"I can't stand him" She murmured, taking a drink of her cheap whiskey, and then a drag of the cigarette softly burning away in her hand. Hilde, calmly setting her false lashes on the mirror next to her, rolled her eyes. She had heard this little litany before, and while Hilde could totally sympathize with Meiran, she already knew the speech by heart. "Did you see the look he gave me when Wufei came into the club?" The oriental girl was getting redder by the minute.

With a soft sigh, Hilde finished one of her lashes and gave up on the venue. She would not concentrate while Meiran was in one of her rants. So, she did the one thing a true friend would do: She joined in the systematic, metaphorical annihilation of one Zechs Marquise.

"He is a total slutbag" Hilde quickly admitted. "The man's only been here for about two months, and look at all he's been doing" Hilde picked up her fuchsia lipstick, uncapping it swiftly, but never got to apply it her lips, she preferred to continue speaking. "But you really shouldn't stress so much over it. He can do all the hip swaying, hair flipping and sultry looks he wants, you know Wufei has always considered you the center of his universe."

It soothed Meiran to hear that. It really did. She knew that to be a fact, much like the sun rises in the East every single day. Her Wufei and her had known each other since they were children, grew up together, learned to care and be with each other more than with anybody else, indulged in things a decent teenager would never indulge in, and kept each other's secrets for as long as she could remember. They were one, even their families agreed on that, even if they didn't agree on his choice of career, which is music, and her choice on how to pay through her college tuition, which was working at the bar Wufei was currently working in.

"I don't think that'll change just because the dumbass thinks he's the hottest piece of ass on earth" Meiran nodded, agreeing with her friend while she pulled a part of her hair into a messy bun, careful to make it look less than neat, and closer to what you look like if you've just gone out of bed. With her oriental straight hair traits, it was hard to get a messy look, but she could pull it off. "And the little gold digging bitch's got his eyes on Treize anyhow."

"What?!" Meiran screeched, not believing her ears for a second. Hilde gave her an exasperated look, the kind she gave when somebody was missing an obvious point. "He's been ogling the man for weeks! And when it boils down, Wufei is sweet and a great catch and all, but he's still an employee. Treize is the boss. How do you think he's been getting all those brand clothes and stuff for his act?" Hilde huffed, while Meiran remained stunned on her seat. "Seriously, girl. You're so hung up on 'Fei, you don't see anything else. You better get your shit together, and snatch him for good. Wufei is decent, but he's no saint either, Zechs or no Zechs."

It stung Meiran to hear one of her best friends saying that. It was true. She had been more than a little indecisive in her relationship with Wufei. Growing up, it'd been natural for them to be together, they had been together all their lives, but when their families just automatically assumed they would wed, have kids and live happily ever after, without so much as asking their opinion, she panicked and slowed it all down: the dates, the sex, the gifts they made for each other, their little escapades, everything. Adding insult to injury, Wufei had done it all, he had gone above and beyond to go back to the way things were, apologizing for something Meiran knew he didn't even completely understand, but it had only made it worst. She adored Wufei and wouldn't change their history for nothing in the world, but a part of her had felt like she had been missing out on so much, that there was more than just one man, wonderful as he was, to living her life.

Then came Zechs. Which was of course, a stage name, preposterous as it was. Stupid, but admittedly accurate: the man exuded sex appeal, and he wasn't hard on the eye at all. At first she had thought the hair was a fake, whether it was the color, or the length or the amount. There was no way a man could have hair like that: long enough to almost touch his butt, so thick and soft at the same time, with the most insanely alluring platinum color, falling down his back and over his face. When caught in the right kind of light, the man's hair looked like it was spun of pure platinum, with a small hint of gold woven in it, just to mortify her. He wasn't bulky or brawn, but he was fit and strong… and nimble like a goddanmed cat! There was no way he could've done those pole acrobatics he was so fond of otherwise. And he was tall, blessed with light, soft features that could make any woman green with envy. At first, all ladies were gushing over the possibility of having a shot with such a specimen, but everybody quickly understood he was decidedly homosexual and, adding the man's aloof attitude and reluctance to get close to anybody, not to mention his flirtatious ways with each and every man around him, all fans quickly became bitter adversaries.

Wufei had never, ever been inclined to be with another man, and Meiran knew it was not because of lack of homos trying and get into his pants, or because Wufei was straight as they come and wanted nothing to do with men. The reason for Wufei's lack of inclination towards being with a man was the same as why he had never been with another woman: he was too danmed honorable to even consider looking at somebody else while his focus, and his affections, was already on somebody. It so happened that for most of his life, that particular person had been Meiran.

"Im sure they didn't mean badly, Mei" Hilde continued, her voice softened, and her small hand set upon Meiran's shoulder. Meiran met her eyes, and couldn't help but feel distinctly sad and remorseful. Hilde looked like she was about to very slowly, but surely, bring down all the paper walls she had built between her and Wufei for the last few months. "Your family saw you were happy together. The both of you. And Wufei IS a great catch" Hilde stopped to take a deep breath, apparently thinking about how to word her thoughts correctly. Hilde had a tendency of being a super bitch without meaning to, but the short haired girl mainly meant well. Once you cared enough to see past the cold and harsh exterior, of course. Coming to a decision, she grabbed Meiran's hand, and pinned her down with a look that spoke volumes. "Its been too long, Mei. You haven't let Wufei get close for months now. Don't blame him if he starts looking for affection elsewhere. You know that if it happens, you'd only have yourself to blame"

Meiran could feel herself choking on fear alone. More than advice, Hilde looked like she had given her a premonition of dire things to pass. She shook her head, diluting the voices telling her she was being an idiot. She managed to succeed, in all recriminations but one: 'If you wanna be smart, you better get that man back'

"I won't lose him" She declared, right there and there, setting herself to continue her beauty routine. "Wufei is my soulmate. I'll get him back. Tonight. And if not, and what you're telling me about Treize is true, I'll just let it slip that there's a serious breach in the conduct of some employees"

Meiran had been serious. Dead serious to be accurate, but Hilde couldn't stop the laughter that came to her when she heard that. "You know that could only get Wufei in trouble, right?"

"I know" Meiran answered, while putting on some rich red lipstick. Wufei loved her with red on her mouth. "But Treize won't fire him. Fei's the best musician to come around this place. So the bitch will have to back the fuck off, if he wants to get Treize. The boss is not a man to share."

Hilde chuckled in response, joining all the Machiavellian dots in her head. "You. Are. Terrible, Woman"

Meiran shrugged. "Serves him right"

At that moment, the door to the room opened, and Heero Yuy's head peeked in to the room. Meiran felt Hilde tense immediately. She had never gotten over how Duo proved to be immune to her charms for years, only to fall for the serious looking bouncer on a single night, when he came to visit her at work. It was both sad and a little funny to watch. Hilde had been constantly adviced that Duo saw her as a little sister/friend for such a long time, and was just not interested in her that way, but she had stubbornly refused to accept it. Now, Hilde had no choice but to swallow her own indignation and keep it as civil as she possibly could. The fact that Heero was a certifiable badass that could rip anybody up, both verbally and physically, and that he never showed to give a damn about Hilde only added salt to the wound.

"There you are! Come on, Zechs, you're up!" The Japanese man exclaimed, and promptly left the room, not noticing how tense the atmosphere had become.

Both Meiran and Hilde turned and, sure enough, in a dark corner of the room, sitting on a large, old sofa, was none other than Zechs Marquise himself, looking at them with what one would call the most devilish glint in his ice blue eyes. They had never even suspected he was there. He never went into that changing room, preferring to change in the other vacant room closer to the stage.

Uncrossing his legs, he stood, and readjusted the long leather coat he was wearing, making it tighter around his waist. "Good evening, ladies." He winked an eye at them, and smiled widely. In the two months he had been part of Victoria, Zechs had NEVER smiled like that, all teeth and full cheeks. It was positively scary. He looked like something between gleeful child in a candy store…. And a gleeful shark about to be fed. "I love your hair like that, Mei. It makes you look like you've had fun. But you haven't, have you?" And just to prove a point, just because he could, he took the drink Meiran had been nursing and brought it to his mouth, but stopped in the very last second, to look at the glass like one would dissect a bug, then looked at Meiran in the same manner, and back at the glass. "Hm… better not. God knows where those lips have been."

At that moment, the girl's decision was made. Zechs was smiling like the predator who had just pounced on his prey, and snapped its neck. Meiran resisted the urge to touch her own neck, just to be certain it was only a metaphorical image in her head.

"Certainly not on Wufei, if I heard correctly" He set the glass down, chuckling softly. "I just love chatting up with you two. You girls are adorable" And with that, he was gone, the door clicking softly behind him, almost booming over the Meiran and Hilde's stunned silence.

"I can't fucking stand him!" Meiran whimpered, out of sheer frustration and embarrassment. He was right there! He knew. Hilde was quickly reassuring her, trying to calm her down, but she had the very clear certainty that her days as Wufei's center of the universe were numbered