*...* internal thought
----- flashback
**** identifies a break in scenes
[1,2,3,4,...] author notes at the bottom of fic

Author's notes: well let's see, the only thing I can think of to say is that remember this is an AU fic and the characters have been changed and manipulated to suit my needs... terribly ooc, especially on Heero's part...

A Class Act Part 1
Surprise, Surprise

After that rather spectacular entrance, Heero Yuy studiously avoided looking directly at Duo. He didn't really need eyes to track the braided man's movements; his internal radar had instantly gone into overdrive the moment he'd recognized his former boyfriend. Even now, ten years later, he could sense Duo off to the side of the room, could feel the amethyst eyes that bore into his back even as the hot shot lawyer hobnobbed with some of their former classmates.

Many times Heero had given in to conventional daydreaming and imagined how the past ten years had treated his ex, dreamed of how he must look like in his late twenties. Sadly, Heero's imagination had fallen extremely short of reality. Duo's face had matured, maintaining the heart shape, but the angles had sharpened, the planes becoming more defined, and the violet eyes more intense. His thick, chestnut brown hair was neatly combed and trapped into his trademark braid.

Duo's once rangy basketball player's body had filled out, the shoulders becoming wider than Heero had remembered. After the initial body slam that had acted as a greeting, Heero knew that the flesh underneath the expensive, custom tailored tux was all muscle; hard, unyielding muscle at that.

Recognizing the path of his wayward thoughts, Heero roughly shook his head to clear it of the fog that had descended. In an effort to distract his mind, Heero took a moment to peruse his surroundings.

So this was the Sank Country Club, one of the many places he hadn't been deemed worthy enough to set foot in ten years ago. He took in the high, carved ceiling with its ornamental coving and glittering chandeliers. The two rather massive fireplaces were conspicuously filled with large floral arrangements, due to the fact that it was now mid-July. The bouquets matched the centerpieces on the linen-draped tables bud for bud. The open French doors that led to the flagstone veranda which was strung with tiny white lights, which in turn led to the terraced gardens that lay beyond. An elegant string quartet was seated in one corner, providing a mellow musical backdrop for the hum of conversation. The air was full of mouthed platitudes, greetings that dripped with fake sincerity, interspaced with the muted tinkle of silver and china.

The sights, the sounds, the smells of money.

Heero snorted under his breath, dismissing such ostentatious presentations as unnecessary. Even at his ripe old age of 28 years, he still preferred the atmosphere of hard work and true friends to this societal façade.

And yet, it was in this very place where IT had happened. Well, not here precisely, but somewhere out there on that perfectly manicured golf course.

The bastard.

Having found nothing more than red wine, champagne, or brandy to drink at the bar, Heero had moved onto the food tables. As he nibbled on a small plate of mini shrimp burritos and other various finger foods, Relena Peacecraft bustled up to welcome him and fill him in on Milliardo's latest boyfriend and the history of Dorothy Catalonia's breast implants. [1] Heero supposed it was comforting to know that some things never changed.

Even when they should.

Heero calmly looked at Relena and decided to be kind to the chatterbox. "Relena, you've got a big piece of spinach stuck between your teeth."

Relena's eyes shot wide open even as her hand flew up to her mouth. "Oh!" she cried, as she half turned away. A moment later, she flashed those dazzling white choppers at Heero, who gave her a casual thumbs up.

Relena, her hyperactive mind already moving on to the next subject suddenly exclaimed, "You forgot to pick up your name badge on the way in!" Relena patted down the pockets of her dress jacket until she produced the said piece of paper.

Heero raised one eyebrow and said, "I don't think anyone will have trouble recognizing me, Relena."

Relena placed a hand on her hip and returned Heero's look with a skeptical one of her own. "I don't, Heero Yuy. In looks, you might not have changed too much, but you're a lot more friendlier now than you were back in high school. I mean, back then, you would hardly ever say more than a few words at one time, and never a complete conversation. You were so quiet ten years ago!"

Heero looked into Relena's eyes for a long moment before he averted his gaze and stared into his plate. "Things change," he said quietly.

Heero didn't notice as Relena's gaze turned speculative and sly as she idly looked around the ballroom, zeroing in on her target. Recognizing that manipulative gleam in her eyes, Heero desperately looked around for an excuse to flee.

Zeroing in on a familiar and welcome face waving to him from a few dozen feet away, Heero made quick with his excuses. "Oh, there's J!"

"J?" Relena quickly looked around as her inquisitive blue gaze fell upon their target. A look of disgust and social snobbery crossed her face before she remembered that international diplomats had no business with such looks of disdain on their countenances. Quickly turning her frown into a benign, yet insincere, smile, she said in a noncommittal tone, "Oh, Dr. J. Didn't he retire the year we graduated?"

Shaking his head at her greater-than-thou attitude, Heero muttered, "I'll talk to you later." With that obligatory platitude, he pushed through the crowd and hurled himself at Dr. J in a one-armed embrace, while at the same time attempting to keep the contents of his plate from sliding to the floor. J returned his bear hug with a strength that belied his eighty some odd years, not to mention prosthetic limbs. [2]

"Heero, my boy, it's so good to see you."

Heero allowed a genuine smile to turn the corners of his lips as he answered, "As it is to see you, J. How are the others?"

With a wave of his one remaining natural hand, J answered his favorite former pupil. "They're doing just fine. We're tinkering with some projects we never had time to before, keeping out of trouble."

Heero held his smile, truly glad that his favorite instructor was content and happy in his retirement. Although at first glance J appeared to be a man with which not to trifle, Heero had managed to be one of the few in the school to burrow past the man's defenses and unlock the genius below the crude exterior. Having lost one hand, one leg, and his natural eyes during service to his country, J was a motley combination of human flesh and cybernetics. Though his exterior was battle worn and rough, his mental health and intelligence were as intact as ever.

Perhaps it had been Heero's real interest in the sciences and computers as a whole that had first endeared him to J. Then again, it could have been that Heero had been one of the few students to actually not seem to care about J's appearance. Of course, he could have just been delighted that during high school Heero had constantly thumbed his nose at the high and mighty social crowd of Sank, not caring that his social status as the janitor's son labeled him as one of the drudges.

"So, Heero, my boy, are you still planning on staying at our place this week?"

"I hope that invitation is still open, J. I don't have any hotel reservations," came the answer.

The reunion committee, spearheaded by Relena Peacecraft, had planned a full week of activities in the darling hometown of Sank. To give a week's span of time for old acquaintances to renew broken or dropped friendships and to relive the golden days of their youth. Shuttling home to colony L1 every night would have been impractical, and J had generously offered Heero a room in his sprawling home. A mansion that he had converted to a bed-and-breakfast inn when he retired from teaching, he still shared it with his four other fellow science teachers.

J patted Heero on the shoulder and said, "Of course it is, Heero."

J's gaze suddenly focused on something over Heero's shoulder. With a low murmur, he said under his breath, "Well, well, well..."

Heero's internal radar, whose signals he had been ignoring so far, suddenly slammed back into his mind full force. It sounded the alarm even before he saw who had come up behind him. Keeping his congenial smile firmly in place, he stayed his ground as Duo Maxwell came up and greeted J as well.

A roar of thunder swept through his hearing as his body reacted to the nearness of Duo. However, he firmly clamped it down and stowed his reactions away, forcing himself to concentrate on J. His attention returned to his mentor just in time to hear J excuse himself, leaving Duo and Heero alone.

An uneasy silence fell between the two men, a quiet that neither one seemed inclined to be the first to break. Taking the coward's way out, Heero lifted a bamboo skewer from his plate and nibbled on the chunk of grilled vegetable. Duo stood watching him, silently sipping from his champagne flute.

No How's life been treating you?

No Gee, I've missed you.

No Please forgive me, I was an idiot. Duo just stood there waiting for the slightly shorter man to say something. Unnatural and a bit strange, considering Duo's history for being able to make senseless chatter out of nothing.

But fine. If that was the way he wanted it. Heero could strike first.

He glanced around the sumptuously appointed room and made his first mark. "So. At last I get to see the inside of this place."

Duo's fingers suddenly tightened on the stem of his glass, sending a barrage of ripples through the bubbling liquid. Heero hid his smirk, even though he knew from that tiny reaction that his barb had found its target.

Ruthlessly he forged onwards, adding, "You must've been pleased they decided to hold this gathering here. Your old stomping grounds, so to speak."

He was goading Duo and enjoying every minute of it. Back in the innocent days of high school, Heero had been shy, unwilling to take the lead in many things, hiding behind his wall of silence and seemingly lack of concern for social rules. Although he pretended to not care about the whispers of others, he was always aware of the hidden barbs and attacks of the other students. It had only been Duo and his love, faith, and trust in their relationship that had enabled him to thumb his nose at society and continue on with their much criticized relationship.

A relationship that had ended horribly in flames, dousing his faith and shattering his heart.

Well, ten years had passed and Heero was a different person now. Confident in his own worth, he knew he was as good, if not better, than many of the people in this room. He would show them all that he, the lowly janitor's son, could outmatch and outwit them all.

Duo stared at him for a few moments, then casually glanced around as if to ensure their conversation was private. "I suppose I should feel honored. You're actually talking to me."

Heero raised one eyebrow and drawled out, "Did you expect me to ignore you?"

One broad, elegantly tailored shoulder lifted negligently. "Why not? You managed to do it for a whole two months before graduation."

A venomous reply sprang to his lips, ready to lash out and sting his opponent, and it was all he could do to reign in back in. The impulse shocked him. He had managed to swallow his anguish all those years ago, when he was a timid insecure adolescent from the wrong side of the tracks. He'd held it all in then, the pain, the humiliation.

And to top it all off, everyone had known. He'd wrapped his hurt up hard and tight inside, banded with a bar of gundanium, but everyone had known and he'd had to see that knowledge in their smirking faces every day for two months. He'd had to hear it in their snickering sly whispers and amused gossip.

No. After what he'd endured back then, Heero wasn't about to make a fool of himself over Duo Maxwell at this late date. Even if the braided man tempted him to lash out in self defense.

Forcing his face in a neutral mask, he voiced the usual, "How are your parents?"

Duo plucked a half-eaten mini burrito off of Heero's plate and popped it into his mouth. The audacious act irked him, with its implied intimacy. Duo had no right to imply any such thing. He gave up that right more than ten years ago. With a snort of disgust, Heero handed the half full plate to a passing waiter.

Duo shrugged his shoulder again and said, "They're the same as you might remember. If anything, a little more set in their ways, but that's to be expected." He appeared bored by the subject, as he often was when discussing his socialite parents.

Heero held his breath for one moment before giving into temptation. "Tell them the janitor's son says hi."

Duo's gaze snapped to his face. For an unguarded moment, he thought he saw the old Duo, the Duo he'd known. "Heero -"

"You two getting reacquainted?" Rhonda materialized at their side, along with a rotund man Heero didn't recognize until he glanced at his name tag. He tried not to gape. 'Catcher' Hatcher? It couldn't be!

He caught Duo's eye and they shared a silent exchange. Just like old times. However, the instant rapport fled as soon as Alexi opened his mouth.

"Hey Duo, I thought you were headed out to the golf course. Guess you changed your mind since I don't see any grass stains on that nice tux."

Duo stiffened and glanced at Heero.

"Maybe he's looking for the right partner," Kevin said, with a smarmy grin, as he sidled up to them. "One who knows how to keep a tight grip on the shaft."

Duo's eyes began to glitter dangerously. His gaze kept flicking from Kevin and Alexi to Heero. Heero suddenly realized that Duo was concerned for his sake. No doubt he recalled how easily intimidated he used to be and didn't want him publicly humiliated.

The gallant gesture was not lost on him, although it was long overdue. If he'd had Heero's welfare in mind all those years ago, these two blowhards wouldn't have anything to joke about now.

Well, it was time to take these idiots on a little ride and show them that Heero Yuy cowed before no man.

"So, you guys are into golf?" Heero asked, with wide-eyed innocence.

The three other men stared at him, mute. Rhonda merely raised an eyebrow but said nothing, content to simply watch.

"Because I don't know much about the game myself, but I'm interested in learning," he continued, staring down at Kevin, who happened to be half a head shorter. He spoke on, as if the three men weren't giving him the oddest looks. "Like for instance, I thought you were supposed to hold the club by the grip, not the shaft."

Kevin blinked for a few moments before he finally mumbled, "Uh, yeah, that's right."

He then turned on Alexi. "My friend Noin plays a lot of golf, but I don't recall her ever coming back with any grass stains. Maybe she's not doing it right?"

Alexi gave an imploring look to the other two men, but Duo continued to sip his champagne and Kevin backed up a step. Alexi flinched as Heero sidled closer to him. He was probably dreading the next words out of his mouth.

His salvation came as he spotted a couple of old friends from across the room. In a rush of words that smacked of relief and desperation, Alexi mumbled, "Oh, isn't that the Khushrenadas? I've gotta go say hi."

Kevin quickly jumped in with, "Me, too."

"Don't stay away too long," Heero told their retreating backs. "I have more questions about golf."

He watched them hightail it across the room before turning back to Duo, who raised his glass in a silent salute. The small gesture sparked a hidden warmth in his chest, even as he chided himself for caring.

Someone behind Heero started clapping. He turned around and found himself face to face with a man he would have recognized from anywhere. His lips curved up in another sincere smile as he nodded his head and greeted, "Hello Wufei."

"Bravo, Yuy. Though I was kind of looking forward to seeing Maxwell lay into those two."

The three men shared a lighthearted chuckle, just like in the old days.

Heero sobered and said in a sincere tone, "I heard about Meiran. I'm really sorry."

Duo echoed the sentiment. Wufei had married his high school sweetheart, Meiran, shortly after graduation. Less than two years later, she'd died of a brain tumor, after a long and arduous battle. Heero noticed that Wufei no longer wore a wedding ring, so apparently he hadn't remarried.

A streak of sorrow darted through Wufei's dark, fathomless eyes before it quickly faded. "It was a long time ago. Eight years. I've been through a lot of changes since then. Are you going to be around this week?" he asked, looking directly at Heero.

"Aa. I'm staying with Dr. J."

Wufei's smile radiated genuine delight. Heero was slightly stunned by the amount of emotion that showed on Wufei's face, considering back in high school the only one who could get the stoic Chinese boy to show any emotion was Meiran. "As am I. It'll be great to get caught up."

Wufei's attention was suddenly caught by another classmate and he excused himself from the other two men before heading towards the waiting classmate.

Heero and Duo watched him walk off, casually greeting old friends. Duo took another sip from his champagne flute before murmuring, "So he's staying at J's, too. You'll have all week to get caught up."

"Yes. I'm looking forward to it."

"Or should I say, we'll all have a week to get caught up."

Heero froze before he turned and stared at him, certain he must have misheard.

No. J wouldn't do that to him. He knew what Heero had gone through at the end of senior year, knew what Duo had done, how devastated Heero'd been. True, Duo had been as close to J and the others as he had, but surely he wouldn't have invited them both to share the house this week?

Slowly, the dark haired man said, "Tell me I heard you wrong."

Duo just smiled and drained his champagne flute.

TBC...

[1] ^_^;; umm... don't ask me why I wrote that Dorothy had breast implants... I just remember reading someone else's fic that posed this hilarious imagery and couldn't shake it... gomen!

[2] ^_~ okay, anyone else out there squicked by the thought of ANYONE hurling themselves at Dr. J, nevermind Heero? I know, ewww.... but it works in this fic since J is not a sad, demented, psychotic scientist bent on warping and bending the mind of an innocent boy to use him for a weapon to destroy the earth... *continues on her rants on evil scientists*

[DUO] kami, she'll go on for hours now... oi, what should we do now, Heero?
[HEERO] *smirk*....
[DUO] hai, I'll get the handcuffs if you get the whipped cream.

*pauses in rant to watch with wide eyes* 0.0 *mutters under breath* must remember to rant more often. Rant = bored muses... Bored muses = muses boinking... a good thing ^_~

 

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