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"Going the Distance"Written By: Clara Barton Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. The following
is an intellectual exercise with no intention of profit. That said,
these characterizations, words, and situations are mine. Please ask
before reprinting. Rating: NC 17 Warnings: Angst, language, violence, sex, AU Pairings: 1x2x3 Summary: Duo Maxwell has just signed on to join Team Gundam Wing, an upstart League of Legends team looking to win the World Championships. Duo Maxwell, the first openly gay professional gamer. Duo Maxwell, the guy hated by almost all of Reddit. Duo Maxwell, the guy whose own brother hates him. Duo Maxwell, the guy who really just wants to find a team that doesn't hate him. A/N: This fic is an AU that has the boys playing
professional League of Legends. I'm going to try my best to not get
bogged down too much in game terminology or things like that, but,
well, I WILL reference the game and try to explain as much as I can,
as I go. I'm also way too lazy to make up "new" teams for
the league, so I will be using existing teams and players, with the
exceptions of Team Gundam Wing, Zodiac Gaming, and the Valkyries.
So… I will be referencing real people and real teams. "Going the Distance" Chapter Fifteen Duo was glad he had already made a habit of eating lunch outside before the Sex Disaster Night had occurred. At least now it didn't seem like he was trying to avoid eating with Heero and Trowa - he was simply continuing his previous tradition of eating outside, and maybe that tradition had evolved into glaring at his sandwich as he ate it and maybe it involved a lot of angry, frustrated sighs. Relena only occasionally joined him outside. With the All Star games only five days away she was more or less glued to her tablet, updating the team's Twitter feed, responding to comments and questions on the team webpage, and making their travel arrangements. Quatre had instituted a practice regimen that was similar to their practices leading up to the Playoffs, with the team spending most of the day playing together, but at night they all gathered around the television to watch games from some of their international competitors. Most of the guys followed the European league, and Wufei, Trowa and Quatre had a lot to say about Fnatic, the European team going to the All Star Games. Only Heero and Duo followed the Korean league, and Duo found himself delivering a running commentary on the NaJin White Shield games they watched while Heero offered a few opinions about their marksman. The Chinese league was a mystery to everyone, since their games weren't streamed, but Sally had compiled information about Royal Club for them to go over. Sally also had to provide most of the information on the Saigon Jokers, the Southeast Asian team. After a few nights of watching games and reviewing the strategies of their opponents, Duo was starting to feel very out of his league. Sure, TGW had had an amazing run at the playoffs - despite whatever garbage was posted online about them being lucky ZG hadn't been at their best - and Duo was almost confident they wouldn't be an embarrassment on the international stage, but he had almost no confidence that they could win a game against any of these teams. The Invitational tournament would start on a Wednesday, with the first two day being a round robin group stage where each team played the every other team. The top four teams would then advance to the Semi-Final best of three games on Saturday, and the top two teams could compete in the Final best of five game series on Sunday. In addition to all of this, the All Star Challenge would occur. Two players from each of the five regions had been voted as All Star Challengers by their regions and would be divided onto two teams that would compete against each other every morning before the Invitational games. These games were kind of silly, with players being forced onto different positions or champions and the rules of the game were changed to make it more exciting and aggressive. It was still an honor to be chosen by the fans, however. Solo had been voted an All Star Challenger in both of his previous seasons, and when the announcement went out on the Friday before the All Star Games began, Duo wasn't surprised to see his brother had been voted in for a third time. The fans really did love him. And Duo had to admit there was part of him that was happy for Solo. He knew Solo had wanted to make it to All Stars with his team this year, and not through the fan vote, but at least he was still being recognized as a great player. The other player voted in by the fans was more surprising. "Can you fucking believe it?!" Duo had to hold the phone away from his ear when Hilde called and shrieked at him. "I'm a fucking All Star!" He grinned. He was happy for her, thrilled that the fans recognized just how damn good she was despite the problems the Valkyries were having, and he was actually looking forward to getting to hang out with her in Rio. It would be good to have a friendly face there, and even more so, it would be good to spend time with his best friend. Duo talked to her all through his lunch, gamely listening to Hilde tease him about all of the hot international players - Duo had long ago confessed to a crush on xPeke, the mid laner for Fnatic - and by the time she hung up he was feeling excited again. Maybe he had some serious issues to face on his team, like how to deal with two guys who regretted having sex with him, but at least he and Hilde would be in Rio together. Everyone gathered in the game room for their afternoon practices, but when Duo sat down and started to put on his headset, Quatre stopped him. "We have something to discuss first," Quatre said. As Duo considered Quatre's tense face and grave tone, he realized that Relena and Sally were there as well. Sally sat in on practices sometimes, and Relena wandered through occasionally, but they didn't usually look like someone had died. Duo wondered what - He looked over at Heero and Trowa. They had fairly tense expressions on their faces as well and Duo had to wonder. Had they said something? Had he fucked this up so badly that they had asked Quatre to kick him from the team? "We've come a long way together," Quatre said, and his voice was still just as grim, "and it would be great if we could keep improving together. But... we might need to consider some changes to the team." Oh. Fuck. Duo was getting dropped. One night of sex and his entire career was - "Wufei has been approached by ZG gaming." "What?" Duo felt relief and anger in equal amounts and he couldn't decide which emotion to latch onto. "After the Playoff games, Treize offered me the Top Lane position on ZG," Wufei clarified. Duo turned to look at him. Wufei always had a serious expression on his face, so it was hard to read him. He didn't look particularly excited or upset. "So..." Duo looked between Quatre and Wufei. "I've asked for MSG to terminate my contract with TGW so that I can join ZG." Duo stared. "Seriously?" Wufei glared at him. "Yes. Seriously. Obviously, otherwise we wouldn't be having this discussion." Quatre held up a hand to forestall Duo's comeback. "Okay. Let's just... calm down. I've spoken to MSG and they agreed to let us make this decision as a team." Duo arched an eyebrow. It surprised him that MSG would even consider letting go of a player of Wufei's caliber. Especially when TGW had just made it to All Stars. "Why?" He had to ask. "Why would MSG even think about letting him go?" Quatre sighed. "Because I told them that it might be best for the team if we do." Wufei frowned at Quatre, and it was clear this was news to him. "You said that?" Quatre shrugged one shoulder. "Yes. I did. They wanted to know why I was willing to risk our chances of making it to Worlds." "Is this what you want?" Heero spoke up, his tone neutral. Wufei looked at him, his eyes searching for something and clearly not finding it. He nodded. "Why?" Trowa asked, his voice far less neutral. Duo actually winced at his cold tone. "I've proven I can play without Ralph. I've proven I can win without Ralph and I've... grown, as a player, being on this team." Wufei paused and seemed to be carefully considering his next words. "I started playing this game with Ralph in Solo Queue. I can play with Duo as my Jungler, but... you and Heero came up together," Wufei returned Trowa's gaze. "You know what it's like to play with someone who understands what you want and need without you even needing to speak. You know what it feels like to be able to trust someone that much." Duo knew Wufei wasn't intentionally bad mouthing him, but it did sting, a bit, to know that Wufei really didn't trust him or think that they would ever be able to get to a point where Duo could do what Ralph had done for him. "What happens next season? After Treize recovers?" Heero asked. "He's retiring. He will be stepping in as the couch for ZG during the Summer Split. If you were in my position - if Trowa was on another team and you had the chance to play with him again, wouldn't you take it?" Heero frowned, but it was obvious Wufei had made his point. "Well, what happens to us?" Duo had to ask. "What happens to us when Wufei and Ralph rekindle the bromance?" Quatre sighed. "That is... what we need to consider. I'd rather not keep Wufei on the team if he really wants to be - needs to be - on another team. But I also refuse to risk our chances of being competitive. That is what we need to consider." "It will be impossible to find a replacement top laner of Wufei's caliber this late in the year," Sally spoke up. Quatre nodded. "I know. But... have any of you played with anyone in Solo Queue? Anyone we could train and... I know this seems crazy. I just want this team to be the right team for all of us. It's not the right team for Wufei. So, I'd like to let him go - but not unless we can figure out what to do about a replacement." Duo frowned. He had played with a pretty amazing top laner in Solo Queue. Trowa and Heero were glaring at each other, seemingly engaged in a silent argument, and it would have been funny if it didn't reinforce the fact that Duo was an outsider and in no way a part of their relationship. "Let's sit out practice today. I know we've got All Stars coming up in five days, but take the day to relax and think about this. Wufei will still come to Rio with us, regardless. He's earned it and we need him." Quatre looked on the verge of saying more, but he hesitated. "I know this isn't... ideal. But we can figure something out that works for everyone. I hope." "Wait," Duo spoke up as Quatre and Wufei started to leave. "Do we have to release Wufei? Couldn't we just trade him?" Quatre frowned. "For who?" "Meilin," Heero spoke up. Duo looked over at him and Heero nodded at him. Trowa, on the other hand, was scowling. "Meilin hates to play Top Lane," Sally said, a frown on her face. "She's completely transitioned to Support and can't wait to stop subbing in at top." Duo was curious how Sally knew that, but it didn't really matter to him. "That's fine. She's...okay in top but not as good as we need her to be. But she is a phenomenal support." "You already have a support," Wufei pointed out and gestured to Trowa. "Or are you suggesting dropping Trowa from the team?" Duo glared at him. It was telling that he had already said you instead of we. Wufei definitely wanted out. "Well, we also already have a Top Laner," Duo said. Wufei rolled his eyes. "So you want to trade Trowa for Meilin and keep me on the team so that everyone is miserable? How, exactly, is that a plan?" Duo took a deep breath and rubbed his skull with both hands. "No," Duo said patiently. "Trowa is our Top Laner. Meilin would replace him on Support." Everyone stared at him as though he was crazy. Everyone except for Trowa, who was glaring at him, and Heero, who was looking at Trowa with a concerned frown on his face. "Since when does Trowa play top lane?" Relena asked. Trowa didn't seem inclined to answer. "I don't know," Duo admitted, "but at least as long as I've been on the team. He and I play Solo Queue at least ten or fifteen hours a week with him in Top." "Really?" Quatre looked over at Trowa. "Those stats aren't in your game history," Sally said. "No, we play on secondary accounts," Trowa admitted. He was still glaring at Duo. "It's not - I still spend most of my time practicing support." "Which you're great at," Quatre said, "I don't think anyone is suggesting you're slacking off there. I just - I had no idea you played any other position. You and Heero are practically connected at the hip. Do you... what rank are you?" Duo rolled his eyes. It was a little insulting, for Quatre to even ask that. "He's challenger," Duo snapped. "We play against pros all of the time. He's had other pros send him messages asking him to try out for their teams. He's really fucking good." Wufei crossed his arms, and it was clear he was a little irritated by Duo's praise of Trowa's skills. "So you think we should trade Wufei and Meilin, move Trowa to top and Meilin would support Heero?" Quatre summarized. "Yeah. I mean, it makes the most sense. Doesn't it?" He looked over at Heero and Trowa. Trowa had his fists clenched together and was resting his jaw on them. Every line of his body shouted anger. It was clear he was just barely holding himself back from saying something. "We need to talk about it," Heero said, his voice low. "Quatre said we should take the day to think about it." Trowa nodded and stood up. He walked out of the room without saying anything to anyone and Heero followed him a moment later. Quatre arched an eyebrow at Duo. "I have no idea," Duo muttered. He didn't understand why Trowa was so upset about this. "What account names?" Sally asked, tablet in hand. Duo stared at her. "What?" "Tell me your account names. I want to look up the game histories and see -" "You want to scout out Trowa? To see if he's good enough?" "Yes." Sally looked at him as though he was crazy for being upset. "He's already on the team! He's already good enough to be an All Star!" "As a support," Quatre reminded Duo, his voice soft and soothing. "But if we really want to consider this, we need to look into it. We would scout out any player." It was a fair point, but Duo was still annoyed. He told Sally both his and Trowa's account names and then he made his own escape from the living room. Upstairs, he saw that the door to Heero and Trowa's room was closed and he hesitated. Duo doubted he was welcome in there. Not after Sex Disaster Night and whatever had just happened downstairs, but he really didn't want to let this get worse. It was one thing for them to pretend Sex Disaster Night had never happened and to ignore him most of the time. It was entirely another for this to start affecting the team and their ability to play together. He approached the door and knocked. After a moment, Heero opened the door. He looked surprised to see Duo on the other side. "Can I come in?" Duo asked. Heero looked over his shoulder and Duo followed his gaze. Trowa was sitting on the bed closest to the wall, his back against it and his knees drawn up to his chest and he looked miserable. He shrugged. "Let him do whatever he wants," Trowa muttered. "That's what he does." Duo sucked in a breath at Trowa's tone but he bit down on his urge to say anything. Heero stepped aside and let Duo come into the room before closing the door behind him. Heero sat on the bed beside Trowa, close but not quite touching. Close enough that it was clear they were together, a unit, and Duo was not part of it. Duo looked around for somewhere to sit, and ended up dragging over one of the desk chairs on the other side of the room. He positioned it near the foot of the bed and straddled the back. "I have no idea what is going on or why you're pissed at me," Duo said, figuring that laying it all out there was a good thing. "So I need you to explain to me just what I did so this doesn't fuck up the team." Trowa glared at him. "So that this doesn't fuck up the team? That's exactly what this will do - you just think you can -" Trowa stopped and shook his head. He drew in a deep breath before continuing. "You shouldn't have told them about my other account." Duo frowned. "That's what you're so upset about? Trowa - it's just a second account! And you're amazing on it! Why is that -" "I'm not a top laner. I joined this team with Heero. To play with Heero, as his support. That account - that lane - that was just me, on my own." "You'd still be playing with Heero on this team! And Meilin is a great support - it's not like Heero would be saddled with a second rate player. This -" "Everything Wufei said about his relationship with Ralph is true for mine with Heero," Trowa bit out. "If he was traded to another team I would do anything to join that team as well." Duo could understand that. It was obvious - these two cared about each other a lot, as teammates and as... boyfriends. They were partners. "But you're not - you two will still play together." He looked over at Heero, hoping for some back up on this. Heero had clearly followed his line of thought and even been supportive of it downstairs, but now, his face was stony. It was clear that he had made the decision to back up Trowa in this. Duo sighed. "Look. Wufei wants out. You are an amazing top laner. Meilin is an amazing support. This is the best thing for the team. This is our best shot of winning. I... get that you are upset I told them about your account. But so what? Now they know you're a double threat? Now they know you're an even better player than they already did?" "So you know what's best for this team? You know what's best for me and Heero and you're just going to make whatever decisions you want?" Duo shook his head. "No - I mean, I don't even make decisions. I'm just... throwing out this plausible idea for how we can do this. I'm not trying to say what's best for you or Heero. I just... fuck, dude. I don't know. I thought this was a good idea. Clearly I was wrong." Duo got up from his chair, ready to walk out because he didn't see how this was going to be productive. "Leaving again?" Heero remarked. Duo glared at him. "What? You want me to stay? This is going nowhere. He's just going to sit there and be pissed at me, you're going to sit there and just... fucking sit there, and I'm going to be the asshole saying the same thing over and over again." "You're asking us to change everything," Heero said, his mild voice a sharp contrast to Trowa and Duo's angry tones. "You want to restructure the team, you want me to trust a player I've never played with, even in Solo Queue, and you want Trowa to trust you." "We can win if we do this!" Duo ran his hands through his hair in frustration. "If we do this, TGW will be an unstoppable team! I'm not saying it's going to be a miracle and overnight the team will gel together. I get that Meilin and you will need to figure out your synergy and that will take work and I get that a new voice on the team will mean Quatre has to adjust to that as well. But Trowa and I are already stupidly good together." "So this is about what you want," Trowa said bitterly. "You want me, today, so we should all trust you and drop everything." Duo could feel a headache coming on. "This isn't about me. It's about the team. Look - is this... does this have anything to do with the other night? I mean..." Duo trailed off and he wondered. Was this related to that? Were Heero and Trowa so very done with him that they just... wanted him gone? Maybe he should have suggested trading himself for Ralph, and that way Wufei would stay on the team. Of course, ZG would sooner withdraw from competitive play than have Duo play for them. Heero sighed. "You think this is a good idea now, but what about after this season? You're asking the two of us to change everything. What if it doesn't live up to your high expectations? What if it isn't perfect?" "Then we'll fix it?" Duo hazarded. "I seriously doubt it will be perfect at first. And I get that it's a really big change. But we can do this. Trowa, you can do this. I'm not trying to break you two up," he added. "Not in the game and not... out of the game." He sighed. "If you really think it's a bad idea then fine. I'll drop it. I just think this could be really, really good." "What are you afraid of?" Heero asked Trowa, his voice soft and tender and it made Duo clench his jaw. "I'm afraid I'm going to suck and you're going to do stupid shit to get yourself killed and I won't be there to save you," Trowa admitted. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall. Heero smirked at him and shifted closer, pressing against Trowa's side and kissing the junction between his neck and shoulder. "Of course I'm going to do stupid shit and get myself killed," he said. "But Meilin is... an incredibly bossy bitch. She'll yell at me and she'll protect me." Trowa opened his eyes and looked down at Heero. "And you'll listen to her?" Heero hesitated. "Probably not at first, but I'll try." Trowa nodded. "You're not going to suck," Duo spoke up. He felt like he was intruding on this clearly intimate moment between them, and his voice seemed to startle them. Trowa frowned and Duo could see he was going back to that pissed off, angry place again. He held out his hands, trying to placate him. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry," he said again. "I'm sorry for fucking everything, okay? I'm sorry for telling them about your account, I'm sorry for just assuming I could fix all of this and that I knew what was best. I'm really, really fucking sorry. I'm sorry for... Fuck, I'm sorry for the other night. It was... it was amazing and really incredible and a really bad idea and I should never have done it and I'm sorry, because it's fucked up our friendship. I mean, this is why fantasies are just fantasies, right? They don't work in reality and... I'm glad it hasn't changed anything for the two of you - not that it would," Duo hastily added, because maybe he sounded like a cocky bastard for assuming that one night with him would ruin their relationship, "I want you two to be happy. I care about you both, a lot. So... whatever you want to do, I completely support you in that. Whatever you think is best for the team, and for yourselves." Trowa and Heero were giving him strange looks, and Duo knew he had probably said way too much - he always did this, when he was nervous. Word vomit, Hilde called it. "I just... if you don't trust me now, because of that night, then I'm pretty much fucked," Duo admitted. He shook his head. "This team is the best thing that's ever happened to me, and you two are the most - you're really important to me, and what we had - before that night - was really important to me. I know what it's like to be completely fucking miserable and feel like a failure, and I don't want either of you to feel like that. So, if you want to keep things how they are, we can figure out what to do about the team. But... just... please give me a second chance to be your friend? I promise I'll keep my hands to myself and we can just pretend like that night never happened. I fucked up. I'm not perfect - I'm about as far from perfect as you can get, clearly." Trowa sighed and shook his head. "God. Why does anyone bother to trash talk you on Reddit?" He muttered. "You're so damn good at selling yourself short you don't need anyone else's help." Heero nodded in agreement. "So..." Duo trailed off. He wasn't sure if this was a prelude to Trowa being angry with him some more or if he had been granted a reprieve. "We might as well try it," Trowa said. He and Heero exchanged looks. "If it fails, then we'll fuck up everything, but if it works out then... then it could be worth it." ~ * ~ |
