Hey y'all, it's Lurid again! The second chapter of DL is up! Please R&R! Oh, yeah and…

Disclaimer: I do not own Duo or L2 come to think of it…or gundams…but I do own Kala, Lin and the others! Yay!

"You what!?" Lin cried.

"I brought him home. I mean what was I supposed to do? I knocked him out!" Kala had to tell someone about the first guy who'd ever been in her house and, even though they had been fighting, Lin was the only person she could really trust.

"Yeah, after he tried to steal from you!"

"I guess...but..."

"But what?"

"Wait till you see how hot he is once I get him cleaned up!" Kala giggled.

"Oh my God! You're a freak!" Lin laughed. "A hot guy tries to rob you so you take him home."

"Yeah, well, it's the only way I can seem to pick up guys, unlike you." Kala said, with a hint of jealousy.

"Oh, shut up. You get plenty of guys, you just turn them all away."

"Only because they never try to get to know me! All they care about is our bra size. I hate guys like that." Kala explained angrily. "They never go deep enough into their shallow minds to understand us!" She paused "...I doubt that his mind is at all shallow."

"Who?"

"That boy...Duo Maxwell..."

Duo sat on a strange bed, in a strange girl's strange house. He glanced around the odd little room. What you could see of the walls, between the posters of rock stars and anime characters, was sponge-painted light purple and orange. On the bed where he sat the quilt was blue while the sheets beneath were yellow. There were numerous shelves and tables, which were littered with small sculptures, action figures, art supplies and other junk. He lifted his body from the bed and walked over to an easel with a large canvas on it. The painting showed a small girl playing happily with a beautiful young woman on a lush green lawn. As he stared blankly at the picture a single tear slid slowly down his dirty cheek. Angrily he wiped the tears away. Life on the streets had taught him only loneliness and sorrow. He knew nothing of the cheerful aura that seemed to follow the girl that had obviously painted this. There was something about her that he was drawn to.

Kala hung up the phone and got up to return to her room. She knocked on the door to her room and heard the bed squeak as Duo dived back onto it, not wanting to be caught looking through her things.

"Well." She said.

Duo just stared at her. "Did you paint that?" He said quietly, pointing at the canvas.

"Yes...it's me and my mother."

"You miss her?" He asked.

"A bit. I've gotten over it by now. It was so many years ago."

He grunted. "What do you plan to do with me?"

"Well, I suppose if you'd like you could stay with me, here. We will have to clean you up though."

"Can I...take a bath? I haven't had one in so long."

Kala laughed and the sound rang in Duo's ears. She sounded so happy. He wished he could be like her, without a care in the world. "You look it!" She said, her laughter diminishing. "Come with me and we'll get you a bath ready."

Wordlessly, Duo stood and followed her out into the hallway, around a corner and into a large bathroom.

"Okay," Kala said, leaning over to start the water in the huge whirlpool bath. "You get undressed and get in. I'll be back with some towels and a washcloth."

Duo turned away from her and unbuttoned his jacket, tossing it onto the counter. He pulled his white tee shirt over his head and put it on top of his jacket. Kala had to pull her eyes away from his well-muscled body. She turned to the door and left, a slight blush creeping up her cheeks. Duo smiled to himself and pulled off his pants and underwear, throwing them alongside his other clothes. Reaching behind him, he tugged the rubber band from the end of his braid and put it around his wrist. His long hair fell over his shoulders in dirty waves. He stepped over the edge of the tub and into the steamy water. Lowering his body beneath the water, he smiled at the warmth and comfort that he rarely felt. His mind wandered, and he thought of his dark past and the future that he may have here, with Kala. She surely is beautiful, He thought. And kind…and happy. I need to stay with her. He realized suddenly. I feel strange when she's around me. Strange, but good. He jumped at the sound of the door handle turning.

"May I come in?" Kala asked. "I have your towels here."

"Yeah, sure."

She entered and lay the towels on the counter and picked up his dirty clothes. Directing her eyes towards the ceiling, she handed him the washcloth she had brought.

She blushed and said, "There's shampoo and soap right over there. Um. Have fun, I guess." Kala walked out, closing the door behind her. She leaned against the door for a moment, then started downstairs to prepare a bedroom for Duo.

Half an hour later, Kala was finishing putting new sheets on the bed in her guest room, when Duo walked in, his towel wrapped around his waist, his wet hair falling in damp waves down his back. Kala struggled to hide her embarrassment.

"Um, this will be your room now. It was my guest room and you're my guest…well, I guess you're not anymore, you live here now, too, right?" God quit babbling! Kala thought, mentally shaking herself. "There's an empty dresser there, we'll have to go get you some new clothes…I washed the ones you had so they'll be nice and clean…" Then she noticed that Duo's gaze had not left her face this entire time and her cheeks flushed once again. "Well, um, I suppose I'll just let you get dressed, then." She rushed out the door, and hurried to the kitchen to start making dinner. She felt a need to be busy. When she was doing something with her hands she new she would be able to think better. She opened the cabinets, looking for something to eat. Kala was not an especially good cook. She ate a lot of macaroni and cheese, and tonight would be no different. She got out a pot and started boiling the water.

Just as she was putting the macaroni into two separate bowls, Duo came down the stairs and into the kitchen. She smiled at him and said, "You're lucky I just did dishes today." Duo didn't even hear her. All he could see was food. Actual warm, delicious, normal food. Not cold scraps from a trash can or from abandoned café tables. Food. Real food.

"Here." Kala said, laying the bowl on the table and sticking a spoon in it. "Dig in." She sat down and started on her own bowl. Duo quickly sat down and started shoveling the noodles into his mouth as if the bowl might get up and run away. Kala looked at him sympathetically. "Slow down. It's not going anywhere." He looked up at her "Oh. Um, right."