This popped into my brain and, well, the brain derp must be satisfied before it will allow me to do anything else.

Just some derping around for fun.

"...We are so dead." Duo muttered as he looked at the veritable disaster zone around him, cautiously moving his gaze to take in the sight of his fellow doomed. Heero, splattered in as much of the mess as the rest of them, simply stared at everything then gave a small nod in agreement with Duo's assessment. Yes. They were so dead.

"This is all of your faults." Wufei groused as he tried to straighten some of the mess...and only succeeding in making the filth on his clothes worse, which prompted a string of swearing from the Chinese ex-pilot as he tried to clean the sticky gunk from himself. Trowa, on the other hand, merely reached up to wipe some of the goop from his face and out of his hair so that he could see easier...then moved in to try to assist Wufei because, well, this mess was all of their faults.

Would he say that out loud to Wufei? Nope. Not a chance in hell.

"We're not dead yet, boys." Hilde said with a fire in her voice that was completely at odds with the near-panicked distress clearly visible in everything from her expression to her posture. The former-freedom fighter sprinted over to the closet, throwing the door open hard enough that, if not for the little springy stopper on the lower part of the wall, would have probably punched a tidy, little hole in the plaster. She emerged from the closet, arms laden with supplies, and proceeded to shove the items in question into the arms of three of the quartet before her. "Wufei, I'll help you fix stuff. Trowa, Heero, Duo...clean this mess. We have one hour to save ourselves before all hell breaks loose."

"Mission accepted." Heero deadpanned as he shifted the items between his hands, returning Trowa's small nod as Duo let out a quick. "On it, Hil'."

=insert one high-speed cleaning montage with the awesome music of your choice here=

The side door to the garage opened to admit Relena and Quatre, the pair quietly discussing the impromptu meeting with Noin and Zechs that they had just come from. Was the diplomat angry about having to attend said-meeting? Yes, yes she was...but Noin had asked and had assured her that the former-Lightning Count would be on his best behavior. While she had wanted to bring everyone...in the end she had decided that, since Quatre was simultaneously the most diplomatic and the most dangerous if furious, he was her best bet for civility in the situation as the rest of the guys, and even Hilde, would have blown many of a respective artery in fury over the meeting in the first place, especially with all that had happened last time.

Her decision had, of course worked out fairly well for everyone.

Was she going to forgive her brother for the fight in her office? No, not any time soon. Did she understand just a bit more that his concerns were from a well-intended place, but that he was unable to voice them in a way that didn't make her want to punch him in the face unless Noin was acting as his mouthpiece and translating things? Yes.

Had Quatre proven quite skilled at maneuvering the entire conversation in a way that not only prevented anyone from throwing hands at each other, but also kept all tempers calm and ensured that everyone got to say their respective peace in a constructive and fully civil manner? A very large yes. If it wasn't for the fact that he wasn't a politician (and the whole former-terrorist and still-leader of a mercenary cult thing), she would be leaping on the opportunity to have the blond at her side in politics as they would be unstoppable.

"Relena...?" Quatre's voice pulled the diplomat from her thoughts, causing her to blink and ready an apology...only to realize that the former-pilot was staring in confused awe at the kitchen. Cautiously, Relena turned her gaze to look around the space, trying to find whatever was out of place that would cause such a reaction...only for realization to hit her with the full-force of a Gundam's fist. "Quatre...I am seeing what I think that I'm seeing, correct?"

"I imagine that we both are."

The pair looked around once more, then at each other in suspicion...before finally turning their attentions to the small "family room" off to the side of the kitchen where a certain quintet were gathered. The pair moved to the doorway, leaning around the frame as they took in the sight before them.

Taking up one of the two armchairs around the coffee table, was Heero who, contrary to his usual 'pastime', was not working on even one of his many firearms. Instead, he was staring at the, perhaps overly so, large flat-screen tv on the wall as Duo and Hilde valiantly tried to instruct Trowa in the intricacies of a motion-controlled round of Mario Party. The trio of humans, taking up the majority of the space on the couch, were battling both one another, the computer-controlled character, and the game itself...and apparently losing to the computer-character if the number of stars and coins that the Peach character had was any indication.

Wufei, as was his usual, had practically colonized the "loveseat" opposite of the pair of armchairs, dutifully keeping his face turned towards the thick book in his hands while only paying the most passable amount of attention to the rest of the group. If anything, just his presence during this game was his way of "doing the relationship thing" (as Duo had called it) while maintaining his own private "bubble".

Relena and Quatre glanced at one another again, then back to the kitchen behind them...before finally turning back to the group in the room. Quatre gave a small, disarmingly sweet smile as he spoke up. "Trowa?"

The entire group in the room went completely still as if a collective, and long-dormant, "prey instinct" had suddenly triggered for all of them. Wufei stared just a bit more intensely at his book as Heero made it seem like his full focus was on the television. Duo and Hilde glanced at each other from where they sat on either side of the sometimes-clown, sharing a look of slight horror and a silent conversation. Trowa didn't look behind him, but he did keep his voice completely steady. "Yes?"

"Why is the kitchen sparkling?" Quatre asked as he slowly made his way from the doorway to stand behind Trowa, gently resting his hands on his boyfriend's shoulders...and seemingly ignoring the cautious glances he received from Hilde and Duo, as well as the suspicious side-eyes from Wufei and Heero. Trowa didn't even bat an eye, staring straight ahead at the screen not unlike how he tended to do whenever he was in trouble and being "interrogated" by Catherine about what he had done to get himself in trouble to start with. "I was unaware that there was a problem with having a clean kitchen?"

Quatre just continued to smile...before he bent down and loosely draped his arms over his boyfriend's shoulders, resting his head against Trowa's own. Relena couldn't help the approving smile forming on her face as she walked over to stand where the couch met the armchair that Heero, who was now looking at his girlfriend, was occupying at the same time that Duo and Hilde exchanged expressions just in front of Trowa that practically screamed "he'll never survive". Wufei seemed to glance up from his book when Quatre finally said. "No, Trowa. What really happened?"

"We wanted pie." Heero said as deadpan as possible to save his fellow-former pilot the embarrassment of cracking from being cuddled. An exasperated sound left Wufei at the brunette's newest 'sacrifice play', but Heero continued with his usual degree of unwavering calm. "There was an incident with Duo and the pie filling."

"'RO! Will ya stop selling me out?!" Duo shouted as he tried to fling himself off of the couch and into Heero's direction...only to be caught in the chest and held back by his fellow ex-pilot's booted foot. Relena resisted laughing at the pair's antics...but only just barely. "No, no, Heero. Please...do keep selling him out."

Hilde groaned weakly and looked up. "Okay, yes. We tried to make a pie and things got a little hinky...but nothing caught fire and we cleaned everything up."

Silence reigned before Quatre and Relena looked at each other and gave a small nod. The diplomat looked back at the group. "Fair enough. Did you finally succeed in making pie?"

"There's a chocolate pie in the refrigerator." Wufei said, looking up fully and marking his place in his book with a finger. "Though...it is more of a chocolate-mix as we had to combine more than one kind by the end."

Relena nodded at that and turned to return to the kitchen, Quatre following her after placing a small kiss on Trowa's cheek to reassure him that no one was in trouble. Once the pair were gone, the remaining five let out a collective breath of relief, with the long-haired ex-pilot dropping back onto the couch not unlike a puppet whose strings had been cut. Duo flopped over on his side, practically sprawling over Trowa's lap and resting his chin on his girlfriend's thigh. "I thought we were all screwed."

"Same." Hilde said as she threaded her fingers into her boyfriend's bangs around the same time that Trowa gave Duo's shoulder a light pat and gentle squeeze in solidarity. Heero leaned forward to rest his forearms on his knees, only giving a small nod in response...only to look up curiously when a plate containing a piece of pie and a fork was held in front of his face. Everyone looked up as Relena and Quatre set the two trays down on the coffee table and proceeded to hand out similar plates as well as glasses of milk to the group, prompting Duo to vacate his sprawled spot and move to sit next to Hilde so that Quatre could curl up next to Trowa on the couch.

Relena took her seat in the empty armchair next to Heero and picked up her own plate. "So...pie and Mario Party now, a dungeon crawl later?"

"I'm in. I'm pretty eager to see what you've got planned for us at this lake." Hilde chimed in while Duo made many a happy noise as he shoved a forkful of pie into his mouth. Wufei placed his bookmark and set his book aside to eat his own pie, a look of surprise momentarily appearing on his face as he took his first bite. "We have not had many water-based battles so I'm guessing that we'll have a real challenge on our hands."

"Oh, there'll be a challenge...several in fact." Relena said, taking a bite of her own and unable to hide the small smile on her face at seeing that Heero and Trowa both were halfway finished with their respective slices...to Duo's chagrin as he refused to be outmatched in anything by the pair. Quatre chuckled some. "This is delicious, Excellent work everyone."

"Think that you three can beat the computer before we run out of pie?" Relena chimed in...prompting Duo to stop trying to out-eat Heero and Trowa, and grab for his controller just as Hilde snatched hers up and handed Trowa his own, the former-freedom fighter smirking as all three turned their focus back on the screen. "Oh, game's not over yet."

Now I want pie...and to play Mario Party.