Life Goes On Part 16

"How did they take it?" Duo asked, nervously biting his lip as he stepped into the living room. Heero was sitting on the couch, closing the vidphone on the table before him following the call that he had just wrapped up.

Despite the fact that the neko knew it was only right his parents learn about his ordeal, he couldn't summon up the courage to tell them, himself. Understanding as always, Heero volunteered to be the bearer of bad news. It made Duo sick to his stomach to have put his lover in such a spot, but he couldn't even think of seeing Noin and Zechs hurt and worrying over him without getting emotional.

With a small smile, Heero patted the spot on the couch beside him. Opening his arms as his braided partner sat down, he leaned back to lie down while holding him close. Lightly running a hand over his neko's head, he answered quietly, "Pretty hard, but that's to be expected." When the boy in his arms tensed, the Japanese teenager quickly reassured him, "They're not mad at you. They're just very concerned, as any good parent would be."

Relaxing a bit at that, Duo purred deeply and leaned into the soothing touch as his violet eyes closed. "They're on the way up here with my Mom and Trent," Heero announced.

That bit was to be expected. No doubt they would want to stay close in case they could be of any help.... or in the event that the worst scenario did come about. In the event that Duo should end of dying. He shuddered at the thought.

"Don't," Heero urged gently but firmly before lightly kissing his lover's forehead. "We're going to get through this, remember," he reminded while squeezing the neko tighter to him. "Don't go on thinking the worst."

Biting his lip against the threat of tears, Duo nodded against the firm chest. Had it not been for Heero, he doubted that he would have been able to hold himself together following their findings after his last collapse.

Time was running out and Duo knew it. He knew that Heero knew it as well, but he never allowed himself to dwell on that enough to lose hope.

Ever since learning of the predicament they were facing, Heero never treated Duo any different than he had before- never treated him like he was dying in a means to keep thoughts from lingering on the possibility. The Japanese teenager helped with the morning clipping of nails and shaving of fur that was growing in, making jokes when appropriate to lighten the air during the tasks.

Had it not been for Heero, Duo knew that he would never have been able to cope with this new 'challenge', the word that his unruly-haired lover insisted of calling it since challenges could be overcome.

Lying on the couch together for a time, the braided neko finally looked to the clock hanging on the wall. With a regretful sigh, he muttered, "I have to get going for my last class." He leaned in for a soft kiss before reluctantly pushing himself up off his partner.

A smile tugged Heero's lips as he asked, "So what do you have planned as 'payment' for Solo to earn another session tonight?"

His heart lightening a bit at the game that they had made of the frat boy's expense, Duo turned back and smirked, "Decorating committee. We're starting with the main hall at Wayne tonight, so I'll tutor him as we work."

Sitting up on the couch, his lover grinned, "Nice choice. So we'll just fend for ourselves for dinner, then. I have a lot of preparing for my own finals that I need to work on." Lazily rising from the couch, Heero wrapped his arms around Duo's waist and kissed his lips gently. "Have fun tonight, okay?" he urged in a soft tone.

"I will," Duo nodded. Holiday decorating always did have a way of cheering him up. It was one of the things that he had looked forward to all week. Gathering up his backpack and swinging it over his shoulder, he grinned widely and stole one last kiss from his best friend before heading out of the apartment.

*   *   *   *   *   *

Solo stepped from the cafeteria, laughing along with Chad and Beth following their dinner while still discussing their fun the night prior in the park. Duo was still in class, but managed to get a note passed along to the blonde neko with his new assignment to earn his next lesson.

The Decorating Committee certainly was not an ensemble of the most popular students at school, but Solo actually found himself looking forward to it. So far, he had yet to be asked to do something that he didn't enjoy. They were all things that he would never have been able to dream partaking in while sealed away in his cell.

There were so many things to experience, to take in and be a part of. Even when he was a member of a fraternity, he never felt like a member of a team the way that he did when he was with Duo's friends.

His 'brothers' would never have participated in the fun things that Solo was doing now. They only enjoyed pranks and other 'games' that were always made to poke fun at whomever they had chosen to be their victim that day. And while he would never admit it to anyone else, he actually enjoyed hanging out with Duo's friends more than the fraternity brothers that had taken him in.

While he would never verbally say as much, he quickly learned that his actions did when he elected to sit with Chad, Beth and the others even in Duo's absence.

Once he was through the cafeteria doors, Solo stopped in his tracks. His laugher dying out, he swallowed hard at the sight of his less-than-thrilled 'brothers' glaring at him from the end of the hallway. In spotting the frat boys, Beth and Chad also paused with worried frowns.

Clearing his throat, Solo grinned to them, "You guys go on ahead. I'll meet you in the main hall in a few minutes."

Nervously biting her lip, Chad asked quietly, "Are you going to be all right?" The thought of standing up to a quartet of jock fraternity brutes was certainly unnerving, but he would do that for his new friend if he needed help. Beth quickly voiced her own wish to stick around to see that there wasn't trouble.

Taken aback by the fact that two people that- not a week before- he had tormented were willing stand by him, Solo turned to them with wide eyes. He finally smiled warmly and said sincerely, "Thanks for that, guys. But, I better handle this on my own. It shouldn't take long."

"All right," Beth sighed with a deep frown. "Good luck." Chad nodded in reluctant acceptance of his friend's wishes and together, the pair walked off in the opposite direction of the brutes that were still glaring at Solo.

With a deep breath, the blonde neko headed towards his 'brothers' and forced a grin as he greeted, "Hey guys. Are you all on your way to dinner now?"

Eric growled deeply, "We were at our usual table and you walked right past us." The other three continued to glare at the ball-capped teenager. "Duo wasn't there to baby-sit you tonight, so why the hell did you head over to sit with those losers?"

Solo's brown eyes widened in realization that he hadn't even noticed his friends, or even thought to check their normal spot for that matter. He was getting so used to sitting with Duo's crowd that it only seemed natural to join them.

Folding his arms, Tim leaned in and hissed, "You're not starting to forget about us already, are you? Not after the way we've looked out for each other."

Quickly, Solo snapped his head to face him and shook his head, "Of course not! You all should know me better than that." The less-than-convinced looks that he received made him sigh deeply. Sagging his shoulders, he frowned deeply, "You know, it pisses me off that you think so little of me. You really think I actually want to be tortured like this?"

Some of the edge in his 'brothers' demeanors finally subsided a bit to be replaced by confusion. Leaning in to share with the group in confidence, the blonde neko reassured them, "By the end of our finals, life will be back to normal. That was the plan and that's still the plan.

"I can't afford to have one of Duo's friends going back to him and saying that I'm only willing to socialize with them when he's around. You all know how the walls have ears around this place. And that would be the end of our lessons to help me pass my courses," Solo explained patiently as he noted the realization filling his friends' eyes. "No offense, but I am far more frightened of my parents than the lot of you," he smirked.

The four young men all glanced to each other before Stanley finally nodded and met the blonde's gaze. "Sorry, Solo," he grinned sheepishly. "We didn't mean to offend you by making you think we didn't trust you. It just... really seemed like you actually enjoy being with those losers."

At that, Solo winked with a wicked smirk, "Then I'm doing my job. If I'm able to convince the four of you that I like this shit, then Duo will stay totally clueless up until the time that we can finally hit him hard."

His 'brothers' chuckled deeply. The sinister grins on their faces hinted to their plotting some of the nasty things that they wanted to do to the one they called the 'braided freak'. Not before Solo struck him first, the blonde teenager thought to himself. His speech had served its purpose and bought him time. Inwardly sighing in relief, he checked his watch and announced, "Look, guys, I would love to stay here and discuss this further, but I am going to be late for my next lesson if I don't get moving here."

Once again convinced of their fortitude, the frat boys bid their goodbyes and parted ways. When he was outside, running for the Main Hall, Solo wiped the sweat that had beaded under the brim of his red ball cap. Knowing the bullet that he had barely managed to dodge, he silently applauded himself for keeping his cool enough to come up with such a believable excuse for his slip.

He knew that he wouldn't be able to afford many more mistakes like that before he carried out his act.

*   *   *   *   *   *

"Could you hand me another piece of tinsel, there?" Duo asked as he leaned over from the top of the ladder that he was on. From his perch on the ladder beside him, Solo reached down into the bag hooked to the top rung.

All around the main hall, students were working on stringing white lights, large red ribbons and colorful balls from the bowing rafters in the center of the marble floored and walled room. Having been working together for well over an hour, Duo decided to call a break in their tutor session so that they could focus on enjoying their work.

For his part, Solo wasn't about to complain. He'd never seen decorations before, let alone set them up before. He followed the lead of Duo and the others in hanging the variety of ornaments properly. Every now and then, he would gaze down from his ladder to watch the huge evergreen in the very center of the room being ordained with all kinds of trinkets and lights.

As he handed over the shining handful silver tinsel that had been requested, the blonde youth asked, "So why did you decide to become a lawyer, anyway? Of all of the things that you could have studied, what drew you to that?"

It had been a question that had bothered the blonde neko for some time. There really wasn't anything about the field that really appealed to him, personally. And while he was starting to understand it a great deal more with Duo's help, he still couldn't see why a neko with newfound freedom would be so determined to succeed in the profession.

Gripping the tinsel with his long tail, the braided neko finished securing the string of white lights that his hands were working on and smiled, "It's a repayment back, I guess you could say." Once the cord was hooked firmly to the rafter, Duo's tail stretched up to string the tinsel between each bulb as he explained, "Heero's mother and Trent are the reason that I was given any rights to do as I wished. Ever since then, I've wanted to be a voice for people that wouldn't have one otherwise."

The violet-eyes boy grinned wistfully to his pupil, "So, I plan on becoming a representative for foreigners looking for citizenship from the Colonies to the Earth. The process is pretty grueling and can be harsh and demanding on them at times, so I want to help make the process easier on them so that they can become legal inhabitants of the Earth-free to live their lives and follow their own dreams the way I'm able to now."

Solo's brown eyes widened at the sincere and tender answer to his question. It was the last thing that he'd expected to hear from the person that he had grown to have nothing but loathing for. To hear such a selfless thing from Duo shook him to the core and made him question everything that he forced himself to believe.

His own reason for hating the other cat-eared boy was nothing more than his jealousy for being the one trapped in a cell with no way out while Duo was allowed to do as he pleased. He wanted so badly to see the braided teenager writhing and screaming in the same pain that he endured every day of his confinement.

What was more than that, Solo knew that he and his family of nekos were dying. Doctor J had informed them that their structure was unstable and if there were to be any way of surviving, he needed Duo to test a cure to the problem on. Otherwise, the old man would have used Cassie or Danny or any one of them for experiments that might kill them in the process.

In the end, Solo had to look out for himself and his loved ones. Only now, he realized that one of the other reasons for his hating Duo was to cover-up what would be an absolute betrayal of one of his own. He had to hate the braided teenager if he was ever going to have a clean conscience for bringing him into Hell and possibly his end.

'What the Hell am I doing?' Solo asked himself. He could feel the color draining from his face.

Beside him, Duo tilted his head in concern and called, "Hey, you okay, man?" Shaking his head, Solo forced himself back to the present and muttered that he was fine. Even though he was anything but at that moment.

Lightly patting the last tinsel into place with his tail, Duo smiled, "Well, looks like we're finished here. Let's get you back down. Maybe the height is starting to get to you." Moving in a numb haze, Solo slowly descended his own ladder while the braided teenager watched him to make sure that he was okay.

When they reached the floor, several cheers of "Finished" began filling the air from different sections of the room. As the whole committee of over a dozen students gathered at the front of the room, the head of the group threw the main switch to dim the main lights and brighten the Christmas strings.

At the sight that remained, Solo gasped sharply along with several others as his eyes widened. The tree in the center nearly touched the top of the raised ceiling with its large, gold star. The hundreds of colored lights and strings of tinsel on the branches twinkled and reflected in the ornaments that donned the deep green pines.

Up above it all, the white lights strung along the rafters met in such away that they gave the appearance of an even larger Christmas tree that consisted of the entire room. Like the actual tree, the silver tinsel draped from the rafters sparkled like hanging snow and icicles.

His violet eyes wide with wonder, Duo kept his gaze on the breathtaking sight and whispered, "Beautiful, huh?"

It was like nothing that Solo had ever seen before. A lump formed in his throat and small tears filled his brown eyes that stayed on what he helped create as he breathed, "Yea. Beautiful." Not trusting his voice, he simply stood in silence and willed the image to stay in his memory for when he would have to leave it all behind.

TBC...

 

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