Word Count: 54,352
Pairings: 1+2/2+1, 3+4, various others
Warnings: Language, some violence, almost non-existent angst and heavy comedy. Lots of talking, little action.

Summary: A/U. High school antics, the wannabe Gordon Korman kind. Duo wants to move back in with Wufei. Heero wants to get rid of him so he helps. Quatre and Trowa take bets.

Victoria Academy offered its students two different types of living experiences. They could rent a separate townhouse from the school (the option the rich students usually took), or they could pay significantly less to live in the school's dormitory building (the option that students on scholarship usually took).

At exactly 2:13pm, Duo Maxwell, a good-looking eleventh grader of average height and whose single most distinctive physical feature was a foot-long braid, was thrown out of the townhouse that he had been living in for the past two months and left to fend for himself.

"What the hell, Wufei!" Duo shouted, banging on the door. "Let me in! You can't do this to me! What would your parents say?" He banged on the door and then screamed in frustration. "C'mon, let me in!"

"Shut up!" came the voice from within. The window closest to the door opened, and a teenager of Asiatic descent appeared. Wufei Chang was roughly the same age as Duo, but his usual serious expressions tended to make him look older. "That was the last straw! Unforgivable ingrate!"

"Wufei! Let me in!"

"No! That's it! I've had enough of your antics, Maxwell. You can't step another inch into my townhouse EVER again! If you do, I will rip out your guts and feed them into my goldfish. Find somewhere else to live!"

Wufei slammed the window down and ignored Duo's cries for the next five minutes.

"Wufei! I'm sorry! It was a joke! I'll never mess with your things again! Let me in and I'll sew it back in so well that you won't even be able to tell that it ever came off! Aren't we buddies? A joke's a joke, you overly serious prick!" Bang! Bang! "Okay, I take it back! You're not overly serious! I was just being childish! I'm sorry! At least give me a chance to make up for my crimes! I'm sorry! It was an accident! Let me in! Let me in! Let me in!"

Wufei opened the door. Duo gave a sigh of relief.

"Look, Wufei --"

"And your new cologne stinks!"

Wufei slammed the door shut, leaving a bewildered Duo standing with a lost expression on his face.

With nowhere to go, Duo headed over to the Food Court, the school-run dining facility located conveniently close to the townhouses. He called up his friends, Quatre and Trowa, and met them for moral support.

Duo greeted them with a statement of the truth. "Wufei kicked me out."

"Again?" Quatre asked. By being the heir to the global megacorporation Winner Enterprises, Quatre was one of the richest students at school. His intelligence also made him one of the smartest; thus, Quatre Raberba Winner was a rare one at Victoria Academy. He was a cheerful blond with a nice smile that at least half of the female student population seemed to find captivating. He was also easily amused.

"What did you do this time?" Trowa asked. Trowa Barton was the heir to a successful casino franchise that his family owned and operated. The Barton Casino had everything a casino needed, but what made the franchise stand out was its many entertaining circus, opera, and musical performance acts that regularly ran. When he was younger, Trowa had wanted to be a circus clown or a lion tamer. He now wanted to the casino's top poker player, and his face was accordingly difficult to read (made even more so by the fact that he hid half of it behind long brown bangs). Direct and straightforward, Trowa was a calm person who found Duo amusing and Quatre even more so for being so easily amused.

"Well," Duo said, "Remember Wufei's stuffed dragon doll, Meiran? The one I told you about? The one that he's had since he was five? I had extra string left over from one of my projects and I got bored, so I tied it up, bondage-style, and left it on his bed."

Quatre laughed. Trowa shook his head.

"That's it?" Quatre asked.

"It's an old doll," Duo said, shrugging. "So when he saw it, he was furious. I laughed and tried to undo it but then," he took a deep breath, "One of its legs popped off."

Trowa laughed first this time, a quiet chuckle. Quatre followed.

"Okay I know it's funny," Duo said. "But he kicked me out afterwards and refused to let me in. So..."

"So you want us to come with you and try to convince him to let you back in?" Trowa asked.

Duo beamed. "Trowa, you know everything and I love you. YES. Please. Wufei's got this thing where he hates to be embarrassed in front of more than one person, so if there's three of us, he might be more forgiving." He gave them his best puppy dog eyes, unaware of how truly pitiful he looked.

"Right," said Quatre. "Then let's go."

Trowa nodded. "What else are we friends for?"

Wufei slammed the door in their face.

Quatre blinked. "I think he's really mad this time, Duo."

"Wufei!" Duo shouted, his actions suspiciously mirroring those that he had made earlier that day. "Wufei, I'm sorry! Let me in!"

In response, Wufei opened the window and began to throw Duo's things out.

"Wufei! NOO! Aren't we best friends?" His pillow flew and hit him in the face. "Haven't we been friends since seventh grade? Wufei!"

Trowa caught his desk lamp.

"Wufei," Quatre called out. "Be reasonable."

Wufei looked out the window. "Quatre, I am being reasonable," he said. He glared at Duo. "I was hesitant when I agreed at the end of the year to let him live with me. I thought, ‘Should I really let the outcome of one stupid bet determine my living situation next year?' But then, my parents weren't against it and Chang Wufei is a man of his word. So I agreed, and the last two months have been a nightmare!" He looked at Duo. "We may be old friends, but I refuse to let you live here one minute longer."

"But Wufei," Duo pleaded, "Where am I gonna go now? I can't afford a townhouse on my own! Hell, even if I shared it with another person, I still wouldn't be able to afford it!"

"Maybe you should have thought of that BEFORE pulling pranks on the one who paid for most of the rent!" Wufei snapped. He threw Duo his suitcase, the last of his things, and then slammed the window shut.

Trowa tapped on the window. "Are you joining us for dinner tonight, Wufei?"

Wufei opened the window. "No, I have plans. I'll see you all at breakfast tomorrow." He glared at Duo one more time before shutting the window again.

Quatre sighed. "It looks bad, Duo."

Duo began to gather his things from the floor. "Yeah."

"Well," said Quatre. "What are you going to do now? You can stay at our place until you find somewhere else to go. If you want, I can loan you the money for the first month's rent at a townhouse." He added kindly, "Without interest."

Duo sighed. "No, Wufei's right. I've been mooching too long off of other people. Guess I'll see if I can get a place in the dorms."

"It's two months into this semester, Duo. I'm not sure if there are any rooms left," said Trowa.

"Guess we'll see," said Duo grimly. Quatre and Trowa took his belongings to their place while Duo set off to the Victoria Academy Dormitory Housing Administration Office.

Dinnertime came around, and the three friends met at the usual spot.

"So how did it go?" Quatre asked, setting his tray down. He was the last to arrive because three girls had stopped him en route to their table. Trowa and Duo were both already seated and eating.

Trowa shot Quatre a troubled look. Or at least, the best troubled look that he could convey with his one eye not hidden behind his bangs.

Duo was out of spirits. He mixed a drink of lemonade and milk, which caused both of his friends to wince when he took his first sip.

"The good news is, I'll be able to move into a new place within the next two days."

Quatre smiled. "That's great."

"But...it looks like the only person who is still living alone is...what was his name again? Heero something. You know, the guy who sits in the back of our Diplomatic Relations class. Him."

Quatre gasped. "Heero Yuy?"

Duo nodded and watched glumly as his two friends exchanged looks.

If there was ever a person who had a reputation at school for being unfriendly and asocial, it was Heero Yuy. Duo had once tried talking to him in ninth grade when they were both waiting outside of their next class for the door to open. He said a few words and received such a fierce glare in response that he had goose bumps for all of class.

Duo never tried to speak to Heero again, even though he had at least two classes with him every year. This year, Heero was in Duo's Diplomatic Relations and Computer Inventions classes.

Duo shrugged. "Oh well. If he leaves me alone, then it's all good." He looked at Quatre, who was the gossiper in the group because of his popularity among girls. "Know anything useful about him?"

Quatre paused, thinking. "Not much. I've never seen him with any friends. But I've heard that some of the girls have crushes on him, although they also say they're too scared to approach him. Otherwise, he's supposed to be a real genius." He gave Duo a reassuring smile. "Nothing really bad, at least."

Trowa said, "I sat next to him in the library once. He's okay. Mostly if you leave him be, he'll do the same. The reputation for being unfriendly is a little exaggerated; I think one of the girls said it after he refused to go out with her. He seemed decent enough to me. I asked him if he could watch my backpack when I went to the bathroom and he didn't say no."

"Well, I think he's a jerk. Remember when I tried to talk to him in ninth grade?" Duo snapped his fingers. "He shot me down just like that!"

Trowa said, "Asking someone if he's a virgin isn't the best of ice breakers, Duo."

"But we both just had a one-hour lesson of sex education and we both knew it!"

"Maybe he was embarrassed though," said Quatre.

"I guess."

A female voice interrupted their conversation. "Duo! Darling, there you are!" Quatre and Trowa both winced. Duo winced inside as well, but didn't show it.

"Duo! There you are!" A beautiful blonde girl in neon pink clothing sat down in his lap. "You wouldn't believe what someone said to me today! It was horrible! Do you remember Heero Yuy in our DR class? He said I wore clothes that blinded other people. Isn't that the most terrible thing?" She hugged him tightly and pretended to weep in his shoulder.

Duo said, "Really? That's really mean. Why would he say such a thing so suddenly? You okay, Dorothy?"

Dorothy sniffed. "I will be. I was just telling Saya what a horrible dresser Mueller was, and he walked by us and made fun of me. So mean!" She sniffed once more, then turned and smiled sweetly at Quatre and Trowa. "Hello Mr. Winner, Mr. Barton."

Quatre smiled. "Dorothy, I've told you dozens of times that you can call us by our first names. There's no need to be so formal with us." The smile stretched wide, much wider than his normal smiles.

Dorothy laughed. "Oh, Mr. Winner, you're so kind, but you're all such important people, it seems so rude!"

Quatre's smile was now almost wider than humanly possible. "It's our families that are important, not us."

"Now don't be so modest," Dorothy said. "I just read in the business paper that you're one of the most promising entrepreneurs of the next century. Isn't that exciting?" She shot Duo a look.

"Isn't Quatre something?" Duo responded.

Dorothy huffed, then got off his lap. "I'm going to get dinner now, I'll be right back!"

When she was out of earshot, Trowa gave Duo a stern look. "I hate her. When are you going to break up with her, Duo?"

"Oh, she's not so bad," said Duo. "Besides, it was Quatre's idea."

Quatre looked pained. "I'm sorry I dared you to do it. I didn't think you'd do it, I most certainly didn't think she'd agree, and I can't BELIEVE that the two of you are still going out!"

Duo smiled. Dorothy Catalonia wore bright neon colors and sucked up to anyone that she thought was going to be important. Since Victoria Academy was such an elite school, this was at least seventy-five percent of the student population; therefore, she was almost always sucking up to one person or the other.

Quatre had bet Duo $100 that he wouldn't ask her out, and Duo declared that he would keep dating her until he paid up. In reality, Duo got along well with most people. He had his own reasons for dating Dorothy, and he found that she had her own merits, so he didn't dislike her company.

Quatre was now repentant. "I'll give you the money! It's cruel to string her along Duo, so just be honest and break up with her."

Duo said almost cheerfully, "She's actually the one stringing me along. She only agreed to go out with me because she heard that Relena was interested in me."

"You started that rumor," Quatre said to Trowa. "This is your fault."

Trowa blinked innocently. "I bet you $50 that they would go out. Pay up."

Quatre muttered a curse in Arabic. He pulled out his wallet and paid them both. "So now how long will it last?" he asked.

Trowa said, "They've been going out for what -- three weeks? With $5 riding on it, I say two more days."

"Five," Quatre countered. They both looked at Duo.

Duo shook his head. "Sorry, folks. I say seven before she realizes that I'm poor and here on scholarship. Otherwise, Trowa's rumor must be strong because she's always inviting me to have lunch with her and Relena."

"Seven more days?" Quatre asked, looking pained. "Can't you make it faster?"

"That would be cheating," Trowa said. He looked at Duo. "Although, of course, if you cheat in secret, I do not have any objections."

"Why seven?" Quatre asked.

"Because in one week, my monthly scholarship notice comes in. Dorothy likes to look through my mail; she'll definitely notice." The monthly scholarship was Duo's sole source of income, as students were prohibited from having jobs in the belief that it would take time away from schoolwork. Fortunately, he was so stingy that he always lived well within his means.

"Darn. I guess there's no way around it, then."

Duo smiled. "Actually, Quatre you should brace yourself. She's been talking about you a lot lately. If she didn't date me to spite Relena, then she's been dating me to meet you. I think you're next."

Dorothy came back just in time to see Trowa choke on his drink and Quatre pale. She asked what happened, but no one gave her a reply.

The dorm rooms were significantly smaller than the townhouses.

But that wasn't what would be the worst of it, Duo thought. What would probably be the worst thing about his new dwelling was the scowling person who had just opened the door.

"Hi, I'm Duo. Your new roommate," said Duo.

The scowl left Heero's face. His eyes widened for a fraction of a second, but then returned to normal. "I know who you are." He stepped aside and Duo came in.

The room was smaller than the living room of Wufei's townhouse. Duo dropped his things next to the bed that was empty and then scanned the room. The walls were bare; Heero evidently had little use for decorations. In fact, he didn't seem to have use for many things. Either that or he was an extremely neat person because the room was spotless and almost empty.

Heero sat down at his desk and started typing on his computer. He glanced once at Duo, and then steadfastly ignored Duo for the next fifteen minutes before finally returning his attention to him.

Duo, unpacking, did not even notice that Heero was watching him until Heero spoke.

"What is that smell?"

"Huh?"

Heero opened the window. "You stink," he said in a flat voice.

Duo was enraged. "I do not!"

Heero gave him an intense glare. He sat down and said not another word to Duo for the rest of the entire evening.

The next morning, Duo found all of his bottles of cologne empty and in the bathroom trashcan.

He met Quatre and Trowa at breakfast. Wufei, despite what he said yesterday, did not show up.

"I think Wufei may have another reason for kicking you out," Trowa said.

Duo at that moment did not care. "He threw out all my cologne! That jerk!"

"Heero?" Quatre asked.

"Yes!" Duo crammed half of a banana into his mouth and swallowed before speaking again. "Yesterday he said that I stank! And this morning all of my cologne was in the trash. Damn passive-aggressive son of a bitch!"

Quatre looked at Trowa. "You tell him."

Trowa shook his head. "I win. You tell him."

"Drat," said Quatre. He pulled out a $5 bill from his wallet and gave it to Trowa. "Duo," he said, as nicely as he could, "That cologne you wear does stink."

"What?" Duo sputtered in disbelief. He stared at them both. "You're kidding!"

Trowa shook his head.

"But Dorothy loves this cologne! She says I smell terrific!"

"Dorothy," said Trowa, "Also wears bright neon dresses."

"Look, Duo, we didn't want to tell you this --"

"You mean you didn't tell me earlier because you were betting on how long I'd wear it!"

"That too," said Quatre, "Anyway, we knew how excited you were to find that whole box of them for free when that store closed down, and we just didn't have the heart to tell you."

Duo looked at them both. "Okay, so you both know that I was exposed to all different kinds of smells growing up, so I may be a little desensitized. You're both serious?"

Trowa and Quatre both nodded.

"Damn," said Duo. "I hate being wrong." He paused. "I still hate him, though. I'm gonna go try talking to Wufei again after class."

His friends gave him sympathetic looks.

Dorothy cornered Duo outside of Diplomatic Relations before class began.

"Duo! I heard you weren't living with Wufei anymore! What happened?"

Duo was surprised. "Where'd you hear that?"

"Oh, I overheard it in the Nurse's Office." She dismissed the question with a gesture, and then took Duo's hand into her own. "Are you all right? Where are you staying now? Do you want to stay at my place until you get another townhouse?"

Duo felt a moment of gratitude. See? He thought. Dorothy's not so bad. "Actually," he said, "I moved into the dorms and --"

Dorothy dropped his hand as if it were on fire. "The dorms? Why are you living in the dorms? Aren't you going to get another townhouse?"

"Can't afford it," Duo said.

Dorothy blinked. "What do you mean, you can't afford it? Isn't Quatre your best friend?"

"I'm not going to ask him --" Duo began. Dorothy cut him off.

"You mean to tell me, you're on scholarship?" she screeched, each note getting higher and higher. "You're POOR? How did you end up friends with someone like Quatre Raberba Winner if you're poor?"

"Maybe his friend is not as petty as you are."

Both Duo and Dorothy stared at Heero in astonishment.

Heero said, "You two are blocking the door. Move." He pushed past them both and into the room.

Dorothy turned back to Duo, steam lost but voice still angry. "We're through, Duo!" She marched into the classroom without another word.

Duo stared after her, then turned and looked at Quatre, who had arrived just in time to see Heero give his comment.

"Today's been strange," Duo said.

Quatre grinned. "Know what that means? Trowa won the bet."

Duo tried to approach Heero after class, but the latter gave him an unfriendly look and stalked off before he could get in a word.

Infuriated, Duo spent the first half-hour after school banging on Wufei's door.

"Wufei! Let me in! We gotta talk!"

Finally, Wufei opened the door. "What do you want, Duo?"

Duo dropped to his knees. "Wufei, I'm sorry! Truly, I am! Please, please let me move back! I'll pay more rent! I'll leave your stuff alone! I'll sew Meiran's leg back on! Just give me the chance! Haven't we been friends for the last four years? Please!"

Wufei hesitated. "Duo --"

"Wufei, please! My roomie is Heero Yuy and yesterday he threw out all my cologne! Please!"

"Throwing it out was probably for the best," Wufei said. He sighed. "Look, Duo, we're friends. You know that. We'll always be friends. You're invited to my house for all the holidays, like always. My family loves you. Nothing will change that. But I need my space. Do you understand? I've been thinking about this for a while. The accident with Meiran was just the last straw. And she's fine, by the way, I patched her up yesterday."

"That's good," said Duo sincerely. Then he switched back into beggar-mode. "I'll give you your space! Wufei!"

"Sorry Duo, but it's a no. The only reason I let you stay in the first place was because of that stupid bet last year. Well, I'm never gambling with you again, and the answer is still no. Sorry. This is for the best, really. Dorothy was getting on my nerves."

"But she dumped me! So it's okay!"

"She did?" Wufei took a moment to pat his friend sympathetically on his shoulder before pulling away. "For your sake, I'm sorry to hear that. But your next girlfriend will probably annoy me even more. I want my space back. Sorry Duo."

"At least give me one shot!" Duo begged. "Give me a challenge, I'll do anything! Anything!" He grabbed Wufei's legs. "Please!"

"Get off me!" Wufei struggled, but Duo clung to him like a sea mussel to a rock during heavy tide.

"All right, fine!" Wufei exploded. "If...if...if you're voted King of the Winter Formal Dance, I'll reconsider."

Duo released him. "What?"

Wufei pushed him out of the house and slammed the door shut.

As Duo started to leave, Wufei stuck his head out of the window. "Oh, and I have plans tonight. Can't join you all for dinner, sorry."

"Voted for what?" Quatre asked.

The three usual friends were hanging out at Quatre and Trowa's place, helping Duo move the last of his things.

"King of the Winter Formal," Duo repeated. He grinned. "Isn't that great? Wufei's giving me a chance. All I have to do is be voted King of the Winter Formal Dance, and then I get to move back into Wufei's townhouse! WIN!"

"Um...Duo..." Quatre began. He glanced at Trowa.

Trowa said, "Duo, you don't go to school dances because you can't. Remember?"

"You tried once in ninth grade, had a miserable time because someone made a comment about the way you dressed, got into trouble, and then was banned from future dances," Quatre said. "You're the reason we don't go to school dances -- you're always dragging us off to do something else on the same day."

"Oh yeah," Duo said, temporarily deflated. He had been so elated about Wufei giving him a chance that he had almost forgotten.

In his freshman year, too proud to ask any of his friends if he could borrow a suit, Duo had appeared at the Winter Formal Dance in the only outfit that he could afford to rent, which at the time was not much. He was having a halfway decent time, however, until some girls made comments about the way he was dressed. He tried to splash punch on one of them in retaliation, but he missed and hit the vice-principal instead.

"It's probably why Wufei suggested it as the condition," Trowa said. "He remembers."

"Huh," said Duo, taping another box shut. "I guess that just means I have to find a way to get myself un-banned, eh?"

"Duo," said Quatre, "Why don't you move in with me and Trowa? The townhouse I rented is huge, and we could split the rent three ways."

Duo grinned. "Thanks for the offer, but it's okay. Two's a company, three's a crowd, as they say."

Quatre frowned. "That's regarding couples, Duo."

Duo turned aside as he began to tape up the last box. He felt Trowa's sharp look and then he began to whistle nonchalantly, as if he knew nothing at all. Cheerfully, he changed the subject. "Hey, either of you have free time later today? I need to go buy more cologne and I need someone to tell me what stinks and what doesn't."

"Just buy something expensive," said Quatre. "And you'll be fine. Don't be so cheap. Anyway, I can't go. One of the girls needed help with homework, so I promised to help her tonight."

Duo looked at Trowa.

Trowa shook his head. "I've taken to watching these homework sessions," he said.

Duo understood. Once, Quatre was helping a girl who suddenly felt really hot in the middle of her lesson and began stripping. Quatre had gotten away, but just barely.

"All right, fine. I'll go by myself."

Duo moved the rest of his things in, and then left to go shopping.

He returned to the dorm later only to realize that he had idiotically left his keys inside. He knocked on the door, but there was no reply. Perhaps Heero wasn't in? Duo knocked on the door again, and then tried to pick the lock. No good.

Sighing, he left the building and walked outside, surveying the windows until he picked out what he thought should be the window to his room. Luckily, they only lived on the second floor. He hoisted himself up a tree, and then carefully climbed onto the ledge outside of their window. The window was closed, but not locked. Duo lifted it and crawled inside.

Heero stared at him as he came through the window.

"Oh so you ARE in," Duo said, when he was standing again. He closed the window. "Why didn't you open the door when I knocked?"

Heero looked at him, but said nothing. Duo was irritated, but there was no point in getting angry since he was already back in, so he let it go. He crossed the room and sat down at his desk.

"What is that smell?" Heero asked.

Duo grinned. "Like it? It's my new cologne, since, you know, SOMEBODY threw out my old one. Quatre said not to be cheap, but these were discounted and I like the smell. It's interesting."

Heero gave him a look of absolute disbelief. "You need to get your olfactory senses checked." He went over and opened the window again.

"You're just jealous that I smell so good," said Duo, now lying on his bed. "I like it, so there." He sat up and looked at Heero straight in the eye. "You touch my cologne this time, Heero, and you will regret it."

Heero looked absolutely serious. "It stinks, Duo."

It was the first time that Heero had used Duo's name, but given the context, Duo was not pleased. "It does not stink," Duo said. He rolled over in his bed, and pulled his blanket over himself. "I like it, so just deal with it! Good night!"

The next day, he found his new, almost unused bottle of cologne in the trash. Duo filled a cup with water, marched over to where Heero was sleeping, and splashed it all over him.

Heero woke up instantly.

"Heero," said Duo angrily, "This means war."

"War?" Quatre asked.

"Yup. He's going to pay," Duo wolfed down his dinner almost whole. "Now if you'll excuse me guys, I gotta go bug the shit out of my new roommate."

Quatre looked at Trowa after Duo left. "Five on Duo."

Trowa shook his head. "Ten on Heero."

Duo Maxwell knew that to win in a war, you needed to know your enemy. And he KNEW Heero, all right. Heero was an asocial, unfriendly, and uncooperative person who liked his personal space clear, his desk neat, his room silent, and his air smell-free.

Well, Duo would have none of that. It was time for revenge.

Unfortunately, perhaps in retaliation for the water incident in the morning, Duo found that when he came back to his room later that night, the locks had been changed. Infuriated, he went back around to the window the same way he did the night before.

This time, the window was locked, and the vertical blinds closed.

Duo studied the lock for a moment before he pulled out his wallet and took out a paper clip. He uncurled it slipped it in the cracks of the window, and pushed the lock into the open position. Then he opened the window and crawled back in.

Heero stared at him in disbelief, echoing yesterday's reactions. Duo ignored him as he went back to his desk, and then, after a moment, Heero went back to typing on his computer.

"Whatcha doing?" Duo asked casually. Heero didn't answer, but Duo saw the familiar Diplomatic Relations soft cover textbook on his desk, opened.

That paper isn't due until the end of the semester! Duo thought. Unbelievable!

But it was time for payback. Duo smiled. He pulled out his stereo, salvaged and assembled from various sources, and then popped in a CD of obnoxiously happy pop music that Dorothy had let him borrow.

Then he turned the dial to full blast.

Heero almost fell out of his chair.

"DA DA DA~!" sang the annoying female voice. "DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO DA DA DA!"

Duo began to sing to it, adding an off-key low voice to the already awful cacophony. "DA DUH DA!"

Heero gave Duo a glare so fierce that it would have made a small child cry from its intensity. But Duo was no small child. He was far more vicious and resilient.

"I'M SO GLAD YOU LIKE IT!" Duo shouted at the top of his lungs.

The music pounded throughout the room. Heero gripped his desk and turned back to his work.

Duo picked up an aerosal can of potpourri and then began to dance. It was not a dance of any particular grace or style, but rather one designed to take up as much space around a person as possible. He bounded around the room, causing the floor to vibrate. Occasionally, he sprayed the can of potpourri whereever he felt like it.

Duo could see Heero's back muscles tense under the thin green tank top he was wearing.

Duo danced by, snatched up Heero's textbook, and danced away. He saw Heero's pencil snap, although he did not hear it.

Heero stood up. "Give that back," he said.

Or, at least, that's what Duo assumed he said. He couldn't hear Heero too well actually, and had to guess by the context and the movements of his mouth.

"Give that back!"

"I CAN'T HEAR YOU HEERO!" Duo shouted gleefully. "WHAT'S THAT? I CAN HAVE YOUR TEXTBOOK? WHY THANK YOU! THEN I CAN STOP BORROWING QUATRE'S!"

Heero stood up, and walked over to where the stereo was plugged in.

"TOUCH MY RADIO AND YOUR TEXTBOOK GOES!" Duo shouted.

Heero yanked the stereo's cord. Unfortunately, the cord was a cheap part that Duo had gotten separately, so rather than coming easily out of the electricity outlet in the wall, it popped off on the opposite end and ripped off additional random wires with it, giving a blast of electricity before effectively killing the music.

The silence that followed was deafening.

"Fuck you," said Duo pleasantly. "You touch my stuff, I touch yours." He ripped out half of the pages of the textbook before he threw what was left of it at Heero's laptop.

The mobile computer fell off of the desk with a might crash.

Heero stared at his computer in disbelief. Then he walked over to where Duo was standing, and looked at him with very serious eyes. "I will kill you."

Duo hit him first.

The next thing he knew, they were both on the floor, trying to beat the living shit out of each other. Heero hit him in the eye and tried to get him in a lock, but then Duo turned and kicked him, so Heero ducked and grabbed his braid, yanking him off balance, Duo fell, Heero pulled him backwards and twisted his arm painfully only to stumble back when Duo slammed his head backwards into Heero's face, and then Heero let go, nose bleeding.

The two combatants glared at each other.

Duo said, "We can't fight all night, Heero, and you can't beat me."

Heero's eyes hardened. He suddenly moved quickly, so quickly that he took Duo by surprise and the next thing Duo knew, Heero had him on the floor, straddling his stomach, each of his knees pinning down each of Duo's arms.

Then he began to choke him.

Duo struggled. Just when he thought he would pass out, Heero stopped. Duo took no chances. He brought up his knees, twisted his hands frees, and threw Heero off.

They stared at each other again, breathing hard.

Heero looked shaken. He stared at his hands, and then back at Duo. "Why are you not afraid?"

"You're crazy," said Duo in a ragged voice, "But not the only one that's crazy here. You're scaring the shit out of me but I'm not going to back down because I'm not afraid of you." The sentence did not make sense, he knew, but it was the truth. His voice grew stronger. "I learned as a kid that death can come at any time, so I'm not afraid of you. You can try to kill me and I'll try my damn hardest to make sure that you don't. And if I fail --"

"I want you out of my room," Heero said. "Get out."

Duo snorted. "You and me both, buddy! It ain't no picnic being YOUR roomie. I didn't ask you to touch my stuff, you disrespectful son of a bitch!"

Heero glared at him. "Get out."

Duo laughed. "Hah! If you want to get rid of me so badly, then YOU leave!"

"I was here first," said Heero. "You pollute the air with unpleasant smells and you always leave the sink a mess with your stuff everywhere. Get out of here and go back to wherever you came from!"

"Yeah, I would if I could asshole, but until I can work miracles and get myself elected as King of the Winter Formal, I'm staying! So there!"

Heero tried to keep up his glare, but he couldn't because he was hopelessly confused. "What?"

"My old roommate said he'll take me back only if I get voted as the Winter Formal Dance King," said Duo. "So unless that happens, I'm staying."

Heero stared at him. "Really?"

Duo shrugged. "So there's a chance I might leave. You happy? It makes me happy, only who knows if I can do it? If I can't, you're stuck with me 'cuz there ain't nowhere else for me to go. You got the last single room in the entire dormitory and there's no way in hell I can afford a townhouse on my own."

He laughed. "You can try all you like to get rid of me. Keep changing the locks. I'll come through the window. Bolt the window shut? I'll break down the door. Fortify the door with steel and then I'll break through the window. I'll keep this up until either you let me back in or you become a prisoner of your own room, so there!"

Heero remained silent during his entire tirade. The vibes that Duo was getting from him now were mixed, so he kept his guard up and waited for a response.

Heero said, "You are as strange as ever."

The words sounded unusual, but Duo refused to let them get to him. "Hypocrite!" he shot back.

Heero met his eyes. "Then that is the mission. To get you to become Winter Formal King, I will do everything in my power to help you."

Duo was surprised, but he quickly recovered. He studied Heero for a moment. The dark eyes staring back at him no longer held malice or anger. Duo watched him for a moment longer, before he decided that Heero was being serious and not going to attack again.

Duo said, "So you can get rid of me and I you? Excellent." He gave a half-grin. "It's a deal, then. You'll do everything you can to make me Winter Formal King. In return, I too will do everything that I can so that I don't have to live here. It's a promise."

Duo stuck out his hand. "Until then, truce?"

Heero stared at his hand for a minute, before he reluctantly shook it.

"Deal."

Duo's body sagged with relief, tension easing out of his shoulders. "Great." He winced. "You up for a trip to the Nurse's Office? 'Cuz holy crap, I'm in pain." He gave Heero a friendly grin. "That first punch you threw? Not bad. And thanks for not going all the way through when you were choking me."

He said this in such a way that, strangely enough, sounded sincere and not the least bit sarcastic, spiteful, or afraid. The voice held no anger; it was just friendly banter.

Heero stared at him in astonishment, and then, very slowly, smirked. "Of course. If I killed you, where would I hide the body?" He went over to his desk and tossed Duo a new key for their changed lock, before heading for the door. "You were not bad yourself. The head bunt caught me by surprise, and given my previous training, you held up your ground remarkably well."

"I'm always full of surprises," said Duo. He started to follow Heero, but then he stopped. "Wait, let me open the window first. The potpourri in here stinks and I don't want to have to smell it when we get back."

"Duo! What in the world happen to you?" Nurse Sally Po exclaimed when he arrived. She was a pretty and friendly woman in her late twenties, with long golden hair that she kept in vertical curls.

Despite all of his boasting and no matter how much morning exercise he got, Wufei seemed to have rather delicate health, as he was prone to getting colds or upset stomachs. Or perhaps he was a hypochondriac; Duo was never sure. Regardless, Duo came with Wufei so many times to the Nurse's Office that as a consequence, the two of them were now on a first-name basis.

The nurse looked at Heero. "Heero Yuy, right? You must be Duo's new roommate. I still remember your little act in ninth grade."

"How did you --" Duo began.

Sally cut him off. "What happened to you two? Duo? Mr. Yuy? The two of you look like you've been in a serious fight!"

Duo shrugged. "We have." Sally blinked, and Duo gave her his best charming smile.

"It's a guy thing," he said.

The next morning at breakfast, Duo was about to take his first bite of his pancakes when he realized that both Quatre and Trowa were staring at him. "What?" he asked.

"Duo. You have a black eye," said Trowa, without a change in expression.

Duo shrugged. "Heero's got a nose that was bloody yesterday."

"Is it that bad between you two?" Quatre asked. He waved at some girls who were walking by them before continuing. "You sure you don't want to come and live with us, Duo?"

"Oh yeah, I'm sure, wouldn't want to disturb you two or anything," Duo said. He felt Trowa's eyes on him, so he tried to change the subject. "Heero and me got a truce going on. We'll leave each other alone until I leave, but until then, I'm fine with staying there." He laughed. "Besides, it seems like everyone who rooms with me ends up hating me. Remember my randomly assigned roommate in ninth grade, Ryuuzaki? Freaky guy with the big eyes who kept thinking that I was somebody that I wasn't? And then the other randomly assigned guy last year, Raito? By the end of the year, I swear, he was plotting my death."

Duo shrugged. "I must be impossible to live with if my middle school friend can't stand me after living with me for only two months. I don't want you guys to hate me too."

"Duo, we wouldn't --"

Duo shrugged again. "I just figure it's better to stay with someone who I know hates me rather than make you guys hate me, that is, until I move back in with Wufei, who I didn't think hated me but now I kinda do. Make sense?"

Quatre was lost. "No." Trowa frowned, and then remembered something.

"So who won the fight?"

'"It was a truce, but technically, Heero did," Duo said. "By the way, speaking of Wufei, where is he? I'm starting to miss him."

Trowa said, "He said that he would be skipping breakfast with us this morning." Under the table, he kicked Quatre. He had won the bet. Quatre kicked him back, meaning that he would pay up later.

"Again?" Duo asked. "Is he trying to avoid me or something?" He chewed on a piece of pancake as aggressively as he could. "Oh well. I don't care."

Duo's friends exchanged glances.

"Duo --"

"Hey look, it's Heero. Sitting at that table right down there." He gestured towards Heero, who was reading what looked like a textbook solutions manual as he ate.

Heero happened to look up at the same time Duo spotted him, and for a moment, they looked at each other. Then Heero went back to his book without any motion of acknowledgement. Duo was greatly annoyed.

Trowa said, "He's been there for the last ten minutes."

"Really? Didn't notice. Let's go say hi."

"Aren't you supposed to leave each other alone?" Quatre asked.

The annoyance turned into a feeling of adventurousness. "In the dorm room, yeah. Here, everything's game." He stood up, gathered his tray, and led his friends over to Heero's table.

Quatre looked at Trowa uncertainly as Duo took the seat next to Heero.

"HI HEERO," Duo greeted in a loud voice. Heero looked up at him and nodded slightly before returning to his book. His nose had dried blood underneath it, and his face suffered as many bruises as Duo did.

"Duo --" Quatre began. He looked at Trowa, who sat down. Quatre was about to say something, but he saw, with somewhat surprise, Duo starting to smile. A real Duo smile, one that held mischief but not malice. Feeling more at ease, Quatre sat down as well.

Duo continued in the same loud voice, "THESE ARE MY FRIENDS, QUATRE AND TROWA." His voice returned to normal. "Quatre, Trowa, this is Heero Yuy." He gestured grandly towards Heero, as if he were a waiter presenting the special for the day.

To everyone's surprise, Heero put down his book. "Hello," he said quietly.

Quatre smiled, instantly liking him. "Hi Heero. We've never formally met, but we've all have had classes together at one point or the other."

Heero nodded.

Trowa said, "You might find Duo noisier than what you're used to, but he's amusing at least. Please take care of him."

Duo gave him an exaggerated glare, before shrugging it off. He was impressed by the fact that Heero had the decency to put his book down before speaking to them. It gave him some hope; perhaps Heero had some social skills after all. This put Duo in a good mood. He asked in a friendly tone, "So you studying for a quiz or something?"

Heero shrugged.

There was an awkward pause as Duo waited for an additional verbal response, but none came. Thinking that Heero was just careful about his words, he waited a bit longer, until the silence stretched for so long that it became the norm, and they ate without saying a word. It was an uneasy, strange silence.

Unable to bear it any longer, Duo was about to speak when Heero stood up to refill his drink.

When he was out of earshot, Duo said, "Well that was awkward." Quatre agreed.

Trowa said, "It was probably awkward for him as well. Let's try to make more of an effort to include him in a conversation."

"I guess it's too much to hope that he'd start a conversation on his own," said Duo.

Trowa said, "I used to find it hard to talk to people too. He won't talk until he's comfortable with us."

Quatre tapped his fingers on his desk, and Trowa fell silent as Heero returned.

Silence.

"So Duo," said Quatre, clearing his throat, "How do you plan on convincing Vice-Principal Lady Une to revoke your ban so that you can attend the Winter Formal Dance?"

Heero blinked and looked at Duo. "Are you banned?"

Duo was pleased by the attention. "Haha! You didn't think it was going to be that easy to get rid of me, did you?" He poked at his plate absentmindedly. "I got banned in my freshman year by The Iron Lady for something stupid." He grinned. "So now we're going to go see her tomorrow by appointment during lunch."

Heero stared at him.

Duo understood his unspoken question. "Why are you coming with me? 'Cuz we're in this together, of course." He smiled broadly, and then deepened his voice. "'I'll do everything in my power to help you.' That's what you said, right?"

"Did you really say that?" Quatre asked.

Trowa said, "Sorry Heero, you're stuck with Duo now."

Duo ignored them both. "So the way I see it, this is not just MY problem. You wanna get rid of me just as badly as I wanna get rid of you. So you're coming with me, right?"

Heero said nothing.

Trowa said, "Duo makes people keep their word."

Quatre said, "He runs, he hides, but he never lies. And he makes sure that those around him do the same."

"I said, 'I will do everything,' not 'I'll do everything,'" Heero said to Duo's astonishment. Heero raised a brow. "And why do you want me to come?" he asked. "The one who is banned is you. There is really no need for me to accompany you."

Duo looked down. "She scares me," he muttered.

Heero blinked. "What?"

Duo looked at him square in the eye. "Vice-Principal Lady Une," he said clearly, "Terrifies the shit outta me. I've NEVER seen her for anything, let alone to ask her to reverse a decision that she declared three years ago." The look he gave Heero was earnest. "I need the support, man."

Trowa laughed. "Never lies, indeed."

Quatre elbowed him. Under the table, he held up three fingers and then gave 'okay' sign, signaling that it would be three days before Heero and Duo became good friends. Trowa held up one finger in response, and then smiled. Didn't Quatre see it?

With this meal, Heero had already joined their circle. It would take only a day before the two of them realized it.

The next day during lunch, they paid Vice-Principal Lady Une a visit.

Vice-Principal Lady Une terrified Duo for a very good reason -- her erratic personality. On the days that she had her hair down and wore contacts, the students nicknamed her "Lady Angel" because her demeanor was kind, her temper sweet, and her voice caring. On the days that she had her hair up and wore glasses, however, she was called "The Iron Lady." On those days, her demeanor was stern, her temper short, and her voice strict. Rumor had it that she had always been Lady Angel until a man had broke her heart, and then, from the pain she felt, The Iron Lady emerged.

Duo had met her at the freshman orientation as the Lady Angel, and so it had been quite a shock when the next time he saw her at the school dance, she had yelled at him for a straight twenty-three minutes before banning him from dances forever. He could only pray that today she was Lady Angel.

But when the doors to the Vice-Principal's Office opened and the two boys stepped in, the voice that greeted them was neither sweet nor friendly.

"Mr. Maxwell, Mr. Yuy. This must be something big since both of you came," she said, her voice sarcastic. Pause. "What is it?"

Heero waited for Duo to answer. Nothing happened. He looked at Duo and saw that his roommate appeared to have been scared into silence. His eyes were very wide and his mouth opened, but no sound came out.

"Well?" The Iron Lady asked impatiently, "What is it? I do not have the luxury to spend all day with you two." She looked at Heero.

Heero said, "Duo wants to talk to you about something." He glared at Duo, willing him to speak.

"Well Mr. Maxwell? What is it? And why do you insist on bringing someone along if you alone have business with me?"

Duo, Heero tried to think telepathically, Say something. He tried to meet Duo's eyes, but Duo was not making eye contact with him.

"What is it?" Lady Une asked again, her voice growing louder. "Do not make me repeat myself again, Mr. Maxwell."

Duo's mouth opened. Closed. He finally looked at Heero, giving him a truly, hopeless look. It was then Heero realized that as much of a talker Duo was, he had been honest when he said that Lady Une terrified him. Unless Heero did something, the two of them would be standing around for only a few more minutes before they would probably be banned from her office.

Well, Duo may have moral qualms about lying, but Heero did not. He looked at Lady Une and said, without the least indication of fear in his voice, "Duo's recovering from sickness and has lost his voice today."

Duo looked at Heero surprised. Heero ignored him.

"Lost his voice in addition to receiving so many injuries?" Lady Une asked, looking at the bruises on both Heero's and Duo's faces suspiciously.

Heero's gaze never wavered.

"Yes. He indicated this morning to me that he would like to try talking to you, but he was not sure if he would be able to, so he asked me to come along."

"I see," Lady Une leaned back in her chair. She gave Duo a disgusted look. He gulped. "Well it looks like he's unable to speak then," she said, each word dripping with sarcasm. She looked at Heero. "Well, what is it that he needs to speak to me so badly about?"

"In ninth grade, he made a mistake and was banned by you from school dances. He would like to request that you revoke this ban."

"I see. And is there a particular reason as to why he would like to request this now? He has not had a problem with this before."

Heero looked at Duo, who looked as stumped as he felt. There was no way they could tell her the ridiculous truth as a valid reason. Revoking a ban to win a contest in order to fulfill a challenge so that he could move out? Preposterous. Weighing several possible responses before answering, Heero said, "His record since this incident has been relatively clean." Was it? Heero had no idea, but he continued regardless. "And he is in love."

"In love?" asked Lady Une, interest peaked. She leaned forward. "Really? And is this a valid reason?"

Heero shrugged. "I do not quite understand it, but humans are driven by their emotions. Duo is in love, so he wants to take the one he is interested in to the dance."

"I see." Lady Une considered this. "Let me think on this." She leaned back and turned her chair so that her back was all that was facing them.

"In love, huh?" she said.

The chair swiveled back around. Lady Une's hair was still up, but the glasses were off. Some middle ground between the two extremes?

"Very well, Mr. Maxwell. Youth is a good time to be in love."

The glasses went back on. "All foolish mistakes, after all, are best done in one's youth so that only mature reason guides one's actions in adulthood." She looked at both Heero and Duo. "However, there is a condition to this. I am not, you understand, a person who takes her word lightly. Once I make a decision, I do not turn back. Therefore, for me to give you something, Mr. Maxwell, you must give me something in return as well." She pointed to the window.

"The school's pools need cleaning, and the grounds maintainer is sick today. Mr. Maxwell, you will find Otto the janitor and ask him to give you the proper equipment. You will then clean the school's pools. All three of them. For however long it takes." She looked pointedly at Heero. "Of course, I have no objections if you bring along help. The more the merrier."

Heero nodded. "Thank you, Vice-Principal Lady Une."

"Good day to you, Mr. Yuy. I commend you for having the patience to help Mr. Maxwell here." She pointed to the door; it was a clear dismissal.

Duo couldn't contain his excitement. He began blubbering the minute they were out of the school's Administration Building . "Heero that was so awesome, thank you so much, oh my God, I can't believe it!"

Heero shrugged and began to walk away.

"Wait. Where are you going?"

"Lunch ends in fifteen minutes," Heero said.

"Wait!" Duo caught up with him and grabbed his shoulder. "I know where we can get great lunches and it's near our next class." The next class was one that they both shared, Computer Inventions. "Come on, it'll be my treat!"

Heero was curious. He followed Duo.

Next to the room where their Computer Inventions class took place was a storage building where Victoria Academy's own privately hired mechanical, technical, and security maintenance crew worked. The staff there was responsible for the monitoring of security cameras, fixing broken equipment, and making sure that the school continued to run in top-notch condition.

Heero had never been inside the storage building. Duo led him to the back door. Heero gave him a questioning look.

"What? Don't tell me that you've never bought sandwiches from Howard before."

Duo knocked on the door as Heero shook his head.

"He sells them cheaper than the school, but they taste damn good and it's a hell of a lot closer than the Food Court. Practically all of the students on scholarship buy sandwiches from him. Me and the others always do, too."

The door opened. Howard was a middle-aged man who wore sunglasses and a tie-dyed shirt. "Duo!" he exclaimed. "Thought you were skipping lunch today."

"Nope, just had business to take care of."

"I see, I see."

Duo gestured towards Heero. "This is Heero, my new roommate. Long story. Anyway, got anything left today?"

Heero looked at him. "You were not even sure if he had any food left or not?"

Duo shrugged. "The best decisions in life always involve a risk."

Howard laughed. "For you, Duo, of course! I got the usual." He looked at Heero. "Normally, I'm out by this time, but Wufei hasn't shown up today either. I think I'll stop packing extra for him."

"Wufei's been skipping meals with you too? Man, what is up with him?"

Duo paid Howard and then he and Heero headed back to class with two warm and wrapped subway sandwiches.

"Howard's homemade sandwiches are the best!" Duo exclaimed. He bit into his sandwich with relish, and then stopped. "Oh, are you okay with a meatball sandwich? That's Wufei's favorite and what he usually orders."

Heero unwrapped his sandwich. Sure enough, it was a meatball sandwich. "I am fine with it," he said.

And they both ate in a comfortable silence as they headed off to class.

Diplomatic Relations was the last class of the day. Afterwards, Heero packed his bag and began to leave.

Duo waved good-bye at Quatre and caught up with him. "Wait up, Heero." Heero looked at him.

"Where do you think you're going?" Duo asked.

Heero said, "The dorms."

"Nah uh. The pools gotta be cleaned, remember?"

Heero looked at him. Duo gave him a serious look for about two seconds before he smiled. With a sinking feeling, Heero realized that he had gotten himself into much more than he had thought he would.

Duo smiled. Nobody messed with him and got away with it without paying a price.

There were three pools: two indoor and one outdoors. One indoor pool was in the Girl's Gymnasium, the other in the Boy's.

The outdoor pool was the largest and, extending to fifteen feet of water at its deepest end, the deepest.

At Victoria Academy, cleaning the pools involved draining the pools, scrubbing them inside and out, refilling them to their normal levels and then adding the appropriate chemicals into the water.

The first pool they decided to tackle was the outdoor one. They set the pumps to drain the water, and then began to scrub along the outer edge from the top.

When he was finished with the outer edge, however, Duo refused to go into the pool to do any more scrubbing. He instead opted to lie flat on his stomach, lean over the edge of the pool, and then try to scrub down in his awkward position.

Heero, now standing on the ladder attached to the left side of the pool, watched him for a few minutes before he could stand it no longer.

"Duo," he said, exasperated, "What are you doing?"

Duo looked at him innocently from the other side of the pool. "Cleaning."

"No, you are not," Heero said. "Your current position is extremely inefficient for deeper scrubbing. Get on a ladder and help me."

The water, still draining, now stood at about eight feet. Heero, holding onto the ladder with his right hand and holding a mop with his left, was scrubbing to the left side of the ladder.

"There has to be a better way to do this," Duo said.

Heero said, "The janitor only showed us the controls for the drainage and gave us the scrubbing equipment." He switched hands; the scrub mop now went into his right hand as he began to scrub to the right of the ladder.

"Duo. Get in here and help me."

Duo did not move. "I'll wait until the water finishes draining first, thanks."

Heero gritted his teeth. "It has taken over twenty minutes to drain this far, and it has only drained half-way. If we wait for it to finish draining, this pool alone will take all night. Grab a mop and get onto the other ladder."

Duo licked his lips nervously. "All the same, I'd rather wait. I'll take those two sides, just leave it to me."

"So inefficient," Heero muttered. He scrubbed for another ten minutes before he glanced up at the other student, intending to give Duo another word. Then he saw the same expression of fear that he had seen on Duo's face earlier in the Vice-Principal's office.

"Duo. Are you afraid of the water?"

Duo flinched. "It's just that, it looks kinda deep right now. I'll wait 'til I can stand up in it before coming in."

Heero looked at the water. "It is at about four feet now, Duo. That should be shallow enough for you."

"Maybe, yeah." But he did not move.

"If you are afraid of water," Heero said, "Then why did you agree to this?"

"So that we can take a step closer to not being roommates?"

Heero sighed. "All right, I understand. Stay there. I will clean this pool by myself. It will be faster that way."

Duo blinked. "No, no, it's okay. I'll come." He moved towards the ladder on the opposite side of the pool, but hesitated when his fingers touched the first rung.

"Forget it. The water scares you. I will take care of it."

"Damn it," Duo cursed. He climbed down another two rungs and then, very, very slowly, moved out the scrub mop with one hand.

Heero saw his hand shake.

"You never learned how to swim?"

Duo shrugged. He clutched the ladder with one hand as if he was clinging for his life. Very gingerly, he moved the other hand to start to scrub.

"Not really. I grew up in an orphanage at a church."

Heero stopped scrubbing to listen.

Duo was apparently too distracted to notice his roommate's sudden attention on him.

"It was kind of a poor church and far inland. Never went to a pool or to the beach, so I never learned how to swim."

Heero resumed scrubbing, but listened quietly.

Duo found that talking soothed his nerves, so he began to ramble, thinking that Heero probably didn't care if he talked or stayed quiet. "When I was twelve, there was a fire at the church. Arson. Most of the other orphans survived. The two main people in charge of the church didn't make it." He fell silent for a moment, and then continued.

"Uh... anyway, after that, I became a ward of the state and was relocated to a rundown foster care center. I went to a public middle school nearby and met my old roommate, Wufei Chang there. His parents wanted him to learn humility, see, so even though they were rich, they made him go to a public middle school even though he had gone to a private grade school. Anyway, the two of us became good friends. I must've been the only person who could stand him, because I was the only friend he ever invited over. So his folks loved me.

"The Changs have this huge summer home by the beach, so one summer vacation they invited me along and let me stay at there. We were playing some stupid game. I fell into the water and almost drowned. Wufei tried to rescue me. His father ended up saving us both."

Duo's grip on his mop was too weak. It slipped and fell into the water with a loud splash. He cursed. Gingerly, he descended another two rungs.

Heero hopped down the ladder he was on and landed in the pool. The water at this point only came up to his stomach. He walked over to the side of the pool where Duo was still standing, and then picked up the mop that Duo had just dropped.

Heero looked at Duo. "You have done enough, Duo. I understand."

It was a tone of voice that Duo had never heard Heero use before, the only kind that would not hurt his pride anymore than it was already damaged -- a sympathetic one, one that was both sincere and kind.

Duo reached for the mop with his left hand. Heero stepped back.

"I mean it, Duo. I do not mind. I will take care of this pool. You can go set the other pools to start draining so that by the time that I am done, they will be empty."

Duo grinned. "One step ahead of you, buddy. This pool is the only one with water still in it. The other pools aren't as deep, so they should be empty by now."

Heero raised a brow at him. "Then what are you waiting for? Go start on the girl's pool."

Duo hesitated. "You sure, Heero? This pool is twice as large as the other two --"

"Then do both of the other two," Heero said. When Duo continued to hesitate, he said, "I am trying to get rid of you as much as you are of me, remember?"

"...Yeah."

"Then go." Heero began to scrub. It was clearly a signal for the end of the conversation.

"Right." Duo hesitated a moment longer, and then began to climb out of the pool. "I'm on it, then." He grinned. "Whoever finishes first can shower first when we get back to our room!"

"Or we could use the showers here," Heero said reasonably.

"Yeah, but all our stuff is there."

Heero considered this. It was a good point. "Fine. First one done, showers first."

"No time to waste, then. See ya!" Duo got out of the pool and took off. He stopped about five feet away from the edge and looked back.

"Oh, and Heero?"

"What?"

"Thanks!" Duo waved and ran off. Heero just shook his head.

In the end, Heero finished first. But this did not stop him from waiting with Duo for another hour until the pools were restored to their original levels of water so that they could add the chlorine.

To pass the time, Duo taught Heero how to play a non-drink version of the drinking game, "Never Have I Ever." In the normal version of the game, a person would take a shot of alcohol whenever an action of theirs was named; however, in this version, a single finger was lowered instead. Who ever had a fist (all five fingers lowered) by the end of the game, lost.

Duo explained the rules, and then Heero tried the first subject. "Never have I ever been arrested," he said. Since he really had never been arrested, he did not lower any fingers. But Duo had, so he did.

Heero looked at him. "You were arrested before?"

"It was for something I didn't do, thankfully," said Duo. "If I did do it, this school would have never let me in. My turn. Never have I ever...um...held a gun." What the hell, it was a long shot, but he couldn't think of anything else to say.

Heero lowered a finger. Duo gave him an inquisitive look. Heero shrugged.

"Never have I ever," said Heero, "Had close friends."

Duo lowered another finger. Heero did not. That's kind of sad, Duo thought, but he saved his judgment on this one quietly.

And so the game continued. It was quite a revealing game. In addition to having never been arrested or having close friends, Duo learned that Heero had never drunk anything alcoholic or gambled. When he heard the last part, Duo declared that all he had to do was hang around Trowa long enough and soon the betting bug would bite him. Heero in turn learned that Duo had never cheated on an exam or told any lies past the age of twelve.

Neither of them had ever had sex. Nor, it seems, did either of them ever kill anyone, although Heero's fingers twitched before he chose not to lower it. Seeing this, Duo declared next that he had never almost killed anyone. When Heero hesitated again, Duo argued that Heero had almost killed him the last time they had fought, so Heero had to lower a finger. Heero, disgruntled, lowered his fourth finger and then declared that he had never almost drowned.

"That's unfair!" Duo said. He lowered his fifth finger. Heero had won. "So unfair," Duo complained, even though he knew that Heero had just paying him back for doing the same.

"So you cheated on an exam before?" Duo asked. "For what class?"

Heero was very quiet. "It was not a school exam. It was an exam I had when I was a child. I did not want to do what I was supposed to, but I did not want to lose either, so I cheated." He said nothing else after that, so Duo changed the subject.

"So neither of us have ever had sex," said Duo. He grinned. "Reminds me of the first time we met in freshman year, remember?"

Heero hesitated. "I remember when we met in freshman year," he said.

Duo laughed. "Quatre said that I probably offended you by asking such a personal question. It's not a question you ask people the first time you meet them. In my defense, we both --"

"Just finished taking an hour of sex education. I know, I remember," said Heero. "But that was not the first time we met."

Duo frowned. "Really? Did we meet at freshman orientation or something?" Heero did not reply, so Duo shrugged. "I'm bad with faces," he said.

Heero again said nothing.

Duo shifted uncomfortably. "Well, anyway, sorry for asking you such an offensive question three years ago." The last part came out more sarcastically than he had meant it to, so Duo said in a friendlier voice, "Eh, whatever. I guess I just always thought of you as this super unfriendly person. But you're okay."

Heero raised a brow. "Should I be thankful for your generous comment?"

Duo laughed again. "No, no. I think I'm telling myself more than you." He pointed to the water. "It's up to level." They measured and poured in the last of the chlorine. "Cool. We're done. Let's go." He stood up.

Heero nodded in agreement, and the two of them left.

Heero was the winner, so he was the first one to shower. His muscles ached all over; not counting the fight between him and Duo, he hadn't had such a thorough body workout since... Shaking his head, he finished drying his hair. Some things were best forgotten.

Heero sank into his bed and fell immediately into a deep, restful sleep.

He woke up the next morning feeling rested, but sore. A single ray of morning sunlight slipped through the cracks of the closed vertical blinds and landed quite inconveniently on his face. Heero squinted and glared at the light, but it did not move, so he rolled over and picked up his alarm clock to check the time.

10:36am.

Cursing, he sat up. He was late for his first class and he forgot to set his alarm last night! If he hurried now, he could still make --

Wait, no. Today was a Saturday. No class. He felt a moment of relief. Lying on his back, Heero considered his next move. He had planned to be doing his usual weekend morning studying by now and then would have finished in the next half hour, but now -- now he felt unusually lazy and did not want to do anything. It was strange to break routine, but it also felt strangely nice.

Duo came out of the bathroom. "Yo, good morning." He stepped out, as good-looking as ever, dressed in a causal shirt and black jeans, drying his hair with a towel. "You're up." He crossed the room and handed Heero something. "Here."

It was his Diplomatic Relations textbook. The torn-out pages, Heero discovered as he flipped through it, had been carefully taped back in. Every single one of them. It must have taken hours.

"I'm broke right now," said Duo. "When I get more money, I'll get you a new copy. For now this is all I can do. Sorry."

Heero looked up. "Forget it," he said. "This is good enough. As long as I can read the words, this is good enough."

Duo indicated Heero's laptop. "I took a look at your laptop too, but it didn't seem to be damaged and all your data seemed to still be there. Top of the line, is it? It's nice." He held his hands up in truce. "Sorry I touched it, but I just wanted to make sure. Hey, wanna make another deal? From now on, until I'm gone, you leave my stuff alone and I'll leave yours. Deal?"

Heero didn't reply. Duo took it as a no. He shrugged. "Well, whatever. Let's just try our best to tolerate each other until I'm gone. I'm going to go get breakfast. Want to come?"

"Yes. Give me a few minutes." Heero went to the bathroom. He did his morning routine, and then washed his hands. He saw, with somewhat annoyance, that Duo had once again left the sink a mess: water all over the counter, spots of toothpaste in the sink that did not wash down completely, and stray strands of long light brown hair everywhere.

"Duo," said Heero, as he got dressed, "Do you really have to leave the sink such a mess every time you use it?"

Duo gave him a look. "C'mon Heero, it's a sink. It's meant to be used."

"But I am not used to sharing it," Heero tried to explain. "And I like my bathroom sink clean."

Duo gave him an incredulous look. "All right, fine. I'll make more of an effort later, 'kay?"

"Thank you," Heero said simply. Duo gave him a look again, and shook his head.

They headed down to the Food Court after that. The tables were packed. Though this was the first time all semester that Heero had slept in on a weekend, it was evident that he was not the only one. Heero and Duo grabbed breakfast trays and met up with Quatre and Trowa at their usual spot. Wufei was once again conspicuously missing.

"Morning, folks."

"Morning, Duo, Heero," said Quatre with a broad smile. "I was wondering --" A girl tapped him on the shoulder as he walked by and greeting him. Quatre waved and then returned his attention to his friends. "What happened to you yesterday, Duo? Neither of you showed up for dinner."

Which might have explained why the two of them were now eating ravenously.

"We went to see Vice-Principal Une," said Duo, talking in-between bites. "Heero talked her into letting me go to the dance and she said that I could go on the condition that we cleaned the school pools. So we scrubbed until really late last night. Man, I'm sore!" He rubbed his shoulders, as if to demonstrate.

Trowa was surprised. "You talked to Lady Une, Heero?"

Heero said, as he buttered toast, "Someone had to."

"Heero's the best!" Duo said enthusiastically. "I was too terrified to say anything, but Heero made up some bizarre excuse right on the spot and she accepted it!"

"I see," said Trowa. Under the table, he kicked Quatre. It had been only one day; he had won. Quatre kicked him back.

Above the table, Trowa looked at Duo. "So you're definitely going to go through with this plan to become King of the Winter Formal?"

"Yep!"

"It's not going to be easy, Duo," said Quatre. He waved back at another girl who was waving frantically to him, then continued. "This isn't like a political election. These contests are completely popularity-based. People go to the dances already with a person in mind and just cast their votes there. There aren't any nominations of any kind. So even if you go to the dance, you might not win, especially since you've never done anything like this before. There's only three weeks left until the dance, so we need to get your name out before then."

"Even though people know who you are," said Trowa, "You're neutral. They would rather vote for their friends or the people that their friends vote for, than someone neutral. You're well known, but not in the popular clique that Relena is in. Also, Dorothy just dumped you. That would hurt your popularity. If it were Quatre, he would still have a good starting chance. With you, I'd leave it up to random luck, which is about five percent."

"Five percent? That's pretty low but not impossible," said Duo.

"I think," Quatre said, "That you need to get your name out. You know, so that people will know that you're interested in being the Winter Formal King." He paused. "I think we should do some campaigning."

Everyone stared at him.

"Quatre," said Trowa. "You just said that this wasn't like a political election."

"And it's not," Quatre agreed. "Because people base their vote in political elections on other reasons in addition to popularity. But we can learn from political elections. Remember the Elections class we took last year? Sort of like that. I liked using flyers in that class. I think we should print up a few saying that Duo's running, and put them around the school. At least, when people are writing names down when they cast their vote, they'll think of you as a possibility, so that people who aren't close to anyone in the usual popular crowd will have someone to vote for."

They debated the merits of Quatre's idea. Heero had no opinion, Trowa was against it, and Duo liked it.

In the end, Duo agreed to it. "And you know what's the best part?" Unable to read his mind, his friends did not. Duo grinned. "Hilde's family owns a print shop! She can give me a discount on the printing!"

Trowa and Quatre exchanged looks.

"Hilde?" asked Heero.

"You know, Hilde. Dark hair, pretty girl? Let's see...she was in our Physical Therapy class that we both had last year."

Heero said, "You mean your ex-girlfriend, Hilde?"

Duo was astounded. "Heero, you keep up with gossip? Yeah, Hilde was my ex-girlfriend. She's cool."

"Duo," Trowa said, "I don't think it's a good idea." Duo gave him a questioning look. "You and her didn't part on the best of terms."

"What are you talking about, Trowa? She was the one who said 'Let's be friends,' so that's what we did."

Quatre took a deep breath. "Iria told me that her classmate, who is the sister of Hilde's best friend, said that Hilde was just trying to test you, and that she cried when you agreed so easily. She was especially upset that you said you would always be her friend."

"What?" Duo frowned as he processed what Quatre said. "Hilde cried? But she was the one who dumped me!"

"She wanted you to protest and declare your love for her when she threatened to break up," Trowa said. "I didn't understand it either, so I asked Catherine about it and she explained it to me. Anyway, Hilde's plans blew up when you agreed to break up without protest. She couldn't ask you back since she was the one who dumped you, so I think she's just been resentful of you for misreading her intentions."

"Hilde? No way!" Duo stared at Quatre and Trowa. "Why didn't you say so earlier?"

"The day before the two of you broke up, you told us that you liked Hilde, but that you were having trouble seeing her as something more than a friend," Quatre said. "Anyway, it took a while for the gossip about her true feelings to go through the grapevine, and by then you seemed fine and not interested in getting back together, so we let it slide. Beside, it was only gossip. We weren't sure if it was true or not."

Duo said to Trowa, "Who won?"

"Me."

"Huh." Duo contemplated on this new piece of information. "It's true that I always had trouble seeing her as something more than just a friend. But anyway, that was last year! Hilde and I have talked since then, and we're both cool. So I think it's okay."

"Want to bet?" Trowa asked.

Duo grinned. "Always."

Trowa said, "If Hilde is still angry at you, you owe me dinner at The Black Book."

Duo groaned. "That place is so expensive, Trowa! How about Rasheed's? They love Quatre, so they'll give us a discount."

"Fine."

"I'm siding with Trowa on this," said Quatre. "If he wins, you buy us both dinner."

Duo said, "Okay. But if I win, you each have to buy me dinner. Fair?" They both agreed.

"Alright." Duo looked at Heero. "You want in on this, Heero?"

Heero said, "Never have I ever gambled. Remember?"

Duo grinned. "You sort of did, yesterday, with the shower thing. We do crazy bets all the time. Trowa started it. His family owns this huge casino joint. He was raised on a trapeze and with the perfect poker face. He used to play poker with us in the ninth grade and he'd always win all our money. Iria, that's Quatre's big sister, complained to Trowa's big sister, Catherine. She made Trowa promised never to play poker with us again.

"So instead we bet on other things. Sometimes the prize is money, sometimes it isn't. Not that it really makes a difference. Trowa usually ends up winning anyway. You want in? It'll be fun."

Heero considered this.

Trowa said, "Who do you think is right? Duo or us? Since you're completely objective on this matter, I'm curious."

Heero said, "I do not know Hilde very well." He glanced at Duo. "I think Duo is easy to get along with --"

"Hah!" Duo said to Quatre and Trowa.

"-- But I also think that Duo sometimes give people more credit than they deserve." Heero looked at Trowa. "I think you are correct."

Duo groaned. "So now I have to buy all three of you dinner? Bummer."

"Or you get three dinners," said Quatre.

Duo brightened. "That's true." He stood up. "We'll, I'm gonna go talk to Hilde, and then we'll see who wins." He left, leaving Heero alone with Quatre and Hilde.

Quatre smiled. "So, Heero. I guess we never hung out before. What are your --"

"Good morning, Mr. Winner," came a high-pitched voice from behind him. With sudden dread, Quatre turned around to see Dorothy wearing a bright gold dress. "I heard that you were helping Saya and a few other girls this afternoon with homework. May I join in?"

Quatre paled slightly. "Uh...but I thought your test scores..."

"I would like to learn from you. Please teach me." Dorothy said, eyes sparkling.

"But --"

"Please let me come, Mr. Winner!" she said, her voice getting louder as she became visibly more excited.

Quatre stared at her. "Um. Sure."

"Thank you~!" She curtsied and then walked away gracefully.

Quatre looked at Trowa, horrified. "What have I done? Now I have to see her today!" He groaned, and then gave Trowa a hopeful look. "You're coming today too, right Trowa?" His fingers tightened around his fork. "Don't leave me alone with her!"

Trowa gave him a strange look. "I'll be there, don't worry."

"Thanks."

Trowa turned back towards Heero, who was just finishing up. "So, Heero. I'll finish what Quatre was going to ask you before he was interrupted. What are your plans for the rest of today? We're planning to go to the Central Shopping Plaza to pick up a few things. Do you want to come?"

Heero automatically began to decline. "No, I --" He paused, and then changed his mind. "Yes. There are a few things that I need to pick up as well."

Now fully recovered, Quatre relaxed and was back to his usual self. "By the way, Heero. There's a favor that I want to ask of you."

Heero waited.

"Duo doesn't come from a very wealthy background, so he doesn't like spending money without a reason. So if he buys something, he's very possessive about it. To him, if someone that he doesn't know very well touches his property without permission, it's a sign of disrespect and he hates it."

"Unless it's a simple prank, of course," said Trowa. "Since he does the same thing himself occasionally. Duo is otherwise usually easy to get along with."

Heero understood what they were asking him to do. It was the same thing that Duo had asked that morning. "I understand," he said. "I will make it up to him."

When Heero returned later that afternoon, he presented Duo with a brown paper bag.

Duo, who had been doing homework, looked up. "What is it?"

"Open it."

It was a bottle of expensive cologne. Duo stared at it in surprise, and then he laughed.

Heero tried to explain. "Quatre and Trowa were telling me how much you disliked it when other people ruin the things you buy. So I told them that I needed to make it up to you, and all three of us picked out the cologne that we thought smelled the best. They wanted to chip in too, but did not get a chance to." Because in the store, Heero had grabbed the bottle and dashed off to a different counter to pay for it.

"Thanks," said Duo. He opened the bottle and sniffed at it. "Hey, nice!" The cologne had a rather pleasant smell to it, even someone who was as smell-challenged as him could appreciate it. "Thanks Heero," he said again, "I really appreciate it."

Heero said, "I just wanted to do it right." He went over to Duo's stereo, sat down, and examined it critically. He opened the other bag that he had been holding and dumped its contents onto the floor. "I also got some parts to fix your stereo."

"Really? Dude, you're so cool!" Duo left his chair and joined him by the floor. Together, the two of them silently pulled out wires and reattached them until soon they had a functional stereo again.

"Excellent!" Duo said. He turned down the volume and hit the play button. Dorothy's CD began to play. Heero cringed. Duo noticed, and immediately turned it off.

"Hideous, isn't it? That girl has awful taste." Duo grinned. "Except when it comes to guys," he said, thinking about how she currently seemed to be interested in Quatre.

The bottom of Heero's lip quirked up in agreement. "She must have some taste when it comes to romantic partners. She did date you, after all."

The remark caught Duo off-guard and filled him with pleasure. "Is this a compliment? Why, thank you so very much." He puffed his chest out in exaggerated pride. "I must not let this compliment go to my already swelled ego."

Heero shook his head, but Duo could see that he was amused. He examined the stereo for one last time. "You have an odd bit of work there."

"You mean like how it's a patch-quilt of random other parts? Well, what can I say? I built in my freshman year from parts I found in the trash when I was working on another project. Don't worry, it's clean. I sterilized everything myself." Duo examined the completed work as well, and then beamed with pride. "Thanks, Heero. I'm sorry that I didn't fix your textbook as well as you fixed my stuff."

"I was impressed by the textbook actually," said Heero. "You even matched up words that were torn in half. With the way it is now, there is no problem with it. So do not worry about it." He watched as Duo popped out Dorothy's CD. "If you want to return that to her, she plans on attending one of Quatre's study sessions this afternoon."

Duo froze. "Are you serious?" He checked the clock. "Oh no! She's gonna try to devour him whole!" He looked at Heero. "Need a place to study? Let's go keep an eye on her and make sure that she keeps her hands off." Duo grabbed his things and Heero followed.

Quatre used to go to other people's places to help tutor, but after the stripping incident, Trowa had him hold them at either large public places or in their own townhouse. Tonight, the study session was held in their townhouse, so that was where Duo and Heero headed off.

"Why does Quatre help tutor so many people?" Heero asked.

"He doesn't get paid for it, if that's what you're asking." Duo shrugged. "Quatre is really kind and he likes to help others. He likes teaching. If he had a choice, he'd probably be a teacher. But he's the heir to his family's business, so he knows that he'll never be a teacher. So he tutors for fun while he can, 'cuz once he graduates, he probably won't ever have time for that sort of thing."

"I see," said Heero.

Duo glanced at him. "Are you the same?"

Heero gave him a blank look, so Duo elaborated.

"I mean, most of the people here have their paths set for them. Trowa wants to be the top poker player at the Barton Casino, but he knows that he'll probably end up inheriting the whole thing. He once told his parents that he wanted to be a lion tamer or a clown in their circus act, and they laughed at him. The Changs own a hospital and Wufei plans to become a surgeon."

"What about you?"

"Me? I'm lucky in that aspect, I guess. I'm a ward of the state, and once I turn eighteen, I get to make all of my own decisions. Of course, the Changs keep telling me to study to become a doctor too, but the pressure coming from them isn't the same as the one they give Wufei. Are you the same?"

The topic was back to him again. "My father has no expectations for me," said Heero. "I think that he might like me to become a diplomat, but he has never said so himself. He told me to just find a purpose." Heero was quiet after that, and they didn't say another word to each other until they were at Quatre and Trowa's.

Quatre opened the door and greeted them. In the living room were Trowa, Dorothy, and two other girls: Saya, the younger sister of one of Duo's old roommates, and her friend Misa, a popular and pretty junior. Saya was clearly a Quatre fan, but Dorothy was obviously even more so.

"Who's at the door, Mr. Winner? My, but you are a popular one!" She bounded forward, and then stopped when she saw Duo.

"Hello, Mr. Maxwell."

Being addressed by your ex by such a formal title probably would have hurt any other person, but Duo was only amused. "Hi, Dorothy. I came to give you back your CD," here he handed it, "And to watch you to make sure that you keep your hands off of Quatre."

Dorothy was appalled. "Such terrible manners, Mr. Maxwell! How could you be so rude as to insinuate that I came here with an agenda other than to learn from Mr. Winner?" She huffed and stalked back to her seat.

Duo followed her. "Dorothy, I did date you for almost three weeks. Remember?"

Dorothy ignored him. "How do I do this problem, Mr. Winner? I'm afraid that I don't quite understand it."

Quatre flashed her a strained smile. "I already went over that problem with you, Dorothy."

"But I'm still not quite sure that I understand --"

"Dorothy, I know you're smarter than that," said Duo. "You used to offer me help on MY homework for the same subject, remember?"

Dorothy shot him a dirty glare, but Duo only winked at her in response.

Then, to Heero's surprise, Dorothy started to smile. She stopped halfway, but it was clear that she was amused. "I suppose that perhaps I do not give myself enough credit," she said.

Dorothy looked at Saya and Misa, evidently deciding that if she wasn't going to get any help tonight, they wouldn't either. "I DO know this subject rather well. I can help you girls at my place, how about that?" Saya began to protest, but Dorothy shot her a look and soon the three of them were gone.

Quatre gave Duo a hug that resembled a collapsing person grasping onto his last support. "Thank you, Duo. Thank you, thank you, thank you."

Duo patted his back consolingly. "That bad, eh?"

"It's such a waste of time!" Quatre said. "She already knows everything that we're going over. She's not even taking the class; she just said that she wants to self-improve her own knowledge!"

"She's not taking the class because she took it last year," Duo informed him. "Dorothy was always pretty advanced when it came to economic theories."

"Either way, I'm so grateful! So grateful!"

Quatre and Duo were off in their own world as they started talked about Dorothy. Heero looked at Trowa.

Trowa said, "Thanks for coming."

"I did nothing," said Heero, "Other than tell Duo about it. The one with enough charisma to charm his ex-girlfriend is Duo." Heero looked at Trowa and then lowered his voice so that only they could hear. "Why did you not get rid of her on your own?"

Trowa looked away and said nothing.

Heero said, "I understand." And he did.

Heero did not join them for dinner. He said that he had not studied all day, so he grabbed food to go and returned to his room. Wufei too was absent.

"I wonder what's up with Wufei," said Duo. "I'm starting to miss him."

Trowa said, "You already said that yesterday, which means that you have been missing him."

Duo gave him an annoyed look. "I commit grammar mistakes all the time, Trowa. Half the time I use slang that no one else at the school does and the other half I use contractions that don't exist." Pause. "All right, fine, I miss Wufei. Happy now?"

"Grammatically satisfied."

Quatre chuckled. A few girls dropped by their table and inquired about his health before moving on.

Trowa looked at Duo. "Does Quatre look sick to you?"

Duo said, "Trowa, I don't know if you realized this, but Quatre would be uber-popular right now if he didn't hang out with us."

"I don't know what you guys are talking about," Quatre said. "They're just being nice." He paled slightly and ducked his head as Dorothy walked by in a bright purple dress, waving at them.

"Anyway," said Quatre, when the danger had past, "Duo, you and Heero seem to have gotten pretty close in the last few days."

"What can I say? The man is cool."

"So does this mean that you're going to give up trying to be Wufei's roommate?"

Duo blinked in surprise. "Of course not! Hilde's printing those flyers as we speak. The only reason we're getting along so well is because both of us have a common goal: to get me out of the dorms. If I take away this goal, we'll be at each other's throats.

"With Heero...it's as if he's so used to living by himself that I cramp his style, you know? Apparently, he's been the only person to not have a roommate for the last two years as well, so he's not even used to having a sink look like it's been used." Duo sighed. "Besides, I wonder if I really pissed Wufei off that badly. It's like he's avoiding me or something. If I did something wrong, I want to make amends. At least if I live with him, he can't get away from seeing me at least once a day."

"Maybe that's why he wanted to stop being your roommate," said Trowa. He looked thoughtful. "Though I still think he has another reason."

Duo shrugged. "Oh well." He found, to his surprise, that although he missed Wufei, he did not miss him as much as he had a few days ago.

After dinner, Duo returned to his room to find Heero already there, eyes glued to his computer. They exchanged greetings, and Heero returned to his homework.

Duo sighed. He looked around the room, and the bare white walls stared back at him, as if he were inside of a clinical ward. With the dance still a few weeks away, this meant that the walls would continue to be blank for a while, as if Duo had not even moved in. "Well let's change that," he said. Heero glanced at him, but Duo ignored him and went to work.

He opened the last of his boxes and began to decorate his side of the room with his four favorite posters: a picture of the world viewed from space, an astronaut in a suit, a Slam Dunk poster of Hanamichi and Rukawa giving each other a high-five, and a poster of the original classic Mobile Suit Gundam.

Duo hummed to himself as he worked, taping and arranging the posters as he saw fit. When he finished, he stepped back for a final appraisal.

"They look crooked," said Heero from behind him. He had stopped working and was now appraising the wall as well.

Duo turned and grinned at him. "No, they're not. They'd be crooked if they were supposed to be straight. But they're not. I find it boring when everything is lined up all the way it's supposed to. So I like to angle my posters every which way."

Heero blinked. "Oh."

"Yup." Duo stretched his arms and took another look at his wall. He nodded to himself in approval, then said to Heero, "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Why is your side so bare? It's so white. It's like living in a psychiatric ward office, man."

Heero said, "No, it is not. Psychiatric wards decorate their offices with pastel colors and pretty pictures." He must have seen something amusing in Duo's reaction, because he now sounded amused. "But mostly, I keep it bare because I do not have anything to put up."

Heero then pointed to his Gundam poster. "Are you a Gundam fan?"

Duo shrugged. "Sort of. I like the original Mobile Suit Gundam stuff by the original author. Some of the later that came out I think is kind of a sell-out, so I stopped keeping up with it."

Heero nodded in agreement. "I think so too."

Duo said, "Hey, did you ever take Dr. J's Robotics elective class? I took it last year."

"Took it in ninth grade."

Duo was impressed. The Robotics class had many prerequisites to get into, which meant that his roommate was one of those brainy geniuses who had passed out of them.

"Well, what'd you make in it?" Duo asked. He pulled a box out from underneath his bed. "Wanna see what I made?" He opened the box and carefully pulled out his six-inch creation.

"This," Duo said proudly, "Is Deathscythe. My take on the Gundam, but, you know, with cooler designs." He carefully pulled the mini-robot out and put it standing up on the floor. "Of course, since it's remote-controlled and has no pilot, I guess it's technically a mobile doll, not a mobile suit."

Heero silently walked over to where Duo was standing, and crouched low. "May I see it?"

"Sure." Duo crouched down as well, and the two of them stared at the small robot for a brief moment before Heero picked it up and began to examine it more carefully. He was silent in his examination, as grave as coroner looking over a corpse.

For unknown reasons, Duo felt remarkably nervous.

After a complete ten minutes of agonizing silence, Heero put the Gundam down. Duo's heart was now fluttering nervously. He tried to tell himself that he didn't care about anyone's opinion of his robot, but it didn't work.

Heero met Duo's eyes. They were a remarkable blue. Duo found himself holding his breath.

Heero's face broke out into a small smile, and it was amazing how such a simple thing could so completely change a person's appearance. Suddenly Heero appeared twice as attractive; Duo could not help but smile in response.

Heero broke the eye contact first, abruptly looking down at the machine. "It's extremely well-made. Dr. J gave you an A for this." It was a statement, not a question, even though they had not been in the same class. "I like the design of it too."

Duo beamed. Heero glanced at him and another small smile tugged at his lips. He looked back down. "The only thing is -- although the wings are well-designed, they're rather heavy. I don't see how they would work."

Duo sighed. "Yeah. I made a miscalculation early on. Wanted to make the wings less likely to suffer damage from environmental impact, but I goofed and didn't realize it until the night before the deadline, so I didn't get a chance to fix it. The wings don't hinder it in movement, though. It can still run pretty fast."

Heero nodded. He handed Duo back the mini-mecha. "It looks good."

"Thanks." The compliments made Duo incredibly happy. He began to set Deathscythe back into its box.

Heero asked, "Want to see mine?"

Duo's hand froze. He looked at Heero with incredulous wonder. "No way. You too?" Heero nodded almost shyly, and Duo thought it was a cute expression.

"Then hell yeah!" Duo exclaimed excitedly. "Bring it! Let's see it!"

Heero seemed a bit taken back by Duo's enthusiasm for a moment, but then he nodded and headed to his closet door. He brought out a box as well and set it next to Duo's.

"This is Zero One," Heero said. He lifted the lid and brought it out. He put some batteries into the controller, and pressed a button. "It can transform." The small robot, currently in a humanoid shape, shifted into the shape of a plane.

Duo looked at him. "Are you perfect in everything you do?" He looked down, missing the flash of embarrassment that crossed Heero's face.

"I think I'm suddenly having Gundam envy." Then, without asking, Duo picked up Zero One for a closer inspection.

Zero One was a work of excellent engineering, and Duo marveled at its ingenuity. He babbled incoherently as he examined it, making extremely loud noises of approval from the back of his throat that Wufei had once dubbed "The Maxwell Orgasm Approval."

"This," Duo said, "Is awesome! I never thought anyone else made a Gundam in Robotics except me and my friends!" He looked up to see Heero with that small smile on his face again, and his own face broke out with a giant grin.

"It's beautiful. The mecha fan in me cries out with pleasure." Duo turned Zero One over once more. "And I take it that since it can transform into a plane that it's capable of flight?"

Heero nodded.

Duo made another loud, guttural approval. This time he looked up just in time to catch a strange expression pass over Heero's face.

"Something up?"

Heero coughed and started to examine Deathscythe again, almost absentmindedly.

"Well, Heero, that makes five of us." Heero looked at him and raised a fine brow.

"You're officially as dorky as the rest of us," Duo declared.

Heero blinked. "What?"

"You made Zero One. I made Deathscythe. Trowa's got Heavy Arms, Quatre made Sandrock, and Wufei did Nataku. Five guys in Robotics, five Gundam robots. Pretty neat, huh? Quatre said that he heard from Iria that Relena Peacecraft's older brother made one too, but I never asked him." Milliard Peacecraft was a strange person; Duo preferred not to think about him.

"Anyway," said Duo. "We need to race our Gundams for fun sometime. Are you done with your homework?" Heero nodded, and Duo grinned.

It was almost time for sunset.

"Duo, why are we here?"

Duo had led Heero to a ten-foot open ditch dug outside of the school's outdoors field, where construction work on underground pipes was being done.

"Heero, roomie, this is the best place to race machines. Nothing like the edge of danger to increase the fun, eh?"

"We're not supposed to be here," Heero pointed out, observing several signs warning visitors to stay out.

Duo looked at him. "You need to let loose every once in a while. Have fun, you know? Might as well enjoy your youth while you're young." He missed the next look that Heero shot him when he began to pull up some of the signs and reposition them, thus forming lanes.

"There," Duo said cheerfully. "Now we each have a lane. We'll race them from that sign to that sign." The second lane was remarkably close to the edge of the ditch. "We'll take turns. First my Gundam'll be closer to the edge than yours. Next time it'll be yours."

After a long pause, Heero accepted this.

And the Gundams were off. Deathscythe was doing well, until Zero One transformed and began to fly.

"Hey! No fair!" Duo cried.

Zero One landed at the finish line first. Heero laughed. It was such a surprising sound that Duo had to double-check its source. Yes, it was indeed, Heero Yuy that was laughing and looking closer to his age than any other time before.

Duo grinned. "All right! Another round! But this time," he said, raising his hand and pointing at Heero accusingly, "No cheating!"

"Condition acknowledged," said Heero. They swapped the positions of the Gundam so that now Heero's was closer to the edge.

"And ready, set --"

"Heero? Heero Yuy? Is that you?" It was a girl's voice.

Both Heero and Duo froze. Standing outside of the perimeter of warning signs was Relena Peacecraft, accompanied by a small poodle.

Relena Peacecraft was the richest and most popular girl in school. The same grade as Duo and Heero, she had long golden hair, sparkling blue eyes, and (as the daughter of an important politician) international fame. Both intelligent and pretty, she was simultaneously the envy and the leading role model for all of the other female students. Relena Peacecraft carried about her an air of dignity, and never said an unkind word about anyone.

Duo once had a crush on her in his freshman year until he realized that, as nice as she was, Relena was spoiled and stuck up. Now he never thought about her at all, although he had been impressed by the speech on peace that she gave in Diplomatic Relations in the second week of school.

"Is that you, Heero?"

Asocial Heero Yuy was a friend of the most popular girl in school? The wonders never ceased. Duo stared at Heero in amazement.

Heero's expression did not change in the waning sunlight, although his eyebrow twitched.

Relena approached the perimeter, smiling at Heero. "It IS you!" She smiled brightly. "What are you doing here? Are you not aware of the signs telling you to keep out?" She came closer.

"And besides --" Her voice broke off, and the warmth that had been in it earlier dropped off. "Oh. Hello." There was a pause as she searched her memory. "Duo. How are you?"

"Hi, Relena." Girls like Relena made Duo uneasy and self-conscious: they visibly reminded him of how poor his financial background was in comparison to theirs. Dorothy had been an exception: her taste was so bizarre that it didn't matter.

Relena's dog barked and pulled against its leash firmly. Startled, Relena let go and it rushed off.

"Darling! Stop!"

Duo's first thought was, Her dog's name is Darling? His second thought was of frozen realization when he realized where the dog was headed.

"Back off!" Duo growled at the dog, which was now dangerously close to Zero One. Darling barked at him fiercely, then took steps back as Duo approached it.

When it took it's last step back, it knocked Zero One into the ditch.

Duo jumped after it. His hand caught around the robot in a split-second triumph that quickly turned into horror when his body did not stop moving forward.

Relena screamed.

Duo fell.

He cradled the Gundam protectively as he tumbled. When everything stopped moving, he experimentally opened one eye. All body parts were where they were supposed to be. Only his left arm seemed to have suffered damage from the fall -- it sported a four-inch long scrape that was bleeding.

Heero peered through the ditch. "Duo?"

Duo held up the Gundam with his right arm in triumph. "He's okay, Heero!"

Heero blinked. "Of course he is. His outer shell has been reinforced with specialized plastic. And Duo, Zero One can fly."

"Oh yeah," said Duo, slightly deflated. "I forgot 'cuz...you know, Deathscythe can't."

"Duo! Are you hurt?" Relena's voice came from behind Heero's. Evidently, she was too frightened to come any closer to the ditch.

Heero said, "Do not move. I am coming down to get you."

"I'm fine," Duo said, trying to sit up by pushing his hands against the ground. He felt a sharp flash of pain. "Oh shit, that hurts."

Heero climbed down. "Come on." He picked up Zero One with one hand and offered the other to Duo.

Duo didn't move. "I'm fine where I'm sitting, thanks."

Heero scowled. He put Zero One into his pants pocket and bent over to help Duo up.

Duo said, "Hey Heero, I appreciate the thought, but my left arm kind of hurts, this ditch is kind of steep, so you need both arms in order to climb. In short, I think I'm going to need more than just your help to get out. Go get help."

"You will get in trouble for breaking the rules," said Relena from outside the ditch.

From the bottom of the ditch, Duo grinned at Heero. "Part of the fun of breaking the rules is the possibility of getting caught, isn't it?"

"Can you use your right hand?" Heero asked. He looked worried.

Duo nodded. "Yeah, but I don't see..."

Heero kneeled down beside him. "Get on. Hold onto me with your right hand."

Duo said, "Heero --"

"Please stop protesting and just do it!" Heero snapped.

"Uh right. Not my fault if you get crushed." Duo climbed awkwardly onto Heero's back and swung his right arm over him.

Heero began to climb up. Duo held onto him the best he could, but after Heero took the second step up, he slid off.

"Ouch."

Heero turned and looked at him with a serious, unreadable expression on his face.

Duo gulped. "I tried, all right? Look, you can go get help. Wufei lives around here. His townhouse is about a hundred yards north of here. It's the first one that you see on the left, Townhouse # 416. Go get him. He'll be quiet about us breaking the rules. It's the girl that we have to worry about." The last part he indicated upwards.

Heero knelt down beside him. He nodded. "All right," he said. Gently, he brushed Duo's bangs out of his face. It was a simple action, but for some reason, Duo found his heart rate speeding up. "I will be back with him," Heero said. "You wait here."

"I'm not going anywhere," Duo reassured him, still trying to make sense of what Heero just did.

Heero nodded and climbed out.

Calm down, Duo told himself. No reason to get excited. It probably didn't mean anything.

From the bottom of the ditch, he heard Heero and Relena talk.

"Heero! Is he hurt?" Relena asked. "Will he be okay?"

Heero replied, "He will be. Please stay with him until I return. And --"

"And be quiet about this? Of course. I would never do anything to get you in trouble, Heero."

Were they such good friends? Duo thought. Relena certainly acted like it.

"Are you sure you do not want me to get help?" Relena asked.

"No. Just stay with him. And control your dog." Darling whimpered. "We would not want it to fall in either," said Heero. Duo couldn't tell if he was being serious or sarcastic, but at the mention of the dog, he felt a flash of panic.

"Heero!" Duo shouted frantically. "Don't let that dog eat Deathscythe! Please!"

Heero peered in. He lifted Deathscythe up to where Duo could see him. "I got him." Then he left.

Heero was fast. Ten minutes later, Wufei appeared.

"Wufei! Glad to see you!"

Wufei grimaced. "How many times did I tell you in the last two months to stay away from playing here, you moron?"

Duo was unfazed. "Help me out, ninja man!"

"I'm Chinese, not Japanese," said Wufei, greatly annoyed. "Heero's the Japanese one." Wufei looked at Heero. "Let's do this."

Heero nodded. Wufei climbed down and lifted Duo as high as he could. Heero grasped Duo gently by the right arm and pulled him out the rest of the way. Then Wufei climbed out.

"Aw, thanks guys," said Duo happily. "I feel the love!"

Heero stiffened. Wufei glared at him.

"Duo, you're nothing but trouble," Wufei said. He looked at Heero. "Let's take him to my place."

Heero looked at him. It was not a friendly look. "I will take him from here. Sorry to disturb you." He slipped one arm around Duo's shoulders and the other under Duo's knees, then picked him up as if he weighed no more than a bag of rice.

Duo was impressed. "Hey Heero, you're strong!" He peered at Heero's arms, all muscles under the tight shirt. He suddenly realized how close he was to Heero, and he became uncharacteristically nervous. "But the Nurse's Office is kinda far. You don't have to take me there. I can walk."

"There's no need," said Wufei. "The nurse is right here."

Nurse Sally Po, in a long blue dress, was running towards them. "Duo! Are you all right?"

Duo stared at her in confusion. "Where did you --?"

"Quick, he needs to be taken to my office."

Duo said, "But I'm fine. It's just that --"

"No arguing!" Nurse Sally snapped. She looked at Heero. "Help him walk, and follow me. My car is not far from here." Heero put Duo down, and the latter leaned against him for support for a few steps before deciding that he could walk well enough on his own.

They entered the nurse's car. Sally waved at Wufei and Relena and then drove off.

Duo's only major injury was that he sprained his left wrist during the fall. The large cut that he had suffered was disinfected and bandaged neatly. Although his back was sore, it did not appear to be permanent.

Nurse Sally Po, however, was reluctant to let him go. "Just stay tonight and I'll let you go tomorrow," she insisted.

The Victoria Academy Nurse's Office was as well equipped as a small hospital, though it was significantly smaller. It did, however, include a few separate rooms for overnight patients, which was where she wanted to keep him.

"I have been told that you're a terrible person who doesn't follow the doctor's orders," Sally said with a smile.

Duo grimaced. "Who told you that? It was Wufei, wasn't it?" At her affirmative, he protested. "I'm a lot better than Wufei, though. Remember how reluctant he was to listen to you in the beginning because you were a woman? Misogynistic prick."

Sally laughed. In the end, after much more cajoling on Duo's part, she let him go on the promise that he would check back in with her tomorrow.

Duo and Heero walked back together in the quiet evening.

Duo broke the silence first. "Sally said something the first time we went to her office, after our fight. What was this act that you did in the ninth grade?"

Heero was very distracted, as if he was thinking about something else. "What? Oh. That." Heero said softly, "I dislocated my knee by accident. I popped it back in."

Duo stopped walking and was staring at him quite openly. "Are you serious?"

Heero continued without missing a step. "I am always serious." Duo couldn't tell if Heero was just messing with him or not, but his roommate sounded serious.

"Huh. Where'd you learn to do something like that?"

Heero gave a rather vague shrug, and Duo let it go.

"You seem to know the nurse rather well," Heero said.

"Well, yeah. Wufei's always getting stomach problems or getting sick in someway or the other. I think last month it was the worst: he got an ulcer and had to stay there overnight. Stress-related, supposedly. He went to the Nurse's Office almost every other day; and sometimes I went with him."

"Wufei is your old roommate?" Heero asked quietly.

"Yep, the one I told you about." Duo's voice became slightly wistful, though he did not realize it. "He's my best friend. Or was. I think I pissed him off. Sometimes he was a real asshole, but other times... well, I respect him, you know? He's cool like that."

"Were you in love with him?"

Duo stared at him, heart pounding fast. He forced himself to laugh. "What the hell kind of a question is that?"

Heero might have been waiting for more, but Duo offered nothing else. Heero did not ask. Evidently, something else was on his mind.

"Duo."

Force yourself to calm down and act normal, Duo told himself. "Yeah?"

Heero looked at him. "You didn't have to go so far to catch Zero One."

Duo grinned. "I think that's the first contraction that I've ever heard you say, Heero. You must be hanging around me too much." Heero blinked in surprise, and then Duo continued to answer his question. "Anyway, yeah, I know. Zero One can fly, blah, blah, blah. I forgot, what can I say?"

Heero asked, "I mean, why did you do it?"

"Why?" Duo shrugged. "Deathscythe took me two months to build." Holding Deathscythe in his right hand, he looked the robot over. "He's really important to me, so I figured Zero One was the same to you."

"Oh." Heero was quiet for a moment. "You know, if we got replacement parts, we could probably give Deathscythe wings that worked."

"You know, I thought about that before," said Duo. "I was actually really upset when I realized that the wings didn't work. But then Wufei told me that blunder was very Maxwell-like, and that it didn't need functional wings to race, because no one else's flew, either." Duo shrugged. "Of course, then you come along and your wings work and now I envy you." He thought over the matter for a few more minutes before deciding, "But then I'd have to redo all the aerial calculations. It's too much work. It's my mistake, it's done and finished."

"I see." Heero said. He paused. "Duo?"

"Yeah?"

"Next time, I will be the one who helps you. By myself."

Duo laughed. "I'm not a damsel in distress, Heero. I can take care of myself." He couldn't think of anything else to say after that, so he didn't.

The rest of the walk was silent, almost companionable.

Sunday everyone spent indoor doing homework. That following Monday morning, Quatre, Trowa, Duo, and Heero met up for breakfast.

"Man, Wufei's missing again? He could at least show up to see if I was okay!" Duo complained.

Quatre and Trowa stared at the bandage around Duo's wrist and the large scab on his arm. There was a second of shock before they both turned on him.

"What happened to your wrist?" Quatre asked.

"Why is it that at every breakfast that we see you now, you're injured?" Trowa demanded.

"Oh no, they've gone mad. Save me, Heero!" Duo tried to duck under the table. Trowa ducked down at the same time. Heero did not see what kind of an expression that Trowa gave him, but Duo came out and took his seat with the air of an ashamed child.

"Ahem. Well, I did something stupid, of course. Fell down a ditch. But you know what's cool? Heero built a Gundam too!"

Quatre tried to follow Duo's speech, but he got lost. He looked at Trowa. Trowa clarified, "So Wufei was not the only one who thought of building a Gundam." Wufei had been the first person to suggest it when the four of them were taking the class, and the other three had agreed enthusiastically. "Heero built a Gundam too and somehow you go injured because of it?"

Duo shook his head. "No, no, nothing like that --"

"Yes," said Heero. "It was fell into a ditch and then he dove after it."

"The ditch near Wufei's?" Quatre asked. Trowa shook his head.

"That was foolish," they both told him, in perfect synchronization.

"I know, but it was fun," said Duo. He smiled at Heero while he said it, surprising him. Then Duo turned and grinned at both Quatre and Trowa. "Have you two been practicing? Even the pitch of your voices almost matched that time!"

Trowa glowered at him, so Duo gave him his best smile and quickly changed the subject. "Anyway," he said. "I'm really excited. Hilde said the posters and flyers are going up today. I can't wait to see them."

"What's the design on them like?" Quatre asked.

Duo shrugged. "Hilde said she had a few ideas and to leave it up to her."

"Well, this should be interesting," said Trowa ominously.

They headed off to campus together, so consequently, they all saw it at the same time: a large poster on the wall of the Applied Mathematics building.

The four friends stared at it.

It was a three-quarter body shot of Duo lying on beach sand, wearing a thin white tank top and cutoff jeans. He had a confident, cocky grin on his face, his bangs had a windblown messy appearance, and to Heero, his eyes had an almost "Come hither" bedroom look to them.

Heero found his mouth going dry and his heart rate speeding up. It was quite possibly, the sexiest picture that he had ever seen. Even the body pose was sensual: one arm was behind his head, and the other arm...oh. Heero swallowed hard. He might have had a physical reaction right then and there, if he didn't have such a complete control over his body and if he didn't know what the implications of the poster meant.

Beneath the image of Duo were the words: "DUO MAXWELL ALWAYS KNOWS HOW TO HAVE FUN. VOTE FOR HIM FOR WINTER FORMAL KING."

Heero looked down the hall. It was the first of many various posters and flyers plastered all over campus, all with the same image. This was bad.

"Wow, I'm surprised she used that picture," said Duo. "It's the one we took when we were goofing off at the beach." His friends did not reply. Puzzled, Duo asked, "Well, what do you think?"

Quatre's voice sounded strangled. "Duo. Your left hand. What is it doing?"

Duo looked at the picture to see what Quatre was talking about. "Oh, that. A bug crawled up my thigh, so I reached into my shorts to kill it. Hilde told me to look up when I trying to kill it, and then she snapped the picture. It was all bad timing, but I've always been kinda photogenic, so I looked into the camera when she snapped it and she was really happy afterwards. Said the pose was really sexy. Why, what's the matter?"

"But what is your hand doing," Quatre cried, "In THAT picture?"

Duo was confused. "What do you mean? I just told you --"

Very gently, Trowa put his hand on Duo's shoulder. "Duo. Look at yourself. Objectively."

Duo studied the picture. "What's the big deal? I was just --" he stopped in mid-sentence.

"Oh, no. No way. No fucking way." Duo looked at the picture, and then at Trowa. "Does it really?"

Trowa nodded. "It does."

"Holy crap!" Duo exclaimed. "It makes me look like I'm masturbating!"

He stepped back and looked around frantically, surveying the damage. "And they're everywhere!" He grabbed the nearest flyer and tore it in half.

"Quick! We have to destroy them all!"

Heero couldn't help it. He laughed.

Duo glared at him. "This isn't funny, Heero! THERE ARE PICTURES OF ME JERKING OFF ALL OVER CAMPUS!"

Heero laughed harder. Trowa smiled. Quatre did his best to keep a straight face.

"Heero!" Duo shook him. "Why are you laughing?"

Heero laughed until his stomach hurt. "I am. Sorry," Heero said, in-between laughs. "Duo. Just that..." he struggled to keep a serious face, but failed.

"It's just that...it means that Trowa won the bet."

Duo stared at him. Then he collapsed into laughter as well. Trowa and Quatre joined in the laughter for a few seconds, but they soon finished with a few chuckles, while Duo and Heero clung to each other for support and continued to laugh hysterically.

Trowa and Quatre watched them, amused. Trowa shook his head. "Come on you two, class starts soon."

Duo stopped laughing. "Ah, crap. I still gotta get rid of all of these posters."

"You don't have enough time," Trowa told him. "You're better off at this point pretending you did it on purpose; everyone's probably seen it already."

Duo sighed. "Yeah, you're probably right." He stared at the wall, and then ripped another flyer down.

The five-minute bell rang.

Trowa shook his head. "You're better off going to class, Duo." Trowa looked at Quatre, and the two of them headed off.

"Guess we better get going," said Duo. He took down another flyer half-heartedly.

Heero said, "If it makes you feel any better, Duo, it really IS a sexy picture." His mouth quirked up again. "Just a little too sexy."

Duo grinned, suddenly feeling nervous. "I guess."

Dorothy walked by. "Morning Duo, looking good," she called out as she passed by. "You look really sexy!"

"I always do!" Duo called back. He looked at Heero. "What's your next class? I'll walk you there."

Heero began to walk, and Duo followed.

Then Heero looked at him. "Not going to your own class? You will be late if you walk me to mine."

"Heero," Duo said as they walked, "Jokes and humiliation aside, I'm not going to stand by and leave these posters up. I need to take them all down, and not just for my ego, you know. The student population of Victoria Academy now knows me as a sexy wanker. I have no idea how this will affect my chances of being elected as Winter Formal King, see?" He shrugged and then grinned. "I'm gonna cut my first period class to take them all down. I don't really want to see the other students' reactions right now anyway."

Heero stopped walking. "I will cut class too."

"No, no, Heero, really, it's okay --"

Heero looked at Duo, eyes serious. "I will help." The bell rang, and Heero did not move.

Duo suddenly felt nervous. It was always the same serious look in Heero's eyes, but there was something else behind the rest of his expression now, something kinder. Duo smiled. "Thanks, Heero." He became aware of someone's footsteps approaching rapidly, and he turned around.

"You two," said The Iron Lady. "Into my office. Now."

"What is this vulgar and disgusting picture of you, Mr. Maxwell, doing on our pristine school walls?" Vice-Principal Lady Une demanded.

Duo looked uncomfortable. "Um --"

"And what," Lady Une continued, as if she had never been interrupted, "Do the words here mean?" She pointed to the part of the flyer that said "VOTE FOR HIM FOR WINTER FORMAL KING."

"Does this mean," Lady Une said, "That this ridiculous spectacle was caused by me giving you permission to attend the school dance? Does it?"

Duo hung his head.

"Very well then, I see that it was clearly a mistake now, wasn't it?"

Duo's head snapped back up. "But --"

"You do not even know if Duo is the one who did it," Heero said.

Lady Une blinked. "What do you mean, Mr. Yuy?" She looked at Duo. "Did you do this, Mr. Maxwell?" Stare. "Did you print these posters and put them all over the school?"

"No," said Duo, "But I'll take responsibility for it." He shot Heero a warning look that told him to be quiet.

"Do you know who did this, Mr. Yuy?" Lady Une asked. When Heero agreed with a nod, she crossed her arms. "And who, pray tell, is that?"

Duo was now giving Heero a frantic look that clearly said "Shut up."

Heero ignored it. "I did."

"What?" Lady Une cried. Her arms uncrossed and she leaned forward in disbelief. "You, Mr. Yuy, heir to the Honorable Mr. Noventa, perfect-record G.P.A. honor roll student, you are telling me that YOU did this?" Heero nodded.

"No he didn't!" Duo shouted. "I put someone else up to it. He's lying, Vice-Principal Lady Une. I'm responsible, and he's just being delusional! Heero, shut up!"

Lady Une looked back and forth between the excited Duo and the serious Heero.

"Vice-Principal --" Duo began.

"Keep your outburst in check, Mr. Maxwell. You will disturb the surrounding offices."

"I'm sorry," Duo said, lowering his voice. "But Heero's lying. I'm the one responsible for this happening."

"You say that you are the one responsible," said Lady Une, "But you are not the one who did it?"

Duo hesitated. "No --"

"Then who did it, Mr. Maxwell?"

Duo said, "I can't say. But I'm responsible for it, so it's as good as if I did it!"

"I see." The Vice-Principal looked at Heero. "And you're saying that you did this?"

"Yes," Heero said.

"With or without Mr. Maxwell's consent?"

"Duo wanted flyers," Heero said, "But he didn't specify what kind. It was a joke."

"A joke," Lady Une repeated in a disbelieving tone.

"In poor taste," Heero admitted.

"He's lying," Duo said.

Lady Une stared at the two of them. "Well now, this is interesting," she said. "One of you is lying, but I'm not sure which who is."

"Heero is," said Duo. "I never lie."

"Everyone lies, Mr. Maxwell," said Lady Une. "Especially to themselves. Now be quiet. I need to think." She leaned back and tapped on her desk. "Hmm." Then she spun her chair.

When it came back around, the glasses were off of her face.

"I must say Mr. Maxwell, Mr. Yuy, that I am impressed by the strong spirit of friendship that the two of you possess."

"But --"

"Please be quiet, Mr. Maxwell." Duo shut up. Lady Une continued. "It is good to be loyal to those you believe in. Especially in the military." That was a bizarre off-hand remark, but Duo kept quiet. "It reminds me of the blind loyalty that I used to have for...others. For that, the two of you should be praised." She looked at Duo sternly. The glasses went back on.

"Mr. Maxwell, perhaps you were unaware of this, but Mr. Yuy here is the perfect student. He consistently scores brilliantly on all of his exams and has a perfect G.P.A., the highest in your grade level, in fact, tied only by a Ms. Relena Peacecraft and a Mr. Quatre Winner. As this is indeed an impressive feat, I would prefer it to stay that way.

"Try not to tarnish Mr. Yuy's perfect ways with your influence, Mr. Maxwell. He has never before had a reason to visit my office except to discuss his merits. Now he has appeared before me twice in the last seven days. When I found you two, the bell had already rang, which would mean that this would also be his first unexcused tardy."

Duo was silent.

"As for your punishment..." Duo stiffened, but he listened obediently. Lady Une smiled. "For this loyalty, I will allow you both to attend the Winter Formal Dance on three conditions. One, all of these flyers must be removed by the end of the day. Two, you may not do any other sort of campaigning like this ever again, unless, Heaven forbid, you really were running for a student election; in which case you will be sure to have pictures of yourself in proper clothing and posture.

"Three." The Vice-Principal paused. "One of the kitchen staff members has called in sick. You will replace him for this week, Mr. Maxwell, in all duties." She glanced at the bandage wrapped around his left wrist. "Of course, if Mr. Yuy so desires, he may help you out since you seem to have injured that wrist of yours. And just after recovering from an illness that rendered your voice useless too. You really are quite unfortunate, aren't you, Mr. Maxwell?" She pointed to the door. "The two of you are dismissed."

The two of them hurried back to their respective classes with notes excusing their tardiness.

"I'm a bad influence? I can't believe she said that. A bad influence," Duo muttered in disbelief. He turned towards Heero and asked accusatorily, "What the hell did you tell Lady Une all those lies for, Heero?"

"Why didn't you tell Lady Une that it was Hilde's fault?" Heero shot back.

Duo scowled. "Because I was the one who told her to do it, so it's my fault."

"You are incorrect," Heero said. They stopped at a corridor where their classes split into different directions. "It was completely Hilde's fault. Your only fault was in giving a former ally more trust than they deserved."

"Hmph. So what? That doesn't mean that you have to get yourself in trouble too."

"If you were banned a second time," said Heero, "Then you would not be able to go to the dance, and that defeats the purpose of everything that we have been working for." Heero then asked again, "So why did you not tell Lady Une that it was Hilde's fault?"

Duo said nothing.

Heero said, "You did not tell Lady Une to protect Hilde, correct?" He started walking down the direction of his next class.

"I did it for the same reason."

Duo wasn't sure if he heard correctly or not. "Huh?"

Heero gave him a backhand wave. Duo smirked. "I'll see you for clean-up duty later!" Duo shouted. Then he grinned to himself.

Heero, Duo decided, was cool.

After class, Duo met up with Quatre, Trowa, and Heero. The four of them divided up the school and each took a different corner to clean up and remove all traces of Hilde's work.

Three people approached Duo while he was taking down the flyers.

The first was none other than the creator of the flyers herself, Hilde Schweiker. She was grinning from ear to ear when she saw him. Even after everything that had happened, Duo could not bring himself to be angry with her. He was irritated and annoyed, yes, but if the flyers meant that Trowa and Quatre were right...then it meant that he had hurt her feelings, and he hadn't even realized it.

"Like the flyers, Duo?"

Duo tore another one down. "I knew it was too good to be true when you offered to do them for free."

Hilde laughed. She looked at the huge trash bag that Duo was filling with them.

"Hey, do you have to get rid of all of them? Implied self-sex aside, you look really good in that picture, Duo." She held a flyer up and examined it critically. "Your eyes have this look to them, like you're inviting someone to kiss you or something." She laughed. "Considering you did that on the spot, it looks really good."

Duo almost told her all the trouble that her prank had caused. Almost. But Hilde was smiling now, so Duo changed his mind. "Hilde, are we cool now?"

Hilde hesitated. "Now we are," she said.

Duo sighed. It seemed that Heero was right; Trowa had won the bet.

The second person that approached him was none other than the popularity princess, Relena Peacecraft. She was holding one of the flyers.

"Duo," Relena said. He looked at her, and she blushed. "It is...uh...a very nice picture." Duo stared at her in surprise.

"Um...anyway, there is something that I would like to speak to you about. Some time soon, if possible. Here, call me when you have time." She gave him a business card with her name and number on it, and left.

The third person, coincidentally enough, was Relena's older brother, the Victoria Academy former graduate Milliard Peacecraft.

Milliard Peacecraft had been a senior when Duo had been a freshman. The rumors about him had been plentiful: that he was having an affair with Principal Khrushneda, that he was a panty thief who ran around stealing the girl's underwear from the locker room while wearing a silver mask, that he had seduced fellow student Lucrezia Noin and caused her to drop out of school, and the list went on.

Duo immediately noticed him around campus; after all, he was very noticeable. Milliard was tall and handsome. His hair was a shade lighter than Relena's, but no less short, and his eyes were bright blue. His hair was so thick and glossy that if he wanted to, he could have easily become a model for advertising hair products.

Duo ended up only talking to him once. On the second week of school, he came to school late, having overslept. Everyone else was already in class, so the halls were empty. The exception was Milliard who, after spotting him, cornered him against the wall, one arm over his head, and asked for his name.

Duo never forgot that moment: him, the new freshman and Milliard, the scandalous senior. Milliard said that he was good-looking and licked his lips. "You're a freshman, right? My name," Milliard told him, "Is Milliard Peacecraft. But close friends call me Zechs." He said the nickname slowly, stretching it out sensually, making it sound more like the word "sex" than "Zechs," so that it was clear where the nickname came from. Duo's heart sped up, though he wasn't sure if it was out of fear or excitement. Milliard then leaned close, and suddenly scared, Duo ducked underneath his arm and ran off to class.

It was the first time that a guy had ever hit on him, and the first time that Duo realized that he was attracted to people of both sexes.

The next day, however, Duo spotted Milliard walking with his arm around a girl and after that, he successfully avoided him for the rest of the year until he graduated.

Quatre had told Duo that Milliard came back to the school occasionally as a volunteer tutor. Apparently, although Milliard was only in his second year of college, he was about to finish his degree and he took up being a volunteer tutor at their school for teaching experience. No one knew whether or not he actually wanted to be a teacher; rumor that reached Quatre said that he just wanted to be near the principal.

Duo so far had not run into Milliard all year. He was surprised to see him when he approached, but he was no longer afraid the way that he had been when he was a freshman.

"This yours?" Milliard asked, leaning casually against the wall and holding a flyer.

Duo grinned. "Doesn't the picture tell you?" He took the flyer and tossed it into his bag.

Milliard studied the picture on another flyer that was up. "This is a very nice picture."

Duo was amused. "Your sister just told me the same thing."

"Did she?" Milliard looked thoughtful. He took one flyer from the wall. "I'm keeping this one," he declared. "You look sexy in this shot."

It was both creepy and flattering. Duo gave him a look of disbelief, then shook his head and went back to ripping down the rest of the flyers. He had long given up trying to understand Milliard Peacecraft.

Kitchen-duty meant that rather than seeing his friends at their regular meal times, Duo was forced to work in the kitchen with Heero an hour before dinner started for preparation, and stay up to an hour after to help clean up. Both Duo and Heero were forced to wear proper kitchen attire: hairnets, aprons, and gloves.

The time passed like a nightmarish blur. The kitchen was hot, and who knew the students at the school were so stuck up? Heero had always suspected, but this confirmed it.

He did, however, have the opportunity to see Duo work his charm. Within the first half hour, Duo easily became friends with the rest of the kitchen staff. And because his left wrist could not move anything too heavy, he was sent the simple task of serving peas to the assembly line of students.

Just as Heero had seen it happen in Computer Inventions, the reactions from the other students ranged from awkward smiles to outright laughter. But Duo took it remarkably well, and was unruffled by their comments.

"You want peas with that?" Duo asked a girl. She replied, "I want your body," and then giggled.

Duo winked at her. "Peas?" She laughed, took the peas, and moved on.

"Not so sexy now, are you?" one boy asked Duo, laughing at his outfit.

Duo said, unruffled, "Peas?"

"You look ridiculous in that hair net."

"But still better than you ever will. Peas are good for you. Here." Duo slopped on the peas. "Next!"

"It's like Trowa said," Duo said cheerfully to Heero. "Better to act like it was on purpose."

Quatre appeared. He looked at Duo and asked when his turn came, "We'll get an explanation later?"

"We're on kitchen duty all week," Duo said. "Want me to drop by tonight and explain?"

Quatre shook his head. "Tutoring."

"Then I'll tell you about it in class tomorrow." Duo slopped on the peas.

Trowa, who was next, said, "I don't want peas."

"Too bad," said Duo, slopping peas onto Trowa's tray with great satisfaction. "I owe you three dinner later. Maybe this weekend or something. Till then, take your peas."

Trowa sighed and moved on.

Trowa's strategy worked. By acting like he had done it on purpose, the teasing-backlash that Duo had anticipated was really not bad at all. In fact, after the first two days, it was almost as if the flyers had never graced the school's walls. And judging the lustful looks that more than a few people threw in his direction, Duo now had fans.

Since they had class, kitchen-duty was limited to only the first half of breakfast (with no clean-up duty required) and all of dinner, including clean up. This meant that every night Duo and Heero returned to their rooms exhausted and given only a few precious hours to do their long homework assignments. Social activities were cut completely out in order to survive.

Duo grew more and more tired each day. He derived some sadistic pleasure, however, by the fact that Heero was starting to look just as tired.

On Friday, the kitchen staff supervisor received a phone call and had to leave early. Duo and Heero ended up being the only two left on clean-up duty. With Duo's injured wrist, Heero was the one who ended up doing all the dishwashing. Duo was left the task of stacking away the fine china dishes into the proper containers: large, gray racks that stacked onto carts to be rolled to the back room.

Heero was halfway through the dishes when he realized that instead of putting away the dishes onto the appropriate racks, Duo was stacking them all into one single, large stack. It was impossibly, dangerously high, stretching higher than Duo's height by a good arm's length.

Heero turned off the water. "What are you doing, Duo?"

Duo had been distracted all evening. "Huh?" He tiptoed, and put another dish up.

"Duo," said Heero. "Stop it." He pointed to the stack. "Having the dishes that high is not only dangerous, but extremely inefficient. Now it'll take you twice as long to put them away."

Duo shrugged. "But if I started now, I'll still finish before you because it takes you twice as long to wash the dishes." Heero was very careful when he washed his dishes to make sure that they were all clean, and as a result, it took him twice as long to wash the dishes as any other member of the kitchen staff.

Heero scowled. His temper was short today because he had gotten a 'B' on a quiz in one of his classes earlier. "I have to be the one to wash the dishes because you cannot move your left wrist. Why? Because you were the one who dove unnecessarily into a ditch that you picked out as a playground. So don't complain about how long it takes me to wash dishes."

Duo said, after a long pause, "Bad day?"

Surprised, Heero looked at him.

"So even someone like you can have bad days," said Duo. "What happened?"

"I'm having a bad day?" Heero asked. "What about you? You have been looking distracted all evening." When Duo had nothing to say to that, Heero asked, "What happened?"

Duo carefully put another dish on the stack. "You know how I'm treating us to dinner tomorrow night? For losing the Hilde bet? Well, I asked Wufei if he wanted to come or not. He said he had other plans."

"Duo," Heero said, "You should probably stop stacking the dishes so high." Duo stopped in the middle of putting another one up. "Did he say why?" Heero asked.

"No, but I can guess. I think he hates me." Duo looked bummed. "I messed up. Oh well." He glanced at Heero. "What went wrong with your day?"

Heero scrubbed at a dish carefully. "I was too tired yesterday night to study for a quiz in one of my classes, and so I did not do as well as I usually do."

"Huh." Duo studied him. "You really are a perfect student, like Lady Une said." Heero said nothing, so Duo hurried to explain himself. "I don't mean that as a bad thing. I mean, you're so focused. You stay up an hour later than me every night doing homework, and wake up so early. And you always do your homework early. You have incredible discipline. I admire that."

Heero looked away. He tried not to be embarrassed by something as trivial as a compliment, but he was. He concentrated on the dishes.

Duo sounded thoughtful. "I guess I must be messing with your routine. I'll make it up to you somehow. Buy you coffee the next time you stay up or something. Tea. You don't drink coffee, right? I'll get you some green tea."

Heero cast him an irritated look. "Don't claim responsibility for something that you didn't do. You're not that important." The words sounded harsher than what he had meant, and Duo was now staring at him, wide-eyed.

"What I mean," Heero said, "Is that not everything is your fault. Wufei probably has his own reasons." But then he felt like a hypocrite as he spoke; he was the one who had been blaming Duo moments earlier.

Duo must have been thinking the same thing. He turned his back and resumed stacking dishes at an incredible height.

"Duo," said Heero firmly, "Start taking some of those dishes down. Now."

Duo rolled his eyes and gave him an exasperated look. "Fine." He reached up on his tiptoes and took down one dish.

Heero saw the stack wobble.

"Duo!"

There were several loud crashes.

When the noises stopped, Duo tentatively opened his eyes. He was sitting on the ground, his head leaning against something warm. Duo looked up and saw that it was Heero. Heero's chest was pressed against his cheek, Heero's arms protectively around him, and Heero was standing over him, china shards all over his back, his face cut and bleeding, and a concerned expression on his face.

"Oh shit! Heero, are you okay?"

Heero seemed unconcerned about his own state. Instead, he said, "Be careful, there are shards everywhere."

Duo snorted. "I can see that, they're all over you!"

"Duo Maxwell!" Nurse Sally shouted. "I cannot believe how utterly stupid you acted this time!" She was furious. "I am getting sick of seeing your face around here, do you hear me?"

Duo said shame-faced, "I'm sorry."

The nurse threw up her hands. She looked at Heero, who was now bandaged and lying on one of the patient's beds. "And you! I thought that you, at least, would have had enough sense to stop him from doing something so stupid before it became dangerous."

"It was my fault," Duo said. "I --"

"I know, Heero's already told me what happened." She looked at Heero sternly. "You're lucky that the result of twenty-four china dishes falling on top of you from a distance of over two feet only resulted in a few bruises and cuts! It could have been so much worse!"

"But it's nothing serious?" Duo asked, looking worriedly at Heero. Heero shook his head and gave him an "okay" sign with one hand.

The nurse exploded with anger. "No! But it could have been so much worse, you simple child!"

Duo winced. "You sound like Wufei."

"No she doesn't," said a familiar voice. "Sally is much more refined than I am."

"Wufei!" Duo said. "Long time no see!"

Wufei gave him a look of disgust. "Not long enough. Is it possible that you are actually getting stupider the longer we're apart?"

Duo said, "You're looking as bad-tempered as ever."

Wufei looked at Heero. "I'm sorry that you're stuck with Duo's stupidity. Don't worry, you'll get used to it."

Heero said, "I never asked for your opinion." But Wufei was not listening, he was already yelling at Duo.

"Maxwell, I never thought the day would come when you got someone else hurt by KITCHENWARE! Of all the ridiculous and foolish things! If --"

"There is no need for you to berate him any longer," Heero cut in coldly. "He's not a child. I really do not see how it is any of your business."

Both Wufei and Duo stared at him. Nurse Sally was surprised as well.

"Of course it's my business," Wufei said. "Duo's like a mentally-deficient younger brother to me." Duo looked hurt. Wufei, who was now looking extremely cross, did not notice. "What does an outsider like you know?"

"Outsider?" Heero narrowed his eyes. "Aren't you the one who's an outsider now? The one who never hangs out with him anymore is you."

"That's enough!" The nurse said in a voice that left no room for argument. "Both of you stop it!" She pointed to the door. "Wufei, Duo. Both of you, out. I want to talk to the patient alone."

Duo looked back at Heero one more time and left the room with Wufei.

The nurse sighed and took a chair beside Heero's bedside. "What were you thinking, Heero?"

Heero said, "So this where he has been."

Nurse Sally blinked. "Excuse me?"

"Wufei. Duo always wonders where he is. I should have realized it earlier that he was here."

Outside in the hall, Wufei and Duo waited with each other in silence.

Finally, Wufei said, "I saw the flyers. I had no idea that you would go so far as to disgrace yourself with such a personal picture, Duo, just so that you could become Winter Formal King."

Duo stared at the ground and did not reply.

Wufei said, "Now I regret giving you that condition."

"Are you taking it back?" Duo asked.

"You know I don't go back on my word," said Wufei. "But if you moved back in, I would not be happy about it. You should just give this up, Duo. I don't want you to move back in, and seeing how defensive your current roommate is over you, I don't see why you would either."

Duo did not reply.

The door opened, and Sally came out. "He's napping right now," she said, answering Duo's unspoken question. "I believe that Mr. Yuy may be fine enough to leave today," she said, "He has an incredible recovery rate. But to spite him, I am making him do an overnight stay so that I can double-check in the morning."

"Can I stay with him?" Duo asked.

The nurse frowned. "Can you be trusted not to do anything below your grade level?"

Duo gave her a pleading look. She saw that he was clearly upset, and so she concluded that he must have been feeling terribly guilty for his involvement in the accident. "You can't stay here," she said. His face fell. "It's against school rules. But visiting hours end whenever I leave, so you can stay until then."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. How is your wrist, by the way?"

Duo did not answer. He appeared too deep in thought.

Sally patted him on the shoulder. "Don't think too much about it. It was nothing serious. If you had been at any other school, the dishes that they used would have been made of more durable and less dangerous material. It's only because our school is so rich that they want picture-perfect china. Just have more common sense next time, all right?"

Duo looked at her blankly. "There shouldn't be a next time," he said, in an almost broken voice.

Sally gave him a puzzled look.

Heero woke up. He was staring at an unfamiliar building. A glance to the left showed him a window, in case he needed to escape. It was just a little past sunset, which explained the dark room. A glance to the right showed the door, where enemies could come in, and -- huh?

Heero sat up groggily, and then shook his head. That was a bad move; it was his head that hurt more than anything else. His left leg, however, was numb. When he looked at it, he saw immediately why: Duo, slumped over in his chair, arms crossed beneath his head, was resting against it.

He was warm. Heero might have found the situation pleasant, if his leg had not fallen asleep. Duo shifted, and Heero winced as he felt the shock tingles of his leg nerves waking up.

Gently, Heero shook Duo. "Duo. Wake up."

Duo, exhausted after a long week of kitchen-duty, slept on.

Heero studied his form for a moment. Then, carefully, he brushed some of Duo's long bangs back. Duo's sleeping face was peaceful, and it was not as if his good looks disappeared in his sleep. Heero thought that he looked cute.

And of course, Duo would appear cuter if he were not currently drooling. On Heero's leg. Sighing, Heero shook him again. "Duo. Wake up." Duo smelled pleasantly like the new cologne that Heero had given him.

In response, Duo snuggled against his leg. One arm brushed up against Heero's thigh. Heero found himself embarrassed, and suddenly he was sort of glad that Duo was still sleeping.

"Duo."

Duo murmured something and buried his face further into Heero's leg. Heero realized that at this current rate, he could very well --

Heero shook Duo awake more forcefully. "Duo. Wake up. Get off my leg. Duo!"

Duo yawned and woke up. He sat up, looked around, stretched, and then his eyes focused on Heero. "Hey. You're awake." He looked at the damp spot on the blanket over Heero's leg. "Oh crap. Did I do that?"

"Yes." Heero repositioned the blanket so that Duo's drool spot was no longer touching him.

Duo hung his head and said, "Sorry." Heero was about to shrug it off, when he realized that Duo was trembling.

"Duo --?"

"Hey Heero, what can I say? I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused you ever since I moved in. I mean, in the beginning I wasn't because I was so miserable about being kicked out that I didn't think about what it must have been like for you to have this random stranger live at your place after you've been living alone for so long, and then when we got into that fight, I didn't care what trouble I caused you, but now I like you, I think you're a cool person and I like to think that we're friends, so now it does matter, and I feel like such a shit for all the trouble I caused you. Scrubbing the pools, dishwashing for a whole week and stealing away the time from your studies? And then I go and do something stupid like I always do and got you hurt even though you warned me against it --"

Heero was amazed. How could one person speak so much in such a short period of time? Why did this sound so different from some of his other tirades? It must have been the raw emotion that he could hear in Duo's voice. He sounded...

"-- I'm just so impulsive and anyway, I'm really, really, really sorry --"

...incredibly sad.

"Duo." Heero touched his shoulder. "Duo, what's wrong?"

Duo gave a strangled laugh. "Weren't you listening? I'm saying that I'm sorry."

"You just said it," said Heero. "And I never said I was angry at you, so there is no reason for you to be so upset. Why are you crying?"

Heero knew that it had been the wrong thing to say when he felt Duo stiffen.

"I'm not crying," said Duo. "I'm just...manfully tearing."

Duo laughed again, and Heero frowned. Normally he liked the sound of Duo's laughter, it was always so jovial and friendly and it made him picture Duo as child, laughing. But this laugh was different, it was forced and it sounded painful.

"Duo, look at me."

"Excuse me, I am manfully tearing right now," said Duo, not looking at him and wiping furiously at his eyes. He paused. "Anyway, what can I say, I'm sorry to be such a burden to you --" His voice broke at the last part, and then he cursed. "Ah hell, they're coming out again."

"There is nothing wrong with feeling upset," said Heero. "Or expressing it. I know a boy who never cried for the first eight years of his life. When he finally did, he felt released." Heero reached over and patted Duo comfortingly on the shoulder. "And you would not laugh at someone else who was crying." It was stated as a fact, not a question.

"No, but -- ah hell, there it goes again..."

Heero knew what he wanted to do. Scooting closer to Duo, he slipped both arms around him and pulled him into a hug.

Duo manfully cried. Heero let him.

When Duo's body finally stopped shaking, Heero reluctantly let him go.

"So what is this about?" Heero asked quietly.

Duo's voice was hoarse. "Lady Une was right. Look at you. Messing up your schedule and your life and ruining your reputation with the higher-ups just so you can help me move back in with someone who wants me even less. Even though I want him."

For a brief moment, Heero thought his heart stopped. Everything else Duo had said suddenly disappeared in the background and Heero focused only on those last five words. He had suspected, of course, but to have it confirmed was surprisingly painful.

"Wufei --?"

"I've always liked Wufei, see. Looked up to him. Respected him. But after I moved in with him, I fell in love with him. Didn't realize it at first. But after a month, I realized it and I told him. That was a mistake. Of course he didn't feel the same way, I knew. He's as straight as they come. But he felt guilty for not being able to return my feelings. Felt bad for hurting me by rejection. It stressed him out so much that he got an ulcer and had to come here.

"He's been really...cold since. Like he's afraid that by being his usual self, I would get the wrong message or something. Started avoiding me. I told him I was over him and I tried to get over him. I started dating Dorothy.

"But I still did stupid things to get Wufei's attention. Rearranged his things. Tied up his stuffed dragon, bondage style. Well the last thing was stupid 'cuz the leg popped off and then he threw me out of the house. But still, here I am, crawling, trying to do anything to get a chance to live with him again. And I drag you down with me. I'm sorry."

Heero decided that if ever it was important for him to speak, it was now. He reached over and switched on a lamp, then turned back towards his friend. "Duo, look at me."

Duo looked at him.

Heero said, "I told you that the next time I helped you, I would do it myself. And I've kept my promise because I wanted to. You see --" He leaned forward.

And then the door opened, and Nurse Sally walked in.

Heero leaned back.

She switched on the room lights. "Well, Duo, I'm heading off. Visiting hours is over."

Duo nodded, and then he stood up. In the light, Heero saw that his eyes were slightly red, but that was it. Duo met his gaze and smiled at him. But it was a sad smile.

"Thanks, Heero. I'll talk to you later."

Heero nodded.

"Heero," said Sally, "There is a 24-hr on-call Nurse Dispatch unit if you need them. Just press that red button." She pointed to a button on the side of the bed. She turned off the room lights after Duo left, and then closed the door, leaving Heero to his own thoughts.

That following Saturday, to celebrate the end of what Duo dubbed, "The Week of Hell," Duo made good on his promise and the four of them went out to dinner.

It was the first time all week that the four of them had really had a chance to meet.

Quatre greeted Heero with a gasp of horror. "Oh no, not you too Heero!" Quatre looked at Trowa. "Why is it that every time we see them, there's a new injury?"

Trowa eyed them both. "Are you two in an abusive relationship?"

Duo choked on his water. "What? No! Here, let me explain." And Duo explained all that had happened to them all week, with the exception of what happened in the nurse's office.

Heero supposed that that was a good thing. Some things were better left private. Sill, he was worried about Duo. He felt as if something had changed between the two of them, but he was not sure what. All day Duo had acted the same as always, but sometimes Heero would catch him watching him, with an unfamiliar expression on his face.

And whenever he tried to bring up what they had been talking about the night before, however, Duo skillfully steered the conversation away to something else.

But maybe he was worried over nothing. Duo right now seemed back to his old self. Heero decided that maybe he had been mistaken. He decided to relax and see how things went. If something was bothering Duo, hopefully he would eventually tell Heero about.

Rasheed's was a restaurant famous for their excellent Arabian and Middle-Eastern dishes. The owner, Rasheed Maguarnoc, was a good friend of Quatre's father, and so he was always glad to give them a discount. He greeted them warmly and encouraged them to order anything that they liked; he would charge them at only half-price.

The food was good, the company better. By the end of the night, Duo was howling, Trowa and Quatre were laughing, and even Heero was chuckling aloud.

One of the waitresses was clearly interested in Quatre. She kept hovering around their table, ready to refill their water. She left, however, when it was clear that they had finished their meal.

Duo and Quatre left the table to talk to Rasheed and pay for the bill. Trowa and Heero were left alone.

The young waitress passed by their table. Trowa glowered at her.

Heero said, "If it bothers you, why don't you just tell him?"

Trowa gave him a questioning look. "Excuse me?"

"If all the girls that are always hanging over Quatre bother you so much, why do you not just tell him?"

Trowa stared at him. "You're very straightforward." He looked uncomfortable. "It's just hard, especially since I'm not sure how he'll respond."

"From a completely objective point of view," Heero said, "I would say he likes you. He is always checking your opinion for everything, and he clearly cares a lot about you."

"As a friend."

"As a friend," Heero agreed. "Maybe as more."

Trowa sighed. "You sound like Duo."

"Which means that two of your friends think this way. That should encourage you."

"You're very decisive," said Trowa.

Heero said, "When I make a decision, I make it. Then I go through with it. Although," he admitted, "Love is a bit harder to decide on quickly, since it involves another person."

Trowa laughed. "Isn't that the point?"

Heero considered this question with grave seriousness. "I think so, yes." Trowa chuckled.

"Well, you sound as if you speak from experience," said Trowa. He observed Heero and watched as Heero kept an eye on Duo, who was on the other side of the restaurant, talking and laughing with Rasheed and Quatre. Rasheed was paid and he left, but Duo and Quatre were still talking.

"Is it Duo?"

Heero agreed. He knew instinctively that there was an unspoken agreement between him and Trowa that what was discussed at the table now stayed there, so he felt safe talking. "Although there is a third person between Duo and me. You do not have that person. Yet, anyway."

Trowa said, "Wufei." Heero nodded slightly, eyes still on Duo.

Trowa tried to offer advice. "Ambiguous subtlety won't work on Duo. He'll wonder for about two seconds if he misinterpreted something or not, and then dismiss the entire thought from his head. You heard about what happened between him and Hilde. You're better off taking charge directly."

It was good advice; Heero had already considered the same. "Thank you." He looked back at Trowa and smiling slightly.

"Trowa, do you want to make a bet?"

Trowa was all ears. "Of course."

"It's more of an encouragement kind of a bet. The winner wins his own reward." Trowa frowned, not quite understanding.

"Let's bet," said Heero, "On who will get the one they want first."

After Duo paid Rasheed, Quatre asked him, "Duo, are you sure?"

"Sure what? I think I paid the right amount --"

"No, no. I mean, are you sure you still want to move out?" Quatre pointed back to their table. "Look, Heero's making conversation with Trowa. With Trowa. Don't you see, Duo? He's officially part of our group now. I like him. He's shown himself to be a very good friend."

Duo was quiet. Finally, he said, "It's not like we can't stay friends after I move back in with Wufei."

"That's true," said Quatre. "But I don't understand why you would want to move back in with Wufei at this point. Living in the dorms is cheaper, for one thing, and now you and Heero seem to get along so well."

Of course Quatre wouldn't understand. Duo had never told him his feelings for Wufei, though he wondered if Trowa knew or not. Trowa knew everything, so that was probably a yes, but he also probably did not think it was his place to tell Quatre. Good old Trowa.

But that wasn't what clinched Duo's decision. What clinched it was when he had sat there next to Heero last night, watching him while he slept and cursing his own stupidity. Lady Une had been right: he was a bad influence on Heero. He could see it.

Three images ran through his mind: a church on fire, Wufei with his face wet and not breathing, and then of Heero, sleeping on the bed, face bandaged.

He had to move out as fast as possible. If he moved back in with Wufei, at least since Wufei was so bent on avoiding him right now that he would not see him either...

So Duo shook his head. "A promise is a promise. I said that I'd do everything to leave and he said that he'd do everything to help me achieve that. I'm not going to force him to let me stay."

Quatre sighed. "Okay, if you think that's for the best."

"Although," Duo admitted, "Past evidence has demonstrated that I am not a very good judge of that sort of thing."

They went back to Quatre and Trowa's place afterwards to hang out. Quatre was rich, so he had a huge entertainment system in his living room. At Duo's insistence, they watched the first episode of the original Mobile Suit Gundam. It was scary how obsessed he was; he knew every single line of the dialogue.

"Where did you see this?" Heero asked. Given Duo's past, he wasn't sure where Duo would be able to see this unless...

"Oh, Wufei's a big fan. We went through a phase of deep obsession, and had marathons."

That was the last episode they watched; Heero insisted that they do something else instead.

"How about we do a drinking game?" Duo asked. "Since none of us have any alcohol, we could just drink juice."

"Actually, I do have alcohol," said Quatre. "One of the girls brought it over. She wanted to open it, but Trowa said that it wasn't conducive to studying, and took it away."

Duo stared at Quatre, grin spreading over his face. "Ooh! Let's do it!"

"No," said Trowa.

Quatre and Duo both looked at him, disappointed. "Why not, Trowa?" Duo asked.

"The last time that Quatre got drunk," said Trowa, "He got really sick and did strange things. He made me promise later to make sure that he never drank again."

"Did I?" Quatre asked. "I don't remember. When was -- Oh." He flushed red with embarrassment. "Oh, that time. Hah, hah. Ha." Quatre looked at Duo. "Right, um, well, I think it's best if we don't."

"When was this?" Duo demanded. "What happened? And why wasn't I there?" He looked at Heero, who shrugged.

"If you weren't here, then I wasn't."

"Oh, it wasn't too long ago," said Quatre, still embarrassed. "It was after dinner on the day you got rid of Dorothy. I was so happy that I wanted to celebrate, and I had another bottle brought over by a different girl before, so I opened it." He covered his face in embarrassment. "I drank too much and threw up all over Trowa. Sorry, Trowa."

"But we saw you the next morning," said Duo. "You were fine."

Quatre glanced at Trowa. "Well, you know, Trowa took good care of me. He made me drink lots of water, and kept me company by the toilet as I...uh, repeatedly vomited."

Duo grinned. "Lightweight. Good thing you had Trowa to take care of you. Good old Trowa, I say." Trowa glared at him, and Duo laughed.

"Well," said Duo, "If you're not going to drink it, can I take it back to my place? Now I really want to drink."

"Sure, go ahead."

So in the end, Duo and Heero took the bottle of wine back to their place.

Duo pulled out two coffee mugs. "Here, Heero. Want to try some? I know you never drank anything alcoholic before, but there's always a first."

Curious, Heero accepted the cup that Duo poured him.

"I don't get smashing drunk like Quatre," said Duo. "I know my own tolerance level. But I like getting to the happily-buzzed stage."

So Duo drank until he hit that stage, and out of sheer curiosity, Heero followed suit.

Soon they were both pleasantly chattering. Duo told random stories that Heero found extremely amusing, and the two of them laughed about nothing.

Heero tried to stand up. "I don't like this," he said, "My feet feel heavy. Can't get away fast if I need to."

Duo laughed. "Why would you need to?"

Heero looked at him seriously. "You never know when you might need to," he said solemnly, before forgetting what he was so solemn about. He tried to take a step forward, and he fell over onto Duo.

This cracked Duo up. He laughed as Heero struggled to get back up. Heero gave up and then settled for sitting down in Duo's lap.

"Hey Heero, I think you're kind of a lightweight. Don't drink anymore, because if you do, you'll get really sick."

Heero looked at him stubbornly. "I can do it." He picked up the bottle.

"You can," Duo agreed, "But don't." He reached across Heero, took the bottle out of his hands, and placed it out of Heero's reach. "And you need to get off my lap, because otherwise my crotch is going to go numb." He pushed Heero. Heero slid out of his lap and instead ended up leaning against him.

"Hey Duo," said Heero. "This is important."

"Hmm?" Heero was warm. Duo leaned against him comfortably.

Heero asked, "Do you remember how we met?"

"Ninth grade. After sex ed," Duo replied.

Heero shook his head. "No, I mean before that. You don't remember?"

Duo shook his head. "Nope, sorry."

Heero looked disappointed. He leaned towards Duo, and pressed his cheek against Duo's.

"It was the most important day in my life," Heero said. Then he turned and kissed Duo on the lips.

Duo kissed him back. He was warm, he was comfortable, and hey, Heero was kind of hot, so why not? They groped each other for a bit. Then Heero began to kiss him more aggressively, and Duo decided that it was a good time to stop.

"Hey Heero," said Duo, slightly breathless. "Let's stay we stop, shall we?" Fingers brushed his hair. "'Cuz you know...neither of us really know what we're doing, and you're going to kill me tomorrow. Hell, I'm going to kill me." Heero kissed him again. Duo put a hand out and stopped him. "Heero."

Heero tried to kiss him again, so Duo instead pulled him into a very close cuddle-hug. It was a move that he had pulled on Dorothy once before, pulling her close into a very warm, very comfortable hug so that she were restrained and unable to do anything else.

Heero leaned against him. "This is kind of nice," he said.

"It is," Duo agreed. He felt strangely happy. "Hey, so Heero, how did we meet anyway? I don't remember."

"Hmm. Ask me tomorrow," Heero said, closing his eyes. "I can't remember everything right now."

"Okay." Duo closed his eyes too, and they both fell asleep like that.

When Heero woke up the next morning, he found himself snuggled on top of Duo, who was sleeping quite soundly with his arms around him.

Heero's head hurt. Was this what they called a hangover? It seemed to be caused by major dehydration. Water, he thought. What he needed was water. Bathroom. He tried to untangle himself without waking Duo up, but he failed.

Duo cracked open an eye. "Hi."

"Water," said Heero. He extracted himself from Duo and went to the bathroom. Only after he went through his complete morning ritual and drank a cup of water, did he feel semi-normal again. His headache was now a dull throb.

Heero was drying his face when he suddenly realized that he had woken up in Duo's arms.

He froze. What happened last night? He scanned his memory. He kissed Duo. And then they just sort of hugged each other. Heero was not a person easily embarrassed, but the memory of his actions appalled him. Was this what it was like to lose control so easily? All of his self-discipline gone because of a few drinks? It was a frightening thought.

Duo used the bathroom after Heero. By the time he had come out, Heero was already starting on some of his homework.

"Homework, already?" Duo asked. Heero nodded. Duo whistled, impressed. "Are you going to get anything to eat? I'm gonna go grab myself breakfast-to-go, want me to bring something back for you?"

"Duo," said Heero.

"Huh?"

"About last night...I think I was the first to kiss you. I apologize."

"What? Oh, that. Nah, don't worry about it." Duo dismissed it with the gesture of one hand. "You just had too much too drink. It happens."

And with that, Heero's mistake was passed off as being under the influence of alcohol. He was relieved and a little disappointed. Trowa had been right about Duo; ambiguous actions passed over his head.

Even though he did not think that kissing was that ambiguous, but evidently to Duo, it was.

Duo left and brought them both muffins back from the Food Court. They ate and worked on their homework.

"Hey Heero," said Duo, somewhat out of the blue a few hours later, "About that night you were at the Nurse's Office. Thanks for keeping your promise."

Heero looked up. Was Duo finally bringing it up?

"Although," said Duo, "The next time I'm in trouble, let me take care of it, okay? I don't want you -- um, that is, I need to learn to take responsibility for my own actions."

Heero looked at Duo. Duo looked earnest, so Heero nodded. "But I reserve the right," said Heero, "To help you as much as any other friend would." He went back to his homework, assuming that the matter was now settled and the problem taken care of.

Heero thought of him as a friend too. Duo was pleased. He let another fifteen minutes go by before he disturbed Heero again. "By the way, I'm a little curious. How did we first meet again? I don't remember and you keep telling me that it wasn't in ninth grade."

Heero stopped what he was doing completely. He looked over at Duo with a slight frown, "Did I say that last night?"

"Sort of. You asked me if I remembered and said it was important. But I don't remember."

Heero said nothing for a long time. Then finally, he said, "It's a long story," and left it at that.

Duo pressed on. "But you'll remind me sometime? I feel bad not knowing."

"Maybe," said Heero, and he returned to his work.

Duo watched him for a while, and then returned to his own homework.

In the middle of the following week, Trowa brought it up at dinner.

"Duo," said Trowa, "Do you still want to be Winter Formal King?"

Duo, who for the last few days had spent mostly recovering from the events of the last week, was ready. "You got a plan? Because I'm out of ideas. Me and Heero have brain-storming sessions, but we come up with nothing."

Whenever Duo brought it up, Heero thought about it for about five seconds before he declared that he could think of nothing. He always seemed irritated when he said that, so Duo figured that Heero must have been sick of the subject.

Trowa looked at Heero. "Is that so?"

Heero shrugged. "This sort of thing is out of my circle of experience." And he was becoming annoyed that Duo was always asking, because it reminded him of how badly Duo wanted to return to that jerk Wufei's side.

Quatre said, "Well, Trowa has a great idea."

"We've been talking to some of the girls that Quatre tutors," said Trowa. "Duo, who do you think usually becomes Winter Formal King?"

Duo shrugged. "Someone popular."

"Not just anyone," said Quatre. He looked at Trowa, who was sitting next to him and across from Duo. "Go ahead, tell them."

Trowa explained, "Every year since her freshman year, the Winter Formal Queen has always been Relena Peacecraft, and the Winter Formal King has always been whoever her date is. Her influence is that great."

"That makes sense," said Duo. "Relena's really popular."

Trowa said, "So all you have to do, Duo, is ask her to the dance."

Duo choked on his food. Heero pounded him on the back until he was better.

"No way! Relena would never be interested in someone like --" Duo stopped. He suddenly remembered the business card that she had given him on the day of the flyers, over a week ago. He had been so busy last week because of kitchen duty that he had not had a chance to ask her what she wanted.

"But wouldn't she have a date by now?"

"Current gossip as of this morning," said Quatre, "Suggests no."

"This is crunch week," Trowa explained. "Apparently, as Misa explained it, it is 'uncool' to get a date for the dance too early, so this is the week that people start to madly frantically call each other up."

Quatre said, "Some girls say that there's already someone that she likes, though."

"Really?" asked Duo. "Did they give a name?"

Quatre and Trowa exchanged looks. "Yes," said Quatre. "We were kind of surprised when we heard it too. It's Heero Yuy, they say."

All eyes looked expectantly at Heero. He shrugged. "I know nothing about it," Heero said. "I have no interest in Relena Peacecraft."

Quatre looked at Duo. "Well, there you go, Duo! Go ask Relena to the dance!"

"And dye your hair," Trowa added.

Heero and Duo both stared at him.

"Dye my hair? Why?"

"Rumor has it that she likes people with dark brown hair, like Heero," explained Quatre. "And if that's the case, your hair is a shade too light. But don't listen to Trowa, Duo. It's only a rumor."

"There's nothing wrong with my hair," said Duo. He looked at Heero. "Is there?"

"No."

"There we go!" Duo said triumphantly. He fingered his bangs, and then left to refill his drink.

When he was out of earshot, Heero spoke. "How much are you betting that he will dye his hair?" Heero demanded.

Trowa did not blink. "You want in?"

"Don't get us wrong Heero," said Quatre. "A lot of girls say Relena really likes you, and some say that it's because she has a dark hair fetish. So we're not tricking him. It's just a suggestion."

Trowa said, "It's more like we're betting on how much he's bent on winning the title. You and him have pulled some crazy stunts before for this, so we just wanted to see how far he's willing to go."

Trowa's logic made so much sense that it almost alarmed Heero. Was this how badly Duo wanted to live with Wufei again, so much that he would be willing to alter his physical appearance?

"There is nothing wrong with the way he looks," Heero said, talking to himself more than anyone else. "If he needs to dye his hair to please someone else then that person does not deserve him."

Trowa raised an eyebrow at him.

'Thanks Heero," said Duo, who had arrived just in time to hear Heero's statement. He sat back down next to Heero. "So there!" he told Trowa and Quatre.

"You're not trying to make Relena fall in love with you," Trowa reminded him. "You're just trying to get her permission to take her to the dance so that you can get voted as Winter Formal King."

"With Relena's support," said Quatre, "You will probably win."

"Huh. Well, she did say that she wanted to talk to me. I guess I'll give it a shot," Duo said.

Dorothy dropped by their table. "Mr. Winner," she greeted. "Good evening."

Quatre tried to smile. "Hello Dorothy."

To everyone's horror (except Heero, who was as unaffected as always), Dorothy sat down next to Quatre.

Just as Trowa had predicted, it was the week in which people asked each other to the dance.

"Are you going to the Winter Formal, Mr. Winner?"

Quatre gulped. He glanced at his friends for help. "Um. Wasn't planning to. You know I don't usually attend those kinds of things."

As annoying as Dorothy was, she was not a fool. "But isn't that because Mr. Maxwell here was once banned from school dances? But from that lovely picture that was once posted all over the school, it's obvious that he's now going."

She looked at Duo. "You were looking really sexy there, Mr. Maxwell. Some girls liked it so much that they took copies home before you had a chance to get rid of them."

"Really?"

Dorothy nodded and returned her attention to Quatre, who was trying to inconspicuously shrink into his chair in an effort to disappear under the table.

"So you're going to the dance then, aren't you?"

Caught by her gaze, Quatre stopped trying to hide behind the table. He shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "I...uh..." he looked at his friends for help. Trowa was not making eye contact with him; he seemed too intent on his dinner. Heero was studying Trowa. Duo shrugged, giving him a look that said, "Just tell her no."

But Quatre was never very good at saying no. He looked at Trowa again, who was still carefully studying his dinner plate.

"Tell her the truth, Quatre," said Heero.

Quatre looked at him. "Huh?"

Heero said, "Quatre's going, but he's taken."

Dorothy raised one of her double-ended eyebrows. "Taken? By who? I've spoken with all of the girls, and they've all promised to let me be the first one to ask him. What was your source, Mr. Yuy?"

Heero stared at Trowa. Trowa just looked at his plate. Quatre and Duo exchanged confused looks.

Heero tried to kick Trowa under the table.

"Ow!" Duo cried. He kicked Heero back. "What the hell are you kicking me for, Heero?"

Oops. Heero had miscalculated. He gave Duo an apologetic look, calculated again, and then kicked.

Trowa winced; Heero's foot had hits its target. Heero smiled.

"Trowa," said Heero, ignoring everyone else. "You never lose a bet, do you? Do this and you win your bet with me."

Trowa blinked. Then he laughed while Quatre, Duo, and Dorothy all looked helplessly lost.

Finally, Trowa met Quatre's eyes and he smiled. Perplexed but pleased, Quatre smiled back. Trowa slipped his arm over Quatre's shoulders possessively.

"He's going with me," Trowa told Dorothy.

Quatre and Dorothy both froze.

After she recovered from the shock, Dorothy made an angry noise. She stood up, spun around, and stomped away.

Quatre had fair skin, so when his face reddened, it was rather visible. "Uh, thanks Trowa," he said. He glanced at Trowa's arm, which was still encircling him. "Never thought that would work."

Heero gave Trowa a look that spoke volumes.

Trowa said to Quatre, "We can go to the dance together, Quatre. I don't mind...if you don't."

"Oh," said Quatre blankly. He looked at the arm again and his face became redder. "Oh."

There was a long pause.

"Or not," said Trowa, looking down at his plate. He began to move his arm.

Quatre held onto it. "Trowa, let's go together." He leaned over and kissed Trowa on the cheek.

Duo looked at Heero. Heero nodded. Very slowly, they stood up, took their plates, and crept off, leaving Quatre and Trowa alone.

After dinner, Duo said that he had something else to do, so Heero headed back to the dorms alone.

Duo came back half an hour later with a bottle of dark brown hair dye. He showed the box to Heero wordlessly, and then went into the bathroom. Heero followed him.

"I called Relena. I'm supposed to meet her in an hour and a half," Duo said. "Just enough time to dye my hair."

"Are you really going to do it?"

Duo gave him a strange look. "You're awesome, you know that?"

Heero blinked. "Pardon?"

"I have been trying to set those two up for forever! I wheedled out of Trowa a confession that he liked Quatre, and when I suggest it to Quatre, he was embarrassed but not against it. And yet, nothing ever happened. NONE of them would EVER take action. It drove me crazy! How'd you do it?"

Heero shrugged, feeling smug and very pleased with himself.

Duo must have seen how self-satisfied Heero was feeling. He laughed. "You rock! Thanks for -- whatever you did!" He studied the large dye box while still talking. "All the understated sexual tension between the two was starting to get to me. I'm so glad they finally hooked up. You have no idea how happy I am for them."

Duo took the bottle out of the box and studied it. Then he looked up suddenly. "Hey, what was this about a bet between you and Trowa?"

Heero said reasonably, "Trowa seems to like betting. It seemed the only way to prompt him to take action." He was careful not to mention what kind of bet they had made.

"Dude, that's brilliant! I never thought of that! So simple!" Duo beamed at Heero. "Heero, I love you. You are like this catalyst that sets things into action. Great job."

Heero stiffened. How did Duo say such things so casually? "You mean you," he said, after a pause.

Duo, who was now looking in the mirror and at his braid, stopped. "Huh?"

Heero said, "The one who changes other people is you." He looked into the mirror and at Duo's reflection.

Duo suddenly felt nervous. He avoided Heero's indirect gaze and concentrated on his hair. "You give me too much credit," he said in a light tone.

"And you do not give yourself enough credit," said Heero, in the same serious way that he always did. "The one who changed me was you."

Duo felt a strange fluttering sensation in his stomach. Why was he reacting this way? He gulped. Then he forced himself to chuckle. "You mean, by forcing you to have a social life? Well, these are good things to do." For some reason, Duo was having extreme difficulty undoing the braid in his hair. He fumbled, muttered a curse, and then gave up and decided not to undo it. He found that he could not bring himself to look into the mirror. Well, when on the defense, go for a good offense.

Remembering what Quatre and he had discussed before, Duo changed the subject. "Hey Heero."

Heero finally looked away from the mirror and at him.

Duo said, "You're my friend now, you know. When I move out, I still expect you to hang out with us." He gave Heero a serious look. Heero looked away and said nothing.

"Heh, no response, eh? Well, even if you try to get rid of me, I'll come knocking on your door and force you to join us. We'll even eat takeout meals in your room if we have to." What do you think of -- Heero, are you okay?"

Heero had a strange expression on his face. It disappeared the moment Duo asked him how he was feeling. He swallowed and nodded, and then cleared his throat and pointed to the bottle. "Do you need help?"

Frowning, Duo looked at the bottle. "No, I don't think so. I think I got it. Thanks for the offer though." He looked up at Heero. "You sure you okay?"

Heero nodded and left.

Heero sat down on his chair. He looked at Duo's side of the room. The posters on the wall, the messy bed, and the clothes tossed carelessly over his chair. Then he looked at his side -- the walls bare, the bed neatly made. He tried to imagine Duo's side the same way, and there it was again, that strange sensation, the same one that he had felt inside the bathroom. He felt almost as if he was choking, but not quite. He stared at the empty walls.

What he had told Trowa was correct. It was hard to make decisions when it involved other people. Heero knew what he wanted. He wanted Duo to stay. But it became complicated when he also wanted Duo to be happy, and Duo seemed bent on trying to move in with Wufei. With somewhat amusement, Heero imagined Wufei beaten to a bloody pulp. The images made him feel slightly better.

From inside the bathroom, Duo screamed. It took half a second for Heero to wrench open the door and step in.

"What's wrong?"

Duo, wearing no shirt but in the same dark pants, had the end of his braid in his hand and was staring at it in shock. "It's green!"

Heero blinked. "What?" He looked down and saw that, sure enough, the surface of Duo's braid was a dark olive green color.

"It's green!" Duo shouted. "It's green!"

Heero took Duo's hand and forced it along with the end of his braid, under the sink. The water was cold. Dark fluids ran out, but in the end, the end of his hair still remained partially green.

"It's green," muttered Duo darkly. He glared at the bottle. "Damn cheap shit."

"Duo," said Heero. "Did you dye your hair while it was still in a braid?"

"Yeah, I was too lazy to undo it."

Heero tugged his braid gently. "Come on." He urged Duo to their shower stall. For a moment, he wished that they were in a townhouse, which had real bathtubs, but a shower stall would have to do. Heero turned the shower stall on to a weak spray. Then he helped Duo pull apart his braid and wash it under the running water.

Duo said something. Heero could not make out what he said over the sound of the water, so he paid no attention. He rinsed out the end of Duo's hair the best he could, and then turned off the showerhead. They went back to the mirror, where Duo inspected the damage.

Dying his hair dark brown with a cheaply discounted and expired dye had been a bad idea. Dying it while it was still in a braid was even worse. His hair was now of several different colors, as the dye clung stronger to some parts than others. It was light brown in some parts, and dark brown with hints of green in others. To best describe it: it was all of the colors of a muddy swamp. Duo looked at Heero for his opinion.

Heero was still examining his hair critically. "You did not really get your bangs dyed." He picked up Duo's brush and brushed Duo's bangs straight back. "It covers some of it."

"Yeah," said Duo. "But now I look like Wufei with green hair." He looked at Heero. A smiled tugged at the corner of Heero's lip.

Duo laughed first. Heero followed. They laughed until they were weak.

Finally, Duo said, short of breath, "You're all wet, Heero." The shower had sprayed half of Heero's shirt, and his hair, damp, clung to his face. Heero continued to examine Duo's hair with a cute serious expression that made Duo want to laugh again.

Heero paid no attention. He fingered Duo's hair. "Your hair is long. I have never seen it down."

Duo shrugged. "It's important to me." That was all that he wanted to say about it. Usually here was when others pressed for more details, but Heero wasn't like that. He simply nodded, as if he understood and Duo thought that maybe he had.

"Maybe I can braid it so that it does not show," Heero said. He lowered the toilet seat cover. "Sit down; let me try."

Heero began to braid his hair. Duo wondered where he learned how, and then decided that some things were better left unknown. Heero's fingers tugged his hair gently. Duo had almost forgotten how intimate it was to have someone else touch his hair. He knew that Heero was looking at his hair, not him, but even so, he found himself feeling more and more self-conscious.

"Duo," said Heero.

"Yeah?"

Heero was looking at him now, his face inches away. Duo's heart pounded.

Heero said, "Do you really want to do this?"

For a moment, Duo had no idea what Heero was talking about. Do what? Did he -- oh. He must mean... "Ask Relena to go?" Duo guessed.

Heero said, "Do you really want to be Winter Formal King that badly? I know you promised me that you would try. And I promised to help you. But if you wanted to, you could just stay here."

There it was out in the open, the same question that Quatre had asked, only by the person in question himself. Duo opened his mouth, and then closed it. Heero was willing to let him stay, and the thought pleased him. But then he thought of the church burning. "I... I don't know," he admitted. He forced himself to smile. "But... um... thanks for giving me the option to stay. I really appreciate it."

Heero returned his attention to his hair and said nothing. "There," he said, a while later. "Done."

Duo examined his braid in the mirror. "Not bad," he said, "Only now my hair looks like it has green stripes."

Heero shrugged. "No one is perfect," he said.

Duo examined his hair and responded jokingly, "I'm hurt, Heero. Here I thought I was too. How could you crush my ego so completely? Oh, the pain."

"You're not perfect," said Heero, leaving the bathroom. "But you come close."

Duo blinked. "THANKS!" he shouted from inside the bathroom. "YOU TOO!" He grinned. Heero had such a strange sense of humor. He checked his watch; it was time to pay Relena Peacecraft a visit.

Duo looked at the sink. It was a mess. "Well, I'm not perfect," Duo said, still grinning to himself. He left it the way it was.

Relena had said on the phone that she wanted to meet Duo where no one else could see them, so they decided to meet at her townhouse. Duo arrived about three minutes later than he was supposed to. He wondered for a moment how important punctuality was to her, then mentally shrugged and knocked on the door.

An elderly man let him in. Duo was surprised. He had heard that some students brought their own servants to their townhouses, but this was the first time that he had seen it with his own eyes. The servant, an old man with bushy white eyebrow, left him into the living room where Relena waited in an elegant blue dress.

She gestured to him to sit down. "Please have a seat, Duo."

Duo sat down and glanced around the room. The school had built all the townhouses, but they did not all have the same floor plan. There were three building types: for the ones who just had enough to afford one or who were wealthy, but practical (Wufei), for the rich who did not mind spending a little extra money (Quatre), and for those whose parents spared no expense for the best.

The last was the case of Relena. Her townhouse was almost twice the size of Wufei's, huge and lavishly decorated.

The servant poured them tea. Relena took a delicate sip before drinking. "I suppose you must be wondering why I said that I wanted to talk to you," she said.

Unable to think of anything to say, Duo nodded.

"My sources say," said Relena, "That you are Heero Yuy's new roommate."

Duo was dumbfounded. She wanted to talk to him about Heero? It made sense, he supposed, in a twisted sort of a way. Quatre had heard correctly the first time. Duo found himself a little disappointed, but not nearly as much as he had expected himself to be. He relaxed; there was no point in putting up a front now.

Relena sized him up. Her hair lingered on his eyes, and Duo knew that what she was now seeing were random streaks of dark green-brown. He tried not to smile.

"Well, yeah, I am." Duo resisted the urge to add the word "Miss" at the end of each sentence. Relena was his age and he had no reason to "pull a Dorothy," as Quatre called it.

"What's he like?"

Duo blinked. "What do you mean?"

"I have had the pleasure of knowing Heero Yuy since childhood," Relena said. "He was adopted by close friends of my father."

Duo was astonished. "Heero was adopted?"

Relena smiled to herself, as if pleased that she knew something about Heero that he did not. But no, Duo thought to himself, no one would be so petty. She was just being pleasant.

"Yes," said Relena, "When he was around eight or so, Mr. Noventa, a friend of my father, took him in." As if answering an unspoken question, she added, "Yes, that Mr. Noventa. The diplomat, Ambassador Noventa. It seems the Noventas had lost a daughter before and were happy to have him. I am not certain as to where he came from; my father was rather vague on the details.

"Whenever the Noventas came over, they brought him along. He was always very quiet and very polite, especially compared to my brother. My mother quite liked him." She smiled wistfully, and then blushed cutely. "My father even suggested an arranged marriage once. But Mr. Noventa turned it down." She sounded disappointed.

Duo thought, it's impolite to stare. But he was shocked. Heero Yuy had almost become Relena Peacecraft's fiancé! Would the wonders never cease?

"But," Relena continued, "I have never seen him make friends or do anything for fun. He was polite whenever he came to our house, but that was it. He has always been rather aloof, and that is most evident in school, when he keeps to himself. So I was surprised to see him with you, the day you fell into the ditch.

"I have never seen him do any activity with anyone else before. I have invited him in the past to parties, but he has always refused before. So call it an old curiosity, if you will, but what is he like?"

Duo was trying to get the images of Heero and Relena getting married out of his mind. Relena's question gave him something to ponder. How did one describe the enigma that was his roommate? Heero Yuy was asocial, mysterious, smart, and surprisingly kind. Only one word would describe him. "Heero's cool," said Duo.

"And?" Relena asked, leaning forward.

Duo shrugged. She wanted more? "He's...you know, cool. He tries to do everything right, and if he makes a mistake, he tries to correct it." He thought of the last few weeks and he found himself smiling. "He helps others compensate for their weaknesses and he spurs other people into action. He's a good person. And he's very direct. If he doesn't like something, he deals with it in his own way."

"He is so handsome," Relena sighed.

"Yes he is," Duo agreed without thinking. He paused in that thought, but it was true. Heero seemed so cold at first, but one he got to know him, his eyes grew warm. His smile was definitely worth treasuring, Duo decided. It made him somehow even better looking than he already was. He had a fit body and nice facial features. And it was good to know that he was susceptible to hormones and alcohol like everyone else did -- the proof was the way he had kissed Duo when he was drunk, just because Duo was the only person nearby. In the state that he was in, he probably would have kissed Trowa or Quatre or anybody else. But kissing him had been nice...

"The posters," said Relena, interrupting his thoughts, "Indicate that you want to be King of the Winter Formal Dance. Is that correct?"

Duo, unsure of what he was getting himself into, nodded.

"Every year," Relena said, "The person who usually becomes Winter Formal King is usually my date for the evening."

"So I heard," said Duo cautiously. Relena was speaking as if she had a plan, and he wasn't sure if he knew where she was going.

"Do you know why?"

Duo shook his head.

"Every year, my friends ask me who should be the king of the dance. And so far, every year, I have given them the name of my date. They tell their friends what I say, and so every year, my date wins." She said this in a way that was neither bragging nor modest -- it was a simple stated fact.

Duo realized it then -- that no matter what happened, Relena controlled the outcome of the dance. It depended on her influence, even though she didn't care about the position.

"I have a proposal for you, Duo Maxwell. If you want to, I can make you the King of the Winter Formal Dance."

Duo had half-expected this. "And?"

"And in return, you get Heero Yuy to be my date for the Winter Formal Dance."

Duo stared at her. "I'm sorry? Are you trying to bargain with me to get a date with Heero?" He laughed. "I'm sorry Relena, but even though Heero's my roommate, I can't control him. I can't guarantee that he'll go out with you even if I wanted him to." Which he did not, he reminded himself.

"I see," said Relena. She looked disappointed. "Well in that case, there is something else that you can do for me instead, and then I will ask my friends to vote for you."

Duo was amused. Did she want him to pass a love letter to Heero or something? "And what, pray tell, is that?"

Relena sipped her tea. She looked at Duo's cup, which had not been touched. Seeing her gaze, Duo picked up his cup and finished it in one gulp.

Then Relena spoke. "Duo," she said, "Forgive me, but Dorothy once told me that you liked all people, regardless of gender."

Dorothy had a big mouth. Duo shrugged uncomfortably in response; discussing his sexuality with Relena Peacecraft was the last thing he wanted to do. He had told Dorothy that only in half-jest. She had been checking out other men in an effort to make him jealous; he had only laughed and began checking them out with her.

"Excellent," said Relena, interpreting his shrug as an affirmation. Duo was confused. "Duo, do you know my older brother, Milliard?"

"Yeah, I know him," said Duo cautiously. He did not like where this was headed.

"Milliard saw a copy of your flyer and he has expressed some interest in you. If -- if you go with Milliard for to the dance, then I will make sure that you win."

When he finished his homework for the evening, Heero found his room unnaturally quiet. Duo's absence was obvious -- the silence that he had so desperately wanted when Duo had first moved in was now here, but he found it...disquieting. It had been what he had once wanted, but now...

Heero checked the clock. 9:55pm. He sighed. He was bored. He hadn't felt this bored since Duo moved in three weeks ago.

At exactly 10:00pm, Duo returned. He switched on his lamp when he came in, instantly bringing light to the room.

Duo was quiet. He took off his jacket and tossed it to his chair. Then he collapsed on his bed, crossed his arms behind the back of his head, and stared at the ceiling, not saying a single word.

At exactly thirteen minutes and forty-seconds later (Heero counted), Duo turned his head and looked at Heero. His expression was troubled.

"How did it go?" Heero asked.

Duo sat up on his bed, hugged his knees to his chest, and crossed his arms around them. "Hey, Heero."

"What?"

Duo studied him. "Would you ever go out with Relena Peacecraft? Hypothetically, I mean." He paused. "I mean, pink aside, she's the most popular girl in school. She's smart, pretty, and ...uh...well, I'm not sure if she has a sense of humor or not, but she's rich. And you failed to mention that she turns out to be the closest thing to a childhood friend that you've ever had, how 'bout that? I mean, she's almost the ideal woman -- hell, even I had a crush on her once!"

"Did you?" Heero tilted his head inquisitorially. "So then, why did you stop liking her?"

Duo shrugged. "Well, she's a little too stuck up and spoiled for me. Not that it's her fault or anything, and most of the other students at the school are too, but still, it's too much for -- Hey! Don't change the subject here!"

Heero raised a wry eyebrow.

Duo grinned, perfectly aware that he was at fault. Then his face turned serious again. "Well? If you had a chance, would you?"

Heero considered the question, assuming that Duo was having some sort of moral dilemma for using a girl to win. Then again, Duo had not mentioned the contest. Heero decided to take the question on as honestly as he could. "No."

"But why not?"

"She's not the one I want," Heero said simply.

Duo sighed. "So straightforward. So then who do you want? Does that person even exist?"

In response, Heero crossed the room and sat down next to Duo. Duo watched him, giving him a curious look.

"Well?"

Heero tugged on Duo's braid and examined it critically. "The green is a lot more noticeable when your hair is dry," he observed. "I still see it."

Duo snorted. "Well, yeah, it's not like I had a chance to wash it out." He looked at Heero. "Hey Heero, look at me."

Heero stopped fingering Duo's braid and looked up, meeting Duo's gaze. He frowned slightly when he saw how serious Duo looked, and then his expression turned serious as well.

Duo studied him. He was about to tell Heero all about Relena's proposition when he suddenly recalled Heero in the Nurse's Office. This was followed by images of Heero braiding his hair, Heero lying to Lady Une, and Heero scrubbing the pool.

Heero had told him that he would help him as any friend would. But Heero had already done enough.

Duo sighed. He was the one who had told Heero, "The next time I'm in trouble, let me take care of it." He couldn't ask Heero for help now. Asking him to go out with Relena after he clearly wasn't interested in her was just taking advantage of his kindness. He would have to take care of it himself.

There was another reason that Duo did not want to tell Heero about Relena's proposal. The thought, as insane as it was, of Heero in a suit with Relena Peacecraft in his arms made Duo's stomach churn. Almost fiancés? It was disturbing, especially since they would look good together. Duo realized that he was probably feeling some measure of jealousy, but of what, he wasn't sure, so he squished that thought and concentrated on the moral aspect of his dilemma.

No, he could not do this to Heero. That was all there was to it.

Duo studied Heero. He had, up close, surprisingly long lashes, and his mouth looked as pleasant as ever. Duo remembered how good it felt when Heero had kissed him drunkenly, and he wondered what happened if...

Duo caught himself leaning closer, and he immediately jerked back.

Heero gave him a questioning look.

Now, Duo decided, is not the time to find your roommate attractive. Especially since, he reminded himself, he still liked Wufei. But did he? He hadn't thought about Wufei all week, and -- he stopped himself. He was just being too pensive tonight; it was unlike him.

"What is it?" Heero asked.

Briefly, Duo entertained the idea of just skipping the dance altogether. But then he thought again of the burning church, and his resolution strengthened. No.

He had to move out.

Duo said, "I guess you can say that I'm going to the dance with a Peacecraft."

"So she agreed? That's good. Isn't that what you wanted?" Heero frowned. "You do not seem very pleased about it."

Duo stood up, not answering. "I think I'm gonna hit the showers and try washing my hair again," he said. "G'night Heero."

Heero's gaze followed him as he crossed the room. "Good night, Duo."

Later that night when Heero was showering, Duo called Relena up and told her his decision. She sounded somewhat disappointed, but he did not really care.

The first people who asked him about it, of course, were Quatre and Trowa. Duo debated on whether or not to tell them the truth, but then afraid that it would get back to Heero, he decided against it and only answered their questions vaguely. "I'm going with Peacecraft," he told them, just as he had told Heero. It was the technical truth; he just didn't tell them which Peacecraft. He then distracted them by explaining why his hair had so many different colors.

Feeling partially responsible for it, Quatre went out that day and brought Duo to a hair salon, where they washed his hair over and over again until it was almost impossible to see the mistakes that were done to it. Quatre footed the bill, despite Duo's protests, insisting that it was his and Trowa's fault. Trowa generously chipped in the entire five dollars that he had earned from the bet.

Two days before the dance, however, Quatre and Trowa confronted him outside of a class that he did not share with Heero. They were armed with the knowledge of a rumor that Relena was going to the dance with another junior named Nichol.

"What's going on, Duo?" Quatre asked.

Duo told them the truth about Relena's offer and what he decided.

"I think you should tell Heero," Trowa said, when he finished.

Duo disagreed. "There's really no need to. Aside from that Hilde thing which must have been some kind of fluke, Heero doesn't seem to pay much attention to gossip, and when I asked him before he said he wasn't planning to attend the dance. So he'll never know."

Quatre frowned. "But why would you keep this from him, Duo? There's no reason to."

Duo was not quite sure either. "Don't know," he said honestly. "But...it's kinda like, I already got him into so much trouble, you know? And half of it he did willingly just because he's so nice. I don't want him to feel obligated to go with Relena or anything." He gave both of his friends a serious look. "And don't you dare say a word about this to Heero."

Quatre did not smile. "Milliard has quite the reputation, Duo. I'm not sure which rumors are true and which aren't. But most of them are not good."

Duo laughed. "I'm a guy, Quatre, not a girl. I can take care of myself. I'm not afraid."

Afraid? No. But deep inside, remembering how he had first met him, Duo was a little nervous.

That same night after dinner, Quatre and Trowa paid Heero and Duo's dorm room an impromptu visit.

It was the first time that either of them had a chance to look at their room. Quatre grinned when he saw Duo's posters. Trowa told Heero with a perfectly straight face that he liked the way that he decorated his side of the room, and Heero answered equally as seriously that it had been hard to find walls with the right shade of white. This set Quatre into a fit of laughter while Duo told Heero that he needed to put up decorations, if only so that Duo wouldn't get bored looking at his side of the room.

Trowa said to Duo, "That's the Slam Dunk poster you said that Wufei gave you in middle school, isn't it? Haven't seen it in a while."

Duo shrugged. "Wufei had his own decorations already up when I moved into the townhouse, so I didn't get a chance to put anything up. I haven't touched these posters for a year, so I'm glad to let them out and give them a chance to breathe." He studied the poster of Slam Dunk and smiled. "I remember when we were reading the manga together in eighth grade. I kept stealing Wufei's books to read them, because he read them so slowly."

"Are you a basketball fan?" Heero asked. He was looking at the Slam Dunk poster as if seeing it for the first time.

"Slam Dunk is about more than basketball," said Duo, in a voice of revere. "It's about teamwork and friendship. The anime's good, but the manga's ending is better. I all about almost cried in the end, but I won't tell you why because it would spoil the ending. But if you ever want to read it, Wufei's got the books."

Trowa watched with some amusement as Heero gave the poster a resentful look. Quatre, meanwhile, was sizing up the room. "I forgot how much smaller it is than the townhouses," Quatre said to Duo.

"Yeah, but it's cozy. It's kind of like the simplified life, you know? In the end, all you really need is a table to do your homework, a bed to sleep on, and a shower so that you don't stink." When he said the word "stink," Duo winked at Heero, remembering the cologne incidents. Heero looked amused.

Trowa examined the window. "That tree outside is very close to this room. If someone wanted to, they could easily climb in."

Duo agreed. "I know. I was worried at first about that too, but then I remembered all the pricks that go to this school and the fact that we have nothing to steal compared to them. Good thing the dorms have practically no crime rate. Now I'm grateful for that tree. You wouldn't believe how many times I had to climb through it!"

"I was very surprised the first time he did it," Heero told Trowa. "The second time I even tried locking the window, but he came through anyway."

Trowa shook his head. "You can't keep Duo out unless he wants to stay out."

Quatre came back out of the bathroom. "I forgot that the dorms don't have a real bathtub, only a shower stall."

Duo laughed. "If I ever want to take a bubble bath, Quatre, can I go to your place?" Quatre readily agreed.

"Anyway," Quatre said to Duo. "I wanted to talk to you about the final semester paper in our DR class."

"Oh, that. I've done some research and brainstormed a few ideas, but I haven't written anything yet. But you can ask Heero about it, I think he's already started."

"Oh no," Quatre insisted. "I need to talk to someone who has made as little progress as me. Besides, Trowa wanted to talk to Heero about one of the other classes that they have together."

"You two got another class together?"

"Yes," Trowa answered immediately. "We just didn't say anything to each other until we started eating together."

"That's cool."

"Come on, Duo," Quatre pleaded. "Help me." So the two of them sat down on the floor by Duo's side of the room and poured over Quatre's textbook, flipping through it and looking for ideas.

On the other side of the room, Trowa said, "Here are your notes, Heero. Thank you for letting me borrow them." He placed them onto Heero's desk.

Heero had never let Trowa borrow any notes. In fact, the only class that Trowa had with Heero was the same Computer Inventions class that Duo took with them. He knew something was up, however, so his expression did not change as he nodded and took the notes.

"I have a question about this page," said Trowa, pointing to the first page. He crouched down next to Heero's chair, so that they were at eye level.

Heero looked at the first page of notes.

It said in small, neat handwriting:

"Duo told us not to say a word to you, so I'm writing this out instead. I owe you one for helping me and Q (and Q and I both think that M's a jerk).

Duo is going to the dance with Milliard Peacecraft."

Heero looked at Trowa. Trowa nodded. "It's this part I don't understand," said Trowa casually, pointing to the paper again.

Heero looked back down on the paper.

"Duo is going to the dance with Milliard Peacecraft."

Here, a larger handwriting that Heero assumed was Quatre's, written to the side of the last sentence added in parentheses, "(He's Relena's perverted slut of an older brother who's hit on both me and Duo on separate occasions and I hate him.)"

The smaller handwriting that belonged to Trowa continued. "Relena told Duo that she would get him voted in as the dance king if either he went with Milliard or if Relena went with you. Duo chose Milliard. It's, of course, his choice. But we thought you should know."

That was the end of the note. Heero looked up at Trowa.

"Oh, I see," said Trowa. "You mean it's like this?" He stood up and bent over the desk.

Then, taking out a pen, Trowa wrote: "We came here to look at your room and it seems like Duo likes it. Why don't you ask him to stay?"

"It's not like that," said Heero. He picked up a pen and wrote: "I did. He said he wasn't sure."

Trowa wrote back, "Wufei?"

Heero shrugged. "Probably," he said aloud. "It makes more sense that way, doesn't it?"

Trowa frowned, and wrote: "Wufei is being stupid."

Heero agreed. He penned the words: "I do not know Wufei well, but I do not like him."

"Hey Trowa," said Duo from across the room. "Do you want to borrow my chair so that you don't have to stand?" He indicated himself and Quatre, both sitting on the ground. "It's not like I'll be using it any time soon."

"No thanks," Trowa responded. "I think I get it now. I just wanted to be sure."

Heero wrote: "I will take care of it. Thank you."

Trowa nodded.

From across the room, they both heard Duo say to Quatre, "By the way, Quatre, can I borrow a suit for the dance?"

"Sure," said Quatre, after a moment of hesitation. "You're taller than me, though. They might be too small for you. Hmm. Oh wait, no, I have some extras that were given to me that are too big. You can try those."

"Thanks, I appreciate it."

Quatre looked at Trowa. "Did Heero answer your question, Trowa?"

Trowa nodded. "Thank you," he told Heero. Heero nodded.

"Well, we're just about done here too," said Quatre. "I guess we should go." He smiled at Duo. "Thanks for your help, Duo."

Duo shook his head. "Quatre, you're worried over nothing. You already got it all down. You didn't need my help at all; you just needed a sounding board for your own ideas. You'll do fine, don't worry. We'll go grab coffee together after we turn it in as a reward, how does that sound?"

"Great," said Quatre. He stood up and Duo stood up as well. Trowa headed towards the door.

"Can I come over and take a look at your suits now?" Duo asked.

Quatre blinked. "Sure."

"Great. We'll see you later, Heero!" Duo said. He waved, and then the three of them left.

Heero read Trowa's note four times. He had been surprised the first time. The second time, he felt hurt. The third time he felt angry, and after the fourth time, he picked up the phone.

Duo returned later with a suit. He tried it on and looked at himself in the closet mirror. "What do you think?" he asked Heero.

Heero looked at him but said nothing.

"Quatre didn't have any that fit me, but Trowa had a spare. He's a little taller than me, so the sleeves hang a little, but it looks okay." Duo shrugged and took off the jacket. "Guess it'll have to do."

"Duo," said Heero.

Duo put Trowa's jacket suit on a coat hangover. "Hmm?"

"Why did you not tell me...?" Heero's voice trailed off.

Heero's voice always sounded serious, but there was something in his voice this time that sounded a bit off. It sounded controlled, almost forced. Duo frowned. "Tell you what?" He felt nervous. Did Heero somehow know?

Heero stood up and walked over to him. He stood close by him, and then studied Duo, as if deciding something. His handsome face was beset by a small frown.

Duo had trouble meeting his gaze. "Something wrong, Heero?" he asked. He kept Trowa's jacket between then.

"You're just barely taller than me," said Heero, after a long pause. "But close enough. You could have asked me, you know." He opened his closet and looked through his clothes. "Here, try this." He handed Duo a dark blue suit.

Duo was relieved. He cheered up. "Hey, cool. Thanks." He took the suit. "I don't know why it didn't occur to me to ask you. I forgot that you're the son of an ambassador. You must have to dress up for those fancy schmancy dinner parties, eh?"

Heero stared at him, surprised. "Where did you hear that I was the son of an ambassador?"

"Relena mentioned it," said Duo. He put on the suit jacket and examined himself in the mirror. "Said you were adopted." He cast Heero an accusing look. "Which you never told me, you know."

Heero frowned again. "I am sure there are many things that you have not told me, either."

Duo froze, but only for a split-second. "That's true," he agreed casually. "I mean, we've known each other for less than a month." He paused. "Hey, this jacket fits well." He tried on the pants. "The pants, too. " He looked at Heero. "Can I borrow this?"

Heero nodded. "It's an extra. I usually like wearing my black one."

"Cool. Thanks." Duo looked at himself once more in the mirror. Heero's suit certainly fit better than Trowa's.

"You look good," Heero said.

Duo grinned. "It looks okay on me, but I'm not really a 'suit' kind of a person, you know? It's all your clothes, man. If you put them on, you'd be knockin' them dead." He was rewarded by a small chuckle.

"Duo," said Heero after a pause. "Why didn't you tell me about Relena's offer?"

Duo's eyes narrowed. "Quatre and Trowa. It was them, wasn't it?" When Heero did not reply, Duo shook his head. "You have three friends in this school, and I sure as hell know that I wasn't the one who told you. Bastards."

Heero said, "Do you want to win that badly? You really don't want to stay here?"

Duo stared at him. For the first time since his fistfight with Heero, Duo found himself actually considering staying with Heero. That thought alone surprised him; what happened to his elaborate plans to get back to Wufei's side?

But it was no longer about Wufei, was it? He thought of Wufei, not breathing. The church, burning. Heero, glass all over him. He thought of Lady Une, naming all of Heero's accomplishments. And then he recalled the night in the Nurse's Office, when he sat by the bed where Heero slept.

Everything had changed after that.

"Hey," Duo said, "It's not like we can't hang out after I move out, you know. I told you --"

"Is it Wufei?" Heero asked.

It was not, but he could not tell Heero that it was because of him. Duo shrugged. "Does it matter? Anyway, sorry I kept it from you, but --"

"I can go to the dance with Relena," Heero offered. "So that you don't have to go with Milliard."

Heero was just being considerate, Duo knew. And yet, the image of Heero dancing with Relena made his stomach sick. The two of them would look good together. And Relena really was, all things considered, quite the catch. Who knows, maybe they really would end up together afterwards?

But if the two of them were to ever end up together, Duo thought spitefully, then Heero would have to date Relena on his own terms. Almost fiancé, indeed! There was no way in hell that Duo would assist them in any way.

Duo shook his head. "I told you, Heero, that the next time I had problems, I would take care of them myself. I can't ask you to do that for me."

"And I said," Heero replied, "That I reserved the right to help you as any friend would. Why did you not ask me first?"

"I told you why," said Duo. "I gotta stop dragging people into my mess. Take responsibility for my own actions, you know?"

Heero frowned. "You said the same thing before in the Nurse's Office. What do you mean?"

Duo felt cornered. This was a touchy subject. He dropped it. "Anyway, I got it all covered, so although I appreciate your concern, don't worry about it, Heero. I'll go with Milliard to the dance."

"Milliard Peacecraft," said Heero, "Is scum." He sounded perfectly serious. "He likes to advantage of other people's weaknesses for his own gains. It was probably his suggestion to Relena in the first place. She would never think of anything like that on her own. She's far too innocent."

Duo raised an eyebrow. "Is she?" He grinned. "Heero, are you sure you don't have a secret crush on Relena or something?" He tried to calm the worried feeling that was stirring in the pit of his stomach.

"Relena," Heero tried to explain, "Is a good person. Her brother is not. They are almost opposites."

Duo grinned. "It's cute the way you defend your almost-fiancé, Heero."

Heero stared at him. "Almost-fiancé?"

"Well, that's what Relena said. Her father tried to arrange a marriage between the two of you, but your father refused. But man, Heero, you're lucky. The most popular girl in school totally digs you and had your father not been so considerate of your free will, you would've ended up marrying her!" Duo added solemnly, "It's fairly mind-boggling, actually."

"Duo," said Heero. "Can we stop talking about Relena? It's Milliard that I'm concerned about."

"I told you," said Duo, "Don't worry about it. I got it taken care of. I'm going with Milliard. All problems solved. I don't know what the big deal is. People keep warning me about him, but seriously, what can he do? I know how to fight. I'm not a girl. He can't overpower me with strength and force himself on me or anything. If he gives me any trouble, I kick his ass. Simple."

"Duo --"

"Are you saying I can't take care of myself?"

"No, that's not it --"

"So I go to the dance with a jerk, then. So what? I tolerate his shit for one evening, stay till I win, then leave."

"Duo," Heero said firmly. He placed his hands on Duo's shoulders. "Don't go with Milliard. Let me go with Relena."

Duo frowned. "Do you want an excuse to go after Relena Peacecraft? Are you upset that I didn't take advantage of the situation to set you two up? Cuz it's not my fault, you know. You told me you weren't interested. How was I supposed to know?"

Heero looked annoyed. "No, that's not it --"

"Then what's your problem? Why do you want to interfere?"

Heero appeared at a loss for words. "It's just that...it's just that..." He paused, and then said, "It's just that...I promised you that I would do everything to help you win, didn't I?"

If Duo didn't know any better, Heero almost sounded desperate. But there was no way Heero Yuy would ever be desperate about anything, especially something as trivial as this. Unless he really did want to ask Relena, but had no excuse? There were some people like that, who were too proud to do what they really wanted to. Was that it?

Well, if that were the case, Duo would not give him a chance. If Heero wanted Relena, he would have to set the situation up himself. Duo would not be his excuse.

Heero's hand was still on his shoulder. Duo clasped a hand over it. "Heero," he declared, "You are a good person. Much too good for someone like Relena, actually." Oops. He hadn't meant to add that part. "I see that your word is important to you. And you have kept it in our misadventures. But it's okay now. I release you from your promise. Don't feel obligated to go out with Relena on my account. If you want her, go get her yourself."

Heero's eyes widened. "What are you saying?"

Duo shrugged. "We had an agreement that both of us would help me win. Well, we don't anymore. I won't force you to do anything else stupid for my sake. I won't drag --" Oh hell, he was slipping again. "Anyway, our agreement is over, please don't feel obligated to help me win anymore. There. Make sense?"

Heero looked serious. "Are you sure?"

Duo nodded. "Perfectly.

Heero's expression, if anything, darkened. "Fine." Heero let go of him. "Do not forget your words."

Wow, Heero really took his vows seriously. "Yeah, yeah, I won't come begging you for help later, okay? No worries."

But seeing the strange expression on Heero's face made Duo worry, and he wasn't sure why.

The dance was not brought up again that night. The next morning at breakfast, when Quatre brought it up, Duo interrupted him with news about something else. Trowa looked over at Heero; Heero shook his head.

That day, when Duo was on his way to this next class, he passed by Relena Peacecraft, who was chatting with her friends. When he walked by, she excused herself from her friends and chased after him.

"Duo! Wait!"

Duo stopped. "What's up, Relena?"

"Duo," Relena said. She took his hand into hers and gazed into his eyes. She looked so grateful that it almost alarmed him. "Thank you so very, very much. It is like a dream come true."

Duo stared blankly. "Sorry?"

Relena misunderstood his action. "Do not worry about Milliard. He was disappointed, but I took care of it." Impulsively, she reached over and gave him a quick hug. "Thank you. I always wanted to dance with Heero Yuy. Thank you so much."

Duo stiffened. Relena stepped back and checked her gold watch. "Oh, I am sorry! I will make you late for class." She shook his hand one more time, and then ran off.

Heero returned from the library later that evening to find Duo waiting for him in their room.

"Heero," Duo greeted when he walked in. He was doing his homework and eating takeout for dinner. "Did you eat yet? I have an extra sandwich." He did not look up from his work.

Duo was speaking calmly, but there was something alarming about the way he spoke that he might as well have been screaming. Heero said carefully, "No, thank you. I already ate." Then he took off his jacket and sat down in his chair.

"Is that so..." Duo paused in the middle of his work and looked up. "Hey Heero," he said in that calm way of his again. "Why didn't you tell me that you were going to the dance with Relena?"

Heero looked at him.

"I mean," Duo said, "I thought you weren't going to the dance, Mr. Asocial," he said in a false-cheery voice. "Glad to hear that you changed your mind. It's good to enjoy your youth while you're young." Duo gripped his desk for support. "But you know, who asked you to interfere? There's no reason why you should be dragged into this, you know. I thought we went over this yesterday."

"Duo --"

"I mean, at first, I thought that it could be that you were just going after Relena on your own. I can accept that. But if that were the case, then why'd you tell her to drop it with Milliard?" Duo looked at Heero. "I thought I said you didn't have to help me."

"You did."

"Then don't interfere when it's not wanted!" Duo yelled. He realized he was yelling, so he lowered his voice. "Why the hell did you ask Relena Peacecraft to the dance when I told you not to?"

"You did not tell me to not ask her," said Heero evenly. His patience snapped. "You told me that I did not have to feel obligated to help you win any more. Well, I don't. Who said I was going to the dance with her to help you? I am going to hinder you."

Duo was astonished. "What?"

"Every person who goes to the dance with Relena ends up winning the title," said Heero. "Well, I do not want you to win, so I am going with her instead."

"What the hell --?"

"It appears that perhaps Relena misunderstood as well," said Heero. "I will correct this misunderstanding with her."

There was a pause as Duo absorbed. Then he reacted.

"YOU FUCKING TRAITOR!" Duo shouted. He stood up so fast that his chair was knocked over by the movement. He did not care. "How the fuck can you --"

"You told me not to feel obligated to help you," Heero pointed out coldly. "So I have no obligation to help you. Therefore, technically, my actions are not treacherous."

"Fuck your technicalities!" Duo was growing more and more visibly upset. "How can you do this to me?"

"You're the one who decided to choose a scumbag like Milliard Peacecraft rather than ask me for help," Heero said. "Do you really want to leave this dorm room so badly that you would rather deal with him than me?"

Duo answered without hesitation. "Yes."

That one little word was spoken with so much conviction that it cut through Heero deeper than any blade ever could. It stung deeply, and he struck back defensively.

"Well, I will not stand by and watch while you go crawling pathetically like a desperate dog after someone who does not care about you."

Duo's face reddened with anger and embarrassment. He grabbed his backpack, shoved his homework in it, and then slammed the door behind him as he left.

Heero cursed. How did Duo always shake his self-control so easily?

Someone pounded on Quatre's door.

Quatre, who had been snuggling on the couch with Trowa, froze. He looked at Trowa with terrified eyes.

"Trowa! You don't think that's Dorothy trying one more time to get a date the night before the dance, do you?"

Trowa frowned. The pounding continued. "No," Trowa said. He stood up and opened the door.

Duo was on the other side. His eyes were red and his expression fuming. "Can I come in?" His voice held barely controlled fury.

Trowa stepped aside. Duo stomped in, threw his backpack on the floor, and gave a shout of frustration.

"I HATE HIM! I FUCKING HATE HIM!"

Quatre approached Duo as if he were a wild animal. "Duo," he said in as gentle of a voice as possible, "What's wrong?"

"I thought he was cool but he turns out to be a --" Then he went through a series of expletives, all roughly translating to "bad person" but with many more pejorative connotations.

Quatre winced; Duo's language always got worst whenever he was upset. He looked at Trowa. Trowa mouthed: Heero?

Quatre shook his head and mouthed: Wufei.

"I can't believe what a jerk he was! I can't believe he did this to me!" Duo screamed. "Heero Yuy," he declared angrily, "Is the world's BIGGEST FUCKING ASSHOLE!"

Quatre looked at Trowa. Trowa shrugged and mouthed: I was right.

Quatre hid a smile. He mouthed: You always are.

Then Duo turned on them. "And you two --" he said furiously. "Why the fuck did you two tell him about my bargain with Relena?" He saw a flash of guilt pass over Quatre's face, and he attacked instinctively the one who would feel more pain. "This is all your fault!" Quatre shrank back.

Trowa had enough. "Duo," he said, "Calm down."

"Fuck you, Trowa!"

Trowa picked up a cup of water on the table and splashed it onto Duo's face. Duo froze in shock.

Quatre immediately ran to the kitchen and brought back a towel. He gave it to Trowa.

"No matter how angry you are at us right now," Trowa said, "We're still your friends. So calm down and tell us what happened before you start accusing us." He held out the towel to Duo.

Duo snatched it and began to wipe his face.

Quatre left and came back with another cup of ice water. He pressed it into Duo's free hand. Then Trowa pushed Duo towards the couch and got him to sit down.

Duo drank his water without a word. After a long pause, he said, "I'm sorry."

Quatre forgave him instantly. "So what happened?"

Duo leaned back in the couch. "Basically," he said, after a long pause, "Heero and I got into a fight."

Trowa waited. When nothing else was said, he prompted, "And?"

Duo gave an angry laugh. "And he said I was like a pathetic desperate dog."

"And?"

Duo shot him a look. "What do you mean, 'and'? He said I was like a dog! It's what all the orphans are always called at some point or the other. A fucking dog!"

"You just called him the 'world's biggest fucking asshole,'" Trowa said calmly. "Surely you have more crimes against him than name-calling. And I'm sure Heero was not considering your history when he insulted you."

Duo stared at him. Trowa stayed calm and unruffled. It must have made Duo realize how absurd everything that he was saying sounded, because slowly, he grinned. "You're always so level-headed, Trowa."

"Someone has to be," said Trowa. Inside, he felt a brief moment of relief. It was good to see Duo back to himself, because when he was angry he was extremely volatile.

"Duo," said Quatre, "What led you guys to fight?"

Duo leaned back against the couch and took a deep breath. "He was mad that I didn't tell him about Relena's offer." He looked at his friends. "Why did you tell him? I told you not to say a word."

Quatre looked guilty. Trowa, however, did not feel the same. "We didn't say anything to him. I wrote it on a note to him."

Duo blinked. "It's the same thing!" Trowa opened his mouth, and Duo cut him off. "Okay, no, technically it's different. Everyone's pulling technical loopholes today." Duo sighed. "So why did you guys do it?"

Quatre looked at Trowa. Trowa said, "It seemed like the right thing to do."

Quatre said apologetically, "Sorry, Duo."

Duo glared at him. Quatre cringed. Trowa said defensively, "Don't pick on Quatre, Duo. He already feels guilty enough. If you're upset, yell at me. I don't feel as guilty as he does."

Duo glared at Trowa. "Why did you tell Heero, Trowa? It's none of his business. Hell, it's none of yours."

"It's our business," Trowa said, "Because you're our friend. Friends mess with each other's business. And it's Heero's business more than ours, because he's your friend and because he was part of Relena's bargain. That's how I saw it. I'm sorry if it caused you trouble."

Duo sighed. "Damn it Trowa, how do you say everything so reasonably?"

Trowa shrugged. "So he got angry. And then?"

"And then he went and asked Relena to the dance. Only he's doing it so that she breaks her deal with me so that he wins the title instead." Quatre gasped. "And then when I confronted him about it, he said I was like a pathetic, desperate dog for chasing -- for chasing -- ah, hell, I can't say it -- for chasing someone who did not care about me." Duo buried his face back into the towel. "Bastard."

Hmm. This was worse than Trowa had anticipated. Heero had struck a low blow with the last comment, evidently, because Duo kept bringing it up. Perhaps his actions had been wrong after all. Oh well, he couldn't change the past.

Quatre said, "Did you want to stay here tonight, Duo?"

Duo nodded.

Quatre glanced at Trowa. Trowa nodded; it was fine with him.

Although Duo was calmer, he was still clearly in a state of upset. Trowa decided that it was best to let him cool down a bit before trying to talk to him again. Quatre left to get him a spare blanket. He returned moments later and passed it to Duo.

Duo nodded his thanks.

Duo did not come back that evening. Heero glanced at the clock. It was almost midnight. He had no reason to worry; after all, Duo had stated repeatedly that he could take care of himself. But it was late. Where would he spend the night? Dorothy's? Hilde's? Quatre's?

Or maybe... Wufei's?

Heero decided that he was a fool.

His dorm room phone rang twice before he realized it. Heero reluctantly picked it up.

"Heero," Trowa said without greeting, "Duo's at our place in case you were worried. He'll be staying here tonight."

Heero allowed himself to feel anxious-free for a moment. "Thank you."

Trowa said, "What are friends for? He's pretty upset, though, especially by your last comment. You should definitely talk to him in the morning."

What are friends for? Heero sighed. If it had not been for Duo, he would have never made any friends. If not for Duo, then...

Quatre was saying something on the other end. Trowa murmured something back, but Quatre insisted.

Trowa said, "Quatre also wants to know if you really are going to the dance with Relena."

Heero hesitated. He had never really wanted to, and his extra motivation left the minute Duo did. Still, he had promised her. "Yes."

Quatre was saying something again.

Trowa translated, "Quatre says that was not a nice thing to do."

"I know," said Heero. He groped for the words to try to justify his own actions to himself. He needed to tell himself why he had done what he had just done.

"I just...didn't want him to leave."

Trowa said, "I understand. You can try talking to him tomorrow. Hopefully he'll be calmer then."

Heero thanked him and Trowa hung up. Heero lay back down on his bed and turned off the lights.

The room was eerily quiet.

That night, after both Quatre and Trowa had gone to bed, Duo picked up the phone. Then he put it down again. He wavered in indecision for another moment, before he fished around in his backpack and pulled out Relena's business card. It was time to call Relena to see what Heero had said to her.

Relena's servant picked up the phone. He explained that the young mistress was now sleeping, and could he please take a message?

After a moment of hesitation, Duo instead asked for Milliard Peacecraft's number.

Duo opted not to eat breakfast with Quatre and Trowa, thereby avoiding any chance of running into Heero in the Food Court. Instead, he skipped breakfast. He was not feeling particularly hungry anyway. For lunch, he bought a sandwich from Howard.

When he saw Heero in class, he acted as if he did not see him. When Heero approached him after both of the classes that they shared, Duo quickly stuffed his things into his backpack and took off. Part of him knew that he was being childish, but he didn't care.

Stubborn pride still in tact, Duo could not bring himself to return to his dorm room. So he went back to Quatre's place after school. Then he realized that he had forgotten Trowa's suit in the dorms. Reluctantly, he returned to the dorms to pick it up.

Heero was doing his homework. Duo stared at him incredulously. There were only a few hours until the dance; shouldn't he be getting ready? But this was Heero Yuy, perfect student.

Duo silently gathered up the last of the things that he needed. Heero stopped working on whatever he was doing, and was now watching him.

"Duo --"

Duo did not look up. "Shouldn't you be getting ready for the dance, Mr. Traitor?"

"Look, Duo," Heero began. "You --" He watched as Duo picked up Trowa's suit, and stopped in mid-sentence. "Are you still going to the dance?"

"What this dog does is really none of your business." Duo tossed the last of the things he needed into a plastic bag. He headed for the door.

"Duo, you're being childish. Look, I'm sorry about --"

"Oh I'm sorry for being childish, Heero," Duo said. "Nobody's perfect." He slammed the door.

Quatre and Trowa took turns using their bathroom to get ready for the dance.

Quatre finished first. When Trowa was looking at himself in the mirror, however, Quatre snuck up from behind and hugged him. Trowa smelled good.

Trowa turned slightly towards him and smiled.

"You know," said Trowa casually, "That this will ruin your popularity among the girls forever."

"I don't mind," Quatre said.

Trowa smiled. He leaned over and placed a kiss on his forehead.

Quatre flushed, pleased. They were still both rather new to the change in their relationship, so they were taking things slowly. But Quatre had always been the type of person who lingered his dessert before eating it, taking his time so that he could enjoy the most out of it.

The doorbell rang. Both of them froze.

"Were you expecting anyone?" Quatre asked Trowa. Trowa shook his head.

"Then who --?"

The doorbell rang again. "I got it!" Duo shouted from the kitchen.

Quatre and Trowa exchanged looks. "I thought Duo wasn't going to the dance," Quatre said. That was what Duo had told them yesterday. He had asked them if he could stay at their place in the meantime, and Quatre agreed. Quatre asked Duo if he wanted them to stay to keep his company, but Duo shook his head, saying that it would only make him feel worse if he was responsible for his friends missing the first dance during their new relationship. Quatre became embarrassed, and changed the subject.

They both realized who it was at the same time and bolted for the door.

Duo had already opened it. "Hello Quatre," Milliard greeted at the front door when they appeared. He studied Trowa, and then smiled. "I don't believe we've met, handsome stranger. Trowa Barton, was it?" When neither Trowa nor Quatre replied, he turned his attention back to Duo.

"I know that I'm early, but I was here, and I thought, why not?" Milliard stepped in close to Duo. Duo involuntarily took a step back. "May I use your bathroom?" Duo glanced at Quatre and Trowa. Trowa shrugged, Quatre nodded.

"Uh...sure." Duo pointed the way.

Milliard took another good, long look at Duo. He was almost a head and a half taller than his date. He smiled and headed off in the direction that Duo had pointed.

Trowa stared at Duo, his gaze boring into him. "What?" Duo asked, almost defensively.

"Duo," said Quatre, "What is he doing here? I thought you decided not to go."

Duo shrugged. "I changed my mind."

"But why him?" Quatre cried.

Duo shrugged. "One, I'm pissed off at Heero for thinking that he can interfere with what I wanna do. Two, because Heero is interfering, I can't win. That's what Heero basically told me, anyway. And I refuse to let Heero beat me. So I tried to call Relena, and she was asleep, so then I called her brother.

"About Relena winning...well, it's true that she won in her freshman year. But the guy that took her to the dance at the time was her older brother because their father was being super protective, 'cuz Milliard was such a troublemaker. He danced with his sister for one round as sort of her high school debut, and then left to chase other skirts. He won the title that year too. In fact, before Relena, he was the one who won every year and whichever girl he danced with the most tended to win." Duo shrugged. "So if I go with him, I still have a shot."

Trowa blinked. "Won't that just mean that Milliard will win?"

Duo gave triumphant laugh. "He's disqualified because he's no longer a student! Hah! Didn't think that I'd think of that, didja?"

"Why," said Milliard, leaning casually in the hallway, "Do you want to become King of the Winter Formal so badly? It's just a meaningless title. It doesn't mean you dance well or anything."

Duo shrugged. "It's sort of like a bet."

Milliard shrugged. "Whatever." He strode up to Duo and slipped an arm around his waist. "You will be the first boy that I've ever taken to the dance, you know. My reputation is already quite scandalous as it is, but yours might take a worse turn for it."

Duo firmly pushed his hand away. "I don't really care." He turned towards Quatre and Trowa. "I'll see you guys there."

Milliard looked at Quatre and Trowa. His gaze lingered over Quatre, up and down, checking him out as if he was a slab of meat for sale at the market. Trowa took a step in front of Quatre. "Good-bye," he said.

"Don't worry Mr. Barton," said Milliard. "I'll take good care of Duo here. Clearly, he knows how to have fun." Duo frowned, but he nodded at his friends and the two of them left.

Quatre said, "I hate him."

Trowa said, "I think I'm going to go call Heero."

Heero had been unable to speak to Duo all day. He returned to his room after class, when Duo appeared briefly, only to leave angrily. Heero sighed; his chances did not look good. When the appropriate time came, he reluctantly began to get ready for the dance. He had, however, trouble concentrating. The worst was when he brushed his teeth twice without realizing it.

The phone rang. It startled him out of his zombie-like trance.

It was Trowa. "Heero," he said. "I'm not sure if you knew or not, but we just found out ourselves."

Quatre was saying something in the background again. Trowa paused, and then said, "Apparently, Duo is still going to the dance with Milliard."

Heero's grip on the phone tightened until his knuckles were white. "What?"

"He just left with him, as a matter of fact." Trowa sounded serious. "Just an FYI." He paused, listening to Quatre for a moment again before speaking. "And Quatre says that if you want to patch things up with Duo, you should do it quick, before the dance if you can, because Milliard is a creep."

"Right." Heero thanked him, hung up the phone, grabbed his keys, and left the room in a huff.

"Let me make something clear," Duo said to Milliard after he smacked away his wandering hands for the third time. The two of them were walking to where the dance was held. "I am going to the dance with you, but that doesn't give you permission to grope me. So don't touch me." He stared up at him defiantly, not at all intimidated.

Milliard was amused. "If I can't touch you, will you touch yourself and let me watch?" He smiled. "You know, like in that sexy picture you were in."

"If you're bored," Duo said, "Go play with yourself and leave me out of it."

Milliard smiled. "If I played with myself," he leered, "I can't leave you out of it. I'd do it looking at that picture of you."

The thought of guys like Milliard masturbating to his picture almost made Duo ill. If all uber-rich boys were like this, Duo thought darkly, then it was no wonder that Dorothy had been so desperate to get Quatre. Milliard certainly lived up to his reputation. Damn spoiled rich kids.

The dance was held at the Victoria Academy Conference Room, which served as both the school auditorium and as a meeting room for the PTA. As the majority of the parents were extremely wealthy, the ballroom was a large and lavish work of art. It's ceiling was a circular hemisphere, with lavish drawings that attempted to mimic the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

The decorations for the dance were tasteful, elegant, and high-class. They made it clear that the school was rich. The crowning centerpiece of the table was a three-foot ice bust of the school's young principal, Treize Khrushneda.

It had been three years since Duo had last attended a school dance. He had forgotten how impressive all of it was. Chandeliers lit the ceilings, the floors and windows were sparkling clean, and the refreshment table could have been what a buffet table would like in a five-star restaurant.

Milliard and Duo immediately split up on their arrival. They were early; the music for the dance itself had not yet started, and the students were mostly just talking to one another. Milliard, as popular as ever, made his rounds and chatted with people, some that he knew, others that he did not.

Duo, meanwhile, headed immediately for the refreshment table. He was brought up to never waste free food, and he wanted a chance at the good stuff before it was all taken. On his way there, he saw Wufei, heading over as well. When he spotted Duo, however, he froze, turned around, and began to move away.

Duo easily pushed his way through the crowd until he caught up with him. "Hah! Can't get rid of me that easily!" Duo said in greeting.

Wufei looked uneasy. "Hello, Duo."

"So I'm here," said Duo, "Even though I had been banned before. Pretty cool eh?"

"Um. Yes."

"Hey," said Duo, suddenly realizing, "What are you doing here, anyway? I thought you didn't go to these kinds of things, especially not alone."

The music for the first dance started.

"Well," said Wufei uncomfortably, "I came with someone. I'm...sort of...seeing someone, so..."

"Seeing someone? Who are you seeing?"

Wufei didn't answer. Duo tried again.

"Is it someone I know?"

"There you are, Wufei," said Nurse Sally. She was wearing an elegant low-cut dress that made it clear that she was a woman. Duo stared at her in disbelief, and then back at Wufei.

"Sally?"

"Hello to you too, Duo," said Sally with a smile. "How is your wrist?"

"As long as I don't move it in any awkward position," Duo said, "It's fine. It only hurts like hell if it's bent strangely." He smiled at her and then looked at Wufei almost accusingly.

"Sally, will you excuse us for a moment?" Wufei asked.

"Certainly, Wufei." She left to mingle with the other staff.

Wufei pulled Duo towards a less-crowded corner of the room. He spoke in a low voice. "Look, Duo --" he began.

"The Nurse?" Duo asked in disbelief in a voice just as low. "You're seeing the SCHOOL NURSE?"

"There is nothing wrong with seeing a mature older woman!" Wufei said defensively. "She's not my teacher. There are no school policies against it."

"Are you sure? It just seems...kind of wrong."

"I wasn't sure," Wufei admitted. "So I talked to Principal Khrushneda and he said it was fine. He said he understood because he had also been attracted to students before. He said as long as it didn't carry on too far that it was fine."

Duo raised an eyebrow. "'Carry it too far?'"

Wufei reddened. "Duo, you know that I am an honorable person. I would never take advantage of a woman."

"But you'd let a woman take advantage of you?" Duo asked innocently. He had forgotten how much fun it was to tease Wufei. "How did this happen, Wufei?"

"What do you mean? Sally's not taking advantage of me!" Wufei said indignantly, in that usual proud way of his. But now that the secret was out, he seemed to be more comfortable in talking about it.

"Anyway, I think you're misunderstanding the situation. Right now she sees me as just another kid that has a crush on her. Once I earn my medical degree, though, I will propose to her. Until then, I am seeing her; she's not seeing me. I visit her office whenever I can. She doesn't mind. I asked her to the dance with me. I think she thought that it was amusing that I asked her, so she agreed." He scowled. "I overheard her talking to the other staff about it. She thinks it's cute the way I keep coming to her office." His voice grew more passionate. "She doesn't take me seriously now, but one day, she will see me as an adult," Wufei said.

Duo grinned and patted him on the shoulder. "Good luck man."

For the first time since they began talking, Wufei smiled. "So what's new with you?" He studied Duo, and then frowned. "You look terrible."

Duo ignored his question. "Hey, is that why you kicked me out? 'Cuz you were hoping to invite her over some time?"

Wufei reddened again. "Partially," he agreed. "Sometimes I invite her over for tea. That time you fell into the ditch, she was over for a special pack of green tea my mother sent me." He added quickly. "Of course, that's not the only reason. I needed my privacy. You tend to sort of invade people's space and lives, Duo. You interfere when you don't need to, even when you have good intentions. I was afraid of you finding out."

Duo frowned. "So you didn't trust me with your secrets?"

Wufei hesitated. "No, that wasn't it." He spoke very carefully and slowly, each word precise and clear. "I was not sure, you know, if..." He paused and looked at Duo. "I mean, I know you started seeing Dorothy, but sometimes I still got the feeling that..." He frowned. "You don't, do you?"

Duo stared at him blankly for a moment, and then comprehended. "You were worried that I still liked you?"

Wufei looked at him. "Do you?"

"No," Duo said, and he was as surprised about his answer as Wufei. "No," he repeated with conviction. "I don't. Not anymore. So don't worry, I'm not hurt or anything."

Wufei looked relieved. "That's the first time you've answered me directly. Usually you just dodge my question."

"Well, you know me," said Duo. "Try not to lie and all that."

"Just avoid questions that force you to tell things you don't want to," said Wufei. "Like just now. Something happen? You look...unsettled."

One consequence of a long friendship was that it became easy to read each other. Duo blinked at Wufei, and then smiled nervously. "What are you talking about, Wufei?"

His response only deepened Wufei's frown.

Wufei said, "I can tell when you're upset about something, Duo. What's bothering you?"

Duo shrugged uncomfortably. "It's just been a kind of a bad week. I got into this fight with my roommate and now I'm kinda pissed off at him."

Wufei frowned. "Quatre and Trowa told me that you were getting along with him."

"Did they? Well, I was. Until a few days ago." Duo brightened. "So I gotta say, I'm kinda relieved you finally told me about your big secret. I thought you hated me or something. You know, for having once liked you."

Wufei stared at him. "No, no, Duo. I could never hate you. It did cause me a lot of stress, though. I think it might have contributed to my ulcer. I was worried about you because I knew I couldn't return your feelings. But it was flattering that you liked me."

"Oh," said Duo. He felt a huge sense of relief, as if he was a lost person who had just found a map. He grinned. "Cool."

The music changed, signaling that another dance was about to begin. Duo realized that Wufei had missed his first two dances with Sally because he had been talking to him.

"Well I guess you better go dance with Sally," said Duo.

Wufei looked as if he suddenly realized something. "Wait, Duo. Are you still here to try to win the dance title? I mean, of course, I'll keep my word and all, but...you know..."

Duo grimaced. "This is complicated, Wufei." He grinned. "Just go enjoy your dance. No point in worrying about it unless I actually won, right?"

"Yeah, but --"

Duo waved at him and headed back to the refreshment table. He passed by Quatre and Trowa on the way, but wanting to leave them alone, he only grinned at them without stopping.

Well, Wufei's conversation brought a change in events. Even if Duo won, knowing what he did now, he did not think he would want to move back in with Wufei. Not after Wufei made it clear why he wanted to live by himself. So this meant that he was stuck with Heero, although at this point, he wasn't sure if Heero still wanted to live with him. Or if he even wanted to live with Heero. He thought of the decision that he had made in the nurse's office. And then he remembered the cold expression on Heero's face the last time they were arguing, and he felt his stomach twist.

Damn it all. At least he was getting a free dinner out of all of this. He poured himself a cup of juice.

Someone approached him and tapped him on the shoulder. Duo turned around to see the very person that he had been thinking of.

"Duo," Heero said, "We need to talk."

"What a coincidence," said Duo, "I was actually thinking the same thing." Duo sized him up. Heero was wearing the black suit, and he looked very handsome in it. "You look good."

Heero smiled slightly. "Thanks." He looked at Duo and then looked back down at the refreshments, as if he were having trouble looking at Duo directly. "I meant to talk to you earlier," he said finally, "But I didn't want to interrupt you and Wufei." He took a deep breath. "Duo --"

"Duo, it's time we began dancing," Milliard said, interrupting them. He smoothly slipped an arm around Duo. "If you'll excuse us, Heero."

Duo shot him an irritated look. Milliard tried to pull him towards the dance floor. Duo did not move.

"I'm talking to Heero right now."

Milliard scowled. "No you're not. As of right now, you're done talking to him. Why? Because the longer you linger here talking to him, the longer my innocent younger sister stands around looking like a fool. The two of you can talk afterwards." He gave Heero a dirty look, the first real expression that Duo had ever seen on his face. "Don't drag my sister into your problems. You asked her to come with you. Now give her the respect that she deserves."

Duo frowned. Milliard was right. Leaving Relena alone for too long would only embarrass her. Duo nodded at Heero. "I'll talk to you later."

Heero hesitated. Then he nodded in return and left to find Relena.

"Now Duo," said Milliard, "Let's dance." He tugged on Duo's arm.

Duo pulled away and returned his attention back to the food. "Pushy, aren't you. Well sorry, but I'm eating."

Milliard gave him a skeptical look, so Duo explained. "You're a good-looking guy, Milliard. There are girls here who came stag; all of them would be dying to dance with you." Duo pointed to the food. "But the good food at refreshment stands only last within the first half hour. Thus, I eat."

Millard stared at him in disbelief. "You're saying that food is more important to you right now than me?"

Duo shrugged. "No, I'm saying I have my priorities."

After a pause, Milliard laughed. "Fine." He pulled up a nearby chair, sat down, and watched Duo eat.

Now that was unexpectedly unnerving. Duo gave him a peculiar look and then handed him a chicken wing.

"Don't just sit there watching me. Eat."

Millard chuckled and took the chicken. "Thank you."

Duo studied him and went back to eating. "You know Milliard," he said in-between bites, "That bit about Relena demonstrates shockingly that you have a decent side. If you took other people as seriously as you took your sister, then you wouldn't have this reputation for being a perverted playboy."

Milliard looked at him. "But I AM a perverted playboy," he explained, as if he wasn't sure that Duo understood.

Duo snickered. "So I've heard. Even Heero doesn't like you, and he usually just takes a stance of neutral distance."

Milliard shrugged. "That's because when Heero came over once in the eighth grade, I tried to grope him. Couldn't resist myself; he was wearing these tight black shorts."

Duo stared at him. "And?"

Millard said unhappily, "He caught my arm before I could do anything and twisted it backwards. He threatened to kill me. I think he would have broken my arm too, if he didn't hear my sister coming."

"Huh." Duo returned to his food. "You deserved it." The thought of Milliard groping Heero was rather sickening. He took a long sip of the juice, as if he could wash the image from his mind by washing down his food.

"Probably. I'm not a good person, you know."

"I never said you were," Duo replied. From the corner of his eye, he saw that Milliard was no longer looking at something, but now staring past him. He followed his gaze and saw that Milliard was staring at the ice bust of Principal Khrushneda, with an expression of both admiration and hunger.

Ah. So that explained it. "So some of the rumors are true."

Milliard snapped back to reality. "Which ones?" Then he thought about it some more and said, "Yes, they probably all are."

"You and the principal?"

Milliard was offended. "I don't know what you heard," he said, "But it's probably not true. The situation is a lot more complicated than that."

That fact that he had been offended told Duo more than his words did. "You know," said Duo. He glanced in the crowd to see Wufei dancing with Sally. "Sometimes it's better to just let them go. Hurts less, anyway."

"You speak from experience?"

He thought of how hard he had tried to get Wufei's attention, only to be turned away. "Yes. Even if you have to physically remove yourself. Because then you stop seeing just one person. And then who knows? Maybe in the process you'll meet someone new." He thought of Heero, and it stung, just a little. "Although the second person might not work out either. Then you'll have to just keep on moving."

Milliard said, "So you mean...if you give it your best shot, and it's not working --"

"Then maybe it's time to let go." That was the case with Wufei, after all.

But something Milliard said made Duo stop and think. Had he given Heero his best shot? He didn't start liking Heero until that night in the Nurse's Office, and then he didn't realize how much he liked him until he found himself describing Heero to Relena. And even that he didn't admit to himself until he was asking Heero about Relena. Nowhere in there did he ever tell Heero.

But then he thought of the church again, and something inside twisted. The church, the water, the glass. It was the same thing.

But maybe...maybe he should try, just once more?

Duo and Milliard both gave forlorn sighs simultaneously. They heard each other and exchanged amused looks.

"Given my reputation, Duo," said Milliard, "Why did you agree to come to the dance with me? Clearly your friends were against it."

Duo shrugged. "I was afraid of you once, when I was alone and new. Then I made friends. And I found that I wasn't afraid of as many things as I thought." Being alone was scarier than anything else. Not just Wufei, but Quatre and Trowa had made him feel a little more like his existence mattered. He then thought of Heero and his first fight with Heero. "That came useful later for other things."

"But," said Milliard, "My reputation is well-deserved." He straightened up. "I heard that you injured your wrist." He glanced down at Duo's bandaged left wrist. "I was planning to use that to my advantage."

Duo gave him a look. Now that was sort of creepy. "Milliard," Duo said, "I have been living basically by myself since I was twelve, so even if my wrist is injured, I can still beat the crap out of you."

Milliard chuckled.

"Besides," said Duo. "You know that I'm only here because I wanted to be Winter Formal King, right?"

"Of course. You made that clear on the phone. And I did suggest it to Relena, after all."

That was news. Heero had said the same thing, but Duo had not been sure. "Did you?"

"Of course! My dear sister Relena would never think of such a lowly plan. I decided that if you were desperate enough to have flyers printed that you must want the position badly. Relena was against it until I told her that she could try seeing if you could get her and Heero set up."

"Well," said Duo, "There you go. That was the main reason. You don't scare me, and I had a goal. That's all there is to it." He sighed. "Although now," he added, "I don't want to be Winter Formal King anymore."

Milliard perked up. "Really? That's good because I lied to you. I can't help you win at all. My time as popularity king passed after I graduated. The only students I recognize here are the people like you, who were freshmen when I was a senior. I don't know anyone else. It's all in Relena's hands now, and since she's with Heero, he's going to be the winner."

Duo stared at him and then laughed. "You are such a bastard."

Milliard laughed as well. "That's what I've been trying to tell you." Milliard leaned back in his chair, now relaxed. "You really are sexy, you know. There's something...wild about you. Unstructured."

Duo shook his head. "Milliard, what you're mistakening here for wildness is the culture of someone born in a different social class. Just start dating poorer people. Although," he added as an afterthought, "When you mess with poor people, the damage is a lot worse. Actually, unless you're serious, leave them alone."

"Maybe that's it," said Milliard, smiling. "So does this mean that there's no chance of you dancing with me tonight?" He pointed to the food. "You haven't touched anything in the last ten minutes. And it won't be long before the dance starts hitting its final stages." He looked at Duo and gave him a friendly smile. "Would it be so bad to dance with me once? It'll be fun."

It did sound like fun, and now that he had finished eating, Duo really had nothing better to do. Why not? "All right," he said. "But I don't want to be banned from school dances again, so if you touch my ass I'm going to stomp on your foot so hard that you won't feel like you're wearing shoes." He added with somewhat satisfaction, "And then I'll take you on outside."

Milliard held his hands out in a gesture of surrender. "I understand."

"Good." Duo took another popcorn shrimp, wiped his hands, and stood up.

Heero hated Milliard Peacecraft even more than Wufei Chang. That was to say, a lot.

This had not always been the case. He usually did not really like or dislike people. But since Duo had become his roommate, he found that his opinions on people had finally moved into directions. He liked Trowa and Quatre. He disliked Wufei. And he hated Milliard.

Notwithstanding the incident years ago when Milliard had tried to touch him inappropriately, the current reasons for his intense hatred of Relena's brother were: one, the fact that he had spent half of the night talking to Duo by the refreshment stand and two, the fact that the two them were now dancing.

Duo followed Milliard's lead. He seemed to be having a little trouble in the beginning, but soon catching on without a problem. Although Duo was not as good of a dancer as Milliard, they were doing well. Duo smiled, as if he was actually having fun.

The image burned into Heero's mind. The jealousy that Heero felt was so strong that it surprised him.

Not once since Milliard and Duo talked did Milliard overstep his bounds. This relieved Heero, and yet, he almost wished that he did so that Duo would put him in his place. Heero knew that Duo could handle it; he did rather well in the fight against Heero. And of course, if there were any trouble, Heero would step in.

But Milliard was annoyingly, perfectly mannered. In fact, the two of them had laughed a few times, talking about whatever they had talked about. He should have known Duo's social skills would be able to turn the school's biggest pervert into a decent person; after all, it was those same skills that allowed him to befriend the school's most asocial student.

In the middle of Heero's introspective musings, Duo looked up and met his eyes. He nodded in acknowledgment, but frowned slightly and then looked away.

Heero tried desperately not to think about what Duo's actions meant. Duo had seemed friendly enough when he had approached him by the refreshment table. He appeared just as ready to reconcile as Heero. But then, what was that? Maybe Milliard said something?

Heero Yuy, as of that moment, officially silently declared war on Milliard Peacecraft.

The music stopped.

Vice-Principal Lady Une tonight was in Lady Angel mode. Her hair down and her glasses off, she took a microphone by the stage in the far back of the room, and began to speak.

Having never made it this far in the dance the last time he was here, Duo took the moment to listen. It seemed to go through a few stages. First she talked about the Winter Formal Dance itself: why the Winter Formal was a school-honored tradition, why it was held, and why the students should be grateful that it was being held, because although Lady Une enjoyed a dance as much as the next, she personally felt that the school could have used the budget for it for better activities, such as political rallies. The students should therefore be eternally grateful to Principal Treize Khrushneda, who was currently unable to attend the dance tonight but who continually talked about the beauty of dancing. He deserved a round of applause. The students followed her lead and clapped in his honor.

Then she talked about the tradition of choosing the King and Queen of the Winter Formal Dance, what the titles of King and the Queen of the Winter Formal Dance meant, and why Principal Khrushneda had thought that choosing such people would encourage all of the students to see the true beauty of dancing.

To Duo, the reasons that she listed for the kinds of people that should be chosen were rather ambiguous. Lady Une emphasized that it was not necessarily the best dancer, but someone more. Duo, however, understood none of that part of her speech. What kind of a person "exemplified the dignity of the beauty of the dance"? With those as the instructions to guide them, it was no wonder that the dance contest ended up being popularity-based every year.

"And now we will take votes on who this year's Winter Formal Dance King and Queen are," Lady Une said. "We will have a ten-minute intermission while the votes are cast, and then the winners will be announced fifteen minutes later. The Dance King and Queen will then lead us all with a closing dance. In this intermission, please help yourself to any of the refreshments."

A box with an opening was brought out and placed next to the refreshments table, along with a tray to collect writing utensils. Dr. J, Duo and his friends' former Robotics teacher, hobbled around and handed each of the students a piece of paper and a pen.

Milliard, as a guest of Duo, did not get a piece of paper. "But if I did," he told Duo generously, "I would vote for you."

"How kind," said Duo. He looked across the room at where Relena was. She was indeed surrounded by a group of lackeys who wrote down the name that she said. Then they went back to their friends and spread it.

"So are you going to write down your own name then?" Milliard asked.

Duo smiled. "Nah. Then I'd have to dance with your sister."

Milliard was insulted. "What's wrong with dancing with Relena? She's a very good dancer, you know. She's had formal dancing lessons since she was four."

Duo, who did not know how to properly dance until an impromptu lesson by Quatre in his freshman year, said, "Then she'll be too good of a dancer for me. She'll make me look bad."

Duo glanced at them again. Heero was standing stiffly next to Relena, as Relena chattered away with her friends. He might have left, if she were not holding his hand.

"She looks better dancing with him," Duo said. Heero and Relena looked good together, as they had all evening.

Taking his pencil, Duo wrote in the line for the name of the king, "Heero Yuy."

Milliard, now watching them as well, did not look happy. "Relena thinks Heero is interesting, but I would never approve if they started dating. He's too stiff. He has no personality. Like a cardboard cutout." He looked thoughtful. "I want Relena to be happy, but I hope that tonight she will realize how incompatible they are."

Duo gave him an annoyed look. "You mean your sister has no personality. She's nice and all, but she has no sense of humor. Heero at least has one, strange as it may seem. You just must've never seen it. Sometimes he'll laugh for long periods of time without stopping."

Milliard stared at him. "I have known Heero since he was eight," he said, "And I have never seen him laugh." He scowled. "And don't insult Relena."

Duo grinned. "You're so protective of her. It's almost touching. Okay, I take back what I said about your sister. If she's related to you, she must have a personality. I have just never had the honor of seeing it. There, happy?"

"Quite."

"I do think they look good together, though," said Duo. He looked at Milliard. "I heard your father even almost wanted an arrange marriage between the two of them."

Milliard winced. "Please. He just thought that it might be best to secure her to someone he knew, lest she run loose like me. But Relena has been the perfect daughter since starting high school, so he has nothing to worry about."

The news pleased Duo immensely. "Really? In that case, they don't look so good together after all." And then, just to spite Heero, he wrote in for the name of the queen, "Dorothy Catalonia."

"Dorothy?" Milliard asked. "Who's that? You mean Relena's friend, Dorothy?"

Duo nodded. He looked around the crowd until he spotted her. In her bright green dress, she stood out quite easily. "Her. Right there. She's my ex. Bit eccentric, but she's really very, very clever. She hides it well, though, and does whatever it takes to get what she wants."

"Your ex?" Milliard asked, surprised. He turned back and looked at her again. "Then she must have some good points. Hmm."

The boy that had been standing with Dorothy was the junior that was the one who originally planned to take Relena to the dance, Nichol. He was explaining something to Dorothy. She nodded in understanding. Then he kissed her hand and walked off.

"Guess he had somewhere to go," Duo said.

Milliard said, "His father is having an important dinner tonight and he's expected to make an appearance. That's one of the reasons that Relena used to break tonight's engagement, anyway, saying that she always stayed until the end of the dance and did not want to make him late."

Duo nudged Milliard. "Why don't you have the last dance with Dorothy and see how clever she really is? I'm planning to leave after the winner is announced."

Milliard looked at him. "Was she really your ex-girlfriend?"

Duo nodded. "We broke up because of money problems. As in, I don't have any. But you're rich, so you shouldn't have a problem."

Milliard looked thoughtful. "Maybe I will." He nodded at Duo. "If you'll excuse me." Then he left to talk to Dorothy.

Duo headed over to the refreshment table to cast his vote. Seeing the line that had now formed for the food, he mentally patted himself on the back for having the foresight to eat ahead of time.

He dropped off his vote and then met up with Quatre and Trowa.

"Yo," he greeted them.

"Duo," said Quatre, smiling. He glanced across the room where Milliard was now talking to Dorothy. "How is it going?"

"Okay," said Duo. "Milliard's not bad."

"That's what you said about Dorothy," said Quatre.

Duo shrugged. "And it's true. They're both okay. I'm trying to hook them both up right now -- now THAT should be interesting."

Quatre shuddered. "I dislike them both."

"So how's it going with you two lovebirds?" Duo asked.

Trowa did not react to the word "lovebird." Quatre, predictably, flushed.

"I received some dirty looks from several of the girls," said Trowa. "But they seem to hate me, not Quatre, so I'm assuming it's because Quatre chose me, and not because we're both men."

Duo said, "Well, given the rumors of the principal and Milliard, which may or may not have some element of truth, I think this school is already used to the idea. I mean; no one seemed particularly upset at Milliard and me. Then again, it could be because I'm with Milliard. Who knows? Luckily we go to school with rich brats who all have had lessons on proper etiquette."

"Duo," said Quatre pained, "I am technically a rich brat. And by your definition, Trowa is too."

"And have you had tutors about manners?"

Quatre hesitated. "Yes."

"There we go!"

"I haven't," Trowa said.

"Well, your family opts instead to raise you with a poker face so that instead of insulting people through the veils of etiquette, you can just confuse them by telling a joke with a straight face."

Trowa chuckled.

Duo grinned. "So who did you vote for?"

Quatre said, "You, of course. I told all the girls that I tutored that I was voting for you. I don't think my influence extends as far as Relena's does, though."

"It's okay," said Duo. "Thanks for your help, Quatre. But after talking about it with Wufei, I'm not certain I'd move back in even if I did win. He wants his space."

Trowa said, "So will you stay with Heero?"

Duo hesitated. "That's the tricky part. I'm not sure. I don't really want to live with Heero, but then Wufei doesn't want to live with me, so I guess we'll see."

"Why don't you want to live with Heero?" Quatre asked.

Duo paused. "It's kind of hard to explain right now. But we'll see how it goes."

"Duo," said Trowa. "No matter what you think, Heero does not mind living with you. You should talk to him about it."

Duo promised that he would.

"Speaking of Heero," said Quatre, "Look who's heading over right now." Quatre gave Heero a small wave. Heero was making his way through the crowd with Relena.

Duo suddenly felt inexplicably nervous. He looked down as Heero and Relena walked over to where they were standing. When they arrived, however, Duo forced himself to look up.

"Hi Heero," Duo said. He nodded at Heero's date for the evening. "Relena."

Heero greeted all of them, but his eyes never left Duo's. "Duo, we need to talk. Will you be back at the dorms tonight?"

Duo took a moment to think about his answer before speaking. "Yes," he said, hesitantly.

Heero said, "I will see you there, then." He looked at his date.

Relena said to Duo, "Well, are you ready?" She reached over and took his hand.

Duo gave her a blank look. "Ready for what?"

Relena tugged on his hand, and bewildered, he followed her as she led him through the crowd and to the dance floor. "For the last dance, of course," she said, when they finally stopped walking.

Duo was flabbergasted. "What are you --?"

"Your attention please," Lady Une said on the stage. "We have received and finished counting all of the votes." She looked at the piece of paper that she was holding one last time, as if she wanted to be certain that she was reading it correctly, and then she said, "Tonight, the student population of the Victoria Academy for Bright Minds has chosen --" her lip curled up slightly into an almost sneer, a glimpse of The Iron Lady, "Duo Maxwell as the King of the Winter Formal Dance and Relena Peacecraft as the Queen." There was a round of applause, and the she spoke again. "Would the two of you please step up here?"

Relena, who had gone through this award ceremony twice before, led the stunned Duo to the stage. Lady Une beckoned; one of her staff members gave Duo a cheap, glitzy paper crown, and another gave Relena a cheap, plastic tiara.

"Congratulations to both of you," Lady Une said.

Relena took the microphone. "Everyone, thank you for your kindness. I am filled with the deepest gratitude for all of you, my friends. I love you all. Thank you." She curtsied, and there was another round of applause. She then stepped aside and glanced at Duo.

Duo realized that he was supposed to make a speech like the one Relena did. He wanted to say, "I won a meaningless award by cheating. To those who helped me win, thank you." Instead he said, "It's an honor. Thanks." He was about to leave it at that, but then he saw Lady Une sneering at him, so he added just to spite her, "I had fun." He bowed. There were a few laughs, and then another round of applause.

Lady Une glared at Duo, but continued without any pauses. "Now the new King and Queen will lead us into the last dance. Please enjoy it."

"I'm not that great of a dancer," Duo warned Relena as they left the stage. "I haven't been dancing since I was four, like you."

Relena smiled. "I do not mind. At least you are paying attention to me." The implied, "unlike my last dance partner" hung unspoken in the air between them.

They began to dance.

"I have to admit that I am a little surprised though," Duo said. "I thought that Heero would win. I mean, he didn't ask you as part of my bargain with you, you know."

Relena said, "When he first asked me two days ago, he asked it as if it was part of the bargain, and asked me to break off the deal between Milliard and you. Then he talked to me yesterday after class and told me that he changed his mind; that it had nothing to do with you. But when we met up today, he asked if I could have you be the winner again." She smiled. "He kept changing his mind so much. I asked him three times before intermission if he was sure this time that he wanted you to win, and he said yes."

"That's a bit confusing," Duo said. His mind tried to chronologically sort out Heero's actions into dates. Heero asked her two days ago, which was either before or after he discovered that Duo was going with Milliard. He changed his mind before he and Duo fought. Then he changed his mind again after Duo left.

"It is," she agreed. "I have never seen Heero so indecisive about something. Usually he seems to certain. He makes up his mind first, and then takes action."

Duo said nothing to that. Relena watched him as they danced.

"Well anyway," she said. "Thank you for coming with Milliard. He seemed quite happy to go with you. I have to admit that I was a little worried at first, for my own personal reasons, but it seems that you two seem to be getting along well enough?"

"He's okay," Duo said. "He's really defensive about you, Relena. If he were to listen to anyone, I think that would be you."

The music ended and everyone clapped.

Relena gave Duo a formal curtsey. "Thank you for your opinion. And thank you for giving me a chance to dance with Heero."

Duo gave a dismissive wave to the last part of her sentence. "No need for your thanks, Relena. He did that completely on his own. I didn't ask him once to do anything about that. It has nothing to do with me." Duo gave a deep bow and then grinned. "But thank you for letting me dance with you. It was a meaningless title that I basically cheated to win. But you are a lovely dancer." And she was.

Relena gave him a peculiar look. "It has everything to do with you." She smiled and then walked off, leaving Duo alone to watch her with a slightly puzzled expression on her face. Was he misunderstanding her, or did she mean what he thought she did?

Duo followed her with his eyes. She walked up to Heero and placed an arm around his. Heero looked around until he saw Duo, and then he nodded. Then the two of them left.

"Well, we're heading off," Quatre said. Duo turned to see him and Trowa. They had come up from behind him and he had not even noticed.

Duo looked at his friends. "Heero confuses me," he confessed.

Trowa shrugged it off. "We're leaving. Want to walk with us?"

Duo thought about it. He was originally going to say yes, but then he noticed how the two of them were holding hands. "No, it's okay," he told them. "I think --"

"He'll be accompanying Dorothy and I back," Milliard interrupted smoothly. He had his arm around Dorothy, and was smiling pleasantly. "I have some things that I want to say to him." Dorothy smiled at Quatre and Trowa.

Quatre said to Duo hurriedly, "Then we'll see you tomorrow." And he and Trowa, scared off by the Milliard-Dorothy pairing, left.

"Come on Duo," said Dorothy. "Both of you are walking me back to my place. It's so dangerous for a girl to walk back this late by herself, you know."

Duo looked at them both.

Seeing no reason not to, he agreed. He waved at Wufei who walked by with Sally, and then he left with Dorothy and Milliard.

Heero and Relena arrived at Relena's townhouse.

"Heero," said Relena, "It was a pleasure dancing with you tonight. Thank you."

Heero shook his head. "No need." He hesitated. "I do not think, though, that we will have this opportunity again. I do not --"

Relena cut him off. "Please, Heero. Give me some credit for my intelligence level. I know clearly now that you are not interested in me. You did not really look at me once while we were dancing. Your eyes were always on him."

They heard laughter coming from the direction of the townhouse next to Relena's. It was Dorothy's laughter, as she stopped in front of her doorstep. Evidently, she was Relena's neighbor. "Good night!" she waved at Milliard and Duo. Milliard and Duo waved back, and then the two of them turned around and started to walk off together.

Relena pushed Heero gently in that direction. She smiled. "Good night, Heero." Then, because Heero was still not moving, she pushed him once more for good measure. "Go after him. It is what you wanted to do all night, is it not?"

Heero looked at her as if seeing her clearly for the first time that night. "Thank you, Relena. Good night."

She waved, and then he left after them.

They dropped Dorothy off first, and then Milliard insisted on walking Duo to the dorms.

"There's no need," Duo said.

"But I want to talk to you for just a bit longer," Milliard said. "Please?"

Duo finally agreed, and the two of them started heading back to his place.

"Dorothy is quite the interesting character," Milliard said. "I never realized that until now."

"She's quite crafty in getting what she wants, although at other times she can be a little shallow." Duo said. "She's probably more like you than you realize."

Milliard said, "Are you calling me shallow?"

Duo replied, "Milliard, you wanted me to go to the dance with you because of a picture of me that made me looked like I was jerking off. Are you saying you're not?"

Milliard chuckled.

The walk the rest of the way was silent. Duo started to wonder what exactly Milliard had wanted. Did he just want to talk about Dorothy?

They finally stopped at the gate entrance to the Victoria Academy Dormitory Building.

"Well," said Duo, "This is my stop. What's up?"

"Today I learned a lot," Milliard said. "I've been thinking all night on what you said about letting go." He paused. "I think you're right. I asked Dorothy out. I guess I'll see how it goes." He studied Duo for a moment, and then said, "It's too bad you're clearly not interested in me, or I would have asked you out instead. But thank you anyway. Tonight was interesting."

Milliard leaned in close. "If you --"

Someone yanked him backwards.

Milliard stumbled back, and when he was standing again, Heero punched him in the face. He fell down instantly.

Heero swung his arm back for another punch. Duo grabbed it and restrained him. "Quit it, Heero!"

Heero froze.

"He hasn't done anything wrong," said Duo. "Calm down." He stepped past Heero and helped Milliard stand back up. "You okay?"

"Nice punch," said Milliard, with as much dignity as he could. He brushed himself off. "I suppose I deserved that at one point or the other." He looked at Duo. "What I meant to say," he said, sounding slightly in pain, "Before we were so rudely interrupted, is that if you change your mind or get lonely, feel free to call me." He glanced at Heero.

Heero glared at him.

To spite him, Milliard tried to give Duo a quick kiss. But Duo ducked. "Don't make us both beat you up," Duo said cheerfully.

Milliard laughed. "Darn." He looked at Heero. "Good-bye, you bastard." He could almost feel the hatred emanating from Heero, and he gulped instinctively. "And good night, Duo."

"See ya."

Milliard hurried off.

When he was out of sight, Duo snickered. "Did you think that you had to protect my virtue or something, Heero? I'm touched." He punched in the key code to the gate, and it opened. They went back to their room.

Heero said nothing the entire way back. Duo, however, was remarkably in a good mood. The surprised look on Milliard's face seconds before Heero punched him had been priceless.

"I hate him," Heero said finally.

Duo took off Trowa's jacket suit. "So do Quatre and Trowa," he said as he hung the jacket on a coat hanger. "Doesn't mean you had to hit him, though. He literally did nothing wrong."

And the fact that Heero had been the one who hit him...

"But he was going to," Heero said sulkily.

...was kind of sweet, in its own twisted way.

Duo laughed. "So what did you want to talk about?" he asked, in as casual of a voice that he could master. Inside, he felt as nervous as a capsule of Mexican jumping beans, all jittery and ready to burst.

Heero stood in front of him and looked at him. "Duo," he began.

The way Heero said his name seemed to be some kind of signal. In response, his heart pounded so loudly that it would have drowned out the sound of Heero's voice, if Duo were not concentrating so hard on it.

"Yes?"

Heero took a deep breath. "You left the sink a mess."

Duo stared at him. It was so random and it brought such an incredible let down that Duo had no choice but to laugh. "What the hell, Heero? THAT'S what you wanted to talk to me about?"

Heero looked away. Was Duo just imagining it, or did his face turn a slight shade redder than usual? "No. No, that's not it. I mean..."

He looked back at Duo and said, "You always leave it a mess. But I prefer it that way."

And the heart started pounding again. Duo felt warm. "Okay then," he said lightly, "I'll be sure to leave it messy from now on."

Heero almost looked hopeful. "Does this mean you'll stay?"

When Duo did not answer, Heero took his hand. It also felt warm. "Duo," he said, "I made sure you won the contest, so you have a choice. But why do you want to move? I want you to stay."

All the nervousness and warmth that Duo had been feeling quickly vanished. It was the same question again, asked so many times. Something on his expression much have changed because Heero was now frowning and looking worried. "Duo, what is it?" He suddenly looked vulnerable. "Is it because of Wufei?" he asked. "I'm sorry about what I said before --"

Duo kissed him first.

The next thing he knew, they were both kissing each other hungrily. Duo leaned against the wall, and Heero had one hand caressing the side of his face while the other was still entwined in his own hand.

Heero broke it off first. "That's the second time you have avoided that question," he said. He pulled Duo into a hug, enveloping him into his warmth, and held him until both of their breaths returned to normal. "What is it?"

Duo groaned. "It's a long story, Heero, do you really want me to talk about it now?"

Heero looked at him with serious eyes. "Yes."

Duo sighed. "Fine." He disentangled himself from Heero's comfortable embrace, sat down, and leaned his back against the wall. Heero sat down next to him.

"Hey Heero, did you know that a lot of atheists are actually very superstitious? I'm one of those. I was raised in a church, but I stopped believing a long time ago."

Heero, who had never believed in any god, said nothing.

"So I notice instead patterns. That night in the Nurse's Office, I noticed it.

"I didn't mean to get you hurt. But I keep doing things like that. Do stupid things and put other people in danger. When Wufei tried to rescue me from drowning, he almost drowned himself. And..." His voice became lower, almost a whisper.

"Hey Heero, let me tell you a story. There was once this kid who did things impulsively, without thinking about them. He had no parents, but he didn't mind because a really nice nun and priest in this nice little orphanage took care of him. So one day he sees some big guys picking on some of the younger orphans and he got into a fight with them, see?

"Course, he didn't win. These were full-fledged adults, and he was just a kid of about twelve. But he stole one of the guys' wallets and spent the money on food for him and his friends. Well, those guys got mad and one of them set fire to the church that night. Some of the kids made it. The ones who took care of him, they didn't. All 'cuz he picked a fight with them, see?"

Heero frowned. "Duo --"

Duo was continued talking as if Heero had never said anything. "So those nice people died because I picked a fight, Wufei almost drowned 'cuz I couldn't swim, and now you. Look at you.

"I feel sometimes like I've been messing up your life ever since I met you. You used to be the perfect student. You went to bed early, got up early, and earned perfect scores on all your exams. Now you stay up late and score even lower on your exams. You speak less politely. You've gotten in trouble with the vice-principal twice and lied both times to cover me, taken over several staff cleaning jobs as punishment, gone to class late, and you even forced yourself to go out with a girl that you didn't even like who will now probably pursue you because of this encouragement. But the worst," Duo said unhappily, "Was still the night in the Nurse's Office. I still remember, very clearly, all of those broken shards of china on you." He sighed.

To Heero, this sounded remarkably like Duo when he had been apologizing that night. He frowned.

"It was awful," said Duo, "Because I knew it was my fault. Then I realized that the longer I stayed with you, the more I would continue to fuck up your life. Like -- like a plague, you know? You're like this pristine perfect person and then I come along with all my shit and muck it all up. And I did all that stuff out of my own selfish desires to reach my own goals. You would've never been involved in any of it, if it weren't for me. I dragged you into all of it.

"I just -- I just don't want to keep being such a bad influence on you, you know?" He sighed and stared at the floor. "I've never gotten anyone into nearly as much trouble as I've gotten you. Not even Wufei. I figure, you know, that this is a bad sign of a disturbing pattern. Like with the church and with Wufei almost drowning. So I want to stay, but at the same time, I don't want to keep changing your lifestyle."

Heero took his hand. "Duo, look at me." Duo looked up.

"First of all, no matter how you look at it, the person who set fire to the church were those other people, not you. No matter what you did, that does not excuse, justify, or explain their actions. They did it. Not you.

"Second of all, Wufei is alive and well and being an ass."

It was the closest to a bad word that Duo had ever heard Heero say. He chuckled lightly.

Heero pointed to his face. "Third, as you can see, I have not suffered any serious injuries. All of the cuts from that night have basically healed.

"Fourth, who said you dragged me? I never do or say anything unless I want to. I used to obey orders; I don't anymore and I never will again. I could have decided to bail out at any time, but I didn't. I chose to help you, and I had fun doing it, and I don't regret it."

Heero pulled Duo towards him until he was holding him again, the back of Duo's head leaning against his chest, his arm around Duo's waist.

"Not all changes are bad. You can't control how much other people are affected by you because even the smallest thing can have a big impact on another person. The one who changed me was you. But the biggest influence that you've had on my life isn't even an incident you remember. It just happened." He paused.

"Duo, do you remember how we first met?"

Duo said, "You keep bringing that up, but nothing comes to mind."

Heero took a deep breath. He held out his hand in front of Duo's face. "Never have I ever," he said, "Cheated on an exam." And then he lowered a finger.

"On the first exam that I cheated on," Heero said, "I was asked to kill a small animal and bring it back. I was six. I went outside and found a puppy. He was very cute. I gave him drugged milk and then tried to choke him. Even drugged, he whimpered, and then I stopped. I couldn't do it. In the end, I found some road kill and brought it back instead. I was punished for cheating."

Duo pulled himself out of Heero's arms to look at him in the face. "Heero," he said, "What are you trying to say?"

"When I was eight," Heero said, "I met you. You made me cry."

This seemed so completely random to Duo that his earlier question was pushed aside as less important. "What are you talking about?"

Heero met his gaze. He was perfectly serious. "Do you remember everyone that you met in the orphanage?"

"Most," said Duo. He studied Heero and frowned. "I don't remember you, though. I'd remember someone as distinct as you."

Heero raised a brow. "Distinct?"

"Well yeah. Good-looking, serious, quiet? If you were as a kid anything like you were when I first met you, then I'd remember an asocial kid like you. I get drawn to quiet people. It's how I met Trowa and Wufei. Though when I met you in ninth grade, of course, that didn't count because you scared me." He frowned. "So I made you cry? How long were you in the orphanage?" He furrowed his eyebrows. "I don't remember this at all."

"To be fair," said Heero, "I looked...different when I met you. In disguise, if you will. And I only talked to you for a little bit, so I am not surprised that you do not remember."

"Different?" Duo frowned again. "What do you mean? Did you get your nose reconstructed or something?"

Heero chuckled quietly. "No."

"Geez. I talked to you for a little bit and then I made you cry? That doesn't sound like me. I'm not that mean."

"Well," said Heero, "I made you cry first because I hit you."

Duo tried to remember a time when he had cried after being hit by a random person. Hmm. The memories that came back from that search were too many. There was that one time, and then another... But this was by someone his age. Okay, well there was that one blond boy who hit him for stealing his ice cream, but that wasn't Heero because he never made the boy cry afterwards. What else? Well, there was that strange girl, but that couldn't be Heero -- huh?

Duo stared at Heero. "You ARE a guy, right Heero?" He glanced at Heero's chest. It was, of course, flat. "Never mind, forget I asked."

Duo combed through his memories again, but he kept remembering that longhaired girl in the hat, who looked so sad.

She appeared out of nowhere one night, left on their steps, and Sister Helen didn't know what to do with her, so she let her stay, hoping that her parents would reclaim her in the morning. Some parents left their children there overnight as a punishment, so she would not be the first. The girl obeyed all of Sister Helen's gentle commands, except when it came to bathing; she clutched her hat and refused to go, and put up such a fuss about it that the Sister let her be, because she had other children to look after.

The next day, the girl watched them play while Father Maxwell went to make inquiries. Some of the other kids approached her, but she didn't say anything to them. Duo, one of the older ones left because no one wanted a child already that old, approached her. His luck was no better than anyone else's; she said nothing to him, so he sat down next to her and together, they watched the other kids play.

He sat there for a while, and then got bored and told her to come play with them. She refused, so he grabbed her arm to try to bring her over to the others. Sometimes the shy ones just needed to be pushed into it, after all.

She grabbed his arm instead, yanked him forward with surprising strength for a girl, and then punched him in the face. Duo fell down and started to cry. "That hurt," he told her. "Why are you so mean?" She didn't say anything, just watched him as he cried, as if fascinated. Duo wiped away his tears and glared at her. No girl would ever get the best of him. "It's not like I don't hit girls," he warned her. She just watched him and said nothing, and furious, he hit her, only it was a slap, because in the end, you don't punch girls.

She stared at him, wide-eyed, and Duo felt terrible. He started to cry again. "I'm sorry," he said. "Please don't tell Sister Helen." And afraid that she would start crying, he pulled her into a hug. "Don't cry," he told her, over and over again. "Don't cry." The funny thing was that the more he said that, the more she started to shake, until she was crying, crying quite loudly and Duo felt even worse so he started to cry again too and they just held each other, crying.

Finally, Duo wiped off his tears, and then he wiped her tears too. "I'm sorry," he said. "Please don't tell Sister Helen." She nodded, and he smiled, and tugged on her hand. "Let's go play," he said, and this time she followed and they started to play kickball with the other orphans, laughing and having fun. And then it was lunchtime, and all the other kids ran off when Sister Helen was calling for them, but the girl didn't move. "Come on," said Duo. He tugged on her arm, but she didn't move, so he grabbed her hat to get her to chase after it, and when it came off --

-- her long hair came off with it --

Duo gaped. "You were the girl in the hat?"

Heero said nothing, but nodded.

"The girl in the hat whose hat was really heavy and had that fake hair attached to it?" Duo stared at him in disbelief.

He remembered her clearly now. She was a small, serious little girl. After he had grabbed her hat, she snatched it back and ran off. She appeared later, around dinnertime, when all the other orphans were dressed their best because An Important Person was visiting, a smiling old man who walked around the church with a kind of sadness. She seemed to like following the Important Person around, and she followed him from room to room. The Important Person left with her the next morning, after talking to Sister Helen and Father Maxwell in low, serious voices. The Sister kept looking at the girl in disbelief, but in the end the two of them left and the church had gotten a generous donation from the Important Person and been able to buy new chairs. Duo never saw them again.

Until now.

Duo was stumped. "I don't get it," he said.

"The hat," said Heero carefully, "Was heavy because it had a small gun in it. It's not a gun available in the market because it's designed for a child to use. It only has one bullet, so the child who uses it has to be trained intensively before using it.
"I'm not sure if the person who raised me was my father or not. I thought he was then. He taught me many things: how to shoot a gun, how to use a knife, and how to use common household objects defensively. In short, he taught me how to kill. I trained to be an assassin and my first real assignment was on an important diplomat, Mr. Noventa.

"That day, Mr. Noventa was looking for a child to adopt because his only child, Sylvia, had died a year before from a childhood illness. The Noventas had trouble having children. Mrs. Noventa constantly went to fertility clinics and finally, their miracle baby and last hope, Sylvia, was born, only to die a year later. Mr. Noventa declared publicly that he would adopt a child, and it hit the papers.

"I was dropped off at the church in a disguise -- the girl's clothing --, the night before he was schedule to appear. My goal was to stay close to him after he appeared and to kill him when I had a chance.

"But then I met you. You were the first person my age that I had ever met; I was raised and trained by adults. When you cried after I hit you, I felt guilty; the first time I have ever felt remorse for hitting someone else. It was the first time I ever saw anyone else cry. And then when you hugged me and told me not to cry, I thought that meant that I needed to pretend to cry.

"So I pretended. But something happened, and then suddenly, I was crying. Eight years of being trained not to give in to my emotions, and suddenly, they all came out. Another first. And afterwards, when we went to play, I felt incredibly happy. Like something was released.

"That night, I went to kill Mr. Noventa. When we were alone, I took off my hat, pulled out the gun, and aimed for his forehead. I gave the speech that I was forced to memorize before, but he did not care about it. Instead, he looked at me and said, 'Young boy, do not do this or you will regret it.' And he said it in a way that did not sound like a threat, but a fact: if I killed him, I would regret it. And then I remembered how I had regretted hitting you and how, when you hit me, it had hurt.

"In the end, I couldn't kill him. I lowered the gun and he hugged me, telling me over and over again that I still had a chance. He took me home and searched for my caretakers, but found nothing. In the end, the Noventas adopted me instead. My adopted father always says that it was destiny.

"But the truth is...if I hadn't met you, none of this would have happened. I would have succeeded and then I would have moved on to kill someone else."

There was a long moment of silence as Duo tried to absorb it all. "You were trained as a little kid to be an assassin?" he asked, disbelievingly, mind still trying to wrap around the concept. "Are you serious?"

Heero looked at him, serious as always. "Are you afraid?"

Duo was confused. "Afraid?"

"Of me."

Duo suddenly remembered the first time they fought, when Heero had moved so quickly and then started choking him.

But then he had stopped.

Heero was watching him, searching for his reaction. Heero had just been reassuring him; it was now Duo's turn.

Duo squeezed his hand.

"No," said Duo. He looked at Heero. "Given how many times I've almost died? No." He grinned slightly. "I have to say, though, that it's both kinda horrible and kinda cool." He added in a perfectly serious voice, "And that I can now officially call you Ninja Man Heero." He was now inspired. "Or Ninja Man, the Heero. Or Our Heero, the Ninja Man. Get it? Okay, it was a lame pun. I like Ninja Man Heero the best. What a cool action name." Duo chuckled, but then stopped. "Unless you don't like me bringing it up that way."

"If you're the one saying it," Heero said, "Then I don't mind." He poked Duo in the side. Duo squirmed and then laughed.

Duo said, "So you're saying that you've been into me ever since we were eight?"

Heero was amused. "Hardly. When I met you again in our freshman year, I wasn't even sure if it was you or not. I wasn't certain until we scrubbed the pools, and you told me about the church. But you caught my attention. When I said I knew who you were, I meant it. I never said anything to you because there was nothing to say. But you were always interesting to watch in class."

Heero smiled. "My point is, Duo, that everyone changes those around them without realizing it. The one who changed my whole life was you. And if I were to be changed any more by anyone, I would want it to be by you."

Duo suddenly felt so warm and embarrassed that he felt unbalanced. Nervous, he grinned. "This is either really sweet or really creepy, in a stalker-kind of way. Are you saying that you like me, Heero?"

Heero said, perfectly serious, "Much more than that, Duo."

Crap. He was losing ground again. Oh well, might as well enjoy it.

Duo leaned against Heero and kissed him on the cheek. "Hey Heero, I'm glad we're having this talk," he said quietly. "'Cuz before the dance, I was talking to Wufei, and he REALLY doesn't want me to move back."

Duo gave a soft chuckle. "You sure about this? Because now I like you so much that I'm never going to leave. So even if you throw me out, I'll find a way to break back in." He added as an afterthought, as Heero ran his fingers through his hair, "And I never lie."

"If it ever came to that," said Heero, "I'll leave the window unlocked for you."

At exactly 7:30am in the morning, Wufei Chang woke up to the sound of someone pounding on his door and screaming his name.

"Hey Wufei! WUFEI!"

Oh no. Did this mean that Duo was really moving back in, even though he called last night to say that he wasn't?

Groaning, Wufei buried his head back into his pillow and wished that the obnoxious cacophony would go away. It was a Saturday. He wanted to sleep in. Instead, the noise grew worse. The knocks grew louder and the number of voices only increased.

"Wufei, open up!" Duo shouted.

"Wufei, please come out so that we can get this done and over with and go back to sleep," said Quatre.

"Wufei." It was Trowa's voice. "If you don't come out, then I lose the bet and then I will be forced to go to the Nurse's Office and confess my undying love for Nurse Sally."

Wufei bolted from his bed barefoot and opened the door.

"Trowa! What do you --"

Trowa and Quatre both gave him amused, tired looks, and then Wufei realized that he had been had. He scowled. "What is all this noise for so early in the morning?"

Both Trowa and Quatre pointed behind them. Scowling, Wufei stepped past them and glared at Duo, who was running around in front of his townhouse, chasing something. When he spotted Wufei, he stopped.

"Morning, Wufei!"

"It's too early for this, Duo!"

"You sound like an old man!" Duo said, laughing. "I didn't sleep at all last night and I STILL have more energy than you. You need to loosen up for a bit. If you don't have your youthful vigor going for you, then what the hell is Sally ever going to see in you?"

Wufei glared at him. "Duo --"

"Shut up and go grab Nataku, Wufei. We're gonna go race our Gundams." The thing that had been flying over Duo landed in front of Wufei.

It was Deathscythe. He apparently now had functional wings.

Wufei blinked. He looked back at Duo, who was holding the controller in one hand and flashing him a "victory" sign with the other.

"Wufei, look! Heero gave me wings!"

It sounded like either a very bad romantic cliché or an advertisement for an energy drink. Duo probably said it on purpose just to annoy him.

"Heero gave me wings!"

Wufei groaned. Yes, to annoy him, and it was working. Deathscythe took off, and Duo chased after it.

Wufei walked over to stand next to Heero, who was leaning casually against the outside wall of his house. For a moment, they both watched Duo's form as he ran into the distance.

"Didn't sleep all night?" Wufei asked.

Heero was calm and unruffled. "We stayed up all night playing with Gundams."

"Huh." Wufei glanced over at Heero. "Thanks for letting him stay at your place. It saved me a lot of trouble."

Heero said, "Don't thank me. I didn't do it for you."

The words held a slight note of irritation in them. But in the early morning sunlight, when Wufei glanced over again at Heero, he saw the other boy's lips curl up into a smile.

Author's end notes:

Aside from a short crossover story that I've written before, this is my first Gundam Wing fic. It's a fandom with so many good authors that I'd rather consume than produce. I wanted something Gordon Kormanesque, only with romance. Now I know why the guy never gets the girl in GK's older comedy novels; it's because the sap makes it less funny. Oh well. (And if you have never read a GK novel before, read the stomach-splitting A Semester in the Life of a Garbage Can.)

-"Da da da" is a song that is currently playing on the China mtv channel. It's catchy and poppy and with the chorus sounding like it did in the fic, it hurts.

-The Slam Dunk manga is AWESOME. Read it. I would've entered the wildcard category with a SD fic, if I had finished this one earlier.

-I remember back when GW hit the airwave channels that some hard-core Gundam fans said that it was a sell-out with all the bishies. Hence, Duo's comment.

-Something to do: it wasn't intentional, but if you go back to the scene where Duo and Heero look at Gundams, go and replace the word "Gundam"/"robot"/"mecha" with "penis." This amuses me immensely. Too much, evidently. I am so lame.

-The only Shinigamis I brang into this fic are the ones implied with the appearance of certain characters from a manga about two people trying to kill each other with a notebook and super-detective work.

Halfway through this story, I rewatched the original GW tv show. For the record: it makes a lot more sense when you do not fastforward all the scenes with mecha like I did the first time around.