AN: I already have the other part written out in my head, but decided to split it in two. I wanna be dramatic that way. Hope you like it!
Chapter 10: Same Shade As Concrete Pt. 1
Reaching the end of another week at St. Gabriel, and things were just as weird as the end of last week. This time, others started to notice. Seemingly out of nowhere, everyone was starting to see Heero Yuy give Relena the cold shoulder. For those who weren't in the know, this was bizarre. It wasn't that long ago that people were wondering if they were already dating behind the scenes. Heero didn't speak to anyone who wasn't Relena and Relena was the only one who could approach Heero and engage with him. They were already forgetting the old days when those same people were wondering when Relena would start going out with Trowa Barton.
Relena's closests friends were equally puzzled. Trowa may have gotten a little information on the sudden change when he confronted Heero, but there were still some details missing. Dorothy obviously wanted answers, too, but she wasn't getting very far. Relena was choosing to be vague with her, but the platinum blonde could tell how frustrated the situation made her. Why Heero suddenly soured on her friend, Dorothy had no clue. She could see Relena try and get Heero's attention, but to no avail. He was good at ducking her. Dorothy found it rather cowardly.
Of course, she didn't know the context behind Heero's actions. That was what dictated all of this.
Once again, Relena tried to find Heero as lunch time fell upon them. Dorothy advised her to give it up. If Heero wanted to be an asshole, he could do it by himself. But the always persistent Relena gave it another go. If Heero truly wanted nothing to do with her, then he would have to just man up and say why. Nothing cryptic. Just the cold honest truth. She had to find him.
Speed walking through the hallways again, Relena searched the school. She asked around before searching and oddly enough no one could ever point out where he was. It looked like Heero would only be found if he let himself be found. Of course, they did have two classes together, but Heero always rushed out. And the idea wasn't to get Heero stuck in the middle of a crowd and confront him there. Relena knew that would only aggravate him more. The idea was always to get him alone.
She continued on, time was winding down and she was beginning to lose hope. Maybe she should take Dorothy's advice and let him do as he pleases, the girl thought. But on the other hand, Relena knew herself. Leaving things like this would only continue to bother her. She moved forward, trying to find her target.
She got to the end of one hallway and turned a corner. She gasped when she noticed there was one person leaning on the wall in the middle of the empty corridor.
It was him. Arms crossed and eyes closed.
"Heero…" she whispered. She figured there was no way she caught him off guard. He was allowing this to happen. She hoped this meant he was willing to talk. From there, she approached.
Heero opened his eyes and looked to see her walk his way. He noticed a look of determination. As always, she carried herself with a sense of dignity and confidence. Even if there was doubt within her, she still showed a level of strength. He could tell, she was a strong willed girl. In some way… he figured she was probably much stronger than him. He was the one hiding from her, after all.
As she got close enough, she greeted him with a nod and a smile. "Was starting to think I would never get you alone again."
"Hn." Her smile still had the same effect on him as it usually did. But now wasn't the time to be taken by her… admittedly lovely features. He would give her some time with him. And he hoped it would be the end of this.
"So…" Relena spent all this time looking for him and now that he was here, she didn't even know where to start. "You've been okay?"
Heero shrugged. He wasn't elaborating anymore on that.
"Alright." Relena nodded. "Well, so… can we just get right into it? I'm sure you didn't let yourself be found for nothing."
"What do you want?" His monotone cut coldy into her. Relena could only sigh, bothered by how they regressed this much.
"You know what I want, Heero." Relena responded. "I need to know why you're doing this. Any explanation you've given me… it just doesn't make any sense."
Heero shook his head. "Not sure what's hard to figure out."
"A lot of it, really."
"I'm telling you to leave me alone. That's all I want. To be alone here." Heero didn't know how much more obvious he could be.
"But why?" Relena pleaded. "I thought we were… friends? Heero… remember? On the night of my party, you promised me we would be friends. Were you lying when you did that?"
A lump was forming in his throat and he swallowed it down. He remembered that night. How beautiful she looked and how she made him promise they would be, as she said, friends. He was going back on that, but not without good reason. "I was wrong to do that then, Relena. I can't and won't be your friend. And I certainly can't be… more than friends with you either."
"And this is because…?"
She was really digging into his eyes. It was embarrassing for Heero as he started to shake under her blue colored stare. She seemed confused, disappointed in him and even a little… sad. She wasn't even being forceful with her questioning, but he still felt like she was breaking him down.
"I… I'm not into repeating myself." Heero replied. "I told you everything on that day in the gym."
Relena replayed some of the things he had said to her when he chose not to kiss her.
'You can do better than me.'
'It's better this way.'
'I don't have the right to.'
She remembered wondering where these self hating thoughts came from. Then she recalled how much Heero hated where he was from. How ashamed he was of his origins. This actually irritated Relena. She had already accepted him, she told him as much. "Heero, I'm not sure how many more times I have to say this, I don't care where you're from. This is honestly frustrating me because I've already told you that none of that matters to me."
Heero wasn't trying to hear that, however. He knew she accepted him. And he was truly… grateful for that. But there was more that she didn't know. He didn't want to tell her. He once thought he had to eventually, but maybe he could just get through this by just pushing her away instead. "You just don't understand…" was all he could say.
"Yeah, you're right, and that's why I'm here, talking to you. Because I want to understand." There was annoyance in her tone and Heero couldn't blame her.
"It's just not… me and you can't work."
"Why?"
Heero looked away. His eyes narrowed in a different direction where she wasn't in sight. "Many things."
There he went being cryptic again. Relena shook her head and sighed. "Like?"
Heero didn't respond. He kept his eyes from her, refusing to be more specific. He was regretting doing this whole talk. He felt like he owed her this much, but now he figured this had been the wrong choice.
"I'm not going to get anything out of you, am I?" Again, Heero didn't respond.
Relena crossed her arms. What was the whole idea of letting her find him if he wasn't going to say anything? This was a waste of time for the two involved. "What was the point of all of this if you were gonna choose to remain silent or deliberately vague? Why bother?"
She was right. He was stupid for doing this. He tried to explain. "I'm sorry, just know that it's better for both of us."
Relena rolled her eyes at his stock answer. "I don't even know what that means. If this is that whole 'I hate where I'm from' thing you keep going to then… I don't even know what to say about that anymore."
"It just wouldn't work."
"Can you even look me in the eyes and say that?" He couldn't, he was a coward. He was from the North End of town. Murder, drugs, gangs and everything of the sort ruled his everyday life. Living was a constant struggle. There were many things to be fearful of where he came from. It made him as strong as he was today.
And yet, here he was, acting like a coward in front of a 17 year old rich girl, refusing to give a straight answer.
"You can't…" Relena was disappointed. She figured someone as tough as Heero could be more upfront with her. That he wasn't afraid to be honest. But here he was, dodging the truth just so he could push her away. And now this made her feel bad about herself.
"Maybe this was my fault."
Heero looked back at her. Her eyes focusing on the space between them, down towards the floor. There was nothing she did wrong. What was she talking about?
"I spent all this time trying to know you that you didn't find out all that much about me." Relena reasoned.
"Relena?" Heero wasn't sure where her logic was going.
"Because, maybe if you did know more about me…" Relena continued. Heero could have sworn he saw her tremble. "Then… you would know for sure that… I could love you no matter what."
'Fuck.' Not what he wanted to hear. Not in the slightest. His jaw clenched and his fists balled up. His chest felt like it could burst at any moment and for a second… he considered reaching out to pull her into an embrace. She stood with her head low and he felt the growing desire to comfort her. To let her know that there wasn't a single thing she did wrong. This was all on him.
His arms slowly began to move… but before he could get any further the bell finally rang and classes were to resume. These hallways would be flooded by people soon. He had to get away. He adjusted himself, readying himself to leave. He looked back at her once more. "I'm sorry, It shouldn't have gotten this far."
"Guess you're right…" she replied, looking back at him, no expression graced her features. "Goodbye, Heero."
He really hated to see her face with no smile. But now he would have to work on getting over that. He nodded and took off.
Relena watched him walk away. This left her feeling emotionally drained. She wasn't looking forward to the rest of the day. At least the weekend was coming up. She turned to walk the opposite direction. "Heero…" she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. It was time to move on. He left quite an impact on her in the time spent here in school. But… if he didn't want to be a part of her, then she wouldn't make him. She would get over this. She could get over this.
'Right?' The question to herself was a lot more unsure than she would have liked.
Heero walked towards the large project housing buildings that he frequented. One of which Hilde lived in. She wasn't home at the moment but he was going to meet Duo there. There were people all over the place just hanging out on this early weekend afternoon. All types of hustlers posted up here. This place was a hotbed for his kind of activity. He felt bad that Duo's girl had to live here.
He noticed Alex and Mueller there. Something about them looked off. They seemed a little… antsy. Nervous almost. He shrugged and didn't think much of it.
He saw Duo talking to some guys in a crowd. When his braided hair friend noticed him approach, Duo immediately ran up to him. "Hey man, let's keep it moving." Heero wasn't sure what that was about but he followed Duo off in a different direction from the crowds outside.
"What's up?" Heero asked.
"You ain't hear about what happened a couple nights ago?" Duo tried not to be too loud.
Heero shook his head, not knowing what news he might have missed. A certain honey blonde had been screwing up his thinking as of late.
Duo looked around before continuing. "Septum. That name ring a bell? It should."
Heero thought for a second before nodding. "One of Treize's main men."
"Shit you could argue that's his main man." Duo responded. "Guess what, he's dead."
Heero looked at Duo, disbelief on his face.
Duo nodded at him. "That's what I heard. I think Treize was trying to keep the news of his death on the down low, but when a guy of his position gets taken out, it's kinda hard to keep that from getting to the streets."
He knew there were guys trying to get after Treize. People either trying to get to him or people close to him. A lot of money were on their heads. Treize obviously had the biggest bounty but someone like Septum would also get someone paid well. Septum was the guy who got Treize all of his connections and was a key figure in Treize's rise to power. Septum, or The General as he was known on the streets, was a made man and you had to be an idiot to take up that kind of bounty.
"Know who might have done it?"
Duo shook his head. "No, I'll have to get a little more nosy to get some info. This is gonna be bad. You know Treize will get his revenge."
"Yeah…" Heero looked around, wondering who would be stupid enough to kill someone that close to Treize. "How'd it happen?"
"The General's death? From what I hear it happened at some warehouse. They found his ride with his people shot dead. Apparently he got the worst out of it. Poked up to death, you know what I'm saying?" Duo said, sharing what he had learned. "That's some up close and personal shit right there."
"Things are gonna get hotter out here." Heero mentioned. He was not trying to be in the middle of a street war.
"You ain't kidding." Duo chuckled. "Already hot as it is. But anyway… how are you and the missus?"
"See anything crazy around here since then?"
"Since Septum got killed?" Duo shrugged. "Not yet. But like I was saying, you and Relena, what's been going on with that?"
"Keep your eyes open, things will get complicated." Heero responded.
"Yeah, yeah, I know but the girl man, that Rele-" Duo tried again.
"Make sure you're strapped if you need to be."
"Right…" Was he purposefully changing the subject? Yeah, he was Duo realized. "Either you just don't wanna talk about her or shit went south, which is it?"
Heero began walking away, back towards the front of the buildings.
Duo sighed. "My guess is the latter." He followed his friend. "What happened, man?"
Relena was the last thing he wanted to talk about. He would refuse to speak on it. He had to work on moving on. He had to convince himself that he had more important matters to attend to then some girl from school. His life was more complicated than stupid high school drama. That's what he said to convince himself.
"Not gonna talk huh?" Heero shook his head.
"It's the crime life ain't it?" Duo asked him as he caught up.
Heero remained silent. He wasn't getting into it.
"I had a feeling that would be an issue. I'll be honest, I'm not even sure what I would do in your shoes." Duo tried to sympathize.
Heero grunted in response.
"Look man if you wanna talk I'm here, you know I got you." Heero waved him off and Duo rolled his eyes. "Aye…" He was about to continue inquiring about Heero's bizarre love life when he heard somebody yelling.
"Hey! Hey! He's coming around. Treize!"
Everybody froze. Heero was immediately on alert. Duo looked around, watching as people stuck to the ground like there was glue under their shoes. Nobody moved and everybody held their breath.
Slowly a large black SUV with it's windows tinted came driving down. Three cars followed behind, detailed in the same manner of color and tint. All the vehicles pulled up to the sidewalk. The window in the back row of the SUV rolled down, unveiling Treize Khushrenada. He wore a gentle smile as he looked into the crowd of people watching him. He rested a hand on his chin, his eyes scanning all in attendance. He smirked and pointed at two individuals, he beckoned them to come to his window.
It was Alex and Mueller.
Heero and Duo looked on at the pair. Both wondering what he needed them for.
The two summoned by Treize looked at each other before nodding. They clearly didn't want to talk to him. They walked over and people watched, no one moved. No sudden actions. They just spectated, seeing where this was going. What Treize needed from the infamous duo, no one knew.
Heero and Duo were far enough away so they couldn't hear what was being discussed. They could only read body language. Alex and Mueller looked like they were trying to convince Treize of something. They were getting increasingly animated while the town Kingpin looked on with a calm patience. This back and forth went on for a little while longer. Eventually they got to a point where Treize seemed okay with the two men. He patted the two on the back, waved at everyone and his window raised to a close.
The two men came walking back, looking relieved. Treize's ride moved off the sidewalk ready to take off. Everyone exhaled and started moving again. Heero and Duo were curious about the discussion they just had with the most powerful man of the seedy underbelly of this town. However, neither of them would get a chance to get anything from Alex and Mueller.
Two of the three cars that followed behind Treize moved on to follow their leader. The last one didn't. The passenger side window came opening down.
Heero's sixth sense kicked and his blood went cold. He snapped his head towards Duo who was about to move to meet up with Alex and Mueller. He pulled his friend by the arm. "W-What?" Duo asked as Heero suddenly jerked him backwards.
"RUN!" Heero yelled.
The sound of gunfire came in rapid succession. This was no handgun that was being shot. All Heero could hear was the sound of screams and bullets flying. The last thing he noticed before running for a place to hide was Alex and Mueller pulling out of their waists, firing back.
Heero and Duo headed for the back of Hilde's building, keeping low and running as fast as they could.
"Fuck!" Duo yelled.
They got close to the building, the two rushing for cover. Heero flinched as he felt a couple bullets shoot off some of the building right next to his ear. His heart was going a mile a minute. For a second, things started moving in slow motion. And he wondered if this would be the day that he dies. Did he have any regrets? Maybe. But he told himself a long time ago, he wasn't afraid to die. There was nothing to be scared of. This might have been the ultimate conclusion for him anyway. Maybe he was kidding himself the entire time that he could escape. Perhaps it was time that it all ended here. As a bloodied up corpse.
'Because I care about you.' A familiar voice echoed in his head.
Relena.
The honey blonde girl sat on a bench under a wide gazebo that she had in her backyard. The weather was nice and a cool breeze swept through her hair and lightly brushing over her skin. It felt relaxing. Good time to take this all in before it starts to get chillier outside.
Trowa was there. Leaning over a pillar keeping the gazebo up.
Quatre and Dorothy were there earlier. They left as they had some matters to attend to. They invited Trowa and Relena out to dinner and of course they accepted. But before all of that Relena had to withstand a barrage of questions about Heero. Mostly from Dorothy. But instead of going into detail, as there wasn't that much to give out anyway, she just assured everyone that all was fine. The two had reached an understanding and they would move on.
No one was sure to believe her or not, but their friend wasn't going deeper into it. They would have to take what they could get from her.
From speaking with Heero last week, to where Relena was now, things had changed pretty quickly. Trowa wasn't sure what to make of it. "So, are you sure this whole Heero business is over?" he asked, now that he had some private time with her.
"Please, not anymore questions…" Relena sighed.
Trowa smiled. "Sorry, you just seem a little unsure about the whole thing."
"I've already said it all, there's nothing else to discuss." Relena closed her eyes and took in some more light wind as it crawled through her hair. This, however, triggered something. The breeze felt like fingers going through her head. Like… when Heero had done something similar before. She recalled the moment at his house and then at the gym. Her heart skipped a beat and she shook it off. She would not allow him to take up anymore space in her thoughts.
Heero said it was over and she accepted. She sighed again before leaning over to rest her chin on her hand.
"You okay?" Trowa noticed Relena look a bit off.
"Yeah… I am." she said with a groan
Trowa smirked, not believing her for a second. Well, it seemed like his friend was in need of some cheering up. And well, if Heero had truly thrown in the towel, maybe he could try his hand. He once thought that Relena could only be a friend to him, but now… perhaps he could actually change that way of thinking. They made sense after all, their best friends were already dating and Trowa of course found Relena attractive.
Trowa remembered when he asked Heero if it was okay if he went after Relena.
He was joking when he asked that. Things change, however.
"Hey, Relena."
"Hm?" She looked up to meet his emerald eyes.
"C'mon, let's go grab some lunch, what do you say?" he asked with a smile.
Relena knew Trowa noticed something about her, and that he was trying to keep her spirits up. He had always been a nice guy. And had always been nice specifically to her. It's what made everyone think there was something between them in the first place. She never really considered Trowa as anything other than an incredible friend. Nothing romantic. But, with this Heero thing unexpectedly falling through and her feeling like it was time to move on from that bizarre situation, maybe… maybe she should give him a shot, Relena thought. Gotta start somewhere, she thought.
She smiled warmly at him. "Sure, why not?"
AN: Well... did you like it? lol Thank you for reading. Oh, and got an email saying my order for Volume 14 of glory of the losers will be arriving on November 11th or 12th. I'm not really a fan of GOTL but it has Heero and Relena on the cover. So basically I'm just a sucker.
