Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing
Author's Note: You guys keep mentioning cologne and I'm like, "I can not picture Heero Yuy wearing cologne.
"Unless…"
For Lady-Rinoa14, because seriously, how could anyone forget Lady-Rinoa?
...and on that subject, if anyone has info on the discord Wings Landing sent a message about, last year, please DM me and Lady-Rinoa???
Heero rounded the corner, ignoring the dronings on of his peer as he approached the Vice Foreign Minister's office. Apparently the Pilot of 02 had been in a mild argument with his bride regarding yet another unimportant detail of their mundane lives, and Heero had to hear every possible angle of the issue.
Why had Lady Une sent Maxwell to accompany him on this assignment, when he was so clearly a distraction — if not a disruption? Duo had been reassigned as one of Heero's lieutenants four months ago for reasons he could not begin to surmise, and the change had been a constant stress. Duo Maxwell had no sense of propriety and no sense of shame, and he had some kind of sexually aggressive crush on everything that moved, including Relena Darlian. Heero had secretly met with Lady Une over the issue, just last week and she told him she'd take care of it, but here they were again.
Heero stopped, blinking at the secretary's empty desk. Odd. She usually only stepped away if Relena brought her along to an event. He shrugged it off and moved on. He was familiar with the layout of the floor and the general procedure to escort Relena during her work. He didn't really need her assistant's help.
He rolled his eyes at Duo's empty threats about Hilde's toiletries as he let himself into the office.
At the desk opposite the door, a tall blonde woman sat with her back to the Preventers. She peered out the large window overlooking Brussels with the air that nothing was out of place, but she chuckled as she rose to her feet. Heero knew that she was there just to upset him.
Duo also fell uncharacteristically silent also, eyes wide as he watched her.
"Where's Relena?" Heero asked.
She turned on a heel, long hair flipping over her back as she gave him a reptilian grin. She raised one oversized ashy blonde brow and raked her eyes over him from toe to piercing gaze. Moving around the table, she rushed close to him, closing her eyes and inhaling deeply through the nose.
"Oh, Heero," she exclaimed, shifting her shoulders flirtatiously. She ran her slender fingers along his neck and jaw.
He stiffened and pulled fractionally away as his face contorted in a subtle grimace.
Her pale blue eyes shot over to Duo, who stood stalk straight, facing away. "Do you have the information you've been collecting, Mr. Maxwell?" She asked.
He stumbled over his words at first, yelping about Lady Une and orders before he gave up. His eyes squeezed shut in a pained expression and he nodded, pulling a pocket-sized notebook from his breast and handing it to her.
She gave Heero a venomous grin and suggestively licked her lips, openly sniffing his collar again before retreating to the safety of Relena's desk.
Duo felt Heero's glare turn on him before returning to her. The ranking man's next breath came out with a deep, guttural growl.
The lady flipped her hand dismissively and sighed. "Oh, don't be a drama queen, Heero Yuy. You know you can't frighten me." She settled in close to the desk and drew open a laptop that was resting there.
He took a half a step toward her, but he stopped when she laughed.
"You needn't worry, Yuy," she told him. "This is my computer." She then shot him a mischievous glance. "Of course, I can send her the results, if you'd like."
"What are you talking about, Dorothy?" He pressed.
She pushed the chair back and spun, kicking her feet giddily. "I'm a bit of a data nerd, Heero Yuy, and I've been collecting information on you for months."
His eyes widened then narrowed, turning suspiciously on his partner again. Duo winced, shrinking from the glare. "I didn't know nothin' about Dorothy —" he mumbled, letting his voice trail off.
"That's right, Heero. Duo is my informant, but that's not all." She grinned broadly, rolling her head back in a laugh that progressed to an outright cackle. Soon she calmed herself enough, still barely holding back her amusement as she explained. "See, I could put a guy on you to document the data, and they could easily help me draw a correlation, but we both know that correlation does not equal causation. In order to make a case of cause and effect, I have to be able to control certain variables." She made a flourish with her fingers on the last word, then turned her attention back to the data she was inputting into the engine.
"What variables?" His eyes were like those of a wolf.
She spoke through pouting lips as she mocked him. "Don't you want to know who manipulated the scenarios? I think that would be the much more pressing question."
He shook his head lightly. "You've already implicated Duo."
She typed harder as she input the data for several minutes longer than necessary, as to goad him. Finally, she leaned back and laughed out loud once more. "No, dear. You and I both know that Duo can annoy you, but he can't manipulate you. Not on this scale."
His brows knit in a bit of sneer. "Relena?"
She gaped at him, slack jawed, with a gasp. "Oh, no. Never. Relena could never be convinced to manipulate you." She suppressed a chuckle and rolled her eyes to the side. "Believe me, I've tried."
He folded his arms, giving her a lazy expression.
"Feigning disinterest won't work, Heero Yuy," she answered, tapping her fingers on the desk in front of her.
Still he took a slow breath and turned slightly toward the wall.
She smirked. "Fine. Just this once," she answered. She leaned forward on one elbow, tilting her head and giving him a flirtatious smile. "I was able to get Lady Une on board."
He remained still, facing away, but let his eyes shift quickly to her own.
"Yes," she told him. She blinked dreamily as she gazed up at him. "You're fascinating, Yuy, and apparently I'm not the only one who thinks so. At least, I was able to convince her that this particular behavior is fascinating. I mean, it is."
He released a heavy breath.
Dorothy leaned back in the seat, watching the door behind him as she announced her suspicions. "It took a lot of shopping," she said, "to find that scent again."
Heero frowned.
"You just smelled so delicious, I had to find it." She pursed her lips and wagged her finger in a scolding gesture. "Sucré? Delicious. Naughty, naughty," she said. "Heero, your cologne is not even available on this continent. You purchased that in North America." Dorothy folded her arms in accusation. "And, my, oh my, is it expensive."
Again, his sigh was more of an annoyed groan but his eyes narrowed still more.
"So it makes sense," she went on, "that your coworkers almost all remarked that they've never smelled anything on your skin but basic, run of the mill soap and water. And yet," she tapped her chin suggestively. "I did ask the Vice Foreign Minister, right in front of you and she said the opposite. She said that you've been wearing this delectable scent for months."
Heero became still, his face relaxing into an intentional and emotionless expression.
"One has to account for the difference in testimony," she said, inflecting her voice for the drama. "And you know I won't be satisfied with a simple correlation. I have a theory and I want proof."
He blinked, shifting his gaze over her shoulder to the horizon as she continued.
Dorothy took a deep breath as she went on about her methods. "If I had told Duo why he was measuring what he was, he might have introduced confirmation bias, so I needed to measure if you're wearing cologne or not, changing only the variable of if you expect to see the former Queen — an expectation Lady Une set with her orders from one day to the next. Simple, right?"
"Wait," Duo interjected. "So you weren't measuring if Heero wore cologne around Relena. You were measuring if Heero wore cologne when he thought he'd see Relena?"
She gave him a snarky nod.
He laughed. "That's why he didn't always have it on when he was around her, and he did have it on on some of the days we didn't see her? It wasn't Relena that was cancelling on us. IT WAS UNE!"
"Yes," she answered in a musical but condescending voice. "Lady Une fed him false information on which days he was working with the Foreign Minister so you could get a fair measure of his behaviors based on his expectations."
Duo looked to his friend warily, hoping for some sign of emotion — even anger. "Dude, are you okay?"
His only response was a slow blink and a silent swallow.
"I didn't know Dorothy was even involved," he whispered desperately. "I would never have cooperated if I knew I was working for Dorothy!"
Heero still did not respond.
"So," she said in a high voice. "Does the evidence imply that Heero Yuy has a crush?!"
At that moment the door behind them opened. "What are you doing?!"
Heero's posture stiffened at the sound of Relena's voice, but he continued to look pointedly away.
"Oh," Dorothy said with feigned innocence. "We were just playing a little game," she smiled.
Relena's expression was intense. She'd heard enough upon her entry to know that Dorothy was tormenting her more reserved friend.
She moved swiftly toward the desk, hand extended to slam shut the laptop, but Dorothy intercepted her. The taller woman hit the enter button, allowing the computer the fraction of a second necessary for the calculation.
Meanwhile, Heero turned on his heel and retreated.
Dorothy squealed in delight at her victory as the data charted the pattern she'd hoped to see. She could argue causation to Heero's behavior, and the proof was right there in her grasp.
The laptop slammed shut. She followed Relena's arm up to her warning glare.
"Guys?" Duo waved for their attention and gestured toward the door. "He's gone."
Relena's expression grew concerned as she rushed out in his wake. She stopped by her secretary's desk. "Heero?"
The short, stout woman stood, pointing down the hall away from the elevators. Relena swept through the corridors after him.
When she came to the end, she turned to the stairwell. Two steps down, she pictured Heero, angry and embarrassed, as he made his way through the crowded streets of Brussels.
Not likely.
She spun on her heel, pleated skirt flaring into a circle before it collapsed behind her as she ran up toward the roof, instead. The door swung loudly open as she pushed past it, stumbling onto the gravel covered concrete of the outside. She surveyed the empty landing for several moments, before she saw him resting, around behind the exit.
"Heero?" She hurried to him, knowing Dorothy always played against his sensitivities.
He was sitting on the ledge, one leg raised in front of him and one dangling over the precipice. His gaze was distant, if not dissociated, as he looked down over the city.
She sighed as she went to him and sat at his back. She turned her head toward him, reveling in the playful smell of his cologne before she spoke. "Oh, ignore her, Heero."
She heard him grunt ever so lightly under his breath.
She lay one hand and her forehead against his slouching back for a moment before turning and resting her cheek on him. "I'm sorry she's always trying to embarrass you," she said quietly. "She can be such an insufferable bully, sometimes."
He blinked and raised his head. "Do you know what she had?"
Relena straightened, allowing him to turn and face her. She shook her head. "I'd rather not know," she confessed as she placed her hands demurely in her lap and looked away from him. "Clearly she had invaded your privacy to torment you, and I'd be happy to be the last person on earth to be party to that."
There was a long silence before she realized he was openly staring into her face.
"Heero?"
"Why would you say that?" He asked.
She shook her head and looked down at where his hands now rested in his lap. Her lips curled as she told him her theory. "I know the others don't realize this — and you might deny it — but you're pretty shy, Heero."
He frowned at her.
She glanced at his expression through her lashes and gave him a sweet smirk. "Oh, we can call it 'reserved', if you'd like," she said in a half-joking voice. She touched his wrist as she did so, eliciting the smallest flinch in his arm. She smoothed his skin, making small circles where she assumed she'd shocked him and she met his gaze. "You don't put yourself at risk of being embarrassed very often. I think you're more sensitive than you let on, is all," she told him. "And there's nothing wrong with that."
His expression remained granite and unreadable as he sighed deeply and looked away.
Relena reluctantly withdrew her hand, leaning her shoulder against his and pushing him gently off balance. There was nothing yet to add in words, but she wanted to help him settle and feel safe. He hung his head and looked away so she couldn't see how he subtly smiled in turn.
After some time he asked, "How do you keep her from picking on you?"
She turned her chin up toward him with a curious expression.
He met her gaze and then turned away. "You're pretty 'reserved' as well. How do you keep her from picking on you?"
She grinned and shrugged. She answered, "I don't really keep secrets if I can help it."
"You're the Vice Foreign Minister?"
Relena giggled. "She's not interested in exposing Secrets of State, Heero. She just loves drama." She wrapped her hands around his elbow and kicked her legs freely, enjoying the height at which they were sitting. "You just tell her what she wants to hear strategically." She rested her cheek on his shoulder in a comforting gesture. He stared down at her a long while before he reflexively rested his own on her head expressing acceptance of her kindness.
After several minutes, she asked him in the softest voice, "How are you feeling?"
He exhaled through his nose in a half-chuckle. "You have to get back to work?"
Relena smiled and turned her head, so she was looking up into his eyes. She was close enough to feel his breath tickling her cheek. "I can stay a little longer, if you'd like."
Heero blinked and then looked down at where her hands were clinging to him. Their friendship had grown very comfortable over the passing years, but this interaction felt intimate, even by their standards.
"What did you hear?"
Her gaze dropped away and she pulled back from him, trying not to visibly frown. She raised one brow as she looked at the gravel. "She thinks you have a crush on someone."
His answer was a still silence. Relena could not even be sure he was breathing.
She forced a smirk and tilted her head away as she met his stare. "So it's true, then?" Her grin grew more nervous and secretly sad, teeth exposed protectively as she tried to pull away.
His hand caught hers, smoothing her fingers over the skin of his inner elbow where she had been comfortably holding him only moments before. At the gesture, she slowly raised her eyes to meet his.
Her voice trembled slightly. "You're allowed to fall in love, Heero."
He blinked and looked down at her hands under his.
"So, if it's not a secret, she'll leave me alone?" He asked.
Relena opened her mouth but only gave him a sad smile as she looked out into the sky behind him. She sighed as she answered. "If you're not hiding anything, she'll grow bored and move on." She bowed her head, again, eyes closing as she spoke. "Dorothy craves the chase, not the kill," she said. "She'll drop it as soon as there's no thrill in it for her."
Heero nodded and lifted his head so his eyes could search hers. "Relena?"
She met his gaze. "Hm?"
He raised his hand from hers, touching her hair with his fingertips, then gently tracing the edge of her ear. He lingered there, massaging the soft skin to communicate intent, before following the line of her jaw to her chin. Her eyes widened a the touch, watching his shift slowly to her lips. He opened his mouth, taking a slow and ragged breath and then he leaned closer.
Her eyes fluttered closed as his lips brushed hers. Hers parted and she lifted her chin, surrendering to his kiss. His fingers brushed down her throat and around her neck, climbing back to her skull as he guided her closer. He opened his mouth and kissed her, again, sucking on her lip and tasting her anew.
When she moaned, he froze, pulling back to see her face. She flushed under his scrutiny, trying to look away. He reached down and caught her chin with his finger, drawing her back to him.
He looked deeply into her eyes as he spoke, again. "Thoughts?"
Her eyes still felt heavy at the pleasure of his touch, still more chaste than some of the thoughts she'd hidden about him before. Her blush failed to yield as she breathed deeply, trying to center herself. "Um, I —"
She swallowed and then leaned back in to kiss him a second time. His hand came up around her skull to steady her until she pulled away with a small gasp.
She licked her lips, rolling them between their teeth as she savored the flavor of him. She struggles to open her eyes with him this close so she yielded, closing them as she pressed her forehead to his.
"I think," she answered slowly, "you smell really good."
Heero smiled openly as he kissed her the third time.
