I do not own any rights to Gundam Wing or its characters. This work is not for profit.
Part of my Fix-It Verse!

Duo was super proud of his first 'big' purchase after settling into his new apartment and new job. He had finally managed to get his Computer Engineering and Software Development degrees and had landed himself a lucrative job doing Landscaping via computer imaging. Since he had worked his way through college doing actual landscaping and enjoyed it almost as much as he'd enjoyed piloting Deathscythe as a teen he'd decided to stick with it.

He helped move the large box into his living area, Heero - still shaking his head at what Duo had bought with his first 'I can buy something not essential to existing' check - on its other side. The entertainment center was equipped with surround sound speakers that he knew he would need help hanging up. Triton had recommended it to him after having set up the system for Quatre several months before. Duo figured it wouldn't be so hard to set up in his apartment and was hoping he could get Triton to help him with it. But that was for later.

"Hey, you want a drink?" Duo asked of the man that had helped him move in and arrange the vast majority of his new apartment into livable space over the last two days.

Heero shook his head, "Sorry, but if I don't get going I won't have time to shower and change before my anniversary dinner. Relena may shoot 'me' if I'm late."

Duo chuckled at the imagery, "Sorry, I'd forgotten that was today. Five years and neither of you have been shot by the other yet. I'm beginning to think saying that is just your way of saying you love each other."

Heero just grinned at him as he headed for the door but paused when he reached it. "Don't forget you're invited to dinner this Friday."

Duo nodded his head, "No worries, I'll be there. Go have dinner with your wife. I've got a cold beer calling my name."

With another exasperated shake of his head at his best friend's expense Heero was gone. Duo headed to his kitchenette and grabbed a beer from the fridge. He pulled the tab and took a long swallow before setting the can on a counter top and heading back to the massive box sitting behind his sofa. He plucked the ever present knife from his boot and opened said box before proceeding to pull everything out of it. He looked over the instructions, pouting as he realized that the setup was rather simple. He shrugged his shoulders, he'd call Triton anyway - after all he was gonna need help hanging up the speakers.

Glancing up at the clock above his television set he frowned again, Triton wouldn't get off of work for another hour. He gave a mental shrug, well it wasn't like the man could come and help him out that day - or even the next - anyway. Them not living in the same city and all. Like Heero and Relena, Triton lived in Sanq, the same place Duo had lived before quitting the Preventers and going to college. He was lucky that Relena had insisted on herself and Heero helping him to find a new place in the town he'd always wanted to live in. Duo shook his head as he remembered Relena's excited voice at every apartment they'd looked at in the last week. He glared at the clock on his wall for a moment, he couldn't wait to hear Triton's voice and hopefully set up a time for him to come to Astoria and see his new place as well as help him set up his new speakers. It was a little embarrassing how much of a crush he had on his friend, but he didn't want to ruin their friendship by saying anything about it, Triton had enough on his plate with the Circus and being a part-time Preventer Agent.

Thinking of having Triton over reminded him that he still had to finish setting up the guest bedroom. He was hoping that Triton would be using it a lot in the future. Twenty minutes later he had the bed frame together and pushed into place when he realized he had left his beer in the kitchen and he still had his boots on. With a sigh and a self-deprecating shake of his head he went to fetch it, draining the much warmer contents in a few swallows. He rinsed the can and tossed it in with the other cans to be recycled later and grabbed himself a glass of water. Then headed for the front door and took his boots off.

That finished he headed back to the guest room and moved the dresser, desk, and desk chair into place as well. Then he proceeded to bring in the boxspring and mattress for the bed and throw them on the frame. He pulled out a protective bed cover that Hilde had given him as a graduation gift - knowing he planned on getting his own place after college - and fit it over the mattress. There wasn't much reason to make up the bed when no one would be using it any time soon. He had bedding for it obviously, but until someone was due to sleep in it? Yeah, no point in it getting all dusty.

He headed back to the living room and moved everything out of the way - sofa, television, clock, coffee table, game systems, cable box - and began assembling his new entertainment center. A few hours later he sat back on his sofa and surveyed the scene in front of him: it was much better than simply having everything on the floor that was for sure!

Looking at the clock again had him scrambling up and searching frantically for his phone. Once found he made a quick call to the local pizzeria for his dinner and then he called Triton, hoping he wasn't catching him in traffic or while he was busy doing something important, like sleeping.

"Hey Duo! How's your new place?" Triton's voice answered on the second ring.

Duo chuckled, "It's great. Relena helped me pick it out and Heero's been helping me move in and arrange everything."

"Heh, they going to that restaurant 'Lena's been goin' on about for ages now?"

"I think so. Today is their anniversary after all. I doubt they'd be going anywhere else. I honestly think Relena insisted on helping me look for a place just so they'd be here for it so that she could go to that damn restaurant." Duo laughed.

"Most likely." Was the amused reply and Duo could almost picture Triton shaking his head slightly.

"I bought that entertainment center you suggested."

"Oh? How do you like it?"

"It looks good, certainly better than having everything laid out on the floor." Duo grinned as Triton chuckled in his ear. He would never get tired of that sound. "I was actually wondering when the next time you had time off was. And if you aren't already planning on spending it doing something with Cathy. I'd like for you to see the place, and maybe help me hang up these speakers? It's the only part I can't really do by myself, and Heero and Relena will be sightseeing for the rest of their time here until Friday afternoon when I'm required to have dinner with them."

Triton's voice was warm as he answered, "I'd love to come out there and see it. And helping you hang up the speakers would be no problem at all. I've got some time off lined up in a couple of weeks, you think you can handle those precious speakers not being in their proper places that long?"

I could wait forever so long as it meant you were going to be here. Duo thought before answering brightly, "Of course! I'll be waitin' for ya!" Forever...

There was clearly a smile on Triton's face as he said, "Alright, I'll see you then. For now I've got to get dinner and some sleep. I'll talk to you tomorrow?"

"Call me any time Tri, I'll always answer." Duo's voice was sincere.

"Goodnight Duo." Triton's voice was so soft Duo almost missed him speaking.

"Goodnight Triton." Duo hung up the phone just in time to answer the door for his pizza.

A couple of weeks later Duo was trying his best not to chew out a customer. The man was being ridiculous about the layout Duo had planned for his backyard. It was the only way Duo had been able to fit everything into it that the man wanted and still have it be functional, but the guy wasn't having any of it. Which wouldn't be so bad if he wasn't making Duo late to pick up Triton from the airport.

One of the other employees saw the mounting rage on Duo's face - and knowing that the man was a former Gundam Pilot and therefore completely capable of killing said customer - he came over and intervened. Duo could have kissed him! Except by this point Duo knew that this particular man was happily married and had three of the cutest kids in existence.

"I'm sorry Mr. Carter, but Mr. Maxwell is supposed to be off the clock already. If you must talk to him about the problems your yard is having you'll have to come back tomorrow. Or you could write everything down here on one of our memo pads and we'll try our best to get you exactly what you want." Yep, Brian was a Saint! "Duo, you go on and clock out. Your friend's waitin' for you ain't he?"

Duo made a point of checking his watch, "Yeah, he's probably been at the airport for about half an hour already." Jesus-fuck! It would take him another twenty minutes or so to get out there depending on traffic! Why'd this guy gotta be so picky?! "Please excuse me."

With that Duo made his way to the back and clocked out before running back through the store and out to his '67 Shelby Convertible before tearing out of the parking lot. He made good time to the airport and parked in the 'pick-up' lane before dialing Triton's number.

"Hello."

Duo winced at the cold dead tone, "Sorry I'm so late man and that I didn't think to call before driving like a bat-outta-hell to get here. Where're you at?"

The line went dead and Duo's face paled as he began to panic that this little hitch had cost him his friend's good graces. He flinched when soft chuckling met his ears and his head snapped to the passenger side of the car where his scared violet eyes crashed into Triton's twinkling green ones.

"Hey, this beauty unlocked?" Triton asked a smirk appearing on his face.

Duo's head thumped back into the headrest and he closed his eyes and simply tried to breathe, "Yeah."

The door opened and he could hear Triton tossing his duffel bag into the back before settling in his seat and closing the door again. "Sorry, I didn't mean to freak you out, but I figured since I was standing right there it'd be better to talk in person instead of over the phone."

Duo just shook his head slowly, "Man, I thought you were pissed at me or somethin'."

Triton snorted, "Why would I be mad just because you're a bit late? I knew you were at work after all. Things come up."

Duo peeked an eye open just in time to see Triton shrug his shoulders. He shook himself out of his stupor and pulled out of the pick-up lane. "So, you hungry?"

"Starving." Duo felt a shiver run down his spine at the tone and kept his eyes on the traffic around him so he wouldn't be tempted to do something stupid... like lean over and kiss the man beside him.

"What sounds good to eat? There are plenty of seafood restaurants, pizza joints, steak houses?" Duo offered up a few ideas.

He vaguely thought he heard the word 'you' before Triton cleared his throat and said that steak sounded good. They spoke of menial things throughout dinner and on the drive to Duo's apartment. Once they arrived, Duo parking his car in the apartment complex's parking garage, he grabbed out Triton's duffle before the other man could and grinned at him.

"Follow me!" Triton nodded his head and Duo lead the way to the elevator and they headed for the 5th floor. "Here we are." Duo announced as they came upon the third door to the left after exiting the elevator. He unlocked the door and gestured Triton inside before following him in. He slipped his shoes off, seeing that Triton was already doing the same. He had picked the habit up from the chestnut haired clown after all. "The bedrooms are back this way."

He lead Triton across his living area and down a short hallway with four doors branching off of it and turned into the first door on the right. "This is the guest room." He placed Triton's duffel bag on the bed a little forlornly as he would much rather have the tall acrobat share his own bed, but that wasn't likely to ever happen.

"This place is really nice Duo." Triton's words had him turning to look at him and seeing the happy/excited expression on his friend's face.

Duo smiled at him, "I'm glad you think so. I certainly like it." He waved for his friend to follow and headed back into the hallway and pointed to the next door down on the right, "That's a linen closet. If you need more blankets or towels they'll be in there. The bathroom is the door across from it, and this one," He rapped his knuckles on his open doorway, "Is my room. Then of course," He gestured back out of the hallway, "There's the living area and kitchen. It's not super big or anything, but..."

"It suits you. It's big enough that you feel like you aren't being strangled to death and small enough that you can feel safe." The fact that Triton understood him so well had butterflies swarming his stomach. "I see those speakers are still woefully misplaced."

Duo chuckled, "Yeah, little bit. But we can worry about that tomorrow, I'm sure you're tired. That's one long ass flight."

Triton nodded his head, "Yeah it is, but I don't really want to sleep yet, if that's okay with you."

"That's fine, wanna watch a movie or something?"

"Sure." Triton headed back into the guest room while Duo turned on his television and a gaming system before opening one of the cupboards on the entertainment center to reveal his rather large collection of movies. Triton came back in a pair of blue plaid flannel pants and a white threadbare t-shirt and sprawled himself across Duo's sofa.

Seeing the sight almost had Duo drooling but he gamely kept his saliva to himself as he asked, "What would you like to watch?"

Triton picked an old action movie and Duo set it up before heading to his room to get into his own pajamas, basically a mirror of what Triton was wearing, only purple. He settled on the sofa, lifting Triton's legs up and resting them back over his own as he sat down. Halfway through the movie Triton fell asleep and Duo simply watched him for the remainder of it. Once it was over he gently shook his adorable friend awake and told him to go to bed. Then he put everything away, locked up and headed to bed himself.

He woke the next morning to the smell of warm chocolate and bacon, he didn't bother trying to tame his rioting hair at all as he followed the smell to his kitchen, the thick sable strands fluttering around his hips as he moved into the room. He didn't mind at all that Triton had helped himself to his kitchen, "How long you been up?"

Triton turned from the stove and stared momentarily before speaking his voice slightly rough, "Not all that long. I'm making chocolate chip pancakes and bacon. There's also hot water going for either tea or cocoa."

"Man after my own heart." Duo slumped into a chair at his small dining table and watched Triton cook, noting the smirk and small shake of the head that accompanied his ebullition. Duo wasn't much of a morning person and usually had to fight with himself to get up for work and previously for classes. With his head resting on the table and his eyes glued to a certain backside he almost didn't hear his alarm going off. Unfortunately the sound penetrated his lethargy and he rose slowly from his chair to go turn it off and get dressed. He was pretty sure breakfast would be ready by the time he was done.

When he came back out, dressed for work, his hair braided, and slightly more awake, he found Triton sitting at his table with a tea cup to his lips like he was trying to hide the smile Duo could see there. "I take it you have to go to work today?"

Duo's hand went to the back of his head in a nervous gesture, "Yeah, sorry. Though you could come if you wanted. Maybe not stay at the office, but you could look around the area if you wanted. I've only got one project to work on, the one that made me late getting you yesterday."

Triton smiled at him as he sat down, "Well then, eat your breakfast and let's go trounce some picky person's ideals on landscaping."

Duo grinned, "I love you man."

"I know." Was the soft reply.

They ate quietly after that and Duo waited as Triton changed out of his pajamas and into 'honeybuns kicking' clothes. Then they headed for Remade. Duo groaned loudly as he saw that Mr. Carter was already there. Triton chuckled and patted his knee before they exited the car.

Duo walked up to the front door of the shop watching as Mr. Carter saw him through the floor to ceiling windows of the front room and stood to meet him. He opened the door and waited for Triton to enter before following suit. "Tri, you can wait out here or come back with us, if it's alright with the client. Or you can go wander around for a while. I'll call you when I'm finished?"

"I'll stick around, I'd like to see what you do if that's okay?"

Duo nodded his head and turned to Mr. Carter. "Mr. Carter, good morning. Shall we see if we can't finally agree on a good plan for your yard?"

The man nodded his head enthusiastically and even agreed that it was alright if Triton went with them, Duo explaining that he was an old friend in town for a visit. It took them three hours and Triton finally getting fed up with the man and telling him that all the things he wanted done with his yard weren't even possible because it wasn't big enough before the man agreed with anything. The fact that Duo had made a plan with ALL of it in it and the yard still being usable finally seemed good enough after the reaming Triton gave him and so they scheduled a day for some of the landscapers to go out and transform the man's yard.

"Alright," Duo sighed as Mr. Carter finally left the building, "What would you like to do now?" Duo looked over and found Triton staring at him intently, the heat he saw there nearly enough to make him melt. Trying to sound kidding but sounding more nervous than anything else he asked, "There something on my face?"

Triton seemed to come out of some kind of daze as he realized Duo had caught him staring at him. A light blush painted his cheeks as he shook his head, "Sorry, was thinking about something. What did you say?"

"And people call 'me' scatterbrained." Duo chuckled and stood from his chair and stretched, "I asked you what you'd like to do now?"

Triton mumbled something before shrugging his shoulders, "I don't really know what there is to do here. We could always go hang up your speakers."

Duo grinned, "Nah, let's head over to that performance park I was telling you about. Then we can get something for lunch and head back to hang those speakers afterwards. How's that sound?"

Triton smiled at him, "Sounds good."

They headed back out to the convertible and mosied their way over to the performance park where they found a couple of local bands having some kind of 'battle of the bands'/ 'dance-off' competition for applause. With identical smirks the two men took to the stage where random people were having their little dance-off and proceeded to blow everyone away. With Triton's acrobatic background and Duo having had to learn to shimmy and shake his way out of trouble back on L2 there was no way they'd lose. Especially when one of the bands decided to play "Hippy Hippy Shake", it was one of Duo's favorite oldies.

A couple of hours later, tired, slightly sore, and a lot sweaty both men stumbled their way into a small cafe for lunch. Ordering sandwiches and iced teas before finally falling into chairs at a window table. They caught each other's gaze and grinned before full on laughter took them over.

"Geez, when was the last time we did something like that?" Duo asked.

"I honestly can't remember. Probably sometime close to the Eve War though. It's been a long damn time since we could just have fun." Triton placed his elbows on the table and laced his fingers together before resting his chin on them, it was a pretty endearing pose in Duo's point of view.

"You've got a point there." Their food arrived and they ate in companionable silence only interrupted by random people coming in, after seeing them in the window, and telling them how awesome they had been at the park.

Finally finished with their food they headed back to Duo's apartment and took turns in the shower before finally getting those surround sound speakers set up. After that they watched a movie, commenting on the noticeable difference in sound from the night before.

Duo spent a few days showing Triton around Astoria before the man had to head back to Sanq and being a Preventer.

Several months later Duo was desperate to see the man again. He'd tried to get time off so that he could visit Sanq, but he honestly hadn't been working there long enough to have the amount of time it would take to have a decent visit. And then Triton had been sent on some assignment where they weren't able to talk at all. He'd been gone for three months already and honestly Duo was a bit worried, but WuFei kept him updated that Triton was fine and he knew the Chinese man wouldn't lie to him about it.

In a fit of temper - and also kind of on purpose so that his carpentry inclined friend would have a more valid reason to visit than "I want to see you." Duo smashed in the side of his entertainment center. It was really the entertainment center's fault too, it kept teasing him with images of him pushing Triton up against it and ravishing him... or vice versa, either way was torture to his already stressed mind. Especially when he knew that neither scenario was ever going to happen.

Worried for his friend and disappointed that he had just damaged something so useful and pretty Duo dropped to his sofa and covered his face with his hands. "What the fuck am I doing? It's just a crush. Why am I freaking out so badly?"

With a long-suffering sigh he fished his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed Triton's number. He listened as it went through Triton's introduction to his voicemail and then left a message, "Hey Tri it's me. I was wondering if, when you've got the time and inclination, if you could come over. I seem to have busted my entertainment center pretty good and I'm really not sure how to go about fixin' it. Let me know alright?"

Six days later he was roused from his nap on the sofa by knocking at his door. Confused as no one he knew even lived in the area besides his co-workers and clients, he rose slowly to his feet and went to answer it. He'd been in a rather morose state for the last few days as WuFei hadn't been able to confirm or deny that Triton was okay, his boss had forced him to take the rest of the week off because he simply couldn't focus. Reaching the door he straightened up and plastered a smile across his face before opening the door, not bothering to check who was outside it first.

"You look like shit."

Duo blinked, "Triton?"

"Pretty sure I'm the only person who looks like me that knows where you live?" It seemed to be more of a question than a statement, like Triton was hoping that was true but would try really hard not to be jealous if it weren't.

Duo didn't want to think about what that could mean right now, his brain really needed to stop supplying him with ideas like that. "... Did you get my message?"

"Yes, that's actually why I'm here. I just flew in from L3, told Une she could read my report, that I wasn't in a fit enough state for one of her damn 'debriefings' aka 'interrogation sessions' and that I was coming the States first instead of Sanq. I'd meant to call you first, but kept falling asleep every chance I got and ending up not having time where I had service. Should I leave?"

"Christ, no! Come on in." Duo finally took in the disheveled state of his friend and gestured him through the doorway. "Make yourself at home man." He watched as Triton sat down to remove his combat boots and then head for the sofa.

"Shit. You weren't kidding. How'd this even happen?" Triton was staring at the rather worse for wear entertainment center. And while Duo knew EXACTLY what, how, and why it had ended up like that, he sure as hell wasn't going to tell Triton.

"I'm not really sure, but my hands were pretty banged up for a while." They were in fact still a bit bruised from it. Triton turned and gave him a look that had Duo's chin hitting his chest, "I guess I was drunk..."

"You got drunk and picked a fight with your entertainment center." Triton's voice was highly unamused. "I thought you stopped drinking like that."

"I had." Duo defended himself, after the last time where he'd nearly drown himself in the ocean he'd sworn off getting drunk at all. He would drink, but generally only one of whatever it was he was having that night.

Triton frowned at him before understanding lit his green eyes, "You were worried about me."

"Well, yeah. But I always worry about you guys when you go on no-contact missions."

"Yeah, but this was different." Triton's voice compelled Duo to answer him honestly.

"Yes, though I still haven't figured out why." Duo's grumbled reply had Triton chuckling.

"Well maybe it was because I nearly got myself killed this time."

Duo's head snapped up, "What?"

Triton carefully removed his jean jacket and showed Duo the bandages on his left forearm and across most of his chest. "I ended up up against someone who had more ammo than me. When I ran out, I rushed him. Was able to take his snide ass in, but... I've been in the hospital for the last month."

Duo's eyes narrowed, "WuFei said you were fine until a few days ago when he kept telling me he didn't know one way or the other. I'm gonna kill him."

"Oh come on Duo, it's not that bad. I'm here aren't I?" Triton held out his arms, though it was obvious it was painful to do.

Duo shook his head and closed the distance between them, gently lowering Triton's arms before wrapping him in a gentle hug. "Yeah, I guess that's good enough."

Triton barked out a laugh before returning to the issue of the entertainment center, "I won't be able to physically help you fix it, but I can talk you through it if you're up for it."

Duo stepped back and nodded, "That'd be great! But let's wait until tomorrow, you look like you're about to pass out."

"Yeah? Well, so do you."

Duo chuckled at the lame come back and led Triton to the guest room, having him sit at the desk while he got everything needed and made up the bed. "Feel free to take a shower before you sleep if you'd like."

Triton nodded and rose slowly before heading for the bathroom, a few moments later Duo heard his name being called and left his own bed to answer. He found Triton soaking in his tub, "What can I do for ya hot stuff?"

A smile graced Triton's face as he looked up at Duo, "I left my duffel bag by the front door..."

"Heh, you dork. I'll bring it in for ya."

"Thank you."

Duo left the gorgeous sight of a very naked, very wet Triton and headed for his front door. He found Triton's duffel bag and hefted it, it was rather lighter than when the man had come to visit him last time. Duo figured it needed to be while he was on a mission, he wouldn't need more than one or two changes of clothes no matter how long said mission took. Duo knew the drill after all. He'd been a Preventer for two years before deciding to go to college instead. He brought the bag back to the bathroom and set it on the floor next to the counter.

"Thank you, again."

"Not a problem. While I'm thinking about it, are you hungry at all?" Duo asked as he tried really hard not to stare. He was attempting to convince himself that Triton would think he was only checking over his wounds, but then his body began to betray him...

"I don't know, I'm more tired than anything else at the moment. Besides if you'd like to sleep I can always make myself something." Was it just his imagination or was Triton's voice an octave lower?

Duo nodded, "Sure thing. 'Night."

Duo fled the room as Triton told him goodnight and headed for the kitchen. There was no way he was making someone who was injured cook for themselves. He made up sandwiches, taking two for himself as he went back to his bed, he'd been hungry too after all.

He couldn't sleep however and listened as Triton left the bathroom and entered the room across the hall from his own. He hoped the other man could get to sleep. As he heard the door close he pulled out his favorite toy and a bottle of lube and did his best to tire himself enough to sleep. He couldn't help the moans that left his throat or the quiet whimpers of a certain someone's name, but he tried his best to be as silent as possible in order not to wake the ex-Merc in the other room.

Tired, sweaty, and not nearly as satisfied as he would have liked Duo cleaned himself up just in time to hear Triton moving about in his kitchen. Duo closed his eyes, "Fuck, I hope I didn't wake him."

He quickly made his way to the bathroom and took a quick shower to rinse off all the sweat, cum, and lube, then headed out to the kitchen with a towel wrapped around the end of his hair so it wouldn't drip all over the place. Triton looked up at him and gave him a small smile before going back to whatever he was doing.

"What'cha doin'?" Duo asked as he pulled down a giant bag of Tootsie Rolls and grabbed out a handful, he'd have to remember to brush his teeth before heading back to bed.

"Making hot chocolate. You want some?"

"What I want isn't food." Duo mumbled with a mouth full of candy. He chewed and swallowed before actually answering, "No thanks. I think the hot shower finally helped. Could you not sleep either?"

Triton nodded his head, "Yeah, I've just been laying there staring at the ceiling since I got out of the bath. Figured some hot chocolate might help. And food couldn't hurt either." His green eyes located the plate with a couple of the sandwiches Duo had made earlier on it sitting on the table.

"I hope it does, it always helped you during the wars." Duo munched on another Tootsie Roll as he recalled several times when he'd found the weirdly banged teen up at odd hours making hot chocolate because he couldn't sleep.

"So it did. And usually still does." Triton poured the milk he had heating on the stove into a mug that he had previously added chocolate syrup to and stirred it with a spoon. He rinsed out the pot but left it in the sink before coming to sit at the table.

"You don't need any painkiller or anything do you?" Duo hadn't missed the seriousness of the wounds Triton had attained even if the man's bared skin had been a major turn on.

Triton shook his head, "No, it's not the wounds that kept me awake. I've just been so stressed lately that suddenly not having anything happening is a little weird."

Duo tilted his head to the side, "Would it help if you had music or something?"

Triton's brows rose and he frowned in thought, "That might help actually."

Duo grinned and finished off the rest of his candy, "I'll get you a radio then. You drink your hot chocolate and eat."

Triton simply nodded and raised the mug to his lips. Duo bounced from his chair, remembering to take the towel with him, and headed for his bedroom. He dried his hair as best he could and then pulled an old radio, that Triton had repaired and given him as a birthday gift several years before, down from his dresser. He headed across the hall and set it up on the dresser beside Triton's wallet and phone, turning it to a station he hoped the other man would enjoy.

"All set up." Duo told him as he came out of the room and watched Triton rinse off his dishes.

"Thanks."

"No problem. Have a good sleep."

Triton grinned at him, "Goodnight Duo."

The next morning Duo woke early in order to make breakfast for his injured friend. Leaving his room he paused outside the guest room for a moment listening, hearing nothing but steady breathing he smiled and continued his trek to the kitchen. He made up omelettes, waffles, and bacon; then set out two glasses, jam, and peanut butter on his table. As had happened the last time Triton was there the smell of food cooking brought the sleeper out to the kitchen, though this time their roles were swapped.

"What're you makin'?" Triton's sleepy voice rumbled from between his crossed arms after he sat down at the table and rested his head in their cradle.

Duo chuckled, "Omelettes, waffles and bacon. You want milk to drink or juice?"

"Milk's fine."

Duo nodded his head as he removed the last piece of bacon from the skillet and placed it with the rest. He moved the plate of bacon and the plate of waffles to the center of his table and then placed a plate with an omelet on it in front of Triton and another at his own seat. He poured them both glasses of milk and then sat down, forking over a couple of waffles before smearing them with peanut butter. He snagged several slices of bacon and began eating as he watched Triton carefully fill every divot on his waffles with jam.

They ate in silence both of them a little too groggy to make any kind of decent conversation. Once they were finished Duo collected the dishes and washed them all while Triton got dressed and examined the entertainment center with a measuring tape to figure out how best to fix it. Duo went and got dressed for the day himself before joining his friend in front of his latest catastrophe.

"We'll need to go into town and buy new wood to fix this, nails, maybe some wood glue. Unless you've got some of that already?" Triton turned to look at him.

"I should have wood glue and nails somewhere. Probably in a box in the closet, I'll go check." Duo headed back to his room and opened the walk-in closet before ducking inside and rustling through a few boxes before finding the one he wanted. He pulled it out into the bedroom and rummaged through it finding a bottle of wood glue and exactly five nails of varying lengths. With a roll of his eyes he brought the glue and nails out and placed them on the coffee table before his entertainment center. "We'll need more nails, but I've got enough wood glue."

Triton nodded, a smirk on his face at the different nails. "Well, I'm ready when you are."

Duo smiled at him and headed back to his bedroom to grab his wallet and keys. "Let's move out."

They put their shoes on and headed down to Duo's Shelby before locating the nearest hardwood store. They spent several hours going over different types of wood trying to find one that matched the thickness and lengths they would need to fix the entertainment center. They finally found one that Triton would allow to be used for repairs and had the different lengths he'd measured out and written on his ever present notepad cut out and put into the car. By then Duo was starving!

"How's fast food sound?" He was craving french fries!

Triton looked over at him a tired but happy expression on his face, "Sounds like heaven. Micky D's?"

"You know it." Duo chirped before pulling into the drive-thru. He ordered himself a couple of big mac's and a large sweet tea no ice and a large fry before turning to get Triton's order. After placing an order for the twenty piece chicken nugget and a large lemonade they coasted their way through the line, paying and then obtaining their food. Duo munched on french fries all the way home, Triton holding them up to his mouth so that he wouldn't have to take his focus off of the road.

Once back at the apartment they quickly ate their lunches before setting to work on the entertainment center. It took several hours, mostly because Duo wasn't really much of a carpenter and cutting off the parts he'd broken was more complicated than he'd thought it would be. He had to be careful not to ruin any more of it while he took the broken bits off and replaced them with new wood. He was actually surprised that the wood they'd bought was the same type as the original and wondered if that was what had taken Triton so long in picking it out.

Finally done Duo joined Triton on his sofa, "Well, that oughta teach me not to mess with my entertainment center."

Triton chuckled, "I would hope so. It's never as much fun to fix a mess as to create one."

"It sure ain't."