The Beehive: Ch2 Reminiscence in the Fire Light

[Tumbleweed]

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or any of the characters associated with it; I don’t feel that there was any doubt in anyone’s mind but there; I said it.

AN: I’m sorry to say but this chapter is a bit on the sappy, dare I say it, fluffy side. Yes, even more so then the previous. I guess it gets a little lime-esque towards the end but it doesn’t get too naughty. An R rating was probably going overboard but better safe then sorry I guess. Generally, I’d say you probably see worse on prime time television so don’t get to giddy.

The Beehive

Chapter 2: Reminiscence in the Fire Light

DATE: February 14, 203 AC
LOCATION: The Presidential Residence of the Earth Sphere Unified Nation

~*~*~ TIME: 11:34 PM ~*~*~

He was off duty now, as he walked through the hallways of the Presidential Residence, holding small-medium sized box under his arm, concealing it the best he could. His destination, the living quarters; the way he almost seemed to be sneaking through the halls might have given some the impression that he wasn’t suppose to be there at all, if it wasn’t for the fact that everyone who worked at the Presidential Residence knew who President Darlian’s personal bodyguard was.

Heero was cursing himself for what he was about to do, ‘Damn it, what the hell was I thinking, taking Duo’s advise. I mean Duo!’

He cautiously knocked on the door to the living room Relena was supposed to be in, it was unusual for it to be closed. “Come in”, answered a meek feminine voice after a moments wait.

‘You know, you don’t have to go through with it,’ a voice in Heero’s head suggested as he slowly opened the door, ‘if you just keep that box behind your back she probably won’t notice.’ Heero, liking this idea, and not really having the nerve to go through with his original plan complied. He was just trying to be a friend but after what happened earlier he wasn’t sure how Relena would interpret it; he wasn’t even sure how he interpreted it.

He stepped into the room and closed the door behind him; it was dark. The only light in the room was coming from a crackling fire in the fireplace and the television, which was turned down low and seemed to be showing the end some cheap Valentine’s Day flick. Heero Yuy didn’t interpret this as a good sign; Relena rarely watched TV unless she was depressed and sure enough, there she was, sitting on the sofa with a bottle of wine on the nearby coffee table.

She set her glass down on the coffee table and turned to face him, “Yes, Heero? What is it?”

It was just as Heero feared, the flickering light was dim but he could tell that the area around her sparkling blue eyes was red and slightly moist, she had been crying. Heero had been finding her like this more and more lately, as much as he hated to admit it he had to face facts; Relena was slowly slipping into depression, day by day, right before his cold blue eyes. ‘Oh no…’ he thought, ‘not again. Now I have to do something.’

Heero opened up his mouth, unsure of what would come out, “I just wanted to let you know I’m leaving for the night”, he hesitated but then went on, “I wanted to give you something… to cheer you up. You just seem depressed.” Heero approached the young woman with the inquisitive face and handed her a bright yellow box that read, “CHOCO-SPHERES – deluxe package”, on the front in big blue bubble letters. “I remember you saying they were your favorite”, Heero explained.

Choco-Spheres are a brand of candy that had first been put into production a little over a decade before the war. They actually seem like a basic type of candy. They were simply small balls of chocolate, marshmallow or caramel and peanut butter; however, they had gained massive popularity rather quickly and their almost addicting nature had led some to believe that they actually were. None of the lawsuits succeeded however, due to the fact that they weren’t.

Relena’s eyes lit up with surprise and a warm smile formed as she accepted Heero’s gift. “Thank you, Heero”, she appreciatively replied.

Now, Heero had to think of how to reply, he couldn’t be too warm, especially now, or else she might take it the wrong way; but he didn’t want to offend her either. “I should go now”, Heero commented in a low monotone voice as he slowly made his way to the door.

“No…”, Relena begged, holding her hand out almost as if she was planning on grab his, “could you please, can you just stay here for a little while and talk.” She scooted over a bit to make room for the former pilot and patted the cushion next to her, inviting him to sit down.

Heero really didn’t think it was a wise idea, but then again, he didn’t want her getting drunk tonight either and he couldn’t just say no to those seductively pleading blue eyes either. Plus, it isn’t as though he personally didn’t want to anyway; so in the end his emotions won out on this one. ‘Okay Yuy’, Heero silently began assuring himself as he hesitantly sat down next to the president, ‘you can do this, just stay focused and maintain your composure.’

Relena continued to smile, “Thank you, I just need someone to talk to”, she explained. She opened the box of choco-spheres, greedily popped one of the shiny brown orbs in her mouth and began to chew. She lifted the box up towards Heero, offering him one.

“There yours”, he bluntly stated.

Relena finished downing the first sphere and argued, “I can’t eat all these; I’d get fat. Have some.”

Heero reluctantly obeyed, placing one of the candy pieces in his mouth as well. It was very sweet, he wasn’t quite expecting it, or was used to eating such sweet things. It made sense though, that Relena’s favorite candy was so sweet. ‘Sometimes it’s nice to eat something sweet’, he began to think but cut himself off as he realized the possible implications of the notion.

Relena leaned over and rested her head on Heero’s shoulder. She did that sometimes, when she was feeling depressed or overwhelmed. Heero’s shoulder just always made her feel safe for some reason; she drew strength from that shoulder, it was her shoulder. Heero, was never quite sure whether he should let her rest her head there but he secretly enjoyed it when she did, and if his shoulder was so comforting to her he didn’t see any harm in letting her have it. He always tried to remain extra careful when she did that however, he didn’t want to let himself succumb to his feelings and do something he might regret.

The stone-faced man opened his mouth, “Are you really planning on quitting politics?”

“Yes I am, at least for a little while”, Relena answered, “I thought I made myself clear about that before.” A hint of aggravation was in her voice but it was kept under control.

“Why?” Heero asked, “You’re so good at it.”

Relena picked up the TV remote and hit the power button, causing the screen to revert back to the blank, idle state that it’s usually in. “Heero, how old am I?” she asked.

Heero was puzzled at her question but he answered, “You turn twenty-three in April, right?”

“I feel fifty”; she interjected. A moment’s silence passed in which the only sound herd was the crackling and popping of the fire; until she continued, “Remember last month when I made that speech at that college? Didn’t it just seem awkward to you?

“No, not really, security could have been better but it wasn’t that bad”, Heero plainly answered.

Relena sighed, “That’s not what I meant Heero. It was just weird, is all. Here I was, speaking in front of all these people as their president, getting all this respect…”

“Or lack there of”, Heero cut in as he recalled the streakers he caught. “What those bastards painted on their bodies… perverts.”

Relena knew what he was talking about, they had joked about it before. She laughed a little bit and continued, “Well, just that; all those students were about our age. None of them seemed half as stressed as I am. It just made me think about how I used to be. Before I became the princess of the Sanc Kingdom I used to be carefree, just like them. Most people our age are out having fun somewhere, especially tonight. I just feel that I’m wasting my best years here. I’ve done my service to society, don’t I deserve to be happy too?”

Heero really couldn’t argue with that, and not say something that wouldn’t come out right at least. “Then what do you plan on doing after you quit then?” Heero finally blurted out.

“I never really thought about it that hard”, Relena sheepishly admitted. “Definitely take it easy for a few months, I don’t know what else. The possibilities seem almost endless though. When I was a little girl I had all sorts of childish fantasies about what I wanted to do when I grew up.”

“Wasn’t being the president of the world one of them?” he asked in a voice which wile mostly emotionless did contain a slight prick of interest.

Relena wasn’t sure how to interpret that but she continued, “No, not really. I hated politics when I was little. I always dreamed about normal little girl stuff like being a dancer, or a model.”

Heero had to restrain himself from outright laughing, “A model..?”

The mildly offended blond politician picked head up and shot Heero her “I’m hurt” glare. “Don’t you think I’m pretty enough?”, she almost pleadingly inquired.

Heero realized he might be going to far, so his answer was to the point, “I don’t see you inducing yourself to vomit after eating a cracker.” Also, she was too short but he wasn’t about to mention that part; he was pretty short too after all.

Relena, a little relieved, gently giggled a bit and put her head back on Heero’s shoulder, “Well, I don’t plan on becoming a model so don’t worry. It was just some fickle fantasy that most girls have.”

“Like being a princess?” Heero sarcastically goaded.

Relena couldn’t help but laugh at that; “Yes, just like that”, she playfully affirmed. “That was another one, though. I used to fantasize all the time about Prince Charming, or some knight in shining armor would come riding in on a white horse and sweeping me off my feet. And then taking me to his kingdom were I’d live happily ever after as a princess.” Relena couldn’t help but drop that little hint; she just hoped she wasn’t too obvious.

“You got that one”, Heero pointed out.

“No, I didn’t, not yet”, Relena cheerily argued while popping another choco-sphere in her mouth. She chewed it a bit and continued, “no Prince Charming.” Without realizing it she gently put her hand on Heero’s arm.

‘Keep calm Heero’, he internally preached to himself, ‘don’t panic; just say something unattractive. Wait why am I still holding back, she’s quitting politics. She’s still to good for me, she deserves Prince Charming and I’m not it.’

“There was Zechs”, Heero finally blurted. ‘That was lame Yuy’

Relena pulled away, half laughing, and gave Heero a soft slap on the arm, “Ew… He’s my brother.”

“But Tallgeese was white”, Heero cut in.

‘So was your gundam’, Relena silently shot back in her own mind. Instead, she verbalized, “But Epyon was red and my brother is Milliardo Peacecraft, not Zechs Marquis; and that’s still just gross.”

“At least your not a blue blood”, Heero continued to tease.

Relena gave her bodyguard a good smack in the chest before leaning back down against him. She was certainly feeling better; when it was just the two of them talking like people she sometimes forgot about her problems.

Heero wasn’t sure whether to curse himself in defeat or caress her long golden hair in victory. He ended up just sitting there with the blankest expression he could manage, like he normally did. He’d been having trouble hiding his emotions though; every year since the war ended he’d been getting worse. His eyes, in particular, tended to betray him most often.

A warm smile was pasted on Relena’s face as she sat leaning against her stiff faced bodyguard. Then she realized something, “Hey, this isn’t fair. Now you have to tell me about what you use to fantasize about when you were little.”

“huh...?”, Heero grunted, hoping that playing ignorant might somehow get him out of this.

Relena wasn’t about to let him though; she continued digging; “Come on, what do little boys fantasize about?”

Heero’s agitation was becoming apparent. “Why don’t you ask a little boy then”, he hissed.

Relena wasn’t about to give up, “please…”, she pleaded with a puppy dog face.

“I never really had time to fantasize; when I was little I was being trained as an assassin. A good meal seemed like a big enough dream to me”, Heero was clearly annoyed, but internally he was feeling a lot more hurt then annoyed; his childhood was always painful to think about.

It wasn’t true what he told her either, he did have at least one dream. He used to dream that he could live in a house with people who loved him, just like everyone else. He wished he could live in his fantasy world, a world free of the pain and coldness he felt in what was day-to-day life. Most of all however, he wished he could get rid of the irrational guilt he felt whenever he used to think about his dream, like he didn’t deserve happiness. Unfortunately, all of these fantasies had yet to come true.

“So”, Relena began, after an awkward half minute of staring into the fire, “what have you been doing lately?”

“Investigating the accounting scandal, guarding you, organizing security for you speech on Tuesday…”, Heero expressionlessly listed.

“No, no, no…” the blond politician interrupted, looking up at Heero with concern, “Have you been doing anything for fun lately?”

The stoic man’s answer was cold, simple and to the point; “no.”

“Well, what about Duo?” Relena continued to prod.

Heero grunted a little, “What about Duo?”

“I thought you two were friends or something”, she inquired, “I was just wondering if you ever did anything with him anymore.” Relena was partially flattered that Heero was so devoted to his job but at the same time concerned about it. She felt at least one of them should remain sane so she tried to give him breaks whenever she could, which he rarely took.

“We’ve never really had much of an opportunity to do anything”, the somewhat annoyed bodyguard answered, “We’ve stayed in contact but he’s been acting dumber then usual. Ever since he got Hilde pregnant.”

A surprised Relena lifted her head up and looked at Heero in shock, “Hilde’s pregnant!”

“She’s due in four months, I thought you’d know”, was Heero’s calmly surprised response.

“No, I had no idea”, Relena replied, feeling guilty for her ignorance. She had met Hilde and Duo a couple of times, they both seemed like good people. She met Duo back in the early months of the war, when he was hanging around with Heero and she first met Hilde on Libra in the ending days of the war. Unfortunately, her job kept her so busy Relena never had all that much time to become close friends either of them. She still met with them sometimes but they never became particularly close. About then the other part of Heero’s sentence began to register. “What’s he doing”, she asked.

Heero didn’t want to answer that question; it could lead to another that he really didn’t want to answer. He didn’t see a way out of it though; “He thinks he’s some kind of relationship expert now.”

“That’s it?” the somewhat relieved Relena inquired, “you made it sound like it was something serious.”

It was something serious to Heero, seriously annoying and seriously could lead to something he seriously didn’t want to admit to her. He was relieved that she didn’t ask him to specify but he had to maintain his stone cold stance “I’m not surprised that he was the first one of us to get a kid, I almost feel sorry for it.”

“Awe…I think Duo will be a good father.”, Relena sympathetically commented.

“I always thought Quatre was the one of us that’d make the best father material; Duo doesn’t take anything seriously and WuFei and Trowa are too much like me”, Heero commented.

“And what’s wrong with you?”, Relena asked, “I think your…”

Heero snickered a bit but kept it mostly inside, the thought of him teaching a miniature version of himself the five easiest ways to kill a man with your bare hands played through his head; he thought it was pretty obvious to anyone. “Not a chance in Hell am I having a kid”, he interrupted. Heero had never thought about it that much in actuality, but he just assumed any kid that was unlucky enough to be his would hate him anyway so there was no point in toying with the idea.

Relena sighed a bit, “hm… I wonder what it’s like having kids”, she verbally pondered. “I used to play with baby dolls a lot when I was little but I guess I never actually thought about it.” She picked her head up and took another sip from her wine glass. “You don’t really think it would really be so horrible though, do you? I mean, no one would be here if it was, so I guess a kid can’t be that bad”, she asked her now rather embarrassed bodyguard.

It seemed odd to Heero that there would have been any doubts in Relena’s mind; he had always just assumed she’d be a mother some day, not with him of course but with someone. He decided he’d change the subject; anything would be less uncomfortable then this. “So, I you never really told me earlier; who was that Tyler guy that was here at the meeting and why did you call you ‘princess’?”

Relena fell silent; she took a deep and then another sip from her wine glass. “You really want to know, Heero?” she hesitantly asked.

“He might be a security threat”, Heero dryly suggested.

“No, not Tyler. There’s a reason why he’s like that Heero.” Relena’s head sunk down and she paused for a moment before beginning her story, “Before I met you, I was probably the most popular girl in school…”

~*~*~ FLASHBACK ~*~*~

(OOC: Yeah, I know she would only know her point of view but I figured I’d treat the you with a flashback that was also in third person all knowing. Just don’t tell Heeo and Relena, all right. *wink*)

A thirteen-year-old Relena Darlian maneuvered her way through the flowing sea of students and lunch tables holding several books tightly against her chest. She knew that what she was about to do was almost a taboo for a girl of her social status, but it had to be done; she absolutely needed to pass her exams, and he was her best chance of doing it.

She located her target, he was sitting in the back, all alone, like usual. He was reading something in a newspaper so he didn’t notice her yet, good. Relena quickly looked over her reflection in a nearby window; hair was in place, makeup looked fine, her school uniform was in tact, all systems were go. She forced her prettiest smile and sat down next to her unsuspecting prey, Tyler Marcus.

If you were to check the financial background of Tyler Marcus, you probably wouldn’t suspect that he’d be attending a private school for rich kids; he couldn’t exactly boast of a prestigious lineage. Tyler Marcus, though, could boast about one thing that only a hand full of people in that entire building could truly say with certainty; he had earned it. His family may not have been rich but he was a child prodigy in the realms of science and mathematics, and so, was awarded a scholarship from the institute. He wasn’t any older then Relena, yet he was in, and acing science courses meant for seniors. There was one class, however, that she happened to attend with him, Literature. This also happened to be the same class she so desperately needed to pass the exam in.

Tyler sensed a disturbance in his little corner of solitude, which wasn’t a good sign; when people came near him at lunch it, was usually to bother him. He looked up from his writing expecting to see any number of hoodlums planning some indignation for him to endure, but instead, found the seductively beautiful face of Relena Darlian smiling at him. Needless to say, it was something out of a dream for him.

“Hello, Tyler”, a sweet feminine voice piped up, “you seemed lonely here all by yourself.”

Tyler was flabbergasted. Could this be true? Could Relena Darlian, the daughter of the Vice Forign Minister, the richest girl in school; the girl who practically had her own fan club was sitting next to HIM. No, this had to be some kind of joke, girls like that don’t just socialize with the poor, acne plagued “nerd of nerds” of St. Gabrial. There she was though, sitting right next to him, with a smile and to say that Tyler hadn’t been dreaming of an opportunity like this would be a blatant lie. But still he had to be cautious about this. “Uh… well, yeah… I was just uh… reading this paper here”, Tyler’s voice was soft and nervous, like he normally spoke when he was with someone he was unsure of, “why are you here?”

Nothing was more disenchanting then a man with no confidence to Relena. ‘Grr… this could take a while’, she internally grumbled, ‘he can’t even speak outside of a classroom. But just stick to the plan, he’s your ticket to a passing grade.’ Her warm smile served as a shield, hiding her true agenda and discontent, she tried giggling a bit for extra measure; it sounded fake to her, but it looked like he bought it. “I told you, I thought you looked lonely here all by yourself.”

“yeah… uh…”, Tyler was unsure what to say next, he didn’t normally talk to girls, especially girls that were so pretty; so he responded in the safest way he could, “thanks.”

‘Thanks? That’s it? No clich? pickup line? This isn’t much to work with.’, she thought. She knew for certain that he liked her however; she caught him looking at her all the time, which was what gave her this cruel idea in the first place. Relena, like many pretty girls, had discovered something very interesting after hitting puberty, if you string a boy along you could get them to do just about anything. First, however, one must find a way of revealing ones desires without being too obvious. Relena found the answer lying on the table. She looked at the stack of books sitting right in front of the Nerd of Nerds with the big glasses. “So”, she started, maintaining a primarily innocent sounding voice, “have you been studying for exams?”

Tyler looked at his books, half scornfully, though he had a love of knowledge he also found his books to be almost a stigma. “Well, yeah, they are coming up next week”, he commented, unsure of whether he should be proud in order to highlight his strength, or shamed in order to sound more manly.

This was perfect, Relena could get right to business if she played her cards right. “Yeah, I’m so worried, I just don’t get some of this stuff”, she was careful to sound just helpless enough to be attractive, “and I really need to pass too.” She pouted slightly, it was true that she seriously needed to pass, literature she never really paid much attention to and math and science she flat out didn’t get.

‘An opportunity!’, Tyler realized in excitement, ‘I knew this day would come’. “What… uh… classes are you having trouble in?” he as coyly inquired.

Relena’s answer was casual as she could muster, “Normal stuff, math and science; I’m also having trouble in literature too.”

“I can help you!”, Tyler immediately interjected. He realized he was losing his cool and calmed down, “I mean, math and science are my specialties; and I’m doing well in literature too. Maybe I could tutor you?”

‘Yes’, Tyler was hers, hook line and sinker; now all she had to do was reel him in. She may not have been the best student in the world, school was only important to her because her mother made her do it; but she wasn’t stupid. If you’re going to get a tutor, you might as well make sure they know what they’re doing, and everyone knew that Tyler Marcus was the best there was. Relena had to hide this feeling of accomplishment though and externally replace it with gratitude, “Oh really? Thank you Tyler.”

“I guess it really isn’t a problem”, Tyler casually admitted. “The school provides my room and board so I’m almost always here, do you want to start now?”

Tyler’s enthusiasm was cut short however, by yet another disturbance. He narrowed his eyes a bit and stiffened his shoulders, ready for anything, as he watched with discontent the muscular form of Bruce Bowman accompanied by several of his cronies, approach his table. Tyler and Bruce never really got along; Bruce was a muscle bound blockhead from the higher social levels, Tyler was a scronny little brain with eyes that no one in that whole school really associated with. This being the case, Tyler often found himself on the receiving end of everything from simple pranks to near violent harassment at the hands of that particular click. He didn’t know why Bruce, in particular, liked to pick on him; he never did anything to Bruce per say; yet Bruce seemed to find it necessary. This had led Tyler to the conclusion that there were only two possible explanations; either Bruce was jealous of his abilities or he could still be sore about how much of a fool he made him look like in a class debate, possibly both. Either way, Tyler had come to despise the sight of that square head, topped off with clean cut blond hair and little beady eyes held up by a grease jug of a neck supported by a towering muscular body; all and all, a very intimidating sight to see for the tall yet lanky Nerd of Nerds.

Bruce pretentiously walked up to Relena placing his hand on her shoulder, “Hey Relena, what are you doing sitting here with this guy?”

Relena politely brushed Bruce’s hand off of her shoulder and answered, “I was just here talking with him; he seemed lonely. He said he’d help me study for exams.” She hoped Bruce was getting her message, ‘go away, this isn’t the time for one of your stupid testosterone highs’

“I see”, said Bruce with a tone of voice that was clearly illustrating to Tyler that he wasn’t done with him. His eyes scanned the table looking for mischief. “What’s this your reading!?”, Bruce snatched the paper away from Tyler; Tyler frantically tried grab it back but it was to no avail. “Hm… what do we have here? ‘Hundreds Die in a Blaze on a Colony’; serves them right, bombing an Alliance base.”

“Serves them right?” Tyler echoed in near horror, “people died in that terrorist attack! The Alliance Military shouldn’t have been there in the first place; contrary to what your stupid shirt suggest. Now give it back!”

The shirt Tyler was referring to was a T-shirt that Bruce had not actually worn, due to the dress code, but had shown off in school not long after a certain formal debate they had on this very issue. The shirt displayed several alliance mobile suits standing tall in a colony holding a giant Alliance flag; the words, “L5 Now” printed boldly across the top in a patriotic style.

“Hey, what’s this!?”, one of the boys at Bruce’s side snatched up one of the books that Tyler had on the table and began flipping through the pages with a cocky smirk on his face.

Tyler made a dive for it but he wasn’t fast enough and it was tossed to Bruce.

Bruce read the cover, “Modern Nobles: Conspiracy Theories About the Secret Society, Oz”, Bruce and his gang of muscle heads all snickered.

Tyler had given up and just stood still clenching his fists, seething in fury. His face was red, his respiration was abnormal, he felt a balloon of infinite rage begin to expand in his gut, tearing him apart. He wasn’t about to cry though, no he would never cry in front of them, not in front of anyone, even himself and especially not in front of a girl. That’s just what they wanted; they wanted him to cry so they would have one more thing to hassle him about. He hated them; he hated them so much he couldn’t see straight. He wanted nothing more then to just give to them slow torturous deaths right then and there, it was more then they deserved. He would some day though, someday, he vowed, he would get his revenge on all of them.

“Quit it Bruce!” Relena furiously ordered.

“Fine”, Bruce reluctantly relented before tossing the book in a nearby wastebasket and retreating with his friends in laughter.

As the young Relena watched Tyler reach into the garbage to retrieve his book and carefully brushing it off so as to not stain his school uniform, she couldn’t help but feel sorry for the poor guy. “Are you all right?” she asked, quite legitimately concerned actually.

“Yeah, I guess”, Tyler meekly responded in resentment. It was a total lie of course. Tyler was far from all right, he wished he could just die right there or be blown away by some gust of wind like a pile of dust. Bruce and his band of thuds, made him look like a complete wiener in front of the prettiest girl he’d ever met. “Do you want to get to business now?” he finally asked, half in misplaced hostility.

=====A FEW DAYS LATER=====

Tyler and Relena were sitting at a table in the courtyard of the institution. Tyler was tutoring Relena in Literature before the morning bell rang. They were in the middle of discussing to poem, “Married to Prince Charming”.

“So basically what the author is trying to say is that there is no such thing as the perfect mate”, Tyler explained. “Or at least”, he continued, “that’s how I interpreted it.” He looked across the table at Relena, captivated by the way her blondish bronze hair shifted with an unexpected gust of wind.

Relena couldn’t help but be a little weirded out by Tyler’s unusual terminology for husband, but that was only small potatoes compared to the rest of it. “I don’t think so”, she argued feeling partially threatened, “I think she’s just trying to say that it takes work.”

“Well that’s true”, Tyler conceded, “but if it takes work then he really isn’t perfect, is he?” “I don’t believe anyone in this world is perfect for each other”, he continued in a somber lecture, “your best bet is marrying a friend; or that’s the way I see it.”

“That’s not true”, Relena declared, “I’m marrying Prince Charming, you’ll see.”

Tyler had to restrain his urge to laugh or make any other display of superiority. Something about a thirteen-year-old in this day in age believing in such a childish fantasy like true love he found to be endlessly entertaining and in some ways, a boost to his own twisted ego. In truth, as much as Tyler was trying to keep his relationship with Relena as near professional as possible, he couldn’t help but be infatuated with her and though he wished she wouldn’t act so childish and foolish, another part of him found that he enjoyed being smarter then her, it made he feel like he actually had a chance. Lust truly is a selfish emotion.

“And how will you know when you’ve found ‘Prince Charming’?” he jabbed inquisitively, unable to completely hide a small edge of cynicism in his tone.

Relena sat up straight, as if it would somehow strengthen her argument, “I’ll just know it when I see him; it’s destiny after all.”

‘Fate is for those that are too lazy to mold their own futures’, he silently retorted. He knew he had to change the subject fast, his beautiful pupil was sounding dumber and dumber the longer this conversation continued and he didn’t want to ruin any chance he did have with her by losing control of his mouth; she actually was pretty nice, or so he thought. “We’re getting off the subject”, he reminded her, “my point is that when interpreting a poem for school, it’s more important to give the answer that the instructor wants instead of what you actually think. And if your unsure of what the instructor wants, make sure you have plenty of evidence to support your views.”

About then, the young Relena Darlian let out a small girlish shriek as a bee began flying around in front of her. “A bee! Kill it!” she demanded in panic.

“Don’t worry about the bee, it’ll go away and no I’m not killing it”, Tyler calmly instructed in amusement.

Relena jumped up out of her seat to try and get away from the bee, “Why not!”

The bee, like Tyler had predicted, found nothing interesting in the area and just flew away on its own. “I’d rather deal with a bee then most humans I know, for one” Tyler muttered half audibly.

Relena shot Tyler a questioning stare in confusion.

Tyler continued his thought, “They’re such noble insects; don’t you think? All of them are such hard workers, putting the well being of the whole in front of their own; even the queen has her duties. If all of humankind could be a little more like bees then a lot of the worlds problems would be solved.”

“Bring!” the first bell for the morning rang, indicating that the first classes were starting soon.

“We’ll pick this up later, at lunch”, Tyler suggested as he lifted up his books, “see you then.”

=====A FEW MORE DAYS LATER=====

Exams were now over; it was the last day before vacation. Bruce was carrying Relena’s books as she was walking toward her ride. Her mind however, wasn’t on going home; it was on Tyler and the confused tangled web of feelings she had towards him. It was weird, these people around her, these people are suppose to be her friends; they aren’t at the bottom of the social latter like Tyler is. But then, why had she grown so attached to Tyler in only a week’s time; it wasn’t love or anything like that but he always seemed so sincere in everything he did. He didn’t treat her with the blind respect that her other friends did, she didn’t know why she liked that. Perhaps all of the blind outward respect she got from everyone else actually distanced her from her friends. With them, she almost felt like she had to maintain a perfect social image, with Tyler, she felt more comfortable actually talking with him. Even if he criticized her there was something that seemed more real, more natural then the normal, “you’re so great Ms. Relena, you can do no wrong” she normally got. Tyler was actually willing to really talk, sort of like her father, except Tyler actually had time to spare. Of course, she could never become real friends with Tyler, could she? It was a real mess; she was just glad that she’d have plenty of time to sort herself out.

Just then a dreaded little voice interrupted her train of thought. “Hey, Relena!” Tyler shouted after her. Bad news, she was with Bruce and a couple of her other friends but he had to ask. “Um… I wanted to know if you wanted to do something for fun, later tonight. I’m going back home tomorrow so this would be the last time we see each other until school starts again.”

She had to think. It wasn’t as simple as that, now that exams were over she really didn’t have an excuse to hang around with him so if she answered yes, who knows what the others would think; that’s why she had been avoiding him. But she didn’t want to hurt his feelings either. ‘This is so confusing’, her mind raced, ‘I can’t make this decision now’. “Tyler, I…”, she began, not quite sure what her next words were going to be. She didn’t have to worry about it though.

Bruce, put on his arrogant grin, “Don’t you get it? Relena would never be with a freak like you. She was just using you to help her pass her exams!” “And they call you smart too”, he pompously rubbed in.

Bruce’s words hit Tyler like a bowling ball shot from a cannon; his head began to spin in a frenzy of rage and pain. He didn’t want to believe what he just heard but it all made sense. He looked at Relena, trying to find some sort of answer or hope that Bruce was lying but her head had sunken down and she was staring at the pavement. It was true, he knew it was, he just couldn’t believe he had been so stupid and na?ve; shame on him for having any kind of faith in humanity and giving into hope. A girl like that could never actually like someone like him. A girl like that could only live a shallow life. His only consolation was the knowledge that one day, when she married to some stuck up millionaire who regularly cheated on her, she might, for a second, regret what she did. “Your right…”, he coldly answered, he wasn’t, especially now, going to look hurt, not in front of him, not in front of anyone, especially her. He began walking away but stopped and turned his head around; he had one more thing to her, “Oh yes, Relena. I just wanted to tell you that I sincerely hope you one day find Prince Charming.”

Relena, lifted her head in surprise, puzzled by what he just said.

“I do very much hope you find Prince Charming”, he hissed, “so you can finally get it in your head that no one in this world is really like that.” He paused for a moment and added, absolute contempt in his tone of voice, “And if there were someone like that in this world he wouldn’t want to be with a self-centered little…” he struggled with the next word but blurted it out after a moment, “…bitch like you!” He just continued to walk; he wouldn’t cry, he’d never cry. He’d never give them that kind of satisfaction. It was his fault anyway, his fault for being so damn stupid.

Bruce began moving towards Tyler like he was going to go beat Tyler up but was stopped short when Relena furiously grabbed her things.

“You’re such a jerk, Bruce”, she snapped. Before walking away in the opposite direction.

~*~*~ TIME: 11:56 PM ~*~*~

“I really felt bad about what happened, it was my fault after all.” The now matured twenty-two year old Relena took another sip from her wine glass and then continued her story, “I wanted to try and do the right thing and apologize to her when school started again but I couldn’t find him.” She made a deep sigh, “I later found out he had transferred to another private school. I never expected I’d ever meet him again, though. I’m glad he’s doing well; he really is a genius.”

Heero just stared at her with his dark blue eyes. It’s not as though this story really changed his opinion of her overall but it was certainly a shock. He just couldn’t picture Relena being party to such a malicious scheme. “Is that it?” he finally asked.

“Yeah, that’s it”, the somewhat depressed politician replied.

For a while none of them said anything; they just sat there in the firelight in silence until the clock rang twelve.

“I should probably go back to my apartment; we both need to get some rest”, he stated as he began to get up from his seat. He found some resistance, however, and turned his head around to see that Relena had set her glass down on the table and was holding onto his hand. He looked at Relena’s, desperate face questioningly.

Between all the stress and pressure she had been under, the romantic firelight and the day of the year something snapped in Relena’s mind. She felt so lonely as the president; the only person she felt she could really talk to on a regular basis was Heero, but he was so reclusive he never let her close to his heart. It happened all the time, he’d do something that peeked her hopes that he might actually want her romantically, like flirt with her a little, but then he’d just leave or something. Not tonight though, she was tired of always feeling lonely, she was tired of having her life dictated by her image and she was tired of always seeing other women her age happy with boyfriends, but not really having anyone herself. Cheryl was probably out having a great time with Alen, same with millions of other girls, why should her Valentines Day be any different? She loved Heero, she fell in love with him the moment she found him washed up on the beach those eight long years ago. Since then he’s only allowed her to be friends with him, but she wished more then anything that Heero could love her the same way that she loved him. She wasn’t about to have this be like all the other Valentines Days; she didn’t want to spend another night alone; she would have Heero’s affection that night; she would have it one way or the other.

“You don’t have to leave, Heero”, she pleaded with puppy dog eyes. “You could stay here all night, with me”, she suggested, “it could be like a slumber party, just the two of us?”

‘Is she asking me if… no… she couldn’t, could she?’ Heero thought. He wasn’t quite sure what she was getting at, or at least, his mind hoped he wasn’t sure; the rest of him was sure and was quite overjoyed about it too. “I guess I could crash on the…”, Heero began to comment but was cut short. He found himself in two unusual situations. First, he found that Relena’s lips were pressed tightly up against his own; second, Relena’s body was on top of his. “Relena…”, he gasped as there lips separated for a moment, “what are you…” Heero was split in two; his mind told him he couldn’t do this with her but the rest of him had been aching for it. “No… Relena… we…”, he began to half heartedly protest in a pant.

Relena wasn’t letting up though. She even began to moan a little bit in satisfaction as she ran her hand through that untamable dark hair of his and then began to slowly undue his tie. All the while landing a unyielding barrage of kisses on his mouth. ‘He wants this’, she assured herself, ‘all guys want this. It’s just a matter of time before he caves.’ She started removing the white jacket she wore, revealing the white dress shirt underneath, “just think of this as a holiday bonus”, she offered before resuming her attack on his mouth.

His right hand began to slowly roam down the curve of her hip while the other clung onto the back of her head and began releasing her black bow, freeing her long blond hair from the reserved ponytail that imprisoned it. ‘No, bad hands!’, he silently chided himself, ‘If I don’t stop this now I’ll lose control… uh… this feels so good. She’s so soft, so beautiful, uh… I want this, why can’t I just let go? Why can’t I just let myself have her?’ His head was spinning in a sickening whirlpool of fear, doubt and bliss; he could barely think. ‘On the count of three’, his mind finally decided, ‘1… 2… 3…’ Heero immediately focused all of the concentration he had left to his hands which he ordered to push his disrobing employer off of him. His hands responded, though still reluctantly, to the order like lightning.

Relena was thrown to the other side of the couch but because a slight miscalculation on Heero’s part she hit it harder then anticipated and gracelessly rolled off it and onto the floor; were she lay shocked in a jumbled heap. ‘What is he doing?’ she angrily thought to herself. She looked at Heero’s face for an answer. He was gasping for breath and staring at her wide-eyed; she saw fear, Heero Yuy was afraid. She looked over the rest of him, and noticed how his tie was mostly undone; and that her white jacket lay crumpled up near his feat. ‘What am I doing?’, she asked herself as she realized the answer in horror, ‘was I..? oh my god… oh my god…’

Heero stared at Relena who was looking back at him in surprise from the floor. Something about the sight of her, all sprawled out like that, tangled up in her own hair turned him on even more. He knew he had to get out of there, now; “I should go”, he weakly choked out as he shot up off the couch and began hastily redoing his tie.

“No, Heero… don’t go!” Relena pleaded as she tried scrambling to her knees, she didn’t have time to get to her feet.

Heero, still wide eyed, was still backing out of the room with haste; “goodnight Relena.”

“Heero, no, I’m sorry… Please, I…”

Heero slammed the door behind him as he retreated out of the room. ‘Damn, how could I be so stupid?’ he cursed at himself as he speedily walked through the hallways of the presidential manner, ‘I hope nobody saw us.’

Relena dragged herself to her gloomy bedroom, tears streaming down her face. She didn’t even bother to change before throwing herself, haphazardly, onto her empty bed, she didn’t care; she could have curled up and died and she wouldn’t have cared. She had never felt more alone in her entire lifetime; she’d been rejected by one of the few people she had felt close to, the one man she could honestly say she loved. What was wrong with her, why did she have to do that? She knew that she basically ruined their friendship; she’d be lucky if Heero ever spoke to her again. ‘What’s wrong with me?’, she cried, ‘why doesn’t he love me. Aren’t I pretty enough? Aren’t I smart enough? Why!’ Relena just continued sobbing alone, in her dark room, her own tears drenched her long golden hair and face. Tyler’s words spun around her mind in continuous replay; again and again like a broken record:

“And if there were someone like that in this world he wouldn’t want to be with a self-centered little bitch like you!”

[zipdos]

Woah!!!! Poor Rel!!! Come on Heero wake up already!!!!!!!! Never mind!!