Eye Apples

Wufei was still mostly asleep when something human and most distinctly Quatre threw itself over his prone comforter encased body. He made a muffled sound of ambivalent acknowledgement before deigning to move. He was pleased that it was Quatre come to wake him up, but also displeased by the purpose of the visit, that he\'d been woken up.

Quatre\'s thighs brushed Wufei\'s torso as he made himself at home on top of his willing (if not completely awake) captive.

He folded his arms on Wufei\'s c, th, then rested his chin on them.

When Wufei didn\'t make any significant progress in getting up (either because he had already slipped back into slumberland or he was enjoying the weight of another person\'s body far too much) Quatre broke into random song;

\"Embrace me, my sweet embraceable you
Embrace me, you\'re irreplaceable, you...\"

He, like a catriedried his face into the section of comforter where Wufei\'s chest had to be.

\"Just one look at you, my heart goes tipsy in me
You and you alone bring out the urgency in me...\"

Idly, he fished around the fabric to Wufei\'s side trying to locate a hand, something that he could hold, and or, pester.

\"I love all the many charms about you
Above all, I want my arms about you...\"

He found Wufei\'s left hand and grasped it through cotton and linens, as if transferring the music from himself to him by conduit of their loosely clasped hands.

\"Don\'t be a naughty baby
Come with me, Come with me, Do
My sweet embraceable you
Don\'t be a naughty baby
Come with me, Come with me, Do
My sweet embraceable you...\"

He grinned a little, though Wufei couldn\'t see it from his vantage point.

For Quatre, there was always something amiss and inevitably funny about the word \"naughty.\" The connotation of it was so terribly infantile that it was hard to take seriously at all, even between lovers.

It was a part of the lyrics to the song, though, a Gershwin song orignally, if Quatre remembered correctly. There were many different variations to it, and Quatre had chosen the most chaste to recite to his sleepy bedmate.

\"Come on, wake up and embrace me,\" Quatre teased lightly.

\"I am awake,\" Wufei assured him though his eyes were still closed. \"I\'m just...resting my eyes.\"

Quatre pouted a little, \"You\'re not even going to take a look at the goods I\'ve brought for you?\"

An odd surrendering utterance issued from the back of Wufei\'s throat before he propped himself up on his shoulders; one of his eyes still mostly shut, mild discomfort in the sleepy bow of his lips and brows drawn together in enduring concentration, and his raven black hair stuck out at odd angles (because he hated sleeping on it and usually fanned it out on his pillow rather than have it itch his neck).

Admiration that Quatre wasn\'t completely sure was one-hundred percent genuine washed over him, pushing a smile up through the corners of his lips. \"Guess what I found,\" he prodded.

Wufei obviously didn\'t have the slightest idea, but gave it a go, anyway, \"The lost treasure of the Sierra Madre?\"

\"Close, but not quite,\" Quatre replied sitting back and waving a plastic bag in front of Wufei\'s face.

\"What the hell is a Bertie Bott?\"

The smile grew ten-fold on Quatre\'s face, \"Get up and I\'ll teach you a game.\"

With that, he removed himself from Wufei\'s waist and waited for his reluctant companion to get with the program and fall out of bed.

++

In the library, they cleared a table, laid out a few sheets of paper and a couple pens, set four cups (two with orange juice and two with water), and poured some bags of Bertie Botts Beans in the center. Quatre and Wufei sat opposite each other, mischief all over their faces.

\"This is a really simple game,\" Quatre began, \"I used to play it with my sisters when we were younger. What you do is: you take one of these beans and bite off half, then you try to guess the flavor. You write the flavor down and keep a tally...Oh, and before the game starts, you have to make a guess on which flavor you think will be most abundant. We can place bets to make it more interesting if you want.\"

\"What kind of bet?\" Wufei pressed.

Quatre\'s grin turned lopsided as he thought, his eyes looking up as if seeking an answer from above, \"If I win...you have to serenade Heero and Duo later tonight; accompanied by a mandolin, guitar, whatever makes it special.\"

Wufei almost gagged, \"That\'s a pretty hefty condition.\"

\"It\'s just to make things interesting,\" Quatre smiled cutely.

The look that Wufei fixed him with was one of understandable disbelief and reservation. \"Fine,\" he said, forcing a smidge of arrogance, \"here is my condition: (since I understand your situation with work, I won\'t attack your cellphone [Quatre nodded sheepishly, \"Thanks.\"] so, I suppose...) a kiss will do.\"

A hand flew up to cover Quatre\'s surprise before it left his mouth. \"Good god, that\'s cute!\" he exclaimed.

Wufei nodded, pleased with himself, then asked a question that had been eating at him for a while, \"What\'s the orange juice for?\"

++

Wufei\'s face looked ready to implode.

Quatre grinned and inquired cautiously, \"Another vomit one?\"

The suffering expression he recieved was enough answer before Wufei drowned out the taste by swishing orange juice. \"It almost makes it worse,\" he complained running his tongue under his teeth as if to shear off the taste.

\"Well, orange juice has a strong taste, so, I figured that it\'d be alright for most of these,\" Quatre tried to explain.

Wufei frowned deeply, \"It\'s like the orange juice harmonizes with the taste of bile.\" A shudder ran up his spine. \"This is a terrible game you and your sisters thought up,\" he said even as he reached for another bean.

\"Less talk, more stuff face,\" Quatre teased, fearlessly biting into another bean.

++

In the end, they tallied up the Bertie Bott Bean total, using the leftover halves to verify flavors.

Wufei\'s honey beat Quatre\'s tripe by two.

\"So...time, place, wardrobe, is all of your choosing,\" Quatre said leaning back in his chair.

\"What time is it now?\" Wufei asked.

As if it materialized out of the air, Quatre had his cellphone in his hand, \"It\'s 4:32 in the afternoon.\"

\"Let\'s go save dinner,\" Wufei said, pushing away from the table, then issued a retraction, \"By \'we,\' I mean \'you.\'\"

\"What about your kiss?\" Quatre trailed after him.

\"I\'m saving it,\" Wufei replied back to him.

++

In the kitchen, Quatre enlisted Wufei\'s reluctant culinary aid. He taught him what a julienne was, how to rehydrate freeze dried vegetables, and to quickly pickle radishes. Gently, he led him through the entire process, seeming to enjoy every moment of it.

Duo wandered as far as the doorway of the kitchen at one time that afternoon, but turned right around when he saw Quatre ordering his sous-chef (Wufei) around the kitchen. It was a rare sight to see Wufei submissive, and Duo didn\'t feel quite right with it. He had to walk off the experience, and then brag to Heero about what he\'d just seen.

Meanwhile, the trouble-maker curl in Wufei\'s brain warkinrking overtime. He kept finding ways to mess up simple instructions which inevitably led up to Quatre\'s complete exhasperation and hands-on coaching where he would take Wufei\'s hands in his own and guide them through the right motions. Ofcourse, by him being smaller than Wufei, that meant that he had to raise himself up on the front pads of his feet and press his body more flush against Wufei\'s back for balance. If he knew what exactly was up, he didn\'t let on (though Wufei thought himself to be rather obvious about his feigned incompetence). Nevertheless, Quatre was enduringly patient with him, faker or not.

++

By six, they rolled out four dishes (sans dessert); Wufei being not particularly keen on tdea.dea.

He didn\'t mind the thought of watching Quatre bustle around the kitchen making sweets, but that vision was (typically) in the context of: Quatre wearing a strawberry apron and (possibly) pants, taste testing things with a quick sampling from tip of his finger, and submitting to sexuratiratification afterwards. For some reason, it was alright to envision Quatre like that, but to inject Wufei into the dessert-r\'sr\'s role seemed criminal and to threaten his masculinity (that he\'d always been taught to hold sacred to himself [not necessarily to Quatre]).

++

Over dinner, Quatre talked with Wufei about food, both of them ignoring the general conversation (mostly coming from Duo) around them. They were having a rather engaging discussion about tripe when Duo proclaimed loud and clear, \"This shiz is friggin\' delicious!\"

Quatre with his predisposition to giggle at almost anything Duo said did so, then directed praise to Wufei, \"It was mostly him.\"

Wufei shook his head, \"No, I can\'t cook.\"

\"Well, you did very well,\" Quatre smiled at him.

Reluctantly, Wufei accepted the encouragement, \"Thanks.\"

Duo was all over their exchange, cooing like ad bid biddy, \"That\'s so precious!\" He patted a hand over his chest, \"My poor heart!\"

Rather than Wufei or Heero telling him to shove it, it was Trowa who dispensed with his derisivort ort of scorn.

\"Don\'t knock on love, Mr. Dark \'n Moody,\" Duo admonished him. \"Eat your dinner.\"

Heeroost ost snickered.

Quatre spoke up, though not entirely in Trowa\'s defense, \"Don\'t be too hard on him, Duo. His idea of love is just a little different, that\'s all.\" More was on the tip of his tongue, but he swallowed before the words had the chance to float off. He covered up his omission with a smile and a doting glance at Wufei.

Trowa, also, bit down some of the words filling his own mouth

Though he didn\'t feel that he had reciprocated Quatre\'s ador, he, somehow, didn\'t like how quickly the attentions he\'d so often recieved were redirected to Wufei. He\'d recieved love confessions before, but never from anyone that he particularly cared about or saw regularly. The seeming flimsiness of Quatre\'s feelings had led him, inevitably, to question his own.

He\'d been sure, before, that he\'d harbored an inalienable admiration for Heero, that nothing could tamper with his unspoken devotion to him. Since the day that he\'d learned of Quatre\'s true sentiments, though, he couldn\'t concentrate on Heero with his former zeal and dedication.

Lately, he was too busy wondering about Quatre.

Second guessing Quatre.

Second guessing Wufei.

Their intentions.

Everything.

TBC...


note(s):

1. thanks for all your spiffy reviews^_^ I hope to recieve more~~~ *poke**prod**bother*
2. \"Embraceable You\" is a Gershwin song, not mine. =)
3. If you haven\'t tried eating tripe before, try it. In Asian dishes, you\'ll most likely find it in soups. If you prepare tripe at home, it\'s good in stir-fry. By the way, tripe is the lining of a cow\'s stomach (if I remember correctly). I like it in the dishes I\'ve had with it so far^^; It\'s a heck of a lot better than blood sausage ;>>
4. please R&R.
thanks!