"Were you ever a prostitute?" Her sharp voice projected the question forcefully, and Duo closed his eyes, leaned his head back against the cool brick wall of the house, and grimaced.

She knew all about Heero's liaison with him; that's why she'd asked.

He opened one eye, just a slit. She glared at him, and tapped her foot impatiently.

"What does it matter?" He calmly asked in a resigned manner.

"*Were* you ever a prostitute?!" She asked again, demanding to know.

He crossed his arms. "It depends," He said offhandedly.

"On what?" Her voice was now dangerously low, he noted in a amusement, opening both of his violet eyes to stare at her.

"Your definition of prostitution," He answered with a sickly sweet smile.

Preparing to turn around and walk away from her, he's stopped by her hand on his.

"I wouldn't ever do that, you know," She said to Duo conversationally, staring at him with eyes that had turned cool and hard as ice. -And he knew, he'd seen these same eyes reflected in his partner's face, day in and day out.

He gritted his teeth. "You wouldn't do it if you were starving? Dying? If there wasn't enough flesh on your body to hide your bones?" He hissed, more at the pain of the memories than at her.

She continued to gaze up at him. "No," She repeated, whole in her righteous conviction, beliefs unshaken.

Duo shrugged half-heartedly. <It's her choice. I'm too tired of it all to even bother to argue. No one knows what depths they'll plumb to survive; no one.> He thought to himself.

"You know, you're unworthy of Heero," She said firmly, staring straight into his eyes, and for a brief second, he hated her. But then he relented; he knew it was true.

"Yes." He agreed, tone even.

She didn't appear to be surprised. "He should be with me. I'm perfect for him. We were made for each other. ...You do know he doesn't care for you?"

Duo nodded, smiling sadly. She was just confirming the truth.

"Good." She said, then smiled brilliantly at him.

She turned to leave, her trademark limo parked right across the street, and he took a step towards her.

"You don't want to see him?" He asked hesitantly.

"No." She answered. "Right now, the idea of you - and him - it makes me too sick. Maybe later." She replied, tossing an ice-cold smile back over her shoulder.

Duo made himself walk back to the safehouse. He opened the door to the living room, feeling like absolute shit.

Why had Relena even bothered to come, if it was only to ask him if he'd been a whore, and to tell him that Heero didn't love him? He knew the latter, and as for the former...

He dismissed the encounter from his mind. It didn't matter; Relena had her own agenda, and he wasn't one to be worrying about it.

"She's gone." Wufei stated, glancing at him from an armchair.

Relena had woken up the whole household at 4:00 AM, a few minutes ago, by
her pounding on the door. Heero had opened it, but to everyone's surprise, she'd asked for Duo.

"Yeah," He answered self-consciously, well aware of the fact that he was receiving everyone's scrutiny.

He decided to pretend that yesterday had never happened. <That's right - patch the mask...> He thought, before launching his routine.

"Yeah, yeah, Relena just asked me a lot of stuff about Heero, you know, his favorite kinds of things..." He looked over to Heero, winked then added, "So, don't worry man, it's not like I'm trying to steal your girlfriend or anything!"

Heero glared at him, but didn't say anything. Dou breathed a silent sigh of relief. He was betting Heero had forgotten all about yesterday, or had signed it all off as Duo being 'moody'.

He was just about to walk out of the room when Quatre spoke up. "Duo...we need to have a talk."

Duo's palms instantly started sweating. "Eh?" He asked, scratching his head to cover his nervousness.

Quatre motioned him to sit down in one of the chairs, and he complied, feeling trapped.

The four pilots' attention was focused squarely on him, and he fidgeted.

"None of us really wanted to bring this up... But," Quatre held up a finger, "We're all really concerned, Duo."

<Shit, shit, shit, shit...> Was all he could think, the mindless litany repeating itself over and over again. He swallowed.

<Why does this bother him so much?> Heero thought sadly, noting Duo's nervousness, and the fact that he'd suddenly gone pale.

"Concerned about what? I swear, Quat, I *do* wash my underwear! Hell, I bet I wash 'em more than you do! I mean, wait, you probably don't even need to wash underwear, I bet you wear 'em once and then you throw 'em out, huh?" Duo closed his mouth after ending the sudden spiel, hoping no one noticed the way the last part had come out... bitter.

"Duo..." Quatre sighed, obviously exasperated with him, "That's not what I meant... You haven't been the same, lately... And...I can feel..." Here he fell silent.

Duo just barely stopped himself from laughing aloud. <'Haven't been the same, lately,'... If he ever even bothered to notice... Who would be the same after a failure like...> He paused there, /heat leaving the rapidly cooling body, pale skin, torn clothes, blood.../

Quatre frowned and massaged his forehead, waving off Trowa's offer of assistance.

"You're weakening the team," Trowa spoke aloud suddenly, in concern for Quatre.

"Oh...?" Duo asked, sniggering to himself. He couldn't weaken that which wasn't there. He didn't belong to a team. It was him - and only him. His name meant two, but that was for the memory that would always be there. He was two: Himself, and the memory.

"Whatever it is, Maxwell, you need to quit it," Wufei told him, brusquely.

Duo could appreciate that. Wufei wasn't trying to be cutesy sweet, the fucking compassionate one, he wasn't trying to pretend a semblance or uphold the facade of being a team; he was merely telling him that it had to  stop.

Yes, Duo could appreciate that.

He grinned widely at Wufei, feeling a little bit more of the old mask come trickling back to him. "Anything for you, Wu-CHAN," He said, stressing the chan part.

Wufei just rolled his eyes and settled deeper into his chair. "I am above such childish insults," He declared fake-pompously, and Duo giggled.

Quatre twiddled his fingers together, looked at the ground, then looked back at Duo, loathe to interrupt the moment. Finally, he cleared his throat, gaining Duo's attention.

"Yeah, Quat?" Duo asked quizzically, brushing back a lock of hair that had fallen over his eyes, obscuring them.


"Duo. Please..." Quatre implored, aqua eyes rapidly filling with moisture.

Duo glanced at Quatre, eyes shaded. Something deep inside him shattered at the sight, and he swallowed an involuntary cry, just in time. Later, he could ponder the strange feeling the thought of Quatre crying over him gave him, but now, he just had to get out of this.

"Quatre..." He sighed, acting nonchalant and laid back, unconcerned. "There's nothing really wrong. I mean, if there's anything, it's the stress. But, you know...it's been getting to all of us," he lied convincingly.

Trowa looked at him sidelong, then appeared to except the simple explanation. Wufei nodded understandingly, muttering under his breath about the injustices.

Heero appeared the same as he always did, and Quatre asked again, "Are you...sure?"

Duo laughed, making sure to get it down perfectly. "Quatre, kid, I'm just tired. It's not that I've had that many missions, it's just all the tension... I mean, you never know when you - or someone else - could get called away to..." Duo knew he'd got Quatre with the 'someone else' part. It was so obvious. Quatre instantly shot a look at Trowa, worry etched on his features at the suggestion.

"I guess..." Quatre replied, a little reluctantly.

Duo grinned, standing up, stretching. He ruffled Quatre's hair, ignoring Trowa's cold look.

"Sure you don't wanna stay...?" Wufei asked, leaning back into the armchair, appearing content as a cat.

"Naw," Duo said, smiling at Wufei over his shoulder. He walked out of the room, feeling the smile slip away, bit by bit, as he walked down the hallway to his room.

tbc