Thanks are in order for –

angelicmayuka – Thanks for your continuing support! And a tiny bit more Rei/Heero yet again! P.S. I bug you. Update your story! nn

Black-Fire Eclipse – I don't wanna give anything away but…yeah. n.- I'm a sucker for Tro/Mina if you haven't noticed in all my other ffs. Oh! and the abbreviation means 'as soon as I could'. ;p Sorry about that! And thank you for your constant reviews and obvious support! Luv ya!

Jewels14 – I kept it all up! Thanks so much for the support and input you've continuously given me! I always look for your reviews!


Disclaimer: The animes Gundam Wing and Sailor Moon do not belong to me. If anyone would actually believe that they did, they deserve an award.


Chapter Seven – Butterflies and French Berets

It was lunch time at South High School, and the magical twelve were busy doing what they did best: having fun in good company and with great food. Or, at least, attempting to. It was a little difficult to accomplish that sometimes, given that the cafeteria food was inedible. Fortunately for everyone, some nameless rich person -coughQuatre!cough- had a car so they'd all pile in and cruise for edible food.

Duo was currently munching on a hamburger (which he thought strange since they were made out of beef) and poking Heero in the side. Heero was currently at death glare number nine, which in normal terms, meant that if got poked one more time Duo's finger would suffer the consequences. Rei, sitting on Heero's other side, snickered at her boyfriend's predicament. Duo, throwing caution and common sense to the winds, poked Heero a fifth time.

"Ow! Ow! Owwwwww! Owowowowowowowowoweeee!"

"Omae o korosu." Heero hissed as he grabbed Duo's finger and started to bend it back.

"Rei!" Duo yelped as he tried to balance his burger and stop Heero at the same time.

"He warned you." Rei said with a shrug as she watched.

"Cat!" Duo cried desperately, knowing the peacemaker would-

"He warned you." Quatre replied without turning around from the seat up front.

"TRO!" Duo yelled as Heero applied more pressure. Trowa rolled his eyes and took them off the road for a second to glance back.

"Heero."

"Hn."

"No murdering / torturing in the car while I drive." Heero snorted and released his hold on Duo, muttering what sounded suspiciously like 'Baka'.

"Thanks Tro, you're a lifesaver."

"I would not have had to intervene if you had abided by Heero's warnings to desist."

"Yeah, whatever." Duo replied as he stuffed the rest of the burger in his mouth. "Can we go to Dairy Queen's? I want a milkshake."


The way the magical twelve had met was truly…well, incredible. They hadn't know each other since kindergarten or anything that extravagant, but at times it seemed as if they had. Duo and Bunny were the only ones who had even attended grade school together. Duo could specifically remember one instance where she had upended a tray of the school's cafeteria food on to his head.

Meetings had been gradual for the rest of them. Trowa and Quatre had met through music classes, and Wufei and Ami were frequently found working on class projects together. Duo and Bunny themselves had been social butterflies, flitting amongst them all.

The real breakthrough success for the magic twelve had come when Lita discovered her brother to be Quatre's orchestra partner. Trowa, surprised as being a catalyst for such a reaction, quickly settled into the idea of having a sister and moved in with her in an attempt to make up for lost time. Together with Wufei, the three made an invincible team.

Duo envied them in some ways. Although their life had been hard, they still had each other and a promise to never separate if possible. Duo never felt so alone as he did when he thought about them. He knew he was blessed to have a home and family, but sometimes he still wished.

Duo himself spent as little time as possible at home. He could usually be found bumming at Quatre's mansion or eating over at Ami and Heero's. Their mother was the sweetest woman he'd met, and although she frequently worked late at the ER downtown, there was always supper on the table in some shape or form.

What time he did spend at home, he either spent with his sister Fortney or baby sister Gwendolyn. He didn't mean to avoid his foster parents, but it was easier to not be around them than with them. He always felt foolish when he did it, but there were times when all they seemed to do was try and find fault with him. He wondered if he wasn't reading something else out of it and usually ended up shaking it off as being silly and went to work at the repair shop.

"Duo! You want chocolate, vanilla, or straw-"

"CHOCOLATE!" Quatre winced.

"I should've figured. Stupid question."

"Does anyone know what time it is?" Rei asked as she leaned over the front seats to change the radio station.

"Um…one-thirty five?" Quatre replied. Heero sighed, annoyed, as Duo bounced up and down happily.

"I guess we'll just have to miss sixth period!" Rei said grinning and she leaned back against Heero and snatched a quick kiss which turned into a rather long one.

"I guess I don't have much of a problem with that." Heero said after a pause. Rei graced him with a lopsided smile.

"And I have chocolate, so, hey, no prob here." Duo added as he clutched his shake like a life raft.

"So, where to now?"

"Let's go down to the park. I haven't see the new swings yet." Trowa nodded and turned the car left, guiding it toward the park. Duo leaned back in his seat and relaxed, rolling the window down to let in the last warm breezes of autumn. These were the times he loved and felt most alive. He hoped they would last as long as he knew them. Friends like these you don't find everyday.


"-and I don't even want to hear about it!" Duo shut the front door quietly. He could tell Fort was the object of current berating. Why was up for debate.

"But I couldn't just quit and leave him to do everything by himself!" The voice was filled with disbelief.

"You could have easily. And what is this problem with your grades? Why do you have a C in three classes?"

"I haven't turned in the paper-"

"Why?"

"-because-"

"I-Don't-Want-To-Hear-It! I just don't! That's it! Room! Now! And don't come down till supper! We'll finish this later, and until then, you are forbidden from doing that show!"

"But MOM! It's one night until performance! Dress rehearsal's tomorrow! I have a supporting role and we've been working on this for four weeks! I can't just QUIT!"

"You will and shall! I have already had a talk with your drama instructor and he has found a way to replace you." Fort stared at her mother open mouthed, Duo tiptoed past and winced, hurrying upstairs to his room. Steps were heard on the stairs followed by the slamming of a door.

"YOUNG LADY! I will NOT tolerate that in this house! Do you wish to be taken out of the class entirely?" There was a pause before Duo heard the sound of a door opening and a quiet "Sorry" being spoken. The door was shut quietly this time and he heard his mother's footsteps retreating from the bottom of the stairs. Easing open his door, Duo walked softly across the hall to knock softly at his sister's door.


The bell rang, dragging Duo out of his thoughts. Gathering textbooks, he laughed at one of Mina's jokes as he followed her down the halls to second period. She stopped without warning and turned, grabbing his arm.

"What's the matter? I can tell something's bothering you."

"Damn! You're as uncanny as Quatre!"

"Runs in the family." she muttered distractedly, blue eyes piercing his. "And don't even try and pull the 'nothing' one on me Duo Maxwell." He sighed and looked down, jostled by the moving crowd around them.

"I-" she waited as he tried to find words and failed. "Later." he said, pushing past her towards his next class. Mina let him go, worriedly. She wondered what it was that could strike Duo Maxwell's heart so hard it got him down. It had to be something so serious no one normal wanted to hear, that she was sure of. But she'd hunt him down and listen, try and get him to share his burdens with his friends.

That's what they were there for after all.


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