Downfall
By: Lost-Remembrance (Red Tail)
Chapter Three: Thinking of Him
He couldn't help but sigh heavily mentally. His fingers tapped on the table's surface, drumming to a soft beat.
Duo stared at Hilde with dull eyes, nodding ever so often when the bluish-haired girl paused in her story of how the day flew by for her.
It was his way of showing her that he was listening—even though he wasn't really. Too bad she would never know.
Bowing his head as he sagged into the cushions of the sofa he was settled in, he couldn't help but chuckle darkly.
Hilde seemed to blame Heero for all that happened, even if it was his fault since he left the stoic brunette by himself.
Currently, the two of them were sitting in a quaint little diner on the L2 colony, taking a break from the rush of the working hours at the salvage yard. It was a small, but growing business. Hilde was happy with how everything was turning out—she even hired some other workers besides Duo to help with the blooming business.
With the recent further in science, inventions were booming and new technology was sprouting, putting the use the scraps of mobile suits that littered outer space.
Sighing heavily once more, this time out loud, he turned his face to look out the window on his right. His eyes were drawn to the bright and sunny day outside, relieved at any level to look at the clouds that passed by to reveal buildings above. For some reason, it made him loose that feeling of anger that was bubbling up inside him slowly but steadily enough.
There was no doubt about it; the colonies were indeed beautiful in their own way but mother earth couldn't be doubled by any like. She was a one of a kind, untamed unlike what mankind seemed to think now a days. They had mastered rain, clouds, and so many other ways to remake nature's simple, but beautiful masterpieces. Too bad they were wrong—it was the fierce beauty that created earth and her majesties. That was something mankind would never be able to recreate.
Just like Heero.
He had a wild strength hidden under his gruff exterior, something that seemed so dangerous to him and others. And that was exactly what drew the American to the reckless Japanese pilot. Whoever had said opposites attract may have been right—except something between the two seemed to drift and get screwed up along the lines.
"Duo?" The braided American looked up, blinking as he registered his mind must have drifted off—again. He was back in the diner.
Hilde frowned and gently laid a hand on Duo's upper arm, smiling reassuringly. It was a silent sign of comfort to him; she was there for him when she needed someone to talk to.
He smiled at her, mask once again on, "Yeah?" Duo questioned, feeling somewhat uncomfortable with Hilde pressing herself at him sometimes. It just wasn't right that he still loved Heero and allowed himself to stay with Hilde. Didn't she catch the subtle hints he gave her sometimes? He only wanted to stay friends with her, nothing more and nothing less.
Biting her lip, she closed her eyes, "You were thinking about Heero again, right?" She rubbed her temples with her fingers, looking as if she was fighting off a migraine.
Duo smiled weakly at her, something she didn't see with her eyes closed. He chose to remain silent.
The question didn't even have to be asked—there was just about no doubt in his mind. Her fury rose but she masked it well, something that she had learned to do over the years.
Her eyes opened to catch the last glimpse of the small nod Duo gave her when he realized she was staring at him.
Yep, no doubt in her mind. Her hand clenched at her side, grasping the hem of her skirt as she managed a small, weak smile towards the direction where Duo sat, slowly sipping his drink and eating large bites of his sandwich now and then distractedly.
Duo continued to watch out the window. Some children ran by, laughing as they tagged one another. His eyes flickered to them, following as they made their way through the crowded streets. A ghost of a smile appeared on his lips, eyes twinkling at the awakening of a distant memory.
She grabbed her glass gingerly and shot a smile at Duo, mind darkly thinking of all the ways she could hurt Heero if she ever got her hands on him for changing the once bubbly teen so much.
"Just don't go all self-destructive on me like last time." Last time, it was alcohol. The time before that was a razor… and then, well—he couldn't even remember the time before that.
Duo shot her a reassuring grin. "Promise." Hilde stared at him for a couple moments, as if testing the truth of his words. Satisfied with whatever she saw, she nodded.
He seemed so distant and out of his normal character. Or at least the character Hilde had been graced to witness.
"Don't think badly about him, Hil'." Duo mumbled, taking a small sip of his cola and looking at her while flashing a smile, trying to perk up and slip his mask back on while cursing himself for letting such a slip happen in the first place.
"Hm." She took a sip of her drink. Putting the glass back down on the coaster, she snorted, "It's not that easy—you're not yourself and he's to blame."
"No," She turned, jumpy at the sharpness of his voice at her.
She frowned in confusion, did he not think the same thing? All Heero would ever be was an emotionless bastard, some of which was due to his upraising, but that was beyond the point. The bastard had hurt her Duo, but…she sighed and cast a longing glance at the former Gundam pilot who was cheerfully having an animate conversation with a waitress.
"Duo?"
He didn't respond.
Hilde sighed heavily and shook her head. She readjusted her cap.
"Is there anything I can get for you, mister? What about you ma'am?"
"Ah, no thank you." Hilde flashed a smile at the nervous waitress. It was obviously her first day working at this diner.
"What about you, sir?"
Duo smiled wickedly at the girl, making her take an uneasy step back. Gulping, she didn't take another step back and planted herself to where she was standing.
"Sir?" she questioned with her head bowed, a blush adorning her freckled cheeks. Her flaming red hair was swept into a ponytail that bushed over her shoulders in a curly mess.
"Well…" Duo drawled out, looking at her name tag, "Jenny…"
Hilde raised an eyebrow, looking between Duo and the young waitress. Then with a sigh, she ate a chip on her plate, leaned over and…
"OW!"
Hilde smacked him upside the head when she noticed him working his ever-familiar charms on young lady. The very charms that she had fallen for in the first place. Duo had shown her the world in a new light.
"What was that for?" The braided teen pouted, making Jenny suppress a giggle behind her hand. When Duo glanced at her, she flushed once more and mumbled if he wanted anything else.
"W—"
"No thank you, Jenny." Hilde flashed the girl a reassuring smile. Nodding gratefully at the shorter-haired woman, the waitress scurried off to go and attend to other customers.
A cute pout still on his face, Duo crossed his arms, "What did you do that for?"
"You were scaring her." She shoved another chip in her mouth.
She could be mad at Duo, but then she could also thank him for whatever happened between them that allowed the two of them—just the two of them—to be together.
"Ready to go?" She slipped some money on the table to pay for their meal and she adjusted the beret balanced on her head once more and grabbed a shopping bag that was for the weekly groceries between the two.
Business couldn't be any better for the two of them at the salvage yard. The two of them were having the time of their lives. They were working with their passion (together, Hilde mentally added, which made the whole thing more worth while) and weren't like some of the other estranged soldiers wandering around with no destination.
"Yep!" Duo cheerfully said, leaning down and grabbing a bag rested by his feet, nestling it under his arm safely. It did take a lot of begging from a certain stubborn business man to get this chip to help them finance their stock better and in a more organized fashion.
Strolling down the street, Hilde smiled and radiated happiness when she walked beside the man that she hoped to one day date, even marry. She smiled dreamily and a blush didn't fail to reach her cheeks, painted them a rosy red color.
Duo stopped, the item under his arm clattering to the floor as his hand didn't quite reach the doorknob. Hilde walked right into him, knocking herself out of her reverie. She blinked in confusion and leaned over, looking to see what had the retired elite pilot stopped in his tracks.
And she saw a note, stuck to the door by a dagger glinting at them in a mocking manner under the artificial sun...
...And the note was about Heero.
TBC