Just taking a teeny, tiny, little break from D&D 'focused' chapters for a little something fluffy and fun with the guys and gals. Hope you enjoy. :)
(Technically...this was requested and who am I to deny a request?)
Planning of a different sort or two.
"Okay...now before we go in, there are two things to take care of. Number 1...does anyone have any relevant questions?" Quatre asked as he and the other former Gundam pilots climbed out of the Jeep that Relena and he had bought specifically for the guys to use for day-to-day driving. Trowa gave a dismissive shrug and stared-one brow raised in a look that was equal parts curiosity and potential dread-at the building in front of them, while Wufei and Heero shared near-matching expressions of "why am I here". Duo, however...
"Yeah, Quat'. Chief among 'em is why are we at a fancy-schmancy suit store?"
"Remember what all we were planning with Relena and Hilde a couple weeks ago?" Quatre asked, which caused Duo to blink in realization while the remaining three just nodded as they recalled the impromptu start of the planning for a future group wedding. Duo's expression broke into a wide grin at that. "Oh, yeah. So we all set a date for that and no one told me?"
"No." Heero answered before Quatre could. "On both things, Duo. We're all still planning everything-."
"-While you have been more concerned with figuring out the best set up for the cameras to capture the "exact moment" that Une and Zechs have their respective physiological and psychological breakdowns." Wufei interrupted as he folded his arms over his chest and gave the brunette a flat look. Duo could only blink at first while he ran Wufei's sentence through his internal "Wufei to normal-speak" translator, before giving a just-shy of nervous laugh in response. "Okay. Noted. I'll help more with the other stuff."
"Thank you, Duo." Quatre said cheerfully as if he were completely oblivious to the unspoken threat that Wufei had directed at Duo. "As for why we are here though...well, we don't have to get our suits yet, but I thought that we could at least go in, look around, and come up with a decent outline of what all of us will want to wear for our wedding, mainly so that we're not running around in pure chaos when we do finally set a date."
The other four nodded at this as, to be completely honest, Quatre's reasoning made sense to them.
Quatre, at the nods, grinned. "Any other questions?"
Wufei, Heero, and Trowa all gave a dismissive shrug in answer while Duo just shook his head.
Quatre nodded once more. "Okay...so on to the second important thing..."
The blond turned back to the jeep, unlocked the lockbox in the trunk/bed area, and promptly pulled out the first of four lidded plastic containers. He popped the lid off of the first one and held it out to Trowa. "All weapons and/or dangerous objects that would make you fail a metal detector and/or bar you from setting foot on commercial aircraft, please."
Heero couldn't fight the groan that bubbled up out of him at that while Duo's jaw dropped open. "Wait...we each get a container?!"
"Yes."
Wufei just raised a brow. "I left my sword at home today and you know that I don't carry any other weapons."
"Just agree and sign a note that says that you will refrain from tearing out people's vital organs, Wufei." Quatre offered because what else do you do when one of the people you had to ask this of should be legally registering their hands as lethal weapons and spent every 'Movie Night' critiquing the techniques of every martial arts and action movie that everyone watched? "I'm sure Relena doesn't want to have to explain away you recreating the throat-ripping-out scene from "Roadhouse"."
Wufei frowned for a solid thirty seconds before he finally shrugged and went to get the notepad and pen from the glovebox to write out the requested note.
Trowa, however, stared at the plastic bin still being held out to him...before finally proceeding to set his gun and holster in the bin along with the two throwing knives that had been hidden up his sleeves. At Quatre's raised brow, the former pilot dug into his pockets and added a small collection of paper clips, three rubberbands, a pocketknife, a small curved knife that Duo vaguely remembered was called a 'karambit', and a small Ziploc bag containing a coiled length of piano wire to the bin.
"Uh...planning to go "Agent 47" on somebody today, Tro'?" Duo asked as Trowa put a pair of thin, black leather gloves into the bin as well. Trowa just gave Duo a completely blank look and lowered his voice to a vaguely sinister tone. "If I have to."
Duo stared...but Quatre just closed up the bin and put it back in the lockbox as, in Quatre's case, he was just glad to see that Trowa was starting to enjoy messing with everyone outside of spouting random 'disturbing' facts (like how ketchup could 'technically' count as a smoothie) that made everyone question everything that they had ever known all of their lives as well as doubt their remaining sanity.
The blond then held another bin out to Heero who grunted in annoyance, but eventually gave way to the "puppy-dog pout" that Quatre was wearing and proceeded to place his gun in the bin. When the bin did not move away, the former assassin/mercenary/"living weapon" reached into his denim jacket and started filling the bin with two smaller 'side guns', two extra clips of ammunition, six loose bullets, two combat knives, a switchblade, a pocketknife, a lighter, and...was that...?
"Yuy. Do you always carry around a block of C4?" Wufei said as he finished writing his note and put it in his own bin; despite his question, he didn't even look surprised by this revelation...after all, he had known everyone for a while now and at least suspected some things. Trowa just raised a brow at the current sigh (though he seemed to be far more "I suspected this but now it is confirmed" rather than surprised, much like Wufei) while Duo's jaw steadily dropped to his feet in a clear, mental, "what the actual fuck".
The former pilot in question, however, merely shrugged in response. "You never know when you may need a block of stable plastic explosives."
"'Ro...what the hell else have you got in there?!" Duo started once the explosives were in the bin and Quatre was putting the full bin in the lockbox. It kind of boggled Duo's mind if he were honest because that jacket was thin and...no, seriously. How?
When Heero offered no response to Duo's question, Quatre just smiled and held up the last bin to the long-haired pilot. "Your turn, Duo."
"Oh, come on, Quat'. You know I'm clean." Duo started...only for the blond to give a soft sigh in response...which signaled Heero and Trowa to grapple Duo back against a wall while Wufei proceeded to frisk the brunette and calmly place any "contraband" into the bin that Quatre was helpfully holding.
In less than five minutes, Quatre was adding Duo's bin-containing a gun, two Zippo lighters, three inexpensive Bic lighters, one grill lighter, two small metal flasks containing some kind of 'accelerant', a small box of matches, one pocketknife, and...a kazoo? Quatre blinked. "Duo, why do you have a kazoo?"
"I...kinda got an idea for a way to harass "Agent Wind"." Duo said as he started to straighten his clothes once he was released from the wall. "I was thinking that we replace his phone alerts and ringtones with a kazoo version of "The Final Countdown" and then just spam him near-non-stop and see how long it takes for him to scream and/or start cussing like the Doc did back when I bleached all of his Hawaiian shirts 'cause he forgot to feed me one time."
Ignoring the tangent regarding the past, all four of the remaining pilots stared at each other a moment before they nodded practically in unison because, in all honesty, now they were curious about exactly how many repeats of a kazoo version of ANY song it would take to break someone's sanity. Trowa spoke up after a moment. "We should do it with e-mail alerts as well. He might just turn off his phone."
"Good idea, Tro'!"
"And on that note..." Quatre said as he put Duo and Wufei's bins into the lockbox and secured it, dutifully ignoring that Heero now had his phone out and was texting Relena about the newest prank idea to be directed at Zechs...to which she asked for the guys to please bring back a detailed story and video evidence of her brother's sanity going snap, crackle, pop.
"Now, shall we all go into the store and see what we can sort out?"
As the guys headed into the store, Duo chimed in. "Oh, Hil' just suggested that we put the Spice Girls' song "Wannabe" on repeat through HQ's PA system and just see who cracks first."
"Une." Was all Heero said as the door closed behind them.
=[elsewhere in the world...]=
"The guys are going to prank my brother again." Relena said with a small smile as she printed off the copies of the maps for a forest, city, and sprawling castle-mansion for the next game session.
"Are we getting video?" Hilde asked from her position on the couch, surrounded by magazines. Relena put the printed maps aside with her notes and the tokens and miniatures that she had stored away for the next side quest for the party. "Of course."
After a moment, Relena walked over to sit down next to Hilde. She looked at one of the spread out magazines. "You know, you don't have to pick a dress yet, Hil'."
"I know, but you already have an idea. I really don't outside of two color options." Hilde said with a small shrug as she flipped the page. "Why is everything either poofy or skintight in all of the places that I don't have?"
"On the poof, because most brides see their wedding as a fairy tale ending a la Cinderella I guess." Relena said with a shrug as she looked between the two options splashed across the pages. "On the skintight and mermaid styles? A lot of women like to show off their curves, no matter how big or small. I personally say that anyone with that kind of confidence should go for it if that's what they want."
"Yeah, they should if they want to: 'if you've got it, flaunt it' style." Hilde said with a grin before flipping to another page. "But I don't have it. You're curvier than me, 'Lena."
"Admittedly, you are more physically active than I am so that could explain that." Relena said with another shrug as she rested her shoulder against the former freedom fighter's own. Hilde chuckled some and nudged against the diplomat's shoulder. "Yeah, true. So you still going for a version of this supposed "dress I tried to shoot Une in"?"
"It's my favorite option right now...though I am leaning towards having a version of it made in a blush-pink and ivory instead of the white with blue accents that the original is."
"Fully decided against white?"
"Almost all of my dresses as 'Queen Relena' were white so that color goes in the "no for me" pile right alongside of "princess ballgowns" and wearing my hair up." Relena said as she flipped to a page showing a wedding pantsuit and...a white jumpsuit? Well, those may not be her style, but she would happily cheer on anyone who did wear those to their wedding. "Hm...do you actually want to wear a dress, Hil'?"
"Sorta. I figure that if I'm going to wear a dress for once that my wedding seems like the perfect time to do it, you know?" Hilde said as she bypassed the page with the jumpsuit because it looked cool, but she'd worn enough clingy suits in the past. "...the more I think about it, the more I keep thinking that I want something just comfortable, you know? I want either ivory or a nice lilac color, but I want the dress to be something that I can breathe and move in."
Relena tapped her chin in thought then nodded and stood up to grab her car keys from the drawer of her desk. "Then let's stop looking at bridal magazines and just look at dresses in the colors that you want. After all, it's just a dress for a wedding...I say we can get away with pretty much anything."
"'Cause it's our future wedding and we're the brides?" Hilde said as she stood up, grinning ear to ear, as she followed the diplomat out the door to Relena's "cherry blossom pink" (and the diplomat had been very insistent on the 'shade' of pink that she had wanted) 'casual' convertible with it's new ivory-colored interior.
"That and who in their right minds would be dumb enough to argue with us when we have the guys in our corner?" Relena said with a laugh while Hilde snickered and leapt over the door to settle into the passenger seat, while Relena got into the driver's seat like a normal person only because she lacked the athletics of the other girl and their boys'. "Want to swing by and grab Catherine and see if she wants to just have a 'ladies day out'?"
"To the future sister-in-law!"
Fluffy stuff is fun to write...and the line "You never know when you may need a block of stable plastic explosives." (originally referencing "Burn Notice" and from a commercial) that Heero says is literally what inspired this whole chapter. BTW...the boys were playing hooky from work for this chapter, so feel free to imagine the mix of relief and dread going through everyone at Preventers HQ.