Everybody's Fool

by Mariana1

Duo's POV songfic to Evanescence 'Everybody's Fool' 1x22x1 hints of 3x4. That means -SHOUNEN AI- no read if no like. After the war Duo is invited to Heero and Relena's engagement party, but are they the perfect couple everybody seems to think they are?

AN- Another song-fic to Evanescence… this time Everybody's fool, as you could probably tell by the title ^_^! But for once- this does not have an angsty ending, which for an Evanescence song-fic is really something. I love the song, and the first thing I thought when I heard it was -Relena, mainly because of the second verse. It is, as per usual, 1x2/2x1 whichever way you really want to put it, less Relena bashing than usual but it's still in there. Many thanks go to Death's Daughter, again, for beta-ing, and everyone who has ever reviewed one of my 1x2 fics ^_^… 3x4 is mentioned and no Fei-bashing… yay.

Disclaimer- I do not own Gundam Wing, the pilots, Relena (thank God) or anything else. I do not own the song 'Everybody's fool' Evanescence do, but I do own the plot-line, minuscule as it may be. I am getting no money for this and my only reward is the pleasure of writing and the reviews that I will hopefully get… hint hint…

Everybody's Fool

I watch, from the sidelines, as the television screens show more pictures of your 'perfect relationship'. They celebrate it and they celebrate peace, as though the two aren't mutually exclusive things, as if they aren't just promoting your coupling to add to the media frenzy of a 'New World'. I'm not sure if they actually think you are happy. For all I know, they do- you're very good at hiding things like that, from people who don't know you.

But all the stuff they tell you, all those speeches the 'perfect princess' makes about peace. That's all just lies. It's a ton of bullshit that people take in purely because they want to believe it. People will believe anything they're told to believe. If I went up to them and told them that the earth was about to break apart and they only had 5 hours to live they'd probably believe me. A person alone wouldn't, but add them to a pack and you get a bunch of sheep, only a lot easier to herd.

They say it's all going to be all right now, that everything will be perfect and that she was the one to make it so… with your help of course. But they don't know a thing. They think that just because she tells them it, it has to be true, because she is 'Relena Darlian' perfect woman and perfect leader.

Perfect By Nature

Icons of self indulgence

Just what we all need

More lies about a world that

Whenever I see you these days it's always attached to her arm, or no more than a metre away from her, standing there, looking just like you always do. That's what I hate. The fact the pair of you are rubbing my nose in it with your relationship, showing me what I missed out on and making sure I know what you have got. Or what you have not got, as the case may be.

I can see past the façade, you see, I know how you really feel. I can see the stresses and strains of your relationship from a mile off without having to squint. I can see through that impenetrable mask of yours and I know you aren't happy. You are only doing this because it is what was expected of you. I can see the tenseness in her smile and her eyes and I know that she knows as well as I do that you don't want to be there. But neither of you ever tells anyone.

After the war it was an unsaid fact that you were going to go away with her, I would have stopped it, I tried to, I tried my hardest to talk you out of it, but you just passed it off as the ramblings of a braided baka. Without a war to fight you had no purpose, and she gave you purpose, so you went with her. Sometimes I don't think you even saw me.

So now you're unhappy, I can tell. I can read you like a book and I know that you still do not have a purpose. But no one else realises, not even Q-ball and his miraculous space-heart, you play the role, and they all believe you.

Never was and never will be

Have you no shame

Don't you see me?

You know you've got everybody fooled.

I got an invitation to your engagement party, and I know that you're the only reason I got one. She always knew that I was competition on some level and she never let me come close without a fight. I'd not know if you asked me because you realised something, because you were being polite or because you wanted to see me again. But I am going to take up the offer for all three reasons.

So now I'm on my way to this ball, a black-tie do. Here I am looking all smart and well dressed, and devilishly handsome as well, if I do say so myself, in a tux, ready to either make polite small talk or attempt to sweep you off your feet. I always did like playing with fire.

I spoke to Quat and he's going too, so even if it was just politeness that made you invite me I'll have someone to chat to. Not that I'm looking forward to this in any way shape or form, I don't know if I can stand being this close to you and not allowed to touch. I don't know if I can bear being so close to her and not scratching her eyes out for stealing the one person I loved from me. But I pull back my shoulders as I get out of the taxi and paste on my best devil-may-care smile. If you can fool people, so can I.

I enter with as much presence as I can muster, although the number of dignitaries and upper class people around are making me want to run as far away as I can. However, this is a situation that Duo Maxwell is not going to run from. I'm going to see this through to the end. I can't see you this unhappy for the rest of your life without at least trying to help you.

I find Quatre within a matter of seconds; he's standing by the refreshments, sipping a glass of the best champagne and making small talk with a few snobby looking people. Typical Q, at home anywhere, especially fancy dos like this. He was bred for them. He catches sight of me in under a minute, which I am grateful for, as there's a rather large lady with a determined look on her face on a deliberate collision course with me. He excuses himself from the people he was chatting to and comes to talk to me. He looks happy- at least someone is- and I am treated to a long description of how he and Trowa got together, which I have heard before, but which is just so damn cute I could probably enjoy hearing it a million times.

As he's speaking the man in question comes up behind him and blushes when he hears what his koi is talking about. It takes a moment for him to silence Quatre, but soon they're lip-locking away like they have not seen each other for the last six months when they live together for Shinigami's sake. I tease them a bit, but now that they're actually together my innuendoes do not seem to make Quatre blush as much, and some even put a thoughtful look in his eye. It's quite depressing really, knowing that the most innocent and naïve (though from the looks of it not any more) member of our little band is getting more than me.

But then I see a sight that makes my grin grow. Even if Quatre and Trowa have grown past my little jokes here's someone who will not have done.

"Wu-man!" I call cheerily out to him, and his face immediately begins to blacken. He would probably be at my throat right now if there weren't so many people around. I begin to start my jibes at him. He has been married for bout a year now, although his wife is across the other side of the room. I cannot help but make a few remarks about his sex-life but what he says next throws me completely.

"Just because you haven't got one." Ow! Talk about hitting below the belt. But the shrewd look that follows the comment gives me the idea that maybe not everybody is as blind as I thought. It is covered quickly with a mocking smile and I gradually work my way up to a comeback, calling him catty and telling him to put his claws away. That was possibly the worst insult I have ever traded with him and the glint in his eye tells me that he thinks that too.

But before he has a chance to reply the room falls still and there is an almost audible 'sshh' going around. Everybody is turning to look behind me and even before I turn myself, I know what I will see.

You are walking down the grand staircase, arm in arm with your new fiancée, who is undoubtedly getting more attention than you, which I know is how you want it, but I think that is an injustice, to use the words of our mutual friend. You look as stunning now as you did the first time I saw you, but I am careful to just grin as usual, although the looks Wufei is giving me hint that I haven't been very successful

"Aren't they such a cute couple?" I hear Kitty-Quat ask from beside me and I manage to restrain myself long enough to agree, even adding a laugh to cover the bitterness. Yes, you do make an adorable couple, but you would be cuter if you were happy and in love.

Look, here she comes now

Bow down and stare in wonder

Oh how we love you

No flaws when you're pretending

I often wondered how people could be taken in by your mask of happiness, but now I see it close up it is more fixed and more real than I would have anticipated. However, there is still enough of you behind the mask for me to recognise that you are just as unhappy as you ever were. You're doing well at hiding it, but I can still see between the lines.

Our eyes meet and for a second I'm lost in the sea of blue presented to me, but then I pull myself together as you pass our group by, without even speaking a word. In your eyes I saw nothing, and I am beginning to doubt what I thought I knew. Now that we are close again, I can hardly see the cracks that were so evident before, I do not know if it was just wishful thinking. Maybe I am here to break up one of the happiest couples I know. But as I catch sight of your eyes again I know that I was right, you are desperate for an escape route and you have the same look as you used to get when you received orders for a possible suicide mission: accepting, final.

You need help; I can feel it. You want help; I know it. And yet you still do not ask for it. I cannot just walk up to you and get to you to say how you feel; I cannot make everything better. You have to do that for yourself. But you cannot. You are on a self-destruct mission and your finger is barely a millimetre from the button.

I leave then. I turn and go. I cannot stay there and watch you die, that is too great a price to ask of me. I know that Quatre wants to go after me, I can hear him call my name, but I ignore him and send silent thanks to Wufei as he holds him back, understanding, if only a little, what is going on.

She never was and never will be

You don't know how you've betrayed me

And somehow you've got everybody fooled

I find myself on a veranda, overlooking the dimly lit gardens of your house- yours and hers. The little 'paradise' you have created. From here it looks picture perfect, beautiful flowers, green lawns, towering trees and a miniature lake down at the bottom. Very picturesque. I can just see you and her with a group of little children having a picnic down beside it. If you are still alive by then of course. I am not entirely sure you will be. I do not know if you can cope with your unhappiness and purposelessness that long. From what I have seen tonight it will not be long before you crack, and the gun you pointed at me on innumerable occasions is pointed toward your own head before you blow it straight off with clinical efficiency.

I can exact some bizarre kind of relief from that. I feel comforted by the fact that I know you better than her, and even if I can't have you, she never will.

"Duo?"

Shit! You're here! I jump out of my skin as your voice pulls me from the mental pictures I was dwelling on. What are you doing out here? You should be inside. Why are you not keeping up the pretence? Why are you not at her side?

"What's wrong, Hee-chan? Wedded bliss too much for you already?" I wince at the bitter and bitchy tone in my voice as I turn to face you. You are standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame with the curtains closed behind you so no one knows where you have gone. You shrug, there doesn't seem much else for you to say as you meander slowly to where I am standing and look out at the grounds with me.

We stand in silence there. Neither one of us wanting to talk, neither one wishing to break the self-imposed silence.

"Duo…" You begin, and I turn, hoping you are going to tell me that you have changed your mind, but no. "I'm glad you're here." I nod, and we fall back into silence. I can feel you begging me to say something, to beg you to come with me, to tell you the words that you would know I meant. But I remain silent, and when I do speak it is not what you want to hear. I am not going to give you an excuse to leave; but I will give you a reason not to stay.

"Heero… are you happy?" I ask the question I already know the answer to, but I am not sure you do. If you say yes, then there is not much I can do for you, but if you say no, I can help. I am not going to ask you for the truth. I want to know what you want to tell me.

It takes a while, and you begin to nod. I feel my heart sink, and my face drop. That was the one thing that I had dreaded happening. But as you open your mouth you check yourself, and suddenly, you stop, motionless, analysing yourself and I see you realise something. I look into your eyes again and I see the beginnings of realisation. You understand what I am trying to do, and you help me. You look at yourself, and you look at everything you have been trying to hide from everyone.

"No." It is one word, and it is final. It is the word I was longing for in answer and yet, now that I hear it, I am terrified. Terrified for me, terrified for you and terrified for everyone who was relying on you and Relena having the happily ever after ending.

I blink, and it is as if you have changed completely. Now you have not got any guards. Your defences and your mask are gone and you are left alone looking vulnerable and childlike, and every bit as petrified as me. I reach out and pull you into a hug as tears I have never seen you shed roll down your cheeks.

"How did you know?" You question is muffle in my shirt as I comfort you, and you pull away to look at me. "How did you see, when no one else did?"

I smile, wiping your tears away with the back of one hand, and chuckle slightly. Suddenly the world seems a much better place to live in.

"Because I know you, Heero Yuy, and I can see through that bloody mask of yours…" I murmur softly. "And because…" I break off. I cannot go too far now; you have to sort some things out first. But without your defences you seem so helpless that I pull you gently into another hug.

Without the mask

Where will you hide?

Can't find yourself

Lost in your lies

You pull away slowly and there it is again, the mask. But this time it is the one I remember. Not a mask of false happiness, but the mask you wear every day, to protect yourself from harm and the snide comments and remarks of people. I realise, in that second, that I am damn proud of you. I am proud that you told me the truth, proud that you realised in time, proud that you saved yourself.

"I have to talk to Relena." You say quietly, in the same tone of voice with which you have often promised to kill me. I nod, understanding perfectly. I shoo you away with my hands.

"Yeah, you gotta break the bad news to Princess," I agree with another of my grins, I cannot help it, I am ecstatic at the moment, and not a single thing you say could make me less happy. You smile slightly and lean forward brushing your lips against mine in the merest echo of a kiss. Despite that, I blush like a schoolgirl her first time behind the bike sheds. That makes you smile even more.

"Thank you…" you tell me, before stepping back into the thriving ballroom, where there is no doubt, a rather hysterical ex-fiancée looking for you.

I wait a few seconds to pull myself together, and lose the rosy shade, before I follow you back in.

Almost as soon as I walk in a blond, who is practically hysterical himself, accosts me. I laugh at how worried he was and tell him I am fine; I just felt the need for a bit of fresh air. Neither of which is a lie, I assure myself, because, they are both truths, if they are not the whole truth.

As I reiterate my statement that I am fine my eyes catch Wuffie's and he asks me a silent question. I nod at him briefly and his eyes widen as he sees the truth in my eyes. He's damn more perceptive than we give him credit for being.

Just then I catch sight of you being dragged through the hordes of well wishers by a pink nightmare. As your eyes catch mine I know you have not had a chance to speak to her yet, I shrug. If she wants to face the humiliation of doing it publicly then it is her own decision.

As the pair of you stand on the dais, silence reigns in the room, except for a lady who has just had red wine spilt down her new cream dress, but she is hastily ushered outside to be cleaned up, much to my amusement and her consternation.

Relena begins to speak, with you trying desperately to get her attention before she makes a complete idiot of herself. But she pays you no heed, something I only wish could have happened before it got this far. Clichéd platitudes and well-worn formulas fall from her lips as she thanks us all for being here and tells us how wonderful a day it is for her. She adds a lot about peace and hope and faith, but not a word crosses her lips, or her mind I'm sure, about love.

Then she comes to the main event, the thing we have all been waiting for, and I am well aware of two sets of eyes on me, yours and Wu-babe's, both questioning and anxious. I shoot you a reassuring grin and wink at Wu-man. No need for everyone to be taken unawares.

I am actually quite glad that you have to do it in public. This way there is no confusion about what you said or whether you meant it. I do not feel I could put up with anything like that at this point.

"We have, as you know," Relena began, completely unaware of the danger she was heading for, "A reason for calling you all here, despite the enjoyment we find at your presence," a chorus of dutiful titters. "And that is to announce that Heero and I are engaged to be married." There was a roar of applause before you firmly moved her aside. I can see the confusion in her eyes from here. I can imagine what is going through her head; she is wondering why her trained monkey is surprising her.

"Actually Relena," you speak quietly, but everyone is silent to hear what you have to say. "I think we should speak… privately." She doesn't get the hint, and shakes her head, telling you, in a patronising tone, that makes you fists clench, that she is sure that whatever you have to say can be spoken in front of all of the assembled.

There is no backing down now. You have tried to spare her the public spectacle, but now there is no other way to do this. You nod to yourself as you realise this.

"We are not getting married." Your tone is flat, dangerous, undercurrents of the death you live with everyday cut through the room, and there is shock in the silence now. "I do not love you, you do not love me, you manoeuvred me into this wedding against my will, I never even agreed to it." The look on her face is incredible. I have never seen so much shock, horror and embarrassment before. "We would not be happy. I would not be happy, Relena, and I do not want to marry you." With that you turn and walk away, leaving her staring at the place you had been. The room is still silent and there are any number of people who cannot get past the fact that the 'It' couple of the moment has just had an unpleasant, unfriendly and very public break up.

Then the muttering starts.

I know the truth now

And I know who you are

And I don't love you any more

It never was and never will be

You don't know how you've betrayed me

And somehow you've got everybody fooled

She calls after you as you walk away, her voice murdering your name with its whines as it always used to do. The crowd parts in front of you, like the Red Sea, but I do not move aside and you are heading straight for me. I can feel your eyes on me, I can feel her eyes and the eyes of our friends boring into me and I hear her yelling after you that you can't leave her for some street rat, and I agree. You shouldn't leave her for me; you should leave her for yourself. And the amazing thing is- you are.

Wufei is smiling, and I think Quatre and Trowa are as well, along with a few more of the people in the room who know us better than the rest. No one is looking at her anymore; even her voice is drowned by the murmurs. You and I are the only things in the room.

You stop in front of me and offer me a sheepish smile, I mark that down in my memory: I've never seen you looking sheepish before. I feel the grin spread across my face and I see the sparkle I know must be in my eyes reflected in yours.

"Let's get outta here," I say with a laugh and you nod, hooking an arm round my waist and detaching the bow tie that had throttled your neck all evening. Followed by complete silence we leave, ignoring the stunned stare of your ex-fiancée.

It never was and never will be

You're not real and you can't see me

Somehow now you're everybody's fool

-~o+O+o~-

OWARI

AN- I don't really know about this but I do have some ideas for a second chapter, maybe from Heero's POV (although I'd probably muck it up) and possibly extending it to a proper story. I'm not sure if I should do it though so suggestions would be welcome. Thanks!