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Disclaimer: I don’t own Gundam Wing and am making no money off of this fic.
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8 a.m. Coffee by luvsanime02
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“It’s eight in the morning,” Relena says.
In reply, Hilde pours even more coffee liqueur into her cup of coffee, until the whole thing’s almost overflowing. She doesn’t even bother to pick up the delicate china - rightfully worried about spilling hot coffee on herself - and instead puts her mouth level with the lip of the cup and slurps. Loudly.
She does this two more times before Relena moves. It’s not to take her cup away, which Hilde expected and put her hand around the hot cup protectively. No, Relena only gets down another cup, pours a normal amount of coffee in her cup and a splash of the liqueur, and then a small spoonful of sugar from the container that Hilde never uses but always puts out, anyway.
Relena’s first sip is silent. She takes a moment to appreciate the flavor, judging by the blissful look on her face, and then she gives Hilde a pointed look.
Hilde grins. “It’s never too early for coffee,” she finally replies. “Especially coffee-flavored alcohol.”
Relena rolls her eyes and takes another pointedly quiet sip of her coffee before walking back to the kitchen table. Hilde gets out the serving tray that’s usually only used if they want breakfast in bed and sits the sugar bowl and her own cup of coffee on it carefully. Her cup’s no longer almost overflowing, but it’s still pretty full, and it’s only her first cup of the day. She’ll have at least one more before breakfast is over.
“What’s put you in such a good mood?” Relena asks, smiling at Hilde when she notices the sugar bowl.
Hilde shrugs. “Finished looking over that contract last night and sent it in,” she explains. Hilde loves how well Relena knows her. She knows that Hilde isn’t drinking alcohol first thing in the morning because she’s upset, but because she’s pleased.
Not coffee liqueur, anyway. A bottle of gin would be a whole other story.
“How long did you stay up after I fell asleep?” Relena asks in amusement.
Hilde lifts up her cup of coffee now that the level of liquid inside has gone down enough that she isn’t worried about spilling anything. “This isn’t just to celebrate,” she says, meaning the coffee. “I didn’t even look at the time, just shut everything off and passed out.”
Relena shakes her head, still amused, and gives Hilde a fond look. “You know, I expected to be the workaholic in this relationship,” she says.
Hilde grins. “You are one,” she says truthfully. “It’s just that I get a little manic around deadlines.”
That’s putting it nicely, and Relena snorts into her coffee, obviously agreeing that it’s an understatement. Hilde just goes back to making her first cup of coffee disappear. Maybe she’ll actually feel like making something for breakfast while she gets her second cup. Or at least toast some bagels. She could manage that. Hopefully.
“Does that mean you’ve got some free time this afternoon?” Relena asks suddenly.
Hilde arches an eyebrow and shrugs again. “Sure,” she says. “As long as we’re not visiting my parents.” That would be a damper on her good mood, for sure, and require a lot more coffee liqueur.
Relena laughs. “Would I do that to you?” she asks. She absolutely would, if she thought that Hilde needed to visit her parents for some reason. Luckily, it was clearly rhetorical, since Relena doesn’t wait for an answer before continuing. “I thought we could visit Duo’s gallery.”
Relena and Duo get along like they’ve been lifelong best friends instead of people who only met a few months ago. Which is all kinds of hilarious to Hilde, since he’s her ex, not Relena’s, but whatever. She’s just glad that they get along. Heero, however, finds it, in his own deadpan words, awkwardly arousing. Hilde had laughed so hard when he said it that wine came out of her nose, but it was worth it.
Hilde smiles. “That’s a great idea,” she agrees. Duo would never say so, but he loves when his friends drop by his gallery and just hang out for a few hours, talking with other visitors and looking at the new artwork on display. He loves the gallery, and puts a lot of time and effort into making it successful, and it shows.
Well, now that they’ve got a plan for the day, Hilde supposes that she really should get started on breakfast. Maybe take a shower after. Do some laundry. Be productive during her weekend.
Hilde looks back down at her coffee and instead adds a little more of the liqueur to it before settling back into her chair. Maybe later.