"Heero! Why don't you come over and eat something? You must be hungry."
He glanced over at Relena from where he stood, leaning against the single tree on the open plain facing the ocean. He had been looking out at the sea for a long time by then—somewhat under the pretense that he was 'keeping watch' over the area for any curious passer-by's—and so her sudden interjection surprised him somewhat.
Up to that point, Relena had been content to sit at the foot of the same tree, reading the latest ESUN parliamentary budget report with her white flats casually kicked to the side and her feet dug into the grass below. Obviously, however, after an hour of such dry reading, the young diplomat had tired of it; now she looked expectantly at Heero as she squatted down near the picnic basket she had packed for their day out.
He consented after a moment of considering her smiling gaze, though he remained standing as she withdrew the two sandwiches she'd made earlier that morning, handing him one with a single, raised eyebrow.
"Aren't you going to sit down?"
Heero nearly frowned at the question, but her probing stare made him relent. He sat cross-legged next to her under the shade of the tree, his eyes relaxing as the sunlight reflecting off the ocean waters subsided a little. He took the sandwich from her, and almost reddened at her blinking, eager expression as she waited for him to take the first bite.
When he did, and his expression didn't change, she looked so crestfallen that he forced himself to reassure her.
"It's good."
Her eyes brightened so quickly that it took him by surprise, and he was equally startled when she gave him a grateful kiss on the cheek.
The gesture, however, somehow relaxed him, and he allowed himself to sit closer to her, and even run his fingers through her long bangs. She leaned into his touch with pinking features, and when his hand left her face, a contented smile remained stuck to her lips. She ate her sandwich without complaint afterwards, looking back down at the report between bites.
Heero, on the other hand, could hardly keep his eyes off of Relena, and though he tried not to make his staring too obvious, it was more than evident what was on his mind.
He remembered how she had pled with him for the past month to make time for just a short daytrip to the Mediterranean and enjoy the sun, air and water; and he remembered how strongly he had resisted the idea of just such a trip, given her busy schedule, the lack of security associated with it, and his own affairs as assistant head of recruitment for the Manila mission at Preventer headquarters. Everything about the proposal just seemed so poorly thought out and impulsive that Heero had to wonder if Relena had been unwell when she'd suggested it in the first place.
But, as he had learned since his return from his year and a half in the wilderness of Southeast Asia, he was weak to her requests, especially those that afforded the two more time alone together. He had spent so long away from her, and trying to forget what he felt for her, that it now seemed as though his mind was consciously rejecting any efforts he might make to keep them apart at all.
A palpable, if not at times overwhelming, sense of longing for her plagued him—and the knowledge that his attachment to her had grown so strong disturbed him more than he was willing to admit.
Yet as he watched her daintily nibble on the tomato, cheese and spinach sandwich—her light brown hair secured into a ponytail by a large teal bow, a yellow cardigan draped casually over her shoulders, her bare toes wiggling among the blades of glimmering green grass—somehow, all his uncertainty about those feelings dissipated, and he found himself once more completely comforted by her presence.
In fact, it was not unlike the sensation that had struck him on that warm evening in April, when he saw her again for the first time in so many months; even though her bright blue eyes had been discoloured with anger and shock at the time, being back in her presence had calmed him like nothing else had in a long while.
After a moment, Heero took the small, pink notebook that rested at Relena's side, examining it as she looked at him curiously.
"Heero?"
He ignored her questioning gaze, perusing through her handwritten notes on the budget that she had taken earlier. He couldn't quite understand why she continued to prefer using the book over the tablet supplied by ESUN; then again, there were still many things that he didn't understand about Relena, even after so much time in close contact with her. Seeing her jean-clad legs splayed out in front of her, her tablet balanced lopsidedly on her right thigh, he took the opportunity to lie down next to her, resting his head against Relena's other, unoccupied leg.
She jumped a little in surprise at the sudden move; soon enough, however, he felt her leg relax, and even warm at his closeness. He continued to glance through her notes, though his browsing was admittedly absentminded.
As the minutes passed in silence between them—the only sounds being the occasional tap of her nail against her tablet screen and the soft ocean breeze gently blowing across his reclined body—he felt himself succumb to sleep.
Relena paused, sensing his breathing slow; and then, with a smile, she looked out towards the sea, shading her eyes from the burning rays of the sun.
YOU ARE READING
Slow Burn
Fanfiction[Gundam Wing A/C; a 1xR series of vignettes post-Endless Waltz.] He had always been conscious of the fact that she—Relena Darlian Peacecraft, Queen of the World—loved him, and him alone. And yet that was the problem, since he could never give her wh...
