Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ My Reality Is Twisted ❯ Nice Midriff ( Chapter 6 )

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

My Reality is Twisted

By Lady Lye
(c)2001
Chapter Six

Disclaimer: Oh for crap's sake! It's not mine!! Hell, I admitted that even the original concept for the story ain't mine! … Wait, why am I writing then? OH, right! The whole 'be like Shakespeare but a woman, cleaner, and not dead' thing. Ah. Yes. See, the Bard didn't make up the stories- he just knew how to tell 'em. Thus is me. I want SAP, damnit!! So me'n my lil Beanie Bard are gonna write this ficcy. Ciao.


-Her Ladyship



Lunch passed uneventfully, Duo a little quieter and sulkier, no longer monopolizing the conversation. She became defensive whenever Wufei spoke to her, something that seemed to amuse him endlessly, which of course only added to her discomfort and attitude.

Trowa watched her morosely push her food around on her plate, and glanced at Sally, who was also watching. She glanced up, looking a little concerned, and he nodded. One glance at Wufei and they simultaneously broke into mirthful grins.

Quatre and Wufei looked up from their conversation, and Duo finally emerged from her sulk.

"What's so funny, onna? Barton?"

"Nothing," they said at the same time, still grinning.

"Oh, Duo," Sally coughed, changing the subject. "How would you like to go shopping after lunch?"

"Shopping?!" Wufei choked. "But- but- but you just bought new shoes, onna, you were showing them off all over the building! How can you need to go shopping AGAIN!?! And we have work to do this afternoon!"

"Une gave me the afternoon off," Sally shrugged nonchalantly. "What do you say, Duo?"

The girl's eyes shone brightly and she leapt up to hug Sally. "Sally, you are my new best friend! Let's go!" she dragged Sally to her feet.

"You're going to run out on Quatre to go shopping?" Wufei said with distaste.

"Hell yeah! Q, thanks so much for lunch and all- you're great, both of you," Duo went around and kissed both Quatre and Trowa on the cheek, making them both blush. "I'll talk to you tomorrow, eh? Bye, guys!" she hauled Sally out.

Sally let her pull her away and out to the car Sally had driven them in. Briefly she thought with smug satisfaction that Wufei could find his own way home. She waited until they were seated in the car and moving before saying anything. "You didn't say good bye to Wufei."

Duo stopped. Uh oh. This was the long talk Sally wanted to have with her. She swallowed. She wasn't sure she wanted to do this. "So I forgot. He was mean to me today."

"Mhmm," Sally said disinterestedly. Reverse psychology; it always worked.

"What?! He was a jerk, ok?" Duo scrunched into the corner of her seat, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You don't sound totally convinced on that," Sally glanced at her.

"Well- I mean- he was today…"

"Today?"

"He wasn't before…"

"Eh?" Sally blinked at her before turning back to the road once more. "You're going to tell me ALL about what's been going on between you and Wufei, got it?"

"Well… it's a little more than just Wufei…" Duo began uncertainly, and from there launched into telling Sally everything. More about her childhood on the streets, her time as a gundam pilot, the last few months here on L2, …she already knew what had happened at Duo's revelation… which lead to painful rehashings of Heero. She could still remember the feel of his skin on hers when they bumped into each other on the street… thinking of him had always left a dull ache in her chest, but now the stab was sharp and painful. She was silent when she finished, moving her spoon in a cup of ice cream, the two of them now perched at a table in the mall, Sally stirring her coffee.

"Heero's shocked, Duo," Sally said sympathetically. "It isn't every day that you discover people- certainly not your closest ally- have changed genders."

"None of the others seemed to care…" Duo could feel the tears welling in her eyes, and was about to rub them away when Sally stopped her.

"Use these," she handed her a mirror and a napkin. "Or you'll smudge your makeup."

"I don't give a shit about my makeup…" Duo muttered disagreeably but took them anyway. Actually, she did care- after all that hard work? Let it all wash away? She didn't think so!

"I wouldn't say that Wufei doesn't care," Sally said gently and Duo froze in her motions.

"What do you mean?" she asked weakly.

"He's been nicer to you than to anyone else I've ever seen," Sally stated.

"That doesn't mean anything," Duo insisted, leaving no room for argument. She stared resolutely at her ice cream, as if daring it to contradict her. "He probably just thinks I'm some delicate flower he could crush too easily." She glanced up at a grimace lit her face as her eyes followed something. Sally followed her line of vision to find a couple of guys obviously checking Duo out. "And that's another thing! Guys are so crass!!"

"What, cuz they're checking you out? No, crass would be blatantly hitting on you and rubbing all over you."

"Someone did that!"

"What!? When?!"

"Just the other day! This guy came up to me and he, like, draped himself all over me and he's like 'hey, there, baby. You know, I lost my phone number- can I have yours?' UGH it was gross! …Are you laughing at me?!"

Sally bit back her mirth, though she couldn't fight a smile. "That jerk aside, I promise you that it's a really, really good thing that guys like you so much."

Duo shot her a skeptical glance and harrumphed. "I doubt that."

"No, really!"

"Yeah, right."

"That guy over there's got really nice abs… and he's looking at you…"

"Really, where?!"



It didn't take long for Duo settle into a comfortable routine. There was something really nice and secure about being a girl, knowing she was one. And while at the same time she felt a huge upsurge in self confidence… Wufei was starting to get to her.

He was- was- ok, he was directly flirting with her, without a doubt. Only she had this really distinct feeling of being some kind of hapless deer becoming cornered by this huge lion that would manage to corner her eventually- but it wasn't malicious at all. There was almost a deeper purpose to it…

If it weren't such a bad audio pun, she would say he was wooing her. (AN: Say it out loud: Wufei is wooing her. There ya go…)

There were many days when the group of them, Quatre, Trowa, Wufei, Sally and Duo, sometimes even Hilde, would manage to get together, be it only to meet for lunch somewhere 'in town'.

Wufei kept at her mercilessly, always able with a few cool words to make her look up, wide-eyed and blush. She could always think of the right thing to do or say later, but somehow, when she looked into those liquid obsidian eyes, she just fell apart. It was incredibly unnerving. And disturbing. And a zillion other words she could think of when she wasn't caught in his gaze. She got a giddy, light-headed feeling every time she knew he would be somewhere, and almost backed out of several things, but somehow managed to go every time.

This attention was not unnoticed by the others.

They had all managed a free Saturday afternoon to attend an outdoor festival in the park, allowing them all to be dressed in 'civvies'. For Quatre, that meant khakis and a loose white shirt, and sandals, something he rarely got to wear in the office and took much delight in, wiggling his toes freely whenever he thought no one was looking.

Trowa did notice and looked away whenever he smiled at it, dressed in a darker shade of khaki with a blue t-shirt that offset his eyes beautifully. The sunlight fell through the tree they had set their picnic lunch under in just such a way that the shirt appeared to have a leopard spot pattern on it.

Sally was content to lie on her back in the shade, dark sunglasses protecting her from the patches of sun every time the tree moved in the breeze. Her light summer dress was a modest, but still flattering cut, and she had kicked her sandals off long ago.

Wufei had actually deigned to wear shorts, black, with a white muscle shirt covered by a red over shirt, left open, his own sunglasses cocked coolly on his nose, and a few wisps of hair coming loose from his ponytail. It was enough to make a girl melt.

Of course, those sunglasses slid down casually to regard one Ms Maxwell as she approached, which should have been a warning sign in itself. He sized her up, making her flush furiously, embarrassed as he gave her the once over, and then he opened his mouth to deliver his judgment.

"Nice midriff. No belly button ring?"

She blushed again- it must have been the thousandth time that weekend- and moved to self-consciously cover herself a bit more, now regretting what had seemed an awesome choice that morning. A denim miniskirt rode low on her hips while a baby tee that would have exposed some skin anyway aided in creating a large gap between clothing directly over her stomach. Somehow she had managed to get her mass of hair back into a high ponytail, and it curled up just below her waist, creating a dark background to contrast slightly tanned skin. And no, she was not wearing a belly ring. That had been a clip on one night that she Hilde and Sally had decided to go dancing and ditch the men at Trowa's apartment. She'd been wearing low-ride jeans that night, too…

"Disappointed?" she shot back, taking a seat between Sally and Trowa, careful not to let her skirt ride up. Sally smiled at her and winked- you go, girl!

"I know Tom, Dick and Harry over there are," Wufei nodded ton indicate a group of boys a few years younger than they, staring.

Duo's eyes widened as she saw them and promptly glowered around. "Damn kids," she bit out, crossing her arms over her chest self-consciously. "We having a picnic or not?" she said irritably, moving to set out food.

The others exchanged amused glances and continued their lunch. They talked about everything and nothing, in the comfortable way that old friends had. The festival in the distance became ever more inviting, and Sally and Duo itched for the shopping opportunity.

A brightly painted ball landed in the middle of their picnic, accompanied by a group of sheepish children. "May we have our ball back?"

"Please?" Another added.

"Hey, do you wanna play with us? Please?" a very small one piped up, and it was quickly shushed by its elders.

Feeling whimsical, Duo plucked the ball from Trowa's hands, where it had rolled and stood neatly. "I'm game. What're you guys playing?"

"Octopus tag!" the squealed happily and dragged her away with them, all laughing. (AN: Real game, adapted by colony kids years into the future. I love writing about the future…)

"Maxwell," the voice made her turn, hand still clasped in a very small boy's trusting grip. Something danced merrily in Wufei's dark eyes as he said his parting words to her. "Careful, onna. You don't want to disappoint, now, do you?"

She flushed, and a hand went to the hem of the miniskirt, already, it was true, beginning to ride up. "Go- jump in the dunking booth." She muttered and allowed herself to be dragged along by the children.

Wufei grinned after her, quite self satisfied, and earned himself a disgusted look from Sally. "Cheap shot."

"You're too hard on her, Wufei," Trowa smoothly cut in in his quiet way, commanding attention immediately. "She isn't used to having so much male attention paid her- go easy on her; she's just learning."

"Perhaps," was all Wufei replied, his eyes trained on something in the distance. Duo played on an open field in the sunlight with the kids, helping the littlest be 'It'. They stumbled and Duo dropped to the ground, laughing, as kids swarmed over her. "But perhaps… I am learning with her."



~End Chp 6~

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