The Angels Above Us
Part One
* * *
Heero Yuy tried to stuff his things in his backpack as quickly as he
could. He really didn't want to stay in the school longer than he had
to be. Unfortunately, today he had clean-up duty, and it happened to
coincide with the boys' basketball practice. He practically ran through
the halls and schoolyards, going as fast as an eight-year-old could
while carrying a bag full of books. He was maybe half way there, and
could even see the school gate in front of him, when a hand closed
around his arm and he was suddenly jerked back.
Heero landed in the dirt, staring up through his unruly bangs at his
tormenters. There were two of them today, scowling down at him, still
in their basketball uniforms. They must have been two grades higher
than him; due to the school's unfortunate gym schedule, however, he had
to see them every day. And though they usually left him alone in the
locker rooms, after school was an entirely different story.
"Well, look what the cat dragged in."
"Let me go," he said, though his voice sounded small and feeble even in
his head. He knew they wouldn't let him go, not until they had their
fun at any rate.
"I don't think so, fag." The boy holding him jerked him to his feet
before pushing him backwards. Heero tried to gain his balance, but it
was no use. He crashed into the wall, his head banging into it with a
dull crack. His vision swam. "You don't think we'd let the little gay
boy off so easily, do you?"
Heero closed his eyes as the older boy raised his fist, cringing when
it came down hard on his stomach. All the air was knocked out on him
even as he prepared for the next blow. Strangely, it didn't come.
Heero looked up, surprised to see his bully's wrist held in the grasp
of another boy.
"What the hell are you doing?" Duo Maxwell was scowling at the bully.
Duo Maxwell. The star player on the basketball team.
"Duo, hey, we were just taking care of the queer over there. He
deserves it, man."
"Scram." Duo tossed the guy's arm back, causing him to stumble into the
ground. "You shouldn't pick on younger kids like that."
The other bully stooped to help his friend up, looking at Duo with
obvious reverence in his eyes. "Sure thing, Duo. We won't pick on him
again. See you next practice!"
Duo snickered as the two ran off, then kneeled in front of Heero. He
brushed Heero's bangs back, probably checking for injuries, but the
smaller boy couldn't help but blush at the action. Duo smiled, not
seeing anything out of the ordinary, and started to check the rest of
him. "Hey, are you okay?"
Heero nodded as Duo continued his inspection.
Duo grabbed Heero's hands in his, pulling him up. "What's your name?"
"Heero Yuy."
"Well, Heero." Duo smiled, and Heero couldn't help but smile back a
little bit. No one had ever been nice to him, and he couldn't believe
Duo Maxwell of all people was actually talking to him. "I guess I'll
see you around school."
But the next year, Duo had left for middle school. And a year after
that, talk said that the American boy had moved to another part of
Japan.
* * *
Eight years later
The class in room 210B at St. Emilion High quieted as their teacher
walked in, rushing to take their seats as they broke up their
conversations. They watched, interested, as a young boy walked in
behind her. The girls examined the new meat while the boys sized up the
potential competition, all of them wondering how the new kid would fit
into the social hierarchy of their school.
"Class." The teacher made a token attempt to get their attention,
though in truth they were already curious and listening. "Please
welcome our new student, Heero Yuy. I'm sure all of you will help him
get adjusted. Heero?"
Heero smirked as he felt on all the eyes in the classroom on him. He
knew he made an interesting picture. His unruly chocolate hair hung
rebelliously around his head, dyed with large streaks of dark blue near
the front. It shadowed his vibrant Prussian blue eyes, barely covering
the multiple loops that ran up and down his ears. He was wearing a
metallic long sleeved green shirt, so dark it was almost brown, and
tight enough so that you could see the outlines of his nipple rings.
His black pants were somewhat baggy, bunching up over his black doc
martins. Black fingerless gloves adorned his hands, which were
currently fixed around his messenger bag.
"Konnichiwa." He couldn't stop smirking. The girls were all practically
swooning out of their seats. The teacher instructed him to take a seat,
and he did so, feeling all the female eyes in the classroom tracking
his movements. Once the class ended the girls wasted no time in
swarming around him. He entertained them, making idle conversation,
though they did most of the talking. Inside, though, he was frowning.
They were so obnoxious.
"Yuy-san, since you're new you'll need some one to take you around
town."
"Akio-chan, I'm sure he'd prefer for me to take him out."
Heero outwardly smiled. "I'd love to get to know all of you, of course."
Soon enough the crowd around him disbanded as they remembered they had
classes to go to, and Heero thanked his luck that he was able to walk
to his next class alone. He had stopped by his locker to get books for
his next class when something moving in the hallway aught his eye; it
was a long chestnut brown braid, and it had just disappeared around the
corner.
Face lighting up, Heero grabbed his bag and rushed to catch up with the
object of his attention. He rounded the corner to find himself in a
deserted hallway. It ran along the outside of the school, and light
poured into the corridor through the huge glass windows that lined its
edges. There was no mistaking now who the braid belonged to.
"Duo!"
The older boy turned around, and Heero looked him over even as he ran
to catch up. He had always found Duo attractive, but the
eighteen-year-old boy was vastly different from the ten-year-old Heero
had first met.
As could be expected, Duo was taller, topping Heero by more than a
head. His athletic prowess was evident in his build, lean yet muscled
at the same time, speaking of a strength greater than the normal high
school senior's. He was perfect. Heero noted the other boy's simple
outfit: sneakers, jeans, and a loose t-shirt, a varsity jacket hanging
off his shoulders.
Heero knocked Duo back a few steps as he ran into him, wrapping his
arms around the American's waist and resting a face on that strong
chest. "Duo, I'm so glad I ran into you."
Duo had tensed up as soon as this boy had wrapped him up in a hug, and
now fidgeted uncomfortably. He was sure he had an absolutely bewildered
expression on his face, until the small boy looked up and he found
himself staring into a pair of elated Prussian blue eyes. Much to Duo's
comfort, the boy let go of him.
The Japanese boy blushed in embarrassment at how forward he had
been. Still, he was happy to see the only person who had been nice to
him when he was younger. "You don’t remember me?"
Duo watched as the boy fidgeted with his bag strap, obviously nervous.
There was something familiar about him, and as soon as Duo placed it he
smiled at the happy boy. "Sure I do. Heero, right?"
Heero broke out into a grin. "Yeah."
"What are you doing in Tokyo, kid?" Duo ruffled his hair a little,
eyeing the blue streaks, and Heero blushed even more.
"I moved." Heero stepped forward, wrapping both his arms around Duo's
left one, intertwining their fingers as he smiled up at the other boy.
Duo frowned down at him, then smiled apologetically when the situation
became clear in his mind.
"Look, kid, I'm glad to see you, but..." Duo reached with his right arm
to gently pry Heero off of him. "I'm just not that way, you know?"
Duo had accentuated the words "that way", and Heero knew right away
what he was talking about. He chuckled nervously. "Oh. Of course, I
know."
"I hope I haven't given you the wrong impression, I didn't mean to lead
you on or-"
"No, no." Heero interrupted quickly, not wanting to be any further
embarrassed than he already was. "You haven't. I was just... excited,
to see some one I knew."
Duo nodded, holding out his hand. "Friends?"
"Yeah." Heero slid his fingers around Duo's smooth palm, shaking once.
"Friends."
"Duo!"
Heero looked up at the female voice, wanting to see who had called out
to his longstanding crush. It was no doubt a cheerleader, all light
blond hair and pink lipstick. Duo waved at the girl, starting to walk
towards her.
"Look, that's my girlfriend Dorothy, I've gotta go. Don't be a
stranger, okay?"
Heero could only nod as Duo walked away, looking at Dorothy with
ill-concealed resentment. He stumbled his way through the halls,
already late to wherever it was he was supposed to be. Despite the fact
that every one should have been in a class, the hallways were still
fairly occupied. Jocks and bubbly girls stood leaning against lockers
or by water fountains. Heero hated them. They were exactly the kind of
people who had made fun of him as a youth. They would get their
retribution, though, Heero Yuy would see to that.
* * *
Duo made his way into the cafeteria, the other students instinctually
forming a path for him. Soon he had grabbed his lunch from the line and
sat comfortably with Dorothy and his friends. The girl was applying
more lipstick, a paltry salad laid out in front of her.
"Duo, did you check out the new student?" One of the younger boys
started to update Duo on what had no doubt been the recent topic of the
conversation. "He was in my first period class... all the girls were
going crazy for him. Must be the bad boy image."
"Wasn't he the boy you were talking to before, Duo?"
Duo nodded at his girlfriend. "We went to elementary school together."
"I can't blame those girls. The guy's a hottie." Dorothy stopped in the
middle of applying her make up to grin and winked at Duo. "But he's not
as drop dead gorgeous as you."
Duo sniffed at the compliment, turning back to his friend Quatre.
"He's awfully pretty for a boy."
"Look who's talking." Walker, who was probably Duo's closest friend,
chuckled at Quatre's indignant expression. "Still, I wouldn't mind
giving him a ride."
Duo nearly choked on his sandwich, and Dorothy, concern written all
over her face, started slapping him on the back. "Excuse me?"
Walker laughed at Duo's reaction. "Well, yeah, I bet he'd be a hellcat
in bed."
"Since when were you into guys?" Zechs Marquise raised an eyebrow at
his friend.
"I'm not." Walker shrugged. "I'm just not averse to having a good time."
Walker and Zechs were staring at another part of the cafeteria, and Duo
followed their lines of sight to see what they were looking at. Heero
had come into the dining area, followed by a few girls. He was walking
with a confidence Duo knew he didn't have as an eight-year-old, and was
smirking with an arrogance that had been lacking in their recent
reunion. He wondered what was behind the boy's mercurial personality
changes. Heero happened to look up then, holding Duo's eye contact for
maybe a second before quickly looking away.
Even Duo had to admit. The boy was beautiful.
* * *
Heero looked down at his schedule. He only had one more class left, and
it was science. It was his best subject, and he had actually excelled
so much in the field that he was now in a college level course. Out of
all his classes, this was the only one that he had a remote chance of
being with Duo in. He turned the handle to open the door, almost
smiling when he saw Duo already sitting at one of the tables. He walked
up to the seat next to him.
"Cam I sit here?"
"Umm..." Duo shifted in his chair. Dorothy usually sat with him in this
class. "Sure. Go ahead."
Speaking of Dorothy, the blond girl walked in just a second later. She
stared at Heero, then at Duo, a confused expression on her face. Duo
just shrugged. Now indignant, she went to sit next to her friend
Relena, right in front of Duo. As soon as Heero left to do something
she turned around, platinum hair flying out behind her.
"Why is he sitting with you? I sit with you!"
Duo blinked at the way his girlfriend was acting. "Chill, Dorothy. He's
new, he doesn't have any friends. Do you expect me not to help him out?"
Dorothy's anger melted away as quickly as it had come. "Of course not.
I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be such a bitch about the whole thing.
Sorry."
Dorothy turned around as Heero came back into the classroom from
wherever he had been. Heero was actually a little pleased to see that
Dorothy had been upset. He liked to see her agitated. He knew the only
reason he didn't like her was because she was dating Duo, but he
couldn't help it.
The class itself was boring. The teacher lectured almost the whole
time, Heero dutifully taking notes as Duo did the same. The big
surprise came at the end, though, when the teacher announced that they
would have to work on a research paper, due in one month and totaling
twenty pages. Every one in the class groaned, but Heero couldn't have
been happier. It was a two person paper.
"Duo." Heero turned to the other boy hastily so that Dorothy didn't get
a chance to ask him. "Would you work with me?"
Duo turned to look at Dorothy, but saw she was already asking Relena.
"Sure."
Heero smiled as they made plans to get together. Then they both packed
up and headed out, Duo taking Dorothy's hand in his as they left down
the hall. Heero stared after them a little before some one tapped him
on the shoulder, and he turned to see the girl that was sitting in
front of him during science. Relena.
"Hey, Heero." Relena blushed as she addressed him, batting her
eyelashes coyly.
"Hi." Heero smirked, leaning forward a little to convey interest.
"Oh... umm... I was wondering if you'd want to go out for pizza some
time. You know, like a date."
Heero inwardly sighed even as he nodded, putting a lascivious grin on
his face. "Sure. How does tonight sound? Around eight?"
Relena smiled happily. "Sure!"
Heero took down her address, then made his way outside. He was just in
time to see Duo drive off with Dorothy in the passenger seat of his
black bmw. Sighing, he walked towards the courtyard of the school,
which he guessed would be relatively empty.
The courtyard was just a small area in the middle of the school
buildings, framed with short trees and green lawns. The paths and
center area were paved in small, gray stones. Standing in the very
middle of the court was a very unattractive statue of the school's
founder.
Heero made sure everything was empty before making his way towards a
bench. Sitting down, he raffled through his bag before bringing out a
small, black cell phone. He dialed his own number, watching the text
that slowly appeared after that. He didn't have to wait long before the
message indicating his success appeared.
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