Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Blue Lightening ❯ Blue Lightening II ( Chapter 6 )

(A/N: *sighs* no-one's got it… Kazuki from Getbackers, you anime deprived people! ^^ I seem to have a thing for the Bishies with long hair… Legolas… would I have Duo looking like an elf when he could look like a cute ex-gang leader who goes around strangling people? Uh… Don't answer that one. ^^;;

Ok, Renata-sama on mm.org came up with a valid point. Solo is five or six years older than Duo. Yes, he was underage when he first started working at the club, but at first he was only helping out backstage, as Duo did when he was younger. He was probably underage when he started dancing, but neither of them know how old they are.)

 

AC 196 (still)

 

Solo waited patiently behind the curtain, resisting the urge to peek out at the crowd. Stanna had said that it looked good tonight, so Scar had determined that he was to give a really good performance, without `showing them anything'. Solo sighed. How the fuck was he supposed to do that?!

The music faded out; that was his cue. He switched on his headset, making sure the microphone lead ran cleanly from his ear to the corner of his mouth, and prepared to make his entrance. Life at Blue Lightening had got a lot better since Scar won that bet and had started to make more money.

He stepped onto the stage, head bowed to avoid being blinded by the spotlights, and struck a subtle pose.

“Man it's a hot one, like seven inches from the midday sun…” he raised his head slowly, and started to move to the beat.

“I hear your whisper and your words melt everyone… but you stay so cool.”

It was one of the better songs to dance to, he thought as he gyrated, his gaze skimming over the faceless people in the crowd

“My mu equita, my spanish harlem mona lisa,” he still didn't have a clue what that meant. Scar had read out the words to him until he could pronounce them properly, but Solo suspected that he didn't know what a `mu equita' was either. “You're my reason for reason… The step in my groove!”

He spun down onto his knees, and lifted a hand to the audience. One of the dancers for the club took it and allowed him to pull her up onto the stage. He grinned at her and she winked back before starting to dance around him. “And if you said; this life ain't good enough, I would give my world-” he grabbed his new partner around the waist and swung her high into the air, where he felt more than saw her strike a pose “to lift you up-” he set her safely down again and they circled each other “I can change my life, to better suit your mood,” she draped herself against him and he ran a hand down her side as he sung the last line of the bridge. “Cause you're so smooth…”

He took centre stage as the dancer went to the edge to pull up another. He knew that they would dance behind him during the chorus, so he focused on his own moves. “And it's just like the ocean, under the moon, well that's the same emotion that I get from you,” suddenly he had a girl at each hip, “you got the kinda loving that can be so smooth-” he looked at the first dancer “give me your heart” then spun to look at the other “make it real” before gently pushing them both aside “or else forget about it!”

 

~*~

 

Duo stood, staring at the stage, dumbstruck. Solo could sing?! Kept on going around his head, and he couldn't remember if the blond had been attractive when he was a kid, but he was certainly hot now.

Slowly, the ex-pilot moved to an empty table and stared at his old friend for the duration of the act. He knew that he couldn't go talk to Solo now; if the blond wasn't working, it would probably mean a pay cut. Unless… perhaps Duo could buy him for the night? Only he didn't know if Solo was selling. He'd only ever done that twice, both times were when times were really hard, and he'd been miserable for weeks afterwards.

No, he'd finish his drink, maybe dance a little, and then go and see if he could talk to Scar.

He paused, glass halfway to his lips as another thought intruded. Waitaminute - wasn't Solo supposed to be dead?!

“You alright, sweetie?” a concerned female voice asked.

“M'fine,” he absently replied.

“Ok. Only the weirdest set o'expressions just crossed ya face.”

“S'nothing.”

“If you say so, sweetie.”

He tore his glance from the stage to look at he properly. She was in her early 20's from the look of it, and had red curly hair that draped across her shoulders in glittery curls. In fact, she was so covered in glitter that he wouldn't be surprised to see that she left a trail when she walked.

“You working?”

“Yeah. Checkin' to see if all the customers are happy.”

“Does Scar still do the thing where he gives ya each a table to wait?”

“Fer groups `e does,” she said, slipping into a street drawl. “Ya bin `ere before then? I don' know ya.”

“Bin a bit,” Duo replied with a shrug, sipping his drink.

“'Ow long?”

“'Bout… four, five years now.”

“Really? Where ya bin?”

“Earth, mostly.”

“Earth?! Wot the `ell didya come back t' this dump fer?” she all but shrieked.

“Street rats from L2 dun belong on Earth,” he told her. “Home's here.”

She nodded, and then smiled at him. “Ya was lookin' at Wolf. Ol' buddy o' yours?”

“Yeah, summin like that.”

She frowned at him suddenly, then reached forward and messed up his hair a little, before reeling back in shock. “Hells… you're Kitten, ain't ya?”

Hesitantly, Duo nodded, the name ringing a half forgotten chord in his mind.

“Fuck. Wolf ain't been the same since you left. I fink `e figured ya'd died. Come on, we'll go backstage.”

The glitter-covered worker - he found out later her name was Stanna - led him through one of the security doors at the side, near the washrooms. He found himself in a plain, breezeblock and steel corridor which seemed strangely familiar. He was whisked past closed doors, his sensitive hearing picking up snatches of conversation as they went. Finally, they screeched to a halt in front of a door with a large dent in the middle. Stanna tapped once.

“Wolf? Ya there?”

“Yeah. Come in, Stanna.”

“I got another.”

“Customer? Gimmie a minute…”

“No, it's a friend.”

There was a bitter laugh. “I ain't got none o'those. It's open.”

Stanna pushed the door open, and motioned Duo to go in. Inside was a small room, lit with fairy lights. There was a medium sized bed in one corner, a wardrobe with various outfits spilling out of it and a desk with a mirror over it, not much else. Another door, ajar, led to a tiny bathroom.

Solo was sitting at the desk, running a brush through his hair. “Ya stickin', glitter-girl?” he asked without turning around.

“Naw, I fink ya have some talkin' t'do. I'll tell Scar. See ya.”

Duo took a deep breath as the door closed behind her. “Hey, Solo.”

“Wha-” the chair crashed to the ground as Solo stood up hurriedly. Neither took any notice of it. “Kid?!” Solo asked incredulously.

“Yeah.”

“Fuck me sideways with a chainsaw!”

Duo grinned. “That's a new one.”

“Where the fuck have you been? I thought you were dead!”

“Earth. And I thought you were! You fucking died in my arms, you asshole.”

“Scar picked me up.”

Duo looked around, fighting the temptation to scuff one foot against the floor like a nervous schoolboy. Solo grabbed a hairband and tied his hair back into a ponytail. It fell to his hips, and Duo wondered if he ever sat on it. His own braid was getting long enough for that to be a problem.

“This your own place? Cosy.”

“Yeah. I worked t' pay off the bill. An' now I ain't got no-where else t' go.”

Duo took a hesitant step forward. Solo smiled at him, and opened his arms, seeming to know exactly what Duo needed. “Missed ya, kiddo.”

“Missed you too,” Duo replied, the words half muffled in Solo's loose hair.

“Earth, ya said? How the hell did ya end up there?

“Long story.”

“I think we got time.”

“Ok. Can we sit?”

“Sure.”

Solo swept some clothes off of the bed and sat against the wall, one knee bent. Duo slotted himself in sideways, just as he had when he was smaller. “Ok. After you…went, we got taken in by Maxwell Church. Then the Alliance bombed it. I was outside, gettin' a suit for the rebels, so that they'd leave us alone. But I wasn't quick enough… so I was on my own again. I stowed away on a Sweeper ship, then got caught. G was so impressed that I got past his security, that he didn't jettison me. He started to teach me mechanics instead. Um… ya know the war?”

“Uh huh.”

“The Gundams?”

“Yeah.”

“I'm 02.”

There was silence for a minute. “My Kid's a terrorist?”

“Freedom fighter, officially.”

“Cool.”

“So, yeah, we fought. And we won. And then there was nothing to do… Trowa and Quatre would have let me stay with them, but I didn't wanna intrude. Heero has his Princess, and Wufei's become a Preventer. Well, we all are really.”

“A terrorist and a cop?”

“M'not on active duty. Strictly `oh shit the world is gonna explode' cases only.”

“Ah. So, Heero, Wufei, and uh, Quatre and Trowa? They da others?”

“Yeah.”

“An' you?”

Duo tilted his head up to look Solo in the eyes. “Duo Maxwell, at your service. I may run and I may hide but I never tell a lie!”

Duo was surprised to see tears in Solo's eyes. “Hey, hey, boys don't cry, remember?”

“I remember.”

Duo burrowed further into Solo's embrace, breathing in the scent of his old friend and partner. “Hey, Solo?”

“Yeah?”

“You grew up.”

“So did you, kiddo. Grew up real pretty too.”

“Pretty's fer girls.”

“It can be for boys. Ok, then, ya grew up beautiful.”

“Hmph.”

“Yer hair's amazin'.”

“I don' let anyone see it all down… but it'd be ok fer you.”

Duo moved away slightly to grab the brush that Solo had abandoned on the desktop. “Brush it out fer me? Like ya used to?”

Solo smiled, and took the brush. Duo turned in his lap, and pushed his hair so that it streamed down his back. Gentle fingers pulled out the bands and untwisted the braids before the blond started brushing the tangles out of the ends.

The trained terrorist was soon reduced to a purring puddle of Duo-flavoured goo.

 

Solo swept the mass of shining hair to one side, and brushed a soft kiss against the side of Duo's neck. The longhaired teen melted against him, and turned his head in a languid invitation. Solo took it, claiming his old friend's lips.

Duo sighed into his mouth, tasting of coke and cigarettes and something sweet that was just Duo. Duo shifted in his lap, moving so that he faced him properly and twining his arms around his neck.

“Missed ya, So'.”

“Missed ya too.”

“Neva leave `gain?”

“No, neva. Love ya.”

Duo sighed and snuggled closer. “Ya gotta work?”

“I fink `m ok fer now.”

“Good. Don' wanna move.”

Solo chuckled, his chest vibrating against Duo's ear. “Ya neva wanna move. Kitten really suits ya.”

“Down ta da ground.”

They were silent a moment, Solo stroking on hand absently through Duo's long hair. “You grew it out fer me?”

“To remember.”

“'at's better. Ya can talk proper now, so ya should.”

“Kay.”

“Where ya stayin'?”

“With this old lady, in her attic. She runs a hotel.”

“Ok.”

“She cooks an' I'm the handyman.”

There was a loud banging on the door. Solo was surprised to see Duo start up out of his arms and drop into a fighting pose, favoring one leg as he did so. Solo was left blinking at the speed, with his arms feeling cold and empty.

“Who is it?” he asked.

“Scar.”

“Tis open.”

A quick motion caught the corner of his eye, and Solo turned to see Duo's hands flashing as he re-braided his hair. He was already over half done. By the time Scar had opened the door, Duo was twisting a hairband around the end of a neat braid.

“Solo, yer break's over. I want ya servin' fer a bit.”

“Kay.”

“Who's this?”

Duo grinned. “I'm offended that ya don't recognise me.”

Scar peered at him. “Why, if it ain't little Kitten, all grown up into a cat. We thought ya was dead.”

“So did a lotta people.”

“Ya come fer a job?”

“Naw, just ta visit an old friend. I'll be goin' now.”

“Pity. Ya grew up real pretty.”

“So I've been told. See ya, Wolf.”

“See ya. Come by tomorrow?”

“I'll try.”

Duo ducked out of the room and made his way through the corridors, his light footsteps masked by the pounding bass vibrating through the walls. He found the exit without too much trouble, and nodded to the guard on the way out before doing his level best to melt into the night.