Duo sat at the bar, nursing his drink as the crowd shifted and glided by his lonesome form. It was night time on the L2 colony and it was also a Friday. Smithy s was always busy on Friday nights, for which the long haired American was grateful. Everyone would be too wrapped up in their duties or themselves to really bother with him while he wallowed in his own tub of misery. This week was no different, thankfully. And so he had assumed the barstool which was unofficially reserved for him week after week in the most popular club on the colony. The harsh beat of the music assaulted his ears, coupled with the near futile attempts of people trying to shout over the music in order to communicate with each other.
It had been six years after the wars had ended and two of the gundam pilots had joined up with the Preventers. Duo had gone into salvage for the first two years after but soon quit, not feeling the same after fighting a war for so long. Now here he was, at a bar four years later as an off duty mechanic, the best in all of L2. It was to be expected, but the income wasn t as good as it should be given L2 s state of poverty. But that never got him down any. He was making a living; finding use for his seemingly meaningless life. He d already had his revenge during the war and now he was lost. Peace had been attained and all was mostly well again. Quatre had taken over the Winner Family business and Trowa, last he heard anyway, was back with Catherine and the circus. And of course, that left Heero and Wufei being the ones who had joined up under the command of Lady Une. Everyone else had found their place almost immediately after those trying times and yet here was Duo, the self proclaimed God of Death, sitting at a damned bar and feeling sorry for himself. It was sad, and he knew it.
The American s thoughts were interrupted by the beginning of a slow, soft melody that had followed a sharp silence he had never noticed. A lovely smooth alto joined the mellowed atmosphere from its position on the small stage in the lounge. It seemed to lull his senses and give him a feeling of calm that he hadn t felt in a very long time. He turned his weary eyes to follow the crowd s intent gaze. There, atop the stage and behind the mike stood a lady wearing a normal black sweat suit, her features sharp and pretty with an undertone of street marred innocence. Her hair was all natural, pulled back into a fluffy puff, leaving her nearly black eyes out in the open for all to see. They were dull, much like Duo s very own, but he knew only because he looked for it. Maybe they were alike in some way. But it was so really uncanny, that the love ballads pouring from her lips were so filled with emotion as if she had experienced them all first hand.
Briefly, their eyes meet and she glances away, turning her attention to the other side of the lounge, unaware of the connection that was felt by the long haired customer. Duo sat up on his stool, his attention gripped firmly by the sheer purity of the voice that laced his ears. The entire bar was silent, customers and workers alike not daring to break the spell she had them all under. It was truly a sight to behold and a scene to witness.
The song had ended all too soon but an enormous roar of appreciative applause backed it up full force. The entertainer took a low bow and waltzed off stage, finished for the night despite groans of dismay and pleadings for another performance. Duo swirled the last bit of beer in his bottle and chugged it down, using everyone else s distraction as his cue to exeunt. He walked out into the sweltering heat, despite the fact that it was the night cycle of the colony. It was common knowledge of L2 s motor difficulties which no one cared enough about to look into. The colony itself was treated like dirt and was left to rot to pieces with homeless children and streetwalkers to make a living on the God-forsaken dump. Duo made his way along the sidewalk, his street instincts raising to their full potential as he avoided the dangerous alleys and ignored the various catcalls sent his way and waving off the many streetwalkers that tried to make a customer out of him. They were all tenacious bastards, though. On average on a Friday night he d have to wave off at least fifteen by the time he stalks two blocks on his way home.
Letting his feet guide him, Duo found himself facing the splintered wooden door that hid the apartment he lived in from the rest of the world. He unlocked it and stepped inside, the dusty smell phasing him not as he had gotten used to it over the years. Duo tossed the keys into the tray on the coffee table beside the door and stripped himself of the shirt that had gotten stuck to his body with sweat. He sighed heavily as he bypassed the answering machine which held a few messages for him, opting to take a much needed shower first as the voice of the girl s song filtered through his mind. She had begun performing there two weeks ago and had earned the place a lot more business than it already had. She was talented and intelligent. He knew from the way she sang in a different language for each song. Once in a while she would skip over to English between verses, but stuck with the foreign tongues. It really interested Duo, anyway. It was nice to hear a different language other than English slapping his ears back and forth everyday
He let the cold water wash over his skin, both hands supporting his body while he hung his head under the shower head to flush out some of the dirt and grime before liberally lathering it with some shampoo. This was the only luxury he really got anyway. Even if the shower was cold and biting down into his skin.
Once out of the shower he walked over to the answering machine and let the day old messages play. The first was form Hilde, announcing her weekly check up on her good friend. The second was from James, a friend of his from his old job with Hilde. It wasn t anything urgent so he could always call tomorrow while he was at work. The others were so unimportant they weren t even worth mentioning. He erased them all, making up his mind to call Hilde in the morning. He was about to make his way into the kitchen when the phone rang. He figured he d let it ring a few more times and go to the machine before deciding if it was important or not, still moving toward the kitchen. He was in the middle of swallowing some apple juice when the most unexpected voice sounded over the speaker.
"Duo! It s me, Quatre. Hilde gave me your number and I wanted to invite you to..."
At the name, the poor apple juice found itself splattered over the counter and floor while the glass stood forgotten in the sink as Duo dashed for the phone to activate the vid feature.
"Quatre?" He asked, his voice a bit uncertain while his eyes trailed over the blonde s face. The businessman had really matured. All his baby fat was gone, replaced by the chiseled features of a natural Arab. His hair was a bit longer, some of it framing his face and shielding his blue eyes.
"Duo!" Quatre beamed at the American. Duo couldn t help but smile that time. Quatre hadn t changed one bit. "It s so good to see you again after so long! How ve you been?"
A tall figure came into view behind Quatre and a familiar, yet deeper voice came through the line.
"That Duo?" The figure bent nearly in half to reveal half a face and one emerald eye. The stoic European had not changed much but from the looks of it, Duo could tell he had gotten taller. The damn giant...
"Hey there, Trowa. Long time no see, man." was Duo's response. Trowa shocked him into near silence when a bright smile washed across his features.
"It has been a long time." Trowa lifted a long leg over the chair Quatre was sitting in and straddled the object, resting his chin on the blonde's shoulder.
Both Duo s eyebrows raised at the action. What had he been missing? "I'll say," he responded, still shocked. Quatre chuckled, leaning back into the other man s chest.
"You could get to know all the technicalities if you come for the party I m throwing next week for us old wartime comrades. You re dying to know, anyway. I can see it."
Duo let a smile take over. "You know me too well."
Trowa spoke up. "Then we ll see if Midget Boy ever gained any inches."
Duo s mouth dropped helplessly. Had Trowa just made a joke? Then he huffed. "You're the damned giant, Bang Boy."
In the back of his mind, Duo was too shocked to see that his Jester s Mask had slipped on so easily. He was joking with the others like no time has ever passed. Old habits do die hard.
They talked for a while longer, the blond revealing that Wufei and Sally had tied the knot three years ago and expecting a child in the next two months. Duo was beyond shock when he heard that Wufei actually surrendered the rest of his life to an onna and then to go and have a kid It was hilarious, really. Then the last they heard of Heero, he was still introverted as usual but more sociable with just the pilots.
Even though he was happy for the others, inside Duo was crumbling. He was always the last of the apostles when it came to things like these. Everyone had gotten what they wanted. And him? His life was just a cloud of smoke and would disappear soon enough.
"What about you, Duo?" Trowa cut into his thoughts. Duo froze for a minute. But then he decided that things couldn t get much worse than they already were.
"Went into salvage for a couple years then broke off," he replied in a lazy tone. His life wasn t all that exciting anyway. "I'm a mechanic now. Own my own garage."
"Good to see you re taking care of yourself," said Quatre, his smile never faltering. Duo absently wondered if that s how he looked back then. Wearing grins that could almost tear his face in half. "Listen, don t forget about the get together, alright? If you need it, I ll pay your way for you."
God knows he needed it but Duo wasn t about to show his shortcomings this early in the game. Pride was going to be the death of him one day but he couldn t be weak in front of the others.
"No, no. I ll make it."
They said their goodbyes and hung up, leaving Duo with his head in his hands mere seconds afterward. If trying to get a barely surviving business wasn t bad enough, he had to face the world all over again. With a smile and a joke. Just like old times Duo sighed. Just when you think you try to get away from the past, it just drags you back in.
A/N: I don t know what the hell this is, either. I just sat there and wrote, really. And now I m back with a title-less story. If you got a name ready after the first three chapters (Lord only knows when I m actually gonna get to the middle of the second one if there s any) let me know. Thanks for reading! ^^