Peripetia

Vastulja Sata Menton

Chapter One

Duo watched through a window as rain poured down outside. Drops of water trickled down the window, making it look like the glass was crying. Duo sighed and moved away from the window to sit down in the dark living room. He stared at the wall and wondered how he had gotten into such a predicament. How he had ended up where he had? What cruel fate had brought him back to L2? Oh sure, it was better than when he was a kid, but not by much. After the war, things had gotten better for the colonies. But it was hard for a place dug so deeply in a hole to climb out. It had been only two years since the end of the war, so the government was still working on improvements. It was no great developing colony though. To everyone, it was just as much of a slum as it had ever been. But what had brought Duo back to the place he hated more than anything else? He wasn't even sure himself. One thing led to another, and he was now living in a run down, one bedroom house hardly suitable for even an animal to live in. He couldn't say he had a job; he was merely living off of funds that he had accumulated during the war (which wasn't much).

Duo sat back in an old tattered chair. He was running low on money; he didn't even have electric or heat anymore. He had been forced to sacrifice those things for food and water. Soon, though, he wouldn't have enough money for those either. He hadn't talked to any of his former comrades or friends in over a year. He was alone and poor. Why didn't he get a job, one might wonder? There weren't many jobs in the area; none that were available anymore that is. He could have just moved back to earth, but traveling required money, which he lacked. So he was stuck and he wasn't really sure how to get out of his dilemma.

"So this is what has become of the great God of Death?" Duo pondered aloud. He sighed and looked at the ceiling, willing it to give him the answers he so desperately needed. If only he could get a hold of someone. Many months ago, he would never have given a second thought to asking for help, but he didn't have a choice anymore. But now - now he had no way of contacting anyone, even if he knew how. Suddenly, there was a loud bang that caused Duo to jump. He looked around, wondering if it had been the artificial thunder. There was another banging, and it was coming from Duo's front door. He looked around for a moment, as if searching for someone to confirm what he had heard. There was no one there, as if he expected anyone anyway, so he got up and went to the door. There was another knock and Duo opened the door. Shock filled him as he saw standing before him none other than Trowa Barton. His manners kicked in. "Oh my gosh, Trowa. You're drenched! Come in out of the rain." Duo ushered him in and to the only living room chair he had left. "I'll get you a towel."

There was a mumbled 'thanks' from Trowa as Duo went off to get a clean towel. He came back out and handed it to his friend. As Trowa dried off as best he could, Duo went to the kitchen and grabbed a folding chair, the only thing left from his dining set. He sat down across from Trowa, unsure what to say.

"So, Trowa. What brings you all the way out to L2?" Duo inquired, very curious. He was trying to drive the thought of what his 'home' might look like to Trowa out of his head.

"You," Trowa stated quite bluntly.

"Me?" The American was shocked, to say the least.

"Yes, you. The others and I have been looking for you for quite some time now."

"R-really? Well, why?"

"Well, we all live different lives, so a couple of months without contacting anyone wasn't any big deal. But it had been a while since anyone heard from you, and no one could reach you by phone or via the Internet. So, we came looking for you," Trowa admitted. He folded the towel and held it in his lap.

"Heh, yeah." Duo scratched the top of his head absently, forcing a smile on his face. "I kinda couldn't afford a phone or a computer. So, that's why I wasn't able to call anyone."

"Have things been hard for you? I must admit, L2 doesn't look much better."

"Well, it's not been easy that's for sure. Yeah, L2 isn't much better." Duo's small smile faded.

"What brought you back, Duo?" Trowa inquired, leaning forward in curiosity. There was the sound of thunder outside and the rain began to fall harder.

"Heh." Well, he might as well tell the truth. "Well, to be honest..." Duo looked down. He hoped Trowa had the time, because it wasn't a short story. "I hadn't planned on coming to L2 after the war, to begin with. I came because I wanted to help at an orphanage if possible, to make a difference if I could. To give some kids something that I didn't have when I was younger. I helped out for a little bit, but...but things didn't go quite as I had planned. It brought back too many bad memories while I was there, so I had to leave. I still wanted to help though, to help L2 grow. So I got myself a little place on the money I had accumulated during the war. I tried to get a job, but I underestimated...everything. Jobs went so fast; I tried and tried but there wasn't anything available. L2's economy sucks. By that point in time, I didn't have enough money left to get a ticket out of here. So I did the only thing I could. I lived off of what I had left. I've had to sell a lot of stuff, sacrifice things like electricity and heat, if you haven't noticed that already." Duo looked up sheepishly.

There was a moment of silence. "Wow."

"Yeah." Duo sighed and looked around his sad little house. Part of him felt like a failure. He could hardly believe he had just spilled his entire story to Trowa.

"Well, this is going out on a limb, Duo. But, do you want to get off of this colony?" Trowa inquired quite seriously.

Duo blinked. "Are - are you serious?" Trowa nodded, the slightest smile forming at the corner of his lips. "What I would give to get off of this damned thing!"

"How about you come back to L1 with me? You can stay there a while, until things get worked out."

"Really? Wow, that would be great. I don't want to be a burden though."

"Don't worry about it, Duo. You're my friend, and that's what friends are for."

Wow, he's really changed a lot. "Thanks Trowa. This really means a lot. When do you plan on leaving L2?"

"Whenever you want." Trowa looked around. "And by the looks of it, I'd say pretty soon."

Duo smiled and nodded. It was pretty early in the afternoon, though with the rain it wasn't easy to tell. "I can get my stuff together right now, and if you want we can leave tonight. I - I don't really have any place for you to stay the night so it'd probably be best if we left tonight."

"Sounds good to me." Trowa nodded.

XXX

Duo watched out the window of the shuttle as it departed from the launch bay of L2. It was almost hard to believe his luck. Just when he was about to fall face forward into a deep hole, Trowa came to his rescue. He and Trowa had talked, and they had both agreed that no one had to be told about the whole situation until Duo felt the need to tell them. Pride wasn't an issue anymore, not that it ever really was. Duo was just glad to be getting off of L2 and to see his friends again. He knew that it wasn't going to be easy to get back on his feet, but it couldn't be as difficult as it has been on L2.

"We should be there in a couple of hours. I have a two-bedroom apartment in the north quarter. Heero and I are roommates, but having you there shouldn't be a problem," Trowa explained.

Duo was itching with curiosity. He knew that Trowa had said it was a two-bedroom apartment, and that could have meant that Heero had his own room. But a lot of people got a two-bedroom apartment to use the second room as an office. Duo just had to know, and there wasn't really any tactful way of asking so he just came right out and said it (even if he wasn't sure if either of the men swung that way). "So are you and Heero...like...together?" Duo looked at Trowa's face to gauge his reaction.

Trowa chuckled, a small smile forming on his lips. "No. Though I will openly admit to being gay, Heero has a girlfriend. She's been staying with us for the past few months actually. I wasn't sure how that would go, but it seems to be working out pretty well. She's pretty much just as uptight as Heero. She's more talkative, and shows her emotions more. She's nice most of the time, but I advice you not to piss her off."

"Let me guess. 'Omea o korosu'?" Duo smiled.

"Well actually, no. But honestly that would be better. She can be pretty sadistic. With her, death would truly be better. Heero's always been the type for 'quick and painless' but she's more of the 'torture to insanity' type," Trowa admitted.

"Wow. Sounds like a perfect match." Duo sounded skeptical.

"You'd be amazed. They have a few fights here and there, but for the most part it's almost like they are soul mates."

"Well that's cool. What about you? Have you found that right guy yet?" Duo prodded, hoping he wasn't being too nosey. He had spilled his very humiliating story to Trowa only hours before, so it only seemed right.

"Not yet. I was dating this one guy for a few months, and things were going pretty good. But things didn't really work out in the end." Trowa shrugged.

"That sucks. But that's ok. The right one will come along eventually. As they say, 'there are lots of fish in the sea'." Duo smiled. Trowa smiled back. The rest of the ride was spent in mostly silence. Duo was pretty much absorbed in his own thoughts; he was feeling a lot better about things already. Of course, the instant that anyone steps off of L2 they feel better.

It was dark on the north and east quarters of L1 by the time they arrived. L1 and L2 were on very close time schedules, which made it nice for Duo. They left the shuttle port at about nine, and Trowa assured Duo that the drive was only about half an hour. They were at their destination faster than Duo expected. Part of him wasn't surprised to find that Trowa was living in a very nice apartment complex. Trowa parked before leading Duo up to the second floor of three. Even the inside of the hallways were nice; Duo was almost scared to see what it looked like inside of the apartment. Trowa unlocked the door and let Duo in. As the door was shut, the American looked around.

They were in the entryway, and to the left was a closet for coats. To the right was an L shaped walk through kitchen. At the far end of the kitchen was a bar that looked over into a quaint dinning area. Along side of the kitchen and dinning area, to the right, was the very clean living room. There was also a sliding glass door that led to a balcony. Down the hall on the right were three doors. Duo deduced that two led to the bedrooms and one of them to the bathroom. The entire place was decorated quite nicely. Duo could see the strict cleanliness that mirrored Heero everywhere around the apartment. He also noticed the delicate touches Trowa had added. Duo wouldn't have thought that Trowa would be such a good designer but it turned out that he was. Duo felt even more embarrassed with his old apartment than he did before.

"Well, this is it. If you go down the hall, the only door on the right leads to the bathroom. On the left is Heero's and Sasha's room and mine is down the middle. You can stay in my room; I have a pull out bed for when guests stay."

Duo spun around. "Oh Trowa, I don't want to intrude. I can just sleep on the couch."

"Don't worry about it Duo. It doesn't bother me. You're my guest, and I wont have you sleeping on the couch." Trowa looked like there was no questioning his will.

Duo smiled. "Ok."

"Make yourself at home. The only thing I request is that you clean up after yourself. I'm not really a clean freak, but Heero and Sasha are. If you'll follow me..." Trowa led Duo into the kitchen. "These three cupboards are Heero's and Sasha's. Sasha is Vegan, so she keeps her food separated, and Heero eats a pretty strict diet too. They label their food in the refrigerator." Trowa smiled at the look on Duo's face. "Yes, I'm serious. Anything not labeled you can help yourself to. For the most part, my stuff is on the top shelf, Heero's is on the middle, and Sasha's is on the bottom."

"Wow." Was all that Duo could think to say.

"Yup." Trowa nodded. "Ok then. How about we grab your bags and head back to my room." Trowa led Duo to the room down the middle of the hallway. When the entered, Duo could defiantly tell that it was Trowa's room. There were small references to Trowa's work at the circus on the wall and not everything was completely spotless. Duo felt a little more comfortable in this room. Trowa pulled out a twin size fold away bed from under his own bed and set it up in an empty corner that looked like it was cleared for just that purpose. He quickly put a sheet on it, and put a few pillows and blankets on top. "You can sleep here until we get you hooked up."

"Thanks Trowa." Duo smiled, taking his few bags and setting them on the bed. It wasn't a bad set up.

"Heero and Sasha should be home in about fifteen minutes. When I left this morning they told me they'd be home around ten. Would you like something to drink?" Trowa asked quite unexpectedly.

"Uh, sure." They both went to the kitchen.

"What would you like?"

"What do you have?" Duo chuckled.

"Water, milk, the sparkling water is Sasha's so that's out of bounds, and beer."

"Hmm, I guess I'll take a beer."

Trowa grabbed two beers and led Duo to the dinning table. They both sat down and drank. As they enjoyed their drinks, Trowa pulled out his phone and dialed. "I'm just going to call Quatre." As Trowa made the call, Duo heard the front door open. Voices trickled in; Duo could identify one right off the bat. Heero sounded pretty much the same, though his voice was a little deeper. The other voice, however, he was unfamiliar with. It was a smooth female voice; Duo was a little excited to meet this Sasha girl.

"Yeah, I've got him here right now." Trowa spoke into the phone. "Yeah. Mhmm. Tomorrow? That should work out pretty good. I don't see a problem with that. Yeah. Ok, I'll call you in the morning. Bye." Trowa hung up and turned his attention to Duo. "I just talked to Quatre. He's got plenty of room at his place, and he wont take no for an answer. He's living on Earth right now. They moved the headquarters of Winner Inc. down to London. He's staying there. We'll be leaving in the morning, probably around ten-ish. Quatre is making the arrangements right now, and he said that the tickets should be waiting for us in the morning."

"Tickets?" Duo inquired, stressing the fact that it was plural.

"Yeah, I need to go down to talk to him about some things. Oh, hey Heero, Sasha." Trowa greeted as Heero and Sasha entered into the living room. Duo turned around.

Heero hadn't changed much. He was a little taller, but that seemed to be the only difference. He was wearing pants and a button up shirt; Duo was thankful to see that he wasn't wearing those spandex and that tank top anymore. His hair was still a mess like it always had been. Duo always wondered why Heero let his hair stay so messy if he was such a neat freak - he could only conclude that Heero couldn't get it to cooperate. There was another person standing next to Heero that Duo had never seen before. It was a thin female. She looked American, but that wasn't saying much. She could have been Canadian for all he knew. She had dark brown hair pulled back in a ponytail. She had delicately carved facial features with slightly high cheekbones and Duo had to admit that she was very pretty.

"Trowa." Heero nodded to the tall Latin man before turning to Duo. "Duo."

"Hey Heero. Long time no see." Duo smiled, though he had to admit it was a bit forced. Contrary to believe, he and Heero had never really gotten along. Duo had always been closer to Quatre. "And this must be..."

"Sasha. My name is Sasha." Sasha introduced herself with a light Russian accent and a smile. Russian? Interesting. I wouldn't have pegged Heero to be attracted to anyone outside of his nationality.

Duo stood and took Sasha's hand. "A pleasure to meet you, Sasha. Duo Maxwell." He kissed her lightly on the hand. She smiled, as if unfazed by this action. Heero, on the other hand, didn't react quite the same way. Fire ignited in his eyes, and it was clear he was not happy. Duo wasn't surprised to find that Heero was the jealous type. Duo gently let go of Sasha's hand and inched back a bit. He held his hands up in defense. "No worries, Heero. I'm about as straight as a spring." Heero loosened up a bit at this, but he still seemed to be on guard. Duo could tell that Heero had his eye on him. Not that it mattered; by the sounds of it Duo was leaving some time in the morning. He was excited about this, but everything was happening so fast. He hoped that it wasn't all just a dream, and that it was real.

End Chapter One

Definition of Peripetia: A sudden and unexpected change of fortune or reverse of circumstances (AN: this is for those of you who don't feel like looking it up, because I just so happen to be the same way :D )