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"Chances"Written By: Honor Disclaimers: Ain’t mine. Ain’t gonna
be mine. I’ve just permanently borrowed them, no worries! Warnings: No spoilers, no timeline. AU, Romance,
lemon, some language (not much) Rating: NC-17 (maybe) Pairings: 2x1, 3x4 and 5xM established Author’s Notes: Drumroll, please! *crickets
chirp* Ah, yeah…anyway, here is the sequel to Take a Chance.
To all of those beautiful, wonderful people who C&Cd me, arigato!
*huggles* I truly appreciate it. If you wish to do the same to Chances,
I’m certainly not going to complain! And now, Lights! Camera!
Action! *emphasis* //phone conversations// " Chances"
Chapter Three: Through Thick and Thin
That amount of sugar alone can excuse the idea that occurred to Duo as he stood in the lunch line. He was trying to behave, truly, but he was restless and bored. His eyes were roving over everything around him, looking for a distraction. They landed on the bags of jelly beans sitting in the food cart in front of him. Duo’s eyes lit up. Ah. Now there was a distraction. + Some kind of survival instinct kicked into overdrive when Duo popped up, Meiran walking beside him, both of them wearing Cheshire cat grins. Heero automatically started searching the quad for cover. There was a skinny pine tree, and a trash can in one corner. Heero grimaced but dove for the pine just as Duo let fly with the first volley. It wasn’t until the ammunition landed that Heero had some clue as to what he was being attacked with. Jelly beans? “Duo what are you doing?” “Declaring war, man!” Another volley came at Heero, one jelly bean glancing off his shoulder. “You’re fighting an unarmed opponent?” Heero didn’t know if rationalizing would work with him. “Yup!” ...apparently not. “You’d win if you had ammunition!” Duo continued cheerfully. Heero risked a glance from behind his cover to see where Meiran was. She had been very quiet through all of this. He rolled his eyes when he saw that she was silently closing in on Wufei’s position. The Chinese teen had curled up with a book near the wall, as was his custom. “Onna.” Wufei said sternly without moving his eyes from the book. “Do not even dare to follow through with such a stupid and simplistic—ow!” Meiran laughed and quickly retreated to where Duo was standing, hand filled with jelly beans and a maniacal light in her eyes. Wufei had rolled to his feet, crouching slightly and weighing his options. Even as his girlfriend laughed and darted away, a slow smile took over his features. “Yuy. It seems that they have ganged up on us.” Heero recognized that smile. It spoke of danger and calculated revenge. He grinned tightly in response. “Hn.” “Do you wish to follow their example?” “By all means.” Meiran protested with an inarticulate squawk of dismay. “Duo we have to get out of range, now!” “Why? We’re armed!” “Duo, they don’t need weapons.” She told him, frantically backpedaling to a more secure location. “They are weapons!” Wufei moved to Heero’s side. Then they began to advance on the other two, hands flexing slightly in a menacing manner. Duo looked over to Meiran and said in a false gangster accent, “It’s them or us, sweetheart. You in?” She saluted him casually. “Today is a good day to die.” War cries sounded, jelly beans flew, and Duo tackled Heero. Meiran knew better and tried to flip out of the way of Wufei’s hands. She didn’t quite make it and managed to get herself pinned to the ground, falling victim to a tickling attack from her boyfriend. Her howls of laughter echoed in the buildings. Duo fared slightly better. He managed to tackle and spring free at the last minute, dodging Heero’s hands. Heero circled him slowly. The boy in front of him was quick, far more so than Heero would have thought possible. There was a way around this, however. “Duo, how much sugar have you had?” “Um…three cups of coffee, two slices of cake, and a lot of chocolate!” Heero’s brows shot up into his hairline. No wonder he was so high! “I see. In that case, you’re probably too hyper to have the sense to call a truce.” “Truce?” Duo repeated as if it was a foreign word. “Hn.” Trowa came into view, taking in the scene and coming to fairly obvious conclusions. He looked idly at Heero, then Wufei. “Is it spinning time?” Meiran panicked and tried to wriggle free. “Duo! You can’t let them get me!” Duo, distracted by his ally’s cry of distress, glanced to his right. Heero took the opportunity and dove at him. With a soft grunt Duo fell on his back, Heero right on top of him. Both of the braided teen’s wrists were pinned to the ground, legs tangled with Heero’s. His breath left him in shock as he realized just what kind of position he was in. “Uncle! I give, I give!” Heero smirked down at his pinned prey. “And I’m supposed to believe that?” “What, you want it written in blood? Get off already!” Heero lowered his voice so that only Duo could hear him. “I don’t think so.” Duo couldn’t quite believe his ears. Or the fact that Heero was looking at him like…actually, it kind of reminded Duo the way he looked at a hot fudge Sunday with all the toppings. “Huh?” “I rather like having you under me.” Heero murmured, shifting his hips a little again just to drive the full innuendo home. Duo’s eyes consumed his face and his breath caught in his throat. “Heero—” “What,” a slightly frosty voice demanded “is going on?” Heero snarled silently as he recognized Mr. Henderson’s voice. The man took great delight in upsetting every couple in the school, saying that they were ‘too young for that kind of nonsense’. He stood up swiftly and pulled Duo up by the hand, subtly putting himself between him and the teacher. It was Meiran who saved the situation. “Sorry, Mr. Henderson. The guys were wrestling around a bit.” “That isn’t what it looked like to me.” Mr. Henderson replied, glaring at Heero. The man was a little under six foot, with graying hair and light brown eyes. Hardly an imposing figure, but he could and did use his voice to make his presence known. “Care to explain yourself Mr. Yuy?” “Meiran already did, sir.” Heero shifted to put himself rather firmly in front of Duo. He didn’t want any of the teacher’s wrath to fall on the teenager behind him. “What I saw did not resemble wrestling in any fashion.” Heero gritted his teeth. “Sir. Duo is extremely quick and agile. If I didn’t pin him properly, he would have gotten loose.” Duo stepped up and grinned sheepishly. “Sorry, sir, I started it. Too hyper for my own good. We’ll behave, okay?” “Maxwell.” The word wasn’t quite uttered as a curse, but it was close. “I expect for you to keep your…issues…outside of this campus.” Duo’s smile faltered. “I am, sir.” “I don’t even want to see the appearance of it, do I make myself clear?” Duo nodded, eyes on the floor. “Yes sir.” Once Mr. Henderson was out of earshot Heero started using every curse word that he knew, in several different languages. “I’m sorry Duo. This is my doing.” Duo shrugged it off and pasted a smile back on his face. “No problem, man. Look, I’m going to get something to drink. Anyone want something?” He left almost before anyone could agree or disagree. Heero watched that rapid retreat and cursed again, slamming his fist against a wall. “K’so.” He couldn’t leave things like this. He wouldn’t leave Duo like that. But what to say? He looked in the direction that Duo had disappeared to and felt completely inadequate at the task of reassuring him that nothing was wrong. They hadn’t done anything wrong. Meiran grabbed Heero by the arm and started to tug him into motion. “Heero, you can’t stand there! You have to go after him!” Heero blinked at her in surprise. “Nani?” “Argh! Why are men so dense?! Heero, how do you think everyone in this school knows about Duo?” Heero shook his head, baffled. He had no idea. But now that he was thinking about it, the only way for everyone to really know was— “Because a couple of years back Duo and his boyfriend were caught together, that’s how! And his boyfriend ditched him afterwards too cause he couldn’t handle the pressure!” Meiran growled in her throat. “Will you stop thinking and move?!” Heero shook off her hold on his arm and sprinted toward the door. Shimatta, if there had been a worse move than letting Duo leave like that, he couldn’t think of it. He might be totally inadequate to the task of reassuring Duo, but surely his silent support alone would count for something! It took a few minutes to figure out which direction Duo had gone. By this time the food carts would be packed away, so he could hardly go there. Heero finally had to stop and think for a moment. If he were Duo, and upset, where would he go? Wrestling room. He spun around and headed back the way he had come, turning right before he would have reached the quad. As he got closer he could hear the faint sounds of music. Skidding to a stop he wrenched the door open and stepped inside. Duo was in a mid-air split, his weight completely resting on his elbows. He moved as Heero watched in dumbfounded surprise, shifting his lower body so that the legs came together and went straight above his head. The sheer amount of power that maneuver took made Heero reel a little in shock. “Duo.” Duo froze in place. With a slight heave of his shoulders he flipped straight to his feet and spun to look at the door. “Heero?” When he had heard the door open, he had assumed that it would Meiran. Heero groaned a little and shook his head. “Baka. I told you it wasn’t your doing. Why are you hiding from us?” “Look, I don’t want to mess things up. You’ve got it good. And it doesn’t matter what I do or say, no one’s ever going to believe that I’m behaving. It’s a bad idea to tangle with me.” With narrowed eyes Heero stepped onto the mat and moved until exactly three inches separated them. Duo’s eyes went wide, and Heero faced that expression with a scowl. “You’ve got two choices. You come peacefully, or I drag you back by your braid.” “You wouldn’t—” Duo whispered. Heero’s hand shot out and took a firm hold on the end of Duo’s braid. “Try me.” The slight tension that had been humming through Duo’s frame fell away. When Duo smiled this time, it was no mockery or imitation. “Okay, slave-driver, I’ll come peacefully. Let me shut off the music.” Heero reluctantly let go. The hair in his hand had felt like silk. It made him wonder just what it would be like to touch that thick hair when the two of them were—dabare! He had to stop thinking thoughts like that. At least until Duo was his boyfriend and willing to indulge some of those fantasies. When Duo bent over the small portable cd player to shut if off, Heero stifled a groan. Maybe Quatre could give him some pointers. If things continued as they were, he was going to be too desperate to think rationally. + Heero had continued to worry about Duo throughout that night and into the next day. After thinking things through, he had decided that any kind of move on his part during school would be a bad idea. Duo wouldn’t be very free to respond in this environment. He had to find a way to meet after school, in some other way. That decided, he imitated Wufei and settled near the wall, pulling out a book to read. In all of his calculations and analyzing, however, he had forgotten to include a certain variable. Duo let Heero ignore him for all of about three minutes. Then he settled cross-legged in front of Heero and waited for some kind of acknowledgement. Twenty seconds later, when he was still being ignored, he scooted up a little further and grabbed a shoelace. “Hey, ‘Ro. Is this yours?” Heero looked up from his book to see what Duo was talking about. He arched an eyebrow slightly as he saw what Duo was holding. “Yes.” “You want it?” Heero didn’t know what Duo was up to. He sighed, put upon. Duo wasn’t making this easy for him. “Yes, Duo. I want it.” “Okay.” Duo tugged the shoelace in Heero’s direction, untying the shoe. “There you go.” Then he scooted a little to the right and grabbed another shoelace. “Is this one yours too?” Heero was beginning to sense a pattern to this. Nevertheless, he answered. “Yes.” “You want it?” Since ‘yes’ hadn’t gotten him anywhere, Heero decided to try ‘no’. “No.” “Okay, thanks!” Duo tugged the shoelace in his direction this time. “Cool! A shoelace to play with. I wonder how many knots I can make…” Quickly he began to pull the lace free of the shoe. Heero yanked his foot free of Duo’s grasp and leaned forward, catching Duo’s hands before he could attempt to wriggle free. “Is this because I’m ignoring you?” “Yup!” “And if I start paying attention to you, are you going to leave my shoelaces alone?” Duo considered that quite seriously for about a tenth of a second. “Nope!” He answered quite cheerfully, eyes sparkling. “Hn.” Heero considered his options, and without taking his eyes off of Duo he raised his voice a little. “Meiran?” “Yes?” “Where are Duo’s ticklish spots?” Duo eeped. “Okay, truce!” “Too late now.” Heero informed him seriously. Meiran came over to pat Duo sympathetically on the head even as she answered. “Practically everywhere, but especially on the sides.” “Mei-rei!” Duo pouted, turning sad puppy eyes on her. Meiran smirked and sauntered toward Wufei, intent on pestering him back into the real world. Heero leaned forward, a predatory smile on his face.
“Now, what were you saying about my shoelaces?” ~ * ~ |
