Smells Like Teen Spirit
by Shannon the Twisted Link Worshiper

(x) X (x)

Game 29
Mellowship Slinky in B Major

(x) X (x)

“Quatre, darling, you really should just talk to him!” Dorothy insisted for what seemed to be the millionth time in just that one day. She was walking down the street with her arm around her live-in friend, trying to convince him that sooner or later, he was going to have to face his father. For almost a month and a half, Quatre had been inhabiting the empty guest room in the Catalonia house, unofficially becoming like a second child to Dorothy’s parents. Dorothy had given an abbreviated version of what had transpired between Mr. Winner and his son to her family, and it stuck well enough for them to take sympathy on their daughter’s childhood playmate. And though Dorothy was happy to help Quatre out when he was in a jam, she thought it was best he stopped running away from his problems and faced up to the looming issue of his father once and for all.

“Oh, right, like he’ll listen. It’ll just turn into a repeat episode of what happened last time,” Quatre answered with a roll of his eyes. Quatre usually wasn’t one to be cynical, but sometimes spending too much time with Duo had an averse effect. “I’m telling you, Dotty,” he said, using the name he’d called Dorothy when he was small, “the man is like a politician on drugs when he’s going at it!”

“Well, that’s certainly an analogy,” Dorothy said dryly, removing her arm and flipping her long blonde hair behind her shoulder. She stretched, folding her arms behind her head, flowing hair draped over them as she walked, commenting, “You know, Q, you are lucky I like you as much as I do. If I heard any other people call me Dotty, I’d scream... then kill them.”

“I’d somehow hold you to something like that,” Quatre muttered. He added, “Does that mean that if I got my dad to call you Dotty, you would you kill him?”

“No,” she replied with a laugh and a dark smile, “because that would be giving you an escape from the whole thing, which I refuse to allow.”

“You’re a jerk, Dotty.”

She grinned like a devilish monster, giving Quatre the immediate reaction that Dorothy and Duo should never be left to their own devices alone together. She just shrugged, “And damn proud of it.”

Quatre just shook his head at Dorothy, feeling that it was impossible to not like the self-confident young woman, despite her attitude sometimes. But then again, it was the same sort of opinion he had of Duo and many of his other friends, for that matter. They headed down towards the boardwalk, bantering with each other all the way. Quatre had decided that he owed Dorothy a lot for the favour she was doing him by letting him stay with her. So, to compensate, they had worked out a deal that Quatre would treat her to ice cream at Gifford’s every week, which was just what they were currently out to do.

“What’s the flavour of the week, Dotty?” Quatre asked with a grin when they finally arrived, his hand resting on the steel handle of Gifford’s front door.

She shot him a look for the name and said, “I’m in a cherry mood, I think. Double scoop, waffle cone and jimmies.” She grinned, even as he shook his head at her yet again.

“I never took you for such a sprinkle fiend,” Quatre said with a small smile. Dorothy may have liked to switch between ever flavour Gifford’s had whenever they came, but she always consistantly got sprinkles on top, no matter what kind of ice cream. He was about to pull the door open when it suddenly flew open for him and someone else came barreling outside, nearly smacking him in the face. “Ack, Hilde! Watch where you’re going!” Quatre cried, gripping the door to support his shaking legs as he glowered at the girl who’d nearly killed him with her exit from the shop.

“Oh, jeepers, Q! Sorry!” She bounced around, her face bright red when she realized what she’d done. In her hands, she held a cardboard box with four holes punched in it for holding multiple cones, three of which were filled. She blew one of her three, thick bangs out of her eyes and smiled sheepishly at her friends. “Didn’t quite see you there. I was kind of in a rush.”

“Apparently so,” Dorothy said drolly, helping Quatre detach himself from the door. “Where’re you running off to with those?” she asked, pointing to the ice cream cones Hilde had.

“Oh, these,” she said, lifting the box as she referred to the cones. “They’re for me ‘n’ the dudes,” she explained with a smile.

“Who?” Quatre looked perplexed.

“Duo and Heero,” she said, still bouncing a little. Quatre suspected she’d been fed a little too much caffeine; she and Duo on too much sugar was a really bad thing, especially when they were together. “Which reminds me,” she went on, starting to hop down the boardwalk excitedly, “I gotta run! Would you believe that they’re actually being social?”

“Uh... kind of,” Quatre said, scratching the back of his head. It was true that Heero and Duo seemed to have taken to spending a lot more time together, though Duo would never admit in a thousand years that he was actually starting to enjoy Heero’s company. Quatre wondered what had happened between them to suddenly kindle a friendship, figuring that it probably had something to do with the Solo incident. A wicked, mental chuckle drowned out Quatre’s worries, saying, You know what Sally says abou love being friendship set on fire.

“I’d believe it,” Dorothy said, cutting off Quatre’s thoughts. “I wouldn’t be surprised if the next time I saw them, they were tumbling half-naked out of some closet together.”

Quatre looked like he’d just turned into a sun-burned lobster, he was so red. “Dorothy!” he gasped, swatting at her upper arm to admonish her for the mental picture she’d just provided.

“Oh come on, Q,” Dorothy laughed. “You know that Duo is obsessed with the Yuy kid. He might try and hide it behind a bunch of moody clouds, but it’s as obvious as the sun in the sky.” She pointed up at the shining, yellow disc glowing in the heavens overhead to further illustrate her point.

“Point for Catalonia,” Hilde said with a wink. “But lately, he’s not been trying to deny it as much. If you make a comment, he’ll just turn really red, stutter and look away. It’s kind of cute, actually.”

“Told you so, Q,” Dorothy stuck her tongue out at her male friend as she reached forward to open the scoop shop’s door again. “Now hurry up, Winner,” she called him, despite the fact that Quatre didn’t like to be addressed by that name. “I want my damn ice cream.”

Quatre gave Hilde a quick roll of his eyes, nodding his head back at Dorothy before turning to follow her into Gifford’s. Hilde laughed, watching through the glass door as Dorothy grabbed Quatre by the wrist and dragged him to the counter like a greedy five-year-old. Then, ice cream in hand, she jogged off down the boardwalk to where she’d left Heero and Duo.

She found them still by the bench where she’d left them. Heero was lying on the bench on his back, his arms folded behind his head, his legs crossed at the ankles. He was watching Duo, who was pacing dramatically back and forth on the top of the guardrail with the balance of a cat as they spoke. Or rather, he was simply watching Duo while Duo talked at him. Hilde couldn’t quite hear what he was saying, but it sure looked amusing, judging by Duo’s motions, which were even more animated and excited than usual. She lingered for a moment, smiling as she spied on them from afar for a few moments more. Duo crouched low on the rail, arms spread out on either side of him, casting glances around as if he were searching for something, his mouth still moving at a mile-a-minute. Then he suddenly leapt up again and danced skillfully down the guardrail a few hazardous steps, swinging his fists as he fought off an invisible adversary. Hilde sighed; it looked like Duo was telling Heero the Maxwell version of the Noodle Incident. It was a routine that she’d seen performed and tweaked to perfection over the course of the year. Why Duo wasn’t an actor was still a source of never-ending mystery to her.

“Hey lads! Who’s up for ice cream!?” Hilde took that moment to make her presence known, her voice freezing Duo in the middle of his story and leaving him in a highly amusing position. His eyes seemed to hone onto the ice cream in Hilde’s hands, specifically the green, mint-chocolate chip cone smothered in chocolate jimmies. Heero just inclined his head in her direction, hardly moving at all. “You boys find something interesting to talk about while I was gone?” she asked, handing Heero his ginger ice cream cone as he sat up.

“Yes,” Heero said plainly as he accepted the ice cream from Hilde. “Duo is... quite the storyteller.”

“You have no idea,” Hilde muttered purposefully loud enough for Duo to hear. She walked over to the still-frozen Duo and handed him his mint ice cream, which the longhaired boy didn’t hesitate to snatch out of her hands. It was almost disgusting how quickly Duo began to inhale the green and brown treat. She removed her own coconut cone from the box and discarded the carrier into a nearby trash can. Returning to the bench, she sat down next to Heero on the bench to enjoy it. “We’ve been telling Duo he should stop playing with lighting equipment and get his sorry butt on stage.”

Heero nodded at Hilde’s words as he licked the rim of his cone to save a few stray drops from melting onto his hand. He looked up at Duo. “I agree.”

“What is this? An international plot against me?” Duo demanded to know as he took a huge bite of his cone. “Everyone is always telling me that!”

“Oh, gee, I wonder why,” Hilde rolled her eyes. She held up her hand and started counting off reasons why Duo should be in the spotlight. “You can sing alright; you can dance; you’re a drama queen--”

“I resent that!”

“--you act out everything you do; your life is one huge production,” Hilde went on, ignoring Duo entirely. “You have good looks and--”

“Because it’s the truth.” It was Heero who cut Hilde off this time with a simple, very honest statement, as was his way. Duo stared at Heero with a slack jaw, remembering immediately the conversation they’d had in Nataku’s basement about truth and beauty. He wondered if Heero was trying to allude to it.

“Exactly!” Hilde cried, throwing her hand out at Duo. “Come on, even Heero says so!” A sly grin crossed her lips as she added, “Isn’t that enough to sway you?”

His eyes narrowed even more when the only reaction he got from the pair on the bench was a series of low sniggers. It’s a sad day when Heero Yuy’s making fun of you, Duo thought with a frown, not realizing that the actual reason Heero and Hilde were cracking up at him was the large smear of mint ice cream across the bridge of his nose. “You suck, Hilde!” Duo snapped.

“Only on the weekends, Duo.” She stuck her tongue out at him when he flipped her off for the crude retort. They went on munching on their ice cream, Hilde and Duo continuing to exchange insults while Heero watched on in amused silence.

“Okay, okay, let’s drop it,” Hilde said at last as she ate the last bit of her cone. “I’m out of food now. Whaddaya two morons wanna do?”

“Who are you? Our babysitter or something?” Duo asked. He had long since finished his ice cream, though the green smear still remained on his face, something neither Heero nor Hilde was about to alert him to.

“Just your babysitter, Duo,” Hilde said. “I’m perfectly aware that Heero is a mature young man who’s plenty capable of taking care of himself.”

“Oh, yeah right. And I’m the Queen of England,” Duo retorted dryly, sitting down on the banister at last, feet swinging in front of him.

“Your Highness,” Heero said with a small, mock bow. The last thing Duo had expected was for Heero to add his two cents to the whole thing, and though he was a little annoyed that he was being ganged up on, Duo couldn’t help but be glad that Heero was loosening up a little. He’d found that Heero could be quite an endearing person once he stopped being so rigid.

“Alright, hotshot,” Duo said, leaping off the guardrail and taking a few steps forward, standing right in front of Heero and bending over to meet his eyes. “If that’s the way you wanna play, we’ll play.”

“Uh... Duo....”

“Zip it, Hilders! This is between me ‘n’ Heero.” Duo snapped his hand shut like a clamped mouth, still staring at Heero with a menacingly playful smile on his face. “You making fun of me, Heero?” Duo asked, arching one eyebrow, bending at the hip and leaning down further, his nose just inches away from Heero’s.

“Maybe,” Heero shrugged, sensing the nature of this new game as a wicked smirk of his own blemished his lips. “You brought it up first, Majesty. Trying to suggest something? Perhaps you have a secret you’re not sharing, my lady.”

“That a threat, Yuy?” Duo asked, thinking he was holding himself pretty well against those piercing blue eyes right in front of him.

“Only if you want it to be,” Heero whispered back in his low, rough voice. “Name the challenge, my lady.”

“Hmm....” Duo looked up over the top of Heero’s head, the arcade the first thing his eyes settled upon. A low chuckle escaped Duo’s lips, glad to have another excuse to drag Heero in there again. “I think I have a pretty good idea.”

Before either Hilde or Heero knew it, they were both being dragged by a very determined Maxwell in the direction of the bustling arcade. Duo led them briskly past the raging DDR players near the front, around the shooting games and past the air hockey tables to the large, eight-player racing game Duo had beaten Heero on at the beginning of the season.

“Duo, he was kidding,” Hilde said, obviously missing the challenge brewing between her two male companions. Having not been there the first time Heero and Duo had taken each other on with this console, she didn’t quite understand that the need to play each other had nothing to do with what had been said.

“Hilde, we’re racing,” Duo said in a pinched, mocking tone, making a face at her as he climbed into the Player Two chair.

“What are the stakes, Highness?” Heero asked with a smirk as he slipped into the Player One seat.

“Well, for one, you stop calling at me like I’m a chick,” Duo said with a scrunched up expression on his face. “If, in the rare occurrence that you should actually beat me,” Duo went on with a conspiratorial grin replacing the disgusted one he’d just worn, “what do you want as a prize?”

The smile that crossed Heero’s face could be described as nothing short of evil. “You,” he said decisively, causing Duo to blink stupidly at him for a couple seconds before reacting. Behind them, Hilde swooned, unsure of what she had just heard. “You were joking about prom, yes or no?” Heero asked after a couple silent seconds ticked by between them.

Duo managed to open his mouth, but no words came out. He was still trying to process just what Heero was getting at. Any more of this suggestive talk from the gorgeous boy, and Duo was pretty sure his mind would explode from sensory overload. It didn’t help that he was starting to find Heero not such a bad person to hang around after all. Not fighting with Heero had closed some old doors, but it had certainly opened some new ones as well, leaving Duo with just as many worries he’d had about Heero before, albeit these new worries were of a far different nature.

“To make it easier,” Heero clarified. “If you win, you were joking. I win,” he pointed to himself, “you were not. Agreed, my lady?”

Duo’s mouth was arid. Of course he had been joking when he’d told Relena that he and Heero were taking each other to prom. Hell, he didn’t even think the event was worth going to! At the time, all he had really been after was the indignant look on her face, and he had almost totally forgotten about it until now. There had been a point in his life where, no matter how hot Heero was, he wouldn’t have been caught dead in public with him. Now Duo considered the idea a dream that would never come true until Heero had suggested that bet. He suddenly wasn’t sure if he should try and win this race or not. Could it really be that.... Duo shook his head, his inner voice cautioning him, Don’t think it, Maxwell. You’re just setting yourself up!

Heero cleared his throat, still looking at Duo as he awaited an answer. “Well?”

“Hilde, quarters,” Duo ordered, sticking his hand out behind his chair as he returned Heero’s stare with a confused one. Feeling the weight of a couple of silver coins falling into his open palm, he watched Heero warily as they each fed their machines the money. Duo wasn’t quite sure what he was waiting for Heero to do, but he supposed that if it happened, he would know.

“Duo, am I missing something?” Hilde asked as she watched from between their two seats as they set up the game and chose a race track. “I could have sworn that Heero just asked you--”

“Can it, I said!” Duo snapped a little more tersely than he’d intended. Hilde knew that tone, but contrary to what she expected, it wasn’t the deathly one Duo tended to take on when he was really in the competitive spirit. Rather, it was a more unsure, nervous sounding voice that she had come to associate with the times Duo was feeling confused or was desperately trying to hide something.

The race began much more calmly than it had the last time, the two boys nothing like the militant, angry rivals that had taken each other on before. Though the game wasn’t as exciting as it had been last time, nor anywhere near as amusing, the competition was still good. Duo was surprised to find himself neck-and-neck with Heero for a good portion of the race. “You been practicing, Heero?” he asked casually as he smoothly cut his opponent off.

“A little bit,” Heero admitted with a slight grin, gaining the lost space between him and Duo and evening up the race again in practically no time at all. “When you beat me the last time, I... well, I took it somewhat hard.”

“Understatement of the century,” Duo murmured with a sly smile.

“Yes, well... I didn’t want to lose again. I’ve wanted a rematch for a while now.” Heero cleared his throat, his eyes still fastened solely on the video game’s vibrant screen. Duo couldn’t help but notice the almost mindless dedication Heero threw into everything he did, flinging himself almost blindly into every task he set himself to until he could perform it in his sleep. It was an admirable dedication that bordered on sick and obsessive, sort of like the fine line between genius and insanity.

“If you wanted me to kick your butt again, why didn’t you just say something?” Duo chided, shaking his head. They were on their last lap now, the game having gone by in what seemed like mere seconds.

“Because I wanted it to be me doing the... butt kicking,” Heero said drolly, that festering smirk on his face not even attempting to hide itself anymore, especially now that they were flying together along the home stretch.

Meanwhile, Hilde was still standing between them, a hand resting on top of each chair as she watched the game. While she knew that Duo was good at anything with the word ‘race’ in it, she was surprised at Heero’s deft skill with the game, manipulating it with a very developed and perfected technique. Apparently his comment about practicing had not been false at all, though that should have been obvious enough by the sheer fact that he was holding his own against Duo and actually had a good chance of winning. Which reminds me of that bet of theirs, Hilde thought to herself when the prospect of Heero winning came to mind. Does it mean what I think it means, or is it just an inside joke I’m on the outside of? She shook her head, deciding that it was too painful to try and unravel their complex thought patterns. She wished the pair would simply suck it up, kiss each other and get rid of the shit load of sexual tension that rippled through the air whenever they were together.

“Tie game!?” Duo’s jaw dropped as the game’s scores flew across the screen. He glared at Heero, who had been awarded first place by default because of his position in the Player One chair. “Cheater,” he grumbled.

“The numbers don’t lie, friend,” Heero said, nodding at the screen. Sure enough, their finishing times were identical, proving Duo’s earlier declaration of a tie. Duo thought there was something almost feral about the way Heero smirked at him as he said, “So, are we going, or what?”

“You get some really funny ideas, Yuy,” Duo said somewhat bitterly, gripping the wheel of his console. “Why’re you so damn desperate to go with me?” he asked. “Don’t tell me you’ve fallen for the old Maxwell charm.” The tip of his dark pink tongue danced across his upper lip as it curled into a devilish grin in an obvious show of mock flirtation. “Am I really just that fucking sexy?”

Heero looked like he was going to drip into a puddle of goo at Duo’s words, a hazed expression which did not go unnoticed by Hilde. She could have sworn he was about to murmur some word of agreement to Duo’s narcissistic comment. “I’ll say you did,” she muttered to herself, watching as Heero’s dark blue eyes followed Duo’s tongue when it peeped out from between his lips. “Fell for it real damn hard,” she added. “Look’s like Duo-dearest isn’t the only one drooling in dark corners over certain people....” The thought of the best athlete of all Romefeller High having a mad crush on her best friend was probably one of the funniest things she’d heard all year and she chuckled at it.

By the time Hilde had stopped laughing at the irony of it all, Heero had steeled his expression again, that brief, hungry look he had to him completely gone. Instead, the stiff, composed young man that usually occupied Heero’s skin sat in the Player One driver’s seat. “If you’re definitely going with me, then Relena definitely isn’t,” he said flatly. The explanation was logical enough for Duo to swallow. “I mean, I suppose she isn’t too bad,” Heero went on thoughtfully. “But with the way she follows me around, hunting me like a damn trophy... that I don’t like. I’m not a prize.”

“But you can see where she’s coming from, can’t you, Duo?” Hilde had to interject, finding it just too damn easy to mess with their minds. Sometimes fun was hard to come by and she found that being creative brought about some of the more amusing times she’d had. She leaned down and nudged the longhaired boy and winked. “I mean, come on,” she said, gesturing to Heero. “He’s a pretty nice booty, huh?” Her choice of words was not lost on Duo, which earned her a very nasty glare.

“Fuck you, Hilde.” Duo stuck his tongue out at the short-haired girl, who just flipped him off in return while Heero watched the exchange impassively. Kicking back and throwing his feet up on either side of the console’s wheel, Duo said casually, “Hey Heero. What say you we ditch this monster and have us some real fun?”

“Monster?” Hilde looked absolutely livid. Swinging a playful fist at Duo, she growled, “Oh, I’ll show you a monster, Duo Maxwell!” She grabbed his braid and jerked it hard, dragging Duo out of the seat and to the floor as he begged for her to stop touching his poor hair. Finally deciding that Duo had groveled enough, she let the braid fall with a satisfying thwack onto the black lump on the floor that was Duo.

“Hell hath no fury....” Heero chided softly, looking down at Duo with amused eyes. Duo met his gaze with a glare that quickly melted into a merry twinkle. Heero looked relieved to see Duo’s accepting expression and visibly loosened his posture, cracking a variety of joints with a satisfying chorus of pops. It was amazing to see how just a simple, everyday movement could make a normally aloof person seem so much more human and friendly. “What do you want to do next, Duo?” he asked as he went about pulling and bending his fingers, each offering a loud crackle underneath the blather of the video games all around them.

Bouncing to his feet like a rubber ball, Duo grabbed Heero by the wrist and wrenched him out of his seat with a very unsettling grin adorning his face. “Make trouble,” he announced decisively. “What else? C’mon, dude.” He started pulling Heero away from the racing game, towards the exit of the arcade, leaving Hilde to her own devices. Getting Hilde to leave the arcade before she was ready was like trying to force a hungry shark out of water full of fish.

“Just where are we going now?” Heero asked as he stumbled after Duo towards the twilight-splashed boardwalk. Heero was the sort of person who liked to know the details about everything that was going on around him, where he was going, with who and why. He usually considered surprises as one of his biggest pet-peeves, though he found that spending time with Duo was like opened a treasure chest full of surprises. For some reason, he didn’t really mind Duo’s surprises so much; they never failed to be exciting. So when Duo did nothing but flash that grin his way in response, Heero didn’t press the issue any further. He supposed that he would find out soon enough anyway.

Duo shrugged, still plugging cheerfully on his way. “I have no idea in hell,” he answered. “Something interesting is bound to present itself soon enough... if only we look hard enough.” Another devilish grin came shining Heero’s way, Duo’s ivory teeth glinting brighter in the dim sunset.

“Hn,” Heero grunted, seeming to accept the answer.

They walked down the boardwalk in silence until they reached the steps to Abbey Road, Duo’s street. Out of habit, Duo’s feet started heading in the direction of home, Heero not far behind and following Duo’s erratic lead. Duo hopped the guardrail down to the street while Heero opted to carefully make his way down the small flight of stairs to the road after his longhaired friend, smiling to himself at Duo’s antics.

Sometimes Heero felt like a lot of Duo’s goofing off was a show he put on just for Heero’s sake, like a private, never-ending play that followed him wherever he went. At least Heero never had to worry about being entertained ever again. Watching as Duo glided ahead along the sidewalk, braid swishing behind him and dusting the backs of his thighs like a broom tied to the end of a pendulum, Heero decided he hadn’t felt so carefree and happy in quite a long time.

When Heero at last stopped tracking Duo’s movements like a hawk and took a look at his surroundings, he was surprised to find how far away from the boardwalk they’d come. In fact, he soon realized, they were standing on the stoop just outside the side door to Duo’s garage home as Duo fumbled with opening the multiple locks. With a sigh, Duo finally managed to push the door open and stepped inside, allowing Heero space to follow in after him. “Hungry, ‘Ro?” Duo asked, jarring Heero from his silent observations of the small mud room he found himself standing in.

“Huh? Oh....” Heero shook his head, refocusing himself. “Perhaps a little bit,” he said simply before returning to his curious optical exploration of Duo’s ‘natural habitat’.

“Sweet,” Duo replied, merrily turning on his heel and flouncing through the door that lead into the sparse garage, a whistled tune escaping his lips.

Heero found that he was not surprised by Duo’s home at all. Duo had always struck Heero as the kind of person who lived on essentials, someone who was extremely street-smart and could make do with even the simplest of things. Heero decided that the simple, beaten furniture and small kitchen area installed in the back of the garage, all surrounding and paying homage to the almighty, black Deathscythe Hell that dominated most of the concrete floor, suited Duo quite well. As he aimlessly followed Duo towards the refrigerator, he picked up on little things lying here and there that described previously cloudy details about Duo. Things such as the bass guitars and the juke box sitting off to the side emphasized Duo’s adoration of music and the oil stains and patches covering the sofa there showed just how used the area was. The large, orange-flowered plant seemed to speak for itself about Duo’s odd brand of humour.

“Root beer, Coke or something stronger?” Duo asked, opening the fridge. Suddenly, he froze. “What the fuck? Who’s been eating my...?” After five complete, motionless seconds, Duo slowly closed the refrigerator and turned to face Heero. “Don’t move, ‘Ro,” he commanded silently. “Someone’s here.”

“What?” Heero was suddenly alarmed, wondering what had alerted Duo to someone else’s presence. Duo’s tense, bristled demeanor reminded Heero of a wary jungle cat that was creeping up on something. A loud crash rumbling somewhere above the rafters overhead snapped Duo into fierce action, the longhaired boy pressing his back against the fridge. The sound worried Heero and he quickly darted over towards Duo, lingering by his shoulder. He whispered, “Tell me what’s going on.”

“I don’t know, but we’re going to find out,” Duo hissed, grabbing Heero and holding him close, a hand clamped over the Japanese boy’s ever-pouting mouth. Glancing down, Duo nudged Heero’s sneaker with one of his own, shaking his head down at the squeaky footwear. “Too loud,” Duo whispered, poking Heero’s foot again. “Get rid of them.” He slowly removed his hand from Heero’s mouth so he could toe off his shoes easier.

“What about you?” Heero asked, pointing at Duo’s black Chuck Taylors.

Duo risked a low chuckle, silently padding around Heero before exploding into a flurry of atoms with nary a whisper. He reappeared in front of Heero again, holding a finger over his lips and winked. “I’m the best for a reason, ‘Ro.”

Heero blinked incredulously at Duo, a small smile quirking at his lips, as so often happened whenever he looked at Duo. “I trust you,” he mouthed silently.

Duo nodded, that large smile still coating his face as he turned and took a few steps towards the spiral stairs leading to his room. Another loud noise followed by the singing of shattering glass filled the air, causing Duo to wince. He took another step and then stopped, turning around again. The smile was gone, replaced with a much more serious expression as he swallowed. Then he mouthed, “I trust you too,” before putting his finger to his lips again, winking at Heero and silently spinning back around again. Heero was left standing in slight shock at Duo’s words as he watched the longhaired boy quickly pad over towards the iron steps. He hurried after him, noting how much quieter he was without his sneakers on.

Unsure of what to expect, the pair mounted the staircase, Duo determinedly climbing the iron steps with Heero carefully watching everything around them, paranoid like an extremely good soldier. As they got nearer, they could hear the sounds of heavy footsteps and voices, the loud clomping and rude laughter sure to be that of at least three or four people. It was about then that both Heero and Duo came to the conclusion that it was White Fang romping around up there, making trouble no doubt. Duo had definitely done his bit to truly piss the street gang off once and for all.

Just then, the hollow sound of an aerosol can bouncing down the top few steps caught the two boys’ attention. They froze, watching as it rolled down towards them. A gruff voice swore from up in Duo’s room, the sound of graceless footsteps marching towards the stairs to retrieve the lost spray paint bottle becoming louder as the person neared. Duo glared up at the opening at the peak of the stairs that opened up into his room, his expression darkening as Mueller’s ugly face popped into view. Mueller didn’t look to be in the best of spirits when he saw Duo either, his former mirth gone like a snuffed flame. He disappeared back into Duo’s room again, calling out to his friends to come and help ‘take care of the trash’.

Duo had a momentary panic attack, the instinct to run away overwhelming him. HIs atoms were dancing with anticipation to fly off to safety, when suddenly, he felt a powerful hand clamp down on his shoulder. The tightening of Heero’s fingers on his shoulder did something to calm Duo’s jittery nerves, and he let out a deep breath, ready to take on the White Fang intruders. “I’ll kill them,” Heero growled into his ear, the sudden proximity of the Japanese boy instilling a different kind of fear in Duo.

With a wry chuckle, Duo said, “Well, this isn’t exactly what I had planned when I said we’d find something fun to do.”

Heero’s face became twisted into something almost frightening and sadistic. “Oh, it may be fun,” he said with a predatory smirk. “It would be an absolute joy to rip those White Fang losers apart.”

“Heero?” Duo felt a chill ripple through him at the sound in Heero’s voice. He didn’t have time to question him further though, as Heero stepped around him and started climbing the steps again with determined, angry movements. Duo quickly scampered up after him, a little worried about what Heero planned to do to the gang upstairs.

Duo wasn’t quite sure what to make of the state of his bedroom when he reached it. The pillows, sheets and comforters of his futon were ripped and scattered all over the ground. A lot of the furniture was either broken or vandalized with spray paint from the empty arisol cans laying strewn all over the place. On the wall around the window, written in dripping red spray paint, were the words, ‘Die mutant fucks!’. And there, standing in the middle of the room, was Heero, glowering at the four White Fang kids with a violent aura that was so huge, it assaulted Duo with the same force that attacked Quatre’s Sense.

“Heh, look. It’s the slut and his bitch,” Mueller said as Duo climbed into the room. He carelessly dropped the lamp he’d been holding in one hand, the light bulb shattering when it hit the floor and bit his thumb, a sneer on his face. “We get in the way of your plans, slut?” he asked Duo in a condescending tone. “Wanted to spread ‘em for your little, growling dog, didn’t ya?”

“Don’t fucking joke about that shit. None of you stupid users know what it’s like,” Duo snarled, nearing the center of the room. He took his place beside Heero to show that he was standing by the Japanese boy as long as White Fang was there. “Heero’s my friend... a friend who’s gonna help me kick all your asses for breaking and entering.”

“Look, the slut’s making threats now,” Mueller laughed to his cohorts, a trio of newer White Fang members that Duo had no personal ties to. That made them worse than Duo’s old friends since they were following the biased stories of Solo and the others without knowing the whole thing or having the chance to develop opinions of their own. If there was anything Duo hated, it was mindless followers.

“Mueller, why the fuck are you here?” Duo asked, his voice even and dripping with disdain for the brown-haired thug. “I’m sure you have better things to do than mess up the little slut’s bedroom, hmm?” Duo was ticked, and if Mueller had been paying attention, he would have been running. Everyone who got even remotely close to Duo knew that he was angry and serious about it when he was quiet and overly-calm.

“Well,” Mueller drawled, putting a thoughtful finger to his cheek, “to be honest, we were gonna leave you a challenge note. You know, a sort of winner takes all deal to make up for that last little... incident.” He grinned maliciously, his hand dropping back to his side. “But, as you can see,” he went on, gesturing to the disaster around him, “we got a little carried away. Good thing you showed up so we could just tell you in person.” He threw his head back and laughed again, the gruff sound soon joined by the guffaws of the other three boys, who joined in after him.

“I fail to see the humour in this,” Heero said flatly, breaking their mirth like a blunt-edged sword. Duo noticed that menacing, blank colour slowly start to fill Heero’s eyes as he cracked his knuckles, reminding the longhaired boy very much of the last two times Heero had come to his rescue. It was almost like he became possessed by a wild demon of war when he fought, and even though it was in his defense, Duo found the whole idea scary and slightly macabre, even for him.

Mueller’s eyes flashed with anger when he was reminded of Heero’s presence. “Then maybe we need to get you a sense of humour, boy,” he threatened as he stooped to pick up the broken lamp by his feet, brandishing it like a weapon at Heero. “You know, it’s not your responsibility to protect the slut,” he said idly, adjusting his grip on the slender base of the lamp as he swung it about. “You don’t have to even be involved. If you want to, you can go and we won’t even bat an eyelash at you. We’re here for the Maxwell brat, not you.” Despite the high-and-mighty routine, it was apparent that Mueller remembered the way Heero fought, probably carried some scars from their last encounter and was trying to avoid another confrontation if he could help it.

“I don’t want to go,” Heero said firmly, his resolve to fight with Duo never failing to astonish the longhaired mechanic. “I want to stay here and I want to kick your ass, you coward. As Duo’s friend, it is my responsibility to protect him at all costs.”

Heero never stopped pulling new aces out of his sleeve and catching Duo by surprise. To tell the honest truth, Duo had never had a friend who would so easily fling himself into danger for his sake. He knew for a fact that the White Fang boys didn’t operate that way, and not even Solo had been willing to protect him like that. It was a world that was strictly kill or be killed and safety in numbers, when it boiled down to it. But as for Heero, Duo wasn’t sure if he should have been impressed by his blind willingness to throw himself headfirst into battle for his sake or if he should have been worried about it. In either case, Heero’s determined will to fight was clearly scaring Mueller as he realized that he would have to contend with Heero’s mindless fury.

“Well, alright,” Mueller said, sounding just a bit too cheerful about the whole ordeal, a plain attempt to hide his fear. “But it’s you who’s gonna get smashed in!” As he spoke, he whipped the lamp around in an effort to bash Heero in the side of the face.

But Heero was too quick, his hand effortlessly flying up and catching the lamp as it flew around its arc towards his skull. “It was a nice try,” Heero whispered, his voice chilling the very air around him as he wrenched the lamp from Mueller’s hand and twisting the attacker’s wrist around. “However, you still fail to impress me,” he finished, turning Mueller’s weapon on the thug, bringing the lamp down onto his head before Mueller even knew what had hit him. He stumbled around, dazed, for a moment, before crumpling to the ground in a heap. “That was grossly easy,” Heero spat, dropping the lamp gracelessly beside the bent body on the floor. It hardly took one glare to send the other three White Fang members fleeing from the room, afraid to meet the same fate as their ringleader.

“Jeez, will these nuts ever stop following me around?” Duo asked, nudging Mueller’s prone body with the tip of his foot. “I feel like I have some kind of sick, twisted fanclub.”

Heero didn’t say anything as he dropped into a crouch by Mueller’s side, quickly patting him down with an effeciency that reminded Duo of a well-trained police officer searching a criminal. Wordlessly, he pulled a simple wallet from the pocket of Mueller’s jeans, opening it and searching it for anything of interest.

“What are you doing?” Duo asked, curious. As far as he was concerned, he thought Heero was being paranoid and a bit obsessive compulsive with this searching of the victim. Had Duo been calling the shots, Mueller would have been lying in a back alley by then.

“Just looking,” Heero said simply, holding the wallet aloft when he was finished with it, waiting for Duo to take it from him. Though Heero wasn’t looking at Duo, he thought that the Japanese boy looked a few shades paler than normal

Duo fingered through the wallet loosely while Heero continued searching Mueller’s body, coming across a creased piece of paper and some wrinkly old bills that added up to sixty one dollars. He took out the paper and then pocketed the wallet as he unfolded the small, white sheet. “Hn, now that is interesting,” Duo mused as his eyes scanned the paper, which contained the specifics for the race Mueller had come to propose. On the other side was an address of a man called Dr. J. “Very interesting....”

“Nani ka?” Heero wondered absently, finally deciding that Mueller had nothing else of interest of value on him.

“Oh, just this challenge thing. Smart find, Yuy,” Duo said, waving the paper at Heero as he stood up. He chuckled darkly, “Say, you ever wonder what it’s like to play a real game?”

“What do you mean by that?” he asked, still staring at Mueller’s unconscious body, trying to figure out what they were going to do with it.

“Well, it looks like I’ve got a date with death and an engine tonight,” Duo explained, his eyes wandering to the stairs leading down to Deathscythe’s garage. A flicker of amusment danced through them as they darted back towards Heero. “Wanna come?”

(x) X (x)

a/n: Hmm, for once, I don’t think I actually have much to say, other than the usual credit about the chappy title, which is an old Red Hot Chili Peppers tune. (Aw, if you’ve been to my site, you knew I couldn’t resist naming a chappy or two after one of their songs for very long!) Speaking of my site, check the gorgeous new fanart I got! Whoohoo!