He sipped his coffee slowly, trying not to burn his mouth on the fresh drink. It was his third cup of the evening, and he had taken it into his spare room, nursing its warmth in his hands as he watched the rain outside. The leaves that the wind blew up stuck to the window, making pathetic smudged marks. His eyes had gone past staring into the darkness, however, and his eyes had a rather thoughtful look to them.

He was remembering back to pleasant -- and not so pleasant -- memories of a boy with dark cobalt blue eyes. The first memory to come to mind was the first time their eyes met. He had just fired a bullet, and those dark eyes had raised to his full of shock. It was the most human expression Duo saw in his eyes for a long time after that. He remembered starting half forward, maybe to catch the boy, or to shoot him again, or something, he didn't know quite what.

He remembered weeks of coldness, a reluctance to share anything. But eventually, Heero's barrier had broken and he had inwardly stopped being so nasty. The outer change happened later.

Duo went out on a mission, expecting -- no, intending -- not to come back. When he returned to the safehouse, tired in body and mind, he was confronted by a highly annoyed boy whose anger was plain in his eyes. He remembered the words, the way they had numbed him, and the all-too-human fear for a comrade in the way Heero yelled at him. As if he had been actually worried, as if he had waited up all night alone for the return of one who might not return, didn't want to return.

'Why don't you understand?! We need you, they need you! Will you prove their hopes in vain? You can't go out wanting to die!'

The words had imprinted on his memory along with the remembrance of an iron grip on his shoulder as the words were spoken. He had realised then that Heero wasn't just a machine. After that, he had renewed his efforts to become his friend, trying to reach the human concealed badly behind the soldier.

It had been a few months later. Heero was on a mission, Quatre said he was despairing. When he asked 'of what?', the blonde shook his head and shook his head and refused to say, even when he begged, though he obviously knew something. Duo spent the rest of the long wait prowling the house anxiously, fearing for Heero. He had been going to shout at him, but when he came in, dripping wet and wounded, with the bitter words 'mission failure', Duo didn't have the heart. He helped him patch himself up and reassured him that a failed mission didn't mean the difference between winning and loosing.

He remembered seeing him at Relena's wedding, and asking him if he was all right, believing Relena had been Heero's first love. Heero had nodded and explained that he had never really loved Relena as much as her new husband did, and she was better with him, and besides, he loved someone else now. Relena was a long-lost cause.

Duo remembered feeling slightly jealous of this other love. He remembered that that was the first time he really examined his feelings for Heero and realised they were more than a friend's feelings. He realised that he loved Heero, and had for a long time. From then on, he started looking at Heero in a new way.

The next time he saw him after that was when Quatre was ill. It had been a sad time, as they weren't sure whether Quatre was going to die. Trowa had been wandering round in a lost daze, and Heero and Duo had tried all they could to draw him out of his daze. They had found out then that he loved Quatre, and it had been wonderful to see Trowa when Quatre woke up and he could finally admit to loving him and told him how worried he had been. And they had both loved the way Quatre's eyes went wide as he embraced Trowa and whispered to him that he loved him too. And Duo had cast a sideways glance at Heero and worried whether he should take the chance in case something ever happened to Heero and he was put in Trowa's position.

Next time the pilots all met up, it was a much happier occasion. Relena had had her first child, a little son who was chubby and sweet and adorable, and Wufei was getting married to a Chinese girl his own age, having at last let go of Nataku, his late wife Meilan. Their wedding was a graceful, traditional Chinese wedding, and all the pilots thought Wufei deserved his happiness now. Duo had watched Heero more than the wedding, watching his rapidly maturing face and admiring his nearly adult body.

After that, all the pilots had met frequently, Wufei and his wife often hosting them all. They had all joked about sounds coming from Quatre and Trowa's bedroom, and Quatre had always flushed pale pink and stuttered his embarrassment. Trowa had just quietly taken the teasing, happy to be a part of the kind of brotherly friendship they all had. And Duo had continued to watch Heero, nursing the feelings inside him for a time like this.

Duo woke from his memories at a sound from the door. He turned his head away from the window and looked at the shape in the door. "Hey, Heero." He said softly.

"Why are you sitting in the dark?" Heero asked, not making a move to turn the light on despite his words. Duo replied with a shrug and just watched the other man standing silhouetted in the doorway, with the light from the hallway behind him.

A boy no longer, Heero was much taller than before, having gone through a growth spurt at the age of seventeen. He was the same height as Trowa now, and both were tall, slim and graceful as their adolescent bodies had promised. The shadow Heero cast from his place in the doorway was long, and reached almost to where Duo sat in the dim light. He was barefoot, hair a little damp from being out in the rain. Duo watched him thoughtfully for a moment, noting how the boyish look had retreated from his face at last, leaving his face hard and grim, but beautiful in the darkness and when he smiled.

He smiled such a smile now, and put his shoes and damp socks down by the door. "It's a horrible night."

Duo cupped the now cooling mug of coffee in his hands. "Yes."

Heero crossed the room slowly, wary of splinters with his bare feet. He stepped in about a meter away from Duo and glanced out of the window. "Thinking?"

"Strange as it may seem..." Duo agreed, leaving the thought hanging, turning to smile at him. Heero licked his lips unconsciously and moved forward quickly, pressing his mouth to Duo's unresisting one. Both closed their eyes softly in content, and Duo carefully kept his cold coffee balanced as he put a hand on the back of Heero's neck to take the kiss deeper. Duo was happy with the touch of his beloved, the kiss better than all the memories or dreams he could ever imagine.