Disclaimer: Gundam Wing does not belong to me, nor does The Great Gatsby. Though I do have the DVDs, and the book.
The Great Yuy
Chapter Six
"It makes me sad because I've never seen such- such beautiful shirts before."
-Daisy, after her reunion with Gatsby, F.Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
5 June AC 202
0805 hours
Counter: 16:35
"They're what?" Twenty people exclaimed at once in response to Hilde's statement.
"Missing," the pregnant woman repeated, pleased by the reaction she was getting. "Do you see them anywhere?"
"Huh? Who's missing?" Relena came wandering into the dining room, stifling a yawn. Though she was perfectly made up and dressed, there were deep purple circles under her eyes. "I'm right here. But I don't know about Heero," she added, as they stared at here suspiciously. "I haven't seen him since yesterday. Really."
Hilde lumbered over to put her arm around her friend. Being in the room next door, she had spent most of the night listening to her friend sobbing into her pillow. And if she guessed correctly, the object of Relena's thoughts then were what was making her so defensive now. "We believe you," she said softly. "He probably just went somewhere with the other guys. Trowa and Quatre are gone too. Come, sit with us."
She led her to the chair she was sitting in before, and sat on the other
side of her. Relena's brother, sister-in-law and niece smiled their "Good
morning." The baby stretched out her arms to her aunt and Relena picked her up,
kissing her on the forehead before handing her back to her mother and taking
her seat. Unlike her, the rest of the family appeared to have slept quite well.
"Morning, jousan," Duo greeted her with a
loud rumble from his stomach. "Now that you're here, maybe we'll actually get
some grub. We need a dinner bell. Or a breakfast bell, whatever. Something to
get the servants moving a little, like"
DING DONG. The doorbell echoed throughout the room as if it had been rung by the Hunchback of Notre Dame himself. "Like that," he finished, thoroughly impressed by the noise, and planning to ask at the first opportunity how to get one for his own house.
"I wonder who that could be this early in the morning?" wondered another of Quatre's sisters, whose name Relena couldn't remember at the moment. They found out a moment later.
A harried maid ran into the room, straight to Iria. She was carrying a small parcel in her hand. "Miss Winner, we have a delivery for the Vice Foreign Minister. The delivery man said it was very valuable; he was followed by all these men, and they were wearing uniforms and carrying weapons." This particular maid was of a nervous sort in general, so needless to say this occurrence in what was known to the public as a pacifist household (despite many of their current guests), had disturbed her greatly. It didn't help when everyone crowded around her to see what it was.
"It could be dangerous," Zechs warned, ever the cautious older brother, as Relena took the package from her. "Someone could have sent a bomb."
Relena shook her head, remembering her phone conversation of the night before. "No, I was expecting this. It's from Jon. He said he sent me something."
"Oh." Her brother calmed considerably when he heard that. He was actually quite fond of Jon. He liked him better than Heero, anyway.
"Open it already!" Dorothy demanded with impatience. Her friends all
nodded their agreement. They seemed far more enthusiastic than she felt, and
she was the recipient of this probably wonderful gift from a wonderful man who
loved her. So why wasn't she excited?
Her hand shook as she slit through the
packing tape with the knife Duo handed her. It was really meant to cut through
the hard crust of the delicious homemade bread Quatre's cook made fresh every morning
and nearly split her thumb open. Still, she managed to open the package without
spilling any blood. Buried underneath a pile of Styrofoam pieces lay a black
velvet covered box. Relena opened it, the look on her face showing her relief
at its rectangular shape and large size: too large for what she feared it
contained. The result was like opening a giant oyster; she found a string of
perfect pearls inside, each one more beautiful then the next. It must have cost
a few thousand dollars. Relena felt her stomach turn when she looked at it: The
amount of money he spent on that could've fed an entire undeveloped country for
at least a year. For a moment, she thought of selling it to do just that, but
Jon would be tremendously offended, and her friends, who were all oohing and
aahing over the gift, would think she was crazy. All but one that is, who
wasn't quite as dazzled as the others were by their shine.
"He couldn't wait to give you that?" Duo snorted in disgust. "What does he have to show off for? We all know how rich he is, thank you very much, no need to rub it in our faces." The others stared at him in surprise. Duo wasn't normally the envious sort. He usually took everything with a grain of salt, and didn't mind that some of his friends were so much richer than himself. Then again, of course, he wasn't thinking of himself in this case.
Hilde squeezed his hand. "Now, Duo, don't upset Relena," she whispered
in her husband's ear. "Heero wouldn't want you to do that."
"Don't worry about it, Hilde," Relena
put in, hearing the first part, but not the second. "He's right; Jon shouldn't
have done that, and I'm going to tell him so the next time I see him." She put
the necklace back in the box, not bothering to adjust it carefully so that no
pearls would get stuck when she closed it.
"You're not even going to try it on?" Dorothy asked incredulously. Though
she was considerably a better person than she used to be, she did have
something of a greed problem that her friends had yet to cure her of, if her
closet of designer dresses was any indication. Her outfit that day could've fed
a small country in itself.
The politician shook her pretty head. "No,
it wouldn't be right if I did so. It's too extravagant." The thought of
something that expensive against her skin all but repulsed her. She didn't need
it, nor did she really want it. If this was his way of showing he loved her,
Jon really needed to get a new one.
"What's too extravagant?" Quatre, Trowa, and Heero walked in, all three laden down with shopping bags. Quatre was the one who had spoken, though he was immediately answered by the sight of the open box on the table, the pearls shining in all their polished glory. Heero spotted them too, before Relena could say, "Oh, nothing," and try to hide the necklace in her lap. A shadow passed over his face, and for a moment, he looked so hurt that Relena's eyes welled up with tears.
"What's that?" Hilde asked, pointing at the bags. Trowa handed his over for them to inspect, glad to be rid of the heavy burden. She opened one and pulled out shirt after shirt of all different colors and textures, all of the finest material and name brands. "Wow, someone went a little crazy. Speaking of extravagant," she kidded, passing them to Duo to see. Of course, as she was on the other side of Relena, she had to give it to her first. Relena looked at the object in her hand and back up at Heero. He still had that sad, almost distraught, expression and Relena couldn't hold it in any longer, sadder for him then he was for himself. The tears started to fall, one by one, right onto Heero's brand new silk shirt.
"Relena!" Hilde leaped up in alarm (slowly fortunately, for her unborn child's sake). "What's the matter?" She put her arm around her best friend and glared at Heero accusingly, for doing just what she warned Duo not to.
Relena sniffled, searching for an excuse for her behavior; the second time she had to do so in two days. "I'm crying because… because I've never seen such… such beautiful shirts before." She cracked a smile in spite of her sadness. The line was straight out of The Great Gatsby, though of course her tears weren't ones of happiness like Daisy's were. Only Heero understood the reference, though, and he looked at her curiously.
"Oh, um, thanks. I guess I have good taste," he replied, awkwardly, not quite eased up enough to come up with something witty himself. Quatre shot him a dirty look. "Or, well, Quatre does anyway," he corrected himself.
The conversation was starting to seem absurd, but not only to his ears. He didn't realize that everyone was looking at them as if they'd had two heads. Or as if he did, anyway. "I'd better go change." He took the shirt that she was holding and headed upstairs, leaving Quatre and Trowa exchanging a look behind his back.
"He doesn't really expect us to carry all of these bags up by ourselves, does he?" Trowa asked, raising his one visible eyebrow.
Quatre shook his head. "Of course not. That's what Duo is here for."
"Oh, right." They piled the parcels in his lap. For once, Duo didn't have a comment, but instead followed Heero, to see just what was going on with his friend.
Heero wasn't changing when Duo got to his room. How could he, when he forgot his pants? Instead, he was lying face down on his bed, not caring about messing up his new hairdo, too emotionally and physically exhausted from all he had experienced that morning. The mall trip was even worse than the haircut. As he expected, it did even have an amusement park, but of course, he wasn't allowed to explore it anyway. He'd been way too busy being dragged from boutique to boutique, trying on clothes that ranged in price from Relena's new necklace (which didn't help his stress level any, you can imagine) to his college tuition. Although, come to think of it, that might've been backwards; those pearls probably cost even more than his tuition. Whatever the case, he'd never spent so much money in one day, his or not. He felt sorry for Quatre's bank account. It must have an awfully big dent in it, he thought, forgetting the fact that his friend was a multimillionaire.
"It's going to take my whole life to pay him back," he sighed. He truly did intend to pay him back- he still had that much pride at least. But if Relena were with him, it would be okay. Not that he would let her help him pay off that debt, mind you; just that being with her would make it bearable. And as soon as that was done, he'd get her ten of those necklaces, only better ones. She was worth it.
Knock KNOCK. Knock KNOCK KNOCK.
"Come in," he shouted, irritated, but not quite enough to get up.
Duo poked his head past the door. "I knew if I annoyed you enough you'd let me in," he teased. He bounded into the room, onto the bed at Heero's feet. "Tough morning?" he asked casually, as if it were ordinary everyday conversation. But his cobalt eyes were full of concern, and so Heero didn't have the heart (or the strength) to throw him out. He only groaned.
"I guess so. If I went on that shopping spree, I'd be tired too.
Whatever made Quatre decide to do that?"
Heero's voice was muffled by his pillow.
Duo knelt over him and pulled his head back away from it. "What?"
"I said, I asked for it!" 02's pilot fell
back, shocked by the statement. Heero
wanted to go shopping? Now that was not what he had expected. He didn't even
think the man owned more than his tank top and spandex, and maybe a pair of
jeans or two. Nor did he think he wanted them. To actually go shopping for
designer clothes out of his own free will was insane.
"You're kidding!" he cried, from his seat on the floor. He climbed up the bed halfway so that just his head was visible.
Heero looked up for a brief moment to glare at him. "Do I look like I'm kidding?" he inquired, to which the answer was certainly no, he didn't.
Duo gaped at him, his eyes round and large in their sockets. "What on
earth, the colonies, and every single planet that we have knowledge of
possessed you to do such a thing?"
The soldier moaned and again, his
companion translated correctly. "It's about Relena, isn't it?" he guessed.
Heero said nothing. "No, don't lie to me, I know it is. You know, I really
don't think she cares about that stuff. You know, like clothes and all. Hehe,
unless she's taking them off you, of course," he added.
Heero summoned up enough strength to
fling a down-stuffed pillow at him. "Kidding, kidding. But seriously, if you
had heard her beforeHey, did you get a haircut?" he interrupted himself,
suddenly noticing Heero's "new do" for the first time. "Snazzy. Anyway," he
continued, "I really don't think you need to go to such lengths. She likes you,
just the way you are."
Heero sat up at that point, sick of the one-way conversation. "Oh yeah?
Then why is she still with that idiot?" he challenged, his face turning a
bright shade of fiery red. Duo had never seen him so angry before, even when he
himself had done something stupid. "She accepted that necklace willingly
enough, even though I'm around now. And Relena needs a guy like him. Someone
classy, who can spoil her like that, someone she won't be afraid of being with
in public. Someone who won't embarrass her, like I did yesterday. Did you see
how upset she looked after that?"
Duo opened his mouth, and then
abruptly closed it. It would do no good to tell him that Relena wasn't so much
upset because she was embarrassed, but because he was ignoring her. Hilde
wasn't the only person who'd heard her last night. But Heero probably wouldn't
believe him anyway, so it was just a waste of breath. Heero would realize how
stupid he was being in time. Better to at least be aware of what Heero was
planning, so he could try to stop him if it went too far. "I can see how the
clothes might help a little," he said, "but how are you supposed to get a
fortune overnight?" he asked curiously, hoping that maybe that might burst his
bubble a little. No such luck.
"How did Bill Gates manage to do it?" Heero said rhetorically, finally
feeling strong enough to glide off the bed and onto his feet. "I got a bunch of
offers from computer companies for jobs and stuff, plus Preventers, so I can
take care of that quickly enough later. What's important right now is I look
and act the part, and get Relena to fall in love with me before she goes home."
"Um, okay," Duo shrugged, still not
exactly sure that was going to work. Not that it wasn't done already; though
she might not admit it, Relena was still crazy about him and would be even if
he didn't know what fork to use, or whatever. Hm, try telling him that.
The braided youth sighed. "I guess. Whatever you do, I'm behind you all
the way, buddy."
Heero arched an eyebrow at this.
"What do you mean?" he asked suspiciously, always wary that Duo might be up to
something. If he tried to sabotage this…
"I mean," Duo clarified, "that I'll do whatever I can to help."
"Oh." Heero's lips curled into a slight smirk, glad to put his friend to
use. At least he would have something to amuse him during all this. "Well, I
appreciate that very much."
"You're welcome," Duo started to
say, but Heero wasn't finished yet.
"You can start," he continued, "by putting all those clothes in my closet and helping me pick out something to wear. Oh, and I want all of my old clothes burned."
"Uh…" Duo stared at him. Becoming Heero's butler wasn't exactly, necessarily, what he had had in mind.
