[DISCLAIMER] Gundam Wing doesn't belong to me and I make no money off of this. I also got the title for this fic from a DNAngel website that closed down and vanished. [WARNING] no beta = bad grammar; bad language -_-; there will be homosexual relationships in this (malexmale) dont read if you dont like and all that.

Off Ramp by Curtis

Prologue: Sky of Grace

[Duo POV]

I like to live my life the way I live it. I don't like anyone telling me what to do or how to act, its my life after all right? When it all comes down to it, all the choices I make are made by me and no one else. If I want to learn how to fly a plane then I will learn how to fly a plane. If I want to be the strongest man in all of the world, then hell, I am going to be the fucking strongest man in the world.

So when I told my parents that I wanted to drop out of school in my last year of high school to go live with my dead-beat boyfriend thats what I did.

And up to this day I regret it. Not the living with my fucked over boyfriend instead of my parents part, hell, even he was an improvement over them. The thing that really fucked me over was not finishing high school when I had the chance.

When I was in school Otto was the shit. He was 26 with the world on his shoulders, he had a small apartment in the worst part of town, and no real job. Well, he told everyone that he was a salesman, but the hours he worked were all over the place and for weeks at a time all he seemed to do was sit around and help me skip school. Sometimes back then I would wonder what he sold, or where he sold it at, but I never really thought about it long. I was convinced there were more important things to life then what my boyfriend did for work. I really wish I hadn't been so fucking stupid back then. The day I told my parents that I was moving out and dropping school to be with him was the day they told me I was no longer their son. In all reality, it didn't faze me a bit. They were bad people and even worse parents. My dad had been a womanizing pervert with mush for brains while my mom had escaped into a bottle to get away from my dad.

The next few weeks found me happily living with Otto, not going to school and hanging out at his apartment all day. Otto went out during the day, for work he told me, and then during the night he would come back and fuck me though the bed. All in all I was a happy naive teenager, living out my life the way I wanted with no one ever telling me what to do.

To this day I'm still not sure what the fuck Otto did for work, and actually, I really dont want to know. Within three months I was kicked out of his apartment after our relationship turned sour, and left to fend for myself on the streets. I couldn't go back to my parents after the fight we had had it would be impossible to even set foot on their lawn, much less get into their house. Not that I wanted to anyways, I would rather live on the streets then live back with them.

Which was actually what I ended up doing. Living on the streets that is.

The next few weeks found me sleeping in shelters during the night and hiding in alley ways during the day. At first I had to eat out of garbage cans, but after awhile I picked up the neat trick of being able to pick pocket. I was caught the first couple of times while doing it, however as time passed by I got better and better and by the time I hit nineteen I was one of the self-proclaimed best. Along with the new ability to pick pocket came the new ability to be quick and with those to things combined I was easily able to make it into a street gang. Soon I left the night shelter for an abandoned building and while I still hid out in the alleys, I was no longer alone.

The gangs leader was named Jeff when I first entered, but as time passed and I got to be one of his favorites he decided to change his name to Solo, so that we would be a pair. He had a morbid sense of humor which I didn't totally get....however I went along with it anyway, because their was no way that I was going to second guess him.

A year later Solo was dead and I dropped out of our famous street gang. In the end it turned out for the best, after all, you cant live in a street gang the rest of your life can you? So I bid my time on the streets, pick pocketing and generally having a miserable time.

And then one day everything came together.

I had been walking down the street late one evening, doing my usual pick pocketing deal, when I saw the perfect man to go for. He had been older, maybe mid-50's early 60's. He hadn't seemed to really be paying attention to anything on the street and just hobbled along, muttering under his breath. While anyone else would have just saw a crazy old man I saw something rather different. The coat that the man was wearing might not have looked like much, but I knew instantly that it had to have been custom made. And having things custom made for you didn't come cheep.

I walked until I was right behind him, making sure that I could see the indent of a wallet in his back pocket, before I slipped forward and bumped right into him. As I had expected it had been an easy grab, however something I had not expected was the hand that had gruffly grabbed my arm.

"Hay man, whatcha' think your doin'?!" I put on my best 'I-didn't-do-anything-what's-wrong-with-you' look. No one had caught me for years, and for the first time in a long time I was starting to feel slightly panicked. That would teach me ever to get to cocky again.

The old man leaned in close and I know my eyes must had been the size of dinner plates.

"Man what's you problem! Let the fuck go of my fuckin' arm!" I tried to pull my arm away, but for an old man he had a tight grip and I found myself unable to move away from him.

"Your perfect..." Hearing his muttered words I tried even harder to get away, if it came down to it I knew I could always scream rape. I might lose some dignity, but at least I would be fuckin free and away from the creep.

His eyes had looked first down my frame, looking over my body as if he were critiquing it. His eyes then had darted over to my long dirty chestnut colored hair that I kept back in a tight braid.

I had thought for sure that the man would attempt to rape me, after all the streets were deserted at this time of hour, so imagine my surprise when he had let go of my arm with a laugh. The confusion must had shown on my face for he held out his hand and introduced himself as G, a talent agent. I know my eyes must have narrowed then, I had heard tons of stories of sick perverts who would lead kids to believe that they were talent agents or TV producers just to find away to get a kid into their car.

He must have sensed my distrust because he reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card and handed it to me. It had looked like the real deal but I still didn't let my guard down. Sometimes the worst ones did the most planning.

However, just because I was wary of him didn't mean that I wasn't curious about what he had said before. Its a personality flaw of mine I think, I am always curious about almost anything that has to deal with me. Call me egotistical, call me vain, call me human...

"Your the model I need."

I tilted my head, looking at him like he was crazy. "Model?"

The man, G, coughed and then let a frown claim his face. "Well your dirty, and smelly, and obviously dont have any manners at all, but yes. Model. You might be something cleaned up."

I narrowed my eyes. "Its not like I have a choice ya know?"

"Obviously." he grunted and turned around. "Come with me."

I blinked. "Where?"

"Where does it look like I'm going dolt?" He called over his shoulder as he crossed the street and walked into the tall rich building that had the same address that was listed on his card. I remember thinking something along the lines of 'what the hell' as I ran across the street and into the building that the old man had newly opened with a set of keys.

That was the day everything changed.

That was also the day I picked up 80 extra dollars.

The old man never even figured out I lifted his wallet until a week later.

TBC...

Extra Note: Eh, Reviews would be nice...I'm not too sure if I should continue this. I do have the next chapter written, but I dont know if I should post it...If I continue this, the pairings for this fic with be 1x2 and 3+4 and 5+?

*cough*sorry-for-spelling-errors-I-don't-have-a-beta*/cough*