Duo woke up in the bed alone to the sound of jazz piano wafting through the air behind him. It definitely wasn't his music. He cracked open an aching eye and forced his body to roll over and flop onto its back. He stretched his arms as far as they would go over his head and heard the faint snap, crackle and pop of his weary joints. He let his arms rest on the mattress over his head and yawned. He felt something tug at the skin atop his right hand. He raised it to the level of his face and saw that one of his red, white and blue Captain America Band-Aids had been applied to his yellow-green bruised knuckles.

His mind stung with the memory of what had happened the day before. As his unsettled thoughts began to clarify the image of the beach in Ibiza began to consume his thoughts. The unforgettable image of bodies lying in piles along the white, sandy beach being pecked apart by seagulls made his stomach churn and his heart tripped over itself with palpitations.

Duo had grown up around lifeless bodies. It wasn't unusual to find the dead around L2. He had lost count of how many deceased junkies he had tripped over in the dark when he lived in the Underground. His mind began to present still, warped images of the faces of the people he had lost. Solo, Father Maxwell, and Sister Helen weren't the only ones. There were thirty-four orphans who had been brutalized the day he had run off. He had left them all alone. If he had not left, he could have done something. He could have warned them. He could have helped them to escape.

Luke, Anthony, Mary, Ellen, Christina, Jackson, Benjamin, Joshua, Caroline...

He pressed his palms to his face and sucked in a deep, steadying breath.

Lauren, Amanda, Rachel, Matthew, Taylor, Sebastian, James…

"Helena, Josephine, Caleb, Victor, Alexander, Tobias, Frederick, Raoul, Gregory, Justin, Terry, Paul, Stephen, Harold, Morgan, Niecy, Sen, Rose…" he whispered the names into the air. "I won't forget you. I will never forget you."

He shook his head and tried to think of something else. His mind presented him with the memory of Heero taking a swing at him.

He let me beat on him, Duo thought morosely. He could have stopped me at any time, and he didn't.

Heero was a brutal fighter. Duo knew for a fact the guy could take a hit. Back during the Eve War Heero hadn't flinched when Duo had decked him in the face at his request. He had seen his partner get up and walk away from attacks that would have incapacitated the average person. He had also witnessed him perform amazing hand to hand maneuvers that he had yet to see anyone else do. He had no doubt that if Heero truly intended on knocking him a good one he wouldn't have missed.

Duo grit his teeth. He dropped his hands from his face to rest against the pillow on either side of his head. He clenched his hands reflexively into fists. His marked knuckles cried out with pain as he did so. He felt like shit. He knew why his lover had done what he had, and part of him was grateful. The other half was embarrassed and felt guilty as hell.

Once again, I owe Heero for something he's done for me. He thought gloomily. Shit. Just for once I wish we could just be even. I'm tired of feeling like he has to take care of me. Why do I gotta be so pathetic all the time? Why can't I shake this shit?

"Mannnn…" He groaned aloud and kicked his legs against the mattress, annoyed. As he did he heard a loud thunk as something fell to the floor.

"OW! OW!"

"Eh?" He sat up and quickly looked over the foot of the bed and saw Haro flapping its earflaps wildly at him from the floor.

"HURT! HURT! HARO! HARO!"

"Shit, sorry buddy." He apologized. His frown deepened. The jazz piano playing quietly from his open laptop had shifted to a chill, lo-fi^ electronica song. Duo raised an eyebrow at the selection and carefully pushed himself up to a stand. He stretched his arms out in front of him, rolled his stiff shoulders and hopped his bare feet across the cold floor to check the laptop monitor. His nose scrunched as he saw that "Black Alpha's Outer Space Chill" was streaming on the screen.

"Heero's finally starting to like his own thing, huh?" Duo said under his breath as he stopped the music from playing. "Heh. Too bad it sucks." He switched Heero's playlist with his own and turned the volume up to full blast. Immediately the low and alluring suspended string bass notes mingled with a melodic electric guitar. The sound entered the room and wrapped around his head. It sank into his grey matter and eventually forced his previous turbulent thoughts beneath the surface.

"Keep you in the dark
You know they all pretend
Keep you in the dark
And so it all began."

The beat abruptly accelerated with the slap and pop of snare drum. As the song settled into its full swing he began to dig through his surprisingly tidy drawers for a change of clothes. Haro had rolled over to nudge his foot. He paused to snatch the orange ball up from the floor and set it beside the blaring laptop.

"Spinning infinity, boy
The wheel is spinning me
It's never-ending, never-ending
Same old story."*

He pulled out the topmost of his personal clothing. He couldn't bring himself to wear a uniform space suit. His body needed a break, and though it was impractical to walk around the ship with thin civilian Earth-style clothing he couldn't find it in himself to give a single fuck. He tucked the items under his arm and padded toward the door. The Haro wobbled and rolled across the tabletop as if to follow him.

"Nah, you wait here. I'll be right back," he said with a dismissive wave. He wanted to be alone, even from his robotic companion. He slung on his black rubber sandals and made his way down the hall to the communal showers.

The individual cabins each had a sink and narrow personal water closet but had no full shower systems due to the ship's requirement for moisture management. The showers were located in a tightly sealed chamber. Rampant moisture fed nuisance bacteria** that plagued all spacebound craft, so communal shower chambers were commonplace. Duo had never seen a personal shower in a ship's cabin until he had visited with Howard in the Pacific ocean. He had been teased mercilessly for days by the Sweeper crew for being excited about having a shower in his room.

He slipped into the empty shower chamber and took the first stall to the left. He set his clean clothes down on a shelf outside of the stall, carefully removed Hilde's sweater and folded it over the top of the divider wall. The room was covered from floor to ceiling with wide, flat white tiles. There were six individual stalls situated in groups of three. Each stall contained dual showerheads and was shielded by a plain opaque blue fabric curtain. Intricate filtration and venting systems were built into the ceiling. Duo couldn't recall a time when the room ever got steamy.

He yanked off the rest of his clothes, tossed them in a pile on the floor and kicked them outside the stall before starting the water. He turned it to the hottest setting possible and reached behind his back to rip his elastic black hair tie free from the end of his braid. He wrapped the elastic around his wrist before grabbing his thick rope of hair and pulling it over his shoulder. As the scalding water saturated it it became five times heavier. He slipped his index finger into the heart of one of the cross-crossed sections and pulled it down. The length of the plait beneath his finger gradually unraveled from his downward swipe. He then dug his fingers into the remainder of his hair and shook it out from root to tip.

His hair was long when braided. During the Eve War his hair had been well past his ass but now it was threatening the backs of his knees. Unbraided it was a couple of inches longer. With it completely undone he could feel the longest tresses tickle the backs of his knees. He turned around and let the water completely soak through it.

The follicles on his scalp ached from the release of position. Anytime he let his hair loose he would feel a strange, uncomfortable sensation on his head as the hair fought to return to its usual angle. He rubbed at the irritation with his fingertips to try and relieve the discomfort there.

His hair was drenched and sticking to his body. He picked it off of himself, gathered its mass and rested it against his shoulder. He gathered a copious amount of the ship's piquant herbal scented shampoo in both hands and lathered his hair with practiced ease before rinsing and conditioning it. The process took a significant amount of time. Just as he finished he heard the distinctive hiss of someone entering the sealed shower chamber doorway. He peeled through the curtain just in time to see Wufei's tattooed back disappear into the stall directly across from his.

He frowned and stepped back to stand once again beneath the high-pressure blast of searing water. He felt a mixture of conflicting emotions bubbling to the surface.

Wufei was his friend. He had helped him through difficult times after he had left Preventer. He helped him to get a job at the University on X-18999. He had been a constant, reliable companion then. Things had changed a lot since they joined Ouroboros.

No… even before that. Things changed after Heero showed up again. Duo realized with a frown. He had stopped spending as much time with Wufei after that. What had used to be a series of casual lunches, movie outings and platonic companionship had slowly deteriorated into nothing more than passing comments and work-related conversation. Duo wondered of Wufei was pissed at him for that. He knew that he felt isolated living on Lennon, but how did the Chinese man feel? Wufei had always been a loner, but even loners need occasional companionship.

He felt the burn of his guilt begin to combine with the sear of his shower. He finished washing quickly and shut off the water. After towel drying his hair he twisted in into a loose rope and let it rest against his left shoulder. He tossed a towel around his waist and shuffled out into the center of the chamber.

"Hey, yo. Fei?" He called hesitantly over the rushing drone of the water. There was a pause before he received a reply.

"Maxwell?"

"Hey, um. You got a minute to talk?"

"... I'm showering."

"Well, yeah. I know. Nevermind, maybe later huh?" Duo backpedaled. Wufei's dripping face shot out from behind the curtain.

"What is it?" Wufei asked, his voice hinted that he was annoyed but his face expressed surprising patience.

"I… I'm sorry about last night." Duo blurted. He noticed that Wufei was looking him over with an analytical expression. His dark eyes had stopped to study the bruises on his hand.

"What you and Yuy do with yourselves after hours is your own business. I'd like for you to keep it that way and be considerate of your neighbors." Wufei said coolly as his eyes returned to his face to gaze at him curiously.

"Yeah, uh… I'm sorry." Duo felt like a broken record. He didn't know what else to say. He fumbled with his thoughts for a second before spitting them out hurriedly. "I'm sorry about a lot of stuff. Like how I performed yesterday on mission. The feed didn't cut out because of Haro. Like… he didn't interrupt my immersion connection with you guys. I broke it off. Because…"

"You think I don't know that?" Wufei snapped at him, though not unkindly. "It was obvious you were upset, Duo. Anyone would be after seeing something like that. It disappointed me that you felt like you needed to hide it from Winner and me. You don't instill any confidence in me by denying my trust in you."

Duo gawked. He mouthed the air mutely.

"Also, I don't much care to know the details about what happened between you and Yuy last night, but from what I can see from the evidence that is the state of his face and the status of your hand you two got into a row. If you are having anger issues, Duo, you really need to work them out in a different way. Hitting your significant other is unacceptable." The Chinese man said coldly.

"Eh? Wait! Wait a minute, I'm not some abusive boyfriend or anything! He swung at me first!" He exclaimed, his voice echoing throughout the shower chamber. "Shit, since when did I become the bad guy?^^"

The corner of Wufei's mouth had perked with amusement. "You boast about being a Shinigami, Maxwell. You're clearly the bad guy."

"What?!"

Wufei laughed and pulled his head back through the curtain and vanished from view. "I suggest you go and find Yuy and work it out with him. I would like to get some sleep later rather than hear you two bickering all night. The last time I saw him he was working on his mobile suit."

Duo rubbed the back of his neck and felt something thin and hard roll beneath his palm against his nape. He blinked and looked down to see something red shining against his chest.

"How… how the hell?" His formerly lost red gundanium key was pressed against the center of his chest. He snatched it up for inspection and rolled it between his forefinger and thumb thoughtfully. "Holy shit. How did I not fucking notice this?^*" He couldn't believe it. Someone had found his key and put it on him. The evidence clearly pointed to Heero.

What sad and depressing thoughts that had consumed him upon waking disintegrated with his delight at his new discovery. He trembled with excitement. Before he could stop himself he had left the shower chamber and had kicked his sandals off as he ran full-tilt down the fuselage of the ship toward the aft hangar. As he did he nearly plowed into Quatre and Trowa who were walking side by side down the center of the passageway. Trowa's arms were stacked high with folded white sheets, and Quatre^** had been looking down at a tablet in his hand. They parted as he rushed through them.

"Duo? Everything okay?" Quatre called after him as he bolted past them.

"Great! Everything's fucking awesome!" Duo yelled enthusiastically over his shoulder as he vanished from their view. He made it to the hangar, tumbled through the door and began weaving through the frigid catwalks toward Snow White. The Gundam was activated and running. Its low, heavy hum filled the hangar and grew more intense as he ran toward it. He could see Dr. J and Professor G in full Ouroboros space suits with their helmets on. They were standing on the chest-level catwalk as it began to recede away from the Gundam's cockpit. The spinning warning lights beside the massive launch doors were flashing red.

"WAIT! Heero! YO, WAIT UP!" He yelled as he ran barefoot across the catwalks. Snow White's aquamarine eyes flashed as he ran by the two scientists to the end of the catwalk. He grabbed the joystick that controlled the position of the catwalk and forced it back toward the closed cockpit.

"Duo! What the hell?! Are you crazy?!" Professor G was screaming, his voice muffled by his closed helmet. As the catwalk returned to its default position against the Gundams chest the cockpit began to hiss open to reveal Heero in full Ouroboros flight suit. He had taken his helmet off and was watching him with his eyebrows raised. His mismatched eyes were wide with concern. Once the cockpit had opened completely he clambered up into it and threw himself onto his partner. He felt Heero's gloved hands grab his bare hips as he tossed himself down to straddle his lap. His partner continued to stare at him, clearly stunned.

"Duo… what's wrong? Where are your clothes?" His friend asked calmly despite the chaos of the situation.

Duo was suddenly very aware of the freezing temperatures in the hangar. His skin puckered and his entire body fell into a fit of shivers. He also came to the realization that at some point in his mad dash he had lost his towel. The cockpit slid closed. He saw Heero reach out to manipulate the internal climate controls and turn the heater on to full for him before gently plucking locks of his damp hair free from being tangled around his right handle-shaped suit controls. Duo's body shuddered against the coarse nylon of Heero's flight suit. He was shivering so hard he couldn't speak. He doubled over and buried his face against Heero's chest. The darkened cockpit was illuminated only by the faint glow of the ZERO system orb behind him as it waited for activation.

"I… ughh…. Key…." He managed to squeak out despite the uncontrollable cold-induced seizures. Heero had gathered his wet hair with one hand and was holding it away from his body. His other arm had wrapped around his back to hold him tightly against his chest. Duo rested his forehead against his shoulder. His teeth were chattering uncontrollably and his fingers and toes were burning.

"Hn… baka." Heero murmured affectionately.

Footnotes:

* "The Pretender" - Foo Fighters, "Grohl described "The Pretender" as "a stomping Foo Fighters uptempo song, with a little bit of Chuck Berry in it." The song is written in the key of A minor and showcases the shifting dynamics which Grohl wanted to employ on Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, starting with a very stripped-down introduction, featuring Grohl on guitar and vocals along with a small string section. Then comes an escalating hard rock sound, interrupted by breakdowns and escalations in the bridge, including a repeat of the intro." - Wiki

^ "Lo-Fi" or "Low Fidelity" is a type of sound recording which contains technical flaws that make the recording sound different compared with the live sound being recorded, such as distortion, hum, background noise, or limited frequency response. - Wiki (Sounds similar to reel-to-reel and vintage recordings.)

** ISS currently has a problem with microorganisms, bacteria and fungi growing on its walls. "Bacteria are leading the way in adapting to living in space. Scientists looked at how bacteria cope and adapt to different conditions of space flight such as weightlessness, cosmic radiation, space electromagnetism, and space vibrations" Link to pending NASA study on the topic: .gov/mission_

^^ Since you shot poor Yuy twice at the naval base, ya bully.

^* He was too busy worshipping his hair to have noticed.

^** Quatre's your typical slave-driving guy from upper management.