A/N: I have a beta! I'm so happy. Sorry it was a while since the last post but that's cause my beta was hard at work. So kudos to the wonderful muse, friend and beta of Ray-chan! Happy dance. Hopefully some stuff will make more since because of her. She pointed out I often leave out timing. I don't think I actually changed any of the times I did. Frankly I often don't know how much time has passed, and am leaving that up to the reader. I hope that doesn't make it too confusing. If people are confused I'll go back and rework some chapters. I hope you like it!
5
Friday came soon enough. It was the carrot on the end of a stick for Duo. Get through school till Friday and he had a night with his friends. When the bell rang, Duo grabbed his stuff from his locker and raced Hilde down the hall ignoring the senior who called to them to slow down.
There was a fairly good turnout. Hilde and Dorothy were staying till dinner. Zechs could only come for a few hours and Relena was getting a ride from him. Trowa and Heero were staying over and Wufei would be there till nine. His "family thing" was happening Saturday. They all piled on the bus, Trowa and Cat in their usual seat. Heero happened to pick the seat across from them, unknowing of Duo's claim to it, not that Duo was unwilling to share. Dorothy and Relena sat in front of them and Hilde in front of Cat and Trowa. Wufei sat behind Duo and Heero, perfectly content to rant across the isle to Zechs.
They reached Cat's stop and walked the few blocks to his house, shouting merrily in a jostling group. Cat fished out his house key and pushed open the door, calling to the general house that he and his friends were home. Shouts emanated back from the kitchen and the upstairs. Quatre beckoned for his friends to follow him inside. They all dropped their school bags by the front door and wandered into the kitchen.
"Do you happen to have such a thing as a snack for famished teens?" Cat questioned the sister on hand.
"There are oranges and frozen pot stickers, make something for yourselves. By the way, I'm Sasha." She said grinning. "I know you Trowa, of course, and I know some of the rest of you. But my memory is like a sieve, names?"
"Duo." Duo introduced himself. Her eye's gleamed,
"The nice neighbor boy! Cat told us you went to school with him again. Long time no see." She gave him a brief hug and Duo tried not to blush too uncomfortably. She looked to the rest of them.
"Wufei." Wufei offered a hand to be shaken.
"Heero."
"Zechs."
"Relena." They all nodded, going around the blob ending with Hilde.
Quatre pulled his head out of the freezer, "Pot stickers sound good to everyone?" The general reply was of agreement. Cat popped a plate in the microwave.
"We should go out and pick apples next." Cat instructed, "Then we'll eat dinner and applesauce them. Sound good?" There was more agreement.
"I'm going to a class and I'll be back late. Iria is up stairs and Sophie will be around." Sasha informed them. "See you." She exited, placing a kiss on Cat's forehead on her way to the door.
The microwave pinged and Cat pulled out the plate. They all grabbed their pot stickers and stood around the kitchen eating them.
"Well," Cat cleared his throat, "is everyone ready to go out and pick apples?" Duo nodded along with everyone else. They trouped down the basement, picking up a boom box and extension cord on their way. They brought the music and bags for apples out with them, unrolling the extension cord behind them. They put down their bags and took a moment to size up the tree.
"Alright, have at it." Cat announced. Duo picked up a bag and ducked under the tree, reaching up to pick the nearest apple and dropped it in his bag. The others did the same thing, dispersing around the tree and pulling down apples. Trowa picked apples from where he was, half way up the tree, and handed them down to Quatre. Zechs, being the tallest one there, easily reached up and picked the apple Wufei had been jumping for. Wufei glared.
"You don't have to rub it in." He muttered.
"Just helping out."
After an hour or so they had picked all the big ripe apples. That is, the ones they could get to. They picked up their respective bags and the radio before trekking back inside. They were just dropping their bags in the family room where the TV was located and shrugging off their shoes when the doorbell rang. It was Catharine and she stood on the stoop with a bag.
"Hey, I actually can't stay, but I brought snacks." She had some chips and soda.
"That's cool. We're about to get going on torturing apples." Quatre grinned. "We get to cut them into wedges, peel their skins off, soak them in lemon juice, slice them and dice them, grind them down and boil their remaining flesh into sauce."
Catherine raised an eyebrow, "Sounds like fun, I trust nothing was hurt in the processes of filming this movie?" she joked. "I really do have to go. Trowa, you can stay over, mom's fine with it. See ya'll later!" She hopped off the porch. Dorothy and Hilde took Catherine's arrival as a reminder, it was 5 o'clock, and sadly called parents and left.
The rest of them ate dinner and sat down around the foot stool table where they were set up for apple killing. They picked up their corers and peelers and paring knives. Cat popped the movie in the VCR.
"Dead Poets Society." He enlightened them. Duo hadn't seen it before. He peeled the apple pieces Wufei handed him and dropped them in the lemon juice from which Heero would fish them out and cut them into quarters while they watched the movie.
By the time Wufei's parents came to pick him up they had made roughly 25 quarts of applesauce. Zechs had planned to leave at dinner but rather purposefully forgotten his engagements. "Who cares if I skip class once? I can just tell dad I was hanging with Lena here. That'll make him happy." he shrugged when Cat questioned him. Relena and Zechs' father thought the two hated each other for some reason and was always trying to force them to do things together. They didn't mind but thought it was a little weird. Since they had already stayed longer then they had anticipated Zechs decided it wouldn't matter if they returned home late. Cat got out a game of Scatergories for them to play, as it was his favorite.
They cleared up the game, Duo and Relena being un-useful with their proceeding tickle war, and Cat put in another movie. Duo hadn't thought he'd ever really get to know her, they shared few classes and she mainly hung out with the girls in the group. But he had realized she was actually pretty cool. She could be a little bossy, but she had sly sense of humor, and slight of hand that Duo was growing to envy. She knew social graces by heart and took sadistic pleasure in correcting his posture, but now he knew she was just teasing. Relena also thought that Heero was eye candy. Duo just shook his head, what could she see in a reclusive guy like him? He was handsome, even Duo could see that, but still...
"I think I was a bit blatant about it. For all my elegance and elbows-off-the-table glory I don't know the correct way to chase a guy." Relena confessed. "I'm glad I don't have to bother." Duo quirked an eyebrow in question. "Dorothy." Relena stated fondly. Duo 'ahhed'. It made sense actually, he had wondered a little about their relationship. They weren't as out there as Cat and Trowa, but maybe that was because girls were just naturally aloud to be more intimate friends with one another anyway.
"So you don't have to worry." She winked at him slyly. "You'd actually be a good match, you know."
"What? Nu-uh." Duo flailed wildly, Relena just shook her head. Cat turned to look at them.
"Shh…The rest of us are actually trying to watch the movie. What are you talking about anyway?" Relena stifled a chuckle at Duo's panicked expression.
"Nothing." Duo collected himself. Cat shook his head and retrained his eyes to the screen where a different movie was now playing, a young to-be priest was preaching about dead fish, angel fish and how the pew-sitters were like those screaming fish. Duo shook his head and tried to figure out what he had missed.
It was about ten thirty when the movie ended and Zechs and Relena took their leave. They stood around in the entry way watching the van pull away from the curb and waving till Quatre suggested they should grab their sleeping bags and set up shop in the basement.
Duo unfurled his sleeping bag. They put their heads together in the middle so that they created a circle.
Duo flopped down. "So, what's the plan?" He turned a lazy eye to Cat.
"Well, I haven't thought this far. I'm tired for one thing, but of course I don't fall asleep till about twelve, so I have a while before I catch some shuteye."
"Hn." Heero put in from Duo's other side as he smoothed out his sleeping bag.
"Exactly how I feel." Duo agreed. Heero made a small choking sound, something like a laugh as Duo rolled over on his back, hands behind his head as if sun bathing and repeated. "Hn."
Cat chuckled musically. "You mean you have absolutely no brain power and therefore can't seem to make a sentence, no offense Duo but you have not mastered the art of 'Hn'."
"I just want to point out how lame a conversation this is." Trowa put in.
"You're quite right; we should get up and do something –except I don't want to." Cat agreed.
"I'll second you there." Duo sighed.
They lay doing absolutely nothing but enjoying each others silent company and occasional comment. Eventually necessity brought them to their feet and they went to the bathroom to brush teeth and wash faces. They all packed into the downstairs bathroom, unwilling to troop all the way up stairs. After everyone had brushed their teeth Cat kicked them out so he could change. Duo laughed as he shooed them out like annoying chickens,
"Yes even you Trowa."
"You know I won't care if you two share a sleeping bag so you don't have to be coy around me. What do you say Heero." Heero shrugged agreement. Duo raised his eyebrow at Trowa, who smirked right back.
"And if we do?" he asked.
"More power to you." Duo affirmed.
Trowa shook his head. "You don't have to worry, we won't torment you." Duo sniggered. Heero watched the exchange blandly.
"I personally have no problem, but what if Duo and I feel left out?" Duo blinked and held in his immediate response of letting his jaw hit the floor. Even Trowa looked surprised before he broke out laughing. Duo hadn't realized it was a joke, but the small smile pulling on Heero's mouth gave him away. Cat came out and joined them.
"Why should you feel left out?" Trowa left and slid the bathroom door closed behind him. Cat continued, "Actually, I read this interesting article in the newspaper about 'cuddle parties' now we've been doing them for years, 'cept my sisters call them cuddle puddles. Funny, if we had realized we teenagers were so smart we could have marketed this earlier." Heero chuckled. Duo blinked, a little out of the loop.
"You mean like in elementary school when they'd build a fort and piles of blankets for us to sleep in?"
"Something like that. It's a tradition that got started on one of the school camping trip type things. We were all supposed to bring sleeping bags, but when someone once forgot their so we just got blankets and a pillow and made a nest. Then eventually at bigger parties we x-ed everything but a few blankets and pillows and substituted other people for warmth and cushion. Of course sometime someone gets sat on or a bit to twisted up. Mind you, this is all pretty platonic, minus Trowa and myself and Noin and Zechs and Sally and Wufei." Cat assured. "Really we had half the class sleeping on the floor in a pile at one of the movie night things. It can actually be quite comfortable… sometimes." Duo nodded slowly, to show his half understanding.
"Except for that time when Relena tried hitting on me." Heero shook his head and mock shivered.
"Hey, she's not so bad." Duo was compelled to say. Cat turned a quizzical look to him.
"You like her?" Heero said cautiously. "I guess she's not so bad now that she's with Dorothy. That girl was really good for her." Heero admitted.
"Yeah, I like her. She's cool; we have a lot in common." Duo stated with a shrug.
Trowa immerged from the bathroom and Duo took his exit.