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All rights and privileges to Shin Kidousenki Gundam Wing are trademarks and property of Sunrise, Bandai, Sotsu Agency, and associated parties. The characters of these works are used WITHOUT permission for the purpose of entertainment only. This work of fiction is not meant for sale or profit.

Original portion of the fiction included here is considered to be the sole property and copyrighted to the author. C&C is ALWAYS appreciated, flames will be laughed at, MSTed and sent to various MLs to be laughed at further, and cheerfully used to roast marshmallows.

Hopeless Love

Duo hefted his duffle bag to his shoulder and joined the queue for customs and immigrations. A warm, dry breeze blew in through the open windows on all sides of the complex, creating sweat and drying it instantly, leaving his skin and bangs crusted with a film of salt. Shifting the bag again, he freed one hand to lift his black baseball cap and scratch at his head.

There are distinct disadvantages to dressing all in black, he thought to himself with some irony. At least he no longer wore the confining priest's collar - he'd left that behind when he abandoned his Gundam, sitting in a place of honour on the pilot's chair. Those who had desecrated the Maxwell Church had been destroyed, and the colonies had been freed; though Duo would always carry his memories of Father Maxwell and Sister Helen close to his heart, he no longer felt a need to live entirely for their memory. Still, the turtleneck sweater that had seemed like such a good idea this morning on L2 was distinctly inappropriate for L4's desert heat.

He dropped his duffle again just long enough to shed his black leather jacket, folding it and draping it over the top of the bag before picking it up again. The line was moving unbearably slowly, inching along at a turtle's pace. At this rate, by the time he made it to Quatre's estate the party would be over.

He sighed, and fidgeted with his hair. Once the war and all the clean-up fighting had finished, there had been no need to keep it constantly braided up out of the way, and he'd started experimenting with it for some variety. He'd pulled it up in a ponytail and stuffed it through the hole in his ball cap for the trip, but he was wishing now that he'd taken the time to braid it that morning. He'd forgotten what a pain shuttle travel was in zero-g with long hair - and how the dry heat on L4 would make it frizz out like crazy.

He let his gaze wander over his fellow travelers, amusing himself by trying to guess why they were coming to L4. The forty-something white man to his left with the wife and four kids swarming around him was obvious enough; even if the Bermuda shorts, loud Hawaiian shirt and expensive camera strapped around his neck hadn't screamed 'TOURIST!' Duo would have spotted him the moment he pointed at a passing dark-skinned man in a turban and commented loudly to his family, "Look, honey, an Arab!" followed by a flurry of clicks as he raised the camera and snapped pictures.

Ahead of him a few spaces in line was something that brought a pang to his heart; a woman in a nun's habit, complete with wimple. She was fingering her rosary and murmuring prayers under her breath to pass the time as she waited, and Duo mouthed the words along with her, challenging himself to see how many of the prayers he could remember before he missed one. The number was depressingly small - he really needed to brush up on his doctrine and dogma. Not that he put much faith in Catholicism, but he felt he owed it to Father Maxwell to at least make an effort not to forget his heritage.

Beside him in line was an incredibly impatient man in a business suit, his only luggage a briefcase that was actually cuffed to his wrist. The corner of Duo's mouth twitched as he registered that - it was a challenge too good to ignore. He palmed his lock pick from his pants pocket - old habits die hard, he always carried at least one set with him - and shifted the weight of his duffle again. He 'lost' his grip on the bag and it slid down his shoulder, setting him off balance and sending him staggering into the man beside him. Duo caught at his arm for balance, apologizing profusely to the irritated stranger as he attempted to right himself and straighten his bag.

No sooner had he returned to his place in line than a loud 'clang' announced the introduction of handcuffs to floor. He turned and scooped up the offending piece of equipment, offering it to the businessman with a puzzled smile. "Is this yours?" he asked innocently. The man stared incredulously at the cuffs in Duo's palm, then down at his own wrist, as if checking to make sure he was actually missing them. "I think you dropped them when I bumped into you," Duo added helpfully, long practice allowing him to suppress the laughter bubbling up within him. "You must not have had them on very tight."

The man snatched the cuffs out of his hand with an offended look and turned away with a huff, fumbling to reattach them. Duo snickered quietly to himself and returned his attention to the rest of the crowd.

He was delighted to find that he was only second in line now, and he harboured some hope of getting out of the spaceport that day after all. The man in front of him was waved through, and he stepped up to the little kiosk.

"Name?" the customs officer, a heavyset man in his early forties, asked in a bored tone of voice.

"Duo Maxwell," he returned cheerfully. He didn't envy people who had jobs like this - boring, repetitive, with only the occasional dustup to make things interesting. He figured being cheerful and polite while dealing with them brightened their day a little; it certainly didn't cost him anything, and it usually expedited the process.

"Citizenship?"

"L2 colony."

"Are you bringing any firearms, dangerous substances or organic material into the colony?"

"Nope!" Duo replied truthfully. Well, the set of perfectly balanced throwing knives concealed about his body certainly weren't firearms, and the special magnetic film coating the blades kept the metal detectors from going off. He had to wonder if anyone ever just admitted to bringing dangerous substances into the colony, though.

"Why are you coming to L4?"

"I'm going to a reunion organized by a friend who lives here." Briefly he debated tossing Quatre's name in casually, but he decided against it. It wasn't particularly believable that a scruffy guy like him was close buddies with L4's most prominent businessman, and he didn't feel like stretching his credibility.

"Passport?"

Duo handed over the little black folder that contained his passport. It was still kind of neat to know that he didn't have to worry about someone spotting it for a fake - it was the real, genuine article, issued to him by special dispensation from the L2 government after he returned home as a war hero. Good thing, too - otherwise it would have been damned hard to get one without a birth certificate and proof of identity. Not that anyone had ever spotted one of his forgeries when he was still using them, of course.

The officer studied the picture, then studied him some more. Duo waited patiently, knowing that like all such photos, the shot of him on the passport bore little resemblance to his actual appearance. The man glanced over at something posted on the wall out of sight, then frowned at him.

"Could you please step to the side, then follow the yellow path to the customs building?" He gestured behind the booth where a path demarcated by yellow lines led off towards a small, squat office building. Duo frowned.

"Something wrong? I'm really already kinda late..." He started to grow alarmed as he saw two large, beefy looking men in Preventers uniforms exit the building and start towards them.

"Please go with the officers, sir," the booth guard reiterated. The two men were nearly upon them now, and they didn't look like they much cared if Duo was a little bruised and battered when he got to the building. He turned and walked meekly along between them, fighting to ignore his battle-trained reflex to bolt. He really didn't like being in custody of anybody, especially anybody in uniform, and his instincts were screaming at him to get the hell out of there.

They escorted him into the building, hands hovering ostentatiously over the butt of their holstered guns. Duo eyed them both nervously, wondering just how twitchy their trigger fingers were. What the hell was this, anyway?

He was led to a small, featureless white cell with two chairs and a table, and his bag was taken from him. They weren't particularly gentle with it, either, and he winced as they jostled it from side to side. He'd brought presents for everyone, and some of them were fairly fragile. Oh, well - at least the room had air conditioning.

He sighed, and slumped into one of the chairs as they left him alone. Great. Now he was going to be late for the party, AND his presents were going to be wrecked. When Quatre had begun organizing this reunion a little over a year ago, he'd started saving up so that he could afford to get something really nice for each of his old friends. He wouldn't be able to replace them in a hurry.

He draped his arms over the table and laid his head against them, wondering what the others were doing. He knew he was the last to arrive - there had been a bomb threat at the L2 spaceport earlier that day, and his flight had been postponed nearly three hours. He'd been looking forward to this for months, wondering what it would be like to see them all again after five years apart.

Oh, Quatre had dropped by to visit every time he was in the L2 area, and he'd run across Trowa in a Preventers unit that had been assigned to L2 a year and a half ago. He saw Heero on TV every so often, as the bodyguard for Vice Minister Relena Darlian-Peacecraft. Of Wufei he'd seen and heard nothing since the war that Mariemeia had tried to start, but Quatre had assured him that the enigmatic Chinese boy was planning to attend.

The thought of Heero and Wufei, as usual, sent a spasm through his chest. He rolled his eyes and banged his forehead lightly against the table. Six years after the end of the war, five years since he'd seen them last, and honestly he'd barely known them even before that - you'd think he'd be over them by now! Or at the very least, have decided which one he liked better.

He'd first fallen in love with Heero when they worked together, briefly, at the outset of the war. The sheer audacity of the guy, stealing Deathscythe's parts in the middle of the night to make his own Gundam operational, had impressed Duo beyond belief. Though he'd been furious at the time, it had also sparked a grudging admiration. In the streets where Duo had grown up, prestige was often won by pulling off a particularly spectacular heist, and looting Deathscythe under Duo's own nose certainly counted!

The more he had worked with the surly pilot, the more he had come to realize that Heero's reticence was more a result of training than his own nature. Oh, sure, the Perfect Soldier would have denied it to his dying breath - but Duo occasionally saw a softer side to the hardened warrior that piqued his interest. He'd held Heero through his nightmares, just as Heero had held him in turn, and he knew some of what his fellow pilot had gone through in his early life. His training under J made Duo's own time on the streets look like a walk in the park by comparison!

They had formed first a fragile truce, then a convenient partnership, and then an odd friendship. Two boys who had been taught all their lives that they could trust no one but themselves, came to trust and rely on someone else. Oh, they still fought over missions, argued about Duo's flippant approach to life and the stick wedged up Heero's ass, but somewhere along the line it had turned more into teasing and bantering than true fighting.

And then Duo had been supremely stupid, and broken his own personal vow - he'd fallen in love with the jerk. He could still remember the day he'd realized it; one of the many occasions when Relena had managed to track down their hiding place and accost Heero, excluding Duo from their little circle by the simple act of ignoring him entirely. Duo had stalked off, furious, and spent the next two hours pacing around the tiny dorm room they shared. He had been brought up short by the sudden understanding that he was mad because he was jealous of them.

Green wasn't a good colour for him - he'd fought the emotion down and wrestled it into submission, and never let it affect him or his relationship with Heero again. But subduing it hadn't removed the root source; he was in love with his partner, head over heels. He'd spent the next few weeks trying to deny it, trying to argue it out of existence, and finally trying to ignore it entirely.

Not because he was afraid that Heero might reject him - he was too thick-skinned, and way too damned used to rejection, to let that bother him. Sure, it would hurt, but it wouldn't affect his piloting abilities or really anything else in his life. In fact, it probably would have been the best solution; once he had a definite 'no', he could have gotten over him and gone on with his life.

No, it was because he'd been afraid that Heero might, just might, feel the same way. After losing his third family, Duo had sworn never to love anyone again, too afraid of the inevitable heartache it would bring. Whatever logic or reason might say, he knew in his gut that those he loved, who loved him in return, were destined to die. He just couldn't take it a fourth time.

And then came the horrible day of the ultimatum issued by Lady Une: surrender, or OZ would destroy one of the colonies. Duo still wasn't sure she'd really have done it - it would have been awfully bad PR for OZ. But rather than risk his Gundam falling into enemy hands Heero had done what he'd been trained to do, what he seemed entirely too eager to do; he'd self-destructed, destroying his Gundam and providing the rest of them with a chance to get away.

Duo had wound up with Quatre in the Maguarnac's desert stronghold, miserable with guilt. Quatre had eventually pried the story out of him, getting him plastered one night and pestering him with questions until he spilled everything. In retrospect he was thankful Quatre had been there to take care of him; he'd come closer then to suicide than ever before. The idea of killing himself had always been abhorrent to Duo, and he couldn't believe he'd even been contemplating it.

Life had gone on, the war had continued, and eventually he'd dealt with Heero's death by throwing himself into each battle with zeal. They were short one fighter - two, really, since no one could seem to find Trowa - and he, Quatre and Wufei had been forced to work harder than ever before.

As a side effect, they'd also started working together more often. Wufei and Quatre were both master strategists, and the benefits of combining their forces and information had been too obvious to pass up. Even Wufei's suspicious nature eventually gave way to grudging respect for his fellow pilots, and he'd started spending some of his downtime with Duo and Quatre instead of off by himself.

Thereby putting Duo in a quandary - more and more he found himself drawn to Wufei, just as he had been drawn to Heero. Terrified, refusing to make the same mistake a FIFTH time, he ensured that Wufei would never return his feelings by putting on the most immature, clownish act he could think of. Whenever the Chinese pilot was around, Duo was inevitably acting childish and irresponsible, annoying the hell out of the stiff-necked warrior. The only exceptions had been in battle, because he wasn't stupid enough to slit his own throat or risk Quatre and Wufei's lives.

It had worked, too. Wufei avoided him whenever possible, snapping at him when circumstances had forced them together. He'd managed to shove his feelings deep enough into his heart that he'd almost forgotten them himself.

Then the impossible had happened - Trowa had shown up, and Heero was with him. Duo found himself torn nearly in half, his mind and heart spinning in little circles trying to figure out what to do. He loved Wufei now - but he'd never stopped loving Heero. He couldn't decide between them, couldn't force his recalcitrant heart to choose.

Finally he'd decided that it didn't matter anyway. After all, his vow to never confess his feelings still held, and he certainly wasn't going to put them both in danger! Heero had lived, nominally breaking the curse - but Duo was convinced that the Wing pilot had survived only because Duo had never actually confessed his feelings. It had been a warning; a preview of events to come if Duo were foolish enough to believe his torment had ended.

And now, it had been five years since he'd seen either of them in person. He kept expecting to hear rumours of Vice Minister Relena's marriage to her war hero bodyguard, but there had never been any. He'd finally decided that either they'd already done it and had somehow managed to keep it completely secret - unlikely, given the speed and creativity of the gossip mill - or they really had gotten over each other, and were just friends. Duo had to admit that Relena had matured a great deal from the girl who had chased them all across the world.

A shuffling outside the door made him raise his head, and he watched with some amusement as a pair of troopers marched in and deposited his duffle on the far end of the table, out of his immediate reach. The bag had obviously been searched thoroughly, all the presents opened and the contents revealed. Duo was mildly annoyed at that - it had taken him nearly two hours to wrap those presents properly, and that was with Hilde's help!

One man stood guard with his hand on his gun while the other gestured for Duo to stand. He sighed and obeyed, holding his arms out to his sides for the inevitable frisking. The soldier was none to gentle about it, either - there would be bruises later. He found four of the six concealed knives, and his scowl deepened. Curtly he ordered Duo to strip down, thus revealing the remaining two knives, which had been hidden against his skin. Those were tossed with the rest of his stuff, and he was bent over the table for the internal search.

Duo winced as they finally allowed him to put his clothes back on and sit down again. The guard had made no effort to be careful in his ministrations.

The guard who had been searching him moved to take the post opposite the door to his fellow, and another man entered. Judging by the gold braid and ornamentation on the uniform, Duo figured this was an officer of some kind. The salutes the two men gave as he came in confirmed that.

The officer - his name badge read "Dziarski", and he certainly didn't LOOK Arabic, so presumably he wasn't from L4 originally - regarded him levelly across the table. He had a fairly substantial file folder in front of him, and was drumming his fingers on the cover. He seemed to be waiting for Duo to say something first, perhaps a demand for information or a plea for leniency. Perversely, Duo decided to stay silent until he'd spoken first.

Eventually the officer sighed, like he was being put out, and reached up to straighten his tie. "Before we begin, I'd like to point out that you do have the right to remain silent. Should you choose to waive that right, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. Now, Mr... Maxwell, was it?" Duo nodded, and he continued. "Mr. Maxwell, you certainly know how to make an entrance. Six concealed weapons on your body, with a very illegal anti-detector coating, as well as a set of lock picks that would be the envy of any master thief. A concealed edged sword in your duffle, again with anti-detector wrappings, an antique pistol - and I might add that you very clearly stated to the customs officer that you were not bringing any firearms into the colony..."

"That thing doesn't count!" Duo protested, stung. "C'mon, it's ANCIENT! You couldn't fire that sucker if you wanted to! At least three hundred years old, maybe four; the mechanisms are completely rusted out and I don't know where you'd ever find powder and shot for it, anyway. It's an antique!"

Dziarski tilted his head. "A very expensive antique, according to my experts. And regardless of its condition, it is a firearm. To continue; several hundred dollars worth of rare musical recordings, a large package of powder my narcotics team is unable to identify..."

Duo made a face at him. "Oh, for crying out loud. It's green tea, from L5. From the last crop they ever exported." The officer raised a brow at that, and nodded to one of the guards. The soldier leaned out into the hall and spoke with someone briefly, presumably ordering whoever was out there to confirm that.

"Another very expensive commodity, which is also an organic substance. Additionally, there was another set of throwing knives identical to the first except for the lack of matte black finishing, five solid gold charm bracelets with several very expensive, albeit tiny, gems inset, and a plate of solid platinum with a picture etched in acid. All of which adds up to a considerable sum for a," he glanced down at his notes, "junk recycler to afford. Have I missed anything?"

Duo rolled his eyes. "Just the clothes, books, and other ordinary stuff. Look, okay, I forgot the tea was an organic substance. But it already WENT through decontam when I brought it up to L2 in the first place, and it never left the sterile area until I picked it up to bring it here. And I still don't think the pistol should count as a firearm, but okay, I apologize. Concealed weapons - the sword and second set of knives were wrapped up like that because they're presents! It's all presents, except for the knives I was wearing. I've been saving up for more than a year to buy them all, plus all the savings I'd had before that."

The officer waited a moment, as if expecting him to add something. "How very generous of you. No excuse for the knives you were wearing?"

Duo shrugged. "I don't like not having a way of protecting myself, and I left my gun at home. That one was my bad, I admit it. But why the hell did you guys pull me out of line in the first place? There's no way the customs guy spotted any of the knives, they were all below his line of sight."

"The guard who questioned you is a former OZ officer, and he believed he recognized you from an old 'dangerous persons' list. Your name and face aren't on our current lists, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything - you were brought in for a search and questioning. If you'd checked out, you'd have been released without further hassle. But I think I can safely say that with what we've discovered here, you won't be going anywhere any time soon." He looked entirely too pleased; the cat that ate the canary and chased it down with cream. Duo had run into this kind of officer before, in his days of dodging OZ. Just his damn luck to get a customs officer who vaguely recognized him, anyway! The identities of the Gundam pilots weren't common knowledge, but Duo's face had been plastered all over the system at one point during the war.

"So, what now?" he asked wearily, settling deeper into his chair. He figured he was in for a long wait. "I don't really know the laws and customs here on L4, or even what you Preventers have worked out for yourselves. What are my rights, if any? Do I at least get a phone call?"

"You have the right to an attorney, of course. If you cannot afford one, the court will appoint one for you. Standard Geneva Convention rules for treatment of prisoners apply. And yes, you do receive one phone call."

"Good. I'd like to make it now, if you don't mind."

"Of course. Private, would you bring one of the portable phones in here, please?" One of the guards saluted and left, returning a few minutes later with a small vid screen and portable phone hookup. Dziarski set it up, and handed him the receiver. "Would you like privacy?"

Duo debated, and decided it would be much more fun to see their faces when Quatre Raberba Winner appeared on the screen. "Naw. I ain't got anything to hide." From memory, he punched in the private code for the main Winner residence on L4.

A secretary or butler of some kind appeared. "Winner residence. May I help you?"

Duo hid a grin at the surprise on the officer's face. "Yeah. I need to talk to Quatre, please." Outright shock, this time, and he couldn't suppress his chuckle.

The man on the screen raised a supercilious eyebrow. "Mr. Winner is very busy at the moment. If this is business related, you should call his offices, and one of his vice presidents will be happy to deal with you." His tone of voice said that they wouldn't be very happy at all, and Duo sighed. This guy was obviously new - most of Quatre's help knew all the Gundam pilots by sight, and knew that anyone who had Quatre's private code was to be put through immediately.

"No, it's not business related. Look, if Q-man's busy, is Trowa there? Or hell, even Heero or Wufei. They should be there by now, and any of them'll do."

The man's nose inched up in the air, and Duo's heart sank. He wasn't going to put him through. Ordinarily this would just be a nuisance; he'd try again later, when someone different would answer the phone. But in this case, it could be a disaster.

"Quatre-sama left strict orders that he and his guests were not to be disturbed for any reason."

Duo rolled his eyes. "For Christ's sake, I AM one of the guests!" He could see by the look on the servant's face that he didn't believe him. "Ah, hell. Look, just do this much for me, at least. Tell Quatre - or any of the others - that Duo won't be able to make the reunion because I'm being held at the spaceport by a bunch of overzealous customs agents and Preventers officers, and some ass he calls a servant wouldn't put me through so I could get bailed out. And just in case you're thinking of taking the message and tossing it, I highly recommend you don't. I guarantee that anything Q-man might do to you for interrupting the party will be nothing compared to what he'll do to you for ignoring this message."

The servant didn't look particularly impressed as he closed the connection, and Duo hoped he would at least make a token effort to talk to one of the others. He was looking forward to the chewing out this guy was going to get when Quatre found out what had happened. Dammit, you couldn't get that comm code unless you knew Quatre or Trowa personally! It was changed every month in case the media or fundraisers did manage to get a hold of it, and the last change had been just a few days ago.

The phone was carried out again, and Dziarski gave him a superior look. "That was very impressive, but I hope you don't expect that bluff to get you out of trouble. If anything, this will only get you in more trouble - Mr. Winner is a very busy, influential person on this colony, and he doesn't appreciate having people use his name without his permission."

Duo was annoyed enough at this point that he actually flipped the guy off. "Whatever," he replied sourly. "It's your ass on the line when he finally gets that damned message. If he ever does get that damned message."

He was left alone in the little room for some time after that. At one point a friendly-looking Preventer brought him a sandwich and a glass of lemonade, and Duo made a mental note of the man's face and name so he could get Quatre to give him a bonus later. He was long past the point of pacing from boredom and was now attempting to make patterns and constellations out of the cracks in the ceiling - they'd taken all his stuff out of the room when they'd left - when he heard an argument begin in the hallway outside. It was far away at first, but came steadily closer, and he perked up in interest.

"Hey, you can't... hey! You can't go in there! You don't have the clearance... who do you think you are?" There was a murmur that Duo couldn't make out, though he strained at the door, and the first voice replied, "I don't care if you're a captain or a colonel! You can't come in here without clearance from the base commandant..."

"I believe this will be sufficient for clearance?" a sharp female voice retorted. Duo was certain he recognized the voice, but he couldn't quite place it...

There was a shuffle of paper, then a gasp from the poor officer outside. Duo swore he could hear the poor private snapping into a salute. "Ma'am! I apologize, ma'am, I didn't recognize you out of uniform..."

"As you were, lieutenant, you were doing your job. Now, let us past."

"Ma'am... uh... you should know, ma'am, the prisoner is considered very dangerous..."

"I'm well aware of just how dangerous Maxwell can be, probably far more so than anyone on this base." Duo backed away from the door with a look that was half horror, half amusement on his face as the voices stopped just outside the room. "Now, open the door, please."

The door swung open, and he found himself face-to-face with Lady Une herself. No wonder the poor guard had sounded like he was ready to piss his pants! It was probably the only time he'd ever seen the Commander-in-Chief of the Preventers forces up close and personal - and he'd tried to demand clearance papers from her!

"Hey Une-chan, lookin' good!" he commented cheerfully, swinging his feet from where he had hopped up onto the table's edge. He heard a strangled gasp from the guard at his familiarity with one of the most powerful women in the world, and gave the poor guy a reassuring wink. It was the same guard who had brought him food, and Duo felt a little sorry for him.

"Maxwell," Une returned, giving him a wry look. "After all these years, why am I not surprised to first see you in a holding cell again?"

He gave her his best cheeky grin. "Just talent, I guess. Did you come to bail me out, or is this a happy coincidence?"

"Quatre finally got your message," came a quiet voice from behind where Une was standing in the doorway. She moved aside, and Duo's face lit up as he saw Trowa. "One of the security staff was going through the message logs prior to clearing them, and recognized your name."

Duo made a disappointed noise. "Has Q-man already dealt with the snob? I wanted to be there." He was pleased to see Dziarski and his other two guards rushing down the hallway, looking fit to burst.

A small smile graced Trowa's lips. "Quatre figured as much. He's got him stewing in a locked room until morning, then you can watch while he lectures him. It should be spectacular."

Dziarski, meanwhile, was attempting to argue with Une. "Ma'am, respectfully, you can't just walk in here and demand that we release him! Personal friend or not, he was caught with contra-brand on his person, and he's being held until such time as a trial can be arranged. Surely you of all people wouldn't want rumours of corruption and kickbacks getting started about the Preventers..."

Une glared at him, and turned to Duo. "Maxwell, do you have your Preventers card? The one you got during the Mariemeia incident?"

Duo thought about it. "Uh... if I still have it, it'll be in my wallet. They've got it."

Une nodded, and turned to the friendly guard. "Retrieve Mr. Maxwell's belongings, please."

"And put it all back in the damn bag, at least!" Duo shouted after him. "Two of those presents are for these guys, and it's not fair for them to get theirs before everyone else."

Une glanced at him, looking surprised. "Presents?"

Duo nodded enthusiastically. "Sure! Been saving up for ages so I could get you guys good stuff. Just hope nobody shows up at the party that I wasn't expecting, though, or I'll feel bad about not having anything for them."

She still wasn't quite processing it. "You bought a present... for me?"

The smile he gave her then was one of his gentlest. After all this time, Une was still one of the most insecure people he knew; she had a hard time believing that after the horrible things she'd done or tried to do during the war, people would still be willing to be her friend. Especially the very people she'd done most of it TO. "Sure thing, Une-chan. That's all in the past - forgiven and forgotten, ne? And you're still one of a very select group of people who understands what we really all went through during that nightmare of a year." Trowa nodded, and she looked pleased. Dziarski looked like he was still having a hard time swallowing all of this.

The guard returned bearing Duo's duffel, and holding his wallet in one hand. Duo gestured for him to put the bag down, and dug through his wallet. "Ah, here it is!" he crowed in triumph, extracting a very beaten laminated card from the back. It had the Preventers logo on the front with his name embossed in one corner, and the back held his signature and a set of terms and conditions.

Une took it from him, and displayed it to the officers. "Perhaps you are not familiar with this card - we don't give it out to many people. Mr. Maxwell here is an auxiliary Preventers officer, with a reserve rank of captain - which places him several ranks higher than you, Lieutenant Dziarski. At his discretion, and barring specific prohibitions by a higher-ranking Preventers officer, he is permitted to carry concealed weapons and firearms within and between the colonies, and on Earth."

Dziarski looked like he'd just swallowed a cactus that was home to a large hive of bees, and Duo stifled a chuckle behind his hand. Behind Une, he could see that Trowa was enjoying the show as well.

"Why didn't you just show this card in the first place, Maxwell?" Une asked him. He shrugged.

"Forgot I had it, I guess. Besides, it's probably expired by now..." he trailed off as she shook her head.

"It's good until I revoke it. Which I'm not about to do."

"What the hell is all that supposed to mean?" Dziarski finally burst out, incensed. "That thing gives him the right to do pretty much whatever the hell he wants, without restraint or restriction, and he's not even an actual officer? What the hell is an 'auxiliary Preventer'? We don't even have enough people for our main corps, never mind a reserve corps! You..."

"That will be QUITE enough out of you, lieutenant," Une snapped, and he fell silent with an intimidated look. Duo could appreciate how he felt - he'd been the recipient of that glare more than a few times. There had been days when he would have sworn that Une and Heero took lessons in glaring from the same person.

"This dispensation is not given out frivolously," Une continued in her iciest voice. "There have been only three of them issued, ever, and that was during the Mariemeia battles. There should have been five, but one of the people who would have received it was already an officer, and the other was in Mariemeia's army and has since joined the Preventers." Duo traded looks with Trowa, green and indigo eyes sparkling with amusement.

Dziarski sputtered for a minute. "This guy is only twenty-two! The Mariemeia war was five years ago - what the hell could a seventeen-year-old have done to deserve something like that?"

"Flown a Gundam," Une replied crisply, and smiled to see him shocked speechless. "Now if you're quite done, Mr. Maxwell is already late for a party, as are Captain Barton and I. Maxwell?" He grabbed his bag and preceded her out the door.

"Now THAT," he sighed in satisfaction as they exited the building, "was almost worth it. Une-chan, would you do me a favour and see that the carrot-topped officer, Delaney - the one that tried to stop you - gets a bonus or a commendation or something? He was the only one that bothered to bring me food and a drink. I was gonna ask Quatre, but it'll mean more coming from you."

She smiled tightly at him as they climbed into the limo that had arrived to pick them up. "I'll make a note of it," she promised. "Maxwell, how DO you manage to get into these messes?"

He shrugged. "The customs guy was an ex-OZ grunt who thought he recognized me as having been on a 'dangerous persons' list a long time ago. He was right - he just didn't have the whole story. I don't blame him, he was just doing his job."

"Quatre's been frantic since your shuttle came in, and you didn't show up," Trowa put in. "When he found out where you were - and that the message hadn't gotten through to him..."

"Let's just say I learned a few things about cowing subordinates," Une put in wryly. "I never would have suspected he was capable of something like that."

"You never saw him go Zero-System," Duo replied, and Trowa nodded. Une conceded the point.

It didn't take them long to get to the Winner holdings, and everyone was piled outside on the front porch waiting for them. Quatre flew in to hug Duo the moment he set foot out of the car, nearly knocking him off balance.

"Whoah, Q-man!" he exclaimed, dropping his bag back onto the seat and returning the enthusiastic greeting. "Long time no see, buddy. Sorry to cause you so many problems..."

"Don't be silly!" Quatre replied, already dragging him off to where the others were gathered. Trowa slid up on Quatre's other side, and unobtrusively claimed his lover's free hand. Duo grinned at him. "I'm just glad to see you're okay. I think I'm going to make a rule that only Maguarnacs can answer my personal phone - they at least recognize all of you on sight!"

Duo glanced over the assembled group, taking in all the differences five years had made. He himself had shot up almost a foot, topping out at 6' 4", a full inch taller than Trowa. Wufei had barely grown at all, maybe an inch if he stretched, but his features had matured, giving him a look of dangerous dignity. Heero likewise hadn't grown much, though he'd done better than the Chinese pilot by a few inches. Quatre was nearly six feet tall now, but Duo had seen him often enough that that wasn't a surprise.

As for the others - everyone looked a little older, a little wiser, and the differences in all their ages weren't so apparent anymore. It had been easy to forget, during the war, that Zechs, Noin, Sally and Une were at most four years older than the Gundam pilots they fought. Relena had matured into a strong young woman, her stance and the look in her eyes promising that she wouldn't take slack from anyone. And Dorothy, oddly enough, had softened, her burning joy in war transmuted into a gentler love of life. Duo had initially been uncertain about Quatre's decision to include her in the invitations, but he saw now that she fit in just fine.

"Hey, guys," was all he said. It was enough. They all poured back into the house, heading for the main room where the party had been set up.

"Where's Hilde?" Relena asked in surprise. "I thought she was invited?"

"She was, but she couldn't leave L2. Poor thing managed to miscalculate, and got pregnant about eight and a half months ago. Even if zero-g wouldn't be bad for the baby, she's not up to going anywhere."

"Oh! Congratulations, Duo! I had no idea."

Duo stared at her blankly for a second, before making the connection. He burst out laughing. "Aw, hell no! It's not mine. Hilde and I broke up about a year after we moved in together. We're too damn similar - we nearly killed each other. She's got a fiancée now, and we're best friends again. I get to be the godfather, but as far as I'm concerned that's the closest I'm EVER going to come to fatherhood!"

"Thank God," Sally said faintly. "The last thing the world needs is little Maxwells running around! I still remember the last time you trashed my clinic..."

"I apologized for that," Duo protested. "And I did warn you not to put me on those painkillers... oh, hey, is that food I smell?"

Heero actually smiled at him, and gestured at the tables where the food had been laid out. "You haven't changed a bit, Duo. Still heading straight for the food."

Duo grinned back at him as he stacked a plate. "Naturally. And I'm glad I can't say the same, Heero. You look like you've finally learned how to relax." He settled into a chair as the rest of the group did the same, and then it was time to catch up on all their stories.

Zechs and Noin had been working on the terraforming project on Mars and, as Noin put it, "having the time of our lives. It's beautiful out there - the view from Mount Olympus is spectacular. You guys should all come visit!" Sally had been working with the Preventers as a medical officer, and had worked her way rapidly up the ranks until she very nearly matched Une for status. The two of them, oddly enough, had become fast friends, and Duo very much suspected he saw a romance developing there. He hid his grin, and mentally wished them luck. He thought they'd be good for each other, though his earlier bets had been on Sally taming Wufei to heel.

Relena had of course been busy with her duties as Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Dorothy had been appointed as one of her under-Secretaries. It was a good arrangement, since the two girls balanced one another's strengths and weaknesses.

Quatre and Trowa had been living together since the end of the war, except when business or Preventers work called one of them away. Trowa mentioned that Catherine had wanted to come, but like Hilde had found herself planet-bound by a bulging stomach. There was a round of congratulations for her, which he promised to pass on the next time he saw her.

The discovery that shocked Duo beyond belief was the revelation that Heero and Wufei had been living together for nearly two years. Seeing them sitting together on one of the couches, Heero's arm draped casually over the back as Wufei subconsciously angled his body against his lover's, sent a surge of jealousy through Duo stronger than anything he'd ever felt before. He hid his dismay well, covering it with mostly-sincere congratulations to them. He was happy for them, glad that they'd found someone who could pierce their shells and draw them out. It even made sense that they would be together, as the only other people who really understood what they'd been through were Quatre and Trowa, who were together - and Duo himself. He tried hard not to be bitter or self-pitying, but seeing all of his friends happy and loving made him feel the loneliness of his life more strongly than ever.

To stave it off, he asked Quatre to have someone fetch his bag. "I've got presents for everyone!" he announced gleefully when it was brought to him. "I had the damn things all wrapped up nicely, but the customs guys tore them apart. I just hope they're all in one piece."

The reactions around him were a mixture of surprised and touched. "Duo, you didn't have to get presents," Relena said, flustered. "None of the rest of us did."

He shrugged. "You don't get people presents because you want them to give you stuff, you give them presents because you want to make them happy and let them know you care. Now, let's see..."

He reached inside, and was pleasantly surprised to find that all the packages had been neatly wrapped once again in festive coloured paper. "Trowa mentioned that they'd been opened," Quatre put in cheerfully. "I asked one of the servants to wrap them for you again. They all have labels so you'll know which is which - you can just take them off before you give them out."

Duo gave him a grateful smile. "Thanks, Q-man. You're always one step ahead of me. Uh... Zechs, this one's for you. It's the most awkward one, might as well get it out of the way." He withdrew a long, slender package, and handed it to the tall ex-fighter.

Zechs removed the wrapping curiously, and exclaimed aloud as the elegant sabre was revealed. "Duo, it's beautiful! Twenty-first century French design, with Spanish steel, yes?"

"You bet!" Duo replied happily. "It's not actually an antique, just a copy of one - but it's tournament qualified, so you can actually use it."

"Thank you," Zechs answered, and fell to admiring his new blade. The next package to come out was heavy enough that Duo didn't even have to look at it to know whose it was.

"Heero, this one's for you. I hope they didn't break it."

Heero took the wrapping off in his usual methodical way, peeling the layers apart and folding them neatly. There was a box beneath, and he opened the lid - then sat staring in surprise, his eyes wide. After a moment of silence, Duo became anxious.

"You don't like it?"

"No, I..." Heero withdrew the antique weapon reverently, with appropriate care for its age. "Duo, this belongs in a museum! Where on earth did you find it?"

"Actually, I got it at an estate sale. Some guy who'd collected hundreds of different guns. I wasn't sure if it was a good idea - I mean, I'm sure you're trying to forget all about the war and your training and stuff, but it just reminded me of you..."

"I love it," he interrupted his babbling friend with another small smile. "I've actually been studying the history of war this last year, trying to figure out the patterns that developed into the war we fought in. Wufei got me hooked on history."

Duo fought down another jealous surge, and fished into the bag again. "Um... Wufei next, looks like. Think fast, Wu-babe." He tossed the package at the Chinese boy, having felt the box beneath the wrapping and knowing it wouldn't burst apart on impact.

Wufei caught it with flawless reflexes, and studied it curiously. "You didn't have to do this, Maxwell. You and I were never very close." That HURT, and Duo sucked in his breath, trying not to show it. Before he could make a cheerful protest, however, Wufei continued, "I know I never treated you very well, when we were fighting together. I let myself be distracted by the way you sometimes acted, and kept forgetting all the things that I respected you for. In many ways, I was the one who behaved in a childish manner, not you. I hope you and I will have a chance to become better friends in the future."

Well, hell. What do you say to something like that? "Sure thing, Wu-man. Er, Wufei. I hope so too."

Wufei gave him a wry smile. "Oddly enough, I found myself missing the names you used to call me once you were gone. I suppose they grow on you after all." He opened his package with nearly the same meticulousness as Heero, and Duo couldn't help but roll his eyes. If he had to bet money, he would have said that their floor at home would have been clean enough to eat off of. Or any other surface in the house, for that matter.

Wufei looked puzzled when he opened his box and found more wrapping paper, plain brown this time. The split where the narcotics team had taken a sample was obvious, and Duo gave him an apologetic look.

"There's a little missing - apparently they thought I was drug running, or something. They couldn't figure out what it was."

Wufei re-opened the slit, and gazed at the fine green powder with some confusion. Then his eyes widened, and he wet a finger and dipped it in, bringing some up to taste. "Impossible," he breathed, clearly astonished. "Is this what I think it is?"

"Part of the last crop L5 ever exported," Duo confirmed, gratified by the look on his friend's face. "I remembered how much you were addicted to that stuff during the war, and figured you were probably having a hard time finding any now. Plus, I wanted to get you something that would, I don't know, remind you of home, I guess. You should really thank Quatre, though - he's the one who found the supplier for me."

Wufei carefully re-wrapped the package, and gave them both a formal bow, his eyes shining. "I thank you profusely," he said formally, his voice quiet. "You have no idea how much something like this means to me."

"Oh, I've got a pretty good idea," Duo returned, just as quietly. He reached up to finger his cross, and nodded when he saw the understanding in Wufei's eyes.

"Enough sap," he declared, and dug in again. He pulled up five identical boxes, and handed one out to each of the girls. "I didn't get very creative for you guys, and I apologize," he said. "I'm not very good at picking out presents for girls, and Hilde didn't have time to help, what with preparations for the wedding and all. You're all invited, by the way - I've got invitations in here for you somewhere. But she assured me that you'd all like these."

Sally was the first to get hers open, laughingly abandoning decorum after the first piece of tape stubbornly refused to yield, and tearing into the package like any kid on Christmas day. She held up the bracelet with wide eyes, twisting it this way and that so that the light would fall on the charms.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, enchanted. "It's the Gundams! With jewels for the eyes and beam weapons. How pretty!"

"All five custom Gundams, plus Epyon and Tallgeese II. I didn't have any good pictures of Vayetes and Mercurious, and couldn't remember what they looked like well enough to draw them."

"You must have had these custom made," Noin commented, examining the detail on hers. "Sally's right, they're very pretty."

"I think I'm jealous," Quatre added, chuckling. "After all, WE were the ones who flew the Gundams, not the girls."

Duo grinned and pulled out Quatre's present. "Here, maybe this will make up for it." It was the rare music recordings, of course, and sheet music to go along with them. "They're all duets, and I had them all transposed for violin and flute for you and Trowa to play sometime. I expect to hear a concert next time I see you!"

Quatre nodded happily, clutching the cds to his chest and flipping rapidly through the sheet music. Trowa looked over his shoulder with interest.

"Now, these presents are really for both you and Trowa," Duo commented, grabbing Trowa's present. "It's hard to buy something for one of you that the other one won't like just as much or more. So I didn't try. Here, Tro."

Trowa unwrapped his quickly but neatly, and revealed the back of the thin platinum plate. "Turn it over," Duo urged and he did so. Quatre gasped as he caught a glimpse of it, and Trowa's eyes widened.

It was an etched engraving of a photo that had been taken at Quatre and Trowa's wedding, five years previously. Using micro-robotics and incredible skill, the artist had perfectly rendered the image in the photograph into shades of darker and lighter areas on the platinum, faithfully reproducing the picture there for all time. Trowa and Quatre stood gazing into each other's eyes, a look of complete happiness and joy on both their faces. It was Duo's favourite picture of the wedding, and he knew from conversation that it was Quatre and Trowa's favourite, as well.

"Oh, Duo..." Quatre murmured, tracing the etched lines of Trowa's face with a shaking finger. A tear was making its way down the blond's cheek, dampening the skin there.

"It's beautiful," Trowa added his own thanks, giving Duo a grateful look. "Thank you, Duo."

Duo pulled out the last package reluctantly, not wanting the fun of seeing all his friends made happy by something he'd done to come to an end. "This one is for Catherine - I'll give it to you, since she's not here. You remember that set of throwing knives I had during the war, the ones she was lusting over and kept trying to steal from me?" Trowa nodded, eyes gleaming with humour at the memory. "Well, I had a set made for her. Same smith, and he's been retired for a while, so it was hard to get them. I had him balance them for Hilde's hand, since they were nearly the same size. If she needs them adjusted at all, she can come up to L2 and he'll rebalance them. Same as mine, except for the matte finish - they even have the anti-magnetic coating so she can take 'em anywhere."

"She'll love them," Trowa promised him, taking the package. "She STILL talks about those knives of yours at every Christmas. You realize she'll want to challenge you to another contest, now that she's got knives as well balanced as yours?"

He grinned. "Bring it on, man. I've been practicing." He dropped the duffle, and stretched his arms above his head. Glancing outside, he was startled to realize it was after dark. "Boy! I must have been in that place longer than I thought."

"There's a time difference between here and L2 as well, Duo," Quatre reminded him. "The colony controls are set to a different time zone, so it gets dark here a few hours earlier."

"Oh yeah, right. So, what now?"

There were several suggestions, including a game of strip poker - shot down by Sally, who had never won a game of poker in her life, "and I don't intend to try my hand against a whole group of people who are TRAINED to hide their expressions!". Then there was the skinny-dipping proposition, put forth by Zechs and instantly vetoed by every woman there. "Letch," was Noin's comment, to which Zechs merely grinned.

"Don't you all just feel like a bunch of kids at a sleepover party?" Relena commented, and several of the girls giggled.

"Wouldn't know," Duo replied dryly. "We weren't much for sleepover parties when I was a kid. But I'm pro for trying it now."

"No drinking games!" Quatre immediately exclaimed. "I'm still getting lectures from my sisters about what happened to the estate we were on after the LAST one..."

Curious, everyone else looked at the Gundam pilots. Duo whistled innocently, Heero glared at them, Wufei blushed and looked away, and Trowa stared impassively back. "No drinking games," Dorothy seconded. "We don't need hangovers tomorrow.

"No truth or dare, either," Duo put in sourly, glaring at Trowa. "I still can't believe you actually dared me to call TREIZE and give him phone sex."

Zechs choked on his cider. "That was YOU?" he asked incredulously. "He blushed about that call for DAYS!"

Duo smirked. "Hey, if you're gonna do something, do it right as I always say. Glad he enjoyed it."

They argued for a while longer, unable to decide unanimously on any one thing. Finally they just broke up into smaller groups - Quatre had demanded that they all arrange for a week of vacation, so they were in no hurry to do their catching up. Duo played a war-simulation game with Dorothy, Quatre, Zechs and Une - and shocked all of them by edging out Zechs and Une early on. In the end he placed third, but he'd held more than half the countries at several different points in the game. Only by agreeing to a treaty and uniting their forces did Dorothy and Quatre eventually manage to win.

Duo leaned back and fanned himself with the box lid. "Whew! Remind me never to go up against either of you two at the negotiating table," he said playfully to the two victors. Une shook her head.

"I'm not sure I wouldn't put my bets on you, Maxwell. Where on earth did you learn that kind of strategy?"

"Training to fly Deathscythe, where else?" Duo shrugged pragmatically. "I wasn't expecting to get any backup, so I had to learn tactics as well as piloting. Once we all started working together though, Quatre and Wufei were obviously much better at it than me, so I just kept my mouth shut and did what they told me to."

"You shouldn't put yourself down, Maxwell," Wufei's voice came from behind him. He glanced over his shoulder to see the Chinese man leaning against the wall, studying the battle board. "That manoeuvre you used to take Europe from Dorothy was very creative - I doubt I would have thought of it."

"You should have helped Wufei and I with the planning," Quatre agreed. Duo shrugged uneasily.

"I wouldn't have thought of it back then, either. I've learned a lot since then - Hee-chan's not the only one who's been studying in his off time." He couldn't exactly explain that letting Wufei see his tactical abilities would have broken the role of 'idiot savant pilot' he'd been trying to play back then. The few times he'd spotted a move that the two of them hadn't thought of, he'd quietly pointed it out to Quatre, using his bluffing skills to make the blond believe he'd thought of it on his own. From the sharp look Quatre was giving him, the Arabian was apparently now beginning to realize it.

"I don't suppose you'd consider taking a job on my staff?" Une asked a little wistfully. "Quatre refuses to join, Relena needs Dorothy where she is, and Wufei insists on a field job. I could use someone with this kind of strategic ability."

Duo blinked at her. "Why? Are we going to war again sometime soon?"

She shook her head. "No, but troop deployments and resupply problems aren't much different for a standing police force. Especially since we have far too few people to do far too much work."

He grinned. "Well, why don't you try asking me and find out?" She looked surprised, and he shrugged. "Junk recycling is getting boring. Back in the beginning, when OZ and White Fang and Mariemeia's troops had planted all sorts of booby traps around their depots, it was challenging. They needed someone with my skills. But nowadays we've pretty much rounded up all the old Mobile Suits, and it's all just space flotsam."

"We'll talk about it before we leave," Une promised, pleased.

"Quatre was asking for you, Duo," Wufei interjected. "He and some of the others want to watch an old American horror movie of some kind, and he was wondering if you would translate for them?"

Duo bounced to his feet, ponytail swinging behind him. "Sure thing! Not that they need my help - most of it is just 'Ah! Don't kill me! Stay away!' and that kind of thing."

The rest of the evening passed much the same way, as they all drifted together and apart and together again. Eventually people started to get tired, and began heading off to bed. Duo had to stifle another surge of jealousy and loneliness as he realized he was the only person sleeping alone - he got a glimpse of Sally and Une holding hands on the way up the stairs, and caught Relena sneaking into Dorothy's room on his way back from the bathroom. Relena had sworn him to secrecy, saying that they were trying to keep it out of the press as long as possible, and he wished her good luck. He meant it sincerely, too - the happiness in her eyes when she spoke of their relationship was clear.

He spent an hour tossing and turning in his bed, too restless to sleep. After all the excitement of the day he should have been ready to pass out the moment his head hit the pillow, but sleep continued to elude him. Finally he sat up and reached for his jeans.

Quatre had air conditioning of course, but outside the house it was still sweltering. Duo made his way to the outdoor Olympic-sized swimming pool, moving quietly so as not to wake any of the others. He hadn't bothered to bring his swim trunks out with him - no one else would be up and about at this time of night, and he wasn't all that modest about his body. Most of the people at the party had already seen him naked anyway - either because they'd bandaged his wounds or they'd stripped searched him.

He approached the tall privacy fence around the pool, luxuriating in the feel of the grass beneath his feet. With the 'sun' down, the air had cooled just enough to be bearable, but the water of the pool was still going to feel wonderful on his overheated body.

He was reaching for the latch on the gate when the sound of soft voices stopped him, accompanied by a small splash. He hesitated, not meaning to eavesdrop but wondering who else had the same idea as he did.

"He's changed a lot," he head Wufei comment. "And not just physically - he's matured a lot, too."

"Not really," Heero replied idly. Peering through the slats of the fence, Duo could just make out both of them leaning against the side of the pool nearest him in the shallow end. "This is more how I remembered him being from the beginning of the war, when it was just the two of us working together. I never did understand what happened to him - when I came back, he acted like he didn't have a brain in his head most of the time. His piloting abilities hadn't changed, though, and from looking at his old solo mission logs, I can tell you that his strategic abilities were at least as good as yours and Quatre's."

"I couldn't believe it when I saw him trash the others in that war game tonight," Wufei said, as Duo realized they were talking about him. "I knew he was an excellent pilot of course, but I thought... I don't know, that it was fluke ability, or something. I never did give him enough credit. Hell, after the way I treated him, I'm amazed he's still speaking to me."

Duo knew he should move away, turn around and go back to the house as quietly as he'd come out, so they'd never know he'd been there. It was rude to listen to their conversation without them knowing he was there, and eavesdroppers rarely heard anything good about themselves anyway. But a morbid fascination held him firmly in place - this might be his one and only chance to find out what the two of them really thought about him.

"Duo was always remarkably willing to forgive people," Heero answered his lover with a gentle smile. "The first few times we ran into each other, I kept expecting him to slice me to ribbons with his thermal scythe for looting his Gundam. I know I would have, if the situations had been reversed."

"Quatre told me once that Duo only behaved childishly when I was around," Wufei said musingly. Duo mentally cursed Quatre's well-meaning interference. "I always wondered why. I found it so irritating - and then it was even more irritating to realize how much I was missing him once the war was over." Duo was touched deeply by that particular statement - despite Wufei's words earlier, Duo had never thought the Chinese pilot had cared for him at all.

Heero chuckled, the sound ironic. "He really grows on you, doesn't he? I don't blame Trowa for leaving me for Quatre - even if they hadn't been so incredibly in love, he must have been getting very tired of hearing me cry out Duo's name. I didn't realize how obsessed I'd become with him until I didn't have him anymore."

Duo sucked in a sharp breath, then held it and prayed they hadn't heard him. Trowa and Heero's relationship he'd known about - Quatre had told him during the time that they'd all thought Trowa was dead. But... Heero had been calling out HIS name?

He felt tears spring to his eyes at the missed chance - then cursed himself, viciously reminding himself of why Heero had been with Trowa instead of him. He'd almost died, victim of the curse that had surrounded Duo from the moment he was born. He would surely have died for real if they had been together.

"At least you know I don't care," Wufei replied ironically. "I must do it at least as often as you do." Duo felt his heart stop in his chest, as the Chinese man continued, "The two of us make a pretty sad pair sometimes, don't we? Pining away after him and together because we're the only ones who understand each other. I think if he ever found out, I'd be too embarrassed to face him."

Duo was hyperventilating, one hand clamped over his mouth to stifle the gasps. He wanted to turn and run back into the house before he could hear any more, but his body was moving sluggishly, legs not wanting to obey him. So he clearly heard the water splash as Heero moved closer to his lover, heard that nasal voice soften with affection, as he answered, "It's not so bad. He seems happy enough, though I'm amazed he hasn't found anyone to be with after all this time. It's not as if you and I don't love each other, even if it didn't start out that way. And we can always dream."

Duo finally got his wayward body under control and dashed away from the pool. It was all he could do not to throw the gate open and tumble into their arms, telling them just how wrong they were about his feelings for them. It took every bit of willpower he had to force himself away, away from that unhoped-for chance at happiness...

Because the happiness would be all too brief. They were alive, and together, and happy, only because he had never told them the truth. If he went to them now he would destroy them, just as he'd destroyed everyone else he'd ever cared about. He couldn't tell them, he couldn't...

His bare foot rammed into an exposed sprinkler head, his eyes too blurred with tears for him to spot it in time. He crashed to the ground, cursing with pain and clutching at his injured foot. He'd be lucky if he hadn't broken something.

Twin splashes sounded from the pool and he heard the gate swing open, but there was nowhere for him to hide. He was in the middle of the lawn between the pool and the house, in plain sight. Two pairs of bright eyes stared at him, sprawled out on the grass in only his jeans.

"Duo?" Wufei exclaimed in disbelief. He rushed over to help him sit up, grasping his ankle firmly in hand and examining it critically.

"What are you doing out here?" Heero demanded, standing there dripping water and glaring at him. Wufei shifted Duo's ankle experimentally, and he hissed.

"Ow! I, uh... I was just... I was going for a swim, but then I heard you and I didn't want to interrupt..."

"It's not broken," Wufei told him, and Duo sighed in relief. "But you should get some ice on it before it swells. You're going to have a nasty bruise. Why were you running away?"

The sudden loss of blood to Wufei's face told Duo that he'd answered his own question, and Duo lowered his head miserably. "I really didn't mean to eavesdrop," he whispered, feeling his cheeks heat with shame.

Heero crouched down next to them, staring at him intently. "Well, now you know," he said practically. "What are you going to do about it?"

"Uh... nothing?" Duo replied hopefully. He might yet be able to salvage their friendship from this, if they cooperated...

Wufei sighed. "At least tell me this much. WHY did you go to such great efforts to convince me you were an idiot during the war? From everything I learned about you afterwards, I always regretted that I never had the chance to truly know you."

"I didn't want you to like me!" Duo blurted, flushing. "I couldn't bear to kill you, too! Heero almost died because I was stupid enough to fall in love with him, I had to do something to keep you from..." he stumbled to a stop as he realized what he'd just admitted, and was horrified to feel the tears welling up in his eyes. "Oh, shit," he whispered, knowing they would never let it drop now.

"You... you were in love with me?" Heero repeated in shock. "Why didn't you ever say anything? I know I was a bastard to you at first, but I thought we were becoming friends later..."

"Aren't you listening to me?" Duo snapped back at him. "You almost died because of me! If I'd told you, you'd never have survived Wing's destruction..."

"Duo, how can you possibly blame yourself for Heero's self-destruction?" Wufei asked, surprising Duo by using his given name for the first time that Duo could remember. "Une was the one who made the ultimatum, and Heero was the one who triggered the explosion. You weren't even anywhere near him at the time!"

"You don't understand," he murmured wretchedly. "I'm Shinigami. I'm cursed. Everyone I love dies! The fire that killed my family, the plague that took Solo and the gang, the bombing that destroyed the Maxwell Church... I can take a hint! Once is chance, twice is coincidence, three times is conspiracy. By the fourth time with Heero, I'd learned my lesson. I didn't need the warning!"

They stared at each other for a long moment, apparently unable to come up with an answer for that. Duo could see in Heero's eyes that he wanted to argue that it wasn't logical - but the Wing pilot had apparently learned a few things about human emotions in the last half-decade, because he stayed silent. Duo knew damned well that it wasn't rational, but he didn't care!

"Duo," Heero finally said quietly. "Why did bring us all presents?"

"Huh? I told you, I wanted to make you guys happy."

"But why?" Heero persisted, gazing at him meaningfully. "Why did you want to make us happy? Why go to such trouble, when a card or even a hug would have sufficed?"

"Because, baka, I CARE about you guys..." Duo trailed off as he realized where this was going. "No. It's not the same thing!"

"Duo, do you remember when we were stuck together in that OZ prison, while Heero and Trowa went out to fight Quatre?" Wufei asked him, and Duo nodded hesitantly. "When they turned the air off and we thought we were going to die, we both said a lot of things we probably would never have told anyone otherwise. You told me then that you considered us, the rest of the Gundam pilots, your family. Isn't that exactly how you felt about the people at the Church?"

"I... I did?" Duo stuttered in surprise. "I don't remember that!"

"Well, you did," Wufei affirmed. "And yet we all survived. Did it never occur to you that you weren't so much cursed, as blessed?" Duo stared at him blankly. "Three times you lived through disasters that should have killed you, that killed everyone around you. Then you went on to fight in a hopeless war, and win. You possessed skills and abilities that were desperately need in those battles, skills that very few other people have. After more than ten years of searching, G still didn't have anyone to fly Deathscythe - until he found you. I don't know what you believe about fate, but to me that suggests that you were being protected by something until you could carry out the purpose you'd been born for."

Duo shivered, too overwhelmed by his emotions to reply for a long moment. "But, Heero..." he finally protested feebly.

"That was an entirely separate situation, and had nothing to do with you," Heero told him firmly. "We were at war, Duo - and I'd been subconsciously searching for a reason to kill myself from the moment Operation Meteor began." He grimaced, and added, "After five years of studying my own motives, I've finally realized that my self-destructive streak was basically my only way of protesting what Dr. J had made of me. That happened long before I ever met you. In fact, it was only because of both you and Relena that I finally was able to put it behind me."

Duo started trembling, unable to stop the shaking of his limbs, and found himself embraced from both sides. "Tell us the truth," Wufei pleaded softly. "Did you love us? Could you love us again? Either of us?"

"Could I?" Duo repeated, laughing as he cried. "I never stopped, baka. Either of you, both of you - I nearly tore myself apart trying to deal with the fact that I couldn't decide between you when I found out Heero was alive. But it's been five years - I barely know you now. I barely knew you then."

"Then come home with us, after the party, and find out," Heero urged. "Relena doesn't need me as a bodyguard anymore, and I've been considering joining the Preventers to work with Wufei. If you take Une's offer, I'm sure she'd love to make the three of us a special ops unit."

"God knows I can't seem to keep any other partner longer than a month at a time," Wufei muttered, making Duo choke on a laugh. "She's running out of people willing to try working with me!"

"You always were a hard-ass, Wu-chan," Duo teased him with a watery smile. "You do realize that I'm going to go right back to ragging you both unmercifully?"

"I wouldn't have it any other way, Maxwell," Wufei assured him acerbically. "I've missed having you around to sharpen my wits on."

"We can start," Heero added, scooping Duo's lanky form into his strong arms, "by getting you back into the house and getting some ice on that foot." Duo dangled from his grasp, feeling more than a little silly.

"I think I've outgrown you a little too much for this to work, Hee-chan," he replied in amusement, the tears beginning to dry on his face as hope welled up in his heart.

"Then we'll just have to make sure you spend most of your time with us horizontal, won't we?" Wufei replied with a glint in his eyes. Duo gaped at him, astonished that he'd loosened up enough to make dirty innuendos. "After all, everyone is the same height lying down."

Duo laughed, the sound containing nothing but pure joy for almost the first time in his life. "Just so long as you keep me company down there," he replied happily, as Heero started walking towards the kitchen to get some ice. "I'll even let you guys be on top!" He laughed again as that caused Wufei to blush. "Good! I was afraid you'd lost your blush reaction, Wu. No fun to tease you if you don't blush anymore!"

"Only for you, Maxwell," Wufei replied a little sourly. Duo curled up in Heero's arms contentedly, luxuriating in the warmth of another body against his. For the first time in almost ten years, he dared to allow himself to believe that he might not be lonely anymore.

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