Notes: Duo POV. The ending of this chapter sucks, but as it was supposed to end with the end of the next chapter, I guess that's sort of okay. And I just want to assure everyone that I am NOT going to discontinue this fic. This fic is too important to me to just leave it unfinished. Besides, I already have the last chapter all planned out :) Enjoy and review!

The dance had been set up in the school gym, which was actually in a whole separate building from the rest of the school. There were dozens of streamers hanging from the ceiling, royal blue and silver, and bunches of balloons had been set up everywhere, again blue and silver, with silver stars stuck to all the walls and ceilings. Small round tables with either two or three chairs were situated around the edges of the room, with nice yet obviously cheap dark blue tablecloths. There was a long table at the far wall, covered with a white cloth and decorated with silver… things. I don't know if they were banners or sashes or whatever, but they looked cool. And on the table was a fantastic array of finger foods and soft drinks. I noticed with a frown that there wasn't any beer, but wasn't all that surprised.

I could feel Heero at my side, a warm, comforting presence, and I shifted my hand so that it brushed against his. I wanted to hold his hands, to intertwine our fingers, to show everyone that he was mine and I was his, but… I didn't think I dared. It's funny, isn't it? I'm a street rat turned thief turned Gundam pilot, you'd think I'd dare to do just about anything, and that was mostly true. Defuse bombs, sneak into enemy territory, go on a suicide mission, hide Wufei's coffee, I'd do all of that in a heartbeat. But I didn't think I dared reveal that one secret.

I'd done it in the past, though I'd never actually had my boyfriend (ooh, that sent a weird tingle down my spine) standing by my side at the time. People hadn't reacted well, at least most of them hadn't. Three had tolerated, and one precious gem of a girl had wholly accepted it, even quizzing me about what I looked for in a guy and sharing her own thoughts. The rest… they'd tended to be mean sons of a bitches. They'd called me names, dropped snide comments, tried to rough me up, and it had gotten so bad that I'd eventually broken orders and dropped out of that school. I'd slept and lived in Deathscythe for the remaining three days before I completed my mission. I had no desire to go through all that again, especially since Heero would be subjected to it as well.

A quick squeeze on my hand dragged me out of my dark thoughts and I turned my head to look at Heero with a raised eyebrow. He was smiling softly, and I took the moment to study him. We'd dressed up for the dance, black trousers, the nicest shoes we owned which still weren't all that great, and proper shirts, not just tee shirts or tank tops. His was a shade of dark blue that complimented his eyes nicely, and mine was a dark black. My monochrome look was broken up by the silver chain around my neck, and the silver of my watch. Well… the silver of somebody's watch that I had taken the liberty of borrowing.

Anyway, back to the point, Heero looked good. He hadn't done anything all that special except for the clothes, but he looked… different, almost special. I couldn't put my finger on it, but there was just something about him tonight that was different.

The answer came in one of those sparks of inspiration that just pop out of nowhere. He was my boyfriend. Before, I'd always looked at him and thought of our… 'relationship?' as something temporary and not-real, but now it was different; now he was really mine. It made me smile to think about it, that I had actually laid claim to this strong, protective, caring young man.

"Duo!"

I blinked and looked away from Heero to see Lisa walking quickly towards us. She couldn't run because of the extremely high heels she was wearing, an obvious attempt to add something to her height of five one. She had dressed up in a simple black dress that fit her form nicely, and her hair was falling loosely over her shoulders. I'd never seen her in anything but trousers and a shirt with a simple ponytail, and the change was surprising.

"Hey, girl, you look great," I said with a smile that mirrored hers.

"Oh, you charmer, you. You look great as well, as does your friend." She turned to Heero and stuck out of her hand. "Hi, I'm Lisa, and I don't think we've been properly introduced."

Heero just looked at her hand for a moment, and I rolled my eyes before nudging him in the ribs with my elbow. He frowned at me, but shook Lisa's hand silently. Lisa raised an eyebrow and looked back at me.

"He really is talkative, isn't he?"

"Sometimes. So, how's the party so far?"

"Pretty dull, but the food's nice."

"You think with your stomach," I accused playfully, and she just grinned at me.

"Yep! So, wanna dance?"

I felt Heero tense beside me, and forced down the urge to grin like a lovesick monkey. Instead I just politely declined and headed towards the food. I hadn't eaten since lunch and I was getting quite hungry.

"She was… bouncy," Heero muttered in a disapproving tone under his breath as he grabbed a little plastic plate and randomly put some pieces of food on it. I grinned at him and nodded.

"Yep. Lisa's a nice girl, not too smart, but she thinks with her heart not her brain. She'll always help you out if you need her, though sometimes that gets her into trouble-my first day here, I had to save her from some bullies after she tried to save someone else from them. Still, she means well."

"Hn."

I rolled my eyes. I could tell what Heero was thinking-that those who cannot fight should not attempt to, that rushing into a hostile situation without proper planning was foolish, that Lisa was a bit of an idiot. I couldn't argue on that last one, but she was a loveable idiot all the same.

We sat down at one of the tables near the back-I wanted to be close the buffet table, Heero wanted to be able to see the whole room and the doors. We munched on our foods and looked at our classmates. Some of them were dancing to the generic disco tune being played by the local DJ, but most of them were just milling around chatting.

"Is this supposed to be fun?" Heero asked after a few minutes of comfortable silence, and I looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, aren't you having a good time?"

He seemed to think about that for a moment before shrugging and munching on a piece of mini-pizza. I frowned and chewed on my own food whilst I thought. Heero wasn't the most social person, his idea of having a good time was relaxing with his laptop after a mission well done. I'd accidentally stumbled onto the knowledge that Heero liked to play online games in his downtime and had been sworn to secrecy. But it had never occurred to me that he didn't… well, socialise.

Okay, so we didn't get a whole lot of opportunities in our lives, but I'd never really thought that Heero didn't enjoy just hanging out with other people, or even just near other people. I knew that he'd had an… unconventional childhood, but I'd never thought that he'd been so isolated. I'd always sort of assumed that J had given Heero moments of normalcy, like G had for me. Sure, other children had to have been pretty rare, but even just playing cards with his assistants or kicking a ball around in a casual game of soccer, just those rare glimpses at a normal life, they were one of the things that helped keep me sane. I couldn't imagine that Heero had lived his whole life without that.

I made a snap decision and grinned, standing up and holding out my hand for him. He frowned at it, and then raised an eyebrow inquiringly.

"We're gonna dance," I announced, grabbing his hand and pulling him to his feet.

"I don't dance," he growled, trying to tug his hand out of mine. "And everyone will look."

"So let them, they'll just be jealous that I've got you all to myself."

"Duo-"

"Please, Heero? For me?" I have him my best puppy dog eyes look, even adding in a little pout, and eventually he sighed with defeat. I grinned again and dragged him onto the makeshift dancefloor. I could already feel a few people looking at us, but forced myself to ignore them as I put my hands on Heero's hips. The song currently playing was a bit too fast, I'd have liked a slow tune, but I managed to get us into a semi-slow rhythm.

We didn't do much, just that shuffling-feet thing that most people do at school dances, slowly turning around with the speed of a constipated turtle, but it felt unbelievably good. I could feel Heero's hands on my hips as if my clothes weren't there, could practically hear his heartbeat as it matched mine, could see all the shifting shades of blue in his deep eyes.

I lost myself in the sensations, drowning in the emotions, and wasn't really aware of my actions. All I knew was that Heero was here, he was mine, and I never wanted to let him go. I could hear the whispers, the questions and suspicions, but they washed over me in a dull wave of unimportant nothingness. Let them think what they wanted, I didn't give a shit, not anymore. Because I had Heero and that was all that mattered.

I don't know who moved first, him or me, and I suppose it doesn't really matter. All I know is that suddenly, Heero's eyes were drifting shut and he was leaning towards me and then… he was kissing me. In public. In front of our classmates. And I didn't give a damn.

I moaned low in my throat and pressed closer to him, coaxing his lips open and exploring his mouth. My hands shifted away from his hips to explore his back, until I found his shoulders and gripped tightly, holding him to me. There was nothing in that instant, just me and Heero and the feel of his lips against mine, the sound of my heart beating loudly in my chest, the musky scent of the cologne that I'd forced Heero to wear.

A loud shout broke the spell, and I forced myself to remember where we were. I drew away reluctantly, ordering myself to let go of his shoulders, to take a step back. His eyes were a rich Prussian blue, darkened by passion, his lips were kiss-swollen and he looked very edible. I clenched my fists, digging my fingernails into my palms, focusing on the pain and using it to bring me clarity.

I looked around, and noticed that every single person in the gym was looking at us. Most looked confused, a few looked like they might be homophobes, but a few girls in the corner were grinning widely, whispering amongst themselves and giggling. I flashed them a grin and a sketchy wave, knowing that they were like that other girl, the ones who would accept this. I decided to find out their names and talk to them. That is, if we didn't get expelled.

The person who had shouted was Mr. Henry Walker, the Principle of this delightful little school. He was red in the face and breathing heavily, a reaction that was way over the top in my opinion. I could feel Heero tensing and knew that he was two steps away from doing something stupid, so I quickly grabbed his hand and squeezed it, giving him a reassuring smile before looking back at Mr. Walker.

"Sir, you need to calm down," I said casually. "Maybe a nice cup of camomile tea would help."

My comment only seemed to enrage him further, and I mentally kicked myself. Sometimes, I really did need to know when to shut up. After a few minutes of wordless grumbling, he managed to tell us to go to his office and wait there. I debated whether or not to obey, before deciding that I didn't have anything to lose.

"Come on then, lover," I said in a nice loud voice. I smirked at Mr. Walker and sauntered casually out of the gym.