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Relena's Engagement
"And now for the latest news."
The chirpy voice that had replaced the light jazz Quatre had been listening to caught his ear, and the slender pilot half-turned toward where the portable radio was sitting on the counter.
"Military officials report that, despite the numerous setbacks in processing operations, mobile suit factories all over the world will be running at full capacity within two days."
Not if some doctors I know have anything to say about it, Quatre thought with a sigh. The sound of the announcer faded a bit into the background as he mentally ran over his list of things to see to on Sandrock. The right Verniei had been firing a bit erratically the past few times he'd taken his Gundam out . . .
Quatre's attention was then caught by a familiar name coming from the radio. His eyes widened as he listened to the words radiating out of the small speaker with growing horror.
" . . . and finally, Queen of the World Nation Relena Peacecraft shocked Romefeller dignitaries and military officials alike today with the announcement of her engagement to a former fellow classmate."
Oh Allah . . .
Not bothering to listen to any more, Quatre bit off an Arabian curse as he made a beeline for the stairs.
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Heero and Duo's room was oddly silent as Quatre approached it, though a radio set to the same station he had been listening to continued to chatter on through the door, unheeded, it seemed.
Quatre knew for a fact, though, that Heero was inside, though he hadn't seen hair or hide of the Japanese pilot the entire day. This was attested to by the fact that a few seconds later, the radio abruptly shut off.
Quatre took that as a good time to knock on the door. He was promptly greeted by Heero's usual expressionless face.
"Yeah?"
"Heero!" Quatre exclaimed a bit angrily. "I just heard about Relena on the radio, and—"
"Hai." Heero seemed a bit puzzled at Quatre's ire, shown in his dark eyes. "She finally announced it publicly. I've been waiting for awhile."
"But what about Duo?"
Heero raised an eyebrow. "What about Duo?" he asked unconcernedly.
Quatre stared, utterly flabbergasted, at him. "Don't you care about how he's going to feel about this?"
Those eyes gleamed. "The decision's already been made and finalized, Quatre. What Duo's opinion is on the subject doesn't matter, to Relena at least."
"But aren't you afraid of what Duo's going to do?" Quatre asked a bit desperately. The American was due back from his mission today, and Heero was showing about as much emotion about the end of their relationship as a rock. If Duo hadn't known about this and confronted Heero, the maids were going to be spending months trying to get the bloodstains out of the rugs. Though whether it be Heero's blood or Duo's, Quatre couldn't guess.
Heero snorted. "Baka's probably going to celebrate. Considering him and his partying, yeah, I guess I should be."
That was definitely not the answer Quatre had been expecting. The blonde simply stared at the Japanese boy, mouth gaping open like a fish. And was it just him, or did Heero seem relieved?
"But—but why didn't you tell us?" he stammered, mind running in little circles. "It's the very least you could have done!"
The Wing pilot shrugged. "Figured you'd find out about it eventually," he replied. Which you did, his expression seemed to add. "And Duo didn't need to know."
There was a moment of silence, as Quatre attempted to express either his outrage, confusion, or both. "But—but I—but you and—oh!"
With that, the Sandrock pilot threw up his hands and stalked back down the stairs. Hopefully he would be able to intercept Duo before the American came home and killed his ex-lover. And removing himself from Heero's vicinity would reduce the temptation of doing the job himself.
Behind him, Heero looked mildly confused, then shrugged, disappearing back into the room. Thought he would be happy for us . . .
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It was around dinnertime that the usual noisy entrance heralded the arrival of one Duo Maxwell. Quatre had spent the rest of his afternoon pacing restlessly in the living room, wondering how on earth he was going to tell Duo about Relena and Heero. He'd been so deep in thought that the slam of the door sent him about three feet into the air. He landed facing the one person he Did Not want to see right now. Well, maybe excepting Relena and Heero . . .
Looking at him amusedly with raised eyebrows was Duo, black duffel bag slung over one shoulder. "Ne, kinda jumpy, aren't you, Quatre?"
"Oh! Duo!" Quatre exclaimed in dismay. "I wasn't expecting you back so soon!"
Duo laughed. "You certainly don't look too happy to see me, Quatre. Jeez, am I really that bad a houseguest?"
"Uh, heh heh," Quatre laughed forcedly. "No, Duo-kun, you're always welcome."
"Glad to hear it." Duo hefted his bag and headed towards the stairs. "Is Heero in?"
Quatre's eyes widened. Judging from his completely normal attitude, Duo hadn't heard about Relena and Heero yet. Bad idea, then, to let him go see his partner. Especially if he didn't want a homicidal Shinigami going after Heero, Relena, or both.
"Ah, yeah!" Quatre discreetly jumped into Duo's way, blocking the foot of the stairs as best as he could with his slim body. "So, uh, how did your mission go?"
Duo seemed a little surprised at Quatre's insistence, but he stopped, much to Quatre's—slight—comfort. "Fine, though that lot of teachers were the worst ones yet. Trowa and I got the info, and he's coming back tomorrow."
Even the fact that his own lover was returning soon did nothing to abate Quatre's panic. Finally, desperate to break the bad news to Duo without somehow devastating the poor boy, Quatre blurted out, "Duo! Did you hear about Relena? She's been—"
"—engaged." Duo interrupted, eyes twinkling. He nodded calmly. "Yeah, I know."
Quatre stared, assessed the braided boy's mood. Duo seemed perfectly composed, though a strangely ironic grin was spreading across his face. Nothing like the hurting, agonized teen Quatre had been expecting.
And he's not hiding any sort of pain whatsoever either. What in the world's going on?
"Who'da thought, ne?" Duo chuckled, apparently noting Quatre's shock. "Relena actually formalized it. Never would have suspected she'd get agreement either, given that attitude she usually receives when those two are together . . ."
"But Duo!" Quatre blurted out, unable to contain himself any longer. "Are you okay?"
The Deathscythe pilot blinked at him, surprised. "Yeah, Q-man, why shouldn't I be?"
There was stunned silence, as Quatre gawked at his fellow terrorist. His face took on an expression of confused distraught. "But, don't you love H—"
"Hell no!" Duo exclaimed. He appeared positively disgusted. "Quatre, what are you talking about? After all that psycho did to us, how could you even ask that? What, did I seem like it or something?"
"Well, yes!" Quatre's mind flashed back to all the scenes he'd witnessed of Duo and Heero's relationship. A happy couple, or as happy as they could get, given the rather extreme idiosyncrasies of those two. Duo laughing and usually seeming to enjoy every minute he spent with the Wing pilot. Said Wing pilot behaving in ways that he would never have done with any of the others.
And he remembered Duo's pain before they had acknowledged their love for each other, when he would spend hours just watching Heero with that shuttered suffering lurking behind his normally lively indigo eyes.
There had been no indication whatsoever that Heero and Duo hadn't been a firm pair, feelings shared and returned on both their parts. And now with both pilots' apparent emotional 180s, Quatre was left feeling very much like an elementary student taking the old SATs.
"Uh, well, um, Heero seems happy about it," Quatre stammered finally, not knowing what else to say.
Duo snorted. "He should be. Finally he'll have some peace. No more crazy girl knocking on the door of our latest safehouse asking to see Heero. At the very least it'll be a security convenience."
Quatre was really at a loss for words now. He was saved from the responsibility of saying anything more by none other than Heero himself, who had finally come downstairs when Duo hadn't made his appearance.
"Oi oi oi, Hee-chan!" Duo exclaimed mischievously at the sight of his partner, almost running straight over Quatre in his attempts to reach the Wing pilot. Quatre's eyes widened in total confusion at the affectionate greeting. Surely Duo didn't expect to be as close to Heero as before . . .?
Then Duo continued, with a positively gleeful note in his voice, "What's this I hear about Relena getting engaged to Dorothy Catalonia???"
*THUD*
"What's with him?" Duo asked, looking at Quatre in concern. The Arabian was sprawled out on the floor where he had fainted.
Heero shrugged slightly. "Beats me. Come on, let's get him on the couch . . ."
~owari~
Notes: *has this self-satisfied smirk on her face* I threw Shala for a twist when I showed this one to her. She burst out laughing, then threatened to kill me if I didn't put it up. So I did.
This is a very rare written-in-one-day fic. I got the idea on the bus, wrote most of it during school, finished it on the PC at home, and then edited it at like, two in the morning. I might not have caught everything—I don't do my best work when I'm tired, needless to say—so please excuse any spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, or typos in general that you may find. Now, if you couldn't read this thing at all, there's something wrong and it ain't the fic. But other than that, have fun.
Have you noticed that almost all of my GW fluff seems to deal with mistaken identity—whether it be a person or a thing—on the reader's or character's part? I guess if I don't have any names, you can expect something like that. Or maybe not, I don't do fluff too well. Like I said, that's Shala's domain. *grin*
This was one fic when I was really glad we don't have "Yuri" as a category tab. ^^;;