Halloween Bets

I figured out relatively quickly that there were only two people that I wanted to really shock that night (Quatre would have to wait). With Wufei already taken care of, I would have to wait for the perfect opportunity to get to the next individual on my list. Duo and I continued dancing, the sultry beat intoxicating. I lost myself to the music, for once really letting go and getting into it. Duo and I had danced before, obviously, how else was he supposed to teach me? But this time was completely different. This time, he was dancing with me, and I with him. And it was exhilarating.

She and I had been friends since after the Mariemaia incident. Before that, things had been awkward – hell, things had been awkward then too, but I forced myself to sit and talk to her. To tell her that it could never be.

Yes, I am speaking of Relena.

True, she had been annoying . . . pretty much since the moment I met her. But I think mostly because she was fascinated with me and that freaked me out – not to mention how against my mission it was.

But somehow, through it all, we managed to become friends. I was the first person, perhaps the only person, that she had ever gotten drunk in front of. I was on guard detail at one of her conferences. She confessed to me that she was terrified of everything that was going on; how there was all this weight on her shoulders that she wasn’t sure she could handle, how she was afraid of ending up alone – apparently I was hard to follow up. I reassured her, handled her tears fairly well for having never done anything like that before. And we, well, bonded.

I confessed some of my fears back. That this peace wouldn’t last, that I would end up alone . . . that Duo would never look at me as more than “the perfect soldier”. She had started at that. Then laughed, that kind of incredulous hysterical laughter that is just sad and depressing. Once she quieted down she simply said, “Well, that figures.”

I chuckled, more than a little confused. “Explain?” I asked.

She smiled softly at me and patted my knee. “You know that saying: All the goods ones are either married or gay.”

I looked at her, startled, then I started laughing, that same kind of incredulous hysterical laughter and she joined in. I then called for a shift change and grabbed some brandy for myself. And promptly rediscovered that I didn’t like brandy.

But that was a few years back. Now we emailed regularly, talked on the vidphone, and got together for a meal whenever opportunity arose – which really wasn’t all that often.

Finally Duo and I needed a breather from all of our dancing and we made our way back to the tables.

“I’m going to grab something from the bar, you want anything?” I asked Duo as he sat down next to Trowa and Quatre.

“No thanks.”

I made my way over, still moving and swaying to the beat of some techno remix of a popular song. And there she was, also ordering something from the bar, a completely open smile on her face that was hardly ever allowed to grace her features. I was once again moved to help her find someone of her own, but knew that she, like me, didn’t want any help in her love life.

Well, I may not have wanted any but I was now thankful none-the-less.

I strode up to the bar right next to her and the bartender looked to me. “A Strawberry Daiquiri, please.” Yeah, yeah, laugh it up – but they’re really good! Relena looked over at me and smiled. I smiled back. “Hello.”

“Hi.” She replied.

“What’s your poison?”

“Oh,” she sounded a little startled, then laughed lightly. “A Shiner Margarita. I hear they taste pretty good.”

I nodded. They weren’t bad, at least the one I had wasn’t. “You here with someone?” I asked, on the off chance that she was seeing someone and hadn’t told me.

She shook her head. “Nope. Footloose and fancy free – same old, same old.”

“That’s too bad.” I paused as the bartender put my drink in front of me. “Gorgeous thing like you should have a line of admirers.”

She laughed again, only this time ruefully. “It’s not that I don’t have admirers, but most people would consider them to be brown nosers and not worth my time. I’d like a two-way relationship, thank you very much.”

“Amen,” I replied. And then she looked at me – I mean really looked at me. She furrowed her brow and stared at my face. I slow blinked at her, which was an old sign between us meaning: somebody’s being an idiot.

“Heero?” she gasped and I smiled. “Oh my gosh! Why are you? What are you? Oh my gosh!”

It was my turn to laugh. I loved that absolutely shocked expression, and I lifted my drink to my lips and sipped as I winked at her. “You like?” I asked after I put my drink back down.

“Heero?” she asked, my own name loaded with a half a dozen questions.

“Relena?”

“Why are you, I mean I know it’s Halloween and all, but why are you dressed like a, uh, um. . .”

“A high price hooker?” I supplied, grin still in place. She nodded. I sighed and took another sip of my drink. “I lost a bet with Quatre.”

“Wha . . . Why on earth or the colonies would you bet against Quatre?” she practically wailed at me. That was interesting.

“Wait, and hold on a sec. How would you know that it’s a bad idea to bet against Quatre?”

She rolled her eyes at me. “Come on, Heero Yuy. That little fact is common knowledge to most of the population. That guy knows just about everything.”

Well that kind of stung. But I was in way too good of a mood to really let it get to me.

“Wow,” she said suddenly.

“What?”

“You kinda just pulled a Duo there.”

A Duo? “What do you mean?”

“Well, you looked, miffed I guess would be the right word, then back to deliriously happy in less than a second.” She was smiling, looking bemused.

I thought about that for a second. It was true, I had gotten over being one of the few foolish enough to bet with Quatre rather quickly – mostly because of what it had gotten me in return. And speaking of . . .

An arm wrapped around my waist and I looked back into Duo’s eyes, then faced Relena once more with that deliriously happy look on my face. “Can’t you see why, though?” I asked her.

And her smile changed. She looked incredulous but thrilled all at the same time. And this time when she said my name, it was infused with a joy that can only be felt when a friend finds everything they ever knew that they wanted.

Duo was looking back and forth between us. “Uh, guys, I’m kinda lost here.”

Relena giggled and threw her arms around the both of us. “I’m so happy for you two! Finally!”

Duo and I both shared a look of disgruntled amusement. “What do you mean ‘finally?’” Duo asked.

I had the wherewithal to look a little chagrined and Relena smirked. “Well,” I started. “I sort of told Relena a few years back that I, well, had feelings for you.” I shrugged my shoulders, a bit sheepish.

He beamed at that. “Well, I guess that makes us kinda even.”

I cocked my head to the side. “What do you mean?”

“I told WuFei.”

I gaped at him. Of all the people he could have told, WuFei would have been the near the end of people I would have thought of.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah,” he scratched at the back of his head. I guess I still looked pretty incredulous, because then he added, “Well, Relena isn’t exactly at the top of the list of people I would of guessed for you to confess a secret crush to!”

I snorted. He made an excellent point, except, “I never called it a crush, and I never will.” I made sure to look him in the eye. “It’s so much more than that.”

He smiled and reached out and ran his fingers along my cheek, and I rubbed my face on his fingers lightly – until a snort brought us back to where we were.

“You two are so sappy!” Relena cried at us and then handed her drink back to the bartender. “I’m going back out to the dance floor. If I don’t see you later, have a wonderful evening.” And with that she shimmied back out into the crowd.

Duo was snickering over my shoulder, watching her walk away. “Well love, think we should go back out there?” he whispered into my ear, breathing lightly.

I suppressed a shiver. “Yeah, just let me put my drink back at our table.”

We made our way back over there, and then went back onto the floor, dancing to the beat.


Author's note: Okay, almost done. There will be at least one more chapter after this - a kind of "after the party" sort of thing - lemon maybe? but at least limey! Anyways, reviews are always loved!