school adversary

Part 7


I woke up the next day to the sound of my phone ringing impatiently. I reached over to my bedside table, absently noticing that it was still dark outside. Who the hell would be ringing me now? I answered the phone with a voice thickened by sleep.
"Duo, where are you?" My eyes widened as I recognized the sound of a very pissed off Quatre. "It's almost time for school and we're still locked in the bloody closet!" At the vivid mental picture that sent me, I couldn't help but snicker. "I HEARD THAT!!!" Quatre yelled into the phone. 'ooops!' I thought.
"Sorry Quatre man, but I was just so buggered after hockey that I completely forgot." Which was true. Last night I was so angry that I had gone after the puck as if it were my personal enemy, and woe the guy that got in the way. Wufei had given me some pretty odd looks, and afterward had even asked my if something was wrong. I was tempted to tell him, but thought that Quatre would be best to enlighten first. So had I got back to my room, and thankfully fell asleep quickly.
"OK Quatre man" I said cheerfully into the phone. "I'll be right there".
"Run Duo" Quatre growled out, then hung up. I'm a morning person and that just shits the little blond to tears. He says he can't understand how someone who gets 3 hours of sleep can be almost instantaneously awake and as happy as a lark. I grinned and jumped out of bed. I ran down the corridors towards Quatre's little love nest as fast as possible. After all, I was only wearing boxer shorts (with "I hope you enjoyed your stay" written on them), and it was a little chilly. Not that I mind the cold. Winter's my favourite season. I could hardly play ice hockey if it wasn't. I think that's why Quatre doesn't like ice hockey that much. He's from Arabia, and the cold affects him a lot. The winters here are pretty mild in comparison to some I've experienced. There's no snow, and the lowest it's ever gotten is around 3 degrees. It's still pretty cold and rainy around here though.
So I sprinted all out for the tiny janitor's closet, then realised I had forgotten the keys! Oh well, no time to double back. I kneeled as quietly as I could in front of the door, then took out a small lock pick that I liked to carry at all times. Preferably in my hair. Actually, I had several, just in case. I took it out carefully (those things pull your hair like buggery if you don't do it right) and picked the lock. I was in 13 seconds. I sighed happily. Haven't lost my touch! Then opened the door to a very crumpled and cramped Quatre and Trowa. I grinned at them both. "Morning y'all" I drawled in my best southern accent. "How ya doing?"
Quatre glared at me, which was actually rather cute. He looked like a miffed kitten. "late. Very late! You were supposed to be here earlier"
"Well, I didn't want to interrupt anything" I smirked, then shivered as I realised that I was standing in the corridor practically naked. "I think I'm gonna get dressed" I said, heading back to my room.
"Can I borrow some clothes Duo?" Quatre asked me.
"Sure" I replied. Quatre and I were almost exactly the same size, except he was a little wider, and I was a little taller. So I showed him to my room, and gave over my wardrobe for his inspection. Most of it was black. Of course there were some red and purple here and there, but mostly it was black. I like black. It suits me. It makes me look older, and highlights the gold in my hair. The blood red and deep violet also help with that. The blood red makes me look incredibly sinister, and the violet makes my eyes stand out. Either way, it all makes me look sexy, dangerous and utterly bad. And that's what I like. After all, I have an image to maintain you know. Not the whole bad thing, but chicks dig that. Not that I was interested in chicks I thought, mentally slapping myself. 'You weren't supposed to think about that!' I told myself. 'Ask Quatre, he'll know what you should do' I thought. 'Good plan' I congratulated myself. Hey, if you're not willing to reward yourself, who else will?
Quatre had just picked out some baggy black jeans and what must have been my only white shirt, which I had probably borrowed off him anyway. "These?" he asked me.
"sure" I replied. How to broach the subject? "So how did things go last night?" I asked finally.
"good" Quatre replied blushing. The bell rang for class, and I decided that now was probably not the best time to ask Quatre's opinion.

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I walked down the corridor anxiously watching for Duo, not sure whether I wanted to see him or not. I was heading to the cafeteria, but not really hungry as my disturbing thoughts were enough to fill up my stomach. A hand grabbed my shoulder, pulling me into an empty classroom. I turned to see Trowa quietly closing the door behind us.
"So what's this about?" I asked him, hoping it wasn't about last night, and my interruption of his activities.
"It's about last night" he replied. 'Oh god' I thought mentally cringing, although outwardly I remained impassive. "Quatre and I wish to see each other again, but we can't." 'Here it comes' I thought. "He's a jock, and I'm not." I sighed mentally. It wasn't the rebuke I had thought it would be, but it was quite a problem for the two lovers.
"What will you do?" I asked him.
"Well, as we can't be seen together, then we shall have to say we'll be spending time with other people. Those particular people will have to be kept busy and entertained, as they can't be seen without us, so they should probably spend their time together." I narrowed my eyes at this. It sounded like a very logical reason, but there was something in his voice that was telling me I wouldn't quite like this. "Quatre and Wufei live together, so it would be easier to go to his house as Wufei can provide proof that Quatre was with whoever he's supposed to be with and Wufei can also look after Relena while we spend time together. So, the other people would probably have to go somewhere else, and as I'd hoped you would be the person who I was supposed to be spending time with, maybe you could go to your house." I narrowed my eyes further at that. My house wasn't very pleasant. Why do you think I boarded? It wasn't like my parents abused me or anything. The truth was that they were often away and it was very lonely, so I didn't like it there. I went home when I had a lot of homework and really needed the peace, but apart from that I liked it better at school.
"And who would this other person be?" I asked. I had a sneaking suspicion that it would be the object of all my thoughts of the past few days. Who else would it be? He was both Quatre's and Wufei's friend so it would seem natural for him to hang out with them.
"Well, I don't know if he'll agree to it, but Quatre's asking Duo now". I took in a shuddering breath. Hearing that it would be him was completely different to just supposing that it would be. Spending hours with Duo would definitely be something that I could look forward to, if I let myself. It was also something that I was bloody scared of. Yes, me scared. Nobody had ever made me feel anything remotely like this. The feelings were so intense, TOO intense, that it had me running for cover. I guess there's no way I could possibly avoid this, but facing it constantly in this manner was overwhelming.
I looked at Trowa, straight into his eyes, and realised that this meant a lot to him. I wouldn't be his friend if I didn't help him now. He was the only real friend that I had.
"I'll do it" I said.

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"So?"
I looked into those pleading aqua eyes and all resistance became futile. "OK man" I said, "but you owe me big". I was gonna be thinking about Heero all day now. I snorted, like I'd ever stopped! Just the thought of spending time at his house was enough to break me out into nervous goose bumps. I sighed and left the classroom, murmuring about getting some lunch, when for the first time in remembrance I wasn't hungry. I walked into the school grounds, heading for my favourite tree. It was this big ass oak tree in the northern corner. The trunk was so large that I couldn't get my arms around it. If there were three of me, I still wouldn't be able to reach around the tree. It had been there since the school had been built, hundreds of years ago. I loved it because the trunk was smooth, yet I could climb it. This meant that if anyone were looking for me, they wouldn't look there. When you got to about 30 feet up, there was a place where several branches left the trunk and spread out, creating a nice, cosy spot just big enough for me to curl up in. It was completely surrounded by green, leafy foliage, and there was no way that you could spot me from the ground, and nobody but me and Quatre knew about it. Quatre didn't use it, but we didn't hide things from each other. It was the perfect place to be alone.
I went there now, just to think about what this would mean for me and Heero. The most important thing would probably be if he felt the same way, and if I would be able to pick it up. On one hand, I was spending more time with him, but on the other hand, I wasn't the most observative of people. I was definitely going to enjoy spending time with him though. There was something about him that just fascinated me. He was so beautiful. The only other person with such beauty that I knew was Wufei, and if I ever mentioned that I thought so to him, he would probably cane my ass. I wonder if Heero would as well? I drifted off, just thinking about him and what it would be like spending so much time with him.
I wonder what his house would be like? It had been surprising that he lived so close as he spent most of his time at school. On reflection, I think that I've been watching him for a while. It's only now that I'm beginning to realise how much I've observed about him. And I thought I wasn't observant. Maybe it's just about feelings that I lose my abilities. I looked at my watch. I'd better get to class, I had maths with Heero, Quatre, Wufei and Trowa. Oh life was going to be fun now!

I got to class and sat down in my usual seat and waited for Quatre to sit on my right, and Wufei to sit on my left, in his customary corner seat. We always sat in the very back row. It was the customary "jock" position. This was good in one way, because all the worms would sit up front, and that meant we could throw things at them. Well, that had been good in the past. I couldn't really do that now though. Not unless I wanted to incur the wrath of Quatre, which was something you had to see to believe. For a small person, he sure as hell contained a lot of fight. He was a trained fighter as well, his father had insisted on it as part of self-defence.
Wufei came in and sat next to me, giving me a small smile. He had really loosened up towards me since I'd first met him. He was now almost as good as friends with me as Quatre. The only thing that was really different about Wufei's and mine's and Quatre's and mine's relationships were that Quatre and I had been friends so much longer, and it wasn't so easy to build up that kind of history anymore.
I smiled back at him, a nice big one because it wasn't often that Wufei smiled. Quatre came in then, and I had to stifle a laugh. He practically GLOWED. If he had a sign saying "just got laid" above his head it couldn't have been more obvious. John and Ben came in and sat down near us, smiling like nothing was wrong. I gave them a cool look, only a small smile. They were still benched for that little stunt with Trowa, and they were crawling to get back into favour with me, Quatre and Wufei.
"So Quatre, how are you doing? or should I say, WHO are you doing?" he leered at Quatre. Why hadn't I ever noticed that they both had the nastiest expressions?
Quatre looked at them, slightly flushing. I knew that face. He was going to try and lie. Quatre cannot lie, it's just not in him to lie. I blame all of that truth crap his parents drilled into him when he was little. "I have no idea what you're talking about" he said, looking down at his book. Big mistake. First rule of lying: ALWAYS look them straight in the eye. If you look down, even for an instant, it's a sign of weakness which people automatically seize. John was no exception.
"Sure Quatre, you've got that 'just lost my virginity' look plastered all over you" At this, Quatre blushed. Another big mistake. John grinned in triumph. "So who's the lucky lady that got to break you in?" At this comment, I was tempted to bang my head on the desk, especially as Trowa and Heero had just walked in, and had obviously heard as Trowa had stiffened and Heero had placed a placating hand on his shoulder. They moved to their customary seats, the left of the front row.
I decided that this had gone on long enough and that it was definitely time to step in. "At least he's got a sex life that doesn't involve a blow up sheep, John" I said cuttingly. He looked at me, surprised. This was a perfectly normal reaction. Most guys love to brag about their casual lays, especially if it's their first. Quatre didn't have an established relationship, (some guys got REALLY touchy when you talked about their girlfriends in that type of way) so there was no reason for another guy to tread carefully when asking about his sex life.
John shrugged it off a minute later, but there was something in his eyes that I didn't like. Some small spark that spoke to me and told me that John would definitely be trouble. He chose that moment to focus his attention on something else, mainly Trowa and Heero.
"well look at that" said John in voice full of mock wonder. "The courtship ritual of the lowly worm. I wonder how long it'll take for them to have their kids?"
"I thought worms laid eggs" said Ben thoughtfully. "Then their parents abandon them after they're laid."
"Really? Hey Heero!" John yelled across the room. "Were you abandoned as an egg?" This struck both Ben and John as tremendously funny, and they collapsed with laughter onto their desks. I however, was not amused. I didn't like Heero being teased, by anyone but me that is, and I was really getting sick of Ben and John. They must have noticed that I wasn't a happy chappie, because they sobered immediately and shot me quizzical looks.
"What's up with you Duo?" Ben asked. "Gotten a little too fond of worms?" He would have said more, but John nudged him, so he shut up. There was a maliciousness in that question that bothered me. Something would have to done about both of them before the problem grew.
Mutiny was in the air, so to speak.