misanagi: (Duo)
[personal profile] misanagi
The Immature One

Rating: G
Character: Duo
Summary: There's a moment in every boy's life when he has to grow up and become a man.
Notes: Written for [livejournal.com profile] gw500 prompt # 216: Illusion

---

There's a moment in every boy's life when he has to grow up and become a man. Some boys, though, don't get that opportunity; they didn't quite have the chance to be boys. Sometimes Duo feels that this is true for him. Living in the streets since he could remember, taking care of younger kids before he was ten and burying the closest thing he had to family not that much later isn't really what people would call a childhood.

It's okay, though. It didn't turn out that bad after all. He managed to get his hands on a Gundam and had the chance to fight to save the world. When he had been captured and interrogated, for a single second Duo had been angry. It was like if all those years of cold and hunger and losing people and pain were just too much and as he lay on the cold floor of the cell he asked himself that question he had refused to make for so long: why me?

Then Heero had come and without hesitation had put a gun on Duo's face and Duo had to smile at that. He wasn't done yet. It wasn't time to give up.

A soldier's life isn't one for a child, many people would say that, but for Duo it was the opposite. He had held on to any remains of childhood he had, grasped them tightly between his fingers and use any moment, any second he had to allow himself to joke, to relax, to play. Being a pilot was the greatest adventure of all.

Amongst the killing, the death, the danger and losses it was difficult sometimes to force himself to see the brightness, to let whatever was left of the child within him come out and play. When he had met the others he had felt sorry for the childhood they had lost. Heero didn't even know what that was, Trowa had buried it long ago and the shy boy inside him was too timid to get out. Quatre had been burden with responsibility since he was born and Wufei had given up the strong-headed kid inside him to fight.

When he remembered this, Duo called upon the child inside him, the grinning tough kid that had stubbornly refused to be vanquished by the death of Solo, the destruction of the Maxwell church or the life of a Gundam pilot, and let him out. And then a remarkable thing happened. Once in a while the curious kid inside Heero would show up, the shy one inside Trowa would crack a joke, the bratty one inside Quatre would tease and the proud one in Wufei would start an argument.

There's a moment in every soldier's life when they have to play and let themselves be kids. Some soldiers, though, don't get the opportunity; they don't quite know how to be kids. Sometimes Duo feels this is true for all of them. However, the little boy inside him wisely refuses to let that happen. Duo listens to that boy as much as he can.

Date: 2008-02-17 11:30 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sharona1x2.livejournal.com
Thank you for writing this, Mis. It's so nice to see this side of Duo. It makes me remember why I love him so fiercely.

Date: 2008-02-18 10:58 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] misanagi.livejournal.com
Thank you! I liked writing this one. I love Duo, sometimes I just want to hug him tight.

Date: 2008-02-18 12:37 am (UTC)
ext_30096: (Default)
From: [identity profile] yanagi-wa.livejournal.com
That bright stubbornness is why we love him so much. Excellent work.

Date: 2008-02-18 10:58 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] misanagi.livejournal.com
Thank you! He is a lovable stubborn guy.

Date: 2008-02-18 01:02 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] meritjubet.livejournal.com
I love how Duo identified with the boy him in, even when he hadn't had much time to be a boy.

Date: 2008-02-18 11:00 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] misanagi.livejournal.com
I think that because he didn't quite had the opportunity when he was a child is exactly why he isn't willing to give up on it now *pets him*

Date: 2008-02-18 06:02 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] merith.livejournal.com
oh mis... *wipes tears* this is so perfectly beautiful...and, no matter what or who you are, 'letting the kid out' every once in awhile is a wonderful thing.

*hugs you tightly* i just want to weep now for them. thank you so much for writing and sharing such a lovely fic.

Date: 2008-02-18 11:01 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] misanagi.livejournal.com
Thank you so much, Merith! I think they do deserve to let themselves be boys now and then. It's sad that they didn't quite get the chance. *hugs* Thanks for reading.

Date: 2008-07-04 04:02 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tyreling.livejournal.com
Oooh, very nice. I like how Duo is handled here, how he compared his kid-self with the others.

There are several typos in this shot by the way.
"Amongst the killing, the death, the danger and losses it was difficult sometimes to force himself to see the brightness, to let whatever was left of the child within him come out and play. When he had met the others he had felt sorry for the childhood they had lost. Heero didn't even know what that was,..."

Date: 2008-07-04 03:48 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] misanagi.livejournal.com
Thank you! And thanks for spotting the typos, I fixed them now ^-^ thanks!

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