Jakuu no Lantan
GW Fanfic
By Yukishiro Megumi
Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing, wish I did, but I must face reality and move on with my life. Wait…I'm a fangirl…scratch the reality part and let's keep going.
Warning: shounen ai, 1+2, later more serious yaoi; if you are against boy-boy love, don't read. Flame me if you want, because flames really amuse me. But don't come crying to me about corrupting you or going to hell, because I didn't and I don't plan on visiting. 'Sides, you control what your eyes see. Or if your child reads this when you don't want them to, YOU are the parent—take responsibility, don't shirk it.
Review?: Please feel free to! I try not to nurse my ego, so *someone* will have to do it. Of course, constructive criticism or tactful expressions of dislike are equally welcome!
It was a gruesome sight.
The evidence of the massacre was strewn across the cool title floor, ugly splatters arranged at random.
More of it was smeared up the lean, wiry arms of a young boy who stood amongst the quiet violence, surveying his work. Below his smoldering amethyst gaze lay the victim, or what remained after the bout of criminal evisceration.
There was a gust of cold autumnal air through the kitchen, and the soft sounds of footfall upon the ground.
"Duo?"
The boy abruptly lifted his head, a knife in hand and murder in his eyes.
"Yeah, Heero…?" he murmured, the smooth tenor voice half innocence and half concentrated menace.
The Wing pilot's gaze remained steady, although admittedly, an eyebrow rose fractionally under messy chocolate bangs.
"What have you done to that pumpkin?"
Duo's thousand-watt grin lit up everything within a five mile radius. He shook like a wet dog, launching pumpkin innards into the air. A few particularly juicy pieces splattered across Heero's face, leading his eyebrow to raise a few more millimeters on his face. Reaching down, the American happily lifted and displayed his work to his current companion.
There on the pumpkin's surface, carved with every ounce of artistry the braided wonder could muster, was his own (vaguely disgruntled) face. Heero blinked.
"Are you trying to tell me something?"
"Eh? Wassat?"
"You've carved my likeness on a pumpkin that you sloppily disemboweled. What is the significance?"
Duo set the pumpkin down on a countertop and began to pick various orange slivers out of his disheveled chestnut hair. "No, it's not a voodoo pumpkin, I swear it," he chuckled. "But it's Halloween, so I carved me some pumpkins!" Lo and behold, Heero's steady blue gaze noticed the previous victims placed about the porch, though these were etched with a variety of crazy and macabre faces. He wrinkled his nose.
"Halloween?"
"Whaaaat?!" Duo flailed in burning disbelief for a minute.
Heero kept his eye on his vulnerable effigy—with that baka's luck, it would soon be knocked off its perch.
"Okay, I could understand the "what's Easter" thing last year, and the "Nanda? Christmas?" business the year before that. But not knowing about Halloween?" Duo pounded one fist into his open palm for emphasis, braid dancing behind him. "Cardinal sin, man. It's like the one day you can become anything you want, suspend belief for just one night! Shinigami declares only this: you must become enlightened, dammit! Oh shit, of all the fuckin'…!!!" The small outburst of obscenities occurred as Duo's dramatic hand gesture swiped the pumpkin clean off the table.
Hearing no wet smash, Duo hunted around on the floor for his creation, babbling all the while. "I think it started as a pagan thing, but over the years it became more about flashy, scary costumes and candy and stuff like that. And I like that; it's all well and good. But this part, carving up pumpkins, is my favorite part. No real reason, I guess, but I never get tired of doing it. Did it since I was a kid on the streets, since Halloween is tons of fun for a kid. Usin' a pumpkin has something to do with the harvest, and I haven't used a real Earth pumpkin for it before. Speaking of which, where is that damn overgrown veggie?!"*
He found it shortly thereafter in the safety of two callused bronzed hands. "Thanks Hee-chan! Heh, nice catch, you saved yourself!" he exclaimed brightly. Duo grew quiet, however, watching Heero's fingers intently trace the pumpkin's cut-out design. "Oi, Heero? Are ya alright?"
"Ne, Duo."
"Hm?"
"Teach me how to make a pumpkin, too," the messy-haired boy quietly voiced. For a split second, Duo could hear the small child that the other pilot once was. Maybe this would be good for him.
A warm, albeit damp, hand placed itself over his upon the pumpkin. Heero didn't even need to look up to see the compassionate, sincere smile his friend wore.
"Sure, buddy. I'd be happy to."
*I know about Halloween, but this is Duo's speculation, not mine. I'm assuming he didn't actively look into its origins and just remembers snatches of facts he's heard about it. Sorry if I have insulted any practicing pagans or Halloween enthusiasts.
AN: Mou! This was gonna be a oneshot thing about pumpkin carving, but I need a break to regroup my thoughts on this. I'm more tired than it seems, apparently -_- But have no fear! It will continue shortly, I promise!!! Hontou, desu kaaaaaaaa! Iyaaaa, hold back the pitchforks, desuuuu! Oh yes, one other thing…the title will be explained later, if anyone is too lazy to figure it out O.o