High Rollers

Disclaimer: I don\'t own GW or the boys. You have to have money to do that.

Pairings: Eventual 1x2, 3x4, 5xM
Warnings: AU, yaoi, sleezy Zechs(sorry guys), a bit of OOC
Spoilers: Nope not here.
Feedback: Please
Archive: Sabers and Scythes (http://www.geocities.com/slr_starchan/index.html)
1x2ml.com (http://www.1x2ml.com)
Shinigami195\'s page (http://www.geocities.com/duo_chan666/)
If anyone else wants to, you are welcome to. Just let me know so I can keep a tab on where my fics are.

Notes: The idea for this fic came to me while I watched my parents bowl in their Tuesday night league. Heero\'s job and intrest in bowling is loosely based on my own father and he is the inspiration and honorary muse for this fic. Bowling is something of a great interest for me, the love of it sort of running in the family. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did writing it.


High Rollers
by: Ashkah
___________


Heero Yuy sat at his desk, typing away at his computer. He had spent the last week working overtime to catch up with his work, and now he wanted to make sure he stayed caught up. Getting sick in the middle of the busy season was not the smartest thing one could do in his line of work. He, unfortunately, found out the hard way. Two weeks of battling the flu and work can start looking oddly appealing to the eye.

He worked as a computer programmer for some generic government agency. Not the best job in the world, but it brought in enough money to help maintain his lifestyle. It wasn\'t exactly what he wanted to spend his life doing, supervising over a team of incompetants, however, he had given up on his dreams long ago. Does anyone ever acheive their true dreams anyway? He didn\'t think so, at least not from his own experiences.

After he finished setting up the weekend jobs to run, Heero began to check over the jobs scheduled to run that night. The systems in this career had a tendency to abend and he really wasn\'t looking forward to a wake-up call at one in the morning stating that there was a problem with one of the night shift blocks. A knock on the outside of his cubicle brought him out of the studying of cryptic writings which detailed each section.

\"Hey Heero, you still here?\"

Heero logged out of the computer and turned in his chair to face his visitor. The guy who had addressed him had short blonde hair and big, aquamarine eyes. Quatre Winner was one of Heero\'s personal as wel as professional friends and Heero enjoyed his company whenever he could, which lately had been hardly ever.

\"No, Quatre, I\'m his evil twin, Hector.\"

\"Heh. Well, at least all this overtime hasn\'t killed what little sense of humor you have.\"

Heero laughed a little with his blonde friend and then furrowed his brow as something occured to him. Quatre usually wasn\'t here this late on a Friday night.

\"Why haven\'t you left yet, Quat?\"

\"Oh I\'m about to. I just wanted to try and see if I couldn\'t persuade you into taking the rest of the night off as well. All this overtime right after you\'ve been sick as long as you were, isn\'t going to help with your health any.\"

Heero sighed and leaned back into his chair, running one of his hands into his messy brown hair. He really adored Quatre, but he could be such a mother hen sometimes. Heero often wondered if getting his Arabian comrade a pet might ebb some of those motherly tendencies, but he doubted it. When you grow up in a household with twenty-eight older sisters, you tend to aquire some of their quirks. This just happened to be one of many.

\"Don\'t worry so much. I\'ll be fine. Besides, what else am I going to do tonight?\"

\"You really need to get a social life outside of work, Heero. All that solitude can\'t be good for your psyche.......Hey, I know! How about you spend tonight hanging out with Trowa and I? We haven\'t done that in ages.\"

Heero gave his friend a skeptical look.

\"But isn\'t tonight your league night?\"

\"Yeah, but it will be a lot of fun. All you have to do is watch. And I\'m sure the others wouldn\'t mind. They are a nice bunch of guys. I think you\'ll get a long just fine with them. Please...\"

Heero silently cured the look Quatre had on his face at the moment. One of those puppy dog looks where the bottom lip is just barely sticking out in a pout. Many thought it was just some reflex he had and that he didn\'t realize he did, but Heero was begining to think Quatre knew exactly when he used it. It was the blonde\'s own personal secret weapon and it had yet to fail once. This time would be no different.

\"You know it\'s impossible for me to say no to you when you give me that look. I swear, you should be in the military. You would make the enemys drop their weapons in a second.\"

\"What look is that, Heero?\"

Heero glared at his friend. Evil Bastard.

\"Nevermind.\"

Quatre perked up then.

\"So is that a yes?\"

Heero turned in his chair backardsards his desk and started putting files away. He really could wait until Monday to start on them. It wou't b't be that big of a deal.

\"Just let me make sure everything is put up and gather my things.\"

\"Great! Oh and if you don\'t mind, I can give you a ride and then drop you off here to get your car afterwards.\"

\"Sounds good.\"

____________

Before they could reach their destination, Quatre had to make a detour so he could pick up his lover. Trowa Barton, from Heero\'s point of view, was the complete opposite of his soulmate. Trowa came to a few inches taller then him, something Heero had to get used to because Quatre was just barely shorter then him. He also wasn\'t an active talker. Quatre, on the other hand, always had to engage people in idle chitt. Wt. While Trowa was always satisfied with a good book to read, Quatre would any excuse he could to be on the phone with someone.

As far as looks, Heero had to admit that Trowa was a pretty hansome guy. Dispite his heighth, he wasn\'t lanky in the least. For someone his age, the man was very well toned. His hair was cropped short, with the exception of his bangs, which hung to one side consealing half his face at certain angles. Heero wondered not for the first time how he could possibly see through all that. Lastly, he had vibrant green eyes that Heero was almost sure pierced Quatre\'s heart every time Trowa looked at him. Soulmates did that you know.

Heero watched from the backseat as Trowa slid into the passenger side after loading his gear and leaned over to give Quatre a kiss in greeting. It took him a couple of seconds to register that they had an audience and turned his head to greet their guest.

\"Hello Heero. Um...I hope you don\'t find this kind of rude, but, why are you here?\"

Quatre put the car into reverse and backed out of their driveway as he took it upon himself to answer the question for Heero.

\"I asked him to come along. He\'s been working overtime all week and I thought this might be a welcome break for him. Besides, we haven\'t done anything together in over two months.\"

Heero looked at Trowa and pointed towards the blonde driver.

\"What he said.\"

Trowa chuckled and offered his hand to shake, which Heero gladly took. Trowa smiled warmly at him.

\"Well, I\'m always glad to have you around. I just hope tonight doesn\'t become too boring for yoowliowling isn\'t the most exciting sport in the world.\"

\"Well, I\'ve not gotten bored around you two yet, have I?\"

Trowa blushed and turned back in his seat to try and hide it, but he couldn\'t fool Heero. Those two really were a cute couple. One year since they got together and they still loved each other with as much intensity. Though, for some reason, Heero didn\'t envy them. He was only happy for them.

Heero had lived by himself ever since he moved out of his parents house, and prefered it that way. He always welcomed solitude. There was order in solitude. Is was oddly comforting in knowing what channel the t.v. would be airing when you switched it on. In knowing the temperature of your apartment before ever walking in. In the half eaten bag of chips still being there after sitting there for a week. He never did desire the unexpectedness that came with living with someone else. Some people were just that way.

In the front, Trowa looked over to his lover, catching his aquamarine eyes, before looking back out at the scenery. This indicated that his next statement was directed towards Quatre.

\"Just one thing. Do you really think it wise to introduce him to Duo?\"

Quatre burst out laughing.

__________

When Heero entered the Bowling Ally, Fred\'s it was called, and a fairly new one from the looks of it, three things assaulted his senses at once.

The first thing was the overwhelming small of cheep cigarrettes. You know, the kind that people buy in multiple packs, because they are affordable to those who don\'t have enough money to get the better advertised kind. He never did get how people could become addicted to those things. They tasted aweful. Why anyone would pick up another one after that escaped him.

The second thing to assault him was the music blaring from the speakers hanging from the ceiling every three or so lanes down. Something about bowling allys always made the operators play tracks of cheesy fifties and sixties era music around the clock. Almost as if the owners expected the guests to break out into song and dance like in those out of date movie musicals. The current song described something about crying at birthday parties.

The third thing he noticed were the people. Okay, so maybe it wasn\'t just the people themselves, but the warming atmosphere they created. Everyone was being friendly to everyone else. They all acted like they were all good buddies with each other. He noticed as he followed behind Quatre and Trowa that they were stopped more then once by other people who just wanted to say hi and ask how they were doing. But what he really couldn\'t get over were all the looks he received from everyone. Apparently they knew when there was a stranger in their midsts.

A loud whistle cut through the monotonous voices and loud music, catching his attention. He looked to his right in time to see a woman with shoulder length wavy brown hair walk up to Trowa, put her arm around his waist, and give a slight hug in the process.

\"Hey, Honey. You going to introduce me to tall, dark and hansome here, or am I going have to take matters into my own hands?\"

Trowa returned the gesture and turned to face Heero, who was trying not to blush, but doing a really bad job of it.

\"Heero, I\'d like you meet my sister Catherine. Watch it around her, she\'s dangerous.\"

\"Hey, now. That\'s no way to treat your sister, Mister.\"

Catherine winked at Heero and began to poke her brother in the side.

\"Say, you\'re getting a little pudgy here aren\'t you? Quatre here keeping you from the gym lately?\"

It was Quatre\'s turn to blush, and with his skin so pale, you could really tell. He decided that it was time they should go and cleared his throat.

\"Yes, well, we\'d love to sit and chat with you all night, Cathy, but we have our own match-up to win.\"

Cathy sighed and backed up from her brother, rubbing Quatre\'s hair before doing so.

\"Suit yourself, Kitten. It was nice meeting Heero. You seem like a nice guy, just don\'t let my baby brother corrupt you okay?

\"It\'s a little late for that,\" replied Trowa.

Cathy pretended to look shocked and Trowa snickered in response as Quatre lead them to their table. Heero just smiled to himself. When they reached their destination it was apparent that two of the seats were already occupied. Quatre disappeared only to return with an extra chair for Heero. He thanked the Arabian and took a seat, careful not to disturb any of the papers placed messily over the table. One particularly bright green piece caught his attention and he leaned in a little so he could see what it said:


Annual City Team Tournament: Mixed - Division 1 Top Ten

1. The Specials
2. Ball Breakers
3. Pin Seekers
4. Pocket Rockets
5. Spare 6. 6. The Splits
7. The Pro Shop Too
8. Slow Rollers
9. Grumpy Old Men
10. Zero Talent

Note: Congradulations to The Specials for their third consecutive year in first place. The Awards Banquet will be held at Fred\'s on the 27th. Please sign your name on the list at the front desk if you are attending.


The name Ball Breakers had been circled in black ink and an arrow had been drawn from it pointing to scratchy writing which said \'Duo and Wufei\'s Team\'. Heero deduced from this info that this Duo character must be a pretty good bowler.

\"Hey, Wufei, Meiran, come here for a second. I\'d like you to meet someone.\"

Heero looked up from reading the neon green paper to see a man and woman come up from the pit at Quatre\'s request. The man was around the same height as Quatre and was wearing black jeans and a navy blue tank. His hair was jet black, like his eyes, and tied back into a small, tight ponytail. The woman also had on black jeans, but instead of the blue tank she wore a dark green tee. She was a little shorter then the guy. Her hair laid straight just above her shoulders. It was also black. They both looked to be Chinese.

\"Heero, meet Chang Wufei and Meiran. Wufei, Meiran, this is Heero Yuy, a co-worker of mine.\"

Wufei extended his hand for Heero to shake and he took it, noting that Wufei had a pretty strong grip, probably from bowling. Meiran just waved her hand in greeting and placed her other arm around her husband\'s shoulders.

\"It\'s an honor to meet you. Quat, here, talks a lot about you. It\'s nice to be able to put a face to the name now.\"

Heero smiled.

\"Hmm, then it seems you have me at an disadvantage. Hope the things he\'s said about me haven\'t been all bad.\"

Meiran giggled and removed her arm. Pecking her husband on the cheek, she returned to the pit where Trowa and Quatre had retreated to. Wufei pulled up one of the chairs and sat down at the table with Heero. He spotted the neon green paper and picked it up, reviewing the standings.

\"Second place isn\'t bad. Congradulations.\"

The chinese man sighed and placed the paper back down on the table. He looked non-plussed about the results.

\"Yeah, but it isn\'t good enough. Duo isn\'t going to be too happy about this when he sees the rankings. If he gets here anyway. He\'s late.\"

\"Why\'s that? Is he used to coming in first or something?\"

Wufei leaned his elbows on the table and laid his head in his hands.

\"No, the second place part won\'t bother him. Hell, you\'re right. It is an impressive position when you look at the people we bowled against. But what Duo will be pissed at is the team who beat us out. He\'s never gotten along well with one of their members. And to top it off, Duo\'s team has placed second every year The Specials have placed first.\"

Heero would have made a reply. But just as he opened his mouth to say something, this big purple blur passed by him in a rush and stopped at the entrance to his friends\' pit. When the purple blur stopped, he noticed that it had very long chestnut hair which was currently held in a loose ponytail. The purple blur turned out to be a silk shirt tucked into light blue jeans; skin tight light blue jeans. Heero almost caught himself staring at the owners backside, but was pulled out of his.....observations, yeah that\'s what it was.......when the guy spoke.