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bambi-kinos · 9 months ago

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After reading your view on John's treatment of Paul, I have to ask if you also have thougts on what happend between George and Paul during and after post Beatles. We know how they both treated him as the younger brother and how he tought they were to busy being John and Paul so they failed to see him though other artist saw him etc. We can also understand how he back away from John and Yoko. But what was his problems with Paul? Paul played on more George-Beatle songs than John did and George even played on John's solo record but said he would never play in a band with Paul again. Because there still seem to that he had another issue with Paul and there still seem to be tensions between them during the Anthology. Did Paul really deserved to be treated like that by both John and George. George went on a lot about his faith and spiritual seaching but not really lived up to it all the time. He played a lot about how unhappy he was in the Beatles and being famous buthe lived large with his cars and big house etc. I'm not defending Paul, well I do, but they both treated him so badly. Why, do you have any more ideas about that. Or what other artists, like ex Wings members etc who also complained about Paul's ways. I only ever see it as jealousy.

Legit had no idea how to answer this as George's dynamic with the rest of the band is opaque to me. I put the question to the McLennon server and they provided some very good answers, they have given me permission to copypaste it all here. I hope this helps Anon.

Note: I let the others talk and then I used Discord's "reply" function liberally to @ the different paragraphs. For tumblr I have rearranged the posts so that they read in order as full conversations instead of the weird mishmash that Discord produces. When you see weird timestamps, that is why.

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Leggy「IT'S A GUNDAM 」 — Yesterday at 11:00 AM received an interesting ask from an anon, its very long so i'm just copy pasting

ask

What do we think of this? my take is basically that George resented Paul because he replaced George with John and their relationship never recovered, which snowballed into these bigger issues about George's contributions to the Beatles and his growth as an artist.

I think it was amoralto who pointed out that Paul was safer for George to attack because Paul would forgive him whereas with John that wasn't the case. and yet George was able to cut John off later so what gives?

LocalGoblin — Yesterday at 1:43 PM I think there's a lot to this dynamic that we're not privvy too. What we do know, however, are things like how during the white album sessions, Paul was constantly undermining George's suggestions. I think it was George Martin who said that. We can even see it a bit in Get Back.

On top of that, even to this day, Paul calls George his little brother in interviews. He has always viewed George as the little kid of the group and that would feel incredibly patronising and demoralising. Paul is a lot more wired that John, and I think that personality trait is just something that George stuggles with. John is the 'cool/fun parent'.

I know John also viewed George as the little kid. And I think this hurt George less because 1. John WAS that older kid/parental figure for so long. 2. You can't take what John was as seriously because he changes his mind day-to-day. 3. I think George honestly (probably) secretly respected Paul's opinion more. So Paul's remarks hurt more.

John = The deadbeat Disney dad. Paul = The more serious and caring/overbearing parent You can see how he would grow to resent Paul more. And I think he also blamed Paul for the breakup too. Or at least, how messy all of that was and all the horrible legal issues that came with it

Leggy「IT'S A GUNDAM 」 — Yesterday at 2:06 PM this one hurts. oof. when I read about the break up in excerpts I get the feeling that George thought Paul's problem was the money and the business decisions and he didn't consider (or didn't want to consider) what was driving it emotionally….after all he felt like Paul didn't consider his feelings 😬

LocalGoblin — Yesterday at 1:52 PM Anthology is interesting though. I really think George's attitude in that it partly because he needed to do it. He needed the money. I don't think he really wanted to do it. It was Paul's baby, and he also resented him for that. Hated Paul for being more comfortable financially too. Paul didn't need to do anthology. George did.

Leggy「IT'S A GUNDAM 」 — Yesterday at 1:53 PM genius, you're absolutely right

Leggy「IT'S A GUNDAM 」 — Yesterday at 2:08 PM this was also around the time that Paul's sweet new deal with Capitol became a thing, i think, because Capitol offered like a significant profit increase for Paul on Beatles royalties if he signed his next few solo albums with them. That caused a lot of upset with George and Ringo iirc, so damn :(

LocalGoblin — Yesterday at 1:55 PM (Also, Paul in a few interviews, has said that he was on good terms with John when he died - UNLIKE George. Almost rubbing it in George's face. I know he doesn't mean it. But I would be incredibly upset by that in George's position. To be constantly reminded of that.)

I think its funny that Paul is viewed as the PR savvy Beatles cause he puts his foot in his mouth all the time haha That actually might be why he's more reserved in interviews now. Sticking to a script… Who knows!

Leggy「IT'S A GUNDAM 」 — Yesterday at 2:19 PM Ha, god, probably. Paul has his moments, there's a good 80s interview where he bemoaned Frank Sinatra attributing a George song to maccalennon, but he doesn't seem to have been humbled until the Heather Mills circus.

vanessaaa0388 — Yesterday at 1:57 PM In one of the AKOM podcasts they mentioned a George quote about how he was the closest beatle to John back when it was only them 2 taking LSD… it's my personal theory than in those months he almost felt like he was finally taking over Paul's spot in John's life…I dunno, I get very competitive vibes from George. In his mind he was competing for John with Paul. At least in certain points. And I think John took advantage of that.

Leggy「IT'S A GUNDAM 」 — Yesterday at 2:20 PM Absolutely. Reminds me of, ha, Paul when he said that John was their personal Elvis. They all wanted his attention and approval. I also wonder if George was seeking a mentor somewhere and if he thought John was it since they dropped together.

vanessaaa0388 — Yesterday at 2:01 PM It's very complex, the Paul-George dynamic

Leggy「IT'S A GUNDAM 」 — Yesterday at 2:02 PM Paul is the one who's always looking for a "project" and can't turn off, being with him must have been exhausting and then you add being talked down to all the time. whereas John can be fun and turn himself off and then maybe the sting of being talked down to isn't so bad. And like we saw in Get Back when John said "we need George Harrison" because he realized George was looking for reassurance, so he could also build George up when he felt like he should.

I guess with John its more like "lots of fun with a few pointed barbs thrown in" whereas with Paul he's steamrollering you constantly and will only occasionally throw in a compliment.

maybe since Paul is more consistent, it meant more to earn his respect? or something like that, like Vanessa pointed out George was competitive for John's approval and attention.

Leggy「IT'S A GUNDAM 」 — Yesterday at 2:12 PM there's this consistent theme with George and Paul where Paul's closeness with John seems to really hurt and damage George. And its not like he could let it go easily either because Paul was also his teammate, not just John's. It was a quad act, not a double.

I think George said that being outside Lennon/Mccartney meant observing Beatlemania as a fan instead of as a bandmate. So he's getting all the trouble but very few of the benefits. And then there's the royalty issues on top of that.

Like, Paul was George's friend first, but then Paul pulped that friendship pretty much immediately when he saw John and never felt like he should do anything to fix it. And then George gets pulled into Beatlemania and then there's money problems and then Brian died.

Brian was George's big advocate I noticed, setting up a newspaper column in George's name (ghostwritten by someone else) because he wanted George to be his own brand outside the Beatles and maccalennon, so when he died a lot of that probably went down the drain too.

Leggy「IT'S A GUNDAM 」 — Yesterday at 2:23 PM George seems to have been very lonely in the Beatles but due to all this:

I guess it was easier to shift some blame onto Paul. A lot of George's spiritual journey appears to be about wanting to escape like when he sings about wanting to see God but being frustrated at how long it will take him. Its real but it also seems like he was pretty weary of life by his mid20s.

LocalGoblin — Yesterday at 2:40 PM Yeah, you're so right. John was also the other Beatle who was more spiritually inclined. He was the only one besides George who was fully committed to the India trip. (At least for a time.) This was probably something they bonded over too.

There's also that quote… I can't remember what interview it's from. But George was asked what it was like being a Beatle and he says he doesn't really know. He always felt like he was on the outside looking in on Lennon/McCartney. It must've felt like a very lonely place.

vanessaaa0388 — Yesterday at 2:40 PM I'm fascinated by J&P but I give George a lot of credit for putting up with them both for so long. I would've cut them out of my life so fast 😂

Leggy「IT'S A GUNDAM 」 — Yesterday at 4:05 PM honestly they ruined George's life in some ways!

#mclennon server #beatles meta #my meta #john lennon #paul mccartney #george harrison #the beatles #talktalktalk

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untitledtallgeesepodcast · 3 years ago

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[TRANSCRIPT] EPISODE 10: DESTABILIZING THE MECHA-WIFE DICHOTOMY

Cathy 00:00

[midi version of Just Wild Beat Communication plays, fading as Cathy speaks over it]

Cathy 00:03

Hello and welcome to another episode of Untitled Tallgeese Podcast. I am this episode's host Cathy and I am joined by my lovely co-panelists Kat, Mallory, and Caitlin. Today we will be going over Episode 19, "Attack on Barge" and Episode 20, "Infiltration of the Moonbase." We pick up where we ended with Zechs, who has been found by Howard, whom you may remember as Duo's scrap metal salvager. It turns out that Howard used to be one of the engineers who helped design Tallgeese. Howard offers Zechs a way back into outer space, which Zechs eventually accepts, but not without first posturing in classic 19 year old fashion that the man formerly known as Zechs Merquis is now dead.

Cathy 00:44

Meanwhile, Duo stages an attack on OZ, but his Gundam is beaten by the Taurus mobile dolls, and he himself is captured when his self destruct mechanism doesn't work. His arrest is broadcasted everywhere on the Colony News Network, capturing the attention of Heero, who menacingly implies that all weaknesses must be eliminated. After infiltrating the OZ base where Duo is captured, however, and faced with actually needing to pull the trigger, Heero thinks better of it and breaks them both out by tricking the mobile dolls into believing the OZ's own Leos and spacesuits are the enemies. However, Heero and Duo are sadly forced to leave the damage Deathscythe behind.

Cathy 01:20

Elsewhere, Wufei stages the episodes titular attack on the Barge. He just so happens to intersect with Lady Une, who, in her peaceful ambassador persona, has an elaborate telepathic conversation with Wufei and her second command Nichols about how Outer Space should be reserved for peace. Nichols, frustrated and confused about Une's dueling personas, orders the Barge's beam cannon to shoot at Wufei. It manages the damage Shenlong Gundam marginally, but sacrifices a number of OZ's own soldiers in the process. Wufei, disgusted, uses his triton to light a literal fire under his own ass and flies off.

Cathy 01:55

In the next episode, Heero explains that he must kill the Gundam scientists, who under the thumb of OZ have been ordered to make all new and better mobile suits, the Mercurius and Vayeate. Duo wants to go with him, but injured is forced to remain behind. Speaking of injured Gundams and their pilots, on Earth, Sally Po tries to destroy Sandrock but encounters the Maganac forces who are trying to rescue it for Quatre. After realizing they should form a support group, and that the Maganacs actually have names, Sally Po helps them escape.

Cathy 02:22

OZ has been very busy. For one thing Lady Une submits a proposal for the colonies to form their own nation with one catch: they have to help OZ produce mobile suits and military equipment. Understandably, the colony representatives are wary of this proposition. But Lady Une goes full Treize on them, talking about how fighting is part of the spirit and beauty of mankind. At the same time, OZ has been trying to recruit random amateurs to act as test pilots, only one of those amateurs turns out to be none other than Trowa. As his final test. he's ordered to destroy a damaged site while Duo helplessly watches a broadcast. Because Trowa makes it to the final rounds, he wins a meeting with Lady Une. His barbed accusations that OZ is pretending to be friends with the colonies in order to win them over causes Une to have a mental breakdown. After she recovers, Une escorts Trowa and four other lucky pilots to the Gundam scientists where they meet the new mobile suits, the Veyeate is not actually functional. It reacts seemingly to the presence of Trowa, only to reveal that it's Heero clear snuck aboard. Unfortunately for Heero, Trowa manages flip through the air and get to his own gun faster, arresting Heero on behalf of OZ. And scene.

Caitlin 03:33

Can I just say, that, remember being 19 and thinking, [dramatically] "my former self is dead!" [laughter] and then totally, totally reinventing your look and your life for college. I think that's Zechs in these episodes. [laughter]

Mallory 03:53

Zacks is going away to college

Kat 03:54

To space college!

Caitlin 03:55

You've broken the mask of your like, high school nerdiness and now you're [laughter]

Mallory 04:02

now you're free faced and hot.

Caitlin 04:04

To be you sexy self, yes.

Cathy 04:07

I didn't think of it that way but that is totally true. And Zechs, he plays a surprisingly marginal role in these first, in these two episodes, which is kind of surprising because he'd been really important in the episodes leading up until now. And I didn't really process that until now, where you point out that literally the only thing he does in these two episodes is act like an emo fool and then flies off. [laughter]

Caitlin 04:31

Well he's dead. So he's,

Mallory 04:32

Yeah.

Caitlin 04:33

He's like, in exile because he's dead right now. [laughs] He's, he's like resting.

Mallory 04:38

Yeah, he's like symbolically killed himself.

Kat 04:40

Yeah, and complaining about getting help from Howard. Like, "Ugh, this is so much trouble to just get me to space."

Caitlin 04:46

This is like Genji in the Tale of Genji when he sent off to like, it, be punished in exile for a couple of months, [laughter] whatever. And all he does is like hang out by the seaside and like make a new girlfriend. [laguhter] This is Zechs right now. How, Howard is the girlfriend? [garbled] Serious, Genji in Exile.

Kat 05:07

I'm glad you're bringing this serious analysis here.

Caitlin 05:10

Yeah, this is, this is literature.

Cathy 05:11

I love it. And I'm glad we somehow managed to shovel in Tale of Genji into this because [laughter]

Caitlin 05:16

Uh, this will not be the last time we talked about Tale of Genji, all right?

Cathy 05:20

So, you know, I have to apologize, I know that I am supposed to be host and I've admitted that I don't really have any deep thoughts about episodes 19 and 20 other than I love them, and they're really entertaining. So I guess I'm gonna throw Kat under the bus, one of the things you wanted to talk about is the OZ use of propaganda and kind of information control in these two episodes.

Kat 05:44

Yeah, so we've spent a lot of time as a podcast talking about Lady Une, and the different roles that she takes on. And it's really interesting to see her utilizing the broadcast television that they have going on in the colonies. I'm not sure if it's clear if that's getting broadcast to Earth or not, but she's definitely using it to control the flow of information to the colonists, including when they captured Duo -- deciding whether or not maybe jokingly, to execute him publicly, whether or not he's, he's pretty enough or ugly enough that the colonists would sympathize with him if he was ugly.

Caitlin 06:20

And unfortunately, he's extremely good looking.

Kat 06:23

He's too beautiful, so he must die. And I think it's kind of the culmination of all the control that she's had over their media streams leading up to this episode.

Mallory 06:34

And you also see, like you hear the spin in the broadcasters and what they're saying, which is really interesting, like, they're always like, "these young troopers are vying for a spot with OZ!" You know, like there's a, there's a celebratory kind of tone to all of the newscasts that we are seeing and hearing

Kat 06:55

And we get a lot of plot exposition in those news broadcasts of these episodes, I think a little more, like we've gotten clips and stuff, or they just want to explain something. But I think it kind of leads the plot in these episodes in a way that it doesn't quite do elsewhere.

Caitlin 07:11

One of the things that I think is really interesting about the use of propaganda here is that it comes along with the realization of the split in Lady Une's personality and I think that there is a way in which you can view her split personality as mirroring, or like metaphorically performing the split between OZ's reality and OZ's performance, right? OZ's propaganda image. To a certain extent, it's like she's become like the physical and mental manifestation of the doublethink required to be both the front-facing OZ image of a peaceful colony helper, trying to bring everybody together. And the cutthroat OZ that we know is the reality.

Mallory 07:54

Exactly. She's a hamfisted metaphor for like the cognitive dissonance at the heart of Oz. You know, like this focus and emphasis on niceties and gentility and grace and saving face versus the cutthroat merciless militaristic takeover that OZ and the Romefeller Foundation are actually carrying out. It's like sort of her mental break at this point -- is it signaling a split between these two factions? Like Treize seems like he's at odds with the Romefeller Foundation in some way.

Cathy 08:28

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, at one point in Episode 20, right, when she goes back into her room after she talks to Trowa, she says, something like, "Am I doing this for OZ? Or am I doing this for Treize?" [crosstalk]

Mallory 08:37

Yeah, "Or is my master Treize?"

Caitlin 08:39

I thought, I thought that was very interesting. It also reflects the parts of her that are... So like, her considering, "Do I work for OZ? Or do I work for Treize?" is also, "Aam I doing this work as the harsh and cutthroat colonel?" versus "Am I doing this work as the kind and gentle Lady?" Where like, one of them is the person who works for OZ, and one of them is the person who loves Treize and is just doing this out of duty and affection for him.

Kat 09:09

The episodes are so blatant, and kind of the colony-facing version of her is weaker, like she's stronger in uniform, and it's sort of like this weaker facade that they are putting on to the colonies? But also it's working, so I guess it's a testament to how intensely she's making herself believe in this persona slash, she has to put her entire belief into it for it to work.

Mallory 09:34

For her.

Kat 09:35

For her.

Mallory 09:35

Right, because it's been established that like, part of her character is that she can't, she's a bad liar. So it's almost like she has to make herself believe that what she's doing is good?

Kat 09:46

Yeah.

09:46

In order to promote this soft face OZ

Caitlin 09:50

It's what politicians do, we see it all the time.

Cathy 09:53

To me a really interesting part of this, and I don't think it's explicit. I think this is just me projecting on it, but there seems to be to me like a hollowness or an emptiness about what OZ actually stands for other than wanting power. We just have Treize, right? Like Treize is the entire idealistic "heart" of OZ. And when you remove that from the equation, it's kind of like, what are we even all doing? Like how does, how do any of the powers differ from each other? They really don't. [laughs] They just want power. And so I really find this interesting, trying to grapple with like, what power means or what, what anything stands for, what do ideals mean? and seeing Lady Une like, break down, actually, physically and mentally in a way that was really obvious, felt really like relieving to me, just to be like, that is the thing we all struggle with. And I think, surprisingly, Gundam Wing made a really potent and relevant comment about it. Like, it is just hard to understand what any of us are fighting for, when it comes to big power structures. It doesn't mean anything. We're all meaningless in it.

Mallory 10:57

Yeah especially when, like, the lines that you are being fed by those powers are like vague things about the heart of OZ. And what does that even mean? Like you can't base a belief system on like this vague concept.

Kat 11:12

It's hard to base like a whole governmental structure around the nobility of man's fighting spirit?

Caitlin 11:17

But also that is, this is fascism,

Mallory & Kat & Cathy 11:20

[crosstalk of agreement]

Caitlin 11:20

that you have. It's purely a lust for power. There's, there's a creation of a set of ideals, that -- those ideals only exist to keep people in the existing power structure, and replacing any sort of actual belief with a fixation on one central leader, as Treize has done. It's fascism. It's what we're seeing today, basically. [muttered] Sorry, not not to get political at our Gundam Wing,

Cathy 11:46

Not to get political in our, in our podcast about an anime that is about politics.

Kat 11:50

Well, I was gonna say, I think as a kid, when I watched this, I think I was a little more sympathetic, but in a more simplistic way about Lady Une? And to me, it felt very much like, she suddenly saw that peace could be achieved and realized that her true self was fighting against it and couldn't handle that dichotomy. But now that I know that every politician can just live with 1000 pounds of cognitive dissonance in their head at all times, I don't know if that's really a thing that's going on, like if that was a naive reading of it.

Caitlin 12:23

Yeah, if you, if you recall, from our argument last time, about like, is she, has she already sort of lost herself at that point? Or is she in the process of losing herself, we were sort of, we were sort of split on whether this was an active choice that she'd made, if it was like a deliberate choice to sort of split this part of herself off, or if it just sort of ruptured by mental break. And I think now we sort of see the transition. Whereas like, last, the last few episodes that are lead up to this, I was like, okay, she's deliberately creating this persona, because she knows that she's not really good at this stuff.

Kat 13:00

Right.

Caitlin 13:01

So she's created this other other person. Now she's now she's broken,

Mallory 13:06

It was sort of the ease with which she could do that was a foreshadowing of the cognitive dissonance that would then come back to haunt her, and that we're seeing her sort of pay for now.

Kat 13:18

She seems so assured of herself and like the Lady Une militaristic persona, even though she doubts herself when Treize chastises her, but that's the only time she's not like, do these fucking plans, like I'm telling you to do it, now. And for her to be so unsure of herself in the other persona is really interesting.

Caitlin 13:38

I'm actually kind of sick of her. I feel like this is kind of a hackneyed plot move

Mallory 13:42

Mhmm

Caitlin 13:42

on their part. I don't really buy like split personality as a trope.

Cathy 13:47

Let's move on, let's move on then. Caitlin is sick of her crap. Let us move on to our second point: mobile dolls. So I think there's a lot of really interesting themes in these two episodes about what it means to be a pilot and kind of human intelligence versus robot intelligence. You know, we see this both in the way Heero escapes from the base with Duo. And then also in Episode 20, when we reunite with the Gundam scientists, and their whole point is essentially like, it doesn't matter who's who in the mobile suits. It just matters who the pilot is.

Caitlin 14:21

Yeah, there's a really great moment where the mobile dolls very stupidly kill their own people because they're in the same suit that Heero was wearing. Yeah, they've had their targets switched around, which demonstrates that the mobile dolls are not a great solution to the problems [laughs] of war? I like that, though it's sad that they killed their own guys.

Mallory 14:44

Yeah, I mean, it's like a real surprise that an unmanned machine could be manipulated, you know, hacked.

Kat 14:50

Weird.

Mallory 14:51

Strange.

Cathy 14:52

Totally weird.

Mallory 14:53

Who could have predicted that?

Caitlin 14:55

AI did not solve all of our problems.

Kat 14:57

I like how pissed Nichols -- or possibly not Nichols -- is though when Trowa goes, "it doesn't matter which one is better because the better pilot will win" or whatever. And the OZ soldier flips out because I guess he's bought totally into this too. And they did take down at least one Gundam pilot with the mobile dolls. So like, how dare he even question the idea behind the mobile dolls, even though they brought him in literally to be a good pilot.

Caitlin 15:28

And then you have the whole thing where Heero's in the suit that's supposed to be non functional so it seems like it functions and then Heero -- it's actually Heero, that whole thing. I was sort of thinking of our other big contemporary mobile suit in the room, Evangelion.

Cathy 15:44

Oh god [laughs]

Caitlin 15:45

The, the machine is actually a part of them and it's not really about like pilot skill. It's about sort of a connection that is like, primal and animal. Whereas in Gundam Wing you have a connection with between the pilots and their suits? We sort of see this when Duo flips out about that's like being publicly executed.

Caitlin 15:45

Which came out the same year. The whole, the whole like, thing is that this terrible idea of children piloting a mobile suit only really works if the mobile suit is some sort of like biological and psychological projection of themselves slash their mother.

Cathy 16:04

Yes.

Caitlin 16:07

And with Quatre and the Maganacs, who are like we have to rescue Quatre's Gundam.

Mallory 16:29

Yeah.

Caitlin 16:29

Yeah. But that isn't like, the same thing as a mobile suit can function without the pilot or a mobile suit is something that needs, is an animal that needs control, like an Evangelion.

Cathy 16:39

Although it's interesting because I think in the last four episodes, we have seen examples of this. So for instance, Sandrock, of course, just kind of walks off right without Quatre.

Caitlin 16:51

And he's like, get out of me.

Kat 16:52

Yeah [laughs]

Cathy 16:53

It was kind of like a weird open question as to whether or not Deathscythe, like didn't want to blow up with Duo in it? or if there was actually a failed self destruct mechanism. And they leave that kind of open. Similarily, and I know I called this out in my background when I was summarizing this, I love the way the end of Episode 20 is set up because there is this moment where I was almost wondering if my memories of this episode were incorrect, and that Mercurius and Veyeate really just sort of light up because Trowa is there, right? Like I was just like, oh, are they responding to Trowa? But then it turns out, it's because Heero is there. So there are all these little moments where they're kind of like building in this doubt, like, what are the Gundams? What are mobile suits? How tied, like what is that symbiosis. And I think it is really interesting that it comes out at the same time where Eva kind of like definitively falls one way or another on it, that they kind of just leave that open.

Kat 17:48

Bringing in Tallgeese, this episode too, like Zechs shows up just so we can hear again about Tallgeese and I think his relationship with that mobile suit is very much about his synchronisation with it. Like, it's harder to pilot than all the other ones so they continually talk about how like, you'd have to be a human or like, it gave him a frickin heart attack, because it's so difficult to pilot kind of thing.

Caitlin 18:12

So it does sort of reflect our relationship with machines in real life. I think a lot where you're like, Yes, I am, I am the driver of this car. I don't think this car is able to make its own decisions. I think most of us can agree that AI cars are kind of stupid, the self driving cars.

Kat 18:29

Yeah, thus far.

Mallory 18:31

I mean, I really want one but

Caitlin 18:33

When you think about people's relationship to their cars,

Cathy 18:36

Mmhmm.

Caitlin 18:36

It's an extension of self. And you get people who are who are obsessed with cars, who name their cars who refer to them by female pronouns. You have these really intense relationships with technology that the show plays with a lot even while saying, verbally, It's the pilot that matters, not the machine.

Cathy 18:55

So before we leave Mercurius and Veyeate, I want to say I actually found that really interesting and much more interesting when I saw them this time as I'm older. You know, they're red and blue. So I just want to like put that plug in, you know, there's a very kind of symbiotic relationship between red and blue.

Caitlin 19:12

[gasp]

Cathy 19:13

Just generally

Caitlin 19:13

I ship red/blue. All of my ships are reds and blues. Oh my god!

Cathy 19:18

Like they're, you know, there's a, there's a general kind of fandom-y trope and work trope, literary trope about red and blue. Heero ends up popping out of, I think it's Veyeate, who is the blue one, and the blue one is the one with the really great beam cannon. And then the red one, Mercurius has the shield. So I mean, the one interesting thought I had, like literally the only one thought [laughs] that I in these two episodes is that there's a great Chinese idiom called zìxīang máodùn" (自相矛盾). And máodùn is the Chinese term for sort of being self-contradictory and kind of like unable to go anywhere because you're kind of tying yourself up in knots. And that word in that phrase [Baldwin] actually comes from two separate words [mall], which is a spear or a lance and [twin] which is a shield. And it comes from a really classic story [Ed.'s note: from the Han Feizi] where this merchant is saying he has, you know, the world's best lance and then the world's best shield. And then somebody asked him, "Well, what happens if your lance attacks your shield" and he's unable to answer? [laughter] And so when we say "máodùn" like "oh my god, I'm so máodùn" like, "Oh my god, I'm so you know, I'm tied up in myself in knots, and I can't figure my way out," you know, I'm really confused, I'm really troubled, what we're really saying is, we have an unbreakable shield that goes up against an unstoppable lance.

Cathy 19:37

So I thought, you know, here, there's this moment where it's like, very much implied, they don't make a big deal out of it, but you have Heero and Trowa who I've always in my head kind of put in the same axis, you know, like they are kind of like the same people but on two different ends. And they are representing, they're both undercover in different ways, Heero has actually snuck into the beast, Trowa has gone undercover [laughs] as an amateur pilot for us. They end up kind of repeating this cycle sort of over and over again, throughout the series, and then it comes out in this really obvious reference to having a spear and having a shield. So I thought that was really fun.

Caitlin 21:20

Cathy you're not gonna believe this. It's the same word in Japanese. Oh, is it really? For conflict contradiction? It's mujun (矛盾). So I had to look at the characters of máodùn. But yeah, it's it's mujun in Japanese, which just means contradiction, but it's the same spear and shield, yeah.

Cathy 21:35

There is kind of a wonderfully elemental and like contradictory sense with Veyeate and Mercurius is that I didn't catch on the first time I watched it and just wanted to share with the group.

Kat 21:48

I think that's fascinating to me, because I love the interplay between Heero and Trowa there when Heero drops his gun and he's in the beam cannon. So in that case, shield wins. [laughter] Because I mean, Trowa's on the defensive

Caitlin 22:05

Shield wins!

Caitlin 22:06

You know what else is a dichotomy? [laughing] That is operative in many of these [laughing]

Cathy 22:15

Uh oh.

Mallory 22:18

Seme and uke.

Kat 22:21

Dammit

Cathy 22:21

Dammit. Alright, where's this going? [laughter]

Caitlin 22:24

It's not going anywhere, it ends right there, that's [laughing]

Cathy 22:30

Well, I am going to selfishly move this conversation then to I think I really love which is the whole Heero/Trowa/Duo like trio dynamic that is happening. There's a lot of stuff that is going on between these three people on every leg of this triangle that is happening in Episode 19/20 and I just would love to talk about it.

Mallory 22:53

There's a lot of emotional entanglement going on.

Kat 22:56

So I liked when Trowa sees that Duo is captured and then -- on his Gundam TV -- and is like, "I bet Heero will handle that, it's cool." Like just, just assumes that he's going to take care of that guy.

Mallory 23:10

Well he knows right you know knows that Duo is like Heero's first boyfriend.

Caitlin 23:16

I liked when Duo said, "I don't want anyone else besides you to kill, kill me Heero." And then when Heero's like, "Yeah, I'm actually going to kill you," Duo's like WHAT?

Mallory 23:24

"Why would you do that?" Sad puppy eyes.

Caitlin 23:27

"WHAT? You're really, you're really gonna do it?"

Cathy 23:31

And I love how that is also then followed up by a scene where Trowa is actually forced to shoot Deathscythe and doesn't hesitate.

Caitlin 23:42

That depressed me.

Cathy 23:43

There's like this beautiful like, to me. you know this like, I don't even know what to explain about it. Where like Heero goes with the express intent to kill Duo and then does-- isn't able to do it for one reason or another which is not really, you know, even lingered upon but it is amazing, see, I love that.

Kat 24:00

It's they're, they're in love.

Mallory 24:01

Could, he just couldn't he doesn't know why

Cathy 24:03

He just couldn't and

Caitlin 24:04

He's not good at killing people, actually,

Kat 24:07

He's not good at killing hotties he likes.

Cathy 24:09

What I love specifically is both of these scenes involve a thing where the assault ,the assailant throws away his gun. But in this case, Heero throws a gun at Duo and says "your right hand is okay, right?" being like, you can use this gun.

Caitlin 24:22

Aww

Cathy 24:23

And then in Trowa's thing, he throws away his puny little gun so that he can ask for beam cannon so they can actually destroy Deathscythe. So I, again, I have no idea who wrote this. But like if you read that in a fic, you'd be like hell yeah, this person knows what they're doing.

Mallory 24:39

Oh, yeah.

Cathy 24:40

I just wanted to point that out. I loved it. I ate that up with spoon

Mallory 24:43

The shipping the one true pairing OTP./OT3 energy is real strong in these episodes.

Cathy 24:49

Oh so good

Mallory 24:49

And Kat and I have been watching the dubs and then watching the subs after for each of the two episodes and the delivery of the dub actors versus the sub actors is so different between Duo and Heero that it like really informs the pairing dynamics that you might see in fic.

Kat 25:11

Yeah, watching the dub is like, "Oh, I see." Like, this is exactly fic duo where he's like, you're gonna kill ME? Versus like, "oh, you're really gonna kill me?" Like it's it's so different.

Mallory 25:25

It's it's really different. And like, for me the difference in the delivery of the the exchanges, especially as they're escaping after Heero has rescued Duo is so different. In the dub, Duo and Heero's relationship is more one-sided, like Duo likes Heero and has affection for him, but Heero is still kind of like closed off. But in the sub, I hear more, sort of, we're already in love with each other, but we don't know it yet. Whereas in the dub, this is like, pre we even have feelings for each other. Does that makes sense?

Caitlin 26:00

It's interesting that you do so much deep reading of these inflections when I was just like, the dub acting is not very good. [laughter]

Kat 26:10

Well, I mean, it could definitely be that.

Mallory 26:12

right?

Kat 26:12

But it just, it feels so different. But I guess more in terms of how it might inform fandom reading of the characters.

Mallory 26:21

Yeah,

Kat 26:21

Like watching one or the other. Like I if I watched only one I would have a different view of how those two characters interacted.

Mallory 26:30

Right, the first time I ever watched Gundam Wing and then went and read fanfic, I was I was really confused by the presentation of Duo because in fanfic he's just kind of this like hapless... I don't know sort of like [laughing] not the not smart character [laughs]

Caitlin 26:49

He's a baka!

Kat 26:50

He's a dumb baka.

Caitlin 26:52

That's the term.

Mallory 26:52

Okay, well, I just didn't, didn't want to say it. [laughs]

Caitlin 26:55

Do we, do we need to pull out the vows of not making Duo a baka again?

Cathy 27:02

Nooo we don't

Kat 27:03

Oh my god. Yeah.

Cathy 27:04

We don't we don't need to go to the Society for the Defense of Duo's Intelligence.

Caitlin 27:08

Yes, we need to review our laws of not making Duo a baka.

Kat 27:14

He has read one book. But I mean, he's, he's just not, like he gets overwhelmed by mobile dogs. It's not like he's a moron getting captured and stuff.

Cathy 27:23

I do also want to say that, like he does, he is following this particular like, hurt/comfort trope.

Mallory & Kat 27:31

Yeah/Mmhmm

Cathy 27:32

That I don't know why was so pop-- I don't know if it's still popular now but it was incredibly popular then. And in order for that trope to work, somebody has to constantly like be beat up or like in

Caitlin 27:45

Yes

Cathy 27:45

a state of pain or in a state of peril

Caitlin 27:48

Umm

Cathy 27:48

And unfortunately,

Caitlin 27:50

I think this is definitely still a thing but it's a little bit different now. Whump has evolved I think,

Kat 27:56

Yeah.

Caitlin 27:57

it still exists though.

Kat 27:58

It's not quite the same

Cathy 27:59

And, but it definitely doesn't exist the same way as it used to, which was very explicit and very blunt. And in order to get there you kind of had to put one of the characters kind of in like stupid situations I feel like? and

Kat 28:11

Yeah,

Cathy 28:12

Yeaaaah

Caitlin 28:12

And that was Duo so I,

Cathy 28:14

These days you're not allowed to beat characters up as much. You kind of have to justify it.

Kat 28:19

Yeah, I think also you find fewer authors that are like I'm gonna write 40 fuckin fic and Duo is gonna get his ass kicked in every single one of them.

Cathy 28:28

Yeah (?)

Caitlin 28:29

I don't know though, because if you, when you dive in, in the tags, you can see some really wild things with contemporary fandoms. It's just not the fic that's, that's dominating the like, rec lists or like the circles that

Kat 28:41

Definitely the whump is a lot less dark.

Mallory 28:44

Yeah.

Kat 28:45

Well, good thing Gundam Wing canon provides. Duo gets his ass beat multiple times n canon so... by other pilots, it is great. That's why he's a fave.

Caitlin 28:53

He looks beautiful in these episodes

Kat 28:56

He really does

Caitlin 28:57

When he's like beating up in the cell. When Heero's like, "No, you can't come with me because you're useless." [laughter]

Caitlin 29:03

And he's like, be a little kinder next time.

Cathy 29:06

I love that Heero was just like, well go to school for me. I'm like, are you?

Mallory 29:10

Yeah.

Cathy 29:10

[laughter] What is wrong with you, Duo doesn't look anything like you?

Kat 29:14

Didn't Heero already go to that school? [laughter]

Caitlin 29:16

He made a whole speech

Mallory 29:17

You made a whole speech in front of everybody.

Kat 29:19

"Oh, you're gonna be real popular buddy."

Cathy 29:23

And I kept being like, is that like, I remember this. I really do remember this scene where he's just like, go to school. And like now I'm watching and I'm like, it is just as weird as I remember it. [laughs]

Caitlin 29:33

Wait, wait, wait, you know what the real point of him saying that is so now we know that Duo knows that Heero used his name,

Kat 29:41

Right, yes.

Caitlin 29:41

to enroll in school. So now Duo in our fanfics can think, "oh my god, he used my name, he's obsessed with me."

Kat 29:47

"What a fucking weirdo." [laughter]

Caitlin 29:49

"Maybe he really is in love with me. Blah, blah, blah blah." So that is like, him saying that I think is some sort of like pure fan service where it doesn't really make any sense and it's just to let us know that this character now knows this other character thinks about him.

Cathy 30:04

I completely lost my shit at this episode, I just want to tell you. I was like watching it and losing my shit.

Caitlin 30:10

These are really good episodes. I like fell asleep during them 'cause there's something wrong with me obviously. But they're really good episodes, a lot of stuff happens to the point where I think it's hard for us to think of things to like, really substantive things to say. They're just good action episodes.

Cathy 30:25

So before we move on, one last thing, you know, we had this amazing moment with Sally Po and the Maganacs when they met each other and they're kind of like, "you know, a Gundam pilot? I know Gundam pilot." It was great. I'm glad that we haven't forgotten Sally Po.

Kat 30:43

I'd like that you shouted out the Maganac names because in one of my one of my notes is like, "it's so nice that they have names now."

Caitlin 30:49

They all have names

Cathy 30:51

I love them.

Mallory 30:51

And they have personality. And I like that they're ribbing with each other like, "Oh, Abdul's plans never work the way they're supposed to, ugh."

Caitlin 31:00

Yeah, there's a token fuck up. It's great.

Kat 31:02

Yeah. [laughter]

Cathy 31:05

I really, I mean, I, those are like the little things that I think. I don't know, it just overall, there is a really rich universe in Gundam Wing that I'd forgotten about the first time I watched it. And it was nice to see that there are these moments in the show that there's no reason for anybody to shout out. But the fact that each of the Maganacs had a name. Each of them had a personality.

Kat 31:25

And some style.

Cathy 31:26

Yeah. So we kind of had like a weird hybrid cultural artifact that we wanted to talk about today. Kat you had brought up this video, which is of Super Robot Wars.

Kat 31:39

Yeah.

Cathy 31:40

Which is a part of the Gundam franchise more generally. And then I also just wanted to talk about my experience with Gundam fighting games, but you first.

Kat 31:48

So Super Robot Wars isn't just the Gundam series, but it's most, most of them are produced by Sunrise, but it's like a Bandai Namco Entertainment game. So even Evangelion mecha have shown up in it. But there's a ton of different Gundam characters and robots, like a turn based RPG with different characters mecha and storylines they pull from all different anime series, mostly Gundam.

Caitlin 32:19

Does it give you more information about the Gundam Wing world? Do you get like more details with the characters?

Kat 32:27

Not a ton, sadly. I mean, not for gonna wing. Maybe for other ones. There's like one specific Super Robot Wars, Super Robot Wars W which was for the DS that had Quatre and Duo, and Duo is disguised as Heero Yuy and you have to play a mission to sneak them to Earth. I've watched like YouTubes but Super Robot Wars always felt like one of those canons like side canons that I could never really access as a kid? And now that I could do it, it's sort of like eh. Treize is in it actually, Treize is in Super Robot Wars W also, he's the Federated Earth Nation President.

Cathy 33:08

So I okay, so there there is a running joke I have with my friends and this is kind of rude and I'm really sorry. I do think there is a certain element of like, what I usually associate with kinda Reddit anime fandom, or a certain element of like, and I'm sorry to say this but like "cis male anime fandom on Twitter?" And I call them Dragon Ball versus Naruto fans and those are people [laughter] are always talking about who is stronger, or like who would win in the battle, Naruto vs Goku? And like, to me that is like the least interesting thing about watching either series.

Caitlin 33:43

It's the dumbest shit.

Cathy 33:44

Right? Like I don't give a shit. Like

Kat 33:46

Right, who would smooch who?

Mallory 33:48

Yes,

Cathy 33:48

The reason why I bring this up is like, is I wondering if, if that is what Super Robot Wars is supposed to appeal to? Like? Is there an element where you want to see all of the Gundams from, and all of the like, mecha from the different series come together and fight. Like who? Like what is the appeal of this game?

Kat 34:10

I think it is. It's like getting to interact like with all these different things from franchises you like. But it's not like a mecha-to-mecha thing all the time. I don't know it's maybe it is, it's not a fighting game though. You're, it's an RPG.

Cathy 34:26

Okay,

Caitlin 34:27

Interesting

Kat 34:27

The White Fang from Gundam Wing in the future is like a villain. Like they ally with a rebellion from Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam so like, so it's that kind of thing. But I

Mallory 34:41

I mean, I can see why people would why it would appeal to a certain segment of population that games manufacturers would assume are watching the shows. [laughter] You know, it's it's just like the novelty of seeing. I don't know, isn't that why movies like Civil War? And

Cathy 35:01

Yes, absolutely.

Mallory 35:01

all of those are so popular because it's like, I just want to see them bashing against each other like Superman versus Batman versus Iron Man, you know,

Kat 35:10

There's got to be a mecha versus mecha game though like that feels like it has to exist. This one is interesting, because I think it's interesting that Gundam Wing is sort of outside the greater shared Gundam universe. So for them to pull it in for this was always interesting to me, because I was like, I always liked Gundam Wing as a kid because it's like, "oh, I can watch this. But I don't need to watch this other stuff that's going to be like 20 bucks for a VHS tape with two episodes on it."

Caitlin 35:39

Right. But then you could you could get into Gundam Wing, and then you could be like, oh, Gundam Wing is in Super Robot Wars. So I play that and then suddenly you get into these other things,

Kat 35:48

Right. exactly.

Cathy 35:50

So I actually played Gundam Wing: Endless Duel on an emulator and Gundam Wing: Endless Duel is actually a robot versus robot fighting.

Kat 35:59

Hell yeah!

Cathy 36:00

And, um, I really don't remember how I got this. I think somebody handed me like a CD-R? of all these have like an SNES emulator.

Caitlin 36:10

C! D! R!

Cathy 36:11

And there was Gundam Wing Endless Duel and I think like a Sailor Moon flaming game, maybe?

Caitlin 36:16

There is a Sailor Moon fighting game.

Caitlin 36:17

Yeah, that definitely exists, yes.

Cathy 36:19

So I played, so I remember, you know, and my mom was never gonna listen to this, she'll never know that I did this. I used to, like sneak down into our basement, like get on the computer in our basement and like play, like, you know, from the hours of like, 2am to like 4am, play like Gundam Wing Endless Duel, which was all in Japanese at the time, I had no idea was going on. So I was just like, mashing buttons. I was not particularly good. But it is great. And there is a lot of like, you know, obviously everybody forms opinions about like, who is the best Gundam and who is the worst Gundam? Like I think Heavyarms sucks. [laughter] So it's always like, beat up on Heavyarms while you're playing? Because you're like, "Yeah, he suuuucks." And like, there is this really fun moment where you get to try on all these weird ideals that come up in Gundam Wing. And I'm sure that's true of every Gundam game, but I like there is a moment where it's like, "oh, yeah, this is what it feels like to be a cishet anime male being like Naruto vs. Goku." That was my Naruto versus Goku moment.

Kat 37:18

I feel like the suits definitely made it further then the characters and Gundam Wing

Caitlin 37:23

was very much their own characters in a lot of ways. And like a lot of fans are just really into the cha-- and into the suits. It's like, it's like, instead of your waifu who you have your mecha. Maybe or maybe you can have both.

Kat 37:36

Uhhh, my mecha could be my waifu. [laughter]

Cathy 37:40

On that note, thank you guys for joining us to discuss Episodes 19-20 and also marrying a robot.

Caitlin 37:48

Nothing wrong with that.

Cathy 37:49

Nothing wrong with that. We appreciate all robot fuckers on this podcast. [laughter] Thank you guys, see you next time.

Kat 37:59

Keep in touch! Hear about our new episodes on Twitter at TallgeesePod. Find our full transcriptions on Tumblr at UntitledTallgeesePodcast dot Tumblr dot com and follow us on Instagram at UntitledTallgeesePodcast for behind the scenes deets, fandom artifacts, and memes.

#gundam #gundam wing #mobile suit gundam #anime nostalgia #90s anime #anime podcasts #untitled tallgeese podcast #episode 10 #transcripts

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the-stray-liger · 5 years ago

Note

If someone wants to get into gundam but doesn't know where to start, do you have a favourite starting point?

fsjdhf one day I’ll bookmark a reply to this question and just link it bc I get it so often

the short answer is start with Gundam 00

the long answer is: Gundam is a huge franchise-the first original Gundam anime came out in 1979 and spanned like 30 years of content only for the main Universal Century timeline and that can seem super intimidating and daunting. I myself have only started to see the end of it after like a year and I still have like 2 whole ass Universal Century anime to go. I LOVE the Universal Century anime despite its inmense flaws, but it’s kinda hard to get into it if you’re not used to torrenting-I’ve had to torrent almost the entirety of it because it’s impossible to find where to watch it legally in my country.

However there’s other Gundam anime that don’t happen in the Universal Century, but in their own completely independant timelines, and you don’t need to watch UC stuff or know anything about it to understand-and most importantly, they’re WAY easier to find on streaming websites, such as Gundam Wing, Gundam SEED, Iron Blooded Orphans and my personal favorite, Gundam 00, the Gundam Build Fighters/Divers stuff, and a bunch of others I don’t remember rn bc I just woke up and I have a bit of a crying hangover

I guess you could start with Gundam Wing, like most 90s kids did? It’s fun and easy to watch and full of action and cool animation for it’s era, although it’s kinda Extra(TM) sometimes and imo it feels a bit like a mexican telenovela with mechs (but in a good way). I myself was introduced to the franchise through Wing and I still love it a lot.

Gundam SEED is a MESS, both in writing and aesthetically but mostly in writing-however it’s also an easy watch and keeps you entertained and has some gorgeous Gundam designs and fun battles and super good music. If you’re looking to shut your brain down maybe permanently this is the one for you.

I don’t like Iron Blooded Orphans and I really don’t have anything positive to say about it but it’s on netflix so if you wanna watch it go off I guess

HOWEVER I objectively and subjectively reccomedn you start with Gundam 00, my personal favorite and the series that literally got me into Gundam to the point where I learned how to torrent in order to watch all the Unviersal Century anime. Gundam 00 offers you the message of Gundam (war bad) but tastefully and carefully crafted to fit the context of the time it was released (it came out in 2008-2009 and basically mirrors events happening at the time in the middle east and the protagonist himself is middle eastern) and has imo the best writing and the most interesting characters. Some people complain abt the characters not being relatable at first, but Gundam 00 is a long term commitment (”long term” lmao) and if you keep watching you will learn to love even the characters you hated at first because they’re written in depth and yeah

You can already tell I could tak abt 00 all day if you let me. I highly reccomend Gundam 00 as a starting point because it isn’t from the Universal Century and can be binged easily (each season is like 25 episodes each and it’s just 2 seasons + a movie), but like, any non UC series is a good starting point because they’re all so different and are independant from each other? Even most Universal Century stuff generally does a good job at filling you in the context? For example, the Unicorn OVAs are on Netflix, that’s a good anime to get your first taste of Universal Century Gundam too and it’s lovingly animated with an EXCELLENT soundtrack

Anyway start with Gundam 00

#Anonymous

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kuuderekun · 7 years ago

Text

The growing Hostility towards Redemption narratives in some circles.

http://jaredmithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2018/02/the-growing-hostility-towards.html

I already hinted at how this bugs me briefly in my last post about The Last Jedi, called Subverting Expectations is not a substitute for actual Imagination. The "some circles" I mean right now are largely SJW ones, but not all SJWs. But it's ironic cause long ago, before I started these BlogSpot blogs, it was mainly a Conservative thing to complain about sympathetic villains in fiction. While people on The Left were arguing we need to reject such superficial classifications as good and evil. So the issue tends to be that redemption narratives are often a Privilege of Cis-Het White Males. And like my feelings on other subjects, the answer to this should be making more redemption stories for Queer and Non-White characters. Though those narratives can become problematic when it's primarily white people leading them to the right path. Or when redemption for a Queer villain requires rejecting their Queerness. Plenty of these people are not against any redemption narratives. But feel there are certain lines you can't come back from. My concern is that making people believe there is a certain line you can't come back from, will simply become a self fulfilling prophecy. Actions have consequences. A redemption story should not mean it's like that character's sins never existed, or that people have to trust them now. And just as recovering alcoholics need to stay away form alcohol, people who have a history of abusing their significant other should stay out of romantic relationships, especially with the specific people they abused in the past. Forgiving a lover who wronged you in the past does not mean you should then start a new relationship with them. This subject can kind of be divided into two categories. 1. Villains repenting of their sins and being forgiven by the narrative represented by the protagonist in the end before they die or something else ends their role in the narrative. Maybe while also doing some heroic redemptive act. 2. A Villain flat out becoming a Hero. I'm a supporter of both, the latter is a much more difficult thing to pull off well, which is exactly what makes the former often feel lazy. There are times when Sexism makes it seem easier for female villains to be redeemed, the High-Heel-Face Turn as TVTropes calls it. Plus the endless number of Femme Fatales who changed sides from falling in love with the Hero they were sent to seduce. The frustrating thing is when the now more virtuous version of the character loses the cunning she had before, like what happens to Ellen Palmure in the Rocambole novels. Also every Zelda Villianess has been pretty soft compared to the major male ones. On the subject of Star Wars. Some people feel in The Last Jedi specifically Kylo Ren passed the point of no return. And I can't call that wrong in the sense that I half way feel like that's what the film was saying. But logically I don't really buy it. Kylo (and the First Order as a whole) do not surpass the evilness of what they did in TFA, only in TFA were there attacks on civilians (if anything Rose and Finn's actions on Craite may have endangered civilians). TFO's actions are wrong in TLJ only in so much as they are on the wrong side of the War. Kylo certainly hasn't done worse then Vader in either film. Vader also killed his father-figure, and was much more directly involved when a super weapon was used to blow up an entire planet. And that's going off only Vader's OT Sins, just what audiences were expected to forgive him for in in 1983, not including what was added by the Prequels. And once again I have to talk about Anime. My love of Anime has a lot to do with how often enemies are forgiven. Because in Japan the West's simplistic Good vs Evil dichotomy has only recently become an influence. It's frequently been a big part of the Magical Girl genre. Sailor Moon didn't do it all the time, but Wedding Peach, and PreCure do it frequently, and so do the Darker Ones. So Rey setting out to try and save Kylo Ren because of the good she senses in him, and then that totally back firing on her. Feels to me like far more of a Meanspirited deconstructive slap in the face to Magical Girl convention then anything Madoka or it's imitators have done. And Rian Johnson could have been doing that intentionally, given how I saw a blatant homage to Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha episode 6 right in that very confrontation. It's also a big thing in the Mecha Genre, where the message is often that War itself is the real villain. And my love of the Prequels has been that I felt it was saying something similar, that The Empire was created because The Republic fought a war it shouldn't have. When I started watching Mecha shows like Code Geass and Gundam 00, they reminded me of my love of the Prequels from day one. So the Sequel Trilogy doesn't just bug me that it's staying stuck in the simpler OT formula. It's the subtext that what happened between episodes VI and VII was that the First Order rose to power because the New Republic was too passive. As an Anti-War person, that is a very problematic message to me. I consider myself an SJW, (and also a Communist). Maybe you want to question my status as one simply because I don't agree with TheMarySue 100% of the time. But I've been banned from Christian Forums and Facebook groups for saying Homosexuality isn't a Sin, when I wasn't the one brought the topic up. The only stance I take on any major modern political issue that would be classified in modern America as a Conservative one, is not a Social Justice issue directly, it does come up on those websites, but I feel confident in saying it should not be part of the definition of what SJW means. For the most part when I get into disagreements with other SJWs, from my POV I'm to the left of them. I used to not be as much of an SJW as I am now. Much of that transition happened before I even started these blogs, but since starting them I've moved to the Left on Abortion and a few other things. It is not really relevant to mention that I'm a Universalist, this topic is about fictional narratives where characters change their moral enlightenment during their mortal life, and what real life lessens they teach. Some of the people I'm disagreeing with here may not believe in an after life at all. And probably would prefer Christians who reject Eternal Damnation. The Christian value that is relevant is that you should always forgive those who wrong you, even if they never apologize. And that you should love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. For most of my life this seemed to be the most unambiguously Liberal of all Christian Values. It's the main area where Conservative Christians fail at being Christian, and the main area where Liberals might quote The Bible whether they're believers or not. It saddens me that this has changed about the Left over the same time period that I moved to the Left. But perhaps even that second Biblical subject may not be directly relevant. The question is, are there Biblical narratives of villains who become heroes? Well there is Saul aka Paul, who defined himself as the Chief of all Sinners. But perhaps a better parallel for saying that yes you can reach even Hitler level villainy and turn back, would be King Manasseh of Judah. He made the streets of Jerusalem flow red with Blood from one end to the other. But Second Chronicles records that he did repent and turn things around before the end. It's interesting that the compilers of II Kings chose to ignore that part of his story. But in the New Testament I think Matthew is siding with Chronicles here, since Manasseh isn't among the bad kings he skips in his genealogy in chapter 1.

#The Last Jedi #The Force Awakens #Star Wars #Star Wars Prequels #Kylo Ren #Reylo #nanoha #puella magi madoka magica #Mahou Shoujo #Mecha #Code Geass #GUNDAM #manasseh #King Manasseh #Magical Girls #Magical Girl Anime #Magical Girl Genre #Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha

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isolavirtuosa · 7 years ago

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Unlikely Office Romances 9-10

[fanfiction] Gundam Wing, 1x2x1, probably PG-13ish though there are some mildly sexy times and the usual trashmouth

Basically Duo is a jerk and Heero is an awkward nerd.

Previous Parts

9-10 under the cut

- 9 -

“I have no idea what you’re saying,” I informed Heero.

“I have to agree with Duo, say what now?” Hilde said.

We were all in the lab, staring at a bullet fragment.

“Black Freedom is just a scapegoat,” Heero said.

“And the radioactive bullet told you this?” Hilde asked, trying to clarify the shitload of paperwork we were about to have to do.

“And the space dirt?” I asked. “I really didn’t get the bit about the space dirt.”

“I just explained it,” Heero said irritably. “You’re both perfectly intelligent, or so I’ve been led to believe.”

“Hey,” I said, making a face at him.

Our eyes locked, and Heero immediately looked away.

I shifted uncomfortably.

Hilde passed the baggie holding the bullet fragment back to Heero. “Humor us and pretend that we’re not doctors of forensics.”

“Y-yeah…” Heero said, putting the bullet back on the table. He looked so awkward, pushing his glasses up his nose and shifting from side-to-side, not saying anything.

Yep, I had definitely fucked up.

Hilde gave me a long look, then pointed at the bullet again. “So you found some kind of space dirt… I don’t know, on the bullet?”

Heero shifted his attention back to her. “It’s a kind of igneous rock found on Mars. I found it in the gunpowder residue.”

“So someone who has been to Mars came in contact with the gunpowder used in the gun to assassinate the vice president?” Hilde reasoned out slowly. “What’s the significance?”

Hearing Hilde say it made something click in my brain. “The illegal gunrunning on Mars. Shit. It’s the L3 Brotherhood, isn’t it?”

“Wait, what?” Hilde said. “How do you go from space rock to the biggest terrorist network in the ESUN?”

“Think about it, Hil,” I said. “We know the Mars terraformers have been making money on the side by running guns, yeah? And then the guns used in the L3 Massacre-”

“-were all illegal guns with the serial numbers shaved off, probably gotten from the terraformers,” Hilde said, shaking her head.

“I found the same residue in the bullets I analyzed from the Massacre,” Heero said, seeming to relax now that he could talk about all his nerdy science. “The L3 Brotherhood is definitely getting their arms from Mars.”

“But other groups could be getting guns from them- shit,” Hilde said, finally putting it all together. “You said the bullet had traces of radiation.”

“And who do we know who recently tested a nuke on a little outlying colony of L3?” I said, shaking my head. The L3 Brotherhood had been quiet the last few months outside of the nuke test. Not that a nuke test was quiet, but at least they hadn’t mass-murdered any soldiers lately.

“Fuck,” Hilde said.

“Fuck,” I agreed.

“We need to call the commander,” Heero said, and then we were all off, dealing with one of the biggest terrorist crises in the Earth Sphere since… well, us.

I spent most of my time going through airport footage, watching to see if the L3 Brotherhood leader Aaron Easton made an appearance. Andrea had tracked him leaving L3 two days before the shooting using a fake passport. She followed his trail to L1, then couldn’t place him on a flight to earth.

I couldn’t imagine a better way to spend a day than playing Where’s Waldo? with grainy airport security footage.

“Ah-HA, gotcha, motherfucker,” I said, hours later.

“How can you even tell that’s him?” Agent Suarez asked, squinting at the still that I’d taken from the footage.

“Wearing the same watch as the L1 footage,” I said.

Suarez didn’t look convinced.

“He brought the guns to Black Freedom and got their shooter in the VP’s house,” I said, tapping the picture with my pen.

“But how would he get a gun through airport security?”

“He came in on a private shuttle,” I said. “That’s why our agents couldn’t find him getting on a regular flight to earth.”

“This all seems a bit far-fetched…”

I bit my tongue and avoided making a nasty comment about the ESUNBI and their unimaginative agents. It was good to reaffirm that the Preventers were still actually needed in the world.

Hilde came to collect me from the desk I’d been holed up at all day, an unusually serious look on her face.

“You talk to Une?” I asked.

“Yeah, she told us to babysit Yuy for the rest of the week until he’s done with the forensics.”

“Whaaaat, I wanted to go to L3,” I complained.

“Trowa’s heading that team up.”

“Is that why he kept texting me with winky smiley faces all day?”

“Don’t ask me to interpret the bizarre messages you two send each other.”

“Man, we’re missing all the action…”

Hilde held up her arm with the bullet wound.

“Okay, so we got one shootout, but can you imagine raiding the Brotherhood’s stronghold?”

Hilde smacked me with her good arm.

“Ow…”

“Oh, and by the way,” she said, suddenly grabbing me by the ear and yanking me down so we were eye level. “What the hell did you do to Yuy?”

“What?!” I cried. “Nothing!”

“Duo Maxwell, you tell me what you did before I rip this ear off,” Hilde growled. “He asked me to switch rooms with him. Put that together with you two acting weird this morning…”

“Oh, that,” I said. “Can I have my ear back?”

Hilde gave me a menacing look.

“It’s not a big deal,” I said. “I got drunk and kind of… hit on him, I guess?”

She finally let go of my ear, sputtering with laughter. “You what?!”

I tried to smile and make it a joke, but I immediately felt shitty about it.

She took in my expression and got serious again. “I know we… we make fun of Heero a lot,” she said, looking uncomfortable. “I mean, he’s all nerdy and Asperger-y and kind of creepy sometimes, but he’s Heero Yuy. We wouldn’t be standing here right now if it wasn’t for him. He saved us. He saved the world. He saved me two freaking days ago. He’s like… superman or something.”

“I know all this,” I said irritably. I didn’t want to think about the way I treated Heero and why I did it.

“Good,” Hilde said. “Then don’t fuck around with him. He’s not a random guy at a bar. And as impenetrable as he seems, he’s… sensitive. You hurt him, whatever you did. He’s one of us, and I’ll kick anyone’s ass who hurts one of us, even if it’s you.”

“I got it already,” I muttered.

“Good, then fix things with Yuy ’cause I ain’t givin’ up my single room,” Hilde said, shoving me through the lab door.

“Hey, Schbeiker!” I yelled, but she had closed the door behind me.

Heero didn’t acknowledge my presence, though his flushed cheeks said it all.

“Agent Maxwell, hello,” his assistant said, grinning at me.

“Why hello there,” I said, turning on the Duo Maxwell charm.

“He’s gay, Ramirez,” Heero said abruptly.

“Ain’t that always the way?” she said with a sigh.

“Doesn’t mean I don’t like talking to a pretty girl,” I said, still pouring on the charm because it was easier.

“And I love flirting with attractive gay men, though it’s usually not on purpose,” Ramirez replied with an easy smile.

Heero made an annoyed sound, not looking at either of us.

“And Heero hates any kind of friendly interaction between two people,” I commented.

“Who’s Heero?” Ramirez asked, squinting at me over the top of her glasses.

“Huh?” I said. “Oh, sorry, Dr. Yuy.”

“Is there a reason you’re here?” Heero asked, still not looking up from whatever inanimate object it was that he was examining.

“Yeah, it’s past closing time and we’re going back to the hotel.”

“I’m busy.”

“Um, okay, but work is over and you can come back in the morning.”

“I’m in the middle of something.”

“What about your poor assistant?”

“I don’t need her.”

Ramirez flinched at that.

“Don’t mind him,” I said to her. “He has a terrible case of asshole-itis.”

“You’re one to talk,” Heero muttered, staring so intently at whatever was in his hand, that he couldn’t possibly be seeing what it actually was.

“Why don’t you head home for the night?” I suggested to Ramirez. “Everyone could use a good night’s rest and fresh eyes to start the morning.”

Ramirez looked uncertainly towards Heero, who was boring holes into the table.

“Go,” he said quietly. “You’ve been a lot of help today. Thank you.”

“Uh, ’kay…” she said, cleaning up her work area before taking off her gloves. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Dr. Yuy.”

“Yeah.”

“Bye, Agent Maxwell,” she said, offering me a forced smile.

“Bye,” I said, letting my smile reach my eyes.

Ramirez’s smile brightened, and then she was out the door.

“She’s cute for a lab geek,” I commented, sauntering over to the examination table to see what Heero had been staring at the whole time.

It was a bunch of soil samples.

“This dirt can’t wait until tomorrow?” I asked.

“No.”

“And here I thought you were just trying to avoid me.”

He leveled me with a look.

“I said I was sorry, didn’t I?”

Heero returned to staring holes into the dirt.

I sighed. “Come on, it’s late. Hilde’s waiting.”

“You two can go ahead.”

“Nuh-uh, no way, Une charged me with babysitting you.”

“I won’t tell if you won’t.”

“Okay, first of all she’ll know. She always knows. She’s like one of those psychic Innovators, or whatever.”

“Did you just make a Gundam 00 reference?” Heero asked, eyes finally meeting mine again.

“You made me watch that stupid movie-”

“You’re the one who put it on,” Heero said, narrowing his eyes.

“I was just pandering to you since you were all depressed about discharging a firearm.”

“I don’t need your fucking pity.”

I stepped away from him involuntarily. Heero was scary when he was mad. It was a quiet anger that burned brighter than any kind of loud outburst. “I said sorry about that, didn’t I?”

“Yes, of course, your very sincere apology.”

“Fine, whatever. I tried. Be an asshole,” I said, taking my leave.

Hilde smacked me when I came back empty-handed, and went to get Heero herself.

“Good luck,” I muttered.

Imagine my surprise when Hilde met me at the car with Heero in tow.

We went back to the hotel in a frosty silence. I didn’t know what Heero had said to Hilde, but she was legitimately pissed at me now, too.

Duo Maxwell, public enemy number one.

When we got to our rooms, Hilde handed Heero her key. They both got their bags and traded rooms.

I flopped on my bed tiredly while all that was going on.

“Get it together, Maxwell,” Hilde said, kicking me in the rump.

“Ow,” I complained. “If I beat on you half as much as you beat on me, everyone would be yellin’ about domestic abuse or whatever.”

“We’re not domestically involved.”

“We could be,” I said, wiggling my eyebrows suggestively.

“Oh my god, just stop,” Hilde groaned. “Flirting is not a good coping mechanism.”

“What am I supposed to be coping with…?” I asked, squinting at her.

“You always have to ingratiate yourself with people. You want everyone to like you.”

“I don’t feel like any of that is true.”

“Well it is.”

“Okay, Dr. Hilde, thank you for your psychoanalysis.”

“And yet hilariously you don’t care what your friends think of you,” she said, going for my armpit.

I screeched. I had to be just about the most ticklish person in the world, and Hilde knew it. “Devil woman! Devil woman!” I wailed, trying to defend myself.

When she thought I’d been sufficiently punished, she stopped.

I gasped for breath.

Hilde sat at the head of the bed, and I scooted up to sit next to her. “He’s not wrong, though.”

“Who?” I asked, sliding an arm around her.

Hilde leaned into me, resting her head on my shoulder. “Heero.”

“About…?”

Hilde shifted, quiet for a moment. “We… we don’t… I don’t know.”

“This has been a really enlightening conversation.”

“Sarcasm is banned for the next ten minutes.”

“But then how can I say anything at all?”

“Exactly.”

I pretended to zip my mouth shut.

“He really likes you,” she said quietly. “Don’t think he’s sure of why himself, but he does. And we all… we treat him and Quatre like a joke.”

“Hey, Q and I have gotten to be really good friends lately,” I protested.

“So the ten years of talking shit behind his back don’t count?”

“I didn’t talk shit,” I complained, getting ready to defend myself.

“We all did,” Hilde interrupted. “And we didn’t mean any harm by it, but what does intent matter?”

I gave her a sullen look. “Don’t lay your guilt on me.”

“You’re such a sociopath,” Hilde muttered. “Do you not feel bad about anything?”

I blew out a long breath, watching my bangs do a little undulation. “Have you never heard of Catholic guilt?”

“You’re not Catholic,” Hilde said, leveling me with a long look.

“I was raised by them, so I get the guilt by association.”

“Ugh, go away.”

“Why?”

Her answer was to push me on the floor.

“Hil, you need to find more constructive ways of expressing your emotions.”

“And you need to stop hiding behind your words.”

I decided to reflect on my actions by not talking to Heero about anything that didn’t pertain to the case.

Heero responded by not talking, either, but what else was new?

“You two are buffoons,” Hilde muttered a week into our silent showdown.

Heero turned to face her, looking perplexed.

“Yeah, and?” I said, fiddling with my seatbelt. I couldn’t wait to be off of earth and back to L1.

“And nothing. I’m not figuring out your mess for you,” Hilde growled, crossing her arms over her chest. “So happy we’re leaving tomorrow.”

“I’m not a buffoon…” Heero murmured in this incredulous tone that made me smile. He seemed so astonished that someone would ever call him a buffoon. Even as I was thinking it, his eyes darkened. “What are you smiling at?”

“Is it a crime to smile?” I asked, holding my hands up.

“Yes,” he muttered.

“Hoo boy.”

“Buffoons, the both of you,” Hilde groaned.

“I am a doctor of forensics,” Heero said, pushing his glasses up his nose.

“More like doctor of social awkwardness,” I commented to the window.

Hilde smacked me upside the head.

“Ow, jeez! Hil, we talked about this.”

“Yeah, we agreed that I would no longer beat on you if you stopped saying stupid things. If you’re not gonna hold up your end of the bargain…”

I grumbled under my breath, and Heero went back to being silent.

Our flight home was in the afternoon. I spent my morning summarizing everything for the ESUNBI and doing bullshit paperwork. Hilde and Heero were already waiting at the spaceport when I arrived.

“Let’s blow this pop stand,” I said, striding over to the security line.

It happened so fast that all I could remember was hitting the floor, shots ringing in my ears.

- 10 -

I tried to keep the gun steady after I fired, to stay on guard, but my hands wouldn’t stop shaking.

“Give Duo back his gun,” Hilde said gently, her own gun trained on the fallen body.

“Give Duo back his beautiful, unbroken nose,” Duo muttered, pushing himself into a standing position and taking the gun from me. His eyes were alert, searching the perimeter for any other threats while the civilians were running around in a blind panic.

“Sorry,” I whispered, watching the blood flow freely from his nose and knowing I had caused it by shoving him to the ground.

“Take cover, Yuy,” Duo said as he and Hilde moved in tandem towards one of the luggage x-ray machines.

I hesitated, then followed them, staying low.

“I can’t babysit you right now,” Duo muttered, doing another sweep with his eyes.

“He just saved your ass,” Hilde growled. “No babysitting required.”

“He’s shaking like a freaking leaf.”

“He already had your gun and was firing before I could draw. Not that you even noticed the crazed gunwoman trying to kill you.”

“I would have noticed eventually,” Duo said, stuffing a wad of tissues up his nose.

“There doesn’t seem to be another gunman,” I said, trying to steady my panicked breathing.

“Yeah,” Hilde said, settling a hand at the base of my neck.

It rooted me, helping me to breathe a little deeper.

“Airport security seems to be doing a bang up job of dealing with the crisis,” Duo commented, watching as the security guards finally came onto the scene, trying to organize the chaos. “God, they’re gonna cancel all the flights, aren’t they? We were almost outta here!”

“You and Yuy go to the medical station, I’ll deal with this,” Hilde said, standing up as a pair of guards approached us.

Despite her assertion, we wasted about twenty minutes talking to security before Duo finally pulled the tissues out of his nose and bled on them to let him go to medical.

The rest of the spaceport had been evacuated, and the walk was oddly quiet.

“What’s wrong?” Duo finally asked, sounding like the words had been dragged from his mouth, kicking and screaming.

I shook my head.

“Well if you’re gonna keep freaking out every time you fire a gun, kindly keep your hands off of mine.”

“I didn’t mean to kill her,” I said, letting the words sit in the silence.

“She was going to kill us,” Duo replied, tipping his head back as he walked and readjusting his tissues.

“But I could have just shot the gun out of her hand or-”

“Then why didn’t you?” Duo interrupted.

“My body just acts. I can’t control it.”

Duo sighed and stepped in front of me, impeding my forward process. He settled both hands heavily on my shoulders. “Is that what all your shaking and puking is about?”

“I kill people on instinct, without a conscious thought,” I said, trying to stay calm. “These terrorists, they might as well have been you and me, and I killed them.”

“They’re nothing like us.”

“They’re everything like us.”

“We never went after civilians.”

“Neither has the Brotherhood. All their targets have been military and government.”

“They have a goddamn nuke.”

“We had gundams.”

“What, so you’re on their side now?”

“No, I just don’t want to kill them.”

“Then don’t.”

I thought that Duo would understand. Now I just felt alone.

“Hey, don’t look at me like that,” Duo protested. “Look, it just kinda pisses me off when you get all high and mighty. I feel like you’re attacking me.”

“You need to get your nose looked at,” I said, brushing by him.

“Okay then,” Duo said, the irritability returning to his tone.

An explosion rocked through the spaceport.

Duo pulled me to the ground as I moved to shield him. Our noses bumped, and Duo let out a yelp of pain.

“Sorry…” I said quietly.

“It’s fine,” Duo said through gritted teeth. “That shooter was a decoy, goddammit I shoulda known.”

“They wanted to clear the spaceport first.”

“Stop romanticizing the fucking enemy, Yuy,” Duo growled. “Come on, it was back towards security. Hilde…”

We were both already moving, Duo taking point.

The security area was a mess of debris and small fires.

“Shit,” Duo muttered, worrying at his bottom lip.

An explosion went off right next to us, and I found myself on my back, staring at the high ceiling. I tried to sit up, but I was too disoriented. “Duo!” I called, but even if he answered, I wouldn’t have heard it over the ringing in my ears.

They were coming for us, guns pointed.

I took one out from flat on my back, sweeping his legs out from under him. He was so surprised, he dropped his gun. I went for it, ignoring the blood rushing in my head.

One of the men had a gun on Duo.

I let the gun skitter away, putting my hands up.

They were talking to me, but I couldn’t hear anything.

We got ours cells confiscated and were pushed out the front door, guns at our backs. We were then unceremoniously shoved into an unmarked van.

Duo looked really out of it, blood flowing freely from his nose.

I crawled over to him, trying to keep my balance as the van sped through the streets.

Duo cracked open an eye, then pulled me the rest of the way over to him, keeping his arms around me protectively. He said something, but the words were still unintelligible to me. Then he seemed to get angry, and I realized he was arguing with our captors.

It felt strange being the one protected.

The words started getting clearer, and I realized that Duo was trying to get them to let me go, saying that I was only a lab tech.

Our captors shot back something about gundams.

Did they know who we were?

My hearing finally seemed to clear, though the tinnitus lingered, and I realized that Duo was murmuring soothing nonsense at me.

“You’re okay,” he said next to my ear.

I hadn’t noticed how much I was shaking.

Duo started humming something softly, and I recognized it from another lifetime ago.

“Sister Helen used to sing it to me when I had nightmares,” he’d told me in the dark of the sleeping compartment on Peacemillion.

“Enough with the crappy humming already,” one of our captors growled,

“Here I am, gracing you with my angelic voice, and you have the audacity to complain,” Duo muttered.

“Maybe you should watch your smart mouth and remember who has the guns here,” the man snarled.

“Easy,” the other captor said, putting a hand on his arm.

If I dropped from Duo’s hold, I could scissor kick the guns out of both the men’s hands, then-

“Hey, come on,” Duo said, rocking me side-to-side. “Everything’s gonna be okay, Heero, yeah? Just take it easy.”

“I’m sorry,” I said into his shoulder. “I don’t mean to be like this.”

“Don’t be sorry,” he murmured, his voice barely audible. “I think your little panic attack has somehow blinded them to the fact that they haven’t tied us up.”

“They want us for something.”

“Hey, enough with the private conversation,” the overzealous captor growled, jamming his gun into my back.

“I told you, he’s scared,” Duo said, pulling me closer.

There were so many things wrong with this scenario, yet the thing I was getting hung up on was how close I was to Duo. His warm hands on my back, the solidness of his chest against mine. I could smell him.

The monster in me found this all superfluous and wondered why we weren’t crushing the first enemy’s windpipe and using his body as a shield to plow through the second enemy.

I just wanted to be normal and think normal thoughts.

“Is the widdle baby gonna pee his pants?” the captor taunted me.

“Does a five-year-old write your comebacks?” Duo asked with a snort.

Then we were both ducking and rolling as the captor tried to pistol-whip Duo.

“Juárez, enough!” the other man roared.

The overly zealous captor named Juárez lowered the gun he had pointed at Duo. He didn’t look happy about it.

Duo wiped a smear of blood from his nose. The gun had clipped it.

“Pretty spry for just a lab tech,” Juárez muttered, glowering at me.

I looked away. I knew if I kept looking, I would do something.

“We’re almost there,” the unnamed captor said through clenched teeth.

“We should tie them up.”

“They’re not prisoners.”

“We’re not?” Duo asked, blood bubbling down his face.

I ripped off a piece of cloth from the bottom of my t-shirt and stuffed it in his nose.

“Romantic, Yuy,” he said with a snort, his voice coming out nasally and slightly distorted.

I flushed, then braced myself as I felt the van’s momentum changing.

We all lurched slightly, but maintained our balance.

Then the doors flew open and we were being dragged out into a dark warehouse.

“We’re not prisoners,” Duo laughed as they threw us on the ground and surrounded us with guns.

“Shut up, Duo,” I said, but there was no bite in the words.

Duo just laughed more.

“Did he sustain a head injury during the explosion?” one of the new captors asked.

“Nah, just has a few screws loose,” Juárez said.

“Doesn’t seem like he’ll be very useful then.”

“And why’s the other one look like he’s having a panic attack?” “I think he is having a panic attack.”

I wasn’t. It was just hard to breathe when my mind was telling me all of the ways I could crush these men and their guns.

“The crazy one is the God of Death, Pilot 02.”

“The crazy one?” Duo murmured into my ear. “Clearly they’ve never seen you leap from a tall building without a parachute.” He slid his arm around me again like in the van.

The weight of his hand on my back felt like an anchor, drawing me back into myself.

“So this one is Heero Yuy? I expected… more.”

“He’s gone to school and become a lab tech.”

“He’s not in the field?”

“Only for forensics.”

“He mastered the Zero System when he was younger, but…”

“Wait, wait, hold the fucking phone,” Duo said, all humor draining from his face. “What is this? How do you know about us?”

And then Aaron Easton, leader of the Brotherhood, stepped into the circle.

#gundam wing #fanfiction #1x2x1 #1x2 #unlikely office romances isola

8 notes · View notes

radishsnakes-moved · 8 years ago

Note

What queerbaiting? Yamagi is canonically CONFIRMED to be gay, Shino basically asked him out on a date (yes, that's exactly what it was, there's no other logical explanation, knowing the whole context and especially in the light of the Akihiro/Lafter drink invitation scene from ep. 41), thus confirming his VA's statements about Shino being bi/pan and making it into a two-way relationship instead of just a one-sided crush on Yamagi's side as some people would like to see it, and the only reason

cont. why the pairing didn’t happen is because it’s Gundam. A Gundam series killing off ships is nothing new, it was expected to happen, especially considering how brutal IBO in particular has been with its handling of romance, killing off pairings one by one in s2. Anyway, validating a gay ship is the exact opposite of queerbaiting. And Gundam 00 had plenty of LGBTA characters and whatnot; could literally write a whole essay on it, so I wouldn’t exactly call the franchise ‘the straightest’.

I was exaggerating calling it “the straightest” of course, I’d be interested to hear about canon Gundam 00 LGBT characters though! I headcanon Tieria as trans, but I’ve heard from some sources that it’s canon; I’d be ecstatic if it happened to be.

As for the whole queerbaiting thing: I know it’s not a new thing in Gundam. Actually, Gundam is much better about this stuff than other stuff like sports anime. I admit I’ve only really watched a few Gundam series, but IBO has seemed like the gayest one to me, which gives it a new special place in my heart (especially in light of episode 46). What I’m complaining about is things like when they killed Aston right as it seemed like there was a relationship developing between him and Takaki, when they did to same to Ein when there might have been something between him and Gaelio, etc etc. They do the same with the straight couples, of course, but usually there’s at least some indicator that they really did love each other romantically; if I may point to Lyle and Anew, Anew was killed fairly early in their relationship, but it was made clear that they both loved each other in a romantic way. None of the queer relationships, however, have been made explicitly clear before one side was killed off–Even with Yamagi and Shino, who were basically canon, Shino never explicitly asked him out romantically, even though it was heavily, almost directly, implied that Yamagi liked Shino romantically. It could just be me nitpicking, but it does tick me off a bit.

Thank you for your input, though! And I’d love to hear which characters from 00 are confirmed LGBT beyond speculation (especially Tieria).

#gundam 00 #gundam ibo #gundam iron blooded orphans #gundam tekketsu no orphans #either way i love both ibo and 00 #i never thought anything could tie with 00 for my favorite gundam series but here we are

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isolavirtuosa · 7 years ago

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Unlikely Office Romances 7-8

[fanfiction] Gundam Wing, 1x2x1, probably PG-13ish though there are some mildly sexy times and the usual trashmouth

Basically Duo is a jerk and Heero is an awkward nerd.

Previous Parts

7-8 under the cut

- 7 -

I snapped awake, sitting up in the unfamiliar bed. I had probably slept for about two hours, enough to recharge my battery. I could have kept on sleeping, but something wasn’t right.

Heero’s blue eyes stared into mine blearily.

“Have you not slept?” I asked, pushing my bangs out of my eyes.

“Can’t,” he said.

I sighed, rolling my feet over the side of the bed. “I gotta piss.”

Heero shrugged.

I went and did my business, splashing some water on my face and peeling off my sweaty uniform shirt. The hotel staff had kindly moved our bags to the new room, so I dug through mine for some nice lounge clothes. I changed into a t-shirt and sweatpants, noting how Heero averted his eyes as I did so.

“So what’s up, Heero?” I asked, leaning against the headboard of my bed. “You kinda lost it after shooting that guy.”

Heero looked down at the bed, running the comforter through his fingers anxiously.

“I know conversation isn’t exactly your forte, but I wanna go back to sleep, and I feel like in order to do that I need you to go to sleep first.”

“I can leave…”

“Oh my god, Heero, I’m not kicking you out,” I said, throwing my hands in the air. “I’m… worried, okay?”

Heero smiled a little, still not looking at me.

It was such an awkward expression on his face, and it made me feel weird.

“You don’t have to worry,” he said quietly. “I just… I didn’t expect all that to happen. I didn’t expect that I’d have to confront… that part of me. I’m fine now.”

“Then go the fuck to sleep.”

“Yeah,” he said, sliding down into the bed and closing his eyes.

“You’re not sleeping,” I announced after five minutes of waiting.

He cracked an eye open at me.

“I have to say, I don’t have a clue what’s going on in your head,” I said. “But I know you’re upset.”

“Why do you care?” Heero asked, and it was a genuine question.

“Because I can’t sleep with you staring at me.”

Heero huffed out a puff of air and turned his back to me.

“Also, we’re… I don’t know… it’s not like I hate you or anything. I… you know, care and stuff.”

Heero snorted.

“What?” I protested. “I’m being sincere.”

Heero finally turned back to me, sitting up. “Are we supposed to have some kind of heart-to-heart that makes you feel better?”

“Er, I thought you were the one who was supposed to feel better.”

“I’m fine.”

“Christ, you are as annoying as ever,” I said, getting up. “I’m going to take a shower. Go buy us some beer.”

“You want to drink? It’s not even noon. And you’re on the job.”

“I can’t fucking stand you!” I groaned. “Buy us some damn hot chocolate then. And get snacks. Good snacks. Not carrot sticks or whatever healthy shit you think are snacks, but are clearly not.”

“Is that all?” Heero asked, arching his eyebrow at me.

“Yes, Heero, that will be all. Now chop, chop.”

Heero shrugged, getting out of his own bed.

I went into the bathroom and took a quick shower. It felt nice to be clean. I braided my hair again and pulled back on my sweatpants.

I returned to the room and grabbed my pillow, tossing it on Heero’s bed. I shifted the TV so that it was pointing in that direction, then sat down and made sure the angle was right.

“What are you doing?” Heero asked when he came in, looking uncomfortable.

“We’re gonna rent a movie,” I said.

“Don’t pick something awful,” Heero cautioned, sitting on the end of the bed. He started carefully removing the items he’d purchased from a reusable shopping bag.

“I have great taste,” I said, frowning at him. I really wanted to ask if he had brought that shopping bag with him. It just seemed too ridiculous to bring a reusable shopping bag from L1 to earth on the off chance that he might go grocery shopping.

Heero’s eyes followed mine to the bag. “I’m always prepared.”

I snorted. “What did you get?” I asked, eyeing the growing pile. “Oh, my, double chocolate cookies? Greasy potato chips? Cream-filled mystery pastry?”

“All junk food, guaranteed to ruin your health,” Heero said, handing me a package of fried ice cream. “Eat this before it melts.”

“Heero, I didn’t know you had it in you,” I said, tearing open the package and taking a bite.

Heero smiled that creepy little shy smile of his.

I turned my attention to the TV, flipping through the movie rentals. “Oh, god…” I groaned.

“I’ve already seen it,” Heero said, frowning at me.

“Excellent,” I said, skipping past the Gundam 00 movie.

Heero glared at me.

I grinned. “Oh, I gotta call Une,” I said, pulling out my phone. “You pick a movie,” I added, tossing him the remote.

Heero looked very confused.

“Maxwell,” Une greeted me brusquely from behind her desk.

“Hey, just checking in,” I said.

“I thought you’d be sleeping.”

“Heero couldn’t sleep.”

Heero glared at me.

“Put Yuy on,” Une said sharply.

“Sorry, buddy,” I said, passing him the phone.

Heero looked like a sullen teenager. It was pretty funny, to be honest.

“Yuy, do you know how much damn paperwork I have to fill out because you decided to become an agent for a night?”

“The situation-” Heero started.

“Do I look like I care?” Une interrupted him. “What did you get from the body?”

Heero started doing all his geek babbling, so I took the remote back and on a very strange whim chose the movie.

“Maxwell!”

I turned to find the phone aimed in my direction, the screen filled-up with Une’s stern face. “Yes?”

“You’re back on at six, wrapping up the loose ends, so get some sleep soon,” she ordered. “And take care of Yuy!” she snapped, hanging up the phone.

“Yes, ma’am,” I said, saluting the blank screen.

Heero frowned at me.

“Let’s just watch your stupid movie.”

A confused little wrinkle formed between Heero’s eyebrows.

I started the movie.

“I thought…”

“I’m just gonna sleep through it anyway,” I said, fluffing my pillow and finishing off the fried ice cream.

Heero looked at me uncertainly, then faced forward where he was still sitting at the edge of the bed.

“Get comfortable, dork,” I said.

Heero could not have looked any more uncomfortable.

“Why do you always have to be so damn awkward around me?” I complained, kicking him lightly in the arm.

“Don’t touch me with your nasty socks,” Heero said, giving me a withering look.

“That’s better,” I said with a grin.

Heero finally came to sit against the headboard with me, holding a warm can of hot cocoa in his hands. He opened it and took a sip.

“Now let’s watch a terrible movie about how not to pilot a gundam,” I said, opening the potato chips.

“Why are you so judgmental?” Heero retorted. “The whole series is a historically accurate depiction of the lives of the first gundam pilots.”

“Our great predecessors,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Why they all so damn pretty? Gundam pilots aren’t that pretty. Except for me, obviously.”

Heero shifted.

I eyed him for a moment, then decided to be nice. “Thanks for buying such great snacks.”

Heero shrugged, sipping his cocoa.

We watched the movie.

The main character was basically Heero, which made me laugh almost the whole time. While Heero was clearly annoyed at first, he slowly started to smile. I kept up my ongoing commentary, and he seemed to relax.

I somehow got him under the covers towards the end of the movie, eyes blinking slower and slower.

When I was sure he was asleep, I gathered up the leftover snacks from the bed and put them on the nightstand. I transferred my pillow to my bed and crawled back in. I found myself watching the movie to the end, despite how incredibly stupid I found it, then turned off the TV and easily fell asleep.

Heero was typing away on his computer when I woke up again.

I stumbled off to the bathroom, then stumbled back.

“Whacha doin’?” I asked, tiredly leaning over his shoulder.

Heero tensed up.

“Wow, that’s a dead body,” I said, slightly more awake.

“I’m working,” Heero said, shooing me away.

I snorted, going over to my bag for a change of clothes.

Hilde came over with bagels, and we sprawled out on my bed, watching the news and stuffing our faces.

“Heero, stop with your weird fetishist hobbies and eat with us,” I said.

Heero turned and glared at me.

I grinned at him.

Hilde smacked me in the head.

“Hey, what was that for?” I complained.

“Be nice to the nerd,” she reprimanded me.

“You just called him a nerd.”

“Oh,” Hilde said, flushing. “Well, uh…”

Heero took a bagel from the bag, then went to sit back at his computer.

“Don’t be like that, Heero,” I complained.

“I have work to do,” Heero replied.

Hilde caught my eye and rolled hers.

I shook my head, adding more cream cheese to my bagel. “The time-honored Heero Yuy tradition of work before work.”

We all got into a car after that and set off in our separate directions. While we’d been sleeping, Une had run a raid on the Black Freedom base on L2. It looked like everything was tying up neatly.

Fucking amateurs.

Hilde and I finished up around midnight again, and headed down to the lab to collect Heero.

“What are you even investigating?” I asked, leaning over his shoulder. “The case is pretty much over.”

“I think it’s far from over,” Heero replied, continuing to poke at the bullet fragment with his tweezers.

“Why do you always have to be so overdramatic?”

Heero shooed me away from him.

“Come on, time to call it quits,” I urged, resting my hand on his shoulder.

Heero tensed.

“We’re tired…” I said.

“Then you go,” Heero said.

“Yeah, but you’ll be all noisy when you come back.”

Heero shifted uncomfortably. “W-when am I noisy?”

I think it was supposed to be a jab, but now he was looking all nervous. I moved my hand, and he visibly relaxed. “Well, my finely trained reflexes would wake me up the moment someone came in the room,” I said.

“I could murder you in your sleep and you wouldn’t notice,” Heero countered, looking at his bullet fragment very intently.

Hilde burst out laughing.

“That is a really weird thing to say,” I muttered, crossing my arms over my chest. Then I rethought it and put my hand on his shoulder instead.

Heero tensed.

“So can we go back to the hotel already?” I requested, leaning in close as I spoke.

Heero was completely red.

Oh my god, this was hilarious.

Hilde smacked me in the head.

“Woman, why are you so violent?!” I demanded, letting go of Heero to rub the back of my head.

“Because you’re an asshole,” Hilde responded easily.

“Trowa is definitely being promoted to Best Friend Number One…”

“Good, who would want to be best friends with a loser like you? Anyway, Yuy, come on. The Commander said you’re not allowed to work overtime.”

“I’m not-” Heero tried to protest, but Hilde took his bullet fragment away.

“Let’s go.”

Heero clearly wanted to protest, but Hilde wasn’t having any of it.

We ended up back at the hotel.

“Good night, boys,” Hilde chirped, disappearing into her room across the hall.

“I’m not tired at all,” I complained, flopping on my bed.

Heero shrugged and booted up his laptop.

“Don’t tell me you’re going to keep on working…”

“I’m going to keep on working.”

“Christ, Heero, are you married to the job?”

“Aren’t you?”

“Nope,” I said. “Thinking about quitting, anyway.”

“Oh,” Heero said in a very quiet voice.

“What, are you sad about it?” I needled him, sitting up and poking his chair with my foot.

“It wouldn’t affect me,” Heero said blandly.

“But you would miss me,” I said, grinning. I didn’t really have a good reason to be teasing Heero, other than the fact that the case was basically closed and I was bored. But it was so damn fun to watch him turn red and stuttery.

“I-I…”

“You-you what?”

“I have w-work to do.”

“You’re off the clock,” I said. “Let’s get a drink.”

“I’m working on a theory and-”

“It can wait until tomorrow.”

“It’s pretty urgent-”

“I’ll go get us some drinks and we can drink here then.”

“I don’t-”

“Be right back,” I said, disappearing out the door.

Seeing Heero completely wasted was suddenly my new life goal.

- 8 -

I couldn’t concentrate on the computer screen in front of me. Why did Duo have to be so damn infuriating? He was supposed to make a few snide comments, and then ignore me like he usually did. He certainly wasn’t supposed to be out buying alcoholic beverages for us to consume together. That just didn’t seem like it could possibly end well.

I imagined myself drunkenly confessing to Duo that I had kept a creepy stalker scrapbook about him since the war.

I called Quatre. “Help me.”

“Heero, it’s the middle of the night…” Quatre complained, looking at me with bleary blue eyes.

L1 and the Americas were in the same time zone, so of course I already knew that. Like I would ever not be aware of what time it was in every time zone on earth and in space.

“Duo’s out buying alcohol,” I hissed at him.

Quatre immediately got interested. “Oh?”

“What should I do?” I asked. “I should escape. Yeah, that’s it, if I go out over the balcony-”

“Relax,” Quatre said, giving me a soothing smile.

It made me tenser. “No, but if I climb to the next balcony, there’s a fire escape-”

“Heero,” Quatre said, giving me a stern look. “It’s time to be a man.”

“I am a man, always have been,” I said, staring back at him. It was true, I had both an X and a Y chromosome.

“Well you’re acting like a pansy.”

“I’m not a flower.”

“Then shut up and have a damn drink with the man you’ve been crushing on since you hit puberty.”

“I have work to do,” I said, hanging up. “And no one says ‘crushing’ after the age of twelve,” I muttered to myself.

“I have returned!” Duo declared, kicking the door open as he walked in laden with booze.

I didn’t know what to say, so I just stared at him.

“Quit being a creep,” Duo said, dumping everything on the desk.

“Careful!” I said, pulling my laptop away from his mess. “And where did you buy all this in the middle of the night?”

“Twenty-four hour convenience store next door,” Duo said, opening a can and taking a long drink.

“Oh,” I said, turning to face my laptop.

“No, enough with the damn laptop,” Duo said, slamming it shut.

“What the hell, Maxwell?!” I snapped, yanking my fingers away before they got crushed.

“Oh, did I make you mad?” Duo asked, grinning at me in a way that made me very uncomfortable.

“Yes,” I ground out. “Yes, you did.”

“Good, now shut up and have a damn drink,” he said, shoving a can into my hand.

I didn’t know how to react.

That was Duo Maxwell, always confusing me and keeping me on my toes. It was probably what attracted me to him, but it also infuriated me.

“This is an expens-”

“Drink,” Duo said, fingers wrapping around mine as he pressed the can more firmly into my hand.

I froze.

Duo smirked.

I yanked my hand away, the unopened can clattering to the floor.

“You need to learn to relax,” Duo said, picking it up and setting it on the desk.

“Why are you doing this?” I said, turning my back to him.

“Doing what?” Duo asked with a laugh. “Making you have fun?”

“This isn’t fun,” I said quietly.

“You haven’t even had anything to drink yet.”

“I have work to do.”

“Oh my god, you are such a nerd, I can’t even take it,” Duo said, going to sit on his bed. “Fine, do your work.”

I was so uncomfortable. I was also annoyed. I didn’t want to give into Duo. I turned around to face him, ready to be angry again.

He had the saddest look on his face as he sat on the bed, staring into his drink.

I chewed on my bottom lip. I reached over, grabbing an unopened can and cracking it open. “Cheers,” I grumbled, holding it up towards him.

Duo turned his grin back on, holding his own can towards me. “Cheers.”

We drank and ate the leftover snacks from the morning. Duo put some music on and sang along.

“You don’t look drunk at all,” Duo complained.

“I have a high metabolism.”

“Yeah, but the whole point of this was to see you drunk.”

I raised an eyebrow at him, but I could feel my cheeks flushing.

“You never relax around me,” Duo said. “I just want you to relax.”

“We have work tomorrow…”

“Can you give the goody two-shoes bit a rest already?”

“One of us has to be responsible.”

“Fine, then I’ll be the responsible one.”

I snorted.

“I can be responsible,” Duo said, waving his beer at me.

“Sure you can.”

“You used to trust me with your life.”

My breath caught in my throat.

Duo was suddenly much closer, staring into my eyes from only a foot away. “Quatre was right, ya know?” he finally said.

“A-about what?” I stammered.

“Shit, you’re really cute when you’re nervous,” Duo said. “Anyway, I wish the five of us were closer.”

I was going to die of embarrassment. What grown man wanted to be called ‘cute’? I ripped myself from his gaze and downed the rest of my drink.

“That’s the spirit!” Duo said cheerfully, bouncing up to get me another one.

I took it, not meeting his eyes.

“Hey, Heero?” Duo said, still looming over me.

“What?” I mumbled.

Duo flicked me in the forehead, and I looked up at him in annoyance. “I know my overwhelming sexiness is distracting, but you should try actually making eye contact every once and a while.”

“I don’t have to look at you,” I said, looking away again.

“Oh?” Duo said, catching my cheek in his hand and tilting my face up.

I caught his wrist, ready to break it.

Duo let his arm go slack, and I realized what I’d been about to do.

“Shit,” I muttered, letting go. Coming on this assignment had been a horrible idea, and I just wanted to go home.

“Looks like you’ve still got some reflexes,” Duo said, sitting on the desk and staring down at me.

“I think I’ll go to bed,” I said, standing up.

“Do you actually like me, or is that some kind of delusion of Quatre’s?”

I froze.

Duo grinned victoriously, like that had been his plan all along.

I tried to speak, but nothing came out.

“It’s so weird to watch you go from machine to human,” Duo said, tipping his can back to finish it off. “If you told me all those years ago that Heero Yuy was a shy boy with a stuttering problem…”

“Stop being cruel,” I finally said, stalking off to the bathroom.

“How am I being cruel?” Duo asked with a snort, hopping down from the desk. He was suddenly standing between me and the bathroom door. “I was thinking about being quite the opposite, actually.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, even though I knew I shouldn’t.

Duo was backing me into the wall. “I thought I’d throw you a bone.”

I did not like this at all.

“You ever been kissed, Heero?”

Oh, no, no, no, I did not like this. I was being played with, and it twisted in my gut like a knife.

“Well?”

“Yes,” I said, longing to push Duo away. He was so close now, his arm draped lazily over my head as he leaned in.

“Shit, really?” he asked, his grin widening.

“Y-yeah…” I stuttered, looking away from those blue eyes.

“Too bad,” he murmured, his breath ghosting against my mouth.

“Stop,” I said, glad that my voice came out steady. I knew he was just teasing me, but it made me feel anxious and uncomfortable.

“Stop what?”

“You’re being cruel,” I reasserted.

“Come on, Heero, everyone knows I’m a nice guy,” he said, leaning into my line of vision.

I took a deep breath and pushed him aside. “No, actually, you’re not.”

“Oh ho, there’s the old Heero.”

“There’s not an ‘old Heero’ and a ‘new Heero’, there’s just me,” I informed him.

“You’ve tried so hard to run away from the past,” Duo said, suddenly yanking me close. One arm settled around my waist, while his free hand caught my chin. “Guess what, Heero? You’re just as shitty as the rest of us.”

“You’re drunk,” I said, squirming around but not making a significant effort to escape. It felt good to be touched by Duo, and I was a complete idiot.

“I probably am,” Duo agreed. “That doesn’t change anything. Your hands are just as dirty as mine, so stop prancing around all high and mighty, getting the shakes when someone puts a damn gun in your hand. You’re not better than me, Heero. You’ll drop a man to save lives, just the same as me.”

Now I was starting to feel annoyed. “I never said I was better than anyone. It’s not my fault if you take the way I live my life as a censure on the way you live yours.”

“Who talks like that?” Duo complained, suddenly letting me go and going over to flop on his bed. “God, and I was thinking of giving you a pity fuck.”

I was mortified.

“Ugh, what is wrong with me?” Duo groaned into his pillow. “I’m so desperate, I’d do anyone.”

“I’m standing right here,” I said quietly.

“Perfectly aware.”

I didn’t know what I was feeling, but my stomach hurt and I just wanted to not be there anymore.

“Shit, I’m sorry,” Duo said, his eyes suddenly staring into mine. “I didn’t mean… Just forget everything I’ve said and done in the last hour, okay?”

I turned my head to the side.

“Heeeeero, come on,” Duo protested. “I know I was being a dick, okay? Duo Maxwell, the ESUN’s biggest dick. Well… yeah, okay, well yes, it’s big, but…”

“Please just leave me alone.”

“I don’t want you to be mad.”

“I’m not mad.”

“You clearly are.”

“I’m not.”

“You’re something.”

“I’m f-fine.”

“You look like a wounded baby animal or something, you are clearly not fine.”

I paused at that, giving Duo the look that statement deserved.

He grinned.

“I’ll forget everything you said.”

Duo looked pleased, then frowned. “No, you won’t. You never let me live anything down.”

“Is there anything I can possibly say right now to make you leave me alone?”

“You could forgive me for being an asshole.”

“I forgive you for being an asshole.”

“You’re just saying that, you don’t actually mean it.”

I wanted to scream. I turned, pulled up the covers of my bed, and hid under them instead.

Duo was quiet, and I thought maybe it was finally over. He shuffled around the room for a bit before turning off the lights. Then he sat on my bed, the mattress dipping down towards him.

I did not emerge from my cocoon.

“I’m sorry for saying shitty things,” Duo said quietly. “You just… you’re so different now and I don’t know how to deal with you. You’re so goddamn weird, and then this morning you were kinda vulnerable, and I find it all very confusing.”

I pushed the covers out of my face, staring at Duo in the dark. He was a blur, because I wasn’t wearing my glasses and my night vision was terrible. “What exactly do you find confusing?”

“You in general.”

“Oh, I see.”

“No, no, but it’s like… you used to be quiet before, but it was… You were quiet because you didn’t need to say anything. But now I feel like you’re quiet around me because you don’t know what to say? And you’re nervous? And that’s weird, Heero, it’s fucking weird.”

“I’m so sorry for being weird.”

“Apology accepted,” Duo said. “So start acting normal.”

“Good night,” I said, pulling the blankets back over my head.

“No, hey, wait,” Duo protested, grabbing the blankets and peeling them back.

“Duo, it’s been a long day and I want to go to sleep.”

“Yes, but...”

He was staring at me with big, puppy dog eyes that even my blind self could read clearly in the dark.

I didn’t know what he wanted from me. “What?” I finally asked.

“I… I don’t know. Good night, Heero.”

“Good night, Duo.”

His weight disappeared from the mattress.

I fell into an uneasy sleep.

In the morning, Duo just prattled on like usual.

It was a relief to get back to the lab and continue my line of investigation from the previous day.

It was, however, not a relief to realize that my line of reasoning had been correct.

#gundam wing #fanfiction #1x2x1 #1x2 #unlikely office romances isola

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