Title: Are you lost?

Summary: A rather dubious friendship develops between two schoolmates when Heero discovers that appearances are generally not all they seem. But what could cause Duo to be so drastically different when not surrounded by his usual crowd. AU.

Disclaimer: Dun own it. Real bummed.

I shut down my laptop and wandered out to the lounge room to find that Duo had once again fallen asleep on the couch, curled into the armrest with an arm wrapped loosely around his knees, his head tilted backwards and his mouth wide open and drooling. It was becoming a rather common occurrence and I wasn't yet sure whether I minded or not. For the moment, I'd decided to just accept that a guy I normally would never have bothered even talking to was occasionally, and quite randomly, spending the night at my house either lost in thought or completely dead to the world to the point where dropping him on the floor wouldn't get him to twitch an eyelid.

I thankfully didn't have to carry him to the spare room tonight as J was away at a reunion, but I wandered over to the couch, yawning, to pull off Duo's shoes and lay him down into a more comfortable position anyway. I sighed as I noticed the motley brown and green bruises littering Duo's arms, wondering once again where they came from. I believed Duo was being abused in some way but I wasn't yet confident enough in our rather dubious friendship to feel that I could confront him without him running away.

There was, of course, the fact that Duo might just be involved in something that I had absolutely no business sticking my nose into. It wasn't like we knew each other well enough to assume things about personal life, and at the moment I wasn't even sure Duo considered me anything but the owner of a rather convenient place to stay. Duo barely even acknowledged me let alone talked to me under normal circumstances and had probably said a total of twenty words in my presence since he'd first slept on the couch, and that was odd in itself. I still had trouble believing that this guy was the same outgoing and confident bloke I competed for top marks and sporting achievements with at school.

Sighing again, I quickly and efficiently checked Duo over for any serious injuries, noting the bruising around his nipples and dark fingermarks that extended below the waistline of his trousers, before I pulled the blanket off the recliner and tucked it around him.

I watched him unconsciously snuggle into the couch cushions and the corner of his mouth open slightly as he sighed in his sleep and relaxed again.

Wandering out to the kitchen, I poured a glass of water from the jug in the fridge and sat down at the table, sipping at it slowly.

I didn't want J to come back tomorrow. When he wasn't here I could get away without doing my entire training resume and I didn't have to assure him that I was doing my school work or go to bed at a decent hour. I didn't have to worry about making sure he didn't discover Duo, though I'm sure he knew he was here sometimes. He referred to him as 'that friend'.

Strangely enough I was slightly proud of myself for doing something that J disapproved of. But seriously, how wrong is it to have a friend stay over at your house occasionally.

I snorted slightly at the thought. Wow, Heero Yuy is growing a mind of his own and gaining an extremely mild social life rather than forever following that crackpot scientist that experiments on him. Go you wild thing.

Leaning back in my chair so I could see Duo past the kitchen bench, I felt a silly grin slide onto my face as I thought about the last couple of weeks of my life.

I have a friend.

Well, someone that I would consider a friend.

Now I sound really lame.

Before I accidently ran into Duo Maxwell during my warm down run four weeks ago, my entire life revolved around school and my training. There was nothing else.

My head still spins sometimes as I think about how limited my life was. How limited it still is.

I still remember clearly how messed up I was feeling that night and how oddly it had ended.

My head had been swimming backwards round a whirlpool of...of...something. Something that I don't understand. I'd been feeling washed away and helpless, like I needed something desperately and nothing else mattered as long as I could have it.

I still don't know what it was that I wanted. I didn't manage to figure it out and the events that happened that night distracted me enough in order for me to forget it for quite a while afterwards.

I'd been sitting around moping for half the day before I managed to force myself to get up and run through a revised version of my training schedule then head out into the night to jog around the park and warm down.

It was when I was running past the burnt out old church that I saw him. Unfortunately that was only a mere two seconds before I ran into him so we ended up sprawled in the gutter next to the church gate despite my efforts at dodging him.

He was drunk, and smelt really bad.

It took him a few seconds before he was able to lift himself off me and when he did his movements were uncoordinated, his fingers catching in my shirt and his head tottering slightly as he tried to sit up. He looked down at me and around himself confusedly as if he was trying to figure out just how the hell he'd managed to get there, but then seemed to decide that it didn't really matter and leant against the footpath his eyes settling on me properly.

At this point I was still trying to get my head around the fact that this was Duo. Duo Maxwell. That popular kid that hung out with Trowa, Quatre and Wu Fei. That bloody brilliant student that I attended high school with. That awesome sports star that I competed against.

This was Duo Maxwelll, in a drunken stupor, wandering around the street in a tattered pair of jeans and a shirt that barely existed.

A silent Duo Maxwell.

Clumsy fingers reached up to brush hair out of his face and he shook his head causing him to wobble rather like a newborn kitten. His eyes blinked at me blearily and his fingers curled nervously around his braid which was beginning to look rather worse for wear. After a few seconds of staring at me though, Duo seemed to lose interest and began making himself comfortable right there in the gutter.

I think I gaped at him then. I couldn't believe it. He planned on sleeping in the middle of the street?

For a second I began to wonder if he was homeless but remembered overhearing him mention his house to Quatre once before. There was no possibility of him making it up to Keineston avenue in his current state though, and I doubted he had the money to pay for a taxi even if we could call one in the first place. He didn't even appear to be carrying a wallet.

I eventually decided that if I was going to do anything at all, I'd better make sure he at least got up off the ground so I hauled myself up and reached down to pull him up.

It was like trying to lift a sack of potatoes, he was no help at all; his limbs flailed about as he tried to grab a hold of me to support himself. Even after I managed to get him to stand it didn't look like he was going to stay upright for very long.

Not exactly sure what I was going to do with him I started him walking up the hill with me, figuring that if he was moving he was at least making some sort of progress and maybe once we managed to reach the intersection he might decide he was capable of looking after himself. That was probably really wishful thinking on my part.

We were two houses away from the end of the street when he suddenly collapsed. I grabbed him under the arms and nearly dropped him anyway when he yelped loudly, clutching at my shirt and pushing at me ineffectually as I held onto him trying to keep him on his feet.

Next thing I knew, I was on my back staring up at a few extra stars than what would normally be in the night sky and I realised that a drunk Duo Maxwell had just managed to flip me.

Sitting up and rubbing the back of my aching head I turned to find him on the ground behind me, passed out.

Sick of all the confusion but mildly intrigued all the same, I decided to cart Duo back to my place and hopefully manage to get rid of him before J arrived the following day.

The poor guy was obviously either surviving something really rough or being particularly stupid.

Although neither of those options were really all that appealing.

It was a bit of a struggle trying to carry him back and I must've looked really strange marching up the street with this guy draped over my shoulder. I could only imagine what the neighbours would think if they'd happened to notice me fumbling for my keys on the doorstep.

I'd laid him on the couch and covered him with a blanket before taking a shower and falling into a bed, staring up at the ceiling and debating whether or not to go out there and check on him.

He was injured. You only needed to glance at him to see the numerous bruises and scratches covering his chest, back and arms. But whether or not he'd appreciate a complete stranger treating him for those wounds was another thing entirely. They didn't appear to be life threatening after all.

I eventually came to the decision to talk to him in the morning as it would be inappropriate to approach him when he was unaware and rolled over onto my stomach to go to sleep.

The next time I saw Duo, it was at school and he barely gave me a second glance.

I tilted my chair back from the table again to glance at his form that was once again splayed across my lounge. Tonight he'd been in the alleyway between Howard's mechanics and Muller and Son's. I'd found him there a couple of times, usually lying on the backseat of one of the abandoned cars that Howard had retrieved for parts.

No doubt I'd wake up tomorrow to find the blanket folded on the couch and Duo gone. At school I would again get less than a hello. Maybe a brief nod of recognition.

It was an odd friendship.

I let the chair fall back onto all four legs, gulped down the remaining water in my glass and got up and placed it in the sink.

With a muttered 'Goodnight Duo' as I wandered back through the lounge room. I walked up the hall to my room.

Well here's a beginning to a story which currently has two endings. The characters will probably decide for themselves which one they want, but if you'd like to influence them in anyway, make a suggestion on whether you'd like a sad/lost kind of feeling or a happyish ending. Then it'll end up as relatively short, or indiscernibly long respectively. Either way it's planned. Will take yonks to write, unless someone throws fishing line and a sinker at my head. But you never know.