Title: The Boondocks
Author: Scriptophobic
Pairings: 1R, 1x2x1, 3x4, 5xOC
Warnings: Violence, Language, Sex, Angst, Dorkiness
Disclaimer: If I actually owned Gundam Wing, the yaoi part of this story would have happened in the actual series
The Boondocks
Chapter One
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"Pass the pop."
"Quatre drank the last one."
"I did not!"
"Yes, you did."
"I was drinking coffee, for your information. Wufei drank the last one and he went to get more."
"Who drinks coffee at one in the afternoon when it's eighty something degrees?"
"Quatre."
"He's obsessed."
"Oh, shut up."
Heero slumped back against the windshield of Wufei's car and thanked God that it was parked in the shade or the glass would have burned the shit out of him. His shirt was off, he only had on loose track shorts and sneakers, but yet he was still incredibly hot. Eighty seven degrees plus humidity made for a miserable day. "Relena said we can go over and use her pool today," He told the others.
Quatre perked up from his spot next to him. He had his shirt wrapped around his head like some kind of demented turban and looked quite ridiculous, but he claimed it was to keep his head from getting hot because hot heads gave him a headache. Or something.
"Really? When? ...Oh. Milliardo won't be home will he?"
Heero shook his head and fanned himself with his hand. "Nah, she wouldn't have invited us over if he was."
"You'll just make yourself hotter by fanning yourself. It takes more energy," Trowa told him from his spot on the grass.
Heero gave him a dirty look and squinted down the road. He could see Wufei making his way back from the gas station with a bag dangling from one of his hands. His eyebrows were knotted and he was glaring evilly in their general direction. Heero slid off the car and sat down next to Trowa, briefly considering warning Quatre before deciding that it would be a lot more interesting if he didn't.
Wufei marched up to them and dropped the bag of soda in Trowa's lap before turning to Quatre and shoving him off of the car. Quatre tumbled down on to the grass and sprawled on Heero's lap.
"NEVER sit on my car again. I'll kill you both." He grabbed Heero's discarded shirt and began shining the hood of the car while shooting hateful glances at his friends.
"Geez, you're such a freak. It's just a car," Quatre complained, rubbing his shoulder. "And was that really necessary? You made me hurt my arm."
"Oh quit whining, you pansy." Wufei stopped shining and kissed the hood. He was obsessed with it, but he had good reason to be. It was a black 1962 Ford Thunderbird Convertible that he'd found collecting rust and dust in some junkyard. He'd bought it off the owner for $4,000 (which was more than a bargain, but the hicks in this town didn't know about classics or what they would be worth in somewhere that mattered) and had spent a few thousand more fixing it up until it was perfect. It had taken him three years and many long days of going without food and working overtime at his grandfather's restaurant before he had been able to accomplish it.
"I hope you know that Heero's ass was just in that spot," Trowa informed him as he cracked open a soda.
Wufei began wiping his mouth comically and Quatre laughed. "I always knew Wufei was an ass kisser. I'm getting sudden flashbacks from our days at Eugene High."
"'Our days at'? We just graduated yesterday for pity's sake," Wufei scoffed.
"Will you all shut up? You're making me hotter," Heero grumbled. He raked a hand through his hair, trying unsuccessfully to brush it back. "Where the hell is Duo? When he gets here we can go to Relena's."
"Why are we going to Relena's?" Wufei asked as he grabbed a soda.
"She's letting us use her pool," Trowa told him.
Wufei made a face. "I don't like pools. People pee in them and it's unsanitary."
"Just because you pee in them doesn't mean everyone else does," Trowa said blandly.
Quatre rolled his eyes at them. "I don't know where Duo is. He was supposed to meet us like an hour ago but knowing him--"
'Knowing him he got distracted by something deeply stupid. The boy has the attention span of a gnat," Wufei said with a snort.
Heero frowned and twirled his bottle of coke. He probably went off with his stupid boyfriend, he thought disapprovingly. He didn't know what Duo saw in the guy. He was a total retard. "Maybe we should leave him."
"He won't have a ride and he won't even know where we are." Quatre frowned. "You can leave if you want but I'll stay here."
"Well if he wants to spend all of his time with that fucking---" Heero was cut off by loud maniacal laughter and the sound of several male voices swearing profusely. He whipped his head around just in time to see Duo speed by with his braid whipping out wildly behind him and a group of richies chasing him at full speed.
"...What the hell was that?" Wufei asked after several long minutes of incredulous silence. He craned his neck and squinted down the road.
"Duo being chased by a bunch of preps," Trowa said calmly as he took another sip of soda.
"Well don't you think we should go after them?" Quatre demanded as he jumped to his feet. "Guys? Heero? ..Heero?" He looked around and frowned. "Where did he go?"
"After Duo." Trowa finished his soda and stood up with a sigh. "They're probably getting the shit kicked out of them by now so we should probably hurry." He shook his head and took off down the road after them. Quatre was not too far behind him.
Wufei scowled and looked at his car. "Why do I associate with these people?" He asked in exasperation before sprinting after his friends.
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Duo had gotten all the way to the apple orchard on Morningstar Road before they caught up to him. He'd been halfway over the old wooden fence that surrounded the orchard when he felt someone grab his braid and yank him backwards painfully. His head hit the ground and he saw stars for several moments before his eyes focused again and he saw Mike Mallone's ugly face sneering down at him. "I thought only girls pulled hair in a fight," He drawled.
"You got a lot of balls, Maxwell," Mike said darkly. "Who the hell do you think you are?"
"Well, let me think." Duo got to his feet unsteadily and smirked at Mike and his brothers. "I think... I'm the guy who just embarassed the heck out of you in front of your dog faced girlfriend."
Mike shoved him backwards roughly. "You shouldn't even be allowed in Kings County, you fucking trailer trash. Why don't you go find your little greaseball friends and go back to the boondocks so you can suck each other off and stay the fuck out of our area."
"YOUR area? Don't make me--" He was cut off by a fist slamming into his stomach. The wind went out of him and he doubled over painfully. "Motherfu--" A kick in the side silenced the curse and he fell to the ground in pain. He instinctively covered his head and face with his hands as four sets of feet slammed into various parts of his body. After several moments of abuse, they backed off and he tried to climb to his feet again. "Is that all you got?" He slurred with a bloody grin. "You hit like pussies."
Mike's oldest brother started to advance again but a streak of black shorts and tan skin tackled him to the ground and began pummeling him senseless. Duo blinked stupidly for a moment before he realized that it was Heero. ...And Wufei. And Trowa. And, holy crap, Quatre was fighting too! Duo grinned like an idiot and tried to stumble forwards to join the fray but he wound up sinking to his knees dizzily. "That's right! Defend my honor... and stuff." His head swam and he blinked slowly as he stumbled a bit and fell to the ground.
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Heero took one look at his best friend and saw red. He very rarely lost his temper this badly because it took a lot to get a rise out of him, but when he did lose it... well, he lost it in a bad way. He pinned Mike to the ground with one hand and punched him repeatedly with his other. Mike scrabbled at his arms as he tried to get away and even managed to get a hit in but it was weak and barely made Heero pause.
"Heero! Let's get the heck out of here!" Quatre yelled. "You beat him up enough! Come on!"
Heero looked up from Mike's disoriented face to see his friends trying to drag Duo down the road and the rest of the Mallone boys running in the opposite direction. He glared at Mike one final time before getting up and spitting in his face. "Mess with him again and next time it will be even worse," He told him calmly. Mike stared at him wide eyed and scrambled to his feet, taking off after his brothers.
"Geez Heero you didn't have to make chopped meat out of his face," Quatre said disapprovingly.
"Seriously. If he decides to go to the cops with that mug, he can say we started this whole thing and we'll be the ones sitting in the can," Wufei added with a disapproving frown of his own.
Heero shrugged uncaringly and pushed them out of the way; throwing Duo over his shoulder easily and carrying him down the road. Weaklings. They needed to work out more. "We have Duo as proof that they gave as good as they got."
"Duo? Are you kidding me?" Wufei scoffed. "With his record? He's been in the county jail so many times that he knows every cop's name and even some of their families."
"Fuck you, Wufei," Duo slurred.
"They won't go to the cops, it's not their style. They'll just come back with reinforcements and kick our asses into next week," Trowa said dryly as they approached Wufei's car.
Heero opened the car door and got in, carefully pulling Duo in after him. Quatre slid in on the other side of Duo as he stared at him worriedly. "Do you think he'll be okay?" Quatre asked as Duo groaned and massaged his head with his fingers. "Maybe he has a concussion or something? Maybe we should take him to the hospital..."
"You paying for the hospital bills?" Trowa asked with a snort. "He'll be fine. Between Heero and me, we've had about six concussions during the four years we played football for Eugene. It's not a big deal."
"Stupid jocks," Wufei muttered as he swung the car onto Main Street and into the better part of town.
"Hey I only played football. Heero played football, basketball and was on the hockey team. He was Super Jock."
"I was on the swim team!" Quatre chimed in.
"That's not a sport," Heero told him. "It shouldn't count as one, anyway."
"Why? Because I'm not shoving people and getting slammed into the ground and getting all sweaty?"
Two "yes's and a snicker answered him and he scowled. "Oh shut up."
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"JERANIMO!" Quatre yelled as he dove into the pool, splashing everyone around it when he hit the water. Trowa and Wufei instantly grabbed him and pulled him under the water; causing an impromptu splashing contest.
"How do you get yourself into these things?" Relena asked Duo disapprovingly as they sat in a dryer part of the yard. She tsk'd and dabbed the cut above his eyebrow with some kind of cream. "Haven't you learned to stay away from those boys already? Every week you--"
"Okay, MOM," Duo cut in dryly. "I get the picture. Now patch me up so I can go play in the water like a good little boy." He appeared to be a lot more focused and alert than he had been a half hour ago in the car. He claimed that the worst of it was really just a bad headache from getting kicked in the head.
"Not with your bandages, you're not," Relena said sternly. "Your arm is still bleeding and you're not going into the pool with all of these open wounds. I'm bandaging you up and that's the end of it."
Duo eyed her with a smirk. "Maybe you just don't want my greaseball blood in your pool?"
"Shut up, Duo," Heero snapped. "It's your own fault for causing trouble with those morons. When are you going to learn to keep your big mouth shut?"
"You don't even know what fucking happened and already it's my fault, right?" Duo snapped back.
"Yes. Because it usually is your fault. In fact, nine times out of ten, it's your fault."
"You know what? Whatever. I'm out of here." He pushed Relena away from him and stormed out of the yard.
"Duo! Stop! How're you going to get home!?" Quatre yelled after him.
"I'll FUCKING WALK!" Came the answering yell and a loud bang as he slammed the gate closed.
Heero frowned and stared after him. What the hell was his problem today? He was never so touchy about these kinds of things. In fact they joked about it all the time and Duo usually seemed to take pride in the fact that he had the ability to get the richies so riled up.
"That went well," Wufei said with a snort.
Relena rolled her eyes and stared after Duo with concern. "Heero... maybe you should go after him? The Mallone brothers live not too far from here and if they see Duo so soon after the fight..."
Heero nodded. "I'm on it. I'll call you later." She kissed him on the cheek and he jogged after Duo, leaving his promised day of lounging by the pool behind. The things he did for his best friend. He made his way to the front of her property and yanked the huge black gate open as he looked up and down Author Lane. Relena didn't only live in the "good" side of town, she lived in the wealthiest part.
Most people wondered why Relena spent so much time with five greasers from across Lincoln Blvd. (well four greasers and one ex-richie if you counted Quatre that way) but anyone who knew her personally would know that the answer to that was one Heero Yuy.
She'd had a crush on him since grade school and after years of relentlessly trying to befriend him (which had proved a hard task since Heero and his friends were all rather jaded when it came to richies), she'd finally made headway in High School when she'd been assigned to study with him. Despite the teasing and the jokes about them, they became a couple shortly after that and Relena became an almost-member of Heero's tight knit group.
Heero shielded his eyes from the sun and squinted down the street just in time to see Duo turn the corner onto Sheridan Road. He jogged after his friend and didn't stop until he was side by side with him. Duo gave him an annoyed look and picked up his pace. "Duo, what the hell is wrong with you?"
"Nothing," Duo snapped irritably. "Go back to your stupid girlfriend's house and leave me alone."
Heero grabbed his arm and forced him to stop. "She was just trying to be nice. Like she always is when you come to her house all bloody and she patches you up. She gives you the same bullshit lecture every time and I give you the same bullshit digs and you never mind but today you're being an asshole about it."
Duo stared at his beat up converses sulkily. "Maybe because this time it really wasn't my fault."
Heero rolled his eyes and they began walking towards Main Street so that they could take the shortcut through the wooded area and get back to the boondocks without further confrontation.
"Then what happened?"
"All I was doing was going to the Alley's to buy some smokes and goodies because that bastard Howard actually paid me on time this week, but the Mallones were in there and I was FULLY intendin' to ignore them but they started in on the trailer jokes--"
"They always start with the trailer jokes," Heero said dryly.
"Can I FINISH?" Duo demanded with a glare.
"Sorry."
"And then... they had to go and bring up my ma."
Heero looked at Duo sharply. "Shit."
"They was talkin' all this shit about she was a whore and about that's how come she died of AIDs and... and all of this shit. I just got so pissed off, you know? No one ever goes that far... They KNOW that's an area they ain't supposed to go in," Duo went on angrily.
Heero put an arm around Duo's shoulders. "Don't listen to those idiots. Everyone knows the Mallones are troublemaking assholes. Even the other richies don't like them." They walked silently for a few moments until they entered the woods and Heero glanced at his friend, only to see that he looked quite depressed. He stopped walking. "Duo, everyone knows your mother was a good woman. Everyone knows how she really got it and the ones who want to believe otherwise are idiots."
"I know..."
Heero punched him in the shoulder playfully. "If you know, then stop sulking."
"I don't sulk!"
"Yeah sure you don't," Heero snorted with a smirk.
Duo punched him in the stomach and laughed when he actually lost his balance. "HA! I knew I'd catch you off guard one day!" He yelled and took off through the trees. "I'll race you back to the boonies!" He shouted over his shoulder.
Heero rubbed his stomach and shook his head as he started to run after Duo. He switched moods so fast that Heero never really knew if it was an act or if the guy really got over things that quickly. He snickered when he heard a crash and Duo's loud, colorful cursing. Whatever the case may be, he decided that today he'd let Duo win the race.
TBC