Author: Sorceress Fantasia
Warnings: Heero POV, slight Relena-bashing, fluff, some sap, AU (Our world and time)
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: 1+2
Disclaimer: I tried sending Santa an email asking for the GW gang since I did not get them on Christmas, but the email bounced, with a message telling me that Santa's email account doesn't work until December. So no, I do not own GW. I'm busy counting down the days till it's December now.
Thanx to Lily Kalanoa for beta-ing! ^^
Seventh Heaven Series Part 27
Solo's Plot
Strolling down the corridor leading to the school library, I whistle a soft tune to myself. After I'd told Trowa about the kisses, he's been spreading the news to my close-knit circle of friends. Quatre can't stop grinning and congratulating me; Catherine is still in awe, I think; Trowa is doing a combination of both; and Zechs, though still a little despondent over Noin, gave me a high-five. It's obvious my friends are happy for me.
And of course, I'm even more elated than they are. After all, I'm the merry recipient of Duo's chaste kisses.
Maybe it's because of my obvious jubilation that I've been less aware of my surroundings lately. So I am completely caught by surprise when a too familiar voice rings out.
"Heero!"
I feel the urge to run away. Right now. At full speed. But even I think that is too ungentlemanly, so I reluctantly turn around to face her, the source of quite a few of my nightmares.
"Hello, Relena," I say none too happily, hoping that she'll pick up the hint and leave me alone. But who am I kidding? Still, I'm relieved to see someone else sashaying behind her. "Hi, Dorothy."
"Hi, Heero," she replies, offering me a little wince that tells me she did her best. I can't blame her, not when I know how insistent Relena can be sometimes. Hn, make that almost every time where I'm concerned.
"Oh, Heero. You are so careless, really! Did you even notice you've dropped your wallet?" Relena asks, one arm at her hip and the other holding my black leather wallet.
I nearly gasp, hand going to my back pocket. But my wallet is not there, and I inwardly curse my carelessness that has given Relena an excuse to come right up to me. As I reach out to take it back from her, I mutter a hasty thanks. When I try to slot it back into my pockets again, I find out the reason why my wallet dropped out in the first place. There's a hole in my jeans. A pretty big one, in fact. Sighing, I keep my wallet in my hands.
She throws me a coy smile, batting her eyes like a lamb. I must admit: Relena is a beautiful woman. Well, who wouldn't admit that? Azure blue eyes, straight nose, cherry lips, fair complexion... and that fall of long, light brown hair. She is really pretty. However, there's something about her that really turns me off. Her personality. Or lack of, I might add.
"You're always welcome. Oh, and Heero? Will you call me one of these days? I think we should go out together and get to know each other better," she suggests tamely, and tries to latch onto me. I back away quickly. "In fact, why don't we go for coffee right now? I've heard about this new bistro somewhere in the city, and they say it's got excellent coffee! You like coffee, don't you? And..."
" Lena, we have to go. We promised Jessica we'd go shopping with her today," Dorothy interrupts skillfully, sliding into our conversation like a warm knife into butter. "And you know we can't stand her up. She hates that."
Relena sighs loudly, reminding me of a child denied of her toy. "Yes, Jessica hates that. I suppose we'd have to be going now?"
Dorothy nods firmly.
"Sorry, Heero. If only I hadn't promised my friend, I'd go have a cup of coffee with you right now. Call me soon, okay?" she says regrettably, and quickly scampers off. Dorothy gives me a wink, and struts off as well after I signal to her my gratitude.
When they're both gone, I heave a sigh of relief. But if I know Relena well enough, she'd try to come after me again once she cancels her appointment. Not willing to take the chance, I quickly duck into the library and slither into the quietest corner I can find.
After a moment's consideration, I decide to pick out a few reference books and go into one of the study rooms to read. After all, this is what I came here for in the first place. Stacking up the books in my arms, I put my wallet at the very top. However, as I'm wobbling to a room, the blasted thing rolls down to the floor again. Sighing, I'm about to put my books aside and bend down to retrieve my wallet when someone else does it for me.
"Here." Solo offers it back to me, but he frowns when he notices my arms full of books. "Where are you going?" he asks, picking up the book at the top of the pile. "I'll take it there for you."
I nod sharply at an empty room. "That'll do. Thanks, Solo."
He shrugs with an absent grin. "Anytime, buddy," he replies, and opens the door for me. "What are you doing here, anyway?"
" Reading. What else can you do at a library?" I answer nonchalantly, putting down the books on the table. I didn't actually take a lot, just four very thick books. Maybe I should have been less greedy though. The weight of the books in my hands doesn't feel very good. When I look up, I grimace and my mind rings out, 'Not again!'
Solo is peeking at my wallet, just like all of my friends have done recently. Well, not really, actually. They haven't seen the current photo (which is currently a picture of me and Duo together in a park) but they did see the infamous brown spot one. Still, I think they're waiting for the day when the photo inside will turn into an intimate one. As it is, they are reading a lot from the brown spot photo.
Suddenly, Solo clasps the wallet together and gives me an unreadable look, almost like he's amused and annoyed at the same time. I'm not really sure. "Heero, what the hell is this photo doing here?"
Solo must be stunned to see Duo's photo, like most of my friends. Well technically, it's just Treize. I haven't shown this photo to the rest of them, since I know it will ultimately result in me unable to get my wallet back for quite a while. Chances are, Zechs will pass the photo around. Anyway, maybe Solo feels the same way as Treize. Both just as surprised to see the great beauty that is Duo.
At that thought, I blush lightly. Duo, my would-be boyfriend and lover. I think. I miss him already, even though it's been only a week since we last met, and only last night since we last chatted over a phone. I told him how much I've missed him, and how much I want to see him again soon, all the while cradling the phone close to me almost like he was close to me at that moment. I think Duo was happy to receive my phone call, because he told me quite explicitly that he missed me too. I almost leaped up in joy when I heard that. Still, it's disappointing to know that we won't be meeting again until next week. Damn his brother... the only day I'm free is the day Duo has to go out for dinner with him.
I could just growl if my friends didn't think it's my stomach.
"Beautiful, isn't he? Even though his choice of clothing that day does remind me a little of a Mars bar chocolate... you know? Black jacket, red shirt, and that chestnut hair..." I blabber nervously.
Then Solo laughs out loud all of a sudden. "What black jacket? It's obviously pink!"
He regards my confused expression for a moment before he laughs even harder. Tossing my wallet back to me, he jibes, "I always thought that you'd better taste than this, Heero."
Feeling something is strangely awry, I open my wallet and I distinctively feel my jaws slacken and my eyes widen involuntarily at the pink monstrosity inside. Instead of Duo, it is Relena in the picture, dressed in various shades of pink that goes from baby pink to dark pink.
"What the hell?" I utter, then realization washes over me like a wave pouring down on the shore. She must have slid her photo in before she returned it to me earlier, and Dorothy probably had no idea or she would have stopped her. Quickly, I remove the photo and smile, seeing Duo's photo still intact. Thankfully, Relena had slid her photo over Duo's instead of throwing Duo's away.
Still, this is a clear indication that Relena's doubling up her efforts at... pestering me. This is not good. I've got to think of something... something to get her off of my case. But what?
Solo's sniggering catches my attention again. Feeling a little more than mild irritation, I glare at him. But he matches my glare with a good-natured chuckle, and he shakes his head in what seems like sympathy. And maybe a little more hilarity.
"Man, Relena's growing on you, isn't she?"
I try to intensify my glare, but it seems that it has no effects. "She's growing on me like mould growing on bread. I can't believe she actually slid her photo into my wallet when she picked it up for me!"
He laughs harder despite my obvious exasperation, tempting me quite badly to throw a couple of my books onto his unprotected feet. Or maybe all of them.
"You know, things are getting out of hand if Relena's doing this," he notes when he's finally gotten the chuckles down, his voice still tinged with a little glee though. "It'll get even worse if you don't do anything about it soon."
His comments echo something that's already running amok inside my mind, and I sigh, slumping into a nearby seat. I think I've known this would happen one day. It got pretty obvious when Relena's infatuation refused to dissipate even though I never encouraged her, and now she's got this thing running in her head that I like her too, but I'm just too shy to let her know. It's like... I'm the coy maiden, and she's the gallant knight doing the courting. If I wasn't the victim, I could just laugh.
"Tell me something I don't know."
Solo's grin turns even more mischievous, if at all possible. It reminds me of the expression a kid gets when he finds a bucket full of water bombs and no adults to stop him.
"Heero, remember the last time I suggested that you find a boyfriend? A fake one, if you have to, so you can tell Relena to her face that you're gay? I think it's time you try that out."
I fix him with the deepest frown I can manage. It's not like poor ol' anti-social Heero can suddenly find a cute buddy to act as his boyfriend, and Solo knows it. All of my buddies are either straight as a ruler, or already attached. Either those, or they're not of the correct gender. Who else can help?
"Mind telling me where I can find someone willing to help out?" I ask, almost frustrated already. For those people who are so eager to point out that I have Duo, I beg to differ. Well, not really. In a sense, I do /have/ Duo. I know that if I just ask, he might actually be willing to help me out. But I'm not all that willing to ask him that, because well... there's always the small percentage of possibility that he'd reject. And if I do ask him, how am I going to make it sound like I /really/ want him to be my boyfriend, and not just a ploy to make the pink harpy get away from me. I'm not good with words, as some people might already know, and I might just screw it up. Duo's probably going to think he's just /pretending/ to be my boyfriend when I want him to be my /real/ boyfriend.
Man, this sounds complicated, doesn't it? I've already got a headache just thinking about it.
"My brother," Solo says simply, oblivious to my inner struggle.
"Your brother?"
He nods. "He's, well... the only person I can think of now."
Somehow, the grin on his face tells me this is a calculated move on his part.
"Duo's 17, still in junior college and so cute he'll make Relena conscious of herself. Perfect for the part, I'd say."
I think my jaws just dropped. Or plummeted. Whatever. "Wait. What did you say his name was?"
"Duo. You know, I'm Solo and he's Duo? I think if we had one more brother, he'd be called Trio," he jokes, laughing at himself.
I screw my jaws back on tightly. It has got to be a coincidence. I think. Fate can't love me so much, can she? I mean... if the Duo he's talking about is the Duo I've been dating, then I really /hate/ the person writing our lives as though it's some story! Look at it this way: Solo is the mean, manipulative brother who is hell bent on choosing a suitable boyfriend for his younger brother, who happens to be Duo. So somehow, Solo decides that I am the person he's looking for. But at the same time, he's irked at the guy (that's me, obviously) who is calling up Duo to date him so he tried to intercept the calls. And at the same time again, Duo and I are dating happily (at least I think he's happy with me).
See what I mean?
Then again, I don't think everything can be so... impeccable. Or is that amusing?
"So it's settled, right? We'll meet this coming Friday night for dinner at that new bistro that's just opened up at West End Street. You can get to know my brother then, and I know you two will just hit it off. I just know it," Solo states with a lot of conviction, like he's a judge passing his sentence on me. "What time do you want to meet? Seven?"
I blink. "Seven's good..."
"Okay! We'll see you at seven then! By the way, have you finished designing those posters for our project yet? William's asking for them already. He wants to see it first before he decides if it's good enough for a joint advertisement." Solo snorts. "Anyway, have them ready by next week. I'll pass them to William."
"Next week will be fine..."
"That's it then! Man, I can't believe it's almost time to set up our business already! And we've still got quite a bit to finish up!" he says, looking quite happy with our progress. "I guess we'll have to meet up again some time to clear up the minute details later. Anyway, I've got to run. Remember it's seven at night, at the new bistro at West End Street! This Friday, okay? Bye, Heero!"
Solo runs off, without giving me a chance to reject the dinner plans. I can't believe it. I've just been pushed into a dinner date with his brother! And now, I haven't got a chance to decline. Oh well, I think I'll just go and scare that Duo off. Probably.
Still, can they be the same Duo? I wonder...
OWARI
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