Disclaimer: I do not, and will never claim ownership over Gundam Wing or any of its characters. They belong to people that aren't me. I'm just satisfying my lust for fiction.

Notes: Just to make this perfectly clear, I don't know where I'm taking this story. I'm just going with the flow so it will no doubt, become a long one with many-a-chapter. Hope it's enjoyed by all who read it.

Warning: SLASH!-Yaoi. Whatever you people call it. Male/male relationships! Mild-angst. AU! I'll add more if I think it's necessary.

Seven: Induction and Intervention.

Trowa sighed, accepting defeat when he knew Duo wouldn't drop the subject. "Almost a year." He said, his voice wistful.

"You're still a sap, you know that?" Mournfully, Trowa nodded and the pair laughed as they entered the school reception.

x-x-x-x-x

"Good Morning Mrs Fender." The cheerful blonde receptionist smiled brightly at both teenagers.

"Good Morning Mr Barton. Who is your friend? Is he new?" Duo raised an eyebrow at his friend before shrugging and turning a flirtatious grin to Mrs Fender.

"Good Morning my lady! You certainly are looking radiant this day. How 'do' you do it?" The woman blushed and smiled.

"It is a hard job, but someone has to." She replied and Duo laughed.

"Of course!" He bowed his head in mock-respect. "My name's Duo Maxwell. Today's my first day, thought I might come here and collect various items of mandatory info." Without losing her smile, Mrs Fender nodded and picked up the phone on her desk.

"Mr Kushrenada, I have Duo Maxwell here. Yes, no, Trowa Barton is with him. Very well, I'll send them through." She hung up and looked back at the two teens. "Mr Kushrenada asked for you both to go through to his office."

"Why me?" Trowa asked her.

"I don't know. I assume he will ask you to show your friend around. Ok, you can go through now." The pair nodded and walked down the corridor to the left of Mrs Fender's office area. They strolled in silence to the end of the row of office doors, stopping at the one with the name plate pinned at eye-level saying 'Mr Trieze Kushrenada. Trowa knocked quietly and waited for the customary 'enter' before opening the door.

Duo stepped over the threshold and after sparing the man in the seat behind the desk a glance, looked around the walls. He noted with a small smile that the Head was a family man. He had a wife and two children – a boy and a girl. There were a number of certificates also up on the wall but one particular image caught the braided teen's attention. His eyes narrowed and he strode towards the wall behind the Head's desk. Before he could get a close look however, the voice of the seated man halted him.

"Would you take a seat and we can get the formalities out of the way." Mr Kushrenada said with an amused smile.

x-x-x-x-x

"It looks like you're in our class, which isn't so bad." Trowa commented as he and Duo stepped out of the reception area. They started walking down a corridor they'd used to get to the main offices some time before. "You've got every class with at least two of us. You're with me all day today and we're with Quatre and Heero period one and three. We're with Wufei period two and four and we're all together period 5. Period 6 is our free but I told Quatre and the guys I'd wait till they finish."

Duo nodded. "Where's this locker Mr K promised me?" He grinned at his friend and the other smiled, shaking his head fondly.

"Right between mine and Hilde's. At least they thought to put us all together this year. Last year wasn't the most desirable of terms we've ever had." They came to a stop in front of a row of lockers and Trowa pointed one out. "Yours." He pointed to another. "Mine." And then to several others. "Hilde's, Wufei's, Quatre's, Heero's and Morgan's."

Duo sidled up to the lockers and keyed in his combination code. After getting it open he set his helmet inside and closed the door. He then turned to Trowa who was just at the point of closing his locker up too. "What's the form teach called?" He asked the taller teen as they set off towards their classroom.

"Weren't you listening to a word Mr Kushrenada said?" The green-eyed youth asked in amused exasperation.

"Of course I was! I just missed that bit. And the bit about homework and anything that wasn't my timetable." Trowa rolled his eyes and gestured toward a door that had been left half open.

"Her name's Lady Noin." He knocked on the door lightly and entered.

"Mr Barton! Welcome back. Please, take your seat and we can introduce your new friend." Lady Noin was tall in Duo's opinion. Almost as tall as he was but not quite. She was still tall though. She had purple-black hair that had been cut short. Her fringe almost rivalled Trowa's in how it sat over her face but it wasn't as prominent. The shape of her face wasn't lost and both her eyes were still visible without you having to crane your neck to look.

She smiled warmly at Duo, urging him to approach her and face the class as a whole. He could feel every eye in the room burning a figurative hole in him as he stepped forward. He bowed his head in respect to Lady Noin and shot her his brightest smile.

"Why don't you tell everyone who you are and add on a little about yourself?" She said to him and he nodded.

"Well my name's Duo Maxwell. I just moved into the area. I'm now living with the dear Roe Charlatan and so far, I've been reunited with an old friend, scared a number of jocks into running away with their tails between their legs… all before first period." He grinned at the laughs he drew from the class, noting with amusement that the aforementioned Jocks were seated at the back of the class. "I may run and hide, but I never tell a lie. That's me in a nutshell."

"You missed something out!" One of the Jocks shouted out angrily causing all but a few of the class' inhabitants to look from Duo to the Jock and back again, a question burning in each of their eyes.

"Oh really?" Duo drawled, levelling an even gaze at the teen who spoke up. "So please, enlighten us all to what exactly, I missed out. Because as you can see, we are all dying to know." His stare never wavered but the Jock turned away almost instantly. "Come on."

"You're Sh-Sh-Shinig-gami!" the teen cried pointing wildly at Duo who simply raised an eyebrow. The class, save Heero, Morgan, Hilde, Trowa, Wufei and Quatre all looked at him with wide, fearful eyes. Trowa raised an inquisitive eyebrow, barely managing to keep the amusement from his face while Wufei didn't bother to try hiding his mirth. Quatre was hiding behind his hand in an effort to keep a laugh inside.

"Oh I thought I told you to grow some balls?" Morgan droned sounding very bored indeed. Beside her Heero snorted and Hilde decided she couldn't hold it in anymore and laughed with Quatre following soon after. Wufei and Trowa both chuckled while Heero settled for a smile after his ice-breaking snort of laughter.

"Why the hell are you lot laughing?" A girl with dark blonde hair hissed at the laughing group. "Do you know who Sh-Shinigami is?!" Her eyes widened as Heero turned to grace her with a sparing glance before speaking in a flat tone.

"Shinigami is a bike." The comment earned an annoyed flushed look from the girl he'd spoken to and more laughs from his friends.

"Enough!" Lady Noin called out over the whispers and the giggling still emanating from Hilde and Morgan. "Mr Maxwell, please, take the seat beside Mr Chang." After giving the teacher a mock-salute, Duo proceeded to walk down the centre isles, smiling almost manically at some cheerleaders in the front row as he passed. He took his seat and made himself comfortable.

"Lead on teach!" He grinned at the smiling teacher.

x-x-x-x-x

"So how do you like the school so far?" Quatre asked Duo as them along with the rest of their group sat down on the school lawns underneath a large oak tree. The blonde was nestled comfortably in between Trowa's legs while the green eyed teen leaned back against the trunk of the tree. Duo himself was seated beside Trowa with his legs stretched out in front of him (oddly being used as a pillow by Morgan), crossing at the ankle.

"To be honest with you, Q-man, it holds a certain amusement to it. I practically ran my old school. Well, as far as students were concerned anyway. The Jock's couldn't beat anything I did, cheerleaders swarmed around me. And when I told them I played the other side of the fence, they swarmed around me for completely different reasons." Morgan giggled form her position.

"You let them play with your hair." She stated with a smirk.

"They made me let them play with my hair." Duo corrected and got a number of snorts aimed his way. "What can I say, I crave attention." He gasped dramatically and clutched his heart, batting his eyelashes wildly. Morgan swatted his thigh and he broke off his drama-fix with a laugh. "Seriously though, this school I seem to be attracting the opposite kind of attention."

"Aww! It'll be fine big bro." Morgan cooed. Duo scowled and offered her his middle finger.

"Don't leave that out." Hilde warned with a grin from where she lay on her stomach with her legs bent back so they were swinging in the air. "She'll bite it." To prove the point, Morgan snapped her teeth together menacingly. Duo just snapped right back.

Wufei rolled his eyes. "Grow up." He chided not without affection.

"Aww Wu-man! You need to relax! Let your hair down." Duo paused then, an odd gleam setting into his eyes. Wufei's own eyes widened.

"Keep your mind on track Maxwell." He warned but the gleam was still bright. "Play with your own damn hair! Charlatan! Keep a leash on him." Morgan opened one of her closed eyes and glared at the Chinese teen before rolling said eye and swatting her pillow.

"Behave." She intoned. Duo just pouted. "Back to previous topics though. The school has some fuckers about true enough, but it's alright. You had Joe pissing himself this morning and for that I think most of the junior years will worship you." She paused a moment for thought. "After they stop pissing themselves too." She added brightly with a grin to match.

"It's over there." The group heard a voice not far from their location say.

"You sure?" Another voice asked as they came closer. Morgan let her eyes open to thin slits and saw four junior's walking seemingly towards them. But she knew better.

Written by Diluted Industry.