* * * * * * * * * * *

Heero listened to the other boys' conversation with disgust. It was all they talked about, the girls in the private co-ed school not five miles away from their military school, and what they wanted to do with them. Heero had no respect for any of them. In fact, he hated them, but he couldn't show it. Because of his strength and skills they seemed to respect him, and included him in their group. Not that Heero wanted any part of it, but he had seen what had happened to the boys they deemed unsuitable for their group. Heero would rather be considered one of them than harassed constantly; incredibly strong as he was, he couldn't take on all of them. Also, he was busy learning everything he could from all the resources he had at his disposal at the military academy. Heero had great plans; he didn't know what they were yet, but he would make his mark on the world. And no one would ever ignore him again. He had only contempt for those that squandered such a chance to learn tactics and strategy; they had been shoved off on the school by families tired of disciplining their sons themselves. Heero himself was there by hard work and a bit of hacking; an orphan, he had found the scholarship competition almost accidentally as he surfed the web from a public library computer. After he had worked around the protection on the system, of course. After that, it was just a matter of fabricating his qualifications. The test itself he flew through all by himself. A few other records judiciously erased, and he was in, released from the prison of the orphanage with relief from the director. He had excelled so far, soaking up all the knowledge he could. Unfortunately, the school also considered social skills important, and he would have looked out of place if he had shunned all contact with the other boys. Right now, they were obsessed with the late night raid they had planned on the girls' dorm.

Heero had no interest in girls; he had known that for some time. Not that he was overly interested in boys either; none of his classmates had earned more than contempt from him. In his most secret fantasies, though, there was someone, and he knew it was a boy. However, romance was the farthest thing from Heero's mind. But, again, he would have looked unusual if he hadn't gone along with the plans. The only thing worse to these military school brats than an outcast was a gay outcast. He had seen what they had done to the last boy they had thought was gay.

The raid was set for tonight; they would wait until the teachers were asleep, then sneak out. They automatically assumed that Heero would be joining them; to back out now would brand him a coward or worse. So, sighing inwardly, he prepared to go.

They snuck out of the dorms and made their way onto the other school's grounds ridiculously easily. Heero suspected that such excursions were tolerated by the administration, and almost expected. As long as no one got hurt. They crept up to the window of one of the dorms, a hallway window that was always propped open. The boys, eight in total, slipped through and dropped to the floor as soundlessly as possible. Heero brought up the rear, ostensibly to stand guard but mostly so he wouldn't have to participate as much. He waved them on, indicating that he would keep watch in the hallway, giving the prearranged signal if someone approached. He settled back to wait, glad to be left behind. A movement behind him made him whirl around; he was suddenly face to face with a longhaired vision. Seemingly out of a dream, long hair flowed around him? Her? Heero wasn't sure, but he was too spellbound to remember the alarm call. He stared openmouthed at the person who stood before him; the loose white clothes and shining hair seemed to glow from within. Huge eyes stared back at him, as shocked as he was. Then the person stepped into the light, and Heero knew two things; it was a boy, and he had to touch him. Heero stepped forward involuntarily.

Duo didn't know whether to be relieved or frightened; at first he had thought he was busted, sneaking into the girls' dorm at this hour. Even if it was only to borrow a hair tie; his had broken earlier, and he was out of them. There certainly wasn't any other reason for him to be there; though no one else knew he preferred boys. He wasn't about to tell anyone; his parents would probably have him in a mental hospital before he could blink. If they even bothered to notice. He had been in boarding schools since he was old enough to be accepted. Between that and summer camps, he barely saw his parents. Duo knew they were happier that way. He sometimes wondered why they had even had children. When he saw the person in the hall, he thought it was a teacher; but he knew all the teachers, and this person was much too young and too gorgeous to be one of them. He stared at the stranger; dark brown hair framed a handsome face, dominated by icy cobalt eyes. Cold, dark and handsome; Duo was instantly in love. He tried to see more of the boy's body, but it was dark and the boy wore black.

They stared at each other across the hallway, unspeaking and still. Then the tableau was broken by shrill screams from the dorm rooms. Heero looked up the hallway to see the first of the boys pounding their way back down the hallway, their prizes ~ lingerie ~ firmly in hand. He looked back to the longhaired boy, but he was gone. Heero had time to feel a bitter flash of disappointment and then he had to go. With one regretful look back over his shoulder, he followed the other boys out the window and back to the military academy.

Duo watched from the shadows as the boys left, watching the silent one carefully. He wanted him badly. He wanted those intense blue eyes to sweep over his naked body. He shivered at the thought of those hands on him. He silently made his way back to his own dorm, avoiding the arriving security guards easily.

+

Heero tossed and turned, waking sweaty and disconcerted from another hazy dream. He didn't remember what it had been about; he only knew the longhaired boy was in it, and he was extremely aroused now that he had woken. For the past few nights, since the raid, he had had these dreams. Every night he had woken from them hard and frustrated. It was a shared room, as were all the rooms in the school; there was no place he could go to relieve his frustration. He resisted the urge to touch himself, knowing it would only make it worse. The longhaired boy was haunting him.

+

Duo stretched in his bed, savoring the dream yet again. He remembered every detail, every moment of the delicious dream, and he found himself reliving it at various times during the day. The dream, and even the recollection of it, always made him hard; because the mysterious boy was always in it, touching him, kissing him, caressing him everywhere. He knew these romantic daydreams were silly, but he couldn't help himself. The boy had captured his interest, and Duo wondered how he could find out more about him. Without a name or a detailed description, it would be very difficult. Maybe if he went over to the military academy, he could find out something, maybe even see him. He just needed to think of an excuse...

+

Heero waited anxiously outside the commander's office, wondering what it was that the man wanted to see him about. His behavior was impeccable, other than the raid, but no one else had been called in about that. His grades were perfect. His attitude was everything they expected of a student. He had a gnawing worry that somehow his subterfuge had been discovered, that they knew he really wasn't meant to be here. If that had happened, Heero didn't know what he was going to do. He absolutely would not go back to that horrible orphanage. He would die first. The older boys had always been after him, their leering comments thrown after him; he had managed to escape them until he got away, but not until they had told him in detail what they wanted to do to him. He would not go back. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, already fearing the worst, rehearsing what he would say.

+

Duo walked into the military academy, wondering what it was he was going to say. He had gotten this far on bravado alone, walking into the school as if he belonged there. Which wasn't easy since he was wearing his own school uniform. But so far, no one had challenged him, and he had found the administrative offices easily enough. He was just exchanging pleasantries with the receptionist when the boy of his dreams, exactly who he had been seeking, burst out of an interior office, looking ready to kill someone.

+

It was worse than he had thought; not only had his deception been uncovered, the board of trustees of the school wanted to press charges of falsifying information and fraud. He was expected to clear out his things immediately, and he would be escorted to the nearest juvenile holding facility. He would be discharged dishonorably, and disgraced. Worst of all to Heero, he would no longer be able to learn everything he wanted; he would be lucky to get out of detention when he was 18. His carefully planned future was crumbling before him; desperation kept him from coming up with another plan. This couldn't be happening to him, it couldn't; he had been too careful! The disapproval on the commander's face struck him like a fist; he could already hear the laughter ringing out all around him. It was too soon, he hadn't learned everything yet, everything he needed to leave his mark on the world. He would be nameless again, another statistic, another victim of society, doomed to live in drudgery forever, if he was ever allowed to be free again. He couldn't let it happen. His heart pounded and his mind raced, desperate to come up with a plan. He always had a plan. He had to have a plan. He ran out of the office, stopping dead in his tracks as his eyes met the boy who haunted his dreams.

+

Duo looked up in shock; there he was. The boy looked wild and dangerous and desperate, though, completely unlike he had seemed the other night. What ever had happened to make him look this way, it wasn't good. Still, the boy was the most incredible thing he had ever seen, and Duo longed to feel those eyes on him that way, to see the boy look at him with such desperation, to need him that much. The boy was dressed in his impeccable uniform, and Duo almost melted. Then those eyes did touch him, and he was sure he saw recognition; those cobalt depths made him shiver with their intensity. He stood still; this boy was the reason he was here, but now that they were face to face he didn't know what to do. The expression on the boy's face wrenched at his heart; he wanted to help, make it ok for him. He stepped forward, closer, feeling like he was approaching a wild animal. He couldn't stop, though. The boy stared back at him, and he looked like he was thinking, hard. Duo stepped closer, and reached out.

+

Heero stormed past the longhaired boy, trying to collect his thoughts. He couldn't afford to be distracted, not now. He had to get outside, had to think.

+

Duo watched the distraught boy storm past, and knew he had to act. This was his chance, his only chance to meet the boy who had so enchanted him. He rushed after the boy, leaving the secretary staring after them in confusion.

+

Heero's mind whirled, already confused enough without the longhaired boy added to it. Suddenly, there he was, standing in front of him, blocking his way out the door. Heero's desperation focused, concentrating on the boy in front of him. Somehow, this boy was the key to it; the key to his salvation. He just had to figure out how. The boy stepped closer to him; Heero felt like a cornered animal, his mind racing a mile a minute. What to do? He wouldn't go back, wouldn't be taken... and he needed this boy. If he was sent away, he could never have him, never bury his hands in that silken hair, never touch that velvet skin, never feel that body underneath him, sweaty in the night... It all galvanized for him in an instant; the way was clear suddenly. He knew what he had to do, and how to do it. Reaching for the knife he always kept in his boot, he grabbed the longhaired boy as gently as possible, spinning him around so the knife was to his throat, and he whispered, "You're coming with me."