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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 Twenty-Two Duo tried to stretch, but his legs were tangled in sheets and... other legs. He snapped his eyes open and immediately winced at the bright sunlight filtering in through the half-open blinds on the window above the bed. He rolled his head to his right and couldn't help but grin at the sight of Heero, deep asleep, a frown creasing his brow. He turned to his left, eager to see what Trowa looked like asleep as well, but Trowa's eyes were open and he stared right back at Duo. "Morning," Trowa said softly. "Fancy meeting you here," Duo responded just as quietly. Trowa arched an eyebrow. "I half expected you to try to leave in the middle of the night." Duo frowned. "Why would I?" Trowa shrugged one shoulder. "Same reason you ditched us the last time?" "Yeah but last time you guys were going on and on about how late it was and how tired you were - I can take a hint yanno." Trowa snorted softly. "No, you really can't. The hint was we wanted you to stay the night with us." Duo thought back to Sex Disaster Night. At the time, it really had seemed like they were trying to get rid of him. But if Trowa was telling the truth... "No wonder you guys were so pissed at me the next day." Trowa nodded and he reached out a hand to touch Duo's hair. "Your braid is a mess." "Yeah well I seem to remember someone pulling on it a few times around four am this morning," Duo said pointedly and looked over his shoulder, but Heero was still asleep. "He sleeps like he's in a coma," Trowa said with a sigh. "An angry coma," Duo corrected and he had to smile at the scowl on Heero's face. Trowa eased off the bed and stretched and Duo found it impossible to look away. Trowa smirked at him. "Enjoying the view?" "Hell yes." "It's not so bad from where I'm standing either," Trowa walked over to one of the dressers and picked up a phone that had been charging. "It's almost eleven," he said. "Shit. Guess no run today." "Tragic," Trowa deadpanned. Duo got out of the bed and started to search for his clothes. He should get dressed and go back to his own room before everyone else started to congregate for the day. "If you hate it so much why do it?" Trowa shrugged one shoulder and then folded his arms over his chest. He made absolutely no move to get dressed, just stood there naked and watched while Duo tried his best to look cool while he hopped into his jeans. "I get to spend time with Heero away from everyone else." "You never did tell me what your favorite part of the day is." "Ask me again sometime," Trowa suggested. Duo grinned. "Oh I will." He finally found his shirt - somehow it had ended up in the bed and he had to pry it out from under Heero's legs. "I guess... I'll see you around?" He tried to sound casual, tried to sound like he didn't desperately need Trowa to tell him that he was welcome back - that he was wanted. Trowa nodded but he seemed to notice Duo's unease and as Duo walked over to the door, Trowa stopped him with a hand on his wrist. "Morning," Trowa said. "You already said that..." "Yeah but I didn't kiss you after I said it the first time." Duo lifted his eyebrows and Trowa smirked again but then leaned close and pressed a kiss to Duo's lips. It was light and quick, but it had Duo grinning like an idiot as he stepped out into the hall and closed the door behind him. "Your hair is a disaster." "Jesus fucking Christ!" Duo spun around, a hand clutched to his chest where his heart felt like it had actually stopped for a moment, and saw Meilin at the end of the hall, standing in the open doorway of her room and brushing her hair. She arched an eyebrow at him and looked at him as though he were insane. "I, ah..." Duo tried to smooth down his hair and couldn't help but wince when he felt how poofy it was at the base of his braid. "Decided to forego haircare today?" Meilin supplied for him. "Whatever. We've got the team meeting in a few minutes so I hope you're prepared to be judged by everyone else too." "Oh. Right." Shit. Duo had completely forgotten about the meeting. "The team meeting," he repeated, loudly, hoping Trowa could hear him. "I was just reminding Trowa and Heero about the team meeting in a few minutes," he continued loudly. Meilin opened her mouth to say something, clearly thought better of it and just shook her head. "Okay. Well... I'm going downstairs now..." She walked past him, throwing a look over her shoulder as she walked down the stairs and Duo was convinced she thought he was insane. He closed his eyes and sighed. At least she hadn't assumed he had spent the night having sex with Trowa and Heero. Well, the night and a fair bit of the very early morning... Then again, why would she - or anyone else - ever suspect him of having spent the night with his two supposedly straight teammates? Duo drew in a deep breath and decided to head downstairs - he didn't have enough time to change or fix his hair and he was confident Meilin was downstairs telling everyone else that he needed therapy. He found the rest of the team already assembled in the game room, Quatre's eyes heavy lidded and his hands wrapped around a can of Redbull as though it was a mug of coffee. They looked up when he walked in the room and it was clear that Meilin had said something. Relena's lips twitched as she looked at his hair and Duo glared back at her. Sally cleared her throat and it was clear that she too was biting back a comment about Duo's hair. "Heero and Trowa are on their way?" She asked Duo. "Uh, yeah. Should be." "Dunno why we couldn't have just had this meeting over lunch," Quatre muttered and he leaned his forehead against his computer desk and closed his eyes. Relena gave him a fond, amused look. "Because you have a scrimmage against Dignitas at two so you're going to be spending lunch going over strategy with the team," Sally said. "Oh yeah," Quatre said, not lifting his head or opening his eyes. "Wake me up if Heero and Trowa decide to show. "We're here," Heero said, sounding a bit grumpy. Duo looked over and saw that Heero's hair looked sleep-tousled and he was scowling almost as fiercely as he had been when asleep. Duo had to grin. Heero saw his expression and his scowl softened slightly. "Good, now that we're all here," Relena kicked the base of Quatre's chair, spinning it away from the desk and Quatre sat up straight and glared at her. Relena smiled back. "I wanted to talk to you all about our 24 hour stream with the Valkyries tomorrow." The 24 hour stream they had done during the spring split had been so successful that Relena wanted to repeat it during the summer. She had mentioned it to Hilde, who had suggested that the Valkyries stream with them so that both teams could benefit. "Please tell me it's going to be here so I can get some sleep," Quatre begged. "It is. Dorothy finally agreed that it made more sense to host it here. Just keep in mind that those girls are going to be here for twenty four hours and it would be nice if they could make use of some of our beds." "Hilde's welcome to mine," Duo said with a shrug. "I don't mind sharing either," Meilin said. "Same," Quatre said. "I'm sure Dorothy will appreciate that," Relena muttered and then instantly flushed. She clearly hadn't meant to say that out loud. Quatre arched an eyebrow at her. "Anyway," Relena rushed on. "They are getting here at ten in the morning so let's all try to be... a bit more presentable than we were this morning. And please remember that this is supposed to be fun. I'm going to make a schedule pairing each of you with one of the Valkyries and you two will host custom lobbies playing against each other with our fans for the stream. And I'll make sure you don't have the ten am slot, Quatre, but you should be awake anyway to greet them." Quatre nodded, still looking a little shocked from Relena's earlier comment. "So... if no one has any questions? I'm just going to go work on finalizing -" "Actually," Sally spoke up. "There's something else we need to talk about." She sounded serious and Duo found himself frantically thinking back to the last game he had played. Had he done something colossally stupid? Was he about to get one of her famous dressing downs? Was someone else? "I think it's in the best interests of team unity and preserving trust for you all to know that Meilin and I are in a relationship." Duo stared, first at Sally, then at Meilin. Meilin saw him staring and glared back. "I thought you and my brother -" "I told you that was over," Meilin snapped. "Yeah, but..." "I'm bisexual?" Meilin sounded irritated. "Oh. Uh... yeah." Duo felt like an idiot, and realized that he should feel like one. "Um - congrats?" Meilin rolled her eyes. "This isn't going to change the way I coach the team and we will, of course, maintain a professional atmosphere when engaged in team activities," Sally continued. It sounded as if she was reciting a memorized speech and Duo was suddenly struck with the mental image of her practicing it in front of Meilin. "Wait, how long have you two...?" Quatre asked. "How could that possibly be any of your business?" Meilin asked. Quatre stared at her and it was clear he wanted to be offended but, like Duo just had, he realized he had done something stupid. "So... should we switch up the rooms?" Relena asked. "What?" Meilin looked confused. "Well, I can move the guys so that you and Sally can share the master and -" "Why? We're not engaged or anything." Duo saw the expressions of acute relief on both Heero and Trowa's faces at Meilin's dismissal of the idea. "Right. Well... why don't we all get lunch and then you can set up from your scrimmage?" Relena suggested and everyone practically fled from the room to escape what had turned into an incredibly awkward meeting. -o- When the Valkyries arrived the next morning everyone was downstairs to greet them, freshly showered and dressed in clean clothes. Which, Duo had to admit, had been something of an accomplishment. That morning he, Trowa and Heero had gone for their regular eight am run after only three hours of sleep. They had stayed up late playing solo queue - Heero with Meilin and Trowa and Duo in their usual duo - until nearly three in the morning. Heero and Meilin's games had ended before Duo and Trowa's and they had already gone upstairs by the time they finished. At the top of the stairs Duo had hesitated, not knowing how to leave things with Trowa, but Trowa had rolled his eyes, grabbed his hand and pulled him into the master bedroom where Heero was waiting for them. Duo had been expecting sex, had even started to pull off his t-shirt until Heero stopped him with a laugh and suggested that maybe they should just watch a movie instead. So they had finished watching The Winter Soldier and then watched Age of Ultron, without any hand jobs involved, until they had fallen asleep. The run hadn't been a run so much as a sedate jog on Trowa and Duo's parts while Heero just ran ahead, then looped back and then ran ahead again. It would have been annoying if Duo didn't get to openly stare at Heero's ass now and not feel like a creep. By the time they made it back to the gaming house they barely had time to shower and Duo definitely hadn't had time to wash and dry his hair. Everyone greeted the Valkyries with varying degrees of enthusiasm - Quatre hugged each of them, even the prickly Lucy Noin and Duo hugged all of them except for Dorothy, who gave him a warning look that seemed to promise castration if he attempted to hug her. Trowa and Heero nodded at each of the girls in turn, as did Meilin and Sally. Relena hugged Hilde and Sylvia, shook hands with Lucy and Catharine and gave Dorothy a barely discernible nod. Duo wasn't the only one who noticed that and Hilde looked over at him with a raised eyebrow. He had to shrug - he had no idea whether or not Relena and Quatre had had words over her slip up yesterday or if Relena had finally decided to stop playing nice towards Dorothy. "So I've got the schedule posted in the game room," Relena said after the greetings. "We've got pizza coming at one and regular snacks and whatever throughout the day. If any of you need anything just ask Sally or me and we'll try to take care of it." "We're really excited to do this with you guys," Hilde said. "Thanks for having us." "Our pleasure," Quatre assured her. He looked over at Sylvia. "You and I have the first two hours - ready to hit the Rift?" Sylvia nodded and followed him to the game room. Everyone else stood awkwardly for a moment until Relena rolled her eyes. "Come into the living room at least and you can watch TV," she offered. Most of the girls followed, but Heero and Trowa begged off and took the opportunity to escape upstairs and no doubt try to get a few more hours of sleep. Hilde looked over at Duo. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" She asked. "If you're thinking we should go to my room and read what Reddit has to say about us until the pizza gets here then yes, yes I am." Hilde rolled her eyes and shoved his shoulder. "No. I can't believe you still look at that garbage." "I don't - I mean, not as much as I used to," he amended at her disbelieving look. "It's hard not to look at all though." She nodded in understanding. "Yeah. I hate it but... I don't know. Sometimes it's nice to feel connected to the community." Duo nodded as well and then yawned. "Have a late night?" Hilde asked. "Always. Lots of solo queue with Trowa." "And I'm sure lots of longing stares into his emerald eyes too," Hilde teased. "It's a little hard to see his eyes behind his Gunnar's," Duo shrugged. "But if I twist my chair and crane my neck I can just see them." Hilde rolled her eyes. "Come on, let's go cuddle until the pizza gets here." "Oh - is that what you wanted to do?" -o- Duo had been surprised to find himself paired with Dorothy for his first shift of the day, just after lunch, and even more surprised to actually enjoy it. He didn't particularly like Dorothy - even before she had threatened to expose his boyfriend to the internet - but she was good at the game and it was fun to play against her in a setting that was less intense than the LCS weekend games. The two hour shift passed surprisingly quickly and when it ended they went into the kitchen to dig up any leftover pizza from lunch. Relena was in the kitchen trying to keep it passably clean since Pagan had fled that morning, claiming that in no way was he paid enough to clean up after all of them. She was wearing a Fizz t-shirt that was cropped just above her naval and cut into a wide collar. Everyone else, even Sally, was wearing team paraphenalia, but Relena had decided not to play during the livestream and claimed that meant she didn't have to wear a tracksuit all day. Meilin had looked at Relena like she was crazy for thinking that was a good thing. "I like the way you play mid," Duo said to Dorothy as they sat on the bar stools at the kitchen island. "I mean, I like it now that the games don't matter." Dorothy smirked. "What? You mean like a fearless badass?" Duo shrugged. "Yeah. That's one way to put it." "Quatre's pretty fearless," Relena interjected. Dorothy arched an eyebrow at her. "I guess he is when there's someone there to hold his hand. He's not one to go in for solo kills." Relena frowned. "Sure he does. Just because he's prone to set up team fights doesn't mean he can't get solo kills." Dorothy shrugged again. "If you say so. I can't remember the last time I saw him get a solo kill in lane during a match." "Last week he got first blood as a solo kill," Duo spoke up before Relena could. "Huh. Well I guess I was wrong." "You didn't see the game?" "We don't play you again for another two weeks - there's no reason for me to start scouting you this early." Relena folded her arms over her chest and Duo had a very bad feeling about where this was headed. "Well there's always the reason that it would be nice to see how well Quatre is doing." Dorothy gave Relena a curious look and then turned to Duo with narrowed eyes. Duo held up his hands. "I said nothing." "He didn't have to. I'm observant," Relena said. "So... you're upset with me because I'm not watching Quatre's games because you think I should because I'm fucking him. That's so cute. In a jealous kind of creepy way that has nothing to do with you. Or - wait. Relena. Do you like him?" Relena flushed angrily but she shook her head. "You're his girlfriend. You should -" "Whoa whoa. Who said anything about being his girlfriend? We've had sex a few times. That's it. I'm not - I would not date Quatre Winner." "If we're not dating then what would you call this thing?" Duo, Relena and Dorothy all looked over to the kitchen entrance where Quatre stood, a frown on his face. "Casual sex?" Dorothy didn't look the least bit perturbed to see Quatre. "I thought -" Quatre stopped and looked over at Relena and then Duo, "can we talk about this in my room?" He asked Dorothy. She shrugged and got up from her barstool and followed him out of the room. "Oh my God. I'm an idiot. I'm a jealous, stupid, fucking idiot." Relena buried her face in her hands. "Hey, you're not - it's not that bad," Duo assured her. He got up and hugged her. "It's none of my business. I was being nosey and judgy and now - and now - did you see how devastated Quatre was?" Duo had noticed. Whereas Dorothy had look as unconcerned as if someone had told her she needed to replace her mouse, Quatre had looked like his whole world had tilted. Duo had had no idea he was that invested in his relationship with Dorothy. Then again, as Duo thought about it, it made sense - Quatre tended to throw himself into things and he cared deeply for the people in his life. "You know... I think it's a good thing. You being a jealous idiot part aside. It's clear they're operating on different pages with this thing. This gives them the chance to communicate." Relena snorted and pulled away from Duo's arms. "So she's going to dump him and he's going to be miserable or they're going to realize how much they mean to each other and then I'm going to be that awkward girl who he knows is in love with him." Duo winced. He really wished Dorothy hadn't been able to see just why Relena was bothered by her behavior. "Well, it could be worse," he said. "How? How could it be worse? I might lose my job over this Duo!" "You could be the single most hated person in this sport." He told her. "I'm thinking you wouldn't even make top ten - maybe not even top twenty five. Especially not in that Fizz shirt. No one could hate you when you're wearing that." Relena gave him a look but she sighed. "You're so melodramatic," she muttered. "At least I'm not trying to steal people's boyfriends. Talk about melo -" he stopped talking and ducked when Relena threw a stack of paper plates at him. "Too soon?" "Just a bit." She went back to trying to clean and Duo picked up the now scattered paper plates and put them back on the counter. He was crouched down on the floor, awkwardly trying to reach a plate that had fallen under the kitchen table, when Heero walked into the kitchen. Duo looked up at him and wasn't surprised to see Heero smirking at how ridiculous he looked. "Trowa and I were going to watch the Chinese games from this weekend up in our room. Want to join us?" Duo arched an eyebrow. He wondered if the gesture conveyed his silent question of do you really want to watch League or please God can this me something else? Heero leaned down and took the plates from Duo's hands. "Come on." Maybe Duo was making things up, but the tone of Heero's voice definitely implied something else. "I'll uh... yeah. I'm just going to go upstairs," Duo stood up and gestured towards Heero. "And watch the games." Relena arched an eyebrow, probably confused by his behaviour. "Okay... have fun I guess?" "Will do - thanks. Oh and seriously, Relena... it's going to be okay." She shook her head at that but waved him away. Duo followed Heero upstairs and into his room. "What was that all about?" Heero asked him after he closed the door. Trowa was already in the room, lounging on one of the beds and reading. He looked up when they entered and smiled. Duo smiled back and he momentarily forgot that Heero had spoken to him. "Duo?" Heero prompted. "Right. Sorry." He looked back at Heero and Heero smirked. "It's not important," Duo said. "I mean, not as important as those Chinese games you wanted to watch." "Hm. We might have a few problems with that," Heero said. "What kind of problems?" "I can't seem to find the link to feeds," Heero said and stepped closer to Duo. He reached out and ran his hands over the waistband of Duo's track pants. Duo arched an eyebrow. "What you think they're in my pants?" Heero shrugged. "Won't know until I check," Heero said with a smirk before kneeling down in front of Duo and pulling his track pants and his boxer briefs gown in a single motion. Duo stumbled backwards a step and had to lean against the closed door as Heero took his rapidly hardening cock in his mouth. Duo grabbed the doorknob with one hand and bit back a moan at the sensation. Then he realized something. "Jesus Heero. You didn't lock the door. Again." -o- TBC! ~ * ~ |
