A/N: I'M ALIVE! And no, it's not Prodigy, but sometimes old ideas turn new. Ah, yes, Catch-22 logic…my precious…Anyway, I'm determined to update ALL my stories after my month-and-a-half demise. This one (as my secret lover. Don't tell Prodigy, she'll get jealous) got first dibs. Others to be updated soon.

Warnings schmormings! Dive into unknown waters headfirst!

Disclaimer: All I got's this here story & me other stories. Please don't steal from me, and I won't steal from you. First line is also the first line of Catch-22. Yep, still going off that thing.

Catcher 02

Chapter 1

Skid Marks

It was love at first sight.

The first time Duo saw the Yuy kid again, he was at South High School. It was the first day of his senior year, and like usual Duo was late. Not that he wanted to be on time, of course. In fact, he'd planned to be two minutes later, but on a spur of the moment decision figured only 28 minutes late was close enough to half an hour, and that late was still late even if he was two minutes early.

Sneaking in had been easy enough. All he did was say that back at Pianosa High the school day started half an hour later than the bell, and the security guard, trying to figure out the above logic, just let him slip by.

But, Duo figuring he still had two minutes off, slipped into the library. Literally. While he'd been reading the posters on the wall, he'd neglected to read the sign in the middle of the tiled ground proclaiming 'wet floor', and went sliding straight through the double doors, screaming all the way down the artificial slip-n-slide. He only stopped when he hit the carpet, which most certainly didn't improve his day any. Neither did the face that blurred into view when he opened his eyes, groaning.

"Worst rugburn of my life…"

Heero Yuy, quite possibly the sexiest baseball player alive. And the most vicious, if rumor was to be believed since last year's championship game.

Heh. Let's avoid mentioning that.

"You don't appear badly hurt." A hand loomed over him, and Duo flinched back, eyes slamming shut. He was gonna die. He was gonna die. Ohgodohgodohgod…

"…Heero? What are you doing?" It was a far more friendly voice that spoke, amused, and definitely not Yuy's. That didn't mean the jock wouldn't pulverize him as soon as his eyes opened, though. The unanimous decision- 1 against 0- was to keep them welded shut and keep from screaming.

The scary third baseman above him shifted. "What's it look like I'm doing?"

A third voice joined in, snorting. "Happily raping the new kid."

Yuy finally moved aside. "Funny, Chang. Real funny."

"I try." The dryness in his voice could have sucked a lake dry. Duo thought he could get to like this Chang kid.

A polite voice cleared their throat, and Duo's eyes strained open a little. Cheerful aqua eyes smiled down at him. "Good morning! That was a nasty slide. Are you okay?"

To Duo's eternal embarrassment, all he got out was a strained "Ooooowwwwww." It sounded like a toddler's attempt at the word "owl" and giving up halfway, overpronouncement quite pronounced and lips trying to equally overcompensate. All it managed to do was make him look extremely pained- which he was. When he tried to stand up, searing pain crashed onto his back. "OWWW!"

Someone behind him hissed. "He needs to go to the nurse. It looks like he ripped off a lot of skin."

Yuy, an indomitable presence standing politely to the side, nodded and moved towards Duo, who winced again. He didn't pay it any attention. "Can you stand?" Duo nodded, and took the blonde boy's hand, sucking air in fast as the pain intensified. Oh, god. If Yuy didn't kill him, the floor would get the job done.

Surprisingly, all three of them- Yuy, the disturbingly motherly blonde, and the dry oriental guy- managed to escort him wincingly all the way down two doors to a bored-looking woman.

She eyed him like a worm for her hook. "…Yeeeessss?"

Duo swallowed the lump in his throat, only for a bigger one to form. The woman was built like a tank, but moved like a stripper towards him. Oh, things just kept getting BETTER AND BETTER, didn't they? Eye-raped by Yuy and now about to be bandaged up by a drag queen. With his luck, Trowa'd walk through the door and start singing his praises as a catcher. In detail. Citing three examples.

"He scraped his back, and needs some sort of salve for the pain." Surprisingly, it was Yuy who spoke up.

Nurse "Mary" nodded, and quickly pulled, as in literally grabbed hold and yanked, Duo to the stereotypical cot, plunking him down and flinging his shirt up. The "woman" tsked at the wound. "Boys nowadays. Couldn't have a broken arm or something, could you? No, you had to go and scrape up your back…" The grumbling continued on as a chilling cream was applied, and then the biggest band-aid he'd ever seen was quickly slapped on.

"Now get back to class!"

The four were shoved out the door…

…and Duo fell straight on his face. Snickers abounded.

Duo thunked his head on the linoleum again, this time intentionally. He hated his life. "God, kill me now."

xx

That was fun. I missed writing this story. And yeah, this is short, but because I'm doing the FINAL final final tweaking of my 43-page TS Eliot paper. Hope I get a good grade…

TA!

READER RESPONSES:

First off, let me just say I adore you all. Thank you very much for sticking around for the…how long, Six months? Yep. Thank you for sticking around during my six-month absence. It won't happen again. Much love!

Mistress Koishii: Look, I'm a day early! Isn't it just sad I'm proud of that?

TKM: Eeek. Sorry for trying your patience for so very very long.

Windy River: You LIKE it! THANKS!

KawaiiTenshi27: Aww, you think it's funny! Thanks so much! And thank you very much for reviewing.

Zuri Hawara: Oooh, a class A fan/stalker? Sounds fun! Thank you very much!