16-Apr-2000
Hi hi! This one struck me one day; after I finished with the bactine and
bandaids I typed it up and then I forgot about it for a while, but anyway
here it is now. It's one of these brief little one-page things I write
sometimes that I can't fit into a larger fic, so they end up floating around
un-read... I don't know. I almost NEVER write Howard, but I really like him
(reminds me of my ninth-grade english teacher) and I got to thinking, Duo
and Howard... Anyway here's the result.
Warnings: Duo+Howard, and really mild lime, a little bit of language
Disclaimer: Gwing isn't mine. Which is too bad, cause if it was, I would change a lot of
stuff.
Howard yawned and stretched. "Want some advice?" he asked, reaching for a beer.
"Depends. How much is it gonna cost me?"
"Free of charge," he grinned. Then the smile faded. "Kid, you spend too much time thinkin' about that mecha-thief of yours. To my mind, that's dangerous."
Duo shrugged, and laid back with his hands behind his head. "Why should it be dangerous? I just want to meet him again, maybe find out his name, you know. So I know who to send Shinigami's bill to."
"You're not foolin' anyone, kid."
Duo made a face.
Howard sighed, and tipped back a half-bottle before speaking again. "You and I, we don't mess with each other," he said, thoughtfully. "You and this kid, this Jap, he walks into your life, and whaddya do? I remember bein' your age, kid, and I know how hot the blood gets--"
"It only gets so stinking hot because you refuse to pay for air conditioning," Duo retorted. He rolled onto his stomach, and scraped at a bit of rust growing on their stretch of metal bridge with his fingernail. "Aside from which, you're twice as horny as any teenager I know."
The mechanic grinned that sting away. "That, I can afford," he agreed. "Don't hurt any. But, kid--"
"I slept with him," Duo interrupted softly.
Howard frowned.
The braided boy put his chin on his folded arms and stared off into memory. "You and the guys went in for the beer, and he was still out here. We were talking. Well, I was. I climbed up on top of that weird gundam of his and starting poking around--you know, seeing if it really was just like mine. He got really mad at me, grabbed me by the collar, said he was gonna pound me if I broke anything." Duo blushed faintly. "Well, in the end, he did--pound me, anyway."
There wasn't much to say to that.
Then Duo sat up. He pulled a handful of ESA* bills out of his shirt, and let them flutter from his fingers to the bridge.
"Where'd you get those? You don't ever have real money."
"He paid me."
"What for?"
Violet eyes slanted a glance at him, but the thin-lipped mouth said nothing.
It was a measure of how many beers Howard had consumed that it took him nearly a full minute to realise what the money had paid for. He winced, sympathetic, and brushed his fingers over the pile, counting the gray bills. "At least he didn't think you were cheap," he offered, lamely.
Duo sighed, and pushed the money at him. "Here. Advance for next time I bring in Deathscythe." Mutely, understanding Duo's desire to get the tainted payment off his hands, Howard took it all and stowed it away in one of his innumberable hidden pockets.
They were quiet after that, until Duo went to bed early.
Later that evening, pleasantly buzzed and enjoying a rare cigarette, Howard stopped by Duo's room to check on him. He paused in the door, puffing quietly as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, and finally made out Duo's sprawled form on the bed.
He entered the room and closed the door behind him. He avoided the piles of used clothing on the floor, as well as stacks of blueprints that rustled in the breeze created by the ceiling fan and the occasional spare mechanical part; he sat beside Duo, and laid his cigarette in the half-full ash tray beside other burnt-out butts.
Duo sat up, and looked up at him. A sheen of moonlight from the window illuminated his bare sunburnt skin, and threw strange fey glints into his violet eyes. He said Howard's name, and then kissed him.
Howard gently pushed him away. "If you were older, and I wasn't," he said, caressing Duo's cheek to take away the sting of the rejection.
Duo glanced away. "I feel dirty," he whispered.
"Kid. *You* didn't make the mistake; your pilot friend did. He's a fool and a bitch for not understanding you, Duo."
A dry sob shook Duo's shoulders, but the boy refused any other reaction. "Thanks," he replied, listlessly.
"Don't let him bring you down. You're a good kid, Duo Maxwell, one of the best. I love you, in my way, which is mostly like a father and occasionally something else, as you damn well know... You'll find him. You'll prove to him, to yourself, that you're better than what he thinks you are. You'll beat it into him if you have to. You're no whore, kid. Don't let him underestimate you, and damn well don't let him undermine your self-confidence."
Duo scrubbed his eyes wearily. "Thanks, Howard," he whispered. "For such a funky old guy, you're not bad at this comfort shit."
"What're funky old guys for?" Howard scratched a hand through his sparse hair, grinning. "One last thing. Don't forget that you *are* just a kid. You got the rest of your life to worry about making worse problems for yourself than whatever happened with this jerk pilot. It won't look so bad for long."
Duo laughed softly. "Yeah. Losing the war--that could be bad. Losing some boy who didn't even tell me his name--doesn't even compare. You're right, Howard. Thanks. Really."
"No fee."
Duo smacked him playfully, regaining his good humour as if it had never been lost. "Good. My credit's running out."
"Credit? What credit? I expect cold hard cash at the regular deadline, boy."
"Heh heh--we might want to talk about that... "
Howard rolled his eyes.
The End
*ESA--Earth Sphere Alliance (I don't know, don't give me that look. We all make up stuff, once in a while... ermmm...)
(:./erin/2howard)
