Related Edges

By Complexly Simple Kiddo

Genre: A shounen Ai AU, with romance, adventure, and a whit of spice, shaken, not stirred. ;P

Rating: hmmm. Let's stick with an overall M just to be sure.

Parings: 1x2x1, 3x4, and my number 5 stays inside an interesting wrestling of wills leaded by very strong characterized people :D (You will see, believe me)

Warnings: hmph. Language, lime or lemon, bits of sap, angst, all in doses you will usually see in real life, nothing to be scared off…

Unless you don't like Shounen Ai. In that case, run!

Disclaimer: Hahahaha….naaaah, don't own'em. Wait. Do you? O.o

Author's note: W00t! I'm back! Sorry to make you all wait, but you know how life is :sigh: oh well. On with the fic?

Feedback: To review is so easy that it should be illegal ;P It also feeds my brain with will to sit and type. And I do welcome critics, if they are solidly established, that is.

Flattering will be stylishly ignored for the sake of appearances, and winked with a smile for my own sake and yours :D Enjoy!!!

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Chapter 09: Don't play rock 'n roll

"Trowa, you bastard!"

Trowa stopped dead in his tracks. Hand still in the handle of the door he just opened, black folder in the other hand, his eyes widened a bit upon the most unexpected reception, but after the seconds of surprise passed, he recovered his motion ability and opened the door further, letting an equally surprised Quatre in.

To the blonde one, two things surprised him even more once he had a good look at the two skaters waiting in the bench for their turn to perform. One was the face of Heero painted in astonishment, and a bit of fear. It was almost laughable. The second thing, upon placing his eyes on Duo, was his maniacal wide grin. What surprised him there was not the grin in itself, but that the previous shout had obviously come from him, and he had a difficult time trying to match the angry shout with the happy expression on Duo's face.

"You didn't tell us Relena was going to compete in the same challenge!" His grin widened; thing that Quatre was ready to bet on impossible, and then laughed delighted. Behind him, Heero was looking at the side where the arena was, but he wasn't following with the eyes the skaters. He mouthed something that the blonde recognized as the name of one of the girls, followed by a 'here' and the same scared look than before. It was even more laughable.

He looked, then, at Trowa, but his face showed nothing, and so Quatre knew he was –or had, with Trowa you never really knew- planning something. Or not. Trowa was too good at hiding for his own good.

"I didn't deem it important", he said with a shrug, and then opened the black folder, rummaging through the pages. He found one page in particular and started to read with business-like tone.

"Relena Peacecraft, Dorothy Catalonia, recently formed pair, representing Japan. Both skaters hold medals, both fairly good, but not a terrible menace if we perform as we should." He closed the folder audibly and looked up again with the same uninterested air. "Is there any problem?" Duo laughed at the question in the same delighted way as before.

"Problem?! No way! This is awesome!" Heero snapped out of his trance at this and twisted his head to them in a movement so fast that Quatre feared he had hurt his neck.

"We can't perform" he stated. Duo laughed again and patted Heero on the back.

"C'mon, Heero, where's that previous optimism!?" Heero looked at him in disbelief and then decided to settle in a glare.

"Why are you so happy anyway?" Duo's laugh calmed down into a wicked smile, but the maniacal gleam in his eyes had yet to disappear.

"She was your previous parter!" He offered as an explanation for his amusement, and then laughed again, bending at his stomach a bit, supporting himself from Heero's shoulder. Blue eyes closed even more when the glare deepened. Lesser men would have run scared by now, but it was far from affecting Duo.

"Exactly! She knows everything about my skating, she's a hazard!" Duo's burst of laugh at this stopped Heero to get into an agitated and very strange rant.

While Quatre looked from Heero's glare deepening more and more to Duo's almost hysterical laugh, he couldn't decide if he should stop the arguing, call a psychiatric to take care of a mad Duo or merely laugh in amusement at the ridiculous situation. Deciding on the first option for mere practical reasons -they were, after all, the next ones to perform-. He was about to stop them when Trowa's mysterious smile to the whole scene stopped him. He recognized all too well that expression. Wondering now about what could possibly put that smile in his lover's face, he merely took Duo and Heero's hands and tied the rope for the performance. The other two extended the their hands almost instinctively, but they didn't stop arguing about what made Duo laugh so much. Or what made Heero worry.

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"Very good points for the Japanese pair on this last day of Freelance Challenge, Alex!"

"Certainly! And what a lovely challenge it has been! A lot of young and fairly new pairs, bringing a new fresh air to the competitions."

"Who's in for the next, last pair of the day on this first stage of the challenge?"

"Now this is certainly interesting, Simon, and makes us all wonder if it's mere coincidence or a very ingenious organization"

"Care to explain?"

"Right-O! The next pair is a very particular one, and word's been running around, rumors and guesses, but nothing concrete, as usual from Trowa Barton, who's answers are known to be mystical at most. The world wide controversial Duo Maxwell comes back to the pairing challenges after four years of being dedicated to singles and refusing profusely to pair again."

"Same Duo Maxwell who said he'll never compete on pairs again? I guess nevers are not forevers"

"That sounded almost poetic"

"hm. Now we all surely remember the famous pair of the Maxwell Brothers and their most unique performances. We can't also forget the mysterious circumstances in which the pair was dissolved from one day to the other"

"Solo Maxwell of 23 years old was reported dead by both his partner and brother Duo Maxwell and his trainer Trowa Barton."

"Exactly, but they never exactly said what happened, they just reported illness."

"Silence was to be expected from Barton, but the word was surprised at Maxwell's refusal to talk"

"Well, we can imagine he was in pain, Alex, he was his brother after all"

"Rumor says he wasn't really his brother"

"Does it matter?"

"Not really. But what matters is, who is his knew partner, and why?"

"The second funny part on this all is that his partner is none other than Heero Yuy. We all remember his winning performance representing Japan not more than six months ago, the one that gave him the honor medal of Japan's best figure skater. Then form one day to the other, he's here on California, partnered with Duo Maxwell. His old partner, by the way, was none other than Relena Peacecraft, who we all just watched perform beautifully with Catalonia. Now as for your last 'why?' question, who knows? It certainly is a mystery."

"Well, all there's left to do is wait to see what this strangely formed pair brings to the ice"

"And apparently, we won't have to wait for long because here they come! Duo Maxwell and Heero Yuy representing United States and they're..."

"Arguing?"

"Roped?!"

"..."

"Well, the Maxwell touch of surprise sure is still on place!"

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"That still doesn't mean you can laugh like that" Duo rolled his eyes at his partner and kicked the low door that lead them to the ice. Both placing a feet in the cold surface at the same time, they started to glide towards the center of the arena, unmindful of the noise and crowd surrounding them and deep in conversation.

"C'mon! You gotta admit it's quite funny!"

"It's not. It's dangerous to have them as enemies." Duo looked at him, crossed between amusement and disbelief.

"Enemies?! Heero, this is just a sport! It's going to be awesome competing against something this challenging. Not to mention they already performed, so if we don't fuck up, we're getting better results"

"Oh? Now you're the optimist. I don't get you, Duo. I simply don't get you. All I say is that it's dangerous"

"But I do love a good challenge" He smiled, finally reaching the center. They both positioned, facing each other. Heero, starting to roll the rope in his hand, snorted.

"You love danger, that's what you love" He answered annoyed, but a glimmer of something else flashed in his intense eyes while saying it.

Maybe it was that glimmer that didn't escape Duo's attention, or maybe it was the rush of excitement at being about to perform, what made him answer in return.

"You're danger, Yuy, that's why I like you." He smirked, but Heero noticed in his eyes that, despite the mock tone used, he was saying it seriously. Heero let himself be shocked for the amount of two seconds before smiling faintly. 'Too soon or not to be feeling like this, it's already been thrown to the winds', he thought, the first chords of the music resonating in the air. Grabbing the rope with his fist, he pulled hard, making Duo stumble towards him. Catching him with his free hand by the waist, he turned in the ice, giving a full, perfect 360º turn, tagging Duo along. Letting his lips close to the braided man ear, he whispered.

"Then I hope you have a seatbelt" and then let him go, gliding to the original path of the performance.

The crowd thought it was all part of the show. Even Duo's loud laugh, when he kept sliding to where Heero gently pushed him, the rope between them stretching until it tightened, along the start of the first guitar sounds.

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Silence was practically all one could hear in the closed space where Quatre and Trowa currently where. The blond man, hand over his chest where one associates the heart is, was standing by the glass panel that showed the ice floor from a higher place that the floor level and grades. His expression was a mix of awe, amusement and suspicion.

The tall brunet one, calmly sitting on a chair also by the window, was taking notes in a black folder, stopping for long periods of time to watch what was happening on the arena.

Finally, the silence was broken.

"Trowa?" asked the blonde tentatively, the edge of amusement still hadn't fade from his voice. He barely turned his head to address the other man, but not enough to lose sight of the window view.

"Yes, Quatre?" The brunet asked in return, his lips twitching almost imperceptibly in amusement at the carefully placed attitude of his lover. Said lover opened his mouth, about to say what he wanted, but then frowned and closed his mouth. He looked at the arena his window showed, and frowned deeper.

"How much of this was planned?" He finally asked. Trowa, nonplused, threw a glance at the skaters gliding frenetically in the ice, and took notes again.

"A bit", he finally said. Quatre bit his lip in thought.

"The Relena part?" Had he not be looking elsewhere at that moment, he would have noticed the smirk in Trowa's face.

"Maybe". Quatre attempted to say something else but was distracted again by what was happening below. Barely, the faint sound of fast drumming and guitar from the song coming to an end could be heard through the thick walls.

"Then the argument was to..."

"Come on, Quatre, even I'm not that good". This time, even if the blond was still looking elsewhere, the smile it Trowa's face was obvious enough in his voice. Quatre's smile blossomed in response, and he turned around to meet the amused eyes of his lover.

"You are one crafty brat". Trowa raised an eyebrow, his smirk not wavering at all.

"Quatre Winner, such language?" Quatre laughed out loud and grabbed Trowa by the hand, hauling him out of the chair and out of the room.

"Come on, we have to congratulate the winners!"

Trowa reprimanded him with a low 'tsk' that reeked of mocked falseness, while closing with his free hand the black folder that was about to fall from the sudden movement.

"The numbers are not yet said", he said, but anyone who knew Trowa Barton at all could see that he felt as confident as his lover, if not for his words, his smile said more than enough.

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"Well... that went good..." Duo said tentatively, leaving the cheering of the crowd behind, waving one last time with his infamous smile splashed in his face, which threw the youngest fan crowd into a frenzy. Heero, upon noticing this, glared at the crowd in what Duo was a bit afraid to call (righteously so) jealousy. He smirked at the Japanese man knowingly and raised an eyebrow as if daring him to voice his problem. Heero merely looked elsewhere.

"You're way too flashy", Heero said, after a moment. Duo laughed good-naturedly, not for the comment itself but the use of the word 'flashy' in his partner's vocabulary.

"I don't hear them complaining about my flashiness, you know? Quite the contrary, in fact", he answered, his devious smirk already in place as he looked around distractedly from where he was now, sitting on the same bench as before, waiting for the results. With a start, he looked back at Heero, suddenly remembering something.

"Besides! You didn't have to push the rope that hard!" Heero let out a small, amused smile, still mentally going through the performance they just did, looking out for mistakes and already planning out ways to fix them. He might have changed the atmosphere, his coach and everything he knew, but old habits really did die hard.

"It made you angry", he simply stated. Duo frowned at him.

"Of course it did! I'm not a damned doll, yanno?!"

"And since you were angry, you snapped with a bit of an aggressive edge every time you did a spin, a turn or any move at all". He kept on, seemingly not listening to a word Duo was saying.

"Well, you earned it, really, tugging at the rope like it's a friggin' leash"

"And those movements, not only went perfectly well with the music, but reminded you of a fight, to which you have extremely well reflexes, and made us even more coordinated". Duo stuttered on what he was going to say when the final words sunk in.

"And of course", Heero continued nonplused, fixedly looking at the board where the numbers would be displayed "Trowa knew of this from the time we fought at practice". Duo's eyes widened in realization and then closed again in accusation.

"You knew all along. That's why you were tugging at the rope so hard! You manipulative little bastard!" Heero had to smirk this time, but his eyes never left the board, guarding it like a hawk. He shook his head, enough to make a point but not so much that he would lose sight.

"Iie, I tugged at the rope because we argued about Relena being here. I was a bit angry too. Enough to make you snap, at least". Implied was the 'not that it took much of my part'. If Duo noticed, he refrained from commenting on it to follow instead the original thread of logic, his brow furrowing deeper.

"So you mean, Trowa..." Heero's smirk widening was answer enough, and Duo cursed "the manipulative little bastard! He planned the whole damned thing! Not telling us about Relena... Man! He's scary, such a brat!"

"You won't mind, though", interrupted Heero, his voice flooding confidence. Duo's eyes became dangerous slits.

"How would you know?" he demanded, not liking it when people made predictions about himself. Call it pride, call it whim, but he worked for his originality, and damn it if someone was going to find him predictable.

Heero, finally moving his face to look at Duo, sprang one of his rare smiles and almost made Duo go into a melted pile of very happy goo. Remembering the few crossed words in the ice and that warm hand in his waist did nothing to prevent it.

"Because we just won", Heero finally said, looking at the board displaying the final score for their performance. Duo looked at him in confusion, then followed Heero's gaze and then suddenly remembered where they were. The full sound of the surrounding crowd crashed on him, finally breaking through the bubble of sound void that Heero's eyes always put him in.

"Shit!" was all Duo said, standing along with Heero to look better. Going through the numbers again and looking at the list of positions, he smiled this time, although he repeated the same word. They both turned to each other again, Duo with a look of astonishment, Heero displaying satisfaction for a well done work.

That is, until Duo broke the static moment, throwing his arms around Heero's neck and almost knocking him out of his place.

"Holy cow, Heero, we WON!" Heero, instantly reaching out to hold the excited bundle in his arms out of mere reflex, suddenly found himself in a very awkward but not at all unpleasant position. Duo's warm body pressed flush against him, close as he never was before, the smell of Duo's slightly scented hair filling his brain completely. This lapse of immobility, however, didn't last long, seeing in it the opportunity to finally hold the attractive American like he wanted. Placing his hands on his hips and pushing him closer in a more intimate way, he smirked when Duo suddenly gasped, realizing the hug had become more than what it meant before. Taking his head back from above Heero's shoulder to look at him in the face, he smirked, turning the Duo-sexiness-smile scale quite a few notches up.

"Aren't you getting a bit cozy over here?" the wicked smile on his face showing that he was far from minding. Heero's eyes fell upon Duo's close lips in a quick shift and then back to those blue violet eyes.

"Maybe", he answered, a small shrug that barely moved his shoulders a millimeter upward "but I'm hardly the one to blame"

"Oh?"

"You put yourself in that place before I used it to my advantages". Duo's eyebrow shoot up and his smirk grew even more mischievous. His foot shifting so it pushed Heero even closer.

"Advantages such as..." Heero's eyes shifted to those tempting lips again and was about to close the distance at last with one final confident step forward.

He would, that is, if Trowa hadn't choose that very same moment to open the door behind them with a worried Quatre tagging along him, looking engrossed in the ever present black folder.

"Guys, we have a problem".

AN: Don't hate me. Please? Look at it this way, if you kill me now, there won't be more fic. Now we wouldn't want that, would we:grin:

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Title song: second part of the song title "nice boys don't play rock n roll.

Songs on this chapter: Same as title, it's the song from the Guns 'n Roses that they're performing. It's a very fast song, so they had to move fast in that fight pretence of performance. Our boys are talented.