Raspberry Beret

by Maria Rocket

***

(Author's note: This is my first time attempting a songfic, so go easy on me. ^^; I'd heard this song again lately, and a certain Gundam gal's headgear came to mind...^_^ And it occurred to me that we never did see how Duo and Hilde met up again after the first time. So, basically this is how it might have gone... Oh, yeah, and the song be "Raspberry Beret" by Prince. Okay, here goes nothing...^^; )

***

"Maxwell!!!"

Trying to leave the building discreetly, Duo cringed in mid-step. He was tired and feeling more than a little down in the dumps. Literally. He spent most of his days lately sorting through yards and yards of scrap metal and parts. And when he wasn't doing that, he was filing and delivering items to one of the shop's paying customers. It was tedious, but it was a living, at least for the time being. But the only real company since he'd come down to the L2 colony recently, wasn't exactly pleasant.

"Yeees, sir?" Duo turned around with an irritated look on his face.

"Where do you think you're going? It's still a half hour 'til closing!" The balding man pointed to the clock. "Get back in there, kid!"

"I've already catalogued and filed everything that came in today!" Duo exclaimed. "And I already took all the deliveries!"

"My business, my time, your paycheck! Now get your slacking girly behind back in the yard and clean up or something!"

Duo was fuming. He stepped forward to give his boss a piece of his mind, when the phone suddenly rang. While the man answered it, Duo grumbled under his breath, debating with himself if the pay was actually worth it.

Knowing he was probably in for overtime once his boss finished taking the order, Duo just waited there. He laced his fingers behind his black cap and paced around the floor. Sometimes he was able to sneak out early, but it looked like there was no chance of that now. Duo was desperate to rant off to someone, but there was no one to talk to anymore. He sighed as he heard his boss mention a delivery address that he recognized as being up in the hills. There was no way he'd make it there with the truck. He had a very long trip ahead of him. Overtime or no overtime, Duo let his head loll back in tired despair.

"It's too late for this now..." He heard the little bell above the storedoor chime. Someone had just walked in. With a groan of exasperation, Duo looked to see who else wanted to make his life more miserable that day.

"Duo?" There, in the doorway, stood Hilde. Her eyes were wide, and her mouth was agape. Then her expression of surprise grew into an ear to ear smile. "It's really you...!"

"Hilde!?" Duo leaned forward in equal wide-eyed surprise. The last time he'd seen the Oz soldier, she'd been facing down her own people helping him escape. He hadn't expected to ever see her again...

"Duo!" Hilde practically threw herself across the floor and jumped into his arms. She hugged him tightly. "I wasn't even sure if you'd survived!"

Laughing, Duo welcomed her embrace. "It wasn't exactly a walk in the park, but I managed, thanks to you. Now, what are you doing here? Hope you haven't come to drag me back to Oz, because my boss will have your head if ya do," he joked.

"Don't worry, I've quit." Hilde stepped back with a smile. "They were really cramping my style anyway. I'm looking into some old fashioned mechanics," she held up a list on a piece of lined paper.

"That's great!" Duo beamed. "Hey, I know, I'll help you find what you're looking for!" He found himself looking her over. When he'd first met her, he couldn't help but notice how attractive she was in the form fitting Oz uniform, but now, in a yellow tank top, there was simply so much...more.

Hilde rolled her eyes as she noticed his eyes drop to her blouseline. She snapped her fingers. "Hey, Duo, I'm up here."

The braided boy's head snapped up immediately. His cheeks were rosy red. "Uh, sorry. Just admiring your new fashion sense, is all."

"Riiight."

"Hey, cool hat." Duo grinned and pointed to the raspberry colored beret sitting atop Hilde's head. It looked kinda cheapo, but somehow it made her look even cuter as far as he was concerned.

"Maxwell!"

Duo sighed at the barking of his employer's voice. His violet eyes rolled from the sound, over to Hilde. "Argh, the slave driver calls. I won't be able to get to you until I make a delivery across town." He pouted. Then his face lit up. "I know, wanna come with me? I'm sure I can fit ya on the back of the bike! It'll be fun!"

"Well..." A few moments later, they were outside, and Hilde saw Duo's little delivery dirt bike complete with a flowery plastic basket on the handle bars. It even had an old training wheel still stuck on it. She gave it a very very doubtful look.

"It belongs to the store," Duo hastily added. "I only use it for long distances. Believe me, I'd rather use Deathscythe Gundam, but they've got some thing about giant moving machines and cows out there so..."

Hilde snickered and raised an eyebrow at him. "This is revenge for getting you shot down and keeping you in handcuffs, isn't it?"

Duo gave her an evil grin. "What revenge? I think I kinda enjoyed that." Laughing, he pulled her along by the arm. "C'mon, let's go, trust me, it'll be fun!"

After Duo stuck his delivery box in the bike basket, he got on the bike. He turned his head to look back at Hilde with a smile. "Well? You coming or aren'tcha?"

A bit awkwardly, Hilde slid behind Duo on the bicycle seat. She had to slide herself close against his back in order to fit. She put her hands around his waist tightly. She was still having visions of crashing into the pavement caused by the junky bike collapsing under their combined weight. Then she noticed that Duo had become very very still.

She blinked and tilted her head slightly. "Uh...Duo? You alive?"

"Huh?" Duo turned to look at her. His face was flushed. "Err...yeah," he laughed nervously. "Just...you sure you've got a grip there? Wouldn't want you to fall off. Better tuck your legs up."

"Oh, okay." Hilde pulled her legs up around Duo's waist and tucked them against his thighs. "This isn't too uncomfortable, is it?"

There was a brief silence. "N-No..." Duo finally answered in a funny sounding voice. Hilde could have sworn she felt a shudder go through his body. But it was hard to tell since he took off on the bike a split second later.

To say it was a bumpy ride would have been an understatement. Not that Duo was complaining. The faster they went, the more the bike would rattle. And the more the bike rattled, the tighter Hilde held on to him. When she rested her head on his shoulder and tucked her face against his neck, he felt like he'd died and gone to heaven.

"Duo..." she murmured. "Are we almost there yet? I think I'm gonna be sick."

The bike screeched to a halt on the dusty country road. Duo hadn't even noticed how far out they'd gotten. He turned slightly. "Sorry, guess I'm just used to the ride. Don't worry, the farm we're headed to isn't very far off now. We can take a breather once we get there." He started pedaling again, but more slowly this time.

A few minutes later Duo felt a drop of water on his nose. He blinked and turned his face skyward curiously. Dark grey thunderclouds were beginning to billow overhead. He hadn't even noticed how dark it had become. Then suddenly the storm broke right over their heads.

Hilde cried out in surprise and laughed. "Oh, we're getting soaked!"

"There's gotta be cover ahead! Hold on tight, Hilde!" Duo pedaled faster through the pouring rain. He couldn't see any further than the road right in front of him, but he was certain he was going the right way. Then he saw an old brown barn coming up on the side of the road.

"Duo!"

"I see it!" He pulled the bike over to the side of the road and stepped off quickly, swinging Hilde off the seat behind him. The bike fell to the ground with a splash, but he just smiled and shrugged, blinking through the falling rain. "That thing needed a wash anyway."

Hilde retrieved his package. "Hey, don't forget this!"

"Oh, right," Duo took it from her. "Thanks." He paused for a moment, his mind wandering to how stunning her blue eyes looked against the stormy sky.

Hilde grabbed his free hand. "Well, c'mon, before lightning hits us or somethin'!" She pulled him along, and they escaped into the barn.

Inside the barn, everything was dark and musty smelling. One corner was filled with cobwebs and rusty old tools. On the other side, there were a few stables, where a couple of red horses watched them with spooked eyes. Hilde headed straight for the back of the barn, where stacks of hay were stored. She plopped right down into a particularly loose pile.

Duo joined her, wincing at the straw that poked and scratched at him. "Man, this stuff always looks a lot softer on tv." He tossed his delivery package aside and rung out his soaked braid.

With a grin, Hilde lay back and shrugged back at him. "Well, at least it's dry. And after a ride like that, even hay starts looking good." The hay wasn't the only thing looking good. Hilde gave an appreciative eye to the way the water beaded along Duo's skin and in the strands of his hair. She couldn't resist taking ahold of his braid and waving it at him. "So, you're living around here now?"

"Well, for the time being anyway," Duo tried unsuccessfully to recover his hair. "You could say I've kinda lost touch. Thought I'd settle down for awhile, test the waters, all that sorta stuff."

Hilde nodded. "Yeah, that's kinda what I'm doing too. At least I don't have to wake up at the crack of dawn anymore though." She twirled his braid around her fingers.

"Hey you, no one touches the hair, see?" He grinned and tried tugging away from her again.

It was no use. Hilde just held on. Then she put a hand firmly to his chest and pushed him down into the hay to keep him from moving away again. "What's a priest doing with hair this long anyway? You'll make those horses jealous if you don't cut it to a managable size," she smiled.

"Hmph, I'm not a priest." Finally with a sharp toss of his head, he spun his braid out of Hilde's relentless grasp. "These are just the only clothes I got, y'see. That, and I like black."

"Really, now?" Something about his face when he spoke aroused her suspicion. Not that he was lying, but she had a strong feeling that there was something he wasn't saying. Though she felt more than a little nosy, she was far too intrigued to back down.

Duo sat up and turned to give her short black hair a playful tug. "Really!"

"And you haven't bothered to get another outfit? Or at least lose the collar?"

"What do you care?" Duo narrowed his eyes at her with a grin.

"Who said I did? I just asked is all." Hilde closed her eyes and lay back in the hay. "Even though you're too young to be a real priest now that I think about it, I'll bet the outfit wards off your lovelife completely."

Duo's eyes narrowed even further, almost to the point of closing them as his lips curled into an almost predatory smile. "You assume way too much. Doesn't matter what I'm wearing, no woman can resist me. They're all willing to risk their very souls just for a piece of the God of Death!"

With her eyes still closed, Hilde just stuck her arms behind her head. "Oh pleeease..."

Without making a sound, Duo leaned across her with one arm. "Well, if you insist..." He inclined his head and met her lips softly with his own. Hilde's eyes flew open momentarily in surprise. Then they glazed over as Duo deepened the kiss, quickly closing in rapture.

Duo could feel Hilde's arms wrap around his neck, and he couldn't help but to smirk triumphantly against her mouth. He shifted his body closer to her, enjoying their shared heat in the chilly barn. He began to realize that he was enjoying it a little too much, but didn't dwell on it very long as he let his mind blank out in the passion of the moment. He slid his arms around her back and pulled her against him possessively.

In response, Hilde grabbed the back of his head, digging her fingers into his hair. She suddenly began to kiss him back agressively, taking Duo by surprise, and causing his breath to catch sharply in his throat. Recovering, he thought he could feel Hilde laughing against his mouth.

With a push from Hilde, Duo went sprawling out across the hay. "That wasn't an invitation, you know," Hilde scolded lightly, breathing raggedly. She propped herself up on her elbows. "But damn, you sure can kiss, I'll give you that."

After crawling back up beside her, Duo rolled onto his side and smirked at her, tugging the brim of his black cap down over his forehead. His chest was heaving noticably as he struggled to catch his breath. "You're not half bad yourself."

"Good of you to notice," Hilde grinned and reached out for Duo's braid, which was lying over his chest and on the hay. She picked it up and played with it between her fingers, twirling it slowly and caressing the brush-like end of it lightly against her face. "So, where in the colony are you staying? Somewhere back in town?"

Duo was watching his braid in her fingertips, with a slight fascination. He didn't try pulling away this time. "Yeah... Well, sorta. I've been sleepin' in Deathscythe, on the edge of town."

"You're kiddin' me. You've been sleepin' in your suit!?" Hilde gaped. She frowned and shook her head. "That's it, you're coming home with me tonight."

"Hey, Deathscythe may not exactly be a five star establish--" Duo's face suddenly lit up like a lightbulb. "Really? Hey, thanks... I promise, I don't snore, well, at least I don't think I do..."

Hilde snickered and wagged his braid at him. "You can stay on my couch, braidboy."

Duo looked a little disappointed, but he still had a wide smile. "Well, I suppose Deathscythe can't get too jealous if it's just a couch." His violet eyes drifted towards the little beret sitting askew on her head. With a mischievious gleam in his eye, his hand darted out and snatched it from her. He pulled off his black cap and tossed it aside.

"How does this look?" He jumped back in a crouch and fitted the beret snuggly over his chestnut colored hair. "Hmm...kinda like some french painter, eh?" He stuck a thumb out towards Hilde and squinted one eye with a grin. "Oooh...la la... This stunning beauty can be none other than my next masterpiece!"

"Hey!" Hilde laughed and jumped at him, reaching for her beret. "Give that back you!"

Duo just laughed and held the hat out of her reach. "But I like this hat! It looks good enough to eat!"

Trying to push past him, Hilde wrestled with Duo, trying to press past his shoulders to where he waved her beret tauntingly. At last she threw all her weight onto him, pinning him beneath her. Still, everytime she tried moving off him to retrieve the beret, he would wiggle, threatening to escape her grasp.

"Duooo!" She sat down upon him and pinned his limbs yet again. He just laughed at her efforts. Then she tensed and threw herself towards the beret.

Duo quickly took the opportunity to roll out from under her and dash behind a stack of hay. He looked out at her and grinned slyly. "You're just too slow, Hilde!" He took the beret in his teeth and climbed up onto the haystack. Duo inhaled deeply. The beret smelled of softness, like Hilde did. He sat atop the hay smiling with his prize.

"Hah! You think you're safe up there?" Hilde sneered and pushed the haystack over. The entire thing collapsed, sending a yelping Duo tumbling down in a storm of yellow hay and sawdust. He somehow managed to land sitting up, with the raspberry colored beret on his head.

Hilde swiped it back with a grin. "I win."

"Yeah, yeah," Duo shook his head to get some of the hay and sawdust out of his hair. "Just don't let it go to your head, babe."

With a defiant grin, Hilde put the beret back on and sat down beside Duo. She nudged him playfully. He laughed and nudged her right back.

"So, you got family around here?" Duo asked. He leaned against her with as much weight as he felt she might allow. When she leaned back, he tentatively rested his head on her shoulder.

Feeling rather comfortable as they were, Hilde rested her head against his and closed her eyes. "No... I don't have any real family. I grew up in an orphanage in another town near here. When I was old enough, I joined the military, looking to do something worthwhile with my life."

His eyes previously closed in a near blissful state, Duo opened them slightly with a quiet expression. "So you're alone too, huh?"

"Aw, Duo...not you too."

Duo shrugged slightly. "Us war orphans are too common a breed these days. Blown by the winds of fate to quick deaths or meaningless lives..." His arm went around her and pulled her closer against him.

"Oh Duo..." She could hear the undertones of pain in his voice. "You're the one that taught me how to live a meaningful life. Why do you sound so sad?"

"I guess it's the rain. Because it's been a long time since I've felt as happy as I do right now." He lifted his head to turn and look into her eyes. "And damned if I really know why."

"Maybe..." Hilde pulled the rubberband from his braid and moved closer until their lips nearly met. "...it's because we're not alone anymore?" She wasn't sure what in the hell she was doing. But something about it just felt so incredibly right.

"...Hilde..." Duo closed his eyes and breathed the name against her mouth. Then he sealed the painful distance with a trembling kiss. As the kiss grew more passionate, they folded against each other and fell back into the hay.

High above, thunder rumbled so loudly, that it shook the barn. The horses spooked at the noise, and reacted by rearing and neighing. One kicked the side of the stall when the bright flash of lightning came through the boards. Duo and Hilde were too lost in each other to notice.

For an undetermined length of time, the only sounds were rain beating down on the barn, occasional thunderclaps, and the small cries and sighs of pleasure coming from the hay. The gundam pilot and the ex-Oz soldier lay completely wrapped about each other, protected by the concealing storm and each other.

Minutes or hours later, the storm died down and all was quiet once more. Duo and Hilde lay asleep with their limbs about each other in the scattered hay. Hilde awakened to the soft sound of Duo's snoring and the feeling of his warm breath tickling her neck. She stroked his half unraveled braid. His hair was covered in hay and almost completely wild. She imagined that she was quite a sight herself. She wasn't exactly sure how she had ended up in Duo's embrace, but she decided that it was definitely something she could get used to.

Duo woke to Hilde's kiss on his cheek. He sighed contentedly and nuzzled against her neck. A deep emotional warmth surged inside him and he laughed softly from the joyful feeling. He desperately wanted to tell her how he felt, but an annoying little twinge of fear bit at the back of his soul. So he kept it to himself, deciding to be happy at the moment just by being there with her.

"Duo... The rain's stopped." Hilde whispered.

"Yeah..." Duo sighed. He pulled himself up to gaze into her eyes adoringly. "Hilde..."

"Yeah?"

Duo hesitated and smiled. There was a strong hint of pain in his face, but he leaned forward and kissed her softly before Hilde could question it. There would be other days, other chances, he thought to himself. Maybe someday, when it's not as dangerous, I can finally tell her...