~ Lying, Waiting, All Too Late ~
Chapter One: First Encounter (part one)

 

 

Bearit's Notes: The first chapter is LONG, but I have divided it into two parts for your convenience. The second part should be up by next weekend depending on how my muses handle this. Anyway, this is a fanfic I've had in mind only for a short while, but it was too good of an idea for me to pass up. In the next chapter, you'll see what I mean. Lantis won't be in this fic for quite some time, but do enjoy the unrequited Geo x Eagle shipping in a way most people never thought of seeing it. ^_^ No shounen-ai yet, although there is a brief mention of shoujo-ai.

I put some Japanese words into this fic, sorry, but it sounds better this way. Here's a dictionary; as you can see, I don't use much.

Sumimasen: "Excuse me" -- in this context, politely catching someone's attention
Hai: "Yes"
Hajimemashite: "Nice to meet you"
Yare, yare: In this context, "Oh dear, oh dear" or something like that; said with exasperation. This is one thing that I just can't translate for you.
Hai, hai: In this context, it's "All right, all right"

 

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"You're WHAT?"

Geo Metro pretended to be interested in only his lunch, which wasn't much to be intrigued with, so his friend Meson Avant only prodded him further with heavy questioning... or rather, just gapes of utter disbelief.

"You're WHAT?" Meson demanded again, to which Geo finally answered again without looking up from his tray.

"I'm double majoring."

"Don't you need extra money for that? Something your family just doesn't have?"

"Thank you, Meson, for pointing that out to me. I know my family income."

"Which is next to nonexistent. Geo, your brother is so going to rip your head off."

Geo gritted his teeth. "I know."

It was the third year of the Air Force Academy, and Geo had signed up for a second major other than Leadership, what he initially took. Juniors were allowed to do that, given that their electives had followed the course leading up to that second major. Naturally, he took Mecha Combat, which most male cadets went for because they were male cadets. He found the class rather enjoyable, and he was told to be a natural at it. So despite the destitution the Metro family lived in, he decided to take both of the courses.

However, like Meson said, it required extra money, which his family just did not have; Geo and his older brother, Holden, both were in the academy under a scholarship that was only enough for their tuition and housing and scarce supplies. In order for Geo to take another class, he would need to get a loan, and the first thing Holden had told him upon arriving his freshman year of the academy: "Don't do anything that would require you to get a loan."

Holden was going to murder Geo with his bare hands, and both of the juniors knew it all too well.

Meson groaned. "What classes did you give up to do this? Mother told me that in order to double major--she told me this even before I signed up to take the test for the Academy--you have to give up a couple of classes, which is why most double majors go on a fifth year. What are you giving up?"

"Classes that wouldn't require me to go on a fifth year," replied Geo, picking up a piece of artificial meat from his tray. "Namely history and foreign relations."

"You gave up your social science classes?" Meson asked, appalled. Geo expected this to happen. "You'll need those later in life! Believe me! I mean, after all, if Autozam ever got into a war with Chizeta or Fahren or someplace like that, don't you think you should have a better idea of what's going on between the countries? And not to mention that if you ever wanted to tour those countries--"

Geo looked at Meson and smirked. "You just want me to be in the same classes as you," he replied, "since we're not roommates anymore."

"That too."

Geo and Meson had been roommates their freshman year, and by a stroke of good luck, during their sophomore year. Luckily for Meson, his roommate for junior year had been a friend of his from childhood. He never ate with Geo and Meson and Zazu Torque (who was still in line because his classroom before lunch was on the top floor of the twenty-story building while the cafeteria was on the bottom) because he always spent his lunchtime studying; Meson's friend was not a very sociable person. Geo found that he had no roommate, but in the most unfortunate way, so he was late to practically all of his morning classes.

The number one rule of the dormitories of the Air Force Academy is to never, ever abandon your roommate. The academy was all about learning the values of partnerships and teamwork, and if Geo had gone off to class without his roommate, the seniors and the lieutenants would have done one of two things: scream their heads off (very ineffective since Geo learned from the very beginning to block their censures out) or given him detention.

He had waited for his roommate to show up for the first half hour while the seniors were rallying up all of the juniors. Nobody had come, and he saw that he was almost late to his first class. He went to his supervisor, Lieutenant Colonel Isuzu Trooper, and asked about the nonexistent roommate. Needless to say, he turned out to be late to his first class. He would have made it on time to the rest of his classes had each of his instructors not scolded him. Geo considered himself quite lucky that all he had to do was to climb down the tower to get to all of his morning classes.

"So, when are you going to tell Holden?" asked Meson. "I'm only interested because I... don't want to be there when you do."

"Probably before din--"

"Sumimasen."

Geo glanced to his side and saw a young boy with pasty golden hair standing next to their table. He was scrawny, but, Geo had to admit, he had some sort of essence that he was stronger than he let on. The boy seemed rather... feminine for being a male, which probably accounted for that feeling. Geo assumed that he was a freshman--it was either that, or he was an exchange student.

Although Geo had a clear idea of what the boy was going to ask, he decided to say the only natural thing: "Hai?"

"What do you want?" would have been rude.

"Is it all right if I sit here?" the boy asked. He was polite, Geo noted. "All of the other tables are full or being saved for somebody else."

Geo and Meson exchanged a short glance of apathy, and Geo shrugged. "Sure, go ahead," he replied. "We're only expecting one other person, anyway."

"Thank you," the boy said as he took a seat, a small smile on his face.

Meson was the first to introduce himself.

"I'm Meson Avant of Matador County," he said. "Hajimemashite."

"Hajimemashite," the boy replied. "Matador County? Are you General Avant's son?"

Meson nodded, quite pleased that somebody knew who his mother was. "That's right! See, see, Geo, you are the only one in this school who's met me and not know that my mother was the general of the Air Force!"

Geo growled. "Some people lived in conditions in which we didn't care about that sort of stuff."

"Holden knew."

"That's Holden!" Geo exclaimed. "Holden and I are two completely different people."

"He's still your brother."

"What's your point?" The boy laughed quietly, and Geo remembered that there was an audience and turned his attention away from Meson. "Anyway, I'm Geo Metro of Central Integra." He smiled. "The part of the capital otherwise known as the ghetto."

"The ghetto?" the boy asked. "You're here under a scholarship?"

Geo nodded. "It pays to do well in the public schools sometimes. You actually have a chance at actually living for a change and get into a private school before you're ready to go out and get a job."

"That's how bad it is in Central?" said the boy thoughtfully. "Something to keep in mind... oh!" His grin grew slightly wider, obviously pretending he had said nothing at all. "I'm also from Integra but from Eastern."

"That's where all the aristocrats live," Meson muttered.

"My name is Eagle."

 

 

 

Later that evening, in the lounge, the steady volume was immediately broken by one loud angry voice.

"You did WHAT?!"

Geo recoiled and glanced around the lounge nervously. Only a few people averted their conversations to quickly glance at the Metro brothers, but they immediately resumed their socializing. They probably figured it was a mere sibling bicker. Nothing special.

Geo wished it was a mere sibling bicker.

He also began to regret even considering telling Holden about his double majoring plan.

"You got a loan?" Holden demanded. "A loan?"

Geo nodded. "Yes," he replied.

"A loan?"

"Yeah."

"For double majoring?"

"That's about right."

Holden closed his eyes and bit his lip. Geo recognized this as Holden's temper control system. It always failed.

"You got a loan... to double major."

Geo nodded slowly. "Yes, I did."

"WHY?!" Holden bellowed. "Why weren't you happy with Leadership? Why did you have to take up Mecha Combat, too?! Why did you have to put our family on the debt list, which Ma tried to keep us off of for years?!"

Geo narrowed his eyes. "Just because I got a loan doesn't mean--"

"Yes! Getting a loan does mean that you do not have money! Do. Not. Have. Money," said Holden.

"I know that," Geo said.

"So why did you do it?"

Geo hesitated. If he said the first thing that came to mind ("Because we don't have money."), Holden would be even more upset than he was now. If he gave his older brother a simple answer ("Because I wanted to."), he would bring family matters into everything again. He had to choose his words carefully.

"You always told me to be an opportunist, Holden," said Geo. "Don't you think that this would give me better opportunities to succeed in life rather than be limited?"

Holden shook his head and said with a calm fury, "Don't even get me started, little brother. I told you to not do a thing that would require a loan out of you. Now look. You turn your back on me and did it anyway. Two years is all you have to pay those loans back, which gives you one year after we graduate. That's not enough time for you to get a job and do that."

"I'll get it cleared," said Geo to reassure his brother. "You'll just have to trust me."

"How can I trust you now?" said Holden, throwing his hands in the air, exasperated. "Look, just go talk to Trooper and tell him--"

With that, Geo decided to take a firm stance against his brother. He growled a single word: "No."

Holden's glower went from terrible to horrible. "And. Why. Not?"

"Because I want to do this. I need to," said Geo sternly. "If I don't, you have absolutely no idea how... I don't know. All I know is that I need to double major for some reason that would benefit me in the future. It's just a strong feeling I have, and I know I need to. Why can't you understand that?"

"I understand needs all right," Holden replied. "Needs are food and shelter. You don't need anything more than that. Everything else in the world is just what you want. Do you think Ma has time for wants? She has a hard enough time getting enough food to eat for any more than a week. If you get a loan and you can't pay it back within the two years, Ma won't have shelter. Why do you have to be so goddamned selfish?"

Geo had to fight the sudden urge to strangle his brother. "People need more than just food and shelter, otherwise, why do we even live? And Holden, if anybody is being selfish, it's YOU."

"Excuse me?" Holden growled with dripping death.

Luckily, Meson must have sensed the imminent danger and had appeared at Geo's side. "Na, Geo," he whined, "let's hurry up and go to the dinner line--"

Unfortunately, Meson put himself in the line of fire.

"You encouraged him, didn't you?" Holden demanded from the general's son.

Meson arched a brow. "Eh?"

"You encouraged my little brother to get a loan, didn't you?"

Meson shook his head rapidly as Eagle walked up to them. He and Geo exchanged short nods and small smiles of greeting. "No, no, no!" Meson exclaimed. "If anything, I discouraged him! Discourage, not encourage! 'Dis' is the opposite of 'en'. Discourage! Trust me!"

Judging by the venomous scowl on his face, Holden apparently didn't. Geo sighed. "Meson did nothing," he said in defense for his friend. "I chose to get a loan by my own free will."

To this, Eagle spoke, "A loan? You had to get a loan? I can help pay it off for you if you want."

"No," both Metro brothers spoke simultaneously.

"I can," Eagle protested.

Geo said, "We only just met. I can't ask any favors out of you."

"We can't afford to be indebted to anybody," Holden replied at the same time. With that, Geo received the same glare he had been getting all evening from his older brother, but then Holden turned his attention to Eagle. Geo didn't think it was possible for Holden's eyes to get any narrower without them shutting, but somehow, he managed it. "Especially not your family."

Eagle looked taken aback but pressed on just as firmly. "I won't ask for you to pay me back or anything--"

"Especially NOT your family," Holden repeated.

Geo and Meson exchanged confused glances. Eagle's family? Now that Geo thought about it, Eagle never did give his family name. There was something Eagle was hiding from Geo, and although he had only known the freshman for less than six hours, Geo hated it.

Geo wasn't sure to consider it luck at first, but when Zazu came into the lounge begging for him and Meson and Eagle to hurry up, he could have sworn that things were about to get uglier.

They didn't. Geo forgot how much Holden admired Zazu.

"We'll settle this later, little brother," Holden spat, spinning curtly to head to his group of friends by the console games. "Don't you dare do anything about this until we do."

"I'm seventeen, Holden, I can take care of myself," Geo replied as he stormed towards the entrance to the cafeteria. "Come on, you guys."

Meson seemed rather eager to get out of the fifteen meter radius of the older Metro brother but timidly approached to the younger. Zazu followed, utterly confused, and Eagle somehow managed to catch up with the fuming Geo. All but Eagle seemed to be even the slightest bit frightened of angering him any further than he already was.

"I'm not lying when I say that you won't need to pay me back," said Eagle. "My family is rich enough."

"If you're from Eastern Integra, I can't expect anything less than that," Geo replied. "What did Holden mean, anyway, by your family? And how did he even know who you were when you two have never met?"

Eagle smiled. "Who knows?"

Geo halted, and Eagle followed suit with mild confusion. "You should."

"Hey, Geo, what was that about?" Zazu asked before Eagle could respond to that. "I have never seen Holden that upset at you before."

"I'll explain in line," Meson replied, giving Geo a strained grin. "Come on, come on."

"Meson..." Zazu whined but was dragged off by Meson before he could object any further. Geo was sure that Eagle would have been happy to move away from the subject, but Geo, for one, was pleased that Meson left the two alone. Maybe Zazu didn't need to know this, or maybe he did--that just depended on the answer Eagle gave Geo.

So, he tried again. "Look, my brother is upset just by knowing about your family. What does he know that I don't?"

Eagle's smile hadn't wavered, and he kept it on as he answered, "I haven't known you for a day, Geo, but I like you. I wanted to make sure we were truly friends first before I told you, but seeing as how you befriended the son of the general and a child genius..." He shrugged. "I'll tell you next week, but believe me when I say that I will pay off your loan and you won't have to pay me back in any form."

Geo shook his head. "You're a nice kid, Eagle, but I hate it when people hide things from me. You aren't becoming one of my favorite people this way."

"A week is the longest you'll have to wait," said Eagle. "I promise."

"I can't change your mind, can I?" Eagle laughed quietly, and despite his frustration, Geo grinned. "I'll have no choice then." They began walking toward the line to join Meson and Zazu. "And about the loan deal, don't concern yourself with it. My brother will just get pissed off more so than how you just saw him."

"One week," Eagle reminded Geo, apparently pretending to not hear. "One week for us to get an opinion of each other, and then I'll tell you everything you need to know about me, starting with my last name. I'm almost surprised you haven't figured it out yet for yourself."

 

 

 

Holden refused to leave Geo alone, as the younger brother discovered the next morning. Geo had been startled that someone would knock at his door, much less rudely and obnoxiously, but he had expected somebody of his own grade; no one, especially people from different genders and classes, were allowed to visit each other in the dormitories. Each dorm room was reserved for sleeping, taking care of hygiene, and adequate studying. Needless to say, Geo was surprised to see his older brother, a senior classman, in the doorway when he answered.

"Geo," said Holden softly. It was still an hour before they had to get to class; most people were either already eating breakfast or getting ready for lessons. "We need to talk."

Geo growled and considered slamming the door in Holden's face. "I don't want to talk about the loan thing. You're not talking me out of it."

"That's not it. Sort of. Could I come in?"

Geo arched a brow. "Since when were you so polite?" He sighed. "Hai, hai, come in."

Holden entered the dimly lit room, which wasn't the cleanest for being only the first morning back in the academy, but at least juniors and seniors weren't inspected as thoroughly as the sophomores and freshman. Geo had felt sorry for Zazu before, but now more so for Eagle, since it was his first year, and he actually liked the kid.

"So, what do you want to talk about?" asked Geo as he shut the door. "It has to be important, otherwise why the hell would you risk coming to the junior dormitories?"

"The dorms are the only place we can get privacy, meaning no interruptions of any type," Holden replied. "Geo, what do you know about your new freshman friend?"

"Eagle?"

"Yes, him."

"How do you know his name?" asked Geo, interested in getting out of Holden what he couldn't get out of Eagle. At the same time, he had every intention on letting Eagle keep his promise.

Holden looked like he was torn between breaking into laughter and utter confusion. "Eh? You haven't figured it out?"

"Figured what out?"

Holden sighed. "Yare, yare. I guess juniors and sophomores wouldn't know; only the seniors who get to yell at the underclassmen and the freshman know. Pity." He sighed again. "Actually, I don't think anybody was supposed to know. It's only a matter of time, little brother, before you find out for yourself. Until then, I want you to stay away from him."

Geo scowled; if he did that, he would be breaking an unsaid promise to Eagle. They were going to get to know each other's personalities more for a week before they make any judgments on each other. Geo wasn't about to follow his older brother's orders without good reason.

"Why?"

"Why?" Now Holden laughed, sounding as if the answer was obvious. It wasn't, not to Geo, at least. "Because he means trouble," said Holden, his face going sober. "He's offering money to you, and you should know better than to accept money from members of an aristocratic family. They're all bastards and not to be trusted--crap."

He must have realized that he gave away a vital clue, and Geo, while knowing that Eagle came from a family of wealthy politicians, didn't think anything about it until now.

"Eagle told me he was from Eastern Integra," said Geo. "You're not telling me anything new."

"Yes, well," said Holden, shaking his head to get over his slip-up. "Geo, don't take money from him. He's scheming something up, I swear."

"What would he be 'scheming up' in a place like this?" asked Geo. "He's only a freshman, for crying out loud, and first of all, do you think I would ask favors out of anybody I just met the day before?"

"It's not a question of now, Geo," Holden replied. "It's a matter of looking into the future. You don't befriend people easily, but you're sure going about it quickly with him, and I see you trusting Eagle with more things than you ever did Meson. I'm doing this for your own good."

"And as I said last night, I'm seventeen years old. I can take care of myself," Geo protested again. He could get into a fistfight with his older brother right about now, but he reminded himself that they were mature teenagers. He could restrain himself. Not to mention that getting into brawls anywhere on campus was against academy regulations. He could get them kicked out.

Unfortunately, it was the latter that kept him from pouncing on Holden.

Holden's eyes narrowed, and his voice held a warning tone. "Geo..."

"I don't need you to look over me anymore."

"Geo..." Holden's voice was getting deadlier. He was getting quite upset again.

"And I'm going down to eat breakfast," Geo snapped as he grabbed his laptop computer and stormed out of his dormitory room, not wanting to talk to his brother anymore.

Needless to say, he completely forgot that he had just stormed out of his own room with Holden still in it.

Geo sincerely hoped that Holden didn't destroy everything in the room, but then again, the Metro brothers were poor. Surely Holden wouldn't do something as stupid as that.

Right?

Right. Or not.

Geo just realized it at that moment that he was having a hard time trusting his brother nowadays.

 

 

 

Geo's bad mood from the morning encounter vanished during lunchtime when Zazu was busy tinkering around with a remote control he snitched from the audio visual room. There was a minor explosion, but everybody in the cafeteria had a good laugh from it. Since many of the lieutenants and the instructors believed that the fourth year students should be able to contain chaos within the cafeteria during mealtimes, Zazu didn't get into any trouble at all. The faculty of the Air Force Academy tended to forget that Zazu had earned the respect of the upperclassmen simply by being the only preteen to ever attend classes in the academy.

Geo knew he could always count on the young sophomore to bring him out of his gloomy disposition.

The class Geo had after lunch was a piloting course, a class he shared with Holden. Luckily, Holden ignored him. Furthermore, the class went on the simulators for a little warming up after being away from the academy for a couple of months. Geo was bored to tears during mathematics--again--and by the time he sat in his seat in his last class before Mecha Training, he was ready to fall asleep. Learning about Autozam's government was not one of Geo's favorite things to do, and he knew the hour would go by slowly.

As he stared blankly at his laptop's screen, the teacher's babble barely reaching his ears, he found his mind drifting to the conversation he had had with Holden that morning.

Sure, with Holden being a senior, he was allowed to yell at the freshman and sophomores. Being that Holden liked Zazu like a little brother he never had (to which Geo would glare at his older brother, but he reminded himself that he felt the same way about Zazu), he had no guts to yell at him. Quite a contradiction considering that he loved to yell at Geo, but Holden's conscience always seemed to be having a seesaw war. An inadvertent hypocrite, sure. Holden apparently chose to throw his frustrations out to the freshmen because of Zazu.

Even if it wasn't for Zazu, Geo was certain Holden would go for the freshmen. After all, what upperclassman in his right mind wouldn't want to pick on the youngest cadets in the academy?

The girls were excluded. They spent most of their energy on three things: studying, studying, and screaming their heads off at the male cadets. It was a no wonder why the past five valedictorians in the school were of the female race and none of the men could ever get dates.

Oh, yes, and the women did. That was no joke, though a lot of the men were mildly amused. At least, those who weren't as frustrated that the women weren't paying any attention to them.

So, Eagle's last name was something only the freshmen and seniors knew. Now that Geo thought about it, why hadn't Eagle gone to eat with people of his own age. He wasn't shy. Maybe nobody really liked him because of who he was related to? One or more of his family members were politicians, and the best Geo could think about were senators and representatives. Maybe Eagle had a grandfather on the judicial branch, or maybe his mother or father worked in the president's cabinet.

Geo had no idea how that could affect Eagle's lack of friends in the school, but he knew, thanks to Holden, that Eagle's family had to do greatly with the reason why Eagle refused to tell Geo or Meson or Zazu his last name.

"So, when the first president of Autozam was elected, President Lancia Countach, most of the colonies banded together to form--damn it," the instructor muttered... too bad he was wearing a microphone. "I hate interruptions; Geo Metro?"

Geo snapped to attention and stared at his instructor inquisitively. "Yes, sir?"

"You have to go down to your supervisor's office. Now," the instructor replied, staring at the console in front of the room. "The lieutenant colonel stressed heavily on that."

"Hai, hai," said Geo, happy to leave the class. Murmurs flew around, complaining that Geo somehow always got lucky.

It wasn't true; this was actually the fifth time in three years that he had been called out of class, but that was more than the average student in the academy. Nobody liked to admit it, but nobody really liked being called to their supervisor's office. Somehow, everyone had a foreboding that it would something horrible.

After he took a rather long elevator ride to the basement, where all of the faculty offices were, he found his brother standing in front of Lieutenant Colonel Isuzu Trooper's office, seeming just as worried as he was. Things didn't get any better for Geo's emotions just then.

"Oi, Holden," Geo called as he marched towards his brother. All grudges from that morning had vanished. "Do you have any idea--"

Holden had no chance to answer but seemed really distressed when Trooper stuck his head out of the open office door. "You may come in," he said, his wrinkling brows creased with remorse.

Something was really wrong.

Trooper took a seat behind his desk, his fingers intertwining as he held his hands to his forehead. Geo and Holden invited themselves to take a seat in the chairs in front of the lieutenant's desk. They glanced at each other nervously. Geo, like he assumed Holden was, wondered what in the world could put Trooper into a position of discomfort. He was normally so composed, yet kind and had a wonderful sense of humor. And if both of the brothers were called in...

"It's only the beginning of the school year," Trooper finally began, quietly, eerily quiet. "I know about your financial situation, and I know that you two can never afford to go back to the capital during vacation, so that makes this all the harder."

Holden spoke firmly. "We're big boys, Lieutenant Colonel. I'm sure we can handle whatever you have to tell us."

Geo was almost shocked that Holden hadn't given Geo a cold glare at the mention of "financial situation", but he realized that he shouldn't be. Something was up.

Trooper grinned a painted smile. "I know, Holden. I know. The health conditions in Central Integra aren't the best... but the only thing that's good about Central Integra, no offense, are the very close friendships that are formed there."

"If any at all," Geo muttered. Holden was right that morning; Geo didn't befriend people easily, and besides Holden's cronies, he had no real companions of his own other than the ones he had in the academy.

If Trooper had heard Geo, he chose to ignore him. He lifted his head so that his line of vision could meet a point in between the two Metro brothers so that they could meet his eyes.

"Holden, Geo, we just got the news earlier this afternoon. Two nights ago, your mother passed away. I am very sorry."

 

 

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To be continued in Chapter One: First Encounter (part two)