"Ne, Heero, you MUST come to our New Year's Party though! Zechs would be so disappointed if you didn't show up to have your annual chugging contest with him!"
"NO." He pointedly replied to the politician in the vid phone view window and glared for all he was worth. "I am NOT going to your New Year's Party. Especially if it's a costume ball!"
"But Heero...if you don't, I'm gonna tell Zechs and Wufei make your life a living hell...Come on, Heero..." Relena slipped into her whiny pleading voice from the war days to try and convince Heero. He knew what she was capable of with that voice box of hers and he seriously did not want to hear it.
The Japanese man froze. That whine...he did not want her to go further than that. His left eye already began to twitch at the sound of impending doom. Old habits died hard, even after five years. "Fine. As long as I don't have to do anything too embarassing. Who else is going?"
Relena began to prattle the list of the guests, until she was towards the end of it, in which she beamed magnificently and added "...and all our old friends from the war!"
Heero froze. He didn't want to see him. Not him... "What. Did. You. Just. Say?"
Relena blinked in confusion. "I just said everyone we know is gonna be there! By the way Heero, do you have a costume?"
"No. Why would I stash a costume for no apparent reason?"
"Well, it's December 31st and you have no costume, everyone's probably bought out everything good already since all the parties are tonight." Relena's face crinkled up in deep thought. Moments later, she clapped delightedly and came up with a reply to Heero's question. "I'll call Quatre and Trowa! They can go out shopping with you! I'll call them right now so that you can get going in finding a decent costume!"
Heero sighed in defeat. "Fine. Tell them I'll meet at them at the bistro down the street from Preventers HQ."
Heero sipped his tea calmy. The day was beautiful and nothing could possibly spoil it for him. Except Quatre's constant babble about that damned costume. Heero scowled. His companions had ordered lunch, but since he had arrived first, Heero was able to finish his before them. Trowa had to keep reminding Quatre to concentrate on eating his food instead of telling Heero all the possible costumes he had in mind.
When they had finally finished and paid, Heero's curiousity piqued. "What are you guys wearing?" Quatre blinked at the question, one that he would never thought to have heard from one Heero Yuy.
"You'll see." Trowa answered calmly in between sips of his coffee and closed his lover's mouth with his other free hand. A merry twinkle of amusement lit in his eyes and Heero suddenly regretted asking. He'd find out soon enough anyway.
"Come on Heero, let's go!" Quatre half dragged Heero out of his seat and began their search in the nearest costume boutique. After a very thorough day of searching, they came to one last shop and Quatre rang for the salesperson. Heero and Trowa sat quietly on the chairs in the small boutique to wait for Quatre to finish with his speech about the Japanese man's sizes and all things related to buying a costume appropriate for the diplomat's costume party.
"Sorry, we're all out."
Heero snapped up and that, rushed up from his seat, and grabbed the man by the collar. "You can't be serious right? You gotta have SOMETHING left!" He began to shake the woman hysterically as Trowa and Quatre tried to pry his frantic fingers off the man. "Do you KNOW what Wufei and Zechs are gonna do to me if I don't show up with a costume?" He shuddered at the memory of time not so long ago when he ignored the threat and ended up having to be saved from a frozen lake wearing women's lingerie. Damn those two.
"Heero calm down!" Quatre called to him and the ex-Wing pilot took and deep breath before calming down completely. "Sir, I'm sure you have something left, there can't possibly be NOTHING left."
"Well, there's this one costume left, but I don't think..."
"We'll take it!" Quatre cut him off mid sentence and flashed his gold card at the petite woman. She seemed to shake like a leaf from the boom of his voice.
Scurrying like a mouse to the backroom, the woman brought a costume that was most certainly the right fit for Heero's body, but most definitely not his taste.
The three gaped at it and all Trowa could do to hold back his laughter was cough not to subtly. Quatre laughed sheepishly back at Heero when he saw the vein atop his head was about to burst open from the amount of frustration building up in him. His left eyebrow twitched again and the little blond did not try to comfort this time.
"Well, I did say I was gonna take it, so take it I shall." He swiped his credit card quickly on the register before Heero could say another word, his eyes signalling to the saleslady that she should quickly let him sign and leave before all hell broke loose. Grabbing his card and the costume all in one fluid movement, he motioned to Trowa to quickly drag Heero from the shop before he could register what had just happened.
Five minutes later, a scream could be heard by the saleslady. Something akin to "Omae o korosu!"
The three made their way back to the house that Trowa and Quatre shared. The two had to prepare for the coming festivities as well as prepare Heero. Quatre was dressed in a cute little French maid costume, with make-up adequately applied to highlight his cheekbones and make his eyes shine out even more. Trowa returned in the same clothes he usually used for his circus performances with the lions, complete with whip and all. Heero sweatdropped from his seat on the couch. At least someone was gonna have fun tonight.
"Heero! Time to try your costume on!"
Heero scowled at the blond boy. "You have GOT to be kidding. I'm not wearing that...THING. You can't make me!"
"How 'bout we let luck decide, Heero? My bet is this. We'll flip a coin and that'll decide it. If Zechs or Wufei ask, we'll say you got sick or twisted your ankle." Quatre pulled a coin from his pocket and smiled at Heero sweetly. The Japanese man didn't like how that smile looked, but he supposed he could just accept that maybe Quatre had left the businessman in him at the door.
"Fine." He agreed reluctantly after a long staring contest between himself and Quatre, but did not have the will to win against the smiling blond.
So the coin was flipped. It twirled in the air twice on its way up, twirling itself three times on the way back down before Quatre grabbed it, its metal shining brilliantly off the afternoon sun. "Call it, Heero."
"Heads."
The blond's hands lifted ever so slowly to reveal the result of the flip. Tails. He laughed happily and showed his dear friend his fate. "Sorry, Heero, tails!"
Heero stared. And stared. And stared. "Hell no."
"Aw, come ON, Heero, I won fair and square! You agreed!"
Quatre began to rant at the Japanese man and the coin flew out of his grasp and hit Trowa on the head. The uni-banged man picked it up and noticed that it was tails on both sides and sweatdropped, unbeknownst to the blond or his Japanese friend who was now covering his ears and singing "la-la-la" at the top of his lungs. Heero, you're too predictable. He suddenly felt sorry for Heero for forgetting that Quatre always wins no matter what.
Quatre clapped his hands gleefully. He couldn't contain the laughter that was rising from his throat. "Heero, you look so cute!" He grabbed his friend's limp hands and swung him around and around for a good look. "Kawaii desu! Ne, Tro-chan?" Trowa contained his laughter with a hand and just nodded.
"Forget it Quatre, you can't force me to go to the party. Just because you and your sisters overcame me in numbers doesn't mean you guys can force me to the party as well. I'd rather face the idiocy that Chang and Merquise can concoct rather than go in this stupid getup."
"But...Heero! You lost fair and square! And you told Relena you were going!" Trowa coughed at the mention of fair but was hit in the rib by Quatre quickly.
"Damnit Quatre! I'm SPARKLY! The Perfect Soldier is NOT supposed to be sparkly! Hell, ANY guy isn't supposed to be sparkly!"
"But Heero, the Faerie Angel Princess outfit was the only thing left! Besides, it's not that bad! The blue and pink bring out your eyes!" Quatre laughed heartily and patted his friend on the back while slowly ushering him out the door.
"I don't think "faerie," "angel," nor "princess" was what I was aiming for." Quatre just laughed again and put a blond wig on Heero. Oh dear gods, and there's a tiara with it too. Heero mentally cringed as Quater approached him with it and then dragged him out the door.
"Don't worry, Heero, people crossdress all the time for parties!" Heero sighed. That wasn't exactly the response he was aiming to get either.
After reaching Relena's mansion, Heero saw no route of escape that would not bring forth a lot of unnecessary attention. Maybe I can just mope in the corner or something. Yes, that would work. No one would notice him.
"After you ladies." Trowa said as he opened the door for the two. Heero swung at him only to miss thanks to Trowa's lightining fast movements.
"Quatre, Trowa, Heero! You made it!" Relena hugged each of them tightly and smirked at Heero. "Nice costume. You know, you didn't have to go all out for this." Heero glared at her as Quatre gave her an explanation of what had occurred in the day, only to earn a loud round of laughter from the woman.
"See ya, Heero! We're gonna go mingle!" Quatre dragged Trowa to one side of the room, where he had spotted Wufei and Zechs earlier.
"Oi, I've gotta go greet guests! Have some fun Heero, loosen up a little!" Relena swatted him a little on the back and then ran off to see who else had arrived.
Heero sighed. Such a predicament. Hopefully, no one else he knew would recognize him. He looked around for a place to just sit for a few hours. Maybe then, they'll allow him to leave and get out of the humiliating costume. The collar on the dress itched profusely and the waist was tight on even him. The sleeves dangled over his hands, the dress itself a flowing blue that went beyond his feet and pooled under him. The intricate lace was pissing him off more and more as more minutes passed by. But he resigned himself to his fate and sat on one of the couches by the side, near the refreshement table, hoping no one he knew would recognize him.
Oh shit. Dorothy was strolling by near him. He tried to hide his face by looking else where and covering it a bit, as to not look TOO suspicious.
"Well, hello, and who may you be?" She gracefully walked over to Heero in her Treize costume and tipped his face towards her with a long finger. Heero froze from the predatory gleam in her eyes and cringed mentally when she licked her lips at him. "You look oddly familiar. Do I know you from some state affair? Or some seedy bar?" She twitched her eyebrows at him in an enticing manner which made him want to retch right then and there.
"Dorothy!" Relena called from behind her. "Don't harass poor Heero! Besides, you're not supposed to hit on other people when you're with me!" She put a fake put-out tone and glared at Dorothy as much as she could before both broke down into laughter. Heero just sat there and blinked in disbelief for not understanding the situation.
"THIS is Heero Yuy? THE Heero Yuy? Jesus, Heero, didn't know you were into crossdressing, but you make a nice girl." She smirked at him as he glared at her.
"Oh posh, Dot. Don't make fun of Heero. It was the only costume left that he could find."
"Haha, sure, 'Lena. By the way, Hee-chan, there's someone dying to meet you out by the gardens. Someone in a nice dark outfit who calls himself..." Relena quickly clamped Dorothy's mouth shut and dragged her away. Heero could only guess who was waiting for him outside, but a nagging feeling told him that he already knew. But he slowly made his way outside anyway, through the crowd and into the open air.
And there, he saw the most magnificent creature he'd ever know. Donned in a simple black shirt with the tightest black pants he had ever seen, long chestnut braid falling down his back with a black ribbon in it, and those violet eyes clouded in deep thought. Before he could even open his mouth, the man before him had already turned around and met his appreciative gaze with one of his own.
"Hi, I'm Duo." He got up and advanced towards Heero. The Japanese boy noticed that Duo was now slightly taller than him, only by a few inches at most though. "Relena told me she'd there'd be some guest that I'd definitely want to meet in the gardens, so I'm guessing that's you, right?"
Heero nodded, it was all he could do in his state of embarassment.
"So what's your name?"
Heero was pensive to say, but he then realized that Duo was acting so nice to him. Something that he hadn't been for so long. Maybe he doesn't recognize me. Maybe he thinks I'm a girl. Might as well play along. Using a higher voice Heero replied, "I'm Haruka. Nice to meet you." He put his hand out warily for a handshake. The American surprised him by taking his hand and gently kissing it, grininng wryly up at Heero. He blushed shyly and turned his head away in hopes that the night would hide his embarassment.
"So, Haruka, would you like to dance?"
"Uh...sure...but..." Heero trailed off, embarassed again.
"What? Don't tell me you don't know how to dance!"
Heero nodded. It was true. He only knew how to lead, and he wasn't really paying attention to what Relena was doing that time she danced with him so long ago.
"Well, it's easy, come on!" Duo dragged the two back inside and onto the center of the dance floor, amongst many other couples. "All you have to do is relax." He twined their fingers together and began to lead Heero, their graceful movements repeating in the same steps. Heero caught on quickly where he had to step to avoid Duo's feet and began relaxing moreso than he thought he would have and unconsciously began to rest his head against Duo's chest. It felt nice, and good, and most importantly, right. The two closed their eyes and just went with the elegant rhythm of the waltz. Until...
"Ow! Watch where you're going!" Duo's angry remark made Heero's eyes snap open to look at what happened. Apparently, Quatre and Trowa also had their eyes closed while dancing and bumped right into the two of them.
"So sorry, I...Duo!" Quatre bounced off the floor and grabbed Duo in a tight hug.
"Quatre! Man, I haven't seen you in, what, forever?" He returned the hug enthusiastically and then reached to hug Trowa as well.
"So who's that on your arm Duo?" Quatre asked, his face never betraying the fact that he knew. Trowa just held an unreadable expression on himself. Heero glared at the two.
"Oh this. This is Haruka! Haruka, the French maid is Quatre Winner, and his tamer is Trowa Barton."
Between grinding teeth, Heero managed out a "Yes, I've heard of them before. Such famed and KINDLY people that they are."
"Say, Quatre..." A wistful tone dropped into Duo's voice. "Have you seen Heero?"
"Ah, well, no, but I'm sure he'll pop up when you least expect him to." He winked at the American and grabbed Trowa again. "We're gonna go back to the dance now. Enjoy yourselves!" The two danced out of hearing range, but Heero could see behind Duo's back that they were laughing hysterically.
"Uh...that was weird. Sorry, Haruka. My friends are all a little odd. Shall we continue to dance?" Heero nodded and found himself stuck on Duo in a gliding waltz again. But to his dismay, the music changed to a slow song and Duo instructed him to just be close and sway to the music. Heero felt the heat rising to his cheeks as the song droned on, glad that Duo couldn't see his expression. And if the American figured out it was him, he'd die of embarassment.
But then he felt a tender kiss on his forehead and froze. Duo tilted Heero's head up to meet his gaze, his fingers outlining the features of Heero's face gently. Those violet orbs held an emotion unknown to Heero, his face completely unreadable.
"Duo..." His mind was a haze, the music and atmosphere was just right, so why not? He found himself throwing away all conscious thought and leaned into those soft lips, only realizing what he had done seconds after.
"Haruka, I..." Before Duo could finish, Heero broke off into a run, into the night, into the darkness where he could hide from Duo. Pushing through the throngs of people, his mind absentmindedly noted that the music had stopped and people were clearing their way for Duo to make his way over to where the Japanese boy way running.
Heero ran with a fervor that he had not known for years, his mind not registering where he was leading them. He just wante to get away. Away from the music, away from the laughter, away from the cheeriness, away from the politics, away from the masses. And most of all, away from him.
He eventually stopped when he realized he had ran into the middle of Relena's garden hedge, a maze of leaves and branches which he couldn't figure his way out of in his current emotional state. He noticed that the soles of the high-heeled shoes were worn away, the heel having fallen off earlier on in their run.
What the hell have I gotten myself into?
"Haruka!" His mind registered the voice and told him to run, but he just felt so tired. He could run no more. He had tried so hard to but it had gotten him no where. The voice drew closer and closer until it was a physical embrace around him. "I can't let you run away. I can't risk this again. Please...just listen to me."
Heero refused to meet his eyes and cast his gaze downward towards the gravel beneath them. He wished the moonlight could just make him disappear into nothingness. He had enjoyed Duo's company too much. As much as he had five long years ago during the war. And he couldn't risk that again.
"Look..." Duo's voice broke the silence, as it always did and he whirled the faerie angel princess around to look him in the eye. "Just stop and look at me." He allowed Heero to decide for himself whether he wanted to hear him out or not.
The Japanese man frowned. The sweetness in his voice was so different from the poison that it had spoken five years ago. The touch was familiar to his face, but it felt different this time, more matured from the passage of time between them. The Duo he had known would never have held him close and danced with him in such a way, so comforting and careful in every touch and step. But tonight, it just felt different. Maybe it was because Duo had thought he was a girl, maybe that was why he had been so nice to him.
"Look, I'm not who you think I am..."
"I already know who you are." Duo placed a finger in front of Heero's mouth to silence him from interruptions in his speech. "You are who you always have been. You are perfect. You are Heero Yuy."
Heero took a step back in surprise, not expecting that at all. "How'd you..."
"I knew for the whole time, actually. You were the only other person in the room wearing an angel costume and I'd thought, hey, I should give compliments to a fellow angel, but then Relena told me to go outside for someone. And there you were. You had me there for a moment, but when I saw those eyes, there was no mistaking that you were Heero Yuy. The one and only." He took a step towards Heero and held him tightly. "I'm sorry, Heero."
Suddenly, the force and reality of what Duo just said impacted with the Japanese man. "You KNEW??" He pushed away from the braided man and put on as angry an expression as he could muster, even if inside, he was bouncing up and down ecstactically and singing in joy.
Duo laughed back heartily. "Come on, now, Heero. We've known each other for so long I could pick you out from a crowd anytime, anywhere even if I was blind-folded." He blinked though at Heero's tortured expression. "Hey, Heero, you okay man? Do you need to sit down or something?"
"Ah...no, aw hell..." His legs gave way and he fell in a heap to the ground before Duo could even rush to his side and catch him. "Why didn't you tell me to begin with?"
"I didn't KNOW it was you to begin with! Until you spoke. No matter how you distort your voice, I still know it belongs to you." Duo sat down next to Heero and placed his arms carefully around him, trying not to scare him away. Then he slowly placed his head on Heero's shoulder and heard a low gasp of surprise from him. "You know, I was gonna go patch things up with you tonight. Make things right again. Make you come back to me after all the things I said."
"You were?"
"Yeah. I'm really sorry about what I said. After I ran out on you at the end of the whole Mariemeia incident, I really didn't think I'd have to face you again. But it hurt so bad. And I just couldn't face you. So when you gave me the oppurtunity to show you that I still had a place for you in my heart, I took it, even if it was under false pretenses."
Heero had no idea how to respond to Duo's words. He could only think of one way to respond. "Baka."
The American's merry laughter caught on to his ear and he smiled just a little bit. "Always was, Hee-chan." A shuffling of cloth told him that Duo had turned around and was keeping Heero in a tight embrace, refusing to let go. "Always will be. Your baka. God, I missed you so much."
"I've missed you too." Heero leaned into the embrace, feeling weak and vulnerable for the first time in a long time, relinquishing his control over to his emotions. And kissed Duo soundly on the lips.
After what seemed like an eternity of passion set in that one motion, the two withdrew from each other for air and just sat there, within the embrace of the other, under the clear, starry sky.
-Owari-
C&C is always welcomed. ^_^