A/N: Maeve suggested this idea and it was too big for the 31 Days of Smut. Duo and Relena fail a test, decide to blow off their day and drive to the beach where they encounter beach!Trowa. This also features one of the 31 Days of Smut prompts worked in, courtesy of AmberlyinViolet (I have way more than 31 prompts and this one was one of my favorites: 2x3xR with Trowa holding down Duo tickling him… and things).

A/N 2: I love reviews. I crave them. They make me smile and they make my fingers fly when I sit down to write. They introduce me to wonderful people who I become friends with and who give me all kinds of headcanons and ideas that will not go away until I sit down to write them (true story: Unexpected happened because of Luvsanime02; Entanglement because of Miss Murdered; countless one-shots from other amazing people). So, please, take the time to review.

A/N 3: I've got a bunch of ref images for this on my tumblr page "at" claraxbarton that you might want to check out.

A/N 4: Wake Forest, Duke, Davidson= great private schools in NC. Oak Island=lovely beach on the coast of NC. Davidson is about 20 minutes north of Charlotte, NC as a reference point.

A/N 5: Title from the lyrics of Peaches by In the Valley Below

Warnings: angst, smut, language

Pairings: 2x3xR

Working on a Feeling

Don't worry your pretty little head.

Relena didn't know how many times she had heard that in the last twenty-one years.

Too many.

When she was younger it hadn't really mattered. The words meant everything would be alright, that she had done something wrong but in the end, it didn't really matter because she was still pretty.

But Relena didn't want to be pretty, not just pretty. She didn't just want to be her father's daughter, her mother's prize, perfect Heero Yuy's perfect girlfriend.

She wanted to be her own person, she wanted to succeed because she was strong and smart and right and not just be the pretty girl.

She was tired of playing that role. So very, very tired of it and she wanted - she needed - to be free from it.

When she was fifteen she had had a similar epiphany, had gone out and had all of her hair chopped off and her parents had been horrified, her mother coping with the sight of her short-haired daughter only by upping her daily Valium. The stunt had garnered a scowl from her father, an admonishment to think about how she presented herself to others, a rebuke to not make her mother's life more difficult.

It had not been the desired effect.

So, she had realized, trying to make herself less pretty - at least in the eyes of her parents and peers - hadn't really solved the problem of Relena being seen as more than the pretty girl. It had, in fact, only exacerbated it by making it very painfully clear that when she failed at that, at being pretty and presentable, then she definitely needed to worry her little head.

Which had been exactly what she did. She worried and worried and then she decided to fill her little head with everything she could and prove to everyone just how damn capable she was.

When it came time to apply to college, Relena had had her pick, and not just because of her family connections. In the end, she had snubbed Wake Forest, her mother's alma mater, and Duke, her father's, to choose Davidson. Her parents had been baffled, had actually been concerned when Relena announced that her intended major was Political Science.

Her mother had dreamed that Relena could one day be First Lady, but never the President. Her father, probably meaning well, had pointed out that the current first lady had the same degrees as her husband, had suggested that the best way for Relena to meet influential men was through that course of study, and then he had looked at Relena and nodded, as if congratulating her on the plan.

There seemed no way to get out of it. No way to escape their mentality and Relena knew that her parents loved her and wanted the best for her, wanted her to be happy - but she also knew that they truly had no idea what made her happy, or what was best for her. To them she would always be the pretty girl with the little head who smiled when complimented on her dresses, who at the age of five had declared pink to be her favorite color and had been surrounded by it since, regardless of the fact that she was no longer five and that pink was no longer her favorite color.

Don't worry your pretty little head.

She had heard those words too many times and when she had heard them this morning, when Professor Gaines had passed back their exam and she had seen the giant red letter F, had looked up with terror filled eyes, when her professor had patted her hand and offered that as comfort, Relena had lost her proverbial shit.

She had packed up her bag, right there in the middle of class, had crumpled up the exam and forcefully thrown it into the trashcan at the front of the room and, fifteen pairs of wide eyes on her the entire time, stalked out of the classroom.

By the time she walked across campus to her car, Relena's thundering pulse had begun to calm, her tunnel vision receded, but her absolute fury with herself and the world around her had only slightly abated.

She was done. So completely done with everything.

Nothing mattered, it seemed - not the hours and hours of studying she had put in for that exam, not her entire high school and college academic career, not any of her interests, her goals. None of it mattered except the fact that she had a pretty little head that apparently couldn't retain the knowledge to succeed in her chosen field.

Relena angrily dug into her purse for her keys, fingers fumbling over chap stick, tampons, change, a lighter, a scrap of paper with that asshole's phone number on it from the bar last weekend, her phone, her cigarette case, her wallet. But no keys.

With a frustrated growl, Relena upended her purse on the hood of her pink convertible Mini Cooper.

No keys.

Relena felt angry tears prick her eyes. Where the hell were her keys? Was she so completely fucking stupid that she had lost them as well and -

And suddenly she remembered.

Duo.

They had both been in a rush that morning as they left the apartment, had had to resort to actually sharing the hair dryer but had both given up and forced their hair into sloppy braids before running out so that they could make it to class on time. Relena had parked the car in the only available spot, after ten minutes of driving around, across campus from both of their classes and Duo had been sitting in the passenger seat, frantically trying to complete his lab project because his asshole of a lab partner had bailed on him again and only bothered to text Duo fifteen minutes ago to let him know. So Relena had given him the keys, had told him good luck and kissed his cheek and taken off for her class and hoped he made it on time to his.

Which was fine. It was fine that Duo had the keys and fine that Relena found herself sitting on the hood of her car with no way to escape this hell for at least an hour, maybe even longer depending on whether or not Duo planned to meet with his advisor or go by the library or -

I need to get the fuck out of here

She stared at the text on her phone, the words exactly how she felt, exactly what she needed.

But the text wasn't from her, it was to her. From Duo.

Me too

Meet you at the car?

Yes

Two minutes later, Relena saw the familiar form of her best friend stalking through the rows of expensive cars, shoulders hunched, hands shoved into his pockets, a fierce scowl on his face.

Relena could count on one hand the number of times she had seen Duo look so pissed.

They had known each other since childhood, since their first playground fight when Relena had kissed Heero Yuy on the lips and Duo had shoved her away and done the same, had stuck his tongue out at her and laughed until Heero pushed past both of them and went to climb on the monkey bars. After that, Relena and Duo had spent years competing for Heero's attention and affection, had triumphed and crowed at the other when Heero agreed to come to their birthday party, had argued over whose Valentine he liked best, had physically fought each other for the privilege of sitting beside him in every class, every year. They had both taken up golf when they heard Heero say how much he loved it, they had both done everything in their individual power to make Heero Yuy fall in love with them and it hadn't been until eighth grade, when he invited both of them to the spring dance and smirked when they fought each other, had laughed when they dumped fruit punch on each other's clothes, that they had realized.

Heero Yuy was an asshole and he was so not worth either of their singular let alone combined efforts.

Duo and Relena had been best friends ever since and, in an ironic twist of fate that wasn't lost on either of them, had in turn been pursued by Heero for the next four years. And even though Relena's parents still thought she would end up with the boy next door one day, even though Duo's brother still teased him about the dream wedding he had planned for himself and Heero when he was nine, they had both moved on. Heero had been the childhood crush that brought them together but he was definitely not on either of their lists of potential boyfriends.

"Your lab partner?" Relena guessed when Duo was close enough to her that she could see the thin, compressed line of his lips was almost as pale as the skin around his mouth.

Duo shrugged and nodded at the same time.

"The asshole didn't even - " Duo huffed and shook his head. "Do you know what Dr. Jay said to me?" Duo cleared his throat and lowered his voice in a familiar imitation of his advisor, "It's a good thing you spend so much time jerking off, Maxwell. You're going to need that strength to hold a mop all day because the closest you're going to get to a top-level research lab is as a janitor."

Relena's jaw dropped as she stared at Duo, at his devastated expression.

Not only did Duo worship Dr. Jay, not only had Relena had to listen to Duo wax poetic about the man's seemingly endless accomplishments since Duo had met him during a campus tour when they were high school sophomores, but Duo had worked his ass off, even more so than Relena, to get here. Duo didn't have her money, didn't have her family name or connections and Relena knew what a coup it was to him, to his brother, when he had been accepted into Davidson. She also knew how passionate Duo was about becoming a biochemist.

"Duo -"

"Nah, it's fine. I mean, he's right, yanno? These forearms are pretty impressive," Duo sneered as he pushed the sleeves of his sweater back as if to show off. He scowled and kicked at a rock in the parking lot.

They both watched it skitter down the row of cars, both winced when it bounced off the silver paint of a Mercedes.

"You sure you're good to ditch class?" Duo asked her, as if just remembering that they actually weren't supposed to be out in the parking lot.

Relena snorted.

"I'm sure I'm good to do whatever the hell I want."

Duo arched an eyebrow at her tone.

"I failed my test. And Gaines did that thing, that -"

"That 'this is seriously sexual harassment and needs to be reported to the Dean thing'?" Duo guessed.

Relena shrugged but under Duo's glare she nodded.

"Please tell me he didn't offer to help you review the material again."

Relena shook her head.

"No, not this time. Although - I don't know. Maybe he would have. I got up and walked out of class after he told me not to worry my pretty little head."

Duo scoffed, said something under his breath that made Relena's cheeks turn red but she nodded in fierce agreement.

Duo pulled her into a hug, holding her tightly until she relaxed against him.

"I mean, it's not even like you have a little head," he said into her hair. "Your head is fucking huge."

Relena shoved him away but she was smiling.

He smirked back at her.

"Should we go waste an hour at Waterbean drinking stupidly overpriced coffee before our next classes?" Duo suggested.

Relena nodded.

"Yes. That sounds like a really, really good idea."

-o-

But as Relena sat staring into her nearly empty mug, even as the Chai Tea Latte warmed her and settled her, she realized that there was absolutely no way she was setting foot back on campus that day.

"I'll drop you off," she offered to Duo as he drained his Earl Gray tea - the same tea he ordered no matter how many times Relena or the cute barista that flirted with Duo every single time teased him about the fact that there were more than thirty types of tea on the menu and Duo never deviated from the simplest possible option.

He lifted an eyebrow.

"What about your public -"

Relena shook her head.

"I can't go back. Not today. I just - can't be on that campus today. I need to just… not think for a while."

Duo nodded in understanding.

"I, ah, don't feel all that excited to sit in Ecotoxicology… you want to go do something or do you want to be alone?"

Relena considered. She had thought to be alone, had thought to go back to their off-campus apartment and sit in her room and just stare at tumblr all day until she forgot what she even cared about anymore.

"Let's get out of here," she decided.

Duo lifted an eyebrow again.

"You wanna go to Charlotte?"

They could. They could drive the twenty minutes to the city and spend the afternoon at Southpark trying on outrageously priced clothes, pretending to be a newly engaged couple starting a registry at Tiffany's - it usually made Relena feel better, made Duo's smirk lose its bitter edge.

But not today. Today she wanted anything but a reminder of how easy it would be for her to do nothing with her life, how much she could still enjoy because of her family's money.

She shook her head.

"No. Not - I want to be away from all of this. Everything."

"You want to go to the mountains? We go to Asheville and meet up with some people, if you wanted."

Despite his appearance of being a burnout, Duo was anything but. It was Relena who kept meticulously rolled joints in her cigarette case, Relena who dragged Duo up to Asheville ever few months to hang out with their high school friends who had gone to the schools in the mountains and seemed to spend more time studying everything they could about the uses of marijuana than their ascribed college majors.

It was tempting. Getting out of here, spending time with people who would give her parents a stroke. And the mountains were nice, were away from the city and -

"Too cold," Relena said with a sigh. It was the end of February, and while the Davidson had gotten only a few flurries of snow, Asheville still had several inches on the ground from the last storm.

Duo smirked.

"Give me your keys."

Relena arched an eyebrow at him.

Duo rolled his eyes.

"Come on, you drive too slow and if we want to get there before the sun sets we need to get a move on."

What the hell, Relena decided and passed them over.

Duo grinned, stood up and offered her his arm.

Relena rolled her eyes but accepted the gesture, the same one he had used when escorting her out of her parents house for the senior prom, both of them struggling to keep straight faces in front of their horrified ones when Duo showed up wearing the same dress as Relena.

Once back in the car, Relena turned on the radio and then laid back and closed her eyes.

"Please tell me we aren't going up to Chapel Hill so you can stalk that lacrosse player," she murmured.

Duo snorted a laugh and she felt the car shift into high speed as he hit the interstate.

"Hell no. I'm done wasting my time on that asshole - he shows up once a month to get his dick sucked and doesn't even bother to call me on my birthday? Nah, we are not going to Chapel Hill today. Not going anywhere near rich assholes with too much of Daddy's money and not enough ambition to do anything with their lives but remind me of how damn lucky I am to be in their presence.

Relena opened her eyes at that and looked over at the rigid line of Duo's jaw.

"Is this about Wufei again?"

Duo sneered and it was clear that it was.

Wufei Chang had been Duo's lab partner in no fewer than four classes, despite the fact that both men had requested new partners every single class. The two had met their first day on campus, at a frat party and Wufei had gotten very, very drunk, had made out with Duo and then woken up the next morning with the hangover from hell, found himself sharing Duo's bed and had the freakout of all freakouts, according to Duo. Wufei was staight, had less than zero interest in men and he had spent ten minutes telling Duo exactly why he was a pathetic excuse for a human before stalking out. When they met again on the first day of classes, when they were assigned to be lab partners for the first time, Duo had contemplated transferring. Wufei refused to work with Duo, doing all of the work himself and as a result both of them turned in separate projects and separate lab work for every assignment. It meant Duo worked twice as hard as the rest of the students, doing his share of the work and Wufei's and even though Wufei was similarly burdened, his uncle was also the head of the department.

"You know he actually - last week he actually smiled at me?"

Duo shook his head.

"I really thought that maybe things - God, I am such a fucking idiot."

Duo ran his hand over his face and before Relena could say anything, he turned up the radio.

"Hey, our song," he said.

Relena listened. It was.

After a few seconds she heard Duo humming along. A few seconds later she found herself doing the same.

And then they were both singing at the top of their lungs.

"We won't live too long, so let's love for one song. The lion won't lay down, when the holy man's in town."

They smirked at each other.

"Breaking down the ceiling, digging up a deep end, freezing on the beaches, reaching for the sweetest, sweetest peaches."

-o-