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.
More Notes: This chapter might seem like it's supposed to continue from where I'm leaving it. I mean, in the sense that the chapter can't possibly be finalized yet. And I must admit, I wrote it longer but decided to cut it where I did. To make up for it, I'll post the second section tomorrow. Enjoy!
Warning: SLASH!-Yaoi. Whatever you people call it. Male/male relationships! Mild-angst. AU! I'll add more if I think it's necessary.
Nine: Yet Another Familiar Face.
"I've got to talk to the teach. You know, being new and all. No kit. No precognitive abilities that could have possibly foreseen this chain of events…" Duo grinned at his new friends who were changing into their gym kits (they had been forewarned about gym) and turned around to walk down the isle towards the coaches office.
"Freak." Someone whispered.
"Fucking fag." Another said but the braided senior just laughed.
"Do better than that boys. I've heard it all before." He chuckled, halting in front of the open office door and knocked. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a hand reach out quickly and reacted on gut instinct. He grasped a tight hold of the arm, twisted it back and pulled upwards so it was packed tightly against its owners back.
He held the restrained hand in place with one of his own, reaching out his other hand, he grasped a hold of the free and flailing limb, folding it back much in the same fashion as its partner. He then shoved the captive hard against a row of lockers, bringing his lips close to the bound person's ear.
"I'll warn you once again 'Joe'. Don't cross me, don't come near me, don't approach my friends, don't go near my family, don't do anything remotely threatening against me and we'll all get along just fine. Understood?" Only whimpering met his ears. He jolted the bound arms upwards a fraction and elicited a sharp cry from the jock in front of him. "Are we understood?"
"Y-yeh. Sure." Joe stammered.
Duo sneered and pushed the near crying jock roughly away from him. "Even in my old school the jocks had sense enough to leave me alone after the first time we had a run in. I'm not trying to sound smug or vain because I'm anything but. But you… you take the fucking cake. You're a senior, Joe. Start bloody acting like one." Joe got slowly to his feet and moved without a backwards glance back to his locker. Duo shook his head. He turned towards the office again and stopped.
"What is this?" He cried in a melodramatic fashion. "Reunion day?"
"Not quite Mr Maxwell." The coach said, not quite grinning but Duo could clearly see the glee in the man's eyes. "But it's good to see you again. Even if I just caught you fighting." His student groaned.
"Please. He came at me, I was defending myself." The coach folded his arms over his chest, leaned against the door frame leading into his office and raised an eyebrow. "He did!" The braided student pouted and the coach laughed.
"I saw it all happen. Though you could have been a little easy on my football player." Duo shrugged his shoulders.
"He shouldn't have one for my braid." The coach rolled his eyes.
"God forbid anything touch the precious braid." He said dramatically.
"Alright, now, you're being a drama queen." The coach shrugged. "So which is it this time, aye? Marquise or-"
"It's Marquise." The coach said quickly. "Zechs Marquise still." Duo smiled sadly and moved to walk into the coaches office. The coach allowed it and followed, closing and locking the door behind him.
"You need to stop running." The student of the pair leaned back against the desk with his legs crossed at the ankles.
"I'll stop when I think I have to." Zechs near snapped. "Sorry. We haven't had to deal with each other for a long time." Duo nodded.
"No, we haven't. Did you know Trowa and Shada came here?" The coach nodded. "Have either approached you?"
"I did. And they have done once or twice."
"Alright then. Well, I'm new here." Duo smiled brightly. "I don't have a kit yet and no towel for washing up after." Zech nodded again. "So what do I do? What are you doing today anyway?"
"I wasn't going to do anything too hectic today. Just a few laps around the track, some stretches then a short game of basketball." Duo grinned.
"If you give me 15 minutes to go home, get my things and get back, I can meet the class out on track. Or, you could loan me some things and a towel. But I'll be borrowing your brush too." Zechs seemed to think no the matter for a moment before nodding his head.
"I don't want brown hairs on my brush. You have fifteen minute. Any longer and I'm calling you up for a spar in front of the class and scrapping the basketball." Duo nodded an affirmative, topping it off with a mock-salute before rushing from the office.
He walked quickly to his friends, informed them what was going on and left the locker room.
He rounded the corner that would get him onto the corridor his locker was situated and almost bumped into the 'man in charge' in his rush. However, he saw the Head of the school in time and quickly side-stepped to avoid collision.
"Sorry Mr K! Gotta run." He then sprinted down to his locker, inputted the code, opened it, removed his helmet and closed it again. He was fishing around his pockets in search for the keys to his bike while walking towards the main entrance, passing a completely flabbergasted head teacher without so much as a sideward glance.
"Mr Maxwell! Stop right there!" Mr Kushrenada recovered and called out. Duo stopped, looked around and groaned.
"Sorry sir but I really have to go. I have to collect my kit, get back to the locker rooms, get changed and on the track in 15 minutes or Zechs is calling me out. I cannot stop to chat. Maybe later! See you sir!" With those words, he was gone. And Mr Kushrenada was left blinking at the spot his newest senior student had just vacated.
Six minutes later saw Duo bolting from his bike and running into the Charlatan's house. He didn't even stop to say hi to Mrs C who was sat out in the garden enjoying a cup of tea with Kei Yuy. He just ran through the open front door, upstairs and into his room where he then proceeded to figuratively ransack his clothing.
He saw that the clothes he'd been wearing for his morning run had been removed from his room; probably washed by Mrs C so he made a point to look for his second set of work out clothes. He picked up his school bag and began stuffing random items inside it: hair brush, hand cream, shorts, tank top, towel taken from bathroom, trainers and socks. Without thinking, he slipped in a bandana for good measure.
Then after closing the door to his room, he ran back out, onto his bike and drove back to school at a not illegal-but certainly pushing it speed.
All of this was done with his helmet still firmly on his head.
A further six minutes after he set off from the Charlatan's house he was back at school. He removed his helmet, locked his bike up and ran towards the main entrance. Instead of going to his locker to put his helmet back, he just took it to the gym locker room with him.
He knew he had all of 2 minutes to change and get onto the track and he knew he wouldn't be able to make it.
"Fuck." He muttered to himself. He changed, slipped his clothes, helmet, bag and shoes into the locker before closing and locking it. He tied the laces on his trainers and tied his bandana firmly around his head. He then made his way at a more leisurely pace towards the track, remembering the directions Heero had given him 15 minutes earlier.
When he finally arrived at the track, he was greeted with a grinning coach Marquise and an equally amused Head teacher. He politely gave Zechs the finger and began stretching.
"Sorry about before Mr K!" Duo said as he stretched his legs.
"It has all been explained to me Mr Maxwell, do not worry yourself on the matter." The Mr K said with a smile.
"Alright then. Ok Zechs sir, how many laps? And how long is one lap?" He did his final couple of stretches and loosened himself up.
"The length of the course is a full 400m and I would like you to do three laps." Duo groaned.
"Can we make it an even four?" He asked. "Then I can cut a mile off my total tonight." Zechs raised an eyebrow.
"How far do you run a day?" He asked his student.
"Well today I was planning on running 6 miles. But I went with Heero this morning and he only ran 3 so if I do another mile here, then I only have two to do tonight." He explained and Zechs nodded.
"Very well. Do four laps. The class will be finished by then and after you stretch and warm down, we can spar." He grinned at the finger he was shown again and watched as his student entered the track on an inside lane.
He set off a jog and gradually caught up with his friends, who were, rather oddly, all together in a group. Morgan and Hilde had joined them too.
"Man I didn't think I'd get to see you in those shorts twice in one day." Hilde said with a grin. Duo just laughed.
"They make for easy movement. Why are you all together? And how many laps do you have left?" He asked.
"We're together because it's easier than being on your own, it makes for better conversation and less boring gym lessons. And this is our final lap because we only had to do two. Why, how many do you have?" Morgan questioned.
"I rounded it up to four. This way, I won't have to run more tonight. And I can give Zechs at least a fighting chance at beating me." He grinned more to himself than anyone else.
"Who's Zechs?" Quatre asked from where was running beside Trowa.
"Sorry, Mr Marquise. We used to know each other and I don't think I'll be getting out of the habit of calling him Zechs just for school purposes." Trowa chuckled.
"You're having quite the day today aren't you?" He asked lightly and snickered at the sour look that passed over Duo's face.
"Don't remind me. I keep expecting Si, Joany or Danni to pop out from around a corner whenever I walk down the corridors." He muttered.
"Who are they?" Morgan asked, moving closer to her 'brother'.
"Old friends." Was the only answer the braided student would give but Morgan knew he'd tell her in his own time.
"What did you mean when you said you could give the coach a chance at beating you?" Wufei enquired, genuinely interested. "Are you fighting? I thought we were all going to play basketball after these laps are over with."
"I don't know about the rest of you. But Zechs and me are sparring. I don't know why whenever we bump into each other he insists on a spar. I always beat him. Even if they are only spars, we make it seem like a fight." He saw the finish line approach and said his goodbye's to his friends. He kept running as they all exited the track. Some were panting but Heero and Trowa weren't even winded.
Joe and his band of merry snickered as they saw Duo continue to run the track.
"Serves him right." The lead-jock muttered to his friends. "Shouldn't have come late to class." His friends patted him on the back and laughed dumbly at the 'new kid'.
Three laps later saw Duo run off the track and stop at the sidelines. He wasn't breathing heavily but it wasn't his normal rate of breath either. He nodded to the coach and Zechs called the class to order, the head teacher still stood at his side.
Written by Diluted Industry.