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 interest 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 - Ch. 1b
by: Ashkah
___________

Duo hit the gas after gaining a few extra feet of room on the interstate. He loved Howard, he really did. But damn if he didn\'t chose the worst times to be stubborn. Howard could have easily waited until Monday to get Duo to fix that toaster. Hell, it wasn\'t as if it was going anywhere over the weekend anyways.

And now, he was running late. He slammed on his brakes, coming up on yet another car going under the speed limit. The next small opeing he got, Duo pulled into the next lane and stepped on the gas again. He\'d barely had time to wash hair, which hung still wet in a loose ponytail. The old man knew tonight was one of his league nights, too.

Honestly, it really wouldn\'t have matter if it had been one of his other league nights. He had only joined them to get more bowling time in during the week. He didn\'t care to much for the company and the allys themselves weren\'t all that great anyways. Fridays, however, were different. He actually enjoyed Friday nights at Fred\'s. The lanes were new for one, only about four or five years old. Plus, his teammates made the experience fun. He couldn\'t remember laughing so hard before in his life.

Watching Wufei calm a fuming Meiran is one of the funniest things in the world. He\'s become an expert at restraining her so she doesn\'t kick in the ball return. On Fridays, he could see Quatre pout and Trowa stare evilly at the balls when they don\'t go where they wanted them to if if seeing the faces would make the balls behave. Finally, listening to Wufei spout off rants of injustice when he leaves a split has had Duo literally in tears. Yes, one could say that Friday nights were priceless.

Spotting his exit, Duo cut through two lanes of traffic and continued on his way.

He shouldn\'t make jokes about their little quirks though. They were what made him like this group so much after all. Besides, he had his quirks as well. One of them sat comfortably in his shoulder bag at this very moment. It had arrived earlier in the week and he was eager to test it out.

Duo pulled into the parking lot and snatched up the first space he could see that didn\'t have a pot hole in it. The building may be new, but the parking lot sure could have used re-paving. Hauling his gear out of the trunk, he ran into the bowling ally at top speed. He didn\'t have time to stop and talk with the other members like he usually did; they were mostly busy practicing anyway. He winked an apology at Cathy as he passed her, and she responded with a thumbs up to let him know she understood.

He loTrowTrowa\'s sister Catherine. She was the only single woman in the league who hadn\'t hit on him unless she was in one of her joking moods. Apparently being around her brother helped her one one her skills of singling out the gay men from the straight. It was nice being able to sit down and have a civil conversation with a woman for once, instead of one where she tried to flirt her way into his pants.

He reached the pit in front of lanes twenty-seven and twenty-eight and parked his gear, finally being able to calm down and relax. But, of course, he had the say the first thing that came to his mind as a way of apology for almost not making it in time for the first game.

\"I swear, that old man must have had trouble getting laid when he was younger to be this stubborn!\"

Duo proceeded to unload his bowling balls and place them on the ball return. He had a total of four. One was a strike ball which hooked best on oily lanes. One was a strike ball that hooked best on dry lanes. One was his \'Spare Ball\', which rolled straight. And finally, his new ball; the one he just bought. That one was a special sports condition ball, and had cost him a small fortune.

Meiran walked up behind Duo and wrapped her arms around him in a bear hug as a greeting. \"Howard keep you late again? Poor thing. And you didn\'t even have time to braid your hair either.\"

Duo snorted as if that should have been obvious and moved out of her grasp so that he could reach the afore mentioned hair. Taking it out of it\'s ponytail, he placed the holder between his teeth and began to separate it into three sections. As he braided it, Duo turned to Meiran and gave her a cheeky grin. \"I know, and I always have time to braid my hair.\"

Taking the holder out of his mouth, Duo bound his hair and let it go. It swung behind him and settled, resting just below his buttocks. \"So anyway, Meiran, how are you feeling? Wufei mentioned something over the phone the other night about you having to go see the doctor. Are you okay to bowl tonight?\"

Meiran blushed and looked over to her husband with an annoyed look. He hadn\'t said anything to her about mentioning that to Duo. Wufei had suddenly taken interest in one of the many papers spread across their table, and didn\'t even honor her with an apologetic glance. She was saticfied, however, because even from that distance, he couldn\'t hide how red his face had gotten.

\"Um, well, you see, I just had an upset stomach one morning, and since we couldn\'t figure out what caused it, Wufei suggested I see the doctor about it. The doctor said that I was just fine and that it would go away after awhile.\"

\"Just a twenty-four hour thing, huh?\" Duo smiled. \"That\'s great! Being sick sucks like that, ya know?\" He set about putting on his wrist band.

Meiran smiled tentatively and giggled, not a little nervously. This garnered odd looks from Quatre and Trowa who were listening to the conversation from the other side of the pit. Meiran normally didn\'t get nervous about anything. Wufei had found another paper to become interested in.

\"Well, if you replace the twenty-four hours to nine months, you might be more accurate,\" clarified Meiran. This caught Duo\'s attention in a flash.

\"What?!\"

Quatre clasped his hands together and plastered this big smile on his face. \"Meiran, you\'re pregnant? That\'s wonderful! Congradulations you two.\"

y toy to go Wu-man, you old dog!\" Duo had also plastered a grin on his face, but it was more conspiratorial then just happy. He turned his head to see what Wufei had to say, but something had apparently caught his attention in his bowling bag, which sat under the table, because Wufei was currently under the table sifting through it.

In a desparate effort to change the subject, Wufei called out hastily, \"Say, did anyone else notice that the team we are supposed to be bowling against hasn\'t shown up yet?\"

Unfortunately, or fortunately if you were Wufei, the comment went unheard. Quatre and Trowa were busy gushing over Meiran\'s stomach. Well, okay, Quatre was busy gushing over Meiran\'s stomach. Trowa just stood there with one eyebrow raised, quite amused. And Duo, um, lets just say Duo found something else of interest to grab his attention.

____________________

Heero might have been mildy attracted to the body of this person named Duo, but when he heard him speak, he became completely enamored. Duo had a low voice, not gruff in the least, but smooth. It was one of those voices that just rolled down ones spine and made you feel warm inside. Heero was definitely feeling warm too.

He watched as Duo let down his hair and braided it. It was the longest hair he had ever seen on a man or woman, and it suited him. He followed the braid as it swung back and forth to settle below his ass. Yep, he was back to looking at the nice little package again. He still hadn\'t seen his face though.

Heero vaguely tried to keep up with the conversation as he continued to observe this captivating person. He noticed Meiran give her husband a scolding look and glanced over in his direction, only for a second. He remembered thinking that Wufei had resembled a beat at that time, but he understood perfectly. He had already deduced that Meiran was trying to tell them that she had become pregnant without actually coming right out and saying it. He had to stiffle a laugh when things finally clicked in Duo\'s mind and he practically yelled his reaction. In the process he had dropped his wrist band, giving Heero a perfect view as he bent to pick it up.

He was about to give up on ever seeing the face of the man he had been instantly attracted to, when Duo finally turned around and his eyes locked on swirling violet ones. Violet, what an odd color. But just like everything else about Duo, they suited him. Heero held his breath as he saw perfectly sculpted, light tinted lips draw into an even bigger smile. Then Duo began to walk towards him, pulling a chair and turning it backwards before setting it down in front of o ano and strattling it.

\"Hello. And who might you be?\"

Quatre must have heard Duo ask this, because before Heero could answer, he was running out of the pit in their direction. He looked at both of them apolagetically and placed a hand on each of their shoulders. \"I\'m sorry you guys. I totally forgot. Duo Maxwell, meet a co-worker of mine, Heero Yuy.\"

Like everyone else, Duo extended his hand for Heero to shake. And like all the other times, Heero accepted it. He couldn\'t but notice the strong grip that Duo had.

\"Nice to meet you.\" Duo shook Heero\'s hand and was quite impressed. For such a wirey frame, he was pretty strong. He retracted his hand and rested it on the frame of the chair back. \"Heero, huh? Say, isn\'t that Japanese?\"

Heero wasn\'t just a bit shocked at that. Most people wouldn never have guessed his heritage by his name. Sure they all recognized it as foreign, but they usually guessed Indian or some other country like that. He had to hand it to Duo, he knew his cultures. \"I\'m one fourth on my mother\'s side.\"

\"Thought so. Your perussian eyes and brown hair are American enough, but your skin color still hints at some oriental blood.\"

Heero glared at Duo then. He didn\'t think he meant that as an insult, but he wasn\'t sure. So, he decided to ask. \"Is that a bad thing?\"

The glare that Duo received from Heero startled him. He was sure that used on any other person, it would send them cowering under the nearest piece of furniture. Duo, however, just thought it made the Japanese man look irrisistably cute. Yeah, he was wierd that way. He always did like the dangerous types. \"No, not a bad thing. Not a bad thing at all. You know something? I think I\'m going to like you.\"

Heero blinked. Well, what do you expect? There wasn\'t much else he could do. His mouth had gone speechless. Duo thought what? And the look he gave Heero when he said it could only be described as a leer. A very blatent leer. A very blatent, very sexy leer. When Heero finally got himself composed enough to actually make a re he he had been cut short for the third time that night. This time from a shrill cry from the pit.

\"MAXWELL!!!!\" Wufei had gotten a good look at Duo\'s new ball. \"Mind telling me what this...this MONSTROSITY is?\"

Duo winked at Heero before getting up and walking into the pit to address Wufei. \"That, Wu-man, is my new bowling ball. Never seen one before?\"

Wufei was just a little annoyed. Duo could tell because Wufei had developed a twitch in his right eyebrow. \"I know that, moron! I meant that THING printed on it.\" Yep, just a bit annoyed.
Oh, Oh, well, that would be a picture of me flipping off anyone who may decide that they want to touch my new ball. It\'s amazing what they can put on bowling balls these days, don\'t you think?\"

Wufei just stared at Duo. The twitch in his eyebrow intensified. Meiran walked up behind him and placed her chin on her husband\'s shoulder. \"I think it\'s rather cute.\"

Duo beamed at that. \"S\'ank you.\"

Trowa decided to interject into the conversation then. He and Quatre were sitting in front of the computer consule keying up the first game. \"Well, since our opposing team hasn\'t shown up yet, I suggest we go ahead and start bowling. Everyone else has already started.\"

Duo piped up. \"Alright! Let\'s roll!\"

And so they bowled. Heero sat at the table and watched. They laughed. They had fun. At the end of the night, they made plans to go drinking the next night. And, for the first time in a long while, Heero felt at home again. He hadn\'t realized it, but he missed this a lot.