Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing

Warning: slight language

Reaching the Breaking Point

It was certainly a relief to learn that the rest of the week would be going smoothly, at least classwork-wise. From the way all the advertisements (i.e. the large, cruddy-looking pieces of paper made by those students who had no lives outside of school) covered the walls of the hallways, it seemed the school was desperately trying to promote Homecoming.

All the past ones, Duo hadn't given a care to any of it, knowing what he'd be doing on Friday anyway: staying home. However, it was required for the senior students to help out on decorating the gym and everything since it was their Homecoming after all. And it just so happened that Duo was a senior this year, joy…

Upon hearing that their first period would be going to start on the preparations, he noticed that Solo kept shooting him sly looks and the braided one suddenly had the feeling that this coming Friday wasn't going to be the peaceful evening it usually was for him. He already knew Quatre would be going, cause hey, he already had a "date." He had no doubt that his "friend" would try to drag him along. He'd probably get Solo to help him out or something since Tree Trunk seemed to be so concerned about promoting his general being and welfare.

Having arrived in the gym to do their small bit in setting things up, Duo found himself separated from his constant shadow and he could clearly see that Solo was not happy about it. It could be due to the fact that Solo was being forced to work side-by-side with Dorothy on the other side of the gym that may have been the reason for that. Or maybe it was because Duo knew how to avoid doing any of the work by just standing there and looking like he was trying to help.

It was something that always worked for him before.

--

For once, Solo was having to use up all his considerable control in not striking out at the harpy at his side, a certain Dorothy Catalonia who was quite obvious in trying to flirt with him. He had no qualms about hitting girls. Never had and never would. The only reason why he hadn't struck at her yet was because he didn't feel like getting in trouble with the local authorities here (a.k.a. the teachers and faculty staff) for some reason.

It was completely unlike him but then again, he shouldn't have been so surprised by it. He could trace this change in back to Duo quite easily and he had to wonder how did the little guy have such an effect on him?

Well, his newfound patience was getting a workout as Dorothy was trying, unsuccessfully, to drape herself all over him. He wouldn't have any of that and he was shrugging her off each time. However, he had to admit that she was pretty determined and had yet to give up. Hey, she was talking, wasn't she? Perhaps he could listen to what she was saying and maybe find some way to keep her off him.

"…I know a good, secret spot where we can be alone and…" Dorothy purred and Solo found himself blocking her voice again as some pretty perverted things came out of her mouth, all of them things that sounded pretty fun and required him screwing her into the next month. That had not been a good idea.

And they have the gall to say all men are perverts, sheesh. Whoever "they" were, "they" should really listen to this bimbo. They could get an education from her by just listening for an hour.

After shrugging her away from him for perhaps the thousandth time, he turned his head towards her and demanded, "Will you stop bugging me already?!"

If anything, that seemed to embolden her. "Depends on what you're willing to offer," she replied, purring.

"What do you want?" he inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"What say you grant me the honor of taking me to the Homecoming Dance this Friday?"

Raising his other eyebrow, he said, "Don't you already have a boyfriend? Why are you asking me anyway?"

"So is it a yes or a no?" Dorothy continued as if she hadn't heard him.

"Get off me and I might consider it," he snarked.

"So you'll go with me?" she squealed as she put a couple feet between her and him.

"No," Solo stated, smirking as he crushed her hopes once again. Hey, whoever thought he was a nice guy anyway? Besides, it was fun dashing her hopes like that. She was just begging for it!

"Why are you being so resistant anyway?" Dorothy whined as she close in on him again. "Is it because of Maxwell? What does he have that I don't?"

"A brain for one," he answered testily.

"I'm smarter than him!" Dorothy defended.

"He's honest," Solo added, eyes narrowing as a thought occurred to him and a plan began to slowly enter his mind.

"He's honest but has he told you everything about himself?" Dorothy countered.

"You didn't tell me ya had a boyfriend," Solo pointed out.

"I never said I didn't," Dorothy replied. "Besides, you never asked. So what else?"

Not noticing the flicker in the green eyes, Dorothy was caught off guard by Solo's next words. "He has a braid," he said simply.

"What?" she deadpanned.

"And he's not blonde," Solo continued. "I'm much more attracted to brunets than anything."

"Really…" Dorothy murmured to herself.

Solo was mentally congratulating himself. She was taking this seriously, wasn't she? Hmm, what else could he say? "Oh yeah, and one more thing, he has a tan."

Now that last one was a flat out lie. One only had to take a good look at Duo Maxwell to know that he was anything but. He was definitely more pale than tan but Dorothy didn't seem the type to try and confirm something like that.

He could barely make out the words coming out of her mouth since she had lowered her volume that much. "Is that so…?" Her eyes soon became determined and it took everything he had to not bust out in laughter.

Man, she was just too easy! Hell, she was lost in her mind, thinking thoughts that Solo had no idea of what they consisted of, and didn't want to know either, but as long as she wasn't bothering him, he could've cared less. All he wanted to do was finish up here and get out, Duo preferably by his side.

Huh, now that was an odd thought. Eh, why not go with it?

--

It was only lunch and already Wufei's temper was near the breaking point. There was a noticeable lack of people sitting hear his table and he knew exactly what it was that caused it.

It was over there, a smile on its face where no smile should be. This was all that little rat's fault. He had no idea how he had done it but somehow he had managed to corrupt the Winners and Barton, especially that Solo. He had managed to somehow do so before he could rescue them and keep them away from Maxwell's clutches. Now that he had them, Wufei could already see that he was turning everyone else against him.

His fury and outrage demanded immediate reprisal but his cool control barely managed to rein both in. At least, for now it was. He wanted so badly to get up and wipe that disgusting smile off that rat's face, pull his hair out, tear him to shreds, and reveal him to be the conniving little bastard that he really was.

However, pride and dignity, combined with perhaps a little bit of arrogance, deterred him from taking such actions. But he knew he wouldn't be able to hold it all in for much longer.

Wait…why shouldn't he repay Maxwell back for Heero's beating? The Winners and Barton had waited for Heero to fall into their trap before striking. Why couldn't he do the same? Well, he could but it wouldn't be honorable to do so. Still, with a little tweaking, perhaps that wouldn't be a problem.

First he'd knock some sense into the Winners and Barton, then he'd go after Maxwell himself and put an end to this once and for all.

--

Duo had to feel sorry for Solo. They were in the middle of Home Economics when he had been called back to the office once again.

Ms. Bloom had them doing a cooking project, one that would be finished by Friday at the maximum and today they were all finishing up putting their ingredients together so they could use them first thing tomorrow. Without his help, Solo was going to have to do it by himself since it was only them two in a group. Jut seeing the blond's look of horror once he figured out that he was going to be alone for awhile was absolutely priceless and had been worth staying to see.

Still, he couldn't help but wonder why he was called back up to the office again. Last time had not been one of good news. In fact, that was probably the reason why he was called. Just more bad news to darken his day, eh?

Not surprising, it was Howard who was waiting for him. There was something different about him today, even though his ever present shades and God-awful Hawaiian shirt were still with the old man, Duo was having a bit of trouble trying to figure the old man out.

Nonetheless, when the old man embraced him in a bear hug, Duo didn't hold back and returned it.

"So how you been doing Duo?" Howard inquired the moment he released him.

"I'm doing good," the braided one answered readily.

"You sure look good," Howard commented as he lowered his shades and eyed him closely. "You definitely look better than you had the last time I saw you."

"I guess it makes a difference when last time I got the shit beat out of me," Duo replied wryly. "So, what brings you here today?"

"Since you've probably already have guessed, I'll just confirm it," Howard said. "Your father's at it again but he didn't succeed this time around."

"Oh?" Now this perked Duo's interest. "What was he trying to do now?"

"He was trying to make it so that he would only have to pay for half of your college expenses instead of all of them," Howard explained. "However, I managed to bring up that little tip you gave me about him trying to move up the date of graduation. Did a little research to back it up and made it look like he was trying to get out of his court-appointed duty. Suffice to say, he failed and we managed to keep the current status quo."

"The bastard is not going to give up, is he," Duo stated.

"As long as he has to keep shelling out money, he won't," Howard answered dryly. "I find it a bit ironic that he's willing to spend more money taking this back to court than to just support you and do what was ordered of him."

"Some people just make no sense," Duo said.

"You don't have to tell me twice," Howard replied.

"So is there anything else?" Duo asked, a sinking feeling in his gut warning him that he didn't want to know if there was.

"Besides that, nothing at all," Howard answered, much to the braided one's surprise and relief.

"So when's the next court date?" Duo inquired.

"Believe it or not, not for a few weeks," Howard told him. "There was suppose to be one tomorrow but your father suddenly upped and canceled it. There's only been one time he's ever done that."

"Yeah, his business or whatever it is is up to something big," Duo finished sarcastically.

"From a reliable source, whatever it is, it's big," Howard said. "So big that the whole corporation is being utilized for it."

"Then his boss is the one responsible, huh? I'll have to ask Mr. Winner if he has an idea of what's going on."

"You do that. Anyway, I gotta jet. I have another court appearance in a couple hours and need to get ready."

Duo smiled. "It always amazes me how you're able to get back into that shirt of yours so quickly."

"It's not as if I like wearing all that stiff stuff," Howard muttered. "Well, you take care now Duo. I'll call you in case something comes up."

--

"So what was so important that you left me to fend for myself in that cooking class?" Solo demanded the moment the final bell had rung and everybody was rushing to get out of the building as fast as they could.

"Howard," Duo answered simply as he pushed opened the front doors to the main entrance, entering into the sunny outdoors and clear blue sky.

"The old geezer?" Solo questioned. "What did he want?"

"Take a wild guess," Duo snarked back, refusing to say anything more on the subject.

It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Duo's father had to have been involved somehow. It was really grating on Solo's nerves that he didn't know who Duo's father was. He wanted to bash the guy's face in for some reason.

Not paying attention to his surroundings, the blond bumped up against the braided one's back. "Huh? Why'd you stop?" Solo asked, puzzled.

"It looks like we have company," Duo answered dryly, looking straight ahead.

Looking towards where Duo was looking, Solo groaned.

Standing in the middle of their path to freedom was Chang Wufei and he did not look one bit happy. The moment his onyx eyes spotted Duo, they lit up with a malevolent light and a smirk formed on his lips.

The Chinese teen closed the distance between them, standing mere feet from the two long-haired boys, his arms crossed over his chest. The stance he took was aggressive, as if issuing a challenge to one of them.

"What do you want?" Solo growled protectively from behind Duo, his hands clenching into fists.

"Nothing that concerns you," Wufei stated matter-of-factly. "My business here is between me and Maxwell."

"And what exactly is that?" Duo asked, crossing his arms over his own chest.

"It's time we settle this," Wufei stated. "I challenge you to a one-on-one fight right here and now, Maxwell."