Author: Sorceress Fantasia

Warnings: Duo POV, humour, fluff, some sap, AU (Our world and time)

Rating: PG-13

Pairings: 1+2, Mariemeia+OC, Alex+Sylvia

Disclaimer: As I live in a city, I hardly see any shooting stars. If I ever see one, I'll wish that the GW boys belonged to me. But before that, they don't belong to me in any way. As it is, I don't own Harry Potter, Yu Yu Hakusho, Gals, Fruit Basket, Saiyuki, Naruto,Yu gi oh and Garfield either. They belong to their respective creators. Still, I own this ficcy and I think that's my only consolation.

Thanx to Lily Kalanoa for beta-ing! ^^

Seventh Heaven Series Part 28
Duo's Disappointments

I try to burn a hole in Marie's head with my stare, gazing at her intently and need I say, heatedly. If looks can kill... well, she'd probably be lying on the hospital bed right now. It's not that I wish her ill intent. But somehow, whatever I say to her always gets sieved out. Either that, or she doesn't even listen to me.

But she certainly acts like she does.

Roughly one week after the day she broke it off with David and wailed all about it in the ice cream palour, she latched onto Jason. No matter what she says, I don't believe that she's given thought to what I told her.

"Duo, you should stop glaring at them. Otherwise, Jason's going to think you're interested in Marie."

I turn around, feeling a greater measure of frustration than amusement. "Don't be silly, Sylvia. Me? Interested in Marie? She is so slow she would have to speed up to stop. Why would I want to date someone like that?"

She giggles at my annoyance. "Right, it's a silly thought. After all, you have Heero and we all know that."

I knew it was a bad idea to let the girls know about Heero. Now, they take great pleasure in teasing me about him. Still, the teasing has died down pretty much already, and my reaction has changed from sheer embarrassment to coyness. Sylvia's picked up on that; she thinks it's a clear indication that I actually /like/ Heero in a... romantic sort of way. I guess so, or I wouldn't have kissed him good night that day.

It's time I turned the tables. Well, not exactly, but close enough.

"So... what's with you and Alex now?"

She grimaces with as much grace a girl of her upbringing manages, which is saying quite a bit. If I didn't know her well, I probably would have missed the grimace that flew across her face like a flash of lightning.

"He's still... doing all that," she replies hesitantly.

"Oh you mean... casting moony eyed looks at you, slotting notes that sing your praises into your locker, doing poets injustice by quoting their poems..." I count them on my fingers and then look up. "Did I miss out any?"

Sylvia chuckles. "No, I think you covered them all." Then her expression turns solemn. "It's disconcerting... to know he's doing all that. And to me, no less!"

I have to agree on that. When had Alex, the number one school bully's famous sidekick, turned into the sappiest embodiment of Mr. Romantic? And for him to shower all his affection on Sylvia is even more frightening. It's not that I'm trying to belittle one of my best friends, but Alex always likes to pick on me. Or rather, Mueller has the habit of searching me out so he can pull on my braid. And Alex, being the number one sidekick, seemed to develop that same tendency pretty quickly.

"Have you tried telling him that? About how scary it is to have him hover over you when he can?"

"Yes. No. Yes, I mean..." She looks like she's struggling to come up with the correct words. Sylvia doesn't like to offend anyone, if possible. She should become a politician one day, or an author, and she'll publish this book called 'The Book of Politically Correct Phrases for Every Situation'. It'd be a major hit. I just know it.

"I told him that I didn't like it, but I don't think he got the message."

"Oh. You want me to help?" The first thing I'll do is to march right up to Mrs. Stiles and tell her to assign Alex to another student tutor. After all, his infatuation with Sylvia didn't begin until they were meeting regularly for tuition.

She shakes her head. "I'll be fine. Maybe I just have to be firmer in my words with him."

Somehow, I don't think that's possible. There's a limit as to how firm Sylvia can be, and even at her firmest, she's no match for Marie. Or me, even.

"Are you sure?" I try again, knowing full well that she won't be able to deter Alex on her own.

"Yeah, I'm sure."

I let the subject drop. While Sylvia has one of the mildest tempers I've ever seen, she can quite insistent when she wants and she won't give in no matter what others say. If things do get out of hand, and that's highly possible with someone like Alex, I'll still be around to help solve it.

And if that doesn't work, I can always call Heero in and let him reinforce his threat.

With that thought, I just can't help but smile. Heero... my boyfriend. Damn if that doesn't sound like an angel's serenade to my ears! After so many years of short and nearly non-existent relationships, I've finally found someone who's looked me up time and time again despite Solo's intervention. Of course, that might be because I've been trying my best to not let my brother know about Heero. As far as Solo knows, Heero's just been calling me occasionally.

But I wonder what Heero thinks of us. Does he think of me as his boyfriend yet? As of today, the number of times we've held hands: every time we date since the time we went for a movie. The number of times he's held my waist: once. The number of times we've kissed: zilch, zip, nil, nada, zero. As in, none at all. Well, if you consider a kiss on his cheeks, once.

Yup, the numbers are disheartening. I sigh.

"Duo? I'm okay, you know? Alex's not going to scare me to death."

I blink, and my eyes register Sylvia sitting across me with a mildly amused expression on her face. Gee, one of my best pals is having a problem with a likely would-be stalker, and here I am, fantasizing about kissing Heero. I'm such a fantastic friend I don't even know where to begin listing my excellent attributes.

Smiling sheepishly, I answer, "Yeah, but I'm worried about you. Alex... he's, you know." I trail off with a light shrug of my shoulders.

"I know what you mean, but..."

And our conversation spins off to just how funny some people can be, especially when they're trying really hard to annoy the teachers. Take Alex the idiot for example. One of the papers he handed in had a light footprint on one side; he said that that's a footnote.

*****

I bite my lips. Vaguely, I try to remember which direction it is. The last time I was here, Heero kinda distracted me. Besides, I had him with me, so I guess remembering my way around wasn't really on top of my agenda. And now I see why I should have paid more attention.

I don't ever recall seeing that bakery there. Or that sports apparel shop. Oh no. I think I'm lost.

Maybe I should ask around. I really don't fancy having to wander around here like Moses did in the desert for 40 years. Howie told me it was God's will, as some sort of test of will. But somehow, I can't help but wonder if he was actually lost. I don't think they had compasses back then. But then again, it was a desert.

Just as I'm about to give in, I spot it. All tucked neatly into the corner of the street. A little too neat, I'd say. I almost missed it! Suddenly, I feel like Harry Potter when he first discovered the existence of Diagon Alley. Giving myself a mental cheer, that and a mental image of myself in Hogwarts robes, I quickly make my way there. The bell rings as the door opens, and the girl behind the counter looks up. Flipping her blonde locks behind her, she smiles. Or smirks, rather.

"Hi, Duo. Finished with the anime you borrowed the last time already?"

Grinning sheepishly, I reply, "Yeah... mostly. God knows how much schoolwork I'm going to have to catch up with now. I'm not done with the Yu Yu Hakusho movie yet though; my friend borrowed it." Friend is right. For now at least, before Heero and I progress anymore. I place the DVDs I borrowed the last time on the counter top, and she quickly scans them and replaces them in the little basket behind her. "Thanks, Miss Dorothy."

She raises an eyebrow and smirks again. "Just Dorothy will do. And I'll call you Duo."

I grinned. "Sure!"

"Anyway, about that Yu Yu Hakusho movie... you don't have to worry about it. It's not due yet. At least not until next Tuesday," she returns my grin (granted, she makes it seem a lot more femme and classy). "So do you want to borrow more? We just got this new shipment of anime yesterday. Let me see..." -she pulls out a list from under the counter- "...Fruit Basket, Gals, Saiyuki... Oh, you just take a look at the list yourself."

I take it from her and quickly scan through. And then my eyes gain this positive glow when they zoom in on the latest episodes of Naruto.

Oh gods... temptation, temptation. I weigh my options. If I borrow any more, I'm going to get addicted and miss out on more homework. Marie's been accusing me of fantasizing about Heero just because I wasn't paying attention in class. I stress: 'accusing' is the operational word here. And Solo's kinda worried about my schoolwork lately; he just wants me to get into his university so badly... On the other hand, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

"Just one more," I answer meekly, and suddenly, I see angel Duo getting whacked on the head by devil Duo and the latter laughing maniacally with his trident. Wincing, I pray that the little winged one will recover from that blow soon... as soon as I finish watching the anime, that is.

As I see the angel getting wheeled away for recovery, I'm still scanning through the list. And when I get to the end, I sigh. The anime I really want to watch is still not here; I had checked out the shelves the last time I was here, and I caught neither hide nor hind of it.

My disappointment must be showing on my face in flashing neon lights.

"Duo? Can't find the anime title you want?" Dorothy asks casually.

"Not exactly. I did find one anime I wanted, but the other is just not here. It wasn't here the last time I checked either." I shrug. "Oh, could I have the latest DVD for Naruto, please?"

"Of course. It should be in the shelves. I can't leave the counter; sorry."

"It's okay. Thanks."

Scuttling to the back where the anime shelves are, I quickly run my fingers across the cases and pull out the one I want. I'm lucky I'm here today, since it's the last one left and the anime is just getting to the really interesting bits. Finally, I can see Naruto and Garaa (1) duke it out; those people making all these discs are positively evil when they left me hanging on the giant cliffhanger in the last one.

As I'm browsing through the other titles, I hear the tinkling of a bell, which means that someone just came in. But I pretty much ignore it; I'm not the only one who comes to this video library. As it is, I'm wondering why I seem to be the only one here... in the anime section that is. Are there no heavy anime addicts anymore?

Suddenly, I sense someone right behind me and I move away. But the guy just follows me like he's my shadow. I try again, and he's still behind me. Feeling more than a little irked, I turn around, determined to give the immature person a piece of my mind.

"What the hell..."

But my words stop on my lips when I see who it is, and I blink.

"Fei?"

That slick black hair that pulled back into a small ponytail (definitely a ponytail; it's too small to be considered a horse's), slanted exotic eyes and the blue tank top... Not to mention that frown that seems like a permanent fixture on his face. Yup, definitely Fei.

"Hello Duo. I knew it was you the minute I saw your back. No one has a braid like yours," he replies with a smirk. "You would think it's still the Qing Dynasty and men wore their hair in plaits."

I think I'm pouting, unable to think up a smart comeback. Ponytails will probably never be out of vogue.

"Hey, it's the only way my hair won't get caught in stuff. Can you imagine me with a ponytail everyday? I'd probably take 15 minutes to get from my room to the living room just because I had to stop and untangle my hair from the doorknob or whatever."

"You could cut it and all your problems will be solved," he answers like he'd just gained enlightenment of some sorts. Before I can rebuff his statement, he continues, "But then I'd probably find my head on a pike, courtesy of Heero." He rolls his eyes and shrugs. "He likes long hair."

"How...? Oh right, your girlfriend is Heero's sister. What's her name again?"

"Hilde. She keeps her hair short because Heero used to play with it like she's some doll. I guess he still has a hair fetish."

He smirks knowingly, and I can feel my face burning up. But still, I promise myself I'm not gonna cut my hair again, ever. Thanks mum, for giving me beautiful hair like yours.

"So... why are you here?" I ask, eager to change the subject.

This time, the smirk leaves his face and he sighs instead. "One word: Hilde. She's got this movie she wants to watch but she's too lazy to come here to get it. So I'm stuck with the job," -he shrugs helplessly- "This place is a little remote; I nearly got lost coming here. So what about you? Why are you here?"

I hold up the Naruto DVD case. "Came here to return some anime, and got tempted to borrow more."

He gapes. "Oh my god. Is this the latest DVD for Naruto? Hey, I want to watch it too!"

Right, I almost forgot. Fei is a big anime fan like me, the proof of heavy anime addicts still in existence. I grin toothily, like I had a hold on him. This sort of thing doesn't happen often, so I take pride in it when it does. After all, Fei isn't the most amiable person around. "It's the last on the shelf, and it's mine. I'll pass it to you later."

"You'd better," he warns in an almost sulking manner. Then he brightens up and looks around appreciatively. "Honestly, maybe I should be glad that Hilde made me come here. I had no idea there's such a big library of anime titles here."

"Yeah. Me neither, until Heero took me here."

Fei raises a playful eyebrow. "On a date?"

"No! Not really..." Oh gods, why am I so easily embarrassed? Is it my colouring?

But luckily, he ignores me. "So, have you found any Yu-gi-oh VCDs or DVDs here? I've been dying to watch them, but all I've found are some horribly dubbed and choppy episodes on the Internet. It really doesn't do the anime justice to watch it like that."

I shake my head. "I haven't seen any here. Wanna ask Dorothy? Maybe she can help us with it."

"Dorothy?"

"The girl at the counter."

"Oh," -he raises an eyebrow- "you've been here so frequently that you even know the girl by name?"

"Well, she's Heero's friend, and we kinda..." I stop mid-sentence, knowing that I don't have to say anything else, judging from the look on Fei's face. He's probably already filled in the blanks by himself, and no matter what I say, it's gonna be overruled. How utterly unfair.

So I ignore him and march out to the counter where Dorothy is checking out some items for a customer. She finishes up pretty quickly, so I snatch the chance and go up to her.

"Dorothy? Do you happen to have any Yu-gi-oh episodes here?"

She bites her bottom lip in contemplation for a moment, and she slowly shakes her head. "None that I know of."

I sigh, but not before I hear someone coming up behind me.

"Here too? I've been to at least three other shops, and they never have the full set. Well, as full as it gets currently," Fei laments. "It's still running in Japan."

"Is that so? I'm not sure if I can find either... It's not listed in the ones we can get from our supplier. Maybe you can find it online?" Dorothy suggests hopefully. "Or maybe I can ask around for you."

"Yes please!" Fei and I chorus, and we look at each other before bursting into sniggers. Maybe I should meet up with Fei outside of Sally's shop more often. And exchange information on the Yuy siblings; it could do us some good.

"Hey, didn't catch your name. Are you Duo's friend?"

Fei throws a nod at Dorothy. "Yes, and my name is Wufei. You can call me Fei like Duo does though." He glares at me, albeit with a hint of mischievousness.

"Aww! You're finally warming up to my nickname for ya!" I tease, and envelop him in a bear hug. But I let go of him soon enough when he nudges me not too harshly with his elbow.

"You dare do this in front of an eye witness who happens to be Heero's friend? He could get jealous," he says, deadpanned, but I think he laughs when my jaws drop. Now I know the reason for the hint of mischievousness in his eyes earlier. He was set out to get me!

The blonde girl stares at our antics for a moment before laughing herself. "Oh, no worries, Duo. I'll be tightlipped about this... incident." She gives me a knowing wink.

I glare at the two of them, who are now sniggering between themselves slyly, but I keep my mouth shut. After all, they've got the upper hand. Not to mention the blush on my face does not make me the most intimidating person around, so whatever I say will surely be deemed null and void.

*****

Dropping my pen on my book, I stretch my body, feeling the bones pop and my muscles protesting. It's been a long night hitting the books. I swear the teachers have the most impeccable timing sometimes, and homework comes like a deluge when they do. It's like they had conspired to give us work at the same time so a) we wouldn't be bored out of our minds for the weekend, b) we'll have to work like crazy to finish everything or c) we'll make 'good' use of our time. Personally, I think the answer is d) all of the above.

I can only imagine Marie struggling with math, half-buried under textbooks and breaking something in frustration. Maybe she'll make good use of the 'ganbatte' headband Sylvia and I had gotten her for her birthday this time (2).

Sighing, I continue. As much as I would love to do it all tomorrow, Solo's taking me out for dinner tomorrow night and I'm not too keen on staying home for the weekend to finish it up. And I have some anime to catch up with too. As I bend down to start working on some calculus again, the phone rings shrilly. I pick it up without a second thought, thinking that maybe Marie has finally given up on homework and is calling me for help.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Duo?"

I blink for a moment before a smile takes hold of my face. It's definitely not Marie. "Heero? Is that you?"

"Yes, it's me. So... how have you been lately? I haven't been able to see you these last couple of days. Still busy?"

Twirling the cord around my finger, I lean back against my chair. "Yeah. School's been a murder lately, but I'm managing. What about you?"

"Not too bad."

"That's good."

We go silent for a moment, but it's not an awkward kind of silence. It's more like... we're just feeling each other, even though it's through a phone. Sappy, yeah I know, but it's what I think. I've always been a closet sap, and Heero's been bringing that side of me out more often recently.

"I miss you," he starts.

Resisting the urge to go 'aww', I answer, "I miss you too. Maybe we can meet up this weekend and go for a movie or something?" I'm definitely going to finish up my homework tonight now.

"Yeah, I'd love that," he replies, and I can almost hear him smiling smugly. Then his tone turns to something that borders on sheepish. "Duo, I'm sorry, but I need a favour from you."

"What is it?"

"I need you to have dinner with me tomorrow night."

My heart skips a beat. "What do you mean? Need me to have dinner with you?" But a question, one that I didn't quite dare voice out, resounds in my mind. Is this a date? An actual date that involves us getting kissie and not another of those hold-hands-friendship dates?

"You see... this classmate of mine... he's trying to pair me up with his sibling, and he thought that a dinner date would do the trick. But I'm not really one for blind dates, so... I'm hoping that you could come and help me? You know... pretend to be my boyfriend?"

I think my heart just fell a couple of notches down to God knows where. If only he would strike out that 'pretend' in his request!

"I... err, have dinner with my brother tomorrow. We're going out, so..." No way am I gonna just pretend to be his boyfriend! What if he thinks that's all I want? What if that's all he wants?

"I'm sorry Duo, but you're the only one I can trust with this... pretense. And you don't have to stay with me the whole time. Maybe you can just make an appearance so my friend knows that I have a boyfriend? Just a minute will do," he pleads like a whining Shini, and I just can't help but pout. Heero sure doesn't know how this whole idea sounds to me.

But it's Heero we're talking about, so I guess there's no getting out of it. I like the guy, after all.

"Where are you having that blind date, then?"

He sighs in relief over the phone. "I think it's called 'Lemon Grass' (3). The date is at seven."

"I'll try to make it," I answer casually (at least I think I did) even though I'm not too happy at the choice of restaurant. It's a new restaurant, and supposedly, it caters to couples quite well. Couples. Of all things, it just had to be that, did it? Who chose the damn place, anyway?

"Thank you, Duo. I'll make up for this on the weekend, I swear."

If he thinks that will make me feel minutely better... he's right. But I'm not going to be easy on him. Call it a mean streak that runs through my family. "Sure, I'm... just helping a friend."

"Oh. I... I know. Thank you."

He's disappointed, I can tell. Now I feel guilty.

"Maybe we can go over to your place and cuddle? And watch another movie? I kinda liked it that day..." I say, hoping to make him feel better. Not that I'm lying, actually. Heero's warm and soft to lean against on the couch, and I practically melt when he puts his arm around me.

"Really?" he nearly shouts into the phone in his excitement, but I can't blame him. Instead, I snigger.

"I... I... I mean... sure, I'd love to."

Heero's so easy to read sometimes.

After teasing him for a while more, we hang up reluctantly. After all, I still have homework to finish, and he's... doing the dishes because his sister has apparently, learnt the art of sneaking off during dish duty. Not that she has ever done the dishes, though.

Just as I'm about to go back to my work, someone knocks on my door. Someone out there is certainly not letting me finish my math homework... and to think I still have an essay to write.

"Hey, Duo!"

I turn around, welcoming the break. At least I have a good excuse. "Yes Solo?"

"Just coming in to remind you that I'm taking you out for dinner tomorrow night lest you forget about it. You are not going out with your friends, are you?" he asks cheekily, leaning against my door with Shini in his arms. That traitor... just because I didn't manage to feed him dinner this morning because I was rushing to school, he's been following Solo around all day. I think he's the doggy version of Garfield; no dog can be as crazy for food as he is. If I just buy him a catty version of Odie, I could shoot a movie.

"I don't have a memory that bad... Where are we going anyway? And Howie?"

"He's got to work tomorrow night, so I guess we'll have to go on without him. We can always take him there next time. As for the place... have you heard of 'Lemon Grass'? They serve Thai food, and they have this really good green curry."

I chuckle. "Solo, you're drooling."

"Am not. I'm just eagerly anticipating dinner tomorrow night," he replies. "Anyway, I'll leave you alone now. Finish up your homework, okay? And if you have anything you don't understand, just ask the genius in the room next to yours." He grins, and Shini barks as though backing him up.

"You mean Howie?" I ask innocently.

"Smart alec... Happy birthday, kid. Even though it's two days from now, consider that treat tomorrow as your birthday present from me. I'm sure you'll like it," he says with an unholy gleam in his eyes. Is he up to something? Oh well.

It's only a matter of seconds before Shini's yipping can barely be heard from my room; I think Solo's stuffing... ahem, feeding him right now. Then something he said earlier comes back to my mind and punches me hard. I blink. Did Solo say 'Lemon Grass'? Isn't that the restaurant Heero's gonna be at?

...Am I supposed to make sense out of this?

So I've got my brother taking me out for dinner because my birthday's coming. Okay, checked and perfectly logical. My potential boyfriend is asking me to be his 'pretend boyfriend' on the same night, at the same restaurant, and possibly the same time slot, so he can throw his friend who's trying to set him up with his younger sibling off track. Checked, slightly impossible but still logical.

God, are you trying to tell me something?

OWARI

(1) Characters from the anime Naruto. I don't own them in any way. And just in case you're wondering, this is really happening to me, only that I'm still hanging. /sweatdrops/
(2) You know that white piece of cloth students in Japan tie around their foreheads with a red circle and two Japanese characters on it? Just for your information, 'ganbatte' is just one of the many phrases that you can find on such bandanas.
(3) It's a real restaurant somewhere in the city over here. Don't own it! I'm just using the name!

 

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