Disclaimers: I do not own any of the characters or particular things connected to them from either universe. They all belong to J.K. Rowling or studio Sunrise. Any other possible characters, as in OCs, are all mine.
Summary: Harry lives with his successful parents in London and is on the road to becoming a world-class player in tennis. Having been homeschooled all of his life he jumps at the opportunity to attend a public High School and experience regular teenage life. Will he be able to fit in or will his past get in the way of that?
Pairings: Heero/Harry.
Warnings: SLASH. AU as in another universe, meaning there will be no magic or Gundams in this story. If you have to have your Harry gifted with magic and your G-boys mecha crazed; then I suggest looking for another story. Oh, and another thing; this is not a 'Harry is an unhappy and abused orphan' fic. His parents and god father are all well and alive in this; just slightly altered to suit my plot, so I'm sorry if I mess up any persons' perceptions of any characters. Just to be clear; it would be better for you to expect most, if not all, characters to be, more or less, OOC with the altered conditions.
Author's note: I know that this is, really, late, but I managed to type this out in between schoolwork. I do feel guilty for not updating my stories but I have to focus on passing my courses and I have no intention of redoing any of them, thank you very much. I hope this update will make some of you happy though!
Second Chances
Chapter 4
"I hate to see things done by halves. If it be right, do it boldly, if it be wrong leave it undone."
Bernard Gilpin
The braided teen's outburst left Harry lost for words. He only got his ability of speech back when said teen started talking, more like excited shouting, about future practices and things they needed to get done with Harry on the team. The speed of which the other was going and not stumbling once over the words was impressive, he had to admit.
He raised his hands to get the other's attention, but only Heero and the taller teen seemed to notice him at all at first. They exchanged looks while the other two were busy trying to get their friend to settle down somewhat but not succeeding.
Harry's patience soon ran out.
"Wait just a minute here!" he shouted at last, more than slightly annoyed with how things seemed to accelerate without him having any say in things. "I can't be your goalkeeper." He rushed to say.
Duo immediately stopped in his tracks at this, frowning largely, and reined in his emotions enough to give a reply.
"Why not?" He asked, truly confused.
"I'm already a member of the tennis club." Harry said pointedly, in a lower tone now.
"Oh." The teen's excitement deflated in an instant and Harry almost felt bad for the crystal clear disappointment showing in the other's features. "You sure? Wu-man's an okay enough goalie," Said teen sent Duo a dirty glare. "but we need stronger defense if we wanna reach the state championships. It's not too late to switch clubs…" Duo said in a hopeful voice.
"I'm sure." He said and began removing the gloves, making his statement all the more clearer.
He handed them back to the longhaired boy who accepted them, still with that disappointed look and Harry thought he even saw a childish pout forming but it could have been his imagination.
"Sure you won't change your mind?" Duo asked again, acting very much like a kid who had been denied his weekend treat..
"Yes, sorry, I have enough already with tennis practice at home, school and now also club practice on top of that." Harry said.
"Okay." Duo said and managed a smile in return. "Maybe we could chat or share lunch sometimes?" He asked.
Harry smiled back.
"Sure, I'd like that."
Duo flashed him a grin, some of his disappointment already disappearing.
"Great! See you in school after the weekend, yeah?"
"It was nice meeting you Harry." Quatre said as Harry handed the gloves back over to Duo.
Harry waved a goodbye, leaving the others standing on the field and went to pick up his bags. He waved once more at Duo's added farewell shout.
He cast a last look in Heero's direction; catching the other staring at him again before he turned his back to them.
All the while on his way home he tried ignoring the slight burning in his cheeks.
Harry spent his weekend on the court with Sirius, working on the homework he'd been given and unpacking the packages with his things that had finally arrived. Having practice almost every day after school and now also club activities, didn't leave him much time to do other things in between. He had morning practice on Saturday but was left with Sunday off so as not to overwork himself and let his body rest. He was thinking that Sundays was going to be his godsend after learning of the new improved practice schedule Sirius had made for him.
He'd thought Sirius was gonna let up on practice hours a bit for the sake of him joining the tennis club; which his godfather did but the added club hours restored the amount to what it had been before. Seeing as he had school from eight to three, then two hours club practice and then an additional two at home, it was going to be a long year and many demanding weeks before his whole school year would be finished.
Like he said, he was very grateful that he had half of Saturday and whole Sunday off. He didn't think he would be able to manage it otherwise. He still had a life you know and budding friendships to take care off. Friends were something he'd been in lack of growing up and spending his time on the court day in and out didn't seem like the right soil to cultivate friends, lest they abandon him for the lack of time he spent with them. There was only so much time for small chats in between classes now after all except for that one hour of lunch.
He was back in school on Monday and was greeted by Chris at his locker. The other boy couldn't stop talking about the upcoming practices and preseason games. Harry hummed and murmured his responses when he felt it was appropriate, his mind on something else, and throwing a glance to the corner of the classroom as they entered.
Heero was sitting at his usual spot and in his usual posture, eyes to the usual window while he waited for the usual class to start. Harry had half expected half wanted, why he did not know, the teen to stare at him again like he had done almost the whole week before. However Heero kept his eyes glued to the scenery outside.
He separated from Chris to go to his seat, sitting down in his chair as he again thought about that stare. As if on cue Heero seemed to acknowledge his presence and turned around in his seat to send him a brief look.
Deep cobalt eyes zeroed in on him and caught his eyes in the other ones. This, just having thought about it, caught Harry quite off guard and the intensity of which the other was looking at him was somewhere between odd and uncomfortable. How they seemed to almost stab into him with their mere force left him unable to blink or turn away from them. Almost afraid if he did the other would jump onto him for his lack of attention.
He was saved by one of their teachers bumping lightly into the doorframe from the load of material in her arms and effectively ended the staring match when Heero dismissed him again. The chocolate haired youth returned to his window gazing and Harry was left utterly confused. What was the deal with this guy?
Why did he keep on staring at him like that? Did Heero have some kind of problem with him? He would've asked him just that but something held him back in the end and Harry kept his eyes to the front of the classroom for the remaining lesson.
By the time the bell rang for lunch break Harry had temporarily forgotten about the other teen for the sake of trying to keep up in class. While shoving his things into his bag, a familiar face popped into the doorway and seemingly searched the classroom until it found its target.
"Hey Harry!" Duo shouted when he spotted the teen halfway into the action of pushing his chair back in and weaved his way through the throng of students to meet up with the raven haired.
"Hi." Harry said in small bit of surprise. He hadn't expected the other teen to go to such lengths to see him, even going as far as to look up his schedule.
"Would you mind spending the lunch with us?" The other asked in one beat, sitting down on the corner of Harry's desk.
"Us?" The raven haired asked confusedly.
"Yeah, you know, me, Heero," Duo gestured to the Asian teen, who had come up to Harry's side without him noticing, with a jerk of the thumb. "and the others from Friday." He added.
Harry sent a look at Heero who, of course, had that now familiar stare pointed at him. He averted his eyes; eyebrows slightly scrunched together but shook himself out of it. Duo didn't seem bothered by it and maybe this was how Heero always behaved, he wouldn't know since he'd only known the other for a maximum of a week.
"Sure." He said, thinking it wouldn't do to say no when he was finally making some progress in the friends' area.
"Come on then!" Duo reached out to grab his arm and started pulling him along.
Harry wondered offhandedly if Duo also did this often, you know, dragging people around as Heero in turn didn't seem to think this was anything unusual. Something told him that he had gotten himself involved with some more than ordinary people and he was completely being dragged and adapted into their pace.
On their way to the cafeteria, and judging from the many looks they got from the other students, Harry had his suspicions reaffirmed that he had managed to get himself involved with people that did not belong to the average norm. On the other hand though, he couldn't really be considered the fair judge of that and what was considered normal at an American high school.
The cafeteria was as always bustling with noises and loud yells and conversations. While standing in line Harry found out that Duo was particularly fond of almost anything that could be labeled under the title of junk food; as he helped himself to the French fries, hamburger and apple pie to only mention a few food products that landed on his tray somewhere on the way.
Harry had a hard time imagining the teen getting all of that down without feeling incredibly nauseous after it and he was bit green by the thought alone.
Duo led them to a table and they barely sat down before he attacked the tray. He dug into his food the moment his butt touched his seat and continued to amaze his new friend by inhaling the food in what must have been an inhuman speed.
"So, how's school?" The boy said in between mouthfuls and Heero raised an eyebrow at the crumbs that fell from his friend's mouth to the table.
"It's good." Harry said truthfully. He was finally starting to get some sort of hang of things around here. However small that was, it was still fun and an enjoyable experience taking it all into consideration.
"Just wait till midterms, then you'll start wishing you were anywhere else but here." Duo said and shivered in remembrance of an especially bad memory.
"It's not bad if you actually study." The Japanese teen said and took another bite out of his ham sandwich.
"Not everyone has a computer for a brain, Heero." The other replied flippantly taking a bite out of his pie and then another from his hamburger. Harry felt slightly queasy at the combination.
Heero glared at the braided teen but the other shook it off and directed his attention to someone coming up behind Harry.
"Hey, Quat! Over here!" He called over the loud noise of the cafeteria, easily making himself heard over the ruckus.
Harry saw Quatre and the other two from that Friday make their way through the mass to their table. The tallest, Trowa, sent him a short look of recognition before sitting down besides Heero and Wufei frowned at him while Quatre smiled friendly.
"It's nice to see you again." He said pleasantly. "Let me guess, Duo dragged you into eating with him?"
"Not I, we, and I didn't drag him!" The long haired teen protested indignantly, gesturing to both him and Heero raised an eyebrow.
Harry couldn't help but to chuckle at the response from the affronted teen since the blonde had struck on the truth.
"He dragged you by the arm didn't he?" Quatre asked Harry this time, ignoring his friend.
"He did." Harry verified with an amused look.
"Okay, I might have." Duo amended. "Technicalities." He waved it off and Harry was warily reminded of one god father's antics.
"It's bad manners. Don't blame me if you end up in trouble." Quatre said and eyed Duo meaningfully.
"Haven't we had this conversation before?" Duo asked, frowning and tilted his head.
"Yes." Wufei said pointedly and it was obvious that he had been annoyed with it every single time before that too.
Duo hummed none comically and dug into his food again, topic of conversation completely discarded.
"It's a lost case but I tell myself to keep hoping." Quatre said hushed and melodramatically to Harry.
"Hey!" Duo exclaimed. "I'm perfectly fine as I am now, thank you very much. Right Trowa?"
The banged teen raised a delicate eyebrow, speculating over the answer and Duo pouted.
"In your twisted way of thinking you are." Wufei answered in the Latin teen's stead.
"So, how do you know each other?" Harry said in an attempt to stave off the oncoming argument.
Heero threw him a thoughtful glance.
Duo actually stopped the retort he'd had ready and turned to Harry, hummed and dug into his food again, going along with the change of topic.
"Me and Wufei are childhood friends." Duo supplied and Harry had to raise an eyebrow at that himself this time. Those two, childhood friends? Who would've thought?
"Unfortunately so." Wufei added and earned himself a raspberry from said childhood friend.
"I've known Heero since elementary and Quatre and Trowa from junior high school."
"I see."
"What kind of friends do you have in England?"
"Oh." Harry stilled momentarily, suddenly uncomfortable and then took a sip of his drink to stall for more time. Maybe he should have expected this line of conversation to turn back on to him.
"Didn't have any." He said muttered.
He squirmed under their surprised gazes, immediately regretting his answer.
"What do you mean you didn't have any?" Duo asked with a disbelieving eye, looking at him a bit funny.
The silence between them grew awkward and Harry wished he'd kept his mouth shut. Maybe he should've just said told them something.
"I mean, I didn't have any, like close, friends." He tried smoothing it out and pushed his food around on the tray, the slight nervousness showing in his actions.
"Say so from the start man!" Duo laughed.
Harry ignored the slightly hesitant looks from Quatre and the almost piercing one from Heero. He might have fooled Duo but the others didn't seem to be as easy going as their friend. He'd better watch what he said in the future. He was sure they would think him a weirdo if he told them of his not so standard childhood. He really didn't want them start to avoid him or anything if they found out he came from a rich family and benefits.
The rest of the lunch was spent with miscellaneous chatter and choice of topics ranging from annoying teachers and the like. Harry was aware of the occasional looks he got but never returned them as he listened to the humorous escapades the braided teen claimed to have done and been a part of. Some of which probably had been exaggerated from their original story but Harry all the same enjoyed them and the laughs they brought.
He really liked the feeling of having friends, and he'd do his best not to do anything that would deter the others from keep being friends with him.
Next day found Harry on his own in the middle of roving through his locker in search of his notebook for biology that had he had somehow managed to lose. Though maybe not so surprising with how he didn't exactly keep his locker organized, rather he just put, chucked is more like it, his things into it. Now he had to suffer the consequences and he groaned again when he threw a glance at the clock on the wall in the hallway. Only ten minutes until class started and he still had no clue where it was!
"Having a problem finding your things?" A voice said.
Harry pulled himself from his locker, seeing Cho standing a few feet away with a small smile in place and then several papers rushed out onto the floor when his hand bumped into a pile. He cursed softly and bent down to collect them. Another pair of hands joined him and he smiled sheepishly at the girl.
"Thanks."
"What are you looking for?" She asked.
"My notebook for biology." He sighed.
"Ah, we have a review today for the upcoming test." She stated, although Harry already knew that, and handed him the rest of the papers.
"Exactly." He said mournfully and accepted the sheets.
Cho took one look at his expression and started laughing. The raven haired frowned at the girl.
"What?" He said frustratingly.
"It's not the end of the world Harry. You can share mine during class if you want." She said teasingly and smiled at the now embarrassed teen.
"Uh, thanks."
"No problem."
The first bell rang and students all around began moving in the direction of their classes. Harry pushed the papers inside of the locker again, grabbing his bag and an empty notebook if the biology teacher decided to add some information that they would need for the test. He'd just copy it into the old one when he eventually found it.
He followed the girl to class and true to her word, Cho pushed her notebook halfway towards him and Harry thanked her just as Po came through the door.
At the end of class Cho looked up from her where she and Harry had been sitting.
"Wufei!" She said surprised, making Harry turn his head in the direction of the door.
The Asian teen's eyebrows scrunched together at the sight of Harry and his eyes switched from him to Cho.
"What is it?" She asked.
"Father has requested our presence after school."
"What does he want now?" She asked a bit tiredly, making it seem like a subject she'd been through many times before this.
Harry stared confusedly at them both. Father? He wondered and Cho must have caught the look as she quickly solved his dilemma.
"Wufei's my brother, or twin to be exact." She explained.
"He's your brother?" Harry said, they didn't look any alike at all except for, of course, they were both Asian.
"You know him?" Wufei said half disbelievingly and half disapprovingly at the same time, sending an almost accusing look at his sister while he pointed towards Harry.
The raven haired frowned at the other teen and was reminded by his dislike to Wufei's attitude. Cho only rolled her eyes at her twin and scooped up her books in her arms.
"I'll see you next time in class Harry." She said and gave him a smile.
"Bye." He called after her.
She passed Wufei and gave him a meaningful nudge before walking out of the classroom.
The raven haired teen picked up his bag and made his way to the door where Wufei still lingered and Harry looked unsurely at the teen. When he came side by side with the Asian the other boy stopped him with a hand on his arm. Wufei leaned into Harry's personal space and hissed lowly.
"Don't get any funny ideas with my sister."
"What?" Harry replied startled.
"Don't even think about it." He continued and the hand tightened on the arm.
Harry frowned at Wufei.
"Let go of me." He said and pulled his arm out of the other's grasp.
Wufei leaned back and stepped out into the hallway. He sent a last warning look in Harry's direction and then followed his sister's steps.
Harry rubbed his arm and began the slow trek back to his locker. Of course the previous scene bothered him but he was adamant about not letting it get to him. Who was he, even if he was her brother, to tell Harry what to do anyway? Not that he was interested in her in that way, at least he thought so but still, he liked her as a friend and had begun to treasure their friendship. Cho was one who always listened attentively to what he had to say and always came with good responses no matter small the problem in question.
By the time he'd gotten to club practice he had already pushed Wufei out of his mind and buried himself in concentration and sweat.
The next couple of days Harry had started to notice a slim change with Duo. The teen acted strangely and almost all the time seemed to be distracted by something. What got to Harry though was when on Thursday he caught the braided teen spying on him from around the corner a bit away from his locker.
Harry didn't know how to react exactly to this since the teen would always disappear when they got eye contact or when Harry moved in his direction. At first Harry thought it had something to do with Wufei telling the others not to talk to him or something but Quatre would still say hi when they met in the corridors so he ruled that one out. Heero was being his usual self, although he seemed a little bit tense at times when Harry was in the vicinity.
As Friday rolled up, Harry had really starting to annoy himself at Duo's evasive maneuvers, until during lunch break the teen abruptly sat down in front him. The boy had an unreadable expression on his face and Harry eyed the other warily.
Duo's poker face broke.
"Please join the soccer team Harry!" He pleaded and threw himself across the table, hands clasped together in front of him.
Harry choked on his food and gladly accepted the glass of water Duo handed him. After he'd gotten his breathing functioning properly again, he opened his eyes and looked down into wide open and deep violet.
The few tables around them that had also been initially startled at the shout eventually went back to their own devices. Duo blinked a few times innocently at him and Harry squirmed in his seat.
"I don't-" He began but was cut off by Duo.
"I've already got it all worked it!" The other said.
"Worked out?" Harry questioned uncertainly.
Duo unclasped his hands and leaned back somewhat, which Harry was grateful for.
"Yes! You see, the game dates from tennis to soccer are all different. Most tennis games are played on Saturdays and soccer games on Sundays. I checked, so there would be no problem of them ever clashing."
"But I told you I haven't played for years." Harry persisted.
"You could always join in on a practice or two, or I could train with your after club activities." Duo sent him doleful eyes. "Please Harry, there's no way we've ever reach state champion ship if we don't have a good defense."
Harry couldn't argue with that statement, but still… did they have to have him. As if reading his thoughts Duo reassured him again.
"We need you! Wufei can't handle shoots like you do and we need him on the midfield anyways, not it in the goal trying to be a goalie." Duo shook his head.
Harry thought it was lucky Wufei wasn't here to hear this since he had a fairly good idea that the Asian teen wouldn't take this lying down from Duo.
"So, the reason why you've been following me these last few days…?" Harry asked.
Duo blinked.
"You noticed?" He whispered.
"Sort of hard not to." Harry nodded.
"Ah, well, at first I was trying to think of a way to convince you."
"So you followed me around school?" Harry raised an eyebrow.
Duo waved his hand.
"But, then I thought some researching would help me persuade you and then I found out the different days the games were played on. It's brilliant!"
"If you say so…"
"So you'll join?"
"Duo, I don't think I have the time for it."
The bell rang signaling the end of lunch break.
"Come on, go with me for now and meet me at the end of school and club at the soccer field. I'll be waiting for you!" He pushed himself off the seat in one fluid motion.
Harry didn't have a chance to protest before the boy was soon out of earshot. He slumped into his seat. Again he'd been dragged into Duo's pace. Somehow he would have to explain to the other teen that he couldn't play soccer, even if he wanted to, and what would Sirius say to that? Definitively a 'no no' and then he'd get a lecture on his determination and ambition to becoming a professional player. Getting sidetracked with other things did not help to fulfill that goal.
He'd just have to tell Duo that when he met up with him again.
Yeah, no problem.
During tennis practice Harry plunged into it with all he got. The senior he was playing against at first didn't stand a chance. Harry was adjusting the strings to his racket when Zechs told him to do a few laps around the courts with some of the other seniors so that the younger members would some court time.
Harry took up position besides Chris as they jogged outside of the fences encasing the courts. He watched Zechs giving some adjustments to boy's backhand before Chris spoke up beside him.
"You know that guy you've been hanging around with, Duo. I heard from one of the other seniors that he was here yesterday wanting to talk with Zechs. I thought he was part of the soccer team though?" Chris glanced at him.
Harry fumbled with his pace for a few seconds. Had Duo even been to talk to Zechs? The teen's dedication to his team sure seemed to be strong.
"Duo was?"
"Yeah, dunno why though." Chris said with a small shrug.
They came to a stop eventually and began their stretches. Zechs called it a day and asked to talk to Harry for a few minutes. At first Harry immediately thought it had to be about Duo, though he wouldn't know why the couch would ask him about the other teen. If Duo hadn't mentioned him or seen them together in school that is, he thought.
However what Zechs wanted to talk about were something else completely, well sort of. He'd wanted to talk with Harry about taking the first singles match for the first preseason game against Kilroy High School.
He didn't have any objections to that, maybe just a bit nervous but excited all the same and he felt his pride swell at the coach's statement and faith in him.
Harry arrived back to the dressing rooms just when the majority of the guys had gotten out of the showers. Chris was impressed when he heard the news from Harry and had proudly announced it the whole room. They guys gave him their wishes of luck.
By the time Harry had gotten showered and dressed the room had been completely cleared out and he was alone as he turned off the light and closed the door. Zechs seemed to have left for the day too leaving the courts deserted.
He walked along the sideline of the grass covered field and he looked around to see Duo nowhere. Maybe the teen had changed his mind, he thought and dumped his bag to lean against the metal railing.
Soft footfalls had his attention drawn to behind him and he turned his head. Standing a few yards away was Heero with an equally surprised expression. He'd obviously not expected to meet Harry here of all places.
The Asian teen still had his training gear on, soccer shoes and leg protectors along with black shorts and a white t-shirt. He didn't say anything and the silence started to get to the raven haired teen just as Duo came running up behind Heero. He had a soccer ball under one arm, a small bag in the other and a huge grin plastered across his face.
"You're here!" He said exuberantly.
He walked past Heero who after a few seconds followed more carefully. Coming up to Harry Duo dropped the ball onto the field and dug into the small bag, fishing up a pair of soccer shoes, socks, protectors and gloves.
"Wouldn't want you getting hurt, right?" He said lightly and dumped it all unceremoniously into Harry's arms.
"Come on, come on." He urged when Harry remained unmoving.
The British teen dropped the things onto the ground and sat down to remove his regular shoes. The soccer shoes fit surprisingly well and Duo made a noise of satisfaction at this. It felt odd wearing the gear again since so many years but Harry couldn't help the smile on his face when he tried them out.
"Right, we'll start out with some simple straight shoots at first before we get started on the trickier ones." Duo announced and led the way to the right hand goal cage.
Despite his earlier decision Harry felt the excitement growing and slipped the gloves onto his hands.
He managed to catch first two shots from Duo but missed the third, still Duo smiled when Harry proceeded to catch the following six shots. He was still becoming accustomed to the feeling of the tight leg protectors when he became aware of Heero standing to the side watching them. He wondered for what purpose Heero was there in the first place but strangely glad at the same time.
"Heero, why don't you try some shots?" Duo called to his friend and Harry felt his nervousness suddenly grow.
He absentmindedly wiped the gloves across his beige shorts in a show of an old habit he'd had from when he was younger and in the local soccer team.
Duo's shots he'd figured out were wild but not too hard to decide where they would end up and he was curious to see the difference between Duo's and Heero's shots.
Heero sent him a calculating look that told Harry that he was 'in the game' so to speak and felt somewhat happy that the teen would take this seriously enough.
However Harry was amazed at the speed and angle Heero added to the ball and it went easily into the upper left corner. Harry looked at the ball with stunned silence. Heero didn't make a comment as he walked up to the goal and picked up the ball. He weighted it in his hands before thrusting it into Harry's chest.
"You need to bend your knees more and you're too stiff." The raven haired boy looked up surprised. Dark cobalt blue eyes clashed with startled emerald. "Don't wait for the ball. You need to anticipate where it's going."
"Okay." Harry replied dimly.
His attention was drawn away from the Asian teen when he heard Duo coming up to them and the braided teen slung an arm around Harry.
"Don't mind that last one Harry, Heero's in a league of his own and a candidate for the scholarship. So am I but I'll have to give it to him. He knows how to kick a ball." Duo chuckled and then the teen's expression sobered. "That's also why we're going to the states championship this year for sure."
This was a first for Harry seeing this side of Duo. He was reminded with how much this must mean to Duo and how frustrated the teen must have been with the team's lack of a goalkeeper.
Harry chewed on his lip.
"Maybe…" He started, looking at them both and lingering a bit on Heero before righting himself up. "Maybe I could help you out-"
His last words were muffled when Duo pulled him into an energetic hug, jumping up and down.
"You won't regret this!" He said when he finally let go of the nearly smothered teen.
"I hope so." Harry said.
"And great timing." Duo continued. "'Cause the first game is on Sunday."
"This Sunday?" Harry replied incrediously. "You expect me to play a game this Sunday?"
"It'll be fine." Duo waved off the concerns. "I and Heero'll whip you right back into action before the big game."
Harry looked at him doubtfully. They couldn't possibly expect him to do that. How in the name of all living did they expect him to take part in a game on such short notice? He who hadn't played a game of soccer since he was twelve?
"You free this Saturday?" Duo asked.
"I have morning practice but after that I'm free." Harry replied.
"Your club has practice on Saturdays?" Duo questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"No, with my god father." Harry corrected.
"So, if I say one o'clock here on Saturday would you be able to make it?"
"I think so."
He could probably think of some excuse to give Sirius before tomorrow.
Harry handed back the ball to Duo and they returned for their bags. When Harry offered the gear back to the long haired teen he just shook his head.
"You can keep them for now. I don't think you have your own right?"
Harry shook his head negative.
"Thanks."
"No problem man. More like I should thank you." He flashed him a large smile.
Harry smiled but then faltered.
"What time is it?"
Duo fished out a wristwatch out of his bag.
"It's a bit after six." He managed to say before Harry groaned. "What?"
"I'm late for practice with Sirius. He's going to kill me." Harry moaned miserably.
Heero quirked an eyebrow.
"It can't be that bad." Duo said jokingly. Harry gave him a flat look. "It is that bad."
"You don't know Sirius." Harry said. "He takes practice to a whole new level. I better get going before I end up with too much extra practice."
Harry shoved the rest of the things into his bag and swung it into his shoulder. Running along the field he took a right turn by the bleachers and turned in the direction of the school.
"I'll see you on Saturday then!" Duo shouted after him.
Harry waved a hand in the air.
The two watched the raven haired teen disappear out if sight before collecting their own things.
"You sure about this?" Heero asked.
"Why wouldn't I be?" He retorted.
"His lack of experience?"
"It can be worked around. He's got good reflexes, you saw him didn't you?"
"Maybe, but I still think he's not up to it."
"You'd rather have Wufei as the goalie then?" Duo sent a meaningful look in the cobalt eyed teen's direction.
Heero kept quiet and that was answer enough for Duo.
AN: It's nearly 1 AM as I finish this chapter and I'm going right to bed after posting it. I'll probably fall asleep the second my head touches the pillow as I keep blinking and rubbing my eyes as I write this. So, good night everyone. :yawns: /Lin