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 godfather 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: Hi! It's been a while (understatement of the year). I've been writing, just not writing on any of my multi-chaptered stories. I got stuck writing one-shots for a while, but I'm back to try and get at least Second Chances finished since I have most of the story and the ending in my head, unlike with IMMOS. I'm not giving up on IMMOS though, definitively not! I just gotta take some time to look at a few plot notes that's making trouble for me. :sighs: Now I'm just gonna get this chapter up and running before going to bed.
Chapter 7
"Sometimes I'm confused by what I think is really obvious. But what I think is really obvious obviously isn't obvious..."
- Michael Stipe
Harry tilted his head a bit ways when Duo didn't remove his hand from Harry's shoulder right away. In the background downstairs came the clinking sounds of dishes as a certain godfather complained, loudly, about bad-mannered teenagers skipping out of washing dishes. As Harry was about to ask the other teen what was wrong, the boy spoke up.
"Are you rich Harry?" His voice came out completely natural, as if he was asking what socks the raven haired boy was wearing or something like that.
The British teen appeared stunned at the question at first. He hadn't been expecting it; or rather it was a question that he had wished to avoid.
"I wouldn't say-" He started saying but was quickly interrupted.
"Harry, I may not be exactly rich myself," The long haired boy put his hands on his chest in a gesture. "but I've known Heero for a long time and know that his parents are doing more than well for themselves. Their house is, modest, but anyone can see they've got money. That's nothing compared to this house though." He paused shortly. "You've even got a poolhouse!"
"So my parent's got a little more money than most…"
"I'd say a lot, but hey…"
Harry glared.
"I didn't want anyone finding out I was, you know, rich." He grumbled. "They'd think I'm spoiled."
Duo lowered his hands onto his lap.
"I don't think you're spoiled. Didn't you know that Quatre's one of those rich people as well? His father is quite well-known." He said meaningfully.
"Quatre?" Harry replied surprised.
"Yup, fed with a silver spoon, literally, since he was a baby but that doesn't make him spoiled or anything." Duo leaned forward. "He's a great friend that really cares about others."
Harry hummed and nodded, feeling slightly better with the newfound knowledge that one of his main concerns had been toned down. He'd been afraid that he would be judged on the sole basis of having a lot of money in his bank account, and knowing that Duo didn't have a problem with that eased those worries. He was surprised to hear about Quatre though; he hadn't even guessed that the blonde teen was privileged since he did not act like someone who was. The thought made him feel guilty at once though, catching himself inadvertently judging rich people against one label when he himself was far from it.
"Any more secrets I should know that you're worried about?" Duo asked half teasingly, head tilted to the side with a playful grin.
Harry hesitated for a moment, opening his mouth and closing it. Duo raised an eyebrow in response.
"I think Heero hates me." He said finally, with a sullen voice.
"Hates you?" Duo asked dumbfounded and then started laughing.
Harry glared at the teen again for his response.
"What's so funny about that?" He questions annoyed.
"No, no…" Duo breathes in once, twice, before continuing. "It's just that, I've never known or seen anyone that Heero's hated, I mean, ignored sure, but hated? Naw, he wouldn't bother with hating anyone if he can just ignore them or glare at them to scare them away." Duo shook his head. "So no, I don't think he hates you." He shook his head.
The braided teen looked at Harry with a curious eye.
"But why'd you think that? Did he do something to make you think that?"
Harry shuffled lightly.
"There was this photograph… when we were at his house that one time..." Harry trailed off.
"Aah…" Duo said with a long sigh and flopped sideways down onto the bed. "That."
The teen turned onto his back, switching to stare into the ceiling.
"That?" Harry asked when it didn't seem like Duo was going to continue.
Harry couldn't see the other teen's expression, but when he spoke up again he sounded unsure.
"I'm not so sure I should be telling you this." He said. "That's something that happened in Heero's childhood, and even I don't know what exactly happened. Since Heero won't, and don't like to for that too, talk about it, obviously." He shrugged.
"What happened?" Harry tried to ask.
"I can't say for sure, it happened during the same year that I first got to know him." Duo flipped onto his side again, head resting in his palm. "He wasn't this tightlipped back then, you know. The way he is now happened gradually after that…"
Duo paused to take some time to think.
"I think it was something to do with his parents, never found out what exactly, but he started distancing himself from people in school. After that summer, in first year, he came back completely changed, wouldn't talk to me at all at first and buried himself in schoolwork. Took me nearly half a year to get him to hold a longer conversation with me and get him involved with soccer again. I thought getting back into soccer would help him get back on track, you know? Back the way he used to be."
"Mmm…" Harry agreed silently.
"Although he doesn't talk as much as he used to, he's still a lot less 'dark'. There were times when he would actually scare me." Duo shivered unconsciously.
Harry kept silent. So there was an underlying reason to Heero's behavior. The way he'd reacted when Harry had been looking at that picture popped up into his mind. He'd admitted to being scared at that time. The usual distant but docile teen had appeared angry and sad at the same time, confusing him. He'd hoped he'd found out what happened by grasping this chance of asking Duo but it seemed like even the best friend didn't know what really happened to Heero. If he really wanted to know, it seemed that he would have to go to the source, but that would never happen. If Heero's reaction had been like that to only Harry seeing that one picture, then what would it be if Harry asked him outright? He almost didn't dare think about it.
But his curiosity wouldn't settle down, Harry was starting to feel the need to know why and what happened to Heero. It was strange; he thought that if he would find out more about what happened to the teen then his interest would disappear. Only it was the opposite that happened. He wanted to know even more. Like being fed some information only fueled his desire to further his knowledge about the other.
It was frustrating.
Duo eyed Harry from where he was lying on the bed. Harry's eyes were clouded with thoughts and he'd taken to chewing on his lower lip.
"It's better to just forget about it." Duo said to him, drawing Harry's eyes back to him.
Harry nodded in agreement after a while.
He knew that. But that didn't mean that his mind was going to listen to what his brain was telling it to do.
"Yes, I'll do that." He said despite not believing an ounce in his own words.
"Don't you have homework to do Duo?" Harry asked the teen then, to get his thoughts away from the pressing subject.
"Shit!" Duo let out, jumping of the bed, "I completely forgot we have an assignment due tomorrow. I'm so screwed!" He whined piteously.
He grabbed a bag from the other side of the bed that Harry had missed seeing and slung the backpack onto his back. Harry followed the errant and rushed teen down the stairs where Sirius had not long ago finished with the dishes.
"I'll see you in school tomorrow, hopefully," He added with overplayed dread. "Don't avoid me this time, okay?" He said with a finger pointed in the raven haired teen's direction.
"Okay."
Duo nodded, and then swore again when he spotted the time on the clock hanging in the hall.
"Bye!" He called as he went out, the door closing behind him and leaving Harry standing alone in the entrance.
In the corner of his eye he saw Sirius gesturing to him, grinning holding a racket, through the glass doors in the living room facing the garden.
Harry sighed, eyeing the closed door once before giving a small affirmative wave back to the godfather and going back upstairs to change.
That night Harry laid in his bed, unable to sleep much the same like last night but not for the same reason. He was told to forget about what Duo said to him but, yes, easier said than done.
He turned on his side, squinting his eyes in the dark to see what the time was. The numbers on the digital clock shone brightly in red back at him, telling him it was a little bit after midnight. Meaning he'd been laying there for over an hour, soon two, without being able to fall asleep. He hoped he wasn't setting a new trend of insomnia. That would really get him in trouble if he were to continue to fail to get any sleep and then being unable to keep up with his hectic schedule. Somewhere down the line his body would say stop, and that could not happen. He couldn't remember a time when he used to have this many things going around in his mind.
Harry shut his eyes close and forced himself to push the thoughts away for the time being. Half an hour later he was finally asleep.
The alarm clock woke him up early the next morning. It took him a moment to register it before reaching a sleepy hand over to turn it off. It was hard getting out of bed, harder than the day before and the sand in his eyes took longer to get rid off but he managed it after having doused his face with cold water.
Breakfast was already put out on the table when he got down and he sat down to munch down whatever Sirius handed him. His godfather sent him a curious look but didn't comment any further besides wishing him a good day in school and saying to invite Duo over again sometime soon.
He'd obviously taken a liking to the rambunctious teen. In many senses those two were a lot alike he was reminded with both a slight bit of worry and curiosity.
In school the lessons went on without much happening, other than Harry immediately being reminded by what he'd been told by Duo yesterday when he saw Heero again in class.
Heero was his usual self, there didn't seem to be anything bothering him, and Harry felt himself become slightly annoyed with him for simply just that. Here he was worrying about Heero and the Japanese teen just sat there with no apparent worries at all to speak of. It made him feel silly.
Sure, it wasn't really Heero's fault Harry's mind had become so preoccupied with the other. He only had his own blasted curiousness to blame for that. Despite that he managed to pay attention to the teachers long enough not to miss any important details. He spent lunch with Duo, and inadvertently Heero, as well as Wufei who had taken to switching between ignoring and glaring at him. Maybe it was good that he was so busy with secretly observing Heero that he didn't have time to be annoyed with the Chinese?
The next day went by pretty much the same, more Heero observing and trying to get his mind off the whole matter that has to do with the Japanese teen. He ignored a, this time, glaring Wufei and talked to Quatre about the newest school assignments. Tennis practice had been picking up pace for the impending game and the guys in the club where giving him calls and words of encouragement in the hallways when he passed them. They seemed to have high expectations of his upcoming performance, unconsciously putting more pressure on him.
Wednesday's club practice proved to be a challenge, even counting Sirius' strict regime. Coach Zechs proved once more his worth and had them all sweating bullets by the end of practice, tired but excited. The other regulars for the rest of the game had been picked out earlier that week and had been playing practice matches against each other. Both doubles pairing up with each other, the second and third singles match together and Harry granted practice with the coach himself. It might seem like the coach had fallen victim for favoritism, it might even had been so to a small degree, but fortunately no one expressed any loud or noticeable complaints. It was all for victory, after all.
The next day he spent lunch with Chris and some other seniors from the club. He'd thought changing his lunch dates would help him keep his mind off Heero and focus more on the game, but it only worked half way. As soon as he'd run out of things to say at the table he went back to his own thinking which lead, whether he wanted them to or not, back to Heero and his eyes discreetly searched the cafeteria for that chocolate colored mop of messy hair. Coming up short he went back to munching quietly on his sandwich. Walking back to English class though, he accidently bumped against said teen, but it was no more than that. He straight away excused himself and Heero went to sit in the furthest parts of the back of the classroom while Chris pulled Harry with him to sit somewhere in the middle.
He could've sworn that, by the feeling in the back of his head, Heero must have been looking at him at least once or twice during the lesson. But it could've just been his imagination as well.
Harry closed his locker with a sigh. The raven haired teen made his way to the cafeteria where he bought lunch and sat himself by a table that wasn't occupied by any other students. He'd managed to slip past Chris and any other club members. Not that there was anything wrong with them, he just wanted some alone time before the game and not because of that other thing, he kept telling himself. Something he always did the day before a match and he thought it might bring bad luck if he were to change his habits. He told himself it wasn't him feeling overwhelmed and avoiding the guys many questions as of late concerning his tennis.
He must have been deep in thoughts; since he nearly jumped when a red tray clattered onto the table and Duo sat down next to him. Turning his head he saw Quatre sitting down next to the other boy, greeting Harry with a smile.
"Do you mind if we join you? There are not many seats left."
He was actually almost about to say yes, before thinking it rude and taking a look around the cafeteria saw that Quatre was right. Most seats were taken and he couldn't expect to get a whole table for himself. This wasn't the dining room back home in England after all.
"O-of course not." He replied back.
"Thank you." Quatre pulled his tray closer to himself. "Where are the ones you sat with yesterday?" He asked curiously.
"I, usually spend some time alone the day before a game." Harry said.
"Oh! I'm sorry if we're disturbing you. If you want we could try and find another place to sit." Quatre apologized by saying and hands grasping the sides of the tray.
"No, don't." Harry hurried to say, reaching out a hand to halt the blonde. "I, I didn't mean it like that."
"If you're sure." Quatre said with another smile.
"You're playing this weekend?" Duo asked him before taking a bite out of his burger. Was burgers and pizza all that the teen ate for lunch?
Harry took a sip out of his drink.
"This Saturday."
"Home or away?"
"Home."
Quatre jumped at the opportunity.
"What time? We'll come watch. If it's alright with you?" He added.
Harry seemed surprised at the request. He hadn't even thought of inviting anyone to watch, not having any actual friends to invite before to any of his games. Anyone except for his godfather, who came either way, and sometimes his parents, that is if they didn't have any urgent business to attend to.
"You want to?" He asked.
"Why wouldn't we?" Duo asked confused.
"Ah, no, sure, you can come if you want to." Harry said, shaking his head lightly, a small smile playing on his lips. "First game starts at one." He added as an afterthought remembering Quatre's question.
"So, what do I gotta do to get you to help me with my physics homework Quatre?" Duo turned around to ask the blonde, having decided that the other matter was settled. "Name any price, except my lunch money, I need my nutrients, I would offer you help on our math homework, but you don't need it, wait, I could get Heero to help you."
The blonde teen took one look at the other boy, who suddenly squirmed in his seat, before simply going back to his pasta.
"Do it yourself."
Duo seemed flabbergasted.
"You don't mean that!"
"You need to learn some responsibility Duo and stop expecting me, or Heero for that matter," Quatre added when Duo made to say something. "to do it for you."
"Duo." Quatre said sternly when the teen had turned his eyes onto Harry.
"I'm just asking for some help." The teen near whined but it did nothing to faze the friend.
When it was apparent to Duo that he wouldn't be getting what he wanted, he sat back in his chair with a pouty 'humph' and took a large bite out of his burger.
"Give him an hour or two and he'll be back to normal." Quatre said hushed and gave Harry a small wink.
Duo snorted loudly into his drink.
Harry shuffled around his room, taking out wrist sweatbands, shorts and a shirt which he all put down in his bag where his rackets already lay. He took a swing by the bathroom and pulled out a towel from the cupboard beneath the faucet and shampoo and body soap from the counter top. Down in the kitchen he threw in an empty water bottle in the mix before dumping the bag in hallway and going to sit at the table where Sirius had served up their breakfast. A news channel was put on low volume on the TV that. The sounds accompanied the teen and his godfather as they ate, the man commenting here and there when something of interest to him came on. Harry opted for silence, calming the nervousness he always had when he was going to play a game. He smiled at a joke the older male pulled about the news anchor man's hair before munching down the last piece of his scrambled eggs. He accepted the other dishes as Sirius cleaned the table and then went to sit in the sofa in front of the TV as he waited for Harry to finish up.
Instead of taking the bike to school, like he usually did, they took the car for a change. More for the reason that Sirius complained that real men didn't walk and there was only the one bike Harry used. Harry rolled his eyes at that but went along with the godfather's whims, no matter the ride took less than five minutes getting to their destination, seemingly spending more time finding a free parking space in the lot than getting there in the first place. But Harry wisely kept his mouth shut about that. He didn't need his godfather taking revenge on him by making him do sit- and pull-ups as a way to 'wind-down' from the game.
Having first waved his godfather off, he then went to meet up with the rest of the club and regulars outside the club's changing rooms, receiving the information that their opponent hadn't arrived yet. They changed into the shorts and shirts with the school emblem on the front in the corner. Their uniform was in many ways similar to the soccer club's uniforms, except their shorts were white, while the other club's were black. Other than theirs not having any numbers as well on the back, theirs were pretty much the same in style and design as far as color and pattern went.
Harry exited the changing room in time to see the opposing school's team, Kilroy High School, walk past, some of them casting him curious and calculating looks upon seeing his uniform. He returned the look, letting the group pass before going to take a look at the court's condition. The orange sand and gravel lay flat and nice with no irregular small holes or bumps. He took in the hired referee who was in the middle of conversing with coach Zechs before going to inspect the bleachers, remembering that Quatre and Duo had said that they were coming to watch.
He spotted the two in the front middle, close to the thin line of stairs separating the two sides of seats. A smile found its way onto his face as the two noticed him and Duo stood up, waving a hand in the air as he called down to him and in the same had most of the people their staring at him.
"You came." Harry said as soon as he had come up the stairs to their seats.
"Of course we did. We said we would didn't we?" Quatre said with a small smile.
"Your uniform looks almost like ours, except for the shorts." Duo commented with a curious look at Harry.
"I suppose there isn't that many differences since it's the same school." Harry said.
Quatre nodded, as Duo hummed and cast a look down on the court.
"So when's your game start?"
"Depends." Harry answered.
"Tennis matches doesn't have a set time limit unlike soccer, Duo." Quatre said.
"Right." Duo replied. "So how long do you think it'll take?"
"For a one set match?" Harry said, thinking about it for a short moment. "I'd say somewhere between half an hour to an hour, depending on how even the players are. I play last, of five matches, so it could take a while."
"Oh man!" Duo exclaimed. "That long?"
"Sorry, I should've told you to come later."
"No, no, these matches are as equally important, right Duo." Quatre said diplomatically, earning a look from the long haired teen which the blond stared down. "So, how many matches to you need to win?"
"At least three out of five."
"You said you play last?" Duo asked then.
"Yes."
"Any reason why?"
"Oh." Harry let out, remembering he hadn't thought of mentioning the system of how the games were played to them. He'd just assumed they knew."We play two doubles first, you know doubles right?" He asked just to be sure and continued when he received nods. "Then three singles matches. It's common practice to rank these matches according to the skill of the players. So they're usually called second doubles, first doubles, third singles and so forth."
"And you play last?" Duo asked again.
"Yes." Harry frowned slightly. Hadn't he just asked him that just a moment ago?
"You must be really good then." Duo replied with interest, mouth smirking.
"I guess." Harry said awkwardly, not one to brag about being skilled, except towards his godfather but that was completely different.
"Don't play modest! Admit it you think you're way better than the ones you're playing today." Duo teased.
"I don't," He stuttered but was cut off by the other boy's laughs.
"I think being modest is a good quality, unlike someone else there." Quatre said before giving the snickering teen a look which went unnoticed by the recipient.
In the background Harry heard Zechs calling for him.
"I got to go." He said and started down the stairs.
"Good luck!" Quatre called after him.
Harry joined the gathered group by the fences just outside the court, listening to Zechs last minute speech and going through the match order once more. As the referee took his seat, Zechs took Chris and Patrick with him onto the court to meet their opponent before the first game. The other regulars along with the rest of the members of the club crowded against the fence to prepare to cheer their team mates on. The audience in the bleachers quieted down as the four players took up positions, having decided that the opposing school would start to serve.
The first match was tough, they were evenly matched and the game went on for fifty minutes. It ended with a loss on their side, Chris and Patrick losing the match with two games. The brunette came out through the fence gate, looking much disappointed with his first game as a regular ending like it did. The other members offered the pair taps on the shoulders and back as the next doubles pair entered the court with calls of encouragement.
Harry eyed the other boy from his position on the other side of the group. He could understand what the other boy must be feeling but it was something he had to get through himself if he ever was going to grow better. He turned back to watch the players greet each other, before his eyes strayed to the bleachers to see if Duo had grown restless yet. Maybe he should go over and sit with them for a bit? There were no rules that said that they couldn't sit amongst the audience while waiting to play.
Emerald eyes widened when they found a familiar Japanese teen sitting beside a newly arrived Trowa who sat by the Quatre. Okay, now he was thoroughly confused. Why was Heero here? Duo or Quatre must have called the two. While he was surprised to see Trowa, it didn't actually bother him, the guy was a nice person from what he'd seen but Heero? Even if they called him he didn't think Heero would come, they weren't friends, rarely spoke and hadn't spoken to each these last few days as a matter of fact because of that incident. Heero didn't have a reason to come, I mean, why would he even come in the first place?
Caught in his confusion, Harry missed the first game of the match, as he did his best to hide himself from view of the bleachers behind the other members of the club. Why was the Asian teen constantly confusing him like this, and why was he letting himself be confused by him? He has to let everything that has to do with Heero go, at least for now, so he would be able to concentrate. He couldn't afford to be distracted like this before his game.
He went back to observing the game, trying to cheer with the others when they won the second doubles match, as well as the third. Throwing a last glance at the bleachers he went to take a short run to warm up in time for his game. Had this been a season match then they wouldn't play Harry's match, however since this was preseason and more considered a practice game than anything else, he would still have to play. Thus he had to make sure he was ready for when it was his turn to step onto the coart. He told Chris he was going to do his warm ups before jogging past the group and bleachers, heading towards the track and field club's running grounds.
He glimpsed towards the bleachers, hoping Heero had lost interest and left, but just as all those other times he'd checked before, the teen was still there. He had on a blank expression, an expression that always frustrated the British teen to no end as he was unable to figure out what the other was thinking about, or even what mood he was in.
It was somewhat nice to get away from the cheering crowds, although he could still hear them in the distance. The running grounds were completely deserted, which suited him just fine since no one would be there to disturb him while he ran. The sun was warm and heated his dark hair but he had begun to get used to the warmer climate, or at least better used to it than he had been when he first arrived to this place. He dimly took notice of how much larger the bleachers were here than at the tennis courts, as he stopped and sat down to do his stretches. Few minutes into his stretches, he reached with his hands along his legs as far as he could go and stayed there, face down.
The clearing of a throat had his heart skip a beat at the suddenness of the sound and he squeaked uncharacteristically as he jumped, head shooting up, before he could have another shock seeing Heero standing in front of him, quite close, and he tripped backwards onto his back.
For a moment he lay sprawled on his back, hands out and eyes squinting from the sun hitting eyes, while his mind reeled. What just happened? Wait, Heero's here? He hurriedly righted himself up and stood up. The teen was still standing in front of him but he had a frown on his face.
"Heero?" Harry said hesitantly, flicking his eyes to the sides twice. "What are you doing here?"
The other teen's frown only seemed to grow at the question and Harry felt himself grow slightly insecure. What did he want? Why had he followed him here?
"D-did you want something?" He tried asking.
The Japanese teen's frown suddenly eased, almost disappearing. Heero's cobalt blue eyes stared at him before they glanced to the side.
Harry eyed the boy, confusion raging inside, not really knowing what to do next if the boy wouldn't say anything, until Heero finally spoke up.
"There's another soccer game next weekend." Heero stated.
"Yes?" Harry asked, feeling confused, while frowning lightly.
There was that weird feeling again. What was it with this situation?
Heero's eyebrow drew together.
"Duo said," Oh, so it was Duo that had put him up to this, Harry thought and the pieces was slowly coming into place for him. "that you needed more practice." The teen finished.
"I suppose." Harry said awkwardly.
Of course he needed more practice, that was a large understatement if he ever saw one, so was Heero trying to say that he'd help him practice or something?
"Tomorrow, is that okay?" The Asian teen was still looking sideways and it made Harry feel even more awkward than if the teen had been looking straight at him.
"I don't have anything planned for tomorrow…" He said unsurely. "If that's what you're asking?" He asked tentatively for confirmation.
"Ten... Is ten am okay?"
"Sure." He said.
Heero finally turned to look at him, clear eyes pouring into his, and nodded once before he swiveled on his feet and began walking away, leaving a slightly confused and surprised British teen in his wake.
Harry stood there for a while, wondering and frowning to himself as he was yet again thrown into what was called 'the mystery of Heero Yuy'. Getting over the stupor he'd been in, he felt himself grow even more frustrated with the Japanese teen. What was going on here? Why did he have to become so confused by the teen's actions? Couldn't he have just asked him straight out if he was free for practice tomorrow?
He shook his head, grunting and letting out his frustration with a heavy sigh. Why is it that he always seemed to freeze up whenever Heero was talking to him though? He had to get a grip over himself. There's no way he could keep behaving like this just because the other teen was strange, well, not like any other person he'd met before anyway.
Wait, what's the time?
"Bloody hell." He cursed before abandoning his warm ups.
Disgruntled Harry arrived back at the courts, stubbornly keeping his eyes from going in the direction of the audience. He would just concentrate and play the game. He was being ridiculous letting Heero bother him like this, so what if the teen had sneaked up on him and then asked if he was free to practice tomorrow, Du was going to be there too right? He didn't want a repeat of the earlier situation.
And so what if the other teen was staring at him…
"Potter!" Coach Zechs called and Harry looked up from where he'd been frowning at the ground.
Zechs was looking pointedly at him and it was then that Harry noticed that second singles was over and his opponent was already on the court waiting for him. He instantly roused himself from his thoughts and shoved them back as far as he could.
Grabbing his bag which Chris held out to him, he offered the other boy a small strained smile, before walking onto the court. Coming to stand by the bench, he let his bag down on the ground and quickly pulled out his racket.
"Potter." Zechs said to him, light blue eyes trailing his movements.
"Yes sir?"
"Keep your mind on the game. There's no reason to throw away it away just because it's a practice match. And don't be late the next time." He said sternly.
"Yes sir, sorry sir."
Zechs sighed, but left it at that.
"I trust you're all ready and warmed up?" He asked and continued at the teen's nod. "Good. Then go out there and prove to me why I should keep you on the regular's team."
Harry held his racket under one arm as he put on his wrist bands. His opponent, a dark blonde boy, was in the middle of going through the motions for his serve and Harry took the opportunity to take in as much of the boy's form as he could before actually playing him. Unconsciously, as he stepped onto the court and went to greet his opponent, his eyes searched out the Japanese teen amongst the crowd on the bleachers and found Heero, not sitting with the rest of his friends, but standing at the far end of the bottom corner part from Harry's position.
Their eyes met for a short moment, emerald clashing with cobalt, neither budging before Harry was forced to divert his gaze in favor of his opponent who had started growing impatient at waiting for Harry to notice him.
"Good luck." He said, smirking, sounding almost disdainful. "You're a new face, freshman? This match won't be as easy as all the others, just so you know, do your best newbie."
Harry felt his eyebrow twitch, not meaning to let the boy's comment affect him but his frustration from before was still there beneath the surface. He plastered a small hard smile on his face.
"Good luck to you too."
Then he promptly turned his back on the boy and walked down the court, not caring if his actions would be considered rude, since he'd not been the first one to be.
The first person to serve had already been decided from the lottery done in the first doubles match, and it was Harry's opponent that was going to start off this game. Clearing his mind of things he didn't need in it right at this moment, Harry took a calming breath, focus sharpened and eyes firm.
The first game was won by Harry without any problems; the boy was a decent enough player but he was nowhere near the level where Harry was at. Harry decided to approach this match with a calm demeanor and slowly but surely take the win. A strategy he used when not wanting to rush the game or when he didn't want to make any careless mistakes. Taking the first game and the serving game of the opponent as well made an impact on his opponent. Usually players battled until either one of the two first lost their serving game. Having Harry take it straight off the bat had to have affected the other teen and that would come to show in his play as he struggled to take it back.
He kept the game on his turn on serving, having expected it, and went on to attack the opponent. The match didn't last long after the first three games, Harry went on to win six straight games, ending the game with an overwhelming victory that had the crowd cheering loudly and Harry was sure he could hear Duo's voice somewhere in there.
He shook his hands with his crestfallen opponent, feeling smug inside to be able to wipe away that smirk from before off the other boy's face. The rest of regulars ran up to him, bumping hands on his back and offering one or two words of praise for his endeavor. Zechs was waiting for him by the bench as he managed to break free of the crowd, taking a towel and wiping away any gravel that might have come onto his racket from the court.
"Good work." Zechs said to him, a large warm smile in place.
"Thank you, sir." Harry replied back, grinning.
"Right, go and take a shower."
"I'm not that sweaty. I'll take one when I get home." Harry replied and he really wasn't, it was more from the sun than the exercise of the game that had a few droplets beading on his forehead.
The coach left him with the parting words to prepare for next week's club practice, before calling for attention of the other members and directing them to fetch the cleaning tools for the court.
Harry had just finished putting away his racket and armbands when a voice called out to him.
"Harry!"
Noticing the braided teen come bouncing over to him, hand waving, Harry couldn't help grinning, still on the rush of the win.
"Duo!" He said as the teen came to a halt in front of him.
"You were great! That dude didn't stand a chance!" The American teen exuded and laughed heartily.
The two was soon joined by Quatre and Trowa who both offered the British teen words of congratulation, which he happily accepted. It was nice having friends, other than family, come and congratulate him after a game.
"Congratulations Harry." Quatre said with smile.
"Congratulations." Trowa echoed.
"Thanks."
The three waited for the raven haired teen to get his bag before they followed him back to the school entrance. Harry silently looked around, searching for a certain Asian teen that he hadn't seen since the start of his match.
"Heero was here before." He mentioned discreetly.
"Oh right, yes he was here just a minute ago." The blonde teen to his right said, taking notice of his statement, and looking around. "Trowa did you see where Heero went?"
The Auburn haired teen shook his head in the negative.
"No, he went away before Harry's game, saying he needed to take care of something. I didn't see him after that."
Harry frowned inwardly. He hadn't told them he was going to ask Harry about tomorrow? And Heero had been there when his game started, and in the middle of it as well, he was sure of it. Confused he kept his mouth shut, letting the others talk amongst themselves and offering a reply here and there when the turned to him. His mind was back to the Japanese teen and his behavior of which he didn't know what to make of.
What was going on here?
AN: 'What is going on with Heero? What is he planning?' :insert ominous music: …Uh, yeah. :coughs awkwardly:
I wanted Harry to become more confused with Heero with this chapter, but I ended up confusing even myself. . Heero is just too mysterious, hard to grasp, and getting into his head will prove hard for both Harry and me. I'm trying to make Harry more assertive when it comes to Heero but he's gotta get over his hesitancy towards him first. Though his frustration with the Japanese teen is his first step in that direction so hopefully he'll get there. Someday. ^^; Cheers /Lin