Well I'm on an updating streak, yay for me. So here's the next installment. I don't really plan to follow the movie for those of you who have seen it. I only saw it once and it was a while ago and all I remember is some singing and a play and yeah...so I won't be folllowing that plot exactly but it is where the plot bunny came from so I couldn't take credit. I hope that doesn't dissapoint too many people. Anyway...on with the chapter.
Shakespeare's Worst Nightmare
All the World's a Stage
Heero's day had gone as most of his days went. His usual morning five-mile jog was uninterrupted and his usual breakfast of a granola bar and orange juice was as nutritional and dissatisfying as it always was. His classes were uneventful and dull and he lifelessly passed from one monotonous classroom to the next. There was a test in his chemistry class that he aced without even really reading the questions. He turned in perfect homework and paid absolutely no attention to what the teachers were saying save to copy down the next night's homework assignment. He purchased a balanced and nutritious lunch, well as nutritious as you can get in a high school cafeteria. It consisted of a small turkey sandwich with no mayo and a cob salad, but Heero didn't eat the eggs. Never eat the eggs. Football tryouts went as smooth as everyone knew they would. He played perfectly without really thinking about it, and the coach congratulated him heartily on becoming the new captain. Though technically he wasn't supposed to say anything until next week when assignments were posted. This was a day like any other for Heero Yuy, and he felt just as numb as he did every other day of his tedious existence. He went to the gym like he did every afternoon even when there was no football practice. Nobody else was in there. Today had just been tryouts after all, but he had thought that perhaps gymnastics might have started. He knew they began around the same time as football, and that would mean he'd have Trowa for company. He didn't know if he would have talked to the boy had he been there, but he hadn't told anyone else what he had to do this afternoon and Trowa would have his usual words of wisdom that would make him slightly less uncomfortable with the whole thing.
He cut his usual three-hour workout down to just an hour, the same amount of time the rest of his teammates usually spent in there. He turned left when he exited the gym instead of right like he normally would when he headed home. He cut across a small lawn behind the large halls of East Bay High until he stopped in front of a not so large circular building with a high ceiling. He had never before set foot in this particular building in all his time at East Bay and yet he felt nothing as he pushed open the heavy wooden doors and walked with his usual air of confidence into the small dimly lit room. He passed through a door-less entryway into a larger but equally dim room where he found a meager amount of seating and a small but well kept stage where sporadic groups of kids were talking and laughing with each other. He walked unfeeling down one of the aisles that broke up the seats until his feet were just in front of the raised stage.
To his left there were two kids in a lukewarm debate about something Heero couldn't bring himself to care enough about to ease-drop, that is until he actually looked at the boys. One was an unapproachable looking Chinese boy, his frame was small but his face was stern and yet the other boy seemed to get joy from pestering the very quick-tempered looking young man. The other boy was the one that really drew his attention and Heero could feel something in him sort of squeeze when he looked at the boy, but he didn't know why. He supposed it could be the boy's casual pose as he was draped over two theater chairs and was looking upside down at his agitated companion. It was a rather unguarded position and the carelessness of it bothered Heero. The hair that fell down the side of the chair and pooled on the surprisingly clean floor may also have caused the little jolt in him, though he wasn't sure why it stood out to him. Had he been mistaken, was this a girl? Nope, the deep laugh that melodiously floated through the entire theater was definitely male, and once again Heero felt a sharp stabbing in his chest. He wondered if there was something physically wrong with him. Maybe this place made him ill, something in the ventilation? It didn't matter though, this was his punishment and he would carry it out with no questions and no complaints. The longhaired boy flipped over and settled into one chair then made to stand but noticed Heero lingering at the front of the stage, a small pink paper in his hands. The boy's brow furrowed a little but he never stopped smiling and he waved Heero over.
Heero of course came when he was beckoned, and he made his way over to where the two boys were sitting. The longhaired one smiled at him the whole way but the Chinese one only deepened his already painful looking frown. 'Weird bunch,' passed through Heero's mind before he stopped confidently in front of the young couple. He nodded to each of them, as was his usual greeting, and fought the twist in his gut when the braided boy, for those long tresses were indeed expertly braided, grabbed his hand and shook it. Heero had always been uncomfortable shaking hands with people. The dark haired boy just silently stared at him and it felt like just before a fight broke out in a football game. The same electricity that swirled in the air on the field was now thickly clouded around this boy.
"So what's your name? What are you here for?" The braided boy addressed him in the same jovial baritone that had produced that horrible laugh that twisted Heero's insides and made him wonder why everyone didn't just stop what they were doing and listen to it. His face was completely neutral and he hid his eyes with his bangs, he wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible and the best way to do that was just state his case and go. He thought about handing the pink slip to this boy but he decided it best to wait until he found the boy that Treize had said was in charge of this whole theater group. The less people who knew the real reason for him being here, the better.
"My name is Heero Yuy. I am looking for Duo Maxwell." That wiped the frown off the Chinese boy's face, now he just looked confused. An amused little smirk passed over the braided boy's lips and he shared a heavy look with the boy sitting next to him. Heero wondered how he would ever be able to stand such people.
"Well Heero I don't know if you'll be able to find him. Duo is one sexy guy and he has a lot of demands on his time. I mean the number of dates he goes on in a week would kill a normal man but Duo's just that cool." For some reason the Chinese boy had started to roll his eyes then stopped and pinned Heero with a glare that made him want to respond with one of his own, but he kept hidden behind his bangs and took a calming breath before he responded to the braided youth. He was quickly beginning to dislike this boy.
"Do you have any idea where I might find him." Heero ground out impatiently. He was getting very frustrated with this boy very quickly. Which was highly unusual for him, he had never found someone that he couldn't just ignore.
"Oh I don't know. The meeting's about to start so he's probably back stage getting things in order." Heero nodded sharply and left immediately. He just wanted to find this Duo Maxwell and get out of this place. He didn't like the people here, they were too strange, too vague, and way too annoying.
He climbed the stairs that led to the platform and many of the people that were standing on it stopped talking to watch him as he made his way backstage. 'New faces must not show up here very often,' he thought indifferently as he slipped in between the curtains and meandered through the maze backstage. He finally came across a pair of boy's arguing and pointing at a half finished, very large painting of the torn-down streets of an old village. He approached them easily and made a noise in the back of his throat to alert them of his presence, which both boys promptly ignored.
"I'm telling you we should do something different, let's paint the car white." A boy with short red hair said eagerly but the other boy was already shaking his head.
"No, in the script the car is a very nondescrpit. Classic black, it just has to be." The boy with short dark hair argued back.
"Excuse me." Heero said finally getting tired of being ignored.
"Oh, hey there you lost or something." Heero's eye nearly twitched at the demeaning way the dark haired boy spoke to him, but his natural control was way too high for that. He did however snap a little harshly with his next question.
"Is Duo Maxwell here?" The guy's looked at each other the same way the first two boys he met had, and he started to wonder if everyone who got involved in the theater was born this way or the theater itself did it to them.
"I'm sure he's around here somewhere. Hey I'm Alex, this is Mueller. You applying for the stagehand position? Sure got the arms for it, don't he?" The dark haired one called Alex felt his bicep and Heero was very uncomfortable with the invasion of his personal space but he refrained from hitting the boy. For Now. Mueller apparently agreed and was eyeing him up and down like each of Heero's body parts had its own merits that needed analyzing.
"Thank you." He said quickly and turned on his heel, walking away before Mueller started feeling him up the same way Alex had. Heero glanced behind him once more, he suddenly felt like something's prey. Mueller had certainly looked at him like he was such. He was back on stage again, maybe Duo Maxwell was in one of the two small clusters of students. There was one made up of mostly girls and a couple guys. If what the longhaired boy had told him about Duo Maxwell were true then the boy would probably be in a group like this with lots of girls to flirt with. He approached the group a little more cautiously than he had the other people, he didn't know what to expect from this eclectic collection of unusual kids.
"Excuse me, does anyone here know where I might find Duo Maxwell?" It was strange how polite he could make himself when he was frustrated, he didn't know he had that ability. Of course he still spoke with his usual lifeless monotone, but at least he wasn't punching some dude and demanding he point in the exact direction of this elusive Duo Maxwell who he was quickly growing to hate even though he had never met the guy.
The two girls standing closest to him turned around and smiled. One had short purple hair and a very tomboyish stance. The other had curly red hair and an unnatural balance in the way she stood that reminded him of Trowa. The purple haired one stepped forward and looked him up and down but it wasn't the same as Mueller. She looked him over like she was sizing him up, for what he didn't know.
"What do you want with Duo?" She asked, and Heero could have sworn she sounded like an overprotective older brother. But she was young and a girl. These people just got stranger and stranger in this place. The young woman with red hair stepped forward and chuckled with a light laugh like the tinkling of a bell. She gently placed her hand on the shorter girl's shoulder and smiled at him.
"Well I have to say Duo has impeccable taste." Heero frowned, unsure what she meant by that. "My name is Catherine, and this spirited little one is Hilde." The dark haired girl frowned at being called little and made to push the taller girls arm off but she was too fast and instead moved it so she was now patting that purple head. He must have looked a little impatient because Catherine giggled softly again and pointed to the end of the stage.
"Duo's right over there." She winked at him and he had no idea how to respond to that so he nodded with a quick 'Thank you,' and he turned to where she had pointed. The other group of kids was standing at the edge of the stage. If he looked passed them and over the end of the stage floor he could just make out the top of that braided boy's head. God he was really starting to hate this kid, if he didn't find Duo Maxwell soon he was going to give up football and just take the damn suspension instead. He approached the other group, almost to the point of showing open frustration on his face, but got himself under control and instead he calmly stepped up to the last circle of kids knowing that Duo Maxwell had to be in there somewhere.
"I'm looking for Duo Maxwell." He said loudly so as not to be ignored and angrily so as not to be flirted with or hassled. He had said the phrase so many times now that it started to lose meaning. Two boys snapped to attention and looked offended at him. He didn't care. One boy with really long blonde hair, obviously a senior, stepped forward and looked down at him.
"Why?" It was a deep angry voice but intelligent, and Heero was thankful for that. He found his nerves subsiding just a bit.
"I need to speak with him." His response this time was calm and the blue-eyed senior seemed to let a little tension out of his shoulders.
"Who are you?" The question was slightly more curious than interrogative and although Heero appreciated that he still felt that this conversation was drifting too much and he wanted to leave. Throughout his years of existence Heero Yuy had found that he had a special gift that could make people bend to his will. He speared the blonde with an intense gaze from his icy blue eyes and was not surprised by the little jolting response.
"Heero Yuy." He said coolly and the blonde nodded then stuck out his hand to shake. Heero really was uncomfortable with the antiquated ritual but it seemed that this bunch were almost obsessed with it. Plus the blonde seemed a worthy opponent since he hadn't backed away from him when he had glared at him.
"Milliardo Peacecraft. Though everyone around here calls me Zechs." And they tensely shook hands, the blonde's blue eyes blazing into his own. Heero assumed that he was attempting to intimidate Heero now. When it obviously failed, Zechs pointed behind himself with his thumb.
"Duo's down there." Heero leaned around the tall blonde to see where he was pointing and discovered that he had just made a huge circle for Zechs' thumb was pointing at the group of boy's he had first spoken to. There was a young blonde there now though, with light aquamarine eyes and a gentle smile. So this was Duo Maxwell, he didn't look so bad. Too bad Heero already nearly hated the kid. Heero walked back down the steps and retraced his earlier path until he came to a stop in front of the same group of boys. The braided boy smiled at him and his eyes twinkled with something that Heero found very unnerving. The Chinese boy looked even more pissed off than when he had come in, if that was possible. The shorthaired blonde smiled at him with the same softness as Catherine's laugh. Such a weird bunch.
"Duo Maxwell." Heero said and offered his hand to the small blonde feeling that shaking hands must be a customary act in theater groups. The blonde boy belatedly looked up at him with nothing but confusion in his eyes. He did not take Heero's hand, instead he brought both hands up to his mouth as if he were trying to hide his mirth. Then lightly punched the brightly smiling brunette.
"I'm not Duo, this braided stud is." The longhaired boy that Heero had first spoken to winked and smirked at the blonde's comment.
"You know it." He commented then turned back to Heero with that same mischievous glimmer in his eye that angered Heero more than anything had in his life. Something about this boy just rattled his core and he felt more and more uneasy around him. He didn't like feeling so unsure, so helpless. But that's what the boy made him feel, like he couldn't control the situation, the boy was too unpredictable, and Heero hated not having control. The longhaired boy reached up and dragged Heero's hand down, shaking it firmly.
"Duo Maxwell, pleasure to meet you." Then he started laughing with that deep melodious laugh and Heero knew he had been played a fool. Why would someone even bother to torture a person they didn't know, there was no gain in it. The blonde had gotten his chuckling under control, even the Chinese boy had curbed his snickering but Duo continued to laugh a little longer. When he finally finished he smiled right in Heero's face…and winked.
It was official, Heero Yuy hated Duo Maxwell.
Ok well that was short. Oh well, hoped you liked it anyway. Thanks to all who reviewed for the last chapter, you guys rock my world.