Dates - Part 1 by Maaya
Standard disclaimers apply

Hilde POV

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I wanted to kill him.

Scratch that.

I wanted to castrate him with a spoon and force-feed his balls to Heero. Why a spoon, you might ask. Well, a spoon is dull and it would take a very long time to use it for that kind of purpose. Much better than using a sharp knife if you ask me. I was never one to show mercy whilst being angry, I guess.

Now, though, I might as well have to thank him.

Damnit.

I lay on my stomach in the small (and not very comfortable) bed I kept in my apartment and glared at the small, plastic cell-phone that lay beside me on the mattress, as if I really expected it to come up with an excuse and an apology to give me all by itself. The thought was absurd, I know, but seemed realistic at the time. I had bought the cell-phone from a guy in the repair shop for only two pounds but I regret it now. 'In perfect condition' he had said and smiled in what he seemed to think was a persuading manner. Now, afterwards, I snorted at the thought of that the phone had ever been in a perfect condition. Not very likely, if you ask me.

To cheer myself up, I let my thoughts wander until they met the pleasing memory of mine and Relena’s kiss. God, how nervous I had been, and confused at the same time. Duo had quickly disappeared and it hadn’t taken me long to understand that it was intentional to leave us alone like that. I knew I shouldn’t have told him about my secret admiration of Relena.

Relena and I had parted after the kiss, with promises that I would call her later. It was because of the press – she knew as well as I that the reporters would probably have come up with an ‘exceptional’ and ‘intriguing’ story about how the vice foreign minister sneaks out of her hotel to meet an old friend of hers.. or was it girlfriend now?

I growled at myself and tried to sort everything out.

Okay, one. She responded to my kiss.

Two. She wanted me to call.

Three. She smiled at me.

Four. She didn’t slap me.

It just has to be good, doesn’t it? So, do I have the right to call her a girlfriend now?

Rolling over to lay on my back, I sighed up into my bangs so that they became tousled against my forehead. They were always that way, both when I was in zero-g and when I was not. They just seemed to ignore all laws of physics, for the mere purpose of lying in as unnatural angles as possible.

“Cut it Schbeiker!” I told myself firmly, and the loudness of my own voice almost made me jump. “Just call her and sort everything out ‘together’ with her!”

I glared at the phone again. The perfectly clean.. thing, seemed to mock me and I snarled at it, knowing all too well that the plastic cover would fall in two parts as soon as I got my wits together and decided to finally pick it up.

What’s wrong with me? I had just kissed the girl of my dreams and she hadn’t slapped me, but kissed me back instead and the only thing I felt was frustration.

Wasn’t I supposed to fly and bounce in happiness?

Don’t get me wrong – I was happy all right, but I think that the fact that we had parted so soon afterwards made me feel like this.

Kiss and part huh? Not exactly my style.

Actually, I’m not sure what my style really *is*, since I haven’t been together with anyone for a very long time, neither boy nor a girl. Still, I feel like I wanted to stay with her just a while longer.

Is that too much to ask?

Okay, I admit it. I was nervous. Just don’t go and scream it to the whole wide world, okay? Being nervous makes me cranky, and that is probably the reason to why I am being so depressed right now.

A bang fell down into my left eye and I lifted an impatient hand to wipe it away.

I wonder if she is feeling the same.. if she is sitting at whatever meeting she is having right now and dreams about me..?

I really, really hope so.

And now I am being a complete sap.

I finally reached out and grabbed the phone with one hand and dialed Duo’s number. Not too surprisingly, the cover broke in the edges, but my hand prevented the parts from falling in two.

It suddenly hit me that there were three sixes in a row in Duo’s number and in that moment I seemed to find it very amusing – since it was the devil’s number. By the time the signals were heard, I lay on my stomach again, clutching it with a hand in a pathetic try to stop the laughter way. You know what? Laughing is great when you’re nervous. Never mind that it was for a pathetic reason.

One signal..

Two signals..

“Hi, this is Maxwell’s automatic cell phone-answerer. If your name happens to be Relena or Hilde, please give a message after the ‘sorry..’”

I didn’t know whatever I should laugh or cry.

“Duo, stop it.” My voice sounded harsher than intended and I could imagine how he winced, closing one eye and having a pained expression in his face.. sometimes I think I know him all to well.

Thankfully, he stopped.

“Um.. Hi, Hilde. Everything okay?”

I didn’t answer his question immediately, mostly because I’m evil, and I wanted him to float in uncertainness for at least a while longer. “You didn’t really have a plane to catch, did you?”

I heard him snort in the other end. “Of course I did. You know me – I never lie, it’s just that.. well.. the plane doesn’t leave in the next hour..”

“So you are still on the airport?”

“You could say that, yes.”

Now it was my turn to snort. “You are an idiot.” I didn’t really feel angry, but.. but.. I don’t know. I can’t explain how I felt. Nervous, I’ve already told you. Uncertain? Helpless? Too happy than I had ever imagined that I would ever be?

“Hey, it was Heero’s idea!” He replied in defense of himself and I lost the thread for a moment when I realized what he had just said.

“Heero’s!?”

“Yes, Heero-the-matchmaker. Kinda makes you question whatever you really know him or not.”

There was a moment of quietness before Duo spoke up again, now sounding far more serious, and almost.. gentle. He seemed genuinely curious, however.

“Hey, Hil.. did everything turn out okay?”

I sighed softly. “Yes, I.. kissed her and.. she kissed back.”

I can swear that I heard a relieved sigh at the other end of the line.

“Phew. That’s great news. Why do you sound so sad then?”

There, I hesitated for a while, since I understood that my reply would probably sound very darn stupid.

“I.. we.. parted at the hotel. I promised to call and.. I’m not sure what I should say.” The last words were blurted out in a sudden rush of words and it felt like they tumbled over each other in the haste.

It got quiet again and I knew without doubt that I had taken him by surprise.

“Who..” He said after a while. “Who are you and what have you done with Hilde Schbeiker?”

“Duo, you know it’s me.” I said impatiently and frowned. This really wasn’t a time when I wanted to hear him joke. “Stop, I’m serious.”

“How many socks of mine did Hilde discolour during the war?” He asked, dead serious, but I knew that if I could see him, his eyes would probably sparkle mischievously.

I sighed. “Three.” Are men ever completely serious in important things? Things that don’t involve gundams, I mean.

“Okay, I believe you. You really *are* Hilde.”

“Thank you for your trust.” Rolling my eyes, I snorted as loud as I could so
I would be certain that he heard me. What? He can’t see my eye-rolling so somehow he has to understand that I was sarcastic. “Now, can you *please* help me a little? Should I invite her for a date?”

“Sure, why not?”

“Well..” I was growing impatient by his lack of help, and I’m sure that it was heard in my voice as I continued. “Where should we go then? A coffee-shop? Club? Museum? A park?”

“Why not give her a tour in London?” He interrupted my rambling by saying. “Tell her to dress casually so she won’t be recognized. Visit Madame Tussauds, Tower Bridge, buy an ice-cream, take a walk in a park somewhere.. I don’t know! Just do *something*. It’s not what you’re doing that is the important, it’s that you doing it *together* that is!” He paused, and when he finally continued, he spoke in a much quieter and calmer voice. Actually, he was whispering. “Uh, Hilde? People are beginning to give me weird looks, I think I have to go now..”

I, being the evil woman and friend I am, laughed at him. “Sure.. and Duo?”

“Yes?”

“I really hate to say this.. but thanks.” I wasn’t sure if I thanked him for leaving me and Relena alone, or for cheering me up right now or if I thanked for both, but I could hear the grin in his voice as he answered.

“No problem Hil. Bye.”

“Bye.”

It clicked and became quiet in the other end of the phone and I pushed a button on my own cell phone before throwing it to lie on the pillow at the end of my bed. The cover finally parted in two, but I decided to ignore it for the time being.

A tour in London.

It was actually a rather good idea – not too wild and not too calm. The thing about an ice-cream sounded good too. An as in ‘one’ ice-cream.. if I suggest that to Relena, she’d probably blush. She’s just too adorable sometimes, isn’t she?

I lay there on the bed for a while, occupied with the thought of a sweetly blushing Relena dressed in that skirt and blouse with brown stains on. I wonder if she really realized that the stains were there. I giggled at the thought. Poor Relena – walking around in London with a dirty blouse.

What do I actually like with Relena? I asked myself and stared up at the ceiling. It had exactly three spots, probably from moisture or something like that.

Well, she’s nice and thoughtful. Smart and has a way with words to make everything sound as good as possible. I also have this feeling of that she understands me, the way I think I understands her. When we met, she told me that I was brave, but she is too. Very much so.

Furthermore, she’s good-looking and pretty. Somehow, she keeps a special kind of innocence, even though she has experienced two wars, and I admire her for that.

Standing up, I tousled my bangs even more with my hand as I lifted them to cool my forehead off. It is always warm in my apartment for some reason and it gets on my nerves. One day I’ll probably walk around naked in here. Laugh all you want, but it is a real possibility.

I went to looks at myself in the bath-room mirror.

My appearance hasn’t changed very much through the years. Okay, I have grown and I have filled out more, but despite that I’m mostly the same. My hair had the same colour and I keep it in the same style as I had during the war. My face was only the very slightest bit thinner than before and my eyes are exactly the same. My ears were pierced since a while back, I pierced them at the same time as Duo did it with his tongue, though I only have one pair of ear-rings; gold-coloured ones, but I suspect that they are really made of some kind of cheap metal. Fancy jewel isn’t exactly my style.

I decided to finally call Relena. I held my breath when I dialed the number and didn’t dare to let it out as I waited for an answer.

The first signal had barely made itself hear when someone answered in a breathless voice. “Yes?”

I hesitated. “Relena?” My voice sounded stifled when I finally allowed myself to breath again and I wanted to hit my head against the wall. I sounded stupid, plain and simple.

“Hilde?”

“Yeah, it’s me. How are you doing?”

“Fine, the meeting has just ended.”

“It lasted for two hours?! How did you survive?” My earlier nervousness had vanished into thin air as I had found something to talk about. Now I felt good.. really good actually. I could remember our meetings at *my* job. They usually lasted for about fifteen minutes, until one of the guys realized that there was something they were missing on TV, or that a football game had just started, and we had to end.

“Don’t know.” She groaned and laughed at the same time. “It killed my back and neck to sit straight like that for two hours. Can’t understand why they refuse to buy new chairs.”

“Your butt must be really numb.” I laughed. “Poor baby.”

“You’re teasing me.” She remarked calmly.

“Yes, I am. Jokes aside, are you up for a date? Tomorrow?”

“Sure.” I’m certain that she sounded happy. “When and where?”

“I thought about giving you a tour of London.” I paused to see what her reaction was, and it didn’t disappoint me.

“Really? That’d be lovely! Where should we meet?”

“How about if I pick you up outside your hotel? Two o’clock, if that’s okay by you?”

“How should I dress?”

“Casually.” I told her and grinned. I’m not sure why, but it felt as if it was really ‘Relena’ to ask about such a thing, especially since the only thing we were going to do was to walk around in London. “Jeans and a t-shirt are fine enough.”

“Understood.” She paused. “I’ll probably be climbing down the fire-escape.”

Okayyy.. fire-escape. ‘Nothing strange with that, huh?’ I thought ironically to myself. Everyday thing, sure. I didn’t say that though, instead I decided to voice my confusion with a mere. “Why?”

“If I’ll go through the lobby, they’ll recognize me.”

“Oh.” I didn’t have to ask who ‘them’ were, since it was obvious that she meant the press. It hit me that she was like a prisoner in her hotel room, like a modern Rapunzel. “And then the whole world would know about us.”

I hade made it sound like a joke, but there was an underlying question in it. Holding my breath, I waited for her answer.

“..then there is such a thing as ‘us’?” I couldn’t read the tone she spoke in. Was it fear? Hope? Happiness? Embarrassment? All of it mixed together?

“I hope so.” I told her uncertainly. “I know it came to you rather sudden.. but I have liked you for a very long time. Well, I have at least admired you for a very long time.” I wasn’t sure when that admiration had changed into something deeper, but Duo had seemingly noticed.

“It came sudden.. but it helped me to sort some things out. I want to try.” Her voice was calm enough for me to grab onto some of it and I relaxed slightly.

A new and strong feeling of happiness filled me, akin to the one I felt earlier today when I kissed Relena, and I felt how a stupid smile stretched out wider and wider in my cheeks. “Maybe there’ll be an ‘us’ after tomorrow.”

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TBC

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