It's short, but...

[calic0cat]

...here's a little more of that untitled Regency Christmas fic. Title suggestions are more than welcome, BTW.



***

Quatre sent a servant off to retrieve Lady Relena's bonnet and gave her a tight smile as she apologized prettily for the incident. For some reason, her apparent remorse didn't quite ring true.

And Quatre couldn't help but be a bit concerned. Duo was a damn fine horseman, and he'd appeared to be bringing his mount back under control, but Scythe was unpredictable and headstrong. Most likely, Duo would let the horse run himself out before turning back. Since Scythe had the power and endurance of a good hunter, that could take a while. And the chill, rainy weather over the past week had left the ground muddy and slippery, ideal conditions for a bad spill, no matter how good the horse and rider. Giving one last, anxious look in the direction that the pair had taken, Quatre decided that, if they hadn't returned within a few hours, guests or no guests, he would go out looking for them.

In the meantime, he had guests to attend to, even if he did already wish one of them to Jericho.

As, apparently, did the gentleman that had arrived with Trowa, since he gave her the cut direct. Striding towards Quatre, his ice-cold gaze slid right past her without acknowledging her breathless, "Why, Lord Yuy, what a surprise!"

Trowa inclined his head as he followed Yuy. "Lady Relena," he acknowledged politely before shifting his eyes to meet Quatre's. A faint hint of a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Lord Winner. It's a pleasure to see you again."

Their hands met in a firm handshake and remained clasped as Quatre smiled brightly in return. "The pleasure is mine, Lord Barton. But please, my friend, do call me Quatre, as you did before."

The hint of a smile strengthened. "If you will once again call me Trowa."

Heero controlled the urge to smirk. Barton had it bad, and it appeared to be mutual. By the look of things, the two of them would happily stand there making sheep's eyes at one another all day. Meanwhile, a woman who, judging by the family resemblance, could be none other than one of Quatre's sisters, was busying herself with showing Lady Relena's party into the house. Heero coughed quietly, discreetly reminding Trowa that he had introductions to attend to.

Trowa started slightly at the sound, and reluctantly released Quatre's hand. "Quatre, may I introduce my friend, Lord Odin Heero Lowe, Earl of Yuy? We were in the same regiment, and fought together at Waterloo."

Recalled to his duties as host, Quatre extended his hand in greeting. "Lord Yuy. It's a pleasure to meet you. Any friend of Trowa's is a friend of mine."

"Lord Winner, my thanks for your hospitality." Shaking Winner's hand, he leaned forward and, giving Trowa a sidelong glance, confided, "Trowa has talked of nothing but your party ever since the invitation arrived."

Embarrassed, Trowa gave Heero a rather heavy slap on the shoulder and interjected hastily, "Heero was intrigued by the fine display of horsemanship just now. I believe that he is very much looking forward to meeting the young man and telling him just how much he admired his... seat."

Breaking off the handshake, Heero gave Trowa an irritated glare. "Touche," he acknowledged wryly.

Catching the innuendo, Quatre shook his head slightly in amused disbelief. Even without actually inviting any potential matches for Duo, Iria had managed to end up with one. And a very suitable one, too. That Yuy was an Earl was neither here nor there, except that it meant there was no social advantage for him in pursuing Duo. But any friend of Trowa's was bound to be a good man, and the fact that Yuy's initial interest had been caught by Duo's riding skills spoke well for the odds that the two of them would have something in common. Eyes sparkling with laughter, Quatre assured him dryly, "I'm sure that my brother, Duo, will be pleased to meet you, too, my lord."

***

"Damn cork-brained nag," Duo muttered, one hand stroking Scythe's sweat-dampened neck affectionately even as he scolded the horse. "Of all the times to get a maggot in your head..." Attentive ears flicked back and forth at the sound of his voice. "Did you have to make a cake of me right in front of the man?" The man with the body of a Greek god and the very appreciative gaze...

Snorting, Scythe bobbed his head, flecks of foam flying from his mouth as he gave a powerful tug at the bit. Duo chuckled wryly and gave the muscular neck a final pat as they entered the stable yard. Even after a good blow, the big stud was still a handful. The bolting incident was his own fault. He knew better than to let himself get distracted when riding Scythe, and he had very definitely been distracted.

"Mr. Winner." Abdul emerged from the stables, a concerned look on his face. "You were gone a long time. Lady Iria and Lord Winner were concerned."

"Ran him till he wanted to stop, then made him run some more," Duo said with a shrug. Dismounting, he added, "He was glad to walk the last couple of miles back."

Abdul nodded, unsurprised, and stepped forward to take the reins. "Your duties await; I will attend to the horse."

Usually, Duo made a point of personally cooling down and brushing his mount after a ride. It was a good opportunity to bond with the animal. However, Abdul was correct. Today, he had other responsibilities. Surrendering the reins, he murmured, "Thank you, Abdul." Giving Scythe one last pat, he headed for the house. A quick change of clothes, and then it would be time to meet their guests.

One in particular.

***

Comments

[merula31]

*smiles happily* Sooo, they are both rather intrigued with each other already.... Love the Trowa/Heero teasing each other bit- can just see it.

Looking forward to more...

[calic0cat.livejournal.com]

Sooo, they are both rather intrigued with each other already....

Yep! Not quite love-at-first-sight, but definitely interest-at-first-sight.

Love the Trowa/Heero teasing each other bit- can just see it.

*grin* It's a little different interaction for the two of them than I'm used to writing, but I think it fits the story. A little dry, understated teasing seemed to suit the two of them. And I think that close relationship between them would make Quatre more likely to accept Heero as a potential match for his brother.

Hoping to have more done soon(ish). I'd really like to get it wrapped up by New Year's, but we're supposed to be hosting the family get-together on New Year's Day, so there's a lot of housecleaning in my immediate future. :P Gotta make sure I've got all those yaoi djs and slash zines safely squirrelled away where my cousin's kids aren't likely to dig them out. *sweatdrops* The usual Rubbermaid-bin-in-the-corner isn't quite safe enough with the twins running around (because bins are supposed to be full of toys, y'know...).

[silverkiiri.livejournal.com]

Breaking off the handshake, Heero gave Trowa an irritated glare. "Touche," he acknowledged wryly.

I cracked up there. My friends and I say that all the time, so it seemed to make it even more realistic for me. I love the interaction between them all.

[calic0cat.livejournal.com]

*grin* Glad you liked it! This is fun to write, but a bit challenging, too.

[shinigami2174.livejournal.com]

Please, keep going! ;)

[calic0cat.livejournal.com]

Should be more soon, I hope!

[kracken.livejournal.com]

I like this. *squirms excitedly*

[calic0cat.livejournal.com]

*grins* Glad you're enjoying it!

[sunhawk16.livejournal.com]

There ought to be a title in the seat admiration thing, *snerk* but maybe that isn't the right tone? :P
So was the Relena thing deliberate? Had a certain young lady noticed where a certain young man was staring? Or do I have to wait to find out? ^^;
Love the Trowa/Heero banter, and so glad that time hasn't diminished what Trowa and Quatre had going.

[calic0cat.livejournal.com]

There ought to be a title in the seat admiration thing, *snerk* but maybe that isn't the right tone? :P

*cough* Uh, no, not exactly... *snicker*

As for Relena - well, she certainly isn't about to admit to something like that - it wouldn't be good ton, after all - but it was mighty suspicious timing, now wasn't it? *grin*

Banter is not my usual thing, so hopefully I can keep theirs going. *crosses fingers* And, nope, time definitely hasn't diminished what T & Q had going. If anything, they're the poster couple for "absence makes the heart grow fonder".

[sunhawk16.livejournal.com]

Very suspicious timing. *grin*

[crazy-lil-angel.livejournal.com]

I'm really enjoying this. Trowa & Heero's friendship is so amusing! Can't wait to see more ^__^

[calic0cat.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Trowa & Heero's friendship is a rather different relationship than I've written for them before, so I'm glad that it seems to be working. Hopefully, I'll have more ready fairly soon.

[bleedtoblue.livejournal.com]

Ooohh, I like it. Thank you.

[calic0cat.livejournal.com]

*grins* Glad you like it! You're very welcome.

[jilltanith.livejournal.com]

One comment that I had meant to make after reading the first part; I'm having a little difficulty reconciling the late-Lord-Winner-who-adopted-the-street-rat with the late-Lord-Winner-who-forbid-a-relationship- between-his-heir-and-the-merchant-turned-soldier. Unless the latter was a sign of irrationality brought on by his final illness?

More! More! ;)

[calic0cat.livejournal.com]

Gah. Well, I'm not sure how well the explanation is going to end up coming through, but it's very typical Society double-think, really.

It's not like anyone outside the family knows just where Duo came from - which is something that hasn't exactly been made clear so far, since the circumstances for it to be revealed haven't come up. But you'll notice that basically everyone outside of the family simply refers to Duo as Quatre's brother, not his adopted brother...

Keeping in mind that illegitimate children weren't particularly uncommon in Society, and that it wasn't at all unusual for some lord's by-blow to end up a baron or viscount himself... Well, let's just say that if a half-grown child suddenly showed up and was "adopted" into the family with the explanation that he was the son of a distant relative, the general assumption would probably be that he was really the lord's own son, born on the "wrong side of the blanket". No social stigma whatsoever attached to that. Example: Viscount Beresford, one of the top commanders in the British army, was the Earl of Tyrone's illegitimate son.

And the soldier part of Trowa's identity had a lot more to do with Quatre's father's disapproval than the family-in-Trade part. But it wouldn't do to be too openly critical of the war, while it was socially acceptable to be elitist. Also, Quatre's own personal perceptions aside, his father wouldn't have been too thrilled with his barely-out-in-society son falling for a man - no matter how liberal his views on the subject might be in theory. While the Winner title would carry on through the eldest male in the family, the Winner name would not. Except, possibly, through Duo - who isn't really of the Winner bloodline, socially-convenient lies aside, and wouldn't have been in line for the title since he wasn't a blood relative.

In other words: while Quatre's father was extremely grateful to Duo, he wasn't grateful enough to run around proclaiming that he'd just adopted a street rat, and his disapproval of Trowa is more complicated than Trowa - or even Quatre - realizes. Iria knows a bit more, since she's always been the stand-in mother of the family, and she did try to talk his father around before, and therefore has a better understanding of the situation. Hope that answers your question - and that I can manage to work all of that into the story without doing a major info-dump. :P

[razberrycreme.livejournal.com]

Eee, I can't wait until the next part! The first two were so good :) And so funny! Trowa and Heero teasing each other is just too cute ^_^ [sorry I'm commenting here o.o, but I saw you on gundam_herald and couldn't resist. I'm a big fan of your fics ^_^]

[calic0cat.livejournal.com]

Glad you're enjoying it! There should be more out either later tonight or tomorrow. I haven't quite decided whether to post what I've got done or wait till I get another scene or two ready as well.

[yanagi-wa.livejournal.com]

Short, yes. But I thought it was really good. I like it that Heero gave Relena the cut direct. And the bit about the seat was cool.

[calic0cat.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Glad you liked it.

Heero has his own suspicions about the convenient timing of that bonnet "accidentally" coming untied and blowing away, and she was really annoying him, so he went ahead and gave her the cut direct. Whether she even noticed or not, however, and whether it will make any difference even if she did, remains to be seen.

As for the seat bit - it's about as risque as the innuendo can get in this setting. Any other "riding" comments would be a little too crude for use between members of high society in reference to someone else of similar rank. However, Quatre may not be able to resist passing the teasing on. ;)

[rochan01.livejournal.com]

*snicker* yes, hmm, Duo's seat, I see. I have been recently reading ShenLong's "Time, Fault, and Out" featuring showjumper rider Heero and veterinarian Duo, who I seem to recall earlier in the series was admiring Heero's... seat. So my head is just full of highly inappropriate 'rider' connotations, yes indeed.
no seat titles, no seat titles.... thinkthinkthink

Um.... "Present At Christmas" / "Present For Christmas" ?
and with that fizzle my brain burns out for the night. thanks for the lovely fic, a fine bedtime treat.

[calic0cat.livejournal.com]

I really do need to set some time aside to go back and read some of ShenLong's more recent stories. I only read a couple of chapters of the story that "Time, Fault, and Out" is a sequel to, and I only got up to around chapter 13 or so of "Chimera" before getting swamped with other things, then by the time I had got around to thinking about reading them again, I was so far behind that I just couldn't work up the nerve to tackle either story.

As for the "rider"-related innuendo - oh yeah, there's a lot of things that can be said. Not much in this setting, though, I'm afraid. The bit about Duo's "seat" is about as far as it can go; anything else would be too crude for members of high society to say in reference to someone of similar rank.

Title suggestions duly noted and under consideration. I'm hoping that a choice will become clear as I get closer to wrapping this up. *crosses fingers*