Some Kind of Wonderful – Part 3
The smirk of self-satisfaction was quickly wiped off Heero Yuy's face as he arrived for his first early morning detention the day after the fire alarm incident. He had risen early to carefully choose his clothes; after all, this was his best chance to impress Relena, away from the possessive glare of Treize Khushrenada. Having selected a smart pair of black trousers and a midnight blue shirt, he had caught the bus to school feeling both confident and optimistic.
Duo had been a little surprised when Heero had told him he that he didn't need a ride to school for the next two weeks but that had been nothing compared to his shock when Heero had told him that it was because he was on detention. The words 'Heero' and 'detention' were two words that were never likely to be seen in the same sentence. Unless of course the sentence happened to be 'Heero Yuy had never been on detention in his life'.
Faithful as always, Duo had offered to land himself with a detention to keep Heero company, but the Japanese boy had duly declined his offer. This was his big chance with the object of his affections and he doubted Duo's presence would be useful. As far as Heero was aware, things were going exactly the way he had planned. He was still thinking that way right up until the moment he turned the handle on the door and stepped into the classroom he had been told to go to. The first thing Heero noticed was that Relena wasn't there; the second was that most of the desks were taken up by Wufei and his cronies. Inwardly Heero groaned as he took the only available seat – right next to Wufei, who was unable to stop smirking at the apparent justice of this situation.
"Welcome," the Chinese boy said as he used a large vicious looking knife to scratch the tip of his nose.
Heero glanced at the other youths nervously as they laughed and grunted threateningly. To emphasise their menace, one shifty looking individual broke a pencil between his fingers as his muscle-bound neighbour effortlessly tore a telephone directory into two. Heero's gaze fell back onto Wufei who continued to grin manically.
"Is this detention?" he asked nervously.
Wufei stabbed the knife into the desk and grinned at Heero broadly. "Actually, this is your mother's house, and we're having a party."
This was going to be a long two weeks, Heero thought to himself but where the hell was Relena?
Heero would have known the answer to that question, had he arrived at school just ten minutes earlier. He would have been in time to see Relena, fluttering her eyelashes seductively at the driver's Ed teacher Mr Parsons, who had a reputation for enjoying the company of pretty girls much like Relena.
"You know, Mr Parsons, it's not very nice for me to have to go and sit in there with all those boys," Relena said, backing the statement with her best pout.
"Well," the older man said, unable to prevent himself from gawping at the beautiful young lady before him, "you could always serve out your detention in my office."
Relena looked genuinely surprised as she took hold of his tie and started to play with it suggestively. "Oh well I had a better idea, I was thinking that I might not have to serve it at all, I mean I've learnt my lesson and I promise I won't do it again."
The doe-eyed look was enough to cause Mr Parsons to start sweating.
"Okay, but let's keep this between ourselves. I don't want people thinking I'm a soft touch."
Relena flashed him a brilliant smile as she started back down the steps towards the school entrance. "Oh I won't tell anyone, Mr Parsons, you're so sweet and you're just the best Driver's Ed teacher there is!"
Then she was gone, leaving one very happy middle-aged man in the corridor on his own.
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"You know," Duo said sometime later as he and Heero sat around in the garage of the house Duo shared with his step-cousins, "Relena Peacecraft doesn't know you, doesn't care about you. You're trying to jerk off the impossible." The braided boy shook his head in frustration. "How many times do I have to listen to myself tell you this?"
Heero chose to answer Duo's sarcasm with a question. "Do you know what kind of a guy Treize is?" he asked, his expression serious.
Duo considered this for a moment before shrugging indifferently. "What? You mean aside from handsome, rich, muscular, popular, hot, happening and capable to reducing your head to a crimson stain on the wall?"
"Treize's a jerk! He's screws around on her, he treats her like dirt, he has no respect for her, he's just…"
"And obviously she gets off on it," Duo countered, looking up at Heero through the long bangs of hair.
There was a pause as the two boys looked at each other. Duo was first to speak. "You're losing it, Heero. And when it's lost, all you are is a loser."
Harsh words. Heero shook his head before throwing away the plastic straw he had been chewing on absentmindedly for the last half an hour. He had brought about this discussion, hoping that Duo would be able to provide some advice on how to make his next move. Duo seemed to draw plenty of female attention, although as Heero came to think about it, he had never known Duo to take any of them up on their offers.
"Well you obviously have no idea how I feel so why don't you just butt out of this…please?"
Duo detected the slightly pleading tone in Heero's voice as he looked away, unable to meet his friend's gaze. Knowing that Heero was serious about pursuing Relena, hurt Duo deeply. He couldn't verbalise how he felt about Heero; he wasn't even sure if the feelings he was experiencing were romantic ones but he couldn't deny the jealously he felt every time Heero mentioned Relena's name. Every time his eyes got that faraway look when he thought about her. Duo knew he was dreaming; Heero had never once indicated that he would consider a relationship with a member of the same sex. He was fine with Trowa and Quatre but that didn't mean anything did it? Realising that the silence had gone on a little too long, Duo spoke.
"I know how you feel," he said quietly.
Heero raised one eyebrow in a look that expressed both his surprise and his interest. "Oh you do, really? You've been in love before?"
There was a hint of doubt in his voice which angered Duo. "There's a lot of things you don't know about me, Heero," he snapped.
"Really?" Heero said smiling slightly, "Who've you ever been in love with?"
Duo tore his eyes away from Heero's questioning gaze, his cheeks reddening slightly. His embarrassment was quickly overtaken by anger as he realised that Heero was enjoying his discomfort. "You wanna abuse yourself, be my guest."
"Hey, Duo," Heero responded, "nothing ventured, nothing gained. Right?"
He just couldn't let it lie. Duo glared at the Japanese boy through his untidy fringe, violet eyes narrowed unhappily. He searched for an equally apt cliché to respond with.
"Heero," he said shaking his head sadly, "Once a fool, always a fool. Right?"
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Three days into his detention, Heero was surprised to discover that it wasn't as onerous as he had imagined it would be, despite the presence of Wufei and his cronies. Although Relena had never shown up, Heero's determination to woo her away from the clutches of Treize had not diminished one bit. The right opportunity would come along and bam! She would realise what a great guy Heero was and ditch her football captain boyfriend like last season's fashions. At his desk, half an hour into the third morning's detention, Heero sat putting the finishing touches to his rough sketch of Relena. Next to him, Wufei appeared to be carving something into the desk with his knife. Heero was slightly bemused to see Wufei's tongue poking out of the corner of his mouth; a sign of his deep concentration.
Throughout the entire hour, the teacher assigned to watch the detainees only popped his head around the door once at the start and once at the end to check they were all still there. In between that, they were meant to study quietly, which for Heero meant to continue with his art. The sketch of Relena was an excellent likeness, drawn half from repeated observations and half from memory. He intended to use it to paint a large portrait of her, which firstly he hoped would get him the grades he needed to go to art-college and secondly, would melt Relena's heart and drive her into his arms. As he finished the last bit of shading, he realised that Wufei was looking at him. He glanced across to see the Chinese boy trying to view the image on his sketchpad. Interested to see what Wufei would think, he held the pad up allowing a better inspection. To Heero's surprise, Wufei nodded appreciatively before glancing at his own work.
Frowning as he realised Heero was unable to see it in its current position, Wufei started to hit the underside of the desk with his fist. Several blows later and the wooden tabletop had separated cleanly from the metal frame. Evidently pleased with himself, he held up his creation to seek the Japanese boy's approval. Carved into the cheap veneer was what appeared to be two crudely drawn robots doing battle. It vaguely reminded Heero of the crap that Duo read.
He mirrored Wufei's nod of approval as the two boys continued to study each other's work. Then, with not a word spoken between them, they went back to their separate projects, any previous animosity now long gone. The rest of the day passed rather uneventfully and soon it was time to go home. Heero made his way to the car park where he found Duo asleep on the bonnet of his car, his braid laid out behind him.
"Hey," he called loudly in an attempt to wake up the sleeping boy.
Duo's violet eyes shot open as he jumped at the sound of the voice close by. Seeing it was Heero, his face broke into a wide grin.
"Hey, dickhead!" he said affectionately as he slid off the hood. "We still up for bowling tonight?"
It was Friday and more often than not, the two boys would head down to the local alley for a couple of late night games. They very rarely did anything different with their Friday nights, so Duo was more than a little shocked when Heero shook his head.
"I was thinking of going to the drag tonight," he said quietly.
Duo grinned, expecting Heero to say 'Hah, fooled you! Of course we're going bowling!' but the words never came. Instead, he was met by Heero's deadly serious expression. 'The drag' was the name given to a strip in town where the elite hung out on a Friday night. Anyone who was anyone spent the evening cruising up and down in their hot cars which was exactly the reason why Heero and Duo had never been there in their lives. Why Heero would suddenly want to go there was beyond Duo's comprehension.
"The drag?" he repeated incredulously, "Man, are you serious?"
Heero nodded as he climbed into the car, disappearing briefly from Duo's view. With lightening reflexes, Duo had joined Heero in the car, naturally via the driver's side window.
"But you said only pretentious assholes like Treize and …"
He stopped, suddenly realising the reason for Heero's interest in a place that previously had only ever received their ridicule. Relena.
"Oh man…" Duo muttered, his head in his hands.
The braided boy eventually looked up to see Heero staring at him. Keen to not start another Relena-related conversation, Duo fired the engine and pulled out of the school parking lot. They drove in silence until they reached Heero's house where the inevitable conversation resumed.
"Please come with me, Duo. I need your support," Heero said, the pleading tone returning to his voice. "And you never know, you might actually enjoy yourself."
Duo looked at him doubtfully but was unable to protest in the face of Heero's blue-eyed plea.
"Can I take that as a yes?" Heero said hopefully, reaching for the door handle.
Using all his willpower to stop himself from screaming, Duo managed to nod his head slowly.
"Great!" Heero said quickly, before Duo could change his mind. "Pick me up at eight okay?"
And then he was gone. To no-one but the blue skies above him, Duo muttered 'shit' before putting the car in gear and speeding away in the direction of his house.
TBC…