(99 Ways Entry) Scrabble Game

[J Alberghini]

Disclaimer: Gundam Wing and all its characters do not belong to me.

Word Count (including everything, because I can no longer subtract): 2,062

Scrabble Game

"Sigh." Relena stared out the window of her current residence's, the Sanc Castle's, main parlor, where she was entertaining one of her best friends, Dorothy Catalonia, who had come to visit for a week. The two were engaged in a rousing game of scrabble--
Oh please. Dorothy rolled her eyes (rudely interrupting the narrator) for the twentieth time that day alone. Though she'd taken her "mission," as her "employer" called it (the "employer" part being in quotation marks because he wasn't exactly paying her), with the utmost gusto, she was getting just a wee bit exasperated. The day was beautiful, no clouds, lots of sun, so nice that even she wanted to go out and enjoy it. Instead she was stuck inside with Miss Sunshine over there. That's a laugh. Now I understand what Winnie the Pooh was saying about being a little black rain cloud, she thought with a groan. He was pretending to be her.
Just getting Relena to play was like pulling teeth. Out of character for the normally cheerful, upbeat girl, she'd been moping since Dorothy got there, and probably before too. Dorothy knew what the matter was, of course, but she'd spent the afternoon (and the past week) feigning ignorance. Still, it was hard to keep quiet. "Am I noticing a pattern here?" she teased, unable to contain herself, after Relena had just played "ELOPE" on the board (apparently, she wasn't picky).
"Huh?" Relena stared at her blankly and sighed again. "Oh, not really." But Dorothy wasn't fooled. She shouldn't have been. There were, she'd learned recently, many ways to cheat at scrabble. But in this case, all she had to do was supply the correct letters. Relena's subconscious would do the rest.
Dorothy tapped her chin, as if she were trying to solve a very complex math problem written in runes. "Let's recap, shall we?" she said, running a perfectly manicured fingernail across the tiles. She stopped in the middle, the star concealed by the letter "R." "Here, I began by putting the word "RIVAL." You responded by using the "L" to make "LOVE." I added an "R" to that to make the word "LOVER" and you used the "V" to make "VOWS." Coincidence? I think not." Dorothy chuckled, but for a different reason than Relena thought. Worth a lot of points and hard to use, the letter "V" rarely made such a frequent appearance in the beginning of the game. But Dorothy had more than tricks up her sleeve, literally.
"Later," she continued, "You somehow racked up a lot of points with the word "MARRIAGE." And now you just put down "ELOPE." Is something on your mind Relena?" She raised her forked eyebrows at her friend, trying to seem serious and prevent herself from giggling. It wasn't very successful at that, but it was certainly frightening enough to scare Relena out of her fog. And caused all the anxiety and frustration she felt to finally erupt.
"Ya think?" She exploded. Being as the real target of her wrath was allegedly miles away at the moment, she chose to take out her anger on the person nearest to her. Fortunately, Dorothy was prepared- to enjoy it, that is. There was nothing she appreciated more than to see Miss Relena Peacecraft or Darlian, or Mrs. Soon-to-be another last name all together, ruffled. It was an added bonus for the original job, making her sacrifice quite worth it. Quatre had been right, deep, deep, deep down, she was a kind person and wanted the best for one of the first friends she'd ever had. But there wasn't anything that said she couldn't enjoy the process. If only she'd thought to bring a camcorder. I have to ask Milliardo for the security tapes later, she decided. It was certainly a singular moment, though she hoped this would be the first of many even more entertaining ones. Like I've always said, this kind of life isn't all roses, she thought, though she refrained from telling Relena "I told you so." See: this is why I?m going to stay single.
"-- For two years," Relena was saying, "we've been together. As a couple, I mean. And it took another few years just to get to that! He knows I love him, he'd be an idiot not to. And he's been using it to his advantage. We've even--" She stopped in mid rant for her face, red with anger, to flush pink. Dorothy rolled her eyes at her friend's modesty. "Well, you know what we've? done. But I guess why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free, right? He knows I wouldn't leave him, even if I had the guts to. Oh, he's got me wrapped around his finger; that's for sure. I'd do anything for him. So why doesn't he want to marry me?" The part that Dorothy had been dreading finally came, as Relena's shouts turned to sobs and her anger to sadness. She patted her friend's hair awkwardly, still uncertain what to do in this kind of situation. Relena buried her face in her shoulder, muffling her sobs just enough for Dorothy to hear movement at the top of the stairs. She looked up to see a familiar pair of black spandex shorts just before they disappeared. There was the signal. "It's about damn time," she muttered.
"Huh?" Relena looked up, rubbing her sore, red eyes.
"I could go for a lime," she said quickly. Nice going Dorothy, really nice going. Relena glanced at her curiously. "You wouldn't happen to have one, would you?"
"Uh, I? don't think so," Relena replied, seeming confused, as any normal person would be. Lime? Who eats whole limes? "Um, I always knew you were weird Dorothy, but? this is strange, even for you." Relena giggled.
Saved. Dorothy sighed in relief. "Just kidding." Well, at least she feels better, even though I nearly made a complete and utter fool out of myself. "I am hungry, though," she lied. "Would you mind taking a break for a snack? You look like you could use a sugar rush, anyway. It'll cheer you right up."
Relena smiled sadly. "Thanks, Dorothy." She gave her friend a brief hug. "Now, there's a half-gallon of double fudge brownie with our names on it. To the kitchen!" The girls linked arms and left the parlor. Dorothy glanced behind her. Stage one, complete.

* * * * * *

Heero slipped down the stairs as if he were a part of the wall. Though the girls were gone for the moment, and probably for a long time, if Relena's sugar addiction was any indication, he was still cautious all the same. After all, no one knew he was there, except Dorothy, Pagan, Zechs, who'd chosen to stay as far away as possible for the event, and Noin, who though she followed her husband's example, made sure, multiple times before she left, to remind him to keep the security cameras on. To Relena's annoyance and to the other servants' relief, he was supposed to be away on a mission. Technically, that wasn't a lie, he was on a mission. But it was much less dangerous (he hoped, anyway), and he wasn't getting paid for it. Instead, it had cost him a small fortune, though a small price to pay in comparison to what he hoped to gain that wasn't of any monetary value. He clutched his past year's salary in the palm of his hand (The one bad thing about these shorts, he thought, is that they don't have pockets).
Within moments, Heero had reached his target. He silently thanked Duo (no, it wasn't the apocalypse) for forcing him to improve his English, and Dorothy (ditto) for setting everything up. Now it was his turn.
" Mission accepted," he murmured, for old times' sake. It might well have been the last time he would ever say that. He knelt down on one knee, ignoring the comfy chairs already in place, to reach the table (and perhaps practice as well) and began his work.

* * * * * *

"I think I've gained at least ten pounds," Relena complained good-naturedly, licking a bit of chocolate syrup off her fingers (as if the ice cream itself wasn't enough).
"Oh, relax," Dorothy said, waving her off, "we can walk it off. And I'm sure you'll have plenty of exercise later," she added, her eyes twinkling mischievously. Before Relena could ask what she meant, she sped down the hall, high heels clicking on the tiles as she power-walked. Relena, the less fit of the two (though, thanks to Heero, not by much), trotted after her. It was enough of a racket to wake the dead and was exactly why Dorothy had chosen to wear the particularly noisy shoes today. He'd better be ready, she thought, or I'm going to kill him. Once she reached the door to their destination, she slowed, allowing Relena to catch up. "After you, my dear," Dorothy said, with a mock bow.
"Why, thank you." Relena pushed the door open and Dorothy lagged back, until she heard her friend's gasp. That was her clue to slip in unnoticed, just in case she was needed (no way was she going to miss this). Indeed, she did have a little something up her sleeve that could be useful. Actually, three little somethings.
"H-H-Heero, what are you doing here? I thought you-" For a moment, Dorothy hoped she was going to slap him. But despite her earlier anger, she looked overjoyed, if confused, to see him.
Relena was trembling with anticipation, but she didn't know why. Something important was about to happen: she could sense it. Heero's expression was one of complete seriousness. He was shaking too, which unnerved her even more. She felt a sudden impulse to run to him and reassure him that whatever it was that worried him wasn't so bad. But her knees seemed frail and she thought if she made any movement, however slight, she would surely collapse. "W-What is it?" she managed to say.
Heero remained silent and looked down at what he was standing over. She followed his gaze: the scrabble board. Even though she hadn't been paying much attention to their game, she knew the arrangement of the letter had been very different. Now the tiles were in neat rows, spaces separating the words, but not the way they normally would. They only divided one from another on the same row, and there were no comprehensible words made from the connected ones, not in any language she knew, anyway. She moved closer to see better (she was slightly near-sighted in one eye) and put her hand to her gaping mouth as she read what the letters spelled out. She stared as he got down on one knee and held out an open box with a sparkly object inside. Then he voiced the words on the board, the ones she'd wanted to hear for so long. "Relena, will you marry me?"
"Uh, I, um?" Relena was gasping for air (to her credit, she didn't faint), her throat forgetting the simple words that she'd learned when she was an infant. She felt numb, yet ever nerve in her body tingled, like she'd just been struck by lightning, but it hadn't killed her. She clasped the hand with the ring, hoping to transfer all the feelings she was too stunned to voice.
Now Dorothy felt it was time for her to step in, glad she'd anticipated something like this. She approached Relena, sliding the somethings out of her sleeve. Separating their hands, she pressed three things into her friend's palm.
Relena glanced at the tiles in her hand and nodded dumbly. Like an old woman crossing the street, she backed up a couple of steps and bent down, considering her move. Color was slowly starting to come back into her face, which had turned a ghostly white, as she started to recover. A bright smile lit up her cheeks as she put the letters in what she'd deemed was the perfect spot. Glowing now, she raised to a standing position. He did the same, peering over the board at the one word, the three letters that would seal their future: Y-E-S.

[WhiteWindRRose]

hee hee.
That was great! Humorous and fluffy yet not suffocatingly so.
Very nice indeed.
It's good to see Dorothy playing an active role matchmaking for a change.
But let's hope Rel works ALL of that extra weight off...
*cough*soon*cough*.

[Morrighan]

*jumps up and down happily* KAWAII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *bounces up and down some more* Great job, I totally love this fic!!

[AngelOfDeath]

EEEEEEEEEEEE

And I always thought of scrabble as an evil game. So many fights erupted from the legitimacy of words....

But this is the best use for it ever.

[Pure]

Yay! that was so sweet...its about time heero finally proposed to relena...but im so happy...they belong together...cuz she evens him out...he's cold and she's friendly. they're like yin/yang.

[Nikouru]

Great! It's unique that Dorothy plays a part in this...
Interesting way for Heero to propose...

[Scilja]

Hah! Whoever thought Scrabble was the game of love. This was creative and original! Loved it. :razz: