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Disclaimer: I don’t own Gundam Wing and am making no money off of this fic.
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Finale by luvsanime02
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Relena doesn’t know whether to be thankful that New Year’s Eve still feels like a big deal to her or just tired.
She is tired, actually. Relena’s been on her feet all day. It might be the last day of the year, but to her, it was business as usual. She went from one problem to the next, not even stopping for lunch. She can’t remember if she had anything for breakfast other than coffee.
Dinner was some reheated leftover Chinese that she found in her fridge and hope was still good. Food poisoning would not be the best start to her new year.
Not that she’s having a great ending to this one. The little headache that she could feel looming all day finally struck, and now, the laughter and cheer around her is like knives digging into her skull.
It figures. Relena has only herself to blame, really. She could have taken today off. She could have eaten more than once. She could have taken a break, could have let herself relax, could have enjoyed the holiday with her friends instead of silently resenting that she has to be here.
She doesn’t, not really. But there’s absolutely no way that Relena could slip out the door without at least five different people stopping her first and making sure that she’s okay, and Relena honestly wouldn’t know what to tell them.
Relena loves her friends. She loves New Year’s Eve. Maybe it’s silly, but she still gets excited the closer the countdown gets to the start of a new year. Usually, she’s filled with hope. The year before was exhausting and grueling, and she just wants a break, but surely, the next year will be better. That’s what she always tells herself. The next year will be better.
This year, Relena’s having a difficult time selling herself that lie.
It’s not that her life is awful, really. It’s just that she’s so tired. Forget today, Relena feels like she hasn’t stopped moving in years. Not really. Not in any way that matters.
She should make a new year’s resolution to stop pushing herself so hard.
Snorting under her breath, Relena grabs another flute of champagne. The drinks are the only part of this night that Relena is going to remember fondly, and that’s not fair. To herself or her friends. Even now, everyone is giving Relena her space. Usually, she’d be with everyone else, sitting on the couch and playing games and laughing, but right now, just the thought makes her want to scream.
Relena would wonder what’s wrong with her, but she already knows. Stress, lack of sleep, lack of a love life, stress, lack of water, a headache the size of Texas, stress.
Everyone’s staying away for now, but they’re still giving Relena worried looks out of the corners of their eyes, and Relena wants to reassure everyone that she’s fine. Wants to smile and shrug her shoulders and explain away their worries as nothing.
If she doesn’t loosen her grip, Relena’s champagne glass is going to shatter.
Relena takes a deep, quiet breath. She takes another. She drinks some champagne. She drinks some more. She wonders when the hell breathing became so damn hard, and can’t remember.
Maybe the new year will be better than this one, maybe not, but one thing’s for sure, Relena can’t have another end of the year like this one.