"Excuse me?" asked Trowa.
"I'm making cookies. Do you want to help?" asked Quatre again.
"No. Thank you."
"Oh okay." Quatre went back into the kitchen. Trowa heard cupboards being opened and closed.
"What, a manly man like yourself doesn't want to be in a kitchen baking?" asked Duo.
Trowa glared at him from his place on the couch. He gestured to the electronic components spread out on the low table in front of him.
"I'm busy."
"Well I think I'll help him," said Duo, rising from his crouch. A hand reached out, grabbed his braid and yanked back, spilling Duo onto the floor.
"Cripes Heero that hurt! Did ya hafta pull so hard?"
"Duo, you do not set foot inside of a kitchen. Ever."
"What did Maxwell do this time?" asked Wufei.
"He blew up a kitchen at a school we went to."
"Is it my fault the teacher told us that a chef discovered gunpowder by accident?"
"Yes."
"I did that once," admitted Wufei.
"What, blew up a kitchen?"
"Yeah."
"Ooh, how?" Duo looked riveted, Wufei looked humiliated.
"Too much oil in the wok. It caught fire. I was a kid."
"You get in trouble?"
"Oh yes."
Heero chuckled. Trowa snorted. "Well, at least we know who should never set foot in a kitchen," commented Heero.
"What about you, Heero? Can you cook?"
"Hn. No. My abilities begin and end at making sandwiches."
"You Tro?"
"I can warm rations. Does that count?"
Duo shuddered. "Nope. Good thing Q can cook or we'd be stuck eating fast food. Or sandwiches. Or rewarmed rations. Ugh."
"Hn."
"Hey, it's enough to keep a mercenary company going. Good enough."
"You were a mercenary Trowa? You didn't tell me that," said Quatre from the doorway.
Trowa shrugged uncomfortably. Quatre left.
"Are you having a fight or something?" asked Duo.
"No."
"Then what–"
"Don't worry about it."
"Fine, fine," said Duo, shrugging and leaning back to rest his head on Heero's chair. Heero put a hand on Duo's head and didn't say anything.
"So, whatcha doin' Tro?"
"Fixing something. Why do you insist on reducing my name to one syllable?"
"It's fun. Wu, Q, Tro and Hee–ch–" Heero casually stuffed a pillow in Duo's mouth.
Wufei snickered.
"You don't have a nickname," said Heero. Duo removed several cubic centimetres of pillow from his mouth and made a face.
"Well, I think my name's short enough."
"I don't. How about... motor mouth?"
"Funny, no."
"Du–Du?" suggested Wufei, who had settled in a black bean bag chair.
"Ew!"
"Braid boy?" said Trowa.
"Death boy?" called Quatre from the kitchen over the mixer.
"Now that I like! Thanks Q!"
"Must you name me after some half–sadistic science fiction character?"
"You, a Trekkie? Would have never guessed."
"Live long and prosper. Nanu Nanu."[1]
Duo snickered.
"I think I've got it," said Heero. "Du–berry."
"Not a chance Heero."
"Cookies are in," said Quatre.
"So, Tro, whatcha doin'?" Duo asked again.
"Like I said, fixing something."
"What?"
"Electronics."
"What kind?"
"Duo, do you ever stop asking questions?"
"Nope."
"Only when Duo's no mahadaka," said Heero.[2]
Wufei choked, fell off the chair and started laughing a fit to kill.
"What?" demanded Duo. He hadn't fully caught the Japanese.
"Nothing Du–berry," replied Heero.
Duo slugged him. "Ton'ma."[3]
"Do you want tea or coffee?" asked Quatre from the kitchen.
"Tea," said Wufei, recovering finally.
"Coffee," said Heero, while fending off Duo's pillow attacks.
"Me too Q."
"I would also like coffee," said Trowa.
"Okay."
Trowa fiddled with the piece he was holding and carefully set it down to one side. He picked up another and began carefully making tiny adjustments to parts of it.
"Oi, what do you people do for fun?" Duo asked.
"Sleep," commented Trowa.
"Oi, not funny."
"Not joking. Nothing like the inside of your eyelids to make you feel relaxed."
Duo prudently ignored that. "What do you do Wu?"
"Read."
"Wow, really strained yourself didn't you?"
"I throw a fountain at you."
"That's psychological, duh."[4]
"What about you Heero?"
"I sit outside, stare at the sky and write poetry."
Duo stared at him. "Seriously?"
"Yes. Want to hear?"
"Sure."
Heero cleared his throat. "Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are? Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky."
"You didn't write that!"
"I may have borrowed a line here and there.[5]"
"Huh." "So Ayame, what do you do for fun?"[6] "Ask questions. Play games. Try and take over the world with the power of my mind. Stuff like that."
"Hn. Baka."
"So, do you want to do it?"
"What, take over the world? Nah, I'd have to move."
"No, play a game, baka."
"Like what? Nothing that involves moving."
"How about 'I Spy'?"
Duo gave Wufei a look. "Okay. You start."
"Hmm... I spy with my little eye, something red."
"A bug?" said Duo.
"No."
"The positive side of a voltmetre," said Trowa without looking up.
"It has to be in the room."
Trowa pointed to the voltmetre on the table.
"Oh. No."
"Book," said Heero. Wu nodded.
"Close enough. Your turn."
"Black."
"The negative side of a voltmetre," said Trowa.
"No."
"Wu's eyes?"
"True but no."
"My chair?"
"Nope."
"Heero's shorts?" inquired Quatre.
"Very good. You pick next. It has to be in this room though."
"Purple," called Quatre.
"Your vest."
"I'm not in the room Duo," reminded Quatre.
"Worth a shot."
"Barney," said Wufei, leaning back to stare at the ceiling fan.
"Also not in the room."
"My 2mm screwdriver," said Trowa.
"You really aren't trying, are you?" said Duo. Trowa nodded.
"Duo's eyes."
"Right. The cookies are ready." The kettle whistled. "So's the water."
"Trowa can have my turn."
Trowa was silent until Quatre brought in the drinks and the cookies. They steamed slightly. They were chocolate chip, and particularly large.
"Gold," Trowa said finally.
"Hmm, that component there?" inquired Quatre, pointing at a piece.
Trowa looked up at Quatre. "No." He looked back down.
"Cookies," said Wufei, biting into one.
"No."
"I bet it's Quatre's hair!" said Duo. Trowa's cheeks reddened slightly and nodded.
Quatre blushed and fingered the handle of his teacup.
"It's your turn Duo, finally."
"Hah hah funny," said Duo. "Okies people, I'm seeing some serious pink here."
"Quatre's shirt?" said Wufei.
"Nope, it's really pink," replied Duo, rubbing his hands together.
"It's not the Barbie mobile, is it?" said Heero hopefully.
"No Relena in sight. But your turn is up."
"Oh... I don't know..." said Quatre. "The roses on one of the cups?"
"Nope."
Trowa picked up something on the table. "This?"
"Not that, whatever it is." Duo looked around the room. "Give up?"
"Yes. Tell," said Heero.
"Why, Q and Tro's cheeks of course!" Said cheeks went even redder. "Ooh, how cute, they're embarass–mmph!" Heero bashed Duo over the head with a pillow, doing no harm to either of them.
"Eat pillow Du–berry!" said Wufei, flinging a pillow at Duo.
"Hey, no fair ganging up!" objected Duo.
"All's fair in a pillow fight," said Heero solemnly. He then bent over Duo to tickle him. Duo tugged on Heero's shirt, making him fall onto the floor.
"Itai!" said Heero indignantly. Duo tossed a pillow at Wufei who deflected it. It flew in Quatre and Trowa's direction and threatened to land on the delicate parts on the table. Quatre stood and caught the pillow. He was badly balanced and almost fell forward onto the table had Trowa not grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him backwards. Quatre landed in Trowa's lap.
"Ah..." said Quatre, putting the pillow on the couch. Trowa blinked and released Quatre.
"..."
"I...ah... think I left the stove on." Quatre picked up the empty cups and plate and went to the kitchen.
"Hey, let's go for a walk until dinner," said Duo. Heero nodded and helped the braided boy up and then helped Wufei up, who bemoaned getting up.
Trowa finished what he was doing and put the whole thing together. After tweaking it for a while, he was satisfied with the results. He put it in a box and brought everything to his room.
Several hours later, Quatre was cleaning up after dinner and humming something. Trowa walked into the kitchen and picked up a dish towel and helped Quatre dry dishes. Trowa noted that Quatre was humming and whistled a complementing melody.
The music filled the kitchen and came to a halt when they were finished. They put the dishes away, making slight clinking noises as they went. Quatre tapped cutlery together and Trowa clinked the cups and plates in musical fashion.
"That was fun," commented Quatre finally.
"Hn," said Trowa, tossing the dish towel into the laundry area. He left the kitchen and came back with an ornate wooden box. It was carved with musical notes.
"Open it," urged Trowa. Quatre opened it and a Heart Throbbing Melody began to play.
"Oh, it's a music box, playing the first song we played together. Thank you Trowa."
Trowa shrugged modestly.
And the melody continued playing.
The End
See? Saaaaappy!
1- "Live long and prosper" - Spock, Star Trek. "Nanu, nanu." - Mork, Mork And Mindy.
2- If I could speak japanese, the sentence would read 'Only when Duo's stark naked'. Eh heh. Eh heh...
3- Jackass. The word's in there. The other translation's 'baka'. Love that multi–purpose word.
4- This is a long, complicated story involving someone called Blaze. You officially don't want to know...
5- This was stolen... a little... from It's A Wonderful War by Sony_Mouse on