Disclaimers go as usual, I don't own Gundam Wing. I also don't own the lyrics to Avril Lavigne's, "Complicated." (You'll see about this part, later on in this chapter. ^_^) Anyhow, enjoy!!
****
Sugar Lane
Duo stood in the doorway of the kitchen looking in shock as Hilde just stood there.
"What are you doing here? I was just about to finish up closing the bakery for the night."
"I decided to swing by here since I thought you might still be here and I guess I was right. Where's your partner? Isn't he supposed to help you?"
"He had a date tonight."
"Humph. Shouldn't your partner be helping you close down for the night. I'm mean isn't this bakery also part of his because the last time I check the sign, both of your names were on it, even though one name is bigger than the other."
"Yeah, I know. I know. The name thing was in part my doing. It's kind of funny on how we both started in this little town. Anyhow, I need to finish cleaning up the counters and racks. You could leave if you want because this can get a little too tedious."
"I don't mind. I'm off tomorrow."
"Well all right then, just give me at least twenty minutes."
With that Duo was off to the races in trying to clean countless pastry racks and two long rectangular counters. While he was doing so, Hilde was timing him with her watch. "Keep it up, Duo. You're slacking a little."
"Very funny. I don't see you working here." Duo then quickly dodged into the kitchen to drop off the pastry racks, and when he ran out of the kitchen, he held a rag with him and he then sprinted towards the two counters and ran back forth until they were sparkling clean.
After making sure that everything was in order, Duo then headed over towards Hilde with a grin on his face. "Well, how about that. It looks like I have only thirty seconds to spare."
"I guess this qualifies for a record in the bakery's history of closing down for the night category."
"I guess so." Duo was still panting slightly, but all in all, the mood from the day's events began to vanish and with Hilde being there, Duo let out a sigh of relief.
"So, I guess you didn't have a rough day after all."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Judging by your looks, you still have a light layer of flour all over your cooking uniform."
"You mean this layer." Duo then dusted himself off.
"Hey quit that! You're getting flour all over me to, you know."
"I know."
Duo then gently grabbed Hilde closer to him and kissed her for the first time, unexpectedly. For a minute, the couple stood in the window of the bakery kissing each other. After their small embrace, Duo left a flour smudge on Hilde's nose and she left one Duo's face as well.
"I wanted to do that for a long while now. You look so wonderful tonight."
"Aren't you the romantic one?"
Duo was just smiling at her response. "I think we should be heading out now, how about that?"
"I guess."
"Just let me put my chef's hat back in the kitchen and wait for me outside."
"Okay."
As Hilde was leaving, Duo made a quick dash towards the kitchen and placed his chef's hat on a hook next to Wufei's hat. After making quick glances here and there throughout the bakery, Duo locked up and headed out with Hilde for the night.
The two decided to head towards a café located a couple of blocks away from the bakery.
"So what made you decide to go into the baking business with Wufei in the first place?"
"I don't know how we paired up in the beginning. It was some random calling. That's all. You know how businesses goes, you need partners to get the project going."
"Yeah, I see."
"So how about you? What do you do for a living?"
"I work as a secretary at a nearby office around here. For the most part, I type up letters and file folders here and there. But basically, I have mad skills in organizing. My boss is always disorganized and one of my pet peeves is when he can't find anything since the majority of the time, he messes up my system of filing important memos and all."
"Secretary, huh?"
"Yep. Why, what did you think my job was? A waitress."
"Maybe," Duo was giving her a joking look.
"Oh quit it, Duo."
"I can't help myself."
"It's getting late. I probably should be heading back to my apartment now, even though I'm off tomorrow."
"Let me walk you back then."
"You don't have to, Duo, honestly, I'll be fine. It's just two blocks away from here."
"I'll feel better if I walk you home tonight. It won't be out of my way."
"Honestly?"
"Scout's honor."
The two then walked out into the night and after walking two blocks, the two finally arrived at their destination.
"Well here it is. Home sweet home."
"It isn't too shabby from what I have. The place looks much nicer here."
There was a brief silence between the couple for a while, as Duo stared into Hilde's eyes.
Hilde then made the first move, "Good night then."
"Good night, Hilde. Wait." For a second time that night, the two locked their lips together again.
"I'll see ya around."
While Hilde was making her way to the door, Duo was quietly watching her from sidewalk and whispered to himself, "So this is love. I can't believe I actually kissed her for a second time." He then looked towards the address number and whispered, "Maple Apartment #12 Sugar Lane."
Once Hilde was inside and the lights from one of her rooms went on, Duo left and walked back to his apartment. Inside it, dirty cooking outfits were scattered throughout the area while in the kitchen, he had various cooking wear hanging on a coat rack located next to his refrigerator. Most of all, it looked like any bachelor pad with all the usual necessities such as the TV set, an unmade bed, magazines littering the floor and so forth. For the rest of the night, Duo dreamt of Hilde in his sleep, while as for the Hilde, she was dreaming of Duo.
*****
Morning soon came and with that Duo's alarm went off.
"Huh. It's already six in the morning. I'm just going to snooze in some more." And with that, his hand fumbled with the snooze button and he fell right back to sleep. But within half an hour, the alarm went off again.
Duo mumbled to himself, "Can't a guy get any sleep around here. I give up!"
Within two minutes, he was up just wearing only his boxer shorts and after taking a quick shower, finding a clean working outfit, and rebraiding his hair, he staggered to his kitchen and made a fresh pot of coffee.
"Another day at the Shinigami's and Chang's bakery." With that Duo slumped his head towards his chest and talking sarcastically, "I have another day to work with Wufei. Well lucky me." Right then, the coffee was ready and after drinking two straight cups of black coffee, Duo was out the door.
After walking through four different traffic intersections and dodging various pedestrians, he finally arrived at the bakery. He could already see Wufei working hard in reshelving the counters with their baked goods.
"Where have you been, Maxwell? Weren't you supposed to be here by 7:00 sharp?"
"I'm glad to see you to, Woofi." Wufei then gave a stare towards Duo. "Aren't you glad that the bakery didn't burn down, since I had to close last night."
"Whatever. Just go to the stockroom and refill the containers of flour, sugar, and cocoa. The last cake filling I did used most of the cocoa from the previous container."
"Whatever you say." Duo went back to the kitchen and grabbed his chef's hat. It was still dusty from the previous flour fight with Quatre. "So how was your date with Sally?"
"None of your business."
"I see someone is touchy with the subject."
"Speak for yourself. I see that you went out on a date with that customer of ours. The girl with the cornflower eyes."
"How did you know?"
"Sally and I were eating a local restaurant and that's all. We saw you two walking towards the café."
"For your information, we just went out for coffee and that was all."
"You sure about that. You have love written all over yourself."
"What can I say, if you excuse me now. I have a job to do."
With that, Wufei and Duo ended their conversation and went on their business as usual. For the rest of the day, Wufei was busy handling customers and baking French rolls, raisin bread, and various doughnuts. As for Duo, he was having fun in creating the different frostings for Wufei's doughnuts, while at the same time; he was monitoring the éclairs he was making for Hilde. "She's gonna love these."
"What are you muttering to yourself about now?"
"Oh, nothing." Duo then gave him a wink in hopes of getting Wufei off his back.
He then turned on his workstation radio, which then began to play Avril Lavigne's, "Complicated." Right then, Duo couldn't resist from singing along, even though he sounded horrible when he started to screech the chorus.
"Why'd you have to go and make things so
complicated see the way you're acting
like you're somebody else gets me frustrated
Life's like this you fall and you crawl and
you break and you take what you get and
you turn it into honesty promise me I'm never
gonna find ya fake it
No no no..."
By that time, Wufei heard Duo's terrible rendition of "Complicated" and yelled on top of his lungs to vent out his agitation, "Why do you have to make my life so COMPLICATED?"
Duo then heard Wufei's booming voice and immediately stopped, even though "Complicated" was still being played on his radio. "Sorry about that. I just got a little carried away."
"A little? Customers could hear you outside as they were waiting for their orders to be taken."
"Oops."
"Thank god you stopped. You're going to drive this bakery into bankruptcy if we aren't too careful. I don't want customers to be scared away by a crazy baker."
"All right, I get your point."
"Good." Wufei then left the kitchen and headed outside to greet the customers that were slowly trickling in for the afternoon.
Right then, the oven's alarm rang off and Duo's éclairs were done.
"How about that? They're finally finished. I still have time to go over to her apartment."
After letting the éclairs cool for a few minutes and placing the chocolate frosting on them, Duo gently placed each one a medium sized pink box. He then told Wufei that he was leaving since his shift was over and that he was heading out.
"But wait, Duo!! You still have to close today, remember?"
"My shift is over and by the way, I closed last night. So, I guess it's your turn for today. Bye!! GTGN!!"
After walking for ten minutes, Duo finally made it to Hilde's apartment complex. It was already evening and the sun already had set, even though the sky was a navy blue. He then paced his breathing and scaled the steps that lead to Hilde's front door and this time he was nervous as ever. "Calm your nerves, Duo. Just calm yourself down." After a minute of talking to himself, he finally mustered up his courage to ring the bell...
****
Will Duo see Hilde or will fate intervene? I guess we'll have to wait for chapter 5. ^_^
****
Sugar Lane
Duo stood in the doorway of the kitchen looking in shock as Hilde just stood there.
"What are you doing here? I was just about to finish up closing the bakery for the night."
"I decided to swing by here since I thought you might still be here and I guess I was right. Where's your partner? Isn't he supposed to help you?"
"He had a date tonight."
"Humph. Shouldn't your partner be helping you close down for the night. I'm mean isn't this bakery also part of his because the last time I check the sign, both of your names were on it, even though one name is bigger than the other."
"Yeah, I know. I know. The name thing was in part my doing. It's kind of funny on how we both started in this little town. Anyhow, I need to finish cleaning up the counters and racks. You could leave if you want because this can get a little too tedious."
"I don't mind. I'm off tomorrow."
"Well all right then, just give me at least twenty minutes."
With that Duo was off to the races in trying to clean countless pastry racks and two long rectangular counters. While he was doing so, Hilde was timing him with her watch. "Keep it up, Duo. You're slacking a little."
"Very funny. I don't see you working here." Duo then quickly dodged into the kitchen to drop off the pastry racks, and when he ran out of the kitchen, he held a rag with him and he then sprinted towards the two counters and ran back forth until they were sparkling clean.
After making sure that everything was in order, Duo then headed over towards Hilde with a grin on his face. "Well, how about that. It looks like I have only thirty seconds to spare."
"I guess this qualifies for a record in the bakery's history of closing down for the night category."
"I guess so." Duo was still panting slightly, but all in all, the mood from the day's events began to vanish and with Hilde being there, Duo let out a sigh of relief.
"So, I guess you didn't have a rough day after all."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Judging by your looks, you still have a light layer of flour all over your cooking uniform."
"You mean this layer." Duo then dusted himself off.
"Hey quit that! You're getting flour all over me to, you know."
"I know."
Duo then gently grabbed Hilde closer to him and kissed her for the first time, unexpectedly. For a minute, the couple stood in the window of the bakery kissing each other. After their small embrace, Duo left a flour smudge on Hilde's nose and she left one Duo's face as well.
"I wanted to do that for a long while now. You look so wonderful tonight."
"Aren't you the romantic one?"
Duo was just smiling at her response. "I think we should be heading out now, how about that?"
"I guess."
"Just let me put my chef's hat back in the kitchen and wait for me outside."
"Okay."
As Hilde was leaving, Duo made a quick dash towards the kitchen and placed his chef's hat on a hook next to Wufei's hat. After making quick glances here and there throughout the bakery, Duo locked up and headed out with Hilde for the night.
The two decided to head towards a café located a couple of blocks away from the bakery.
"So what made you decide to go into the baking business with Wufei in the first place?"
"I don't know how we paired up in the beginning. It was some random calling. That's all. You know how businesses goes, you need partners to get the project going."
"Yeah, I see."
"So how about you? What do you do for a living?"
"I work as a secretary at a nearby office around here. For the most part, I type up letters and file folders here and there. But basically, I have mad skills in organizing. My boss is always disorganized and one of my pet peeves is when he can't find anything since the majority of the time, he messes up my system of filing important memos and all."
"Secretary, huh?"
"Yep. Why, what did you think my job was? A waitress."
"Maybe," Duo was giving her a joking look.
"Oh quit it, Duo."
"I can't help myself."
"It's getting late. I probably should be heading back to my apartment now, even though I'm off tomorrow."
"Let me walk you back then."
"You don't have to, Duo, honestly, I'll be fine. It's just two blocks away from here."
"I'll feel better if I walk you home tonight. It won't be out of my way."
"Honestly?"
"Scout's honor."
The two then walked out into the night and after walking two blocks, the two finally arrived at their destination.
"Well here it is. Home sweet home."
"It isn't too shabby from what I have. The place looks much nicer here."
There was a brief silence between the couple for a while, as Duo stared into Hilde's eyes.
Hilde then made the first move, "Good night then."
"Good night, Hilde. Wait." For a second time that night, the two locked their lips together again.
"I'll see ya around."
While Hilde was making her way to the door, Duo was quietly watching her from sidewalk and whispered to himself, "So this is love. I can't believe I actually kissed her for a second time." He then looked towards the address number and whispered, "Maple Apartment #12 Sugar Lane."
Once Hilde was inside and the lights from one of her rooms went on, Duo left and walked back to his apartment. Inside it, dirty cooking outfits were scattered throughout the area while in the kitchen, he had various cooking wear hanging on a coat rack located next to his refrigerator. Most of all, it looked like any bachelor pad with all the usual necessities such as the TV set, an unmade bed, magazines littering the floor and so forth. For the rest of the night, Duo dreamt of Hilde in his sleep, while as for the Hilde, she was dreaming of Duo.
*****
Morning soon came and with that Duo's alarm went off.
"Huh. It's already six in the morning. I'm just going to snooze in some more." And with that, his hand fumbled with the snooze button and he fell right back to sleep. But within half an hour, the alarm went off again.
Duo mumbled to himself, "Can't a guy get any sleep around here. I give up!"
Within two minutes, he was up just wearing only his boxer shorts and after taking a quick shower, finding a clean working outfit, and rebraiding his hair, he staggered to his kitchen and made a fresh pot of coffee.
"Another day at the Shinigami's and Chang's bakery." With that Duo slumped his head towards his chest and talking sarcastically, "I have another day to work with Wufei. Well lucky me." Right then, the coffee was ready and after drinking two straight cups of black coffee, Duo was out the door.
After walking through four different traffic intersections and dodging various pedestrians, he finally arrived at the bakery. He could already see Wufei working hard in reshelving the counters with their baked goods.
"Where have you been, Maxwell? Weren't you supposed to be here by 7:00 sharp?"
"I'm glad to see you to, Woofi." Wufei then gave a stare towards Duo. "Aren't you glad that the bakery didn't burn down, since I had to close last night."
"Whatever. Just go to the stockroom and refill the containers of flour, sugar, and cocoa. The last cake filling I did used most of the cocoa from the previous container."
"Whatever you say." Duo went back to the kitchen and grabbed his chef's hat. It was still dusty from the previous flour fight with Quatre. "So how was your date with Sally?"
"None of your business."
"I see someone is touchy with the subject."
"Speak for yourself. I see that you went out on a date with that customer of ours. The girl with the cornflower eyes."
"How did you know?"
"Sally and I were eating a local restaurant and that's all. We saw you two walking towards the café."
"For your information, we just went out for coffee and that was all."
"You sure about that. You have love written all over yourself."
"What can I say, if you excuse me now. I have a job to do."
With that, Wufei and Duo ended their conversation and went on their business as usual. For the rest of the day, Wufei was busy handling customers and baking French rolls, raisin bread, and various doughnuts. As for Duo, he was having fun in creating the different frostings for Wufei's doughnuts, while at the same time; he was monitoring the éclairs he was making for Hilde. "She's gonna love these."
"What are you muttering to yourself about now?"
"Oh, nothing." Duo then gave him a wink in hopes of getting Wufei off his back.
He then turned on his workstation radio, which then began to play Avril Lavigne's, "Complicated." Right then, Duo couldn't resist from singing along, even though he sounded horrible when he started to screech the chorus.
"Why'd you have to go and make things so
complicated see the way you're acting
like you're somebody else gets me frustrated
Life's like this you fall and you crawl and
you break and you take what you get and
you turn it into honesty promise me I'm never
gonna find ya fake it
No no no..."
By that time, Wufei heard Duo's terrible rendition of "Complicated" and yelled on top of his lungs to vent out his agitation, "Why do you have to make my life so COMPLICATED?"
Duo then heard Wufei's booming voice and immediately stopped, even though "Complicated" was still being played on his radio. "Sorry about that. I just got a little carried away."
"A little? Customers could hear you outside as they were waiting for their orders to be taken."
"Oops."
"Thank god you stopped. You're going to drive this bakery into bankruptcy if we aren't too careful. I don't want customers to be scared away by a crazy baker."
"All right, I get your point."
"Good." Wufei then left the kitchen and headed outside to greet the customers that were slowly trickling in for the afternoon.
Right then, the oven's alarm rang off and Duo's éclairs were done.
"How about that? They're finally finished. I still have time to go over to her apartment."
After letting the éclairs cool for a few minutes and placing the chocolate frosting on them, Duo gently placed each one a medium sized pink box. He then told Wufei that he was leaving since his shift was over and that he was heading out.
"But wait, Duo!! You still have to close today, remember?"
"My shift is over and by the way, I closed last night. So, I guess it's your turn for today. Bye!! GTGN!!"
After walking for ten minutes, Duo finally made it to Hilde's apartment complex. It was already evening and the sun already had set, even though the sky was a navy blue. He then paced his breathing and scaled the steps that lead to Hilde's front door and this time he was nervous as ever. "Calm your nerves, Duo. Just calm yourself down." After a minute of talking to himself, he finally mustered up his courage to ring the bell...
****
Will Duo see Hilde or will fate intervene? I guess we'll have to wait for chapter 5. ^_^