Pairings: 1x2x1, 3x4, 5xD
Warnings: AU, Duo POV, angst, humor, sap, fluff, shounen-ai/yaoi,
Rating: R (for language and lemon)
Chapter 36: School Wars
In the movies, the fight scenes always look so cool, don’t they? Bad guys
threaten the weak guy or hot babe. Good guy shows up and gets into some hero
speech and then proceeds to kick their asses quite righteously. Good guy
finishes with barely a scratch on his chiseled features (or maybe, if it’s a
really good movie, they give him a little cut on his face or something) and
weak guy or babe ends up adoring him for life.
Man, I wish I could be in one of those scenes right now.
Like I said, things don’t exactly go as planned. I do manage to get a few
punches in but things go from bad to worse in a heartbeat. For starters, that
moron, Kamui, who I thought would have tried to get away from the scene –
figured he would do his best to help out as best he can. Bad idea.
While the guys are busy with me – two of them decide to bumrush me - and they
almost succeed – but I manage to dodge and deliver a quick kick to someone’s
groin. His low grunt makes me hope I got him right in the nuts, but I have no
time to really savor my victory because someone delivers a crushing blow to my
ribs and unfortunately it’s at the same place Heero was so kind enough to hit a
week ago. My world explodes in a flash of blinding pain and before I know it,
I’m falling to my knees, trying my best to protect my aching ribs and my face
at the same time. I try to see how far Kamui’s gone – or better yet, if he’s
gone to call for help – and all but gawk in disbelief as the little runt comes
charging for us with what looks like two steel garbage can covers in his hands.
Oh Mother of Christ. This isn’t going to be pretty.
I’m sure our bullies don’t know whether to laugh or to cry at the sight of the
smaller boy who is half limping, half running towards them. One of them does
decide to laugh and simply stops the fiery blond with a single hand pressed
against Kamui’s forehead. So there’s Kamui, doing a good imitation of a
windmill and not getting anywhere. Poor kid’s crying and telling them to leave
me alone and for some reason, that gets me rejuvenated and ready to give this
thing a shot even if it kills me.
“LEAVE HIM ALONE, YOU FUCK!” I find myself yelling, before moving forward to head
butt the bastard in front of me in the stomach. I send him flying to the
ground, but not much else because his buddies break out of their stupor and gun
for me again. Shit. At this rate, I’m not going to be able to do much and Kamui
and I are going to end up being in an emergency room by the time this is over.
I pray for divine intervention. The cops. The FBI. Hell, even for Tony to get
his fat ass out of the kitchen and wonder what all the ruckus is about behind
his restaurant.
And just as I feel my braid being tugged again (I swear the bastards are going
to pull my fucking hair out), I hear Kamui’s excited cry of ‘Wufei sempai!’
before my attacker suddenly releases me while giving a grunt of surprise or
pain, not sure which. I stagger to the ground, my head pounding like hell and
my face feeling as if it’s bleeding from a million and one places. But before I
can get there, I feel soft but strong hands holding me steady. The familiar
scent of her perfume assails my senses and I lift swollen lids to stare into
Dorothy’s concerned features.
Oh man, no one has ever looked more beautiful in my life.
“Are you okay, Duo?”
That’s a pretty dumb question to ask. Do I look okay to you? I feel like road
kill. Ask me another. However, a sudden growl from someone and the sounds of
punching as well as Kamui’s choked cry has us turning around to look at the
chaos. Wufei’s holding his own, but damn! These guys are relentless! His nice
looking shirt and pants are already stained with blood and I can tell you it’s
not from the bullies. Meanwhile, one of them has got Kamui by his neck and is
dangling him off the ground. The boy’s turning blue in the face and any minute
now…
“Let him go…!” I grunt, struggling to my feet, now feeling even more pissed off
than before. “Let him go!”
“Duo! You can’t!” Dorothy cries out, trying to stop me. “You’re still limping
and…”
“Get the fuck away from me!” I shove her away and begin to make my way to the
fray but a sudden yell of ‘SCHOOL FIGHT!’ has us gaping in surprise as several
students (some guys I recognize from class, others I’m not sure of but figure
they might be students as well) come charging towards us with raised fists and
I think one of them even has a bat! Holy crap!
Well, I don’t think I need to tell you the chaos that ensues next. Word gets
around that there’s a school fight happening behind Tony’s and the next thing
you know, many of the kids who were happily chewing their burgers or making
out, have discarded those mundane activities to get into the fight. There are, of
course, the representatives from Fujisaki and apparently our bullies are high
school students from Morimoto Boys High – a rough place from what I’ve heard.
And as if that isn’t fun enough, there are some representatives from
Livingstone Prep – a posh, private academy with kids pretty enough to be
models. Who knew they could be such fighters? Either way, Fujisaki hates their
guts and the feeling is mutual – so not only are our students fighting with
Morimoto, Livingstone are in their sights and it’s become one bloody
free-for-all.
I slump to the ground and crawl away from the fight, leaning against a wall to
catch my breath as Wufei drags Kamui by the scruff of his shirt to dump him
beside me. We all look at each other, stare at the fight (Tony finally shows up
and despite his loud yells and threats to the students, no one pays him any
attention) and look at each other again. Suddenly, I feel a bubbling wave of
hysteria rising within me. I try to stop the laughter but I can’t help it. The
whole situation is so fucked up and almost surreal and it’s only when Kamui
mutters a soft ‘This is all my fault, sempai’ that I finally give up the fight
and burst out laughing. My ribs hurt with each movement – nah, my whole body
aches like hell and despite his attempts to frown at me, Wufei has to chuckle a
little at the wonderful sight we make. Dorothy finally approaches with a frown
on her face. She says the cops are on their way, but that doesn’t stop me from
laughing even harder.
Damn, but the world’s beginning to spin out of control.
And I think it’s beginning to get a bit dark.
Maybe…just a little nap won’t be so bad.
It’s been a long ass day and I just want to…sleep…
So why the hell are those guys screaming my name like I’m about to die or
something?
“Duo?!” “Duo sempai!”
Ah, just shut up and let me get some rest already.
When I finally open my eyes, it’s to find myself staring at a ceiling that’s
definitely not in Heero’s apartment. This one is white…quite familiar actually
and besides, how can one not know where he is when there’s that sharp smell of
alcohol, pine and astringent. I try to turn my head a little and feel something
smooth and yet heavy upon my left cheek – bandages and lots of them. I think
there’s even one around my head – it does feel like something’s squeezing it
tightly. Hmm…I wonder how the rest of me look. I’m tucked beneath a green
blanket and lifting my hand gingerly, I see that my left arm is in bandages as
well. Good. I was thinking it would be in a cast but it just looks like it’s a
minor sprain. I run my hand down to my waist, wincing as I feel the heavy swath
of bandages around my torso too. Those guys (and Heero) certainly got me good
there.
I sigh heavily and glance at the bedside clock. It’s one in the morning or is
it afternoon? I don’t know…my curtains are drawn and it’s hard to tell with
those thick things. I try to shift, thinking of what must have happened after I
passed out – since it’s obvious that I must have. I don’t really remember much
of anything but I’m definitely sure that Heero’s not going to be too happy
about this. In fact…huh?
I move my hand again and my fingers brush against something soft, silk-like and
definitely not a part of my narrow bed. I turn a little and sure enough, my
fingers are buried within Heero’s hair. He’s fast asleep on a chair beside me
with his head buried within his arms on the bed, still dressed in his work
clothes. He must have left work immediately after he heard the news, to be by
my side. Damn if I’m not getting all choked up now. I wonder if he was pissed
off or so concerned that he cried for me. Although seeing Heero cry over such a
thing is pretty funny –
“You can stop massaging my scalp now,” he suddenly mumbles, causing my hand
motions to stop and a dark flush to creep up my neck. He lifts his head slowly,
those long lashes opening to reveal slightly glazed blue eyes to me.
“Hey, Heero.” I greet with as cheerful a grin as I can muster. “Seems like
we’ve been in this position before, haven’t we?”
He gives me a grumpy grunt and sits up, stretching his arms over his head as he
yawns in weariness. “Fuck…what time is it?” he finally mutters.
“After one…”
“Fantastic.” He gets to his feet, almost stumbles, kicks the chair in disgust
and then makes his way to the bathroom without another word. Oh yeah, he’s
definitely not too happy with me.
I mentally brace myself for a possible argument, ready to tell him that it
wasn’t my fault the whole fight had started. If it wasn’t for Kamui getting
caught, none of this would have happened. Speaking of which, where is the
little bastard?
I stiffen as Heero saunters out again. He gives me a look which I meet and try
to hold for as long as I can. His gaze is unreadable and he’s not giving
anything away with that expressionless look on his face. Geez, but the guy can
be pretty damn inscrutable when he wants to be. It’s kinda annoying in a way.
“What?” I finally blurt out, unable to take the silence anymore. “Go on, say
it. I’m an idiot, right? I shouldn’t have gone out to fight, right? I shoulda
just walked away and let Kamui be treated like a punching…mmm…”
Ah, and that’s another thing too. He moves so fast and let’s not forget that
his kisses simply take my breath away. There goes all my so-called defenses. By
the time he releases me, I’m doing my best not to forget my own name. Damn,
he’s good. I lick my swollen lips and meet his hooded gaze, blushing darkly as
he continues to stare intensely at me. He’s leaning over me now and I drink in
the sight of him, hungrily, memorizing every contour of that face as if he’s
bound to disappear in a second.
“You do know that you and Kamui have single handedly caused over thirty
injuries to students from three schools, damage to Tony’s restaurant as well as
intensified various school rivalries that we should have nothing to do with. Of
course, I hope you also know that come Monday morning, there will be suspension
slips handed out to students who were involved with the fighting…”
“How will they…?”
“The cops came to the scene and arrested several of them – some did manage to
get away but if they rat out the others, then we’re looking at over twenty
suspensions alone – you, Kamui and Wufei included.”
“Fuck.”
“Indeed. Good thing you passed out ahead of time or they would have kept you in
jail for a few hours too.”
“Hey, don’t make it sound like that’s a good thing. Besides, it wasn’t my
fault. I was only trying to help…”
“Yeah, Kamui told the cops that and of course, since they knew his daddy, they
let the kid go back home.”
“Ah…”
“He did come by to see you after he was treated…”
“How bad is he?”
“Broken bones in his arm and ribs just like you…and a deep cut above his
eye…some bruises around his neck. Man…” Heero runs his fingers through his hair
and gives a shaky sigh. “You really scared the shit out of me this evening,
Duo. When Wufei called me at work to let me know what happened, I almost went
crazy.”
I can’t help smiling or allowing my heartbeat to race in pleasure. Man, I love
this guy. “That’s nice to know.”
“It’s not funny.”
“Okay.” I do my best to keep a poker face but it’s not working and he knows it
too. He reaches out to tap my bandaged cheek gently, a warm look in his eyes.
“Your mom came too.”
My heart skips a beat at that. “She did?” I try to act as non-chalantly as
possible but Heero can always see through me and realizes that I’m not exactly
thrilled at the news. “What did she say?”
He stares at me for a moment longer and as if deciding it isn’t worth asking me
any questions now, he shrugs and replies. “She was in tears, saying how much
she wants those other guys from Morimoto to be locked up and kept away from the
streets and stuff like that. It was Teruo who had to calm her down…”
“He was here?!”
“Yeah…they came together…”
“Fuck,” I mutter beneath my breath and fall back to the pillows, trying my best
to control the well of emotions within me. I shouldn’t be mad really. I mean,
they’re practically a couple now, so it would only be natural that she’d run to
him for advice and solace first. But damn, I wish she had come to see me
first…alone. Why does she need him around all the time? She’s going to become
needy – relying on some guy for advice and support when she has me!
“With the way you’re frowning I doubt you approve of the new arrangements.”
“No, I don’t.”
“You can’t do anything about it, Duo…”
“I know that!” I growl and turn away from him, ignoring the pain that flares up
my spine at my rash movement. I hear him curse beneath his breath and shift
from the bed before he sits on the chair with a soft grunt. For a long moment,
we say nothing with only the low whirring sound of the cooling system filling
the heavy silence. After a while, deciding that sulking isn’t going to get me
anywhere, I say quietly,
“Mom wants you to join us for a picnic next Saturday. Coming?”
I can feel his eyes on me and I’m sure there’s surprise within them. Finally,
“She didn’t mention that when she saw me.”
“I doubt that having a picnic or talking about it is the last thing on her mind
when her son’s cooped up in a hospital, Heero. At least I hope it is. So? You
coming?”
“Do you want me to come?” He asks and I swear I can almost hear a light sneer
in that voice.
“If you don’t want to come then don’t come. Geez, I’m not going to beg you…”
“I’ll come.”
“Bastard.”
He grins and I know he’s grinning. I can practically ‘hear’ it in his
voice. “And I love you too, Duo.”
Without turning around, I give him the finger and his low laughter is the last
thing I hear as my medication (whatever the hell they’ve given me to make me
feel this drowsy so quickly) finally kicks in, sending me into another round of
merciful sleep.
Sunday afternoon and Kamui looks incredibly sheepish as he sits primly beside
me, a permanent flush of color on his cheeks as he tries to smile at me.
“Hi…hi, Duo sempai…”
“Cut the sempai crap,” I reply with a wave of my hand. “Well…you can call me
that in school but once we’re outside, you can call me…”
“Duo-ni?!” He says, his eyes lighting up with hope. I cringe at the sound of
the name. I swear it makes me sound like I’m a dwarf from an alien race or
something.
“Duo’s fine…” I begin but he shakes his head stubbornly.
“You’re my big brother…”
“Hey now…”
“…and as a big brother, I’m supposed to call you with respect. So I’ll call you
Duo-ni or niichan or nii…”
“Duo sempai’s fine.”
He looks dejected but hell; I’ve got to draw the line somewhere. “Okay,” he
mumbles in agreement and falls silent, a sullen look on his face. Talk about
having a little runt and brat all rolled into one as a kid brother. I didn’t
think he’d be here to see me so soon, but looking at him, you’d hardly believe
he was almost clobbered to a pulp by a group of human bulldozers, the night
before. He’s wearing a long sleeve loose shirt that covers his bandaged wrists.
The bruises on his neck are still a bit visible although they seem to be fading
fast and it’s only the large lump of bandages beside his right eye that tell
that he’s been in a fight at all.
“You look okay,” I say quietly and he flushes, a hand reaching out to caress
the bandages gently.
“Thanks…although I really feel bad for what happened, sempai.” He sighs again
and lowers his gaze, rubbing his loafer-clad feet together. “If I hadn’t…”
“Just what were you doing there anyway?” I ask – something that’s been bugging
me since I saw him yesterday. “I thought you were supposed to have bodyguards
or something.”
He looks as if he’s trying to make himself as small as possible and after a
long minute of silence, he finally manages to lift his chin to stare at me with
a mingled look of misery and yet defiance in his eyes. “I wanted to have fun on
my own without daddy looking over me all the time,” he finally says. “And
actually it was Derek who thought it would be a great idea for me to sneak
out…”
“Derek?”
“He’s in my class and I’m…was sort of dating him…”
“So let me get this straight…Derek suggests you go out with him and you do
so…where was he when you were being used as a punching bag?”
Kamui winces and then scowls, a rather cute pout forming on his lips. “He left
me.”
Ah, that figures. The chicken. He must have run for his life when he realized
that he was no match for The Bulldozers. Pity, Kamui didn’t have enough sense
to join him…
“He was the one that was being picked on at first,” he suddenly says, causing
me to blink in surprise. There’s that look of defiance again and it kinda
reminds me of the old Kamui – the sleazy, scheming kid we knew back then. “We
just wanted to get some food and on our way out, one of those guys pushed Derek
and started making fun of him, so I stepped in and said they should leave him
alone and before I knew it, they were picking on me.”
“And where was Mr Derek then?”
“He ran even though I begged him not to leave me. That stupid fuck.”
Hey, looks like little bro’s learning a few things from me. It’s nice to hear
him curse once in a while. I grin and he looks at me uncertainly for a moment
before joining with a wide grin of his own.
“Ah, brotherly bonding. How touching,” someone says and we lift our gazes to
look at Wufei, who’s standing inside the door. He’s only got a band aid on his
cheek but otherwise looks fine and ‘unbroken’. He smirks and is about to say
something else when someone shoves him forward from behind. It’s Trowa and
Quatre, each carrying the biggest bouquet of flowers I’ve ever seen. Dorothy,
Relena, Hilde and Samantha from Heero’s Student Council trail after them and
the next thing you know…my entire class is in here! Wow. I had no idea they had
all planned to visit me at the same time!
Kamui, who would have bolted from the room, is forced to stay with Relena’s
insistence and before long; we’re all having a good ol’ time. Apparently, the
big fight between the schools is the talk of the town and everyone seems on
guard.
“Earlier today, Takeshi from Class 3-C was going home and he got cornered by
two Morimoto students,” a boy named Emmett says, causing us to gasp in surprise
and concern. “They beat him badly. They had to take him to the Emergency room.”
“Man, we can’t let them get away with that!” Percy, a pretty big guy himself,
says as he pounds a fist into a hand. “We’ve gotta show those Morimoto fucks
that we ain’t gonna take it lying down!”
A ‘Hell yeah!’ passes around the room, but I’ve gotta tell you, I’m feeling
pretty worried about the whole thing and looking at Kamui’s miserable
expression, you can tell his guilt is tenfold now. The boy’s got to be feeling
as if he’s the cause of this.
“It’s not your fault,” I say quietly, as the other students continue to talk
and make plans for a possible ambush. I smile, trying my best to reassure him.
“Morimoto, Livingstone and Fujisaki have never gotten along. You should see us
on the basketball court.”
He only gives a weak nod and I can tell I’m not doing very much to appease him.
Man, this blows.
“…burn their fucking school to the ground…!”
“No! No! Let’s steal that dumb statue in front of their school and hold it for
ransom…!”
“Yeah! Yeah!”
Geez, they’re getting really pumped up about this. Trowa rolls his eyes and
moves closer to the bed – not that there’s any place for him to move. The room
is crowded enough already and at this rate, the nurses are bound to come in
here to chase all of them out and not a moment too soon. I’m beginning to get a
headache.
“Want me to get them out of here?” Trowa asks.
“If you can, yeah,” I reply, lying back on the pillows and closing my eyes. I
wish Heero was here. I wish I hadn’t gone to Tony’s last night. I wish…
“….we gotta move in packs though. We never know who’s going to attack who
next.”
“…yeah! Especially those Livingstone pansies! With their pretty boys and girls.
Damn it, if I get my hands on one of them, I’ll…”
“You’ll do absolutely nothing.”
That voice. Oh thank you, Lord!
The room falls silent at the sound of that clear and loud statement, all eyes
turning to face their school president, who still manages to look presidential
in a pair of jeans, a t-shirt beneath his black parka while carrying a bag of
fruits under an arm. There’s a cold and almost deadly look in those blue eyes
and I can feel some of my classmates withering beneath the intensity of it. You
dare not fuck with Heero when he’s in this mood.
“None of you are going to go about starting a fight for no reason…”
“But Takeshi…” someone dares to ask, although it’s barely a whisper.
“Takeshi is fine and the culprits will be found and dealt with.”
“Oh yeah?” Percy asks. “How? I’ll bet you guys will just go to their principal
and have a little chat with him and everything’s supposed to be honky dory,
right?”
“And what’s wrong with a little dialogue?” Relena asks heatedly. “I’m sure if
we just have a heart-to-heart talk…”
That gets some of them laughing and it only makes Relena even more enraged.
“Fighting isn’t the answer!” she yells and stamps her foot in frustration. “It
only breeds more violence and then what? When is it going to stop? When a
student is finally killed?”
“Hey, isn’t there some rumor that went around in our freshman year about a
Morimoto student killing one of our own?” Amiko, a girl who smokes and yells
and curses just as well as her male counterparts, says as she eyes Heero
warily.
“Oh for God’s sake,” Heero begins but he’s drowned out by the sudden cries of
outrage and disbelief from the other students.
“We won’t let them get away with this! Look at what they did to Duo and Kamui!
They could have died!”
That hits home and I know that it is true. If Wufei hadn’t shown
up or even some of the other students, goodness knows how much worse my
injuries would have been. I meet Heero’s gaze and see the dismay and yet
determination in those eyes. He too knows he owes his classmates his gratitude
but –
“Do you all want to get suspended or even expelled?!” he suddenly roars and the
group falls silent again. “What’s the point of getting into a fight only to…?”
“Who cares?” Someone mutters and to my growing concern, many of them are
beginning to look openly defiant and now seem to be training their anger on
Heero. They’re too far gone now. Oh, man.
Heero looks flabbergasted. He too can’t believe what he’s seeing and hearing
and short of punching them all or doing something superhuman, he can only stand
and watch them helplessly.
“You’re all insane,” he finally says, his anger now evident in his voice albeit
as quiet and low as it is. “You’re willing to give up almost three years of
education just for a fight…”
“I thought you of all people would understand, Mr President,” Percy says,
walking closer to Heero to tower over him. “Your boyfriend could be six feet
under now or worse, unable to play basketball or walk again for the rest of his
life. I’ve seen what those guys at Morimoto can do and he’s lucky we showed up
in time to rescue his ass. And this is the gratitude we get?”
The other students nod, a solemn slow movement that sends chills up and down my
spine.
“We won’t openly fight with them if that’s what you want,” Percy continues.
“But we ain’t gonna take it lying down either. If they pick a fight with any of
our students, we’ll pay them back twice as hard!” He punches the wall for
emphasis and it’s a miracle there isn’t a hole in there after he’s done. “You
don’t want to mess with us, Yuy. You just stay out of our way and pretend you
didn’t see or hear anything and we’ll all graduate with smiles and all that
shit. Got it?”
Heero gets it all right but he says nothing, only looking stonily ahead, his
hands clenching into tight fists as the students say their goodbyes, wishing me
luck before walking past him. Soon enough, it’s only the eight of us left with
a sniffling Kamui, who’s been crying his poor heart out in misery. Talk about
putting a damper on the festivities. We can’t even look at each other and an
uneasy silence descends on us. Finally, Dorothy breaks the silence and says in
an even tone.
“It’s inevitable.” She rises to her feet and slips into her jacket, a small and
almost mysterious smile on her lips. If I didn’t know any better I’d say she’s
enjoying this whole thing. Man, she freaks me out sometimes. “We’ve always had
a rivalry with the other schools, didn’t you think this was bound to happen
someday? We’ve just got to be on guard that’s all.”
“Like fighting’s going to do anything,” Relena replies angrily, glaring at
Dorothy coldly. “You’re just like them! Go on and fight if you want…!”
“I’m not going to get my hands dirty,” Dorothy says, standing her ground and
eyeing Relena levelly. Her smile becomes a smirk. “But I won’t allow anyone to
walk all over me either. If I happen to pass any student from either school
that upsets me, I’ll fight if I have to. That’s all. Ready, Wufei?”
We all gawk at her in stunned silence, unable to believe she had said such a
thing and yet knowing that she speaks the truth. None of us want to be seen or
considered cowards and we do have our pride at stake. But is it worth losing
everything we’ve worked so hard for over the years just for a chance to get
even with a bunch of assholes with a huge chip on their shoulders? I don’t
know. I really don’t know and I as meet Heero’s eyes across the room, I can
tell that he’s just as torn and as confused as I am.
Just what the hell are we supposed to do now?
~End Period Thirty-Six~