HAHA! To all you who thought I was dead or just dropped off the face of the planet: I'm NOT! ^.^ I was just... well, let's say I was creatively impaired. Sorry this chapter is so short, the next ones will be longer. I just have to find a way to get to the good stuff that I already have planned! ^.- Ja ne!

Thanks to all who reviewed!! Domo arigatou!! apol, Mint, Nim, anime-empress, Liquid Mercury, Grrl N, beth, Blue diamond, kay, sayinjinj7, Winnie, Vixen, Chris, Rose Potter, Pink Sakura, Ironic Paradise, kAY, MaraLaeh Lynn, Wing, FinalFantasyFreak, and Dragonprincess!! Also thanks to everyone who has sent me emails! ^.^

A/N: no, this will NOT be a lemon (I don't write that kind, arigatou)!

Friendly?

'Ugh,' he thought. 'Her apartment's so... bright!' The sun's rays streaming through one of the windows had awoken him that morning and, try as he might, he couldn't get back to sleep. So he sat there again and watched her sleep. She was so beautiful... There was that certain youthful quality about her in sleep that matured quickly into her adult attitude when she was awake. He reveled in the fact that he would be one of the very few men to see her like this, even if it wasn't of her own wishing. Sighing, he thought about what it would be like to see her sleeping like this every night...
'Dammit, Yuy!' His brain had caught up with him again. 'You know you're no good for her. It's bad enough she has your influence as a friend, much less being this attached to her for this long. Forget it.' Hiiro decided that having a brain was no longer a good thing. Maybe Duo did have the best idea... Now his arm was cramping from holding it still so long. Great. Trying to move very slightly so to relieve his aching arm, Hiiro slowly lifted his wrist. She stirred slightly. He tensed.
"Hnmm?" she muttered, still more asleep that back in the real world. "Sshhhh..." Hiiro said, unsure of how to get her back to sleep. He knelt and stood up slightly to check the time. It was still pretty early.
"Hmmmm..." she murmured as she turned slightly and fell back asleep. He sighed and relaxed. He was scared to sit down again, that he might wake her. So he stayed standing, stooped over so that her arm wasn't stretched.
'Close one,' his brain said.
"You said it," he muttered inaudibly.
"Hiiro." He turned to look at her, but her eyes were still closed tight. Was she talking to him?
"Hiiro..." He stared at her. She didn't move.
"Hiirooo..." she said, squirming a little.
*Gulp*
"Oooohhh... Hiiroooo..." She had a tiny smile on her face now.
OH MY GOD.
He fell over.
She woke up.
"What?? What?!" she exclaimed, sitting up on the couch.
"Er, um..." Hiiro said, looking away and trying to stop blushing.
"Hiiro? What happened?" she asked, face slightly flushed.
"You, uh, were talking in your sleep..." he finally said, turning only slightly to look at her. Her eyes widened.
'Oh, shit!' she thought.
"Uh, what about?" she asked, trying to be nonchalant.
"Something about..." Hiiro thought quick, "Shopping. You were talking about shopping." She sighed.
'Too close for comfort, Lena!' she scolded herself.
"Um... breakfast?" he said quickly.
"Sure!" she agreed, huge false smile plastered on her face. 'Never do that again!' she berated her mind again.

- - -

After a quick and rather quiet breakfast, they had decided to go shopping.

"WHAT?" he squeaked. She couldn't help but laugh; she had certainly never seen him look that surprised! She calmed herself a little. They stood outside Victoria's Secret.
"Okay, so I'm just kidding," she said, still laughing a little. His body visually relaxed as he let out a major sigh.
"Not funny," he said with a slight menacing tone. She grinned. It was quite amusing to see Hiiro Yuy shaken.

- - -

"How much do you need to buy? They all look the same to me..." he complained. She was purchasing tube tops, seemingly the only thing she could put on without ripping or cutting.
"But they're not! This one is Guess, this one is not. Do you know what that means?"
"That one's ridiculously more expensive than the other for the same amount of cloth?"
"NO!" She sighed. 'Men.' He sighed.
'Women.'

- - -

"Relena," he said with as much patience as he could muster. "I don't mean to be intrusive, but weren't we here to shop?"
"Yes!" she said cheerfully, choosing not to notice the look of strained patience on his face. "Isn't that what we're doing?"
"No, that's what you're doing. I haven't purchased a single item of clothing since we got here." He looked pointedly at her five shopping bags.
"Oh!" She blushed. "Well, this should be great fun! I can help pick things for you!" He groaned, realizing his mistake too late. "Let's go!" she exclaimed, pulling him off.
'Why me?'

- - -

Two and a half hours later, Hiiro Yuy had met his match.
"I'm never going shopping again," he pledged. She laughed and got him to smile. 'She's so cute when she's laughing... No! Stop... damn brain.'
"Why? Because I made you carry everything?"
"Not everything. You're still walking, aren't you?" he joked. Her eyes shone.
"Why Hiiro Yuy, I believe you just made a joke. Hanging around Duo too much? And here, I'll carry the bags then!" She tried to take them from him, almost dropping several of them in the process. He sighed but smiled again as an idea came to him.
'It was just a joke, so she won't take it seriously,' he reasoned with himself. And with that, he swept her off the ground, shopping bags and all, and sped off toward his home.

- - -

What a night. After meticulously packing a bag that could be carried back and forth from their places, a rather sloppy dinner, and figuring out how to use the restroom without nosebleeds, she was exhausted.
"Can we... sleep now?" she asked groggily.
"You can, but my favorite program is on," he said, staring at the TV. Curious, she looked over.
"Cartoons?" He grinned.
"What would you expect? You said yourself I hang around with Duo too much." She returned his smile. He hit the button to turn off the TV and they retreated to the couch. As she laid down, he turned off the light. She pulled a cover over herself and snuggled in.
"Re.. Relena?" she heard softly.
"Yea?"
"Um... night." Her eyes widened, then she smiled.
"Good night, Hiiro."

- - -

'Oye vey...' she thought. "Hiiro?"
"Yea?"
"Do we have to go to Duo's house for dinner? Why can't we stay here?" She was uneasy at the thought of being laughed at by everyone else. Hiiro smiled. He had been doing more and more of that, lately...
"You know as well as I do that Duo's only invited us over so that he can laugh at us. Maybe we'll be fortunate and Hilde will find a way to shut him up." Relena laughed.
"I guess so. I'm just kind of... well..." she groped for the word.
"Embarrassed?" he supplied. "Don't show it. That just what Duo wants you to be." She laughed and tried her best to put on a serious face.
"Okay, I'll act like the Perfect Soldier tonight, then," she said jokingly. Hiiro's face lit up.
"Of course!"
"Huh?"
"That's just what they won't expect!"
"What?"
"It's perfect!"
"What?" He smiled broadly.
"When we go, I'll act like you and you act like me. We'll put on a show!" She raised an eyebrow.
"I would've never pegged you as an actor, Hiiro..." she said, but grinned. "But it sounds like fun! Just so long as I don't crack halfway through and smile or something, since you'd NEVER do that..." She giggled at his expression. "You won't crack into a smile, I'll train you in the ways of emotionless expressions..." he began, and two opposites began plotting.

- - -

*Ding-dong!*
"Duo! Get the door!"
"I'm busy!"
"Well, un-busy yourself and get the door!"
"Why can't you do it?"
"I'm cooking!!"
*Grumblegrumble*
"Hi!" Duo said cheerfully as he opened the door. "You're the last ones here! Slowpokes," he added with a wink.
"Yea, well we were really busy and we had to go shopping for something to wear tonight..." Hiiro babbled as he bustled in the door, practically dragging Relena after him. Duo looked confused.
"Uh, okay. Hey Lena! How are ya?" he asked, giving her a trademark Maxwell-smile.
"Hn," she replied with a slight nod, her expression blank. Duo looked very confused.
"Um... yea. So come on in, food's almost ready!" They entered the kitchen, greeting everyone who was seated there. Hiiro promptly began spewing information about where they had gone and why and when while Relena nodded at Trowa and kept quiet. Duo kept looking back and forth from them until he finally snapped.
"Okay, what's the deal?" he demanded.
"What deal?" Hiiro asked innocently.
"Whaddya mean, 'what deal'? You're blabbing like... like ME and Lena's sitting there, almost as quiet as Trowa! What'd you do to her?"
"I don't know what you mean, Duo," Hiiro said, still acting innocent. Trowa smiled.
"Whoa! Now Trowa's smiling! What gives?" Duo asked, thoroughly bewildered. Trowa laughed, then Quatre. Soon, even Wufei was snickering.
"Okay, I give," Relena said at last. "I think we accomplished our 'mission', Hiiro."
"Mission? Huh? What's going on? Hilde, I don't understand..." Duo whined.
"We were trying to confuse you, Duo, and it seems it worked," Hiiro explained.
"You do marvelous impersonations of one another," Quatre praised.
"Yea, you must have picked up on a lot of Relena's habits these past 5 days, Yuy," Wufei stated. By now, Duo had recovered.
"Oooh, getting a little friendly, Hiiro?" he asked with a wink. Hiiro blushed slightly. "Ah! Hiiro's blushing! Stop the presses!" Duo cried.
'Damn... I guess time with a woman will do this to you... no, maybe just time with Relena...' Hiiro thought.
"Duo," he growled menacingly.
"Eep. Um... yes?" Hiiro's eyes flashed and he reached for where he usually kept his gun.
"This time you've gone too far..." he began. Duo got ready to run for the door. Hiiro continued. "Stop hogging the pasta!" Laughter rang through the house as Duo turned beet red, then let out a huge sigh of relief.
"They are getting to know each other better..." Quatre whispered to Trowa during the laughing.
"Yea... it looks like Duo's plan might work after all."
"I bet you'll be in love with Lena by the end of this week!" Duo said jokingly. A hush fell on the room as the two friends faced each other. "Fifty bucks says you love the girl on your wrist by the time those cuffs come off. Quatre can judge since he's the empath and that way you can't hide it." Hiiro swallowed.
'What am I supposed to do? Quatre should already be able to tell... but if I don't do it then I'm practically confessing it...'

"You're on."

-------------