Amidst the soft clinks of glass, Heero himself is the one to offer a more proper toast: "Yes, happy second anniversary."

"Is it traditional to make a large celebration out of the second anniversary?" Wufei asks after they've all sipped. He must have caught the eye Catherine has just given him out of the corner of his own, because he turns to her almost immediately and says, "I am not questioning the validity of this. I'm asking strictly out of curiosity."

Heero sees the waggle coiling to unleash itself in Duo's brow, the clever irritation on his tongue, and he gives Duo a preemptory kick under the table. At the contact, Duo turns to him, his eyebrow rising with affrontery and an unwarranted but somehow charming semblance of dignity. His mouth remains closed, at least, with the good sense to leave it at this, just between them.

"I could understand last year," Wufei is going on, oblivious to his near-encounter with Duo's wit, "when it was your first," he nods to Trowa and Quatre, "and our tenth," and now he gestures inclusively around the table with his drink before raising it to his lips. After a swallow, he bends and says something to Catherine that only she can hear, and she visibly relaxes against him.

Quatre and Trowa are already relaxed against each other; they are, it seems to Heero, always relaxed against each other. Even before they became a couple officially; even before they became what the others had thought of as an unofficial couple. It hasn't always been there, of course; Heero can remember a time when they had been as prickly as he and Duo had been in the first days. Well, he reevaluates with a quick internal grin, maybe not quite as prickly. But not dovetailed, not like they are now. What he can't remember is when that transition happened with them.

Not that it really matters. What matters is what they have now. The road of how they got here is important, of course, but really matters only to them.

He tunes back in to the conversation just as Duo is asking if they ought to have the group reunion on a different date next year, so Quatre and Trowa can have their own special day.

"No," Trowa says, and Quatre elaborates, "We like having you celebrate with us. You are all a part of this, what we're celebrating." The two of them grin at the rest of them, and when they have everyone grinning too, they kiss, Trowa and Quatre do.

The evening has gone on, not worn out, maybe just worn in. Comfortable. Heero looks at Trowa and Quatre, finds himself watching them, studying them a little, the way they're leaning into each other so that in this light, the lines that separate them from each other blur, they bleed into each other softly. Heero watches them, the easiness of their intimacy, not careless but carefree, not thoughtless but instinctive.

Sensing a gaze turning on him, though not from either of them, Heero shifts his own away. He turns to find Wufei and Catherine, apparently in the middle of a debate about whose turn it is to lead. After a moment, Wufei puts his hands up in surrender; Cathy takes one in hers, settles her other at his waist, and begins to rhumba him backwards.

With a smile and a shake of his head, Heero turns back to the table, to the heated and moronic game Duo and Trowa are engaged in, which seems to involve bouncing a coin off the table and into one's own drink. Trowa is playing it cool, leaning back in the booth, his non-playing arm slung around Quatre while he bounces his coin: it hits the rim, then falls back to the table.

"Ah, too bad, too bad." Duo shakes his head at the miss, then focuses on the opportunity it has afforded him. He leans forward, eyeing and measuring, tongue tip curled up behind his upper teeth in open-mouthed concentration. He aims -- he fires -- with a soft splash, he hits his target.

"Ha!" Duo exclaims, and, "Yes!" He grins his triumph, and Trowa concedes defeat with an easy smile before receiving a kiss from Quatre that starts as sympathy and slides into something more tender.

"I think I'm going to take off now," Heero announces, sliding out from the booth to stand.

"Oh, must you so soon?" Quatre asks, breaking the kiss, and Duo chimes in a protest.

"It's quarter to four in the morning," Heero points out with a grin.

Trowa checks his own watch; Quatre can think of no valid argument. "Well," he says finally, a hint of frown still showing, "but we'll see you soon, right? Before next year?"

"Yes," Heero assures him. He reaches for his back pocket, but Quatre waves him off and with a gracious nod, Heero leaves his money clip where it is, thanks them for the wonderful evening, and again congratulates them on their anniversary. Wufei and Catherine arrive from the dance floor; Heero offers his hand to Wufei, who accepts with a shake, and to Catherine, who pushes it aside and comes in for a hug. And then it's hugs all around, from Duo next, and finally from the happy couple themselves.

"Hey," Duo says as Heero starts to turn away, "I'll walk you out."

They go together, neither saying a word, an easy silence.

At Heero's car, Duo hugs him again. The embrace is not careless but carefree. "Good night, man. See you when I see you." Easy, easy grin.

Heero smiles too.

"Hey," he says after Duo has taken a few strides away. Duo stops and half-turns back. "I was thinking maybe we could try that Olde Cuban place tomorrow. I hear they make a mean mojito."

"Yeah, that's a great idea!" Duo enthuses. "I think everyone will still be in town. I'll tell the guys."

"Yeah," Heero says; and then, a lot of thought, "Actually, I was thinking maybe just you. And me."

"Yeah?"

Heero nods.

Duo grins. "Yeah," he says. "Yeah." Grins more, and Heero grins back, instinctive.