The next day-
Duo giggled wickedly, his eyes gleaming, as he set the gaily-wrapped box next to the red gingham tablecloth Quatre spread on the lush grass. "Where are they, where are they, where are they?" He bounced back onto his heels and glanced around.
Quatre pulled out plastic-wrapped plates and bowls of food out of a seemingly bottomless wicker basket. "We're not even ready yet, Duo. Here, help me organize some of this."
"What if he doesn't show up? And where's Trowa?" He pulled the wrapping off of a bowl of pasta salad and sampled it. "This is pretty good."
"Thanks, but don't eat it all, ok." Quatre set the basket aside and began setting out plates. "And Trowa is over there."
"Eh?" Duo's head swung around to look and Quatre ducked the following braid casually. "Can't sneak up on us with Q-man here," he grinned. "So how's things goin'?"
"Hello, Duo," the quiet pilot said mildly, as he set a large box down. "Hey, Quatre."
"What's this?" Quatre lifted the lid of the box and peeked in. "Oh, keep Duo away from this. How's Relena coming?"
"What is it?" Duo reached for the box with over-eager fingers.
"The cake." Trowa moved it out of range. "She'll be here in a few minutes. She's having problems figuring out how to blind-fold him." He moved the cake back further.
Duo paused in mid-reach. "Blind-fold?" He began snickering.
Trowa shrugged and moved the cake-box to his other side.
A familiar girl's voice floated across the green grass. "Come on, don't you trust me?"
The braided pilot snickered harder, an action that almost resulted in him falling into Trowa's lap, which he was in the middle of reaching across. "I can just imagine…" he giggled, then doubled up. He wiped tears from his eyes and howled with laughter. "…the withering look he just gave her!"
Trowa moved the box further out of reach, and nudged Duo out of his space and onto the grass to finish out the throes of mirth.
Duo opened his eyes to see Heero standing over him with a half-quizzical, half-exasperated expression. He squeezed his eyes shut again and convulsed in helpless laughter.
"That looks painful." Relena shook her head and prodded at him with a toe.
Quatre nodded. "Doesn't it? He must be used to it or something, because he never seems to mind it."
"Happy… birthday," Duo managed to gasp out. "H- happy birthday, Heero."
Heero looked around him.
"Yes, happy birthday!" Relena hugged his shoulders affectionately. "Come on, sit down."
"Happy birthday," Quatre added.
"Birthday?" He was still looking around.
"It was Quatre's idea," Trowa clarified.
"Oh." Heero sat down. "I understand now."
"So, what do you want first?" Relena sat next to him. "Food, cake, or presents?"
Heero reacted by getting up onto his knees, pulling out his gun, and aiming in a single fluid motion.
"No!" Relena and Quatre both tackled him and attempted to wrest the firearm from him.
Zechs looked coolly amused. "I see that I have not been forgotten. Hello again, Heero Yuy."
Heero gripped his gun tightly and growled.
Noin looked at him curiously. "Thought you'd stopped hurting people. Why do you still carry that thing around with you?"
He disentangled himself from his attackers and tucked the gun back into its accustomed place in his waistband against the small of his back. "You never know when it could come in handy. I find it quite useful in everyday living." He shrugged and sat back down. "It's part of me."
"Kind of like that Spandex," Duo cracked from his place in the grass.
Trowa nudged him again, not too gently.
"So you're not going to try to find out if Noin'll take a bullet for me?" Zechs asked, still with a calm smile on his face. Noin gave him a strange look.
"Not worth the bullet. That was just a brief resurfacing of old instinct." He looked at the paper plate and plastic fork Quatre somehow managed to put into his hands, then reached for a bit of cold chicken.
"Ah, yes, the 'Zechs must die' instinct. I believe I understand." He sat down and picked at a slice of watermelon.
Duo sat up. "I wanna cut the cake."
"I'm not sure that's a good idea." Relena paused in the middle of trying to put food on Heero's plate to lick some mayonnaise from her finger and stare worriedly at the braided pilot.
He pulled a face. "I wanna cut the cake."
Zechs glanced up and spit melon seeds at him.
"Plu-leeeeeze?" He turned wide cobalt puppy-dog eyes on Quatre.
"Well…"
"Don't cave into him, Quatre," Noin warned around a mouthful of cinnamon bun. "He's just using you for your gentle nature. Do you really trust him with a knife?"
"Hey!" Duo cried. "You make it sound as though he shouldn't trust me at all. I'm trustworthy."
A watermelon rind hit him in the forehead. Zechs grinned innocently, and Relena began giggling.
"EWWWW!" Duo threw himself back on the grass ands rolled back and forth, clutching at his head. "Zechs Marquise germs! Ahhhh! Your saliva-covered rind touched me!" he shrieked in outrage.
"I can't believe he really acts like this." Noin shook her head. "How did he survive all these years?"
"The great mystery of Duo: why hasn't someone already killed him." Heero shrugged. "Even I don't fully understand it." He looked with interest at the cake. "And that had better be chocolate."
Duo paused in his mock-hysterics and grabbed a knife. "Let's find out!" he cried as he shouldered Trowa out of his way. "The God of Death is back, baby!" He plunged the knife into the Wing Zero shaped cake and cackled wildly.
"Oh, dear," Quatre said in astonishment.
"Duo!" Relena grabbed the arm on the upswing. "Tradition! He has to blow out the candles!"
The knife dropped out of Duo's hand willingly and the other dove into his pants pocket. "Yeah, better yet! Light it up!"
"Alright." Relena reached for the small color-and-white striped candles with a sigh of relief, artfully arranged them, and snagged the lighter away from Duo. "Thank you."
"You have to make a wish," Quatre reminded him.
"Hn." Heero stared intently at the candles for a moment, then blew out the tremulous flames to the other's applause.
Zechs sighed and stared morosely at the slice of cake Trowa handed him. "You know, the only person who help celebrate my birthday after Cinq fell is dead." He sighed again. "And he always gave the most tasteful gifts."
"Gifts!" Duo grinned and licked his fingers. "Speaking of which..." He shoved the wrapped box in front of Heero.
Zechs gave the braided pilot a dirty look, but added his own gift on top of the other.
