, come here and let me look at that in the light." Quatre dismissed the chuckling Duo and faced his scowling lover, checking the injury once more. "Did you manage to get the seat in?"

"No."

"Where is it then?"

"You will be pleased to know that I managed to control my temper and didn't chuck it into the nearest tree, or retaliate with the monkey wrench. It's back in the nursery, and trust me when I say that thing is possessed," huffed Trowa.

Duo's attention meanwhile had drifted to the grocery bags on the table and his eyes lit up. "Ohhh... you been shopping, Quat?" he said as his body began to move towards the table.

"No, I went trekking in the Himalayas," Quatre dead panned. "Of course I went shopping, what does it look like I've been... Duo, NO!" But Quatre's yell came too late, Duo was already at the table and rummaging through the bags.

"Duo! Get out..." Quatre shot across the room, making a dive for the table and the groceries but he wasn't quick enough. Duo had discovered the tubs of ice cream.

Trowa groaned as he watched the pregnant man's eyes glaze over, hugging the tub of Crunchie ice cream to his chest. Just what he didn't need, more scarring and bruises to be added to his skin when he attempted to take the ice cream away from the hormonal man.

"Duo..." warned Quatre. "That's for later, not now."

But Duo ignored the blonde, his one hand clutching the tub of ice cream whilst the other continued to fossick inside the bag. Seconds later he had the other two tubs of ice cream on the counter and a puzzled look on his face. "Cherry Ripe? Flake?" Duo stared at the two tubs for a second. "I know you like Cherry Ripe ice cream, Quat, but Flake?"

"That's mine!" shouted Trowa and lunged for the table, grabbing the tub of ice cream.

Both Duo and Quatre turned to look at the taller man, disbelief at what they had just witnessed written on their faces.

"Errr... I like Flake ice cream," muttered Trowa softly and stroked the tub.

Duo shook his head. "And I thought I was the only one with an addiction to this stuff. You'd better keep an eye on him, Quat. I think he's developing a fetish for ice cream," snickered Duo.

"I was wondering why you had that on your list, Trowa. I didn't realize you actually ate it, come to think of it, I've never seen you eat ice cream before," pondered the blonde.

"Yes, well, I guess there is a first time for everything," mumbled Trowa as he took the tub and placed it into the freezer compartment of the 'fridge for later. "I think you'd better put the rest of the stuff away, Quatre," he said as he turned around and fixed the pair of them with his good eye.

"Okay," replied Quatre with a smile. He was secretly quite pleased to know his lover had a 'thing' about ice cream. Now that he knew about it his mind was busy conjuring up all sorts of delicious ways in which they could explore their mutual love of the sweet treat. Involved with his thoughts and not really concentrating on what he was doing, Quatre picked up all the items for the freezer and dropped them into one bag, his Cherry Ripe ice cream included. Without thinking he reached across to Duo to take the tub of Crunchie ice cream from the American and pop it with the other stuff for the freezer.

Two seconds later he found himself flat on his back staring at the kitchen ceiling and trying to suck air into his lungs.

"Never. Touch. The. Ice. Cream." Duo pronounced the words individually to emphasize his meaning and glared down at the blonde who blinked back at him.

Trowa meanwhile had watched the entire scene unfold before his eyes and there wasn't a damn thing he could do! Shit! Pregnant or not, Duo could still move like lightning. There was nothing wrong with the man's reflexes. When Heero had warned him about Duo's obsession with the ice cream, Trowa hadn't really believed that given Duo's pregnant state that the man would be much of a threat or able to inflict bodily harm on anyone that tried to come between him and his craving.

Looked like he was wrong.

"You okay, Quatre?" Trowa asked with concern when his lover began to look like a stranded goldfish, his mouth opening and closing as he tried to force air into his lungs. Quickly the tall Latin was kneeling beside his lover.

"Just... winded..." gasped Quatre. "I'll be... okay... in a sec."

Trowa gently massaged Quatre's back as he eased his husband into a sitting position, aiding the return of much needed air into the deprived lungs. Once he was sure that his partner was really okay he turned to look at Duo.

"I... I'm sorry, Quat, Tro. I can't help it," Duo managed to get out in apology. "It's... well... Damn fucking hormones!" he growled.

"It's okay, Duo. It wasn't your fault. I should have been thinking about what I was doing, not about other things. Heero did mention to Trowa how possessive you are with the ice cream."

"It still doesn't excuse my behavior though," Duo replied as he continued to hang onto the tub of ice cream.

"Duo, it's okay," said Trowa softly. "We understand that you're not your usual self; that things are happening to you that you can't control..."

"But, I could have hurt him," said Duo miserably, feeling the familiar prickling of tears beginning to form in his eyes.

"Yes, you could have; but you didn't."

"I'm okay, Duo. Really. All you did was knock the wind out of me," stated Quatre as he managed to get to his feet assisted by his husband's strong arms. "At least you didn't leave any marks."

"Huh?" Duo looked at the blonde, clearly confused.

"You only knocked the breath out of me, the baby seat nearly knocked Trowa out cold."

Duo burst into sniggers while Trowa simply gave his spouse a *look*.

"Look, let's forget about it, it's over and finished with, no harm done. If you like you can give me a hand to put the groceries away and then I have something to show you." Quatre said, a tinge of mystery to his voice.

"Something to show me?" Now Duo's curiosity was piqued and he looked across to Trowa who was busy removing items from the grocery bags, setting aside the ingredients that he needed for the meal he was planning to prepare. Catching the look, Trowa shrugged his shoulders and continued to sort through the bags. As long as Quatre was busy with the groceries and Duo, then he would leave Trowa and his injury alone.

And that suited Trowa.

Turning his eyes back to the Arab, Duo tried again. "What is it, Quat?"

"Ahhh... I'm not telling. You will have to wait to find out, all these groceries need to be packed away first and the cold stuff put into the freezer... and that includes your ice cream." Quatre waited to see what response he would receive.

Duo looked from the blonde to his tub of ice cream and back to the blonde, the inner turmoil evident in his eyes. "You promise me I can have it later?"

"Yes, Duo. You can have it later; I did buy it for you to eat but not right now."

"You won't try to hide it from me? Or put the lock on the freezer like Heero did? Although that won't make any difference as it only takes a couple of seconds for me to pick it anyway."

"I won't hide it and no locks."

"I can have it later, no questions asked?"

"Yes, Duo, I already said that."

"I need to be sure," replied Duo and turned to face Trowa. "You're the witness here, Tro. You heard Quatre say I can have my ice cream later and that he won't try to hide it from me, didn't you?"

"Yes, I did, Duo. Don't worry, he will give it back to you," responded Trowa with an amused smile. Really, it was just like trying to get a child to put aside its security blanket.

Duo looked at the tub of ice cream again and then sighed loudly. "Okay then, you can have it back for now, but..." He fixed Quatre with his violet gaze. "If you don't let me have it later like you've promised then I won't be responsible for my actions."

"Understood." Quatre held out his hands for the ice cream tub.

Reluctantly, Duo slowly brought the ice cream tub away from his chest where he'd been holding it protectively and bit his lip as he handed it over to Quatre. "Just remember, you promised."

Quatre nodded and took the ice cream tub, quickly placing it in the bag with the other freezer foods and went to put them away. Trowa kept one eye on the pregnant man as he continued to remove the last few items from the grocery bags, noting Duo's slightly hunched shoulders. "You all right, Duo? You didn't hurt yourself or the baby with that move did you?"

Duo shook his head. "Nah, I'm okay. I really am sorry about flooring Quatre. I didn't mean to, I just reacted without thinking."

"It's okay, Duo. As Quatre said, there's no damage done so just forget about it." Trowa continued to put away the groceries.

"Any idea what this surprise is, Tro?" asked Duo as he assisted the Latin to put the canned goods into the pantry.

"No, not a clue."

Quatre returned from his trip to the freezer and put the now empty bag away with the others. The food stuffs had all been cleared away, all except for what Trowa was planning on using, so there was no reason not to show Duo the surprise.

"What is it, Quat?" Duo asked again.

"This way, Duo. You'll see in a minute," replied the blonde patiently. "You coming, Trowa?"

The taller man followed the pair out of the kitchen and down the hall to the front door where Quatre paused. "Close your eyes, Duo."

Violet eyes snapped shut, a small smile playing over his mouth as Duo waited impatiently for the surprise. He heard the sound of the door opening, felt Trowa's and Quatre's hands gently coaxing him forward and guiding his steps and then they stopped. He guessed they were standing outside at the top of the steps leading to the driveway.

"You can open your eyes now."

Duo slowly raised his eyelids and blinked. He blinked again and felt his heart rate increase. His eyes widened further and he looked at Trowa, then to Quatre and back out to the driveway where the surprise sat.

"Well!?" demanded Quatre, a huge smile on his face. "Do you like it?"

"I... I..." Duo was momentarily lost for words and looked at Trowa for help.

Trowa only offered him a smile.

"Shit! Quatre! I can't accept that."

"Why not?"

"But, Quat... It's a car."

~ * ~

tbc..........

[1] "Dunny in a desert;" - An Australian weird humor term... think about it. ~_^