Title: For Love and Basketball
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing.
Warnings: Yaoi, AU, OOC
Thanks To The Following Reviewers: Shori Musei,LadyDragonWolfKnight, Erotica Within, Windy River, PATTY 40, Ink2, Princess2000204, Blake-Schawarz, Cat Youkai

Chapter Twelve: LAST CHAPTER!!

The entire Gundam High basketball team was packed into their locker room, changing for the big game. Some were doing their pre-game routines, hoping for some extra luck. Others were on the benches, relaxing within the noise. Then, if you were like Duo and Heero, you were having a push-up competition.

Howard walked over to them, grin on his face. "You two better stop before you wear yourselves out," he said, "the game will tire you out enough."

Both boys glanced at each other then nodded before getting off the floor. "Sorry, Howard," Duo replied, "I can't wait to go out and kick some Oz ass!"

Trowa shook his head, leaning against a set of lockers. "I can tell you one thing, this isn't going to be a clean game," he stated, "Zechs isn't going to lose very easily."

Heero shrugged. "Neither is Duo, but if it comes down to it, I think Duo could take him."

Trowa raised an eyebrow in question. "Are you suggesting that they should fight for the championship?"

"Wait; was I just given permission to beat Zechs into the ground?" Duo asked hopefully.

Wufei rolled his eyes. "No, Duo, you weren't," he answered. "So don't even think it."

"Alright, men, let's go win a game!" Howard called, walking out the door, the team following him. Even in the hall, they could hear the roaring of the crowd, making them even more excited. Turning on his heels, their coach turned and faced them. "Alright, we're back at the state championship. However, this time, it's different."

One of the guys snorted. "Yeah, now we have Maxwell," he stated.

Glaring, Howard shook his head. "That's not the only difference. It's different this time because this year, we're going to win!" he stated.

"Coach, you say that ever year," Heero countered.

Howard twitched. "Yuy, do you want to run laps before the game?" Heero shook his head. "Then shut up! Now, when you go out there, I don't want you to worry about all the people that are watching. I don't want you to think about how Oz has a three year winning streak. All I want you to do is to go out there and enjoy yourselves. If you just happen to win the championship, then we'll rub it in Oz's face until all those players have kids of their own in Oz."

Duo chuckled. "If we win, I will have been on the winning team for four years, and I'll be reminding Zechs of that every chance I get."

Howard rolled his eyes. "Now, I'll expect you all to play like professionals," he stated, glancing at Duo through his sunglasses. "So, let's go out there and play some basketball! Hands in!"

After some quick rearranging, all the players were in a semi-circle around Howard, arms stretched to reach the middle, where everyone's hands met. "On three," Howard called. "One, two, three!"

"Gundam!" All the players shouted at once. Laughing, Howard opened the doors, and all the players ran in, making the Gundam side of the stadium cheer louder. They went over to the benches, some sitting, the starters standing.

On the other side of the court was the Oz team, their starters standing as well. "Hello! And welcome to the last game of the championships!" called the announcer over the speakers. "Let's get this game started. Starting for Gundam High is Hero 'The Wing' Yuy!" Hearing his name, Heero walked out onto the court, the crowd behind him shouting endlessly. "Next is Shawn 'Speeder' Morgan! Watch out Oz, for as fast as he can pass the ball, you may have your work cut out for you!" Zechs couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"Next up, Trowa 'Heavyarms' Barton!" Covering the microphone, he turned to his partner, "Have we figured out why he's called Heavyarms?" His partner shook his head. Sighing, the announcer uncovered the microphone. "And now we have Wufei 'The Dragon' Chang! And finally, former Oz player, and starter for Gundam High, Duo 'Deathscythe' Maxwell!"

After taking another five minutes to announce the Oz starters, Treize and Heero made their way to center court. After shaking hands, the referee put the ball between them. "Okay, and here's the tip off..." he because quiet as the ball was throw into the air and Treize shoved it towards one of this teammates. "And Oz has the ball! Alex passes it back to Treize, but look! Wufei has intercepted the ball! He takes it up the court, he shoots, and he scores! Gundam High scores the first points of the game!"

"This announcer is annoying...." Duo muttered, walking past Shawn.

Nodding, Shawn smirked. "Maybe after the game, you can accidentally beam him with the ball." Laughing, Duo nodded.

Heero and Treize were back in the center of the court. "And here's the tip off. Oh, and Heero knocked it towards Duo! He has the ball and is taking it towards the center line. He's going to try for a three point shot! Oh! And he's knocked off his feet! That's a penalty!"

"Duo!" Howard rushed out onto the court, as did most of the team. "Duo, are you alright!?"

"Urgh, did anyone get the license plate of that truck?" Duo grumbled, sitting up, looking at Howard. "I'm okay."

"I'm not so sure," Howard muttered. "Lift up your arms." Duo did as he was told, crying out, bringing them back down quickly, clutching his right arm. "Yup, you're out of the game."

"What!?" Duo shouted. "I can still play!"

"Duo, just go sit on the bench, we'll handle this," Heero said, looking to the rest of the team, who all nodded.

Sighing, Duo nodded and got off the ground. He looked over, and saw Zechs with a smirk on his face. Glaring, Duo walked over towards him, ignoring his teammates. "Duo! Don't do anything stupid!" Wufei called.

Zechs didn't move as Duo got up in his face. "Can I help you, Maxwell?"

"Yeah, after Gundam High wins, I'll see you in the parking lot," Duo growled.

Zechs rolled his eyes. "Let's get on thing straight, Duo, Oz will always be number one, and Gundam will always be number two."

Duo grinned. "See, that's how it was, but now that they know how Oz plays, they can't lose."

Zechs glared. "That won't change anything," he stated. "Oz will win, and for once, you'll be on the losing team, where you belong."

The grin never left Duo's face. "We'll see about that," he said then turned around, heading back for the benches. He sat down, and everyone went back to where they belonged, except Jack, who was out on the court.

Time seemed to pass slowly as Duo sat on the bench. Both teams continued to score, and the game got dirtier and dirtier as it went on. Three Oz members were out for the rest of the game, and four Gundam players were out for the rest of the game. While being good and bad at the same time, none of the star players were out.

Finally, it was to the most exciting part of the game. There was two minutes left, and Gundam High was down by twelve points. Looking around, Howard sighed. All of the players on the court were exhausted and he called a time out, then called them in. "Alright, you five are out. Yuy, Chang, Barton, Marks, Morgan, you're in!"

"Coach, we can't do this!" Jack grumbled. "We're down by twelve and there's only two minutes left. The only way we could do this is if Duo could play and could sink three pointers."

Duo sighed, looking over at Oz high. He saw Zechs with a grin on his face, and the blonde winked. Growling, Duo stood. "Howard, put me in," he said.

"What!? I'm not going to put you in!" Howard said. "You can barely lift your arms!"

"Howard! Just trust me and put me in!" Duo pleaded.

Howard eyed Duo skeptically, ready to yell at him. Instead, he sighed. "Alright, but if we lose, it's on your head," he said.

Duo nodded. "Alright, just give me Heero, Trowa, Shawn, and Wufei." Howard nodded. Marks sat down, and the rest of them walked out on the court. "Okay, before you four start bitching, I have a plan," Duo said.

"I should damn well hope so!" Wufei cried.

Duo grinned, watching Zechs walk onto the court. "Look, all we need is four three-point shots to tie, then a two pointer to win. Well, four of us here can score three pointers."

Trowa shook his head. "Duo, first off, you can barely lift your arms, and second, the other three people who can make three pointers aren't that great at it."

Heero nodded. "I'm willing to try it," he said.

Shawn glanced at Heero, and nodded. "Just tell me where to get the ball."

"Okay, the first person Oz will go after is me, so the ball as to go to either Heero, Trowa, or Wufei," Duo stated. "I don't care who you get it to first, but after that person, get it to someone new. I'll make a shot after the second person, then we'll move onto the last. After that, whoever can make a shot better make it."

Trowa stared at Duo. "That plan...is just dumb enough to work...but, once it comes time for the two pointer, we only have one shot at it."

Wufei nodded. "And this is assuming they don't score while we're trying to catch up."

Duo rolled his eyes. "Wufei, don't be such a pessimist."

"Gundam High, are you ready?" the referee asked.

Duo nodded. "Yes sir! Okay, Heero, you've got tip off."

Hero nodded and walked out to the center of the court, where Zechs was waiting for him. "It looks like Duo Maxwell is back in the game!" called the announcer. "What a turn of events! And here we thought Maxwell wouldn't be in the game! Now, here's the tip off between Yuy and Marquise, and Yuy gets the ball!

"He's going down center court, he's ready to shoot—Wait! What's this!? He just passed the ball to Morgan! What kind of a move was that!? Oh, but Morgan passes it to Chang! He's on the half court line, what could this team possibly be thinking!? That's not going to help them! Oh, what's this? Chang lines up his shot, he shoots! I don't know if he can make it—but he does! Wufei Chang has just scored three points for Gundam High!"

Zechs glared over at Duo, who smiled and winked. Growling, Zechs stormed over to Alex. "I won't you to block Chang at all cost," he said, and Alex nodded.

"Well, that was interesting! Now is an interesting time to show everyone that he can do that!" commented the announcer. Everyone from both teams stared in shock, everyone except Trowa, Heero, and Duo. "Okay, here's the tip off, and Oz gets the ball, and Marquise takes it towards the basket! Oh, he passes to Muller, but it's intercepted by Duo Maxwell! Duo Maxwell heads up the court, he shoots! Oh! Another three points for Gundam High!

"What an amazing turn of events! Gundam High just might be able to win this game after all!" With that comment, Zechs turned and glared at the announcer.

When it came down to fifteen seconds in the game, both sides were panting heavily. Duo could feel his shoulder throbbing, but choose to ignore it. Both teams were tied, and neither was willing to let the other score. Zechs and Heero were back at half court, getting ready for the tip off.

"And Gundam has the ball, Heero Yuy passing to Shawn, Oh! Oz had taken control of the ball! Alex is quickly traveling up the court, he takes aim, he shoots—Oh! He's blocked by Duo Maxwell, who takes the chance and throws it up court towards Wufei Change! This could be it folks, Change passes top Morgan, who passes to Barton. Barton is on the rebound line, with much of Oz running towards him. He shoots—"

The gym fell into a suspended silence as they watched the ball going toward the hoop. It hit the backboard, bouncing to hit the rim. Gundam High collectively held their breath as the ball tittered before falling through the white netting. They shouted and the Gundam team ran out onto the court as their side of the gym went into an uproar with cheer.

"Gundam has won! Gundam High has won the championships!" Shouted the announcer. Emits all the commotion, Duo looked over and saw Zechs, glaring. He smirked.

----------

Duo was at the after party thrown at Shawn's house. His parents agreed to let him throw it since they had won. The party was huge, some of the parents running to get a cake, junk food, and decorations. There was a quick ten minutes of decorating before the music started playing. None of them could have been happier. After three years of coming in second, they finally beat Oz, and that alone was worth a week of celebration.

Looking over, Duo found Trowa and Quatre making out on the couch. He wasn't surprised when everyone had been excepting of them. With Howard teaching them about tolerance, it wasn't that big of a deal. Smiling, he went to find Heero, wanting to celebrate with him. He found the other player outside on the balcony, away from all the people.

"What are you doing out here? The party is inside," Duo commented, walking to stand up beside him.

Heero shrugged with a small smile. "I just wanted to be alone for a moment and enjoy the fact that we won."

Duo grinned. "I told you we would!" he said. "And with minimal injury!"

Heero rolled his eyes. "You're going to the doctor tomorrow, so stop trying to get out of it."

"Damn, but I hate going to the hospital!" Duo whined.

"Get over it!" Heero said.

Duo pouted. "Fine...so, want to go dance?"

Heero shook his head. "Just, stay out here with me for a few minutes," he said, wrapping his arms around Duo's waist.

Duo smiled, resting his head on Heero's shoulder. "So, what sport should we conquer next?"

Heero rolled his eyes. "None of them, I'm relaxing for the rest of the year."

Duo nodded. "I can deal with that," he said, turning around. "So, what's 'The Wing' going to do for fun now?"

Heero rolled his eyes. "Well, Deathscythe, if you must know, I'm going to start going to the go-karts on the weekends."

Dou's eyes widened with joy. "That sounds fun! Can we go this weekend!?"

"Depending on what the doctor says, sure," Heero answered.

Duo glared playfully. "Damn doctor..."

Heero rolled his eyes. "You'll get over it," he said.

Duo was ready to comment, but Jack came out onto the balcony. "C'mon, guys, Howard's about to make some big speech."

Duo nodded. "We'll be in there in a minute." Jack nodded and left. "This is probably going to end with him in tears," he joked.

Heero nodded. "I wouldn't be surprised," he said, leaning down, kissing Duo's lips softly. "C'mon, let's go listen to this so we can come back out here." Duo nodded, following Heero inside.