Okay, so it's been for damn ever since I've posted last. Ah, well. This chapter is about 14 pages long, so don't say I've been slacking off. –Lady PhoenixDagger *//.^*

I do not own Gundam Wing. I do, however, own everything else here. So you sticky-fingered thieves (I know where you live, by the way, pond scum) can just bugger the hell off!!!!!

*****

I am not wearing that. Kari crossed her arms in a rare display of stubbornness, her full lower lip pushing out into a pretty pout. Relena and Cathy sighed. Not to be discouraged, Belle draped the dress she had been holding out for Kari to examine over her arm and put on a determined smile that would have sent even Dorothy Catalonia ducking for cover. Her eyes bound on account of yet another headache, Kari, not being able to see the dress, had touched it all over with sensitive fingertips, liking everything about what she felt. At least, until she got to the skirt.

I refuse to show my skin.

"Kari, dearest, it's two days to the semiformal and need to wear something." Belle put her hands on her hips. "You're a beautiful young lady and it's about time everyone else knew about it."

No. Kari sniffed irritably. I suppose I just won't go, then.

Cathy came forward, waving a hand in an "oh, who cares?" gesture. "Just throw on some thick tights and it'll all be good." She sighed. "Come on, even I'm going!"

"Trowa would be absolutely crushed if you didn't go, Kari," Relena said, momentarily risking her life by wrapping her arm around the irate fighter's waist. "And if he blushes now, just imagine what'll happen when he sees you in that!"

Belle put on an expression of mock-horror. "Good lord! His hair could catch fire!"

The pouty lower lip pulled in a little bit. Really… A vulpine smile grew on Kari's face. Is that so?"

"Oh, yeah!" Cathy grinned, already digging furiously in a drawer for a pair of opaque nylons. "He'll love it! Er… once he comes to."

Hmmmm. Perhaps I'll consider it. In other words, yes.

Sighing, Relena sprawled on the bed, looking guiltily at the ceiling. "With all this excitement, I can't help but feel bad about going without Misty." She rolled onto her stomach. "It feels like we're abandoning her."

Yeah. We're going out while she's staying at home. Kari's face fell into a snarl, making even the cloth binding her eyes look threatening. So help me, if any of those Federation assholes decide to come to school tomorrow…

"Let it go, Kari. Revenge never solved anything," Belle scolded. "Don't make it worse, child."

Cathy grinned cattily at them. "Don't feel too guilty, girls. I think Duo has something up his sleeve for Misty on Friday night. He's been working on some alternate date thing for her for days now." Her grin faded. "I should know. The little scam artist managed to bum twenty bucks off me for it."

Relena, Kari and Belle shared a knowing female type of grin usually reserved for scaring the hell out of the male members of the household. "I smell lo-o-ove!" Relena sing-songed.

"Yeah," Cathy grinned. "I think this is exactly what Misty needs."

Two days, Kari said, the speechdrop nestled in the hollow of her throat pulsing almost bashfully with every word. Would you believe I'm actually excited?

*****

Friday afternoon, six o'clock. One hour until the semiformal.

Misty had invited Relena, Kari and Cathy over to her house to get ready. Despite living with a wizard, a mage, an elemental, a Druid and a healer, Misty's body was still mending itself the old fashioned way. Though it sounded outlandish, there was actually practical reason for this. Healing by magical means unless in dire circumstances was highly discouraged by Keep propriety; if an individual received healing, his body could become used to it and lose the ability to heal naturally, a very bad circumstance indeed. Also, healing by magic was, as Talon once put it "basically the same painful shit over again, only going the other way and a helluva lot more slowly". Therefore, Zach had decided sadly that Misty had no choice but to stay home and heal for the next little while. He had tried to heal her partway, but the procedure had proved to be so painful that the elderly wizard had been forced to stop it before ever even truly starting. So now Misty's arm was in a sling and her ribs still ached painfully, especially when she forgot herself and coughed or laughed. On the upside, the swelling over her eyes had subsided to the point that she could open and close them almost comfortably, although the skin around them still remained disturbingly purple.

Presently the girls were in Misty's bedroom, getting ready. Or, more to the point, Relena, Kari and Cathy were getting ready. Misty was sitting on her bed, staring at the mirror over the vanity and trying to keep herself from brooding. So far it was a losing battle.

"Zip me up the back?"

"Hunh?" Misty tore her eyes away from her reflection. "What did you say?"

Relena looked over her shoulder at Misty and gestured to the zipper of her dress –a deep, royal blue strapless number that made her look absolutely stunning- with a matching royal blue-gloved hand. "Could you zip me up the back, please?"

"Sure, but be patient." Misty raised her cast-covered arm and winced. "It'll be a one-handed job." Clumsily, she zipped up Relena's dress. "There," she said wistfully. "You're beautiful."

Cathy grinned and smoothed the skirt of her pal lavender dress over her hips. "How do I look?"

"Gorgeous." Unconsciously, Misty's eyes drifted back to the damaged face in the mirror.

Sighing gustily, Cathy got between the red-haired bard and her reflection. Gently, she put her palm to Misty's cheek. "It's not a permanent thing, babe," she said, referring to Misty's bruises. "Stop obsessing over it." Carefully, she shook Misty's shoulder. "Besides, you're so much prettier when you smile."

"Sure." Liar.

Are you ready? Kari's voice came in from the hallway through the closed bedroom door. I'm coming in now. Don't you dare laugh.

Slowly, the door opened to reveal Kari, her hands folded demurely at her waist. The dress she wore was the very same that she and Belle had been arguing about earlier and it was obvious that Belle had been right all along. The dress went all the way down to her wrists and more than halfway up her throat, but the skirt only came to the middle of her thighs. The fabric was your basic black, but with pinprick points of silver brocaded into the cloth and it clung to her body like a second skin, showing off her slender arms and slim waist before flaring out for the skirt, which revealed to the world the legs of a goddess. Her hair was hanging in loose, spun-gold waves to her waist and for once, Kari had left off the blindfold. The whole effect left the other girls staring in utter disbelief.

Do I look okay?

"Honey, you look in-fricking-credible!" Cathy grinned. "Trowa is going to faint when he sees you!"

Do you honestly think so?

Misty smiled at her suddenly shy friend. "Yeah. You're absolutely beautiful." She laughed a moment before sitting heavily on her bed, gasping at the sudden sharp pain in her rib. "Who'da thought you would have had legs that could kill a man at twenty paces?"

I don't think I've ever gone out in public without my blindfold on before, Kari said nervously.

"And you look absolutely lovely without it," Relena said firmly. She glanced quickly at the clock on Ria's bedside table. "The guys said they were coming at six thirty, right?"

"Yeah." Misty nodded. "Duo's coming over, too. We're going to watch movies and stuff."

Relena nodded and checked her eyeshadow in the mirror. "Well, it's about twenty-five after." She straightened and smoothed her dress over her hips, an air of sudden first-date nerves hovering about her. "Welcome to zero hour, girls. I think I just heard someone knocking downstairs."

As if on cue, Zach's reedy voice cut in from downstairs in the kitchen. "Girls! Your knights in shining armour have arrived!"

Misty rolled her eyes. "Coming, Granddad!" she called back and immediately she fell back onto the bed, her good hands pressed to her broken rib. With the other she fended off the sudden onslaught of worried friends. "I gotta stop doing that," she groaned, poorly feigning good-naturedness. "See you guys later. Have fun."

Kari sighed loudly. Oh, come on, she said, grabbing Misty's wrist impatiently and dragging her into the hall. Shrugging, Cathy and Relena followed them to the kitchen.

Heero, Quatre, Trowa and Duo were standing idly around the table there, trying not to look at Zach and Ali, who were busy trying not to look like they were looking the boys over in that unnerving overprotective-parent manner that seems to be mandatory for first dates. Smiling shyly, Kari, Cathy and Relena descended the stairs and emerged through the doorway like blushing enchantresses lined up one after another. The sounds coming from the boys were obvious clues that the girls' primping and fussing had not gone unnoticed. An abrupt, strangled noise told the tale of Trowa's first glimpse of Kari and her killer figure. Likewise, the girls exclaimed over their respective dates, complimenting suits and sighing over delicate corsages. Both sexes had looked their matches over and the overall verdict was met with great approval.

Suddenly ashamed of herself, Misty hung back, hiding behind the stairwell door. She tried not to be jealous as she listened to the compliments and shy laughter ring out at her ear.

It's not fair. Frustrated, Misty wiped her eyes, trying to ignore the spine-shuddering pain that assaulted her as she put pressure on her bruises. Oh, lord. What am I even doing here? Slowly, painfully, she turned and began to make her way back upstairs, but a sudden, gentle pressure on her good wrist caused the auburn-headed bard pause and turn.

Duo, looking great in a tux –which, by the way, is not difficult feat. It is a well-known fact that any man, when inserted into a tuxedo, becomes an instant chick magnet- was gripping her arm. A duffel bag was slung over his shoulder and he held a full bouquet of deep red roses. "Hey," he said gently. "You're not planning on standing me up, are you?"

Stunned by his words, Misty simply stared at him. "Say what?"

"You said you'd spend the evening with me, right?" In a manner that Misty would later say was nothing short of artful, he managed to take her hand and lead her upstairs. "That would make this a date."

"Oh…"

The braided boy grinned and for the first time Misty noticed there was a top hat perched precariously on his head and a shiny black walking stick gripped tightly under his arm. "Buck up, babe. This is supposed to be fun."

"Right." Misty felt her face heat in a warm blush that she sincerely hoped Duo couldn't see. He looks so cute! "Sorry I'm not all dressed up."

Duo shrugged and let go of her hand for a moment. "Here." He took off his top hat and plunked it solidly on her head. "There you go! Ooooh, classy." The braided boy hefted the duffel bag, which bulged tightly. "I brought movie snacks." He shifted the bag, which was so full it did not even have room for the contents inside to rustle. "D'you think I brought enough?"

For the first time all evening, Misty smiled. "Yeah, maybe." Perhaps tonight won't be so bad after all.

*****

It was eight o'clock. The dance had been on for about an hour now and Quatre was having a horrible time. For that night and that night only the school cafeteria was a dance hall, complete with seizure inducing lights and a never-ending supply of throbbing base that made Quatre's head throb along with it. Heero and Relena and Trowa and Kari were out on the floor, swaying around to some sappy ballad that seemed to involve a great deal of unintelligible "woo-woo"-ing and a generally painful female voice that drilled straight into Quatre's skull. And to top it all off, Cathy was nowhere to be seen. Quatre supposed he couldn't blame her. It wasn't that they didn't like each other as people, but going out on the basis of "surrogate little brother's best friend" and "best friend's surrogate older sister" was more than a little freakish.

Kill me, Quatre groaned inwardly as the shrilly singing woman launched into yet another chorus. I don't even like to dance.

"I wanna loooooove you fore-e-e-e-ever…"

Why me? Glumly, Quatre wandered over to the refreshment table and ladled himself a plastic cup of punch. He drained it in less time than it took to ladle it out and instantly regretted it. Kool-Aid or Crystal Light or some other too-sweet powdered drink mix that normal teenagers were supposed to like. Grimacing, Quatre disposed of his cup and threw himself onto a bench pushed up against the wall. Why did I let Trowa talk me into this?

"Excuse me?!" A full, dusty-rose skirt pulled suddenly into Quatre's view, startling him. Slowly, he looked up to see the dimly-lit, but still pretty face of a girl with black hair, brown eyes and the facial expression of one who looked like she was being tortured. She was shouting over the music. "Is this seat taken?!"

"No!" Quatre yelled back. "Have a seat!"

"Thank you!" She sat, gracefully flicking her long raven hair over her smooth shoulder. "Did your date ditch you, too!?"

"No!" Quatre screamed back. "My date's off…somewhere!"

The girl shrugged and plopped her chin in her hands. "I absolutely loathe these dances!"

"Me too! Here!" Quatre leaned over to speak normally in the girl's ear. "I'm Quatre Raberba Winner."

The girl leaned over to speak in Quatre's ear. "Quite a hefty handle, Quatre Raberba Winner. I'm Mira Fraser." She stuck out her hand.

Quatre took the proffered hand and shook it. As he did, he noticed a barcode tattooed to the inside of her wrist. "You're a survivor, right?"

Mira blushed and looked at her lap. "I tried to find gloves to cover the tattoo, but I couldn't get any that went with my dress." She sighed. "Right. You'll probably want the whole song and dance, right? The whole school knows my story, so what's one more person? I was abducted as a toddler by Black Hood because I was born a telekinetic and was rescued at the age of fifteen." She leaned in closer, her hot breath tickling pleasantly against the rim of Quatre's ear. "You might just want to leave me alone now. I understand if you don't want to associate a telekinetic."

In spite of himself, Quatre grinned. "No need. I'm an empath."

Mira's frame immediately relaxed. "Get out!" She slapped Quatre lightly on the shoulder. "Where's your date?"

"Out and about, I guess." He rolled his eyes. "She's my best friend's sister. Somehow he managed to wheedle me into coming, so here I am." The blond Arab shrugged. "And look at all the oodles of fun I'm having."

"Lucky you. My date said he'd meet me here and then he came with some other Federation girl." Biting her lip, Mira sighed. "He said I deserved it because I'm a freak. Maybe he's right."

Hot, acrid anger welled up in Quatre then. Without thinking, he grabbed Mira's arm and pulled her to her feet. Mira's eyes were wide as he grabbed her other hand. Suddenly Quatre realised that he was giving her a death glare that would have made it look like Heero had just be squinting all this time. Startled himself at his behaviour, Quatre let his face fall into a relaxed smile. "C'mon. Let's go outside. This bass is driving me insane."

Gratefully, Mira nodded and followed him outside.

*****

Watching Quatre and the raven-haired girl leave, Cathy set down her yucky powdered drink and smiled. Pulling a quarter from her purse, she left the cafeteria and went to the payphones. Dropping the coin into the slot, Cathy quickly pecked out the number.

"Hello, Gil?" she said. "No, no, I'm okay. Yeah. Yeah the dance is fine. Do you think I could get a ride home?" She paused for the answer, giving the evil eye and the middle finger to some teenage punk who was openly checking her out. His parting comment –which Cathy was sure he meant to be clever- was drowned out by Gil's worried voice. "No, no, Quatre's car is fine." She cast a knowing smile in the direction of the cafeteria. "It's just that I think I've been replaced."

*****

"This is so perfect," Relena sighed, pressing closer to Heero as they danced. Nodding, Heero wrapped his arms tighter around her waist, secretly revelling in how it felt to have her so close to him.

Surreptitiously, Heero leaned in to breath in the scent of Relena's hair. Almost lazily, his mind flicked to the advice Belle had given him before he left the house that night. Don't push her away tonight, Heero. She had said this while he waited patiently for her to fix his tie. Being the Perfect Soldier was one thing, but being the Perfect Soldier and well dressed at the same time was something else altogether. She's far too good for that, Belle had gone on. Just be a gentleman and make use of your feelings.

The Perfect Soldier making use of his feelings, Heero thought. How ironic.

The sudden sensation of Relena's body quaking made Heero glance down. His dancing partner was biting her lip and her face was pink from withheld laughter. The Perfect Soldier looked at her. "What's so funny?"

"T-T-Trowa and Kari," Relena giggled, muffling her face with his shirt. Heero decided he kind of liked this. "Look at his neck!"

Discreetly, Heero danced Relena around in a semicircle to look at Trowa and Kari. They danced not more than ten or twelve feet away, a radius of empty space around them. Heero had expected this. It was the first time Kari had gone out in public without her eyes bound and it was bound to cause at least a little discomfort. Trowa had his back to Heero just then, giving the Perfect Soldier a perfect view of the back of his neck, which was glowing an attractive shade scarlet at the moment. The couple was also dancing about a foot and a half away from each other, not wanting to dance so far away, but too shy to come any closer.

Still in Heero's arms, Relena rolled her eyes. "What are we going to do with them?"

From his place not far above her, Heero allowed himself a smug little smile. "Watch."

His arms still loosely wrapped around Relena's waist, Heero caught the eyes of another couple dancing across the floor. The guy was big, burly and blond, while the girl was small, dark, lithe thing in a black dress. Heero knew the guy, an ex-Black Hood fighter who now went by the name of Nick, from his English class and he had met Feather, an ex-fighter who opted for keeping her original name and Nick's steady girlfriend. Though he was loath to admit that he had any emotional ties to anyone, Heero quite liked the couple. Their shared "let the world go to hell if it wants to" attitude reminded him of himself. Discreetly, Heero made a quick gesture at Trowa and Kari before pressing his palms together behind Relena's back. Nick looked confusedly at him for a moment before Feather reached up and murmured in his ear. The male ex-fighter grinned evilly and nodded. Heero nodded back.

"Follow my lead," he murmured to Relena about a nanosecond before stepping up his pace and whisking her across the dance floor, and action which almost knocked the poor girl over. Nick and Feather followed suit, and together the two couples swiftly began to close the gap between themselves and Trowa and Kari. Like a finely tuned machine, the two couples closed the distance and danced head-on into Kari and Trowa's backs, squishing the two together before deftly swinging away.

*****

That was evil, Kari grumbled, burrowing her face into Trowa's shoulder. Despite her grousing, he could feel her smiling against him.

"Yeah," he said, wrapping his arms around her. "Quite a shame, wouldn't you say?" Gently, Trowa let his fingers twine themselves into Kari's long, blonde hair. There was a long pause as the couple swayed lazily to the slow, sweet music. "You know we'll have to thank them later."

Yeah. Kari raised her head to look at him, her lower lip caught between perfect white teeth. Trowa?

"Mmmm?"

What are we?

Uh, oh. "Uh…we're dancing."

Not funny. Are we friends? Or are we… Under the flashing lights in the cafeteria the ex-fighter blushed hotly. You know.

"I'm not sure." This is so hard! "I'd like to be…something."

Grinning all of a sudden, Kari cocked an eyebrow. We'd better get started, then.

"How do we -mmph!!" Trowa's eyes flew wide open as Kari darted upwards and firmly planted her lips on his. Over her head, Trowa could see Relena and Heero on the sidelines, grinning madly at him. Relena was even giving him the thumbs up! The Silencer tried to resist the urge to give them the finger. Kari tugged his ear.

Less looky, more kissy.

Trowa couldn't help but smile against her. I can do that.

*****

"Daaah-ling, I want nothing more than to spend my forever with you…."

This is movie so boring! Stifling a yawn, Duo helped himself to some more Doritos before sneaking another look at Misty, whose eyes were hopelessly glued to the screen. They had been in the Broman family TV room for about an hour now, Misty watching intently a mushy chick flick Duo thought she would like, while Duo sat back and formulated his plan of attack. So far his luck with it hadn't been very good.

Okay, so stretch casual-like and wrap my arm around her shoulders and- nah. Too corny. Duo frowned. Maybe if I reach down and grab her hand. Wait, no. Her good hand is on the other side.

"Pass the dip?" Misty's voice cut into Duo's desperate planning. Wordlessly, Duo handed the little plastic tub to her and resumed forming his plan of attack.

Maybe if I put my hand on her knee… Duo heaved a mental sigh. Unless I want a hardened plaster cast in the face. "Uh, Misty?"

"Mmmm?" Slowly, she tore her gaze away from the passionately kissing couple onscreen to regard Duo, who was madly trying to think of what next to say. "Yeah?"

"Uh…er…." Dammit!! "Are you…cold?"

A slight blush tinged Misty's cheeks where there were no bruises. "A little bit," she confessed. Clad in a T-shirt and jeans, the red-haired bard rubbed her bare arms.

Yesssss! We have an opening!! Duo literally leapt from his seat on the couch and whipped off his suit jacket. "Here!" Without hesitation, he wrapped it around her, albeit a little bit too enthusiastically.

"Ow! Duo, my ribs!!"

"Sorry."

Kindly, Misty smiled at him. "'S okay," she said, patting his knee. After a moment, Duo noticed with more than a tiny mote of triumph that she left her hand there. "Duo?"

"Yeah," Duo said absently, wondering if he should put his hand on hers or pretend to be cool about it. The red-haired bard's hand was small and smooth and it all but glowed in the dim light against the dark fabric of his trousers.

"Thank you for keeping me calm." She paused, searching for the right words. "You know. When you and Heero…found me."

"No prob." Now or never, Shinigami. Gulping in a deep breath, Duo reached over and wrapped his arm carefully around Misty's thin shoulders, almost whooping for joy when she shifted over to lean on him. Tentatively, he stroked her hair. "If worse ever came to worse, I wouldn't hesitate to do it again." Gulping in another hasty draught of air, Duo leaned in, letting his violet eyes drink deeply the sight of her.

"You smell good," Duo ventured shyly, watching Misty's soft mouth curve into a bashful smile. "Do you…taste good, too?"

Misty blushed. "Maybe. You might have to conduct an experiment on me, I guess," she said, suddenly saucy. "For educational purposes, of course."

Minding her injuries, Duo leaned the rest of the way in. "Of course," he murmured, closing the scant gap between them and capturing her lips within the confines of his own.

Oh, wow…

Finally, after a moment and a scant eternity, they broke apart, flushed and breathing hard. Misty grinned impishly at Duo, her minute fingers playing with the flyaway hairs at the base of his braid. "Very nice, Mr. Maxwell, but unless I'm mistaken, to conduct a valid experiment, one must conduct it several times to see if it's correct." Darting in, she gave his lower lip a hasty nip.

"Ahhhh….that would be correct, Miss Broman." Grinning devilishly, the Great Shinigami grabbed Misty by the waist and laid a long, wet one on her. He could feel her twining her fingers into the base of his braid again, stimulating the sensitive roots and sending shivers up and down his spine. Tenderly he responded by running his fingers along the delicate bend of her throat.

"Ahem."

His face suddenly frozen in what he supremely hoped wasn't pure horror, Duo looked waaaaaay up to see the stern face of Ali Broman looming over him. Looking down again, Duo saw there was a two litre bottle of Coke in his enormous hand.

"I was going to ask if you guys wanted something to drink," the huge Druid rumbled. "But I see you two are a bit busy at the moment."

Duo felt his face begin to flame. "Mr. Broman, I-"

Ali raised his free hand. "Calm down, son. I'm not some cranky overprotective ogre." He raised an eyebrow. "Just be glad it's me up here and not my wife." Setting down the Coke, the tall Arab man shrugged and turned to leave. "By the way," he said over his shoulder, "keep those nosy teenage hands of yours above the shoulders."

"DAA-AAD!!!!"

*****

It was almost ten o'clock on semiformal night and as a result, business at the local McDonald's was –to put it in serious managerial terms- deader than a doornail. To say it was merely sluggish would be a vast improvement. His eyes intent on some menial task set before him, the manager –a stocky, middle-aged man with thinning hair and a massive paunch that was the object of great amusement among the lesser ranks- let his eyes rove over the restaurant, which was empty, save for two kids off in the far corner sharing a large order of fries. Judging by the snazzy getups, the manager figured they were probably on a date or something.

They were certainly acting in the standard date behaviour; they were laughing and chatting and tossing the occasional fries off each other. His curiosity piqued, the manager grabbed a spare cloth and spritz bottle and set off, meandering his way over to them, stopping every now and then to flick at a tabletop or two with the cloth. Finally, he got close enough to hear what they were saying.

"So there I was, just about to have my landlord over for dinner," the girl, a pretty thing in a dusky rose dress, said gesturing with a fry. "When I find the kid I watch in the afternoon had eaten all of the mushrooms I had for my beef stroganoff, got sick and ralphed right into my only cooking pot all over the other ingredients inside." She laughed ruefully. "I ended up serving up take-out Chinese food that night."

The blond guy sitting across from her flashed a wide, perfect grin. From where he was bent over a nearby table, the manager wondered if the kid was a model. He certainly had the smile down. "Ooh, gross!" He chewed thoughtfully on a fry a moment, racking his brain for his own horror story. "Here's one," he said after a moment. "When I was little, around six, I had a nurse who loved to cook. Italian, French, Japanese, you name it, she made it. One day she was making a cake or something and there was this huge bag of sugar on the counter, maybe twenty pounds of it or so. Anyway, one way or another I ended up crawling up there and knocking it over and spilling it all over the floor. There was so much I couldn't see the tile underneath. Twenty pounds of sugar at least, all over the floor."

"Oh, man!" The girl squeezed his hand. "What did you do?"

The boy flushed in embarrassment. "I kinda…ate the evidence. They found me bouncing around like an idiot on the roof about an hour later."

The manager winced. Ouch.

Laughing hysterically, the girl wiped her eyes. "Oh! Oh! That's just priceless!!" Beside her, the cheap foil ashtray on the table next to them rose about a foot into the air and hung there.

A freak, the manager thought in disgust. The owner didn't allow any of his employees to give freaks the boot, a fact that made the manager, a card-carrying Federation for Human Purity member, furious. Still, despite his crazy policy, the owner wasn't there that night, leaving the manager in charge. He slapped the wet cloth on the table in front of him, making both teenagers jump. Next to them, the ashtray clattered to the tabletop.

"I'm gonna have to ask you to leave," the manager said, glaring at them. "I don't want any damned freaks fouling up my restaurant."

To the manager's triumph, the girl jerked back as if burned, looking as if she was about to cry. Hah, the manager thought gleefully to himself. Serves the little freak-bitch right.

A silken noise, the sound of cloth rubbing on cloth made the manager look over. The blond boy was standing not more than a foot away from him, his eyes narrowed to slits of aquamarine.

"Oh, really?" he said. Involuntarily the manager backed a step away. There was something in that voice. It wasn't malice, nor was it anger, but the tone of it suggested that if the manager didn't play nice, something very unpleasant would happen. And those eyes! Just a second ago the kid was laughing and giggling without a hint of anything even close to malice. But now he looked like nothing would please him more than to tear the manager limb from limb. "May I have a word with the manager?" It was not a request.

"Eh…he's…not here," the manager stammered, forcing himself to keep from looking away. Those damned blue-green eyes seemed to bore right into his skull.

"Oh well now…." The boy smiled at him like a snake. "That's a whole different matter, isn't it?"

The manager fought the urge to say "yessir" and simply nodded his head. Suddenly the boy seemed ten feet tall.

The kid stepped forward. "I'm a 'freak' too, y'know." He stepped forward again, forcing the manager onto his heels. "That makes it two against one."

Wordlessly, the manager nodded.

"You wouldn't want to do something so stupid as to anger two fully-trained freaks, do you? Hmmm?" Coldly, delicately, he flicked a bead of sweat from the older man's brow and sniffed. "No. I didn't think so."

Finally, the manager screwed up what little courage he had. "Who, who says you can even do anything? Maybe you're both just clones or something. Maybe that ashtray is all that girlfriend of yours can do."

"Maybe." The boy shrugged, and there was something almost tangibly condescending about it. "But then again maybe not. I trust you've heard the rumours regarding us?"

Swallowing, the manager nodded. "Yeah."

The boy leaned far in, his lips brushing against the manager's ear as he spoke. "Do you really want to find out how many of them are true?"

*****

"That was incredible!" Mira's brown eyes were wide as saucers as she and Quatre calmly left McDonalds, leaving the manager to sit quietly inside and shit himself. A cool autumn wind played over the two, causing Quatre to be a gentleman and wrap his arm around Mira's shoulders. Feeling the dove-softness of her skin and the slight tickle of her hair fanning over his wrist, Quatre quickly came to the conclusion that chivalry is very good.

"Y'know, I didn't know you could get a lifetime of free meals there," Mira continued.

Grinning, Quatre squeezed her shoulder. "You probably couldn't before tonight."

Together they laughed and Quatre was struck with how pretty Mira looked when she laughed, tossing her mane of thick hair the colour of jet and revealing perfect, white teeth. As they got to his car, the thought of the guy who had stood her up and was now missing out on this came to him then. Damn. What an moron.

Beep-beep!

The tinny sound of his watch beeping pulled Quatre from his reverie. Holding it up to catch the bounty of the streetlights overhead, he read one am, or more distressing, a half-hour past his curfew. Swearing in Arabic, Quatre pulled his keys out and unlocked the passenger side door for Mira.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"I'm late," Quatre moaned, getting in and starting the engine. He let it idle a minute to let the car warm up. "Gil and Belle are going to kill me!"

"Whoa, whoa, Gil and Belle?" Mira held her hands up in a "hold on" gesture. "Gil and Belle Ichara?"

Concentrating on not adding smashing into parked cars onto his list of offences for the night, Quatre's reply was distant. "Yeah. I live with them."

"Then you've been to Alaryan's Keep!!"

"Yeah. I came through the Bond." Carefully, Quatre merged into traffic. "Where do you live, by the way?"

"Corner of Spruce and Gregory," Mira said impatiently. "What's the Keep like? Have you met the Broman family?"

A flash of insight hit Quatre then, one he would thank his lucky stars for later. "Why don't I show you?"

"No way! You really mean it?" Mira's delighted cry made Quatre almost miss a red light. "I'd love to!"

"So I gathered," Quatre grinned. "Are you free on Sunday?"

"Yeah! Oh, turn here."

Presently, the car turned into the parking lot of a modest apartment complex. At Mira's insistence, Quatre ended up walking her to her door, inadvertantly creating the most awkward situation of any teenager's dating history: the good night.

"Uh…." What do I say? Quatre smiled awkwardly. ""Well…."

"I had fun tonight," Mira said slowly. "And…I can't wait for Sunday. You have my number, right?"

Quatre slapped his pockets. "Yeah. Yeah, I do."

Smiling, Mira unlocked the door to her apartment, but made no move to open it or step inside. "Call me tomorrow, okay?"

"Yeah. Okay."

"Well…thank you for a wonderful evening." She bit her lip. "G'night, Quatre." Quickly, the little telekinetic reached up and brushed her lips against Quatre's before turning to head inside.

Quatre would spend the rest of that night lying awake in his bed wondering what the hell made him do it, but he reached out and grabbed Mira's arm, pulled her close and lay a long, passionate kiss on her. To his surprise and delight, Mira returned the kiss and wrapped her arms around his neck. But, as is the case with anything good, too much is possible and after a few heavenly minutes, Quatre and Mira ran out of air and reluctantly –thought still breathlessly- broke away from their first kiss.

"Wow," was all Quatre could say.

"Yeah." Mira smiled back at him and peck his lower lip. "See you Sunday, Quatre."

"Sleep well, Mira."

Then the door to her apartment closed and she was gone, leaving Quatre to fight the urge to little victory dance. At least, until he made it safely to the sanctity of the elevator.

"Eee-YESSSSSS!!!!!" he crowed, punching the "lobby" button and pumping his fist in the air.

Quatre, dearest?

Belle!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

She's a good girl, darling. You chose well.

Uhm…thanks, Belle.

And you plan on seeing her on Sunday, do you? Belle's mental voice was coy as Quatre made his way back to the parking lot.

Yeah. Even though Sunday was the day after tomorrow –or simply tomorrow, depending on how one looked at it- Quatre suddenly couldn't wait for it to come. It'll be great!

That's good to know, because seeing as it is now past one-thirty, starting Monday morning, you're grounded.

Awww, Belle…. Even as Quatre complained, he touched his mouth, feeling still the pressure of Mira's lips on hers. Getting into his car, he grinned. It was so worth it.

*****

**Sigh** At last! The dance is over! I can get back to senseless violence!!!! Yaaay!!!

Ja ne, minna-san!

--LPD *//.^*