Title: Times are Changing

Theme: #16- Time

Rating: PG-13

Genre: Romance/Humor

Word Count: 948

Characters/Pairings: Dearka x Yzak, mentions of Shiho, Gilbert and Rey.

Summary: When war is abandoned for days of love and peace, some "drastic" measures are put into place.

"Excuse me?"

Gilbert paused in his pacing to give Yzak a thoughtful smile.

"I'm tired of this whole war thing and have decided to focus on love and peace. It's time for a change."

"And how does me getting married work into this?" Yzak seethed.

Dullindal walked over and rested a hand on the young man's shoulder.

"All you have to do is find a nice girl and settle down," He said giving Yzak's back a pat, "You're dismissed, Mr. Jule."

"It's time for a change- he said. Ha! Why in the hell would he want to stop the war and just tell all the soldiers to get married?"

"The need to breed?"

Yzak slammed down his cup of coffee and glared across the desk at Dearka.

"Ooookay...not funny," The golden-haired man said, raising his hands in surrender.

"If he's so damned worried about the next generation of coordinators, then Dullindal should worry about preserving their safety first!"

"So...who's the lucky girl?"

"What?" Yzak snapped, breaking a pencil in two.

"Just curious who you had in mind...you know, so I don't pick her or something..." He muttered, absently picking at the lint on his uniform front.

"Dearka, orders or not, this is just ludicrous; I am not marrying some girl!"

"Well, you can't exactly get a 'next generation' any other way; even if love's involved," Dearka noted solemnly.

Yzak flushed; half in embarrassment at the implications and half-furious that it would get brought up now.

"This is not the time for that, you idiot! No sappy, romantic, whatever at all!"

The room fell into an awkward silence, and then after having thought it over, Dearka spoke.

"What if we elope?"

Yzak stared, at first- pensive, slightly subconsciously contemplating; then more irritated and furious as he noticed the growing smirk on Dearka's face.

"Don't mock me! This isn't the time to mock me!"

Dearka paused a moment before reaching into his pocket and tossing a ring box up onto the desk.

"I wasn't."

The silver-haired man froze; then slowly, he reached out and took the box.

"Dearka..."

As the ring box slowly opened, Yzak's face turned from deeply touched to shocked.

"April fools day, Yzak," Dearka said, stifling a laugh.

As expected, the ring box came flying back at the former Buster pilot, smacking him in the head.

"You asshole!"

"Should I take that as a 'yes'?" He quipped, rubbing his forehead.

Yzak just awarded him one of his deadly glares. Standing, Dearka figured it best to excuse himself from the room until Yzak's anger died down a bit.

"...Wait."

Dearka turned and quirked an eyebrow.

"If this was all a setup, then how did you get Dullindal in on it?" He asked, eyebrows furrowed in thought and fist still clenched.

"Yzak, you know Gilbert will do anything if it'll give him a laugh. And I'm pretty sure your reaction when he told you will be enough for him to laugh at for days."

A stray pen flew across the room, nailing Dearka on the forehead much like the box before.

"Sheesh, Yzak. Can't you take a joke?"

With a 'hmph' and a sharp snap of his head, Yzak glanced away.

Rubbing his temple, Dearka walked around the desk and placed a hand on Yzak's shoulder.

"Fine fine, I'll do it properly. Will that make you happy?"

Blue eyes narrowed, as he regarded the man before him.

"What? On your knees?"

Dearka laughed, "Well that's one way of putting it…"

Bending to one knee, he pulled out the small, faux-gold ring.

"Yzak Jule, will you marry me?" He said, trying not to laugh at the absurdity of it all.

The silver-haired man snorted, "It's going to turn my skin green isn't it?"

"I spent a whole quarter to get this ring from a vending machine, I'll have you know."

Pulling his hand back up to look at the cheap ring, Yzak let a slight smirk creep unto his face.

"And you do know my Mother would kill us if we eloped, right?"

Dearka stood, and pressed a quick kiss to Yzak's forehead.

"A big, fancy one. With lots of guests. Isn't that every Mother's dream for their child?"

"Something like that…"

"I'll have to remember that then," He murmured to himself.

"What?" Yzak asked, following him towards the door.

"Oh nothing. Just making a mental note to check into something once the war's over. That's all…"

Walking up ahead of him, Yzak paused and tapped his foot.

"Come on."

"Where are we going?"

"To get even with Dullindal," Yzak said with a smirk, "Grab Shiho, fill her in and meet me by Gilbert's office."

"Gonna see if you can turn the joke back on him?"

"He's not the only one that gets a kick out of watching other people's reactions…"

Rey knocked lightly on the door before cautiously entering.

"Gil?"

"Co-come in, Rey."

"What happened?"

The chairman turned around in his chair, still eyeing the pill bottle next to his chess board.

"Oh…nothing."

"This wouldn't by chance have anything to do with Yzak Jule, Dearka Elthman and Shiho Hahnenfuss wanting to become traditional Mormons so they could marry each other as a group, would it?"

Gilbert's eye twitched, "I see they've already spread the news then."

"Yes. And they asked me to tell you one more thing about that."

Rubbing at his temples and willing his headache away, Dullindal sighed.

"What now?"

"They told me to wish you a happy April Fools Day."

A look of surprise registered on Gilbert's face and he slowly put down the pill bottle.

"Very wise move, Mr. Jule," He moved a chess piece absently, "It looks like you win this time."