The fortified teenager toddled up to the lemonade stand, obviously unaware of her surroundings as she mumbled to herself and frowned.
"Ne, Dram-san, you're not a teenager anymore,' a certain long-braided-haired person behind the counter pointed out. "In fact, you haven't been a teenager in a *while*..."
Blinking owlishly, the girl looked up at him. "Duo? What are you doing here?" You're not in this part."
"Ne," the boy replied, grinning cheekily as he poured the author a glass of lemonade. "A better question would be 'what are *you* doing here'."
And the dark-haired girl finally looked around her and realized where she was. "Oh. OH! The Lemonade Stand! How'd I get here?"
Duo shrugged and reached under the counter for something. "I don't know, but while I've got ya here..."
He checked his tablet. "Yep. Just as I thought. You're behind on payments, onna."
The woman known as Andrea Readwolf-a lurker to most and an occasional author-frowned. "I'm broke."
"Says here you have a back draft for three soon to be four months."
A pout formed as she looked at one of her favorite characters. "I used the last of my money this semester to get to A-kon."
"*And*," the boy went on. "You're behind on posting anything *new*."
At this, the girl took offense. "Hey! I'll have you know I've been dealing with pushy graduate professors, whiny sixth graders, and *your* stubborn daughter!"
"Excuses, excuses," the boy waved her protests away, flipping the long rope of chestnut hair behind him. "And she takes after Wufei. Not me. Your fault for that."
Andrea-very maturishly-stuck her tongue out at the boy before changing the subject. "Ne, Duo-kun, aren't there usually a lot more people here?" She asked, looking around at the nearly deserted area.
The boy frowned, rolling a lemon across the counter top. "It's a lull. Don't worry; all good businesses have 'em. We'll pick up pretty soon, anyway. Heero's coming on soon; Trowa just got off a little while ago, mumbling something about "Sims"."
"Sims? What's that?"
"I'd tell ya, but then I'd have ta kill ya."
The girl frowned.
"You know, I still *could* write that story about 'Heero and a bunch of Behrs,'" she threatened.
The boy across from her didn't seem too threatened, though. "Just as long as I get to watch."
"What goes on here, anyway?" she asked, quickly changing the subject again because *she* really didn't want to go down that thread of thought. "I don't' think I've ever been to the Lemonade Stand but more than once or twice...."
"Oh, you know. People write some stories. People read some stories. People enjoy the lemon...ade."
"Yes, very good," she replied, lifting her glass and sipping.
"So," Duo drawled. "Let's talk about some of those stories you're gonna write us."
Andrea frowned, well, more pouted actually. "There are none. I've plum run out of ideas for you boys. Not to mention, I have visions of Escaflowne running through my head thanks to 'Twisted Fortunes'."
Duo nodded. "Good fic."
"Good authors," the girl replied.
"Now back to me."
"Were we talking about you?"
"We're always talking about me," Duo smirked. "That's why I'm so popular."
"Hn."
"You know, I'm thinking 4 or 5 really good lemons-I mean stories, would really make up for this tab, onijii-san."
She eyed the boy wearily. "What *kind* of stories...?" she asked hesitantly.
"Well, it's like this," he said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and leading her over to the readily-handy-dandy computer desk while Heero took his place behind the Lemonade Stand, pouring out glasses to the people who magically began bombarding the place.
Minutes later, a grinning Duo returned, bumping his lover playfully.
"What was all that about?" Heero asked the other, noting the widespread grin and twinkling eyes.
"Oh, nothing," the braided boy replied. "Just calling in a few negative accounts."
"Hn. While you're at it, has anyone caught Meela, yet?"
From out in the crush of people an "Eep!" was heard but never located.
"I don't know," Duo replied, still smiling as he helped pour out lemonade and collect spare change. "I'm kinda hoping to find WingNut or Babaca."
The Japanese boy frowned. "WingNut I can understand," he said. "But why Babaca?"
"What can I say," Duo replied, teasingly kissing the other boy. "I'm voyeuristic at heart!"
The other boy was slow to smile but smile he did, returning Duo's kiss with a little more enthusiasm, steadily ignoring the cries and shouts from the waiting costumers of "More! More!" and "You get 'em!" along with "1x2 Forever!" and "Can we have a 2x1 for a change?" as well as "Where's Wufei?" and "Why's Quatre always left out?" and "Don't forget about Trowa!"
End Part 1
Andrea Readwolf
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