Demon's angel
Chapter 2
AN: the characters and settings of Gundam Wing AC do not belong to me, I'm just borrowing them to play with. OOC, AU, future Yaoi, and X-over warnings.
The door to one of the few private rooms in the building swung open about eight inches and an angular face with messy red hair and brown eyes appeared in the opening. The person looking into the room had oiled the hinges so that the door swung almost silently with only the tiniest of creaks coming from the old metal. Still the eyes of the youngest person in the room slitted open, searching for the source of the sound and moving air that woken him up where he slept safe under the cot his nii-san slept in.
The boy relaxed as he recognized the only other member of Solo's old gang still at the orphanage looking into the room from his position kneeling on the floor just outside Father Maxwell's study. Duo couldn't help but grin as he saw three more heads appear in the opening between the door and the frame, stacked upward in a line like the beads on Sister's rosary. He knew what was coming, sooner or later someone would loose their balance and they'd all come tumbling into the room probably waking up… He frowned, probably waking up Father Maxwell asleep at his desk and nii-san who hadn't woken up since he'd come to for a couple a minutes and recognized him in the middle of the night.
Duo was about to crawl out of his nest and shoo the other kids away when the inevitable happened and gravity won. "eep!" Creeeak, thud, thud, thu-thud, crack, "oof". "Ooow..", "my head hurts!", "Off, can't breath…!" The last came from Slider who had ended up on the bottom of the pile of peeping toms. The complaining, quiet as it was, cut off the second the intruders froze when they spotted Duo glaring at them as he crept out from under the cot set up between two bookshelves across from Father Maxwell's desk.
That glare promised both pain and humiliation if they'd woken anyone up.
The kids piled on the floor were lucky. The boy on the cot didn't even stir and Father Maxwell didn't do more than shift in his chair a bit, his head turning in it's place on his arms crossed on his desk.
The glare didn't soften until Duo, Slider and the other three were in the hall outside the office and the door was firmly shut. That's when Duo opened his mouth and the uninvited visitors found out just how much their little spy mission had pissed him off.
"Wha' the hell are ya doin' ya idjits?! Yer damn lucky ya didn't wake 'em up, I'da had ta whop yer asses if ya had!"
Sister Helen had been working very hard to get Duo to stop swearing and in consequence the boy was very familiar with the taste of soap. She spent so much time washing his mouth out that he could tell where he was by the type and flavor of the soap she'd used. She had succeeded to a certain degree and he made sure to watch his mouth when she was around, especially in the church. He only forgot himself when he was either very angry or excited, and everyone knew this.
Slider stared at the floor and pouted sullenly. The other three followed suit. It wasn't fair. Sure Duo was the oldest kid at the orphanage, but why did he get to watch the new kid that nobody else had got more than a glimpse of? Why didn't Sister ask him to help? He was only a few months younger than the older boy, and he was bigger too! Duo was the better thief and could fight meaner, but that was only because he'd been on the streets longer that him and had more practice. At least that's what Slider told himself, as well as anyone who'd listen.
Duo grimaced and shook his head as he looked at the red head of the only other member of Solo's gang who still hadn't gotten adopted after they all ended up at the Maxwell orphanage once the plague had died down. He still wished Solo'd listened to him when he'd told him that Slider, also known as Jimmy Ericks, would be a problem and not to let him stay in the gang. Sure the boy had no real clue how to survive when they'd found him at the beginning of the plague, he'd only been on the streets a couple of days, but that was no reason to put up with the pain in the butt, wanna be bully for longer than it took to teach him to forage and who to avoid. The little bastard had even stolen food from the littler kids rather than go find his own!
Duo at ten was the oldest of the kids at Maxwell church and had spent most of his life on the streets. Most of the 'ex'-street rats at the church treated him as gang leader and as being in charge after Father Maxwell and Sister Helen, and he knew Slider resented that everyone listened to someone smaller than him. Nothing had happened yet, but Duo knew that sooner or later Slider was going to try to fight with him for his spot as gang leader and Sister Helen and Father Maxwell were going to be upset when he knocked the moron back into place.
An old man with a long pointy nose and strange grey hair had offered to adopt Duo, but Duo had refused and Father Maxwell had let him stay. There was no way he was going to risk leaving an idiot like Slider in charge in case something happened to either the Father or the sister. The moron would get everyone killed. He was a bully with less brains than a rat in Duo's opinion. Good only as a doorstop.
With one last word, "Moron" aimed at Slider, Duo slipped back into the room and checked on his patient. The older boy was looking a bit better. He wasn't as pale as he had been earlier and some of the lines of pain on his face had relaxed. Duo was surprised that his nii-san only looked a couple of years older than him sleeping like this. Duo frowned in confusion as he started really thinking about his dreams about this boy over the years. He'd thought his nii-san was older than this, older than Solo even and Solo had been 15 when he'd died.
Duo flopped down into the chair in front of the desk across from the sleeping Father Maxwell more than a little confused. Could it be that this wasn't Angel, his nii-san? No, it had to be, he'd known him and said his name when he'd woken up after Father M had fallen asleep. So it Had to be his Angel. But why was he so young?
Since he had nothing else to do until either Sister Helen came and got him or Father M woke up, Duo stared at the boy th Father had brought back with him and started seriously thinking about his dreams with Angel in them. After about half an hour he started to notice something he'd ignored before. As he'd gotten older Angel had gotten younger, at least that's what he thought was what had happened. Duo had thought it was just because he was growing that his nii-san seemed to be getting shorter. He'd either missed or ignored the fact that while his nii-san had started out a lot taller than his nee-san, as Duo had gotten older, the height difference between his Angel's girl and boy forms had gotten less and less and both looked less and less like adults.
Still staring at the boy in the cot, Duo had to comment even if it was only to himself on just how weird this all was. He must have said something out loud because he whipped his head around to look at Father Maxwell who continued to chuckle as he stretched, trying to work out the kinks in his back that came from sleeping hunched over in his chair again.
"Weird." The elderly man yawned widely, unable to cover his mouth with his arms out trying to work some of the stiffness out of his muscles. "That my young friend is a word I can agree with. It was very strange finding that young man bleeding on the church steps." Standing up the priest pulled off his glasses and began trying to clean them on his shirt. "The poor boy was laid out almost like an offering or sacrifice of some sort." His glasses back on his nose, the older man made his way over to the cot containing his churches newest inhabitant and muttered. "Most strange indeed…"
Not sure if Father Maxwell was still talking to him or not, Duo stayed put, barely able to resist telling the Father about his dreams and how he seemed to know the black haired boy who lay so still. Duo tried to stay sitting still as the rooms owner sank into contemplation while staring at the odd boy-girl he had rescued the night before.
Finally unable to stand the silence any longer Duo hopped out of his chair, went over to the unmoving pair, and started pulling his blanket and pillow from under the cot getting ready to take them back to the room he normally slept in with all the other boys older than 4. The hand on his shoulder stopped him when he turned to go to the door.
"Duo, do you know this boy?"
Unwilling to answer convinced that one of the few people who's opinion he gave a damn about would think that he was nuts if he did, Duo just chewd on his lower lip and stared at the floor pretending a fascination with his bare feet.
"Duo, answer me. Do you know this boy from somewhere? He seemed to recognize you when he woke up last night. Where have you seen him before?" Father Maxwell's light baritone seemed almost urgent as he tried to coax an answer from the boy most people referred to as Maxwell's Demon due to his antics and reputation as one of the best thieves in the slums despite his lack of age.
At the boy's continued uncharacteristic silence the elderly man shook his head and sighed. "Duo, if you know this boy please at least tell me if it is safe to allow him to remain here?" The grudging nod he got in response to his words was followed by an assurance that the young man in question would not be a risk to the orphanage.
As Father Maxwell turned away to go towards the door he asked, "In that case Duo, would you be willing to share the small storage room with him if we cleaned it out and put a pair of bed in side? He's not yet fit to be on his own and as the only familiar face here he would probably be the most comfortable with you." After assuring Duo that yes he was serious and receiving Duo's agreement to share what amounted to a large closet with the older boy, Father Maxwell sent the violet eyed child off to get some food for himself and some broth to feed his new room mate.
Neither noticed Slider listening around the corner, more resentful than ever of Duo's 'privileges'.
AN: Remember people, this is an Alternate Universe fic with Out Of Character warnings. If I change things a bit don't flame me, but If I miss something really important, please, let me know. To those who haven't read Burning Bridges or Limbo, please do, some things now and later on aren't going to make much sense if you don't.
As always reviews are greatly appreciated, and flames will be used as Kleenex.
