Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing, Jimmy Eat World, Trio, or Train.

This chapter is dedicated to Ian, gymnastics-lover, and yaeko for reviewing chapter 3.

Chapter Four

The next morning I awoke as the soft sound of children outside playing interrupted my sleep. I opened my eyes to see a pair of bare feet on the bed. Pushing myself into a sitting position, I faced my roommate, who by the looks of him had spent the remainder of the night watching over me. His gaze lifted to my eyes, and we sat there in silence.

I began to wonder, was there any way that I could be the answer to Duo's worries? Now that I am alive, Duo has his best friend back; couldn't I help him through his hard times? What was it going to take for my partner to smile like the crazy baka he used to be?

And then it hit me. Memories of the war, sitting and talking with Trowa after Wing's self-detonation, him telling me about Quatre and how he thought he was an angel. I remember saying something about Duo. I saw flashes of when Duo and I first met, when his grinning face appeared on the television screen telling me he was going to bust me out of the Alliance interrogation room, when I found him barely alive in an Oz jail cell more than once, when his silly face was the first one I saw after days of being tortured and interrogated, when he found me at the start of the Mariemaia incident and refused to let me go alone, when he appeared on my screen and wished me luck before going to Earth and helping Zechs and Noin.

Something popped into my head that I hadn't thought about since it happened. The first time I saw Quatre after the incident with the zero system, he had told me something completely absurd. He'd had tears in his eyes after telling me about his and Duo's trip to the circus only to find Trowa with total amnesia.

Then Quatre looked at me and said, "You know something strange? The zero system told me that you, Heero Yuy, were to love and protect pilot 02. I didn't believe it because I would have felt it with my space heart surely." He frowned, pain still in his expression from before. "I told Duo about it. He laughed it off and said it was impossible and that you guys were just buddies. I don't know why the system told me something so irrelevant to the war, but I had to tell you."

I had written this speech off as delirium from a compassionate person encountering the zero system. Duo shifted on the bed and looked out the window, the kids had gone back inside from the playground. I looked down at the mattress and began thinking of everything that had happened since I woke up. The school, the kids, Duo's new career, all of the things I'd learned about him that I didn't know, just adding to the complete picture of my best friend in the world.

I snorted and Duo looked at me. I had learned about Solo. Solo means one, Duo means two, he had obviously named himself after his best friend. It's no wonder the zero system told Quatre such a thing, I was pilot 01, and Duo 02, it must have assumed I was Solo. It would make sense that the system would be programmed with the pasts of the Gundam pilots, or at least being able to figure out most of it from infiltrating the minds of two of them. The system did what was necessary for the pilot to remain alive long enough for Zero to complete the mission, it probably thought that emotional stability was necessary in that.

So I wasn't meant to just spend time with Duo, I was meant to love him. A machine that takes over your mind had been subconsciously feeding me this all that time. I didn't truly understand the implications, but I knew I wanted what Trowa and Quatre had. What's the point of refusing destiny? I am a cheap machine to be programmed, after all.

I remembered something. Not only had we been reliable partners and best friends, but I had cared about Duo. After hearing him screaming when I self-detonated, I realized that he meant more to me than just someone fighting on the same side. He was my primary person, the one person I could completely trust, the one person that I wanted to make it out of this alive, the one person I wanted to see again…

And then I knew. After more than a year of being dead to the world, I remembered how much I had loved Duo. How could I have destroyed Libra otherwise? No matter how much the chemical treatments were supposed to keep me from feeling, I had fallen in love with my pal, and Dr. J didn't try to stop it because I used him to fuel me for my missions. And now he is sitting right in front of me, after having been deserted and told his best friend was dead, being left to try and pick up the pieces of his life after the war, with only memories of friends gone by waiting for him at home.

I knew I had to tell him, show him I remembered. I pushed away from the wall and reached for him but stopped in the middle of the bed. What if he had changed too much? What if Duo didn't love me like he did?

My war partner looked at me as if he knew everything I was thinking about. A devilish grin crept onto his face, the face of my best friend in the wars. In a flash, he launched himself at me, and for the first time since the wars, Duo and I hugged each other and just laughed.

We finally pulled ourselves out of the room in time for dinner. Once Duo locked the door, he joined me at my side and slipped his arm around my waist. I mimicked his gesture and he smiled as we walked toward the dining hall. For the rest of my time there, whenever Duo and I walked, we walked together, embraced.

When we sat down at a table, I pulled out something I'd bought at the grocery store from the pouch of my hoodie.

"Here Duo, try this, it's dark chocolate." Duo looked sidelong at me, pausing in his attempt to push the food around his plate so it looked like he'd eaten some of it.

His eyes got a curious expression as he eyed the bottle, "You bought me a milkshake? Thanks!" He took the bottle from me and drank a big swig. He made a face of disgust and quickly tried to hide it when he noticed that it didn't taste exactly like a milkshake. I almost laughed when he tried to smile at me to be nice and then looked at the label. I thought he would appreciate my gesture, but as he read the label his happy countenance turned to anger,

"A weight-gain shake?" He slammed the bottle on the table, getting everyone's attention.

"My fuckin' ass drink this shit get big as a mother-fuckin blimp."

I didn't flinch because I was used to how Duo spoke during the war, but the rest of the students had a different reaction. The younger kids looked quizzically at Duo, while the older boys sitting across from us were all grinning like it was Christmas morning. Jason finally broke the silence,

"Headmaster used vernacular! Dinner detention!" He yelled, pointing at Duo. Duo muttered something under his breath as he got up from the table. Everyone chuckled as their headmaster and resident world-famous pop star sauntered over to the corner of the dining hall and stood with his face to it. After a few minutes of finally figuring out what was happening, I joined Duo in the corner, poking and prodding him until he consented to laughing about it all.

Over the next four weeks, we proceeded to do more or less nothing except what I can now describe as fall in love. We worked with the kids on the maintenance projects and in the kitchens. We attended a couple of classes, but were promptly thrown out after Duo stretched his arms over his head (unknowingly exposing some of his stomach) and the girls in the class practically fainted away. I attended a couple of photo shoots with Duo and got to see the emotionally charged yet seductive pop star he can become. The last night before Duo was to leave for America, my friend tried to show me how to make love. What began as an earnest affair quickly evolved into a giggle-fest as Duo realized that I really didn't know anything about the matter and was quite clumsy at any task attempted. Though as the night wore on I recognized the gift Duo was giving to me, and I once again found myself wishing that day to be repeated everyday for the rest of my life.

After Duo left, I packed my bag and headed for the Preventors headquarters on L1. After settling into my assigned apartment, I entered the neighboring building for my appointment with Commander Une. I slipped through the door of her office to find Wufei standing behind the desk with his back to me. He was speaking softly into the phone in Chinese, his voice sounding stressed and tired. He hung up the phone and for a minute placed his hands on the window sill in front of him, his head bowed.

Just from the back, I could tell how much older Wufei appeared from the last time I'd seen him. He finally took a deep breath and picked up my profile that was next to him on the desk. With another deep breath he slowly turned to face me, looking at my application.

"Mr. Shoibi Mihor-"

Wufei's eyes nearly bugged out of his head as he stumbled back into the window sill and grabbed it with both hands, dropping my profile. Had no one really told him? Dead man walking! Duo's voice popped into my mind, making me smile. What a strange phrase to say to someone after they self-detonate and take weeks to recover.

"H-Heero-" Chang managed to choke out.

"It's Mihoru Shoibi." I corrected as I sat my briefcase at my side, "I located my mother after the first war and have adopted my name since I came out of the coma." I made no move to sit down, considering the last time I'd seen the gundam pilot we'd been trying to kill each other, and his perseverance had left me so exhausted by the time the incident was over, it was no wonder I slipped into a coma thirteen months.

I realized he was not going to say anything more, "How's Sally?"

Wufei's eyes jerked up to me again, and I knew why he looked so worn, "She's great. We're expecting triplets, but she's been having complications with the pregnancy." He trailed off, looking down at nothing in particular.

I couldn't resist. "Then what the hell are you doing here?"

"I'm third from the top here, Mihoru." Wufei tried to glare at me despite his exhaustion. "Noin's on the Moon and Une's on Earth at a meeting with the Vice Foreign Minister. Why don't I show you your office." He moved to open the door for me.

We walked in silence down several hallways, with agents occasionally leaning out of their offices to look at us. Wufei never looked at me but I could tell he was thinking hard about something. His voice was low enough that no one in any of the offices could hear,

"So, have you gotten Maxwell to eat yet?"

I glanced at him. Apparently everyone was aware of his antics. "I don't have any authority to tell him what to do because I can't help L2, that's why he's doing it."

Wufei dug his hands into his pockets and looked at the ground, "He's doing it because that was his only option without you after the wars." He said as we stopped in front of my office and he handed me my key before walking off, "Don't blame him for being fucked. I know what it's like to love a dead man."

Reading the job description Une had left in my office, I was surprised that it did not involve field work and instead focused on research. What Quatre and Trowa had apparently been developing with the Preventors was an updated database on the technologies of warfare. Ongoing research and advancements kept strictly digital maintained the scientific superiority of the current peaceful regime, guaranteeing a solid plan of action should a rebellion ever take place. My job was to develop the security software to protect the research database.

So, after a quick meal, I set to work. After six hours I had designed a program to sufficiently protect a large database from even the most advanced hackers. If at the age of nine I could infiltrate the computer networks of an organization that had controlled the earth sphere and colonies for decades, I could certainly keep this up to date without spending too much time on it. The next task I set out to do took much more time. After forty-two straight hours of typing, I emerged with a project that I would take to Quatre. Twenty separate programs, all domestic inventions designed to better daily life in the office and at home. If Quatre thought it could sell, then I would set up a joint corporation and maybe make enough money to help Duo.

The weeks passed. Quatre set up my inventions as a separate company and it slowly gained revenue. The first time I got to see Duo since he left was on the cover of Colony Entertainment magazine. The shot was of Duo kneeling on the ground, his hands running through his blue and purple-streaked hair, his left foot the only thing keeping his modesty at bay. I scanned his beautiful, completely naked body. I had been visiting the school at the time when the magazine came out and Corey had a copy, along with every girl on the Earth and colonies. I looked at Duo's right arm and saw the burn mark from when a machine gun he'd picked off a dead Oz soldier backfired as we snuck into the center of the Lunar base.

Corey looked over my shoulder and pointed at Keiichi Sei's hip, where a swelled up scar was almost entirely hidden by his bent leg. "That's the brand from my gang. When we were little, the leader stole Duo in the middle of the night and brought him back to our turf. He was Solo's beautiful prize, after all. Solo had beaten us all to a pulp by the time our leader Jared confessed, but Duo had escaped by then."

I slapped his hand away from the magazine, grabbed another boy's copy and stormed off to the room Duo and I shared. If we can point out his scars, I could only imagine what all of civilization was doing to Duo with their eyes. That night I had the worst spell since the coma, and this time there was no warmth to stop its progress. I screamed and thrashed all night, awakening much more exhausted than before I'd gone to sleep. I left after my meeting with the headmistress, as the students were giving me fearful looks.

A package was waiting for me when I got to Preventors HQ. Noticing Duo's handwriting, I hastily ripped open the package and found a vid-chip. I popped the chip in my vid-phone and the screen went black. White bold letters faded into the center of the screen.

"IndependentFilms Presents:

A Praise Chorus"

That's right, I remember Duo telling me the name, this must be the trailer. A piano began gently playing, and the view changed to a bedroom in a house by the ocean. The sheets were pulled off the bed and being used by the occupant in the room to clothe himself as he stood beside the bed. The camera focused on a full front view of his down-turned face, and as he lifted his head I saw precious Keiichi Sei look me in the eyes and start to sing. The piano softened to almost nothing, making his resonant voice nearly accapella.

"Well I dreamed I saw
The knights in armor coming
Saying something about a queen.
There were peasants singing
And drummers drumming
And the archers split the tree."

As he sang, the picture rapidly switched to the other characters. It showed a young doctor carrying mutilated children from a battle zone, then a civil rights activist picketing with citizens outside a capital in Asia. A female news reporter was standing in front of what looked like a massive protest in Europe, then a boy in a military uniform hiding behind a building in some sort of urban assault. The screen once again showed Keiichi, his eyes pleading as he opened his mouth to sing the second verse.

"I was lying in a burned out basement
With the full moon in my eyes."

The scene dimmed to a slightly older man lying in a jail cell, his uniform torn and caked with dirt and blood. He slowly awoke and took in his surroundings. Pulling something from his clothes, he set to picking the lock and running out of what looked like a P.O.W. holding base.

"I was hoping for replacement
When the sun burst through the skies.
"There was a banner playing in my head
And I felt like I could cry"

As the special ops prisoner ran, Duo looked at the floor and sang. The now cleaned up officer ran into the room and they embraced, followed by the doctor and activist kissing, and the reporter and soldier hugging. As my Duo held that man, his beautiful voice sang to me as the camera spun around the couple and then faded into darkness.

"I was thinking about what a friend had said
I was hoping it was a lie.
Thinking about what a friend had said
Hoping it was a lie."

I turned off my vid-phone and picked up the package to throw it away. A note fell out of the wrapping. I took it and looked at Duo's scrawl,

"I look around, what I've got
Without you isn't a lot.
Get to me."

I smiled as I placed the note on my desk. That was all the permission I needed.

A/N: Thank you for reading! Any suggestions you might have are greatly appreciated and used to help my writing. I thought I would include my top GW fanfics for others looking for a good read (better than mine!) 1. Through the Storm, Inheritance, and Goosebumps (1x2) by Sparkle Itamahii. 2. If Wishes Were Fishes (1x2) by Mazmaraz. 3. The Prince and the Fairy King (1x2) by C-Chan2 a.k.a. Neptunesdemon. 4. Wilderness (3x4) by Dentelle-noir. 5. In the Stars (13x5) by Moon Princess Serena. 6. For Life (3x4) by theSilence. 7. Through the Vortex (1x2) by Bane's Desire. 8. The Medallion (1x2) by Caroline Michelle. 9. Eclipse of Dusk (1x2) by Hseru. 10. Chemical Romance (1x2) by Luchia13. 11. Imperfect Kisses (1x2) by Amarin Rose. 12. Memories of You (3x4) by Sindy Feesh. 13. Shall we Dance? (1x2) by Caroline Michelle. 14. Ashes and Cloves (1x2) by HeeroDuo1x2x1. 15. Out of the Sea (3x4) by Jo-9tails. 16. Some Kind of Wonderful (1x2) by Swordy Rides Again. 17. Silence (1x4) by TechnoRevolution. 18. Untouched and Alive (Digimon daito) by rzrblade33.