A/N: This fic is an AU that has the boys playing professional League of Legends. I'm going to try my best to not get bogged down too much in game terminology or things like that, but, well, I WILL reference the game and try to explain as much as I can, as I go. I'm also way too lazy to make up "new" teams for the league, so I will be using existing teams and players, with the exceptions of Team Gundam Wing, Zodiac Gaming, and the Valkyries. So… I will be referencing real people and real teams.

A/N #2: I'm like seriously blown away by how much people are enjoying this story. Thank you so much to everyone who takes the time to leave a review/comment, favorite/kudos and/or follow.

A/N #3: A bit of a Thanksgiving treat in store… and also that feeling you get after Thanksgiving. I'm sorry. I'm a terribly cruel person.

Warnings: Angst, language, violence, sex.

Pairings: PM me if you need to know. But I think it might be fairly obvious early on.

Going the Distance

Chapter Twenty-One

Tuesday's run was silent, and Duo couldn't tell if it was awkward silence or just normal morning hating the world silence.

Trowa didn't seem quite as full of self-loathing, but he didn't seem empty of it either.

Heero, on the other hand, seemed to moving through their morning run on autopilot and Duo couldn't tell if it was because he had been up all night having sex with Trowa or because he had been up all night sleeping alone because Trowa was still pissed.

Duo hesitated as they finished up their run and approached the house again. He wanted to stop them, wanted to ask how things were going, but he felt pretty confident that any intervention on his part was only going to make things worse. He was, after all, part of the problem.

So Duo followed them into the house, watched them make the silent climb up the stairs, and then went into the kitchen to have breakfast.

Relena, as usual, was up and greeted him by passing a cup of coffee his way after he had downed a glass of water.

"So… this weekend."

Duo looked up from his bowl of cereal at that tone. It was the tone Relena used when she was about to force him into doing something.

"Yeah?" He asked cautiously.

"It's the halfway point in the season."

Duo nodded.

"And we haven't lost a game yet."

"Uh huh."

"And I know we said that if you got MVP you -"

"Oh no," Duo interrupted her, dropping his spoon so he could point. "Absolutely not. We agreed. I get MVP and you confess your devotion to Mr. Blonde and Perfect. Don't you dare back down on me."

"Dorothy came over again last night."

"Oh."

Duo hadn't realized that. He had barricaded himself in his room and watched Firefly with Hilde over Skype until they had both fallen asleep. She hadn't mentioned Dorothy being away, but then, Hilde almost never mentioned Dorothy unless she was bitching about her.

"Um… maybe they were comparing mid-lane strategies and -" Duo ducked the cereal box Relena threw at him and they both groaned when the frosted flakes went flying all over the floor.

They cleaned it up together, sweeping and then crawling around, and it struck Duo as freakishly normal.

"We should do this more often."

Relena arched an eyebrow at him.

"Normal things - stupid things that kids our age do instead of spending all day stressing out over a video game and what strangers think about us."

"Yeah, okay, I'm pretty sure that no matter how many time I throw a box of cereal at you you're going to worry about what strangers think of you," Relena pointed out.

Duo sighed and he thought about arguing the point - but she was right.

"Yeah, okay, maybe. But still, all we ever do is -"

"All you ever do is all you ever dream about doing. I'm not saying those dreams aren't nightmares sometimes, but you know that you love it - despite the stress and the shit - you love this sport. And you'd rather being doing this than anything else, right?"

It seemed as though Relena had gone from giving him a pep talk to genuine concern and curiosity and Duo wondered just how obvious he was being, how much of his inner turmoil he was giving away.

"No, this is what I want to be doing," he assured both of them.

Because, really, what else would he do?

-o-

On Wednesday night Duo stayed up late with Trowa after the others had gone to bed to play their usual Solo Queue games.

"I'd rather play on my own," Trowa informed him as Duo settled into his chair after grabbing a drink from the kitchen.

Duo stared at him and he tried to force down his anger and disappointment and - and hurt? Jesus. It was just a game, just extra practice. Why was he hurt that Trowa wanted to play alone? And why the hell did Trowa want to play alone? They always practiced together.

"Um… is this because of that last game we all played together and the fact that I let your opponent kill me twice? Because I won't do it again, Tro. It was -"

"No, this isn't about that." Trowa sighed. The joke hadn't distracted him, and his tone was starting to make Duo feel even more anxious.

"Then…?" Duo prompted.

"I rely on you too much."

Trowa said the words without emotion, and somehow that made it even worse.

Duo cleared his throat.

"Right, it's a team game and -"

"No. I rely on you too much to help me out. I depend on you to help me get an early lead and I need you to help me and I can't keep doing that."

"Trowa, I'm the Jungler, I'm supposed to help out my lanes and -"

"And there are three lanes. Duo, almost half of your early game ganks are for my lane."

"Because you're amazing! If I can get your lane started rolling then you usually kick ass!"

"And when you can't, I get destroyed."

They stared at each other, and Duo could see the anger and bitterness in Trowa's eyes.

"I should have tried to help you more, in that ZG game," Duo said. He'd been thinking over it all week, wondering how he could have played it differently, and he still didn't know how he could have saved Trowa's lane, but he knew he should have.

Trowa shook his head.

"No. You left me to die and you should have. You prioritized the others and that meant a victory for the team. You did the right thing."

"Sure as hell doesn't feel like it," Duo muttered.

Trowa frowned.

"I was pissed at you - I was almost as angry with you as I was with myself because I kept thinking you were going to help me and you never - you couldn't. You had a game to win."

"Yeah, but you're - Trowa. It killed me to let them camp your lane like that. And it didn't even make any sense! They were just torturing you for the hell of it. They could have won the game if they just rotated but they kept going back to you and -"

"I've never lost that badly, Duo. Never. I have never felt that impotent."

And Duo was pretty sure that the combination of Trowa's own failure and Heero and Meilin's success wasn't helping him out, but he was also pretty sure he couldn't say anything about that.

"So let's figure out how to make sure that doesn't happen again."

Trowa shook his head.

"No. This is something I need to do on my own."

Trowa resolutely turned back to his computer and Duo looked back at his own.

He felt like an idiot, and he felt superfluous. He also sure as hell didn't want to spend the next few hours playing by himself, sitting beside Trowa, glancing over and hoping he was doing well.

So he logged off and stood up and immediately had no idea what to do.

It was only midnight, and while everyone else had gone off to bed, Duo was used to staying up until two or three with Trowa almost every night.

He wandered through the house and then let himself outside.

It was summer and even at night it was warm, the air hot and damp and he closed his eyes and tried to forget about everything.

His conversation with Relena yesterday came back to him.

This was what he wanted to do. He wanted to game. He wanted to be on TGW and he wanted to - hell.

He wanted to win, sure, but he wanted to be part of this team, he wanted to belong and even as he thought about it he knew it was pathetic.

He felt like he had spent his entire life trying to belong - to someone, to somewhere. And he'd always had Solo. Whatever shit they went through with foster care and group homes, he had always had Solo. Until he hadn't. Hilde had also been there for him, ever since they met, but she had her own life, her own career and Duo was tired of burdening her with his whining, with sighing and fighting back his desire to just spill his guts every time they skyped. He'd had Alex for a while, and Alex had been good - he'd been an outsider to gaming, hadn't known that much about Duo's past and the sex had been good and they could talk, for hours, about nothing. But now Alex was gone too.

Duo shifted on the lounge chair and tried to get comfortable.

This team was the closest thing to a family he had, and he was breaking it.

It was impossible to get comfortable.

-o-

Meilin was quiet and tense on the van ride over to the studio for the games that Saturday. She sat beside Duo on the ride over, but she spent the entire time staring at her hands, frowning slightly, and Duo wondered what was going on with her.

As everyone got out of the van he nudged her shoulder.

"You okay?" He asked her in an undertone.

She seemed surprised by the question.

"Yeah," she said and frowned at him. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Right."

She gave him a look, and Duo returned it.

"It's nothing," she growled at him and grabbed her bag of gear.

She practically stomped down the hall to the waiting room and Duo rolled his eyes.

He was too well versed in the art of passive-aggressive self hatred to think that nothing was wrong.

He let everyone else walk ahead of him and hung back to catch Sally.

"Meilin okay?" He asked her.

Sally scowled at him.

"Don't be nosey."

"Okay, I'd like to think of it as concerned for my teammates. I'm not asking for gossip. I just - is she okay?"

Sally sighed and shrugged.

"She'll be fine. It's her birthday. She always gets pissed off on her birthday."

Duo arched an eyebrow at that.

She always got pissed off on her birthday? That was… different.

He refrained from asking why and instead joined the rest of the team in the holding room.

Meilin and Quatre were already doing yoga together and, as it did every time, it made Duo smirk.

Quatre might be in okay shape, but he was clumsy and not that limber - he had improved over the weeks since he and Meilin started doing yoga, but his face was still full of fear when he tried out new poses.

Duo saw Relena's eyes glued to Quatre's ass and he sat down beside her.

"Enjoying the view?"

She elbowed him and he elbowed her back.

"Look, whatever is going on with him and… her," he just barely caught himself from giving Dorothy an unflattering nickname, "you gotta just say something."

"That's easy for you to say," she muttered. "If I fuck this up it can really hurt the team."

Duo couldn't help but glance towards Heero and Trowa at the other end of the room, Heero playing a custom game and Trowa napping.

"Yeah," he agreed. "That would suck. But I'm not telling you to stalk him - just tell him that you like him."

"Win the MVP award and we'll talk," she muttered.

"Sure. But what if he and… she are a real thing by that point and you miss your chance?"

"Then I didn't have that much of a chance in the first place, did I?"

Meilin straightened up.

"I'm going to go for a walk - I'll be back in ten minutes," she added, glancing at the television monitor showing the current game. From the looks of things it wouldn't be over for at least another twenty minutes unless something drastic occurred.

"I'll walk with you," Duo said and jumped up.

Meilin scowled and Duo forced a smile.

She rolled her eyes but held the door open for him as they left the room.

"So… you want a cake or anything for your birthday?" He asked her as they did a loop of the backstage area.

She glared at him.

"No. I don't want a cake or anything. I hate my birthday."

"Can I ask why?"

She looked as though she was contemplating a scathing response.

"Bad shit happens every year," she said simply and shrugged. "It's a stupid day and bad shit happens and I wish we didn't have to play Cloud 9 on today, of all fucking days."

"Well, maybe the bad shit will happen after the game," he offered.

She turned to look at him and then paled.

Duo followed her gaze and saw Solo walking towards them.

"Or maybe it will happen before the game," Duo said.

"Ready to end that winning streak, Mei?" Solo asked, looking right through Duo.

Meilin sneered.

"Ready to stop being an asshole?"

Solo shrugged.

"Nah, feels kind of good." His gaze flickered towards Duo for a second and he looked as though he wanted to say something more.

"Well, if you'll excuse us, we don't have any interest in wasting time with you today." Meilin grabbed Duo's shoulder and pulled him away.

"Happy Birthday, Mei!" Solo called as they walked past him.

"Asshole," Meilin muttered.

Duo looked over his shoulder and saw that Solo was still looking at them, a frown on his face.

"I have no idea what I ever saw in him," she added.

"He's a good guy - unless he hates you, and then he's a complete dick. But most of the time, he's -"

"Duo. For fuck's sake. Stop defending him."

"He's my brother."

"He's an asshole and he hates the both of us. You need to move on."

-o-

It was, as usual, late by the time they made it back to the house.

Their game had been long - almost seventy minutes, almost a record, and it had been exhausting. It was clear that the other teams were starting to get used to TGW, to their tactics and playstyle and Cloud 9, always one of the best teams, had adapted first.

Duo had been torn, had been uncertain whether he should follow his usual gameplan and get Trowa ahead early or if he should devote more time to Quatre's lane or to the bottom lane and before he had been able to make a decision it had been made for him. Cloud 9's Jungler and mid laner collapsed top lane, three men against Trowa, and somehow, remarkably, defying all logic, Trowa managed to get a triple kill on them. He died in the process, but he took down three men with him and from then on his lane was easy sailing.

Trowa was even smirking, sitting beside Duo, and he never smirked during a game, not unless Heero did something extraordinary - but there he was, a small, self-satisfied smirk on his face.

The other lanes did fine, Meilin and Heero were their normal dominant selves and Quatre managed to hold his own, but he never got a clear advantage over his opponent. The real struggle was Duo.

After the failed gank top, Meteos, the Cloud 9 Jungler, decided to put most of his efforts into counter-jungling Duo, taking his farm and killing him over and over again in his own Jungle until, fifteen minutes into the game, Trowa showed up out of nowhere and killed Meteos and saved Duo.

In the end, TGW won, but it was on the backs of Trowa, Meilin and Heero.

Duo felt like an idiot, felt worthless to his team, but he stood up with them and shook Cloud 9's hands, accepted their good natured 'good games' and responded in kind because C9 were decent guys and it wasn't as if they had used shit tactics against TGW. They had seen Duo's weakness and they had exploited it and that didn't make them assholes. It made them smart and it made Duo useless.

Duo forced himself to share in the laughter and jokes with the others as they ate pizza, he even managed to convince a waitress to put a candle onto a slice of pizza for Meilin, but he wanted nothing more than to go home and watch the gameplay, to figure out where he had fucked up and how he could have played the game better.

As soon as they got home, however, everyone insisted on staying up and watching a movie - tomorrow was the rare Sunday when they weren't scheduled to play and so as a result TGW had two days off this week - and Duo knew he couldn't just run away to his room without seeming like a sullen asshole.

So, instead, he sat between Heero and Trowa on the couch and tried to feign interest in Days of Future Past.

When it was over Duo got up and stretched and decided to sit outside first, for a while, before torturing himself with the gameplay footage.

He had only been sitting outside on his own for a few minutes when Heero and Trowa joined him.

"What are you doing tomorrow?" Heero asked.

Duo shrugged.

"No plans."

Trowa and Heero exchanged a look.

"I think the others are going out to see a movie or something," Duo added.

Heero nodded.

"Sounds like it."

"Heero said he would make dinner for me," Trowa said and sat down on the end of Duo's lounge chair.

"Sounds nice," Duo said and tried not to sound too jealous.

"Want to join us?" Heero asked.

Duo looked between them.

"We were thinking dinner and then watch a movie together after." Trowa explained.

"You two don't want to spend the time along together?"

"We'd rather spend it with you," Heero said.

"Just… hanging out with me when you two could be, you know," he waved his hand.

"We can you know," Trowa mimicked his hand gesture, "every night. We want to spend tomorrow night with you."

Duo tried very hard not to read too much into it, or to sound too excited when he shrugged.

"Sure," he said and knew he failed to sound unenthusiastic when Trowa and Heero smirked at each other.

-o-

Dinner turned out to be amazing - Heero really could cook, and while he didn't allow Trowa or Duo to do more than stir something a few times, it was a pleasant way to spend a time together.

But it wasn't until after, when Duo sat down beside Heero on his bed upstairs and Trowa cued up Winter Soldier that it hit him.

Dinner and a movie.

Isn't that what he had said? What he had suggested Heero and Trowa try as a date last weekend?

He leaned back against the wall and tried not to think about it. It was just coincidence - just evening plans to hang out.

Even with Heero's thigh pressed against his, even in the dark and with the faint smell of whatever deodorant or body wash or whatever Heero and Trowa used that smelled so damn good in the air between them, Duo was able to concentrate on the movie. Sort of.

It was better than the first Captain America movie, a lot better, and he'd always liked Scarlett Johansson and the story was good, actually, the dialogue funny in places.

And he was fine and just sitting on the bed, watching a movie with his friends who smelled really, stupidly good, until Heero shifted, spread his legs just slightly and Duo's attention was drawn over to him, specifically to his crotch. Specifically to Trowa's hand kneading Heero's crotch.

"He's got a thing for Sebastian Stan," Trowa said, and Duo looked up to see that Trowa was still watching the movie, wasn't even looking at Heero as he massaged his cock through his jeans. "And for comic book villains."

"He's not a villain," Heero muttered.

Duo swallowed, looked away from Heero's crotch and up to his face, saw that his eyes were hooded and his lips parted and he looked sexy as hell.

And so yeah, this clearly wasn't just hanging out and watching a movie with friends - because you did not do this with just friends.

Heero met his gaze and then moaned.

Duo looked down, saw that Trowa had unzipped his pants and Heero's hard cock was stiff and pale in the light from the screen.

Duo licked his lips and Heero moaned again.

And then it was kind of a blur, as the three of them struggled out of their clothes and then they were naked and Duo was in Heero's lap, their cocks trapped between their bodies and they were kissing, Heero's tongue thrusting into Duo's mouth, and Trowa's mouth on Duo's neck, his shoulder, licking and biting and it felt incredible, so intense to be with both of them and feel their hands all over him, to have both of their bodies to explore and touch.

Heero and Duo broke apart and Trowa leaned in, captured Heero's mouth and Duo watched them kiss, felt his pulse pounding and his cock aching for friction. He thrust against Heero, pushed their cocks together against Heero's belly and Heero moaned into Trowa's mouth, loudly enough that Duo could hear him, and Heero's hands latched onto Duo's hips, pulling him close, holding on while Duo humped against him.

Duo felt Trowa's fingers trail down his spine, light and teasing, until they reached his anus and Trowa paused, pulled away from Heero's kiss and looked at Duo.

"Is this okay?" Trowa asked.

Duo nodded vigorously.

"Yes," he panted. "Yes. Please."

Trowa smirked slightly, leaned in and gave Duo a swift, thrusting kiss.

"Please what?" He asked, still smirking.

"Please fuck me?"

Trowa's finger pressed against him slightly, feeling resistance and not pushing past.

"You're sure?"

Duo nodded.

Trowa moved away, got up from the bed and Duo watched him, watched the way his cock bounced as he walked. He went over to one of the dressers in the room and opened the top drawer.

When he came back to the bed he had condoms and a bottle of lube in his hands.

"Lay down," he instructed, nudging Heero's shoulder.

Heero shifted, turned and laid back and pulled Duo with him, so that he was still straddling Heero's hips, and they kissed again.

Duo felt the bed shift, felt Trowa settle in behind him and the slick, firm press of a finger against his anus and he rocked backwards, encouraging Trowa.

Trowa took his time, teasing the hell out of Duo as he ever so slowly sank the digit inside and then pulled it out again, shallowly fucking Duo with just his finger until Duo got frustrated and thrust back, forced Trowa's finger deep inside him and it nudged his prostate and he gasped at the sensation.

Heero swallowed the gasp, sucked on Duo's bottom lip and it was damn near impossible for Duo to decide what felt better - Heero's mouth on his, Heero's cock against his, or Trowa's finger thrusting in and out of his ass.

"Please," he pulled away from Heero's mouth and moaned. "Please, Trowa."

"What do you want?" Trowa's voice was ever so slightly teasing, and it reminded Duo of Trowa teasing him, flirting with him, and in that moment this felt so right it took his breath away.

"More," Duo managed to groan.

"More as in another finger?" Trowa teased, thrust two fingers into Duo and Duo rocked back.

"Yes. Fuck yes."

Heero was still moving against him, their cocks still straining together and Duo was already close, from that, from Heero's mouth and Trowa's fingers, from weeks of pent up sexual tension and frustration.

"Tro, I want you in me when I come. I'm close."

The fingers left him instantly, and Duo felt the thick head of Trowa's cock pressed against him, felt Trowa ease inside slowly and that alone did it, sent him over the edge and he shuddered, moaned and closed his eyes and Heero held him tightly, kissed the side of his mouth and tangled his fingers in Duo's hair.

Trowa gave him a minute to recover, let him catch his breath again before he started to move, started to thrust in and out in long, even strokes.

Heero was still hard, and Duo reached between their bodies, tried to stroke his cock, but the angle made if difficult.

Heero scooted back on the bed a little, away from Duo and Trowa and that was a little better, a little easier for Duo, but Heero passed him the lube.

"Finger me," he instructed.

Duo smirked at that, at Heero's bossy tone, but he obeyed.

As he slipped one finger into Heero's tight body he leaned down and licked Heero's right nipple, teased it and rolled it between his lips and teeth until Heero moaned his name.

Trowa's fingers suddenly dug into Duo's hips, flexing and pulled him back tight against Trowa's body.

Duo felt him come, felt his shudder of release and heard his blissful sigh.

"Are you hard again?" Heero asked, his eyes closed and his mouth parted and it was clear he was close.

"Yeah," Duo said, not surprised. He was young and it had felt amazing having Trowa's cock inside him and just as good to have his fingers inside Heero. He was definitely hard again.

Heero opened his eyes, reached for the condoms and thrust one towards Duo.

"Then fuck me."

Behind Duo, Trowa snorted a laugh and then pulled out of Duo.

"You're always so demanding, Heero," he said.

"You like it," Heero shot back and Duo turned his head, saw Trowa looking down at Heero with a fond smile.

"Yeah," he agreed before looking at Duo. "Better fuck him or he'll start whining."

"I do not whine," Heero muttered.

He kept hold of the condom, ripped it open and put it on Duo's cock himself, slowly rolling it down and stroking him.

Duo spread lube along his own cock, stroked himself another few times for good measure, and then eased into Heero's body.

It felt amazing, hot and tight and firm and so damn good. It had been a while since Duo had topped anyone, and he'd forgotten just how good it felt to be buried this deep, to feel surrounded and complete.

And then Trowa was kissing him, his tongue tangled with Duo's and he had to revise his definition of surrounded and complete because this was what it felt like to be surrounded and to be complete. To be pressed between Heero and Trowa, fucking Heero with his cock while Trowa scoured his mouth with his tongue.

He felt Trowa's hand start to stroke Heero's cock, felt Heero's fingers dig into his hips.

"Harder," Heero groaned. "Fuck me harder."

Duo had to pull away from the kiss, had to reposition himself so that he could get a better angle.

"How much harder?" He asked.

"Hard," Trowa answered for him. "When he wants harder he wants very hard."

Trowa was still stroking Heero's cock, his grip tight and his hand moving quickly up and down his shaft.

So Duo gave him hard, pulled out and slammed back in and Heero closed his eyes and groaned.

"Yes."

Trowa smirked at Duo, as if to say see?

Duo set a quick, hard pace, and it wasn't long until he was close again, until Heero's mouth was open and his face flushed and his hips were jerking against Duo erratically.

Duo just barely managed to hold out, to wait for Heero to come before he did. It was incredible, great, all the synonyms for amazing that Duo couldn't think of because he couldn't really think of anything in that moment, could only feel Heero's body, slick with sweat and semen, Trowa's hands on them, soothing and firm, his own pounding heart and racing pulse.

"Oh my fuck," Duo sighed and pulled out of Heero.

"Yeah," Trowa agreed with a grin and leaned over to kiss him.

Duo returned the kiss, spent and exhausted.

"God, I don't even want to move after that," he groaned. He felt completely boneless.

"Then don't," Trowa suggested. He took the condom off of Duo's cock and got up from the bed and walked into the bathroom.

Duo heard the toilet flush and then Trowa was came back into the room, glanced at the door and chuckled.

"Heero, you forgot to lock the door. Again." Trowa chided him.

Heero actually blushed.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

Trowa shook his head, locked the door, and then rejoined them on the bed.

It was a little cramped, three of them on the full sized bed, but Duo found himself sandwiched between Trowa and Heero and it was very clear they weren't going to let him leave anytime soon.

"We didn't finish the movie," Duo had to point out.

"We can finish it next time we have to trick you into our bed," Trowa said around a yawn and wrapped an arm around Duo.

"You don't have to trick me," Duo protested.

"If you say so," Heero muttered.

Duo sighed. He pressed a kiss against the back of Heero's neck.

"I want to be here," he assured them. "I want to belong."