@--{February 14, Evening}--@
"So, what are your plans tonight?" Duo asked as exited from Heero's bathroom, his hands quickly finishing the end of his braid.
Heero looked up from his computer monitor. "Nothing."
"Princess isn't going to like that." Duo pointed out, walking up to stand next to Heero's chair.
"Why?"
"Check your calendar, Romeo." he said while tapping Heero's head. Heero tilted his head to look at the calendar that hung on a nearby wall.
"Oh."
"Very enthusiastic." Duo huffed. "Okay, you're losing all of your brownie points."
"With you or Relena?"
"Both." he answered, pulling Heero out of his seat. He began to push his friend toward the bathroom door. "Now, go get dressed up, call her, and take her out. Buy some flowers! What is so funny?"
"You."
"And?"
"For someone who would dance for joy if we were to ever break up, you try the hardest to keep us together." Heero noted.
"Oh." Duo said and walked over to Heero's abandoned chair. He perched himself on the edge of the seat, and looked up nervously at his friend.
Heero leaned against the bathroom door, crossing his arms in deep thought.
"Care to explain why?" he asked.
"Um, I just like seeing you happy, is all." Duo finally admitted as he jumped up from the chair. "Look, I've got babysitter duty tonight and I better fly outta here. See you after school tomorrow."
Duo began to walk briskly out of the room. Heero caught one of his hands and caused him to a stop in the hallway. "Duo-"
"Stop," he ordered as he pulled his arm free. "I'll see you tomorrow."
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@--{February 15}--@
"Hey lil' bro, wanna be our manager?" Jay asked Quatre, slinging his arm tightly around the short blond's neck.
"We have managers." Trowa said as he leaned against Quatre's locker door. "Four of them."
"Nothing wrong with one more!" Nick argued. The boys were lounging in the hallway after school. An away game was that evening and the basketball players were waiting to leave.
"What do you say, my man?" Jay persuaded. "You can come to the away games with us."
"It is something to think about." Quatre said, swatting Trowa aside so he could open his locker. "Hope you guys win tonight," he added quietly.
"Oh, you know it!" Nick exclaimed. He raised his hand in the air, only for Jay to slap it.
"Cakewalk baby!" Jay laughed as he pulled Nick into a haphazard hug. The two boys began to laugh and howl, jumping up and down in wild circles. They tried to include Trowa in their excitement, but their teammate just arched an eyebrow. Quatre laughed weakly at the display, only to be targeted by the hyper teens. Nick grabbed the smaller boy and draped him over Jay's shoulder's like a shawl. Jay began to spin the blond boy in circles, laughing wildly.
"Fuck!" Duo's voice echoed through the hallway, causing all action to stop.
"What's wrong?" Quatre asked from Jay's shoulder. Jay lowered him back to the ground. Quatre uneasily ambled over to his friend, his balance albeit gone.
"Not today," Duo hissed as he frantically tore into Heero's locker. Books flew out of the open door, papers floated to the floor. "This is not. . . I had them right over. . . damn!"
"Lose something?" Jay asked.
"Duo!" Hilde exclaimed as she jogged up to the group, pompoms in hand. "Did you find them yet?"
"Does it look like I found them?" He growled.
"Let's just head back to Mrs. Noin's office." she said, grabbing his arm. "We'll think of something."
"No, go ahead. You need to get ready for the game."
"But Duo-"
"Go on!" Duo ordered, slamming the locker door shut. He began to walk toward the principal's office, his head downcast. "I'll call you later."
"What's going on?" Quatre asked Hilde. She sighed and lightly punched the locker door.
"Duo lost the order forms for the Prom Company. We had to get them in today, but it's too late. Mrs. Noin called, they're already closed."
"Why did you need to send out the forms today?"
"To get the big discount." She answered, throwing up her hands in frustration. "Even if we were to find them now, we'd be over budget."
********************************************************************
"Quite the predicament we are in." Mrs. Noin calmly stated as she sat behind her desk. Wufei and Duo sat side by side in her office, their eyes downcast. "I'm sorry that I put so much responsibility on your shoulders. I thought that you would be able to handle it."
"I know," Duo groaned as he banged his forehead on the edge of her desk. "I just don't know what to say but sorry."
"All is not lost, nothing ever goes perfectly." She said, wincing as Duo's head hit her desk for the third time. "So, what is the game plan?"
"Here's my catalog and the notes from the committee meetings." Wufei said and placed the objects on Mrs. Noin's desk.
"I guess I'll go through and refinance the budget and make new order forms. We'll have to get rid of some items, so I guess we will have to call an emergency meeting to find out what we can live without." Duo said, falling back into his chair.
"What about fundraisers?" the Chinese teen suggested.
"It is possible for you to raise the money that you are behind on. Prom isn't until May, and that is months away." Noin pointed out.
"Technically we have plenty of time, but by the school calendar I would have to disagree." Duo stated as he rubbed his forehead; wincing at the small bump that formed under his bangs. "March and April is the peak of the sports season, with basketball tournaments and stuff. The drama department has their spring play in the middle of April, along with the children's theatre. Prom is set for the first week of May, so April is the month for things to get done. The original intent was to have everything ordered and done with this week to prepare for the lag time in the next two months."
"In other words, everyone would be too busy to do a fundraiser." Wufei commented dryly.
"Exactly."
"We can always enlist the other class cabinets. They would glad to help-" Noin suggested as she brought out her calendar.
"No, Mrs. N! You gave us a job and we are going to do it." Duo protested as he jumped from his seat. "Now, I'll go and reconfigure these, and we'll have an emergency cabinet meeting on Monday."
Grabbing the books on her desk, Duo spun on his heel and stormed out of the office.
**********************************************************************
@--{1 Week Later}--@
"Too bad you couldn't make it to the emergency meetings, Heero." Relena cooed. She was over at Heero's house to study. The entire time she was there, Relena relayed every event that had occurred in the past week.
"We had to re-vote on everything! Something about there being a problem with the budget. Nobody could agree on anything! I almost felt sorry for the cabinet, I swear Wufei was about to strangle someone. Odds are that your friend forgot to carry the one somewhere and now all we can afford are balloons and cardboard cutouts!"
"Can I use your calculator?" Heero asked irritably. She seemed to be enjoying what seemed to be a stressful time for his friends. He barely even saw Duo anymore; he even opted to change at the school before running to work.
"In my book bag." she said before continuing on her rant. "And what was he thinking, planning the meetings so soon after school. He knew that most of the sports teams had practice at that time. If it weren't that Hilde was in cabinet, I wouldn't have postponed my squad's practice. That was very nice of me, don't you think?"
There was a long moment of silence, and Relena looked up from her textbook to see Heero glaring at her book bag. "Why do you have this?" he asked as he pulled the familiar Stumps Prom and Party catalog from its hiding place.
"Oh that!" She exclaimed, trying to pull it from his hands. "I decided to get a catalog for myself. I was thinking that I'd get one of those big tiaras for-"
"This is Duo's," he stated after opening the page that housed the order forms, each page filled to capacity.
"It is?" she asked innocently. He glared at her before tossing the catalog aside and fished around her book bag.
"Do you know what you have done?" He asked when he found Duo's notebook.
"I-it was a harmless prank, Heero." Relena stammered.
"Did you even stop to think of the repercussions?" He demanded, throwing the notebook in her lap. "The entire budget was planned around the order forms being turned in last week."
"I'm sorry," she said, tossing the notebook aside.
"I'm not the person you should be apologizing to."
"Apologize! To him?" She asked, before laughing wildly. "It's better he didn't know. Just stick it in your locker where he'll find it and be done with it."
"Relena-"
"It's just as much your fault as it is mine." She interrupted him, her voice condescending.
"What?"
"You made me go crazy." Relena nonchalantly explained. "I just thought that with Duo busy with prom and away from you, we could spend more time together."
"That's no excuse."
"Does it look like I care?" She asked before returning to her homework. "Heero, I want you to choose. Either you pick me or him. It's unfair to have both."
"I agree." he said. Grabbing the catalog and notebook, Heero began to walk out of his room. "I expect you not to be here when I get back." Heero ordered from the door before slamming it shut.
**********************************************************************
"A dollar twenty times 500 . . . take 5% off. . ." Duo murmured as he chewed on the end of his braid. He was on his break, sitting at one of the unoccupied tables in the smoking section. The booth still had food scattered about the table, empty glasses and plates rested at the edge.
Waiters would place their unwanted dishes there as well, so there they sat until a buser would come by and pick them up. Only Duo was the "bus bitch" for the night. He had cleared a small space to rest his new notebook, and he was set on having the order forms ready as soon as possible. Duo was so caught up in his figures that he failed to notice that someone slid into the seat across from him.
"Eat this instead." Heero said, placing a basket of mozzarella sticks in front of Duo's face.
"Five percent of. . ." Duo continued to write, only pausing to replace his braid with a stick. Looking at his friend, Heero could see how tired his friend was.
"Take a break."
"I have to get this done," he said as he threw the half-eaten stick back into the basket.
"I need to talk to you."
"Talk." Duo urged with a yawn. "Five percent of, wait, we vetoed it. Five percent. . ."
"Relena had this." Heero said as he placed the books on the table. "I found them today."
"All this time," Duo murmured. He laughed bitterly as he looked at his friend. Looking at the books in defeat, he added. "I should've known that bitch-"
"Are you mad at me?"
"Me? Mad? Never!" He sarcastically snapped, rapidly gathering his things.
"Can I help?"
"No!" he yelled. Seeing the looks from nearby tables, he dropped his voice to a whisper. "I don't need your help anymore."
"I want to-"
"Then stay away from me! You and your girlfriend!" He hissed. "You're only making things worse."
He began to walk towards the back room; Heero jumped from his seat to stand in front of him. "Duo, what do you want from me?"
"Just leave me alone." He pleaded as he stepped around him. Duo stormed into the backroom. He walked past the kitchen and into the massive preparation room. Reaching the employee's closet he threw his books into his book bag. Only did he realize that there was a commotion in the kitchen.
"Hey! You can't be back here!" He heard his supervisor yell when Heero appeared from around the corner.
"Duo-" he said loudly.
"I'm not talking to you."
"Why are you acting like this?"
"Are you blind?" He yelled. "This is just as much your fault as it is hers!"
"What do you want me to do?" Heero asked.
"I want you to start acting like my friend again! Friends don't do certain things, especially things that make girlfriends do even more stupid things!"
"What if I'm sick and tired of being just your friend?" He shouted. "I don't want to be your friend anymore!"
Duo stared at him in silence, before walking to the back exit. "I can't be your friend, either. I'm sorry." he whispered, opening the door.
"That's not what I meant." Heero pleaded.
"I know what you meant. I just think that if we. . . it would be best not to be anything at all. I've got to get back to work." He said tensely, his voice low. "Goodbye, Heero."
Heero glared at him for a second before briskly walking out the opened door. Shutting the door behind Heero's retreating form, Duo leaned against it. He slid down the door until he was sitting on the hard, cold floor. Hilde emerged from her hiding space in the manager's office, and sat next to her friend.
"You idiot." She stated, pulling him into a tight hug.
**********************************************************************
@--{March}--@
Wufei marched down the hallway, weaving through the numerous crowds and skipping over scattered book bags. Not once did he look up from his book, which he was in the process of reading out loud to the person following behind him.
"Hilde has the Winter Awards to attend to at 7 tonight, won't be here for the inventory. We have the Talent Show this Friday and we still haven't decided who is going to MC, you or me. Meeting next Friday, check in with the various committees, make sure the Ticket Sales committee is ready to go after Spring Break." He said as he approached his locker. After putting in the combination, he opened his locker. Books, papers, basketballs and jackets tumbled out of the small space, landing in a small pile at his feet. "Damn it, Duo! Don't you have your own locker!"
"I told you Wu, I have one, but I've never used it." Duo explained as he bent down to gather the items on the floor. "Never had a reason to.
I don't even know the combination to it."
"Figures," Wufei mumbled as he kicked the basketball in Duo's direction. "Most of this stuff isn't even yours! Sure as hell isn't mine."
"For the thousandth time, sorry!"
"This might as well be Heero's locker. . ."
"Sorry."
"Tell me again how one would lose their letter jacket on someone else's locker door?"
Duo shrugged and continued to shove the items back into Wufei's locker.
Weeks had passed, and yet Duo had successfully avoided his friend. Not that it was difficult, as he had predicted the sports season flourished. The basketball team had a rigorous schedule, and when they had made it to the state finals, they had to spend in entire week in another city. Hilde made Wufei drag Duo to the final game, and Duo was thankful for that. He witnessed Heero, along with his teammates, blow away Peyton Prep in a near shutout game.
Heero "lost" the game ball three days later.
"If you can't explain why your friend has become extremely absentminded, tell me again why you stopped talking to each other?"
"His girlfriend got jealous and almost ruined prom, remember?" Duo exclaimed as he attempted to close the stuffed locker. "If it wasn't for that donation . . ."
"That was Relena's move, Heero had nothing to do with it." Wufei argued.
"He said he was sick of being my friend."
"This is the only time that I'm *asking* you to think in the gutter." He calmly stated before walking away from his locker. Duo stared at Wufei's back for a moment.
"Oh, that's just sick!" He called after him, causing curious looks from students around them.
Wufei stopped in mid step and turned to his friend.
"By the way, I know not to believe everything that Hilde's rumor mills announce, but Relena is no longer Heero's girlfriend." He said before resuming his walk down the hallway. "And get that shit out of my locker!"
**********************************************************************
"Hey Heero, what are ya wearing to the Awards?" Jay asked as the two teens ambled down the hallway.
"Clothes."
"That seems to be the common answer," he mused, his brow furrowing with deep thought.
"Hey Heero!" Quatre called, running up to them. "Just who I was looking for!"
"Lil' bro!"
"Don't spin me." He warned Jay before placing a hair tie in Heero's hand. "Duo lost this."
"I wasn't gonna! The last time I tried to you punched me in the stomach. It hurt, and I swear Trowa tripped me!"
"You tripped on your own feet," Heero pointed out as he stared at the object in his hands. "Quatre, where is Duo?"
"In the cafeteria," Quatre answered with a smile. "The prom materials just arrived."
"Thank you." He said, running towards the office.
"It's about time." Quatre said before walking in the other direction.
"Time for what?" Jay asked loudly as he stood in the hallway by himself.
**********************************************************************
"Okay, once we're done checking the inventory, we're going to lock this away in storage." Noin instructed the two boys who looked in awe at the massive boxes. "The invitations, tickets, and favors will be locked in my office. . . once you find them."
"We're going to be here for awhile." Wufei said.
"Mmm-hmmm." Duo nodded.
"Yeah." he murmured quietly as Duo turned his back to him. Wufei immediately noticed that Duo's braid was slowly becoming undone. The tie that was there when he was chatting with Quatre minutes earlier had disappeared. "Lose something?"
"Yeah, lost a lot of things."
"I don't see why I try to understand you."
"Oh, you know I love you Wu!"
"Just looking at those boxes are making me tired!" Noin groaned as she sat in a nearby chair. Looking up at the cafeteria doors, she spotted a lone figure standing at in the doorway.
"Heero?" she called to him. "Can I help you?"
"I was looking for Duo," he stated, pointing to the form that was being strangled by Wufei.
"We'll continue this later." Wufei threatened him. Before pushing Duo in the direction of the cafeteria doors he whispered, "Chicken out this time and I will hurt you."
Duo followed Heero out into the near empty hallway, suddenly feeling painfully shy.
"I found this." Heero said the second Duo was standing in front of him.
"Yeah, I found some things too," he admitted bashfully. Heero made a small wave of his hand, and Duo automatically turned so that his back was to him. Heero quickly re-braided Duo's braid, securing it with the lost tie.
"We've been stupid, huh?" Heero said apologetically once he finished, squeezing Duo's shoulder lightly. Duo turned and grinned at him.
"Extremely." He agreed, wrapping his arms around Heero's waist. Heero mimicked his actions, and they both leaned forward so that their foreheads where resting against each other. "Well, Wufei kicked me out of his locker and I wasn't too thrilled to be sharing with him anyway. . ."
"My locker's pretty empty." Heero murmured.
"Friends then?" Duo whispered.
Heero chuckled lightly. "No friends."
"Okay." he mused, tilting his head back to look into Heero's eyes. "Then what?"
"We'll see." Heero said softly before brushing his lips lightly across Duo's. "We'll see."
TBC