Chapter 26
Help is on the way
Heero POV
OK, so Duo is about to make the biggest mistake of his life and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it. I inwardly cringe as I think to what is going to happen. I can just image Duo standing up on the stage in front of everyone with some backing music provided by Mr Kershaw. It makes me want to scream! How can someone want to commit social suicide like that?!
This is all Relena's fault! How can I complete the bet when I know that he is the biggest laughing stock of the Sanc Kingdom? She's done all this because she knows that's what will happen. She'll win and I'll end up on my own with nothing but my mistakes to think about.
I slump moodily against our field tree as Trowa and WuFei gracefully sit down across from me. WuFei instantly gets into the meditation position and begins to calm his breaths while Trowa takes out an energy bar from his backpack.
Glancing over at me he sighs, "So what's got stuck up your arse today Yuy?" I glare hard at him as he continues, "No pun intended."
"Trowa I'm going to fucking kill you."
"Jesus! Calm down Yuy," he cries, putting his hands up to surrender. "What's happened?"
"Duo's entered the talent contest," I murmur unhappily in my seat as I rub a hand over my tired eyes. How can the guy be so stupid! Stupid BAKA!
"Oh has he now -" Trowa mutters a curious look on his face.
"This is so bad," I drawl in misery. "Why would he want to do that? He's going to be the biggest loser in the school after everyone sees him perform!"
"Why would it make him the biggest loser?" Trowa asks accusingly with a frown on his face. Why?! Why?!
"Because it's going to be the biggest embarrassment of the century that's why!" I reply with an exasperated sigh. "I don't even know if he can actually sing or if he's just going along for the ride."
"Sure Duo can sing." Trowa butts in very quickly, "I've heard him and he's actually quite good."
"Maxwell can sing?" One of WuFei's eyes pops open.
"Trowa's delusional." I murmur as I ball my fists in anger, my chance at winning Relena back and my life returning to normal is officially over.
"Why would I have to be delusional to think Duo is good at something?" Trowa snaps angrily.
"Because I've seen guys like him." I answer, "They're all the same Trowa, their basic – nothing but pure geekness. He'll probably go up on stage in a star wars outfit."
"I can't believe you can actually think that of Duo." Trowa rages and then suddenly calms down. A weird smile comes to his face as he chuckles to himself. "I think you'll be pleasantly surprised when you hear him sing."
"Like hell I will." I snap back already too annoyed with the situation to even give it the time of day any more. "I hope he loses anyway."
Trowa raises his eyebrows, "That's a bit harsh, why would you want that?"
"Because I have to take him out to dinner if he wins." A large grin appears on Trowa's face and I instantly have the urge to punch it right off.
"Jesus Yuy, the things you have to do nowadays to get a date."
"It's not a date." I ground out while I glare. It's not a date! I don't even like Maxwell – sure he's got a nice body, can dance like a pro, has beautiful eyes. Oh fuck – did I just say beautiful?
"Sure. So who decided on what you should do if he won?"
"- me." Trowa suddenly bursts out laughing and before he knows it I've launched myself at him. A full blown wrestling match begins but his laughter just increases. "God damn it Trowa!"
"Yuy fancies Maxwell, Yuy fancies Maxwell!"
"I do not!" I yell grabbing him in a headlock. I can see WuFei out of the corner of my eye still in the same place as before, but with a slight smirk on his face. Damn them both to hell! I'm through. I've had it. I can't take much more of this. I need out, I need to get away from everyone and everything. I don't fancy Maxwell. I don't, I don't!
I want to crawl into a hole and die, but all I can hear is Trowa's laughter and all I can see if WuFei's smirk. I hate them, I hate Zechs, I hate Duo, I hate Shinigami, I hate Relena and most of all I hate myself.
"Alright calm down Yuy," Trowa chuckles pushing me away. I lay back in my original spot with my arms crossed, glaring at the man across from me.
"Please don't let him do the talent show, please try and stop him."
"In your dreams Yuy." Trowa replies, "Let Duo do as he pleases you don't own him."
"But -" I give a loud sigh and give up. "Duo no baka."
Trowa POV
Alright, so maybe Heero hasn't figured out what he is feeling yet. I was pretty sure the other night he had talked himself round to not feeling anything for Shinigami aka Duo, but it seems the tables have turned – and now I'm scared one of them is going to get hurt.
There's too much lying going on, starting off with 'The Deal' and now with Duo's actual identity. Someone is going to get hurt and I have a feeling this is going to end in tears. After listening to Heero rant about Duo it sparked something in WuFei and soon enough he was ranting about his wife to be. I think I'm going to cut my ears off if I have to deal with this every day.
Walking to my next class I spot Quatre in the hallway and rush to catch a quick chat with him. He doesn't even notice me as I come to stop at his side and then I notice that he looks a little stressed and has black circles around his eyes.
"Something wrong Quatre?" I ask, slightly concerned. He jumps, nearly dropping the book he had reached into his locker to get.
"Trowa!" he exclaims as his hand flies up cover his heart. "You gave me a fright."
"Sorry," I murmur impishly. "You look tired."
"Yeah, I've just got a lot on my mind," he replies his eyes flicker towards a poster of the talent show.
"I heard the news." I say as I lean against the lockers next to his. Folding my arms across my chest I ask, "What's Duo going to do?"
Quatre heaves a deep sigh, "he's planned to sing a song he wrote a couple of weeks ago before we started back at school." He explains - "but I didn't realise there is so much to do! With just the two of us working on it we have to record all the sounds before meshing them together and putting them on a C.D. That usually takes weeks and we now have 3 nights to do it."
I frown, "Isn't there an easier way?"
"Only if he sings live, but that would mean we would have to find people to play the right instruments. I don't think many people in this school would bother to help Duo." A sad look comes to Quatre's face and I know what he's thinking – how sad has this school actually got? How can they be so mean to such a kind hearted person?
We stand in silence for a few minutes both thinking over what could be done to help. By the time an idea pops into my head the corridors are empty and it's just the two of us.
"Don't worry about it Quatre, leave it to me." I say before adding a small smile, "I'll find you your musicians."
Quatre's amazing sky blue eyes widen as his mouth drops, "Trowa – you mean – do you think people will actually help?"
"If I ask them. I know a few musicians who owe me, so there's no way they can back out." The smile that comes to Quatre's face is amazing and I instantly feel like I'm being drawn to him like a moth to a flame.
"Trowa – you're amazing." He suddenly drops his gaze away from mine a deep red blush crossing his slightly tanned cheeks. "Thank you – Duo will never forget this."
"No problem." Stepping forward I reach towards him and gentle tilt his chin back up so I can stare into his eyes. I can feel my heart thumping in my chest as I lose myself in his gaze. "I'd do anything for you Quatre."
"I -" I hear his stutter as he realises how close I've pulled him towards me and how close our lips are together. I can feel his short breaths puff over my lips and I can smell his sweet sent, which just makes me want him more.
Suddenly the school bell alarms making us both jump. A fire alarm. Great.
I cruse the damn world as all the students begin to exit the classrooms in an orderly fashion to line up at the fire safety point. I turn to Quatre; he gives me the wickedest grin which instantly turns me on. Placing a hand suggestively on my chest he gently pushes away from me while his hand slowly travels lower and lands on my hip, caressing me through my shirt. All I want to do at that moment was grab him and kiss the living daylight out of him.
"I'll see you later Trowa." He purrs making my eyes widen. At this rate I won't even give a damn about the other people. I think I might have to go somewhere and cool off before class.
"Be at my house with your friends at 7." He says before turning to make his way towards the safety point. My eyes are glued to his arse until he disappears.
I had a lot to do before meeting Quatre at his place. I didn't see Heero or WuFei for the rest of the day as most of it was spent calling in old favours. First I met up with Garry who owed me for protecting his brother against bullies, he said yes after a bit of persuasion and knowing he would be able to go in Quatre's house again. Next it was Sarah, then Will, Zack, and finally a few of the orchestra group who were too shy to even say 'No' to me. Ah – the power of being a popular guy.
After telling them all where to meet me, I rushed through my last classes before driving home, grabbing something to eat and a shower. By 7 I was rushing towards Quatre's gate with 10 students behind me. Ringing the gate buzzer I hear Rashid's voice boom through. I tell him it's me and he says Quatre's expecting us.
As we walk up to the house I can hear murmurs behind me ranging from 'Ooooo's' and 'Awwwww's' to 'I can't believe we've been invited over again.' Rashid is there to greet us as we reach the large front doors.
"Welcome Master Trowa, how nice to see you again." He says in his deep voice. I offer him a smile and introduce all the people I've brought along. The large man smiles and greets all of them with a handshake before turning back to me. "Master Quatre is in the music room with Master Duo. Please follow me."
The large Arabian walks us through the enormous house. I think we had to walk down 3 long corridors before we even got near the music room. Rashid stops outside a large white door and knocks. Two seconds later Quatre opens the door with a large smile on his face which gets even bigger when he notices how many people I've rounded up.
"Trowa, guys, thanks for coming, come in and make yourself comfortable." I watch as they all rush past with their instruments in hand to enter the room. I enter last and give Quatre a big smile as I pass which he returns.
Turning to survey the room I find a lot of recording equipment and a computer at one end while the other end contains numerous instruments ranging from a large grand piano to a Mandolin guitar, an instrument I had learnt to play while growing up. I notice Duo sitting on the piano stool with his dirty old hat on, looking quite shocked and awe at the fact that so many people had come to help.
"First off -" Quatre begins, "I would like to say thank you to you all that have come here to help and be part of Duo's act. Without your help we would have been having a lot of sleepless nights." He smiles, "- before we begin I need to know what instruments each of you can play."
I watch as he travels down the line of people with satisfaction before turning to me, "can you play an instrument Trowa?"
"I can play the Mandolin." I reply and his smile gets bigger.
"Great!" He exclaims before grabbing up the beautiful looking guitar from its stand and handing it to me. "You've just gained yourself one of the lead parts."
"Brilliant," I murmur suddenly feeling slightly nervous at the thought of having to play in front of the whole school. But then again, why should I feel nervous I've played football in front of the whole school before and been forced into participating in a school play. This should be a walk in the park.
I watch as Quatre holds up a wad of paper "- Last night I went over all the music and revamped it. Now the sound should fit together perfectly." He called out each instrument one by one and the person playing that part went up to get their sheet of music notes from him. Looking down at my own I can instantly tell I will have to practice religiously for the next couple of days, however I am confident I will be able to play it perfection with some practice.
"We haven't got anyone on drums." Quatre announced with a slight worried look. "Does anyone know someone who can play the drums?" There are murmurs between the 10 but no one speaks up.
I know someone – but I'm not sure they would be willing to help. Maybe with a little blackmail -
"I know someone." I sigh as I rub a hand over my face while wondering what I'm about to get myself into.
"You do?" Quatre beams, "great! Do you think they will help us?"
I shrug my shoulders – WuFei wanting to help people? Yeah right in your dreams! "Maybe, I'll have to find out tomorrow." After I've blackmailed him enough to help.
The practice went brilliant with everyone trying to get used to their parts and what the melody sounded like. My part wasn't as hard as I first thought and I spent most of the two hours with Duo. As he sung and strummed on his guitar I could see his eyes sparkling with joy and excitement and I felt good about it, because I had helped cause it. It was weird sitting next to him and hearing his beautiful voice when I'd only heard it coming from Shinigami.
The words to the song were amazing and I choked up because the expression on his face as he sung told me that every word was true and heartfelt.
"Are you nervous?" I ask as he takes a breather and a sip of water. His violet eyes land on me before he nods his head a little.
"You know it's weird -" he says looking down at the water swishing around in the bottle, "The amount of time's I've performed in front of people you would have thought that this would be easy." He frowns, looking slightly uncertain, "but at school – It's like I walk into a different world, it's as if I'm not me anymore, I don't feel like me – I feel like I can't be me." His words hit the right spot and I know exactly what he was feeling – too an extent.
"I just thought this song would, in a way, express my feelings –"he smiles wistfully at me,
"- without anyone noticing."
"You shouldn't hide yourself from people Duo." I say with meaning, "you are so much more than people realise."
"I like being simple to them." He replies with a smile as I remember Heero's words today 'they're all the same Trowa, their basic – nothing but pure geekness.'
"Anyway -" he says as a wicked grin comes to his face. He winks at me, "I don't think they could handle Shinigami." I laugh at that, just the thought of Relena finding out about Duo's identity and all the girls around school pinning over him would be incredible funny.
"Wouldn't you like Relena to fall at your feet?"
"Ha!" He grins, "I think I would rather jump off a cliff than have Princess all over me."
"You just tell that to Heero."
"Yeah, well, the guys blind." He says as a sad look briefly crosses his face.
"You like him don't you?" I say. It's more of a statement than a question. His face suddenly turns beat red as his mouth starts to flap open and closed as he tries to think of a comeback, but to no avail. Of course he likes him. After everything that has happened how could he deny it? Maxwell fancies Yuy? Or is it Yuy fancies Maxwell?
"I -" He gives up and drops his head.
"So is the song about him?" I ask with a smirk, his eyes shoot open and he can't reply.
"- I don't lie Tro, so I guess." He murmurs and then looks me straight into the eyes, "But I know you can keep a secret."
As soon as he said it, all my worries come flooding back to me – 'The Deal', Duo's identity and everything else. Why does it seem like I'm caught in the middle?
TBC...