Notes: chibi fic in honour of Duo and Heero's wedding on 29th May!
"Guess what! Guess what!!" Quatre came running into the garden at top speed, stumbling over his own feet in his excitement. Duo looked up from the sandpit, where he was happily ensconced with Heero, making castles. Heero, busily adding grass blades to their latest effort for a portcullis, ignored the excitedly shrieking blond boy, placidly continuing with his careful work.
"What?" Relena skipped over from the swing set, the frilly pink ruffles of her play-dress bouncing in the summer breeze. Dorothy trotted after her, white-blonde hair flying about her flushed face, trying to coax her friend back to play.
"My sister's having a wedding!" Quatre squealed, bouncing up on his toes and clapping his hands. "And I'm going to be a ring-bearer and wear a suit and Iria's going to wear a white dress and there's going to be a great big party with dancing and cake and sweeties and music!"
"Ooh!" Relena and Dorothy squeaked in excited unison as Hilde and Cathy bounced over, crowding round the boy and tugging at his little cotton shirt. "Will there be flowers? And candles? And a band? Can we come see?!"
Hearing the commotion, Trowa poked his head out of the hedge, where he'd been investigating a rabbit-hole. Seeing the girls mobbing his friend, he wriggled out of his hideaway and trotted over to rescue him from the imminent cooties. Wu Fei, curled up with a picture book in a patch of sunshine, grumbled to himself and stumped over to the sandpit, plopping himself down and starting to dig a hole. Heero immediately gave him the evil eye.
"Go 'way."
"You go away." Wu Fei stuck his nose in the air and grabbed Heero's spade, enlarging his hole.
"Hey!" Heero glared at him some more, folding his arms sulkily. "We're playing here. You go away." Wu Fei ignored him, beginning to mould lumps of sand around the edges of his pit.
"He's scared of the girls," Duo stage-whispered delightedly to his friend, giggling. Outraged, Wu Fei immediately flung a handful of sand at him.
"They have cooties!"
"Hey! You're not s'posed to throw sand! That's bad!" Duo's eyes teared up and he vainly swiped at the gritty stuff on his front. Now Sister would be mad at him for messing up his clothes�
"Bad," Heero echoed with a scowl, helping Duo brush at his sandy t-shirt. "C'mon, Duo, let's go on the swings." Dragging his friend to his feet, he set off towards the swing-set on stumpy little legs. Halfway there, though�
"Heero!" Relena shrieked delightedly, glomping onto his other arm. "Come and play!"
"Hn." Heero scowled at her, tugging vainly to try and free himself. "Play what?"
"We're playing weddings!" She beamed at him, bouncing in place. "We're going to be guests, and Quatre's going to be the minter!"
"'S a minister," Duo corrected her loftily, still trying to brush sand off his front. "An' ya gotta wear black an' talk long words like 'dearly b'loved' an' stuff. I seened Father do weddings, I should do it, not Kat."
"Yay!" Relena, diverted, lunged for Duo and dragged the protesting boy into the midst of the group. Heero, feeling rather miffed to have been so suddenly forgotten, followed warily. After all, everyone knew that girls were scary; they had cooties and did strange things and giggled. Of course, Duo giggled too, but Duo was Duo. Maybe it was the long hair that made them giggle, that might explain it. Except Hilde had short hair, and she was just as giggly as Duo� He hovered on the edge of the group, trying to be in-con-spick-you-us the way his father had taught him.
"I want to be the minster," Quatre was protesting tearily, his bottom lip quivering. "I can say it! I went to Auntie Shara's wedding before! Holy mattermony and you gotta say you do! I can do it!"
"Okay okay!" Duo gave in hastily as Trowa glared at him, tugging at Quatre's arm to try and quiet his incipient sobs. "You can be the minister but I wanna play too!"
"You can be the brideroom!" Hilde bounced over, grabbing his arm and beaming at him. "Coz you know whatta say! You be the man an' R'lena c'n be lady!"
"But I want to be a bridesmaid!" Relena wailed, clutching her pink skirts "Milliardo said I could be his bridesmaid when I'm growed up an' I want to practice!"
"Duo should be the lady." Unnoticed, Wu Fei had crept up to the group. He sneered at Heero and sidled out of range of his fists. "Because he looks like a girl!"
"I do not!" Duo lunged for the Chinese boy, but Heero grabbed onto him and held him back.
"Don't you be mean, Fei," he ordered mulishly, glaring.
"Yeah!" Dorothy grabbed onto his arm gleefully. "Wu Fei can be my escort to the wedding, 'cause I'm a lady!"
"I'm not playing girl games!" Wu Fei tore himself away, muttering to himself, but didn't leave the group.
"You don't have to be a girl to get married," Cathy said quietly, hovering behind her brother. "Mark and Johnny the trapeze fliers are married."
"Cool!" Hilde bounced onto her toes, spinning a pirouette. "Duo an' Heero can be the married, an' Lena the bridesmaid!"
"I don't want to get married," Heero protested, but Duo, getting into the spirit of the game, dragged him into the centre of the circle.
"It's just pretend, silly," he reassured his friend eagerly. "Quatre, you gotta stand there, and Trowa b'hind you. Hee-chan, c'mere�"
"Wait wait wait!" Relena, skirt bundled in grubby hands, dashed off to the hedgerow to pull a handful of leaves. "You've got to have confetti!"
"Come on!" Duo stamped one foot sulkily. "I gotta go home soon!"
"Ready!" Relena dashed into position behind him. "Go on, Kat!"
"Hokay." Quatre cleared his throat and straightened his shirt nervously as the rest of the children fell silent. "Dearly belovered�"
"They've got to hold hands," Trowa pointed out quietly from behind him.
"Oh yeah!" Quatre picked up Duo's right hand and Heero's left and smooshed them together. "There! Dearly b'loved," he began again, "we are galloped here in, in the garden, to make Heero an' Duo be married!" There was a burst of excited applause from the audience as he paused, and Relena dropped a curtsy, giggling.
Quatre turned to Heero. "Do you Heero take Duo to be married?"
Heero scowled blackly, and Duo nudged him. "Say yes!" he hissed.
"�yes�" Heero mumbled, squirming and trying to pretend that this was a mission he had to complete. He was a good soldier, he could do it�
"Yay!" Duo cheered, echoed by the gaggle of girls behind him.
"An' do you Duo take Heero to be a husband?" Quatre turned to him excitedly.
"Yes! Yes!" Duo bounced in his place, braid flying.
"Yeah!" Quatre cheered. "Now you gotta kiss him!"
There was silence from the pair in question, as the girls broke out into peals of bubbling laughter.
"Um�" Heero tried to pull away, back-pedalling quickly, but Duo was faster, yanking him to a standstill with an iron grip on his hand. Heero gulped as his friend's face suddenly got a whole lot closer. He was sure he must be the same colour as a tomato by now�
Heero's face screwed up into a grimace as Duo leaned forward and shyly pressed his lips to his friend's. The next moment the braided boy was stumbling away, blushing and giggling. Heero wiped his mouth frantically as the girls and Wu Fei burst into gleeful laughter.
"Now we've got to have a party!" Relena shrieked, dumping her handful of leaves over the top of his head. Scowling, Heero ruffled up his hair to try and dislodge them. Duo had been drawn into the bouncing group of girls, so he wandered back to the sandpit alone, finding Wu Fei already there, painstakingly putting the finishing touches on a tall sandcastle. Heero plopped himself down in the sand beside him, reaching for his bucket and spade.
"Girls are silly," Wu Fei pronounced deliberately, concentrating on his new masterpiece.
"Yeah." Heero scrubbed at his mouth again, making a face, and began to build his own fortress. Behind them, at the kitchen window, Sister Helen and Mrs Darlian sipped their tea and smiled indulgently.