Blood, Sweat and Tears Part 5

The months rolled by and before long, it was mid-May and warming quickly. Back in his office, Zechs was shifting through his paperwork of plays to use on the field. Just the week prior, he had made his calls to his team- or his team's agents in Duo's case- and announced that this was to be their first day of spring training.

At the knock on his door, he called, "Come in." Looking up when the door opened, he smiled widely and rose from his seat. "Trent, Howard," he greeted while extending his hand to them. "Good to see the two of you again. I hope that you have a good few months off."

The young defense coach grinned and was the first to reach the hand to shake it. "Good to see you too, Zechs. I've been anxious for training to start up again to get away from the in-laws. How are the wife and kids?"

"Just fine, thank you," the head coach answered. Turning his head and his freed hand over to the grey-haired man, he smirked, "And how are you, Pops?" It was an endearment that he and his team came up with for Howard when addressing him. It was also a name that was worn with pride.

While up there in years, the old man had been a part of the professional football scene for years and was one of the best offensive coaches out there. And there wasn't a person that knew or worked with him that didn't respect him.

Flashing a bright smile, Howard gave a firm handshake and replied, "Still here, amazingly. So, I guess that I can't complain too much." Zechs just chuckled deeply and gestured to the round table on the other side of the room. Together, the three men took their seats there along with a pen and notepad ready.

Howard sat back in his leather chair with a smirk as he asked, "I hear that you got to meet the new kid not long after he signed on. What's your take on him? Am I going to have to put him over my knee the way I had to for Chang and Mueller?"

At the mention of the rogue running back, Zechs sighed deeply, "I don't think he'll give you the chance, being the handful that he is. He and Heero came to blows just on their second meeting, so you'll have to keep an eye on the two of them."

Both Howard and Trent froze with wide eyes. "No shit?" the young defense coach blinked in shock. Looking over to his counterpart, he smiled sadly, "Good luck with that one, Pops. Heero's one of the most level-headed people that I've ever met. If that Maxwell was able to make him snap like that, you're in for a fun season."

Rubbing his chin in thought, Howard muttered, "Sounds like I'll have to get a bigger paddle for that kid." Through his glasses, he fixed the head coach with a stern gaze and stated clearly, "I expect a full report of whatever details you know regarding that fight later. I can't have our quarterback and running back at each other's throats when they'll be working so closely together on the field."

Zechs nodded firmly, "I'll be more than happy to share that with you." Appraising both of his assistant coaches, he announced, "But for now, let's just go over what we have set up for today's training before the team starts showing up." More than happy with that suggestion, Trent and Howard got ready to out their pens to paper.

*   *   *   *   *   *

"You look like the cat that got its fill of cream," Wufei smirked to his tall friend and teammate when he entered the busy locker room. Trowa's small smirk only grew at the statement and he took a seat beside the Chinese wide receiver on the bench.

Opening his duffle bag to shift through his gear, the Latin center commented, "Well, that would be a pretty accurate way of describing it." When Wufei paused in strapping on his leg guards to meet his emerald eyes, Trowa supplied quietly, "Just becoming very acquainted with Quatre Winner."

Raising a dark eyebrow, the Chinese athlete frowned deeply, "Sleeping with the enemy? I'm surprised that you give him the time of day, let alone share your bed with him, considering who he's associated with."

At that, Trowa straightened and fixed his friend with a stern glare. "Quatre is hardly the enemy. That guilt by association crap doesn't float in this case. You got to meet him at that party, so you know better than that."

In recalling the blonde agent's demeanor at the doomed get-together, Wufei had to give his teammate the benefit of the doubt. "I suppose," he finally agreed and continued to strap on his protective gear.

Heero entered the room and his teammates smiled and greeted their team captain with firm nods as he passed them on the way to his locker. Returning the gestures and quiet greetings to his comrades, he sat at his own bench and went about his preparation in silence as he always did. Wufei and Trowa watched from their spot across from their leader and shared a look that spoke of their concern.

The Japanese young man never was one that was easy to read. And today being the first time since the party that he and Duo would be anywhere near each other, it was hard to tell how he was holding up.

Despite how much they wanted to see how the quarterback was, neither young man was about to interrupt his ritual of setting up without interruption. Mueller and a few of the others all seemed to be thinking the same as they occasionally watched Heero with worried glances.

Before long, Howard entered the room to a round of cheers and applause from his offense team. Smiling widely, he raised his hand and grinned, "You're too kind. But sucking up like that won't get you off easy today." His eyes scanned the room and with a deep frown, he asked, "Where's Maxwell?"

Heero's cobalt eyes widened at the question and he took a good look around the other faces present for the first time since his arrival. Not one of those equally surprised and confused faces belonged to the braided running back. Sighing deeply, the old coach grumbled, "I'll worry about that one later. Let's get going. We have a busy day ahead." With that, he turned and led his team out of the locker room.

When they stepped outside, Trent's team was already there waiting. And on the opposite side of the field, Zechs was stationed in a tower a couple stories over the area to get a good view of everything that was going on.

Taking up a loudspeaker, the head coach announced, "All right, let's start with a warm-up jog in full gear for conditioning. Five laps around the first time. And take it easy. We don't want any injuries before the season even starts."

Given their orders, the team started to head out at a slow pace. Even though they were able to wear normal shorts and shirts in the cool air, the gear on them was not exactly light and it did not take much effort to break a sweat while jogging in it.

Just when the head of the pack was about to round the first corner of the rectangular field, Trent approached Howard and said, "I didn't see Maxwell in your group. Any word on why he's not here?"

Howard just shook his head, "No." The way that the single word was gritted out, the defensive coach winced and dropped the subject. The old man was not one to get frustrated easily. When he did, no one wanted to make the mistake of having that anger turned on them.

From behind them, the two men heard someone running up the walkway that led to the field from the locker room. Before they could turn back to see who was approaching, all that they could get a good look at was a widely swinging braid peeking out from under a shining, red helmet. Running at almost top speed, Duo was rounding the corner that his teammates had passed in no time and was quickly catching up to them.

The speed at which the running back was able to go in his full protective gear was staggering. Howard and Trent watched in stunned silence with wide eyes and opened mouths. Zechs was faring much the same as his folded arms fell limply to his sides.

When he caught up to his teammates, Duo never bothered to slow for a moment. "Pardon me!" he called as he made his way through the crowd. "Coming through!" Startled cries and yells filled the air and before long, the braided American was at the front of the group. Heero and Wufei gasped sharply when they were suddenly passed for the lead. "Care for a race, boys?" the running back smirked over his shoulder as he continued to charge down the sideline.

Growling deeply, Heero's eyes narrowed on his retreating target and he was off running. "Oh shit," Wufei muttered to himself. With Trowa right behind, he picked up his own pace. Before long, the entire team was chasing hard after the running back as fast as their legs could carry them.

By the time the third lap came around, Duo was still ahead by at least a whole half of a lap. Try as they might, his teammates couldn't close the gap any more than that for the remainder of the exercise.

At the end of his run, the braided young man slowed to a halt by Trent and Howard. Undoing the chin strap so he could remove his helmet, he cupped the side of his grinning mouth and called over to the other side of the field, "Come on, guys, you're almost there! You can do it! No pain, no gain!" Loud grumbles carried over from his teammates along with shouted of 'shut up!' and a variety of crude swears.

Zechs sprinted over across the field when the lagging members of his team passed. As he approached, he met the violet eyes that turned toward him. "Nice of you to show up, Maxwell. And what is the excuse for showing up late to your first day of training?" he asked with an irritated tone.

The whole time that he was speaking, the head coach noted the fact that the young man had barely broken a sweat and was quickly calming his breath. It was something quite remarkable considering the speed and distance that he had traveled with gear on.

Smiling brilliantly, Duo shrugged, "No excuse, really. I just like making an entrance." Lightly nudging the taller young man in the arm, he winked, "Gotta make sure you know you got your money's worth." Gesturing to the others, he added, "Plus, I just helped show you that the others need some serious conditioning for better endurance."

Unable to argue with that one, Zechs swallowed the bitter pill roughly. In reality, he had thought that the remainder of the team would have faired better than they were. Changing the subject, he nodded to his staff and introduced, "Howard, Trent, I'm sure you've already guessed that this is Duo." He glanced to his running back and told him, " Duo, I'd like you to meet our defensive coach, Trent and our offensive coach, Howard."

His smile growing, the braided American extended his hand to the grey-haired man and said sincerely, "I know quite a bit about you and your history in the game, Howard. I'm looking forward to working with you."

At that, Howard smirked, "Well, your reputation precedes you as well, my boy." Taking the hand into his own, he squeezed and shook it firmly. When he lowered his arm, he fixed the young man with a stern gaze and warned, "I certainly hope that this will be the last time that you'll be late for one of these sessions. I don't tolerate tardiness."

Duo just smiled and raised his hand as he reassured him, "No problem. Like I said, I just wanted to make a good first impression." He moved to shake hands with an amused Trent in greeting and they exchanged a few friendly words.

Finally, Heero was the first to run into the scene, panting heavily and stumbling to a stop. Wufei, Trowa, Mueller and the remainder of the team all but collapsed when they came in not far behind. Only a few stragglers were still bringing up the rear.

Removing his helmet, the quarterback panted heavily as he glared daggers at the running back. "'m gonna... kill... that bastard," he mumbled. He raised a hand to wipe it across his sweat-soaked brow. Wufei and Trowa could only nod their heads in agreement behind him.

"Hey, gang," Duo waved excitedly to his teammates. The lot just grumbled back or gave the finger as they tried to catch their breath. Chuckling deeply, the braided young man just walked past the team captain and commented, "Looks like someone's gotten out of shape over the last few months."

Any desire to apologize for his actions went right out the window for Heero. Throwing down his helmet, he began to stalk after the American with a deep growl. Quickly regaining their composure, Wufei and Trowa tore off their own helmets and all but dove on top of him to hold him back. "Not here," the Chinese wide receiver hissed quietly in his friend's ear.

Reluctantly, Heero forced himself to calm and the arms securing him in place fell away. Once the center and wide receiver gave the Japanese athlete enough space, Howard approached. "I'm going to have to share a few words with you after practice," he informed quietly as not to have the rest of the team hear. "Zechs told me about your little stunt over the break."

'Just when this day couldn't get any better," the running back thought to himself. With a firm nod, he replied simply, "Yes, sir." Lightly patting him on the shoulder gear, the old man stepped away and took his place beside Zechs.

Gazing over his expectant team with a football in hand, the head coach announced, "Well, it looks as though we have a lot of work ahead of us if you're going to keep up your momentum through a whole game. For now, let's just run a few plays and go from there. First string players on the defense and offense teams line up at the fifty-yard line." [1] and [2]

Heero easily caught the ball when Zechs threw it to him and led the way onto the field, grateful to be able to get the chance to blow off some steam.

Five grueling hours later, the end of practice was announced with the head coach telling his team to hit the showers. Several relieved sighs and grunts filled the air from the worn lot. Even the second and third string players were put to work and were more than ready to call it quits for the day.

"Aw, man," Duo pouted as he removed his shining helmet to free his rope of hair from its confinement. While he looked a bit more worn compared to how he looked after his long sprint at the start of practice, he was still far better that most of his teammates. "And I was just getting started."

Beside him, Trowa grumbled, "Give them any ideas to make us keep going and I'll strangle you with that damned braid of yours." The running back just snickered and shook his head in amusement.

The team slowly made its way down into the long corridor beneath the stands to shed their clothes and gear in the locker room. Sighing deeply when he stepped under the warm spray of water, Wufei looked over torso-high wall of his stall as Heero stepped into the shower beside him. "I hate to admit it," the Chinese receiver began as he pushed back his loose hair, "but that Maxwell was something else out there."

Recalling how the braided running back managed to find the gaps in the tacklers nearly every time he was handed the ball, Heero had no choice but to agree. Once Duo had broken free of the wall of hands and bodies trying to stop him, he was nearly impossible to catch as he headed for the end zone. Unlike Alex, he was willing to take chances in hopes of breaking through even the smallest of openings.

Even Mueller kept his mouth closed in light of Maxwell's performance.

As he turned on his own water, Heero shrugged, "He was pretty good." Looking around at the other players that were getting cleaned, he asked, "Where is he, anyway?"

Trowa was passing by and stripping out of the towel around his waist as he headed to the stall behind the pair. "He prefers to shower alone. Quatre told me that it was actually in his contract that under no circumstances is he to be forced to shower with the rest of the team. Must be some sort of special treatment he's used to getting."

Wufei ran some shampoo through his raven-black hair and shrugged, "No hair off my back. The less time I have to spend around him, the better." Heero just chuckled deeply and nodded in agreement.

Not long later, the cleaned athletes headed out of their stalls with their towels wrapped back around their damp waists to head back to their lockers. Heading towards the steam-filled shower room, a fully dressed Duo smirked and nodded in acknowledgement to some of the glares that he was receiving along the way.

After changing into a new pair of blue jeans and a plain, white T-shirt, Heero took hold of his duffel bag and headed out into the hallway. Only making it a few steps towards the exit, a familiar voice called from behind, "Not so fast."

Wincing, the quarterback looked over his shoulder to the old man watching him with his arms folded. Raising a grey eyebrow, Howard smirked, "Didn't think you'd get away that easy, did you?"

His stomach dropping into the pit of his stomach, Heero's shoulder sagged. A small smirk tugged his own lips as he admitted, "Well... I was hoping." Chuckling deeply, the offensive coach gestured wit his head for his quarterback to follow. Without another word, the Japanese young man walked a few steps behind in their walk to Howard's office.

It was going to be a very long season. And it hadn't even started yet.

TBC...

[1] First string players are those that see the most action because they are used the most in the field for both the offense and the defense teams. Second and third string players usually sit the benches until there is an injured player, or just a change up in the line-up.

[2] The fifty-yard line is the ling that draws across center of the field. From there, on either side of the fifty, the numbers go backwards until you reach the one-yard line right before the end zone where a team scores if they enter it.

 

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