"-Don't know why you're still mad," came Trowa's voice from the kitchen where he was emptying the dishwasher. "He apologized to Duo and Duo seemed to be fine with it. You were there; wasn't he okay?"
Wufei looked up from the newspaper thoughtfully. Yes, Rowdy had called the office this morning to apologize to Duo for his very forward behavior the previous day. Duo had indeed accepted his apology. Rowdy had promised that he never would have hit on Duo if he had realised that Duo was already spoken for, and maybe he wouldn't have. Wufei wasn't too sure about that; in his experience, Rowdy played pretty fast and loose with such proprieties, but Duo didn't seem inclined to make a big deal over it, so Wufei had let the whole matter drop.
The Banshee did seem fine today; no lingering effects from Rowdy's abortive pick up attempt or the fairly stressful lunch among Humans.
I shouldn't have dragged him out there, Wufei berated himself again. Should have thought about how he might feel.
Duo insisted that he was fine, though, and that it was even good for him to go into the town. He couldn't hide out on the Castle grounds forever, he'd said, and it was helpful to have Wufei with him; to have that measure of security.
Which thought made Wufei smile and sigh happily now. Duo said he was helpful... If he closed his eyes, he could conjure up the image of the Banshee's face in his room at the Castle; eyes alight, smiling warmly as Wufei suggested a nap, and then laughing away his concern. He'd refused the suggestion, saying instead that he would prefer to just curl up with his knitting; that the repetitive motions of the stitches were somewhat hypnotic and relaxed him better than a nap could. So, Wufei had been bold enough to kiss Duo on the cheek - something that even Heero could not find fault with - and take himself off.
An hour later, back at the office, Heero thanked him for escorting the Banshee home, and Wufei felt the warm glow of friendship reinforced. Perhaps there was hope for the two volatile Dragons after all.
And he had happily relayed the story to his therapist that afternoon. The doctor congratulated him on his appropriate display of temper, though he did wonder if it was necessary to slam Rowdy into the file cabinets that way. Wufei assured him that it was indeed very necessary and not nearly as harsh to a Magical Creature as it would be to a Human, and the doctor let it go.
So Wufei could now honestly say, "I'm not still mad at him. He's an idiot, but that's his problem, not mine." He listened to Trowa's slightly indignant snort and an indecipherable mutter. "I thought it was my turn to cook; what are you doing in there?"
Trowa stuck his head out of the kitchen. "Just setting out the fish basket and a few other things. Rowdy said he was bringing home fish for dinner. I think it's an apology, so be nice, Wufei; okay?"
Fish? Wufei's eyebrows shot up. Wufei loved fish. For a decent fish dinner he was prepared to be Rowdy's best buddy for the duration.
"I will be friendship personified," he declared. Trowa stuck his head back out, eyeing him suspiciously. "What? You want me to be nice; I'll be nice."
"Hmm... Okay, then..." He ducked back into the kitchen.
Soon after that, the front door opened - Trowa had insisted on giving the tomcat a key; Wufei made a mental note to have the lock changed after Rowdy left - and the young Were-Puma strolled in, a string of fresh-caught fish hanging from his fingers.
"Hi Wufei," he called brightly. "I went fishing!" He held up the string of fish proudly.
Wufei stared at the dozen or so freshly-caught fish.
The dozen or so freshly-caught and very brightly-colored fish.
The dozen or so freshly-caught and very brightly-colored carefully-bred, hand-raised, each one with its very own name, for godsake, worth more than a month's pay each, holy-shit-Mr-Okamura-will-fucking-kill-us-all pedigreed koi fish.
Wufei stared.
Wufei made a noise in the back of his throat.
A kind of I-am-about-to-die-at-the-hands-of-a-seventy-eight-year-old-Human-but-I-will-so-enjoy-watching-Rowdy-die-first noise.
He pressed his lips together tightly to hold in the laughter that fought to escape. His eyes watered. His hands on the newspaper shook. Rowdy waited expectantly. Wufei swallowed and dared to open his mouth.
"Rowdy..." he began in a rather strangled tone, "Where did you go fishing?"
"I found a pond! It's just full of fish and they're all these really pretty colors." He ran his fingers over one of the glassy-eyed corpses; a gold one, Wufei noted absently.
"Ah-ha. Was the pond easy to get to?"
"Well... I did have to climb some fences."
"You did." Wufei swallowed again. What was the name of that lawyer that Q knew? Yep, this was the absolute last time Trowa's cousin came to visit.
He tipped his head towards the kitchen door. "Trowa! Dinner's here!"
Wiping his hands on a dishtowel, Trowa oozed out of the kitchen. "Great! How many did you get? Were they expensive?"
"Oh, gods were they," muttered Wufei, retreating behind his newspaper.
"No!" Rowdy exclaimed happily. "I caught them! Look!"
A sharply in-drawn breath. A whimper. A faint, desolate, "Oh, my god!"
And then...
"Mr. Okamura's koi!"
Wufei sighed and reached for the phone. He had to take it out onto the balcony; he couldn't hear over the volume of Trowa's wails and Rowdy's protestations of innocence.
Maybe Mr. Okamura had a granddaughter Rowdy could deflower....
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