Whee, go me! I hit my word target of 2000 words! Beat it even, with this chapter having a final total of 2, 108 words! Anyway, it's not very eventful, but I hope you enjoy it! Reviews for the first chapter were very, very much appreciated! Thankyou to: botan, the anonymous reviewer, Violet Yuy-Maxwell, chibidark angel, caley, Kitty Maxwell-Yuy, Quickbeam and Duo-js. To the anonymous reviewer: This probably sounds familiar 'cos it's kinda clichéd. It's not a repost. I hope it doesn't sound too much like someone else's! And an extra big THANKYOU to RevolutionaryElephant AKA Faith, who has supported me so much, and beta-ed this story! Check out her fics ^_^ Now, onto chapter 2!
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing. If I did, Heero and Duo would be an official couple, and the program definitely wouldn't be suitable for children ^_~
It Shouldn't Have To be This Hard - Chapter 2
After PE Duo, Heero and Quatre walked to the school gates and stood chattering whilst waiting for Trowa. Well, Duo and Quatre chattered and Heero leant against the tall, red brick wall, silent and sullen as always. They were used to Heero's attitude, but his unwillingness to participate in anything remotely sociable still pissed Duo off. Although he could occasionally get the stoic boy to join in a conversation, Heero's usual replies were simple one or two word sentences, or even shorter grunts. He was lucky that Duo could talk enough for the both of them, otherwise their strange friendship probably wouldn't have survived this long. Although at that moment Duo was quite glad of Heero's introverted personality, as it meant that he wouldn't question his rather strange behaviour in the changing rooms.
Duo was animatedly discussing the latest developments in some evening soap he and Quatre both watched when Quatre suddenly stopped talking. "Trowa's here!" he exclaimed with barely concealed delight, eyes sparkling. Duo snickered quietly as Quatre practically skipped up to their friend, greeting him happily then pulling him over to them by the arm. He was just so damn obvious with his affections, finding any excuse to talk to or touch his crush. Duo was pretty sure that Quatre had 'accidentally' squeezed Trowa's butt on more than one occasion. A lot more than one.
Watching the pair smile at each other and exchange news of their day, Duo felt a slight twinge of jealousy. The two obviously cared deeply for each other as friends, if not in a romantic way, so Quatre's crush at least offered some feelings in return. But for him, with Heero, there wasn't even much evidence that the messy haired boy cared for him as a friend.
Seeing that his two other friends were engrossed in conversation, Duo turned to Heero, who was still leaning silently against the wall, arms crossed over his chest, and tugged at his sleeve of his crisp navy blue blazer. "Come on Heero," he said, grinning up at the boy's bland face. "Hopefully those two lovebirds will realise to follow us this time," he added, jerking a thumb over his shoulder at the two boys.
Grunting his affirmation, Heero levered himself off the wall and started walking briskly out of the huge wrought iron gates that stood open to their left. Duo hurried to catch up, grabbing onto the back of Heero's red canvas backpack to slow him down. "I wonder how far we'll get before they notice we've left?" he wondered, still grinning. Heero snickered slightly beside him. Just yesterday they had walked a whole block before Quatre and Trowa caught up with them, and there had been instances when they had walked the entire way home without their two friends catching up.
After 108 paces (Heero had been counting) they stopped at the sound of Quatre yelling to them "Hey, wait up!" Duo turned to see his blonde friend jogging up to them, Trowa following at a more sedate pace. Smiling at Duo and not sounding at all apologetic Quatre began "Sorry, we just got-"
"Caught up in talking?" Duo finished for him, with a teasing smile.
Quatre retorted by sticking out his tongue in that annoyingly cute way of his, as Trowa joined up with them. The group continued on their journey home, Duo and Quatre elbowing each other playfully as Heero walked slightly in front of them, face expressionless, and Trowa watched them from behind, smiling at their childish antics. Although Duo had his suspicions that he was actually smiling at Quatre's pert little ass. You never could tell with Trowa. 'It must be the gravity-defying, eye-covering hair', he thought to himself.
To be honest, they were a pretty gay group. Well, apart from Heero, who just seemed asexually inclined. He had a crush on Heero, Quatre had a crush on Trowa, and was constantly finding excuses to drape himself all over the taller boy, and Trowa…well, he had the hair. But none of them openly admitted in front of all the others to being gay. Besides, it was probably just teenage hormones. Yeah, sure – Duo had been telling himself that for months and he still felt no different.
"So, what's everyone doing tonight?" Duo enquired after deciding that Quatre's elbows were too sharp, and hopping to Heero's left side for protection.
"I'm going over to Trowa's. He's gonna help me with my math homework." Quatre chirped. Trowa nodded, his contribution to the conversation. Duo opened his mouth to make a vulgar and, in his opinion, rather witty comment (something along the lines of 'I bet that's not all he'll be helping you with'), but a warning glare from the small blonde made him change his mind, and he settled for just winking instead.
"What about you, Heero?" he asked, turning to the silent boy beside him.
"Hn. Homework" he replied shortly.
Duo sighed inwardly. Heero was always doing homework. Whilst he himself usually used homework as an excuse when he didn't feel like going out, Duo didn't doubt that Heero actually stayed in all evening working.
"Wow, fun" he commented sarcastically. Then, with barely a pause, he launched into a new thread of conversation. "Hey, there's a new family moving into that old house across from me."
Quatre nodded. "Yeah, I heard about them. They're Chinese or something."
"Heh, I wonder if they have hot daughter." Duo grinned cheekily.
"I think they have a kid who'll be coming to our school. I'm not sure what year they'll be in though." Trowa supplied helpfully.
"Hmm, I hope it's a hot older girl."
"Even if it is, why would you care? It's not like she'd want you anyway." Quatre joked.
"Quatre, you've offended me!" Duo's eyes widened in mock hurt. "And of course she'd want me. Everyone wants a piece of me!"
Quatre snorted. "Well I certainly don't."
Duo pouted. "What about you, Trowa? Surely you can't resist me!" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
"Sorry Duo, but you're just not man enough for me. Must be the hair," Trowa replied, laughing slightly.
'Why do people always blame it on the hair?' he wondered randomly. "Well you two obviously don't know a fine piece of man when you see one. But Heero wants me," he sidled up to Heero. "Dontcha Hee-man?" he purred, trailing a hand suggestively down his arm.
For a moment he thought, no, he hoped that Heero would agree and flirt back. But Heero just shrugged him off and replied, voice positively dripping with a sarcasm that made him wince, "Yeah, sure Duo." Ooh, that bites.
He heard Quatre and Trowa snickering, and promptly stuck his middle finger up at them, pulling a face to show he meant to kill them. Obviously the 'You'd-better-run-for-your-life-'cos-I'm-out-for-you-blood' face didn't have the desired effect because, upon seeing it, Quatre dissolved into giggles, and even Trowa laughed.
For a few minutes they walked on in silence, Duo sulking next to Heero, while Quatre and Trowa walked behind them, probably gazing romantically into each other's 'glittering orbs'. Quatre had one described Trowa as having the most beautiful 'emerald green glittering orbs' – right before he went on to ponder the size of his package. Some of the estimates he had come up with were quite astounding.
The silence was broken by Quatre. "Guys, we're at my street. See ya tomorrow!" They were in the posher district of the town, where Trowa and Quatre both lived in large, luxurious, although not overwhelmingly fancy, houses.
"See ya," Trowa echoed, nodding at Duo and Heero.
Heero nodded back. "See ya." Geez, what was with all the many nodding and 'see ya's'? Pfft, he could be manly too.
"Bye!" Duo called, waving enthusiastically. Or maybe not.
As Trowa and Quatre began to walk off down their wide street he shouted after them, a little louder than necessary, "Have fun tonight!"
All feigned innocence, Quatre turned around and called back sweetly "We will!" The saucy smirk on his face sort of gave away his true, obviously perverted thoughts.
Duo and Heero walked on in silence, their street being about half a mile from Trowa and Quatre's. Usually Duo would be babbling on about one thing or another, with Heero grunting out the odd 'Hn' to give the illusion that he was actually listening. But now Duo was thinking. He had a crush on Heero, and he hated that it was so one sided. Of course he would never come out and admit his feelings to Heero – they'd pass, eventually (he hoped). And although Heero never gave any indication that he actually had sexual feelings at all, he could at least find out what Heero thought about sexual orientation. If Heero thought that gays were disgusting he may as well try and force his feelings away altogether. He decided not to dwell on how he might feel if Heero did find homosexuals disgusting. He was quiet a moment longer, thinking of ways to broach the subject.
"Hey Heero," Duo spoke up eventually. When Heero looked over at him he continued. "Do you think Trowa and Quatre would make a cute couple?"
Heero actually looked surprised at the question, which was an achievement in itself, but he didn't reply straight away. A minute or so passed and Heero still hadn't answered the question.
"Well?" Duo prompted.
"I…guess," Heero spoke up, a little hesitantly.
He always seemed unsure when it came to matters of the heart. Duo guessed that relationships were Heero's weakness. But, whenever he pushed the matter, Heero would react with his fists. Self defence when he detected an attack upon the walls of his heart. Although a lot of Heero was still a mystery to him, Duo would say that he understood the boy better than anyone else. Just because he was always fooling around didn't mean that he wasn't aware of other people and their emotions, or apparent lack of them. And he was pretty sure that Heero did have emotions – they were just buried deeper than anyone cared to dig. Pushing the serious thoughts away for later, he resumed the conversation.
"Really? I think so too! They're always together and I reckon they're closer than most friends are. And have you seen the way they look at each other?"
"Hn," was Heero's eloquent reply. Geez, the guy really had a way with words.
"So…the idea of two guys together doesn't bother you?" he asked tentatively. He was pushing his way into dangerous territory. Beneath the calm exterior, Heero had a mean temperature - his wilder side showed when he was mad. Duo predicted that he would probably be quite wild in bed too. His fantasy-Heero certainly was.
"No," Heero answered slowly, as though thinking carefully about each word. "I think that, if two people feel for each other, it doesn't matter what gender they are."
Duo blinked at Heero, mildly surprised. It was strange the way he was silent for so much of the time, but would occasionally come out with very thoughtful statements. It showed that he did have emotions beneath that cold exterior, as one would often forget.
"Ooh Heero, I never figured you for the romantic 'love is love' type," he teased.
"Shut up, baka, before I shut you up myself," Heero growled back.
"What's a baka again?" Duo asked, quickly changing the subject, knowing not to provoke the other boy any further.
"Idiot."
"I know I am, but what's a baka?" Of course, he knew what Heero meant, but winding him up was fun.
Heero sighed in annoyance. "Baka is idiot in Japanese," he explained, a little too patiently. "Baka," he added for good measure.
The two turned right onto a narrow side street, passing small bungalows with neat front gardens. The neighbourhood had a slightly shabby but good-natured atmosphere. A few houses down the street, Duo turned up a clean swept but weedy driveway. Before he walked off he gave Heero a friendly clap on the back. "See ya tomorrow, buddy!"
"Later," Heero replied, giving him a tiny half smile. Well actually, it was more like an 8th of a smile. Or possibly a 25th.
Duo walked up to his front door then, as he always did, waited and watched until Heero had walked past the huge fir tree about ten houses further on, that obscured his view of the rest of the street. He did this every night, and Heero had never once looked back. Although that was probably a good thing, since he didn't want to have to explain why he was checking out, and most probably drooling over, Heero, as he walked away.