Thanks for the kind reviews everyone, here's the second chapter! Enjoy! :)
The time to pick up Relena came too quickly for Heero, yet not quickly enough. He looked forward to seeing her, yet wondered what he would do when he did. He tugged at his tie and frowned down at his stomach where he was sure all the butterflies in the world had suddenly decided to have an energetic convention. He shook his head. He was as nervous as a cat on a doghouse in the middle of a crowded dog kennel! He headed for the door then frantically turned around and raced back into the bedroom, snatching a certain package off his dresser and making his way back to the front door. Finally he was in the car and on his way. 'I hope she likes where I'm taking her' he thought as he drove up.
He made his way to the door and knocked softly, half hoping she wouldn't hear, and yet again hoping she would. 'This is ridiculous!' He decided, and was about to rap much harder on the door when it opened to reveal…he blinked. An angel. She was gorgeous. Breathtaking. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen her looking so vibrant and beautiful. Not saying that she wasn't beautiful all the time but this….his brain became a blank page and he opened his mouth to say something, anything, but nothing came out.
Relena's smile wobbled a bit and Heero was jerked back to his senses. That was it, he would say it no matter what.
"You look radiant, v…very beautiful Relena." He stuttered. He couldn't believe he'd just done that. What an idiot. The object of his praise didn't seem to think so though and she blushed a tantalizing shade of pink and looked down, murmuring a thank you.
"Here." Embarrassed as well, he pulled his hand from behind his back to reveal the bouquet of tulips he had bought for her.
Her face lit up and she smiled again as she accepted the flowers. He felt his stomach jump in response. 'What is happening to me?' He wondered frantically.
"Thank you Heero, these are lovely. Let me go put them in water and I'll be ready to go." She turned and hurried back into the house. Just as soon as her back was turned to him she began to grin and her heart kept accelerating it's fluttering pace. It was hard to believe this was the same unwilling man she had somehow managed to drag to the flea market the other day. What had happened? Had Duo said something? She would have to thank him the next time she saw him. Soon the flowers were situated and she was on her way back to her escort. She turned her smile down a couple hundred watts; she didn't want him to think she was too eager. Somehow she managed to walk sedately down the steps and into the car. Not much was said on the way there, neither seemed to know what to say.
Relena's eyes widened when they pulled into the entryway of their destination. She wasn't sure what she had expected, but it certainly wasn't this! Heero looked over at her and noticed the surprised pleasure on her face and smiled to himself inside. He'd made the right choice after all. To his relief, a few of his butterflies decided to go home and leave the partying to the ones with more stamina. He pulled smoothly up to the front entrance and got out, walking over to Relena's side and opening the door for her. She smiled her thank you, and soon they were on their way inside, the valet dispatched to park their vehicle. Heero offered her his arm, and she took it as they entered the grand building. They were quickly shown to their table inside a small partially enclosed, candlelit area. Relena was suitably impressed. She wondered how he had managed to get reservations at the Royal Yverlen Castle on such a short notice.
Suddenly realizing they had been left alone with their menus for the time being, again neither was quite sure of what to say. She looked up to find his gaze on her face. Their eyes snagged and locked. What did he see, she wondered. 'What is she looking for?' Heero thought. The waiter with a query of what they would like to drink interrupted their respective thoughts.
"Just tea please." Heero answered, with a look at Relena to make sure she agreed.
The man nodded and was soon gone leaving them alone again.
Heero surreptitiously wiped cold sweaty hands on his trousers. 'Should he give it to her now? No', he decided, 'I will wait until after the meal is over.'
"So...why did you ask me to come here tonight?" Relena blurted, never one to shirk a subject. She could have kicked herself. It sounded like she was mad at him! She considered herself quite diplomatic most of the time, what had gotten into her?
He stared, nonplussed. "I…ah…" He stammered, not quite sure what to say in answer to her bold query.
Relena almost smiled. He had done that twice today and she had to admit she liked it. It meant he was as new to this as she was.
"I'm sorry," she apologized. "I should not have put you on the spot like that." She looked down. "Besides I could have said it a little more…delicately."
Shaking his head Heero assured her that it was all right. By then sufficiently recovered, he contemplated her question.
She decided to try and help him out. "Was it Duo and Hilde? Did they put the pinch on you to do this?"
Heero's eyes jerked up to meet hers. "No!" He exclaimed forcefully. Relena jumped. Heero suddenly remembered where he was and lowered his voice. "No, not at all. I guess I…well I thought that…well, we don't do too much together and…well I know we were just at the flea market but…I mean…that's different…Um…" he dropped his head into his hands. "Aw hell." He muttered quietly. "I just wanted to go on a date with you." 'There,' he thought, 'I said it. Oh man, what is she going to think?'
She reached across the table and laid a soft hand on his arm. "It was a wonderful idea Heero thank you."
He looked up as she leaned forward. "Just for the record, I feel the same way."
He stared. Then corner of his lip seemed to take on a mind of it's own as it started to curl upwards in what was shaping up to be a beautiful smile; albeit crooked, but Relena didn't care. It was a smile, and from Heero it was pure heaven. He reached for her hand and clasped it in his almost without thinking. Just then the waiter arrived to see if they were ready to order and the moment was lost. He jerked his hand away from hers and picked up his menu to hide his blushing face. Relena did something close to the same and murmured that they weren't quite ready to order yet. The man nodded and left and soon they were quasi-alone again. Finally it was Heero who broke the embarrassed silence.
"This looks pretty good." He said, pointing to the featured dish on the menu insert.
She glanced at what he was pointing at and agreed. The waiter must have had some sort of sixth sense because he appeared again just at that exact time and they proceeded to order. After the waiter left neither seemed to know just what to say so silence again reigned supreme. Just as the quiet was about to become unbearable Relena opened her mouth to say something, anything, only to find out Heero had the same idea.
"What did..." She stopped embarrassed.
"How did..." He stopped as well and looked away.
Both looked back at each other and said "Sorry." at the same time then grinned.
"You first." Offered Heero.
"No, go ahead." Relena shook her head.
"I insist."
"Well if you insist." She laughed softly. "You mentioned you saw Duo other day, did he have anything intelligent to say?" She grinned. "I mean, did he say anything interesting?"
Heero let a small smile shape his lips at Relena's freudian slip. "No, nothing important. Just being his wonderful, annoying, albeit henpecked self."
"Now now, is that any way to talk about my good friend Hilde?" Relena pretended to frown at her dinner partner.
He blinked and suddenly was apologizing. He didn't want anything to mar this wonderful occasion.
"Heero!"
He stopped mid-sentance and looked questioningly at her.
"It's ok, you don't have to apologize, I was just teasing you. I love Hilde, I really do, she's my closest friend. However..." She shrugged with an air of chagrin. Hilde was Hilde, no doubt about it. Yes, it was true she did seem to..henpeck as Heero so aptly described. She was certain though that this was one part of the date she wouldn't relay to her best friend. She smiled inwardly at that thought.
"Earth to Relena. It's Heero, your date. Remember me?"
She jumped slightly and smiled half-guiltily, immediately dismayed by her lack of attention. "Oh Heero I'm so sorry, I was just thinking of Hilde..."
"Well that's ok just as long as you come back to me every once in a while." Heero teasted.
'I don't believe it!' She thought to herself. 'Heero just joked with me...he's acting so relaxed, so...normal. What's gotten into this guy?' Well whatever it was she wasn't about to complain. "I'm back." She grinned deciding to reflect his playful mood. "Miss me?"
"Always." Heero answered looking deep into her eyes. She was taken aback at his abrupt change of mood. 'He's serious'. She thought with no little surprise. She looked back into his eyes with a seriousness that he hadn't really expected to receive back from her. Just then their food came and relieved, both turned their attention to their plates.
All was relatively silent again until Relena broke it with "what was it that you wanted to say earlier? You let me go first...what was it you wanted to say?"
Heero almost jumped at the sound of her voice. "Oh....um..." He couldn't believe he'd forgotten already! Then it came to him. "I was going to ask how your week is going." In saying that suddenly he remembered his gift, and told himself he'd better remember to give it to her…
"Heero?" She asked, looking closely at him. "Are you alright?"
"Uh, me?" He stammered. "Sure, sure I'm fine. Sorry, I was just thinking."
"Oh ok, well don't think too hard." She smiled.
"Ok."
"My week is going well, thank you. The middle of the week however, definitely takes first place though." She smiled at the look of surprise and pleasure on his face at her statement.
"I..I'm glad." He stammered, kicking himself for seeming to do that lately around her.
Seeming to have run out of things to say again both returned to their forgottem food and finished their meal in relative silence.
When all was taken care of and they were ready to leave he thought about giving her the gift but decided he'd rather do it more privately, so they soon left. Once they were the car he drove to a well lit park and turned off the engine. Reaching back behind his seat his hand felt the package and pulled it out. Relena, who had been wondering what was going on took the package with a puzzled look on her face.
"Here, it's for you." He said glancing into her eyes then quickly looking away.
"Oh Heero, you didn't have to get me anything!" She exclaimed, wondering what on earth it could be.
"Open it and find out." He mumbled, seeming almost to read her mind.
She grinned and quickly unwrapped the package. She gasped. "Oh! It's the bottle from the flea market!" She beamed at him. "I love it, thank you so much!"
He blushed again. "You're welcome." He answered, braving looking her in the eye and gave her another small smile. "I'm glad you like it."
"I love it Heero, thank you." She wanted to thank him in a slightly more physical way but she wasn't sure how he would respond to something like that so she left it as purely wishful thinking.
After that, somehow things went a bit smoother and they began to talk. Just about anything, and nothing, and everything. All too soon it seemed, the time was late and he took her back to her house. He opened the car door for her and followed her to her front door to make sure she was alright, and because he really wanted to kiss her goodnight but didn't know if he could find the courage to do so.
Finally she had the door open and had stepped inside and turned around.
"Heero, thank you so much for tonight. I had a wonderful time." She smiled.
"I…so did I. I…" he stammered "I hope we can do it again soon."
"Me too."
He was mentally kicking himself, calling himself all sorts of names trying to find the courage to kiss her. She looked straight into his eyes and suddenly he found his courage. He stepped closer, placing his hands on her shoulders and leaning forward slowly, giving her a chance to back away. She wasn't about to do any such thing. She leaned forward ever so slightly and allowed her eyes to drift closed. Heero closed his eyes as his lips touched hers. It wasn't an extremely passionate kiss; just really a soft pressing of the lips together, but it was enough to make both of them a little weak in the knees and cause both hearts to beat faster. Slightly shakily Heero allowed his hands to slide off her shoulders and drop. He almost jumped when he felt Relena capture his hands within hers. He looked down at their clasped hands.
"Heero." She murmured softly.
His head jerked back up and he dared again to look into her striking blue eyes. He opened his mouth to say something, he wasn't quite sure what.
"Relena." He mentally slapped himself for numbly saying her name when there were so many things he could be saying. He needed to go…Go before he fell under her spell completely and never left.
"I…Goodnight Relena."
She smiled. "Goodnight Heero." She slowly released his hands as he backed up slightly pulling away. He nearly growled in annoyance when he could no longer feel the warmth of her hands nestled in his. Somehow he managed to find his way back to his vehicle without tripping over his own feet (or anything else) and drove away slowly, not wanting to lose sight of her. He sighed. It had been a wonderful evening. Then suddenly it hit him. "I kissed her" he gasped! Then laughed, giddy with the thought and memory. He could just hear Duo saying, "it's about time buddy!". So it was…So it was. He grinned again and then laughed. He needed to tell someone or he was going to burst! Duo was the natural choice so he altered his course and headed for Duo and Hilde's residence, never mind the fact that it was just a little past the respectable hour for going visiting.
Relena stood there for another minute or two after the car was out of sight. She couldn't believe it. Heero had kissed her. She started grinning and spun around bouncing a little on her tiptoes as she danced into the house. She had to tell somebody…Who…Hilde! Who else? She ran to the phone.
"Hello..." Hilde yawned into the receiver thankful she'd had the presence of mind to turn off the video function of the phone. She didn't really want whoever it was to see her in her current attire. She blushed slightly at the thought.
"Hilde…. hi, it's me Relena."
"Relena?!" Hilde was about to be irked, and then she remembered. "Your date! How did it go?" She heard a small excited giggle in the background. "So that's how it was huh?" She laughed.
"Oh Hilde it was perfect! Just wonderful! He was a perfect gentleman, and he took me to the Royal Yverlen Castle!! He…" Hilde cut her off.
"You're kidding!" She gasped. "I didn't know he had that much taste!"
"I know! I didn't know where we would go but…I wasn't expecting that! Anyway, we went to this cozy little alcove that was very romantic with low lighting, candles, the works! It was beautiful!" She stopped for a breath allowing her friend to speak.
"Wow. Sounds pretty amazing. I wonder why Duo hasn't ever taken me there." She rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah, he's a cheapskate. That's why."
"You should ask him to take you there."
"That'll be the day." Hilde laughed.
"Oh! I almost forgot! Heero gave me a gift. Actually…" she giggled, "he gave me more than one…"
"Oh REALLY?!" Hilde was definitely interested now, as if she hadn't been before.
"Uh huh. Well the first one was this pretty vase that I had admired at the flea market last time we were there."
"Oh I heard about that." Hilde said without thinking.
"What? How…?"
"Um…only that Duo said something about it to me…sorry I…he said he had encouraged Heero to buy it since it looked like you were interested in it." She stammered. "I thought it was kinda sweet…"
Relena smiled. "I'll remember to thank Duo when I see him next."
"So, what was the second gift?" Hilde pressed.
"Well…" she paused. She couldn't keep the grin off her face even though she knew her friend on the other end of the line couldn't see her. "He kissed me!" She burst out. "He really kissed me!"
"No way!" Hilde gasped! "He actually kissed you? Well? Tell, tell!!" She demanded.
"It was…" she paused. "Magical. That's what it was. Magical. It wasn't a real sizzler," she blushed, "but, well…my knees got a little week, and my stomach was taking flying lessons from the butterflies." Those butterflies were happily zooming around in her stomach again just remembering.
Hilde threw back her head and laughed. "Flying lessons huh? That's a good one Relena!" She sobered up. "It sounds perfect you know. Thanks for telling me. Sounds like you had a great evening."
"I did, I really did."
Just then there game an urgent knock on the front door. "What?" Hilde frowned.
"What's wrong?" Relena asked.
"Someone's at the door. What would someone be doing here at this hour anyway?" She ranted. "Hold on a sec." She stabbed the "mute" button. "DUUOOO!!! Get out of bed! There's someone at the door!" She waited a few seconds, but with no response. "DUUUOOOO!!!!! I'm on the phone, I can't answer the door!" The late hour knocker continued to knock, harder. She was about to march into the bedroom and drag him out of bed herself when he came stumbling into the kitchen yawning and rubbing his eyes. Blinking sleepily he mumbled about loudmouth wives.
"Don't insult me, there's someone at the door and I'm on the phone, will you PLEASE take care of it?!"
"At this hour?" Duo muttered as he dragged himself towards the front door. He was not destined to make it there uninterrupted however. He was halfway through the living room when one shuffling foot slid under a rug and very quickly he found himself not-so-tenderly kissing the ground under where his feet would have been had he actually managed to make it all of the way across the room. "Umph!" He whuffed as the air in his lungs took a temporary vacation.
"Duo?" Hilde reached as far as she could while holding the phone, trying to see what had happened. "Are you ok?" She pushed the mute button again. "Relena, I need to set the phone down for a minute ok? I'll be right back."
"I can just go…"
"No, that's ok. Just hold on." Relena agreed and Hilde put down the phone and walked into the living room flipping on the light.
"Duo…Why are you on the floor? Are you ok?" She asked bending over him.
He rolled over. "I'm on the floor because that evil rug grabbed me." He moaned. Hilde rolled her eyes. Their uninvited guest again banged on the door, indicating that whoever it was, was getting a tad bit impatient.
"Who would be crazy enough come over at this hour?" Hilde hissed.
"I don't know, but whoever it is they'll wish they'd never met the God of Death!" Duo growled loudly, as he lurched up off the floor and staggered towards the door. He grabbed the doorknob and quickly unlocked it, flipping on the porch light and jerking open the door, ready to thrash whoever had dared to interrupt his otherwise calm slumber.
"Heero!!!" He gaped. He blinked. "It's you right?" He wasn't completely sure having never seen him quite that slicked up.
"I think it is." Heero said with raised eyebrows. "The question I have is who are you, and what did you do with the God of Death?"
Duo sagged against the doorframe and sighed. "Contrary to what you might have heard a moment ago the God of Death is snoring happily in blissful slumber where EVERYONE should be at this hour of the night." He grunted.
"Then who are…" Heero just stared. The person before him had extremely long flowing loose hair, slightly tangled here and there, bloodshot eyes, and wearing nothing but…Hello Kitty underwear?!?!?!?!?! He choked back a shout of laughter and it came out in more of a hard snort, silently vowing never to come to the Maxwell house at such a late hour again. He spluttered for a second then regained a small portion of his brainpower (and willpower).
Duo frowned. "I'm the man rugs hate and women yell at."
Heero shook his head and tried to look anywhere but at Duo.
"Uh…well how about I just come back tomorrow?" He asked, staring at the number on the house.
"No, no it's ok you can co……" Duo happened at the point to look down at himself. "Oh no…." His face flushed a deep reddish purple and he grabbed his hair and brought it in front of himself. "Please tell me you didn't see that." He begged as he attempted to look Heero in the face. Heero cleared his throat. "You did, didn't you?" He moaned. "My life is over."
"If only it were that easy." Heero grinned. "I'm going now. I've…seen enough." He coughed, and said as he turned around to leave: "Goodnight Pussyca…er…Duo."
"I hate you." Duo blushed even deeper, if that was possible.
"I know." Heero chuckled as he walked away. He wondered if he would ever be able to see Duo the same way after tonight. There really was something to the saying of imagining your enemy in his underwear, but they never said anything about what to do after seeing a friend in Hello Kitty underwear. He groaned as he climbed into the car, started it and drove off. "I'm gonna kill him." He thought dourly. "I really am."
Hilde just stood there, mortified, completely forgetting the fact that she had a friend waiting not-so-patiently on the phone. At least she had been behind the doorframe to the side so he hadn't seen her. Duo closed the door with a harder-than-usual click and walked slowly towards the bedroom as if he was walking on eggshells. Hilde couldn't take it anymore and burst out laughing with a great guffaw that even Relena could hear. She tried to stop laughing, but the more she tried the more she saw the look on Heero's face when he realized what Duo was wearing, and then the look on Duo's when he'd come to the same realization.
"Hey, Hyena! Weren't you on the phone?" She spluttered and swallowed a couple more chuckles and then tried to regain her breath as she straightened up and walked into the kitchen ignoring the snide remark made by her mortified male counterpart.
"I'm sorry Relena, I really am." She gave another undignified snort of laughter, unable to help herself.
"What happened?!" Relena demanded. "Why were you laughing so hard? Who was at the door?"
"Heero came over to talk to Duo." She explained. "Duo wasn't exactly dressed for company. That's all you'll ever want to know, trust me."
"He was wearing his Hello Kitty underwear right?" Relena started to grin.
"HOW did you know about THAT?!" Hilde almost screeched.
"You should never get drunk Hilde…alcohol destroys your power to keep secrets." Relena told her almost gleefully.
Hilde groaned. "You can never let Duo know that you know ok? He'd never be able to live it down."
"And you think he'll live this one down?" Relena laughed.
"He may. He might. Well…I hope he will anyway. Then again…maybe I don't!" She grinned and began to laugh again.
"I'm going to let you go Hilde ok? I'll talk to you later."
"Ok, sleep well. If you can that is."
"I'll try. You to. Meow."
"Shut up!"
Relena laughed and said "goodnight" ending the conversation before anything else happened.
Hilde slammed down the phone and glared at it. She didn't glare long. Meow…she grinned an evil smile, eyeing the bedroom door like a predator eyeing her prey. Perhaps tonight wouldn't be a complete loss after all.
I hope you're having as much fun reading this as I'm having writing it! If you like it let me know!! See you in the next chapter!
