Series: ???
Title: A Gundam Portrait
Author: Tonia Barone
Rating: PG-13
Category: POV,
Pairings: 1xR, 2xH, 3+C (their siblings, for crying out loud!), 4+D (they're still thinking about it. *winks*), 5xS, 6x9
Summary: The G-Boys and their friends get their picture taken!
Warnings: OOC (only if you think Heero and Relena having anything resembling a sense of humor is wrong); hinting at some of their sex lives (thus the rating)
Disclaimer: I'm but a poor hick from the sticks. I own nothing, including the G-boys, sad to say. Jus' thought I'd give them a break and let them play in my backyard for a bit. You can have them back when I'm done.
Notes: Guess this is gonna be a series. Dunno what I'd call it. Precious Moments, maybe? Whatcha think? This is probably horrible. Might rewrite it, still not happy with it but I'll let you decide.
Feedback: Sure, if ya wanna…
Thanks again to Ashy for beta-ing!
A Gundam PortraitI've been in the business for over twenty years and I've never met a more…interesting group of people than when they showed up. Who were they? Well, you'd have to have lived in a cave for the last five years not to know who they were.
First through the door was the pilot of Gundam Wing Zero, Heero Yuy. You don't see him in the news much because he's intensely private and evidently very good at evading the cameras. What few cameramen have been able to get a picture of him showed a very stoic young man, very severe and always on alert. What I saw pretty much confirmed this. He kept looking about the studio, as if expecting a few dozen Leos to pop out and attack him.
Following him was none other than Duo Maxwell, pilot of the infamous Deathscythe. I've talked to a few ex-OZ soldiers over the years and what they've told me about pilot 02 is nothing like the lively young man I see now. They said pilot 02 was ruthless, extremely deadly and probably insane. He called himself Shinigami, the God of Death. Personally, I don't see it but my mother always told me never to judge a book by its cover.
Hanging onto Duo's arm was a girl about his age with short blue-black hair and lively blue eyes. She was listening avidly as he chattered on and I could instantly see she loved him deeply. If her eyes hadn't been screaming it, then the way she leaned towards him did. If my sources were right, this was Hilde Schbeiker, long time friend of the Gundam pilots and now girlfriend to the very man who's arm she clung to.
Following them were two young blondes. The one with the slightly darker shade was Ms. Relena, former Queen of the World. Most folks still think of her that way, myself included. Beside her, the lighter haired one was her aid, Ms. Dorothy Catalonia. She's said to be Lord Treize's cousin and even helped Mr. Milliardo during the whole White Fang fiasco.
And speaking of Mr. Milliardo, here he is with his lovely wife, Ms. Noin. A truly lovely couple they make. My sister's husband's brother used to work for the Peacecrafts, before they were all killed. Said Mr. Milliardo was such a nice young man. Looks just like their father, they say.
And there's still many former soldiers who speak very highly of Ms. Noin. If she or Mr. Milliardo were to ever command another army, they'd have more soldiers joining them than they could manage, I'd wager.
Oh, look who's coming after them. That's Quatre Winner, heir to the Winner fortune. I hear he's got his own army, call themselves the Maguanacs. Not that he'd use them. They say he's the kindest soul you'll ever meet. Hard to believe he actually piloted a Gundam. 04, Sandrock I hear is its name. Also hear he went crazy for a bit but folks don't really like to talk about that.
Judging from the hair, I'll assume that Trowa Barton next to him, pilot 03 of Gundam Heavyarms. Works in a circus now, he does, with his sister, Catherine Bloom. That'd be her leaning on him like that. Those three are really close, so they say. Quatre and Trowa are best friends and Catherine there looks out for both of them; she's very protective. Wouldn't want to cross that one, let me tell ya, I hear she carries a wicked set of throwing knives with her at all times. Then again, considering this group, that's not too surprising.
Last to come in is Chang Wufei, pilot of Gundam 05, Shenlong, and his Preventers partner, Sally Po. They say that Chang is the last of the Dragon Clan that was banished to the L5 cluster some time back and Sally Po was the Alliance traitor who helped him out during the War. I also hear that despite how he seems to treat her, they're very close, if ya get my meaning.
Looking at them now, I can't really say I see it. He's acting all pompous and aloof, almost as if he doesn't wanna be here. While she's just following along, looking very serene and a little amused, if I'm guessing right.
After everyone's in, I go up to them and introduce myself. "Hello, my name's Jack Rose. You all getting one taken together, I take it?" Stupid question, I know, but I've had some people come in like this and want separate portraits.
Ms. Relena smiled politely and nodded. "Yes, please." Such a nice young lady, that Ms. Relena. No wonder all of ESUN wants her as its president. Heard she turned it down, though, something about wanting to 'be her age' before coming back into politics. Not that I blame her, mind ya. Poor girl's literally got the world on her shoulders like that one Greek guy. What's his name? Atmos, Atma, Atlas? Something like that, anyway.
So I nod and pull out the long bench I use for such portraits and get things set up. I think the sky backdrop will do for these folks and the white cover for the bench. Once that's done, I turn to the group to decide where I'll place everyone. The way Ms. Relena's eying Heero, I'd say putting those two next to each other would be a Good Thing. Besides, I really don't like that glare the boy's shooting my way.
So I put those two on the left end of the bench--Ms. Relena on the end and Heero to her left. There, that works. Now…who to put next to Ice Box there? I look over the others and notice how Duo's still chattering away at Heero. Well, why not? Heard they were close during the War anyway. So there goes Duo.
I've already decided that the pilots will be on the bench; mostly 'cause they're all in school uniforms, along with Ms. Relena and Ms. Dorothy. And I can see I've unintentionally started putting them in numerical order. No, no, that won't do at all. Someone as lively as Quatre shouldn't be stuck between two sourpusses like Trowa and Wufei. So next to Duo he goes.
After that, I put Trowa next to Quatre and then Wufei on the end--mostly because he's looking so standoffish there.
I take a step back to see how they look. Hmmm…not bad. Not bad at all. These young folk are very photogenic. Would've loved to have them pose next to their Gundams. Shame they blew them up.
Okay, now what am I to do about these other folk? Well, seeing how Ms. Dorothy's so close to Ms. Relena, she can stand behind her. And of course Hilde, Catherine and Sally will stand behind Duo, Trowa and Wufei, respectively, but what to do about Mr. Milliardo and Ms. Noin?
Didn't I hear something during the War about Mr. Milliardo and Heero having some sort of rivalry? And seeing how rumor has it that Heero and Ms. Relena are dating, he can play 'big brother'. Perfect!
After putting Mr. Milliardo behind Heero, I put Ms. Noin behind Quatre, seeing how he's the only one with no one behind him. Besides, I've also heard rumors that he has a crush on her. Something about his and Heero's time in the Sank Kingdom during the War.
I tell them to just act natural as I get the equipment set up. I almost drop my camera several times while listening to them.
"Hey, Heero, smile! You don't want our kids to look at this picture and say 'My daddy was funny looking, what about yours?' 'Oh, mine? He's the one sitting there like a statue.' C'mon, man!" Duo was grinning as he brushed the end of his braid in front of Heero's face, looking for a reaction.
After a few moments, he got one. Heero grabbed Duo's wrist and glared at him. "If you want to keep that ridiculous braid, I suggest you stop annoying me with it." He let Duo's wrist go and went back to sitting tall and proper-like.
Duo, for his part, didn't look bothered by the threat. He just grinned then leaned over to look at Ms. Relena. "You better get your boyfriend a leash, Lena, before he bites someone."
Ms. Relena's response nearly made me drop the camera. I was watching out of the corner of my eye and I swear the girl blushed. She mumbled something about it being too late and looked away.
Ms. Dorothy laughed at that and put her hands on Ms. Relena's shoulders. "Why Ms. Relena, I'm shocked."
Mr. Milliardo, I noticed, was glaring down at Heero, arms crossed. I can see why so many soldiers feared the Lightning Count. Even without his old helmet, he's a frightening sight like this. Luckily, Ms. Noin calms him down with a hand on his arm. He huffs something I can't quite catch and goes back to glaring at Heero's head, though he doesn't look homicidal now. Thank you, Ms. Noin!
Looking over the group, I noticed Trowa starting to look…well…not exactly hostile, but not too happy, either. Wonder why? Catherine must have noticed, too, cause she soon had her arms wrapped around his shoulders and was talking to him in soft tones.
I decided to hurry and take the pictures before someone got killed. Wufei looked too contemplative as he eyed the prop swords I kept off to the side. Hey, some people like to pretend their OZ or something.
I finish setting up the camera but when I look into the lens, I notice only half the group's looking at me. Ms. Relena's eying Heero, Ms. Dorothy is eying her, Duo's watching Catherine out of the corner of his eye while said women continues to whisper to Trowa, and Wufei…I don't think I want to know what he's doing. He's still looking over at the prop collection, only now he's rubbing his hands together in a most unnerving way.
Before anyone can get killed or worse, I snap off half a dozen pictures. Unfortunately, halfway through those pictures, Duo says something I don't quite catch that sets Mr. Milliardo off in such a tizzy. Soon, both him and Heero are glaring at each other with Ms. Relena trying to calm them down.
Ms. Dorothy and Duo are on the sidelines, taking bets as to who will win the contest of wills while Hilde just shakes her head. Ms. Noin, Quatre and Sally are ignoring them and Catherine's still hugging Trowa, though now his expression is one of resignation.
Wufei, seeing that no one—that is to say, Sally—was watching, had leapt over to the props, picked up a scimitar and was stalking towards Duo with a maniacal gleam in his eyes. Oh dear. Blood would be such a pain to get out of that white sheet.
Before anything of the sort can happen, though, the sound of multiple beepers fills the air. Everyone immediately stops what their doing as eight of the twelve by the bench pull out said devices. Now the air is filled with the sound of multiple curses. What was to follow, I found very amusing.
Wufei beat everyone to the door, dragging a hapless Sally along behind him. Trowa gave Catherine an apologetic look before racing out, Quatre on his heels. Duo's farewell to Hilde should have been X-rated while Heero's to Ms. Relena's was cut short due to her big brother tapping his heel impatiently and glaring at them. Ms. Noin finally got fed up with her husband's behavior and dragged him out by his hair—a funny sight, let me tell ya—and Heero finally leaves Ms. Relena and drags Duo away from Hilde by his hair. You could hear Duo's cries for miles around, I bet.
"HEERO, NOT THE HAIR!!!"
That there nearly sent the remaining women into a fit of giggles. Then Ms. Dorothy said something that did send them into a fit of giggles.
"I suppose Hilde's the only one allowed to pull that leash, hmm?"
And to think that these were some of the most deadly and important people in the solar system. We might have been safer with OZ in control after all.