Smells Like Teen Spirit
by Shannon the Twisted Link Worshiper

(x) X (x)

Game 27
Getting Better

(x) X (x)

The next day found Trowa hunched over the garden that was beginning to bloom in front of his house, a garbage bag half-full of weeds sitting next to him as he went about the tedious task of pulling the tricky, green devils out from amid the flowers and bushes planted there. The weather was finally beginning to warm up and for the first time that year, Trowa was able to go outside without a scarf and coat. Dirt was crusted beneath his fingernails from all the digging he’d been busy all morning with, a light sheen of sweat slick across his skin from the menial labour. Pausing a moment for a quick breath, he heard the telltale sound of the front gate’s creaking hinges, alerting him that someone was approaching.

“Duo?” Trowa looked up from his weeding at the tall, longhaired mechanic suddenly looming above him on the brick path leading up to the front door, a plastic sack filled with what appeared to be candy in one hand. “What’re you doing here?” he asked, standing up and beating his dirty hands on the thighs of his torn jeans. “I wasn’t expecting you to come back until next Sunday to work on the Cooper.”

Duo seemed a little stand-offish and nervous, constantly shifting his weight from foot to foot and weaving his fingers into his thick, chestnut-coloured hair as he spoke. “I... uh, wasn’t intending to make a work call today,” he said, his head turned towards the house as he gazed pointedly away from Trowa.

“Oh?” Trowa was surprised, though he managed to contain his shock at Duo’s announcement well enough, his facial expression hardly more than a lifted brow and a slightly widened green eye. “Well if you’re looking for Quatre, he’s not here,” Trowa said, deciding that could be the only other reason Duo would voluntarily come over without plans to work on the Mini.

“Yeah, I know. He went with Noin and Dorothy to cruise a couple shops. Mentioned something about needing a new pair of dress shoes,” Duo said, with nary a shrug.

There was something about Duo’s nonchalant response that made Trowa even more curious as to why Duo was there. The lanky lacrosse goalie figured that was going to have to work for his answer though, as Duo seemed rather reluctant about telling his reasons. He’s acting too casual, Trowa thought, sizing Duo up as he ran a finger through his long, cinnamon-brown bangs. He’s usually way more on edge than this, with comments flying left and right to boot.... It was certainly something to cause Trowa some mental worry and a couple crinkles in his forehead.

“Nice garden,” Duo was rambling, either oblivious to the fact that he was doing so or continuing to dance around his point. “I like your roses,” Duo nodded at the thorny plants. “Especially those red ones.”

Trowa ripped himself from his pondering and returned his attention to Duo, who, by this point, was leaning casually on the wall by the front door, one foot propped up against the washed brick. With a sudden hunch and a small smirk, he said, “They’re Heero’s.”

“No joke?” Duo said, his voice miffed by the slightest intonation of surprise, rebounding off the wall and looking behind Trowa at the lovely collection of red, yellow, pink and white roses clustered beneath the front windows of the house, fresh, new, spring buds adorning their gnarly, thorny branches.

“Yes. Heero tends to them almost obsessively,” he told Duo. “I think he likes the red ones best too. He told me that even though there’s only a few of them, he liked the way their dark colour contrasted with the other ones so vibrantly.”

“Well they’re....” A slight hesitation hindered Duo’s words for a second. “...They’re gorgeous.”

Trowa grinned. “You should tell him. They’re his secret love.”

“Actually I... um... I was kind of looking for him,” Duo admitted in a small voice, quickly turning his head in the other direction, neatly missing Trowa’s eyes. “Is he here?”

Bingo, Trowa cheered himself, though he was still a little unsure what to make of this new information. “Upstairs, in his room,” he directed Duo, kneeling on the soft, new grass again. “Go on in; the door’s open. Do me a favour and make sure he’s not up to any trouble in there.”

“Thanks, Tro,” Duo said hastily, already turning to go inside.

As Trowa went back to his weeding, he was privately surprised once again, realizing this was the first time Duo had ever addressed him by his name (a nickname even!) without being condescending. “Mmhmm,” he murmured after Duo as the sound of the front door opening and slamming shut again echoed across the yard.

Just inside the house, Duo leaned against the front door and let out a heavy sigh of relief. Wow, that went over easier than I thought it would, he thought thankfully, closing his eyes as he tried to regulate his erratic breathing and heartbeat. I can do this, he assured himself as he started creeping purposefully towards the staircase ahead of him, wary of everything around him and, for the first time, afraid of the unexpected.

From the kitchen, Duo heard the back door slam, startling him so badly that he exploded into a flurry of atoms, his bag of candy falling to the floor as he flitted nervously around the corridor on his way to the stairs. Frantically, Duo tried to gather himself and calm down as he heard female voices and footsteps heading in his direction. Willing his dispersed atoms upward, he surged towards the ceiling, hovering above the kitchen door as Catherine and Relena walked out and turned up the stairs. They started up the stairs, Relena leading the way and ranting about something with the dress she’d bought for prom, Catherine just a few steps behind. She lingered on the landing, looking warily around as if she felt like she was being watched. She then shrugged and continued after Relena, muttering something to herself about paranoia. The cloud of Duo particles jerked about a little, like it was shivering, before sinking back down towards the ground in a slow, melting descent. As it reached the floor, the black shadow reassembled itself into its more familiar form, crouched on the floor in the darkness beside the staircase. “Whew, that was a little too close for comfort,” Duo breathed out as he blinked dumbly at the wall opposite him. “I gotta get it together before I do that in front of the wrong pair of eyes.”

Standing up, he tossed his braid over his shoulder so it lay draped over his chest, Heero’s long, white, floppy shoelace seeming to glow brightly against his dark burgundy shirt. Gripping it tightly, as was his nervous custom to keep himself as based in the physical as he could, he ducked out from the dark little niche beside the stairs, grabbed his discarded bag and started up the steps as quietly as he could. Reaching the top, he was faced with a closed, white-painted door with an old-fashioned, molded, brass handle. He didn’t even have to look down the hall creeping in either direction, knowing that this one was his destination. A note of trepidation sang through him as he slowly started to turn the old knob and push the door open, thinking of both the person inside and what had happened the last time he’d been inside this room. Being greeted by the large, four-poster bed just inside the bedroom and knowing exactly what colour the sheets were underneath the tightly pulled gray comforter certainly did not help Duo’s situation.

The moment he’d taken a step into the room, Duo heard a scuffle the sound of chair legs falling over the uneven wood floor underneath a gruff shout of “Who’s there!?” He quickly whirled to his left, his long braid smacking the door further open behind him as he turned to face the source of the noises. Standing beside an overturned, wooden chair with spindled feet was a glowering Heero gripping the edge of his large writing desk, his posture defensive as if he was trying to hide the laptop and various computer components strewn across it. “Oh, it’s just you,” he grunted when he realized it was only Duo, and bent down to pick up his chair. “You startled me.”

His words managed to do the same to Duo, who was caught staring at the nearby bed, its mere innocent presence conjuring images of the morning he’d woken up in Heero’s arms. “Ahh, well, I figure I’m the last person you’d expect to come wandering into your room,” Duo said quickly, hoping that Heero hadn’t noticed what he’d been looking at. Striding over towards Heero and leaving the bed thankfully behind him, Duo went on, “But it’s no big deal, right? I mean, hey, it’s not like you’re doing anything illegal or anything, are you?”

“Of course not!” Heero snapped as he reached behind him and slammed the lid of the laptop closed, just as Duo got close enough to rest one hand on the back of Heero’s chair. The glowing white apple on top of the white computer darkened as the machine went onto standby mode and a light on the side of it to signify sleep mode switched on, glowing brighter and darker like it was snoring.

“Here,” Duo said in a seemingly cold tone, not looking at Heero as he tossed his plastic sack of candy into Heero’s lap. “Those are for you.”

Heero tentatively lifted the bag and peered inside at the brown candies inside with curious eyes. “What’s this?” he asked, still examining the candy as the bag twirled lazily, suspended between two of Heero’s fingers.

“Toffee. From Gifford’s,” Duo explained in a clipped tone, chancing a quick look down at Heero. “Didn’t you say that you liked toffee?”

“I do, but...” Heero furrowed his brow and thought as he set the bag carefully down on the desk next to his computer. “When did I ever tell you about that?” he finished his question.

“You were drunk,” Duo answered briefly, not sure why he was so eager to make sure that they didn’t dwell on the topic of the kiss that night. Maybe it had something to do with the possible scenarios stemming from the incident, which his mind liked to dream up in the middle of the night and spice up with a good, heaping tablespoon of erotica. Duo was a little embarrassed to think that he had such wet dreams about a boy he wasn’t even sure he liked as a mere friend, regardless of how unbelievably gorgeous he was.

“I see,” Heero said quietly, his ever-watching, blue eyes darting between the toffee, his computer and Duo. Silence filled the air as both scrambled for a way to get away from the awkward topic.

“Man, I’d have never taken you for such a geek,” Duo finally sighed, putting a hand on each hip as he glanced over all the gadgetry on the desk. In a way, it looked like a state-of-the-art command center. “A geek with a green thumb,” he added, remembering the roses outside. A glance at Heero showed that he was extremely bristled and quite tense, so Duo decided not to say anything else. He supposed it was just as well; he felt awkward giving Heero a compliment about his rose garden.

“Well, I would have never taken you for a more-than-competent mechanic or a good thief,” Heero answered a little sharply. He was back on his guard about Duo ever since Duo had pushed him away the day before. Duo obviously had no interest in being his friend whatsoever, the damned opportunist.

Duo’s eyes rather resembled dinner platters when he heard Heero say that. “How’d you find out that I ste--I mean, that I’ve been nabbed for thieving?” Duo asked incredulously, too surprised to even think about being angry.

Heero looked away, his cheeks flushed an odd shade of pink. “I hacked the school’s records,” he admitted sheepishly, avoiding Duo’s eyes. “I’m sorry. I know it’s wrong, but ever since Wufei mentioned that you got stuck being the lax team’s manager because of some trouble you got into, I got curious....”

“Wait, wait, let me get this straight,” Duo waved his hand at Heero, signaling him to stop. “You,” he pointed to the Japanese boy, “hacked into the school’s database and read my files?” He pointed to himself. “You can’t really expect me to believe that!”

A smirk settled on Heero’s face as he elbowed Duo away from his chair and pulled it out from underneath the desk, sitting down in it as he opened his computer and tapped the return key a couple times to wake up his sleeping beauty. Duo watched skeptically over his shoulder as the screen lit up again. With a few minutes filled with the clatter of quick keystrokes and movements that were so swift, they had to be ingrained into his fingertips, Heero called up none other than Duo’s permanent record. Folding his arms behind his head, he wordlessly sank back in his chair and triumphantly widened his smirk at the screen.

“What the... nuh-uh!” Duo goggled in disbelief, nudging Heero out of the way as he bent over the desk to scroll through the information. He was sure it was fake. It had to be fake. There was no way Heero Yuy could be able to so effortlessly worm his way into the school’s system and crack out information like this like he was calling up the lunch menu posted on the web site. But as Duo read, seeing every grade, detail and note about him since he’d enrolled there in the ninth grade, he realized there was no way Heero could have found out so many mundane, technical facts about him for the sake of some kind of prank. “Where’d you learn to do shit like this?” he demanded, eyes still extremely wide. “Is this what Trowa was talking about when he said to make sure you weren’t up to anything bad?”

“Yeah,” Heero said, leaning forward and firmly removing Duo’s hands from his precious laptop and closing out the records. His hands paused over the keyboard as he looked up at Duo and said, “Um, please don’t tell Trowa about this. He really hates my habit of snooping.” Heero actually looked a little embarrassed to be asking something like that of Duo.

“You little gossip queen,” Duo joked with a grin, ruffling Heero’s hair hard enough to shake the Japanese youth’s head as his fingers raked through the thick, messy, brown locks. “You get Tro’s socks in a knot by digging up some big secret about him?” Duo asked, his fingers reluctant to leave the disarray of soft hair on Heero’s head, which felt like spun spider’s silk as it slid between his long fingers.

“Yeah,” Heero said again, his voice sounding exactly the same as before. “After living with him so long, I got kind of curious about... well, it’s not important, really,” Heero shrugged. “The point is that he got a little angry at me for digging out some personal information from a classified file his parents had saved on their office computer, and made me promise not to do it anymore.”

“You lied to him?” Duo cut in, his eyes narrowing a little bit as he glared at the side of Heero’s impassive head.

“Not really, if you take my promise word for word,” Heero replied, knowing full-well that there was little Duo could argue about jumping through loopholes when he was just as guilty of doing the same thing. “Besides, it’s not like I go pulling up the secret lives of every person I’ve ever met. I just do it as a hobby, when I’m bored, to keep my skills sharp,” Heero explained with another small shrug of his shoulders. Even with such a slight movement, Duo found his eyes darting to the subtle movements of Heero’s muscles beneath the loose, white, button-up shirt he was wearing. It was infuriating how such simple things about Heero could occupy Duo’s entire mind without him even realizing it.

“Which brings us back to my question about where you learned how to even do that,” Duo artfully reasserted his earlier query. “What are you, some kind of science experiment gone wrong?”

Heero glared at Duo sharply, which caused the longhaired boy to cringe back a little. “I picked it up when I lived with my grandfather,” he explained tersely, sounding more than a little annoyed at Duo’s comment. “My life with him practically revolved around technology and science because his did. I couldn’t help picking it up.”

“That’s kinda cool,” Duo said, leaning against the edge of the desk and looking down at Heero where he sat beside him.

“No, not cool,” Heero clipped out bitterly, crossing his arms and glaring at his computer with a stare that could have probably blown the poor thing up had he focused on it long enough. “He was too immersed in his work,” Heero explained, looking up at Duo again, his eyes flattened by that blank expression of his. “After a while, one gets sick of the constant experiments and testing.”

“Well, I just like machines a ton,” Duo shrugged. He hesitated a little with a subtle frown as he remembered where that love had spawned. “One of the gangs I ran with when I was younger revolved around machines too. Cars, to be exact.”

“Grandfather’s machines were not like cars,” Heero said darkly. “Believe me, whatever you’re thinking is nothing like the reality of it. I sometimes doubt he even knew I was his grandson. I was just a good guinea pig for him, just that boy. And hell, I doubt he even noticed when I left.”

“Well that sucks,” Duo said with a low whistle. “No wonder you decided to ditch it.” He checked behind him to make sure there was space to sit and hoisted himself onto the desktop, his hands curled around the edge on either side of his legs. Heero said nothing, surprisingly; Duo glanced at him again and saw he was still staring blankly at the wall ahead of him, not even noticing Duo. Damn, he must have some really bitter memories, Duo thought as he turned again to see if there was anything in particular Heero was staring at. All that hung on the wall was a framed piece of parchment with an ink drawing and a Buddhist verse. Maybe there is a reason why he’s so cold all the time, then. I dunno what could have possibly happened to make him so aloof and stand-offish, but dammit, I’m gonna find out and beat it out of him!

“Why are you here, Duo?” Heero said suddenly, the sudden sound of his deep, growling purr startling Duo out of his silent contemplation. “It’s not like you to come seeking me out for no reason.” He said the last bit a little scathingly, like an accusation.

Duo looked down at Heero once more, noting his stiff posture and his gaunt, cool features. His arms were folded across his chest and his legs crossed at the thigh, his black slacks tightened over his steely legs. Duo suddenly thought that Heero looked like the loneliest, most alienated person he’d ever seen in his entire life. Why so rigid, so tough all the time? Duo wondered as he took in the small Japanese’s tough shell. With that in mind, Duo no longer felt the urge to bite down his words around Heero and spoke up confidently. “To hang out with you, duh,” he said, slapping his forehead deftly. “Why else would I be here? To hang out with Trowa while he’s digging out dead weeds? Come on, not even I’m that weird.”

Heero let out an irritated sigh, obviously not pleased with that answer. “Don’t go running behind that tongue-in-cheek mask of yours, Duo,” he said coldly, fists clenched. “There has to be something you want from me. Why else would you be here? It’s not like we’re even really--”

Duo cut him off, his words shutting Heero up right away. “Because you’re my friend, that’s why. I wanted to hang out, do friend stuff with you.” He grinned devilishly at Heero when he snapped around and stared up at Duo with shocked eyes and slightly parted lips. “Isn’t that what you said, Heero?”

“You’re joking,” Heero deadpanned, his surprised lips dropping into a tight frown. “You just have to be.” The latter part came softer, more like a self-assurance than an accusation.

“You’ve heard my jokes before. This certainly isn’t one of them,” Duo said as seriously as he could with that bright smile still on his face. He wasn’t sure why he felt the need to be more upbeat around Heero, but he figured that if he was going to get Heero to loosen up, the best way to do it would be to be as cheerful as possible. Maybe... just maybe he won’t be such an ass if this works, Duo’s mental cheering squad rallied him on, ignoring the peanut gallery comments provided by another part of his brain that he’d been just as bad as Heero in turn.

“I could have sworn... you hated me,” Heero murmured in disbelief. “Not that I really gave you much reason to like me before, but I’d been trying so much and it just didn’t seem like you even cared, like I had just hurt you one time too many with my inability to love.”

Duo took in a long, deep breath, shaking his head slowly in disagreement. “I’m sure that I’ve probably hurt you just as many times with my pride, perhaps even more,” Duo said quietly, admitting for the first time that his retaliation against Heero had been rather stubborn and heartless on his part. “And don’t say you can’t love,” he threw on, reaching down to pat one of Heero’s hands reassuringly. “You love Trowa and the rest of your family plenty, and you told me yourself you loved your old man. There’s a heart in there somewhere, Yuy, just you wait and see. You just gotta dig it up and dust it off!”

“I’m sure... you’re right about that,” Heero uttered meekly, his eyes tracking Duo’s hand as it withdrew from his and retreated back to the lap of its owner. “Hand over heart, I swear, I’d tried everything and was practically holding my breath every time you came around because I was afraid of what I might say,” Heero went on in a stronger voice, meeting Duo’s dusky, purple eyes with his midnight blue ones. “I never hated you, not really,” he admitted. “I actually liked you enough to be skittish and nervous around you, and to cover up my insecurities, I lashed out at you in the only way I knew how. I couldn’t... even begin to ignore you.”

“Well, I suppose that’s your roundabout way of saying you’re sorry. Okay, I forgive you,” Duo said with a laugh, rustling Heero’s hair again. He really liked the way the soft clumps of chocolate brown would fall apart in his fingers as he ran them through Heero’s dark mop of hair, tracing two nails down the side of Heero’s scalp as he followed a spike of his bangs to where it was tucked behind one ear. As he reached the feathered tip, Duo’s finger brushed across the silver rings fastened to the top of Heero’s ear cartilage, causing the Japanese boy to shiver unconsciously at the disturbance. “I’m sorry too,” he said, jerking his hand quickly away from Heero, unsure of what that reaction had meant. “I get really carried away with things sometimes and, even if I eventually realize I’m wrong, I’m in way too deep to drop it without wounding my pride.” Duo blinked with surprise, scratching the side of his head as he added, “Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever admitted that to anyone. All my friends have had to figure that one out on their own and here I am, up and telling you the minute we decide to call a truce.”

“Are you trying to suggest something?” Heero asked with an arched brow as he turned sideways in his chair, draping on arm over the back of it and leaning the other on the desk. “Maybe you’re just trying to give the ‘dumb jock’ a little handicap because he’s too stupid to observe things for himself?” he said wryly, smirk fixed in place as the brewings for a good round of banter swirled through the air. “There are things about you I noted a long time ago, Duo Maxwell.”

Duo looked sincerely flustered. In any other circumstance before this conversation, he wouldn’t have thought twice about dishing out some smart-ass rebuttal, but now, he felt like any such comment couldn’t be said unless he was sure the results wouldn’t be negative. “I guess you’re not that dumb,” Duo settled on after a quick mental debate over what to say. “For a jock, that is,” he threw on for effect, just to make sure Heero didn’t think he was going soft or something.

“Well, in that case,” Heero retaliated smoothly, “you’re pretty sensible... for a punk, that is.” He reached for a pen that was lying next to the bag of toffee and started absently twirling it around his fingers. “Brash, yes, but with some sense,” he mused, not even paying attention to the pen as it whirled around his slim fingers. Without warning, he tossed it and grabbed it by its blue cap, cocking it like a knife and hurling it at Duo, whose immediate reaction was to shoot his hand out to catch the oncoming projectile. Heero’s face displayed subtle appreciation for Duo’s quick reaction. “Some nice reflexes too, I might add,” Heero said with his traditional smirk. “Nowhere near Trowa’s league, but certainly enough to have some potential, I’d say.”

“Potential for what?” Duo asked suspiciously. He wasn’t quite sure he liked the gleam festering in Heero’s dark blue eyes, as it was one Duo had come to associate with Heero’s particular brand of vulpine mischief.

“Not sure yet,” Heero said, his voice just short of being gleefully malicious. “I’d have to play you in a couple positions to see where you’re best suited, though something tells me midfield....”

“Oh no, Yuy, not me!” Duo leapt off the desk, finally catching onto Heero’s game. “You leave me out of your dastardly lacrosse plans! Those sticks are like kryptonite to me!”

“Come on, Duo. I’m asking you to toss a couple balls with me in the driveway, not join the NCAA division,” Heero scoffed, rolling his eyes as he stood up as well, managing to strike a rather intimidating posture despite his small stature. “Hn, maybe if you practice with me, I’ll teach you how to surf,” Heero added the crowning glory with an all-out sadistic grin. “You did mention something about wanting to learn, didn’t you?”

“In a past life, you invented evil, didn’t you,” Duo stated flatly, though there was a scrap of friendliness to his tone as opposed to his usual knife of animosity.

“Couldn’t have done it without a little help from you,” Heero responded as he swept by Duo to fish out a pair of lacrosse sticks that were leaning in the corner by the desk. Tossing one to Duo, he started out of the room. “Come on, Maxwell, show me what you got,” he taunted. “You aren’t scared, are you?” He threw that smirk in Duo’s direction one more time before quickly heading out the door.

“That’s it, Yuy! Your ass is toast!” Duo shouted after him with a loud laugh as he ran out the door, not even pausing to give the big, looming bed and the morning he’d awoken in it another thought.

As he burst out of the bedroom, Duo heard the deep tones of what sounded like Heero laughing, though the very idea of it seemed extremely farfetched, even as the noise rose up from the bottom of the stairs and danced around his ears. Flying to the old banister, which creaked and moaned a little as Duo gripped it, he leaned over just in time to see Heero step off the last stair. Heero looked up at him, that low, tenor laugh barely contained behind his ever-present smirk, and then turned into the kitchen, silently screaming for Duo to chase him down. Duo had to fight valiantly against the urge to just jump over the rail and use his mutation trick to get downstairs the easy way, but he was still a little fearful of getting nabbed by someone who he really didn’t want to know. After taking the first three steps down, however, Duo found he just had to give into temptation and, checking quickly around to make sure Heero was well out of sight, he let himself slip into his metaphysical form.

Unfortunately for Duo, he didn’t notice Relena as she walked out of the bathroom and passed the stairs on her way back to Catherine’s room just in time to see Duo change. Her eyes widened and her mouth drew back into a tight-lipped frown as she watched Duo zap himself downstairs after Heero. When he was out of sight, she let out a small growl before turning around and stalking the rest of the way to Catherine’s room. “What’s that little weirdo doing here?” she hissed as she opened the door and stepped inside her friend’s room, closing it behind her after she’d slipped inside.

“What little weirdo?” Catherine asked offhandedly, lying on the lime green comforter covering her bed, propped up comfortably against the white headboard by a pile of pastel yellow pillows as she read through some fashion magazine.

“The slut with the braid!” Relena fumed, the very thought of him making her sick with jealousy and anger. She swept into the room and collapsed onto the checkered couch beneath the room’s one large window. “The little creep who’s kissed my Heero and taking him to prom! That weirdo!” She jerked her thumb towards the window where Heero and Duo could just be seen walking outside with the lacrosse sticks.

“Oh, Maxwell. Right,” Catherine said, still paying more attention to her magazine than to Relena. She’d gotten used to the fact that her friend was taken with ranting and pining over Heero, usually ranting about anything (or anyone) who got between her and her pining for Heero. Catherine had developed a skill for tuning it out when she really didn’t feel like hearing the same old spiel over again.

“And what was he doing coming out of Heero’s room? Sneaking around, no doubt,” Relena went on, clearly getting worked up. “Heero’s very protective of his room! I remember once, when I tried to go in to say hello, and yelled at me like I was some thug on his lacrosse team and not the charming young lady I really am!”

“Heero’s kind of secretive that way,” Catherine commented idly, flicking over the page, eyes scanning for something to read. “I still don’t quite get your obsession with him. He always seemed a little creepy to me.”

“That’s because you don’t understand him like I do,” Relena clucked pretentiously, placing a dainty hand on her breast. “He told me once that he thought I was an admirable girl, did you know?”

Catherine rolled her eyes; this was a story she’d heard more than a few times and could practically repeat word-for-word. It hadn’t even really been much to begin with; Heero had merely complimented her land-slide win in the class elections. Catherine sighed and quickly flipped through the magazine for a lengthy article, hoping it would occupy her long enough to drown out Relena’s self-preening delusions. She could really be annoying sometimes, which unfortunately outshone her better qualities more often than not. Relena was fine when she wasn’t squawking on and on about how she and Heero were so perfect for each other.

“...Catherine, are you listening to me?” Relena suddenly stopped her rambling, her voice becoming a tad icy.

“Yes, Relena,” she sighed. Fwoosh, she turned the page, eyes still trained on her glossy magazine.

“No, you’re not!” Relena complained, grabbing a small, frog-shaped throw-pillow from the sofa and hurled it at the bobble-haired brunette on the bed. “I’m having major teen issues and I’m going to have a breakdown if you don’t offer me the support a friend is supposed to!” she howled pathetically, just short of turning on the fake tears.

By this point, Catherine had been able to deduce that Relena had strayed from her usual obsessing over Heero and had actually been prattling on about something else that obviously had her worked up enough to get overly-emotional. Setting aside her magazine, she sat up and turned to face Relena, sitting cross-legged on her bed. “Okay, well, I’m listening now,” Catherine said, cradling the frog pillow Relena had just chucked at her.

“Good,” Relena’s pout flipped over into a sugary smile. “I was just saying that we should find a way to get the little man-whore away from Heero so I can go with him to prom,” she filled Catherine in. Apparently she had been going on about Heero, the thought causing Catherine to discreetly roll her eyes. “I mean, how am I supposed to get Heero to be my boyfriend if that dumb punk keeps getting in the way and feeding him all sorts of lies!” Relena continued with her complaints against Duo. “No doubt if Heero knew what that stupid bum was, he’d be ridiculously offended!”

“Relena, what’re you talking about?” Catherine asked patiently, trying hard not to sigh with exasperation or roll her eyes again. Relena could be a very high-maintenance friend.

“Maxwell!” she practically shrieked. Calming down, she assumed her position as a docile young lady once more, smoothing out some nonexistent wrinkles in her skirt. “Did you know that he’s a mutant?” Relena said casually, like she was commenting on the weather or some other piece of news that was equally mundane. “It’s absolutely disgusting. No doubt if Heero knew, he’d stop letting the rat hang off him like some sort of disease.”

“How do you know that?” Catherine asked with a slightly distasteful grimace. She was not the fondest person of mutants herself, but for some reason, hearing Relena bitch and moan about Duo being one brought pain upon her ears. The only reason Relena was making such a big fuss over it was because of Heero and Catherine found it, quite frankly, very irritating to listen to her dump on every little thing about Duo Maxwell just because Heero seemed to prefer his company to hers.

“I just saw him vaporize himself not two minutes ago in the hall!” Relena cried, getting worked up again. “That’s just not a normal thing! Mutants like him shouldn’t be allowed to run around and procreate! They get in the way of regular lives like mine and Heero’s! Yours and Trowa’s too, I’m sure.”

“Relena, I kinda think you’re making a bigger deal out of this than it’s really worth, you know?” Catherine tried to say as diplomatically as she could. She wanted to support her friend, but every time she heard the blonde open her mouth against Duo, she couldn’t help but get annoyed and even a little offended. “Why should it matter to you who Heero hangs out with? I mean, they’re just friends, aren’t they? Where’s the harm?”

“Harm!?! Where’s the harm, you ask!? I’ll tell you where the harm is!” Relena looked like she was going to explode, her face was so red. She leapt off the couch and, in six large steps, was standing right in Catherine’s face, glaring darkly at her with a very out-of-character look in her eyes. “That little hippie jerk is dragging Heero down into some common class state where he won’t get the respect he deserves for being the amazing person he is! On top of that, the little slut’s always kissing and hugging him, touching, cuddling, whatever!”

“Relena....”

But Relena was far from finished. “The last thing Heero needs is some mutant crawling out of the sewers and feeding him all those things! Heero doesn’t need to lose his excellent reputation because he’s seen hanging out with someone like Maxwell! Heero needs to start spending time with people like me! People who can bring him the attention he needs!”

“Calm down, ‘Lena,” Catherine said, scooting back on the bed so there was a little air for her to breathe. “I dunno why you’re so worked up. They hardly like each other!”

“Then why did I see them kissing?” Relena demanded. “Why are they going to prom together? Why does Heero let him into his room and not me? Why, Catherine!?”

“Relena, I’m pretty sure you’re just reading too much into these things,” Catherine sighed, idly playing with a bouncy curl of dark, copper hair. “So maybe they’re getting to be friends, big deal. I’m sure there’s logical reasons for all those things.”

“As logical as the little brat seducing my Heero into a completely wrong frame of mind!” Relena protested, bouncing onto the edge of the bed, her hands plated firmly into the squishy, down comforter. “I won’t stand for it, Catherine. I simply won’t! I have to put a stop to this before Maxwell manages to totally ruin Heero forever!”

“What are you suggesting we do about it?” Catherine asked, trying desperately to make her voice sound as interested as possible. Relena was a pretty good mind when it came to formulating schemes and even better when it came to manipulating people to her cause. Nevertheless, Catherine couldn’t help but worry that perhaps whatever Relena had up her sleeve wouldn’t be as clean or straightforward as her other campaigns had been.

“Ah, I thought you’d never ask. I have this idea, you see,” Relena said with a rather sadistic grin, a look that sent shivers down Catherine’s spine. Relena was a completely different person when it came to Heero-hunting and it was damn scary at times how adamantly she wanted Heero as hers. Still grinning like a madwoman, Relena said, “One night, I was out late and ran into this kid named Solo....”

(x) X (x)

“Come back here, Heero!” Duo shouted at Heero as he barreled out of the house’s back door after his blue-eyed friend. Somewhere between Heero’s room and the kitchen, their purpose had shifted from playing lacrosse to a strange game of tag. Duo chased Heero across the small backyard, laughing all the way as the chase gave way into a circular dash around the large tree that dominated the area.

“I thought you’d be a bit quicker than that,” Heero said in a way that was bound to get Duo playfully riled. He still held both the lacrosse sticks, one in each hand, as he jogged backwards around the tree, pausing every now and then to brandish them artfully at Duo and even managing to trip the longhaired boy a few times. “I suppose I was overestimating you before.”

“Fast? I’ll show you fast!” Duo stopped and eyed Heero warily. The Japanese boy, logically, was also no longer running, lingering on the other side of the tree, moving a step here and there to match Duo’s sudden breaks in the stalemate every once in a while. Duo grinned and continued to lead Heero on in this way, beginning to move in slow circles around the thick, tree trunk again until they had built their all-out chase up again. Suddenly, without a note of warning, Duo launched himself at Heero and probably would have managed to tackle him had Heero not executed a very fluid counter that landed Duo on his back instead. “Cheap, Heero,” Duo taunted with a laugh from his spot on the ground. “Real cheap!”

Heero dropped into a crouch beside Duo, dropping the lacrosse sticks. Hands now empty and that godforsaken sexy smirk on his face, Heero set to tickling the braided boy silly, eliciting the most wild and amusing noises from him as Heero discovered the various places on Duo’s body that triggered bouts of insane laughter. “Give up?” Heero asked as one hand dove for Duo’s neck, a place found to make Duo nearly weep with giggles.

“Never, you crazy fiend!” Heero’s other hand joined in on attacking Duo’s neck with feather-light touches. “Ah, ah, yes, yes, I do! I give up! Uncle, uncle!” Duo shouted between wild laughs, pounding the ground mercilessly with one hand like a wrestler who was tapping out of a fight. “I guess you’re not as much of a masochist as I’d thought,” he grumbled under his breath as Heero removed his devilish hands at last.

“And you’re more sensitive than I once thought,” Heero grinned, taking Duo’s words and throwing them right back at him as he usually tended to do. “In more than just a physical way,” he added, quickly running his fingers up the gentle curve of Duo’s nose, the brief tease eliciting another short laugh from Duo. He offered a hand to his fallen friend. “Truce?” he said, pulling Duo to his feet as he stood up.

“Yeah, yeah,” Duo batted one hand back and forth in a careless manner as he balanced himself. “Just don’t think that every time you do something goofy like that, I’m just gonna up and forgive you when you offer your hand.”

Heero stooped to pick up the lacrosse sticks and handed one to Duo, who reached out to grip it nervously as if it might bite his hand off if he touched it. As he started to pull the lacrosse stick towards him, he found that Heero still had an iron grip on the titanium shaft as the short-haired boy jerked the stick towards him instead. “Then how can we make sure we stay on good terms with each other?” he asked as Duo stumbled forward with the stick, practically knocking Heero over. Ragged breathing filled the air between them as they stared curiously, blinking stupidly at each other as if they’d never met before. “I’m not going to lose you after the battle it took to win you,” Heero spoke softly, somehow holding Duo fast without really touching him.

“You are one tenacious bastard,” Duo shook his head, his voice also muted into a low whisper. “If I didn’t know better, Heero Yuy, I’d say you’re hitting on me.”

“Really, now? And what constitutes being hit on?” Heero asked, clearly amused by Duo’s proposition.

“You standing, really, really close to me and looking at me like I’m the most amazing thing since sliced bread,” Duo said with a nervous chuckle, suddenly noticing just how near Heero actually was.

He swallowed and took a step back, colliding with the large tree behind him and sandwiching himself between it and Heero. Heero was standing on the balls of his feet, elevating him about an inch or so above his usual height. The lacrosse stick and their folded arms were wedged between their bodies, which were now close enough to touch. Duo was dimly aware of the hard chest flexing underneath Heero’s flimsy white shirt, which, in Duo’s professional opinion, seemed too light for the breezy weather. He’d always known that Heero was practically an earth-bound god and had the body to prove it, but for some reason, he’d never really noticed it before now. Duo’s still somewhat defiant mind kept repeating over and over that it was only because of their close proximity.

“And what if,” Heero whispered, his lips suddenly close enough to blow warm air across Duo’s chin, “I am hitting on you?” Duo found himself staring directly into Heero’s striking blue eyes that seemed to shift to a different shade of blue every time those dark eyelids fluttered over them. Duo swallowed again as Heero’s breath became hotter across his lips and chin, hoping this was another one of Heero’s ill jokes at his expense, and swallowing a third time when he found himself wishing that it really wasn’t.

“Yo, Heero!”

Duo blinked in surprise when Heero jerked away and was left with colder lips, touched by the chill of the light wind that was blowing through the yard instead of Heero’s warm breath. The sound of Trowa’s voice had managed to make Heero vanish like a wisp of cloud, and it took Duo a few moments of glancing around before he noticed Heero ambling quickly away from him to meet Trowa by the house. Holy God, Duo thought to himself as he watched Heero near his taller brother. What was that? Did we...? Did Heero almost...? Duo wasn’t sure if the concept that Heero had almost kissed him (again) was scarier than the idea that Duo had found himself actually wanting him to. Crazy! This is what is, and that’s what should never be, he mentally berated himself, finding it hard to wield the hammer of denial as easily as he had in the past. A sudden urge to beat Trowa with the lacrosse stick still in his hands overwhelmed Duo to a point of even taking a few steps in the green-eyed goalie’s direction. Trowa better have a fucking good reason.... Even beginning the thought was starting to make Duo very, very nervous.

“Oh, hey, Duo. You’re still here!” Trowa said with a grin when he noticed Duo approaching Heero and him. “That’s good, because Treize called another late-night, weekend practice to get ready for the championships,” he went on, chattering on in a most uncharacteristic way. “We’re all gonna head on over and then grab something to eat. Sound good?”

“You sure are in a good mood. Q come ‘round and kiss you silly or something?” Duo grumbled dryly, testing the weight of the lacrosse stick in his hands to see how fast he could whip it around into Trowa’s skull. He really wasn’t sure why he was so angry with Trowa; he should have been thanking the tall goalie for saving him from disaster. The only problem with that was the simple fact that Duo wasn’t quite sure if kissing Heero would have been such a bad thing after all. Needless to say, with so many factors swimming through his poor, addled brain, Duo was bound to be in one bad frame of mind.

“Wow, Duo, you sure sound bitter,” Trowa said, scratching the side of his head curiously. Either he was really dense, blind or Quatre really had just kissed him. “I guess I should take it you found Heero okay then?”

“Yes, Trowa, as a matter of fact, I did,” Duo hissed, noticing how utterly pullable Trowa’s slicked-out bangs looked right then. As his fingers itched to do just that, a voice in the back of Duo’s head made some comment about how there was always someone for Duo to dump his attitude on, and right then, it happened to be poor, unsuspecting Trowa. “And we were having a lovely conversation too,” he mumbled tersely, “until you interrupted.”

Duo caught Heero’s eyes long enough to read the ‘Oh really?’ expression written subtly in their dark blue depths. He stuck his tongue out at Heero in silent retort to the wry look.

“So, uh, we goin’, or what?” Trowa asked, looking between Heero and Duo oddly as he noticed their silent communication. “Treize’ll kick all our asses if we’re a millisecond late.”

“Holy bejesus, Tro! Okay, okay, we’ll go!” Duo exclaimed, still a little peeved at his bad timing. He shoved the lacrosse stick he was holding into Trowa’s surprised hands and bounced behind the taller boy, practically shoving him all the way to the jeep sitting at the end of the driveway. “Hey, Heero! Let’s march!” Duo called over his shoulder as he guided Trowa roughly towards his car. “Captain Tro waits for no man, and he’s certainly not going to wait for you at the rate he’s going!”

“I’m coming, Duo,” Heero called back, slowly starting after them. “I’m coming....”

(x) X (x)

a/n: The chappy title is a Beatles song of the amazing Sergent Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band record, which is probably my favourite after Abbey Road. Like I’ve been saying, if you find the titles random, go listen to the song, and it’ll make sense. Yay!

Oh, and I forgot to mention that my friend Sarah did some of danse’s corrections for me while I was at rehersal one day, so any mistakes were things that I missed when I took over for her later. (Speaking of Sarah, are any of you as mad as she was when she read that bit at the end, where Tro cuts into that moment with Heero and Duo? Thought so, hehe ^^) Thanks for reading and don’t forget to review. You can always drop me a line too, if you want! Yay!