Author: Cyrrer aka Laren
Pairings: 1x2
Disclaimers: They don't belong to me – unfortunately. So don't sue.
Warnings: Yaoi, Com, AU, lime (at least at 'ff . net')
Chapter: 2/3
Beta thanks : Jukebox
Symmary: Heero has one mission in his life - to finish his studies as soon as possible. And nobody should keep him from focusing all his time and energy on this mission. Unfortunately his best friend has other plans for him.
A/N: Thanks for all your reviews. Looks like you want to read more of this little story. So, here it comes, the second chapter.
What I forgot to mention the last time, 'little deaths among friend' is the first part of a kind of arc. So if you still like it at the end, I will go and translate the sequels too. It's just up to you at how motivated I'm to do the translating.
Oh yes, he would most definitely kill Quatre. Slowly and agonisingly. Heero
was sure of that. While his thoughts were occupied with these unpleasant
ideas he put all his attention to the man before him. And so he was aware
that the other's gaze went from his top to bottom. A sparkling smile – that
for sure went all the way around the head only hidden by the braid –
lightened the face in front of him. "Oh, hello. Who are you? I'm Duo," said
this walking wet dream and put his hand towards Heero.
Wow, the smile went through Heero like a lightning bolt. He could only sit
and stare at this beautiful vision of a man. The unusual eye colour of his
counterpart attracted Heero's attention. Sparkling amethysts beamed at him
with joy. Heero had always laughed at those romanticists who believed in
love at first sight. But it seemed that they were right.
In a way Heero was totally beside himself and didn't know what to do or how
to react. But suddenly he heard Quatre's voice. This freed him from his
torpor. "This is Heero, my roommate. I've told you about him before. We've
been sharing a room at the university for almost two and a half years now."
Suddenly Heero was aware of the fact that for some moments he had been
totally absent-minded and that it most probably wouldn't leave the best
impression if he kept on staring at Duo. Somehow he managed to activate a
few brain cells and remember how people behave during an introduction.
Slowly he put his hand towards Duo.
But before Heero could greet him properly, his counterpart pulled his own
arm away. In less than a fraction of a second the smile vanished from his
face and the eyes didn't sparkle any more, now they glared in anger. After a
short side glance towards Quatre he said with poignant sarcasm in his voice,
"Quatre you know that I really like you. For such a rich fop you're
amazingly nice and I think that you and Trowa match perfectly. But I think
now we have way too much high society in our humble home. Is this some kind
of new style of fashion in luxury-land? Is it the newest kink to personally
experience how normal people live? Are there tours to book? Like: 'Visit
three poor people for the price of one'? I could live without these kinds of
guests. Just go back to your ivory tower and leave us alone," while speaking
these words he sat down at the table and started to scoop food on his plate.
Paralysed, Heero stared at his still outstretched arm. Just what had
happened? He had no clue what could have caused this outburst. Fine, so he
had been inattentive for some moments and he had stared at this Duo. But
that was no excuse for this fit of rage. Above all, how dare Duo lump him
together with high society? Heero was disappointed about that the most. He
was able to recognize a lot of prejudices in Duo's words and in a farcically
way this hurt the most.
Heero was subjected to prejudices from his fellow students almost every day,
so he had no problems recognizing it. And it amazed him that now he got
attacked by the other side too. He frowned angrily.
In the corner of his eyes he could see how Trowa and Wufei exchanged some
surprised looks. They seemed to be taken aback by the outburst of their
roommate too. Then Heero sensed that Quatre was about to say something
against the reproaches. But with a short gesture he hindered his friend from
doing so.
Whatever he wanted to say it was nothing to Duo. If one harboured prejudices
he didn't deserve better than to be left in ignorance. "At least the people
in the ivory tower know how to treat a guest." Heero couldn't help himself;
he had to answer in a way.
"You're not my guest," was the other's answer. Every kind of discussion was
nipped in the bud because Duo started to shove huge amounts of food into his
mouth.
Heero sat at the table quite tense. This was the reason why he hated to
interact with people he didn't know. He had no clue how to deal with such
situations. He would have been better off if he never had accompanied
Quatre. At least he didn't need to kill his best friend. For sure he never
had meant to set him up with this fury. The only odd point was that Quatre
had assured that both roommates of Trowa were nice persons. But maybe Quatre
just hadn't wanted to scare him off.
An uncomfortable silence lay over the lunch table for some moments. The
ticking sound of the wall clock was more than clearly heard. Quatre and
Trowa sat closely together and the blond looked kind of desperate.
But Wufei recovered quickly and tried to save the day. He started to chat
about different kinds of hand-to-hand-combat styles. Heero didn't want the
others to feel uncomfortable because of him, so he joined the chat amicably.
Soon after that they all shared a quite excited discussion. Quatre had been
right; at least Wufei and Trowa were some really nice guys.
The lunch went on somewhat comfortably. Duo had concentrated completely on
the food, while the others were talking about the world and his brother.
Heero was about to think of the former outburst as just a one timer.
But then they started to speak about the central-student-cafeteria. A few
days ago word was spread that the contracts with the former operator had
been cancelled. And the new contractor had announced quite some changes
already including a fee rise. A lively discussion of this was started and
even Duo deigned to join the chat.
Heero knew the central-cafeteria quite well, even though it didn't belong to
his faculty. But as a student he was allowed to eat there. And as one of his
jobs was just around the corner, he 'relished' the food of this cafeteria
two times a week. "In my opinion it's high time that we get a new contractor
there. The cafeteria is in an untenable state. If the food improves I don't
mind paying a bit more," was Heero's opinion to this topic.
Sure as hell the braided man jumped on his words. "This is so typical for
your kind. You don't know nothing but always pleading for price rises. The
market will adjust, won't it?" he snorted scornfully. "You don't give a damn
about what this fee rise means for us common students – who don't have
daddy's billions up our sleeves. As long as the margins of the contractors
are high enough."
Quatre inhaled quite sharply. It looked like he wanted to reply to that, but
Heero beat him to it. Usually he wasn't the type for moots. But there was
something about this Maxwell that didn't allow him to stay silent. He had to
shoot back. "It's not about margins, it's about improving the quality of the
food. The grub there isn't eatable at all. And most probably not healthy
either. I'd really like to pay a tiny bit more, if I don't have to fear
sudden death while eating there."
"Huh!" snorted his combatant. "What do you know about it anyhow? Most likely
you got fed with caviar and salmon every other day in your ivory tower.
Don't act as if you know about the quality of the cafeteria."
"Just for your information, I was there three days ago and the grub was
barely eatable."
"Huh, being on an adventure trip again? Or did your catering service just
close because of wealthiness?"
Heero accepted the fact that he couldn't hold his place against these
irrelevant arguments. So why try anyhow? It surely would just be the best if
he stayed silent and didn't even try to speak with this guy.
Duo was an idiot and a clear proof that looks weren't everything; such a
beautiful outside and underneath such a moron. He hadn't seen that many
uncalled prejudices and aggressions mixed in one person before. And even
though he wasn't the best one to read the moods of other people he just knew
that his brawl with Maxwell disturbed the others. It surely would be best if
he kept his mouth shut. He really liked Trowa and Wufei, but he swore to
himself that he only would meet them in case of Duo's absence.
Despite all the interruptions, the lunch had reached its end. During the
last brawl Wufei must have left the room to fetch the dessert. "I tried a
new recipe for Tiramisu. So take your fill," said Wufei to break the
silence. And all of them followed his lead.
After some minutes of feast Trowa said, "Mmmm this is delicious Wufei. You
could prepare this more often." And the others joined the hymn of praise.
Even Duo, who fetched his fourth serving, commented. "Food is just the best.
If only we wouldn't have to do the damn dishwashing. Whose turn is it today
anyhow?"
Wufei pointed his spoon towards the braided man. "Yours, Maxwell."
"What? Again me? This couldn't be. You must have ganged up on me. I did the
dishes just yesterday, I'm sure of it. Oh crap, why did this stupid
dishwasher have to break down?"
Quatre, who was just kissing away some Tiramisu leftovers from Trowa's mouth
stopped his deed and said, "I can buy you a new one. No problem at all." His
blue eyes sparkled while saying that.
Heero tensed immediately. He knew in advance that this offer wouldn't get
the approval of the others. And right on queue the idiot Maxwell started to
prance. "This is also so typical for you spoiled luxury-gals. As soon as
something is broken you just throw it away and buy something new. Without
even thinking about it. Maybe it could be repaired. Thanks, but no thanks;
we don't need your Daddy's money to survive, Quatre. We can cope on our own
just fine. And if you think you can buy our sympathy with such presents, you
think wrong."
Heero witnessed how Quatre jerked under this assault. Trowa embraced his
friend. He was throwing daggers with his eyes at Duo and was about to defend
Quatre. But Heero beat him to it. Yes, he had sworn to himself not to react
on that idiot Maxwell again. But NOBODY was allowed to say something like
that to Quatre. He would have loved to strangle this impertinent person.
"Maxwell this is ridiculous. Quatre only offered to buy this dishwasher
because he likes all of you. Even though I can't understand how he could
stand you. If you think that Quatre, one of the nicest persons on the whole
earth needs to buy his friends you are completely nuts."
The braided youth stared at him open mouthed. It seemed like he wanted to
jump on Heero's words, but then the very angry looks on Trowa's and Wufei's
faces stopped him. He abated his head for a moment. Then he looked up again,
this time in Quatre's direction. "I'm so sorry Q-man. I didn't mean it this
way. Please forgive me."
Quatre didn't look so shell-shocked anymore and accepted the apology.
Duo stood up and started to pile up the dishes. "I'm going to wash it. Any
chance, that one of you is going to help me?" he asked quite subdued.
Wufei looked up. Heero thought he read something like horror on his face.
"In fact, Heero had offered to help before… but…" Wufei stopped in the
middle of the sentence helplessly.
Duo stopped as if he was rooted on a spot. "What, our visitor form
luxury-land has offered his help? I'll be damned. Has he ever seen a kitchen
before? Does he even know what to use a cleaning rag for?"
Dear me! He had offered to do the dished. But he hadn't known that this
would mean to work together with the idiot Maxwell. Did he want to do this?
No! But he wouldn't withdraw the offer. If he did, this Maxwell would
misinterpret it for sure. He would most likely say that Heero thought too
highly of himself to do this kind of work. No, he wouldn't back down.
Heero stood up too and took some of the dishes. While he walked past the
astonished braided man he said, "For sure one could use it to gag certain
people. Maybe this would stop them talking rubbish."
When he entered the kitchen Heero put the dishes down on the workspace and
took one of the towels. Duo who had followed him on heel had to comment on
this, "This is so obvious. I knew you would choose the easier work. Just let
the poor one get the cracking hands."
Heero threw one of his best death glares towards Maxwell. "Yeh, well they
suit you. And after all I'm still your guest."
Wufei entered the kitchen with the rest of the dishes. "No fights in my
kitchen," he reproved them both. This seemed to avert a very angry reply
from Duo. Grumblingly he went to the sink and let hot water run into it.
With more noise than needed Maxwell pulled the dishes into the water and
started to wash them.
Heero stood right beside his combatant. Funnily enough he recognized in that
moment that Maxwell was a palm smaller than him and that his hair smelled
quite deliciously like coconut.
For a while they just stood in this position; Duo washing the dishes while
producing a hell of a lot of noise. Anger nurtured his verve as he dashed
the washed pieces onto the working plate. Heero just took them, wiped off
the water and put them away into the cupboards. Neither of them spoke a
word. They were truly concentrated on their tasks at hand.
Duo grumbled a bit, but Heero couldn't make a coherent word out of it. While
they worked, all the anger and rage between them started to increase in a
spiral of violence. The tension built more and more until Heero was asking
himself when the big outburst was going to happen and how many dishes would
die during the fight.
After some minutes of uncomfortably working, Heero grasped one of the cups.
But when he wanted to dry it he saw that there was a spot inside. "It's
still dirty," he accused the braided man.
Duo looked up from the sink disgustingly. Due to the steam his face was
flushed and some strands of his hair had left the braid. The picture was
quite breathtaking. "What do you mean by 'still dirty'?" he asked harshly.
"Still dirty as in 'not clean yet'. You didn't wash it correctly."
If looks could kill Heero would have been dead. "This couldn't be. You just
have to dry a bit harder."
"I'm not about to do such a thing. You didn't wash it correctly. Here," he
showed the offending cup to Duo. "It's your responsibility so do it again."
"Pff, what do you know anyhow?" was the answer he got. Nevertheless the
braided youth reached out to take the cup.
Maxwell reached out, without looking at the cup. And so he missed his
target. Instead of the dish, he touched Heero's hand. A lightning bolt went
through Heero. Almost terrified he let go of the cup. Just like in slow
motion he could see it sink into the water. Duo's hand was still touching
his. And again Heero became aware of the fact how gorgeous his combatant
was. This Maxwell was an idiot, but in this moment it wasn't Heero's brain
that was in charge.
Without really wanting it, but also without the chance to stop it, Heero's
hand closed around Duo's and he pulled his counterpart close. With the other
hand he touched Duo's flushed cheek. He bent down for a kiss. He was sure
this Maxwell would cry bloody murder but Heero didn't care a pap for it at
this moment. 'He'll kill me for this – but the heck with it!' Heero thought
as his lips touched Duo's.