Boot Camp Part 11
Visiting Day
The next day was the first visiting day allowed at Camp Peacecraft, and after the morning calisthenics, and breakfast, Corporal Carter walked up to Quatre and Trowa.
"Looks like you two have company scheduled," he said with a smile, waving the list Captain Chang had given him.
Quatre smiled wryly. "I wonder which sister it'll be..."
"Maybe all twenty-nine of them will come," Duo teased, as they headed back to the barracks. He glanced back at Trowa and Heero. "Y'spose they'd let that many in?"
Heero shrugged, not looking up from his study of the way that damned braid swung as Duo walked. It was downright distracting.
"Trowa?"
"How should I know?" came the curt reply.
Duo glanced aside at Quatre, smirking. "What's his problem?"
As if you didn't know. Quatre shrugged. "Don't you have anyone coming to visit? How about your friend Hilde?"
"Naw, she and Howard could never afford the shuttle fare to get here," Duo replied. A brief smile flitted across his face. "And they're the only thing close to family I have."
"Maybe you could come meet my sisters," Quatre said helpfully.
"Some other time," Duo shrugged. "Don't sweat it, Quat...Yuy and I will have the barracks all to ourselves. Lots of space. He can sit with his sweetheart," he commented, referring to the laptop by the nickname he'd given it. "And I can curl up with a good book." Although it'd be much nicer to curl up with a gorgeous blue-eyed team leader. He sighed.
"Well, they won't be here long. Maybe afterwards, we can play some basketball or something."
"Yeah, that'd be cool."
When they arrived at the barracks, Heero settled onto his bunk with a thick book, and Duo grabbed a comic book Hilde had sent, and sprawled out on his bunk to enjoy it.
Quatre and Trowa combed their hair and made sure they were dressed in clean, pressed uniforms. And at quarter to twelve, they were ready to leave.
Quatre paused on his way out the door. "Y'gonna be okay, Duo?"
"Aw, sure," said the long-haired boy, waving dismissively as he lay on his bunk reading. "You go have a nice time."
After the door closed behind Quatre and Trowa, Duo heaved a sigh. Closing his comic, he peered over the side of his bunk.
"What about you, Heero? Aren't you gonna go to the visitor center?"
"No," came the firm reply, as Heero continued reading his book of military history and tactics.
"What if the girl who writes you on the pretty pink stationery shows up?" teased the braided boy.
Duo heard what sounded like a surly growl.
Grinning madly, he tried to catch Heero's eye. "Do you not like 'Miss Pretty Pink Paper'?" he pressed, leaning off the edge of the bunk, straining to see Heero's face. His braid slipped over the edge, narrowly missing the back of Heero's head. "Or is it that you don't like girls in general?" Duo added with a sly twinkle in his eyes.
Heero glanced up sharply, a faint flush on his cheeks. "That's none of your business," he snarled.
Duo started to chuckle, and then let out a yelp as Heero grabbed the trailing braid and yanked. A startled Duo tumbled off the edge of the bunk, sprawling unceremoniously at Heero's feet.
"Ah--shit--" he gasped, trying to regain the wind that had been knocked out of him. "I get the message already." He looked up into faintly amused Prussian blue eyes, and felt an awkward blush on his own cheeks.
"Baka," Heero said quietly, his voice a low rumble that sent chills up Duo's spine. Oh yeah--such a bedroom voice.
Duo sighed, scrambling to his feet and brushing himself off, studiously looking anywhere but at the tousled head that was once again bent over a book. "Asshole," he muttered without much conviction. Yeah, those deep blue eyes sure made it hard to hate the guy, no matter how much of a jerk he was.
The braided boy climbed back up onto his bunk, stretching out and restlessly fingering his discarded reading material. "I'm bored," he sighed.
There was a sharp rap at the door and Captain Chang stuck his head in. "Yuy--get your ass up to the visitor center--pronto!"
Heero looked up in surprise. "I don't have any family, Chan--uh--Captain."
"But you do have a visitor," Wufei said with something between a grin and a grimace. "Relena."
"Ooo--!" Duo squealed happily, daring a look over the side of the bunk. "Miss 'Pretty Pink Paper' herself! How lucky for you, Heero!"
"I'll be right there, Chang," Heero said through gritted teeth.
Wufei nodded acknowledgement and closed the door.
Duo wore an ear to ear grin, violet eyes dancing with mischief. He bit back a snide comment, knowing the look on his face would convey the message well enough.
Heero stood up and turned, so he was almost nose to nose with Duo. "I'm only going to say this once, Maxwell," he said in a deceptively mild voice. "I despise all things pink. If you even think the word 'pink' again, omae o korosu!"
Duo blinked. "Omae o--what?"
"I'll kill you," Heero translated, blue eyes mere inches from Duo's indigo ones.
"Ah," Duo acknowledged. "Got it." His gaze dropped inadvertently from the intense blue eyes to Heero's lips, and Duo's throat went a little dry. He swallowed uneasily, and licked his own lips. "No more--um--that color," he promised.
"Hn," Heero replied with a short nod, turning and closing the book he'd been reading. Duo let out the breath he'd been holding.
Then, as Heero started towards the door, he paused, looking up at Duo's slightly transfixed expression. "Bored?" he asked, recalling Duo's earlier proclamation. He thrust the thick book at the braided boy. "Read some of this instead of comic book fluff," he suggested.
Duo reached out and took the heavy volume, glancing down at it warily. "Sure I won't need smaller words and more pictures?" he asked in a quiet, serious voice. "Since I am, in your words, a 'baka,' or is that 'idiot'?"
The flicker in Heero's eyes might have been surprise, or amusement. And there was no trace of teasing in the look he gave Duo. "You're not an idiot--you just act like one. Don't expect me to be fooled by it."
Duo's eyes were guarded, his expression masked, as he looked back at the other boy, suddenly a little uneasy at having revealed that he knew some Japanese. But he got the feeling Heero had already seen through his jester's mask.
"Chang will have my ass in a sling if I don't hurry," Heero said brusquely. He turned and headed for the door.
"Hey--thanks," Duo said, brandishing the heavy book. "It does look--intriguing."
"Yeah, you might learn something."
"Oh, I will..." No sooner did the door close behind Heero, than Duo set down the book and hopped off his bunk. He peeked out the window, making sure Heero was headed to the visitor center, and then he grinned wickedly. "I'll learn something alright. Time for a little stealth work," he murmured smugly, slipping a lock pick from somewhere in his thick braid, and walking over to kneel by Quatre's footlocker.
It took only seconds for him to deftly pick the lock and open the trunk. "Heh. Best way to get to know someone--"
He rummaged carefully through several camp uniforms, neatly stacked socks and boxers, a windbreaker and jacket, and a kit containing toiletries. Under that were a couple of books...one on chess strategy and another on famous battle scenarios. Great--another military buff in the group. There were also a few pictures of Quatre with a bunch of girls Duo guessed were his sisters, as they looked so much like family. Beyond that were only textbooks and notebooks. But as Duo tidied the trunk so his intrusion would be overlooked, he found a little stuffed animal with a bunch of letters from L4. He paused for a second, tempted to read a letter or two, but then decided to leave them alone. He already felt like he knew Quatre pretty well, and he didn't know how long his roommates would be gone. He wanted to check out the other two trunks.
~*~
After leaving the barracks, Heero was screened through security, subjected to a thorough search, and then allowed into the visitor center.
"Heero!" Relena said in delight, smiling as he sat on the opposite side of the divider. "Oh--you look like you've lost weight. Are they not feeding you well enough?"
"The food's fine," he said abruptly. "Why are you here?"
"Why--to see how you're doing, of course." She eyed him adoringly. "After all, we've known each other since grade school--we're practically family."
"I'm fine," Heero said curtly. "And I'll thank you not to visit again."
"But--why?" Her lower lip trembled slightly.
"Because we're not family. We're not even friends. We're barely acquaintances," he said coldly. "And I have plans and goals to achieve here. That mission is more important than your little charity visit."
Her eyes widened.
"That is why you're here, isn't it?" Heero said in a calmer, but even more deadly tone. "Publicity? 'Relena Peacecraft visits Camp Peacecraft.' Tell me you don't have the press waiting to interview you when you leave."
Her blush gave her away. "Of course since my father's political work was what got this camp started, my visit here is newsworthy." She looked earnestly at Heero. "I'd never tell them who I visited, though."
"I'm sure your legal department explained that because this is a juvenile detention center, you have no choice but to keep my name out of it," Heero said with a trace of a sneer. "Don't come back again Relena." He stood up and turned away, walking to the door and gesturing the guard to let him out.
As the guard buzzed him through, Heero glanced down the row of visitor stations and saw Quatre talking to a girl about his own age--no doubt one of his many siblings--and Trowa was opposite a pretty auburn-haired girl. The green-eyed boy looked slightly put out, scowling and shaking his head as she talked.
"Hn. Wonder what that's about," Heero thought as he left.
But even as he started across the compound, Wufei strode out of the administration building, waving Heero over to him. "C'mon, Yuy...we need to talk. There's a survival exercise coming up, and I want to get your opinion on some of the tasks."
~*~
Meanwhile, back at the barracks...
Duo was nearly done rifling through Trowa's things, finding them as innocuous and generic as Quatre's, when he came across the little envelope taped to the back wall. "Well...well...well. What have we here?" He gingerly pried it off, finding that it was open, with the flap merely tucked in. Considering that an invitation, he opened it. "Whoa. Fuck me!" he hissed under his breath, spilling several little pills out onto the palm of his hand. "Shit. Holy shit." He hastily dumped them back, and with trembling hands replaced the envelope, careful to make it look like it had never been disturbed.
He closed the trunk, locked it, and then sat back, running a hand through his bangs. What the hell kind of pills was Trowa hiding in his foot locker, and why? Duo had no idea, but he knew that prescriptions had to come through the camp doctor, which meant the drugs were illegal, and whoever was in possession of them could get shipped off to prison. The boy from L2 wanted nothing to do with them. In fact, he didn't want to know about them at all, and decided to forget he'd ever seen them.
Duo glanced over at Heero's trunk, hesitating. He'd saved the best for last. Taking a moment to peek out the window at the compound, he saw that it was still empty, and decided to go for it.
Beyond the uniforms, socks and underwear, all he found at first were a couple of books; one on modern weaponry, and one on advanced mathematics.
"Bo--ring," Duo crooned, sliding them aside and picking up the dog-eared notebook he'd seen Heero writing in the day before. "Ah...how about a look into the inner musings of Heero Yuy?" He opened the book only to find it was written in a spidery script of Japanese characters. And while Duo Maxwell spoke a few phrases of Japanese, he was quite lost when it came to reading it. "Well shit. That figures." He sat back on his heels, smiling wryly as he ran a finger down a column of characters. "Hmm--I could just make this up. What would my blue-eyed hunk have to say? 'Dear Diary, today I got to Camp Peacecraft and met the most gorgeous, captivating, intelligent guy ever--'"
"DUO MAXWELL!" came a sharp, irritated voice.
Duo dropped the book and scrambled backwards with a startled yelp, stopping when his back hit the wall. He looked up to find Heero standing in the doorway, arms crossed and a perfectly deadly expression on his face.
"I--I was just--!" Duo stammered helplessly, face crimson with embarrassment. "Curious! I was curious!"
"So you broke into my personal things to--what? Spy on me?" Heero walked closer, eyes smoldering. "Did the warden put you up to this?"
"What? No!" Duo snapped, embarrassment giving way to anger. "You kidding me? K. hates my guts."
"So you keep saying...but I've yet to see proof of it."
"You saw the bruise on my face. K. would like nothing better than to ship me off to hard time on L2."
"And he could, too," Heero pointed out. "You just broke camp policy, not to mention several laws."
Duo paled noticeably. "Y-you wouldn't--tell him? W-would you?"
"Why shouldn't I?"
Well, when he put it that way, Duo was hard put to come up with a reason. He gulped, trying to steady his nerves along with his hands. "Um...cuz we're pals?" he said tentatively.
Heero snorted derisively. "Pals don't snoop into each others' business, Maxwell. We're not 'pals'. We're not anything!" There was a look in his eyes that Duo couldn't identify; it could have been hurt, frustration, or just plain anger.
Having backed himself into a wall, Duo worked his way up to a standing position, palms flat against the surface behind him. "Aren't we supposed to be teammates?"
"Again, Maxwell, teammates don't spy on each other. They work together--for a common goal."
Duo dropped his gaze to the floor. "I've never been on a team, Heero. Ever." He swallowed hard, refusing to look up. "I s'pose the gang of orphans I hung with on L2 was like that--more like family. Th'only goal we had was finding food...staying alive. An' after they died--well, most of my life I've had to watch my own back--or try to. An' that means finding out whatever I can about the people around me, so I can protect myself from them."
"Get them before they get you?" Heero's tone was less venomous, but still cold.
"No!" Duo said sharply. "I'm not trying to 'get' anyone--"
"What about your 'blue-eyed hunk'?" Heero shot back.
Duo looked up with wide eyes, blushing furiously. "Y-you heard--? Uh...a figure of speech...that's all. Um...how long were you at the door?"
"Stop trying to change the subject, Maxwell." Was that a hint of amusement in his voice?
"What subject?"
Heero raised an eyebrow. "The subject of what I should do about your intrusion into my personal stuff."
Duo tried desperately to read the stoic boy's expression--looking for a clue as to whether to try joking his way out or not.
Well, when all else failed, there was always sincerity.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly, dropping the bantering air. He looked cautiously at the other boy. "Heero--I'm sorry. I should've stayed out of your stuff--no matter how much it's in my nature to pry. Just--please--don't tell the warden. I--I don't want to go to prison--real prison." His indigo eyes filled with genuine dread. "I'll do anything...just don't turn me in."
"Anything?" Heero asked, his face still completely unreadable.
Gods! Didn't the boy ever show expression?
Duo kept his chin raised resolutely. "Yeah, anything." He had no idea what price Heero might exact for his silence, but right then Duo decided he'd rather take his chances with the blue-eyed boy than the vindictive warden.
Heero walked closer to the braided boy, who was still pressed up against the wall. Blue eyes bored into indigo. "You're that scared of prison?"
Duo nodded, slightly shamefaced. "C'mon, Yuy. Look at me. D'you think I'd stand a chance?" he asked frankly, a hint of bitterness in his voice.
"With your brains?" Heero asked, so close now that there was barely a foot of space between them. "You'd survive, Maxwell."
Duo closed his eyes, stomach knotting with dread. "So you're gonna tell," he concluded, hating himself for the way his throat constricted and his breath hitched in a near-sob. Boys don't cry, he reminded himself.
"No, I'm not," came a response so quiet Duo barely heard it. A hand brushed back his bangs, and fingers trailed down the side of his face.
So that was it...Heero wouldn't tell the warden...but there'd be...compensation required. Well, shit, Maxwell, you wanted him so badly... Careful what you wish for.
Duo swallowed and willed himself to be still. After all, he'd said 'anything.'
"Baka," came a chiding voice.
And then the sound of voices outside the door interrupted them. Heero stepped back, turning as Quatre and Trowa walked in. They both paused, glancing at the open door, and then looking questioningly at their teammates.
Duo knew he wore his guilt all over his face, and he pushed away from the wall, turning sharply away from the newcomers, heading for the bathroom. As he passed Heero, he paused. "A deal's a deal, Yuy. Anything you want. Just say when," he murmured in an undertone.
Heero's eyes widened, and he turned sharply, watching Duo disappear into the lavatory, closing the door with a surprising lack of vehemence.
"Whoa...what'd we interrupt?" Quatre asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Nothing," Heero said with a scowl, going over to his foot locker and idly straightening the contents before shutting it firmly. Then he walked over to Duo's bunk, picking up his discarded book, and finally he threw himself on his own bunk, settling back in to read.
Trowa looked at Quatre, who shrugged, and they went to their respective bunks, settling in to relax for a while.
In the bathroom Duo turned on the water, to cover any noise, and then he sat with his back to the wall, face buried in his hands. He didn't know what hurt worse...the feeling of guilt at having been caught snooping, or the feeling that he was a total coward because of what he'd do to stay out of prison.
TBC...
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