Note: This is a story I wrote four years ago. I didn't get any sort of real feedback about it and I am suddenly interested in giving it another shot. This is the prologue and I've apparently written two chapters for it. I'll post those and continue it if anyone is actually interested in reading it.
Warnings: Shonen ai (boy-boy love), Alternate Universe, most likely OOC, altered ages, sap, probably fluff, maybe some angst. Sorry for the vague warnings.
Disclaimer: Do people still do these? The characters in Gundam Wing are not mine, I hold no claim on them, and all that jazz. I only made up the situations that they will soon be put into.
Boarding School
Prologue
Milliardo Peacecraft. If said to someone on the street, only the last name would be likely to stand out in their mind. The Peacecrafts were one of the more wealthy families in their area of the colony. But Milliardo, although the elder child and only son of the household, was not the heir to the Peacecraft fortune. Rather, his younger sister, Relena, was. For some reason, the family had decided that the daughters would become heir rather than the sons, first born or not. Considering the fact that Relena and Milliardo were the only two children in the family, Relena was the natural choice.
Though, that was hardly of consequence at the time, because Milliardo was only 17 and Relena 14. Milliardo spent most of his time at the boarding school he attended. Dorm rooms were available, so he chose to reside at the school rather than stay at home. He did not like to be at home and often got into fights with his parents. Regardless of his family's high stature, the boarding school was not compiled of entirely aristocratic families. As a matter of fact, there were a good number of students who were poverty stricken. Though, none of that ever mattered to Milliardo. Just like any frustrated teenager, he would go out on a limb to annoy his parents. If becoming friends with anyone who was not 'of worthy standards for consorting with,' as his parents phrased it, bothered them, he hardly cared.
Milliardo did not care much for his grades, either. He was smart and he knew that was true, so why bother doing homework or pointless tasks? Only paying vague attention in class, unless he knew that he did not understand the subject material, Milliardo ended up in all of the 'average' classes and never in any form of honor classes. He was 17 and the equivalent of being a Junior in High School. As a result of being in average classes, he would occasionally have a Sophomore honor student in his classes. Also, he was generally older than the students in his class, being that his birthday was near the start of the school year. This also meant that he was older than almost all the other students in his grade.
Aside from being the aristocratic son that he was, Milliardo stood out for another reason. He had long, silken, platinum blonde hair. A lot of the other boys his age had a tendency to criticize the fact that he had long hair, but a majority of the girls fawned over it. Why not? It was as soft as it was long and certainly beautiful to behold. He prided himself on his hair, it was his favorite attribute. It flowed down to his waist, if not just a little below, and was so fine that it would take a good deal of activity to really make it a mess of tangles. Milliardo was not the only male teenager in the school with long hair, there was one other, a Sophomore, but he did not usually notice people merely in passing. It would have to take an action or statement to draw his attention.
It was true that he had a tendency not to care about things having to do with his wealth or upholding his family name, but that's not to say that in public he would make it a point that he didn't care. In fact, it was only to his parents that he showed his dislike towards their close-mindedness and snooty behavior. At school he could be considered a snob, but that was not because he saw himself as better than anyone or of a higher class, by any means. It was because he did not care for fellow students any more than he cared for his grades. He was certainly kind and well mannered, but never any more so than was necessary. There were a few times, though, when he had to make it a point to some egotistical girl that he was merely being kind to her and held no interest in dating her.
Ah, girls, another subject of this character that was rather controversial. It was not that he disliked girls, but he was never interested in them. Dating hadn't been something that crossed his mind often, it rarely mattered to him that he was alone. He'd spent most of his time being alone anyway. His parents hardly understood him, so he spent a lot of time playing with his younger sister. She often looked up to her elder brother and liked to hang around him. When she came into her early teenage years, she was more interested in hanging out with the girls her age and flirting with the cuter boys. Her friends occasionally took a chance and attempted to hit on him, but before their attempts could be thwarted by him, she would send a glare their way and suggest going out to the movies or some other such social idea. Relena knew that he was not specifically interested in anyone but she also knew that he hated to be approached by heady girls, especially ones younger than him. Although 3 years was not a large difference in age in the long run, at this time in his life, it would not be very wise to date a 14-year-old girl, nor did it sound appealing to him.
Because of his long hair and reluctance to date anyone, there had been a few rumors around the school of him being homosexual. Though, no one in their right mind would have said anything outright to him, mostly because of his family's wealth and power. It often bothered him, not so much that they were saying such things, but the fact that they were all too afraid to say anything. He didn't particularly like being feared, but that was not the main problem. It was that he knew he could stand up for himself and he resented the fact that it was his family that they feared and not Milliardo, himself.
Though, as far as the question of where his preferences lay, to him beauty was beauty and it hardly mattered what form it was in. Be it music, artwork, plant, animal, the sky, stars, a male or a female. Milliardo was drawn to beauty, as well as things that were pure or innocent. He found that for something to be beautiful it must not be just in face value, but also heart or spirit. If he saw a person who was free to do what they wanted he would feel admiration towards that person. Furthermore, if the person were to use that ability without taking advantage of it and using it to hurt people or for selfish gain, he found them beautiful. Unfortunately, he had yet to find any human being with such talent and beauty and was beginning to lose hope of ever finding one.
It was then that summer ended and fall came in. The trees began to change and the whether became cooler. A lovely array of yellows, oranges and browns filled the skies as the season changed. Along with colder temperatures, autumn also brought around the beginnings of a new school year. And although tedium and annoyances were offered with school, Milliardo still saw it as an escape from his home life. He also saw it as another opportunity to find that one person who he'd been looking for. So he left his home, luggage in one hand and a coat tucked under his other arm, and made his way to the campus where he would live his life for the next school year.
