Author's Note: Fair warning, this chapter's a bit slow, but necessary to set up more intriguing things to come.
Boot Camp Part 10
Playing Games
The four boys from Team Wing spent the rest of the morning cleaning their barracks. Taking Captain Chang's warning to heart, they made sure their bunks were neatly made with fresh sheets, uniforms were folded and stacked in foot lockers, and the bathroom was nearly spotless. When the Chinese officer came through, clipboard in hand, they stood at attention, eyes straight ahead, breathing audible sighs of relief when he pronounced their work 'acceptable,' and told them they wouldn't be cleaning the showers that evening. In fact, all the teams that passed the inspection were given the afternoon off to relax or study.
After lunch, the four were on their way to their barracks to decide what to do next, when a boy named Jason from Team Clip approached them, tossing a baseball in his hands.
"Hey, Yuy...your team want to play some ball?" he asked. "I got a few kids together, and our liaison guy said he could scrounge up the bats and bases for us from the supply room."
"I don't think..."
"Yeah, we'd love to," Duo interrupted smoothly, stepping past Heero. He glanced over his shoulder at the glaring Japanese boy. "You can go curl up with your precious laptop if you want, Yuy. I need to have some fun." He glanced past him. "You in Quat? Trowa?"
"Sure."
"Yeah."
Duo turned back to Jason. "Where's the game?"
"Out in the big athletic field. Give me half an hour or so to round up eighteen players so we can have two teams."
"Yeah...we're there," Duo grinned. Jason sauntered off, and Duo turned back to his teammates. "C'mon, Yuy...play baseball with us...it'll be fun, for a change."
Heero sighed. "We aren't here to have fun, Maxwell."
"Maybe you aren't," shrugged the braided boy. "Personally, I need play time."
"Your whole life is play time."
Duo narrowed his eyes at the team leader, his expression turning serious in an instant. "You try growing up on the streets of L2, and then tell me that, asshole." He turned and stalked off, going back to the barracks to change into sweats, a tee-shirt, and sneakers... the better to steal bases with.
Quatre looked at Heero, who was staring after the other boy with a scowl. "He's not kidding, Heero. The warden even said Duo lived on the streets..."
The deep blue eyes pinned Quatre with a sharp gaze. "Why were you and the warden talking about Maxwell? I thought he was worried about liability, and the Winner name."
Quatre blinked, realizing the team leader was far more aware of what was going on around him than he let on. "He was. He seemed to think living in a barracks with an L2 street rat could be dangerous for me," he said evenly.
"Maxwell?" Trowa gave a short laugh. "Dangerous?"
Heero shrugged. "More than you'd think, Barton." He squared his shoulders. "Come on then. We may as well go with him, or we'll never hear the end of it."
They went along with the braided boy, changing into comfortable clothes and making their way to the athletic field. It seemed that boys from most of the teams had decided to participate, and they were able to make two teams easily. In fact, they had so many that whichever team was playing the bases had to have a couple of boys rotate out each inning.
Team Wing ended up mingled with three boys from a team called Annex, plus Jason's entire Team Clip. Several of the corporals had agreed to umpire and supervise, and took positions as impromptu coaches for the teams as well.
With the sun shining down from a sky dotted with big, puffy clouds, it was a picture perfect afternoon.
Since there were no dugouts, the players waiting to come up to bat just walked up the hill beside the field and sprawled in the grass to watch. Thus it was that Duo and Quatre found themselves comfortably lying side by side, trying to find pictures in clouds, in between cheering for their impromptu teammates.
"Hey, Heero's up," Quatre noted, though his gaze was on Trowa, who was off to one side warming up.
"Yeah, no doubt Mister Perfect will hit a home run," Duo sighed. He sat up though, watching anyway. "It's just too much to hope he sucks at baseball."
"Mister Perfect?" Quatre said, smiling faintly. "Are we talking about him being your type then?"
"Heero 'I'm the Second Coming of Christ' Yuy? My type?" Duo demanded. "You need your head examined, Quat." He darted a glare at his friend. "We weren't going to talk about this," he reminded him.
"Nooooo..." Quatre drawled. "You weren't. I was...in fact, I told you we would."
"And I said 'no.'"
"And I ignored that." Quatre watched the first pitch sail by outside the plate. "Do you know what Heero was convicted of?" he asked curiously.
"He said aggravated assault and attempted murder," Duo said with a shrug, watching Heero raise the bat to his shoulder again.
Quatre looked at him in surprise. "Heero tried to kill someone?"
"So he says," Duo replied. "And I believe him."
"I'd love to know who he beat up and why..." Quatre mused.
"I'd love to not be next," Duo smirked. "And that's why I don't ask."
Quatre grinned back. "You don't ask because you're a little shy when it comes to our team leader, aren't you? I think maybe you like him."
The indigo eyes narrowed. "Not likely, Quat. He's arrogant, sarcastic, smug and judgmental."
"You forgot handsome, muscular, and hotter than hell, with gorgeous eyes, too," Quatre pointed out.
Duo eyed Heero critically. "They are an amazing shade of blue, aren't they?" he admitted, sighing slightly. "But you forgot one very important description...straight."
"How d'you know?"
"Ah, the Maxwell luck, my friend," Duo said with feigned despair. "Or the lack thereof."
"So you admit he makes you drool."
"Never!" Duo declared. "Sigh and pine, maybe. But I never drool, even over drop-dead gorgeous, sex-on-two-legs guys."
"Whoa...you've got it bad," Quatre commented.
"Not!" Duo glared at his friend. "This is all a generalization. I don't drool over gorgeous guys...period. I'm not specifically referring to Heero."
At that moment a fastball crossed the plate, and Heero hit it so far out into the field that he had time to jog the bases before it was recovered.
"I fucking hate him," Duo sighed.
"You mean want him." Quatre chuckled. "Love bites."
"Oh, hey...don't even go there, Winner! Love?" Duo shook his head vehemently. "All I've done so far is lust over him. Love is a whole other thing. I'd actually have to like him first." He frowned thoughtfully. "Can we talk about you and Barton for a change?"
"There's nothing to talk about."
"Ha! As much as there is about Yuy and me."
Quatre snorted. "Right. You think I don't know the effect he has on you?" He smirked. "Empath."
"I fucking hate you too," Duo said without meaning a word of it.
"Love you, too."
Trowa walked up to home plate, and Quatre sat up straighter.
Having finished his 'at bat', Heero walked up the hill to sit on Duo's other side, pulling out a small notebook, and beginning to write in it.
Duo edged over towards the team leader. "Watcha doing, Yuy?"
The Japanese boy immediately closed the book before Duo could glimpse what he'd written. "Making some notes," he shrugged.
"Thought you had your precious laptop for that," Duo commented.
"Private notes."
"Ooh..." Duo drawled, tilting his head to the side and fixing a studious look at his team leader. "Private notes about what?"
"If I told you, it wouldn't be private," Heero pointed out, watching Trowa bat.
Duo followed his gaze. Oh, that'd be pure irony...if Heero were indeed gay, but liked Trowa. Not for the first time, Duo considered hating his life. "If you told me," he urged. "I wouldn't tell a soul."
Heero snorted wryly, glancing at Duo with amusement in the Prussian eyes. "I can't imagine you being able to keep a secret, Maxwell."
Duo looked out across the ball field, shrugging one shoulder. "You'd be surprised, Yuy." He fixed a long look on the Japanese boy. "I'll tell you one if you tell me one."
Heero shook his head. "Not unless I get to choose the one I want to know. I mean, you could just tell me some pointless, silly secret that's totally meaningless."
The braided boy eyed him curiously. "So there is something you want to know about me? Something specific."
"Hn." Heero looked away pointedly.
"Okay, Yuy. That's not an answer. It's not even a real word," Duo pointed out. "Is there or isn't there something you want to know about me?"
At that point Trowa hit a long, low ball to center field and ended up on third base before the other team managed to cover home plate. "Hm...nice hit," Heero noted.
Duo opened his mouth to tell Heero to go to Hell, and how he could get there, but the name Maxwell was called, and he had to go get ready for his turn at bat.
Duo hit a single, and spent the rest of the inning stealing a base at a time, until Quatre hit a nice double that brought him home. A few minutes later, the blonde also rounded the bases, and walked back up the hill to sit with Heero and Trowa.
"Where's Maxwell?" asked the team leader, glancing up from the notebook in his lap.
"Oh...over there." Quatre pointed to where the braided boy was sitting with Jason and a group of boys from other teams.
Duo was chattering animatedly, making occasional expansive gestures, which seemed to cause his audience no end of mirth. They looked like nothing less than a bunch of close friends sharing amusing stories.
"He makes friends easily," Quatre pointed out, glancing aside at Heero for a reaction.
"You call them friends?" Heero asked, a slight frown creasing his forehead. "First thing Monday morning they'll all be in competition again."
"That doesn't mean they can't have fun today," Quatre observed.
Heero shook his head slightly. "Maxwell's not taking this seriously enough."
Quatre chuckled at that. "He says you're taking it seriously enough for all of us."
The blue eyes darted him a sharp look. "Our futures are on the line. How is that not serious?"
"It is, but we don't have to spend every waking moment obsessing about it."
"I don't obsess. I focus."
"Oh, I see." Quatre looked back at Duo, who seemed to be getting along great with the other teams. Of course, Austin wasn't around, or things might have been quite different.
Several innings later, Duo hadn't returned, but Trowa had taken a seat next to Quatre, so the blonde wasn't missing his friend.
"I know we talked the other day," Trowa said, breaking the silence. "But you never did tell me what you're in here for."
Quatre eyed the auburn-haired boy for a moment, and decided to go ahead and take a chance on telling him the whole story. After all, if Trowa was already thinking Quatre and Duo might be more than friends, he must have guessed at their sexual orientation. "Well, part of the reason I'm here is because I got caught hacking into a business competitor's database and stealing trade secrets...again." He gave a slightly sheepish grin. "It was something to do," he shrugged.
Trowa gave him a long look. "Bored rich kid?" he asked, not unkindly.
"Pretty much." Quatre looked out at the field absently. "I'm sure my father's high-priced lawyers could have gotten me community service again, but he refused to let them represent me. Officially he said it was because he couldn't appear to condone corporate espionage."
"And unofficially?" Trowa asked curiously.
"He caught me kissing the gardener's son," Quatre admitted, blushing.
Trowa's eyes widened. He stared at the blonde Arab for a moment, and then he began to laugh out loud.
Quatre stared in shock. "Trowa?"
"It--it's not f-funny--but, well, it is!" Trowa gasped between laughs.
Quatre found himself smiling. "I suppose," he conceded. At least it felt better to be amused by his father's homophobia, than to be hurt by it. And he had been very hurt. Of course, he'd known his father would never be pleased with his lifestyle, which was why he snuck around in order to date the other boy in the first place.
Trowa had regained his composure, and looked at Quatre with a smile. "It's just ironic that your father sent you off to a camp full of boys knowing you, well, liked boys. What was he thinking?"
"I guess he hoped boot camp would toughen me up...make a man out of me, so to speak," Quatre shrugged. "And I think he wanted to separate Haseem and me...y'know, take my boyfriend away."
"Well that sure backfired," Trowa noted. "You met Maxwell your first day here."
Quatre looked quickly at the other boy. "Duo? You think he's my..."
"Yuy! Barton! You're up next!"
"Oops...gotta go." Trowa stood up quickly, followed by Heero, and they jogged down to the field.
"...boyfriend," Quatre finished to himself, staring after Trowa and wondering if Duo might have been right about the other boy.
The game finished up early enough that the boys had time to clean up and change before supper. As they were scattering to their respective groups, Quatre realized he hadn't seen Duo since the last inning.
"Hey, Heero...Trowa...where'd we lose Duo?" he asked, walking over to the others.
Heero's face darkened. "Damn him! He thinks he's fucking invincible. Probably went off on his own."
"We may as well check the barracks," Trowa shrugged. "We're headed there anyway."
Just then Duo and Jason came around the corner of a building, laughing at some shared joke.
"Maxwell!"
The indigo eyes narrowed at Heero's tone, and the braided boy paused. "See ya later, Jase."
"Yeah...good game, huh?"
"Great." Duo grinned at the other boy, and then turned and sauntered towards Heero. "What's up, fearless leader?"
"Where've you been?"
Duo gestured vaguely. "Walking."
"Walking where?"
Duo stopped just in front of Heero, leaning slightly towards him. "What's it to you?"
Heero glared at him. "Why is everything with you some kind of power struggle? Can't you just give me a straight answer?"
"We're in a fucking prison, Yuy. How far do you think I could have gone?"
"Far enough to get into trouble with Chang," Heero guessed. "Are you trying to get sent to L2, Maxwell?"
Duo crossed his arms. "Exactly what do you think I was doing, Yuy?"
"I think," Heero said coldly, "you shouldn't be wandering off with someone from another team."
"Oh, now you get to pick my friends?" Duo asked in exasperation.
"Your friend? You've known him for what...a couple of hours? What if he'd been leading you into some kind of trap?" Heero pointed out.
"I'm L2 street trash, Yuy. You think I can't spot an ambush a mile away?" Duo countered.
"Suppose you walked around a corner and Austin and his boys were waiting for you?" Heero shot back. "Would you be so cocky then?"
"Jesus, Heero...I can take care of myself."
"Not against five or six enemies, Maxwell. Nobody's that good." Heero glared at the braided boy. "You think Austin's not contemplating revenge for that punch in the nose?"
"What if he is?" Duo shrugged. "I can handle him."
Heero made a sound between a growl and a curse. "Fine, Maxwell. Go take care of yourself. Don't come crying to me when something happens." He stalked off, leaving the others behind.
Duo shrugged, turning to Quatre and Trowa. Then a mischievous gleam entered the indigo eyes. "You ought to go after our fearless leader, Tro'. I'll walk back with Quat." He smiled at the flash of ire in the green eyes, walking over and throwing an arm across Quatre's shoulders. "C'mon, blondie. I'll make sure you get home safe."
Trowa walked off, and Quatre squirmed out from under Duo's arm. "You did that on purpose!" he accused.
"Did what?" came the innocent response.
"You're trying to make Trowa jealous."
"Well, duh..." Duo smirked. "You like him. I can tell. And I know he likes you. So why shouldn't I help things along a little?" He leaned closer, seeing Trowa glance back as he turned a corner. "If you really want to drive him nuts, gimme a big kiss."
"Duo!" Quatre shoved his friend good-naturedly as they walked after their teammates. "I am not going to deliberately make him jealous. That's no way to start a relationship."
"Oh...now you want a 'relationship' with him?" Duo asked, grinning.
Quatre blushed deeply. "Y'know, Duo, you can be a real pain in the butt."
"You started it with all that talk about guys before," Duo pointed out.
"Is that why you snuck off with Jason?" Quatre asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I didn't 'sneak' anywhere," Duo replied. "We walked around the compound a little. Turns out he's from L2. Not from my neighborhood...but then, there're slums all over the colony."
"So you were off reminiscing?" Quatre asked. "Or were you hoping to make Heero jealous?"
"Give me a break, Quat," Duo said in exasperation. "Not everything I do is motivated by Heero Fucking Yuy."
"So why d'you bait him so much?"
"It helps pass the time."
Quatre just shook his head, and the rest of the walk passed in silence.
TBC...
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