Notes: Does anyone actually remember me or this fic?
I?m taking a break from the other fandom I?ve dabbled in. Thought it would be nice to go back to my alt. pairing roots?
The long (and I mean that in every essence of the word) and most probably forgotten awaited chapter to PAC has finally arrived. To refresh your memory, I suggest you read the other chapters first, but you'll have to do a search for them
Pros and Cons
written by: Nausica?
for Wicked
Chapter 3: Double Take Part II
Watching behind the darkened lenses of her sunglasses, Relena let her eyes wander where they would, the protection the glasses provided freeing her of inhibitions. A quick once-over only goaded her on to a more in-depth analysis.
Quatre Raberba Winner, to put it into simple terms, was eye candy of the finest kind.
Platinum hair streaked lovingly by the sun blew back from a high, intelligent forehead, the golden strands lifted by the ocean breeze. They beckoned to Relena, tempting her to run her fingers through the softness they only hinted of. And as if in response, the tips of her fingers began to tingle, the ticklish sensation soon spreading to the palms of her hands. She immediately dug her nails in to quell the rebellious response, aghast at her reaction. She was not going to do something so? so? well, brazen. If she were to do that, she may as well just throw herself at him, for goodness sake. What on earth would Quatre think if she did such a crazy thing?
Hussy. Slut. Relena on speed. Yeah, that?s what he?d think.
Still? It was a close fight, Relena?s newfound awareness nearly overpowering the now dwindling voice of propriety still whimpering in the back of her mind. But lose, it did. Only Relena knew how much that loss disappointed her, and the sole consolation given was that for this short day, she would be able to indulge with her subject so tantalizingly close at hand.
With his back still presented towards her, Relena ran her eyes down the strong column of Quatre?s neck. She imagined she could see the fine hairs gracing it being lit by the afternoon sun, each sliver of hair illuminating like tiny pinpoints of light. As her eyes went lower and were met by the blinding whiteness of his shirt, Relena closed her eyes and continued her mental ravishment of the Winner heir. She could almost see the hairs continuing down his back. Down, down, down it went... She smiled dreamily, her inner romantic momentarily breaking through. It would make a delicious contrast to what must be a splendid back, a delightful creation of flat bones and smooth muscle coalescing into a tempting plane made only for the pleasure of touching and stroking. The hairs would make his back smooth to the touch, but the muscles ? that could be plainly seen through the shirt (Relena had checked) ? would negate all doubt that it was a man?s back. Hardness versus softness.
Damn it, where was that drink?
Relena popped her eyes open. Good god, what was happening to her? She was drooling over a friend?s back. How low can she possibly go?
Lower still, apparently, for upon looking back at Quatre, Relena?s eyes came on level with his ass. Her mind went blank.
His? his?
Sky blue eyes went unfocused, their gaze crossing slightly. Relena swallowed audibly and almost painfully forced herself to blink. Hmm? no amount of words could accurately describe what she was thinking then.
On second thought, it was probably safer that way.
Hard as it was, Relena did manage to tear her eyes away. Skimming the rest of Quatre?s lower half and finding the same tautness and muscled definition in his legs, Relena decided that if she was going to stand the rest of the day in his presence without doing something scandalous, she would have to look at him indirectly. Thus convicted, Relena turned her head away ? only to be met with Quatre?s calm face staring out at her from a short distance away.
She just barely caught the scream that jumped to her throat.
?Hey, Princess, look who?s on the cover of Times,? a teasing voice announced. The large hand that held the magazine moved, indicating that Relena take it. ?Quatre Raberba Winner: The Man Behind the Name. Pretty snazzy, huh??
Still recovering from her near faint, Relena took hold of the proffered magazine. She smiled up at her grinning friend. ?Sure is, Duo. Where?d you find this? Is it new??
Nodding excitedly, Duo made himself comfortable beside the stolen princess. Sprawling his legs out and bracing his arms behind, he leaned conspiratorially towards Relena. ?I got it over at that stand we passed on the way down here.? He gestured lazily in the direction from where they had come. ?I would?ve completely missed it if it weren?t for the red shirt. Look at him, Rel. Our Quatre?s finally all grown up.? Laughing at his own humour, Duo failed to see the pink that crept over Relena?s face as she gazed at the picture and then at the real thing.
You don?t know how right you are.
?Take a look at the other shots of Q inside,? Duo suggested. He tapped the cover. ?Quatre?s a born playboy.?
With her curiosity piqued, Relena flipped the glossy pages until the magazine opened to reveal another arresting shot of her friend. Relena?s eyebrows shot towards her hair. Duo hadn?t been kidding; Quatre was a natural with the camera.
The picture in question had captured Quatre in mid-action, almost as if he swung around just in time for the flash. Relena?s wide eyes took in his clothes. Dressed in a blue, semi-cowl neck ribbed sweater with his customary light blue vest and tan trousers, Quatre looked the part of a confident, wealthy man. No chunky gold and diamond ring winked off his fingers, or Armani suit for him ? though that didn?t mean he didn?t have a closet full of them. Quatre just didn?t feel the need to flaunt his wealth. It wasn?t as if he had to make up for something else.
And just what that something else was just another thing Relena didn?t want to think about.
He?s a friend, he?s a friend, he?s a friend. Relena drilled the phrase into her head as, having turned the page, she was arrested by a shot of Quatre by a pool. He wore nothing else but a pair of swim shorts and a smile. Relena gaped.
?See? What?d I tell ya? Born play boy.? Laughing over her reaction, Duo stood up. He extended his hand to her, palm up. ?If you?re done drooling over him, I?d like to show the others. I especially wanna see Wufei?s reaction. If it?s half as good as what I got from you ? er, minus the salivating part ? it?ll be worth the beating I?m sure to get.?
The magazine was thrown at his smirking face, accompanied by a smothered, horrified scream. Duo?s smile only grew wider. Oh yeah. He?d noticed the Peeping Tom act. After peeling the magazine off his face and thankfully finding no paper cuts, Duo beat a tactful retreat.
Best to give her time to cool off, he thought. But even he couldn?t help looking back to check if she was watching him leave.
Relena didn?t watch Duo leave. With her hands clapped over her beet-red face, she shook her head crazily. Duo saw! He knew! But most importantly: Who?s he going to tell?
?Oh, who cares who he tells?? As far as she was concerned, her life was over.
?Who tells who what?? Quatre was back.
Whipping her head around, Relena smiled brightly up at him and fought off dizziness. ?Nothing, Quatre? I was just talking to myself.?
Shrugging, Quatre settled himself next to her on the sand. He handed her the long-awaited drink and watched as Relena unceremoniously chugged half the glass?s contents down. He laughed.
?You?re lucky Paygan can?t see you right now. He?d have a fit.?
Lowering her glass and licking the last tangy drops from her lips, Relena raised her eyebrows. ?Not like there?s anyone to impress with my courtly manners. Do you mind??
?Not at all. In fact, I kind of find it refreshing.?
?Refreshing?? Relena couldn?t help but be curious. ?You like women who can take that much in their mouth at one time??
Hm. It was too late to take that one back. Relena burned red from the neck up as Quatre had a timely coughing fit.
?Uh? that came out really wrong.?
Too much the gentleman, Quatre sought to change the subject. A few tense seconds were spent casting about for a safe topic of discussion.
?So? how are Milliardo and Noin??
?How?s the business??
They?d both spoken at the same time. Relena was the first to recover.
?Oh, they?re doing just great. Married life really suits them both. And you??
Quatre gestured. ?Nothing much. I could probably be gone for a month and come back to find the whole thing still running smoothly.?
?But you wouldn?t leave for that long anyways.?
?No.?
?Not even for something special?? Relena hoped she wasn?t too transparent.
?Like what?? For all his grown up lifestyle, Quatre was still surprisingly innocent. It was a characteristic that Relena found extremely endearing.
?Like? say? a girlfriend??
?A? girl? friend?? Quatre acted as if he?d never heard the word before. Relena rolled her eyes.
?You know? that special lady in your life? Possibly going by the name, Dorothy?? At this, she bumped shoulders with him, eyebrows raised.
Quatre?s expression cleared.
?Oh? a girlfriend, girlfriend.?
?Yes, a girlfriend, girlfriend. What did you think I was talking about?? Relena took a sip of her drink and waited for him to answer.
?You. You?re my girl friend.?
If Relena had been facing him, Quatre would?ve now had a sopping wet shirt. Luckily, Relena only watered the sand in front of her.
?M-me?? was that her voice going all high and squeaky? Relena wanted to die.
?Yeah, you?re my friend and you?re a girl.? Quatre laughed. ?I was just teasing you, Ms. Relena? but to answer you, no, I don?t have a girlfriend, girlfriend ? and Dorothy does not count.?
?But I thought you two were close. You? aren?t??
?Business-wise, we?re close. I?m guiding her through the running of her own business. Aside from that, we?re only acquaintances, really.? Quite unconsciously, Quatre raised a hand to his side and rubbed it.
Relena stared. What an idiot she was. How could she forget the past they had shared? She shifted her eyes away.
?We don?t talk about that. It?s a mutual agreement.?
?How in the world did you know what I was thinking?? Regardless of how free she felt today, Relena knew she wouldn?t have said her present thoughts aloud. ?I never said anything!?
Quatre chuckled and gave her a sidelong glance. ?Despite the nature of your profession, you?re not that great at being secretive, Ms. Relena. I saw where your eyes went and you blushed. Doesn?t take a genius to figure it out.?
?Oh.? She managed to hide her pout behind her glass. There were times that she forgot that Quatre Winner had piloted one of the five infamous Gundams. His peaceful, quiet personality never seemed to mesh with the idea of war and guns and destruction. Not at all. She looked back at Quatre to see him polish off his own drink. He nursed the empty glass for a moment, his eyes faraway.
?Maybe? if things had been different back then,? he trailed off with a sigh and a shrug. He turned towards Relena. ?If things had been different, who knows??
Relena made a thoughtful sound as they both looked back at the ocean. Quatre had never struck her as someone who would keep a grudge, but maybe grudge wasn?t an accurate description for his situation. Rather, it was more like a lack of trust between two enemy soldiers forced into a wary truce. He had fought for his own ideal, made his own choices, and Dorothy had fought for her own. Both had fought for what they thought was right, and war, being in its true form just a painful ? and oftentimes, deadly ? game of tug-of-war, managed to claim their blood.
Yes, there was mutual respect for what they had both experienced, sacrificed. But Relena supposed that there would always be the memory lingering in Quatre?s mind ? of him being on the receiving end of a thrust meant to kill ? when looking a Dorothy Catalona.
Still?
?Time heals all wounds, Quatre,? Relena said softly. ?And it?s something that we all have now in abundance, thanks to you and them.? She looked at the other men. ?It also changes people, if there?s a will and a reason.?
Quatre was silent for a moment before he slowly shook his head. His low chuckle warmed her. ?If I didn?t know any better, I?d think you?re trying to set me up with Dorothy, Ms. Relena.?
?Relena,? on impulse, she laid her hand on his shoulder. ?Just? Relena.?
Before she was able to take her hand back, Quatre captured it in his own. He cocked an eyebrow before slowly pressing a chaste kiss to her hand. Relena felt the soft brush of his eyelashes against her skin and wondered at the thought that old-fashioned heroes still existed. They were few and far between, but when they popped up, like Quatre, they really took her breath away.
?Thank you? Relena.? Quatre tried the sound of her name sans title. ?I?m very glad to have spoken with you.?
?So am I.? And she meant it wholeheartedly.
?We should do this again sometime.?
?I?d love to.?
He was still holding her hand. She noticed but didn?t pull away. She was quite content with having it right where it was.
But unfortunately, she wasn?t the only one to notice.
The white ball landed not a foot from the pair, a spray of sand announcing its arrival. Shielding her face from the spray, Relena only heard the troublemaker?s voice.
?Damn, Q-man, I?m impressed. You sure know how to play the ladies.?
?Duo,? Quatre picked up the ball and tossed it back to his approaching comrade. ?You have excellent timing, as usual.?
Reaching the seated pair, Duo Maxwell stood for a moment. He moved his mischievous gaze between the two before suddenly slapping his hand against the ball.
?Of course I do. But speaking of time, I think it?s time we played some volleyball.? He turned and began walking towards Heero and Wufei. They were busy erecting the net. When he heard the sand shift behind him, he called over his shoulder.
?Oh and, please don?t hesitate to get yourself a little wet, Rel. The sand?ll stick to you that much better.?
Despite his outrageous comment, Relena couldn?t help but laugh. Only he could possibly get away with that.
?Just for you, Duo,? she called back. ?I?ll get my ankles wet.?
Notes: And? that only took me ? what ? 2 and half years to write? No. I?m not gonna lie. I got stuck on this story, and it took changing fandoms and getting stuck on those stories for me to get back to this one. It really helped, actually. I finished this in 2 hours.
You might?ve guessed, Duo?s chapter is up next. I?ve got about a page and a half written, and with his personality, I?ve got plenty of fodder to work with.
On the off chance, if anyone's wondering if this fic is on ff.net, I'm under a new name, the blackestfaery.
Hope you enjoyed this, and Merry Christmas to you and an advanced Happy New Year!
I loves it very muchly and I have a new found appreciation for Quatre because of it. *grin*
, please update soon!
. Actually, I'm very much anxious to see Trowa's chapter. Tee hee hee. *grin* G'luck with the next one. I'll be waiting (as patiently as I can). [random flying notion]Duo? Motorcycle? Ahahahaha! 
Yey.[/random flying notion]