Author: Sorceress Fantasia
Warnings: Heero POV, fluff, some sap, AU (Our world and time)
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: 1+2, 3+4, 13+11
Disclaimer: I tried to bid on them at ebay, but the bid was sky-high by the time I got there. After a peek into my wallet and bank account, I backed down. Hence, I don't own GW. But hey, I do own this ficcy.
Thanks to Dark Tenchi for beta-ing!
Seventh Heaven Series Part 14
Homecoming
I unzip my backpack, and look inside. Camera, checked. Keys, checked. Photo albums, checked. Okay, everything's in. I can go now. Sometimes I feel stupid bring such a big bag for just those three items. But when I remind myself that I'm meeting Une, I know it's necessary. When she goes shopping, she buys up half the stuff in the shopping mall. Interestingly enough, half the things she buys aren't for herself.
It must be because she's the daughter of a billionaire whose generosity is so well known.
Une certainly lives up to being a Winner.
I pick up my backpack, and leave my room in a hurry. Treize and Une are probably already at the Winner mansion. They have finally returned after a month of vacation in Asia, and I can only imagine how much stuff they've bought. And of course, the number of rolls of film is probably another stellar number. I wonder just how many rolls did Treize take? One thing's for sure though: they must have had a hell of a time lugging their luggage back here.
Once I'm out of my room, Hilde stops me.
"Wait! Where're you going?"
"I've told you already. I'm going over to Quatre's. Treize and Une just came back, and Quatre's holding a party to welcome them home."
She raises an eyebrow. "Honestly Heero, why is it that you're /always/ going over to Quatre's house? Can't you go to someone else's house for a change?"
"His house is big enough for all of us and we don't even have to clean up. He's got servants to do that. Anyway, I won't be home to make tonight, but make sure you eat something. I don't want you to skip your meals, you understand?" I tell her.
She tugs at my sleeve. "But Heero, I can't cook! Do you wanna see the kitchen in ruins when you come home later?"
"Like I've never seen it before..." I mutter, knowing full well the horrors on Hilde in the kitchen. "Hilde, for the sake of the kitchen's health, order take-out. I've copied down all the telephone numbers and put them under the phone. And here's..." I reach into my pocket and pull out my wallet. Flipping it open, I grin when I see Duo's picture inside. "...$50."
"Fine... but I'm keeping the change," she replies with a pout, and flops onto the living room couch. Picking up the list of numbers I left her, she scrutinizes it. No doubt she's choosing what she wants for dinner.
I shrug, and leave the house in haste. One Quatre Winner fussing for a late friend is bad enough; one Quatre Winner and one Une Winner fussing together will kill me.
*****
"Treize! Une! Glad you're back!"
Treize grins at me and Une sweeps me into her arms for a long hug. She's always been the touchy-feely type.
"Heero! It's been quite a while! How have you been?" she asks, patting me on my head.
Apart from being touchy, Une's the 'big sister' type too. Looks after everyone, won't take crap from anyone, and absolutely dotes on us younger ones. Apparently, the fact that I'm only three years younger than her always slips her mind. After I get out of her hug, I sit around with the others on the carpeted floor.
"I've been fine."
"Fine?" Zechs snorts with a haughty smirk. "I'd say he's been more than fine. After all, how can one feel just 'fine' after one has found his one true love?"
His tone reminds me of the irritating narrator found in many of Disney's fairytales.
Quatre and Catherine break into peals of laughter. Even Trowa's biting his lips in an effort to not laugh out loud.
"What?" Treize and Une exclaim in unison.
No wonder they're a couple. Hey, they've got the couple-chorusing thing right. What's more, they have the ability to complement each other's words. And I have a feeling I should brace myself for that.
"You have a girlfriend now?"
"BOY-friend," Une corrects. She's always known me so well.
"Treize, Une, you two should know better than to believe Zechs!"
"Hey, I resent that comment!"
"What I'm saying is that you guys should take his words with a pinch of salt. He blows everything out of proportion!"
I think Zechs is trying to protest, but Quatre just stuffs a pillow in his face, so I can't actually make out what those muffled whines are. Oh well.
"So... you've fallen in love?"
"Well, I... Okay, I just met this person whom I like a lot. We've gone out together a couple of times. That's that. Nothing more." Of course, things will be progressing. I'm not stupid enough to make it end here.
"Yet!" Catherine singsongs, and Quatre just nods sagely. I wonder if the little sneak will still be this happy when I smuggle his plasma television screen home.
"So am I right? Is it a guy? What's his name? What does he look like? Or is it a she?"
Crap. Une's getting excited. If her excitement level goes any higher, I think I might have to run away. She has the tendency to ask questions in commander mode when she's all keyed up. And god forbid if you don't answer her. If she was employed in any police department, she'd be the star of the interrogation team. Suspects will blabber every minute detail of their plan or involvement just to get out of her sights. Or in some cases, her firing range.
Treize must have sensed the change as well, and he quickly cuts in to save my scrawny butt.
"Une dear, why don't you take out the photos we took during our holiday? I bet they're all waiting for it."
"Oh gosh, I almost forgot about those!" She laughs, and pulls the stacks of pictures behind her. "There you go. It's amazing how fast these photos can be developed nowadays. Especially when I can just, you know, mention my last name in a casual conversation with the shopkeeper..."
We chuckle. Although Une's not the type to throw her weight around because of her family, she does enjoy using it to her advantage sometimes.
As I reach out to grab a pile of photos, I thank god for Une's short attention span that can rival a goldfish's. The rest of the guys also take a stack of the glossy pictures each, and comments start springing up like desert plants after a shower.
"Wow! The scenery's fabulous!"
"You guys visited a farm? This sheep looks like he's trying to bite Treize..."
"Oohh. Pretty babes at the beach. That reminds me. I should call that chick I met at the beach the other day."
Catherine and Une raise their eyebrows at him.
Zechs laughs nervously. "Just kidding. I'll be calling Noin later."
The girls nod in satisfaction and I manage to hide my snigger behind the photos. It's hard to believe that Zechs would ever settle down, but I think the girls will continue their good job of keeping him in line.
The little pique talks continue as I scrutinize the pictures in my hands. Treize is not a professional photographer either, but he certainly has a knack for it. Some of the photos are just plain weird; I'd admit that much. Gosh, who in their right mind would take a photo of the pavement? But the others... are beautiful. He captures the right amount of light for contrast and the angle he takes them are nothing to be scoffed at either.
Well, Une's not quite as good with the camera, it seems. Some of the photos featuring Treize are a little blurry and out of focused, and the others are either too dark or too bright. Of course, her photo taking skills have its redeeming points as well...
"Treize, is this...?" I ask. I must present myself with an Oscar for keeping a straight face; inwardly, I'm rolling on the ground and laughing my ass off.
He furrows his eyebrows in what seems to be confusion, and he reaches out to take the picture back. Before he does, however, Trowa has already beaten him to it. And the rest of the guys crowds around him to catch a glimpse of the photo.
Countdown. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1...
"Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha!"
Much as I'd expected, all of them are clutching at their sides and laughing hard.
"Is a black eye the latest trend?"
"Or you couldn't afford a black eye patch and decided to improvise?"
"Jeez! You should have blackened the other eye as well and go to Japan and market the latest darling of the anime industry! Imagine, Panda-mon!"
"What?" Treize yells, and snatches the photo back from Zechs' lax hands. He takes one look at it and groans, "Oh crap! Une, I thought I told you to throw this away!"
Une shrugs. "You deserved it."
"But really, Treize. Where did you get that black eye?" Catherine asks, still snickering.
"You know that Treize took care of all the travel documents and our hotels because I was busy at that time, right? Well, with all that excitement over his camera, he had forgotten to book a hotel room for us in Japan. Worse still, it wasn't the first time! He'd forgotten to book one for our stay in Thailand too! If it weren't for the nice desk clerks who quickly called up a nearby hotel for us, we'd have been stuck on the streets!"
"So you boxed him one?"
"I was fed up, okay? Apparently, the desk clerk's definition of 'nearby' is very different from mine. We had to trek like... halfway across the city!"
"It wasn't that far..." Treize mutters, but one glare from Une promptly shuts him up.
"Was there anything funny that happened during your holiday?" Quatre interrupts. Perfect timing, I might say.
"Of course! When we were in Singapore, we had a little language problem because we weren't too sure what language the people spoke. One day, we were shopping in this really posh mall, and I needed a smaller size for a dress. So I asked the nearest salesgirl, who was a Chinese by the way, for it. But I thought she couldn't speak English, so I was struggling like hell with my oh, so pathetic Chinese. Halfway through my struggle, she smiled at me and said, 'Miss, what do you need?' in perfect English! I was sooo embarrassed."
"But Une, if that place was a posh shopping mall, the salespeople should at least know some English. You of all people should know that. So why did you ask her in Chinese?"
"She'd been talking to another customer before me. In Chinese. How was I supposed to know she's a bilingual?"
I look at Treize, and we give each other a helpless shrug. Suddenly, I feel something move behind me and pull out something from my pocket. Immediately, I zoom back, only to see a flash of blonde hair.
"Zechs! What was that for?" I gripe, reaching for my back pocket. Feeling nothing where my wallet should be, I growl, "Hey, that's my wallet! Give it back!"
Not that I believe he'll actually give it back just like that. And just as I expected, he starts to check through my stuff instead of answering me. Quatre and Cathy peek from behind him, both looking at the contents of my wallet with obvious interest. When I lunge forward to swipe it back, Trowa holds me back.
"We'll give it back. Later."
"Trowa!"
"Found it!" Zechs exclaims suddenly, and pulls a sheet of something out.
"Found what?" Treize asks, his brows knitted together in confusion. Une sits beside him, equally confused.
"This!" Catherine replies, and takes the sheet over to them. "See this brown spot over here? It's the guy Heero's besotted with! That's his hair."
"Catherine!" I yell. My god... whose bright idea was it to tell the guys about the photo? I'll kill him. ...Wait. I think it was me. Damn.
The couple stares at the photo for minutes in silence. What is it? It's unnerving, to remain silent like that. Suddenly, I feel like I'm showing my parents my boyfriend's photo.
After a long while, they look up at me.
"Heero, is this the only photo you have of him?"
I think they're amused. Very amused. I can tell that from the way Une's biting her bottom lip and looking elsewhere, and from the way Treize's lips are curling upwards.
"Yes. So what of it? Give it back to me! There's nothing to see!"
"You're definitely right about that. My god, can't you get a normal picture? You're not Pablo Picasso, you know? Abstract photography? C'mon, describe how he looks to me since this photo's no help at all."
"You wish..." I mutter, diving forward to grab the photo. Trowa, seeming to take sympathy on me, hands me my wallet. Carefully, I slot the photo back. Damn, a corner of the photo has been folded. Zechs is going to find more than just frogs in his dinner soon...
"Why not? He's too ugly to let us know about?"
"Of course not! Duo's beautiful!" I rebuke, feeling a little irked.
"Well then, convince me!"
Convince him I will. And I'll wipe off that confident smirk on his face too.
"Fine. Duo's absolutely gorgeous. He's got violet irises that shine! Violet, okay? They're violet! How many people in this world have irises of that colour? His eyes are so exotic and rare! And although his hair looks chestnut, he's actually got streaks of red and gold running through them. His hair is very long, and looks extremely soft and silky. I haven't touched it yet, but I /know/ it's soft and silky. And when he smiles, you'd think he's an angel..." An image of his smile surfaces in my mind, and I suddenly feel warm inside.
"Why?"
"Because his eyes twinkle when he smiles... and his smiles are beautiful. Whether it's a grin, a smirk, a chuckle or a real smile... they're all beautiful on him..." I whisper, and as suddenly as the trance overtook me, it leaves me. And I'm embarrassed as hell to have blurted all that out.
"Aww! Heero, that was lovely! You should say that to him!"
"I... I..."
"Hmm... you should write that down. You tend to forget speeches when you go on stage, so you may forget that one too. I'll go get some pen and paper..." Quatre utters, and stands up.
Within minutes, he hands me a sheet of clean paper and a blue pen.
"I'm supposed to write all that down?"
"Why not? You know, you could just start a list of beautiful things like that to tell Duo when you finally do confess your feelings to him. It might be easier on you."
I can just see it. Me, writing all night, and the guys prompting me on all night. Sigh... why are my friends so concerned about me falling in love? I just don't get it.
OWARI
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