Duo Maxwell blinked back to reality as Heero shed his tear for the first time in three years. He tentatively reached toward Heero's cheek and wiped away the tears. His fingers lingered on Heero's face, feeling his soft cheek underneath.
Heero's face grew hot for he fully felt the first human touch since the incident. He lowered his head as Duo withdrew his hand from his blushing cheek. Silence fell between the two. Few minutes of time passed like eternity as Heero stared at his own pair of sneakers. The wind blew across his hair, messing it up more than it already had. The trees rustled in the background, reminding him that he was in the middle of a hiking trail. He heard the birds sang in the trees nearby and he smelled the fresh scent of the forest. His senses were overpowered by the stimulations all around him. He felt confused. He even felt a bit dizzy. It was as if someone had suddenly turned on the light in the room and Heero could finally see the surrounding. It was simply... overwhelming.
"Come on. Just one more hour and we will be there."
Hearing Duo's voice, Heero abruptly lifted up his head, just in time to see Duo stood up from the rock and dusted his pants.
"I am hungry. Let's try to make it to the top for lunch?" Duo Maxwell adjusted his backpack with one hand and extended the other hand to Heero.
Still sitting on the rock, Heero hesitated. He stared into the violet eyes and instead of seeing that sad little boy, he saw a mature young man radiated with life and energy.
Duo twisted the corner of his mouth up and gave Heero a familiar arrogant grin. He then bent his knee slightly and extended his hand further. "What? Tired already?"
Heero said nothing but grabbed the offering hand firmly and used it as a leverage to stand up.
Duo smiled. He released the hold and turned around. "Almost there."
* * *
"Where is Heero?" Wufei paced in the living room. "I didn't even hear him leave!"
Quatre sat in the dinning room peacefully sipping his cup of tea. He flipped the page of his Sunday newspaper, enjoying the travel section.
"Aren't you even worried?" Wufei barked.
"Nope. Not any more." Not even bothering to look at Wufei, Quatre shook his head and continued to read the newspaper.
Wufei rushed to Quatre's side, making ten steps into five big leaps. "What is it that you know and I don't!" Wufei resisted the urge to grab Quatre's irritating pink collar.
Quatre put down the newspaper. As if wanting to daunt Wufei even more, Quatre took his time to fold the newspaper neatly and squarely on the table before he lifted his eyes to meet Wufei's. Quatre had a nice big smile.
Wufei did not have a nice big smile. He scowled. Not caring about his manner anymore, he grabbed Quatre's irritating blue vest and shook the smiling boy. "WHAT- IS - IT?"
The blonde boy casually threw a glance at the dinning room table. "I found that in Heero's room. Nicely packed away in his drawer."
Wufei traced the glance and located an old and dirty object Quatre wanted to show him. "So?" Wufei was still not letting go of the vest.
"It's a baseball." Quatre triumphly declared.
Wufei narrowed his eyes. He forcefully brought his victim closer by yanking him by the vest. "WHAT ABOUT THE BASEBALL?"
"tse tse tse." Quatre teased. "I see your memory is failing you."
Wufei was resisting the urge of killing the small skinny boy in front him. "I SAID. WHAT- ABOUT-THE-BASEBALL?"
Quatre only smiled wider. "It's THE baseball."
* * *
"How did you get my grade report?" Walking behind Duo, Heero asked. His voice was small but clear.
"Huh?" Not looking back at Heero, Duo replied. "Oh, that's easy. The school security system is a piece of cake. Even an 80 year old grandma could hack into their computer."
"You hack into the school computer?!" Heero was surprised. He vaguely remembered Duo got kick out of the programming class every morning.
Still hiking up the mountain, Duo shrugged. "I gotta have some things to do to kill my time right? After spending so many hours in the main office, it's only natural that I pick up some passwords and stuff."
"You hack into the school computers for fun." Heero said it more for himself than for Duo to hear.
"No, I hack into the government computers for fun. The school computers are appetizers." Duo paused, tying another red string on a tree. "Want some water?"
Heero nodded.
Duo opened his backpack and retrieved a water battle. He tossed it to Heero, who caught it effortlessly.
They stood in silence for a few minutes, watching the land under their feet and feeling the fresh air caressing their faces. The trail did not have many people on it. Duo had picked a peaceful day and place to hike.
"You are not serious." Heero finally broke the silence.
"What?" Duo motioned Heero to toss back the water battle.
"That you hack into the government computer." Heero handed back the water battle.
Sealing his backpack, Duo grinned. "Let's go, we are almost there."
* * *
"THAT is too far fetched." Wufei glared at Quatre. "I think you are seeing things you want to see."
Quatre did not back down. "So explain the fact that Heero picked up the baseball?" Quatre smiled. "He used to not care at all. He could barely notice anything. So why would he pick up this old dirty thing?"
Wufei shrugged. "Maybe he tripped over and picked it up."
Quatre laughed. " This was the baseball that Duo Maxwell used to save us from
Treize." Quatre picked up the ball and showed it to Wufei.
"THAT" Quatre pointed to the tiny scribble on the ball, "is Duo
Maxwell's name."
Wufei squinted his eyes and looked at the ink on the ball. "This guy has very
bad handwriting."
Quatre laughed again. "Wufei, sometimes you just don't like to be proven
wrong."
* * *
"Isn't this nice?" Duo dropped his backpack on the ground and stood on the edge of the mountain cliff.
Heero walked next to Duo. He took off his sweater and let the wind passed through his large T-shirt. It felt good.
"Let's find a spot to eat. I am starving." Duo grabbed Heero's hand and dragged him to a natural platform not far from where they were standing.
* * *
"And you are telling me that Duo has something to do with Heero setting this thing up?" Wufei eyed at the lonely basketball pole suspiciously.
"Well. I don't know for sure. But this," Quatre practically bounced on the driveway, "showed that Heero is coming around."
Wufei eyed at the basketball pole again and shook his head. "You had too much tea, Quatre."
* * *
Heero gave another bite of the sandwich that Duo gave him. It was a nice sandwich with ham and egg. Heero stole a glance at Duo.
Duo didn't pay any attention to Heero at all. He munched his second sandwich happily.
Thoughts still revolving Duo's revelation of his past, Heero cleared this throat. "I am sorry about your parents." Heero quickly looked away. He didn't want to see those vacant eyes.
"I am sorry about your parents too." Duo finished his second sandwich and started to open the third one.
Heero tensed. The sandwich fell on the ground.
Duo shrugged and tucked the half opened sandwich in Heero's hand. He then went back to his backpack and dug out another one. He efficiently opened it and took a big bite.
Heero's body trembled.
Duo picked up the water battle on the ground and sipped.
Heero crashed the sandwich in his hand. "What do you know?" Heero barely squeezed the words out.
Duo shrugged again. "I read newspapers too."
"Kids that age don't read newspapers." Heero enunciate the words clearly.
Duo smiled in a peculiar way. "I was never a kid after the age of six."
Remembering Duo's past again, Heero shut his mouth. But he clenched his fists so tight that the knuckles were turning white.
Sensing that Heero decided not to talk anymore, Duo picked up the conversation. "I recognized you the day you walked into the classroom." Duo tilted his head. "oh, actually, I think you were already in school for a week, that day was one of the lucky days that Mr. J didn't kick me out."
Heero pressed his lips. He placed the crashed sandwich on the ground and looked away.
Duo sighed. He finished the sandwich and picked up the one Heero placed on the floor. He eyed at the poor sandwich before he put it back in the backpack. Duo got up from the sitting position. "Let's go. If we want to make it back by 5, we should leave now."
Heero silently got up and followed Duo. He tied his sweater around his waist and let his arms hang awkwardly by his side.
They walked down the mountain in silence for a mile or two before Heero finally spoke. "How much do you know?"
Duo didn't look back. "Enough. The government database was very thorough too."
"What do you want from me?" Heero chewed his bottom lip. He was trembling with anger.
Duo abruptly stopped. He turned around swiftly and studied Heero with a solemn but unreadable expression. The uncomfortable silence only last a few seconds before his expression was blossomed into his trademark grin. "You know..." Duo grinned bigger, "for a straight A student, you are pretty dumb."
* * *