Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Seventh Heaven ❯ Dinner at Pizza Hut ( Chapter 11 )

Title: Dinner at Pizza Hut

Series: Seventh Heaven

Author: Sorceress Fantasia

Pairings: 1+2, 5+H

Warnings: Heero POV, AU (our time)

Archive: Lev's Lair

Fanfiction.net

MediaMiner

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the story. GW and all the brands mentioned here belong to whomever they belong to. Thank you for paying attention. ^o^

Note: This is a direct continuation of 'The Thing That Is Called First Date'.

Thanx to Dark Tenchi for beta-ing efforts!

"Oh, there's this steakhouse…"

"Steakhouse? No offence to you, but nah… That's too classy for me. How about somewhere more for the common folks like me?"

Duo's smile is blinding, and I feel my heart stop for a moment. Is it just me, or am I being really sappy here? Hmm, it must be because I've never dated before. But… he doesn't want to go to a steakhouse? Then… where?

"Erm… then… we could go to Pizza Hut!" I blurt, and almost immediately, I could feel a headache coming. Like someone had just slapped me inside. Oh yeah, I think that's my inner self.

"Okay!"

I'm surprised as hell that he agrees, but I'm not about to question my luck.

*****

15 minutes later, I find myself seating across Duo in a quiet Pizza Hut.

"I didn't think you'd know Wufei." I say, after a bouncy waitress had taken our orders.

He shrugs. "We met at Sally's a couple months ago. I was there with a couple of friends, and I think we were being a little loud then, and Fei… you know him, that noise intolerant junkie… geez, you think he'd die of noisiness…"

Duo mutters, rolling his eyes. "So he came up to my table, and just demanded that I lower my volume or get the hell out of there. And I told him politely to shove it. You should have seen his face! I swear he was boiling!" He laughs.

"That sounds like animosity to me. How did you two…?"

"Sally placated both of us at that time. I think she was worried that we'd fight or something. Well, placating is just a nice way of saying it, but let's just leave it at that. So anyway, I met Fei a couple more times at the coffeehouse. And every time we met, we'd argue. But slowly, the arguments lost the hostility and we found it to be… kinda amusing. So we started cooking up things just to argue about. It's a slow thing, but we became friends."

I nod slowly. I can just imagine Wufei kicking up a fuss about that sort of thing.

"What about you? How did you know him?"

"He's my sister's boyfriend."

I think I might have said something wrong, because Duo just stares at me. In shock, I might add, judging from his slightly slack jaws. Suddenly, he chortles.

"So you're the guy Fei's been telling me about the past few months!"

I blink. "What?"

"Fei's told me about his girlfriend's elder brother. Said he had a few loose screws in his head because he actually tailed them with they went out on dates. Did you actually do that?"

Embarrassment doesn't begin to describe what I'm feeling. "Yeah… but only for the first week! I was worried for my sister!"

"Hey, I understand. It's the worry issue. Well, at least you're better than my brother!"

"Your brother? The guy on the phone that day?"

Duo nods. "Yeah, that guy who was terrorizing the person on the other end of the line. Who, unfortunately, was you. I apologize for that. My brother's a little overprotective."

"It's okay, I guess. Erm, so… have you met my sister yet?" I ask, hoping desperately that he'll give me a negative response. God, if he has met Hirde… I can only imagine what crap she has filled him with. Crap about me. Hirde has this bad habit of running off the mouth. Wufei doesn't help.

"Well actually, no. Fei has never brought his girlfriend to Sally's. I think he said that she doesn't like coffee. That true?"

"No. Hirde doesn't not like coffee. She hates it."

He grins again, and it's infectious. I grin back.

"Anyway, I've seldom met Fei outside of Sally's. So… Never met his girlfriend."

At that moment, the waitress bounces back to our table with a pizza and our other orders. Well, the pizza's the main thing, so sue me if I neglect the other stuff. Timely service too, since I've no idea what else to say. I like this waitress.

She winks flirtatiously at Duo, who offers a smirk in return.

Correction: I do not like this waitress.

I ignore her, and quickly scoop up a slice of pizza and put it on Duo's plate. He thanks me, and hands me mine. A few bites later, we start talking again. Good thing; I don't like the silence.

"So… Actually, I'm kinda curious. Why did you approach me that day on the bus?"

Erm… I honestly don't think telling him that I've been looking for him since the day I first saw him on the streets would be a good idea. Even if I'm not adept at dating, I'm pretty sure that kind of answers can scare off people. Love at first sight is already a romanticized notion prettied up by the show biz. What would Duo think if I tell him that I was attracted to him even before I actually saw his face?

Zechs would applaud if I say that.

"We were on the same bus for a couple of days. So I noticed you, since it was such a coincidence to see the same person again day after day on the bus."

Duo nodded and laughs. "I still can't believe that I never noticed you until you came up to me. I didn't know I was that unobservant!"

"Headphones tend to do that to people."

"Yeah, I guess so. The music just pours into your ears, and you sorta just… forget about everything else."

"Tell me about it."

"What? It's happened to you before?"

"Yeah. I had my headphones over my ears, and it was really very loud. My intention was to just drown out the sounds of the silly television program my sister was watching, but you know… Things like that always backfires? So that night, we had such a horrible dinner because I had put sugar into the food instead of salt… I didn't notice the oven going off… I slipped and effectively broke *all* of our eggs…"

I know it's stupid to tell your date about your embarrassing moments, more so when you're on your first date. But it doesn't really matter when Duo chuckles at me. I like to hear him laugh. Doesn't matter if he's laughing at me, even.

"Wow… wonders of the headphones." He rolls his eyes with yet another smirk. "And I thought my experience was bad. So you still have your headphones?"

"No, gave it to my sister. I bought earphones after that."

"Clever decision."

"Definitely.

"So, what genre of music do you listen to?"

"New age." I admit, after a moment's hesitation. Hirde insists that no teenagers listen to stuff like that, and I'm a little worried that I'll put Duo off.

"Oh. You mean the music Kevin Kern makes? It's wonderful stuff!"

"You like Kevin Kern?" I ask, more than a little relieved.

He nods. "Didn't like it before. Then my friend insisted that I try it before I put it down. I gotta admit, it's good music, although it's a tad on the soft side. I'm used to louder music like rock. A little pop too."

"I prefer it softer. Otherwise, it tends to make me lose concentration on whatever else I'm doing."

"Right." He laughs again, apparently reminded of my bad experience with headphones. "You know, we should exchange our CDs sometimes."

"Yeah."

Our conversation didn't stop even after we'd finished our food. We stayed there and kept talking, slowly getting to know each other. As we talked, we discovered that we actually had quite a bit of similarities. We both enjoyed playing video games, especially action games and RPGs. And we like sports, in and outside of video games. We read a lot too. The only thing he liked that bothered me was his love of chocolate. Not that that's actually a problem, but he likes Mars bars. Of all chocolates, he especially likes Mars bars. Is that coincidence or what?

Still, our date ended too soon for my liking.

As we exit the restaurant, I'm gathering my courage to ask for another date. He just glances at me with a slight smile, and that just makes me more nervous.

"Duo, do you think you'd be free again sometime soon? Tomorrow?" I blurt.

"Tomorrow? Sorry, I think I've got something on in college. What about this weekend?" He offers, most probably after seeing my disappointment.

"Okay. I'll call you again."

"I promise I'll try to pick up the phone before my brother does." He laughs. "Alright then. Bye."

"Bye." I reply, and Duo leaves.

I stay there a while longer, leaving only when I can't see him anymore. As I walk on the sidewalk, my mind replays our date. Replays Duo's little actions and his smiles.

And I have another date with him. This weekend.

I grin.

-owari-

Sorceress Fantasia @ 6th April 2003

Beta-ed 11th April 2003