A/N: Because nareiya requested a side story for the Yzak and Shiho couple, I decided that I'd be doing a side story on all of them, just to be fair to the other couples, and I don't know why I can't say no to your requests. :P But I'm feeling like a bad-ass author, writing for the other couples and all! \m/
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed/Destiny
Chapter 28: Side Stories
-o0o-
Side Story # 1: Friends at last?
"Here you go." An aromatic cup of coffee now was in front of Shiho. He also bought a drink for himself, but it wasn't like the warm coffee that she was drinking, it was the mocha frappe that she was eying on the menu a while ago.
"Thanks." She ripped open the pack of creamer that Yzak also handed to her and mixed it with the coffee. Even though she stirred her coffee, her eyes were glued to the mocha frappe that Yzak was drinking. Maybe she should have asked for a mocha frappe as well. It looked so delicious and cool. Why did she ask for a freaking cup of coffee in the first place?
Yzak was feeling the deadly stares that Shiho was giving to his drink. It was awkward that she was following the direction of where his cup went.
"Do you also want a mocha frappe?" Yzak couldn't take the unwavering intent look that she was giving the cup. "I'll buy you one if you want to."
"No! No! It's okay!" She flailed her arms around. "I don't want one!"
"Yes you do." Her inner self was betraying her.
"Are you sure?" Yzak gave her an inquiring look. If she didn't want the mocha frappe, then why were her eyes still on it?
"I am." She cleared her throat and focused on her cup of coffee.
"Okay then." Yzak wasn't convinced but he shrugged it off anyway.
"Okay fine! I do want a mocha frappe!" She confessed. "I was eyeing yours ever since you bought one."
Without any further delay, Yzak stood up to buy her a cup of mocha frappe.
"Why are you being so kind today?" Shiho asked him as soon as he sat down with the other cup of mocha frappe in his hand. "Buying me a coffee and a mocha frappe all in one day."
"Aren't I always kind?" Yzak nonchalantly replied as he handed the cup to her.
"To be honest, no." She said in a flat tone, she wasn't scared of what his reaction to that might be.
She expected him to be pissed off, like the sudden flinching of his eyebrows or the flaring of his nose or the sound of his teeth gritting or the balling of his fist in irritation.
But no, he didn't do any of those.
"Well, yeah." He agreed. "I might be a little hot-headed at times."
"You mean hot-headed a lot of times." Shiho added. It was true actually, every time she would see him, he would always be angry at something, other than her.
And again, she was anticipating for the symptoms of his head boiling and exploding like a volcano.
But there was none.
"And I find it weird that you aren't getting infuriated right now." She said after taking a sip of her free drink. "Aren't you supposed to be saying: 'Mind your own business, woman.' Or something like that?"
"What about you?" He didn't respond to her question, because he didn't even know the reason behind it. "Why aren't you the usual Shiho?"
"What do you mean by that?" She stopped savoring the taste of the frappe for a moment to look at him.
"Well, aren't you supposed to be picking on my 'unnatural hair color'? Or giving me a comment that would surely tick me off?"
"As much as I would love to see you pulling your hair out in exasperation, I can't really think of anything mean to say to you right now."
"And that's because of?"
"Look around you Joule. Everyone around us is either feeding each other or cuddling like teddy bears!"
"It's Valentine's Day."
"My point exactly."
"Oh…" He didn't know what to say about that. If it were him, he wouldn't be affected by the sight of the couples being so affectionate with one another. "So you're feeling kind of down because all of your friends have dates today?"
"What? I don't know what you're talking about! Definitely not! Of course not! Well, maybe a little… But not really. Maybe. Not so much. Yes." The words all came out from her mouth in less than twenty seconds."
"That's it?"
"Of course that's it!" Shiho felt a bit offended that Yzak's reply sounded like he didn't care about her dilemma that much. "Can't you see that everyone else has someone that they're out with?"
"Hmmm… I think you shouldn't feel down that much." Yzak told her, because he, himself wasn't affected by all the couples that were all lovey dovey. He was used to it since his high school days.
"And why not?" Shiho gave him an inquiring look.
"Because in time, the right guy will come, surely." Yzak couldn't help but give her a cliché line. But his mother always kept telling him that overused line whenever he would feel gloomy that everyone else had someone special, especially on the day of hearts. Maybe that was the reason behind he never rushed into getting a girlfriend.
"And where did you get that life lesson?"
"From my mother."
Unlike Yzak that would feel enlightened whenever his mother would say that to him, he noticed that there was no change in her depressing expression.
No matter how aggravating Shiho was when she was in her usual mood, it was also dejecting to see her so down in the dumps, so Yzak tried to cheer her up.
"Hey."
"Hmm?"
"You want to see something interesting?"
Shiho didn't answer but she looked at him to see if he would suddenly do something that was interesting.
Instead he brought out his wallet and took a piece of paper from inside it.
"Look at this." He handed the piece of paper.
"What is thi-" She was unable to finish her sentence because her jaw drop when she saw the person
It was a little boy.
With platinum hair like Lady Gaga.
This is him.
"Is this…" Shiho was trying to recuperate the words that she was about to say.
"Yep. That's me." He nodded.
"Are you serious?" Shiho didn't like to believe it.
"I told you that my hair color was natural." He gave her an 'I-told-you-so' look.
"Oh my… I can't believe that you were telling the truth…" Her mouth was forming into a grin.
Seconds later, she was wiping her eyes. Tears were starting to flow out of them. But it wasn't because of the fact that she felt so miserable being alone on a Valentine's Day. It was because she was laughing so hard that it made her stomach hurt.
Their conversation started to sail smoothly from there. They started to talk about other things.
Shiho was ranting a while ago of how she felt so fed-up about being so alone. But if random people were to see how the two of them were acting to comfortably with each other, they would mistake them for a couple.
-o0o-
Side Story # 2: Possessive much?
From afar, two silhouettes could be seen comfortably sitting in the beach, closely seated to each other with their hands intertwined with each other as they waited for sunset to befall on them. Truly, an epitome of a dream couple that could only be seen in movies.
Ring. Ring. Ring.
Then the sound coming from the cell phone suddenly destroyed the romantic atmosphere that the two of them were having.
They thought that both of their phones were on silent mode.
But that irritating ring didn't sound like the phone was set to silent mode.
The auburn-haired girl sighed as she took her phone out from her bag and wondered who would be calling her at a moment like this.
It was from Shiho.
Why was she calling?
Was it something so important that she needed to call her in the middle of her romantic date with Dearka?
She was supposed to answer her cell phone but Dearka took the phone from her and hid it in his pocket.
"Why did you do that?" Miriallia asked him.
"Because I want your attention to be always on me today." Dearka told her while pressing the reject button. It was a bit bold of him but that was what he really felt. "I know that they'll be stealing you away from me the moment we get back."
"How possessive of you." Miriallia whispered in his ear.
"Call me possessive or whatever you want to call me, but I'm not returning your phone until the end of the trip." Dearka stuck his tongue out while pulling Miriallia closer to him.
"But what if it was something urgent?" Miriallia asked him.
"I don't think it is."
"Why are you so sure about that?"
"I just feel it. Like the way I felt about you."
"Where did that come from?" Miriallia chuckled when she heard him say that.
"From nowhere."
"I didn't know that you could be this romantic." Miriallia said to him as she leaned on his chest.
"Are you surprised?"
"Yes, I always thought that you were only after one thing."
"One thing?"
"Sex."
"Well I must admit, at first I thought you were hot…" Dearka started to say. "And they say that if a guy calls you hot, he's just after your body."
"Then?" Miriallia wanted to slap him when she heard that, but she figured that she would let him finish first.
"But then again, there's more to you. You're a good friend to Cagalli, talented, smart, friendly funny and kind." He continued to talk. "Believe it or not, I'm not after that one thing anymore…"
"Aww…" Miriallia couldn't help but feel flattered about what he was saying, he was just too sweet!
"Wait maybe I'm still after that one thing… but not just yet." Dearka snickered.
Then Miriallia slapped his shoulder, hard.
Side Story # 3: Mister Number Three and One
"Bye Cagalli." Kira said as his laughter ceased. "See you."
"You're so mean Kira!" Lacus told him. She was sitting in the blanket that Kira laid out for the both of them. "You're laughing at poor Cagalli because she doesn't have a date with Athrun today!"
"Of course I wasn't!" Actions were louder than words because Kira started to chuckle again. He wasn't happy at the fact that Cagalli didn't have a date, of course he felt bad for her. It was just that Mister Number One was stuck in his office instead of having fun. He sounded like a sadist while saying that, but it was true.
"You really don't like Athrun don't you?" Lacus raised her eyebrow. After all the things that happened: making them eat lunch or dinner once in a while to let them be comfortable with each other, the time that Cagalli almost had a miscarriage, and the time that Kira was invited for the Zalas' celebration of the New Year; the two of them still haven't got along quite well. They still would bicker over the pettiest things. It seemed like the only thing that they loved to do together is to fight with each other.
"Hmm… Not really?"
"That was more of a question than an answer."
"Here." Kira pinched from his sandwich and tried to feed her.
"You're not answering." Lacus said in a playful tone, but still ate the piece of sandwich that he gave her.
And Kira still wasn't answering. She gave him an inquiring look but he avoided it by drinking from his cup.
"Oh I know!" Lacus looked like she had an epiphany. If it were a cartoon, a light bulb would have popped just above her head.
"I bet you're insecure!"
"Whaaaaaat?" Kira almost choked on his juice. "What did you just say?"
"You're insecure when around him." Lacus gave her a knowing look.
"I am not!"
"Yes you are!"
"Nooooo!" He shook his head violently. No way he was insecure with that Mister Number One! There was just no way!
"Well why not?" Lacus raised her eyebrow. "He's good-looking, he's the president of his own company, the company that he manages is number one in the industry, he has a kickass car, he's rich, his skill in tennis was almost as good as yours even though he only played once and he spends more time with Cagalli than you do!"
Kira swore that his jaw drop when he heard Lacus say that. Well, partly because she said the word 'kickass', Lacus never says words like those. And partly because what she said was kind of true…
"Aww come on Kira!" Lacus giggled when she saw her boyfriend so speechless. "I was just joking. Did you think I was serious?"
He nodded.
"Don't fret about it." Lacus held Kira's cheeks and shook it gently. "Even though Athrun and Cagalli call you Mister Number Three, you're my Mister Number One."
Kira's face flushed when he heard that and enclosed Lacus into a warm hug and wasn't planning to let go any sooner.
-o0o-
Sorry if there are no AsuCaga moments in this chapter! This was just a side story.
So this is a short chapter, compared to the others. :P Just a short chapter before I leave! What did you think of it? Review! Your feedback is very much appreciated.
And I was surprised that my fic had over 80 favorites! Thank you readers! I hope the others that clicked the 'Add Story as Favorite' button review as well. :P
Anyways, see you!
