Author's Note: for all intents and purposes I've swapped around people's ages, if you haven't already noticed. So they are as follows: Duo is 18, Relena and Zechs are 19, Quatre is 20, Heero is 21, Wufei is 22, Trowa is 25, and Treize is 28. Hope that makes more sense now.
Ne, Sensai! Part 4
The first day of classes had actually gone on rather smoothly. No major problems of any merit had popped up and hours after all the students had left the building, Heero Yuy was to be found in his office looking over an old pile of paper work. Being that it was a college class he was subbing for and only the first day there wasn't a single bit of homework for him to correct. His other job, however, was different.
He'd originally been hired as the school's health assistant as a small job to help him pay for studying directly under one of the professors. It was a unique set up for a graduate college student, especially for one of his youth, but it did benefit all parties quite well. What he hadn't expected, however, was that the professor he was studying under would receive an offer to teach for a semester overseas that he couldn't possibly refuse. As a result Heero was given Professor Howard's job, temporarily, and he was able to keep his job as the health assistant, provided he didn't falter in either.
A very unique set up indeed.
Yet Heero had a feeling he could actually get used to a set up like this. Especially if things moved on as smoothly as they had today. Aside from the incident with the strange braided boy nothing had gone wrong.
A knock on the door and Heero glanced up from the papers in front of him. He wasn't surprised to find the slightly older Asian man standing there, leaning against the doorframe and smirking at him. Heero nodded a small greeting before glancing back at the paperwork before him.
"It's the first day of classes and already you're working late."
Heero glanced up at the clock only to find that it was nearly two hours later then he thought it was. Frowning he set down his pen. "I suppose I am."
Wufei chuckled from the door and stepped in, walking over to sit on the edge of the desk. "That is so like you, Yuy, to lose yourself in your work. So how did things go today, teaching Howard's class?"
The younger Japanese man leaned back in his chair and stretched. "As well as can be expected. I took your advice. They do appear to respect me more if they think I have a title, even if I'm not too much older then they are."
Wufei nodded.
Meanwhile Heero stood up and straightened his pile of papers, slipping them safely into a folder. "I suppose I should head home here, then. He'll be worried if I'm out much longer." He walked to the closet and pulled out his jacket, changing his wire frames for a pair of darker sunglasses.
"He can wait a little longer can't he? I'll take you to dinner if you'll allow it."
Heero smirked lightly at his friend. "You act like he's my guardian or something."
Wufei smirked back. "No, you do, with your constant need to report back to him before doing anything. It makes a guy jealous... almost."
"Ha, ha." Heero said, mock frowning at his friend. "But you're right, he can live with waiting tonight. Dinner it is." Walking past Wufei he headed for the door but stopped and glanced over his shoulder. "Just don't expect this to become a normal occurrence."
Wufei chuckled. "No, of course not. We all know who has a hold on your chain."
Heero glared at his friend over the dark sunglasses for that one but otherwise he let the comment slide. It was an old argument and he really didn't expect Wufei to understand, even if he explained the whole story. So he just let it slide, let his friend think what he would. Heero knew the truth of the situation and that's all he really cared about.
~*~
Duo shrugged his backpack to one side and attempted to push open the kitchen door, only to find that something was blocking its path. He frowned and tried pushing again, but the door refused to move. There was barely enough room to see around the door, and certainly not enough to let him through, but he didn't need to glance around it to know what was holding it shut.
Or rather who.
"Hey mom, the door is stuck again!" Duo called out, knowing perfectly well that that wasn't true. And the small giggle that rose in the air confirmed his suspicions.
Duo grinned and gave the door a hard push, which didn't help at all, then he stepped back quickly and laughed as the door nearly slammed shut and he heard someone tumble to the ground on the other side. Jumping forward he pushed the door open to find a younger boy lying on the ground, glaring at him.
"No fair!" The boy cried.
"Serves you right, you fall for that trick every time." Duo grinned down at him. "You gotta learn to come up with new ways of trying to keep me out of the house, Solo."
The young boy just stuck out his tongue and stood up, brushing himself off. Turning away from his brother he raced up the stairs. "Can't keep you out of the house, but I can keep you out of our room!"
"Oh no you don't!" Duo dropped his backpack and tore down the hall after the kid, running as fast as he could without destroying the furniture in his path. He heard his mother yell something from her room but it didn't register in his mind. Instead he reached the door long before his brother could shut it and tackled the boy to the ground, tickling him until he surrendered.
Solo was Duo's younger brother by about six years but looked nothing like him. Solo had purple eyes, just like his older brother, and that's where the similarities ended. Instead of chestnut brown colored locks Solo sported dark red hair from his father, which was cut very short in the back with two small locks allowed to grow in the front. His mother had thrown a fit when he'd come home with the hair cut because he'd had it done at a friend's house without any warning. Eventually she'd gotten used to it. Duo couldn't decide if the kid's hair looked cool or strange; he was just happy that Solo wasn't trying to copy him anymore.
"So, is the big bad college as scary as you thought it would be?" Solo asked after the little tickle fight they'd had.
"I never said I thought it would be scary," Duo snorted back as he pulled off his shoes and threw his socks in the dirty clothes basket.
"Did too," Solo poked back.
Duo just rolled his eyes.
A taller woman appeared at the door to their bedroom, Duo's backpack in her hand. She glanced at the two with an attempted sour look but failed miserably. Helen Maxwell could never stay angry at her two sons, which made giving them discipline quite hard.
"Forget something?" She asked, holding out the backpack to him.
"Oh, yeah, thanks. The little twerp tried to lock me out again." Duo took the backpack and placed it on the desk, pulling out his books.
"Don't call me twerp!"
Helen smiled and shook her head. "You two promise not to rip apart the house if I go out for groceries?"
Both boys looked up and smiled innocently at her, nodding.
"Why does that look always scare me," she murmured. But she headed for the door anyway, gathering her things.
"Oh mom! Father said to stop by when you get a chance!" Duo called after her. He didn't look to see if she nodded though because he was sure she heard. Instead he turned back to putting away his books from the day and figuring out what he needed to do for tomorrow. In the process of pulling out one of his books a small photo slipped out of the backpack. His brother moved like lightning and snatched it from the floor even before Duo could notice.
Solo made a face at the photo. "You're still looking for him?"
Duo blinked in surprise and turned, attempting to snatch the photo from his brother. "Give it back."
Solo danced out of the way. "Hey mom, my brother's in love with the boy who used to live down the street," he mock called. Both boys knew their mother had already left, but that didn't stop Duo from pouncing at the kid. Luckily he caught the photo just as Solo was going to drop it in the trashcan. "Gross!" Solo said, making a face again.
"What do you care?" Duo shot back, slipping the photo in a safe place. "And you know she wouldn't care even if you told her."
Solo frowned and sat down on his own bed, which was across the room from Duo's. "It's still gross."
Duo just rolled his eyes. "You don't like boys, so then go chase after girls, see if I care."
"Gross! Gross! Gross!"
Duo grabbed the pillow from his bed and tossed it at his younger brother, hitting him in the arm thanks to bad aim. "Quiet already I got homework to do!"
Solo gave a dramatic sigh and stood up, heading for the door. Leaving his brother to do his homework, but not before poking his head back into the room one last time just to make sure his brother realized that he thought it was gross. Duo just ignored him and started on his homework.
He loved the little twerp, really he did. And most of the time he didn't even mind sharing a room with him, not that he had a choice though since their house was so small. But there were days like these where it was a real pain.
Taking a moment to glance at Quatre's picture he felt a smile tug across his face.
"I'm sure I'll find you tomorrow."
And then he began his homework.
~*~
He hated arriving home late. He hated to not give him any warning about where he was, but Wufei had been insistent. In the end Heero had gone to dinner with his friend and they'd spent a good amount of time talking in the restaurant, catching up on all the things they hadn't had a chance to talk about last time.
Wufei was one of those friends who was good at conversation, though you wouldn't think it when you first met him. Like Heero he was generally the silent type and tended more to speak to people with actions rather than words. But when he and Heero got together for an evening the conversation carried out like you wouldn't believe. The two had grown up together and that friendship wasn't lost on anyone. Their conversations were still as long as when they'd first met, though not nearly as animated as one might think. Neither were talkative around any one else, it was just a character trait that they seemed draw out of each other.
Yet, try as he might, on late nights like this he was never able to sneak back into the apartment silently. And even if he could have the figure sitting on the couch, waiting patiently while he read a college textbook, caught him anyway. Heero's shoulders sagged slightly in defeat as he was spotted.
"Have fun out with Wufei?" asked Quatre's quiet voice. It was a perfectly normal question, not holding any accusation whatsoever. Even so Heero couldn't help but feel guilty, even if he knew Quatre would never get mad at him for being out late.
He simply nodded as he hung up his coat and switched back to his normal glasses, not volunteering any more information.
Quatre yawned softly and closed his book. "Everything go fine with your class?"
Heero nodded once again, but he wasn't blind. He didn't miss the disappointed look on Quatre's face. Frowning lightly to himself he stepped into the bedroom to change clothes and get ready for bed. Quatre followed him after a moment of silently sitting on the couch.
The two got ready for bed in silence. Usually they talked more, or rather Quatre did. Heero was never very talkative around Quatre, something he hated. But there were some people that one just couldn't be comfortable around, especially when you lived with someone who you held in the utmost respect. Wufei would have probably laughed if Heero actually confessed how much he admired Quatre for what he'd done.
Lights snapped out and only the moonlight shone in the room, across their two beds separated only by a night table. Before Heero closed his eyes he was able to see Quatre flash him a bright smile.
"Night Heero," he said quietly.
"Good night... brother."
TBC...
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