W A L T Z U P T O M E
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Lake Victoria, the most elite military academy on the Earth and the Colonies has two campuses, one in England and one in Africa. Both are named Lake Victoria and both are next to OZ bases.
All tryout cadets begin a one month trial period at Lake Victoria England and if they pass are transferred over to Lake Victoria Africa for three years of rigid training and study. The pass rate is a staggeringly low 8% and only thirty students from the graduating class are accepted into OZ. After that there is a three month trial period in which twenty five of those students are either delegated to uselesss menial tasks within the organization or discharged from OZ. The remaining five become actual OZ members and are given their signia and offical ID.
At Lake Victoria position and rank is based on points. Points are receieved through assignments, test markings, procedure and through etiquette. Each cadet is paired up with someone for three years and to ensure even higher levels of paranoia and anxiety, points are awarded or demerited in accordance to how well one's own roomate does. Daily room checks, nightly inspections to make sure curfews aren't broken...Even test scores are looked at to make sure that a roomate is doing their best to provide their partner assistance and make sure that they maintain and strive for the highest of excellence and rank...so why the hell does the top cadet get stuck with such a lazy bastard for a roomate instead of getting someone as perfect and intelligent and STOIC as Heero Yuy!?...
I stopped typing. This essay was getting no where. It was turning into another journal entry instead of staying on task. How the hell was I supposed to work on something about eloquence and elegance and all of that when I don't have any of it? God! Why did I have to get stuck with him as a roomate! Why couldn't I have been lucky enough to get Heero Yuy as a roomate? Heero Yuy the perfect roomate. Currently fourth in rank and in the past two years had not gotten a single demerit. Not one.
But no. I sighed, pulling my hair back and settling further into the chair. Concentrate, Noin. You can do this. Alright...so elegance...
Points are distributed in various ways. First there are Dual Points which are awarded in pairs. They are awarded or demerited based on the appearance, actions and everything else that is connected with having a roomate. The morning room checks are one example of this as well as conduct. Lake Victoria has very strict regulations regarding Cadet conduct. The basics of proper etiquette and gentlemanly behavior are demanded and the most severe penalties are given out to sexual misconduct...
I stopped typing again.
*'Sexual Misconduct'? Yeah like going out mooning just to PISS ME OFF!*
DPD. Dual Point Demerit. Dual points were so rarely awarded that the system was just referred to as one of demerit. I hate DPD. Never in all my time at the Academy had I ever been awarded Dual points. I clenched by hand around my coffee mug, glancing at the clock on Zechs' empty desk. 11:16. A time when all good second years should already be in bed or at least locked away in their rooms.
*And so why isn't that bastard in yet?*
Points are also awarded in various classes. The Academics classes are awarded points only for final exams, tests and quizzes. Fine Art classes, while offered at Lake Victoria are not subject to the point system because they are not among the requirements, but merely entertainment. Training classes are the most rigorous point-wise. Attendance, performance and improvement in all skills along with examinations and the semesterly Mentals.
Fine Arts were the only damn classes Zechs ever went to on a regular basis. I think the reason for this was because they weren't required. He liked photography and so he went to class. But he almost never showed up for any Academic classes. Never. He showed up to take the tests and that was the extent of his dedication. As for Training classes, he usually went to those, but every once in a while he'd wake up late and just not show up. Because Lake Victoria, being a military academy had adopted some stupid rules, one of which was that demerits were awarded for tardiness but not absences. So guess what some people did when they were late? People like Zechs and goddamned Trowa Barton, his accomplice? A twitch started on the corner of my left eyebrow. Just the thought of how Trowa Barton was not only Heero Yuy's roomate, but that he did everything Zechs did and managed not to get caught...I shook my head. One of these days my head would explode from all of this crap I have to go through.
I glanced at the clock again. 11:20. And we had fencing first thing tomorrow morning. I saved my files and shut down the computer. I tiptoed over to the door and opened the small peek slot. No sign of that lazy bastard yet.
*Zechs Merquise, you better show up before sun up or I'm going through all of your underwear and starching it.*
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I woke up to the sound of someone pounding softly on the door in what I groggily recognized as Morse Code. I sat up, rubbing my eyey and turned back to the clock. 3:42. It was almost four in the morning and someone was outside my door tapping...i sighed a disgusted sigh and focused on what they were tapping out.
N-O-I-N O-P-E-N T-H-E D-O-O-R. I-T-S M-E, Y-O-U-R L-O-V-E-L-Y R-O-O-O-M-A-T-E, W-H-O Y-O-U W-O-R-S-H-I-P.
What the hell? I tossed off my blanket walking over to the door. I kneeled down, putting my ear to it. I could hear him breathing on the other side. Dammit. Might as well killed himself so I could get the room to myself. I tapped back to him.
G-E-T L-O-S-T M-E-R-Q-U-I-S-E. N-A-R-C-I-S-S-U-S. I T-O-L-D Y-O-U N-O-T T-O B-E L-A-T-E. N-O-W Y-O-U C-A-N S-T-A-Y O-U-T T-H-E-R-E F-O-R A-L-L I C-A-R-E. O-N-C-E T-H-E-Y C-A-T-C-H Y-O-U O-U-T P-A-S-T C-U-R-F-E-W Y-O-U-L-L B-E D-O-W-N 1-5-0 P-O-I-N-T-S A-N-D I-L-L B-E U-P B-Y 1-3-4.
I heard him laughing softly on the other side.
D-O-N-T S-E-N-D M-E L-O-N-G M-E-S-S-A-G-E-S! I-M D-R-U-N-K H-E-R-E. A-N-D Y-O-U M-U-S-T B-E T-O-O I-F Y-O-U D-O-N-T R-E-M-E-M-B-E-R T-H-A-T I-F T-H-E-Y C-A-T-C-H M-E O-U-T H-E-R-E D-P-D W-I-L-L M-A-K-E S-U-R-E Y-O-U-R-E D-O-W-N 1-5-0 T-O-O. L-O-V-E A-N-D K-I-S-S-E-S, Z-E-C-H-S.
*Shit, I'd forgotten about that. I cry on the INSIDE!*
I got up, very much hating the fact that I was opening the door for him. Hating the fact that as I opened the door, instead of being disgusted and seeing the vomit I expected clinging off of him...he looked good. He was sprawled against the side of the door, still wearing his unform, except for his shirt was open all the way so that you could see the thin white undershirt he always wore. He looked up at me with his hair loose and spread all around his face and smiled.
"You look good wearing my pajamas." He frowned. "Although your face kinda...you slept on my bunk again, didn't you?"
I scowled at him, kicking him in the thigh. "These aren't yours and I was sleeping on my own bunk." I looked out into the hallway. "And hurry up and get in before you get up both caught."
He slowly got up, staggering a bit on the door. "Well, help me up then roomie." He held out an arm and I shook my head, taking it and draping it behind by neck to help him to his bunk.
*'Roomie'? Don't call me roomie, you jerk. Drunken idiot.*
He looked up at the top bunk, eyeing the tiny ladder used to get up there, stared at my already warm and unmade bed and said. "How about switching for the night?"
I snorted. "No way, Merquise. You chose top bunk and you're staying with it. I'm not switching just so you can have it any easier than you already have it."
He sat on the edge of my bed. "Fine, if you aren't willing to switch then we're just going to share." And with that he lay down all the way and rolled towards the wall. Dragging the covers up he mumbled, "I don't care if you sleep here, but don't hog covers."
I gaped at him. Zechs Merquise was in my bed. In my bed. Damn. I scratched my head. Well, his bunk had the same covers, same pillow, same everything...but...if I went up there I'd just have to make two beds instead of one. ARGH! Dammit!
*I swear to god and everything holy in this world that if he so much as mentions this to Trowa I'll kill him*
I pushed him aside, pulling on the covers. "Fine. You can sleep here, but take off your boots first."
"Too tired. Can't. You do it." Came the montone response.
"What? Do I look like your maid?"
"Then deal with it."
I would not be able to sleep with him wearing boots. What if he kicks in the night? I resigned myself and once again got out of bed and tugged his boots off. I tossed them under the bed and stood in front of him. "Zechs."
No response.
"Zechs!"
"What already? Noin, I want to go to sleep. Leave me alone."
*Leave YOU alone? What about ME? Huh? What about me and all the crap I have to go through because of you and your partying and your mooning and your...stuff?*
"Your belt. Give it to me."
He laughed. "Are you trying to put the moves on me?"
I grit my teeth in annoyance. "No. Now give it to me." I held a hand out and watched as he slowly turned, moved around beneath the covers and his arm poked through with his belt in hand. "Thank you."
"Want my pants, too?" He sneered. "Are you done bothering me now?"
I slipped back into bed. "Bothering you? You're the one--oh, whatever."
He sighed and turned over, facing me so that I could feel his breath on my neck. "Alright, alright. Thanks for letting me in. I promise I won't vomit all over you, is that good enough?"
I turned so that I could look at him and licked my lips. "Stop stealing my hair ties."
He smiled with his eyes already closed. "I'm drunk, remember? I can't make promises under the influence."
Sure, sure. Drunk only when it suits you. Asshole.
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this fic is for crary, who rocks.
here's hopingthe awesomeness is able to continue.
feedback very much desired. if you like this fic, let me know! i don't promise automatic chapters, but with enough encouragement i always try to write more! ^_^
