I actually rescheduled a meeting the day I returned from lunch and noticed the tiny little yarn snake on Wufei’s desk. I’m still not sure if I wanted to be there just to see how Duo would convince Wufei it was ok for the snake to be sitting there next to his favorite coffee mug, or if I wanted to be there because I thought he might need ‘back up’.
Or maybe I really am just that easily entertained.
Duo walked into the office not five minutes behind me, and I have no doubt his return was timed to make sure he was at his desk before the end of Wufei’s break.
I continued typing and if I hadn’t felt the weight of little plastic eyes on the entire office, would not have had a clue from Duo’s actions that there was anything up. He settled behind his terminal, pulling up the spread sheet he was working on, humming softly to himself as he worked on his calculations.
Wufei walked in at one o’clock on the dot as usual, but his normal brisk pace hesitated as he neared his desk. I remember thinking that he had the air of a cat that senses someone has been in their territory.
Had he whiskers… they would have twitched.
‘What in the hell is that?’ he asked the room at large, a hint of irritation in his voice.
‘A gift from Mrs. Dugan,’ Duo replied, though from the way Wufei’s gaze flicked his way, I’m not sure he’d been expecting anyone to answer him.
‘Oh,’ he muttered, picking the snake up almost gingerly. He eyed it dubiously, but his irritation faltering on that bit of information.
Mrs. Dugan is our receptionist. Well, the receptionist for our entire floor really. She is middle-aged, pleasant to a fault, knows more about the habits of ‘her people’ than we know about ourselves, bakes a damn fine chocolate chip cookie, and… had recently been diagnosed with cancer.
It is difficult to be openly irritated with a woman who was so ill. Though Wufei, apparently, was wrestling with some unopen irritation.
‘Why,’ he began, carefully choosing his words, ‘would she gift me with… a child’s toy?’
‘It’s a memento,’ Duo informed him, fingers tapping at his calculator, double-checking some figure, eyes never leaving his work as though the conversation only held part of his attention.
It took a moment for the comment to seep down and settle into Wufei’s mind past the rather large lump of… embarrassment? he was struggling with. I saw him glance rather sharply up at Duo, and then turn his attention toward our office door almost guiltily. Perhaps worried that Mrs. Dugan would catch him glaring at the offering.
He put the snake back and finally sat down at his desk, but again I felt the cat analog apt, as he seemed almost to perch uncomfortably in his chair… a feline whose environment has been tampered with.
He tried to settle into work, but I could see his attention kept getting snagged by the little stuffed animal. It took almost fifteen minutes and I seriously doubt anybody in the office was really getting any work done, before Wufei mumbled, ‘It’s… unseemly.’
Duo heard him, I know he did, because he responded, but he totally ignored the comment itself. ‘I understand she makes them during chemo. She says it helps make the time pass.’
Wufei seemed to have gotten a handle on the awkwardness of the topic, and he immediately responded with, ‘Surely there are children’s charities that she could…’
Duo sighed. Duo has a rather… expressive sigh when he sets his mind to it, and this one spoke volumes. It made Wufei falter in mid sentence and Duo stopped the casual approach and looked across the office to meet Wufei’s irritated gaze.
‘Makes the time pass,’ he repeated with a bit more firmness. ‘While she works on each piece and thinks about the person she’s planning it for.’ He reached up to the top of his monitor and turned his own little black cat around, draped so that its green plastic eyes were aimed in Wufei’s direction. I could tell from Wufei’s slow blink that he’d never even noticed Duo’s own memento before.
‘Still…’ Wufei tried, not quite ready to give up and admit defeat. ‘It’s hardly professional looking.’
‘We’re allowed to have personal items on our desks, man,’ Duo snorted, attempting a dismissive approach.
There was a long minute while, I’m sure, Wufei thought about the difference between ‘allowed’ and ‘did not want’. He picked the snake up again and seemed to be contemplating a relocation that would make it less obvious. I think he actually eyed his desk drawer. ‘If she can make things like this, surely there are more practical applications…’
Duo stopped pretending to work, and his own irritation was starting to show. The hands that had continued to move mouse and tap at keyboard stilled. ‘It’s something of an honor, actually. She doesn’t make them for just anybody.’
It had something of a last ditch feel to it, and I decided that the time for back up was in order. Rising from my desk, I went to join the fray. Moving over to Wufei’s desk, I took the little snake from his hand, where’d he’d been looking for a place to stuff it out of sight, and studied it thoughtfully.
‘Why don’t I have one?’ I asked nobody in particular, inserting a hint of hurt into it. The snake really was a cute little thing, made of a mottled yarn that lent it a snakish skin, with tiny black plastic eyes, its tail tied in a loose knot.
Duo pounced on the line instantly, quick to grab after the help. ‘I don’t know, Heero… she’s still working on them. She’s got five weeks of chemo left, after all.’
I chose to ignore his soothing, keeping my attention on the toy as I turned it in my hands. ‘It’s excellent workmanship,’ I mused and out of the corner of my eye, saw Duo pick up his own cat.
‘It really is, isn’t it?’ he agreed. ‘Must take a lot of time and patience. She says it took her years to really learn all the tricks to making them.’
I held the snake up to the light, turning it this way and that. ‘It’s an art of sorts, don’t you think?’ I asked, and did my best to put just a bit of wistfulness in my voice.
‘Definitely,’ Duo enthused. ‘She says her Grandmother taught her how. I think that’s cool… an art handed down through the generations like that.’
I stroked the head of the little snake thoughtfully, allowing a moment of silence for affect before venturing, ‘Do you… do you think she doesn’t like me?’
Duo was quick to offer up his reassurances. ‘Oh no! I’m sure it’s nothing like that!’
The snake was suddenly snatched out of my hand, and I looked up to find Wufei scowling at me. ‘Learn some patience, Yuy!’ he snapped, holding his snake with an air of possessiveness. ‘I’m sure something this intricate takes time!’
I was trying to decide between a contrite response and a jealous one, when he turned on his heel and stalked toward the door.
‘Where are you going?’ Duo wanted to know, sounding a bit nervous, and we traded a look, unsure if we were going to have to tackle him to the ground and beat some sense into him.
‘It’s only proper to say thank you for a gift,’ Wufei said. ‘I’m going down to Mrs. Dugan’s desk.’
Duo let out with a sigh, collapsing back into his chair with relief. He just sat and grinned at me until we were sure Wufei was out of ear-shot.
‘Heero… that was inspired,’ he grinned.
‘Thank you,’ I replied, giving him a sketch of a bow and then returned to my desk, hopeful of actually getting some real work done now that the melodrama was done.
We sat for a couple of minutes in companionable silence before Duo called out a soft, ‘Hey?’
‘Yeah?’ I prompted, and looked up to find a smile on his face.
‘I have it on good authority that yours isn’t done yet because it’s complicated.’
It made me chuckle, at the same time it made me feel oddly warmed. ‘You know what it is?’ I heard myself ask, and was only a tiny bit embarrassed.
‘Sorry,’ Duo said, and I couldn’t tell if he was laughing at me or not. ‘Been sworn to secrecy.’
I snorted and went back to my report filter, and Duo back to his spread sheets. He lasted almost five minutes before I heard a dark chuckle from behind his monitor. ‘But Wufei is going to be so jealous…’