Warnings: shounen-ai, mentioned yaoi, melancholy/angst by the end, English is not my first language
Always There
by akai megami
" Duo ?" He called softly, seeing as the other boy's eyes half-closed,
making him seem strangely detached, like if he wasn't listening to him
at all.
" Yeah ?" Duo asked softly, shaking his head so that his ruffled bangs fell back in place, but keeping his eyes heavy lidded as they were, taking a deep drag out of his cigarette.
" I think me and Tro will break up." He said softly, sure now he had Duo's attention.
The other boy smiled faintly, then smashed his cigarette into the nearby stainless steel ashtray.
" Then let it be so. It's been hanging in the air for so long now that alone should be enough for you to realize you two are not meant to be."
" But..." He hesitated. " I still don't know how I will be able to stand it..." He whispered, his head going low, one his slender hand slipping into his fair mane of hair. He was feeling bad about it. That was why he was here. Talking everything out to Duo always seemed to ease the pain, whenever him and Trowa were close to this point. " ...waking up one day and realizing he is not there beside me nor will be the next night, or the next, no matter what I'll do... It is..."
Duo shrugged, seemingly indifferently.
"...you understand, Duo ? Four years is a lot of time to get used to some things..."
" Sure."
"...and I'm not really sure anymore if I could stand being alone and..." Quatre's long fingers were slipping more and more into his blonde hair, combing it delicately. He craved the contact. Look at him now, he'd hadn't Trowa do this to him for a few days and he was already petting himself. "...and I can't imagine me being with anyone else than him..."
Duo snorted.
" Like if he was the only guy out there, or girl, for that matter. You turn most heads, Quat, there really are lots of people willing to take his place. Being alone is not an option for you. Besides..." He shot his best warm smile, while reaching for the open whisky bottle and taking a sip right from it. What was the point in using glasses if he did not need to share ? Quatre drunk only wines anyway and even that rarely. "...you have me. You can always come over to cry out..."
At this precise moment Quatre began to sob quietly.
" That's it." Duo smiled contentedly feeling the liquid burn its way down his throat and into his stomach, warming him nicely inside. He fumbled in the pocket of his black pants for a while before getting a handkerchief out. " Here, use this." He handed it to Quatre, his smile changing smoothly from content to reassuring as the other boy raised his deep aquamarine eyes at him.
" Thanks, I have... my own..." He mumbled out, accepting the handkerchief from Duo anyway. He always did.
It had black and gray stripes on it, was reassuringly huge and warm from being in Duo's pocket. Also, it had signs of lots of tears being cried out on it. His tears, as he bet he was the only person that actually used it, even if Duo was the one to carry it.
" Now, that's better. You get it all out of your system and then we'll think things out. But I still think you should dump him. Too much of that nasty stuff between you two happens last time, really. At least you'll teach him his lesson. If he loves you, he'll try to win you back."
Another loud sob, muffled just a bit by the handkerchief could be heard.
" And if he doesn't ?"
" Then you two say good-bye, let's be friends to each other and go your own ways. What's the point of staying with him if he doesn't ?"
" I do."
So strangely long silence followed that Quatre took his head up to look at Duo yet again, closely this time. He was looking aside, looking thoughtful, though there were still the remnants of the last reassuring smile pulling up at his mouth.
" Then it is bad." Duo said at least, still not looking at him. " But dump him anyway, at least you'll know."
" You think so ?" Asked Quatre doubtfully, picking at the corner of the vast handkerchief he held.
" I do. I've told you quite a few times already before to try to make it work, but not anymore. At least I think so, you do not have to follow. I just think... You deserve someone who would love you, for sure, so you'd not have to worry over that."
Quatre sighed.
" But to find that someone..."
" Just look around and you'll see him, closer than you'd ever think."
Another moment of awkward silence followed those silent words. The silence with Duo was always awkward.
" All right, I'll do. Hope you were not talking about the God, for he would not warm my bed for me..."
They both laughed at that.
"... Father Maxwell."
Duo's eyes narrowed, as always whenever one of his friends addressed him with his formal name.
" Playing that game along I'd tell your sins are forgiven, Quatre Reberba Winner, whatever it is you've done, since you didn't really tell me any."
Quatre faked nervous laughter at that.
" Yeah..."
" I see, it was something bad."
" No..."
" It was."
" No !
" It was."
" No, it wasn't !" Quatre stuck his tongue out and they both laughed, sincerely.
There just was something about Duo, which caused that his presence felt soothing and him just being near made people happy. An amazing gift Quatre envied him a bit. For even if he himself could be able to do so for most people, there were certain, like Heero or Wufei he could not get through to, so much unlike his braided friend.
" All right, Quatre." Told Duo standing up. " I think it's time to go for me, I have an appointed meeting in a few minutes."
Quatre nodded.
" Thanks for everything yet again. I think you've helped me decide. I'll do as you said."
Duo nodded.
" I think that'll be just for the best." He told seriously. " As it is you and Trowa are just hurting each other trying to be together when you can not anymore. That suffering is pointless, stop it."
" Yeah, I'll try to. Good-bye, Duo."
" See ya. In a week, was it ?"
" Yeah, Friday at 3 p.m. An hour for me then. I remember."
" Bye then, Quat."
Quatre left with a final wave.
Around the right time. Duo sighed and smiling half-heartedly, sat down and reached down onto the floor for the whisky bottle. He took two more sips and put it back as the door opened and a silent young man slipped inside.
" I'm a bit early today. Hope you don't mind."
Duo shook his head.
" No. Why would I ? Sit down."
The other nodded and approached to sit down opposite Duo, noticing how the couch was still warm from its previous occupant and the slightest scent of cologne lingered in the air, one that seemed strangely familiar to him.
" So, how is it with Quatre ?" Asked Duo, pulling out a black lighter and a cigarette, as an afterthought handing the pocket out to the other youth, who took one as well.
" I feel he'll leave this time. I messed up."
" I was telling you ever since pressuring him into anything won't help. Quatre may be nineteen, but he wants his innocence intact. That's not entirely his fault, the others were the ones to tell him over and over again it was his main quality. He thinks losing it is like losing a part of himself to someone else."
" I know, Duo. I'm not blind. It only hurts he doesn't want me to be that someone else."
They both sighed in unison.
" Things happen, Tro. Everyone always thought that if anyone, then you two will work out, but that isn't this simple. Quat thinks he loves you and yet..."
"...he keeps on looking for someone else, every chance he has."
" Exactly. Whisky ?" Asked Duo, dropping his cigarette.
" Thanks."
Duo took a sip on his own then.
" And you ?"
" What ?" Trowa's head shot up, light reflecting upon the surface of his beautiful dark green eyes. It was a good thing he'd cut his hair down, his eyes were fully visible, but Quatre did not like them. He'd told once he couldn't stand his lover's gaze sometimes, it was so... penetrating.
" Do you still love him ?"
" I wonder rather if I ever did. You know, Duo..." Trowa smashed the cigarette as well, Duo serving him with the half-full ashtray. " We were always just too different. Too..."
" Don't voice it. I can grasp what you mean. Quat never understood us, the real orphans, the real fighters. Everywhere he goes he gets protected just because of who he is. This is amazing how innocent he managed to stay thanks to it, but it does make him sheltered. It's a good thing you were there for him during the war, you saved the good ole' Quat we couldn't live without, but that..."
"...is all I was supposed to do. Now leave him to the others ? And what with me ?"
" Tro ?"
" What ?"
" Can you read thoughts or something ? How do you always know what I'm going to say ?"
Trowa smiled, for the first time during their meeting.
" I don't need to. Despite what some think, you tell only what needs to be told, you're just the only one brave enough to voice it or maybe you care enough, something along those lines..."
" I do care about others. I'm Christian."
" Yeah, Duo. But do you care about yourself ? Come to think of it. And as for Quatre, I think I let him go if he asks for freedom and do something with my own. Too bad you're scooped up already by that guy up there."
" Yeah..." Duo told, blushing a bit. " Definitely scooped up. You go already ?"
" I have a meeting with Quatre in the city in fifteen minutes. I came just to... ensure myself, I think."
" You're sure now ?"
" Yes. The two of us together are the matter of past. See you, Duo."
" See you. In a week ?"
" I'll call."
He got out with that.
Duo could still feel his cheeks burning. He shook his head. Ten minutes spare time... Whoa... He stood up and stretched, paced around the room several times, looked through the window, paced the room again and sat down with a final sigh, his fingers fumbling again with the cigarettes' pocket. What was that about taking care of himself ? He knew he should stop smoking. Priests are not allowed to smoke. Screw that, considering how many people he had killed during the first war they had a nice warm place in Hell prepared for him already anyway.
The knocking at the door sounded strangely loud in the room, echoing of the walls. Two knocks, a pause, three knocks, a pause, four knocks. The highly specific pattern of knocking showing ones impatience as it was also getting louder and louder.
" Come in !"
The door shut behind the newcomer with surprising force making the hinges yelp, as he himself crossed the room to come to sit at the couch, moving cautiously away from the warmed place. His fingers banged on the table separating them before he managed to stop himself.
He was furious.
Duo felt a shiver run down his spine, as always when he was looking into those proud black eyes sparkling with fury.
" I do admit, I fell for him." He rather growled out than anything.
" I see..." Told Duo soothingly. " Him and Tro are breaking apart, you heard ?"
Black eyes sparkled with something akin to hope before it was neatly hidden under the mask of frustrated fury.
" Take your chances, Wu. Don't torment yourself." He continued. " Quat is everything but willing to be alone. It is not like him to be alone, without someone to support him. He's too delicate to go on on his own, if he did, he'd hardened like everyone of us and we do not wish so, do we ?" He smiled at the thought of the lovely blonde who had just recently left his office. " I think you are capable of taking care of him and you do need him. This was his problem with Trowa, actually. Tro doesn't need anyone, as of the support, guy is so balanced that scared the shit out of me at first, I thought he was crazy to be so calm, dead inside, as some others, he is not, but well... that's not the matter."
" I do not need anyone."
" Of course." Duo nodded all too-eagerly. " I actually know you do, Wu, and it's nothing to be ashamed of. Fate never was kind to you, you have every law."
Wufei's jaw clenched considerably, as did his fists, but Duo went on.
" Quatre can give you balance you need, balance, support and at the top of all, understanding. I won't hesitate to say you're quite complicated and he's an emphath after all. He'll figure you out, if only you let him. Just hit on him, for God's sake."
" I'll try." The Chinese relaxed a bit, seeing as they were stopping to talk about him.
" Wish me to tell you what will work ? As his best friend I know first hand."
Wufei didn't deny, just looked at him suspiciously, brushing some imagined dust of his pure white clothes by habit.
" Quatre likes to feel like an average teen sometimes and, he was never, ever, out on a real date. It just isn't like Tro to go out for the single matter of having fun. Pragmatism, you know, him and Heero... Anyway, he could be very happy with poor quality movies and ice creams in the park just for the hence of feeling just another teen in a row. And, buy him flowers. That one's girly, but, I don't know if you ever noticed how he was sniffing random ones at Relena's parties. Weak spot, I guess, but nothing as obnoxious as red roses, it could've even be cherry blossom, just not incognito, he'd think it's from Heero then..."
Wufei relaxed even more.
" You get it, Wu ? Win him over. I wanna be a matchmaker."
One black eyebrow rose slightly.
" Is it along your religion to hook up two men together ?"
Duo shrugged.
" No. But it is along my personal rules. See, Wu. I just want people to be happy, it's such a wonderful view I bet He likes it as well. The way they get that happiness is their matter. That's what I think. I also think you can be happy with Quatre. You two should just try, if it won't work out, then it won't, but if you won't even try, you'll never know. And missing a chance to be happy with someone is always a waste."
" A sin ?"
" A waste. For which the punishment comes in this life, not in the other, as the loneliness and sorrow. I don't want any of the above to be a part of your lives."
" And what about Trowa ?"
" He'll find someone, I'm sure."
" All right then." Told Wufei, standing up.
" When I'll get my first of the long promised row of Chinese lessons ?"
" The next time, maybe. Not that you're smart enough to grasp the language."
Duo stuck his tongue at him. The childlike gesture made Wufei smile, just a bit, before he covered it with a frown and turned on his heels to go out, without telling good-bye, as always.
" However, being rude is a sin, Wu !" Duo called after him, but only answer he got was the sound of the door slamming shut.
Duo sighed, reaching for his long-time craved cigarette. He just couldn't smoke in front of Wufei, it was making the other youth so extremely upset and then, the disdainful look in his black eyes was getting so terrible... It was literally hunting him in his nightmares then.
Who else was there for today ? Hilde called she couldn't come this week, though they were currently discussing the strategic matter of her marriage he was supposed to give her. Who else then ? Noin had been there last week, but it'd been a once in a lifetime occurrence he bet, she'd just gotten extremely distressed with Zechs telling her to stay working instead of getting pregnant, while the latter was her dream. Who, then ? Who else than the Princess herself ? In five minutes...
But first, his cell phone started beeping. It took him a while to find it. He ruffled through the stacks of papers on his desk, half of it landing on the floor in process, checked all the drawers one by one and found it at last in the bottom one.
It was a text message.
` I can't stop myself from going at his grave every single day, to tell him everything. I can't. Sometimes it seems for me like if he really was there beside me. Maybe that's good enough ? But you don't think so, do you, 02 ? What am I supposed to do then ?`
So, another one of those. The moment of weakness of the all-mighty Preventer's commander. He chose `Une` in the address book and typed down the answer, grinning maniacally to himself.
`Find yourself a real boyfriend, not a ghost. Btw, 03's free.`
He pushed the `send` button and placed the phone back where he'd found it, promising himself to remember where it was the next time it was ringing. Then he kneeled down to collect the papers from the floor and just then, she made her entrance. The heavy scent of perfumes hit his nostrils from the distance of good ten yards separating him from the door. He stood up immediately, straightening his clothes.
She was wearing a lilac suit this time, combined with white gloves and high heels. Her hair short, as it'd been for some time already. It was looking good on her, he had to admit. Why Heero wasn't all over her was beyond him.
" Hi, Princess !" He beamed cheerfully.
" It's been a long time, Duo."
" Yeah..."
She approached in tiny steps, smiling sweetly as he rushed to her side, helping her sit on the couch and kissing her gloved hand then with a charming smile.
She frowned, her little nose wrinkling.
" Duo, since you're a priest, shouldn't it rather be me kissing your hand ?"
" Screw that, Princess. Champagne ? Or don't you drink that early in the afternoon ?"
She smiled again.
" Could do."
He poured her a glass and set it down before her, filling his own with the rest of whisky. He sat down only then, watching her for a while play with the crystal glass, holding it delicately with her dusty pink fake nails on. She then brought it to her lips and drunk the slightest bit, before setting it back aside, a mark of glimmering pink lipstick left on the side of the glass.
Women... Women were amazing with all those kind of substances and accessories they were putting on themselves. Really amazing. Like with Hilde. He'd always thought she just wasn't the type to wear real complex make-up and look at her now, about to get married, how she was deluding her soon to be husband with all those shimmering grayish blue eyeshades making her eyes stunning, pale lipsticks, dark blue mascaras, peachy powders and whatever else.
Relena sighed deeply, getting his attention with it.
" It's been almost five years and there wasn't a day ever since I've seen him for the first time when I wasn't thinking about him. It's wearing me off. It's like an obsession, not falling in love. I repeat to myself every evening before going to sleep: `he doesn't want to have anything to do with you, you are not his type, go on`, but that isn't helping. I wake up the next day and wonder immediately where he is, what he is doing, if he's even still alone... It is... so... overwhelming..."
Duo took a sip from his own glass before answering.
" The force of habits, Princess. Maybe don't give yourself time for that. Watch tv until you fall asleep, or something... No, that one was lame. Get someone new."
" I can't. I'd felt like if I was betraying him."
" How can you betray him if you're not an item ?"
She smiled sadly.
" I can't tell if we're not. You see, Duo, there was that one moment during the war and right after when he really acted like if he was hitting on me. I don't know. Maybe he's too shy to take it further."
" Shy ?"
There was disbelief sounding clearly in Duo's voice. How could anyone get to think that Heero Yuy was shy ? He was doing what his heart was telling him to. Apparently this time it was telling him to stay away from the Princess. But shy ?
If Heero was shy, the most embarrassing moment of Duo's young life would've never taken place. To this day, he could feel his insides clenching and his cheeks starting to burn at the memory. Hot, demanding lips pressing to his own, strong arms encircling him in the crushing embrace, warm, calloused hands coming to rest on the back of his neck and grip his braid. There was something in the only kiss he'd ever encountered, strange desperation and the depths he could not get to explore, that he'd almost, almost, let it go further. Almost, because he'd stopped himself and delivered Heero a nasty punch to the lower stomach and then kicked him there for good measure. There was hurt there, in those amazingly deep Prussian blue eyes then, just for a while. Ever since they'd been just friends, one could tell.
Was Heero gay then ? Was it why he despised Relena so much ?
How could he tell her something like that ? ` See, Lena. He likes boys better. Can tell first hand, he kissed me during the war and surely would've done more if not for my apparent refusal.` No, that would not do.
" Heero is not shy. And I bet, he does think you're attractive." Yeah, if you could count him telling `Relena doesn't look one bit like a bitch she is` as it. " It's just that... He thinks you're not... how to put it... compatible enough to be together. Not on the physical part of course, but..."
" Duo !" She shrieked.
" You two are too different to be together. You can and you did learn a lot from each other, because your personalities, beliefs and backgrounds are as different as they can get, but also, because of that, it won't work out between you two. Heero doesn't even want trying, as it would've only made both of you hurt."
" Then what does he need ? What does he need that I can't give him ?"
" The advantage. You, running after him on your own, are too easy to get for him."
It left her speechless for a while.
" What do you mean ? That if I was all unobtainable he would've been interested ? Only then ? Why didn't you tell me earlier, Duo ? Why ? Why not during the war ?"
" Lena, you won't turn back the time, but really, there are lots of guys who don't treat the girls running after them seriously. We all like the advantage, in a way. The harder you need to fight for something, the better it tastes, that goes for girls as well. A girl that is seemingly out of reach and, surrounded by bunch of other admirers, is often the most appealing. And she doesn't need to be exceptionally stunning, which you are, overlooking the minor flaws. It's the matter of tactics. Love and war are a lot alike, just that the first increases the number of people, and the last - quite the contrary. " Duo grinned at his own joke, while saying that.
" You think it'll work ? What about my brother and Noin ? You won't tell she wasn't running after him ?"
" Yeah, and he was trying to flee so desperately he'd faked his own death. Only then, she cornered him so that he had no more ways to run away." Duo sighed. " And look at Une. Before Treize's death, she ended up his servant, not lover, by running after him. You girls do this a lot last times. The problem is, the guy wants to feel like the one who comes and takes, that's in our nature, I guess, at least in most cases, including Heero, Princess."
" All unobtainable, the Foreign Minister Relena Peacecraft. Does it sound right ?"
" Minister ? It was Vice even the last time ?"
" I've gotten an advance." She said, standing up.
" Oh..."
" Yeah, Duo. Too bad I have to go now, but I'll try that your... tactics. Am I supposed to turn down the offers to dance ?" She asked, turning to him one more time on her way to the door.
" No, this is impolite. Just punch the guy if he's getting too close for your tastes."
" Punch ?" She asked, looking doubtfully at her own small fist.
" At least you won't do any serious damage to him."
" Oh, yeah. All right, good-bye, Duo !"
" Bye, Princess !" He answered as the heavy door closed behind her.
Duo leaned back in his black leather chair with a sigh and closed his eyes. These talks, they were strangely draining him out, but he could not refuse, never. It was a habit by now of all his friends, to go to Duo whenever they had a problem, to talk it out. Too bad no one wished to listen to him talk out his owns, too bad no one cared. No, they did. They just assumed he was happy. He was a priest, like he'd always wanted to be, a good one, not counting smoking and drinking a bit. He was the parson at the newly founded parish located in one of the new quarters built quickly only after the war, to accommodate those who had lost their homes in it, he'd founded a branch of the local government orphanage, not able to house the masses of orphans, here at the parsonage. He should be happy with his life. Why was he not ?
Because that one kiss Heero had given him so long time ago had stirred kind of hope inside of him ? Hope of not being alone forever ?
He shook his head, reaching for the bottle of whisky only to find it empty. When, how had it been emptied, he did not know, although he could feel how the alcohol was making him warm on the inside. Such a nice feeling to accompany him on the nights spent alone in a huge, cold bed.
He hid his face in his hands, realizing, slowly, very slowly, where he was going, how was it going to end for him. He could not stand the loneliness. He could not.
He reached down to the bottom drawer for his cell phone, took it out and choose the formal 01 from the address book. He typed down the message with shaky fingers, his chest tightening more with every next letter done.
` Come in, Heero, and do something so I'd not feel so alone anymore. D.`
He hit the `send` button with a sigh. Then he dropped the cell phone carelessly onto the desk and went to the window. There was already dark outside. Like the last time he'd been checking, there was the cloaked figure standing there in the rain, under the tree, in the same exact place. The figure was reaching to his pocket right then.
Duo shut out the shutters, paced around his room, took the papers from the floor onto the desk at last, paced the room again, straightened his black clothes, paced the room again.
Then the knocking came.
He knew how was it going to be. Silent, even knocks, coming at the very same rate for some time only and then stopping all together. There'd been quite a few times in the past when they'd reached that moment, but Duo had never opened the door. This time though it wasn't even locked.
" Come in !"
The newcomer complied. The door opened, he came in and closed it behind him and locked it with the key left in the keyhole. The hood fell off revealing unruly brown hair and the face, set in the usual determined frown.
Duo felt shiver run down his spine when he looked into Heero's eyes for the first time since just after the second war, more than three years ago, although there practically wasn't a day when he could've not seen him through his window, standing under the very same tree, for hours on the end.
" Why, Heero ? Why do all of these things ?"
He didn't mean just standing under his window, he meant the long reflexive e-mails he never responded to, the postal cards from the most exotic places, coming in a few days whenever Heero was absent under his window for some time, the gifts appearing on his doorstep at the holidays and on his self-appointed birthday. They were always thoughtful, simple, yet beautiful, like the figurine of a nun hugging a little boy, carved with stunning precision in a tiny piece of amethyst. It was standing at the edge of his desk, even now.
" Because I love you."
Nothing changed in Heero's face, just his eyes softened, deepened, enlightened with the feelings shimmering there while he was looking at his fellow Gundam pilot.
He did not know from where they were coming, he did not know why. They were just there and he felt how they were making him better, how they were keeping the demons of guilt over killing so many at bay and he was doing what his heart was telling him to - keeping on them, waiting for Duo to let him in.
What Heero had said was so much, nothing but silence could follow. There was nothing more to ask, to discuss, the only thing to do was to let him show how much.
" I have something for you, Duo."
Duo nodded.
" Go on."
Heero reached into his cloak's pocket and took a small item covered with pale blue paper out of it. He handed it to Duo, whose eyes lightened with childlike curiosity even against his will.
He unwrapped it, the astonishment showing on his face as he took into what it was.
" I... I can't Heero, I'm a priest. I have to remain celibate, to the end."
He then looked down ones again at the figurine he was holding, made of black marble this time, the stone he secretly admired and would've gladly made half his church engraved with it if he had the founds. It was the Angel of Death holding its God in the lover's embrace and though the figures weren't one bit like them, Duo knew what did Heero mean, beside offering him the first-class work of art. He handed it back to him.
Prussian blue eyes narrowed.
" I can't." Not yet...
Heero accepted it back.
" Go now, Heero. I have to go for a dinner with the children now." He told, turning back from him.
Heero did not move.
" Heero..."
He only made a step closer.
" Heero, please !"
The pleading in those violet eyes hunting his dreams for so long now almost stopped him, almost.
" I have to go..." Duo whispered, although not moving away as Heero was inching closer. Something kept him rooted to the spot.
Cold lips against his, soft, feathery, then more demanding, strong arms coming to encircle him again, as the figurine he'd refused taking earlier was forced into his hand, a tongue caressing the inside of his mouth, gentle hands running down his braid, massaging his scalp. The kiss getting deeper and deeper, until he felt that tongue plunge down into his throat, the hard body pressed tightly to his as he was eased back onto the desk.
Then it all went out, the warmth, the contact, all at once and he craved it back so much...
Heero was gone, the door just shutting behind him, the black marble figurine still warm from his hand the only thing left, indicating he'd been there at all. That, and his taste all over Duo's mouth.
Duo smiled sadly to himself, sadly and shakily. What had possessed him to ever become a priest in the first place ? To give away his freedom like that ? What was he supposed to do now ? He took the black marble figurine to his bedroom, before going down to the dining room. He left it there, on the bed table, standing there to hunt him on his lonely nights with the promise of warmth it held.
And still, every time he was looking out of the window, every random day, there was the cloaked figure of another young man just like him, one he knew like no other, waiting for him, waiting for him for years on the end.
And there were still his once in a week talks with his friends, so he knew first hand what their love lives were like and helped them on more than one occasion.
And there were the gifts appearing on his doorstep and the long e-mails, filled with heart-wrenching sorrow.
And there were the Prussian blue eyes looking at him questioningly in
his dreams...
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There may be a sequel, just ask.
