Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ VIVA ❯ 12: Electronica, Orchestral Style ( Chapter 11 )

ACT TWO

12: Electronica, Orchestral style

The campus grounds were far from quiet, but not surprisingly so. Those who lived nearby were perhaps a little agitated by the long days and late nights across the grassy hills and sprawling buildings that were home to more noise than they cared to listen to. After all, the college of Music students were well and truly into the semester and most were beginning to not only feel the strain, but the anticipation of the end of semester concert. Why? Fickle arts students and their temperamental ways.

"Again, from the head."

Quatre glared at Trowa, wondering if this really was the boy he had thought he had gotten to know, once again realizing it was, and not for the first time sighing heavily as he returned to the same fly dot on the page and began again. At least he hadn't made a mistake, though if the others were anything to go by his turn was coming. It had started with Relena. She had come from a late drumming tutorial with a 12/8 rhythm still firmly in mind and was having to switch back to swung 4/4. To say it was not exactly working was an understatement. Then, following Relena's lead, Hilde had missed he entry by a semitone, throwing the guitars into syncopation. Not what they were after at all, which of course made Heero flip completely and throw a solo-tantrum over the cello, which of course lead Dorothy to start playing the jaws theme instead of the given bass line…short and choppy was not the best replacement for legato strings. And now it seemed it was Quatre's turn, or maybe Wufei's…or Duo's, for that matter.

Quatre switched his attention back to the manuscript and Trowa's clean, cursive hand, reminding himself the aim was to not be the next to face Trowa's rather formidable wrath. Of course, Quatre was quickly learning that while Trowa was probably the last in the group to actually swing a punch at someone, he had better ways of getting his revenge. Quatre liked to call it the never-ending rehearsal.

Relena finally snapped, the stick flying from her hand, hitting Wufei in the head and knocking him backwards as his hands slid off the edge of the congas he was playing. Trowa stopped conducting their mess immediately to glare at them and Quatre was sure he was finally going to lose his temper. That was, until Duo, sitting on the front of the stage and watching their combined reactions, burst into hysterical laughter…and fell off.

Quatre was still staring at the now empty stage edge as Heero walked carefully forward to stare down. Quatre saw a hint of a grin appear on his face and then a hand emerged, waiting patiently for Heero to offer to help. Of course, he never did.

Trowa was still standing before them all, apparently completely shell-shocked, thought Quatre could see the gears in his head turning. He waited for it, and was not disappointed.

"Relena and Wufei…change from sixteenths to thirty-seconds…everyone halve the number of bars…Heero and Quatre halve the value of the melody notes, but Dorothy stays as she is and only plays the head through once. Everyone got it?"

Quatre just stared at his manuscript paper. He didn't really have it; was not sure what Trowa was saying was even possible, but he could not question the other boy. Sighing once more, he watched as Duo appeared once again at the edge of the stage, then readied himself for the torture to begin.

The thirty-second notes were fast…very fast. Quatre found himself ignoring the music, going from memory and closing his eyes. The music sank into his skin in way it hadn't in days, weeks…years. He could not remember when music had felt so…present, like another being in the room with them. He heard the cello come in, an octave lower than usual and half the speed, but somehow right. Hilde switched a third below, creating a triadic circle of fifths in half time. Quatre was only vaguely aware of Heero adding ornamental notes on the guitar, was even less aware he was doing the same. He could feel the congas pounding through his chest, the bass drum driving up through his feet, and then the vocal entered, a low grumble, rising through it all to an octave above them all like some eerie cloud over the stage. Then the flute entered, challenging the vocal and Quatre knew; none of them were watching. None were truly listening. It was suddenly all about feeling, the way music is supposed to be. The way they needed it to be. And Trowa had brought them here.

The piece came to an abrupt, rather freakish end that left them all standing at different points of the stage, breathing hard and shaking suddenly cramping fingers. Not one of them could keep the feral grins from their faces.

"What the hell do you call that?" Dorothy moaned, trying but failing to get a clear sentence out without having to take a breath in the middle. Trowa merely shrugged.

"I'm going to bed!" Relena stumbled away from the drums and almost followed Duo's example before finding the stairs and heading for the doors.

"Can I come?" Dorothy bellowed after her, quickly packing up her cello as if she actually expected Relena to say yes. Quatre wasn't sure where she got the energy, but held out his bow and let the girl pack his instrument away as well.

"I want a shower," Duo grumbled as he sniffed at his shirt, eyes suddenly distant. Quatre wondered at that a moment but shrugged it off as simply one of those things. Duo was probably just hungry, dirty and tired, none of those popular in the life of a dancer.

"Ohh, take Heero with you, he needs one too!"

The entire stage was dead silent as the stared first at Dorothy's scandalized expression, then Heero's blank, emotionless visage. Something finally clicked in Quatre's mind and he couldn't help but laugh loudly as he grabbed his violin and headed for the door. He was mildly aware of a discussion taking place behind him but didn't really care what words were shared.

"Hey, blondie, wait up!"

Quatre didn't slow down, but Dorothy managed to catch up nonetheless, as he had suspected she would. They walked to the music cafeteria in companiable silence that was nonetheless strange because Dorothy was a part of it. It wasn't until they had inspected the latest would-be-food attraction and taken a seat after deciding to just let Duo try it that Quatre spoke up, not only unnerved by Dorothy's sudden quiet but curious as to its cause.

"You are somewhat….quiet…Doro," he noted aloud, waving a fork of peas and watching them fall to his plate.

"I'm listening," Dorothy replied quickly and it actually seemed to Quatre that her ears shifted upward, twisting as if trying to catch words from a great distance. Quatre reminded himself of the many times he had seen Dorothy bellow across a crowded room knowing exactly what had been said within the din and wondered if he hadn't seen her ears move after all.

"Listening to what?"

"Heero's thoughts."

Quatre just sat, dumbfounded, unsure whether he should take Dorothy seriously or just plain laugh in her face. Never one to be outwardly cruel, and well aware Dorothy should always be taken seriously, whether one wants to take her or not, he settled in for the long haul, prodding her arm with a fork in an attempt to get more information.

"Stop poking me. Honestly, you're as bad as Hilde!" She flicked his fork away and poked him with her knife for good measure, although Quatre was glad it was only a butter knife because he wouldn't exactly classify that nasty prod as a `poke'.

"Now, be nice Doro, you know no one is as bad as me!" Hilde literally appeared out of nowhere. One minute there was an empty space before their table and then there wasn't. Quatre just blinked, decided he was losing his mind, or seeing things, or both, and ate a mouthful of lapskosi. Hilde was still stuck in a staring match with Dorothy.

"Okay, well, maybe you are, but that has got to be it!" Hilde finally sat down and began to shovel food into her mouth ala-duo-style, as Quatre had come to call it. Not that he minded. If Hilde was quiet it left him free to question Dorothy without interruptions. Well, except for Hilde's incessant slurping on a slush-puppy.

"A penny for your thoughts."

"Blondie, don't get cheap with me!" Dorothy turned to look at him and put her knife between them again, a little threateningly. "My thoughts are worth at least a dollar!"

"Unlike other things," Hilde interjected slyly, leaning over her plate to leer at Dorothy who merely placed her hand full over Hilde's face and pushed her back onto her side of the table.

Quatre watched the entire exchange with a scandalized expression. Did that exchange mean…what he thought it meant?

"Oh, come on blondie, don't tell me you didn't know? I mean, honestly, you being the way you are and all I would have thought I was damn black and white!" Dorothy looked truly surprised he didn't know already, but Quatre honestly didn't see how he was supposed to know that Dorothy was…well, that she…

"You like…girls…" and then the rest of what she said sunk in and he shrunk down in his seat.

"And you like boys, so we're even!" Dorothy stuck out her tongue, acting for all the world like she didn't care, and for the first time since Qutare had found himself watching Trowa as a little more than a friend he realized she probably didn't. To Dorothy this really was completely normal. Casting a sideways glance at Hilde, and seeing the ear-to-ear grin on her face as she swallowed another mouthful of food, Quatre guessed Hilde didn't really mind either.

"You really….don't mind?"

Dorothy and Hilde both got a dirty, calculating look in their eye then as they turned all their attention to the door.

"Honey," they said in unison, "you're not the only one."

Quatre swiveled to see Heero and Trowa in deep discussion in the doorway. Then he fainted and didn't really see much at all.

*

"If you hog tie him the blood will run to his stomach and he'll wake up."

Wufei glared at Sally Po, contemplating just how many ways he could kill her and hide the body so no one knew what happened. Honestly, who admitted her to the school in the first place, and what idiot let a person who delighted in gruesome medical experiments throughout history into the medical wing of the college?

"He'd wake up with a stomach cramp, throw up and just pass out again," Duo interjected smoothly, but the complete seriousness of his voice and body had both Wufei and Sally staring at him in horror. How did he know that? Wufei decided he really didn't want to know.

"Let's just leave him alone for a while. I'm sure he'll wake up on his own soon enough." Wufei looked pointedly from Sally to the door and was grateful when she did as she was told with only a mild huff. Motioning for Duo to do the same, Wufei followed the other boy out, grabbing hold of the end of his braid as he turned sharply down a side corridor to escape the mad would-be doctor.

"Ouch! Let go you half-arse power point!"

Wufei released the braid immediately and turned to face Duo, completely stumped. He knew he had just been insulted, but had no idea exactly how. No one had ever called him a power point before.

"I don't think I understand…"

Duo flushed a dark red, waved his hands in an odd formation, shaking his head madly and Wufei assumed he wasn't going to explain and that he was supposed to forget about it. Not likely, but he did intend to leave it `til later. They continued on their way.

"Where are we going anyway?"

"Theatre. There's a large group of stage majors I want you to watch with me."

"Why?" Duo looked truly horrified at the idea, which Wufei found oddly amusing. He wondered just what sort of plays Duo had seen in his life. He started imagining ticking them off on his fingers; exodus, the fall, the guy with the big boat…the nativity…Wufei grinned, imagining Duo a Mary each Christmas at the cute little orphanage. He knew he was only paying out Duo in his mind, but it was still such sweet, sweet revenge.

"Because, my dear Duo," Wufei finally replied, wrapping an arm around Duo's shoulders in mock consolidation, "you are going to teach them to dance."

"WHAT? Why the hell don't you just get dancers!?" Duo was now trying valiantly to pull away, but Wufei was well aware of the fact he was not on his backside watching Duo's retreating back, which meant he still had a chance; Duo was still listening.

"We'll be using them too, but we need theatre majors for what I want."

Duo sighed heavily as he allowed himself to be dragged along.

"How come it's always what someone else wants…" Duo complained grouchily, but Wufei could see a certain light in the dark eyes that told him Duo was not as adverse to the idea as he would have it seem. In fact, he suspected it was quite the opposite. Wufei was offering him a challenge offered to no other dance student and he knew, for that reason alone, Duo would take it. And then some.

*

Heero and Trowa watched in stoic silence as Hilde and Dorothy valiantly dragged Quatre's limp form out into the snow toward the medical wing. They could have helped, but in all honesty it was not that often that one saw Dorothy Catalonia hitch up her skirts and drag a boy off. Well, they were talking about a boy here.

They continued to eat their meal in companiable silence, each keeping an eye on the door and the other on their plates as they tapped different rhythmic ideas with their feet. They were both more than pleased with their preparations for the end of semester concert; confident the electric orchestra would once again steal the show.

It wasn't until the end of lunch that either boy bothered to look up, and they were not alone. Every head in the cafeteria rose and looked in the direction of a certain brass horn, calmly being trumpeted in the far corner. Rather loudly.

Heero wasted no time. Striding to the vegetable bins against the kitchen wall, he grabbed a tomato and pegged it across the room. Every eye in the room watched as the tomato soared through the air and slid straight into the trumpet's mouth. Standish, unaware of what had taken place blew his horn just as none other than Une was walking through the doors, a ripe, red, tomato meeting its fate against her face.

"Michael Standish!"

Heero and Trowa decided, in mutual silence, that they really weren't that hungry any more and it was time to leave.