Uncommon Warnings: Yaoi! Mild, short lime! WOOHOO! Oh, that’s so exciting…And yes, Heero is acting a bit wimpy during it, but you’ll get why further down the road. Stupid Pick-up Line, Trowa Emotional Torture, and Duo’s a wee bit strange ‘cuz he’s sleepy.
Prodigy
Chapter 5
The Deeper Threat
x---x
“Stop it,” Heero growled, and innocent violet eyes blinked up at him. Duo grinned from his seat on top of the lab’s charred counter.
“Stop what?”
Tap tap tap-
“THAT,” he snapped again, and the braided annoyance on his counter laughed softly. Deciding to obey for the moment, his eloquent fingers began to twirl the pencil around in a figure eight. Duo smiled at the bristling doctor.
“This better,” he asked, and jumped down from the counter, fingers still swinging the pencil in further complicated arcs, twisting it around his middle and index fingers until it was making a four leaf clover in the air. Heero frowned.
“How are you doing that,” he asked, and Duo shrugged.
“Same way you can think up ways to destroy stuff. Practice.” The student’s voice had lost all trace of the happy-go-lucky young man Heero had grudgingly become acquainted with over the past thirteen hours, and that was enough to make the good doctor wary. Those big, brilliant eyes were shining darkly at him. “You know what you get when you cross an angel and a demon?”
Heero frowned. “What,” he asked, and Duo chuckled, throwing the pencil back to where he’d been sitting. Fierce violet stared at him.
“You.” Somewhere, Enter Sandman was playing in the background, and he was smiling in that bizarre way again, enflaming every nerve in Heero’s body. Duo chuckled, sliding closer along the tile. “Baby, I’m like chocolate pudding. I may look like crap, but I’m actually as sweet as hell!” Heero blinked. “Aww, come on, babe. You gonna make me work for it?” Heero frowned. What was he doing?
That question was quickly answered when the underachiever grabbed Heero’s lab coat (which he couldn’t remember putting on, come to think of it…) by the collar and kissed him. Dark blue eyes shot open just as Duo’s slammed shut, a purring sound low in his throat.
Ohgodohgodohgod the scientist’s brain kept repeating frantically, fighting to get out of the unwelcome passion. I’m not enjoying this, this isn’t happe- FUCK! Any chance of denial was blown apart when Duo’s hand crept up the back of his shirt and a slender finger started to slide along his spine. He shivered, gasping at the same time, and Duo took the opportunity to let his tongue slip between the open lips.
He couldn’t help it. Heero’s hand found itself tangled in that luxurious chestnut hair, and his other arm wrapped itself around Duo’s waist, forcing them closer together. The kiss deepened, and-
“Heero.”
He ignored it, finally taking control of the situation. Duo was propped up on the counter, back pressed against the wall and hurrying to get rid of their clothes. His hands were everywhere. His mouth moved lower, determined to taste the braided boy’s creamy skin, and Duo moaned. Heero smiled. He loved that moan.
“Heero!”
Time stood still, leaving Heero time enough to glance around, utterly confused. Why did Duo sound like Trowa all of a sudden?
The scene faded, and angry, hazy eyes opened to glare at Trowa as his head rose slowly from the desk. Trowa, being a college student of above-average intelligence, had the decency to look mildly abashed.
Heero, however, wasn’t about to just sit and fume. He grabbed the nearest heavy object he could find, which happened to be his computer monitor, and hefted it above his shoulders for a few seconds, before it seemed to sail out the second-story window by its own accord. That was quickly followed by the tower, which slammed into the ground with a crash.
But, he still didn’t feel any better, so he grabbed some ethanol, strode back to the window, and slammed the beaker onto the already thoroughly abused electronic device. With a vicious glare, he lit a match and dropped it down, barely avoiding the fireball that vooshed up into the night sky in a violent cloud of flames.
Slowly, he turned back to his friend. Breathe in, breathe out. His new mantra (I do not like Duo Maxwell, I do not like Duo Maxwell) repeated in his brain along with every breath he took. A mildly forceful glare was firmly bolted to his still-hazy eyes as they tried to focus on Trowa. “What?” The taller student shifted on his feet, which was as close to fidgeting as the zoologist ever got.
“I think Quatre’s in trouble,” he finally said. “And, I’d like Duo’s phone number.” Trowa shrugged, staring at the shattered window. “They were on the same field trip, so maybe he knows where Quatre lives.” Heero frowned, but nodded, and walked over to his desk on instinct…only to stop and remember he’d thrown it out the window.
Heero glared at the lab, but finally settled on walking out the door, Trowa following close behind. “I know where he lives,” he muttered. “You’re driving.” Trowa chuckled.
“Of course.”
Inwardly, Heero sighed. He hated Duo Maxwell, and nothing he could possibly believe would tell him differently.
x---x
Duo Maxwell, utterly exhausted high school student, woke up limply on his bed, headphones playing whatever was plugged into some music. He didn’t own anything fancy, so he guessed it was probably a radio or CD player. Details tended to pass him by at three AM. Still, regardless of his attention span, the beat rolled on, and yawning, Duo tapped along.
His drowsy reverie was broken by a forceful knock on the door.
Sighing and groaning at the same time, he hopped off the lifted mattress and pried the headphones off his head, grabbing a knife in the process. Being an emancipated teenager with a near minimum wage job, he didn’t exactly live in the best neighborhood. In fact, he lived in probably the seediest area of Saparta, but Duo actually preferred it…even though it was just because of the prices.
They knocked again. “Yeah, yeah, I’m comin’,” he snapped, and undid first the official lock on his door, then the bottom lock, and finally opened it the small amount the chain would allow.
Duo yawned again, unfazed when blue eyes and unruly chocolate hair glared back at him. “Oh,” he grumbled, and undid the chain. He was yawning again when Heero and the other brunette- Trowa? -stepped in.
Duo knew his apartment wasn’t much to look at, and wasn’t about to start tidying up for them. Since it was officially a studio, the room had no bedroom, so his bed was dangerously close to the stove and the small bathroom led right off the front door. There was a kitchen, a bed, a table, and a couch with a dusty TV in the corner. Clothes were liberally strewn about, all black, and the bed itself was crumpled white sheets and a black comforter so faded it was light gray.
He didn’t bother with pleasantries at 3 in the morning. “Whaddaya want?” Heero blinked in what Duo was quickly acknowledging as the “…oookaaayy…” expression of the good doctor. Surprisingly, Trowa stepped forward.
“I need Quatre Winner’s address. He’s not in the phonebook,” Trowa stated, and Duo sighed yet again, scratching the top of his disheveled braid. He glanced around, then grimaced.
“What day’s it,” he mumbled.
“It was Monday, but officially it’s now Tuesday,” Heero stated, and Duo nodded thoughtfully. Finally, he shrugged.
“Lemme guess. You think something happened to Quat, and got all scared about something or other when something or other happened at his house, right,” Duo asked, trudging over to his meager refrigerator and turning around just in time to see Trowa’s nod. Duo shrugged. “Don’t worry ‘bout it. Monday’s the boss’ day. He gets over it, ‘s all. Tuesday, he’ll be fine.” Trowa frowned, and Duo poured himself a glass of orange juice.
“Boss?” Duo took a swig, blinking and looking around. Heero was busy staring at the headphones, which the violet-eyed boy had put on repeat when he went to the door. He shrugged.
“Sure. Everybody’s got a boss. Hee-babe over there’s got his supervisor, you’ve got Hee-babe, I’ve got the principal and teachers, Mister Winner’s got his boss too,” Duo replied, and took another swig, plunking down in one of his wooden chairs.
“Don’t call me Hee-babe,” Heero said, hands now toying with the slender headphones. Duo chuckled.
“Alright then, Hee-chan,” he snickered, but Heero couldn’t hear him, too busy listening with concealed horror to Enter Sandman on repeat. Duo glanced up at Trowa, violet eyes becoming more coherent. “So yeah. That’s when Mr. Winner gets his deals in, and Quat’s not big into those. He’s got those crazy morals and all that.” Another yawn, and Duo ran a hand through his bangs. “Shit, I’m tired. Well, here’s my advice. Meet him tomorrow at school- the only difference’ll be a couple of bruises, maybe.”
Trowa frowned. “I still don’t understand,” he said calmly, and Duo chuckled.
“You ever wonder where the Winners got all the money,” he asked, and Trowa blinked.
“I didn’t even know the Winners had money,” he stated. Duo grinned, and downed the rest of the orange juice.
“Well, see, the Winner family is quite possibly the richest people you’ll ever not hear about,” he said, laughter in his sleepy eyes. “Think of an oil enterprise, but with more girls in it. Then you get about a third of the profits.” Trowa frowned.
“What about the other two thirds,” he asked, emerald eyes shining. Duo shrugged.
“Gotta ask Quat ‘bout that one,” he said, and quickly turned towards Heero. “Oi! Hee-chan! Get outta here, already. I got school tomorrow…unless you’re kidnapping me again?” Heero threw the still-repeating headphones back onto the bed.
“Actually, I’ll be joining you at school for Tuesdays and Thursdays. The other days, you will be spending at the lab with me,” he said, as if they’d been discussing it for hours, and Duo stared blankly at him.
“…What?”
“I’ll be at school with you on Tuesday and Thur-”
“I heard that, damn it! Why the fuck are you doing that?! I doubt I need that much protection from Mongolia’s Ninja Army of Science,” Duo snapped, and Trowa couldn’t help but think he was finally awake. Heero’s gaze never wavered.
“You do. I teach on Wednesdays and Fridays. You will be there,” he stated. “I am also enrolling you into a night school program at the university, and I’ll be hiring you as an assistant.” Duo’s glare was venomous.
“No, you’re not,” he growled, and Heero smirked.
“Try and stop me,” he responded coolly, pressing the stop button on the CD player. “You’re the one who decided to be smart for once.”
“I have a job already.”
“You can have two.”
“I don’t want two.”
“Tough. You’ll have two, or I’ll call the police and tell them you were breaking and entering onto my property, which, technically, you were.”
Duo cursed under his breath. Which, screwing up his parole royally, would land his ass right back in juvie. “Bastard.”
“Stop now,” Trowa finally interjected, taking a deep breath from where he leaned against the wall, and two pairs of eyes glanced over at him, surprised he was still there. Trowa stood upright finally, and headed for the door. “Thank you, Duo. Heero, I’m not waiting much longer.” He walked straight out the door, leaving the other two boys to glare at each other.
“You’re going to wish you never met me,” Duo glared, and Heero laughed dryly.
“What a surprise. I already do.” He walked out the door, barely avoiding Duo’s empty glass of juice.
x---x