The most popular boy

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Disclaimer: I don't own them. *sniffle*

Warnings: Shonen ai, tiny bit o' angst, I'm not sure what else yet.

C&C: Yes please. I'm kinda new at this writing bit, so let me know if I should spend any more time on it.

A/N: Thank you to all my lovely reviewers!! I love you guys! *sniffle* Your feedback is what makes this story keep going.

Archive: I'll let you put it up wherever you beautiful little hearts desire, just let me know first, kay?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Monday at school was a little less than comfortable for Heero. He had been used to being stared at sometimes because of his usually cold demeanor so being stared at didn't really bother him all that much. What bothered him were the whispers behind his back. Everyone at school had been at that dance, and the ones who weren't didn't have the social power to make his life a living hell. He sighed to himself for the fiftieth time that day. He couldn't tell when things were worse; when Heero was with Duo or when he wasn't. The snickers were really grating his nerves and he just wanted to scream and shout and *really* give them something to stare at.

Just before gym class, he noticed that all the guys kept their distance from him, as if he were contagious or something. They kept giving him disgusted looks and wary glances. During class, things weren't much better.

They had been playing basketball again that day and Heero couldn't help but notice the change in his classmates. They'd either stay as far as they could from him or try their hardest to knock him over or be as rough as they could get away with. He was even knocked over and tripped a couple of times and the coach scolded *him* for being clumsy!

"Yuy! I don't know what your problem is today, but you better shape up or I'm going to fail you, got that?" the coach had scolded.

"Yes, sir."

As they changed back into their school clothes, Heero got the distinct impression of déjà vu.

"Hey queer!"

"Yeah, you. You know we're talking to you."

Heero refused to turn around and continued putting on his socks.

"What? Little fag boy doesn't want to play?"

"He probably thinks he's too good for us."

"Yeah, he's got the hots for Maxwell. Little fag thinks he's too good for us now that he's got the wrestling captain to mess around with."

Heero turned on that guy so quickly, the taller boy didn't have time to respond. Heero, though shorter, was stronger and had the taller boy held up against his locker, feet barely touching the ground.

"Listen." *SLAM* "Because I'm only going to say this once. I don't care what you say about me because it's probably true, and if it isn't, I really don't give a flying *fuck*. But if you ever defile Duo's name again, *ever* I'm going to beat the shit out of your lanky ass."

He promptly slammed they boy against the clocker again to prove his point, having growled out his threat, he left, leaving three very stunned boys in his wake. No one said *anything* inappropriate about Duo on *his* watch, *ever*.

---------------------------------------

Heero and Duo were walking to Heero's house after school that day. They were both pretty peeved about the way people were acting towards Heero. Unfortunately for Duo, they never did anything while he was around and without Heero ratting them out to him Duo didn't know who was hurting his best friend. He hated seeing Heero so down. It was a mixture between sadness and anger; poor Heero was downright miserable.

As they crossed the parking lot, Heero got a nasty feeling. It felt like they were being watched-and followed. He started walking a little bit faster and Duo, as the taller of the two, had no trouble keeping up.

"What's the matter, Heero?" Duo whispered. He felt the unease radiating off Heero and felt the need to keep his voice hushed.

"We're being followed," Heero whispered back, without turning to his friend, "just keep walking and don't look behind you."

Duo did what he was told, but he didn't feel all that intimidated, after all, he was the captain of the wrestling team, he knew how to defend himself. Duo was startled as Heero suddenly turned around, his hand gripping another boy's neck. Duo blinked, he hadn't even noticed anyone had gotten so close to him.

"What do you want?" Heero all but growled. His deathly stare was making the other boy squirm and Duo was very impressed at how hot he looked when he was menacing.

'Duo, what the hell are you thinking?! You don't, I repeat, *don't* like boys! But... he's so hot... NO! You are not like that! Admit it, Maxwell, boys make you hot... especially short dark and Asian boys... with intense blue eyes and the I.Q. of a genius....' He groaned inwardly. Why the hell was it all so confusing?!

Heero was busy staring down the boy's buddies but kept a firm grip on his hostage.

"Are you here to try and beat me up? Are you here to try and make my life miserable? Because if you are, I'll kick the shit right out of you and send you on your way. Then you in turn can tell your buddies to get *off* my case since none of you are my type anyway."

The three boys looked surprised. They had expected fags to run and scream and shout for their mommies, not be all tough and menacing like Heero was being. Heero shoved his hostage away, making him stumble and fall on the sidewalk.

"So you admit it?" one of them ventured, "You're gay and you're okay with it?"

Heero looked at them skeptically, "Why is it so important? It's not like I'm hitting on any of you."

"But... Duo..."

Duo looked startled, he hadn't been expecting to be dragged into the conversation. He did *not* want anyone to find out that he was *maybe* a *little* gay. Heero saw the look on his face and his hopes of having an open relationship with Duo crumbled.

"Duo is my best friend. I wouldn't do anything to jeopardize that."

The third boy found his courage, "But you always stare at him! *Normal* friends don't do that!"

Heero sighed, "Look, I'm going to say this *once* and you can spread it if you want. Yes, I like Duo, but he's my best friend and that's where it ends. Happy? Now leave me alone." Heero's voice on that statement had gone from irritated to monotonous. He sounded dejected by that time and just turned around and ran, not even waiting for Duo to follow.

---------------------------------

Duo felt like such an ass. He'd failed at protecting Heero from the school. Now Heero would be more withdrawn and would only seldom comment on anything. He had become very mechanical in his way of being. He wasn't happy, Duo could see that a mile away. Why had Heero ousted himself like that? The way he had handled it, it had made Duo seem like a saint. He was now even more popular for being nice to the gay freak. Everybody loves people who take charity cases.

Duo looked over to Heero's desk again and slumped further down into his chair. It was harder to be around Heero now that people knew he was gay, but at least, no one tried to pick a fight with him any more since he was well-trained in martial arts and had used them on a group of boys who wanted to beat on him. A few concussions, two cracked ribs, and five sprains later, everyone knew to keep away from Heero. Duo honestly didn't know what to do. Heero was supposed to be his best friend, but now... now things were messed up. Royally.

--------------------------------------

It had been about a month since that little scene in the parking lot took place and the two boys had seen less and less of each other. Duo was busy with extra-curricular activities, and Heero was busy with... with avoiding other people. Soon it was going to be Christmas break and without school and classmates to get in the way, maybe Duo could convince Heero to hang out with him and his friends for a while.

Duo had spotted Heero walking home two days before winter break and ran to catch up with him when Relena got in his way.

"Hey Duo... where are you going?"

Duo tried to side-step but she had already grabbed onto his arm.

"I'm busy, Lena."

"Aww... come on... I just wanted to invite you over to spend Christmas break with me, baby... My parents are going to Europe for three weeks and I thought you might want to get together... what do you say?"

Duo shivered at the sugary tone in her voice, he did NOT want to spend *any* part of the break with her.

"Maybe some other time, Lena."

"Come on, Duo..." She was already pinning him to her flashy little sports car by the time he noticed, her hands planted firmly on his hips. "I can give you anything you want, baby... I can be as meek or as kinky as you like..." She leaned in and started kissing Duo's neck, rubbing his groin with her thigh. "My parents are already gone, you know... we can skip these last couple of days of school and spend them at my place."

He was almost physically sick at the thought.

Gently, he pushed her off him, "Sorry Lena, I have other things to take care of." With that, he left, leaving Relena standing alone by her car.

-------------------------------------

It had taken Duo three days after that to catch Heero at home after that. By then, they were already into their winter break and Duo felt like they needed to get some things clear.

"What do you want?" Heero asked flatly when he opened the door to his house.

"I ... Uh... I needed to talk to you, Heero."

"Hn." Heero stepped aside and went towards his room, leaving Duo to follow and close the door behind himself. In his room, Heero asked again, "What do you want?"

Duo looked a little uncomfortable, but sat on Heero's bed while Heero took his usual desk chair.

"I wanted to talk about us, Heero."

"What's there to talk about?"

"You've been avoiding me, why? I thought we were friends, Heero... what happened?"

Heero turned away slightly. "Yeah, I thought we were friends too, but you kept hiding in the background when something happened. You wanted to pretend that I was *normal* so that you wouldn't have to be embarrassed to be seen with me. You wanted to tell everyone that Relena was wrong but she wasn't. I'm GAY, Duo. Whether you accept it or not is up to you, but don't make me your charity case."

Duo was speechless for a second before he got back his confidence, "How did you know?"

Heero looked at him curiously, "Know what?"

"That you were... gay?"

"Easy. Hard cocks turn me on."

"Seriously."

"I was being serious. I don't find the female body attractive whatsoever. Sure, there's beauty, but there's no allure... at least not for me. Guys, on the other hand, with their more muscular build, deeper voices, angular lines, it's just so much more... erotic."

Duo thought about it for a moment.

"You're really confused about the subject, aren't you, Duo?"

"Yeah..."

"Why is it so hard for you to figure it out?"

"Because... boys being with boys is wrong..."

"Says who?"

"Everyone... at least everyone here."

"But you like guys better than girls?"

"No."

"Oh?"

"I get really hot sometimes when I'm watching girls... but then... with some guys... I don't know. It feels like lust for either, I guess..."

Heero nodded, "So you're bi. No wonder you're so confused."

"Bi?"

"Bisexual. You should really get out more often. As a matter of fact, this whole town should."

Duo had a laugh at that.

"Heero?"

"What?"

"I really liked it that day when you kissed me..."

"Oh?"

"Yeah... more than I thought I would."

Heero felt himself blush.

"I... I know you're not happy with me because of the way I've been acting, I really need to pull myself together, I know that. And I do like you, but I don't know if I can handle being *together,* you know?"

Heero nodded, I understand.

"I'm afraid, Heero... of messing up all I've worked for. The only person in this world that I have is Grandpa Maxwell... and I know he's probably not going to last much longer. I need to concentrate on school so I can get a scholarship to go to college. If I become involved with someone... I might lose all that hard work."

Heero nodded and bit his lip.

"I understand, Duo. You don't want a boyfriend... but..."

Duo heard the broken sound in Heero's voice, "What is it, buddy? What's wrong?"

Heero looked like he was on the verge of tears, "I can't be *just* a friend... I... I want you too much and it'd hurt to have you there... so near, yet so far."

Duo sighed and patted the spot on the bed next to him. Heero got up from his chair and sat there, letting Duo pull him into his arms. Duo kissed the top of his head gently as he stroked soothing circles on Heero's back.

"Heero?"

"Yeah?" "Would it bother you too much to be a friend with benefits?"

"What?"

It was Duo's turn to blush. "Well... What if I agree to be intimate with you if you stick around and be my best friend like before?"

Heero couldn't believe his ears. Duo wanted to *buy* his friendship?

"It sounds like you're trying to pay me to be your friend, Duo."

"No... I just want my best friend back. I do sort of like you, but I don't want to try to open up that can of worms yet. I need some time to come to grips with wanting to develop a romantic relationship with someone... but, I also want you to be happy, and if that means letting you touch and kiss me, I can live with that."

"You're making me sound like Relena. I don't *want* to kiss you and not have you kiss back."

Duo sighed, "What do you want from me, Heero? I'm not ready for that sort of commitment. It'd be unfair to both of us, but if you want to touch and kiss and generally mess around, I'll be comfortable with that. I trust you."

Heero snuggled closer to Duo. "Alright then, we'll be playmates until we come to another agreement."

Duo smiled and hugged Heero, "Then it's agreed."

Duo leaned in, taking Heero's chin in one hand and kissed him tenderly, slipping his tongue in and gently coaxing a moan out of him.

Heero slipped his arms around Duo's neck, kissing back, tasting Duo's sweet mouth. At least he could now physically show Duo his affection.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Jess' Rant

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

*Yawn* I'm tired. I just started working at McDonald's and let me tell you something, I have a newfound respect for people in the fast food industry. I'm sorry for making y'all wait a few days for this fic, I usually don't like to make y'all wait more than two days, but damn have I been *tired*! Hope you guys like... I was half asleep while writing most of this, so if there's any typos and stuff, it's because I was typing with my eyes drooping shut. Yes, I post as soon as I type up my chapters. I don't have betas or anything so if there's discrepancies in my writing, it's because I don't go back and read what I write and half the time, my chapters disappear because of some reason or other. Anywho... enough of my ranting and review me already!

P.S. Princess: Thanks for recommending me to your friend(s), I appreciate the publicity ^.^

Kay, 'night-night *yawn* ~.~ ZzZzZzZ