Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, and am making no money off of this fic.
AN: Written for the May 25th Cocktail Party prompt found here: gwcocktailfriday . tumblr .com (/)post/174113730078/chi-va-piano-arriva-dopo-bar-hemingway-hotel. (Without the spaces and parentheses.)
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To Our Ghosts by luvsanime02
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"Fancy," Duo says, looking around idly.
Relena shrugs. "It's Paris," she says, as though that explains everything. She's right.
"I'm not sitting at the bar," Duo says after a few seconds, and instead leads them both over to a booth.
"Why not?"
Duo shrugs. "All the faces staring at you over there. It's creepy."
Relena blinks, and then looks towards the bar. After a moment, she understands. There are several pictures behind the bar, and a bust, and-
And it does seem like several of those men are intensely eyeing the nearby patrons.
"Oh," she says, "you're right."
They sit down and order their drinks, and pay the ridiculous fee for them, and then they're both quiet for a bit, taking in the dignified interior of the bar. The calm atmosphere of everyone there.
"For a French bar, this is rather low-key," Duo comments after a while. His shoulders have relaxed from earlier.
Relena nods. "It's actually quite nice," she admits. Completely worth the price of their drinks. "Are you feeling any better?"
She receives a grimace in response, but Relena's ignored the issue for long enough. Reluctantly, Duo nods. "Sorry," he says. He has nothing to be sorry for, but Relena already knows that he won't agree with her, even if she says so. "It was just… unexpected."
That's one word for it. Relena takes another sip of her drink. She hadn't wanted to come and speak at this commemorative celebration anyway, but she'd gone, and Duo had come along as her escort/bodyguard, and everything had actually been going rather well.
Until the fireworks, anyway.
Relena hadn't known about them in advance. Duo hadn't, either. She had flinched at the first boom, and Duo had tackled her to the ground and drawn his weapon before he'd realized that there was no danger.
Relena had gotten them both back up onto their feet, Duo trying to hide the shaking in his frame, and then she had led him away from the celebration and down a couple of side streets, and into the first place that had looked like somewhere they could both calm down in.
It seems like her plan has worked. She feels better, more in control, and Duo looks like he's regaining the lost color in his face finally.
"We don't have to go back," she says reassuringly. "We'll just sit here for a bit, and then go back to the hotel."
"Sounds like a plan to me," Duo says, sighing into his glass. "Sorry."
That's the third time that he's apologized to her tonight, and Relena is not letting that go. "I reacted badly, too," she says. "We all have ghosts in our closets, Duo."
He quirks half a smile at her, and then raises his drink in a toast. "To our ghosts."
Relena nods solemnly. "To our ghosts."
To the shades and shadows of their pasts that linger still, and likely always will.