*wank* Heero chapter!

Chapter 25: Open: To Someone New

Duo cleaned on the side of the room furthest from Missy. 'A therapist.' He wasn't a fan. "I'm curious...you say 'help', but do you really mean 'psychoanalize and medicate'?"

'...' Was that what he really thought she was there for? "Possibly two of those. I'll give you a hint, I won't be the one throwing any pills at you." She was cleaning the coal briquettes from the carpet, the bag had toppled over. She was glad they weren't potatoes.

He scoffed, "That's good." 'For now' he meant.

"Don't like the pills? Or don't like being told you have to take them?"

He pointed a finger at her, rapidly pulsating it, "Thaaaat. That's what I'm talking about."

"What?"

"I don't lie! I say what I mean! So don't try to put words in my mouth. Cyclical questioning like that is a 'catch 22', and you won't be pulling any of that on me."

'He's quick,' she thought. "...you've done this before?"

He shook his head in disbelief, "There you go again...you don't get it." He sighed, "I'm not talking while we clean. Wait till Heero gets up."

"When will that be? I do have the day for this, but I'd still like to get a wake-time to plan everything out." She flashed her PDA.

"He needs to call someone before noon, so I'm letting him go until quarter to twelve," the time the attendance line closed.

"When did you guys go to bed?"

"You don't stop, do you? Not late. He didn't sleep well. Medicine, remember?"

"I never stop. Even so, you shouldn't let him sleep that long. Wake him exactly four and a half hours from the time he nodded off."

"That won't be enough."

"If you wake him while he's between sleep cycles, he'll be less tired when he gets up."

"...and you're sure about that?"

"If it doesn't work, I'll take the blame."

"..."

"What?"

"...nothing. Keep cleaning." He no longer cared, he had morphed into Heero Yuy, full tilt.

"..." Missy worried she may be asked to leave, she had really upset Duo somehow. From the looks of it, just being there was enough to set him off, now that he knew why she was around. She cleaned until it was time to wake Heero. She decided to tell them as much as she could without compromising her own operation.

When shaken awake, he wasted no time getting into questions, "So, exactly, who are you?"

Before Missy could even open her mouth, Duo was dropping facts, "The school seems to be sticking their nose in where it doesn't belong. She's a psychiatrist, courtesy of our bloody education system."

"I'm a clinical psychologist and therapist, so I can't prescribe pills like a psychiatrist can. I study and assess people in situations like yourselves and seek to remedy conflicts by offering alternative lifestyle arrangements."

He looked to Duo, "There is a difference," Heero was the one to defend her this time.

"Not much," Duo wasn't budging.

"What are your capabilities? I need to know what the school has given you clearance for." Heero was into it now.

"That's the funny thing. Since you guys are a special case, I've been granted a lot more freedom with you. So long as I don't fraternize with any of you, I've got pretty much full range...with some obvious limitations. Only, safety issues and other common sense stuff like that."

"Special case," Duo said and folded his arms tighter, still holding his elbows, "You're implying...?"

She gave him a blank stare. "...You really don't like me anymore...I'm kind of bummed."

Duo rolled his eyes, "That may change if you consider some lifestyle alternatives."

Heero snapped, "Duo!"

"What? I don't like liars!"

"I didn't lie."

"Oh yeah," he said and propped himself up on his knees, the not-tiger-blanket beneath him, "Not at all?"

"Not once!" She defended. "I've equivocated the hell out of things, but not lie-"

"-Do you have a sister?"

"What?"

"Do you?

"...yes."

"Why the hesitation?"

"She's in Canada."

"See! A lie! You said she was at the other school."

"The word 'sister' means something different here in Japan. She's a close friend of mine, that's what I meant. It was the principal at the other school, we're tight, I swear."

"Cop out!"

"I was trying to stay hidden."

"Why?"

"Because if you knew who I really was from the start, you never would have spoken to me!" She was getting angry. "I was instructed to gather information on you guys candidly to avoid any outward bias. Yet here we are, dealing with the bias."

Duo went silent. When he finally came around. "...that still doesn't explain why you're here. Why do you need the information?"

She pulled out the bag she'd arrived with and began clasping various files within between her fingers. Missy laid the five rather small files on the coffee table for both of them to see. "Do you know what these are?"

The two guys looked them over. Heero piped up, from behind the pillow that hid him, "Medical records?" Duo's attack had gotten too vicious for first thing in the morning, so he hid. Only a bit.

"Correct." She picked up Wufei's file, "This is the only one that's complete," she said. "Heero, yours was missing chunks, as was Trowa's. Quatre's looked like it was intentionally turned into Swiss cheese. And Duo, we don't have any medical records for you before age fourteen, and what we do have isn't pretty."

"You're not getting them."

"Do you have them somewhere? We need them."

"I've made it this far without them, I doubt you'll be needing them any time soon."

"Duo..." Heero tried to say something.

"What? Don't you go bringing anything up again," he said with contempt.

"Bring up what?" Missy asked.

Heero turned away, silent.

"...guys...?"

Silence from Duo.

Silence from Heero.

She sighed. "I won't ask. Can we stay on this though, please," she asked and pointed to the papers. They came back, only to listen. "We need to do some-"

"What was the thing that made them send you? Why do we have to deal with this invasion of privacy?" Duo would not let up, he was on a tirade.

"It wasn't one thing. And it wasn't one person. And you're not the only ones," she assured them.

"Then who else," Duo wanted to know.

"I can't say, that's a breach of 'patient confidentially'. Let's just say, everyone who's enlisted in the program, you know them. There are over fifty names."

"Program? I've never heard of any like this before," Heero asked and laid down his downy defenses.

"How do I explain it?" She thought for a moment. There were certain things, even if she was giving up the ghost on her cover, she wasn't allowed to say. "It's for people who've come from your type of situation, more specifically, for child soldiers. You guys have been to hell and back a million times, and now you've come an age where you start to notice the effects of the stress. There's no war, it's peaceful and quiet, this is the time a soldier can feel the most unrest and lose his footing. Haven't any of you noticed...you haven't been doing the best lately?"

"I'll say," Heero said.

"I won't," Duo didn't. "One night we slipped up, it's no reason to think we can't handle it on our own."

"I'm not talking about the banquette, or even the night I was over. This has been an ongoing thing for months. Your teachers and other members of staff, the people you deal with in the run of a day, they were the ones who wanted this for you. I'm just a guide. Please, ease up," she snapped back, "This is my job, and I won't lie to you to do it."

He brushed her off, "Whatever. I'm going for a walk."

"I thought we were cleaning?" Heero said.

"Me too!" Duo snapped at him as he popped some shoes on, not his boots, and left out the front door. It shut loudly.

Missy looked down, "I technically was cleaning up his file...he'll be back, won't he?"

"Dunno," Heero shrugged. "Meanwhile...I have a few more questions, if you don't mind."

She turned back to him, "Not if you don't."

"Not at all. It's about the-"

"-hold on. I thought you guys didn't trust me. Why the sudden change of heart?" When he woke up, it looked like he was ready to launch everything he had her way. Apparently someone had woken him up prematurely before, it didn't end well. Now Heero was all docile, and Duo was hostile.

Heero paused, "That? Originally I thought you were with the people who made the comics. Then after that got cleared up, I thought you may have had something to do with the distribution process. But then you show up here, come clean about who you are, what you're doing and why you're doing it...and now that I know you're with the school," he pointed to the official papers she had to have gotten from the principal, "I can trust you. Plus, I've been meaning to get this done on my own for a while now." His records did need some fine tuning. "This saves me the trouble."

"...you were my favorite for a reason."

"Excuse me?"

"I've been around for quite a bit," she cleared her throat, "Earth, the planet in the solar system that miraculously gave birth to life. In the year After Colony 195, with the development of the colonies-"

"My speech. When did you come across that?"

"The day you presented it. I've had a case study open on you ever since. I suppose you could say I'm one of the people who was worried for you, Heero." She laughed lightly, "I remember when the teacher told you to stop, me, at the back of the class-" she said and raised both her arms above her head, slightly outraged, same as she did it that day.

Heero recalled the moment. There was a person who did that at the back of the room, he caught them out of the corner of his eye for a second. "That was you?" he said.

"Yes. When I heard that it was your class was doing presentations all day, I had to sit in and audit the lesson. I was upset that she wouldn't let you finish so I got a copy of your speech to read later on. It was amazing Heero, you've got quite the knack with words."

"Thank you...but, you look so different now. Was that a disguise?"

"I'm become diabetic since then, I've lost a ton of weight in the last year."

"That was insensitve...that's why you didn't drink..." He stopped himself, "Don't listen to any of this. I'm sorry."

"Don't worry, I've got no problem talking about these things. I'm diabetic and a recovering alcoholic...possibly the reason why I'm diabetic now. But, that's why I don't drink...or, try not to at least."

He was glad to be in the clear. Heero rubbed the back of his neck, worried he was pushing buttons he shouldn't have. He felt his shoulders had finally settled from the 'Duoctopus' attack too. She was being up front with him, but he had no clue how to properly respond to such comments. "Isn't it hazardous to work at bars with such a condition?" With 'concern', that's how. It worked every time(for Duo).

"You'd think that, but for me, it's aversion therapy. The more drunk people I see, the less I want to drink."

"I get it, it reminds you why you stopped."

"Does it ever. I do have my days of weakness occasionally. I had one of those a couple months back. I can't be strong all the time, I'm okay with that. I wanted to offer some of the things I've learned to you guys, hopefully you won't slide as far as I did. It's a hard transition."

"Transition?"

"Into becoming a well adjusted adult."

"Hmm...shouldn't the path to becoming a healthy adult avoid alcohol and other drugs like that? Why offer them outright?" He thought that maybe this was the reason Duo was so upset. "If you didn't offer it, we might not have drank at all. Maybe Duo thought you were trying to set us up to see if we'd fail."

Her expression dropped, "I can totally see where you're coming from...shoot...it does look like that, huh?" She was careless. "I assure you, that's not it at all. Not even close. I'm not here to tell you right from wrong, I'm only here to help facilitate decision-making."

"And offering a drink is helping~?"

"Heh, it really isn't. But refusing you a drink is equally as damaging."

"I don't see how."

"Because if you decide to drink, I don't want you to feel that there's anything wrong with wanting to, or that you should be deciding against it, or, above all else, that it's something you have to hide. It's not. All of you drank before you met me, I had nothing to do with your choice to consume alcohol. This tells me you've developed your own opinions on the substance, and no matter what I say, that isn't necessarily going to change it for better or worse. Also, you guys are stressed. I'm not saying that alcohol is a good stress reliever, but I don't want you to think less of yourselves if you feel like you want to enjoy it once in a while to ease tension...that was a mouthful."

Heero gave her words some thought, "...that was smart."

"Honestly, it's not the first time I've given that speech. It is all mine though."

"Still..."

"Non-judgmental reasoning is all I have to offer. You guys are too quick for me, no catch 22 scapegoat for me this time," she said and brushed her hands clean of her earlier faliure.

"You mean, when we were at Quatre's, you suggested we not drink on a school night, instead of not drinking at all." Admittedly, that notion did sit better with him. "In the long run...I can't help but feel this is more of a hinderance than a help. It's still a drug. That's a huge risk."

"That's why I'm here. To teach you guys about those sorts of risks. It's the most effective coping strategy: Education. You're going to come to your own ends eventually, might as well make it as smooth as possible to get there.

"But this is the kind of stuff they can't teach in schools, at least not the way you're teaching it."

"That's reason number two we're being all hush-hush about it."

"And what program is this again?"

She laughed, "It doesn't have a name. Due to judicial constraints, all of this operation is taking place off record."

"What constraints?"

"The fact that most of you are all minors for another year is a huge one. They need to avoid the paperwork required to consort with minors in this field of study, it's all been kept 'under the table'."

"Why not run the paperwork?"

"Time. Not a lot of it." She thought about the one who caused the initial rush on the project; he still needed to be addressed.

"I see." Heero was pleased. At first the idea of someone snooping around didn't sit well, but now he was as eager as Duo was, in the beginning, to keep her around. "Missy, I have a favor to ask."

"Ask away," she said.

"Please, stay close for a while."

This line made her throat tighten. It was a simple line, it was probably the way it was asked. "So formal...can I ask why?"

"No. Just do it." He gave her a single nod upward.

"...pushy much?"

"I know. Will you though?" He kept intense eye contact.

With a smile, she said, "Of course. But if I can't ask why, I want to talk about other things. Could I do that?" She began writing things again.

"Yes, you may."

"What did you take last night?" She showed him what she wrote.

He shrugged. "I don't remember the name, but Quatre's running the bottle over after class today. I'll show you then."

She sat back. "Good."

"The bottle was tampered with and more alcohol was added in. We figured that was the reason I had such a negative reaction."

She drew a slow breath, "Not exactly."

"Oh?"

"Yeah...your reaction is comparable to a condition I learned about shortly before coming to Japan." Missy widened her stance and reached down into her bag for something. "First off, backtrack, banquette, how many drinks?"

"Only one, spiked."

"With this," she said and handed him the syringe Duo used. "When I picked it up, the line where the liquid stopped was roughly at two cc's. So...if that, plus one more, was enough to put you out of commission, chances are, you can't drink much at all. What are some of the other symptoms you experienced. Start at the banquette."

"I forget a lot."

"That's okay, tell me what you know."

"I mean, that's what I know: I forget a lot. About an hour after Relena and I left to play pool, the night went black. I barely have any recollection of what went on, and I only came to around one in the morning."

"Oh wow, okay," she said and scribbled some things down. It caught his attention. She backed up, "Don't read over my shoulder," she said playfully and let him see it.

"Making sure you get it down right."

"I'll let you look it over when I'm done if you're that paranoid...unrelated note, you're Japanese, right?"

"Yes."

Scribble, scribble. "Okay...now, the stuff you had last night, how much of it did you drink?"

"Tablespoon and a half."

"What did you use to measure it?"

"..."

"What did-"

"-my mouth."

Missy lowered her pen, "You measured it in your mouth?"

He turned a little red, "...yes."

She pointed the pen, "No more of that."

"I don't think you need to worry. Last night was enough to deter me from trying it again," or was it?

"Glad to hear it. Did you drink the medicine for any reason?"

"I had a headache."

She thought some. "...Tuesday now...did you guys drink after I left?"

"..." This was what she was talking about earlier. No one had to offer, it was there, it could be taken at any time. "Yes, we did."

"How much?"

"Quatre and I had one shot of vodka. Duo had two and one more of that...that dark one, started with 'ka'."

"Kahula...okay...did he try to mix it or something?" She was now writing on a separate piece of paper for Duo.

Heero took note. "I think so...I didn't let him finish the mix."

"What did you do?"

Again, no one forced him, "...I drank it on him," he said with regret.

"Why~?" Drawn out.

"So he couldn't."

"Didn't think to spill it out?"

"It was only half, and I didn't want it to go to waste."

"Why~?" Drawn out again.

"...I don't know why...no, I do know..." He hesitated, "...I knew something was wrong from the start. That's why."

"Go on. When was the start?"

"When I was playing pool with Relena. I was wrecked within minutes and I hadn't had a drink for a while. I was staggering, slanted speech, I couldn't make a shot for the life of me and I was boiling hot. No one else was complaining about those kind of things after one, and no one else looked as red in the face as I did, even after a few...so...I wanted to see if it was just that night...and not just me." He chalked his blackout at Quatre's up to mixing alcohols, but now he was understanding things I bit better. It wasn't his fault, he had genetics to blame. "Turns out, it's all me."

They went silent for a few seconds while she wrote things down. She heard it that time. When Missy was done, she looked up with a nod. "Anything else?"

He nodded his head slowly. "After I woke up the first time, Relena shared her flask and we had a drink-" he slipped, "-uh, keep that quiet, okay?" A meek nod. He kept going. "I watched her take a mouthful of brandy straight and two large splashes of it in her drink. She was fine, finished it all the way to the bottom. I was dizzy from the tiny bit I put in my can...and I only drank about half of what I poured." He recalled pouring the other half of the drink out when he friends left the following morning. He then pointed to the opposite end of the house, "That way."

Missy spoke quietly still, "Why is he on the roof?"

"Eavesdropping probably."

She nodded to herself. "Let him. Heero, have you heard of a condition called AFS?"

"No, I have not."

"Alcohol Flush Syndrome."

He huffed, "Flush? That explains the redness."

"It does, and it explains everything else too. It's also called 'Asian Glow', a little less politically correct, but aptly given. One third of the asian population has the mutation in their genes. It's a far cry from telepathy or eye lazers, but-"

"-what is it?"

"You don't digest alcohol well. That's it. There aren't any other complications. You body, genetically, cannot produce enough of the enzyme needed to process alcohol effectively. When alcohol sticks in your system longer, you get drunker. Even long after you stop drinking, it'll still keep lowering your vitals."

"That's such a nuisance. So I'll get smashed off of one drink, forever? Do I need to take medication or anything for this?" Missy laughed. "Why is that funny? I told you I don't know anything about this."

"Sorry," she composed herself, "That's not what's funny. I just remember asking the same question."

"And, was the answer funny?"

"Yes. But they didn't give me an answer, they just told me to ask the question differently. What you basically asked was 'Is there a pill to help me drink more alcohol?'"

He couldn't help but laugh, that was rather ridiculous. "An alcoholic's salvation," Heero caught himself, he'd forgotten. "I'm sorry!" he covered his face.

Missy laughed, "Don't worry, I thought the exact same thing. I researched ways to make synthetic stuff for myself, it didn't pan out."

"Oh...you're a good sport," Heero said rubbed his eyes, finally revealing his not-red face again. "I guess...there's no way around this?"

"Does it bother you?"

"It shouldn't, should it? I don't have to drink-"

"-But you want to, don't you?"

He shook his head, "It's not like-"

She held up a hand, "-You don't need to explain anything. Drinking is a social outlet, not being able to do it with others is alienating and stressful. Trust me, I know."

Heero looked disappointed, "It does kind of put a damper on the weekend."

"Was there something planned?" She did remember Duo mentioning that he wanted to do something during her visit. Had a plan gone though?

"It's a small get together. I don't have to drink, but..."

"But now that the option isn't there, you're thinking about it more."

"It's human nature to want things you can't have, isn't it?"

"You can still drink."

"But, I thought-"

"You just can't drink as much."

"Then what's the point? You've seen them drink, I can't keep up with that."

"Actually 'drinking' beverages takes up a very small portion of the time in an evening; anyone's stomach can only hold so much. It's talking with your friends while you drink that makes it fun."

"True. Kind of glad I found out like I did. Quatre said Duo kept handing him drinks, I'm sure he's going to try and do the same to me eventually."

"Let's just cross our fingers that he doesn't get a hold of any more 151."

"What's that?"

"The super strong liquor in the syringe. Like I said, this is why I'm here. How would you have known to look for a condition like AFS on your own? I only heard about it a couple years ago myself. Now it's in the file," she said as she wrapped Heero's notes and speech up and replaced them with the others. "I need a few more things from you, but they can wait until everyone is present."

"I'm grateful...so...how much can I drink before it makes me black out?"

She shrugged, "I really can't say, it varies from person to person. We can test the waters if you like."

It was the afternoon, but still first thing in the morning for him. "Bad timing." He was stating to feel better, he didn't want to ruin it.

"Oh no, not now, we're supposed to be cleaning. I meant at the party. Try having a single mouthful of a weak alcohol and wait an hour, to see how it hits you. It might make you queasy if you go too fast."

Heero thought, '...Duo invited someone at random.' Why couldn't he? "Okay, I'll try that. If you can make it tomorrow, you should come by the Winner mansion."

Giving it some thought first, "I could mix the drinks...maybe do a lesson while I'm up there. Teach you guys how to mix a proper cocktail," she said jokingly.

"I wouldn't mind that. It'll be something to do since I can't drink like the rest of them. It'll keep my hands busy." Something occurred to him, "Quatre's sister is making outfits for some of the servers, if you're coming, you should let her make one for you too." He only suggested this because he heard Shauna complain about how she only got to make 'three' outfits for the evening. If he brought Missy along for that sort of thing, it would be a good way to show both girls there were no hard feelings. 'Geez, I am turning into Duo,' he laughed to himself.

"I don't think I know any of Quatre's sisters. What's her name?" She wondered if any of them were as interesting as he was.

"Shauna. She's a seamstress for the majority of the day, I assume it'll be non-issue."

She knew that name, but was it the same person? They fit the description. "Sure, do you have a way for me to contact her?" Heero hooked the two up. Missy was now going along, but she didn't look too happy. "You don't think..." she started to say but paused to play with a strand of her hair that had been stained with red. It was a faded pink by now.

Heero knew what she was getting at, "Duo won't stay mad for long."

She raised her eyebrows, "He seemed pretty dedicated when he left."

"That was probably my fault."

"Did you two fight before I got here?"

"You could say that. I was getting after him for not eating and he got all up in arms about it. I had to let him tell me all the reason's why I'm a 'girl' before he calmed down."

"That's...off."

He laughed, "No, something stupid he came up with. You're not getting any context for it." It was stupid, but still pretty funny.

She assumed it was an inside joke. "Alright. What did you say to him?"

And thus, Heero proceeded to reveal how well he 'didn't' handle the situation.

"Ple...please tell me you see where you went wrong?"

"No~...where at?"

Missy took a deep breath, "Asking a bunch of insistent questions, showing aggression and disapproval, trivializing a solution, denying efforts of the accused by essentially saying 'not good enough!', telling him about other people's opinions on his weight, comparing him to the prettiest member of your group-" This got his attention.

"-What?!"

"Yeah," she said with a rapid nod, "Duo might feel that way. Do you see how he keeps himself?"

"Quatre or Duo?"

"Both of them. They seem to actively bank a lot on physical appearance. What you said to him, probably not the best thing you could have thought of." And that, folks, was the most politically correct way to call someone a 'pretty boy'.

"Oops."

"Then you let him tangent off a few times, also, not good. You reinforced the idea that if there's something he doesn't want to talk about, he can just leave or avoid it by talking nonsense."

"Well, it made sense. But, what do I do? I thought I said the right stuff."

"It wasn't what you said, it's how you said it. It was perfect in the sense you let him know you care, but it was a band-aid over a bullet hole. To get him out of this rut, you're going to have to change your technique. Don't let him run the conversation. If he doesn't want to talk about it, you don't talk at all."

"...isn't that a bit harsh?" He watched her shake her head. "Damn, this is hard...I was thinking about ways to get him to eat, but he'd see right through that...and it's sneaky...this sucks..." Why was he so lost? "This shouldn't be such a hard thing to accomplish: Feed friend."

Scribble on paper, "I know. And it's wise to assume that would upset him. Considering how mad he was when he thought I was trying to undermine him, imagine how he'd feel if it were his closest friend." Duo was far from stupid. He may have acted goofy most of the time, but he was every inch a genius.

"What was that you wrote?" He thought they were done that game.

"It's for Duo, not you."

"...let me see."

"...I can't."

"I'm going to look anyway."

"I'll hide it."

"I'll find it." He would too.

"..." She reluctantly passed him the paper. "Pushy." A call back to the earlier subversity they had going on.

He read those words and his heart sank. Heero thought to himself, fearing it may sound sexist if said out loud, 'What's this, Duo? Is that counted as a feminine trait?' He didn't think it was a female specific condition(obviously), but it wasn't everyday you found a male with the disorder. He looked up, "...really?"

"Yup."

Stare at paper. Back to Missy again. To the ceiling. Back to Missy. "...really?" The last time someone did this to him, it was far less devastating. "I know he's thin, but to go and say it's that, I don't know..."

"Only about ten percent of the people with this disorder are male. It's not common to have for a guy to have, so many people let it go undiagnosed," she said with more certainty. "I looked at his medical forms from two years ago and compared them to the ones he signed for school. His weight hadn't changed much, in fact, it went up as it should for someone his age. And then, from the beginning of the year to the physical two weeks ago, he had lost over twenty-five pounds."

Slack jawed, "Twenty-five pounds...he's not going to like that." Heero tossed the paper on the table between the two of them, the words 'anorexia nervosa' scrawled somewhere on it. "I don't understand how it could be an eating disorder, he loves food...is there a chance it's anything else?"

Missy shook her head, "That's a common misconception about anorexic's: Not all of them are trying to get skinny. Some of them 'literally' forget to eat. And unless he's got some kind of life threatening illness, it is what it is."

"..." Heero gave it one more shot, "What are the symptoms you're seeing in him? I know he's thin...but..."

"Excuses for not eating. Flip flops to binge eating. Rationalizing food consumption. Excessive alcohol consumption. Dressing in layers. Quick to anger. Manic temperament. Forgetful-"

Something came to mind, "-hold that thought," he said and finally got out of bed. Missy watched him leave to the kitchen and then come back in the living room seconds later. In his right hand, two unfinished mugs, nearly full, respectively coffee and tea. In the left hand, two cold, dry pieces of toast. "...such as it is," Heero seceded, "Now how can we help him out?"

A guy with an eating disorder. I've only seen 'American Dad' do it, and it blew my mind! "The American Dad After School Special", watch it if you haven't already! I don't do nearly as effective a job with shock as they did. Woo!

I don't know if Duo having that disorder was 'seen coming', but it was planned since the start. In fact, it was the first idea that helped spawn the rest of the story after the banquette.

When I was writing Relena carrying them down the stairs, I wondered what these guys would weigh. I wanted to accent in the story who was the hardest to carry. So, to the internets I went! When I looked at the weights these guys had, I nearly fainted! I think Trowa was the heaviest, and he barely broke the 100 lb mark!

And that's when I said, '...there's an idea...but how to go about it...and which one...they'd expect Quatre...*ponders*.'

While I was going about the story, I kept on making Duo's habits progressively more destructive and slowly put him on 'rocky ground'.

Don't you guys distinctly remember me telling you that I was going to send Duo into a soul crushing depression eventually? Well, guess what happens after a big ol' manic wave? *CRASH!*

Hehehe...we're almost there! Duo's cresting the top of the parabolic arch that is his 'capacity' and he is about to come sailing back down!

Poor Duo...who will save you? ;_;
What would you guys do if I told you 'I don't know'? Huh? Would you be mad?

Wa'chuu you t'ink? :D