23 Aug 2001
Pairing: 2+R
Category: Romance
Rating for this section: G
What to expect: Hetero-ai, probable sap. I don't think this
is OOC, but others are free to find it so. Takes place after EW, so it's AU in the way all hypothetical-future fics
necessarily are.
Disclaimer: These characters belong to Sunrise, the Sotsu Agency,
and Bandai, and I intend only to increase their revenues by
contributing this derivative work.
/ denotes thoughts, emphasis
Johnny take a dive with your sister in the rain
Let her talk about the things you can't explain
It had been yet another long day in an interminable series of long days, and Relena had decided halfway through this one that committees were proof positive of the shortcomings of human evolution. /Pack mentality, combined with acute selfishness-- sometimes I wonder why I kept these people from blowing one another to bits./ But now she was home at last, free for another evening.
Home. An echoingly deserted apartment in what was basically a barracks, for all its attempts at decor. How was it, she wondered, that 'home' had become a voice on the other end of a telephone line--or an email address familiar enough to make her heart skip-- instead of this physical place?
Stepping out of her shoes, Relena kicked them weakly in the direction of her closet. She reached for the light switch, the other hand going to the buttons of her blouse--and then she jumped, muffling a most undignified squeak of alarm, when she caught sight of a figure lounging on her windowsill. Her third- floor windowsill.
One hand on her chest as if to shove her pounding heart back inside, she scolded him, "Augh! You scared me half to death, Heero. However did you get up here?"
"Climbed. You shouldn't have a trellis that close to your window."
Clutching her blouse, she peered past him out the window. "I see. So is this a social call, or are you on a mission?"
"I heard some rumors. Thought I'd check on you."
"Rumors?" Relena asked with some puzzlement. "You came all the way from--wherever you've been--for the latest gossip? Do come in before you slip and break your neck--you're making me very nervous."
Heero slid off the windowsill to lean against the wall by her dresser, arms folded in calm determination. "They say you're seeing a lot of Duo these days."
"I wouldn't say I'm seeing much of him, actually," she clarified. "But I'm--I suppose it's true that we're talking a lot. I like him." Relena's last words came out sounding more defensive than she had intended, but she decided to back them up with a challenging stare anyway.
"Why?"
Relena raised one eyebrow. "What do you mean, 'why?'"
"Why are you talking to him?" Heero elaborated.
"You ask the oddest questions," Relena mused, considering her answer. "Well. I suppose I began by listening--because he seemed like a good person who needed someone to listen to him. And then it turned out that we had rather a lot in common--" She broke off briefly to chide him. "Stop smirking at me like that. Anyway, I'm not going to stop talking to him just because you think it's funny," she finished defiantly. "Why are you asking?"
Heero declined to answer, asking instead, "Couldn't you find a nice accountant or something? He's messed up."
Relena sighed in exasperation. "So are most nice accountants. Seriously, Heero--do you really think I'm at all normal myself? I seem to remember you calling me the strangest person you'd ever met."
"Duo Maxwell is a close second," he pronounced.
"See? Perfectly matched." She smiled when Heero didn't look particularly convinced. "Heero. Perhaps you should let me make my own mistakes for a while?"
"I never stopped you from making all the mistakes you wanted," he pointed out. "Anyway, you looked happy on the vids--and you look happy in person, too."
"I am," she agreed. "So you don't need to worry."
Heero held her eyes with an assessing gaze, then nodded in apparent satisfaction. "Good. I figured you'd open your eyes one of these days."
Startled, Relena turned his words over in her mind until they clicked into place. "That's--that's what you meant? You knew all along? That he--"
Heero looked entirely too pleased with himself. "He used to watch you all the time."
She shook her head, still astonished. "And you didn't tell me? All that time. When I think of all the things I didn't notice--"
"You wouldn't have believed me. And he would have wanted to tell you himself, anyway." Heero turned to head for the window, commenting over his shoulder, "It worked out."
"I suppose it did, at that." /So far,/ she thought, mentally crossing her fingers.
Heero paused on the windowsill, a shadow of the old steely determination crossing his face. "Tell him something for me."
"Yes?"
"If he hurts you, I'll break his neck."
Relena permitted herself an unladylike snort. "Of course you will. Since I can't possibly be expected to take care of myself, after all."
The only answer was a dispassionate shrug, before Heero lowered himself from the window as swiftly and silently as he had reached it.
"Honestly," Relena sighed in annoyance as she snapped the lock into place on the closed sash. "Things were easier when I only had one over-protective brother."
End of Part 5: Prodigal
(:./lilias/mystified5)
