Chapter Two
Wufei's house was just across the street from Duo and Quatre's house. it looked older than most of the houses on their quiet little street, but that was just because Mr. and Mrs. Chang, Wufei's parents, didn't keep the house very well. Nevertheless, Duo and Quatre had learned to discard the houses' appearance when they first tasted one of Mrs. Chang's home made egg rolls.
As they approached the old, worn front door, the Chang's dog, Yin, immediately started barking at the gate. Grins crossed over Duo and Quatre's faces.
"Hey Yin! Hey boy!" Quatre shouted, jogging over to the gate. The shepherd gave a high pitched excited bark, and his tail wagged furiously as he got up on his hind legs, trying to lick Quatre's face over the fence. Quatre smiled and pet the dog's head, and the shepherd licked his hang. Duo knocked on the door while watching Quatre and the dog from the porch.
Within seconds the door creaked open and a young, Asian boy stepped out onto the porch, shutting the door quietly behind him. Wufei Chang looked irritated, but that was normal for him. Wufei was a bit shorter than Quatre, who was a bit shorter than Duo. despite his height he had a strong build.
"Quiet Yin!" Wufei hissed angrily at the shepherd. Quatre backed up as Wufei approached the gate. Wufei never really acknowledged their presence, but he was still part of the gang, and Duo and Quatre never excluded him from anything. Wufei reached over the gate and unlocked it, letting the shepherd run free. The dog immediately tackled Quatre and Quatre nearly fell over backwards.
"Please don't get the dog excited." Wufei grumbled, "My parents are sleeping."
"Why do your parents always sleep during the afternoon?" Duo asked, walking over to join the boys on the lawn. Wufei frowned.
"I don't know, really. Something about the time zone in China. They're always having to be careful not to call our relatives in the middle of the night." Duo cocked an eyebrow.
"Right.." He said. He looked around, looking for something to change the subject to. his eyes rested on Quatre, who was chewing nervously on the sleeve of his over shirt.
"So, Quatre's going to be coming to my youth group this week. Do you want to come, Wufei?" Duo offered. Quatre's eyes widened and he spun to face Duo.
"Who said I was going?" He snapped.
"You didn't go to church."
"So? Jee Duo, it's not like I have to go every week. i got invited to go to breakfast. You just want me to go to youth group to make up the time." Quatre argued.
"First of all," Duo started towards Quatre, his violet eyes blazing into Quatre's blue ones, "You could invited Trowa to come to church with us, and then you to could have gone out to breakfast. There were ways you could have compromised." Quatre simply stared at his friend in annoyance, before shrugging it off.
"Fine, I'll go to youth group this week." He muttered. Duo sighed. He didn't like the look in Quatre's eyes anymore. Something had changed, and he had a pretty good idea who was responsible for this change.
***
The boys had spent the rest of the afternoon digging through some junk Wufei's parents had piled up into he backyard. Duo found an old skateboard, which he had hurt himself trying to use, and then the boys got yelled at by the Changs because they were making too much noise. It was around 6:20 when they got kicked out of Wufei's yard, so Duo called it a night. His mom hated it when he waited until the last minute to come in anyway.
Duo said goodbye to his friends, and gave Yin a friendly pat of the head, before heading inside. His face turned into an expression of distaste when he smelled the cigarette smoke in the living room. Ah, Dad was home. Duo cast a glance to the right, where his father was sprawled out on the couch, wearing knee length boxer shorts a stained t-shirt. Duo had inherited most of his physical features from his dad. They had the same chestnut colored hair and the same violet eyes, yet his father's were dimmed by stress and aging, so his eyes looked more gray than violet. His father wasn't overweight like his mother was, but certainly not in good shape. Duo, however, was in rather good shape, he didn't have the bulging muscles like Wufei or Trowa, but he could outrun any of his friends by a mile.
"Duo, is that you?" His mother called from the kitchen. Duo walked past the smoke scented living room and into the kitchen where his mother was preparing some sort of soup broth.
"It's me, Mom." Duo replied, leaning his elbows on the kitchen counter. he glanced up at the clock. 6:27. He didn't expect his mom to get angry. She didn't, just gave him one of her foul looks, then sniffing the air with some distaste.
"Take a shower before dinner."
"Mom.." Duo complained. he didn't feel like taking shower. he didn't feel like washing, drying, and re-braiding his hair. "Only if you let me air dry my hair." Duo proposed. mrs. Maxwell grimaced.
"I hate it when your prancing around the house with your hair loose." She complained.
"I'll stay in my room, all right?"
"Tie it back during dinner."
"Fine." Duo, somewhat satisfied with his mother's final decision, wandered into the bathroom and prepared his shower. He turned on the water and adjusted the temperature, before quickly slipping out of his over shirt and un-braiding his hair. He smiled as the long, chestnut locks, somewhat curved because of being in the braid, spills over his shoulders and hung below his hips. He looked at his reflection, and his smile faded.
'Maybe I should just cut it off. No one appreciates it but me.'
TBC