Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ 30 Days of Drabble ❯ Day 21: Noir ( Chapter 21 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

A/N: I'll admit it. I had plenty of time to work on this one but I frittered all my time away in obvious procrastination. I now apologize for the lack of attention and the quality of today's piece. [Rules for this challenge are in chapter one.]

Day: 21
Date: March 2, 2010
Prompt: temporize /TEM-puh-ryz/, intransitive verb; 1.To be indecisive or evasive in order to gain time or delay action. 2.To comply with the time or occasion; to yield to prevailing opinion or circumstances. 3.To engage in discussions or negotiations so as to gain time (usually followed by 'with'). 4.To come to terms (usually followed by 'with').
Fandom: Mobile Suit Gundam Wing
Characters: Hilde & Duo
Disclaimer: Bandai, Sotsu and Sunrise own Gundam Wing. I just use the characters for my own amusement and with any luck at all, your amusement as well.

Noir

"Do you like my new hat?"

Hilde was exhausted. She wanted nothing more than to get home and hit the sack for a few hours. When she finally made it home the last thing she expected to walk in on was Duo striking a pose in the middle of the hallway leading to her bedroom. He had his head tilted dramatically to his right side with one hand holding the brim of a black fedora perched on his head. His left fist was planted firmly on his hip. She was tired enough that she almost turned around to slam the door on him without commenting, but the whole situation was absurd enough to break past her fatigue. Besides, if she walked out, she'd have to sleep on the patio. It was her place. She wasn't sleeping on concrete.

"Well?" Apparently, she'd taken too long to process.

He looked like a film noir wannabe or, considering his pose, a Cabaret reject. Neither were acceptable answers for his question and would only lead to a longer conversation with him, delaying her precious sleep. "It's... nice." That had to be a good answer, right?

One eye peeked out from around the brim of the hat. "Just nice?"

"Uh..." Okay, so maybe he wanted to hear something more complimentary. "It's handsome?"

The hand holding the hat fell and he turned to face her. "Nobody uses 'handsome' anymore unless they're trying to humor someone," he pointed out. He reached up and self-consciously readjusted it. "Is it really that bad?"

Well, now that he wasn't standing there like an idiot and had put the thing on properly, it didn't look half bad. It actually made him appear on the side of dashing. Hilde managed a tiny grin, patted him on the shoulder and squeezed her way around him. "You're a regular Sam Spade, Maxwell."

He flipped around toward her again. "Who's Sam Spade?"

She just chuckled and closed her bedroom door behind her.

- End -

A/N 2: Sam Spade is one of the main characters in the film noir flick The Maltese Falcon. That's pretty much all I know about him, as I've never seen the movie or read the book. I just remembered his name as being part of film noir.