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"I Know, Heero"Written By: Dùlin Fic #21 In the Thirty Kisses Arc Archive: This arc is archived on this site with permission. Do not reproduce it anywhere without permission. Pairing : 1x4x1, mention of past R+1 Rating : PG-13 Warnings : Canon-ness, post EW, romance, sap,
humor, Relena POV Disclaimer : Those yummy boys belong to Sunrise and Bandai. Which are not me.
"I Know, Heero" Swirling the champagne that I will probably not drink, I absentmindedly listen to another someone who is yet again praising me for my youth and my successful career, in that order. Believe it or not, after more than six years of hearing that at every single function, party, gala, grand opening and television show that my position as Foreign Minister made me attend, it gets boring. Not to mention that I always get credited for something that was not my doing. I do not care what everyone else says, I did not single-handedly bring peace to the Earth Sphere and the colonies, and I am far from being God’s gift to this Earth. I have wished for my birthday to be kept a small, family thing. But apparently, my short time as Queen of the World left a deeper impression on people’s mind that even I would ever have thought, and it seems that the day I came into the world needs to be a national holiday in Sanc. Trying to go against it would only make me look snobbish and arrogant, so I comply. The people of Sanc were disappointed enough when neither Milliardo nor I accepted the crown. To be perfectly honest, they did not offer it to Milliardo, but he would not have wanted it anyway. He made his choice a long time ago, and now he is Zechs Merquise, just like I am Relena Darlian. Duo is the first of them to arrive, and he saves me from the obnoxious flatterer. He plants a big kiss on my cheek and wishes me a happy birthday, ending his sentence with a circular look and grimace that makes me laugh. I only invited ten persons myself – the five pilots, Milliardo, Sally, Lucrezia, Une and Mariemeia. The other one hundred and ninety is not my doing, but that of Dorothy’s. I give her all the freedom she wants for the organization of such things. I certainly cannot be bothered by setting it all up, even if I will try to be polite to everyone. And I have yet to find someone whose organizing abilities are better than hers. “Don’t worry”, Duo stage-whispers as he puts an arm around my waist and drags me away from the main crowd. “The guys and I will throw you a real party tomorrow.” “I am looking forward to it”, I answer happily, and I correct myself mentally. When it comes to organizing small informal reunions of friends, Dorothy has to surrender to Duo’s genius. “Where are the others ?”, I add. “Tro and Wu are not far behind, and the two lovebirds …” “Do you think they intend to put on a show just for my benefit again this year ?”, I interrupt. He laughs. “I don’t know, gorgeous.” There’s a small silence. “He knows that I know, doesn’t he ?” Duo raises an eyebrow and I laugh. “I am not blind.” “Well it depends which ‘he’ you’re talking about, but if you’re thinkin’ about the same one I’m thinkin’ about, then, yes, he knows, and he’s not blind either. He just promised that he would let him tell you.” “This is really kind of them two”, I say softly, and I mean it. Even if Duo and I had a blast watching them pretending they were nothing more than close friends for the last two years. Trowa and Wufei eventually join us, and we chat amicably for a while, making plans for tomorrow. **** They arrive separately, as usual. Quatre is the first to come my way, with a smile on his face, and looking just like the Golden Boy the media turned him into. He is stopped by many people on his way to our little group, and has a kind word and a smile for everyone, with that exquisite politeness that explains why most people fawn over the Winners. And with all that, he manages to cross the hall in less than five minutes. “Happy Birthday, Relena”, he says, and he gives me a hug and a kiss on the cheek, too. “Thank you, Quatre.” I am a good little girl, and I do not ask where Heero is. But I cannot resist the urge to wink at Quatre with a malicious smile. He just laughs, and greets the others, hugging them like he hugged me. I think Quatre may be the only person to have ever hugged Wufei without Wufei screaming murder. Heero comes to find us soon after that. As usual, his greeting to his friends is a look and a nod. He wishes me a happy birthday, and I ask him if he brought me a card. He smiles a bit shyly and shakes his head, which makes us all laugh. “And he forgot the teddy, too !”, Duo jokes. I can feel Heero’s nervousness from a mile around. He is uncomfortable, far too tense even for someone who does not like big reunions. He is shooting surreptitious glances my way, and after a while, I just have to do something for him. “Quatre, why don’t you all go greet Une and Mariemeia ? That girl has been talking about you all month, she was very eager to see you this week. She would be most disappointed if you did not go see her.” “And we would not want to disappoint a lady, now would we ?”, Quatre says, catching the hint. “Heero, you don’t mind staying with our host, do you ?” I smile my thank you to Quatre as he leads his friends away, leaving us two alone. I turn to Heero. He still looks nervous. I am beginning to wonder if I actually was that bad if he is afraid of my reaction to him being involved with someone who is so obviously good for him. “How about getting some fresh air ?”, I whisper. “It is just too hot in here, and I have no wish to spend the night batting my eyelashes at old senators. There is a nice open balcony over there.” He agrees, his gaze automatically scanning the room to see if anyone is watching us leave, but I cut it short by simply dragging him out with me. Once on the balcony, I take a deep breath, and savor the wind on my skin. Tomorrow will never come fast enough. “Relena, I … I have something to tell you …” I look at him. He is fidgeting and looking down, as if I am some kind of dangerous mechanism that he is not sure how to defuse. And when I think back on how much restraint he showed all the time I was being a pain and following him around like a lovesick puppy, I cannot just leave him like that. It clearly made him unhappy to hide this from me. “I know, Heero”, I say softly. He looks up abruptly, eyes wide. “How …” I smile tenderly as I see his dumbfounded expression. “Oh, Heero, it was so obvious ! You were radiating happiness lately, how could I have not noticed ?” I swear he blushes when he hears that. I actually lived to see the day when Heero Yuy blushed. “I am just a little sad that you felt you could not tell me right away. Maybe I have been less of a good friend than I thought, and I am sorry if that is the case.” “No, it’s not that …” “Do I look that much like a Rottweiler, then ?”, I asked jokingly. “No, of course not ! … I …” I come closer and put a finger on his mouth, silencing him, and then I take him in my arms and give him the most sincere hug I have ever given him. “I know. I know why you were scared. But he did not steal you from me. You were never mine to begin with, and I told you that a long time ago. I was a terribly naive and sheltered person when you met me. But I am not that person anymore. And … you have changed too, and you are an awesome person now, and I am proud to have you as my friend, Heero Yuy.” He hugs me back. A strong, warm, friendly embrace, and in that moment he doesn’t need to tell me that he values my friendship too, because I know. After a while I release my hold on him and kiss him on the forehead, a bit like my mother used to do to me when I was a child. “Now, go be with him.” He frowns, as if he doesn’t understand what I am saying. “Go on, shoo !”, I say as I lead him back toward the hall. “Look, he is waiting for you !” I smile and wave at Quatre, who waves back. Then he shoots a look at Heero, and Heero answers with a nod. “You will be alright ?”, Heero asks me. I smile, and kiss him again, on the cheek this time. “Yes. If you are happy, then I am happy for you. And … I have to go talk to a lot of other important and boring people, since those two qualities apparently must coexist in any person that is over fifty and holds a great position in any administration.” Before he can protest, I push him back into the hall, and he is forced to walk back in so as not to make a dramatic entrance through the drapes that everyone would notice. I watch him join the other pilots, and Duo pats his shoulder and gives me a high five. When I turn back to face the night, I have a feeling that I really did the right thing, and in my frustrating everyday job, this is not that common an occurrence. I decide to stay here a bit and savor it before going back to be polite and smile to people I barely know. And I almost jump five feet in the air when I realize I am still not alone on the balcony. Sometimes, I hate the fact that my brother, in spite of his height and his quite imposing stature, can be as silent as a cat. “Milliardo ! Are you trying to give me a heart attack ?” “I wouldn’t dream of it, and didn’t we agree that I shouldn’t be called that anymore ?” I look up at him, face serious. “Does it bother you very much ?”, I ask. “I will stop if it does.” He looks away at the night sky and sighs wistfully. “No”, he finally says. “It doesn’t bother me as long as it’s you saying it.” We stay silent for a moment. Then, he puts a hand on my shoulder, and looks into the hall. “Does it bother you very much ?”, he asks. I almost burst out laughing. He is actually concerned about me. “No, it does not bother me at all”, I answer happily. “Why do you ask ? If someone could see just how much of an idiot I used to be, it must be you.” “Well, you are my little sister, aren’t you ? I am far less worried about Winner. He’s got twenty-eight sisters to do the elder sibling speech after all.” OWARI |
