Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Orphan Stage ❯ Stage Crew ( Chapter 15 )

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Gundam Wing Characters, blah blah blah

Pairings: 1x2, 3+4, 5+?

Warning: Hmmm I don't really know… maybe a little angst… but not much bad stuff.

Summary: Duo Maxwell is put into a protection program after his father gets out of jail and goes missing. Duo finds himself in a situation where he can finally find his brother that was adopted ten years ago.

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Stage Crew

Monday… I hate Mondays! Waking up early… you lose the ease in waking up because over the weekend you get to sleep in and you end up having to get use to waking up early all over again! If that makes any sense at all. Its like a never ending cycle. The worst is when its still dark outside, which was this morning. I think the time changed or maybe my clock was wrong because, damn, it was still night outside!

Walking into my kitchen, I dragged myself to the coffee pot, eyes still half lidded as I turned it on. After pouring the water in, I just stood there and watched as the coffee slowly dripped into the pot. It must have been amusing at the time, because I don't remember why else I would just sit there watching the slow process of water falling down. I think I might have fallen asleep watching the stupid coffee, probably with my eyes open or something because the next thing I knew the coffee had long since stopped dripping and it was ten minutes until school started.

"Shit!" Jumping up, I rushed into the bathroom to take a quick shower. There was no way I was going to make it to school on time, I just hoped I would get there before first period was over… ugh, and my chances weren't looking so good.

The walk to school was weird, I could now walk around without feeling like there might be someone watching me. My eyes stayed glued on my path and didn't stray once in worry of a threat. The threat was gone, Hall was gone. Its kinda sad how I didn't even morn my fathers death… I was actually happy he was gone. It made me feel pretty bad, actually enjoying someone dying.

I don't think anyone would miss Hall… Did he have any friends? Probably, but they were most likely just like him. Mean and uncaring. Would anyone go to his funeral… or would they even give him a funeral? Sigh, now I'm starting to sound like I really do give a care… I guess it just seems lonely… dying without anyone to miss you.

It happens that I didn't make it for first hour, but I did come into second right on time. After stopping by the office to check in with Une, I ran all the way to my math class, barging in the door with a loud "Woohoo! I made it."

Trowa and Wufei seemed surprised to see me. They rushed over right away and started talking as I entered… which was weird since they usually don't initiate the conversations.

"Duo! I didn't think you would come back to school right away!" Trowa had said while taking the seat next to me before the bell rang.

Wufei was standing by my side and was looking at my crutch with a disgusted look on his face. I'd brought it along. My calf wasn't hurting or anything when I walked, but I wanted it to heal as soon as possible. Didn't want to take any chances of it getting worse.

"How long before your leg is healed?" Wufei asked while grabbing the crutch and trying to walk around with it. It was only one, so was pretty hard to use and he ended up almost tripping on someone's bag before giving it up, handing it back to me with a growl.

I chuckled before answering with, "Soon, and by then I'll be able to start teaching you karate!"

I could hear him snort slightly as he shook his head and rolled his eyes at me.

"In fact… I bet I could take you even with my handicap." I challenged, leaning back in my chair and staring up at him with a smirk.

"Maxwell, you wouldn't even be able to beat me if you were fully healed and had a twin!" He growled, crossing his arms over his blue shirted chest.

"And how would you know?! Didn't think you were the type to underestimate people." I shot back, looking up at him smugly.

"Look who's talking!"

Trowa walked between us just then, to stop are bickering. "Come on Wufei, do you really have to pick a fight on his first day back?"

"Me?! He's the one who started all of this!" He snarled at Trowa, causing the banged boy to take a step back, covering his mouth in attempt to hide the humor on his face.

I just laughed some more, causing Wufei to march back to his seat angrily, saying something like, "Damn cripples and their tongues!"

Trowa moved back to his original seat as Relena walked in. She sat down beside me like usual, but today she was… glowing. I don't think she saw me at all… or anything for that matter. Yup, Relena was lost in her own little world and I had a pretty good idea of what she was thinking about so happily.

"Oy? Relena?" Her head snapped over to me as she heard her name. Her blue eyes widened, staring at me in disbelief before she jumped up with a shriek.

"GHOST!" She squealed loudly. The whole class turned in our direction, seeing Relena with a hand over her mouth and arms waving madly in my direction.

Gah… what the hell is she talking about now?

"Ms. Peacecraft? Is everything alright?" The teacher asked, making her way over to find out what all the commotion was about.

Relena seemed to come to her senses, finally, and her face turned bright red in embarrassment. "I…" Her eyes lowered to the floor, "Sorry… nothing's wrong."

She slowly sat down beside me again and I caught her giving me weird glances throughout most of the hour. It was really annoying, and by the time the bell rang I flew out of there fast, in order to get far away as possible. As quick as possible!

I had seen Relena start to walk in my direction when we were dismissed, as if she wanted to talk to me. Well, I didn't really feel like talking to someone who thought I was dead… for some odd reason. I don't think I would ever want to get inside her head and figure her out. You'd get lost in there… maybe die from lack of all colors but pink.

Must avoid…. must avoid the Peacecraft monster…

It turns out I didn't encounter her until lunch time. I was in the middle of a debate with Hilde… about the whole bet thing. She kept calling me a cheater for not fulfilling the bet equipments… even though she was the 'actual' cheater! Jeez, how can a cheater call someone a cheater! Ludicrous I tell you!

Relena walked up to the table, interrupting our little battle of words. Her pink heeled shoes clanking loudly announcing her approach.

"Duo? May I please have a word with you for a moment?" She asked, smiling brightly at everyone at our table and flipping her hair behind her shoulders.

I cringed slightly and tried to figure how I was going to escape this time… to no success. "Aa…" I finally said, standing up with a long irritated sigh. As I left, I could see Hilde glaring murderously at the blond. I figured she never got over her little hatred for the pink monster Peacecraft.

Relena led me outside, under one of the many trees, wind blowing the leaves on the ground around us… the whole atmosphere was giving me unwanted chills. I just wished she would hurry up already and tell me whatever it was she wanted to say.

"Duo… I hadn't realized you were alive…" She started, blue eyes looking to me in sadness.

"Uh…"

"You left… never sending any word to me… so I assumed the worst!" She interrupted, grabbing my sleeve and looking up to me with teary eyes.

I could feel my heart beating quickly and my brain yelling at me to get away… something bad was going to happen! "I uh…" My voice didn't seem to be working well and I just ended up stuttering some more.

"I know how you felt about me!" She admitted… eyes now downcast. "And I felt the same… but I'm sorry. We just cant be together."

Ok, that was pretty shocking, so shocking in fact that now I couldn't move… this was just too much. Relena actually thought we were… she thought we might… agh! How the hell did she come to such a conclusion? I never even showed one sign of interest in her! Did I?

My thoughts were interrupted by her sad voice… tears now running down her cheeks. I think she thought the surprised expression on my face was… uh… obviously something else. "Duo… I've fallen for another man."

Now I was actually starting to find this really amusing! I would have rolled on the floor laughing if I hadn't decided that it might be worth my while to play along.

"Another man?" I asked, trying to make it seem like I was angry. When in fact the shaking of my arms was from my body trying to suppress me bursting out into a hysterical laughing fit.

"I'm sorry." Her hand came up to rest on my shoulder, I think it was for comfort. "I know you must be sad… upset… but I just simply can not change how I feel."

I took a deep breath and moved to take her hand off my shoulder. "It's and older man isn't it?" I asked, eyes closed in mock pain.

"How did you…"

"It's always the older men Relena… but I'm happy for you." I said dramatically. And I was happy! I was thrilled she was going out with… umm what's his name? Abdul?

"Oh, you don't need to pretend to be alright with this for my sake. I don't expect you to take it so well." If I didn't know better I'd think she was disappointed that I wasn't bawling on the ground right about now.

"No! I'm serious, I am really, really happy that you found someone!" I said, patting her on the head before turning away. " I… need to finish my lunch… and think about some things… it's best if you don't talk to me for awhile." Yeah, wouldn't want that, I don't think I would be able to contain my humor a second time. As for my lunch, I was starving, and I guess I wanted to think about Heero. So, I wasn't really lying.

I walked away, only looking back once to see Relena wipe the excess tears on her sleeve.

By the time I sat down on the table I was laughing so hard, Hilde and everyone were giving me funny looks.

"What the hell? What did she want Duo?" Hilde asked, grabbing my shoulders and shaking me to pull me out of my laughter. "And why are you laughing?"

I just smiled at her before stuffing the remainder of my food into my mouth.

"Relena is a really funny person sometimes, ya know?" I finally said, as I finished off the rest of my soda.

Hilde gave up, knowing that I wasn't going to answer her any more than that. Looking around the table I noticed two things, the absence of Heero, which was pretty depressing, and the absence of a certain blond. Now that I think of it, I hadn't seen Quatre at all today!

"Hey Tro, Where's my brother?" I asked, looking over him to see his eyes roll up to the ceiling as he thought. Heh, for some reason I was finding everything amusing after the Relena incident. Trowa with his head tilted back in a funny position where you could actually see his other eye got me giggling again.

"Oh yeah! I forgot he was your brother!" Hilde exclaimed, mouth spreading into a weird little grin. "How the hell did that happen?" I just rolled my eyes and looked back to Trowa, waiting for his answer.

"I think he said something about a meeting… with some family friends. I was planning on going over there after school. Wanna come?" Grr… stupid family of Quatre's. They better pray they don't ever run into me… oh yes, they would be sorry.

Sighing, I shook my head. "Cant… I've got to go look for a job." I'd been holding that off for too long, and I would really be needing the money in order to pay all my expenses soon. But where would I find a job that would pay enough? This was going to be hard.

That problem never left my mind for the whole of the rest of the day. After I left school, I came to the conclusion that it might be impossible for me to get a good job. I mean, I was only in high school… summer would be starting soon, but after that it would have to be part time. And what about college? That was definitely out of the question.

Ugh… what to do, what to do.

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A couple hours later found me sitting outside a coffee shop, looking through the newspaper for a well paying job. So far I had gone to eight places only to be disappointed by their wages and hours. I guess I never realized that it would be this difficult… and once I actually found a suitable job that I could handle, there was always the problem of actually getting hired.

The newspaper was starting to fill up with red marks and my mood was turning from happy to depressed really quickly, I was desperate! Maybe I could just get a job at a coffee shop like this one until I found a better place. That idea led me to look over towards the store owner. He was at least sixty, and seemed to be a really friendly sort of person.

"Hey mister!" I waved my hands in the air to get the old mans attention. He just raised an eyebrow at me in question. I don't think he liked being called Mister? Maybe I should try gramps. "Do you know any place hiring?" I asked , eyes pleading with him.

I could see him chuckle as he made his way over to me. Obviously amused by my expression.

"You looking for a job?" He asked, eyes looking me up and down.

"Yep, I'm living on my own from now on, so I need to find one, fast."

His hand came up to his chin and he made a 'hmmm' sound before saying, "A good friend of mine was looking for an assistant… don't know if you're qualified or not. He works with engineering and robotics or something like that. You know anything about that?"

I grinned widely, showing my teeth. "Not much, but I learn quickly. Do you think he'd take me on? Maybe you could put in a good word?" I pleaded, showing off my puppy dog eyes once again.

The old man snorted and shook his head in amusement. "I don't even know you."

"Sure you do! I come here every… once in awhile for coffee!" I tried, really hoping that he would help me out here.

I could hear him sigh as he started to make his way back to the counter. "I'll see what I can do. Come here and I'll give you his number."

Turns out, the guy was looking for a young enthusiastic new employee! And I just happened to be that exact person. The man, who called himself Doctor S, was working on some new giant robot project and they needed someone small enough to crawl in and make repairs in the harder to reach places. Most of the people there were old… so I think it was a relief to have a young strong person to help them out.

I was shown around the place, met a bunch of weird looking people. They all had at least one odd feature. One guy, named 'O' something was bald and had tiny little eyes. There was also some guy with a weird pointy mustache and a man who always wore a mask. They weren't the nicest of people, but I figured they'd warm up to me sooner or later.

As for the building, it was huge! And so was my salary. My schedule was pretty flexible and if I worked hard I would be able to pay for all of my expenses with hopefully a little left over.

The only thing I was worried about, was if I would be able to learn all of what was expected quickly enough. Though, Doctor S seemed pretty confident in me. Don't know why really, maybe he looked up my record and found out that I liked to hotwire cars and other odd vehicles. Once, I took apart Father Maxwell's car engine to see how it worked… though I was never able to put it back together. He wasn't all that happy about it.

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As I came home from my second day at work I was exhausted. I'd met with Quatre after school and hung out with him for a little while. Not as much as I would have liked, but it was fine for now. Right after he left I had to go to the so called 'lab'. Doctor S had called it that… but for some reason I kept wanting to call it a shop.

It was now ten o'clock and I had just gotten home. I guess I lost track of the time, got too absorbed in everything at work. It was surprisingly fun and I was really anxious to get started and learn everything quickly. That's probably why I ended up staying so late, with the Doctor showing me all his cool equipment.

I plopped down on my bed after getting into some sweats to wear to bed. My stomach told me that I had skipped out on dinner and my drooping eyes told me how exhausted I was. It was hard choosing which way to go… food or sleep… but my mind took over and started to drift into slumber land. Solving my problem for me.

Things seemed to be going rather quickly, I was happy to have my mind off of Heero, was too busy to be depressed about him… worried about the trial. He was going to have to tell me all about it! Every last detail to satisfy my curiosity.

But the one thing I was worried about… wasn't the outcome anymore… but what it would do to Heero. Would he care if he lost? He never seemed to think much about the money before… but was that only the face he put on in front of me? If he were to get the money… I wonder what he would do with it. An eighteen year old with what I assume is millions of dollars. It's kinda scary, thinking about all that money. People go corrupt over it! They become snobs… well some do. And I don't really want him turning into a Relena. Look at his aunt for example!

Heero had said she used to be good looking… and possibly was nice at first, for his father 'did' have an affair with her. So it was the money that made her cruel… but it started with his fathers death I guess. She must have been an insanely jealous person. Jealous of Heero's mom… of Heero for getting the inheritance.

Sigh, I really wanted to see him right now. I miss sleeping next to him, the lonely feeling always goes away. If I had the money… I'm sure I would fix up this cold apartment and make it homely. But, I don't… yet. Money is really evil sometimes, ya know.

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The next day found me off my crutch and crawling inside the big robot things cockpit. It was really cool, I didn't actually think that it would be able to move since it was this big. But, lo and behold, they said it could even fly!

I soon figured out that this was a governmental facility and they were making all sorts of new weapons. Got me thinking that maybe a war was coming up. But, I didn't worry about that too much, my mind was on convincing the Doctors to actually let me control it one of these days!

Of course… if they wouldn't let me, I could always sneak in and steal it for awhile. Heh, I've already memorized their security plan and passwords. It was really easy to, since they left the passwords just lying around on the workstation desks. I don't think I would actually steal it though, they'd find out somehow or another and I don't want to get fired.

My money was important to me… much to my hate. I didn't like having to worry about my finances. It always made me sick in the stomach. Hopefully I wont ever be so bad off as to go bankrupt or be in major debt. My stomach really wouldn't be able to take that, heh.

Its only been four days since Heero left. The trial is probably started… I hope it will end soon. Sadly, I think it's gonna be one of those trials that last a little longer. I just hope not too long, worrying is really not good for my health.

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As I sat down for a break on my seventh day at work, I finally came to a decision. I shouldn't be thinking about the trial so much, I shouldn't be worrying about the outcome… whatever happens will happen. And there isn't anything I can do, but make sure that Heero has my support with whatever comes.

I've decided… I'll work hard… so that no matter what, I'll be able to take care of Heero.

TBC.

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Hmmm… Heero will be coming back in the next chapter… so don't worry! Aaaaannndd there's not much left folks! Please tell me what you thought about this chapter or say what you thought of my story so far! Its getting really long now isn't it… I think its almost two hundred pages… key word 'almost'.