Black Balloon

by Fairytale Mistress

SONGFIC: Duo rescues Hilde from a life on the streets; he takes her into his home and gives her a place to live and a job and he expects nothing in return. But Hilde gives him more than he bargained for.

Black Balloon

Author's Notes: WAY out of character-ness here! Call it artistic-license if you will, but I will not accept reviews from dolts who insist on pointing out that Hilde's too sweet, and innocent and blah blah blah… Trust me, I KNOW! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Synopsis: Duo rescues Hilde from a life on the streets; he takes her into his home and gives her a place to live and a job and he expects nothing in return. But Hilde gives him more than he bargained for.

Baby's black balloon makes her fly

I almost fell into that hole in your life

And you're not thinking 'bout tomorrow

Cuz you were the same as me

But on your knees

Duo sat in the coffee shop staring out the window. He wasn't looking for anyone in particular, but when he saw her, his world stopped. Her head was down, but Duo could see the tears, and the blood. His first instinct was to run to her, but he stayed where he was in the little café. He knew that the world was no place for a girl like her. She was too kind, to giving, to fragile. But in this world, everyone was taken advantage of—and she was certainly no exception.

Duo stared at the server as she asked him for his order for the third time. Duo made no reply, but got up and strode from the building. He followed Hilde down the alley she'd disappeared into and he ducked behind a car just in time to see her take money from a man, and then submit to his demands for her body. Duo shut his eyes; so this was how she was feeding herself when she didn't have work. Duo contemplated intervening, and then, before he could talk himself out of it, he was striding toward the guy, who was just about to unbutton Hilde's jeans, and with a swift right hook, Duo took him out.

"Duo! What are you—" Hilde started but Duo Grabbed her, and pulled her to him and buried his face in her hair.

"Hilde, this isn't the kind of thing you should be doing!" Duo said, knowing full well what it was like to whore oneself out for food-money. "Come back to my garage with me, I'll give you work to keep you off the streets." Duo didn't know exactly what he was going to do with her, but anything was better than what she had been doing.

Hilde was shocked. But she managed to nod dumbly, dropping the cash she'd taken from the dolt on the ground, and taking Duo's hand.

A thousand other boys could never reach you

How could I have been the one?

I saw the world spin beneath you

And scatter like ice from the spoon that was your womb

Hilde didn't speak much when they started down the street again. The sky cracked open, and the thunder rolled, Duo knew it was going to be a downpour, and he rushed into his shop with Hilde in tow.

"I need a secretary; can you answer phones for me? Take orders and stuff?" He asked, knowing perfectly well that she was capable of such. She was handy with tools as well, but it was hard to find work as a mechanic when you were a girl.

Hilde gave him a curt nod, looking around the clutter that had accumulated in the tiny office of the shop. "Where do you keep your record books?"

"What record books?" Duo grinned, knowing he wasn't the best businessman in the world. He was all brawn when it came to technicalities, and he could tell from the beginning that the two of them would make a great pair.

Hilde groaned, smiling for the first time since her rescue. "Duo, you haven't changed a bit since the beginning of this war." She stated, not impressively.

"Some things never change, Hilde." He mentioned, and a funny feeling rose in his chest and he coughed and turned away from her. "I'm going to get to work now, if you need anything, I can't help you—I don't use this part of the building much, I just stash stuff that looks important here." He said, and flashed his prize-winning grin.

Hilde shook her head, and thanked him for the work and turned toward the mountains of unfilled papers and plastic cups that cluttered every conceivable space in the little room.

-

The afternoon passed slowly, as the rain fell harder and harder outside. Duo set about his work, crawling under mobile suits and cars, and tractors, and other random military vehicles and Hilde managed to straighten things out and answer what phone calls came through with impressive ease. When the sun set, and the gray of the storm set in, Duo, covered in several unnatural substances, appeared in the doorway. "You about ready to grab some chow?" He asked her, grinning at her from ear to ear.

Hilde spun to look at him, and laughed aloud. "You're not going anywhere like that Duo Maxwell!" she cried.

"I know I'm not, I was talking about cooking in tonight." He said, pulling a work cloth from his back pocket and wiping his hands. "My apartment is just upstairs; it's handy, living where you work." He said, not looking at her.

Hilde, although a bit awkwardly, nodded her consent, and followed the braided boy up the stairs in the back of the shop.

Comin' down the world turned over

And angels fall without you there

And I go on as you get colder

Or are you someone's prayer?

Duo took a shower, while Hilde cooked them hamburgers. One for her, and three for Duo—and she ate hers before he was able to get to it. She laughed inwardly at the oddity of their friendship, and thought back to when they first met. She wasn't sure how they had become friends, but she was certainly thankful to have a job that didn't require her to remove her clothes. With a little frown, she turned her thoughts away from her pitiful situation, and coughed when a lull in the conversation became uncomfortable. "I think I should be going…" She began, quietly…

"Where?" Duo asked, as though he had not considered her leaving.

"I… I have to sleep somewhere." She stated, not looking at her friend.

"Where? Let me guess, the slums, right? With the other homeless people?"

Hilde looked at her feet to hide the blush and the tears brimming in her eyes. "Its not so bad there." She said, and turned to leave the room.

Duo was behind her in an instant, and had a hold of her wrist. "I'm not letting you go back there." He said, roughly, and led her down the hall to a spare bedroom. "You can call this home now. I could do with a woman around anyway." He grinned warmly.

Hilde couldn't believe it. She knew Duo to be the type to take his pleasures from women and then leave them when he was bored—and she knew—he got bored easily. She was dumbfounded, that this boy could want her around him—living with him—all the time. "Uh…Thank you…" She muttered, absently, as she looked over the room he'd obviously taken time to prepare. "Thank you." She said once again, looking up at him.

"Welcome!" He said, and pointed out that the room had its own bathroom, so she didn't have to share with him, and then pointed to a door at the end of the hall, "That's my room, if you need anything, don't be afraid to come get me." He assured her, and with little squeeze of her wrist, he let her go, and issued her a goodnight.

-

Duo closed his door and stood in the middle of his room for several strange moments. 'What am I doing with Hilde?' He asked himself breathlessly. 'Asking her into my house, making her stay, shacking up, playing house like it's the most natural thing in the world…" Duo whispered to the cold night air. He looked to his bed, and remembered the girls that had laid there with him—and it struck him odd that just on the other side of that wall, there was now a girl that he considered important enough to take in from the streets. He shook the feeling that rose up in him again, undressed, and crawled into his bed. But sleep would not come, and he knew it.

-

Hilde looked around the room that had been cleaned, and dressed just for her. She was stupefied that Duo would take this upon himself. He was a very eligible boy, and she knew that he could—and probably did have his choice in women. She knew that she would cramp his style, and she thought he had to have thought about that—but still he demanded that she stay with him. Holding onto herself, she noted that there were a pair of pajamas lying on the edge of the bed, she knew the shirt would be much too big, but the shorts looked like they might fit her, so she shut the door and changed hastily. She crawled into the bed, and noted its softness. She had not had a bed in she did not know how long—but it felt good. She shut her eyes, but the thought that rolled like thunder behind her lids would keep her awake most of the night

You know the lies they always told you

And the love you never knew

What's the things they never showed you

That swallow the light from the sun inside your room, yeah

The next morning, Hilde awoke to the sunlight streaming in through the open blinds. It was early, she knew, and she knew that Duo would not probably be awake yet. Yet when she turned in her blankets, she saw him standing stiffly in her doorway. "Duo?" She asked, and sat up, clutching the much-too-big shirt to her. "What's wrong?"

Duo didn't speak when he crossed the room and closed the blinds. The room grew darker, and he moved to sit next to her on the bed. "Hilde." He said, and a fear arose in her that he was going to tell her that it wasn't going to work. "Hilde, tell me about your past…I need to know… Please?" He was acting very strange.

Hilde stared at him a second, and then shook herself and cleared her throat. "Well, When my shop closed because the war moved away from L2, I couldn't find any other work. No one wanted a girl like me, who joined the war illegally, a girl without a past, and a girl clearly without promise of a future. I went through a series of ill-minded jobs, and settled to a sort of prostitution as a last hope. There were many of us—girls I mean—living in the slums, it was a popular way to make money. It wasn't so bad after the first time—" she started, then, stopped, and looked at Duo.

The braided pilot's face was shocked. "Hilde, no." He breathed aloud. "You never should have let it go that far. Why didn't you come and find me? You know I retired to L2 after my part of the war was finished. I could have taken care of you." He said, leaning in to emphasize his point.

"I didn't want to intrude, and I wanted so badly to be on my own…" she mumbled, not looking him in the face. "Things just got out of hand." She finished. Then, "Thank you again, for taking me in—I know it must compromise you—your lifestyle, but…"

"Oh, no, Hilde. I think I've found out what I'm here for." He grinned oddly at her.

Comin' down the world turned over

And angels fall without you there

And I go on as you get colder

Always someone there

Hilde didn't know what Duo was talking about, but she slid away from him off the edge of the bed to gather her things and wander in the bathroom. She left Duo sitting on her bed, staring after her.

"What is this all about?" Hilde asked herself, leaning heavily against the bathroom door. "Duo is acting strangely…" she shook her head, closing her eyes. When she dressed, and reemerged the pilot was gone, and her room was empty. She smelled eggs cooking, and she followed her nose to the kitchen, where duo was standing shirtless over the stove.

"You shouldn't fry things without protection." She stated fact, walking up to him, noting the way his muscles rippled and tensed at the sound of her voice.

"I like to walk on the wild side." He replied coolly, but his body language betrayed him.

Hilde noticed the scars he had endured through the war, and some of them looked like the wound was deep. She reached a tiny hand to trace a particularly long scar that ran from his collarbone down underneath his arm.

Duo shivered and dropped the pan he'd been holding unceremoniously back down on the stove. He turned toward her and moved away—out of her reach—simultaneously. The look on his face was cryptic, but he apologized, and explained that on one mission, a piece of shrapnel caught him in the shoulder. And Heero had to carry him back to the hospital. Hilde nodded, but didn't press the matter. She just moved away and took a seat behind him on at the table. Duo was lost in thought—of the sensation of Hilde's tiny, delicate, cold fingers running along his shoulder—Heero pulling the metal from the wound and throwing him over his shoulder—the sight of Hilde taking the man in the alley's money—the sight of her sleeping face… Duo was lost in his thoughts of this girl and he didn't know exactly why—only that it felt right—righter than it had ever felt with another woman—and he had barely touched this one. He felt the overwhelming urge to take care of her, and provide for her and protect her, and it sensation—the tightness in his chest made him uncomfortable. He didn't what to make of the change this woman brought about in him.

And there's no time left for losin'

When you stand they fall, yeah

Several weeks passed, and the two of them settled into a more comfortable routine, getting up early, Duo cooking breakfast, working in the office until noon, where Hilde would usually order something in, or go down the street to the deli, and get something for the two of them. Duo found that his work went faster, and the business was handled swifter than when he was working alone, and he even got several big orders in, thanks to Hilde's sweet-talking, she had been a great investment, after all. In the evenings, Hilde would usually take it upon herself to cook, though Duo offered every time, and then, were they still awake enough, they would catch a TV show or two, before heading off to bed.

Hilde had gathered what things she had left from the slums, and had not been back since. She thanked Duo every day for his kindness, even though he told her she need not. She also found herself wanting to touch him—run her hands over his muscles, and every once in a while, she talked him into letting her give him a massage. She loved the way his skin felt—both smooth and hard at the same time—against her nimble fingers. She did not know why this boy sent chills down her spine, but, every time he rendered his violet gaze on her, she found her breath caught in her throat, and she could not speak. She never doubted her attraction to Duo, she knew the moment she met him, that he was a beautiful boy. But that boy was rapidly becoming a man, and Hilde was reminded all too often that she was a woman… and vulnerable to his ways.

One night, as they retired, Duo hesitated outside Hilde's room. She stared at him blankly for a moment, then asked him if there was anything wrong.

"No. No, everything is fine." He uttered, and then fumbled with his weight a little, before turning stiffly and walking to his room. Hilde stared after him a moment, before retiring.

-

Duo paced back and forth in his room, unable to even contemplate sleeping. That feeling in his chest, he understood, was love for the tiny woman in the room adjacent to his own. He stared at the wall their rooms shared hard, wanting look through it, and glimpse her, sleeping, or not sleeping… With a flustered sigh and a determined groan, he spun on his heals and marched out of his room.

Hilde heard the knock at her door as she was climbing into her bed. "Come in." she muttered, surprised. She sat with one leg still hanging over the edge of the bed when he entered.

Duo stood in her doorway for ages. Just staring at her, he did not register what he was doing until she spoke to him.

"Duo, are you ok?" she asked, choked by that feeling of attraction that arose in her every time she caught him staring at her.

Duo jerked visibly, and entered her room. He shut the door behind him, and realized too late that that was absurd. He came to sit next to her, awkwardly on the edge of the bed, and then, looked at his lap.

"Duo, talk to me, what's wrong?" Hilde was beginning to worry that he had finally had enough of her. She shuddered at the thought of having to leave the apartment, but before she could ask him again, he pulled her to him and brought his lips hard against hers.

Duo knew in the moment she was against him, that he was what he was missing in his life. All the girls he had had during the war, all the women he had bedded trying to fulfill a need—none of them matched this woman he had rescued on a whim. He didn't understand it, and he couldn't explain it, but he knew that Hilde was the link that made him real.

Hilde melted against his lips. Never had a man treated her this way—never had anyone showed her this much passion. She was a wretched woman, a sinner, a disgrace. But, Hilde realized, he was an orphan, a warrior, and the self-proclaimed God of Death. So, really, she belonged right where she was. When he finally pulled his face away from hers, they were both on the brink of tears.

Comin' down the world turned over

And angels fall without you there

And I go on as you get colder

All because I'm

Comin' down the years turn over

And angels fall without you there

And I'll go on and I'll bring you home and

All because I'm

All because I'm

"Hilde, I rescued you that day, and I gave you work and I gave you a place to live, and I didn't know why. But, now I do. What I gave you can still be taken away—but Hilde, you gave me so much more. I might be your guardian-angel, I might be the one who chooses to protect you at all costs, but Hilde, you are my life. And I want to give you part of what you've given to me." He was rambling, he thought, but the woman in his arms started to cry.

"Duo!" She cried, unbelieving what she was hearing, and though she did not intend to argue, his mouth found hers again before she had the chance.

And I'll become

What you became to me