“Hi, Trowa!” Rigel bounced across the cafeteria to wrap his arms around Trowa’s shoulders.

Trowa smiled and hugged him back. “Rigel, when was the last time I told you that you’re adorable?”

“I think last night,” Rigel said, pulling away. “But it’s been too long anyway.”

A rather loud cough reminded Rigel of his roommate’s presence, not to even mention Dorothy’s. He blushed a little bit and pulled away. “Oh. Um. Trowa, this is Dorothy Catalonia. She’s new, and Treize asked us if we could show her around.”

“Apparently we’re the welcome committee,” Xiaolong said with a nod.

“Nice to meet you,” Trowa said to Dorothy. “I’m Rigel’s . . . study partner. In physics.”

“Yeah, you study each other’s tonsils,” Xiaolong remarked, leaving to get his food before Rigel could hit him.

“That’s biology, not physics,” Rigel called after him. “Come on, Dorothy, I’ll show you where to get food.”

Dorothy followed him to the line, then to a table where five other students, plus Trowa and Xiaolong, were seated. She sighed inwardly. They would have a lot of friends and make it more difficult for me to find the spy, wouldn’t they.

“This is Dorothy, she’s new,” Rigel told everyone. “Dorothy, this is Michael, Thahn, Shiran, Sanghita, and Aiko.”

There was a chorus of greetings. Then there was a resounding whack as Rigel whapped Xiaolong upside the head.

“What was that for?” Xiaolong asked, smoothing his hair back into place.

“Your comment earlier. Did you think I’d forget?”

“I was hoping,” Xiaolong grumbled as Rigel settled into his place between Trowa and Xiaolong.

“What comment?” Michael asked.

“Oh, he was just making fun of me and Trowa’s study habits again,” Rigel said.

“What study habits?” Thahn asked with raised eyebrows.

“I’m doing better in physics than you,” Rigel said. “And Trowa is too. So there.”

****

“Ne, Heero, can you braid my hair again?” Duo asked. “These IVs are such a pain in the ass.”

“Sure,” Heero said, figuring that if he agreed, Duo might stop being pissy.

“And I want a shower,” Duo said. “How am I supposed to take a shower?”

“With great difficulty, or so I would imagine,” Heero said calmly, pulling the brush through Duo’s hair.

“Shut up. That’s not funny.”

“I wasn’t meaning it to be funny,” Heero replied.

“Oh.”

“I’ll ask Sally about the shower. But you’ll probably have to wait until the IVs come out.”

“I’m sick of being here.”

“It’s only been two days.”

“Who cares? It’s making me claustrophobic.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I want to go for a walk.”

“You can’t.”

“Who says?”

“Everyone.”

“You gonna stop me?”

“I could tie your braid to the bedpost.”

Duo turned just enough to give him a withering look. “Didn’t know you were into that, Heero.”

Heero considered whether or not to get embarrassed and what he should say. Surprisingly, what he heard come out of his mouth was, “There are a lot of things about me you don’t know.”

“Well, if you ever bothered to talk once in a while . . .”

“If you stopped ripping my head off whenever I opened my mouth, maybe I would.”

“I don’t always do that.”

“No, just alternate Tuesdays.”

“Shut up.”

“See, there you go.”

Duo just gave a disgusted sigh.

Heero finished the braid. “There, your hair’s done.”

“Good, I’m leaving.”

“You are most certainly not.”

“Stop me.” Duo grabbed the edge of the bed and put his feet on the floor, then slowly pushed himself into a standing position.

“I won’t need to,” Heero said, waiting patiently for Duo to fall down.

Duo glared, hanging onto his IV pole. “Just watch me.”

“Duo, where do you think you’re going?”

“The hallway. Anywhere but near you.” Duo used the pole like a crutch and used it to get into the hallway. Heero followed patiently.

“Duo! What are you doing out of bed?” Sally hurried over.

“I’m going for a walk.”

“Get back in bed.”

“Shut up,” Duo snapped.

Sally stared at him. He kept going.

Heero looked at her. “You have any ideas?”

“And stop talking about me behind my back,” Duo called over his shoulder.

Heero waited until Duo was out of earshot. “Welcome to my Hell,” he said to Sally.

“What’s with him?”

“Hell if I know. He’s gone into ‘shut-up-Heero’ mode.”

“Apparently it’s ‘shut-up-everyone.’”

“It’s nice to know I’m not alone.”

Sally was frowning. “Does he do this . . . often?”

“Sort of. Once a month or so. He gets into a bad mood for little to no reason and then stays in it for about a week or two. Then last time he cured this by eating a lot of sugar and then he nearly got himself killed and now he’s pissed off again.”

Sally was frowning thoughtfully. “You said he was acting strange before the battle. How so?”

“Just . . . strange. Hyper, but . . . I don’t know. Almost like he believed he couldn’t get hurt. He kept saying you couldn’t kill Shinigami.”

“You two are how old?”

“Fifteen. Or so. Why?”

“All sorts of interesting things happen during adolescence,” Sally told him. “Let me look into it, okay?”

“Sure,” Heero said.

“Now see if you can get Duo back in bed.”

“Oh, right,” Heero said, walking off in the direction Duo had gone in. He found Duo sitting on a couch at the end of the hallway, sitting at the window. “Like the view?”

“It’s certainly better than being stuck in my room.”

“Mind if I sit down?”

“It’s not my couch,” Duo said.

Heero sat on the sofa next to him. “I’m surprised you didn’t make a break for it.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not a total idiot.”

“Feeling a little better?”

“No.”

Heero sighed. “I don’t know why I try to be nice to you.”

“You’re always nice at the wrong times,” Duo snapped.

“There are right times?” Heero asked.

“Well, let’s think about this,” Duo said. “If I’m in a bad mood, I’m not going to be receptive of your concern. Why can’t you ever be nice when I’m in a good mood already and I might appreciate it?”

“Because when you’re in a good mood, you don’t let me get a word in edgewise,” Heero said dryly.

Duo opened his mouth to say something. After a pause, he admitted, “Yeah, you’re right there.”

“So will you tell me what’s wrong?”

“How many times do I have to tell you that I don’t know?” Duo asked. “Sometimes I’m just in a bad mood, okay? God, let me be pissed off, it’s legal.”

Heero paused. “I’m just worried about you.” Did I just say that? What is my problem?

“Are you sure you’re worried about me, or your precious fucking mission?” Duo snapped.

Say the mission. Say the mission. “Duo, the mission is nowhere near as important to me as your safety.” I’m digging my own grave here. Why didn’t I say the mission?

“Don’t get too close. It’s not good for your health.” Duo looked steadfastly at the floor.

Now what the hell is that supposed to mean? “Last time I checked, unless you planned on stabbing me in the back, I was capable of taking care of myself.”

“I’d hardly plan on offing you myself.”

“So you don’t hate me?” Heero asked.

“No. I never did. Not really.”

“You certainly acted like it sometimes.”

“No, usually when I’m acting like this, I hate everyone.”

“Oh.”

“Can we please stop having a heart-to-heart now?”

“If you’ll go back to your room.”

“Let me take walks when I want to.”

“Okay.”

Duo nodded once and attempted to stand up. His arms crossed over his ribs and he sank back onto the couch. “I think I’ll just sit here for a few minutes. Or hours.”

Heero sighed. “Sally would have my head if you stayed out of bed that long.”

“I don’t see how it matters,” Duo said, “if I sit on my ass here or I sit on my ass there.”

“Neither do I, really, but she told me to get you back in bed.” Heero stood and carefully scooped Duo up in his arms.

“Hey!” Duo protested.

“Shut up and enjoy the ride.”

Duo opened his mouth, then shut it with a confused look. Heero was calling for a nurse to push the IV pole behind them. “Careful how you handle the damaged goods,” he complained.

“Sorry.” Heero shifted his grip a little. “That better?”

“Yeah.” Duo leaned his head against Heero’s shoulder. I could get used to this . . .

Heero carefully put Duo back in bed. “I’ll talk to Sally about trying to get you a shower.”

“Thanks, Heero,” Duo said. “Sorry for being such a jerk. Don’t expect it to stop, but I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Heero replied. “I feel better knowing you don’t hate me.”

Duo grinned. “Aw, Heero, I didn’t know you cared.”

Heero rolled his eyes. “Then you’re an idiot.” And he turned and left the room.

****

“It’s going to be harder than you thought,” Dorothy told Treize. “I mean, they both have a lot of friends. Xiaolong seems to have a female fan club.” She smirked. “He is pretty cute, really . . .”

“And Rigel’s not?” Treize raised his eyebrows.

“Well, he is, but he doesn’t have a fan club.”

“Why not?”

“Because he’s taken. By another guy. Kinda kills any chance they might have had. Though he does have a lot of female friends.”

“I see,” Treize said.

“But other than Trowa - that’s Rigel’s boyfriend - they don’t really seem to have any friends who are closer than others. And I suppose Trowa could be a Gundam pilot, but there’s nothing guaranteeing it. Just because Rigel decided to date him certainly doesn’t mean anything.”

“Well, I’ll check into his records all the same,” Treize said. “Not much else I can do. But keep an eye out.”

“Of course,” Dorothy said with a smile.

****

“Why do I need another one of these damned things?” Duo whined.

“You had a concussion,” Heero said. “They want to make sure your brain is still in its proper container.”

“Very funny, Yuy,” Duo grumbled.

“Now lie still.”

“For an hour?!”

“It’s not my fault brain scans take so long,” Heero said, hardly sounding comforting at all. “I’ll have a present for you when you get out.”

Duo’s griping was cut off as Sally pressed a button and the curved doors closed over Duo’s head.

“So what is this for?” Heero asked curiously. “You didn’t fool me.”

“You asked me what was wrong with Duo and I’m trying to figure out what’s wrong,” Sally replied.

“By making him complain more?” Heero asked.

“Will you just trust me for once?” Sally asked.

“Not unless you tell me what you think is wrong,” Heero said flatly.

“I suppose that’s fair,” Sally replied.

“And hurry up. I promised him a present.”

Sally rolled her eyes. “I think Duo may have bipolar disorder.”

Heero blinked.

“Manic depression,” Sally simplified. “The first scan we took, when you first brought him, would have been during one of his manic spells. This one, by your reports of his current attitude, would be in the middle of one of his depressive spells. By comparing the two, I ought to be able to confirm whether or not I’m right.”

“And if you are?” Heero asked, arms folded over his chest.

“Well,” Sally said slowly. “Generally speaking, there are ways to fix it. But you don’t really have time. It can take over a month to get the chemical balance of the medicine right. So for now, you may just have to keep an eye on him. You don’t even have to tell him if you don’t want to.”

“Hn,” Heero said. “That’s a wonderful idea. Duo would rip my head off if he found out I was keeping secrets from him, particularly if the secrets are about him. And what do you mean, ‘keep an eye on him’?”

“Just make sure he doesn’t get himself killed,” Sally said.

Heero rolled his eyes. “I have work to do,” he muttered, and wandered off.

****

When Duo finally got out of the ‘brain machine,’ as only he would call it, he found that Heero was nowhere to be seen. “Man, and I thought I’d get a present,” he mumbled. “Then again, I guess it was a bit naive of me to figure he actually cared.” He settled back into bed and flipped his laptop open, proceed to open his journal and have a full-blown bitch fest about how insensitive Heero was.

He was greeted by a black screen and a single icon that said “Click here.”

Duo blinked a few times, tilting his head to one side. After a few minutes of typing, he figured that there was no way to get around it, so he clicked on the icon.

The screen blinked once, then a chibi version of himself with bat wings and a manic grin started to fly around the computer, bumping into various walls and going tumbling. Despite himself, Duo started to laugh, then cut it off quickly as his ribs ached. The screen blinked again and he was greeted by his normal background of fishes, except all his icons were different.

“Sheep . . . Napster . . . Snood . . . Mermaid . . . The Sims . . . The Seventh Guest . . . Spectre . . . Lemmings . . . Worms and Worms 2. . . Hit Man . . . Doom, Doom 2, and Ultimate Doom . . . man, Heero must’ve been downloading this stuff for ages.” He started to grin. In the center was a small notepad icon labeled “Read Me.”

He clicked on it.

The file only said, “Here. If this doesn’t keep you busy, nothing can.”

Duo laughed and began to explore his new files.

****

The nurses have taken cover. This is a bad sign. Heero knocked on Duo’s door. “Duo?”

“Hi, Heero!” Duo called cheerfully. “Thanks for the present!”

“Hn,” Heero replied, flinching away from the music that was blasting. “Have pity on the nurses and turn that down a few notches.”

“What, you don’t like the Arrogant Worms?”

“I’ve never even heard of them.”

“Didn’t expect you would’ve. They’re an old band.” Duo grinned and started belting out the lyrics to ‘Tokyo Love Song.’ “I had a love that was so bright, I used to dream of her each night . . .”

Heero listened in horrified apprehension as the dream girl in the song got squashed by Godzilla. “Uhm . . . Duo . . .”

“Yeah?” Duo looked astonishingly cheerful. “C’mon, you’re Japanese, you know all about those monsters.”

“Right,” Heero said, deciding to drop the subject. He wasn’t sure what he’d been about to ask, but it was no longer important.

“Hey, this game Snood is cool,” Duo said.

“That took me forever,” Heero replied. “It came with some program called Gator, which was irritating enough, but when I uninstalled it, it was replaced by something called OfferCompanion.”

(Author’s Note: These are real programs, and a true story. OfferCompanion is twice as irritating. It assures you under no uncertain terms that you really want to buy something, say, a square foot of the Sears Tower basement. Why you want this valuable commodity, you don’t know, but OfferCompanion assures you that you do. End of aside.)

“Oh,” Duo said. “Thanks, Heero!”

“Hn,” Heero replied.

“You want me to name a Sim after you?”

“Are you playing all of those games at once?”

“No, just three or four. The Seventh Guest takes up the whole screen, y’know. And Heero bops through at will.”

“Heero?”

“The sheep.” Duo grinned.

“You named the sheep after me?”

“Well, you gave him to me.”

“Don’t make me regret it.”

“Fine, I’ll call him Wilson.” Duo paused. “Can I call the skimpily dressed mermaid Relena?”

“Be my guest.”

****

Barton . . . Barton . . . there are twenty-five Bartons enrolled in this school. Treize rubbed his temples. It started with T, I’m sure of that . . . Fortunately, there was only one T. Barton. Trowa, right, I knew that . . .

He scanned through the file. It was nothing special, really. Transfer student. He had arrived before Rigel and Xiaolong, so it wasn’t as if he had transferred in specifically to find them. His grades were passable, but only average. He had physics with them, then four entirely separate classes. Nothing special there, either. Trigonometry, French, hand-to-hand combat, but a level lower than Rigel and Xiaolong had been in, and psychology. He didn’t stand out in any way. War orphan, but so were about a quarter of the children enrolled. Originally from L3. Nothing special there either.

Treize pushed back from the computer. He had a headache. “Oh well, it was worth a try,” he said to himself. “I’m never going to find this kid.”

****

“So if you’re so smart and good at Calculus and physics and stuff,” Rigel asked, flopping onto Trowa’s bed, “why do you appear to be good at nothing? At least that’s what your grades say.”

“I don’t want to stand out,” Trowa answered simply.

Rigel considered this for a minute. “But if you did, you could get a mobile suit and help win and all that.”

Trowa shrugged. “I don’t really have any interest in being here. It’s just a way to get by.”

“So what do you want to do with your life?”

“Haven’t decided yet.”

“Nice dodge, Trowa.”

“Thank you, I thought so myself.”

Rigel laughed. “You never tell me anything about you,” he said quietly.

“Well, what did you want to know specifically?”

Rigel shrugged. “Anything. I’m always doing all the talking. I want you to do the talking for a while.”

“I used to be in a circus.”

“Really?” Rigel gaped. “You’re joking.”

“Nope.”

“Can you still do any circus stuff?”

“Sure.”

“Well, like what?”

“Acrobatics.”

“Do something acrobatic!”

“In here? I’d hit my head on the ceiling.”

“Well, let’s go outside!”

“It’s raining.”

“Oh . . .” Rigel pouted. “We could go to the gym.”

“People might see me there. I don’t want to stand out, remember?”

“But . . .”

Trowa smiled. “When it’s stopped raining. I’ll show you then. Okay?”

“I suppose.” Rigel grinned suddenly. “Hey, I got my violin!”

“Good.”

“I could bring it over later,” Rigel suggested. “You could play your flute for me.”

Trowa shrugged. “Rather not, thanks.”

“It’s that friend of yours,” Rigel said suddenly. “That died. That still bothers you, doesn’t it?”

Trowa nodded. “I guess you remind me of him.”

Rigel looked down. “Sorry.”

Trowa shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. It just . . . wasn’t very long ago, that’s all.” He paused. “Maybe if we could find an empty gym . . .”

Rigel’s eyes lit up. “Really?”

“Sure.” Trowa stood and extended his hand. “Come on.”

Rigel grinned and took his hand.

****

“So what’s the verdict?” Duo asked. “Is my brain still in its proper container?”

“Yes,” Sally said. “You’re recovering quite well from the concussion.”

“Oh good,” Duo said. “So what’s the bad news? ‘Cause I can tell there is some. You’re giving me that I-wish-I-wasn’t-here look. Is my brain going to slowly ooze out my ears or something?”

“No,” Sally said. Heero was leaning against the back of Duo’s chair so he didn’t have to see Duo’s face. “Remember those mood swings you can’t explain?”

“If you ask me to explain them one more time - ”

“No, today I’m going to explain them to you,” Sally said.

“Oh, this oughtta be good.”

“Have you ever heard of bipolar disorder?”

“Can’t say that I have.”

“Manic depression.”

“Oh, that I’ve heard of.” Duo paused. “So that’s what’s wrong with me, huh? Good. I knew I was crazy.”

“You’re not crazy,” Sally said.

Duo raised an eyebrow at her.

“Well, you are,” Heero said. “But the two have nothing to do with each other. You’re crazy the same way I am.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Duo said with a laugh.

Heero rolled his eyes. “You’re crazy in that you’re a fifteen year old with a robot of mass destruction and much of the world’s fate rests on your shoulders.”

“Oh, that kind of crazy,” Duo said. “So, what are we going to do about my other type of craziness?”

“Not much we can do,” Sally said with a shrug.

Duo frowned. “Thought there were ways to fix it. Or at least control it.”

“Well, there are, but . . .”

“But?” Duo asked.

“But they’re all medicines that work with your chemical balance. To adjust them properly might take up to a month, and you wouldn’t be capable of piloting during that time. The mood swings would get worse while we were messing with it,” Sally said. “And you don’t have time right now. After the war is over . . .”

Duo laughed bitterly. “Everything is always ‘after the war is over.’ I have to wait to have a real life until the war is over. Like there’s a decent chance any of us will live through this anyway.”

“Speak for yourself,” Sally said. “I plan on living through this. And I plan on you living through it, too.”

Duo rolled his eyes. He looked like he was going to say something, Heero interrupted. “Come on. I’ll take you for a walk.”

“Huh?”

“I thought you wanted to get out of this room,” Heero said.

“Well, yeah.” Duo let Heero help him to his feet. “Are you my appointed baby-sitter now?”

“If that’s the way you want to look at it,” Heero said.

“How so?”

“I’m certainly not going to watch every move you make. I’m just going to make sure you don’t get yourself killed. Really not much more than I’ve been doing already.” He paused. “I think we can make it through this, Duo.”

“What’s ‘this’?” Duo asked.

“Everything,” Heero said. “This problem, the war . . .”

“Oh, that ‘this,’” Duo said dryly.

They settled on their regular couch at the end of the hall.

“What do you think’s going to happen?” Duo asked hesitantly.

“With the war, or with you?”

“The war.” Let’s not talk about me.

Heero shrugged. “I have no idea. I just plan to live through it. And I plan on making sure you live through it, too.”

“Wow, I’m flattered,” Duo said dryly. “Just remember, I warned you. Don’t get too close.”

“Why do you keep saying that?”

“Because it’s true. It’s not a good idea.”

“And why not?”

Duo shrugged. “You said you planned on living through the war. I’m not conducive to people’s health.” He smiled crookedly. “I’m Shinigami, remember?”

“Yes, but you never explained why.”

“There’s no ‘why’ about it. I just am.”

“Well, why do you think so?”

Duo glared at him. “Sneaky little bastard. Don’t ask questions you know I don’t want you to ask.”

“If you didn’t want me to ask, you wouldn’t have brought it up.”

“Don’t be an asshole, Heero.”

Heero sighed. “Come on, let’s go back to the room.”

Duo wordlessly got to his feet, clinging to Heero’s arm for support. “When can we leave?”

“Not long now. I’m working on getting us into a new school. But you won’t be able to pilot for a while.”

“How long is a while?”

“Until your ribs heal.”

“Great.”

“You asked.”

****

“I can’t believe we couldn’t find an empty gym,” Rigel pouted.

“I still say I could’ve reached the rafters,” Trowa said.

“Yes, but you might have fallen.” Rigel reached out and took Trowa’s hand. “And that would’ve been messy and bad.”

“I wouldn’t have fallen.”

“Yes, but . . .” They passed a window. “It stopped raining!” Rigel turned to Trowa with a large grin.

“Okay, we’ll go outside.” Trowa smiled and the two of them headed for the nearest door. “There. A clothesline.”

“But it’s high up,” Rigel said.

“Trust me, Rigel. I know what I’m doing. You’re the one who wanted to see the circus stuff.”

“But - ” Before Rigel could finish his sentence, Trowa was flipping through the air, landing neatly on the clothesline with his hands in his pockets.

“See? I’m fine,” Trowa said.

Rigel stared.

“Now what should I do?”

“Come down!” Rigel said.

“No, I don’t think so.” Trowa paced up and down the clothesline. “Really, I need lions to do the really impressive stuff.”

“Lions?!”

“Of course. What’s a circus without lions? Or knives.”

“Knives?!”

Trowa smiled. “I was the target for the knife-throwing girl.”

“Did you do anything else?”

“Some trapeze stuff. Not much, though.”

“Did you actually know the girl on that poster?”

“Of course. She’s the knife-throwing girl.”

“Did she ever miss?”

“Of course not.” Trowa was still standing on the clothesline. “I could try to do some interesting stuff up here, but the clothesline might break.”

“Don’t, then,” Rigel said hastily.

“I’m still looking for something to impress you, though . . .”

“You’ve already impressed me, really,” Rigel said. “Now come down.”

“Oh, all right.” Trowa jumped off the line, did a somersault or three in midair, then landed neatly on his feet in front of Rigel, who promptly latched onto him. Trowa laughed. “I’m still in one piece, see?”

“Scary . . .” Rigel mumbled into Trowa’s shirt.

“It was not.”

“I know, but it’s fun to pretend.” Rigel grinned.

“Rigel, you are so strange. Let’s go inside. It’s cold.”

Rigel let go of his death grip, leaving an arm around Trowa’s waist.

“Don’t tell anyone about this, okay?” Trowa asked.

“Okay. I promise.”

“Then let’s go . . . study.”

“Tonsils?” Rigel asked with a smile.

“What else?”

****

“I’M FREE!!!!!” Duo had a mile wide grin on his face. “Free like the birds!”

“Not hardly, you start school tomorrow.”

Duo drooped. “I what?”

“Start school.”

“Bastard.” Duo stuck his tongue out at Heero. “Just assure me that you’re sharing the misery.”

“I would never abandon you, Duo.”

“Yeah, right.” Duo rolled his eyes. “So what classes do I have?”

“I was kind and only gave you four. I have five, so no whining.”

“Is this a really nice school like that first one?”

“Not quite as nice as that one, but we have the added bonus of no Relena Peacecraft.”

“Yeah, I’m all for that,” Duo said with a grin. “Let’s go. Hey, where’s our Gundams, anyway?”

“Howard has them. I think he was going to repair Deathscythe. You can email him when we get to the school.”

“Okay.”

****

“They’re finished!”

“Huh? What?” Rigel looked up from where he and Trowa had been ‘studying.’ “Nice of you to knock, Xiaolong. What if we’d been studying more than tonsils?”

Xiaolong paused. “I’ll knock next time.”

“Thank you. Now what are you talking about?”

Xiaolong opened his mouth, then shut it. “Does he know - ” He waved vaguely in Trowa’s direction.

Rigel blinked, then realized what Xiaolong was babbling about. “Of course he knows. We don’t keep secrets from each other.”

Trowa, fortunately, was able to not look guilty.

“Well, they’re finished.”

“The Gundams?” Rigel bounced off the bed.

Xiaolong nodded with a smirk.

“Both of them?”

He nodded again. “Treize wants to see us . . . five minutes ago.”

Rigel looked at Trowa. “But . . .”

“You’ll have time to study later,” Xiaolong said. “Tonsils or physics or whatever. This is important.”

“I know . . . go on ahead and tell Treize I’ll be there in a second.”

Xiaolong nodded and left the room, heading straight for Treize’s office. As usual, Une was guarding the doors. She nodded at him. “Go on in.”

Xiaolong pushed the door open. Treize was looking frustrated and sitting behind an immense stack of papers. He looked up and saw Xiaolong, and some of the worry instantly cleared from his face. “I take it you’ve heard?”

Xiaolong nodded. “Rigel will be here in a second. He’s studying.”

“With his boyfriend?”

Xiaolong looked startled.

“It’s okay, I know about it. There’s very little that goes on here that I don’t know about. As long as he’s not too much longer, I don’t mind. Then we’ll go see them.”

“You looked . . . preoccupied,” Xiaolong said hesitantly. “Is this a bad time?”

“Yes, but there isn’t going to be a better one,” Treize said. “I’m just glad they’re finally done. Maybe now I can keep the government from falling down around my ears.”

Xiaolong raised an eyebrow. “And how are two giant robots going to help you with that?”

“Surprisingly, people like to rally behind things like that,” Treize said. “Besides, if I can keep some of my bases from being destroyed with piloted mobile suits, maybe Tsuberov will stop trying to convince me that pilots are unnecessary.”

“Somebody’s saying that?” Xiaolong sounded disgusted.

“You’d be surprised the stupidity people would spout.”

“No, I really wouldn’t.”

The door opened and Rigel came in. “Hi. Sorry I’m late . . .”

“Don’t worry about it,” Treize said. “Let’s go see the Gundams.”

****

Hm, how much longer can we drag out Heero and Duo torturing each other? Ask us again in a few chapters when we're bored with it ^_~

Part Sixteen
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