Alright, Chapter 4. About time, huh? Well, considering I'm not much on notes, I'll go ahead and let you read. Oh, yeah. Did I mention that the characters are sorta' out of character? If you keep close on the story, you can tell that they act OOC when others aren't around most of the time, or just Dive's around in Wing's case. Ok, I'm done. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: No own, now go on. (heehee... rhymes..)
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Chapter 4
"...Wing! Wing! Aw, c'mon Wing. Wake up!"
I gave a groan of protest and rolled over. I was tired and wanted to sleep. It's not like there's anything better to do around here, besides practice, games, and Dragaunus, anyway.
"Wake. UP. Bro!"
"Nosedive, go 'way," I mumbled into the pillow.
"You've slept in longer then I do, so get up."
"Impossible... you sleep in 'til 2 in the afternoon."
"Actually, it's not, and I sleep in 'til 12, thank you. Now get up or I'll bring Duke in here."
"So?"
Dive sighed and left me alone, leaving our room. A moment passed after I pulled my comforter over my head and I started to drift off. Suddenly, the covers were yanked off, leaving me curled up in my shorts and tank top.
"Rise an' shine, sleepin' beauty!"
'Oh, no... Dive wasn't kiddin'...'
A hand grabbed my arm and literally hauled me off the bed. Once my feet hit the floor, I let my knees buckle and I fell to the floor, tucking the pillow I still had in my hands under my head. Duke groaned above me then wrapped his arms around my waist and lifted me, though I refused to cooperate.
"I don' think so, Wing. It's time for you to get up."
"I don' wanna'..." I mumbled.
I heard him sigh before dropping me on the floor again, where I curled back up.
"Alright, fine. Have it your way."
Suddenly, I was curious to know...
"What time is it?"
"If I told ya', would ya' get up?"
"Maybe..."
"12:43."
I was on my feet before I could register and looked him in the eye.
"WHAT?!?!"
"Yeah, now get dressed. You and me have that photo shoot at 1, remember?"
I cursed repeatedly under my breath as I hurried towards the closet, stepping over things in the way, like my alarm clock... What in the world? Oh, well... figure that out later. I grabbed a pair of jeans and tugged them on then pulled off my tank top, pulling a t-shirt on in its place. Reaching for a pair of socks off the installed shelf, I put them on as well, pulling one foot as I went. My tennis shoes were slipped on, the strings ignored for the time being, followed by a comb yanked through my hair. Grabbing my comm and the Mask, I shoved Duke out the door.
"Hmm... 3 minutes and 36 seconds. Not bad, Wing," Duke grinned, looking up from his watch.
"Shut up, Duke. Just shut up."
We found the rest of the team, and Phil, who was checking his watch, in the Rec room.
"Ok, I'm up. I'm ready to go. ...Boy, I'm tired..." I muttered, leaning against the wall with my eyes closed.
"I don' think so. You've slept all morning and a little into the afternoon, so sleep is a no no," I heard Duke say and a hand shook my shoulder.
Not bothering to open my eyes, I stuck my tongue out at him. Silence fell over the room until my baby bro' started to laugh.
"Oh... oh, man! I think I need a camera!"
"Ahh... shut up, kid," amusement was clear in my crush's voice.
I hid a yawn behind my hand as I pushed away from the wall, stretching.
"Think I have time to grab something to chow on before we leave?" I asked, not able to ignore my growling stomach any longer. The team, but Duke and Dive, exchanged confused glances.
"Leave for what?" came Phil's reply.
"The photo shoot Duke and I have today. We do have one, don't we?"
"Not... that I can recall... let me check," our manager pulled out an agenda book and flipped through it so fast, I couldn't think of how he would be able to read it. Within a few seconds' time, he looked up shaking his head, "Nope. None today, boobala."
"Duke?" I turned to him, annoyed.
"Hey, hey! It was jus' a joke. No need in getting mad about it," he protested.
"Who said I was mad?"
With that, I left, headed for the kitchen to satisfy myself. I was starving and was 'not' going to start the day without my first meal. No way. After a good bit of rummaging through the cabinets, I settled on choosing a grilled tuna sandwich. While waiting for the sandwich to grill in the little griller that Phil had gotten us not long after we got to Earth, I sat on the counter and let my thoughts do their usual wondering.
'Wonder what happened to Dragaunus. If ya' ask me, I think he knows what's going on around here and wants me to stress out. No wonder he always blows up his own droids. Gives a person something to take stress out on... What am I gonna' tell Duke, anyway? It's been around two weeks and I haven't talked to him about it. Besides, I already have plans to talk to him today. Maybe later...' I sighed, 'This wouldn't be so bad if Canard was still captain. Then I wouldn't have to... stop it, Wing! You know good and well that Dive's right. Duke wouldn't do anything but maybe say no. He wouldn't kill anybody and you know it. He'll probably just say no and you'll just have to get over it. Hmm... now about Dive and Grin... Is it just me, or is there something going on between them? They sure are spending an awful lot of time with each other. I wonder...'
"Hey, Wing?" I looked up at the knock to see Duke in the doorway, "Can we talk?"
"'Course we can, Duke. See? We're talking now," I grinned, which he rolled his eyes at.
"Funny, but you know what I'm talking about," I sighed and nodded heavily.
"Yeah, I know. Just..." I slid off the counter, back onto the floor, "Just give me a second."
I turned my attention to getting a plate, but found one being handed to me. I looked up from the plate at Duke, who was grinning at me. Slowly taking it, I looked away.
"Uh... thanks, Duke."
"No problem."
I quickly got my sandwich and a soda from the fridge.
"Want a bite?" I asked, offering him some of the sandwich. He shook his head.
"Nah. C'mon. My room's probably a bit more private. Especially for what we're need to talk about."
"...Yeah, probably. Umm... you don't mind the food, do you?" he flashed me a grin.
"Are you kiddin'? 'Course I don't mind," Duke pushed me out the door and towards his room.
On the way, I started on my meal. The knot in my stomach didn't help in getting the food to my stomach, though. The trip to his room was all too short and uneventful. And, like the gentleman he was, Duke opened the door and gestured me in, telling me to make myself comfortable while he hopped onto his desktop. As if I wasn't nervous enough, he started fiddling with the dagger lying on top of the desk. Trying to make myself comfortable, I sat in one of the chairs and looked around the room. It was almost exactly like my dre... no, nightmare. I've never heard of a dream that you get stabbed in. His room was neat and clean, with the exception of the pile of clothes in the corner.
"We haven't talked to each other for, like, what? Two weeks? What you been up to?"
I softly chewed on my lower lip, arms rested on my knees and hands hanging limply between them, except for the one slowly swishing my drink around, having already finished the sandwich. I shrugged.
"Nothing much. Nice room."
"Heh... thanks. I like to have a clean living space, ya' know?"
My heart started to race when he aimed the dagger at a place above the door, the heat leaving my face and breath quickening. Duke was really starting to creep me out.
"Yeah... but... with Dive, ya' get used to a... uh...a messy room," I managed to get out.
"Possibly so," he sat the dagger down before pulling open the drawer underneath him and taking out a handful of throwing knives.
Although the two he threw were at the target just above the door, I was still quite a bit antsy. Duke aimed the third and glanced over at me. The knife lowered as his full attention turned to me.
"You alright? You don't really look so good," swallowing the knot in my throat, I nodded.
"Yeah... I... I'm fine."
I relaxed a good bit when the knives were set down on the desk.
"It's the knives, isn't it?"
"Yea... no.. I mean..." I stopped with a sigh, lowering my eyes to the floor.
"Wildwing?" I found myself suddenly looking Duke in the eye with him on one knee on front of me and my chin cupped in his hand.
"S... sorta'. I had this dream last night..." I muttered pulling away from his hand, "It... involved a knife and... and didn't... end too well..."
"Wanna' talk about it?" I shook my head.
A moment of silence passed and I kept my gaze down, subconsciously studying the deep burgundy material of Duke's outfit, while I could feel him watching me.
"It had something to do with me, too, didn't it," he suddenly stated.
I didn't answer. He lifted my face again, a hand on each side of my face, forcing me to look at him.
"Wing, you don't need to be scared of me," I moved my gaze away from his face, "C'mon, look at me," he said softly, making me do so, "I'll never, 'never', do anything to you, even if you do have feelings for me."
My gaze moved again, face flushed with shame, as I tried to figure out what to say to him. My thoughts were interrupted when his mouth closed over mine. My entire system froze in shock before responding to the kiss. One of Duke's hands moved from my face to the center of my chest, where he pushed me back into the chair and climbed up and straddled my legs. I wrapped my arms around his neck, weaving my fingers in to his hair and the feathers on the back of his neck. It wasn't until my lungs started begging for oxygen that he pulled away, although I gave a slight protest to which he chuckled at.
"And that's mainly because I've got feelings for you."
"Duke... I.. I don't know what to say..."
"Don't say anything, Wing," he leaned forward and nuzzled my neck with his beak as he drew me into a hug, "Just go out on a date with me."
I pushed him back with a smirk, "You think I'd say no?"
Duke chuckled again, shaking his head, "'Course not."
"Tonight at 6 good?"
"Sounds good to me," I grinned and pushed Duke off me before standing, where I gave him another kiss then hurried out of his room.
I was so excited, rushing down the hall in search of Nosedive. I had to tell him. I was going on a date! Tonight!!(1) I found Mallory and Tanya watching tv in the Rec room while Grin meditated in the corner.
"Hey? Has anyone seen Dive?"
"Uh... yeah. I think he said he was going to read some comics or something. Why?"
"No reason. Thanks, Tanya," I called, leaving the room.
I found Nosedive on his bunk bed with his beak in a comic just like Tanya said. With a grin, I climbed up and pounced on him, holding him down by the shoulders while he gave a startled yelp.
"Wing! Do you mind?! I'm trying to read!"
"Correction. WAS trying," I stated, taking the comic from him, "I have to tell you something."
"What's so important that it can't wait 'til the end of my comic?"
"Me and Duke." Dive rose an eyebrow at me.
"What? Did you two make out in the kitchen?" the heat rose to my face quite quickly at that.
"Dive! No, of course not! He took me to his room and..."
"You did in there, right?" the amusement was clear on his face.
"Nosedive, let me finish, baby bro'!"
"Fine," he grinned.
"Alright, he took me to his room and we started talking, well, not exactly talking. Duke was mainly throwing knives at the door, but that's not the point. Anyway, we did get to talking, and, before I knew what happened..."
"Duke kissed you."
"Yeah, he... How'd you know?" Dive paused before shrugging.
"I dunno'. Lucky guess, I reckon. Well, anything else?"
"Yeah, we're going out tonight. At six," I grinned broadly, most likely looking a good bit like Nosedive when he was excited.
"Uh, bro? Sorry to disrupt the moment, but could you get off?"
"Huh?" I looked down to realize that I was pressing my little brother into the bed with my excitement about later that night and moved off of him to sit on the edge of the bed, "Sorry, Dive. I'm just real excited is all. I've had a crush on Duke ever since I first saw him back home and since then, I wanted to go out with him, ya' know? Well, finally I can."
"That's great, Wing," Nosedive grinned, settling down beside me and looking at his watch, "So you're going out at six, you say? That's a little over three hours away. What are you going to wear?"
"I guess what I've got on," I shrugged, looking down at my t-shirt and jeans.
"Are you kiddin'?! I don't think so. That is NOT suitable for a date," Dive jumped of the bed, taking me with him and making me sit on my bottom bunk, "You sit while I find something for you to wear."
Nosedive disappeared into the closet and started to rummage through it. After a few moments of talking to himself while he worked, Dive came back out with a bundle of clothes in his hands and set them down beside me. He'd found my pair of khaki pants that I'd thrown in the closet one day in a fit of frustration and a three-quarter length sleeved, light-gray shirt.
"This'll go just fine with your tennis shoes you've got on. And, not only will it look nice, it's casual and the others won't expect a thing," I gave him a questioning look, "What?"
"When did you become the fashion expert?" Nosedive rolled his eyes.
"After that trip Grin and me had to take with Phil, I decided to become a bit more intelligent in the fashion category. You would too if you had to wear the suits he bought us," his arms crossed with a huff.
"True..." then I thought about my clock I'd stepped over this morning, "What's my alarm clock doing on the floor, anyway?"
"That's where you threw it this morning when it went off," Dive grinned, "You almost kicked me in the head when I tried to wake you the first time, too."
"You're joking," I gave him a dumbfounded look.
"'Fraid not, Wing."
"Sorry 'bout that.." I muttered.
"Hey, that's ok, Wing. You were asleep anyway. Don't worry about it. Now, how 'bout a video game?"
~~Later~~
"You ready?" Nosedive's voice echoed through the bathroom door.
"Umm... almost..." I tightened the belt around my waist after tucking my shirt in.
"Well, hurry up. It's ten 'til."
"Coming, coming. Don't shed any feathers, baby bro..."
Casting one last glance in the mirror, I ran my fingers through my hair with a sigh. This was it. Ten more minutes and my first date with Duke would begin. I opened the door and stepped out. Nosedive straightened from his position from the wall and studied me before smirking.
"Lookin' good, Wing," he commented, "But lose the Mask."
"What? Why? What if Dragaunus attacks?" I protested.
"Then he attacks. You don't need to wear that thing everywhere, ya' know. Yeah, it was cool when you first started wearing it, but that gets old after a while. I hardly ever see you without it on," Dive stated, holding out his hand for me to put the mask in it, "Please, Wildwing. Take it off and go as yourself, not as team captain."
I stared down at my little brother's face. All he wanted was me to be his brother, not some team captain that stayed hid behind a mask all the time. I could read it on his face. With a soft sigh and a small smile, I reached up and took Drake DuCain's Mask off my face, causing it to change to the white goalie mask as I placed it in Nosedive's hand. His face lit up and he threw his arms around my neck. I hugged him back in a tight embrace. Never once had Dive hugged me while I had the mask on, but I never thought about it until now. Nosedive didn't want to hug a team captain, he could care less about a captain. He wanted to hug me, without the mask. I held him a little tighter before pulling away and Dive walked over to the dresser. I noticed a bit more bounce in his step as he went, causing me to smile.
After placing the mask on the dresser, he turned to me with a smile, "Want me to walk with you to his room?"
"Sure. Why not," I answered, following him out the door.
Instead of finding Duke, we found a note taped to his door that simply said 'Hanger' written in a neat script.
"What? He trying to make you run all around the Pond looking for him?" Dive glanced at me after snagging the note from its place on the metal door, "Or is he playing 'Hard-To-Get'?"
"Oh, hush, lit' bro'."
Dive stuck his tongue out at me, playfully flipping me off before sprinting down the hallway.
"Get back here!!"
I gave chase.
Chapter 4
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1: Ok, so Wing's a bit excited. He musta' secretly had a bowl of sugar or something. But wouldn't anyone be excited?
Well? What do you think? I meant to get this out LAST Saturday, but my schedule ran off on me, if you know what I mean. Sorry 'bout that. Hoped you enjoyed! Chiao for now!
Sailor Vegeta
Disclaimer: No own, now go on. (heehee... rhymes..)
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Chapter 4
"...Wing! Wing! Aw, c'mon Wing. Wake up!"
I gave a groan of protest and rolled over. I was tired and wanted to sleep. It's not like there's anything better to do around here, besides practice, games, and Dragaunus, anyway.
"Wake. UP. Bro!"
"Nosedive, go 'way," I mumbled into the pillow.
"You've slept in longer then I do, so get up."
"Impossible... you sleep in 'til 2 in the afternoon."
"Actually, it's not, and I sleep in 'til 12, thank you. Now get up or I'll bring Duke in here."
"So?"
Dive sighed and left me alone, leaving our room. A moment passed after I pulled my comforter over my head and I started to drift off. Suddenly, the covers were yanked off, leaving me curled up in my shorts and tank top.
"Rise an' shine, sleepin' beauty!"
'Oh, no... Dive wasn't kiddin'...'
A hand grabbed my arm and literally hauled me off the bed. Once my feet hit the floor, I let my knees buckle and I fell to the floor, tucking the pillow I still had in my hands under my head. Duke groaned above me then wrapped his arms around my waist and lifted me, though I refused to cooperate.
"I don' think so, Wing. It's time for you to get up."
"I don' wanna'..." I mumbled.
I heard him sigh before dropping me on the floor again, where I curled back up.
"Alright, fine. Have it your way."
Suddenly, I was curious to know...
"What time is it?"
"If I told ya', would ya' get up?"
"Maybe..."
"12:43."
I was on my feet before I could register and looked him in the eye.
"WHAT?!?!"
"Yeah, now get dressed. You and me have that photo shoot at 1, remember?"
I cursed repeatedly under my breath as I hurried towards the closet, stepping over things in the way, like my alarm clock... What in the world? Oh, well... figure that out later. I grabbed a pair of jeans and tugged them on then pulled off my tank top, pulling a t-shirt on in its place. Reaching for a pair of socks off the installed shelf, I put them on as well, pulling one foot as I went. My tennis shoes were slipped on, the strings ignored for the time being, followed by a comb yanked through my hair. Grabbing my comm and the Mask, I shoved Duke out the door.
"Hmm... 3 minutes and 36 seconds. Not bad, Wing," Duke grinned, looking up from his watch.
"Shut up, Duke. Just shut up."
We found the rest of the team, and Phil, who was checking his watch, in the Rec room.
"Ok, I'm up. I'm ready to go. ...Boy, I'm tired..." I muttered, leaning against the wall with my eyes closed.
"I don' think so. You've slept all morning and a little into the afternoon, so sleep is a no no," I heard Duke say and a hand shook my shoulder.
Not bothering to open my eyes, I stuck my tongue out at him. Silence fell over the room until my baby bro' started to laugh.
"Oh... oh, man! I think I need a camera!"
"Ahh... shut up, kid," amusement was clear in my crush's voice.
I hid a yawn behind my hand as I pushed away from the wall, stretching.
"Think I have time to grab something to chow on before we leave?" I asked, not able to ignore my growling stomach any longer. The team, but Duke and Dive, exchanged confused glances.
"Leave for what?" came Phil's reply.
"The photo shoot Duke and I have today. We do have one, don't we?"
"Not... that I can recall... let me check," our manager pulled out an agenda book and flipped through it so fast, I couldn't think of how he would be able to read it. Within a few seconds' time, he looked up shaking his head, "Nope. None today, boobala."
"Duke?" I turned to him, annoyed.
"Hey, hey! It was jus' a joke. No need in getting mad about it," he protested.
"Who said I was mad?"
With that, I left, headed for the kitchen to satisfy myself. I was starving and was 'not' going to start the day without my first meal. No way. After a good bit of rummaging through the cabinets, I settled on choosing a grilled tuna sandwich. While waiting for the sandwich to grill in the little griller that Phil had gotten us not long after we got to Earth, I sat on the counter and let my thoughts do their usual wondering.
'Wonder what happened to Dragaunus. If ya' ask me, I think he knows what's going on around here and wants me to stress out. No wonder he always blows up his own droids. Gives a person something to take stress out on... What am I gonna' tell Duke, anyway? It's been around two weeks and I haven't talked to him about it. Besides, I already have plans to talk to him today. Maybe later...' I sighed, 'This wouldn't be so bad if Canard was still captain. Then I wouldn't have to... stop it, Wing! You know good and well that Dive's right. Duke wouldn't do anything but maybe say no. He wouldn't kill anybody and you know it. He'll probably just say no and you'll just have to get over it. Hmm... now about Dive and Grin... Is it just me, or is there something going on between them? They sure are spending an awful lot of time with each other. I wonder...'
"Hey, Wing?" I looked up at the knock to see Duke in the doorway, "Can we talk?"
"'Course we can, Duke. See? We're talking now," I grinned, which he rolled his eyes at.
"Funny, but you know what I'm talking about," I sighed and nodded heavily.
"Yeah, I know. Just..." I slid off the counter, back onto the floor, "Just give me a second."
I turned my attention to getting a plate, but found one being handed to me. I looked up from the plate at Duke, who was grinning at me. Slowly taking it, I looked away.
"Uh... thanks, Duke."
"No problem."
I quickly got my sandwich and a soda from the fridge.
"Want a bite?" I asked, offering him some of the sandwich. He shook his head.
"Nah. C'mon. My room's probably a bit more private. Especially for what we're need to talk about."
"...Yeah, probably. Umm... you don't mind the food, do you?" he flashed me a grin.
"Are you kiddin'? 'Course I don't mind," Duke pushed me out the door and towards his room.
On the way, I started on my meal. The knot in my stomach didn't help in getting the food to my stomach, though. The trip to his room was all too short and uneventful. And, like the gentleman he was, Duke opened the door and gestured me in, telling me to make myself comfortable while he hopped onto his desktop. As if I wasn't nervous enough, he started fiddling with the dagger lying on top of the desk. Trying to make myself comfortable, I sat in one of the chairs and looked around the room. It was almost exactly like my dre... no, nightmare. I've never heard of a dream that you get stabbed in. His room was neat and clean, with the exception of the pile of clothes in the corner.
"We haven't talked to each other for, like, what? Two weeks? What you been up to?"
I softly chewed on my lower lip, arms rested on my knees and hands hanging limply between them, except for the one slowly swishing my drink around, having already finished the sandwich. I shrugged.
"Nothing much. Nice room."
"Heh... thanks. I like to have a clean living space, ya' know?"
My heart started to race when he aimed the dagger at a place above the door, the heat leaving my face and breath quickening. Duke was really starting to creep me out.
"Yeah... but... with Dive, ya' get used to a... uh...a messy room," I managed to get out.
"Possibly so," he sat the dagger down before pulling open the drawer underneath him and taking out a handful of throwing knives.
Although the two he threw were at the target just above the door, I was still quite a bit antsy. Duke aimed the third and glanced over at me. The knife lowered as his full attention turned to me.
"You alright? You don't really look so good," swallowing the knot in my throat, I nodded.
"Yeah... I... I'm fine."
I relaxed a good bit when the knives were set down on the desk.
"It's the knives, isn't it?"
"Yea... no.. I mean..." I stopped with a sigh, lowering my eyes to the floor.
"Wildwing?" I found myself suddenly looking Duke in the eye with him on one knee on front of me and my chin cupped in his hand.
"S... sorta'. I had this dream last night..." I muttered pulling away from his hand, "It... involved a knife and... and didn't... end too well..."
"Wanna' talk about it?" I shook my head.
A moment of silence passed and I kept my gaze down, subconsciously studying the deep burgundy material of Duke's outfit, while I could feel him watching me.
"It had something to do with me, too, didn't it," he suddenly stated.
I didn't answer. He lifted my face again, a hand on each side of my face, forcing me to look at him.
"Wing, you don't need to be scared of me," I moved my gaze away from his face, "C'mon, look at me," he said softly, making me do so, "I'll never, 'never', do anything to you, even if you do have feelings for me."
My gaze moved again, face flushed with shame, as I tried to figure out what to say to him. My thoughts were interrupted when his mouth closed over mine. My entire system froze in shock before responding to the kiss. One of Duke's hands moved from my face to the center of my chest, where he pushed me back into the chair and climbed up and straddled my legs. I wrapped my arms around his neck, weaving my fingers in to his hair and the feathers on the back of his neck. It wasn't until my lungs started begging for oxygen that he pulled away, although I gave a slight protest to which he chuckled at.
"And that's mainly because I've got feelings for you."
"Duke... I.. I don't know what to say..."
"Don't say anything, Wing," he leaned forward and nuzzled my neck with his beak as he drew me into a hug, "Just go out on a date with me."
I pushed him back with a smirk, "You think I'd say no?"
Duke chuckled again, shaking his head, "'Course not."
"Tonight at 6 good?"
"Sounds good to me," I grinned and pushed Duke off me before standing, where I gave him another kiss then hurried out of his room.
I was so excited, rushing down the hall in search of Nosedive. I had to tell him. I was going on a date! Tonight!!(1) I found Mallory and Tanya watching tv in the Rec room while Grin meditated in the corner.
"Hey? Has anyone seen Dive?"
"Uh... yeah. I think he said he was going to read some comics or something. Why?"
"No reason. Thanks, Tanya," I called, leaving the room.
I found Nosedive on his bunk bed with his beak in a comic just like Tanya said. With a grin, I climbed up and pounced on him, holding him down by the shoulders while he gave a startled yelp.
"Wing! Do you mind?! I'm trying to read!"
"Correction. WAS trying," I stated, taking the comic from him, "I have to tell you something."
"What's so important that it can't wait 'til the end of my comic?"
"Me and Duke." Dive rose an eyebrow at me.
"What? Did you two make out in the kitchen?" the heat rose to my face quite quickly at that.
"Dive! No, of course not! He took me to his room and..."
"You did in there, right?" the amusement was clear on his face.
"Nosedive, let me finish, baby bro'!"
"Fine," he grinned.
"Alright, he took me to his room and we started talking, well, not exactly talking. Duke was mainly throwing knives at the door, but that's not the point. Anyway, we did get to talking, and, before I knew what happened..."
"Duke kissed you."
"Yeah, he... How'd you know?" Dive paused before shrugging.
"I dunno'. Lucky guess, I reckon. Well, anything else?"
"Yeah, we're going out tonight. At six," I grinned broadly, most likely looking a good bit like Nosedive when he was excited.
"Uh, bro? Sorry to disrupt the moment, but could you get off?"
"Huh?" I looked down to realize that I was pressing my little brother into the bed with my excitement about later that night and moved off of him to sit on the edge of the bed, "Sorry, Dive. I'm just real excited is all. I've had a crush on Duke ever since I first saw him back home and since then, I wanted to go out with him, ya' know? Well, finally I can."
"That's great, Wing," Nosedive grinned, settling down beside me and looking at his watch, "So you're going out at six, you say? That's a little over three hours away. What are you going to wear?"
"I guess what I've got on," I shrugged, looking down at my t-shirt and jeans.
"Are you kiddin'?! I don't think so. That is NOT suitable for a date," Dive jumped of the bed, taking me with him and making me sit on my bottom bunk, "You sit while I find something for you to wear."
Nosedive disappeared into the closet and started to rummage through it. After a few moments of talking to himself while he worked, Dive came back out with a bundle of clothes in his hands and set them down beside me. He'd found my pair of khaki pants that I'd thrown in the closet one day in a fit of frustration and a three-quarter length sleeved, light-gray shirt.
"This'll go just fine with your tennis shoes you've got on. And, not only will it look nice, it's casual and the others won't expect a thing," I gave him a questioning look, "What?"
"When did you become the fashion expert?" Nosedive rolled his eyes.
"After that trip Grin and me had to take with Phil, I decided to become a bit more intelligent in the fashion category. You would too if you had to wear the suits he bought us," his arms crossed with a huff.
"True..." then I thought about my clock I'd stepped over this morning, "What's my alarm clock doing on the floor, anyway?"
"That's where you threw it this morning when it went off," Dive grinned, "You almost kicked me in the head when I tried to wake you the first time, too."
"You're joking," I gave him a dumbfounded look.
"'Fraid not, Wing."
"Sorry 'bout that.." I muttered.
"Hey, that's ok, Wing. You were asleep anyway. Don't worry about it. Now, how 'bout a video game?"
~~Later~~
"You ready?" Nosedive's voice echoed through the bathroom door.
"Umm... almost..." I tightened the belt around my waist after tucking my shirt in.
"Well, hurry up. It's ten 'til."
"Coming, coming. Don't shed any feathers, baby bro..."
Casting one last glance in the mirror, I ran my fingers through my hair with a sigh. This was it. Ten more minutes and my first date with Duke would begin. I opened the door and stepped out. Nosedive straightened from his position from the wall and studied me before smirking.
"Lookin' good, Wing," he commented, "But lose the Mask."
"What? Why? What if Dragaunus attacks?" I protested.
"Then he attacks. You don't need to wear that thing everywhere, ya' know. Yeah, it was cool when you first started wearing it, but that gets old after a while. I hardly ever see you without it on," Dive stated, holding out his hand for me to put the mask in it, "Please, Wildwing. Take it off and go as yourself, not as team captain."
I stared down at my little brother's face. All he wanted was me to be his brother, not some team captain that stayed hid behind a mask all the time. I could read it on his face. With a soft sigh and a small smile, I reached up and took Drake DuCain's Mask off my face, causing it to change to the white goalie mask as I placed it in Nosedive's hand. His face lit up and he threw his arms around my neck. I hugged him back in a tight embrace. Never once had Dive hugged me while I had the mask on, but I never thought about it until now. Nosedive didn't want to hug a team captain, he could care less about a captain. He wanted to hug me, without the mask. I held him a little tighter before pulling away and Dive walked over to the dresser. I noticed a bit more bounce in his step as he went, causing me to smile.
After placing the mask on the dresser, he turned to me with a smile, "Want me to walk with you to his room?"
"Sure. Why not," I answered, following him out the door.
Instead of finding Duke, we found a note taped to his door that simply said 'Hanger' written in a neat script.
"What? He trying to make you run all around the Pond looking for him?" Dive glanced at me after snagging the note from its place on the metal door, "Or is he playing 'Hard-To-Get'?"
"Oh, hush, lit' bro'."
Dive stuck his tongue out at me, playfully flipping me off before sprinting down the hallway.
"Get back here!!"
I gave chase.
Chapter 4
~~~~~~~~~
1: Ok, so Wing's a bit excited. He musta' secretly had a bowl of sugar or something. But wouldn't anyone be excited?
Well? What do you think? I meant to get this out LAST Saturday, but my schedule ran off on me, if you know what I mean. Sorry 'bout that. Hoped you enjoyed! Chiao for now!
Sailor Vegeta