Chapter Three
There was a prolonged silence during dinner time at the Maxwell household after Mrs. Maxwell said grace. It was only Duo and his mom at the dinner table. His dad always took his dinner in front of the TV. Duo had put on some slacks and a button up shirt since his mom insisted that he be at least in a shirt and pants at the dinner table. He had tied his damp hair back into a loose ponytail, and the sweet scent of his shampoo cast an aroma over the dinner table.
Duo was usually the one to break the silence.
"How was your day, Mom?" Mrs. Maxwell looked up at her son, sighing heavily as she laid eyes on him.
"You're having your hair cut."
"Mom!" Duo shouted, rather loudly. He dropped his fork onto his plate. His mother made no new movements, just eyed him with the same distaste she had looked at him with for the past couple months.
Ever since Duo had hit puberty, his mom had been acting suspiciously odd around him. She became more script with her rules, and hadn't smiled at him as often as she did before. She liked Duo's long hair because it made him look cute. But now, Duo's features had drastically changed since he was younger. His astonishing features no longer made him look cute, it made him look unbelievingly attractive, and his mother didn't like that, not one bit.
"You've kept it long enough. It's time for it to go." Mrs. Maxwell said. Duo's eyes shimmered with unfallen tears.
"Mom, please, you can't do this! You have to let me start making my own decisions!" He cried. He angrily pushed his chair back, grabbed his plate, nearly tossing it in the sink before jogging to his room. Once inside, he slammed the door angrily behind him, falling to his knees on his low bed. The young man forced himself not to cry over something as foolish as a hair cut, but it meant a lot to him. It was his key physical characteristic. He reached behind him and pulled the rubber band that was holding his hair, snapping it onto his finger and hiding his flushed face behind a curtain of hair.
"Boys don't cry," He whispered, "boy's don't cry."
A couple moments later, Duo found himself sitting on his bed, stripped down to his boxers, covers bunched around his hips, and his arms clutching his Bible to his chest. His right hand held the cross that dangled from a chain on his neck, and the quiet whispers escaping from his mouth could only be heard by himself, and God.
***
The next morning, Duo had a most unpleasant awakening. A loud pounding on his bedroom window woke him with a startled gasp. He sat up in bed, knocking his Bible onto the floor. Pushing the covers off of him unceremoniously, and staggered to the window. He shoved the curtains over, and gaped incredulously at Trowa Barton who was grinning back at him through the glass.
"Hey Duo! We were just curious 'bout what you wore to bed. Obviously not much." Trowa observed. Duo flushed, realizing his was only in his boxers. He glared at Trowa, grabbing his pants off the floor and pulling them on.
"What'd you mean, we?" Duo asked, walking back over to the window. Trowa shrugged his shoulder to his right, and Duo followed the shrug and found Quatre standing slightly aside from the window, out of his clear view. Duo blinked. He was angry. It was early, and he was tired, and he had school today and now he was going to be cranky. And to top it off, Trowa Barton was in his backyard.
"You guys get out of there!" Duo ordered, "Quat, are you supposed to be at school?" He asked in sudden realization. Quatre paled.
"It-it was Trowa's idea...he.." He voice trailed off when he saw Trowa glaring at him.
"Aw, lighten up, Christian boy. Don't tell me you've never ditched before." Duo frowned.
"That would be impossible actually, considering that I'm home schooled." Duo snapped back Trowa grinned.
"Oh, right, I forgot. Mama's little Christian boy can't hang with the big bad high school girls in tube and halter tops." Duo flushed fully, turning his face away from the older boy.
"Maybe that's a good thing." He said quietly, "Plus, I'm not interested in that kind of stuff." Duo added. Trowa chuckled and Quatre gulped nervously. This was getting ugly.
"What are you interested in, Maxwell? Boys?" Trowa asked, before breaking out in hysterical laughter, "Isn't that against God and Jesus and angels and stuff?" He asked, "Uh oh Duo, you're disobeying God and you're gonna go to hell!" Duo slammed his fists against the window.
"You're crazy, Trowa! I'm not gay and you don't know what the hell you're talking about! Go to church and learn something that'll do you some good in life!" He violently closed his curtains, spun around and kicked his bed, hard. His ankle instantly turned red and was throbbing with pain, but Duo's anger was far greater than any pain. He heard Trowa and Quatre talking outside his bedroom window, and got up to leave his room. Not bothering to put on a shirt or braid his hair, he stomped angrily down the hall and sat down at the breakfast table, not acknowledging his parents' prosiness.
"Duo, you know better than that. Go to your room and fix yourself up before you come out to breakfast." Mrs. Maxwell said. She sat down across from Duo at the table. Her long, stringy hair was braided into two separate braids., and she wore an oversized pink t-shirt and white leggings. She noticed the upset look on Duo's face.
"Why the long face?" She asked. Duo didn't want to answer her. He was tired, he was angry, he was confused, and his ankle was swelling rather quickly. But he knew if he didn't answer her, it was just going to make things worse.
"I tripped over the bed and hurt my ankle." Duo said, some of pain showing through his voice.
"Stop being so clumsy." His mom said simply, turning back to her breakfast. Duo growled under his breath. He shoved his chair backwards and got up, careful not to put any extra weight on his ankle.
"I need some fresh air." He spat, and limped towards the front door. He could feel his mom's eyes on his back the whole way, and he reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out a black rubber hair band. While kicking open the screen door with his good foot, he reached behind him, gathering up his large mass of hair and tied it into a loose ponytail with the hair band. He then stepped out into the cool morning air, letting the screen door shut by itself behind him.
Walking further out on his porch, Duo could hear the loud hum of a large vehicle and the chatter of some people up the street. Curious, he stepped out onto his driveway, looking past Quatre's yard and spotting the moving van near the next house up.
Duo's breath caught in his throat when he spotted the figure sitting in the back of the open moving van, his legs dangling off the edge, arms behind him, propping him up. It wasn't the fact that the boy looked to be around his age, and he was going to moving in the neighborhood, it was because Duo found him to be very attractive.
TBC