Disclaimer:

I do not own anything of Gundam Wing, sad… but true none-the-less. My loss.

The story is what comes out of my mind when I am half dead from boredom and have nothing better to do while doing so called 'Guard Duty'. Which means staying in the same building for 72 hours and only allowed to leave when you have to take a shower… so… I was bored. I created this story. My first real story with more then one chapter… Hopefully at least. I am a type of person who finishes a story and doesn't write for a year and then comes back to it afterwards. So we can all hope that this won't be like that this time and after the first chapter I won't just quit it and come back after 6 months. This is put up now just to see who would be interested in this story… I am not expecting hordes of reviews, but a few more then usual would be nice I might just update on Saturday if I get enough motivation! This chapter is somewhat edited now… after a few miss-uploading. It should be better now.

Summary: Have you ever wondered how anyone could survive on the streets and not give up? This is Duo's way of 'making' things work. POST EW! If there will be pairings. Then it will be slash. Duo is shown as a guy who is just trying to make things work... his way.

Spoilers from GW and probably endless waltz. If you haven't seen any of those then… what the hell are you doing reading Gundam Wing Fanfiction! If you haven't seen any of the above, then turn off your browser and go download it all… And don't you dare come back till you're an official GW Fan girl, or boy… Get it? Got it? Good.

Street Smarts

There is one thing you need to have when you live on the streets. It is street smarts. Street Smarts are an all around multi-useful skill to have in any situation. It includes whom to pickpocket from, who to stay away from, whom to beg from, where to sleep, and where to eat. The major basics on survival. And not to be too picky about what you get when, how to get it and from whom you get it. For example: Eating from trash cans after the food has been there for a few days… if it doesn't have mold yet, its still edible… even with all the bugs on them, more protein in your diet will be needed.

Another good thing to know is where to find there trash cans and which ones are the best. Another example: Trashes from restaurants are very good sometimes… they sometimes throw out full meals. When you get them right when they throw them, it's the best. Another good place would be army base trashcans… you are mostly likely asking me "What the hell are you thinking?" Yes army food is pretty bad, yes, on a good day I wouldn't even eat it when it's fresh let alone after a few days in the trash… but look at it this way, the army throws away enough food for another army to eat from. A dear friend of mine who did some infiltrating in some army bases told me that they would throw huge garbage bags of bread, hot-dogs, chicken, vegetables, salads, fruits, and other things that no one is able to identify even outside of the trash. It could at least feed about 20 other hungry kids… and then, you are in the good graces of other street kids and they would owe you a favor. There you have it, you got some allies while just trying to feed yourself.

Do not be afraid to call in those favors. They are quite valuable in the streets. It could get you out of some tight squeezes and totally save your ass. When I had first started this street thing, I hardly ever called in those favors. I mostly did good things to people because it made me feel like I am worth more then the dirt that I scrape through. But after a while, it just didn't seem worth it. It's like… giving money to a grocer and not getting any goods back for what you just paid for. It has gotten me out of plenty of messes in my time by calling in those favors let me tell you that.

Another good road to survival is to not be afraid to take jobs that no one would dare to take or no one thinks are any good. Sewer cleaning is a fine example, someone needs to do it, especially in the colonies. It is obviously extremely dirty, but you can never know what you could find down there. I once found a gold Rolex Watch down there… of course it was a fake take off of one so it wasn't worth that much… but there is always a possibility that you will get luckier then me. I, after all don't have much luck.

Another fine example of a good job would be janitor work. Best places to work with that job would be train stations, bus stations, and airports. There is always a high possibility someone dropping/forgetting a purse somewhere, cash, coins, cards, ID's and well… if accidentally someone found something missing from their pockets when they got to close to you or when they asked you something… not your fault they didn't realize it at the time.

Fake ID's, one of the many objects that will help you in any situation, if you need to get into a place and your too young to get into, like a bar, just flash the ID and get in. Most guards at bars don't really check them all that closely. Bars are a great place to pick-pocket, more then half of the people are to drunk to notice your not a waiter and end up tipping you or if they are missing anything in their pockets… Of course that doesn't work if you are younger then 15. Usually you don't start looking like your 18 till you are about that age… no one is stupid enough to think a 12-year-old is 18. Unless they are too bloody drunk to even care to look at you. Fake ID's are also useful if you don't even have an ID.

Another great item to have on you that you wouldn't normally think of if you're not on the street, is a pocketknife. It has a lot of different uses (the best items are the items that be used in more then one way). With it you are able to open cans, bottles use it as a nail picker, tooth pick, tweezers, scissors, and of course a very useful way of using it is as a dagger. That is if you don't have any other better knives on you. I myself have two boot knives and a dagger attached to my wrist, all made out of Gundanium… on a good day… but not everyone is as lucky as I am.

Now, you might be asking yourself, how does an ex-Gundam pilot, and war hero, know all about living on the streets?

I am not as lucky as my friends are…. Well… maybe not friends but allies of sorts.

One of them always had a place to go back to when needed, and a family the size of a small army... or maybe not so small of an army. He is president of one of the biggest organizations in the Earth Sphere Alliance. And he gets it all in his pocket to do whatever the hell he wants with it. He could even sell it if he doesn't want to do anything with it, and still live off of the money from that for the rest of his comfortable life. He is a great guy though, I wouldn't trade him in for anyone.

Another ally of mine had found his long lost sister and is now working in the circus. Huge turn around from being a mercenary and killer to making kids laugh. He shouldn't have any worries there. Well, not necessarily any worries. He just has to worry about not falling off of the tight rope while performing for an audience… he probably wants to keep his low profile by not showing off that he can fall from 100 ft and not get injured.

Then we have our Chinese Dragon, the only living person from L5, and the inheritor of everything that is left. All bank notes, items salvaged, and any other homes or such that the people of L5 had left on earth… are now his. Yea, he is one rich-son-of-a-bitch. And he still insists on working for the Preventers. After everything we did, why would anyone want to work for the government?

Now our Japanese computer genius has the greatest future left yet. Work for someone bloody royally rich. Our dear ex-princess of peace has need for a body guard, and the best person for it of course would the exact same person that has been trying to kill her for a year, someone who already knows all of her weaknesses and blind spots. And who is even 'interested' in her and vice-versa. It works, he gets laid and gets money for doing something he has been doing all his life.

Then you have me, a retired thief, whore, beggar, pocket-picker, street kid gang leader, and all around pest to people who don't like me. (Okay I admit it I never retired of being an all around pest to people in general… ever.)

Well, now I would have to take that back again. I am now an ex-retired thief, whore, beggar, pocket-picker, street kid (even if I am not a kid anymore and haven't been for a while now), gang leader. But now I have more refined tastes and more skills to back it up.

It seems there aren't many choices for jobs for an ex-retired killer and all around pest with a braid can have. So I had to go back to my own roots. Roots that aren't as great as the others are and a bit stinky at times. But they are mine and I wouldn't trade then for anything, they made me who I am.

My name is Duo Maxwell; self proclaimed Shinigami, I am a 20 or 21 year old killer/thief and all around bad guy to those who piss me off…

And the unlucky.