Author's Note: Well, this chapter Trowa gets a little more exposure, for you 03 fans out there.
Boot Camp Part 8
Mail Call and Martial Arts
"This is just--inhuman!" Quatre lamented. It was Friday morning, and they were all staring gloomily at their breakfast.
"That's why they call it 'jail', Quat," Duo smirked. "If the food was any good it'd be a resort."
"But this is the third day in a row we've had oatmeal for breakfast. What's wrong with eggs, or pancakes, or omelets?"
"Maybe the chickens went on strike," Duo suggested. "Here...let me show you how to make this shit edible." He leaned over and began taking little dabs of butter and tucking them into the oatmeal. "Ah...and some sugar..." He sprinkled it across the top. "Brown sugar would be even better..."
"Maxwell, what are you doing?" Heero demanded. "You just negated every wholesome aspect of oatmeal."
"There's nothing unwholesome about flavor, Yuy. Watch and learn." Duo poured a generous amount of milk on top. "There, Quat. Try it now."
Quatre took a scoop of buttery, sweet, milky oatmeal and ate it. His aquamarine eyes widened. "Hey...that is an improvement."
"See?" Duo grinned, darting a defiant look at Heero. "Want me to fix yours up?"
"Only if you want to find out if there's an afterlife," Heero said with a perfectly straight face.
Duo paused, cocking his head to one side and fixing an indigo gaze on the other boy. "Was that a joke, Heero? Did you just make a joke?" he asked in feigned amazement.
"No."
"Oh, I think you did!" Duo asserted, smiling widely. "I think maybe our tough team leader is learning to lighten up a little."
"Perish the thought," Trowa deadpanned, never taking his eyes off the bowl of mushy oatmeal he was doggedly eating.
"Wow. Everyone's a comedian today," Duo noted. Then he occupied himself putting even more butter and sugar on his oatmeal than he'd done to Quatre's.
The inmates were just finishing breakfast when Lieutenant Mikan walked in with a satchel. "Mail call!"
He walked the rows of tables, reading off names and handing out letters as he went. When he reached the table where Heero, Duo, Quatre and Trowa were seated, he rummaged through the bag. "Got a bunch for you guys."
Duo was busy making little sculptures in Quatre's leftover oatmeal, when several letters plunked on the table beside his bowl. "Ooo! For me?" he grinned, picking them up. "Let's see...Hilde, Hilde, Hilde, Howard, and Hilde!" He grabbed his glass of milk, swigging the last of it down so he could go read before class.
Quatre received a whole fistful of letters from his many sisters, and Trowa had one as well.
Then a handful of pink envelopes slapped down onto the table in front of Heero.
Duo looked over and snorted, nearly spitting milk across the table. "P-p-pink!" he gasped out, choking and coughing. "Yuy--who'd send--?" He dissolved into a coughing fit.
Quatre pounded on his back, a matching grin on his angelic face. "Wow, Heero, those are really--um--pink!"
Duo convulsed again, helplessly pounding a hand on the table.
Heero glared at the braided boy, standing up and gathering the handful of letters. As he turned to leave, he passed behind Duo's chair, reaching over to slap really hard on his back a few times. "Get a grip, Maxwell!" he snarled. "It's not that funny."
Duo let out a curse as he felt Heero's blows to his back force the air from his lungs. Gasping to regain his breath, he glared at the blue-eyed team leader. "Yeah--yeah, it is!"
Heero walked to the door, pausing to toss the letters into the trash on his way by.
Duo looked at Quatre.
"Don't even think about it!" Quatre warned.
"Too late," Duo smirked.
"Well, don't do it," Quatre replied. "That's--illegal."
"What? Taking stuff out of a trash can?" Duo scoffed. "How can that possibly be a crime?" Shit, back on L2 half the food they lived on as street kids came from dumpsters and trash cans.
"Opening other people's mail is!"
"But it's no longer mail...it's garbage."
"That's a technicality."
Duo stood and stretched, picking up his own letters. "C'mon, Quat...help me raid the trashcan."
"No!"
Duo was already sauntering towards the bins by the door. But as he neared them, Trowa calmly walked by, dumping out a half-finished bowl of oatmeal on top of the heap.
"Awww--Trowa!" Duo moaned, looking ruefully at the disgusting mess.
The auburn-haired boy simply smirked and kept walking.
Quatre came up beside Duo, following Trowa's example by emptying his soggy cereal into the trash too. "Tough luck there, Duo." He shook his head. "Pretty gross. I wouldn't touch that with a ten-foot pole."
Duo gave him a dauntless smirk. "What about a six-inch spoon?" He took a plastic spoon and scraped just enough oatmeal off to read the blurry, dissolving return address. His eyes widened, and he gave a rueful sigh as he tossed the spoon back into the trash and followed Quatre out into the compound.
"Hey, Quat...betcha if you knew who wrote the nice pink letters you'd be as curious as I am about what's in 'em."
"They're destroyed Duo. Give it up."
"Relena Peacecraft."
Quatre stopped in his tracks. "Heero knows Relena Peacecraft?" he asked in amazement.
"Well, since she wrote him a bunch of letters, it's pretty likely," Duo noted. "Now aren't you sorry you an' Trowa wrecked them before I could read 'em?"
"No!" Quatre said firmly.
Duo looked a little crestfallen at that, trudging along beside the blonde with a pout firmly in place.
Quatre gave him a sidelong glance and sighed. "So who are Howard and Hilde?" he asked brightly, hoping to cheer Duo back up.
"--a guy I worked for, and a friend."
"Oh?" Quatre said, raising an eyebrow.
"What?"
"What kind of friend is Hilde?" asked the blonde teasingly.
Duo laughed aloud. "Quatre...she's like a sister to me."
"Riiiight--" drawled Quatre. "A sister who writes--like--every day? Weren't most of your letters from her?"
Duo rolled his eyes. "Um, Quat...I got a little news flash for ya, buddy." He leaned a bit closer and lowered his voice, though he figured he was stating the obvious. "I'm gay. And Hilde knows it."
"Oh." Quatre walked on for a ways in silence, and Duo started to fidget with the letters in his hands.
"Is that all you have to say? Oh?" he asked.
"Um..."
"Ah, that's so much better," came Duo's sarcastic reply. "I'm sorry I said anything," he muttered quietly, scowling. "I didn't think it'd bother you."
"No--that's not--"
"Forget it," Duo said a little sharply. "I get the picture. But just for the record, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. And, you're not my type!" He folded his letters and shoved his hands in his pockets, looking stubbornly down at the ground and walking a little faster so he reached the barracks several strides ahead of his friend.
Quatre sighed, realizing his reaction had hurt Duo's feelings, but not sure what to say to rectify that situation. He'd been too startled by the casual admission to simply say "Hey, me too...how's that for a coincidence?" Everything he'd learned so far in life, in school, and in juvenile detention had taught him not to be open about his homosexuality. Too often others reacted negatively. So it just didn't occur to him to instantly come clean with Duo. And now...
He looked over to see Duo already situated on his bunk, reading his letters with an intense frown on his usually cheerful face. It didn't look like this was the moment to approach him. Sighing again, Quatre went to his own bunk, sitting down and putting his small stack of letters on top of his foot locker.
"Not reading them?" Trowa asked, looking down from his top bunk.
"Not right now," sighed Quatre. He glanced at Duo again, and then stood up. "I think I'll take a walk."
"Not alone," Heero said automatically, glancing up from the laptop. "Maxwell--"
"I'm reading mail, Yuy." The words came out clipped, edged with ice.
"Barton?"
"Sure."
Trowa hopped off his bunk, darting a faintly quizzical glance up at Duo before he walked over to join Quatre.
The blonde led the way out the door, hands stuffed in his pockets as he brooded.
"Are you okay?" Trowa asked, as they headed to the exercise track and began simply walking a few laps.
"Yeah, fine," said Quatre listlessly. He didn't like being at odds with the one close friend he'd made at boot camp. "Just...I'm tired I guess."
"Yeah, aren't we all?" Trowa commented. "They sure push us, don't they?" He flexed his shoulder experimentally, wincing.
Quatre looked at him with a frown, rubbing his own shoulder reflexively. "Did you pull a muscle or something?"
"No. A long time ago I got hurt in a fall...at the circus," Trowa explained. "Took me a long time for the shoulder to heal right." His green eyes were distant. "A long time and a lot of pain pills," he said with a grimace. "I think it's just not used to all this working out."
"You should see the doctor. Maybe she can give you something."
"No." Trowa shook his head. "The regular prescription shit never did much for it," he added. What he didn't mention was that one of his arrests had been for purchasing illegal drugs to help ease the pain. That wasn't something he was proud of, and it sure wasn't anything he wanted anyone else to know about. "It'll be okay," he said, realizing Quatre was looking worried. "I'm pretty good at compensating, so I don't make it worse."
"Well if it gets bad enough, you should at least tell Heero. Maybe he can have Captain Chang allow you a couple of days off from calisthenics."
Trowa gave a rare smirk at that. "Right. The illustrious Captain Chang allow weakness? You know better."
"He expects great things from us..." they both said in unison, laughing at a comment the officer had made in his speech before roll call.
Quatre gave the auburn-haired boy a genuine smile. "Thanks for coming with me, Trowa."
"Now, you want to tell me why Maxwell didn't?" Trowa asked, giving Quatre a perceptive glance from the corner of his eyes.
"I think he's a little...unhappy with me," Quatre admitted quietly. "I think I said the wrong thing."
"Really?" Trowa raised an eyebrow. "I thought he was thicker-skinned than that. You mean you really can hurt his feelings?"
"Well, you can definitely piss him off," Quatre shrugged.
Trowa laughed again, and Quatre turned to stare at him.
"What?"
"You've just laughed twice in, like, five minutes." Quatre shook his head. "It's..."
"Shocking?" came the wry response.
"Nice," Quatre corrected, giving his teammate a warm smile.
Trowa smiled back, suddenly ducking his head so his bangs covered his face again, hiding the self-conscious blush. "Thanks."
They walked for a while in silence.
"Tell me about the circus," Quatre spoke up suddenly.
Trowa shook his head slightly. "Hell, I haven't talked this much in years, Quatre. I won't have any voice left."
Quatre chuckled, imagining what Duo would say about no one noticing the difference. "C'mon. Humor me, or I'll regale you with stories of my twenty-nine sisters and the Maganac Corps that watches over my family."
Trowa eyed him questioningly. "Your story sounds much more interesting," he insisted. "You go first."
They walked and talked until it was time to go to their martial arts class, and then headed directly there, meeting their teammates in the gymnasium.
"Where've you been?" Heero asked rather curtly.
"Walking," Quatre shrugged, glancing past him to see Duo looking pointedly away. He sighed, realizing the braided boy hadn't cooled off yet.
The foursome settled onto the bleachers to await the start of class.
Lieutenant Li was the instructor, and was conferring with his aides on the far side of the mat, so it seemed they had a few minutes to spare.
Duo had seated himself so that Heero and Trowa were between him and Quatre, and he busied himself by looking around the gymnasium. When his gaze came to rest on Austin's team, he saw the green-eyed leader looking back. He shot a deadly glare in that direction, unconsciously edging a little closer to Heero.
"Maxwell...stop fidgeting," Heero said sternly.
"I'm not." Duo drew his gaze away from the boys in the other bleachers. "But damn, these seats are hard."
Lieutenant Li heard the comment as he walked up, and he smirked at the boy. "Tired of sitting? C'mon up, Maxwell...you and... Pritchard can demonstrate the first technique."
Duo stiffened, glancing aside at Heero, who shrugged minutely. And then the braided boy forced himself to saunter casually up to the mat.
Austin swaggered up to stand facing him, an arrogant smirk on his lips.
"Alright...if you two have done yesterday's study assignment, I'm sure you can demonstrate how to get out of a partial lock hold from behind. Maxwell, you are the defender, and Pritchard will be the attacker." The lieutenant walked over and demonstrated the hold he wanted Austin to use, with one arm looped around Duo's neck and the other snaked through his left arm, which would leave only one arm free for defense. "Like that, Pritchard. Now you try."
Austin grinned, walking around behind Duo, who instantly stiffened uneasily. "Relax, Maxwell. This won't hurt a bit," he said in an undertone.
Duo bit back a reply, his gaze automatically sliding to Heero as Austin slipped an arm around his neck. The larger boy then looped his left arm over Duo's pulling him back flush against him, while Lieutenant Li was explaining the attack and defense to the boys in the bleachers. This brought them so close that Austin's face was almost next to Duo's, his lips nearly against his left ear. "Is this how you like it, pretty boy?" Austin whispered. As he did so, he ran a finger down the side of Duo's neck that the others couldn't see.
Duo's eyes widened, and in the next instant his elbow found Austin's solar plexus, sending the other boy staggering back, gasping for breath. Before he could recover, Duo spun around and punched him, knocking him into the padded wall behind them, and then pinning him there, an arm across Austin's throat.
"You ever fucking lay a hand on me again--!"
"Maxwell!" Lieutenant Li's voice cut through the haze of fury as two of his corporals caught hold of Duo's arms, dragging him off the other boy. "What the hell was that about?" Li demanded, stalking over as Duo tugged his arms free and turned towards the bleachers.
The braided boy merely hung his head, looking down at the mat. "I--lost my temper, is all," he muttered quietly.
"Lost your temper?" echoed the officer. He glanced from Austin to Duo, a frown on his face as he saw the blood trickling from Austin's nose. "You were supposed to be demonstrating a simple technique, Maxwell...not attacking a fellow-recruit."
"Yes, sir," came through gritted teeth. Duo didn't look up. "I got, carried away."
"Consider yourself on KP until Captain Chang says otherwise," the lieutenant said coldly. "And for the remainder of class, you can go do pushups over in the corner." He gestured to the far side of the gym, and Duo obeyed.
"Austin...go to the infirmary and have Doctor Po ice that nose and take a look at it."
"Yes, sir."
Lieutenant Li gave Heero a long look. "Expect a conference with Captain Chang about this, Yuy. He'll want you to have better control over your team."
Heero nodded. "Yes, sir."
"Alright...show's over," said the lieutenant, resuming his teaching. "Next up...Jacobs and Strom. And I expect to see restraint, boys! This is practice...not a prizefighting arena."
Quatre slid over beside Heero, frowning. "You know there must've been a reason for what Duo just did," he said quietly.
"I know," Heero said tautly. He did know. He knew for a fact that Austin and his team had bothered Duo and Quatre on at least two occasions, besides the exchange in the lineup the previous night. But he also knew the lieutenant wouldn't find that to be an acceptable excuse for the outburst. "I'll beat it out of Duo later," he said wryly.
Quatre glanced at him with wide eyes. He couldn't recall Heero ever using Duo's first name before.
"What?"
"Nothing."
As expected, right after class the lieutenant sent Duo off to the commissary to start his punishment. Heero and the others had another class, which kept them busy until lunchtime. But the moment they arrived for the midday meal, they looked for Duo.
It was Heero who tracked him down in the kitchen, sitting in a secluded corner. The Prussian-eyed boy had to bite back a chuckle at the sight of the braided teen peeling potatoes. It was just such a stereotypical scenario.
Duo glanced up and noticed his team leader in the doorway. "Something amusing?" he asked dryly, picking up the next potato and starting to peel.
Heero was torn between frustration at the training time Duo's outburst had cost, and amusement at the dejected look on the slightly pretty heart-shaped face. He opted to stick with the stern approach.
"What the hell was that about?" He demanded, jerking a thumb over his shoulder as if to indicate the debacle in the gym.
Duo looked up from peeling potatoes, his indigo eyes somber. "What's it to you?" he asked listlessly.
"I want to know why you nearly broke Austin's nose. I know his team's been obnoxious to you, but that's no excuse to..."
"He touched me, okay?" Duo said sharply, glancing past Heero as if to be sure they were alone.
Heero looked at him in confusion. "He kind of had to...you were demonstrating a grappling technique."
Duo stood up, putting the knife and potato down. "You don't get it, Yuy. He touched me." He walked closer, circling until he was behind Heero in nearly the same position Austin had been. Wrapping his team leader in the same hold, and moving so that his lips were nearly against Heero's ear, Duo ran a finger lightly down his neck, from just under the ear to the collarbone. "He. Touched. Me. Like. That," he whispered, his breath ruffling the hair against Heero's face.
Heero didn't move, half-mesmerized by the arms wrapped around him and the warm breath next to his ear. They were pressed so close together, he could even feel Duo's heart pounding against his back. "I...I...didn't know," he managed to stammer.
"Well now you do," came the reply, sounding as faint and breathless as Heero felt. Duo pushed away, missing the warmth of his team leader instantly, and he walked back around to take his seat and resume his work. But his hands were shaking so badly he didn't dare pick up the knife or potato. Instead he twisted them in a dish towel, settling them on his lap, eyes downcast. "So...I got mad," Duo confessed quietly.
"I'll tell Captain Chang that Austin was out of line."
"No!" Duo said sharply. "You want our tough-guy commander to call me a weak little girl?" He looked up pleadingly. "You know he will, Yuy. He'll say some dumb shit about how if I were a soldier and got caught I could expect worse, and that if I lose my temper every time someone touches me the wrong way I won't be clear-headed enough to defend myself in a fight!"
Heero had to admit, those sounded like things Wufei might say. But he still didn't want Austin's misbehavior to go unpunished.
As if reading his thoughts, Duo stiffened resolutely. "I already paid Austin back for what he did, Yuy. And I don't mind taking my punishment for it. Just let it go."
Heero nodded. "Alright, Maxwell." He turned to leave, still feeling his teammate's body pressed against his, and the warmth of his finger sliding down his neck. He shivered slightly at the recollection of the soft breath against his ear.
"Hey, Yuy?"
"What?" He looked over his shoulder.
"Would it kill you to call me Duo once in a while?"
He shrugged. "It might...Duo." He missed the brilliant, but wistful smile Duo beamed at him as he left.
"God I wish he was gay," Duo muttered, burying his face in the damp dish towel.
When Heero walked back into the dining room, he found Captain Chang talking to Trowa and Quatre. Squaring his shoulders, he headed for the table.
Wufei looked over as he approached. "I take it you spoke to Maxwell?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good. Now if you'll come with me to my office, I'd like to have a talk with you."
Heero exchanged a glance with his two teammates, shrugged slightly, and followed the Chinese officer out of the commissary and over to his office.
As soon as he closed the door, Wufei turned to his long-time friend. "I have Lieutenant Li's account of the incident this morning. I'd like yours."
"Maxwell and Pritchard were supposed to demonstrate an escape technique. When Pritchard took hold of him, Maxwell elbowed him in the solar plexus, punched him, and slammed him up against the wall."
"Why?" asked Wufei.
"According to Maxwell, he just lost his head for a moment."
Wufei gestured to the thick folder on his desk. "Maxwell has a history of physical altercations during his times in lockup."
"Look at him, Chang. Does it surprise you that he'd have to prove himself over and over?" Heero realized he sounded like he was pleading on Duo's behalf, and tried to regain the objectivity he normally had. "However, this wasn't exactly a case of self-defense." Not exactly.
"Perhaps not..." Wufei walked around to sit at his desk, and then looked up at Heero. "The first day of obstacles, I found Pritchard's team with Maxwell, over by the commissary." A faint smile crossed his face. "It looked rather like a pack of wolves surrounding their prey."
"Maxwell mentioned it to me," Heero said evenly. "Although he wouldn't be specific."
"They dispersed when I showed up," Wufei replied. "Maxwell didn't make any accusations at the time."
"You know how it goes in these places, Wufei."
"Not really. I'm accustomed to soldiers in boot camp...not inmates trying to set up a pecking order," Wufei admitted. "But I've done a lot of homework on the subject, and I'm willing to concede that Maxwell might have had some justification for what he did...maybe." He fixed an intent gaze on his friend. "I'm going to leave this decision up to you. I'd be perfectly within regulations to ship Maxwell off to L2 right now. Technically, he attacked another recruit."
A frown creased Heero's forehead as he thought it over.
"Don't be sentimental, Yuy. Maxwell wouldn't." Wufei fixed a knowing gaze on his friend. "He's a tough-as-nails street kid. Don't let the 'pretty' exterior fool you."
Heero nodded. "I know. There's a lot more to him than meets the eye."
"Yes, but is he an asset to your team...or a liability?"
"At the moment--?" Heero said with a slight smirk.
Wufei shook his head, managing a smile of his own. "I get the feeling you aren't ready to write him off just yet."
"Not yet," Heero decided, feeling a rush of relief. He hadn't even realized he didn't want to send Duo away until he made the decision not to.
"I hope he lives up to the faith you have in him."
"I do?" Heero asked in genuine surprise.
Wufei gave him a warmer smile. "For all your tough exterior, Yuy, you've always had a big heart."
Heero smiled a rare and genuine smile. "It's earned me friends like you, Wufei."
The Captain gestured to the door. "Go on then. I'll tell the kitchen staff to work Maxwell until supper clean-up is done, and then send him back to the barracks before lights out."
"Thank you," Heero said, bowing slightly, instead of saluting, before making his way out.
~*~
Duo's punishment lasted throughout the afternoon and the evening meal, and eight thirty found him still washing dishes, with a surly cook overseeing the activity.
"So, are you convinced KP duty is real?" came a cool voice from the door.
Duo looked up to see Captain Chang leaning in the doorway with a very satisfied smirk. "Yeah..." He pulled his hands out of the soapy water and turned so he was more or less at attention. "I mean, yes, sir," he drawled with a faintly sarcastic tone.
The Captain glanced at the cook. "Go on to bed, Mitch. I'll take it from here."
"Aye, sir." The cook grinned at Duo for the first time all day. "Ya did okay, kid." He patted Duo's shoulder before pulling off his apron and walking out.
Duo looked uneasily at Captain Chang, waiting for the chewing out he expected...or a one-way ticket to L2.
Wufei tossed him a dishtowel. "Do you have a problem with Recruit Pritchard, Maxwell?" asked the officer, his dark, piercing gaze on the boy.
"Just...personality differences," Duo said vaguely, wiping his hands dry.
"Ah..." Chang walked the length of the room, and then turned to face him. "The day of the first obstacle course...were you having a personality difference then?"
"Look, sir..." Duo sighed. "I know I was wrong to hit him. When he had his arm around my neck like that, I just lost my head a little." He gave the man a candid look. "It felt too real, if you catch my drift."
The Chinese man nodded. "I'm not naïve, Maxwell. I get the idea." He raised an eyebrow questioningly.
"Yeah, I know. This is the part where you tell me I'm not cut out to be a soldier."
"Because you don't like being in a position of helplessness?"
Duo nodded.
"No one likes being in that sort of position, Maxwell," replied the soldier, shrugging slightly. "And while I can't condone your injuring another recruit, neither can I fault the effectiveness of the technique you used. You did, in fact, break the hold and escape your captor."
"I lost my temper," Duo said with a scowl.
Captain Chang nodded. "You did. And you broke at least two of the boot camp rules, and probably a law or two."
Duo looked up at him sharply, resignation settling onto his face. "You're gonna send me to L2, aren't you?"
The Captain gave him a long, assessing look. "Not yet, Maxwell. Go on back to your barracks."
Duo's eyes widened. "Seriously?"
"I don't joke, Maxwell. Get the hell out of here," said Wufei, scowling. He turned and started out the door, but paused to look over his shoulder. "Be sure to thank Yuy."
"For what?" came the wary response.
"I left the decision up to him this time." The Captain was gone before Duo could say anything else. So the braided boy tossed the dishtowel on the counter, sighing wearily, and heading out the door.
It was dark when Duo walked to the barracks, ruefully examining his dishpan hands. "If I never see another dirty dish as long as I live, it'll be too soon," he muttered, pushing open the door to see his three teammates getting ready for bed. Well, two were getting ready for bed...Heero was busy typing on the laptop.
"Hi, honey, I'm home," Duo said while yawning.
"Good. Here's your makeup work from weapons and tactics class," Heero said curtly, holding out a handful of papers.
Duo grabbed it on his way past, tossing it on his footlocker. "I'll read it in the morning."
"Tonight, Maxwell," Heero said firmly.
Duo looked at the team leader, trying to see a trace of the nice guy who'd called him Duo in the kitchen. Yeah...well...guess the honeymoon's over. "I'm tired," he said, allowing a faint whining tone into his voice.
Heero looked up at him with a flat, cold gaze. "My heart bleeds, Maxwell. Read the damned papers before lights out in fifteen minutes, or I promise, you'll learn to be scared of the dark."
Duo stopped in his tracks, blinking. "Holy shit, Yuy! You're becoming downright creative at threats."
"Remember that after the lights are out," Heero said, turning back to his laptop.
Duo stared at him for a moment, his mind wandering to a very pleasant daydream about being in the dark with Heero Yuy. Then the braided boy forcibly drew his attention back to the stack of papers on his footlocker. "Fine," he muttered, unlacing and kicking off his boots, and then stripping down to a tee shirt and boxers to sleep in, before picking up the stack of paper. "I'll read 'em tonight...but under protest."
He climbed up onto his bunk, sliding under his blanket, and propping himself up on his pillow so he could read.
"Duo?" Quatre had come to stand beside his bunk, aquamarine eyes concerned. "Are you okay?"
Duo gave a wry snort. "Fine, Quatre...at least I'm not on my way to L2." He glanced over at the back of Heero's head. "Captain Chang said I should thank Yuy for that."
Heero looked up in genuine surprise. "Why did he say that?"
"He said that he let you make the decision whether to send me to L2." Duo eyed Heero searchingly. "It almost sounds like you wanted me to stay."
"I did," came the curt reply, as Heero turned back to his computer.
"Why?" Duo's tone was both questioning and teasing.
Heero paused in his typing. "Because you cut your obstacle course time in half over the past three days," he shrugged, returning to his work.
"That's it?" Duo demanded.
"Hn."
"The only reason you didn't ship me off to prison was cuz I can climb a rope fast?"
"--and crawl through barbed wire."
The handful of papers Duo had been reading bounced off the back of Heero's head. "I hate you, Yuy." Duo flopped down on his bunk, rolling up in his blanket. "I'm going to sleep."
Heero picked up the scattered papers, tossing them onto Duo's foot locker. He smirked at Quatre, who went back to his own bunk and settled in for the night.
TBC...
Back to Snowdragonct's Fanfictions Page