Sorry that this got erased, it's reposted and good as new, I even double
checked my spelling this time! So once more, enjoy.
The perfect present
Duo sat in his room, staring bleakly into a small pile of crumbled bills and change lying in a little hollow made of blankets. Five dollars and seventy-three cents. It's not enough! Frustrated he slumped forward until he could feel the little coins pressing against his face.
Unh. What the hell could he get with such a small amount of money? Shinigami take it all!
With a very low growl Duo sat up, feeling a few coins sticking to his face. Damn them, damn Quatre, damn Trowa, damn Wufei and above all DAMN Heero!
"..."
Okay I take that back, I don't want Quatre damned, he's too fucking cute. And Trowa has never done anything against me except agree with Quatre, and you know, Wufei was just as against this as I am but hell, the Heero one is stickin!
Ooh, this sucks. Duo let his mind wander away, wondering what the hell he was supposed to do.
When you get right down to it, this was all Quatre's fault. The sympathetic angel had decided that everyone deserves to have a birthday and he had told them so. After making his announcement the little troublemaker had made Trowa, Duo and Heero pull a date out of a hat and that was then their birthday. It seemed to work okay; this was their third year going with this system.
One problem though, Heero was turning 18, according to the day he drew, in a little less than two weeks. And Duo was flat on his ass broke.
I need to do something! The perfect present for Heero is out there, somewhere and it is only five seventy-three! Briefly he thought about doing what he had done every year, get him nothing. I mean, if you don't get him anything it's better than getting him something he'll hate right?
No, that won't work. This year he wanted to get Heero the perfect thing, to let him know how much he was loved. But how was he supposed to get something that showed his love with only five goddamn seventy-three! It was hopeless.
Duo frowned and chewed absently on the end of his braid as he pondered. Maybe he should go talk to the others, they might have some good suggestions, and Heero was out on a mission so it was the perfect time.
Walking instead of bouncing (a major sign that something was wrong) he left his room and went looking for his fellow pilots. It was easy to find Quatre and Trowa; he simply followed the music to where they were playing on a balcony. "Guys?"
Quatre instantly put away his instrument seeing how depressed Duo looked while Trowa quietly set down his flute. "Do you need something Duo?"
"YES! Help me!" Duo sat down with/collapsed unto a soft stuffed chair and moaned in anguish, head in hands.
Both boys jumped and in half a sec Quatre was next to him, looking concerned. "Duo honey, what's wrong?"
"I need to find the perfect birthday present for Heero!"
"Oh, is that all?" He looked instantly relieved.
Duo had to fight the urge to snarl at the blond Arab. "Yes that is all! And sorry for it feeling important to me!"
Trowa looked back between them calmly, very confused but not letting it slip past his carefully calm mask. Quatre was starting to look nervous so he decided to help. "What do you think he'd like?"
The very soft, seldom heard voice was enough to startle Duo out of his self- pity temporarily. It didn't last long. "That's the problem, I don't know!"
"I have an idea." Quatre smiled sweetly and continued on. "You know the flower shop downtown, off highway 99?"
"Yeah I know the place. That's where I used to buy Beanie.babies.*cough*" Duo slowly petered off and went quiet. Hm, flowers for Heero? I dunno.
Quatre skimmed right over the comment though Trowa arched an eyebrow. "Well the last time I was there I saw these cute little dolls with yarn hair and all these little outfits. They're so cute!"
Very slowly Duo blinked and then turned away from Quatre instead looking to Trowa, the sane one for ideas. The uni-banged pilot suggested quietly the only thing he could think off, "Maybe you could get him a new gun?"
This wasn't working. Duo sighed and went to leave, mumbling, "Thanks for the help," before he walked out.
Well that had proved fruitless.
Next source then. Where would Wufei be?
He wandered randomly until finally he found the Chinese pilot downstairs in the safe house, sharpening his sword meditatively. Without a word Duo sank down next to him and waited for acknowledgement. After a while Wufei looked up and nodded to show he was listening.
Duo quietly asked, "What do you think I can get for Heero's birthday?"
"Huhn. Something sharp, deadly, shiny, or that inflicts pain." With that useful advice he went back to rubbing the whetstone against the blade
I give up, at least for now. Sighing sadly he trudged back to his room and flopped down on the bed to sleep for tonight. But tomorrow he would continue looking.
***********
"Hey isn't this cute?" Quatre gushed over a little stuffed animal and Duo felt a little smile tug at his mouth. This wasn't so bad, they had all decided to go shopping, or rather Quatre had pulled Trowa and Wufei along in their quest. Now they were in a small shop called shells and things that was clearly meant for children.
"Sneak attack!" Duo reached out and nipped the blonde's ear with one of those weird animal head things while Trowa examined sock puppets. Wufei was, well, somewhere in the store. Quatre yelped in surprise and countered with a giant stuffed snake.
"Take thissss!" The two giggled at each other and started an all out stuffed animal fight, tossing the hapless teddies and various manimals back and forth. Trowa grinned at them, and caught a mini lion as it bounced off Duo's head in his direction.
"Ah, ah, ah, play nice kids." Trowa tucked the little lion back in place and looked at them shyly for a moment. Then, much to their surprise he reached out and kissed Quatre's cheek with a little tiger hand puppet. "I love you!" He made the little puppet squeak at Quatre before he slipped it off and handed it to Duo, walking away silently.
"Ooh." Duo winked at a suddenly blushing Quatre and wandered away further into the store. At the back next to a window overlooking the bay he found Trowa and Wufei playing checkers. The only thing strange was that the checkers were huge, bigger than hockey pucks and the board was just as proportionately larger and looked very much like it could used as a blanket when it wasn't draped over a table.
Trowa, in all his wisdom was fighting excellently and Duo bounced up and down, "I play winner, I play winner!"
"What's this about me?" Quatre showed up behind them looking a little confused at hearing what he thought was his name.
"No, I was talking about their game, I get to play next!"
"Oh." The younger man blushed before seizing Duo's hand. "Come on I found something he might like!"
Duo's ears practically perked up and he followed his fellow pilot around a ton of displays until they reached a wall devoted to crafts. There were stacks of colorful origami paper, yarn, sewing supplies and other various goods. What Quatre wanted to show him was a stamp with hundreds of Japanese symbols. Duo was quiet as he examined it. It was nice but why would Heero want this?
With a sigh he set it back and shook his head at Quatre whose face fell in disappointment. "Oh well, I tried." Duo nodded in thanks and started looking at the stamps, there was a very nice engraved one made of metal and mahogany that was the Japanese symbol for love, the word scrawled in English beneath it. Hmm, appealing.
His gaze drifted to the price. Thirty-five dollars. With a wince he put the little thing back on the shelf. So much for that idea. Putting on a fake smile for Quatre he bounced back to where Wufei and Trowa were at war. During his absence the Wufei had gained the upper hand and poor Trowa had only one king left while the Chinese pilot had four.
While Duo impatiently waited for them to finish, whining a little at how long they were taking a couple of times and bounced on the balls of his feet they chased each other around the board. FINALLY after nearly an hour Wufei managed to trap Trowa but not before his force had dwindled down to two.
As Trowa stood up Wufei smirked and started resetting the pieces. "Oh hey," he said in surprise, "there's chess pieces on the other side."
"Ooh, let's play chess Wu-man!" Duo had cheerfully slid into the seat like he lived there and was swiftly flipping over all the pieces to reveal the chess side.
"I can't play chess, I don't know how."
"I'll teach you!" Wufei shrugged in acceptance and started slowly to set up his side to the best of his knowledge. In half a breath Duo had finished setting his side and glanced over to see how Wufei was doing. With a grin he saw the Chinese pilot setting them up like checkers and reached across the table to help. In not too long things were set up right and Duo was rushing through the basics of chess. He was black, of course, what else would the god of death play.
They started with Duo explaining things as they went. Quatre and Trowa watched for a while then wandered away. Quite some time later they returned and sighed to see the two still going strong. Quatre sighed and snatched two hats off a display and put them on the pilots, a black and red joker's hat with bells for Duo and a huge overstuffed crown on Wufei. The two were too wrapped up in their game to notice.
After waiting some more Quatre snapped a picture of them and told them that he and Trowa were going across the strip to check out another shop. Duo absently waved and continued on with the game.
It was a very long time before they finished, Duo the eventual winner but not before Wufei pulled off some tricks that made Duo accuse him of lying about being a newbie. It was only then that they noticed the hats and pulled them off.
"Hm, cute." Duo snickered at the hat, even Wufei smiled a little. They got up and stretched, relinquishing the board to some waiting teenage girls, and putting the hats back. "Tro and Cat are across the street, right?"
"Yeah. Let's go find them." Duo nodded in agreement and bounced out the door, stopping when he reached the door and Wufei wasn't there. After a moment the other boy appeared, grinning and putting the joker hat on Duo's head. "It suits you too well to not get it."
For a second Duo folded his arms and stuck out his tongue before he straightened the hat and bounced across the street with Wufei following behind. He did like the hat to be truthful, liked the way it made noise when he walked, liked the looks people directed at him. Something like, 'What the hell is with him?' He liked it all.
Directly across the street was photo studio and the two boys examined its display window with interest before going in to see if their friends were inside. After looking around and questioning the shopkeeper they kept walking. One door over was a gift shop, crowded and small and smelling like cinnamon. There too yielded nothing.
Three shops later and with the same results Duo was panicking. "Did they leave without us?"
Wufei shook his head and pointed at a black jeep. "The car's still here."
"Ooh, there they are!" Duo had just seem the light blue jacket of Quatre way down the road and raced towards them. The two waited until they caught up and then after a brief talk they split up again, Duo with Quatre and Wufei leading Trowa away to show him something in a leather shop.
Quatre and Duo went in a strange shop that smelled like incense and once more Duo was running around looking for the perfect gift. Hopefully something for five dollars and seventy-three cents. Jewelry, nope, rings, NOT a good idea, dresses, *snort* yeah right. Hm, near the exit was a small shelf with thick shapes of crystal. Deep in the depths of the clear crystal were small patterns that made Duo stare in amazement. His eyes were drawn to one a simple rectangle in which an eagle had its wings spread in flight over a very small and detailed earth.
Ah! This was nice! Twenty dollars, damn. Duo turned to say something to Quatre, only to realize the blond boy was gone. Looking around Duo went to the shopkeeper, a young girl dressed like a gypsy and asked her, "Did you see where my friend went?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. He left a while ago."
Frowning Duo walked out and looked around. No one. Quickly he started running around, looking for his friends. He couldn't find them anywhere. Did he ever mention how much he hated being alone? Well he did. A lot and now he was getting very near tears.
Then they walked out of a store, all of them together and he catapulted from depressed to relieved to angry. The jerks, how dare they walk away and leave him by himself! Standing there just long enough so that they noticed him he glared accusingly and spun around on his heel. Before they could react he was already half gone, walking towards the boat dock because that always calmed him down somehow.
None of the pilots followed him and he spent the next two hours walking around the docks, looking at boats and seals. When his feet started to hurt because of the sharp heels of his leather boots he walked back towards where the car was parked, thinking about finding Quatre and demanding the keys. Ahead he briefly saw the blue flash of Quatre's coat and saw the other boys get in the jeep and start it.
With out changing his expression from an angry blank or changing his calm stalking pace he went to his door, pulled it open and slid in. No one said a word as Trowa pulled the car out. After a few minutes silence Quatre muttered something about a pawnshop that only Trowa could hear.
They reached said pawnshop and once more they all went in, Duo still painfully quiet and abandoning his joker's hat. Trowa and Quatre looked at instruments, Wufei played with knives and Duo stared at a beautiful Japanese sword on the wall. It was a traditional katana in a blue silk sheath, dragons storming across the cloth. It would be perfect for Heero but by this point he was too depressed to even ask a price. It wouldn't be in his price range, there was no goddamned way.
After a while Quatre noticed Duo staring longingly at the wall and walked over. "Do you want to get that for Heero?"
Hell yes! "No." Duo's voice was flat and the little pilot looked startled.
"Okay. Hey, he likes this movie." Duo looked at it and sighed as Quatre walked back to where Trowa watched from. It had been a long day, he was tired after staying up all night thinking, his feet hurt from a day of walking in the damned two inch heels, never fucking mind if they made him feel taller! This was the last shop they were going to before they went for the three drive home and this was the first thing he had found that Heero might like and that he could afford.
He just didn't care anymore. And he bought the damn movie, throwing all the money he had on the counter and storming out to the jeep. While everyone was inside still he looked at the battered cover, .and started crying.
'Boys don't cry' he shouted at himself in silence, but he couldn't help it. The tears just wouldn't stop. It had been such a long day, all he wanted was to get Heero the perfect gift and the best he could do was a second hand movie and a card he'd draw himself. Life fuckin' sucked.
I want to give him the whole world but with only five dollars, that's a pretty goddamn small piece of world. Sniffling he rubbed away the tears as the other pilots came out.
Quatre said something quietly to the others and they stayed at the door talking while he went out to talk to Duo. "Duo, you want to get that sword for Heero don't you? I'll give you the money for it."
It was the wrong thing to say. Duo turned away, hiding his eyes behind his bangs and shook his head. A single tear streaked down his cheek. They just don't understand! "I don't want you to buy it for him."
The blonde was silent and he got back into the front seat, after a moment Trowa and Wufei joined them. Duo stifled his sobs on the trench coat's collar and kept himself turned around towards the window so that no one would see him cry.
It wasn't fair.
Hello to anyone reading this. All my reviews got deleted with the original version of this story. Feel like making up the difference? Please?
The perfect present
Duo sat in his room, staring bleakly into a small pile of crumbled bills and change lying in a little hollow made of blankets. Five dollars and seventy-three cents. It's not enough! Frustrated he slumped forward until he could feel the little coins pressing against his face.
Unh. What the hell could he get with such a small amount of money? Shinigami take it all!
With a very low growl Duo sat up, feeling a few coins sticking to his face. Damn them, damn Quatre, damn Trowa, damn Wufei and above all DAMN Heero!
"..."
Okay I take that back, I don't want Quatre damned, he's too fucking cute. And Trowa has never done anything against me except agree with Quatre, and you know, Wufei was just as against this as I am but hell, the Heero one is stickin!
Ooh, this sucks. Duo let his mind wander away, wondering what the hell he was supposed to do.
When you get right down to it, this was all Quatre's fault. The sympathetic angel had decided that everyone deserves to have a birthday and he had told them so. After making his announcement the little troublemaker had made Trowa, Duo and Heero pull a date out of a hat and that was then their birthday. It seemed to work okay; this was their third year going with this system.
One problem though, Heero was turning 18, according to the day he drew, in a little less than two weeks. And Duo was flat on his ass broke.
I need to do something! The perfect present for Heero is out there, somewhere and it is only five seventy-three! Briefly he thought about doing what he had done every year, get him nothing. I mean, if you don't get him anything it's better than getting him something he'll hate right?
No, that won't work. This year he wanted to get Heero the perfect thing, to let him know how much he was loved. But how was he supposed to get something that showed his love with only five goddamn seventy-three! It was hopeless.
Duo frowned and chewed absently on the end of his braid as he pondered. Maybe he should go talk to the others, they might have some good suggestions, and Heero was out on a mission so it was the perfect time.
Walking instead of bouncing (a major sign that something was wrong) he left his room and went looking for his fellow pilots. It was easy to find Quatre and Trowa; he simply followed the music to where they were playing on a balcony. "Guys?"
Quatre instantly put away his instrument seeing how depressed Duo looked while Trowa quietly set down his flute. "Do you need something Duo?"
"YES! Help me!" Duo sat down with/collapsed unto a soft stuffed chair and moaned in anguish, head in hands.
Both boys jumped and in half a sec Quatre was next to him, looking concerned. "Duo honey, what's wrong?"
"I need to find the perfect birthday present for Heero!"
"Oh, is that all?" He looked instantly relieved.
Duo had to fight the urge to snarl at the blond Arab. "Yes that is all! And sorry for it feeling important to me!"
Trowa looked back between them calmly, very confused but not letting it slip past his carefully calm mask. Quatre was starting to look nervous so he decided to help. "What do you think he'd like?"
The very soft, seldom heard voice was enough to startle Duo out of his self- pity temporarily. It didn't last long. "That's the problem, I don't know!"
"I have an idea." Quatre smiled sweetly and continued on. "You know the flower shop downtown, off highway 99?"
"Yeah I know the place. That's where I used to buy Beanie.babies.*cough*" Duo slowly petered off and went quiet. Hm, flowers for Heero? I dunno.
Quatre skimmed right over the comment though Trowa arched an eyebrow. "Well the last time I was there I saw these cute little dolls with yarn hair and all these little outfits. They're so cute!"
Very slowly Duo blinked and then turned away from Quatre instead looking to Trowa, the sane one for ideas. The uni-banged pilot suggested quietly the only thing he could think off, "Maybe you could get him a new gun?"
This wasn't working. Duo sighed and went to leave, mumbling, "Thanks for the help," before he walked out.
Well that had proved fruitless.
Next source then. Where would Wufei be?
He wandered randomly until finally he found the Chinese pilot downstairs in the safe house, sharpening his sword meditatively. Without a word Duo sank down next to him and waited for acknowledgement. After a while Wufei looked up and nodded to show he was listening.
Duo quietly asked, "What do you think I can get for Heero's birthday?"
"Huhn. Something sharp, deadly, shiny, or that inflicts pain." With that useful advice he went back to rubbing the whetstone against the blade
I give up, at least for now. Sighing sadly he trudged back to his room and flopped down on the bed to sleep for tonight. But tomorrow he would continue looking.
***********
"Hey isn't this cute?" Quatre gushed over a little stuffed animal and Duo felt a little smile tug at his mouth. This wasn't so bad, they had all decided to go shopping, or rather Quatre had pulled Trowa and Wufei along in their quest. Now they were in a small shop called shells and things that was clearly meant for children.
"Sneak attack!" Duo reached out and nipped the blonde's ear with one of those weird animal head things while Trowa examined sock puppets. Wufei was, well, somewhere in the store. Quatre yelped in surprise and countered with a giant stuffed snake.
"Take thissss!" The two giggled at each other and started an all out stuffed animal fight, tossing the hapless teddies and various manimals back and forth. Trowa grinned at them, and caught a mini lion as it bounced off Duo's head in his direction.
"Ah, ah, ah, play nice kids." Trowa tucked the little lion back in place and looked at them shyly for a moment. Then, much to their surprise he reached out and kissed Quatre's cheek with a little tiger hand puppet. "I love you!" He made the little puppet squeak at Quatre before he slipped it off and handed it to Duo, walking away silently.
"Ooh." Duo winked at a suddenly blushing Quatre and wandered away further into the store. At the back next to a window overlooking the bay he found Trowa and Wufei playing checkers. The only thing strange was that the checkers were huge, bigger than hockey pucks and the board was just as proportionately larger and looked very much like it could used as a blanket when it wasn't draped over a table.
Trowa, in all his wisdom was fighting excellently and Duo bounced up and down, "I play winner, I play winner!"
"What's this about me?" Quatre showed up behind them looking a little confused at hearing what he thought was his name.
"No, I was talking about their game, I get to play next!"
"Oh." The younger man blushed before seizing Duo's hand. "Come on I found something he might like!"
Duo's ears practically perked up and he followed his fellow pilot around a ton of displays until they reached a wall devoted to crafts. There were stacks of colorful origami paper, yarn, sewing supplies and other various goods. What Quatre wanted to show him was a stamp with hundreds of Japanese symbols. Duo was quiet as he examined it. It was nice but why would Heero want this?
With a sigh he set it back and shook his head at Quatre whose face fell in disappointment. "Oh well, I tried." Duo nodded in thanks and started looking at the stamps, there was a very nice engraved one made of metal and mahogany that was the Japanese symbol for love, the word scrawled in English beneath it. Hmm, appealing.
His gaze drifted to the price. Thirty-five dollars. With a wince he put the little thing back on the shelf. So much for that idea. Putting on a fake smile for Quatre he bounced back to where Wufei and Trowa were at war. During his absence the Wufei had gained the upper hand and poor Trowa had only one king left while the Chinese pilot had four.
While Duo impatiently waited for them to finish, whining a little at how long they were taking a couple of times and bounced on the balls of his feet they chased each other around the board. FINALLY after nearly an hour Wufei managed to trap Trowa but not before his force had dwindled down to two.
As Trowa stood up Wufei smirked and started resetting the pieces. "Oh hey," he said in surprise, "there's chess pieces on the other side."
"Ooh, let's play chess Wu-man!" Duo had cheerfully slid into the seat like he lived there and was swiftly flipping over all the pieces to reveal the chess side.
"I can't play chess, I don't know how."
"I'll teach you!" Wufei shrugged in acceptance and started slowly to set up his side to the best of his knowledge. In half a breath Duo had finished setting his side and glanced over to see how Wufei was doing. With a grin he saw the Chinese pilot setting them up like checkers and reached across the table to help. In not too long things were set up right and Duo was rushing through the basics of chess. He was black, of course, what else would the god of death play.
They started with Duo explaining things as they went. Quatre and Trowa watched for a while then wandered away. Quite some time later they returned and sighed to see the two still going strong. Quatre sighed and snatched two hats off a display and put them on the pilots, a black and red joker's hat with bells for Duo and a huge overstuffed crown on Wufei. The two were too wrapped up in their game to notice.
After waiting some more Quatre snapped a picture of them and told them that he and Trowa were going across the strip to check out another shop. Duo absently waved and continued on with the game.
It was a very long time before they finished, Duo the eventual winner but not before Wufei pulled off some tricks that made Duo accuse him of lying about being a newbie. It was only then that they noticed the hats and pulled them off.
"Hm, cute." Duo snickered at the hat, even Wufei smiled a little. They got up and stretched, relinquishing the board to some waiting teenage girls, and putting the hats back. "Tro and Cat are across the street, right?"
"Yeah. Let's go find them." Duo nodded in agreement and bounced out the door, stopping when he reached the door and Wufei wasn't there. After a moment the other boy appeared, grinning and putting the joker hat on Duo's head. "It suits you too well to not get it."
For a second Duo folded his arms and stuck out his tongue before he straightened the hat and bounced across the street with Wufei following behind. He did like the hat to be truthful, liked the way it made noise when he walked, liked the looks people directed at him. Something like, 'What the hell is with him?' He liked it all.
Directly across the street was photo studio and the two boys examined its display window with interest before going in to see if their friends were inside. After looking around and questioning the shopkeeper they kept walking. One door over was a gift shop, crowded and small and smelling like cinnamon. There too yielded nothing.
Three shops later and with the same results Duo was panicking. "Did they leave without us?"
Wufei shook his head and pointed at a black jeep. "The car's still here."
"Ooh, there they are!" Duo had just seem the light blue jacket of Quatre way down the road and raced towards them. The two waited until they caught up and then after a brief talk they split up again, Duo with Quatre and Wufei leading Trowa away to show him something in a leather shop.
Quatre and Duo went in a strange shop that smelled like incense and once more Duo was running around looking for the perfect gift. Hopefully something for five dollars and seventy-three cents. Jewelry, nope, rings, NOT a good idea, dresses, *snort* yeah right. Hm, near the exit was a small shelf with thick shapes of crystal. Deep in the depths of the clear crystal were small patterns that made Duo stare in amazement. His eyes were drawn to one a simple rectangle in which an eagle had its wings spread in flight over a very small and detailed earth.
Ah! This was nice! Twenty dollars, damn. Duo turned to say something to Quatre, only to realize the blond boy was gone. Looking around Duo went to the shopkeeper, a young girl dressed like a gypsy and asked her, "Did you see where my friend went?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. He left a while ago."
Frowning Duo walked out and looked around. No one. Quickly he started running around, looking for his friends. He couldn't find them anywhere. Did he ever mention how much he hated being alone? Well he did. A lot and now he was getting very near tears.
Then they walked out of a store, all of them together and he catapulted from depressed to relieved to angry. The jerks, how dare they walk away and leave him by himself! Standing there just long enough so that they noticed him he glared accusingly and spun around on his heel. Before they could react he was already half gone, walking towards the boat dock because that always calmed him down somehow.
None of the pilots followed him and he spent the next two hours walking around the docks, looking at boats and seals. When his feet started to hurt because of the sharp heels of his leather boots he walked back towards where the car was parked, thinking about finding Quatre and demanding the keys. Ahead he briefly saw the blue flash of Quatre's coat and saw the other boys get in the jeep and start it.
With out changing his expression from an angry blank or changing his calm stalking pace he went to his door, pulled it open and slid in. No one said a word as Trowa pulled the car out. After a few minutes silence Quatre muttered something about a pawnshop that only Trowa could hear.
They reached said pawnshop and once more they all went in, Duo still painfully quiet and abandoning his joker's hat. Trowa and Quatre looked at instruments, Wufei played with knives and Duo stared at a beautiful Japanese sword on the wall. It was a traditional katana in a blue silk sheath, dragons storming across the cloth. It would be perfect for Heero but by this point he was too depressed to even ask a price. It wouldn't be in his price range, there was no goddamned way.
After a while Quatre noticed Duo staring longingly at the wall and walked over. "Do you want to get that for Heero?"
Hell yes! "No." Duo's voice was flat and the little pilot looked startled.
"Okay. Hey, he likes this movie." Duo looked at it and sighed as Quatre walked back to where Trowa watched from. It had been a long day, he was tired after staying up all night thinking, his feet hurt from a day of walking in the damned two inch heels, never fucking mind if they made him feel taller! This was the last shop they were going to before they went for the three drive home and this was the first thing he had found that Heero might like and that he could afford.
He just didn't care anymore. And he bought the damn movie, throwing all the money he had on the counter and storming out to the jeep. While everyone was inside still he looked at the battered cover, .and started crying.
'Boys don't cry' he shouted at himself in silence, but he couldn't help it. The tears just wouldn't stop. It had been such a long day, all he wanted was to get Heero the perfect gift and the best he could do was a second hand movie and a card he'd draw himself. Life fuckin' sucked.
I want to give him the whole world but with only five dollars, that's a pretty goddamn small piece of world. Sniffling he rubbed away the tears as the other pilots came out.
Quatre said something quietly to the others and they stayed at the door talking while he went out to talk to Duo. "Duo, you want to get that sword for Heero don't you? I'll give you the money for it."
It was the wrong thing to say. Duo turned away, hiding his eyes behind his bangs and shook his head. A single tear streaked down his cheek. They just don't understand! "I don't want you to buy it for him."
The blonde was silent and he got back into the front seat, after a moment Trowa and Wufei joined them. Duo stifled his sobs on the trench coat's collar and kept himself turned around towards the window so that no one would see him cry.
It wasn't fair.
Hello to anyone reading this. All my reviews got deleted with the original version of this story. Feel like making up the difference? Please?