Title: Catholic Schoolboys Rule!
Author: Link Worshiper
Pairings: 1=2, 3=4, mentions of others
Stuff: AU, pokes at religious institution, fluff/sap, angst, lemon topping and a bit of drag XD
Disclaimer: Gundam Wing belongs to Sunrise, Bandai and a lot of other people who aren't me. +5 skill points if you guess the title reference.

Filling a request for Rainya, because she feeds my geek needs. Thanks to Natea for the once-over.

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III.

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There had been a note taped to the door when Heero returned to his dorm after fencing practice. He peeled the tape that held the small piece of paper to the wood as he blindly fumbled with the clumsy brass key in the lock, reading the neat cursive as he did so. According to the note, someone had sent him a telegram via satellite and would he please report to the office as soon as possible to retrieve it.

Heero balled up the note and tossed it into the bin on his way down the hall, figuring he might as well get this chore out of the way so he could go the rest of the evening without any disturbances. Besides, he was fairly certain he knew whom the telegram was from, and the sooner he got it off his plate, the better.

Walking through the school at this hour wasn't so bad, Heero decided. With almost all of the school's population either out or squirreled away in their dorms, he found he rather liked the way the place seemed deserted. The shadows spread out even further from their cramped corners and hung in the air like mists, and their protection did a lot for making Heero feel more comfortable. Dark corners suited him, and he detested being found.

When he got to the main office, Noin's door was closed, and the secretary in the main office told him that she was busy with another student at the moment. Heero elected to wait and settled down on the bench in the hallway outside, leaning heavily against its curved back and staring at the shapes carved into the wooden arches that held up the ceiling. Heero felt his eyes getting a little heavy and he let them slip closed, figuring there was no harm in a quick catnap while he waited.

His peace and quiet was very short-lived, though. The sound of raised voices from around the corner quickly roused Heero from his sleep, and he perked up, intently listening like a wary kitten. Two voices, one male and the other female, were engaged in what seemed to be quite the disagreement. He supposed he wasn't at all surprised when he identified the male voice as that of Duo Maxwell. Quietly, he got to his feet and padded down to the end of the hall, peering around the statue of Saint Clare that resided at the corner to see what was going on.

Duo was standing in the middle of the hall in a pair of plaid flannels and a tee shirt that featured a cartoon Christ throwing up devil horns next to the words 'Jesus Was F'ing Metal!' He didn't seem very happy with the elderly woman he was talking to; Heero recognized her to be the nun everyone referred to as Mother Superior.

"Duo, they're just material objects," Mother Superior was saying, patting the perfect bun her long, gray hair was rolled into behind her neck. "You don't need to wear representations of Jesus and Mary to remember they love you."

"It doesn't have shi - anything - to do with that," Duo protested with a roll of his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest. "Sister Helen gave them to me before she... you know...."

Mother Superior shook her head a bit hopelessly. "But Duo, they're still material," she reiterated. "You don't need them to remember her or that she loves you." She lifted one hand and it hovered in the space between them as if she was going to touch Duo, but she instead elected to lay it on her own heart. "Love and memories live here with God."

Duo let out a long-suffering sigh. "You're missing my point, Ma," he said with a touch of condescension. "You go on about how much God means to you and I don't get it. Well, I don't expect you to get how much those medals meant to me, okay?" From his hiding spot, Heero found himself wincing at Duo's harsh tone, unable to believe he would talk to a nun like that.

Apparently used to this kind of thing from Duo, though, Mother Superior merely pushed her half moon glasses up a bit higher on her nose, the chain that dangled from their wire frames whispering softly as it shifted around her neck. "If that's the case, then you could try praying to Saint Anthony to help you find them," she advised, wrapping her arms around her waist genially. "Maybe God is simply trying to test your faith."

"Whatever," Duo said, tossing his hands at her dismissively, already halfway in the process of starting to walk away. Heero quickly slunk back to the bench outside the office and resumed his former position with his head against the wall to ensure he wouldn't get caught spying.

Moments later, Noin stepped out into the hall, motioning for Heero to follow her inside. "Here you go, dear," she said handing him a letter envelope with his name printed on the front. "It's from your grandfather - just checking up on you and everything."

"Oh," Heero said plainly, accepting the envelope and stuffing it into his pocket without even looking at it. He lingered for a moment as Noin sat down behind her desk, wondering if there was anything else she needed of him. The clatter of her fingers on the keyboard of her computer filled the cramped office for a second or two.

"If you want to send a reply to your family, let me know," she told him, glancing up from the screen. "You're lucky your home is so close; it's easy to correspond."

Heero suppressed the urge to make a comment, only for Noin's sake; she didn't need to hear him gripe - not that he was all that sure he really would want to complain to her in the first place. His problems were his own, and he would take care of them by himself. "I'll let you know," he said ambiguously. "Is that all?"

She smiled at him and shook her head, her hair looking purplish in the evening light. "No, that's all," she said. "I'm just getting some last minute things done before I turn in for the night." She paused, her face scrunched in thought for a moment before she asked, "Why, is there something else you'd like to talk about?" She sounded almost concerned.

For a moment, Heero panicked that she'd somehow detected his unrest, but he continued to keep himself still and guarded. He quickly shook his head, his long, thick bangs whipping across the bridge of his nose as he did so, and then quickly backed out of the office with a stiff bow, pulling the door closed as he went.

The moment he was out of Noin's eyesight, he dug out the envelope she'd given him and ripped open the flap as he started to walk out of the main office and back into the hall. The telegram didn't say much, but it annoyed him all the same. He frowned at the message as it crinkled in his fist; the muscles in his brow hurt from furrowing it so tightly.

'Greetings, boy' [it said]; 'I trust you're adapting to your new environment well enough. That's good. Be sure to keep yourself fit and in good health. I want to get you back onto your regular training schedule as soon as you return. Your father is impatient to see you again; he still doesn't trust you're ready to be out on your own. Sincerely, J.'

"Who's got his hand down your shorts there, Spaceboy?" The words were harshly whispered right into Heero's ear, and he jumped in surprise, unaware that anyone was there. He found it ironic that he'd been snuck up on, especially considering the subject of his grandfather's telegram.

"I thought you were going to stay out of my way if I stayed out of yours!" Heero growled at Duo as the longhaired teen stepped off and flopped lazily onto the bench by the office's door.

Duo's white teeth glinted sharply in the dim light. "You're in my way, Spaceboy," he announced dryly. "Standing right in my path."

Heero's eyes rolled upwards as he let out an exasperated breath. "The hallway's wide enough," he said coolly, crumpling the paper in his fist, wanting desperately to hurl the wad at Duo's grinning face. "I don't see why you always need to be exactly where I am."

There was something about Duo's expression that became very predatory just then. "Who wouldn't want to be?" he asked, his voice dropping an octave as his lips curled into a dark sort of smile.

The ambiguous statement just served to annoy Heero further. "What's that supposed to mean?" he demanded to know.

Duo shrugged, much to Heero's mounting frustration. "You can take it at face value or read into the subtexts," Duo said nonchalantly, stretching out his long body as he reclined on the bench. He crossed his legs at the ankles and lined the top of the bench's back with his arms, his hands dangling behind it. "Depends how you roll, I guess."

"I don't understand you," Heero stated flatly. He stared at Duo for a few moments, studying his face as if it would perhaps help amend that problem, but that was obviously to no avail: Duo's expression read as easily as one done up in clown's paint. "Forget it," Heero huffed, tired of feeling so much like he was living at the amusement of others. "I'm leaving, now."

"Ignoring me won't make me go away, you know!" Duo shouted after Heero's retreating back. He let out a soft chuckle when he saw Heero stop and turn around again. He leapt to his feet with that catlike grace of his, walking over towards Heero with an air of triumph.

Heero watched Duo near him, waiting for some smart-ass comment or another to come flying out of Duo's foul mouth, but all he was met with was that damn, wide smirk Duo always seemed to wear when he looked at him! But what infuriated Heero to no end was the fact that Duo walked right by him without even saying a single thing, almost as if it was all an act to come out of the conversation with the last word. To add insult to injury, the weighted tail of that insufferably long braid of his had the nerve to smack him in the ass as he passed by.

It wasn't until Heero was on his way back to his dorm, still brooding over the whole incident, that he remembered Duo's hair had been draped tamely over his chest the entire time.

++++

"So then she tells me to pray to fucking Saint Anthony to find them," Duo was saying to Hilde as they made their way down the cafeteria's buffet table, which was set for lunch. "As if that would actually help." Moodily, he smacked the hand that was going for the same bread roll he was just about to snag. Glaring across the buffet at the blond exchange student, he tore into the roll with a primal bite.

Hilde huffed and gave Duo a reprehensive cuff against the ear. Smiling at the blonde, she apologized on Duo's behalf and invited him to sit at their table. "Just ignore this meshugana," she said, jerking a thumb at Duo. "What was your name again?" she asked.

"Quatre," the blonde replied warmly. He appeared to be a little surprised that Hilde had said anything at all to him, but he didn't seem awkward about taking up her offer once the reality of it sunk in. "Is Heero sitting with us too? I thought I heard you mention Saint Anthony's."

Duo's head snapped up at the mention of Heero's name. "Oh, hell no," he drawled sharply, the glare he shot across the buffet table to Quatre simply daring the blonde to press the issue.

But Hilde didn't seem to be afraid to. "Oh that's right: Heero's school is called Saint Anthony's," she said, sarcasm more than evident on her tongue. "Maybe you should ask him for some help in finding your medals - you know, since the patron saint of lost things is looking out for him anyway."

"Give it a rest, Hilde," Duo said with an exasperated sigh. His voice became a bit more vengeful as he added, "It's not like you really give a damn - you're fucking Jewish."

Hilde sniggered and Quatre blinked curiously at the pair, not noticing that the last two apples in the fruit basket had been plucked right out from under his nose by the students on either side of him. "Jewish?" he questioned. "In a Catholic school?"

Duo was quick to interfere before Hilde had a chance to say anything. "Go on," he urged; "Ask her what a schmuck is!" He cackled mischievously.

Pointedly ignoring Duo by putting a hand over his face, Hilde shrugged, obviously used to that sort of thing. "This school is reputed for its excellent education, so my dad figured it was worth it to send me," she explained simply as she snagged a cup of pudding and started to follow Duo away from the buffet table. Quatre had to hurry to keep up and skipped getting himself a dessert.

The mess hall was crowded, but the trio was lucky enough to find a mostly empty table near one of the windows. Duo sat down on one side and Hilde and Quatre set their trays down across from him. Duo launched right into his meal, cutting through his food as if he'd never seen a plate of meatloaf and a side of mashed potatoes in his life. Halfway through his lunchtime conquest, he paused to swill his entire glass of grapefruit juice in one long draught before attacking his plate with his fork and knife again. Hilde seemed to be ignorant of Duo's unhealthily speedy eating techniques, but Quatre couldn't help but stare in awe, his spoon frozen somewhere between his tray and his half open mouth.

"Dammit, Duo!" Hilde suddenly exclaimed, when she realized that Duo had pilfered her glass of OJ to chase his last bite of meat. He returned the cup to her tray mostly empty. And she stood up with a flourish, her uniform mint green skirt swishing around her legs as she did so. "I'll be right back," she said in a no-nonsense tone as she snatched her glass off the tray and stalked back over to the buffet to refill it.

Quatre watched her go, a curious expression written on his face. "Why's she wearing a long skirt?" he asked. "All the other girls are wearing skirts that are much shorter."

"Dunno," Duo said, reaching across the table to take Hilde's pudding. "She claims she's wearing the winter getup 'cause she couldn't find her regular uniform, but if you ask me, I think she just likes looking frumpy." He licked his fork clean and plucked the cherry off the top of the pudding, biting the red berry off its stem before starting to inhale the vanilla treat.

Quatre seemed vaguely appalled by Duo's comment. "How could you say that? Isn't she your girlfriend?"

Duo's fork jerked to a halt midway on its journey to his mouth. "Yeah," he said a bit slowly, meeting Quatre's eyes carefully. "Why do you ask?"

Quatre balked a little under Duo's rather intense stare, and for some reason, he got the impression there was more between the lines of what Duo had just said. "No reason, I guess," Quatre answered warily, unsure of where he should tread in this thread of conversation. "I just - well, you seem to act more like good friends, that's all."

"Do you have a problem with that?" Duo asked, that damn vagueness still lacing his words.

A fierce red blush overtook Quatre's cheeks and he dropped his silverware onto his tray with a loud clatter. "Oh God, Duo, I didn't mean that!" he gushed, bringing his hands to his face with embarrassment. "She's your girlfriend and I respect that!"

Duo sat back in his chair, confusion now written on his face also. Then the epiphany dawned upon him and he let out a wry laugh. "Nah, it's okay if you think she's hot," he said smugly. "I guess she kinda is, as far as chicks go. So, yeah, go on and check her out 'til your eyes bleed out of your pretty skull."

Quatre blinked at Duo, completely at a loss as to what he should say. Never in his life had he met someone so gregarious and forward, but he wasn't sure that he really had a complaint; Duo just added to the new variety his life had taken on ever since he'd arrived on Earth.

The chair next to Quatre was suddenly dragged out from underneath the table, its legs screeching loudly on the wooden floor, and both boys glanced up, expecting to see Hilde - and were confused when they saw another female student there. She was also wearing the winter uniform like Hilde had been, but the long skirt actually suited her far better than its shorter counterpart. "Is this seat taken?" she asked, already sitting down before either one could answer.

Duo was the one who finally got over his initial shock first. "Dorothy," he said to the girl slinking down next to Quatre, "just what the fuck do you think you're up to?"

Dorothy clicked her tongue, brushing her long gold hair over one shoulder. "Temper, temper, Duo," she chided, shaking her head. "Why are you always so suspicious of me?"

"Because you're shady as hell, that's why," Duo shot back icily.

Quatre regarded them both carefully, nervous of Dorothy's proximity. Still, he knew that Duo had a habit of being a little prickly towards most people, so he elected to make his own opinion of Dorothy before he let Duo's influence him. Turning, his hand extended in front of him, he introduced himself, saying, "I don't believe we've met; I'm Quatre Winner."

Dorothy was quick to focus all her attention on Quatre. "Ah, yes, I know," she said with a spiny grin. "You're the one from the space colony, if I heard right."

"You did," Quatre replied. From the corner of his eye, he caught the very disgruntled way Duo was glaring at the pair of them, but that knowledge almost made him want to press on with the conversation.

"I'm not originally from space," Dorothy went on, not really allowing Quatre to say much more, "but I go out there all the time with my father - he's an important official, you see. I've been to L4; it's beautiful there."

Quatre counted the number of times she'd referred to herself in just that one comment and then had a very clear idea of how this chat was going to be driven. "L4 isn't real life," he informed her plainly. "I've lived there ever since I was born, and I can tell you firsthand that it's one of the most superficial places in the entire ESUN."

Duo chose that moment to interject: "Didn't you say you'd never been off L4 before now?"

Ever the polite conversationalist, Quatre turned to face him and said, "That's true. But it's not like I don't keep track of the news." He reached up to tuck a rogue strand of hair behind his ear and then folded his hands on the tabletop, looking very much like a diplomat. "I know that L2 is suffering a bit of an economic depression, while L1 is booming with commercial industry. The lunar colonies are putting out a ton of new technology and scientific research, and Earth is still struggling with the Disbanded Border Act of 196. Meanwhile...." Here he paused to replace that same piece of hair, which had fallen loose again, behind his ear; "L4 is swarming with politicians and upper crust echelons - the rich tourists who like to shop at the expensive stores. By day they argue this new policy or that - talking ideals with big words and stuff - and by night, they drink and party at high-end clubs. That's not normal; the average person doesn't care about that stuff. It's not even on their radar."

Duo blinked across the table at Quatre, his jaw a little slack. It was hard to say if he was impressed by Quatre's social awareness or not, but it was at least evident that he hadn't been expecting such a thorough, passionate response from the blonde, whom he'd thus far found to be a bit naive and far too kind for his liking. On the contrary, his assessment of the ESUN was a lot harsher than Duo would have expected from a rich, colony-bred child.

Dorothy, however, had the complete opposite reaction. In fact, she looked like she was starting to gear up for a debate, especially with the way she was practically wiggling in her seat at the prospect. "You write off those politicians like they're not important," she said, raising a finger about eye-level. "But it's people like them who solve the problems in our nation. You were just talking about L2's problems - how do you think those are going to get resolved? Not without any help, that's obvious." Lifting her nose into the air and closing her eyes, she shook her head, making her hair undulate wildly across her back as she went on: "So if you ask me, L4 is the very heart of the ESUN, where it beats and breathes, because that's where most of the big political decisions are made."

"Decisions that don't necessarily help things," Quatre answered. Though Quatre's response was slow and carefully worded, it was apparent that he was very in touch with his opinion on the matter. "My father is one of the richest men in the system; I wouldn't trust him to make a good choice for a blue collar worker if my life depended on it." His hands had tightened into fists, and he pounded them softly against his tray as he became more fervent. "Just because you have the authority doesn't always make you qualified. Besides, what makes you think a bunch of Earth-bound politicians would be able to solve a space-side problem?" Tucking his hands under his arms to hide how impassioned he was getting, Quatre grit his teeth and finished neatly: "So no, I still say none of that is going to help places like L2."

"I think Blondie knows his shit," Duo commented drolly, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms behind his head as if he was reclining on a sofa to watch sports.

"Oh, tosh and piddle," Dorothy grimaced, obviously not liking the taste of defeat. She abruptly stood up and stepped away with another toss of her hair; "We'll continue this later, Quatre," she said with a note of challenge. And with that open-ended statement, she sauntered off into the thick of the lunchtime crowd.

Hilde came back moments after Dorothy had left and reassumed her spot next to Quatre. "What was the devil woman doing over here?" she asked as she set and extra glass of juice in front of Duo so he wouldn't have the urge to take hers again. "I'm glad I missed her."

"Oh, no, are you kidding?" Duo suddenly sat up, leaning forward avidly. "You completely missed out on Q over there totally schooling that skanky ho at her own game."

Hilde grinned widely against the rim of her glass as she took a sip. "What, the I'm-Right-You're-Wrong game?" Dorothy had an ego and she wasn't afraid to flaunt it, that was for sure. By this point, Hilde found that facet of Dorothy's character more of an amusement than anything else. She winked at Quatre and gave him a playful shove. "You have to be pretty good to beat Dorothy at that one."

"It was beautiful," Duo insisted dreamily, though Hilde noticed his ever-watchful eyes tracking something to her left.

"Quatre was?" she said idly, twisting around to see what was distracting Duo, not all that surprised to see Heero Yuy walking acoss the area where Duo was staring. "Or maybe something else?" she added with a meaningful intonation in her voice.

Realizing he'd been found out, Duo was immediately defensive. "What're you trying to imply?" he hissed, his eyes widening as he sent a warning glance in Quatre's direction, while Quatre just looked on placidly.

Hilde was silent, watching Heero walk off towards the other side of the room to sit by himself at a small table in the corner. "Absolutely nothing," she said, mostly to herself. "Nothing at all."

++++

Heero lingered for a bit in the middle of the lunchroom, his eye catching Quatre's blond head at a table near the window. Not really knowing anyone else he could have eaten with, there was a moment where he waffled with going to sit with him. He was actually just short of taking the first few tentative steps in that direction, too, until he saw Dorothy, appear out of nowhere and swoop down into the empty chair there. Backpedaling into the throng, he wove his way to the other side of the room, instead finding a nice, quiet table in the corner and far away from Dorothy.

He let out an unconscious shudder at the thought of having to listen to that nerve-wracking girl talk for more than two minutes. The way she rattled on with an air of pretentiousness gave him the same nauseated feeling in the pit of his stomach that his father's idealistic preaching did. If there was one plus to being down on Earth, he thought as he took a bite of his BLT, it was being good and far from all that.

Still, Heero found himself more interested in watching that table than anything else in the busy room. Maybe it was because he realized it was the only one where he could identify all the people sitting at it, or perhaps just because it was directly in his line of sight. Quatre and Dorothy seemed to have gotten into some kind of debate, but instead of watching them, Heero found his gaze more drawn to Duo, whose reaction to their bickering was altogether more fascinating. Heero was especially intrigued by the way Duo's eyes seemed to be constantly roaming about the room, while still giving the appearance of paying the utmost attention to whatever Dorothy and Quatre were talking about. There was even a moment where he could have sworn Duo was staring right back at him, so he quickly cast his eyes down to his tray.

Dorothy left Quatre's table by the time Heero finished the first half of his sandwich - which he altogether felt needed a lot more mayo and crunchier lettuce - but he didn't make a move to relocate himself. Duo had been quick to hijack the conversation and anyway, his girlfriend had showed up again. Heero was certain he would only make the table feel awkward if he came over right then - not to mention very crowded. Besides, he was fairly certain that if he'd been sitting there, Duo wouldn't have been telling whatever crazy tangent he was on, standing next to the table with one foot on his chair, smacking the air and rolling his hips in time. Hilde and Quatre seemed to be enjoying the story well enough, and he didn't want to ruin their fun.

Heero took a long swill of water, mostly to drown out the heavy sigh that was lodged in his throat.

"Anyone sitting there?" said a voice from amid the loud din surrounding him. Heero drew himself out of his melancholy trance and looked up, surprised to see Relena Darlian standing beside his table, her lunch in hand. Slowly, he shook his head and she daintily slid into the other chair.

"How can you expect to make friends if you're tucked away like this?" she asked as she casually started eating as if joining Heero was the most natural thing in the world. "No one's out to swallow you alive, you know."

Heero stared across the table at her, still a little confused as to how she'd managed to finagle her way into his happy little corner. "I'm not so sure," he said quietly, leaning heavily on one elbow and propping his chin in his hand as he continued to stare at Duo's table.

Her knife froze over the muffin she was buttering. "You're not sure?" she repeated curiously. "You're not sure about making friends? Or you're not sure that no one's out to eat you?"

Heero actually bothered to think about that for a few seconds before saying, "Both, I guess." His dark blue eyes darted from Duo for a few seconds and focused on her as he asked forwardly, "Why are you here anyway?"

"You just said yourself you don't make friends easily, so here I am giving you a helping hand." Her knife was scraping across the muffin again, this time spreading a thick slather of jam on top of the butter. All Heero could think about was how much he disliked grape-flavoured jam.

"I don't need your help," Heero told her flatly, wishing she'd stop putting things on her muffin. It wouldn't be long before all those toppings tasted strangely together, and besides, the scraping noise her knife was making against the toasted bread was getting on his nerves.

She twisted her lips pensively and furrowed a brow at him, an expression that took about ten years off her countenance, especially with the way she was wearing her hair pulled back in little braids that day. "I was just thinking I could introduce you to some people," she said, sounding a little hurt by Heero's abrasive mannerisms. "Maybe we could even be...."

He didn't allow her to finish, cutting her off with a glare that was riddled with shards of dark blue ice. "I'm not interested in dating you," he said crisply, his voice warbling dangerously.

Relena let out a small gasp, completely taken aback by Heero's direct words. "I - I wasn't suggesting that we..."

Heero was quick to beat her to the punch again. "I have absolutely no interest in a girlfriend," he told her candidly, hoping the message was more than apparent. "There were a few girls like you at Saint Anthony's - all out for a pet to primp and show off to their friends. I don't want anything to do with that." His words were just short of a menacing growl, his agitation clear, if anything.

Now Relena looked a little annoyed, that innocent expression melting quickly from her face. She might have called Heero Yuy arrogant if he hadn't been so on the mark with her intentions. "Well, there's no need to be rude," she said instead, dropping her muffin onto her plate and standing up abruptly. "Good day."

Heero watched her walk away with uncaring eyes and then refocused his interrupted attention on Duo, Quatre and Hilde, who were still in the middle of their meal. Quatre seemed to have gathered up a bit more self-confidence and was now involved a bit more directly in the conversation, helping Hilde keep a beat against the edge of the table as Duo sang loudly at the top of his lungs. No one but Heero seemed to be paying him any mind, though.

"I need a hero!
I'm holding out for a hero
Until the end of the night!"

From the other side of the cafeteria, it sometimes sounded to Heero like Duo was actually singing his name instead, but he knew it was just a distortion created by the god-awful background noise accompanying Duo's rather sturdy voice.

Morosely, Heero snatched his glass of water and took another long sip in an effort to flood out another long sigh.

++++

Around eleven o'clock at night, Heero started to wonder what had become of Quatre. He hadn't seen the blonde since lunch and he was actually a little concerned. Wufei had long since holed himself up in his private room and closed the door, though the sliver of white light shining out from beneath it signified the Chinese teen was still awake. The lamp on the table was dimmed, the only light in the room coming from the smaller one that lived on the dresser between Heero's bed and Quatre's. Heero collapsed back on his mattress, his hands folded behind his head as he stared up at the odd shadows playing across the sloping ceiling.

Just as he was starting to nod off, however, there was the sound of a key being jiggled around in the old-fashioned door lock, topped off with a laugh that was unmistakably Quatre's.

"Don't forget - I'm holding you to that bet!" came Duo's voice from the hallway outside. His footsteps were receding, though they were out of sync and slurred as the creaking wood beneath his shoes became gradually softer.

"I won't!" Quatre laughed back, just as the lock finally gave way and the door swung open to reveal a very red-in-the-face Quatre Winner. He stumbled into the room and pushed the door closed behind him, flinging his jacket and schoolbag at the foot of his bed before flopping onto it belly-down.

"Quatre," Heero said sternly, sitting up, "are you drunk?" He wasn't even sure why he was asking; he could smell it all the way over on his side of the room.

"Naah," said Quatre, throwing his hands out in front of him, dismissing Heero's accusation. "Just a little buzzed."

Heero frowned, not sure how he felt about that. To be honest, the last thing he really felt like dealing with was an intoxicated roommate; the second Quatre started puking, he was knocking on Wufei's door and telling him to deal with it. "I certainly hope you haven't let Duo's loose ways corrupt you too much," Heero said warningly.

"You're not my dad, so I don't have to listen to you," Quatre shot back with a bit of steel to his voice. "For your information, Duo's a lot of fun to hang out with - really funny guy, he is." He nodded to himself as if to verify the fact.

"I... know he is," Heero said slowly, a little taken aback by the bite in Quatre's responses. "But he's also a bit fast. I'm just saying you should be on your guard around him, that's all."

"Or maybe you should be," Quatre retorted, snapping up and twirling an accusing finger in Heero's direction. Narrowing his eyes into aquamarine crescents, he said slyly, "I'm not blind, Yuy - I see the way you look at him all sad-like. You just don't want to admit you want to be his friend, too." Bouncing on his mattress a little, Quatre smacked his thighs with the backs of his hands, the corners of his lips spreading wider across his face. "I can see it in your eyes right now, Heero Yuy! You wish you'd come along with me after class and gotten pissed with Duo and Hilde and me and laughed about all stupid things in the world." Here he let out another hoot of delight, clearly pleased with how he'd spent his afternoon. "Don't you want to get something out of this exchange experience? To learn a few new things?"

As usual, Heero was far from enthusiastic. In fact, his reaction was a bit on the explosive side. "I don't need superficial things like that to get by," he snapped harshly, frightening Quatre's glee into silence. "I'm only here to keep up appearances for my fucking grandfather and his fucking son, and as soon as I can, I'm going to throw my shit back into my suitcase, hail a taxi and skip to the spaceport as fast as physically possible so I can turn my back on this whole goddamn... experience, as you so quaintly put it."

He didn't even give Quatre a chance to retaliate. Reaching over to turn out the lamp between their beds, Heero rolled over and pulled the covers over his head, adding sharply, "Goodnight, Quatre."

In the dark and safely beneath the cotton sheets, Quatre couldn't be able to see how hard Heero needed to bite his lip in a futile effort to keep his eyes dry. He supposed the wetness must have been due to all that water he'd had with lunch.

++++

TBC

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