Pretty

DISCLAIMER - Don't own Gundam Wing.

A/N - I know I have other works in progress but I couldn't help it.

Chapter 1 - Did I mention?

Duo's POV

Here I am, at the alter, a whole 18 years of age, watching the most beautiful girl I've ever seen walk towards me in the most absurd white dress I've ever had the discomfort to lay eyes upon.

But the girl is pretty. Her name is Hilde SchulsomethingIcan'tpronounce. I've only seen her a couple of times before now. She's my second cousin twice removed or something crazy and not really related to me. I mean she is but… you get what I'm saying.

Our families decided a long time ago that we would marry each other. Who does that anymore you ask? Our families do. That's who. And don't get me wrong, she's pretty and pretty smart, and from what I know about her, pretty cool to hang out with. But she can be pretty annoying sometimes about me. In the few times I've seen her, she's hauled her pretty little butt up to my handsome little butt and attached herself for the duration of the time we were together.

Who's to say who's annoying though? I can be pretty darn annoying sometimes and that's probably why my parents decided to have me betrothed. They didn't think I could seduce a girl on my own. See? My point exactly. Even parents can be annoying.

So here I am, heir to the Maxwell fortune, about an hour away from marrying a pretty girl that loves to be with me, in a Catholic Church (hence the 'hour away' I mentioned) and I'm not complaining.

I'm not.

Okay, so maybe I'm not ready to be tied down but this was the date they set when I was 17 and she was just about to turn 17. We'd discussed it, our families and us, together. I had my chance to speak up about not being ready so who was I to complain. I'm not complaining. I haven't complained yet.

I mean, she's pretty, right? What could be better?

A really hot girl who was totally into cooking and not getting married too early, who wanted to go sailing and sky diving and to amusement parks and bungee jumping and rollerblading on the boardwalk. Someone who wanted to eat ice cream at 5 and dinner right after followed by some more ice cream with a midnight snack of ice cream and maybe a brownie. Or hell, a whole cake or something! That could be better.

I mentioned she was smart right? Hilde? Yea, she's got the brain of a genius. An IQ of a billion or something, and is promised a spot in the Board of High and Mighty People at several companies around the world, and I'll be her pretty husband. Her idea of fun is having a race of those 'Minute Math' things. But not the addition subtraction ones that I'm really good at, but freaking calculus crap that couldn't be done in a minute unless you were a genius. She likes feeling better than me I think. I always just wanted to relax and eat some good food but she always had to throw some math or science stuff in front of my face.

I like math and science okay. I mean, I do computers. I build them. I write programs and have already started a crazy collection of video games. STARTED but not finished. I can read all those silly files with the numbers upon numbers with a few letters thrown in and actually understand them.

A genius and a computer nerd.

At least we'll be pretty.

Anyway, now the big important guy is talking in Latin. I can't help that he's an arrogant son of a… but he's the highest Priest we could get and out parents wanted the best.

Speaking of best, the guy to my right with unruly hair and dark mysterious blue eyes and a permanent scowl on his face is my best man and best friend, Heero Yuy. Don't let the scowl confuse you, he's got a weird family. I would be scowling all the time too if my family was as insane as his. He's not as high up on the social ladder as I am but he's still the best guy to have around.

Heero and I, we've known each other forever! We met in elementary school. Fifth grade, and I've had this long braid for as long as I can remember, and I was wearing something ridiculous that my mom had picked out for picture day and some stupid little jerk thought it'd be okay to mess with me and make fun of my gender. My fist was about an inch away from his frozen face when a tug on the aforementioned braid pulled me down onto the ground. I looked up and there was Heero, wearing the same ugly sweater as me (apparently his mom MADE the damn thing but I'll explain that later) and saying things to the little punk about how the red's an oranges in the sweater made my skin look brighter, and that the purple cross stitching brought out the color of my eyes and how the little punk was just jealous because my braid was longer than his dinky little pony tail.

He was my hero then and there and to this day, my braid is longer than that punk Wufei's ponytail is. Haha, I win.

Gah! The arrogant sonofa just splattered something on us! Hilde's ugly dress will get stained, oh well. How sad. NOT.

But she's still pretty.

Did I mention that she's pretty? She's the prettiest girl I've ever seen. Even prettier than the freaking Princess Relena. She was Heero's almost girlfriend. Almost because she wanted Heero with every fiber of her body but Heero didn't want her. Or any other girls for that matter. I think he might be gay but he's never admitted to it so maybe he just hasn't found that special one yet. And if he was gay I'm proud to say that it'd be fine with me. I have a gay friend. His name is Quatre. He's been in love with our English teacher forever, but now that we've graduated, he hasn't seen Mr. Barton and Quat's been all sullen.

Quat's here. I wanted him in with my groomsmen, but it was a hassle enough to get Heero as my best man. My parents wanted 'important people' in my wedding. Well Heero and Quat are important to me but they only allowed Heero and that was by sheer luck. I won a bet of not talking for a whole day for Heero, and once they knew I was a fighter, they wouldn't allow any more dumb bets for anyone they deemed unworthy. But Quat had understood.

It's starting to get hot in here, I mean between the gazillion people as our audience, this friggin eighty thousand layer tuxedo, the pressure of marrying this pretty girl and the fact that I haven't eaten today, may be the problem.

Oh shit! Here goes. He's talking in English which means that we have to actually do this now.

I mentioned that Hilde's pretty right?

I look over at Heero for some reassurance as the arrogant priest takes our hands and Heero nods at me. Okay, I can do this. She's pretty.

I look to Heero again, he's looking down at the floor, or his feet. What could be so interesting about those when his best friend needs his assurance?!

Ah crap, I'm panicking aren't I? It's been years and suddenly now I panic? Great. Perfect timing Duo. I look into Hilde's eye's. She's crying. Why the hell is she crying? What could be so sad about this?

Oh no! Can she sense my panic? Calm down Duo, calm down.

I look over at Heero again, fully into this nervous wreck thing, and he's looking at me again but he looks kinda sad. Fuck! What's going on here? Hilde's crying, Heero's sad, there's a gazillion people here and… even when she cries, she's pretty.

She's pretty?

I look at Hilde again. She is pretty. She's very pretty. But she's missing something. Something… mysterious.

"…until death do you part?" The priest finishes. I look at him, at Hilde, then at Heero.

Hilde's missing something… unruly.

I clear my throat to buy some time. Time for what, I'm not sure. But I need just a second more time. I'll smile at Hilde dramatically and that'll buy a little more time.

Thank God she didn't see my eyes dart to Heero, who was at that exact moment gazing down the aisle into the warm glow from the open doors. The glow was warm. Very, very warm.

Did I just blush… because of Heero?

Oh my God, they're all waiting for my answer. Hilde looks like she's gonna be sick.

Ahh, who am I kidding? She's pretty… she really, really is, but I don't love her.

"I'm sorry." I manage to choke out. I'm barely aware of the gasps that erupt through the church. "I can't." I tell Hilde.

I'm not thinking anymore. My parents are sooooo pissed. I don't even need to look at them to feel the embarrassment emanating from them. I'm going to lose the inheritance, and my family will disown me, my father will be dealing with inquiries, my mother will be made fun of…

I said I had perfect timing right?

Yea. In the two seconds before I'm supposed to marry the pretty girl that I've been betrothed to for my whole life, in front of the highest of high aristocrats, and the king of the world, not to mention the whole damn city… I realize that I am, in fact, in love with my best friend.

My… MALE… best friend.

I look at Heero for assurance of a different kind. He doesn't respond so I grab his hand, noticing the tingle of my fingertips as I touch his skin, and fly down the aisle with him in tow, to my most certain doom.

I look back at the boy in my hand as we burst into the open air and he's… laughing.

Need I mention that he's pretty?