Author's Note: Last chapter's reference was none other than "Freddy" Quentin, a.k.a. Quentin from "The Deathdealer" seeing as he hasn't been introduced to "The Eternal Encore" yet. Since ShadowMajin was the first to get first, congradulations, etc, etc... Now, come on people. Give some guesses with your reviews, hell, leave a review when you're done reading this chapter. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing.

Warning: language

Denizens of Boulder

Dorothy Catalonia was a girl that liked excitement. To say that living in Boulder was a torture in and of itself was a simple understatement. She was a pretty girl with long blonde hair the color of cornflowers and eyes a shade of blue that many claimed was the exact color of the sky. Her body was what many considered to be "sexy" with all the right curves, the right sized bust, the tightest and roundest ass that any female in Boulder had ever possessed. If there was a flaw that her revered looks had, it would probably be that her eye brows were forked, giving her a more stern look than even the strictest teacher had.

Maybe that's why many of the prospective males in this school set their sights on her best friend, Relena Darlain. Relena was also a blonde but of a darker shade and even though she seemed to give off a vibe that could creep anybody out, she was still the most sought after female in Boulder High School. It shouldn't be any surprise that the two girls had grown up with one another since infancy. After all, this was Boulder we're talking about.

So, both girls had their pick of the litter when it came to boyfriends. Dorothy currently did not have one while Relena was in the second year of one which involved the captain of the football team, the only Asian youth in all of Boulder and perhaps in a three hundred mile radius, Heero Yuy.

Heero was a strong and silent boy, no doubt about it and he knew it as well. Somehow, or another, the Japanese teen hadn't let it get to his head. If anything, he was shy but he covered that up by trying to seem antisocial, a defense that worked quite well as far as Dorothy could see. Heero's uncharacteristic blue eyes certainly helped him out in that regard and his messy brown hair allowed him to cover his face as long as he bowed his head down.

Needless to say, these two girls and boy were at the top of the student social ladder. Every girl and boy wanted to be with them, near them, even be them.

Now, this would go over well with Dorothy except that she hated the town that her parents had relocated to years ago. Something about pissing off a relative or something and whoever it was wouldn't think to look for them in a Godforsaken town like Boulder.

If she could, she would burst out into song like in those gay musical films but that was too Disney and she hated Disney with a passion. She'd rather make commentary during a bad horror film than watch something from Disney…

Anyway, currently, it was in the middle of the afternoon, or at least the class right after lunch, and Dorothy could not see an end for this day in sight. Ah, to be bored in a boring room in a boring building in a boring town in a boring country… Kinda makes you want to commit suicide, doesn't it? Well, that thought would be the furthest thing away in her mind since she was just too stubborn to even think about it.

The teacher was droning on and on about who knows what, she hadn't been paying attention. She could see Relena in the desk right next to her almost nodding off into slumber and her mouth twisted upwards into an amused smile. At least that was able to occupy her mind for a bit. Of course, if she looked around at her fellow students, she would have undoubtedly seen others in the same position as Relena. But to top all of that off, the teacher herself wasn't paying one bit of attention to her class, she was that wrapped up in her lesson plan.

And as if that wasn't bad enough, she could have sworn she just saw the clock hand tick backwards.

Just how was she going to pass the time away?

Glancing over back at Relena, an idea occurred to her that just might provide her with some entertainment, even if it was only for a few seconds. She quickly scrawled out a small note and, as quietly as she could, crumpled it into a small paper ball and throwing it at her best friend. The ball bounced off the blonde girl's head and fell to rest on her desk but the desired effect had been accomplished. Relena blinked out of her sleepy stupor and glanced down at the paper ball and began to uncrumple it. Dorothy could see her friend's eyes move left from right and then her face lighting up with a red blush.

Recrumpling the piece of paper, Relena threw Dorothy an unamused glare which Dorothy only grinned suggestively back at her, causing her to blush even deeper.

And all through the midst of this, their teacher had no clue as to what was going on behind her back.

---

It had not just been a long day for Dorothy as other students would attest to. Heero was one of those teens and when the final bell rang, he was one of the first out of his seat and in the hallways.

This made him one of the first out of the school building and out into the scorching sun. However, he couldn't go much further as he had promised Relena that he'd walk her home after school. At the thought of his girlfriend, he struggled to hide, successfully, a blush. How is it that such a small girl could do this to him? Maybe Relena had a point with all that stuff she spouted off about true love.

Unlike most of the teenagers in this town, Heero was pretty much satisfied with his life. There was no unpredictability, just the way he liked it, everything remaining the same… Nothing was as hectic as it was in a big city; everybody was laid back in a town like Boulder, always taking their time doing things.

He could already see it. There it was, the house with the white picket fence and two point five children, Relena right next to him as his soul mate and wife…

Now that was a future that he looked forward to.

He let the traces of a smile out as he caught sight of his beloved coming out, debating heatedly with her best friend Dorothy. What did the Catalonia girl do this time? Probably something immature. Heero shook his head at that. When was Dorothy going to get the clue that no matter how much she didn't like it here, she was going to end up here in the end?

"Heero!" he heard Relena greet him and he let his thoughts go as he turned all his attention towards pleasing the woman of his life. He swept her into a hug and chastely kissed her lips, earning a giggle from the small girl.

"Get a room you two," he overheard Dorothy grumble but he made no comment about it. Relena was the important one here.

"You're just jealous," Relena teased as she pecked Heero on his lips once more before leaving his embrace but grasping his hand and intertwining her fingers with his.

"As if," Dorothy rolled her eyes and started setting out to get off of school property. Heero just shrugged at Relena and began to lead her after her best friend. It didn't take the Asian youth long to realize that Dorothy wasn't heading towards home but to main street and when he tried to stop, he found that Relena had continued to walk after Dorothy until her arm pulled back.

Looking back at Heero in confusion, her eyes suddenly lit up as if she just remembered something. "Oh! Sorry Heero but Dorothy and I had made plans to go shopping this afternoon. Would you like to come?"

Heero answered like any other heterosexual man would. "If you want me to come…"

"You don't have to if you don't want to," Relena said uneasily but just like a man, Heero took the opportunity presented to him.

"I wouldn't want to slow you down or anything so I guess I'll just…" Heero paused, trying to find the right word before he continued, "I guess I'll go on home then. I'll walk you home tomorrow. Is that all right?"

Relena simply pecked him on the lips and said, "Deal." Then she turned and skipped off to catch up with Dorothy who had stopped a ways off and was waiting for her impatiently.

The smile on Heero's face did not even waver as he watched the silhouette of his girlfriend shrink the further she went away from him.

---

It didn't take very long for Heero to reach his house after he had parted ways with Relena and Dorothy. Despite the heat of the day, he had taken his time walking home and by the time he reached the front door, he was beginning to perspire as his body sought to cool itself off.

Pulling his keys out of his pocket, he unlocked the door with the quickness born from habit and shut the wooden barrier behind him, the blessed feeling of cool air-conditioned air flowing over him. Locking the door behind him, he immediately went to the nearby security control panel that controlled the house's security system and punched in the code so that it wouldn't go off and make a racket.

However, he heard no answering beeping sound, not even when he punched in the code. He tapped on the devise and frowned when he got no response. Damn ADT! Looks like he was going to have to tell his parents about this once they got back.

Allowing himself one luxury of laziness, he tossed his backpack to a side, making a mental note to pick it up before his parents arrived and headed towards the living room and from there the kitchen. He froze just outside of the living room, though, when he caught sight of something that he knew didn't belong here.

There, sitting on the couch was a brunet boy with a long braid who was rapidly going through the television channels so quickly that barely a sound was coming out from the appliance. Heero knew for a fact that he was an only child and his father had no other children from another marriage. So what was this runt doing here in his house?

He hadn't even made a sound when the boy's vivid violet eyes suddenly snapped up and captured his Prussian blue ones and the teen was sure that he saw what looked like fear flicker through those wide eyes. The boy's hand reached out and began shaking something, or in this case someone, who happened to be sleeping on the couch next to him. Heero blinked and wondered how he could have missed that one.

"What's a guy gotta do 'round here ta get some shut eye?" the other male groaned and lifted his head, his sleepy green eyes landing on Heero.

Suddenly, those eyes weren't so sleepy anymore.

"Fuck!" the blond male swore as he practically flew from the couch and charge at him. It was only then that Heero saw how much bigger the other male was.

Well shit. He would be damned if he didn't put up some kind of fight.

---

"You think Heero will like what I got him?" Relena squealed as she held one of her bags tightly up against her body.

"I'm sure he will," Dorothy answered indulgently, refraining from rolling her eyes at the way her best friend was acting. "He always likes whatever you give him," she assured her.

Relena could only giggle in reply and Dorothy could only sigh. Was this what it was like when you were in love? Well, they could count her out. It seemed like just a big waste of time. God help her if she acted like that.

"I know! Why don't we go over to Heero's and give it to him now?" Relena suggested, her eyes lighting up.

"How about we don't do that and you can give it to him tomorrow?" Dorothy answered.

But Relena would not be swayed, not this time. "No, lets go over now! Oh, he's just going to love this!"

Once again, Dorothy sighed.

---

God, of all the times their luck had to sour, why'd it have to be now?

Sneaking into this town had been easy, too easy in fact. Finding a place to hide out for a bit had posed a challenge but the two escapees had found a building that had been vacated. In fact, they had seen the owners leaving and getting into their car but it wasn't until they were out of sight that the two made their move and snuck into the backyard.

It was there when they first encountered their first obstacle. There was a damn security system on the building which needed to be dealt with and quickly. It had taken some persuasion and a lot of patience for Solo to convince Duo to try and fry the system. Kid Duo was not as advanced as Reaper Duo was when it came to using their powers and Solo had to try and coach him through it all and ultimately succeeded. Duo was able to rot the circuits in the system and make sure that the system couldn't reactivate with some back up power supply. After that, Solo broke both the lock and deadbolt to the backdoor and in they went.

The first order of business was food and the two boys happily raided the pantry and refrigerator, grabbing anything that looked edible. That had been good, actually, but maybe they should have held off from eating the butter…

After that it was into the bathroom to wash up and get a new change of clothing. It would look very suspicious if they walked around in the baggy clothing they wore back at the compound, wherever it was. It had been a heck of a field day as Solo had gotten reacquainted with what a bathroom should be and for Duo who had somehow never seen one before. Back where they came from, they could only bathe in a large room with shower heads sticking out of the walls that only spouted out cold water and that was only once a week. So the innovation of a shower with hot water was the greatest thing either of them had experienced in…forever.

The clothing though, eh, it could have been much better. Whoever lived here, they were shorter that Solo but bigger than Duo so that basically meant that whatever Solo took would be small and tight on him while whatever Duo took would be big and baggy on him. At that point, Solo hadn't cared as he put someone else's (tight!) boxers on with a nearly skin tight tank top that only covered down to half his stomach and headed out to the living room where he soon collapsed and fell into a deep sleep.

And that was all she wrote on that one.

Of course, just as things were starting to look up, Solo suddenly found himself being shaken awake by Duo who had this scared look on his face. Turning towards the source of the braided boy's fear, he saw who he assumed to be the owner of the house staring at them.

After a very, very brief struggle that Solo easily won, he had the other teen tied tightly to one of the dining room chairs. Now here he was back on the couch with his head tilted back onto the top of the piece of furniture while the owner of the house was glaring daggers at him.

Now the only question was what to do now? The government assholes would be sure to come here if they hear about this if it ever came out. Yet, they couldn't just leave this guy, he might squeal. He really hated it when his options were limited.

Raising his head to glance back at his hostage, he felt his temper snap as he barked, "What?!"

The hostage just snorted in disgust in answer.

Solo's green eyes narrowed, small streaks of amber beginning to color them. "What are you lookin' at?" he demanded.

"Who does it look like?" the hostage quipped.

Oh, he had a smart-aleck on his hands. Too bad he didn't know how to handle one of those so he thought that the direct approach would probably be best. Standing up, he slowly began to close the distance between them, towering over the other.

The hostage's eyes narrowed. "Those are my clothes," he stated coldly.

Solo just rolled his eyes, lifted a foot which he placed on the hostage's shoulder and pushed forward, causing the chair the teen was tied to to fall backwards and take the occupant with it. This had the definite effect of causing the hostage to show a different emotion other than pure hate.

Solo then moved around so that he was closer to the teen's head and crouched down, resting his elbows on his bent knees. "Ya know," he began conversationally, "I could crush yer head with my bare hands. It'd be easy, a snap really. So maybe you can get with the program and help us out a bit. Is that too much ta ask for?"

The glare returned and intensified ten fold, much to Solo's displeasure. "Oh, and why would you ask me for something that you're going to take anyway?" he demanded.

Solo sighed. They weren't getting anywhere with this guy. "Look pal," he said, "all we need is some food, somethin' better ta wear, and a place ta spend the night and then we're out of yer hair, capisce?"

"Is that all?" the teen replied angrily.

"Why would we want anythin' else?" Solo asked, confused. It was just a simple request he was making, what was the problem?

"You break into my home," the hostage growled, "you attacked me and tied me to a chair, and you're saying you only want a place to stay at? You threaten me that you're going to crush my head if I don't cooperate all for something as little as that? There's gotta be more than just that. You're probably going to kill me when you leave so I won't talk."

Solo had the decency to look away at that. It was true that he had been entertaining that thought.

"Why would I lie?" Solo demanded, frustrated.

"Why wouldn't you?" the hostage retorted.

At that, Solo growled. "That's it. Take a look at Duo over there. He's tired, he's hungry, and he has no reason ta want ta hurt ya, unlike me. Would you be willing to kick him out on the streets to die?"

It was a good thing that Duo was looking as retched as he did, even though Solo had noted that he hadn't looked like that a minute ago. He could see their host's eyes fall onto the braided boy and soften a bit. Solo almost smirked; it seemed like things were about to go their way again.

At least, it seemed to be until all their heads shot up at the sudden noise of a lock being turned and a door opening.

"Shit!" Solo swore and grabbed the nearest object, which happened to be a pair of rolled up socks, and stuffed it into the hostage's open mouth. "Don't say a word," he warned quietly to the teen before stealing off.

"Heero? Are you here?" a feminine voice called out. "Answer me Heero! Heeeeerrrrrooooooo!"

"Please don't do that Relena," another voice said. "This is his house, he's not half a mile away or piloting a giant robot."

Not a second later, two girls walked into the living room, not noticing the position of the restrained teen until they were five feet away from him.

"Oh my god!" the shorter blonde girl cried out. "Heero! Are you all right?" She sounded just like that first voice…

"You're not hurt, are you?" the taller blonde girl asked as she dropped what she was holding to try and aid the now named Heero.

Of course, try was the operative word here.

Neither of the girls were aware of Solo until he pounced, his arms snaking under theirs and lifting them off the floor itself, his hands clapping down onto their mouths.

"Well this is just great," the blond male muttered. "Now we got three on our hands. This is just fan-fucking-tastic!"

Note the sarcasm there.