Chapter 1: The Concrete Jungle

Enveloped in brutal sunlight, the streets cooked under the sun's taunting gaze. People walked over the cracked concrete, covered in sweat with annoyed expressions plastered on their faces. You could hear the loud humming of the air conditioners hanging off the windows of the battered and deteriorating houses. The loud music blasting out car windows complimented the sounds, filling the streets with noise pollution. The air quality was shit. The police sirens were too frequent and the unattended children roaming the streets were always somehow getting in people's way. The mailman was doing his absolute best to finish up his route and get the hell out of the neighborhood, or else risk getting mugged or chased by wild dogs.

The streets were pure hell and it was nothing out of the ordinary. This was how it always was and that's how it would always be.

Nothing has changed much in the neighborhood and it's not like anyone in a position to do anything felt any need to lend a helping hand to these underserved communities. There was nothing in it for them. The people of these streets knew no one cared and with that knowledge it became difficult for anyone to feel optimistic for any sort of help. They all went on with their lives trying to live it the best way they could. Some made it out, most didn't. The streets didn't care either way. You played by its rules and if you managed to escape, then congratulations. If not, then enjoy living life chained to a dead end fate. That, or do whatever you could to survive. Live however you can, by any means necessary.

A young teenage boy walked these streets, hands in his pockets, head down, focused on his own destination. Wearing a green muscle shirt, exposing his defined yet perspiring arms, and blue jeans with his construction style boots, Heero Yuy soldiered on. He was a product of his environment. Only knowing the darkness this city ever exposed to him. Like a lot of people, Heero was convinced that here was where he was born and here is where he will die. Whether through some brutal act of violence or maybe some unfortunate accident. He wondered why it had to happen this way, why he was brought into this world under these horrific circumstances. At a certain point, Heero accepted this and began to learn to survive. The young boy was a smart fellow actually. He liked to read and study on his own time. He felt like picking up the slack that his teachers left considering how the schools in the inner city were not exactly up to par.

They didn't care too much for their students and the resentment was thrown the other way around. It always felt like and 'us against them' atmosphere between the students and faculty and Heero had no time to waste on battling with uninterested teachers and higher ups. He would take whatever the school could give and do the rest on his own.

While learning to survive the streets of course.

A group of kids ran past Heero, almost tripping over them. The kids didn't apologize and kept it moving. Heero shook his head with his usual intense expression. On one hand it bothered him how terrible these kids acted. On the other hand, it's not like anyone cared about them anyway. Heero sighed and continued on his trek to his home.

A man went walking towards Heero and stopped him by tapping on his shoulders. The young teenage boy looked up and recognized the man. Heero nodded and took his hands out of his pockets. He gave a quick look around before giving the man a unique looking handshake. Heero then took his hand back, this time with money and shoved it back into his pockets. The other man took his hand back and clumsily shoved it into his pockets, but instead of money his hand had a small bag of something that could get someone locked up for quite a long time. The man skated off and Heero went on like nothing happened. His head back down, feet moving him again.

He finally arrived and entered the large apartment building. He saw some people hanging out in the lobby. Each of them greeting Heero as he entered. Some were people who lived in the building and some were people he recognized from the neighborhood. He didn't say much and nodded to all of them before digging out his keys and entering his apartment. He sighed and walked to the living room where the TV was on and his uncle J was sitting on a recliner and watching.

Heero remained standing and kept his eyes on the television, not watching it so much as just mindlessly staring at it. Hands still in his pockets.

A few minutes of silence passed by before anyone spoke. "Rents due." said the much older and haggard man.

Eyes still burning a hole through the TV. "Yeah." Heero simply responded. Another 90 seconds passed by before his uncle broke the silence again.

"I assume business has been good?"

Heero shugged. He took a hand out of his pocket and threw a stack of cash on the coffee table in front of them. Uncle J reached out and sighed, grabbing the stack of cash and counting it. He knew Heero was good for it, but he just did it out of habit. The younger man just stood there, waiting for him to finish counting. Uncle J was slow and old, disabled as well with a prosthetic right arm. This took some time.

Heero and Uncle J didn't dislike each other, but they weren't close either. Uncle J took him in when Heero's family died really young. J was actually quite close to Heero's dad and promised he would look after him. It was just hard to feel like a family when your harsh environment dictates your behavior. Uncle J did what he could, teaching Heero many different things that helped him survive. Yes, that meant also knowing how to work a firearm when he was very young. It wasn't something he was proud of, but when you lived where they lived you could kind of see how something like that may be necessary. Heero spent a lot of time in the streets as well, so knowing a bit of self defense most definitely came in handy.

"Looks good." Uncle J tossed the money back on the table before relaxing back on his seat. Heero remained still, not moving like Uncle J expected him to. "Something up, Heero?" Uncle J raised an eyebrow.

Heero sighed and took his other hand out of his pocket, throwing another stack of cash on the table. Uncle J looked at the money and looked back up at him. "What's this now?"

"Count it." Heero said in a tone that was neither a command nor a request.

J shrugged and humored the young man. Heero finally looked over at him, watching him slowly count the cash. Eventually he finished and Heero heard the man whistle loudly. "About four thousand dollars? Early Christmas present or something?" Uncle J chuckled at him.

Heero shook his head. "No. Tuition."

"Tuition?"

"Tuition." Heero confirmed again with a nod.

"What's this supposed to mean?" J waved the the money at him.

"St. Gabriel Academy." Heero responded as he looked away again.

"That private school across town where all the rich kids go?" Uncle J smirked. "Don't tell me you've been saving up for this."

"Yeah, I have." Heero started. "Four thousand as a down payment and another four thousand before the year is halfway done. I'll have it. I already went through the trouble of setting things up for you to pay on my behalf. In a year and four and a half months I'll be 18, and you'll no longer be my legal guardian. So, until then, I'm gonna need your help." Heero walked over to the bookshelf and pulled out something to read before stepping away, beginning to exit the living room.

"I'll do it, but do know, people like us don't belong in a place like that. We were meant to keep our distance from that kind of high society." Uncle J explained before fixing his glasses and looking out the window. "Out there, that's where we belong. They know that and they won't accept us. This is where it begins and ends for you and me."

Heero stopped in his tracks but didn't look back. He pondered his uncle's words and realized that he didn't necessarily disagree with his sentiment. He knew that he was lower than them and planned on keeping as much distance as he could from their world. But he knew he was getting to the point where he needed to make his escape. He wanted to know if there was more for him than these dead end streets. He wanted to know more and be in an environment where he could focus on himself or his studies instead of just making it to tomorrow.

"Hn." Heero didn't respond to Uncle J, simply looking back at him with his usual intense glare before walking away to his room down the hall.

"Imagine that." Uncle J laughed to himself. "Paying for a school like that with drug money." Uncle J was amused. "You're one of a kind, Heero."

Time passed by and Heero was sitting on the edge of his bed, he tossed the book over his shoulder and looked out his window. The sun had gone away and the night had arrived. He wondered if what he was doing was the right thing. He had to get his hands dirty to attend this school but he knew that this was something that he wanted to do. Thinking about this stressed him out. He raked a hand through his unruly head of hair and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath and exhaled.

He heard his phone go off and picked it up. It was Duo.

'We out tonight?' the text read.

Heero stared at his phone for a bit before responding. He thought that maybe tonight would be one of those nights where he stayed home. But with all of these thoughts floating around in his head about his place in the world bothering him, he decided that maybe some distraction would help. Duo could get on his nerves occasionally but he was reliable and he did consider him a really good friend. Heero texted his response.

'Where are you?' Heero sent.

About 20 seconds passed before Duo replied. 'Hanging around Libra.'

Heero rubbed one of his eyes. Libra was the club where a lot of people went to chill. A lot of dangerous people as well. He and Duo were both underage so they had no business being there. But Heero was respected so he got a pass and Duo was also well liked and got in when he wanted to as well. Heero also made a lot of money when he went to places like that. He was already focused on saving up for the next payment so he had to make some sales. He already paid off all the bills for Uncle J so he needed to start making some money now.

He typed out and sent his next text message. 'I'll be there in twenty. How's the scene?'

'It's hype but u already knew that lol' Duo's response read.

It's true, that place was always live and Heero knew it. But that's not really what he was asking. 'I mean do you think there's gonna be any problems.' Heero sent.

'Oh that's what u meant… we should be good. Tonight is looking like a chill one.' read the first part of his response. 'U can keep the piece at home.'

"Hn." Heero muttered to himself. He looked over at his desk where his own personal handgun was resting. He hated that he had to have one, and hated that he had to ask his friend if he needed one to even go out. This is what he wanted to escape from.

'See you soon then.' Heero got up and headed for his door. He looked once more at his gun, almost looking at it with contempt. He shook his head and walked out to the hall.

"Taking off?" He heard Uncle J ask, he hadn't moved from his spot in the living room.

"Yeah." Heero flatly replied.

"Keep your head up and your eyes open." Uncle J responded.

Heero didn't need to be told that. He opened the door and allowed the night to swallow him up.

AN: Something i thought of throwing out there. Gundam Wing deserves love, I dont care how bad Frozen Teardrop is lol

I just caught myself thinking this up while listening to "How Soon is Now?" by the Smiths and well, here it is. Just a small start on something, not sure where it will go but screw it, let's see what happens.