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.
Dinner and a show.
"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.
x-x-x-x-x
She caught Duo's eyes and jerked her head towards his bike. He grinned and nodded before silently rising to his feet and climbing up the tree he'd been leaning against with the grace and ease any and every acrobat, gymnast and flexibility-fanatics dreamed of having.
Heero noticed the junior's approach and was tempted to halt them but was warned off when Morgan held up her hand, four fingers prominent with her thumb tucked away. When she was sure they all saw the action she pointed towards the car-park a few feet from where they were all sitting. Understanding, the male half of the Yuy twins shifted into the position Duo had just vacated, allowing Morgan's head to rest on his legs.
Hilde watched everything with an amused eye.
Quatre and Trowa seemed content to sit back, relax and enjoy the show. Wufei bit into his sandwich and watched along with his friends.
"Joe kept saying it was a myth. Completely made up." A third voice spoke up. "He said the Hartford gangs were getting desperate these days. It isn't like anyone has the balls to go down there anyway." The voice snickered. "Even Joe refuses to go down anymore. I'm beginning to think everyone in this place talks out of their arse." The voice sounded indifferent, yet highly amused by the entirety of the situation.
The owner of the first voice that had spoken glared at the third. "You wouldn't go down there no more than any of us would." The glare intensified when the third person laughed.
"I go down their once a week; twice if I get the chance." He grinned at his seething soon to be ex-friend. "More opportunities would be appreciated by I'm not old enough yet. When I turn 16 I'll be down as often as I can." A certain black item of beauty came into his line of vision and his grin widened. "Oh look. There it is."
"Shada don't piss me off. What the fuck do you want down Hartford?" The unofficial 'leader' of the group of four seethed but paled dramatically when he too saw the item they had set out to look at.
"Didn't I tell you Pete?" The third voice of the party, Shada, said jovially as he stepped in front of 'Pete' and the other two junior's. "I used to live down there." Out of the corner of his eye he could see the group of seniors sitting at the base of the large oak tree. "Now… if I remember rightly…" He muttered to himself. His eyes travelled from the tree trunk, to the seniors, to the thing of beauty that was parked not two meters away from where he stood, and back to the tree.
"Shada what the fuck do you think you're doing?" Pete growled, not at all happy with the current turn of events.
Shada however, seemed not to hear him. Instead, he grinned a grin that sent shivers down the other junior's spines.
From where he sat, Trowa couldn't help but let his own grin slip to the surface.
The grinning junior spotted a low branch not far from the senior's positions and without hesitation, he took a spring-step, bent down low and sprang upwards, the power in his legs propelling him further than a simple jump would. Strong hands grasped the branch and Shada let his body swing forward, then upwards until he was almost at a handstand.
"Shit!" Pete gasped, staring dumbly at his former friend.
"Dainty touch with branded tooth, first in line for teasing, P by name he aint got much-" Shada sung sweetly, grinning at Pete from his handstand position. There was suddenly a blur of black and a pair of legs found themselves bent at the knee, anchoring their owner to the branch either side of Shada's hands.
"Hey Tro, I think he's freezing." Duo grinned from his upside down position in the face of the pale and petrified Pete.
"Jovial truce I think he's done, but peace is never lasting, fire him once see what he does-" Trowa sung along, still grinning.
"Bang! Oops, I think we broke him." Pete started in surprise as the upside down braided teen finished. Shada tilted expertly and let his feet settle on the branch. He then proceeded to literally slither down Duo's body as though he were a snake.
"Speechless for once; looks in his eyes, terror: he's seen a ghost, my lord what's wrong you can't disguise-"
"Three cheers, a virgin toast!" Duo crowed with a laugh as he held Shada. Pete decided that was the moment he'd turn on his heel and run back to school, his two remaining friend hot on his trail.
"S arrived to grin and grope!" Shada cackled, richly enjoying himself.
"T's been advantageous." Trowa was on the verge of laughing out loud.
"D's all new, but he's no Pope!" Duo added with a pinch to Shada's behind.
"But Lord! We're not contagious!" All three of them cried together before they all burst out into near hysterical laughter.
Shada continued to slide down Duo's body until his hands were on the grass. He then unhooked his legs from their position on Duo's arms and toppled over, landing firmly on his feet and straightening up. The braided teen soon followed the junior's example and landed gracefully on the ground in front of Shada.
"Delightful teen; not seen so long," Duo grinned.
"A year he's been a-searching." Trowa chimed in with the rhythm of the rhyming.
"For what, I ask, he seemed so strong." Duo was still grinning at the youth before him.
"Denied of joy; been breaking."
"But here I am, back for some fun."
"Not all is lost, no fear."
"We're back together, three as one."
"We're back, we're now, we're here." Duo ended on a whisper. Shada looked at him with moist eyes and a wide smile before launching himself at the older teen. "Hey." The senior laughed, returning the embrace tightly.
"God's alive! I missed you D."
"I know. I missed you too Shay."
As the pair were locked in their hold, Trowa nudged a highly amused Quatre from his lap before standing up. He walked towards his junior/senior hugging companions. He slowly began to circle them, making no sound as he walked but making sure they knew he was there.
"I heard of three but I see two, can this be high crime treason? I don't deny; feel left I do, but I suspect there is a reason. So what shall it be, dear friends of mine, what will your excuse hold? A witty barb? A kiss in time?" He grinned as the two teens turned to him with equally mischievous smirks on their faces.
"The greatest story ever told!" Both Duo and Shada cried before launching themselves at a laughing Trowa.
"I didn't realise you were a poet Trowa." Hilde's voice cut through the reunion bliss, forcing the three standing teenagers to remember they had an audience. They all turned to the group, sheepish smiles plastered on their faces.
"I'm not a poet. It's just a thing we used to do together. It always amused the Sister and the other children." Trowa said softly before squeezing Shada's shoulder and walking slowly back to his seat behind a smiling Quatre. "Solo used to love it too." He watched Duo at the mention of their old friend and saw the longing look flicker over the heart-shaped face.
Shada's joy faded slightly but he tightened the arm he had around Duo's waist. The older teen returned the gesture and pulled them both down to sit not far from Wufei. The junior positioned himself so his head was comfortably in his friend's lap where Duo started running his fingers lightly through Shada's shoulder length dark locks.
"Who's Solo?" Morgan asked from where she still lay against Heero's leg. The male half of the Yuy twins eyed the junior before turning his attention to Duo. He too wished to know who this 'Solo' was.
"Solo was my brother." Shada said quietly, all trace of former mirth and joy completely faded from his voice. He looked up at Duo, a silent plea in his eyes that the older of the two seemed to understand as Duo smiled and nodded his head once.
"I'll tell you all later. I don't think now's the time." Reluctantly, all interested parties nodded their acceptance and sat in a now uncomfortable silence. One Morgan was determined to break.
"So what was that," she made a vague hand gesture towards the spot where the three 'poets' were stood not two minutes before. "Some kind of an act or something? Spontaneous rhymes-R-us?" Shada actually giggled at the name where Duo laughed and Trowa smiled.
"Something like that. It was something we did together. The first time we did it, it happened purely by accident. We were bored one afternoon and Shay muttered something under his breath. Naturally curious and eager to tease, we made him tell us what he said. What was is again Shay?" Duo asked the youngest member of the group. Shada seemed to think a moment before smiling brightly.
"We three kings with nothing for fun!" He declared and Duo inclined his head.
"Ah that was it. We just sorta looked at him like he was completely off his rocker but then Trowa said something too. Enter T!" He made a sweeping hand gesture to his old friend, meaning for him to continue.
"I said 'We're bored and in our prime.'"
"I thought the two lines didn't rhyme so I made up one that did, which I guess, was Trowa's eventual aim. That is, to get us to think." The aforementioned rhymer nodded with a small smile. "I said 'We want a life, we want the sun.' We then noticed that we were actually alone with no fourth to complete it, which sucked majorly. So me and T looked at Shay as if to say 'you started it, you can finish it'. Which of course, Shay being Shay, did."
"'We're free and we've got time." Shada said with a smile.
"And that's basically how the rhyming started. We did a few more verses after that but when Solo came home we stopped. He just looked at us like we were up to no good. And naturally I was offended he could think such a thing, and told him so, which only led him to believe we were up to no good more. At that point, we jumped him. It was all good fun with the laughs, tickles etcetera."
"Naturally." Trowa commented as he ran his fingers idly through Quatre's hair.
"It was only right." Shada amended.
At that moment, the school bell sounded, signifying the end of lunch and the start of afternoon lessons. Everyone groaned.
"Come on guys, we've got gym. What fun." Quatre grumbled as they all started to rise from their seated positions.
"What have you got now Shay?" Duo asked and right on cue, Shada moaned.
"English lit." Duo laughed.
"I thought you liked English."
"I do. It's just Pete and those other guys will now be trying to make my life hell because we humiliated them." The senior nodded in understanding.
"If they start anything, just remind them you know Shinigami personally."
"Hey, wait." Shada reached into his pocket and removed a small scrap of paper before shuffling his hand around in another pocket and removing a pen. He pinned the paper to Duo's chest with his finger and began writing something. He then handed Duo then piece as he put his pen away. "My number."
"I don't know the Charlatan's. But I'll call you tonight on the vid-phone. You got one of those?" Shada nodded. "Good, I have one connected to the laptop. Come on, class awaits. I've got excuses to make." They shared a grin and rushed to catch up with the waiting group.
Written by Diluted Industry.