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.
Ten: And so it Continues.
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.
x-x-x-x-x
"Alright guys. This term Mr Kushrenada and I have discussed a new area of physical education the school hasn't really had before. And though I'm sure a number of you can take care of yourself pretty well…" He eyed the smug faces of Joe and his friends for a moment before continuing. "We'd like to introduce self-defence to your gym lessons." Murmurs broke out over the class.
"When we say self-defence, we mean it. The techniques taught here should not be use in any situation other than self defence. It isn't the art of fighting with fists as you would in a bar-room brawl." The head teacher said loudly.
"Been in a few of those sir?" Duo grinned from where he was stretching. Mr K graced him with a smile and a nod.
"I'm afraid to say I have. They aren't all that pretty. Now we're not going to force you to take these lessons. If you so wish it, you can carry on with the usual term of gym lessons. Players in the football teams will be far too busy with training to worry about these classes as your first game is a only a few weeks away." Joe nodded, followed closely by his 'friends'. "Those who would like to go through with the classes can, of course, take them. Arrangements will be made for those who don't. For this lesson, Mr Marquise and a student will be sparring – demonstrating their knowledge of self defence. I must stress that the level Mr Marquise and the student in question are at is a very advanced level. They have the ability to spar with practised ease and not worry about accidentally injuring one another."
"Get up there then Chang!" Joe crowed and laughed with his friends.
Wufei frowned at the Jock. "I'd much rather test my fighting… sorry, self defence abilities on you. As you, clearly, have none." He snapped, not at all snippy. The comment drew satisfied grins from the Chinese teen's friends and heated scowls from the Jocks.
"Mr Chang will not be the one I will be sparring with today. Maybe some other time though?" The coach aimed the last statement at Wufei, speaking it as a question and receiving an accepting nod as an answer.
"Who will you be with then sir?" Paul Mayson, a senior in the same Math and Chemistry class as Heero, asked the coach.
"Me." Duo spoke up with a grin. He walked up to Zechs and threw his arms around the man's shoulders. "Though Zechs has yet to hold a win over me so I'm not sure how this one will fan out." He laughed as his arm was shrugged off. "Don't be sore Zechs! I couldn't help it if you got distracted by something behind me." The coach glared without malice.
"You rigged it." He grumbled. Beside him, Trieze chuckled.
"Come now. No talk of cheating. This isn't a win/lose spar. It's simple self-defence."
"Sorry Mr k!" Duo chirped. "But you see, with Zechs here… nothing is simple. We'll be going till one of us gives or gets pinned for three." He grinned at the worried look in the head teachers eyes. "Don't worry! I'll have your coach back in one piece."
"Past experiences have given you luck Maxwell." Zechs growled.
"You're just a sore loser." Duo smirked and yelped at the teacher lunged at him. The student ran quickly to hide behind Mr K. "No fair! See! He's the cheater." The head of the school just rolled his eyes.
"How do you two know each other?" A girl asked from somewhere in the crowd of seated seniors.
"Oh me and Zechs go 'way' back!" Shinigami answered. "Years we've known each other. You know, he's only-" A strong hand clamped itself over Duo's mouth, effectively silencing him from revealing the age of the Gym coach.
"I would appreciate any personal notes you might have of me, personal. Understood?" Zechs muttered into Duo's ear and released him when he felt the head nod. "Anyway, shall we begin?" The senior growled playfully at the older man earning both of them laughs from the seated class as well as a chuckle from the still present head teacher.
"Buckle up Blondie." Duo grinned, positioning himself into his usual starting stance inside the allocated (marked out) circular section of field while his opponent did the same.
"May I remind both participants that the spar is just that, a spar, and neither should attempt to gain the upper hand over the other?" Trieze said, hoping in vain that his message would get across to the pair.
"You can remind us Mr K." Were the only words Duo verbalised before bowing slightly to Zechs and launching into a starting round of kicks and evasive manoeuvres for when the other man made a return attack.
Several kicks later found both 'fighters' (I use the term very loosely) in positions opposite of their starting ones. Neither seemed winded but neither was breathing as they normally would. Zechs' expression was even, giving nothing away to his opponent. Duo's quickly became flat too; his jesters face long gone replaced by a seemingly emotionless mask. A 'Poker face', if you will.
They launched into yet another flurry of precise, practised, perfected movements; each hitting its target and each gaining a reaction both expected and unexpected.
The students and Mr K all watched on wide-eyed and jaw-slacked as both teacher and student figuratively battled for dominance of the marked ring. They tensed collectively when Zechs sent a contacting kick to the back of Duo's right thigh, effectively knocking the Senior to the ground on his hands and knees. But they all released the breaths they'd been holding when the younger of the sparring pair twisted his body around in a manoeuvre that looked like it took a lot, of practise to perfect and kicked the coaches legs from under him.
Within seconds, both fighters were back up on their feet and in starting stances once again.
"You've improved." Zechs remarked with a wry smirk.
"It's been along time Zechs." Duo retorted as they circled.
"I approve." The tone was mocking but the Senior knew there was nothing behind it.
"You're not too bad yourself… for a guy that went down within ten minutes the first time I fought him." The coach let out a playful growl – a growl Duo only grinned at.
"Less talk."
"More play."
And they began again.
Wufei was practically salivating at the pair's movements. He's thought previously that he had been the only person, save Heero, in the school to have training in martial arts but after seeing this display, he thought twice. He sparred with Heero on the odd occasion but that was only when they were both pissed off at the world and knew that nothing other than hand-to-hand combat would calm them down.
He made a mental note to request a spar from either his new friend or the coach. Perhaps both. Separately of course.
Trowa was smiling secretively at the display; his eyes showed hidden knowledge and the look on his face could only be described as mildly mischievous… should anyone take note of it however.
Beside him, Quatre was staring wide-eyed. In its own hard-hitting way – no pun intended – the scene was beautiful. Like a piece of fine art. That can hit, and hit back. The pair seemed to dance in complete synchronisation and if the scene out of the corner of his eye was anything to go by, Quatre and his friends would surely be seeing Duo go against the Chinese senior in the near future.
He was sure to get a front row seat.
Morgan sat beside Hilde who in turn sat beside the girl with the dark blonde hair that had commented dumbly on Shinigami that morning. While both Morgan and Hilde watched in awe at the spar before them, the girl watched in a very bored manner. Hilde seemed to notice this and rolled her eyes, muttering something about prissy cheerleaders not knowing true art when they see it, under her breath.
But Morgan heard. And grinned.
Heero was sat behind Trowa and Quatre and beside Wufei. He was shocked. Completely and utterly flabbergasted. He'd known Duo liked to keep himself in shape but he never dreamed that the other teen could fight like he was. He knew what Wufei's reaction would be to the act and he also knew that his Chinese friend would not be the only one to ask Heero's new next-door-neighbour for a 'friendly sparring session'.
There were tense moments in the fight and there were moments of desperation, humour, defence, offence as well as pure, near gravity defying flexibility.
At one point, Zechs managed to get Duo on his back, winded from landing flat on it. The older man had quickly set up for a win and straddled his younger counterpart's chest. He grasped Duo's forearms tightly, restraining any upper body movement and proceeded to grin down at the teen, counting slowly up from one.
"One." He'd said.
Duo twisted his hips, nudging Zechs slightly but not dislodging him. His legs bent at the knee, feet flat on the ground, parallel with his back.
"Two."
Using as much leverage as his feet would grant him, he thrust upwards with his hips. Zechs slipped forward, but recovered quickly and slid back down Duo's chest so they were near flush hip to hip. Duo had the mind not to grin as his legs lifted in the air and both his knees bore down on the coach's shoulder blades. Hard.
Three never came. Zechs grunted, releasing his hold on his student's arms and rolling to the side.
"You're making me let out all my secret moves Sugarbutt." Duo grinned an annoyed but humoured grin. They circled. Zechs gave a sour look at the nickname.
"You're inventive and given the right incentive, you can defend yourself admirably." He saw Duo's grin widen and groaned. "But even the best have their bad days." He smirked and they started again.
That had been only one incident. A display of Zechs' own flexibility as well as the gymnast ability piled into his muscled form came not five minutes after the two-count pin.
Duo dropped to a crouch behind the older man, extended his right leg and spun around, fully intending to take out Zechs' legs for the second time in the 'spar' but the Coach was having none of it as was clearly proven when the man did a backward flip after bending his legs and putting all the power he could behind the spring he needed. He figuratively walked over the out-stretched leg, grasped it just as it passed under his upturned head and when his feet were on the ground once again, Duo had been flipped over unceremoniously onto his stomach.
Of course, the braided Shinigami wasn't amused and retorted with a sharp kick to Zechs' mid-section. He then rolled over the exposed back as the older man doubled over and then proceeded to take out the coach's legs, straddling his opponent's backside for good measure. He planted a hand in the centre of Zechs' back, the other one firmly at the next and held tightly.
"In a position like this Sugarbutt, the days the best have can only be good." His voice was low enough for only Zechs to be able to hear, and the older man knew it, appreciating it too.
"In a position like this, Darling, one can easily forget ones place." But before Zechs could perform a manoeuvre that would get Duo off his back, the braided teen voluntarily rolled off, getting into the umpteenth starting stance of the match.
"Time gentlemen." Mr K's soft voice filtered their hazy minds and both of them nodded once.
"A round up?" The coach grinned, flicking his loosely bound mid-back-length platinum blonde hair over his shoulder and out of his face.
"Why I don't mind if I do." Duo matched the grin.
The fight continued.
Kicks, jabs, dull thumps, winded falls…
Until Duo managed to get Zechs down and spread like an eagle on his back. Of course, he quickly took command of the situation by physically restraining the blonde's arms above his head and then leaning down so there were no more than three inches between their mouths, he moved his legs so they pinned Zechs' firmly to the ground. He then counted.
"One." Zechs sighed.
"Two." Duo grinned.
"Three." Came the final whisper. "I win again."
Written by Diluted Industry.