I haven't got much to say. It sucks but it's an update...hmm I think that's the wrong mentality. Shouldn't I take my time to make the chapter good instead. Oh well. Gah, I can't wait for a break so I can spend some time and really write a good chapter to one of my stories. I think I'll finish the cursed over this break. I should be able to, I've only got a couple chapters left I think. I don't know for sure since I just have an idea of what I want the ending to be. We'll see if that's where I end up. I don't think that's the proper mentality either. Dang. Well, here's the next chapter of this story anyway.

Shakespeare's Worst Nightmare

Heero decided he really hated this place. The people were annoying, straining his eyes in the dim lighting was starting to give him a headache, the warmth in the windowless building made him sleepy, and he was pretty sure he was sitting in gum. He stayed unmoving in the stiff theater seat with his eyes shut as the theatrical group carried on with their meeting on the stage, though it sounded a lot more like gossiping to Heero. He didn't look around the theater since he had seen enough of the place on that little self-guided tour Duo had sent him on earlier. He didn't bother to listen to what the rest of the people were saying, he didn't really care, instead he sat and contemplated just what exactly he had gotten himself into. How was he going to explain this to J? The old man wouldn't like it that there was something cutting into his training time. He knew this meant that he would be staying even later on school grounds to make up for it, not that it really mattered to him. Sometimes, on really weird days like this, he wondered what it would be like to be one of those kids who did whatever the hell they wanted. He got the distinct feeling that Duo Maxwell was one of those types. Maybe that was the reason for the unusually strong reaction he had to the boy? His carefree attitude grated on Heero's nerves in a way he couldn't understand. It pulled something in him and made him uncomfortable. Heero hated feeling uncomfortable and he had been since he had walked into this place. No, that wasn't right he had felt out of place ever since he had laid eyes on that boy. Everyone in this place was unusual, as he had learned from Duo's very thorough introductions, though no one compared to the braided president of the drama club. Milliardo Peacecraft, the faculty advisor, was a close second though.

He was a bit mystified that the boy with long blonde hair was not actually a student at all. He looked very young for his age, not that he was old. Duo had mentioned that the man was twenty-eight and that he was the theater coach when he was introducing Heero to everyone. The longhaired brunette had said it like it was some kind of inside joke, and considering this weird group it probably was. Though he supposed the man's youthful appearance got him mistaken for another student so often that it would become almost comical to most idiots. And thinking back on the way he met Duo, Heero would not hesitate to classify the boy under that category. What was a little strange though was that based on how many years the blonde man would have spent in college to become a drama teacher and taking into consideration that he said he'd started teaching two years ago, Heero wondered what he had been doing in the lost four years. He didn't dwell on it though, since the entire group was odd after all. It had been a Herculean effort on Heero's part to not scowl at everyone and tell Duo to shove it when the boy told little anecdotes about every single person he introduced. He was thankful that he hadn't been required to participate in their meeting and instead went back to his usual pastime of tuning out the world. That is until someone plopped down in the seat next to him and started obnoxiously repeating his name directly into his ear. He wanted to just ignore the person until they went away but whoever this was seemed very persistent. He didn't understand why the person was bugging him instead of listening to the meeting announcements. He found that answer as soon as he bothered to open his eyes.

Apparently the meeting had come to its end and he was now alone in the theater with Duo Maxwell who was currently waving a pale slim hand in Heero's face, much to the football player's displeasure. Heero swiftly grabbed hold of the boy's slender wrist and sighed as he turned his head to the heart shaped face that was mere inches from his own. No sense of personal space, Heero noted. Duo was quirking one quizzical eyebrow and smirking at him. He obviously enjoyed it when people seemed annoyed by him. Heero hated those types, the ones that loved to get under your skin. None of them had ever been able to get to Heero Yuy before though, he simply ignored them, so he just found their antics mildly irritating. This boy however was becoming a problem and Heero was going to resort to his usual problem solving skills to wipe the smirk off the boy's face in…

five

four

three…

What was that noise? Was the guy laughing at him? What the hell? A second later he found the reason why, he was still holding on to the boy's wrist. There was a brief tingling feeling in his palm when he finally released the other boy's hand and Heero found that extremely annoying. His glare turned colder than ice.

…five

four

three

two…

"That for me?" The braided nuisance asked startling Heero out of his contemplation of the quickest way to kill him. The soon-to-be-dead Duo Maxwell pointed at the pink slip Heero had folded and shoved into his jacket pocket. The corner of it stood out against the blue of his letterman's jacket. Heero glared at the boy but, shockingly, it had no effect. So he reached into his pocket and dragged out the crumpled piece of paper with Treize's signature. He had to admit he was glad for the distraction. He had started to try and decipher the color of the boy's eyes in the dimly lit theater building and didn't like the fact that he was actually curious about such a trivial detail.

"It is if you are in fact Duo Maxwell." Heero said in his dry arrogant tone with a grunt that had Duo smirking but looking a little guilty. At least the boy had the decency to look abashed by his actions.

"Sorry about that." Another sheepish grin graced the boy's features. "So what's a jock doing hanging around with a bunch of stage junkies anyway?" The theater manager asked as he was passed the pink slip of paper from Heero's pocket. He looked at it for a moment and Heero saw something dark pass over the boy's features but it was gone in a second. The bitterness in his voice, however, was not so easy for the boy to hide.

"Oh, I see you've been forced to be here. Treize's orders. Well you're lucky no one else applied, so I guess you're our new stagehand." Duo pinned him with his best glare, which Heero had to admit wasn't half bad.

"Look just because you don't want to be here doesn't mean I don't expect you to do your job. You will have responsibilities and I expect you to carry them out to the best of your abilities. Do we understand each other?" While Heero was slightly impressed with the more business side of Duo Maxwell, he still despised the boy and he didn't appreciate the pushy tone. His eyes narrowed by just a fraction more.

"What is expected of me?" Heero's monotone echoed dully off the dark theater walls.

"You'll be behind the stage, a jack-of-all-trades if you will, you'll learn a little bit about everything that goes on backstage and help anyone who needs it. How's your memory?" Duo's smooth baritone seemed to bounce off the room's walls with its own energy and surround them.

"Well above average." Heero responded tersely, this had already taken too long and he was going to be late getting home. Damn, J wasn't going to be happy with him. He really didn't feel like explaining this to the old man.

"How arrogant. Fine, then you can also be the line-man. You'll memorize everyone's lines in case they forget on stage." Duo's forced grin made Heero almost cringe. It was obvious that his dislike for the unpredictable boy was mutual. Heero merely nodded that he understood.

"So what are my responsibilities in this wonderful new relationship we have?" Duo asked and Heero fought the urge to snort at the boy's tone, though not well. A small indignant scoffing sound was made in the back of his throat.

"You get to send weekly updates to Treize and report me if I don't do my job. So, do we have an understanding?" Heero smirked. His sentence and tone mimicked the bitter boy in front of him to clarify just how much he did not want to be where he was. He didn't know how long he'd last here anyway, not with Duo Maxwell. The longhaired boy snorted.

"Yeah, we got a deal but this means you're one of us even if you don't like it. So you will attend every meeting, you'll join in, you'll pretend to care, you'll keep our secrets, and you will respect my friends." This serious boy was such a stark contrast to the joking clown he had met when he walked into the theater. He wondered if the boy's personality was always such a roller coaster.

"Keep your secrets?" Heero asked but his voice reflected none of his unexpected curiosity.

"We're a family and we have our secrets. Like for starters, I guess Zechs must have realized that you would be staying with us for a while and would have found out his name eventually and that's why he told it to you, but never call him that outside these walls. When you leave the theater he's Milliardo and that's it. Got it?" That facsimile of a real smile was still plastered to the boy's face, but his eyes spoke volumes. This was something very important.

"Why?" This time he couldn't mask his curiosity.

"He has his reasons and that's all you need to know." Heero watched as the boy in front of him crossed his arms over his chest defensively. He was surprisingly tight lipped for someone who seemed to never shut up.

"Fine. Anything else?"

"Yes, but it's not my place to tell you that one." Heero frowned. The boy was just too vague for his liking.

"I believe you know Relena, you could ask her if you really wanted to know. I can't say for sure if she'd tell you anything though." Heero felt the urge to ask why again, but he squashed it down. It had been a while since he had been genuinely curious about anything. He hoped he wasn't coming down with something. He wondered what Relena had to do with all this. He was pretty sure he had never seen the girl anywhere near the theater, but he couldn't be certain since he had never even been to it before yesterday. He frowned but nodded like he understood. He really just wanted to get out of there.

"Good. So I'll see you tomorrow I guess and don't be late or I'll have to kick your ass." Duo said and it was like a switch had flipped. His eyes sparkled mischievously and his forced smile turned into a natural smirk. He was the joker again, just like that. Heero's eyebrow rose just slightly at the boy's odd behavior.

"Hn." It was an arrogant noise that said 'I'd like to see you try.' The gleam in Duo's eyes sharpened and the corners of his lips turned up maliciously.

"You don't think I would? Well then you've got another thing coming. Yeah, I've heard the rumors about you but I don't believe that tough-guy bullshit for a second." Duo said with a small push on the football player's shoulder. Heero's glare returned full force, something inside him had twisted with Duo's words.

"Just shut up, your incompetence is giving me a headache." His shoulder burned where the boy had poked him. He glanced up and didn't miss the twinkle of barely contained mirth in the longhaired boy's eyes.

"I'm so reporting that to Treize. Insubordination!" Duo waved the pink slip threateningly at Heero who just snorted at the loud boy's antics.

"Idiot, I'm going now." Heero said as he shook his head and reached out a hand to snatch the paper. Duo smirked and yanked his hand back. Heero sneered and went for it again only to have the boy pull it just out of his reach. This time Heero actually growled. Duo smirked as he handed the slip of pink over after a few more rounds of keep-away that had the football player scowling like never before.

"You're incredibly immature." Heero was in a particularly snarky mood that afternoon. He stood steaming for another minute while Duo just kept on smiling.

"I thought you were leaving, jerk." The football player's ice-blue eyes narrowed briefly before he whipped around and stomped off down the aisle. He reached the door that would grant his freedom from the obnoxious child and was just about to make it out too until he heard a rather annoying snort. He paused as his hand reached for the doorknob.

"By the way, did you know you have gum stuck to your ass?" The bemused baritone echoed from behind him and his grip on the knob tightened until his knuckles were bright white. He took a breath and let it out slowly then left the theater slamming the door behind him.

4:30 am. J had him wake up an hour early and doubled his morning jog to make up for how late he was getting home from school. Heero hadn't been able to tell the old man the real reason he was late so he said that a lot of people had showed up and tryouts had taken longer than expected. It wasn't the first time he ever lied to the crazy old bat, but that didn't make it any easier. When he got back from his jog he showered quickly and dressed then went downstairs to get his usual breakfast. Unfortunately, when he turned into the kitchen he found the most disturbing sight his eyes had ever laid upon in his sixteen years of life. J was in a bathrobe and slippers and he was cooking eggs.

The gag reflex was just natural.

"What's this?" Heero asked as he wearily approached the table that the old man had set two plates down on before taking a seat. His metal eyes looked expectantly at Heero and the boy took a seat across from him.

"Heero, my boy, I thought you might want a real breakfast to celebrate how well the tryouts went yesterday. The coach did already tell you that you are to become captain?" The old man inquired tapping the metal fingers of his mechanical arm next to his plate. Heero nodded.

"Perfect. You are turning out quite nicely." Heero said nothing to this. J was always a little weird. The old man had delusions of being a mad-scientist and the vitamins he bought at the supermarket were actually complex gene altering pills that he had cooked up in his 'lab,' otherwise known as the upstairs bathroom. But the old codger was the closest thing to family Heero had.

"Well eat up boy, you don't want to be late." Heero silently ate his meal even if the eggs did taste a little funny and his juice, or what he had originally thought was juice, was gritty and had a strange aftertaste.

"Do you like the drink? You're going to have it every morning from now on." The old man's metal eyes did that strange thing where they shifted, extended slightly, and then shifted back. Heero had to fight the grimace, that drink was pretty nasty. At least now he knew the real reason for this little breakfast, J was starting him on a new protein-shake-thingy. The man was obsessed with making him the 'perfect child'. It was all part of his mad-scientist fantasy and Heero was his little lab rat. At least he had tried to soften the blow on the first day with a full breakfast, now if only J could cook. Heero mentally sighed and eyed his sausages with little hope.

His day once again passed as it normally did. He felt numb as he went to each of his classes and paid little attention to anything around him. It was very different from the way he felt in the theater, but he decided not to worry about it unless it got serious. Unfortunately, he also spent his first few classes lost in a thoughtless daze that was plagued by images of bunny slippers and fuzzy pink bathrobes. It wasn't until lunch that he was able to finally rid his mind of the disturbing flashbacks. He got his usual meal of the healthiest looking things he could find and sat down at the football player's table. It didn't take long for the table to fill up and soon his teammates were lost in shallow conversations and greasy fries. He tuned them out quickly enough and focused on his questionable meal until someone sat down next to him and poked at his ham sandwich.

"Hello Relena." The mousy blonde next to him smiled brightly, her cornflower blue eyes lighting up when he spoke to her.

"Don't worry I'm not going to bother you I just wanted to ask where you were yesterday after practice. I was supposed to take a picture for the paper of everyone that tried out." Relena was the chief editor of the school's newspaper and knew everyone in the school. Heero wouldn't really call her a friend but they often sat together during lunch and sometimes her company was comforting like Trowa's. Perhaps he should tell her about his terrible fate, she might have some useful advice. Maybe he should ask her how she was connected to odd group of theater kids? He thought about it, but just couldn't do it. It was far too difficult to admit out loud his horrible new after-school activity. It was so weird he never used to worry about what other people thought of what he did. This was kind of pushing it though.

"I had a few things to take care of for J." He lied. He was doing that a lot lately. She smiled and nodded knowing that when the boy's caregiver was brought up it usually meant the conversation was over. He fell back into silence and picked guiltily at his meal a little before he found his eyes wandering around the cafeteria. He had never bothered to do this in the past but he was curious now. He didn't know why, but he was.

He had never really noticed how sectioned the cafeteria was, not physically but it was clear that certain students only sat with each other and that's it. He knew he sat at the same table as his teammates but he had never much noticed that the rest of the tables seemed to have similar designations. There was a table where popular kids who didn't do sports sat. There was a place for the smart kids who weren't exactly nerds but refused to talk to anybody else, the elitists. There was a table in the back for the nerds. There was a place for the punks, and the Goths, and the rockers. There was a place for the artists, the poets, and the beatniks. And there was even a table in the very back for the theater junkies, that eccentric crew that kept to themselves and made inside jokes involving Hamlet or Othello. Their smiling faces and family-like warmth toward each other stood out against the rest of the superficial smiles and heartless words that filled the room.

If this group stood out so much, how was it possible that he had never noticed them before? True, he had never actually bothered to take notice of pretty much the entire student body before so why was he now? Or did they just stand out to him now that he had been forced to meet them all. A few of the faces seemed familiar, it was obvious that not the entire theater had this lunch and that a few of them were in Trowa's period. He hoped today the gymnast would be in the training room. There wouldn't be practice until the final selections for the team were posted, but of course he would still weight train after school. Heero wondered if that longhaired idiot had his lunch too, he didn't see him sitting at the table.

He scanned the room for a minute longer before he noticed someone coming in the cafeteria entrance out of the corner of his eye. Heero watched with what could almost be considered a puzzled expression as the braided figure gracefully wound its way through the battlefield that was the cafeteria only to stop briefly at the theater table. Duo placed one hand on the back of the angry Chinese boy's shoulder and leaned down to whisper something in his ear. Whatever he'd said had the raven-haired young man blushing and angrily yelling at the braided boy as he pinched the skin of Duo's tanned arm painfully. Well it had looked painful but it must not have been too bad since Duo was just laughing at the kid and not even trying to get his arm free. Duo said something to the rest of the group then turned around and started heading right back out of the cafeteria. Did the boy's antics never cease? Heero thought that he really should find it stranger that Duo wasn't sitting with the rest of theater squad. But then again, Heero had never met anyone as odd as Duo Maxwell so this really didn't surprise him that much. What did surprise him, though he would never admit it, was that he really did want to know where the boy ate lunch each day.

He watched Duo as he smiled and swayed his way out of the cafeteria, that braid following his every move just a second later. His eyes traveled slowly up to the boy's face and he was mildly surprised to find a pair of cerulean eyes staring back into his. Duo stopped dead in his tracks just as he reached the cafeteria doors and Heero couldn't bring himself to tear his eyes away. In the dimly lit theater he hadn't realized that Duo's eyes were such an unusual shade of blue, he could even swear there was a violet tint in them. Not that it mattered, of course. He could care less what color the boy's eyes were.

"Heero do you know that boy?" Relena's soft but strong voice drew his attention away from the longhaired kid, but not from the sudden turmoil that had welled up inside him.

"Hm?" He really hadn't heard what she had asked him, he was only barely aware that it had been a question in the first place.

"That boy over there. You've been staring at him for a while, do you know him?" Not exactly sure how to answer that or how he felt about being told he was staring at someone, Heero resorted to his usual grunt to avoid answering. He was confused. Heero did not like being confused, and it was all that boy's fault. Acting stupid must be contagious or something and that theater was probably swimming in stupid-germs. How was he going to survive an entire year of this? With a lot of dumb luck, he supposed. Oh God, that was the stupidest pun…it was already starting. He was turning into an idiot.

Trowa was in the weight room that day. He had arrived just a few minutes after Heero and had silently began his stretching routine while the other boy loaded weights on the hamstring machine. It was about an hour before one of them spoke, and for probably only the second time since Trowa had known him it was Heero who started the conversation.

"Gymnastics starting soon?" He asked and if it were anybody but Trowa they would have heard a rather bored monotone voice, but Trowa had gotten fairly proficient at reading the little nuances of Heero's personality. This sentence told him that Heero had something on his mind but didn't know how to say it.

"Yes, I thought I'd take a page out of your book and get an early start." In normal speak Trowa would have meant just what he said, but he realized that they had switched over to Heero-speak so the sentence had a whole new meaning. Instead he had basically just offered the boy some semi-personal information about himself by admitting to copying Heero. This implied that Heero was welcome to divulge some semi-personal information of his own and could count on Trowa to be as understanding about it as possible. Heero-speak was a rather complicated language.

"I won't be training for as long today." Heero spoke as he unloaded the bicep curl he had been using. Trowa paused a moment to analyze what this sentence meant and then it hit him. This wasn't a secret Heero-speak sentence at all this was Heero trying to find the least humiliating way to tell Trowa what he needed to get off his chest. Trowa decided to help the guy out a bit.

"Any particular reason why?" Heero's head shot up. Yep, that was all it took and Trowa could practically see the floodgates breaking.

"I was sent to Treize's office for fighting, again. Instead of suspending me and effectively getting me cut from the team he…made me join the drama club." Heero glared laser beams into the weight machine he was standing by. Okay, so not exactly a flood of emotion there but for Heero that was probably a pretty big rainstorm.

"So you have to go there everyday?" Trowa asked, though it was hard to tell if it was a question from the near perfect monotone. Heero nodded, already slipping back into his stoic mask.

"Would it make you more comfortable if I came with you?" It was a very long pause before Heero nodded this time.

They made their way across campus together in silence, though Trowa had to wonder what exactly made him volunteer for this. It was true that Heero was easily his best friend but they didn't exactly go out of their way for each other. Their relationship just wasn't like that and they both understood that perfectly well. Still he had never seen Heero so…fidgety. It made him uptight and he really didn't want to have that kind of tense atmosphere in the gym everyday while he was supposed to be working out. What could possibly be so horrible about being part of the drama club anyway?

Five minutes later Trowa was introduced to Duo Maxwell. Suddenly he had his answer.

"Hey bastard, who's your freakishly tall buddy?" Trowa's eyebrow quirked up as a young boy with extremely long hair insulted his best friend and then made a flying leap off the stage in front of them. He wasn't sure if he should be insulted or impressed.

"I'm afraid you're just short." Trowa said in his absolute monotone that put even Heero's to shame. Duo glared at the insult and had to wonder if guys without personalities traveled in packs for a reason. He was about to express this opinion when he felt the taller boy patting him on the head like a dog. He looked up to find one eye green looking bemusedly at him with the barest hint of a smirk.

"Shorty." Well that was the final straw. Duo cracked his knuckles menacingly and glared his best. Both Trowa and Heero looked relatively bored at his display. He pointed a slim finger in Trowa's face.

"All right Paul Bunion, we're steppin' outside." Duo growled. Trowa couldn't fight the smirk as he leaned over to look down at the boy just to reaffirm the height difference. The braided maniac 'humphed' then hopped up on one of the theater chairs to glare right into Trowa's face.

There was a pause then an odd sound that filled the theater. Heero was positive he had never heard it before, a strangely deep sound that came in waves. What the hell could it be? He turned his head to see if his tall friend could hear it from his altitude and what he saw was surprising to say the least. That sound was coming from Trowa. He was… laughing. Duo was still standing on the theater chair and was patting the spike-haired boy on the shoulder chuckling a little while he did so. When the hell had that happened? Well shit, he had brought his best friend in here and had totally forgot that the air made people stupid. That had been his last hope and now he was all alone without a single sane friend left. Trowa sure went fast though.

Ten minutes later found Trowa and Duo sitting on the stage floor talking chummily with one another. Well Trowa wasn't actually doing any of the speaking, per se, but the twinkle of amusement never left his eye. Heero had taken the same seat he had sat in through the last meeting and was stubbornly trying to ignore the braided boy's mindless assault on his best friend's ears. How Trowa could stand it was a mystery to him, but he supposed the longhaired idiot got lucky every once in a while with a clever turn of phrase. God, he wished he would just go deaf whenever the moron was around. Why the hell couldn't he ignore the kid? It wasn't like Duo was talking to him so what did he care? But every time he was sure he had completely tuned the world out a laugh or a clever joke would draw him back in. If he were anyone but Heero Yuy, he would have to admit that it was kind of difficult to really hate Duo Maxwell.

That was when a shattering crash was followed by a slightly high-pitched yet masculine scream. And before anyone could even catch their breath Trowa had disappeared.

So that was it. Not great, probably highly dissapointing. Especially to people who had seen the movie and were expecting something like that. No, I'm not that good of a writer. Plus, I saw it a long time ago and all I remember is something about a play and singing. And that the main actor was kind of a troubled kid. So yeah I just stole..er borrowed.. the basic idea of troubled kid is forced to do a play with some kid he doesn't like. Other than that I really don't know if it will follow the movie plot at all. And I hope nobody's reading this because you're probably thinking 'Who cares.' And I say to you... Good point. And I will shut up now.