In Which Heero Becomes a Counselor - against his better judgement
    “He came this way about twenty minutes ago,” Quatre reassured Duo. “He wanted to come with us, so I'll tell him to get ready…go start the car.”
    “All right,” Duo muttered, picking up the keys to the new little car Quatre had bought. He moved happily from the front door, waving at Zechs and Hilde, who were making out in Zechs' car, then proceeded to ignore them.
    Quatre turned back to Heero's bedroom door and tapped his nails randomly against it as he pushed it open.
    “Just a…” Heero started, then froze as Quatre poked his head into the room.
    “Oh, shit,” Quatre whispered, staring at the back of Trowa's head–it was very obvious the pair had been making out, seeing as Trowa's mouth had still been on Heero's throat. The Arabian slammed the door shut again, staring at the door as his heart started racing and he tried to process what he'd just seen. He doubted he'd ever forget the look on Heero's face–the other's eyes had been huge…
    “You're supposed to knock and wait for an answer,” Trowa called through the door, his tone full of amusement.
    “Holy shit,” Quatre whispered again, starting quickly for the front door as he heard Heero talking fast. Trowa laughed more as Quatre stopped at the front door to compose himself.
    Heero and Trowa had been making out.
    The door opened and closed again, and Heero moved quickly down the hall, rubbing at his throat and wondering if he were marked in any way.
    Quatre turned to regard him with his own set of huge eyes.
    The Japanese teen's grin was all too amused as he smirked at the smaller blond. “I take it we're ready to go?”
    “Yeah,” Quatre squeaked, clearing his throat and darting out the front door.
    “We'll be back later, Tro,” Heero called down the hall as the taller teen stood in his bedroom door.
    “Where ya goin'?” Trowa asked sauntering down the hall and making sure the living room was empty before resting his hands on Heero's hips. “You won't be gone too long, will you?”
    “I don't think so,” Heero muttered, leaning up to kiss the other…and the door opened.
    Heero let out an exasperated breath.
    “Quatre, you realize you have horrible timing, right?” Trowa asked.
    “I'm sorry!” Quatre said quickly, staring at them with the same huge eyes, “I'm just…I…Duo's waiting and…”
    Heero laughed helplessly, pulling away from Trowa with a wink, starting for the door.

- -

    Duo smiled at Quatre, then gave Heero a slightly curious look. He was driving and Quatre was in the passenger seat. The blond hadn't shut up since he'd gotten in the car, and Heero was sitting forward in his seat with a mild smirk on his face.
    “Hm?” Heero asked curiously.
    “Nothing…but why are you sitting forward like that? This is too nice a car for me to have. They'll pull us over if you don't sit back and buckle.”
    “Like you'd crash,” Heero muttered with a mild attempt at flattery.
    Duo flashed him a grin. “That's utterly beside the point.”
    Quatre started yammering again.

- -

    “You look nice today,” Wufei muttered to Relena, studying her semi-suit.
    “Thank you, Wufei,” she muttered almost too politely to him, allowing him to pull the door of the high school open. They were picking up the file-work for themselves and the other former pilots for senior year.
    Wufei flashed a smile at her as she moved into the building and frowned, looking the grounds over.
    “Toby!” Relena squeaked, spotting a tall and lean guy waiting in line. “Oh, hi!” she dashed across the intervening space to give him a hug.
    The Chinese teen groaned to himself, rolling his eyes toward the ceiling before waving at the guy as well. Toby had been in their speech class the year before, and had always praised Relena excessively on her work.
    “How are you two doing?” Toby asked curiously as they moved into line after him. “I followed your tours…very impressive work, Mr. Chang.”
    Wufei nodded cordially. “Thank you.”
    “You were splendid,” he added to Relena, all charm and manners.
    The ex-pilot realized he really didn't like the guy.

- -

    “Kokyuu o kurikaesu,” Heero sung happily, allowing the sound of the slightly darker music to wash over him, eyes closed as he lay on his bed. He'd never really let himself just enjoy music, but he'd found something that the others in the house–namely Duo, wouldn't overplay if he found it. “Hitsuyou na mono wa mitsukarazu, subete no yasuragi o kowasu….” Duo didn't really like music he couldn't sing along to, and some of the words were easy to trip over. “Onaji ayamachi o kurikaesu…”
    “You would not believe that woman!” Wufei informed Heero, slamming into Heero's bedroom. Heero blinked at his friend in amazement, startled from his reverie as he realized that no one ever knocked before entering his bedroom–he made a mental note to inform Trowa of that later.
    “What woman?” he muttered, sitting up and stopping his music.
    “Relena!” Wufei replied with a vengeance. “She was just all over Toby Kraus…he was in our speech class last year…here.”
    Heero studied the pile of papers dropped onto the bed and sighed. “God I hate this…”
    “I don't mind school,” Wufei replied, sitting on the bed himself. “It's better than having to work.”
    “True,” Heero sighed, moving the papers to his nightstand and laying back.
    “What are you doing in here, anyway?” Wufei added, studying his friend. “You're always in your room now.”
    “Jacking off,” Heero replied dismissively.
    Wufei laughed. “Don't we know it…but really…”
    Heero tilted his head. “Where's Quatre?”
    Wufei's face fell and he looked away.
    “Oh…yeah,” Heero rolled his head back to study his headboard and shrugged.
    “Is there something wrong with me?” Wufei asked quietly, following Heero's lead and laying back across the bed. “I mean…I let Duo seduce me…and then…”
    “I think it's just been bad lately,” Heero cut the other off. “We're all stressed lately and we're acting out. Don't get all worked up over it. Relena will figure things out before too much longer and it will be good again.”
    “I just wish…Quatre would talk to me,” Wufei muttered quietly. “I know I fucked him over…”
    “You may want to think more on phrasing there in the future,” Heero suggested with a smirk.
    Wufei gave him a very level look.
    “I'm just saying…”
    Wufei sighed, and started to rant about Relena.

- -

    “Lucratzia?”
    Lucratzia looked up at Zechs with a smile. “Hey.”
    “We need to talk.”
    The woman's smile fell.
    Zechs moved forward and sat across from her at the kitchen table she was sitting at, studying her eyes.
    She looked down, “Why?”
    “I…found someone else.”
    Lucratzia closed her eyes as all sense of feeling vanished.
    “I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you. We stopped having fun, though…”
    “I thought you were happy.”
    “I was, at first.”
    Lucratzia bit her lip, setting her pen down and trying to ignore her shaking hand. “I hate you.”
    “I said I was sorry,” he returned, reaching across the table and touching her hand. “It just…wasn't meant to be.”
    “Don't touch me,” she hissed, yanking her hand away from him and glaring at him. “Why are you even here? Leave! Get out of here!”
    Zechs blinked at her, then narrowed his eyes as he stood.
    “I don't want to see you again,” Lucratzia snapped, biting back the pain welling up in her chest and pretending that tears weren't coming to her eyes as she also stood and shoved the table at him. The papers on it went flying and he danced away from the wood.
    Zechs stared at her in amazement, stuttering over words as she moved around the mess at him. “Get out!”
    “I'm leaving!” he shouted back, moving away from her and into her living room. “God, you're so annoying!”
    Lucratzia's tears got the better of her at those words–and she ran to her bedroom.
    Zechs stormed from the house.

- -

    “Omae dake ni wa,” Heero sung in full voice with his CD player, realizing suddenly what he was doing and stopping himself with a grin, pulling one ear-bud off his ear–to hear footsteps on the porch. He knew where everyone was, and he was expecting no one to show up for another hour. He rose to his feet when the doorbell buzzed several times, leaving the player on the couch and heading toward the door.
    “Oh my god, Heero,” Lucratzia burst into the house, throwing herself into Heero's arms as he froze in surprise.
    “What's wrong?” He returned, noting her distressed state, instinctively wrapping his arms around her. “What's the matter?”
    “He left me,” she sobbed against his throat. “He came to my house earlier and said…he'd found someone else!”
    “Zechs?” Heero asked quietly.
    “Yes!” Lucratzia broke into a fresh wave of tears.
    “Oh…” Heero hugged the woman tightly. “Um…who did you want to talk to? I can call…”
    “You,” she replied, curling more against his chest. “No one else would care…”
    Heero blinked in amazement. “Me? Why me?”
    “I couldn't believe it, he came in all normal, and…and…he told me we needed to talk! How cliché is that? And he found someone! I'm gonna kill the bitch, I swear! I don't want him anymore…but it's her fault!”
    Heero groaned, starting to massage her back to help her relax…and was very grateful when she just let herself cry.

- -

    “I hope she's okay, though,” Zechs muttered as he followed Hilde toward the front door of the house. “She was pretty upset when I left.”
    “You've been with her for like…five years now, I'd imagine she was upset.”
    Zechs grumbled his agreement as Hilde threw the door open–and froze.
    “Oh god,” Heero muttered, dropping his head back as Lucratzia turned to the door with large eyes and stared at Hilde and Zechs.
    “Why are you here?” the woman demanded, pulling away from Heero to face the pair.
    Hilde was staring at her.
    Zechs mouthed at her, glancing to Hilde as he looked to Heero, then looked back to his ex, making an uncertain gesture.
    It took Lucratzia a moment to connect the fact that Zechs was there with Hilde.
    “What are you doing here?” Zechs demanded in return, raising his eyes to Heero as the vague thought of kicking his ass came to mind–granted, that was only if Heero had been…wait, that logic…
    “I'm talking to someone who cares,” Lucratzia replied, then narrowed her as she rested a hand on Heero's chest. “Her?” she demanded, focusing on Hilde. “You gave up what we had for that little piece of ass?”
    Zechs sighed heavily.
    “Fuck you!” Hilde shouted at her.
    “Stop now,” Heero snapped, shocked when his voice echoed through the house and brought an instant silence.
    Lucratzia hiccupped a sob, turning back into Heero's arms.
    “Let's go,” Zechs muttered quietly to Hilde, shoving her at the back door as Quatre poked his head out of his and Duo's room, blinking.
    Lucratzia started to cry again as the back door shut.
    “What's going on?” Quatre asked quietly, moving into the living room proper and buttoning his jeans, frowning at Lucratzia. “Why is she crying?”
    Heero studied the shirtless blond for a long moment with a raised eyebrow, then gestured toward the back door with his head. “Zechs.”
    “Oh,” the blond understood in an instant, moving forward and resting a reassuring hand on the woman's shoulder. “You okay?”
    “I'll be fine,” Lucratzia muttered, pulling back to meet Heero's eyes. “Can we go?”
    This got Heero a raised eyebrow look.
    “I guess,” Heero muttered. “You have your car?”
    “No…it broke down.”
    “Oh,” Heero sighed, moving around her and grabbing his keys from the coffee table, meeting Quatre's eyes. “Tell Trowa if he asks where I am,” he instructed.
    Quatre nodded, studying the woman curiously as she actually focused on him and blinked.
    “I'll be back later,” Heero added, grabbing Lucratzia's elbow and pulling at her.
    She followed him wordlessly.

- -

    “Where…is Heero?” Trowa asked Quatre, standing in Heero's bedroom door.
    Quatre, who was getting something to drink, sighed as he looked back to Trowa. He didn't know why the idea of the two sneaking around together bothered him so much, but knowing that they were hiding it made him feel guilty, like he was part of some dirty secret. “He took Lucratzia home.”
    “Did he?” Trowa moved from the room, frowning at the blond. “What I meant to say is why did he?”
    “Zechs,” Quatre muttered, steadily avoiding the other's eyes.
    Trowa purposefully pinned Quatre to the counter, cupping his friend's chin to force him to meet eyes. “Why can't you look at me?”
    Quatre looked away again quickly, attempting to extricate himself from the position he hadn't realized he'd been put in.
    “You have no idea what you stepped into,” Trowa noted, smirking slightly as he shifted back enough to allow an escape. “You have no clue whatsoever, what's going on around you. The fact that Heero and I are doing something slightly lesser than you and Duo should not embarrass you. In fact, you really shouldn't give a rat's ass.”
    “I just didn't expect it,” Quatre muttered, moving around the kitchen table to the fridge, still not looking at the other. “I don't know what to think and I can tell you two are keeping it on the low.”
    “I keep all my relationships on the low,” Trowa replied with another grin. “Makes breaking up less of an issue for all parties involved.”
    Quatre gasped slightly, meeting Tro's eyes. “That's horrible!”
    Trowa grinned.
    The blond looked away again, managing to pour juice all over the counter.
    “You really are something else, do you know that, Winner?” Trowa leaned against the counter, crossing his arms and legs as he studied the other. “A real piece of work.”
    Quatre muttered something at him that he didn't even understand.
    “You're gonna work with me, then?” Trowa asked. “Until Heero decides he really is my boyfriend, you'll keep your mouth shut?”
    “I can't very well tell anyone,” Quatre snapped, giving up on cleaning his mess and nearly throwing the pitcher back into the fridge.
    Trowa chuckled, thinking a moment. “This is good…”
    “Yeah, fuck you.”
    “Hmm…such a mouth,” Trowa muttered, cutting off Quatre's exit and actually running his thumb over Quatre's bottom lip.
    “God damn it, Trowa!” Quatre raised both arms carefully, attempting to force the other away.
    Trowa laughed evilly.
    “Just…just…don't fuck with me,” Quatre muttered, continuing to avoid the other's eyes.
    “Fine. I appreciate your cooperation.”
    Quatre grumbled.
    “Heero took Lucratzia home?” Trowa asked suddenly, thinking about it. “Why was she here?”
    “I'm not sure,” Quatre admitted, stopping his escape at a more comfortable topic. “I was…with Duo…and we heard Heero shout for someone to just stop. I came out to investigate and he told me Zechs had finally ditched the bitch. She was here for Heero's support.”
    “Huh…” Trowa blinked at that, then nodded. “Thanks for the savvy.”
    “You've been watching old movies again, haven't you?”
    Trowa laughed. “Always, Quatre. Always.”

"Lust for Blood" by Gackt