When was the last time you stopped and really looked at a piece of
graffiti? I look at it everyday. Most of the stuff spray painted on walls
really is a bunch of crap. Just some deluded kid who thinks that having
their name or nickname or symbol or whatever is going to afford them some
sense of immortality, or, even worse, some kid who just wants to be a pain
in the ass and mess with somebody else's property. However - I love to use
that word - there are a very few people who use graffiti as their means of
expressing their art. The spray bottle is their medium, and the walls are
their canvas.
My buddy Wufei - and yeah, he's Chinese - is like that, except he also uses canned paints and brushes, not just spray paint. He's the same age as me, 16, and he's already a truly terrific artist, even if he sometimes shuts out the rest of the world to focus on his painting. Isn't that what all great painters did? But yeah, even if it's graffiti, it's good. Some guy from the City Department or whatever even managed to track him down and ask if he'd be interested in doing some commission stuff in parks and such. Wufei turned him down flat. The look on the guy's face was priceless. Then Wufei went on to say how his art is for him and his memories and dreams, and he didn't care who else saw it, but he wasn't about to go painting someone else's ideas.
I really do admire the guy. He joined the gang for approximately the same reason I did, some sort of companionship and protection. I can tell, even if he's ignoring the rest of us most of the time, he is glad we're there. But that doesn't mean I don't tease him relentlessly.
He was the only one in the courtyard when I got there. See, there's a ton of alleys in this part of town, but me and Trowa - I'll get to him later - found the only one with a door at the end that leads into a sort of courtyard in between all sorts of buildings on a block. Don't ask me why no one else really knew about it, because I have no idea. But now, it's claimed as ours, and we only let a few others in besides the five of us.
Anyway, like I said, when I got into the courtyard the only other one there was Wufei. As usual, he was painting something on one of the walls. I sauntered over to him and peeked over his shoulder, and saw that he was painting a picture of himself. It wasn't a self-portrait, though. It was a picture of him with bat wings and a halo, with something big and dark, but surrounded with a whitish-bright aura thing, in the background.
"Bad dream?" I asked.
He didn't say anything, but gave a one-shoulder shrug with a small nod. Translation: You could say that.
As I was already behind him, I slid my arms around my waist and started rubbing my hands lightly over his stomach. "Want me to help you forget about it?" I asked softly in his hear.
He actually put down his arm holding the brush and turned in the circle of my arms. He raised an eyebrow at me and I grinned in return, before I leaned forward and gave him a light kiss on his lips. He rolled his eyes and swiped his brush over my nose, then pushed me lightly away.
"Go away, Duo," he muttered. "I don't want to put up with your overtures right now."
"So you will later?" I couldn't help but giggle a little bit.
He smirked. "If you can get someone to distract your keeper long enough."
I laughed, but moved away as he turned again to keep painting. Yeah, I flirt with all the guys, sometimes so much that I get Heero pretty well pissed. But don't you dare call me a slut. Heero's my one and only, and I've never slept with anyone else. That won't stop me from Iacting/I like a slut, though. Heh. All the guys know that, too. We'll fool around, yeah, but we don't take it too far, because we all have actual romantic interests elsewhere.
I watched Wufei paint for a while, then moved over to an old, and supposedly abandoned, doorway off to the left of the entrance into the courtyard. We had an old beat up mini-fridge there, that usually we could keep some cheap refreshments in. I know other people, the crazies that haven't been caught, are in and out of this courtyard, in those small hours when all the sane people are asleep, or at least in a room somewhere. I'm frankly surprised the fridge hasn't been stolen, but occasionally we do end up missing food, so we know it gets raided once in a while. It doesn't seem like any of the others care, and I don't, really, so it's all good. Anyway, I grabbed a soda out of it, then went to go sit and keep watching Wufei paint until the others showed up.
Trowa and Quatre showed up not too long later. I mentioned Trowa earlier - he's about as quiet as Wufei, except that he's watching everyone and everything. He notices a whole bunch of stuff, probably because he's always watching, ya' think? I don't really know too much about him, not even how old he is. But he's cool, and an excellent street fighter. I've only seen three others better than him: Heero, Zechs, and some guy from another gang. I should probably explain about Zechs, and, well, the whole gang. Me, Heero, Wufei, Trowa, and Quatre are a small sub-group of a bigger gang, the Ice. Goofy name, I know. Zechs is the leader of our gang, and Heero, his childhood best friend and only equal as a fighter, is his second-in- command. As a whole gang, the Ice tend to meet outside this one park around nightfall. Our smaller group is comprised of the only gay members in the gang: Me, Heero, Trowa, and Quatre. Interestingly enough, we paired off nice as you please, too. Wufei is straight as a board, but because he's so quiet and, well, kinda' weird, he hangs out with us most often.
And, I suppose, I should move on to Quatre. He's of Arabic descent, he says, but you wouldn't think it by looking at him. He has short blond hair and blue eyes and pale skin, like some English guy, but the shape of his features is more of Arabic, I guess. He's really sweet, and makes me wonder why he's in the gang. He's smart, probably smarter than me, and actually part of a rather prosperous family. My guess is he joined the gang to be closer to Trowa, but he never said. Wanna' know what's really weird about him? I'll tell you, anyway. He has 29 sisters! That's right. I don't want to even Ithink/I how that's possible, but it's true. Blows my mind. Anyway, he's 17, almost exactly a year older than me. We get along pretty well, and he's the relay between Trowa and the rest of us, since Trowa hardly speaks, you know.
I waved when the two of them came in, and Quatre waved back. They exchanged a brief kiss, and to my mild surprise, Trowa turned back around and left. Quatre came in, though, and sat down next to me so that he could also watch Wufei paint.
"Hello, Duo. How have you been?" he asked me. He's always so damn polite! Crazy.
I grinned and slid down against the wall to sit next to him on the ground. "I'm doin' great, Q-man! But, hey, where's Tro going? And, um, how are you?"
Quatre laughed, undoubtedly at me and my manners. I didn't mind though. Despite his being older than me, he makes me feel almost like he's my little brother, and he's really just too all-around cute to really get mad at.
"I am well, thank you. We passed Heero and Zechs on the way down, talking to some guys from another gang - the ones with the red bandanas? They weren't fighting yet, but Trowa wanted to get me here before he went back to help."
I nodded, and a little twinge of anxiety hit me in the stomach, before I could really help it. See, it really Iwas/I too early for gang members to be picking fights, and even if they did, I had no doubts that Heero would not be in serious trouble, especially with Zechs and Trowa to back him up. But, hey, I suppose that when you're in love, you worry about little things like that. Heh.
I took another swig of my soda, before launching into an entirely entertaining and just as entirely forgettable conversation with Quatre. I remember that we had about two periods of introspective silence, exactly eight unrelated instances of intense laughter, and somewhere around twelve times that Wufei felt the urge to comment on something or other. It was great, being able to talk about anything and everything that crossed my mind. Not many people granted me that. Esmerita had a job to do, after all, my father liked me slightly less than the cockroaches living in the bathroom, and all my friends outside of the gang had their own stuff going on, even Hilde since she got an actually steady boyfriend. And yeah, all the guys of the Ice liked me just fine, or I wouldn't be a member, but none of them liked me so much that they'd sit for two hours with me and hold such an inane conversation with me like Quatre was doing. Actually, as a side note, I might mention (as I am doing) that not many members of the Ice knew that the four of us were gay. The few who did didn't care, and I'm pretty sure that most of the others, if they knew, would be a little edgy, certainly, but for the most part leave us alone. Gotta' love open-minded people. Heh.
And yeah, it was actually around two hours later before the door to our little courtyard swung open again, and I could see two shadows moving in. The first face to dissolve itself into clarity was Trowa. I nodded a greeting at him, and noticed Quatre's grin that looked like it was going to split his face in half. Then the next person entered, with a smug almost- smile and a bandage on his hand, a single small hooped earring, messy dark brown hair, tight blue jeans, and a loose green tank top under an old and beat-up denim jacket.
That man was Heero.
My buddy Wufei - and yeah, he's Chinese - is like that, except he also uses canned paints and brushes, not just spray paint. He's the same age as me, 16, and he's already a truly terrific artist, even if he sometimes shuts out the rest of the world to focus on his painting. Isn't that what all great painters did? But yeah, even if it's graffiti, it's good. Some guy from the City Department or whatever even managed to track him down and ask if he'd be interested in doing some commission stuff in parks and such. Wufei turned him down flat. The look on the guy's face was priceless. Then Wufei went on to say how his art is for him and his memories and dreams, and he didn't care who else saw it, but he wasn't about to go painting someone else's ideas.
I really do admire the guy. He joined the gang for approximately the same reason I did, some sort of companionship and protection. I can tell, even if he's ignoring the rest of us most of the time, he is glad we're there. But that doesn't mean I don't tease him relentlessly.
He was the only one in the courtyard when I got there. See, there's a ton of alleys in this part of town, but me and Trowa - I'll get to him later - found the only one with a door at the end that leads into a sort of courtyard in between all sorts of buildings on a block. Don't ask me why no one else really knew about it, because I have no idea. But now, it's claimed as ours, and we only let a few others in besides the five of us.
Anyway, like I said, when I got into the courtyard the only other one there was Wufei. As usual, he was painting something on one of the walls. I sauntered over to him and peeked over his shoulder, and saw that he was painting a picture of himself. It wasn't a self-portrait, though. It was a picture of him with bat wings and a halo, with something big and dark, but surrounded with a whitish-bright aura thing, in the background.
"Bad dream?" I asked.
He didn't say anything, but gave a one-shoulder shrug with a small nod. Translation: You could say that.
As I was already behind him, I slid my arms around my waist and started rubbing my hands lightly over his stomach. "Want me to help you forget about it?" I asked softly in his hear.
He actually put down his arm holding the brush and turned in the circle of my arms. He raised an eyebrow at me and I grinned in return, before I leaned forward and gave him a light kiss on his lips. He rolled his eyes and swiped his brush over my nose, then pushed me lightly away.
"Go away, Duo," he muttered. "I don't want to put up with your overtures right now."
"So you will later?" I couldn't help but giggle a little bit.
He smirked. "If you can get someone to distract your keeper long enough."
I laughed, but moved away as he turned again to keep painting. Yeah, I flirt with all the guys, sometimes so much that I get Heero pretty well pissed. But don't you dare call me a slut. Heero's my one and only, and I've never slept with anyone else. That won't stop me from Iacting/I like a slut, though. Heh. All the guys know that, too. We'll fool around, yeah, but we don't take it too far, because we all have actual romantic interests elsewhere.
I watched Wufei paint for a while, then moved over to an old, and supposedly abandoned, doorway off to the left of the entrance into the courtyard. We had an old beat up mini-fridge there, that usually we could keep some cheap refreshments in. I know other people, the crazies that haven't been caught, are in and out of this courtyard, in those small hours when all the sane people are asleep, or at least in a room somewhere. I'm frankly surprised the fridge hasn't been stolen, but occasionally we do end up missing food, so we know it gets raided once in a while. It doesn't seem like any of the others care, and I don't, really, so it's all good. Anyway, I grabbed a soda out of it, then went to go sit and keep watching Wufei paint until the others showed up.
Trowa and Quatre showed up not too long later. I mentioned Trowa earlier - he's about as quiet as Wufei, except that he's watching everyone and everything. He notices a whole bunch of stuff, probably because he's always watching, ya' think? I don't really know too much about him, not even how old he is. But he's cool, and an excellent street fighter. I've only seen three others better than him: Heero, Zechs, and some guy from another gang. I should probably explain about Zechs, and, well, the whole gang. Me, Heero, Wufei, Trowa, and Quatre are a small sub-group of a bigger gang, the Ice. Goofy name, I know. Zechs is the leader of our gang, and Heero, his childhood best friend and only equal as a fighter, is his second-in- command. As a whole gang, the Ice tend to meet outside this one park around nightfall. Our smaller group is comprised of the only gay members in the gang: Me, Heero, Trowa, and Quatre. Interestingly enough, we paired off nice as you please, too. Wufei is straight as a board, but because he's so quiet and, well, kinda' weird, he hangs out with us most often.
And, I suppose, I should move on to Quatre. He's of Arabic descent, he says, but you wouldn't think it by looking at him. He has short blond hair and blue eyes and pale skin, like some English guy, but the shape of his features is more of Arabic, I guess. He's really sweet, and makes me wonder why he's in the gang. He's smart, probably smarter than me, and actually part of a rather prosperous family. My guess is he joined the gang to be closer to Trowa, but he never said. Wanna' know what's really weird about him? I'll tell you, anyway. He has 29 sisters! That's right. I don't want to even Ithink/I how that's possible, but it's true. Blows my mind. Anyway, he's 17, almost exactly a year older than me. We get along pretty well, and he's the relay between Trowa and the rest of us, since Trowa hardly speaks, you know.
I waved when the two of them came in, and Quatre waved back. They exchanged a brief kiss, and to my mild surprise, Trowa turned back around and left. Quatre came in, though, and sat down next to me so that he could also watch Wufei paint.
"Hello, Duo. How have you been?" he asked me. He's always so damn polite! Crazy.
I grinned and slid down against the wall to sit next to him on the ground. "I'm doin' great, Q-man! But, hey, where's Tro going? And, um, how are you?"
Quatre laughed, undoubtedly at me and my manners. I didn't mind though. Despite his being older than me, he makes me feel almost like he's my little brother, and he's really just too all-around cute to really get mad at.
"I am well, thank you. We passed Heero and Zechs on the way down, talking to some guys from another gang - the ones with the red bandanas? They weren't fighting yet, but Trowa wanted to get me here before he went back to help."
I nodded, and a little twinge of anxiety hit me in the stomach, before I could really help it. See, it really Iwas/I too early for gang members to be picking fights, and even if they did, I had no doubts that Heero would not be in serious trouble, especially with Zechs and Trowa to back him up. But, hey, I suppose that when you're in love, you worry about little things like that. Heh.
I took another swig of my soda, before launching into an entirely entertaining and just as entirely forgettable conversation with Quatre. I remember that we had about two periods of introspective silence, exactly eight unrelated instances of intense laughter, and somewhere around twelve times that Wufei felt the urge to comment on something or other. It was great, being able to talk about anything and everything that crossed my mind. Not many people granted me that. Esmerita had a job to do, after all, my father liked me slightly less than the cockroaches living in the bathroom, and all my friends outside of the gang had their own stuff going on, even Hilde since she got an actually steady boyfriend. And yeah, all the guys of the Ice liked me just fine, or I wouldn't be a member, but none of them liked me so much that they'd sit for two hours with me and hold such an inane conversation with me like Quatre was doing. Actually, as a side note, I might mention (as I am doing) that not many members of the Ice knew that the four of us were gay. The few who did didn't care, and I'm pretty sure that most of the others, if they knew, would be a little edgy, certainly, but for the most part leave us alone. Gotta' love open-minded people. Heh.
And yeah, it was actually around two hours later before the door to our little courtyard swung open again, and I could see two shadows moving in. The first face to dissolve itself into clarity was Trowa. I nodded a greeting at him, and noticed Quatre's grin that looked like it was going to split his face in half. Then the next person entered, with a smug almost- smile and a bandage on his hand, a single small hooped earring, messy dark brown hair, tight blue jeans, and a loose green tank top under an old and beat-up denim jacket.
That man was Heero.