A/N: Please don't kill me. I'll try not to this again. But I'm fifteen and doing calculus. I'm kind of swamped here. But I said I was working on this piece and good God, I'm working! And now it's nearly done.
No, not the fic. Not yet. Probably going to have up to fifteen chapters. I'm not sure. But it's gonna be more than ten for sure.
I hope you enjoy this as much as I'm digging for a plot to put to this. Like I said, this might just be rewritten. Depending on my laziness (two to one, this'll never be redone).
Without further delay, HERE WE GO!
7- FIRE ON THE POOP DECK (ahem…it was all I could get and it suits this chapter. _;)
Duo decided that since he was here he'd better make himself blend in rather than have holes drilled into him. Normally this wouldn't be a problem. He'd had missions just like this back in the wars. Keeping his cover shouldn't have been this difficult.
That's because you're around the people you know. His mind supplied. And for once he agreed with the little piece of common sense. It was going to be a bit dodgy. However there was one thing that kept him sane. They all knew Duo. The didn't know Lysander. That was his escape. But how he was going to execute it remained a mystery to even him. Well, he wasn't known for thinking on his ass, so he made his way to the kitchen.
Angry cries assaulted his ears and he looked to his left as he walked in to see none other than Lucrezia Noin sitting in a chair rocking a cranky mini- Zechs in her arms. Duo couldn't help but grin. This was too cute.
Feeling eyes on her, the dark haired woman looked up to see him staring. She flashed him a wan smile and he smiled back, walking over to the mother and distraught child.
"This is why I don't have any," he said, looking down at the angry child. That won a laugh out of the former Oz soldier.
"But it pays off," she replied. "I'm Lucrezia. But please call me Noin. Lucrezia sounds like some fantasy country."
"Lysander," Duo replied. He was beginning to feel sorry for Noin and decided to help her out a bit. He never liked to hear babies crying. It reminded him of the countless infants in the dumpsters back on L2 in his street days. "Give her to me." He took the child and took a seat across for Noin before rocking the little girl slightly and began to hum. It wasn't a lullaby. He learned the hard way that crap like that almost never worked. So he went with another song he memorized from one of his favorite Jap bands. It helped him relax so he hoped it would work on the kid, too.
In almost an instant he was lost in the tune, just letting the song travel until the humming became words. Somewhere in the middle of the song the baby calmed down, and Duo stopped. He was about to give her back to a grateful mother when she started up again. Duo chuckled lightly and decided to finish the song. Whenever he decided to take a breath the baby would start up again. Sure he knew he was a good singer (he doesn't gloat though) and he almost thought that the little girl didn't want him to stop. After what seemed like forever and a half the baby fell asleep and Duo carefully handed the child back to her mother.
"You're a life saver," said Noin.
"Nah," Duo replied, moving over to the cooler and rummaging through it. "I'm a salvage worker. I save scrap. Not lives. I suck at that job."
He won another laugh out of the dark haired lady as he went through the cooler for a nice cold beer. Wine wasn't his thing. Even in the wars during all of Quatre's fun parties. The kid always got red wine. And it made Duo uncomfortable, silly as it sounds. Made him feel like he was drinking the blood of the men (and maybe women) he killed. It wasn't a good feeling.
Duo leant against the counter while Noin fixed the baby to take her out into the living room. She said something about having to take the child home and so they exchanged goodbyes. Duo remained in his position, his grin gone, replaced with a thoughtful frown. He'd gotten past the Lighting Count's wife. Score!
He smiled at that one. He hadn't lost his touch at all.
And then another frown. But he wasn't too great at a whole mob plus Trowa and Heero and Zechs. But platinum blonde would be out of his -now short- hair in a few minutes or so. Leaving Mr. Silent and Mr. Ice Man.. Oh joy. Duo tossed back another swig of beer and stared down the tube of glass at the bare bottom. He needed to find a way to make it through the party without seeming to want to leave too early without insisting that he stay. It was a tough battle and it needed to be won. But one. Damn. Annoying. Freaking. Question. Remained to taunt him out of his ever-loving mind.
HOW?!
With a defeated sigh and a resolution to play it all by ear, Duo tossed the empty bottle into the trash and followed Noin's earlier footsteps. The party was still in full swing, glasses clinking and bouts of joyous laughter filled the room and brightly lit smiles were on just about everyone's face.
It mocked him.
He scanned the crowd and spotted Wufei in the same spot he'd left him, engaged in a conversation between himself, Sally and another, unfamiliar, guest. Could have been the doctor's relative or friend for all he knew, but not necessarily cared. The disguised American resumed his trek to his previous seat on the couch and reclined a bit, one hand on his jean clad thigh and two fingers under his chin. Oh, he never sat this still back in the war; even when he was on the run in the same safe house as everyone else. It was a habit he kicked in order to save his identity but when he got nervous, all his efforts were shot to hell and back…twice. But he kept his cool for Quatre's sake. That damned space heart is going to be the death of him one day…which didn't seem too far off thanks to Trowa and Heero.
Duo looked up instinctively, feeling eyes on him once more, digging into his arm from somewhere in the room. He had a niggling feeling it was Heero again but refused to acknowledge it. He could feel the tingling in his feet to cross themselves at the ankles, letting the top one vibrate insistently. He was getting anxious and he wanted desperately not to show it.
He put all his muscles on lock as his eyes darted around. He didn't want to appear bored. But if he got too comfortable socializing he was sure he'd slip. He sighed deeply.
A/N: This will be done in parts. Look out for part two later. I couldn't get it all out since stress had been biting my ass plus the guilt of not updating kind of ate at me. This was supposed to be a story all on its own, really.
We'll get to the surprise soon. Soon. Patience my readers.
