Four
Duo gave no resistance to Heero bringing him to his apartment, in fact, he had brushed his long cinnamon hair, braided it and washed and dressed himself, unaided and at Sally's suggestion. Heero led Duo to his bedroom where he fell asleep almost immediately, seemingly comforted by his familiar surroundings and daytime.
In the kitchen Heero filled a small red enameled teakettle with water and searched for tea while it heated. He was unnerved by Duo's silence. It was as if he were not even inside his body. Shouting and fighting; cursing and throwing things, even threats of violence-this he could handle, but Zombie Duo? Heero did not have the first clue of how he was going to get through to him.
The night was spent quietly after Heero took time becoming reacquainted with Duo's apartment. Heero had been there only a handful of times, but the time he spent had been enjoyable. Duo invited him to watch movies and play video games, but before Duo's mission they had not had a lot of time to socialize. Peacekeeping was a busy business these days.
Heero had Duo sit on the couch after dinner and went through the listings trying to find some of his favorite shows. It was Wednesday, so the programs were all nature shows and documentaries. Duo sat staring blankly ahead. Heero stared at him for a while. It was rather disconcerting to have Duo so near and yet not there at all, mentally. He actually missed his banter and commentary on-well, everything, really.
Heero was at a loss. What should I do? He was no good at small talk, but he tried anyway. "I never realized that the earth had had such a large animal population," he said. Duo sat silently, not even showing the slightest bit of acknowledgment at that comment. "The creatures of the Amazon were strange-looking, ne Duo?" Nothing. Heero glanced at him to make sure he was still breathing, at least.
Around midnight Heero had had enough. The silence was deafening and he was weary. He held out his hand to Duo. "Time to sleep, Duo."
Duo blinked. Well, that's encouraging, Heero thought sullenly.