Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing I know I never will. So I write to pacify myself 'cause I have time to kill.

Author's Note: This story is AU, and the characters are slightly OOC, just because I can. ;) However I promise it's not hurting them in the least! You'll see mainly only 1xR and 2xH, but I'll probably bring in other characters later in the story.

All Bottled Up

By: PyroNeko

"Remind me what we're doing here again?" Heero asked in a bored monotone.

The bustle of the crowd drowned out his words so that his shopping partner never heard him. He frowned. How he ever let himself get talked into this he had absolutely no idea, but he was definitely regretting it.

"Oh!"

He jumped and whirled around. "What?! What is it?! Are you ok?"

Relena looked at him strangely. "Of course I'm ok. Look at this beautiful bottle! The decorations are so intricate."

A bottle? All of this fuss over a fancy bottle? He cocked his head; he was rather drawn to it though. It was a bit more than he could comprehend. He shrugged slightly, his boredom advancing rapidly with dismal persistence.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"What do you think? Isn't it exquisite?"

Heero nearly groaned aloud. "If you say so. I'm sure it's very nice."

Relena peered closely into his face. "If I didn't know any better I'd say you were somewhere else right now." She accused.

'Boy I wish', he thought.

Exasperated she looked away and back to the small vessel she held. She sighed and placed it gently back on the venders' table, then began to move towards another display.

'Ah, we're moving again.' Heero thought with relief and began to follow. Suddenly he felt a hand close around his arm and his momentum practically swung him around before he had a chance to react. He latched on to whoever had grabbed him and was in the process of rendering them useless when a long braid nearly put out an eye as he frantically dodged. His attacker grunted, then coughed.

"Duo!" Heero released his best friend and shook his head. "Serves you right. You shouldn't sneak up on people like that and grab them from behind."

Duo looked up from his place on the ground where Heero had so unceremoniously dumped him. "Ow!" He yelped as he tried to move his head only to find that he was sitting on his braid. Heero couldn't help himself and began to chuckle. He tried to turn it into a cough behind his fist but it was too late.

"Ha! Look at that! I saw it, you laughed!" Duo grinned; it was worth the pain to see his normally stoic friend openly enjoying himself. Moving more carefully he extracted his braid from under his posterior and looked up again. Heero offered him his hand and pulled him to his feet, his face now perfectly schooled to an emotionless mask. Duo shook his head. 'It never lasts for long' he thought.

"So what are you doing here anyway? I didn't know you liked flea markets…"

"I don't. I'm here with Relena."

"Oh I see." Duo said in a knowing voice.

"What are YOU doing here?" Heero pushed, trying to get the conversation off of himself.

"I'm here with Hilde. You think I'd come alone?"

Heero shrugged. "With you I never know."

"And I plan to keep it that way too."

Heero just ignored him and looked around for Relena. He spotted her about two venders down. He couldn't believe she hadn't missed him yet. Not that he cared he told himself. 'Yeah right' his inner self interjected. He ignored it best as he could and turned back as Duo began to speak.

"Well? Aren't you gonna get it?"

"Huh?" Heero was clueless. "Get what? You don't make any sense at all."

Duo rolled his eyes. The guy was hopeless.

"The bottle. The one she liked. Aren't you gonna buy it for her?"

"What? How did you know about that? Were you shadowing us or something?" He frowned.

"Of course not!" Duo was affronted. "We were just nearby that's all. Speaking of we…"

His voice trailed off as he craned his neck around to find his other half. He spotted her arguing animatedly with a merchant not far from their position.

Heero's eyes followed his gaze and picked out Hilde. It wasn't hard. "I feel sorry for that merchant. He's going to lose some money today."

"Hey!! What are you implying?!" Duo crossed his arms over his chest.

"Nothing at all."

The braided man shook his head.

"Forget it. So are you going to buy the bottle?"

"Why?"

"Oh come on Heero, she liked it. It was obviously a hint, she wants you to get it for her."

"And how do you know so much?" Heero mirrored Duo by crossing his arms as well.

Duo sidled closer. "You my friend are talking to the one and only walking, talking, love encyclopedia." He said in a low voice directly into Heero's ear. Heero jumped away from him accidentally jostling another shopper.

"Hey watch it man!"

"Sorry." Heero mumbled. Then to Duo: "Please don't do that again. I might have to hurt you."

Duo didn't look worried. "Well???"

"When you're a walking love encyclopedia I'll be a talking cat!" He exclaimed, exasperated at best and completely un-amused.

"Aw wouldn't that be cute. Meow." Duo taunted.

"I'm warning you."

"Neh" Duo waved his hand airily. "You still don't scare me. Just hurry up and buy the bottle already, I wanna get back to Hilde."

"Go right ahead, nothing's stopping you."

"Ah, but that is where you'd be wrong. I'd be doing you a great disservice if I were to leave now, my mission incomplete."

"And that mission is?" Heero was afraid he knew already however.

"The final, complete intertwining of the lives of two of my closest friends." Duo answered ever so eloquently.

Heero blinked. "In other words you're trying to marry us off."

Duo nodded. "That's about it."

"I have two words for you."

"What's that?"

"Dream. On."

"Hey you can't fault a guy for trying." Heero glared at him. "Ok maybe you can."

Heero turned and walked back to the booth where the bottle had been sitting. It was gone. He pursed his lips in annoyance.

"You mean you were actually gonna do it? Tsk, tsk, too bad it's gone. Snooze you lose." His friend razzed.

"You're really pushing it today Maxwell, don't you have someone else to make miserable?"

"DUO!!!" He whirled around in the direction off the voice. "Uh oh. Well there's your answer I guess."

"I think your leash is being jerked."

"Ouch, that's harsh." Heero shrugged.

"Excuse me sirs."

Both turned at the voice.

"You," said the merchant. "The one with the messy hair." He pulled out the ornate bottle from underneath the booth and held it up. "I held on to it, figured you might be back sooner or later to pick it up for your girl."

Heero ignored the messy hair comment and obediently made the purchase, promising to come back and get it before he left so she wouldn't know he had it. When he turned around Duo was still there.

"What are you still doing here?"

"Just had to make sure you did it that's all."

"DUUUOOOO!!!" People were beginning to turn and stare. He jumped. "Looks like that's my cue!" He yelled, waving as he ran off.

Heero shook his head. Those two were unusual to say the least. He looked up to see Relena searching the crowd for him, a worried look on her lovely face. 'Time to go' he thought, and moved quickly in her direction.

"What happened?" She asked when he reached her.

"I was waylaid by a braided lunatic."

"Oh, you saw Duo and Hilde?" She chose to ignore his little barb. She knew he didn't mean it. "Too bad I missed them."

"If you say so."

Relena sighed. Would he never change?

"I guess I'm ready to go when you are." She surprised him.

"Really? Uh…Ok." He was rapidly trying to figure out how he was going to get the bottle for her when she neatly solved his problem for him.

"I just have to visit the ladies room and I'll be right back."

"Alright, I'll meet you by the entrance."

She smiled, turned, and swept off through the crowd. He watched her as she left remembering Duo's words. He abruptly shook his head as if to shake off the thoughts and made his way quickly to the booth to pick up his purchase.

On his way to the front he debated giving it to her right away then thought about Duo and his love encyclopedia. It wouldn't exactly be romantic that way. Wait a minute! He didn't want to be romantic! Did he? A frown appeared on his face. He felt like his head was in a meat grinder! After a few minutes of mental ping-pong he decided to wait. He hoped he was right.

They drove in silence on the way back, neither seemed to want to break it. They were nearly to Relena's house when Heero finally got up the nerve to speak

"I don't have anything planned for Wed. night, want to go to dinner?" He said in a rush.

Relena sat still in total shock. Was the man asking her out on a date? She composed herself as quickly as she could and glanced his way. His rock hard profile told her nothing. "Sure" she answered. 'Like I would refuse', she thought with a small smile.

"I'll pick you up at 6:30." He blinked. "If that's ok with you."

"Sure" she repeated. Still stunned.

Heero was on cloud nine! She had actually said yes! They were going on a date! It was all he could do not to let loose a war whoop right there in the car! He glanced over at her and almost grinned. Her surprise had been rather amusing. He should have thought of this sooner.

Well there it is folks, the first chapter. Let me know what you think, constructive flames only please! :)