The war was finally over! Duo Maxwell, the former Gundam Deathscythe pilot was walking home with Hilde, a former Oz soldier whom he made friends with and convinced to quit. They had just celebrated with tea and meat dumplings. Hilde was carrying the leftovers in a bag, while Duo carried a part from a junk man that he had bought for a new project that he was going to work on. The former soldier loved to build things, and with the war over, he saw a future career in inventions, or at least repairs and upgrades.
“So what are you going to do with that thing you bought?” Hilde asked as she pulled her hat off of her blue-black hair.
Duo glanced at her with a big grin and responded, “I’m going to have some fun!”
“You’re not going to build a mobile suit, are you?” Hilde asked, jokingly.
Duo grinned at her. There was a twinkle in his cobalt blue eyes as he responded, “Nope! Not with this little thing! I’ve got something even better in mind!”
The two reached the trailer where Hilde lived on Earth. It had less room than her home on the colony, but was much more comfortable, and the air was fresher. There was a small shed beside the trailer. Duo walked over to it and went inside. Hilde approached the door, but Duo locked it. “Hey Duo, do you need any help in there?” she asked.
“Nope, I’m fine,” Duo said in a cheery voice.
“Is there anything I can do for you then?” Hilde asked. Duo laughed and Hilde could hear the clanking of metal, followed by a large crash. “Duo!” Hilde exclaimed.
Duo’s raspy voice came after a cough, “I’m fine, Hilde. If you wanna do something for me, how about you just make sure there’s a couple of big, fat, juicy double cheeseburgers and a side of fries sitting on the table when I’m done.”
“Are you sure, Duo?” Hilde asked, “How long will you be?”
“I should be done by dinner time,” Duo said.
Hilde sighed as she walked away from the shed. She stepped into the trailer and kicked off her shoes to keep the floor as clean as possible. The young woman opened the refrigerator. There was no beef thawing. She sighed and glanced into the freezer. There was no beef there either. Hilde put the bag of dumplings into the fridge and then closed the door. She slipped her shoes back on and walked out to the shed.
Duo glanced up from a metal box that he was putting together as Hilde knocked on the shed door. “Yea?” he asked
“We don’t have any beef, Duo,” Hide said, “I’m going to go shopping.”
“Sure thing,” Duo said, “Have fun with that.” He glanced back at his box as he heard Hilde’s footsteps fade away. He smiled and lifted the box up so that he could see it in the light of the lamp overhead. It glistened, and static seemed to cling to the wires that were hanging from it. Duo’s rubber gloves protected him from the small shocks. He soon set the box back down and continued to work on it.
*****
Hilde returned from grocery shopping with a bag of fast food and a bag of groceries. Duo heard her coming and opened up the door of the shed. He stepped out and closed it behind him. “Hi Hilde! How’d it go?” he asked.
“Fine, Duo, but I decided to order take out. Double cheeseburgers get really messy and I don’t want to have to clean the kitchen while you play in the shed all night,” Hilde said.
Duo grinned and chuckled. “Aw don’t worry about that, Hilde. I’m finished with my project. I’ll show it to you after dinner,” he said.
“You’re done already? What were you making?” Hilde asked as she put the groceries away.
“I’ll show it to you later,” Duo repeated as he pulled two cheeseburgers from the bag.
Duo plopped down in front of the couch with his burgers, a medium carton of French fries, and a bottle of soda. He set all but one cheeseburger on the coffee table and picked up a remote, turning on the TV. It was set on news. “You know Hilde, now that the war’s over, there’s no real reason to watch this,” he said as he flipped through the channels, “It’s not like another mobile suit’s going to pop up, I don’t see any bigger threats than that, except for Heero. Man, that guy’s still scary.”
Hilde didn’t say anything about Heero or the TV as she pulled a chicken sandwich from the bag and some onion rings and sat down beside Duo with that and a glass of water. Duo had changed the channel to a live comedy show, but nothing really amused him as he shoved beef, cheese, and potatoes down his throat. Hilde was only half finished with her sandwich by the time Duo was working on his second. “Slow down or you might choke,” she nagged, “just like you choked on that dumpling.”
Duo ate his second burger a little slower, but was finished eating before Hilde. He jumped up from the couch and, leaving his trash on the coffee table, ran out of the trailer. Hilde watched him rush off, and then stared at the mess that he had left. She sighed and put down her onion rings to pick up his garbage.
As Hilde was sitting back down, Duo walked into the trailer with a large metal box in his hand. He kicked off of his shoes and walked into the living room saying, “This is it Hilde. We’ll never get bored again!” Hilde raised an eyebrow at the box as Duo stepped in front of the TV and set it down. “What is it?” she asked. Duo patted the box and pulled on the two plastic plates that had buttons attached to it and were connected to the box with wires. “This is a video game,” he said.
“Ah…I see,” Hilde said, “and how old are you?”
“17-ish,” Duo said, “I think.”
Hilde sighed as Duo connected the box’s other wires to the television and grabbed the two paddles. He dragged them over to the coffee table and then turned the box on by pressing a button. He handed one of the paddles to Hilde. “I found this baby while I was searching the junkyard for mobile suit parts back when the war was still pretty big. I couldn’t focus on fixin’ it up then, but I saved it just in case I’d survive. I figured there wouldn’t be much for a soldier to do once the war’s over and I didn’t wanna get bored,” he said.
Hilde held onto the paddle that she had been given and waited for the game to start. It was a racing video game that Duo had inserted into the box. Duo moved with his car as he raced Hilde down the track, and won. Hilde glanced at him and then leaned back. The second race, she won. Three more races down the road, two victories for Duo, three for Hilde total, Duo leaned forward. His bangs covered his eyes and he sighed. “Something wrong, Duo?” Hilde asked.
