Maxwell's Silver Hammer
by Elyndys
Relena busily jotted down results in her notepad.
"Hmm, the solution becomes saturated after adding 40 grams.. What
if I increase the temperature to 30 degrees C?" She rolled up her
sleeves, catching sight of her watch in the process. "Half past 10
already? How time flies when I'm having fun with all these test-tubes
and chemicals! Hmm, maybe I'd better be clearing up - don't want to be late for physics in the morning, and the chemistry project isn't due in for another three weeks... Still, it always pays to hand things in early!" she thought to herself proudly, remembering the surprised look on her teacher's face when she handed in the term's work before the whole syllabus had even been taught. "At this rate I'll soon have my Nobel Prize! Well, the first one at least..." she thought smugly, beginning to tidy away her bunsen burner and test-tube rack, but looking up in surprise as she heard the phone begin to ring.
"Bit late for anyone to be calling..." She felt a little puzzled, a
feeling she wasn't used to. "Hello?"
"Hey Relena! How are ya?"
Her heart fluttered as she realised who it was who was calling her at half past ten on a Thursday evening - Duo Maxwell, the cutest,
funniest, coolest boy in school! She tried to keep the excitement out
of her voice as she replied.
"I'm fine Duo, how are you?"
"Oh please, call me Max - that's what all my friends call me. Are you doing anything tomorrow night? 'Cos I was wondering if I could take you out to the pictures?"
Relena could hardly contain her glee. Duo Maxwell had just asked her
out!
"Well, I don't think I'm doing anything special... I'd love to go and see a film with you?"
"Great! I'll meet you at the cinema at about 8 then?"
"That'll be fine."
"Well, see you tomorrow - I suppose I might see you in class? - Well, maybe drama or life skills - you're not in my sets for much else, girl-genius!" He laughed.
Relena laughed too at the compliment, pleased that he realised her
intelligence.
"Yeah. I'll see you then."
"See you, Relena."
She put the phone down, flushed with a deep sense of satisfaction.
What would all her adoring girl-friends think to this?! Duo Maxwell
had finally succumbed to her charms! What was it he'd called her when
they first met? "Good-looking?" And now she knew he respected and
loved her for her mind as well - "girl-genius"!
She cleared up the rest of her experimental equipment quickly. The
Nobel Prize would have to wait just a little longer - there'd be no
science for her tomorrow night. Except maybe biology, if Duo was
lucky...
* * *
Relena re-plaited her hair for the seventh time in front of her
mirror, wanting to make sure that not one single hair would be out of
place for her Big Date. She had to look like utter perfection, so
that Duo... no, MAX would fall to his knees before her and declare
his undying love. What man could resist her? She had washed and dried
her hair, made up as carefully as possible, put on her clingiest
skirt and most low-cut top, and her Wonderbra for good measure. Now
it was just the plaiting that was standing between her and ensnaring
the perfect man...
The sound of a knock at the door startled her out of her daydream.
She was puzzled - she'd said she'd meet him there, hadn't she?
Curiously she descended the stairs and opened the door...
It was dark outside. She couldn't see very much of the shadowy
figure who stood on the doorstep - only the glint of the streetlight
on metal...
Two shots.
Relena fell backwards, with only time to whisper one uncertain
word: "Max?"
Another figure stepped from the darkness of the world outside. Shook
his head at the prone form fallen in a slowly spreading pool of
red. "Not me." He looked at the slim figure who held the weapon -
pulled that figure to him in a kiss full of the intensity of love and
so much more...
...then closed the door of the house and ran, laughing.
* * *
"Hey Quatre, what class we got after break?"
"Umm... Spanish I think. Double."
Max groaned. "Oh no - I've not done my homework."
His companions laughed.
"That'll make you even more popular with the lovely Miss Une!"
"Shut it Wufei, don't even joke about it - she already has it in for
me!"
"Maybe you should just do your work then."
"And you can keep quiet as well, traveller-boy - you already know how to speak Spanish!"
"Why didn't you do your work this time, anyway, Max?" The last
speaker continued, ignoring his friend's frustration.
Max shot him a conspiratorial glance. "I was out."
His friends looked at each other, exchanging worried looks. Max smiled darkly.
"Max?" Quatre looked particularly serious. He lowered his voice. "It
was him again wasn't it?"
Max continued to smile; the expression took on an even more dangerous edge.
"And I haven't seen Relena around today."
Max raised an eyebrow. "Perceptive, Trowa."
Quatre gasped. "I hope you're in control of whatever it is you're
getting into, Max." There was genuine feeling in his voice.
Max softened his expression a little for his friend. "Oh, don't worry about me. I'll never lose control of him."
* * *
"Donde esta mi gallina? Quiero mi gallina!"[1]
Trowa rolled his eyes. "Tiene los sesos de una gallina." He said it
quietly though - he didn't want to attract any more attention from
Miss Une than Max already had. The only reason Max was still in the
top set was because Miss Une recognised his intelligence, and intended to at least attempt to stretch his abilities, not just let him drop out. That and, as head of department, she could keep an eye on him.
As she was doing right now. Watching him throw paper balls across the class, rock his chair back onto two legs, laugh and chatter loudly. Quietly fuming, she got up and stalked to the back of the classroom, not wishing to cause an unpleasant scene by revealing her anger to the rest of the class.
She leant over the desk where Max was sitting, idly chewing gum and
twirling his braid with his fingers. She stared down at him with as
much force as she could muster, and kept her tone as level as possible as she said, "Maxwell, seeing as you have better things to do with your time right now than learn, and seeing as you have not done your homework AGAIN, you can stay behind after school tonight." She flourished a red detention slip.
Meeting her gaze and returning it easily, Max took the slip and added it to several more in his breast pocket. "It'll be a pleasure, Miss."
Trowa, Quatre and Wufei exchanged glances tinged with fear.
* * *
Lines. It had been years since he'd had to write lines! Fifty. Plus all the homework he'd missed, and the classwork.
Une watched him with steel in her stare. He seemed to be getting on
with it - no mates to show off to. Boys, men - all the same... She
stood up from her perch on the front row of desks and turned to go
back to her own chair at the front of the room.
Max looked up at the glint of daylight streaming through the window
that reflected off polished silver...
Two shots.
Max got up from the desk, a slow smile spreading. He held out a hand; as it was taken he pulled its owner towards him into another kiss of such searing intensity that the gravity that held them together was tangible. Slowly Max pulled away, watching the face he shared so much with, smiling a sensual smile for only one.
He took the couple of steps to the body - crouched down and put a
hand to the wound, keeping the other as a link to his companion. He
stood up again, taking the free hand of the one with him with his
now-bloodied hand, completing the link between them. He lifted this
new link, sharing the warmth, gripping with determination and some
sense of a future.
They stood for some moments; Max smiling that broad, unique smile
full of dangerous darkness.
"Come on," he whispered - threw himself at the glass of the first
floor window and tumbled through to the grass below, never breaking
that bloody link.
* * *
Max stood alone, numbed and light with lack of sleep; hands, one
still strangely discoloured, resting on the wooden surface before him.
He was defending himself - why waste money on expensive lawyers, when he had the gift of a silver... tongue, he told his friends smiling a hint of that mysterious smile to himself. Quatre, Trowa and Wufei had been frantic with worry: "But you're innocent!"
"What do you think I'm gonna do, plead guilty? Have faith in me!"
But it wasn't just Max they were concerned for - it was... him...
Max had just finished giving his colourful testimony; now the
policeman who had arrested him was giving his.
"...looked... dirty, m'lud, like he'd been rolling on the ground,
both in and out of his clothes..." PC31 blushed a little as he
recalled that detail. "And the blood... all over his left hand..." The high colour now retreated from his face as quickly as it had advanced.
Max stood, seemingly oblivious to his surroundings, lost in thought,
that hint of a smile still toying with his mouth.
"Maxwell must go free!" Three voices screamed as one from the
gallery. Max himself turned to look, the inward-looking smile turning
to a more caring one in gratitude for his friends' loyalty and depth
of feeling.
The judge banged his gavel, causing Max to turn sharply, narrowing
his eyes.
"Silence in court! Or I shall have you three removed!" He continued
in a lower voice, "And at any rate, from the evidence so far I don't
think that there's much chance of the accused will be leaving here a
free man..."
But as the words left his lips, another noise made the court look
behind him... at a flash of light on silver...
Two shots.
[1] Sorry I don't know how to make my keyboard do upside-down question marks etc... And it means (well, it's supposed to mean) "Where is my hen? I want my hen!" and Trowa replies "You have the brains of a hen."
Yes... well... that's what we used to talk about in our Spanish
lessons...
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