A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed/followed/read my story, the feedback was really awesome! I'm glad to see the fandom is doing well.

A/N2: Special thanks to SFA, my beta reader, you ask the best questions and make me laugh at my own mistakes, thank you.

Two Truths and A Lie

Ch. 2

"Shit," Heero heard Duo curse over the open channel and immediately stopped what he was doing.

"What is it?"

"Nothin', just this glare, almost tapped the damn thing," Duo grumbled.

"Do you want me to go over there?" Heero's voice felt oddly invasive in Duo's own headset, the eerily clean signal made it feel like an almost physical presence. Juxtaposed with the absolute void of space the sound was jarring. Radio communication in space, Duo thought, was an odd form of haunting.

"No, it's fine, I'm deactivating it now," Duo's voice assured Heero, "just hate these new models, so fuckin' reflective," He muttered.

"Put down your visor,"

"It's down."

"I'm coming over, it shouldn't be bothering you that much," Heero pushed off from his standing position on top of the shuttle, aiming his weightless self towards Duo some 30 yards away. He reached out to the other man when they were close enough and Duo grabbed his hand, slowing Heero down before he drifted past.

"It's not a big deal, Heero, really, it's just so bright out here sometimes it hurts my head," Duo griped as Heero inspected his helmet.

"Yeah," Heero agreed absentmindedly as he looked over Duo's visor, then at the space mine the other man had been dealing with. It was surrounded by a small grid of metal puck-looking things floating about a foot away from it, creating a visible net of electricity around the dangerous ball of metal. The device in Duo's hand was counting down the time to the mine's deactivation and displaying different information about the mine's sensitivity, radioactive output and so on.

"We can bring out the solar shield," Heero offered.

"That thing's so bulky it's more hassle than it's worth," Duo huffed.

Heero shrugged, "I can bring it out once you get a lock on a mine, it's no big deal,"

"But then we don't have a safety if something goes wrong," Duo pointed out, unable to express why Heero's persistent offers made him feel odd.

"Duo, we've been out here for weeks, we have lifelines, we're miles from harmful debris and these suits are well protected, why don't you want my help?" Heero leveled at Duo, only the barest hint of irritation in his voice.

Duo looked pointedly down at the demining remote in his hand and didn't answer Heero. The silence grew until he could feel the pressure of it on his chest, but he refused its demand for honesty, opting instead to hide behind his pride. "It's fine, go ahead, you know I can't stop you," The remote blinked and Duo turned it off, causing the metal plates surrounding the mine to shut down. He gathered them up while Heero retrieved the now defunct mine.

They didn't speak for the rest of their shift except to relay vital information about systems on the ship or a potential mine. The quiet would have been torture for anyone else but the two ex-terrorists were adept at living with it. They acknowledged it with their actions, didn't let it get in the way of important work, understood it as a guest. Eventually it would leave.

At 'dinner' time Heero spoke again, between finishing his food and getting up to grab a drink. He found beer useful for talking to Duo and the flavor was strangely appealing to him, possibly because he now associated it with some of their more constructive talks.

"You can stop me," Heero said simply over the hiss and pop of the bottle cap as he pried it off. He set it down in front of Duo before he turned to get another one from the small fridge situated just a few feet behind where Duo sat.

"From...getting me a beer?" Duo picked up the bottle, recognizing the peace offering.

"From anything you don't want me to do," Heero responded patiently, walking back to his seat. "If you don't want help with the sun shield I won't press it, but if it's something else we should talk about it," The silence exerted itself one last time, knowing it was time to leave.

Duo took a long pull on his beer, refusing meet Heero's steady gaze. After a few seconds he shrugged. "I dunno, man, it's just," He let out a sigh, fighting against the tight knot in his gut that demanded he protect it by pushing Heero away and refusing explanation. The perfect soldier wouldn't accept that, he knew it, and a deeper part of him knew the so-called perfect soldier was right. So he tried to put it into words, tried to accept Heero's help, "it's like I keep being thrown off-balance," Heero made no effort to respond and the former God of Death knew he had to keep talking, "I can never tell where I stand with you or, hell, where I stand in general sometimes,"

"That's normal," Heero said after a pause, "I'm sorry I make you feel that way," He added, "If I could show you where I think we stand I would,"

"Well thanks," Duo snorted, immediately regretting the sarcasm in his voice, "I mean really, that's...thanks," he ended lamely.

"Of course," The soft tone of sincerity in Heero's voice threw Duo for a loop and he looked at Heero finally, unable to repress a small smirk. The years had started showing just in the corners of the former terrorists eyes, and Duo would be remiss if he were to ignore that fact that Heero had gone from a gangly 15-year-old to a man with a strong jaw, broad shoulders and healthier muscle tone. He didn't look nearly as old as they both felt, but he at least had the appearance of someone who ate and worked out regularly.

"Man," Duo shook his head, "you're a trip, Heero," he murmured, a tinge of wonder in his voice.

The former Perfect Soldier returned a small smirk of his own, "You've been telling me that since we met," He pointed out.

Duo gave a chuckle at that, feeling the knot in his gut unfurl. He took another swig of beer, "Yeah, you're right,"

The next several days progressed in a comfortable, quiet peace that occasionally ebbed away to make room for simple conversations that were so natural and ordinary that they both felt a faint sense of awe now and again. These were interactions neither man thought they would live long enough to have. To Heero it was a reassurance of what his partner had told him, that he was human, that he had everything he needed to be human.

To Duo it was all too sweet. He recognized it as a promise of loss. Abandonment. While they were in the shuttle together he knew he could ignore it, but...

The alarm was designed to make anyone who heard it understand it was time to panic. Heero remembered an engineer explaining to him how it was based off the design of pre-colonial smoke alarms. The tone of excitement in the man's voice came back to Heero as he rolled out of his bunk, the unique keening beep slicing through the atmosphere every ten seconds. Heero got into his jumpsuit and, fighting the urge to rush, opened the door of his sleeping quarters.

Of course Duo was already at the main station in his boxers and tank top, looking agitated but no more rushed than Heero. The slightly shorter man noticed how his partner's mildly agitated expression brought out the lines in his otherwise young face. How his light stubble reminded Heero that neither of them really had a chance to grow-up, had just been flung into two wars with the weight of the colony on their slight frames. And yet, somehow, even with their history marring their flesh as well as their psyches - Heero's eyes landed on a small patch of white scar tissue made by shrapnel centimeters below Duo's right ear - they both managed to keep themselves together. He supposed it was that Preventer gave them both a sense of focus, and as long as they had something bigger than themselves to focus on they could keep it together one goal, one mission, one outside priority at a time.

"The right aft fuselage and the rudder got dinged by some asteroids," Duo muttered, perturbed, as he turned off the alarm.

"I figured that would happen eventually," Heero commented as he got up and headed through the doorway that lead to the airlock prep station where their space suits were kept. Duo shrugged and followed him.

"Well this isn't so bad," Duo observed, running a gloved hand over the small hole in the rudder. It took them a few minutes to find the damage and they were relieved when they saw it wasn't a massive breach that would require emergency assistance.

Heero unpacked the soldering kit, sticking it magnetically to the rudder and pulling out a tape measure. "Looks like we have some scrap that can cover this," He measured the diameter of the hole and input the information on his notepad. "Let's go find the other one,"

The aft fuselage damage was easier to spot, just on the lip of the rightmost booster, a sizable chunk had been bent and torn. About five feet or so of ragged metal stretched out from the collision point like wet paper that a hand had just pinched and pulled.

"Oh boy, this might be a problem," Duo groaned.

Heero let out a grunt and walked along the cusp of the booster, coming up to the damage and pulled a screening device out of the soldering kit, tapping through it to look at the diagrams of the specific booster he was standing on. A 3D scanner light on the back of the rectangular pad emitted a red grid over the booster where Heero aimed it, sweeping over the area in question. "Frame damage," He confirmed, sending the information to Duo where it popped up as a projected image on the inside of his visor.

"Should we fix the rudder and call this in?" Duo's voice asked in his headset as the man floated several feet away, picking up huge pieces of metal that were floating free.

"We'll call it in when we go get materials to fix the rudder," Heero stood and picked up the soldering kit replacing everything and closing it.

"Roger that," Duo propelled himself over to Heero. As he waited for Duo to make his way over to him, he was struck by the tranquility juxtaposed with the destroyed metal just a foot away from him. All at once the former pilot of Wing Zero got the sense that time was running out and his pulse hitched as adrenaline rushed through him. Every second was precious and solid with mortality and he tasted metal under his tongue. As soon as Duo made it close enough to him, Heero pushed off from the booster and shot back to the air lock using the small emergency jets in his suit.

Without question Duo followed, keeping close to Heero as they re-entered the ship and made their way to the comm center. It was like following the flow of a stream, suddenly Duo felt it too, the situation had become dire and the former Gundam pilots slipped far too easily back into the mindset they had been trying to shake for the last three years.

The next several hours were severe, jaw-lined silence and work. The order for an engineering team was sent and confirmed and the rudder was patched. Once the work was done they calculated they had about 16 hours before the engineering team showed up which effectively meant they had a mandatory break until repairs were done. It also meant that they were stuck in an area where asteroids could damage the shuttle again. The facts of the situation made the space that Heero and Duo occupied that much more confining. They went about their old war-time regiments without a word, rigorous workouts, regular system checks. Neither pilot seemed aware that the heightened tension was abnormal until the call from HQ came in telling them the engineering crew had just left the dock.

"-they'll be in your sector at approximately 1300 hours," Noin rattled off, obviously worn down from a long shift but still professional and open.

"We need them here in eight hours, what do you mean they just left?" Heero didn't snap, but he took on the same tone Duo recognized from the first time he'd offered to fix the other man's Gundam.

Noin was obviously taken aback by the attitude, "Wh- Heero we had to get a new aft booster ready and we have mandatory shifts, they've been working on this for eight hours already, I-" Duo placed a hand on Heero's shoulder and leaned in to the vidcom.

"It's fine, Noin, thank you, tell Hilde I said 'hi' and thanks for working on this, hope you all get some rest," Duo ended the call and got in Heero's face. "Heero, buddy, we need to calm down," He reprimanded his partner in a grave tone.

Heero narrowed his eyes at the other man before his face settled into the same scowl he wore when he realized there was something vital he'd overlooked. He conceded with a nod and followed Duo when he straightened up and went to the fridge. They both picked out a meal and popped them in the hydrator. Heero accepted the beer Duo handed to him from over the table as they both went through the typical dinner routine.

"Used to be a time when alcohol and pressurized stuff wasn't advisable on space shuttles," Duo smirked, taking a swig, "glad those days are over," he chuckled.

The hydrator pinged and Heero stood up, "I got it," he offered, much calmer than earlier. His pulse hadn't settled, but Duo's confrontation had made him realize what was happening and he was determined to get out of the mindset.

They sat in silence for the first beer, eating, remembering that nothing was truly at stake here. No mobile suits were on their way, they were not sitting ducks. If anything, they were doing a glorified janitorial job, a job that was forced on them by Une because they had both repeatedly refused to use their vacation time.

"Defunct," Heero almost started at the word, and how the bottle Duo set down next to his empty one made a small 'tonk' in the stillness. Heero had been so caught up in his thoughts he hadn't even noticed the other man had moved.

"Defunct," he echoed absentmindedly, staring at the dark brown glass. How much more beer could they drink. Every 'night' the ritual and even with limited supplies there was always a second beer. When did they even develop a taste for it? Where had the last three years gone? "We're defunct," Heero muttered grabbing the bottle. Duo raised his own in a mock toast.

"Here's to us, the defunct," They both took a long pull, perfectly mirroring each other on opposite ends of the table.

Eighteen more hours of being useless.

"-and he just stands there, the fuckin' pipe spewing water like crazy and I'm so damn tired I just wanna finish taking my shower, fuckin' suds in my hair. I finally grabbed the wrench from him and tried to fix the thing myself, and that's when he snaps out of it and gets to work," Duo gesticulated, waving the hand that was holding his fifth beer, nearly knocking over the clutter of empty bottles in front of him. "I get that it's not his department, great that he answered the call first, but I swear he's trying to get fired sometimes," He chuckled taking a drink.

Heero let out a small laugh as well, a lopsided smirk on his face. He'd stretched out his legs in front of him and was holding his own beer in his lap. "Tony is actually a pretty good engineer, it's just..." Heero's smirk turned wry and he glanced down, lifting the bottle to his lips.

"It's just what?" Duo grinned back.

"He has a huge crush on you," Heero murmured into the bottle, creating an odd echo. He still had his gaze cast downward but heard Duo choke.

"What?!" Duo managed to choke out, pounding his free fist on the table, jangling the empty bottles. He looked at Heero who was still looking pointedly at his own lap, and even through the tears in his eyes Duo was surprised to see the other man, the most stoic person Duo had ever met, was blushing.

Duo regained most of his composure after a minute and gave Heero a look that would have been piercing if he was sober and Heero would look up. "How'd you know?"

Heero shrugged his shoulders, clearly not all that sober himself. "He told me,"

"He told you?" Duo echoed, letting out another cough.

Heero nodded, glancing up, his expression mischievous.

"He thought, since we know each other so well, he'd have an in," he killed his beer but kept the bottle in his hands and turned it idly around.

"Really," Duo's tone was playful, "how long ago did he tell you this?"

Heero thought for a minute, tilting his head to one side. "Maybe three weeks before we got deployed on this...janitorial duty," he snorted, showing his distaste for the job they were on for the first time.

Duo had a chuckle at that, the idea that anyone thinking Heero was the person to confide in was, well, actually pretty smart. Heero obviously wasn't a gossip, but to expect Heero to let Duo know? Or to somehow play matchmaker? That was a stretched. Of course, now all of Tony's quirks made sense and it flattered Duo, but perplexed him more so. Beyond being physically attractive he couldn't honestly understand how someone might be romantically interested in him. "Wow, OK,"

"It makes sense," Heero said simply, "he loves your open personality, your...he called it 'optimism in the face of your history',"

Duo groaned at that, running a hand over his face and grimacing comically.

Heero nodded sagely in agreement, though he still had a small smile on his lips. "He didn't have much involvement in the war,"

"Yeah, what is he? 22? He must've just been going into college when it was wrapping up," Duo mused, rolling his eyes.

"And on Earth," Heero conferred, getting up with the intention of getting two more beers. He wavered slightly as he stood and looked at Duo who was eyeing him with an amused expression.

"Maybe water," The long-haired man suggested.

Heero silently obliged, getting two large water bottles instead. "Would you date someone like him?" He asked, handing one to Duo.

"Nah," Duo accepted the bottle, cracking the plastic seal with a twist. He took a long drink before elaborating, "I can, I mean, maybe I could, but not Tony,"

"A man?" Heero asked, going back to his seat and taking a drink from his own water.

"Yeah, I mean it's not...hm," he stared off into space, pensive for a moment. "Never thought about gender or sex as being a thing, like, sometimes I just like a person, I dunno, I think it's called pansexual," Duo glanced at Heero, trying to gauge his reaction.

Heero was looking at him with an uncharacteristically warm, humored expression, his cheeks still a bit flush. "I've heard of that," he said looking back down again, his body language shifted slightly to what Duo swore, on anyone else, could have been embarrassment.

"Heero," He wheedled, unable to keep from teasing the typically stoic man, "you're acting a little odd, what's up?"

Heero didn't respond immediately but Duo knew this time he could wait his partner out.

"You know how-" Heero was obviously struggling a bit with how to word what he wanted to explain, "I...hated you?"

"Yeah, you told me," Duo couldn't keep the grin out of his voice. It was unignorable how cute Heero was being. It was the most bizarre thing he had ever witnessed, hands down. The perfect soldier was being downright bashful.

"I didn't-" Heero sighed, trying to regain some of his composure. "I'm drunk," he said to his lap, "let's talk about this when I'm not,"

"C'mon Heero, it can't be that bad," Duo coaxed, feeling a little let down. He couldn't just let this moment slip past, he could've sworn Heero was about to admit to some sort of crush.

"I really don't think it's a great idea," Heero refused, his voice a little quiet, a little slurred.

"Alright, I won't force you," Duo held up his hands in mock surrender. "You know you can tell me anything though, right?" Duo could hear himself saying the words but he had no idea how they were coming out of his mouth. "I'm not gonna judge you, I mean, we went through so much, hell, you could-" Duo stopped himself, feeling a hot blush rise on his face. Heero caught his gaze and held it, both of them seemed to suddenly know what the other one wanted to say.

Heero was the first to speak, still looking Duo in the eye. "I thought you were so ridiculous once I stopped hating you," he admitted, some of the familiar flat tone back in his voice, making Duo falter with a sense of doubt, feeling deflated, maybe he didn't know what Heero was trying to say. "But after being on Peacemillion I realized I missed you when I left,"

"Oh,"

"I didn't want to tell you, I didn't think it would be anything," Heero admitted, "I never believed I would live to see the end of the war so it didn't do much good," The way Heero talked about it made Duo feel a strong pang of sympathy.

"None of us did," Duo offered, unable to figure out how to react. "I...wouldn't have guessed, honestly," He offered up a weak smile, feeling a bit stupid for reasons he couldn't quite pin point.

"I know," Heero said, point blank.

"Way to be modest, man," Duo laughed, pleased to see a smirk on the other man's face.

Heero shrugged, sitting back in his chair. It seemed that with his confession made Heero was settling back into himself again, though he still carried a slight air of embarrassment and wouldn't look Duo straight in the eye.

"So..." Duo said into the mildly awkward silence that now pervaded, unsure of how to move forward, "uh, I..." He was drowning and Heero wasn't about to help him. "Hey, what about Relena?" thankful for a thought to come by, Duo latched on to the memory of Relena without thinking about what effect the name might have on the other man.

Heero surprised Duo yet again by giving a nonchalant shoulder shrug, "It ended pretty awkwardly, we...didn't have the same needs. Or interests," He admitted flatly.

"Oh, well...I guess that's that," Duo hadn't even considered that compatibility would be an issue between the two, especially after he watched Relena almost literally follow the perfect soldier to the ends of the earth. Trowa had even told him once about the trip to the Antarctic. "Is it- I mean, like you're gay?" The long-haired man cringed at his own wording but had no other idea how to phrase his thoughts. He hoped Heero didn't find it offensive.

"No, not really, I just didn't fit into her social strata. We had sex once, it was nice, but we just couldn't communicate," Never in all his years could Duo have imagined talking frankly with Heero Yuy about the man's sex life. The way he shared information baffled Duo, his complete, unashamed honesty at the facts almost made Duo jealous.

The silence settled back in after Heero's frank admission as Duo processed what he'd learned. It was strange to know that the man he'd shot on their first meeting now had feelings towards him that weren't hatred. It was even more interesting to find that Duo himself was oddly excited by the thought. In fact the idea of them together made sense to him now, they had a uniquely intimate history, both understood the problems the other faced with civilian lives, and Heero was...

really cute when he blushed, actually.

"Heero..."

"Yeah?"

Duo licked his lips nervously, opened his mouth as if he was about to say something, closed it and stood up, the determined gleam in his eye again. Setting his water bottle on the table, he walked over to Heero, the other man eyeing him with mild suspicion the whole time until he bent down to eye level with him and pressed a kiss to Heero's lips.

"I missed you too,"