Title: Worth Watching
Author: Karina
Rating: PG
Pairing: Duo + Milliardo
Notes: Challenge 191. Baby Series 4 #29. Takes place approximately one hour after Influence.
Spoilers: None
Warnings:
Many thanks to ShenLong Deb for her work betaing this set of fics.
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or the Characters from the series but the baby is mine.
Title: Worth Watching
"The switch is just here. It will take a few seconds, but the lights will come on sequentially."
Click.
The silence lengthened and with each passing second Duo's grin grew wider.
"Well... I... Damn. I know you said there was quite a bit of 'stuff' in the attics, but I never..." Milliardo stared about him in awe. "Really, I suppose I should thank the bastard."
Duo tilted his head slightly, half turning to look back at Milliardo as he hesitated in the doorway. The lights were switching on in three second delays, each set further and further away from where they stood, dimly illuminating the treasure trove that was the attics' contents. He carried a flashlight on him for closer inspections, he had learned that whilst the low wattage lights gave one enough light to see by, they did not allow for detailed inspections. And Duo had found wonderful things in the attics that he took delight in simply looking at.
"It's cool, isn't it? I could rat through this shit for months and be happy."
Milliardo hitched a breath, staring around him with a widening smile. "Oh, it's more than just 'cool', my friend. I think you might have found at least half the contents of the palace hidden away up here. It would take a year or more to catalogue all of this."
Duo thrust wide his arms, hands reaching out, looking for all the world as though he was trying to encompass the contents of the attic in a giant hug to his chest.
"I love coming up here; never know what I might fall across. The billiards table I told you about is way over there, and I found the portrait at the back of a wardrobe on the left hand side about three quarters of the way down the second attic. It's all really one giant room, just with rafters sectioning off areas. You can see where the wings connect to the main house and it just goes on forever."
"Oh, I have to explore up here. The Governor knew what was valuable and was obviously not shy about taking what he wanted." Milliardo was fingering a small box, a warm coloured dark wood with intricate carvings. "I don't know how he managed it, but he effectively looted the place.
"There are some interesting nooks and crannies and things, if you look at the rafters and wall supports, that suggest there may be hidden passages not already on the blueprints Pagan has had drawn up."
He looked like a child gifted with a new, wonderfully entertaining toy, Milliardo reflected, and he liked seeing that look on the man. Duo was more than capable of being serious, but that glowing smile, the glimmer in his eye, that was what Milliardo liked to see. His eyes always found Duo when he was laughing, as surely as the needle in a compass gravitated towards north.
Duo was well worth watching.
End
Karina Robertson 2012