Title: Just the Way You Are

Author: Link Worshiper
Pairing: 2+1, 1+OC, and eventual 1=2
Stuff: shameless sap and fluff, as well as maybe a bit of angst; Heero POV
Disclaimer: MSGW is the property of Sunrise, Bandai and Sotsu Agency. This story is just my little tribute to my favourite characters of all time.
Notes: Merry super-late Christmas and happy birthday Little Molly! I am so abused by you young minions. We'll blithely ignore how late this is. Thanks to Fancy Figures for editing, as well as my beta through omega readers, who helped keep me going when I was starting to doubt the quality of this thing - especially Natea.

++++

“I don't want clever conversation.
I never want to work that hard.
I just want someone
That I can talk to.
I want you just the way you are.”

-- Billy Joel; 'Just The Way You Are'

++++

“Yo, Heero, how's it hangin'?” Duo called from the sofa, lifting a hand in greeting. He paused for a moment, staring past me at the other person standing with me: “And your friend is? What's up, man?”

Ugh, he'd done it again. But still, it was just so hard to be angry with him, especially when he was playing it so casually - just like he was now, acting as if he'd been born to live on my sofa. I suppose it shouldn't have really been a surprise to see him there; he often came over to watch movies.

My eyes tracked the popcorn kernel he tossed into his mouth, settling on his face, which was focused intently on the Fred Astaire movie flickering across the television screen. He moved his sock-clad feet off the top of the coffee table so he could lean over to pick up his drink, which he slurped at loudly before setting the can back down next to a row of empty ones. A stack of movies sat nearby, waiting for their turn in the vid-disc player.

I suppose there was always the chance he'd just… forgotten.

After all, I reasoned, still standing at the door, my hand gripping the handle tightly, we did routinely hang in to watch movies on Friday nights, so, yes, there was indeed a high probability that my alternate set of plans had merely slipped his mind. Upon coming to this conclusion, I nodded and let it roll; things like that happened to the best of us.

The deep voice of my companion piped up behind me: “I don't want to intrude; maybe this is a bad time?”

I turned around to face my companion, Lawrence Quills, who was Relena's new chief of security and one of the new people I'd started to be friends with since the wars were over. “No, no, it's not an interruption,” I assured the sandy-haired blonde. “Duo might as well live here - he's already fused with my furniture.”

Quills laughed at that heartily and nodded, stepping into the apartment and closing the door behind me. He hung up his coat on the nearby peg and followed me to the kitchen, throwing a glance at the back of Duo's head as he passed by his station on the couch. Duo didn't even throw him a smile, still far too enthralled by the film to notice. I rolled my eyes at the scene; Duo rarely realized the things he did subconsciously when he was intent on a movie, like the way his eyebrows drifted up a bit when he was staring, or how he was jiggling his bent leg and tapping his other foot against the top of the coffee table.

Quills was waiting for me in the kitchen, a bag of coffee grinds in hand as he tried to figure out how my hot water pot worked. He seemed to be doing fine on his own, so I leaned against the counter and watched, needing only to direct him to the cupboard with the mugs when he asked. The plop-plop of the coffee in the kettle filled the empty room while we waited.

After a few silent moments, Quills piped up, “So that's the infamous Duo Maxwell, huh?”

I stared at him blankly, wondering who in the world wouldn't know Duo immediately, until I remembered that Quills was still pretty new to the team. I wasn't even sure if he knew that we'd all been the rebel Gundam pilots during the war, yet.

I was saved from having to say anything though, because just then, Duo himself wandered into the kitchen as well. “Did I hear my name, or is this a private powwow?” he asked as he ambled over to the counter and leaned on it beside me. He shot me a joking grin; “'Cause I could have sworn you all were talking about me in here.”

Wordlessly, I just shrugged and pointed to Quills, who had been the one to bring up Duo in the first place. Duo arched a curious eyebrow at him, and Quills stared back with a very neutral expression on his face.

“Oh yeah - new guy,” Duo intoned with sarcasm laced tightly into his voice. “We haven't officially met, have we?” He stepped towards Quills, his hand outstretched and his lips locked into a wary smile. Duo always put up strange fronts when he first met people. I suppose it was part of the way he liked to test the waters, always more careful than necessary when it came to someone he didn't know particularly well.

“It feels like I already know you,” said Quills, accepting Duo's proffered hand and giving it a loose shake before hastily releasing it. “Heero talks about you all the time.”

I had the presence of mind to shoot Quills a mild glare. It wasn't my fault that most of the interesting stories I had to tell centered on Duo. If anything, I blamed it on the fact that Duo's unconventional methods tended to pave the way for some pretty unique situations. A particular incident involving a large potted cactus and Christmas lights sprang immediately to mind.

Duo's grin broadened, his eyes crescents over his round cheeks. “And I'm sure I'll hear just as much about you as time goes by.”

Mentally, I let out a derisive snort. That wouldn't be happening for a while - that much I knew. It was plain as day that Duo didn't plan on feeling comfortable around Quills any time in the near future. At least, to me it was.

On the bright side, I knew that Duo would probably ease up on Quills once he got to know him better. Quills wasn't a bad guy - far from it! I wouldn't have left Relena's safety in the hands of someone I didn't trust myself.

“So, where were you anyway?” asked Duo, turning to me with his hands on his hips and acting like Quills had vanished from the room the second his eyes had left him. “I had to watch movies all by my lonesome,” he added with an exaggerated pout.

I shrugged again and nodded towards Quills. “We had to discuss security for Relena's next road tour, and Agent Quills suggested we talk about it over dinner.”

Duo's arms flew out on either side and then swung around to meet in front of him. “So why couldn't you order a pizza or some shit?” he wanted to know, his eyes wide. “Heero… we always watch movies on Fridays!”

“I'm sorry, Duo,” I started to say. “But I thought I told you - “

“Always,” Duo emphasized, shaking his hands in frustration. “Every Friday, for the past two and a half years! You forgot my favourite day of the week, man!”

“It was the only day Agent Quills was free,” I explained with a heavy sigh, really wishing it hadn't worked out like this. “I was so sure I told you we'd do it another night….”

Duo let it drop after that. Flapping a hand at me, he walked over towards the coffee machine, nudging Quills out of the way with his elbow as he filled one of the mugs for himself. “It's no big deal, okay?” he said as he replaced the coffee pot, his focus intent on the task at hand. “It's you - I'll forgive you… even if you did ditch me for a date.” His eyes lingered on Quills for a brief moment as he started to move away, his eyebrows arched in a disinterested expression that was hard for me to discern. If I didn't know better, I might have said it seemed like he was laying out a challenge to the security chief.

I rolled my eyes and scoffed, “It wasn't a date, Duo.” Duo and I went out for dinner all the time; I didn't see why doing so with Quills was any different.

“Sure as heck seems that way,” Duo retorted, peering at me over the rim of his mug as he lifted it to take a sip. A quirk of a grin poked up from behind the ceramic vessel, and he turned his attention back to Quills. “Yo, Lawrence - was it a date?”

“I - uh,” Quills hesitated, looking back and forth between Duo and I, as if he was unsure of what to say. I didn't see why it was such a hard question; it had been a work-related engagement, anyway. Quills eventually seemed to find a decent response after a moment of quick thinking, and answered Duo by saying, “In general terms, I guess you could say so, but - “ Here, he sent me a significant glance and cut himself off. “Heero, if this is really a bad time, I can go….”

Duo skeptically arched his eyebrows at Quills, who balked and tried to smile nervously back at him.

Watching this little exchange made me shake my head in exasperation. “You get used to him after a while,” I said, noting out of the corner of my eye the triumphant smirk that rode Duo's lips. “Maybe I should have planned this better.”

Duo's head snapped in my direction; “Yeah, maybe,” he agreed tartly.

I was a little embarrassed I had no way properly to explain Duo's behaviour to Quills. Honestly, I wasn't even sure myself why he was so on edge. “Perhaps we should continue this another day?” I suggested.

Duo was already wandering out of the kitchen as Quills agreed with me timidly. I think Duo's rather exuberant presence wasn't something he was neither prepared for, nor quite sure how to deal with. Had I known that Duo was going to be here, I would have prepped Quills for his first Maxwell encounter. Past experience told me that one should be ready for anything when initially meeting Duo; the longhaired American could virtually smell discomfort, especially when it had to do with him. It was especially dangerous, given his talent for pulling the most unpredictable shenanigans out of virtual nothingness.

I followed Quills back to the front door, unsure of what to make of Duo as he approached the pair of us, armed with Quills' jacket and scarf, which he dumped promptly into the surprised agent's arms. He even held the door for the bewildered chief of security as he left the apartment with an awkward wave goodbye.

Duo slammed the door behind him, brushing his hands together like he was ridding himself of something nasty. “Well, that's that,” he declared, seeming much more cheerful than he'd been before. The passive-aggressive front he'd been putting up for Quills seemed to have been shed like an old skin. He grinned, producing a pair of vid-disc cases from nowhere and holding one up in each hand; “So, what do we watch next? Breakfast at Tiffany's or Reservoir Dogs?” He wandered over towards the sofa, leaving the two movies on the coffee table and tossing the empty soda cans into the empty popcorn bowl to bring them back to the kitchen.

“Duo,” I said, trying to get his attention as he whizzed by me, bowl in arm. “What's wrong with Quills? Was he a bad choice to appoint as Relena's bodyguard? Because if you think there's a chance he's not - “

Duo waved his hand loosely at me as he ditched the bowl by the sink and proceeded to go about rooting through my refrigerator. “Naw, I'm sure he'll keep the princess outta the fire just fine.”

Now I was confused. “Then why were you being so - “

He cut me off again as he retrieved a container full of pasta from somewhere near the back of the fridge. “I dunno,” he said ambiguously. “Just a little grouchy, I guess.”

I quickly approached Duo, leaning on the counter beside him as he stuck the container into the microwave and punched in the number of minutes he wanted to zap it for. He had a very determined set to his jaw and his eyebrows were still knit tensely over his nose. “If you're upset about the mix-up about tonight, at least take it up with me, not Quills; he didn't have anything to do with it.”

He suddenly whirled on me, his shoulder whacking mine as he moved. “He's got everything to do with it, man!” he insisted, flinging his hand to the side in a frustrated gesture. “He's the jerk who fucked up the plans for our movie night, not you!”

“It was for work,” I reminded him, still unclear as to why Duo was getting so upset by this. “Quills only got promoted to Relena's chief of staff last month; he still needs someone to help him get used to things.”

“Oh, so showing him the ropes involves candlelit dinners and moonlight walks in the parking lot?” Duo asked, lacing his fingers beneath his chin and fluttering his eyelashes. The microwave beeped obnoxiously in the background.

I still didn't understand. “But it didn't,” I said with a confused shrug.

“Yeah,” Duo sneered sarcastically, “you tell me that when he starts equating face licking with professional advice.”

A look of horror crossed my face when I realized what Duo was insinuating. “Duo, I don't think Quills is that sort of person!” I exclaimed, mortified. Someone with such shady, impure intentions was not someone I wanted to leave protecting Relena to.

Duo was busy digging through one of the drawers for a fork, batting it shut with the back of his hand when he found one. He stalked back towards the television, muttering under his breath, “For now, anyway.”

I stared after him, completely flummoxed.

+++

Monday brought me on my weekly rounds of Relena's estate for a routine security inspection. Though she had her own team of personal bodyguards, Lady Une had felt it to be a necessary precaution to take some extra measures, just to be on the safe side. It was a motion that I wholeheartedly seconded.

Today, things were running just as blissfully mundane as usual. I found everything going just as smoothly as I'd expected it to be, which made my job thankfully simpler. I was just checking the alarm mechanisms on the windows of Relena's office, when I heard a familiar voice call my name. Turning around, I found Quills standing in the doorway, his hands shoved in his pockets as he regarded me. I nodded in greeting and promptly returned to my task.

“Where's Agent Maxwell?” he asked, walking into the room. From my peripheral, I could see him coming to lean casually against the bookcase nearest the window I was standing. “I thought he usually came on these routine inspections with you.”

“Not all the time,” I answered automatically, though mentally, I wondered about the strange question. “He's overseeing the tightening of the protocol enforcement checks on the colony trade routes. There've been some reports of hijacking between L1 and L2.”

“Ah, I see,” said Quills, suddenly seeming brighter than before. “So you can handle things on your own?”

“Of course,” I said, peering out the window at the beautiful roses climbing the fence across the lawn. I thought the combination of red and white buds and emerald leaves on the black grating was particularly stunning. “When Duo comes, it's usually more just to keep me company.”

Quills moved again, now turning his body to face mine, even as I continued to admire the rose garden outside. “Do you need a little company, then?” he asked. “Every time I've seen you today, you've seemed a bit stiff.”

“I can't say this is the most exciting of jobs,” I said, honestly. “But it's something that needs to be done. I'm not about to neglect my work, even if I don't have Duo to keep it lively.”

A grin lit Quill's features as he took another step nearer to me to look out the window as well. “Well, if you need someone to make things more interesting on those days Agent Maxwell's not available,” he started slowly, folding one arm against the wooden frame, “I'm always here and willing to ease your workload.”

Satisfied this window was secure, I finally gave him the benefit of eye-to-eye contact. “Thank you,” I said with a grateful smile. “The hours do get a bit long without a proper distraction.”

“You're welcome,” he said with an easy smile. “Anytime, you're welcome.”

Quills helped me with the rest of the extensive inspection after that, and though he was no Duo, his company certainly was appreciated. Having the chief of security with me was an efficient addition to my efforts, I quickly found, and I made a mental note to make sure I brought Quills with me on my future rounds of the estate. Even if Duo was there next time, I'm sure he wouldn't mind having a third body to get the work done even faster.

“So….” Quills hummed as he walked with me to the strip of driveway where I'd left my car. His hands were in his pockets again, and he was scuffing his boots on the gravel crunching beneath our feet as he kicked it up around his every step.

I arched an expectant eyebrow at him, waiting for him to continue.

He stopped, shrugging. “With Agent Maxwell out of the way -“ He cut himself off, his face scrunched up in frustration, before starting over. “I mean, with Maxwell otherwise… engaged… what would you say to a little lunch? We deserve a break after all that, don't you think?”

I shrugged, too. It sounded like a decent idea. Duo always suggested we do the same thing, anyway. He had a bottomless stomach and an uncanny gift for being able to tuck in and away. “There's a place not too far away that Duo and I like to frequent after these security rounds,” I told him.

Quills' smile seemed to waver just the slightest bit, but I quickly forgot it when we climbed into my car, soon distracted by the task of driving. Along the way, Quills and I made idle conversation, but we didn't really discuss anything particularly profound or interesting. Quills liked asking questions about the basics of my lifestyle, mostly about my favourite things or what my preference was in this or that, and I fed him mostly stock, automated replies. The only one I had to actually think about was when he asked what the most embarrassing thing I'd ever done was: I couldn't decide if it was worse that I'd danced with Relena at her school's prom, or that my taste for efficiency and comfort had made the wardrobe of my youth the target of Duo's jokes for years. Honestly, there were probably things that were far more shameful, but none of them were the sort you'd just put out there while you were still getting to know someone else.

When we got to Janie's, I wasn't surprised to see the small café mostly empty; the lunchtime crowd had pretty much cleared out by this point. Inside, the only other patrons were a small family of four, an old woman and another customer whose face was hidden behind one of the tall menus. I led the way to a table near the counter and sat down to admire the beautifully decorated desserts behind the glass display.

Quills sat down opposite me, and his presence immediately distracted me from the dessert case. Usually Duo and I liked to orient our meal completely around what we'd have at the end, and we usually spent most of our time deliberating over which cake would taste best with what before we ordered. I didn't know that Quills would have been so keen to join me in that little ritual, so I let it slide this time, strange as it felt. It was hard to break tradition.

“Well, anyway, Heero,” Quills was saying, folding his arms on the table, his green eyes darting back and forth between me and something over my shoulder. “You're about my age - maybe even a bit younger! I'm still curious as to how you were able to get promoted so quickly. You were a ranking officer in the agency by the time you were twenty-one, right?”

“It's kind of a long story….” I trailed off, still a bit put off by the way his eyes kept wandering. I sent him a suspicious glare and twisted around in my chair to look at the other diners, but found no one acting any differently from when I'd initially taken them in. Satisfied I was just being overly paranoid, I turned back around, about to speak again, but the almost enraged expression on Quill's face stopped me. So, instead, I whispered harshly: “What?”

Quills didn't really say anything, just continuing to stare indignantly over my shoulder. I was suddenly aware of some motion behind me, and judging by the distance and direction of the noise, I guessed that it was the person hidden behind the menu that had finally stirred. I felt a light breeze as he brushed past our table, but I was more intrigued by the odd expression riding Quill's features as he tracked the person's movements.

“Well, if it ain't Teacake come 'round ta see me!” It wasn't until I heard Janie's cheerful drawl from behind the counter that I even thought to take notice of the mystery diner. There was only one person Janie had a nickname for, and I knew him quite well.

Sure enough, when I looked up, there was none other than Duo Maxwell, leaning against the counter and watching Janie with half-lidded eyes, one of his flirtatious grins shaping his lips. Though I wasn't quite sure how I felt about Duo appearing so loose, I had to laugh whenever he turned on the charm; if any of these poor ladies realized how much he'd sweet-talked out of them, they'd drop Duo like yesterday's trash. Clearly, Duo was trolling for a treat or two, today. It was no secret he loved Janie's desserts.

Quills returned his attention to me, asking, “What are you grinning at?” He sounded a little annoyed.

I didn't even realize I was smiling until he pointed it out, and I quickly did my best to return my face to normal. “Just Duo being… Duo,” I explained with a shrug, nodding towards the longhaired agent. “He's like a one-man circus act. It's entertaining to watch.”

Quills stared over his shoulder at Duo, who was in the process of coaxing Janie out of a larger slice of carrot cake than the one she'd initially offered him. My companion barely gave the scene ten seconds of his time, though, clearly not finding the display nearly as fun much as I did.

Just then, Duo turned towards our table and flashed me a wide grin and a peace sign. He nodded a quick thanks to Janie, snatched his prize and dragged a chair over to our table, which he artfully spun around and sat down on, straddling it backwards. “Hey there, kids,” he said as he set his cake down on the table. A pair of forks appeared in one of his hands, and he offered me one; “No fun if you don't share the wealth, you know?”

I absently accepted one of the forks, my mind busy with the thought that Duo practically had ninja-like skills. Just the way he was always ready with everything I needed at the drop of a hat was more than enough to confirm this to me, nevermind that he moved like a shadow, even in broad daylight.

“What are you doing here, Agent Maxwell?” Quills piped up. His eyes were trained on the cake as we tore into it. “I thought you were working on another assignment?”

Duo looked absolutely mortified at Quills' statement, slamming his fork down beside the plate as he said, “Hey, I can break here if I want to!” He bent an elbow on his thigh and leaned in towards Quills, jabbing the air in front of him aggressively. “I wanted cake, and this is the best damn place to get it in the neighbourhood, end of story.” With that same force, he snatched up his fork and cut off an abnormally large piece, which he proceeded to stuff into his mouth, despite the fact it didn't quite fit. He got icing on his face as he struggled to chew.

Quills sputtered, and I shrugged. Duo did have a point, I thought, but he sure was giving Quills a hard time about it. His prickly behavior wasn't helping things out, though I wasn't so positive that Quills was much better. I told them both to calm down a little; I was getting a headache.

Duo and I made quick work of the cake, and Quills just sat there, watching us in silence. As I lifted the last bite to my mouth, Duo shot me a happy grin, saying, “Glad you enjoyed sharing with me.” Then he stood up to bus the crumb-covered plate, that pleased grin still stretching across his face.

I was beginning to wonder if Duo intimidated Quills, because it wasn't until the longhaired agent had gone that he spoke to me. Leaning across the table, he said, “Is he always like that?”

I cocked my head curiously. “Like what?” From the corners of my eyes, I could still see Duo, who was talking to Janie again, coaxing her out of a pair of peppermint sticks.

Quills must have been aware of what Duo was up to as well, because he absently made a gesture in Duo's general direction. “Like… like that!”

I didn't understand, and I told him so. Duo was just Duo, nothing less and nothing more. That was part of why I liked spending time with him; Duo wasn't about to change himself because he thought there was a particular way I'd like him more, and he wasn't about to ask me to tailor myself to his needs, either. Even my other close companions from the wars all had these certain expectations of me that I was never really keen on adhering to, and it was nice to know that at least one person could have cared less if I was night or day, so long as I was still me. He was my best friend for a reason, after all.

Quills stretched even further across the table, his voice dropping into an even lower hiss. “You mean it doesn't bother you that he's so loud and brash all the time? You don't care that he just wanders in and out of your life whenever he feels like it?”

“He's always welcome in my life,” I replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Who am I to control when he wants to be?”

Quills huffed indignantly, like he was trying to make a point I just wasn't getting. “I'm just saying, Heero,” he replied slowly, like he was explaining things to a small child, “you should take charge of your own life, and if there's something you want, you shouldn't have to be at the dictation of others if you don't want to be. Doesn't he ever inconvenience you? What about that first time I came over to your apartment and found him lounging on your sofa like he owned the place?”

“Duo has the extra key; I trust him in my home,” I answered with another shrug, still unclear as to what Quills was trying to illustrate to me. “And for the record,” I went on, “he's not 'in control of my life' - just a part of it. A part of it that's as lively and unfettered as the wind outside.” I glanced over in Duo's direction again; he was sucking on one of his peppermint sticks, drawing it slowly in and out of his mouth as he continued to lean on the countertop, deeply involved in whatever Janie was whispering to him. They kept glancing over at me with these sly sorts of expressions, and I worried what things they were plotting. Janie had a knack for twisting Duo's dastardly ideas into outright evil. The frightening part was how fond Duo was of evil.

“And what about you?” Quills asked, leaning back in his chair again, resuming his relaxed position from before.

“I don't know; what about me?” I wondered.

“What are you like?” he clarified.

“Oh,” I hummed. “I'm not sure, really. Duo always said I was like the ocean.” I shrugged a third time, thinking it a silly question - though I couldn't help but notice the way Quills' expression seemed to harden when my lips formed Duo's name.

+++

“He… what?” Duo ripped his eyes from the television screen to stare at me, wide-eyed. I took the opportunity to knock his character off the screen with a well-timed sword swing, which cause Duo to swear profusely when he realized what had happened.

“I told you,” I said absently, my thumb and forefinger skillfully tapping away at the game controller as Duo's character re-entered the match with full health and one less life, “he got two Christmas Eve tickets to that ballet I wanted to see, and he's given me the extra.”

Duo mashed at his controller, transforming his character into a ninja and sending her flying at me with a series of erratic punches and jabs. “Dammit, Heero, I said I'd buy you those tickets for Christmas!” As if to emphasize his point, he dealt my character a powerful kick that sent him flying across the screen.

“Well, at least, now, you can buy me something much less expensive,” I answered, not even blinking away from the screen from a moment, knowing that Duo was the sort of opponent who made good use of distraction and cheap shots. “I'd have felt bad if you'd ended up spending that much on me, anyway. It's too much to give.”

“Nothing is too much to give!” Duo snapped, turning to glare at me again. “Especially to you.”

At this, I sighed and hit the pause button; he was acting strangely - especially for a video game match. Setting down my controller, I moved to face him, crossing my arms over my chest as I scrutinized his serious expression. I don't know why he was so upset, to be honest; Duo was the sort who liked to pinch his pennies when he could, and I thought he'd have jumped at the suggestion of a cheaper Christmas present.

“I promised you I'd get you those tickets, and I want to make good on my word,” Duo said, his hands still curled tightly around the black controller. “I was looking forward to going with you, too!”

“Duo, it's not like we never do anything together. Hell, we practically live under the same roof!” I pointed out. “Quills wants one evening of my life, and only because he needed to hand off his spare ticket.”

“Heero, buddy….” Duo dropped the controller into his lap and pressed his fingers against his forehead, massaging the skin. “God, only you could make a blatant swoop seem so goddamned innocent,” he murmured just loud enough for me to hear. He spread his fingers and trapped his long bangs between them, yanking on them in a way that actually looked a bit painful, but he barely winced.

“You don't get this upset when Relena asks me to do things with her,” I countered, suddenly realizing that this had nothing to do with tickets and everything to do with Quills. “If she had been the one to give me the ticket, you would have hardly hiccupped about it....”

“That's right; I wouldn't!” he interjected, raising his voice a bit louder than necessary. “I know Relena, and she's pretty much your goddamned sister. And I know she doesn't have a crush on you anymore, because she told me that she -“

I cut him off abruptly, perhaps with more irritation than I meant. “What are you trying to say? That Quills has a crush on me? Like Relena used to?”

Duo's face elongated into an expression that somehow combined annoyance, exasperation and shock. “That's right - I am! Duh!” He shook his fist in the air like he was ringing an invisible bell. “What prize do we have for the winner?”

I stared at Duo with wide eyes, unable even to begin to figure out how I should feel about this sudden turn of events. I know Duo was the first one to stick his neck out for me, but I somehow thought he was going a bit far with this one. Quills wasn't exactly on my radar screen, and even if he was, I wasn't so prudish that I couldn't take care of myself. In theory, anyway.

“Well, so what if he does?” I asked. “It's not anything you have to worry about.”

“Heero, Heero….” Duo reached out to put a hand on my shoulder, shaking his head despairingly. “Isn't it just so, so… obvious…?” He met my eyes, his own filled with what seemed to be concern.

I eyed his knuckles, which were white-topped like he was clenching the muscles in his fingers tightly. “What's obvious?” I asked, noting for the first time in a while how long his hands were.

His eyes were narrowed, focused on the paused game on the television screen; our characters looked like they were about to topple onto one another. “If you can't tell, then nevermind,” he said, brushing it off with a strangely guarded tone.

I don't know what he thought was so noticeable, but what I could tell was that he was clearly very bothered by Quills' and the ballet tickets. Maybe he thought that Quills was inserting himself into our friendship, trying to drive a wedge between us, or something. “Duo, Quills will never be the same friend that you are to me - not even close! Not now, not ever,” I assured him, lifting a hand to place it over his.

Suddenly, Duo wrenched his hand out from under mine, almost like my flesh had scalded him. He sucked in his bottom lip and nibbled it a bit, his eyebrows bent in a stoic fashion. “Don't you get it, Heero?” he said, his calm voice not matching his stern countenance. “It's not about being friends; the jerk wants in your pants, and it's so disgustingly in your face, I can't believe you're missing it! You, who can tell if someone's sneaking through the backdoor without even turning around, can't even figure out his intentions? I'm almost appalled.” He glared down his arm at the floor to his left and made a clicking noise with his tongue, one side of his lips turning up, almost like a sneer.

I was hurt, coming up with more and more reasons as to why Duo didn't approve of Quills with each passing second. “So you don't like that someone wants to kiss me?” I said, beginning to show the slightest signs of frustration. “It's my mouth, after all.”

“You think I don't know that, Heero?!” he shouted without warning, pounding his fist into his thigh as he whipped his head around to face me again. His shoulders were heaving as he sucked in many heavy breaths. Eventually, he lifted his chin and closed his eyes, his clenched fingers slowly loosening. “It's not that - you can kiss who you want - but I'm just… saying….” He seemed to be having trouble coming up with the right words for whatever he was trying to express. “Just… be careful, okay? You've never had it easy and… well… the last thing I want is for you to… to be unhappy….” As he came to the close of his little speech, I found his eyes wouldn't settle, continuously darting between my face and the floor.

The painful emotions that had wracked my heart vanished almost immediately, and before I knew it, I'd grabbed Duo in a fierce hug. “You really are the best friend anyone could ever want,” I told him, pressing my cheek against his.

He seemed stiff in my arms, like he'd been frozen to that one spot. “I know I am, buddy,” he finally managed to stammer, his hands slowly coming up to touch my back, a loose reciprocation of the embrace. “Now leggo of me so I can continue to kick your ass at video games.” He slowly seemed to be regaining his typical attitude and sarcasm, which made me breathe an internal sigh of relief; he'd been worrying me for a moment, there.

I wasn't sure what to say twenty minutes later, when the computerized announcer on the game announced: 'Player two defeated!'

+++

For all the awkwardness that had ensued that day we'd talked about Quills, there's something to be said for how astute Duo was when it came to reading other people. Two days later, I came to him with a problem.

Over the five or so years we had all worked at Preventers, Duo had managed to climb his way up to being the director of the investigations department. Needless to say, he was weighted down with a pretty busy job, but he was always willing to take a break if I needed help with something.

Not even bothering to knock, I pushed open his office door and marched right up to his desk, my hands making a low thunk on the wooden top as they fell upon it. He didn't seem surprised to see me as he nonchalantly closed the lid of his laptop and spun his swivel chair to face me. It almost like he had been expecting me, which was the only way I could justify his almost lackadaisical reaction to my rather pronounced entrance. A white cord trailed from the buds in his ears to his MP3 player, which lay on top of his thigh.

“Duo, I need your advice,” I announced, cutting right to the heart of the matter.

With that same, careless grace, he flicked one of the buds out of his ears and cast an innocent face at me, as if he had no idea why I'd come to him for help.

Normally, I'd have taken this as a signal that he wanted to play, but I was far too distracted to even organize my thoughts properly - much less come back with a witticism worthy of a Maxwell comment. “Duo - Quills - movies - Saturday - stuck!” I blurted, not even quite sure if what I was saying made remote sense.

An ambiguous grin was spread across Duo's face, an expression that made it very hard to figure out what he was thinking. Still, he flapped his hand at me, gesturing for me to take a seat on the leather couch behind me and leaned his chin on his other palm. “Slow down a little, man,” he said, shaking his head a little. “Tell me again what's going on?”

A long breath escaped my rounded lips as I focused myself; I could almost physically feel the adrenaline pumping through my veins. “This morning, when I went to Relena's estate,” I began again, this time coming off in a much more coherent fashion, “Quills was helping me do my rounds, and he asked me to accompany him to the movies this weekend.”

“So?” Duo arched his eyebrows at me, and I saw that indifferent expression of his amplify doubly. I suddenly realized why one-on-one meetings with the unreadable Duo Maxwell intimidated the greener agents.

I stuttered. “So, I said 'yes', but now I'm thinking he means it to be a… a….“

“A date?” he finished for me, his eyebrows disappearing behind his long, shaggy bangs.

“Yes! That!” I exclaimed. Warmth rose to my cheeks, and suddenly, I knew they were bright red. Quickly, I averted my eyes, suddenly finding the stitching of the black couch I was perched upon very interesting.

“Ooh, I see,” he hummed, leaning back in his chair and kicking his boots up on the desktop. He folded his arms behind his head and stared up at the ceiling aimlessly. “And what is it you need to ask me about?”

“Well, I know you're more aware of the standard protocol for these kinds of things,” I started slowly, still examining the upholstery. “And, well, since I've never really been on one before, I'm not exactly sure what a 'date' really entails.” I made a half-hearted air quote with one hand as I fingered the sofa cushions with the other.

“Oh.”

At the sound of his voice, my head snapped up. I got the distinct feeling that he suddenly wasn't too keen on helping me out; he certainly didn't sound very enthusiastic in any case. “Duo…?” I ventured carefully, unsure of how he was going to react.

He was still watching the ceiling as he aimlessly spun around in his swivel chair, his silence eating the air around us. “Well, it will probably involve kissing, you know,” he said, tossing out the statement as if it was a comment on the weather.

Clearly, he wasn't paying attention to the wide-eyed expression that ripped its way across my features. “Right away!?”

“Well, maybe not right away!” he huffed with exasperation, dropping his feet to the ground to stop the lazy rotation of his chair. “Not that I really have a lot of dating experience to draw on, to be perfectly honest, but I was pretty sure that was what the aim was. At least on the first one, anyway.”

I stared at him, agape, but it wasn't the talk of kissing that sparked my interest. “Not got a lot of dating experience?” I wondered, completely bewildered. “You?”

“Hey, not everyone thinks I'm Charm incarnated. Anyway, you gotta have two who are into it to make the thing work, you know,” Duo retorted, crossing his arms and turning his chair so he could brace his feet on the section of desk beneath his laptop. “I decided a while ago that I'm not into kissin' people I'm not really in love with.” He poked a finger in my direction, as if he was making a particularly noteworthy point: “All that crap about 'experimenting' and 'learning to care for someone' just don't cut it for me. You either are, or you aren't.”

“Aren't what?” I asked, furrowing my eyebrows in confusion. Duo said the strangest things, sometimes, and when he did, I never knew what to make of him - or what he said.

“In love,” he emphasized.

I cocked my head, still trying to puzzle out Duo's meaning; oftentimes, when he said one thing, he really meant another. “Are you saying I should just call it off? Quills might get offended.”

“Hey, you can do whatever the hell you want,” he told me uncaringly, not even meeting my eyes. “Just keep in mind that if he thinks it's a date, and you go with him, he's probably going to expect you to kiss him. It's like compensation for all the cash he'll blow on you that night.” He tossed a hand nonchalantly as he went back to pushing himself around in that dizzying chair of his, while I tried to figure out how he hadn't made himself sick yet.

And then I said, a frown crossing my features, “I don't expect him to fund anything, especially when I'm perfectly capable of paying my own way.”

“Great,” shrugged Duo, “So at least you're a step above most of the shameless grifters out there. He's still going to want to kiss you.” His words trailed off into a quiet mumble that I couldn't quite discern. Duo really didn't like Quills, and I could only wonder why.

Still, there were more dominant concerns occupying my thoughts - namely the issue Duo had last touched upon before he started muttering under his breath. I wanted to ask him what I should do if it came down to having to kiss Quills, but I wasn't quite sure how to go about it. So instead, I just sat quietly on the couch, waiting for him to trap me into telling him what was on my mind and therefore avoiding any awkwardness.

Sure enough, he caught my attention mere moments later, motioning for me to get up as he said, “Come over here, man. Stop thinking so hard about it, okay?”

Cautiously, I followed his directions, but still wary I might be setting myself up for a classic Maxwell prank. For all my sharp senses, I was always blindsided by Duo's jokes - without fail. I never seemed to learn my lesson, either.

“Lean on the desk, willya?” he directed with a few quick motions of his index finger. He turned his chair to face me, freeing himself of his MP3 player, which he laid beside the computer. He turned his hand in circles, gesturing me nearer; “Closer,” he said, folding his arms across the desktop and grinning in a way that blurred his purposes magnificently. “Don't want anyone to know you're getting a lovin' spoonful of Maxwell's dating advice, do ya?”

About an inch separated the tips of our noses, and I found his face was an unfocused mess to me when I tried to catch the expression in his large eyes. He told me to close my eyes, and I did, not even really thinking about why he'd asked me to do such a thing until I felt a slightly damp pressure against my mouth. My eyes snapped open, just to confirm to my reeling brain that what I thought was happening was, indeed, the case. And sure enough, it most certainly was.

Duo had tilted his head a bit to the left to kiss me, his lips massaging mine gently. He was more of hands-on learner, so I guess it made sense that he was more of a hands-on teacher, too. His left hand was cupped around the line of my jaw, and his eyes were closed, so I closed mine again, too. I felt him whisper my name against my mouth just before he pulled away, and to me, it seemed like I'd been left dangling on a string.

“Hey, lover boy - you can open your eyes again, you know,” I heard Duo remind me, to which I quickly complied, a little embarrassed to see the chuckle riding his features. “I like the way you kiss,” he went on, leaning on the tops of his laced fingers. “It suits you.”

“What's that mean?” I demanded to know, but he just shrugged absently, his smirk hardly camouflaged behind his folded hands.

“It can mean what you like, and you can like what it means, depending,” he told me. He wasted no time dwelling on the subject, though, because almost immediately, he was moving on, as was typical of him. “Alright, then. So…?” He arched his eyebrows in a way that made me wonder what he was expecting of me.

“So…?”

He muffled a faint snort behind his hands, his eyes scrunching into crescents for a millisecond or two. “So, now it's your turn, lover boy,” he informed me blithely. Oh, he was definitely enjoying this. I was starting to think that calling in sick tomorrow might not be such a bad idea. Lowering his hands to the desk, he bent his head a bit to the side, just like before, his eyelids lowering a bit; “Alright, so show me what you got.”

I was hesitant, suddenly feeling very dubious about this whole situation. “I don't know, Duo. I'm not very good at this kind of thing….”

“Which is exactly why we're practicing now, smart one,” Duo retorted. “Come on! Do me just like you're gonna do this weekend.” He leaned a bit closer to me, his eyelids slipping all the way shut.

I swallowed, still nervous as I leaned in to meet him. It had finally dawned upon me what we were doing, and I felt bad for making Duo have to choose between his philosophies towards kissing and his inherent need to help out friends in desperate situations.

A murmur from Duo kept our lips apart for a few more moments: “You should whisper the name of the person you're kissing real quiet-like right before you do it,” he instructed me, his eyes still closed. “It's romantic.”

And, of course, I listened to him. After all, Duo knew best.

+++

Quills said he was going to meet me in front of my building at 7:15, but rang my doorbell at 6:30 instead, and I, having adopted some of Duo's lazier habits, was hardly ready to go. Fortunately, waiting for me wasn't like waiting for Relena to get dressed, and I was ready to leave in about ten minutes.

It was pretty brisk outside, but we were both bundled up for the weather, so we walked into town for the movie. When we arrived, though, I was dismayed to find that Quills had already purchased the tickets beforehand. I attempted to offer him compensation, but he wouldn't accept it. I gave up trying, but inwardly, I was a little annoyed.

Still, it wasn't worth wasting any energy on. The movie Quills had selected was actually one I'd been planning to see, anyway. Someone at the agency knew someone, who knew someone else that had been able to go to the premier and had come back singing its praises - or something like that. I hadn't realized the film was opening today, though.

The theatre was fairly crowded, but we still managed to find a pair of seats near the back, which was much emptier than the front. Quills said it was better because then there'd be less people to bother us; I just liked the fact that there was no one tall sitting in front of me to block my view of the screen.

Of course, with my luck, the annoyed grunt of someone having to let someone through the row behind us heralded the arrival of a potentially annoying theatregoer. I glared over my shoulder at the dim outline of the person approaching the middle of the row, laden with a huge bucket of popcorn and a giant soda; a bag of candy laid atop the buttery popcorn kernels. Great, I thought, sulking low in my chair and crossing my arms over my chest. This is going to become such an obnoxious experience. As if to add insult to injury, a particularly wide man decided that the best spot in the entire theatre was the seat directly in front of me.

I was about to suggest to Quills that we move, but the lights chose that moment to sink into darkness, and a quick cursory glance around the theatre revealed that there weren't a lot of extra pairs of seats, anyway. The curse I muttered under my breath was masked by the noise of the trailer that had suddenly popped onto the screen. It didn't help that the fat man in front of me couldn't decide which way he wanted to lean and was constantly obstructing my view. The responsible mother who'd brought the ten-year old beside me wasn't much better, either.

Almost immediately, the little annoyances began. Most people probably wouldn't have thought twice about it, but with my acute hearing, all I could hone in on, despite the blaring volume of the movie, was the sound of the candy bag crinkling, popcorn being crunched and soda being slurped. It was driving me insane. I decided I should just deal with it now, before I snapped. Twisting around in my chair, I opened my mouth to chew the muncher out, but found the words dying on my tongue almost immediately.

“Hey, 'Ro!” Duo whispered loudly around a mouthful of popcorn. His cobalt eyes were glinting sort of purplish in the darkness; I could just make out a dark shadow lying across his shoulder, which I realized to be his braid. Something was up, I was sure; Duo never bought food at the movies. He was always the first to complain when someone else so much as crinkled a bag of chips in the movie theatre.

“Duo!” I exclaimed, hoping my voice wasn't nearly as loud as it sounded. “What are you doing here?”

“Remember? Someone at Preventers knew someone, who knew someone - “

“Who went to the premier - yes, yes, I remember,” I finished, unsure of how I should react. The issue about his loud snacks was quickly pushed to the back of my mind. Now, I was trying to decide if I should be angry that he felt he had to hold my hand through this whole ordeal, or if I should be grateful he was there to watch my back.

He took another long, loud sip of soda, his eyes never leaving mine. “No, really, I just read a review in the paper this morning that said this flick was stellar.”

“Is that the truth?”

“Have you ever known me to lie?” he countered, grinning so that his white teeth showed between his wide lips. He chomped on his straw, regarding me carefully, even as I turned back around. I got the feeling he was still watching me.

The fat man in front of me shifted to the right, forcing me to lean more to the left in order to see the screen. As I did, my nostrils were suddenly filled with Quills' scent, and I soon realized that he'd also leaned towards the middle. Our heads made a soft, hollow noise as they bumped, and I winced as a dull throb pulsed through my skull, quickly straightening up again.

“Sorry, Heero,” he murmured right into my ear, which made me jump. I trained my eyes on the movie, even though I couldn't see very well in my current position, and tried hard to ignore the fact that I could hear Quills breathing very heavily beside me. He was hogging the armrest between us, so I tucked my hand underneath my thigh.

The little child next to me kept kicking my shin, but I didn't want to shift back towards Quills, still feeling a little uncomfortable having him in my personal space. After a while, I almost even started to forget that she was there, until I felt a sharp, insistent tug on my sleeve. Glancing down, I saw the pigtailed girl kneeling in her chair, one of her round fists curled around the fabric of my shirt; she was holding out a stick of red licorice in the other, like some sort of offering. “Here,” she whispered loudly, thrusting the licorice up towards my face - or at least as high as she could reach in that general direction.

“No, thanks, sweetie,” I said as placidly as I could, trying to neatly brush her off without upsetting her. “You go on and eat it.”

The girl pouted and dug her front teeth into her bottom lip. She let go of my shirt and clambered around in her chair so she was facing the rear of the theatre, frowning into the darkness as she made a small noise of frustration. I rolled my eyes; her mother should have known this wasn't the sort of movie a child her age could sit still through.

She wasn't finished, though. Hardly a few moments later, she was pulling on my sleeve again, this time chewing on another licorice stick she seemed to have produced from nowhere as she shoved the other at me again. “You have to take it,” she insisted. “The Mister behind you said it would make the bump on your heart go away.”

I glanced at her, arching my eyebrows questioningly. She must mean head, I thought as I gingerly touched the bruise that had appeared on my forehead, where Quills and I had knocked into each other. Then, I thought about the rest of what she'd said, and, realizing whom she must have been talking about, and shifted around in my seat to see Duo, still munching on his popcorn with a very satisfied grin on his face in the flickering light. There were a lot of times I wondered what went through Duo's brain. Staring at Duo's smug expression in the half-light and the bag of Twizzlers on his knee, I decided this was definitely one of those times.

Glancing down at the girl again, who was still hopefully extending the candy towards me, I sighed and gently pried it out of her hand, and she giggled happily. From the corner of my eye, I saw Duo's hand holding yet another stick of red licorice appear between us; the girl greedily reached up and snatched the candy, but fortunately didn't see the way Duo aimed his middle finger at the top of her head for her rudeness. I heard him grunt and mumble, “Well, a deal's a deal.” I glared over my shoulder at him, but his grin remained completely unscathed as he just shrugged at me. “Kids….”

I munched thoughtfully on the piece of licorice, thinking to myself about how it had been such a long time since I'd eaten any. Come to think of it, I was pretty sure I'd been with Duo at the movies the last time I'd had some. I guess he remembered that I'd liked it.

I was so absorbed in the taste of the candy and the plot twist occurring in the movie, I didn't notice that Quills had leaned towards me again, and I almost choked when he startled me with another whisper. “Are you enjoying yourself?” he asked.

“Sure,” I answered hastily, my eyes still glued to the screen. “Why wouldn't I be?” I swallowed the last bit of licorice as I spoke.

He didn't say anything, merely grunting softly under his breath as if he had nothing to reply with. I glanced at him out of the corners of my eyes, wondering why Quills was acting so strangely, and caught him in the middle of a very languid yawn. He stretched his arms out forward a bit, and then flexed them to the sides, letting them dangle behind his seat for a moment before he drew them up to rest along the tops of the chairs in our row. I could feel the length of his arm pressed against my shoulder blades, which made me tense in the darkness. “I'm enjoying myself, too,” he said softly, starting to lean in towards me a bit.

“Holy crap!”

I was suddenly very aware of a face being very close to mine, but a quick peek to the left found Duo, who was leaning between Quills and I as he gaped at the screen. I'd missed whatever had just happened, aware only of the explosive sound effects that had gone with the film. Duo turned to me, still suckling the straw of his giant soda as he whispered, “How ridiculous was that car chase?” The last drops of Duo's drink rattled amongst the ice cubes in the cup as he dutifully sucked them up, waiting for an answer.

“Agent Maxwell,” Quills hissed, leaning forward so he could see both of us. He was sending a dark glare in Duo's direction, but I personally found the look of smug indifference Duo countered with a bit more unsettling. That expression was so telling for Duo, making it clear to me that he was out to obstruct Quills from something. If Quills thought he was going to beat Duo to whatever they were competing for, he had another thing coming; Duo was the most tenacious person alive - especially when it came to something he really wanted.

“Mm?” Duo had loosened the top on his soda and was using the straw to knock the ice cubes around the bottom of the cup, hardly even glancing in Quills' direction. He tossed his head back and poured a few of the crushed ice pieces into his mouth, which he then proceeded to crunch loudly. Annoying as it was, I had no right to complain, as I was a compulsive ice chewer myself, but it seemed like Quills was anything but amused.

Duo seemed to notice the dark aura building up beside him. “Oh, want some?” he asked Quills brightly, offering the cup to him. “They still kind of taste like root beer.” Even as Quills adamantly shook his head, Duo was pushing the cup towards him. I suppose it came as no surprise that when Quills tried to bat Duo away with the back of his hand, Duo lost his grip on the cup, scattering a shower of ice cubes all across Quills' lap.

I bit my lip and tried not to snigger. If it hadn't been so funny, I might have actually thought to feel a little bad.

++++

“Oh, and by the way, you owe me your soul,” Duo informed me blithely. We were at Relena's estate again, going through our routine inspection. At the moment, we were doing a basic perimeter check to ensure the outside grounds were safely protected.

I stopped by a large amaranth bush to ensure the security of the gardener's gate in the fence. Punching in the code for the gate's locking mechanism to ensure it still worked, I then began to go about changing it for the next week. Once, there had been a break-in through one of these more obscure entrances to the estate grounds, and since then, Lady Une had dictated it was better safe than sorry when it came to the Vice Minister, even if it did seem a bit over-the-top to update security every week or so. “Hmm?” I had only vaguely heard Duo speaking.

“Your soul,” he reiterated. “It's mine.”

“Yeah? If that's the case, then this is the sixteenth occasion I'll have had to forsake my conscious being to you.” I hummed. “What's the basis for staking claim on it this time?”

“You owe me big time for last weekend, that's why,” he stated, striding over to lean against the iron fence next to me. He idly toed the roots of the burgundy amaranth plant, crossing his arms over his chest as he went on. “Quills was this close” - he lifted a hand to show me his thumb and forefinger, which were about an inch apart from each other - “to landing a big, fat, wet one on ya. If I hadn't been there to take the bullet for you, he'd have sucked your tongue down his throat like a goddamn Hoover vacuum.”

I stopped, shooting an uncertain glare at him.

“You heard me,” Duo said, punching me softly on the shoulder. “He was going in for the kill when I stuck my face in there and it was disgusting.” He wiped his left cheek as if it was still stained with Quill's saliva. “Not that you noticed or anything.”

I thought about the moment Duo was describing, and my eyes widened as I suddenly realized that it made sense of Quill's odd behaviour. I smiled at Duo gratefully, saying, “I'll have to start stealing souls myself, then - if I'm going to be able to repay what I owe you.”

Duo shrugged nonchalantly, still toeing the amaranth distractedly. “I must be crazy,” he mumbled under his breath before wandering further down the length of the fence. I let him go; there was a security camera about twenty yards that way he was probably going to see about.

We finished the grounds check in about another two hours and then moved on to begin making sure the house itself was secure. Because we were a bit behind schedule, Duo and I elected to split up to make the going faster; he took the attic and the second floor while I covered the ground floor and the cellars. He seemed a little distracted, and I made a mental note to ask him what was bothering him; his long hair was going to start falling out even more if he kept allowing himself to become so easily stressed.

Along my inspection route, I happened across Relena, who was busy signing papers in her office when I came to examine it. She didn't even notice that I was there at first, but when she did, she seemed all to ready to take a break from her tedious work. “Hello, Heero,” she said brightly. “How are you today?”

“I'm doing well,” I replied out of courtesy. “And yourself?”

“Been better,” she sighed, slumping in her desk chair as she gestured tiredly to the stacks and stacks of papers in front of her. Waving her hands in the air, as if she was trying to dispel the work from her mind, she sighed glumly, and then straightened in a professional manner. “So, what's been going on with you? I haven't seen you in at least two weeks.”

“Nothing very exciting,” I said, deciding it would be alright to take a few minutes out of my routine to chat with her. I moved to sit in one of the leather chairs situated in front of her desk. “I went to the movies with your new chief of security on Saturday,” I told her, knowing there was no use in keeping such information from someone who pretty much equated with being my sister. Besides, I'd found in the past that it was sometimes good to hear a woman's take on these lovey-dovey sorts of things. Not that I was in love with Lawrence Quills at all, I reminded myself.

Relena's face was blank, an expressionless mask I'd never seen cast over her features before. “On a date?” she asked, her voice strangely placid. It was the sort of tone I'd heard her use on other politicians she felt particularly guarded against.

“That's what Duo called it,” I said with a shrug.

“And what Lawrence called it,” she added in that same, blunt way.

“It seems that way.”

She continued to stare blankly at me, her eyelids fluttering over her crystal blue irises. “You and Lawrence. On a date,” she reiterated slowly, as if she was still trying to understand what I'd said. “A date that he asked you on?”

“Yes,” I nodded.

“So he's gay.”

This time, I paused before I answered. I'd never thought about it in such blunt terms before, but I supposed that was true, so I shrugged and nodded a second time.

“I see,” she said, folding her hands on the desktop. She met my eye, and it seemed like she was going to offer me some womanly words of wisdom, but what came out of her mouth was far from it. “Dammit,” she mouthed, balling her hands into fists and pounding them against her thighs. “Every fucking time,” she grumbled under her breath, glaring out the window to her right.

As for me, I could only stare at her, completely dumbfounded.

To her credit, Relena was always the sort who could gather herself into the most ladylike of images, even when she was steaming inside. She straightened her back again and replaced her hands on the desktop, a friendly smile centering itself on her lips. Just when I'd felt reassured by that very smile, though, it dropped into the slightest of frowns. “Wait a minute,” she said, furrowing one dark golden eyebrow. “What are you doing going on dates with Lawrence? Did you and Duo fight?”

I was beginning to wonder if Relena was feeling under the weather; it certainly might explain her sudden bouts of strange questions. Then again, upon further thought, Relena had always made a habit of asking me the most unexpected things. “No, of course not,” I told her, a little insulted she'd think that Duo and I would ever squabble. “Why would you say that? If Duo and I have a disagreement, it's not going to end our relationship.”

There really was no word for the expression that overtook her face when I said that. She looked partly angry, partly confused and even a little disappointed. “Heero Yuy,” she said sternly, leaning over the desk to make sure I was pinned by her intense stare, “you had better not be a filthy two-timer. I'll kill you if you are.”

As a note, when the top advocate for peace in the entire ESUN starts threatening your life, you start closely examining what you might have done in the past ten minutes to get her so riled. Upon doing so, I found myself turning up a blank, completely unsure of why she was suddenly so angry with me. I didn't even know how to begin to assure her that I wasn't doing anything like that. To my knowledge, to be a 'two-timer', one had to be seeing two people simultaneously; how could she call me that when I wasn't even seeing one?

“Oh, God,” she groaned, reaching up to massage her temples. “Don't stare at me like you have no idea what I'm talking about.”

“But I don't,” I iterated. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, toying idly with the zipper on my Preventers jacket as I started going over my mental checklist of things I had yet to do for the security inspection. Vaguely, I realized that I must have been feeling extremely tense, as I tended to go through systematic things like lists and codes when I got nervous.

Her eyes were still focused intently on me, but I saw that her displeased expression was softening again, and I found I could relax my knotted muscles now that she wasn't peering right through me. “Does Duo know?” she wondered.

I eyed her, disbelievingly. “Is that a serious question?” I asked.

“Completely,” she said curtly. I was reminded intimately as to why I'd decided to steer clear of Relena's political career. “You can't keep him in the dark forever, you know. Sooner or later, he's going to find out, and it's probably better if he - “

Waving a silencing hand, I cut her off. “Of course he knows,” I said with a roll of my eyes. “He's half the reason I even went through with it at all.”

Relena's eyes widened, her mouth forming a small round as she let out a small gasp. “You mean you broke up with him?” Her hand rose to her lips, her face becoming wrought with concern and pity. “Oh my God, Heero, what happened?” She reached across the desk as if she wanted to take my hand, but I quickly stowed it behind my back before she could grab it.

By this point, I'd had about enough. Standing up, I crossed my arms over my chest and demanded, “What are you talking about, Relena?”

She looked indignant and just as shocked as I probably did. “You and Duo, obviously!” she said, gripping the arms of her chair as she returned my tough stare with one of her own. “I mean, don't get me wrong, Heero: Lawrence is nice and everything, but he's not Duo. You had something with Duo that I could actually feel when I was around you two. That's not happening with anybody else in your life anytime soon, I hope you know! Don't throw that away foolishly, you hear me?”

I wasn't quite sure when the gears in my brain started turning, but it was slowly dawning upon me what sort of impression Relena had gotten about Duo and I. “Oh,” I hummed quietly as it became clearer to me. My arms dropped to my sides and I collapsed into the chair behind me again. “Ooh.”

“Are you saying that you and Duo weren't - oh.” Realization settled in on her as well, and a very dark pink blush coloured her cheeks. “Oh, God, Heero, I'm sorry!” she apologized. “From the way you two are always together and the way Duo talks about you, I'd just always assumed that you were, well… you know….” She laughed a little, adding, “It's kind of part of the reason I decided to just give up on you. You always seemed to notice Duo first, anyway.”

“It's okay,” I shrugged uncaringly. “It's happened a few times before.” Actually, if I had a quarter credit for every time Duo and I have been the subject of a suggestive joke, I'd never have to work again. Most of the people who did probably don't even know that I've heard them say some of the things they do. Duo thinks it's hilarious; I think it's just weird.

Relena's lips parted like she was about to speak, but before she could get any words out, there came a violently shouted expletive from somewhere down the hall. We barely even spent a second exchanging significant glances before we were on our feet and hurrying out of her office to see what was amiss. Walking briskly down the hall, the untamed yelling of two people fighting grew in volume as we neared. I can't say I was particularly surprised when I tagged the voices as Duo and Quills, echoing from the house's large front foyer.

“You've got a lot of fucking nerve, Maxwell, just showing up the way you do,” Quills was saying in a most unpleasant tone. They were standing in the middle of the grand room, Duo standing with his back towards me, though I could see his expression perfectly in the huge mirror behind Quills. “Yuy's not your pet; take off the goddamned leash and share.”

“Hey, hey, hey. Back the fuck off. If anyone's got nerve, it's fucking you,” Duo retorted, his entire body twisting as he gestured angrily at Quills. “Me and Heero've been running this gig here since we joined up with the Preventers. That's four more years than you've even been working for Miss Relena. If you think sticking your fat foot in my way is going to trip me up for very long, you got another thing coming.” He tightened his fist and lifted it menacingly; “And a punch in the goddamned face. You got that coming, too.”

“Is that a threat, Maxwell?” asked Quills, who was pushing up his sleeves like he was getting ready for a brawl.

Relena and I were still standing in the archway that led from the hall we'd just come down and into the foyer. The glint in Duo's narrowed eyes was a sure sign his mood was reaching a dangerous level, and I thought it would probably be a good idea to intervene, but Relena kept a firm grip on the hem of my jacket, holding me fast. “What are you doing?” I hissed at her. “Duo's going to rip his head off!”

She sent me a very stern glare as she held a stiff finger over her lips. “Shh! Don't ruin it just as it's getting good!” she commanded, sounding very authoritative. “Oh, I want to see a good fight!”

I sent her the most disbelieving look I could muster. “That's not something a pacifist should say,” I gaped, not believing what was coming out of her mouth. It had to be 'that time of the month'; it was the only way I could rationalize the unpredictable things she'd been saying today.

She cuffed the side of my face softly and jerked me out of the way so she could get a better view. “Quiet, you! You're being ridiculous.”

Meanwhile, in the foyer, Duo and Quills were still exchanging taunts, clearly not about to let the other have the upper hand. I had no idea why they were so confrontational with each other, but it was clear that whatever it was had set a huge rift in the middle of them. It certainly was awkward having to be the tether between them; sometimes I felt like they were yanking on me in opposite directions, and I wasn't sure which way I should allow myself to be pulled.

“You take him clubbing, and I'll kill you,” Duo was saying, still sounding just as pissed off as before. “He hates that scene.”

“I'll ask him myself, thanks!” snapped Quills, clearly on the defensive.

“Good! I'll laugh when you get burned!” Duo retorted, flipping his middle finger at Quills, which just seemed to make the chief of security even angrier. “What, you wanna say somethin'?” Duo asked in a condescending tone, holding his hands out to the sides and making beckoning motions at Quills. “Go on; say it to my face.”

Quills was bobbing his head up and down, a challenging countenance turning his features. “Yeah? Fine, then!” He wheeled his fist back and swung it at Duo, a poor decision, in my personal opinion. Duo carried the appearance of someone too relaxed and too lanky to be that much of a fighter, but it was the opposite that was true. I actually found that Duo used both of those traits to make himself even more dangerous, especially to someone who underestimated him.

Duo easily caught Quills' fist, saying with a roll of his eyes, “Is that the best you got to throw at me? If that's the hardest you're gonna fight, you might as well quit now before you end up broken and dead.” Then, still holding Quills fast, he pulled his arm back and nailed the security chief in the stomach with a powerful thrust of his fist.

Back in our secluded viewing spot, Relena still kept a firm hold on my coat, but enough was enough. “Relena,” I hissed, jerking myself free. “Someone's got to do something before Quills really gets Duo mad, or Duo permanently injures him - or both.” She seemed a little disappointed, but I could tell that she knew I was right and didn't stop me when I moved to step in. I felt like I was always playing the referee with the two of them.

Swiftly, I slipped between them, quickly snatching each by the wrist. “Do you two need a babysitter?” I asked in a no-nonsense tone. “Every time I catch the pair of you together, you're squabbling like preschoolers. I'm sure it's over something just as trivial, too.” I muttered the last bit to myself as I dropped their arms. Reluctantly, the two rivals stepped away from each other, but they were still glaring at each other with great distaste.

“Don't waste time worrying about it,” Quills assured me, reaching out to slip his arm around my shoulders.

“Fuck that!” Duo interjected, retracting that step of separation he'd just taken, glaring hatefully at Quills. “This affects you just as much as it affects us.”

I cocked my head at my longhaired best friend, wondering what he could possibly be talking about. I couldn't think of anything that could cause so much strife that it would extend beyond the two people it initially concerned. I decided to give them my honest opinion on the matter: “Really, I think both of you are getting carried away with… whatever it is that makes you so angry. We're adults and we're professionals; we've got to be able to work together without feeling the urge to slaughter one another.”

“Well, I don't think I'm being extreme at all,” Duo retorted haughtily, turning his nose up in the air as he crossed his arms over his chest. “In fact, I think I'm dealing with this issue quite fine.”

“You're just immature, Maxwell,” snapped Quills, who was more than ready to go at it again. I groaned, knowing that I would have to scold them again if I was ever going to pacify this situation. However, Quills immediately went on to shut Duo out of his mind, gently guiding me away, his arm still flung around my shoulders. “Look, Heero, I'm sorry Maxwell and I have so much trouble seeing eye to eye on certain things. I know you're close to him for some reason or another.”

I figured that explaining to Quills what bound Duo and I together was too complex to explain in a sentence or two, so I let the comment slide. Instead, I said, “Maybe you and Duo just got off on the wrong foot. God knows that we didn't quite get along when we first met, either.”

“That's nice,” Quills hummed distractedly. We were nearly on the other side of the large room by then, and without warning, he turned and grabbed me by the shoulders, staring at me with a very intense gleam in his eyes. “Look, Heero, it's really not fair that whenever I try to spend time with you, things get in the way and spoil it for us. I told you I wanted to get to know you better - much better - and I want to hold fast to that statement.”

The expression on Quills' face wasn't malicious or hateful - quite the opposite, really - but for some reason, I couldn't help but feel a little intimidated by him, no matter how honest and sincere he seemed to be at that moment. “Really, now?” I said for lack of anything else. A stone-like swallow slipped down my throat.

“Really,” he said, giving me a slight shake. “This weekend, we should try to be together again.”

“If you want,” I said slowly, instinctively turning my head away so that I wouldn't have to stare directly into that unsettling stare of his. “I don't have any plans.”

“Wonderful!” he exclaimed, releasing me in his fit of glee. He smiled happily at me and punched me on the shoulder as he walked away, excusing himself by saying, “Well, I still have some work to do, so I'll see you later. I'll give you a call about this weekend. It's supposed to get colder; if the lake's frozen, we should go ice skating.” With that, he wandered out of the foyer, a joyful gait in his step.

I turned around to see Duo hovering in the doorway where I'd left Relena. The two of them appeared to be holding a whispered conversation, seeming particularly startled when they saw me looking their way. I started over towards them, and Duo gave Relena a quick nod goodbye as he moved over in my direction as well. I thought he was going to say something to me when we met in the middle of the room, but instead, he bumped my shoulder abruptly with his and kept on moving, not even turning to glance back as he wandered off towards the hall across the way. “Duo,” I called after him, but he didn't turn around, merely lifting a halfhearted hand to acknowledge he'd heard me.

My eyes followed his back as he drifted off, not liking the way my stomach seemed to plummet to my shoes as he walked away. We were close, yes, but right then, I felt like there were oceans between us.

++++

Snow always was despairing to me. It reminded me of the wars during Christmas, when the cold earth was hidden beneath a frozen blanket of white, chilling the innocence out of the world. It was upsetting to me, really, and I was always struck with an intense feeling of nostalgia when winter came around. Still, I couldn't find it in myself to alert Quills of any of this. I didn't think he would have quite understood the complicated emotions I linked the snow with, anyway.

“Looks like you're going skating tomorrow, bro,” Duo commented idly as another flurry of snowflakes started to flutter down from the sky. We were sitting in Duo's car, stuck in Friday rush hour traffic on our way home for the evening. He seemed to have forgotten the strange incident at Relena's estate, but deep down, I knew that when Duo acted like something didn't exist, it was just his warped way of dealing with a problem he wasn't keen on facing.

I shrugged, electing to stare out the window as the snow started to pick up. “It won't be so bad, I suppose,” I said indifferently. “Quills is at least a nice guy.”

A low rumble rolled from Duo's throat; “To you, maybe,” he muttered under his breath. He hunched over the steering wheel, his hands wrapped tightly around it as he glowered darkly at the unmoving cars in front of us, their taillights tracing red triangles of light on his face. “You think it stops with kisses….”

I rolled my eyes, somehow not at all surprised that this was why Duo was annoyed. He really was hell-bent on the idea that Quills had foul intentions for me. “It's just a kiss,” I said apathetically, turning to glance at Duo, who was still gripping the wheel with deathly claws. “It doesn't hurt anyone.”

Duo's shoulders trembled a bit, and he leaned down a bit more, touching his forehead against the wheel hopelessly. “Yes, it does,” he whispered in such a harsh tone, I almost didn't catch it.

“Duo?” I reached a tentative hand to touch his back, surprised to feel his body quaking so. It was almost like he was on the verge of tears and trying hard to keep them back. “What did I say?” I asked, not wanting to see him this way. “What's wrong?”

“Nothing,” he whispered. “It's nothing.”

I frowned, knowing well that this was anything but true, despite what Duo said. “Even nothing is something,” I said bluntly.

His body jerked as he twisted to look at me, his eyes wet with emotion. “Even the most something something there is is nothing if you can't see it,” he said, though I wasn't quite sure how to make sense of it. Almost angrily, he clarified his ambiguous statement when he saw my blank stare: “What's nothing to you is something to me, okay? Do you understand that?”

“You mean like God?” I asked. It was the only thing I could think of to compare to.

Duo opened his mouth like he was about to deliver a particularly scathing retort, but anything he was going to say was cut off by the long, drawn-out sound of someone leaning heavily on his car horn. Startling, Duo realized that the vehicles in front of him had inched forward about three yards or so. He quickly released the brake and let the car ease forward a bit.

I stared ahead, entranced by the way the snow was smacking the windshield in wet splatters before the windshield wipers erased them from the glass. “Seriously, Duo; what's wrong?” I asked again, afraid to look at him this time. “You're turning into a complete mess, and I don't like watching it. Especially if there's something I can do to help.”

“No, you can't help,” he said firmly, lifting his chin so he could at least keep his eyes on the road, though he was still bent over the wheel. “No one can help me.” He was silent for a moment or two, just blankly staring at the endless, unmoving line of cars in front of us. Then, he suddenly piped up: “And even if you wanted to, it's nothing you'd end up having any desire to do, anyway. So just forget about it.”

A pulse of frustration coursed through my arm, and I banged my fist against the dashboard. “Duo, I do want to!” I cried out, feeling almost desperate. “You're my best friend! I care about you a lot! I don't want you upset for a reason you can't even tell me! How do you know if I won't want to do whatever you ask before you ask it?” My voice quivering a little, I ran my fingers through my thick, brown bangs, murmuring, “I thought we could talk about anything, Duo.”

He didn't say anything, still glaring ahead as he brooded quietly. His moods were strange; he could go from being completely mellow and carefree to this in almost no time. For all his bravado, Duo was an extremely closed-off individual. Even I sometimes had trouble detecting when he'd flip-flop between the two.

“Duo, please….” I tried again, praying that I would be able to reach him. Hesitating for a moment, I debated on whether or not I should ask the question my instincts were hounding upon. After a few seconds of deliberation, I decided it would be better to just give in to the impulse, and I did; “Duo, tell me why you hate Lawrence Quills so much?”

Duo whipped around so quickly, his braid lashed out from behind his back and whipped my upper arm. His eyes were lined with red and damp with smudged tears as he cried out, “You really can't figure it out, can you? It's so obvious, and yet you're still wondering what's going on!” His knuckles were white, even as he released his iron grip on the steering wheel, using his hands to lever himself towards me, leaning in so that our faces were inches apart. “You couldn't see it was written across my forehead. Even though it's written in my eyes… you still can't….” He shook his head, his skull weighted down with despair as he trailed off into a series of hitched breaths.

I didn't quite know what he was referring to; all that mattered to me was his blindingly apparent sorrow. “Don't be sad on my account,” I said quietly, wanting desperately to hug him, but afraid that he would recoil at the contact. He could be very skittish when he was this upset.

He hiccupped, and his entire body shivered. “It's not your fault,” he said between quivering gasps of air. Despite being a sturdy fellow, Duo looked like he was going to crumble into a million pieces right then. His smile was wan as he murmured, “I don't think I could blame you for anything.”

“Then why can't you just tell me?” I wanted to know, still trying to name the cloudiness that fogged his cobalt blue eyes. “Let's talk.”

Shaking his head despondently, he said in a hushed tone, “Because you'd either think me a coward or become doubtful of our friendship, that's why.” He seemed so resolute in the statement, I almost had trouble reminding myself that only I could truly know how I'd react to whatever his confession might be. But when I informed him of this, he just smiled sadly and returned his attention to the road. “Better safe than sorry,” he said.

I stared at him, my jaw falling slack a little. Since when did Duo Maxwell ever play anything safe? If it was dangerous or on fire, there was a good chance Duo would be found in the middle of it all, so why he was acting like his secret was something that had to be so cautiously guarded made absolutely no sense to me. It defied all the Duo-like reasoning in the world. But then again, the core of Duo's logic was that there was none. “You know,” I said, hoping I didn't sound as vindictive as I thought I did, “hiding in dark corners is probably the most cowardly thing to do.”

He whirled on me again, his eyes wild this time. “Fine, then!” he snapped perhaps a bit too loudly. “You really want to know? I sure hope you're fucking prepared.” His right hand shot between the two front seats of the car and grabbed the front of my shirt, which he then used to drag me closer to him. Then, before I even knew what was happening, his lips were molded against mine. It was a strange sensation: it wasn't a particularly passionate kiss, but even I could tell this was no practice session. As my eyes lost focus, capturing only blurs of random colour, I could hear Duo's voice echoing my head: 'I'll only kiss someone I love.'

Another car horn sounded, this one even more long and drawn out than before. Duo ripped his mouth away from mine and shoved me back to my side of the car, before whipping around and flipping off the impatient jerk behind us; “Fuck off and die!” he yelled at the motorist, even though the insult was heard only by me. He inched the car up a bit more, but when he'd caught up with traffic, he didn't turn to engage me in conversation again. Instead, he just set his jaw and fixed his eyes on the bumper in front of us.

I stared across at Duo as if I'd never seen him before. Dots of shadow, cast by the falling snow outside the car, flitted across the blotchy patches of light illuminating his face. His lips were hung in a melancholy frown, and his eyes quivering like a rippled pond. I don't think I'd ever seen that expression on his face since we were fifteen and happiness was a very relative emotion. I fingered my bottom lip gingerly, slowly beginning to understand a few things about Duo. I wanted to talk to him, but I felt like he wouldn't have comprehended anything I had to say, anyway.

++++

I wasn't sure when I'd learned how to ice skate, but the fact that I could glide effortlessly past the novices cluttering the rink attested to the fact that it had certainly happened at some point in my personal history. Initially, going around the rink dozens of times might have seemed dull, but I found it strangely relaxing; it was giving me a lot of time to think, if anything. Unfortunately, it seemed that whenever I got particularly immersed in a particular train of thought, something would come along to interrupt me - usually in the form of one Lawrence Quills.

“Relena likes skating here,” he said, coasting beside me on a pair of generic rental skates. “She'd wanted to come as soon as it got cold enough, and when she mentioned it, I thought that you might like to go, too.”

“But Relena isn't here,” I pointed out, a little perturbed that I'd stumbled from my mental track because of his comment. I kept my eyes focused on the pair of skaters holding hands in front of me, watching their matching red scarves flutter in the breeze behind them.

“Yeah,” Quills hummed, folding his hands behind his back. “She gave me the day off, so….” He trailed off ambiguously, a strange smile twisting his lips. I glanced over at him, thinking how the shape of his lips was thin and stretched - nothing like the wide, but full grin that Duo got whenever he was pleased. Without warning, though, he skated in front of me and stopped, grabbing me by the shoulders and staring intently into my eyes. “Heero,” he said, his voice a flat, serious tone. “I wish you'd just….” He leaned forward, his eyes slipping closed just as his face became that messy blur of colour I associated with Duo the two times he'd kissed me.

My insides constricted as I felt his breath cloud over my lips, and I squinted my eyes shut. “Duo….” I whispered softly, remembering what he'd told me when he'd been teaching me the proper decorum for kissing.

Suddenly, the warmth of Quills' breath was gone, and my eyes snapped open in wonder. His fingers were digging into the plump down of my jacket as he glared darkly at me. “Duo…” he repeated in a hateful tone, and it was then that I realized the mistake that had escaped my mouth.

The moment was short-lived, however. I can't even really say what happened except for that one instant, Quills was skating next to me, and the next, there was a loud whump, and he was gone. It took me a few seconds to realize that he was lying prostrate on the ice, his arms and legs spread out around him. I skidded to a halt with a spray of frozen shavings and stooped down beside Quills, his pained groans registering vaguely in the back of my head as I looked around to see what had caused him to fall so suddenly. It didn't take long.

Cruising backwards on a pair of black hockey skates was Duo, his arms folded casually behind his back and an almost dastardly grin of wicked triumph riding his features. He puckered his lips and kissed the air as he lifted his middle finger before whirling around and pushing off further down the ice at breakneck speed, his braid sailing out behind him like a woven, brown streamer.

“That bastard,” I heard Quills grumble as he lifted his face from the ice. I returned my attention to him, immediately becoming concerned when I saw the smear of blood beneath his nose and across the patch of ice his face had been pressed against. “I swear, I'll fucking crush his skull in.”

“It was an accident, I'm sure,” I assured Quills, though reason told me it was very likely that wasn't true. I looked up again, noting that Duo was on the far side of the rink, still looking extremely self-satisfied.

A low sigh of frustration came from Quills as he slowly climbed up into a sitting position. “There you go again, always defending that goddamned little jerk,” he snapped at me in the first display of impatience he'd ever directed towards me. “You'd let him get away with murder if you could.”

“I think you're overreacting,” I said bluntly as I stood up again, offering him a hand.

“I'm bleeding, for God's sake!” he snapped, wiping his nose and grimacing at the red streak it left on his skin. He heaved an exaggerated breath and knocked my hand away, getting himself to his feet. Grumbling under his breath, he started to skate away, ignorant of whether or not I was following.

I started to follow him, but before I was able to catch up, I was overtaken by a black blur. The sound of skates scratching the ice filled my ears as the blur doubled back and skidded to a halt in my path, and before I could even think to stop, I was flying right into the obstruction. Upon impact, I felt two hands settle on my biceps and a familiar voice say, “Having fun, cowboy?”

“Duo!” I startled, skating back out of his reach. Part of me wanted to laugh at his ridiculous, black stocking cap, but I suppressed the urge, remembering the way he'd purposely knocked Quills off his feet. “What are you doing?” I demanded to know. “You could have really hurt Quills pulling a stunt like that.”

“Good,” Duo retorted almost immediately. “Next time, I'll put my skate through his back.” The worst part was that he was anything but joking about doing such a thing.

“Duo, you've got to stop giving Quills such a hard time for merely existing,” I pointed out when Duo started cracking his knuckles.

“Oh, I don't care if he exists,” Duo wrote me off easily. “I just don't like the way he breathes your air.” He jabbed his finger at me in the most definitive manner; “That's my goddamned air too, for fuck's sake!” He stomped his foot, temporarily forgetting that he was standing on a pair of skates, and both blades flew out from underneath him, sending him crashing onto his rear. Despite landing in a rather defeated position on the ice, he lifted a fist and added, “And I'll fucking defend it.”

I bent down onto my haunches so we could meet eye-to-eye, carefully balancing myself so I wouldn't also fall down. “Does Quills really bother you that much?”

“Yes,” he stressed. “I mean, it's not just that I want you for my - “ He stopped, as if realizing mid-sentence that his words weren't coming out the way he wanted. He scratched the back of his head, his face contorted thoughtfully. “Look,” he started over, his tone frank. “The guy may be nice as pumpkin pie, but he still hoards you like an object he can stuff into the depths of his pocket. It's one thing if he wants to date you, man - I mean, if that's what makes you happy, then I'm all for it, I suppose - but it's another thing to try and cut you off from your friends - the friends who went to hell and back with you!”

The wind rustled Duo's long bangs across his face, and a light flurry of snowflakes started to drift lazily from the thick clouds above. They dotted his black hat and his sienna bangs and froze on his elfin eyelashes. My eyes darted after his tongue as it zipped out for a moment to swipe a few of the frozen drops from the air as they tumbled past his face, much like the little boy he'd never had the chance to be. The urge to thank him for being so kindhearted overtook my arms before I even had the chance to realize what I was doing; I fell to my knees and slid across the ice to wrap him in a warm hug. “What would I do without a friend as good as you?” I whispered into his ear, a soft puff of white haze lingering over it as I did. “One who cares about me as much as you do….”

A grin split his lips, his rounded cheek pressing against mine. “Don't ask me. As if you'd ever be able to find one, anyway.” I felt his body rumble as he chuckled, his laugh a deep, throaty one. I'd heard him do this countless times, but I never knew how truly heartfelt his elation was until this moment. He didn't laugh just for the sake of it, but rather let his joy overtake him; he laughed because he felt happy - because he felt….

“Come on, Casanova,” he said, shrugging my arms from around his body as he made to stand up again. He stuck out his hand, offering me the leverage I needed to get up as well, and I grasped it firmly, letting him pull me to my feet. He grabbed my forearms and whirled me around in a circle before grabbing me in another friendly hug. I could hear his breath harshly in my ear, warmly clouding around the side of my face as he whispered, “Is Quills the only one you're afraid to kiss?”

My entire body hitched at the question. Thinking about it, I realized that he was right: it wasn't so much the act of kissing as much as whom I did it with. Even the thought of kissing someone I knew a lot better than Quills sent uncomfortable shivers down my back; I definitely couldn't imagine myself being intimate with someone like Wufei - or even Relena, for that matter. What did it mean, then, when I so easily allowed myself to give into Duo's kissing tutorials and friendly cuddles? Even back when we were young and I was much more intimidated by other people than I was now, I had allowed Duo to get closer to me than I'd ever let anyone in my entire life. Was it even something I just instinctively knew from the moment I met him that cloudy afternoon on the docks? Why Duo? Why trust Duo?

What made Duo special?

I didn't get the chance to really puzzle over the question. By then, Duo had already released me and started to skate off slowly. I'd begun to follow him, but a hand on my wrist impeded me from getting very far. I glanced over my shoulder, somehow not at all surprised to see Lawrence Quills standing there with a rather grim look on his face. “Again?” he stated flatly.

The words Duo had just spoken rang through my head as I gave my tart reply: “Are you trying to tell me I can't spend time with my best and oldest friend?”

Quills seemed to be at a loss for a reply. Sputtering, he tried to say as neutrally as he could, “That's not what I meant.” Somehow, I still got the impression he was putting up a front in order to win my approval.

“Why can't you just be honest for once?” I asked with an exasperated huff, pushing off of one foot and starting around the ice rink again. “Duo can get through a sentence without worrying about what I'll say, so why can't you?” Then I sped off, deciding that if he cared enough to give me an answer, he'd exert the energy to speed up. Why should I bog myself down waiting for someone who was merely holding me back? As Duo would say, there was no use in trying to cup the ocean in your hands.

Five fingers snatched a handful of my jacket, jerking me to a stop yet again. I glared angrily over my shoulder at Quills, who looked outright pissed off. “Don't you turn your back on me, Heero Yuy,” he said coolly. “You can't hide your innocence from me, so stop acting like you're so superior.”

I jerked my shoulder, tossing him from my person. “If you think I'm somebody who can be easily manipulated, then you're pursuing the wrong one,” I snarled, feeling acutely offended by his derogative remarks. “I may not know everything about the world, but I've learned enough to know that I can trust my heart to make the right decisions. And you, Lawrence Quills,” I emphasized, turning around to face him, one of my most intimidating glares stewing in my eyes, “are quickly proving to be a very wrong choice.” I nodded curtly and started to skate away again, glancing briefly back at him long enough to say, “I'm through wasting my time with you. Duo was right all along.”

Whether or not he'd tried to grab my jacket again, I could never be sure, because seconds after I started to go, there was another loud whump from behind. As I turned around, all the skaters seemed to freeze as the scene behind me crawled into slow motion. I caught Duo, mid-lunge as he thrust his weight into Quills' back, sending him flying forward and straight towards me. On skates, he was moving too fast for me to dodge, and I had no time to react before he careened into me, knocking me clear off my feet. Quills toppled forward, his nose crunching against the ice once more, while I shot through the air, my back horizontal to the rink, even as I crashed downwards. I managed to flip myself around just before I hit the ice, landing awkwardly on my arm; my wrist twisted painfully as my arm buckled beneath my weight. Duo's face was twisted with shock and a bit of fear as he watched the scene unfold.

“Heero!” Duo shouted, snapping the world around us back into real time. He shot forward, skating right by Quills to skid to a stop beside me, unintentionally spraying ice shavings into my face as he did so. “Aw, man, Heero!” he fretted, his hands lingering over me frenetically, as if he was unsure of what to do with them. “I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to!”

I managed to push myself up into a sitting position, leaning back on my left hand while my pain-ridden right arm lay uselessly in my lap. “I'm okay,” I assured him. “I didn't hit my head or anything. What were you doing, anyway?”

He didn't answer me directly, but I think I was able to piece together his intentions anyway. “I saw the way that jerk was bothering you,” he said, his voice becoming a bit stiff, even as he gently picked up my throbbing arm and started examining it for any breaks. “He wasn't getting the message, and I figured I might as well give him a helping hand.”

I glanced past Duo's head to where Quills was sitting on the ice, his sleeve blotting the flow of blood that had erupted from his nose and lip. Another pair of skaters had stopped to help him, which was enough to let me forget him, now knowing that he wasn't being left for dead in the middle of the rink. I returned my attention to Duo, who was still fussing over my arm. “I'm not hurt that badly, Duo,” I told him calmly. “I've lived through worse, so you can stop worrying so much.” Still, I had to admit that his furrowed brow made his face hopelessly cute.

“It's not just your arm I'm stressed out about, man,” he said, his head suddenly snapping up. I felt pinned by the intense gaze that had settled in his cobalt eyes. Getting over his initial reaction, he let himself relax a little, saying, “Look, why don't we go back to your place or my place - doesn't really matter - and we'll get that wrist set properly, alright?”

He helped me stand up, and I said to him, as we slowly skated towards the edge of the rink, “Duo, you know it's not that big of a problem for me to take care of myself.”

Once again, he skidded to a stop, swinging himself around so that he was impeding my path. “I know you can. I wouldn't expect anything less from the guy who saved the planet,” he said, his tone even and sincere. “But even if you can stand on your own two feet, you can't always support yourself all the time. You'll give out and fall before too long, you know?” He shrugged, and then leaned forward to wrap his arms around me, and for the second time that day, I felt comforted by his embrace. “The world you protected is still filled with plenty of craptastic people; they'll throw themselves at you and hope you come crashing down with 'em 'cause they can't stand the fact that they're to small and piddling to ever stand as tall as some others do - as tall as you do, Heero.” His fingers crunched the fabric of my jacket as he pressed me closer to his chest, his nose buried into my shoulder. “I won't let 'em do it, Heero. You did too much for everybody to be treated like that. I admire you too much, and you… you mean too much to… me….”

He whispered that last word so softly, I almost didn't hear it; it was as if he was even afraid for me to hear it at all. “Duo…” I whispered, knowing that what he'd just said had taken a lot of courage for him.

“Don't rush by me,” he went on, his voice still soft. “I'm already breathless.”

My arms crept around his waist, and I leaned my head against his shoulder as well. “Me too,” I whispered back. “Me too.”

++++

Even though it was getting late, and Duo's apartment was pretty dark, he didn't turn on many lights when we got there. The dim ambience certainly lent itself to a rather surreal mood, though. I'd only sprained my wrist a little, but Duo was acting like my whole arm had fallen off. He lent me a pair of pajama bottoms and then left me on the sofa, while he went to take a hot shower. He said being around Quills too long made him feel dirty.

That left me alone in the semidarkness with a spare moment or two to just think, the sound of Duo's radio wafting from the bathroom down the hall. I saw, now, why Duo hadn't taken to Quills, but despite that, I still didn't consider Quills to be a bad person. Continuing on that particular thread, I found myself wondering why Duo had taken it upon himself to wedge himself in there; was he really that worried I wouldn't be able to take care of myself with Quills? That made no sense, though; I knew Duo respected me and my abilities more so than anybody else. So why did it matter to Duo if I got hurt? Yes, I knew he cared for me a lot, but shouldn't I be able to make my own mistakes?

“It's such a waste to be wasted in the first place,” sang the radio. I closed my eyes and threw my uninjured arm over my eyes, blackening my vision. What couldn't I see? All these questions and no answers; I didn't understand why I was so blind.

“I want to taste the taste of
Being face to face with common grace,
To meditate on the warmest dream.”

What did it mean to love someone, I asked myself, almost immediately realizing why all these thoughts were just a jumble in my head. Here was the core of all the things that had happened recently, and I wasn't quite sure what the proper response was. I certainly knew what it wasn't to love someone - Quills had taught me that - but it was so broad, it didn't help me discern the answer I was looking for at all, really.

“And when I walk alone,
I listen to our secret theme….”

I could hear Duo's voice in tandem with the radio down the hall, his singing only slightly muffled by the rushing sound of the water steaming out of the showerhead. Hearing him brought another idea to mind: Duo knew what it meant to love someone, I realized. I sat up, suddenly overtaken with the impulse to ask him that very thing. If there was anyone who could help me figure out what I'd been searching for these past few weeks, then it would be Duo. He'd always been the best when it came to talking, anyway.

“Your solar eyes are like nothing I have ever seen!
Somebody close that I can see right through….”

My sprained arm dangling limply at my side, I got up and rounded the couch, drawn towards the bathroom door by the sound of Duo's voice. A pale, yellowish haze slipped beneath the crack under the door, and I stood there staring at it blankly for a few moments, my good hand curled loosely around the door handle. It was trembling for some reason, and I couldn't quite figure out why. Still, I let reason slowly drain away from me, giving in to the curiosity I'd built up inside myself. I gave the door a timid push, a little startled that it gave so easily, and was suddenly engulfed by a huge cloud of steam as it freed itself from the confines of the tiny bathroom, clearing the wash of golden light splashed across the walls.

“I'll take a fall and you know that I'll do anything….”

Just then, the water was wrenched silent with a creaky twist of the faucet, and the shower curtain was yanked back on its noisy hanging rings to reveal Duo, who was standing in the porcelain tub completely naked, save the towel hanging around his shoulders to catch the water droplets running through his wet hair. His lips mouthed the words of the song as he stared at me, watching me with that mysterious expression written in his deep blue eyes.

“I will for you.”

My heart twisted in my chest as I stared at him like he was someone I'd never known before. I'd dressed wounds on that body countless times before, ran my fingers over almost all those scars, and I remembered just how his rough skin and the curves of his muscles felt, even after all those years. And yet, here I was, scouring him in a way that seemed completely alien. I'd never noticed how long his torso was, or the shape of his thighs and calves - the way he was slightly bowlegged. I whispered his name, not even realizing it had passed my lips until I saw his eyelids droop a bit lower.

He stepped out of the tub, slowly padding towards the door - towards me. I moved to accommodate him, but as I stepped out of the way, he mirrored me, keeping me in the center of his path. I tried again, only to find the same results. Just as I started to clear myself out of his way for a third time, his hand shot out and grabbed my elbow, holding me fast. “Don't run away from me, Heero,” he begged softly, catching my gaze with a pained one of his own. “You're always so close, and yet you're always….”

“I'm always what, Duo?” I asked, curious as to what he meant. I didn't understand what he was trying to say; he was one of the people I kept closest to my heart, so why did he feel that I was purposely trying to keep him away? I lifted my good hand to push back a stray piece of wet hair that was stuck to his cheek marveling at the way the long strand ran across my finger. “What are you waiting for me to do?” I asked softly. “Just tell me, please. I can't help you if I don't know.”

I found my palm was trapped against the side of his face, one of his hands holding it fast there. “I think you know,” he said quietly. “You're just afraid to be right.”

My heart constricted as he spoke, like he'd squeezed his fist tightly around it. “What do you mean?” I wondered, gently massaging my breastbone as if it would actually help ease the unnamed sensation ripping through my chest. “I don't understand these things, and I -“

He cut me off, his hand pressing my fingers even closer to his round cheek; “What is it you think you don't understand?” His eyes slipped closed and that ambiguous, private smile he'd always wear when he was thinking about something secret and pleasant overtook his wide mouth. It reminded me of the strange ways we used to communicate during the war, back when words alone meant nothing.

“Love,” I admitted, feeling a hot blush rise to my cheeks. I quickly averted my eyes downwards to stare at my feet, but found that the sight of Duo's lower body only made that blush even warmer and more widespread. His stiff, heavy cock wasn't anything I'd never seen before, and yet….

A sly expression crossed Duo's face as he hummed, “O~oh, I don't think anyone quite understands that.” He was suddenly standing much closer to me than I'd realized; I could feel his warmth clinging to my bare chest, still steamy from the hot shower. A heavy, smoky scent filled my nostrils as he came nearer; his hair smelled vaguely like cinnamon.

His proximity made my blood rush almost painfully through my veins. “Maybe you should go get dressed,” I said almost too quickly. The way his grin curled upwards attested that he knew how nervous I'd become and that it was because of him. “You'll freeze when all the steam evaporates,” I added lamely in an effort to justify my first statement.

I must have been imagining that slow moment when he'd seemed to be lingering in the very air I was breathing. Before I knew it, he'd walked by me and was already crossing the hall on his way to his bedroom. My eyes followed his back and the undulating rivulets of sienna hair that trailed down it as he moved. Just before he vanished into his room, though, he stopped in the doorway and turned around, saying in a gentle voice, “Don't forget I'm still waiting, Heero.”

“Waiting for what?” I called as he started to turn around.

He paused, almost seeming to trip as he took the moment to reply, “For you to stay.” Then he vanished into his bedroom, softly closing the door behind him.

I started to walk back towards the sofa in the common area, my head lost in thought. It was almost frustrating how ambiguous and guarded Duo could be, especially considering his seemingly open personality. What was going on with us, I wondered. I knew there was something Duo wanted me to say, and it was something he wanted to hear only from me, but he was completely unyielding with any clues as to what that might be. I guessed he wanted me to figure it out on my own, but it didn't seem to help that all we ever seemed to be able to show were the feelings that were wrong.

Lying back down on the sofa, I stared emptily up at the lethargic ceiling fan as it spun overhead, giving myself in to all the things caught in my mind. I just needed time to make things right, I thought; I had to make it up to Duo for the way I'd almost allowed Quills to come between us. At least the experience had helped me discern what distinguished someone as a friend - something I'd never really put real thought into before. Quills was someone you said hello to on your way by the water cooler; Duo was someone you wanted to grow older with.

My mental wandering was cut short when Duo reappeared, braiding his hair and dressed in a pair of flannels and a tee shirt that read: 'The Distance to Here'. “Scoot your butt,” he said, rapping my bare feet with the back of one hand. Quickly, I sat up and cleared space for him at that end of the couch so he could plop down with me. “Thanks, man,” he said with a grin as he collapsed back onto the cushions.

He didn't say anything, seeming to be content just to relax with me as we watched the snow flutter down outside the frost-glazed window. Or, at least, he watched the snow; I concerned myself with a close study of his face as I began thinking about Duo in ways that seemed both new and familiar at the same time. After giving over a good half hour in this manner, I finally asked the one question I kept coming back to: “Duo,” I said, my voice uncharacteristically timid, “why do you want me here?”

For a moment, I thought he hadn't heard me. It took him a few seconds before he even turned his head in my direction. He said nothing still, as if he was waiting for me to clarify a question he didn't quite comprehend, even though both of us knew he had understood what I'd said just fine.

“You say you just want me to be here,” I said slowly, figuring I could probably talk my way through this. “But Duo, you know that I am! I've always been here. I haven't had the need to pull a disappearing act for almost five years, now.”

The smile adorning his face was anything but the cheerful one I was used to seeing him wear. “You're here, yeah,” he answered, his voice a rare, serious and calm tone, “but I still feel like I can never reach you, Heero.” He took a moment to breathe deeply, like what he was going to say was something he'd never planned on telling anyone. “You're always doing big things, you know? First, saving the princess, then delivering the world from chaos not once, but two times. Preventers is your life - keeping the peace is what you've dedicated yourself to… and that's… that's all wonderful…” He took another pause for a series of more hitched, but deep inhalations before continuing. “Me, on the other hand, well, I'd always kinda wanted that, I guess, but the big stuff always swallows me whole. I can't make it through that shit on my own, no matter what kinda crap I try to tell myself….”

He shook his head, the tail of his damp braid flicking a few stray drops of water here and there. Then, he seemed to find the words he was looking for, and he blurted them out in a torrent of frustrated passion: “I guess what I mean to say is that I just don't want to see you drown in it too, Heero! You take the world on your shoulders like it's still your job to bear its pain, and you just… don't see….” His shoulders quaked a little, like he wanted to cry, but he bit his lip, sooner willing to show blood than tears. “I dream about you every night. All the guys think I'm insane.”

Throughout this whole confession of sorts, I felt like I'd been whirled around the room and then tossed like a rag doll back onto the sofa when he was through. Obviously, what Duo had just told me had been something he'd wanted to keep secret, but at the same time, I felt terrible that I could call myself his best friend and not realize such a thing had been weighting his heart. “I'm sorry, Duo,” I said, reaching out to put a hand on his shoulder. “I didn't realize -“

He jerked himself out of my range, cutting me off. “You didn't do anything you have to apologize for,” he informed me curtly. Then, his face fell as he dropped his gaze to his lap, toying idly with his long hair as he went on in much more subdued manner. “For the longest time, I've been wishing you'd just take my hand and guide me - that you'd hold me closer to you.” Then, he suddenly swung his legs up onto the sofa and leaned in closer to me, as he said, “I want to be the sky for you, Heero. I wanna envelop your sadness - that sadness I know you've still got seeded deep inside from the wars. So you can look up and know you're not alone, ever.” He leaned in closer, shyly nuzzling my cheek and settling his chin on my shoulder. “Don't go away, Heero. Say that you'll stay… so you won't have to face it all by yourself.” His voice trembled as the sum of all he was trying to say was totaled up in just one whispered word: “Please.”

His long, wispy bangs tickled the side of my face as I let my eyes slip closed, reveling in the warmth of his body, which was draped loosely across me. His name tumbled uncontrollably from my lips again, feeling that disorienting sensation overtake my entire being once more.

Duo's arms had since slid around my neck as he held himself closer to me, like he was trying to crawl right inside of me, to become a part of me. The hot wetness of a tear bubbled between our cheeks as it slid down from the corner of one tightly sealed eye. “You're all I've ever wanted, all I've ever needed, Heero. It's you,” he was whispering over and over. “Loving you's the right thing to do. I've been waiting forever, and I'll keep waiting if I have to.”

Like a black veil had been lifted from my eyes, the many mysteries of Duo's character suddenly became clear to me. The times I hadn't understood why he'd look at me with that certain, saddened expression in his eyes held new meaning - just like the ambiguous words he'd say when were alone, or the way he'd always liked to hold my hand and hug me, even if it wasn't quite necessary, and the times he'd taken serious detours in his life just on my account. When he said he talked to angels, I never once realized he might have been referring to me.

Further still, I realized all the times I'd gone out of my way for Duo. I'd always thought of Duo in terms of just being Duo, nothing less and nothing more, but I was beginning to realize that I did treat him in a way that was special when compared to the other people I knew. Duo had wanted to be my friend when no one else did. Wars and Gundams had nothing to do with it; he wanted to be friends with me.

He wanted me.

Me, Heero Yuy: not the soldier, not the hero - just the man.

“Duo,” I murmured as I slowly pulled away so I could look at him, take him in with my newfound eyes. Staring deep into his unsure eyes, however, I realized he probably had no idea what I felt after hearing him pour out his heart so honestly. Impulsively, my fingers curled beneath his chin, and I carefully drew him back towards me, daring to lay my lips upon his, tentative at best. I had no idea what I was doing, and I admit trying to remember the way Duo had kissed me so many times before as an example. The tingling heat that passed through my body, the quickened palpitations of my heart, the sense of comfort that blanketed me as I did this - these were all the things I wanted to share with him. Did he know? Could he feel it?

He never answered any of those questions, but the Nirvana-hazed expression left on his face was reassurance enough that I'd finally stumbled down the path upon which he'd been waiting for me. He folded one arm over the top of the sofa and leaned his head on top of it, his eyes barely open and radiating this soft, sensual sort of light. “This is what I'd been dreaming of,” he whispered, his lips barely moving as he spoke. “I'd dream of you and all the things you say - the talk of growing old.”

I smiled serenely, mimicking his position on the sofa. “Are you still?” I asked, my tone just as hushed as his, reaching out to cover his hand with mine. “We can stay here while all the world's asleep.”

“I couldn't tell you,” he answered in a low whisper, his lips flickering across the intricate curves inside my ear, suddenly leaning in close. “Sometimes it's the truth that's hardest to believe.” His breath was heavy and warm, his body contoured against mine, pressing my back against the sofa's cushioned arm. One of his hands was positioned on the armrest, just by the side of my face, the other curled around the top of the sofa's plush back. His leg, tucked up along the edge of the seat cushions, was pressed against the length of my torso, boxing me in. “For all I know,” he went on, his tongue darting against my skin as his lips slid down my cheek, “this is merely a figment of my imagination, too.”

A gentle whimper rose from my throat as my eyelids became heavy and fell mostly closed. The feel of his mouth made my flesh hot, while still sending chills racing down my spine - all of which seemed to settle somewhere between my thighs as I arched up against him. “Duo,” I was barely able to gasp as his lips brushed over mine on their way down to my exposed neck. “Is this what love is - how it feels?”

“How does it feel?” Of course he wouldn't give me a straight answer, no matter how distracted he was. He'd trapped my hips between his powerful thighs, his back still curved forward, even as he relinquished his kisses in order to claw his tee shirt over his head. He haplessly flung it over his shoulder, bending down again to lay kisses on my bare chest without even taking notice of where it landed.

“It feels….” I trailed off as another shamelessly needy groan escaped my mouth. “It feels like we've lived a thousand years, but all we have is - “ I gasped, throwing my head back as his tongue caressed one of my nipples - “now!”

I felt his lips stretch into a smile against my skin as they wandered further down my heaving chest, dancing across my quivering stomach. His fingers laced through the fingers of my good hand, which dangled over the edge of the sofa, nearly brushing the floor.

I don't know what it was, but the sensation of his hand wrapped around mine elicited emotions and words that I never even knew lived inside of me. “Like we've been falling from grace and missed the ground,” I said, only wanting to feel more of him. “Like - like the whole world was a dream and we've only just woken up.”

He paused, his chin resting on my abdomen as he watched me with misted blue eyes. “Like your spirit's been kindled with a flame you never even knew burned inside you?” he asked gently. His rough fingertips played across the back of my hand. “That's how I feel, anyway,” he added, his voice dropping to an even softer whisper, “when I think of you.”

As his lips fell back against my body, now kissing the flesh just above the drawstring of my pajama pants, I realized with even more clarity what it meant to love someone - what it meant to be loved in return. All those things I felt - the sensation of hanging in one, eternal moment - were only things I felt when I was with Duo. Even when we were young and ready to die, Duo made me feel like I wasn't the only lost soul in space. Which was when I came to it: Duo made me feel. All that mattered was connecting with those emotions, feeling the things I'd never felt before - feeling Duo. All of him.

My hand fell limply against the side of the couch as he withdrew his, wrapping his arm around the bent leg I'd drawn up against his side. Hot breath clouding over the area between my thighs, he blindly let that same hand drift down to the waistband of my pajama pants, his fingers digging underneath the fabric to tug them off. I was ignorant of the cold draft that rushed across my lower body as he started to pull them off, one leg at a time. After a few moments of wrestling with the fabric, he managed to wrench them off, carelessly tossing them aside. His name rose from my lips in an indistinguishable groan as he pushed my legs apart, leaning over my naked body so he could run his hands across the planes of my chest and stomach.

I'd been aroused many times before, but somehow, this time it felt completely different. Maybe it was lying naked in the middle of Duo's chill apartment, or perhaps the way his breath made the heat gathered about my groin even more intense. His tongue slipped around the head of my hardened cock and slowly danced down the length of it. He nudged my legs further apart as his curious, wandering tongue continued to explore me, teasing and kissing until he pushed the tip of it inside of me.

The sound that rose from my throat left me praying desperately that his neighbours weren't home. I threw my good arm over my face, fingers clawing at the section of armrest just beneath my head as I fought desperately to keep myself grounded. Still, I could barely breathe, white haze rimming my already blurred vision. To me, it seemed like somewhere between Duo's body and mine, I was glimpsing heaven. “Fall with me, Duo,” I whimpered almost pathetically as I flung one leg over the back of the sofa, the other over his shoulder. “Die with me.”

Before I realized it, his lips were covering mine, his taste mingled with another, strangely familiar one. “Yes, yes, Heero,” he kept chanting rhythmically as he rubbed his body against mine like a love-starved animal. “For you, yes.”

I could feel how hard he was through the soft fabric of his plaid flannels, but I wanted to see - to see how I made him feel, how he wanted me, too. I freed the arm with the sprained wrist from its prison between my body and the back of the sofa, laying it on his sweat-slicked back and dragging it down to slip my fingers beneath his waistband. I didn't care how much it hurt to do so.

Duo was a little more cognizant of the brilliance of this instinct, and quickly shook my hand off, sitting up and scooting back against the other arm of the sofa, that blue cloud still misting his eyes whenever he looked at me. Swiftly, he divested himself of the pants and pushed them aside as I gave into the urge to crawl over to his end and straddle his hips.

Naked and overwhelmed with the scent and feel of Duo, I felt closer to him than before. In this short period, the bond we shared for so many years had intensified so greatly, it seemed like we had twisted ourselves into one being. His wet, hard penis was rubbing up against the inside of my thigh; his long hands clenched my hard buttocks, his wandering fingers growing more curious with each passing moment.

Cautiously, my hand slipped between our panting bodies, my knuckles trailing slowly down his swollen member. I felt his hips jerk beneath me, and he tossed his head back as a need-filled groan rolled over his tongue. Two of his fingers, slick with his saliva, were inside of me, but he seemed almost incapable of moving them. Not that it mattered; I still felt in the presence of real love.

An obnoxious, jingling sound interrupted our gasps, but I only paid it mind long enough to register that it was my cell phone ringing on the coffee table, where I'd left it. The ring was the one I'd set for Quills' phone number, I remembered as Duo was guiding me back down onto the seat cushions again. His hands were spread against my back as he lowered me, holding me in a loose embrace. My own arms fell gently around his torso, his damp braid wrapped around one of my forearms, reassuring me that he was near. My legs were tightened around his hips like a vice.

His cock was nudging against the place his fingers had just vacated moments before. The hazy sunlight peering from behind the gray snow clouds filtered through the window into the shadowy apartment, surrounding the couch with a quartet of pale yellow squares, highlighting the planes of Duo's back and the tops of my hands. My fingers tightened against his shoulder blades, despite the pain that shot through my injured one, as he slowly pushed himself inside of me, thrusting deeper than his fingers could ever reach. My mouth shaped itself around silent screams and my eyes rolled back in their sockets as he thrust against me with an almost painfully lethargic rhythm.

He made love to me like that for many hours. We'd lay ourselves out on the couch, and we'd dance our two-beat step against one another until we were both wet and tired, only to repeat the routine minutes later, unable to be satisfied. He touched me like he'd never laid his fingers upon me before, like I was some kind of precious divinity spread out beneath him. “I can feel it,” he'd whisper into my ear. “I can feel it - like a roll of thunder chasing the wind.” And then he'd come and I'd feel so complete and full of life, riding that force like I was invincible until I was given release too and it seemed like I was encompassed by everything in the universe.

Entwined on the sofa, I pressed my ear against his chest, listening to the heavy pumping of his heart, taking comfort in knowing it beat only for me. “Do you think we'll change after this?” I asked, more concerned with his taste as my lips moved against his skin than the coherency of my question.

“Nah,” he said, sitting up and shaking his head flippantly. “We're two of a kind; we'll find a way to do like we've always done.” He leaned over and looped an arm around my torso, pressing me against his side as he nestled his chin against the top of my head. “Just let me be the one who shines with you.”

That simple request spoke volumes to me. Duo didn't want to cast me aside as someone lesser than himself, nor did he want to hide in my shadow. It didn't matter that he was overzealous when playing video games, that he crunched his ice or that all he could afford me were rear mezzanine tickets for the ballet when Quills could easily provide me with orchestra seats. Duo was Duo, and I liked him best that way. He completed me like no one else in the entire world ever would. I could face the sun with him and walk on into eternity, knowing his hand was clasped in mine.

++++

A/N ::: *gasps and falls over dead* Little Molly, you better appreciate that. I don't think I've ever had that much trouble writing a story in my entire life (hence why it's a little late for its intended Christmas deadline). I'm still not sure that I'm pleased with it, but I hope everyone liked it anyway. Cheers!

PS Much love to Oasis, Live and the Chili Peppers for helping me get through the end of this with their beautiful lyrics. They have poetry that is so fitting for the relationship Heero and Duo share, though I think I did use a few lines out of context, lol. I need to stop listening to music. The song Duo's singing along with is by the Chilis.

PPS Also, points to anyone who can figure out which video game Heero and Duo were playing near the beginning of the story.