Gundam Wing/AC 1. Chapter 1

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.

Warnings: Angst, language, violence, sex.

Pairings: PM me if you need to know. But I think it might be fairly obvious early on.

Going the Distance

Chapter One

"You shouldn't read that shit," Hilde said.

Duo shrugged and continued to scroll through the Reddit comments.

"Not like I haven't heard it all before."

Hilde sighed and sat down beside him on the floor, leaning her forehead against the laptop screen.

"If you've heard it all before, then why waste your time on it now?" She asked.

He looked at her.

"Because it's stuff I need to hear."

"Really?"

Hilde rolled over so that she was laying beside him and looked at the screen.

"You _need_ to hear that you're a bad investment and the worst Jungler in the North American league."

"Yeah," Duo said. "I need the motivation to get better."

"Duo, you _aren't_ the worst Jungler in the NA - hell, _I _am."

"You don't even have any stats yet, Hil."

"Neither do you -"

"I subbed those two games last year and gave up nine deaths and had zero kills. I am the worst Jungler in the league."

Hilde groaned.

"_Fine_. You suck. You're a loser and I have no idea why Gundam Wing would want you on their team."

"Exactly my point."

Hilde punched him in the arm and Duo winced.

"Fine. You want to hear that you suck so you can get better. But how does reading _that_ garbage help you?" She tapped one of her acid green nails on the screen, indicating a particularly vicious comment.

"Well, it's true, isn't it?"

"That you're a homo faggot? What does that even - can you be a hetero faggot?"

Duo felt his lips twitch and he tried to keep from smiling.

"Maybe you can be a homo non-faggot if you're really butch?"

He had to laugh at that and she smiled triumphantly.

"Anyway. Like I said, this is all garbage - you've never let your love for cock distract you from playing before. Why would you start now?"

"Um, maybe because my teammates are fucking gorgeous?" Duo offered.

"And straight," Hilde muttered.

Duo sighed.

"Yeah. There's that. But I can dream, can't I?"

"Of course you can, but, Duo - you're kind of a big deal."

He arched an eyebrow at her in question.

"You're the first openly gay League of Legends player… ever. You shouldn't have to fantasize about your straight teammates - you should find yourself a hot fanboy to date."

"And when am I going to have time to do that? I'm going to be sharing a house with these straight teammates of mine. I'm going to spend all of my time gaming and researching and doing promo shit for Mobile Suit Gaming - I'm never going to have time to meet a gay guy. The closest I'm going to get to a date is reading NoName333's comment about my sexy ass and Perfect Soldier01's comment about my killer smile."

"Ohhhh. A threesome," Hilde purred. "Look at you picking up guys on Reddit."

"They could be girls," Duo had to point out. "Or old dudes. Or serial killers. Seriously - even the other pro gamers have commented on me and said I'm going to be a disappointment."

Hilde frowned.

"Who said that?"

"Treize Khushrenada. Oh, and Zechs Merquise called me an over-hyped bronze tier player."

Hilde winced.

"Did… Solo say anything?"

Duo sighed and shook his head.

"No. Not on Reddit."

Hilde arched an eyebrow.

"Has he called you?"

Duo snorted.

"No. We haven't spoken since… you know."

"Yeah."

Not since the night Solo had walked in on Duo's boyfriend Alex fucking him and assumed Duo was being raped and beat the living shit out of the guy. Alex had called the cops and Solo had been charged with assault. It hadn't been the ideal way to come out to his brother, or the world, but a week after the incident it seemed the entire League of Legends community had heard about it. Even though Duo was nothing, an amateur hero who had subbed for pro teams a few times over the last year, Solo Maxwell was the Mid Laner for Zodiac Gaming. His arrest and subsequent three week suspension had ended Zodiac's push for first place in the Summer split. Solo - and the entire team - had not forgiven Duo.

"Well. Fuck them. All of them."

"Ew. Hilde. Even if I wanted to fuck Treize and Zechs - I'd never fuck my brother. That's incest."

Hilde rolled her eyes and then looked at the time.

"Come on, loser. Your car will be here soon."

Duo sighed and was about to shut down his computer when he saw a new comment posted to the 'Waiting for Duo Maxwell to Fail' thread.

"Huh."

"What?" Hilde glanced back at the screen and then grinned. "Well, well, well. Looks like someone is excited for you to join the team!"

Quatre Winner, Gundam Wing's team captain and Mid Laner, had just posted a comment.

"' The rest of you might be waiting for Duo Maxwell to fail, but Team Gundam Wing is waiting for him to join us on the mainstage when we win at Worlds this year.'" Hilde quoted.

"That guy is _way_ too optimistic," Duo muttered and packed away his computer.

"Maybe," Hilde allowed.

Duo gave her a look.

"Hilde. No North American team has ever won the World Championships. Ever."

"Sure. And before this season there was never an all-girl team in the League - and now there is. Before this season there was never an openly gay League player. Maybe this is the season to break records."

"Right. I'll keep that in mind when I die fifty times to my brother in one game."

Hilde sighed and then hugged him.

"He's going to forgive you eventually.

Duo hugged her back.

"I doubt it. Solo has always been the best at holding grudges. And I did almost get him kicked off his team. I almost ended his career."

"No. His anger management issues almost ended his career."

"He thought Alex was raping me, Hilde."

"Then he needs to work on his observational skills - you two didn't make out in front of him but _anyone_ could look at you two and tell you were mentally undressing each other _all of the time_."

Duo shrugged.

"Doesn't matter now."

The doorbell rang and Duo reluctantly pulled away from Hilde.

"Well. My chariot awaits."

Duo gathered the dufflebag with his clothes, the rolling suitcase with his computer set-up, and the backpack with his laptop in it. It was weird to think that all of his possessions could be compressed into three bags, but when Solo had kicked him out six months ago, that was all Duo had taken with him when he went to live with Hilde.

And now it was all Duo would take with him when he moved into the Mobile Suit Gaming house with his new team.

At the apartment door he hesitated and turned back to her.

"Don't give me that look," she warned. "We're going to be fine. I move into the Valkyrie house next week anyway so it's not like I'm going to have time to read Reddit garbage with you all afternoon anyway."

"I know." Duo was happy for her - thrilled that the Valkyries existed and had picked her up to join their roster. But he couldn't shake the feeling that he had already lost his brother, his boyfriend and was now going to lose his best friend.

"Skype me tonight when you settle in and tell me how cute Wufei Chang is in person."

Duo rolled his eyes but he had to laugh.

They hugged one last time.

"I promise not to counter-Jungle you too hard when we play against each other," Hilde whispered.

"And I promise not to counter-gank you too many times," he whispered back.

She kissed his cheek and then pulled away.

"Go on, get out of here."

-o-

Team Gundam Wing was still new on the pro scene. They had qualified to play in the LCS during the Spring Promotional Tournament last year and while they had played well, they had placed fifth in the end of season playoffs and been forced to watch the world tournament from their home instead of sharing the stage with the top four teams in each region.

Mobile Suit Gaming was one of the biggest names in the gaming industry, and when they had purchased TGW after the end of last season they had promised to turn the team into a World Championship contender. The roster had remained largely unchanged, but MSG had decided to drop the Jungler, Ralph Kurt. Kurt had immediately been picked up by Zodiac Gaming. The ZG spokesperson, Une, had even laughed about the transaction. She had thanked MSG for giving up a top player and suggested that the acquisition of a relative unknown like Duo Maxwell was an indication of just how poorly managed TGW would be this next season.

Duo was determined to prove Une, Zodiac, and everyone else wrong. It was good to know that Quatre Winner, the TGW captain, was on his side, but Duo didn't hold out much hope for his teammates.

He had played matches against them before in Solo Queue, where many pro players faced top amateur talent and where Duo had made a name for himself over the last year. Duo had been impressed by his future teammates gameplay, but he doubted the feeling was mutual. He remembered one game he had played against the top laner, Wufei Chang. Duo had decided to camp his lane heavily, constantly jumping out of the fog of war to secure kills for his own Top Laner. Wufei had bitched about it over the All-Chat all game - but, because of Duo's camping, his team had won. Something similar had occurred in a game against Heero Yuy and Trowa Barton. The duo was famous on the LCS circuit for being almost unstoppable if they got an early lead. Heero Yuy had finished last season with the highest kill-to-death ratio of any marksman in the league, and Trowa Barton had finished with the most assists and the fewest deaths of any support. When Duo had been matched up against them he had made sure to give his own bottom lane an early lead by ganking the duo every time they strayed too far from safety. Unlike Wufei, neither Heero or Trowa had sent him angry messages, but, after the game ended, Trowa had waited in the post-game lobby long enough to suggest that Duo needed to learn how to share his focus across the map instead of only focusing on one lane.

So now, as Duo rang the doorbell at the MSG house, he took in a deep breath and steeled himself for a less than warm reception.

Relena Peacecraft, the team's PR person, opened the door and greeted him with a wide smile.

"Duo!" She hugged him and Duo awkwardly hugged her back.

Relena was cute, and if Duo was into girls, he would definitely have been into her. Her blonde hair had bright pink streaks through it that matched her nail polish and her fashion sense seemed to be a kind of little-girl meets princess meets gamer nerd that Duo had to appreciate.

"The guys had the day off, so not everyone is here to greet you - but they will all be here for dinner tonight!"

Duo nodded.

He looked around the house and was overwhelmed. It was huge - which only made sense considering that the entire team, their analyst Sally Po and Relena, lived there.

"Let me give you the grand tour," Relena said. "You can put your stuff here for now."

Duo followed her through the house. The kitchen was huge and spotless.

"We have a housekeeper who cooks, but you're welcome to use anything you want," Relena confided. "Oh - and don't _ever_ let Quatre cook if you can help it."

"Why not?" Duo frowned.

"He's the worst. Seriously - he gave the guys food poisoning one time. Now, if _Heero_ volunteers to cook - which hardly ever happens - definitely take him up on that. Anyway, moving on, here's the back yard."

The yard itself was small, but there was a large deck, a grill, a sitting area, and even a hot tub.

Back inside, Relena showed him the two gaming rooms - each with five computers set up in a rough semicircle.

The equipment was top of the line, and Duo suppressed his urge to whistle.

"Why two rooms?"

Relena shrugged.

"MSG thought it would be nice if we ever wanted to do LANs."

"Right."

Duo was used to everyone providing their own gear - it was one of the reasons he was still hauling around his refurbished set up - and he found it hard to wrap his head around the idea of MSG spending all of that extra money because it would be _nice._

"Okay, my room is down here on the left, and Sally's room is across from mine. Quatre is also downstairs with us."

Duo nodded, glancing into the rooms as she pointed them out. He wasn't surprised to see that Relena's room was pink and covered with Sailor Moon and Rainbow Brite posters. Sally's room had several television monitors set up on one wall and was completely clean and organized.

Quatre appeared to be one of the few guys at home - when Relena knocked on his door he opened it and greeted Duo with a hug.

"Hey! I'm so glad you're here!"

"Ah, thanks. Me too." Duo eased away from him.

The blonde Mid Laner was his own height and, as Duo had already told Hilde, gorgeous. The entire team was. Duo and Hilde had joking called Team Gundam Wing Team Wet Dream more than a few times.

"I'm just giving him the tour, so don't even think about talking strategy yet. Give him a few hours to settle in," Relena said when Quatre opened his mouth.

Quatre blushed and shrugged.

"Yeah, okay. But I'm hoping we can all jump into a game or two tonight after dinner - just to play around and have fun," Quatre said.

Relena rolled her eyes.

"Fun. Because this team is _so _good at having fun."

Quatre sighed.

"You've got a point there."

Duo wasn't sure what they were talking about and it must have shown on his face.

"The other guys… take this game really seriously," Quatre said.

"You always seem to take it seriously too," Duo had to say. He had watched their gameplay from last season, and Quatre Winner _definitely _took the game seriously.

"Well, yeah - when it matters. But if it's not a scrimmage or a match - it's just a game. It's supposed to be fun."

Duo nodded in agreement. He was beginning to think that he and Quatre were on the same wavelength.

When he spotted the Star Wars posters on the walls above Quatre's bed he was convinced.

Relena dragged him away just as they started to talk about how terrible the prequels were.

"Here's the living room," she said. The room was relatively empty, but there was a huge flat screen television on one wall and three large, comfortable looking couches angled around it.

"Now, let's go upstairs and I can show you your room and where the rest of the guys are."

Duo grabbed his bags and followed Relena up the stairs.

"This is Wufei's room," she indicated the first room at the top of the stairs. The door was closed and she made no move to knock on it. "This is your room," she said and gestured to an open door.

Duo stepped inside and had to sigh. It was awesome.

There was a double bed against the wall under the large, high window on one wall. There was a closet, a desk and a dresser. He flopped down on the bed.

"This is so much better than the futon I've spent the last six months on," he said.

Relena smiled and was about to say something when two half-naked men stopped in the doorway.

Two gorgeous, sweaty half naked men wearing only basketball shorts and sneakers.

Duo recognized them easily - Heero Yuy and Trowa Barton were impossible not to recognize. Duo had spent plenty of time over the last year watching their gameplay and interviews to have committed their faces to memory.

However, this was the first time he was seeing their bodies and _damn_. It was unfair that gamers - dorks of the first order - should be that fit, that toned.

Duo forced himself to look away from their abs and into their eyes.

"Hi," he managed.

Trowa smirked slightly and Heero nodded in greeting.

"Sorry that you got the small room," Heero said. "Wufei took my old room."

Duo arched an eyebrow.

"Wufei and Ralph used to share the master bedroom," Relena explained. "But when we released Ralph…"

"Wufei refused to room with you," Trowa helpfully jumped in. "So Heero and I moved into the other room."

Duo frowned.

"He didn't want to room with me. Because I'm gay?"

Relena bit her lip.

"To be fair," Trowa crossed his arms and leaned against the doorway, his lean body impossible to look away from, "he said he refused to room with you because he hated you."

"Because I'm gay."

Heero shrugged.

"Not _just_ because you're gay." Heero and Trowa exchanged smirks. "He suggested we should just put up a tent for you in the back yard. Since you enjoyed camping so much."

Duo rolled his eyes.

"He's never going to let that go, is he?"

Trowa shook his head.

"Probably not."

Duo sighed.

"Fine. Whatever."

"You realize we have dinner in thirty minutes," Relena told them after looking at her phone.

"We're here," Heero pointed out.

"You're half naked and covered in sweat." She wrinkled her nose. "And you smell."

Duo strongly disagreed with that statement - maybe they did smell, but it wasn't a _bad_ smell to be sure.

"We'll shower and dress," Trowa assured her. He looked at Duo again. "Good to meet you."

"You too," Duo said and waved as they left.

He then realized how lame he must have looked - waving at them? What the hell was wrong with him?

-o-

"I didn't know what kind of setup you wanted, so right now you've just got the standard gear. But we can go to Fry's tomorrow if you want and get you a new keyboard, mouse and pad."

Relena groaned and angrily stabbed her pasta.

"We agreed. No strategy. This is just a nice, relaxing meal where we all get to know each other."

"I wasn't talking strategy," Quatre defended himself and gave Duo a wide-eyed, apologetic look. "I just didn't want Duo to think we didn't care about him."

"We don't," Wufei muttered into his own plate, flicking his dark eyes up to briefly glare at Duo.

When Duo skyped Hilde later to tell her that Wufei Chang was definitely _very_ hot in person, he would also tell her that he was a complete dick.

The meal had been pleasant - Quatre and Relena kept up a steady stream of chatter and tried to involve Duo in their conversation. Trowa occasionally added a mild, sarcastic comment but otherwise he and Heero ate in silence, side by side, the very picture of a well-honed partnership. Wufei, on the other hand, wasted no opportunities to make his loathing for Duo well-known.

Duo rolled his eyes and forced himself to eat another piece of pasta instead of respond to Wufei. It was damned hard.

"Yes we do," Sally Po entered the dining room and gave Wufei a steady look. She sat down at the table and smiled at Duo. "Sorry I'm late. It's great to finally meet you in person."

Duo returned her smile. Sally was a few years older than everyone else, and had been one of the first female pro-gamers to make it big. She had been a Starcraft player, but retired after a few seasons and reportedly gone to Korea to try to make it in the pro-scene there. TGW had picked her up as an analyst during the middle of the season last year, and Duo - among others - had noticed an amazing improvement in their gameplay. Well, most of their gameplay.

Wufei had been quite vocal on Reddit and in interviews about his distaste for Sally, for her love of Korean tactics and her ability to coach and serve as an analyst. Not surprisingly to Duo, Wufei's gameplay had been the most unchanged by Sally's arrival - and it wasn't a good thing.

"Great to meet you, too. I'm looking forward to getting one of your legendary pep talks."

Sally rolled her eyes.

Wufei, and Ralph, the former Jungler, had both complained about Sally's habit of sitting down each individual player and giving a rather lengthy report on their strengths and weaknesses. Now that Duo thought about it, he remembered that Ralph had been just as vocal in his opposition to Sally as Wufei was. He wondered if that had something to do with the dismissal of the former team member?

"Well, you'll have to wait. Relena made me promise to hold off until after you've played with us during a scrimmage."

Duo nodded, honestly a little relieved. He didn't necessarily need Sally telling him on day one that he was useless and needed to step up his game - he already knew that much.

"So…" Quatre finished eating and wiped his mouth with his napkin. "I thought we could play a few games tonight. Just for fun, before we start real practices tomorrow."

"Just for fun?" Wufei echoed, his lips twisted into a sneer.

"I know it's an alien concept, Wufei," Trowa murmured, a slight smirk on his face. "But maybe we can give it a try. What's the worst that could happen?"

Duo turned his startled laughter into a cough, but the way Heero smirked at him made it obvious that he hadn't been that smooth.

Damn. He had not anticipated Trowa Barton being so funny.

Whenever TGW had won games in the past, they usually sent Quatre, Wufei or Heero to do the post-game interviews. Quatre was always polite and upbeat, Wufei cocky and annoying as hell, and Heero dull as dirt as he talked about the areas TGW could improve upon next game. Duo had always wondered why Trowa didn't do the interviews - he had assumed it was because he was quiet and shy. Duo really hoped he could convince Trowa to do one of the interviews - hell, he'd even do it with him - just to have the chance to hear him be sarcastic on an international stage.

Duo caught himself, realizing the assumptions he was making - assuming that they could win, assuming that Trowa would listen to him or care about his opinion.

"Sounds good," Heero decided. He pushed away from the table. "The sooner we can adjust to a new Jungler, the better."

Duo rolled his eyes and saw Quatre doing the same. Apparently Wufei wasn't the only one unfamiliar with the concept of having fun.

They worked together to clean up after the meal, putting the dishes into the dishwasher while Pagan, the housekeeper/cook, tidied up the kitchen and stored the leftovers in the fridge.

As Duo booted up the Origin Chronos in front of him for the first time, he couldn't help but mutter.

"_We are not in Kansas anymore." _

The high end PC, the beautiful Samsung monitor, the Razer keyboard, the Corsair mouse and the Tritton headset - all of it was worth so much money. He seriously just hoped that he didn't embarrass himself.

"Corsair, Razer and Tritton are team sponsors," Quatre said as he sat down on Duo's left. "But if you don't like those models, we can get you near gear."

Duo nodded. He was pretty sure he'd get laughed out of the room if he asked to plug in his trusty old Logitech mouse, so he rested his hand over the Corsair and tried to look nonchalant.

Wufei, with a glare, sat down on Duo's right and Duo suppressed a groan. He hadn't thought about that - about the traditional seating arrangements on the pro stage. Wufei would always be on Duo's right and Quatre would always be on his left, with Heero and Trowa on Quatre's other side.

Duo sighed. Hopefully he would be sitting beside Wufei for a long time - maybe he should try to bury the hatchet.

He turned, but Wufei glared at him.

Okay. Maybe hatchet burying could wait until later.

Everyone logged into their accounts and Duo waited for a game invite.

"Oh!" Quatre chuckled. "I don't even have you on my friend's list yet!"

Duo smirked at that and leaned over to help Quatre spell his gamer tag, Deathscythe.

"You'll have to change that," Heero said, his voice low and way too damn sexy over the headset.

"True," Quatre agreed. "TGW Deathscythe has a good ring to it, though!"

It did, actually, and as Duo changed his tag he felt a thrill of anticipation.

This was really happening. He was really, officially, a professional gamer.

-o-

"I want him off the team."

Duo groaned and shoved his headset down.

"What did I do wrong this time?"

Wufei glared at him and pointed at Duo's monitor.

"You went Fizz jungle!"

"Yeah? And?"

Wufei's glare turned nuclear.

"You can't Fizz jungle!"

"Clearly I _can_," Duo snapped back and pointed at the same monitor. "Or does the word Victory not resonate with you?"

Wufei looked past Duo to Quatre.

"It's a gimmick. That's all he is - gimmicks and camping and he's not good enough to play with us."

Quatre sighed.

"Wufei. Calm down. We agreed to just have fun. Duo isn't really going to Fizz jungle, not in real games." Quatre arched an eyebrow at Duo.

"Of course not," Duo muttered, not being entirely honest. He had done it in Solo Queue a few times and had watched Twitch streams of a few Korean players try it out. He wanted to try it in real games - but not until he had more practice first.

"It was better than your Ziggs Jungle," Heero said.

Duo looked over at him.

His Ziggs Jungle… he had completely forgotten about that. Last year, for a charity event, he and Solo had played League on a live stream for twenty four hours and they had both agreed to play only random champions, clicking on the question mark until time ran out and they were stuck with whatever champion luck gave them. Duo had gotten Ziggs three painful games in a row. The first two had been utter disasters, but his third game had actually had some success. He was shocked that Heero had seen it.

"Didn't Bengi play Fizz Jungle a few times in Solo Queue?" Trowa added.

Duo really hadn't expected to have support from these two in this and it left him momentarily stunned.

"Oh - he did!" Quatre quickly agreed. "I watched one of those games. It's a risky pick."

"Yeah, I know," Duo pulled himself together. "If you don't get early pressure then he's not very useful except for split pushing. I'd only ever pick him if we needed to add an assassin to the team composition or if the opposing team picked a jungler I could take advantage of." Duo sighed. "Look, this game is constantly changing, and you four already have really solid play-styles that work for you. We'll be playing against teams who know your strengths and weaknesses and that's fine - but I'm unknown. The other teams don't know what I can do and that's something we should take advantage of." He turned to Wufei. "But I'm not here to just fuck around. I'm here to win. You hate me - well, you hate me for a lot of reasons, but one of those is because I stomped all over you in that game on Solo Queue. Well, guess what, I'm the guy that stomped all over you by getting my Top Laner eight kills on you. But now _you_ are my Top Laner and I'm going to work my ass off to get _you_ eight kills." He turned to Heero and Trowa. "And I remember my game with you two - I remember what you said to me afterwards, Trowa, about learning to split my focus. You're right. It's a weakness of mine. I tend to focus on getting one lane really, really fed on kills and sometimes that backfires. So, I'm willing to work on that. I'm willing to try new tactics and new champions." He turned back to Wufei. "But I'm not willing to be treated like garbage from day one just because you've still got your panties in a twist because I _beat you_ and because I like cock."

Duo removed his headset entirely and set it down on the desk with his computer rig.

"So… just… I don't know. Talk it through or whatever. I'll see you for practice tomorrow."

And with that, Duo left the room, making the long climb up the stairs and to his room, trying to ignore the murmur of voices from downstairs.

As he lay down in bed, the first real bed he had slept in in six months, he tried to keep himself from freaking out.

One of his teammates hated him. His brother's team had publicly derided him on Reddit. The entire pro-scene seemed stacked against him and ready to laugh him out of the league. The League of Legends community was not well known for being nice, and Duo had been dealing with Reddit threads and Youtube videos trashing him for being gay for the last six months. He knew it was only going to get worse.

And of course, he now shared a house with four ridiculously sexy _straight_ men. And it wasn't as if Duo need to add anything to his mental fantasy masturbation rotation, but now he had the sight of Heero Yuy and Trowa Barton, half naked, covered in sweat, smirking at him branded in his mind, and it was hard not to think of them, of their too perfect bodies in the room next to his.

How the hell was he supposed to survive this season?


	2. Chapter 2

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.

Warnings: Angst, language, violence, sex.

Pairings: PM me if you need to know. But I think it might be fairly obvious early on.

Going the Distance

Chapter Two

"Nervous?"

Duo snorted.

"Me? Nervous? Nah. What's there to be nervous about?"

Relena watched his fingers shake as he zipped up the front of his TGW track jacket.

"You mean you're not nervous about your first game on the mainstage as a member of TGW? You aren't nervous about the two hundred people in the studio audience of the hundreds of thousands who will be watching you on Twitch and judging your every move? You mean you aren't nervous about letting down your new teammates who are finally starting to trust you? You aren't nervous about thousands of people ready to call you out for your sexuality if you make one wrong move? You mean you aren't nervous about your brother -"

"Alright," Duo interrupted her and raised a hand to forestall any further comments. "Of course I'm nervous."

Relena smiled and flattened the collar of his jacket for him, the gesture oddly comforting.

"Well, the good news is that we're playing Cloud 9."

"How is it possibly good news that we're playing against the top ranked North American team?" Duo had to ask.

Relena arched an eyebrow.

"No one expects us to win."

Duo snorted.

"No one except our team."

Relena shrugged.

"Exactly. So the only expectations we have to worry about are our own. Everything else - it doesn't matter. The rest of the world can fuck off."

Duo blinked.

Over the past three weeks, as he settled into life at the Mobile Suit Gaming house and slowly adjusted to Wufei's snark, Quatre's obscene optimism, Trowa's sarcasm, Heero's blunt and often painful honesty, Sally's incisive commentary, and Relena's perkiness. But he had yet to hear her swear.

"Um…"

She rolled her eyes.

"Don't tell me I've offended you. I listen to you guys - I know you've got a foul mouth."

Duo shrugged.

"Yeah. Sorry about that."

She snorted.

"Don't apologize. I think it's hot. Not that _you_ care." She winked at him and then checked her watch. "It's almost ten. The guys need to get a move on."

Duo had been surprised to find that he was the only morning person on the team. Relena was usually the only one up when he went downstairs in the morning to make coffee. He had figured that Quatre might be a morning person - after all, he was unnaturally happy and enthusiastic - but it turned out that he was only that way _after_ sleeping in until noon. On the days when he had had to wake up _before_ noon, the blonde had proven to be a grumpy bastard on par with Wufei.

Heero and Trowa weren't _not_ morning people, but he rarely saw them in the mornings unless they were headed out of the door to go for a run together.

And Wufei, of course, was just an asshole 24/7, Duo had quickly learned.

It was almost ten-thirty when the rest of the team assembled, Quatre predictably grumpy and looking adorably sleep-tousled since Relena had literally had to drag him out of his bed and watch him get dressed.

"Okay, let's get a move on!" Relena clapped her hands and signalled for them to pick up their gear and move out.

They clamoured into the van, Sally driving while Relena took the front passenger seat. Quatre took the first row in the van, stretching out and closing his eyes again in a desperate attempt for more sleep. Which left the back two rows of the van open.

Wufei climbed into the very back and glared at Duo.

Trowa climbed in next, taking a seat in the middle row, and Duo arched an eyebrow at Heero. He imagined Heero would choose to sit with Trowa. The two seemed inseparable in game and out.

Duo tried not to be jealous. He and Solo had been like that once, before Solo made it to the pros. But even afterwards, they had been close, playing together in Solo's spare time and splitting an apartment even though Solo could have - should have - lived with the rest of his teammates.

"I'll sit with Wufei," Heero said softly and Duo sighed in relief.

"Thank you," he said, meaning it more genuinely than he perhaps ever had before.

Heero snorted in amusement, clearly picking up on his sincerity.

Duo took the seat next to Trowa and Heero joined Wufei in the back.

He was careful to keep space between them, sitting on the opposite of the van, but as soon as Sally took the first turn he found himself sliding over until he was wedged against Trowa.

"Sorry," he muttered and scooted away.

He felt himself flush. Trowa's thigh had been rock hard - no doubt from all of his morning runs with Heero - and it had been a long damn time since Duo had been that close to someone.

Trowa shrugged one shoulder, unconcerned and unaware of Duo's mental turmoil.

It had been a challenge, these last three weeks, to restrain himself from thinking about his teammates in a sexual manner. It was easy enough to dismiss Wufei and Quatre - Wufei, in addition to being a homophobe, was just too much of a dick for Duo to ever be interested. And while Quatre was cute, he was also straight - straight and clearly in love with Relena but too shy to make a move. It was only really Trowa and Heero that Duo struggled around. Mostly because they insisted on walking around half-naked - not just after exercising, but sometimes during their late night practices the two men showed up dressed only in sweatpants or left their zippered team-issued hoodies open. It was torture for Duo, but even when they were completely dressed there was no denying how fucking gorgeous they were, how sexy Trowa was when he smirked, how easy it was to forget how to spell his own name when Heero laughed.

"So, what's the game plan for today, Captain?" Relena asked them as Sally pulled onto the freeway.

"Sleep," Quatre muttered.

"You're going to sleep through the game against Cloud 9? Great strategy," Relena teased.

"No," Quatre groaned and sat up. "No one's going to be able to sleep through _that_ and since you won't let me sleep _now_ I can guess we can talk strategy."

Relena leaned back to smile sweetly, twirling her pink streaked hair around one finger.

"What a brilliant idea!"

Quatre snorted and turned away from her to look back at the rest of the team.

"Thoughts?" He asked.

"We should focus on banning out strong marksmen," Heero suggested. "We can't let Sneaky get on a comfortable champion."

"That will also affect you," Duo pointed out.

Heero shrugged.

"I can manage. My champion pool is deep. I can always pull out Fizz if worse comes to worse."

Duo stared at him. It took a moment to realize that Heero was teasing him.

"There will be _no_ Fizz today," Wufei growled.

"Don't worry. I can always go back to my Ziggs," Duo sneered. For three weeks Wufei had held the damned Fizz jungle over his head.

"Hey - I might want to play him mid," Quatre said. "He is a mid-lane champion, after all."

Wufei rolled his eyes.

"You don't even _like_ Fizz."

Quatre shrugged.

"It doesn't really matter. We're talking strategy - not petty arguments. If Duo really thinks he can pull off Jungle Fizz then we should let him go for it."

Duo stared at the blonde. He was constantly surprised by his support.

"Anyway," Quatre continued. "I agree with Heero - we should focus on marksmen bans. their mid and top laners are really flexible and it doesn't make sense to ban against them. What about the jungle?"

"Huh?" Duo realized they were all looking at him.

"What are your thoughts about facing Meteos?" Trowa clarified.

"Oh." His thoughts. Duo's thoughts on facing Meteos: terror? He didn't think that was what they wanted to hear. But Duo had spent the last four years watching Meteos play, had admired him and analyzed him and had considered himself to be a fanboy. He'd played against him a handful of times in Solo Queue, and Meteos had beaten him every single time.

"I think he's going to underestimate me," Duo said - he hoped. Meteos had not been the most generous opponent, and Duo's fanboy-ing had ended after a game when Meteos suggested he try his hand at DOTA 2 instead of League of Legends. "He likes to get either top or bot rolling, and if we are able to shut down Sneaky, their marksman in the bottom lane, then he's going to be forced to focus top lane. So I just need to be ready for him to camp Wufei. We can do this a couple of ways - I can stay up top too and keep Meteos from getting anything going, or we can take advantage of a top camp and I can make sure we get bottom and mid in good positions."

"More team gold if you just let Wufei struggle through top lane by himself," Heero pointed out. "We could have control of the entire bottom of the map - dragon, bottom lane, mid lane…"

Duo nodded in agreement.

"Exactly."

"This only works _if_ you can pull it off," Wufei muttered.

"No," Duo countered. "This only works if you trust me."

Wufei rolled his eyes but he didn't have a response to that.

-o-

Duo had played in front of a live audience before. Last year he had subbed in for OZ twice, before the disastrous falling out with Solo. He had been there before, had set up his gear with two hundred cheering people, under those damn bright lights.

But it hadn't been like this. No one had thought he was going to do well - which was kind of like now. No one had liked him much - which was also kind of like now. No one had cheered his name - also, strangely, kind of like now. But unlike then, _now _Duo was with _his_ team. He wasn't a sub. He wasn't Solo Maxwell's flashy, cocky little brother. He was TGW Deathscythe.

He drew in a deep breath and tugged at the zipper on his hoodie. It was fucking hot on the stage.

Quatre gave his shoulder a squeeze.

"This is going to be awesome," the blonde assured him.

Duo nodded, but he wasn't sure he really agreed.

This was either going to be okay - or it was going to be a bloodbath. Either way, it was about to happen.

He sat down and put on his headset, grateful for the sound-deadening earphones that drowned out the Cloud 9 chants from the crowd. It was one thing to be the underdog, but Duo could admit, to himself alone, that he really, really didn't want to hear someone yell out _faggot_.

It probably wouldn't happen - event security would never stand for it - but it didn't change the fact that it was a distinct possibility.

He probably shouldn't have checked Reddit that morning, but he had, and he had not been the least bit surprised to see that the 'Waiting for Duo Maxwell to Fail' thread had a slew of new comments, almost all negative. More than a few had suggested he just start sucking Meteos' dick when the game started. There had been a few decent human beings on the thread - including Hilde as JungleValkyrie, who suggested that Duo would be happy to offer Meteos the chance to suck _his_ dick after Duo won the game for his team. NoName333 had also made another comment, saying that he looked forward to watching Duo's fine ass walk across the stage to shake hands with Cloud 9 after they won. And Perfect Soldier01 had had a similar remark, saying it would be good to watch an out League player win, especially a hot one.

So Duo had three fans, one his best friend, two unknowns who probably lived in their mom's basement and never took off their pajamas. But at least he had three fans.

Even though Quatre was the team captain, it fell to Wufei, sitting in the far right seat as the Top Laner, to enter their bans. Each team had three bans, going back and forth one ban at a time, until six champions were banned from the game.

Some teams like to ban the "overpowered" or OP champions - ones that seemed to steamroll in games. Some teams liked to target ban against specific players. As Cloud 9 entered their first ban, Lee Sin, Duo had a suspicion that their team had decided to target ban _him_. Lee Sin was his most played champion.

They had finalized their plans to ban out marksmen from Cloud 9, and Quatre told Wufei to ban Tristana, one of the best marksmen champions.

Cloud 9's next ban was Elise, Duo's second most played champion and he wanted to roll his eyes. Cloud 9 could ban his favorite three Jungle champions, but Duo had at least eight Junglers he felt good on, and another six champions he was okay on. It was a decent strategy - and maybe he should be flattered that Cloud 9 thought he was a threat, but he knew it was more a slap in the face than anything. Cloud 9 assumed that if they banned his best three champions, Duo would embarrass himself and his team.

"Ban Jinx next," Quatre told Wufei over the headset.

The timer counted down, and with only one second to spare, Wufei typed in the ban.

Fizz.

"What the fuck?" Duo demanded, turning to him.

"Wufei!" Quatre sounded just as angry.

But Wufei just shook his head.

"Cloud 9 is banning out his champion pool - I'm not going to risk him doing something stupid and gimmicky like Fizz just because it worked for him in Solo Queue a few times."

"Wufei - I'm going to fucking -"

"Guys," Trowa interrupted, his baritone voice soft and oddly soothing over the headset. "They record team chat. Save the arguments for later."

Duo forced himself to calm down.

Whatever. It was one wasted ban. They could still ban Jinx with their last ban.

Cloud 9 banned Jarvan IV, Duo's hands down favorite champion, and he shrugged. Whatever. He had other good Junglers.

"Ban Jinx," Quatre said again, frustration in his voice.

Again, the timer counted down.

Ziggs.

Duo resisted the urge to rip off his headset and punch Wufei.

_What in the hell was wrong with him?_

Cloud 9 had the first pick - and predictably, they selected Jinx.

There was silence over the headsets, and Duo wondered what everyone else was thinking. Wondered if their thoughts were as murderous as his own.

"Fine. Fine." Quatre said over the headset. "Duo, go ahead and pick your Jungle champ and Wufei grab Yasuo for me in the mid lane."

But Wufei locked in Gragas, a top laner, for himself.

Duo stared at his screen and he tried to figure out what was going on here - did Wufei really hate him this much? So much that he was willing to fuck over the entire team?

Duo drew in a deep breath and selected Yasuo.

"Duo -" Quatre started to say.

"It's fine," he assured the blonde. You can get my Jungler in the next round." It meant that Meteos would get to select his own Jungler first. It meant that in all likelihood, Duo's next preferred champion, Kha'zix, would be selected. It meant that Duo would be forced onto his number five choice.

But it also meant that Quatre got the champion he was most comfortable on. And Quatre was the team captain.

Sure enough, Meteos selected Kha'zix in the next pick round, along with Nidalee for their top lane.

"Who do you want?" Quatre asked Duo after Heero locked in Lucian for himself.

Duo thought about it. Nunu was the best counter to a Kha'zix jungle, but only because Nunu could counter-jungle and steal gold from Kha'zix's jungle. Duo would have minimal lane presence for the first part of the game if he had to focus on keeping Kha'zix behind. And if he did that… if he stayed away from the lanes then there was every chance his teammates would fall behind. Rengar was another choice. Rengar could apply incredible map pressure - but only after level six, which still meant that Duo's team would be weak in the early game. Duo sighed.

"Shaco."

"Shaco?" Quatre repeated in surprise.

"Yeah."

"You haven't won a single game on that champion," Wufei hissed.

Duo turned to glare at him.

"He's the only damn champion I can use to try to save this game."

"No one plays him in LCS," Heero added, very unhelpfully.

"Well, today they do," Duo said.

"You're sure about this?" Quatre asked.

Duo closed his eyes.

No. He wasn't sure. He was convinced, in fact, that it was a terrible idea. But he had seen Bengi play Shaco into Kha'zix once. And Duo… Duo was not Bengi. But still…

"Yeah. I'm sure."

Quatre locked in Shaco and even with the sound-deadening earphones, Duo could hear the shock of the audience.

-o-

Duo slammed his bedroom door shut.

He ripped off his team jacket and threw it at his closet. There was absolutely nothing satisfying about the way it softly landed on the floor. Nothing satisfying about staring at that damn team logo.

_Team_.

Some fucking team.

The game had been a nightmare. Duo had felt like he was playing in Solo Queue all over again. Wufei refused to do what Quatre wanted him to do. Heero and Trowa did their own thing - supporting each other and virtually ignoring everyone else on the map until halfway through the game. And Quatre… Quatre tried to make plays, tried to call out to his team, tried so fucking hard to make it all work.

Meteos had stolen Duo's blue camp to start off the game, setting him back a level, and things had only gotten worse.

Jinx, in the bottom lane, had gotten an early kill with the help of Meteos on Kha'zix and Duo had been forced to keep an eye on bottom lane, had continued to lose experience and levels to Meteos, who secured kills for his mid and top lane while Duo had to babysit.

They had lost decisively, but it wasn't until Duo died in an attempt to steal the all-powerful Baron Nashor camp from Meteos that Cloud 9 was able to push their way to victory.

Duo had lost games before. He had made shitty decisions and bad plays before.

But he had never felt so defeated. So worthless.

Sure, Wufei had fucked up champion select for everyone. Sure, Cloud 9 had banned out his favorite champions and taken his backup - but Duo was better than one kill, five deaths and two assists. Duo was better than a lost game at thirty minutes.

His phone rang. Hilde.

He set the phone down on his desk. He didn't want to talk to her now. He was pretty sure he was on the verge of crying, and he'd be damned if he ever did that again.

Duo threw himself on his bed, wincing at the squeak of the frame. That would be just great - the perfect finish to this fucked up day if he managed to break the bed frame.

He pulled a pillow over his face and shouted into it.

The first time he had "thrown" a game, made a play so badly that the rest of his team couldn't recover from it, had been two years ago, in a ranked 5 versus 5 game at a tournament when he and Solo had still played together. No one else on the team had spoken to him - but Duo could feel their anger, knew they were seething and ready to lay into him and would have, had it not been for the fact that Solo was the star player and his big brother. That night, when they got home, Solo had sat down on the couch beside Duo and asked him to walk through the game, play by play, and figure out what he could have done differently. And when Duo had gotten to that play - that moment when he had decisively lost the game for his team, Solo had told him to stop and Solo had hugged him.

"If you do something that fucking stupid again, I'll cut your hair off while you sleep," Solo had muttered against his forehead, holding him tightly.

Duo had laughed, alarmed that he sounded near tears, and Solo had only hugged him tighter.

Fucking hell. Duo wanted his brother right now. Wanted to hear Solo threaten him with "debraiding."

Instead, he was willing to bet Solo was on Reddit right now, with everyone else, saying that they wait for Duo Maxwell to fail was over. He had failed.

Spectacularly.


	3. Chapter 3

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.

A/N #2: Maybe I'm adding a familiar face to this fic to help explain gaming terminology… let's see if anyone else notices him.

Warnings: Angst, language, violence, sex.

Pairings: PM me if you need to know. But I think it might be fairly obvious early on.

Going the Distance

Chapter Three

The next morning Duo woke up early and found himself aimlessly wandering through the house. Relena was still asleep, and Sally had apparently stayed over at a friend's house last night. Everyone else, Duo assumed, were still asleep.

He went into the kitchen and started the coffee pot, but as he watched the dark liquid drip down he decided he didn't want it. He didn't want the granola bars or bananas either, and after just a glass of water he went back to his room and changed out of his pajamas and into his favorite track pants and his battered Major League Gaming sweater.

As he pulled on his sneakers he reflected over his history with this sweater. He had won it at the age of eleven, when he had won a local gaming tournament, taking home this sweater and a fifty dollar Best Buy gift card for coming in first in a Halo free-for-all. Solo had come in second, and he'd been pissed to have been bested by his little brother - he hadn't even wanted to take Duo, let alone allow him to compete.

Duo had immediately put the sweater on, and he'd been as much of an asshole as his older brother, rubbing his victory in and Solo had pushed him down and the left sleeve had ripped on the elbow.

Duo left the gaming house, fingering the eight year old hole and he wondered if he would _ever_ be better than Solo at anything again. After his performance yesterday, Duo was fairly certain he wasn't going to be better than him at League anytime soon.

He walked down the empty street, enjoying the quiet Sunday morning, until he got to a park. It was still early and relatively empty, so Duo sat down on a swing and allowed himself to just be. To try to put all of his thoughts, his demons aside and let the sun warm up his face while he lazily swung back and forth.

He was glad that no one had tried to talk to him last night - the van ride back from the game had been silent, and as soon as the team arrived back at the house everyone went their seperate ways, Wufei storming up to his bedroom, Heero and Trowa sedately walking upstairs to their own room, Quatre off to the back yard where he did yoga or something for a few hours and Relena had grabbed a pint of ice cream from the fridge and disappeared into her own room.

Maybe talking would have helped him, but Duo doubted it. He had fucked up - had fucked up big time. But his teammates hadn't done so well either, and Duo wondered what the hell had happened. Was this really all his fault? Did his presence antagonize Wufeit that much? But even if it did, the team had serious issues - no one listened to Quatre, Wufei seemed content to ignore the rest of the team and even Trowa and Heero seemed so focused on their own actions that they blocked out the rest of the enemy team until it was too late.

This wasn't the team that had come in fifth last year, that was for damn sure.

Duo wasn't sure how much time had passed, but the sun was higher up in the sky when a soccer ball came flying at his head.

He barely managed to catch it, and he looked up to see that a crowd had gathered on the soccer field near the swings.

"Sorry!" A guy with golden-brown hair called out. "Mind throwing it back?"

Duo dropped the ball to the ground and kicked it back towards the guy, glad he at least didn't embarrass himself in front of complete strangers - his aim was true and the ball rolled right to the feet of the guy.

The guy passed the ball off and then started to jog towards Duo.

"Nice kick!" He said with a grin.

He was handsome, with kind of bland features that were highlighted by his tan and piercing gray eyes.

"Thanks," Duo shrugged. "Used to play when I was younger."

"Want to play with us now? We're short a few guys today and we've got odd numbers."

Duo hesitated for a moment, but gray eyes made some kind of adorable pouting expression.

Duo laughed.

"Yeah, sure. Why not?"

"Awesome. I'm Jason, by the way." He held out his hand.

Duo shook his hand, appreciating the firm grip.

"Duo."

"Nice to meet you, Duo."

They walked back over to the other guys.

"Everyone, this is Duo. Duo - this is everyone. He's agreed to fill in for Bart. Which means you're with us skins, Duo," Jason said and gestured to where six guys stood removing their shirts.

Duo arched an eyebrow.

"It's like fifty degrees out."

Jason shrugged.

"Yeah, but no one ever remembers to bring the same colored shirts so we take turns between shirts and skins."

Duo rolled his eyes and it was on the tip of his tongue to make some comment about Jason using this as an excuse to check out guys, but realized this wasn't the time or the place. Making a joke about checking out guys surrounded by strangers - no doubt completely straight strangers - was definitely one way to make his weekend go from shitty to unbearably shitty in record time.

So Duo pulled off his sweater and added it to the pile of clothes.

"What position do you want to play?" Jason asked as he pulled off his own shirt and Duo fought to keep his eyes up, away from Jason's lean torso and the tattoo of barbed wire around his neck and collarbone.

Maybe Duo had a weakness for guys with tattoos. Maybe Duo had a weakness for guys with light colored eyes and great smiles. Maybe Duo just really had a weakness for guys in general right now and really needed to get laid.

"Uh," he realized Jason was still waiting for a response. "Mid?" He offered. It was where he had played in middle school, the last time he had really played physical sports competitively.

Jason nodded.

"Great."

The game was fairly disorganized, with a lot of fouls and a lot of arguments about the fouls, but it was probably the most fun Duo had had in months. Everyone was yelling at each other, good natured insults about being too slow and not paying attention, and it felt good to be running, to be dribbling the ball and passing it off and shooting at the goal - to score. It felt really damn good to have Jason wrap his sweaty arms around Duo's neck and congratulate him while the rest of the team cheered as well.

It only lasted for an hour, and then the guys started to drift away, one by one, until eventually it was just Jason and Duo passing the ball back and forth lazily.

Jason tossed Duo his sweatshirt and Duo pulled it on, grateful for the warmth but sad to see Jason's sweaty torso covered up by his own sweatshirt.

"Think you might be available next Sunday?" Jason asked him.

Duo shrugged.

"Probably." Most Sunday games were in the afternoon, until later in the season, and he doubted TGW would start to do early morning practices anytime soon. Although after yesterday… maybe they should.

"Awesome. Well, you're welcome to play anytime you want."

"Thanks, man. This was fun."

Jason smiled at him.

"You know, Matt's having a party at his place tonight - you should come. It's that house over on the corner. It'll be pretty chill. But you could bring your girlfriend or your… whoever." Jason blushed a little and Duo had to raise an eyebrow.

"Or my boyfriend?" He helpfully supplied.

Jason blushed harder.

"I'm not trying to insult you," Jason said, his words stumbling together. "Just saying…"

Duo shrugged.

"Not insulted. But my boyfriend dumped me a few months ago - I don't think he'd be interested in coming to a party, no matter how chill."

Jason stood up a little straighter.

"So you're available?"

Duo had to laugh. It felt good to have someone express an interest in him, even if it wasn't the smoothest delivery.

"Yeah - but not for the party. Not tonight. I've got practice."

"Practice? You're an athlete? Let me guess - tennis?"

Duo had to shake his head.

"No, man. I'm ah, I'm a pro gamer."

Jason arched an eyebrow.

"Really? That's like, a thing?"

Duo nodded.

"Yep. My team is the fifth ranked League of Legends team in North America."

Jason looked impressed.

"Shit. That's cool. Uh, what is League of Legends?"

Duo had to smile. He remembered explaining the game to Alex the first time. He hadn't really understood, and certainly hadn't been that interested in it.

"It's a computer game. A multiplayer online battle arena game." He looked at Jason's face, but he still seemed interested. "You have two teams of five players fight against each other on this map - this battleground - and the goal is to destroy the base of the other team before they destroy yours."

Jason nodded.

"Okay. Uh… that sounds pretty easy."

Duo laughed.

"Sure. That part does. See, the map is split into three lanes - top, middle and bottom. So you have these three paths to get to the other team's base. But between those lanes you have the jungle, which is this dark area of the map where you can sneak up on the other players and try to kill them."

Jason nodded.

"Sounds cool. So, like, is it like Halo or Call of Duty? You just have guns and shoot each other?"

"No - that's the cool part. You have five players on each team - a top laner, a mid laner, a marksman and a support in the bottom lane and then a jungler, who roams around the jungle and tries to gank - or surprise - the enemy team and get his own team ahead. But each of these players - all ten - play different characters, and each of the characters have different abilities."

Jason was starting to look a little lost.

"Have you ever played Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter or… Mario Party?"

Jason laughed.

"Yeah, sure."

"Cool. Well, you know how each character has different abilities? Like Subzero has different spells and attacks?" Jason nodded. "Same thing for League characters. There are over one hundred of them, and they all have different skills. Some are long ranged - those are the marksmen, or the attack-damage carries. Some are really good at healing and shields and crowd control - stuns and things - and those are usually supports, who try to keep the marksmen alive until they have enough power to kill. You've got mages, or magic uses who can be long ranged or short ranged. You've got melee champs who use short range attacks. You've got bruisers, who are just these beefy dudes who take a lot of damage and deal a decent amount. You've got tanky dudes who just stand there and absorb everything you can throw at them. It's… you can build all of these really interesting team compositions around these different abilities."

"Okay." Jason nodded, and seemed interested again. "So… like how does your marksman get powerful?"

"Time and experience. Each team has minions - these little creeps who spawn at your base and go out to try to protect you. So every time you kill an enemy minion, you get gold and experience. The jungle also has neutral minions - these monster camps like wolves and wraiths and buff camps - if you kill these certain camps you get a buff, so you can do more magic damage or more attack damage. And of course, you get gold and experience for killing enemy characters - enemy champions. You use the experience to level up your abilities and you use the gold to buy items to increase your damage or to build up protective stats."

"Okay. That doesn't sound so easy anymore."

Duo chuckled.

"Yeah. It's not. It's pretty damn hard."

"What do you play? What… lane?"

"I'm a Jungler, actually. So I live in the shadows and then jump out and try to get kills and feed my team - by feed I mean deliver kills for them, so they can get strong. Sometimes you do that by camping a lane, basically just hiding and attacking the same enemy over and over again so he doesn't get ahead."

"Sounds like an asshole thing to do."

Duo shrugged.

"It is. But sometimes… sometimes you've got to be an asshole."

Jason nodded.

"And your team is the fifth best in the country?"

Duo nodded. And maybe he hadn't done anything to get the team there, and maybe the team sure as hell hadn't played like the fifth best team in the country yesterday. But they were number five. And Duo really, really wanted to be able to say they were better than that.

"So… you're like famous, aren't you?"

Duo shook his head.

"No. Not really. Like… a few hundred thousand people in the world know who I am. Maybe."

"That's a hell of a lot more people than know who I am," he pointed out.

Duo shrugged.

"Well, that just means you don't have a few hundred thousand people thinking you're trash at your job."

Jason arched an eyebrow.

Duo sighed and shrugged.

"The gaming community is pretty vocal. The fans and the teams use Reddit and Youtube to say a bunch of shit about players. Comes with the job, I guess. But it's annoying. Especially when I'm the only openly gay player."

Jason nodded.

"So you're like the Michael Sam of video games?"

Duo had to laugh.

"Yeah. Sure."

"So you're famous - hated, but famous. You're the Michael Sam of video games. You're hot and you're funny - and you're pretty good at soccer for someone who sits in front of a computer all day. Why is it you don't have a boyfriend?"

Duo winced.

"That's a pretty long and really fucking embarrassing story."

Jason nodded.

"And you don't want to tell me because you think I'm cute and want to ask me out on a date instead?"

Duo laughed. Maybe Jason hadn't been smooth at first, but that had been pretty damn clever.

"Yeah, you're cute, and yeah, I'd like to ask you out on a date - but my schedule is crazy. We practice every day from lunch until two or three A.M. My Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays are usually game days or at least scrimmages. I don't really have time for dating."

"You know, there's this Starbucks down the road that has pretty awesome croissants," Jason said.

Duo arched an eyebrow in confusion.

"We could go there… for breakfast… sometime…" Jason said.

"Oh. Yeah. That would be awesome."

Jason grinned and Duo had to smile back.

"How about Tuesday morning? I don't go into work until noon, so we could meet at ten?" Jason suggested.

"Perfect." Duo told him.

They smiled at each other again, and then Duo felt awkward. Alex, his last boyfriend, had started off as a drunken hook-up at a party. They hadn't done this whole awkward date planning/goodbye thing - they'd had sex and passed out and woken up in the same bed and started on round two.

Duo held out his hand and Jason laughed and shook it.

Duo was about to let go, but Jason pulled him close and kissed him, a quick, fairly platonic press of his smiling lips against Duo's.

"See you Tuesday," Jason said and he let Duo go.

Duo could only stare after him as Jason jogged away.

-o-

They guys didn't start to wander out of their rooms until lunch time, when Pagan laid out cold-cuts, bread and chips for them.

Duo made himself a turkey and cheese sandwich, snagged a Coke from the fridge, and went to the back porch to eat.

Relena joined him a few minutes later.

"Well," she said after they ate in silence for a while. "Yesterday _could_ have gone worse."

Duo looked at her.

"How?"

Relena shrugged.

"You could have punched Wufei. Or Quatre could have. Or you could have held him down while Quatre punched him. And that would have been pretty bad - you'd both be suspended and Wufei might sue the team."

Duo had to laugh.

"Okay, so short of assault, how could it have gone worse?"

"Well… you tried to have Quatre's back. That was something. And despite Wufei being a complete shithead, you tried to gank his lane - and you tried to help out Heero and Trowa too, it just… didn't quite work out."

"No. Not quite. Not too mention I threw the damn game with that Baron play."

Relena shrugged.

"Baron is always risky - it's the most dangerous Jungle camp for a reason. The game was already lost at that point. You tried to get us back in it. You took a risk and you failed. You weren't the only one."

"Maybe not. But I'm the one with the most to prove."

"Really?" Relena arched an eyebrow. "Last season Ralph was the Team Captain - Quatre certainly feels like he has a lot to prove. Last season Ralph and Wufei were amazing - they would just start roaming the map and killing everything in sight, but Wufei has to prove he wasn't just relying on Ralph. Last season Trowa and Heero put up the best numbers for their positions - now they have to prove it wasn't a fluke. All you have to prove is that you're more than Solo Maxwell's gay brother."

Duo hadn't quite looked at it like that before.

"Okay… well, now that you've said how you really feel, can you maybe massage my ego a little or something?"

Relena laughed and Duo had to smile at the sound.

"No," she said, still smiling. "You've got your friends for that. It's my job to tell you to get your head out of your ass. It's my job to tell you that Sally and Quatre wanted you on this team for a reason. It's my job to tell you that Trowa and Heero threatened to quit if Wufei's top Jungle choice was picked over you."

Duo blinked.

"What?"

"I'm not going to repeat myself. Right now, it's your job to listen. TGW needs you. You've got raw talent - now is the time to mold that into something that can help carry this team to a World Championship. Think you can do that?"

"That.. was a damn good pep talk," Duo had to admit.

Relena gave him a sweet smile.

"Thanks. I practiced it all morning." She took Duo's empty plate from him and gestured towards the house. "Now get off your ass and get to practice."

"Yes sir!" He said and saluted before following her orders.

The other guys were already assembled, sorting through their gear and unpacking.

"So glad you decided to join us," Wufei muttered.

Duo bit down on the comeback that flew to the tip of his tongue. Instead, he nodded and started to unpack.

"Okay," Quatre said as they all set up their equipment and logged into their accounts. "Let's put yesterday behind us and really focus today. We need to move forward and we need to figure out how we can play better as individuals and as a team. Let's start off with a warm-up game and go from there. Okay? Everyone ready to focus?"

Quatre looked around the room at each of them in turn. Wufei glared back, Duo nodded, Trowa inclined his head slightly, but Heero shifted his eyes over to Duo.

"Are you sure your head is in this?" Heero asked him.

"Yeah?" Duo frowned. He could understand if Heero wasn't his biggest fan after yesterday, but he hadn't really expected him to call him out, either.

"You're focused on this. On _us_ and not hooking up with guys in the park?"

Duo stared at him.

"We saw you," Trowa said, his voice soft. "When we went running this morning."

"So?" Duo demanded. "So fucking what? It was ten in the morning - I wasn't shirking team responsibilities."

"You were just trying to get laid," Wufei sneered.

_Fuck this. Fuck all of them._

Duo closed his eyes and forced himself to count to ten. He reminded himself what Relena had said to him earlier. He drew in a deep breath.

"I'm here, right now, to play. If there are team rules about relationships that I broke, then let's talk about that later. Right now, let's focus. Yesterday was my first day losing a game as a member of this team, and I sure as hell don't want to make that a regular habit."

Quatre nodded in acceptance of his words. Wufei muttered something about horny faggots but turned back to his computer. Trowa and Heero, however, both stared at him for a moment longer before Trowa said something to Heero and they turned around as well.

"Oh," Duo added, because maybe he was focused - maybe he did want to win - but he sure as hell wanted to prove to himself, more than anyone else, that he was more than Solo Maxwell's gay brother, "I'm going to play Jungle Fizz."

-o-

Another note: Okay, hopefully Duo explaining the game to Jason helped clarify some things? If there are things that still don't make sense, please PM or say it in a review - I can always have Duo explain more things to Jason as their… whatever that is happens.

But a note about Fizz, because I'm not sure how to explain him otherwise.

Fizz is a fish, well, a fish with legs. He's traditionally played in the middle lane. He does magic damage, but he's short range. He's kind of an assassin and he's really bursty - as in he jumps in, kills you really fast, and jumps back out. He's a tough champion because if you don't get an early lead he's completely ineffective. He is NOT traditionally played in the Jungle, for a lot of reasons. I have Duo so fond of him because he isn't supposed to go in the Jungle, and also because Fizz is adorable and terrifying. Go to youtube and type in "Fizz animation" and you can see him and hear some of his dialogue and his abilities. If you want to.


	4. Chapter 4

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.

Warnings: Angst, language, violence, sex.

Pairings: PM me if you need to know. But I think it might be fairly obvious early on. I PROMISE the DuoxJason isn't going to last. I promise, promise, promise it's not.

**Going the Distance**

Chapter Four

"For fuck's safe, Wufei!"

"What is it now?"

Duo glared at the top laner, and Wufei steadily returned his glare.

_Count to ten_, Duo reminded himself. He forced his fists to relax and he drew in a deep breath.

"I signalled you to go in for the kill. You waited until the absolute last second, until I _died_, before you went in to clean up the kill."

Wufei arched an eyebrow.

"And? I ensured my safety and secured the kill."

Duo swallowed his urge to start shouting at his stubborn as fuck teammate.

"You did," Duo agreed through clenched teeth. "But if you had joined the fight earlier - when I was still alive - we could have secured the kill and _both_ lived."

"We won the game," Wufei pointed out, a bored tone in his voice. "Does it really matter?"

"Does it -"

Quatre put a hand on Duo's arm, silencing him.

"It matters, Wufei," Quatre said, his voice mild. "With Duo dead, and the enemy team's Jungler alive, they could have put pressure on the bottom side of the map and secured objectives. We're lucky we were playing against idiots who didn't press their advantage. But if you play that situation the same way against our opponents this weekend, we won't get off so easy."

Duo nodded, glad that Quatre had stepped in to make his point for him. He doubted Wufei would have listened to a word he said - hell, he probably hadn't listened all the closely to Quatre.

Wufei's lips compressed.

"This is a team game," Trowa said, his normally detached voice irritated. "You can't pretend your actions don't affect the rest of us."

"And _you_ can't pretend that your only job is to babysit Yuy!" Wufei shot back.

Trowa arched an eyebrow, unruffled by Wufei's tone.

"Oh?"

"All you do is stay with him until team fights - you don't put down enough vision on the map and you never roam."

Instead of a retort, Trowa turned to Quatre and waited for him to chime in.

Quatre sighed.

"He's… right, Trowa. It's important to protect Heero, but we need you to be more active on the rest of the map as well."

Trowa looked at Heero, who shrugged one shoulder.

"Okay," Trowa said, his voice even. "I will have more map presence."

Duo let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.

_Holy shit. Were they finally making progress?_

"I guess, while we're not shouting at each other," Quatre continued, "Heero, you need to follow up on Duo's requests for invading enemy territory more. I know you like to build up your lead over the enemy marksman, but if Duo thinks we can make a move, we should try it."

Heero looked from Quatre to Duo.

It was interesting. Heero and Trowa hadn't offered any resistance to Duo, personally, but they also weren't exactly eager to follow up on his hunches for invasions or pushing objectives some of the times. They second-guessed him a lot. At least, unlike Wufei, they trusted him some of the time, but they still preferred their own judgement to his.

Heero shrugged.

"If it doesn't feel like a bad call," he allowed.

Duo bit down on his first response to that - Heero was going to think _any_ call that wasn't his own or Trowa's was a bad call.

Trowa's lips quirked upwards as he looked at Duo, clearly knowing what he was thinking. Duo gave him a look.

"We'll follow your lead more," Trowa said.

Quatre smiled - actually smiled during a practice for the first time since Duo had joined the team.

"And I'll try to be more aggressive in my lane," he said, critiquing himself. "Sometimes I play too passive when I try to concentrate on what everyone else is doing, and I need to stop doing that."

"And what about our oh-so amazing newest team member?" Wufei demanded. "Or is he already perfect and we've just been holding him back?"

Duo seriously needed to just reach up Wufei's ass and find out what was shoved up there and pull it out.

"Duo can definitely work on _not_ playing so aggressively all of the time."

Duo turned to Quatre, not bothering to hide his surprise.

Quatre looked apologetic.

"Most of the times you've got great instincts - but sometimes you want to push too hard or too fast, and it will get us killed and allow the enemy team to gain an advantage. I just think you need to be more cautious sometimes."

Caution wasn't something Duo was used to. He knew he played a little recklessly - go big or go home had been something he and Solo constantly said to each other when they had played. But… if everyone else, even Wufei, could accept criticism, Duo wasn't about to argue.

"Okay," he said. "I'll try to be more cautious."

Quatre smiled at him. He looked tired - hell, it was four in the morning, _everyone_ looked tired.

"Great. I think - I think we might have a good chance this weekend. Let's all try to get some sleep and we'll talk specific strategy tomorrow when we head over to the studio."

Wufei left quickly, Trowa and Heero soon after, but Duo lingered when Quatre didn't immediately leave either.

"I… I guess I wanted to apologize for everything," Duo said to him once they were alone.

Quatre turned to him with a frown.

"What are you talking about?"

"I feel like I've ruined your team," Duo confessed. "Last weekend was - _awful_. You guys played so much better last year. And this week has been absolute hell - I mean, tonight - _just now_ was the first productive discussion the team has had."

Quatre sighed.

"I know." He ran a hand through his blonde hair and a few strands fell onto his forehead. "I stay up for hours after each practice and try to figure out what I'm doing wrong. I - I'm not Ralph, which I guess is the biggest problem."

"He was your captain last year."

Quatre nodded.

"And I try to channel him, you know? I look at the map, at the game, and I ask myself, what would Ralph do? But - either I just didn't know him that well, I don't know the game that well, or I just really, really suck at calling the shots."

Quatre looked miserable and Duo had to laugh.

"I don't think it's because you really, really suck," Duo comforted him. "You make good decisions most of the time - I mean, you're right. You're too cautious sometimes." Quatre gave him a look. "And I'm way lacking in caution sometimes," Duo added and Quatre smirked. "But maybe - I mean part of the problem is that you aren't Ralph and neither am I. When you have a Jungler calling the shots, the game is going to be played differently than when a mid laner calls it. Also - I can't emphasize this enough. I'm _not_ Ralph. My play style is nothing like his. At all. So… if you're trying to make this team play like _that_ team - it's never going to work. For starters, Ralph and Wufei used to roam all over the map and kill everything in their path. I think Wufei would sooner suicide in game than follow me out of his lane."

Quatre snorted a laugh, but nodded.

"You're right," he sighed. "I just… I guess I need to figure out what we can do differently, to emphasize our strengths. It's just hard right now because all I see are our weaknesses."

"I know. But… like you said - tonight we actually managed to have a positive discussion. Ish. And Wufei and I didn't start punching each other like last night," he added.

Quatre arched an eyebrow.

"You two can't do that again - what would have happened if you had broken your fingers or even bruised your knuckles? We need your hands in perfect condition."

Duo chuckled.

"Oh man - I really thought you were going to launch into this speech about not hurting each other. But you're just a cold-hearted, calculating bastard - you just want to make sure our hands are okay."

Duo smiled, so Quatre knew he was joking, and the blonde laughed with him.

"Maybe," he allowed.

Duo laughed again and then stood up to stretch.

"Hang in there," Duo said and put his arm around Quatre's shoulders when he stood up as well. "Wufei and I will work out our shit eventually." Duo leaned in and gave his shoulder a friendly squeeze.

Quatre nodded, but he bit his lip and looked at Duo's hand on his shoulder with a slightly anxious expression.

Duo instantly stepped back and tried to keep his face neutral.

"Sorry," Quatre said and he blushed. "I - I mean, I think you're great, Duo, but I'm not - I -"

DUo held up his hands, eager to save both of them from embarrassment.

"I wasn't coming onto you," Duo said and he gave himself bonus points for not sounding hurt or irritated. "I was just… trying to be friendly. You've been really touchy-feely since I got here and I thought you'd like the hug. It wasn't anything more."

Quatre rubbed his eyes.

"Fuck me. I mean - sorry again. I'm sorry." He drew in a deep breath. "It just felt different - and it's probably because I'm really tired and I'm sorry. Can we just pretend it didn't happen?"

Duo shrugged.

"Sure."

Quatre offered him a wan smile and then checked his watch again.

"Shit, it's late. We should go to bed. Um - let's all meet for lunch. We need to head over to the studio at twelve-thirty, so we aren't late like we were last time."

Duo nodded in agreement.

"Yeah. Sounds good. Night." He watched Quatre leave the room and he felt like banging his head against the wall.

Seriously. He just - he was only trying to be friendly. Sure, he found Quatre attractive, but he wasn't really attracted to him and he had not tried to make that anything other than a hug. Between friends.

"Quatre doesn't read signs very well."

Relena's voice shocked Duo into tripping over his own feet as he turned to face her.

She smirked at him from her position at the opposite end of the room. She must have come in from the kitchen.

Duo shrugged and tried to seem nonchalant. He didn't need Relena pitying him.

"I mean, I've been flirting with him for a year now and he doesn't get it. Figures that he's going to think you're interested in him. I mean, the only guys in this house you are interested in are Mysterious Blue Eyes and Mysterious Green Eyes."

Duo frowned at her.

"I'm not," he argued.

"Really?" She crossed her arms. "You're not interested? Is that why you start to drool whenever you see them walk by without shirts on?"

"I'm allowed to _look_ if they're going to be parading around half-naked," Duo muttered.

Relena nodded in agreement.

"Definitely. But I don't think we can call your interest in them merely physical appreciation - or are you going to try to sell me on that just looking line when you get all goofy if you make Heero laugh or you forget what you were saying when Trowa smiles at you?"

"How the hell are you that observant?" Duo demanded.

She gave him a triumphant look.

"Because I'm brilliant. And because it's my job to look out for you guys."

"So this is the part where you tell me to keep my eyes to myself."

She sighed.

"No. I like looking at them too. But this _is_ the part where I tell you that falling in love with two of your teammates and having them ignore you probably isn't going to make you feel at home on this team."

Duo rolled his eyes.

"I'm not in love with them. It's just - it's just some stupid crush. It'll go away. Besides, I'm kind of dating someone."

"Really? Do tell."

Duo shrugged.

"This guy. Jason. We've met up for coffee a few times - in the morning, so I'm not cutting into practice time."

Relena lifted one shoulder in a careless shrug.

"Like I care. There's nothing in your contract about not dating. You're allowed to have a boyfriend. You're allowed to go on dates. Just remember that the team comes first. But you can have overnight guests - it would be better if you didn't stay over at his house though, in case there's a practice or a scrimmage or something - but otherwise… if he makes you happy, that's great."

Duo stared at her.

"It's really okay for me to bring a guy over here? To spend the night?"

"I mean, you can't fuck him on the dining room table," she said. "Unless I get to watch. I've always kind of wondered… I bet two guys would be pretty hot to watch. So much cock."

Duo closed his eyes. The mental image of Relena watching him and Jason have sex on the dining room table was disturbing on so many levels. Not to mention, the way she had said cock…

"Okay. This just jumped past weird and into deeply uncomfortable territory. I'm going to go to bed now."

"Have sweet dreams," she crooned and he gave her the finger.

"Oh, Duo," she called up to him as he climbed the stairs. "Let me know if you want tickets for your boyfriend to see the games this weekend - I can snag some for him."

-o-

"You want me to come watch you play video games?"

Jason seemed pretty skeptical, and Duo couldn't really blame him. It was hard to describe the atmosphere of the studio to someone who had never experienced it.

"Only if you really want to," Duo told him. "Honestly, it's going to be pretty weird, and you're going to be in a room with two hundred of my closest haters." Actually, the more Duo thought about it, the less he wanted Jason there.

A few hours ago, as he had finally been drifting off to sleep, he had entered the very far fetched fantasy of winning a game and having Jason reward him with a kiss, live in front of an audience and hundreds of thousands of viewers. But he knew the reality would be very, very different.

Jason picked up on Duo's change of heart and arched an eyebrow.

"Wait a second - you don't want me to go… is this because you're hoping to pick up a cuter fanboy?"

Duo rolled his eyes and took a sip of his tea.

"No," he assured Jason. "I promise you that isn't it. There will be no Duo Maxwell fanboys there today - cute or otherwise."

"Well, there's going to be one."

Duo shook his head.

"Seriously. You don't have to come. It's - it's going to be stupid."

Jason crossed his arms.

"Are you calling my boyfriend stupid?"

Duo stared at him for a moment, but then he had to grin.

"Are you calling me your boyfriend?"

Jason shrugged one shoulder, and he looked a little unsure.

"I guess? I mean - three coffee dates, two kisses, awesome sex on the beach under the stars…"

"Wait, what? I think you're confusing me with someone else."

"Nah. Just adding in my fantasy date with you from last night."

Duo nodded and had to smile.

"Oh. Well, was I any good?"

"Meh."

Duo glared and Jason chuckled.

He leaned over the table and whispered in Duo's ear.

"I'm sure the real deal will be _much_ more satisfying."

Duo shivered and turned his head, grazing his lips across Jason's cheek as he pulled away.

"I can't wait for the chance to prove you right," he said.

"Will you guys have some kind of party after the game? Any kind of victory celebration? A few kegs and some music?"

Duo honestly had no idea, but he imagined the answer was no.

"Most of us are underage," he confessed. "I think Wufei's the only one who is twenty one - so it'd be kind of risky to throw a party at the Game house. But… I mean, we could have our own victory celebration in my room…"

Jason waggled his eyebrows.

"If you lose can we still have a victory celebration?"

Duo gave him a look of mock irritation.

"What makes you think we're going to lose?"

"I don't. I just want to make sure I've got something to look forward to after sitting in a room with a bunch of angry gamer nerds for a few hours."

Duo rolled his eyes.

"Seriously, dude. You can't call us that."

"What? You mean I can't stand up and shout "Duo Maxwell is the sexiest gamer nerd alive?""

Duo snorted.

"Sure. If you want security to escort you out and a bunch of rabid homophones to beat the living shit out of you."

Jason's humor evaporated.

"Is it really that bad?"

Duo shrugged one shoulder.

"I don't really know. I've never had to deal with any kind of physical violence, but there's a lot of shit that gets said on the internet about the fact that I'm gay. I'd hate to see any of those stupid threats get carried out."

Jason nodded.

"Okay. So maybe I'll just make a sign that says 'Duo Maxwell is my hero' instead."

"Still at risk from those rabid homophobes, but at least security won't throw you out."

Jason smirked.

"Sounds fair. What time should I get there?"

"Well, we play two games tonight - the first one is at five and the second one is right after that, so hopefully it will start around seven at the latest. And we have another game tomorrow afternoon - but it's kind of late, so… if you wanted to stay the night…"

Jason smirked.

"Oh? So you're thinking _multiple_ victory celebrations tonight?"

Duo grinned.

"Gotta make sure I satisfy you," he said.

Jason chuckled.

"All right. I'll hold you to that. I don't get off of work until five - but I'll head over as soon as I can. I might only make the second game, though."

"That's cool. We probably won't win our first game anyway. It's against Complexity - they aren't the best team in the league, but they definitely aren't the worst."

"And your second game?"

Duo hesitated. He felt like a shit friend and a terrible human being, but he honestly felt like they had a chance at winning their second game of the day.

"Better odds of winning. It's against the Valkyries - it's an all girl team. And that's not why we have a better chance of winning. They just… had an even worse first game last week than we did and haven't really been clicking all that well."

At least, that's what Hilde had told him via Skype and texting. He had watched their game from last weekend on Youtube, and he had noticed a lot of mistakes that had held the team back.

"What about tomorrow?"

Duo had been trying very hard not to think about their match tomorrow.

"It's against Zodiac Gaming," he said.

"Your brother's team?"

Duo stared at him.

"How do you know that?"

Jason looked offended.

"I'm dating a famous guy that a quarter of a million people hate. You really think I didn't google you?"

Duo suddenly felt like an idiot.

"Ah…"

Jason shook his head.

"It's okay. And I get what you said about the story with your ex being long and embarrassing."

"Yeah." Duo had actually really, really liked the fact that Jason had no clue who he was or what his history was.

"Duo."

He looked into Jason's gray eyes.

"Fuck all of those assholes. Whatever shit I read about you on Reddit doesn't change the fact that I like you. Or the fact that I'm going to be counting down the hours until our victory celebration tonight."

Duo smiled.

"You're just in this for the sex," he muttered.

"Hell yeah. I'm going to record this and put it on Youtube. I'm going to be famous."

Duo snorted.

"I hate to break this to you, but I think you'd get a total of four viewers - NoName333, Perfect Soldier 01, me because I'd use it to jack off to, and some dude living in his mom's basement who can't find real porn."

-o-

"Okay - we're clear on who decides the bans?" Quatre asked.

Wufei rolled his eyes, but Quatre stared at him until he relented.

"Yes. I'll ban whoever you tell me to. And I won't first pick my own champion unless that's what you want me to do as well. And I will blindly follow Duo to my death over and over again if it makes you happy and gets you off my ass."

Duo rolled his eyes. Jesus.

Quatre shrugged.

"Sounds good," he merely said, ignoring Wufei's sarcasm. "Everyone else ready for this?"

Trowa and Heero nodded and Duo offered him a salute.

"Ready to go, Captain."

Quatre smiled at him and Duo smiled back - hoping the blonde didn't think he was hitting on him again.

Quatre reached out and squeezed Duo's shoulder.

"I'm sorry again," he said, his voice low enough that the others couldn't hear him. "I appreciated our talk last night - and the hug. It's good to have a friend like you around."

It was probably the best apology Duo had ever gotten, and he found himself nodding like an idiot in response.

"Okay - we're up," Relena stepped into the holding room where they had been relaxing - or trying to relax - before their game.

Trying to relax, because it turned out that Quatre liked to pace back and forth across the room and randomly quiz them about strategy as he did so.

Wufei had been buried in a philosophy book, but had taken the time to snap responses to Quatre's questions. Heero had actually brought his laptop and set it up to play a custom League game to warm up. Trowa had commandeered the couch in one corner of the room and miraculously managed to sleep through the drill. Duo, meanwhile, had been glued to the television monitor broadcasting the current game.

Zodiac Gaming and the Valkyries had been paired up for the first match of the night, and it was truly a blood bath. Zodiac stomped all over the Valkyries, and the broadcast kept cutting back and forth between showing the map and the cameras fixed on each player's computer. The ZG players were actually smiling, laughing at times when they killed the VK players. It made Duo furious, made him want to punch something - preferably his own brother's smirking face. But it wasn't until the end, when ZG got up and walked over to the opposite side of the stage to shake hands with VK, that he was really in danger of losing his temper.

Ralph, the asshole who Duo had replaced on TGW, actually had the nerve to try to feel up Hilde when she reluctantly shook his hand. He pulled her in close and his hands actually squeezed her ass. On air.

Relena looked over at him - obviously she had seen it. Obviously the entire League of Legends community had seen it or would see it by this time tomorrow.

"The other teams have cleared the stage, so we're good to go and set up," she said.

Duo nodded. It was a good thing.

If he ran into Hilde right now he'd probably make a fool out of himself by hugging her and promising to kill the guy and she'd just get pissed at him for being protective and a stupid boy and point out that she could kiss his ass just as easily as Duo - better, really, since she spent her free time kick-boxing instead of crying over Reddit.

If he ran into anyone on ZG right now… well, Duo was grateful they had the stage to themselves.

Or they should have.

As the team gathered their backpacks and started to leave the room, ZG walked past them.

Duo used to be a fan of their uniforms - the crimson jerseys, the gold lettering that spelled out Zodiac Gaming and the large gold OZ logo.

He wasn't so much a fan anymore.

Meilin Long, their support player and the only female gamer in the entire league who wasn't a Valkyrie, walked past him first, arching an eyebrow at him but remaining silent. Meilin was okay. They'd hung out a few times, last year, and she was kind of a super bitch - but she was a good league player and she always called her teammates on their shit when they got too cocky.

Treize Khushrenada, their top laner and team captain, looked at Duo with disdain. Treize had always hated him - he hadn't wanted to use Duo as their substitute last year for those two games, and he had been one of the most vocal people on Reddit after Solo's arrest, saying that Duo was a distraction and a lack of talent.

Zechs Merquise, their marksman, walked by Duo and completely ignored him - as usual - but Duo saw him stop beside Heero, lean down and mutter something in his ear, and then pull away and offer a gaw-clenching chuckle.

Ralph Kurt, the bastard that Duo really, really hated now, walked past him with a swagger. That is, until Wufei shoved him against the wall.

Instantly, both teams were at each other's throats, pulling at each other's jerseys and trying to push them away.

"Whoa, whoa," Relena spoke up loudly.

Around them a few event staff gathered, anxiously looking on.

"You're a pig," Wufei snarled at Ralph.

Ralph looked shocked - about as shocked as Duo felt. Had Wufei just… called out his former teammate and supposed best friend in the world ever?

"What are you talking about?" Ralph leaned in close. "Is this about not making it onto our team? I'm sorry - Treize decided not to retire until he's won a World Championship."

Wufei growled and shoved Ralph against the wall again, hard enough that his skull cracked against it.

"No. This is about you feeling up Hilde Scheibeker onstage in front of a live audience and _cameras_."

Ralph stared at him for a moment and then started to laugh.

"Are you _serious_? You really think I should - what? Treat her like a lady or something? The Valkyries are a _joke_, 'Fei." Ralph laughed again and patted Wufei's shoulder. "Don't worry. I'm sure one of the ugly ones will put out for you."

His comments unleashed a fresh wave of aggression from both teams, and it was at that moment that Duo realized just who it was _he_ was holding back.

He had his hands fisted into the crimson jersey of his brother.

Solo Maxwell stared down at him, his blue eyes cold, and his own grip on Duo's shoulder like a vice.

Duo realized this was the closest he had been to Solo in seven months. And he realized that Solo's grip on his shoulder _really fucking hurt._

Duo shoved him away angrily.

"Get off me," he told his brother. "And teach your team some fucking manners. You know Hilde - you've been to her mom's house for Christmas dinner, you fucking bastard. She's not a joke. None of them are. Make fun of me all you want," he added, glaring at the rest of ZG, "but stay the fuck away from them. They deserve to be treated like professionals."

Solo just stared at him.

"Let's go," Treize spoke up, his voice bored. "Let Gundam Wing scurry onto the stage and lose. We'll settle this tomorrow."

Ralph shook free of Wufei, and the teams slowly stepped apart.

Solo turned away from Duo and followed his team. He hadn't said a word to Duo.

"You okay?" Quatre asked Duo, putting a hand on his arm.

Duo nodded, not trusting himself to speak yet.

"Let's go," Trowa suggested, coming up on Duo's other side. "Clear your head and let's win this game."

They started walking towards the stage, but Duo hesitated, waiting for Wufei to finish glaring at the retreating back of his former teammate.

"You're an asshole," Duo told him.

Wufei turned his glare on Duo and opened his mouth, ready to unleash a furious tirade.

"But you're a damned decent guy, too," Duo added. He held out his hand. "You can hate me all you want - but I appreciate you standing up to him, calling him on his shit."

Wufei stared at his hand for a moment, but then he sighed and reluctantly shook it.

"I didn't do that for you - or even for her," Wufei muttered.

Duo nodded.

"I figured. You're just the kind of guy who wants shit done the right way."

Wufei hesitated and then nodded. And then sighed again.

"If you want me to first pick Fizz Jungle for you, I will," he said in a long suffering voice.

Duo had to laugh.

"No - no way, dude."

Wufei gave him a look.

"I'll explain it when we set up our stuff - Quatre deserves to hear this too."

And so, as the five of them sat down in their chats and waiting for the ban phase to start, Duo explained why he didn't want Wufei to first pick Fizz.

"It's all I've played for the last week," he told his teammates. "Every team analyst has checked my game history and seen that I've played Fizz Jungle all this week and I've won _every single game_."

"Right. You won all of those games - why don't you want Wufei to pick him for you now?" Quatre asked, a confused look on his face.

Duo shook his head. He couldn't believe none of them got it.

"You're baiting them," Trowa said, his voice low and amused over the headset.

Duo had to lean back in his chair to see him, all the way at the other end of the table, but he saw the smirk on Trowa's face and he grinned back.

"Yep."

"What are you people talking about?" Wufei demanded.

"Last week Cloud 9 banned all of Duo's favorite Jungle champions," Heero said. And of course he got it too - of course Heero and Trowa knew what Duo's plan had been. "And Duo epically failed on Shaco Jungle last week."

"You didn't need to remind us of that part," Duo muttered.

"So the logical thing to do would be for Complexity - for all of the teams - to ban the same champions against Duo this week as well," Heero continued.

"Except he spent the entire week playing Jungle Fizz and winning every game - and some of those games were against top ranked teams," Trowa added.

Quatre looked at him with wide eyes.

"You sneaky bastard. Now everyone is going to think you're some Fizz master and ban him from you instead of one of those other three."

Duo nodded.

"Hopefully - and then I'll be able to get one of my best champions."

"What if they don't?" Wufei asked. "What if they don't fall for it?"

Duo turned to him with a grin that made Wufei's eyes narrow.

"In that case, you can definitely first pick Jungle Fizz for me."

-o-


	5. Chapter 5

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.

Warnings: Angst, language, violence, sex.

Pairings: PM me if you need to know. But I think it might be fairly obvious early on. I PROMISE the DuoxJason isn't going to last. I promise, promise, promise it's not.

**Going the Distance**

Chapter Five

"I knew we should have banned Lee Sin instead of Fizz."

Duo had to smile as he shook hands with Complexity.

"Well, if you hadn't banned Fizz I would have just used him to beat you," Duo had to say.

Prolly, the mid laner for Complexity and one of the ten coolest human beings Duo had ever met, arched an eyebrow.

"Next time," Prolly offered.

Duo nodded.

"Next time."

TGW finished shaking hands with Complexity and started to cross back towards their side of the stage, but Quatre jumped onto Duo's back and shouted into his ear.

"We won!"

Duo laughed even as he staggered under Quatre's weight.

"We did," he agreed.

Quatre slid down and grinned at him.

"You were amazing," Quatre told him.

Duo shrugged.

"We were all amazing," he demured.

"No," Wufei stepped up to his side and shook his hand. "You carried us."

Duo felt like he had entered the twilight zone, as he shook Wufei's hand. But then he realized - the cameras. This had to be for the benefit of everyone else.

"Okay," Relena came up to them, "we've got half an hour between games. Let's go back to the holding room and regroup."

Quatre nodded and gestured for everyone to follow him.

Heero caught Duo's eye and nodded, a slight smile on his lips that actually made Duo's heart skip a beat.

"Congratulations on your first professional win," Trowa said, his lips close enough to Duo's ear that they touched for a moment.

Duo stared at him.

"Thanks," he managed to say when Trowa stepped away and smirked.

It was the adrenaline, Duo was sure, but holy fuck Heero and Trowa were hot and it felt like they were just torturing Duo for fun - as if they knew how much he was attracted to them and couldn't resist teasing him with their damn smiles and their smirks and their laughs and their _sexy as fuck_ voices.

Duo managed to pull himself together and follow his teammates back into the holding room. He half expected to run into ZG again, but they were long gone - they only played one game tonight and would play two games tomorrow, their first against Team Solo Mid and their second against TGW.

"Okay," Quatre said once they were all assembled and the door was closed behind them. "That game was fucking awesome."

Duo had to laugh. Quatre didn't swear often - and the others looked just as surprised and amused as Duo was to hear the word come out of the blonde's mouth.

"We just need to do that twenty-six more times over the next eight weeks," Quatre continued.

Duo choked on the Coke he had been sipping.

"Come again?" He asked.

"I think a 27-1 record is a little optimistic," Trowa said, the sarcasm in his voice thick enough to taste.

Wufei snorted.

"I'm not talking about the victory," Quatre said. "I'm talking about the way we played."

"Oh."

Quatre arched an eyebrow at him.

"Don't tell me that game didn't feel _right_? Like we were finally listening to each other and working as a team?"

"No, it was definitely better," Duo agreed.

"We still have a lot of improvements to make," Heero added.

Wufei nodded and his eyes flicked over to Duo.

"But it was better," Wufei agreed. "A starting point for us to progress from."

Relena, sitting on the couch Trowa had previously occupied, appeared to be engrossed in Twitter on her iPad.

"What are they saying about us?" Duo had to ask.

She looked up at him, and then at the others.

"Um…"

That didn't sound so great.

"What?" Quatre asked with a sigh.

She shrugged, but then her lips twitched and it was clear she was trying not to smile.

"Not much. Just about one hundred people tweeting about Duo's awesome first blood kill and Trowa's ability to save everyone from death with his sick Thresh plays."

Quatre glared at her.

"Did you really have to try to make it sound bad?"

She shrugged again.

"No. But it was more fun that way."

"We should talk about our strategy for the next game," Heero spoke up.

Quatre shook his head at Relena, but then turned back to the guys.

"Yeah," he agreed. "The Valkyries play this game really differently than we do."

Duo had to nod in agreement. Even though VK was fairly disorganized at this point - and he couldn't imagine their game against ZG earlier had done anything to improve their morale or their communication - they liked to use off the wall team compositions that were hard to defend against.

"There's a chance their game against ZG will leave them even weaker," Trowa mused. "But it might have also inspired them to pull themselves together."

Heero nodded in agreement.

"True," Quatre said. "I think Lucy Noin and Cathy Bloom are going to be our biggest challenges."

Duo had to agree. Lucy, their marksman, and Cathy, their support, were amazing players. They had flawless communication between them, even if the rest of the team didn't, and when they decided it was time to start roaming the map and getting kills, they generally succeeded. The problem so far, however, had been that most of their opposition had decided to camp their bottom lane and make sure they stayed as far behind as possible.

"We can shut them down if I camp bottom," Duo offered.

"Who do we focus the bans on?" Wufei asked.

Quatre looked thoughtful, but Heero looked over at Duo and raised an eyebrow.

"What?" Duo asked and wiped at his face - did he have something on himself?

"You're friends with their Jungler," Heero said.

"Yeah," Duo agreed uneasily.

"How deep is her champion pool?"

The question wasn't exactly unexpected. Each team played every other team four times over the spring season. Duo had known he would have to face off against his best friend at least four times - more if they made it into the playoffs, and then even more when the summer season started. Duo had known it was likely he would be asked to critique Hilde's skills and work on strategies to defeat her team.

But it didn't mean he _wanted_ to develop a strategy against her. It didn't mean he _wanted_ to share her weaknesses with his team and use them against her.

"Not that deep," he finally admitted when he realized everyone was staring at him.

"Can we ban her out?" Trowa asked.

Duo drew in a deep breath.

Fuck this was hard.

"Yeah," he admitted. "We can."

Quatre nodded and he stroked his chin thoughtfully.

"Should we?" The blonde asked.

Wufei snorted.

"What do you mean _should_ we? Should we press an advantage? Are you asking because Duo is friends with her or because they're girls? We shouldn't treat them differently than any other team we face."

"I agree," Quatre said. "That's why I'm asking. Should we ban out Hilde or should we focus bans on some other position? Should we try to ban out their top laner? Or their mid laner? Or just ban out champs we don't want to deal with? I'm asking if targeting Hilde is our best strategy, or if Duo can shut her down without the bans."

Duo shrugged one shoulder.

"Maybe. She knows the way I play, so she'll try to anticipate my moves. She'll know I'm going to camp bottom and try to force plays up top or mid."

Quatre nodded.

"Then let's ban out their mid laner. Dorothy's really only untouchable on Syndra, Kassadin and Orianna. If we can ban those three and pick up Lulu as our first pick for me then I think we'll have her under control. Wufei, is that okay with you? If we let Sylvia get her top choice for top lane?"

Wufei rolled his eyes.

"Her first pick doesn't scare me at all. She can't touch me."

Duo felt his lips twitch and he wanted to say something, to make some snarky comment about Sylvia probably not _wanting_ to touch him, but he restrained himself.

Someone knocked on the door, signalling that it was time to head back out to the stage.

"Okay," Quatre grinned at them again. "Let's go back out there and be awesome again."

-o-

"If you try to touch my ass, I'll rip your arm off," Hilde said to him as Duo approached her after the game to shake her hand.

"Ew," Duo made a disgusted face. "Why would I want to touch your ass? It's all… feminine and… girly."

Hilde rolled her eyes but then she hugged him, in full view of the studio audience and the cameras, and Duo hugged her back.

"Good game," she whispered.

"You too. I'm going to get you back for killing me in my own Jungle, though."

Hilde pulled away and smirked at him.

"What are you doing later?" She asked. "We were going to grab some pizza and watch the European Union games over at our house tonight."

Duo bit his lip. It had been forever since he had hung out with her.

"Your guys are welcome to come too," she added, after looking back at Dorothy, the team captain, for confirmation.

Duo arched an eyebrow at Quatre, shaking hands with Dorothy.

Quatre shrugged.

"Sounds like fun," he said. "I'm in."

"Think Wufei will come?" Hilde asked Duo and winked at him.

Duo realized that Hilde had no idea what had happened backstage with Wufei and Ralph, and he wondered if he should tell her.

"Hey guys," Quatre said to the rest of the team. "The Valkyries have invited us over to hang out."

Trowa and Heero looked at each other, silently communicating in that way they always did that made Duo feel weirdly lonely, but then they both shrugged.

"Jeez, think they can calm down a little?" Hilde muttered.

Duo had to laugh. It was definitely rare to see either Heero or Trowa get that worked up about anything. Even after winning two games in a row, it was hard to see much change in their demeanor.

"Only for a few hours," Wufei spoke up. "We have a game tomorrow afternoon against ZG and I will not let a lack of sleep slow down the rest of you when we face those assholes."

Duo loved that Wufei managed to turn it into an insult against both ZG and his teammates.

"Sounds like a plan," Quatre said, ignoring the insult. "If you're getting pizza we'll get soda and snacks?"

"Perfect!" Hilde said and grinned at Wufei.

Wufei looked at her like she was insane and Duo barely held himself together.

"See you soon," he told her and walked back to get his gear.

The audience had already started to file out - their game had been the last of the night - and Duo looked over the departing crowd and smiled.

He'd done it. He had won - two games in a row - on this stage. With his team. With the whole world - or at least a few hundred thousand people - watching.

He wasn't a failure.

"Duo! You're the sexiest gamer nerd alive!"

He dropped his mouse onto the group and had to crawl around on his knees to find it.

When he stood back up he could see Jason standing at the foot of the stage, holding a sign that said 'Duo Maxwell is my hero.'

Duo had to grin. He dropped his backpack onto the floor and crossed the stage. He jumped down to join Jason on the ground.

"You came."

"Of course I did. I said I would."

They stared at each other for a moment, Jason smirking and Duo grinning at him like an idiot.

"I really want to kiss you right now," Duo confessed. "But I'm pretty sure people would film it or get photos and put it all over the internet and I don't want them to say shit about you. Or about us."

"Okay," Jason shrugged. "Just know that as soon as we get behind closed doors I'm going to kiss you and start ripping your clothes off because watching you jump up from your chair and cheer after you won was adorable - super dorky - and weirdly hot."

Duo arched an eyebrow.

"I'm not sure how I feel about being called weirdly hot," he murmured.

Jason chuckled and then gestured to the stage.

"How long until you can leave?"

"Oh - we're packing up now actually." And then he remembered."Uh."

Jason gave him a look.

"Uh?" He echoed.

Duo scratched at the back of his neck. He realized abruptly that he had completely forgotten about Jason. He hadn't thought about him _once_ since walking into the studio that afternoon and signing in his name. Shit. He really was a terrible boyfriend. And Jason had come - had made a stupid sign and had shouted out in front of the - admittedly half empty - audience that Duo was the sexiest gamer nerd alive.

"Our team is actually going to hang out with the Valkyries for a few hours."

"So you _do_ know how to party."

Duo smirked.

"If by party you mean we're going to grab pizza and watch the European league games from today, then yes. Yes we know how to party."

Jason stared.

"You just spent all night playing - and now you're going to go _watch_ more games?"

Duo nodded.

Jason looked torn between irritation and amusement.

"You are such a nerd," he finally muttered.

"I know. I'm really sorry. Do you want to raincheck on our victory celebration?"

"Do you?" Jason asked.

"Um, yeah? I mean - please? I was really looking forward to it." Until he had forgotten about it.

"No, I meant, do you want to raincheck or…" he sighed and his face made it clear he couldn't believe what he was about to say, "or I could come with you to… watch video games and we could still celebrate after?"

Duo didn't care if anyone was still watching, he hugged Jason.

"You are the best," he told him.

Jason patted his head.

"I know. I know."

Duo laughed and pulled away.

"Let me grab my gear - if you wait right here I'll come back and I can ride over with you."

Jason nodded and then he looked past Duo.

"Whoa. Hottie number one and hottie number two look like they're thinking of ways to kill me slowly."

Duo frowned and turned to see Heero and Trowa glaring at them.

"Um… I think maybe that's me they're glaring at? I'm holding them up - and Heero wasn't thrilled about… whatever. I'll be right back."

Duo jumped back onto the stage and walked over to his team.

"Sorry about that," he said. "Didn't mean to hold you up."

Quatre shrugged.

"It's fine."

Relena nudged his shoulder.

"That's your guy? He's cute!"

Duo blushed and nodded.

"Yeah. That's my guy."

Heero and Trowa were still glaring at Jason.

"Guys?" Duo tried to get their attention. "I'm going to ride over to the VK house with Jason. If that's cool?"

Trowa frowned and Heero actually scowled.

"He's going to watch the games?" Trowa sounded almost scandalized.

"Yeah. For a bit at least. We might not stay that long."

Relena muttered something about sex and dining room tables and Duo stepped on her foot.

"Ow!" She shoved him away.

"Sorry. I'm clumsy," he said and smiled at her.

"Whatever. Run along to your hot fanboy. We'll see you over there."

-o-

"You live here?"

Duo tossed his keys onto the desk beside the front door and set his backpack down beside it. He would get them later.

Advancing on Jason, Duo grabbed the hem of his t-shirt and pulled it over his head.

"Yeah," Duo answered and starting to kiss and lick Jason's clavicle, running his tongue around the edge of his sexy tattoo.

Jason chuckled and grabbed Duo's head, pulling him up and into an open-mouthed kiss.

"Maybe there's something to this gamer nerd life," Jason decided.

Duo grabbed Jason's hand and started to drag him towards the stairs.

"If by something you mean sharing a house with six other people, yeah. Actually - no, it's pretty awesome," he admitted.

Jason pushed him down onto the stairs and kissed him again, his tongue battling with Duo's and his hands running over Duo's chest under his shirt.

"Which room is yours? Or are we just going to fuck right here?" Jason asked Duo, whispering the words into Duo's right ear just before biting down on his earlobe.

Duo moaned. The idea had merit - but the risk of having any of his team come back and find them was too high.

"Right behind us," Duo moaned again when Jason sucked on the flesh he had just bitten.

Duo wiggled out from under him and dragged him up the rest of the stairs and into his bedroom.

He kicked the door closed and reached for Jason's pants.

Jason chuckled as Duo jerked his belt off.

"Eager?"

Duo snorted.

"I've been eager ever since you started massaging my dick with your foot halfway through the second game we watched."

Jason smirked.

"I had to do something to keep myself awake. I'm sorry, Duo. I can watch _you_ play - but watching you and ten of your closest nerd buddies geek out over Froggen or xPeke or whatever is… not my idea of a good time."

Duo unzipped Jason's jeans and shoved them down his narrow hips. He knew he wasn't exhibiting a lot of finesse. But it had been a long fucking time and Jason had been teasing him all night and he really, really just wanted to feel his cock.

"And what _is _your idea of a good time?" Duo asked as he pulled Jason's boxers down as well.

Jason's cock was already hard, and Duo licked his lips in anticipation at the sight of it. God, it had been too long.

Jason made a sound in the back of his throat and pulled Duo against him for another kiss.

Duo could feel the stab of his cock against his groin and he rubbed against it, his own cock still trapped in his boxers and track pants but at this point _any_ friction was good.

"This," Jason moaned when Duo pulled away and licked a trail down his chest. "This is my idea of a good time."

"Mhm," Duo agreed. He knelt down and licked the head of Jason's cock.

He could feel his own pulse racing and fuck - Jason tasted oh so damn good. He ran his tongue down the shaft and Jason thrust against him.

"Something you want?" Duo asked and looked up at him with a wicked grin.

"Anything you want to give me," Jason said and his gray eyes were dark and hooded with lust.

"Mhm. Anything I want to give you… well, for starters, I'd like to give you a blow job."

"I'm okay with that," Jason said.

Duo chuckled and then returned his attention to the cock in front of him.

He opened his lips wide and bobbed his head forward, slowing taking Jason into his mouth until he could feel a nudge at the back of his throat.

"Oh fuck that feels good," Jason groaned and his fingers tangled in Duo's hair, tugging him forward.

Duo took the hint and started to move, slowly working his way up and down Jason's cock.

He'd always enjoyed this - always loved the feel and taste of a cock in his mouth and he knew his Reddit enemies would just _love_ knowing how much of a cocksucker Duo really was. But at this moment, he didn't really care.

At this moment, he wasn't alone. He wasn't on a stage in front of an audience who hated him or at best didn't care about him. He wasn't in a hallway with his brother squeezing his shoulder hard enough to bruise.

Jason came with a gasp and a sudden, deep thrust of his hips into Duo's mouth.

"God, thank you," Jason said. He pulled Duo up to his feet and kissed him.

Duo barely had the chance to swallow down Jason's semen, but he didn't seem to care. He kissed Duo just as hungrily as before.

"My pleasure," Duo assured him. "Anything else I can do for you? You did sit through three games at the VK house tonight and _sort of_ behaved yourself."

Jason chuckled and pushed Duo back towards the bed.

"I wouldn't mind you giving me a chance to fuck you," Jason said, "but give me a few minutes to recover."

Duo nodded.

"It's been awhile for me," he warned Jason.

"Then we can be productive while we wait and stretch you," Jason suggested.

He reached for Duo's TGW track jacket.

"This has to go, first," he murmured and slowly unzipped it.

Duo helped him pull it off.

"Anything else?" Duo asked.

"This too," Jason said and plucked at Duo's TGW shirt.

Duo pulled it over his head and he shivered at the way Jason's eyes tracked over his naked torso.

"Anything else?" He asked again.

"These," Jason ran his finger along the waistband of Duo's track pants.

Duo pushed them down, taking his boxers with them because as sexy as it was to have Jason ask him to undress one article of clothing at a time, he remembered that he'd worn his lucky boxers today - gray boxer briefs with Pokemon characters on them that Hilde had bought him two years ago - and quickly stepped out of the pants and boxers. He kicked them under the bed, praying Jason hadn't seen anything.

But Jason seemed intent on Duo's body.

He ran his hands down Duo's sides, over his hips, and down to his ass. He squeezed Duo's ass cheeks and pulled him close, so that Duo's hard, leaking cock rubbed against him.

"Yeah. I'm thinking you really are the sexiest gamer nerd," Jason murmured and kissed him again.

Duo manouvered them back onto the bed. Jason lay down and Duo straddled him.

They kissed each other and ran their hands over each other's bodies, teasing and caressing and despite the fact that Duo was incredibly aroused and really wanted to get off, he realized this was the most relaxed he had felt in a month.

He didn't feel any pressure, and none of the crap in his personal life mattered at all. It was a relief. To just be here, in this room, on this bed, with this guy.

"Lube?" Jason asked.

Duo rolled over and reached for the lube and pack of condoms in his nightstand. When he had moved in he had been positive they would gather dust.

Jason took the lube from him and squeezed some onto his fingers before reaching back to start stretching Duo.

"You're really tight," Jason commented.

Duo rocked against him, enjoying the feel of fingers working at him and the friction of Jason's hardening cock against his own.

"Yeah," he moaned. "Sorry."

"No need to apologize. I just don't want to hurt you."

Jason added a second finger and searched for Duo's prostate, grinning in satisfaction with Duo groaned.

"Fuck, that's intense," Duo said.

"Want me to add a third finger?"

Duo nodded and Jason complied.

After a few minutes of Jason fingering him, slowly working his fingers deeper and scissoring them open, Duo was ready for more.

He reached for the condom and tore open the package.

Jason watched him as he rolled it onto his cock.

"Straddle me again," Jason suggested and Duo grinned.

He'd always enjoyed sex from the position. He didn't really care one way or another who fucked who - but getting to maintain eye contact was a big thing for him. Riding a guy's cock, or having a guy ride his, was another big thing.

He spread lube down Jason's cock and then straddled him again.

Slowly, he eased himself down, working his way past his body's initial resistance and then sinking down fully with a sigh.

It was a lot, the dull burn of penetration and the feeling of being completely filled, but after a moment he had adjusted.

"You okay?" Jason asked.

Duo appreciated that. He leaned down to kiss him again.

"Yeah. Perfect," Duo assured him and then he rocked forward before sitting back down again.

Jason groaned.

"Fuck. Yeah. Perfect," Jason repeated.

Duo set a leisurely pace - he was damned sure he was going to take his time to enjoy this.

Jason reached out and started to stroke Duo's cock, his own rhythm firm and faster than Duo was moving.

Duo had to grin when, after a few minutes, Jason started to thrust upwards impatiently.

"Not so perfect anymore?"

"It feels great," Jason said. "But it also feels like you're teasing me."

Duo chuckled.

"More like teasing both of us. You want something more like this?" He changed his pace, lifting himself up and pushing down faster and harder, until he could hear the slap of their flesh together and one of Jason's hands abandoned his cock to clutch Duo's hip.

"Yeah, oh fuck yeah," Jason moaned.

Duo could feel his orgasm building - Jason wasn't putting a lot of attention or effort into getting him off, but the constant pressure against his prostate did most of the work and when he came he felt like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

Jason came a moment later, his body reacting to Duo's spasming muscles.

"Oh my god. Thank you." Duo leaned down to kiss him.

"Happy victory celebration," Jason said with a grin.

-o-

Thresh: a support champion who is considered by many to be ridiculously "OP" or overpowered. He can shield his teammates, he has good attack damage, he makes this ghost prison to slow and damage enemies and, above all, he has this lantern he can throw out and his teammates can click on it to sling-shot to his location. So Thresh can use this to save them from death and/or to set up a sneak attack. He's kind of stupid like that. If you want to see the sickest Thresh plays ever, Youtube BunnyFuFu Thresh. He's widely believed to be the best Thresh player in North America.


	6. Chapter 6

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.

Warnings: Angst, language, violence, sex.

Pairings: PM me if you need to know. But I think it might be fairly obvious early on. I PROMISE the DuoxJason isn't going to last. I promise, promise, promise it's not.

**Going the Distance**

Chapter Six

Duo couldn't kill a single Jungle camp. Not one single monster. He died every time he tried.

He couldn't gank a single lane. Every time he came close he was spotted and attacked. He died thirty times. Solo killed him ten times and made his champion stand over Duo's body and laugh at him. Everyone laughed at him. His teammates laughed at him. ZG laughed at him. The studio audience laughed at him. Jason laughed at him.

Duo woke up from the nightmare, his heartbeat thundering in his ears and the echo of Solo's laughter haunting him.

He drew in a deep breath and looked around.

The room was dark. His cell phone said it was only three in the morning.

Beside him, Jason was asleep, using Duo's arm as a pillow.

Slowly, Duo eased his arm out from under Jason's head.

It hurt like hell - pins and needles stabbing him as it slowly regained circulation.

Duo quietly got out of bed and rooted around for his boxers. He pulled them on and grabbed his discarded team shirt and put that on as well.

He left his room, closing the door behind himself, and stealthily walked down the stairs.

The kitchen was empty and Duo grabbed a clean mug and poured himself a glass of milk.

He briefly debated whether or not he should heat it up. Solo used to that for him, when Duo was a kid and woke up from a nightmare and was too scared to go back to sleep.

But Duo wasn't a kid anymore. He was nineteen, and Solo wasn't here.

Solo was at his own house, at the ZG gaming house, probably sleeping like a baby, dreaming about all of the ways he would embarrass the shit out of Duo during the game tomorrow.

Angrily, Duo shoved the mug of milk into the microwave and punched in 30 seconds on the timer.

"Trouble sleeping?"

Duo turned to see Trowa walk into the kitchen.

"Yeah," Duo admitted after a moment of hesitation. He wanted to offer some glib retort, but what was the point? Why else would he be heating up a mug of milk at three in the morning?

Trowa nodded and opened the refrigerator door.

Duo frowned at him. Trowa was wearing his usual flannel pajama bottoms, but he had on Heero's Batman t-shirt. It was tight on him, stretched across his shoulders and back.

Likely Trowa had picked up the closest shirt in the dark and it had happened to be Heero's. Still - wouldn't he realize that when he put it on and it didn't fit?

"Me either," Trowa said and grabbed the gallon of milk.

Duo reached into the cupboard and pulled out another mug. He passed it to Trowa.

The microwave beeped and Duo took out his milk.

Trowa arched an eyebrow.

"Always worked when I was a kid," Duo defended himself.

Trowa nodded, but made no move to heat his own mug. He set the mug down and hauled himself up onto the kitchen counter before taking a sip.

Duo followed his example, jumping onto the counter a foot away from Trowa and leaning his back against the cabinets. He cradled the warm mug between his hands and took a small sip.

"You played well today," Trowa said after a few minutes of surprisingly companionable silence.

Duo shrugged.

"Don't deflect me," Trowa said and he sounded a little irritated.

Duo looked over, but Trowa had his eyes closed and was leaning back on the cabinets as well.

"Thanks," Duo said. "I - I should have played like that last week too."

Trowa shrugged and took a sip of his milk, eyes still closed.

"We all should have played like that last week."

Duo nodded in agreement, even though Trowa couldn't see him.

"Your Thresh today - holy shit you're unstoppable with him."

Trowa smirked and finally opened his eyes to look at Duo.

"I never get to play him. Last year he was banned away from me for forty five out of the fifty-six games. Lucky for me, everyone wants to ban away _your_ champions and I can play whatever the fuck I want."

Duo snorted.

"I don't see that happening for much longer. Not every team is going to make the mistake of targeting me and letting you and the other guys play your best champions."

"Probably not," Trowa agreed.

They fell silent again, and Duo reflected on the fact that this was the most he and Trowa had ever spoken. It seemed like both Trowa and Heero were quiet to the point of being unresponsive most of the time, but Duo watched them, the way they seemed to silently communicate with each other. He wondered at that, at how they managed to work together so seamlessly.

"You're worried about tomorrow," Trowa said. It was not a question.

"What's there to worry about? Breaking my nails? Stubbing my toe? What could possibly go wrong?"

"I don't think you want to play the sarcastic asshole game with me, Duo," Trowa said and he sounded tired and a little hurt.

Duo sighed.

"Sorry. Just habit, I guess. Yeah. I'm worried."

It suddenly occurred to him that Trowa was awake at three in the morning, sitting on the kitchen counter, drinking milk.

"You're worried too," he realized.

Trowa shrugged one shoulder, but he looked troubled.

Duo had never seen Trowa actually look like this before.

"Heero and Zechs have some… history between them."

"Uh, yeah," Duo agreed. He had seen the Youtube videos. _Everyone_ had seen the Youtube videos.

Last year, at the All-Star games in London between the Spring and Summer splits, Zechs and Heero had both been voted onto the two mixed All-Star Teams. Fan voting had matched them against each other for the one versus one tournament and it had been… the longest fifteen minutes of any gamer's life. The one versus one was traditionally played until the first kill. Matches like that usually lasted two, three, maybe five minutes. But Zechs and Heero had battled it out for a full fifteen minutes before Zechs finally killed Heero, and then stood over his champion's dead body and laughed at him.

"It's not just the All-Star game," Trowa murmured. "They run into each other all of the time on Solo Queue and Zechs… he knows exactly how to get under Heero's skin and mess with him."

"What about you?"

Trowa frowned.

"What about me?"

"Does Zechs get under your skin? Does he mess with you?"

"Only through Heero. I couldn't care less what Zechs thinks about me. But Heero… I can't save him from everything."

Duo arched an eyebrow.

"I dunno. If you get to play Thresh again tomorrow you probably could save him from everything."

"I'm not talking about the game play, Duo."

"I know, Trowa."

They looked at each other, and Duo had a weird moment of thinking he really understood Trowa. Maybe he was getting the hang of this silent communication?

"It's tough to watch a friend go through shit and have them not understand how much better they are than that," Duo said.

Trowa nodded and swallowed hard.

"Yeah," he agreed, and Duo ignored the emotion in his voice. "It really fucking is."

Duo finished off his milk and slid off the counter. He rinsed his mug out and added it to the dishwasher.

"Try to sleep," he advised. He made a move to pat Trowa on the knee, but then realized that might be kind of weird, so he let his hand fall back down to his side.

"Nice boxers," Trowa called out to him as Duo left.

He looked down, realized he had pulled on the damn Pokemon boxers, and felt like a moron.

But when he looked over his shoulder, Trowa was smirking at him, warmth in his eyes and, if Duo didn't know better, a bit of lust.

-o-

"Want me to make you breakfast?"

Duo stared in amazement.

"I'm sorry. Did you just offer to make me breakfast?"

Jason chuckled as he pulled his jeans back on.

"I figured you might need some nourishment. You've got a tough day ahead of you."

Duo rolled over in the bed and pulled a pillow over his face.

"Please don't remind me."

The bed sank as Jason climbed back in. He took the pillow away and looked at Duo, a serious expression on his face.

"Why did you decide to become a professional gamer?"

It probably should have been an easy question with an easy answer, but it wasn't. Not for Duo.

"Growing up… Solo and I had it kind of rough. But when I was ten we were moved to this foster home and our foster father bought us an Xbox. Solo and I used to play Halo on it for hours and sometimes Howard - our foster father - would play with us. It was… those are the best memories of my childhood. We were moved, after a few years, but Solo got a job at a Gamestop and he got into computer gaming, and he won some tournaments and started to get attention - this is back when he played Starcraft, before he switched over to League. But then, when League came out… it was like he'd found the perfect fit, you know? And he taught me how to play and it was… it was fucking awesome. I was only sixteen, so I was with this foster family, but he was on his own and he saved up enough money to buy me a PC so I could play with him. We played Solo Queue together and destroyed kids and then we made a full team and… and he got noticed by the pros and invited to join Zodiac Gaming. I guess… I don't know. I always wanted to be like him. I wanted to play with him."

Jason sat back on his heels.

"And now you don't even talk to him."

"Ah, no. Not since Alex."

"Have you tried?"

"Tried what?"

Jason shrugged.

"Calling him? Texting him? Playing with him?"

Duo shook his head. It was a lie - once a month, whenever he saw Solo sign onto League, Duo would send him a game invite, hoping against hope that his brother would accept. He never did.

Jason sighed.

"Well. I think this is on both of you. Yeah, he was an asshole - but you're letting this get worse and worse all of the time."

"Maybe," Duo agreed. "But he hates me. Actually, honestly, hates me. I'm his faggot brother that everyone hates and I almost cost him his job."

"Has he said that? Called you a faggot? Said anything about his job?"

"No. He just stands behind his teammates while _they _say it."

Jason looked thoughtful.

"How about that breakfast?" He asked.

"What?" Duo was taken aback by the abrupt subject change.

Jason shrugged.

"I'm thinking this is a longer and more painful conversation than the one we should have the morning after we've slept together for the first time."

Duo had to nod in agreement, and relief.

"Fair enough," he said.

"Good. Get up. I have to be somewhere at noon, so if you want breakfast…"

Duo rolled out of bed, clumsily catching himself before he actually fell onto the floor, and stood up.

Jason regarded him with a look of patronizing amusement.

"I'm a gamer, not a ballet dancer," Duo muttered.

"Yep," Jason agreed, a smirk on his face.

Duo rolled his eyes but he rifled through his drawers for clean clothes - he would change into his team uniform later - but for now he settled on boxers, sweatpants, and his beloved MLG sweater.

"So, when you say breakfast…"

Jason smirked.

"We'll see what kind of supplies you have, first."

Duo led Jason to the kitchen and then sat down on the center island counter, out of Jason's way, and watched him search through their refrigerator and cabinets.

He heard voices behind him and turned to see Quatre's bedroom door open.

Dorothy Catalonia walked out, her long blonde hair pulled back in a loose ponytail and… she was wearing the same t-shirt and leggings she had changed into last night when TGW went over to watch the games at the VK house.

She caught him watching her.

"If you tell anyone," she threatened, walking into the kitchen and holding up her right index finger menacingly, "I'll get a hammer and shatter your left hand."

Duo stared at her.

"Um… that's a really scary threat, Dorothy. And what are you afraid of me telling people? That you're banging my team captain?" Duo had to grin. "Hey - that's a first. Captain on captain action."

Dorothy's glare intensified. Her eyes flicked over to Jason.

"I'll tell everyone about him if you say anything."

Duo snorted.

"Um, hate to break this to you princess, but everyone already knows I'm gay."

"But they don't know your boyfriend's name. I could make his life a living hell."

Duo jumped down from the counter, putting himself between Jason and Dorothy.

"Okay. Let's calm our shit. I'm not going to say anything to anyone about your little secret romance with Quatre. But don't threaten my boyfriend. He's got nothing to do with this. If you try to make his life hell, I promise I'll ruin yours."

Dorothy arched one eyebrow but then crossed her arms and shrugged.

"I'm glad we understand each other."

And with that, she left.

"You people are weird," Jason muttered as he mixed pancake batter together.

"Tell me about it."

Duo walked up behind him and kissed the back of his neck. Jason shied away.

"Sorry."

"No, just - feels weird. Sorry," Jason shrugged. "I don't mind you kissing me. Just not… there I guess."

Duo nodded.

"Alright. Don't kiss Jason on the back of his neck. Noted."

Jason gave him a look but Duo just smiled back at him.

By the time Jason started on his second batch of pancakes, Relena joined them in the kitchen.

"Morning," Duo greeted her, mouth full of pancakes and syrup and she gave him a disgusted look.

"Mouth closed," she instructed.

Duo obediently closed his mouth and chewed.

"This one is definitely a keeper," Relena said, snagging one of the pancakes with her fingers and juggling it to cool it down for a moment before biting into it.

Duo nodded eagerly in agreement.

"Weird and easy to please," Jason muttered.

Relena sighed in pleasure after another bite of the pancake.

"Seriously. Jason. If you just want to move in now, I'm okay with that." She said.

Jason gave a slightly nervous laugh.

"I'm thinking that's a huge step in our relationship," Jason said. "Especially when we're just keeping this casual."

Duo looked over at him, but Jason had turned back to the stovetop.

Relena caught his eye and arched an eyebrow.

Duo had to shrug. This was definitely news to him. He wondered what exactly Jason meant by 'casual.'

Jason finished making the last batch of pancakes and put a few on a plate for Relena before taking the rest for himself.

The three of them ate in companionable silence and Duo regretted the fact that Jason had just made it clear this wouldn't be a regular occurrence.

"Coming to the game this afternoon?" Relena asked him.

Jason shook his head.

"I've got plans - sorry," he added for Duo. "I know it's going to be a tough game."

Duo shrugged. He hadn't really expected Jason to come to the game today - not after investing so much time with Duo last night.

"We're still on for tomorrow morning, right?" Jason asked.

Duo nodded.

"Definitely. I'm going to need it after the hell of today."

Relena looked at him in question.

"Soccer - Jason and a few guys meet up at the park and play on Sunday mornings. That's how I met him."

"Ah. Hmmm. Is this event open to the public? Because if these guys look anything like _you_ two then I could be convinced to come along and cheer."

Duo snorted a laugh.

Jason shrugged.

"I don't think anyone looks as good as Duo, but some of the guys are okay."

Duo actually blushed at the compliment.

"Few guys look as good as Duo," Relena said.

"Agreed," Jason nodded.

Duo shook his head.

"I'm right here, guys."

"Yes you are," Relena agreed and turned to look at him with a smirk. Jason joined her, and the two of them waggled their eyebrows suggestively.

-o-

"So, I think all we really need to focus on today is playing like a team."

Quatre's version of a pep talk in the holding room wasn't doing much to settle Duo's nerves. He wondered if the philosophy book was helping Wufei any - this had to be almost as rough on him as it was on Duo.

And then there was Heero, playing a warm up game on his laptop, back to the rest of the room, with only Trowa in his line of sight.

Duo supposed that should be a sign of how tense things were - Trowa wasn't sleeping on the couch, but sitting on the arm of it, beside Heero, able to look at him and pay attention to what Quatre was saying at the same time.

"So we can hold hands and cry together, as a team, after we get slaughtered?" Duo asked.

Quatre gave him a look.

"Sorry," Duo regretted the question. There was no need to bring everyone else down.

"I refuse to hold your hand while you cry because your brother is an asshole," Wufei muttered, not looking up from his book.

Wufei's words had Duo's fingers itching to curl into fists. And then he realized - why bother defending Solo?

"Okay, this isn't helping," Quatre said. "We need to focus on _us_. Forget them. Forget our shit with Ralph and Solo and Zechs. Let's just play _our_ game."

"You're right," Trowa agreed. "We can't let their presence take away from our team game. Toss me a water, Duo," he added and nodded towards the cooler beside Duo's chair.

Duo threw one of the cold bottles to him and Trowa caught it one handed, having to stretch quite a bit because hand-eye coordination in reality had never been Duo's strong point.

"Nice catch," he said, knowing that he would have likely fallen on his face if he'd tried that.

Trowa smirked.

"Gotta catch them all," Heero muttered.

Trowa choked on the sip of water he had taken and then coughed.

Duo could only stare.

Trowa had told Heero about Duo's boxers… and now Heero was making fun of him for it.

"Anyway," Quatre said, giving all of them a weird look, "I think we should focus our bans on the Jungle. I know this might suck for Duo, but we know who Ralph likes to play and we know how Ralph likes to play. We should take advantage of that. Is that okay with you, Duo?"

Duo looked away from the back of Heero's head, away from Trowa's slight smile and his green eyes and _fuck them_.

"Yeah. Fine by me."

Wufei looked over his book and up at Duo.

"I'll trust you to gank when you want," he said. "I won't wait for you to die this time. Not today."

That, at least, was something.

Duo nodded, grateful for that.

Someone knocked on the door to signal that it was time.

Duo drew in a deep breath and stood up. He tried to clear his mind, tried to put all of the shit behind him - shit with Solo, with ZG, with his own team.

Quatre clapped him on the shoulder.

"We can do this."

-o-

As it turned out, they couldn't.

It hadn't been a bloodbath. It had, in fact, been a damn close game, coming down to the last three minutes and Solo getting a triple kill off of Quatre, Wufei and Duo for his team to be able to secure the Baron Nashor buff and then push for a win.

It had been close. So damn close that Duo had thought they had a chance.

The studio audience went crazy, chanting ZG and Solo at the top of their voices. Calling Zechs a god. Calling out to Ralph that he was a master of the Jungle.

The ZG team crossed the stage and approached TGW, smirks on their faces, swaggers in their steps.

Meilin went first, telling each of them that it had been a good game and shaking their hands before crossing back to her side of the stage, waving to all of the adoring fan boys whose hearts she had stolen last year when she had debuted.

Treize came next, smug smirk on his face and his handshake was quick, a painful squeeze to prove his superiority.

Ralph was next, and he paused as he shook Wufei's hand, said something about better luck next team and laughed before walking away.

Zechs had some choice words for Heero, it seemed, taking his time shaking his hand and then laughing when Trowa not too subtly pushed him away.

And then Solo. His shoulder length blonde hair tucked behind his ears and his stupid Gunnar gaming glasses perched on his forehead. He shook hands with Trowa, with Heero, with Quatre.

He walked right past Duo without even looking at him to shake hands with Wufei and then walk away, the crowd still chanting his name.


	7. Chapter 7

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.

A/N #2: If you get the chance, you should totally watch some of the NA LCS Championships this weekend. Sunday at 3pm EST is the third place match, Monday at 3pm EST is the 1st/2nd place match. And if I post this in time… Saturday at 8pm EST is one of the semi-final matches (Cloud 9 vs. Curse). You can watch them on Youtube or Twitch - just search for "lol esports." I promise it's worth watching - even just one game - to understand just how big of a deal League of Legends really is!

A/N #3: I commissioned the amazing hasuyawwn to make awesome arts for this. Check out my tumblr (claraxbarton or a very dark corner) to see a totally badass Duo!

A/N #4: I have had... issues with recently. Please be aware that if suddenly my work starts disappearing from this site or is no longer updated, I have not stopped writing. You can find it posted on Archive of Our Own and/or linked on my tumblr.

A/N #5: Is anyone still reading the author's notes? If you are, THANK YOU so very, very much for these reviews. There are a lot of guest reviews, but also just a lot of reviews and I can't tell you what a happy nerd I am to know so many people are enjoying a fan fiction about my favorite dudes playing my favorite game. You all are amazing.

Warnings: Angst, language, violence, sex.

Pairings: PM me if you need to know. But I think it might be fairly obvious early on.

I PROMISE the DuoxJason isn't going to last. I promise, promise, promise it's not.

Seriously. Any chapter now it's going to be done with.

As you will soon see.

**Going the Distance**

Chapter Seven

"It was awful. Just God-awful and terrible. The Wachowski brothers should never make another movie. Ever again."

Duo groaned.

"No. _No_. It was awesome - Mila Kunis was so badass! And you can't stand here and tell me that Channing Tatum wasn't just… a fucking walking wet-dream."

Jason sighed and shook his head.

"Yeah, sure. He was hot. But it was a stupid movie, Duo. An action flick with barely any plot _at all_."

It was Monday night, Duo's official day off, and they had decided to go see a movie. _Jupiter Ascending_ had opened a few days before, and it had either been that, some kids movie, or _Fifty Shades of Gray_.

They had sat through the end of the credits, because Jason had a friend he had gone to college with who was a sound guy and Jason wanted to see his name up on the big screen, but were now walking towards Jason's car in the parking lot.

Duo bumped his shoulder against Jason's.

"But you got to sit in a dark theatre with me for two hours and stare at Channing's abs."

Jason ducked his head down and kissed Duo.

"I would have rather sat in a dark room and stared at _your_ abs for two hours."

Duo snorted.

"No. One, you couldn't see them in the dark. Two, you couldn't really see them because I am _not_ build like him. I'm a pro gamer. I don't live in a gym."

"You're still in decent shape," Jason said.

"Yeah, well, chalk that up to me doing sit ups and push ups whenever I get anxious. Which is pretty much all the time these days."

They reached Jason's car and got in.

"I watched a few highlights from your game on Saturday," Jason admitted as he pulled out into traffic.

"Really?" Yesterday, at the soccer hang-out, Jason had asked him how the game went but hadn't pressed Duo for details when he said they lost.

Relena had, not surprisingly, invited herself along, but instead of sitting on the sidelines to watch she insisted on playing. Some of the guys had bitched about it, a few had said she could play only if she was on the skins team, but in the end Jason had shut them up and Relena had played with the shirts squad and actually done a great job. She was quick, and knew how to pass the ball.

She also knew how to be obnoxious and returned all of the guys catcalls and bad mouthing with a fair amount of her own, so that by the end of the game, half of the guys appeared to be in love with her.

It had been a good distraction for Duo, who really didn't want to talk about the game or his brother. It had been a bit of a disappointment when Jason declined their offer to come back to the house for lunch, but he and Duo had at least scheduled this date for tonight.

"Yeah. It… I mean, I'm still not really sure what the fuck is going on in these games, but it looked close."

Duo sighed and leaned back in his seat.

"It was close," he agreed, and couldn't help but think of those moments in the game when things could have gone differently. If Solo hadn't gotten that triple kill - if Duo had been able to steal Baron - if Heero had been able to kill Zechs for first blood at the start of the game.

"Did you and Solo talk?"

Duo snorted derisively.

"No. He completely ignored me - didn't even shake my hand after the game. Didn't even look at me."

"I'm sorry."

Duo shrugged.

"It's whatever."

Jason laughed.

"It's 'whatever'? What does that even mean?"

"It means I can't change it and there's nothing I can do about the fact that my brother and I are going to meet up… every weekend for the next eight to ten months and he's going to ignore me."

"Except you could do something about it," Jason pointed out.

Duo turned to glare at him, but Jason's focus was on the road.

"What, exactly, can I do about it? You want me to send him flowers or something?"

Jason turned his head enough to arch an eyebrow at Duo.

"No, I think taking your anger out on me is probably the best way to handle the situation."

That shut Duo up.

Jason was right - being snarky wasn't going to help. And it wasn't as if Jason was trying to make it worse - he was trying to help, Duo knew. But Jason didn't quite get it. Didn't understand that Duo was in a sport where he was actually actively hated because of what he had 'done' to his brother and his brother ignored him at every step of the way - in public and in private. Jason didn't have the pressure to succeed for his team, the hatred of the community pressuring him to fail, the isolation of being the _only_ out player in the league and getting flack for his sexuality, his very existence - on top of flack for any and every mistake he made.

Jason didn't have a quarter to half a million people ready to call him out for _anything_ he did.

The rest of the car ride was in silence. Jason didn't even turn on the radio and Duo suspected it was because he was waiting for Duo to speak up, to apologize.

And by the time Jason pulled into the driveway of the MSG house Duo felt like an anxious, guilty asshole.

He turned to Jason.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I - I get that you're trying to help."

Jason didn't seem too impressed with the apology. He arched an eyebrow and remained silent.

"It's just - it's not that simple, Jason. It's not like I can just call him and say, hey, bro, can we just forget the last seven months happened?"

"Why not?" Jason challenged him.

"Why - what?"

Jason shrugged.

"Why can't you just call him and say that?"

Duo gave a bitter laugh and pulled out his phone.

"Okay. This is why."

He went into his contacts and selected Solo's name. He pressed send and held the phone up to his ear.

It rang, three times, and then there was a shift as the call was answered and immediately ended.

Duo held the phone out so that Jason could see.

"That's why," Duo said, and he was pretty damn proud of how even his voice sounded. "Because when I do try to call him _that_ happens."

Jason looked irritated.

"You could have just said that. You didn't have to -"

"Yeah, I did," Duo interrupted him. "You're on this whole thing about how this is on both of us - but I've fucking tried to fix this from my end. Short of becoming a stalked and showing up at the ZG house and begging him to forgive me, I'm not sure what the fuck else I can do."

Jason sighed.

"Are you picking a fight about this because you need to have an argument with me or because you're upset that he ignored you on Saturday?"

Duo forced himself to count to ten. And then realized that he had just forced himself to count to ten.

"I should go," he decided. "You've got work in the morning, and I don't want to have an argument with you - for any reason."

Jason stared at him, his gray eyes searching for something. Then he shrugged.

"Okay."

Duo wondered if he should try to kiss Jason, but his body language didn't suggest it would be welcome, so instead, he sighed and released his seat belt.

As he got out of the car, Jason reached out and grabbed his hand.

"Coffee on Wednesday morning?"

Duo nodded.

"Yeah. Of course."

Jason let him go and Duo closed the passenger door.

He watched Jason drive off before he walked up to the front door of the house.

_That_ had been a fucking catastrophe, he decided. He supposed it was something, the fact that Jason still wanted to get coffee on Wednesday morning, but this night had not gone the way Duo had wanted it to go.

He'd envisioned a dinner, a movie, a lot of sex and falling asleep with Jason again. He'd wanted an evening without thinking or talking about Solo. Jason cared, and that was good, Duo knew, but… he didn't get it.

He let himself into the house and debated going right up to his room and staring at the ceiling until he fell asleep or grabbing a pint of ice cream to take upstairs and eat his feelings for a while.

The decision was taken away from him.

Relena pounced on him as soon as he walked in the door.

"Duo! Come join us!"

"What?"

"We're all watching The Watchmen - Quatre's never seen it."

"By all of us you mean?"

"All of us. Wufei, Sally, Heero, Trowa, Quatre, me - and you. Come on."

Duo sighed. He really wasn't up spending three hours with Wufei, who had spent all of their Sunday practice cranky and growling, upset over his own performance on Saturday; or with Heero and Trowa, who had spent the practice in their usual Heero-Trowa cone of silence and who Duo was still pissed at for making fun of his Pokemon boxers.

"Big blue penis…" Relena said in a sing-song voice. "You look like you could use a few hours of staring at Billy Crudup and Matthew Goode."

That part didn't sound so bad, and Duo did really like the movie.

"We've also got popcorn."

"Yeah, okay."

Relena grabbed his hand and pulled him along with her into the living room.

Sally and Wufei were seated on one of the couches, both stretched out yet somehow keeping space between them - it was clear that both set a fairly high value on personal space.

Relena sat down on the couch where Quatre sat, while Heero and Trowa occupied the third couch.

Duo figured he'd be about as welcome to join Wufei and Sally as Ralph would be, and there wasn't much room left on Heero and Trowa's couch from the way they were sitting. Then again, Relena looked like she was trying very hard to invade Quatre's personal space, propping a pillow against his thigh and laying her head on it before stretching out.

Which left the floor as Duo's only safe option.

He sighed. This night… Hell. This _year_.

But as he started to look around for where to sit on the floor, Heero and Trowa moved apart, wordlessly shifting on their couch to make room for Duo to sit between them.

"Thanks," he said.

Heero shrugged.

"No problem," Trowa told him.

Duo sat down cross-legged on the couch, Trowa just a few inches to his left and Heero a few inches over on his right.

Trowa passed him the bowl of popcorn.

"Mind holding onto this?"

Duo shrugged and propped it on his crossed ankles - probably it was a little inappropriate to put it directly over his crotch, as delightful as _that_ mental image was.

"Okay, now that we're all settled - onto big blue cock time!" Relena commanded and, with a roll of his eyes, Wufei started the movie.

"How was your date?" Trowa asked Duo as the credits started.

Duo looked over at him. Trowa hadn't really ever asked about Jason, in fact he had seemed ready to back up Heero every time he made a snide remark about Duo wasting his time or not focusing.

He shrugged one shoulder.

"Fine until we got into a fight about Solo," he admitted.

Trowa frowned slightly.

"I'm sorry," he said, and sounded genuine.

Duo sighed.

"Yeah, me too."

He leaned back on the couch and turned his attention to the movie. He put thoughts of Jason and Solo to the back of his mind. There would be plenty of time to beat himself up about both of them later.

-o-

There was something warm and hard against Duo's cheek.

He woke up slowly, adjusting to his surroundings and realizing he was still on the couch. But someone had put a blanket over him and he'd moved. Instead of sitting in the middle of the couch, he was -

_Shit._

That hard warm thing under Duo's cheek was Heero's shoulder, and Duo had curled up against him, knee resting on Heero's thigh and his entire body pressed against Heero's left side and -

_Shit. Shit. Shit._

Duo slowly opened his eyes and looked around.

The living room was still dark, but it looked like everyone else had gone to bed. On the flatscreen TV, the movie had ended and it looked like the commentary was on, the volume incredibly low.

And judging from the way that Heero hadn't moved at all, from his even heartbeat and his deep breathing and - soft snoring? - Heero was asleep.

Duo gently eased away from him, grateful beyond measure that Heero was asleep, that Heero hadn't been awake to feel Duo practically crawling into his lap and cuddling with him.

"Have a nice nap?"

_Fucking kill me now_, was Duo's only thought when he turned to see Trowa still on the couch, a smirk on his face and his green eyes glittering in the dark.

"Er, yeah." Duo rubbed his face. "His shoulder doesn't make the best pillow, though."

Trowa chuckled softly.

"Tell me about it," he groused.

Duo arched an eyebrow at that. He was curious what exactly Trowa meant by that statement. But even more so -

"Please tell me no one else saw me sleeping on him," he begged Trowa. For the life of him, Duo didn't even remember _when_ he had fallen asleep, much less when he had shifted over to lean on Heero.

"I think Relena did," Trowa said, clearly amused by Duo's horror. "But everyone else called it a night before you two started snoring too loudly.

Duo flushed.

"How loudly?"

"Not that loudly," Trowa assured him. He nodded towards Heero, still asleep, still softly snoring. "Just about like that. You two were pretty cute, actually," Trowa continued. "You actually had your arm around him at one point, before I put the blanket on you."

Duo buried his face in his hands.

"Oh God no."

Trowa nodded.

"Yep - but my favorite part?"

"Please don't tell me," Duo begged.

"A few minutes ago, you tried to move away and Heero pulled you back. You just made this kind of grumbling noise and settled back against him."

"This is so embarrassing," Duo muttered.

"Not for me," Trowa remarked and ate a piece of what had to be at best room temperature popcorn. "Watching you two was much more interesting than watching the movie."

"You're evil," Duo informed him, but then he got off the couch and stretched.

Trowa just continued to smirk, and Duo thought it really was criminally unfair for him to look that sexy when he had that expression on his face.

About as criminal as it was for Duo to be staring at him and wondering what it would feel like to kiss Trowa when he'd just had a fight with Jason a few hours ago and - Duo was a mess. A fucking mess.

"Ready for our scrimmage against Dignitas tomorrow?" Trowa asked.

Duo shrugged.

Like most teams, TGW practiced in a variety of ways. They tried to schedule at least two five hour blocks of time each week for scrimmages against other pro teams, and spent the rest of their practice times split between Solo Queue, custom games, and Team Builder games.

They hadn't faced Dignitas yet - either in scrimmages or in a real game - and Duo was curious to see how they would stack up against the team.

"More ready for that than my interview on Wednesday," he muttered.

Trowa gave him a sympathetic look.

"You knew it was coming - all of us had to go through it when we joined or did something worthy of Youtube attention."

Duo rolled his eyes but had to smile.

"I watched Wufei's interview - dear God. I thought he was going to pull off his headset and throw it at the monitor."

Trowa nodded, his smirk turning into a full fledged smile.

"He was pissed for _days_ after that interview. He couldn't believe Thorin dug up that info on Wufei losing to Meilin Long when she used to play top lane back in her Solo Queue days."

Duo shook his head. It had been hilarious, watching his team mate completely lose his cool over being reminded that Meilin, the current support for ZG, had made a routine habit of stomping all over Wufei when they played against each other in the top lane.

"Worried he'll ask about Solo?"

Duo gave him a look.

"Tell me in what world he _wouldn't_ ask about Solo?"

Trowa shrugged.

"You could go on an armed robbery spree tomorrow and that might distract him from asking about your brother."

Duo chuckled, but before he could offer a comment, Heero woke up.

"What time is it?" He asked, stretching on the couch and looking ridiculously adorable and slightly cranky.

Trowa smiled fondly at him.

"About two in the morning."

Heero nodded and looked ready to curl back up and go back to sleep, but Trowa stood up and pulled Heero to his feet.

"No. If I let you sleep down here you're just going to bitch about muscle cramps tomorrow," Trowa said.

Heero glared at him, but Trowa returned the look steadily until Heero shrugged.

"Fine." He looked over at Duo. "Sorry about your date."

And with that, the two left.

Duo stared after them. Every time he thought he had them figured out, something weird had to happen.

-o-

"It's going to be fine. Just don't mention the arrest or the fight backstage and everything will be fine."

Duo glared at Relena.

"Pretty sure Thorin will bring up the arrest - and of course I'm not going to mention the fight backstage. I'm not an idiot."

Relena gave him a look, but refrained from arguing that point. She turned a critical eye to his clothing.

"I like the team jacket - and the black t-shirt looks good on you. Hm. Track pants? Not jeans?"

Duo rolled his eyes.

"I'm going to be sitting at my computer - it's a Skype interview. He's not going to see my pants unless I get up and dry hump the monitor."

"Don't do that either," Quatre spoke up, his only words of advice thus far as the three of them sat down in the kitchen to talk about the interview that would take place shortly.

"Thanks," Duo muttered, "I was on the fence about how appropriate that would be, but _now_ that you've said no…"

Quatre nudged his shoulder.

"Duo. It's going to be fine. Thorin is a fair guy and OnGamer's just wants a good interview - they don't want to bait you into saying something stupid. You just need to keep your cool and only talk about what you want."

Duo nodded in agreement. He knew that, on some level, this interview wasn't destined to go badly.

But, considering the way everything else in his life went, he wasn't about to walk into it feeling confident. Especially not after that morning.

Coffee with Jason had been… tense, to say the least. Jason still thought he was being kind of childish about this whole issue with Solo - he had actually suggested that Duo needed to just put it behind him and move on. Which would be great, if Duo wasn't reminded of it _every day_, and if Duo didn't actually love his brother and miss him. Jason had also said that he couldn't make the games this weekend - he was a tax analyst, and now that it was February he had to work on Saturday and had made plans with a few college buddies for Friday night.

Duo was fairly confident he was being punished by Jason for not admitting that he was wrong, and while it would have been nice to have Jason come to the games, Duo actually felt guilty for realizing that what he regretted the most was the missed opportunity for sex after his games.

Which made him realize that either Jason wasn't the only one looking for just casual - or that Duo really needed to think about what he wanted out of this relationship and how this relationship was even supposed to work.

Jason worked every weekday from eight until five, sometimes six, and now Saturdays. While Duo didn't mind getting up early a few days each week to meet him for coffee, Jason had shot down the idea of spending the night on Monday when they had first scheduled their date and implied that he didn't really want to wake up in a bed that wasn't his own on a day when he had to work.

"But also, don't forget to mention how excited you are for the challenges this year… how much you want to get better and how much you love the team… be positive," Relena added.

Duo nodded.

"Yeah. Of course."

Relena checked her phone.

"Okay, you've got about ten minutes. Go to the bathroom, take a piss, check your teeth, make sure -"

"Chill out, Relena," Duo interrupted and glared. "I can do this."

But he followed her advice, going upstairs to take a piss, wash his hands, brush his teeth again and make sure his hair wasn't a mess.

He remembered Solo's OnGamer's interview, when he had first gone pro two years ago. He remembered the way Solo kept fiddling with his cross, the pendent necklace that matched the one Duo wore around his own neck. Duo had teased him about that afterwards, had called him a dork and Solo had pulled him into a headlock and called him an annoying little bastard. But Solo's interview had been good. He was confident, cocky as hell at times, but he was also just self-conscious enough and self-deprecating enough with his jokes that you couldn't help but smile with him, laugh with him, and generally fall in love with him during that hour long interview.

Duo was under no illusions about his own upcoming hour of torture.

Solo had joined ZG two years ago and been instantly hailed as a master of the mid lane, a brilliant pick up and a fan favorite from day one. Thorin, the interviewer for OnGamer's, had managed to sneak in a few personal questions, about Solo's struggles to make it as a pro-gamer, but even those questions had only made Solo seem like even more of a hero, had earned him even more fans.

Duo, on the other hand, was the fan favorite of no one - hell, the one fanboy he _did _have seemed to be losing interest - and he had been called a terrible player and a bad decision since day one. He had everything to prove and he had no doubt that Thorin could just close his eyes, throw a dart, and find an interesting and painful question to ask Duo about his personal or professional life.

As he left the bathroom he saw Heero and Trowa leaving their shared room.

He offered them a weak smile.

The scrimmage yesterday had been amazing - Duo didn't want to start feeling overconfident, but it really felt like TGW was starting to gel, and he and the bottom duo had made some amazing plays together.

"Want us to hang out in the game room or give you space?" Trowa asked.

Duo was startled by the question, by the consideration.

He thought back to the interviews he had watched. Sometimes the subjects had their teammates in the same room, practicing or goofing off behind them, and Duo wondered if he would feel more relaxed or more uptight if Heero and Trowa were there.

"I downloaded a karaoke app on my phone," Heero spoke up and held it out as proof. "If things get too awkward I can turn it on and start to sing."

It took Duo a few seconds to realize Heero was joking, and then he started to laugh.

"Oh my god - please - _please_," Duo gasped. The mental image of Heero standing up, starting up karaoke on his phone and breaking out into song - all with his typically expressionless face - it was too much for him to handle.

Trowa smirked and Heero's lips twitched upwards into a satisfied grin.

Duo wiped away tears and pulled himself together.

"I don't think that will be necessary," he decided, "but yeah, you guys can hang out."

As Duo settled into his chair downstairs in the game room, he tried to calm his nerves - picturing Heero singing karaoke was surprisingly effective - and when Trowa and Heero logged onto their accounts a few seats down from him, Duo could see them out of the corner of his eye and he felt… reassured by their presence.

He put on his headset and opened up Skype and waited for the call.

-o-

"So, a lot of fans are curious, I'm sure you know, about your relationship with your brother."

For the first twenty minutes the interview had gone well. Thorin asked Duo about his Solo Queue days, the Challenger team he had been on two years ago but had been dropped from when the team made the professional league last year because he was too young to play. But now, it seemed, it was time for the hard questions.

Duo shifted his headset a little, adjusting it over his ears and buying himself some time.

"When you say fans, do you mean _my _fans? Because as far as I know, I don't have any." He went for a joke.

Thorin laughed.

"I'm sure you've got one or two somewhere out there," Thorin consoled him. "But, I meant fans of the game in general."

Duo shrugged.

"Well, I mean, Solo's always been my brother and he still is. Now he's just also the competition." He felt that was fairly neutral.

"Have things changed between you? Since you joined the LCS?" Thorin pressed. Duo appreciated the fact that he didn't come out and ask about the assault and subsequent arrest - but then again, maybe he still would.

Duo shrugged again.

"Not really. Solo's always said I'm his annoying little brother and I'm pretty sure he hasn't changed his opinion of me all that much. Especially after I stole his blue buff on Saturday."

Thorin chuckled at that and Duo relaxed. Maybe that would be it.

"I'm sure you're aware that most Zodiac Gaming fans blame you for the fact that ZG came in sixth last year and had to win the promotional-relegation tournament at the beginning of this season just to stay in the league."

Or Thorin could blindside Duo with that.

Heero and Trowa had turned in their chairs to look at him. Even though they were in the middle of a game - Duo could see their screens behind them - both turned to look at him. Heero held up his phone and Duo had to fight to keep a straight face.

Duo tried to think of a joke to deflect the question, but struggled. He sighed.

"Here's the thing. I'm sure a lot of people who watch this interview hope I bad mouth my brother or ZG. Or maybe they hope I make a total ass of myself some other way - and maybe I will. But I love my brother. I respect him as an amazing League player and he's my hero - always has been. But what happened last year - his arrest - he did that. Those were his actions and I get the motivation, but I didn't do it. It sucks that ZG fell apart over those three weeks when he was suspended. It sucks that they rely on him that much to carry them to victory. But that's not on me either. I'm glad ZG made it back into the League. Solo is an amazing player and he belongs in the highest level of competitive play."

Thorin nodded, as if he had expected that answer.

"And the rest of ZG? You speak highly of your brother, but what about the rest of that team?"

Duo shrugged.

"Meilin is amazing - everyone knows that. I mean, she's no Trowa Barton," Duo looked away to smirk at Trowa, who rolled his eyes in response, "but she's definitely one of the best support players in the league."

"Zechs?"

Duo shrugged.

"He's cocky. Which is great for me as a Jungler because I get to punish him for it."

Thorin chuckled.

"Yes, I think we all remember that moment in your last game when he got a little too greedy trying to chase down Heero Yuy and you killed him."

Duo nodded.

"Yep. I think my team has a lot to prove - to ourselves, the fans and other teams. But we're going to prove it. There is a crazy amount of talent on our team. Trowa, Heero, Wufei - _Quatre_ in the mid lane. Any team would be lucky to have any one of these guys. And we've got all of them."

"And you," Thorin added.

Duo shrugged.

"Yeah. And me. I bring style points to the team, obviously."

"As well as drama. I have to ask about the video - I'm sure you've seen how viral it is already."

"Video?" Duo repeated stupidly. He looked over at Heero and Trowa, but they shrugged.

"It was posted this morning. The video of the altercation backstage between ZG and TGW last weekend."

Duo had to stare.

"Right."

"So my question has to be, will your team be able to get past all of this bad blood and the distractions of your conflict with ZG to be competitive?"

-o-

Up Next: Updates for _Entanglement_, _After Happily Ever After_ and… something new and different and really exciting!


	8. Chapter 8

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.

Warnings: Angst, language, violence, sex.

Pairings: PM me if you need to know. But I think it might be fairly obvious early on.

**Going the Distance**

Chapter Eight

Solo used to say that Duo's biggest fear was that he would turn invisible and no one would ever notice him again. Solo used to tease him about it, used to pretend he couldn't see Duo sometimes or hear him and it had been frustrating and sometimes scary.

As a kid, Duo had liked attention, had craved affection and he'd clung to Solo like a shadow and yeah, he'd been afraid of being forgotten or of being invisible.

He wasn't afraid of that anymore, in fact, he wished he _would_ just become invisible.

Reddit had exploded after his interview, after his stumbling attempt to gloss over the video and ignore Thorin's damned unfair question.

The interview had been live, and Duo made Relena promise that he would never, ever again have to do a live interview like that unless it was on the mainstage, after winning a game and she had agreed, her mouth set in a grim line and it was clear she was just as pissed as he was.

Everyone was - practice had been tense and even though they weren't upset with each other, their communication had been off and it had not been a good day.

Hilde had called later that night, after midnight, and Duo had sat on the back porch for hours talking to her, listening to her dissect the Valkyries and try to figure out how to make the team better and Duo had never been more grateful for a distraction.

It meant that he went into the Friday afternoon games tired and restless, but it didn't look like anyone else had slept very well either.

Despite that, they won their game against Curse and, miraculously, they beat Team Solo Mid on Saturday as well.

It should have gone a long way towards shutting up everyone who doubted Duo's ability to play in the pros, who doubted his ability to focus and who thought TGW had just been a flash in the pan last year.

It should have, but it didn't.

Zodiac Gaming released a statement on Twitter about the video, saying they hoped TGW learned to channel their aggression into their gameplay and didn't try to harass ZG anymore.

It seemed that everyone conveniently forgot the incident that had sparked the almost-fight: Ralph groping Hilde onstage.

Reddit, Youtube and Twitter seemed to be full of Duo and TGW haters, and winning games seemed to only upset them more.

At least Duo still had his trifecta of fans, Hilde, NoName333 and Perfect Soldier01 posted a fair amount on Reddit, pointing out the success of Duo and TGW, but three fans among a quarter million enemies wasn't all that comforting.

By the time Sunday morning came around, Duo was desperate for the soccer game and the chance to hang out with Jason, away from League.

Relena didn't come with him this time, which broke a few hearts, but Duo was grateful for that as well. He liked Relena, a lot, but he wanted to get away from everything for an hour, and Relena was, unfortunately, part of that everything.

Jason greeted him with a one-armed hug, like he usually did, and Duo didn't try to linger in his embrace no matter how much he wanted to.

The game was good, and it felt great to sweat, to run and shout and yeah, he had a few insults thrown his way, but they were good natured and he was able to toss out a few insults of his own, because he didn't have to worry about sponsors or rules or fans or anything.

After the game, everyone drifted away and Duo and Jason walked back towards the ZG house together.

"You want to stay for lunch?" Duo asked him.

Jason shrugged one shoulder.

"Should I? You guys start practice after lunch, right?"

Duo nodded.

"Yeah, but -"

"I don't want to distract you," Jason said.

Duo rolled his eyes.

"I'm thinking lunch with my boyfriend isn't going to melt my brain for the rest of the day."

"What about your team?"

"Huh?"

"They aren't the biggest fans of mine," Jason pointed out.

"Relena loves you. And Quatre doesn't have anything against you."

"What about Heero and Trowa? Wufei?"

"Fuck those guys. This has nothing to do with them."

Jason looked at him steadily.

"I don't want to cause problems with you and your teammates."

"You won't! It's just _lunch_. If they can't handle the sight of two guys talking over cold cuts then -"

"Then what?" Jason challenged. "You'll quit?"

"No, of course not."

Jason nodded.

"Then maybe you should focus on not antagonising them. If this means that much to you…"

"You're saying I have to pick you or my job?"

"No, I'm not saying that at all. I'm saying that I'm in the way of your job and you want your job a lot more."

Duo stared at him and he knew he should be a lot more upset about this, should be angry that Jason was dumping him, that Jason was suggesting that Duo more or less hide his sexuality from his team so that he didn't ruffle any feathers, but Duo felt strangely disconnected. Maybe this was step one towards invisibility?

"Can I… still come hang out on Sundays?" he asked and he winced when he heard how pathetic his voice sounded.

Jason looked at him for a long moment.

"You'd better," he finally said, "or I'll have to listen to Mike bitch about me chasing away the only decent mid-fielder we have."

Duo appreciated the attempt at a joke and he chuckled.

"Wouldn't want that to happen," he said.

It felt awkward, when they reached the street in front of the MSG house, and Duo wondered what he should do.

With Alex, the break-up had been pretty quick and very clean - Alex came back from the hospital, packed up his shit, told Duo to fuck off when Duo tried to talk to him and that was that.

Jason held out his hand and Duo stared at it for a minute before realizing.

"Oh." It felt weird, to end this on a handshake, but Duo supposed it was a lot better than ending it on a trip to the hospital.

"See you next week?" Jason asked as he let go.

Duo nodded.

"Next week."

He watched Jason walk away and he sighed. So much for that sex Duo planned on having ever again.

-o-

"You realize that we're in fourth place," Relena announced at dinner on Thursday.

"You realize it's only week four," Wufei shot back and Duo rolled his eyes. The guy was full of snark even when someone was giving him _good_ news.

Of course, Duo couldn't really blame him for his crap attitude these days. Duo had received a majority of the negative attention after the video and the interview, but there were plenty of Reddit trolls commenting on the fact that Wufei had attacked his former teammate and Ralph's comment about not being able to get Wufei on ZG.

To Duo's knowledge, no one had come out and asked Wufei about that, about whether or not he really had wanted to jump ship with Ralph, and Duo felt pretty confident no one would.

"Only six weeks to go," Quatre shrugged. "If we can finish top four this Spring Split I think we'll be in excellent position to finish top three in the Summer."

"You really want to go to Worlds," Duo shook his head at Quatre's enthusiasm. "But there is a _long_ time between now and September."

Quatre nodded.

"Exactly. Which is why we need to work together and put all of this drama behind us." Quatre drew in a deep breath. "I know it's rough, for all of us, but especially for you, Duo."

Duo wanted to shrug that off, but then again, there weren't Reddit threads with thousands of posts about Quatre's inability to play League because he sucked cock.

"We need to focus, all of us. We won our games last weekend and I want us to win them again this weekend. We're four and two right now, but that's only one game ahead of Complexity. We have six weeks until the All-Star break. I want us to do everything we can to play well, but we also need to work on our PR. We can't be the most hated team in the League, or it's going to start affecting our sponsorships."

Duo hadn't really thought about that.

"How do we work on our PR?" Heero asked.

Quatre looked over at Relena.

She tucked her hair behind her ears and cleared her throat. It was clear she was about to deliver a rehearsed speech that _none_ of them wanted to hear.

"We need to work on the image of the team as a whole, and also on your individual images. Quatre and I are going to do a live interview next week with IGN, and that should be a good first step. Also next week, there is an MLG event in Chicago on Thursday and I want Duo and Wufei there, at the League of Legends booth, signing autographs and being _nice_ and not answering a single question about ZG." She looked at both of them until they nodded, Wufei with a scowl on his face. "Then, in two weeks, TGW will host a twenty-four hour stream event. All of us - Sally, me, you guys - will take shifts playing the game with the community. We're going to be _nice_ and funny and it's going to be streamed on Twitch."

"We have to play. With the community?" Wufei asked, a sneer on his face.

Duo thought he was being a bit dramatic about it, but he was pretty uneasy himself.

Relena nodded.

"We need to make ourselves available, to interact with the fans and we need to try to change the story and get away from all of this drama."

"What about us?" Trowa asked, gesturing to himself and Heero.

Relena actually smirked.

"I'm so glad you asked, Trowa!" She left the room and then returned a moment later with two black boxes. "You and Heero are Gunnar Gaming's newest models!"

She handed each of them one of the boxes, and Duo had to chuckle at the mildly disgusted look on Trowa's face. Heero only shrugged and opened his box.

Duo had to stare, as Heero put the yellow tinted gaming glasses on. He looked… stupidly sexy.

Relena was staring as well, but she looked over at Duo and winked before turning her attention to Trowa.

Very reluctantly, Trowa put on the other pair of glasses.

Duo knew he was a nerd, had known it about himself for a very, very long time. But something about Heero and Trowa in those tinted glasses… they were criminally sexy already, but the glasses made them look even more so.

"You two will be at the Gunnar booth next week at Gamestorm in Portland."

Heero frowned slightly.

"That will affect our practice schedule."

Quatre shrugged.

"It will. You guys will be gone Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, but our games aren't until Saturday and we'll practice each night, after you guys are done at the convention."

Trowa sighed, and Duo couldn't help but be amused by how much he resented being a poster boy for Gunnar Gaming.

"Is there going to be a photo shoot?" Duo had to ask.

Trowa glared at him.

"Yes, I'm so glad you asked," Relena said and Trowa turned his glare on her. "But that's three weeks away. Which means you've got between now and then to stop looking like you want to rip those Gunnars off and crush them," Relena added with an arched eyebrow in Trowa's direction.

"It will make my headset too tight," Trowa grumbled.

Duo could sympathize with him. When Solo had first gotten his contract with Gunnar he hadn't wanted to wear the glasses while he played, but he had adjusted to it and now wore them all the damn time.

"You'll get over it," Relena said, completely without sympathy.

Heero turned to Trowa with a smirk.

"At least they won't make you wear the headset during the photoshoot," he consoled his partner.

"You're just loving this, aren't you?" Trowa shot back and Heero nodded, still smirking.

Trowa rolled his eyes and looked away, but there was a slight curve of his lips that made Duo feel irrationally jealous.

He was glad they had each other, glad their friendship was so strong and that they had such great synergy in the game, but it didn't change the fact that he envied them and wished he had someone like that as well.

"Okay. That's it for tonight. Get some sleep. We leave at ten in the morning for the studio, and we're going to be playing against Cloud 9 and Complexity again, so let's make sure we're on top of our game."

Duo tried to sleep. He laid in bed for two hours, tossing and turning and thinking about all of the ways that he and Wufei could seriously fuck up the MLG event.

Eventually, Duo gave up on sleep and decided to head downstairs and play a little.

Trowa was already there, a mug of milk beside his right hand, sitting in front of his computer and scowling at it.

Duo had to laugh, as he watched Trowa try to adjust the glasses and his headset to make them fit better.

Trowa heard him and turned to glare.

"Sorry," Duo apologized. "Here, let me show you a trick Solo does."

Trowa sat still and allowed Duo to adjust his headset, changing the size and then putting it back on his ears a little higher, so it rested on the glasses frames instead of pinching them against Trowa's skull.

"How does that feel?"

Trowa turned his head a few times experimentally.

"Better," he allowed.

"And you can see better too, right? I mean, the glasses are actually kind of awesome."

Trowa arched an eyebrow.

"Do you want them?"

Duo snorted.

"Nah. I mean, I wouldn't mind wearing a pair, but it's you and Heero they want to model them. I don't think any company is going to be beating down the MSG door asking for _me_ to represent their gear. But you and Heero… obviously they want you two showing off their stuff."

"It's going to die down eventually, Duo."

"You think so?" Duo shrugged. "I'm not so sure. All this shit started nine months ago and it still hasn't gone away."

Trowa clearly didn't know what to say to that, so Duo waved him off.

"It's fine. I just don't want it to drag down the team."

"You get that part of being a team means being there with you," Trowa said.

Duo sighed.

"That's not going to help anyone. If everyone on TGW starts getting the kind of hate mail I do, it's going to sink the team. Relena's go the right idea, sending you and Heero off, her and Quatre doing things together - containing me and Wufei at the least important things. We're the toxic elements on the team. The rest of you guys can go out there and make TGW look good and maybe that will be enough."

Duo doubted it, but he had to hold out hope for something.

Trowa looked ready to argue the point, and Duo jumped in before he could.

"I'm going to grab a drink, need a refill on your milk?"

"No," Trowa said with a slightly irritated sigh and he turned back to his computer.

Duo decided to go the milk route as well, and when he came back into the game room he hesitated before logging on.

He could log onto his main account, TGW Deathscythe, but whatever he did would be available for anyone to see, and he didn't feel like being a try-hard at the moment. He also really didn't want to deal with seeing Solo's name pop up on his Friend's list if his brother was on.

So, instead, Duo logged onto his other account, the one he had made back in October when he got sick of dealing with hate messages every time he logged onto his main account.

DeathFeedsMe wasn't an account he used often, especially not since he had joined TGW, but his stats on the account were still good, still put him in the highest level of competitive play in Solo Queue, and Duo wasn't surprised that he was matched up with a few names he recognized, including COL Prolly. He had played with and against the mid laner a few times, over the years in Solo Queue, and he had great respect for him as a competitor. There were two other players on Duo's team whose names were vaguely familiar, they weren't pro players, but he had encountered them in Solo Queue before. Those two called the bot lane and locked in, earning a slightly snarky comment from Prolly in the lobby chat about instalocking, but their fifth teammate said he was fine with the Top Lane.

Duo frowned as he looked at the name. NoName3.

Was it just a coincidence that his name was so similar to NoName333, or could this guy be Duo's Reddit fan?

Duo locked in Gragas for his jungle pick, which earned a few complaints from the bottom lane, and Prolly asked him if he had been watching Korean streams or Duo Maxwell play it.

It made Duo chuckle, because he had been playing it a few times, on his main account, in Solo Queue, and he felt a little vindicated at the knowledge that Prolly thought he was a strong enough competitor to care what he had played.

_Good to know I'm not the only Duo fanboy_, NoName3 typed in.

_He's pretty cool_, Prolly agreed and Duo felt like he'd entered an alternate universe.

It had to be the same NoName from Reddit - a guy who was good enough at this game to get matched up with Prolly on his main account and Duo on his other account. Not only that, but Prolly thought he was pretty cool?

The game loaded and Duo made himself stop internally cheering and focus on the game. They didn't know who he really was, but Duo didn't want to let his team down either way.

As the game loaded, Duo looked to see who they were playing against. Of course.

ZG SoloWinsGG and ZG Ralphie were on the other team.

The game was hard, and it was long - over an hour - and Duo died more than he should have, but in the end, due to some damned good gameplay from Prolly and from NoName who _destroyed_ the Top Lane, their team won.

In the post game lobby there were GGs all around, and Prolly told Solo and Ralph to expect a similar loss tomorrow when they faced off against Complexity.

Duo felt better, after the game, after beating Ralph and after helping Prolly kill Solo eight times, but despite the fact that it was almost two in the morning, he wasn't ready to call it a night yet.

He started up a new game lobby, but then he received a notification from NoName3, asking him if he wanted to duo.

He accepted instantly, the guy was a monster in the top lane, and Duo wondered who he really was, wondered if he was another pro like Duo, playing on a second account so he didn't have to worry about getting called out.

But Duo didn't ask, he didn't really want to admit who _he_ was, so it didn't seem fair to expect NoName3 to confess his real name - if he even was a pro. He could just be an incredible amateur.

They played two more games that night, winning both handily, and by the second game Duo and NoName3 were feeling confident enough to start roaming the map together and pulling off outrageous plays that Duo knew Wufei would never attempt with him.

Duo called it a night at four in the morning, sending NoName3 a friend request before he logged off.

He noticed Trowa was still at his computer, and felt a little guilty when he realized he had completely tuned out the presence of his teammate. He probably should have played with Trowa, should have spent the night practicing on his main account, but Duo shoved his guilt aside.

He'd had fun, playing with NoName3, and he had been practicing. Maybe it was selfish not to play with his teammate when Trowa was right there, but Trowa hadn't asked him to play either.

"Night," he said when he shut down his gear.

"I'm right behind you," Trowa said and shut his own computer down. "I didn't mean to stay up this late."

Duo nodded.

"Yeah, me either. Still, we've got six hours until the drill sergeant drags us out of bed. Plenty of time for beauty sleep."

Trowa sniffed.

"As if I need it."


	9. Chapter 9

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.

Warnings: Angst, language, violence, sex.

Pairings: PM me if you need to know. But I think it might be fairly obvious early on.

Going the Distance

Chapter Nine

Duo imagined this was what it felt like to be in a relationship and cheat on your partner.

Every other night he found himself staying up late, after TGW practices ended, switching over to his second account and logging on in the hopes that NoName3 would be on and ready to play.

It was weird, Duo knew that, and it probably wasn't a good thing that he found himself constantly comparing Wufei to NoName3 and wishing that his teammate would just trust him a fraction of the amount that NoName3 trusted him.

At least he hadn't tried to get NoName3 to join him on a Skype call yet, mostly because Trowa stayed up late playing as well, and Duo didn't want to go down the path of Trowa overhearing Duo throw himself at a stranger online.

Not that Duo would actually throw himself at NoName3 – he would just casually mention that he was the best top laner Duo had ever played with and beg him to please help Duo come up with a plan to get Wufei onto a different team and try out for TGW.

Yeah. He definitely couldn't let Trowa overhear that, and he also didn't want to risk NoName3 hearing his voice and figuring out who he was. Duo was enjoying their gaming too much. He liked the lack of pressure – he and NoName3 were constantly matched up against pros and the games were hard, hell, they had even been matched up against Heero one night, but they had yet to lose a game together, and that was an incredible feeling.

Not that TGW was going poorly.

With only four weeks left in the Spring Split, TGW was in tied for third place with ZG, only two games behind second place Cloud 9, and it was kind of amazing to think that TGW had gone from a really disastrous first game to this – a shot at making the Spring Playoffs and a chance to go to the All Star Invitational Tournament in Rio.

Duo wasn't holding out much hope for that, despite the fact that Quatre clearly was – the blond gave daily pep talks about keeping their focus and their dedication up, telling them that they were only a few games away from the Playoffs, only a few weeks from the chance to compete on the International Stage.

And it would be incredible, Duo acknowledged to himself, if TGW made it to All Stars, but to do that they would have to take down ZG, Cloud 9 and Team Solo Mid. Those were three ridiculously strong competitors.

All the same, Duo felt a little hope creep in, especially when the 'Duo Maxwell Blows' Reddit thread wasn't updated for three days. Sad, that three days without being insulted was the highlight of his season thus far.

But it seemed that the PR campaign Relena had engineered was paying off – her and Quatre had delivered a great interview on IGN, Duo and Wufei had managed to play it cool and not embarrass the team at MLG, and Heero and Trowa had come back from GameStorm with a slew of fangirls and enough attention on Reddit that Wufei started to walk around the house calling them Playmates.

Which only gave Duo really dirty mental images of Heero and Trowa wearing bunny ears and fishnets and maybe it was weird, but in his head at least, it was pretty damn sexy.

So phase one of the PR campaign had been successful, and TGW continued to win games – they had lost one last weekend, but won their other game and their record was still amazing, still good enough to be tired for third.

But phase two was just beginning.

"Okay, tomorrow we start at noon," Relena said. She had assembled everyone in the kitchen, around the center island counter and she had a legal pad in front of her with charts drawn on it.

"Quatre and I will take the first four hours," Relena said and Quatre made a face.

"Can't I do the second four hours?" He begged.

Relena glared at him.

"No. You and I are starting this off because you're the face of the team and because I'm not going to spend my whole day waiting around to embarrass myself on League."

Duo laughed at that. He was actually pretty excited to see Relena play, and he was looking forward to watching her.

"Wufei and Sally will take the second round," Relena continued. "And then Duo and Heero."

Duo arched an eyebrow.

"Not Heero and Trowa together?"

"Nope. The Playmates are going to spread their wings and share the love," Relena said and both Trowa and Heero glared at her. Neither had much appreciation for the nickname Wufei had given them, or the fact that Relena and Duo had started to use it as well.

"Trowa and Quatre will take the fourth round, Duo and Wufei will do the fifth, and then Sally and I will finish off the last round."

"I still think this is a waste of our time," Wufei muttered and crossed his arms.

Duo rolled his eyes, but refrained from commenting.

"It's not," Quatre insisted. "We've seen a decrease in negative press since we started doing these things and our website has had increased activity as well – even the team merchandise sells are up."

"You think tomorrow will help even more?" Duo had to ask. While he didn't share Wufei's loathing for the idea of a twenty-four community live stream, Duo was still feeling a little anxious about the entire thing. It would be way too easy to have some troll jump on and start giving him shit about Solo or ZG or being gay or – or anything, really.

Relena nodded.

"Definitely. The fans have been really supportive of the idea – we've had a lot of people post of the forum trying to reserve spots and I really think this is our chance to show the community how great TGW is. I mean, you guys are awesome – you're good at League but you're also just cool. This is our chance to prove that." Relena gave Wufei a hard look. "This is also something that MSG wants us to do. So if anyone has that big of an issue with it, we need to take it up with management."

Wufei glared back at her.

"Don't threaten me, I said I would do it."

"Right, well, tomorrow is going to be a long day, but then we've got practice as usual on Thursday," Quatre reminded them. "We have a scrimmage with the Valkyries scheduled and I want us to really be on top of our game. This weekend is the last weekend before Super Week and we need to try to get a lead over ZG."

Duo nodded in agreement.

Super Week had always been his favorite week to watch, as a fan, because of the crazy amount of games that were played. Each team played four games over a four day span, for a total of thirty two games in one weekend. It would be intense, but it would also be good preparation for the Playoffs two weeks afterwards.

It was hard to believe that Duo was only four weeks away from the end of the Spring Split, four weeks away from the end of his first Split as a pro gamer.

"So, before I let you guys go," Relena spoke up again, "things to remember for tomorrow." She started to tick points off on her fingers. "One, look your best – this will be streamed, so we want everyone to see your handsome faces and clean clothes. No pjs," she paused to look at Quatre, who scowled back, "team jerseys are great – actually, let's all agree on team jerseys now. Second, be friendly. These are our fans and they love you, or they will once you show them how _friendly_ you can be," she looked over at Wufei, who just scowled back at her. "Third, have fun and make sure they do too. We're doing this in teams of two, and we're going to just be playing custom games, with one of us on each team, so that means we're dealing with eight fans at a time. That's not too bad. If they want to play your position, let them and give them encouragement. Don't get down on anyone if they do stupid things. This isn't a real practice."

She looked around until everyone nodded at her and then she smiled.

"Good. Okay, it's almost midnight, which means that Quatre can go to bed now and still get ten hours of sleep."

"Eleven and a half," Quatre argued.

"Ten," Relena shot back. "You're waking up early to help me make sure everything is set up and you have to shower."

Quatre heaved a long suffering sigh.

"You're such a slave driver," he mumbled.

"Someone has to be," Relena responded and then turned to everyone else. "Okay. No practice tonight. Go relax, get some sleep, maybe Google a few ways to make friends over the internet…"

"I've got that one covered," Duo said.

"I said friends, not murderous stalkers," Relena smirked at him.

"Oh. Right. My bad – easy mistake."

Relena stayed in the kitchen while everyone else left, and gestured for Duo to wait with her.

"I've already spoken with Une from ZG. There won't be any attempts to crash our stream or troll our games tomorrow."

Duo actually hadn't considered that possibility.

"You really think they would do that?"

Relena shrugged.

"I don't know, but Quatre and I didn't want to take the risk. Anyway, if they do it will be harassment and it will become a legal issue."

"Jesus. That's exactly what I need – to be the reason my brother winds up in court again."

"It wasn't your fault last time and it wouldn't be your fault this time," Relena argued.

Duo sighed, but he shrugged.

"Speaking of you and awkward situations," Relena continued and Duo frowned at her, "I ran into Jason last night."

"How?"

"I went to a party over at Mike's house."

Relena hadn't come back to play soccer with Duo after that first week, but he wasn't really surprised that she had kept in touch with some of the guys, especially Mike, who was almost as good looking as Jason.

"Really?"

She nodded.

"Unlike you nerds, I don't have to spend all night playing League. I actually get to have a social life." She smiled sweetly at him. "Anyway, Jason was there and he asked about you…"

"Oh yeah?" Despite Jason saying it was okay for Duo to hang out at the soccer games on Sundays, Duo hadn't gone back. It felt too weird, and since he was staying up later these days to play with NoName3, Duo had enjoyed sleeping in a bit on Sundays instead.

Relena nodded.

"Which was weird, that he had to ask me about his boyfriend…"

"Shit. I completely forgot."

Relena crossed her arms.

"You forgot to mention you broke up with your boyfriend two weeks ago? How do you forget that, exactly?"

Duo shrugged.

"I've kind of been focused on the team. It was just… a personal thing and I didn't think it really mattered."

Relena sighed.

"Yes, it was a personal thing, but it matters, Duo. My job is… basically, I'm paid to be your friend and your big sister. So partly it's my job to know what's up with you so I can try to make sure you stay focused, but partly I care about you and I want to know what's up with you so I can try to make you feel better."

"I'm fine," he assured her. "It's not like we were really going anywhere, anyway. Our schedules never worked out and there was all of the shit with Jason and… I'm fine," he repeated. Because he was. More or less.

"You know, I have a friend –"

He held up a hand.

"Please, please don't try to set me up with someone. I'm fine, really, and it's not like I have time to date someone anyway. And I'm pretty sure all of the guys are happy they don't have to worry about running into a guy coming out of my room in the mornings."

Relena frowned.

"I don't think it's that big of a deal to anyone."

"Wufei –"

"Wufei's just an asshole. He'd be pissed about anyone coming out of anyone's bedroom."

Duo suspected she had a point there.

"Heero and Trowa were assholes about Jason," he had to point out.

"Do you want me to talk to them?"

"No! Seriously, it doesn't even matter. No one else is dating anyone anyway. It's really not a big deal. I'm fine," he repeated yet again.

Relena looked at him intensely for a moment longer.

"Okay," she said at last. "But I'm here for you – as a friend."

"I appreciate that," he assured her.

"Good. I'm going to go practice now, so I don't humiliate myself tomorrow."

Duo had to grin.

"I was going to stay up and play for a while, want me to give you some pointers?"

"No. I'm going to practice in the safety of my room, away from you, so you can't make fun of me."

"I would _never_ make fun of you," Duo assured her.

"Uh huh. Right. Just like you would never stare if Heero and Trowa walked past you completely naked."

"You would too," Duo reminded her.

Relena shrugged.

"Duh. I like gorgeous men just as much as you do."

-o-

Duo actually managed to get a decent night's sleep. He had stayed up to see if NoName3 would play last night, but by one in the morning he hadn't made an appearance and Duo decided to call it a night. He spent another two hours talking to Hilde on Skype up in his room, watching replays of a few Korean games and debating the merits of the Jungle champions that were being used overseas, but eventually they both fell asleep and when Duo woke up at ten the next morning the Skype call was still going.

After ending the call he took a shower and changed into clothes he thought Relena would approve of – his TGW jersey and the track pants that matched his team jacket. He knew Relena wasn't the biggest fan of track pants – Quatre had told him that she tried to get it written into their contracts that they had to wear khakis – they were part of his team uniform.

It was almost noon by the time he was done, and he detoured to the kitchen to grab a Coke and a sandwich before wandering into the game room to watch Quatre and Relena.

He made sure to sit out of the line of the camera's streaming the two, but Quatre caught sight of him and demanded that he come closer and hang out.

So the first four hours of the streaming event ended up being Duo coaching Relena and her team of random fans while Quatre valiantly led his own team against her. It was fun, and Relena was actually pretty good at the game – good enough that Duo wondered how highly she was ranked – and the fans who played with them and those just watching the Twitch stream and commenting in the sidebar seemed to be enjoying themselves.

They also weren't assholes, which took Duo by surprise. There were the expected comments about Relena being really hot, but for the most part, the fans seemed intent on just playing with them, and offering support and congratulations on their wins.

It was cool, and when Relena and Quatre turned the stream over to Wufei and Sally, Duo was actually kind of excited for his turn with Heero in four hours.

"See," Relena said when she, Quatre and Duo went out to the back porch, "I told you it was a good idea."

"You were right," Duo agreed.

"I can't believe you helped her kill me," Quatre muttered, giving Duo a betrayed look.

Duo had to laugh. At one point in the last game he had talked Relena through a pretty cool kill on Quatre when he thought he was safe, and Relena had shrieked in triumph and spent the last half hour of the stream rubbing Quatre's face in her moment of glory.

Quatre stretched, and Duo rolled his eyes at the way Relena looked at him, a lustful, wistful expression on her face.

"I think I'm going to take a nap, and then look over the stats for our matches this weekend," Quatre said.

"A nap? Why am I not surprised?" Relena grinned.

"Hey, I got up at ten – just like you told me to. You should be proud of me."

"I am," Relena assured him and Quatre smirked.

"Catch you guys in a few hours," Quatre said and walked back into the house.

Relena watched him go and Duo couldn't restrain himself.

"You know, I'm here, as your friend. Actually, I'm kind of paid to be a combination of your gay friend and an annoying little brother. So if you want to talk about this problem you have of mentally undressing Quatre every time you look at him, I'm here for you."

Relena glard at him.

"I do not have a problem."

Duo arched an eyebrow.

"It's not my fault," Relena defended herself. "_Look_ at him!"

Duo nodded and reached out to pat her hair.

"I know, I know. He's gorgeous and completely oblivious."

Relena huffed in annoyance.

"I just don't _get_ it. I've been flirting with him for over a year now and – nothing! If he isn't interested he should just _say_ so."

Duo shrugged.

"Maybe he thinks it would be awkward, if he turned you down, but I'm betting he doesn't realize you're into him."

Relena stared.

"How much more obvious do I need to be?"

"Relena, I hate to break it to you, but Quatre is a pro gamer. He's a nerd – like, a world class nerd. And yeah, he's really good looking, but he spends all of his time playing video games with people who have the social skills of cranky kindergartners. He probably doesn't even think it's remotely possible that you're into him."

"Boys are stupid," she muttered.

"No argument here," Duo agreed.

"Urgh." She shook her head. "I'd better go inside and keep an eye on Wufei and Sally – she's pretty competitive and if Wufei starts to act like an asshole it's going to be a rough four hours."

"Yeah, I'm going to stay as far away from the Game Room as I can while they're in there," Duo confessed.

"Coward."

"Yep."

-o-

At seven thirty Duo headed upstairs to get Heero for the start of their eight o'clock shift on the live stream.

He had spent the afternoon outside, borrowing a few manga from Relena and relaxing. It was only the end of February, but it was also California, and Duo managed to actually get some sun while he sat outside, until night fell and he retreated to the kitchen to grab dinner.

He could hear Sally and Wufei in the game room, shouting at each other and their team mates. It didn't sound like they were threatening to kill each other, but it was still a lot more intense than the shouting between Quatre and Relena had been.

Duo resolved to be as cool as possible on the stream. He hadn't really played against Heero too often, and he knew his team mate was super competitive even when they were, as Quatre tried and failed to get them to do, playing for fun.

He knocked on the door to Trowa and Heero's room and then opened the door.

"Yo, Heero, we're up man and – holy fuck."

Duo had a hard time processing what he was seeing.

Heero was naked.

Trowa was naked.

They were naked together.

On a bed.

On Trowa's bed.

And Heero's cock was buried in Trowa's ass.

And Trowa had a nice cock.

A very hard, very nice cock.

"Come in or get out, but close the door," Trowa hissed.

Duo was startled out of staring by Trowa's voice and he stumbled backwards, back out into the hallway, and closed the door behind him.

When Heero stepped out into the hallway five minutes later, fully dressed and a fierce scowl on his face, Duo still couldn't wrap his brain around what he had seen.

"Knock next time," Heero said.

"Uh – have you ever thought about locking the door?" Duo was relieved to know that his natural inclination towards being a smart ass was still intact.

Heero glared at him.

"I thought I had."

"Well, I thought I knocked," Duo replied. And he had, but maybe he should have paused between knocking and opening the door.

They stared at each other, and Duo really couldn't help but think about the fact that he had just walked in on Heero Yuy fucking Trowa Barton.

"You guys ready?" Relena called up from downstairs.

Duo arched an eyebrow at Heero.

"I'm ready if you are," Heero said.

Duo nodded.

"Ready as I'll ever be."

He had no clue how he was supposed to get through the next few hours and focus on playing League, on having fun and being friendly and representing TGW to the fans when all he could think about was what he had just seen.


	10. Chapter 10

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.

Warnings: Angst, language, violence, sex.

Pairings: PM me if you need to know. But I think it might be fairly obvious early on.

Going the Distance

Chapter Ten

Duo knew it probably wouldn't happen often, hell, it might never happen again, but when TGW beat ZG on Saturday night, Duo couldn't help but pump the air with his fists.

They had beaten them. Had crushed them, actually, after Duo, Trowa and Heero invaded their side of the map to start and had ruined Ralph's early game and used that to put pressure on the Mid Lane and the Bottom Lane and Heero and Quatre had gotten a few kills, built a steady lead and Duo exploited it and the game ended when Duo got a Pentakill, killing every single member of ZG, with the help of Trowa, his only teammate left alive, and it had been awesome.

Probably the best game he had ever played, and as he and Trowa took down the enemy base, as the Victory screen came up, Duo felt as if an immense weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

It wasn't the end of the Split - they still had Super Week next weekend and those four games could mean that TGW finished number one or number seven in the Spring Split, the standings were that close.

Quatre jumped out of his chair and hugged him, and even Wufei patted him on the back and smirked in congratulations.

Heero and Trowa shook his hand as well, and Duo would have hugged them, would have thrown himself at Trowa and told him that he was amazing, that they had just conquered the world together, but when he looked at him and Heero standing side by side all he could really think about was the fact that they two of them were fucking each other, or maybe it had been a one time thing, but it didn't change the fact that Duo had walked in on them on Wednesday night and since then, the three hadn't spoken outside of game chat.

"Let's go shake hands with ZG," Quatre told them, gesturing for them to walk across the stage.

Duo led the way, since his chair was the closest, and as TGW crossed the stage the audience cheered, shouting out their names and Duo felt his heart beat crazily.

Holy shit. He had fans. People were cheering for him - for his team and their victory and holy shit.

Meilin was first in line, and she shook Duo's hand and told him good game. Zechs shook his hand, but remained silent, and then there was Solo.

Solo was still sitting in his chair, still had his headset on and his back was to Duo.

Duo waited, waited for his brother to get up, to turn around, to acknowledge him in any way. He didn't.

It was shit sportsmanship, but Duo had seen it before, from Solo and from a few other pro players. This was the first time it had happened to him, however, and it was shocking how much it hurt.

Duo moved on when Wufei nudged his back, and he shook hands with Ralph, and then with Treize, who took the opportunity to pull Duo close.

"I hope your team enjoys celebrating this victory. It's the only one you will ever have over us."

Duo pulled away and grinned at him.

"I can't wait to shove those words down your throat," Duo promised him.

Treize smirked and released him and Duo gladly stepped away.

As TGW crossed back to their side of the stage the audience was still cheering, and Duo paused to wave back to them. They cheered louder, and when Wufei and Quatre joined them the audience started to chant TGW and it felt incredible.

Heero and Trowa lingered on the ZG side, and it looked like Heero and Solo were ready to rip each other's throats out before Trowa pulled Heero along, dragging him down the line and rejoining the rest of TGW as they packed up their gear and cleared the stage.

Backstage, Relena threw herself into Duo's arms.

"You were incredible!" She said.

Duo laughed.

"Well, obviously."

She kissed him on the mouth.

"I'm serious! I've never seen a play that incredible!"

"Well, it was all of us. I mean - Heero and Quatre did so much damage before they died, and if Wufei hadn't baited ZG into the fight, Trowa and I never would have been able to clean it up."

"The fight was your idea," Wufei reminded Duo. "It was a good plan. I… doubted you, but it was the right call. You won the game for us."

Relena let go of Duo and wrapped one arm around Quatre's shoulders and the other around Wufei's. Wufei scowled at her and Quatre looked a little surprised.

"I can't even begin to tell you guys how happy I am right now. Come on, let's go by that diner near the house and grab some food and -"

"Why _are_ you so happy?" Duo had to ask.

"She bet on us," Trowa speculated.

Duo looked back at him.

"She did this a few times last year. A lot of the PR people will place bets when we get to important games. How much did you win?"

Relena smirked.

"Enough to buy us all a late dinner. So, come on!"

Relena's enthusiasm was hard to turn down.

"We should sign autographs first," Heero spoke up.

Quatre nodded.

"He's right. Half an hour signing autographs outside and then we'll go celebrate."

Relena smiled happily and let go of Quatre and Wufei to hug Heero.

"I cannot believe you just suggested you go sign autographs! My grumpy little babies are growing up and becoming decent humans!"

Heero rolled his eyes but Trowa smirked at him.

Duo forced himself to look away when Trowa glanced in his direction.

They looped around to the front of the studio and stood outside where fans usually lined up to get autographs and photographs of the players after their matches.

Duo wasn't really surprised that ZG was there, nor was he surprised that most of the fans were waiting in line for _them_ rather than TGW.

But it didn't really matter - TGW had won - and Duo actually had people coming up to him for photos and his autograph.

Partly it was because of the game, but he felt confident this was also due to Relena's recent efforts, especially the live stream.

It had been super awkward, sitting beside Heero at first after having just seen him naked with Trowa, but by the time they started the second game Duo was able to put it at the back of his mind, to throw himself into the game and he picked crazy champions, accepting dares from the streaming comments and it had been a blast.

Meilin walked over to him and they posed for a few photographs while she talked to him.

"Sorry about Solo," she said, speaking directly into his ear so that the fans didn't hear her.

Duo shrugged.

"Not like I expected him to hug me or anything."

Meilin sighed.

"He should still just let it go. He's taken it way too far and it's getting fucking annoying."

Duo had to grin.

"Don't tell me you _care_ about me?"

She snorted.

"Hardly. I care about the fact that every game we play against you he gets distracted."

"What can I say, I'm a distracting guy."

Meilin shook her head.

"You were great out there today. I hope I never have to play against you when you're that on top of your game again, but I'd love to watch you take down TSM and Cloud 9."

"I make no promises," Duo told her.

They posed for one more photograph and then Meilin rejoined her team, ignoring the scowls from Ralph and Treize at her fraternization with the enemy.

The half hour passed quickly, and then they piled into the van and Sally drove them to the diner.

"You made two mistakes that game," Sally told Duo on the ride over.

Duo had called shotgun, which Relena had happily relinquished to sit beside Quatre.

"Only two?" He joked. Thinking back on the game, he knew he could have done things differently, played it better. He couldn't think of only two things that jumped out at him, however.

"That twenty minute Baron Nashor fight - you jumped in and tried to save Heero when he was caught out of position. You should have let him die. They were able to kill both of you and if Trowa hadn't disengaged from the fight and backed off ZG we would have lost the game."

Duo sighed.

"Maybe - but Wufei was also coming around for a flank. I thought we might have been able to turn it around."

Sally snorted.

"If it had been Wufei or Quatre out of position, would you have done the same thing?"

Duo frowned.

"That's not really a fair question."

"Sure it is. Would you have done the same thing?"

"No," Duo admitted.

Sally nodded.

"Your other mistake was saving Trowa during that chase after you took the Dragon. Heero got away and you should have just run as well, instead of soaking up damage that should have killed Trowa. You're lucky they didn't take advantage of that and turn it into a double kill."

"Yeah, well, I saved him and he and Heero were able to help Quatre push down the Mid Lane."

Sally spared him a glance.

"And it took a lot longer with those three than it would have taken if it was you, Quatre and Heero."

"So you're saying I made the mistake of trying to save my teammates."

"I'm saying you made the mistake of letting your feelings distract you from the game. You tried to save Trowa - when it's his job to die for the team. You tried to save Heero - when he should have died because he risked everyone else on the team. You don't make those kind of stupid decisions with Quatre and Wufei. You need to be aware that you've started to do it with Trowa and Heero."

Duo wanted to argue with her, wanted to point out that he was just trying to do his job to help out the entire team - but if he really thought about it, she was right.

He did try to help Heero stay alive a lot more than he tried to help either Quatre or Wufei, but he didn't ignore their lanes. He spent plenty of time helping them - he just didn't dive into losing situations with them unless he absolutely had to. And with Trowa… she was absolutely right. It was Trowa's job to die for the team, not the other way around.

"I'll work on it," he promised Sally.

"Good. It also wouldn't hurt my feelings if you got another Pentakill or two this season."

Duo snorted.

"Yeah. I'll get right on that."

They spent two hours at the diner, sharing food and laughing and talking through the game play by play and it was probably the most fun Duo had ever had with his teammates.

Even sitting between Trowa and Wufei, Duo was able to relax, to just enjoy joking with everyone and congratulating each other on their victory. Even with Wufei barely cracking a smile most of the time, even with Trowa's thigh pressed against his, Duo had a good time.

He wasn't the only one - Quatre and Relena were practically glowing and Trowa teased Sally about being sad that she couldn't yell at them for failing and Heero cut loose enough to have a milkshake, a rare occurrence according to Trowa.

By the time they got home it was midnight, and the adrenaline from their victory was starting to fade and the stress and effort of the day was catching up.

Wufei went to bed immediately, Sally close on his heels, but the rest of them camped out in the living room and put on the European games from earlier in the day.

Quatre and Relena shared one couch and Duo stretched out on another, by himself, while Heero and Trowa shared the one Duo had sat with them on during The Watchmen.

"What happened with you and Solo?" Relena asked Heero half an hour into one of the games.

Duo turned his head, curious about the answer himself, and saw Heero scowling.

"He was an asshole," Heero said and he glanced towards Duo.

"He's been an asshole all season," Duo had to point out, and it felt a little like a betrayal, to say that about his own brother, but it was the truth.

"He didn't have to hurt you like that," Heero said, and his voice was quiet.

"I'm fine," Duo assured him and shrugged. "It's not like I thought he was going to be happy about losing to us."

"You looked devastated when he didn't get up or look at you," Trowa said.

Duo swallowed and had to look away from the combined weight of his and Heero's eyes.

"Yeah, well… I'm fine," he said again.

Quatre sighed.

"I wish there was some way we could fix things with you two," he said.

Duo snorted and laced his fingers together behind his head.

"Get to work building a time machine, then, because I don't see any other way to fix it."

-o-

Quatre decided they should treat the week of practice before Super Week like endurance practice - they played scrimmages against other pro teams from noon until six before taking an hour break for dinner and then spending four hours in Solo Queue or team builder.

Duo had still managed to avoid speaking with Heero or Wufei outside of practices and game chat until Thursday night, when they both stayed up after everyone else had called it a night.

Duo realized that too late, and when he got up to leave Heero stopped him.

"We need to talk," Heero said, his arms crossed and he was still wearing his Gunnars, and he looked hot and authoritative and he was right - they did need to talk.

"I'm sorry," Duo said. "I should have apologized sooner. I - I'm sorry." He said again.

And he was, because as sexy as the two of them had looked together, as much as Duo now had a very nearly complete mental fantasy of them to work with while masturbating sometimes, he had still intruded on them, still barged into their room and their private relationship and he imagined they were both still pissed about it.

Heero and Trowa exchanged a look.

"It's not -" Trowa started to say, but Duo held up a hand.

"You don't have to explain it. I'm not judging. It's none of my business. You two… have your… connection," he struggled to find a word to describe whatever it was they had. "That's your thing and it's private and I totally respect that. I'm not going to say anything to anyone."

Maybe they were gay and wanted to stay in the closet, or maybe they weren't gay - maybe this was some kind of bromance that had developed a physical aspect because they didn't have time to date girls? Duo didn't know.

"Thank you," Heero said. He sighed and looked on the verge of saying something more.

"Just, be careful?" Duo suggested. "I could have been Relena or Quatre - or Sally or Wufei. Whatever you guys are doing… I mean, it's your thing. But you care about each other, clearly, and you care about all of this so… just be careful."

Because Duo knew what it was like to have his sexuality used against him, to have words like queer, homo and faggot used to describe him on a daily basis. And he didn't want that for Heero and Trowa.

Trowa actually looked a little frustrated.

"We care about you too," he said.

Duo stared at him.

"Oh," he realized and then he felt like an asshole. He thought back to what Trowa had said to him a few weeks ago, about the team being there for him. "Right. I'm an asshole. I'm sorry I've been avoiding you guys. I just… didn't really know what to say about it. And that was stupid of me. I care about you too, and I should have just… I don't know, filed that away under 'unexpected naked people' and moved on. It's not a big deal. I'm here for you guys."

Heero and Trowa once again exchanged looks, used that silent communication they seemed to have, but then Heero shook his head and Trowa sighed.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Heero said and he offered Duo a faint smile.

Duo nodded and smiled back.

"Definitely. I want us to practice our early game invades tomorrow - I think we can really use that to our advantage over Dignitas this weekend."

Heero nodded and looked at Trowa.

"I'll be up in a bit. I just want to play a few games in Solo Queue," Trowa said, still sounding a little frustrated.

Heero left them and Duo looked over at Trowa.

"Did you want to duo?" He asked.

Trowa shrugged.

"I'm playing on my second account. I just want to work on a few mechanical things."

It sounded like a no to Duo, and he couldn't help but feel a little relieved. As much as he wouldn't mind playing with Trowa - hell, he realized he had never played in Solo Queue with Trowa, Duo usually paired off with Quatre or Wufei while Heero and Trowa always played together - he kind of hoped that NoName3 would be online and he would get the chance to play with him again.

He was in luck. He logged on and saw that NoName3 was on as well, and they quickly jumped into a lobby together.

They played four games together, and their undefeated streak remained intact. Duo had never really experienced anything like this, but over the past month he and NoName3 had racked up almost thirty wins together and not a single loss. Duo had definitely lost games on his own - NoName3 wasn't always on when he was and Duo played on his own, winning some and losing some - and when he looked at NoName3's stats he saw that he had also had a less than perfect record when they weren't playing together.

They still hadn't tried Skyping yet, but despite their lack of easy communication, Duo and the Top Laner had amazing synergy. They were able to pull off crazy plays on pro players all of the time, and had been on the receiving end of more than a few complaints and compliments from their opponents in the post game lobbies.

It still felt like Duo was cheating, on Wufei, on TGW, but he also felt confident that his recent gameplay, his performance at the games last week and the week before that - and even the week before that - could be attributed to the time he spent playing with NoName3. Having another player trust him to make calls, to follow him in even when he didn't know what Duo had planned - it was a welcome relief from Wufei constantly questioning him and Quatre trying to play conservatively. At least Quatre trusted him most of the time, even if he asked him not to be so aggressive. Wufei just flat out refused to make half of the plays Duo wanted to.

It was better than at the beginning of the season, when Wufei refused to make any plays and let Duo die trying to make them on his own. But it still wasn't great. It still wasn't like playing with NoName3.  
When Duo finally called it a night it was three in the morning, and Trowa was still playing.

"Night," Duo told him, saying it loud enough that Trowa could hear him despite his headset.

Trowa turned to see him leaving and frowned.

"You just finished a game?" Trowa asked.

Duo nodded.

"Yeah. Won four of them and I figured that's a good streak to call it a night on. You?"

Trowa glanced back at his own computer screen and then at Duo again.

"Were you on your main account?"

"Nah. I try not to use my main account unless we're practicing."

Most pros had multiple accounts, since their main accounts and even their most played secondary accounts were easy to look up, easy to track and easy to see their stats.

Trowa nodded.

"Sleep well," he said and put his headset back on.

"You too," Duo watched him turn back to his screen and start up another game.

He hesitated before leaving, wondering if maybe he shouldn't stay and offer again to play with Trowa - but then the 'match found' window appeared on Trowa's screen and Duo knew he had missed his chance.


	11. Chapter 11

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.

A/N #2: I tweaked reality a bit. When you spectate a game in League of Legends it is on a three minute time delay, for all of the obvious reasons. So, when Duo is watching the game in this chapter, I've made is "live" and cut out the three minute delay for… reasons.

Warnings: Angst, language, violence, sex.

Pairings: PM me if you need to know. But I think it might be fairly obvious early on.

Going the Distance

Chapter Eleven

"You promised me that I wouldn't have to do any more interviews unless they were game interviews," Duo reminded Relena as she ushered all of the TGW players into the van.

She glared at him. It was nine in the morning, and she had already had to struggle with Quatre, dragging him out of bed and shoving him into the shower still in his pajamas and turning the water on cold, successfully waking him and everyone else in the house up when they heard his shrieked "What the fuck?"

Wufei, never too thrilled about interviews, had also given her flack, grumbling about the uselessness of it all.

Only Trowa and Heero seemed nonchalant, showing up downstairs on time, Gunnar glasses on, team jerseys, jackets and pants immaculate and neutral expressions on their faces.

"I know," she agreed. "But this is out of my hands. Your contract with the League states that you - that all of you," she added with a glance towards the scowling Wufei, "will make yourselves available for interviews and promotional spots for the League. It's going to be fine," she continued. "Two hours and then we can head back home and you can spend all day practicing before you start Super Week tomorrow night."

"And sleep," Quatre muttered, his eyes closed and his head already resting on Duo's shoulder.

Relena rolled her eyes at them and turned back to the front, muttering something to Sally beside her that sounded like "stupid boys."

When they arrived at the studio half an hour later, Relena passed out a Red Bull to each of them, and Quatre practically inhaled his.

Wufei, with a sneer, handed his can over to Quatre, who drank that as well.

"Dude," Duo shook his head and sipped on his own. He didn't drink Red Bull's too often - usually a can of Coke was more than enough sugar and caffeine for him in a day, but it was pretty early and he had had another late night on Solo Queue with NoName3.

Relena led them into the studio, but instead of going towards the mainstage or holding rooms, they went in a different direction, towards the small recording studio where the league filmed promos and interviews.

They were greeted by a guy in a suit and glasses, who looked about as far from a gamer as you could get. It was clear he was a management type, and as he laid out the plan for the interview - generic questions they should answer, no language, positive attitudes, only a very little bit of bad mouthing other players - it was clear that he was there to make sure this interview didn't turn into a disaster.

"So," he finished his directions, "we're just going to get you guys one at a time. All of this will be edited into a two minute spot - so try to keep your answers short and catchy."

Wufei rolled his eyes, and Duo could only imagine what he was thinking.

"Quatre, you first."

Everyone else sat down on the chairs off-camera, but Quatre walked forward to sit on a stool that had been situated beside their team banner, facing the camera.

"Okay, tell us what TGW's biggest accomplishment has been this season."

Quatre waited for the signal, and then started to speak.

"I think Team Gundam Wing started these season with a lot of expectations. A lot of people expected us to fail, and we've proven that we can succeed against our toughest competitors. Our biggest accomplishment this season has been coming together as a team, and proving to ourselves and our fans that we are one of the best teams in North America."

He almost sounded cocky, but his sincere smile saved him from sounding like an asshole.

"What has been your biggest challenge as the team captain?" Came the next question.

Quatre gave a self-deprecating chuckle.

"Taking over as the team captain has been a huge challenge. I'm on a team with four other guys who could easily call the shots, but everyone has been really great about communicating and trying to stay on the same page. Probably the biggest challenge for me is trying to balance what I need as a mid laner to win the game with what my team needs from me as a shot caller to win the game."

"Last question. What do you think your chances are of making it to the All Star games in Rio?"

"I think we have a great chance of making it to the All Star games. Right now we're tied for third place. The Spring Playoffs are two weeks away and I think we have a real chance of taking down TSM, Cloud 9 and Zodiac gaming and claiming that spot in Rio."

It was definitely a bold challenge, and as Quatre got off the stool and walked towards them, Duo couldn't help but shake his head.

"You know that the other teams are going to throw that back at us, right?"

Quatre shrugged.

"Like I care. We can take them down. We will take them down. I'm not sitting at home this year - we're going to the All Star game."

Duo had seen Quatre determined before, and it always amazed him when Quatre's game face appeared, when he became serious and focused and the shy, goofy guy he lived with disapeared. But this was a new level.

"Duo, you next."

He stretched and tried not to feel anxious as he sat on the stool. Everything was going to be fine. This was a League interview - they didn't want to stir up shit.

"What does it feel like to finally be a pro gamer?"

Duo had to grin.

"It feels awesome to finally be playing in the highest competitive level. I've been on other teams and I've subbed in a few games before, but being on Team Gundam Wing is the best experience of my life. I'm seriously lucky that this team picked me up."

Relena, standing behind the camera, gave him a thumbs up to that response.

"Who is your biggest rival?"

Duo barely stopped himself from glaring at the camera.

"I don't think it's a secret that Team Gundam Wing and Zodiac Gaming are rivals. It helps motivate us to always play our best, knowing that we have someone to beat."

It was as neutral an answer as he could give, and both Relena and Quatre nodded in support of it.

"What players do you respect the most in League?"

"The League has so many good players - everyone has gotten so much better since this game started and the level of competition is fierce. But I think that I have the most respect for guys like Prolly on Complexity. He's been in the pros, out of the pros and back in again. He has crazy good skills and a great attitude. But I also have to say that I respect my own team. These guys are dedicated to getting better. We practice all the time together, and everyone practices on their own. We take this job very seriously."

Maybe the answers were boring, but when he was ushered off the stool, at least Duo didn't feel like he had been attacked or committed some horrible faux pas.

Wufei was up next, and his interview was just as boring as Duo's. Heero also seemed on their path of bland responses, until he also got the rival question.

"Zechs Merquise probably wants me to say that he is my biggest rival," Heero said. "But he's not. I think Sneaky on Cloud 9 is the marksman who presents the greatest challenge to me."

Duo had to clap a hand over his mouth to keep from reacting.

Damn. Heero had totally called out Zechs, and Duo wondered if the League would use that clip.

Trowa was the last one, and he presented the same kind of stock answers - love the team, love the sport, love the fans.

"Last question. What is the greatest strength of Team Gundam Wing?"

Trowa actually smirked before answering that.

"It's obvious Team Gundam Wing's greatest strength is Duo Maxwell. He's a huge asset to the team because of his skill level, but he also pushes us, all of the time. He tries new things and makes all of us have to play that much harder, to practice that much more, just to keep up with him. If he wasn't on our team we'd be at the bottom of the standings. What other Jungler in North America has a Pentakill this season?"

"Okay - that's all. You guys are free to go. Thanks for your time!"

Duo couldn't help but stare at Trowa stupidly as he got off the stool and walked back to the team.

"Great work guys!" Relena congratulated them. "And see, it wasn't too bad at all, was it?"

Wufei glared.

"It was still a waste of time," he muttered.

Relena gave him a long, hard look.

"It's for the fans and it's for the sport. It's for our team and it's for your _paycheck._ None of those things are a waste of time."

Wufei glared back at her, but Quatre stepped up and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Let's head back to the house and practice. This weekend is going to be intense and I want to make sure we are prepared."

It wasn't until they were back at the house and eating lunch that Duo had a chance to confront Trowa about his interview.

He, Heero and Trowa sat on the back porch while they ate their sandwiches, and Duo just couldn't let it go.

"You didn't have to say that stuff about me," he said. "I'm not the biggest strength of this team. It was nice, but it's not true and-"

"Shut up," Heero muttered.

Duo looked at him in surprise.

"What?"

"I said shut up. There are enough people out there who talk trash about you every day. There's no need for you to jump on that bandwagon too. Trowa things you're the biggest strength of this team or he wouldn't have said so. So either you accept that, or are you trying to say you think Trowa is stupid?"

"What? No." Duo looked over at Trowa, who was looking at both of them with an amused expression on his face. "You're not stupid. I just don't get why you would say that about me."

"Because, like Heero said, I think it's the truth." Trowa shrugged. "I'm allowed to have my opinions and you're allowed to have your own wrong, stupid opinions if you disagree."

"I don't like you two when you gang up on me," Duo muttered.

Heero laughed, and like every time when he laughed, it made Duo kind of forget what he was doing and he stared for a moment before he caught himself. But not before Trowa saw him and arched an eyebrow.

Duo felt himself blush.

"Right. I'm going in." He stood up and then paused at the door. "Thanks," he said, over his shoulder to Trowa. "I - it means a lot that you said that stuff about me."

-o-

On Friday night they got back to the house at eleven and everyone was exhausted.

They had played two games that night, one against the Valkyries and another against Curse. Their game against the Valkyries had been tough on Duo, because Hilde had been at the top of her game, but the rest of the team had not been. Duo had heard from Hilde that Dorothy and Sylvia were having problems with each other, and it really showed. Half of the team would go in on fights and the other would hesitate, and it ended up getting them killed. It reminded Duo of the beginning of the season, when Wufei still refused to follow him in, and he hated that Hilde was going through that. Despite the fact that she finished the game with six kills - half of those on Duo himself - the Valkyries lost.

It had been easy to shake their hands and tell them good game, but it had been hard not to hug Hilde and tell her he was sorry. She had looked furious, just this side of exploding on her teammates, and Duo hated that he knew exactly what she felt like.

The hardest part of the night, however, had been TGW's second game, against Curse.

The game had broken three League records - the most Pentakills in one game, with Heero, Quatre and Duo all scoring Pentakills; the best comeback ever - Curse had been down thirty kills and twenty thousand gold before they miraculously and devastatingly came back to win; and the longest game, at ninety-three minutes.

It had been exhausting, and heartbreaking and the van ride home had been in silence. This was the fourth game TGW had played against Curse, but only their first loss against them this season and it was crushing.

When they got back to the house, Quatre stopped everyone from going to bed right away.

"Look, that game with Curse was shit. We had it in the bag and we got cocky and we threw it away and we will not do that again. We aren't going to spend hours tomorrow talking through it and figuring out where we went wrong. We all know where we went wrong. And we're not going to do it ever again." He looked at each of them in turn, his blue eyes fierce. "So don't think about it. We did it, we failed, we're moving on. Tomorrow we play Team Solo Mid and ZG and those games are going to be the hardest games we've played all season. But we are still tied for third after tonight - we can still win the playoffs and we can still go to the All Star games and this game against Curse doesn't matter."

Duo had to agree with Quatre's mindset. The game had been… a clusterfuck. Nothing much could be gained by looking back on it, and while he knew he would fall asleep tonight replaying every mistake in his head, he was relieved that he wouldn't have to sit through one of Sally's brutal team meetings of "this is how you fucked us up big time."

"Now, get some sleep. Relax. Our first game is tomorrow at noon. And it's going to feel really, really good when we win."

Quatre and Wufei headed off to bed, as did Sally and Relena, but even though Duo was exhausted, he didn't want to try to sleep yet. He needed to play at least one more game, to get that one out of his head.

It seemed like Heero and Trowa had the same idea - they were already in the game room when he entered after a detour to the kitchen for a snack.

They were already loaded into a game, and Duo almost thought about just sitting down and watching them instead of playing himself, but when he logged on he saw that NoName3 was on.

He was about to message him to see if he wanted to play, but it said he was already in a game.

Duo had never actually watched NoName3 play on his own before, and he was curious about his play style when he didn't play with Duo.

He entered the spectate mode, and as the game loaded in he looked over the other players.

Perfect Soldier01 was on NoName's team, playing a marksman, and the game records said that they had entered the game as a duo.

Duo stared - what were the odds? His two Reddit fans actually knew each other?

In recent weeks, Reddit had been a lot kinder to Duo, but he still received a fair amount of hate, and he still saw NoName333 and PerfectSoldier01 constantly jump into the fray and defend him.

NoName3 was playing the top lane as usual - he had started playing Yorick last week and he had been even more devastating than he normally was - and PerfectSoldier01 was playing Twitch.

Heero had played Twitch that night, in the game against Curse, and he had played it exceptionally well. Duo was curious to see how PerfectSoldier01 would stack up.

NoName3 destroyed his lane, as usual, and PerfectSoldier01 did okay. He was clearly a great player, but his support wasn't the same caliber, and made a few mistakes that set back the marksman in the early game.

But by the mid game, when NoName3 made a surprise appearance in the bottom lane, he and PerfectSoldier01 got a triple kill and then moved to the mid lane and aced the enemy team, working together to kill everyone and then, as soon as the enemy team respawned, they kept up the pressure and succeeded in carrying their team to an early twenty-minute Victory when the other team surrendered.

Duo had to laugh - he didn't blame the other team for surrendering. Getting killed as soon as you respawn four times in a row was incredibly disheartening.

Duo leaned back in his chair to stretch and saw that Heero and Trowa's game had just ended as well. And actually -

Duo scooted his chair closer.

Holy shit.

The post game stats on Trowa's screen showed the exact same stats from the game Duo had just watched.

So did Heero's.

"What the fuck?"

They both turned at the sound of his voice.

"You're NoName3?" Duo asked Trowa.

Trowa and Heero exchanged a look.

"Yes," Trowa said after a moment, admitting to the obvious.

Duo stared at him.

For months - Duo had been playing with Trowa and he hadn't even known it?

"But you don't play Top Lane."

"I joined the team to play Support for Heero," Trowa said and shrugged. "And I practice it for ten hours a day."

Duo held up his hands.

"I'm not calling you out. You're an amazing Support. Like, top two or three in North America easily. I just - holy shit. You're the best Top Laner I've ever played with."

Heero looked smug.

"I told you," he said to Trowa.

Trowa spared him a glare.

"Wait." Duo put more of the pieces together. "You're NoName3 and he's PerfectSoldier01."

They nodded and Trowa arched an eyebrow in that amused, slightly patronizing way he had.

"You guys have been posting stuff about me on Reddit since I joined the team."

"Yes," Trowa said, and there was something about his expression…

"You said I have a sexy ass."

"Yes, I did," Trowa didn't look like he was going to back down from that.

"And you said I had a killer smile," Duo turned to Heero.

"Yes. I did. You do," he added.

"What the fuck? You two are gay?"

Heero and Trowa exchanged looks.

"Did you not… you walked in on us. You saw us having sex," Trowa pointed out.

"Right but - but I thought you two were just… I don't know. Like straight friends who didn't have time for girls and just messed around to ease the tension?"

"That only happens in bad porn," Heero muttered.

"Wait. So -"

"Guys. It's almost one in the morning. Get some rest."

Quatre walked into the room, wearing his pajamas and looking a little cranky and Duo realized he had probably raised his voice a few times.

"Tomorrow is a big day," Quatre continued when they didn't move.

Duo sighed. He was right. And whatever this was - whatever he was finally starting to realize about his teammates - it could wait.

-o-

They beat Team Solo Mid. Despite the fact that the entire studio shook with the shouted TSM chants of the audience, TGW won. It was incredible, a huge adrenaline rush and the team left the stage smirking and grinning and laughing and the game with Curse last night was completely behind them.

"We're top four no matter what happens in our game with ZG," Quatre informed them backstage, as they waited in the holding room. There was one game between their last one and their next. So, while the Valkyries played against Dignitas, they got to wait backstage and try to keep their energy high and the momentum going - and Duo tried his absolute best not to freak out about the fact that they were playing ZG again, and this game would decide whether or not they finished third or fourth.

Everyone settled into their normal pre-game routines: Wufei read a philosophy book, Relena communed with Twitter and Reddit, Quatre paced and Heero set up a custom game to keep his fingers warmed up.

Duo actually found himself at a loss for what to do - he almost wanted to join Heero in a custom game to keep his fingers and brain busy, but he also wanted to watch Hilde's game.

Trowa had two pre-game traditions - napping or watching Heero play, and he seemed just as torn about what to do tonight as Duo was.

He slid over on the couch, leaving room for Duo to join him, and Duo sat down beside him to watch Hilde's game.

It was hard not to think about last night - about the fact that Trowa and Heero were his secret internet fan club, or about the fact that they seemed to be… attracted to him? Or about the fact that Trowa was, hands down, Duo's dream of a Top Lane player and he wondered how he could play Support every game and listen to Duo and Wufei bitch when he _knew_ he and Duo worked well together.

"How long did you know that was my account?" Duo asked him, keeping his eyes on the game display because he had long ago established that looking at Trowa could be very distracting.

"I… suspected it was yours after the first few games we played, but I didn't know for sure until last week."

"You suspected?"

"Your playstyle is pretty unique, Duo. It's not like there are many other Junglers in North America doing Gragas Jungle at our level of play."

Duo had to chuckle at that.

"Yeah, well… I feel like I do play differently on that account, with you." He did risk a look over at Trowa then, and it was definitely a mistake, because Trowa was looking back at him.

"I know," Trowa said. "And you do."

Duo sighed. Trowa knew exactly what he wanted to say and couldn't.

Duo wanted him. Duo wanted Trowa as his Top Laner, not Wufei. Duo wanted to have that kind of connection, that kind of trust and synergy.

"Well, at least we can use Skype when we play together now," Duo muttered.

Trowa smirked.

"True. It will be nice not to have to read your chat commands all of the time while trying to farm my lane."

Duo rolled his eyes.

"Listen, dude, if reading is that hard for you to do, we should probably address that in a team practice."

Trowa smirked at him.

"I feel guilty though," Duo admitted, and he glanced towards Wufei, engrossed in his book. "It's like I'm cheating."

Trowa frowned.

"I'm not going to start playing Support on that account."

"I'm not saying you should. I just… feel like an asshole for wanting to play with you on that account."

Duo was distracted from their conversation by the game, when Hilde stole the Dragon from Dignitas and they started to gain a lead.

Trowa watched with him.

"She's really good," Trowa commented.

Duo nodded.

"I know. It's got to be killing her to be on a team that has all of this potential but can't get their shit together."

"Voice of experience?" Trowa teased.

Duo shrugged and gave him a rueful smile.

"Maybe."

The Valkyries managed to hold onto their lead and they won the game fifteen minutes later.

Duo was thrilled for Hilde. The Valkyries would still finish at the bottom of the standings, but they were now only two games behind the seventh place team, and that wasn't a bad position to be in for a first time team, with so many new players.

"You ready for this game?" Trowa asked Duo as they stood up and started to gather their gear.

"Yeah," Duo sighed. "If by ready you mean terrified."

Trowa reached out and put a hand on his arm.

"I meant what I said in the interview," Trowa said, his eyes intense. "You are our biggest strength. You belong on this team. On this stage. Don't let anyone take that away from you."

Duo swallowed hard and nodded. He didn't really know what to say in response to that, and he was pretty sure it would be way too emotional any way.

Heero closed out his game and packed up his mouse and keyboard. He looked over at them.

"Ready to do another early game invade like we practiced?"

Duo smirked.

"I was born ready."


	12. Chapter 12

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.

A/N #2: I tweaked reality a bit. When you spectate a game in League of Legends it is on a three minute time delay, for all of the obvious reasons. So, when Duo is watching the game in this chapter, I've made is "live" and cut out the three minute delay for… reasons.

Warnings: Angst, language, violence, sex.

Pairings: PM me if you need to know. But I think it might be fairly obvious early on.

Going the Distance

Chapter Twelve

"Get up, it's time to go."

Duo groaned and rolled over in his bed.

"Leave me alone," he grumbled.

Relena, unsurprisingly, ignored him.

"Up," she repeated. "Hilde just pulled up and it's time to _go_."

She tugged on his right foot and he finally rolled over to glare at her.

"Who invited you on this trip anyway?"

She smiled.

"Hilde did. Because unlike you, she has taste."

Duo sighed and glanced at the display on his phone.

"It's eight in the morning. You realize that, right?"

"And it takes at least two hours to get to San Diego."

She crossed her arms and glared at him until he finally sat up.

"Okay. I'm up. Just let me shower and I'll be ready to go."

She smiled, mission accomplished, and actually pranced out of his room.

Duo shook his head.

As much as he wasn't excited about getting up at eight in the morning after a _very_ late night last night, he was excited about this trip to San Diego.

With the Spring Split over, there were two weeks before the Playoffs for All Stars started and TGW, like most of the teams, were taking three days off before jumping back into practices.

Hilde had suggested an overnight trip somewhere, and they had settled on San Diego, since Hilde wanted to go to the zoo, and Duo just wanted to go somewhere near the water.

They had decided this last night when Relena, Quatre and Duo had gone over to the Valkyrie house to party and celebrate the end of the Spring Split.

After Relena watched Quatre follow Dorothy into her bedroom, she had joined Hilde and Duo in their vacation planning and Hilde had suggested Relena come along.

When Duo had showered and dressed he packed up a duffel bag with a change of clothes - they had agreed to stay the night in a hotel before heading back home late tomorrow afternoon.

On his way downstairs he heard the door to Heero and Trowa's room open.

Trowa stood there, hair tousled and blinking sleep out of his eyes.

"You're up early," he commented.

"Yeah, Hilde and Relena and I are heading to San Diego."

By the time Duo and Relena had come home last night it had been almost two, and everyone else in the house had been asleep.

Trowa nodded.

"How long are you going for?"

"Just until tomorrow- we'll be back by eight or so tomorrow night." He hesitated. "Do you and Heero have any plans?"

Trowa shrugged one shoulder.

"He mentioned something about having never been to Disneyland, but I think he's just trying to trick me into wearing a Mickey Mouse hat."

Duo laughed at that mental image and Trowa smirked back at him.

"Well, you guys take it easy. See you tomorrow?"

Trowa nodded.

"Have fun," he said and then walked back into his bedroom.

Duo imagined he was rejoining Heero in bed, and he allowed himself a brief mental fantasy of those two cuddling together.

He missed that, a lot. Not that he and Alex had ever cuddled all that much - he only very rarely had spent the night, when Solo planned on staying over at the ZG house to practice late - but when they had taken the time to hold each other it had been nice. Duo really missed the contact that came with being in a relationship. It sucked not having someone to hug or even just touch.

Downstairs, Hilde and Relena were in the kitchen making toast.

"Finally!" Relena teased him and Duo stuck out his tongue at her.

Hilde looked about as tired as Duo felt, and he imagined she hadn't slept much last night either, but all three of them were excited about this mini-adventure.

Relena had apparently found the time to make a road-trip playlist, or perhaps just had one handy at all times, and as soon as they got into Hilde's car she cued it up and Duo had to laugh when music from his middle school and high school days came on. The girls started to sing along to 'Hey There Delilah.' Duo was pretty sure he hadn't heard the song in years, but he definitely remembered the lyrics and he joined in with them.

It was a good start to the trip, and even though Duo really would have rather slept through the two hour car ride, they actually sang along to a fair number of the songs on Relena's playlist and by the time they got to the Zoo, Duo was wide awake.

The last time Duo had been to a zoo had been the Los Angeles Zoo. Howard had taken Solo and Duo there for Solo's fourteenth birthday, and Duo had gotten lost and wound up inside the ostrich exhibit. It had been terrifying, because the birds were huge and ran really, really fast. Duo still had nightmares about it, and hadn't been back to a zoo in the seven years since then.

Still, he tried to keep an open mind as they wandered through the enormous zoo, and he was happy to take pictures of the girls and even allowed them to take a few of him.

It was a long day, and at the end it felt like they left with a small menagerie of stuffed animals. Relena insisted on getting something for each of the guys and for Sally.

She picked out an a small elephant for herself, an otter for Quatre, a flamingo for Sally, a polar bear for Heero, a lion for Trowa and a kangaroo for Wufei. Duo picked out his own stuffed animal, a panda. Hilde got a gorilla for herself, and joked that she might have to add him to her team roster after Relena murdered Dorothy in her sleep.

Relena sniffed and ignored the tease, but it was clear she was very upset about the fact that Dorothy and Quatre were hooking up.

It was nearly six by the time the left the zoo, and they took the time to check into a hotel and change clothes before going out to dinner.

Relena found a decently priced restaurant on the waterfront by the marina, and they were able to eat outside and enjoy the sunset.

They had finished eating and were waiting on their check when the girls checked their phones.

"Holy -" Relena started to say.

"Oh my God," Hilde cut in.

They looked up at each other and then over at Duo.

"What?"

"Treize was in a car accident."

"What?" Duo sat up and tried to glance at Relena's phone.

"Une just released a press statement. He's in the hospital."

"Is he going to be okay?"

Relena shrugged and scrolled through her email notifications.

"I don't know. All she said was that he had been in a car accident and was currently being treated."

"Yeah, no details on Twitter," Hilde added.

"Was anyone else hurt?"

"Doesn't say," Hilde said and then noticed Duo's frown. "If he was with any of the guys, it would have said. I'm sure none of them are injured. Solo's fine."

Duo was sure she was right. But still, he had the urge to try calling his brother.

"I'm going to call Une," Relena said. She pulled out her credit card and left it on the table. "This is my treat - and don't argue, either one of you. I'll be right back."

She got up and walked away, already dialing, and Hilde and Duo looked at each other.

"I really hope he's okay," Duo said.

Hilde arched an eyebrow at him.

"What? He's an asshole, but he's still a human being. Plus… I want the chance to beat him again."

Hilde smirked.

"That loss still burns, doesn't it?"

It did. The very last game of the Spring Split had been close, so very, very close, but ZG had won the game when, unsurprisingly, Wufei didn't commit to a fight that Duo wanted him to go in on and Duo had died. ZG had used that advantage to push for the win.

Also unsurprising was the fact that Solo once again refused to shake Duo's hand. Treize had definitely taken the opportunity to remind Duo about what he had said before - about TGW not beating them again - and Ralph and Zechs had also had snide comments to make. Only Meilin had been decent about it, telling Duo good game and refraining from rubbing it in that they had won.

Sometimes he wondered how she managed to survive on that team. She was good - amazing at Support and she could be as much of an asshole as any of her teammates, but she was at least a good sportsman.

"Yeah, it does," he admitted and Hilde smirked.

"Don't worry. I'm sure he's fine and you'll have the opportunity to slug it out during the Playoffs."

Duo nodded. He certainly hoped so. He hated the smug look Treize always wore, and he really wanted the chance to wipe it off his face again.

Relena rejoined them a few minutes later, a grim expression on her face.

"What's up?" Duo asked her.

She shook her head and sighed.

"He broke his right wrist."

Duo winced.

"How badly?"

"Badly enough that he's done for the rest of the season."

"So…" Hilde spoke up. "Not trying to sound super happy about this or anything, but that means that ZG is pretty much fucked for Playoffs, doesn't it?"

Relena nodded.

"Une's working on finding a replacement, but right now they've just got their substitute player, Quinze."

Duo frowned.

"He's not a Top Laner."

"I know. Une said they're putting Meilin back in the top lane for the Playoffs and putting Quinze in support until they figure something out."

Duo sighed.

"Damnit. Solo's got to be so pissed. He wanted to make it to All Stars so badly this year with his team."

Both girls glared at him.

"What?"

"Who cares if Solo is pissed!" Hilde snapped at him.

Relena nodded.

"I'm sorry Treize is injured and I hope he makes a full recovery - but in no way do I feel bad for Solo! We're going to take advantage of this. Everyone will. This means our biggest competition - no offense, Hilde -

"None taken."

"-our biggest competition is no longer a threat. Duo, this means we have a really, really good chance of going to the All Star Games."

-o-

Quatre had taken "try hard" to a whole new level. A level that left Duo, and the rest of the team, exhausted every night. But it was a good exhaustion - the kind of exhaustion that came from trying new strategies, perfecting old ones and pushing themselves and each other to be better than they had been during the regular season.

It seemed like Quatre had decided that having Treize out and ZG likely at their worst was motivation for making sure that TGW was even better.

They still practiced from noon until eight, scrimmaging against other teams in the league, and then every night they all stayed up until at least midnight playing Solo Queue. It meant that Duo and Trowa hadn't had the chance to play together on their other accounts, but all things considered, Duo didn't need that distraction. As much as he loved playing with Trowa as his Top Laner, he needed to practice having Wufei as his Top Laner. It didn't do him much good to pull off incredibly plays with Trowa when he knew he would never have the chance to repeat them with Wufei.

Sally started using their dinner break as a kind of strategic meeting, going over their strengths and weaknesses and analyzing their opponents, and it really started to feel like Duo was eating, breathing and sleeping League of Legends.

Heero and Trowa stayed up late most nights to review games from earlier in the season, watching their opponents games as well as their own, and Duo joined them a few times.

The two of them usually occupied one couch and Duo sat on another, but one night, as Duo walked into the living room and approached his usual couch, Heero shifted over on his couch, putting room between himself and Trowa for Duo to join them.

Duo hesitated.

They hadn't really spoken about Duo's realizations, not since he and Trowa had spoken about how much Duo wanted to play with him on their second accounts that last night of the season, but when Duo looked at them now, at their neutral yet slightly hopeful expressions, he felt all of his questions come back.

He had done a great job of focusing on the game, throwing himself into practices and talking out strategies with everyone and he was still his usual self, still make snarky comments to Wufei and joked with Relena and Quatre and, damn him, still found it hard to remember his own name when Heero or Trowa looked at him a certain way, but he had tried not to think about them. About what they had said - and what they hadn't said.

"It's just a seat, Duo," Trowa spoke up and Duo shook himself.

"Er. Yeah. Of course. I just - is it?"

Heero ran his hand over the couch cushion and pressed it down experimentally.

"It appears to be," he confirmed.

Duo rolled his eyes.

"You know what I meant," he grumbled, but he sat down between them, because he wanted to, even if he wasn't sure what it meant - what it would lead to or what any of them wanted or even why this was happening - he wanted to share the couch with them.

Trowa queued up the last game between Team Solo Mid and Cloud 9. Both he and Heero relaxed, leaning back against the couch and Heero stretched his legs out while Trowa sat with one knee propped up and the other folded under him.

"You can relax," Trowa remarked drily when, fifteen minutes later, Duo was still sitting with his back straight, trying not to invade anyone's space.

Duo gave him a look.

"It's not like we're going to attack you and give you a hand job in the middle of the living room," Trowa continued.

"I - I know that," Duo said, but in his mind he now had _that_ mental image. He wondered what it would be like, both of their hands on him?

Trowa smirked and Duo glared at him but eased himself back onto the couch until his back was against the cushions and he folded his legs under him.

"Would we call it an attack?" Heero mused from Duo's other side, and Trowa chuckled.

Duo sighed.

"Seriously. I don't - I really don't get this at all."

They both turned to look at him, the game forgotten.

"What don't you get?" Heero asked.

"You - both of you. Are you… I mean, you're a thing, right? The two of you?"

They nodded.

"So then - where is this flirting with me coming into it?"

Trowa shrugged.

"I'm attracted to you. Heero's attracted to you. We discussed each of us going for you on our own but decided we might as well try to share you."

Duo stared at him.

"What? You - you discussed this? Me?"

"Of course," Heero said. "And we made a plan. Not that it's worked. You might be smart, but you're dense as hell when it comes to someone trying to get in your pants."

Duo took in a deep breath.

"So, you both think I'm… attractive. And both of you have a thing, a thing which has to be great because it's you two - and you… want to get in my pants so you've been trying to get me to sleep with the two of you?"

"And failing miserably," Trowa helpfully added.

"Since _when_?"

"This is what I'm talking about. You're completely oblivious," Heero muttered.

"We spend half the time walking around without shirts and you stare at us," Trowa said, "but you just… don't do anything about it. And then you walked in on us and just… left."

"Because you two were -" Duo suddenly remembered Trowa's words. _Come in or get out, but close the door_. "Oh."

So maybe Heero had been pissed at him afterwards not because Duo had seen them together, but because he had walked out?

"Is this why you wanted me on the team?"

It was Trowa's turn to look confused.

"What?"

"Relena said you two made a big deal out of wanting me on the team. Is this why?"

"No," Heero snorted. "We wanted you on the team because you're a great Jungler. Getting to look at you every day is just an added bonus."

Trowa nodded in agreement.

"But you have each other," Duo had to point out again, because… seriously. Heero and Trowa were hot, they were funny, they were sexy as hell and they connected on a level that required virtually no communication. They were perfect for each other. Where the hell did they see Duo coming into this?

"We do," Trowa agreed. "It doesn't mean we don't have fantasies. It doesn't mean we don't both fantasize about having sex with you."

Duo swallowed hard, because he sure as hell fantasized about having sex with them. He knew he was good looking, knew he was in decent shape and he knew that his hair was a thing for some guys. He wasn't that lacking self-confidence not to know that about himself, but he was a mess. He had a lot of baggage, his personal and professional lives were both just waiting to spiral out of control. He was a smart mouth, and while some people could appreciate that, he knew he could be annoying, and for two guys who hardly ever talked, he imagined he was way too chatty for them.

So what could they possibly see in him? What could they -

Right. They fantasized about having sex with him. They didn't fantasize about being in a relationship with him. They didn't fantasize about coming out and telling the world to fuck off. The didn't fantasize about cuddling on the couch or waking up and making breakfast together or distracting each other in practice by trying to covertly feel each other up.

Duo was just a fantasy. Just a sexual fantasy at that. Someone to try out.

He tried not to let himself feel too much pain or anger at that realization, but it hurt. A lot.

"I, uh." He stopped and cleared his throat. "I think that whatever - this is just a distraction. We've got the Playoffs next weekend and I think Quatre would butcher all of us if he thought we weren't one hundred percent focused on the game. So, we should do that. Just focus on the game."

He could feel both Heero and Trowa staring at him as he got up and left the room. Because as much as he meant that - as much as he wanted to just focus on the game and shove down all of the bitter truth that they just wanted to fuck him and move on - he couldn't just sit there with those two and not think about them, about what Trowa had said. And what he hadn't said.


	13. Chapter 13

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.

A/N #2: I'm like seriously blown away by how much people are enjoying this story. Thank you so much to everyone who takes the time to leave a review, favorite and/or follow.

A/N #3: I know I really harp on the Reddit hate thing. I can't stress enough how… vile the League community can actually be, to real players - real, _straight_ male players. Or how homophobic the community is as well, so I think that the recurring problems Duo faces are spot on in terms of potential accuracy.

A/N #4: It's a long chapter.

Warnings: Angst, language, violence, sex.

Pairings: PM me if you need to know. But I think it might be fairly obvious early on.

Going the Distance

Chapter Thirteen

"Has anyone ever thrown up on the stage before?" Duo asked.

Quatre gave him a sympathetic look, Wufei looked disgusted and Heero looked over at him in concern.

They were in the all too familiar holding room, waiting to go out there for the first games of the Spring Playoffs, waiting to fight for their dream of going to All Stars. Waiting to fail miserably.

Duo decided that he really needed to stop looking at Reddit.

After Treize's accident and the subsequent replacements on ZG, Reddit had come alive again with hatred for Duo. He still had fans - still actually had a following of people who extended past Hilde, Heero and Trowa now - but ZG fans and Duo-haters vastly outnumbered them. Threads were posted about ZG's crushed hopes, reminding everyone that it was Duo's fault ZG hadn't made it to World's last year and now their chances might be ruined again. Those reminders brought up fresh waves of hatred for Duo, and they inspired other posts about TGW getting the easy matchup and having luck on their side. Posts about Duo's inability to play the game as well as Solo did, posts comparing Duo to Ralph, posts with graphic drawings of Duo bending over his keyboard while getting fucked in the ass by a TGW teammate or of him on his knees, surrounding by the TGW team while they jacked off onto his face.

But the posts that got to him the most were the ones calling him out for his lack of ability, the ones that said he would embarrass himself during Playoffs, that he would finally prove to his team and the League community just how useless of a faggot he really was.

He was convinced they were right.

The playoffs weren't like the regular season. During the regular season, each team played two, three or four games every weekend, but always against a different opponent. For the Playoffs, the top six teams competed for a ticket to the All-Star game in best of five game series. Which meant that teams had the chance to adapt to Duo, to his tactics, to his teammates, over the matter of an hour instead of a few weeks. It meant that Duo had to have multiple tactics, multiple strategies, and it meant he needed to be prepared for his opponents to capitalize on his weaknesses over and over again.

"Why?" Relena spoke up. "Did you want to be the first?"

Duo glared at her and she smiled back sweetly. It actually helped settle him a little bit.

"We're going to be fine," Quatre insisted. He walked over and gently shook Trowa awake. Trowa had gone back to his preferred pre-game nap time and Duo wondered what that meant - did it mean that Heero felt confident and relaxed so Trowa didn't need to stress out? Did it mean that Trowa was so freaked out he had stayed up all night pacing his room and was so tired he needed to nap? Probably that was only Duo. Probably, Heero and Trowa had spent the night… however they usually did. Duo wondered if they liked to cuddle, if they liked to share the same bed to sleep in or just for sex.

Trowa stood up and stretched and Duo fought very hard to look away, but Trowa caught him and his lips twitched into a slight smile as he sat back down on the couch.

"Look, we made it to the quarterfinals. We're one of the best teams in the North American League and we _can_ win these Playoffs." Quatre looked at each of them in turn. "It's not going to be easy. Nothing about this season has been easy. But we can do it. Just remember, we only need to win three games against Curse. We can lose two and still win. We can lose the first one. We can lose the second - we can lose and still win. We can make mistakes and _still win_. But this game is as much about our mental state as it is about our skill. So just - whatever you have going through your head, whatever you think you need to prove - put it aside and just focus on this team and these games. None of the rest of it matters."

Quatre was giving Heero a hard look when he said this, and Duo felt like a bit of a selfish asshole.

He had been spending all of his time and energy worrying about himself, but Heero had been the target of a fair amount of Reddit shit as well. Everyone compared him to Zechs and they said Zechs was better, that Heero was carried every game by Trowa, and that Heero was going to prove to everyone just how bad he was during the Playoffs. That last season had been a fluke, that this season had meant nothing and Heero was garbage.

Duo looked over at Trowa and saw that he was also looking at Heero.

Heero sighed and nodded, and he might have been responding to Quatre's words, but he was looking at Trowa.

Trowa nodded back and relaxed into the couch.

"Wufei."

The surly man looked up from his philosophy book.

"You have to commit to team fights. You have to go in with Duo, you have to be with us. We need you."

It was a little risky, calling Wufei out like that, but the expression on Quatre's face was fierce as he held Wufei's dark gaze.

A muscle in Wufei's jaw jumped.

"We cannot win without you," Quatre continued. "You're a key member of this team. Today isn't about you - it's not about whatever you feel about Ralph or about Duo. This is about our team. It's about us and we need you with us."

Wufei sighed, but he nodded.

"Is this the part where you say All for One and One for All?" Relena asked.

Quatre rolled his eyes, but then he smiled.

"Actually. Yeah. Everyone. Come on. Stand up and get in here."

Quatre stood in the middle of the room and held his hand out.

The rest of the team, including Sally and Relena, gathered around him with varying states of reluctance and they stacked their hands together.

"Almost no one thought we would make it here. There are a lot of people who hate us for being here today." Quatre smirked. "Fuck them."

That startled a laugh out of Duo and Relena, and most of the others smiled.

"We made it here. We belong here. We're going to win here. All for One and One for All!"

They did the stupid hand raising thing and Duo felt a little stupid, but also kind of excited.

Someone knocked on the door.

"Okay. Let's go out there and do this," Quatre said.

-o-

He didn't vomit on the stage. And despite Quatre's assurances that they could still lose two games and win, Duo was relieved that TGW had won it in a clean sweep, winning three games in a row, because he wasn't sure if he would have been able to come back from a loss and not start to feel his nerves and doubts set in again.

Curse were good guys - they congratulated the TGW team and told them to keep kicking ass and after shaking their hands and taking a victory stroll across the stage while the fans chanted, TGW went backstage to pack up their gear.

They were done for the day, and even though they had only played three games instead of a full set of five, Duo felt exhausted. So much fear and adrenaline had been pumping through his body all day -and all night before - that at this point he was kind of amazed he was still standing. He hadn't been able to sleep last night, and he wasn't entirely sure if he would be able to tonight, but he knew he needed to try.

ZG would be taking the stage soon, for their best of five series against Complexity, and Duo hoped they made it home in time to see some of the games live.

As the other guys made a sweep of the holding room to make sure they hadn't left anything behind, Duo took a detour to the bathroom.

He was usually pretty good about not drinking too much caffeine on game days - nothing was worse than sitting in a chair for an hour while trying not to think of how much he needed to piss - but today he had failed miserably. He had pounded a few Red Bulls with Quatre that morning, and another between games, and while he had managed to stay awake, he felt jittery and his bladder felt very, very full.

The bathroom was empty and Duo gratefully took advantage of the nearest urinal.

A piss shouldn't feel this good, or give him this much relief - but it really did.

The door opened and Duo looked over to see who had stepped into the bathroom.

Solo.

The looked at each other, and Duo could see Solo debating with himself over whether or not he should just leave.

But Duo finished up at the urinal and walked towards the sinks. That seemed to decide things for Solo and he walked towards the urinals, giving Duo a wide berth.

Duo found himself lingering as he washed his hands. He wanted -

"Good luck out there," he said.

Solo looked over at him, his face confused for a moment, but then he glared.

"Oh fuck right off, Duo."

"What?"

"Don't give me that shit. My team is screwed - you know it, everyone knows it. So don't give me that good luck bullshit when you're going to laugh your ass off while we lose."

Duo shook his head.

"No. Solo - I hate that you guys don't have Treize. I don't want you to lose."

"Bullshit. You're telling me you want us to beat you?"

"No," Duo had to say.

Solo nodded and walked towards him.

"Right. So don't feed me that garbage. Don't tell me good luck when you want me to lose."

"That's not -"

"Is there a problem?"

Ralph stepped into the bathroom and glared at Duo.

"No," Solo sneered. He arched an eyebrow at Duo.

"Fine. _Fine_."

Duo pushed past Ralph and out of the bathroom.

He hadn't spoken to Solo in nine months and what were the first words his brother said to him?

_Oh fuck right off, Duo_.

That seemed about right.

He met up with his team outside, where they were signing autographs, and he worked hard to keep the scowl off of his face.

Hilde ran up and threw herself at him, and Duo just caught her, staggering backwards as he did so, and she kissed him on the mouth.

"I'm so proud of you!" She shrieked.

Duo hugged her tightly. Fuck he needed her at that moment.

Hilde seemed to sense something was wrong. She let him hold her but after a moment she patted his shoulder.

"Okay, stop molesting me in public. Your fans are going to be jealous."

With a sigh, Duo let go and turned back to the line of kids wanting his autograph.

"So...I didn't have any plans for tonight and I thought I would invite myself over to the TGW house. I can make spaghetti, since I seem to recall that being someone's favorite food to eat when they have feelings, and maybe I can spend the night, because it's been a while since I had a good cuddle and -"

"Please," Duo interrupted her. "Yes, please." It sounded like the only good thing that could happen after what he had just gone through and he wanted to make a petition to grant Hilde sainthood.

She grinned at him and kissed him on the cheek. A few cameras and phones flashed at that, capturing the moment.

Duo snorted and gave her a look.

"Now everyone's going to say I've turned straight and I'm a hypocrite. You've just given Reddit a whole new reason to hate me."

Hilde rolled her eyes.

"Stop. Reading. Reddit."

-o-

Hilde made enough spaghetti for everyone, and they gathered around the dining room table to eat and talk through the games that day.

While Hilde was cooking, Duo set up his laptop in the kitchen so that they could watch the ZG and Complexity games. The first game had been a win for Complexity, but it had ended before they got home. The second game was already half over when Duo tuned in, but they were able to watch ZG manage a close victory. The third and fourth games, however, were blowouts by Complexity.

"Speaking as a fan girl and not a member of another team," Hilde said to Wufei, "my favorite part of game three was when you and Duo completely destroyed Quas level one at the start of the game."

Wufei actually smirked. Actually forced his mouth to go in a position that wasn't a frown.

"It was my favorite part as well. Ralph and I used to do early kills like that."

Oh. Right. Wufei was happy because it reminded him of the good old days with Ralph.

"Yeah," Hilde agreed. She had bluntly hip checked Quatre away from the seat beside Wufei and taken it herself, and she leaned closer to him. "It's been great to see you and Duo grow as partners, though. You're such a strong top laner - and he's so unpredictable in the Jungle - I feel like most teams don't know how to deal with the two of you."

"We don't know what to do with the two of them," Sally muttered, earning glares from both Duo and Wufei. "Today was the first time the two of you communicated perfectly and coordinated. I'm proud," she added. "And I hope we see more games like the ones today."

Quatre nodded in agreement.

"We were all great. I'm so proud of us."

Quatre looked like a kid who had just opened up his Christmas present and discovered it was exactly what he had asked for.

Duo and Heero worked together to clean up after the meal, while everyone else migrated to the living room to watch their games and relax.

"You okay?" Heero asked Duo as they finished loading the dishwasher.

Duo looked at him in surprise.

"Yeah. Of course."

Heero arched an eyebrow, an expression Duo was more used to seeing on Trowa's face, and he wondered if Heero had picked it up from him.

"You played great today," Heero said.

"So did you. That triple kill in game two - seriously, one of the coolest things I've ever seen."

Heero smirked slightly, but he didn't look that excited about the memory.

"Are _you_ okay?" Duo asked him.

"Yeah. Of course," Heero echoed his earlier answer.

Duo rolled his eyes.

"It's nothing. Just the same old shit with my brother and - and I'm terrified of letting you guys down and I'm sick of being a _faggot_," he added, unable to keep the bitterness out of his voice.

Heero looked at him for a long moment and then he hugged him.

Duo was startled, and he stood frozen for a moment before he even thought to hug Heero back.

"Every day I play I have to prove I'm not a joke, or that I'm not some wannabe Zechs," Heero confided, his breath hot on Duo's neck and Duo hugged him a little tighter. "I should be happy with the games today. I should be celebrating. But all I can think about is the fact that Zechs got a pentakill today and had more kills and already Reddit and Twitter are saying I've stolen his place in the spotlight and I'm not good enough to suck his dick."

Duo swallowed hard. He'd seen that comment, navigating between the games and Reddit while Hilde cooked, and he had signed in, ready to defend Heero, but as he started to type he realized it would only make things worse. Dick comments were usually directed _his_ way, for obvious reasons, but it was a common insult directed to other players as well. There was no need to call someone out for it if it would only make things worse.

"Dude, why would you even _want_ to suck his dick?" Duo asked, trying for humor because he could think of nothing else to say.

Heero chuckled and he pulled away from the hug.

It was clear they both felt a little awkward after the prolonged contact, and Duo cleared his throat and scratched the back of his neck.

"I'm sorry about your brother," Heero said, his voice low.

Duo shrugged one shoulder, ready to brush it off again, but Heero glared at him.

"He hasn't said a word to me in nine months until today," Duo confessed. "And… I ran into him in the bathroom, before their games, and I told him good luck and he told me to fuck right off. He thought I was being an asshole or -"

"You wouldn't do that," Heero interrupted him, frowning. "You aren't an asshole."

Duo had no idea why it hurt to have Heero say that, to know that about him, but it did. He nodded, because he wasn't entirely sure his voice would come out the way he wanted it to.

Someone cleared their throat, and both Duo and Heero turned to see Trowa leaning against the doorway between the kitchen and the dining room.

He was frowning slightly, a concerned look on his face as he took in the two of them.

"They're waiting on you two before we start the games," Trowa said, his voice neutral.

Heero nodded and started towards him.

Duo followed.

"Tired?" Trowa asked him.

Duo shrugged.

"Yeah. But I don't think I could sleep yet."

"Too bad."

Duo gave him a questioning look.

"I've got my phone with me. I was hoping to get a photo of you and Heero cuddling on the couch in your sleep this time."

-o-

"Hey, guys, they need Duo, Heero and Trowa onstage."

Duo didn't even bother to check his groan of frustration.

They were back in the holding room, waiting to take the stage for their semi-final games against TSM. Complexity and Cloud 9 had just finished their games, and Cloud 9 had won, sweeping Complexity to make it into the final series tomorrow afternoon.

Duo had actually joined Heero in his usual pre-game custom game and the two had been doing a one versus one, Heero warming up on his favorite champions and Duo trying out a few ideas he had seen Korean players using recently.

So far, Heero was managing to hold his own, and the kills were even. Trowa had pulled up a chair and was sitting between them, watching in amusement.

It was probably the most relaxed Duo had felt before a match all season. It helped that he had gotten a decent amount of sleep last night - he had fallen asleep on the couch, but this time both Heero and Trowa had as well, and Duo had woken up with Trowa's head on his left shoulder and Heero's on his right.

He tried to ignore how good it felt, the warmth and firmness of their bodies pressed against him and sat there for a few minutes, grateful that everyone else was still focused on the games, before he nudged them awake.

Hilde then provided excellent cuddle time, spooning with him in bed like they used to do, and she didn't push Duo to talk about Solo or any of the other things bothering him. He appreciated that - he had always appreciated how Hilde wouldn't push him at times, but then at others, she really would.

In the morning, she had teased him and made him promise to wear the lucky Pokemon boxers, and despite his memories of Heero and Trowa making fun of them, Duo complied with the request. They were, in fact, fairly lucky considering that he hadn't yet lost a game while wearing them, and he'd had sex with Jason the day he wore these - the only sex he had had since Alex.

Of course, Relena stepping into the holding room and announcing that Duo, Heero and Trowa were needed onstage before their games did a lot to wreck Duo's good mood and relaxation.

"For an interview?" He had to ask.

She gave him a look.

"I don't know. They just told me to grab you guys and take you out there. Just - it'll be fine. You know they do these live interviews in front of the audience sometimes. And you'll have Heero and Trowa there with you."

Which should have been comforting, but now Duo was thinking about Heero, about the shit he had to deal with, and he really didn't want _him _to have to go through a live interview either.

"Come on," Trowa said and stood up, a resigned look on his face. "Let's get it over with so we can beat TSM."

The three of them followed an event staffer out to the stage and down into a clear portion of the floor near the audience.

Duo looked around and felt some of his nerves coming back. The place was packed and many fans were holding up signs to support their favorite teams and players. The fans screamed when they saw them walk out and the feeling was surreal.

Jatt, one of the League employees and a caster for their live streams, was standing there waiting for them, a microphone in hand, and Solo stood beside him.

They were chatting, Solo making some joke that Jatt laughed at, and Duo was reminded once again that the world loved his brother, that the League community loved him, and that - holy shit.

Two event staffers stood just to the side, each of them holding two trophies in their hands.

"Hey guys," Jatt greeted them and waved them closer. "We wanted to do the Spring Split awards before your games start. Just, come stand over here beside Solo and we can get the cameras rolling."

Duo stared. He heard the words, but he didn't quite understand them.

Heero nudged him forward, bumping his shoulder against Duo's.

Trowa stood beside Solo, sparing a glare at the taller blond man before turning to face the cameras set up on one side.

Heero and Duo fell in beside him, and Duo was grateful that he didn't have to stand beside Solo, as immature as it felt, he appreciated the space between them.

"Okay, here we go guys - big smile!" Jatt coached and they all looked at the camera and smiled.

"Alright, I am here with the top players of the Spring Split to hand out the player achievement awards!" Jatt said and the audience behind them cheered.

"For the fourth split in a row, Solo is the MVP," Jatt continued and Solo accepted his trophy.

Duo and Solo used to joke that they should just rename it the Solo award. No other player had won it since he started playing.

"The rookie of the Spring Split is Duo!" Duo accepted his own trophy and had to stare at it.

He wasn't the only rookie this season, several teams had added new players - and the Valkyries were an entirely new team. He hadn't thought much about these awards, and he definitely hadn't thought he could win one.

"For the second split in a row, Trowa has had the most kill assists, and also for the second split in a row, Heero has the best kill-death-assist ratio in the league. Congrats to you guys for your amazing work!"

The audience cheered again and they all hefted the trophies above their heads.

"Solo - how does it feel to be the MVP _yet again_?" Jatt asked and held the mic out to Solo.

Solo took it and grinned.

"It feels great! It means a lot to me to be part of ZG - the best team in the league - and to have the support of the best fans in the world!" More cheers from the audience and Duo fought to keep from rolling his eyes.

"And Duo - it looks like you are following family tradition. Your brother was Rookie of the Season his first spring as well."

Duo nodded and accepted the mic from Solo.

"Yeah, it feels great to win this award," he agreed.

"Do you have anything to say to your fans and your critics?" Jatt added.

Duo stared at him.

_Really_? Did Duo have anything to say?

Jatt made a gesture, encouraging him to speak.

Fuck it, Duo decided.

"Yeah," he said and turned back to face the camera. "I want to say thank you to all of my fans, all of the TGW fans, for supporting us. This is for you guys - you're the best. I also want to say that this award is for me, but it's for all of the other kids out there like me. The kids who are different. The kids who get harassed for being gay or black or for being a girl. Or for being a gamer." Duo held the trophy up higher. "This is for us. Because we are different, but we're just as good as anyone else and we're freaking awesome."

There was a moment of dead silence, and Duo was pretty sure it was the sound of his professional career going down the toilet.

But then the audience started to clap and then to cheer. A few people started to chant his name, and for a few minutes it was too loud for Jatt to continue the interview.

Duo sincerely hoped he didn't ask him to say anything else, because his throat was completely constricted and he really did not want to cry.

He felt Heero and Trowa both give him one armed hugs and the audience cheered even louder.

"Well, we are out of time - but I think we can all agree that these guys deserve these awards!" Jatt awkwardly finished up the interview and Duo had to laugh.

After the cameras cut, Jatt held out his hand and Duo shook it.

"Well said, man," Jatt said. "Well said."

Duo nodded, grateful and still not really able to speak.

"You guys should head up to the stage for your games," Jatt continued. "Good luck out there."

Duo, Heero and Trowa waved at the crowd, earning more cheers, and then walked back up to the stage.

"I'm a little jealous," Trowa muttered as they walked towards their computers.

"Shit. I'm sorry you didn't get a chance to speak," Duo slapped his forehead. "I just - I had to say it."

Trowa gave him an amused look.

"No, I'm jealous because now you're going to have all of these Reddit fanboys trying to get your attention."

Heero nodded, a sour look on his face.

"And we were your fanboys first. Before you started giving cool speeches."

Duo laughed, and maybe it was a little hysterical because he still couldn't believe he had just done that, but it felt good, especially when Heero and Trowa smiled at him.

-o-

"You know that dream of showing up to school naked?"

Wufei looked at him like he was crazy.

"No."

Duo arched an eyebrow.

"You seriously never had that dream?"

Wufei shook his head.

"Of course not. That sounds idiotic."

Duo sighed.

"You are not normal, man."

Wufei smirked.

"Of course not. I'm _different_ and I'm just as good as you."

Duo rolled his eyes.

His teammates had started teasing him almost immediately about that - as soon as Heero, Trowa and Duo joined them at the computers after the interview, Quatre made a joke about Duo giving a _different_ kind of speech than he had expected, and they had all laughed and then Quatre had said they could celebrate later, but right now it was time to focus on winning.

And they had - they had swept TSM in three games and the crowd had gone crazy and Duo had felt so on top of the world, standing on the stage, hugging his teammates while the audience went crazy.

And today, the day of the final series, to decide which North American team went to the All Star Games in Rio, had started with Sally taking a _different_ route to the studio, with Relena showing up with purple streaks in her hair because she wanted to try something _different_ and now Wufei was teasing him too.

It felt good. It felt amazing.

As they sat at their computers, waiting for the first game of the final series to start, Duo tried to relax. He forced himself to draw in a deep breath and calm down.

"Speaking of different," Heero said over the headset, and Duo reflected that after ten weeks of playing with him he really shouldn't still find his voice so damn sexy, "I checked Reddit this morning."

"Dear God _why_?" Quatre demanded. He had always been very vocal in his opposition to it - he very rarely checked it and even less frequently commented on threads.

"Because I wanted to see what people said about our chances of winning."

"And?" Duo asked. This morning he hadn't wanted to look at Reddit, hadn't wanted to come crashing back to the gay-bashing reality of the internet. Relena had shared a few Twitter comments with them on the drive home last night, picking positive ones that had them all laughing and smiling, but Duo knew that there were likely to be just as many negative things said about his speech as there were positive.

"It looks like people think we're going to lose," Heero said and he sounded… happy?

"How is that different?" Wufei demanded.

"It's not," Heero admitted and Duo had to laugh.

Heero smirked at him.

"I just wanted Duo to laugh. He had that 'I'm going to fuck up everything' look on his face again."

Duo looked at him, and he didn't even bother to hide his appreciation for Heero.

Heero held his gaze until Duo had to look away because his amusement and appreciation started to go in a different direction, because Heero was hot as hell in his Gunnar glasses, smirking back at Duo, and Duo needed to _not_ think about that, about how sexy Heero was or the way Trowa looked at both of them with that fond, amused expression that did weird things to Duo's stomach.

-o-

"You are covered in glitter," Relena laughed and reached for Duo's hair, trying to pick pieces out.

Duo grinned.

He was. They all were.

The entire team had stood on the center stage while the audience cheered for them and glitter was dumped on them from the ceiling.

Duo had watched this moment so many times over the years - had watched teams with the Spring Split, the All Stars, the Summer Split, World's - had watched them laugh and cheer and sparkle from all of the damn glitter dumped on them and he had wanted that, had wanted to stand here. But he had honestly never thought it would happen.

Relena and Quatre hugged Duo hard enough that it was difficult to breathe, but Duo honestly didn't care if he did die at that moment. He felt like he had achieved the impossible.

"We're going to Rio!" Quatre shouted into Duo's ear.

Duo nodded and tried to free himself from their grip.

Even Wufei looked happy, exchanging high fives with Trowa and waving to the audience as they cheered for them.

Duo finally escaped from Quatre and Relena, who just hugged each other instead, and he managed to hug Heero.

Heero hugged him back, and maybe it was a little too tight, a little too close and too intimate for a national audience, but Duo put his head next to Heero's.

"You were amazing," Duo said into his ear and he felt Heero shiver.

Heero nodded and Duo pulled away to smirk at him.

There was a piece of glitter just above Heero's left eyebrow, and Duo had to fight his urge to reach out and brush it away.

Trowa came up and Duo hugged him as well.

He hadn't realized just how strong Trowa was, until he felt his arms around him, or how good he smelled, even after seven hours on that damn stage, and Duo had to pull away quickly before his thoughts took a turn for the extremely inappropriate.

It took almost an two hours to leave the studio. Quatre and Wufei had to give a post-game interview while everyone else worked to pack up their gear, and then they spent over an hour signing autographs.

Duo was caught completely by surprise when Jason walked up to him and asked for an autograph.

"What - what are you doing here?" Duo asked. He hugged Jason and Jason laughed and hugged him back.

"Relena got a ticket for him," Jason said when he pulled away. "I saw your speech yesterday."

Duo blushed.

"Yeah, I…"

"You were great. You are great," Jason told him. He shrugged. "I'm happy for you."

"Thanks," Duo said. "That - that's really nice to hear."

He thought about Alex, wondered what he was doing, and he doubted that _he_ would show up at a League game and tell Duo he was happy for him. Or that he was great."

"You should come back to our games," Jason said. "I miss hanging out with you."

Duo hesitated at the look in Jason's eyes. It was hard to tell if Jason was just being friendly, or if he was actually flirting with Duo.

"I - we're going to be crazy busy with practices for All Stars and the Summer Split," Duo said.

Jason shrugged.

"Can't blame me for trying. Congrats on everything."

Jason turned and walked back into the crowd and Duo hoped he wasn't being an idiot.

He was a good guy, he was funny and he - he wasn't right for Duo.

Duo sighed. Jason wasn't right, because Duo couldn't keep his eyes or his mind off of two of his teammates.

It was midnight when they got home, and everyone was still grinning, still laughing and giddy from the victory, but it was clear that everyone was also exhausted.

They stood in the kitchen for about half an hour, talking and winding down, before Quatre called it a night and everyone drifted off to their rooms.

Wufei actually shook Duo's hand before going into his own room, thanking him for being his teammate, and it was weird enough that Duo stared at his hand long after Wufei's door was closed.

Only Trowa chuckling made him look up.

Trowa and Heero were standing in the door to their room, and Trowa had that same fond, amused expression on his face again and Duo shrugged and grinned back.

"Come on," he said and walked towards his own room, closer to them and away from Wufei's room, "you have to admit that was a pretty rare occurrence. Wufei thanking me for being his teammate."

Heero nodded in agreement.

"Speaking of rare occurrences," Trowa said, his voice low, "I've never had sex with an All Star before."

"Me either," Heero said and turned towards him.

They looked at each other for a long moment, and then Heero smirked and stepped close to Trowa, pressing their bodies together and kissing him.

Duo momentarily forgot how to breathe.

Holy hell. Walking in on the two of them having sex was one thing - watching them stand there and kiss right in front of him - it was by far the most erotic thing Duo had ever seen.

He could feel himself actually getting hard just looking at them, at the way Trowa's lips fit over Heero's and his hands cupped Heero's ass and pulled him even closer.

"What about you?" Trowa asked when he pulled away from Heero, his lips dark and wet.

"What?" Duo looked between them, saw the bulge of their erections in their track pants and he literally had no idea what Trowa was talking about.

Trowar arched an eyebrow.

"Have you ever had sex with an All Star?"

"Oh, uh, no."

Trowa nodded.

He looked back down at Heero and ran his right hand across Heero's jaw, down his chest and abdomen and to Heero's groin, squeezing his cock through the thin material of his pants.

Heero shuddered against him.

"I guess it's time to change that," he said and smirked.

Heero pushed Trowa backwards, into their room and kissed him again.

Duo stood in the hallway, unable to look away from Heero kissing Trowa, from Trowa pulling off his own track jacket and then lifting his jersey over his head, exposing his lean chest.

"Coming?" Trowa asked, looking past Heero to Duo.


	14. Chapter 14

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.

A/N #2: I'm like seriously blown away by how much people are enjoying this story. Thank you so much to everyone who takes the time to leave a review, favorite and/or follow.

A/N #3: Sexy times ahead. At long last.

Warnings: Angst, language, violence, sex.

Pairings: PM me if you need to know. But I think it might be fairly obvious early on.

Going the Distance

Chapter Fourteen

Heero locked the door, and whatever joke Duo would have made about that was immediately lost and forgotten when Trowa kissed him.

Maybe Duo had fallen asleep wondering what this would feel like. Maybe he had spent a lot of time fantasizing about it in the shower while he masturbated. Maybe he thought about it every time he looked at Trowa's mouth.

But none of those thoughts and fantasies matched up to the reality.

Trowa's lips were already smooth and wet from kissing Heero, and his touch was firm as his mouth pressed forward and Duo wrapped his arms around Trowa's neck and fucking hell it felt perfect.

Trowa's tongue teased over his lips and Duo opened his mouth in a moan. Trowa's tongue slid against his, rough and smooth at the same time and Duo legitimately felt his knees go a little weak.

And then Heero was there, his hands sliding over Duo's back and his chest and fuck.

This was a threesome. This was Heero and Trowa and this was what they had fantasized about. Fucking Duo. And this was what Duo had fantasized about too, sure, but it also wasn't -

Heero pressed his lips to the back of Duo's neck and it was almost tender, almost completely platonic except Duo could feel Heero's cock pressed his against his ass.

This wasn't a good idea, Duo reminded himself. Heero and Trowa had their thing, their private thing and Duo wasn't part of that. He was just -

Heero's hands drifted lower, down Duo's hips and his fingers splayed wide, barely touching Duo's hard cock and Duo rocked forward, trying to ease into Heero's touch but instead he found himself pressed against Trowa's cock.

Fuck it. Duo decided. Fuck knowing that this was bad and it was only one time and tomorrow Heero and Trowa would still be Heero and Trowa, because tonight it would be Heero and Trowa and Duo and fine. That was fine.

Duo ran his hands over Trowa's bare chest, touching him like he had wanted to do since his first day at the TGW house. Trowa felt good.

Duo ran his hands over Trowa's abdomen, ghosting over the faintly defined muscles there and up to Trowa's chest.

He squeezed Trowa's right nipple, gently, and Trowa moaned into Duo's mouth.

"He likes it when you bite them," Heero said into Duo's ear, his breath hot and moist and Duo shuddered when Heero's tongue traced the whorls of his ear.

"Try it," Heero encouraged him and Duo pulled away from Trowa's mouth.

Trowa stared at him, his lips parted and his breathing erratic. Duo was never, ever going to be able to get rid of this mental image, of Trowa looking so thoroughly wrecked after just kissing him.

Duo bent his head and licked Trowa's left nipple before taking it between his teeth and applying a little pressure. Trowa licked his lips and made a soft sound.

"Harder," Heero encouraged him and Duo followed his command again, biting down a little harder and Trowa hissed and rocked forward. Yeah, he clearly liked that.

Duo transferred his attention to Trowa's other nipple, licking and nipping at it until Trowa made some kind of desperate sound in the back of his throat that made Heero grind against Duo's ass, clearly as aroused by it as Duo was.

But then Trowa stepped away from Duo's mouth.

"You two haven't even kissed yet," he said, his voice a soft reprimand.

It was true, and Duo turned around in Heero's embrace, intent on remedying that.

Heero's lips met his in a hungry, open mouthed kiss that took away Duo's breath.

Kissing him was completely different than kissing Trowa. Heero seemed impatient, with none of the slow caressing of tongues that Duo had just experienced from Trowa. Instead, Heero's tongue dove into his mouth, deep and forceful and Duo clung to him, opening his mouth wide and kissing Heero back, scouring his mouth with his tongue until Heero backed him up against Trowa.

Trowa tugged at his jacket, pulling it off impatiently and then his hands were under the hem of Duo's shirt, tracing over his chest and pinching his nipples and Duo groaned into Heero's mouth.

"I'm not the only one with sensitive nipples," Trowa remarked.

Heero pulled away from their kiss when Trowa pulled Duo's jersey over his head, and Heero took the opportunity to shed his own jacket and shirt.

And then Heero was kissing him again, and Duo was trapped between their bodies, their hard naked torsos and their hard cocks and he had honestly never been more aroused.

Trowa's hands skimmed down to the waistband of Duo's track pants, his fingers teasing the inside and Duo rocked back against his hips.

"Please tell me you're wearing the Pokemon boxers," Trowa said.

Duo pulled away from Heero's kiss to glare at him.

"No."

Trowa frowned, but he leaned down to kiss Duo, his mouth and tongue so different from Heero's.

"Too bad. Those are my favorites."

Duo didn't bother to point out that they were the only one's Trowa had seen, he was too distracted by the realization that Trowa hadn't been making fun of him before. That Trowa _had_ been looking at him with lust in his eyes that night.

"These aren't bad," Heero said as he tugged Duo's pants down a few inches to reveal the navy boxer briefs Duo had on. "They look a little tight," he added with a smirk. He ran his palm over the outline of Duo's cock.

Trowa reached around to touch Duo as well, his hand sliding over Heero's and squeezing.

"Hm," Trowa agreed. He bit Duo's right ear lobe and Duo moaned. "Maybe we should take them off?" He suggested.

"Yes," Duo managed to say and he could feel Trowa smirk against his neck.

Heero tugged the briefs and the pants down and Duo kicked his way free of them.

"Better," Heero said. He pulled Duo against him and walked them towards the nearest bed.

Duo pulled down Heero's pants and his boxers as well, and the feel of Heero's naked body against his was intense and so much better than Duo had dreamed it would be. Duo thrust his hips forward, against Heero's and Heero groaned and thrust back.

Heero kissed him again and pulled him down onto the bed, so that Duo straddled his lap.

It pressed their cocks together, trapping them between their bodies and Duo couldn't help but move, rotating his hips a bit to search out friction.

Heero gripped his ass tightly and encouraged the movement, pushing Duo against him.

Duo could feel himself getting close, just from grinding against Heero, and he realized that Trowa wasn't on the bed with them.

He broke free of Heero's mouth and looked over his shoulder.

Trowa was standing beside them, naked as well, and he was lazily stroking his own cock while watching them.

"Sorry," Duo said, knowing he had gotten wrapped up in the sensations of his body riding Heero's and completely forgotten about Trowa.

Trowa shrugged. He certainly looked perfectly content to just watch them.

"I don't… know how this works," Duo continued and looked between Heero and Trowa. "I've never been in a threesome before."

"Neither have we," Heero said. He leaned forward and pressed a kiss against Duo's throat and then licked at the spot before biting it.

Duo groaned. It felt good, the mix of pleasure and pain, and he returned the attention to Heero, nipping at his left earlobe and making him moan and thrust upwards.

"Join us?" Duo asked Trowa. He wasn't sure what they wanted to do - if somehow this was going to be the three of them switching off partners or all together or what - but he would rather have Trowa with them on the bed.

Trowa leaned over and kissed Duo as he climbed into the bed. Duo arched backwards to maintain the contact as Trowa settled behind him on his knees.

"This is so much better than I thought it would be," Heero muttered.

Duo could see him watching them kiss, his eyes dark and hooded and Heero was right.

This was a lot better than Duo had thought it would be too. And he had had some pretty highs hopes- at least in his fantasies.

He could feel Trowa's cock against the curve of his ass and he rocked backwards, rubbing against the length and Trowa made that sound again, low and soft in the back of his throat.

Heero pulled Duo forward, his hands reaching past Duo to grab onto Trowa's hips and soon they were all moving together. It was a little strange, as they all tried to move at a slightly different rhythm, and Duo had to laugh when Trowa's cock slipper low and stabbed his balls.

"Maybe we should - oh fuck." Whatever Duo had been about to say was forgotten when Heero reached down and took hold of their cocks, working his hand over them together and it felt incredible.

Trowa moved to the side and leaned forward to kiss Heero.

Duo was still convinced that the two of them kissing was the most erotic thing he had ever seen, and he could feel himself getting close to orgasm again.

He reached out to stroke Trowa's cock and Trowa groaned and angled his lower body closer.

Duo let his other hand roam over Heero's body, kneading the firm flesh of his side, hips and ass and Heero's free hand traveled the same path on Duo's body.

Trowa moved over to kiss Duo and Heero leaned forward to kiss and lick Duo's neck and the combined attention, the firm grip of Heero's hand on his cock, sent Duo over the edge.

He came with a moan, muffled by Trowa's mouth, and he could feel Heero come a moment later.

Trowa was still hard, still pushing back into Duo's hand and Duo pulled away from the kiss so that he could bend forward and take Trowa's cock in his mouth.

Trowa gave a hiss of surprise and his hands fisted in Duo's hair.

"Oh - God that feels amazing," Trowa gasped.

Duo could feel Heero close to him, and he imagined they were kissing again, judging by the sounds he could hear above him.

"I - I'm close," Trowa warned him and started to pull away, but Duo gripped his hips and held him in place. He had wanted to do this for months now, and he wasn't about to let Trowa pull away.

Trowa came with a hoarse, strangled sound and an unexpected thrust of his hips that buried his cock deep in Duo's throat.

Duo eased back when Trowa gave a gentle nudge on his shoulder.

"Thank you," Trowa said to him when Duo sat back up.

"My pleasure," Duo assured him.

Trowa smirked at him and then Heero leaned forward and kissed Duo again, his tongue delving into Duo's mouth as though he wanted to taste Trowa.

The bed shifted as Trowa got up, and Duo saw him walk towards the bathroom.

He supposed that was one of the perks of sharing the master bedroom - your own bathroom. And, of course, having your boyfriend share your bedroom.

Trowa came back a moment later with a damp towel and used it to wipe off both Heero and Duo's chests and groins.

Duo couldn't help but feel a kind of boneless satisfaction and he lay back on the bed with a contented sigh.

"Tired?" Trowa asked him, smirking slightly as he looked at him.

"Yeah, a bit," Duo admitted.

"It is late," Heero said after glancing at the alarm clock on the nightstand between their beds. "Almost two. And we had a long day."

"Stressful too," Trowa added. "Sleep would probably be a good idea."

He sat down on the bed beside Heero and Duo suddenly realized.

"Oh. Yeah." He scooted off the bed and looked for his boxer briefs.

He found them tangled in his track pants and pulled both on together.

"I, uh, sleep well?" Duo offered, wondering what you were supposed to say in this situation. What was the appropriate 'good night' to the two guys you had just gotten off with and who were kicking you out of their room?

They both frowned at him as Duo pulled on his jersey.

"I had fun," Duo added and he winced, because that sounded more than a little stupid and their frowns became full on scowls.

"Right. Good night," Duo waved - that same, idiotic wave he remembered giving them the first day they had met - and left their room.

He closed the door behind himself and leaned back on it.

Fuck. That had been weird. And awkward, and probably the worst way to end it but…

It wasn't like Duo had a lot of experience functioning as a sexual fantasy for two guys he had been attracted to for months.

Back in his own room he stripped out of his clothes again and lay on his bed. He really was tired, and after sex with those two, he felt completely drained.

It had been good, and maybe - maybe it would be enough. Maybe Duo could be content to have just been a one time wish fulfilment hand job/ blow job thing for Heero and Trowa.

But as he crawled under his sheets he couldn't help but wish he was still in their room, curled up between them, falling asleep with his head on Heero's shoulder.

-o-

For once, Duo was one of the last members of the house to get up the next morning.

It was almost eleven when he finally made it downstairs after showering and dressing. He had discovered glitter _still_ everyone but had had to give up on combing it out of his hair because it promised to be a painfully long endeavor and he was hungry.

He found Heero, Trowa and Relena in the kitchen eating a late breakfast of cereal.

"Morning," he greeted them and offered a smile in Heero and Trowa's directions.

"Good morning, All Star," Relena said.

Heero and Trowa barely spared him a glance.

Right. So that's how things were going to go?

Duo tried not to be bothered by their indifference. They weren't really morning people, after all, and even though it was almost noon - well, clearly they wanted to pretend last night hadn't happened.

"You all have the day off today and tomorrow," Relena said. "But then on Wednesday Quatre wants to start practices for the All Star games and you'll probably have some interviews to deal with."

Duo nodded. He had assumed that would be the case.

Still, he hadn't anticipated having two days off before having to focus on the All Star games.

"You guys have any plans for the break?" Duo asked Heero and Trowa, hoping to get them to at least speak to him.

Heero shrugged.

"Not really," Trowa said, his voice neutral. "I think we'll go see a movie this afternoon and try to just relax."

Duo wanted to ask what movie, but he knew it would seem like he was angling for an invitation. And if Heero and Trowa wanted a third wheel, they probably would have said something. So instead, he nodded and set about making his own breakfast, pouring milk and cereal into a bowl and joining them at the center counter.

Heero and Trowa finished their cereal up at almost the exact moment Duo brought his over, and they quickly dumped their bowls and put them into the dishwasher before escaping.

"What… was that all about?" Relena asked once they were gone.

Duo sighed. So it was obvious to her that something was up. That was not good.

"Nothing," Duo told her. Nothing that he could really explain to her at any rate. No one even knew that Heero and Trowa were gay, and even if they did, Duo didn't really think anyone needed to know about them, or about what had gone on between the three of them last night.

"Right. Duo, your definition of nothing really needs some work."

Duo glared at her.

"It's fine. Just… let it go. Things will work themselves out."

At least, Duo certainly hoped so.

He might not be able to forget how amazing it had felt to be with Trowa and Heero, but he certainly hoped that Heero and Trowa could put last night behind them and go back to being friendly and mildly flirtatious.

Duo would happily settle for even just friendly.

But if things were going to be like _this_ for the foreseeable future, he really thought last night had been an even bigger mistake than he had initially counted on.

He had known, going into it, that it was going to break him to an extent, to be with them and know it was only one time. But he hadn't really counted on them treating him as though he barely existed, barely even mattered to them now.


	15. Chapter 15

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.

A/N #2: I'm like seriously blown away by how much people are enjoying this story. Thank you so much to everyone who takes the time to leave a review, favorite and/or follow.

A/N #3: Okay, I have to pack up my house and move this week, so there is a chance you won't be seeing the rapid fire rate of updates for a few days. But never fear, I will update this and everything else. I just need to get life sorted.

Warnings: Angst, language, violence, sex.

Pairings: PM me if you need to know. But I think it might be fairly obvious early on.

Going the Distance

Chapter Fifteen

Duo was glad he had already made a habit of eating lunch outside _before_ the Sex Disaster Night had occurred. At least now it didn't seem like he was trying to avoid eating with Heero and Trowa - he was simply continuing his previous tradition of eating outside, and maybe that tradition had evolved into glaring at his sandwich as he ate it and maybe it involved a lot of angry, frustrated sighs.

Relena only occasionally joined him outside. With the All Star games only five days away she was more or less glued to her tablet, updating the team's Twitter feed, responding to comments and questions on the team webpage, and making their travel arrangements.

Quatre had instituted a practice regimen that was similar to their practices leading up to the Playoffs, with the team spending most of the day playing together, but at night they all gathered around the television to watch games from some of their international competitors.

Most of the guys followed the European league, and Wufei, Trowa and Quatre had a lot to say about Fnatic, the European team going to the All Star Games. Only Heero and Duo followed the Korean league, and Duo found himself delivering a running commentary on the NaJin White Shield games they watched while Heero offered a few opinions about their marksman. The Chinese league was a mystery to everyone, since their games weren't streamed, but Sally had compiled information about Royal Club for them to go over. Sally also had to provide most of the information on the Saigon Jokers, the Southeast Asian team.

After a few nights of watching games and reviewing the strategies of their opponents, Duo was starting to feel _very_ out of his league.

Sure, TGW had had an amazing run at the playoffs - despite whatever garbage was posted online about them being lucky ZG hadn't been at their best - and Duo was almost confident they wouldn't be an embarrassment on the international stage, but he had almost no confidence that they could win a game against any of these teams.

The Invitational tournament would start on a Wednesday, with the first two day being a round robin group stage where each team played the every other team. The top four teams would then advance to the Semi-Final best of three games on Saturday, and the top two teams could compete in the Final best of five game series on Sunday. In addition to all of this, the All Star Challenge would occur. Two players from each of the five regions had been voted as All Star Challengers by their regions and would be divided onto two teams that would compete against each other every morning before the Invitational games. These games were kind of silly, with players being forced onto different positions or champions and the rules of the game were changed to make it more exciting and aggressive. It was still an honor to be chosen by the fans, however. Solo had been voted an All Star Challenger in both of his previous seasons, and when the announcement went out on the Friday before the All Star Games began, Duo wasn't surprised to see his brother had been voted in for a third time. The fans really did love him. And Duo had to admit there was part of him that was happy for Solo. He knew Solo had wanted to make it to All Stars with his team this year, and not through the fan vote, but at least he was still being recognized as a great player.

The other player voted in by the fans was more surprising.

"Can you fucking believe it?!"

Duo had to hold the phone away from his ear when Hilde called and shrieked at him.

"I'm a fucking All Star!"

He grinned. He was happy for her, thrilled that the fans recognized just how damn good she was despite the problems the Valkyries were having, and he was actually looking forward to getting to hang out with her in Rio. It would be good to have a friendly face there, and even more so, it would be good to spend time with his best friend.

Duo talked to her all through his lunch, gamely listening to Hilde tease him about all of the hot international players - Duo had long ago confessed to a crush on xPeke, the mid laner for Fnatic - and by the time she hung up he was feeling excited again.

Maybe he had some serious issues to face on his team, like how to deal with two guys who regretted having sex with him, but at least he and Hilde would be in Rio together.

Everyone gathered in the game room for their afternoon practices, but when Duo sat down and started to put on his headset, Quatre stopped him.

"We have something to discuss first," Quatre said.

As Duo considered Quatre's tense face and grave tone, he realized that Relena and Sally were there as well. Sally sat in on practices sometimes, and Relena wandered through occasionally, but they didn't usually look like someone had died.

Duo wondered what -

He looked over at Heero and Trowa. They had fairly tense expressions on their faces as well and Duo had to wonder. Had they said something? Had he fucked this up so badly that they had asked Quatre to kick him from the team?

"We've come a long way together," Quatre said, and his voice was still just as grim, "and it would be great if we could keep improving together. But… we might need to consider some changes to the team."

Oh. Fuck.

Duo was getting dropped.

One night of sex and his entire career was -

"Wufei has been approached by ZG gaming."

"What?"

Duo felt relief and anger in equal amounts and he couldn't decide which emotion to latch onto.

"After the Playoff games, Treize offered me the Top Lane position on ZG," Wufei clarified.

Duo turned to look at him. Wufei always had a serious expression on his face, so it was hard to read him. He didn't look particularly excited or upset.

"So…" Duo looked between Quatre and Wufei.

"I've asked for MSG to terminate my contract with TGW so that I can join ZG."

Duo stared.

"Seriously?"

Wufei glared at him.

"Yes. Seriously. Obviously, otherwise we wouldn't be having this discussion."

Quatre held up a hand to forestall Duo's comeback.

"Okay. Let's just… calm down. I've spoken to MSG and they agreed to let us make this decision as a team."

Duo arched an eyebrow. It surprised him that MSG would even consider letting go of a player of Wufei's caliber. Especially when TGW had just made it to All Stars.

"Why?" He had to ask. "Why would MSG even think about letting him go?"

Quatre sighed.

"Because I told them that it might be best for the team if we do."

Wufei frowned at Quatre, and it was clear this was news to him.

"You said that?"

Quatre shrugged one shoulder.

"Yes. I did. They wanted to know why I was willing to risk our chances of making it to Worlds."

"Is this what you want?" Heero spoke up, his tone neutral.

Wufei looked at him, his eyes searching for something and clearly not finding it. He nodded.

"Why?" Trowa asked, his voice far less neutral.

Duo actually winced at his cold tone.

"I've proven I can play without Ralph. I've proven I can _win_ without Ralph and I've… grown, as a player, being on this team." Wufei paused and seemed to be carefully considering his next words. "I started playing this game with Ralph in Solo Queue. I _can_ play with Duo as my Jungler, but… you and Heero came up together," Wufei returned Trowa's gaze. "You _know_ what it's like to play with someone who understands what you want and need without you even needing to speak. You know what it feels like to be able to trust someone that much."

Duo knew Wufei wasn't intentionally bad mouthing him, but it did sting, a bit, to know that Wufei really didn't trust him or think that they would ever be able to get to a point where Duo could do what Ralph had done for him.

"What happens next season? After Treize recovers?" Heero asked.

"He's retiring. He will be stepping in as the couch for ZG during the Summer Split. If you were in my position - if Trowa was on another team and you had the chance to play with him again, wouldn't you take it?"

Heero frowned, but it was obvious Wufei had made his point.

"Well, what happens to us?" Duo had to ask. "What happens to us when Wufei and Ralph rekindle the bromance?"

Quatre sighed.

"That is… what we need to consider. I'd rather not keep Wufei on the team if he really wants to be - needs to be - on another team. But I also refuse to risk our chances of being competitive. That is what we need to consider."

"It will be impossible to find a replacement top laner of Wufei's caliber this late in the year," Sally spoke up.

Quatre nodded.

"I know. But… have any of you played with anyone in Solo Queue? Anyone we could train and… I know this seems crazy. I just want this team to be the _right_ team for all of us. It's not the right team for Wufei. So, I'd like to let him go - but not unless we can figure out what to do about a replacement."

Duo frowned.

_He_ had played with a pretty amazing top laner in Solo Queue.

Trowa and Heero were glaring at each other, seemingly engaged in a silent argument, and it would have been funny if it didn't reinforce the fact that Duo was an outsider and in no way a part of their relationship.

"Let's sit out practice today. I know we've got All Stars coming up in five days, but take the day to relax and think about this. Wufei will still come to Rio with us, regardless. He's earned it and we need him."

Quatre looked on the verge of saying more, but he hesitated.

"I know this isn't… ideal. But we can figure something out that works for everyone. I hope."

"Wait," Duo spoke up as Quatre and Wufei started to leave. "Do we have to release Wufei? Couldn't we just trade him?"

Quatre frowned.

"For who?"

"Meilin," Heero spoke up.

Duo looked over at him and Heero nodded at him. Trowa, on the other hand, was scowling.

"Meilin hates to play Top Lane," Sally said, a frown on her face. "She's completely transitioned to Support and can't wait to stop subbing in at top."

Duo was curious _how_ Sally knew that, but it didn't really matter to him.

"That's fine. She's...okay in top but not as good as we need her to be. But she _is_ a phenomenal support."

"You already have a support," Wufei pointed out and gestured to Trowa. "Or are you suggesting dropping Trowa from the team?"

Duo glared at him. It was telling that he had already said _you_ instead of _we_. Wufei definitely wanted out.

"Well, we also already have a Top Laner," Duo said.

Wufei rolled his eyes.

"So you want to trade Trowa for Meilin and keep me on the team so that everyone is miserable? How, exactly, is that a plan?"

Duo took a deep breath and rubbed his skull with both hands.

"No," Duo said patiently. "Trowa _is_ our Top Laner. Meilin would replace him on Support."

Everyone stared at him as though he was crazy. Everyone except for Trowa, who was glaring at him, and Heero, who was looking at Trowa with a concerned frown on his face.

"Since when does Trowa play top lane?" Relena asked.

Trowa didn't seem inclined to answer.

"I don't know," Duo admitted, "but at least as long as I've been on the team. He and I play Solo Queue at least ten or fifteen hours a week with him in Top."

"Really?" Quatre looked over at Trowa.

"Those stats aren't in your game history," Sally said.

"No, we play on secondary accounts," Trowa admitted. He was still glaring at Duo. "It's not - I still spend most of my time practicing support."

"Which you're great at," Quatre said, "I don't think anyone is suggesting you're slacking off there. I just - I had no idea you played any other position. You and Heero are practically connected at the hip. Do you… what rank are you?"

Duo rolled his eyes. It was a little insulting, for Quatre to even ask that.

"He's challenger," Duo snapped. "We play against pros all of the time. He's had other pros send him messages asking him to try out for their teams. He's really fucking good."

Wufei crossed his arms, and it was clear he was a little irritated by Duo's praise of Trowa's skills.

"So you think we should trade Wufei and Meilin, move Trowa to top and Meilin would support Heero?" Quatre summarized.

"Yeah. I mean, it makes the most sense. Doesn't it?"

He looked over at Heero and Trowa.

Trowa had his fists clenched together and was resting his jaw on them. Every line of his body shouted anger. It was clear he was just barely holding himself back from saying something.

"We need to talk about it," Heero said, his voice low. "Quatre said we should take the day to think about it."

Trowa nodded and stood up. He walked out of the room without saying anything to anyone and Heero followed him a moment later.

Quatre arched an eyebrow at Duo.

"I have no idea," Duo muttered. He didn't understand why Trowa was so upset about this.

"What account names?" Sally asked, tablet in hand.

Duo stared at her.

"What?"

"Tell me your account names. I want to look up the game histories and see -"

"You want to scout out Trowa? To see if he's good enough?"

"Yes." Sally looked at him as though he was crazy for being upset.

"He's already on the team! He's already good enough to be an All Star!"

"As a support," Quatre reminded Duo, his voice soft and soothing. "But if we really want to consider this, we need to look into it. We would scout out any player."

It was a fair point, but Duo was still annoyed.

He told Sally both his and Trowa's account names and then he made his own escape from the living room.

Upstairs, he saw that the door to Heero and Trowa's room was closed and he hesitated.

Duo doubted he was welcome in there. Not after Sex Disaster Night and whatever had just happened downstairs, but he really didn't want to let this get worse.

It was one thing for them to pretend Sex Disaster Night had never happened and to ignore him most of the time. It was entirely another for this to start affecting the team and their ability to play together.

He approached the door and knocked.

After a moment, Heero opened the door.

He looked surprised to see Duo on the other side.

"Can I come in?" Duo asked.

Heero looked over his shoulder and Duo followed his gaze.

Trowa was sitting on the bed closest to the wall, his back against it and his knees drawn up to his chest and he looked miserable.

He shrugged.

"Let him do whatever he wants," Trowa muttered. "That's what he does."

Duo sucked in a breath at Trowa's tone but he bit down on his urge to say anything.

Heero stepped aside and let Duo come into the room before closing the door behind him.

Heero sat on the bed beside Trowa, close but not quite touching. Close enough that it was clear they were together, a unit, and Duo was not part of it.

Duo looked around for somewhere to sit, and ended up dragging over one of the desk chairs on the other side of the room.

He positioned it near the foot of the bed and straddled the back.

"I have no idea what is going on or why you're pissed at me," Duo said, figuring that laying it all out there was a good thing. "So I need you to explain to me just what I did so this doesn't fuck up the team."

Trowa glared at him.

"So that _this_ doesn't fuck up the team? That's exactly what this will do - you just think you can -" Trowa stopped and shook his head. He drew in a deep breath before continuing. "You shouldn't have told them about my other account."

Duo frowned.

"_That's_ what you're so upset about? Trowa - it's just a second account! And you're amazing on it! Why is that -"

"I'm not a top laner. I joined this team _with_ Heero. To play _with_ Heero, as his support. That account - that lane - that was just me, on my own."

"You'd still be playing with Heero on this team! And Meilin is a great support - it's not like Heero would be saddled with a second rate player. This -"

"Everything Wufei said about his relationship with Ralph is true for mine with Heero," Trowa bit out. "If he was traded to another team I would do anything to join that team as well."

Duo could understand that. It was obvious - these two cared about each other a _lot_, as teammates and as… boyfriends. They were partners.

"But you're not - you two will still play together."

He looked over at Heero, hoping for some back up on this. Heero had clearly followed his line of thought and even been supportive of it downstairs, but now, his face was stony. It was clear that he had made the decision to back up Trowa in this.

Duo sighed.

"Look. Wufei wants out. You are an amazing top laner. Meilin is an amazing support. This is the best thing for the team. This is our best shot of winning. I… get that you are upset I told them about your account. But so what? Now they know you're a double threat? Now they know you're an even better player than they already did?"

"So you know what's best for this team? You know what's best for me and Heero and you're just going to make whatever decisions you want?"

Duo shook his head.

"No - I mean, I don't even _make_ decisions. I'm just… throwing out this plausible idea for how we can do this. I'm not trying to say what's best for you or Heero. I just… fuck, dude. I don't know. I thought this was a good idea. Clearly I was wrong."

Duo got up from his chair, ready to walk out because he didn't see how this was going to be productive.

"Leaving again?" Heero remarked.

Duo glared at him.

"What? You want me to stay? This is going nowhere. He's just going to sit there and be pissed at me, you're going to sit there and just… fucking sit there, and I'm going to be the asshole saying the same thing over and over again."

"You're asking us to change _everything_," Heero said, his mild voice a sharp contrast to Trowa and Duo's angry tones. "You want to restructure the team, you want me to trust a player I've never played with, even in Solo Queue, and you want Trowa to trust _you_."

"We can _win_ if we do this!" Duo ran his hands through his hair in frustration. "If we do this, TGW will be an unstoppable team! I'm not saying it's going to be a miracle and overnight the team will gel together. I get that Meilin and you will need to figure out your synergy and that will take work and I get that a new voice on the team will mean Quatre has to adjust to that as well. But Trowa and I are already stupidly good together."

"So this is about what you want," Trowa said bitterly. "You want me, today, so we should all trust you and drop everything."

Duo could feel a headache coming on.

"This isn't about me. It's about the _team_. Look - is this… does this have anything to do with the other night? I mean…" Duo trailed off and he wondered. Was this related to that? Were Heero and Trowa so very done with him that they just… wanted him gone? Maybe he should have suggested trading himself for Ralph, and that way Wufei would stay on the team.

Of course, ZG would sooner withdraw from competitive play than have Duo play for them.

Heero sighed.

"You think this is a good idea now, but what about after this season? You're asking the two of us to change everything. What if it doesn't live up to your high expectations? What if it isn't perfect?"

"Then we'll fix it?" Duo hazarded. "I seriously doubt it will be perfect at first. And I get that it's a really big change. But we can do this. Trowa, you can do this. I'm not trying to break you two up," he added. "Not in the game and not… out of the game." He sighed. "If you really think it's a bad idea then fine. I'll drop it. I just think this could be really, really good."

"What are you afraid of?" Heero asked Trowa, his voice soft and tender and it made Duo clench his jaw.

"I'm afraid I'm going to suck and you're going to do stupid shit to get yourself killed and I won't be there to save you," Trowa admitted.

He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall.

Heero smirked at him and shifted closer, pressing against Trowa's side and kissing the junction between his neck and shoulder.

"Of course I'm going to do stupid shit and get myself killed," he said. "But Meilin is… an incredibly bossy bitch. She'll yell at me and she'll protect me."

Trowa opened his eyes and looked down at Heero.

"And you'll listen to her?"

Heero hesitated.

"Probably not at first, but I'll try."

Trowa nodded.

"You're not going to suck," Duo spoke up. He felt like he was intruding on this clearly intimate moment between them, and his voice seemed to startle them.

Trowa frowned and Duo could see he was going back to that pissed off, angry place again.

He held out his hands, trying to placate him.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry," he said again. "I'm sorry for fucking everything, okay? I'm sorry for telling them about your account, I'm sorry for just assuming I could fix all of this and that I knew what was best. I'm really, really fucking sorry. I'm sorry for… Fuck, I'm sorry for the other night. It was… it was amazing and really incredible and a really bad idea and I should never have done it and I'm sorry, because it's fucked up our friendship. I mean, this is why fantasies are just fantasies, right? They don't work in reality and… I'm glad it hasn't changed anything for the two of you - not that it would," Duo hastily added, because maybe he sounded like a cocky bastard for assuming that one night with him would ruin their relationship, "I want you two to be happy. I care about you both, a lot. So… whatever you want to do, I completely support you in that. Whatever you think is best for the team, and for yourselves."

Trowa and Heero were giving him strange looks, and Duo knew he had probably said way too much - he always did this, when he was nervous. Word vomit, Hilde called it.

"I just… if you don't trust me now, because of that night, then I'm pretty much fucked," Duo admitted. He shook his head. "This team is the best thing that's ever happened to me, and you two are the most - you're really important to me, and what we had - before that night - was really important to me. I know what it's like to be completely fucking miserable and feel like a failure, and I don't want either of you to feel like that. So, if you want to keep things how they are, we can figure out what to do about the team. But… just… please give me a second chance to be your friend? I promise I'll keep my hands to myself and we can just pretend like that night never happened. I fucked up. I'm not perfect - I'm about as far from perfect as you can get, clearly."

Trowa sighed and shook his head.

"God. Why does anyone bother to trash talk you on Reddit?" He muttered. "You're so damn good at selling yourself short you don't need anyone else's help."

Heero nodded in agreement.

"So…" Duo trailed off. He wasn't sure if this was a prelude to Trowa being angry with him some more or if he had been granted a reprieve.

"We might as well try it," Trowa said. He and Heero exchanged looks. "If it fails, then we'll fuck up everything, but if it works out then… then it could be worth it."


	16. Chapter 16

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.

A/N #2: I'm like seriously blown away by how much people are enjoying this story. Thank you so much to everyone who takes the time to leave a review, favorite and/or follow.

A/N #3: Okay, I have to pack up my house and move this week, so there is a chance you won't be seeing the rapid fire rate of updates for a few days. But never fear, I will update this and everything else. I just need to get life sorted.

Warnings: Angst, language, violence, sex.

Pairings: PM me if you need to know. But I think it might be fairly obvious early on.

Going the Distance

Chapter Sixteen

Of course their flight to Rio left at seven in the morning, and of course Quatre whined about it during the entire taxi ride to the airport, but even a lack of sleep didn't put a dent in Duo's excitement.

They were going to Rio de Janeiro.

It was his first time on a plane, and his first time leaving the country, and it was all because of the All Star Games. He, with his team, had earned this opportunity.

Even Wufei looked less than murderous as they got out of the taxi and stood in line at LAX.

That might have been because ZG had agreed to trade Meilin for Wufei and Wufei would soon rejoin his favorite Jungler, but Duo suspected it was also because Wufei was looking forward to this international competition.

Heero and Trowa seemed fairly nonchalant about the entire thing, but they each had slight smiles on their faces that betrayed their excitement as well.

Quatre, on the other hand, looked as though he was trying to figure out how to sleep standing up, leaning heavily on Relena's back.

Duo doubted Relena minded the position much at all and he had to smirk when Quatre started to tilt to the left and Relena caught him.

Those two seriously needed to just get locked in a room together and told to have sex.

"Hey!"

It was all the warning Duo had before Hilde crashed into him.

Duo barely managed to stay on his feet, but he steadied himself and glared at Hilde.

She grinned back, looking surprisingly perky and put together for five in the morning.

"I think our taxi was right behind yours," Hilde said.

"Ours?" Duo echoed, and then he remembered. "Oh. Right."

The League were paying for their flight and accommodations, and Relena had given them the heads up yesterday that Hilde and Solo would meet them at the airport.

Solo trailed behind Hilde at a more sedate pace, his hands shoved into his pockets and a frown on his face as he looked over the TGW team.

"Morning," Relena said to him, her tone impressively neutral.

"Morning," Solo responded. His eyes glanced towards Duo and then kept moving, fixing on a billboard off to the side.

After what felt like an eternity, the collected their tickets, made it through security, and barely managed to get to their gate in time to board the plane.

As Duo fiddled with his seatbelt, Relena and Quatre, seated in the middle and outside of his row, gave him amused looks.

"Nervous?" Relena asked.

"He's never flown before," Solo spoke up, from the seat behind Duo.

Duo scowled. He hadn't needed his brother to broadcast that information.

"Oh." Quatre smiled. "It's going to be fine."

"I know it will," Duo muttered. "I've just… never done this before."

"I always just try to sleep," Quatre confided.

Duo gave him a look.

"Yeah, you do," he agreed.

Quatre smirked.

"You're more likely to die from a vending machine falling on you than in a plane crash," Wufei, seated beside Solo, helpfully contributed.

"Jesus. Thanks, Wufei. Now I can be terrified of vending machines," Duo shot back.

"Statistically speaking, you have a higher chance of winning Worlds than dying in a plane crash," Sally continued.

"Are you sure about that?" Solo and Duo muttered at the same time.

And that abruptly ended all attempts at conversation and teasing Duo.

Hilde, seated across the aisle with Trowa and Heero, gave him a sympathetic look. She had tried to switch seats with Solo to sit beside Wufei, but Heero had refused to sit beside Solo.

Duo sighed, said a mental fuck it, and closed his eyes.

He wondered what the statistics said about the likelihood of Solo ever forgiving him. Probably there was a greater chance of Duo dying in a plane crash.

The fifteen hour flight was… weird, would be the only way Duo could describe it to himself.

Quatre fell asleep almost as soon as the plane took off, and Relena fell asleep soon after, the two of them leaning against each other and looking so adorable that Duo had to pull out his phone and grab a photo of them.

He had trouble sleeping, himself, and he was grateful that he had thought to bring a book. Reading, however, was a little difficult considering the low murmurs of Wufei and Solo behind him, chatting away about life in the ZG house, about Ralph and Zechs and Wufei's bright future with ZG.

Duo was happy for Wufei. He genuinely didn't want to play on a team with someone who wished they were somewhere else, and he was glad Wufei would enjoy his new team. But he was also a little jealous at the instant camaraderie between Wufei and Solo. Eventually, Duo resorted putting on headphones to listen to the only playlist he had downloaded on his phone, a playlist Alex had made for him last year with all of his favorite music.

He was at least able to immerse himself in his book, _American Gods_, and by the time Relena and Quatre woke up for dinner service ten hours into the flight, Duo had made quite a dent in the book.

The last few hours of the flight were spent listening to Relena and Quatre go over their itineraries for the next few days, and Duo tried to read again, but hearing them talk about the games made him anxious. This was real. It was really happening - they were flying to Rio to represent North America.

Their flight landed at two in the morning local time, and even though it was only ten at night back in Los Angeles, Duo was exhausted. He felt sore and cramped and tense from sitting in his seat for so long, and he couldn't wait to get to the hotel and stretch out in a bed. A glorious bed with a pillow and a blanket and a flat surface.

They had to split up into two taxis to get to their hotel, the Pestana Rio Atlantica, and Duo found himself into a back seat with Quatre, Relena and Hilde while everyone else rode together in a taxi van.

The hotel was amazing. Before this, the nicest hotel Duo had ever stayed at was the Holiday Inn in San Diego with Relena and Hilde. All of the teams were staying at the hotel, which was fairly close to the Riocentro Convention Center where the tournament was held, and Duo felt like a bit of a fanboy stalker as he looked around the lobby, hoping to catch sight of anyone.

"It's two in the morning," Hilde said, smirking at him. "XPeke is getting his beauty sleep."

Duo glared at her, but gave up on his search because she was right. The other teams were probably asleep.

"Okay," Relena walked up to them, room keys in her hands. "We have three suites. Sally, Hilde and I will take the one with the awesome view of the beach," she passed out the room girls to the other girls. "Which leaves you guys to split up the other two rooms."

"I'm not rooming with Solo," Heero stated, arms crossed, duffel bag slung over one shoulder and a combative expression on his face.

Solo smirked at him, clearly amused by Heero's antagonism.

"I'll share a room with Solo," Wufei volunteered.

Quatre shrugged.

"I'll room with them as well. Duo, Heero and Trowa can take the other room."

Duo looked over at his teammates, wondering if they were okay with that arrangement.

After their… discussion on Friday night, things hadn't quite settled back to normal yet. They had spent all day Saturday and Sunday practicing, and while Heero and Trowa hadn't gone out of their way to ignore Duo anymore, they also didn't seem willing to just jump back into the easy friendly-flirting jokes from before.

"Sounds good," Trowa spoke up and held out his hand for his room key.

Relena passed the keys out.

"Great," Quatre gave all of them a tired smile. "Guys, we've got an afternoon practice slot so let's meet up here at noon to get lunch and then head over to the convention center. Um," he looked at Solo and Hilde, "good luck with your games."

Hilde grinned but Solo only shrugged. They weren't here to engage in serious competition, just to please the fans. But still…

Duo sighed. Whatever.

They crowded into an elevator and Duo was grateful that his room was on a different, lower floor.

He, Heero and Trowa got out on the tenth floor and said their good nights before going in search of their room.

"Wow," was all Duo could say when Trowa opened the door and they stepped inside.

The room was about the size of the game room back at the house, with two floor to ceiling windows on one side of the room that revealed that dark outline of the beach, dotted with glowing lights, and it was definitely a breathtaking view. He wondered how on earth the room that Hilde, Relena and Sally had snagged could compare.

"It's a great view," Trowa remarked, coming to stand beside Duo and look out of the windows.

"It is," Heero agreed and Duo turned to see Heero looking at them.

Had he meant…

"Where do you want to sleep?" Trowa asked Duo, interrupting his train of thought.

Duo looked around the room. There were two double beds on one wall, close enough together that only a sliver of space could be seen between them, and on the other wall there was a couch that would pull out into a bed.

"I'll take the pull out," he said and gestured towards the beds. "You guys can… yeah."

Trowa arched an eyebrow, a hint of amusement showing on his face and it was almost like old times. Almost like the days when Trowa and Heero casually flirted with him and Duo completely misunderstood their attempts.

"Want help setting it up?" Trowa offered.

Duo nodded and they worked together to pull off the cushions and set up the bed.

"Thanks," Duo said and he was grateful for more than just the help setting up the bed.

Trowa smirked, understanding what he didn't need to say.

"It's after three," Heero pointed out. "We should probably try to get some sleep."

"Yeah," Duo agreed. He sat down on the edge of his bed and definitely felt exhausted. He felt confident he would be able to immediately pass out.

He let Trowa and Heero use the bathroom first before grabbing his toothbrush and toothpaste and taking his turn.

When he came back out, all of the lights were out except for the lamp beside Duo's bed. He could see that they had decided to share a bed, and he wasn't really surprised by that.

Jealous, maybe, when he saw the curve of Trowa's back as he spooned against Heero. Aroused, maybe, when he could see the smooth skin of their bare chests above the sheets.

But not surprised.

-o-

Wednesday morning came all too quickly for Duo.

His sleep schedule was more than a little off, with the four hour time difference and the fifteen hour flight on top of his anxiety doing nothing to help him sleep on Tuesday night. After a solid four hours of practice time with the team, Duo was left feeling edgy. The practice itself had been fine, their communication on point, their strategies solid. But Duo had overheard people talking about the other teams, their practices, their unbelievable plays and he was left just praying he wasn't part of a conversation discussing the _worst_ plays after this.

Duo woke up before Heero and Trowa, and he couldn't help but glance at them, at the way they had moved in their sleep and Heero had one leg thrown over Trowa and his head resting in the crook of his arm.

He felt like a voyeur and a letch, though, and he quickly grabbed clean boxers and his toiletries before showering.

As he found himself doing far too often, he couldn't help but think about Heero and Trowa as he masturbated, imagining it was Heero's hand on his cock instead of his own, Trowa's long fingers pinching his nipples and squeezing his ass instead of his own.

He wouldn't ever get to experience their touch again, he was confident, but at least he had the memory of it.

When he came back out of the shower, Heero and Trowa were awake, Trowa laying in bed reading while Heero sat in from of the television, on the edge of Duo's bed, watching the local news.

"Do you speak Portuguese?" Duo asked him.

"No," Heero admitted. "I have no clue what they're saying."

Duo laughed at that and Heero turned to smile at him.

His smile froze a bit as he looked over Duo, naked except for the red boxer briefs he had pulled on, and Duo swallowed hard at the intensity of Heero's gaze.

He glanced over and saw that Trowa had looked up from his book and was also looking at him.

Duo felt himself becoming aroused under the combined weight of their gaze and he just barely checked his own hand from reaching out to stroke himself.

It seemed to be an effort for Heero to look away from Duo's body.

"I'll shower next," he said and stood up. The front of his pajama pants outlined his growing erection and Duo felt his mouth go dry.

He turned away and started to get dressed.

Heero was attracted to him. They had established this. And Duo was obviously attracted to him as well. And Trowa - Trowa was watching him get dressed with a hungry expression on his face that made Duo want to say fuck it and beg them to make a sequel to Sex Disaster Night.

Duo forced himself to remember that this was the All Star Games. In two hours, they would be on a stage in front of a two-thousand member audience, broadcast live all over the world, facing the top international teams. Now was not the time to get distracted by thinking about Trowa's cock in his mouth. Now was the time to focus on not being a national embarrassment.

When they met everyone else downstairs, Duo could see that that they were nervous too. Quatre, especially, looked on the verge of freaking out and Relena was keeping a close eye on him.

By the time they arrived at the Riocentro and saw the thousands of fans, even Heero, Trowa and Wufei started to look a little anxious.

"Any speeches about all for one and one for all?" Duo had to ask Quatre.

Quatre looked a little green.

"Let's just do our best. This is our first chance to face international teams." Quatre drew in a deep breath. "It's not going to be our last. Let's just go out there, play the way I know we can, and enjoy it. We earned our place on this stage."

-o-

"You know," Relena said at dinner, "It's not like the teams that win at the All Stars ever win Worlds."

It was a sad attempt to make them feel better, but Duo still appreciated the effort.

They had played two games that afternoon, the first against Fnatic and the second against the Saigon Jokers. TGW had lost both games, badly.

The team had stayed to watch the other six games that day, and Duo had been blown away by just how tough the competition was. In the North American league, TGW had had to fight for every win. But here - Duo didn't see how they had a hope of winning tomorrow either.

"Royal Club didn't win any games today, either," Sally helpfully added. "So we still have a chance of making it into the semi-finals if you can win at least one game tomorrow and they lose both of theirs."

Wufei gave her a look.

"Yes, let's hope that someone is even worse than us," he muttered.

"Let's hope for something, at least," Duo responded.

After they lost the first game Wufei had returned to his sour self - grumbling about Duo making the wrong decisions and even saying something about how _Ralph_ would have done it differently.

It took all of Duo's self-control to ignore the comment, and he tried to keep his head clear, going into the second game, but he didn't have all that much success.

Only Heero and Trowa played well, doing an amazing job holding their lane and trying to carry the game, but Quatre, Wufei and Duo struggled and were simply no match for the finesse of the Jokers.

"Guys, we're in Rio de Janeiro, eating at a restaurant on a _beach_ and we're here because you're the best team in North America," Relena reminded all of them. "Today sucked. A lot. But today sucked a lot in _Rio_. Playing against the best teams in the world."

"We need to think of this as a scrimmage," Quatre decided. "These games are just a chance for us to learn more about the teams we might be facing at Worlds."

"You're right," Heero said. "We can learn from these games."

"It's also the last time we'll all play together," Trowa added, with a look in Wufei's direction. "We should appreciate that, at least."

Wufei sighed.

"Fine. Fine - you're right. And I'm grateful to have this opportunity, to be here with all of you." He paused. "Even with you, Duo."

Duo laughed and Wufei managed a small smirk.

"Good," Sally said. "Now that everyone is over their suicidal urges, let's get back to the hotel and everyone should have an early night. You still aren't adjusted to the time difference and your reflexes are showing it."

She was right, and despite the fact that they _were_ in Rio, no one complained.

Relena had already made plans for tomorrow night - taking advantage of the day off on Friday if they did manage to advance to semi-finals - and had researched the best tourist friendly night spots for them to visit. Duo was looking forward to it, but first, he needed to make it through tomorrow.

Back at the hotel everyone split up to go back to their rooms.

Once Duo, Heero and Trowa were back in their room, Duo shrugged out of his jacket and sat on his bed.

"Tired?" Trowa asked.

Duo shrugged.

"I think so, but I'm too wired to go to sleep yet."

Trowa nodded in sympathy.

"There's a lot to think about, after today," Trowa agreed.

"Yeah, like how to not suck as much tomorrow," Duo muttered.

"You didn't suck," Heero said.

Heero climbed onto his own bed and laid down on his stomach. Trowa joined him.

"I wasn't at my best," Duo argued. "I'm not fishing for compliments. I wasn't god awful, but I could have been a lot better. You two were great, though," Duo added. "I mean, really great. I wish the rest of us could have been on your level."

Trowa and Heero exchanged fond looks.

"We figured it's probably our last chance to play together like this, we might as well make it our best," Trowa said.

Duo felt like an more of a loser. He should have been better, for their sake. He didn't want Trowa's last games as a support to be bad memories.

"I promise tomorrow will go better," he assured them.

Heero gave him a serious look.

"I'll hold you to that."

Duo smirked.

He noticed the way that Trowa was leaning against Heero's side, one hand edging towards the hem of his shirt.

"I, ah, think I'll go grab some air," he decided. He grabbed his MLG sweater and pulled it on. "You guys can - I'll give you an hour for you two to… do whatever," he trailed off, feeling stupid when they looked at him in confusion.

"You know," he waved his hand, "sex or whatever."

"Oh." Trowa looked amused. "Thanks."

"Sure. Um, yeah."

Duo made a speedy escape. He was getting very tired of feeling like an idiot around the two of them.

He walked down to the elevators and considered going up to the room Hilde shared with Relena and Sally, but he didn't really want to get a lecture from Sally about getting rest.

Instead, once in the elevator he pressed the button for the top floor.

The team had eaten lunch up here, by the rooftop pool, on Tuesday before going in to the Riocentro to practice.

This late at night it was almost deserted. The bar was only open up here during the day and weekend nights, so Duo found himself completely alone. He snagged one of the lounge chairs and lay down on it.

He could hear the buzz of the city below and the air felt warm and damp and it was incredibly soothing.

Duo closed his eyes and tried to just clear his mind and exist.

"I thought I would find you up here."

He must have dozed off. The voice startled him awake and Duo blinked, surprised.

"Solo?"

His brother sat down on the lounge chair beside his.

"Remember when we with the the Gilbert family? Whenever they fought you'd always run down to the public pool and just sit there for hours and hours until I came to get you."

Duo swallowed. He remembered.

"Why were you looking for me?" He asked.

Solo sighed.

"I've been… advised to try to fix things with us."

"Oh." For some reason, that was the absolute most depressing reason Duo could have thought of. "You could have just lied… said something about missing me or being bored or something."

Solo gave him a look.

"I could have," he agreed. "But we don't lie to each other, right?"

Duo nodded.

He had been four, when their parents had died, and Solo had been seven. The social worker who collected them had lied to Duo, had said his parents were away for a while and she was taking Duo and Solo to stay with some nice people. Solo had found out the truth and had promised Duo he would never let them be separated, and that he would never lie to him.

"So, when you say fix things…?"

Solo sighed and shrugged.

"I don't know."

Duo snorted in amusement.

He was not in the least surprised that Solo didn't know what to do. He sat up, swinging his feet over the side of the lounge chair so that he faced Solo.

"You still have that sweater?" Solo asked, looking at Duo's hoodie.

"Of course," Duo ran a finger over the very faded logo. "I've got a lot of fond memories with this thing."

Solo gave him a hard look.

"Is that really what this is all about? You winning? You proving that you're better than me?"

"What? No. That's not even - I wore this hoodie the day I met Hilde and she only spoke to me because she thought I was as much of a gamer nerd as she was. I was wearing this at the party where I met Alex - and we walked around outside and he was cold so I gave it to him to put on and yeah, winning it that day was cool, but it was cool because I was with _you_."

"Because you beat me," Solo corrected.

"No," Duo argued. "I would have been just as happy if you had won and I'd come in second. Solo - you're my brother. I love you. I - fuck, Solo, I _worship_ you."

Solo sneered.

"Then why didn't you just _tell_ me you were gay? Why did I have to walk in on some guy doing that to you? If you worship me so damned much then why the hell did you - you should have _said_ something, Duo! You almost ruined my life!"

After almost a year of hearing this from Solo's online fans, Duo was over it.

"No, I didn't almost ruin your life. I didn't ask you to attack Alex - I yelled at you to _stop_ and you didn't listen. You walked in on me having sex with my boyfriend - not some guy, but Alex, who was _always_ hanging out with me at our apartment. Even if I never said anything, it should have been really fucking obvious that he wasn't raping me, Solo. That was completely consensual."

"You never said anything though, you never got all weird and gay about guys or pop music or whatever. How the hell was I supposed to know?"

Duo buried his head in his hands.

"No, I never got weird and gay about guys and pop music. Probably because I don't like pop music and because I knew I couldn't go all weird and gay over guys in front of you. And what the hell would I have said to you?"

"Something like hey, Solo. I'm gay. So if you see me having sex with a guy, don't freak out?" Solo suggested.

"Considering that I never planned for you to see me have sex with anyone, since that's kind of a personal thing, and considering the fact that you would have lost your shit if I told you I was gay, I don't think that would have worked out so well."

"I would not have lost my shit," Solo argued.

"Oh like fuck you wouldn't have. Look at you now - you know I'm gay now and you don't want anything to do with me. It wouldn't have been any different back then."

"Yes, it would have! I don't have any choice now, Duo! You put me on this side, put made me one of the people I want to protect you from."

"What the hell are you talking about? I didn't do any of this to you."

"You never even gave me the chance to get adjusted to this."

"I didn't so much get that chance either," Duo reminded him. "One day I'm a happy as fuck closet gay and the next the internet hates me because of you. I never had a choice about coming out. And now that's all I am. I'm just the faggot gamer."

"Don't use that word," Solo growled.

Duo snorted.

"Yeah, that's what this is really about isn't it? The fact that you have a faggot brother and you'd rather I was still in the closet. And do you know why I never told you? Why I never said anything to you when I first starting looking at guys and going all weird and gay about them? Because I grew up listening to you and your friends insult people by calling them gay. By calling them cocksuckers. By telling them to bend over and get fucked. By calling them faggots. Everything I am - it's all a joke to you. It's an _insult._ How was I supposed to tell you I like to suck cock when you called all of the bad gamers you met cocksuckers? When you and your friends call them faggots?"

"Stop using that word," Solo said again, his teeth gritted.

"It's what I am, Solo. I'm a faggot. I'm your faggot brother. I'm the faggot gamer who -"

Solo punched him, his fist catching Duo on the corner of his mouth.

They stared at each other in shock.

Duo reached up and felt blood on his lips.

They were brothers, and growing up there had been a fair amount of rough housing, and they had bloodied each other's lips numerous times.

But they weren't kids anymore. And this wasn't two brothers playing around.

"You going to tell me that was my fault too?" Duo asked, unable to resist.

His entire body felt numb, as if he wasn't there, as if this wasn't really happening.

Solo didn't answer.

He stood up, shoving his lounge chair backwards and he walked away, not bothering to look back at Duo.

-o-


	17. Chapter 17

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.

A/N #2: I'm like seriously blown away by how much people are enjoying this story. Thank you so much to everyone who takes the time to leave a review, favorite and/or follow.

Warnings: Angst, language, violence, sex.

Pairings: PM me if you need to know. But I think it might be fairly obvious early on.

Going the Distance

Chapter Seventeen

Robots were invading.

Alien robots that had some kind of alarm system that -

Duo rolled and fell onto a hard, rough surface.

He opened his eyes and it took him a moment to figure out where the hell he was and what was happening.

He had fallen asleep on the pool chair, and had rolled off and fallen onto the concrete deck.

Duo groaned and sat up. He had scratched his face and he rubbed at it, thankful that he hadn't actually opened up any cuts.

The robot invasion was still going on, and he turned to see his phone vibrating and ringing its way towards the ground.

He caught it just as it tipped over the edge of the pool chair.

It was three a.m. And Trowa was calling him.

_Shit._

He thumbed on the phone.

"Hey - ouch." Speaking tugged at his lip, at the cut from Solo's punch, and he reached up to his mouth to feel fresh blood.

"It's three in the morning - are you coming back?"

Trowa sounded sleepy, as though he had just woken up and seen that Duo wasn't there.

"Yeah. Sorry. I lost track of time and fell asleep."

"Oh." There was a moment of silence from Trowa. "You don't have to come back if you're… just be safe."

Duo frowned, and then realized what Trowa was thinking.

"No, no, no. I wasn't with anyone. I just fell asleep up here by the pool. I, I'll be right down."

He hung up before he could embarrass himself or create yet another misunderstanding.

It was ridiculous to think that Trowa was jealous over the thought of Duo with someone else - ridiculous that he was filled with a weird sort of satisfaction over the fact that Trowa had woken up in the middle of the night and called him because he wasn't in the room.

But, ridiculous or not, he found himself almost smirking as he rode the elevator down to his floor. Almost, because a full on smirk was painful and he really didn't want to drip blood everywhere. So a half smirk. A half smirk because Trowa clearly cared, at least a little. And -

"What the hell happened to your face?"

Not exactly the greeting Duo had hoped for when he opened the door to their hotel room, but the entry light was on and Heero and Trowa were both sitting up in their bed, shirtless and staring at him with narrowed eyes.

"Oh." Duo rubbed his knuckle against his lip again but it came away unbloodied this time. "Nothing. I fell." And he had, after the fact, but all the same...

"You fell," Trowa echoed.

Heero got out of the bed and walked over to him, slapping on the main light in the room and Duo winced at the harsh, sudden brightness.

Heero grabbed his jaw and forced Duo to look at him.

He ran his hand over the scratch on the side of Duo's face and his thumb hovered just over Duo's lip, barely brushing the skin underneath the cut.

Duo shivered and stepped away.

"How did you fall?" Heero demanded.

"The usual way. I lost my balance."

Trowa rose as well as took his turn staring at Duo's face.

Duo rolled his eyes.

"Relax, you two. I just -"

"How did you fall?" Heero asked again.

"I - I fell asleep and when my phone rang I rolled out of the pool chair and fell onto the deck. It was concrete. It hurt."

"Did you hit your lip or the side of your face first?" Trowa asked.

Duo glared at him.

"I don't remember. I was half asleep."

"You're a shitty liar," Heero muttered.

"I am not - I really did fucking fall."

Heero crossed his arms.

"You've got a split lip and a bruise on your chin - and then just scraped skin on the side of your face. Something happened and _then_ you fell."

"Jesus. What is this, CSI? The phone rang. I woke up. I freaked out. I rolled over. I fell. I'm a clumsy fucking moron. Can we let it go and get some sleep? It's three in the morning after all."

They continued to stare at him, but Duo refused to budge.

Eventually, Trowa sighed.

"Fine." He gave an angry shrug of his shoulders and stalked back to his bed.

Heero's gaze lingered on Duo's face for another moment, but then he joined him.

Duo rolled his eyes at their dramatics, but he turned off the lights and stripped down to his boxers before gratefully climbing into his bed.

So much for being happy that they cared.

-o-

They still seemed pissed at him the next morning, dressing and showering without any long, lustful looks and that was fine. It was just fucking fine and Duo was just over _everything _by the time they went downstairs and met the other guys for breakfast and Quatre and Relena stared at his face like he was a leper.

"He fell," Heero muttered, his voice betraying his disgust with Duo.

"Oh. Are you okay?" Relena asked.

"I'm fine." Duo was glad Hilde wasn't there, glad their schedules were different enough that she was already at the convention center and hopefully he wouldn't see her until later, until he'd burned off his frustration or buried it under the pile of shame and failure when they lost their last two games today.

After breakfast they headed towards the taxis, but Wufei grabbed Duo's arm, holding him back from joining the others immediately.

"What?" Duo snapped, in absolutely no mood to take crap from Wufei.

"I'm sorry," Wufei said, his voice deep and sincere.

"Huh?" Duo wondered what, of the many things, he could possibly be apologizing for.

"I'm sorry about Solo. I asked him to speak with you. I didn't realize - I should not have pried."

Duo stared at him.

Solo had said something, hadn't he? Had said he was only speaking to Duo because he'd been advised to try to fix things.

"Why? Why did you ask him to speak to me?"

Wufei looked away, sighed, and then met Duo's gaze again.

"I don't hate you. For all that we do not… see eye to eye, I respect you. You're a good player and you are an annoying, but a good person. I know how much Solo means to you and we were talking and I… I told him that you were the same brother he has always had, and you still love him and need him and he should try to fix this. I didn't realize it would make things worse," Wufei added and glanced towards Duo's mouth.

He wondered if Solo had said something, or if Wufei just put two and two together.

Duo shrugged.

"Yeah, well… I don't think it made things worse," he admitted, and he had one of those weird moments of clarity, where he just thought about it and realized. "You care, and I appreciate that. He… he still loves me, we just can't really… I don't know. We aren't who we used to be and we don't know how to change it and I guess I'm done wishing for things I can't have." He shrugged again. "It's done with." And it was, as far as Duo was concerned.

He was done - done caring what Reddit said about him ruining Solo's life, done caring about the fact that Solo ignored him during every post-game handshake. He was done letting himself get shoved around and he was done wasting his energy on all of this shit.

He drew in a deep breath and forced a smile, and then winced when he lip stretched.

"Look, man, we've got some games to lose horribly. Let's get a move on before the guys send out a search party."

Wufei regarded him with a concerned from but Duo turned and walked through the lobby, to the taxis, and he hoped Wufei followed without questioning him again.

Once at the Riocentro they settled into the holding room, Heero setting up his mouse and keyboard and doing a custom game and Duo decided to follow his example, setting up his own game and trying his damnedest to ignore the way Trowa was glaring at the back of his head.

Quatre called them to attention a few minutes before their game was scheduled to begin.

"So today we're going up against the best two teams in the world - Naijin White Shield and Royal Club and we have to play the games back to back and we're probably going to lose."

Duo blinked and stared at him. This was not Quatre's normal pep talk speech.

"Um…"

Quatre held up his hand and Duo shut his mouth. Best not to piss him off - especially if this was how he was starting things off.

"We've come a long way since the beginning of the season. We had an amazing Spring Split and we kicked ass in the playoffs and we are the best team in North America but this is our first time on the international stage. I'm really proud of everything we've done together and I think we're incredible but there's one thing we've never been good at and this is almost our last chance to do it."

Duo frowned. He had absolutely no idea where Quatre was going with this and it looked like everyone else was just as lost.

"Fun. We suck at just playing to have fun and that's what we're going to do today. When we're all at World's in October - and I'm sure even Wufei will make it there - we'll be more experienced and we won't get beaten like we did yesterday. But _today_ we are going to have fun."

"When you say fun…" Wufei spoke up, a hesitant look on his face that made Duo snort with laughter. He made fun sound as awful as murder.

"When I say fun I mean that you are going to play Teemo in the top lane."

Wufei stared, and so did everyone else.

"Are you serious?" Duo had to ask.

Quatre nodded.

"Yes. I am. We are going to go out there and have _fun_, damnit. I'm going to play Blitzcrank, Wufei is going to play Teemo - and you're going to play something stupid in the Jungle and Heero and Trowa are going to do something stupid in the bot lane too. We're all going to play something stupid and have fun."

"We can finally do the Nidalee and Thresh lane," Trowa murmured and Quatre shook his head.

"No. Not Thresh - you always -"

"Not me. Heero will be on Thresh."

"Oh." Quatre grinned. "I like it."

He turned to Duo and arched an eyebrow.

"I'm not going to play Ziggs," he muttered, because there was fun, and then there was just _stupid_.

"Please spare us," Wufei muttered and Duo found himself grinning at him. Wufei returned the expression.

What the hell - they were about to never play together again, Wufei had sent Solo to beat him up - not really - and _now_ they were starting to get along?

"I'll Twitch," he decided. It wasn't a crazy choice, the Koreans did a Twitch jungle every once in a while, but it wasn't that common either.

Quatre nodded, accepting that.

Relena just shook her head.

"At least the fans will love you," she muttered.

"And we'll have fun," Quatre repeated and he held his hand out, waiting for them to put their hands in and do their normal cheer.

-o-

Duo had never been much of a dancer - when he and Hilde had been in high school she had dragged him to their senior prom and they had danced for a few songs before sneaking out and spending the rest of the night drinking on the beach until they woke up, soaking wet because the tide was coming in - but Hilde didn't seem to care.

Relena had organized an outing for TGW - and Hilde - after their games on Thursday. They all went back to the hotel, changed into "real" clothes as per Relena's specifications, no t-shirts, jeans or track pants allowed, and then piled into a cab and headed over to Lapa, a neighborhood in Rio filled with tapas restaurants, bars and nightclubs.

Hilde immediately dragged Duo out to dance with her at the first bar they went to, and while _she_ seemed able to pick up the steps to the music and dance, Duo felt like an idiot as he shuffled along with her.

A local couple spotted them and took pity on them both - the tall, dark skinned man swept Hilde off and taught her how to Samba while his female partner spent half an hour with Duo, teasingly correcting his attempts until he was finally less than pathetic and by the time they left the bar both Hilde and Duo were sweating and Duo felt marginally less embarrassed by his own feet.

Relena had been adventurous enough to try to samba as well, dancing with another tourist while Quatre looked on with a frown and Wufei watched over all of them with a bored expression but did give in and allow Sally to manhandle him onto the dance floor eventually.

Trowa and Heero didn't budge, however, they sat together, sipping on local beer and their eyes were dark as they watched and Duo caught them staring at him more than once, caught himself staring back and tripping a few times and by the time it was one a.m. and they all piled back into the van, tipsy and sweaty, Duo felt very aware of their stares, of the heat in their eyes and he could feel his heart pounding.

"This was the _best_ day," Relena sighed, resting her head on Quatre's shoulder and grinning goofily. She had finally pulled him out to dance with her, and Duo had seen the look on her face when Quatre wrapped his arms around her and spun her.

Quatre smirked.

"That it was," he agreed. He turned to grin back at the rest of the team. "See? Having fun is good for us."

Duo snorted.

But apparently it was.

They had faced off against Naijin White Shield, the premier Korean team and the best team in the world, with their silly team composition and NWS had had no idea how to play against them. Duo still wasn't sure how, still didn't understand how it was even possible, but TGW had won, had dragged the game out long enough and Wufei, as Teemo had been able to sneak into their base with Duo and they had destroyed their Nexus, had won the game while Quatre, Heero and Trowa held off NWS from destroying their own base. The second game, against Royal Club, had seen the Chinese team immediately banning out Twitch, Teemo and Blitzcrank and TGW had laughed, had had to catch their breaths and actually figure out what the hell they were going to do because they couldn't think of anything sillier than what they had just done. But then Wufei asked to switch lanes with Trowa, to offer the world a sneak preview of what was coming, and Wufei had played Thresh pretty decently, keeping Heero alive in some tricky situations and Trowa had played Nidalee again, this time where she belonged, and Duo had pulled out his favorite Lee Sin Jungle and they had won that game too. Duo and Trowa had been play after play and Royal Club hadn't been able to respond until it was too late.

And so, beyond all shadow of possibility, TGW would be in the Semifinal games tomorrow, playing against Fnatic again.

Which meant that Sally ushered all of them off to bed as soon as they got back to the hotel, and they had stayed out far later than she had initially wanted them too - but Quatre had said this was their one chance to relax in Rio, that they needed the break from the stress, and Sally had given in.

But of course, now they were all a little tipsy, even Duo, who wasn't twenty one, but it was Brazil and the drinking age was eighteen and Sally had turned a blind eye as he joined the others in a few celebratory beers.

Tipsy, and aware of Heero and Trowa staring at him, of their almost tangible gazes on his ass as he walked out of the elevator in front of them and when he opened their hotel room door he could feel the thrill of anticipation in his fingertips.

Trowa closed the hotel room door.

It was suddenly too tense, too quiet and Duo scratched the back of his neck.

"I, ah…"

But then Heero and Trowa were kissing again, as if they knew that was the best way to get Duo to shut up, and Heero reached out for him, dragged Duo against them and kissed him too and it hurt a little, his lip still sore, but it felt good too, their hands on his body and his hands on theirs, one hand down the back of Trowa's pants, squeezing his ass and the other around Heero's neck, holding him close.

"We've wanted to do this all night," Trowa muttered against Duo's skin, kissing and licking at the dried sweat on his neck. "Watching you dance - it's not fair, Duo, seeing you move like that."

Duo groaned, aroused by Trowa's words and his touch.

"You're distractingly sexy," Heero contributed, fingers tangled in Duo's hair.

"I -"

"Don't," Trowa warned, pulling away slightly from Duo's neck but at the same time reaching for his belt and his fly. "Don't overthink this. Don't misunderstand this. We want you. We want you in our bed tonight. All night."

Duo swallowed hard. That sounded good. Really, really damn good, and when Trowa's fingers reached into his trousers and grasped his cock it _felt_ really damn good too.

But Trowa had said tonight - all night, sure, but _tonight_. Just one night. Just one more night.

"No," Duo eased back from them, fought against his wants and his raging hormones and his _need _to feel Heero and Trowa's skin.

Trowa frowned and Heero sighed.

"What is it this time?"

Duo felt a fair amount of his desire evaporate in a flash of anger.

"What is it _this_ time?" He echoed and then gave a dark laugh. "It's the same thing that it was last time, isn't it? You two want me - you want to fuck me and obviously I want to fuck you but that's _all you want from me_. You want me in your bed tonight - and maybe if we win Summer promotions or World's or Super Week or something you'll want me in your bed again because fucking Duo is great for celebrating but I want more than that. I'm not - I'm not here for you two to fuck when the mood strikes you. I'm gay. I'm openly gay and I'm fucking _lonely_ and yeah, I'm lonely enough that I'd take it, that I'd take that extra night in bed with you if it wasn't today, if I hadn't had my own fucking brother punch me in the face last night and if I wasn't through with all of this shit and done having people not want me. But I'm more than a casual fuck. I don't care if you want some kind of friends with benefits thing with me but I can't do it - I can't fuck you and then just crawl back into my bed and hope you don't hate me in the morning every time this happens. I can't just sit there on the couch between you two hoping someone falls asleep because it'd be the one chance I have to fucking _cuddle_, ever and I really, really fucking miss that. I can't _do _it. I can't see the two of you with your secret whatever the fuck you have - with this perfect thing you two have where you don't even have to talk out loud and I can't sit beside you and pretend I don't want to be part of that and I can't fuck you and pretend that's enough for me. So just - just leave me the fuck alone. Please. Because I can't resist the two of you. I can't."

Duo drew in a ragged breath, suddenly completely spent, and completely humiliated. He couldn't believe he had said all of that, couldn't believe that he had confessed that and fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. He was fucked now, for sure.

But Heero and Trowa just stared at him.

Duo zipped his pants back up, straightened his shirt and forced himself to calm down.

"I'm just going to go out for a walk - I'll be back in an hour."

Trowa opened his mouth to speak.

"I'll set my alarm. I won't fall asleep by the pool again. I just - I just need to breathe."

And he ran away, practically fleeing the hotel room and he did go back up to the pool, did let himself lay down and close his eyes and try to ignore the fact that he had once again made a complete fucking mess of everything.

But an hour passed too quickly for that.

Heero and Trowa were already in bed, the hotel room dark except for the light beside Duo's bed, which one of them had thoughtfully turned on for him, and Duo tried not to let _that_ gesture fuck him over but it was hard.

He undressed and he got into bed and turned off the light and he could hear Trowa and Heero shifting, clearly just as restless as he was, and it was several more hours before any of them fell asleep.

-o-

Duo was running more or less completely on Red Bull the next day, and he knew that the circles under his eyes no doubt mirrored those on Heero and Trowa's faces but no one commented, and only Relena arched an eyebrow, gave him a questioning look that Duo shook off.

They played a best of five game series against Fnatic, and while TGW one the first game, Fnatic came back and won the next three, demonstrating amazing coordination and Duo knew that even if he was at his best - even if Trowa and Heero were too - they might have lost. So he felt guilty, but he wasn't ready to jump off a building from the shame of losing. Their losses hadn't been an embarrassment, they had been good games and shaking hands with the Fnatic players again, having xPeke smile at him and tell him he was going to be really tough to beat next time they played - it left Duo feeling hopeful for the Summer Season, for the chance of going to World's.

The next day, Saturday, was the second day of semi-finals, with Naijin playing against the Saigon Jokers, and Duo opted to attend and watch the games with Wufei. Quatre, Relena and Hilde had decided to go swimming and have a day at the beach, and Heero and Trowa were going hiking in the nearby rainforest, and maybe Duo should have tagged along with someone - but he was a gamer, a nerd, and watching Naijin and Saigon play against each other, nudging Wufei's shoulder and calling out during great plays, was probably the most relaxing afternoon he had had in a long time.

"I hate how much I like you now that I never have to put up with you again," Duo had to mutter as they left the center after Naijin won.

Wufei smirked.

"Perhaps this is the way it was meant to be," Wufei said and shrugged. "Besides, we're going to be playing against each other - you'll see me all of the time."

"You mean I'll see your dead body when I help Trowa kill you," Duo corrected and Wufei rolled his eyes.

"Keep dreaming, Maxwell," he muttered, but he was smirking in response.

They stopped to eat dinner on their way back to the hotel, at a hole in the wall restaurant just across the street, and there were a few other players there, mostly Europeans - but Duo instantly spotted Solo, chatting with Fnatic.

Wufei hesitated.

"We can go somewhere else."

Duo shook his head.

"Nah. Like you said - we'll be playing against each other all of the time. I'm done running away."

Wufei gave him an odd look, but followed him into the restaurant.

They were going to sit down at a table near the front, but xPeke saw them and waved them over, making room beside him for Duo to squeeze in when Solo shifted over to make room for Wufei on the opposite side of the table.

"So tell us," Cyanide, Fnatic's Jungler, spoke up, "what crazy Jungler are you going to try next?"

Duo laughed and crossed his arms.

"I'm not going to just come out and _tell_ you - you'll try to steal my ideas and pass them off as your own."

Cyanide snorted.

"As if. You probably have some illegal stream of the Chinese leagues and that's how you get your ideas."

At the other end of the table, Wufei and Solo seemed to be deep in conversation, but Duo couldn't quite hear what they were saying.

"Your support - he was so good in top lane," xPeke said, drawing Duo's attention back.

Duo had to grin. He couldn't wait to tell Trowa that - he knew he wasn't the only one on TGW who had an xPeke hero worship complex. But then he sighed, knowing that, after last night, Trowa probably wouldn't be all that excited to talk to him.

"Yeah," Duo agreed. "He is."

"I'm surprised he still plays Support."

Duo shrugged. The official announcement about the trade would come out next week, after the All Star Games were over, and he wasn't about to put his foot in it and break the news early.

"He's just an amazing player," Duo said.

xPeke nodded.

"Have you ever tried Kassadin Jungle?"

Duo had to laugh. xPeke was a legendary Kassadin player, had made his reputation on him, and asking Duo if he had ever tried Jungling with him was a pretty good compliment all on its own.

The rest of the dinner was two hours of them talking shop, of probably the nerdiest conversation ever heard at that restaurant, but when Duo and Wufei left he felt good, revitalized, reminded of what he loved about this game and why he wanted to be a professional gamer.

Wufei too seemed happy, not as upset about their losses that afternoon as he normally would have been.

After saying goodnight at the elevator, Duo went back to his room, unlocking it and finding Heero and Trowa already in for the night, sitting in their bed reading. Unlike the other nights, however, they were wearing t-shirts, Heero his beloved Batman t-shirt and Trowa a faded MLG Raleigh t-shirt and Duo was grateful. He knew it had to be a conscious choice - knew that the two of them, aside from teasing Duo, really did feel comfortable in their own skins - but he was glad he didn't have to stare at them, to be confronted with what he was missing out on.

He hesitated by his bed.

"Have fun hiking today?" He asked, his question startling them.

"Yeah," Trowa said. "It was relaxing."

"And we had the chance to talk. To think over some things," Heero added.

Duo looked up at that, at Heero's tone and his choice of words.

"Oh? Always good to be able to do that," Duo said cautiously.

Heero nodded in agreement and looked over at Trowa, who sighed.

"I'm not sure what you really want from us, Duo," Trowa said.

"Nothing," Duo said. "I don't - I think we really should just be friends. Teammates. I don't want to fuck with what you two have. I just… I can't just wait around hoping you're going to start making out in front of me and invite me to your bed again."

"That's not what we want - that's not what we think of you," Heero said quickly. "We don't just think we can fuck you and ignore you. We don't want you to crawl back into your bed alone."

"Then what?" Duo had to ask. "You two want to come out and what - try a threesome? Because if Reddit loves to load shit onto a single gay guy, think of what they'll say about TGW after they know three of us are cocksuckers."

Heero scowled.

"We're not out," Trowa said, "for that very reason. It's no one else's business what we do - we don't need to hear that garbage from them."

"I don't need to hear it either, but I _do_," Duo pointed out.

"Because you were forced to come out - you didn't even have the choice." Trowa gave him a hard look. "Would you have? Would you have come out if the assault report hadn't been leaked?"

Duo had never been asked that, and now that Trowa was putting the question to him he realized how weird it was. Duo hadn't been given the choice, but everyone had just assumed he would have done it - that he didn't mind being outed.

"No," he admitted. "I wouldn't have."

Trowa nodded.

"What we have together -"

"What _do_ you have together?" Duo interrupted. "I mean, what do you really have together? All you have is what's behind your closed bedroom door, isn't it? It's just sex. You don't get to be a couple - you don't get to date or show any kind of affection to each other."

"Of course we do," Heero snapped. "Of course it isn't just sex. We get to spend every day together. We don't grope each other in public and we don't make idiots of ourselves, but we have a relationship. We have a partnership and we care about each other. We have more than sex, more than some secret behind closed doors."

Duo drew in a deep breath. Maybe that had been harsh of him to say, and it had clearly offended both of them.

"I get that you care about each other - and I - obviously you. I see the way you look at each other. But where the hell do I fit into that? You said this isn't just about casually fucking me - then what the hell is it? Because I _am_ out - whether I wanted to be or not."

"We don't know," Trowa admitted.

Duo sighed. These two - who had plans for every contingency in a game - had no idea what they wanted from him, an actual person.

"I don't want you to be lonely," Trowa said, his voice low and Duo had to look away from his green eyes. Fuck. He really shouldn't have just let the word vomit spew out last night.

"We don't want to make you miserable," Heero added. "We can leave you alone, if that's what you want. But we - I don't know how this would work. I don't know what you want from us - what you _realistically_ want from us because of course the three of us aren't going to parade around and invite the entire community to shit on us and TGW to terminate our contracts."

Duo hadn't really considered that, hadn't thought about the fact that TGW probably could - that there was definitely a clause in there about upholding the team image.

"I'm done being ashamed of who I am," he said, and he ignored how ragged his own voice sounded. "I'm not asking you to come out. I'm not asking you for anything. But I'm not going to just settle for one night here or there. I want more than that. I deserve more than that."

"You do," Trowa agreed. "And we want more than that too."

"But there's no way to make it work," Duo pointed out. He saw the resigned looks on their faces and gave them a sad smile and a shrug. "So that's just life, I guess. You guys care and I care but - well, nothing we can do about it, is there?"

Heero looked like he wanted to say something else.

Duo sighed.

"Look, I'm glad we talked - I'm glad you two had the chance to talk and think about all of this and I'm glad we've got it out, in the open, but… there really isn't anything we can do and I'm fucking exhausted. I haven't had a decent night's sleep since we got here and I might seriously pass out while watching the final games tomorrow if I don't try to get some sleep tonight."

Trowa sighed and Heero nodded.

"Sleep well," Trowa said.

"You guys too."

Duo undressed, resolutely keeping his eyes on his sheets and then climbed into bed and turned out his light.

It was another hour before Heero and Trowa turned off their light, and he listened to them settle into bed, looked over to see them form one solid lump in the middle and he knew they were spooning and yeah, they had established there was nothing they could do, but it didn't change the fact that Duo still wanted them, still wanted to get up and get into their bed and feel their arms around him and have Heero use him as a pillow again.

-o-

A note about their champions from game one:

Teemo is… the trolliest pick the game has ever known. He's also my favorite. He's like this adorable little… beaver/rat/creature that shoots poison darts and plants poisonous mushroom traps. Like I said. Adorable. Oh and he turns invisible. He's NEVER played in serious competition.

Twitch is a rat - can also turn invisible. Normally a Marksman.

Blitzcrank is a support. He's a yellow robot who pulls people in and punches them and electrocutes things. He is NEVER played in the mid lane.

Nidalee is a shapeshifter - she's a woman who transforms into a cougar - and she throws giant spears. She's actually played currently in top lane and is very strong.

Thresh is the god of supports.


	18. Chapter 18

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.

A/N #2: I'm like seriously blown away by how much people are enjoying this story. Thank you so much to everyone who takes the time to leave a review, favorite and/or follow.

Warnings: Angst, language, violence, sex.

Pairings: PM me if you need to know. But I think it might be fairly obvious early on.

Going the Distance

Chapter Eighteen

"So… do you want to talk about it?"

It was their last day together, at the beach, and Duo and Hilde were sitting on the sand watching the sunset and Duo was trying very hard to psych himself up for the return to reality tomorrow, the return to the TGW house and long days of training for the Summer Season and the return to Heero and Trowa.

But after a week with Hilde, after a week together in their ramshackle bungalow that they had rented with the bonuses from making the All-Stars, Duo was finding it hard to want to do anything that didn't involve another few days spent in the sun and the water.

He sighed and shrugged.

"Just Solo stuff," he said, which wasn't really a lie. But it wasn't as if he could tell her about the other things - about Heero and Trowa. He loved her and he trusted her, but there were too many secrets that weren't his and he didn't want to go down that path.

She sighed and leaned against his shoulder.

"Is this about the Reddit post?"

Duo nodded.

"Yeah, a little."

The official trade announcement had been released two days ago and Solo had responded on Reddit by saying that ZG was happy to have the two best members of TGW join their squad and that he was confident that ZG would make it to World's this year, where they belonged, and no one was going to hold them back.

"I thought you weren't checking Reddit anymore."

"I'm not. I mean, not every day." And he wasn't. He had made a concerted effort to stay away. But he'd had to look, to see what the internet thought of the trade.

A lot of people thought TGW was insane - after all, Trowa had spent his entire pro-career playing support. But, during All-Stars in Rio, the community had been given a taste of Trowa's skills when he had played Nidalee in the top lane and there was a fair share of people who seemed to be operating under the idea that Trowa had secretly been practicing top lane all along. Which, Duo supposed, was true.

There were a lot of guesses about Meilin, a few people suggesting that she and Heero were secretly dating and this was their chance to spend more time together and that amused Duo more than anything else.

"I wish I could tell you an easy way to fix things or just forget him but I know that's not going to happen," Meilin sighed.

Duo wrapped his right arm around her. They had actually shared a bed this last week, and Duo was going to miss her presence, the physical contact, spooning together in bed at night and leaning against each other during the day.

"Every time I think I'm over him I realize I'm not," Duo admitted. "I'm always going to want him to… forgive me, to love me or I don't know. But I'm done thinking the shit from last year was my fault. I'm done apologizing and I just - I just want to do my thing, you know?"

"Solo's the only thing bothering you?" Hilde pressed and Duo hated that she knew him so well.

"Just teammate things," he muttered. "I just need to work through some stuff in my head. It's nothing really."

"Right."

"I'll be fine."

"You're totally in love with the straight boys, aren't you?"

"I'm not _in love_ with anyone," Duo snapped and then he sighed. "It's just a crush. It's stupid. It's… I'll get over it."

"Duo, you've been living with them for four months. If you were going to get over it, you would have done it already."

"You are the least helpful person on the planet, Hilde."

"You're welcome."

He sighed again.

"Did you ever want something so badly you thought about just… giving up your other dreams for it?"

"Please tell me we aren't still talking about you being in love with the straight boys."

Duo nudged her shoulder.

"No," he lied.

Because he couldn't explain it to her. He couldn't tell her that after a week with Hilde, after thinking about Heero and Trowa and missing them and wondering what if - after all of this he was starting to think that it could be worth it, whatever behind closed doors thing they wanted to try.

Except… except Duo didn't want that, not really. He didn't need to post photos of himself kissing them on Reddit to feel satisfied, but he didn't think he could just ignore them outside of their bedroom either.

"Well," Hilde said eventually. "I wanted to be a pro-gamer so much that I gave up on the idea of being a ballerina."

Duo glared at her and she shrugged.

"What? I did. But, Duo… what kind of thing do you want so badly that you'd give up your other dreams? And if you have to give up your other dreams, is it really worth it?"

It was a damned good question, and Duo was really going to have to try to answer it.

He sighed.

"About this being a pro-gamer dream of yours," he said, changing the subject and feeling it was his turn to be the annoyingly honest friend who made you confront the things you didn't want to.

"Yeah?" She sounded uneasy, as if she knew what was coming. And she probably did.

"So how long are you going to just sit back and be the best player on the worst team in the league?"

She punched him, which he had been expecting, but it still hurt.

He rubbed his stomach.

"Fucking ow."

Hilde tried to move away but he kept his arm around her. If she wouldn't let _him_ run away from problems then he definitely wasn't going to let her do it either.

"It's complicated," she said eventually, after glaring out at the ocean for a few minutes.

"Tell me about it," he prompted.

"They're all… they're good players, Duo. _Really_ good. If they could get their shit together we could win. We could be a really, really scary team but…"

"But…"

"But I don't know. Everyone wants to do their own thing. They all have their own strengths and they want to play to those strengths and I feel like I'm in Solo Queue - like I have four other phenomenal players on my team and they've never heard of team chat."

Duo nodded. He had watched videos of their gameplay, and he had noticed that they looked uncoordinated, that most of their teamfights looked like the things that happened with him and Wufei - someone going in and the rest of the team hesitating before deciding to go in as well or run away. They were a mess.

"You need a shot caller."

Hilde snorted.

"No one wants to listen to Dorothy tell them what to do. And Dorothy's too busy trying to do what she needs to make sure she wins her lane to focus on the rest of the team."

"Hilde, Dorothy should never, ever be the shot caller."

"Then who?"

"You."

She turned to look at him.

"Me?"

Duo nodded.

"Hilde, mechanically you're a good player. When you're on top of your game you can go toe to toe with me -"

"Thanks," she snorted.

"But what makes you a great player is your strategies. Hilde, you have amazing map awareness and it's like… it's like you can predict what the other team is going to do and where they're going to go. I've seen you do it for years and if you can just get the Valkyries to listen to you, to follow your instincts…"

"Okay Yoda, I'll get right on that. They won't listen to anyone else, and they've spent the entire season bitching at each other so far, so I'm sure they'll be thrilled to have me try to tell them what to do."

"Hey." Duo waited until she was looking at him. "I didn't say it was going to be easy. But if you want to do this - if you want to be a pro-gamer, then you've got to know it's not going to be easy. Either you can sit there practicing for ten hours a day and feel like you're getting nowhere and keep losing against other teams with players who are shittier than you, or you can practice for ten hours a day and maybe your teammates will be bitchy at first because no one wants to be told they're garbage and need to pull their shit together but... "

"They aren't garbage," Hilde defended her teammates. "Honestly, Duo, they could be great."

"Then make them great."

They sat in silence after that, until the sun dipped down behind the horizon.

"I hate you," Hilde said as they got up to go get dinner.

"I love you, too."

-o-

Duo was running late the next day, they had hit traffic driving back and he barely had time to toss his duffel bag into his room, grab a hastily assembled sandwich, and slide into his chair in the gaming room before Quatre called a start to practice.

"Sorry," he said around a mouthful of bread and turkey.

Meilin looked at him with amusement, Quatre with a smirk and Heero and Trowa with unreadable expressions. Sally, however, crossed her arms and arched an eyebrow.

"Won't happen again," he assured her. He never ran late, but still, it wasn't the best impression to make on their new teammate.

Quatre nodded.

"Right. Well, now that we're all here… I guess, welcome to the team Meilin."

Meilin smirked slightly and nodded.

"Thanks."

"I just want us all to talk a little, before we play anything today, about the Spring Split and what we can take away from that and what our goals are for the Summer Split."

"To win and go to Worlds," Duo pointed out.

Quatre nodded.

"Yeah. Definitely. But there are things we need to work on, to make sure we get there."

"Actually," Meilin interrupted and everyone looked over at her. "There are things you need to work on if you want to _win_ at Worlds."

Heero, beside her, frowned.

"You guys are a great team - obviously - and I think we're going to be one of the top three teams and we're going to go to Worlds if we work hard. But I didn't join this team to get to Worlds. I was already on a team that could _get_ to Worlds. I want to _win_ at Worlds."

"And you think we can't?" Trowa asked.

Meilin shrugged.

"I don't know. I've only seen you play one game in the top lane and… maybe you're amazing. Or maybe it was a lot of luck since no one knew what to expect from you. Maybe you got ahead because Duo camped the shit out of your lane and got you fed - I just don't know. But I'm guessing you wouldn't have let Wufei go if you weren't confident that Trowa could hold his own."

"He can," Duo assured her.

"That's great. But what about the rest of the team?"

"Umm…" Duo wasn't entirely sure where she was going.

Meilin sighed and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Look, I just came from a team that thought the sun shined out of Zechs' ass and maybe it does - whatever - but the mentality over there was do what Treize says and get Zechs fed and let Solo do whatever the fuck he wants because he's a god. And that's fine, that's what ZG does and it helps them win a lot. But it won't let them win at World's. I'm not going to sit here and just… absorb all the things you guys think are so great about TGW and gently prod you in the direction I think you should go. We don't have the time and I'm done being ignored by boys because I don't have a dick and somehow that makes me inferior."

"No one on this team thinks that," Quatre rushed to assure her.

Meilin arched an eyebrow.

"Really? We'll see."

"So what problems do you see with us?" Heero asked, getting right to the point.

"Well, for starters, Quatre is a great utility mid laner - he's good at supporting plays the rest of the team makes - but he's not much of a playmaker himself. In straight up fights against other mid laners you lose, every time. It's only when you're team fighting that you excel."

Quatre shrugged.

"Yeah. I know."

"The Korean teams won't let you teamfight. It's as simple as that. You've played on the international stage now - they've seen how you play, even if one of the games was goofy as fuck - they know you call the shots and they know you only feel comfortable in teamfights. So they're going to target you and make sure you can't ever _be_ in a teamfight."

"Oh my God I love you," Duo had to say.

Meilin turned to him.

"And _you_ -"

"Please don't make me cry."

She smirked.

"You don't farm the Jungle enough. You spend too much time going back and forth between your lanes and trying to help them get kills and unless you get them a _lot_ of kills or pull off crazy shit you fall behind by late game. You guys are lucky that you haven't had to play many long games - because that's your greatest weakness. Duo spends too much time worrying about other people and he never gets fed enough himself and it's going to come back and bite you in the ass."

Duo had never really considered that before, but as he thought about it… she was right. He did tend to fall off the later games went, regardless of the champions he picked. He sighed and nodded.

"You're right."

She looked triumphant and then turned to Heero, who just rolled his eyes.

"What?"

"Nothing," he muttered. "Go ahead and tell me all of the reasons Zechs is better than I am."

She did some eye rolling of her own.

"There are two reasons Zechs is better than you."

"Only two?" Heero asked.

Beside Duo, Trowa sighed and he looked over at him. Trowa just shook his head, clearly anticipating this was not going to go well.

"Yeah. Just two main reasons," Meilin said. She held up two fingers. "One, me."

Heero arched an eyebrow.

"You think you're a better support than Trowa?"

She shrugged.

"Let's hope so, or you guys have made a really big mistake."

Duo had to agree with her logic.

"And the other reason?" Trowa prompted, his voice somewhere between amusement and irritation.

"Trowa."

They all frowned.

"What?" Quatre asked. "Trowa is the reason Zechs is better than Heero?"

Meilin nodded.

"Heero relies _way_ too much on Trowa in the early game. It's fine to need your support - I mean, that's why we're there - but you never go aggressive unless Trowa tells you to. You never run away unless Trowa tells you to. It's as if for the first ten minutes of every game you can't even think for yourself. You just do exactly what Trowa says you should and then, after ten minutes, you magically realize you can think for yourself."

Heero's glare was intense.

"Um -" Quatre started to say, but Meilin wasn't done.

"You're like a baby bird, Heero. You need Trowa to chew up food and dribble it into your mouth and then you figure out how to fly and you become a killing machine."

"That was a completely unnecessary mental image," Duo had to say.

"It's also a completely unnecessary way to play. Heero - you're a marksman. Yeah, you're fragile, but you can kill shit. You can kill shit level one and level two and you do not need anyone to chew up your food and spit it into your mouth."

"Seriously, can we go with _any_ other analogy?" Duo asked.

"Zechs gets kills in his lane all by himself, early in the game, and it means he's ahead and it means he's scary and it means that his support gets to roam around the map and do scary shit and that's what makes him better - Zechs doesn't need Trowa and instead Zechs had me to help him when he needed it and to roam and have an impact on the map when he didn't need me." She paused and shrugged. "I can play like Trowa, if you need that. If you want to just… be a baby bird and have me feed you then I can do that. And we can still make it to World's. But if you want to win at World's then you need to realize that you are a killing machine as soon as the game starts and I'm not saying go balls to the wall all of the time - but you need to be able to survive without Trowa holding your hand."

"Did you talk to ZG like this?" Trowa asked.

Meilin shook her head.

"No. Of course not. I don't have a dick, remember? Girls aren't allowed to be smarter or better." She sighed. "Look - you guys are good. Really, really good or I wouldn't have joined. I just… I just really want to be able to hold that damn trophy at the end of the season and tell Solo he can go fuck himself because I don't need him."

Meilin stared at Duo.

"I mean, I can get behind that," he said, and he had to wonder what Solo had said to Meilin to make her so pissed at him. "Wait," he realized something. "You and my brother were dating?"

Meilin rolled her eyes.

"I don't think we can call it dating if all we did was fuck each other and fight."

"Right…"

"It's over now," Meilin said and she didn't sound too upset about it. "Solo can find someone else to suck his dick and all I care about is winning. Is that going to be a problem?"

"Nope," Duo assured her.

"Not at all," Quatre agreed.

Sally was smirking, looking at Meilin with a proud, somewhat fond expression and it was the first time Duo had seen her look at any of them without seeming on the verge of rolling her eyes.

"Right," Quatre said. "I think… that's probably a good start to thinking about what we can all work on. Why don't we just warm up and -"

"What about you?" Heero asked, looking at Meilin, "what are your weaknesses?"

Meilin shrugged.

"I'm bloodthirsty. I like to make sure my team gets kills and sometimes I do stupid shit that isn't worth it."

It was a fair assessment, and Heero actually looked a bit pissed off over the fact that she didn't claim to be perfect.

Duo fought to keep a straight face as Heero turned towards his computer and Meilin rolled her eyes at him.

"Okay," Quatre shook his head. "Let's just jump in and play a few games. It's been a week since we last played and this is our first time playing together anyway so let's just… have fun and try to think about Meilin's super bitchy words of advice and be better."

Duo and Meilin chuckled and Trowa smiled as he put on his headset.

That night, after they finished a very long and more than a little stressful day - it was definitely going to take time for Meilin and Heero to get used to each other - Duo leaned back in his chair and felt exhausted and… excited.

Their games hadn't been amazing, hadn't been their best by any stretch, but they had still been good. And even with Heero and Meilin passively-aggressively taunting each other, the games had been fun and Duo could see how they could become a scary good team.

Quatre and Sally went off to the kitchen to talk strategy for the rest of the week.

"Sweet dreams, baby bird," Meilin called after Heero when he removed his headset and left the room.

Duo rolled his eyes and saw Trowa frowning.

Meilin noticed too.

"Oh, what?" She asked. "You know he's a better player when he's angry."

Duo arched an eyebrow and turned to Trowa, who shrugged.

"Sometimes," he allowed.

Meilin snorted.

"Trowa. He's always a better player when he thinks he has something to prove - you just like to keep him happy because he's your friend."

Trowa sighed and shrugged again.

"Think of it this way, you can still be the good cop and go up there and let him tell you what a horrible bitch I am and you can still be friends and then I get to play bad cop and egg him on until he becomes this ridiculously awesome marksman who eats Zechs for breakfast."

"Un-pre-chewed breakfast?" Duo asked, trying to lighten the mood.

Meilin shuddered.

"I hope so. That guy's ego tastes like shit."

Duo chuckled.

"Anyway," Meilin continued, focusing back on Trowa. "You know him better than I do. If you think I'm pushing him too hard let me know. I'm not here to just make you guys throw everything out of the window - you know what works and what doesn't. I'm just… offering a new perspective."

Trowa nodded and he looked thoughtful.

He stood and stretched and Duo was proud of himself for looking away after only a few seconds of starting at Trowa's belly button, exposed when his shirt rode high above his waist.

"Are you staying up for a while?" Trowa asked Duo, smoothing down his shirt again.

Duo nodded.

"Probably."

Trowa jerked his head upstairs.

"I want to go and see how our baby bird is doing," he gave Meilin a look, "and then I'll be back. Play one game without me?" He suggested.

Duo nodded. He tried not to think about the fact that one game was plenty of time for Heero and Trowa to have sex.

"Sounds good," he said.

Trowa left the room and Duo turned to see Meilin looking at him with an arched eyebrow.

"What?"

"Nothing," she said, but she smirked and stood


	19. Chapter 19

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.

A/N #2: I'm like seriously blown away by how much people are enjoying this story. Thank you so much to everyone who takes the time to leave a review, favorite and/or follow.

A/N #3: This will NOT end in 20 chapters, worry not.

Warnings: Angst, language, violence, sex.

Pairings: PM me if you need to know. But I think it might be fairly obvious early on.

Going the Distance

Chapter Nineteen

"Okay, boot camp is over. Tomorrow is the first game of the Summer split and you've spent the last two weeks glued to your computers and today we are leaving this house and doing something fun."

Relena was standing in the doorway to the game room with her hands on her hips and a fierce expression on her face. Duo couldn't decide if her pink hair, hello kitty headband and Strawberry Shortcake t-shirt made her look more or less threatening.

"Get up!" She shouted.

More threatening.

Everyone backed away from their computers, even Quatre, though he glared at Relena.

"We were just about to try - "

Relena held up her hand.

"I don't care. Try it later. If you haven't figured out how to win your games this weekend by now, another day of practice isn't going to help."

"Yes it will," Quatre argued and rolled his eyes.

"Probably," Relena agreed. "But I haven't heard _any_ of you complain about not having pizza for dinner."

Duo arched an eyebrow and exchanged a confused look with Meilin, who shrugged back at him.

"And?" Trowa asked.

"And you people _always_ want pizza. You bitch and moan if we go a single week without ordering pizza and we haven't had any pizza in two weeks and no one has said a word! You all are so focused on the game that you have forgotten how to be _human beings_."

Duo fought to keep a straight face, but then Heero laughed and quickly turned it into a cough. It set off both Duo and Trowa.

Relena's glare intensified.

"All of you get shoes on your feet and meet me outside right now," Relena snapped.

Even Sally, who had started to sit in on all of their practices and take notes or offer criticism, obeyed.

"Any chance we can just get Quatre to fuck her so the insanity stops?" Meilin muttered to Duo as they climbed the stairs to fetch their shoes.

Duo snorted.

"You'd probably have to have a three hour conversation with Quatre explaining that girls who aren't psychotic bitches can like him too."

Meilin arched an eyebrow and then her jaw dropped open.

"Shut up. Quatre hooked up with Dorothy Catalonia?!"

Duo scowled.

"How did you even make that connection? There are plenty of psychotic bitches in the world."

Meilin smirked.

"He's the cutest little gamer nerd there ever was, Duo. He's not going to venture out into the big scary world to find a psychotic bitch when Dorothy will just come to him and eat him alive."

When they had all assembled outside Relena ushered them into the van.

"We're going to Ultrazone."

Duo frowned. He had no idea what that was, but Trowa, in the back of the van with Heero, groaned.

"Jesus, not again," he muttered.

"What the hell is Ultrazone?" Duo asked him.

"Your worst nightmare," Heero said.

Duo turned to Quatre, who had his head buried in his hands.

"Relena, we need to practice - we can't just go to Ultrazone and let you murder all of us for five hours like last time."

Duo arched an eyebrow, as did Meilin, and they turned to look at Relena's gleeful face.

"We can," she said, "and we will. You all need to have fun, you need to stretch your damn legs and you need to accept the fact that this is happening. We are going to Ultrazone and yes, I will spend the next five hours murdering all of you."

"I still don't understand where we're going," Duo pointed out.

"Laser tag," Sally said with a sigh.

Duo turned to Relena, shocked and delighted.

"Seriously?"

She nodded and grinned at his excitement.

Duo turned to the rest of the team.

"What the fuck is wrong with all of you? Laser tag is the best thing to ever happen - why the hell aren't you more excited?"

Trowa made a patronizing sound and reached out to pat Duo's head.

"Just look at him, so full of hope and joy," he said and turned to Heero. "Remember when we were like that?"

Heero nodded.

"It's so sad to see him like this, knowing that he's going to be curled up in a fetal position crying in just a few hours."

Duo scowled at them.

"She's going to completely destroy you," Trowa said and glanced towards Relena. "She's going to take everything you hold dear and taunt you with it as she shoots you over and over and over again."

"I think you guys are a little -"

"You don't understand," Quatre said and he sighed and leaned back, looking resigned. "You haven't been there. You haven't see what she's like."

Duo turned back to Relena.

"I have no idea what they are talking about," she said, shrugged, and turned back in her seat and turned up the radio volume.

As it turned out, no one was exaggerating Relena's brutality. She was like Rambo - in fact, she was a registered club member and her name was RamboBarbie. She was unstoppable, coming in first in every game by a margin so big it was laughable and terrifying.

After three hours of running around the two story warehouse in the dark, everyone was sweaty and tired and maybe Relena was the absolute worst opponent to ever face because she did taunt each and every one of them mercilessly, but it was still a lot of fun.

It was great to be out of the house, great to not listen to Heero and Meilin bicker, great not to have to constantly nudge Trowa's focus back on his own lane whenever anything went wrong in the bottom lane, great to not worry about his own performance.

They were in the middle of their sixth game of the day and Duo was trying his damnedest to beat Relena - he had come in second to her every single game and he had promised himself he wouldn't let her win yet another game.

Of course, it was almost like telling himself he was going to single handedly defeat the Koreans in League of Legends - it was impossible.

At one point he came around a corner, his gun up and ready to fire and spotted her glowing pink hair just a second before Relena started to fire -

But then someone shoved him back, taking the hits for him, and Duo looked up in surprise to see that Heero had pushed him out of the way and taken Relena's shots to his back instead.

"You saved me."

Heero smirked, his face an ethereal blue from the lighting.

"I'll take laser shots for you any day, Duo."

Duo chuckled.

"My hero," he quipped, then realized it was practically a pun. He also realized that Heero was still pressing him against a wall, even though Relena had already moved on to find other victims and they were behind a wall, out of sight and Duo could try to blame it on the adrenaline but really, he did it because he was stupid.

He curved his left hand around the back of Heero's neck and pulled him close and kissed him.

Heero froze for a second, his body and lips stiff, but then he leaned in, opened his mouth and caressed Duo's lips with his tongue. Duo moaned and opened his mouth, tasted Heero and fucking hell he had wanted to do this every day since Rio, since that first night with him and Trowa.

They pulled away, breathless and wide eyed, when the siren signalling the end of the game went off.

"I don't think you beat Relena," Heero told him.

"I don't think I care," Duo admitted and Heero smirked.

They made their way out of the room, shrugged off their vests and replaced their guns and stepped out into the bright light of the arcade and Duo wondered what the hell he had just done.

-o-

They stopped to get pizza on their way back to the house, and even though Meilin teased Heero by offering to chew up his food for him, the atmosphere was relaxed. They were all drained, all a little smelly after hours of sweating, but when they got home that night Relena insisted they all watch a movie together before going to bed. She at least allowed them the chance to change - giving them fifteen minutes to put on pajamas and prepare themselves, in her words, mentally and physically, for the sheer amazingness of Free Willy 2.

Duo tried to ask why the sequel and not the first one, but Quatre caught his eye and shook his head, a warning in his expression, and after the afternoon of Relena's dominance in laser tag, Duo had to admit it was better to just trust the others on some things and let it go.

He changed into the All-Star t-shirt he'd been given in Rio and a pair of basketball shorts before heading back downstairs.

He had to smirk when he saw that Meilin and Sally were sharing a couch, with Relena and Quatre on another, and Heero and Trowa in their usual spots on the third couch, leaving just enough room for him to sit between them.

He climbed onto the couch and folded his legs under him and settled back, his knees just barely touching Heero and Trowa's thighs and he knew he didn't imagine either of them shifting closer.

But Relena started the movie and as much as Duo was aware of their skin against his he focused on the movie, which he hadn't seen in years, not since Solo had bought it for Christmas one year when they were still kids, saying that he had seen it in the movie theatre with their Mom before Duo was born.

He remembered Solo wanting to be a marine biologist - remembered him looking it up and trying to figure out how he could do it and being so determined to save killer whales until they had been moved to another foster home and he had seemingly given up that dream, had stopped talking about any dreams of future careers until years later when he decided to become a pro-gamer.

Duo had never really thought about that before, had never considered the reality that Solo had been fixated on being a marine biologist and then had given up that and all plans for his future for years.

When the movie ended it was almost midnight.

"Van leaves at ten in the morning," Relena told them and shot Quatre a stern look. "Everyone had better be awake and ready to go."

Quatre glared at her.

"Baby bird, let's get in one last game tonight," Meilin said and got up from her couch, walking out of the room, confident that Heero would follow.

Heero scowled after her, but sighed and got up.

The others drifted out of the room as well.

"Feel like playing one?" Duo asked Trowa, who nodded and stood up. He held out a hand and pulled Duo up from the couch.

He didn't immediately let go, however, and Duo looked down to Trowa's tan fingers wrapped around his wrist.

"I thought you didn't want a secret relationship," Trowa said, his voice soft and Duo looked up, into his eyes.

"I don't," he repeated.

"Then what happened today?"

Duo sighed.

"Today I was stupid. I'm sorry." He should probably apologize to Heero as well, now that he thought about it. He couldn't just go around kissing him - either of them - no matter how much he wanted to.

"Why don't you come running with Heero and I tomorrow morning?"

Duo arched an eyebrow.

He vividly remembered the day, months ago, when Wufei had tried to invite himself along on Heero and Trowa's daily run and Heero had bluntly told him they didn't like company.

"Are you sure?"

Trowa nodded.

"It's Heero's favorite part of the day - the only chance we get to just be us and not have to worry about all of this," he gestured to the house.

Duo had known, on some level, that the others felt the same kind of pressure he felt, the same stress and need to succeed and desire for vindication. But he hadn't really thought it got to anyone else as much as it got to him.

"What's your favorite part of the day?" Duo had to ask.

Trowa smirked.

"Not hauling my ass out of bed at eight in the morning," he muttered and Duo laughed. He wished Trowa hadn't blown off the question, but he assumed it meant the answer was too personal, probably something to do with just him and Heero, and he didn't want to pry.

"Shall we?" Trowa gestured towards the game room, finally letting go of Duo's arm.

Duo nodded and followed him into the room.

Heero and Meilin were already in a game, and Duo chuckled at the way Meilin was already taunting him, just minutes into the game, and Heero responded by diving in and getting first blood, the first kill of the game, all on his own.

"Oh! Spread those wings and fly, baby bird!" Meilin shouted excitedly.

Duo looked over at Trowa, who was looking at Heero with a fond smirk.

"They're going to do fine tomorrow," Duo assured him.

Trowa nodded.

"I know. Meilin's exactly what he needs."

"Maybe in the game," Duo said and arched an eyebrow at Trowa's tone, at how he sounded a little lost.

Trowa looked at him.

"You're more than his support, Trowa. You know that."

Trowa didn't respond, however, just sat down in his chair and logged onto the game and Duo was forced to drop the issue.

But it tugged at him, the knowledge that Trowa felt uneasy, felt unnecessary for Heero, and even after the game ended and Trowa went upstairs to join Heero in bed and Duo climbed into his own bed alone he continued to think about it, to think about the way Trowa had looked proud but sad.

-o-

Relena was in the kitchen the next morning when they returned from their run, already dressed and eating breakfast and she arched an eyebrow at them when they walked in, breathing heavily and drenched in sweat.

Heero opened the refrigerator and passed bottles of water back to Trowa and Duo before taking one for himself.

"Have a good run?" Relena asked.

Heero shrugged, Trowa nodded, and Duo gulped down water.

He wasn't entirely sure what he had been expecting from their run - he'd seen Heero and Trowa's naked bodies, after all, had seen them every morning after their runs and they were always sweating and breathing heavily and maybe that should have been a clue.

Still, five miles was more than he had been expecting, and it was only because he was a stubborn idiot and didn't want to look weak in front of them that he managed to straggle along for the last two miles, every step feeling like it would surely be his last.

Duo hadn't been surprised that neither Heero nor Trowa was chatty, had actually been grateful after the first mile that they didn't talk at all while they ran, and maybe it would have been nice to stop and talk at some point of the run, but Duo had been surprisingly comfortable with the silence. It didn't feel awkward, it didn't even feel like there were things they _needed_ to talk about, even though there probably were. It felt like the three of them were just existing, just pushing their bodies and focused on themselves but Duo had also felt included, had felt like part of them.

Heero and Trowa left the kitchen to go shower but Duo decided to eat breakfast first, making himself a bowl of cereal and joining Relena.

"So…"

He looked up from a spoonful of cereal to meet her questioning blue eyes.

"What?"

"Duo. You went running with Trowa and Heero."

"Yeah?"

"Heero bit Wufei's head off the one time he tried to invite himself along."

Duo shrugged.

"I didn't invite myself. Trowa invited me."

"Is there something you need to tell me?"

Duo scowled. Shit. Was he that transparent?

"No?"

"Duo. It's okay. Remember, I'm here for you. A little bromance never hurt anyone. I'm happy for you. Really. You, Trowa and Heero make a cute couple."

She was teasing, was just messing with him and she knew he'd been attracted to the two of them since day one but she had no idea what had transpired.

He rolled his eyes and forced a smirk.

"Obviously we're a cute couple. I'm involved."

She shook her head.

"Speaking of cute couples, when are you going to tell Quatre you're madly in love with him?"

"When you get MVP for the Summer Split," she muttered.

"Challenge accepted."

Of course, seeing as how Solo had won it every single split since he had been a rookie, it would be nearly impossible, but all the same.

Relena arched an eyebrow.

"Okay, fine. If you win the MVP I'll tell him."

"And if I don't?"

She smirked.

"I've always wondered what you would look like with short hair."

"No."

She crossed her arms.

"I'm not cutting my hair, Relena."

"Then you'd better get MVP, Duo."

Their standoff was interrupted by Meilin, who walked into the kitchen already dressed in her TGW shirt, jacket and track pants and Duo had to grin.

"You look so much more badass in that then you did in the ZG gear."

"I look badass in everything, Duo," she pointed out.

"God I wish you were a gay man," he said.

"I know you do," she said and patted his hand. "I know you do."

-o-

It was strange not seeing Wufei sitting in the holding room reading a philosophy book. And as comforting as it was to see Trowa stretched out on the couch napping and Heero playing his usual custom game to warm-up, it was strange looking over at Wufei's normal chair and seeing it empty.

Meilin was doing yoga, and had somehow convinced Quatre to do it with her, and the two of them were in the middle of the sunbird pose when the knock to signal their game came.

Quatre awkwardly fell over and then stood up and Meilin smirked at him.

"Okay," he said and shoved his hair back and grinned at the rest of them. "This is it. The first game of our road to World's. Let's go out there and win."

It was, as far as Quatre pep talks went, short and sweet, but Duo figured they were all too full of nerves, too excited and anxious, to be in the mood for anything longer or deeper.

Reddit had, of course, had plenty to say about the game today. TGW would play against Cloud 9, and there were enough people who thought Cloud 9 should have gone to the All-Stars, could have won, that TGW fans had started flame wars on Reddit.

And of course, there were plenty of questions about Trowa's ability to win the top lane, about Heero and Meilin's synergy, and the team stability as a whole.

It felt like they all walked out of the stage with as much to prove today, game one of the Summer Split, as they had during the Spring Playoffs to go to All-Stars.

"You ready to show the League how amazing you are in top lane?" Duo asked Trowa as they sat down.

"I'm ready to try not to look like a useless moron," Trowa countered.

Duo looked at him and noticed that Trowa was rubbing his hands together, using the hand warmers and Duo realized he had never seen Trowa do that before, had never seen him _fidget_.

"Hey."

He waited until Trowa looked over at him.

"This is just like our Solo Queue games, Tro. Except we don't have to carry a team of randoms. We can do this. It's Smash Brothers time."

Trowa's lips twitched.

Last week they had stayed up after practice to play Solo Queue, as usual, and Duo had picked Jax and Trowa had played Alistar, and both champions had attacks that smashed their opponents, and someone on the other team had called them the Smash Brothers after they had aced the enemy team.

"Just don't die to a minion this time," Trowa muttered and Duo laughed.

They had gotten cocky, that game, and Duo had tried to end the game himself, only to be killed by a minion just as he destroyed the enemy Nexus, and Trowa had laughed out loud and teased him about it every day since.

"I'll try not to," Duo promised him.

Trowa smirked and stretched his fingers out before laying them down on the keyboard and that was something Duo was used to seeing - Trowa prepared and ready to play and he was relieved.


	20. Chapter 20

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.

A/N #2: I'm like seriously blown away by how much people are enjoying this story. Thank you so much to everyone who takes the time to leave a review, favorite and/or follow.

A/N #3: I know, this has taken way too long to update but everything got in the way. But it's fine. Here we go again.

Warnings: Angst, language, violence, sex.

Pairings: PM me if you need to know. But I think it might be fairly obvious early on.

Going the Distance

Chapter Twenty

"So, how does it feel to be a winner?"

Hilde looked torn between wanting to punch him and wanting to grin, so Duo decided to focus on his own self preservation and hugged her.

She immediately hugged him back.

"It feels really, really fucking good," she said into his shoulder.

The Valkyries had just won their first game, and Duo had watched backstage with his team, cheering them on, and as soon as the game ended he left the waiting room so he could see Hilde and the rest of her team as they came backstage.

He had congratulated the other girls, but Hilde had hung back so they could talk.

"You were great out there," he told her.

She rolled her eyes.

"I'm always great."

He smirked.

"Yeah, you are," he agreed. "But you were doing the shot calling - you told them what to do and they listened, didn't they?"

She nodded.

"It's taken until literally today for Dorothy not to bitch when I tell everyone what to do - but it worked."

She looked happier and more excited than Duo had seen her before or since Rio, and he was thrilled for her. Proud and happy and excited as well.

"Well…" he drawled and stretched his hands out.

Hilde rolled her eyes.

"You were right," she muttered.

Duo hugged her again.

"I know. I always am."

Hilde snorted derisively.

"Duo, babe, you're right about fifty percent of the time - on a good day."

He winced.

"Ouch. I'm right more often than that."

"In League, sure. You've got great instincts. Outside of the game?" She shook her head sadly.

Duo shrugged.

"Good thing I only have time to focus on the game then, isn't it?"

She looked about to say something, but the rest of Duo's team walked towards them, each carrying their gear, and it was clear that it was time for them to take the stage.

Trowa passed Duo his backpack.

"Thanks," Duo said.

"Not a problem." Trowa nodded at Hilde. "Good game."

Quatre, Meilin and Heero also congratulated her.

Hilde was blushing by the time the team had walked past her, but Duo got in one last hug.

"I can't wait to play against your team now that it's _your_ team," Duo told her.

"And I'll be happy to play against _your_ team once your winning streak is over," she muttered in return.

Duo smirked.

It was only the third week of the season, but after eight games, TGW was still undefeated. They had played against every other team in the league and won. Except for ZG, who they would face today, for the first time.

"Hopefully today isn't the day that happens."

"Hopefully," she agreed and they finally stepped away from each other.

"Go kick some ass," she said and punched him on the shoulder.

"Go celebrate with a lesbian orgy."

She rolled her eyes, shook her head and gave him the finger.

There had been comments about the Valkyries being full of angry lesbians since the beginning of the Spring Split, but this split, as the Valkyries continued to improve and got closer and closer to winning games, the antagonism towards them had increased.

Hilde, completely in character, had jumped onto Reddit and Twitter and posted photos of her and the other Valkyrie girls hugging or lounging together and suggested that the only thing the Valkyries ever did was have lesbian orgies.

It had made Hilde one of the most followed League players on Twitter almost overnight, and had made the Valkyries one of the most popular teams. The fact that some people didn't get the joke only made Hilde laugh about it more.

"Quit stalling." Hilde shoved him towards the stage and Duo sighed and finally walked away.

He had known that facing ZG for the first time was going to be rough, after Rio, after his confrontation with Solo, after Wufei's trade, after Meilin joining the team, after Trowa switching positions - after all of that, Duo knew that the toughest thing about the match today was going to be the same thing it always was: seeing his brother's name in game and knowing that his brother was the enemy, knowing that his brother wanted him to lose, wanted to embarrass him and wanted to smirk and look through Duo and pretend he didn't exist.

And there was simply no way to prepare for that, no way for Duo to be ready for it except to use the same tactics he had used all season so far.

He sat down at his computer, plastered a smirk on his face, and turned to Trowa.

"Ready to win?"

Trowa nodded, but he looked serious, clearly a little anxious at facing their nemesis.

"Good, because I'm ready for you to carry this game. I'm thinking I might take a little nap - you can just… win the game yourself, right?"

Trowa rolled his eyes.

"Not a problem."

"Thanks, buddy. 'Preciate it."

Further down the row, Meilin and Heero were getting set up and talking through their early game strategy, their voices low even over the headset, and Duo saw Trowa glance their way as well.

"They're going to do great," Duo reminded Trowa. Every single game so far this season, Meilin and Heero had played together almost flawlessly. Meilin constantly pushed Heero to play aggressively - far more aggressively than Trowa had ever wanted him to play in the early game - and it seemed to be Heero's natural style. He had always been a great marksman, but with Meilin as his support he had become absolutely terrifying to play against. Last weekend during the three games that TGW had played, every single ban from their opposing teams had been focused on Heero as their opponents tried anything they could think of to shut him down. It was incredible to see, and Duo knew that Meilin and Heero were both happy, both satisfied that the hours and hours of work they put in playing Solo Queue together every night after practice were paying off.

"I know they are," Trowa said and he turned away.

Duo glanced at him and saw that Trowa was scowling.

"What?"

But Trowa shook his head.

Duo muted his mic and shoved his headset off.

"Trowa. What is it?"

Trowa muted his mic as well.

"He's incredible. He's better than he's ever been and she's the reason. I want him to win. I want him to be the best. That's all there is to it."

Duo tried to figure out what Trowa wasn't saying - because there was clearly a _lot_ that he wasn't saying.

Trowa turned his mic back on and turned away.

Duo sighed and put his own headset back on and unmuted himself.

If Trowa could put aside whatever was bothering him and focus on the game, then so could Duo.

-o-

The game started off well enough. The bans were once again focused on Heero, so as a result every other player on TGW was able to play their best champions and even Heero, forced to play Twitch, once of his least favorite marksmen, was stilling playing a champion he had a great record on.

Duo was able to invade the enemy jungle early, to kill Ralph two minutes into the game and everything was going perfectly, with Heero and Meilin getting an early gold lead on Zechs and Otto and Quatre able to hold his own against Zechs and Trowa matching up well against Wufei. Until, five minutes into the game, four members of ZG appeared in the top lane and killed Trowa.

It wasn't the worst thing that could have happened - Duo had been on the opposite side of the map and so he, Quatre, Meilin and Heero killed the dragon and earned their team a lot of extra gold.

But then, seven minutes in, it happened again.

And again at ten minutes.

And again at thirteen minutes.

And every time it happened, Duo was on the other side of the map. Every time it happened, Heero and Meilin tried to edge out their lead just a little more and by the fourth time Quatre had enough items that he and Duo tried to save Trowa, but they weren't able to.

After twenty minutes, Trowa had almost no gold, had accrued eight deaths, and completely lost his lane. Heero and Meilin, meanwhile, had demolished their lane, killed Zechs three times, and rotated mid-lane to help Quatre take his lane.

Trowa was more or less useless in teamfights, forced to stay top lane and try to keep the other team from doing any damage to the base, and at thirty-minutes Quatre, Duo, Heero and Meilin were able to push together and win the game.

It was a victory, and it continued their undefeated streak, but when Trowa pulled off his headset and sat still, glaring at his computer, his face downcast and his hands clenched together, Duo knew exactly how awful he felt - and he felt almost as bad.

They had won, but it had meant sacrificing Trowa's lane and letting him die alone every time the other team attacked him, and it had sucked. It had been frustrating and Duo had felt ineffective and torn, every time he saw Trowa get attacked, between wanting to help him and knowing it was a lost cause.

When ZG came over to shake hands, Duo tugged on Trowa's shoulder until he shrugged him off and stood up.

Wufei was the first, and he congratulated Heero, Meilin and Quatre warmly, but he approached both Duo and Trowa with trepidation in his eyes. He knew. He knew they had used the kind of asshole tactics designed to get into a player's mind and mess with his confidence and it could have won the game for them, could have ensured that Trowa was so far behind he could have never been relevant in the game and if ZG had left him alone after five deaths and started to teamfight they probably could have won. But they hadn't. They had punished Trowa over and over again and it had cost them the victory.

But it had also cost TGW, and Wufei clearly knew that.

He shook hands with Duo and then Trowa without saying anything.

Ralph didn't bother to hide his smirk as he came through, and he even clapped Trowa on the shoulder and muttered something about better luck next time.

Solo, as usual, looked through Duo and made no attempt to shake his hand. Trowa glared at him and turned away from the hand that was offered to him.

It was the first time Duo had seen him do that, and he was sure that Reddit was going to have a field day over this. Trowa had a reputation of being so calm and collected and polite - to turn away from a handshake after what had happened to him in that game was not going to go over well.

"Tro," Duo turned to him. "You gotta -"

Trowa glared at him, his green eyes cold and narrow, and Duo stopped talking. He had never seen Trowa look like that before. Had never seen Trowa so clearly ready to ignore everyone and everything and it did something weird to Duo, made him feel almost ill.

He turned away, just in time to trade sneers with Zechs and then shook Otto's hand.

And then it was over.

The team packed up their gear and left the stage, though Heero and Meilin got roped into doing a post-game interview, and so the team returned to the waiting room and the silence between Quatre, Trowa, Duo and Relena was deafening.

After twenty minutes, Relena looked ready to lose it, and excused herself from the room.

Quatre sighed and looked between Duo and Trowa.

"We won," Quatre said.

Trowa nodded, just a short, sharp incline of his head.

"And we -"

"We aren't going to talk about it," Trowa interrupted him.

Quatre stared, and so did Duo.

Trowa never interrupted Quatre. Never showed even the slightest hint of frustration towards him _ever_.

Quatre blinked, frowned and turned away and Duo could see that he was hurt, that Trowa's words and tone had cut into him as deeply as Trowa's glare had cut into Duo.

Duo resisted the urge to put an arm around Quatre's shoulders - it would probably make Trowa even angrier.

Finally, after another ten minutes of agonizing silence, Meilin, Relena and Heero came into the room and got them.

They left the building and stood outside to sign autographs for the requisite thirty minutes and Duo was glad that most of the fans flocked to Meilin and Heero, because it gave him the chance to keep an eye on Trowa, to see his faint scowl every time a fan asked for his autograph, every time they tried to console him and assure him that he was still great.

Despite the fact that it didn't feel like much of a victory, Sally and Relena insisted on continuing their tradition of going out and getting pizza after the game, and it was almost eleven by the time they made it back to the TGW house.

Duo felt exhausted, irritable and depressed as hell and wanted nothing more than to throw himself onto his bed and punch his pillow for the next twenty minutes, but when he saw Trowa toe off his shoes and then head straight towards the gaming room and the computers, he sighed.

He sure as hell wasn't going to let Trowa practice by himself.

So he followed him into the room and sat down beside him.

"Wait for me," he said when he saw Trowa start searching for a game.

Trowa frowned, but he sat back and waited for Duo to log in.

Heero came into the room, frowning slightly.

"You don't need to practice tonight," he said to Trowa. "Not after -"

"Yes, I do."

Heero's eyes narrowed at the cold tone and Duo wished he could shrink into his seat, wished he could become invisible or be anywhere else in the entire world than between the two of them.

Hearing Trowa interrupt Quatre had been one thing. Hearing Trowa speak to Heero in that tone of voice - Duo didn't think it was possible, didn't think Trowa was even capable of sounding that cold and angry when addressing Heero.

Heero glanced towards Duo. It looked as though he wanted to ask him to leave, to give them a moment, and Duo started to get out of his chair.

"I'll be up later," Trowa said.

Heero swallowed hard and then turned on his heel and left.

"Trowa, we don't -"

"Did you want to play or not?"

Duo looked at Trowa's profile, at the tense set of his shoulders, at the firm, compressed line of his lips, and he sighed.

"Yeah. Yeah, let's play."

-o-

Duo had hoped that sleep would help things. Even the five hours Trowa had gotten, he hoped, would have made a difference.

But when he met Trowa and Heero downstairs the next morning for their run, both men looked tense and angry and it was clear that nothing was better, nothing had been helped.

If anything, as they started running, as Heero positioned himself so that Duo was between him and Trowa, it was clear that things were worse.

The normal comfortable silence of their mornings runs was now oppressive, every thud of Trowa's feet on the pavement making Duo want to wince.

It wasn't until they had completed half of their run and were on their way back towards the house that Duo had had enough.

"Wait. Wait, stop."

Trowa and Heero came to a halt and turned to look at him, Heero confused and, Trowa concerned.

That did strange things to Duo - to see Trowa actually look concerned about him when, for the past eighteen hours, the only expression on his face had been one of simmering rage and self-loathing.

"I'm fine," Duo felt he needed to say. "I just - well, I'm not fine. This is killing me."

"We still have another mile to go - we do five miles every day and you've never complained," Heero pointed out.

"I'm not talking about the run. I'm talking about you two - I'm talking about Trowa. Jesus, man, we have to talk about -"

"No, we don't," Trowa said and he turned and started to run again, leaving Heero and Duo behind.

Duo stared after him in shock.

"He's never been like this before."

Heero looked miserable.

"Yeah, well…"

"He wouldn't talk to me last night. He didn't - he slept in the other bed."

Duo winced.

"Do you two always sleep in the same bed? Or just when you… have sex?"

"Always."

Ouch.

"Heero, yesterday was really hard on him. Maybe he -"

"This isn't about yesterday. Not entirely. This has been building for weeks." Heero sighed and sat down on the curb.

Duo joined him.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, things have been… off between us ever since Rio. No - yes. I wanted to blame it on Meilin, on the fact that she and I spend so much time practicing and you and Trowa are always together but - but I think this goes back farther. Hell. Maybe even farther than Rio."

Duo sighed.

"Back to that night? In your room, with me?"

Heero frowned.

"I… I don't know. All I know is that things aren't the same between Trowa and I. And I have no idea how to fix any of it."

Neither did Duo, especially since it seemed like he was part of the problem. Hell, if he really thought about it, he _knew_ he was part of the problem. Heero and Trowa had been perfectly content with each other before he came along. Before they had their stupid fantasy and before they had that stupid Disaster Sex Night and before Rio and - and before Duo.

But they couldn't go back, and maybe Duo could see if it was possible for him to be traded to another team, but he really, really didn't want to leave.

Still, Duo had to accept the fact that he had driven a wedge between Heero and Trowa. He was responsible. So, short of running away - which still might have to be plan B, what could he do to fix things?

"You two need to spend some time together. Away from this shit. Away from the house and the game and me and - you two need to go on a date."

Heero arched an eyebrow at him.

"I'm serious. Dinner and a movie or something. Tomorrow, on our day off, you two should just… go to the mall and spend the day doing whatever the fuck people our age do when they don't play video games for fourteen hours a day."

Heero smirked.

"I think people our age do play video games for fourteen hours a day on their days off."

Duo rolled his eyes.

"Sure, probably. But I'm serious. Go. Take him out. Please."

Heero didn't look convinced.

"Don't you _want_ time with him? Some quality Heero-Trowa time like you haven't had in forever?"

Heero nodded.

"Yes."

"Then just do it."

"And when he spends the entire day glaring and refusing to talk?"

Duo snorted and stood up. He offered Heero a hand up.

"That's easy. Shove him into a dark corner and kiss him until he forgets everything except how fucking amazing it is to kiss you."

Heero accepted the help up and held onto Duo's hand longer than was really necessary.

"That easy?" He asked, looking at Duo. Looking at Duo's mouth.

"Yeah," Duo assured him. He stepped away. "That easy."


	21. Chapter 21

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.

A/N #2: I'm like seriously blown away by how much people are enjoying this story. Thank you so much to everyone who takes the time to leave a review/comment, favorite/kudos and/or follow.

A/N #3: A bit of a Thanksgiving treat in store… and also that feeling you get after Thanksgiving. I'm sorry. I'm a terribly cruel person.

Warnings: Angst, language, violence, sex.

Pairings: PM me if you need to know. But I think it might be fairly obvious early on.

Going the Distance

Chapter Twenty-One

Tuesday's run was silent, and Duo couldn't tell if it was awkward silence or just normal morning hating the world silence.

Trowa didn't seem quite as full of self-loathing, but he didn't seem empty of it either.

Heero, on the other hand, seemed to moving through their morning run on autopilot and Duo couldn't tell if it was because he had been up all night having sex with Trowa or because he had been up all night sleeping alone because Trowa was still pissed.

Duo hesitated as they finished up their run and approached the house again. He wanted to stop them, wanted to ask how things were going, but he felt pretty confident that any intervention on his part was only going to make things worse. He was, after all, part of the problem.

So Duo followed them into the house, watched them make the silent climb up the stairs, and then went into the kitchen to have breakfast.

Relena, as usual, was up and greeted him by passing a cup of coffee his way after he had downed a glass of water.

"So… this weekend."

Duo looked up from his bowl of cereal at that tone. It was the tone Relena used when she was about to force him into doing something.

"Yeah?" He asked cautiously.

"It's the halfway point in the season."

Duo nodded.

"And we haven't lost a game yet."

"Uh huh."

"And I know we said that if you got MVP you -"

"Oh no," Duo interrupted her, dropping his spoon so he could point. "Absolutely not. We agreed. I get MVP and you confess your devotion to Mr. Blonde and Perfect. Don't you dare back down on me."

"Dorothy came over again last night."

"Oh."

Duo hadn't realized that. He had barricaded himself in his room and watched Firefly with Hilde over Skype until they had both fallen asleep. She hadn't mentioned Dorothy being away, but then, Hilde almost never mentioned Dorothy unless she was bitching about her.

"Um… maybe they were comparing mid-lane strategies and -" Duo ducked the cereal box Relena threw at him and they both groaned when the frosted flakes went flying all over the floor.

They cleaned it up together, sweeping and then crawling around, and it struck Duo as freakishly normal.

"We should do this more often."

Relena arched an eyebrow at him.

"Normal things - stupid things that kids our age do instead of spending all day stressing out over a video game and what strangers think about us."

"Yeah, okay, I'm pretty sure that no matter how many time I throw a box of cereal at you you're going to worry about what strangers think of you," Relena pointed out.

Duo sighed and he thought about arguing the point - but she was right.

"Yeah, okay, maybe. But still, all we ever do is -"

"All you ever do is all you ever dream about doing. I'm not saying those dreams aren't nightmares sometimes, but you know that you love it - despite the stress and the shit - you love this sport. And you'd rather being doing this than anything else, right?"

It seemed as though Relena had gone from giving him a pep talk to genuine concern and curiosity and Duo wondered just how obvious he was being, how much of his inner turmoil he was giving away.

"No, this is what I want to be doing," he assured both of them.

Because, really, what else would he do?

-o-

On Wednesday night Duo stayed up late with Trowa after the others had gone to bed to play their usual Solo Queue games.

"I'd rather play on my own," Trowa informed him as Duo settled into his chair after grabbing a drink from the kitchen.

Duo stared at him and he tried to force down his anger and disappointment and - and hurt? Jesus. It was just a game, just extra practice. Why was he hurt that Trowa wanted to play alone? And why the hell did Trowa want to play alone? They always practiced together.

"Um… is this because of that last game we all played together and the fact that I let your opponent kill me twice? Because I won't do it again, Tro. It was -"

"No, this isn't about that." Trowa sighed. The joke hadn't distracted him, and his tone was starting to make Duo feel even more anxious.

"Then…?" Duo prompted.

"I rely on you too much."

Trowa said the words without emotion, and somehow that made it even worse.

Duo cleared his throat.

"Right, it's a team game and -"

"No. I rely on you too much to help me out. I depend on you to help me get an early lead and I need you to help me and I can't keep doing that."

"Trowa, I'm the Jungler, I'm _supposed_ to help out my lanes and -"

"And there are three lanes. Duo, almost half of your early game ganks are for my lane."

"Because you're amazing! If I can get your lane started rolling then you usually kick ass!"

"And when you can't, I get destroyed."

They stared at each other, and Duo could see the anger and bitterness in Trowa's eyes.

"I should have tried to help you more, in that ZG game," Duo said. He'd been thinking over it all week, wondering how he could have played it differently, and he still didn't know how he could have saved Trowa's lane, but he knew he should have.

Trowa shook his head.

"No. You left me to die and you should have. You prioritized the others and that meant a victory for the team. You did the right thing."

"Sure as hell doesn't feel like it," Duo muttered.

Trowa frowned.

"I was pissed at you - I was almost as angry with you as I was with myself because I kept thinking you were going to help me and you never - you couldn't. You had a game to win."

"Yeah, but you're - Trowa. It killed me to let them camp your lane like that. And it didn't even make any sense! They were just torturing you for the hell of it. They could have won the game if they just rotated but they kept going back to you and -"

"I've never lost that badly, Duo. Never. I have never felt that impotent."

And Duo was pretty sure that the combination of Trowa's own failure and Heero and Meilin's success wasn't helping him out, but he was also pretty sure he couldn't say anything about that.

"So let's figure out how to make sure that doesn't happen again."

Trowa shook his head.

"No. This is something I need to do on my own."

Trowa resolutely turned back to his computer and Duo looked back at his own.

He felt like an idiot, and he felt superfluous. He also sure as hell didn't want to spend the next few hours playing by himself, sitting beside Trowa, glancing over and hoping he was doing well.

So he logged off and stood up and immediately had no idea what to do.

It was only midnight, and while everyone else had gone off to bed, Duo was used to staying up until two or three with Trowa almost every night.

He wandered through the house and then let himself outside.

It was summer and even at night it was warm, the air hot and damp and he closed his eyes and tried to forget about everything.

His conversation with Relena yesterday came back to him.

This _was_ what he wanted to do. He wanted to game. He wanted to be on TGW and he wanted to - hell.

He wanted to win, sure, but he wanted to be part of this team, he wanted to _belong_ and even as he thought about it he knew it was pathetic.

He felt like he had spent his entire life trying to belong - to someone, to somewhere. And he'd always had Solo. Whatever shit they went through with foster care and group homes, he had always had Solo. Until he hadn't. Hilde had also been there for him, ever since they met, but she had her own life, her own career and Duo was tired of burdening her with his whining, with sighing and fighting back his desire to just spill his guts every time they skyped. He'd had Alex for a while, and Alex had been good - he'd been an outsider to gaming, hadn't known that much about Duo's past and the sex had been good and they could talk, for hours, about nothing. But now Alex was gone too.

Duo shifted on the lounge chair and tried to get comfortable.

This team was the closest thing to a family he had, and he was breaking it.

It was impossible to get comfortable.

-o-

Meilin was quiet and tense on the van ride over to the studio for the games that Saturday. She sat beside Duo on the ride over, but she spent the entire time staring at her hands, frowning slightly, and Duo wondered what was going on with her.

As everyone got out of the van he nudged her shoulder.

"You okay?" He asked her in an undertone.

She seemed surprised by the question.

"Yeah," she said and frowned at him. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Right."

She gave him a look, and Duo returned it.

"It's nothing," she growled at him and grabbed her bag of gear.

She practically stomped down the hall to the waiting room and Duo rolled his eyes.

He was too well versed in the art of passive-aggressive self hatred to think that _nothing_ was wrong.

He let everyone else walk ahead of him and hung back to catch Sally.

"Meilin okay?" He asked her.

Sally scowled at him.

"Don't be nosey."

"Okay, I'd like to think of it as concerned for my teammates. I'm not asking for gossip. I just - is she okay?"

Sally sighed and shrugged.

"She'll be fine. It's her birthday. She always gets pissed off on her birthday."

Duo arched an eyebrow at that.

She always got pissed off on her birthday? That was… different.

He refrained from asking why and instead joined the rest of the team in the holding room.

Meilin and Quatre were already doing yoga together and, as it did every time, it made Duo smirk.

Quatre might be in okay shape, but he was clumsy and not that limber - he had improved over the weeks since he and Meilin started doing yoga, but his face was still full of fear when he tried out new poses.

Duo saw Relena's eyes glued to Quatre's ass and he sat down beside her.

"Enjoying the view?"

She elbowed him and he elbowed her back.

"Look, whatever is going on with him and… her," he just barely caught himself from giving Dorothy an unflattering nickname, "you gotta just say something."

"That's easy for you to say," she muttered. "If I fuck this up it can really hurt the team."

Duo couldn't help but glance towards Heero and Trowa at the other end of the room, Heero playing a custom game and Trowa napping.

"Yeah," he agreed. "That would suck. But I'm not telling you to stalk him - just tell him that you like him."

"Win the MVP award and we'll talk," she muttered.

"Sure. But what if he and… she are a real thing by that point and you miss your chance?"

"Then I didn't have that much of a chance in the first place, did I?"

Meilin straightened up.

"I'm going to go for a walk - I'll be back in ten minutes," she added, glancing at the television monitor showing the current game. From the looks of things it wouldn't be over for at least another twenty minutes unless something drastic occurred.

"I'll walk with you," Duo said and jumped up.

Meilin scowled and Duo forced a smile.

She rolled her eyes but held the door open for him as they left the room.

"So… you want a cake or anything for your birthday?" He asked her as they did a loop of the backstage area.

She glared at him.

"No. I don't want a cake or anything. I hate my birthday."

"Can I ask why?"

She looked as though she was contemplating a scathing response.

"Bad shit happens every year," she said simply and shrugged. "It's a stupid day and bad shit happens and I wish we didn't have to play Cloud 9 on today, of all fucking days."

"Well, maybe the bad shit will happen _after_ the game," he offered.

She turned to look at him and then paled.

Duo followed her gaze and saw Solo walking towards them.

"Or maybe it will happen before the game," Duo said.

"Ready to end that winning streak, Mei?" Solo asked, looking right through Duo.

Meilin sneered.

"Ready to stop being an asshole?"

Solo shrugged.

"Nah, feels kind of good." His gaze flickered towards Duo for a second and he looked as though he wanted to say something more.

"Well, if you'll excuse us, we don't have any interest in wasting time with you today." Meilin grabbed Duo's shoulder and pulled him away.

"Happy Birthday, Mei!" Solo called as they walked past him.

"Asshole," Meilin muttered.

Duo looked over his shoulder and saw that Solo was still looking at them, a frown on his face.

"I have no idea what I ever saw in him," she added.

"He's a good guy - unless he hates you, and then he's a complete dick. But most of the time, he's -"

"Duo. For fuck's sake. Stop defending him."

"He's my brother."

"He's an asshole and he hates the both of us. You need to move on."

-o-

It was, as usual, late by the time they made it back to the house.

Their game had been long - almost seventy minutes, almost a record, and it had been exhausting. It was clear that the other teams were starting to get used to TGW, to their tactics and playstyle and Cloud 9, always one of the best teams, had adapted first.

Duo had been torn, had been uncertain whether he should follow his usual gameplan and get Trowa ahead early or if he should devote more time to Quatre's lane or to the bottom lane and before he had been able to make a decision it had been made for him. Cloud 9's Jungler and mid laner collapsed top lane, three men against Trowa, and somehow, remarkably, defying all logic, Trowa managed to get a triple kill on them. He died in the process, but he took down three men with him and from then on his lane was easy sailing.

Trowa was even smirking, sitting beside Duo, and he never smirked during a game, not unless Heero did something extraordinary - but there he was, a small, self-satisfied smirk on his face.

The other lanes did fine, Meilin and Heero were their normal dominant selves and Quatre managed to hold his own, but he never got a clear advantage over his opponent. The real struggle was Duo.

After the failed gank top, Meteos, the Cloud 9 Jungler, decided to put most of his efforts into counter-jungling Duo, taking his farm and killing him over and over again in his own Jungle until, fifteen minutes into the game, Trowa showed up out of nowhere and killed Meteos and saved Duo.

In the end, TGW won, but it was on the backs of Trowa, Meilin and Heero.

Duo felt like an idiot, felt worthless to his team, but he stood up with them and shook Cloud 9's hands, accepted their good natured 'good games' and responded in kind because C9 were decent guys and it wasn't as if they had used shit tactics against TGW. They had seen Duo's weakness and they had exploited it and that didn't make them assholes. It made them smart and it made Duo useless.

Duo forced himself to share in the laughter and jokes with the others as they ate pizza, he even managed to convince a waitress to put a candle onto a slice of pizza for Meilin, but he wanted nothing more than to go home and watch the gameplay, to figure out where he had fucked up and how he could have played the game better.

As soon as they got home, however, everyone insisted on staying up and watching a movie - tomorrow was the rare Sunday when they weren't scheduled to play and so as a result TGW had two days off this week - and Duo knew he couldn't just run away to his room without seeming like a sullen asshole.

So, instead, he sat between Heero and Trowa on the couch and tried to feign interest in _Days of Future Past_.

When it was over Duo got up and stretched and decided to sit outside first, for a while, before torturing himself with the gameplay footage.

He had only been sitting outside on his own for a few minutes when Heero and Trowa joined him.

"What are you doing tomorrow?" Heero asked.

Duo shrugged.

"No plans."

Trowa and Heero exchanged a look.

"I think the others are going out to see a movie or something," Duo added.

Heero nodded.

"Sounds like it."

"Heero said he would make dinner for me," Trowa said and sat down on the end of Duo's lounge chair.

"Sounds nice," Duo said and tried not to sound too jealous.

"Want to join us?" Heero asked.

Duo looked between them.

"We were thinking dinner and then watch a movie together after." Trowa explained.

"You two don't want to spend the time along together?"

"We'd rather spend it with you," Heero said.

"Just… hanging out with me when you two could be, you know," he waved his hand.

"We can you know," Trowa mimicked his hand gesture, "every night. We want to spend tomorrow night with you."

Duo tried very hard not to read too much into it, or to sound too excited when he shrugged.

"Sure," he said and knew he failed to sound unenthusiastic when Trowa and Heero smirked at each other.

-o-

Dinner turned out to be amazing - Heero really could cook, and while he didn't allow Trowa or Duo to do more than stir something a few times, it was a pleasant way to spend a time together.

But it wasn't until after, when Duo sat down beside Heero on his bed upstairs and Trowa cued up _Winter Soldier_ that it hit him.

Dinner and a movie.

Isn't that what he had said? What he had suggested Heero and Trowa try as a date last weekend?

He leaned back against the wall and tried not to think about it. It was just coincidence - just evening plans to hang out.

Even with Heero's thigh pressed against his, even in the dark and with the faint smell of whatever deodorant or body wash or _whatever_ Heero and Trowa used that smelled so damn good in the air between them, Duo was able to concentrate on the movie. Sort of.

It was better than the first Captain America movie, a lot better, and he'd always liked Scarlett Johansson and the story was good, actually, the dialogue funny in places.

And he was fine and just sitting on the bed, watching a movie with his _friends_ who smelled really, stupidly good, until Heero shifted, spread his legs just slightly and Duo's attention was drawn over to him, specifically to his crotch. Specifically to Trowa's hand kneading Heero's crotch.

"He's got a thing for Sebastian Stan," Trowa said, and Duo looked up to see that Trowa was still watching the movie, wasn't even looking at Heero as he massaged his cock through his jeans. "And for comic book villains."

"He's not a villain," Heero muttered.

Duo swallowed, looked away from Heero's crotch and up to his face, saw that his eyes were hooded and his lips parted and he looked sexy as hell.

And so yeah, this clearly wasn't just hanging out and watching a movie with friends - because you did not do this with just friends.

Heero met his gaze and then moaned.

Duo looked down, saw that Trowa had unzipped his pants and Heero's hard cock was stiff and pale in the light from the screen.

Duo licked his lips and Heero moaned again.

And then it was kind of a blur, as the three of them struggled out of their clothes and then they were naked and Duo was in Heero's lap, their cocks trapped between their bodies and they were kissing, Heero's tongue thrusting into Duo's mouth, and Trowa's mouth on Duo's neck, his shoulder, licking and biting and it felt incredible, so intense to be with both of them and feel their hands all over him, to have both of their bodies to explore and touch.

Heero and Duo broke apart and Trowa leaned in, captured Heero's mouth and Duo watched them kiss, felt his pulse pounding and his cock aching for friction. He thrust against Heero, pushed their cocks together against Heero's belly and Heero moaned into Trowa's mouth, loudly enough that Duo could hear him, and Heero's hands latched onto Duo's hips, pulling him close, holding on while Duo humped against him.

Duo felt Trowa's fingers trail down his spine, light and teasing, until they reached his anus and Trowa paused, pulled away from Heero's kiss and looked at Duo.

"Is this okay?" Trowa asked.

Duo nodded vigorously.

"Yes," he panted. "Yes. Please."

Trowa smirked slightly, leaned in and gave Duo a swift, thrusting kiss.

"Please what?" He asked, still smirking.

"Please fuck me?"

Trowa's finger pressed against him slightly, feeling resistance and not pushing past.

"You're sure?"

Duo nodded.

Trowa moved away, got up from the bed and Duo watched him, watched the way his cock bounced as he walked. He went over to one of the dressers in the room and opened the top drawer.

When he came back to the bed he had condoms and a bottle of lube in his hands.

"Lay down," he instructed, nudging Heero's shoulder.

Heero shifted, turned and laid back and pulled Duo with him, so that he was still straddling Heero's hips, and they kissed again.

Duo felt the bed shift, felt Trowa settle in behind him and the slick, firm press of a finger against his anus and he rocked backwards, encouraging Trowa.

Trowa took his time, teasing the hell out of Duo as he ever so slowly sank the digit inside and then pulled it out again, shallowly fucking Duo with just his finger until Duo got frustrated and thrust back, forced Trowa's finger deep inside him and it nudged his prostate and he gasped at the sensation.

Heero swallowed the gasp, sucked on Duo's bottom lip and it was damn near impossible for Duo to decide what felt better - Heero's mouth on his, Heero's cock against his, or Trowa's finger thrusting in and out of his ass.

"Please," he pulled away from Heero's mouth and moaned. "Please, Trowa."

"What do you want?" Trowa's voice was ever so slightly teasing, and it reminded Duo of Trowa teasing him, flirting with him, and in that moment this felt so _right_ it took his breath away.

"More," Duo managed to groan.

"More as in another finger?" Trowa teased, thrust two fingers into Duo and Duo rocked back.

"Yes. Fuck yes."

Heero was still moving against him, their cocks still straining together and Duo was already close, from that, from Heero's mouth and Trowa's fingers, from weeks of pent up sexual tension and frustration.

"Tro, I want you in me when I come. I'm close."

The fingers left him instantly, and Duo felt the thick head of Trowa's cock pressed against him, felt Trowa ease inside slowly and that alone did it, sent him over the edge and he shuddered, moaned and closed his eyes and Heero held him tightly, kissed the side of his mouth and tangled his fingers in Duo's hair.

Trowa gave him a minute to recover, let him catch his breath again before he started to move, started to thrust in and out in long, even strokes.

Heero was still hard, and Duo reached between their bodies, tried to stroke his cock, but the angle made if difficult.

Heero scooted back on the bed a little, away from Duo and Trowa and that was a little better, a little easier for Duo, but Heero passed him the lube.

"Finger me," he instructed.

Duo smirked at that, at Heero's bossy tone, but he obeyed.

As he slipped one finger into Heero's tight body he leaned down and licked Heero's right nipple, teased it and rolled it between his lips and teeth until Heero moaned his name.

Trowa's fingers suddenly dug into Duo's hips, flexing and pulled him back tight against Trowa's body.

Duo felt him come, felt his shudder of release and heard his blissful sigh.

"Are you hard again?" Heero asked, his eyes closed and his mouth parted and it was clear he was close.

"Yeah," Duo said, not surprised. He was young and it had felt amazing having Trowa's cock inside him and just as good to have his fingers inside Heero. He was definitely hard again.

Heero opened his eyes, reached for the condoms and thrust one towards Duo.

"Then fuck me."

Behind Duo, Trowa snorted a laugh and then pulled out of Duo.

"You're always so demanding, Heero," he said.

"You like it," Heero shot back and Duo turned his head, saw Trowa looking down at Heero with a fond smile.

"Yeah," he agreed before looking at Duo. "Better fuck him or he'll start whining."

"I do not _whine_," Heero muttered.

He kept hold of the condom, ripped it open and put it on Duo's cock himself, slowly rolling it down and stroking him.

Duo spread lube along his own cock, stroked himself another few times for good measure, and then eased into Heero's body.

It felt amazing, hot and tight and firm and so damn good. It had been a while since Duo had topped anyone, and he'd forgotten just how good it felt to be buried this deep, to feel surrounded and complete.

And then Trowa was kissing him, his tongue tangled with Duo's and he had to revise his definition of surrounded and complete because _this_ was what it felt like to be surrounded and to be complete. To be pressed between Heero and Trowa, fucking Heero with his cock while Trowa scoured his mouth with his tongue.

He felt Trowa's hand start to stroke Heero's cock, felt Heero's fingers dig into his hips.

"Harder," Heero groaned. "Fuck me harder."

Duo had to pull away from the kiss, had to reposition himself so that he could get a better angle.

"How much harder?" He asked.

"Hard," Trowa answered for him. "When he wants harder he wants very hard."

Trowa was still stroking Heero's cock, his grip tight and his hand moving quickly up and down his shaft.

So Duo gave him hard, pulled out and slammed back in and Heero closed his eyes and groaned.

"_Yes_."

Trowa smirked at Duo, as if to say _see?_

Duo set a quick, hard pace, and it wasn't long until he was close again, until Heero's mouth was open and his face flushed and his hips were jerking against Duo erratically.

Duo just barely managed to hold out, to wait for Heero to come before he did. It was incredible, great, all the synonyms for amazing that Duo couldn't think of because he couldn't really think of anything in that moment, could only _feel_ Heero's body, slick with sweat and semen, Trowa's hands on them, soothing and firm, his own pounding heart and racing pulse.

"Oh my fuck," Duo sighed and pulled out of Heero.

"Yeah," Trowa agreed with a grin and leaned over to kiss him.

Duo returned the kiss, spent and exhausted.

"God, I don't even want to move after that," he groaned. He felt completely boneless.

"Then don't," Trowa suggested. He took the condom off of Duo's cock and got up from the bed and walked into the bathroom.

Duo heard the toilet flush and then Trowa was came back into the room, glanced at the door and chuckled.

"Heero, you forgot to lock the door. _Again_." Trowa chided him.

Heero actually blushed.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

Trowa shook his head, locked the door, and then rejoined them on the bed.

It was a little cramped, three of them on the full sized bed, but Duo found himself sandwiched between Trowa and Heero and it was very clear they weren't going to let him leave anytime soon.

"We didn't finish the movie," Duo had to point out.

"We can finish it next time we have to trick you into our bed," Trowa said around a yawn and wrapped an arm around Duo.

"You don't have to trick me," Duo protested.

"If you say so," Heero muttered.

Duo sighed. He pressed a kiss against the back of Heero's neck.

"I want to be here," he assured them. "I want to belong."


	22. Chapter 22

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.

A/N #2: So it's been… more than 18 months since I updated this. I am tremendously sorry that so many things have been going on and I allowed this to languish. In the time since I stepped away from this fic, the game of League of Legends has changed dramatically - teams, players, the game itself, champions, the schedule. So many things are different and it would be impossible to bridge the world I created here with the reality of professional LoL these days. So… I'm just going to try my best to remember how things USED to be and write this as though I had never stepped away.

A/N #3: For anyone who has been waiting for an update to this - I'm so sorry. This is one of my favorite WIPs and so many folks have told me how much they love it too. I'm so excited to be getting back to it and hope you are too!

A/N #4: I cannot even begin to tell you how much reviews mean. It's so encouraging to see people's reactions to my work, especially considering how difficult it can be for me to carve out time to write these days. So thank you thank you THANK YOU for all reviews.

A/N #5: (Yes I promise there is actually a chapter to read and not just author's notes): If you are interested in seeing a totally badass Relena rendering check out Maevemauvaise's amazing fan art on the tumblr which inspired Relena's outfit later on in the chapter.

Warnings: Angst, language, violence, sex.

Pairings: PM me if you need to know. But I think it might be fairly obvious early on.

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!


	23. Chapter 23

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.

A/N #2: I cannot even begin to tell you how much reviews mean. It's so encouraging to see people's reactions to my work, especially considering how difficult it can be for me to carve out time to write these days. So thank you thank you THANK YOU for all reviews.

A/N #3: Last update until after 31 Days of Smut (March) I THINK. I might change my mind but I want to make sure I do the smut credit and also the next chapter credit - which will be the normal length.

Warnings: Angst, language, violence, sex.

Pairings: PM me if you need to know. But I think it might be fairly obvious early on.

Going the Distance

Chapter Twenty-Three

The next two weeks were more or less a sleepless blur to Duo.

He had never really had the best sleep schedule - being a gamer meant staying up for so long that it was morning before he went to bed most nights - but now that he was spending every night with Heero and Trowa, it had gotten even worse.

Duo honestly weren't sure how _they_ were managing to function on this little sleep. Every night they stayed up until one or two practicing and waiting for Meilin or Quatre - or anyone else still awake - to go to sleep before Duo snuck into their room and they spent the next few hours talking or watching movies or fucking until they fell into an exhausted sleep, only to get up for the eight a.m. run every morning and start the whole cycle all over again.

Part of Duo had never been happier - TGW was still at the top of the leaderboards, right there with ZG and he felt like the team was slowly gelling, in a way that they simply hadn't with Wufei, and that Trowa was becoming an amazing top laner while Heero and Meilin became an almost unkillable bot lane. He was in a relationship, and while it was secret, it was still more fulfilling than his _last_ secret relationship - with Alex - had been. Every look, every casual touch between Heero, Trowa and Duo made him feel wanted and like he was part of something in a way that he never had been before. It was also, Duo couldn't deny, amazing to be getting so much regular - and such good - sex. The three of them were still experimenting, still trying to figure out what they liked best and what positions they could try and how their bodies reacted to certain stimulus. And while Duo didn't get much sleep, the sleep that he _did _get was between them, Trowa's legs thrown over his, Heero's arm curled around him and scowling face against his chest.

But part of Duo was exhausted. He had never been _this_ involved with someone before, never spent _this_ much time being part of their life and had never gone this long with this little sleep.

So far, though, the numerous pros to the evolution of things far outweighed the cons in Duo's mind, even when he started waking up in the mornings with pain in his right side, likely from an elbow or a knee to his body as they all adjusted beside each other at night.

He found himself dragging during their morning runs, even more so than Trowa, and Duo had seen Heero frown at him more than once for being so slow. He felt bad - felt like he should be able to keep up and do just as well as them since they were all struggling with the same lack of sleep, but his body just felt achy and exhausted _all_ of the time.

His lethargy seemed to be affecting his gameplay too. He started making stupid mistakes during their scrimmages and when playing with Trowa during Solo Q. It felt like his reflexes were shot and finally, the night before back to back games against the Valkyries and Zodiac, Duo decided he needed to get a decent night's sleep, alone.

He followed Trowa upstairs after they finished their game and he even followed him into the master bedroom, but when Trowa stepped close to him and kissed him, Duo gently pushed him away.

Trowa frowned at him and Heero, reclining on the bed and watching a European game on his laptop, looked over at them in curiosity.

"I'm sorry. I just - I need to sleep."

"Okay, we can just sleep tonight," Trowa said. He stepped back from Duo.

Heero nodded.

"As hard as it will be, I think we can keep our hands to ourselves for one night."

Duo smiled tiredly at the pun.

Heero put away his laptop and shifted over in the bed, clearly inviting them to join him.

Duo scratched at the back of his neck.

"Yeah, I, ah… I think I'm going to sleep in my room tonight. I just - I need space, you know?"

"Space?" Trowa echoed.

Duo nodded.

"Yeah, don't you two ever just… need space?"

Both Heero and Trowa frowned.

"I thought you _wanted_ us to be together," Trowa said, his voice careful.

"No, no I do. I just - look I'm just really fucking tired and I just want to hug my pillow, you know?"

It was clear, from their faces, that they didn't know. Duo sighed and was about to just take it all back -

"So you don't want to sleep in here?" Heero asked, gesturing at the room.

"Not tonight. I just -"

"Ok. Fine." Heero interrupted him, his jaw set and Duo could see that he was hurt.

Duo looked over at Trowa, but the taller man wasn't meeting his eye.

"Okay…" Duo opened the door. "I'll see you guys in the morning."

"Hn," was Heero's only response.

So Duo went to bed, alone, in his room, and even though he stretched out, flinging his arms and legs across the width of the bed as far as he could, he wasn't able to delight in the feeling of space and freedom.

It took almost two hours for him to fall asleep, and the entire time he found himself just wanting to get up and get back into bed with Heero and Trowa.

He was an idiot.

-o-

An idiot who woke up in pain, even though he hadn't slept next to someone or been kicked or elbowed once in the few hours he managed to sleep.

An idiot who slept through his alarm to go on their regular morning run.

An idiot who could only stare at the cooked breakfast Pargan had made for them, who could feel his stomach recoil at the very thought of eating eggs or sausage and who just couldn't be bothered to even eat any toast.

An idiot who couldn't help but notice the way Heero and Trowa sat side by side during the van ride over to the studio for their games and didn't even look at him.

An idiot who found himself wincing as he got out of the van.

An idiot who just couldn't get comfortable in the lounge as they waited to take the stage and play against the Valkyries.

An idiot who tried pacing, tried sitting on a chair, tried laying on the floor and nothing made the bitter, burning sensation in his belly go away.

An idiot who tried to get Trowa and Heero's attention so he could apologize, but who failed to distract them from their pre-game rituals - or an idiot that they just ignored and refused to be distracted by.

An idiot who sat down onstage in his chair, a sullen Trowa on one side and an eager Quatre on the other and all that he could focus on was the pain in his side.

An idiot who stared at the computer monitor in front of him but could only see blurry images, no matter how much he squinted or how hard he rubbed his eyes.

An idiot who felt an incredibly searing pain that overwhelmed all other thoughts and feelings in his body, a pain that radiated from his gut and left him choking and clutching his side.

An idiot who fell out of his chair, onstage in front of hundreds of people, tangled up in his headset cords, curled into a fetal position.

An idiot who lost consciousness just as he managed to make out Trowa's face inches from his own.

-o-

TBC


	24. Chapter 24

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.

A/N #2: I cannot even begin to tell you how much reviews mean. It's so encouraging to see people's reactions to my work, especially considering how difficult it can be for me to carve out time to write these days. So thank you thank you THANK YOU for all reviews.

A/N #3: Eleven chapters to go after this one (hoping to end this on Chapter 35) so I hope you are still enjoying and preparing for the END of this.

A/N#4: A super tremendous thanks to Maevemauvaise for beta-reading this and for being a constant boost to my confidence and a motivation to write. You are amazing and I am so, so grateful.

A/N #5: Last one, I promise! If you haven't read it, Duo Queue, from 31 Days of Smut, is actually a prequel to Going the Distance featuring some 1x3 hot tub action so… if you need some smut, because you certainly won't be finding it in THIS chapter, you might want to check that out!

Warnings: Angst, language, violence, sex.

Pairings: PM me if you need to know. But I think it might be fairly obvious early on.

Going the Distance

Chapter Twenty-Four

He was cold. Cold and achy and his throat was dry and it felt like there was a curious breeze against his ass.

He opened his eyes and immediately regretted it. The room was bright with sunlight and florescent lights and -

And Solo was asleep in a chair beside him.

Duo swallowed hard, trying to muster up some saliva, and failing miserably.

He was in a hospital room, in a hospital _bed_, and Solo was scowling in his sleep and curled up in what looked like a ridiculously uncomfortable position, one leg thrown over the side of the chair and his arms wrapped around the back.

Duo looked around, and he resisted the urge to tug at the IV in his arm. Instead, he adjusted the sheet so that it actually covered him and his bare ass was no longer exposed to the room.

There was an immense pressure in his bladder, and Duo really, _really_ needed to get up and take a piss.

He followed the line of the IV and saw that it was connected to a bag on a rolling tree.

Gingerly, he sat up and then he winced and grabbed his side. Ow.

"Careful."

Duo looked up, into Solo's sleepy blue eyes.

His brother stretched, scowled, and then stood up.

"They had to open you up - your appendix burst and the surgeon couldn't repair the damage laparoscopically so -"

"What?"

Solo rolled his eyes.

"You're an idiot and you almost got yourself killed and now you're going to have a big scar and right now the incision site is tender. So be careful."

"Right."

Duo tried to scoot towards the edge of the bed, winced again and gasped at the unexpected flair of pain, and Solo muttered something under his breath and crossed to the bed.

Duo held up a hand and shook his head.

"I'm fine. I can do it myself."

"Of course you can. You fucking moron. Just let me -"

"Back _off_, Solo. The last time you wanted to be all brotherly and helpful you punched me in the face. And I'm not in the mood for that right now."

Solo's jaw clenched almost as tightly as his hands did, but he stepped away and watched with narrowed eyes as Duo struggled upright and grabbed the IV tree.

Duo hobbled towards the bathroom and he couldn't help but sigh in relief as he emptied his bladder.

When he came back into the hospital room, Solo was sitting back down in the chair and he was glaring at his cellphone.

"It's dead," he muttered and Duo wondered if Solo blamed him for that, too.

"Sorry."

"I wasn't -"

Duo snorted. "Whatever. Why are you even here?"

Solo arched an eyebrow. "I'm your next of kin?"

Duo frowned, Solo hadn't really seemed to care about that before now.

"So?"

"There was an emergency surgery and you were unconscious. They needed someone to sign the paperwork."

"Well. Surgery is over now."

Solo made an angry sound in his throat and he took two steps toward Duo when he faltered on his way back to the bed.

Duo stumbled as he tried to move out of his way, and Solo looked at him, face suddenly pale, lips tight, and eyes wide.

"I am not going to hurt you."

Duo swallowed and he looked away. He knew that. He _knew_ that Solo wasn't going to hit him again. But still -

He maneuvered himself back into the bed and he sighed as he laid down.

"Just - you can go."

"Duo, you passed out onstage during a game. You - you scared the shit out of me."

Duo turned, rolled over so that he was facing the window and not Solo's piercing gaze.

"Why didn't you - for fuck's sake, Duo, you could have _died_. I know you hate doctors but you should have gone to see someone or - the surgeon said you've probably been in pain for _weeks_."

"Yeah, well. I didn't… I didn't know it was something I should get looked at."

He felt like an idiot, now. He _was_ an idiot. How could he have thought he was getting kicked or elbowed every night?

Heero and Trowa -

Duo closed his eyes as it suddenly hit him that they weren't here. That none of his team was here. Just Solo, the brother who hated him.

"You can go," Duo said again, and he hated how raspy his voice sounded.

"Duo."

Solo sounded as if he was begging. But Duo didn't know what to say, what to do. How to forget everything that had happened and he didn't - he _couldn't_ let himself need Solo again. Not when he knew his brother would turn his back on him again.

Not when it was clear that Duo was going to be alone again.

There was silence, and then the sound of Solo moving, of his feet on the floor, the door opening and then closing.

And there it was.

Duo alone again.

-o-

When he woke up again, it was at the prodding of a nurse, and the room was dark.

Duo rolled over, only half awake as his blood pressure was checked, his pain meds replenished, and he was sure that maybe he wasn't awake at all, because when he looked at the chair by the bed, Solo was still there, looking back at him in the darkness with a haunted expression.

-o-

"Duo?"

"Mm. Five more minutes."

Laughter, bright and familiar.

Duo blinked his eyes slowly open and realized that, once again, his ass was exposed.

Blushing, he reached out for the sheets - but he had kicked them down to the foot of the bed.

"Here, let me help you."

It was Relena, and she sounded like she was having a _blast_ at Duo's expense. But she pulled the sheets up and, with a little bit of privacy, Duo rolled over and saw that she and Quatre were standing beside his bed. The chair was empty.

"Hey, ah… what brings you here?"

Quatre arched an eyebrow.

"I don't know, something about my friend having an emergency surgery and almost dying?"

"I, ah, I'm really sorry about that. I didn't - shit." For the first time, Duo wondered what had happened with the games. "I let you guys down. I - please tell me you didn't have to forfeit or -"

Relena hit him, none too gently.

"You are _not _seriously thinking about that right now!" Quatre shared her disapproving expression, and even shook his head to emphasize the point. "All you need to be thinking about is getting better."

"Yeah, but -"

"No buts!" Relena interrupted. "The team is fine. You didn't let anyone down. Just - just rest and -"

"What happened with the games?" Duo had to know.

Quatre sighed and crossed his arms. "We had to forfeit."

"_Both_ of them?"

Quatre nodded.

"But - Solo - Solo was _here_, wasn't he? With me?"

"Yes," Relena agreed and then she gave an aggravated sigh.

"Yes _but_?"

"But Zechs pointed out that you were already unable to play, and the reason that _Solo_ couldn't play, so he argued that we should have to take the forfeit instead of the game not counting against either team."

"That's such bullshit!"

And it sounded so very like Zechs. So very like ZG and Duo wondered - he wondered how Solo felt about it.

Relena shrugged, but she looked angry as well.

"It doesn't matter," Quatre assured both of them. "We're still in second place and there are two weekends left in the season - if we win at least one more game we're going to make the playoffs. And I know we can place top three there. I _know_ we're going to go to Worlds. If," Quatre added with a smirk, "you get better."

Duo arched an eyebrow. "Is that an order?"

"If it needs to be, yes," Quatre reached out and squeezed his hand. "I was so worried about you. We all were. We all _are_."

"Really?" Duo couldn't help but notice that Heero and Trowa weren't there with them, or Meilin, but then, Duo wasn't engaged in a secret relationship with _her_.

"Of course we are," Relena said. "Meilin is making up some kind of guidebook for 'How Not to Almost Die Without Telling Anyone' and Sally has been… it's weird. She's been cleaning the entire house and insisting everything has to be perfect for when you get back."

"And -" Duo couldn't bring himself to ask. He didn't want to give it away - didn't want to sound pathetic.

"And of course we've been worried and we miss you and you need to get better so you can come home."

Duo swallowed and nodded. He looked away from their bright, sincere faces.

He had, after all, been the one to tell Heero and Trowa that he needed space. It seemed that that was exactly what they were giving him.

-o-

Duo vowed to never, ever need to be in a hospital again. After three days, he felt like he would go crazy. He should be out by now - should be back at the gaming house, miserable but _not_ completely abandoned. But instead, because of how serious his appendicitis had been and because of an unknown allergy to penicillin and elevated enzymes in his pancreas, Duo was still at the hospital and woke up on his third - and hopefully final day - of imprisonment to see Hilde in the chair beside the bed.

As soon as his eyes opened, she rushed over to the beg and hugged him.

"You stupid, selfish bastard. Do not _ever_ try to die on me again. Of all the ways to try to get out of having me kick your ass in game, this is the - "

"Ha! Maybe I was just trying to get out of having to embarrass you in front of an international audience," he retorted but he held her tightly.

Seeing her, holding her - it grounded him just enough that he started to feel miserable all over again.

"Hey," she pulled back, sensing the change in him, and frowned, "what is it?"

"Oh fuck, Hil, I've ruined everything."

She arched one eyebrow. "It was two games, Duo. You guys are still in second. You're still -"

"No. Not that. Not - it's… it's Heero and Trowa."

"What about Heero and Trowa?" She asked, and when he didn't immediately respond, her eyes widened. "Duo. Tell me. _Now_."

And he did, everything. Going back to his very first day in the gaming house, right up to the night before his emergency surgery, leaving out absolutely nothing, except a few details of their naked activities.

When he finished, he bowed his head and he waited for her judgement.

"Oh Duo."

She hugged him again and then pushed him over in the bed and climbed up beside him. "What are you going to do?"

He snorted and he hated that he could hear tears in his voice. "What _can_ I do? I fucked it up - _again_ with them. They - they're done with me, Hil. I… it's not like it was going to go anywhere in the first place."

"Duo, you are such an idiot."

He glared at her and she kissed him on the nose.

"Seriously. You are amazing and so, so perfect. If they can't see that, if they don't -"

"Look, you're biased, Hil, and I am so far from perfect it's a fucking joke. I've basically ruined their lives and -"

"You haven't ruined anything! And if they make you feel that way then you need to get rid of them _now_."

"They don't but… it doesn't matter. I _did_ get rid of them. They haven't come to see me."

Hilde scowled, the expression fierce and she laced their fingers together.

"Then they are even bigger idiots than you are."


	25. Chapter 25

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.

A/N #2: I cannot even begin to tell you how much reviews mean. It's so encouraging to see people's reactions to my work, especially considering how difficult it can be for me to carve out time to write these days. So thank you thank you THANK YOU for all reviews.

A/N#3: Thank you to Maevemauvaise and Ro for being amazing and supportive - and beta reading this.

A/N #4: Please consider supporting me on . My url is dot com backslash ClaraBarton. Your support would mean the world to me - plus you get some stuff out of it as well.

Warnings: Angst, language, violence, sex.

Pairings: multiple.

_Going the Distance_

Chapter Twenty-Five

The worst part about hospitals, Duo realized early on, was that there was nothing to do but sleep. And sleep, he also realized early on, was almost impossible once he wasn't drugged up.

He was cold, no matter how many blankets the nurse piled on. The hospital was never quiet, even in the dead of night, and the not-so-distant groans of another patient in pain weren't exactly the stuff of a gentle lullaby.

And he was lonely, above all else.

Hilde had come to visit, Quatre and Relena had come several times, Sally and Meilin had stopped by. Even Wufei came by to call him an idiot.

But after that first day, Solo didn't come back.

Heero and Trowa didn't stop by at all.

Duo couldn't think of _any_ reason for Heero and Trowa to be avoiding him other than just being _done_ with him.

It was too much like what had happened with Alex - although, in this instance, it was _Duo_ in the hospital - and Duo couldn't help but think that this was just yet another example of how much he was not worth the time, energy or love of other people.

By the time the doctors finally released him, packing him off with antibiotics and follow-up appointments, Duo had to wonder if he should even go back to the gaming house.

He started to call, but in the end decided that everyone was busy. It was the middle of the day on Wednesday and they were all probably practicing. Hell, they might even be practicing with a replacement jungler, for all Duo knew.

Quatre, Sally and Relena had all been very tight-lipped when he asked about the team, about practices, about the next weekend of games.

Duo had already cost them two losses - and this close to the end of the season, with the top of the rankings this tight, TGW needed a strong finish. Dropping more games was _not_ an option, and Duo was clearly not someone they could count on.

As Duo walked down to the hospital lobby wearing his team uniform from the day he had been brought in, he realized that he had nowhere else to even go.

So, feeling dejected and ridiculous, Duo called a cab and went back to the gaming house.

When he arrived back at the house, he stepped into an empty living room - not surprising since it was three in the afternoon. He stood there for a moment, looking around, feeling very out of place.

Then he heard their voices - Quatre, Meilin, Trowa and Heero. His team, scrimming from the sounds of it.

He walked to the gaming room and leaned against the doorway.

Everyone was at their normal seats, headsets on, focused intently on their screens. The only thing that was different than normal was the fact that Duo's seat was occupied by Sally.

Sally who, Duo took a step into the room to see, was playing really well against CLG.

Duo was impressed. He had always thought Sally had to be good at League to be such a good analyst and coach, but he had never really seen her in action before - and certainly not against another pro team.

But she was currently leading TGW in kills and assists - which, for a jungler wasn't always ideal, but it meant she was having a strong impact - and she was even doing a fair amount of shot-calling.

Duo stood there and watched the rest of the game play out, watched his team beat CLG very handily when Trowa pulled off a great play at the Baron pit to ace the enemy team.

It was strange and deeply uncomfortable to watch them win, to watch everyone pull off their headsets and congratulate each other. To see Trowa's small, self-satisfied smirk and Quatre's broad grin.

He was happy for them. He was proud of Trowa - who really seemed to be getting comfortable with the idea of being able to carry a game on his own from the top lane. He was impressed with Sally.

He _wanted_ TGW to win; he wanted his team to be the best.

But he wanted to be _part_ of that.

Standing at the edge of the room, looking over at them, Duo couldn't help but feel completely superfluous.

He didn't know what to do - didn't know if he should just go or if he should speak up - and as he stood there hesitating, his presence was finally noticed.

"Duo." Heero said his name gravely, in a tone that Duo had never heard before, and Duo had absolutely no idea what that meant, or how to read Heero's slight scowl.

At Heero's voice, everyone else turned to see Duo lurking.

Quatre grinned and rushed over to hug Duo, stopping at the last second from crushing him and instead just patting his back gently. Meilin smirked at him - which could have meant _anything_ \- while Sally stood up and smiled at him with what Duo could tell was relief.

Heero and Trowa, however, lingered at their computers, looking uneasy.

Quatre stepped away from Duo and in an instant, Relena was there, appearing as if from thin air, wrapping her arms around Duo's neck and hugging him tightly.

"I had no idea you were coming home today! How did you get here? Why didn't you call? I-"

"Whoa, slow down," Duo interrupted her.

He stepped back, and he felt a wave of exhaustion hit him so strongly that he had to lean back against the wall and steady himself.

Quatre and Sally frowned at him, concern etched into their faces.

"I'm fine," he assured them, and forced himself to stand up straight again. "Relena's hug was just really, _really_ tight," he teased her with a smirk.

She rolled her eyes, but he could see that she, too, was worried.

Duo jerked his head towards the computers. "Was that the last game of the day?"

"No, we have one more against them," Meilin said. She glanced over her shoulder. "In about five minutes."

Duo nodded. "I, uh, I guess I should let you get back to it, then?"

Meilin lifted her eyebrows in surprise. "You don't want to join us?"

"Do you want me to?" Duo asked, hating himself for sounding so pathetic.

Heero and Trowa were scowling at him, so Duo was pretty sure that was a _no_ from them, and Quatre and Sally wore almost identical frowns.

Duo waved his hand. "S'okay. It looked like Sally was doing great last game. If you're going to be using her this weekend, you need to get in more practice anyway."

Even as he said the words, Duo could feel his stomach churn and his eyes burn.

It felt like last year all over again - like Alex telling him to go to hell and Solo refusing to even look at him while Duo was forced to pack up his stuff, forced to call Hilde and beg for a place to crash.

"How are you feeling?" Quatre asked, neatly sidestepping Duo's question and his assumption.

"I'm fine, I'll be fine."

"You look tired," Quatre said, his gaze seeming to take in everything as he looked Duo over.

"Yeah, well, the hospital wasn't the best place to get sleep."

"Do you need more time to rest?" Sally asked.

"I-" Duo wanted to say he was fine again, wanted to say that he was ready to _play_, wanted to _beg_ them to give him another chance. "Whatever you think is best for the team," he said. "I know I let everyone down," Duo very carefully did not look at Heero or Trowa, "and I know these next two weekends are important so… just, whatever you need to do."

"Whatever _we_ need to do," Trowa corrected him, voice low and angry.

Duo shrugged. "Yeah. Whatever you-"

"No, _we._ As in _all_ of us. You don't get to just check out when you want to. Thi -"

"Trowa!" Quatre turned on him with wide eyes. "He just got out of the hospital! He's sick and he's tired. If he needs to take some time, then that's what he gets to do. I can't believe you-"

"Forget I said anything," Trowa snapped, green eyes furious.

An awkward silence settled over the room, and Duo drew in a deep breath.

His fault, once again. Just like he had made Solo's life and career complicated last year, he was fucking up things for TGW _now_.

"Yeah, I, uh, I'll just go up to my room?" he suggested, hooking his thumb in that direction. "You all have a game to play and I- I didn't come back to make things worse."

"You're not-" Relena growled in frustration and glared at Trowa. "You're not making _anything_ worse. We're all concerned about you. Do you _want_ to go rest?"

Duo looked around the room, at the disappointment in Meilin's face, the concern in Quatre, Relena and Sally's faces. The frustration in Trowa and Heero's.

"Yeah," Duo lied. "I do."

"Maybe we can talk later, then?" Quatre asked. "After you've gotten some rest?"

Duo nodded, unsure what to say, unsure what _Quatre_ would say during this future talk. Duo was pretty sure it wasn't going to be anything he wanted to hear.

-o-

Despite the fact that Duo felt nothing but anxiety - or maybe _because_ \- he fell into his bed fully-clothed and slept for the next four hours.

It wasn't enough - Duo was pretty sure he needed a full _day_ in bed to actually feel better - but it was all he dared sleep.

When he woke up, he showered for the first time since the weekend, taking his time and enjoying being able to feel _clean_ again - the frigid, self-administered sponge baths he had managed in the hospital yesterday and the day before had been incredibly disatisfying.

Duo dressed in clean clothes - again a first since the weekend - and felt _almost_ human again.

He didn't bother to braid his hair back, just combed through it and pulled it into a loose bun and then, when he decided he needed to suck it up and face his team again, Duo forced himself to leave his room and go downstairs.

They were settling in for dinner, all around the table together, an empty seat between Relena and Quatre, where Duo usually sat.

"Hey!" Relena spotted him and gave him a bright smile. "You're up! Do you want to join us? Pargan made your favorite - chicken marsala. But if you're not feeling up for it, we could make you soup or-"

"No, I'm fine. It's fine." Duo hated the way everyone looked at him as he got his plate, hated that conversation had ground to a halt at his entrance, hated that they had to act differently around him.

He sat down between Relena and Quatre and sighed.

"It looks great," he said with forced enthusiasm. "How did the second game go? Did CLG let Trowa ace them again?"

Meilin, thankfully, took the bait.

She snorted derisively. "No, but they were practically begging for it. Heero and I crushed their bot lane early on, and Quatre had some really great roams. It was a steam-roll."

"That's awesome." Duo forced himself to take a bite of the food. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Heero watching him. Trowa, on the other hand, was pointedly _not_ looking at Duo at all.

"About this weekend, Duo," Sally said after a few painful minutes of silent eating.

Duo held his breath as he waited for her to continue that thought.

"We've been practicing for the last few days. I'm not as good as you in the jungle, but if you need more time - if you need to take the weekend off- you should do it."

Duo looked around the table, at Relena's earnest face, Meilin's frown, Quatre's anxious grimace, the matching scowls on Heero and Trowa's faces.

"It's… whatever is going to be best for the team," Duo said.

He couldn't- he didn't know _how_ to say how very much he needed to be needed by them. He knew it was pathetic and selfish. And if they felt good playing with Sally this weekend, then they should. If they didn't trust him, if they didn't _want_ him, it wouldn't help to push himself back in as part of the team.

"Well, what do you - Duo, the surgeon said that you'd been sick for _weeks_ \- in pain for _weeks_. I think we're all concerned that you need time to heal and rest." Quatre said it in the same voice he used when laying out game strategies, and Duo slumped into his chair.

They didn't want him to play.

"Yeah. Okay. If that's what-"

"What do _you_ want?" Heero asked, the first thing he had said to Duo in almost a week.

Duo looked over at him, and wasn't surprised to see Heero glaring at him.

What did Duo want? He wanted to be _wanted_. He wanted Heero. And Trowa. He wanted to be with them and he wanted- he wanted all the things he couldn't have.

"I want the team to have the best chance of winning. We have to finish in the top two so that our summer playoffs go well. If you all think that Sally playing this weekend is what's best for the team, then that's what I want."

"_We_ want what's best for _you_, Duo," Quatre said. "What's best for you _and_ what's best for the team."

Duo nodded in understanding. Quatre was being Quatre - he was being nice and generous. He was trying to make sure Duo didn't feel like an asshole or a loser, but it was clear to Duo that they didn't want him playing this weekend.

"Are you ready to play, or do you need more time to rest?" Meilin asked him.

"I-"

"Would you even tell us if you weren't ready?" Trowa interrupted Duo. "Or are you just going to pretend you're fine until you collapse again?"

Duo glared at him, but Trowa returned the look with equal anger.

"When do you have your follow-up appointment with the doctor?" Sally asked.

"Friday morning," Duo answered without looking away from Trowa.

"Okay." Sally drew in a deep breath, and it was clear that she - and everyone else - was uncomfortable with Duo and Trowa's glaring match. "So why don't you take it easy for the rest of the night and tomorrow morning. In the afternoon, if you're feeling up to it, you should sit in on practice. Then have an early night. After the appointment on Friday morning, we'll reassess - if your doctor thinks you're fine then we'll have you scrim on Friday afternoon, and if everyone feels good about it, you'll play this weekend. How does that sound?"

It sounded like Trowa had just sold Duo out.

Duo realized he was gripping his fork so tightly that his knuckles were white. He forced himself to relax and set the fork down.

"Yeah. Great plan," he managed to say.

Quatre nodded, either missing the hollow tone to Duo's voice or choosing to ignore it.

"Good. I think it is too. It gives you more time to rest - and you can ease back into things."

"Yeah," Duo agreed.

He finally looked away from Trowa, unable to stand it any longer.

"I, uh, you know, the food isn't sitting that well with me. I think I might just go lie back down."

"Can I get you anything else?" Relena asked. "Do you want soup or-"

"No. No, I'm okay. Still just really tired."

He pushed away from the table and scraped his plate clean before putting it into the dishwasher.

"You guys… have a good practice tonight," he said, feeling like an idiot.

"Thanks. Get some rest," Quatre replied.

"I'll come check on you later, okay?" Relena offered.

Duo shrugged. "Yeah, but I'll probably just be asleep."

No one else had anything to say, and Duo left the room.

He went upstairs and reached for his phone, intent on calling Hilde. He desperately needed to hear her voice, to hear her tell him this wasn't a big deal.

But his call went to her voicemail.

Of course - she was probably practicing or eating with _her_ team.

Duo drew in a deep breath and forced himself to text her.

_Call me later if you can_.

It would be fine. He would be fine.

Everything would be fine.

He snorted at the lies he was telling himself.

Everything would _not_ be fine.

He had fucked it up again. His team no longer trusted him. Trowa- _Trowa_ hated him and Heero seemed to feel the same way.

Duo felt just as alone as he had in the hospital, just as isolated, just as depressed.

He lay awake in his bed for a long time, staring up at the ceiling fan as it turned lazily, and he wondered what the hell he was supposed to do now.

-o-

It was midnight when someone knocked on his closed door.

"Yeah?" he called out. He had fallen asleep, briefly, but had woken up again an hour ago, unable to get comfortable or fall back asleep.

He had set up his computer and decided to watch the games from last weekend that he had missed.

The door opened but, instead of Relena, Meilin came in.

"You decent? One Maxwell dick is all that I need to see in this lifetime."

"I'm as decent as I ever am," Duo retorted.

Meilin snorted and shut the door behind her. She walked over and sat on the foot of his bed and regarded him with dark, somber eyes.

"What?"

"You wanna talk about it?"

Duo frowned. "Talk about what?"

Meilin arched an eyebrow at him. "Duo. Come on. I _know_ what it feels like to be the _only one_. I was the only girl on ZG - I'm the only girl on TGW, and while you guys at least have female support staff, you're still a bunch of guys. I _know_ what it feels like to feel like no one else gets you." She waved her hand in a vague gesture. "I know it's tough being gay and having the community treat you like it does. And I know it's… I know you're not dating anyone or anything, and it's clear you're lonely. And angry."

Duo snorted. He was definitely lonely, definitely angry.

But he also wasn't the only guy on this team who was gay - and even that. He couldn't even talk about _that_.

"Is it better here, than it was on ZG?" Duo asked.

"Well, yeah. You guys aren't a bunch of misogynists. Honestly, I think Quatre's the only one who even thinks of me as a girl - and that's just because he's so concerned about being polite."

"I don't think of you as a guy," Duo had to say.

Meilin smirked. "Oh, is that why you haven't tried flirting with me?"

Duo glared at her.

"No, I know you don't think of me as a guy - but you also don't _care_ that I'm a girl. Neither do Trowa and Heero - hell, I could be a fucking robot for all that they care about anyone who isn't in their special buddy club."

A week ago, Duo would have jumped to their defense. Tonight, however, he could only nod in agreement.

"Trowa and Heero seem really pissed at me," Duo sighed.

Meilin shrugged. "Yeah. You scared the shit out of all of us. You should have seen Trowa onstage when you passed out - I didn't even realize he was physically capable of freaking out like that."

"You're kidding."

"No, I'm not. Quatre had to shove him out of the way so that the EMTs could get to you. And Heero, he was just kind of catatonic. He didn't say a word to anyone until you were out of surgery and they told us all to leave the hospital."

"He was there?"

"We all were - until they made us leave. Solo told me he would stay with you though. He did, right? At least that first night?"

Duo nodded. "Yeah. And the next day."

"Good. I knew he was a decent human being under all of his crap. And hair."

Duo managed a small smile at that, but his brain was trying to wrap itself around the knowledge that Heero and Trowa had been there - that they had been worried about him. That they cared.

Funny way they had of showing it _now_.

"Hey."

Duo met Meilin's gaze.

"Everyone just wants you healthy, Duo. We all want you here. We all _need_ you here. And look, I love Sally - but she's not you. We need _you_. So go to fucking sleep and eat something tomorrow so that Quatre and Relena don't have you put back in the hospital, okay?"

Duo nodded, and Meilin got off the bed.

"Hey."

She turned around at the door and looked at him.

"Thanks."

She smirked at him. "No problem. I want to win Worlds, you know, so it's entirely in my own personal interests to make sure you stop moping around - and stop trying to die in the middle of a game."

"I was not _trying _to-"

"Night!" She closed the door with a definitive _thud_.

Duo sighed.

He didn't really know what to think or how to feel after Meilin's revelations - but he knew she was right about getting some sleep.

If he wanted to play again, if he wanted to have a chance at having everyone trust him again, if he wanted them to _want_ him again, he needed to sleep.

So he closed his computer and lay back down.

He had to roll over, had to wedge one of his pillows against his back and clutch the other one, but eventually he was able to close his eyes and feel like he wasn't alone in the bed.


	26. Chapter 26

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.

A/N #2: I cannot even begin to tell you how much reviews mean. It's so encouraging to see people's reactions to my work, especially considering how difficult it can be for me to carve out time to write these days. So thank you thank you THANK YOU for all reviews.

A/N#3: Thank you to Maevemauvaise and Ro for being amazing and supportive - and beta reading this.

A/N #4: Please consider supporting me on . My url is dot com backslash ClaraBarton. Your support would mean the world to me, and as a patron you get exclusive fanfics, gift fics, and more.

Warnings: Angst, language, violence, sex.

Pairings: multiple.

_Going the Distance_

Chapter Twenty-Six

"An interview."

"Just one." Relena had a hopeful, apologetic look on her face that she had to know was impossible to deny.

Duo sighed. It was Saturday morning, and the team was gathering downstairs before getting into the van.

Quatre kept looking over at Duo, and his concern might as well have been printed on a billboard. Sally also kept looking at him, but she didn't seem as convinced that Duo would collapse at any second. She was just watchful.

Having their eyes on him almost non-stop over the past few days had been just as irritating and uncomfortable as having Trowa and Heero _not_ looking at him. Or talking to him.

Duo had practiced with the team on Thursday afternoon and, after getting the cautious go-ahead from his doctor yesterday morning, Duo had practiced with the team in the afternoon and into the evening - only putting up a weak protest when Sally insisted they all call it a night at ten instead of midnight.

He still felt tired, achy, his body still giving him the odd twinge of pain, and sitting wasn't his most favorite activity at the moment. He had, however, stopped taking the pain medication the hospital gave him on Thursday night. It made him sluggish, and his dreams were too bizarre for him to handle.

Now, however, as Relena stared him down and the threat of an interview hung over his head, Duo wished he _was_ still medicated.

"Why me?" he asked, aware that he sounded petulant even before Meilin rolled her eyes at him.

Relena frowned and gave an annoyed huff.

"Because you're _you_. This is the second-to-last weekend in the summer split, and today is our last game against ZG. Even if last week hadn't happened, they would want to interview you."

"Yeah, but - Quatre's the team captain."

"Quatre doesn't have a brother on the enemy team," Meilin pointed out.

"_Enemy_ team?"

Meilin shrugged. "Yeah."

"Well, why not her - she used to _be_ on the enemy team. I'm sure she's got plenty to say."

Meilin offered them a smirk that suggested that she did, in fact, have plenty to say. Probably none of it what an interviewer would want to hear.

"They want _you_, Duo," Relena insisted. "They want to ask about last week, and-"

"His health is none of their business," Trowa spoke up, still not looking at Duo.

"I agree," Quatre added, frowning. "He doesn't have to talk about that -they shouldn't ask him."

"I'll tell them he doesn't want to talk about it," Relena said. "So, nothing about your health - _now_ are you okay doing the interview?"

He really wasn't, but Duo knew that Relena wasn't asking him for _her_ sake. She was asking because Riot wanted the interview. And, technically, Duo worked for them as well as for TGW. So if they wanted an interview, he really couldn't say no.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah. Okay. Whatever."

Relena's shoulders sagged in relief.

"Thank you."

"We should get going," Sally indicated the kitchen clock. It was almost eleven - they definitely needed to get going.

They climbed into the van - Heero taking the very back seat, and Meilin claiming the seat beside him before Trowa could. The top laner sat down in the middle row while Quatre stretched out, as always, in the first row.

Which meant Duo either had to make Quatre move, or sit beside Trowa.

It almost felt like he was back in the beginning of Spring Split, moving into a house with a team that was cohesive and awesome and _not_ like him.

Duo sighed again and sat down beside Trowa, careful to keep to the other side of the seat.

Sally drove them to the studio in silence, the low hum of the radio in the front the only sound.

This was _worse_ than the start of Spring Split, Duo decided when Sally took a turn too hard and he slid into Trowa and the other man shied away from him.

Much worse.

Duo scooted back to the other side of the seat and clutched the armrest, determined not to let it happen again. He didn't really _need_ to have Trowa physically recoil from him to make it clear that whatever Trowa - and Heero - had felt for him or thought of him _before_ he had been enough of an idiot to collapse on stage had definitely died.

As soon as Sally parked, Duo pushed his way out of the van, stepping into the bright, sunny day, and saw the line of fans crowding the front, public entrance to the studio.

They saw the TGW team climb out of the bus and started to call out.

Duo offered a vague wave in their direction, not really sure if they were cheering for _him_ \- doubting that they were.

The team walked towards the back entrance, but as they got closer, some of what the fans said became clearer.

"Duo! Duo, kick some ass!"

"Crush ZG!"

"Duo, you're a god!"

"Meilin, will you marry me?"

"Duo! You're the sexiest gamer nerd alive!"

_That_ got Duo's attention.

He turned and looked at the line of people, scanning it, and sure enough, there was Jason.

Duo felt himself smile, felt all of his anxiety and anger and self-loathing slide to the back of his mind, as his gaze locked with Jason's.

"I'll catch up to you," Duo said over his shoulder, in Quatre's direction, and started to walk towards the fans.

They cheered even louder, asking for his autograph, asking for photos, and as much as Duo wanted to just ignore everyone but Jason, he found himself stopping and reaching for Sharpies or posing with with people in TGW paraphernalia as he worked his way down the line towards Jason.

It took several minutes, but he was finally just a few feet from Jason.

The other man was looking him over, gaze warm and concerned, and Duo, for a brief, crazy moment, wanted to pull him out of the line and hug him. It felt really damn good to be looked at like that.

"How are you?" Jason asked, in front of everyone.

Duo shrugged. "I'm okay."

"I was worried about you," Jason continued, his gray eyes locked with Duo's.

"You could have called," Duo pointed out.

Jason snorted. "Right. Because if I did that, you'd just have said you were _fine_ and don't worry about it. You're kind of shit at taking care of yourself, I don't know if you've noticed."

Duo stared at him for a long moment, aware of the fans still clamouring for attention, but unable to think about anything other than what Jason had said.

It reminded him of Trowa - selling him out to the team the other night. Except, it was clear that Jason said it because he was _worried_, because he wanted Duo to be okay - not because he was pissed off at him.

"Well, I am fine," Duo assured Jason as he reached for another pen and hat to autograph. "Tired, achy. Lonely," he added with another shrug. "But I'm okay."

Jason gave him a serious look, and Duo wondered if, like the last time he had shown up at a game unexpectedly, he would hint at getting back together with Duo. Because, unlike last time, Duo would probably take him up on it.

"Good," Jason said, breaking the moment. "I don't know how you fucking did it, but I _like_ watching League of Legends now, and it would really suck if I had to stop cheering for my favorite player."

So no, Jason wasn't trying to hook up.

Duo felt equally relieved and bereft about that, but he forced a smirk and handed back the hat and pen to the person behind Jason.

"Well, I don't want to disappoint you."

Duo stepped back, waved again, and turned to walk to the back entrance.

Relena was waiting for him, doing something on her phone, but she looked up at Duo's approach and arched an eyebrow.

"Was that Jason?"

Duo nodded and had to grin. "Yeah."

"Oh. I didn't know - are you two back together?"

"No, no. He was… He just wanted to see me, make sure I was okay. Plus, he came to see the games today."

Relena didn't look like she believed him.

"He's just a friend," Duo told her, deciding it was true.

"Well," Relena said, as she hooked her arm through Duo's and dragged him towards the room where he knew they liked to host interviews, "it's good to have friends. I'm happy you have another."

As soon as they stepped into the room, Duo felt all of his anxiety come rushing back.

He _hated_ interviews so much.

Beside him, Relena gave his arm a squeeze.

"Fifteen minutes, and then it will be over," she told him in a low voice. "And I'll be right here the whole time."

Duo frowned. "You don't - I'm sure the team needs you. You don't have to wait around while I do this."

"Duo, _you_ need me. I'm exactly where I should be."

Relena gave him a long, hard look, and Duo sighed.

"Yeah, okay."

He stepped away from her and towards the interview crew.

"Hey, Duo," one of the guys, in a black Riot t-shirt, greeted him and gestured for Duo to sit on the stool set up in front of all of the lights and cameras.

Duo sighed, forced a smile, and took a seat.

"Just a few questions - about the season, your game against ZG, your team - and then you're done, okay?" the guy said.

Duo nodded. "Yeah, sounds good."

He tried to project an air of calm, tried not to think about all of the shitty interviews in the past.

"Talk to us about what it means to compete against your brother for first place in North America."

"Playing against Solo is awesome. It's crazy, too, because as a kid all I ever wanted to do was be like him." Duo shrugged. "I used to dream of us playing on the same team and kicking ass. But, here we are."

"So, would you _want_ to play for ZG in the future?"

Duo snorted derisively. "Hell no." And then he realized how bad that probably sounded. "I mean, ZG is… a team. They're good, obviously. But they aren't TGW. This team - I love these guys. We've worked our asses off, and-" Duo realized, abruptly, that his team might not even _want_ him with them next season. Might dump him as soon as playoffs and - hopefully - Worlds were over. "And there's no team I'd rather be on," he finished, lamely.

"When you were picked up by TGW at the beginning of the year, did you ever think you would be two games away from a guaranteed spot in the playoffs to go to Worlds?"

Duo smirked, but shook his head. "No. No way. This is crazy - and awesome. TGW has always had the talent, but now - our team - I think we're pretty unstoppable. There was no way I thought the season was going to go this well, back in January."

"And how does it feel to set a new record?"

"Uh… new record?" Duo had no idea what he was talking about.

"You have the most kills _and_ the most assists of any North American jungler in a season, ever - and you still have four games to go in the season."

"Oh. Wow. I had no idea." Even as he said it, Duo was pretty sure Sally and Relena had mentioned something about that a few weeks ago, about Duo putting up impressive numbers and - and he had been distracted by thinking about Heero and Trowa and what they would be doing later, naked, in bed, and hadn't really listened.

"That's… great?" Duo said. "I'm just glad I'm not leading the region in deaths."

"About that, you had a pretty close call yourself last weekend."

Duo frowned, and looked past the interviewer to where Relena stood.

"Alan, we agreed, we aren't talking about-" she started.

"One question, okay, the fans are concerned - you owe them that much."

Duo clenched his jaw. He really, _really_ didn't think he owed anyone any information about his health, and he resented the way they were trying to guilt him into talking about it.

"So," Alan continued, turning back to Duo and gesturing for the cameras to start recording again, "can you tell us what happened last week - what you've been going through - how you're feeling now?"

"I'm feeling fine now. I'm ready to go out and beat ZG and CLG, and have a great weekend of games."

"Can you tell us-"

"Last weekend was awful," Duo interrupted. "I almost died, and my team - my _brother_ \- and I all freaked out about it. But that was last weekend, and I've recovered, and I'd like to just think about the future."

The interviewer stared at Duo, and he knew that it wasn't what he wanted to hear, knew that he wanted details and personal information, but Duo just stared him down.

He had had enough, last year, of his personal life being made into eSports headlines.

"Okay, well, I think that wraps us up here. Best of luck in your games this weekend."

"Thanks." Duo stood up, shook his hand, and made a beeline for the door.

-o-

It was grueling - one of the longest games of the seasons - but seventy-five minutes after they started playing, TGW defeated ZG.

For a moment, all Duo could do was stare at his computer screen, at the blue victory banner.

He felt, more than anything else, relieved.

It had been the most difficult game he had ever played.

From the start, he hadn't been able to get comfortable - his side twinging in pain and his empty stomach protesting the fact that he still wasn't eating much.

And, of course, he had the tense body of Trowa just to his right, the overly-concerned eyes of Quatre just to his left.

Duo had felt trapped, in pain, already tired and aching to go back to bed, before the game had even started.

And then it _had_ started, with ZG invading his jungle and Solo killing Duo, getting first blood and putting Duo way behind.

Duo had struggled, had tamped down his anger and everything else and just focused on the fact that he was _not_ going to lose to ZG. Not today. Not like this, when his team was full of doubts and the whole world seemed to think he was some kind of pathetic invalid.

Normally, if you got counter-jungled that early and put behind that badly, the plan would be to try to farm your way back to even numbers, to cross your fingers and hope your laners could hold their own because you, as the jungler, weren't going to be able to do shit for the next ten minutes.

But Duo could already see how ZG, smug and confident, were counting on Duo burying himself in the jungle and not helping his lanes. Solo was trying to bully Quatre in the mid lane, Wufei and Ralph were teaming up against Trowa in the top lane, and Zechs and Otto were playing with reckless confidence in the bot lane. They were all convinced that Duo wouldn't be able to help his teammates at all.

Well, fuck that, Duo decided.

He was playing Lee Sin, and while a few more items would have _helped_, there was plenty he could do early in the game - even when he was behind.

So he roamed up top, told Trowa to get ready, and dove in.

Twenty minutes of that - Duo throwing himself into ganks and refusing to play ZG's game - finally paid off when TGW aced ZG and went for an early Baron play.

And then everything went to hell when Solo managed to steal the Baron and ZG hunted them down and aced them in return.

Another twenty minutes of back and forth gameplay, where each team capitalized on every mistake their opponents made, left Duo exhausted and jittery. He was fading _fast_, but after fifty minutes, there was no clear way to victory for _either_ team.

It wasn't until the seventy-minute marker, when Duo managed to kill Solo in probably the most epic one versus one fight Duo had ever had, that the tide finally, decisively, turned.

ZG fought back - managed to take down Meilin and Trowa - but Duo, Heero and Quatre stayed alive and waited for their teammates to respawn, and then, at Baron, Trowa got a pentakill, acing the enemy team, and TGW pushed in for the win.

Around Duo, his teammates stood up, Quatre hugging everyone, Meilin smirking and punching Heero on the shoulder in a way that made him scowl at her, and Trowa - Trowa stared down at Duo with a frown.

Duo sighed. Of course. Trowa was pissed enough at him that he couldn't even appreciate this moment.

He pushed away from the table and stood up, wincing as his body protested.

Yeah, he needed to lay down, as soon as possible, and take some tylenol at least.

Trowa's frown became a full-fledged scowl, and Duo was convinced he was going to say something, but before Trowa could, Quatre nudged them.

"Come on, let's go shake their hands."

Duo sighed. And then there was that - yet another chance for Solo to completely ignore his existence.

But Duo fell into step behind the rest of his team. He shook Otto's hand, barely made contact with Zechs before the other man sneered and dropped his hand, looked up at Solo and prepared himself to be given the cold shoulder yet again, but then Solo pulled him into a hug.

Duo was startled enough that he just stood there, arms out at his sides, staring wide-eyed as cameras in the audience flashed.

"Good game," Solo said into Duo's hair, his voice rough, and Duo swallowed hard and nodded.

"Yeah, good game," his own voice broke, and he flushed as he stepped away.

Solo smirked down at him, his eyes warm, and it took Duo back to before - before Alex and Solo's suspension and all of this shit. Back to when Solo was the brother that Duo had worshipped and things had been easy.

Solo ruffled his hair, and Duo ducked away with a scowl while Solo laughed.

"I thought for sure we had this win in the bag when I got first blood on you, you little bastard," Solo said, his voice light.

"Yeah, well, I'm not that easy to keep down."

Solo nodded, his expression turning serious. "No," he agreed, "you aren't at all."

He held out his hand and Duo shook it, for the first time all year.

-o-

It was after nine by the time they returned to the TGW gaming house.

Their game had been later in the afternoon, and hadn't ended until almost six. After that, Quatre and Heero had given interviews for Riot before the whole team headed outside to sign autographs for a while.

They had grabbed dinner after, at the dive pizza place that Quatre and Relena both loved so much, and Duo had only been able to stare at his slices and poke at them. He absolutely did not feel like eating them - despite how hungry he was.

Heero had sat beside him and wordlessly shoved the bread basket in Duo's direction.

It was better than nothing, and not covered in tomato sauce or cheese or grease, so Duo had eaten a few pieces and tried his best not to just fall asleep at the table.

He _did_ fall asleep in the van on the ride home, waking up only when Sally parked, and he was relieved that he had curled against the armrest and not against Trowa.

"I want to review our strategy against CLG tomorrow," Quatre said as they walked into the house. "That top play that Trowa and Duo did today - when Solo roamed top? - that was awesome, and I want us to think of more plays like that we can do tomorrow. I think-"

"No," Heero interrupted him.

Quatre frowned and turned to him in confusion.

"No?"

Heero shook his head. "Not tonight. We can talk about it in the morning."

Sally arched an eyebrow. "It's still pretty early - I think we have enough time to talk through a few things tonight before you all-"

"It can wait until tomorrow," Trowa argued, stepping up beside Heero. "The game against ZG was exhausting. We need to relax tonight."

Heero and Trowa had _never_ suggested relaxing over strategizing, and Duo wasn't the only one staring at them in confusion.

"Okay…" Quatre said. "Yeah, if you guys need the night to rest. That's fine." He nodded. "Of course. It's not a big deal - let's all meet early, let's say nine-thirty? And we can talk through a few things."

"Nine-thirty?" Relena repeated, eyes wide. "Quatre Winner, did you just suggest getting up _early_? Are you feeling okay?" She stepped forward and put her hand on his forehead.

Quatre rolled his eyes and stopped her, his hand curving around her wrist.

"I'm _fine_," he assured her. "But I think I'll go watch the EU games."

He started to walk away, Relena's hand sliding from his grasp, and Duo arched an eyebrow at Relena's blush.

She glared at him, tossed her hair, and followed Quatre out of the room.

"I'm still hungry," Meilin announced, shooting Sally a significant look, "help me figure out how to heat up the lasagna."

Sally shook her head but smirked.

"You're so spoiled," she muttered as she followed Meilin towards the kitchen.

Leaving Trowa, Heero and Duo alone.

Very awkwardly and silently alone.

Duo scratched the back of his neck.

"So, uh… I guess I'm just… going to go get in some more practice," he said, because he felt like he needed to say _something_ and he definitely needed the practice, considering how slow he had been at some points during the game today.

"No," Heero said, in the same tone he had used on Quatre.

"_No_?" Duo echoed.

"You need to rest," Trowa said.

"I'm fine. I _need_ to practice - I missed smite today, and-"

"You almost fell asleep at dinner three times," Heero interrupted him.

"And you were in pain all afternoon, during the game," Trowa added. "You need to lay down."

"I do not-" It had been all Duo had _wanted_ to do, all afternoon. But now that he had Trowa and Heero facing him down, Duo had to fight against it. Against them.

"Yes, you do," Heero argued. "You can't even stand up straight right now without swaying."

Duo glared at him.

"I'm fucking _fine,_ and I don't need the two of you-"

"We know," Trowa cut in, voice scathing. "We know you don't need or want either of us. But you need someone. Because you're shit at taking care of yourself." Trowa angrily ran a hand through his hair, upsetting the way it fell over his face. "Why don't you call Jason or something? Just-"

"Why the hell would I call Jason?"

"You two-" Heero made a gesture towards Duo. "He came to see you today. He cares about you, and you clearly care about him."

"Yeah, he's a fucking friend, and it was _nice_ to know someone cared about me." Duo glared at them, the sting of his loneliness in the hospital still fresh.

Heero and Trowa glared right back.

"Fuck this," Duo muttered, and shook his head. "You're right. I am tired. I'm exhausted and yeah, I was in pain all afternoon. You're right. The two of you are always fucking right and just-" Duo felt his pain and exhaustion catch up, felt his anger leave him and he just felt tired, in a way that went beyond his aching body and troubled sleep. "I'm sorry, for everything. I ruined everything, just like I always do, and I let you both down. I'm sorry."

He turned, not waiting for their response, and walked up the stairs to his room. He didn't need - couldn't handle - seeing their frowns or scowls anymore. He didn't need to see his own disappointment reflected back at him.


	27. Chapter 27

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.

A/N #2: I cannot even begin to tell you how much reviews mean. It's so encouraging to see people's reactions to my work, especially considering how difficult it can be for me to carve out time to write these days. So thank you thank you THANK YOU for all reviews.

A/N#3: Thank you to Maevemauvaise and Ro for being amazing and supportive - and beta reading this.

A/N #4: Please consider supporting me on . My url is dot com backslash ClaraBarton. Your support would mean the world to me, and as a patron you get exclusive fanfics, gift fics, and more.

Warnings: Angst, language, violence, sex.

Pairings: multiple.

_Going the Distance_

Chapter Twenty-Seven

By the time the final weekend of the season rolled around a week later, Duo felt human again. He was still having trouble sleeping well, still wasn't the biggest fan of eating much, but he at least wasn't dead on his feet by nine at night. He was at least able to return to a normal-ish schedule.

Normal-_ish_ because _normal_ would have been staying up until two or three in the morning, sitting beside Trowa and wrecking Solo Queue together. It would have meant going upstairs and stopping by his own room only long enough to change into pajamas and then furtively sneaking down the hall and into their room. It would have been crawling between them and curling around Heero. It would have meant Trowa's tongue and hands teasing him while Heero knelt at his feet and sucked him off. It would have meant Trowa fucking him while he fucked Heero. It would have meant waking up in a tangle of limbs, too hot and a little sore and definitely a little sleep-deprived. It would have meant grumbling with Trowa while they lagged behind Heero on their run, watching his ass and both no doubt thinking of things they would _rather_ be doing to that ass instead of running behind it.

But, because it was just normal-_ish_, Duo stayed up until two on his own - either Trowa went to bed earlier, with Heero, or he stayed up and played on his own. Duo went to bed alone, in his own room, and spent hours tossing and turning every night - morning, really - before finally falling asleep. He didn't go on morning runs with them, either, and even though Duo sat beside Trowa every day at practice, even though Heero was just two seats away, Duo felt completely isolated from them.

He also wasn't the only one to notice.

On Saturday morning, as Duo finished brushing his teeth in the bathroom he shared with Meilin, she banged on the bathroom door until he let her in.

"We need to talk."

"In _here_?" Duo asked around a mouthful of toothpaste.

Meilin shrugged.

"Why not?"

In the face of her complete lack of concern for the fact that Duo was standing in just his boxers, he felt silly.

"Okay…" Duo leaned over the sink and spit out the toothpaste. "What did you want to talk about?"

"What the fuck is going on with you and those two?" She jerked her head towards Heero and Trowa's bedroom.

"What do you mean?" Duo stalled, though he was pretty sure he knew _exactly_ what she meant.

Meilin's eyes narrowed dangerously, and Duo actually took a step backwards.

"I _mean,_ you and Trowa used to be glued at the hip in Solo Queue, and you used to go running with them, and the three of you had that annoying habit of just… staring at each other and smirking all of the time."

"We did?"

Duo knew _he_ had done that - he had had to catch himself and force himself to look away, more than once.

"Yes. You did. So, wanna tell me what's going on?"

Duo shrugged.

"Nothing. Just-"

"It's not nothing. Ever since your little vacation in the hospital, Heero's KDA has slipped, and-"

"What?"

Meilin rolled her eyes.

"His kill to death ratio has-"

"I _know_ what KDA is, Meilin. I just- you mean I'm making him worse?"

"That is _not_ what I said. For fuck's sake, all of you boys are idiots." She growled in frustration, and then drew in a deep breath. "What I _said_ was that ever since you've been back, something has been off with Heero. I did _not_ say you were making him worse."

Duo stared at her, and under the strength of her irritated glare, he nodded to concede the point.

"Okay, but you think it's related to me; that's why you're here."

"Yes," she agreed. "So tell me what the fuck is going on. Because when I asked _Heero,_ he just did his wounded puppy routine and refused to say anything - and then _Trowa_ swooped in and was all 'just drop it,' and I fucking swear, those two might as well be dating for all that they…"

She trailed off, and it seemed that she was either staring intently at the _Frozen_ shower curtain - courtesy of Relena - or was staring through it.

After a moment, she started to frown, and she turned to Duo with narrowed eyes.

Immediately, Duo realized he was going to be in deep shit.

"Duo."

"Meilin."

"Heero and Trowa are a thing, aren't they?"

"Um, when you say 'a thing', do you mean like-"

"I mean, they fuck each other."

Duo sighed. He should lie. He should make up something, or-

"You've got to be fucking kidding me."

Or, he could keep his mouth shut for a second too long and she could figure it out on her own.

"How did I not _see_ it?" She ran a hand through her hair and groaned. "It's so fucking obvious! No wonder Trowa is so damn protective of Heero and-"

She turned back to Duo again, as if only just remembering he was there.

"And _you_."

"Me, what?" Duo asked, defensive and more than a little intimidated. He was a _lot_ intimidated.

"You…" Her brows were drawn together as she studied Duo and tried to figure out how _he_ fit into all of this.

He could save her the trouble and just _tell_ her, but a small part of him was still hoping she wouldn't connect the dots. A small, _stupid_ part of him.

"Which one did you make a move on?"

"What?"

"That's what happened, right? Sometime before you almost died, you tried to make a move on one of them, and I guess it came out during… No, no. They aren't pissed at you like _that_. They keep- they keep hovering and glaring at you when you don't eat, and… Oh my god. _They_ made a pass at _you,_ and you turned them down?"

She wasn't _entirely_ wrong, but she wasn't correct either.

"What do you mean, they glare at me when I don't eat? I eat just fine."

She rolled her eyes.

"Duo, you're so bad at making it look like you're eating fine that even Quatre has noticed. He's going to ambush you about it in the van, by the way. Some kind of intervention or something."

"Today? Before the game?" Duo was surprised they had noticed, surprised they _cared_, but he also really, really didn't want to deal with that before a game.

"After, I think. Heero and I both voted for after the game, Relena, Sally and Quatre voted for before, and Trowa-"

"Wait, there was a _vote_ about _me_?"

Meilin sighed.

"Yes, Duo, there was a vote about you."

"_When_?"

She shrugged.

"Yesterday. You had, like, two bites of dinner and then left to go practice again, and we voted."

Duo glared at her.

"I don't need a fucking committee to run my life, Meilin."

She lifted an eyebrow in clear disagreement, but she didn't say anything.

Duo sighed.

"I just… I'm just not very hungry these days."

"And how are you sleeping?"

"Like crap, which is normal, so-"

"No, sleeping like crap is _not_ normal, Duo. Staying up until two or three is, for us, sure, but then you need to actually _sleep_. You aren't sleeping, you aren't eating, you aren't _happy_\- Duo, have you talked to anyone about all of this?"

Duo frowned.

"About what? My life?" He shrugged. "I mean, I talk to Hilde when she has the time, but I don't want to dump all of my shit on her. I mean, she had to deal with me after Solo all last year and..."

"So you've just been dealing - or _not_ dealing - with all of this on your own?"

Duo sighed.

"It's not- Everyone has shit in their lives that they have to deal with. I'm not special or-"

"Oh no, you're special. You're a very special kind of _idiot_. Does Hilde know about Heero and Trowa?"

Duo shrugged.

"Yeah, I told her about it in the hospital, after I'd gone and fucked up everything."

Meilin raised an eyebrow, clearly curious, but she didn't ask for clarification.

"So this _just_ became a thing? You three?"

Duo sighed again.

"How long?"

"I… I mean, we sort of messed around at the end of the spring split but… And then we've been… a _thing_ or whatever for the last few weeks, until I went to the hospital and-"

"Wait, they dumped you because you almost died?"

Duo glared at her.

"I- No. I don't know what happened. I just… The night before all of that, I…" Duo realized that maybe he _was_ as much of an idiot as Meilin claimed he was.

"What?" she prompted him.

"I told them I needed space. But I just- I just meant I wanted to sleep in my room because I thought I was getting kicked in the side." He rubbed the raised line of his healing incision. "I kept waking up in pain and…"

"And your body was trying to kill you for weeks and you ignored it," Meilin summarized.

Duo nodded.

Did Heero and Trowa really think _he_ had ended things? They had been pissed, that night - and the next morning - about Duo saying he needed space. But they hadn't _talked_ to him about it. They had, according to Meilin, been worried about Duo when he collapsed, and they had been there at the hospital that first night. But when Duo had come home… they hadn't tried to talk to _him_. Not except-

Duo sighed. Last Saturday, when Quatre had wanted to go over the stats and Heero and Trowa had pushed against him, and then, for the first time, the three of them had been alone and they had been concerned about him and- and Duo had said _fuck this_.

"You having a realization about something?" Meilin asked.

Duo nodded.

"Yeah. I'm a fucking idiot."

"That's what I've been _trying_ to tell you!"

He glared at her, but she just smirked back at him.

"Now that you've realized that, how are we going to get your shit back together?"

"_We_?"

She nodded.

"Yeah. You backed me up when I was miserable on my birthday, and like I said before, I know what it's like to be the only one- Well," she smirked, "it turns out you aren't the only gay guy on the team, after all, but you _are_ the only one who's out and… someone's gotta help you."

Duo snorted and shook his head.

"Help me _what_? Fix the mess I've made of fucking _everything_? Because I'm thinking a time machine might be what I need for that."

"Why don't we start with a decent breakfast and, I dunno, the equally hi-tech solution of _communication_? Because that seems like your biggest problem - you aren't communicating with them or with _us_. Everyone _wants_ you to be healthy and happy, Duo. And, you know, helping us come in first place. But when you just… hide from everyone, we can't help you."

Duo sighed and shook his head.

"Yeah, I guess. I just…"

"Do _not_ make me start thinking you're even more of a pain in the ass than your brother was. Is. Was." She shrugged. "Don't be worse than him. Because when I left that team, he said a bunch of shit to me and I punched him in the dick - and I don't think you want that same treatment."

Duo raised an eyebrow.

"You're _threatening_ me into being happy?"

"Is it working?"

"I don't know yet."

-o-

Duo managed to eat more than half a piece of toast - he ate a whole piece and two strips of bacon while Meilin watched over him - and he did feel _better_. Not really because he had eaten more, but because it was finally nice to know that someone in the house _knew_ \- that now there was at least one person he didn't have to hide things from.

And, all things considered, he was lucky it had been Meilin who had confronted him and figured things out.

When they piled into the van to go over to the studio for the game that afternoon, the seating arrangements the same awkward ones from last week - Duo beside Trowa, Meilin and Heero in the back - Quatre waited until Sally had started to drive before ambushing Duo.

"Duo, we're concerned that-"

"It's not a problem anymore, Quatre," Meilin interrupted him.

Duo, seated between them, saw Quatre frown and look back at her.

"What-"

"Everything's under control; no need to make a fuss about it."

Quatre looked from Meilin to Duo, who felt his cheeks flame with embarrassment and _failure_ because he couldn't even get his shit together enough for his team to trust him to _eat_ on his own. He could also feel Trowa's steady gaze on him, and Duo turned, fully expecting Trowa to be glaring or scowling at him.

But Trowa just looked thoughtful.

Duo drew in a deep breath.

"I'm working on it," he said in a low voice, more to Trowa than to the entire van, even though he was sure the others heard him.

"Okay." Trowa turned away, facing back towards the front, and Duo tried to decipher the meaning in that one word.

Did Trowa believe him? Did Trowa trust him? Did Trowa _care_?

"How can we help?" Quatre asked, breaking through Duo's thoughts. "We're here for you, Duo. And- We care about you. All of us."

Duo sighed and leaned back in his seat.

"It's… I appreciate that you all care. But…"

"You aren't on your own, Duo. You aren't in this alone."

He turned back to look at Heero as he spoke up, and Duo had to swallow several times before he could respond to that.

"I just… I'm sorry. I'm really fucking sorry about everything. I-"

"Stop apologizing," Meilin cut in. "You were kind of an idiot, but you were looking out for yourself and no one else has been around to do that for awhile. We get it." She glared at both Heero and Trowa. "So stop apologizing for it. Just… start _talking_ to us. _All_ of us about shit."

"I'll try," Duo promised.

He looked toward the front of the van, returning Quatre's small smile before looking to see that Relena was peering around her seat at him, and that Sally was looking at him through the rear-view mirror.

He forced a grin onto his face.

"Well, now that the boring shit's out of the way, who's ready to kick some ass and win today?"

-o-


End file.

Gundam Wing/AC