Blood, Sweat and Tears Part 8
On her drive back home, Dorothy's cell phone rang. Opening the silver flip and pressing the receiver to her ear, she greeted, "Hello."
"I certainly hope that you know what you're doing," Zechs's voice replied warily. "I just received a pretty irate call by Heero just now. I doubt that I need to get into my own concerns at having those two in such a close proximity of each other on a daily basis."
Chuckling deeply, the team owner continued to navigate through the streets of Pittsburgh with ease using only one hand. "I know exactly what I am doing," she answered reassuringly. "They'll either learn to actually get along or kill each other in the process. Either way, the problem will sort itself out. You know as well as I that their camaraderie on the field is vital to the team's success."
There was a small sigh on the other line before the team coach said, "Of course. And this does force them to spend more time together. I suppose that I have to admit that you were right on this one-as risky a move as it is."
As she pulled to a stop at the red traffic light, Dorothy grinned, "It'll all work out, Zechs. Just have a little faith. They can't stay angry with each other forever."
It was Zech's turn to chuckle deeply. "Time will tell," he smirked on his end.
* * * * * *
Wufei, Trowa and Mueller were sitting together at one of the small, round tables of Murray's Bar. Speaking quietly amongst themselves, the lot tried to guess the reason for their team captain's phone call requesting that the meet up somewhere that evening.
"Considering he wanted to meet in a bar on a practice night, I can't imagine that it'd be terribly good news," Trowa thought aloud before taking a sip from his nonalcoholic drink. "Did either of you manage to get anything more out of him than his 'Murray's. Eight o'clock' before he ended the call?"
A deep frown fell on Wufei's face and he sighed deeply, "No. That was the same call that I got." Mueller nodded his head that he heard no differently. "He stuck around the stadium for a while after today's practice. I wonder if he had a meeting with Zechs or Howard that might have pissed him off."
Chewing on the inside of his lip in thought, Mueller threw in, "He was pretty ticked at Maxwell for his stunts at practice. It's a lot of work trying to keep up with that guy. Last thing we need is some hotshot that shows off like that. It's not good for the morale."
The discussion ended when the trip spotted Heero entering and heading straight for the bar. Taking up the bottle of beet that the bartender gave to him, the quarterback quickly found his friends and headed toward them. As he removed his leather coat, he greeted, "Thanks for showing on such short notice."
"No problem," Trowa replied. Sitting back in his seat, he watched his discontented captain for a moment before asking, "So what's going on that you needed to meet with us here? From the sound of your voice when you called, it seemed pretty urgent."
Finishing a long swig from his beer, Heero wiped his bottom lip with the back of his hand and peered through his long bangs. "Dorothy ordered that Maxwell and I are going to be living together from now until the end of the season." Three pairs of wide eyes and slack jaws were his immediate response.
After a long pause, Mueller exclaimed, "You're shitting me!" Reaching for his beer once more, the quarterback shook his head grimly. His hands waving in the air, the dark-haired young man cried, "Why!? When the hell is that supposed to happen?"
With a long sigh, Heero answered, "Because she thinks that it'll help us communicate. She wants it finished before the end of this coming weekend. The plans have already been made so that he and Quatre will be moving into my place since they need to be under the same roof, too." Removing his cell from his jacket pocket, he accessed the speaker mode and muttered, "There's more."
Lightly pressing the replay button on the side of the phone, Dorothy's greeted, "Hello, boys. I asked Heero to get the three of you together so you could all hear this message directly. Knowing what good friends you all are, I thought it would be a good idea to have you assist Maxwell and Winner in the moving process."
Wufei groaned deeply, only for the recorded voice to snap, "Knock it off, Chang! You're going to cooperate whether you like it or not." Straightening, the Chinese receiver blinked his wide eyes. "That's better," the tone changed to hint to a bright smile.
After a light clearing of a throat, Dorothy concluded, "Now, no need to mention that this was my idea since I know that you all would have done this simply out of the goodness of your hearts for a fellow teammate. Have a good night, gentlemen. Hugs and kisses."
Trowa was covering his mouth with his glass to hide the laughter that he was fighting back as Heero put the cell phone away. Wufei and Mueller, on the other hand, looked ready to spit nails. "Devil woman," the Chinese athlete grumbled. "Now we're being forced into spending some bonding time with that prick."
Just as the words left him, his dark eyes widened and turned to the heated glare that the Latin center was boring down on him. Quickly retrieving his drink, the raven-haired young man muttered a half-hearted apology.
Shaking his head, Trowa dropped what he wanted to say to Wufei and looked back to Heero to inquire, "Have you told Lady Une about all of this?"
Quickly finishing his mouthful of beer, the quarterback shouted, "That's another thing that's pissing me off! She thinks it's a great idea! And to add insult to injury, she is having a new lock installed to Duo's room 'to make him feel more comfortable after everything that happened' at the party!" Trowa was not nearly quick enough to cover his laugh the second time around and earned a fierce, cobalt glare.
Clearing his throat, the center grinned sheepishly, "Sorry, Heero. But, you know that Lady Une does whatever it takes to make everyone feel safe in that home. I know you wouldn't pull another stunt like the one you did at the party again, but it wouldn't blame me if Duo was a bit leery to be staying under the same roof with you. Once bitten twice shy."
"Yea, yea, yea," Heero muttered into the top of his beer bottle. "Thank God Quatre's going to be staying with us, too. Otherwise, I'd be hanging by a tall limb on a short rope right about now." Meeting the emerald gaze across from him, he asked, "How the hell did those two end up being friends, anyway? They don't have very much in common."
As he lowered his glass from his mouth, Trowa answered, "Quatre said that they went to the same high school in Chicago. Duo came to his aid their freshman year when some upperclassmen were harassing him. They've been practically inseparable since."
Mueller blinked in surprise at having even that much information on the running back. "I never thought of him to be the type to do something like that for another person," he admitted aloud. "I just assumed him to be one of the school bullies with his personality."
Trowa reminded with a small smile, "I told you that there's a lot more to Maxwell than what he lets on." As he folded his arms, he addressed the quarterback, "And I agree with Dorothy that your living together is a great idea. You certainly would never suggest getting together with Duo unless it's at practice or an event that involves the team."
Leaning into the table a bit, the Latin football player smirked, "You might actually like the guy."
"Fat chance," Heero huffed before finishing off his drink. Looking over his shoulder, he raised a hand to the bartender to have another bottle ready. "No offense, Trowa," he said as he looked back to the center, "but you have a way of finding something good in everybody. So, I'm still not sold on the idea that Maxwell is that likable." Mueller and Wufei nodded their agreement to the sentiment.
His smile only growing, Trowa shrugged, "We'll see."
* * * * * *
"Can't believe I didn't read the fine print on that damned contract before I signed my life away," Duo grumbled as he finished taping another box closed. "Serves me right for jumping at the money without thinking there'd be a catch."
Quatre bit his bottom lip and hummed a weak affirmative without breaking in his sorting through the drink glasses. His back straightening, the running back looked over to his agent with wide violet eyes. "You knew!" Duo shouted. "You saw that she could just add on any little rule to that contract without my being able to stop it!"
With a wince, the blonde Arab replied quietly, "Well... I do remember seeing it before you signed." His friend's mouth opened widely in preparation to shout something and he raised his hands defensively to stop him.
A small squeak escaped Quatre's throat and small beads of sweat sparkled on his brow as he explained in a rush, "Just about every team owner has that in their contract in case something should come up. But they don't normally ever use that power! How the hell was I supposed to know that it would come into play like this!?"
The red was slowly subsiding from Duo's face as he forced a deep and calming breath. Sagging a bit, he looked to the next box that needed to be filled. "All right," he finally sighed deeply. "You're off the hook for that one."
Quatre released the breath he had been holding and smiled. Shaking his head, he stated, "Listen, there's no sense in dwelling on what can't be changed. Besides, in addition to the millions you're already making this season, we'll earn another hundred thousand from selling this place to go towards the kids and your new facility."
Opening the next cabinet over the sink, Duo began to remove the glasses inside and nodded, "Very true. Every bit helps with feeding eight little mouths." As he began wrapping a glass in tissue paper, he frowned deeply, "Hopefully, we'll have the move finished before the weekend even gets here so that I can get out there. Solo said that Hope is coming down with a cold. I hate being away whenever any the kids are sick."
"We'll do everything we can to get you out there to see her," the agent reassured with a small grin. "At the rate we're going now, it should be pretty easy to be finished before the weekend. Luckily we never travel with a lot of things."
When the doorbell rang, the two friends looked at each other in question. Together, they headed from the kitchen and towards the front door. Much to their surprise, they found Heero, Trowa, Wufei and Muller waiting on the front porch.
The Latin center stepped forward first and smiled, "Quatre. Duo. We thought that you might need some help with moving. Just point us wherever you need us." His teammates just remained quiet behind him, forced and tight smiles spreading on their faces.
Under the strict rules that the upstairs was off limits, Heero and his friends were set to work in the living room and dining room. Quatre and Duo moved back into the kitchen to wrap up in there. Smiling widely, the blonde said, "Well, this was certainly a pleasant surprise. The fact that we'll be able to move a good chunk of what we have tonight will be a huge help."
"Even if they're doing this against their will," the braided young man snorted. "With the exception of Trowa, I doubt they're all doing this just because they want to." He sighed, "But, if it gets me to Hope and the others this weekend, I'll take it."
The packing continued in silence for a time before Quatre closed the box he had filled. Taping the flaps closed, he frowned deeply, "Just promise me that you won't make any comments about the place when we get there. I doubt that Heero is living modestly and I don't want you flying off the handle about his family's home. His parents once lived there, too, remember."
With a gasp, Dup paused in wrapping another glass. Gazing over with wide eyes, the running back shook his head, "You sting me, Quat. You really think that I wouldn't have enough tack to make a comment about his family's home? You ought to know me better than that."
* * * * * *
Later that night...
"It's a fucking palace!" Duo exclaimed as he as Quatre pulled into the long driveway that wrapped around the large estate. "What the hell do you need all of this for!?"
Growling deeply, his agent took a hand off the wheel to slug him hard in the shoulder. "Knock it off," he hissed. "Remember what we were saying about tack earlier? I sweat to Allah if you so much as hint anything like that around Heero you're living with him on your own."
Lightly rubbing his shoulder with a wince and a small 'ow,' the running back smiled sheepishly, "Sorry, man. I just wasn't expecting something like this." He raised a hand and vowed, "Nothing more like that, I promise." Satisfied at that, Quatre stopped the car alongside the others that they had followed onto the property.
Heero opened the trunk to his car and asked without looking at his new houseguests, "Did you want to start setting things up now, or just store everything for now?"
"We'll just store things for now so we can call it a night," Quatre answered. It was getting late and he knew that the others would want to get all the sleep they could for practice the following day. "There will be plenty of time to go through everything once it's all here." Duo just nodded his agreement to the suggestion and started taking up boxes from the back of their car.
Opening the large, white garage beside the estate, Heero turned the lights on within and led the lot to the back storage area. Blinking his wide, violet eyes, Duo gazed around the high ceilings and thought to himself how just the garage was big enough to fit the whole first floor of the house he was leaving. All around, there were cars and motorcycles covered with tarps.
Finally, when they reached the empty space in the back, Heero announced, "There should be plenty of room here for everything." The group lowered their boxes and headed back out for another armload.
It was the same every night for the following four nights. That Thursday evening, Quatre sighed deeply to himself as he gazed around the empty space that was once the living room. Duo climbed down the stairs with a suitcase in each hand and a bright smile on his face. "My flight leaves in two hours, so I better get going."
Quatre turned to him with an extended hand. "Have a good flight. Tell the others I send my love," he grinned. "And be sure to call as soon as you get in." He laughed when Duo ignored the offered hand to pull him into a tight hug instead.
"Yes, mom," the running back chuckled deeply as he pulled back. Taking up his luggage once more, Duo headed for the door with a wink over his shoulder.
Walking through the house just to be sure that nothing was left behind, Quatre locked up and headed down the front steps for the last time. As he passed the 'Sold' sign at the bottom of the front yard, the blonde Arab made his way to his car and gave one last look back on the cozy house.
In less than an hour, Quatre was driving up to his new residence. Much as he would never have said anything aloud, he had to agree with Duo that the white-pillared Yuy household was very much over the top to have housed only a small family at one point. Still, how people lived was their choice. And, having come from a very wealthy family, himself, he certainly did not have any right to judge.
Only waiting a moment for Heero to answer his knock on the front door, he smiled warmly when the door opened and gave a friendly 'hello.' The quarterback's cobalt eyes scanned the front porch as he frowned, "Maxwell's not with you?"
His smile growing, the agent replied, "No. It's just me for the weekend. Duo is spending the weekend with his family."
Blinking in surprise at that, Heero stepped aside so that his houseguest to enter. "Come on in. I'll introduce you to Lady Une and give you a tour around the house," he offered quietly as he closed the door.
* * * * * *
Hilde smiled as she brushed back the sweat-soaked bangs from the ailing little girl cured in a tight bundle of blankets. "Hope," she whispered, "Are you awake, darling?" A pair of brown eyes blinked open in answer as the four-year-old sat up from where she was lying on her side in her bed. The young woman's smile grew and she said softly, "I have a surprise for you."
Slowly rising from the side of the bed, Hilde walked towards the opened door. Peeking his braided head in, Duo grinned, "Hey, munchkin."
With a sharp gasp, Hope's eyes widened. "D-Duo," she breathed with a wide smile of her own. As the running back quickly approached, she opened her arms to wrap them tightly around his neck when he bent down to hold her close. A few tears of relief rolled down the child's face as she was rocked back and forth gently.
Kicking off his sneakers, Duo climbed into the bed so that he was sitting up with his back against the headboard. Lightly kissing the little girl's head when she rested it on his chest, he whispered, "It's gonna be all right, little one." Sighing softly, Hope nuzzled up against him. Almost instantly, she drifted off to a peaceful slumber. With a wide yawn, the running back closed his own eyes to welcome some much needed sleep following his very busy week.
From her post in the doorway, Hilde chuckled deeply to herself and shook her head. Knowing better than to argue with her friend that he might get sick himself, she just turned off the main light in the room and closed the door after her.
TBC...
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