Heero and Relena sat cross-legged across from one another in the middle of her hotel bed, the contents of the mini-bar spread out between them. Heero had discarded his Preventers jacket, but that was the closest thing to casual he was emanating. Relena had tucked her nightgown carefully between her legs to avoid flashing her underwear at Heero, wondering if he would even care if she did. Maybe, just maybe, she thought it would be fun to get a rise out of him. For now, she decided to behave. Mostly. But she couldn't help but smile broadly as she rummaged through their pile of treasures.
"Hmm, what do I want…" she sang out softly as she surveyed the scattered miniature bottles and snacks.
"What's going to get you in the least amount of trouble?" Relena glanced up to see Heero smiling wryly. She enjoyed seeing him relaxed, finally. She much preferred this side of him to the storm cloud that came barreling into her room earlier.
She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Define 'trouble'..."
"What is 'Relena Darlian,'" Heero muttered. Relena gaped at him.
"Heero," she breathed. "Was that a… joke?" He just nodded toward the pile.
"Pick something."
Relena selected the biggest bottle of the batch and smiled mischievously. Heero quirked a brow.
"Did you pick that because it's pink?"
She laughed and shook the bottle, swirling the pink-colored contents. "Maybe." She read the gold foil label and squealed. "Ooooh, 'sex on the beach' premixed cocktail!"
Heero grimaced. "That sounds disgusting."
"Oh, Heero," Relena huffed, her exhale sending her bangs flying upward. "You're such a prude." Heero flushed.
"I meant," he said slowly, "the whole 'premixed cocktail' thing. That sounds… awful."
"Now where's your sense of adventure?" Relena rolled her eyes playfully as she grabbed a colorful bag of jelly beans from the pile. "Well, I'm all set." She grinned at him. "Your turn."
Heero looked skeptically at her selections. "So… you're going to be on a drunken sugar high." Relena trilled a laugh.
"Yes," she cackled. "That's the idea." Heero shook his head morosely.
"And I get to be the one to supervise this…"
"Oh, no you don't." Relena wagged a finger at him. "You're off for the night, remember? You're not my bodyguard, now; you're my partner in crime." Relena pointed her finger toward the door. "Mike and James are on the lookout now, so you can just relax." She cracked the seal on her bottle. "And join me."
Duo was stretched out on the couch in the hotel suite's common area, scrolling absentmindedly through his phone. He had tried to reach Hilde, but the signal from Boston to the L2 colony was proving to be especially lousy. His Preventers-issue phone could usually bypass any connectivity issues, but so far he wasn't having any luck. He blamed the old hotel they were staying in, in one of America's oldest cities, to boot.
He'd had more than a few beers and was beyond tipsy, and bored again. Which, for Duo, could prove to be a dangerous combination.
At the moment, though, he was too lazy to get up and explore. Instead he found himself staring curiously at the door to the room Relena was staying in, where Heero had disappeared… a while ago. Duo smirked before sitting up and rising from the couch, half-stumbling over his own feet. Then, as stealthily as he could manage, he crept over to Relena's door.
Heck yeah! He chuckled to himself as he bent down and pressed his face to the keyhole. This is gonna be good...
Heero watched as Relena took a sip of her premixed cocktail. Her face immediately soured.
"Ack," she sputtered. Then she held the bottle out to Heero. He shook his head once.
"No, thanks."
"Oh, come on." Relena's eyes glittered. "It's horrible- you have to."
With an eye roll, Heero relented and reached a hand out for the bottle. She handed it over and he took a swig, blanching at the sickly-sweet taste. Relena convulsed into giggles. Heero sealed the bottle back up and set it aside.
"Moving on," he muttered.
"How about a palette cleanser?" Relena tore into the bag of jelly beans and proffered it to Heero. "What's your color?"
"What's my color?" He frowned. "I don't have a color."
"Oh, come on. Everyone has a color." Heero shrugged, and Relena's face softened. "Haven't you tried jelly beans before?"
"I don't know. Probably not." He didn't think they were common on his war-torn colony when he was a kid. The realization seemed to dawn on Relena, who looked at him sadly for a moment before giving him a gentle smile.
"All right, then. You'll just have to try them all." Heero gaped down at the bag. "One of each," she said, giving the bag a shake. "Then you have to pick a favorite."
"Fine." Heero started picking through the bag, pulling out jelly beans in red, green, black, yellow… until, at last, he had a rainbow in the palm of his hands. He looked doubtfully over at Relena before popping the red one in his mouth. His mouth exploded with the overly-sweet flavor. He couldn't even tell what it was supposed to be.
"What are these made of?" he asked after he'd swallowed. Relena grinned.
"Oh, you know. Dyes, chemicals, gelatin, corn syrup…" She flapped a hand.
His nose crinkled. "I thought those ingredients were outlawed."
"Not here!" Relena said cheerfully. She pointed to the small pile in Heero's hands. "Go on; keep going."
"You're not serious-" he started, but she nodded eagerly at him. He glowered at her before trying the rest of the jelly bean flavors, each more artificial-tasting than the last. The only one that tasted the way it was supposed to was the black one, which at least resembled the flavor of licorice. But Heero decided he didn't like licorice, either.
"So?" Relena asked when he was all done. "What's the verdict?"
"The verdict is you have terrible taste in snacks." Relena's eyes rolled at his answer.
"If you had to pick one…"
If it had been Duo or anyone else pestering him, Heero would have likewise rolled his eyes derisively, or outright ignored them. But he knew this was Relena's way of introducing him to "normal" experiences, and knew, by now, to interpret it as her caring for him. And so he couldn't help but indulge her whims. She smiled sweetly at him, and he was determined to appease her.
If only he could indulge his own desires so easily… But he couldn't. Not like this.
Her sudden movement shook him from his thoughts. Relena got up, onto her knees, and grasped him by the shoulders.
"Heero," she said, her tone low and serious. "This isn't a big decision; it's just a kneejerk reaction." She gave his shoulders a squeeze. "What do you like?"
His eyes widened at her touch. She was so close... Instinctively, he tensed and pulled back. "Nothing," he said flatly. Relena's eyes only briefly revealed her disappointment.
"That's too bad," she said softly, releasing his shoulders and sitting back down. "Let's find something else, then…" She busied herself rooting through the pile.
Heero sat watching her closely, hyper-aware of her every movement, his eyes following every subtle motion, dragging over the contours of her body where he longed to place his hands, and… He turned his face away and glanced around for something else to look at, settling on a nautical painting on the wall above the bed. As usual, his sense of duty was at war with his desires. Despite how good it would feel to lay her down, right there, on that king-sized bed, and act out his long-suppressed emotions... he couldn't allow himself to compromise her, or her safety. What if, while he was distracted, the worst happened? He could never, ever forgive himself.
The cost of compromise is too high, Heero scolded himself with his newly-formed mantra.
Duo slunk away from the keyhole.
"Boring!" he proclaimed out loud. He was unsure of what he had just witnessed, but all he could see was Relena and Heero sitting on her bed, facing each other, talking. "Only those two could lock themselves up in a hotel room for a night and… talk," Duo complained to the empty room. He couldn't help but wonder how long it would take Heero to actually strike up the nerve to make a move on Relena, or if he even wanted to. "But that guy's about as far from normal as they come…"
Duo paced around the living room, trying to think of something else to do. Part of him wanted to concoct a plan to help Heero get some, while a tiny voice in the back of his head warned him to mind his own business.
"But I can't just leave those two alone!" he whined. With a huff, he wandered over to the suite's kitchenette. "Whatever, those losers can just stay virgins forever, for all I care. At least I'm not as inept as the perfect soldier." Duo laughed at his own joke as he yanked open the refrigerator in search of snacks. He was happy to find it well-stocked, as these rooms usually were for a diplomat of Relena's level. "Sa-weet!"
Relena watched Heero as he looked sullenly at a painting on the wall, avoiding eye contact with her. She sighed out loud and broke open a nip of tequila, then threw it back. Heero swung his eyes back over to her, frowning.
"What's wrong?" She frowned right back at him. "You said we could-"
"I know." His scowl slowly evaporated, and he picked up another nip of tequila and copied Relena. She beamed at him after he'd emptied it.
"Feel better?"
He shrugged one shoulder. "I don't feel anything."
"Oh, Heero…" Relena took a risk and inched closer to him, fully expecting him to back away. Like her childhood cat, Mittens, whenever she'd tried to smother him with affection…
But Heero remained still, this time, as she traced her hand up his arm.
"What happened to my happy Heero?" she sighed, feeling slightly buzzed from the shot. And, therefore, emboldened. His eyebrows shot up.
"Happy?"
"Yes. Happy," she repeated firmly. "I've seen it. You've actually started to relax, lately. Even crack a smile now and then." She gave his arm a poke. "It's been… nice."
"I'll relax when this conference is over," Heero said tersely, "and we're back at your home. Which I know is secure, because I've seen to it, personally."
"Of course." Relena tipped her head. "But it's your home too, you know." She had given him his own room at her townhouse in Brussels, which she hoped he was enjoying. Even just a little.
Heero's eyes seemed to search hers. "Yeah…"
Relena gave him a knowing look and squeezed his arm. "We're safe here, you know. There are two Preventer agents guarding the door. And another former Gundam pilot right in the next room…" Heero scoffed, but she continued unabashed. "You can relax, Heero. At least for the night." He continued to sit there, stiff as a board, gazing at her with his intense expression. "Heero, please. Relax," she commanded.
When he didn't say anything, Relena returned her attention to the pile of booze. "Fine, then. Let's do another shot."
"Another one?" Heero asked warily. "One should be enough, for you." Relena laughed darkly.
"Oh, no. I don't think so." She picked up another bottle as Heero's hand shot out to stop her.
"You don't want to get sick. Or be hungover tomorrow. You have meetings in the morning." Relena's eyes rolled again.
"Maybe I do," she retorted. "Maybe I want to be up all night, hurling, while you hold back my hair." She laughed at the mental image, but Heero didn't join her. "Come on…" She reached over and tugged on his sleeve. "Let's live a little."
Heero looked at her doubtfully but didn't interfere as she cracked open the bottle and downed the next shot. Her head immediately swam, and she grinned over at him.
"That's better." She nudged another bottle toward Heero. "Come on. Get on my level."
Heero responded with a little growl, which Relena found more adorable than threatening. Like Mittens when he'd bat at her hand or try to bite her. But he obediently downed a second shot, and then a third. And by number three, Relena was feeling quite heady and happy. She gave a contented sigh and flopped down on the bed.
Duo grabbed a beer from the refrigerator, cracked it open and took a mighty swig before rummaging through the rest of the fridge's contents. He pulled out a jar of salsa, a container of guacamole dip and a tub of what appeared to be nacho cheese, judging from the thick, orange-colored liquid, and the sombrero-wearing character on the sticker.
"Now we're talkin'!" Duo yanked open a cupboard and found a big glass bowl. He filled it up with a bag of tortilla chips and began dumping the other ingredients on top. "Time for some 'chos, bros!"
Duo examined the oven, not knowing what temperature to set it to; so he started pushing buttons until the numbers wouldn't go any higher.
"There!" He opened the oven door and placed his concoction on the upper rack. "These are gonna be sooo good…"
He picked up his beer bottle and took another swig before ambling back into the living room and flopping down on the couch. The television remote was right where he left it.
"There's gotta be something good to watch…" He flipped through channels until he landed on an old zombie movie, just as a grotesque-looking creature was sinking his blackened and bloodied teeth into a terrified man's neck. The onscreen character let out a rather unmanly scream as the zombie feasted upon his flesh.
"Yessssss…" Duo settled happily against the couch cushions as his snack continued to cook. "Beer in my hand, 'chos in the oven, zombies on TV… this conference ain't so bad, after all…"
But even the horror movie failed to keep Duo's interest. After a few more violent scenes, he was sound asleep.
A/N: Happy Friday! The goal was to post more of this drunken epic for Thirsty Thursday, so we'll have to call this "Frisky Friday" instead. Of course it's Good Friday so we do hope you'll all behave! ;) We'd like to thank all of the reviewers so far, especially the guest reviewers that we can't reach out to personally! So glad you like this so far. To address one comment, there may very well be more romance ahead, and you will find out more of what happened to Relena on her birthday. But just a note, this is not a direct sequel to "Three Sheets," but rather a continuation of the same idea... The characters are a little older in the other story, and only teens in this one. Just something to keep in mind. Also, thanks to those of you who made suggestions; we will keep them in mind! If you have any more ideas, please feel free to share!
- The Squad