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Sensei! By ReddAlice
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Author's Note: This chapter I am looking for constructive and or negative (but descriptive) feedback. What could I have done? What would you like to see the characters do? What do or don't you like about my GW characters or story line? Things of that nature. Thanks so much for helping me improve later chapters! -Mika's name is said "Mee-kuh"
Songs: Message #9 – Gasaraki, My Deftones playlist
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Sensei!
Chapter 3 – Classroom Politics
"Politics is an art, a strategic art of getting what you want." – Said by one my college professors, Mr. Bower ('Poly Sigh'… haha).
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The warmth of his bare body was pressed against his abdomen, rubbing against him with taunting slowness. Caressing the subtle definition of his muscles, and bringing mist to his eyes. He wanted him… he desperately wanted to touch him. He couldn't, he wouldn't touch him, he wouldn't beg, he couldn't…
--- Inganno Academy, Main Campus, Breakfast Break PIE!!!---
The cafeteria chief chef, Nana, was a robust woman in her early fifties. Her smile was contagious and the sharp side of her tongue could wither Lady Une in her place. She had gladly given in to Duo's request for a piece of cherry pie instead of eggs, ham, or cereal, etc. etc. etc. Actually she had scolded him on his choice of nourishment, and told him she wouldn't have his pretty body wasting away because he didn't know how to feed it. All it took was a wink and-… a promise to wash the dishes at the end of the day. Duo also swore he would stop by for the lunch of her choice for the rest of the month.
With a woeful smile, Duo took his meager piece of cherry pie and stalked off towards his office. Breakfast break was thirty minutes long and he had to go through Gavin's file, and speak to Anne about getting him placed in his writing class before third period. No problem.
Duo locked the door behind him, and seated himself in his chair. "Gavin Andrews, Gavin, Gavin, Gavin…" He chanted to himself as he booted up his laptop and shoveled a small forkful into his mouth. Giddily he squealed a garbled 'yummy' and melted under his desk in a pool of bliss.
When he finally managed to drag himself back into his chair his entrance screen had already popped open. He entered his password, and then single clicked on the school directory. Three categories came up: School Directory, Student Directory, and Staff Directory. In the next screen only two links appeared: Currently Enrolled Students, Former Students.
What sort of school kept information on ex-students on the school network? Duo chose Currently Enrolled Students. The area required a teachers name, ID, and password before it allowed him access to the section. He selected the senior class and 200 names materialized on the screen. Andrews, Gavin D. was the 15th name on the list along side an attractive senior picture of him smiling, his hair slightly mused.
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Gavin Dominick Andrews
Age: 15
D.O.B.: October 1st, 182
Blood Type: O-
Family Location: Earth – London, England
Guardian Location: Currently located on L-1 section 3 – Business trip
Name of Legal Guardian: Randolph Percy Andrews
Parent Status: Divorced
Family: 4
Siblings: 1 Sarah Dominique Andrews, 18, Currently enrolled, Senior Class A
Class: Base Room: 210 Senior Class A
Dormitory: Panther Hall, Corridor A, Room 18
Academy Supervisor: : 21002
Registered: 1- Adv. History : 21002, 2- Adv. International Politics #: 32311, 3 A-
Adv. Calculus #: 14300, 3 B – Adv. French #: 91457, 4 – Adv. Colonial Policies
G.P.A.: 4.0
Ex. Curricular: International Alliance Association Speech,Student Council-Secretary,
Tai Chi Chuang, Adv. Symphony Cello, Bass Clarinet, Piano
198- Advanced to Sophomore Class D to Junior Class B
198- Advanced to Senior Class A from Junior Class B
Personal Information
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Basic Information
Gavin Dominick AndrewsAccess Denied – Please Enter Senior Staff Code for further Information
Observations made by Professor Ruumi, Adv. Psychology, May 05th, 197 #: 60607
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Duo made a rude noise at the screen. The profiles were absolutely no help. Duo inhaled the last of his pie and smiled, he could become religiously attached to the baked ambrosia. "Anne, you're just gonna have to make yourself useful!"
It took a little under five minutes for Duo to track down the senior councilor in the faculty lounge. She was willing to help and spend time with the new addition to their staff.
"Would that be everything, Mr. Maxwell?"-Duo nodded-"It's so nice to hear you're already trying to make a difference to your students, taking an interest! Gavin is such a bright child, a pleasure really. " Anne smiled pleased.
"No… wait, I had a question." Duo waited till Anne looked back at him from her computer. "Why is the students personal information inaccessible for my laptop?"
Anne sighed, "That is done by request by the students legal guardians. Dr. Ruumi, our psychology professor, takes notes on student behavior and any other notable aspects of a student's life. Their relationships, everything, all the drama really… Who's dating who, who's befriending who, what perks their interest. Ruumi is kind of strange, but she's amiable if you ask me. If you really needed personal information… I'm sure she'd oblige." Anne added, watching Duo watch her eyebrow waggling suggestively.
In a matter of minutes the alterations to the classes were finished and when Duo popped by his office to check the student profiles he found that his "Advanced" Creative Writing class had replaced Adv. French.
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Wufei brushed his locker and stuffed his things inside just as the last bell rang notifying him of his tardiness. He was late for Foreign Government. He shut his locker and turned. Just ahead Duo was walking away, his hands casually tucked inside the pockets of his slacks. He must have past right by and Wufei hadn't notice.
A student passed him, stopped and turned back around to say hello to his teacher. "Hello Mr. Maxwell! How are you?"
Duo grinned at the young man, and his sweet Australian accent. "Good, good, thanks Liam. Late to class?"
"Same could be said for you! Don't you have a class, Mr. Maxwell? The bell just rang." Captain Obvious asked, another student from Wufei's first period class.
"Eh, I don't think the kids will be heartbroken if I am late to Ancient World History."
The young man made a face, "World History? I see."
It's hard to control feelings; their triggers are deeply ingrained in everyone's nature. So to call it stupid would be ridiculous, but for a moment…
Duo had said nothing to Wufei as a friend, colleague, or a student in his base class; instead he chose to speak to a rather handsome light skinned classmate. So it was just being honest to say that for a moment Wufei was jealous.
---L-4, The Winner EstateAn Empty Bed---
Quatre's eyes fluttered open clear as crystal, but unfocused from sleep. It was nice to be able to sleep in till 10:30 AM. He hadn't done it in months, and now he felt lethargy sneaking up on him and claiming his limbs. Five more minutes would have been nice, but he had been pounding snooze since 5 AM when he had originally planned an appointment with the family broker, who was also his sister Annie. She took one look at her pale, anemic looking, younger brother and shoved him back into his room to go back sleep. It felt as though he hadn't slept in years, or had slept so long he couldn't wrap his brain around consciousness anymore.
For as long as Quatre could remember he loathed Tuesdays, now he missed them and wanted to sleep them away and dust them under the rug. They reminded him of his father, the man he disappointed, but knew deep in his soul that his old man would have been proud of him. When you carried on as the family head in your father's place, slept in the king size bed your parents once owned in the master suite they once occupied, and did so with only the shy maids to keep you company… you couldn't help but feel alone.
Sometimes Quatre would avoid his colony all together for months before one of his many sisters tracked him down and demanded to know his whereabouts. He always told them he was helping Trowa with a mission, and they just smiled happy that their brother had found someone to share his life with… but…
Now was as good of time as any to start his day. He would go see Annie, take care of brunch, jog down to town hall, take a flight up to the resource satellite, call his sister, vid-mail Duo, and dabble around the house doing various chores and caring for his family's business. Quatre sat up and pushed the layers of covers off his legs and yawned.
Trowa…
What exactly was he sharing? They weren't boyfriends, but lovers and companions, yet barely friends. They slept in separate beds, and kept different company. Their only real connection was their past as Gundam Pilots, their comrades, and a deep seeded love for music. Quatre never felt any regret leaving when he had to, but he could feel the heavy remorse emanating off of Trowa every time he left and it broke his heart. When did the line get so blurred? Why was he so confused? Why didn't he care?
Thinking of Trowa just reminded him of how big his king size bed was, and how much space he didn't need to survive. He was glad to have his legroom… at last.
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His breath hitched in his chest, and burned like his skin, his flesh was on fire, and he was unable to fight it. Did he want to fight it? Did he? Could he if he had to? No…
--- Inganno Academy, "ADVANCED" CREATIVE WRITING---
Since yesterday Duo had been well aware that he was going to be teaching a writing course of the 'advanced kind.' He wasn't thrilled, but rather curious. Unfortunately he had been to lazy to prepare a class lesson for today, so he would run it by ear and do a lot of talking about nothing.
Gavin flounced in the room at a lengthy stride, and his hands full of notebooks, a bright grin enhancing his overall appearance. "Hello!"
Duo stood back for a moment to appreciate the giddiness of his student, and felt a small stab of jealousy. He could have been a student; he could have had more time to just be a kid if he had been able to switch roles with Wufei. "How's it going, Gavin?"
The young man continued to grin, "Great."
"Good to hear."-Duo motioned broadly at the notebooks-"What's all this?"
Gavin made an 'O' with his mouth and set everything down on the first desk to his right in the front row. "This is all of my writing… or the ones my dad didn't throw away. I wanted to have you look through them and tell me what you think…if you have time." He added unobtrusively.
"Give me a few weeks and I'll read them and go over them with you when I have time, okay? Sound good?"
"Sounds great!" Gavin sat down and began to organize his mess of papers.
Duo glanced at the ticking clock above the doorway, he had five minutes to come up with a plan for class… playing by ear wouldn't cut it when there were young kids like Gavin, or not quite like him, who were expecting to learn. He felt obligated. Instead of standing still and waiting, Duo exited the room and walked the halls.
What did a Gundam Pilot have to teach about writing?
---Courtyard Full of Memories---
The vast opening amongst the towering academic buildings was both voluptuously modern, the roses growing untamable. Wufei had been wondering the grounds looking for a place to read during his free period when he walked past the windowless doors that lead to the secret garden. It was like Eden to him, a forbidden place that he felt no one would trespass upon.
Wufei glanced around the empty courtyard, proclaiming it empty, he slouched down onto the hard dark marble bench, the world whispering by in the wind and through the romantic blooms that grew up around the clean brick path like a fence.
Here in the silence, Wufei remember his mother, and forget the trivialities that had intertwined himself in his mission. Lingmei. Lingmei had been a loving mother, regardless of the distance she put between herself and the world; she had been loving and devoted to him.
Like the roses in his family's garden, the roses here were of the purest red, blackened by the lack of sun. A few errant rays poured over the rooftops and through a few fortunate petals casting red botches on the ground like a prism hanging from the windows.
Lingmei had loved roses such as these.
Wufei made his way down the rock path in a manner befitting a son of the clan leader, in silence and composure, to the secretive area he knew his mother was tending. He had known well she would be knelt there in the dirt, her white satin robs dusty, and smudge with green from the grass and stems. Her fine black hair was loosely knotted at the nape of her neck, impudent strands curling by her face. There on the ground she was digging up insolent weeds and roots that struggled to kill the life Wufei's mother had nursed from seeds. Wufei quietly soaked up the scene, "Momma…"How young she looked, her face unmarred by time here in the midst of the reddest of roses.--------------------------------
Lingmei sat back on her heels, and smiled at her littlest son, so small he was, all of seven, and there he stood like a man. "Hmn?"
"These flowers, they aren't much unlike you." Wufei observed.
"Oh Wufei, how so?" She asked tenderly, opening her arms to him, offering her lap for him to sit on.
Wufei only made a tiny face, it was frowned upon for her to continue babying him, and his father wouldn't stand for it. It angered her husband to see him take to his mother so at his age, it infuriated him into relentlessly beating the child, and calling him a-
"They are so dark when they are kept in doors, or shuttered in by fences and walls."
"Yes, they are. A long time ago… centuries ago… roses grew wild, without human hand the help the rise from the earth." She told him, and dubious as always he shrugged her comment away. "How am I like these flora, my child? I'm hardly as young as these."
"Oh no, momma." He whispered. "They are so dark in doors, like you, but when the sun touches their petals they are like fire, wild and alive, breathing and beautiful."
Wufei leaned back into his seat, roses would always remind him of his mother, and those comforting arms he had pushed away so long ago. The academy reminded him too much of home, of his proud father, and his dreams for Wufei.
Had he chosen a different path, and fulfilled his family destiny, he might have been in school throughout the war, fighting honorably for his people with his knowledge and strength, oppose to slaughtering boys his age in a hopeless battle in space. The war the dusted away his family's colonial state like it was nothing, like his mother's maid's bleach would have done to those satin robes she wore in the garden.
----THE WAR ROOM: Adv. Creative Writing---
Everyone was seated, promptly when the bell rang, but their voices had not yet resigned from hall talk. "-And all I could hear were children laughing…"
No one heard him. "Did you know Mike dumped Alena?" "Oh?" "I was late to my Russian Language class, Instructor Tate had me run five laps around the grounds… and that made me late to my next class. So then the Professor told me I had det" "Did you see Mika at lunch talking to Amber? She's soo lucky!" The words were bleeding together slowly becoming and indistinguishable.
Duo looked to Gavin. He sat nervously in the front row, his posture erect and perfect. He was quietly waiting for Duo's first words of wisdom completely unaware of the chaos of dialect thrashing around him.
Finally Duo repeated himself, "-And all I could hear were children laughing…" Duo whispered, he slanted his eyes to the floor, his face soft for a moment. A couple girls gazed at him adoringly, straining to hear his voice. "Laughing! Laughing and laughing!" Duo roared.
The class went silent, and student turned to stare at him, mouths hanging open mid-sentence.
"-Laughing!" He yelled at his wide-eyed pupils. "And there, amongst the wails… I cried. I screamed even! I damned each small voice! I shouted: 'Wretched voices! Cease, desisted, for I am going mad at all this raving!' In the world then, all those little children became nothing but whispers, and I was resigned, my last energy spent on casting off the evil that had burdened me! All night, they had chanted, laughing at me… and at last… I could sleep. Their tongues comforting me in their softness." Duo had their attention with his sudden passion, his voice trembling, and bellowing, then whispering and whimpering, pleading almost… They were rapt and unable to break away from his grasp.
"I then found…" Duo continued, "That I couldn't sleep, I couldn't sleep at all, nor could I keep my heavy eyelids shut. Their cooing no longer comforted me, but I discovered I couldn't function without their incessant taunting. Without it I had no drive to go on towards the future. I was all alone in my bed, my gown in disarray, I was alone in a world full of people, alone in a mob."
Gavin's small lips moved to say something, but he was unable to utter a syllable.
Duo smiled and sat on his desk before the gawking teenagers. "Does anyone know what that was?" No one spoke. "I didn't think so." A few looked offended, and he could tell they had read every text from poets, pay writes, prophets, and novelists- the know-it-alls.
"Its actually from a movie." Duo noted. "It's from a moving called The Cavalcade that came out in… I dunno… somewhere between 2010 and 2020."
Immediately someone spoke up from the back, "That's not creative writing, Mr. Maxwell." A strong voice piped. "It's not even a classic."
Duo made a rude noise at her, and stuck his tongue out. "Who the hell made you boss, huh? You're hardly an expert on what is classical or not."
"Even if it was." The voice said. "It sure has nothing to do with creative writing."
Duo's violent orbs gravitated to the girl, sitting in the back, next to the aloof and apparently incensed Sara Dominique, Gavin's older sister. The argumentative girl was blonde, with an overly round voice, and an upturned nose, and she was glaring at him with a look akin to the vocal 'you have no idea what you're doing.'
"Well for your information" Duo began aggressively. "It does. The script itself is creative writing, and it happened to be a book before it was turned into a movie. But the book wasn't all that good. The movie however-"
"That doesn't make it classical." She rebuffed with a snotty snort.
Duo narrowed his eyes dangerously, "It's classical, because I say so, so shut up- Because I say so." People laughed, and she shrunk in her chair, the helium gone from her bloated head.
Ah… victorious. Duo thought. "I thought I would take a different approach to this class, instead of jumping strait into work. I thought maybe we could have a go at this movie. So tomorrow I will bring it in, and afterward, we'll have a discussion… followed by something." Something? Whatever that something is.
----Adv. Creative Writing minutes later Open Discussion----
"Sheesh, Mr. Maxwell! Do you just sit in front of the tube at home at vegetate? Don't you have a life?" Some student asked.
Duo laughed shallowly, "Maybe a little now, but no, these movies… I've seen every one of them a thousand and seven times."
A male sitting against the wall was shaking his head, his face sluggish. "Why?"
"I used to work at a garage! The old men there, especially one who I called Pops, would play movies like that all the time. Every TV and speaker in the hangar, or shop would be playing them. It was a bum mechanic's-"
The blonde from earlier sat at attention her eyes wide and disbelieving, "But why would you do something like that?"
"What do you mean?"
Gavin shook his head, "I think she means: Why would you work somewhere like that?"
Duo laughed again, "As a mechanic? For money." Another look of disbelief from the round face blonde in the back, "Hey, look, not everyone has loads of money. Me? Naw, I was always poor. I worked hard to get where I am in life, even though it may not have always seemed like it, I worked for everything."
"So you worked to pay for school so you could teach us?" The girl queried confused.
"Sure." Duo responded good-humouredly. "And while I worked fixing suits-"
"Suits? Like… mobile suits…" The sluggish guy was rapt. "War suits… real suits?"
"What's your name?" Shit, I forgot to take roll call. Everyone here? Why not!
The boy pointed at himself then glanced around, "Lionel, Sir." Lionel smiled. "A mechanic who worked on suits…" His voice was dreamy and distant. "I've always wanted to be a mechanic."
Lauren King, a young woman from base class wiggled her nose, her eyes cool and aloof. "What a looser vocation, why would you want to do that? We're the best." She said looking around, her dirty brown hair following her face as she scanned the class. "We're prodigies. We're the best. Our parents send us here so we can be something, and when I say something… I don't think it would be some filthy grease monkey."
I can't believe someone actually thinks that! Duo was brisling; she had been relatively non-existent until now. She was quiet and hadn't bothered to make herself known. Obviously the thought of working for a living was so appalling that she couldn't hold herself back any longer.
Defused, Lionel looked away to hide his embarrassment, and Duo became furious. "Lauren, shut up." He growled, "There is nothing wrong with working hard for a living, there is nothing wrong with having passion for something, and there is nothing wrong with not letting your awe of simple things die." He paused thoughtfully, "However…" He drawled, "There is something wrong with spoilt children who denounced the people who make their parents so rich and powerful. Grease monkeys? Filthy? Without them…who would fix the vehicles that parade your parent's prestigious soldiers around? Without those fix-it-men, men like me… There would be no soldiers to fight wars to help your parents impress themselves upon civilians."
Lauren's eyes became frozen slits in her face, but she sat silenced.
"So just shut up before you run your mouth before me."
With the room silenced, the sound of a chair being pushed back was like nails on a chalkboard, "Who are you…" Came Sarah's irate voice, "to tell her to shut up! What would you know you bigheaded, idiot. How dare you presume to know a damn thing, filth, moron, faggot!!" Duo observed her closely her outburst was unexpected. "What sort of imbecile would hire someone like you? Huh? I don't ever want to hear you tell a girl to shut up again, not in front of my, or my father will have something to say about this. I swear"-Duo cut her short and to the quick.
"Here let me make it thrice, Shut up." Duo said, his temperament that was becoming curdled and vile in his throat. It tasted strangely like impatience and anger. "Don't tell me what to do." Gavin became a frozen figure in his line of site.
"Filthy disgusting money." Sarah pursued vilely. "Lauren is right. People like you… couldn't understand what it is like to be us. You…" Her eyes darted to Lionel, "And you" then to her brother, "And you! You are beneath the air that we breathe. Despicable."
Duo sighed and smiled. "Sarah, get out of my classroom."
Sarah shoved her seat into the desk, bumping the blonde who had sat at her side. "Gladly." She hissed, her proverbial ears thrown back.
Then the bell rang, and Sarah was lost in a crowed of neutral students, and in the blur, Duo saw the two ostracized boys, one humiliated, the other fighting tears. Neither boy moved as the classroom ended.
"Don't worry guys." Duo said shrugging. "Girls will be girls." He said carefully, remembering Gavin's outburst the other day.
"Stop." Gavin whispered, standing up and moving towards the door. "You don't know what you're doing." The small boy was effaced in the throng in the hall, gone from Duo's sight.
----The Courtyard Beautiful Stranger---
Officially it was the end of the day, and Wufei heard classes let out like muted bells, liberated students releasing into the corridors beyond the garden walls. Duo would be done teaching, and would be probably heading off to his office. Maybe Wufei should go see him?
Wufei regretted the aberrant thoughts bitterly, and brushed them off. Without just cause, Wufei didn't want to see Duo just now. Not in the least.
The eerie omniscient feeling of being watched burned, and Wufei's body went rigid in defense. His dark eyes lessened into a dangerous glare as he glanced around.
No one.
Wufei settled back an inch, and breathed. Someone was there he could sense it. It tingled the sensitive flesh of the back of his neck, his hair standing at attention. Someone was there for sure.
Then that someone spoke, soft, and dramatic, if even a bit melodically someone spoke his name. "Wufei Chang. Chang, Wufei. Yes? It's Chinese isn't?"
"I'm not Chinese." Wufei responded, imploring the visitor to approach within sight.
Mika rounded a corner to Wufei's left, the opposite direction in which he was starring. "Oh? I'm sorry Wufei, my bad. I meant no offence."
"No, none taken." Wufei forced the words from his lips in a cordial manner, he felt off balance, and the site of the fiery red head amongst the deepest color of roses was a brazenly spectacular vision to behold. A misty haze of awe consumed him, much like the memories of his mother, or more recently the vision of watching Duo sing while playing a few off note keys on a piano at a Preventer function a couple years back. The night Duo left with Hero, earth bound, but destination unknown.
Mika stopped in front of the bench where Wufei sat "What are you doing out here alone, Wufei?"
In utter quiet Wufei rose from his seat, starring unabashedly at Mika's sharp features. Something so out of place, something so odd, he was like a rose amongst weeds here at Inganno Academy, he looked so different than his father he was prominent and wild grace that was preternatural
"Wufei?"
Why would someone want to harm something so gentle? His voice was velvety.
"Wufei?"
It was his job to protect this boy.
"Wufei?"
No… this man. Anger engulfed him like the consuming flames devouring wild brush. How could people continue to destroy innocent life? Children. People like him, Wufei supposed cynically, if it was necessary to complete his initial objective he would pull the cold trigger of his gun and let a bullet rip through the young life than obstructed his path.
"Wufei, answer me." Mika demanded.
The authoritive tone jarred Wufei's mind. "Huh?" He mumbled.
"Beautiful." Mika whispered starring at him intensely as he leaned in, the exquisite fabric of his button down shirt grazing his chest. "Beautiful and Perfect."
Wufei focused his eyes, "What are you talking about? What is?"
As if it pained him, Mika wrenched his eyes away from Wufei and turned his eyes to the roses branching up towards the sky. "This place, the roses."
That's funny, Wufei thought, I could have sworn…
Mika looked at him sharply, daringly, cutting off Wufei's inner-monologue. "What are you doing out here?"
"I was going to read during my break, but instead decided to absorb the scenery." Why am I telling you this?
"I see. Well break is over, Wufei."
Wufei raises his eyebrow, his feathers ruffled. "I gathered that by the bell."
And suddenly there it was, a brilliant smile with no comparison, another complex facet of Mika. "Good to know you aren't an idiot. How about we go for a walk? I am going to go meet Dex out by the gate and we're going to go run a couple of errands. I would love for you to come. Maybe meet a few of my friends." He added with a confident nod.
Yes, the mission. "Yes, I would like that." Wufei replied, and the two headed back toward the passage entry.
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Fingernails scratched his skin and trailed across his groin against his thighs, a haggard shudder tore from his parted lips and his body arched. Two hands pressed his hips back down, an tsking noise chastising his lack of control.
---The Halls of Inganno Academy----
Duo shuffled along the polished floors celebrating a one-man celebration, a pity party. A teacher? This wasn't the role for him, he wasn't teaching material. He barely could learn himself, how could Une think he was capable? Wait, she didn't, he intruded in on the boardroom and forced him-self upon the mission. A sweet escape, nothing like violence could cure personal problems, or at least sweep you away in a river of power that could erase all traces of mental dilemma.
I wonder what Heero would think if he saw this? If he could laugh, he'd laugh me right off campus and in front of a big red truck. Scarcely beginning the mission, and already his rampant emotions were complicating things. Just a liability! I'm no good and this camouflage shit; I'm more of the wham-bam-kick-your-ass-I'm-done kinda man.
In an odd way, Duo was beginning to cheer himself up. Yeah, exactly! Kick your ass kinda man. And that's what I am gonna do. Kick ass.
Duo grinned broadly, all he would have to do is keep in check. He'd start by talking to Wufei about basic game plans, and then he'd report to Lady Une. Yeah, Rock n' roll, and kiss some ass. Duo looked up, and then tripped into a locker.
"Oh my God, Mr. Maxwell are you okay!?" Came an urgent voice.
"Fuck." Duo hissed crouching down and rubbing his sore knee. "Fuck." Slowly, Duo's eyes moved upward to the slacked-jawed face of one of his students gawking at him.
Gavin was starring at him in shock, his eyes saucers of disbelief. Next to him, stood Darryl indifferent to the ass before him.
Duo laughed sheepishly, eager to forget his 15 seconds of fame. "Hi guys." He fumbled.
"Hi." Gavin said.
"Hey, look Gavin, I'm-"
Gavin shook his head and put up a hand, "Don't worry about it… Duo, it's okay."
It was faintly obvious the Darryl was confused, his eyebrows were knit together, and the proverbial question mark was materializing above his head.
Gavin smiled reassuringly, and Darryl tugged him forward. "Let's go." He grumbled.
Ahead, right in front of Darryl a hallway door swing open into the hall, unlike other doors that swung out. Duo's carriage leveled, and he reached out a hand as if to grab them. "Hey! Watch-"
The door hit Darryl, and bumped Gavin. "Watch it." Darryl snarled as the invaders became visible.
A curtain of muteness fell around the five sole occupants of the passage and Duo watched the event pass in a fascinated sort of dumbness.
"Oh! Mr. Maxwell." Duo barely acknowledged Anne as she rushed him down the hall. "We're having an urgent Teacher meeting, and it's horrible, you must come. I'm so glad I found you. There is some young lady and her father-"
Mika Thret stood like a dark cloud on one side of the line, and Darryl Albin an irate blizzard on the other. Caught amidst the raging tempest was Gavin, in quiet horror, and Wufei ensconced in silence to observe the trespass.
Duo struggled lightly to keep eyed on the event, but nothing could stop Anne who drug him through a door, the last thing Duo heard was Mika's reproach.
"No." Came the final silken reprimand, and Mika hooked arms with Wufei and pulled the ex-pilot between Gavin and Darryl, shoving either or in opposite directions. As small as Gavin was, he stumbled and fell on his rear, but gave no hint of distress.
"Hey!" Darryl roared grabbing Wufei by the shoulder and whirring him around in a move akin to a mobster movie. "What the fuck do you think you're doing, Chink Wufei."
--- Teacher Assembly Room Anger Management---
Duo was still mourning his departure when he came face to face with a pristine white door with the letters T.A.R.: Designated Faculty Only embossed on the front.
"It's the Teacher's Assembly Room!" Anne informed him quietly, her happy demeanor left back in the hall with Wufei. "It's very serious. Lots of trouble." She murmured. "Apparently… one of your students contacted her father at his office a short ways away, and he immediately rushed over. He's furious… Mr. Andrews is the Dean Morley's close friend. This could be very bad."
"I bet." Duo intoned.
Anne frowned deeply, "I suggest you keep heart, the Dean is fiercer than he looks. Okay then?" Duo nodded. "Okay." Reaching forward, Anne opened the door and moved forward into a brightly illuminated room.
In the center of the Assembly Room was a long wooden table, stained a dark brown, with rows of chairs on whichever side. A larger more impressive chair was seated at the head of the table; in it sat a beast of a man. His forehead was large, his gray eyebrows bushy like two caterpillars above his ice gray eyes, and his long tousled silvery hair was yanked back into a low ponytail that disappeared between his back and the chair. Moreover, he was solid and short, with a well-trimmed goatee.
Instantly Duo felt terrified.
A fleet of O.Z.'s A-string Aeries mobile suits couldn't scare him, even if they were lead by Zech's Marquise. Yet this little man was more horrifying than anything Duo had ever encountered, worse than Lady Une during that time of the month, or Heero when-
"That will be all, Anne, thank you." Duo's only connection made her-self scarce, shutting the door behind her. "Mr. Maxwell." The Dean Morley said. "Please sit."
Duo went forward and boldly pulled out a chair directly to the Dean's right. "Thanks." Duo grumbled, and slouched down into his seat.
"Mr. Maxwell, I've heard much about you already, and I daresay that that is never a good sign. Though none of the words that have been shared have been bad…" Duo let out a sign of relief. "Until now."
"Mr. Maxwell, I would like you to meet Mr. Andrews, he is the father of two of your students." Dean Morley gestured heavily to a man standing at the window, his brown eyes cast out over the grounds. "Mr. Andrews has been a friend of mine for many years, and to this day we have handled our business quandary as if they were our personal tribulations to be resolved immediately. He has trusted our my school with his children, Sarah, and Gavin, and in turn I have trusted them to you."
Duo bit his tongue and found himself feeling agitated by these formalities, "Hi." Duo was all he had, but still the figure silhouetted by the window would not turn to face the teacher of his brood.
"Today," The Dean continued in his booming voice, "I have been faced with an issue that merits my personal attention. You. The allegations are the following: You have increasingly disrespectful behavior towards your students, you use inappropriate language towards your students, and spout sexist phrases that subjectively humiliate the female portion of your student body, and have singled out one such female as the target of your abuse. That girl happens to be my dearest friend's daughter, Sara. Now before I open this discussion for comments, I demand you keep a mindful-tongue while speaking before me and with Mr. Andrews. This will not be recorded, and everything spoken shall stay in this room, between us three men." The Dean paused briefly as if to think. "Please, Randy, if you have something to say get it off your chest already."
At length the man at the window turned around, a lengthy man in his early 50s with sandy gray hair, and colorless eyes. He stood watching Duo with an uninterruptible gaze in a pressed black suite and black tie. Mr. Randolph Andrews took Duo back to a day a long time ago that he had been sitting inside of a hangar watching DeathSythe's resurrection to the living and reading a black and white comic about men in suites.
Finally a small amount of recognition filled those blank eyes, and the man turned his head inquisitively at Duo. Mr. Andrews had seen Duo before, but where? The man who sat before him looked much different than the baby faced boy who gallivanted through space in his mobile suite fighting wars, but several attributes were still the same. The hair, the eyes…
"Mr. Maxwell." Randolph regarded coldly.
"Hi." Duo said again.
---The Front Gate of Inganno Academy Boys---
Wufei kept several paces behind Mika, his mind lost in thought again. He had seen Duo in the hall, hadn't he? Who was the woman who pulled him away? Was it important? It was going to be hard to get to understand Darryl and Mika's relationship no that there was tension. Back in the corridor, Mika and Wufei blatantly ignored Darryl's outburst as if it were but a childish tantrum.
Mika glanced bag at Wufei. "Don't give a second piece of mind to Albin. He's a low life." He said matter-of-factly. "How pathetic a guy to reduce himself to racial slurs. Don't you think, Wufei?"
"Yes." Wufei agreed not wholly listening.
"He is nothing in my sight." Mika said, a malignant snarl in his voice, but Wufei had returned his mind and wasn't listening once more. "I'll crush him, someday… Someday… Someday…He's nothing, always has been nothing, and I'll see to it he stays that way."
Wufei glanced up catching the whiff of Mika's tone. What was it he was saying?
---------------------------
Dexter anxiously watched cars whiz by, his eyes darting from his left to his right following each vehicle. Where the hell was Mika? He said he was just going to go change his clothes and take care of a quick interest and would be out in ten minutes max. Dexter looked at his watch, it was exactly 17 minutes later and Mika was still not there.
Rubbing his eyes he casually turned his thoughts to the summer that had gone by all to fast. It had been horrific, but… Mika had been there every night afterward to hold him. The moment in his mind brought a smirk to his face, and he suddenly felt less nervous. Yes, he should trust Mika, Mika Maeko Thret had given Dex everything he needed, had given him options when he was down and dirty, and then lent a hand to clean him up afterward. Like always. Mika would come through, like always.
Ordained by his words, Mika became visible on the black paved path from the school, and Dex's heart leapt self-assuredly. He knew it. Mika would never let him down.
"Yo Mika!" He hollered waving his hand.
Mika waved back.
"What took you so long!?" And then Dex saw the Chinese guy who had been looming around like a nasty shadow. "Uh. I-ya… Hullo Wufei!" Dex managed, thought it came out a little stuttered and mumbled.
Wufei nodded. "Hello Dex."
Dexter nodded in return, and glanced between the two.
"Sorry it took so long, we slipped through some slime in the halls."
"S'cuse me?" Dexter laughed. "You ran into Darryl? Doesn't that maggoty freak have a life?"
"Other than me? No." And who does?
Fidgeting in his school uniform, Wufei blinked a few times. The anxiety between Darryl, Mika, and Dexter was worrisome. There was something, but what? A past? A connection, of course.
"S'okay, let's just hit the road. Where to Mika? What are our plans?"
Mika itched the tip of his nose, and then put his hands theatrically on his hips. "I suppose that we shall go out to lunch, and then to the shopping center, do a little gamming, and then… we can go…" Mika looked around. "Dancing, I guess." Dexter paled considerably at the suggestion. "Why might as well make a night of it, and Dex, don't you have business at the club anyways?"
Dex starred modestly at his feet, "I guess."
As the three began walking into town, Wufei could have sworn Dexter's face had flushed red, but every tine he tried to get a closer look the boy would turn his face away, or walk a little faster.
---T.A.R.---
"I still find it intolerable that you have such a young ill-tempered educator aboard staff. His credentials are less than admirable, his schooling is second rate, and methods aren't even sanctioned by the academic programmers. Frankly, Gavin, I am disappointed in this situation."
Gavin? Duo sat still his eyes blankly on the table surface as he listened half-heartedly.
"Randy…" Dean Gavin Morley sighed. "I can completely understand, but for now we're going to have to leave it at a verbal warning. We will take severe action should this continue, until then…" He grumbled looking to Duo. "We will pray that the hand selected staff here not leave us disenchanted in the near future."
"It bloody better not." Mr. Andrews hissed. "I will not have my daughter's image smeared by some dim-witt."
"Rest assured my friend, I will personally keep an eye on Mr. Maxwell. I'm confident he won't let us down."
Randy Andrews set a firm glare in Duo's direction, then swept up his suitcase and briskly stalked to the door. "I won't be so lenient if there is even an inkling of an incident occurring again. I will sweep the children out of here faster than you could blink. Be weary of this, Gavin." Andrews paused. "I must be off, I'm not here for leisure. I am a busy man."
"Of course," The Dean said. "Until next time then, Randy. Our next meeting will be far less taxing."
"Yes." Mr. Andrews nodded, and then shoved off through the door continuing his haste pace.
The Dean waited briefly, and then let out a puff air. "Mr. Maxwell, when I hear the word incognito… one would think that you would be more inconspicuous than this."
Duo sat up rigidly, "Huh?"
"I will have to contact Lady Une about this, but really…" He huffed.
"Wait, what?"
"Return to your duties." The Dean dismissed.
"Wait!"
"How did I know about you? You would think your Chief would have a partial brain enough to give your aliases before arrive on the scene. It wasn't hard to find out who you were, really. A lot has been done to your file. 'Light military work?" The Dean laughed hard and loud. "Okay." He said sobering suddenly. "Get out, go about your business, and let this be the last I hear from you."
Duo wobbled out in a daze. He had thought they were being sneaky…
---Later Under a Rock---
It was late when Duo, exhausted, finally stumbled through the door of his apartment. His eyes were nothing but swimming orbs in his head, glossed over in his half-sleep state. The empty room was dark, thick blackness coating his things in a nearly tangible film, retreating and then casting itself again as his voice mail's alert button blinked.
"Honey… I'm home…" He whimpered tenderly to the nothingness that awaited him, and sunk pathetically down into the small wooden chair next to phone. 4 Messages. 5 Calls. Feebly he whomped the button and got up to get undressed.
Duo loosened his tie. "You had five missed calls, and four messages. First message sent at 3:15 pm: 'Hi Duo, this is Quatre! Give me a call when you get this, nothing important, just seeing how things are.'"
"Second message sent at 4:47 pm: 'Hello Mr. Maxwell, my name is Dr. Mimi Ruumi and I am a staff member at the education facility in which you work. If you would kindly return this call… I would like to have a few words with you.'" What the fuck… Duo thought tearing down the buttons on his shirt, I was at school then finishing up my paper for that stupid slap on the wrists, and setting up lesson plans so they could be approved from now till I die.
"Third message send at 8:01 pm: Hi again Duo, this is Quatre. Just calling again to see if you were home, obviously your not… so I am just gonna leave you a brief message. I have to fly to L1 for some business tomorrow afternoon with my nephew Erique, and if you have some time, let's go for coffee and doughnuts tomorrow evening. Okay, talk to you later! Erm…Bye!'" Duo laughed hollowly at his friend. That was way too chipper for Quatre; he unzipped his slacks, and slipped his belt through the waist loops letting his pants fall to his ankles.
Duo hooked his thumbs in the elastic band of his boxer shorts and took a refreshing breath, his spine cracked with an audible POP. "Fourth message sent at 9:13 pm: 'Maxwell, this is your mother. You haven't called me. Give me a call immediately.'" WHAT THE HELL!? Duo barked out an obnoxious laugh at Lady Une's attempt to be discreet. His mother? If he had a mother somewhere out there he sure in the hell didn't want her to be lady Une.
Mournfully Duo's eyes searched out a clock, he had gratefully missed Lady Une's call by eleven minutes and counting. She could wait till morning. His eyes continued to rake the depressing scenery, nothing, and no one. Alone. Again. "Heero…" He whispered, his mind reaching difficultly for someone else. "You ass." He wasn't sure which of the two men he was referring to; he stole a glance at the clock quickly.
Wasn't Wufei supposed to call and meet him somewhere? If he was going to insist on being royal pain, Duo would have to come up with something quick. If Wufei wouldn't come to him, Duo would force him.
Force…
Weakly, Mr. Maxwell dropped down onto his coach, asleep even before he allowed himself the comfort of relaxing.
----------------?----------------
Finally, he broke. He needed to be touched, to be filled. "Please…"
"How pathetic you are…" was the only response before the warmth lifted off of him and left him in the bleak chilling air of his bedroom.
---L-3, Preventers HQ----
Trowa had yet to visit his apartment and change and yet every time he glowered at the clock and the small hand ebbed towards Midnight, he felt no yearning for clean clothes or a shower. He wanted to work and drown out his thoughts.
Damn it. It wasn't working.
Out of sheer desperation Trowa had stopped Lady Une in the hall and requested to be sent out on a field mission. "No." Was all she had said before she side stepped him and entered her office. He wanted to follow her and scream. He was going crazy being cooped up inside the office and filing paperwork like a secretary.
Next he asked her if he could take a leave of absence and go see Quatre. Instead of a crisp denial, he was gifted with a look that he had sworn murdered the vase of flowers on her desk, and took that as a no as well.
Trowa leaned back in his simple desk, his eyes dazed. Without sleep his concentration was shot. His eyes lazily wondered to each side, down to his paper, to a body looming in his doorway, to the clock, to his paperwork again, and then finally gravitated back to the person standing in the entryway to his office in a fine example of a double take.
"Heero?"
----------------The end----------------
Responses to Unregistered Reviewers
-I wish I could thank you all over e-mail, but I understand the desire for anonymity! So…
Drag-on-Queen – I appreciate your considerations, but I don't claim to know what it's like to be a gay man, as a lesbian female… it's a curiosity for me that I find erotic… in writing. This is just my fantasy world, my writing, and a place to escape to and create. I'm sorry you feel so hostile towards it, and fellow writers of the yaoi fandom.
Me – LoL! Another shout out for 2/5! Me, thanks for your support, I am glad I have your attention! I hope I don't disappoint you! I do plan on continuing this story until the end!Freefall - hides horribly embarrassed you're too kind Freefall, I don't deserve a reader such as yourself! Duo and Wufei have an odd relationship as of yet, and I hope it develops into something much more complex. Especially with Heero now on the scene! Then again, we'll have to wait and see what goes on… And I'll try and keep up the excellence! -
S.Maldiva – S. Thanks for the review, I'm glad you enjoyed! I'm immensely pleased with how many people are loyal/fan enough to give other fan-writers the time of day! As for Wufei and his issue with being Chinese… that's apart of an up coming side-story! There are many pieces that may not make sense as of yet, but will as the story unfolds. I hope I don't loose anyone over that! Good question, thank you!