Little Tin Flower, Red Stitches and a Rain Soaked Angel
By the Link Worshiper

~oOo@ Part I ~ Gutter Flower @oOo~


Duo liked the rain. He always had, ever since he was a little child running around singing (more or less) punk rock songs through the silent halls of the monastery where he had been raised. He had loved the sound it made on the roof, pitter-pattering softly during quiet showers, or raging madly against the slate shingles during a moody thunderstorm. Rain had such personality, sometimes soothing and reassuring at one moment, only to become hard and violent at other times. But no matter what the rain was feeling, Duo adored it, and had always reveled in dancing in its moistened glory, for the sheer sensation of feeling alive, free and renewed. No matter what dreadful thoughts had been running through his mind (and there were more of those than Duo liked to let on), the rain could always wash away his sadness, like a baptismal rite… or something of the like, being as, despite his upbringing, Duo had never been a big believer in God and all that. And it was good during a long hard cry, because the rain could wash away tears and hide their marks.

But that was all in the past. It did not rain in space. Not for real anyway. After the war with OZ had ended, Duo had found himself nameless and wandering the streets again, just as he was when he was a child, sometimes for days straight before he could find a roof to sleep under or a good warm meal to eat. Stealing just to get barely enough to scrape by, Duo was a fugitive of sorts, hiding in dark corners, watching his life pass him by. Only twenty and already he found himself in the winter of his life. Nameless, just like Shinigami…. No one had noticed him in all the joy of the world's newfound peace. Quatre had his excessively large family to return home to and Wufei found his country oozing with pride for their warrior. Trowa had faded back into the circus life though Duo was pretty sure that he was still visiting with Quatre. Even Heero had his moment of unwanted glory for a month or so when he was praised as some kind of national hero for "saving mankind from certain doom" (or so the headline read as Duo recalled) before he faded back into the woodwork, just the way typical Heero had always liked to be, alone, without a face or a name. But Shinigami wandered alone and at night, near death and with nowhere to go. He had been the only survivor of the Maxwell Church Tragedy and even though he was sure that any church would surely accept him, the life did not suit him, knowing also that they would not be too pleased to hear that any faith Duo had once had in a god of any kind (besides dear Shinigami, of course) was shot completely to pieces. It was pointless, frustrating and a waste of mind, energy and time. So there he was, all alone until a familiar face found him curled up in a gutter somewhere with a cheap little transistor radio pressed against his breast as the rain drummed against his prone near dead body.

"You?" Duo looked up, lifting his head as high as he could with such a weakened body. "What are you doing here? I thought you were dead."

"I could say the same about you." His voice was deep and thick, sad and deliciously monotone, just as it had always been, never changing, even after all this time.

Duo massaged his bleeding shoulder and then made a fuss of pulling his black baseball cap down over his eyes. "But I'm dead. Shinigami has come at last to take his faithful home."

"Seems he's forgotten his most trustworthy servant," came the witty reply wrapped in that same unwavering tone, still melancholy, still miserable. "Obviously there is still something left for the Devil's advocate here."

"Not here," Duo moaned. "Look at me! I'm about to die! I'm sleeping in a goddamned sewer drain for Chrissakes! I smell like dead fish, my clothes are a bloody mess and I'm near starving to death! How can you say there's more for me to do in this godforsaken life?"

"There can be no light without shadow, just as there cannot be shadow without the light," he murmured as he stooped, discarding the large red umbrella he had been holding so he could slid his arms under Duo's knees and behind his neck. "It's uncanny the way I always seem to be coming to your rescue, even now that OZ has been eliminated."


It was such that Duo had come to live with Heero Yuy. After that chance encounter, Heero had carried Duo to his hotel and allowed him to wash away the stench of poverty before whisking the braided American away with him to his home on a new colony up in the L1 cluster by the end of the week. That was the last time Duo had ever been caught in the warmth of the Earth's rain. He hated to think about it and yet at the same time felt that it had been on that day that his life had started over. He really had missed Heero after the war, and it was depressing to think in his head that he had adored those days when there was abundant fighting and galactic unrest because that meant that he would be with Heero, the one person Duo would even consider being a real friend… not that the feeling was mutual or anything. Heero said time and again that it was his duty to a fellow comrade-at-arms and nothing more (Duo could swear that Heero would have to look the word friend up in a dictionary to figure out what the it meant), and it hurt Duo to think that he was only another soldier to Heero. And even at times, the feeling of being rejected was more evident than others, though Heero never quite understood when he came home to find Duo crumpled up in a corner, crying his eyes out.
Furthermore, he was not sure if he was wearing out his welcome by staying with Heero after all this time, but after about three, going on four years of living in Heero's rather spacious apartment, he had grown rather used to the lifestyle and was not sure he could get back out on his own two feet again without falling miserably back into the gutter. And then besides, he was with Heero again and that meant that he would not be lonely… because Heero was all he had. Just unfeeling Heero and that crappy little tin transistor radio.

The phone was ringing softly from the little kitchenette of the apartment as Duo awoke slowly, rubbing his eyes groggily. He could barely hear it from his room over the soft strains of his crackly little radio and wished hard that he were only dreaming it, because if there was anything that he hated, it was early rising. Heero, go get it, will you? He squinted his eyes shut again and rolled over as the phone rang on.

All I can say is that my life is pretty plain.
I like watching the puddles gathering.
And all I can do is just pour some tea for two,
And speak my point of view,
But it's not sane.

I just want someone to say to me,
"I'll always be there when you wait."
You know I'd like to keep my cheeks dry today.
So stay with me and I'll have it made.

And I don't understand why I sleep all day,
And I start to complain when there's no rain.
And all I can do is read a book to stay awake,
And it rips my life away,
But it's a great escape.
Escape…

"Come on Heero, I'm trying to get some extra shuteye," Duo threw a pillow over his head angrily, completely unwilling to actually get up and walk the distance to the kitchen for one damn telephone call. Soon there was silence, and Duo took a brief moment to wonder why Heero, the most efficient machine in all the known universe, had not immediately gone to pick it up. And then it began to ring again, its droning buzzing only frustratingly annoying at this point. Duo rolled over again and reached over to the transistor sitting on the cluttered table above his bed and fumbled with the volume, pushing the little dial up as so to drown out that stupid appliance in the next room.

All I can say is that my life is pretty plain.
You don't like my point of view,
Well I'm insane.
It's not sane. It's not sane.

I just want someone to say to me,
"I'll always be there when you wait."
You know I'd like to keep my cheeks dry today.
So stay with me and I'll have it made.

Oh and I'll have it made.

"Alright, alright," Duo finally managed to sit up, the black comforter and sheets falling off his bed as he swung his legs onto the dark shaggy carpet blanketed with various this-and-that, rubbing his eyes. Slowly his disaster zone of a room came into focus, its black walls smothered with posters of bands and red spray-painted graffiti. Whoever was calling certainly was not about to resort to a simple voicemail message since every time the ringing stopped, there was only about five seconds worth of silence before the phone kicked in again. For the first time, he gave a quick glance at the bedside table and found a yellow post-it note stuck to the radio. In the neatest print imaginable was a simple message: Gone out on business this morning. Expect me back by six PM. –Heero. PS Don't break anything. Duo gave an indignant snort as he tore the sticky note off the transistor and chucked it under his bed. "How typically Heero. He wouldn't trust me with a pillow and stuffed bunny rabbit, I swear!"

Stumbling to the fine wood door, the only thing in Duo's room that was not painted black (it would have been black if Heero had allowed him to take a paintbrush to it, but apparently it was not the sort of thing Heero would have defiled; the state of Duo's room was bad enough), Duo managed to drag himself to the telephone and pick up the receiver. There was only one phone in the entire flat. Heero was not only disgustingly perfect and professional about everything, but he also insisted on being very practical. Hence, the one phone and the one barely adequate television set (by Duo's standards it was small anyway) and then the plain furniture that was attractive in a simple sort of way, but even then, only what was needed to get by. Nothing fancy, nothing unnecessary, just the basics, save a few black and white photographs Quatre had managed to snap of the two of them hanging in simple black frames on one wall. In any case, he thought it was a perfectly excellent way to make one of the most beautiful apartments he had ever seen look nowhere near as good as it had the potential to.

Though Heero was generally pretty lenient as to what he allowed Duo to do with his own earnings, there were still times when the perfect soldier put a grinding halt into that little thing sane people liked to call "fun." For instance, Heero had absolutely no intention of allowing Duo to buy the magnificent stereo system on sale in the window of the electronics shop down the street. He told his loud American tenant that it was useless and just a waste of money, especially when Duo already had a radio and that the last thing he needed was a piece of equipment that would only allow Duo to make even more noise than he already did. At that Duo had snorted, flicking the rose etched on the round disc inlaid on the speaker of his poor little transistor, saying that a piece of shit radio like that had no business being put in league with a real stereo system. And even though Duo felt he was right on the matter, Heero closed the issue with one of his icy death glares and refused to hear any more on the subject. That was how Heero ran his household, his words few, but his influence great. And since Duo was virtually skidding along on Heero's coattails (Heero made most of the income with his work as a hacker and other such espionage jobs and Duo's small part-time employment just could not hold a candle as far as pay was concerned), Duo often felt that he had no right to pursue such matters with particular vehemence.

"Hullo?" Duo said into the receiver, making sure that his voice sounded very sleepy and tinged with annoyance to let the caller know just how much of a pain it had been to get the stupid phone.

"Hello? Duo?" the feminine voice on the other end of the phone said. "Duo? Is Heero home?"

Duo rolled his eyes and pulled himself up onto one of the three stools that sat in front of the high countertop, leaning forward on his elbows and twiddling the curly phone cord around his fingers as he spoke. "Ah, Miss Relena! What a surprise to have you call on us. Nope, sorry to say that the prince of the stars isn't home now. Gone for the day, business, you know?"

A sigh from her end, "Oh, is that so? Well do you know when he'll be around? I want to speak to him about a rather personal issue."

"Hn, why don't you leave a message for him with me. He won't be back until late." A smugly amused grin crossed the American's face. He loved being his irritating self around people that really bothered him… and even people whom he liked… but that was another concern.

"I don't think this is the kind of thing that you would be interested in," she said. She always treated him like he was a little boy, still ten years old. Duo grimaced at the thought of his younger self, a figment of a past that he was not too keen on being reminded of. And even though she babied a lot of other people too (Heero came immediately to mind), Duo always resented the fact that she treated him the worst. He never had been quite sure why, but it seemed like she acted that way around him more out of contempt than because of the notion that Duo was just a loudmouthed brat from the slums of L2.

"Try me, ma'am," said Duo, scrubbing his nails casually on his tee shirt and then holding them out to examine them in the light. "You never can tell what I'll get a kick out of unless you ask me first."

"Oh… just… just nevermind it Duo," she said quickly. "Look, just tell Heero that I called. I'll be waiting for him to give me a ring, okay?"

"Sure thing," Duo yawned long and loud.

"Don't forget," was the tart reply before the line went dead. Duo let the dial tone ring in his ear for a moment before setting the handset back down in the cradle. Then he slid off the stool, rooted through the well-stocked refrigerator and carried a large box containing half a sausage and pineapple pizza plus a two-liter bottle of Coca-cola back to his dark room and closed the door. Settling down on the shag carpet, he pushed some clutter out of the way (just a few CDs, a mug and some old paperwork) to make space for his food. Kicking back, he retrieved a comic book from beneath his chest of drawers and set about the issue of breakfast, the beginning of the long wait for Heero to come home.
—O—


Heero was sitting at a traffic light in his sleek blue convertible, its brown ragtop down and the motor purring softly. His car was probably the only machine he had really ever loved nearly as much as Wing Zero in his entire life and the care that Heero put into the thing really showed it. It moved like lightning and shone like a star. With a little dedication, a near obsessive-compulsive attitude and a strict Duo-can-never-touch-my-car-or-I'll-break-him policy, any ride could look as beautiful as that of Heero Yuy.

Three times a week on any given day, Heero rose before sunup, clambered into the classic BMW Z3 (exquisite mint condition vehicle that dated from the pre-colony era) and shot off to a confidential designated location for a meeting with whoever had a job waiting for him. The Internet and e-mail kept his occupation going strong, and he knew that he was well sought after whenever anyone needed restricted files or something of that nature, but secrecy was of the utmost importance, since most of his work was linked back to the Preventers and many of their top priority cases, surveillance or something of that nature in one way or another. But that had never really been trouble for Heero, being as becoming virtually nonexistent was second nature to him. At least the pay was quite good; it was enough for him to lavishly support himself and Duo with much to spare, though Heero was never one to be a spendthrift, unlike his longhaired companion. And by God, it suited him far better than trailing Relena and acting as her bodyguard. About a year of that had nearly driven him to the point of suicide (again), her constant and apparent favouritism just a bit over the deep end and the public spotlight way too bright to suit his liking. This was better for him, a quiet unnoticed existence, the only one that really knew who he was being one Duo Maxwell.

Duo…. Heero rubbed his temples at the thought of the brash American that was living with him. What the hell was I thinking taking that maniac in with me? Too bad he didn't stay as humble as he was when he was down and out on the streets. With health comes energy, and Duo has way too much of that. For his sake, I hope he was able to keep out of trouble today…. These were the kinds of thoughts that usually crossed Heero's head when it came to Duo, aggravated and frustrated thoughts that often put Heero in a bad mood. He always wondered to himself why he let Duo stay when there were far more cons to outweigh the pros of having Duo around. Sure he was cheerful and funny all the time, and he was probably the only person in the universe who could get Heero to crack even the smallest of jovial smiles, but whether or not it was just his nature to think so or otherwise, Heero found Duo ridiculously annoying, loud, uncouth, rowdy, impetuous and a slew of other such things that nearly drove him insane.

…Though he had to admit… it would be rather lonely around the apartment if Duo ever decided to pack up and leave….

"Hey there," said a giggly female voice. Heero barely turned his head to the right, his eyes emanating that ever-so-classic death glare in the woman who had just pulled up in the yellow Volkswagen beetle next to him. She smiled nevertheless. "What's your name?"

Heero ignored her and turned his eyes back to the intersection ahead of him, drumming his fingers impatiently against the wheel as he waited for what seemed like the colony's slowest light.

"Huh? Don't you talk babe?" she went on, insisting on waging conversation with the callous Heero. "Oh, I get it. You already have a girlfriend, don't you?"

Another darkly cast stare was thrown her way. "Don't even insinuate such an idea," he said coldly, his hand itching to reach for the handgun lying just to his right.

"So then you're one to explore… other… amorous pursuits," she said, a finger to her chin. "That's alright. I think it's hot like that."

Heero's eyes, wide with both horror and an ungodly amount of irritancy towards the VW girl, bore his stare right through her, and the somewhat air-headed woman was starting to get the message that this man probably had not been the best choice for a flirt.

"I'm sorry if you've had a bad day, hon," she said, changing her tactics. "But there's no need to be so harsh to a pretty girl who's just trying to be nice…."

"Go to hell," Heero snapped, tired of the one-sided conversation. He really, really hated people, sometimes wondering why he had spent most of his life trying to save them from destroying themselves in a full-scale war. In fact, there were few people that he would really let in close proximity of himself, and that got him back to thinking about Duo, wondering just what it was that he found so worthwhile in the longhaired brat, who probably had to be the most irritating person in the known universe!

"Well sorry!" the woman finally got the message that she was not wanted and floored the gas, zooming through the red light just as a van was rolling casually across the intersection. Heero frowned, making a comment under his breath about how some people were such horrible drivers.

He was just adjusting the mirror on the side of the car, grimacing to himself about having to return to a house that would probably be overrun with girls and Duo's druggie friends (recollection of a certain incident came to Heero's head), when he noticed something in the mirror he was fixing. Reflected in the shining surface was a motorcyclist clad in a red biker's suit, his face covered by a dark glassed helmet. Heero would normally have not paid any mind to it, but for the gun clutched in the biker's hand. After spending so much time on the battlefield, he was pretty in tuned to noticing a threat.

His awareness of the gunman behind him could have not been any better timed, for right at that moment, the biker fired his weapon, a bullet exploding forward towards Heero's head. The bullet just narrowly missed pounding into the back of his skull, making it by with only a nick on the side of his face where the bullet grazed his cheek.

Not even bothering to wait for the light to change, Heero swerved the car into the intersection, just missing a collision with an oncoming pickup truck. Speeding down the road, Heero threw a glance over his shoulder, his icy blue eyes narrowing as he saw the biker, ever persistent, come wheeling around the curb, firing his gun like mad at the brown haired boy ahead of him. Screams rang out from the pedestrians on the sidewalks at the commotion, particularly when Heero reached down to the passenger seat beside him and grabbed his own gun, absently pointing it over his shoulder and firing a few warning shots in the motorcyclist's general direction.

Knowing that it was futile to continue this chase in such a manner, Heero swung the car around again in a perfect u-turn and sailed back down the street the way he had just come. The biker wasted no time in following Heero tightly. Soon Heero found himself flying down the street alongside the motorcycle, the rider trying to hold his hand steady for a shot and balance the bike at the same time. Rolling his eyes, Heero nonchalantly fired his weapon through the biker's chest. The attacker fell of his bike as his body went limp, the motorcycle skidding forward before crashing to the street with the nasty sound of crunching metal.

Neatly pulling his car to a stop alongside the curb, Heero leapt out of his heavy machine, not even bothering to open the door, his gun cocked, ready to send the biker's head to a mess of bloody pieces if he were still alive. The pedestrians watching the whole affair stood apprehensively, waiting to see what Heero would do next. He walked over to the prone body lying beside the wreckage and nudged it with his foot. When the body didn't move, Heero fired a shot into the asphalt right next to it. There was a muffled whelp of fear from the biker and at the sound, Heero swiftly descended on the man, ripping the helmet off his head. Holding him fiercely by the collar, Heero snapped angrily, "Why did you try to kill me? Are you aware that this is an era of peace?"

The man said nothing, turning his head indignantly away. Heero's face twisted angrily, maddened that he was not getting the answers he desired. He pressed the gun against the man's head and said in a cool voice, "How about now, hmm?"

The man gritted his teeth and spoke in a forced voice, his face now wet with nervous sweat. "Commander Stella order—" he got no further than that, for at that moment, his head exploded with the sound of a muffled gunshot from far off. Heero's head snapped up just in time to see a black clad man hop onto another motorbike and take off down the street, much to quickly for Heero to ever have a chance of catching up. He dropped the body deftly and got to his feet, wondering what these events could possible mean. And who the hell was… Stella?
His fingers flew over the little keypad beside their apartment door. After punching in the pass code, he heard the door unlock and he pushed it open, imagining the worst. The place was in surprising good order, however, Heero realized as he hung up his denim jacket on one of the two hooks in the little front vestibule. He walked into the kitchenette, expecting to find a disaster, but was surprised to find that the mess was limited to a few dirty pots and dishes in the sink and a tomato sauce covered spoon lying on the stove. Unable to walk away from even small disarray such as this, Heero immediately took to mechanically rinsing everything off and putting the kitchenware into the dishwasher.

"Maxwell?" he called out into the suspiciously silent apartment. When there was no reply, he went back to silently scrubbing the spoon. Then he called again. "Dammit Maxwell, hello?" Still nothing. Looking up with a sigh as he dropped the spoon into the dishwasher, he saw a post-it note stuck to the white tile above the sink. With the slightest of amused smiles, he tore it off the wall and scanned it, finding their way of communicating somewhat entertaining. Scrawled in a sloppy script was a note from Duo: Hey Hee-chan! I think you're starting to get a little out of it being as you were so late today, so I had to blow out of here for work before you were home. Have fun cleaning the kitchen up (I know you will) and I'll try not to come home too late or too drunk, hehe. Ciao! XOXO – Duo (Your neighbourhood Shinigami) PS Relena wants you to call her.

"Hn, even his notes talk too much," Heero mused as he dropped the piece of paper into the trashcan. Satisfied that the kitchen was cleaned to a satisfactory condition, he picked up his laptop from the countertop where he had left it, closed Duo's door so he would not have to stare into that uncleanly chaotic room on his way to the sofa and sat down, booted up his computer and prepared for the long night and conveniently forgot to drop Relena a line.

—O—


Duo worked around the corner at a punkish underground bar and club. It was the kind of place where more diverse interesting people gathered as opposed to a regular club, and Duo liked the place because he found himself very much at home amongst those sorts of people. And while living with Heero was probably the best thing that could have happened to the braided American, sometimes Duo just could not help but feel just a little confined in such an economical household with the robotic Heero, which was why he and a few other not-so-mainstream friends of his got together and opened the D. Maxwell's, affectionately called simply D's by the people of L1 for Duo's big hand in keeping business good there. So here Duo felt perfectly free to let loose and be himself without any fear of what others thought of him. And here, there was plenty of loud heart pounding music, free drinks for him and seas of dancing people to drown in.

And in regards to his specific job at D's, well, Duo sung. The club had a pretty decent band and they had a pretty damn good lead singer, that singer being Duo. Heero never failed to let a comment or two about Duo's work fly around once in a while and Duo would just blow up and do something excessively irritating just to get back at him. But it was not like Heero had ever come down to the club to hear Duo sing, so he really had no right to judge him or anything. But no matter what Heero thought, Duo kept at it, because singing was one of the few things he felt that he could do well… and it was one of the few joys he had left in the lonely post-war life he led. So the moment he got into the club, he promptly forgot the outside world, mounted the stage and let his soul run free.

"I'm one of those things,
You'll save forever, and never need.
Like an old newspaper no one has time to read.
This child has grown into a dead end,
Since I lost the power to pretend.
But it's alright; that's who I am inside.
Not much to say on this nontoxic ordinary day!"


At this point, the club was going crazy. If there was anything that an attention craving nut like Duo liked, it was a room with a mash pit of drooling club hoppers bouncing up and down in time with the rhythm of the music. Duo winked at the audience, causing a girl close up front to swoon. And reveling in the heat of the moment, he sang on, his band jamming on behind him. No chance Heero would be caught dead in a place like this, much to Duo's dismay. He wished more than anything that he could make that poor boy feel more like a real person as opposed to a darkened soldier flying through the grimness of battle with hardly a care about it.

"That's no superhero,
Standing right in front of us.
So take this pocket full of kryptonite,
And beat it back to Metropolis.
There's only room for one on this microphone.
In my finest hour, I'm still alone!
But it's alright; that's who I am inside.
Not much to say on this nontoxic ordinary day!
On an ordinary day!

But old news can change,
As memories float downstream.
So don't judge me by my failures,
But only by my dreams!
But it's alright; that's who I am inside.
Not much to say on this nontoxic ordinary day!"

What made Duo's songs more than just music was the passion that swelled in his words, the ardor with which he sang, that made him so wonderful. They had barely finished the one song before they launched right into another melody, with Duo putting on a real sexy act as he let his leather clad hips slowly grind with the beat. As he finished up and took an exaggerated bow, he heard someone call his name. Looking up, he saw an old friend of his sitting at the neon lit bar, waving like mad. Flashing a grin and saying something droll as he announced that he would be taking a quick break, Duo flashed a peace sign to the crowd and jumped off the stage, making his way towards the bar and a well-deserved drink.

"Hey man," Duo said cheerfully as he hopped up onto the barstool next to the purplish haired young woman in the flimsy white artist's shirt and tight blue jeans.

"Duo!" she said with a grin, punching him playfully in the shoulder. "What's up? You surprised to see me?"

"Well gee Hilde, I didn't think that after we'd had that little argument and I'd stormed off on your business that you'd ever want to talk to me again, you know?" Duo said honestly. He shrugged, ordered a shot of amoretto and went on. "It was pretty stupid though, don't you think? I never realized how much I depended on other people until I was really out on my own."

"God Duo, you're still just a little kid," Hilde laughed, leaning on the bar with her elbow. "You'll never change I bet. So what are you doing now?"

"The question is what are you doing now? How did you find me all the way out here?" Duo asked as he fondled his glass of golden liquor.

"I've got my resources," she said slyly as she downed the rest of her beer. After a moment of silence, she ordered another bottle and said, "You've got a real racket going on here, you know? You aren't half bad up there."

"I know," Duo grinned. "They tell me that every weekend."

"You only work on weekends? Duo, you can't hope to support yourself on only a weekend's wage unless they pay you more money than God!" Hilde exclaimed, looking at Duo with wide eyes.

"I only need to work on weekends so it looks like I do my part to help keep the apartment running," Duo said realistically. "Let's just say my roommate isn't limited on income."

"You're a dirty cheapskate," Hilde chided. "Who's your roommate? Do I know him?"

"Damn straight you do," Duo slugged the rest of his amaretto. "Guess."

"Quatre?" Hilde offered, thinking of the most well off person either of them knew.

Duo laughed, flicking the gold ring in his ear. "Not that rich buddy. Try again."

"I have no idea," Hilde rolled her eyes, deciding that it would be well worth letting Duo think like he had won the little trivia match. She had never been one for guessing games anyway. "Just tell me."

"You're going to die when I tell you," he said with that childish grin. "Could you ever imagine innocent little old me living with everyone's favourite perfect soldier?"

"No way, you're living with Heero?" Hilde's jaw dropped. Getting over her initial surprise, she cocked her head in thought, musing aloud. "Well, now that I think on it, it's not so weird. Figured if you'd end up rooming with anyone afterwards, it'd be Heero, though I could swear he was going to move in with Miss Relena."

Duo laughed again, a hand on his forehead. "If only you could hear some of the things Heero says about that woman. Ooh, you would be on the floor laughing your ass off for a week. God knows I was, hehe. To think that Mr. Zero Emotion could say some of those things that he's been saying about Relena, well it's just pretty goddamn funny if you ask me."

Hilde's interest was piqued. "Like what? I thought he liked her."

Once more, Duo's face became thoughtful. "You know, so did I, now that you mention it, but I guess he just isn't one to have some woman doting on him left and right. It's more the other way around, her liking him. She's always calling and wanting to talk to him when all he wants is to be left alone. It annoys me almost as much as I'm sure it annoys him. Can't say that I particularly care for her myself anymore, being as I'm just about as good as chopped liver in her book. Though I do have to say, we've had some good chuckles over her."

Hilde's face became overcome with shock again. "You've gotten Heero to laugh? I've never even seen him smile, much less laugh." "I said chuckle, not laugh," Duo snapped, crossing his arms and painting a kiddy little pout on his lips. "Like hell Heero Yuy would laugh. But yeah, it's a little easier get him to react to a joke now, I think because that damn war isn't looming over everyone's head. He's even gotten me with some pretty witty remarks here and then."

"Wow, he's changed more than I ever thought he would," Hilde said, obviously awed at the influence Duo had on the former Wing Zero pilot.

"Not that much, really," Duo tugged his long black shirt. "He's still very much the same old Heero."

"Hn, I guess so," she shrugged, swishing the beer around in the bottle before taking another sip. "So what's it like then, spending all that time with him? Is he really hard to live with, being as he is?"

"Well we always used to hang out anyway and it's not really much different… though nowadays he's not home very often," Duo ordered another shot of amaretto with a wave of his glass. "Sometimes I wonder if he even realizes that we're breathing the same oxygen. Don't think he likes me very much 'cause he always seems so damn annoyed with me, glaring and such at me and it's a miracle he hasn't kicked me out yet."

"Well see, he's got to think of you as some denomination of a friend if you've been living with him for… how long?"

"Three years almost."

"There, you see?" she gave him a nod. "Don't worry about it so much. You and I both know that Heero is the kind of guy who isn't about to let you know what he's thinking. So you never know! He could be head over heals in love with you for all you know!"
A faint hint of red danced across Duo's face at the thought, a colour that did not fail to be noticed by Hilde's ever watching eye. He went on quickly, "Yeah, you tell me that after three years of barely enough conversations to count on your one hand," Duo held up five fingers in front of Hilde's face. "Sometimes you gotta check the pulse on that guy to make sure he's still alive, he's so mechanized."

"But that's just classic Heero, don't you think?"

"It's damn frustrating though."

"Why?"

Duo was silent for a moment as he thought of how to phrase what he wanted to say without making it come out sounding wrong. "Because Heero's probably the best friend I've ever had and… and even though he never says much to me and acts like he wants to see me die slowly half the time, well, I sometimes just can't help thinking that he considers me a close friend too, no matter how hard he tries to hide it."

"I think you're right about that," Hilde agreed. "He still thinks like a soldier, even after all this time, like having emotions will make you weak."

"He'd hate to be put in the same sentence as that word," Duo smiled at the thought of the face Heero would get if he told him that. He decided to put that in his back pocket for later use one day. He'd either get a good laugh out of it or wind up dead. Either one would work out alright, he figured as he chugged the rest of his liquor.

"Is he really that thick?" Hilde wondered aloud.

"You bet your life he is," Duo winked.

Hilde sighed, knowing that it was just Duo being playful old Duo and nothing more. He never looked at her with the eyes she had always wanted him to; she almost even thought that he looked at Heero with more affection than he did at her. But at least he was her friend, and she was happy to be at least that. After having to live the past few years alone, she realized that she would rather have Duo and be his friend, than love him and be without. The last thing she wanted was to be talked about the way that Duo complained about Relena.

"So, you gonna be hanging around for a while man?" Duo asked, dragging her away from her thoughts. "This is a pretty nice colony… much better than L2."

"It is but," Hilde shrugged again, "I can't hang around so long. I really just came up here to say hello to you. When I found out you'd moved up here, I just wanted to see you again. It had been so long and you had been so angry when you left… I just wanted to say I was sorry for whatever I did to hurt you, Duo."

He was looking down at his glass, his finger tracing the rim. He looked up at her with a little grin on his face. "Well I really appreciate that, Hilde. You always were such a good friend that way."

"Yeah," she sighed, the way he spoke sealing her thoughts about his feelings for her. So he hadn't been thinking of me since he'd left. She said to him, "I'm glad to be, Duo."

"Of course you are!" he slapped her merrily on the back, making her sputter. "Well if that's the case, I guess I can't stop you. Feel free to drop on in any time. You can talk to the manager; he'll tell you where I am if I'm not around here."

"Okay, that's good to know," she smiled. "Here, have my cell number. Don't you hesitate to call if you need anything, old buddy, alright? I've moved from L2 back down to Earth, back home to good old New York City to be exact, so f you're ever down there, make sure to visit, okay?"

He took the little slip of paper from her and slid it into his shirt pocket. "Will do, Hilde."

She got up to leave. "See you 'round Duo," she said.

"You too, Hilde." He stood up as well, giving her a goodbye kiss on the forehead, her eyes closing as she felt his lips graze her skin, knowing it was the closest she would ever get to the real thing with Duo. "See you later."
It was around 3AM when Duo finally pushed the door of the apartment open. Heero's jacket hung neatly on the hook in the hall. Duo hung his own black leather coat on the other hook, not even bothering to pick it up when it dropped to the floor.

He stretched, tired from all the energy he had exerted during the night. Walking past the kitchenette and the closed door of Heero's room, Duo made his way for his own room when he noticed Heero's computer sitting on the coffee table in the center of the flat's main room. He was about to just ignore it when he realized that he just could not walk by that computer without rooting through some of Heero's personal files. Maybe there would be something there that would let some insight on what made the perfect soldier tick.

Leaning over the back of the couch, he was about to jump over and land on the cushions when he realized that Heero had crashed on the sofa quite a while ago. Leaning on the couch, the braided American looked his roommate over, laughing to himself at the tiny puddle of drool on the pillow underneath Heero's head. "Working hard again?" Duo mused, ruffling Heero's hair in a way that would have made the perfect soldier rage were he awake. Walking around and plopping down on the carpet between the table and the sofa, Duo ran his fingers across the touch-pad on the computer, bringing the machine out of its lazy screensaver mode. "Heh, well let's just see what you were up to, hmm?"

~oOo@oOo@oOo~