Title: Thinking outside the box
Warnings: For now a bit of cursing and Shounen ai
Disclaimer: Gundam Wing isn't mine. I'm just borrowing the characters to have some fun writing a story about them.

'…' Talk
"…" Thoughts

Chapter 01

Ooh trapped in a box
Watch the world as it flocks
To lifes paradox
And were all trapped in a box
Trapped in a box – No Doubt

Quatre Raberba Winner sat on a bench, watching the basketball-team practice in front of him, completely satisfied. He had been watching for a rough ten minutes and still no-one had bothered him yet with the question "Do you want to play?". But playing wasn't the reason Quatre came to practice. As always, Quatre came to practice and waited patiently for Duo to finish.

It wasn't that he disliked the sport that made him sometimes wish he was somewhere else. On the contrary, he loved it. He loved to watch and knew every technique by name. Also, Quatre was a great tactician. He had often told Duo how he thought was the best tactics, defence and attack, and Duo would listen in awe as Quatre would talk about the sport he loved.

No, no-one would deny that Quatre loved the sport. Many, although, questioned why he did not play it if he liked it so much. It was a pity there had been only a few people who ever dared to ask that question out loud. Because even though almost everyone from the junior-year knew basketball was a delicate matter when it came to Quatre, the people who did ask, became the few friends Quatre had. Duo was one of them.

The reason Quatre let Duo drag him to whatever came to his mind was because he cherished the few friends he had. And Duo was on top of that list.

Many did not understand why Quatre took a liking to the loud, spontaneous, bigmouthed Duo Maxwell. They were complete opposites. Secretly, it was because of the fact that Duo was so un-like him that Quatre liked hanging out with Duo. It was like he discovered a new world every time he went out with Duo.

Quatre had been locked inside his house with private tutors for years. It had taken him months of pleading to finally let his parents agree that enrolling their youngest child in a public high school was indeed better for his social life. He had to promise though, not to indulge himself in any form of sports. So, as one of the few people in school, Quatre chose music and nothing else. Music because he loved that and sports… well, he wasn't really allowed to play. There was only one other person in the entire school who had chosen only music, but he didn't really count. Because Wufei Chang, the other person and another friend of Quatre's, trained in his fathers martial arts school every morning.

It wasn't as if Quatre was unpopular in spite of that though. Many people respected his knowledge of sports. For some weird reason, it was only a great part of the basketball-team that seemed to dislike him. Quatre had never thought of it as that much of a problem, he would never be able to play anyway.

Because Quatre had a weak heart, always had one. He remembered well how he hated it when he was younger. Whenever he wanted to play outside he couldn't. At the age of ten he had burst into tears because he couldn't play outside with the other kids. Now-a-days though, he was okay with it. He just had to make sure not to get too excited over things. His heart would beat real fast. It happened once, he had fainted then. So he tried to do things calmly most of the time. But sometimes he did wonder if Duo with all his enthusiastic behaviour would someday be the death of him.

Little did Quatre know, of all persons in the world, it would be the least expected person to make his heart race. And for once, it wouldn't be Duo.

Quatre had been staring at the ground of the basket-ball court for over an hour now. He wasn't in that a great of a mood. He wanted to go, now. Heero had been glaring at him again and he couldn't stand it any longer.

'Can we go, Duo?' Quatre asked his friend as Duo walked towards him. 'If you let me get out of these dirty clothes first.' Duo said as he tapped Quatre's nose with a grin. Quatre took a look at his friend and shrugged. 'Sure, okay. Don't want to walk through town with you smelling like that.'

'I don't stink.' Duo pouted as he walked away. 'You wish.' Quatre huffed. When Duo was out of sight Quatre slumped down onto the chair. It would at least take another fifteen minutes before Duo would be done with re-dressing.

'You know, we could print a sticker with your name on it and stick it onto the chair.' Quatre looked up and saw a girl with long light brown hair, dressed in a cheerleading outfit, standing in front of him. 'Hi Relena.' He smiled and the girl smiled back. 'Hi.'

'What were you saying? I didn't quite catch it.'

'I said,' she grinned 'that this chair particularly belongs to you. You sit here an awful lot, Quatre.'

'Well, what else am I supposed to do?'

'Participate.' He suddenly heard someone, someone definitely not Relena, answer. He heard Relena sigh softly and he looked up. In front of him stood the basketballs team star-player, Heero Yuy. He was also Relena's boyfriend and very protective of whom she hung around with. 'Hello Heero.' Quatre said but Heero just snorted. 'Everyone says you're so great. That you know everything about basketball. You watch almost every game and have a tactics for everything. If you love the game so much, then why don't you play?'

Quatre shuddered under Heero's glare. He didn't understand why Relena always told him she loved Heero's eyes. No matter how hard he tried, with that glare, he just couldn't see it. But back to the matter. Heero was glaring at him and Quatre had no idea how to respond to the guy without angering him or raising questions.

Heero's glare was burning a hole in his forehead now. If he didn't come up with an answer soon Quatre was afraid the heat of the glare would fry his brains. "Now that would be an ugly sight," he thought and fought the urge to laugh.

'Well?' Heero pressed and Quatre sighed. He hoped he could drag this on until Duo came back. It made him wonder why the rest of the team was still on the field. 'You're slow, is that it? Because you certainly are with answering questions.' Heero sneered. But Quatre just smiled at him, glad Heero talked a lot when he was angry, and said: 'If you say so.'

For a moment Heero looked at him as if he was insane and he could hear the soft murmurs from the other players. 'I see, you like to play around, don't you?' Heero asked. Quatre had to take in a deep breath of air, exhaling slowly. He always did that in moments like these, when his heart had a big chance of beating faster than it should.

'What, no smart-ass answers now? You really -'

'Heero, don't you think you should give the kid a break?' Someone suddenly interrupted the tirade. Quatre frowned for a moment before his eyes fell upon Trowa. Trowa was another basketball player and, if Quatre believed what everybody else said, a good friend of Heero.

Quatre was grateful Trowa had stepped in, although he was confused why. It wasn't as if they were on the friendliest terms with each other. "He probably stepped in because he was afraid Heero'd do something that would get him sent to the headmaster's office," Quatre thought. He felt a bit stupid for believing that a friend of Heero would actually care, but he was grateful none-the-less.

'Shut up, Trowa.' Heero said with a glare and Quatre saw Trowa sigh. He also noticed that Relena was nowhere in sight. "I wonder where she is," he thought.

'Heero, do you really want to do something stupid that will get you sent to the headmaster's office?' Trowa suddenly asked and now it was Heero's turn to sigh. He took a few steps closer to Quatre and with a death-glare said: 'You should be really glad. If it weren't for him I would've -'

'What the Hell is going on here?!' Quatre smiled. He immediately understood where Relena had gone to. She went to get Duo, who was now very pissed off. Quatre turned his head towards his friend and saw him wave at him as soon as their eyes caught. A bit retained Quatre gave a small wave back.

'Relena?' Heero suddenly said as he noticed his girlfriend at Duo's side. 'What are you doing?'

'Hmph,' Relena snorted. 'Quatre's my friend and I get sick of you always pestering him, so I called in the cavalry.' She said, smirking at the end. It's in moments like these you see Heero's rubbing off on her. 'And it's good you did.' Duo complimented as he walked over to Quatre.

'I told you guys, he likes to watch. Perhaps I should've phrased it different though.' Duo said and after a moment of considering things he continued. 'Leave him alone.' He said on a voice unusually cold for Duo. Heero looked baffled, Trowa uneasy and Relena smiled. Quatre didn't want to think of the reactions of the rest of the team to Duo's outburst.

So instead of finding out, he laid a hand on Duo's arm in a calming gesture. 'Shall we go? You know it'll take hours to find yourself some good clothes and we don't want to arrive in town only to find the shops closed.'

'Always the tactician, eh Quatre.' Duo smirked as he was pulled away from the field by Quatre. Quatre just laughed.

Three days later Quatre was watching basketball-training again. He noticed that the team avoided looking at him. Secretly he felt proud of Duo and what he did for him.

Quatre smiled as Duo jumped up and dunked a ball. He heard a soft squeal on his right and he turned his head with a raised eyebrow. Hilde Schbeiker, the last of his four friends, was grinning. 'What?' She exclaimed as she looked at Quatre. 'He just looks so good when he does that!' And she was right. Duo certainly was a sight to behold when dunking a ball. Quatre snickered though as Hilde turned back to the field. 'Don't let Wufei hear you say that. He'll chase you around school with that katana of his.' Quatre thought back to that one time Wufei threatened to cut him into little pieces with a shudder. That certainly wasn't worth a repeat.

'Yeah, only too bad that my only three male friends are gay.' She sighed dramatically. And again Quatre looked at her with a raised eyebrow. 'Since when am I gay?'

'Since I said so, Darling.' Hilde said, blinking with her eyes and smiling sweetly. Quatre just snorted. 'Hey, Quatre.' Hilde started. But Quatre just turned back to the field and watched the practice with mild interest.

'Quatre?' Hilde questioned again. When he didn't answer Hilde poked his cheek and said: 'You are ignoring me. Okay, I get it. I'm sorry. You're not gay.'

'Good.' Quatre said and turned to her, smiling. 'That's what I wanted to hear.'

'But I never said you weren't bisexual.' She teased and Quatre let out a laugh, startling more than a few people. 'I can live with that.'

At the end of training Hilde had gone to her own cheerleading training. 'Q-man!' Duo shouted as he run towards the bleachers. 'Yes Duo?' Quatre asked sweetly, even though there was a grin on his face. But suddenly the unbelievable happened. Duo tripped and fell face-down onto the ground. Quatre looked at him for a moment and then burst out laughing. Duo stood up and looked at his friend who seemed to have a laughing fit at expense of Duo.

'You're laughing at me!' Duo said as he pouted, and Quatre barely managed to nod. 'How dare you!' Duo scolded and stalked towards Quatre, an evil glint in his eyes. Quatre raised his hands in defence, knowing what Duo would do. But Duo took no notice, pushed Quatre's hands away and started to tickle him.

If possible, Quatre started laughing harder and harder until he felt he couldn't stop anymore. He was gasping and his face was flushed. 'D-Duo! My heart.' He yelled jokingly. But immediately Duo stopped and looked at Quatre with worry in his eyes. 'You okay, Quatre?'

'Y-yes Duo. I'm fine. I was just joking.'

'Well,' Duo started and all his teammates were surprised at his seriousness. Duo looked backwards to the field for a moment with slight embarrassment. He had totally forgotten Quatre and himself weren't the only ones on the field. After training the guys stayed for half an hour, most of the time, to just talk. He sighed. Well, whatever, they just had to witness this. He turned back to Quatre, embarrassment gone, and scolded: 'Don't joke around like that, okay? Sheesh, you almost gave me a heart attack.'

'Man Duo, he was just joking. Don't need to chew his head off.' Zechs, a basketball player with long platinum hair, suddenly said. His blue eyes studied Duo and he frowned. "Sheesh, what was it with this kid and his temper?" Other teammates nodded their agreement but Duo just shook his head. 'Don't stick your nose into business you don't know shit about.'

'No need to get aggressive Duo.' Zechs said with a glare. 'No, Duo's right.' Quatre quickly interfered and everybody looked at him. Quatre looked up at Duo and smiled apologetic. 'I'm sorry, that was out of line. I should know better than to joke about such a thing.'

'Okay, well, it's all right. Just don't scare me like that anymore.' Duo said while he patted Quatre's head. To say everybody else was surprised would be an understatement.

For the next few days Duo was very wary when he was around Quatre. He would hold back with his jokes and didn't torture Quatre with tickling. On the third day Quatre got tired of it. He did the only thing that could possibly make Duo stop his fretting over him. He talked to Hilde about it.

He had pulled her out of training to talk to her. 'He must really be going hard on you otherwise you'd never ask me to talk with you about it during my training.'

'Yeah, I know. Sorry about that by the way.' Quatre said, embarrassed. 'Nah, don't worry about it. I kind of understand. He's like a mother fussing over you sometimes.' Hilde said and Quatre grinned. He couldn't agree more with her. 'So, what's wrong?'

'I don't know! He's even worse than usual.' Quatre exclaimed and Hilde sighed. 'It's probably because of the incident with that Heero Yuy.' She said and Quatre frowned. 'That might be it, but what should I do about it? I tried to talk to him about it, but he wouldn't listen.'

'We'll just have to go with plan Two then.' Hilde smirked and Quatre gulped. The girl could be really scary when she wanted to be. 'Uh, Hilde? What's plan Two?' He asked a bit wary and Hilde smiled. 'It's very simple. We're going to get Wufei to stop Duo's annoying behaviour.'

'But Wufei, please!' Quatre pleaded. But Wufei just shook his head. 'No. And don't you think that perhaps he has a good reason for worrying?' Wufei said and turned back to what he was doing. 'But Wufei,' Quatre said as he leaned onto the desk, looking Wufei in the eye. 'He's really exaggerating it this time. He doesn't even make jokes around me anymore!'

'That's very unlike Duo.' Wufei muttered and immediately Hilde took her chance. 'Exactly. And that's why you need to tell him. He won't listen to us and you're his boyfriend. He will listen to you.' She said and heard Quatre softly mutter: 'Hopefully.' Hilde sighed. Why did she put up with these guys anyway?

'Just this once. I won't make a habit of it.' Wufei finally gave in and Hilde cheered softly. 'Come on then, let's go!'

It had taken them half an hour before they found Duo. He was sitting on a bench with a few of his teammates. Without saying anything Wufei walked towards the bench. 'Wufei!' Duo cried out in surprise as he noticed the boy. But Wufei just grabbed his arm and started dragging Duo away. 'We need to talk.' He said.

Quatre walked to a nearby bench and sat down. 'What are you doing?' Hilde asked and Quatre grinned. 'Waiting. I want to see Duo's face when he gets back.' He said. 'Well, then sit and wait for a long time, because I'm sure that,' she pointed to where Wufei and Duo had disappeared, 'it isn't going to be a normal conversation.' Quatre blushed. Hilde was right, though. When alone, the two of them were like rabbits. 'Somehow I think I'll never get used to it.' He muttered and Hilde laughed.

'Don't you worry Quatre. You're not the only one.' She said and Quatre frowned. 'Yeah, although I'd never have thought Relena the kind of girl to blush when those two make out.'

'Me neither, but she is. But Quatre honey, I'm off again. Training.' Hilde said and with a wave she was off again.

Quatre watched her go and sighed. Sometimes he really didn't understand where she got all her energy from. He slumped down onto the bench and played with a strand of his hair that had fallen in front of his eyes.

'Man,' he muttered to himself. 'If only those two didn't date. It would make life so much easier.'

'You don't like the idea of them dating?' Someone suddenly interrupted his conversation with himself. He looked up and saw Zechs and Trowa, who had been sitting on the bench with Duo, standing near him. 'O no! That's not it.' He said a bit embarrassed someone had actually witnessed him talking to himself. 'It's just that… well, they get distracted so quickly when it's just the two of them.' He said with a slight blush. 'But then again, who would Duo listen to?' He added for himself. Frankly, he had no idea why Trowa and Zechs, well only Zechs actually, even bothered talking to him. Never had they spoken, why now all of a sudden? He looked up at the two guys and saw both of them watching him intently. He looked down and muttered: 'Honestly, we've never talked before. So what do you want?'

'Duo talks a lot about you and you're at our training at least three times a week. We just wanted to know what kind of person you are.' Trowa spoke. To Quatre's surprise he actually had a soft and gentle voice. But Quatre just rolled his eyes. "Great, they talk to me because I'm too mysterious for them. Does that now officially dub me as pathetic?" He sighed softly. 'Wanted to get to know me how, exactly?' Quatre muttered.

He found it strange that people who had never before bothered to talk to him were suddenly interested in him. 'He talks a lot about you. We always see you at training but you never talk to any of us. So we were curious how you are as a person.' Zechs explained. Quatre figured that would be the only explanation he would get if he didn't ask any further. 'Is this because of my fight with Heero Yuy? Because I'm one of the few he can't tell not to hang around with his girlfriend?'

There was silence after that. Trowa and Zechs both looked uncomfortable by the question and Quatre sighed heavily. 'I knew it.' He whispered softly before standing up. He started walking to the direction his two friends had disappeared off earlier. When he reached a corner he turned around. 'I don't need pity, you know. If you want to really get to know me, the least you could ask is what my hobbies are.' And with that he disappeared around the corner.

'Quatre.' Puppy-dog eyes looked at him. 'I'm sorry.' Duo looked to away, a bit ashamed, and said softly: 'Sometimes I get carried away. I worry about you and I do stupid things.'

'It's okay. It's just annoying we almost always have to ask Wufei to talk to you about it.'

'Yeah, sorry about that too.' Duo said as he grinned sheepishly. 'I'll treat you both to a milkshake.'

'Hmph, as if that will make things any better.' Wufei snorted but Quatre grinned at him. 'Didn't you know, Wufei? It always does the trick. Milkshakes always make things better. No matter what the situation is.' And all Wufei did was stare and wonder why he had ever befriended such a lunatic.

'Quatre, Duo!' As soon as the three friends entered a small café a bell jingled and a warm voice greeted them. 'Catherine, hi.' Quatre replied and Duo shouted a greeting of his own to the girl behind the counter. 'You upset him again?' She asked Duo with a wink. 'Yes, sorry.' Duo waved his hand as if he could just make the problem disappear with that.

'Don't worry.' Catherine laughed. 'I'll cure it. What flavours?'

'Strawberry.'

'Banana.'

'And you, sweetie?' Catherine asked Wufei with a wink. Wufei, being very bad at handling when being flirted with just blushed and looked down. 'Vanilla. And hands off.' Duo said, laying an arm possessively around Wufei's shoulder. Catherine looked puzzled for a moment before she grinned. 'So, I finally get to meet your boyfriend, then? All right, vanilla it is. I'll be right back at your table with your order.'

As the three boys sat down Wufei asked: 'Where do you know her from?' Quatre looked at Wufei, a bit surprised, then at Duo and then back to Wufei. 'You're serious? You've been dating for three months and Duo's never taken you here before?'

'Apparently not, no. Why is that so strange?'

'Because they're regulars here. Regulars who I haven't seen for a while.' Another girl walked to their table with a grin on her face. 'Well, I've seen Quatre quite a lot lately, but you've reappeared from your fall-of-the-earth.' She said to Duo was grinning a bit apologetic. 'Well, having a boyfriend does take up some time.'

'Well, you could've taken him here.' Dorothy said and frowned. 'Why didn't you?' Quatre asked. 'Well, I-uh…'

'Are you ashamed of me?' Wufei asked softly, looking down. 'W-what?' Duo looked surprised at his boyfriend. Where, so out of the blue, did that question come from?

'You are, aren't you?' Wufei stated with a pained voice. 'N-no! That's not -' But Wufei just stood up and walked away. 'Wufei!' Duo whined. He stood up and ran after his upset boyfriend.

'Duo really should tell Wufei he isn't used to being in a relationship.' Dorothy sighed and Quatre grimaced. 'It would make things so much easier.' He muttered.

'Ahem.' Suddenly someone coughed and Quatre almost jumped in alarm as three milkshakes were shoved, very ungracefully at that, onto the table. 'What -'

'Since the staff is too busy chatting with the customers I was asked to take this order.' Quatre looked up to see who the owner of the voice was and to his surprise he saw Trowa Barton. He stood there with an easy smile on his face. 'Thanks. I'll go check with Cathy. And Quatre? Those are on the house. You can see it as a compensation for the trouble I've caused.' Dorothy winked before walking away.

Just great. Just unbelievably-fucking great! Quatre wanted to drop his head onto the table so loud it would make Dorothy come rushing back. He was dumped by his two best friends who were having relationship-issues and he was left alone with a person he was afraid he would get issues with if he was left alone too long with the guy. And how on earth was he going to drink three large milkshakes? Quatre groaned. 'Something wrong?'

'Yeah, two huge milkshakes are what's wrong. Take one if you want, they're free anyway.' He said with a wave. 'Sorry, but I can't.' Trowa said and slid into a chair on the other side of the table, facing Quatre. 'Why not? Quatre asked, raising an eyebrow and the youth's strange behaviour. Honestly, had the whole basketball-team – including Duo - fallen down on their head and suffered severe brain damage? Was there something going on he didn't know anything about? Because he sure as hell knew for sure he wasn't Yuri Shibuya and had been flushed down a toilet into another world. 1

'Well,' Trowa started, 'I was sent here with the idea you might want to talk to someone.'

'Huh?' Quatre simply stared. He saw Trowa point towards the bar and followed his finger with his eyes, almost afraid who would be standing there. His feelings of anxious and nervousness were proven to be right, because it was Catherine, who looked at him with a grin on her face and waved before turning back to her work. Quatre turned back at Trowa, 'What?' He still didn't get it.

'Catherine's my sister.' When it had finally dawned upon Quatre, he made a surprised face. Trowa laughed at the expression, for he knew they didn't look like they were closely related to each other. He has a nice laugh, Quatre decided. Deep and somewhat husky. He frowned and shook his head. What was he thinking? This was Trowa Barton, number one friend of Heero Yuy.

'Good for you, that she's your sister. But I don't really feel like talking.' Quatre said, adding a "not to you anyway" in his head. Trowa looked at him, heaved a sigh and wanted to speak up again when he was interrupted by Quatre's cell phone. Quatre hastily grabbed his phone, looked at the caller ID and picked up.

'Duo! How did it go? What did he say? I'm sorry. Me and my big mouth.' Quatre rambled as he picked up the phone. He couldn't possibly feel guiltier about the situation then he did right now.

'Chill Quatre. It isn't your fault. But I haven't found him yet. He probably ran home. Shit Quatre! I can't go to his house. If Meiran finds out I upset him she'll kill me.'

'What better way to show your love for him?' Quatre mused and heard Duo gasp and sputter. 'Don't you find the idea romantic, Duo?'

'No.' Duo immediately answered and Quatre laughed. 'Call him.'

'He won't pick up.'

'Then go by his house.'

'Don't want to! I value my life, Quatre.'

'Then you have to talk to him about it tomorrow. But you know Wufei. Let him brood over it for one night and tomorrow he's depressed.' Quatre pointed out to his friend and he heard Duo sigh deeply. 'All right, I'll go talk to him. I'll call you afterwards.'

'Yes, you do that. Good luck Duo.' Quatre hung up with a sigh.

'I never would've thought Duo would be so troublesome.' Trowa said and Quatre let out a laugh. 'That's just how he is, always causing trouble. You'll get used to it. You have to.' Quatre explained and Trowa frowned. 'He causes trouble for you too?'

'Oh, don't look so surprised, of course he does.' Quatre laughed and after a moment of pondering added: 'Well, it's gotten less since that time when I fainted.' Quatre grinned at the memory.

He and Duo were twelve at that time. Duo was kicking small rocks when he hit one too hard. It flew through the air, Quatre remembered he was quite scared, and it smashed through a window. The woman who lived in the house stormed out and Duo grabbed Quatre quickly by the hand and ran. After three blocks he finally stopped. Quatre was so tired and his heart beated so fast in his chest that he fainted.

'Wait, you fainted?' Trowa had a look of slight shock on his face as he asked the question. "Hmph," Quatre thought, they always look like that when I tell them I fainted. Quatre looked at him with a smile and nodded. 'Yes, but that was a long time ago.' He said with a wave, wanting to dismiss the subject. It came too close to a truth he didn't want anybody but his friends and family to know. And Trowa Barton was certainly not a friend. 'What did Duo do?'

Quatre grimaced and said on a cold voice: 'Nothing that you'll find out in the near future.' Trowa looked at Quatre confused. He hadn't realized he had asked such a personal question. After all, it was Quatre who had brought it up. Sometimes Cathy was a bit too right, Trowa thought as there was one thought passing through his head. He really had to learn how to deal with people.

'Trowa!' A cheery voice suddenly called out and Trowa groaned softly. 'Could you help me for a sec? There's this really heavy box and Dorothy and I can't lift it. Could you do it for us?' She asked and Trowa groaned softly. He really didn't want to, but how could he refuse? She was his sister after all. 'Yeah.' And with an apologetic smile towards Quatre he stood up and walked away. Leaving Quatre alone to sigh in relief. He really wasn't all that good in dodging questions.

TBC.

1 Yuri Shibuya is a character from Kyou Kara Moah! that I borrowed just for the fun of using his name. Because I love the idea of someone getting flushed down to another world, through a toilet!

Author's Note:
I had so much fun writing this first chapter! I hope you enjoyed it too and stay tuned for the next one!

Please leave a review to tell me what you thought of it.