Green Means 'Go'

by Tynan

“What do you mean you don’t know how to drive?” Relena tilted her head towards Heero, wondering why he was so confused by this, “Well . . . I just never learned I suppose.” My first one-shot!

"Green means 'go', yellow means 'go faster', and red is . . . a suggestion."

- - - - -

(peaks head around the corner)

Yeah . . . so this is my first post in like six months. Actually it's also my first one-shot so, yay! (I think). Anyway, I've been writing this story since like December and finally forced myself to sit down and finish it. It's set in the Occam's Razor Universe, but its not necessary to have read that one to know what's going here. Speaking of OR – I swear I am working on the next chapter right now, and I'll have it up as soon as I possibly can, which will hopefully be in a week or so.

Just for the sake of clarification, I don't own any of these characters, Mario Kart, or any of the cars discussed here – actually I hardly know anything about the cars mentioned here or cars in general for that matter. Also, I know that GW is set like waaaaay in the future, but I've used cars from now for simplicity's sake.

Okay, enough of my babbling – enjoy!

- - - - -

Green Means 'Go'

By Tynan

"What do you mean you don't know how to drive?"

Relena tilted her head towards Heero, wondering why he was so confused by this, "Well . . . I just never learned I suppose."

"Relena, you're 18 years old. How have you gotten this far in life without learning to drive?"

She stopped walking to roll her eyes at her Head of Security, considering their current setting there was probably no getting around this conversation. Stretched out before them, as far as the eye could see, was car, after car, after occasional truck, but still more cars . . . which was appropriate considering that it was a scrap yard they were standing in. She had just finished giving a speech for the opening of the new recycling and manufacturing plant that had been built on the grounds. Normally she wouldn't be present at an event such as an opening, but the Prime Minister had asked her as a personal favor after the Minister of Environmental Affairs had come down with the flu.

At the moment she and Heero were making their way through the scrap yard, (Duo practically skipping ahead of them, oohing and ahhing at the various things of a mechanical nature he was discovering) back to where her car was waiting . . . and while she was on the subject.

"Well Heero, I never really had a need to. When I was younger I had a driver, when I came of age, I still had a driver, and now that I'm the Foreign Minister, I have a Preventers officer to drive me to and from work. And aside from all this I have this highly paranoid, over-protective –"

Heero grunted at her, clearly not appreciating the insinuation.

"- older brother who seems to think that I'm made out of glass." She couldn't help the sly smile that crossed her features, but Heero didn't seem to notice.

Beside her, the former Wing pilot subconsciously nodded in agreement before flatly stating, "You have to learn how to drive."

"Heero, I hardly think that –"

"Heero! Hey man, you've got to see this!!!" A cheerful yell from Duo's direction cut her off.

The Japanese man, for his part, just rolled his eyes and swore under his breath, "Duo, you're supposed to be taking point on Olive Branch's –"

Duo however, appeared not to have heard him, "Seriously man, get over here!"

Relena couldn't completely suppress the giggle that threatened to escape as Heero swore again and set off in Duo's direction. They found the man in question standing over what at one point in time may have been a car . . .

Duo smiled proudly at them, "Would you guys look at this thing? I can't believe I just found one of these." He lifted his head to meet Heero and Relena's eyes, looking back and forth between then with an expression that reminded her of the time her dog had brought her and her mother and dead bird and expected them to be very pleased. "Come on, what do you think?"

Relena tried not to look too confused, "I think I need a tetanus shot just from looking at it."

The braided man waved her off, "Heero come on man –"

"Duo, Relena's got a meeting back at the Capital in 25 minutes," he turned back to her, "and she'd probably like to get to them on time."

Relena shrugged apologetically, "Sorry, Duo."

Duo's face fell like a ton of bricks as he sputtered, apparently unable to find the words he needed to convince his best friend. He looked back and forth between them for a moment, before practically screaming, "Heero, come one man! We can't just leave this here!"

But Heero had already taken Relena by the arm and was guiding her back to her waiting car. "We can deal with it later, Duo." Relena felt his gaze boring into her, "And you're going to learn to how to drive."

Relena rolled her eyes, "Heero, I don't have time for this right now, these next few weeks –"

"The meeting you had scheduled for next Tuesday was cancelled and the rest of your day is free."

"Heero, this is really –"

"I'll see you, Tuesday."

- - - - -

The Preventer's Bureau motor pool and mechanic's facility was a massive structure . . . and the entire place reeked of gasoline, oil, and rust. Relena quickly found the particular garage and work station where Heero had said to meet him. In the middle of the floor, sat a vehicle and strewn around it and on the table next to it, were various parts and hunks of metal Relena could only assume had once been inside the rusting heap next to her. Heero however was nowhere to be seen.

"Heero?" She took a cautious step onto the filthy concrete floor, scanning the room, then jumped nearly a foot in the air as the man in question's head suddenly appeared next to her feet, from under the car. As she tried to get her heart beating at a normal pace again, Heero slid himself out from under the car and stood; he was practically coated in grease and black smudges both on his skin and the t-shirt and jeans he was wearing. He grabbed what had to be the most disgusting rag she had ever seen from a nearby table and began cleaning his hands.

"Good, you're here."

Relena ignored the obvious insinuation that she was late and continued to stare at the rusting metal heap that Heero had just emerged from under. "Have you switched departments?" she poked at him.

"No, I just brought my car here to do some work on it."

Relena paused to further considered the mangled looking object in front of her. Despite the fact that it was practically unrecognizable as a car let alone any specific car, she could tell it was not one of Heero's. Heero allowed himself one indulgence in life and that was all things automotive; her body guard had two cars: his 1992 Viper RT for everyday use and his Aston Marin DB AR1 which she was pretty sure Heero tucked in before he went to bed every night. To suggest that he would allow either of his meticulously customize and maintained vehicles to fall into the state of disrepair that the heap in front of her had was absurd to say the least. Relena looked over her shoulder to lock gazes with her friend, "This isn't your car."

Heero just smirked at her, "Yes it is, I got it just yesterday."

Suddenly it clicked, "Wait, this is that rusty, run-down, deathtrap that Duo found in the junk yard last week!"

She could have sworn she saw his eyebrow twitch, "Relena, first of all, this is not a deathtrap; this is a 1954 Porsche 356 Speedster convertible; they only produced 7,627 of these things. It's a classic." He tossed the rag aside and stepped back to the car and slammed the hood shut. "Second, it was due to be scrapped; I had a moral responsibility to rescue this vehicle."

"You actually paid the scrap yard for this thing?"

"Nope," both of them whirled around to be met with Duo emerging from behind a large stack of boxes in a similar state of greasiness as Heero, "they just gave it to him." He grinned at them, "So anyway, thought that we'd fix it up, see if we can get the old girl back to her former glory and all for y –"

"Give me a minute to get cleaned up and then we can go." Heero cut him off.

"Oh . . ." if possible Duo's smile got even wider, "time for the Princess's driving lesson?"

Relena's face fell, "We're not taking this thing, are we?"

Heero paused on his way to the door, "No, I reserved a training vehicle and track for us for the evening."

"And . . ." Relena suddenly began to feel the blood draining from her face, "and this car . . . and the track are safe and everything . . ."

"It's a closed course Relena, we'll be the only car on the track." Heero answered her in a deadpan voice as he began walking away from her, pulling his grease and oil covered shirt off in the process and exposing his bare back to the suddenly furiously blushing Foreign Minister.

She sighed in an exaggerated way, extracting a bark of laughter from Duo, "Oh come on Princess, you really think the former Queen of the World can't handle one little car?"

- - - - -

"Heero, why can't I learn in an automatic?"

"As I already explained, you should learn manual first. It will be easier to –"

Relena sighed, "Yes, fine, I understand." she glared down web of button, dials, and gauges before her.

Heero handed her the keys, "Relax, Relena, driving isn't hard . . . even your brother can do it."

The comment got a small snicker out of her, as she turned the keys over in her hand, before inserting them into the ignition shaft. Lights immediately came on all around her but before she had a chance to examine any of them, Heero interrupted her with an amused expression on his face, "Alright, first press the clutch."

"That's the . . .?"

"The pedal on the far left."

"Okay."

"You're pressing it?"

"Yes."

"All the way in?"

". . . Okay, now I am."

"Then turn the key."

The engine roared to life, eliciting a small squeak of surprise from Relena, "What the –"

"It's supposed to sound like that."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"You're really sure –"

"Keep your foot on the clutch and put the car in reverse, Relena."

"That's the one with the 'R', right?"

"Yes. Okay, now start lifting your left foot off the clutch and –"

"It was supposed to be my left foot?"

"Switch your feet, Relena."

"Sorry."

"Now, slowly start lifting your left foot off the clutch and start pressing the gas down with your right, you'll feel the engine catch and the press the gas dow–" Heero was thrown forward in his seat as the car suddenly lurched backwards. "Slowly, Relena!"

There was a thump and Heero and Relena were pitched backward as she fumbled for a moment before slamming the brakes.

Relena looked around in a bewildered way, "What was . . ."

Heero glanced in the side view mirror curiously, "Impressive, you managed to hit something after moving only five feet."

Relena unbuckled herself and opened the driver's side door to stick her head out and survey the damage. "Oh my God! It's . . . a squirrel!"

"Not any more."

- - - - -

"Relena, the wall! Watch the wall!"

"Don't yell at me!"

"You have to move your hands one over the other when you turn!"

"I'm not taking my hands off the wheel, we'll crash!"

"Relena, if we crash, that's not going to be the reason."

"Shut-up Heero, I'm trying to concentrate!"

- - - - -

"Okay, no wait, I think I've got this now. Let me –"

"No. I'm driving. When Hell freezes over, you can drive again. No, I'm wrong. Even if Hell freezes over, I'm still driving, because I don't want you driving on the ice!"

"Heero, take your hand off the steering wheel!"

- - - - -

"Damn it Relena, a red light is not a suggestion!"

- - - - -

Duo watched as the red, standard sized sedan pulled . . . well rather jerked, itself back into the garage and two weary looking figures got out . . . well one got out, the other practically fell out of the driver's side door. Heero crossed to the other side of the car to lift Relena to her feet and helped her walk back to where Duo was standing.

"Hey where the hell were you guys?"

Heero rolled his eyes, "Relena's car had a nervous breakdown."

Duo looked to the woman he was holding up, he couldn't help but notice that she looked a little green. "You alright there Princess?"

"I'm never getting in another car ever again."

Heero locked eyes with him, "This is going to be a little more difficult than I had originally thought."

- - - - -

Relena put her head in her hands after swallowing what must have been her fifth aspirin in as many hours. For as long as she had known Heero Yuy she could never conceive of a single thing that the man couldn't do, but no longer. Of course, it wasn't really his fault; after yesterday she was now convinced that no one was going to be capable of teaching her how to drive.

No sooner had she put the cap back on the little plastic bottle and slipped it back into her top drawer than her intercom beeped and her secretary's voice rang out.

"Minister Peacecraft?"

Relena made a serious attempt not to sound as annoyed as she was, after all yesterday wasn't Edith's fault, "Yes Edith?"

"Ma'am, Agent Yuy is wishes to speak to you."

Relena suppressed a groan, "Put him into my voicemail please, Edith."

"That will be difficult considering that he's heading back to your office, ma'am."

And with those words one of the double doors burst open and before she knew it Heero had seized her wrist and was hauling her out of her seat, "Heero!" he ignored her and kept walking in the direction of the door. "Heero, what's going on?"

"Driving lessons, remember?" he answered without even turning around as they rounded the corner and into the lobby of her offices' suite.

"I'm not doing any more of these lessons with you! Besides, even if I was crazy enough to get back into a car with you, it's the middle of the day! I can't just leave!"

"Yes, you can." He stopped in front of Edith's desk, "I cleared your schedule for the rest of the day."

"You did wha –" Relena looked desperately to her secretary but the older woman just smirked and shrugged at her.

Before Relena could even begin to argue with her however, Heero started pulling her towards the door again, "And as for the actual lessons, I've come up with an alternative."

"An alternative? Heero, I'm not –" her sentence was cut off as she was jerked out the door and down the hall.

"Can you at least tell me where we're going?!"

- - - - -

"Funland?!"

Relena looked to where Heero was standing next to her convinced that he had really lost his mind this time. They had just spent an hour in his car (the 1992 Viper RT) driving to what Relena had been convinced was the middle of nowhere only to pull off the highway and into a massive asphalt parking lot. They were now standing in front of the entrance to Europe's second largest amusement park; Heero was buying them tickets and Relena was standing beside him trying to remember what you were supposed to do when witnessing someone having a psychotic episode.

"You kidnapped me from work to bring me to an amusement park to learn how to drive?!" Heero nodded as though this was completely normal, "Heero, how am I going to learn how to drive at Funland?!"

Even as she was screaming at him, Heero was leading her through the gates and into . . . something that even by her Disney-nourished standards could be described as a bit much. All around them there were bright colors, music was playing, children were screaming, and people were having fun . . . as far as she knew this was Heero Yuy's idea of Hell.

"I think I may have pushed you too far too fast yesterday. We're here to get down to some basics."

"At Funland?!"

He smirked in that way that she hated, "Funny, I thought this would be one of your favorite places." Relena opened her mouth to protest, but found herself unable to do so; Heero's smirk widened accordingly as he took a map of the establishment from his pocket and examined if for a moment, "Come on, the bumper cars are this way."

- - - - -

Heero took a seat next to her in the tiny, electric car, and fastened his seatbelt. "Alright, we're going to start slow. Here you only have to worry about one pedal and steering," she smiled at this revelation, "but I want you to do as best you can not to hit, or get his by any of the other cars."

Relena gawked at him, "Heero, the idea of bumper cars is to hit people."

"Not in your case."

She glared at him, "Well I don't know how you expect me to avoid all these children who are going to be trying to hit everything they see."

"Actually, it's going to be a little more complicated than just that."

A voice suddenly came from over the PA system, it took Relena a moment to figure out that it was the ride operator, "Alright boys and girls, before we get started, there is a silver car out there with a blonde woman in it. The guy she's with has a free ice cream certificate for whoever can hit them the most times –"

"Heero!!"

"– and GO!"

It actually wasn't as bad as it could have been. After the first ten times, Relena's reflexes seemed to be getting better. By the twentieth time she was managing to avoid most of the children who were pummeling her at every available opportunity. Beside her, Heero watched the events with an amused look, keeping track of how many times each car hit her, and distributing the promised coupons to the winning children, who scuttled away quickly.

Relena watched the latest victorious child run back to his parents, she couldn't help but smile, Heero seemed to be enjoying all this a bit too much.

"Alright," he unfastened his seatbelt and stood, "I'm satisfied with this portion of your training."

She stood and followed him towards the exit, "This portion?"

He turned to her with a small smile, "The go-carts are next."

- - - - -

"So these are more like real cars?"

"In the sense that you can't crash them into what ever you want, yes they are."

Relena looked up to Heero who was standing over her, adjusting the chin strap in the helmet that he was holding. She sighed, defeated, and busied herself with pulling the seatbelt across her lap. The small car seemed like it would not hold up if a butterfly crashed into it, let alone another car. "You can't come with me?"

"There's only one seat, Relena." He handed her the helmet which she quickly put on. Heero knelt down beside the car to check her seatbelt, "You'll be fine, you've improved greatly since yesterday."

She rolled her eyes, "I know but . . . these things go so fast . . ."

Heero stood and walked back to his own car, which was waiting directly behind hers and effortlessly slid inside. "It's just like the bumper cars –"

"No it's not!" She called back to him.

" – and I'll be right behind you." He voice was drowned out by the sudden roar of engines.

"Drivers ready!" Relena was growing to hate that disembodied voice. "And GO!"

She squeezed her eyes shut and floored it.

- - - - -

"Well, it could have been worse I suppose."

Relena looked past the man that was putting the bandage on her forehead to gape at Heero, "You're handling this much better than I ever would have guessed."

Heero shrugged at her, "You're the one who decided to drive a go-cart with her eyes closed. Be happy it was only a cut on your head." a small smile cracked his lips, "I don't think I've ever heard anyone scream like that ride attendant when you plowed right into his booth."

She shook her head trying to quell the nauseous felling rising in her stomach as she flashed back to ten minutes ago, "All the other cars were just going so fast, and the go-cart was so open, and I just felt so . . . exposed."

"Okay Miss," the medic put one more piece of tape over the bandage and stepped back, "it shouldn't leave a scar, just make sure to put this cream on it until it heals completely." He handed her a small tube of disinfectant.

"Thank you, sir." Heero held out his hand to help her down from the exam table and handed her jacket to her as they walked back out into the park, "Well, what now?"

"Somehow I don't think that they're going to let you near the go-carts again, so I'll take you home now." It could have been her imagination but she swore Heero actually sounded a little disappointed.

Relena nodded in agreement, but then a thought struck her. "Hey Heero, while we're here can we go on one other ride?"

Heero narrowed her eyes at her, "Which one?"

"Well," in spite of herself she blushed a bit, "I saw that they have a Ferris Wheel here."

To her surprise a thoughtful expression graced Heero's face, "I've never been on a Ferris Wheel. Are they fun?"

Relena smiled, "Yes, they're a lot of fun. You're going to hate it."

They found the structure in question quickly, however Heero's good mood seemed to vanish as they approached the boarding area; something Relena quickly noticed. "Is there something wrong Heero?"

Heero glared at the car that the attendant was opening for them, "I'm not convinced of this ride's structural integrity."

The attendant cast him a questioning look, but smiled pleasantly nonetheless, "I can assure you sir, that this attraction has an excellent safety record."

"Can I see it?"

"He doesn't have it on him, Heero!"

He raised his eyebrows in a befuddled manner, "Then you're not getting on –"

"Oh for the love of God, Heero!" and with that she grabbed his hand and pulled him inside the car before he could object any further. The attendant closed the door behind them and they rose into the air, the cart swaying slightly as they went.

Heero watched as Relena looked over the side and down to the ground below them that was growing more and more distant; she had a pleasant and content smile on her face. "These are the kinds of machines that I enjoy, Heero. I just don't understand obsessions with cars."

Heero shrugged in reply, "Cars are useful, all this thing does is take you around in circles."

Relena pursed her lips indignantly, "It does more than just that!" She gestured to the view before them; beyond the amusement park trees dotted the landscape, interrupted only by the occasional home and far off in the distance, Brussels could be seen barely peaking over the horizon. "You couldn't see a view like this anywhere else."

"What about from a helicopter?"

"Heero . . ." Relena made no attempt to hide the annoyed tone in her voice.

"And the helicopter at least gets you from place to place. Once you know how to fly it, you can have it take you anywhere you want."

She smiled at him knowingly, "Is that why you love machines so much? The complete control that you can exert over them?"

Heero smirked at her, "What I like about machines is that they are predictable, they don't do anything that you don't tell them to. But that being said, one machine –"

"A car, for example?"

"Yes, say a car, can be modified to suit the individual needs of its user. You can make changes to it that will allow for it to perform better for you."

Relena leaned forward in her seat to look him in the eyes, "Like that hunk of junk you and Duo have in the Preventer's Maintenance Facility?"

Heero rolled his eyes, "Cars should be unique, personalized for their operator." He swung his head around lock gazes with her, "They should be special somehow or another."

For reasons she could not be sure of, the Foreign Minister felt a blush creep over her face. The look on Heero's face was deadly serious and yet . . . she had never heard him speak passionately about something like this before. "So . . . you're not just fixing that car." She shifted uncomfortably, "You're making it special?"

To her surprise, Heero gave her a small smile. "Well I certainly hope so."

- - - - -

Relena glanced down at her watch as she walked briskly through the Capital Building's halls toward her office. Her meeting had run almost an hour over; that coupled with Heero's surprise field trip/kidnapping two days ago had put her incredibly behind schedule in her paperwork.

The Foreign Minister rounded the last corner as fast as she could without drawing attention to herself and tried not to think about Heero's determination to get her a driver's license. Driving just wasn't her thing; negotiating world peace, establishing settlement on Mars, settling on trade agreements between the Earth and colonies, these were all things that she could do. These were all things that she would rather do every day for the rest of her life than continue to try to learn how to drive.

Relena threw open the door to her office suite a little more forcefully that she should have, which drew the attention of her secretary Edith and her Chief of Staff Josephina Tumalty, both of whom looked as though they were about to leave for lunch.

Josephina cast her a knowing smile, "The meeting went well then, Ms. Foreign Minister?"

Relena rolled her eyes, Josephina only addressed her by her title when she was preparing to tease her. "I had to sit through three hour of an idiotic list of budget revisions being touted by the Prime Minister's insufferable little disciple –"

"That would be his Communications Director Jason Michaels?" Josephina could hardly keep the smirk off of her face. "He's quite impressed with you Relena, I think he just wanted an excuse to spend time with you."

Relena gaped at her and Josephina took a few steps closer in order to maximize the affect of her leer, "He even called me once on the pretense of government business but two minutes into the conversation couldn't stop himself from asking if you were seeing anyone."

Relena's eyes instantly narrowed, "I sincerely hope, Josephine, that you did not say or do anything that might encourage this unbearable man."

Her Chief of Staff shrugged, "You should just give him a chance. What's not to like? Jason's handsome, smart, (Relena huffed in disagreement), has a good job, and –"

But Josephina's listing of Jason's positive attributes because at that moment Heero burst out of Relena's office and into the lobby. Relena sputtered and took a step back, "What are you doing here?!"

Heero paused to throw Josephina a vicious glance before turning back toward Relena, "Driving lessons, remember?"

Relena stepped back from him and shook her head, "How long have you been waiting in there for me?" Now practically beside herself, Relena looked over her shoulder to Edith, "I told you to stop letting him into my office!"

Edith rolled her eyes, "Of course, Foreign Minister, next time I'll use the shotgun I keep stashed under the reception desk to dissuade Agent Yuy from entering and exiting your office how he sees fit."

The younger woman was about to retort when said agent seized her arm and began dragging her in the direction of her office, her pleas for help drown out by Edith and Josephina's laughter.

The Foreign Minister's Chief of staff wiped a small tear from the corner of her eye and sighed, "Think he heard all of that?"

Edith laughed, "Of course he did, why do you think he stormed out here rather than just wait in her office?"

Josephina leaned against the high sides of the reception desk, "Sometimes I worry that we're a little too cruel to the two of them."

"It's nothing they don't bring upon themselves," Edith responded with a smirk on her face and a glint in her eye.

- - - - -

"Heero, I mean it you can't just keep showing up in the middle of the day like this!"

"You need to learn how to drive."

"Do you have any idea how behind I am in work?"

"That's what you have a staff for."

"Yes, however I am the Foreign Minister, there are certain duties and responsibilities –"

"All of which you can get back to once you learn how to drive."

Relena wrenched her arm from Heero's grasp, "And I'm going to do this in my office?!"

Heero stopped just outside her office door, "I've made arrangements." He reached for her arm again and gently pulled Relena into her office.

All of the furniture had been pushed against the walls with the exception of one couch which sat in the middle of the room. Perched in front of it was large flat screen TV with a small white piece of technology connected to it. Relena wrinkled her eyebrows in confusion. "What is all of this?"

Heero didn't answer her, instead he walked to the TV and turned it on, then busied himself with the white thing in front of it. Relena crossed the room and sat on the couch; the screen came to life, a colorful logo splayed across it. After a moment, Heero stood up, this time with two white, plastic circular objects in his hands. He handed one to Relena before taking a seat next to her on the couch. "After giving it some thought I've determined that your inability to operate a vehicle successfully is rooted in your anxiety regarding driving."

Relena sighed under her breath, "Yeah, 'anxiety's one way to put it."

"So I thought that practicing in a simulated environment with no actual consequences would –"

"Is this a video game?" Relena turned the round device over in her hands.

It could have been her imagination but she swore that she saw Heero blush the tiniest bit, "I borrowed it from Duo . . . in exchange he'll be stopping by later."

Relena made a vain attempt to suppress a giggle. "And you really think that this going to help me learn how to drive?"

Heero pressed several of the buttons on his controller and the TV screen flashed to a scene of brightly colored vehicles, each with a different character bearing grossly over-exaggerated features. Relena glanced over the rest of the screen, "The name of this game is 'Mario Kart'?"

Her Head of Security grumbled under his breath, "I borrowed it from Duo."

Relena smiled, "How do I pick a character."

Heero pressed a few buttons and highlighted one of the characters, "You're going to be the princess."

"Hey!" She slapped his arm, "What if I want to be the little green lizard guy?"

But Heero had already selected her avatar, "I'm going to be the little green lizard guy, you're going to be the princess. You bear somewhat of a resemblance to her; it will make it easier for me to keep track of you." He smirked at her.

"I'm the only other person playing."

"The way you drive, I'm going to need everything I can get."

It took a few rounds, but to Heero's surprise, Relena actually got the hang of 'Mario Kart'. She even came close to beating him once. Before either of them realized it, three hours had passed and Duo was knocking on the door, two pizzas in hand. The braided man quickly took over Relena's controller and he and Heero proceeded to conduct an all out war within the confines of the animated world splayed across the screen.

"Ha!" Duo leaned to his right, mirroring the actions of his on screen counterpart and cut off Heero to pull ahead of his friend. "Eat that, Yuy!"

Heero narrowed his eyes, "You've accelerated into the turn far too quickly." And with that Heero overtook Duo, narrowly passing him and flying across the finish line.

"Argh!" Duo threw his hands up in the air, "I want a rematch! My controller's not responding fast enough to my super-human reflexes!"

"Stop making excuses and just admit that you were soundly defeated by a superior pilot."

"Superior pilot?!" Duo jumped to his feet, "Fine! Let's settle this in the real world rather than a virtual one!"

Heero stood as well, "Test track?"

"Boys," Relena got to her feet to stand between them, "I really don't think –"

But neither of them were listening to her.

"How do you want to do this, Yuy?" A sinister smile spread across Duo's face and he gestured for the door, "Boring, standard issue Preventers training vehicles?" He leaned in closer, "Or our own meticulously customized –"

"I'm going to beat you in that heap you call a car," Heero yanked to the office door open, "and prove that not only am I the superior driver, but also the superior mechanic."

Duo breezed out the door, leaving Heero to follow him, "In your dreams, Yuy. You're forgetting who you're talking to here."

The door slammed behind them, leaving a slightly stunned Relena in their wake, wondering if she should be concerned for either of the two men.

- - - - -

"Dude, I can't figure out this wiring for the stereo system. I don't think it's going to work in a car this old." Duo lifted his head from the mass of wire he had been buried in and looked in Heero's direction; only part of his friend was visible, his top half was covered by the front end of the car.

"That's why we upgraded the electric system, Duo."

The braided man sighed and scratched his head as he stood up, "Well then I must be doing something wrong."

Heero peaked his head out from under the car to glance at Duo, "Did you read the instruction manual?"

"Is that a serious question?"

The American man laughed a bit as Heero slid himself out from under the car and walked over to where his friend was standing over what should have been a car stereo system by this point. Heero sighed and picked up one of the parts Duo had been toying with but as soon as it was in his hand he heard the familiar sound of heels clicking against the garage's concrete floor. He shoved the stereo piece into Duo's hand, "Just find the instruction manual and figure it out." Heero grabbed a rag from the table to begin cleaning himself off. "I ran the final check this morning, everything else is functioning properly so just finish that off and we're done."

Duo raised his eyebrows in a questioning way for a moment before glancing over Heero's shoulder to where Relena had come into view. The Deathscythe pilot smiled knowingly at his friend, "Oh right, today's the day huh? Is the Princess ready?"

"Have you ever known Relena not to be prepared for anything?" Heero turned away and pulled off his grease covered shirt, exchanging it for a clean one from his gym bag. It was early Saturday morning and after over a month of practice Relena was finally ready for her driver's exam . . . well at least he thought so.

"Heero, I really think I could use a bit more practice." She looked to him with a pleading expression in her eyes.

Heero pulled a fresh shirt over his head and tried to shake off the hypnotic powers that look of hers usually had on him. It was time to appeal to her rational side. "Relena, I arranged for you to have the first examine of the day so that I could set up the necessary security precautions." He locked eyes with her, "We can't go back and change that now."

He could see her working this through in her mind and sure enough, moments later she threw her hands up, "Fine, but if I somehow manage to singlehandedly destroy the entire testing sight, I'm telling everyone it was your fault."

Behind them, Duo barked a laugh, "Oh come on Princess," he swung and arm around her shoulder, "you can lead the free world with your eyes closed but you don't think that you can pass one tiny little driver's exam?"

Relena closed her eyes and shook her head knowing that it was useless to argue with either of the men in front of her. When she opened them again, Heero had already crossed the room and was holding the driver's side door of their practice car open for her.

Duo gave her an encouraging slap on the back, "Knock 'em dead, Princess!" She answered him with an unsure sounding grunt and made her way to where Heero was waiting. She climbed inside the door and Heero shut it behind her.

He crossed over to the other side of vehicle, but paused before getting in look in Duo's direction. "You need to be there in an hour, are you going to be ready?"

The braided man put a hand on his chest and tried to look highly offended, "Heero, come on man, who do you think you're talking to?"

Heero rolled his eyes and pulled open the passenger side door, "Yeah, that's what I'm worried about."

- - - - -

He heard the car before he saw it, and to his great relief when he looked up from his crossword he determined that it was not on fire.

Heero stood and walked to the glass doors in the front of the testing facility. He watched for a moment as the gray coup Relena was driving slowly, but gracefully navigated itself into one of the parking spots before pushing the door open and stepping outside.

As he approached the car, the driver's side door opened and Relena calmly stepped up, and unreadable expression on her face as she walked toward him. "Well?"

"She passed." Her test administrator answered even as Relena's face split into a huge grin and she threw her arms around Heero's neck. The former Wing pilot couldn't help the smile that crept onto his face.

Relena pulled back from him, "You've accomplished the impossible, Agent Yuy, I am now a licensed driver."

He was still smiling when he heard the sound he had been anticipating for almost an hour coming up behind them. "Well then, you're going to need something to drive."

He gently pulled Relena onto the sidewalk to make way for the sleek, silver convertible that pulled up next to them, a certain braided man was behind the wheel.

Duo killed the engine and hoped over the door without opening it; he extended his hand to Heero, offering him the keys, "You want to do the honors then, man?"

Heero's lips quirked into the tiniest of smiles and he took the keys from Duo, "Everything's working?"

Duo tried to look offended, "Hey, who do you think you're talking to here?" He swung his hand up behind his head and spun on his heals, "Well, I'm gonna go look for some coffee. I'll catch you kids in a few." He paused for a moment and turned back to Relena, "Oh, and I'm first in line for a ride in that thing."

Relena crinkled her eyebrows in confusion as she watched the Deathscythe pilot walk away. She turned to Heero, about to ask him to explain, however before she had a chance, Heero held out his hand to her.

"Here." To her surprise, Heero dropped the set of keys Duo had just given him into her hands. "You'll need these."

She stared at him for a moment, before glancing down at the keys and then to car parked next to where they were standing . . . then it clicked. "This . . . this is the car you and Duo have been working on this past month . . ." Heero nodded, "Y-you did this for me?"

Heero blushed a bit but otherwise just shrugged casually, "I told you, cars should be personal, they should be suited for the person using them." He stepped down off the curb and walked to the driver's side door, "I thought that you should have something special."

She couldn't help it; despite Relena's best efforts she felt tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. Before she even realized what she was doing, she had thrown her arms around Heero's neck and buried her face into his chest. The Japanese man froze in surprise for moment before returning the embrace.

After a moment, Relena stepped back, a slight blush marring her face, "Thank you, Heero." She took one of Heero's hands in her own and lifted her eyes to meet his, "Th-this is . . . I can't believe you did all of this for me."

Heero shook his head, "I wanted you to have something special from me."

"Hey, you guys aren't making out or anything are ya?" Duo suddenly emerged from around a corner, one hand holding a cup of coffee, the other over his eyes.

Heero growled under his breath, "Duo . . ."

The American removed his hand from his face, "Well why the hell aren't you making out?"

"I swear to God, Duo –"

"I'm just saying Lena, he built you a car – ow!" Duo recoiled from Heero's slap, but it did not dissuade him, instead he ducked backward just out of Heero's grasp, "Actually, I did a lot of work on that puppy there too, I think I deserve at least a smooch."

Relena watched with an amused smile as Duo continued to dodge Heero's lunges , each escape more narrow than the last. Shaking her head she opened the driver's side door and settled herself into her new car; she ran her hand over the leather covered steering wheel then inserted the key into the ignition. The Porsche roared to life and seconds later someone plopped into the seat next to her.

"So where are we going?" Duo's braid was mussed and he seemed out of breath; then he suddenly disappeared only to be replaced by a victorious looking Heero.

"So where are we going?"

"I want breakfast!" Duo yelled as he righted himself in the back seat.

Relena smiled to him in the rearview mirror and shifted the car into gear, "Breakfast it is."