Chapter 15: Love Like Blood
Giving Pagan a 'thank you' before stepping out of her ride, Relena shuffled towards the building she had entered and exited so many times in the past couple of years. Today was another day at the prestigious St. Gabriel Academy. She greeted everyone as she passed by the usual crowds. As always, she was showered with smiles and choruses of 'good mornings'. She wasn't always comfortable with the attention she got, if she was being honest, but eventually she found herself able to tolerate it.
Sometimes she wondered how she got so popular in the first place. She wasn't the only kid at school who came from wealth or even an influential family. So what made her such a lightning rod for attention? Relena couldn't find an answer. Her friends, however, were quick to tell her it was because she's just so damned nice and easy going. Dorothy would also teasingly add how absolutely adorable she could be sometimes and that it was an attractive quality that drew people to her.
Whatever the reasons were, it didn't matter anymore she thought as she entered the school, heading towards her first class of the day. She got used to it and figured out how to navigate school life with all of this unwanted intrigue in her. At least it never got too crazy. There were maybe some guys that tried to approach her for dates and things of that nature, but it hardly ever turned into anything. There were many attractive boys in her school, but none that could truly hold her interest. She had yet to meet a guy that could pull her away from her studies or even her home life. She dated someone a while ago, but the relationship was so unremarkable that she couldn't even remember much about the guy. Her young love life was devoid of any real excitement.
Trowa could have changed that, but it was bad timing on both of their parts that killed that. There could have been something real between them but well… That thought drifted away as a smile began forming on her face.
Yes, it looked like another typical morning at St. Gabriel, but there was something different about today.
"There she is." As she advanced to her classroom, she heard the mischievous tone of her best friend.
"Morning, Dorothy." Relena aimed her smile at the platinum haired girl as she began to walk alongside her. Dorothy noticed the elated look on her friend, knowing exactly where that came from. Dorothy made sure she got all the details from the past couple of days in Relena's life.
"So, how do you feel? Like a brand new woman?" Dorothy grinned, watching as Relena hugged her books tighter to her chest.
"I don't know if that's how I would describe it, but I do feel a little different."
"It's been a while since you were in this kind of situation, so you're forgetting how to act and now you're feeling all funny inside." Dorothy explained. "Isn't it grand?"
"Sure, Dorothy." Relena chuckled as the pair got closer to their first class of the day.
They saw their room come up and both of them noticed someone leaning on the wall beside the open door. He had his arms folded in front of him and eyes looking straight forward. Relena could recognize that figure and those unruly bangs anywhere. He always made for an extravagant sight and she now could take pride in knowing it was all hers. The thought of that caused her heart jump. That felt like an uncharacteristic thing for her to think, but that just went to show how much of an impact he had on her. Maybe Dorothy was right, she wondered, maybe she was a new woman.
The two girls approached the boy named Heero Yuy, both of them stopping in front of his line of vision.
There were two girls in front of him, but Heero's focus was only trained on one of them at the moment. He saw her smile at him and he held back the feeling of wanting to pull her in as much as he could. PDA at school was a level he wasn't sure he was at yet, but he wondered how long it would take before she broke down that barrier, too. He felt like she would continue to show him what a new world could look like with her. If she would be his guide, he would be all for it.
He didn't think he would do what he did a couple days ago, either, so...
"Good morning, Heero." She spoke as blue eyes locked on blue eyes. She, too, had to fight back the need to jump into his arms. She didn't see him yesterday and that just built up her anticipation for their next meeting.
Heero nodded at her. "Hope you slept well."
"I kinda didn't." Heero responded to that by giving her a questioning look. This made Relena want to chuckle but instead her smile just grew. "Honestly, I was just a little too excited for school today, so it was really hard to fall asleep last night."
"Hn." He nodded with softened features. "Same here, actually." Relena could tell he was a little embarrassed to admit that. Dorothy called her adorable, but weirdly enough she thought the same thing about Heero right now. He would probably get annoyed if he heard her use that word to describe him and that made her want to both laugh and embrace him tightly.
"So you were excited as well?" Relena teasingly asked.
"I guess you could say that." They both stared at each other, almost forgetting they were at school for a second. They were both thinking the same thing and that was that neither of them really wanted to be at school right now. No, they would much rather be out somewhere together again.
Just the two of them… just like it was two days ago.
"You two can make bedroom eyes at one another later." Dorothy spoke, reminding them of her presence. She cut in front of Relena to grab her lover's attention with a hand offered out to Heero. "It appears we'll be seeing a lot more of each other from here on out. So, allow me to introduce myself," It was a funny thing for her to do considering that they've technically know about the other for a little while now, but this was the first time Dorothy actually spoke to him. Prior to today, that was a privilege reserved only for Relena and to a lesser extent Trowa, not that Heero actually wanted to talk to the latter. "My name is Dorothy Catalonia, I'm sure you've heard of me."
Heero cocked an eyebrow at the girl before looking back at Relena who gave him an apologetic smile. Well, he expected this. She was her best friend after all, so he would be dealing with this girl whether he liked it or not. He sighed but took her hand. "Heero Yuy." came his simple response.
"I hope we can become good friends." Dorothy continued before breaking off the handshake. She looked back at Relena and flashed her a smirk. "I'll see you inside, dear." Dorothy walked off, heading inside their classroom. "Nice to meet you, Heero Yuy!" the two of them could hear her say.
Relena reached out to grab a hold of his hand taking Heero by surprise. He was clearly taken off guard but she could feel his hand beginning to relax in her hold. "Sorry about her."
Heero shrugged. "I'll get used to it." If it meant he could remain someone important to Relena, then he could tolerate Dorothy. Small price to pay, all things considered.
"Well, want to get this day started?" Relena asked him. He gave her a nod, wanting to wrap up this school day as quickly as possible. Then, he could have the girl standing before him all to himself once again. He would be able to return to paradise.
Hell can always wait.
Heero wandered the park where he would meet Relena. He had never been to this place before. It was far nicer than anywhere the North End had to offer. It made him feel a bit guilty that he couldn't bring her anywhere that was close to home. There wasn't much to see where he was from and definitely nothing as well kept as this place seemed to be.
The weather was perfect and the amount of people that convened here spoke to that. Everyone knew the temperature would start dipping eventually. People had to enjoy the warm sun while it still smiled down on them. Hoodie season wasn't that far off, Heero thought. Wouldn't be long before he would have to put his muscle shirts away, at least for public use.
He stayed around the entrance of the park, where Relena said she would meet him. He walked along a river, watching as the sun reflected off the clear water. He found a spot to kneel down, observing as schools of fish hurried down the see-through stream. If there was a place like this on his side of town, Heero pondered, he knew it wouldn't look anything like what he was looking at right now. It would look closer to a landfill, he figured. Trash being thrown around by trash people is what he thought. Then again, Heero didn't feel like he was in any position to judge his fellow North End residents. He was trash, just like them.
Or maybe that made him the perfect person to judge, Heero wondered.
He immediately shook away those thoughts. Today wasn't the day. One of the reasons he chose to come here was to get away from it all. It wouldn't last forever, but he knew the time away from that hellscape he called home was important for him. He would do anything to keep from losing his mind again.
He looked across the river, his head beginning to space out a bit. He allowed the environment to consume him as a calming breeze slid all around his skin. He shut his eyes, finding the feeling of the wind to put him in a bizarrely serene state of mind. It had been quite a while since he last felt this much at peace.
It didn't last long, however, as all of a sudden he felt something jump on him. It pushed him slightly and his eyes opened to see that a small white dog had been the cause of it. It had it's paws on him and tried to jump to get a good lick at his face. This dog was clearly no threat, he quickly deduced. He adjusted himself to turn around, facing the animal. He gently ran his hands across the joyful dog's white fur, trying to keep its tongue from painting his face.
He noticed a collar around its neck and a dog tag to go along with it. He grabbed the tag and read the name that was engraved on it.
"Mary…" Heero said out loud. He ran his hands over her head, scratching behind the ears which only made the dog more excitable. He flashed Mary a light smile. He had to admit, she was cute dog.
"Mary! Mary!" Heero heard someone call out for her. He looked up to find a little girl rush over to them. "There you are!" the young girl said giggling. The dog moved off of him and back into the girl's arms. "Hi there!" she spoke to Heero as she tried in vain to avoid Mary's tongue lashings. "Sorry about Mary, I let her go on accident."
Heero just shook his head. "It's fine."
"I was with my parents but I got away from them." she said deviously. "I don't think they can find me."
Heero looked around to see if there were any adults looking for a kid. He couldn't find anyone, though. She was a sneaky one, he could tell. "Do you know where they are?"
"Yeah, I know." the girl laughed as she continued to play with Mary.
"You should return to them." Heero told the girl. "They're probably worried about you."
"I know they are." the girl stated almost matter-of-factly; Heero almost laughed at that. "What about you?" she continued. "Where are your parents?"
"I don't have any." Heero wasn't sure that was the correct response to give her, but it came out of him automatically. It's all he knew what to say when the subject of his family came up.
"Really?" she gave him a look of surprise. "That sounds sad. So does that mean you're always by yourself?"
He wasn't expecting to answer these kinds of questions from a girl that was probably a decade younger than him. He thought of ways to reply before answering that. "Hmm, well… I'm not alone all the time." was all he could come up with. It was true, but there were so many days where he still felt completely isolated from everyone, but he wouldn't speak on that here, obviously.
"Well that's good." she grinned. "So why are you here then?"
Are kids always this curious? "I'm waiting for someone."
"Ooh, so if you're alone a lot, then this person must be special, right?" There was a big grin on her face as she asked that. Heero didn't see that coming and he actually found it hard to look at her as he looked for something to say, and apparently that response was somewhere on the ground.
"Um, yeah, you're right." He reached over to nervously rub his shoulder, trying to find out how this little girl managed to make him feel awkward. Damn her.
"I knew it!" she laughed while enthusiastically petting Mary. "So this person is special like the way my mom and dad call each other special?"
Okay, he had enough of her childish inquiries. But before he managed to change the subject on his own, he heard a couple different voices cry out. Heero looked and saw two adults frantically looking around. The girl looked back and saw them, too.
"Oh, that's my mom and dad!" She said with a tone that showed how oblivious she was to her parent's obvious suffering in trying to find her.
"You better go, they seem very worried about you." Heero mentioned, feeling bad for the pair.
"Yeah they are." she looked down at her furry companion. "C'mon Mary!" The dog barked and the two took off. "Bye Mister! Hope you have a good day!" She waved back at him as she left him alone once more.
He watched as she grouped back up with her family. Her parents seemed both upset and relieved to find their child run back to them. The mother hugged the girl tightly while the father looked glad to see the search for their daughter end. From there, the reunited family walked off and disappeared into another direction.
As they faded away, Heero wondered if he would have acted like that girl if he had grown up normally like her... if his parents had stayed alive. He could only shrug to himself; no use thinking about something that will never be, he concluded.
"So, you're also good with animals and kids." That delightful, feminine voice that he had heard so many times before finally arrived; his head snapping around to focus his view on the person he had been waiting for all this time. "You're just full of surprises, aren't you?"
"Relena." He rose to his feet, taking in the wonderful sight she made. With a yellow colored dress flowing down to her knees with similarly colored, strapped sandals to match, Heero remembered that he had only seen her outside of her school uniform once, and now both times she took his words from him. Her hair was neatly tied into a long ponytail that fell in line right behind her with a purse strap hanging off one of her exposed shoulders. "Hey…" That was the only thing he could spit out, still entranced by her presence.
"Hope you haven't been waiting long." She noticed how Heero's signature head of uncooperative hair moved in the breeze, His face had only gotten better since yesterday, bringing back his boyish good looks. The sleeves of his black t-shirt did their best to contain his ripped biceps. As always, he looked utterly gorgeous. She had to make sure this whole thing went well, because that would mean she would be able to see him like this more often.
Heero shook his head and Relena nodded back. "Sorry, I was watching your whole thing there with that girl. Not sure what you guys were talking about but it looked like you handled it well, which is good because you never know when you might need those skills in the future." She caught Heero rolling his eyes and had to stifle a laugh from escaping. "Let's go, we'll follow the river that way." she said, pointing to the direction they started heading down towards.
They followed the path by the water, walking side by side. Heero wasn't sure where they were going, letting Relena take the lead as this was her territory. "Did your usual driver drop you off?" Heero asked, keeping his hands stuffed down his jean's pockets.
"Yeah, and I take it the bus did the same for you?"
"Hn." He nodded in the affirmative. Every once in a while he'd order a ride through his phone if he was in a hurry, but Heero would prefer to save his money. It was easy to find bootleg bus passes in his neighborhood, anyway.
"One day I'll get you to accept a ride from me, just you wait." Heero figured if things went smoothly today, she would probably be right. However, he would make sure to fight against that every chance he got.
"We'll see." Heero muttered.
"I guess we will." a smirking Relena tossed back.
"If that happens then maybe you'll tell me what's up with the pink on that car."
"I swear I didn't ask for it to be that color." Relena groaned. She heard enough jokes about it when she first started showing up in that vehicle. "I'm not THAT much of a girly girl." She saw him give her a skeptical glance. "Stop it."
Heero shrugged and they continued on.
They eventually got to a bridge that connected to the otherside of the park over the river. As they walked across, Relena paused as they got to the middle, overlooking the water and getting a good view of everything else. "How do you like this place so far?"
"It's… nice." he began, leaning over the bridge's metal railing. "Definitely not what I'm used to."
"Yeah, I figured you could appreciate some time away from home."
And appreciate it he did. This girl really cared too much for him. He looked back over to her. "You come here often?"
She got closer, hands clasped behind her. "Every once in a while with friends or whatever. I used to come here a lot with my family when I was younger."
"Not so much now?"
Relena's eyes took in the scenery as she stood beside him. "No, though it's not like there's that many seventeen year olds clamoring for the chance to hang out at the park with their parents." Relena chuckled and looked at Heero who gave her a weird look before turning away again. That's when she remembered that she was talking to someone with no family to speak of. She inwardly cringed, hating herself for saying that. She had to say something else now; she didn't want him thinking she took her family for granted when someone like Heero didn't have what she had.
"But maybe I should ask if they'd want to come back." She tried again. "Especially since my father has been making an effort to be around more."
"Has that been an issue with him?" Heero wondered, recalling the night of her party when he met her parents.
"Yeah, his job keeps him busy, so I get why it was tough for him." she explained. "At the same time, it always annoyed me how little I saw him at home, so I couldn't even think about doing things with my whole family present."
"And he's doing better now?" he questioned her again.
She nodded. "Yup, things began to change shortly after my party. He started showing up more, we've had dinners as a family again, we've even gone out as family more. It's been good seeing both my mom and dad around at the same time."
Heero felt happy for her. He didn't know what that was like, but was glad that Relena did. He hoped she would never take that for granted. "I can only imagine what that's like." Those words kind of slipped out of his mouth; it was more of a thought he tried to keep to himself. The last thing he wanted was to look like he was fishing for sympathy because of his pathetic upbringing.
Before Relena could say anything to that, she heard her phone go off. She dug into her purse and pulled it out. "I think that's Dorothy…" She leaned over the railing to go through her phone.
He wasn't intentionally trying to look, but Heero's eyes wandered to the device in her hands and saw something on her phone that he recognized. On her home screen there appeared to be a picture of a stuffed bear… the same one he got her for her birthday. A prideful feeling swept over him and he found himself fighting back a dopey smile that threatened to pop up. 'She still has it', the words echoing in his head.
"Sorry." Relena apologized, putting her phone away after finishing her response to certain nosy platinum blonde. "So Heero, you don't have to answer if you don't want to, but do you know anything about your parents?" She hoped there wasn't any line she was crossing in asking, but she wanted to know if he had any knowledge about them. All she knew was what his uncle told her, which wasn't much other than their names: Odin and Aoi.
Heero could only shake his head at the question. "I don't know a thing. I… never cared to ask."
"How come?"
"I don't know." He shook his head again. He wanted to give her a better answer, so he offered up something that was closer to what may have been the truth. "I guess I didn't see the need in knowing about people I'll never meet, so I never asked Uncle J and he never said a thing. I only know their names and that they're dead, that's all. I don't even know how they died."
"Aren't you the least bit curious to find out more about them?" Heero's eyes looked over to scan Relena's face. She didn't seem to understand why he wouldn't want to know about his mother and father. He guessed that made sense. She didn't grow up not knowing, so what he said must've sounded really strange to her. "Maybe you should ask your uncle. I think it might be good for you to know about them."
"Hmm…" He never felt like he needed to know before, why change that now? Though as the days went on, he had to admit that he would be lying if he said he was completely uninterested in knowing more about the people that birthed him. Who were these two foolish people who brought him into this ugly world and why did they leave him here to rot? "You could be right, I'm not sure yet."
"Well at least you still have your uncle here with you, even if you're not related by blood." Relena figured it was better than having nothing. She wondered what would have been his fate if Uncle J wasn't even in the picture.
"I've never looked at him like that. We just live together, that's it." Heero just couldn't see Uncle J as a parental figure. Yeah, he helped keep him alive and taught him how to handle a weapon, but Heero was pretty sure there was more to being a parent than that.
"Even so, Heero, he's all you have." Relena rejected his attitude towards his Uncle.
"Hn." he grunted. "That's not saying much." Relena sighed at his apathy towards Uncle J. "As far as I'm concerned, I have nothing."
"Heero, that's not true." she huffed out in annoyance.
"Hm?"
"Don't say that." Relena moved in closer to him, giving him a look that mixed disappointment and concern. "You don't have 'nothing', that's not true at all."
He raised an eyebrow at the girl. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, what you just said was a lie, duh." She wasn't sure how he didn't understand that. "It doesn't matter how you view Uncle J, he's your tie to the past and he's taken care of you for almost your entire life, okay?"
"Relena?"
"And I've only met him once, but you have a friend in that guy Duo, right?" she continued, showing him everywhere he was wrong.
Heero suddenly felt her sneak an arm around his to reach for one of his hands. She interlocked their fingers together, holding him tightly. Her soft skin feeling pleasantly smooth on his slightly more calloused palm as he squeezed her hand back.
"And, you have me." Her smile caused his heart to swell as she said that. She was right, he did have her and he was getting to the point where he couldn't afford to lose her either. "So please, don't ever say you 'have nothing' ever again, okay?"
He slowly nodded at her. "Yeah, sorry."
"It's all right, now c'mon," Relena pulled him away from the railing, wanting to finally move on from this bridge. "I'm thirsty and I know where they sell lemonade around here."
The pair went on with their day together, grabbing something to drink as well as food to go along with it. They spent time talking about school and learning a little more about each other, with Heero hearing about her friends that he saw her usually hang around with. There were a lot of people at St. Gabriel that loved her, but Relena kept a very tight circle of people close to her. He knew about Dorothy and her boyfriend Quatre; he had met Trowa Barton because that guy just couldn't keep to himself. Heero wondered if anything happened between him and Relena. He did say he would chase after her, right? So what happened? He had to assume nothing because, well, here they were and he just knew that Relena wasn't that type of girl. Whatever, he concluded, to hell with that guy, anyway.
Unfortunately, however, being with Relena meant he would have to learn to tolerate him. He was a close friend of hers and he did meet Relena first. He would do it for Relena, but not because he wanted to.
Relena discovered that the braided boy she met at his house wasn't the only friend he had. Apparently he was also good friends with Duo's girlfriend, Hilde, whom Heero actually said Relena would like if she ever met her. There was also this other person named Wufei that he mentioned, talking about how he was a person whom Relena would need some time to get used to. Much like Relena at school, Heero had a lot of people in his neighborhood that knew and respected him, but only a select few individuals that he could truly call friends.
She had to suppress a frown because she would love to meet others that were close to him, but Heero insisted on keeping her away, so she would never know if she would ever get that chance to meet these people.
They continued on touring more of the park, even walking through a small botanical garden that Relena loved. A warm sensation ran through him as he watched Relena move about; seeing her smile and content made him wonder if this was really what a normal life for a teenager was supposed to be.
He wasn't walking around with a gun tucked behind him. There wasn't a single moment throughout this whole day where he looked for police. He didn't carry anything on him, so there weren't any 'business' transactions that had to be made, nor was there a junkie in sight. At no point did he have to look over his shoulder to see if anybody would run up on him or check to see if another firefight would break out.
No sign of hell anywhere.
It was just him and the girl who was quickly becoming the most important person in his life. If this was what a normal life looked and felt like, then he never wanted it to end. He didn't want to go back. Of course he had no choice, but he didn't want this life to cease, no matter how much Heero knew he didn't belong.
For however long he was here, he would appreciate every second; Heero would love this world that had Relena Darlian in it. He'd take this 'fake' reality any day.
As time went on, the two found themselves walking past tennis courts, baseball fields and, of course, a basketball court. Relena looked over find Heero looking at the vacant sporting arena. "Uh, Heero, no, don't get any ideas."
The hint of smirk formed on his facial features. "Someone left their ball here."
"Please Heero, don't you get enough of this already?" she whined, knowing exactly where his thinking was.
"What?" he shot her a funny look. "You haven't practiced?"
"Practiced?"
"Yeah, remember the last time you just barely touched the rim?" Heero commented, bringing up the last time they shared a basketball court. "I take it you haven't worked on your shot."
"Of course I haven't." she sighed. "And we're not 'practicing' now, either."
"C'mon," he reached for her wrist, the corners of his lips turning upward as he gently tugged her along. "I'm sure you'll be better this time."
"Heero, no!" she pleaded with a half smile. "You know I don't do this kind of thing."
"Didn't you say earlier that you weren't that much of a girly girl?" Heero mentioned, reminding Relena of her own words. "We'll just take a few shots, that's it."
"Ugh… I take it back." She probably shouldn't have said that, Relena thought as she let out a groan. "Heero, we have gym class for this." Relena wondered how they always ended up on a basketball court together. Must be some weird love curse placed on her, she deduced.
He ignored her, proceeding through the court's cyclone fence entrance and towards the hoop closest to the ball. He let her go and almost immediately started putting up shots. Relena could only shake her head in faux annoyance, but at the same time, it was nice to see Heero doing something he liked to do. After this past week, seeing him so battered and distraught, she could tell he needed this. She would do more than put up with sports if that meant he would never have to experience that pain again. Relena said she would protect him, and she had no plans to go back on that promise.
"Remember what I taught you?" He addressed her, softly bounce passing the ball at her direction. Relena grabbed it with both hands, giving Heero a pleading stare.
"Do I have to?" The smirking Heero nodded at her. "Fine…" and with a heavy sigh she walked up to a comfortable distance away from the hoop.
"You're supposed to dribble the ball when you're moving with it."
"Shut up." Relena heard him snicker. Now she had to make the shot. "Okay, let's see…" She tried to recall how he placed her hands last time. "Like this, right?" Relena muttered to herself. It looked like the correct way he told her to hold it, not like it would make too much of a difference. Her hands were way too small to handle this ball, let alone make a good shot. "Well, whatever." Using all the upper body strength she had, Relena tossed the ball up.
They both watched as it flew up in the air, but much like last time it hit nothing but iron. It ricocheted off the rim and Heero went to go grab it. "There, are you happy?" Relena called out as he returned, ball in hand.
"Not until you make a shot." He handed it back to the reluctant girl.
"Heero…" Relena slumped her shoulders, not wanting anymore of this. "No more." she begged with some added fake sobbing.
"It was almost in. I know you'll make it the next time." Heero encouraged her.
"Yeah, you know that's not happening." she regarded him with an eye roll.
"Make it in and we'll leave." Heero gave her some added motivation. She held the ball like he told her last time, he knew she could get one in.
"We'll never leave then." Relena muttered, setting up her shot again.
"You got it." nodding as he watched her fiddle with her form.
"If you say so." Relena didn't believe him, but she could at least appreciate the confidence he had in her. She was complaining the entire time, but he was sweet enough to have faith, no matter how misplaced it was.
"I think I know what I'm talking about." came Heero's way of reassuring her.
"Well, here it goes." Relena raised the ball and for the second time today, took another shot. As they watched it fly, Relena wondered where around the hoop she would hit. Would it be the back board, the back of the rim, would she just graze the net, would she miss it comp-
Her thoughts were silenced by the sound of the net splashing as the ball went right through the rim.
"Um, what…?" Relena rubbed her eyes, wondering if they were playing tricks on her. She looked back at a grinning Heero and then back at the hoop. She repeated this a few more times before shaking her head in disbelief. "Did that actually happen? Like… what?" That was unarguably the most successful she had ever been in anything sports related, period.
Heero watched the ball bounce away as he approached the dumbfounded Darlian girl. He stood in front of her with that satisfied grin still in place. "See, I knew you could do it. We can leave now."
"Uh, okay." She started laughing, still not sure she did what she just did. Relena threw her arms around his neck, pulling him into her. "That wasn't going in without you pestering me."
Heero wrapped his arms around her as well, being just tight enough to make sure he wasn't hurting her. "Like I said, I know what I'm talking about." He wasn't sure if it was the shampoo, conditioner, body wash or whatever, but her scent was wonderfully dizzying to him. It was another reason for him not to let the girl leave his hold on her.
"You do…" She rested her head on his shoulder with her arms tightening ever so slightly around him. They stood there without saying much. Relena snaked a hand up the back of his neck, running her fingers through that unkempt head of his. She could feel Heero shiver at her touch, but she kept going as she took her other hand to do the same thing. Her fingers combed right through to the sides of his head and from what she could tell, it was probably the most combing his hair had ever seen.
She moved her head to look up and tilted his head down to make eye contact with him, seeing exactly what she wanted to see. Those same Prussian eyes that stained permanently into her memory from the first say they met burned brightly here again. This is what she always wanted to see. Not the near lifeless Heero she had carried up to the nurse's office.
"Relena," he voiced fell to a low rumble that vibrated through her ears. "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure." came her reply as she carefully brushed away at his brown bangs, playing with them even. "Whatever you want."
He moved his head along with her hand movements, enjoying how she messed around with his hair. Heero occupied his own fingers by trailing them up and down the long, straight tresses that made up her golden ponytail. "Why do you care about me?"
"Hm," Relena gave him a curious glare. "that's quite the question you have for me. I figured someone as smart as you would've figured it out by now."
Heero had a feeling, but he needed to hear it from her.
"So, how should I go about answering that..." She continued to lose her fingers back in that disheveled mane of his. "Hm," Her hands pushed his head downward to softly clash foreheads. "I guess, if I had to answer that… and you DO want me to answer that, right?"
"Hn." Moving his touch from her hair, he placed them on the sides of her warm face. Her fair skin lighting up at the feel of his fingertips on her now rose colored cheeks. His downcast eyes now targeting her lips.
"I'll take that as a yes." she responded, her breathy voice floating in the breeze. She followed his lead moved her own hands to sides of his face. "I think the answer to your question would that… the reason I care so much about you is because…" She bit her lip before finishing her response, wanting so much to close the small gap of space between them.
"Well, I love you."
That was exactly what he wanted her to say, but his body still wasn't completely prepared to hear it. His body shook as a tidal wave of emotions assaulted him, flooding his senses as the words she spoke still barely registered. It was just the effects that pounded him right away. "Relena... I…"
Not allowing him to finish whatever thought he was trying to convey, she shut his lips, closing them with hers. She knew she had nothing to worry about this time, but the last time they shared a basketball court together, they missed their opportunity and she made sure It wouldn't happen again.
Another shockwave ripped right through Heero, and this time Relena as well. Her feathery soft lips felt exactly how he thought they would feel like. As a matter of fact, it exceeded his expectations. Her lips had landed on his like pillows tumbling down on each other, and they held an extraordinary taste. This kiss, which Relena only deepened, held effects that dug deep underneath his skin.
Like a rush of dopamine that raced to his brain and through his veins. It was as if his blood pumped faster, trying to match the intensity of this love that he shared with the young woman kissing him. It was like a sudden dose of whatever it was he sold. For a second, he wondered if this was what it felt like to get high. This was the only thing he could compare it to.
If this was what it felt like to kiss this girl, then he wouldn't mind becoming a junkie for this. He could always use a fix.
Eventually the two broke apart, breathing heavily as they tried to catch their breath. Heero saw an almost bewildered look on her face and for a second he worried if he had done something wrong. "I'm… sorry if I'm not very good at this."
Relena blinked a few times before getting herself back together. "Uh, no!" she quickly shook her head. "You were… very good at it." She started laughing. Heero had no idea that Relena felt the same exact rush that he experienced. Needless to say, she also had never felt any sensation like that before. Appropriately enough, kissing Heero might have been one of the most intense things she had ever gone through, and it was pleasurable in every single way.
It made sense that Heero's kiss would send his love on the expressway to her skull.
"Are you sure?" He asked again, not sold on the strange way she was acting.
"Absolutely." Her hands were shaking and Relena did her best to steady herself.
"If that's true…" Heero eyes searched her face and she noticed that he saw something. "Then why are you crying?" He reached his thumb out to wipe away these tears that inexplicably feel from her eyes.
"Huh…" Relena just noticed the tears as they fell, but she knew she wasn't sad. No these tears were far from that. "I guess I'm just that happy."
"Happy? And you're crying?" Heero wasn't sure he understood. Relena could only smile at his adorable state of confusion.
"It works like that sometimes." She leaned in to steal another kiss. Heero pulled her into a tight embrace. He made up his mind, he didn't care anymore. This girl was his, and he just didn't give much of a fuck right now. He didn't deserve her, but so what?
Feeling they way he felt now, it was over. There was no going back now.
"Are you happy, Heero?" he heard her ask as she melted into his arms.
Was he happy? Yeah, absolutely.
More than he had ever been in his entire, miserable life.
AN: Hope everyone is having a nice holiday season. Always a busy time of the year for me and I'm sure everyone else.
As always, thanks for reading and I love you all. Stay safe, everybody.
Los amo a todos!
Killing Joke - "Love Like Blood"
