Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ What Happened to Being Perfect? ❯ Part 3 ( Chapter 3 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Maxine 
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Comedy | Type: One Shot | Uploaded On: 06.23.2002 | Pages: 8 | Words: 7.5K | Visits: 323 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Gundam Wing Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Comedy | Type: One Shot | Uploaded On: 06.23.2002 | Pages: 8 | Words: 7.5K | Visits: 323 | Status: Completed
(A/N: Watch out for the profanity towards the middle in this part.)
"Hey, do you guys know where Heero is?" Trowa asked, walking into the living room where the others were. It was the following Friday, finally Trowa's turn to take the driving permit test.
"He and Duo went grocery shopping. They said they'd be back in time to take you," Quatre replied, not looking up from his chess game with Wufei.
"Grocery shopping?" Trowa repeated faintly.
"Yeah, they actually offered to do it," Wufei said, moving one of his bishops. Trowa rolled his eyes.
"They just like driving that car."
"I like driving that car too, but I hardly ever get the chance too," Wufei complained. At that moment, the front door swung open.
"Damn it, Heero! You drove back from the store. I'M driving Trowa to the school! You can drive on the way back."
"Trowa's gonna want to drive on the way back," came Heero's voice, as he and Duo appeared in the doorway. He nodded in greeting, his arms full of bags. "Groceries are in the kitchen, you guys can put them away. Trowa, come on," he said, disappearing into the kitchen. He returned with his arms empty.
"Good luck, Trowa!" Quatre called after them. Trowa waved without turning around.
"Where'd that baka go?" Heero asked, looking around to see if he could spot Duo. Suddenly a horn honked at them.
"Are you guys coming or not?!" Duo yelled at them. The two on the steps looked towards the sleek, silver Mercedes parked on the street, in which Duo was currently sitting in the driver's seat. Heero's eyes narrowed, but he grudgingly walked down and climbed in the front seat, ignoring Duo's triumphant smile. Trowa got in the back.
"So, you ready, Trowa?" Duo asked cheerfully, pulling out and just barely missing a blue van that had been plundering down the road.
"Yeah, I think so. How hard can it be?" Trowa replied, lurching forward in his seat when Duo screeched to a stop at a red light. "I mean YOU passed."
"Hey!" Duo cried defensively. "I did well that day."
"They almost failed Wufei," Heero spoke up. "He knocked down almost every cone."
"I've driven before though. I know what I'm doing."
Some thirty minutes later, Trowa found it was not as easy as he thought. He swerved in between the cones, knocking down all but two of them. Duo and Heero watched through wide eyes.
"Uh, let's go get something to eat," Duo suggested, tearing his eyes away from the scene in front of him. "I don't want to watch him parallel park." Heero nodded.
"For once, I agree with you," he said, and the two walked off towards some vending machines in the distance. When they returned, they found the driving instructor yelling angrily into his cell phone, while Trowa stood off to the side, staring at a big dent in the fence beside the parking lot. Duo's eyes widened.
"Hey Heero, is it just me, or does the dent in that fence look suspiciously like the front of Tanker's car? And it definitely was not there before." Heero looked from the front of the car to the fence, and then back again. He smirked a little and began to chuckle.
"For the second time today, I agree with you," he said, taking a sip of his drink. The two walked to where Trowa was standing. They noticed he looked a bit nervous.
"Yo, Trowa, what happened man?" Duo asked, surveying the damage. Trowa snapped his head around to look at them, and blushed a little.
"Uh, I kind of drove the car into the fence," he said sheepishly. Heero's eyes widened and Duo burst out laughing.
"You drove into the fence?!" he cried, laughing hysterically.
"It wasn't my fault," Trowa snapped, his eyes narrowing. "I was trying to park, but this water bottle he had been drinking out of had rolled under the breaks, so when I tried to stop, the car just kept going. I thought maybe I was pressing the gas, so I switched my foot to the gas pedal...and drove right into the fence..." Heero raised an eyebrow. Duo continued laughing. (A/N: This actually happened to one of my friends and now there's a dent in the fence in front of my school that looks exactly like the front of his car. ^_^ I'm not supposed to tell anyone about it, hehe.)
"So...you drove right over the curb and sidewalk and into the fence, huh?" Heero asked. He began to laugh a little with Duo. "I'm surprised, Trowa. That's so unlike you. Everyone's going to be talking about that dent on Monday."
"They don't have to know it was me," Trowa said warningly. Heero rolled his eyes.
"Who's Tanker talking to?" Duo asked, recovering from his laugh attack.
"Uh, his insurance agency," Trowa replied. Duo started to laugh again, but before he got too overwhelmed, the instructor walked over.
"I'm sorry, Trowa," he said, not sounding very sorry at all, "but I can't pass you today. You can try again next Friday, after you attend another class. I expect to see you on Monday." With that, he briskly walked off without bothering to say goodbye. Trowa stared wide-eyed at his retreating back.
"I failed my driving test?" he asked unbelievingly. "But it wasn't my fault!"
"I don't know, Trowa," Duo said, taking a swig of his coke. "I mean, you did knock over all those cones over there," he continued, gesturing to the parking lot where the cones still lay scattered around. Trowa blushed again. Shoving his hands in his pocket, he started back towards the car.
"I'm driving," Heero announced, following the sulking teen.
"Aw, damn it," Duo muttered. He finished off his drink and tossed it into a trashcan nearby before quickly rushing to catch up. "Hey, Heero," he said, climbing into the back, since Trowa had taken the front. Heero glance at him through the rearview mirror. "Can we stop at that place we saw on our way to the store? Lots o'...something or other?" Heero blinked, and then recognition showed in his eyes.
"Oh, yeah sure," he replied. He took a sharp right, ignoring the angry honks he was getting. "Almost missed the turn..." he muttered. They drove a little further before pulling into the parking lot of a small shop.
"And WHAT exactly are you going to do here?" Trowa asked, getting out of the car.
"Duo's getting his ear pierced."
"Yep, I finally made up my mind! Um...anyone wanna do it with me?"
"Nah, I decided I didn't want my ear pierced," Heero said entering the shop.
"I will," Trowa said. He walked over to the display case that held a bunch of earring studs.
"Guys, can I help you?" a punky teen asked from behind the cash register. She looked as if she'd been used to experiment all the places you could get pierced, and had neon green hair. The three former pilots blinked at her appearance.
"Um...yeah, we want our ears pierced," Duo said, gesturing to himself and Trowa. The girl looked at them.
"The right ear?" she asked dully. Heero snorted.
"The left," Duo said lowly. The girl shrugged.
"Follow me." Fifteen minutes alter, the three walked out of the shop again.
"Shit," Duo moaned, holding his ear. "That hurt like a bitch."
"It wasn't that bad, Duo," Trowa said, examining his ear in the car mirror as they drove out of the parking lot. He'd gotten a gold stud.
"Yeah, but it stung. And now my ear's all red." He leaned over Trowa's seat to get a look at the silver stud in his ear. It matched the cross he always wore.
"Duo, sit down! I can't see out the back," Heero commanded. Duo promptly fell back in his seat.
"I wonder what the others will think?" he said thoughtfully.
(Fast forward to when they get home.)
Quatre and Wufei gaped at the two in front of them. "You got your ear pierced?" Quatre asked unbelievingly. Wufei shrugged.
"I think it looks good," he said. "Oh, and Trowa, Carrie called again."
"Again?? Trowa, what are you not telling us?" Duo teased.
"Yeah, does she need more help on her homework?" Quatre drawled. Trowa glared at them both before going off to call the said girl.
Later that night, the five were watching T.V. Quatre and Wufei had both heard of Trowa's failing his driving test, and were done teasing him about it for a while. Duo idly flipped through the channels, looking for anything that caught his eye. He eventually stopped on a Major League Baseball game, which caused him to remember something.
"Hey, you all gotta come to my game on Wednesday. We're playing Dunwall," he said, chomping on a piece of gum.
"Oh man, they beat the crap out of us," Wufei said, looking towards Trowa.
"Yeah, but that was on their home field. We'll beat them when they come here," he replied, crossing his arms.
"They're like, our major rivals, right?" Quatre asked.
"Yep, and we're gonna kill 'em in baseball. We don't suck like the lacrosse team over there," Duo said jokingly.
"We don't suck," Wufei said irritably, not thinking it was funny at all.
"Oh, lighten up Wu-man."
"Quatre and I can't go," Heero said from his spot on the floor. "We have a track meet that day."
"Aww. Well, that's ok."
"We'll go to the next game, ok Duo?" Quatre asked.
"Yeah, that's fine. Don't worry; I don't care if you don't go to all my games. I certainly won't be going to all of your track meets," Duo said cheerfully.
"Speaking of track," Trowa said, "has anyone beaten you yet Heero?" Heero smirked.
"In what?"
"In...anything."
"Nope." His smirk widened. "The closest anyone has come in shot put is at least five feet behind me, and no one stands a chance in the running events."
"Wow, may I introduce you all to Mr. Cocky over here," Duo said sarcastically. Heero paused in the act of cleaning his glasses and shot a glare at Duo, who in return stuck out his tongue.
"Oh, THAT'S mature," Heero mumbled, placing his glasses back on.
"I wasn't trying to be mature," Duo shot back.
"You have to TRY to be mature? Is it really that difficult for you?" Wufei asked.
"Oh, ha ha. Veeeery funny, Chang!" Duo growled. "We'll see who's laughing when we beat Dunwall."
* * *
"I CAN'T believe we LOST to Dunwall!" Duo, Trowa, and Wufei were walking back to their car after Duo's baseball game the following Wednesday.
"Serves you right. The whole team went out there thinking you were going to win, and you played terrible," Trowa said, licking an ice cream cone he'd bought.
"I didn't do that bad!" Duo exclaimed. Trowa looked at him, one eyebrow raised. "Ok, so I missed a few easy catches...and I struck out once, wait no, twice...ok fine, I sucked."
"I wasn't just referring to you though," Trowa replied.
"Yeah, that Brian kid, number 24, HE didn't do ANYTHING to help you all out," Wufei spoke up.
"I can't stand him. He's really annoying," Duo said, his eyes narrowing.
"Yeah well, this is only the first time you played them. You can beat them next time, on THEIR home field," said Trowa, as he tossed the rest of his cone into a trashcan. Duo smiled evilly.
"Hell yeah. I can't wait! We'll beat the shit out of those stupid 'Dragons'!"
"Hey Trowa," Wufei said, as they neared the car. Trowa glanced up at him. "Wanna drive us home?" he asked, dangling the keys in front of Trowa's face. The green-eyed teen narrowed his eyes.
"Ouch, low blow, Wufei," Duo said, laughing and Trowa's expense.
"Yeah, I know," he replied, getting into the driver's seat.
"NEXT week I'll drive us home," Trowa said, walking to the other side of the car.
"Shotgun!!" Duo yelled, just as Trowa was opening the door to the passenger side. Grumbling, Trowa climbed into the back of the car as Duo hopped into the front, and sat sulking to himself. Just as they were circling around the school to leave, Duo exclaimed, "Wait, hold up, Wufei!" Wufei screeched to a halt and looked questioningly at the boy beside him. Duo pointed out his window to a large crowd by the track. "The track meet," he explained. "It's still going on. We should watch some of it."
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that," Wufei said, looking for a parking space. He found one, and the three walked over to join the rest of the crowd and look for their friends.
"There they are," Trowa said, pointing to a smaller crowd by the throwing ring. They could see Quatre standing off to the side and cheering.
"Quatre!" Duo called, as they neared the blonde. He turned and smiled at them.
"Hey guys!" he said cheerfully. "Heero's just getting ready to do his last throw. See that guy over there?" He pointed to a guy that had to be at least 6' 6" and looked like he was made of all muscle. Duo and the others nodded. "He beat Heero's second throw by almost a foot!"
"Are you serious? He's HUGE! No wonder," Duo said, gaping at the large teen.
"He's a senior though," Quatre said.
"And he's a helluva lot bigger than Heero," Wufei mumbled. Trowa nodded in agreement. Just then, Heero stepped into the ring, holding the shot put.
"Come on, you got it Heero!" Quatre began cheering.
"YEAH HEERO!!!!" Duo yelled, actually getting the Japanese teen's attention, and causing him to look towards them. Duo began waving wildly, and Heero's eyes widened a little, before he smirked.
"Come on, Yuy! Be strong!" Heh, guess who said that.
"You've got this, Heero!" Trowa shouted. Heero turned back around and cradled the shot put in the crook between his neck and shoulder. He stood, concentrating for about five seconds, before he bent over and got into position. He took a small jump backwards and then swung around, throwing off all his weight into the push that would move the shot put. Then, with a loud grunt, he did just that, sending the shot put hurdling through the air. After waiting for it to land a good distance away, Heero stepped out of the ring and waited for his results.
"Wow," Duo breathed.
"I don't know if that was far enough," Quatre whispered to no one in particular. The tall guy from the other team had the decency to looked a little worried though.
"Forty-five, three and a half!" the man who had been measuring the distance announced. Heero's eyes widened, and he turned around abruptly and kicked at the ground.
"Damn it!" he exclaimed. From where he was, Quatre's face fell.
"Aw, he was two inches short!"
"Forty-five FEET?! That's incredible!" Wufei said. Heero stomped over to the group, looking very pissed off.
"Let's go," he growled. "Quatre and I still have two events left."
"Heero, that was your farthest throw yet!" Quatre said, falling in step with Heero.
"Yeah, but it wasn't far enough."
"Well, at least you have something to aim for," Trowa said. Heero paused mid-step.
"True," he said, and then abruptly turned around and walked back the way they had just come. The other four stayed where they were and watched, speechless, as Heero and his opponent shook hands and smiled at each other. Well, Heero just kind of smirked, the other guy smiled. "Ok, let's go now," Heero said when he got back to where the others were. Trowa, Wufei, and Duo stayed and watched Quatre get second in the 400-meter and Heero blow everyone else away in the 3200-meter before the five of them headed home.
* * *
Some two weeks later, Heero, Wufei, and Quatre sat in the stands surrounding the baseball field, watching one of Duo's games. Trowa had had to tutor Carrie in math that day, so he wasn't able to make it. It was a shame too, because it was probably one of the most eventful games of the season thus far. They were playing the Green County Gators, not one of their school's rivals, but definitely one of the better teams in the league. And surprisingly enough, the Cougars were actually up by one as they entered the last inning.
'Ok, Duo, play smart now,' Duo thought to himself as they took the field. The Gators were batting first. Stationing himself at second base, he straightened his cap over his head and opened and closed his glove a few times. If they got three outs before the other team scored, then they would automatically win and not have to worry about going up to bat again. Duo sighed nervously and crouched down slightly, ready for any ball hit towards him. The first hit went flying over his head, and a person in the outfield caught it, giving them one out before the Gators even got a person on base. That was good. Duo smirked, feeling less nervous by the minute.
"Oh, I hope they win," Quatre commented from the stands. "They haven't been doing that well lately." Heero shrugged.
"They've won their last two games Quatre."
"But they lost THREE before that," Wufei reminded him.
"Oh yeah..."
"Hey! Wufei, Quatre, Heero!!" someone yelled up at them. The three glanced down to the bottom of the stands, slightly surprised to see Sally standing there, waving at them enthusiastically.
"Sally!" Quatre waved back. "Come on up!" He patted the space next to him.
"Thank you, Quatre," Sally said as she set her purse on the bench and sat down. "I decided to play the part of 'legal guardian' or whatever and come watch the game. Of course, it seems I missed most of it..."
"You got here for the good part," Heero said, offering her some popcorn.
"Oh thanks. Yeah, I heard some kids talking about how we're only up by one or something."
"Sally, can I ask you a question?" Quatre asked, sipping from his drink.
"You just did, but yeah, shoot." Quatre paused.
"...How old are you?" Sally looked slightly surprised at the question, and Heero and Wufei both shot him curious looks.
"You're not supposed to ask a woman how old they are, Quatre," Wufei said.
"No, it's ok. It's not like I'm forty or something. I'm nineteen, Quatre. Three years older then you guys," Sally answered, smiling at the blonde. Quatre nodded, and opened his mouth again when Sally cut him off. "And before you ask, yes I have a high school diploma. I graduated when I was seventeen. My parents put me in school early."
"But you're not even of legal drinking age yet, and they have you as our legal guardian. Is that even possible?"
"Hm...well," she paused as she saw Wufei's Mountain Dew. "Ooh, Wufei, can I have a sip of that? I'm dying over here." Wufei reluctantly handed over the quarter full bottle.
"You can have the rest," he said.
"What, you don't wanna drink after me?" Sally asked, smirking.
"How ever did you figure that out?" Wufei retorted sarcastically. Sally chuckled.
"Well, anyway. If you really want to know, Quatre, Lady Une is actually your REAL legal guardian, for now anyway. I'm kind of her representative for Preventors or something. It's confusing, and I don't feel like explaining the legal issues to you right now. I'm the one that's here to sign all your permission slips and whatnot, but she's your 'adoptive mother,'" Sally finished cheerfully. Wufei blanched.
"Lady Une, our adoptive mother?" he muttered.
"Do we get to call her 'mommy' when we finally work at Preventors?" Heero asked sarcastically. Sally laughed.
"You could if you really wanted to. She'd probably fire your ass REALLY fast though. It was hard enough for her to get used to Mariemaia calling her 'mom.'"
"She's calls her that now?" Quatre asked. Sally nodded.
"She's actually not too bad a kid if you get to know her."
"You mean when she's not trying to take over the whole Earth Sphere?" Wufei asked casually.
"Wufei, you were one of her soldiers, so you can't really talk," Heero reminded him.
"Hn."
"HEEEERRROOOOOO!!" a girl's voice suddenly screamed out, causing everyone around their group to look at them.
"Oh God," Heero muttered, quickly looking for an escape route.
"That sounded suspiciously like Relena," Wufei mused, though he knew it wasn't.
"No, if it were Relena, Heero would be running TOWARDS her, not away," Quatre said. An oriental girl with long black hair, streaked with blue, ran up the stands towards them.
"Hee~eey Wufei. Hi Quatre," the girl said, sitting down next to them. She wasn't actually as crazy as she'd sounded before. "I know you're down there Heero, you might as well come on up." Heero, who'd climbed through the bleachers and was actually underneath one of the benches hanging onto it, reluctantly climbed back to the right side.
"It was worth a try," he muttered, glaring at the girl.
"Hi Jen," Quatre finally replied, looking amusedly at the girl.
"Who's your friend?" Jen asked, gesturing at Sally.
"That's Sally," Heero said, sitting down next to Jen. "Sally, Jen. Jen, Sally. She's in a lot of my classes," he explained to Sally, who nodded.
"I'm trying to get him to go to the end-of-the-year-dance with me, but he claims he's got a long distance relationship he doesn't want to forsake, even if we were to just go as friends," Jen said, feigning sadness. Heero winced as Sally raised an eyebrow.
"Long distance relationship, eh?" she said. "Are we referring to Relena?" Heero blushed, despite himself.
"Er...yeah," he mumbled, staring at the ground as if it held the answers to all of life's questions. Sally smiled.
"And does the princess know about this relationship?"
"She's a princess?!" Jen exclaimed.
"Are you kidding? Heero has yet to talk to her," Wufei said, smirking at the Japanese youth and ignoring Jen.
"Well what am I supposed to do? If I were to just randomly call her or something, she'd probably keel over and die of a heart attack," Heero said sarcastically.
"I think she'd like a phone call from you, Heero," Sally said seriously. "The last time I talked to her, she said she wished there was a law that said she had to be eighteen with a high school diploma too. She's not very happy with her job right now."
"And she has every right not to be. She's only sixteen, and she's got a shit load of work piled on her shoulders," Wufei spat. Heero just shrugged.
"Hey, wait, I'm confused," Jen said. "You're dating royalty, Heero?" Heero blinked.
"Uh, yeah, something like that," he mumbled.
"Aw man, well I won't mess with that," she said, standing up and preparing to leave. "Onto my next victim!" she exclaimed. She took two steps, before plopping down next to Wufei. "Do YOU want to go to the dance with me Wu-wu? PLEASE??" Jen batted her eyelashes at him, as Wufei nearly choked on a piece of popcorn. Quatre and Sally burst out laughing, while Heero just smirked. Before much else could happen, the entire crowd collectively gasped, and the umpires on the field began blowing their whistles like crazy. Heero and the others jerked their heads back to the game just in time to see the trainer run out onto the field. They couldn't see who was injured because the whole team was crowded around the player, but it seemed they were all gathered at second base...
Duo sighed to himself as the game went on. Since it was getting closer to summer, it'd been getting hotter and hotter, and playing in these stupid pants was not helping any. Duo glanced to his right. The other team only had one out. It had looked like it was soon to be two, but then the person at bat suddenly hit a double instead of striking out. He was the only player on base so far, so Duo was keeping a close eye on him to make sure he wouldn't try to steal a base. It would be a stupid thing to do, but in the position they were in he wouldn't be surprised if they tried it. Duo looked at the person at bat now, sizing him up. He wasn't too big, but he'd hit a triple earlier in the game, if he remembered correctly. So far, however, the count was two and three. Duo crouched down.
The following events happened quickly, but it was like time had slowed to Duo. The player had managed to hit the ball, sounding out with a solid crack. He should have let an outfielder catch it, he realized later, but at the time he could only think about getting the person out. With amazing reflexive skill, Duo jumped, stretching his arm as high above his head as it would go. Somehow, he still didn't know, he did manage to catch the ball, getting the player out. But in the back of his mind, he realized that they still needed one more out to win. Thinking quickly, he noticed with a start that the player on second had taken a head start to third and now had quite a ways back to run to get to second.
'Great,' thought Duo quickly. 'Just throw the ball to second. The short stop should be there, right?' Duo, who was still in the air at this point, twisted around to throw the ball, only to find that the short stop was not it the right position. He was, instead of standing on the base, standing between second and third and staring up at Duo in complete amazement. 'Damn it! Brian!!' Duo thoughts screamed angrily. That only left one option. Duo landed nimbly on his feet, and immediately dove for second base at the same time the other player started sliding. Duo's glove hit the side of the base a split second before the other player's shoe could, and he vaguely heard the umpire yell "OUT," signaling the end of the game and their victory, before the sliding person's shoe slammed into his wrist, cleats and all.
*CRACK*
"FUCK!" Duo yelled, his eyes widening in pain. "Holy shit!!" He curled up into a fetal position, clutching his gloved hand to his chest. It was throbbing with pain. Vaguely, he noticed a player from the Gators, the one who had slid into him, offering him a hand and apologizing profusely. He could also hear whistles blowing in the background, and the crowd must have been shocked into silence or something because he couldn't hear them at all. "Shit, shit, shit, fuck, damn it, it hurts, oh my freakin' God..." and a variety of other profanity left Duo's mouth as he struggled to sit up and pull off his glove. "Nooo, nonononono! Don't be broken! Pleeaaaase don't be broken. Ugh, shit, it hurts, ah, pain, lotsa pain," he continued to mumble, not even aware that he was speaking.
"Here, Duo, let me see," a familiar voice said, and Duo looked up, slightly startled to see the trainer hovering above him.
"Shit, it's Duo," Heero mumbled, practically jumping off the bleachers in his hurry. Sally and Wufei were right behind him.
"Duo?" Jen asked worriedly. "Oh no, what happened?"
"Oh God, we weren't watching!" Quatre exclaimed. "I feel awful now, what if something really horrible happened to him?!"
"Quatre honey, I'm sure he's fine," Jen assured the blonde, standing up and following Heero and the others. Quatre nodded.
"I hope so," he said, following the oriental girl down the steps.
* * *
Almost two hours later, the group made their way back to their house. Duo was sporting a nice white cast that covered from his hand up to just below his elbow. His wrist had broken in two different places, and the cast would have to stay on for at least three months, and then after that he'd probably have to wear some sort of arm brace for a while. Needless to say, he was not very happy, seeing as he was out for the rest of the season, and he'd be wearing the cast for some of summer vacation.
"I have the WORST luck," Duo grumbled as he climbed out of Sally's car. He'd ridden back from the hospital with her instead of the others.
"Well, look on the bright side, Duo," Sally said, walking around the car with three pizza boxes in her arms. "At least it's your left arm, and not your right. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to write anything for three months." Duo snorted.
"As it is, they won't let me DRIVE for three months. Knowing that I'll still be able to write is NOT going to cheer me up."
"DUO!! Can I be the first to sign your cast?" Jen yelled, running up to meet him. She'd ridden to the hospital and then back to the house with Heero and the others. Duo blinked.
"Uh, yeah sure. Whatever," he replied, still not in a good mood.
"Come on, Duo. Cheer up! At least you guys won. And that was one of the best teams in the league! Plus, look! We rented movies!" Jen said, smiling brightly. Duo let a small smile grace his face.
"You didn't have to stick around, y'know. Thanks though," he said sincerely.
"Well, I wanted to hang out with my soon-to-be date to the dance," she replied, latching onto Wufei's arm. The Chinese teen grimaced. Duo raised an eyebrow.
"You asked him to the dance? Finally gave up on Heero, eh?"
"He's dating 'royalty,'" Wufei said sarcastically, causing Duo to laugh and Heero to glare at him.
"When is the dance anyway?" Quatre asked.
"In two weeks. I can't wait!" Jen exclaimed.
"I haven't asked anyone yet," Duo said. "Don't know if I'm going to."
"Ok, guys, you can talk about this inside because my arms are getting hot from these pizzas," Sally said, shifting the boxes in her arms.
"Oh geez, sorry Sal," Duo said quickly, holding out his arms as if to take one of the boxes. "Er...Heero, help Sally carry those in," he said after realizing he couldn't really hold one. Instead, he dashed up the front stairs to open the door. Quatre followed him in. "Isn't Trowa supposed to be home?" Duo asked, flipping the light in the dark hallway.
"Yeah, he is," Quatre replied, walking past the living room towards the kitchen. Suddenly he stopped mid-step and slowly walked backwards until he was standing in front of the entrance to the living room. His eyes were wide.
"Quat-" Duo started to say, but Quatre shushed him and pointed to the couch. Duo followed his finger, and immediately had to choke back on his laughter. "Tutoring her, eh?" he muttered. "In what, mouth to mouth?" Trowa and Carrie, who had apparently not heard them come in, were sitting on the couch, kissing each other hungrily. Their books were spread out around them, long forgotten.
"Duo, what are you waiting for?" Heero asked, coming up behind the two. Duo and Quatre immediately shushed him. "What-"
"Hey Trooowaaaa!" Duo yelled, cutting Heero off. Quatre's eyes widened.
"Duo!" he exclaimed. A loud thump and muttered curses were heard from inside the living room. Heero looked in the room just in time to see Carrie and Trowa, a good five feet away from each other, straightening out their clothes and hair. He raised an eyebrow.
"We brought dinner, unless you two would rather continue eating each others' faces off," Duo said teasingly. Trowa cleared his throat and Carrie blushed bright red. "Tutoring, ha!" Duo said, walking towards the kitchen.
"Studying hard, Trowa?" Sally asked, as she followed Duo. Trowa glared at her.
"Hey Carrie!"
"Jen?" Carrie asked, slightly surprised. "What're you doing here?"
"I just tagged along. Duo broke his arm," Jen replied, shrugging. Trowa's eyes widened.
"He what?" he asked.
"Wrist, Jen. I broke my wrist," Duo said, walking back out into the hallway carrying a piece of pizza. "It sucks."
"Sorry I wasn't at the game, Duo," Trowa said, staring at the cast on his wrist. "What happened?"
"Ugh, it's a long story. I don't feel like explaining it right now. I'll tell ya later." Trowa nodded.
"I'll hold you to that." Duo smiled.
"Tutoring," he mumbled again, shaking his head. Trowa blushed one more.
Later in the evening, after Jen, Carrie, and Sally had all left, the five guys were lounging lazily around the house. Quatre and Trowa were watching T.V. downstairs, while Heero and Wufei were both reading in their room. Duo had just taken an extremely long shower (A/N: Hey! It's not easy taking a shower with one of those bag things on your arm. Trust me, I've had to do it before.), and was now having a bit of trouble drying his hair and brushing it.
"Quatre?" he called, walking into the room that the two shared. The blonde teen wasn't there. Duo sighed and walked across the hallway to the other bedroom. "Anyone in here?" he asked, sticking his head through the doorway.
"Yep," Wufei said distractedly, not looking up from his book. He actually had his hair down, and his glasses were perched on the end of his nose.
"Oh good. Look, guys, I can't do shit with my hair right now. Do you think one of you could brush it and braid it for me?" Duo asked sheepishly. He held out a brush. It was quiet for a couple seconds. "Come on, please?" Duo asked again, shaking the brush. Heero sighed and pulled off his glasses.
"Sure, sit down," he said backing up on the bed. Duo smiled and bounded over, plopping down on the edge of the bed.
"Thanks, Heero."
"Hn," was the reply. The Japanese teen took the brush and started the long process of untangling Duo's long, brown hair (A/N: You guys didn't think I'd actually chop off Duo's hair, did you? Nah, he just got it trimmed or something.). When he finally finished, his bedspread was almost soaking wet from the water in Duo's hair. "Done," Heero said.
"Can you braid it for me?" Duo asked, looking over his shoulder at Heero. Heero blinked.
"Er...I...don't know how to braid," Heero admitted, staring blankly at Duo's hair. Wufei glanced at the two over the edge of his book, his eyes glinting mischievously.
"I'll do it," he offered, standing up and walking to Heero's bed.
"Thanks, Wu-maah I mean, Wufei," Duo quickly corrected himself as Wufei sent him a look.
"Not a problem," Wufei mumbled, taking Heero's spot. "Heero, find me a pair of chopsticks and a camera," he whispered so that only Heero would hear him. Heero didn't even bother asking why.
"I'll be right back," he said, rushing out of the room. It was quiet as Wufei worked on braiding Duo's hair. Duo sighed, and reached up unconsciously to check and make sure his earring was still in. Before long, Heero came back into the room just as Wufei fastened Duo's braid. Discreetly, he handed over the chopsticks, and sat down on Wufei's bed with the camera. Wufei started humming some random tune as he began twisting Duo's braid into a bun. The American teen just sat there with no idea about what was going on.
"Hey, Wufei, you forgot some," Duo said, referring to two strands of hair that were framing his face.
"Oops," Wufei said half-heartedly, sliding the chopsticks through Duo's hair to hold the bun in place. He smirked at his finished product and gave a thumb's up to Heero.
"You should have been a hair dresser, Wufei," he said, also smirking as he clicked a picture of Duo, who had his head slightly bent to examine his nails. Duo blinked as the flash went off, and his eyes slowly widened.
"What the hell did he do to my hair?" he asked warily, slowly reaching up to feel it. His eyes widened even more when he came to the chopsticks, and he ripped them out. "Wufei you asshole!" he exclaimed, just as Wufei burst out laughing. Heero also had a smirk on his face that was threatening to turn into a smile. "Remind me never to trust you again," he said faintly, laughter overtaking him. He fell back onto the bed besides Wufei, laughing with him, and another flash went off. The two stopped laughing abruptly and jerked their gazes up to Heero.
"Ah, family bonding," he deadpanned, an amused light in his eye. Wufei snorted and Duo began laughing again.
* * *
The weeks passed on, drawing the school year to a close. The dance came and went, Wufei had gone with Jen while Trowa went with Carrie. The other three went alone, Duo claiming that it was better to dance with a lot of people instead of being stuck with the same person all night. Jen had promptly smacked him on the back of the head for that comment. Soon it was the last day of school. Truth be told, no one was actually looking forward to it because they still had two finals left to take that day before they were released for the summer.
"Hey Heero, get up," Wufei mumbled, hitting the snooze button on their alarm for the second time that morning.
"I'll get up in a minute. Where's Trowa?" came the muffled reply.
"He got up when the alarm first went off," Wufei answered, climbing out of his bed and stretching his arms above his head.
"Hn."
"I'm getting dressed. You'd better hurry up," Wufei said, grabbing some clothes and heading towards the bathroom.
"Mhmm." Ten minutes later, Wufei exited the bathroom, only to find Heero still burrowed under his covers. Wufei sighed.
"Heero, what tests do you have today?"
"Hn...uh...English and...then gym class...no test there," Heero mumbled, rolling over onto his side.
"You stayed up studying for English, didn't you?"
"Mhmm." Wufei sighed again, and glanced at the clock. It was 6:45, they didn't have to leave until 7:15... He set up the clock so that the alarm would go off again in ten minutes.
"You've got ten more minutes to sleep, Heero. You don't want to be late for the last day of school, and we won't wait for you."
"Hn."
"...Right. I'll see you downstairs," Wufei said, giving up and heading out of the room. Ten minutes later, the alarm went off again, but Heero didn't hear it. Ten minutes after that, Heero cracked open an eye at the incredibly annoying sound.
"Damn it," he mumbled, hitting the off button. He burrowed back under his covers, and then his eyes flew open. According to the clock, it was 7:05. "Shit!" he swore, jumping out of bed and rushing downstairs. He slid into the kitchen, literally, in his socks and sweat pants, topless. Duo, who'd been attempting to butter a piece of toast with one arm, raised an eyebrow.
"Where've you been?" he asked, slightly amused.
"In bed," Heero muttered, grabbing a bagel and biting into it plain.
"Hey, slow down, you've got ten minutes, and it's not like you have to brush your hair or anything," Duo said sarcastically.
"Wrong, it takes a lot of time and precision to get my hair to stick out like it does," Heero monotoned, grabbing a glass and pouring himself some orange juice. He downed it in one gulp, while Duo chuckled at him.
"Is Heero up yet?" Wufei asked, walking into the kitchen. He too raised an eyebrow at Heero's appearance.
"Don't say a word," Heero growled. He stuffed the rest of the bagel into his mouth and went to refill his cup.
"And if I do?" Heero turned around and glared on him, which had the complete opposite effect that it was supposed to due to the fact that his cheeks were bulging with the bagel he had yet to swallow. Wufei and Duo burst out laughing. Heero gave up on the glaring and downed another glass of orange juice.
"You-you've got fi-five minutes, Heero," Duo choked out in between his laughter. Heero cursed and slid out of the room to get dressed. He managed to get ready in the five minutes he had, and the five headed off to school for their last day of finals.
Finally, some four hours later, they were free. Or, in Duo's words they were free. Actually, they were just out of school for the summer.
"I am SO glad that's over with," Duo exclaimed, crossing his hands behind his head as the sun shined down on them. "Pool, here I come!"
"Not until you get your cast off," Quatre reminded him gently, causing Duo to scowl.
"I get it off soon," he said, mainly to make himself feel better.
"I get my license in about a month," Heero spoke up, smiling-er-SMIRKing widely.
"So do the rest of us," Wufei said.
"Not Duo and Trowa," Heero said.
"True. So who's driving us home?" Wufei asked.
"I am," Trowa answered, sliding a pair of sunglasses on and dangling the keys from his fingers.
"Guys, I say we go to the beach this summer. Later I mean, after my cast's off and we all-YOU all have your licenses," Duo said, looking excited at the very idea.
"That'd be fun. I'm sure Sally would let us," Quatre added.
"When do they send out our report cards?" Trowa asked, climbing into the front seat of their car.
"In a few weeks," Heero replied, getting in the passenger side.
"Guys, I think I actually did good on the math final!" Duo exclaimed.
"That's great, Duo," Quatre said enthusiastically.
"TROWA!!" a girl's voice called out. Carrie bounded up to their car. "Are we still on for tonight?" she asked, bending down to peck him on the lips since he was in the car.
"Of course," Trowa replied, smiling a little. "I'll pick you up at six."
"Sounds good," she said, smiling.
"Aw man, Trowa. Are you stealing the car for tonight?" Duo complained, though he was smirking at them.
"Yeah, sorry," Trowa said, not actually sorry at all.
"Hey, Wufei!" another girl's voice said. "Are WE still on for tonight?" Jen asked, her black hair shining in the sun. Wufei blinked.
"WE don't HAVE plans for tonight," he grumbled. He was halfway in the car, standing with one leg in it and one still on the street.
"Well then I guess we'll have to make some!" Jen said cheerfully, pecking him on the cheek. Wufei blushed a little.
"I'll call you," he mumbled, causing her to smile wider, as he ducked completely into the car. The two girls backed up a little as the car doors all slammed shut, and waved as the car started and began to pull out of the parking spot.
"I think I'll call Relena tonight," Heero muttered, looking out the window. Duo faked a gasp.
"Seriously?! Didn't you say you'd do that, oh, about two months ago?" Heero glared at him.
"I'm serious this time."
"That's good to hear, Heero," Quatre said, buckling his seatbelt. Trowa honked the horn at a group of guys they knew as they sped past them. The group all waved at them.
"You guys, honestly. You have NO idea how glad I am this whole school thing is over with," Duo said, settling back into his seat. The other four in the car blinked.
"In case you've forgotten, Duo," Wufei started.
"We're only Sophomores," Trowa added.
"We've still got two more years of school left," Quatre finished. Duo groaned.
"Aw man!"
¡END!
Wow, I didn't realize how much longer that chapter was than the others. I probably could have made it two chapters, but I decided not to. Well, that's another fic completed. I have to say, I think I enjoyed writing this one the best so far out of all my fics. Well, I've got midterms all this week, but after that be looking for the last chapter and epilogue of "Women Aren't Weak." And then there's the fic I have to write for the 100th reviewer of "Behind the Scenes," which I am completely stuck on because I cannot get in contact with that person! TALON hasn't e-mailed me back yet, and I've sent like three e-mails! I don't know what I should write about! ARGH!! *ahem* Anyway, thanks so much for all the reviews so far! Now review for this part so I know what you thought of my ending!! You all can probably expect a sequel to this sometime. I don't know when though. Thanks again! Till next time, ja ne!
*~Maxine~*
"Hey, do you guys know where Heero is?" Trowa asked, walking into the living room where the others were. It was the following Friday, finally Trowa's turn to take the driving permit test.
"He and Duo went grocery shopping. They said they'd be back in time to take you," Quatre replied, not looking up from his chess game with Wufei.
"Grocery shopping?" Trowa repeated faintly.
"Yeah, they actually offered to do it," Wufei said, moving one of his bishops. Trowa rolled his eyes.
"They just like driving that car."
"I like driving that car too, but I hardly ever get the chance too," Wufei complained. At that moment, the front door swung open.
"Damn it, Heero! You drove back from the store. I'M driving Trowa to the school! You can drive on the way back."
"Trowa's gonna want to drive on the way back," came Heero's voice, as he and Duo appeared in the doorway. He nodded in greeting, his arms full of bags. "Groceries are in the kitchen, you guys can put them away. Trowa, come on," he said, disappearing into the kitchen. He returned with his arms empty.
"Good luck, Trowa!" Quatre called after them. Trowa waved without turning around.
"Where'd that baka go?" Heero asked, looking around to see if he could spot Duo. Suddenly a horn honked at them.
"Are you guys coming or not?!" Duo yelled at them. The two on the steps looked towards the sleek, silver Mercedes parked on the street, in which Duo was currently sitting in the driver's seat. Heero's eyes narrowed, but he grudgingly walked down and climbed in the front seat, ignoring Duo's triumphant smile. Trowa got in the back.
"So, you ready, Trowa?" Duo asked cheerfully, pulling out and just barely missing a blue van that had been plundering down the road.
"Yeah, I think so. How hard can it be?" Trowa replied, lurching forward in his seat when Duo screeched to a stop at a red light. "I mean YOU passed."
"Hey!" Duo cried defensively. "I did well that day."
"They almost failed Wufei," Heero spoke up. "He knocked down almost every cone."
"I've driven before though. I know what I'm doing."
Some thirty minutes later, Trowa found it was not as easy as he thought. He swerved in between the cones, knocking down all but two of them. Duo and Heero watched through wide eyes.
"Uh, let's go get something to eat," Duo suggested, tearing his eyes away from the scene in front of him. "I don't want to watch him parallel park." Heero nodded.
"For once, I agree with you," he said, and the two walked off towards some vending machines in the distance. When they returned, they found the driving instructor yelling angrily into his cell phone, while Trowa stood off to the side, staring at a big dent in the fence beside the parking lot. Duo's eyes widened.
"Hey Heero, is it just me, or does the dent in that fence look suspiciously like the front of Tanker's car? And it definitely was not there before." Heero looked from the front of the car to the fence, and then back again. He smirked a little and began to chuckle.
"For the second time today, I agree with you," he said, taking a sip of his drink. The two walked to where Trowa was standing. They noticed he looked a bit nervous.
"Yo, Trowa, what happened man?" Duo asked, surveying the damage. Trowa snapped his head around to look at them, and blushed a little.
"Uh, I kind of drove the car into the fence," he said sheepishly. Heero's eyes widened and Duo burst out laughing.
"You drove into the fence?!" he cried, laughing hysterically.
"It wasn't my fault," Trowa snapped, his eyes narrowing. "I was trying to park, but this water bottle he had been drinking out of had rolled under the breaks, so when I tried to stop, the car just kept going. I thought maybe I was pressing the gas, so I switched my foot to the gas pedal...and drove right into the fence..." Heero raised an eyebrow. Duo continued laughing. (A/N: This actually happened to one of my friends and now there's a dent in the fence in front of my school that looks exactly like the front of his car. ^_^ I'm not supposed to tell anyone about it, hehe.)
"So...you drove right over the curb and sidewalk and into the fence, huh?" Heero asked. He began to laugh a little with Duo. "I'm surprised, Trowa. That's so unlike you. Everyone's going to be talking about that dent on Monday."
"They don't have to know it was me," Trowa said warningly. Heero rolled his eyes.
"Who's Tanker talking to?" Duo asked, recovering from his laugh attack.
"Uh, his insurance agency," Trowa replied. Duo started to laugh again, but before he got too overwhelmed, the instructor walked over.
"I'm sorry, Trowa," he said, not sounding very sorry at all, "but I can't pass you today. You can try again next Friday, after you attend another class. I expect to see you on Monday." With that, he briskly walked off without bothering to say goodbye. Trowa stared wide-eyed at his retreating back.
"I failed my driving test?" he asked unbelievingly. "But it wasn't my fault!"
"I don't know, Trowa," Duo said, taking a swig of his coke. "I mean, you did knock over all those cones over there," he continued, gesturing to the parking lot where the cones still lay scattered around. Trowa blushed again. Shoving his hands in his pocket, he started back towards the car.
"I'm driving," Heero announced, following the sulking teen.
"Aw, damn it," Duo muttered. He finished off his drink and tossed it into a trashcan nearby before quickly rushing to catch up. "Hey, Heero," he said, climbing into the back, since Trowa had taken the front. Heero glance at him through the rearview mirror. "Can we stop at that place we saw on our way to the store? Lots o'...something or other?" Heero blinked, and then recognition showed in his eyes.
"Oh, yeah sure," he replied. He took a sharp right, ignoring the angry honks he was getting. "Almost missed the turn..." he muttered. They drove a little further before pulling into the parking lot of a small shop.
"And WHAT exactly are you going to do here?" Trowa asked, getting out of the car.
"Duo's getting his ear pierced."
"Yep, I finally made up my mind! Um...anyone wanna do it with me?"
"Nah, I decided I didn't want my ear pierced," Heero said entering the shop.
"I will," Trowa said. He walked over to the display case that held a bunch of earring studs.
"Guys, can I help you?" a punky teen asked from behind the cash register. She looked as if she'd been used to experiment all the places you could get pierced, and had neon green hair. The three former pilots blinked at her appearance.
"Um...yeah, we want our ears pierced," Duo said, gesturing to himself and Trowa. The girl looked at them.
"The right ear?" she asked dully. Heero snorted.
"The left," Duo said lowly. The girl shrugged.
"Follow me." Fifteen minutes alter, the three walked out of the shop again.
"Shit," Duo moaned, holding his ear. "That hurt like a bitch."
"It wasn't that bad, Duo," Trowa said, examining his ear in the car mirror as they drove out of the parking lot. He'd gotten a gold stud.
"Yeah, but it stung. And now my ear's all red." He leaned over Trowa's seat to get a look at the silver stud in his ear. It matched the cross he always wore.
"Duo, sit down! I can't see out the back," Heero commanded. Duo promptly fell back in his seat.
"I wonder what the others will think?" he said thoughtfully.
(Fast forward to when they get home.)
Quatre and Wufei gaped at the two in front of them. "You got your ear pierced?" Quatre asked unbelievingly. Wufei shrugged.
"I think it looks good," he said. "Oh, and Trowa, Carrie called again."
"Again?? Trowa, what are you not telling us?" Duo teased.
"Yeah, does she need more help on her homework?" Quatre drawled. Trowa glared at them both before going off to call the said girl.
Later that night, the five were watching T.V. Quatre and Wufei had both heard of Trowa's failing his driving test, and were done teasing him about it for a while. Duo idly flipped through the channels, looking for anything that caught his eye. He eventually stopped on a Major League Baseball game, which caused him to remember something.
"Hey, you all gotta come to my game on Wednesday. We're playing Dunwall," he said, chomping on a piece of gum.
"Oh man, they beat the crap out of us," Wufei said, looking towards Trowa.
"Yeah, but that was on their home field. We'll beat them when they come here," he replied, crossing his arms.
"They're like, our major rivals, right?" Quatre asked.
"Yep, and we're gonna kill 'em in baseball. We don't suck like the lacrosse team over there," Duo said jokingly.
"We don't suck," Wufei said irritably, not thinking it was funny at all.
"Oh, lighten up Wu-man."
"Quatre and I can't go," Heero said from his spot on the floor. "We have a track meet that day."
"Aww. Well, that's ok."
"We'll go to the next game, ok Duo?" Quatre asked.
"Yeah, that's fine. Don't worry; I don't care if you don't go to all my games. I certainly won't be going to all of your track meets," Duo said cheerfully.
"Speaking of track," Trowa said, "has anyone beaten you yet Heero?" Heero smirked.
"In what?"
"In...anything."
"Nope." His smirk widened. "The closest anyone has come in shot put is at least five feet behind me, and no one stands a chance in the running events."
"Wow, may I introduce you all to Mr. Cocky over here," Duo said sarcastically. Heero paused in the act of cleaning his glasses and shot a glare at Duo, who in return stuck out his tongue.
"Oh, THAT'S mature," Heero mumbled, placing his glasses back on.
"I wasn't trying to be mature," Duo shot back.
"You have to TRY to be mature? Is it really that difficult for you?" Wufei asked.
"Oh, ha ha. Veeeery funny, Chang!" Duo growled. "We'll see who's laughing when we beat Dunwall."
* * *
"I CAN'T believe we LOST to Dunwall!" Duo, Trowa, and Wufei were walking back to their car after Duo's baseball game the following Wednesday.
"Serves you right. The whole team went out there thinking you were going to win, and you played terrible," Trowa said, licking an ice cream cone he'd bought.
"I didn't do that bad!" Duo exclaimed. Trowa looked at him, one eyebrow raised. "Ok, so I missed a few easy catches...and I struck out once, wait no, twice...ok fine, I sucked."
"I wasn't just referring to you though," Trowa replied.
"Yeah, that Brian kid, number 24, HE didn't do ANYTHING to help you all out," Wufei spoke up.
"I can't stand him. He's really annoying," Duo said, his eyes narrowing.
"Yeah well, this is only the first time you played them. You can beat them next time, on THEIR home field," said Trowa, as he tossed the rest of his cone into a trashcan. Duo smiled evilly.
"Hell yeah. I can't wait! We'll beat the shit out of those stupid 'Dragons'!"
"Hey Trowa," Wufei said, as they neared the car. Trowa glanced up at him. "Wanna drive us home?" he asked, dangling the keys in front of Trowa's face. The green-eyed teen narrowed his eyes.
"Ouch, low blow, Wufei," Duo said, laughing and Trowa's expense.
"Yeah, I know," he replied, getting into the driver's seat.
"NEXT week I'll drive us home," Trowa said, walking to the other side of the car.
"Shotgun!!" Duo yelled, just as Trowa was opening the door to the passenger side. Grumbling, Trowa climbed into the back of the car as Duo hopped into the front, and sat sulking to himself. Just as they were circling around the school to leave, Duo exclaimed, "Wait, hold up, Wufei!" Wufei screeched to a halt and looked questioningly at the boy beside him. Duo pointed out his window to a large crowd by the track. "The track meet," he explained. "It's still going on. We should watch some of it."
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that," Wufei said, looking for a parking space. He found one, and the three walked over to join the rest of the crowd and look for their friends.
"There they are," Trowa said, pointing to a smaller crowd by the throwing ring. They could see Quatre standing off to the side and cheering.
"Quatre!" Duo called, as they neared the blonde. He turned and smiled at them.
"Hey guys!" he said cheerfully. "Heero's just getting ready to do his last throw. See that guy over there?" He pointed to a guy that had to be at least 6' 6" and looked like he was made of all muscle. Duo and the others nodded. "He beat Heero's second throw by almost a foot!"
"Are you serious? He's HUGE! No wonder," Duo said, gaping at the large teen.
"He's a senior though," Quatre said.
"And he's a helluva lot bigger than Heero," Wufei mumbled. Trowa nodded in agreement. Just then, Heero stepped into the ring, holding the shot put.
"Come on, you got it Heero!" Quatre began cheering.
"YEAH HEERO!!!!" Duo yelled, actually getting the Japanese teen's attention, and causing him to look towards them. Duo began waving wildly, and Heero's eyes widened a little, before he smirked.
"Come on, Yuy! Be strong!" Heh, guess who said that.
"You've got this, Heero!" Trowa shouted. Heero turned back around and cradled the shot put in the crook between his neck and shoulder. He stood, concentrating for about five seconds, before he bent over and got into position. He took a small jump backwards and then swung around, throwing off all his weight into the push that would move the shot put. Then, with a loud grunt, he did just that, sending the shot put hurdling through the air. After waiting for it to land a good distance away, Heero stepped out of the ring and waited for his results.
"Wow," Duo breathed.
"I don't know if that was far enough," Quatre whispered to no one in particular. The tall guy from the other team had the decency to looked a little worried though.
"Forty-five, three and a half!" the man who had been measuring the distance announced. Heero's eyes widened, and he turned around abruptly and kicked at the ground.
"Damn it!" he exclaimed. From where he was, Quatre's face fell.
"Aw, he was two inches short!"
"Forty-five FEET?! That's incredible!" Wufei said. Heero stomped over to the group, looking very pissed off.
"Let's go," he growled. "Quatre and I still have two events left."
"Heero, that was your farthest throw yet!" Quatre said, falling in step with Heero.
"Yeah, but it wasn't far enough."
"Well, at least you have something to aim for," Trowa said. Heero paused mid-step.
"True," he said, and then abruptly turned around and walked back the way they had just come. The other four stayed where they were and watched, speechless, as Heero and his opponent shook hands and smiled at each other. Well, Heero just kind of smirked, the other guy smiled. "Ok, let's go now," Heero said when he got back to where the others were. Trowa, Wufei, and Duo stayed and watched Quatre get second in the 400-meter and Heero blow everyone else away in the 3200-meter before the five of them headed home.
* * *
Some two weeks later, Heero, Wufei, and Quatre sat in the stands surrounding the baseball field, watching one of Duo's games. Trowa had had to tutor Carrie in math that day, so he wasn't able to make it. It was a shame too, because it was probably one of the most eventful games of the season thus far. They were playing the Green County Gators, not one of their school's rivals, but definitely one of the better teams in the league. And surprisingly enough, the Cougars were actually up by one as they entered the last inning.
'Ok, Duo, play smart now,' Duo thought to himself as they took the field. The Gators were batting first. Stationing himself at second base, he straightened his cap over his head and opened and closed his glove a few times. If they got three outs before the other team scored, then they would automatically win and not have to worry about going up to bat again. Duo sighed nervously and crouched down slightly, ready for any ball hit towards him. The first hit went flying over his head, and a person in the outfield caught it, giving them one out before the Gators even got a person on base. That was good. Duo smirked, feeling less nervous by the minute.
"Oh, I hope they win," Quatre commented from the stands. "They haven't been doing that well lately." Heero shrugged.
"They've won their last two games Quatre."
"But they lost THREE before that," Wufei reminded him.
"Oh yeah..."
"Hey! Wufei, Quatre, Heero!!" someone yelled up at them. The three glanced down to the bottom of the stands, slightly surprised to see Sally standing there, waving at them enthusiastically.
"Sally!" Quatre waved back. "Come on up!" He patted the space next to him.
"Thank you, Quatre," Sally said as she set her purse on the bench and sat down. "I decided to play the part of 'legal guardian' or whatever and come watch the game. Of course, it seems I missed most of it..."
"You got here for the good part," Heero said, offering her some popcorn.
"Oh thanks. Yeah, I heard some kids talking about how we're only up by one or something."
"Sally, can I ask you a question?" Quatre asked, sipping from his drink.
"You just did, but yeah, shoot." Quatre paused.
"...How old are you?" Sally looked slightly surprised at the question, and Heero and Wufei both shot him curious looks.
"You're not supposed to ask a woman how old they are, Quatre," Wufei said.
"No, it's ok. It's not like I'm forty or something. I'm nineteen, Quatre. Three years older then you guys," Sally answered, smiling at the blonde. Quatre nodded, and opened his mouth again when Sally cut him off. "And before you ask, yes I have a high school diploma. I graduated when I was seventeen. My parents put me in school early."
"But you're not even of legal drinking age yet, and they have you as our legal guardian. Is that even possible?"
"Hm...well," she paused as she saw Wufei's Mountain Dew. "Ooh, Wufei, can I have a sip of that? I'm dying over here." Wufei reluctantly handed over the quarter full bottle.
"You can have the rest," he said.
"What, you don't wanna drink after me?" Sally asked, smirking.
"How ever did you figure that out?" Wufei retorted sarcastically. Sally chuckled.
"Well, anyway. If you really want to know, Quatre, Lady Une is actually your REAL legal guardian, for now anyway. I'm kind of her representative for Preventors or something. It's confusing, and I don't feel like explaining the legal issues to you right now. I'm the one that's here to sign all your permission slips and whatnot, but she's your 'adoptive mother,'" Sally finished cheerfully. Wufei blanched.
"Lady Une, our adoptive mother?" he muttered.
"Do we get to call her 'mommy' when we finally work at Preventors?" Heero asked sarcastically. Sally laughed.
"You could if you really wanted to. She'd probably fire your ass REALLY fast though. It was hard enough for her to get used to Mariemaia calling her 'mom.'"
"She's calls her that now?" Quatre asked. Sally nodded.
"She's actually not too bad a kid if you get to know her."
"You mean when she's not trying to take over the whole Earth Sphere?" Wufei asked casually.
"Wufei, you were one of her soldiers, so you can't really talk," Heero reminded him.
"Hn."
"HEEEERRROOOOOO!!" a girl's voice suddenly screamed out, causing everyone around their group to look at them.
"Oh God," Heero muttered, quickly looking for an escape route.
"That sounded suspiciously like Relena," Wufei mused, though he knew it wasn't.
"No, if it were Relena, Heero would be running TOWARDS her, not away," Quatre said. An oriental girl with long black hair, streaked with blue, ran up the stands towards them.
"Hee~eey Wufei. Hi Quatre," the girl said, sitting down next to them. She wasn't actually as crazy as she'd sounded before. "I know you're down there Heero, you might as well come on up." Heero, who'd climbed through the bleachers and was actually underneath one of the benches hanging onto it, reluctantly climbed back to the right side.
"It was worth a try," he muttered, glaring at the girl.
"Hi Jen," Quatre finally replied, looking amusedly at the girl.
"Who's your friend?" Jen asked, gesturing at Sally.
"That's Sally," Heero said, sitting down next to Jen. "Sally, Jen. Jen, Sally. She's in a lot of my classes," he explained to Sally, who nodded.
"I'm trying to get him to go to the end-of-the-year-dance with me, but he claims he's got a long distance relationship he doesn't want to forsake, even if we were to just go as friends," Jen said, feigning sadness. Heero winced as Sally raised an eyebrow.
"Long distance relationship, eh?" she said. "Are we referring to Relena?" Heero blushed, despite himself.
"Er...yeah," he mumbled, staring at the ground as if it held the answers to all of life's questions. Sally smiled.
"And does the princess know about this relationship?"
"She's a princess?!" Jen exclaimed.
"Are you kidding? Heero has yet to talk to her," Wufei said, smirking at the Japanese youth and ignoring Jen.
"Well what am I supposed to do? If I were to just randomly call her or something, she'd probably keel over and die of a heart attack," Heero said sarcastically.
"I think she'd like a phone call from you, Heero," Sally said seriously. "The last time I talked to her, she said she wished there was a law that said she had to be eighteen with a high school diploma too. She's not very happy with her job right now."
"And she has every right not to be. She's only sixteen, and she's got a shit load of work piled on her shoulders," Wufei spat. Heero just shrugged.
"Hey, wait, I'm confused," Jen said. "You're dating royalty, Heero?" Heero blinked.
"Uh, yeah, something like that," he mumbled.
"Aw man, well I won't mess with that," she said, standing up and preparing to leave. "Onto my next victim!" she exclaimed. She took two steps, before plopping down next to Wufei. "Do YOU want to go to the dance with me Wu-wu? PLEASE??" Jen batted her eyelashes at him, as Wufei nearly choked on a piece of popcorn. Quatre and Sally burst out laughing, while Heero just smirked. Before much else could happen, the entire crowd collectively gasped, and the umpires on the field began blowing their whistles like crazy. Heero and the others jerked their heads back to the game just in time to see the trainer run out onto the field. They couldn't see who was injured because the whole team was crowded around the player, but it seemed they were all gathered at second base...
Duo sighed to himself as the game went on. Since it was getting closer to summer, it'd been getting hotter and hotter, and playing in these stupid pants was not helping any. Duo glanced to his right. The other team only had one out. It had looked like it was soon to be two, but then the person at bat suddenly hit a double instead of striking out. He was the only player on base so far, so Duo was keeping a close eye on him to make sure he wouldn't try to steal a base. It would be a stupid thing to do, but in the position they were in he wouldn't be surprised if they tried it. Duo looked at the person at bat now, sizing him up. He wasn't too big, but he'd hit a triple earlier in the game, if he remembered correctly. So far, however, the count was two and three. Duo crouched down.
The following events happened quickly, but it was like time had slowed to Duo. The player had managed to hit the ball, sounding out with a solid crack. He should have let an outfielder catch it, he realized later, but at the time he could only think about getting the person out. With amazing reflexive skill, Duo jumped, stretching his arm as high above his head as it would go. Somehow, he still didn't know, he did manage to catch the ball, getting the player out. But in the back of his mind, he realized that they still needed one more out to win. Thinking quickly, he noticed with a start that the player on second had taken a head start to third and now had quite a ways back to run to get to second.
'Great,' thought Duo quickly. 'Just throw the ball to second. The short stop should be there, right?' Duo, who was still in the air at this point, twisted around to throw the ball, only to find that the short stop was not it the right position. He was, instead of standing on the base, standing between second and third and staring up at Duo in complete amazement. 'Damn it! Brian!!' Duo thoughts screamed angrily. That only left one option. Duo landed nimbly on his feet, and immediately dove for second base at the same time the other player started sliding. Duo's glove hit the side of the base a split second before the other player's shoe could, and he vaguely heard the umpire yell "OUT," signaling the end of the game and their victory, before the sliding person's shoe slammed into his wrist, cleats and all.
*CRACK*
"FUCK!" Duo yelled, his eyes widening in pain. "Holy shit!!" He curled up into a fetal position, clutching his gloved hand to his chest. It was throbbing with pain. Vaguely, he noticed a player from the Gators, the one who had slid into him, offering him a hand and apologizing profusely. He could also hear whistles blowing in the background, and the crowd must have been shocked into silence or something because he couldn't hear them at all. "Shit, shit, shit, fuck, damn it, it hurts, oh my freakin' God..." and a variety of other profanity left Duo's mouth as he struggled to sit up and pull off his glove. "Nooo, nonononono! Don't be broken! Pleeaaaase don't be broken. Ugh, shit, it hurts, ah, pain, lotsa pain," he continued to mumble, not even aware that he was speaking.
"Here, Duo, let me see," a familiar voice said, and Duo looked up, slightly startled to see the trainer hovering above him.
"Shit, it's Duo," Heero mumbled, practically jumping off the bleachers in his hurry. Sally and Wufei were right behind him.
"Duo?" Jen asked worriedly. "Oh no, what happened?"
"Oh God, we weren't watching!" Quatre exclaimed. "I feel awful now, what if something really horrible happened to him?!"
"Quatre honey, I'm sure he's fine," Jen assured the blonde, standing up and following Heero and the others. Quatre nodded.
"I hope so," he said, following the oriental girl down the steps.
* * *
Almost two hours later, the group made their way back to their house. Duo was sporting a nice white cast that covered from his hand up to just below his elbow. His wrist had broken in two different places, and the cast would have to stay on for at least three months, and then after that he'd probably have to wear some sort of arm brace for a while. Needless to say, he was not very happy, seeing as he was out for the rest of the season, and he'd be wearing the cast for some of summer vacation.
"I have the WORST luck," Duo grumbled as he climbed out of Sally's car. He'd ridden back from the hospital with her instead of the others.
"Well, look on the bright side, Duo," Sally said, walking around the car with three pizza boxes in her arms. "At least it's your left arm, and not your right. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to write anything for three months." Duo snorted.
"As it is, they won't let me DRIVE for three months. Knowing that I'll still be able to write is NOT going to cheer me up."
"DUO!! Can I be the first to sign your cast?" Jen yelled, running up to meet him. She'd ridden to the hospital and then back to the house with Heero and the others. Duo blinked.
"Uh, yeah sure. Whatever," he replied, still not in a good mood.
"Come on, Duo. Cheer up! At least you guys won. And that was one of the best teams in the league! Plus, look! We rented movies!" Jen said, smiling brightly. Duo let a small smile grace his face.
"You didn't have to stick around, y'know. Thanks though," he said sincerely.
"Well, I wanted to hang out with my soon-to-be date to the dance," she replied, latching onto Wufei's arm. The Chinese teen grimaced. Duo raised an eyebrow.
"You asked him to the dance? Finally gave up on Heero, eh?"
"He's dating 'royalty,'" Wufei said sarcastically, causing Duo to laugh and Heero to glare at him.
"When is the dance anyway?" Quatre asked.
"In two weeks. I can't wait!" Jen exclaimed.
"I haven't asked anyone yet," Duo said. "Don't know if I'm going to."
"Ok, guys, you can talk about this inside because my arms are getting hot from these pizzas," Sally said, shifting the boxes in her arms.
"Oh geez, sorry Sal," Duo said quickly, holding out his arms as if to take one of the boxes. "Er...Heero, help Sally carry those in," he said after realizing he couldn't really hold one. Instead, he dashed up the front stairs to open the door. Quatre followed him in. "Isn't Trowa supposed to be home?" Duo asked, flipping the light in the dark hallway.
"Yeah, he is," Quatre replied, walking past the living room towards the kitchen. Suddenly he stopped mid-step and slowly walked backwards until he was standing in front of the entrance to the living room. His eyes were wide.
"Quat-" Duo started to say, but Quatre shushed him and pointed to the couch. Duo followed his finger, and immediately had to choke back on his laughter. "Tutoring her, eh?" he muttered. "In what, mouth to mouth?" Trowa and Carrie, who had apparently not heard them come in, were sitting on the couch, kissing each other hungrily. Their books were spread out around them, long forgotten.
"Duo, what are you waiting for?" Heero asked, coming up behind the two. Duo and Quatre immediately shushed him. "What-"
"Hey Trooowaaaa!" Duo yelled, cutting Heero off. Quatre's eyes widened.
"Duo!" he exclaimed. A loud thump and muttered curses were heard from inside the living room. Heero looked in the room just in time to see Carrie and Trowa, a good five feet away from each other, straightening out their clothes and hair. He raised an eyebrow.
"We brought dinner, unless you two would rather continue eating each others' faces off," Duo said teasingly. Trowa cleared his throat and Carrie blushed bright red. "Tutoring, ha!" Duo said, walking towards the kitchen.
"Studying hard, Trowa?" Sally asked, as she followed Duo. Trowa glared at her.
"Hey Carrie!"
"Jen?" Carrie asked, slightly surprised. "What're you doing here?"
"I just tagged along. Duo broke his arm," Jen replied, shrugging. Trowa's eyes widened.
"He what?" he asked.
"Wrist, Jen. I broke my wrist," Duo said, walking back out into the hallway carrying a piece of pizza. "It sucks."
"Sorry I wasn't at the game, Duo," Trowa said, staring at the cast on his wrist. "What happened?"
"Ugh, it's a long story. I don't feel like explaining it right now. I'll tell ya later." Trowa nodded.
"I'll hold you to that." Duo smiled.
"Tutoring," he mumbled again, shaking his head. Trowa blushed one more.
Later in the evening, after Jen, Carrie, and Sally had all left, the five guys were lounging lazily around the house. Quatre and Trowa were watching T.V. downstairs, while Heero and Wufei were both reading in their room. Duo had just taken an extremely long shower (A/N: Hey! It's not easy taking a shower with one of those bag things on your arm. Trust me, I've had to do it before.), and was now having a bit of trouble drying his hair and brushing it.
"Quatre?" he called, walking into the room that the two shared. The blonde teen wasn't there. Duo sighed and walked across the hallway to the other bedroom. "Anyone in here?" he asked, sticking his head through the doorway.
"Yep," Wufei said distractedly, not looking up from his book. He actually had his hair down, and his glasses were perched on the end of his nose.
"Oh good. Look, guys, I can't do shit with my hair right now. Do you think one of you could brush it and braid it for me?" Duo asked sheepishly. He held out a brush. It was quiet for a couple seconds. "Come on, please?" Duo asked again, shaking the brush. Heero sighed and pulled off his glasses.
"Sure, sit down," he said backing up on the bed. Duo smiled and bounded over, plopping down on the edge of the bed.
"Thanks, Heero."
"Hn," was the reply. The Japanese teen took the brush and started the long process of untangling Duo's long, brown hair (A/N: You guys didn't think I'd actually chop off Duo's hair, did you? Nah, he just got it trimmed or something.). When he finally finished, his bedspread was almost soaking wet from the water in Duo's hair. "Done," Heero said.
"Can you braid it for me?" Duo asked, looking over his shoulder at Heero. Heero blinked.
"Er...I...don't know how to braid," Heero admitted, staring blankly at Duo's hair. Wufei glanced at the two over the edge of his book, his eyes glinting mischievously.
"I'll do it," he offered, standing up and walking to Heero's bed.
"Thanks, Wu-maah I mean, Wufei," Duo quickly corrected himself as Wufei sent him a look.
"Not a problem," Wufei mumbled, taking Heero's spot. "Heero, find me a pair of chopsticks and a camera," he whispered so that only Heero would hear him. Heero didn't even bother asking why.
"I'll be right back," he said, rushing out of the room. It was quiet as Wufei worked on braiding Duo's hair. Duo sighed, and reached up unconsciously to check and make sure his earring was still in. Before long, Heero came back into the room just as Wufei fastened Duo's braid. Discreetly, he handed over the chopsticks, and sat down on Wufei's bed with the camera. Wufei started humming some random tune as he began twisting Duo's braid into a bun. The American teen just sat there with no idea about what was going on.
"Hey, Wufei, you forgot some," Duo said, referring to two strands of hair that were framing his face.
"Oops," Wufei said half-heartedly, sliding the chopsticks through Duo's hair to hold the bun in place. He smirked at his finished product and gave a thumb's up to Heero.
"You should have been a hair dresser, Wufei," he said, also smirking as he clicked a picture of Duo, who had his head slightly bent to examine his nails. Duo blinked as the flash went off, and his eyes slowly widened.
"What the hell did he do to my hair?" he asked warily, slowly reaching up to feel it. His eyes widened even more when he came to the chopsticks, and he ripped them out. "Wufei you asshole!" he exclaimed, just as Wufei burst out laughing. Heero also had a smirk on his face that was threatening to turn into a smile. "Remind me never to trust you again," he said faintly, laughter overtaking him. He fell back onto the bed besides Wufei, laughing with him, and another flash went off. The two stopped laughing abruptly and jerked their gazes up to Heero.
"Ah, family bonding," he deadpanned, an amused light in his eye. Wufei snorted and Duo began laughing again.
* * *
The weeks passed on, drawing the school year to a close. The dance came and went, Wufei had gone with Jen while Trowa went with Carrie. The other three went alone, Duo claiming that it was better to dance with a lot of people instead of being stuck with the same person all night. Jen had promptly smacked him on the back of the head for that comment. Soon it was the last day of school. Truth be told, no one was actually looking forward to it because they still had two finals left to take that day before they were released for the summer.
"Hey Heero, get up," Wufei mumbled, hitting the snooze button on their alarm for the second time that morning.
"I'll get up in a minute. Where's Trowa?" came the muffled reply.
"He got up when the alarm first went off," Wufei answered, climbing out of his bed and stretching his arms above his head.
"Hn."
"I'm getting dressed. You'd better hurry up," Wufei said, grabbing some clothes and heading towards the bathroom.
"Mhmm." Ten minutes later, Wufei exited the bathroom, only to find Heero still burrowed under his covers. Wufei sighed.
"Heero, what tests do you have today?"
"Hn...uh...English and...then gym class...no test there," Heero mumbled, rolling over onto his side.
"You stayed up studying for English, didn't you?"
"Mhmm." Wufei sighed again, and glanced at the clock. It was 6:45, they didn't have to leave until 7:15... He set up the clock so that the alarm would go off again in ten minutes.
"You've got ten more minutes to sleep, Heero. You don't want to be late for the last day of school, and we won't wait for you."
"Hn."
"...Right. I'll see you downstairs," Wufei said, giving up and heading out of the room. Ten minutes later, the alarm went off again, but Heero didn't hear it. Ten minutes after that, Heero cracked open an eye at the incredibly annoying sound.
"Damn it," he mumbled, hitting the off button. He burrowed back under his covers, and then his eyes flew open. According to the clock, it was 7:05. "Shit!" he swore, jumping out of bed and rushing downstairs. He slid into the kitchen, literally, in his socks and sweat pants, topless. Duo, who'd been attempting to butter a piece of toast with one arm, raised an eyebrow.
"Where've you been?" he asked, slightly amused.
"In bed," Heero muttered, grabbing a bagel and biting into it plain.
"Hey, slow down, you've got ten minutes, and it's not like you have to brush your hair or anything," Duo said sarcastically.
"Wrong, it takes a lot of time and precision to get my hair to stick out like it does," Heero monotoned, grabbing a glass and pouring himself some orange juice. He downed it in one gulp, while Duo chuckled at him.
"Is Heero up yet?" Wufei asked, walking into the kitchen. He too raised an eyebrow at Heero's appearance.
"Don't say a word," Heero growled. He stuffed the rest of the bagel into his mouth and went to refill his cup.
"And if I do?" Heero turned around and glared on him, which had the complete opposite effect that it was supposed to due to the fact that his cheeks were bulging with the bagel he had yet to swallow. Wufei and Duo burst out laughing. Heero gave up on the glaring and downed another glass of orange juice.
"You-you've got fi-five minutes, Heero," Duo choked out in between his laughter. Heero cursed and slid out of the room to get dressed. He managed to get ready in the five minutes he had, and the five headed off to school for their last day of finals.
Finally, some four hours later, they were free. Or, in Duo's words they were free. Actually, they were just out of school for the summer.
"I am SO glad that's over with," Duo exclaimed, crossing his hands behind his head as the sun shined down on them. "Pool, here I come!"
"Not until you get your cast off," Quatre reminded him gently, causing Duo to scowl.
"I get it off soon," he said, mainly to make himself feel better.
"I get my license in about a month," Heero spoke up, smiling-er-SMIRKing widely.
"So do the rest of us," Wufei said.
"Not Duo and Trowa," Heero said.
"True. So who's driving us home?" Wufei asked.
"I am," Trowa answered, sliding a pair of sunglasses on and dangling the keys from his fingers.
"Guys, I say we go to the beach this summer. Later I mean, after my cast's off and we all-YOU all have your licenses," Duo said, looking excited at the very idea.
"That'd be fun. I'm sure Sally would let us," Quatre added.
"When do they send out our report cards?" Trowa asked, climbing into the front seat of their car.
"In a few weeks," Heero replied, getting in the passenger side.
"Guys, I think I actually did good on the math final!" Duo exclaimed.
"That's great, Duo," Quatre said enthusiastically.
"TROWA!!" a girl's voice called out. Carrie bounded up to their car. "Are we still on for tonight?" she asked, bending down to peck him on the lips since he was in the car.
"Of course," Trowa replied, smiling a little. "I'll pick you up at six."
"Sounds good," she said, smiling.
"Aw man, Trowa. Are you stealing the car for tonight?" Duo complained, though he was smirking at them.
"Yeah, sorry," Trowa said, not actually sorry at all.
"Hey, Wufei!" another girl's voice said. "Are WE still on for tonight?" Jen asked, her black hair shining in the sun. Wufei blinked.
"WE don't HAVE plans for tonight," he grumbled. He was halfway in the car, standing with one leg in it and one still on the street.
"Well then I guess we'll have to make some!" Jen said cheerfully, pecking him on the cheek. Wufei blushed a little.
"I'll call you," he mumbled, causing her to smile wider, as he ducked completely into the car. The two girls backed up a little as the car doors all slammed shut, and waved as the car started and began to pull out of the parking spot.
"I think I'll call Relena tonight," Heero muttered, looking out the window. Duo faked a gasp.
"Seriously?! Didn't you say you'd do that, oh, about two months ago?" Heero glared at him.
"I'm serious this time."
"That's good to hear, Heero," Quatre said, buckling his seatbelt. Trowa honked the horn at a group of guys they knew as they sped past them. The group all waved at them.
"You guys, honestly. You have NO idea how glad I am this whole school thing is over with," Duo said, settling back into his seat. The other four in the car blinked.
"In case you've forgotten, Duo," Wufei started.
"We're only Sophomores," Trowa added.
"We've still got two more years of school left," Quatre finished. Duo groaned.
"Aw man!"
¡END!
Wow, I didn't realize how much longer that chapter was than the others. I probably could have made it two chapters, but I decided not to. Well, that's another fic completed. I have to say, I think I enjoyed writing this one the best so far out of all my fics. Well, I've got midterms all this week, but after that be looking for the last chapter and epilogue of "Women Aren't Weak." And then there's the fic I have to write for the 100th reviewer of "Behind the Scenes," which I am completely stuck on because I cannot get in contact with that person! TALON hasn't e-mailed me back yet, and I've sent like three e-mails! I don't know what I should write about! ARGH!! *ahem* Anyway, thanks so much for all the reviews so far! Now review for this part so I know what you thought of my ending!! You all can probably expect a sequel to this sometime. I don't know when though. Thanks again! Till next time, ja ne!
*~Maxine~*