Duo

Trowa walked through the streets with a slip of paper in his hand. It was dark, and the streetlights had just been turned on. Weaving between people, his bangs bounced with every step taken. After reaching the corner, he read the street sign. Confirming the street, he turned left and strode down. His calm demeanor ever visible.

As he started reading the address numbers, he heard the voice coming from down the street, "Hey Trowa, over here." Calmly he walked over to the braided teenager. "Glad you came by, I heard the circus was in town. You still the stoic clown?"

Trowa finally reached him and replied, "Still loud and obnoxious, I see," which earned a hmph from the ex-pilot of Deathsythe. Duo started walking inside. While following him, Trowa explained, "I'm more than just the clown now. I do other stunts when necessary. It's easy and pays more."

Duo opened his fridge, "Too bad you're not deformed, you could become the freak too. Then you could be a circus yourself." He laughed and grabbed a beer as Trowa sat down, "Hey you want something to drink?"

Trowa looked at him, noticed he was still in the fridge, and had to reply verbally, "No, it's ok."

Duo popped open the tab and Hilde showed up, "Hey, hun, can you get me one?"

He replied, "No prob, babe." He handed her the one he just opened and went to get another one.

Hilde sat down near Trowa and asked, "The circus is in town? Glad you could come on by Trowa. How is everything?"

He looked at her with one eye hidden behind his bangs, "Fine." She sighed and took a sip of her beer. Feeling a bit awkward, he asked, "How's work?"

Duo sat down next to Hilde, placed half a case of beer in front of them, and said, "Well it's no walk in the park, but we're getting by pretty well." Trowa looked at the beer and lifted his hidden eyebrow. "I mean well, Hilde got some money from joining Oz, and I assume we all got some money from the docs as well. Having my childhood decimated was almost worth it." Trowa looked down and smirked. The docotor hadn't really known him nor did he have a name then, so who would he leave the money to? No name or Trowa Barton?

Looking at Duo, Trowa replied, "You're still in your childhood." Hilde and Duo laughed which caused Trowa to smirk a bit. He hadn't meant to make a joke.

Duo calmed down and replied, "Well, no reason to worry bout the past when I can do whatever I want now."

Trowa speculated, "Speaking of, how did you get the beer? You're only about 19." Duo stopped mid-gulp and looked at him.

He put down the now empty can and said, "Come on, anyone can get a fake ID. Plus, we risked our lives for this peace, so I think we deserve something." He picked up another can and popped the tab. Hilde had a faint blush to her cheeks already and was leaning on Duo a bit. Duo looked at her and laughed, "Never ceases to amaze me how much alcohol you can't hold babe." She giggled and picked up another can. Duo stood up and left the room, and Hilde had to lean the other way.

She looked back at Trowa, "Trowa, you're handsome, have you found someone yet? Like Duo and I have each other." Trowa was visibly shocked, but she was too drunk to pay that any mind.

He repossessed his normal demeanor and answered, "Being in the circus, I am only around Catherine, whom I consider my sister, so I suppose not."

She giggled into the couch, "If you would quit being such a tight ass, you could have any girl you would want, even me," she giggled a bit, "just kidding." She laughed again, and Duo came back with a little bag.

Duo, sitting down again, was leaned on by Hilde as she wrapped her arms around him and said, "I hope so Hilde."

She said, "You know I wouldn't leave you." And she snuggled closer to him. He kissed her forehead. Then he opened the bag and got out a small piece of paper. After sprinkling a bit of the contents onto the paper, he asked, "You want a joint too?"

Trowa looked at him and said, "I'm not surprised. You know, you shouldn't smoke marijuana when drinking alcohol. One thins the blood and the other thickens it, so you should probably choose one or the other." Duo was half paying attention and finished rolling the joint. Trowa snatched the joint and the bag away. "I can only let you do so much."

Duo looked at him with a half drunk look on his face, ""That's not right hogging it all for yourself. I paid for it." Hilde cleared her throat, "We paid for it." And took another swig of his beer. "Whatever, we don't need that." His smile came back, and he put his arm around Hilde, whom was curled up next to him now with her eyes half closed and a darkened blush. Trowa looked at the weed and thought of what Hilde said to him. Shaking his head, he vanquished the thought. He put the joint in the bag and put it at his feet.

The night continued on and finally they decided to stop it. Hilde now had her head on Duo's shoulder and was rubbing his chest. She whispered something to Duo, and he looked at the clock. He said, "It's late Trowa. Why don't you sleep over for the night?"

Hilde, grinning, said, "Yea, you can sleep with us. There is enough room." Trowa looked at her and the 7 cans of beer she drank. Then she said, "The party hasn't even started yet." Immediately, he looked at Duo. His braid was over his left shoulder, one arm hanging over Hilde, the other hand had a beer, and a smile plastered on his face. He slowly motioned behind him with his head.

Trowa answered as calmly as he could, "I think I would prefer to sleep on the couch."

They looked kinda hurt, and Duo said, "You sure man. Hilde wouldn't mind, would ya babe?" She shook her head and staggered over to Trowa, "It'd be great to have another guy, especially one like you Trowa." She leaned onto him and looked into his eyes, "You're eyes are so passionate too. It would be great."

Trowa was inwardly mortified, but kept his outer demeanor and replied, "No, I'm sure I prefer the couch." He gently pushed her to arms length and walked her over to Duo.

Duo shrugged, "It's your choice dude." Then Duo and Hilde slowly and drunkenly made their way to the back. Duo came back with a blanket and said, "Don't worry bout the noise." And threw the blanket to Trowa. Trowa looked away to hide his expression of pure terror.

He laid down on the sofa and tried his best to go to sleep. He started to hear a squeaking from the back. He took a deep breathe and pulled his blanket higher. It slowly became louder and eventually he started to hear muffled moans. The only thing he could think of was how they were lucky not to live in an apartment complex. This continued for an hour, and Trowa stayed awake through the whole thing. By the time it stopped, he was curled into a fetus and the blanket completely covered him. Then he could gently hear the sound of them snoring. He thanked a deity, any deity he didn't care, for them stopping. Still he couldn't sleep all night. His thoughts wandered and came to the conclusion that he was sleeping on a soiled couch. He put himself on the floor and grabbed a pillow, but couldn't find any piece of mind to sleep. He laid on the floor staring at the couch.

Finally morning came around, and Trowa was still staring at the couch. He heard a door open and close. The footsteps walked passed him and opened the refrigerator. Then he heard the sound of a liquid being poured into a glass.

Duo's voice said, "Man my head hurts." He could hear him gulping down the drink. Then the door open and closed again. The footsteps were light, but he already knew it was Hilde.

She walked passed him, and he could hear another glass of liquid being poured, and she said, "Man, I'm sore. Last time I get that drunk." Trowa was wishing to sink through the floor.

Duo said, "It's not my fault you can't handle this. Besides you say that everytime." Trowa gently hit his head on the sofa.

He barely heard the sound of one of them hitting the other, and Hilde said, "It's not like there is much to handle." Trowa decided the best way out was to sufficate himself with the pillow.

But Duo saved him when he said, "Trowa? You going to lay on the floor all day or are you going to get up for some orange juice?"

Trowa's head perked up, "You knew I was awake."

As Duo took a seat at the table, he chuckled, "Of course I did. I knew you wouldn't be able to go to sleep after the tape played." Trowa fully stood up and looked at him. "Yeah, I was going to save it for Heero, but you were an even better catch." Trowa tried to glare but was too tired to pull it off right, so he settled for chunking the pillow at Duo's head. "Dude, not the head, the headache is real."

Trowa walked over to them, "Well the reason I came over was to give you tickets for the circus if you wanted to go. Do you?"

Hilde got excited, "Oh Duo let's go. Please! I want to go." Trowa smirked as Duo began to rub his temples.

Duo finally snapped, "Fine! We'll go. Whens the show?"

Trowa handed him the tickets, "These are for tomorrows performance which starts at 6 o'clock."

Duo swallowed a pain reliever pill from the counter and said, "Great. We'll be there."

Trowa gave him the tickets and said, "Luckily there isn't one today, so I can sleep when I get back," and left.

Hilde drapped her arms over Duo and said, "Did you have to lie to him bout the tape?"

"Of course. If I didn't, he would never have been able to go to sleep again...ever. We got lucky he got through the night as is."

They chuckled and she said, "How drunk were we, that we did that when a guest was here?"

He smiled, "We should check the video and see."

She looked at him shocked, "You turned it on?"

He winked, "The new security system is coming in handy."