Special "kink" drabble #7 by Merith

Duo *snicker* especially written for paikan for two reasons - she loves Duo, and she challenged me months ago to write a "Duo is bored" untypical safehouse fic. I think this might cover it.

mathematical experiment 

Duo tossed his backpack to the floor and announced, "I'm bored."

Four pairs of eyes lifted, briefly, before returning to what they'd been looking at.

"You tell us that enough, but never lack for something to do," Wufei stated calmly from one end of the table, a slim volume of Chinese history held in his hands.

A chair across the table from Trowa and Quatre was empty, and Duo plopped down on it. "Yeah, well this time I mean it. Boring school. No missions, and stupid homework."

Heero's pencil paused in the middle of solving a long equation. "Being a normal student is the mission. Stupid homework or not, you still have to complete it." His eyes flicked up for a moment and back to his own homework.

"Normal student, he says," Duo groused quietly, leaning over to dig through his backpack. "Like he could be a normal student on a good day!" He shoved aside his English text - they were reading King Lear, and he knew that would put him to sleep faster than anything. MacBeth it wasn't. Even Romeo and Juliet he would have preferred. That Tybalt, now, he'd do him. Duo glanced up under his bangs at Wufei contemplatively.

"Hell yeah, I'd do him," he muttered under his breath. With a resigned sigh, he pulled out his algebra text, and looked around at the soft plop that followed. A dark red wrapper covered tootsie-roll pop, and he remembered one of the girls from his fourth period slipping it into his bag - "sweets for the sweet," she'd said. Shakespheare again! He picked up the candy and set it on the table next to his math book.

He flipped through the pages and pulled out his folded up worksheet. At a glance, he knew the answers to the problems, and only needed to work them out for the teacher's benefit. "You know what the only thing more boring than being normal is?" he asked the room in general.

Quatre looked up from highlighting in the world civics text he'd been reading. Brushing hair from his eyes, he peered at his restless companion. "What's that Duo?"

"Pretending to be normal!" He grinned as Quatre rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Then you're bound to never suffer," Trowa inserted his quiet comment without lifting his head, or stopping in taking biology notes.

Duo opened his mouth to protest, but at Wufei's agreeing snort, and Heero's abrupt laugh, he sat quiet. Disgruntled, he glared at his book, arms crossed over his chest. It didn't seem fair that the others had no problems being normal. That they were willing to ride this mission out without feeling the pressing need to just blow shit up, or stomp mobile suit ass.

Recognizing he wasn't getting his work done sulking - and no one was paying attention anyway - he reached for his pencil.

The candy sucker rolled.

He picked up it, mouthing the words silently - Cherry Red flavor. He snorted softly. Artificial flavor with lots of unhealthy things candy-coated and sugar-packed. Removing the wrapper, he smoothed it out. Artificial flavor AND coloring, just like he thought. Sugar - yep. Corn syrup, hmmm... pancakes dripping with butter and maple syrup for breakfast sounded very good. He hummed an appreciative sound, murmuring softly, "...sticky sweet and spread all over. Can taste it now."

Unconsciously, he'd picked up the lollipop and put it in his mouth. The sweetly sour tang had him pulling it out quickly. Scowling at the unexpected taste, he stared at the candy. His tongue worked against his lips, acclimating itself to the blended flavor and contrasting tastes. Neutrality restored, he touched his tongue to the sucker hesitantly. Not too bad, if a bit more sweet than he liked.

Back in his mouth, he lolled it from one side to the other, feeling how what seemed like a smooth hard shelled surface was actually pitted with holes, had cracks and rough edges. He worked it around for another minute, seeing if he could count them all by tongue touch alone. Pulling it from his mouth, he whispered, "Ten." and proceeded to visually count them. He found nine but the last one eluded him. Tongue out, he ran the treat over his taste buds slowly, eyes closed, counting. "Yeah, that's it," his words a mere breath. Smiling in triumph, he looked at the rounded sweet.

Vaguely he remembered an ad gimmick on how many licks it would take to get to its tootsie-roll center and wondered. Peering at it from all sides, he estimated the thickness of the candy shell. Carefully, he gave it a light lick, and pondered how many millimeters he might have removed. Glaring for the lack of difference, he determined it'd take more than one lick. Now, how to rate the power behind a lick.

His finger tasted of the candy, and he sucked on it, wrapping his tongue around the finger pad. "...mmm..." he muttered. Stopping, he realized that if he sucked on the lollipop, it would disappear faster, negating his finding. But, the gimmick said lick, so lick he would. Pulling his finger from his mouth with a slight pop, he tackled the torque and pressure ratio of a single lick. He almost chuckled at putting the laws of average, with plus or minus mean factors, to such a use and just what his algebra instructor would think of that.

Having a fair idea of what the average would be for one of his licks, Duo again estimated the thickness on one side of the lollipop. After ten licks, he gauged the difference and felt victorious. Popping the sucker in his mouth, he slurped on it with enthusiasm. He flipped his homework page over, and quickly put the calculations he'd determined down, almost wanting to graph the findings. There! "Sixty-nine, with no biting," he murmured to himself.

Boredom diverted for the time being, he wrote out the problems assigned, and shoved the folded paper back in his book.

"Done," he announced, looking up to a nearly empty table. "Uh, Heero? Where'd everyone go?"

Heero shifted on his seat, his gaze flicking from the nearly finished lollipop to Duo's face. "They all had to go take care of ...things." His voice sounded odd to Duo.

"Oh." Not sure what else to say, he shrugged and put his book away. "At least I don't have any more homework. Maybe I can catch a show off the satellite."

"You probably can," Heero responded, his voice still odd-sounding, but less breathless. "And Duo," When the long-haired pilot looked up at him, Heero continued, "Next time you're bored, remind me to find something not so normal for you to do."

end ^____^