Xenophobic Part 4
Noin poured over her chemistry book, trying to absorb as much as was humanly possible as quickly as possible. She couldn't believe she already had a quiz coming up. It was the end of the first week, which only consisted of two school days. It was unbelievable that she had work for the weekend. It was an ominous start to a semester that proved to be hectic enough as it was.
"Miss Noin?" She looked up to see Alex, the freshman she'd toted around last semester peering through her door shyly.
"Please, just call me Noin." The boy shifted nervously, and Noin suppressed a sigh. He had taken a shine to her, and even more to Zechs, which was probably who he was looking for.
She decided to take a stab at it. "He's not here."
"Huh? Oh... Do you know where he is?"
"Where who is?"
"Oh! Mr. Merquise!"
Zechs smiled and looked back at Mueller. "Why can't you be as polite as him?"
"Because I'm not a kiss ass like he is."
Alex turned a few shades of red, and Zechs threw back his head and laughed.
Noin just shook her head in amusement. "What brings you my way, Zechs?"
"I was wondering if I could trouble you for a game of chess."
She looked at her book in dismay. "I'd love to, but I really should study..."
"Just one. It's only Saturday. You'll have tonight and tomorrow to slave away at it. You shouldn't overwork yourself."
She smiled induldgently. "Well, if it's only one..."
"Can we watch?" Alex queried.
"Don't you kids have other things you could attend to?"
His tone was light, but Alex hung his head as if Zechs had yelled at him. "Yes sir."
Mueller mouthed the words 'kiss ass' at him, and Alex scowled and pushed past him, Mueller trailing along behind at a leisurely pace.
Zechs moved into the room fully, closing the door behind him. "I think our freshmen like us a little too much."
"They're good kids, Zechs. They just want someone to look up to."
"You have to admit, though, it gets a little annoying at times."
"It can," she conceded. "But then, I remember a young girl who trailed her mentor into the war and all the way across the Earth Sphere to college."
Zechs smiled in remembrance. "You're a different girl now, Noin. A stronger one."
Noin set up the glass chess set, giving Zechs the white pieces. "Yes, I am." She stared contemplatively at the board, and for a little while, they made their moves in silence.
"But I'd still follow you straight into the heart of hell if only so you didn't have to go alone."
Zechs looked as if he had something to say, but after a long pause, he merely fingered his rook and slid it across the board.
Noin took the piece with her knight.
He still had to work things out for himself, but Noin refused to let herself be forgotten. She would just have to be patient.
~*~
Trowa leaned against the wall, his observant eyes taking in the multiple conversations going at once. Heero was currently engaged in two of them, swapping back and forth as the situation called for it.
It felt wrong to be watching him like this. He had never lost his observation skills, but when the war ended, he'd stopped using them to pry into other people's lives. He watched people for personal reasons, not to file reports and discuss his findings with others.
His scholarship was tentative, though, and Une was more than capable of revoking it. He had little doubt it would be if he were to refuse.
He noted that Noin and Zechs were both missing from the Monday lunch gathering, and he assumed their schedules must conflict. He was glad for that. Heero was bound to recognize one of them. He'd yet to meet them, and Trowa would have to do what he could to keep that from happening.
Quatre spotted him from his seat across the table from Duo, and their eyes locked for a moment before he continued sipping at his customary cherry coke.
His eyes drifted back towards Heero, who was heatedly arguing the merits of nuclear power as a safe and reliable source of energy with Hilde, who tended to have a bit of a green thumb which reared its head whenever the environment came up in conversation. Duo was watching with an amused expression, not getting involved for once. Relena would, at random intervals, interject with some political wisdom on the idea of alternative power, and Heero would be compelled to address her before continuing his argument with Hilde.
In his observing, he'd lost track of Quatre, so when the smaller blonde spoke up, it almost startled him. "Are you feeling alright?"
"Hmm?"
"You look upset."
Trowa hesitated before answering. "I'm just thinking."
"Can I ask you something?"
"Of course."
"Are you free tonight?"
Trowa blinked, losing track of the conversations he was watching. "Uh, yeah. After this, I don't really have any plans. What did you have in mind?"
"Well," Quatre scratched his head in thought, "I have a little bit of free time after this. I was wondering if you'd like to practice a little."
"I don't see why not."
Quatre beamed. "Meet me in the music room?"
"I'll be there."
"Great! What time?"
Trowa turned his attention back to the group, but it looked like they were about done.
He looked at Quatre, the corners of his mouth turning upwards. "How about now? I could use a little music to take my mind off of things."
Quatre smiled.
~*~
"Do the research, Hilde. It has been proven time and time again."
Hilde shook her head defiantly as she turned to head for the dorms.
Duo grinned and waved, and Heero huffed a little.
"You can't just shake off years of research because it doesn't agree with what you think is true."
Duo patted Heero on the back consolingly. "Give her a break. She's an environmentalist and an Engineering major. She's obviously full of contradictions."
Heero stopped at the path where they usually went their separate ways. "Hey Heero, you want to come back to my dorm room? I just got the new Grand Theft Auto game, and I've been dying to play it."
Heero shot him an incredulous look. "They still make those things?"
Yeah! They're tons of fun. I like to get my wanted rating to military status and then blow them all up."
Heero's pleasant mood faltered. "It's not really my thing."
"Oh," he replied dejectedly. "Well, if you'd rather not..."
Heero kicked himself mentally and tried again. "It's not that I don't want to hang out with you. I just don't think that game is for me."
Duo brightened a little. "Well, I have other games, too."
"Let's go then. You can show me your library. Err... and then tell me about them. I've never played any real video games before." Sure, he'd used tons of simulations before. They were mandatory for his training. Somehow though, he didn't think it was the same thing.
Duo just stopped and stared. "I can't believe it! You've never played a video game before? You're... you're... wait. How old are you?"
"25," Heero obliged.
"You're 25 years old!" Duo continued as if there had been no pause in his rant. "How is it even possible that you've never played a video game? Did you grow up in a box?"
Heero's look turned pensive. "You could say that. Odin wasn't one for normal forms of entertainment."
"What the hell did you guys do, then? Sit around a campfire and sing cumbaiya?" Duo threw his hands up in exasperation. "And who is this Odin character?"
Heero couldn't help but smirk at how flustered over this he was. "My legal guardian. I guess you could say my Dad."
"You know, my lack of knowledge about you is severely impeding my ability to rant properly at you."
"It's amusing."
"Amusing?!" The steam left Duo, and he crossed his arms, pouting. "You are seriously evil, 'Ro."
Heero smirked. "I try."
~*~
Their duet was once again, nearly flawless, and Trowa found it easy to get lost in the music they created together.
Quatre was extremely pleased with it, too, if his huge grin was any indication. "It feels so good to have a partner!" Quatre exclaimed when their piece came to a close. "The music has so much more depth to it."
Trowa couldn't agree more, but once the music was done, the thoughts found their way back into his mind, and his expression grew serious. "We've known each other for a year and a half, but we've never really had a chance to talk at length, have we?"
Quatre frowned. "No, not really. I wouldn't be adverse to it, though." He tried to look Trowa in the eyes, but the taller man was staring at his instrument. "Why, what's on your mind?"
"This may seem like a question straight from left field, but what do you think of the war?"
Quatre took a minute to think about his answer. No matter what angle he wanted to take, though, there seemed to be just too much explaining to give a concise response. "That's a complicated question, Trowa. What aspect of the war, exactly?"
He kept his eyes averted. "What do you think about the soldiers who fought in it?"
Quatre couldn't follow his train of thought. He meant it when he said the question seemed out of left field. "Is this about Headmaster Une?"
Trowa hesitated. It would be easy to lie, but for some reason, he didn't feel like he could do that to Quatre, despite their not being very close. "Not exactly." He wasn't even sure why he wanted this answer from him, but something compelled him to get it.
It was obvious Trowa didn't want to talk about his reasons for asking, so Quatre relented and attempted to answer the question as best he could. "I have a lot of compassion for them. People have many reasons to fight, but ultimately, they lose more than they gain. I think soldiers lose a lot of their humanity in the face of the violent acts that happen in war." He paused, considering his next words very carefully. "I was involved in the war effort, myself. Not directly, but I... did a little tactical work for some friends. It was something I believed very strongly in," he said quietly. "Everyone was affected by the war in some way, whether they were directly involved or not."
Trowa nodded. He knew that better than anyone. "Did your father know?" At Quatre's look of guilt, he shook his head. "I'm sorry, that was too personal of a question. It's none of my business."
Quatre smiled, though it didn't sparkle like his others did. "No, it's alright Trowa. I'm glad we're able to talk like this, even if it is a morose topic." He took a deep breath. "No, my father didn't know. He knew I was interested in helping the Alliance, but he was adamantly against it. He is a pacifist, and he almost lost his life for it countless times."
"Thank you."
"For what?" Quatre asked, a puzzled expression gracing his fair features.
"For answering my questions. I gave you no good reason to."
Quatre waved his explanation off. "The way I see it, you'll tell me your reasons when the time is right to do so. What right do I have to question that?"
For the first time since his visit with Une three days prior, Trowa's smile was genuine.
~*~
Wufei was a quiet sort of man. When he spoke, it wasn't just to hear himself speak. If it made him difficult to talk to, it wasn't his problem. He'd made his current friends completely by accident - right place at the right time, or so they told him - and he was content with that. He'd pushed Duo out of the way of a car full of drunken students that had swerved, and ever since, he'd been considered one of the group. Since then, he'd settled into a comfortable companionship that didn't require him to say more than he felt like saying.
It's not like he never spoke, but he tended to use his words sparingly, and those who weren't considered to be core members of the group generally just didn't speak to him at all.
So when Relena Darlian made a beeline for him in the political science department, well away from the safety of Kelby's and the rest of the gang, he raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"I'm glad I ran into you."
He grew more confused. "Because?"
"I need a partner for the presentation in Khushrenada's class. I was wondering if you were already paired up or not."
Oh, that. Wufei frowned. Group work was not something he enjoyed. "Not yet."
She sighed in relief. "Good. I was hoping to partner up with someone I know. I'd hate to get stuck with someone who couldn't pull their own weight."
Wufei eyed Relena for a moment, and much to his chagrin, he knew he wouldn't find a better partner. Not with the group of losers that were in their class. He nodded. "Alright. I'm busy right now, but we can meet up and talk about it tomorrow, okay?"
Relena beamed.
~*~
Sylvia smiled indulgently, her features tired. "I understand, Heero, but you cannot be transferred to another class. There aren't any classes to be transferred to."
Heero sighed heavily, slumping back in his chair, his expression pensive. "Absolutely nothing I can do at all?"
She peered at him over her desk and had the urge to be close enough to pat his hand. She knew from his sealed records just who he was; she'd had to know to take on her position as his councilor. Seeing the unease she knew he felt written across his face was harder than she had thought it would be.
Since his arrival at ESUNU, she'd only seen Heero Yuy a handful of times, but working in an office setting as she did, it wasn't hard to hear the mention of his name in hushed conversations between the higher ups, though Heero was not what they referred to him as. It was none of her business, but she frowned on them referring to him by his old codename, Zero. As if he weren't more than what he'd been forced to be in the war. If they'd only seen the true pain and regret on that first meeting between them.
If they could only see him now.
The light came through the blinds in thin slates, illuminating the boy in front of her with slices of light. He looked worn, and though his features were young, the swirling in his downcast eyes made him seem much older. She truly felt for him.
"I wish there was something I could do." She meant so much more by that than just his class schedule.
"It's all right. I appreciate your time." He levered himself up out of the chair with a defeated air about him, and she was compelled to speak further.
"Heero," she said softly, and he stopped, not fully turning to look at her, "If you need anything, anything at all, come see me, okay?"
"I will. Thank you, Sylvia." And he was gone.
She doubted he'd ever take her up on the offer, but she couldn't help but hope he would. Her eyes fell to the picture of her grandfather, and she smiled ruefully.
"I'm trying, Grandpa."
She shook her head, turning back to her computer and getting back to work. It was no time to slack off, after all.
~*~
Dorothy Catalonia smiled to herself, her footsteps echoing loudly in the deserted hallway. Treize was going to allow her to give her presentation the way she wanted, and she couldn't help but feel a little smug about it.
She flicked her long blond hair back, thinking about the look that would be on Relena's face when she gave her presentation on the necessity of war.
Her low heels continued to click angrily across the tile when she saw a very familiar head of brown hair buried in worn hands.
Junior year was shaping up to be a pretty good one, indeed.
Her eyes flicked this way and that, assuring that they truly were alone before nearly purring, "Zero."
Sharp blue eyes rose with a start to lock onto hers, and she grinned maliciously. "I wouldn't have expected to find you in my little corner of the Earth Sphere. Tell me, Zero," she emphasized the name and received the little crease in his eyebrows as a reward, "what brings you to ESUNU?"
His eyes narrowed dangerously, and she had to stifle a chuckle. Still serious.
He tightened his jaw and chewed on something for a moment before nearly spitting, "What brings you out of the wreckage that was Romefeller?"
She laughed airily. "Romefeller is more intact than you might think." She let him digest that for a moment before going on, "I just wanted to say hello to an old friend, but alas, I have much to do and little time to do it."
Heero looked as if he would speak, but just continued his brooding silence. "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me." She grinned widely. "But that may not be the case with some of the people you've been mingling with."
She could see the shock register on his face; could almost feel the gears grinding in his head trying to figure out if her statement was a true one, and if it was, who he might be compromised by.
She left him sitting there with his questions, chuckling lightly all the way back to the dorms.
~*~
It took Heero a while to wrap his head around the fact that he had the misfortune to be attending the same school as Dorothy Catalonia; the girl with forked eyebrows who knew exactly who he was.
She'd keep his secret alright, but it would come at a cost. He just wasn't sure what that cost was yet.
Her accusation of his friends weighed heavy on his mind. He ran over their faces in his mind, but he was sure he would have recognized someone from the war. He remembered the vague familiarity he'd felt when he'd first met Trowa, but he still couldn't make out what, if anything, it meant. Had he missed something?
He stood up, looking at the fading of light that was playing over the scarcely populated campus. It was getting late, but he wasn't sure that he was ready to head home just yet. There was this lingering feeling of loneliness hanging over him, but he refused to pay it any attention.
He headed in the general direction of the quad, killing time until he returned to his quiet apartment. In the distance, he saw a jogging figure with hair that looked suspiciously like a long braid, and sure enough, within minutes, he'd come face to face with Duo Maxwell.
He was panting slightly, his face flushed. "Hey 'Ro!"
Heero still wasn't used to the nickname, and a pleased smile came to his face. "Running from something?"
"Complacency," he replied with a grin. "Care to join me?"
He wasn't dressed for a jog, his blue jeans just a little too constricting, but he found himself nodding in agreement anyway. He let Duo set the pace and they ran in companionable silence for a while, Duo leading the way around the campus.
It was freeing. Heero could feel his muscles heat up, and though he was far from inactive, with all that he's been doing lately, he hadn't really had much time for exercising. The wind whipped across his face, clearing his mind and allowing him to come completely into the here and now; just a couple of guys letting off some steam and stretching much needed muscles.
He didn't really lose his breath, but he was breathing a touch heavier by the time Duo called a halt. They had run for nearly an hour and Heero had barely broke a sweat.
Duo was panting again, albeit still not as hard as a normal person would be, which made Heero wonder. Duo was definitely in good shape; he had lean muscle and not an ounce of fat, but it took more than a little running to build up that kind of endurance.
Could he be who Dorothy was talking about?
He squashed that thought, remembering with a pang what Duo thought of the military in general.
"I can't believe you kept up! Look at you!" He exclaimed in a rush of breath, "You're not even sweating!" He laughed a little incredulously.
"What can I say? I don't like complacency, either."
Duo grinned. "Fair enough." He smelled his shirt and made a face. "I think I need a shower." Heero chuckled. "What are you doing out here so late, anyway?"
Heero frowned. "I needed to see the councilor about a class."
Duo smirked, amusement lacing his words. "You couldn't get out of Khushrenada's class, eh?"
Heero turned wide eyes on him, and Duo just chuckled. "I hear you're not the only one protesting his takeover of the Freshmen classes."
Heero shook his head. "The man is insufferable."
Duo glowered. "You're telling me. I'm sure he remembers me." He grinned a bit evilly. "I doubt anyone in that class could forget little ol' me."
Heero raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"
"Let's just say I gave him a run for his money."
Heero refrained from comment.
"Want to hit the showers with me? The locker room is still open."
"Sure."
Duo grabbed two towels off the rack, tossing one at Heero. He caught it with ease and watched Duo retrieve some clothing from his locker.
"You play sports?"
"I've been known to join the track team from time to time, when it doesn't interfere with my schedule." Duo threw a pair of shorts and a tank top at him, and with his hands full, he wasn't quite able to grab them both and he ended up with a pair of shorts covering his head. Duo chuckled and just headed for the showers with Heero close behind.
It was one of those open tile showers with towers that held showerheads for mass use, and they each picked a side and stripped. Heero adjusted the water and stepped under the warm spray, completely unabashed by his nakedness.
Duo followed suit, though with a faint blush on his cheeks. Duo had showered in groups a few times before, but groups implied more than just one other person, and he found himself a little uncomfortable. Distracted, he moved under the spray when it was still too hot, and he yelped, quickly adjusting the temperature to a milder one.
Heero looked up at him, amusement plain on his face. His eyes lingered on the reddened skin for a long moment before turning back to his own spray.
Duo flushed further.
When Duo began to soap up, he realized Heero didn't have any, and when he was done, he slid it across the floor in his direction.
"You dropped the soap, Heero."
Heero grinned, kneeling down to pick up the offering. Duo's gaze stayed on him.
Heero's eyes locked with Duo's, and for a long minute, the world seemed to stop.
Then Heero went back to his shower and the moment was gone.
It wasn't much longer, and Duo donned his clothes, ringing out his dripping braid. He hadn't bothered to unravel his hair; it was too much of a hassle to deal with without a good amount of conditioner.
When Heero was dressed, Duo took the towel from him and tossed them into the dirty bin.
"Do they make you take group showers in the dorm, too?"
Duo cracked a smile. "No, thank god. There are stalls. There are a few choice people in the dorm that I'd prefer not to see naked." He shuddered, and Heero wasn't sure if he was faking it or not. "What do you say you join me on these runs a little more often?"
Heero smiled. "I'd love to."
"You're not that bad of a runner yourself." Duo turned a critical eye on him. "Maybe you should try out for track."
"I'll keep that in mind."
Duo tried to smile around a yawn, but it ended up just looking comical. Heero chuckled at him. "You should get some rest. I need to be getting home, too."
"Okay. See you in the morning, 'Ro."
Heero walked home, the air chilling his skin and tried to think about anything but the soft run of water running over the curve of Duo's hip.
This wasn't part of the plan. It couldn't be allowed. Especially not with Duo's attitude towards what he didn't know Heero had been.
It wasn't plausible. But it didn't stop him from remembering the pink tinge to Duo's skin when his eyes lingered for just a moment too long.
TBC...
To The Next Chapter
Back to hostilecrayon's Fanfictions Page