Master Thespians

"Go on now."

"Euhm..."

"We haven't all day!"

Slowly, we leaned in, equal faces of disgust and dread on our faces as our lips met.

Oh, wait, I should start at the beginning, shouldn't I?

Hi, I'm Duo Maxwell. I'm the most adorableist, sexiest, handsomeist, cutest, lovableist bishounen that was ever created. It's true! I'd include a picture of myself, but the point of writing this is so you'll READ it and not just drool over my glompaliscious self. Heck, I have to take special classes with just me and a teacher whose was carefully prepared to withstand my atractiveness because I was distracting everyone in class! I got in trouble, but hey, can I help it if the other student choose to stare at me and drool all class? Certainly not! ITAI!!! Well, fine, I'm going a bit over here, but I am really that damn dashing. For my koi's well-being, I choose to overlook the shoe that he threw at me...

Oh, yeah, the story. Right, well, one day me, Heero, Wufei, Trowa and Quatre were walking to school. Well, we always walk to school, but I mean like it was the day this all started. Trust me, this gets more interesting, just read on.

Walking, got it! So, here we are, walking along. I'm trying my usual feel-up-Heero-without-anyone-noticing act, Trowa and Quatre are gazing into each other's eyes (gag!) and Wufei was being mister-oblivious as always. Trowa and Quatre though, geez, they make me sick! So lovey-dovey, and "oooo" "awww"! Yuck yuck.

But, back to the point. I was currently transfixed by my boyfreind's amazingly Perfect ass, drooling I'm sure, when I walked right smack into the pole that hold the flag up at our school. That really hurt!

As I sat there on my bum, trying to figure out what happened, I saw the other three walk on, laughing. Heero was just looking down at me, an annoyed expression on his face.

"Stop clowning around."

"I double dare you to say that to Trowa!"

"Kisama."

"A little help here?" I held out a hand to him. He only looked at me with an indignant expression.

"No, get up yourself, hentai baka."

OOo, guess that meant he noticed why I was so distracted. Well, can you blame me? My boyfreind (Heero, if you haven't figured it out by now) is the definition of the word "bishounen". Deep blue eyes, out-of-control short, dark brown hair, and slender as all hells. And I'll be damned if he didn't have the most hard, tight body in exsistence! The boy was scrumpcious, with those sexay lips that seemed to pout at-

"Your going to be late."

I blinked. Oops, gone on a mind rant again. I pulled myself up via the Evil Pole and flipped my braid behind me. I snorted at him as he turned and walked away. But my usual grin popped back up as my usual brigade of female obsessors ran up to me and started babbiling inanely, as always. I yelled to him.

"SEE YOU IN TRIG!"

Heero only lifted a hand in acknowledgement, not turning around. I grinned wider. Damn, I love my koibito.

So, here I was in english class, bored out of my mind. I'm American, I already know english, but the school is anal enough to put me in this class anyway. Oh well, it's an easy A. I looked at the posters on the walls again, already knowing what they said, but it was something to do besides draw explicit sexual images of me and a certain grumpy boy...

Ah, but what is this?

I leaned forward in my seat to see better. There was a new peice of paper stapled to the wall. It read as follows:

Need more excitement in your life? Want to try something new? Why not acting!? A new, revoluntionary play entitled "a daisy's dew" is opening for auditions Tuesday, in the school's theater. Sponsored by Mrs. Talbert's extra curricular playwrite class, independant from the school. Everyone welcome, no sign-up or past experince nessacery!

Oooo... interesting! Apart from my life (that I can't talk about here), school *boooooring!*, and them wild nights with Heero, I already had a whole bunch of excitement. But, heck, why not? It's not like I study. Okay, fine, I do, but we (my freinds and I), only meet to study twice a week, and I always wanted to try being onstage. I loves me attention.

Besides, us five are practicaly the smartest in this whole damn school. It's not like we really need to study anything anyway, but I guess it never hurts.

I checked my handy-dandy-Shinigami watch (self-made, of course), and it had good news for me. Today is TUESDAY. Yes, not ONLY does that mean the artificially-produced-and-manufactured-chili-hot-dogs for lunch, but also I can check this theatre thing out!!!! I grinned evily to myself. Maybe I'd get to man-handle a girl and make Heero upset.

Hey, I'm not a bad guy, I was just kidding with that upset Heero thing! I would never, never do anything to make Heero upset or hurt.

I'll skip all the boring stuff and get straight to it.

After kissing Heero goodbye and waving to the Couple-Of-Infinite-Sugar (aka Quatre and Trowa), I headed off to the theater. As I walked, I did my usual unbuttoning most of the shirt's buttons, tying my tie to a pant-loop, undoing my belt and untucking my shirt. This serves two purposes:

1. It annoys the staff of the school

2. Those uniforms are damn uncomfortable and this helps

As I ceremoniously yanked on my shirt, I wondered where Wufei was. I mean, come on, what does the guy really have to do except walk home with us? Wufei hates the sports they offer here, never gets detention, and hates being stuck in big crowds. I was actually a little worried. I knew he was really antisocial, excluding the four of us, and made it a point of not talking with anyone but us four. The other kids think he's cool, if not a little off. Besides, sometimes I wonder for a minute if he plays that mysterious loner just to get chicks. Geez, not like he needs to go so far - he's not so bad on the eyes himself. Not as sexy as yours truly, but then again, who is?? He's of chinese descent, about my height, and almost as well defined as Heero (in the muscle department). Got black eyes, shiny black hair, and is different looking than everyone here with his peachy-lemonish skin and facial structure. Personaly, I think that's because he's the only chinese person here. So, anyway, I entertained that thought for all of one second. Wufei isn't the indirect type, and he also has some insane problem with "onnas". I have no clue bout THAT one, but he does. But the idea of him picking up chicks made me giggle a little.

Oh, babble. Sorry.

So, here I was, chuckling and walking to the theater, a bit worried about my "mysterious" freind when I walked smack into the door.

"ITAI!!!!" I jumped back from the Evil Door and rubbed my poor forehead and nose. The guys usually call me clumsy, but there's a reason for it. I tend to let myself just sink into my mind, and with all these thoughts swirling around me, I always forget to stay awake in the world. Make sense? Guess not, but oh well. I'm just writing this to tell the story, not explain how I am. No one but my sexay-peach of a koi knows my heart, but that's another story for another time, eh?

I growled in annoyance and yanked the offending door open. I stalked inside the big theater, completely steamed. My ass still hurt from the fall earlier, and now my nose/forehead area was throbbing right along with it. Sheesh, what a crummy day. By Shinigami, I better get a good role in this to make up for my various bruises or there'll be hell to pay!

In a huff of anger, I flopped into on of the seats near the stage. The teach, Mrs. Tablert, was in the dress-clothes the teachers have to wear and was talking to a guy about a class above me. I overlooked his good looks, just glancing about curiously to see the other students who might be here. Ya see, I never really had time to ever oggle at somebody, certainly not with what I'm involved in. The only time I ever was stopped in my tracks to check someone out was when I first met Heero. Back then I just noticed he was extremely beautiful and gave me a funny feeling.

I laced my fingers together and leaned them behind my head, setting my ankles on the seat in front and to the right of me, legs loosely crossed.

Yeah, see, I never really thought I was gay, or anything. Back then, I just knew I felt funny around Heero, that I got weird feelings in my stomach whenever he looked at me. Well, I was the only one who could put up with his silent, dead-machine-like ways without being offended, so I always roomed with him. One night though, I woke up in the middle of the night, and saw this figure in front of me. I focused and realized it was Heero. He was shaking, and for once his face had an emotion - complete fear.

"Duo...," his voice whispered.

"Duo."

"Y-yeah Hee-man, what's up? Why ya shakin'?"

He was just shaking... He looked so lost and frightened, that I acted before thiking (as usual. I pulled the blanket up and nodded at the uncovered bed. He hesitated before laying down. It was the most natural thing in the world- I wiggled up to him, wrapping an arm around his chest and giving him a little embrace, holding him still. I had leaned my forehead on the side of his head, for he had laid down on his back and me my side. And we just laid like that - my arm around his bare chest and arms, holding him close, one of my legs around his hip and inbetween his legs. I was curled up around the guy like he was a big teddy bear.

It was a while before we said anything. After a spell though, I realized exactly what we were wearing. Or, really, our lack of wearing. He was just in those damn spandex shorts, me in boxers and a worn thin wifebeater. But I didn't really care, and that confused me. I mean, not the part of little clothing, but the part that here I was, cuddled up to another

"Duo."

scantily clad guy, and totally liking it. It was so weird, how could I possibly feel so... well, just liking such intimate contact with another guy, especially Heero!? But then I told myself to just shut up and enjoy it. Besides, I was always worried about Heero. It was so weird to see him almost...vulnerable like that. So I was just trying to comfort him, really

"DUo..."

I was. Just that. But then Heero went stiff and started crying. I sat up some to see for myself if he reallyt was. And he was. He looked at me with a pleading look.

"Duo, what's wrong with me?!" His voice was quiet, a whisper, but behind it was such sorrow, such desperation, I immediately was choked up and stuck in the sorrow he had.

"DUO."

"W-whatcha talkin about buddy?"

"I-I... You make me feel all jumpy, and so confused..."

"Uh... um..." I shifted around a bit, uneasy with where this looked to be heading.

"What-.. what did you do?"

"Huh?"

"You shocked me!" He sounded disbeliveing.

"I did not."

"Yes you did!"

"Heero, how can I possibly shock you when I haven't gotten anything electrical?" I asked, pretty confused like him. I shifted around again to pull my braid out from under the pillow. Heero gasped and flinched away from me.

"Stop it!" he whispered weakly. I just looked at him. It occured to me maybe he got that funny feeling that I get from him, but only he got it from me. Woah, weird! But, hm, interesting. I wasn't scared that night, for some reason. I guess the same reason that gave me the natural impulse to invite him into my bed.

"DUOOOO!!!"

"Hey Heero, chill out." I laid my head next to his again and snuggled up to him, hugging him like he was a pillow. He got really tense at this, but didn't draw away. The words blurted out of my mouth before my mind realized them. I guess there was something greater than me guiding me that night. "Ai shiteru, Heero-kun."

He got real quiet after that.

"Heero?"

"hn?"

"You alright with that?"

"I guess so."

"You guess so?" I chuckled. The guy was too cute sometimes.

"I-I mean... Duo, I think I love you..," he whispered to me.

"DUO!"

A happiness grew in me that I've never known, but always pretended to. I know happiness really well now, with my fellow, um, colleagues as close freinds and my loving koibito. Life is roses and cream for me, despite everything else. That's cause of these four guys. And not

"DUO!!"

to forget that Heero keeps me happily satisfied in other areas. Ah, such fun...

"DUUUUOOOO!!!"

"ITAI!!" I jumped and fell out of my comfortable position and onto the floor between two rows of seats. Wufei was glaring at me. I rubbed my poor shoulder. You'd be surprised how hard that man can pinch, ye-ouch!!!

"What was that for??"

"You were staring off into the ceiling and didn't even realize this is the present! I caled your name many times, but you just had that dopey expression on your face! Baka!" Wufei plopped down into the chair I used to occupy, crossing his arms and legs, glowering at me.

I muttered some choice words as I pulled myself up and into the seat next to him. "Can't a guy daydream without being attacked?"

"Hn. That's a good way to get killed, Maxwell."

"I'll keep that in mind." I brushed my bangs back, watching Wufei curiously. He noticed my looking and raised a black brow at me.

"What?"

"Whatcha doin' here?"

"I could ask you the same, Maxwell."

"Though I'd try being onstage. You?"

Wufei grunted something I didn't quite catch.

"Whad ya say?"

"I said, guidance counselor said to."

I laughed right in his indignant face before continuing the conversation. I'm so suave, ain't I? "Your following HER advice!?"

He blushed before growling. "Can it. It wasn't just her who thought so."

"OooOooo... Treize have anything to do with this??"

"SSHHHH!!! Do not speak of him here!"

I giggled before slinging an arm around his lithe shoulders. "Ah, I seeeeee, he asked you to?"

"No..."

"Then...?"

He glared at me before shrugging himself out of my touch. I just grinned at him, setting my arm around the back of his seat.

"Why shall I speak with you about this?"

"Why not?"

"..."

"Tell me, tell me!"

"Fine, just- keep your voice down! He is extremely busy. Kitto. So, he suggests that I do something to take my mind off of things and distract me from him not being around." He looked slightly blushed, a bit embarresed but somehow happy that his koi thought of him enough to suggest this. "He has many connections... the guidance counselor is married to a distant cousin of his, so he sent a message through her. Of course, I understood it even though the counselor did not, weak onna."

"Good, glad fer ya!" I patted him on the back of the head and he whapped my thigh hard. I grinned even more. Even though Wufei glares at me alot, calls me names, generaly rough, I know he likes me and is a nifty guy. He seems pretty one-sided at first glance, but then again, all five of us seem basic on the surface. All five us though are far from artificial and shallow - Heero's a shining example of that. That boy has more levels and depth than space itself. I love my Hee-chan! <3

"Duo."

I blinked when yellow-ish fingers snapped in front of my eyes. I focused on Wufei.

"Stop spacing out."

"Sorry, boring day at school, kinda in the internal-train-of-thought mode."

Wufei grinned. "Thought? Maxwell can think?"

"Ha ha, you-"

"Alright everyone, can I have your attention please?" a gentle, patient voice from teh stage called. We looked up to see it was Talbert, getting the gathered group under control somewhat.

Wufei watched her intently, but I glanced about. I had been so lost in thinking about the night me and Heero first admitted how we felt and first made love to really notice anyone else. There was about ten, thirteen other kids there. There were only four other guys. Hm, easy pickin's.

"This is your director, Fushi. Fushi, go ahead."

The kinda-cute boy I saw onstage earlier stepped up, smiling thankfully to the teach. Me and Wufei exchanged looks before giving him our attention. Fushi was known in our class. Well, in me and Wufei's lit class. He was known to have a sort of... strange... imagination. Besides, he also was frequently mistaken for a girl by visitors. So, anyway, we both knew something weird was coming, something strange but quite possibly fun.

"Hi, thank you for coming. I'd like to cast before I talk about this play, just so I can see how you really are, and also let some things be surprises. So, if you can all write your names on the paper Konko is passing around, we can get an order and begin. This is really a unique play and I hope all of you will have fun trying out for it."

A blond known to be a theatre-snob raised her hand. "But what about scripts? What are we going to read from to audition?"

"Oh, you don't need any. Here's what I want you all to do - make up a person, now. Become that person. A name, history, personality, the works."

"Then what?"

"You'll see. Trust me. Now, let's have the first person once everyone's written their name."

Me and Wufei looked at each other, then over at the blond. She looked frustrated. We snickered. She thought she knew everything about theater, and here she was, prepared to do what was the routine for auditions, and totally prepared to do the wrong thing! Ah yes, life is sweet.

"So.... thought of anything yet, Maxwell?" Wufei asked as he signed his name. I took the paper he offered and wrote my name in the first slot, which was empty. We handed it to the teacher and she walked over to Fushi. Fushi had sat down in a metal folding chair onstage, his seat opposite another metal folding chair.

Wufei tugged at his tie, loosening it widely. His shirt was also untucked, his jacket off and on the seat underneath him. His sleeves were elegantly folded up, revealing his delicate wrists and hands. I tell you, Wufei may look all nice and innocent and delicate in this school uniform, but hand him a sword and everything's dispelled. The guy is as decieving in appearance as the rest of us.

I yawned, patting my mouth before grinning.

"Your not going to come up with anything?? Baka! What are you gonna do then?"

"Make it up, up there." I nodded to the stage. Another difference between us- I like to act in the moment, he likes to be kinda prepared.

"Sheesh. I shall be laughing when you make a fool of yourself."

"Same here,Wuffi-chan."

"Don't call me that!"

"Shinigami Maxwell?"

I grinned. I almost always take the name Shinigami over Duo. Wufei rolled his eyes and scooted around a bit so I could walk past him. I strolled up to the stage like I owned the place. I whistled gently as I walked, exuding confidence. I love being the center of attention. I could feel everyone's eyes on me as I walked over to the empty, metal folding chair, turned it so the front faced me, straddled it and leaned my arms on the top of it.

Fushi blinked when he met my grinning face. Wufei snorted and that reassured me that I had everyone's attention on me. Hehehehe, I'm so damn good.

Fushi blinked a bit before looking back at the paper. "Shinigami?"

"Nickname. Duo. Maxwell. Lit class?"

"Oh yeah. Who could miss you with that braid?" he smiled nicely and I already felt wamr and fuzzy towards the guy. Despite rumors, he actually was a pretty nice boy. A bit different, but then again, aren't us weirdos the real ones?

"I choose to take that as a compliment." I joked, flipping my long braid over my shoulder.

"Shall we begin then?"

"Shoot." I grinned, sitting up straight.

His face changed into the mask of a director who already decided not to hire you, into a hard, cold mask. This didn't faze me in the least. I knew exactly what he was doing, and thought it ingenious. We were supposed to play characters for this audition, and he was playing one too, trying to physc you into messing up and breaking the pretend. Well, let me tell you, from dealing with Heero before he was my koi, being looked at coldly and hard doesn't stop me in the slightest.

I immediately changed my smile to one of smirking overconfidence, smugly running a hand through my hair (the part that wasn't braided, duh).

"Name?"

"Hohoemi Bakana. Call me Baki." I heard smothered giggles at my name choice.

Fushi was good though, and his look didn't change but that to tired indifference.

"So, tell me about yourself. Where'd you grow up?"

"In a meat cellar."

"A meat cellar?"

"Yeah. Also, that's how I got my start in acting."

"How so?"

"Well, we kids had to act like it wasn't cold in there, or mom'd whap us somethin' awful."

"Huh."

"Sure is true. I also was once caught running around with some beef in my pants. You ever done that?"

"uh... no."

"Well, real nice. I had suuuuch a bad case of hemeroids that year, quite odd for a three-year-old, but still, they was there. So, I takes me some beef, sticks 'em in my breifs. And I assure you, next time I sat down, all that dead cow made a damn nice padding."

"I see. So, any experince?"

I blinked, my amethyst eyes going wide. "You hittin' on me mister?"

"What?"

"You asked me about experince. You think I'm into the mens?" I gasped dramaticaly, standing back. "You ain't George of the Mountains, are ya? I swear, I thought you was asleep, I thought you was asleep!!!"

The people in the audience were laughing, trying not to giggle too loudly.

"No, No, I'm not George."

"Really? Whew, glad you aren't. Though I was going to be killed for a minute there. But that sure is a story. Want to hear it?"

"No. Are you ready to do your monologue?"

"Oh, yeah, sure. Got a nice one prepared."

"Alright."

We stared at each other for about three minutes.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"You can do it now."

"Oh, okay." I backed up, stricking a John Travolta pose. "AAAHHHEEEMMM!!!!" I cleared my throat before singing purposely in a bad voice. "Gimme that night feva, night feeeevvvaaaa!! We know how to do it!! Oh yeah! Gimme that night feva, night fevaaaa!!!" As I sang, I broke out my best imitation of John Travolta before going into my own version of break dancing.

"STOP, STOP!"

I flopped to the floor, panting, trying to get my breath back. Dancing and singing at the same time was hard. I crawled over to him, putting my head in his lap.

"What?"

"What was that!"

"Monologue."

"What are you doing!?!? What do you think this is? This is an audition for Evita!! What the heck's wrong with you!?"

I looked up innocently at him. "Isn't this therapy? I came for my phsychatrist appointment."

Fushi finally lost it and burst out laughing. I grinned happily, standing up.

"Th-th-that was great!!!"

"Ah, but of course!" I bowed to the other auditioners, waving to Wufei who snorted and fought giggles.

"Thank you very next. Please stay for the first rhearsel afterwards."

"I got a part?"

"Yes!"

"YAAHOOO!! WATASHI WA SHINIGAMI, DON'T MESS WITH ME!!!" I skipped off the stage and jumped into the chair next to Wufei.

Wufei whapped my hands away and I gave up trying to get a hug from him. Oh well, I got a part. Well, naturally!!

"No congrats?" I prodded him in the ribs.

He glared at me. "Baka."

"Aw thanks, you too Wuffi-chan."

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!!"

So, anyway, nothing interesting happened until Wufei auditioned. It was just too funny. I have no Idea what possesed him to do this, no inkling on how WUFEI could actually do such a good impression either.

"Chang Wufei?"

"Right here." He stood up, giving me a nervous glance. I gave him a thumbs up. He walked over to the stage, hands in pockets. He calmy sat in the folded chair (by now back to facing Fushi) across from Fushi, hands on his knees.

"Alright, start." Fushi got his hard-I-Hate-ACTORS-director persona in full swing.

Wufei imediately crossed his legs in a feminine way, folded his hands delicately in his lap and sat up beanpole straight. He looked haughtily over at Fushi, a calm and full-of-self look on his face.

"Name?"

"Aneler Doorland."

"Tell me a bit about you."

"I'm a princess and my daddy owns a big country. But he ran off with our Senschal, so now I'm in political control. I always wanted to be an actress, it's natural, for I am a princess. And to be a princess is to be an actress."

"It seems you know your plays. Anastasia."

Wufei, er, Aneler, nodded. "Of course." he smiled a little, girly smile of self-centeredness.

"Experince?"

"I'm a princess."

"No, acting. Experince in acting?"

"I told you, I am a princess. To be a princess is to be an actress."

"I'll take that as a no."

Wufei huffed, not liking how this was going. "You know, I was told that there is a certain boy going to be working for you. Heero Yuy?"

"Um. You heard wrong."

Wufei sniffled before bursting into real tears. He daintily wipped at his eyes, clasping his hands to his chest. "Oh... HEERO..."

"Um.. who's Heero?"

"Oh, this boy. He's in love with me, but he can't admit it. We're meant to be, you know."

"Are you sure he feels the same?'

Wufei blinked before glaring at him. "How dare you question our love!"

Okay, well, you get the idea. Wufei's impression of Relena was PERFECT!! I have never had so much respect for this guy, nor laughed so hard in my life!!! By the end of his spiel, Wufei had successfully gotten EVERYONE in the theater, including Talbert, to break out laughing. He even sashayed offstage and back to his seat. Wufei got the same reassurance I did of a part and we shared grins when he returned.

"How did you- I thought you- that was-!?"

Wufei smirked. "If I was going to make a fool of myself, I felt I should at least do it venting some frustration about that damn onna at the same time."

"That was kitto awesome."

"Arigatou. Of course it was."

We chuckled to ourselves. The following others couldn't touch our insane impressions and characters.

I said I'd make this short, right? Sorry, I should have made Wufei write this, I go off on tangents. Anyway, back to what was happening.

Basicaly, the ones he asked to stay were the cast. There were six of us. Me and Wufei, another guy and three girls. Fushi grabbed me and Wufei as we were about to go. We didn't get scripts yet, but he said he was still making the copies and everything would be to them in three days.

"I need to ask you two to be here tomorrow, after school, for a half hour rhearsel."

"You said you didn't have the scripts."

"I have five copies, but there is a scene I want to see with you too. I can't wait, can you come? Besides, I'm sure you two would like to go through it alone before doing it in front of the cast, then audience."

Wufei looked a bit skeptical at this, but I cut him off before he could question. Fushi was such a nice guy, no reason to let Wufei go all nasty on him.

"Sure, no problem. Let's go Wuffi-chan." I grabbed up my bookbag and head for the exit. Wufei snatched his and stalked after me.

"Don't call me that!!!"

Okay, turns out that the play was about a cross dresser and his, er, her, whatever, failed relationships, and finding the one that is true. It's mostly humorous. It follows through his, erm, her, life from high school to later one. There's the lesbian couple he hangs out with at a cafe, then the guy who left him for a girl, then came back, and causes problems. Then He/Her falls for this other guy, but then the other guy is jealous, and it's a big mess. It's really pretty funny.

From the general outline of this, we figured I was the guy giving the drag queen romance problems later on in his/her life, and Wufei was one of the background people who plays all the parts along the way (like a teacher, student, freind, parent, waiter, etc etc).

"Turn to page fifty-three please."

"Kay." Me and Wufei flipped through our little packets. The three of us were sitting onstage. Fushi was in the metal folding chair, us two cross-legged on the stage itself in front of him.

"Alright. Now, Duo, your part is Ginger. Wufei, your Joe."

I blinked. I was the drag queen!??! "... urm?"

Wufei blinked. He was the gay guy whom Ginger finds true love with!? "!!!?"

"Right, well, this is the scene I want to go over. In it, Ginger and Joe kiss, and it's the end of the play. It's the only kiss scene in the play, and I figured you two would be fine with it since your freinds anyway."

I stared at Fushi is disbelief and Wufei glared with horror.

"I have to kiss HIM!?!" we shreiked at the same time.

"'Fraid so."

"Pucker up Wuf-man."

"Don't call ME THAT MAXWELL!!" Wufei looked ready to punch me and I was glaring back at him as well.

"Guys, calm down!"

Wufei grumbled something, crossing his arms across his chest. I just shurgged and imitated him. "So, whadda we gotta do?"

"Just read this page and follow how you feel your characters would be acting. Ginger is quite timid but also fed up with waiting for Joe to make a move. Joe obviously likes Ginger, but is nervous about going too fast or being rejected. Remember, Ginger knows she's seductive and will use it to her advantage." Fushi pulled his chair bair to a way side of the stage. "Alright, your in Joe's apartment. Joe just kicked Karaki out and freed Ginger of him. Go."

We stood and glared at each other before focusing on our scripts. I tried a girly pose, trying to get into it. I found it was kinda fun to be all girly. I pretended I have the body of Relena, but not nearly as pretenscious. I twirled some long bangs on a finger before smiling gently to Wufei. Wufei also tried to be in character, getting a feel for it. He ran a hands over his hair nervously before fiddiling with his shirt's edge.

"You okay Ginger? That guy was such a creep, why did you ever bother with him?"

I stepped a bit closer to Wufei. "Sugar, when your really young, your judgement's not too good."

"Really young?"

"We're still young. Say Joe... that was really heroic-like."

"It was nothing. As I said, he was just a creep."

"Mm... Yeah. But still, takes guts to stand up to a bully. Hey Joe."

"Yeah?" I strolled closer and Wufei seemed obviously apprehensive. I came close enough that our noses were about 40 cm apart.

"Say Joe... why ain't you never kiss me? Afraid you'll get bit?"

"N-no. Ginger..."

I pouted cutely, trying not to laugh. "Then what? Think I'm dirty? Afraid you'll catch somethin'? Or am I just not interesting enough? Not attractive enough?"

"It's not that."

"Oh I see... I love you Joe, but it just ain't your deal, huh?" I turned, starting to walk away. Wufei caught my arm and I didn't fight in the least when he turned me back around to face him.

"I love you Ginger. I didn't want to do anything with you without you feeling the same."

"But Joe, your the one I love. You didn't see that?"

"No."

"Then I'll make it clearer."

Silence. This was the kiss.

Swallowing, I tried to make myself kiss Wufei, but I couldn't.

"Try toungue and I'll bite it off." Wufei whispered.

We stared at each, both of us trying to avoid the inevitable.

"Go on now."

"Euhm..."

"We haven't all day!"

Slowly, we leaned in, equal faces of disgust and dread on our faces as our lips met.

We held it for a couple seconds before breaking away from each other. I franticaly wiped at my mouth while Wufei glared, blushing, at the floor.

"Alright, nice. You two might want to practice that so your more comfortable with it by next rhearsel. I know it's weird, kissing a guy, but it's a nice way to end the story. You read well, nice movement Duo. If you have a sister, or someone who can help, you might want to get pointers from them on how to act like a girl, but you did do very good today. Ginger is funny, but is always very convincing with her drag act. Wufei, see if you can kiss Duo without blushing." Fushi grinned. "Thank you! Have a nice night! See you in two days!" He bounced off the stage and towards the doors.

Neither of us spoke as we grabbed our bookbags and walked home. there just were no words.

"AH-OW! TOOTIGHTTOOTIGHT!"

"Gomen..."

"Sheesh, you do this to Treize!?"

"I said gomen!"

"Lighten up, your killing me here!"

"TRYING!"

I sighed deeply. It was the next night, at home. Heero was helping Quatre with math and Trowa was working on a sketch that looked suspisciously like his blond boyfreind for art class. Me and Wufei were in his room, sitting on his bed. We were both sitting cross-legged, scripts open next to us, our knees touching. We hadn't told the other guys what the play was about, nor our parts in it. We knew the others wouldn't tease, but I'd have to deal with Heero making smart-ass comments in bed. And Wufei would be embarresed regardless. So we were gonna let everyone find out the day of the performance.

So, anyway, we were sitting here with the intent of getting more comfortable being a convincing couple. How? Well, we had just been trying to hold hands as we went through some lines, but Wufei tensed all up and was sqeeuzing waaaay too hard. Can't blame him though, we didn't know how to deal with each other except with rough house-playing. Violence is our universal language.

Wufei sighed and pulled his hands away, rubbing his forehead. "This is not going to be easy."

I snorted. "Got that right, Mister Deathgrip." He overlooked my teasing and glanced at the script.

"Maybe I should quit."

"No way, then I'd be stuck kissing either Fushi or that pompous ass Pascal!" I shuddered. "That guy gives me the creeps. Besides, Treize'll like the play. He'd enjoy seeing you doing this." I smiled to him.

Wufei glanced at me and shrugged, but was blushing lightly. "I suppose that's true..."

"Right, so let's get this over with then."

He nodded and took my hands in his again. We had worked to the point were we could 'comfortably' hold each other's hands. We counted to three under our breath before leaning forward quickly and kissing. As soon as our lips touched we pulled back.

"That's not going to work..." Wufei muttered.

"Yeah... damn, I suppose we have to hold it then?"

We shared a pained expression. "Yes..."

"Let's start small," I said, pulling our hands up from inbetween up to eye level. I slowly laced my fingers around and inbetween his. He caught onto the idea and cooperated. "Okay, there, not so bad, eh?" I grinned. "Hey, this is easy!"

"You baka, we still have to kiss."

"K'so, well, relax first."

"Eh?"

I raised a brow at him. "This whole thing is hard because your so stubborn. Hard, oh, hehehehehe!" I laughed at my accidental pun. Damn I'm good!

Wufei blushed but rolled his eyes. "Hentai."

"Yeah, yeah. But seriously, your so uptight, just loosen up. Alright, here, imagine I'm Treize."

Wufei looked at me funny before laughing. "You... Treize... AHAHAHAHAH!!!"

I growled. "Ha ha asshole, shut up, let's get this done."

"Alright, alright." Wufei managed to get himself under control. I nodded.

"Kay, now, relax. Let me try something here."

He watched me warily.

"I said relax."

He grumbled before slowly relaxing.

"Now close your eyes."

"Maxwell-"

"Do it Wufei."

He looked at me skepticaly before closing his eyes. He relaxed some more once he did this. I took in a deep breath - now or never. I closed my own eyes and leaned forward, touching Wufei's thin lips with mine. This time he didn't pull back right away. I imagined it was Heero and lightly worked my lips against Wufei's. He responded, evidently taking my adivce to pretend I'm Treize. We were both lost in our imaginations, and habit took us over. Wufei parted his lips and I tested the opening with my toungue. Mine met his and we deepened the kiss slightly, our tongues getting in on the action. We continued this way for what seemed an hour but was probably only ten minutes.

It was when his tounge was in my mouth that we came back to ourselves and pulled back.

We scooted back from each other, yanking our hands out of the other's. We stared at each other in silence for a long while, Wufei blushing lightly.

I fell off the bed when Quatre popped his head in to tell us dinner was ready.

Wufei helped me up. And I can't deny, our hands lingered on the other's wrists a moment longer than normal, our faces close again. But we broke away from each other at the same time, him heading to his closet, me for the door. I lingered before leaving and heading to the kitchen.

What happened was really weird. REALLY weird. I grinned ironicaly to myself. And here I always thought Wufei was a horrible kisser... But jeez, we planned to just get comfortable holding our lips together for a couple of seconds till the curtain closed, and we practicaly made out right there, on his bed!

That night I felt so guilty. I didn't feel worthy of Heero, my sexy and loving koi. I claimed I felt sick and didn't have the energy to make love. He didn't question, just snuggled with me, kissing my forehead to make me feel better. It made me feel worse... that was the first time I ever lied to Heero...

"You sure no one's home?"

"Yeah, Quatre and Trowa went to the movies and Heero is at a teacher's house, helping him set up for something."

"A-alright." Wufei said and then we just looked at each other. It was the next night. We were both a bit wary of each other now. But we both knew this was nessacery.

"So..."

"Hn."

I slowly sat on the bed, cross-legged as before. Wufei came over a moment later, sitting on his knees on his bed. We sat across from each other, close, but just short of touching.

So there we were. Staring at each other. I knew what he was thinking, it was what I was thinking about to. How his tongue felt, his sweet lips, the way his mouth tasted, so different from Heero's. He was blushing and I probably was too, even though I'm not one to blush.

It was so weird, thinking of my friend like this, but there was no way to help that now. What was done was done, and for now at least, these thoughts lurked when I looked at him. That curiousity. Curiosity is a damn pain. Once it's spark is lit, there's no way to slow it, stop it, put it out. It's determined to reach the dynamite of consequence, whether you want it to or not.

Our sparks were lit and burning away.

"Let's... let's just do this while we have time alone here."

Wufei nodded some, looking down. I swallowed the lump in my throat. Here we'd thought we'd be nice guys and participate in a school play, but now... Now we felt like guilty kids, foolin' around in ways we aren't supposed to and fearing being caught.

But this had to be done. It didn't even need to be said that neither of us wanted to end up doing what happened yesterday onstage, nor end up wrecking the play by having a totally unconvincing kiss at the end. It was frustrating, but we were stuck. Our stubborn pride refused us to leave the play, but our curiosity tortured us with guilt as we tried to find the middle ground without going over the line again.

Damnitt.

"Um, well, I guess... just the kiss this time?"

"Huh?"

Wufei looked sheepish, but his reasons weren't suspiscous. "We have the hands thing down, I can do that onstage, I just don't want to spend anymore time than nessacery holding hands with you. No offense, Maxwell."

"None taken. I see your point. Alright then. Last time though... Too much tongue, way too much."

"I agree."

"Okay, then, this time, not as long. It only needs to hold until the curtain closes, and assuming that lazy S.O.B. does it on time, that won't take long. We can just do it like we freeze, don't even need to open our mouths, just freeze in place like a picture. Then we wouldn't have to kiss kiss...".

Wufei nodded thoughtfully. "Honorable proposition. Hopefully Fushi will approve."

"Yeah."

"Hn."

"So then. Let's do this before anyone gets home."

"Okay..."

Very hesitantly this time, we slowly touched lips. Immediately we pulled away. Wufei looked away and I made a fist in annoyance. Why was this so damn hard??

"That sucked."

"Hn."

"Again, come on, gotta get this right before we have an audience watching us."

"Good point." We slowly did the same thing, only this time I caught the back of his head and kept him from pulling away. We both closed our eyes, scrunching them up, trying to just hold our lips together in a fake kiss for a couple moments. I let go of him and we both pulled back.

"That wasn't too bad..."

"That is easy!"

"Yeah, that'll work onstage, right?"

"Kitto. Again, come on." So we leaned in and did it again, this time I didn't have to force Wufei to stay there. We pulled back at the right time, grinning triumphantly. Miuddle ground! Innocent, virgin kiss, our lips not even parted at all, perfectly innocent! Just like kissing Father Maxwell goodnight, nothing more than innocent, familial affection! Perfect! And I didn't feel a thing! Already my mind was loosing the memory of Wufei's taste and feel, disapeering and back to my normal perpective of the grumpy boy.

Wufei was grinning happily, which told me this was the same for him. Just to prove it was easy as hell and we kick ass, we did that about five more times. By then we were cheering and whooping, telling Fushi whose boss, complimenting ourselves on our ability to overcome weaknesses of the flesh and stupid teenage hormones! Oh yeah, we RULE!!

But something had to rear it's ugly head and fuck up our victory.

Wufei and me were jumping on his bed, being estatically happy that this wasn't going to mess up our friendship or the relationships we had. Wufei landed on his butt on the bed and me, still cocky about being able to kiss my friend without it being nothing more than like a hug, landed straddiling his hips, falling forward a bit, catching myself by leaning on my palms on the bed just above Wufei's shoulder. We continued laughing as his bed slowly stopped vibrating from out energetic bouncing.

"Oh, Joe, your soooo irresistable!" I crooned in my Ginger-voice.

"Ginger, you foxy lady!" Wufei added, doing his Joe-voice. Cackling like a nut, I leaned down and put my lips to his, intending this to be the same triumphant, passionless, friendly kiss me and Wufei were perfecting.

Neither of us really counted on the fact that his lips were still parted from grinning. I accidently got a a little of his lower lip between my own and was just going to push it back lightly with my tongue. Really, nothing big, nothing special. But he had had the same idea.

It was all over when our tongues touched.

As always, we've taken to closing our eyes when we did the kiss thing, it was easier to stomach that way. But then again, closing your eyes made it unfortunately much much easier to forget who your kissing.

Before we could realize it, our mouths were disobeying us. Our tongues searched each other's mouths, and had little battles inbetween.

Teenage sex drives. They're bitches, ain't they?

As our mouths went off on their own, the worst thing in the world happened.

Yes, that's right, you cna guess it can't you?

Who, of all people, should open the door and "catch" us?

Uh-huh.

You were right.

The soldier afraid of emotions, unable to express himself properly, the most amazing, wonderful person in the world, also very vulnerable in so many ways, and who trusted me with himself, his heart, his soul, opened the door.

"You two in here? We finished early, so you want to rent som-."

I froze in disbelief. Wufei, coming back to himself much quicker than I did, shoved me off of him and onto the floor. I landed hard on my ass next to the bed, catching my breath. I looked up to see the love of my life standing next to the open door, a hand on the doorknob. His blue eyes were impossibly wide with shock, his mouth parted with the words he was saying dead on his lips. His gaze was on me alone as he silently stepped back and slammed the door.

I looked shakily to the floor, tears in my eyes.

Wufei smacked me harshly on the shoulder. "Go talk to him, baka, before this gets any worse!"

I rubbed my eyes, knowing he was right. Seconds are a very misunderstood unit of time. They can make all the difference in the world. Suddenly a painful fear struck my heart. He was suicidal before, and I thought I got him over that, but this... what if it pushed him back over the edge!?

I jumped to my feet and left quickly, running to our room. Wufei didn't follow. We both knew he wasn't good with words, and he would probably be in danger of getting killed should he come near the soldier who found us.

I ran into our room, locking the door behind me. I heard running water in the bathroom that's connected to our room. I cautiously stepped in.

"Ai?"

He was at the sink, washing his face with water that was boiling hot. I could see mark rising on his skin from where he was rubbing the steaming water. I knew pain helped he deal with things, but I felt so damn guilty that I am the cause of all his problems.

"Heero?"

He turned the water off and backed away from me, painful hurt glaring in his eyes. Then I saw why he was washing his face. He was hiding that he was crying.

"What the hell was that?! How long has that been going on??" he demanded, his usually strong voice cracking.

I winced. I hate being the source of anger. "You don't understand Heero, it's not what you think!"

"Then what is that!? What am I supposed to think when you and Chang are making out on his BED!?"

"We were practicing, it got out of hand..."

"Practicing??"

"Well, it's a long story." I rushed on before he could refuse it, babbiling worse than usual because I was nervous. "You see, me and Wufei tried out for the school play. Well, we didn't go to try out together, just kinda happened that Treize wanted him to do something and I wanted to do something, so we both wanted to do something and you know I hate sports, or at least playing on those stupidass teams the school has and Wufei does too, you know he hates anything that's not sword-oreinted, and so we picked the play, cause I like to be loud and Treize suggested the play to Wufei so he showed up and we tried out and I got this part of a transvestite who falls in love with this guy named Joe and Wufei got the part of Joe so it was weird and stuff, then the kid that wrote it told us that the last scene is were we finally get together and it's a funny play, pretty good, but a little too much drag for my tastes, especially since I have to wear and so we looked at the scene and we found out we have to kiss, which made us both want to puke, but we couldn't really quit now, not when we had lead roles, so we just wanted to be able to do the kiss thing in front of people without being all fumbly, and be kinda like comfortable with it, ya know? and we tried last night and it just wasn't working at all, so we tried it imagining I was Treize and he was you and things got a bit out of hand, like you saw, so we quit as soon as we realized what happened, and then so we wanted to try and get this under control today, while no one was home, and we do, we could kiss without our lips closed, just like how you'd kiss your mom, or well, I guess you wouldn't really know, but like how Quatre kisses his sisters, like that, so we thought we were hot shit that we could do that and not fuck everything up but then something happened when we joked around and tried it again, and ended up our mouths open, and something got the better of us and then it got out of control again, like you saw, but I swear Heero, I was turned on by it in the least, it's so damn weird, Wufei is like my brother, it's disturbing really, it's not Wufei's fault, we both kinda lost it for a sec, you know he's lonely and stuff because Treize hasn't been around, and You had been busy all last week with that project for history, so we didn't have time to you know, so I guess we were both just horny and poof it fucked things up, i'm so so so sorry, I don't feel anything for Wufei, he doesn't feel anything for me either, we're just freinds, but we're also too damn stupid to keep our hormones in check, I swear, I'm not attracted to him at all, just you, I never wanted him that way, not even when we lost control, but it never went past kissing, the most we touched was holding hands, but that's because that damn Fushi has it written so much to hold hands, damn hentai-"

"Duo."

I blinked, my monologue cut short. "Y-yeah?"

"If you were so horny, why did you refuse me last night?"

"I... I felt so guilty for kissing Wuf-man like that, I didn't and don't, deserve you. I'm sorry I lied, I'm a baka."

"...".

"Heero, can you forgive me?"

He slowly nodded. I ran over to him, happy. I hugged him tight, nestling my head on his shoulder. "I just wish you would have told me earlier."

"I didn't want to be teased."

"Hn."

And that was that. We were okay. Heero didn't kill me or Wufei, everything was understood, everyone forgiven for their mistakes. Shinigami, I love my koibito. After that, we had no problems conquering human nature and kept the kisses innocent and light.

The applause got louder. The lights were cut off and I pulled back, grinning as I wipped my lipstick off of Wufei's lips. He blushed and batted my hand away. I laughed loudly and he smacked my shoulder. The other cast memebers ran onstage and we all joined hands for the curtain call. When the curtains parted again, we walked as a unit to the front of the stage.

The others stepped back so only me and Wufei were downstage. Wufei gestured to me and I did a little curtsey before sending the applause back to him and he elegantly bowed. The line stepped back up next to us and we clapped for the audience, then clapped as our student director came onstage. We backed upstage and he took center stage, gesturing that he was going to talk. We stood quiet as he started talking about the cast, crew, the play and such.

I glanced at Wufei and saw him squinting, looking towards the back of the theater. I followed his looks and noticed something glitter in the darkness before I could make out the shape of a person back there. Wufei suddenly smiled, genuinely, a sweet smile of supreme happiness. The sight made me grin some too. Hell, I'm a believer in the contagiousness of happiness. Looking for my own ray of sunshine, I spotted him in the middle, near the front in the audience. He was looking right at me and smiled slightly when he saw I was looking at him. I grinned wider and he smiled more. I noticed Quatre and Trowa sitting next to him, both unable to keep their grimy mits off each other. I swallowed a giggle as Quatre patted Trowa's thigh and his koi slid his hand down Quatre's, finding his patting hand and lacing his fingers with the pale ones. They smiled to each other before looking back to the director Fushi.

So that's my story. The guys really liked the play, and I guess a certain man did too, for Wufei left that night (it's a friday) and dropped a note saying he won't be back till late Sunday. I must say though, none of us are worried or upset about it though, because that way we can be as loud as we want. Which reminds me. I have a tempting, naked boy in my bed, wanting to congratulate me on my portrayl of Ginger. Oooh, and now he kissing my neck. Gotta run!

Yours Truly,

Shinigami

Mysticlees

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