Chapter Three

" A WHAT CONTEST?!?" screeched Duo in one of his higher tones.

Wufei threw his nose in the air. " A beauty contest..."

Duo threw himself into the chair next to Heero. " What exactly are you trying to prove out of this Wufei? We all know who makes the best woman here, and it certainly ain't you!"

" Oh, and what do you mean by that?!" shouted the PMSy Quatre. " I take it that you fancy yourself as 'Miss Teen'..."

" No! I didn't say anything like that!"

" You implied! That's bad enough!"

" I didn't do nothing! You can't prove anything!"

Quatre ripped the magazine from Wufei's hands and quickly scanned the entry form over. " Tell you what Duo, I'll enter this if you enter it, then we'll see who's the best..."

" I don't think that we should be entering beauty competitions..." said Heero in withdrawn tone, he didn't like it when Duo started bitching with anyone. It always made him feel uneasy, more than likely because it was something that he had done and Duo was pissy at him, but ended up shouting at one of the others anyway... " That's like letting our looks and new bodies get to our head. As long as we're happy with the way we look, we don't need to enter a competition to tell us that we look good...". Heero stopped talking when he realised that Quatre had already started hacking the form out of the page and he was now currently arguing with Wufei over who had the one single pen last. He just hoped that the whole bleeding thing that was going on with Quatre would stop soon; it was like living with a Zero-exposed Quatre permanently!

Trowa 'bounced' through from the kitchen.

" Hey Trowa! How do ya fancy entering a beauty contest, on request of Wufei?" called Duo.

Trowa made a thoughtful 'hmm' noise. " A contest involving the participation of girls from the age of sixteen upwards, where they are judged upon their ability to walk in high-heeled shoes and their unnatural, often cosmetic looks. Competition involves the competitor, in this case, young females, to exhibit their bodies in a most demoralising and immoderate fashion while very little attention is paid to the participant in any great detail... The participant as a person rather than a fatuous creation made for the soul purpose of scrutinising..."

Duo scratched his head. " So... I take it that the answer is no..."

Trowa nodded.

" What about you then Heero? Are you gonna enter?"

" No, I agree with Trowa."

" You two are just scared that I'll beat you, even though its pretty obvious who's gonna win out of us..." drawled Quatre. " Too scared to make a bet?"

" No..." said Heero

" Well come on then! You've never turned a bet down before..."

" That's cause before I wasn't a girl. I don't want to bet with you, this whole idea is ridiculous. I'm having nothing to do with it..."

Dou frowned. He HAD to get Trowa and Heero in this contest. He stood for a moment thinking. The betting thing had failed, but he knew something that would get them in it without a second thought.... " But Heero, Quatre, Wufei and me are going to the salon, and we need to go clothes shopping... But, if you don't wanna enter this competition then I guess there's no point in you or Trowa coming with us..." (Uh-oh, its that 'shopping' word again...)

Heero got up, walked over to Wufei, grabbed the pen out of his hands and scribbled his name down on the form. " When are we going?"

" Going? Are we meant to be going somewhere?" asked Quatre, confused that Heero had suddenly changed his mind. (Ahh, another talent us females have and exploit to its full potential...)

Heero death-glared Quatre. " Shopping. I want to go shopping. And we had BETTER be going to the salon, or you can kiss your entry place goodbye cause you won't be there to fill it..."

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" I don't feel very feminine in these clothes..." moaned Duo, still wearing his normal get-up from when he used to be male. "...I mean, look at them, they don't show anything!"

Heero pulled at the top that Quatre had lent him. " I don't really care."

" You wouldn't..."

"Are we just going into this one?" asked Quatre pointing to the front of a clothes shop. " Duo has a point, for once. We aren't gonna get very far wearing stuff like this."

Trowa 'hmm'ed again and Wufei turned his back on the four, this whole thing was going the total wrong way. He had only wanted them to enter it to boost up numbers, he hadn't expected them to take it so seriously! He didn't really care though, he had plans that would sort them so that they COULDN'T win...

Wufei's train of thought was halted when Duo pulled at his sleeve and dragged him into the nearest clothes shop.

" Duo! Let go of me! I don't wanna go into this one!"

Duo dropped his arm and smirked. " Why...? Scared they don't do things in your size...?"

You could literally see the steam fume out of Wufei's ears. " No! I... I just don't like the styles, that's all..."

" Well me and the others do, so you'll just have to follow. Besides, Quatre is the one with all the money..."

Wufei moaned again. Duo could be such a cow! He folded his arms and walked into the shop. Heero was already in the changing rooms trying on an assortment of little cocktail dresses in a variety of colours and sizes, Quatre was chatting to the assistant and Trowa was 'hmm'ing over a range of skirts and stretch-tops that would accommodate his bust. Wufei paid very close attention to what the four of them bought, that way he could take some time in scheming what to do with them...

Never-the-less, he handed over his choice of a respectable dark-blue top and a pair of the flared jeans (come back the seventies! They don't make em' like they used to!). This would do just now while the others concentrated more on what they were going to be wearing at the competition. Wufei glared at them, certain that they had no idea what he was planning...

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Trowa sat looking in the mirror that Quatre was holding up for him. " Are you sure that my hair looks good like this?"

" You suit highlights Trowa..." smiled Quatre. " And that look that the girl gave you... blue is really your colour."

" But isn't my hair too light? I don't want to go blonde..."

" Its just a couple of streaks at the front, they didn't dye your whole head. There's nothing to worry Trowa, it'll be fine."

Heero sat across from Duo with a note pad.

" What's that for?"

" Notes."

" Notes? What ya talking about?"

Heero scribbled something down onto that paper. " Notes incase I forget what the girls done. They said so many things and put so many different things on my head, I need to remember them all for when I go to do it myself..."

Duo 'oh'ed and went back to practising applying mascara. After poking himself in the eye a couple of times, he stood up triumphantly and paraded around the room. " I've mastered the art of applying mascara! I did it! Now for the eye-brow trimming... gees, its not easy being a girl. Do all of them have to go through this?" (A/N: - Make-up? Wha's that? Never had any on... am I missing out on anything great?)

He rummaged around in the little bag of make-up and make-up accessories that Quatre had purchased. " Okay..." he stood up again. " Who's got that funny looking thing that pulls your eye-brows?"

Heero shrugged his shoulders. Trowa evidently didn't have it as he was pulling at his hair and Quatre couldn't have it as he was away changing his 'thing'. That left only one person... Wufei...

" Give it here Wufei!" Duo pointed at the Chinese boy/girl sitting on the floor with his back to them.

Wufei launched the eye-brow plucker over his shoulder. " Take it!"

Duo scolded him. " There's no need to shout! And you could have at least turned around! Don't be so rude!"

" I'll turn around when I see it fit for me to turn round!"

Duo threw himself at him. " You'll turn around now!"

" No! I won't!"

The two of them struggled for a moment before Duo grabbed hold of Wufei's hair and pulled his face round. Almost immediately he loosened his grip and burst out laughing. On one side of Wufei's face there was only half an eye-brow, while in the other, he had attempted to paint another in with make-up where it had been ripped out.

" Well you try and do it better!"

Duo was to busy laughing to answer. Within seconds the others were in the same state and Wufei could feel his anger rising again... He would show the lot of them, especially Duo...

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Duo rolled over and slung an arm round Heero, and started kissing him down the neck. Heero moaned in response and pulled Duo ontop of him. He knew what Duo was after and he was more than willing to give it to him. But Duo just sat on him, scratching his head and looking down at Heero with a perplexed look on his face.

" Duo! For Christ's sake! Will you hurry up and do something or I'm gonna punch you in the face!" shouted Heero, getting impatient at his lovers slowness.

" I'm sorry Heero."

" Sorry?! You will be in a minute! What have I told you about winding me up like this, teasing me is one thing but this pisses me off! Do something!"

" I will! Well, I mean I would... but..."

" But what?!"

" But I don't know how! What do you want me to do Heero, there's nothing there!"

Heero threw his head back into the pillow. Being a girl had its downsides...