"I want you to be free," Hilde sang softly, her attention largely focused on putting her earrings on. "Don't worry about me. And just like the movies we play out our last scene."
Once her task was completed, she skipped over to the full-length mirror hanging on her closet door. Hilde ran her fingers along thin spaghetti straps of her navy gown. The rhinestone design that decorated the bodice shimmered in her reflection; similar gems had been placed strategically in her hair.
"Shiny," she commented as she pirouetted. "Should I use the glitter body spray?"
"Hilde!" her older brother Harry shouted. From the sound of his voice, Hilde guessed he probably was still planted on the living room couch--the room right under her own.
"What?" she yelled at the floor.
"Your ex-boy toy is here, Snookie-poos!"
Rolling her eyes in annoyance, she grabbed her purse. She slipped on her wide-heeled sandals and gracefully walked down the stairs. She walked into the living room, where her brother was interrogating Duo. He was leaning against the fireplace. Duo was wearing the classic black tux that she saw him pick up the day before, but the shirt and tie was completely different. The dress shirt was black, possibly navy, and the tie was a dark, metallic gray.
"Yo, Duo. Why are you taking the dingbat to prom? I thought you two are dating other people?" her brother asked, flipping his body on the couch so that his head brushed the floor.
"I dunno." Duo shrugged.
"Are you gay or something?" he asked with a wry smile on his face.
"Shut up, asswipe. I asked him to prom first." Hilde interjected from the doorway. "And...he is gay. So there, Pookie."
"Whatever," Harry snorted, falling off the couch.
Duo looked up and grinned. He walked over to her side, jumping over Harry's head.
"You look fab as always, Hil." Duo gushed, giving her a hug.
"You too."
"Oh, gag me." Harry moaned as he stood and strolled out of the room. "The only reason he's taking you, Snookie, is because you look like a boy in drag!"
"You little, son of a. . .oh, you will die." Hilde called after him. "In your sleep! Of presumably natural causes! And I'm going to tell all the girls at college your nickname, Poo-kie!"
"Mooom!"
"Hilde, stop threatening your brother." Hilde's mother shouted from the hallway.
"Everybody knows daddy's going to kill him anyway." Hilde answered in a singsong voice.
"I love your family." Duo asked, offering his arm for her to latch on to. "Ready to go? Our chariot awaits."
"Hold the phone, my corsage?" Hilde asked, tugging on Duo's arm. "Don't forget, we have to endure the obligatory temporary blindness induced by my parents."
"In the hallway, m'lady." he said. "Your mom's gushing over the corsage I bought, and your dad's fiddling with the lighting in the foyer."
The pair froze when they heard scuffling in the foyer, followed by loud, high-pitched squeal.
"Damnit! Give me that extension cord." Hilde's father yelled.
"No!" Harry screeched. There is a loud whipping sound of plastic hitting flesh.
"Ow! Don't play with me, boy. I will strangle you."
"Bite me!"
"Oh, I'll bite you alright. Come here."
"Mom!"
"June!"
"Harold! Harry!" Hilde's mom shouted.
"June, I didn't mean, he start-"
"Mom, he started it!" Harry pleaded.
"For goodness sake, will you BOTH please act your age! We have company."
"It's just Duo, Mom."
"But it's prom. Pookie, go get Daddy's camcorder from the closet over there. And quit hitting each other with the extension cord!"
"And people wonder where you get your playful, yet malicious nature from." Duo laughed as he led Hilde into the foyer.
"Don't forget spiteful and mean," Hilde added.
"At least you're honest." Duo conceded. "You get that from your mother."
"Duo, black on black on black?" June asked for the second time. "At least it matches. Snookie, did you have to go with such a dark color? You looked so nice in that fuchsia-"
"Mother, stop." Hilde whined. Duo led Hilde over to the doorway, where it appeared to be the brightest. Harold proceeded to take picture after picture while Harry made faces.
"I think they look nice." her father commented, clicking the shutter repeatedly.
"They look like they're going to a funeral, Harold." June muttered, as she handed the corsage to Duo to put on Hilde's wrist.
"Yeah, Harry's." Harold muttered as he took another picture.
"Harold!"
********************************************************************
"Ow, my eyes." Duo groaned, as he fell back against the soft leather seat. Hilde and Duo had used the money they earned from their tips to rent a black stretch limo for the night. Duo watched from squinted eyes as Hilde fiddled with the small TV inside.
"I can still see spots."
"There will be more of those when we get to prom, I guarantee it." Duo joked.
"Where to, sir? Ma'am?" a stuffy voice sounded from the intercom. Duo and Hilde shared a look.
"Are you sure this is where you want to go for dinner?" Duo asked for the tenth time this week.
"Why not? We can afford it."
"Yeah, but we could always go-"
"No, my mind is made up." Hilde said.
Duo pressed the button on the intercom. "McDonalds, please."
"Drive-thru or indoors?" the man asked as they pulled into the parking lot.
"Hil?"
"I bought cameras for photo tag." Hilde sang tauntingly, pulling out two disposable cameras from her purse.
"You're a genius." Duo laughed as he pressed the button again. "Indoors, my good man."
**********************************************************************
Relena wanted to scream. Here she was, sitting at the Majestic steakhouse, a candlelit dinner placed in front of her and her date. Couples from the high school were there; their eyes glanced over at them--the perfect couple. Heero looked handsome in his white jacket with a long shawl collar and black trousers. The shirt under his black vest was white with a wing tip collar with a black bow tie. His hair was unruly as always, but it suited him well. Relena eyed her powder blue gown. The low, satin bodice was modestly cut with thin spaghetti straps. The poufy skirt was lined with light blue crinoline and covered with layers upon layers of tulle. A light blue satin bow trailed the back. They looked perfect. Only one thing bothered her.
Every time she glanced over at Heero, his mind seemed to be elsewhere.
"So, Duo's taking Hilde to prom?" she asked, her voice too high. Heero nodded once and continued to cut into his steak. "That's nice. . . they seem real close. . .how's the steak?"
Again, Heero nodded.
"This is really awkward," Relena finally admitted. "If you want, we don't have to go-"
"I said I would take you to prom and I am." Heero finally said.
"Is that it? Are you only here with me because of your damn sense of duty?" she whispered harshly. "Well, I don't want your pity. If you think-"
"If I did not want to be here, I wouldn't."
"But you'd rather be with Duo." she stated. Picking at her salad, she pondered various excuses for her to cancel the date without adding to the scandal, which seemed to hover over her head. Heero knew nothing about her outlandish behavior at the hotel, but she could guess that he would find out sooner or later.
"Why such the long face, Princess?" the waiter drawled, as he gracefully refilled Relena's glass of water. "A face as beautiful as yours shouldn't look so down."
"T-thank you."
"Charmed!" he gushed. Grabbing a nearby chair from an empty table, the waiter sat at the table in between them. "May I?"
"I guess it's okay. . ." Relena trailed off.
"Don't worry about me, darling, I own the place." the slightly older man said lightly as he made a volia gesture with his hand. "I love working prom, but I just had to stop by and talk with you. Where did you get that dress?"
Relena raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, not for me. My sister. You see, I'm too tall. I know you're thinking, 'flame, flame, flame,' but I can't help myself. Call me Aburatsubo, everyone else does."
"I'm Relena."
"A beautiful name fitted for royalty. Can I call you Princess?"
"That's her nickname at school. She doesn't like it that much." Heero stated.
"It speaks!" Aburatsubo gasped. "What's your name?"
"Heero."
Leaning forward in his chair, Aburatsubo asked gently, "Can I offer some advice?"
"Sure." Relena answered. Aburatsubo grinned and turned to look at Heero.
"Heero, you are boring. There is no helping that. But you can attempt conversation, it won't kill you. Talk about something boring, I don't care, as long as it's talking. And two," Aburatsubo paused, grabbing a comb from his pocket. "Take this. Go to the men's room, and use it. There's nothing more embarrassing than a date that looks like he just hopped out of bed, put on a suit and left. Go! Shoo! I can't look at that unruly mop another second! I'll keep her highness company."
"His hair wasn't that bad." Relena whispered once Heero was out of view.
"I just needed an excuse to make him leave for a couple of minutes," he admitted calmly. "You looked like a girl looking for a reason to ditch the boy. Well, here's your chance."
Relena began to play with the napkin in her lap. "Is it that obvious?"
"When someone looks at the exit sign every thirty seconds, they probably want to leave."
"We really didn't want to come to prom together."
"And why did you? There's nothing wrong with going stag. With your looks, you could probably go home with three dates."
"He used to be my boyfriend."
"Oh, you're going to prom with the dreaded ex."
"Actually, I'm the dreaded ex." Relena said, sighing deeply. "I mean, if Heero's *boyfriend* could go to prom with his ex-girlfriend, why can't he?"
"Oh, the drama unfolds." Aburatsubo drawled lamely. "What else happened?"
"Well. . ." Relena started, but changed her mind. Aburatsubo grinned and leaned back in the chair.
"Wow. You can't really tell these days. He looked pretty straight to me."
"I really didn't want to go to prom." she whispered.
"But you did. So make the most of it." he advised, patting her hand. "Does his boyfriend get along with his ex?"
"They're best friends."
"Don't you think that that's what Heero wants to be with you?" he asked knowingly. "He may not be the most vocal, but I can tell that he still cares a great deal about you."
Before Relena could reply, a waif-ish girl practically flew in their direction. The violet haired girl was dressed in the hostess uniform, and she was rambling a mile a minute.
"Aburatsubo! Ken dropped four bottles of wine! There's glass and wine everywhere. Nuriko's shoes are ruined and he's pissed. Marron's not coming in for the night shift, Gateau's sick, or so they say; Carrot's on strike, something about wanting you to hire straight men, Takeo's hiding, Chocolate is fighting again with Mille Feulle, hence the Carrot strike, Ernest-"
"I'm on my way, Dotta!" he said abruptly, standing from the table.
"-Akane can fill for Marron; for five minutes or something like that, and my uniform's all wrinkled because I had to stop a fight between Heiad and Ze-"
"Dotta, I'm not your mother, you don't have to tell me everything."
"Oh, speaking of Mama; she told me to tell you she can't do the jazz thing Friday and to ask-"
"Dotta!" Aburatsubo exclaimed as he grasped Dotta's shoulders to calm her down. Pushing the girl toward the direction of the kitchen, he turned to face Relena. "It's so hard to find good help these days. Leave five minutes and you get mayhem. I hope you and Heero have a great time at prom." Relena watched the pair walk into the back of the restaurant before erupting into an uncontrollable fit of laughter.
"What's so funny?" Heero asked he returned from the bathroom, his hair halfway presentable.
"You think we have problems?" she giggled, trying to hide her laughter behind her napkin. Just then, another member of the staff flew from the kitchen doors and stomped over to the bar.
"These were pure white leather. Leather!" the waiter cried as he poured himself a shot and downed it. "Now look at them!"
"That's what you get for wearing those damn shoes. I told you to keep them at home." the bartender huffed.
Relena quickly filled Heero in on the Majestic's interesting and lively staff.
"Maybe Duo should work here." they both commented at the same time.
"Nah, too much competition for you." Relena stated with a laugh. "He would work here for five minutes and you'd be steaming with jealousy and-ohmigod,"
"You sounded like Hilde." Heero finished.
"I guess there's hope for us yet." she said softly. "But if you start sounding like Duo, I'll kill you. And if I keep sounding like Hilde, feel free to kill me. Deal?"
"Deal."
"Heero, I have a favor to ask of you. . ."
**************************************************
"Cathy, we're going to be late." Quatre protested as he watched Catherine adjust Trowa's bow tie. Trowa stood listlessly as his sister picked and tugged at Trowa's black tuxedo jacket.
"One more picture, I promise." Catherine insisted, stepping away from her brother to aim the camera at the pair. Seeing two annoyed pairs of eyes through her lens, she sighed. "Okay, okay. Last one, alright?"
"On three." Trowa said.
"I want you to smile in at least one of these Trowa! I swear, you can be so damn-"
"Three."
"You call that count-"
Before anyone could blink, Trowa had opened the door to the apartment he shared with Catherine and sprinted down the hallway.
"Trowa!" Quatre and Catherine exclaimed at the same time.
Catherine sighed. "Have fun, and make sure to behave yourselves."
"Yes Cathy." Quatre said, hugging her briefly before stepping out of the apartment. "See you tomorrow."
"Tomorrow! How long is prom nowadays?"
Quatre found Trowa at the entrance to the apartment building, leaning against the metal mailboxes nailed to the wall.
"Is she really that bad, Trowa?"
"You've never seen her at her worst." he stated. "Never tell that woman 'no' if you value your well being."
"Well, you know we're going to have to get the professional pictures done once we get there." Quatre said as they entered their limousine for the night. As he leaned against the black leather seats of the car, his white tuxedo glowed in the interior lights.
"Quatre, we took enough pictures-" Trowa started, only to be cornered by wide blue eyes. "You're not any better."
"Nope," he laughed, kissing Trowa lightly. "I guess you're out of luck."
"You are evil, do you know that?"
"You know you love me."
"Fine, I'll take the damn pictures."
*************************************************
"Wufei!" Mrs. Noin exclaimed as the Chinese teen slowly walked up to her. His white, mandarin collar jacket was unbuttoned to reveal the black and gray patterned vest underneath. The black pants were tailored nicely, though one was raised slightly to accommodate the large black orthopedic boot underneath. The boot allowed him to walk, but at an exaggerated stride. "How are you feeling?"
"Better than yesterday," he said as he handed his ticket to her. Mrs. Noin motioned to the corsage box in Wufei's hand.
Wufei paused to look at the small box in his hand and grinned. "My date," he answered as he turned away from Mrs. Noin. Swinging the boot forward, he ambled into the ballroom; the loud bass beat masking the metallic clank of the hinges.
"Date?" Zechs whispered to his wife. "Are you sure he's not on drugs? He sure looked happy taking a corsage to prom."
"That wasn't funny."
"I thought it was. Okay, how about this? A Chinese Robocop reject on drugs."
"Honey, you teach advanced physics." she sighed as she took another student's ticket. "You have no sense of humor."
"Hmm." he grunted. Leaning back in his chair, he began to contemplate and prepare for their next conversation. It always ended in a debate of some form. Mrs. Noin grinned to herself and continued to greet the students, ready for her husband to strike with some off-color joke. Jay and Nick strutted into the hotel, both in contrasting blue and black zoot suits.
"Zechs, you owe me five." Noin muttered.
"What?"
"Dollars." she replied as she took the laughing teens tickets. "At dinner I bet you five dollars that we would have zoot suits and there you go. In fact, I spy two zoot suits. Should that be ten then?"
"We never shook on it."
"But you agreed to it."
"I don't think "Hm" can be considered as an affirmative."
"Nor a negative, but with you I can only guess in my favor."
Zechs could only sigh in defeat.
*****************************************************************
"Hear that?" Hilde asked as she walked into the hotel lobby. The muffled rhythms wafted around them. Duo shrugged. "Oh, buck up. You masterminded the masterpiece that is prom!"
"Yeah, but-"
"If you mention him again, I swear I'm ditching you." she sighed as she led him in the direction of the professional photos that was situated in the room opposite from the prom site. A small line was already formed.
"Don't you want to go in?"
"No way! This way we beat the photo rush, still be fashionably late, and all of the corny songs will be out of rotation."
"Point taken." Duo said as he heard the opening riffs to the "Thong Song" begin. He watched other students enter the prom site. The girls at his school were dressed elaborately in flowing, bright, glittery gowns. Some attempted bolder colors, some flaunting more skin than one would expect at prom. Most of the boys in his class appeared to have rented their tuxes at the same bridal shop, for they all appeared to be dressed identical minus the colors of their copper bunds.
Duo spotted Quatre and Trowa enter in their contrasting color tuxedos and waved. Quatre returned the wave and began to walk toward them. Trowa saw the line and ushered Quatre in the other direction. Quatre laughed and whispered something in his boyfriend's ear, resulting in an unreadable glare in response. Laughing even harder, Quatre passed Mrs. Noin their tickets.
"I wonder what that was about." Hilde murmured. "Maybe-"
"Don't even start, gutterbrain." Duo warned, turning to scold her.
"You're thinking it too, I know you are." she countered playfully.
"Even when I think I'm safe, you have to turn me into a perv." Duo lamented as he returned to watching students enter prom. His heart skipped a beat when he spotted Heero enter with Relena on his arm. Heero began to lead her into the prom site entrance when Relena stopped suddenly. Tugging on his arm, she began to lead him to the direction of the photo line.
'Don't let her see me, don't let her talk to me, please don't let her ruin this.' he prayed silently. Miraculously, before Heero and Relena could reach the line, it was Hilde and Duo's turn.
****************************
Heero looked down the line and he immediately caught sight of Duo's long braid as it disappeared into the room. Glancing over at Relena, he could tell that she noticed him as well.
"Remember the deal, Heero," she commented as she squeezed his arm. "It'll be all over soon, I promise."
****************************
"All right babies, I see you moving, but where's the grooving? I'm throwing some old school MJ for you. I want you to get this party started! "Don't Stop Until You Get Enough" baby! Yeah!" Dan the Man bellowed from his booth. A loud cheer emanated from the large crowd already gathered in the center of the dance floor.
Wufei looked around the room; every design he made was in place. The prom entrance was a piece of art in itself, a brief tunnel made of reflective silver paper and Christmas lights. People had to walk through the long archway to enter the world he helped to create. Purple and gold gossamer hung lightly from the ceiling and chandeliers, the effect making a flowing tent around them. The walls were covered in black gossamer with white cardboard cutouts attached on them. The cutouts were from various landmarks around the world with unusual "adjustments" to them. Balloons were scattered in every space imaginable.
The room was dark; the only sources of light came from the stage lights that Jay scattered strategically around the room. Jay was gleefully dancing behind his light board station, his bright blue zoot suit as decorative as his surroundings. His body moved in tune to the music, each song having a different lighting scheme. Wufei loathed to ask the boy how he accomplished such a task, for he already had one injury and did not want to add another.
Spotting his date exit the archway, he slowly stood and made his trek to greet her. She was happily admiring the surroundings, especially the entrance.
"So Wuffie thought this up? I knew that there had to be brains in there somewhere." he heard her voice over the loud music. Duo was standing next to her, laughing lightly. Wufei chuckled. Tonight was definitely interesting.
***************************************************************
"Speaking of the devil, there's my date." Hilde said, kissing Duo's cheek.
"Date? I thought I was your date." Duo stammered.
"No, Heero's your date." Wufei said, slowly limping to Hilde's side.
"How much codeine are you on?" Duo asked incredulously. Pointing to Hilde, he asked, "And why are you encouraging him?"
"See you at coronation, Maxwell." Wufei said, ushering Hilde to the dance floor.
"Get back here! I want answers!" he called after them. Finding a nearby chair, he flopped down into it. "I just got ditched."
As he sat contemplating his next move, Quatre came rushing up to him. "Hey, have you seen Trowa? Cool outfit...Where's Hilde?"
Duo flicked his thumb into the direction of the dance floor. "With Wu. It looks like she had this planned with the gimp before hand. He even got her a corsage..."
Quatre blinked. "Wow, that's a surprise."
"Yeah." Duo shrugged.
"Don't let this bug you, you won't be alone for long, I bet."
"If you say so."
"Trust me, I have a sense about these things. Oh, there he is! Trowa! Tsk, I don't care, he is getting that picture taken, see you later Duo."
"Later," Duo sighed as he listened to a slow song start up. He watched Trowa take the song as a diversion from taking pictures by leading Quatre to the dance floor. Duo reached for a napkin and began to fold it into small squares. "Once the fast music starts up, I'll go out there."
"Duo," Heero said, causing Duo to jump slightly.
"Hey, Heero," Duo exclaimed, dropping the napkin in his hand. Looking around Heero, he asked, "Where's the Princess?"
"She ditched me." He said, offering his hand for Duo to take it. "At the same time I ditched her."
"There's been a lot of ditching tonight I'm afraid." Duo lamented playfully, taking Heero's hand and stood. "I got ditched by my best friend, who's now with my other best friend, whom I'm guessing is her new boy toy; and my boyfriend just got ditched by his ex and he ditched her; and now we're both dateless."
"As it should be." Heero said, pulling Duo close.
"I have no complaints." Duo grinned.
**************************
"Relena!" Cindy exclaimed, enveloping the girl in a big hug. "We were just talking about you. You look great! How are you?"
"Yeah, where is, like, Heero?" Suzie asked.
"With Duo."
"Oh, I'm so sorry Relena!" Cindy gushed. "I saw the whole thing yesterday."
Relena listened to the chorus of sympathy from her friends and waved them silent. "I'm okay now."
"So, like, what do you plan to do now?" Suzie asked softly, leaning forward menacingly. The small group of girls inched forward, waiting to hear Relena's plan of action.
"We're with you, Relena!" a girl exclaimed. "Just tell us what you want us to do and we'll do it."
"Yeah!" the group cheered.
"Thank you, that means a lot to me. Let's see," Relena said, scanning the room. "I see a lot of single guys looming about, and you have to admit how cool this prom looks; so I think we should go make a few laps around the dance floor before we commit to anything."
"That's it?" Cindy asked on behalf of everyone present.
"What did you expect?" Relena asked, laughing. "Another scene? Trust me, it gets old after awhile."
"But Heero, like, dumped you." Suzie protested. "For another guy!"
"He dumped me weeks ago," she countered. "Just because he ended up with Duo is not what bothered me the most. It was that Heero wasn't with me. We weren't happy. They are. Life goes on. I couldn't accept that. But I'll try."
**************************************************************
"Having fun?" Duo asked as he danced around his date. Heero nodded as the song gave way to a new song. They were at the center of the crowd, dancing with their friends around them, and Duo wouldn't have it any other way. Not one to dance the same way the entire night, Duo would waltz, swing, or break dance given the space or opportunity. He was asked to dance with various girls in his class, and he happily obliged them. Heero would eventually cut in; he had made it a point not to let Duo slip away from him.
Heero wasn't much of a dancer, but he stayed on the dance floor anyway. Duo had fun trying to get Heero to attempt a new dance style. He learned fast, but after awhile he would stop to just nod his head to the music.
Nick was everywhere, especially during slow songs to embarrass couples if they danced too close. Jay would join him periodically, and the pair would serenade songs to their friends and their dates.
"I do, cherish you!" they sang off key to a very bewildered Trowa and Quatre. "I will, love you still!"
"Bother Hilde." Quatre whispered, rolling his eyes.
"Tip?" Jay asked as Nick continued to sing.
"You mean silence fee," Trowa corrected as he handed Jay a quarter.
"Trowa," Quatre said, "now about that picture-"
"Catch Quatre." Trowa whispered to Jay, handing him another quarter.
*******************************************************************
"Okay, we're gonna need all prom court candidates and the junior class cabinet to meet in the hallway!" Dan said as he began to play the next song.
"That's our cue." Duo exclaimed as he danced his way off the dance floor, Heero walking behind him.
They made their way into the hallway, where the rest of the prom court was beginning to gather. Mrs. Noin walked over and handed Duo his clipboard, and he quickly went to work.
"Okay everybody! I need the junior court in front. Hilde with Wufei, Joan is with Chris, Relena-"
"Here," she said calmly as she walked up to the group. They briefly glared at each other. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out.
"You're with Heero." Duo finally said, motioning to the line. Sighing, she took her place in line, her eyes lowered to the ground. Heero stood next to her and gave her arm a reassuring squeeze. Looking around the group, Duo rolled his eyes. "If Jay and Nick will stop playing 'Catch-a-Quatre', we can try and line up the senior court."
"Okay, dude." Jay said, setting Quatre on the floor. Quatre stormed up to Trowa.
"Quit stalling!" he hissed, hitting Trowa's arm. Trowa whispered something in response and Quatre hastily replied back.
"I don't like having my picture taken."
"Well," Quatre drawled, and proceeded to whisper in Trowa's ear again.
"Fine, no more stalling." Trowa conceded.
"Good." Quatre said as he began to walk back into the ballroom.
"Q, stay put and help me roll out the red carpet." Duo instructed, grinning at his friend. "Okay, Jay with Dorothy, Nick with Marie, and Trowa with Carol."
"Remember to wait for the spotlight to hit you before proceeding down the aisle." Mrs. Noin informed the line. "It's just like rehearsed, no funny business. Good luck everyone, and we'll start in five minutes."
*****************************************************
"This year's prom princess is: Relena Darlain!" Dan exclaimed. She smiled as she received her tiara, sash, and roses. She took her place on the center of the stage as she waited for the prince to be announced. She found it odd the DJ named the princess first, but Dan the Man must have had his reasons.
"Your prince for this year isn't even on the stage! Duo Maxwell, by popular vote, is your prom prince!"
"Duo?" she mouthed. Looking out into the crowd, she could see he was just as shocked as her. He began to protest as Quatre pushed him in the direction of the stage stairs.
"No, no, I dropped out, remember?" she heard him say as Mrs. Noin placed the large, blue felt crown on his head.
"Hilde said you changed your mind and I kept your name on the ballot." Noin replied.
"You know how she schemes." he hissed.
"Wufei backed up her story."
"Et tu, Wufei?" he whispered to Wufei, who was grinning smugly.
"Heero too." Wufei added. Duo was trapped. He was the prom prince.
He was the prince who had to dance with the princess.
***********************************************************
Duo watched in a daze as Trowa was crowned prom king. The silver, metallic crown fit Trowa nicely, and they even saved enough money for a cape and scepter. He watched Marie receive her crown, and cringed as he heard the opening riffs of "A Whole New World" from the nearby speakers. Taking a deep breath, he offered his arm for Relena to take, which she reluctantly took.
"Tell me Princess, now when did you last let your heart decide?" Duo asked along with the song as they danced under the spotlight. Relena couldn't help but grin at him.
"Tonight," she answered. "I decided to let him go."
"No more sabotage? Scary moments of evil?"
"No," she laughed. Singing, she added, "I can't go back to where I used to be."
"A whole new world?"
"With new horizons to pursue?" Relena said, giggling. "I'm sorry I've been acting weird around you, I'm just not comfortable with you yet."
"If it makes you feel any better, you still scare me."
"A little."
"Are you and Heero still friends?"
"Yeah, I made him promise to spend time with me at least one Saturday a month for the rest of the year in exchange for one prom date."
"Such the business woman Miss Peacecraft."
"That's Darlian, only Noin calls me that."
"Yes, Miss Darlian."
"Call me Princess."
*******************************************
"I told you deserved to win." Heero said after the song was over. Duo stormed over in his direction and hit him with the crown.
Duo huffed and spun in Hilde's direction. "It wasn't possible! I saw my name scratched off of the ballot."
"Rest assured, your name was marked off of *your* ballot. It stayed on everyone else's though."
"You little-"
"It was Heero's plan, I'm afraid."
"Heero?"
"I knew you'd drop out again once you found out you were still in the race." Heero stated matter-of-factly, taking the crown and placed it back on Duo's head.
"Okay, who planned for you and me to go to prom together?"
"I did." Hilde admitted, raising her hand. "It took awhile for Princess to come around, but I knew she would."
"So when did you and Wu become an item?"
"I haven't figured that out yet," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "I kinda challenged him to spend one day with me and one day grew to two, and so on and so on."
"Ah, high school romance," Duo sighed dramatically.
"So Heero," Hilde said slyly, sliding in between the two. "Did you rent a room for tonight?"
"Hilde!" Duo started.
"Just messing with you. I better go check on Wu, his foot was nagging him for a chair. We're heading to the Waffle House after the After-Prom party. If you two aren't doing anything by then, meet us there."
"Okay Hilde, have fun with the gimp."
"Do everything that I would do!" she sang as she worked her way into the crowd.
"Everything?" Heero asked.
"The night is young." Duo joked as he rested his head on Heero's shoulder.
"We'll see," he said, tapping the large crown so that it covered Duo's eyes.
"Well you'll have to see for the both of us, I can't see a thing." Duo laughed before repositioning the crown on the top of his head. Grabbing Heero's hand, he added, "Time to dance."
****************************
"Gather round, this will be the last tune I'll be dishing out for you, so make the most of it. It's been fun, you've all been great, but we better dash before it gets late. Grab your lady, squeeze your man, have a great year, says Dan the Man. Jay, the bird with the gilded wings, open up the stars and let them shine!"
The crowd gasped as all the lights darkened. A disco ball hidden among the gossamer was suddenly hit with white light, covering the crowd in thousands of stars. The room was suddenly bright again, the room bathed in light blue.
"No Color Blue man!" Jay chuckled to himself as he jumped from his light board and searched for a little blond named Suzie.
//I think I must be dreaming
That you are here with me
Must've died and gone to heaven
Cause it's all that I hoped it to be//
"Looks like prom was a success." Heero said as he pulled Duo close.
"I honestly don't care anymore," Duo admitted, "I have all that I want right here."
"I wonder how our senior prom is going to be next year."
"It's going to great, I've been trying to convince Q to run for Junior Class president."
"Duo."
"Hmm?"
"Did you make any plans for what we're doing after prom?"
"Not a thing." he admitted. "But I could make something up as we go along."
"Well, what would those plans be?"
"First, I dance under the stars with the one I adore. Then . . .and then-" Duo began to ramble when Heero silenced him with his lips.
"Then I kiss you."
"Maybe I should let you do the planning from now on." Duo murmured. "So what happens next?"
//When eagles forget how to fly
When it's twenty below in July
And violets turn red
And roses turn blue
I'll be still in love
With you//
The End