YAY!! It's summer! I love summer so much!!! But it hasn't been warm enough over here so I'm a little bummbed out. That and added to the fact that my love life is very depressingly non-existent. But it's okay cause none of you care about that stuff, just me getting this out to ya all! I don't own "Consumed by Laziness" by Hot Rod Circuit. Nor do I own any of the Gundam Boys. Although I do wish that I could call a certain guy with electric blue eyes and a rockin mohawk my own, but that's beside the point.
/~_*_~\
Duo stared at Heero in disbelief, then slowly his face lit up with a grin,
"Thomas Woods, huh? Change your name, or getting it signed for your boyfriend?"
"Nope, it's a gift for my number one fan," at this Duo cocked an eyebrow,
"So there's an Official Heero Yuy fan club now? Geeze, send me a membership form will ya?"
"I'll put in an request for you." Duo studied Heero for a moment, then shook his head and signed the shirt.
"Thanks, you don't know how happy you've just made a 10 year old kid," Heero smiled at Duo and thought of how happy Thomas was going to be when he found out that Duo had personalized the shirt for him. Then one of Duo's fellow band members yelled something at him, which Heero didn't catch. Duo waved back at the guy and turned back to Heero,
"Sorry, I gotta go over and help my buds, but if you're gonna be in town for awhile then we should absolutely get together. Where are you staying?"
"The Weston," Duo's eyes widened and he let out a low whistle,
"Dude, that's a pretty slick place!"
"Really? I hadn't noticed," Heero smiled smugly,
"Wait, did you just make a joke? What happened to you since the last time I talked to you?"
Heero thought to himself 'I realized I was in love with you,' but said,
"Lots of stuff," then he paused for a moment, "Weren't you supposed to go help with something?" Duo smacked himself in the forehead,
"Yah, I was. It's just seeing you after all this time, it all kind of sidetracked me. But I will SO be calling you later man!" with a wave he was off on a quick jog to meet up with the rest of his band.
Heero for his part had maintained his cool through the entire conversation, but now that he had finally seen Duo, the butterflies returned and his legs went weak lamenting over how short their reunion had been.
With nothing else to do, Heero folded up the shirt and left the Showbox in search of a pay phone so he could call a cab. As he walked out of the warehouse, he noticed how late it really was. The moon was bright on the cold December night, and the dark sky added to the chill in the cool air. He absently wondered if it was snowing back home.
/~_*_~\
The elevator doors opened into the fifth floor's main corridor and the young man with cobalt eyes stepped out onto the flower patterned carpet. Making his way down the hallway to his room, Heero realized that the ball was in Duo's court now. The possibility of the impossible happening was very likely when the braided baka had control.
Heero had been wired like a telephone pole back at the venue, but now as his adrenaline dissipated, all he wanted was a pillow under his head. As he entered the black hotel room he absently threw his jacket on a chair and set the folded shirt on the nightstand, unbuttoned his pants and fell into the haven of his bed. He didn't have to do anymore planning; Duo would handle it all from here.
/~_*_~\
Duo clicked his bass case shut and set it in the back seat of his jeep. He yelled his last goodbyes to his band mates and the band's rowdy group of roadies, confirmed their plans for Christmas and drove off to his Ballard apartment. It was good that they had finished up the tour back in their hometown three days before Christmas so they wouldn't be away from their families in a hotel room somewhere. But Duo couldn't escape one thing that had been unexpected.
Heero Yuy had found him. Duo had planned exactly what he would say to him when they met up again, but all that planning fell through in real life. In all honesty though, Duo had given up on Heero right after he hung up the phone a year and a half ago.
~I let you slip through my fingers~
He had been tired of keeping it all pent up. His unrequited love for his fellow pilot was starting to affect his health. He couldn't sleep or concentrate on anything just knowing that Heero Yuy was out there and that he, Duo, wasn't there with him. He began to formulate a plan in his head as he filled out paperwork in the yard he and Hilde managed. He would lay it all out without actually saying those three little words. If Heero understood, then maybe it would work out between them. And if he didn't understand, Duo knew he was going to have to start an entirely new life for himself.
It was a lazy June Monday when Duo made the call that would change his life. He dialed up the number of Heero's laptop and leaned back in his computer chair waiting for him to pick up. As always, Duo was greeted with the pleasant sight of Heero Yuy glaring at him. For his part, Duo felt that he had made a very pleading case to Heero, he had laid it all out there and been rejected. But could he really call it a rejection? Heero Yuy knew nothing of feelings and compassion, so he most likely had no idea what Duo was talking about.
~Don't even know if I can remember how I got here in the first place~
How was it that he had fallen for Heero in the first place? Duo couldn't pinpoint an exact time or incident, but suddenly one day he was standing in front of his bathroom mirror and suddenly realized that he was in love with his fellow pilot. Suddenly things had become a little more difficult.
/~_*_~\
After hanging up with Heero, Duo began planning his new life. He had to get out of the colonies, there were too many things that would remind him that he could never have Heero. That left only one place where he could escape it all: Earth.
He snuck out of the office and yelled into Hilde that he was taking his lunch break. As she looked up from her paperwork, she smiled at him and told him to take as long as he needed since she knew he had been under a lot of stress lately. He smiled back and took a mental snap shot of her face knowing that it would be a long time before he saw her again.
Once arriving home at his L2 apartment, he packed only the most important things into a duffle bag and headed out for the spaceport. He ran possibilities through his head as he walked down the colony streets. Definitely not Japan, since Heero was already living there, Europe was out of the question as well, Antarctica was too cold and uninhabited, and Australia for some reason had no appeal to him.
~My mind wanders off it's somewhere out in space~
Duo caught the 1:15 shuttle to San Diego, California, United States and thus began his new life. Sitting in his seat looking out at the stars and universe, he realized that he would be losing contact with everyone from his past. Quatre, Trowa, Wufei, Howard, Hilde, all of them would remind him of the war, and subsequently he would be reminded of Heero. If he was going to move on in his life, he knew he would have to break all ties with his past.
During his flight, Duo used his laptop to apartment hunt. He searched realestate and finally found a bungalow on the beach. It was listed as a "fixer-up summer house" which intrigued Duo. He needed something constructive to occupy his time after all. He transferred funds and was the proud owner of a seaside bungalow by the time he made it off the shuttle.
Duo had never been to Southern California and wondered as he stepped out onto the palm tree lined streets why he hadn't come sooner. The air was thick with heat and fragrance from the tropical flowers and Duo stripped off his black long sleeve shirt. Folding the shirt up, Duo realized that for his new life he would have to acquire a new wardrobe.
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The next few weeks, Duo spent adapting to his new California lifestyle. The "fixing" of the bungalow turned out to be a simple matter of repairing the roof and took Duo only two days to accomplish. His black attire was soon replaced with pooka shells and surfer gear. Finding that he needed a way to get around, Duo went out and bought an 87' Wrangler equipped with off road shocks and F-C Kevlar tires perfect for strolling sand dunes. He was living the life the war had taken away from him.
~Laziness it consumes you~
During the time he wasn't surfing or listening to music, Duo lazed about in the shade of the palm trees. He would spend hours laying in the white sand in the sun, making sand angels and tanning his skin to a deep bronze. If any of the other pilots had seen him at that moment, they would not have recognized him. This was exactly what Duo wanted.
He had started hanging out with other people his age, surfing, dune hopping in his Jeep, playing video games and going to parties. Everyone he met was won over by his cheerfulness and sense of humor. It amazed Duo that none of them ever asked if he was the gundam pilot of Deathsythe since it was common knowledge that pilot 02 was named Duo Maxwell and had a long braid. He came to understand that all of these young adults were unaffected by the war, too young to participate in it and too old for it to be taught to them in history class.
~There's nothing you can say, there's nothing you can do~
One sweltering night in August as Duo was sipping a Corona[1] listening to a local ska band, he was approached by someone he had never met. Noticing this stranger wasn't tan, he guessed that he was on vacation from somewhere up North. The guy tapped Duo on the shoulder,
"Hey a friend of mine told me you were an awesome bass player and I was wondering if you would play the next set with my band. Our bassist split on us this afternoon and we couldn't find a replacement." It was true, Duo was good at the bass, something he had picked up after the war and had continued during the warm nights since moving to California. Duo considered, then smiled at the guy,
"Sure! That would be pretty slick, but I hope ya have an extra bass I can borrow since I left mine at home with the palm trees."
"Sure thing! Geeze, you have no idea what a lifesaver you are right now! By the way, name's Daven Brenton," he offered out his hand,
"Duo Maxwell," he shook Daven's hand and followed him over to the rest of the band. The other two members, Josh Russell one of the guitarist, and Mike Prestner the drummer, were sitting near the stage. After introductions, Josh pulled a red bass out of the back of the band's van and handed it to Duo. Daven scratched down the cords to the songs they were going to play on a napkin and asked Duo if he could handle them. Having played most of the songs before at some point, Duo said that he could and spent the next few minutes practicing on the bass.
After the ska band's set ended, Duo followed the other three up onto the makeshift stage. He adjusted the bass strap and nodded over at Josh who was also the lead vocalist. Josh leaned in towards the microphone and began the set,
"Hey, it's good to see everyone having such a fun time, but by the looks of it, most of you'll be too smashed by the morning to remember much of what all happened tonight," this comment drew laughs and cheers from the crowd. Josh strummed a few chords on his guitar and started speaking again,
"Well, we're Befound, and I just wanted you all to know that our scum-assed bass player Chris Kolleton bailed on us so you all are fortunate enough to hear our replacement Duo Maxwell. Well here it goes with a song that fits this area, "Surf Wax America."
Duo was a little shaky at first, but he fell into step and started to feel comfortable up on stage. He felt a connection to the other three, something he hadn't felt since his days hanging out with Quatre, Wufei, Trowa and of course Heero. All of them were extremely talented and added their own flare to the covers they performed. Mike threw in drum solos and Josh was able to sing each song as if he were the true artist. To say the least, Duo was very impressed.
As he was helping stash the equipment back in Mike's van, Daven came up to him again. He was scratching the back of his head as he began to speak,
"Say Duo, I know this is really sudden and all, but me and the guys had a talk back there and I was wondering if you would consider becoming our bassist. Permanently."
Deep down, Duo had been hoping they'd ask him. Life had been good for him lately, but he missed the teamwork aspect, which had once been a large part of his life. Being up on that stage, standing next to those three, Duo felt like he belonged and began to crave being on stage with them again. He grinned and reached out an arm to give Daven a good thwack on the back,
"Thought you'd never ask! So, what happens now?" Daven laughed a little and turned to him,
"Well, since we're only down here on vacation for Mike's sister's wedding, I guess we'll jockey around your situation and head back up to Seattle,"
"Seattle huh?" Duo's eyebrows rose a bit. Seattle, birthplace of grunge, Starbucks central and one of the only places that called an umbrella a bumpershoot. Plus it rained there a lot. But then he began to think about it. Rain was something he hadn't experienced much of. L2 hadn't been much on rain, and California wasn't either for that matter. A little rain might be what he needed.
/~_*_~\
~Simply put I'm letting go, I've got my money on the wrong hand this time~
And so, Duo Maxwell began another new life. He moved his possessions from his beachside bungalow into the back of his black Jeep. He had decided to rent out the bungalow, maybe bring in some cash to help out the band. From what he had gathered from Daven, Befound had a small following in Seattle, but still didn't have the funds to cut a record.
For the next three days, Duo followed Mike's van up the Pacific coast. McDonalds as well as other fast-food joints had their economies boosted minutely and Gas station mini-marts became grocery stores. At night, they would pull their van and Duo's jeep into an empty parking lot and sleep under the stars in the warmth of summer nights. Daven, Mike and Josh would rotate sitting in Duo's jeep with him. They each told him stories of their band's exploits and growing up on the Eastside of Lake Washington. Along the way, the group stopped off in Astoria, Oregon, took a look out at Mount Saint Helen's, after which they picked up a burger at Tiny's in the Nisqually Valley, and finally took a small tour of Olympia and the Capitol building.
Seattle was an amazing city. They reached it at almost midnight, pulling 70 on I-5 with the breeze whipping. The lights of the city shown brightly as Duo and Daven, who was in the jeep with him at that time, drove to the guys' apartment in Ballard. Duo felt like something he had been missing fell into place.
Well anyways, the next chapter is mostly written. Hopefully I'll be more inspired to write. It's amazing how much time you waste trying to make plans but never really act on those plans. Oh well story of my life. Next part is coming soon and I need another song!! Good rawk songs that you think might work with the story line. Well till I post again, Later dayz!
~Kaitou Rinna-chan