6Duo Maxwel - AC 203 Late December
Duo let his fingernails rack against the handrail, barely refraining from looking up his watch again. He knew it was superfluous. He knew he had checked the time seconds ago.
His purplish eyes were scanning the moving landscape, counting down the streets. Two down his destination; he heaved the hand bag over his shoulder and tapped lightly at the driver's window.
The mini-shuttle drew to a stop and the door swished open to let the young man hop out.
_ Thanks buddy! I owe you one." Duo waved warmly at the old man behind the wheel of the battered colony bus and hurriedly took off. The driver had been kind enough to make a small detour between two stops to drop him a couple streets down his place so the jog home was pretty short.
He was still way too late and would have to forego the long awaited full shower. His itchy scalp would have to wait a little while. Shit.
_ I hate those Terrans!" He yelled as greetings while dropping his bag near the front door and taking in the view provided by their living space; three gutted suitcases each half-full with different kind of clothes: one for the formal suits for the cocktail's party and Christmas Eve, one for the hiking gears and the last for the casual stuff, spread around a very fine ass bend over a stack of shoes.
The display dulled a bit as the short brunet in the living room straightened up and turned around, two pair of shoes in hands.
_ In less than eight hours, the twins dangling from each of your arms, you will love Terrans again.
A chuckle and a welcoming kiss later. Duo was relaxing in a warm embrace, his annoyance melting away.
_ Technically, they are Martians. And we're not even sure Merquise and family will make it back this year. They haven't since Millie and Luc learnt to walk.
He let his hands wander under the clingy shirt and onto warm skin. After the disastrous meeting he just finally escaped, he wanted some quick angry sex. Just wasn't sure how welcome it would be. Or if they had time for that right now.
_ They will. Relena confirmed it yesterday. So… which pair should I take?
The warm body slipped from between his arms and offered the two pair of shoes to his attention. So long for sex…
Disgruntled, he still indicated his preference and toed his own shoes off. No time for a shower, but he would freshen up before launching into packing and run to the shuttle port for a too long trip down to Earth.
_ Cheer up Duo, you're on holiday for a fortnight. No more pompous ass to kiss, no more queen bitch jealous of your incredible hair.
He lowered his gaze as he stripped on his way to the bathroom.
_ I know a way you could cheer me up nicely.
Hm… He loved that chuckle. Low and throaty. Sex it would be.
Hilde's thong was already dangling from the tip of her toes and was tossed somewhere under a couch before Duo reached the bathroom. She followed him in and tauntingly spread on the washing machine, her short skirt no longer hiding anything of her most female features.
Duo let his fingers dig in the soft flesh of her tights, her hands on his shoulders and welcomed the warmth and the rush.
Duo let himself drop on the seat with a relieved huff. The packing had been quite rushed after the interlude and the detour the cab had to make when the main road had been blocked for the irrigation system repairs made them almost miss the take off.
_ We must have forgotten half the things we'll need down there." Hilde grumbled tiredly.
Duo took her hand and laced their fingers together. She had come home before him, but it didn't mean she had been idle all day either.
_ Yanno, Sank might be a tad uncivilized, but I'm pretty sure they have shops to suit your tastes.
The woman who had shared his life for most of the last nine years laughed and punched his shoulder playfully. "Idiot".
He let her untangle their hand to make herself comfortable on the shoulder she had just mistreated to nap on. Duo reclined his own seat a bit and let the hum of the engines lull his to a relaxed state of half sleep. He couldn't see Earth from their side of the space-shuttle but the moon was quite visible.
Now that she was no longer an army facility, but slowly growing with green domes of off-Earth farming, she did look less of a cemetery than she used to. Still, the memories were unpleasant.
Well… not all of them. But the few that were not reminded him too much of the one person he knew wouldn't be there. Who hadn't been to their yearly gathering since the first one, and hadn't been seen at all after the Mariemaya incident.
Duo let his eyes shut, shielding him from the disheartening view. Better focus on what he had than delve on the loses and misunderstandings.
He had a job he loved, most of the time, and a wonderful woman sharing his life.
After taking OZ down, they more or less all stuck together, helping with the founding of the new order. There had been so much to do. Then Mariemaya happened and the darkness had dampened all of their youthful hope that everything would be all right from then, forever. At least for a few generations. It took one year. The conflict had been promptly dealt with, but the setback it begat…
It tore them apart. Zech and Noin went to Mars. Wufei, as atonement for his treason and siding with the instigator of the original Operation Meteor, enlisted the Preventers and spent the next four years tracking down and destroying any left MS facility or stash with Sally Po. He was still a Preventer as far as Duo knew.
Quatre decided that his own atonement would be through rebuilding the colonies and repairing the damages from years of neglect from Earth followed by the war itself. Trowa went back to the family he found with the circus, Relena to being a high ranking official. Heero fell off the grid overnight soon after.
Duo went back to Hilde and they reopened the salvage. It was working so-so, mostly kept-up because there was so much to repair and too little money to buy anew. So Duo decided to use some spare time to craft his own mini Gundams, waist size, remotely controlled. He couldn't help, he missed his buddy. After he got the first five (the originals), he included some automated code to the upgraded ones, more like automatons than puppets. Howard found out and urged Duo to do more of them. Well… dolls, working just as well, but with none of the war reminders that was MS skin.
It had been a brilliant idea and kids loved them. And even adults too. It was all good and well, until Some guy from North America brought one home. He spread the word around, brought more customers to Duo, and now Duster company had approached him for a contract of more dolls than he could make, in less time he would need to make them good. He didn't really mind commands and custom orders, but his business was hand-craft and he wouldn't have it any other way. They were angling for more serried stuff.
From there, the discussion had quickly turned sour and sterile. Hence his tardiness and lassitude.
As his side, Hilde sighted and settled a bit more comfortably against his shoulder.
True, they had the weirdest relationship. But it worked, mostly. They found their balance and were moving forward. They've lived together since they met and knew their way around each other. They knew how to tip-toe around the land mine of their (mostly his, alright) war induced scars and all. When to push, when to let go. When to sex out the gloom.
The sex was great; funny and uncomplicated.
He loved her, dearly. She was his best friend and long-time partner.
Sometimes they split up; when she was fed off waiting for him to take a step up and actually commit, she would find a boyfriend. She always came back. It was difficult to find someone who understood what they've been through. And to get that, even now, she was tough as nails and loved her job as a security agent. Not a little flower crushed by the war who needed coddling. Despite the scars.
Most guys, even former soldiers, felt both awed by her having been a soldier (and a MS pilot) and threatened that she still carried a gun. Could kick their ass with one hand, the other holding her beer. He was simply glad he had someone by his side who could watch his back. Not that it was any longer needed, but habits die hard.
_ Love you babe." He whispered and kissed her forehead.
She was his home, and he wasn't ready to lose her.
A little while later, she woke up and asked how long they still had. Upon learning there was still a couple hours left before landing; she got up to the end of the shuttle, her nails grazing Duo's upper arm with a wink. He waited all of forty seconds before taking her up on the offer, then taking her in the shuttle's closet, slowly. They had two hours to kill after all and it would hurt no one.
Definitely not ready.
Trowa Barton - AC 195
He had no real reason to pick-up the fallen pilot. Really, he didn't know him, nor his motivations. Except for the fact that the only time they met in battle, 01 had straight picked-up a fight with the Tallgese pilot and let him to fend of the flocks of Leos by himself. That nearly ended up poorly.
And the lithe boy had made a lot of damages to their cause when hastily destroying that ship and ending up killing the Marchal Noventa. OZ wouldn't have been anywhere this far, taken over the Alliance that easily, if not for the man's death.
They were fighting for the Colonies. But the reason he had killed Trowa Barton was mostly to protect Earth, and the two scientist he was threatening at the time. Now, after that stunt, they had become mere terrorists. Easy prey to any discredit campaign OZ would want to send their way.
So why did he bother to save a suicidal hothead with not a thread of common sense? One single reason; he was a fellow pilot. Unreasonable and reckless, still a fellow pilot fighting for the colonies. And he had lost too many of his comrades to let another to die if he could help. Even a stupid one.
So he took the boy as securely as he could and headed back to the only place he felt safe enough: the Circus. Why had he felt drawn tot that place in first, he'll probably never know. It didn't exactly matter. It was a fact he wouldn't overlook, nor one he wanted to delve into.
It had been almost a month ago.
A month tending the other's prone body, not knowing when he would wake up again. Nor if he would, especially in the first few days where the injuries were … what you could expect when taking the full blast of a self-destruct Gundam MS. In fact, they were quite less gruesome than expected.
The kid's body was unbelievably sturdy for such a small frame. And should he know, he had given him physical therapy for the last three weeks, and sponge bathed him and changed his dressing ever since Catherine and the Circus nurse sewed him back together.
He did ditch the effort of spoon feeding an unresponsive body to Catherine. He didn't have that kind of patience.
The recovering pilot also had much more scars than he should. Even more than himself had. The most disturbing thing being that a lot of those scars were surgical ones, not from battle ground.
What the hell had been done to that boy? And how such a kid could have become a pilot?
Given his… pilosity, or lack thereof, he mustn't be more than thirteen or fourteen. His young age might also explain his utter lack of insight about his actions. On the other hand, he, himself, did steal his own Gundam Heavyarm. Maybe, he wasn't the only one. One would only know when the kid would wake up.
Speaking of it.
It seems he might have the occasion to get those answers. Catherine was calling out to him. Their guest had opened his eyes.
Nota : So far I'm up to 12 written chapters. I've barely reached the III act. So this story will be 30 chapters at least, most probably around 40. I hope for a continued weekly release.
Please bear with me for the next few months. (If you like G-boys having a hard time figuring out love relationships)