"This is fucking great!" Duo Maxwell blurted out in his enthusiasm before he even realized it himself. His eyes were wide as saucers and his face bore a look of rapt fascination while he looked around in the crowded, large admission hall of the Alliance Mobile Suit Academy, located at the very famous New Edwards base, Earth. The young girl next to him, choppy, dark hair hidden under a large purple beret, laughed out loud.
"Easy, Duo! This is only the admission hall! Wait until you see the dorms, the exercise fields, the training facilities..."
"Not fair! You started out sooner!"
Hilde Schbeiker poked her friend teasingly in the chest. "I can't help it that I'm smarter than you and was admitted earlier!" Laughing again, this time about him scowling at her, she said: "You know I'm just kidding, Duo. If you hadn't been sick you'd been able to take the exam at the same time as me." Immediately biting her lip, she wished she could withdraw those words the very same second she'd spoken them. "God, Duo, I'm so sorry... that was really, really insensitive of me."
"It's all right, don't worry," Duo answered her, knowing that she hadn't said it on purpose. It wasn't her fault that he'd been ill, and that he'd survived and not his friend.... Solo. I'm doing this for you too, buddy. However, he couldn't help that the admiring look on his face changed into a sad one, and his suitcase suddenly felt heavier than before.
"Come on, cheer up, Duo..." Hilde said, voice soft. "You haven't talked about anything but the Mobile Suit Academy for all your life -- and look at you, you finally made it here..!"
"Yes, you're right. We better get goi... heeey!" He didn't have any time to finish his sentence, as she grabbed his hand and dragged him to one of the large admittance desks. Using her elbows to make her way through the mass of students, all carrying their own suitcases, he had no choice but to follow her, secretly glad that she already knew her way around.
Duo wasn't exactly used to crowds, except for Sundays at the church, when he helped out Father Maxwell and sister Helen; greeting people at the door, distributing bibles and helping elderly people to find an appropriate seat. The church had been his safe haven, the place he'd felt at ease and at home. He hadn't known a home until he was seven and caught shoplifting; before he ended up in an endless cycle of being shipped off to foster homes, Father Maxwell was there to take care of him. A sign of God? Duo didn't believe in God. Especially not after witnessing his home being turned into charred bricks of stone, the rubble dispersed all over the premises, the shattered glass from the windows strewn all over, as if a giant had taken a bite out of the church and spat it out... into the face of the very same God. He should've protected his home. His home. Duo owed his life to Father Maxwell and sister Helen, who taught him how to eat -- knife and fork --, braid his hair -- over, under, over --, and to take a bath, one of his favorite activities because he loved turning the large fake-golden taps open and hear the water flow into the giant tub. He didn't mind having to share his bath with two other orphans; water was scarce and he'd never been prude or self-conscious to begin with.
"Name? Name!"
"Stop daydreaming, Duo!" Hilde poked him again, this time harder in his ribs. He looked up, flashing the disgruntled clerk in front of him a large grin. "Duo Maxwell, registration number L2870-T4399, sir!"
Muttering something under his breath, the clerk tapped furiously at his keyboard to look up Duo's number in the large database. "There you are... from L2 colony cluster...all right, I need to verify you. Identification card?"
Duo handed over his card, silently glancing over at Hilde who carefully looked the other way. He really needed to ask her how she got ahead so far in line, or he'd been daydreaming far longer than he thought. In any case, he needed to pay attention so he could do this on his own next semester -- he couldn't keep depending on Hilde for every little thing; she had her own business to take care of. The young girl caught his look nonetheless and winked. "I hope you're going to be close to the women's quarters, Duo. I'm sure you'll have at least success in that department."
"Hey, quit it -- I don't need any more trouble from you!" Duo teased back, and his attention was called back by the clerk again, who'd stamped a wad of papers, shoving it back into Duo's direction.
"Take these and be careful with them, they'll be only issued once. You're assigned to dorm AD-45. Pick up your uniform and study supplies at the designated locations found on the map of the building. Make sure you're at 15:00 hours in the large auditory for Zechs Marquise's welcome speech."
"Incredible, a speech from the Lightning Count himself?" Duo refrained from gaping at the clerk, forgetting to thank him for returning the papers.
"Wait until you get lessons from him," Hilde nodded, handing her own identification card to the man. "He'll only train the best of the best, but when Zechs Marquise trains you, you simply know you're one of the best."
"Amazing," Duo merely whistled, looking at the papers and reminding himself to become one of the top of his class -- he owed that to quite some people. Hilde finished registering and took up her own bundle of papers, clutching it to her chest. Turning to Duo, she nudged him to leave the line, as other students were pushing to move forward.
"Let's go, Duo. It'll be hell to pick up your uniform and study supplies, so why don't we go to the dorms first? Which one do you have? AD-45, right?"
He checked the top list of the papers he was carrying, and nodded in affirmation. "AD-45. I doubt we can go together, of course..."
"No women are allowed in the men's dorms, and the other way around," Hilde said, mock-disappointment in her voice. "You'll get expelled if you're on the other gender's proprietary without a permission slip. Maybe when war has broken out, but even then you'll need a permission slip. Those are holy around here, as you'll soon find out yourself."
Duo shivered, shaking his head. "I don't want to be expelled so soon. I guess I'll have to contain my raging teenage hormones violently."
"Don't worry -- you'll probably be too busy surviving anyway," Hilde laughed a little before she became more serious. "I know you can handle everything yourself, but please, Duo.. don't hesitate to ask for help when it's not going the way you'd like it to be going, right? Some of the students can be mean, some of them can be vile, violent... I don't want anything to happen to you."
"It's going to be fine, Hilde," Duo said, tone of voice soothing. "I promise you that if I run into any problem growing above my head, I'll come to you."
She narrowed her eyes, slightly irritated that he didn't take her seriously. " I mean it, Duo Maxwell. I'll keep you to that promise."
"You better watch where you're going," Duo answered airily, grabbing her at the upper arm and jerking her back before she bumped into another student.
"I'm terribly sorry," Hilde was quick to apologize while stumbling back, "I wasn't paying attention!"
The blond young man in front of her showed her a friendly smile and turned towards her. "That's quite all right, I was probably standing in the way! I was too engrossed in the map of the building."
"Where do you need to go to?"
"Dorm AD-45," the student gave a puzzled look, "it's quite confusing. It's my first day here, I had to take care of some family business first before I was able to take the exam. I missed the first semester, unfortunately..."
"You have the same dorm as Duo! I'll bring you as far as I'm allowed to, then you're on your own, boys," Hilde said enthusiastically and extended her hand. "Hilde Schbeiker."
"Quatre Raberba Winner," the other introduced himself.
"Wait, wait, Winner -- as in Winner Industries? The mining company?" Duo said before shaking hands with the other.
"Ah, no, not the mining company, we hold several mining facilities," Quatre said, still wearing the same friendly smile. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name?"
"Duo Maxwell. I missed the first semester too, so everything is new to me as well."
"At least you have someone to show you the way around a little," Quatre nodded at Hilde. "I wished one of my sisters would at least take the time to say goodbye to me, but well... the family isn't really fond of me studying at this particular Academy. However, that's another story all together. I think it's better if we go to our dorms and freshen up, before gathering our uniforms and study supplies and listen to Zechs Marquise's speech."
"Excellent idea," Duo agreed and Hilde went to walk in front of them, showing them the way to the men's dorms.
The large hallway split in several, lesser small corridors to the east and the west, all leading to other parts of the building. Up to the north was the courtyard, a large terrain where the students would attain only official parades and gatherings. Other facilities, like the athletic tracks, exercise fields and the staff's quarters were behind the main building, stretching out over a vast territory, including a large forest for hikes and survival trainings.
"It looks a little daunting at first to find your way around here," Hilde explained while passing several passages and sideways, "but trust me, within two, three days you're walking through the halls as if you've been born and raised here."
"I really wish I could've made the first semester already, but I'm glad I'm not the only one who entered a little late," Quatre said. "I don't mind the extra work to catch up with the rest of the class, but I don't like to be singled out. People are going to ask me questions soon enough."
Duo could only mutter a non-committal sound to that, as he was pretty much curious to know himself why the Winner heir would waste his time at a military academy, instead of following a top-of-the-bill business education.
"I can't accompany you any longer," Hilde pointed out and smiled goofily. "Even at the first day of the semester, sexes are not allowed to mix on the dorm floors. AD-45 is straight forward and to the left at the end. I'll see you later, Duo?"
"After the welcome speech," he said. "Are we allowed to sit together at dinner?"
Hilde shook her head. "I'm sorry, everything is strictly separated, but some of the classes are mixed -- the ones about Colonial History and discussing politics. Don't worry, there'll be plenty of opportunities to catch up, and there's always school mail. We're free two evenings in the week, as soon as we have our schedules we can set something up together."
"Sweet. Thanks, Hilde!"
"Thank you," Quatre said politely to the girl, and she waved a small goodbye before leaving to find her own dorm.
"She's very nice," Quatre commented immediately after she had left. "Girlfriend?"
"No, good friend," Duo answered, grinning fondly. "Better yet, make that 'best friend'. Hilde and I don't go a long way back together, but in the short time we've known each other we've already made up for a whole lifetime."
"Friendship is so important," Quatre said, almost musingly. "We need others around us to help us and support us, to build upon and feel loved... and giving everything in return what we receive."
"The Winner Family principle," Duo retorted, glancing sideways at Quatre. "Pacifistic, peace-loving.."
"And old-fashioned," Quatre bluntly replied, not returning the look. "My father... died recently. I couldn't make it to the first semester because I had to take care of the family business ensuing after his death."
"My condolences," Duo offered. He was wondering why Quatre was confiding to him, but for some reason, the Winner heir was very easy to talk to, as if they'd been best friends for years -- the same thing he experienced with Hilde. Quatre made a dismissive gesture with his hand, albeit half-heartedly.
"Frankly, we should've seen it coming, but he didn't want to listen to me. The rebels... they didn't want to listen. I knew my father's pacifistic ideals were nothing but that -- ideals. Sometimes force is needed to get a message or an ideal across. Going to this Academy made him disown me."
Duo whistled. "In some ways, he didn't like doing a half-assed job."
Quatre stifled a small laugh. "In some ways, no. We're almost there.. AD-45."
On their way to their designated dorm, Duo and Quatre had passed other dorms, offering room for up to six students. The rectangular rooms were all decorated in the same fashion; two to three bunk-beds, cupboards for uniforms and blankets, a small locker per student for the personal things, all decorated in boring dark gray and silver gray colors. A fairly large desk was crammed between the beds, even though the most part of the studying would take place in separate study rooms, supervised by older students, as Hilde had already explained to him. Students were flocking in and out of the rooms, greeting their friends, acting like they'd been here for their entire lives. It almost looks like a boarding school, Duo thought amusedly while he stood still for the half-open door to AD-45. Next to the door post was a little plaque with his name, amongst others -- apparently, he was to share this dorm with one H. Yuy, T. Barton and W. Chang, together with Quatre, whose name was last on the small list.
"I'm curious to meet our roommates," Quatre said a little too cheerfully to Duo's taste, and he didn't show that he was aware of the other's slight nervousness. He noticed that Quatre was genuinely interested to meet the others, and he was quite curious as well, but to him it didn't matter really much -- he wanted to live up to his vows and start his training, become a Mobile Suit pilot and then... shaking his head briefly, he forced himself to enter the room. Too early to think about it. First the training. The room turned out to be empty, and apparently this particular dorm was constructed to use the very last bit of available space. Quatre took a step forward, dropping his suitcase to the floor, and turned his head around, almost smiling ruefully. One bed stood alone in the very right side of the room, under the slanted roof, shoved into the corner with only a small path to move around. The upper bed of the middle bunk was pretty close to the ceiling as well; that would take some effort getting used to, as to avoid a forceful collision with one's head. The bunk on the left side looked pretty normal to Duo and he followed Quatre's example, dropping his suitcase to the floor.
The single bed had already been claimed; two bags and something resembling a sword -- a sword? -- were lying on top of the covers. Curiously, Duo took a closer look -- the sword was neatly wrapped, and probably more for decoration purposes than real-life use. In any case, he hoped that the wielder of the sword wouldn't get the idea to start slicing and dicing his roommates in whatever fit of hysteria. Quatre shoved his suitcase next to the middle bunk. "It seems both of the top beds haven't been claimed yet. I hope no one snores."
"You're right," Duo said affirmatively, stifling a low chuckle. He was used to sharing rooms; it would've been strange for him to have a room to his own. Snoring would be the least of his problems, if there were any -- after all, he'd been sleeping in the same room with the constant coughing and groaning of terminally ill people. He could handle snoring. On the lower one of his chosen bunk-bed was one simple, black suitcase and Duo didn't pay attention to it. He wasn't even wondering which one of the other three would be sleeping there; he'd soon meet them all anyway. From the sounds behind him, Quatre was unpacking, clicking open his suitcase. "Are all the lockers occupied as well?"
"It doesn't seem like it," Duo said, taking a few steps to the side to observe the small gray lockers. "I think you need to get a personal code to activate them. Three are still open."
"It's only for some personal belongings. I don't think we'll be spending much time in this room," Quatre mentioned and continued unpacking, until he looked at his watch. "We better get to the large auditory -- if we miss Zechs Marquise's speech, we're not going to live through it, I'm afraid."
"Agreed," Duo said and threw his suitcase on the top bed, turning around to follow Quatre.
The directions to the large auditorium were plastered all over the building, so it was easy enough to find -- as if the crowd of students flocking together was hard to miss. Duo craned his neck looking around for Hilde, but he couldn't find her. Most of the students were already in uniform -- reminding both Duo and Quatre that they needed to collect theirs and their study supplies later --, and talking to each other, awaiting the speech of one of the most decorated and superior Mobile Suit pilot ever. Scanning the crowd again for Hilde, Duo's eyes suddenly fell on another student with a rather rigid posture. That one certainly could use some relax pills. Feeling safe in the crowd, Duo unabashedly examined the other with his eyes, this student somehow standing out in particular, determinedly looking straight forward, towards the stage. Tousled dark brown hair, nice and unruly, a lean build as far as he could see, Asian descent and blue eyes.. Duo wasn't really sure about the color as the light in the auditorium wasn't very optimal, but they seemed pretty blue and intense to him. Next to the one-with-the-tousled-hair was another student with the same dark brown hair, if only a little lighter shade, and combed over one side of his face. He was slightly taller than the other and wore a plain turtle neck and jeans, contrary to the rigid student who was already in his uniform. Duo craned his neck some more -- there was a third one next to the student with his typical hair, and he was also of Asian descent; if the slanted eyes and skin color weren't a dead give away, his traditional clothing -- with a giant dragon embroidered on his shirt -- was. Duo mused how good he would look in the uniform; the one with the tousled hair certainly was very good-looking...
Quatre brought him back to planet Earth however, by tugging at his sleeve. "Marquise is about to begin."
The auditorium fell silent as the Lightning Count walked towards the stage, taking the small steps with catlike.. no, predatory grace, and making his way towards the tall microphone stand. He was impressive, certainly when wearing that silver mask, even though it was extremely ugly -- but no one had seen the real face of the man, only building and adding to his own legend. Looking at the side, a woman resembling Hilde, if only a few years older, was fondly looking at the Lightning Count -- very fondly, and with pure, unaltered pride in her eyes.
"Lucrezia Noin is the second best instructor of the Academy," Quatre whispered, "I read that she only came in second because she wanted Marquise to have the best papers."
"Shut up runt," another student whispered harshly just before Marquise grabbed the
microphone.
"It's my pleasure to welcome you all for the second semester to the Alliance Mobile Suit Academy," his voice boomed through the large room. "Some of you start today, some of you have already been here before, and some have left the academy because they weren't up to par to our standards. Let me assure you, as I did the previous semester and I'll do the next semester: training at the Alliance Mobile Suit Academy is a privilege and an obligation to fulfill once you start. The standards are high, each and every instructor is going to ask the most and the best of you, and if you can't handle it, you're cordially invited to leave us. We won't mourn your loss if you decide to quit -- only the smartest, toughest and bravest of you all, man or woman, will make it to the finish line. No matter which year you're in, you still have infinite things to learn, and you can always do better. We're asking you to do better -- no, we demand it! The Academy only accepts the finest of the finest, and will only deliver the best of the best to ensure peace and freedom, guarding the fragile liaisons between Earth and the colonies. As long as mobile suits are needed to best conflicts and help solving trouble, the Academy will stand up to its fine tradition of training excellent pilots that will keep our name high and continue to carry out our ideals. Your honor demands it from you!"
A loud applause followed, intensified by the acoustics of the auditorium and even though he was applauding himself, Duo grimaced a little. He was here to learn and to fight, to get better education his home colony could ever offer him, and to become the best Mobile Suit pilot so he could bring back peace to his home. And if I can take a few rebels with me as well... they'll pay for what they did to the church. He didn't want to become a mindless drone of the military, slaving away orders from higher up. He owed it to quite a few people to do his best here, but he wasn't going to.... Who am I kidding anyway? You promised it when God was speaking to you, when his scythe reaped the church for those to follow him. You sold your soul to get here, now you'll answer to those who have more power than you... for now.
"Tomorrow you'll start your semester," Marquise continued, long platinum hair following his every movement with his head, "for those just starting out, I'll give you a fair warning: You'll find our exercise grounds a living hell, the piloting classes straining, the mechanical maintenance instructions hard and tedious, and you'll have to adhere to an extremely strict schedule of training, exercise and being instructed -- all day long, and you can even get roused out of bed at night to perform duties on the spot. We're preparing each and every student for the possibility of war at any time, to be on their best immediately in times of a crisis."
He turned his head more towards the audience, eyes hidden behind the large silver mask. It looked like he was staring at everyone in particular, as if to see right through each and every student, judging in one second if they were fit for the Academy or not. Duo stared right back -- no doubt the man wasn't looking at him, with the mass of students surrounding him, but he wouldn't give into his feelings of discomfort right now. He was too excited to start his training to feel intimidated by a man in a silver mask, no matter how many glorious decorations and medals he was wearing. Quatre stood right next to him, looking determined as well.
"If you can't adhere to this schedule, you're out. If you think all this is too difficult, too tedious, you're out. If you can't handle the stress of studying of one of Earth's finest Academies, you're out. You're encouraged to make friends with your fellow students, as you'll have to work together on numeral occasions, but don't get too attached -- there's a big chance that they'll leave within the first three weeks of the semester. In this world, you need only those you can build and trust upon for the full 100 %, not those who give up at the first sight of a hurdle. With this, I officially declare this new semester open; you'll have until dinner at 19:00 hours to get your supplies and uniforms -- those who fail to gather these things before dinner, are out!"
"How did you like the speech?" Duo asked Quatre as they left the auditorium, hurrying to get to the designated location where school supplies and uniforms were distributed.
"Hey, watch it!" He snarled at another student who was almost in panic to get his things in time.
"It was... impressive," Quatre answered, absent-mindedly. "The man certainly knows how to bring a good speech, and I'm sure everything he said is true -- those who can't follow the studies and schedules here, are the first to leave, of course. Seventy percent of all the first-year students leave after the first and second semester. The Academy gets enough applications, and they cut out roughly 30% from that as well."
"Yeah, high standards and all," Duo mumbled. He knew this wasn't going to be a walk in the park, but since when had anything out of his life been easy? If he could handle death and destruction, he could handle instructors trying to mold him into a good little obedient soldier.
Quatre went silent, and Duo wasn't sure if he was so impressed by Marquise's speech that he was replaying it in his mind, or that he was worrying himself about not being able to live up to the standards.
"I think you're going for the political studies?" Duo said, keeping up the conversation.
Quatre shook his head. "No, no exclusively. I want to train for mobile suit piloting as well. However, I do want to participate in the debates and discussions, of course. Relena Peacecraft studies here."
"Are you kidding? The Princess of Peace?"
"Exactly. It'll be interesting to see how we both uphold in a discussion with each other."
"Debating is not really my cup of tea, but if you invite me, I'll come listen to you."
Quatre gave him a grateful look, smiling. "I'm going to hold you to that, you realize that?"
Gathering their supplies and uniforms went rather smoothly, waiting in line took the most time. After handing over their identification cards and the paperwork they received earlier, they were both handed their uniforms and a bunch of syllabi.
"You'll get the rest in the first class you start," the employee told them rather gruff and turned around to tend to the next student before they could even blink an eye. Shrugging, Duo went with Quatre back to their dorm -- they needed to change into their uniform as wearing it was obliged during dinner. On their way back, Duo kept an eye out for Hilde, but knew there was really a slim chance of seeing her; not only were the girls' dorm room located at the opposite east wing, but there were far too many students crowding the corridors to pick her out. Quatre was muttering something about listening to more welcome speeches during dinner and how he wasn't looking forward to listening to them.
"As long as the food is good," Duo commented jokingly while they walked into their dorm room. Quatre was about to answer, but he noticed the other occupants before Duo and smiled. "Hello," he said friendly. "It's a pleasure to meet you all."
Duo was surprised to see that the three in the room were the three he'd seen earlier at the auditorium during the speech -- the tousled-hair one was sitting on the lower bed of the left bunk. The taller kid with the hair combed to one side was standing next to the middle bunk, buttoning up his blouse, and the third one, perched next to the single bed, unpacking his bags, was the other one of Asian decent.
"I'm Quatre Raberba Winner and this is Duo Maxwell," he introduced them both.
There was a minute of silence while three pairs of eyes focused on them and Duo was about to comment on the atmosphere being like a graveyard when suddenly the taller one of them nodded. "My name is Trowa Barton. To your left is Heero Yuy, and to the right is Chang Wufei. You're both late arrivals."
"That's right," Quatre said. "I had family business to take care of, and Duo..." he looked over at Duo.
"I've been ill, otherwise I would've been able to take the admission tests sooner," Duo supplied. Heero. How... fitting? Trowa simply nodded and there was no reaction from the other two but a snort from the one called Heero.
"A weak constitution," he remarked off-handedly. Duo didn't like to give out details, not as Quatre seemed to easily share them, but he narrowed his eyes at Heero. No one belittled the situation he'd been through, fellow students or not.
"People were dying from what I had. Dropping like flies, actually. Not everyone had his fine little ass pampered, you know."
With that, he climbed onto the top bed and dumped his uniform and school supplies on the covers, not waiting for Heero's answer, should there be one.
"We're about to eat in an hour, so you'd better get changed," Trowa continued to speak as if hadn't been any interruption. "No student is allowed to attend dinner in his plainclothes, only at the last dinner of the semester; that day is unattended anyway. Showers are across the hall, towels are available everywhere."
"Thank you," Quatre said and shifted around, putting his uniform on his bed. His cheeks flared a little, not used to change in front of others, but as no one was paying attention to him in particular, he forced himself to get over it and started to unbutton his blouse.
Duo contemplated the possibility of taking a shower, but decided against it because one hour was simply too short to get his mass of hair dried in time before dinner. The thick braid that hung over his right shoulder at the moment would probably be the object of the other students' contempt or teasing; he was ready to confront anyone who was going to give him a hard time about it. His youth on the streets had certainly given him a mouth that he used to hold himself up in conversation or in any discussion. Without giving it another thought, Duo changed into his uniform, not liking the itchy feeling of this particular fabric -- but hey, this wasn't the right moment to start complaining.
Dinner was organized according to a very tight schedule, as expected from a military academy who expelled students if they didn't make it in time. Duo marveled about the speed food was served and despite the long lines, his turn was pretty fast. The next second, he marveled about the unidentified blob of... something on his tray.
"Duo, over here!" Quatre waved at him. His line had even went faster and he was sitting at one of the large tables with a bunch of other first year students; among them, the others from their dorm. Duo made his way over to the table, balancing his tray and a drink, before he sat down.
"I take it it's a worldwide hobby to complain about food served at military academies, right?" He snorted. Quatre laughed softly, as he was spooning some of the unidentified goo into his mouth. "They're just mashed potatoes, Duo. A little too flat, though -- it could've used some salt."
"Spoiled brat," Duo teased him before digging in himself; tasting the mashed potatoes with a little caution. It wasn't his fault that he didn't recognize it at first sight; he had known potatoes only served as they were, not mashed up. He looked a little to his right, noticing that he sat next to Heero who was glaring at his tray as if he wanted it to bend over and turn into something completely different instead of the bit of rice and something like beef on his plate.
"Do you like it, Heero?" Duo asked.
"Hn, what?" He answered a little brusquely, glancing over at Duo.
"Your.. food, whatever it is. Do you like it?"
"I've had better," Heero said, tone of his voice flat. "And it's tempura... healthy and nutrient, about half of the fat and grease of whatever you're having."
"Excuse me, mister diet consultant," Duo half-snorted, half-mocked, "next time I'm having dinner I'll ask for your advice on any healthy food intake and you can break it down into the right amount of carbohydrates for me."
Heero pursed his lips, blue eyes narrowing a little. "You don't have to exaggerate it."
"I thought it was rather funny," Duo retorted, winking at him to take the bite out of his words. "Don't worry, Heero. I was just teasing you a little."
"Right," Heero muttered, before looking away from him again. Duo leaned a little forward to see if he was blushing, but there was no sign of any redness on the other's face. Too bad... it would look good on him. Before he could ask himself where that thought had come from, his attention was called upon by one of the many staff members who were to speech about the right way to conduct oneself at the Academy, and what glory and honor it was to be able to study at the same Academy... Duo wondered when it would ever end, noticing that more than half of the students present were only listening with half an ear. Unfortunately, it would take almost three hours before the last of the staff members finished his speech, and by that time, Duo was convinced that the first dinner of the semester was a trial and a test on its own.
Hardly a month into the new semester, Duo had to admit that Hilde had been right; after a few days already he wandered through the halls and corridors as if he were born and raised on the territory. He knew where the exercise fields were -- first, of course, as every day started with a fresh round of group exercises --, the large halls where mobile suit maintenance was instructed, the class rooms for the hours of colonial history, Earth politics and general subjects as geography and sociology, the sickbay for lessons in first aid and how to help an injured fellow soldier, and he knew where to be for each and every one of his class, where to be for the debates -- as promised to Quatre --, and where to be to find a moment for himself, or to catch up with Hilde. It was a harsh and strict life, indeed, but to his own amazement, he enjoyed every single second of it. Duo liked attending the debates, not only to see and hear Quatre talk sophistically and disprove every argument calmly and well-considered. He enjoyed the fencing classes, the laps around the large athletic tracks, even the hard physical exercise -- to become a mobile suit pilot, you had to be in an excellent condition to handle the suit itself, of course. He was excited by learning how to take care of a mobile suit, technical and mechanical maintenance quickly becoming one of his favorite subjects, as piloting himself.
Hardly a month into the new semester, and he was familiar with Wufei's habit to rise even earlier than the average student to practice his kata's and to polish his ancient traditional katana before going to bed. He could set the clock to Trowa's knife-throwing practice, Quatre running around in panic before becoming calm and composed every time he had to debate even with the littlest of preparations, and Heero's strict adhering to each and every schedule. Where students were dropping out as they couldn't stand either the regimen or simply couldn't live up to the standards, dorm AD-45 remained in its original cast. The five of them weren't inseparable, or the best of friends, safe for Quatre and Duo, still they remained steadfast, and without exception, were the top of their respective classes, or very close to the top.
There was only one person Duo Maxwell couldn't get a grip on, and that bothered him. Whereas he had already seen that Quatre was slowly turning into the leader of them all with his rational and strategic mind, that Wufei would've come to terms that working together was most of the times better than to do everything on his own, and that Trowa was opening up quite nicely to everyone around him, Heero Yuy managed to stay reclusive and focused only on his studying and training. It wasn't that Heero was constantly in his mind, not at all. He hardly had the time to think about the other, with all the academy assignments, the amount of schoolwork and the time it took to fulfill each and every exercise. It was mostly at evenings or the scarce moments he had to himself that he thought about him. What was so fascinating about him? The way he looked? Heero was certainly good-looking, but there were other good-looking kids all around the school. It was the combination of his unruly hair with those fierce, proud, blue eyes, eyes not to drown in, but eyes that could kill and shatter your soul. It was danger, and didn't Duo Maxwell live for danger? After his... affiliation with the God of Death, what could possibly be a challenge or a danger to him?