Stole the song from Tara, and her price was getting to be the one singing it, so that’s why she’s in it. And me? …Well, I just didn’t want to feel left out.
Warnings: Wufei’s Well-Known Potty Mouth, Self-and-friend-insertion, Return of the Biker Beatniks, and Scary Duo Poetry.
Prodigy
Chapter 9
Facing
x---x
Even his still-blurry eyes couldn’t hide the hilarity of what was going on.
“Come out,” Yuy said calmly and quietly to the locked wooden door, as if trying to coax a cat out from under a bed. The door- more like a slab of wood with a handle jabbed onto it- didn’t respond. “Duo.”
Yuy himself was close to dead, lying on the floor with his head against the door and breathing like he’d just come up for air. Wufei snickered. Well, he actually had. The two had been practically suffocating each other with their mouths.
Heero’s eyes snapped to him at the snicker. It was a warning shot, but all Wufei could think was how stupid the scientist looked right now. He was only half-dressed, with just his pants on (Wufei didn’t want to think about when he’d lost his shirt) and he still had a bit of ash in his hair. Well, everyone but the braided idiot did, at least.
Wufei twitched a taunting eyebrow up at his rival. Heero glared.
“You going to attack me,” he goaded, his lips twisting into a smirk.
Heero’s head twisted back to the door, a scathing dismissal while he took care of the mess Wufei had landed him in. Not that Wufei was even close to remorseful anyway.
“Duo?”
There was a crash in the tiny bathroom.
“Duo.”
Another crash.
“I’m not leaving until you come out.”
“Shittyfuckingconcretegonna-” Something groaned, and a small crash ensued. “-SHIT!!!” Something large and ominous slammed in the tiny bathroom.
The two stared at the door. “…Duo?”
Wufei frowned. There wasn’t any further noise from the tiny room. And as much as he loathed admitting it, the idiot had saved his life, and should be treated accordingly…no matter how roundabout the saving really was. “Untie me.”
Heero’s glare could have turned the refrigerator to a puddle of bubbling goo. “No.”
Wufei rolled his eyes. “As incomprehensible as it is to you, Yuy, this isn’t a ploy to escape. You’re obviously not well enough to break down the door and save your idiot from killing himself, so the task falls to me. And I can’t do that duct taped to a fucking refrigerator, can I?”
Gritting his teeth and facing the truth, Heero (after listening for a bit more noise, which was fruitless) managed to stumble over to the bed, and without thinking about it reached under and grabbed one of his knives from the mattress. After stumbling over to Wufei, he cut most of the duct tape off…intentionally leaving bits for the spy to rip off himself. Painfully, if he dared hope.
Wufei, however, wasn’t about to complain. He didn’t even bother to get those parts off, instead opting for getting past all this life debt shit as quickly as possible and shoving the door open with his duct taped shoulder.
The wooden square opened easily, and Wufei ended up landing sprawled painfully on the floor, staring at a trick door to the outside of the apartment. The tile siding of the shower had been the crashing sound; the tiles were all attached to some piece of siding (it would require further analysis later), which slung down into the tub…if you weren’t in a hell of a hurry to get out. The trap door had swung out to the world.
A car- a very FAMILIAR car- came to life and slunk into the street, where it ran off, barely visible from the bathroom’s tiny window.
Wufei could HEAR the scientist’s glare from the main room. “Chang.” He strode back into the other room, eyes locked with the dead man’s. His dignity refused to acknowledge the duct tape adorning his dirty white clothing.
“Yuy.”
Heero managed to stand firmly on his own feet, using his one-inch advantage to all he could. “We’re going after him.”
Wufei snorted and sat himself down on the loveseat. “Debt and servitude are very different things, Yuy, not to mention I don’t have to give a shit what you want. I’m not about to take care of your petty romance-”
With his brain sighing in agitation, Wufei was knocked out again.
x---x
“-know that you've saved me.”
The door swung shut behind him, blowing the sunset air around him as he walked over to Lisa, whose smile faltered at the sight of him. “You okay, Duo?”
“Shake me, shake me, Please let me wake.
But I'm tired and scared, So I hungrily sleep.”
He shrugged, eyes taking in the familiar café. The regulars were all here, listening to the girl and her guitar. “Open mic night, Lisa?”
She frowned at him. “Every night’s open, and you know it.” She grabbed a menu and led him over to the familiar two-person booth he usually kept. “You got something to share with us?”
“In search of a moment, When I can forget,
In search of a moment Of Heart-settled peace.”
He nodded over to the
singer. “She’s new, isn’t she?”
Lisa frowned. “Don’t
change the subject, Duo.” She shoved the familiar menu onto his burgundy paper
placemat and plopped down in the opposite seat. “What’s wrong?”
Will haunt you there, Without tire, nor rest,
Till you return to her In reality.”
Duo shuddered. “I don’t want to talk about it, alright? Just…just get me the regular.”
“You in trouble again?” The stern look sent him shaking his head.
“No- well, not like you’re thinking.” He sighed, stretching himself out as Lisa stood back up, straightening her apron. Her frown was still in place.
“You’re getting up there next, mister.”
“But-”
“Your love keeps me floating,
Know that you have me.”
“NO buts! It’s either that or I actually call in your tab!”
Duo pouted and slouched down further. “Bossy little hostess…”
Lisa shook her head. “It’s for your own good, you idiot.”
Know that you have me.”
He stuck his tongue out at her back…after making sure she wouldn’t see, of course. If there was one thing scarier than a Lisa determined to make you sing, it was a Lisa determined to kill you.
Which, of course, he just happened to know from experience.
"Good morning Love,” She says with a smile
And she sings out, overjoyed, by the warmth that she
feels
Of the sun on her face, and her feet on the world,
Yet she dances as if she's got wings at her heels.”
Apparently word had gotten around quickly. Every single waitress was eying him for well-being.
“Oh the joys of regularity,” he grumbled, and took a swig of the complimentary glass of water. The water ring on the placemat quickly had a friend. “And people wonder why I’m not friendly.”
“And you're all but entranced by the rhythm you feel,
Of the flow of your blood to your finger tips.”
He stared at the singing girl, who just seemed to go on, ignoring the sudden frantic look in his eyes.
His sudden hypnosis with the singer broke when Lisa plopped back down in front of him, the Soup Of the Day (French Onion, one of their best) sliding into place in front of him. Of course, it was served with a stern look from Erica, who was too busy to lecture him.
“You want to reach out and touch her, make sure that
she's real,
And cradle her up in a soul you see fit.
Your light keeps me floating,
Know that I've made it.
Your light keeps me floating,
The patrons all cheered as the young woman with short purple hair bowed with a smile and hopped off the stage, the redhead in back screaming out a "GO TARA!" enthusiastically.
Lisa quirked an eyebrow up. “Any more excuses?”
Duo frowned. “I could think of a few, yeah.”
She rolled her eyes and grabbed his shirt, yanking him up and over to the stage, where the bikers began to applaud again at the sight of a familiar and surprisingly well-respected artist approaching the stage…willingly or not. Lisa grabbed the microphone.
“I think we all know Duo, but here he is again! He’s a little shy tonight-” she ignored his glare “-so he may need a little encouragement!” The mic landed in his crossed arms, and Lisa shouted out, “Everyone! Duo Maxwell!”
The applauding was politely encouraging.
After another threatening glare from Lisa- and the familiar knife-throat gesture, he began.
“…I’m a decent guy, as most of you know.
I’ve got standards, you see, though my manners…so-so.”
The regulars laughed, and he smiled uneasily. They did more polite applause, and after another more threatening motion from Lisa he continued.
“In dating there’s only a few things I must see:
Intelligence, Kindness, some kind of degree.
Well, okay, I admit, the last is the first-
I’m in the acquaintance of a doctor-PhD.
Intelligent, yes. But smart? Well, we’ll see.
I admit he’s some wit, but that’s easy to find,
He’s hot- oh my GOD do I love his…uh, mind.
We constantly bicker, which I’ll say is…well, dumb.
But the way my brain works, I just kind of go numb.
See, fighting with him is like…like…taking a hike.
You’ve been walking so long, you don’t know what you like.
Okay, bad analogy. I’ll try again.
Fighting with him is…
Aww, screw it. I’ll just move along.
The guy’s a lunatic! He burns everything!
He blew up his car! He blows up machines!
He blew up his lab! Almost Trowa, too!
If I hadn’t saved him, Heero woulda burned too!
So why do I save him? Why the HELL do I care?
There’s no real motivation, except save his…hair.
But then he does THIS! He just…just…KISSES ME!
What the fuck’s meant by that?! What the hell does he see?
Does he want me to kill him? Screw him, maybe?
Hell, I don’t know. I just want to left be!”
He took a moment to sigh,
and finally realized every face in the café was staring at him, mouth at full
gape. Was it just him, or had a kid started wailing in the background?
“Eheh…so, uh, that’s my poem I guess, as bad as I was.
No, please, don’t start yet…well, I just don’t want applause.
See, the thing about this is it’s scaring me too.
A year all alone leads to, well, things unused to.
So, I’ll leave you to dinner, and go face my fate.
Please be nice to Lisa, and clear your own plate.”
As Duo stuck the
near-strangled microphone back on the stand, applause broke out. Lisa ran up,
grinning, and gave him a fierce hug.
“Everybody, the impassioned
poetry of Duo Maxwell! Give him a hand!”
Near blushing, Duo bowed
slightly and scampered over to his soup, salad and smoothie, trying to ignore
all the surprisingly fond looks the regulars were giving him.
“So much for being left
alone,” he sighed, and tried to shut out the world.
x---x