Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or any of the characters in this story. They are owned by Bandai and several other companies, none of which I am part of.

Warnings: Angst, Quatre being (not very) subtle, and Duo in his underwear

"His flight left an hour ago," Quatre continued apologetically, "He went back to Japan."

"Why?" I asked, not comprehending immediately.

"Duo," my best friend said quietly. "You knew he was only here to negotiate the merger with Winner Enterprises. The final meeting was Wednesday morning." He was quiet a moment. "I'm sorry, Duo. I thought you knew."

My heart felt like it was tearing in a million pieces. "I- think I love him, Quatre," I managed shakily, tears in my voice.

"I know," he replied, his voice barely above a whisper. "Believe me, I do."

                                                                                ***

I finally gave up on sleep around 4:30am. Luckily, I didn't have work that day. I sat in front of the TV wearing Spongebob Squarepants boxer shorts and a black t-shirt that said "You're village called. They want their idiot back," flipping channels and working my way through a half-gallon of cookie dough ice cream.

At about 6pm, Wufei came over, forced me to get dressed, and dragged me out to a movie.  I slept through it. Wu grumbled about it afterward, but somehow he didn't seem to mind that he wasted $8.50 for me to sleep in the theatre.

I managed to get to sleep for real around 6am and slept the whole day. When I woke up late that day, there were two messages on my answering machine from Quatre asking if I was okay. I deleted them both without calling him back. Of course I was okay.

                                                                                ***

"Duo, what are you doing?" Quatre asked groggily. It was 2am, and I was going through his refrigerator. I glanced over my shoulder at him. He was standing there in what could only be described as a manly nightgown. I think they used to call them nightshirts in the old days, but it was definitely more like a dress than a shirt. Next to him stood an equally-tired Trowa in pajamas.

"It's 2am," Quatre added pointedly.

I looked at my watch. "Yup," I agreed. "You know, Quatre, you're out of chocolate syrup."

"What makes you think I keep it in the kitchen?"

I looked at Quatre, who looked much less tired now. "Never mind," I said quickly.

"Duo. What are you doing in my house at 2am?" he asked again, baring his teeth like a barracuda.

"I ran out of ice cream." I shrugged.

"You ran out of ice cream," he repeated, nodding. "How did you get past the security system?"

"I disconnected the cameras and programmed the monitors to show a loop of the last half hour. Also, the motion detectors won't notice anything smaller than a semi right now." At Quatre's look, I added, "I'll change it back before I go home!"

Quatre nodded again. "I know you will."  Then he walked toward me, slowly, and reached out his hand. I flinched, but all he did was touch my shoulder lightly. "Duo. I know your heart is broken, but you have been pouting nonstop since Friday night. When you show up for work this morning, you will be functioning on the level of a normal human being. Understand?"

At my sheepish nod, his voice softened. "Duo, I know how you're feeling, and I'm sorry. If there's anything I can do to help, let me know, okay?" He stepped forward and embraced me, and I rested my head on his shoulder, glad to have a friend who cared about me as much as Quatre did. But I knew that Quatre (or Wufei and Trowa, for that matter) could never completely fill the hole that Heero had left in my heart.

                                                                                ***

That morning, I showed up for work exactly four minutes late wearing a black tie with brightly-colored tropical fish swimming all over it. Quatre was right, as usual. The sooner I got back into my usual routine, the better off I would be. I played Tetris indifferently most of the day, since I didn't really feel like doing anything else. When Quatre asked me to do some upgrades, I was glad to have something to take my mind off of how I was feeling.

"You know, Quatre and I called off the bet," Wufei sighed behind me after lunch. He had been standing behind me for quite some time, and I was wondering if he was going to say something or not.

"Why?" I asked, pretending to concentrate on my work. "You won."

"It wasn't a fair bet, though. We shouldn't use your love life as a source of entertainment in the workplace."

I turned then and stared Wufei down. "Making an apology because Quatre made you is bad enough. You don't have to quote the memo word for word."

Wufei shrugged. "He was right, though," he said softly.

"No, you were right," I argued. "Heero just saw me as a friend. If that. I was stupid to think he l-" I broke off and started coughing. I didn't want to say anything to Wufei about that.

Wufei shook his head. He looked like he wanted to call me a moron and tell me I was wrong, but he just turned away. "Forget it," he mumbled, and went back to whatever he was supposed to be doing.

Surprisingly, Quatre didn't try to have a heartfelt talk with me that day, or even the next. He just gave me space and enough to do to keep my mind off of Heero. After Monday, Wu didn't try to talk to me either. He did, however, keep coming up to me, starting to say something, and changing his mind.

The funny thing about the whole week, though, wasn't that Quatre and Wufei were treating me like I was about to break at any minute. It was that I half believed it myself. Every day that went by, I missed Heero more and more. I found myself missing the weirdest things about him—the way he grunted when he didn't have anything to say; the way his eyes looked at me when I said something he didn't expect; the way his hair looked so soft, I just wanted to run my fingers through it; and the way his lips felt, so soft against mine…

From there, though, my thoughts would invariably circle around to our last night together. It hadn't felt like he just wanted to be friends. But—if he loved me—why couldn't he tell me he was leaving? Why wouldn't he have given us the chance to make it work?

Why couldn't I let him go after only a little over a week together?

That was the part I didn't get. The following Monday, I had known him for only a slightly longer time as had passed since he went back to Japan, and if anything, it hurt more than when I first found out he was gone.

I was in the employee cafeteria downstairs picking at my food when Trowa, of all people, slid into the booth across from me.

"Hi," Trowa," I said, looking up from my plate. Quatre's tall, silent counterpart was the last person I expected to find me down here. I mean, I liked Trowa. It was just that, usually, I only saw him with Quatre.

Trowa just studied me for a few moments after he sat down. It was a little unsettling, and I kept looking at him to see if he was still staring at me. He was.

I was getting ready to ask him if he was going to eat, or just sit there when he spoke.

"Heero and I are a lot alike," he said.

I almost choked to hear him speak. It didn't happen very often. "What?" I asked, more on reflex than because I hadn't heard what he had said. I heard him perfectly.

"I know him pretty well, because the two of us are a lot alike," he said again. "Heero's always been so driven, though, and he doesn't let people get close to him. He doesn't spend time with people he doesn't like unless he has to for work. People he doesn't like, he ignores, or avoids, or threatens."

"Oh," I said, because I didn't know what else to say.

Trowa wasn't finished, though. "Duo, I've known Heero for a long time. He was my roommate in college. You knew he was in the military before college, didn't you?" he asked.

I shook my head. "He didn't tell me that,"

Trowa shrugged. "I'm sure he was going to. He was a year behind us in class because of that. I think he always planned to go back, but he got roped into working for the Peacecraft Group after college. Which Quatre just bought out, as you know."

"Why are you telling me this?" I couldn't believe that Trowa was making small talk about Heero. He usually only spoke when he had something important to say, or when he couldn't avoid it.

"Because you should know about him if you love him," was Trowa's simple reply. "Duo, you're worried because Heero didn't say goodbye. You should have already noticed he never says goodbye, not even when he hangs up the phone."

I nodded slowly. "You're right," I admitted after a moment.

"You said he told you it never had to end," he continued. "What if he doesn't want it to end, either? Maybe he thinks that if he says goodbye, it would be over. This way, there's always the hope that he will see you again."

"Well, he could have at least left his phone number," I grumbled.

Trowa's expression turned wry. "Heero's not exactly practiced at this. Anyway, I think he cares more for you than he was prepared for, or maybe even realizes. He was open with you faster than with anybody else I've seen. You make him loosen up a bit. Heero never knew what it was like to be young, or irresponsible. Also the two of you work really well together. Like when you souped up the go-carts."

"I didn't-" I began. My head was spinning.

"Everybody knows," Trowa assured me. "Quatre thought it was quite funny. But that's not what I came here to talk about. You haven't been yourself since Heero left. You look like you lost something you didn't even know you had. I just wanted to tell you not to give up hope. You'll see him again."

"Did Trowa talk your ear off, Duo?" a sunny voice came from my right. Both Trowa and I turned to see Quatre standing there, looking cheerful as ever, his hands in the pockets of his pants. Trowa got up and went over to stand by our little blonde boss. Quatre took one of his hands out of its pocket to link with one of Trowa's. 

I grinned. "Man, Quat, that boy of yours sure can talk. Usually I never hear him speak."

Quatre favored Trowa with a fond smile. "He's quiet, but once you get him started, he doesn't shut up," he agreed. "You should have heard him last night."

I started coughing, and glared up at him. "You love doing that, don't you?"

My best friend only grinned sweetly at me and squeezed my shoulder. "Come up when you're done, okay?"

"Okay," I agreed, and then thought of something. "Why do you suddenly need so many upgrades?"

Quat shrugged. "Might as well get the latest programs while helping my best friend in his endeavors not to think."

"Ah." Quatre definitely knows too much.

"You'll be okay, Duo," he told me encouragingly.  "See you upstairs?" At my nod, he waved a bit and pulled Trowa along with him as he headed out of the cafeteria. Trowa had reverted back into silent mode, it seemed, but he gave me a little wink before allowing Quatre to pull him away.

"I'll see him again," I whispered to my lunch, echoing Trowa's words. I was almost afraid to believe that what he said might be true, but I was willing to hold on a little longer.