sweetestsurrender | { The AU meme }

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{ The AU meme }

Ever played out something and then later wondered "What if?" Ever wondered what it'd be like to play your character a different way, but didn't feel like making a full thing dedicated to it? Now's your chance to play it out!

Using RNG you'll roll 1-3 for the level of the change, and 1-6 for the change itself, or if you want, pick your own based on what you wanted to do.

1)  Small Change: The flap of a butterfly's wings can cause tsunami's on the other side of the world.

-1: "A minute too late"- What if you missed something by a minute, or more? You missed the big meeting, the girl, helping that person, all because you were too late, what happens next?
-2: "The nick of time"- Just like the first, only that instead of missing something you got, that if you got something you missed because you were either too late, or just messed up? Congratulations! Let's just hope it's what you really wanted.
-3: "A little too early"- One more, what if you showed up early? It's suppose to be a good thing, is it this time?
-4: "The other choice"- You had two choices, left or right, heads or tails, Coke or Pepsi, now you get to see what would have happened with the other choice.
-5: "Oops!"- You slipped up, and made a mistake. Is it bad, or a blessing in disguise?
-6: Wild card/Pick your own- Thought of a slight change that'd make all the difference, or had one you wanted to play? Here's your chance.

2)  Medium Change: Didn't really see that coming, did you?

-1: Turning point change- That one thing that would have turned things in your favor went against you, and vice versa. How will you handle this critical change?
-2: "A Razor's edge"- That one moment that could have went either way has gone the opposite way of before. Is this a good thing, or a bad thing?
-3: Crossroads- You reached a point in your life where you had several choices before you, now's the time to go down another road and see where it leads.
-4: The Road less traveled- "Two roads diverged in the woods, and I took the one less traveled" Will it make all the difference?
-5: Interference- Something blocked you from getting something you were going for. What do you do once the moment is gone?
-6: Wild Card/Pick your own-Thought of a medium change that'd make all the difference, or had one you wanted to play? Here's your chance.

3)  Large Change: Why do all the people here have goatee's?

-1: Good/Evil- Use to be a good guy? Welcome to the dark side, here's your cookie. Former bad guy? Hand over the cookie tray and join the side of good. How will the change of moral compass change you?
-2: A different person- You're now a completely different person, literally. Are you taller? Shorter? A robot? A pony? Powers? No powers? Your call.
-3: The other sex- Rule!63 is in effect. Now how does this effect your relationships with the other?
-4: A change in history- Something that happened in the past now has completely change or is now gone. One domino toppling the rest. Now that you've changed your past, how will it effect your future?
-5: Giving up- You walked away from something important to you? Do you regret it? Are you happy?
-6: Wild Card/Pick your own- Thought of a large change that'd make all the difference, or had one you wanted to play? Here's your chance.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Some of it is very cringe," she agreed. "Some of it sounds like a normal evening for Quatre, which is even weirder," she laughed softly, and gave her head a shake.

"No, it's either my bed or the airbed, I'm not going to have you sleeping on this monstrosity of a couch," even if she'd done it earlier in the week. "I'm perfectly comfortable sharing my bed with you. As for how tired I am," she shrugged and sighed. "I'm a little tired, but not so much that I'd be able to fall asleep right away." Mostly because she knew damn well nightmares were waiting for her.

While he would have preferred her to tell him what she wanted him to do here, because he didn't want to make the wrong choice, he could understand why she didn't. So in the end Duo nodded slowly. "Bed it is then." Because even without telling him, even without him being able to read her mind, he knew that tonight wouldn't be easy.

It would be the same for him if he were to ever tell Wufei some of the things from his past. Reliving the memories in the day meant they would come and haunt at night as well. And Duo wanted to be close enough to maybe be of some help.

He glanced over at the boards on the walls and laughed softly. "You wanna tell me what you come up with in all that mess?"

She hummed in agreement, reluctantly pulling away from him to go over and look at the wall. "Well, this side," she gestured at the larger wall, "can be ignored," she carefully pulled the picture of Duo off of it, moving it to the kitchen counter. "I'll take it down and get rid of it tomorrow, but the other," she turned to face the smaller one. "Wedding parameters."

She approached the wall, gestured to a few sections. "Guests over here, the list we'd already agreed on, and..." she grabbed a brick of post-its, and wrote Debbie's name on one, slapping it onto the wall with the rest. "Then we've got ceremony parameters," which was just a post-it with a bunch of question marks. "I definitely want to wear a proper wedding dress," she gestured to another section, this one with a few pages from magazines of different styles of dress and all their shoes marked with black x's, a post-it with the word red. "And the rest is just... I think they call it a 'mood board' online. Just images that make me think of weddings or you," which explained why it was half vehicles and half rustic outdoor restaurant photos. Dark wood, fairy lights, flowers, draped fabric. Like a fancied up version of a patio party at night. "I have no idea if I did it right, but," she shrugged her shoulders, turned to look at him.

Duo got up, grabbed his cooling coffee, and followed after her. He couldn't help glancing at that other board, but did his best to focus more on the one they were talking about.

He listened and he took it all in, followed where she pointed and saved his questions for when she was done. And when she was, she looked at him. He near grinned at that look. "Just a few questions... What's with the x's on those dresses?" He reached out and tapped the word 'red'. "And this? That mean you wanna wear red? That's traditional for chinese weddings, right? I don't mind going that route if that's what you want." He thought he looked just as good in red as he did black. "But if you don't mind, I'll skip wearing a proper wedding dress. You totally can though." He was teasing here, but soon moved his attention to the 'mood board' with a softer kind of smile. "I like this... I think you did it exactly right, Wufei."

She hummed in agreement as he joined her, shifting closer to him as he looked it over. "It's just the shoes. I am not wearing heels. Ever. Sally convinced me to try them once and I sprained my ankle so badly I was riding a desk for two weeks," she replied with a shake of her head. "And yes, I'd like to find a red dress, if I can. If I can't find anything I like in red, I'll also look at white," and then laughed at his little joke, folding her arms over her chest. "Well, you have it easy. You just have to find a nice suit in whatever color you choose. Most of the magazines show men in black or navy suits, but that seems like more of a suggestion than a rule -- I think every color in the rainbow as accounted for in the magazines I looked at."

She blushed when he told her she'd done it right, and smiled warmly. "I've never planned a party before, but it seemed appropriately intimate."

"Then no heels for you." Spraining her ankle on her wedding day just wouldn't be cool. "You can wear sneakers or boots or whatever the hell you want. Barefoot even." It honestly didn't bother Duo. It would be their wedding and they could do whatever they wanted with it. Or wear whatever the hell they wanted. But... at the same time. "I think I'd like a fusion. I won't lie, I looked up some traditional Chinese wedding stuff and you guys are way fancier. So if you think we could take the best of both worlds and make it our own... I'd be game." Because lets face it, Duo wasn't the most traditional guy. And he wasn't exactly Christian either. He didn't believe in God. Kind of hated churches a little, or maybe it was a little leftover trauma from his youth.

"Just need to find somewhere like that..." Duo looked at the board thoughtfully for a long while. "I wonder what kinda venues look like that? We could look em up one day? Somewhere rural, out in nature..."

She laughed softly at the idea of wearing sneakers. "I was thinking red slippers, like the black ones I wore during the war," she suggested lightly, and nodded in agreement. "There's a good tailor in Chinatown, we can go have a look this weekend, if you'd like. Try on some off-the-rack shirts, make sure they're comfortable enough. I'm not sure if it was the binding or the silk, but they always felt much too hot for my liking when I've worn them for formal events," and then she made a face. "Which reminds me, I need to go buy some cocktail dresses at some point. There are a lot of fancy parties that I'm expected to blend in at." As if she didn't always stick out like a sore thumb from her posture alone.

"A farm, probably," she suggested. "Apparently barn weddings are trendy, so I'm sure there'd be a farm or a campgrounds outside the city that would have something that would work."

"Y'know, I always wanted to ask, those couldn't have been comfy." Duo laughed. "Maybe as everyday wear, but for walking over debris and dead bodies I'd have thought they'd be too flimsy? But sure, we can go check out your tailor and see if they can do something for me." He'd never actually been to a tailor before. Had only ever seen them in movies and on tv, so this would be interesting.

He gave her a bit of a side-eye then. "Am I expected to go to these fancy parties?"

And oh... Oh a farm? Duo's eyes may have lit up a touch at this. He hadn't considered that. He'd been thinking that maybe they'd have to call on Quatre after all and see if he knew any little country manors nearby who would be willing to play host to a simple, intimate wedding. "Yeah... Lets go with that."

"My feet have very heavy callouses from my training, so it didn't bother me very often," she replied lightly. "They were quite thin, but that was so I'd be able to feel the ground through them. With thick soles it's more difficult to tell how likely the ground is to give beneath you, especially on something as unsteady as rubble." She nodded when he agreed to go to the tailor, and laughed at his follow-up question.

"Well, I'm sure you can talk your way out of most of them, but you'll probably be strong-armed into coming to anything I'm forced to go to where I'm not working security. Which means mostly fundraisers, with the consolation prize of Heero being equally miserable and Quatre running interference for all of us," she smiled, perhaps a little too fondly for something as obnoxious as a high-end party.

She was trying very, very hard to keep asking Quatre for anything wedding-related off the table. The boy was as sweet as spun sugar but he got carried away every time. "You like farms?" she asked with a warm laugh. "Have you ever been to one? We're going to have to take tours of them," and seeing him visiting for the first time sounded downright charming. "Might have to go buy you a hat, just for the occasion," she grinned this time.

Duo wasn't sure what he was expecting in terms of a reply there, but that her feet were as tough as old leather was not what he was expecting. But it would also explain why heels hadn't worked out and done more damage than good. Duo nodded along though, accepting all of that with a laugh and a smile.

Until they came around to the fancy shit. Here he groaned and whined. "Wufeeei... C'mon, man, you can't do this to me! We're not even married yet and you're tellin me that you're planning on torturing me? I never agreed to that!" He was... half joking. If Wufei wanted him to, he'd put up token resistance but he would go and he would smile and be charming and do whatever was needed of him. But his skin would be crawling through the entirety of it. Of all of them, he belonged in places like that the least. He was out-of-place. There was only one rich bastard he could tolerate and that was only because he loved the guy, and they'd been through hell together. Quatre understood.

"Never been. Never had the chance." From whine to happy, Duo couldn't help grin back at her. "A hat? I'll whatever the hell you want if we get the chance to go and look at farms."

She couldn't help laughing at his whine. "If I had known that was a condition of employment, I never would've signed up," she replied, even though it wasn't true. Sure, it was torture, but it was a small price to pay for a job that made her feel like she was still useful. "I won't try to force you to come, but Une certainly will. She likes to parade me around to all the donors. Look what a lovely Gundam Pilot we have on staff, wouldn't it be nice if we could pay him properly," she rolled her eyes.

"But yes, a hat. And we'll tour all of them, even the ones we've ruled out, if you enjoy the first few," she grinned. She could put up with tours of farms for a few weekends if it would make him happy. "We could even book some horseback riding, really get into the farm theme," she suggested lightly. "I've never tried it, myself."

"The there you go! She'll never want me to go!" Duo grinned victoriously. "I was never a lovely Gundam Pilot! She can't put a leash on me. Who can say what I'll do? Maybe I'll start break dancing or the lambada or eat my body weight in shrimp cocktail or... I dunno, something really crass and embarrassing that I'll think about on the night. Gotta take that shit on a case-by-base basis." He gave a serious nod. He would undoubtedly make Une rue the day she ever thought she could parade Duo Maxwell around. Had no one told her that you couldn't take him anywhere?

If that light in his eyes got any brighter it would be blinding. "I've never done that either! You're serious? We could do that? Don't joke, yeah? I don't think my heart could take a joke like that." For dramatic effect he put a hand over his heart and the back of the other to his forehead and 'wobbled' on his feet.

She was laughing now, hard enough that she had to lean on the wall, hand covering some old bastard's face as she did, holding her side with her other hand. "Oh, is that all I have to do? I might just try that, tell her it's your good influence on me," she grinned widely in a way that said there was no way in hell she could drop propriety at such a high-profile event, but oh, the dreams of doing it were sweet. "Maybe I'll finally insult Relena to her face and start an international incident."

Shaking her head at him, she grinned even wider. "You keep that up and I'll book our honeymoon at a dude ranch. They still have those, out in America. You go out into the wilderness for a week, following cows around on horseback and camping under the stars at night eating... I don't know. Baked beans and beaver or something."

Oh, but Wufei. Don't you understand? If you take Duo Maxwell to an event like that, he's going to drag you into his nonsense right along with him. And he'll make it seem like the most reasonable thing at the time. It'll be an adventure!

And she'd pretty much doomed herself now. Her laughing like she was delighted him to no end. He couldn't stop grinning and he knew... that at the first chance he got, he was going to end up doing something completely outrageous. Something that would get the both of them out of going to those things. At least for a while.

"Holy fuck, are you sayin I could play City Slickers?" Duo stopped trying to swoon in favour of grabbing Wufei by her shoulders. "They still do that? Where the hell do I sign up?!"

She was laughing so hard, she was crying. "I don't even know what city slickers is," she replied, curling her arms around him. "But I'll find out, and I'll book it for us," she promised with a wide grin. She loved going out into nature, the freedom to just be herself with no pressure to do or be anything other than what she was. How could she say no to doing something she knew she would enjoy, with Duo so excited about it, too?

What little doubt she had left about their little arrangement evaporated, and without even thinking about it, she leaned in to kiss him again.

"It's only the best movie! I'm getting it and we're watching it. Hope you don't have plans tomorrow, Wu!" He laughed and, as arms went around him, he wrapped his own around her shoulders and laughed right along with her. It was good. Her laugher made him feel really damn good about himself. And yeah he was pretty excited too. He'd watched a few westerns in his time. They weren't his favourite kind of movie, he leaned more toward the action-comedy genera. But they were good and thrilling in their own way.

And now he got to live the dream and find 'that one thing', and herd some cattle and... yes, he was really excited. Duo would be on hand to help Wufei every step of the way on this impromptu vacation.

He was going to ask more, dive into some of the story of City Slickers, but before he could, the mood changed subtly. Wufei moved, her body shifted against him and she leaned in toward him. Duo realised what was happening quickly enough, and had only seconds to react. Did he let it happen? Trust Wufei knew what she was doing and let her? Did he take the choice away from her and turn the tide of the kiss, from lips to cheek, or even forehead? Should he pull away and laugh it off, pretend it wasn't a thing that almost happened? Did Wufei even know what she was doing...? What kind of fire she was playing with? Just how fragile his heart was? Could he handle it? Duo had tried to convince himself that he was strong enough, that he could do this without it hurting him too much. But... could he?

He'd soon see.

Duo didn't move much. He didn't back off. His eyes half closed, his smile softened. If Wufei wanted to kiss him, he would let her. He would kiss her back. But in this... she was the lead. He would not do anything that would make her feel like she had no choice in the matter. He just couldn't.

It was a soft kiss, soft and sweet and full of all the things she was feeling just then. The warmth and the happiness and, above all else, the way he felt so safe, like nothing bad could touch her if she just stayed close enough to him.

She sighed softly when she pulled back, blush on her cheeks as she did. "I'll watch it a dozen times if you want me to," she replied softly, giving him a little squeeze. "I like seeing you this happy," and to know it came from an idea she'd had? But then she remembered, and groaned softly. "We'll have to watch it on the plane. We've got an early flight to Dubai tomorrow, did I text you with the time? It's early, but if we take any of the others we'd arrive in the middle of the night." Or they'd be stuck in jump seats for seven hours if they took a non-commercial flight with Preventers or Sweepers, if they even had something heading that way tomorrow.

Duo returned the kiss as promised. He was gentle, his hold on her light and secure. One arm had dropped to link around her waist loosely while the other stayed across her shoulders.

He let her be the one to break it. His own cheeks were warmer than before, but he was still able to smile and then shake his head. "We can watch it any time. I'd forgotten we were heading out yo see Quat, so let's leave the movie night till when we get back, huh? Give us something to look forward to." And unwind with. He had a feeling that they might end up coming back with a little extra stress if they weren't careful.

She hummed happily, lingering in that moment, with the way he was holding her, and just enjoying it for a little while. "That sounds nice. And we can buy liquor in duty-free if things go badly. A good movie and getting drunk sounds like a good way to unwind, but we probably should try to get at least a little sleep.

Reluctantly, she pulled away, turning to the long wall and reaching up to start ripping everything down, stuffing it into her kitchen trash bit by bit. Something cathartic to hopefully help keep the nightmares at bay. And that paper, with Treize's name on it? She pulled it off and ripped it up into the smallest pieces she could manage before dumping it in with the rest.

She didn't think about it as she worked, but down near the baseboard, at the far end of the massive diagram, there had been two papers with hand-written options. One was 'Death'. Another was 'Death -- fake'.

"Hah I like it. Cheap booze and a good movie. This is a plan I can get behind." He laughed lightly, smiling down at Wufei until she finally pulled away from him. And he let her, dropping his arms so she could move away. They immediately felt a little colder, but he didn't pay it any mind. Instead he just watched what she did next.

If course he didn't stop her. This was clearly something she needed to do and Duo stayed close by and let her get it out of her system. He watched and followed the trail down... And he saw those two pieces of paper at the bottom. Seeing them made that cold feeling reach into his heart.

Were those actually options she had considered?

He didn't think with his next move. Duo stepped forward, he reached out to lightly touch her arm, letting her know he was there, before he hooked her with the other and pulled her back against his chest. Then he hugged her. "Wu..." He started and had to stop to clear his throat. Did it sound a little rough? Damn. Fix that quick. "You wouldn't have... Would you?"

She glanced up when he touched her arm, blinking as she found himself in his arms. There was no tension, only a little confusion as she leaned into the embrace, gaze drifting over what was left of her decision board as he spoke. It took a few seconds, but when she realized... she let out a soft sigh, leaning against him a little more.

"It's always an option for us," she replied quietly, laying her arms over his to return the hug as much as she could. "I tried to, once. Right after Libra was destroyed I activated the self-detonation sequence, but Master O had removed it during the upgrades. It took me six months to wire it back in." And by then her intense desire for it all to be over had passed. "But over this? No, I wouldn't have. I would sooner tell the elders that I'd been..." she couldn't get the word out, but she was sure he could piece it together.

"It used to, sure..." But now?

His arms tightened at the mention of her having tried to before. When it was explained, Duo went a little pale. His head lowered to press against her shoulder.

He hated those thrice damned self-destruct buttons. And yes, he'd tried it himself when he believed that it was his last option, but had failed in that. And he was glad it had failed. He wouldn't have seen the end of the war, of the peace they had arrived for, if he had died.

"Wu..." He wanted to say something but the words just wouldn't come. He wanted to ask if that even mattered. Was her being a virgin or not really that big of a deal, or would it be how she lost it that would be the big deal? Either way the Elders needed to get the duck out of her head. "... It doesn't matter now. They don't need to know a damn thing. That can leave you the hell alone."

"It's been a very long time since I've wanted to die," she said softly, squeezing his arms gently and closing her eyes. "It's just... it's always been an option. I had to look at all of them, even the ones I knew I wouldn't take. And you're right, the elders don't need to know, and they won't. Many things were taken from me that day, but I get to choose who knows, how widely it's shared." And that, that had been a comfort. To hold it as a secret, to know that it wasn't something people would think about when looking at her.

She could just imagine the things people would think, and that alone had her heart rate spiking. "Duo," she said softly. "Talk to me about that truck. What did you say you'd done to the engine again?" She needed a distraction, badly.

Duo didn't mention the truck though. Again he moved on instinct. Hearing her voice he felt he had no choice. So he turned her within his arms to face him. When he did he held her close again with one arm, the other lifted to gently cup her cheek. And there he kissed her other cheek.

"I want a house." He said then, quietly. "This apartment is fine for now. But I want us to get a house. A real one. With a garden where you can plant flowers. With a garage so I can make a mess with engines and you scold me for tracking on oil. I want a big kitchen. One where we can cook meals together." With each want he punctured it with a soft kiss to her cheek, then to the corner of her lips. "Maybe one day we can even get a dog? Take it out on hikes with us. We'll do that more often. Every other weekend, just take that time for us." Duo pulled away then, eyes shining, a gentle smile on his lips. "Whatcha think?"

She moved with him, closing her eyes as she leaned into the kiss, focusing on his words. On the picture he painted for her, of what their future would look like, and she couldn't help smiling as he kissed her. She imagined it; A house, a picket fence, a garden and a big kitchen and... she opened her eyes, nodding as she met his gaze. "That sounds like heaven," she replied softly. "With a little picket fence, and our very own patio to throw parties on in the summers. Maybe I'll try my hand at growing wisteria, have it crawl over a trellis tunnel in the back, so the whole place just feels like a magical other-world, where we can enjoy the peace we worked so hard for."

It was exactly what she'd needed, and he'd just... known. She slid her hands onto his cheeks, leaned in to kiss him again, chaste and sweet. "Thank you."

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