EEL

PG-13

Chapter 1: High Speed Race!

By Relena Maxwell

Disclaimer: Um.... Me no own. But I do own the story plot line, new characters (like Bertie for example), and well.... A computer! So there! I do own some things!

AN: This is my first shot at an AU fic, I've always found them immensely interesting, so I decided to write one myself. Also, this is a 2xR by the way, so you have been warned! And it's your decision to read this, it's not like I forced you to read. So you have no right whatsoever to flame me if you end up disliking this story. >:-P

Story info: All the G-boys and their "gals" are 18 in this story (they just finished high school). Hilde is Duo's cousin, and Catherine is Trowa's sister. Milliardo is referred to as Zechs. Oh yeah, Zechs, Noin, Treize, Sally, and Lady Une are 24.

NOTE: Review! For god's sake, REVIEW!!!!! \^O^/

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An old smiling waitress set down two drinks on a red table in front of a boy with chestnut hair kept neatly in a meter long braid and sparkling violet eyes. His pal next to him had amazing baby blue eyes and blond hair, and eagerly reached for his lemonade.

"Here's your coke and lemonade boys." she said with a sweet voice.

"Thanks Bertie." chimed the two lads.

"Don't mention it." She said with a wink, and walked to the front counter ready to serve some new customers.

The brown haired fellow took a long gulp from his Coca-Cola and mentioned, "This place might be over thirty years old, but Bertie still makes the best food, eh Quatre?"

"I second that Duo." agreed the cheery blond with a smile.

The two teenagers were at their favorite hang out, "Bertie's Diner." Usually they'd come here just to talk, but today they were on a mission- study. This wasn't at all a problem for the class genius Quatre Raberda Winner, but the class clown (but still an outcast), Duo Maxwell, was another story.

Quatre took another sip of his fresh squeezed lemonade, then looked up at Duo with a stern face. "Ok Duo, enough relaxing, we need to get to work. I know you don't have trouble with PE, but everything else... Well..." the pixyish boy searched his mind for a way to put this nicely. "Well Duo... you suck."

"Thanks Q-man, you really know how to make a person feel good. Anyway, school won't start for another three months." countered Duo.

Quatre ignored Duo's interruptions, "Yes, but we can fix that stupidity," he was rewarded with a dark glare from Duo. But he added quickly, "By getting our rears in gear, and work! So let's get to it!" he said enthusiastically.

Duo really admired him, for one, he could use dorky sayings and still be called smart, and also because he really was intelligent and dedicated too. Let alone a good friend when need be.

The fact that Quatre and himself had become friends still boggled the braided youth's mind. He guessed it was because both of them were your everyday social outcasts, and had no one else to turn to. But he deeply treasured the blond boy's kindness all the same. Without him he'd never have a bud. That's right, Quatre was his first friend, and going by Q-man (as he called him), he was his first real friend too.

"Duo you still there?" questioned Quatre jokingly.

"Yeah..." he responded getting pulled out of his thoughts, and back into reality

Quatre took out his math book and put on his reading glasses, "So come on, I have these college books I borrowed from my older sister Iria. We can use them for practice. I'll help you with calculus."

"Ok." Duo responded simply, turning to the right page and taking out my pencil.

The two study buddies (AN: Hee hee... *^^*) worked on "practice" story problems and essays for an hour until another customer entered the diner. Three to be exact. The first was a man that had sharp emerald eyes and spiked bangs, behind him came a Chinese man with sleek black hair pulled back in a small ponytail. He had black eyes with the cold expression of steel. Following the Chinese teen entered a young man with messy chocolate brown hair and Prussian eyes. They all had appearances that girls would fall for, but the look in the boys' eyes would make girls turn on their heels and run for cover.

Quatre turned his head up laughing at a joke Duo had said about their old "overweight" (to put it nicely) history teacher Mrs. Biggs. But as soon as he caught sight of the three boys that had just entered, he shut his mouth.

He ducked his head down low and said to Duo, "Trowa, Wufei, and Heero are here! What're we going to do?" he whispered franticly, his eyes searching Duo's violet orbs looking to see if he had a plan.

Duo's face went ten degrees below zero, his eyes turned cold, and his body went stiff. He questioned in an off hand manner, "So?" he didn't want to display to his comrade his anger and slight tinge of fear.

All the time that Duo had known the infamous Heero Yuy, they had always been known to butt heads. And frankly, that was a long time, since grade one to be precise. The two boys were exact opposites in a few manners. Heero was a jock, always being fawned over by admiring girls. Duo was neither. Heero had run of all the schools he had attended, Duo certainly never did. Lastly, people believed Heero had no falters, his sometimes icy personality mistaken for "mystery" or a facade. While Duo was frequently reminded of his wrong doings on a regular basis.

But there were some things they always and forever have had in common, one thing were their raging tempers. The other was their deep hate for each other. Like Quatre's dislike of laziness and Bertie's hate of not getting tips. Only Heero and Duo's hate was stronger... It was the ultimate level of despise.

"Just act cool and stay here." Duo said casually.

"Duo, you know they'll notice us sooner or later, I say we leave right now and go to my house. My sisters can make dinner, and we'll study there. Sounds a lot better, doesn't it?" he asked with a pleading look, the guy certainly was afraid of the three lugs.

"Ok, let's go."

The two teens collected all their pencils, papers, and books into Quatre's olive green backpack. All they had to do was get to Bertie, and pay the bill. Than they'd be home free. If only...

Trowa nudged Heero in the side and motioned with his eyes to the pair trying to escape their wrath. Duo silently cursed the boy's keen eye sight.

"What's up there Duo? Having a good time studying for summer school? I hear they have good day cares too... You think you'll be able to get in?" Heero asked mockingly. He must have noticed the quiz papers coming out of Quatre's bag, they'd forgotten to close the zipper all the way.

"No, we're studying for our entrance exams to get into Harvard." Quatre said matter-of-factly. The boy was certainly smart with numbers and writing, but when it came to talking smart, he'd fail.

"Hmm... You certainly have high hopes for your little street urchin friend don't you Quat?" said Wufei joining in on Heero's game.

"Let alone high hopes for the book worm himself." added Trowa setting his hard gaze on the blond.

"Agreed. I have no idea how he got the idea he'd manage there." affirmed Heero as he taunted both Duo and Quatre. He knew billions of ways to get Duo enraged, but one of his favorites (and most powerful) was to attack his weak friend. He could already see the brilliant red color taking over Duo's features.

"Look where your coming from Heero. The only way you'll even have a chance at getting into any school would be through sports! But then again... MY DEAD GRANDMA CAN THROW A FOOTBALL BETTER THAN YOU!!" yelled the braided youth, by now the whole diner was paying attention to the war of words.

Before another sentence could escape anyone's mouth, Heero had hit Duo with an iron fist in the jaw. He smiled with triumph as Duo wiped the blood from his mouth, cringing in utter pain. But soon Duo gathered all of his strength and washed away Heero's smirk as Duo's fist met his gut. Both groups of allies for the two boys had never expected for it to go this far. But then again, this was Duo and Heero they were talking about.

Bertie came dashing from behind her cash register at the first sign of trouble, and she was right there on the scene, her gray hair coming loose from it's tight bun. "Stop this right now!" she screamed.

All five boys (two in the utmost pain) turned to her. Quatre had his head bowed down in shame, Trowa and Wufei looked like they didn't give a damn about the old lady's rules, and Duo and Heero were glaring at each other.

"Now you boys either calm down, start acting like real men and don't act like nomads, or you either go outside, fight it out, and I call the police. What'll it be?" her usually caring brown eyes had turned as hard as nails. She obviously was not to be messed with.

Quatre who was used to outraged women (having 4 sisters), said in a respecting voice, "We won't cause any more trouble Bertie."

"Good." and with that, she and the other people in the diner went about business as usual.

"Well... If the old maid doesn't want us here, we can go." said Heero still holding his stomach. Trowa and Wufei both nodded in reply. But the thing was, Heero wasn't about to let Duo and his twerp friend get off so easily. He wanted to settle the score some possible way, he didn't take beatings lightly. So he thought of a challenge, and he said the first thing that came to his mind...

"Hey..." he had everyone's attention now. "We could have a car race. Us three vs. you two. If you think you're up to it that is..." Heero had his stare set on Duo, his eyes mocking him, just daring him to say no.

"Of course we'll do it." Duo said with fire in his violet eyes. He really hated Heero, he wanted to punch his lights out right now, but Bertie's wrath was something he didn't want to feel right now. So he'd go along with this little game of theirs, to show them how stubborn he was. He wasn't a push over, and never will be.

Trowa gave his sharp eyes another go on the two men in front of him, the two people his friend Heero hated most. He was sizing them up, seeing if they were worth his time, the blond didn't hold much, but this Duo kid... He had spark. He was worth the challenge.

"Well then, let's get going. See what you two little girls can do... But are you sure you wanna do this? I mean, you could get hurt..." Trowa said in his soft but deadly tone, mocking them was fun.

Duo looked at Heero before answering, thinking of just how much he hated the arrogant jerk. "I told you before, we'll do it. Won't we Quatre?" Duo turned to Quatre, ready to see a fierce expression. Instead his friend looked horrified.

Before Quatre even got the chance to try to worm himself out of the predicament at hand, Wufei said, "Then let's ride!"

The two groups of boys ran out of the diner before they could pay Bertie, she yelled, "HEY!"

On his leave, Quatre reassured her, "I'll pay for everything. Put it on my tab." Right as Bertie reached for her pen, Quatre was out the door.

Heero and his gang were already in Heero's red Ferrari. Duo had the passenger door open ready for Quatre to climb into his car. Duo only had a black shabby looking truck, it was easy to tell who was going to win this race.

Let alone the fact of... "DUO! What are you thinking?! This is your cousin's car! She'll be so mad if this truck gets trashed!" Quatre said franticly, trying to talk Duo out of this insanity.

"Well, we're just going to have to take that chance." Duo started the engine and it roared to life. He gave a dirty look Heero in the car next to them.

After Wufei snickered and gave Quatre and Duo the finger (which Duo returned), the race started.

"You might want to buckle up Quatre." Duo mentioned as he sped out of the diner's parking lot.

"You're telling me!" Quatre yelled sarcastically bracing himself right as they screeched violently around the back of Heero's Ferrari.

They heard Trowa yell, "Shit! They're catching up Heero! Step on it!" Heero smirked, and he jumped his MPH to 95.

"Don't worry." Herro responded calmly, and once again, Heero was in the lead.

"Damn him!" Duo cursed in frustration.

"Maybe we should just stop now..." Quatre offered weakly.

Quatre wasn't that good with car sickness, but Duo wouldn't stop, he just couldn't. Heero was gaining even more speed fast, but Duo was going to stay strong. The thing was, would the car last? He was pushing the vehicle to it's limits, something it wasn't used to. And Quatre was right, if the car did get ruined, Hilde'll wouldn't let him live to see another day.

After about 10 minutes of fierce racing, they were getting onto one of the main roads, Danielle St. Wufei and Trowa kept poking their heads out of the Ferrari's windows yelling rude and vulgar taunts trying to get Duo all the angrier. And they were succeeding. While Duo was fuming, Quatre was doing the sign of the cross and pleading to the heavens above that they'd heave mercy on them.

All of a sudden, out of the blue, Heero's red Ferrari jerked madly to the left. Duo and Quatre's eyes went wide as they saw a big rig right in front of them. Duo also swerved fiercely to the left, causing the car to receive a head throbbing jolt in the left back side from the truck. Soon after, they accidentally hit Heero's Ferrari, in the behind causing deadly and unfixable damage to both vehicles.

But what about the boys?

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AN: So.... What do you think? I REALLY wanna know, and for all you 2xR fans, Relena's part will be coming up shortly. Don't worry, Relena-sama won't be cut short. She's gonna be a kick @$$ femma! Anyhoo... REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!