Independence Day. An American holiday that was long since moot, but natives kept celebrating it, and Duo had insisted he wanted to see a true American festival, just once. And things like that weren't fun to do alone.

And Quatre was busy.

And Wufei and Trowa were no fun.

And Hilde was busy.

Heero wasn't sure why he had agreed. Something about Duo made it so hard to say no, despite the soldier's preference to avoid crowds on casual occasions. So, here he was, on a grassy plain outside one of the major cities in America, browsing through a traveling carnival. The overstimulation from the sights, smells and sounds is already enough to make him uncomfortable. The weight of his pistol in the waistband is familiar and a constant reminder.


He hears the high-pitched whistle, and it gets his attention immediately. Then a loud explosion follows, and Heero has already dropped to one knee before he realizes no one around him is panicking (though a few were startled), and instead they're focusing their attentions on the sky with oohs and aahs.

The young man stands back up, looking intentionally away from the braided American that brought him here. More whistling noises, and every muscle in the soldier's thin frame tenses. He recognizes the explosions as fireworks now that he's watching them (he missed the first one). That doesn't stop every successive whistle from eliciting a small twitch or further tightening of each muscle.