Smells Like Teen Spirit
by Shannon the Twisted Link Worshiper

(x) X (x)

Game 31
Big Man on Mulberry Street

(x) X (x)

“But lady, this is just cruel,” Duo protested, his shoulders sagging as he held the two buckets, one containing various cleaning supplies in his left hand and another heavy with soapy water in his right.

“Don’t ‘but lady’ me, Mr. Maxwell,” Principal Une said sternly, one of her hands resting imperiously on the large teacher’s desk at the head of the empty classroom. The afternoon sun skidded through the room’s blinds, casting thick stripes on both principle and student as she went on. “I’ve had about enough of your clowning around,” Une said, fixing the collar of her stiff, magenta-hued blazer. “If I’m to instill any sense in that head of yours, I have to start somewhere, and I think here,” she gestured to the room, “is a good a place as any.”

Duo’s dejected violet eyes followed the sweep of Une’s hand as she motioned to their surroundings. At first glance, it was just another unused classroom, but closer inspection proved the classroom to be a dusty, forgotten mess. The desks were strewn all around the room, their placement without semblance to rows of any kind. The blackboard was caked with years and years of chalk dust and there was enough dirt everywhere else to kill a kid with bad allergies.

“I was just laughing, lady. It was a funny announcement,” Duo pleaded his case again as he set his buckets down, turning on the sad-puppy eyes as well as he could. “Is that really worth giving me a week’s worth of denention?” In a last ditch effort, he added, “What about lax practice? They need me!”

“Which is exactly why you’re here now, instead of right after school,” Une said proudly, tapping the face of her wristwatch. There was no way she could have been principal of Romefeller High for so long and not known every trick in the book. Students no longer phazed her in the slightest and she had come to rule the school with a very regimented hand. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed the way you don’t pay attention during assembly. If I’m going to let you graduate with even the slightest feeling like you’ll be able to hack it on your own, I’ve got to start instilling some old-fashioned discipline in you. Bad conduct is met with punishment. The only one you have to blame for the extra work is you.” Une seemed to be reciting the speech from long-rehersed memory.

“Oh, wow,” Duo said sarcastically. “I don’t know how to even begin to thank you, lady.”

“Well, I do, Mr. Maxwell. You can start by giving this room a total make-over,” Une countered easily. She pointed to the buckets sitting at Duo’s feet. “I want to be able to see my face reflected in this floor by the time you’re finished, Duo,” she said ominously before nodding curtly at him and marching out of the room, closing the door behind her.

“You’d just make the tile crack with your hideous face,” Duo grumbled morosely as he stooped to pick up his buckets. Even though Principal Une was far from bad-looking, especially given her age, Duo was in a foul mood that had come about because of the woman, so she was stuck being at the wrong end of his cynicism. “Punishment, she says. Tch, I bet she just gave the janitorial staff the week off and needed some stooge to clean this mess up while they were gone,” he complained as he set the buckets down again at the other end of the room. Grabbing a sponge out of the supply bucket, he dipped it into the sudsy water and started his long task of making the room shine.

An hour and a half later, Duo had made it back to the head of the classroom, where he had started. The room behind him glimmered in the orange sunlight infiltrating through the windows, a cleaning job that Duo was sure that not even Une could criticize. Just a little more work, and he would be able to go home, ditch his homework and go to sleep. “Stupid, sadistic lady,” Duo grumbled, raising his large, dripping, yellow sponge to the blackboard to tackle the grimy surface. “Absolutely disgusting,” Duo muttered with a very odd curl to his lip as he dragged the sponge down the old chalkboard, a cascade of sludgy water dribbling down underneath the sponge and soaking his hands.

“Knock, knock,” a familiar, cheerful voice called at him. Duo looked over towards the doorway, sponge frozen momentarily on the chalkboard, and found none other than Quatre standing just outside the classroom. Trowa hovered just behind Quatre in the hallway, a tentative, unreadable expression on his face. “Just brought some friends by to say hello,” Quatre explained as he stepped into the room, Trowa not far behind.

“We heard you had been sold to the Gulags,” Trowa commented with an air of good spirits. One of the most entertaining things about Trowa’s particular brand of humour was that one could never predict what was going to come out of his mouth next. He sometimes said the most obscure things!

“Who is this ‘we’ you keep referring to?” Duo asked, making air quotes with one free hand, the other still supporting his grimy sponge against the board. He got his answer seconds later as he saw Heero enter the room behind his tall, green-eyed brother. “Oh. That ‘we’,” Duo murmured softly, his violet eyes tracking Heero’s movements with what he hoped were unnoticed glances. Cheeks flushed red as memories of what had transpired the night before between him and Heero and he quickly returned his attentions to the chalkboard.

“In other words, we were bored and didn’t feel like waiting for you after practice,” Heero deadpanned, brushing past Trowa and Quatre to the teacher’s desk sitting right behind Duo. He hoisted himself up onto it and sat facing the chalkboard, watching every twitch and swing of Duo’s long, braided hair. “Quatre mentioned something about you getting in trouble... again,” Heero went on, his heels drumming dully against the wooden desk’s built-in drawers. “So here we are.”

Just out of Duo’s range of hearing, Quatre muttered to Trowa under his breath, “What he means is, he wanted to wait for Duo, nevermind that he’s in trouble.” Trowa cracked a rare grin, his eyes flitting from Duo’s back to his brother’s slightly hunched form as he nodded in agreement. Louder, Quatre said to Duo, “So what’s the sentence?”

“Basically, I have to make this room shine like the top of the Chrysler Building if I want to see the light of day ever again,” Duo answered wryly, stooping to wring out his dirty sponge in the bucket. He dipped it back into the gross water and held the soaked, yellow mass over the bucket to let it drip out a little. “That Une runs a tight camp, let me tell you. I feel sorry for any children she might ever have. She should never be allowed to procreate.”

“Tell that to Coach Treize before it’s too late, then,” Trowa commented with a grin, still amused by the way Heero’s eyes were glued to Duo so intently.

“Yeah. Even I’ve seen those two out and about together. Principal Une even wears her hair down when they go on dates, and not in those tight, little buns. You’d think she was another person entirely,” Quatre chimed in. “I’m sure that Mr. I’m-So-Observant has noticed already, of course,” he said sarcastically to Duo.

Duo let out a small growl that was festering in the back of his throat as he glared sharply over his shoulder at Quatre “Hey! I can tell when I’m being mocked, thanks.” He stuck his tongue out at his blonde friend and returned to scrubbing the chalkboard, oblivious to the bold gaze Heero held on him from behind.

“Of all things to be able to tell,” Quatre whispered to Trowa,, continuing his peanut gallery commentary on their stubborn friend. “He’s got to be blind, stupid, in denial or all three to not notice the looks that You-Know-Who has been sending his way since--”

“Stop talking about me, you creeps!” Duo hollered, threatening to chuck his sponge at Trowa and Quatre when he noticed the pair of them deep in murmured conversation. He had been able to gather from the way they had been glancing at him that they were not only gossiping about him, but in addition, gossiping about him and Heero, together. The thought of the Japanese boy made Duo want to look behind at him, a mistake that brought Duo eye-to-eye with that intense, hazy expression Heero had been casting on his back since he’d sat down.

Quatre grinned impishly, a mischievous look that was frighteningly familiar on the blonde’s face. “Oh, so you would rather us say embarrassing things about you louder so that everyone can hear. Okay,” he said, casually examining his knuckles. “Hey, Heero! Did you ever hear about the Noodle Incident?” Heero looked up and turned his head towards Quatre, curiousity dancing in his dark blue eyes.

“Shut up, Q!” Duo’s eyes bugged out of his head and his cheeks puffed out like they were full of marshmallows, his lips were bunched up, making him look much like a fish gasping for air on the beach. “You were sworn to secrecy!”

“You know, I had heard rumours that whole affair had something to do with you,” Trowa piped up, quickly catching onto Quatre’s game. If anything, the malicious look on Trowa’s face was even worse than the one on Quatre’s.

Duo flung his sponge down, the yellow puff landing with a splash in the water bucket. He hastily dried his wet hand on the thigh of his tattered jeans and plugged his ears, singing, “La la la. Can’t he-e-ear you, Q!”

Quatre shook his head and said to Heero and Trowa, “For someone who claims he’s so with it, he certainly lives in a world of denial, don’t you think, guys?”

“Amen to that.”

“Definitely.”

“You people are a bunch of losers with way too much free time,” Duo said, unplugging his ears and glaring toughly at the other three boys. “Why do you always gotta be raining on my parade?” he wondered incredulously. “This detention shit is bad enough without any help from you three stooges.”

Quatre made a face at Duo and sung, his voice faltering a little off-key, “I get by with a little help from my friends!” Trowa laughed good-naturedly with Quatre’s melody.

“Aw, cut it out, Q!” Duo flung the sponge back down into the bucket, making a huge splash of dirty water jump over the rim and splatter the front of his pants. “If you’re trying to drop a not-so-subtle hint for me to hurry my ass up,” Duo said with a resolved sigh, “you can speed things up by refilling this bucket with clean water. Heero and I can start polishing the woodwork on this side of the room while you’re off doing that,” Duo ordered, not even daring to make brief eye-contact with Heero before he volunteered him to assist with the job. To be honest, he was afraid his facial expression might give too much away around Quatre, something he wasn’t ready to risk quite yet.

“Jeez, what a demanding child you are,” Quatre said, rolling his eyes as he walked over towards Duo to pick up the now-half-empty bucket. Holding the brown pail by its slim, metal handle with both hands, Quatre started towards the door, bidding Trowa to follow him.

“Don’t let that cute face of Q’s fool you; he’s insane and evil,” Duo warned Heero, turning around to face the Japanese boy sitting on the desk behind him. He raised his hands up to eye level, both of them dripping with soapy water. He flicked his wrists and grimmaced. “Blech. Totally revolting.”

“It would turn a lesser person into a reformed student. Gonna think twice before you open your big mouth around Principal Une again?” Heero commented wryly, leaning back on the heels of his hands as he regarded Duo. He had always found Duo to be breathtaking in his own way, both physically and attitudinally. Anyone else might have even called Duo’s looks commonplace, but to Heero that was just what made him beautiful. He liked the way Duo’s hair never fell exactly the same way every day, despite the fact he always wore it braided, and the way even the slightest twitch of his lips or subtle expression in his unique, violet eyes could light up a room. And Heero still had yet to meet a soul with a more gregarious, mind-consuming personality, enchanting in its complex simplicity.

“You know what’s the most annoying thing about people like you and your brother?” Duo wondered aloud, rooting through his supply bucket for the polish and some rags. Not even waiting for an answer, Duo kept talking. “You can never predict what the hell you’re gonna do next, you know?” Duo stood up and held out an old dish towel to Heero. “Take you for example,” he went on when Heero stood up and grabbed the rag out of his waiting hand. “The last thing I ever expected was for you to up and out of the blue tell me you like me... as in ‘like me’ like me....” He trailed off as he looked into Heero’s eyes, which were smoldering with that blistering fire that seemed to be reserved solely for Duo. He swallowed a mouthful of nervous air as Heero took a few bold steps towards him.

“I could say the exact same thing about you, Duo,” Heero said in a low, whispered tone, another thing that seemed to be only for Duo’s benefit. “Heaven knows what’s going to come out of that mouth of yours next,” he murmured, placing a hand on each of Duo’s shoulders and slowly dragging them around Duo’s back to meet behind his neck. “I know it kind of depends who you’re talking to, whether they’ll find you endearing or not but....” Heero had to stand on his tiptoes so that their noses could be level.

“Hey, I can’t help it that some people are adults,” Duo was quick to respond, extremely aware of Heero’s proximity. He could feel Heero’s clasped hands burning in a tight knot on the skin underneath his braid and every slight tremor of his flat stomach and chest. Duo found himself frozen still by Heero yet again, unable to will either his mind or his body to function properly.

“But I enjoy your unpredictabilty,” Heero said, his breath ghosting across Duo’s lips, reminding him all too well of the multiple times right before he’d found himself kissing Heero Yuy. “In fact,” Heero was even closer now, his eyelids slipping down over his intense blue eyes, “I think it’s rubbing off on me quite well....”

Before Duo could react, or even think about it, Heero was kissing him again, gentle and soft as he usually liked to. Duo had to say, if there was one thing that surprised him most about Heero’s kissing, it was that it was so tame, almost shy. He had expected the controlling, hotheaded lacrosse player to be far more aggressive and demanding when it came to intimacies like this, but instead found him as willing to give as to take. Duo might have explained it away as inexperience and uncertainty but for the fact that Heero was rather good at it. Despite that, there remained a certain innocent quality to Heero’s kissing that made Duo go weak at the knees and melt his heart. It was becoming easier and easier for Duo to just close his eyes and accept Heero’s feather-light kisses wholeheartedly.

A sound in the hallway brought Duo crashing abruptly back to reality just as he was starting to relax into the kiss. Shit, Tro and Q! he fretted mentally, worried about what might happen should the other two return unexpectedly from their water errand and find him and Heero kissing. He pulled away from Heero and quickly grabbed the polish, setting off to shine the room’s wooden windowsills. As he poured the clear, golden liquid onto the rag, he couldn’t help but feel that his lips were blue with cold, missing the warm contact of Heero’s skin.

“You know what I find interesting?” Heero asked, his voice right in Duo’s ear, which caused Duo to jump; he hadn’t realized that Heero had snuck up so close. If Duo was losing his touch, it was becuase Heero kept distracting him!

Duo glanced out of the corner of his eye to see Heero move up beside him, reaching for the polish and quick diversion of his eyes to the street outside the window was the only distraction he could think of on such short-notice. “Wh-whuzzat?” Duo asked quizzically, keeping his eyes trained belligerently on the window, even though he couldn’t really see much between the slatted shades that hung over the glass. However, he could have sworn that he’d seen Heero’s reflection smirking at him from behind the orange blinds.

Leaning on the windowsill beside Duo, Heero said, “I think it’s interesting that someone who acts like he could take on the world is still afraid of me.” Heero turned his head, his eyes tracing Duo’s stubborn profile thoughtfully. “I thought I told you that you had no reason to be afraid of me, Duo.”

“I am not afraid,” Duo said, his proud voice sounding empty even to his own ears. He wondered why it was that whenever Heero asked him these kinds of questions, or worse still, he found himself wondering the answers to them on his own, he ended up getting backed up into corners.

Heero eyed him suspiciously and then simply shrugged, walking away from the window with his rag and the bottle of polish. Duo chanced a peek over his shoulder to see Heero bent over the teacher’s desk, his back muscles rippling as he worked the polish into the wood with the rag underneath his left hand. For a fleeting moment, Duo wondered what it was about Heero that off-centered him so much, when he suddenly realized that’s what it was: that despite everything punk Duo insisted he stood for, his non-conformist life had been thrown for a loop by a jock. Someone who was supposed to be as bland and regimented as they come had been the most different thing to enter his life in a long time. “I suppose I’m just a little unsure, that’s all,” Duo said softly, turning away from the window.

“No, I think you’re just afraid,” Heero said, pausing in his onslaught upon the desktop. He turned around as well, flinging the rag behind him as he leaned against the side of the desk, examining Duo from head to toe with extreme scrutiny. “Here, I’ve kissed you more times than I can remember, and you can barely even say anything to me without making it a joke,” he said, his voice sounding a little icy. “I bet you couldn’t even come over here and give me three real kisses all on your own.”

“Tch, child’s play,” Duo scoffed, writing it off with a toss of one hand. He advanced towards the desk two steps, hardly enough action to back up his words.

“I thought so,” Heero said with a smug grin. He shook his head and got up off the desk, picking up the rag and resuming his work. His continued silence was almost more infuriating to Duo than his challenge.

“You thought shit. I said it was child’s play, and that’s what I meant!” Duo said defensively, taking another two strides in Heero’s direction. He was close enough now that if he just reached out one arm, he could touch Heero’s back.

Heero stopped polishing again and opened up towards Duo slightly, his left hand still swathed in the rag and resting on top of the desk. “Alright, then prove it,” he said with that appealing, slightly nasal lilt that had been echoing in Duo’s mind for quite some time. “Kiss me, Duo,” he commanded, serious as ever.

Duo took another step, reaching out with one hand to grab Heero’s shoulder. If he was gripping Heero tight enough to hurt, Duo never knew as Heero’s face didn’t betray any pain and just kept watching him with that unwavering, deep gaze of his. His feet kept approaching Heero until they banged loudly against the side of the desk, bringing Duo to a halt between Heero’s knees. Feeling a little awkward, he tilted his head a bit, his large, violet eyes locked intently with Heero’s ultramarine ones as he leaned in, wetting his lips nervously. As he drew closer, Heero’s eyelids slid down, leaving only a thin crescent as he watched Duo near from beneath them.

A centimeter of air hovered between their mouths as Duo paused his advance. He still wasn’t sure if this was something he really wanted to do. Choosing to kiss Heero would be going against everything he had ever stood for as an anti-corporate punk; willingly placing his lips on Heero’s would be like the blazing end to his crusade against conformity. But the thing is, he thought as he nudged his lips slightly closer, I almost want to take that fall. He’s just so... beautiful... especially when he looks at me in that certain... way of his. Duo parted his lips slightly just as they were about to touch Heero’s. And when he kisses me....

The next thing Duo was aware of was a swirling euphoria that made him fall forward slightly, his hands slamming onto the desktop on either side of Heero to support his weight. Though Heero was responding to the kiss, Duo found himself in total control, the gentle movements and touches of the shy, slightly embarrassed kiss all instigated by Duo. As Duo’s eyes fell closed as well, he vaguely registered his hand, uncontrolled atoms hovering about it, coming up to rest gingerly on Heero’s cheek.

After a few moments that seemed to have extended into eternity, Duo pulled away and half-opened his eyes, waiting for Heero’s response with a sleepy gaze.

“That’s one,” Heero said as he opened his eyes as well, a similar, dazed expression drawn across his handsome face. He raised his arms and looped them around Duo’s neck again, drawing him close, so that their noses brushed each other and their breathing was mingled into a single haze of warmth between their parted lips. “Two more.”

With more confidence, Duo’s fingers stiffened on Heero’s cheek as he swooped down to lay the next kiss on Heero’s perpetually pouting lips. This kiss was a bit rougher and more playful, not nearly as nervous or explorative as the prior one had been. He let his mouth slide open wider and even dared to nip his tonge against Heero’s teeth, tasting the tip of Heero’s tongue when he did so. Heero was a bit more offensive this time, the two of them pushing against each other as Duo’s eyes drooped closed again. His other hand found its way to Heero’s face too, gently cupping his cheek and toying with his wild bangs as they tumbled over his knuckles.

Reluctance filled Duo when he pulled away and opened his eyes once more. He gazed at Heero, whose eyes fluttered open as well, blinking at him expectantly. Whether it was the lighting or the mood, Duo couldn’t tell, but it certainly had an odd effect on him as he stared at the handsome boy in front of him. Before Heero even had a chance to make a comment, Duo pulled Heero’s face towards his and crushed his lips against him for the third kiss, hungry for as much of the Japanese boy as he could swallow. Memories of wanting to kiss Heero like this because of his looks became mingled with thoughts of wanting to kiss Heero because he wanted it to mean something.

He inched closer, soon finding one of Heero’s thighs bent between his legs, Heero’s other leg wrapped around one of his. Their chests were flush against each other, the plastic buttons of Duo’s flannel shirt digging through the cotton of Heero’s jersey and into his hard stomach. Rising a bit off the desktop, Heero pulled Duo deeper into the kiss, not about to let go.

Duo was so preoccupied with the new sensations filling his mouth that he didn’t register the sound of footsteps heading their way down the hall outside the room. It wasn’t until he heard Quatre’s loud gasp that Duo’s eyes snapped wide and he untangled himself from Heero’s arms. Heero turned around and Duo straightened up to see Quatre standing in the doorway and clutching the freshy-filled pail of water in both hands, his eyes wide and his face red. Trowa stood behind him impassively, tossing a new sponge idly in one hand as he watched. Duo could have sworn he was smirking at them.

Surprisingly, it was Trowa who spoke first. “Sorry to interrupt,” he said smugly as he stepped around the still-stunned Quatre. “Have any other errands you’d like us to run? You know, so you can get back to... work....” Any inklings that Trowa was smirking at them became solid fact as the corner of his mouth lifted higher.

“D-Don’t get the wrong idea!” Duo stammered, feeling very self-conscious. There was no way he’d be able to explain this off to either of them without making someone hate him, namely Heero. For once, that was something Duo didn’t want; he was tired of running circles around and after the elusive Japanese boy.

“Oh, you mean the idea that you guys hate each other with all your hearts and souls and would like nothing more than to see the other drop dead?” Quatre said, finally getting over his initial shock of seeing two people he could have sworn were enemies engaged in a heated kiss.

“Don’t worry about it,” Trowa added with a trace of levity. “You had us going on a leash for a while now, and I’m sure Wufei would still believe it, if you let him.” He strode over to the desk where Heero and Duo were, saying in a low tone to Heero, “Though how you managed to charm this bozo will remain forever a mystery.” He jerked his thumb at Duo, who glowered at the tall goalie dangerously.

“You’re walking a tight rope, Barton,” Duo retorted smartly, resting his hands on either side of Heero’s legs and causing him to lean against Heero as he got right into Trowa’s face. Despite that, the only thing he was really aware of was Heero breathing softly in his ear as he leaned his chin on Duo’s shoulder. “Just keep talking,” Duo taunted. “I dare you.”

“Oh, you make it sound... oh-so intimidating,” Trowa sighed melodramatically. “Duo, really,” he went on with a roll of his eyes, “how long did you expect us to fall for that ‘I-hate-Heero’s-guts act? You’re so transparent, it’s a wonder you’re not invisible.”

“Hardy-har-har, Tro,” Duo said with a small sneer. He was about to keep on bantering with Trowa, when he felt Heero’s slim hand fall on his back, silently entreating him to just let it drop. Strangely enough, that was all it took.

“Aw, Trowa, leave him alone. It’s nice to see Duo actually dropping the usual act and just being himself, for once,” Quatre piped up with a laugh as he trudged over towards the three of them, hefting the weighty bucket as well as he could considering his small frame. He had actually refused to allow Trowa to help him, despite the many times the green-eyed boy had asked and was personally very proud that he had been able to carry the heavy pail so far on his own.

Duo was tempted to say something to Quatre for that comment too, but he was set back by the tightening of Heero’s hand on his back once again. Amid Heero’s gentle breathing, he heard him whisper, “Just let it go, Duo. Let it go.”

It took a lot of steeling and self-control, but somehow Duo managed to keep down anything he had brewing in the sarcastic and defensive portion of his brain. “Alright, fine,” Duo finally said, slowly pulling himself out of Heero’s arms and standing up on his own. He quickly walked over towards Quatre and took the bucket away, holding it effortlessly in one hand. Waving his free hand at the half-cleaned room around them, he said, “Let’s just finish this bitch up so we can all go home, okay?”

Reluctantly, the four boys got to work. Heero took control of the polish and started working on the rest of the room’s woodwork while Duo went back to cleaning the chalkboard with the new sponge and fresh water. Trowa had found a broom and was sweeping the floor while Quatre had gone off to fetch a mop and another bucket to really give the tile a good scrub.

After a while though, the silence was almost deafening. Duo had a complex with being in a room with other people and still being in silence, despite the fact that his two companions were some of the most taciturn people on the face of the planet. “So, uh... where’s Wufei?” Duo asked, for lack of anything more interesting to start a conversation with.

“He sped off pretty quick after practice,” Trowa answered as he stooped to pick up a discarded candy wrapper that had been lying behind one of the bookcases for some indefinite length of time. “He’s probably off to Nataku’s, if I had to guess,” he said as he moved to throw the trash into the slowly growing dust pile near the door.

Quatre chose that moment to return with the mop and another, larger bucket full of soapy water, this one with wheels on the bottom so that it was easier to transport from room to room. “You don’t have to guess; he is!” he said with a laugh as he rolled the bucket over towards the desk and leaned the mop against it.

“So much for the male chauvinist, Chang Wufei,” Duo said with a lopsided grin. “He’s got a weakness for the girlies.”

“He’s still a male chauvinist,” Heero threw in bitterly, any traces of the husky voice he’d been whispering to Duo with completly obliterated. “If anything, Meilan is the perfect match for him,” he continued. “Those Long women will whip his ass into shape.”

“Heero....” Quatre clucked a little skeptically as he handed Trowa the dustpan he’d just fished out of the classroom’s supply closet. “Every guy is at least a little chauvinistic.”

As he accepted the dustpan from Quatre and stooped to sweep the dirt pile at his feet into it, Trowa added his two cents: “Boys will be boys.”

“And assholes will be assholes,” Heero grumbled, not really paying attention as he dumped a little too much polish onto his rag, the smelly liquid seeping through the cloth and scenting his hand like lemons.

Trowa stood up, handing both broom and dustpan to Quatre. He rounded on Heero, stalking quickly and lithely over towards the wooden bookcases underneath the windows, which Heero was in the process of polishing. “If this has anything to do with your stupid disagreement over whose fault Wufei’s injury was, you better just end it right now, Heero,” he warned wtih a dangerous, cat-like growl. “I’m tired of having to play peacemaker between you and every damn person you know!”

“Trowa, don’t you think you’re being a tad extreme?” Quatre asked as he emptied the dustpan into the trash and went back to clean up the remaining bits of the dirt pile so he could start to mop. However, Quatre quickly chose to step out of the sibling argument when he saw the way Trowa was glaring at him.

Unlike Quatre, however, Duo wasn’t about to just sit back and cuddle his sponge while he waited for the two brothers to get over their male PMS-ing. He chucked the yellow cleaning implement in their direction, nailing Trowa in the temple with the soaked sponge. “Look, before you two start bitch slapping each other, tell me what the fuck is the whole deal with Wuffles.” His words might have sounded juvenile, but the glower in his eyes certainly was not, and even Trowa and Heero were able to pick up on it. “If you’re going to fight about it, I at least want to know what the hell you’re fighting over.” So much for the tenderness he had just shown Heero, something that was apparently for private moments alone, when no one was there to watch.

Using the bottom hem of his orange tee shirt to mop the wet side of his face, which revealed a slim torso of lean muscle underneath, Trowa explained in as few words as possible. “There was an incident at finals last year when Heero went on a rampage and incapacitated nearly everyone on the field. Wufei tried to get in his way and ended up with a bad ankle,” he said shortly, his green eyes focused intently on his smaller brother. “Heero seems to disagree about that though. He insists it was nothing of that nature at all.”

“If that’s so, then would you kindly tell me your version of events?” Duo said calmly to Heero. It was about time he had all the facts to this story; it was something that had been shoved in the back of his mind and making a slight fuss whenever he saw Wufei.

Heero’s glare was sharper than Trowa’s, and far more heated. “It wasn’t my fault,” he said simply, shrugging one shoulder. “I had no control over any of it.”

“That’s not an excuse and you know it,” Trowa spat scathingly. Duo didn’t think he had ever seen so much emotion from Trowa, positive or otherwise. He frowned at Heero and turned to face Duo with another short explanation. “Heero has been known to have moments where he, sometimes, just outright goes insane.” He shot a certain look at Heero that forbade the Japanese boy to even think about interrupting. “It usually happens when he hasn’t been taking care of himself or pushing himself too hard,” he went on, turning back to Duo. “And then, something will happen and he just snaps, just like that!” He clicked his fingers to illustrate.

Duo looked pensive for a moment, one arm folded across his chest, the elbow of the other resting on top of it. “So let me get this straight,” he started off slowly, dropping his arms to his sides with a loud jangle from his many bracelets. “Am I right in assuming that Mr. Perfect Athlete isn’t so perfect?”

Heero looked away and admitted with a small grunt, “Yes.”

Duo looked Heero up and down with a screwed expression on his face, trying to figure out how someone with such an amazing physique could possibly have any bodily troubles. Something wasn’t adding up, which led Duo to believe that there was still more to this story than what Trowa and Heero were letting on. “Uh huh,” Duo whistled low at last, breaking the pregnant silence. “And would this have anything to do with the last couple of times you rammed your foot up Solo’s ass?”

“Excuse me?!” Quatre startled, looking alarmed. He quickly flew to the space inside the triangle formed by the other three boys. “Duo, you did not go dragging Heero into the middle of any more White Fang business, did you? The pizza parlour incident was bad enough!”

At first, Duo had thought that Quatre was worried about what might have happened to them, but the pressure of Quatre’s acute glare and the prickle in his tone proved that the blonde boy was actually very angry. “It’s nothing Heero or I couldn’t handle, Q,” he said flatly, meeting Quatre’s stare evenly.

“What happened?” Quatre demanded to know. “And you had better tell me every detail, Duo Maxwell, because I’ll know if you’re lying and you won’t like me if I find out you are.”

“Grouchy, much?” Duo arched an eyebrow as he took an unconscious step away from Quatre. The quiet, stoic boys behind Quatre watched on in silence, not willing to interrupt. It seemed that they were both thankful for the distraction from their own story, which wasn’t something either of them were to excited to talk about.

“Duo, you aren’t getting anyone mixed up in any trouble, are you?” It was Trowa who spoke up this time. He actually sounded a little scared. “No one’s going to come hunting after Heero or anyone, are they?”

Quatre avoided Trowa’s questioning eyes and settled for glaring roughly at Duo. “Duo, if you’ve gotten them any more pissed at you than they already are....” His voice held a certain cautionary quality as he trailed off.

“Look, they attacked us, okay?” Duo said defensively. He stomped around Quatre and quickly took the place beside Heero, grabbing the Japanese boy’s elbow and dragging him to his side. “Isn’t that right, Heero?” he asked, nudging Heero’s side.

Heero nodded in agreement, his eyes focused solely on Duo. Feeling the warmth of those twin pools of sapphire water on his cheek, Duo caught Heero’s gaze, amazed at the unspoken volumes of trust that drowned in them. Duo may have prided himself as being the most honest person who ever lived, but that didn’t mean that he truly expected people to trust him. If anything, he figured it there would be more grounds to doubt him! After all, you could always expect a dishonest person to lie, but the honest fools were the ones who always did unexpected things. And Duo knew that was truer than anything, because he had done so many honestly, foolish things that it was almost ridiculous. Yet there was Heero, standing beside Duo, his arm hooked around his and looking at him with the most adoring, trustworthy expression Duo had ever seen on any human being in his entire life, mutant or not. He wondered what he had ever done for Heero to gain such trust.

“And then what happened?” Trowa asked calmly, moving so that he mirrored Heero and Duo by standing next to Quatre. No doubt he had noticed the way Heero was looking at Duo and was unsure how to swallow his words, take it back a notch and still maintain his pride while remaining on Quatre’s side of things.

Duo glanced at Heero, who was somehow able to communicate with just that look in eyes that he would let Duo say whatever he felt comfortable with about that night. “Well, we were doing okay holding them off when they started surging us,” Duo started off with a bit of uncertainty, his eyes slowly moving away from Heero. As he kept going with the story, he was eventually able to pick up more confidence. “But just when things were about to get really shitty, Heero out of nowhere gets crazy and sets himself on this one kid, Alex, and beats the snot outta him.”

“He pulled you under,” Heero offered to the conversation, though it seemed like he was merely addressing Duo alone, instead of the whole group. “I was afraid you would get trampled.”

“Holy shit, Duo! You’re gonna get yourself friggin’ killed one of these days!” Quatre yelped, the mop he was holding in one hand clattering to the floor. His eyes had grown unnaturally wide and his arms were in a frenzy of nervous motion. When Quatre swore, it was a cold day in hell, meaning that whatever mood he was in was a violently extreme one. Quatre seemed to be riding the emotional roller-coaster today, his moods jumping left and right in split seconds.

Trowa had the most interesting look on his face, though, despite the information that had just been doled out. “And that got you angry?” he asked Heero. He seemed to like those probing sorts of questions.

“Angry enough to practically snap Alex in half!” Duo answered for his taciturn partner. “And let me tell you, Tro, that ain’t no easy thing to do. Alex is one big, mean motherfucker, not to mention strong as a bulldozer.” Almost like he was bragging, Duo stepped behind Heero and grabbed him by the shoulders, presenting him to Trowa and Quatre. “And this little super hero somehow managed to not only pound him into the asphalt, but also was able to keep the whole goddamned lot offa him while he did it!” Duo ruffled Heero’s thick, messy bangs while he spoke, the gesture clearly more embarrassing to Heero than the story. His cheeks were pink the moment Duo’s hands attacked his hair.

“Heero....” Trowa’s voice had that warning tone to it, a favourite of the afternoon, especially when used with Heero’s name, it seemed.

“It was just a couple broken bones and a lot of blood, no big deal,” Duo brushed it off with a shrug. He got a little mentally side-tracked when he started thinking about what had happened after that and his face showed it. There was no way he was telling even Quatre about his first real kiss with Heero; that was a private moment meant for just him and Heero. Trowa and Quatre glared at the guilty pair pointedly, which did nothing but unnerve Duo a great deal. “Wha-a-at?” he groaned when he couldn’t take all the scrutiny. “This the Spanish Inquisition or something!? Back off, you two!”

“We’re just worried, that’s all!” Quatre insisted, balling his hands into fists as he looked imploringly at Duo.

“Quatre...” Trowa put a hand on Quatre’s shoulder, which did enough to silence him, reminding Duo somewhat of how he’d become quiet when Heero had laid his hand on his back earlier. The thought made Duo turn slightly red.

Smiling, Quatre looked up at the tall goalie, who had become so close to him in such a short time. “Yeah, okay,” he said, answering some wordless question he’d found somewhere in Trowa’s facial expression. Turning his grin back on Heero and Duo, he went on, “Maybe it’s just their way of bonding.”

Duo wasn’t sure if he should have been insulted or not by the comment, or if it made it worse when Trowa started chuckling. The only thing that distracted Duo from paying it any more mind was the slight quirk of Heero’s lips at the whole thing, and that was enough to make Duo just forget the whole thing. “So what are you nincompoops trying to say?” he asked again, stomping his foot and putting a hand on each hip as he glared. “You suggesting that me and Heero are a bunch of raving loons who like picking fights?”

Quatre tried to look innocent as he whistled, “Well, not exactly, per se....” He quickly glanced at Trowa for some support and possibly shelter should Duo react to his comment badly.

“Oh yeah?” Duo demanded, making his way towards Quatre with heavy strides. Unceremoniously, he shoved Trowa aside and looked down at his blonde friend. “Then just what exactly are you trying to say?”

“I’m just saying it’s cute the way you’re drawn to each other by dislike for one another,” Quatre said in a strong a tone as he could muster underneath Duo’s intimidating glare. But when Duo’s expression only intesified at the comment, Quatre fought to amend with rushed words. “You yell and fight, get yourselves into all kinds of trouble, and then next thing you know, you’re running to help each other out! I just find it sort of sweet and fairly amusing how you hide your love behind hate!”

Quatre would have kept babbling in that fashion had Trowa not intervened. “Duo, for once, can you just shut your mouth and lay off?” he asked sternly, his annoyance at Duo’s behaviour apparent underneath his thick, long bangs as he put a protective arm around Quatre. “Whenever anyone asks you anything, you always go twisting it around so you can avoid your own shit!” Trowa said sternly, his voice slowly escalating in volume. “Why can’t you just stop hiding and be fucking honest for once!”

At this, Duo’s attention zoomed full-throttle in Trowa’s direction. He stalked over to the tall goalie and grabbed his collar hard enough to rip some of the shirt’s seams as he pulled Trowa’s face down to his eye level. “Don’t ever fucking insult my integrity,” he growled softly.

“Hell, you can’t even look at me with an honest expression. Even your biggest smile is a mask,” Trowa snapped, grabbing Duo’s wrists and clamping down on them, his grip tight enough to bruise. “Now I really do see why everyone begs you to be on the stage; you’re the best goddamned actor I’ve ever seen.” His tone was dark and dripping with cynicism at the irony of his statement.

Out of nowhere, a third pair of hands slid between the goalie and the mechanic, effeciently prying them apart. “You can’t force a real smile, Trowa. He’ll let you in when he’s ready,” Heero said softly, a hand on each of their chests to keep space between them. “And believe me, you’ll be glad you waited for him to.” Another small, rare smile crossed Heero’s lips, private and secret to everyone else what he was thinking. “I know I was,” he whispered almost inaudibly.

“Heero is right,” Quatre spoke up, standing opposite Heero in their little huddle. He clutched the mop’s long, red handle, leaning on it as he spoke. “We can’t all be blowing up at each other every time there’s something we disagree about. We’re all different people. There’s no forcing anyone to do anything because someone wants it.”

“Oh, aren’t we the little diplomat,” Duo said, rolling his eyes at his blonde friend.

Trowa’s eyes flared a little, taking on an odd, cat-like glint. “That’s exactly what I’m talking about!” he raged.

“And that’s what Quatre’s talking about,” Heero countered, applying a little pressure to Trowa’s chest with the hand he was using to restrain his brother from jumping Duo. “Get a grip.”

Trowa breathed heavily, trying to regulate his breath as he came down from his terribly uncharacteristic tantrum. He closed his eyes for a moment, shoulders slowly rising a falling with each inhale and exhale. “I’m just... worried,” he said quietly when he finally seemed to have regained his usual calm control. “I don’t want to see Quatre or Heero hurt....” He breathed heavily again as he opened his eyes again, his sharp, green eyes glittering at Duo from underneath his long, cinnamon bangs. “I don’t want to see you hurt either, Duo.”

Duo had nothing to say in response to that one, and even if he did, he would be unable to due to the fact that his jaw was hanging wide open with shock. Finally regaining composure, he was able to choke out a meager “Why?”

He smiled a little. “Because you’re Quatre’s friend, because you’re my friend,” he answered in that low, musical lilt of his, eyes focused intently on the longhaired boy across from him. “Because,” he went on in an even softer tone, his words almost lost with a sigh, “you’re so much to Heero, because you’re... his....” He shook his head and stopped, breaking the magical hold he’d had on Duo with his unwavering gaze. “You know what I mean,” he mumbled.

Duo narrowed his eyes at Trowa, though he no longer had the antagonistic glint that had riddled his stare before. “Do I really?”

“Are you really that... oblivious?” Trowa wondered, sounding truly flabbergasted. He looked down and said under his breath, “Blind? Or just hiding?”

Duo made a low, gutteral noise in the back of his throat while Heero stared intently at the longhaired lacrosse manager. Trowa noticed both these things and sighed to himself with a disheartened slump of his shoulders. Or just plain hopeless, he thought.

Quatre looked pensive, his large, aquamarine eyes flicking up to glance at one of the other three ever few moments to keep his thoughts in line. He wished more than ever that he had figured out what made his mutation leap up into the telepathic level every once in a while; he knew that each of his friends was hoarding a private collection of puzzle pieces that would make so much sense if only they could be put together. “Trowa, stop pressuring Duo,” Quatre said at last to break the heavy silence. Holding the mop out to the tall goalie, he moved away from them to fetch the water he’d brought along specifically for that job. “It’s just not worth it,” he added softly.

“Yeah, but...!” Trowa stopped himself, realizing that both Heero and Duo had moved off to other parts of the classroom. Duo was rooting through a file cabinet, opening the drawers and cleaning them out of all the old papers and junk still inside while Heero returned to his polishing, now working on all the student desks in the room. Gripping the mop tighter, Trowa said in a harsh whisper to Quatre, “It’s bad enough how they keep running circles around each other. It’s not every day that Heero will go out of his way to exclusively take care of someone’s well-being, but what I... well....” Trowa scratched the back of his head. “I just don’t like the way Duo keeps shooting himself in the foot simply to make a point. He ends up hurting himself the most.”

“Yeah, now tell him that,” Quatre said with a sideways glance as he brought the bucket of water to Trowa’s feet.

“Well, I wish I could just explain to him why I’m so concerned, but to be honest, it’s not really my place to say,” Trowa answered, plunging the ropey-headed mop into the water and swishing it around. He sloshed it back onto the floor and started whipping the wet mop across the tiled floor with jerky, quick movements that were most unlike his usual graceful ones. “It’s been only a week,” he grumbled under his breath to no one in particular as he dragged the mop across the floor, “and Heero’s had two of his crazy episodes. It’s so strange....”

When Trowa looked up to dunk the mop into the bucket again, he found himself caught in the path of Heero’s molten glare. Even from the other side of the room, where he was sitting in the last row, polishing the desktop of the place he was sitting in, his eyes were blazing hot enough to make something combust. Cat-like, green eyes blinked at midnight blue ones, engaged in a silent staring contest.

“What the hell is going on, Heero?” Trowa asked in a perfectly even voice,breaking the silence at last. “Your... You’ve been really unstable lately.” He finally looked away from Heero with an almost ashamed expression on his face.

Heero was still sitting at the small student’s desk, his hands frozen around the rag and the bottle of polish as he continued to gaze steadily at Trowa. Shifting his eyes a bit, he caught Duo’s hesitant eyes and murmured in his slightly nasal, monotonous voice, “It was Duo.”

“What’d I do now!” Duo panicked at the sound of his name, his eyes wide with confusion. He stared open-mouthed at Heero, wondering what in Hell’s name he meant by that. Given the fact that he knew Heero could be far more eloquent than that, there was obviously something the Japanese boy wasn’t saying. The trick was just getting him to a place where he would.

“Iie, you didn’t do anything, Duo,” Heero answered with a shake of his head. “Just you being there is enough to make things flip on their heads.”

“Well, that’s always been Duo’s way,” Quatre said with a laugh, while he simultaneously thought about what Heero had just alluded, ignoring Trowa’s still-disgruntled demeanor and Duo’s shocked one. It would seem that Heero’s outbursts were all, in some way, connected to Duo’s mere presence. The idea caused a private smile to blossom on Quatre’s face when he realized that it probably had something to do with how the stony-faced Japanese lacrosse star felt about his best friend. He had the urge to prod at it more, but eventually decided that it was another one of those delicate situations that had to be dealt with accordingly. The wrong question could ruin everything.

“Heero, that’s illogical,” Trowa spoke up, mopping his way down the aisles of desks, at last coming to a stop in the last row, beside Heero. He leaned on the long-handled mop and crossed one ankle over the other. “Duo can’t be the cause of that; you’ve only just started getting close to him and these incidents have been happening since before you came here!”

Heero stood up and neatly pushed the chair he was using underneath the desk. Without looking back at Trowa as he moved to the desk in front of the one he’d just polished, he said simply, “It’s complicated. I really don’t feel like talking about it right now.”

“Aw, you never feel like talking about anything, ‘Ro,” Duo said with a sigh, letting his shoulders droop. For a moment there, he had almost thought that he would get another piece of mystery regarding Heero Yuy. Duo supposed he couldn’t really begrudge him the feeling of not wanting to talk about personal things like that; Duo knew better than anyone that sometimes inner demons were best just left alone and forgotten as best as they could be.

“And you always talk about everything, so it makes up for what I lack,” Heero responded automatically as he started rubbing the polish into the new desk.

Duo reddened at the comment, even though it wasn’t all that embarrassing or anything. “You really don’t lack all that much,” he murmured quietly, looking away and slipping a hand underneath his braid to rub the base of his neck. Even more morosely, he added, “My words just fill up my nothingness.”

Quatre noticed Duo’s dejected attitude and frowned at him before scuttling across the room with a sudden urge to clean the windows. Fetching a spray bottle of Windex and another rag from Duo’s supply bucket, Quatre went to work. He pulled up the blinds of one window and squirted the blue cleaning solution onto the glass, spying on the movements of his other three friends in the glass as he started to wipe the dripping panes. Trowa had returned to mopping the floor with an almost unhealthily dedicated air to him, Duo back to his job of sorting out the file cabinets and bookcases. But when he caught sight of Heero in the sparkling glass, Quatre felt a familiar pulse of pain in his head as his mutation started acting up again. Pressing one forearm against the window and leaning his head against it, Quatre tried to regulate his breath as Heero’s brooding thoughts infiltrated his brain.

A blessing and a curse, that’s what it is. I’m the strong little fuck you always wanted, but I can’t even control myself; so much for being invincible then. Why the hell couldn’t you have just left me alone, Oji-san? I was happy the way I was.

Two quick blinks later and Quatre fell out of the strange trance, staring at the reflection in the window again. It wasn’t until that moment that he even realized that he had been staring blankly at nothing for a couple moments. Head buzzing, Quatre dropped the rag and started massaging his temples with his fingers, trying to sort out his head and calm his pounding headache. Soothing himself, Quatre looked over his shoulder at Heero, who was in the process of moving on to another desk. The dark, pensive scowl on his face certainly matched the mood of the thoughts Quatre had just experienced. It wasn’t until he felt a hand on his shoulder, shaking him, that Quatre even realized that someone had been calling his name.

Duo’s voice rang in his ear; “Yo, Q, you okay? You look kinda pale.” He sounded concerned.

Distracted, Quatre removed Duo’s hand from his shoulder as he nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine, Duo,” he insisted, sounding false even to his own ears. He forced a bitty smile. “But thanks for asking anyway, you know?”

Duo gave him a look that said he clearly knew that Quatre was trying to pull the wool over his eyes. “Hey, Tro!” he called over to the tall goalie. “Come over here and fix your boyfriend! He’s malfunctioning.” The comment did well in its intent to distract everyone from the tense mood lingering in the air, leaving both Trowa and Quatre were redder than the stripes of the American flag hanging by the chalkboard.

Trowa, who was now mopping near the front of the room, looked up and smirked at Duo. With an almost sadistic look glittering in his deep, emerald eyes, he caught Heero’s attention in a similar fashion: “Hey, Heero! Your pet’s pissing on the carpet again. Put a leash on him!” Duo could have sworn he saw Trowa Barton stick the tip of his tongue out at him when he was through with the comment. Had he not been laughing so hard, he might have actually remembered to be angry.

(x) X (x)

a/n: Bwa! That makes up for the short chappy last time, okay? Title’s a Billy Joel song that fits Duo perfectly for this story.

On another note, I just came home from seeing the documentary Fahrenheit 9/11, and I must say, my initial reaction was absolute horror at some of the things shown in that film. Especially since I am a resident of Washington DC and am stuck right in the middle of all this stuff, I felt certain chords being struck within me. Don’t let the fact that it’s a documentary fool you into thinking it’s boring, because it’s anything but. No matter what your personal politics are (and I won’t get into it, because it just makes me so mad), I think there are images in that movie that every, single American--and non-American, for that matter--should see. I don’t care how or where, but see this movie. I’m telling you, it will give you some real food for thought about unjust, unnecessary war and underhand politics.

<stalks off to brood>