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"Cause and Effect"Written By: Honor Disclaimers: I own Gundam Wing. I also own Australia,
the San Francisco Zoo and the Chattanooga Choo-Choo Pairings: 2x4 Rating: NC-15…probably Spoilers: Nada Warnings: Probably TWT, romance, yaoi, language,
some violence, some angst, lime Betas: Velvet and Caitilin Author’s Insane Ramblings: This is Velvet’s fault. And Caitilin’s
too, come to think of it. Caitilin got me in the mood for 2x4 with
a comment she made, and Velvet sent me a fic that got the wheels turning.
Besides, Caitilin keeps feeding the stupid plot bunny! With carrots,
no less! *beams proudly* Now that the blame is sufficiently cast,
I can go about my business. " Cause and Effect" Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find
harmony. In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity. Chapter 4 As soon as we walked into the doors of the very elite, very private boarding school I knew I was in trouble. Duo was too, but it was worse for me. Everyone there had black hair and dark brown eyes. There were a few exceptions, of course, but for the most part it was a Japanese population. Being blond with blue eyes, I stuck out like a sore thumb, as did Duo. The girls thought he was interesting—I was deemed ‘fascinating’. It was a title I could have done without. It started as soon as we arrived. Duo and I arrived together (our cover was best friends that didn’t want to be separated, with parents rich enough to indulge our whims) and Heero and Wufei were to arrive later in the day, at slightly different times. We were shown to our classes, introduced to the teachers, and given the general tour. I caught the interest our entrance caused, but I assumed it was just because we were new and mentally allowed a day or so before it wore off. Wrong. It started with second period, once we were released to start classes with everyone else. Duo and I were seated on opposite sides of the classroom (something I wasn’t particularly happy about) and then I was surrounded by females and I couldn’t even catch a glimpse of my boyfriend. Class after class was like this. Lunch was even worse. I caught sight of Heero as I was led (dragged, actually, is a better term) through the cafeteria at their every whim. Short of being very rude, I couldn’t see a way out of it. There were snatches of high emotion from Duo during the day, and I winced whenever I felt it. He was very unhappy, a little depressed, and very frustrated. I couldn’t blame him. I was feeling the same way. Even when classes ended, I couldn’t escape. It was near six in the evening. I was politely trying to respond to a myriad of questions being shot my way and secretly planning an escape route via the window when Heero came in. I’ve never been so glad to see someone in my life. I mouthed ‘help!’ The sea of girls parted to see the latest hunk, giving me a free path to the door. I didn’t care if I had to sacrifice Heero to make a clean escape, I was taking it. I jumped out of my chair and quickly maneuvered my way forward before anyone could grab me and hold me down. Heero aided this by glaring at anyone who even thought about catching me, then escorted me silently out the door. Once we were in an open hallway—fresh air! Whoopeee!—I gave him my most brilliant smile. “Whatever favor you want, it’s yours. Thank you!!” He shrugged. “Just shove them out of your way next time.” “That would work for you. I can’t.” Taking a deep breath I headed for my room and hoped Duo was there. Now that I was free from all of those females, I wanted some cuddle time. + When I bounded through the door, I beamed a happy smile at Duo. He didn’t smile back. In fact, he didn’t even look up. Um…that’s not a good sign. He was on his bed, apparently doing homework (ye gods, I don’t even want to think about homework right now) with books and paper spread out around him. But his shoulders were hunched in, and he had a death grip around the end of his braid. “Duo?” “Finally decided to come back huh.” What?! His mood was completely black, it gave me a headache just looking at him. I slowly let my bag slip to the floor near my bed and came around to his side. I couldn’t sit on the bed, there was too much stuff blocking me. I wonder…was that done on purpose? “What do you mean ‘finally’?” “You didn’t seem in much of a hurry to leave your new fan club to me.” He’s jealous? Of *them*? “Duo, I tried to get away from them all day!” “Sure.” His tone did not match the verbal agreement. “Why are you being like this?” I was confused, and beginning to feel a little hurt. This was more than jealousy. He wouldn’t even look at me. “You should know what it was like. The girls were acting the same way toward you.” “In the beginning. I convinced them to play nice, though.” “Then why didn’t you help me do the same?! Come on, Duo, you saw the situation I was in! Why didn’t you come to my rescue?” His eyes cut up to me, and I almost wished he hadn’t looked at me after all. “Like I said, you didn’t seem like you wanted to leave.” “You’re wrong!” I snapped back. “I did want to leave.” “Then why didn’t you?” “I *tried*! I couldn’t manage it without being rude.” His face turned away, and it was obvious that he didn’t believe me. In a soft, very troubled voice I asked, “Do you really have that little faith in me?” I winced when he brushed past me and slammed out of the room. Some part of me wanted to cry, but I was just too numb. “I’ll take that as a yes.” + Wufei found me, some hours later. Night had fallen and the only light in the room came from the window, where moonlight shown through. I was curled into myself, face pressed against my knees. I just didn’t get it. What did I do wrong? I thought Duo knew that I loved him. I thought it was clear that I loved *only* him. So why did he doubt it at the first test of loyalty? He gently touched my head as he sank onto the bed next to me. “Quatre?” “What did I do wrong?” I whispered brokenly. “I don’t know. What happened?” “Duo and I…fought.” It seemed like a strange word to use in this context, but it was the only one I could think of. What else could you call that exchange of accusations and denials? “What about?” “The girls here…they’re fascinated by us. Our coloring, I mean. I had a group of them monopolize me all day. It took Heero’s interference before I could win free of them. Duo…I thought it was just jealousy, and tried to set the record straight but…” “Heero saw Duo in the karate dojo,” Wufei volunteered calmly. “He was the one who sent me to find you. He said something was wrong.” Duo had a habit of taking life’s frustrations out against whatever inanimate object was nearby. I was fleetingly grateful that he had found the necessary equipment to beat up on before his temper snapped. “Oh.” “If it wasn’t jealousy, do you know what it is?” Even as I shook my head no, words poured out of my mouth. “He doesn’t believe that I love him. Not really.” “I think he does,” Wufei refuted quietly. “When you are faced with someone who loves you, and you are unable to fully return that feeling, it causes apprehension to the heart.” Lifting my head, I searched his eyes. “You think he’s just scared?” “Yes. It hurts you that he can’t say he loves you.” I wanted to deny it, but it was the truth. It did hurt, a little, that he couldn’t return the words. “He knows it. And it scares him to think that if he doesn’t catch up with you quickly enough, you’ll lose patience with him and find someone who can say that they love you.” “That’s stupid,” I burst out angrily. “Whether he loves me or not, I still love him!” “It’s stupid. It’s also very human. Until he is completely comfortable with your relationship, he’ll keep that fear.” “Then I’ll show him,” I returned with firm conviction. “I’ll show him constantly what I feel for him, if that’s what it takes.” “That’s exactly what it will take.” Smiling slightly, he stood and headed for the door. “I’ll kick him your direction, if Heero hasn’t already done it.” “Wufei—” He turned at the door, brow cocked in question. “Thanks.” “Friendship, Quatre Winner, goes both ways.” I stared at the closed door after he left, head shaking slightly. He always says these little enigmatic things whenever I try to thank him. Maybe it was a Chinese thing. Then again, maybe it was just a Wufei thing. + Duo came in ten minutes later. His expression rather reminded me of an altar boy who not only had been sipping the communal wine but had been caught doing it. I went straight to him as the door closed, and punched him in the stomach. With a gasp, he doubled over. “That’s for being an idiot,” I told him in clipped tones. Lifting his head with both hands, I leaned forward and kissed him thoroughly. I didn’t pull back until he started to respond, hands hesitantly alighting on my sides. I retreated an inch and muttered against his mouth, “And that’s because I love you, despite the fact you’re an idiot.” Amethyst eyes searched mine desperately for the reassurance that I was still his, despite the past few hours. I let the answer shine in my own eyes so that he could find the reassurance he needed. With urgent hands he hauled me against him, and hugged me tight. I didn’t protest even though he was soaked in sweat. I wrapped both arms around his waist and held on. “Sorry,” he whispered into my shoulder. “You better be. I was worried sick that I had done something wrong to make you doubt me like that.” “I don’t doubt you,” he refuted quietly. “Wufei claims you’re just afraid because you can’t say you love me,” I offered when he stalled. “Wuffers is right, as usual. I’m sorry, Q. Honest to god sorry. I knew it was wrong to take it out on you even while I was doing it.” “It’s okay,” I whispered gently. I shifted my arms to bring him tighter against me. “It’s okay.” Long minutes later we finally eased a little apart, just for breathing room. “Tomorrow,” I said softly into his ear, “when the girls swarm me again, go ahead and act possessive and jealous, okay? Maybe it will get them off my back so I can spend my time with you.” “Okay.” Duo waggled both eyebrows mischievously. “So that means I can hang all over you and kiss you in public, right?” “Yup.” My boyfriend sighed happily. “Gotta love it when you give me permission to be bad in public.” His nose scrunched a little. “I think I need a shower.” “You do,” I informed him blandly. “And so do I, now that you’ve rubbed half of your sweat off on me.” Duo grinned and gestured to the small (and I do mean small) bathroom right off our room. “Care to join me?” I peeked at the very small shower stall and gave him a dubious look. “Are you sure we can both fit?” “If we stand very, very close.” “…I think we can manage that.” + That stupid culinary class Heero signed us up for was the first class the next day. Duo and I were discussing the best way to pay Heero back for signing us up for it as we walked inside. We were met by a girl chorus of “Katoru-kun!” Fight or flight instincts took over and I dove behind Duo for cover. Duo wrapped an arm around my back to keep me there, face open and smiling. “Now girls, ease off a little. You monopolized my boyfriend all day yesterday. Don’t you think its time for you to share a little since I’m sharing him with you?” Far from being upset about this, the entire gaggle of girls started going ‘awwww!’ Then we got bombarded by questions. “How long have you been together?” “Where did you meet?” “You *are* cute together!” “Do your parents know?” “Do the teachers know?” I felt my eyes swirl in my head just from the sheer volume of questions. And I thought reports were bad…they have nothing on high school girls. Don’t ask me how, but Duo managed to answer the questions he wanted to answer, get the girls to back up a bit, and move us toward one of the group areas all at the same time. I just clung to him and let him handle them. They were, obviously, beyond my ability to control. There was already a girl sitting at the table Duo chose. She was reading quietly, but I noticed her eyes were darting up to watch us from time to time. When the teacher came in and called for us to choose a table for the quarter, several girls turned to her. “Kibo-kun, switch with me! I want to sit with them.” “No,” Kibo replied simply. “Pleeeasseeee?” “No. I was here first, and besides, there should be at least *one* sane girl in this group.” Color me prejudiced, but I liked Kibo immediately. It probably had something to do with the fact she wasn’t instantly fawning all over me. There was the usual rush as everyone grabbed seats with friends, then the teacher gave us basic instructions. ‘The recipe is on the table, call if you have problems’ kind of instructions. Kibo put her book down and looked us in some amusement. “So, how comfortable are you in the kitchen?” “The microwave is my best friend,” Duo answered cheerfully. She processed this with a little hum, then looked at me. “Er…I do alright if it comes in a box with lots of instructions.” The last girl in the group—Min, I think her name was—looked a little sheepish. “I’ve never really been in a kitchen.” Kibo groaned. “Great. Okay, I guess I’m de-facto leader. Let’s get introductions out of the way first. I’m Jaggi Kibo.” “Duo Alder,” Duo said cheerfully. “Quatre Nazir.” “Lang Min.” She looked at me closely. “Nazir? Isn’t that Arabian?” What, did she have a trivia fact book for a mind? “Yes, actually. And yes, I know I don’t look Arabian.” She smiled in agreement, then let it drop with a shrug. “Okay, boys and girl we’re making apple strudels with icing. The directions are pretty clear cut for the icing—Quatre-kun, think you can handle it?” I looked over her shoulder at the directions. Yes, they did seem pretty clear. “I think so.” “Okay, I’ll leave it up to you. I’ll try and teach these two how to make dough.” I have no idea how she managed it because I was focusing on the icing, but when I looked up again, the dough looked perfect and was in the pan, which Min was easing in the oven. Duo had flour on his nose, some in his bangs, and a proud smile. The part I was impressed with was that nothing was burning, and nothing had blown up. Laughing, I reached out and knocked some of the flour out of Duo’s hair, then brushed it off his nose. He wiggled his nose at me, smile growing. “You always get into stuff,” I told him with mock exasperation. “Yeah, but I’m cute doing it.” My reply to that was lost as Kibo came around and tasted the icing. She nodded approvingly. “You really can follow directions. Well, we get to clean up while it’s cooking then—I hope—we can enjoy the fruits of our labor.” Eight minutes later, we pulled the strudel out, drizzled the icing over the top and waited for the teacher’s inspection. He wandered by, eating a sliver of it and nodded approvingly. “Good. You pass.” Duo sagged in relief. So did I. Kibo was smirking watching us. “Relax, I wouldn’t have put it in if I thought something was wrong. Let’s eat, guys.” I cut a piece out and started carefully eating it, since it was still a little hot. It was rather good, actually. I might need to copy the recipe and take it with me. It would be nice to have at least one desert that Duo and I could make without bungling. “We need to take a copy of this with us,” Duo muttered to me. “Great minds think alike,” I muttered back. “You copy it, your handwriting is neater than mine.” “It is not.” Actually, it wasn’t. But I still didn’t want to do it. “Paper rock scissors?” He held out a fist and we lowered them three times. I landed on paper. He landed as a rock. Duo groaned. “Fine. I should have known better than to play any kind of strategy game against you.” “But it isn’t strategy,” I protested innocently. And it wasn’t, really. It was just a matter of knowing how your opponent thought. “Right, Q. Then why do you always win?” “Blind luck?” He snorted, dug out a piece of paper from his book bag and started copying down the recipe. Actually, Heero might have had a point. This might be a good class for us to be in. I was still going to help Duo pull a prank on him though. It was the principal of the thing. ~*~*~*~*~ Footnote: Kibo—it’s the Japanese version of
Honor. *shrugs* I had to think of a name real quick, and it’s
the first one that popped into my head!
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