F.Y.I.: The timeline is after the war, and, well... I guess a bit AU(?), 'cause Athrun and Cagalli never hooked up, and neither did Lacus and Kira. K? Good...

"Talking."

'Thinking.'

Emphasis on a word

Seemingly Perfect

by: Adjuel

He knew the second they walked in together what a mistake he had made. He knew the second all eyes turned to the perfect couple. Hand in hand, matching mega-watt smiles plastered on their faces, the aurora of love encircling them, looking just like Cinderella and Prince Charming: yes, he knew all too well he had made a mistake. And for a minute, he swore heart must have stopped.

They walked in nonchalantly, stealing glances at one another when they thought the other wasn't looking. When their eyes caught, the girl would immediately advert her eyes and blush a pretty crimson. The teen accompanying her would politely look away, an unreadable expression crossing his exquisite features.

'Gah, they look perfect together,' he thought as his stomach twisted painfully in agony, thinking of how he should have confessed his love before the ball, not after like he was planning. He felt sick, thinking of how they made such a sweet couple.

The ball that was being thrown to celebrate peace among the Earth Alliance Forces and the PLANTs. Although, to begin with, neither was sure of where to hold such an important occasion. Thankfully, the Princess of Orb had stepped in and offered to host the event, seeing as how Orb had stayed neutral through the monstrosity. How he despised the war...

Snapping back to reality, the boy stared intently at the girl and her escort.

A lovely teal, tea-length dress molded to a pretty young women's shapely body, puffing out from the waist down. The strapless bodice was covered in glittering diamond rhinestones in varying sizes, and sheer sparkling material overlaid the teal skirt. Clear, high heeled pumps adorn small, elfin feet. Stark white gloves ran all the way up her slender arms to her small shoulders. A white choker with a pale teal flower wrapped around her delicate neck. Blonde hair that reached to her shoulder blades was straightened with a large, pale teal flower that matched her choker and stood just above the girls ear. With her warm chocolate eyes, she was absolutely breathtaking.

But for all her beauty, she wasn't the one he had made the mistake about.

Amethyst eyes now trained in on the girl's escort. An unbuttoned, deep burgundy jacket, that ran all the way to his knees, hugged his lithe form. Underneath the jacket, a deep purple turtleneck showed off the firm, defined muscles of his chest and abdomen. Tight, white pants displayed long, slender legs. Dark burgundy, almost black, boots covered his feet. His shoulder length, midnight blue hair was pulled back in a high ponytail, bangs parted on the side, falling over his left eye. He absentmindedly brushed his bangs back, only to have them fall right back into place.

The owner of the amethyst eyes, Kira Yamato, held in the pain of his heart as he noticed the escort's necklace. It was a simple red, rain drop shaped pendant on a thin leather cord. To anyone else in the room, it wouldn't mean anything... well, maybe the style of it might seem a little casual for the current ball Orb's princess was throwing... but Kira knew better. It was the necklace that she had given him.

And this she just happened to be the aforementioned Princess of Orb.

Cagalli Yula Atha: current ruler, peacekeeper, and princess of Orb. She was beautiful, though we have already established that, extremely intelligent, lighthearted, and... quick to temper, had no ability to hold her tongue, and often hurt peoples' feelings, without meaning to, by being blunt. Despite these few character flaws, she truly was the perfect leader of Orb. The people all loved her. She also happened to be the twin sister of Kira Yamato, and was dating his best friend, Athrun Zala... whom Kira also secretly loved.

Life sucked, was all Kira could figure.

His mind began to wonder to his best friend, Athrun Zala. To Kira, he was like a Greek god with inhuman looks. Kira loved every aspect of the azure haired teen. His slightly pale colored skin, softer than one would imagine from an ex-gundam pilot, always seemed to just... glow. His body was beyond strong, yet he stayed thin and lanky, not bulky and clumsy looking like most of the male population. But his best physical feature by far was his amazing green eyes. Kira shuddered when a memory of Athrun and him ran through his head. A memory of a time when peace reigned, and they were able to hang out like any twelve-tear-old boys at that time...

It had been a stormy Saturday night. The secondhand clock that hung on the wall read 1 a.m., and Kira was staying over at Athrun's house for the weekend. Athrun's father was on a business trip, and his mother had long since gone to bed, like the boys were supposed to be doing. The boys had stayed up and were chatting animatedly about anything and everything: their lives, their parents, friends, crushes- all categories were accepted- when the lights suddenly when out.

Now, not that anyone besides Athrun would know, but Kira was extremely afraid of the dark. Kira began to freak out, hyperventilating all the while. He was never really sure if it was his imagination or not, but Kira could've sworn he heard some really strange noises after that. He couldn't see Athrun, or anything for that matter, because of the dark, so he clamped his eyes shut tightly. Suddenly, a pair of strong arms wound around his small waist. Kira 'eep'ed and jumped at the contact, and his heart shot to his throat. He looked up into his captors eyes and saw two emerald eyes staring back at him. The beautiful emerald eyes of Athrun.

"It's ok, Kira. If we stick together, the dark can't get to us."

Yes, those were the exact words Kira remembered Athrun whispering in his ear. After that, he had calmed down and melted into his friend's embrace. And, although he could see nothing else, Kira saw the glowing green eyes of his best friend. From then on, Kira would always find comfort in Athrun's eyes.

That was the first time Kira had thought something was beautiful about Athrun. Of course, he knew how good looking Athrun was. That was a given. But he had never thought about it in that way before. The thought scared him, so he pushed it aside at the time. Yet, from then on, he would notice the smallest things that seemed so insignificant about his friend. Like, the way he smelled. Or, how small that t-shirt really was.

But it wasn't just Athrun's looks Kira had been attracted to. He loved the way Athrun could use his strange sense of humor at the weirdest times to cheer Kira up on a particularly bad day, or be serious if Kira needed him to be, or if Kira needed to spill about something, he would lend an ear to listen or a shoulder to cry on.

Oh yes. Kira was absolutely, positively, undeniably in love with Athrun Zala, boyfriend of his older (or so she says) twin sister, ruler of a nation, whom he only found out about recently during the heat of battle.

Kira sighed. What a messed up love triangle...

"Birdie?"

Kira jerked in surprise as he was brought out of his musing and looked on his shoulder at a small green and yellow mechanical bird. Kira patted its head and thought back to the day he had received Tori as a gift... from Athrun. That had been the inevitable day that he realized he was in love with the blue haired boy.

It was the beginning of spring. Cherry blossoms loitered the ground like soft pink snow, blowing in the wind. That day, an evacuation had been issued due to a possible threat in the vicinity. Athrun and Kira were in the park, saying their good-byes to one another. Athrun had given Tori to Kira as a temporary parting gift. He was so confident they would meet again, that Kira gave it little thought. They had hugged and then Athrun left. He never saw the tears in Athrun's eyes as he turned to go.

Kira had stood in the park for longer than he supposed he should have, but the second Athrun left, he had felt empty. By the time be was safely aboard the escape pod, he had realized that, in all honesty, it was very unlikely he would ever see Athrun again. Athrun had just put on a brave act for Kira's sake, so the separation would be easier for the amethyst eyed boy. After that, Kira had cried for days, finally getting why there was a huge part of his heart missing: he loved Athrun, and since Athrun was gone, so was that part of his heart.

'The only difference now in our separation is it's not an evacuation separating us, it's my newly reunited sister Kira thought bitterly.

"Oh my, Kira. I fell sorry for that poor punch bowl. Whatever has it done to get such a hateful glare set upon it?" asked an amused voice

Kira's head snapped up to see Lacus Clyne, standing on the opposite side of the table he had been standing by, with a joking smile. He hadn't even realized he was glaring at the 'poor punch bowl' that was sitting on it.

Kira took a moment to take in Lacus' appearance. Her long, pink hair was now pulled up in a bun with a braid on either side of the head. She wore her normal pin in her hair also. A simple, strapless evening gown hugged her every curve, running all the way to the floor. It faded from a deep purple to a light pink as it went down. Soft pink, silk gloves went to the middle of her forearm with matching soft pink heels. A silver necklace with a diamond studded 'L' hung loosely around her neck. Glittery eye shadow brought out her soft gray eyes. She also had glitter in her hair, Kira noticed. All-in-all, she easily rivaled Cagalli for the most beautiful maiden at the ball.

"I, uh, was just... deep in thought..." Kira replied lamely.

"Oh? Then I feel sorry for whoever you were thinking of."

'Heh, if you only knew it was my sister I was thinking about...'

"I was thinking more of a... set of past events that didn't turn out well..."

'Well, I was thinking of past events...'

"Ah. Do these events have anything to do with a certain blue haired childhood friend?" Lacus asked innocently. Too innocently.

Kira's eyes widened and his mouth opened slightly, then he caught himself. "Well, yes. I was just remembering some of the times we used to spend together before the war, when there was peace, and before Athrun lost his mother," Kira paused in thought for a moment. He may not have been in the best of moods, but Lacus was a good friend. He didn't want to snap at her or pass his mood on... plus, he didn't need her getting suspicious, "Actually, I always had a bit of a childish crush on Mrs. Zala when I was really young. Although, I thought it was strange how she had shorter hair then her son..."

"My, my, Kira. Do you always give out such good blackmail material?"

Kira's jaw dropped. What happened to the peace loving, kind hearted songstress he had met, what seemed, like such a long time ago?

Lacus laughed at his reaction, "I was kidding, Kira. You just seemed a little down, that's all. I was hoping to lighten the mood."

'Dang, thought I hid it. Lacus, you're too perceptive...'

"Yeah, I kinda am... was, I mean," Kira corrected quickly

"Kira Yamato, don't you dare lie to me," Lacus scolded/warned lightly.

Kira looked down sheepishly.

Lacus shook her head with a small smile on her lips.

"Ok, Kira, what seems to be bothering you?"

"Don't worry about it...," Kira mumbled.

Her amusement quickly fading, Lacus let a small sigh pass her lips. Men were so... impossible. She glanced at the clock discretely and said quickly, "I need to talk to you in private, Kira. I know just the place!"

Lacus grabbed Kira's arm and began to drag him off.

"Wha...? Lacus, where are you taking me...?"

"Oh, don't worry, Kira. You trust me, right?"

Kira didn't answer, though he did allow her to pull him to... wherever they were going. His mind began to wonder as he was directed out of the ballroom.

'I wonder what Athrun's up to... probably announcing Cagalli and his' engagement or something...,' Kira snorted lightly at the thought. If it came to that, would Kira allow them to get married...? Or swoop in at the last minute and steal Athrun away. Kira snorted again, 'I can see the headlines now, "Orb's princess' husband-to-be is captured by jealous best friend of the groom and brother to the bride." That would go over well. And Athrun would be P.O.ed... or maybe, juuuust maybe, he'd tell me he fells the same way! And he really wants to marry me! And...,' Kira stopped his train of thought, 'No. No, i can't think that way. Besides, it only makes things worse... makes reality that much harsher... makes the heartache unbearable...'

In the back of his mind, he knew he might be reading too much into it- it was the only time he had seen Cagalli and Athrun together in that way before-, but he could be right, too.

Kira felt tears welling up in his eyes.

'And truth be told, Athrun and Cagalli are the seemingly perfect couple...'

Kira felt the first tear fall.

'...but, where does the best friend and brother fit into this puzzle...?'

Finally unable to hold them back any longer, Kira felt the tears fall freely from his eyes.

'Duh, Yamato. Your piece fits in a totally different puzzle... one without Athrun...'

With that logic in mind, Kira dried his eyes before Lacus would notice.

The only thing was there was a problem with Kira's logic: 'seemingly perfect' was just his assumption...

-tbc-

So...? What do you think? I noticed there didn't seem to be many Athrun/Kira fics out there, and thus, this was born! Mwahahahaha! cough Oh, um, sorry about that...

Anyways, I have no intention of making this a one-shot, but if I don't get many reviews, I'm not going to bother. It does take time to write stuff, ya know? So if I sat here for hours writing this (even if it is utter crap), and I get like, what, 2 review? why bother?

So, anyway, just review! Good, bad, flame, criticism, whatever! I take it all!

If you have any questions, or there is a part you don't understand, tell me in your review and I'll gladly answer it for you!

But what I really like is when people point out grammar/spelling/wording problems I had in my story. If you find any, please let me know, ok? Thanks a ton for your time!

Adjuel, signing off! -blip-