Tori: *claws way out from beneath pile of wrapping paper and gifts* NYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!
Ke: '(o-o)' Well now there's a noise you just don't hear every day…
Awa: Unless you live with Tori.
Ke: True…
Tori: WHAT DO YOU BUY AN ENGAGED COUPLE FOR CHRISTMAS!? …AND DON'T SAY 'PORN'!
Awa & Ke: …Porn? *shrug*
Tori: __O
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"So, Cassie… Where are you from?" Hilde asked, trying to stir up a conversation over the monotonous drone of the television we had parked ourselves in front of.
"Hm?" I asked. She had caught me off guard. I was too busy half-watching as Trowa and the boy named Heero cleared the table. Hilde mistook my focus for the doorway to the back rooms.
"Looking for Duo?" she teased, arching her eyebrows.
"Ah-no!" Damn her… Now she was probably convinced I was waiting for him to come back.
"It's alright… I understand."
"What do you mean?" There was no going back now. But I was curious as to what she was getting at. I resettled myself on the cushion and took one of the throw pillows into my lap to rest my arms on. She looked like she was gathering her thoughts on the matter and preparing for a long conversation so I figured I should at least be comfortable.
"Duo's a lady killer…"
"Oh?" I raised an eyebrow, feigning ignorance on the matter. I knew very well how charming Duo was, and I was prepared to admit it in front of God and the world that after a five minute conversation with him I would have slept with him if he had suggested it.
"He's a real suave kind of guy," she said almost wistfully, "He's got that devil's charm. He's the kind of guy girls could fall in love with over a conversation about the weather or something."
"I bet he has a lot of girlfriends."
"Girlfriends… Boyfriends… Hell, I used to go out with him. Even when he broke up with people, he'd stay great friends with them. He's just a great kind of guy."
"Sounds like you still like him…" I said. I was a little afraid she'd start crying, like in the movies, but she just smiled at me. It was a sad smile though.
"I do, very much. But he's happy now. He found what he was looking for."
"Duet?"
"Yeah…" Hilde sighed and sunk into the couch a bit more. "They're meant to be… It was fate. They're just…meant to be together."
"You're a great friend to be happy for him, still." I could only imagine how much it would hurt her to see him every day so happy with someone else. Nevertheless she stuck by his side. She was probably looking for an opportunity to slip back into the loop, but then again…she didn't seem like that kind of person. She wasn't a vulture, she was just lonely. How one could be lonely in a house full of other guys possibly as cute as Duo was a little beyond me, but I was to find that out later.
"Thanks… I dunno. I don't miss him as much as I used to. I know there's someone out there for me, too. Those two made me believe in fate. They're like… Like Sigfreid and Roy."
No matter how many times I blinked, I couldn't place the names. "Who?"
"Sigfreid and Roy. I mean, how else does one gay tiger-tamer find another gay tiger tamer? They were made for each other. It's the same with them… Two bumbling, braided idiots with a lot more to them than what I just said."
I had to laugh. "Possibly the strangest analogy I've ever heard…"
She laughed as well and the tension eased. "It's just how my mind works," she shrugged. "But, yeah… I understand you liking Duo, but he's taken."
"Who's taken?"
I nearly jumped out of my skin. Behind us, Duo squatted down and crossed his arms on the back of the couch, resting his chin on them so he could look at us. He had this cocky little grin on his face and for a moment I was suspicious that he had heard everything we'd just said, but he acted oblivious enough to the answer to his question.
"You, ya moron!" Hilde yelled and whapped him with a pillow. He pinwheeled a few timed and fell backwards on his rear.
"Domestic violence," he mumbled and rubbed his head, grinning like a loon.
I turned around in my seat and looked down at him. "How's Duet?" I asked, and he fixed me with a surprised look, hand paused mid-way through his floppy bangs.
"She's, ah…fine. Just fine."
Hilde looked concerned, frowning at his unsatisfactory answer.. "Did she eat?"
"No… I didn't want to wake her."
"DUO!"
Duo slowly stood. He spared a moment to run his hand through his bangs again before sighing softly and half-turning away from us.
"Ah, she looks so peaceful when she's sleepin'. I checked the dresses and everything. The bleeding stopped so I figured she'd be fine." With that, he shuffled off to the kitchen to talk to the other boys and help with the dishes.
"Duo… He's the only person I know who can be responsible and irresponsible at the same time." Hilde blew her bangs out of her face and frowned.
I had learned a lot about Duo that day. And the more I knew, the better I liked him. Less and less did I think of him and the others as rebel soldiers in the ever-present war that had somehow neglected to cross my mind in the past few hours.
"Well, he seems like a good guy," I said pathetically.
"He is. He really is…"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Tori: O__O I dug myself into a SERIOUS pit with this Author Fic thing… So it's become the Author New Year's Eve party! I'm sorry…but I just couldn't get a good idea for Christmas. Besides…New Years offers a LOT more couples' options, more excuses to get wildly drunk ((Taro… ^__~)), more crazy New Years traditions, and more craziness in general!
Ke: Plus more time for you to write it, you lazy butt…
Tori: *pushes aside a pile of tangled ribbons* Has anyone seen the door lately? Or Zashi and Hikaru for that matter?