After lunch, before Wufei could find an excuse to get Heero out of there, Treize spoke up first. "Do you have somewhere to be? If not, you're welcome to stay the night," he offered.

"Might as well. I don't know if I'm going to pick up a job while I'm here or what," Heero replied with a shrug. He thought about saying something along the lines of "go back to Duo," but didn't want to lie outright. Deliberate omission was fine; lying was another matter, especially if he was found out.

Satisfied with that answer, Treize turned to Quatre and Trowa. "Did Wufei finish showing you around? If not, you're free to explore for yourselves. I suppose the only places in the house that are off-limits are my study and bedroom," he said with a smile. "Go ahead and make yourselves at home, get acquainted with the housekeeper, whatever you want."

Quatre - who was still a little uncertain and shell-shocked about the whole affair - thanked him and he and Trowa excused themselves from the table and the room.

"You should take them out, show them around the city tomorrow if they want to go," Treize suggested to Wufei after they'd left the room.

"They're not staying here forever," Wufei replied with a scowl, and left in a huff.

"I should probably go talk to him," Treize apologized to Heero, and excused himself as well. "You're welcome to hang around here, or go out and come back tonight - whatever you want. I don't know if you're interested or not, but I have quite an extensive library."

"Not really," Heero replied with a shrug. "I guess I'll go out and take a look around," he said as he stood up.

"Let me show you to the back door, then, and you can come back in that way."

"What do you think?" Heero asked Duo as he wandered down the hill into the next district to see if there was anything interesting to be found there.

"Treize seems reasonable enough about this whole thing - more than Wufei, at least," Duo replied with a chuckle. "And he seems to enjoy making Wufei squirm. I think I kind of like him over here."

"Yeah," Heero agreed. "He does seem a lot more laid-back and friendly, though it might just be because we're not enemies here and it's a more... informal setting."

"He's just as dangerous, though," Duo warned him. "You don't fuck around with sorcerers."

"I know." Heero stopped to take a look at some swords laid out in front of a blacksmith's shop, then moved on and left that thread of their conversation behind.

"Are you going to take a job?" Duo asked him after a few more minutes had passed.

"Might as well," Heero replied. "If you don't mind."

"I don't mind... as long as you take something interesting this time," he said with a chuckle. "None of this pansy nobleman escort shit. I want something exciting and dangerous. Don't worry - I've got your back," Duo promised.

Heero smiled and went to look at the boards.

After a late dinner, Quatre and Trowa retired to their rooms and Heero to his, and Wufei hung around Treize in the library just long enough to keep him company for his nightcap.

"Quit pacing and go to bed," Treize chided him halfway through his glass. "Nothing's going to happen, so stop worrying about it."

"What if one of them tells Duo?"

"They all promised they wouldn't, didn't they? Have some faith in your friends," Treize replied with a smile.

"What if they find out about... us?" Wufei fretted.

"Why does it matter? Besides, Quatre and Trowa are going to find out eventually, living with us. Speaking of which, you never told me they were a couple."

"Why does it matter?" Wufei replied automatically, then made a sour face when Treize smiled at him and he realized the trap he'd just walked into. "It's not the same," he said with a scowl.

"Just go to bed," Treize told him. "I'm going to stay up for a while and work on some things."

"Fine," Wufei said with a sigh. Then, to Treize's great amusement, he glanced around the library as though there might be someone there spying on them before he kissed him goodnight and left.

Treize shook his head and chuckled to himself, then finished his glass. After relaxing there for a few more minutes, he went to his study to get to work.

Treize was the sort of person who could throw himself into a task single-mindedly and block out everything else around him, so it was no surprise that he didn't notice he was being kept company. Of course, Duo was the master of stealth and could make himself blend into the shadows to pass unnoticed wherever he needed to go, but he didn't need to try very hard with Treize.

He sat in a chair in the far corner of the room, and Treize's eyes must have passed over where he sat three or four times before his presence was finally noticed. Treize caught him out of the corner of his eye, a black that was too dark to belong and his instincts and reflexes kicked in before his thought process could finish and he lashed out with his magic.

Duo dodged it easily and it hit the back of the chair instead.

"You're lucky I'm in a good mood," Duo said with a smile. Then, looking at the damage and back at Treize, "Water, huh? So tell me... do opposites attract?"

Treize stared at him for a few moments as he tried to catch up and process the question as he was meant to understand it: not just a question of Wufei's element, but also of their relationship. "They do."

Duo smirked, and Treize remembered to breathe again.

"Are you...?" He already knew the answer, but never having met him face-to-face before in the other world, he wanted to make sure he had the right person.

For an answer, Duo reached up and removed his veil so that Treize could see his face. "Got time to chat?"

"No" was not something you said to a shadow child, so he said "yes" even though he had been in the middle of something.

Duo took a seat in a different chair; Treize sat down of his desk on the opposite side of the room. Friend or enemy, he didn't want to take any more chances than he had to.

"So did you know I was here, or...?" Duo began with a chuckle.

"I thought I felt something when they first arrived, so I guessed what you were and that you must have been with them after Heero said the coin came from you," Treize replied honestly.

"Fair enough. If you hadn't come out and invited Heero in, you would have known sooner," Duo pointed out, and Treize knew it was the truth; Duo certainly had the magic to get past the protective barrier he'd put up around his house, but he would have known something else had come through. His invitation to enter had effectively nullified the barrier and allowed Duo to cross with Heero without him knowing. Duo smiled again. "So tell me... are you going to say anything to Wufei about this? I could be mean and let him know myself... but something tells me it would be even meaner to let you say it."

"Perhaps," Treize said, "But not any time soon. He's upset enough right now as it is about letting them stay here."

"Did it take much... persuasion?" Duo asked with a dirty smirk.

Treize surmised that he already knew exactly what kind of persuasion it had taken, going off his earlier question of whether opposites attracted, and wondered if he had been watching them earlier in the library. "I have a way with words," he replied with a good attempt at keeping a straight face.

"And with your mouth, I bet," Duo leered. "But I believe him when he says you've got nothing on him in the other world, so do whatever you want."

"I wouldn't risk my reputation on an affair with a minor even if he didn't have a problem with it there," Treize said, and this time he didn't have to fake his sincerity.

"Glad to hear it," Duo replied. "Well, I suppose that's everything I wanted," he said as he rose. Treize stood up as well, and Duo grinned as he put his veil back in place and left as silently as he'd come.