Gee...who would have thought that tuxedos were so damn awkward? Duo cursed himself for letting Relena talk him in to wearing a fancy tux for the Christmas celebration. Of course, since it was Relena requesting that he dress up, he only thought it proper to comply with her refined preferences.

"O-ho-ho! Here comes bishounen Maxwell now, all prettied up in a suit!" Fellow Gundam pilot Wu Fei Chang sniggered as Duo forced himself down the hall, looking very uncomfortable in the restraining ensemble in which he was dressed. Duo restrained himself, knowing that Wu Fei's time would come later tonight at gift exchange time.

"Oh, stop, Wu Fei!" Relena giggled watching Duo trying to make his way into the dining area. "You look cute," she told him as he passed her. He started blushing (Did she really say that to me?), so he sped up, telling her that she didn't look too bad herself, and making his way into the enormous dining room.

Duo walked around to the far side of the table where his found his name inscribed on a table tent. He was at the corner of the table, right by Milliardo, Relena's older brother, who occupied the head. Relena sat at the far head, with Heero right next to her. Quatre was on Duo's other side, and Wu Fei was across the table from him. The last two places were occupied by Lucrezia Noin, former OZ lieutenant, and Trowa. Relena came in and took her seat.

Duo, naturally, opened the conversation. "So…let's eat? Of course, it is Christmas, so we should logically say a blessing for our meal. And I think I'm best suited for the job, since I've had the most formal training, and on top of…"

Duo never got to finish his self-praising lecture before he was interrupted. "Shut up and pray if you're going to, manuke."

"Geez…lighten up, Wu!" Duo said a quick blessing and the feast commenced.

"Mmm. I love turkey," Duo declared as he picked a turkey leg off of the plate.

"Your etiquette is appalling," Wu Fei told Duo with a glare.

"Duo smiled back mischievously. "You're just sore because I got the best piece."

"I prefer the white meat, Maxwell. The dark meat is not as healthy. Not that that's a problem for you. Eat all you want. I won't complain."

"Hey! That's a bit harsh, Wu-man! Of course, I can't say it'd be too much of a burden to die…I wouldn't have to put up with all your crao about my honour this and my justice that." Duo made a show of mimicking Wu Fei.

"MAXWELL!"

Duo's eyes sparkled at making Wu Fei angry.

"Both of you are acting like children. Can we at least have a Christmas meal without the two of you fighting?"

Both Duo and Wu Fei turned toward the source of the indictment. When they saw that it was Trowa who had spoken, their eyes, along with everyone else's, widened ("Trowa? Was that you!?").

It was peculiar that the normally taciturn young man had made such a forthright statement. "Well," he said when he noticed all the eyes staring at him, "It would be pleasant to have Christmas dinner without all the bickering."

"Well said, Mr. Barton," chuckled Milliardo. "Anyhow, Duo, I haven't had much of a chance to talk to you lately. We've got a lot of catching up to do."

"Later, Mil!" interrupted Relena. "I wanna talk about the wedding!"

Duo, Wu Fei, Trowa, and even Heero groaned, but Quatre grew very excited at the mention of the upcoming event. Duo's heart sank at the reminder of his beloved's current engagement to one of his best friends. Wu Fei garbled some inarticulate phrase about on'nas and their superficial minds and that it would be good for Relena to have a man looking after her, not that girly-faced Milliardo. Trowa, having stayed at the Peacecraft estate through the month of December, was tired of hearing about the wedding and he didn't think there was anything left to say about it. Heero, of course, heard about the wedding every private moment he had with Relena (not to mention every public one). Quatre, however, was thrilled to be able to discuss the aesthetic aspects of the wedding and reception (most significantly, the dress code). He had sort of appointed himself the fashion maharishi for the whole things and revelled in every moment he got to talk about how pretty he was going to make everything look.

"Oh, let's!" Quatre replied to Relena with a wide smile on his face. The other former Gundam pilots all groaned again, this time with Milliardo included. Noin, being a girl, unsurprisingly wanted to talk about the wedding as well, and even Wu Fei knew it would be a futile effort to argue with two on'nas. Resigned to their fate, the guys all sat back and decided to make the best of it.

"So," Quatre started, most obviously pleased, "Have you decided between pink and sky blue yet? I was thinking more, and the pink would be a great complement to the floral arrangement I have planned."

"Yeah, I guess," Relena answered. "But wouldn't a pale blue color balance with the servants' dress code?"

Quatre contemplated Relena's suggestion, thinking about the chic baby-blue sports jackets he had ordered for Relena's servants. "Yeah, I suppose you're right. But the bridesmaids are going to be wearing the pale magenta, remember? Maybe pink would be better after all. Blue stains a lot easier anyway."

Noin entered the conversation at this point. "Yeah, blue might stain easier, but pale colours are much easier to wash than the dark pink you're recommending. I think the blue would go better with the pool and fountain, too, not to mention the sky." She turned to Relena. "What do you think?"

At this point the five guys were in awful humours knowing that they were going to have to listen to this ridiculous discussion all through their Christmas dinner. "Well," Relena answered Noin, "both colours sound positively magnificent. Of course, I suppose the bridegroom should have a say in this, hm? What do you think, Heero?" Heero turned away from her gaze and responded by not speaking at all. "Well? Heero?" she asked again.

"I don't even want to talk about this damn wedding. That's all you ever talk about."

Everyone gasped.

Noin had a terrified look on her face. Quatre looked very irritated. Trowa, as usual, was expressionless. Something in his eyes, however, gave the impression that he was quite surprised. Duo didn't know what to think. He just sat there, appalled at Heero's response. Wu Fei had a rather smug look on his face and he reminded himself that he would have to congratulate Heero on putting the woman in her place. Milliardo seemed slightly upset, but slightly relieved as well.

And Relena started bawling.

She got up from her place at the head of the table and ran from the room weeping. Both Milliardo and Duo got up to go comfort her, but Quatre stopped them.

"Guys, let me talk to her. I know how she's feeling." He shot a menacing glare in Heero's direction. Heero shrugged apologetically.

Duo and Milliardo sat back down. Wu Fei looked disgusted at Relena's weakness of spirit, and Noin almost looked ready to cry as well. Duo was the first to ask the question that was on everyone's mind (except maybe Wu Fei's…he was more likely pondering the feeble emotional pain threshold that seemed to be characteristic of all women). "Why did you have to say that, Heero?"

Heero looked away again. "I didn't mean for it to come out so coldly."

Noin grumbled. Heero looked to the group.

"Every time we're together, anywhere, all she wants to talk about is that damn wedding! I'm getting really sick of it." He looked away again. "Dammit." He picked up his plate, scooped a little more food onto it, and left the table to go eat in private somewhere. Duo got up to follow him, too, but Milliardo stopped him this time.

"Let him go. He needs to sort this out."

"That asshole," Noin spat.

A few minutes later, Quatre and a calmed Relena came back to the table. Relena looked toward Heero's place, and, noticing his absence, almost began to cry again. Wu Fei rolled his eyes, and Duo, gentleman as he was, tried to comfort her. "He didn't mean it, Relena. He's just stressed or something"

Noin added her opinion, saying, "Don't worry about it, Relena. Guys are just jerks like that." Milliardo gave her a hurt look, and Wu Fei turned a bright crimson (Hey! It matches that shirt I bought him) and opened his mouth wide to yell something. Milliardo noticed him, though, and spoke quickly.

"Nah, I…uhh…just think it's the stress. Prenuptial stress is a normal thing. Don't get yourself worked up over it. He'll be fine if you give him a while to cool off. He didn't mean to say that."

"Yeah, and not all guys are jerks," Duo added. Wu Fei crossed his arms and gave Noin a triumphant look, and she just rolled her eyes back at him.

Everyone went back to eating his or her dinner, but henceforth it was mostly a silent one. There wasn't much conversation; everyone was in an unpleasantly foul temper after Heero's incident. The food was slowly eaten, being picked at by most. When the dinners were finished, Relena thanked everyone and excused herself to her room. Quatre followed her, and the other former pilots returned to their proper rooms.

Duo collapsed on his bed and stared at his ceiling, deep in thought. What if Heero doesn't want to marry Relena after all? What if the wedding is called off? Will she want to take a chance with me? Would she ever want to? Myriad questions plagued his head, and even though he was in a sour mood, that great Christmas food was getting to him. He gently dozed of to sleep, with thoughts of what might be between Relena and him on his mind. Please don't want to marry her, Heero…