|
"Caught Between Two Worlds"Written By: Honor Disclaimers: Never say die! Never surrender! Pairings: 4x5, 1x3 established Spoilers: Nope! Warnings: AU, paranormal elements, yaoi, romance,
my weird and twisted humor, language, brief violence Rating: I’m thinking…NC-15 Betas: Velvet and Caitilin Archived: Gundam Wing Diaries and http://honordemandoren.livejournal.com/ Author’s Insane and often Incomprehensible
Rambling: Once again, I can blame this plot bunny on someone! I love
being able to do that. It means nothing is my fault. Emily quite nicely
asked for a story for her birthday. (Hi Emily! Sorry it’s late.)
So here it is. Em, I *still* think you bribed Quatre somehow. And
your story about Milo inspired the plot for this, so the whole thing
really can be blamed on you. *grin* ::ghost talking:: *emphasized* <phone conversation>
" Caught Between Two Worlds" Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.
Today, it seemed a little too poignantly accurate. I’d had a rough night last night due to one too many ‘visitors’ and wasn’t in the mood to be sociable. All I wanted was to stay home and sleep, or at the very least just sit in the back of a classroom and zone out. That was, naturally, why my history teacher had completely tossed his usual lecture out the window. Mr. Johnson, Mr. Belt and Mr. Campbell had pooled their students together in one of the quads, and there were suspicious smiles on their faces. These men don’t smile, unless they’re plotting something evil against their naïve students. Trust me, after a semester of having them, I know. Duo shifted in close to me, alert as always even though it was first period. Sometimes I hate morning people. “So Q…any idea what our teacher is scheming?” “None,” I grumbled. “Alright, everyone listen up!” Mr. Johnson called over the crowd. And with roughly sixty students there, it was crowded. “A lot of you don’t understand how things can get confused in history—politics is just a word to you. So today, we’re going to give you a taste of how it works. We’re going to divide you up into six teams and then play a game of Risk. The rules are as follows—there is one ruler for every nation, one ambassador, one general and the rest are advisors. Only ambassadors can talk to everyone—the rulers are only allowed to talk to his people. He can’t talk to anyone else. The same goes for advisors. Okay?” There were mumbles that could be taken as acknowledgement, and the impatient shuffling of feet. “Right. Sound off one to six.” Dutifully the group counted off, although sometimes things were a little confusing considering we were in just a jumble of bodies. I was four, and Duo was a two so I was fairly sure that we weren’t going to be in the same group. “Okay, all the ones in this corner, twos in that one, threes near the table, fours in the far corner—” I stopped paying attention to him at that point and moved toward my designated corner. On the way I bumped into someone heading the same direction. I looked up to apologize— --god in heaven, how can anyone be that hot?! Normally I don’t think of Chinese guys as ‘hot’. For one thing, I’ve yet to see a truly good looking Chinaman. This one however could make a straight guy gay. He had wicked black eyes, hair pulled tight in a pony tail, slender build that was pure muscle from what I could see. Okay, Quatre, don’t drool. Drooling is a no-no. Pick up your jaw too before someone trips over it. “Sorry,” I managed to croak. “No problem,” he returned indifferently. What was that phrase Duo used sometimes…ah yes. Voice like liquid sex. I sighed a little as he moved ahead of me. Knowing the way Murphy works, as hot as that guy is, he probably has a lousy personality. Still, it was nice eyecandy. “Alright, you have two minutes to decide who’s doing what. Don’t bother asking for a certain color of game piece because you’re not getting it.” Mr. Johnson gave us all a spectacularly wide smile. I looked around my group. Nine people, three of which I didn’t know, including Sexy and Chinese. I cleared my throat slightly, calling their attention to me. “Let’s introduce ourselves first. I’m Quatre.” “Hilde.” “Tony.” “Samantha, but call me Sam, ok?” “Gary.” “Lisa.” “Sally.” “Danny.” “Wufei.” Wufei, huh? It was nice to know that I wasn’t the only person in this school with a weird name. “Okay, who wants to be the ruler?” “Wufei does,” Sally piped up instantly with a bright smile. Wufei glowered at her, something like a growl coming from his throat. “Woman, leave me out of this.” Sally ignored him with the ease of long practice, directing her comments to me. “He’s really good at leading people, even if he is a grouch. All in favor?” I looked around, but there weren’t any objections (besides Wufei’s). I don’t think anyone wanted to make decisions this early in the morning. “No objections, motion is carried. Alright, who wants to be the ambassador?” “I think Hilde should do it,” Sam said thoughtfully. “She’s the best person at communicating in this group.” I was somewhat acquainted with Hilde—the only thing that I really knew about her was that she and Duo could have a verbal sparring match for hours without repeating themselves. “Sounds good to me. Hilde?” She shrugged, looking alert. Another morning person. Great. “Sure, I’ll do it. And you’re going to be the general.” I blinked at her. “Me? Why me?” “Because I know you’re good at strategy. Duo complains about it all the time.” “I can vouch for that,” Sally put in with a significant look at me. “I’ve never seen you lose at chess or any other strategy game. You’re the general, Quatre.” Ah hell, they really were going to make me think this morning. With a sigh I capitulated. “Fine. The rest of you are advisors.” “I hope everyone’s all sorted because we’re going to start,” Mr. Campbell called. And so it begins. The first ten minutes or so of the game was just setup so nothing much was happening. The game board was on a table in the middle of the quad, with a ton of little figurines of six different colors trying to take over the country boundary lines. I studied the people as much as the pieces on the board, trying to make educated guesses on what they would do. Considering that I didn’t know half of them that was rather challenging. Why hadn’t I thought to bring coffee with me this morning? Alliances started to be made. Hilde was all over the place, talking to different ambassadors, rulers, practically everyone really. She would come back at random, filling us in on what was happening and then we got to make decisions based on that information. It very quickly becoming conflicting information, as different people said different things, or made different conclusions. We’d barely been playing five minutes when betrayals started happening. Being the general meant that I had to talk to Wufei, which was a little…challenging. It’s hard to focus on what someone is saying when they look as hot as he does. When I did manage to slam my libido in a cage, it didn’t take long to realize that he was no intellectual lightweight. For one thing, he talks like a dictionary and I don’t think he even realizes it. Time went past very quickly, and before I knew it the bell was ringing. Since our team had pretty much decimated everyone else on the board, we were declared victors. I was just grateful it was over so I could go back to my non-thinking mode. A shadow fell over me as I leaned down to pick up my backpack. I glanced up…Wufei? He was staring down at me almost thoughtfully. I couldn’t figure out why though. “You really are good at strategy,” he complimented quietly. “Would you be interested in playing a game of chess during lunch?” Ah. I was apparently considered a challenge. Let me think, do I want to spend more time around someone as hot as Wufei? “Sure. Campbell’s room?” He was the only teacher that kept a few chess sets in his classroom. Wufei nodded. “See you there.” “Okay.” I watched as he walked away, trying not to openly ogle. On some people, it’s almost a crime to wear jeans. Wufei was one of those people. The way he filled those jeans was just sinful. “Quatre?” I jerked around, feeling myself blush. Damn, I had been caught staring. Fortunately for me, it was a friend. Or unfortunately, it rather depends on how you look at it. Heero gave me this elaborate study, eyebrow quirked an nth degree. “You were drooling.” I heaved a sigh. Why did I have to put up with this? “Shut up, Heero.” He hummed thoughtfully, giving what little you could still see of Wufei a not-so-quick perusal. “Not that I can blame you, he has a great ass.” “I’m sure your boyfriend will be thrilled to learn you’re checking other guys out,” I growled at him. Heero shrugged at this, apparently undisturbed with Trowa’s potential reaction. I waved him off and turned to go to my next class, praying that he wouldn’t mention anything to anyone else about my ogling and that would be the end of the matter. + I’m going to kill Heero. Slowly. With a dull spoon. Maybe a toothpick. Duo caught me before I was completely off campus, slinging a friendly arm around my shoulders that was meant more to keep me from running off than to show any kind of affection. “So Q, I understand that you and the Chinese studmuffin had a little chess game during lunch.” And how had he learned about that? “Who said that?” “A little birdy whispered it into my ear.” Hilde, in other words. She can never keep her mouth shut. When I didn’t comment Duo looked at me archly. “And Heero mentioned you were a little…taken in by the view, this morning.” Why were my friends so absorbed with my love life? Heero and Trowa had been together three months and were sickeningly happy; Duo was on a dating spree with every girl in the school it seemed like. Considering how active their love lives were, why were they focusing so much attention on mine? I glowered up at him, really wishing he would just drop the subject. “So what? Anyone that can’t appreciate the view needs new eyes.” “No arguments from me man. I’m straight and I still thought he was a hunk. So who won the chess game?” “I did,” I admitted. “It was really hard, though. I’m not sure if I’d win next time. Wufei…he’s so intelligent I feel like I’m mentally scrambling to keep pace with him.” Duo paused, and with his hold on me I had no choice but to pause with him. A little worried frown started gathering on his forehead as he looked down at me. “Does he know about you?” I didn’t need a clarification for what he was referring to. Duo was referring to the fact that I was a Sensitive. “I have no idea. And what on Earth are you asking that for?” “Because he’s your type and I think you’ve got a crush on him already,” he growled at me. “I don’t want to see you get hurt.” I lowered my eyes to the concrete under our feet, glaring at it. My track record when it came to hot guys was pretty dismal. Sometimes it was the I-was-gay they-were-straight factor…sometimes it was because of the ghost factor. Either way, I was screwed. “Yeah, well, don’t worry about it. I know better than to get my hopes up.” “That’s the point, by blond little friend. It sucks bowling balls that you are not even trying anymore.” Duo sighed gustily, his arm tightening in a comforting squeeze. “Come on, let’s go eat ice cream. I’m craving a hot fudge Sunday right now.” Drowning my sorrows and overactive libido in sugar sounded like a good idea to me. I nodded and pushed Wufei into a dusty corner of my mind, determined to not think about him again. ~*~*~*~
|
