"Stop making me repeat myself! It’s bad for my health!" -Duo Maxwell
I reached the address of Duo Maxwell’s house sooner than I had expected. Sally had given excellent instructions, and I found that his house was not as far as I had first thought.
Grabbing my coat, I took one last glance at Duo’s picture and inhaled deeply. Boy, was he handsome. I couldn’t wait to meet him. I made my way up to the door and looked myself over one last time, smoothing my hair. I was wearing my favorite outfit: black Capri pants and a skin tight, dark green tank top. I also had my father’s old coat, the black one with the red ribbing.
Knocking, I exhaled loudly and listened for signs of approach. A very light, quick step advanced, and I leaned back as the mahogany door opened. Just inside was a boy I took to be Duo, but he looked even better in person. His long braid dance in the slight breeze, and he adopted an adorable look of confusion while noticing me, eyebrows meeting and wrinkling. I reached out my hand, heart thumping so loudly I was sure he could hear it, and started to introduce myself, making sure I was at the right house.
"Mr. Maxwell?" I asked, smiling as my cheeks flushed and my neck grew hot.
"Yes, that’s me. I’m sorry, but, do I know you?" His voice, full of laughter and mischief, rang in my ears, and I took a moment to calm myself.
"No, I’m sorry, you don’t know me specifically, but I believe you know my father. My name is Sarah Yuy and..."
"Hold on a sec..." he interrupted. Turning, he shouted down the hallway leading past the foyer, "Dad! There’s someone here to see you!"
"You’re not Duo." I stated plainly. Amazed as I was a his resemblance to the photograph I had, I now could make out some subtle differences. His eyes, beautiful as they were, were an icy blue, whereas his father’s were violet, and much darker. His hair also was black with a blue tint when the light hit it, unlike his father’s dark brown. He was dressed very casually, and seemed quite interested in my business there, looking me over hard and analyzing my every feature. Inviting me in, he motioned towards an antique loveseat, taking the spot next to me, and once again, staring at me. I felt I would die under his intense stare, and continually told myself not to, saying, ‘He’s just a boy, nothing more...just a boy...But, he is so...amazing...’
"So, you’re Sarah Yuy, huh?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. All I could do was stare at his wonderful, curving, muscular arms, his rounded face that expressed a sense of false innocence...I knew he was a troublemaker, as soon as I saw him. His eyes...I drowned in his ocean blue eyes every time I even thought about them. They seemed to bore into my soul; and I didn’t mind it one bit.
Fortunately, and also unfortunately, a door at the back of the room opened, diverting Duo’s son’s attention from me, allowing me to stop worrying at needing to answer the boy’s question, and about whether or not I had something in my teeth for the fact he kept staring at me.
An energetically loud voice boomed from behind the door as an older version of the Duo in the picture emerged, grinning like a maniac. "Yeah, I know, Howard...It won’t take long..." He turned to face me, and his joking expression suddenly turned serious as I stood up, eyes widening. "Howard...this may take a bit longer than expected...Trente, could you ask your mother to get us some water?" He closed the heavy, metal door, which was adorned with wallpaper and pictures on the living room side, and grease smudges on the other, and scratched his head, looking me over hard, just as his son had done.
A slow smile crawled across his lips, and soon he was laughing uncontrollably, much to my surprise. I pulled off my coat and set it down on the couch, and he just cackled louder, doubling over and holding his stomach. As I have been before, I was confused, yet I still managed to keep a fake smile plastered on my face, trying my best to ignore his snickering.
Eventually, he made his way towards me and his guffawing subsided to light chuckles every now and then as he wiped his eyes with a pinky, brushing away his tears of merriment. Thrusting out my hand in an offer of a shake, I announced, "My name is Sarah Yuy and I..." but as soon as I spoke, using my rendition of Father’s monotone, he started snickering again, muttering something along the lines of, "She even sounds like him!"
Deciding to keep my anger at bay for the time being, I began to introduce myself again, only to hear a female voice utter, "My good Gods." and drop the tray she was holding. I could see where Trente got his hair and eyes, but by this time, I couldn’t care less. My frustration with Duo and now his wife boiled over, but I needed more answers, so I couldn’t be rude to them. Yet.
"Third time’s a charm..." I murmured, and, still standing, grasped Mr. Maxwell’s hand, shaking it roughly. "This is the last time I’m going to accept your rudeness. My name is Sarah Yuy. I believe you know my father, Heero." I stated, trying my best not to sound too angry.
"Just don’t shoot me..." he mumbled, and the woman, who had recovered her tray and taken a seat at the computer, giggled softly.
"I’m sorry, am I missing something? You are Duo Maxwell, are you not?" I asked, extremely annoyed at their consistent taunting.
"No, you’re at the right place." He seemed to express extreme over self-confidence, and continued with, "I am the famous Duo Maxwell, God of Death, Pilot of the illustrious Gundam Deathscythe Hell and it’s custom, at your service. You should feel honored to be in the presence of a living legend, young lady...I deserve a bit more respect..." He reminded me straight out of Priscilla, and I laughed in spite of myself. ‘No,’ I contradicted my subconscious. ‘He’s worse than Prissy every was...’
Catching onto his enormously large ego and practically choking on it, I decided to let my sarcasm get the better of me. "Oh, well, you know, I passed a different Duo Maxwell on the street, perhaps he’s the one I’m looking for...his ego would actually fit into this room, you know? Oh, wait, no, you are The Duo Maxwell, aren’t you? If you wait a moment, I left the palms in my car, didn’t think you wanted them at the moment, sire. And would you prefer one knee or two when I worship? All Gods have their preference, just thought I should ask first..."
He adopted a tone of injured self-esteem, and asked his wife, "Hilde, did you hear that? Relena and Heero’s daughter is being mean to me! And after all I went through for her father..."
"Ha, yeah right, you liar! You deserve it!" she shouted back at him.
I winced visibly at their loudness. They were sitting less than 5 feet away from each other, and still felt the need to yell. Shaking my head, I muttered an, "Oy..." and felt the need to thank his wife. "Thanks, Mrs. Maxwell!" I replied sweetly at her comment. She grinned back and shook her head.
"No problem, dear. What is it that you need? Oh, and how are your parents doing?"
Still yelling. "Well, actually, I need to talk to God over here, and my parents are doing well, thank you." I turned back to the man, who was now twisting his knee-length braid around his finger and pouting. "Are you over yourself?"
"Apologize, or I’m not telling you anything." was all he said. I caught onto the fake sadness he used, and smirked at his dramatic way of expressing himself.
"Oh, fine. I’m sorry you are so full of yourself..." he frowned, trying to understand what I had apologized for, but I stopped his rare moment of thought by continuing. "Now my father sent me to find out what the Gundams were, or are, and he gave me your name, along with my uncle, Wufei, Quatre, and Trowa. I’ve already visited my uncle and Wufei..."
"Heero has a brother?" Duo asked, eyes wide in astonishment. "I thought he didn’t have any family...Hey, Hilde? Did you know about Heero’s brother?"
Hilde sighed before answering him with, "No, dear. Remember Miliardo? Zechs? As in, Relena’s brother?"
Duo had to think long and hard about this before replying. "Oh yeah!" he exclaimed when the burnt out light bulb in his head was finally replaced. Then, he thought over my mission (or so it seemed) and added, in horror, "Heero didn’t tell you about the Gundams?"
I shook my head. What else could I do? Once again, laughter echoed off the walls until the boy of my dreams came down the hallway and threw a pillow at his father, hitting his extremely loud face square on. "Dad!" he shouted. "Please, stop laughing at the poor girl! It’s bad enough Heero didn’t tell her about them, you don’t have to rub it in!"
The blood rushed to my cheeks as I realized he was defending me. I giggled quietly at Duo’s shocked face and whispered, "Thank you, Trente." while staring at his heavenly body.
He looked nervously around as he heard this, and added hastily, "And I’m studying, too, Dad." before running off to his room again. As I watched him go, Duo turned back to face me, throwing and catching the pillow with Hilde, who was still typing at the same time. I watched this feat for a moment, amazed, and mouth agape. My father’s old friend noticed me watching him, and stopped paying attention to his previous action, which hit him soundly in the back of his head.
Rubbing the spot, he explained his outburst of laughter earlier. "The reason I laughed is because that is so typical of Heero! You know how many years it took for him to confess to his love for Relena? Guess what his first words to her where. ‘I will kill you.’ Now, sorry, this is my opinion, but that doesn’t sound too much like it’s dripping with positive emotion to me!"
Hilde, who was still listening in, commented loud enough for me to hear. "And this is coming from a man who calls himself the God of Death!" Duo picked up the pillow and hefted it once more across the room, where Hilde caught it, even though her back was still turned. She flung it back and it landed his lap after knocking off his hate, with a note that said, "I love you too." attached to it.
"Yeah, whatever..." he stated under his breath while rising up and taking a quick glance at her. "Let’s go outside, where our discussion can’t be disturbed." He donned a jacket identical to mine, and led me through the house to the back. "Where’d you get that coat?" he asked, raising an eyebrow and grinning again. I say again...actually, his current grin just seemed to get wider, despite my assumption that it was the biggest and brightest it could get. This had to be one happy man.
"My father gave it to me a few months ago, since I had pretty much confiscated it from his closet and wore it all the time. He told me that it was his favorite coat, full of memories. He also said that it reminded him of an old friend who used to wear one identical to it all the time..." I paused, realizing I was talking to this ‘old friend’ then and there, who smirked at the comment.
"Yeah, we all got one of those. Even Wufei, but I’ll bet he didn’t show you his, did he?"
"No..." I responded. My thoughts drifted to the few days I had spent with the Chinese man, and I smiled at the remembrance of the time we had spent, sniping away at each other and having a battle of the egos that no one could rival. Not even my father... ‘Wait...I’ll bet Duo could rival both our egos...his is the size of the L1 colony!’ We made our way back through the woods behind his house, and I noticed a few benches around a small pond, teeming with coy. ‘What is it with these Gundam pilots and woods with ponds?’ We took seats across from each other and I watched as he threw some fish food into the water, the hungry water animals surfacing to gobble it up.
Even though I was used to being asked questions in class with Mother, I was not prepared for the barrage of inquiries Duo rained on me. "So, how is Hee-kun doing?" was his first. I raised an eyebrow at his use of such a personal nickname. But, then again, I knew these pilots were close. Although, while he asked, this, he didn’t even look up; he seemed too interested in the fish feeding he was partaking in. I sensed there was some hostility in his voice, and a hint of sadness, but I didn’t act like I had noticed. ‘He just misses Father, that’s all...’
"Oh, Father is doing fine, I guess. Mother is too..." I answered, reaching to take some food from him and throw it into the pond.
"You look like him. A lot." he commented, even more sad, as if he missed my father a bit more than what was expected.
"Thank you. Trente looks a lot like you as well. I actually thought he was you when he answered the door..." I admitted, turning red.
"Think he’s cute?" Duo asked, putting on a mask of jollity and plastering a huge grin on his face. I understood he was trying to rid himself of the memory that plagued his thoughts, so I went along with charade.
"Well..."
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