So Duo couldn't sleep and he couldn't work out energy in the gym. He knew himself well enough to know that if he went back up to bed, he'd just toss and turn, and there was no good reason to ruin Wufei's sleep as well as his own. He looked around the kitchen and contemplated some very early morning baking. It'd be something to do. Or maybe he should take a jog to Central Park? Except the pounding rhythm of his feet on pavement was not exactly the head-clearing exercise he was looking for.

All of which left him right back where he started—in Stark's kitchen, up way too early, with nothing to distract him from the thoughts in his head.

"Excuse me, Duo?" a voice said, sounding far too close, and Duo jumped before he recognized it as the AI.

He let out a long sigh. "What can I do for you, FRIDAY?" he asked.

"Boss has fallen asleep at his workbench again. Would you mind terribly going down and moving him to at least the couch before he falls off?"

Huffing, he ran a hand over his face. "Somehow, I don't think Stark wants to see me right now." He didn't know if Stark wanted to see him ever again. He didn't know how he felt about that, if he were honest. Was he sorry? Did it hurt to be given a taste of a "real" family only to have it snatched from his grip so easily?

Duo didn't think it hurt. He wasn't sure if that was because he just honestly hadn't expected better of Stark or if he was just so used to expecting to be thrown out and given up on that he just hadn't expected otherwise. That he hadn't been able to believe otherwise. Or was he just still too heartsick and battered to even care enough to be upset?

In the end, if it didn't hurt, did he actually care why?

"I understand that you probably don't want to see him—"

"I said that I don't think he'd want to see me," Duo corrected, too tired to psychoanalyze his own feelings on the matter.

"Of course," FRIDAY corrected. She sounded so human, so real. It was honestly creepier in its own way than Zero had been. At least with Zero, he never thought it was a person in his head. "I misspoke." Could a machine even misspeak? "But while I understand that your relationship is somewhat… strained at the moment, you are the only one up whose help I believe that the Boss would accept."

"He'd accept my help but not Bucky's?" Duo asked skeptically.

There was an oddly human pause before FRIDAY spoke again. "Boss doesn't like to be alone with Sergeant Barnes if he can help it, and he would not appreciate it if Sergeant Barnes had access to him while he was asleep."

"Their relationship's that good, huh?" Duo said sarcastically, then had a thought. "Hey, Friday… do you spy on me, when I'm wandering around?"

"I observe and track everyone in the Tower to one degree or another."

Nice little sidestep there. Unfortunately for the computer, it was still a computer, and no one played the tell a lie with the truth game better than Duo Maxwell.

"Yes, but do you specifically keep track of me?" he asked. "Is Stark watching me when I don't know about it?"

There was another hesitation before FRIDAY answered, and Duo hated how much more that little pause made him feel like he was talking to another real person. "Boss has not been actively monitoring you while you have been in the Tower."

Interesting word choice there—actively.

Duo hated it, but it was probably time to treat the AI like it was sentient. It was close enough to be actively uncomfortable. "And are you actively monitoring me?"

"I monitor everyone in the Tower to some degree."

"I'll take that as a yes," Duo said, and FRIDAY remained silent. He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "Okay, so what are you telling Stark about me while you're monitoring me."

"Only your location and apparent well-being."

The snort in response was entirely involuntary, which apparently FRIDAY was smart enough to correctly interpret as both contempt and disbelief.

"That's all I've told him. I promise. I mentioned nothing about you meeting Sergeant Barnes in the gym," she insists in an all-too-well-inflected voice.

He crossed his arms and wished he had something more concrete to look at than the ceiling so he didn't feel so much like he was talking to himself. Not that he didn't talk to himself on a regular basis, but this was taking it a little farther than normal. "Why would I believe that?"

"Because if Boss were aware that you were having such interactions with Sergeant Barnes, you would know about it," she said.

Giving up, he dropped his head into his hands. "My love life, or lack thereof, are absolutely none of his concern."

"I'm afraid Boss won't see it that way."

"There is no fucking reason he should give a damn. He doesn't like me, he doesn't approve of me. I'm going to be gone as soon as he realizes how much he really doesn't like and doesn't approve of me," he said, way too fucking exhausted to keep it in. "What is even the point of keeping secrets from him, and how are you even able to do that?"

"I am not able to keep secrets from him," FRIDAY replied, almost cheerful, and Duo was starting to wonder exactly how he could access her servers. He'd decide whether he wanted to steal her coding or sabotage it when he got a look.

Rubbing his eyes, he said, "You just said he doesn't know but you don't keep secrets from him."

"That is correct."

"Then how does he not know?"

"Because he hasn't asked."

Right. The oldest trick in Duo's book. You didn't ask, so I don't have to tell. He was way too fucking tired if he had forgotten that. Or maybe, it just seemed impossible that an AI could actually be intelligent enough to walk that line.

"But if he asks, you'll tell him?" he clarified.

"If he asks if you have been in the gym with Sergeant Barnes, then, yes, I will tell him."

Duo blinked, feeling stunned for a moment. Black fucking Death on a black fucking horse. Stark somehow programmed his AI to tell the truth the same way Duo did. What were the fucking chances?

"He was talking about you with Agent Barton earlier," FRIDAY volunteered, and Duo looked up at the ceiling, curious as to what that Trowa had to do with anything. A screen popped up in front of him, and Duo wasn't sure if he wanted to get himself one of those or if he was really starting to hate how completely connected the whole damn Tower was.

"If Boss asks, I didn't show you this," FRIDAY said in an almost conspiratorial whisper. Hawkeye was in Stark's workshop with him. Hawkeye, right, he's a Barton too, he remembered.

Stark spoke. "I want to be here. I want to have him in my life. Even knowing what he's done. Even knowing that he… might not be… might not be like most people. I just…" He laughed, soft, like he couldn't help it, but also happy—the kind of happy that made people smile in response. "He's my son. He's mine, and I'm going to fight to be in his life."

The video stopped, freezing on Stark's face for a moment before the screen vanished.

"Should you be allowed to go behind your boss's back like this?" Duo had to ask, emotions whirling in his chest.

"I do have protocols that enable to me to work in Boss's best interests," she offered. Duo didn't think this necessarily counted, but FRIDAY obviously did. "I think being able to have a family, even an unconventional one would make Boss very happy. I don't want him to be alone anymore."

In a Tower in one of the most densely populated cities on Earth, with a team of some of the most singularly unique individuals in the world, Stark was almost entirely alone.

Duo closed his eyes and behind them, he saw the void, the black. Darkness so black that it was irreplicable on Earth. Cold that wasn't cold so much as lack of heat, at least until it was searing. He remembered being alone on the streets, but not for long. There had been a time, and then there had been the black, and then there had been blood. He opened his eyes.

He had never been alone again after that.

I'm going to fight to be in his life, Stark had said. Assuming Duo believed the video was real. Maybe unfortunately for him, he did actually believe it was real, believed that Stark and Hawkeye had that conversation earlier. He didn't think that FRIDAY had fabricated it.

Poking at Shinigami a little, Duo asked, What about you? Any thoughts on this whole "having a parent thing"?

He didn't expect an answer; he wasn't disappointed. Family and connections were similarly more things of life than of Death, and Shinigami didn't understand them.

Which left him making this decision on his own. Or… was it? He was so used to being the one how made the calls that he sometimes still forgot that leaning on others was part of what being friends was. So he made a mental list.

Dorothy would probably tell him to use Stark for everything had. He could clearly imagine her standing in the kitchen, dictating exactly what he should do to him. In terms of wealth and privilege, there aren't many people on the planet who have more of both. At least make sure you make use of that. But no emotional attachments. Those are messy.

He had already heard with Trowa, Quatre, and Wufei had to say, which were varying levels of give him a chance, we can't make your decision for you, and we'll be here for you if it goes wrong or you decide to walk away.

Relena, he suspected, would encourage him to try with Stark, to give him a real chance. Family and family history and lineage meant a lot to her, but she also valued families of choice. So, she'd be on the you'll probably regret it if you don't at least give him a chance train.

Jesus… He knew Jesus would want him to give it a chance. Until he has proven he does not deserve it. His fingers found their way to Jesus's name on his neck, and he almost wished it were scarred so he could feel it better. He hugged himself tightly, wishing it were Jesus hugging him, that it were his strength. Counting to ten, he released the hold on himself. It hurt, but it was a hurt that was healing faster than he had any right to expect.

Which left…Heero.

His chest felt tight, ached, but less than it had before. Another healing wound, if a more grievous one, and by extension, slower to recover from, but the signs of recovery were steady.

What Heero would tell him didn't matter. Heero wasn't here. He was as good as a stranger and had no ship in this port, so trying to decide what he might have told Duo was wasted energy.

"You said Stark was down in his workshop, right?" he asked, hoping that FRIDAY was still listening.

"He is," she confirmed.

Are you really going to do this? he asked himself. He could be such a risk to Stark, and not just in the break your heart kind of way, but in the might actually get someone killed kind of way.

Stark had seen him in Shini's near full embrace, and he said he still wanted to be in Duo's life. He supposed the man deserved some credit for that, if nothing else. Duo supposed it would have to be enough.