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

She was already drowsy, smiling when he came into the bedroom and nodded her head. "Alarms are all set, don't worry that they're a little late, we're skipping the security line," she stretched herself out with a contented sigh. "One of the few perks of having a badge. The only downside is that if anyone on the flight makes trouble, I get to deal with it," but that was a small price to pay, and it's not like she'd refrain from stepping in even if no one knew she was law enforcement.

After tying the end of his hair, Duo hit the light switch and moved toward the other side of the bed. There was only the smallest moment of uncertainty before he pulled the blanket back and slipped under and into the bed.

"The hell're you talking about, Wu? Don't say stuff like that. You're just askin for trouble! Just get some sleep, we'll deal with tomorrow when it gets here." And the flight would be fine. Nothing would happen. And if it did, if anyone tried to make trouble, he'd punch them in the damn throat. Simple.

She chuckled warmly. "I don't know, the last time I tried to convince myself it would be smooth sailing and I ended up diffusing a bomb," she yawned. "I'll take a drunken idiot over a terrorist any day. Night," she sounded half asleep already, and really was. Between the sparring and the emotional upheaval of the day, she was exhausted. Add a little incense and a melatonin tablet, and she was dropping off to sleep quickly. Having a warm body next to her, a man that she trusted with her life? That only helped.

There were nightmares, of course, but that was pretty normal these days, and she slept through them for the most part, until the last one hit just twenty minutes before their alarm. It had her waking with a gasp, body tense and sweaty, mind scrambling to figure out where she was, if she was safe.

He really hoped there were no bombs or terrorists on their flight. He just wanted a nice, easy time without incident. But knowing his luck... how could it possibly end up a simple flight?

Duo fell asleep beside Wufei with a smile upon his lips, and remained asleep until Wufei shot up beside him. His mind still hazy with sleep, he still managed to ease himself up beside her and called out to her. "Wu? Wufei, are you..." He rubbed his eyes with one hand and reached out to lightly touch her arm with the other. "You alright?"

She jolted slightly when he spoke, but reached out to meet his hand with her own. "I'm okay," she agreed, glancing over at the clock. "Just a nightmare. Go back to sleep if you can, we still have twenty minutes," she knew she wouldn't be getting back to sleep, herself, but she laid back down anyway, rubbing her free hand over her face and settling on her side to face him.

There was no way he was going back to sleep now. But he laid down when she did and sleepily moved his arm lower so he could pull Wufei in closer, just holding her and slowly rubbing circles upon her back. "You wanna talk about it?" He asked even as his eyes fell closed. Not sleeping, just not fully awake yet. "Or just cuddle and forget it until the alarm goes off and we're forced to get up?"

She hummed softly, shifting in closer when he pulled her, settling her cheek against his chest with a little smile. "It wasn't too bad," she murmured softly. "Just stuck in a cell, back during the war. Trying to find a way out and panicking when I started hearing his footsteps." They'd been distinct. Different shoe leather, a longer stride and more confident gait. A man who knew what he wanted. She swallowed hard. "These days it tends to end when the door opens." Which was a fucking blessing if ever she'd received one.

He shifted more onto his back to let Wufei tuck herself into his side and changed from slow circles to just running up and down her back as she spoke.

"Glad it ends there." Duo replied quietly. "But yeah, as far as nightmares go, not too bad." While they'd both had different life experiences, they each had a whole catalogue of nightmare fuel that could ruin a perfectly good night. Trapped in a cell tended to be at the bottom of the list. Though the impending appearance of a monster did rank it a bit higher. It was just lucky the monster never reached the cell. "... I'm sorry you had to think about that yesterday. You never have to think about him again, Wu."

"Me, too," she said softly, smiling a little as she looped an arm over his chest, letting her fingers slide along his shoulder lazily. It was weirdly comfortable, just snuggling like this, even with the awful subject matter.

She sighed heavily when he said she didn't have to think about him anymore. "I do, though. If I want to really heal from what he did to me, I have to stop hiding from it and face it down. I'll never be who I was before, but I can be... a better version of myself." God, she was even talking like her goddamn therapist now. She wrinkled her nose a little. "She's a trauma specialist, at least, so this is right up her alley."

"Bastard shouldn't get to live in anyone's memory..." Duo muttered, a hint of anger in his voice. Anger that faded with a sigh a moment later. "... You actually get something from those guys? I tried once... Accidentally went into my 'God of Death' spiel and I swear I saw him sizing me up for a straitjacket." And so he'd never gone back. Admittedly it was probably his own fault in going at the guy with the full force of his crazy, but he'd figured better to get the worst out and show the guy what he was in for than blitz him later with it.

"Either way. He can't hurt you anymore... Not with me around. I won't let him." And yes, he knew that the bastard was dead, and thank the gods for that, but he'd still kick his ass if he was able.

She laughed at that. "Well, it helps that this one has the clearance to read my file, so she knows a lot of the things we had to deal with during the war. Une made it a condition of my employment, so for a while I was being stubborn as usual, but... once I finally gave it a try, it helped. A lot more than I expected it to," she agreed, and pressed a kiss to his chest. "And I know he can't. He's long gone and we're here, dancing on his filthy little grave. I got real drunk once, a few months after being recruited. Took a sledgehammer to the headstone." And paid to have it replaced, to avoid worse consequences, but Duo didn't need to know that part.

"Guess that's where I went wrong. I just went to some guy. Might have ended up giving him nightmares..." Sometimes Duo felt bad about that, but it had been right after the war and he'd not known any better. Maybe. It didn't much matter, the past was past and he was glad that Wufei was getting the help she needed. It sounded like her therapist was good for her. So she really hoped that she'd find a way to dispel that bastards ghost from Wufei's mind. Or at least come to terms with it...

He smiled when he was kissed, laughing softly under his breath. He kept on rubbing her back.

"... I've never been more proud of you in my life. Hope you pissed on it too. Salted the bones." Because lets face it... Duo was having some serious thoughts to going to that bastards gravesite and blowing the damn thing up. He could do it. And get away with it. Wouldn't leave a single trace behind because there'd be nothing left. Not even dust.

"Well, if you want to try again, Dr. Li comes very highly recommended," she replied with a laugh, and grinned at his reply about the headstone. "Nah, I didn't feel like getting myself messy, and I was too drunk to manage pissing on his grave without pissing on myself, too," but the thought had certainly crossed her mind. "Une made me replace the headstone under threat of criminal charges, but I can't hold that against her too much. Mariemaia needs a place to connect with her ancestors, and there's no sense making her suffer for what he did. Poor girl has it hard enough, being both a Khushrenada and a Barton. Somehow she's got the disposition of neither."

Look at that personal growth! Duo didn't even roll his eyes when Mariemaia was mentioned. It helped his eyes were closed, but that's not important. The important thing was that he didn't show mockery of those words. No snort, grunt or scoff. No eye roll or derogatory comment. He'd worked out that Wufei was on good terms with the child so he'd keep his mouth shut about his opinions on both her and Une. He could do that.

... Maybe he did need therapy?

"Hey, so what time's that flight?" Smooth, Maxwell. Totally smooth transition from one subject to another. But it was an important question. His next would be whether he'd have enough time for a shower before they headed out.

It had taken her quite a while to get out of the eyerolling phase, too. She hummed at the question. "Six. Alarm's set for four. If you don't wash your hair we'll both have time to shower," and considering she had woken up sweaty, she needed one. "We can either grab breakfast on the way or I can attempt to not burn eggs again while you're showering," she offered.

Duo did open his eyes then and looked down at Wufei with a raised brow. "How long do you think it takes me to wash my hair? You don't think I've had this long enough to get it down to a fine art?" He huffed, lifting his head in his best estimation of sticking his nose up in the air. It didn't suit him, but he wasn't being serious either.

Soon he was laughing. "If you let me get one first, I can be done in 15 minutes or less. I'll sort my hair out while you're getting a shower." The longest time needed on his hair was to dry it, but he wasn't too bothered by that. He'd just loosely braid it and brush it out again once they were on the flight.

She shrugged her shoulders, smiling a little. "I make no assumptions. You keep it so nice, I figured you must put a lot of effort into it," and laughed when he stuck his nose up, slowly starting to pull away, because she knew damn well the alarm was about to start going off.

"Then get one first, and I'll... figure out something for breakfast. Hopefully without burning it. There's a reason my breakfast is usually just coffee," she sighed, and reached over just in time to shut the alarm off on its first buzz.

"Not as much as you'd think. I'd say it was genetics but..." How the hell would he know, he had no idea who his parents were.

When Wufei moved he sat himself up as well. Yawning he rolled his ass out of the bed and stretched. "Just coffee is fine. Don't usually have more than toast for breakfast anyway." If he had anything at all. Coffee was usually good enough to keep him going. It was technically food, right? Beans were food. Duo promised he'd be back within those 15 minutes and took himself to get a shower.

And he really was quick. Hair washed, the rest of him washed, it helped that the shampoo he used was both shampoo and conditioner to make it easier. A quick brush of his teeth and he left the bathroom towelling his hair dry. He wore jeans but no shirt and nothing on his feet either, he'd wait until he'd dried his hair enough otherwise his shirt would get wet and he hated that.

"Bathroom's free." Duo called on entering the living room and leaned over the back of the sofa to reach into his bag for his brush.

Wufei got a pot of coffee going while he was in the shower, and since he'd mentioned toast... there was some freshly burnt toast on the stove, and another set of slices in the toaster on her second attempt. "I don't know why this damn thing never works right," she sighed. It was a very, very fancy toaster, with all kinds of buttons and settings, but seemed only capable of producing burnt toast.

A housewarming gift from Quatre, no doubt, and the bane of her existence. "Well. I guess if you want toast you'll have to fight this thing for it," she nudged the toaster as two crisply burnt slices popped out. "The coffee is good, at least. I won't be long," and she stepped into the dining room, which gave her a clear line of sight to the living room and Duo and... don't mind her, just scraping what was left of her brain off the floor and scampering off to the bathroom before he could catch her staring.

"I'll have a look at it." Duo replied distractedly. He'd sat down on the sofa to continue drying his hair but as Wufei left the kitchen he'd just started brushing it out. So he missed the look, and the scamper, but probably would have laughed if he had.

After brushing out his hair and braiding it loosely, he went to check out the toaster and made himself something that wasn't quite charcoal. And that's where Wufei would find him. Leaning back against the counter, braid slung over his shoulder, munching toast and gazing out of the window, lost in thought.

She returned another ten minutes later, hair bound into two pigtails, and wearing what could best be described as a sundress and the leather jacket from the night before as she made her way into the kitchen, bare feet hardly making a sound as she peered at the toast he'd managed to coax out of the thing, snagging a slice and biting off the corner with an approving hum. "It tastes like it was bread at some point in its life," she said lightly. "You gonna put a shirt on, or do you plan to beat the ladies off with a stick at the airport?"

Duo pulled his attention away from a bird on a lamppost outside and over to Wufei with a raised brow. "Why? Jealous?" he grinned, finished his toast and moved around her to his bag on the sofa.

"You look pretty good in a dress. Which is still kinda weird to think about." He laughed, reached into his bag and pulled out a black shirt to put on. Then socks. He sat down to put those on. "You all packed then?"

"Well, I suppose I could settle for smugly hanging off your arm," she replied lightly, draining the last of the coffee from her mug before heading for the door.

She slid on her black slippers and grabbed a tote bag from the laundry room, swinging it over her shoulder. "Packed and ready to go. Cab should be here in a couple minutes. I don't pay for parking if I can avoid it," and since they were staying a few days, the cab ride was a lot cheaper. "Quatre's putting us up, but I have a hotel picked out if he gets stifling."

Couple minutes? "Hold on!" Duo ran back to the bathroom to grab the things he'd left and hurried back to shove them and his brush back into his pack. He shoved his arms into his jacket and his feet into his boots, then grabbed his pack and headed for the door.

"Lets go!" He'd not realised he was leaving his truck there, but it made sense. And at the mention of Quatre, Duo looked over his shoulder and grinned. "Leave him to me. I'll run interference there. He won't bother you unless you wanna be bothered." A pause. "... Did you ever call him about the new you?" Had he asked, Duo wasn't sure if he did. And while rocking up to Quatre's door with Wufei in drag beside him would be the funniest thing ever, it might have been an idea to give him a heads up.

She had, perhaps wrongly, assumed he still kept a go bag ready at all times, like she and Heero did, so when he bounded off to the bathroom she was left blinking after him. And nibbling more of that toast, since it was there.

She followed him out, the few remains of her toast joining the burnt pucks formerly known as bread in her trash can. "I'm not sure if you're under-estimating him or over-estimating yourself, but Quatre's middle name is bother," she announced dryly into his pause. She shook her head at the question, following Duo out to the cab. "I did not, but he may have heard it through the grapevine already. My being female is a bit more political than it should be, and he's heavily entrenched in politics these days, but I did bring lipstick and mascara for dramatic effect," she teased with a little grin. "And maybe because I've always wanted to try them out." She'd been too busy training in her youth, and after the war, well. She'd been a man.

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