A/N: First full-length story I posted in quite a while and I wrote this thing for a Gundam Wing Fan Group that reformed on Discord earlier this summer. I volunteered for their Secret Santa project and took the opportunity to write down a fantasy that had been in my head for a few years. A fantasy that wasn't exactly related to Gundam Wing, but for the sake of this project, I decided to build this story around that.

I figure to let everyone know that this type of songfic is a Playlist fic, and what I mean by that is I will be posting a link of songs that were used in this story. I will also make the courtesy of making the disclaimer that I have no ownership of any of the songs in this fanfic, nor do I have any ownership of Gundam Wing or any related elements of Gundam. Now without further ado, I give you, Angel Eyes

Christmas Party Playlist: https://music.amazon.com/user-playlists/8db2a4f246764acaaa2a314d0d0dcc13sune?ref=dm_sh_4265-0135-25e4-ccec-649e0

It was cold enough to snow in New York City, but it didn't fall heavy enough to create a blizzard, just the right amount for Relena to compare it to a postcard as her black limousine trekked its way to Carnegie Hall where she accepted an anonymous invitation to be the guest of a fresh young billionaire. Normally she would've laughed off an invitation as someone who was a demented stalker, but the person who invited her to the Christmas Show at Carnegie Hall hinted an incident where a birthday invitation had been ripped in half. The most shocking part was that the pieces of said invitation were contained in the envelope that held the invitation. With Relena's curiosity getting the best of her, combine with the fact that she had two weeks’ vacation coming up from her political career, what else could she do but accept an invitation from a mysterious stranger? Hell, two years have passed since she was rescued from being a political prisoner and the person, she thought about was still a stranger to her.

The limo made a stop in front of the giant Carnegie Hall building at seventh avenue in New York City, and for such an old building it amazed her to see that there was a big single-file line of people waiting outside in the falling snow waiting for the doors to open. But in Relena's case, a theater usher had opened the door for Relena to let her out and make her the first person to make an entrance. The humble girl she still was, Relena could not help but feel sympathy for the people who complained about her being able to go in early while people where still waiting outside the cold.

"Ah Ms. Peacecraft," Relena turned her head after she heard the voice of the building manager. "I imagine that your trip on the way here was a safe one?"

"Yes sir, everything was fine," Relena replied with a smile and then asked. "What time are you letting people in? There are people outside waiting in the cold."

The manager nodded in understanding, "I can assure you that we will be letting in the public in ten minutes, we just let you in first to guarantee your safety. Our regular patron of this theater insisted that we do so."

'Regular patron?' Relena thought to herself as she followed the manager upstairs to a room that contained a rack full of empty hangers, one of the ushers helped Relena off with her black overcoat and helped her to her assigned seat. Accepting an offer of hot tea, Relena was left alone to take in the beauty of the currently empty theater and seats. Everything looked crisp, white, and the lighting was still so beautiful even after 150 years of it still standing in New York City, even with all the conflicts that happened two years ago.

Relena used the relative silence to think about everything that happened after those two years, all things considered, it comforted her to know that her efforts to prevent another war from breaking out on both Earth and Space. Biggest accomplishment on her part from this year, was the successful negotiation of a space colony that wanted to be independent from the planet, Relena and other world leaders had volunteered to be mediators to help out the peaceful transition of giving the colony independence. If anybody still had memories about how and why both Earth and Space were at war in the first place, Relena and her Gundam pilot allies knew it first-hand. Deep in her thoughts, she was startled by the sound of a spoon tapping a ceramic teacup. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Relena turned her head and her eyes quickly widened to see a familiar figure that she hadn't seen in one year, that time passed, and she still felt her breath leave her when he still looked the same in appearance, but she could tell that he likely grew a few inches taller since she last saw him. His face in particular, still looked the same as she last saw him, albeit he had traces of a 5 o'clock shadow, his hair had actually gotten longer by the length of his neck, but his eyes were still the same color of midnight blue to which she was always drawn.

"I insisted to the manager that I deliver your tea personally," was the first thing that came out of Heero's mouth as Relena accepted his offer of the teacup and saucer. "Figured you would accept it from someone you can trust."

Doing her best to keep her hands steady on the teacup, Relena was still eyeing Heero looking straight back at her. Heero, still having the mind of the Perfect Soldier, could tell that Relena was having a wave of shock from not seeing him in one year. He waited a few beats until he finally said "What, you think I was going to let you attend this show by yourself?"

Relena should've refuted that she was actually waiting for someone to attend the show with her, but with her memory flashing back to the moment when Heero tore that invitation in half, right in front of her, she quickly realized that the person who put that torn invitation into the envelope of her Carnegie Hall one, was the young up-and-coming billionaire that had somehow cracked the code on options trading without losing a single cent of money.

"Heero?" Relena finally asked. "You're the one who invited me to this show?"

The regular Carnegie Hall audience was making their entrance, but Heero and Relena ignored it, as the former Gundam pilot finally sat himself next to the lost daughter of the Sanc Kingdom. "I wanted to prove to you that I could learn to live without just relying on your support."

"What are you talking about?"

"When me and the other Gundam pilots helped rescued you from the loyalists of Treize, I thought of when Wufei fought to prevent me from re-entering the Earth's atmosphere, about how he feared that this era of peace would bring an end for the need of soldiers. I knew what my mission was, I knew that me rescuing you was the only way to make sure that we did not go into another year long conflict, but what other purpose could I have other than protecting you?"

"If that was why you left, you didn't have to, I would've been more than willing to share the burdens with you,"

"I know you would have, but I needed to adjust myself to this new world I had a hand in creating...that we created," Heero corrected himself after Relena put one of her gloved hands on Heero's bare one. "Regardless, there's not enough apologies I can give you to let you forgive me, I deserve every ounce of contempt for walking out on you."

Every word that came out of his mouth was the truth, she could hear that the pain of him being away from her was painful, combine with the fact that she saw Heero's eyes adopted a much warmer shade of blue. The angelic touch of her gloved hand on his face was the first part of her forgiveness to him, but she topped it off by saying "You don't need to apologize. We were both still so young. And while I knew what my path was, it would have been foolish to expect you to know the same. Not after all you have been through."

Heero heard the gentle sincerity of her forgiveness, and he gave her a gentle smile to show her how much he appreciated her forgiveness.

They began to feel the year that passed by for them vanish into thin air, because Heero knew that Relena was still willing to open her arms to him and let him realize that he didn't go through life all alone. There had been a few minutes of comfortable silence that passed by the young pair right up until they heard the first few notes of the Carnegie Hall orchestra play the rehearsal notes of the concert happening that night.

"Thank you for inviting me to this show, Heero," Relena whispered low enough for him to hear.

"It'd be a good way to have our first reunion together, and a good way to celebrate my first ever Christmas with the new life I have for me, and me inviting you was my way of wanting you to be part of that new life."

"I would be more than happy to be part of that new life, Heero," Relena said before Heero gently lifted her out of the balcony seat to join the crowd in welcoming the headlining band to perform with the orchestra for a series of songs that were old and new standards.

The theater broke out in applause as the headlining band walked regally to the stage, there had been a total of eleven members of this band (7 male, 4 females). The group picked up their musical instruments, ranging from guitars, keyboards, and two drum kits. Relena recognized the band instantly, "They're performing with an orchestra?"

Heero nodded, "They put out a new Christmas album around late October, but not an ordinary Christmas album."

To assist Heero in helping Relena explain what type of Christmas album the headlining band was performing, the orchestra began performing the opening notes of an old song from the Pre-After Colony years of the 1960s.

Nice and Easy: Relena's eyes widened at the first song of the evening being performed, it wasn't a Christmas carol, not even remotely close. If anything, it should've been a song reserved for Valentine's Day, but the band performing the first cut of their new "Christmas" album, they were electing to give out a performance of songs that could give the public a break from every rendition of every Christmas song on the planet. Relena's thoughts about this performance were interrupted when the crowd clapped in applause after the band finished the song, and the next few minutes involved the leader of the band thanking the entire Carnegie Hall audience for being part of the performance, and what she didn't know until just now, was thanking a big-name television network for broadcasting their concert live on TV. Being featured on TV had always made Relena feel disconcerted, but Heero whispered to her that the cameras would focus only on the band and not on her.

Theme From New York, New York: The band was ready to perform the next song, this time focusing on one that was used as a theme for a movie that came out in the 1970s, the audience applauded the use of the song, a lot of the natives of New York City immediately felt right at home as the band sung the song. Some people, Relena included, took note of the lead singers strong voice being used at the tail-end of the song and Relena even heard the audience chuckle when the singer changed the last part of the bridge "I want to wake up in a city that never sleeps, and find I'm a-number one, top of the list, King of the Hill, you get the jist". The song reached its end, and the crowd gave another appreciative applause, another few minutes passed by as the lead singer explained the details of their album being a collection of standards and songs that aren't standards. The next song the band would perform was originally offered to legendary crooner Nat King Cole, but overtime became a standard in Country and Western music.

It's Just a Matter of Time: Relena took a listen to the lyrics and at the chorus, she thought of her first moments with Heero, when he ripped in half her birthday invitation. She still remembered how she naturally teared up at the rejection, but when Heero wiped one of her tears away, she smiled at the fact that there was still the warmth of a human who had been raised in anything but a warm family environment. Being with Heero now, she was already looking forward to a future where she could help lead him away from the darkness. The crowd broke out into applause when the song finished and the male lead singer had introduced the audience to one of the females of the group, who was also his loving wife. She would take the lead of the next song that the band and orchestra would play.

That's All: The song began with a very gentle saxophone solo being played to introduce the song, and when the female began to sing, Relena and the rest of the audience were captivated by her angelic voice, and the band watched in awe at how the male and female looked at each other as the female sang the song to her husband. A second sax solo followed, and Relena just noticed herself taking occasional glances at Heero and how relaxed he was looking at the band performing such a beautiful song.

When I Fall in Love: the male lead singer took over the singing of this standard and when a synthesizer solo began to play followed by the string orchestra performing their own solo, Heero did not fail to notice, thanks to his peripheral vision, that Relena was taking occasional glances at him. Normally, it would've made him uncomfortable to be gawked, but the warmth of the performance and the need to prove that he was trying to be a different person to her after their last encounter, he gently wrapped an arm around her shoulder to let her lean into him. An invitation that Relena silently accepted as she took in the opportunity to hear his heartbeat for the first time.

We Must Be Loving Right: the couple did not join the audience in applauding the band for the performances for the rest of the night, but Heero and Relena listened intently to the rest of the concert being played out. "Some folks got nothing but trouble, so little joy in their lives," for two young people who grew up around war, it was a huge understatement. But Heero and Relena had enough friends, who believed in having a world full of love, to help navigate through a wave of people who wanted nothing, but bloodshed and anarchy.

Luck Be a Lady:  The band began to perform a song that had made their mark in the theater scene, and Heero could not help but give out a smile on how stupid his luck had been during his time as a Gundam pilot. And in hindsight, he could credit 45% of that luck to the woman leaning her head on his chest. Given the circumstances this song was more about giving the audience one of the album's few upbeat songs that the band was offering.

I'm Beginning To See The Light: Another upbeat song about finding light at the end of a dark tunnel, a fairly short song that didn't give enough time for Heero and Relena to think about, but the song was happy enough to make them enjoy it. The next song that would play, was much slower and more introspective for Heero and Relena to think about.

Something Stupid: Relena silently recognized the song as something that was previously used as the theme song for a movie that she saw during one of her free times from work. It involved a widow affected by a tragedy that happened in New York during the pre-After Colony era. The widow was falling in love with a much younger woman who had been affected by her own family dramas, she remembered how the couple heard this song in the movie and how it became the theme of breaking down their walls and letting their souls back into the world of true love, age-gap be damned. But in Relena's case, being next to Heero in such an intimate way, she could tell Heero how much she loved him. But she was scared to ruin this moment and she decided to keep her mouth shut.

One Night At A Time: The band explained to the audience that Something Stupid and the current song that they played were part of a story of the protagonist finding a way to declare his love for the girl. The bands lead singers were displaying beautiful singing abilities with the female lead singer doing some gorgeous background singing to accompany the lead singer. But Heero instead took note of the lyrics for the current song and how he thought about making his life as an options trader and how building up that life was all for her. Having Relena resting her head comfortably on his chest, he felt happy that building his life to this night was all worth it for him.

Stardust: Heero and Relena partially didn't pay attention to the band explaining that someone would take over singing duties for this particular song. The pair noted that the singer had a raspy voice that would've fit in the blue-eyed soul genre. But the way he sung this beautiful piece, it made Relena think of a time in mid-October when she couldn't sleep one evening and used her rare moment of quiet to walk around the city that surrounded her castle. In the center of her city nestled a wide grassy park with cobblestone sidewalks and the only lighting this park had been only housed outside this park that contained a big tree and waves of green grass. Walking around that one evening, she was able to find a park bench, a few feet away from the giant tree, but enough distance to give her a view of starry night sky. Looking at the moon and stars, she remembered making a wish to not exactly ask for Heero to come back to her the next day, but to keep him alive and hopeful that she could see him again someday.

Right On The Money: The band broke into a more upbeat song about mature marital bliss, Heero and Relena mutually agreed that the song was actually cute and adorable in terms of the lyrics and how the band was celebrating couples having successful romances of all kinds.

The Way You Look Tonight: Another upbeat song was being played by the band, the lyrics described Heero's thoughts about how Relena was looking for that evening, Both of them were in matching tuxedos, but Relena own version stood out with the tuxedo coat being the color of lavender, the long shirt underneath, was a silk white color that could've easily flowed with the wind blowing outside. But above else, Heero could still see that Relena still had that smile she wore in the all the times he's known her. It was her way of knowing that she was working very hard since the end of the two-year conflict, and still kept her ability to smile.

Time After Time: This song wasn't the 1980's pop standard, instead it was another song written in the late 1940s, the intro words were enough for both Relena and Heero to look in each other's eyes throughout the entire song. Relena felt a tear trickle down her face and Heero instinctively wiped it from her cheek as they smiled at each other and knowing that they were happy where they were at right now.

Love is Here to Stay: This song was more upbeat, but Heero was beginning to realize that some people, either sitting next to the couple, or looking from the other side with their opera goggles, were staring at him. He heard some awes, sighs, and 'oh aren't they cute?' comments from the crowd. He should tell them to shut up, but he did not want to embarrass Relena in the process. Plus, it gave him time to simmer down and realize that the observations from the crowd were mostly harmless. He decided to just let it go and enjoy the band and hold Relena at the same time.

Dreamy: Feeling himself fully relax and enjoying the feel of his new lover resting her head on his chest, Heero did not want to think of anything else but the music that the band was playing that evening.

Sunday Kind Of Love

  Something Goin' Down

  I Don't Mind I Do

  I'm In The Mood For Love

  Same Old Story

  Crying For Nothing

  Someone To Watch Over Me

  Misty

  My Funny Valentine

  If Tomorrow Never Comes

  For The Last Time

  Two Shots of Happy, One Shot of Sad

 Angel Eyes: Before this song started, Heero nudged Relena to lift her head from his chest, "From this song on, they're going to be performing sad songs for the rest of the night, if you want, we can leave after this song, and I'll take you back to my place."

"Why do you want to leave now?" Relena asked.

"Because I'm feeling too happy to have my mood be dampen by some sad songs," Heero replied as they exited their seats and began to make their way out of the theater. "You and I have been feeling something all throughout this show and it's time I let you know my true feelings for you."

Hearing him say those words, Relena could do nothing but nod silently as Heero draped her black heavy coat over her tuxedo, and Heero soon draped his own heavy coat over his tuxedo. He soon took her hand into his and requested to the front usher to call a self-driving taxi to take them home. In an act of chivalry, Heero first put Relena in the passenger’s seat before he got onto the driver's seat and transport the couple to his penthouse near Central Park.