Fandom: Gundam Wing
Title: School Tales (Senior Year #50) New Year Rising
Pairings: 1x2x1, 3x4, 5xD
Warnings: AU, Heero POV, angst, humor, sap, fluff, shounen-ai/yaoi,
Rating: R for language
Archives: http://www.kiyasama.com/gw_schooltales.html
Chapter 50: New Year Rising
Monday,
The New Year comes with little
to no fanfare, and in less than two weeks, we are back in school, noses to the
grindstone, with the imminent pressures of the upcoming Finals descending upon
us.
The winter chill is still in
the air, heavy coats still worn as students shuffle along the corridors in
muffled voices – or perhaps it’s only the seniors who feel this way. Walking
along the corridors of the first years is a different story altogether. It’s
loud and boisterous as they chatter about their vacations and where they had
traveled to and what they had gotten for Christmas presents etc. etc. Fujisaki
is a private institution where kids of the wealthy are dropped off in expensive
cars after all. Sitting there is the daughter of a major television producer
and over there is the godson of the country’s president. It’s a who’s who of
the rich and famous…except for a few of us.
“Fucking locker,” Duo mutters
as he bangs the metal door again to force it open. He looks like shit to be
honest. He’s not been sleeping well and I think he’s coming down with the late
winter flu. He insists he’s okay, or will be okay as soon as I stop bugging the
crap out of him. He yanks out his
Biology textbook, the musty smell of wet socks, damp sneakers and a half-eaten
Mars chocolate bar come wafting out of it. Good grief! Doesn’t he even bother
cleaning it up every once in a while?
“Don’t even start,” he says
quickly as he bangs the locker shut with his hip. He smirks a little, but even
that looks like an effort.
“You shouldn’t be in school,”
I begin, knowing this would be a lost cause anyway. He won’t listen to me as
usual.
“I took some medicine this
morning, remember?” he’s saying, waving to a member of his basketball team.
Their last game as seniors is in a month. “Besides, Nurse Hottie said my sinuses
will clear up in a week or so.”
He blames it all on his
mother (and newfound ‘family’) who had insisted they spend most of their winter
vacation on the slopes, skiing and snowboarding. It was all Kamui’s fault
really; his new ‘stepbrother’ had insisted that Duo-niichan show him the ropes
and after watching the younger boy fall on his ass so many times, Duo had
almost throttled him in frustration.
“And he still doesn’t know
how to do it!” Duo complained to me on my return. “I think he’s trying to
torture me.”
Suddenly, he comes to a stop
and I almost bump into him. “Wha…?”
“Check it out,” he says
softly, and I look up…at the banners and flyers and buttons, at the laughing
and giggling girls who jockey for position on the bulletin board, trying to get
their favorite guy noticed for the coveted role of ‘Student President’.
My current position.
No. My ‘soon-to-be’
ex-position.
Nostalgia hit me like a ton
of bricks, memories of the very same thing happening to me almost a year ago. I
can still see Trowa, Quatre and I sitting in that empty classroom plotting out
ways for me to win, or Relena and Hilde – armed to the teeth with plastic
buttons and flyers, determined to see me get the role. I was all but guaranteed
the job…
Until someone else showed up
that is.
“Miss it already?” Duo asks.
I shrug and try to downplay
the heavy sensation that has descended on my chest, the queasy sensation in the
pit of my stomach and the ridiculous hot sting in my eyes. “No way,” I reply,
my suffering becoming ten-fold as I notice the boy likely to take my position
in a few months, striding towards us. He’s a good kid, really. I even endorsed
him in the past and could see no other person being the President. With his
dazzling smile and movie star good looks, that height, the fact that he’s a
second-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do, in the basketball team, debate and
chess club and countless other activities he’s involved in, he’s like Prince
Fucking Charming.
In fact, I think I hate him
now…just a little bit. However, a part of me wonders if Milliardo had felt the
same way about me at the time.
“Good morning, Heero senpai,
Duo senpai,” he greets with a polite bow. “How was your winter vacation?”
“Fantastic!” Duo replies
before I can get a word in. He’s enjoying my discomfort as he pulls me closer,
his grin almost impossible on his face. “How was yours?”
“It was okay,” comes the shy
reply. Akira shifts from one foot to the other, stealing glances at me as if
realizing that his claws are just about ready to dig into the gold badge on my
chest and rip it off. The bell suddenly rings and we’re rescued from the
uncomfortable silence that’s fallen. His visible sigh of relief is shown with
his megawatt smile.
“I’ll see you at the meeting
later on,” he says, waving as he backs away to join his waiting throng of fans
in the wings. “Have a good day, senpai!”
“We will!” Duo waves back,
still grinning until the boy is out of sight. He turns to me and tries not to
burst out laughing. “You should see the look on your face!”
“What’s wrong with my face?”
I ask a bit too tightly, coldly and in clear irritation.
“You can’t be president
forever,” Duo says, wrapping his arms my neck. He nuzzles me gently, and I pray
I don’t catch his cold, although it doesn’t stop me from stealing a quick kiss
on his lips.
“I know that, but he still
doesn’t have to make it seem like he’s already got my fucking job. Did you see
how he was dressed?”
Duo raises in brow in
bemusement. “Like he’s always dressed?”
“No! He’s all buttoned up now.”
Duo blinks and I try to get my point across, even though we’re beginning to run
late for our class. “He never used to button up his blazer before!”
“Uumm…Heero?”
“And that hairstyle!”
“He got his hair cut!”
“Like me! He’s trying to look
like me!”
Duo looks at the mess above
my head and shakes his slowly. “Dude, there’s no rhyme or reason to your
hairstyle.”
Growling, I make the turn to
my class, while he yells to me from the other end of the corridor. “Prepare to
let it go, Heero! Just let it go!”
__
Student Council Office
Unfortunately, I can’t let it
go.
Every second that ticks by
reminds me of my precious few moments as the student leader. Although I don’t
officially hand over until April, a part of me wonders what I have done with
myself in the past year. How has time flown by so fast? What the hell would be
my legacy? The first openly gay – okay there was Milliardo before me – but is
that all everyone will remember about me?
The door to my office opens
and Kenzo walks in with a pile of paper in his hands – applications from
would-be presidential hopefuls. He dumps the load on my desk and stares at me,
and for the first time, I wonder how he’s going to take the handing over
ceremony. This is the guy who had longed for my job and for months harbored a
deep dislike for me – not that the feeling wasn’t mutual at the time.
“So.”
“So,” I reply, and we both
stare at the papers.
“Do you really want to go
through all of this?” He picks up a random application form and snickers. “Donald
Keisuke. Even Keisuke wants to run.”
The name doesn’t quite ring a
bell and Kenzo rolls his eyes. “He’s in our Math class…gets only Fs and doesn’t
show up half of the time.”
“Ah.” Him. “Who else?”
He ransacks the papers.
“We’ve got quite a few females wishing to join the fray.”
“That’s nice.” Yes, it will
be nice to have a girl be the president eventually, but Fujisaki’s tradition
has made no provisions for that. I guess they assumed girls would have no
interest in the job.
“Stephanie – the hot one,”
Kenzo says with a wink and I can’t help staring at him in surprise. I guess I
have always seen him as a one-track minded sexless drone. The idea that he
would be interested in the opposite sex is mind blowing. Oh wait, now I
remember, he has always lusted after Anne, our secretary.
“But we all know who’s going
to take the role, don’t we?” he says with a firm nod, as if it’s already been
decided and we’re just going through the motions here. Fuck.
“It’s not set in stone,” I
mumble, reaching for the applications to begin reading through them. “A dark
horse might crawl out of the woodwork, you never know.”
“Yeah, like how Maxwell crept
in from nowhere last time.” The bitterness in Kenzo’s voice is not hard to
ignore. I pretend not to have heard that.
“Oh, this guy looks
promising,” I say, just as the door opens to reveal other members of the
Student Council after a long day of studies and play. I watch the seniors file
in first, the ever trusty Anne with her warm personality and ability to deal
with paperwork unlike any other. Miyuki, the treasurer, shy and awkward but a
whiz with numbers. The two girls are the best of friends and Anne has been nice
enough to bring us all homemade cookies. The juniors file in next, led of
course by Akira (current president of the second years) and his groupies. I
fail to call them assistants since they seem to cling to him on a consistent
basis. Then there’re the first years, now settled in nicely and all but eager
to jump into their sophomore roles. It’s as if we (the seniors) are their only
hindrance.
Just get out of the fucking way, their eyes seem to cry even as they eventually sit
around the room quietly and wait for me to begin the meeting. Your time is up. It’s our turn to shine.
I roll the pen between my
fingers for a minute, staring at each of them. Kenzo looks back with a blank
stare. Miyuki and Anne give me slight nods of encouragement and finally, my
gaze settles on Akira, who smiles at me with what looks like awe, but there’s
no denying the hunger in his eyes.
He wants this job…badly.
__
Our Apartment
“It’s all in your head,” Duo
says, snuggling up to me later that night. “I mean do you think Milliardo
wasted so much time worrying about you?”
I grunt lightly but say nothing,
my fingertips drawing small tight circles on Duo’s naked back.
“You should be thrilled that
responsibility is out of your hands, and you can hand over to him early so you
can focus on the exams…”
“There are other applicants,”
I remind Duo with barely concealed impatience. “Why does everyone assume he’s
going to get it?”
“Because he’s the most
qualified?”
“There might be a dark
horse.”
Duo pauses for a moment,
turns on his back and stares at the ceiling like me. “Nah. I don’t see anyone
else.”
“Damn. I wish Kamui were a
junior. Maybe I’ll hand over to him.”
Duo sputters and sits up to
stare at me as if I’ve lost my mind…and maybe I have. Then again, Kamui’s
changed from the psychotic terror he was and is a decent human being
now…sometimes at least.
“What?” I ask defensively and
I get a nudge on the head in response. Duo sinks back to the pillows and shakes
his head.
“You’re becoming paranoid,”
he says in a singsong voice.
“No, I’m not.”
“Back to being such a control
freak.”
“I was not a control freak.”
Now, it’s my turn to sit up, staring down at his smiling visage. “I just like
things in…well….in or…”
“To go your way. Heero’s way
or no one else’s.”
“Fuck you,” I mumble and
slump back to the pillows, ignoring his soft laughter while he wraps his arms
around my waist, nuzzling my neck as I feel his erection pressing gently
against my ass cheeks.
“Hmm, fuck me indeed,” he
moans, tongue teasing my earlobe gently. I try to even my breathing, to ignore
how hot he’s making me feel and to focus my thoughts on my new rival. This, in
all honesty, seems pretty stupid. I mean what was there to be upset about.
Maybe Duo’s right. Maybe I’m being too paranoid; too concerned for something
that’s going to be out of my hands eventually. I should be more concerned about
finals, about my scores, about getting into a good university, about…
“Oooh…”
Duo’s moan is my undoing,
shattering all thoughts of Akira for while. I roll him onto his back and begin
to worship him the best way I know how.
Little do I know my problems
are just beginning.
__
Wednesday,
“What?!”
Relena twiddles her fingers
for a moment, but then draws herself upright in a defensive mode. “He said you
were busy. What was I supposed to do?!”
I run fingers through my hair
in frustration, staring at the flyers announcing the upcoming debates hosted by
the Press Club. Normally, Relena would have asked for my ‘yay’ or ‘nay’ in
regards to using the auditorium for this event, but apparently, she has forgotten
that I have a vice-president she could have bothered if I was so ‘busy’.
“Relena,” I begin slowly as
if speaking to a child. It’s all I can do not to explode. “He’s. A. Junior. He
has no fucking right to tell you what to do.”
“He said he spoke to Kenzo,”
she continues in her mutinous voice. “And Kenzo’s your assistant, right? So
it’s okay, right?”
“You see me every other day
on the hallways! You have my cell phone number!”
“This was an emergency!” she fires
back. We’re now drawing attention to ourselves, but I’m too far gone in my
anger to care. If I find Akira, I’ll gladly wring his neck.
“Well you can’t have it on
that day,” I state firmly, reaching for the flyer to all but rip it from the
bulletin board.
She turns red – in fury or
embarrassment, I’m not sure. “Why not?!”
“The Drama Club needs it,
Relena! Besides, this is an unofficial debate and not really important at this
time…”
“It’s important! The students
have a right to know who they’re voting for and with so many folks in the
running this year, they should all be heard!”
“Then here’s a really wacky
and bizarre idea. Want to hear it?”
She pouts and seems to hold
her breath.
“Set it for another day. Get
MY approval and it’s all done.”
“Your approval.” She exhales,
closes her eyes and then opens them to stare at me. There’s a small smile on
her face. “Duo’s right. You just can’t let it go, can you?”
Feeling my cheeks get hot, I
add Duo to my growing list of people to kill. “That’s not…”
“Didn’t Milliardo all but
hand it over to you like in December? He realized that there was more to life
than being a president of a high school. You’re going to college now, Heero.”
She taps my chest gently. “You should be thinking big, not worrying about small
fry like Akira and whatever he says.”
“This isn’t about Akira,” I
mutter. It’s all about the fucking son-of-a-bitch.
She shrugs and sighs. “Fine.
I’ll have them print out the rest of the flyers for another date and be sure to
ask for YOUR permission first, sir. As for me…”
“As for you what?”
“I’ll be handing over in a
few weeks. I’m going to miss running the show,” she admits with a wistful
smile. “But I need the break…as you do, handsome.”
With a blown kiss, she walks away,
leaving me standing like a fool with the inevitable weight of what I ought to
do. Unfortunately, I have no time to breathe or contemplate the situation a bit
further, when my nemesis comes running out of his hiding place (I am convinced
he was listening to us) and bows in apology.
“I’m so sorry, senpai,” he
gushes. “I thought it was okay to approve it and Miss Peacecraft looked like
she really needed an answer and since Kenzo senpai said I could authorize
decisions, I felt it was okay to…”
Whoa. “Wait…wait a minute,
what did you say?”
He finally looks up with
concern in his eyes. That makes me feel good for a moment. “What part, senpai?”
“Kenzo authorized you to make
decisions?” Note to self: Add Kenzo to the list of necks to be wrung.
He nods slowly, fingers now
playing with his tie in a nervous gesture.
“When did this happen?” I
ask, surprised I’m even able to speak with the chunk of ice that’s beginning to
fill my tongue.
“Uum…” Akira looks
uncomfortable. “Look, it was a mistake on my part…”
“When the hell did he tell
you this?” I interrupt.
“It doesn’t really…”
“Akira.”
“Fine!” he finally yells,
hands clenched at his sides and a look of determination his features. “I
authorized it on my own. Kenzo senpai had nothing to do with it.”
The ice settles to the pit of
my stomach and stays there. A heat courses through me, burning my core, forcing
a fine shade of red to fill my vision.
“You all but said I had the
job, senpai,” the asshole continues, a smug tone in his voice now. “I just felt
it was time to get a little practice in. Besides, you’ll be graduating soon,
and I know how the rules work and…”
Neither of us saw the blow
coming, but the sting of my clenched fist and the subsequent cry of pain and
surprise as Akira falls to the ground is enough to tell of how furious I am. He
looks at me – the fear more evident in his eyes as he scrambles back a little
with the step I take towards him.
“All but have the job,” I say
quietly. “That was a big mistake on my part, Kamishiro. From now on, you are
going to work your pretty ass off to get this position. Work, work, work until
I say you deserve it. Being cocky has never been a requirement to become
Student President. Go read the fucking rules and when you feel you’re ready to
show a little more humility, let me know.”
I march over his prone form,
trying to control my trembling as I head into my room of solace – the Student
Council office (how ironic). With any luck, he’s finally been put in his place
and I can rest easy knowing I’ve nipped this monster in the bud.
Pity. I couldn’t have been
more wrong.
~End Period Fifty~