You can hardly
wait to tell all your friends
How his kisses taste sweet like wine

"Dotty-chan, guess what?" Relena cries as she leaps into her best friend's arms. Dorothy's knees buckle under their combined weight, and the two fell to the floor. Relena's cheeks are flushed and she props herself up on one arm.

"What is it, Miss Relena?" Dorothy's calm, sweet voice asked. She looks at Relena's bright eyes and smiles.

"He kissed me!" Relena bubbles.

Dorothy feels as if she had been slapped. She composes herself and carefully pastes a cheerful face on. "How wonderful. You've been waiting for this for a long time, haven't you?"

Relena giggles and pushes Dorothy's shoulder gently. "Dotty-chan, don't be so silly. Of course I have! Ever since I met him!"

"So what was it like? Kissing, I mean, " Dorothy idly brushes a strand of Relena's gold hair over her own platinum on the ground. She glances up at her best friend.

"Oh, " Relena gushes. She gets a faraway look in her eyes and twirls a curl around her fingers. "It was amazing. His lips were so soft and sweet. "

"Well, I'm glad for you, Miss Relena, " Dorothy says curtly as she stands up, "but I can't sit and chat with you in the dirt all day. "

Relena watches her leave with a curious expression on her face.

And how he always
makes your heart skip a beat
Every time he walks by

Duo had no reason to doubt that Hiiro and Relena were getting serious. He often saw them in the garden, taking long walks and talking. Still, up until now, they had never done anything. That's why it hurt him so much more that they had kissed. And not twelve inches in front of his face, at that!

'Who does Relena think she is? Just because she *was* the Queen of the World gives her no right to rub my feelings for Hiiro in my face, ' Duo thinks. She had simply waltzed into his life, taken all that was worth living for, and waltzed right back out. Or rather, danced around with it in front of his very eyes, parading her win over his loss.

Quatre tried to console him, but what help was he? He and his lover were obviously no virgins. The sounds at night proved that. Duo refused to talk to any of them, even Wufei, who was single, as well.

Duo sits frozen on the couch, watching the news flash by without paying them any mind. He is more acutely aware of the stoic pilot walking around behind him.

Hiiro coughs. Silence reigns for a few minutes before he repeats the move. Duo refuses to turn around. "Duo, look at me, " Hiiro commanded.

Duo hesitantly turns his head. "Oh, I didn't notice you there. I was busy finding out about the problems on Earth's region of Asia, " he feigns nonchalance.

"Duo, the news ended ten minutes ago. You're watching Barney, " Hiiro points out. Duo feels himself blush. "Duo, what's wrong? You aren't acting normally. Wufei hasn't had to tell you to shut up for almost a week now. "

"So maybe I'm becoming more mature! Geez. Besides, it's not like you ever notice me to begin with, " Duo huffs and heads back to his room. Hiiro looks after him with a puzzled sigh.

And if you�re feeling down
He�ll pick you up

Relena tells Hiiro all about Dorothy's strange behavior. She repeats their conversation word for word to him, and still they can't find an answer. They snuggle together into a deep divan in Relena's sitting room and fall asleep.

Half an hour later, the door to the room swings open and Dorothy steps in. She is holding an envelope and letter from Lady Une. They are both marked 'Urgent. ' Dorothy scans the room for Relena and spies them on the divan. She finally puts her arm down and leaves the room, laying the letter on a table near the door.

In Relena's office, the phone begins to ring and ring. After about thirty rings, the phone stops. At the other end of the line, Duo sighs and places the phone back on the carrier. He runs a hand through his bangs and leaves the room.

He�ll hold you close when you�re makin� love

Dorothy lies in bed trying to ignore the sounds of pleasure seeping through the walls. Relena squeals suddenly and all is quiet. Dorothy sits up in her bed and puts her ear to the wall, trying to see if they are really finished. After a few minutes, she lies back down, convinced that they have.

She tries to imagine what it would be like to have Relena as her own. Her mind imagines the way her skin would feel and taste. Suddenly, the bed in the other room hits the wall and startles her. She sighs and realizes that she'll never get her. Her eyes sting with tears as the squeals and groans begin again.

He�s everything
you�ve been dreaming of

The next morning, Duo calls over the vidphone in the kitchen. He looks really angry and the other pilots are in the background. Dorothy watches as he completely reams into Hiiro for not returning to the headquarters the night before. Relena stands up and her eyes flash in anger.

"Now you see here, Duo Maxwell, " she starts. "Hiiro doesn't have to answer to you, and where he spends the night has absolutely nothing to do with you. If it does, kindly inform me ahead of time and I'll give you a reservation!" Relena stands self-rightiously in front of the vidscreen in a floral nighty and house shoes.

Duo's jaw falls open and he gapes like a fish for a few minutes. Then he gets up and leaves the link open for the other pilots. Wufei growls and follows Duo. Trowa gently pats Quatre's arm, then leaves in the direction of the garage.

Quatre finally moves to the screen. He sits down and folds his hands in his lap neatly. "Miss Relena, I hate to disturb you, but around ten o'clock last night, we recieved urgent news. Had Hiiro been home, we wouldn't have had to complete the mission on our own, " he states cooly, then reaches up to disconnect the link.

Oh baby...
I wish you�d look at me that way
Your beautiful eyes
lookin� deep into mine
Telling me more than
any words could say

Dorothy smugly looks on as Hiiro blanches. He races to the drawing room and pulls up his computer. A full mission report comes up, and he moves quickly through the stats. It had been a hard battle, with forty percent damage to the Altron, and HeavyArms, thirty to the Sandrock, and sixty to the Deathscythe.

He frowns and flips through the enemy count. It would have been an easy battle if he had been there. Relena gently lays a hand on his shoulder as he begins to shake. He looks up at her with horrified eyes, the realization of what their one night could have cost him.

Relena puts a finger to his lips and sympathetically strokes his cheek. No word is passed, and yet Dorothy can hear their conversation in her mind. She glares at the flowers on the sill of a window, willing them to wilt. With a huff, she storms out of the room.

but you don�t even know I�m alive...
Baby to you all I am
Is the invisible man

Duo sits on his bed silently. He doesn't acknowledge that the others are speaking to him, or that they have even entered the room. His amethyst eyes stare disbelievingly at the plain wooden chest of drawers across fromhim.

Wufei silently places a comforting hand on the braided boy's shoulder. Duo throws it off, glaring at him in contempt. "Duo, " Wufei murmurs.

"Wufei, you don't know what it's like, " he interrupts. "Please, leave me alone. "

The Chinese boy stands up, nodding. He heads a worried Quatre out of the doorway and gently shuts the door behind them.

You probably spend
hours on the phone
Talkin� �bout nothing at all

Duo playfully shoves Quatre around in the kitchen of their house in the background of the vidscreen. Relena begins to look cross and yells out behind Hiiro. The two pilots in the kitchen suddenly stop and Quatre turns around to the screen.

"Now you see here, Relena Peacecraft, " Quatre mimicks. "Duo doesn't have to answer to you, and what he does at his own home has absolutely nothing to do with you. If it does, kindly inform me ahead of time and I'll give you a right to care!" He even mocked her pose from the day before.

Relena frowns sharply at him. Hiiro turns around and glares at Quatre. Duo snickers at Quatre's joke, and Hiiro loses his temper. He grabs Quatre's collar and picks him up. Trowa is walking into the room and sees him. He drops the groceries he is carrying and pulls him away.

"Get away from him, " Trowa's voice is dangerous. Hiiro backs up and faces the vidscreen. Relena watches Trowa check to see if Quatre's neck is bruised.

"No, Trowa, it's my fault, " Quatre admitted. "I provoked it. "

Trowa looks confused. "What do you mean?"

"I mocked her little speech from yesterday, " Quatre looks at Trowa's hands in shame. Trowa 'tsk's at him and he blushes. "But I was angry! She was bossing us around like we were her slaves instead of her bodyguards!"

"Come on, Little One, and we'll leave them alone. Aparently someone hasn't gotten over her little 'Queen of the World' bit, " Trowa glances up at Relena's image in the vidscreen and escorts the two boys out of the room. Hiiro watches them leave and looks back at the spilled food on the floor.

"I'll call back later, " Relena suggests, seeing his worried expression. He shakes his head and they continue their conversation.

It doesn�t matter
what the conversation
Just as long as he called

Dorothy frowns at the vidscreen from across the hallway. The entire scene makes perfect sense to her, even if it didn't to Relena and Hiiro. They were too wrapped up in each other to mind how anyone around them felt. Poor Duo felt exactly the same as she did.

She silently muses over what to do before settling on a plan. She goes up to her room to wait for Relena to get off of the phone.

Lost in a love so real
And so sincere

Relena hangs up the vidphone and leaves to find Dorothy. When she sees her, she smiles. Dorothy frowns back and brushes by her. Relena pauses, puzzled. Dorothy glances back at her and shuts the door to the sitting room behind herself.

She brings up the vidphone and dials the Preventers' number. Hiiro picks up and sullenly greets her. She asks to speak to Duo and his eyes open wide. He yells for Duo and leaves the room.

"Duo?" Dorothy asks when the braided boy comes in.

"Dorothy?" he replies. "What do you want with me? Wouldn't you rather pester Quatre?"

Dorothy shakes her head in exasperation. "Duo, I know your problem, " she says suddenly.

"Problem?" Duo repeats.

"I saw everything that happened today, " she says gently.

"You did?"

"Yes. "

You wipe away each others tears
Your face lights up
whenever he appears

Hiiro and Relena are in Relena's sitting room again. Hiiro had been caught up in the moment, and hadn't been back to headquarters in a few days. They finally realize this and he reluctantly leaves her to go back.

When he gets back, it is dinner time. The other pilots are eating at the kitchen table, a cozy meal for four. There is no fifth space set. When he tries to talk to them, he realizes that they hadn't cared that he was even gone. Even Duo pretends to be suprised that he hadn't been in.

Hiiro's face shows a little discomfort. He asks how everything had gone while he wasn't there.

"Fine, " Duo replies and turns back to a conversation with Wufei. Hiiro looks at them for a minute and heads back to his room. Duo stares after him and smirks a bit.

I wish you�d look at me that way
Your beautiful eyes
lookin� deep into mine

Dorothy is sitting at a laptop in the drawing room when Relena enters. The smaller girl seems to be in her own world as she tries to talk to the taller one. A small smile graces her lips and she pours her lovestruck heart out to the other girl.

Dorothy shuts the laptop with a defined 'click' and looks confused. "Miss Relena? I had no idea you were there. I'm so sorry. You were saying?" she asks innocently. A hurt look crosses her friend's face and Relena shakes her head.

"It wasn't important. You probably wouldn't want to hear it anyway, " Relena replies.

Telling me more than
any words could say

In his room, Hiiro stares disbelievingly at the far wall. He looks almost depressed that his friends hadn't noticed his absence. As he sits there unresponsive to the rest of the world, the phone begins to ring in the living room. After a few rings, it stops, and there is a hesitant knock on the door.

Quatre peeks his head in. "Hiiro, it's for you. It's Miss Relena, " the small blonde says. Thinking a bit, he adds, "Pass along my apologies for my behavior. "

Hiiro nods and goes into the living room to pick it up. When he pushes the vidscreen button, he sees Relena in tears. They converse for a while and Relena tells Hiiro that Dorothy has been ignoring her. He tells her that Duo has been ignoring him, and they both contemplate theories, secretly knowing the answer to each other's problem.

Finally, Relena breaks the silence. "You need to talk to him, Hiiro, and I think if you can get him to confess, things will be better between you, " she softly says. Hiiro looks confused and she smiles sadly. "I think Duo loves you. "

He turns to shut down the connection, but Relena stops him. "Hiiro?" she starts. He spins around. "Hiiro, you're not going to be my boyfriend anymore, are you? If Duo admits that he likes you? Because you feel the same, don't you?"

His eyes are soft as he touches her face on the screen. "No, I won't, " he says. "But you'll have Dorothy to help heal your brokenheart. "

The connection is snapped off mutually by the ex-lovers.

But you don�t even know I�m alive
Baby to you all I am
Is the invisible man

Six Months Later

Duo's laugh echoes over the room as he tries to drag a tuxedo-clad Hiiro over to a table. His own lavender tux is wrinkled from exertion. The stony pilot continues to resist before chuckling a bit and relenting.

Nearbyfriends of theirs from the war all look on in amusement and awe that the braided boy could open Hiiro up enoough to laugh aloud.

Trowa and Quatre are sitting in a secluded booth, exchanging words, kisses, and drinks whenever they thought no one was watching. The couple shyly avoids any questions and continues to flirt. Trowa smiles a sliver of white teeth and Quatre giggles loudly, covering his mouth with his hand.

Wufei is sitting with a few other Preventers, drinking. They all laugh quietly as Sally and Noin brush noses, whispering to one another. Zechs's death had been extremely hard on Lucrezia, and Wufei was personally glad she was recovering. Sally had helped him settle into a home in their homeland, and they remained close friends and neighbors, but that was as far as their relationship went.

There was a heavy pounding on the door and Rasid opened it widely. Relena and Dorothy stood in the door. Duo's antics suddenly ceased and he let Hiiro's arm drip limp against him. Several of Quatre's Maguanacs raced forward and took their coats.

The room seemed almost silent as they walked over to Duo and Hiiro. The click of their heels was audible over the crowd. Relena took Duo's hand in her own. She leaned in close and whispered in his ear, "You stole him from me, so it had better be worth it. " Duo grinned at Dorothy, who gently took Relena's arm and led her to talk to the other pilots.

~OWARI~

^.^ I liked writing this one, despite all the writer's block I get while writing it! Hoped you liked reading it!

^.^ PS- As for the couples, I just kind of always see it as happening like this. I don't think Wufei and Sally made a good couple at all!