reallyaduck | (no subject)

Trowa's glance at him, from under the bangs covering half his face, is both mild and bland; it's the kind of look Trowa uses to say I will humor you by not pointing out that you've said something ridiculous.

(All amiable and between friends.

Of course.)

"I'm sure."

"When Mytho caught me when I was tripping he twisted his ankle!" Duck says, looking from Duo to Trowa rather anxiously.

She has a slight feeling that something may be going over her head, but . . . then again, that's a pretty common feeling, for Duck.

"That's one of the reasons I was worried about you, Trowa-senpai!"

"Just joking, kid. Trowa's good at what he does." It might not usually be 'catching people who fall from churches', but he's a useful guy to have around, all the same.

Trowa shrugs slightly.

Just a regular, decent guy. (In a town full of ostriches and drugged plummeting kids and armadillos.) That's all.

"Oh, yeah! But . . . you can be really good and still mess up sometimes . . ."

Even Rue sometimes makes a misstep and falls over, and Rue, Duck thinks, is practically perfect.

"Or get hurt by accident!"

"Yeah," Duo says. "That's for sure." He doesn't seem to realize that was a big fat downer in the middle of trying to cheer Duck up until they're halfway across the bridge.

He shrugs it off.

Trowa doesn't seem to notice either.

Or maybe it's just that he's not drawing attention to it. As a friend.

Instead, after a short silence, he says to Duck amiably, "Not this time, though."

"Right!"

Trowa is better at cheering up Duck than Duo, apparently, because she brightens up immediately.

"You know, you guys were really cool back there!"

He pauses and raises an eyebrow at Duck. "What, seriously? You've got low standards, Duck."

Duo tries a smile.

"No, you really were!" Duck insists, looking from one to the other.

"You guys saved Mytho and then you totally weren't scared of Fakir at all and - I'm really glad you were both there!"

Trowa shrugs a little.

"It wasn't much."

"Wasn't anything." Duo's slowed his pace a little. He is not glancing back at the church, but it's an effort. What's wrong with him?

"I think it is . . . but maybe if you save people's lives all the time . . ."

But Duck's already saved Mytho like three times and she STILL thinks it's a big deal!

Trowa glances down at Duck.

Mildly, "Not so often."

That it doesn't still matter, that is.

The glance he shoots at Trowa is telling, if you know Duo and his mental state well.

He closes his eyes, and his shoulders hunch a little.

Trowa's still looking at Duck, and misses the glance entirely.

Probably.

The hair half-obscuring his face makes it hard to be sure.

"Well, then it's a big deal!" Duck says, knowledgeably.

"Listen," Duo says, voice suddenly rough. "Can we quit talking about saving lives? Just tell the kid to stay off high places."

Trowa's glance at Duo is quick and unreadable. But that's nothing new.

"Sure."

For a moment, it seems as if he's going to leave it at that. Then, to Duck: "What are your classes like here?"

Duck glances at Duo, startled. "But - he's gotta live on the second floor!" she says, biting her lip, before answering Trowa's question.

"Uh, well, there's a lotta dancing, and we gotta write essays sometimes, and we study all the ballet stories and we get to watch the advanced class dancing 'cause they're a lot better than us. . . I dunno if that's like how it was where you guys went to school . . ."

"Didn't go to school."

Well, okay. He did for a year when he was at the church. But that's the last thing he wants to talk about, now.

"Oh, well, that's okay!" Duck says brightly. "You know so much stuff and you can do so much, I bet you didn't need it!"

-or, maybe he does want to talk about it?

"The only times I was ever at school, I didn't learn the important things there. And during the war it was only a disguise. Never was a normal kid."

That makes two of them.

Trowa, however, feels no need to share.

Duck is so not qualified to talk about normal kids.

She flails a little, wobbling back and forth on her feet as she looks uncertainly at Duo.

"Um . . . I don't know what's important to learn at school, but - if you can help people isn't that what's import-"

Wait, Duo said that she wasn't supposed to talk about saving people's lives! She cuts off, looking guilty.