Chapter 10 (Sunday)

"What about him?" Tiddy asked and nodded her head towards a somewhat skinny guy that was walking past them. They were sitting on the edge of the butt ugly statue standing in the middle of the mall. From there they had a perfect view over all the escalators and all the people passing by.

Wufei gave the guy a critical look. "Nice ass, but he's too short."

Trowa lifted an eyebrow. "Wufei, he's almost a head taller then you."

Wufei licked his dripping ice cream. "So? I like my men tall."

The emo shook his head. "I don't get it."

Tiddy laughed and leaned over to pet him on the head. "It's okay, we like you anyway."

Wufei gave his friend a twisted smile. "No one is perfect, and your biggest flaw is that icky straightness of yours."

Trowa's lips twitched in response. "Thanks." He said with a sarcastic tone.

"No problem." They answered in sync.

Trowa just rolled his eyes. "What about that one?" He asked and pointed towards the back of a tall teenager who was leaning against a pillar further away.

Wufei made a thoughtful sound. "Well, he's tall enough, and the ass is really nice but I can't really tell the rest because of the jacket. Too bad that I can't see the fac-" He cut himself off as the guy turned slightly, and Wufei realized just who he had been looking at. "Ewww, Trowa! You had me checking out the creep!"

"Well, I didn't do it on purpose." Trowa said with a chuckle.

Wufei grimaced. "I feel dirty." He shivered and threw his half eaten ice cream away.

Tiddy patted him on the shoulder in comfort. "Poor thing. Hey, I know. Maybe I can try to hit him with my gum." Her face split into an evil grin, and Wufei only took a second to respond with one of his own.

"Maybe if we go up one floor throw it over the edge. He's standing in a pretty clear area so it shouldn't be so hard to hit him."

Tiddy giggled in excitement. "Or even better, I can pour what's left of my soda over him. It'll be great, come on!"

They got up, Trowa a bit more reluctant then the other two. "Are you really going to do this?" He asked as he followed the excited pair.

"Why not?" Tiddy called over her shoulder as she took the first two steps of the stairs in one jump.

"Well for one, you are acting like bullies."

Wufei stumbled on one of the steps and came to a stop. He suddenly looked a lot less sure of himself.

Tiddy's shirt fluttered in big waves as she turned around to look down at her friend at the bottom of the stairs. "It's not bullying if he's the one who started it. You
know what he's like, and you can't say that he doesn't deserve it."

Wufei sucked on his lip ring. "I don't know Tiddy, he got a point."

Tiddy rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to kill him, for fuck sakes. Come on! It's so fitting, I mean he poured milk all over your dress, and it's going to cost a fortune to get it clean. This." She shook her paper cup so that the ice clinked together. "Is just going to be uncomfortable."

Wufei hesitated. "I guess."

"Well, I don't care if the two of you are chickening out because I'm going to do it anyway," she said and started to run up the stairs. Wufei released his lip ring from his mouth and followed.

"I hope you don't regret this." Trowa called out after him.

By the time he had gotten up the stairs, Tiddy had already gotten the lid off and was looking down at the creep, trying to aim just right.

"A bit more to the left, closer to the pillar, and you are going to hit him right in the head," He said as he eyed the boy underneath them in distaste.

Tiddy grinned. "This is going to be great. Get ready to run because here it goes." She said before tipping the paper cup over the edge. It only took a second before a shocked scream echoed through the mall. The two friends laughed in triumph before running. Giggling like mad, they hid in one of Victoria's secrets fitting rooms.

"That was great." Tiddy said in excitement. "I wish I could have seen it."

Wufei smiled. "Me too."

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Duo was bored. Bored, bored, bored. If there was anything he hated, then it was to stand around waiting for Solo to show up.

Duo groaned. This day was going from bad to worse every single second. He was so sick of all this. He missed his friends, he missed his team and his coach. He missed his foster mother, and he even found himself missing his foster father even if he had been a bastard most of the time. He missed his home, his room, his school (how ever strange that was), he missed his whole town.

He loved Solo, and he really liked living with him, but he was so sick of being in this place. People here were so mean and stupid that he just wanted to scream. The only thing that was good about it besides Solo was Quatre who was turning out to be a great friend and his dark angel. But on the other hand, Quatre was so busy most of the time that he rarely saw him outside of class, and Wufei was so far from his that it wasn't even funny. The world was against him, he just knew it.

Leaning back in the pillar, he absently fingered the bruises on his stomach that Brian had given him. It was almost too bad that Wufei hadn't been aware of his heroics, then he might at least talk to him.

The fight hadn't lasted that long since a couple of guys had separated them, but he had still been hurting like hell, because Brian was one strong bastard that didn't pull his punches. But at least the fight had given him an excuse to go home and with some luck, he had even managed to get away before any of the girls decided to play nursemaid.

Brian had been embarrassed when he called him up a few hours ago to apologize. He explained that he was a mean drunk and that he was sorry for taking it out on him. It was obvious that he really did regret the fight. Duo didn't want to make a big deal out of it, and he was quite pleased with the shiner that most likely was going to grace Brian's left eye for quite a while. So in the end, he figured that they were even.

Duo sighed and kicked the back of his sneaker against the pillar. Solo had suggested that they should take a trip in to town and finally get Duo some new boots. The company that Solo worked for had made some huge deal with a German company, and to celebrate it, they had given all their employees a bonus. Since Solo was working in the warehouse driving a fork truck, he hadn't gotten as much money as say, one of the office people, but it was enough to get Duo something for his feet. 'Walking around in sneakers in the middle of the winter sucks so fuc-'

His thoughts were interrupted as a cold shower fell over him, and he yelled out his shock as the freezing liquid made its way down his back. The unmistakable sound of laughter could be heard from above, telling him that this had not been an accident. Some people around him were snickering; a few straight out laughing, while a young mother with a twin in ether hand asked him if he was alright.

Duo didn't trust his own voice to answer; he just stormed out of the mall as fast as he could. The sticky liquid that he quickly identified as soda had drenched his shirt making it stick to his skin under the jacket. It was dripping down from his hair, down onto his naked neck.

He was sure that all this was going to be all over school tomorrow, and Duo clenched his fists. He wanted nothing more then to go home and hid in his room. Instead, he took the bus back to Solo's apartment.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Fumbling with the keys, Duo finally managed to get the door open. He barely paused to slam the door close, before hurrying to the bathroom. Turning the shower on, Duo threw his jacket to the floor before stepping in to the shower with his clothes still on. The spray beat down on him harshly, and Duo sank down to the floor with his knees drawn up to his chest. Duo didn't know how long he had been sitting there, but it seamed like his tears would never stop. The water started to become cold, but Duo couldn't make himself move, instead he just shivered and curled up tighter.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

Solo breathed out a sigh in relief when he saw that the front door was un-locked. Duo wasn't answering his phone, and he had been afraid that he had really pissed off his brother for real this time.

It was just so hard to say no at work when you were at the bottom of the food chain. You drove a fork lift and stacked boxes, anyone could do your job, and they could do it without the dreads.

He had promised himself that he wasn't going to sink so low as to cut his hair just to get money. It was enough that he had turned down a job as a backup singer, because with a teenage kid, you weren't free to tour. What's more, it didn't pay as well as packing frozen food.

He had almost been out the door when his boss had called him back to ask if he could fill out some delivery orders. The way she said it had made it clear that she expected Solo to do it, never mind that it was Sunday afternoon and never mind that it was actually her job to fill out those papers.

Solo had just nodded and gotten back to work. His cellphone couldn't get a signal in the basement where he worked, but while taking a quick break, he ran outside to call Duo. Unfortunately, he had only gotten Duo obnoxious voice mail where an Arnold Schwarzenegger imitator told him to leave a message and he would 'be back.'

By the time he was done and out the door, Duo still hadn't called back. Solo tried to call him again only to be meet by an emotionless Schwarzenegger. He was getting a bit worried because Duo was almost pedantic with his phone, and he always had it loaded, turned on and with him.

But since he was sure that he had locked the door before he left for work, he now knew where his lost brother was located. "Duo?" He called out as soon as he stepped through the door. Silence was his only response.

He walked further in until he heard that the shower was on full blast. "I'm sorry I was late, but I tried to call... Duo?" He knocked gently on the door. "Hey, D. I'm really sorry, I didn't do it on purpose."

Silence.

He hesitated before pressing down the door handle. The door opened smoothly without a sound. "Duo?" At first he thought the room was empty, then he saw the dark bundle through the glass.

Panic like nothing he had ever felt before rushed through him, and he ripped the glass door open.

Red veined eyes looked up at him, and Solo couldn't help but breath out a sigh of relief. At least he was alive. The relief was short lived as Duo turned his eyes back down to his raised knees without a sound.

Solo reached in and turned the lukewarm water off.

"Duo? What's wrong?" He asked as he hunched down. Duo didn't answer him, he just curled up tighter against the tiles. Ignoring how the water was soaking through his jeans Solo got down on his knees and crawled over to pull his little brother close to his chest.

He took it as a good sign when Duo only fought him a little bit. "Hey now, what's wrong?"

Duo turned his face away. "I-it'ss st- stupid."

"I don't care."

"I'm stupid."

"No."

Duo snuffled. "I don't want to be here any more, I want it to stop, I want all of it to leave me alone. I want to go home."

Solo tried not to let the words hit him, he knew Duo didn't mean to hurt him, but it still did. It felt like he had failed his brother. "What happened?"

Duo sighed wetly but did not answer him.

Deciding that it was probably best to get out of the shower before the both of them ended up sick, he wrapped an arm around the boy's waist. "Come on, let's get up and get some dry clothes on."

Duo didn't protest.

After herding him into the dark bedroom, Solo found some comfortable cotton pants and a large t-shirt. A t-shirt that he recognized to be on of his own, but one that he thought that he had lost years ago.

As he pulled up the edge of Duo's soaked sweater the silent boy suddenly came to life. "I can dress myself!" He squeaked in horror as a blush spread over his face.

Solo suppressed a smile over teenage shyness and backed off. "Ok, I'll be in the kitchen."

Duo nodded almost frantically, making drops of water rain down on the floor.

Deciding that this mess called for some serious comfort, he got the Chai tea out. The Indian tea had been their mother's ultimate solution to heartbreaks and all other problems. That was probably why the smell always reminded his of his first ex-girlfriend.

"Solo." A scratchy voice spoke from behind him. He turned around and looked at his slumping brother who looked absolutely heartbroken. "I killed my phone in the shower." He mumbled sadly and held out the dripping piece of technology.

Solo suppressed a sigh. Just what they needed, more expenses. "It's okay D, I'll get you a new one."

Duo shook his head. "I don't need one, or I'll get a job or something, you don't have to pay for it."

'Hell no.' His brother was not going to waste away working a shitty low-paying job. He was going to enjoy his teenage years, go to school and do what ever he wanted with the rest of his life. "No, I'll get you one. It may not be new but as long as it works right?"

Duo nodded and wrapped his arms around himself. Solo took the pan off the stove and walked over to Duo. Carefully leading him over to the couch, he pushed the boy down on the pillows.

Sitting down next to him he waited to see if Duo was going to tell him on his own. There were no words coming, only shallow breaths and shivers. "Tell me." He insisted.

That was all the encouragement Duo needed. "It was just some jerk who poured soda over me at the mall. It's not a big deal but it just got..." Duo trailed off helplessly.

Solo couldn't help but smile. "Too much negative energy pushing on your aura," he said, quoting their mother.

Duo smiled slightly. "Yeah, exactly."

"People are mean and stupid, and we hope they all get reborn in to ants."

Duo reworded him with a small laughter. "Ants are cool... they should be reborn in to mosquitoes. Everyone hates those."

"Yeah." They sat in silence for a while until Solo's conscience started lurking in the background. He didn't want to say anything, but he had sworn to himself that he was going to put Duo first. Work, the band, the love life, anything. This also included his selfish wishes. If Duo didn't want to stay, then he wasn't going to force him. "Do you want to go back?"

Duo blinked in question.

Solo forced himself to go on. "If you do, I- I could call them... they would probably let you come back."

Realization made Duo's eyes go wide the second before he screamed out a frantic "NO!" as his fingers took a iron grip on Solo's "Tony's fast food deliverance" shirt. "I didn't want to go back to them, I don't, I just, I just – just wanted to go back to before things got so hard, why does everything have to be so hard? "

Solo sighed. "I don't know." He said and pulled his little brother up side ways in his lap, or his not so little brother he quickly realized. When had Duo gotten so big? Where did the long haired little imp who always wanted to ride on his back go? "Life just gives you shit sometimes." ´A lot of shit in your case´ he added silently.

"I'm not a kid." Duo muttered as he fussed stubbornly in Solo's lap.

Solo tightened his grip. "Humor me, would you? Please?"

Duo nodded and tucked his face in under his chin.

Solo could feel himself start to relax, and not for the first time he wondered who was really comforting who.

-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-

A/N

Ha! I got the chapter out! I feel goooood :)

Now I have to go catch the bus.

I will be eternally grateful if you took the time to review. Please?