Okay so I have about 20 pages written of this story that I didn't realize until today hadn't been posted. Major sorry, guys!

We Were Promised Jetpacks

I'm Not Calling You A Liar

Of course, the universe made sure Duo ended up in the very last place he wanted to be. The place he had promised never to come back to. The place he had literally been driven out of.

Hello Sector Six.

It was all coming together in a freakish, chill producing, puzzle-like manner that had Duo wanting to drop the wooden spoon and run in the opposite direction as fast as possible.

Alice, of course, was being welcomed with open arms—literally. Kids were popping out of the rubble like weeds, bounding over to her and wrapping themselves around her legs. Some lingered, while others ran ahead, undoubtedly passing along the word.

And kids weren't the only ones. Some of the punks that Duo had seen following that Luke kid around were making an appearance, coming up, making random conversation before disappearing back to wherever they had come from.

Not so surprisingly, the intensity of the warmth and welcome shown to Alice was matched only by the intensity of the iciness and loathing shown to Trowa and Duo. He swore he had never received so many frigid stares and dirty looks in such a ridiculously short amount of time in his entire life. Of course Trowa appeared to all the world as if he hadn't even noticed the tangible antagonism pouring from these street urchins. Duo felt it had something to do with the fact Trowa was lugging around two huge boxes of undoubtedly heavy, useful, community-benefiting knick-knacks, while he, Duo Maxwell, carried with all of one hand a spoon. Excuse him, a wooden spoon. Yes, that earned him thousands of brownie points. He had successfully braved the dangerous, rigorous, almost certain death-inducing burden of carrying—the wooden spoon.

His parade and screaming fans should be arriving any minute.

Duo felt no surprise when he realized that he even recognized the path they were taking for he had in fact taken it more than once. With grim resignation, he accepted the fact that fate was blatantly fucking with him and plodded forward, chin held high and stomach plummeting.

And there in the distance was what he had both been anticipating and dreading, the looming four walled building, crumbling around the edges but stubbornly holding itself together. And, of course, with it came the ominously still, black bandanna clad figure, looking like the biggest wanna-be-punk-ass with his legs spread and arms crossed. Duo felt the bile rise in his throat. His hate for the punk was borderline ridiculous, but, as he acknowledged that truth, it did nothing to stop the burning rage that caused all the muscles in his body to tense at the sight of his stupid, arrogant, wanna-be-bad-ass, stoic expression.

Duo rolled his eyes and fidgeted irritably with the wooden spoon. Lucas—or whatever the hell his name was—moved forward to take the box from Alice. Duo quickened his pace, not wanting to miss out on their exchange and at the same time not wanting to give the impression that he was hanging back out of some ridiculous fear of Lucas' little punk threats.

"I'm really sorry I'm late, Luke," Alice rushed to explain with a sincerity that Duo deemed Luke undeserving of. "My bike broke this morning, and I tinkered around with the engine, but then there was something wrong with the fuel tank, and everything pretty much went to hell from there."

Luke took the box from her effortlessly with one hand and used the other to pat her reassuringly on the shoulder.

"The important thing is that you're here now. We were getting worried—almost even considered running down to Locke's to make sure everything was okay and that trouble hadn't found you." He looked pointedly at Duo.

Dick.

Luke's look drew Alice's attention to her own little personal posse that she had practically forgotten. She glanced over and motioned at Duo.

"Oh, right, Luke this is Duo. He's been hanging around and helping Locke at the shop for a while now. For a walk in, no-name, he's pretty decent with most of the kind of stuff in the back."

Duo couldn't help sending Luke a smirk, while mockingly waving the wooden spoon at him. He felt all the more satisfied when Luke's frown deepened and his eyes narrowed a fraction.

Then Luke's eyes moved away from him, and Duo curiously followed his gaze. Duo did a double-take; he had completely forgotten about Trowa. He couldn't really be blamed though, Trowa had the freakish ability to sink into his surroundings and make himself as invisible and unnoticeable as possible. It was a talent he used time and time again back in the day. It was what made him so damn good at espionage and subterfuge.

Trowa returned Luke's gaze, but, unlike Duo, his expression remained unchanged in the face of Luke's intimidation attempt.

"And this is—" Alice faltered, "well I'm not really sure who the hell this is, but he insisted on helping…" Her voice drifted off. The oddity of the situation finally seemed to dawn on her.

"Just who exactly are you?"

"Trowa—call me Trowa Barton." He responded simply. Duo rolled his eyes. Why did everyone have to act like such hard asses?

Alice looked him up and down with a raised eyebrow, appraising him. "Right. Trowa then. Well—er—I'm Alice—this is Luke—and that's Duo."

"We've met." Three voices responded all at once.

Alice raised both eyebrows and looked around at the three boys who for the most part were staring each other down. Luke was drilling holes into Trowa's skull. Trowa was giving Duo his creepy, stoic stare. And Duo was staring daggers at Luke's preppy little bandanna.

"Really? Er—small colony, huh?" Alice joked with an awkward little laugh, though the suspicion in her voice was hard to miss.

"No, just a bunch of persistent bastards." Luke deadpanned.

Alice took another look around. "Right—well clearly I'm missing some inside joke here, so if you need me I'll be inside warming up the food. Let me know when you're all done suffocating each other with your own testosterone."

And with that Alice marched off to the main building.

When she was out of hearing distance, Luke finally spoke. "I thought I told you two bastards to never set foot here again."

Duo wanted to punch him.

Trowa shifted his creepy stare to Luke. "Actually, you didn't." And with those parting words, Trowa followed after Alexis.

Duo made to do the same, but was stopped by a hand on his chest. "Now, I'm a hundred-fucking-percent sure I told you never to come back here, braid-boy."

Duo gave him a smirk. "Really? I don't remember you ever mentioning that."

Before he had time to react, Duo found himself being shoved roughly to the ground. He had to be losing his touch. Two years ago, the punk would have hit the ground before even thinking about laying a hand on him. This peace thing was really taking a toll on him. Or maybe he was just getting old.

Duo stood up slowly, brushing off his pants with an obnoxious casualness. He looked up and gave Luke a pitying smirk.

"You really have no idea who you're fucking with, do you?"

Luke sneered and opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by a shouting voice.

"Hey—Duo! You know how to fix a microwave?" Alice yelled across the rubble.

Without taking his eyes off Luke's darkening face, he called back, "Sure thing, babe."

Duo then stuffed his hands in his pocket and waltzed right by the stupid punk, who didn't move to stop him. However, Duo couldn't stop himself from getting in one last jab at the blonde.

"I really enjoyed this little chat we had—we should do it again sometime."

Duo chuckled to himself as he walked away, swearing he could hear the sound of Luke's teeth grinding together.

It was dark before the three of them begun packing up to leave. There wasn't much left to pack though, all the food the boxes had been stuffed with had been eaten in record time. Everything else, from scrubbed dishes to empty Tupperware, they managed to cram into two of the smaller boxes, and that was it.

So now, the mystery of Alexis' afternoon disappearances had been solved. After all that wondering and crazy theories, Duo finally knew, and suddenly everything seemed to make sense—the weird protectiveness, the familiarity, the extra food, the wooden spoon—it all fit.

She brought them food.

Every day, she would show up at the same time and dish out all the extra food she had made from the night before. She somehow managed to singlehandedly feed the tens of orphans running around Sector Six—for one meal, at least.

"Why?"

They were walking back then—him, Alice, and—let's not forget—Trowa. The streets were mostly dark, though as they ventured further from Sector Six the street lights became more reliably lit and less of the sketchily flickering mess they were blocks behind them.

"Why what?" Alice asked, a little startled. No one had said a word so far, and the sudden break in the silence seemed almost sacrilegious.

"Why do you do it?" Duo clarified.

"Do what?"

"That stuff back there. Every day. Why? What do you owe them?" Duo prodded. The questions might have come off as rude, but Duo, not wanting to piss Alice off anymore than he already had that day, tried to shove as much sincerity into his voice as humanly possible.

Alice didn't answer at first, but instead looked up at the colony's artificial sky, as if it held the answers.

She finally shrugged. "I don't owe them anything."

"Then, why?" he asked again, feeling like a parrot.

She stopped abruptly and gave him a hard stare. Duo did the same and stared right back. He didn't know what she was looking for, but she must have found it, because before he knew what was happening, she had taken off. He widened his strides to catch up.

The silence dragged on again, and Duo decided to take the patient route and let her talk when she was ready or whatever.

It paid off.

"I don't really know—I never really sat down and thought about it, you know? It just felt right—like something I had to do—a responsibility or something." She broke off for a moment.

"I guess that doesn't really make any sense. But—I guess it's just that—it could have been me, right? Without Locke, that's where I would have ended up—in Sector Six—abandoned with nowhere to go like all those kids, except with a stump for an arm and a shit load of therapy-requiring issues." She paused to look up at the fake sky again.

"So maybe I do it out of some perverse need to say sorry—because it was me and not them. Huh—" she stopped suddenly, "I'm more fucked up than I thought."

Before Duo could open his mouth to respond, she continued talking without missing a beat. "So, Trowa, right? You're friends with Duo or something?"

Duo blinked at the girl. That was one hell of a conversation change if he had ever seen one. He supposed that meant that topic was officially closed for the time being. He would never understand women.

"Yes, we're friends."

She raised an eyebrow.

"Known each other long?"

Duo couldn't help but wish she had never met Trowa. It was a purely selfish, greedy feeling. He knew it was stupid and childish for him to feel that way, like a kid who has to share his favorite toy. But that still didn't stop the jealousy rising within him, as she dodged his question and turned her attention on Trowa.

Stupid clown.

"A few years now."

"Really?" She sounded surprised. "With how you two act—I mean, I wouldn't have guessed—er—right. So a few years, then? How'd you two meet?"

Trowa took a moment to respond. "Work," he said simply.

"Work? What kind of work?"

"Just work."

Alice turned and gave Trowa an appraising stare. "You're one of those quiet people, aren't you?"

Trowa raised an eyebrow at her and said nothing.

Alice finally turned away. "That's not bad, though. Quiet people aren't necessarily quiet. They just say what they have to say in a few hundred less words than the rest of society. I've always wanted to be like that. I tend to ramble and talk in circles before getting anywhere near my point. So I guess I've always had a lot of respect for people like you—those that can say just what they mean—no bullshit, no circles— in just a handful of words. It's refreshing, you know?"

Duo threw Trowa a worried glance. The boy had flat out stopped in the middle of the street. Alice continued on, oblivious to the effect her words had on him. Trowa was frozen, and his eyes were staring unblinkingly forward, unfocused.

Duo came up and put a hand on his shoulder. Trowa turned to look at him with a blank stare.

Duo liked to think that in that moment he finally saw past that mask Trowa always put on—the emotionless controlled expression he used to hide his feelings on practically everything. Maybe it was because he knew what he was looking for, or maybe Trowa was just getting rusty, but he recognized that look in Trowa's eyes. He recognized that pain.

"It happens to me too."

Duo thought he'd enjoy the first time he got to see firsthand that Trowa wasn't really the Tin Man and actually did have a heart buried somewhere, but he didn't. In fact, the entire moment left him with a bitter taste in his mouth.

He gave Trowa's shoulder a pat before moving on to catch up with Alice.

Before he knew it, the pink glow of Locke's All Purpose Tech Shopshined down on them. Alice hopped up the stairs two at a time with Duo and Trowa trailing behind her.

"Locke! I'm home!" Alice shouted, as she danced her way past the bead curtain and into the kitchen. A bang from somewhere in the back was heard.

She dumped the box she was carrying onto the table and began unpacking. Trowa followed her example, setting things on the counter for her, while Duo was content to fall into a nearby chair and prop his feet up onto the table.

"Girl, must you bloody scream every time you come back?" Locke's deep voice washed over the kitchen, as he came in rubbing a rather large red spot on his forehead.

"Just keeping your reflexes up, old man," she replied, sending him a cheeky grin.

Locke gave her a dry look before his eyes drifted over to Trowa's tall figure.

"Another boy? Who the hell is this one?" Locke demanded, his voice becoming stony.

"Take a chill pill, gramps. This is Trowa. He helped me out early at Sector Six because someone wasn't around to help me fix my bike."

Locke rolled his eyes. "Learn how to fix your own damn bike." He opened the fridge and stuck his head in.

Alice bristled. "I don't need to learn anything. I need parts—the ones you promised to order two weeks ago."

Locke appeared with a beer in hand. "Yeah, yeah, whatever." He waved her off, using his metal hand to pop the cap of the bottle clear off. "You stop bringing strays home, and I'll order those parts."

Alice turned bright red. "What? He isn't my stray—and that one's your stray!" She jabbed a finger in Duo's direction.

Duo tried to make himself as small as possible.

"Whatever you say, kid." Locke declared, taking a swig of his beer and waltzing out of the kitchen.

Alice made a noise of frustration and nearly took Trowa's head off throwing a pot onto a self.

"Oh, and Duo." Locke reappeared in the doorway. "If I ever see you with your feet on my table again, I'll cut them off." And then he was gone.

Duo nearly toppled off his chair in his hurry. That man scared the shit out of him.

Alice snorted.

Duo sent her a glare. "I don't know what you're laughing at babe. You just got told." The only response Duo got was a rag to the face.

"Okay, strays, its go time." Alice declared, shoving Duo off the chair.

"Hey, babe, watch the merchandise. I'm not built of steel, you know?"

"Oh stop whining, baby."

"You're killing me babe—killing me."

"Yeah?—Good. Maybe you'll stop coming back, and I can finally get my parts." Alice propped open the door and motioned them both out.

Duo sent her a cheeky grin. "In your dreams, Alice."

She just rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, now get out of here."

Duo and Trowa filed out.

"Wait—Trowa," Alice called out. "Thanks again for today. If you ever want a free meal, show up with this buffoon one night and I'll feed, you, okay? Then we'll be even."

Trowa nodded up at her.

"How come I don't get a 'thank you'?" Duo whined.

Alice sent him a smirk. "Because you were late."

Duo groaned.

It was nearing midnight by the time Trowa and Duo waltzed through the doorway of Quatre's apartment—stealthily, of course—there was a fifty-fifty chance that Quatre might be awake, a probability depending completely on the hour of his first meeting the next morning.

Ah, the life of a teenage CEO.

The urgency of utmost silence was understood between the two ex-pilots, who without a word to each other crept down the hallway to their own respective guest rooms.

Maybe Duo was just feeling masochistic that day or maybe he was—dare he believe it—feeling guilty, but he couldn't stop the urge he had to at least explain himself—or something.

He knew he had lied. He knew he had purposely hidden the truth. He knew he had on some level betrayed Trowa.

And so he paused before disappearing into his bedroom and opened his mouth.

"Trowa, man, I—er—I just want to—"

Trowa lifted a hand to stop him. Whatever Duo had been planning to word vomit died in his throat.

"Duo," he said finally, "I understand."

Rendered speechless, Duo just bobbed his head mechanically.

Trowa turned to walk back his room, but paused in the threshold.

"Let's not mention this to Quatre, okay?"

Duo nodded furiously.

"Of course, man."

"And, I've decided I'm coming with you again tomorrow."

And with that, Trowa's door clicked shut.

Duo let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding.

Well, that could have been worse—a lot worse.

He was a little peeved Trowa was coming back again tomorrow, but he would get over it. If having Trowa follow him around like a lost puppy was the only consequence to this train wreck of a day, he could live with that.