“Duo. Duo, wake up,” Hilde had called to me as she not so gently shook my shoulders. I opened an eye and moaned, shifting my position on the bed to cover my head with a pillow. This time, her voice wasn't so soft, “Duo!” she growled.
“What, what?” I mumbled, throwing the pillow at her, but ended up falling over on my stomach as I sat up, attempting to shove it in her face. I took a deep breath, trying to regain clear vision.
“It's about eleven. Heero and I are going to go home.”
“Wh-what? You're still here?” I sat up, rubbing my face with shaky hands. “Why didn't you just leave?”
I looked to Heero, who was standing near the doorway, his arms folded across his chest. “We would have if you just stopped talking in your sleep.” His voice was so unemotional I felt a chill run through me, causing me to shiver.
“Yeah... You didn't look so good. We didn't want you to vomit in your sleep, Duo. What if you... choked on it and...”
“I'm—fine. You guys just go home. I can't believe you—”
Hilde glared at me fiercely. “The reason why I didn't go home was because I am your best friend, Duo. And, frankly, the only other friend you have besides Quatre. If you think for one second that I'd leave you hear alone when you're... when you're like that... you better think again.”
I smiled. That's right, I just fucking grinned. “I have other friends, Hilde,” I said casually, leaning against the wall. “I do.”
“Oh, yeah?” she said, this time visibly frustrated.
I looked to Heero for a moment, who stood in the doorway, seemingly, unperturbed. But he did not look at me. He seemed focused on the lava lamp that was sending a strange glow through the room.
“Yeah,” I said softly. I almost didn't even hear it myself. I looked to Hilde who only scowled.
“Duo, you got to understand this. You have to know this yourself. People don't want to make friends with people like—us, you know why? Because we're... we're just so goddamn different and so self-absorbed that we fail to realize that... there are other people around us. We get so damn off beat that we can't even think for ourselves anymore. Duo, we have to have at least one other person. If you didn't have me, Duo, I guarantee it that you wouldn't be here right now. Friends look out for each other. And all we have is each other. Quatre... well, you say Quatre's your friend. Would he hang around you when you're so far out like you were a few hours ago?” Her voice cracked a few times. I didn't want her to cry. I didn't fucking want her to cry for ME.
I swallowed.
“Duo,” she began, this time a little softer, which allowed me to relax slightly against my position leaning against the wall as I sat on the bed. “Would Quatre do that?”
“No,” I answered quietly.
Hilde nodded as her expression of anger relaxed into a state of motionless. She may have even looked saddened. But I was too goddamned muddled to realize it.
Quatre wouldn't stay by me. He's scared of drugs and what they do to people. He'd hate to see me on them. And, as I come to think of it, I didn't really have other friends beside Hilde and Quatre. Sure, I knew Quatre's friends, like Trowa, Wufei, Meiran and others... but they sure as hell weren't my friends. Why didn't I realize that before? Maybe because, before I saw Heero, I didn't mind being alone, even though Hilde was always there for me as a friend would be.
“You're so egotistical, Duo,” Hilde said as she stood up from where she sat on the edge of my bed.
But I grabbed her shoulder; almost falling off the bed as I jumped to do so. “Sorry,” I whispered, a smile brushing its way over my lips.
She smiled at me, shaking her head. “It's all right. I just wanted you to realize that. Go back to sleep.”
“God, I knew that, Hilde. Don't have to fucking tell me,” I laughed as I leaned back into my bed full of tangled blankets. “I just didn't know that you were the only one.”
“Well, that's what people like us get for being... us. I suppose Heero's going home, now?” Hilde turned to the Japanese boy in the doorway.
“Yeah,” he muttered.
Oh, God. I forgot about Heero for those few seconds. What does he think of me now? Shit...
“Bye, Duo. See you tomorrow morning—bright and early,” she said as she brushed passed Heero.
Heero looked at me for a moment, his gaze lingering. I forced a smile at him and a wave of my hand as I pressed my head against the pillow. He did not smile, nor did he wave back. He just stared at me for a split-second and then turned and left, shutting the door behind him.
I didn't sleep peacefully that night at all.
___xx
I showed up at school early the next morning as well. This time, my parents didn't wake me up because they weren't awake as well. Hilde knocked on my bedroom door. We had walked to school slowly, just talking about lame high school subjects. It was as if last night didn't even happen. We parted our ways as she went to go talk to Dorothy, the new kid I didn't get to know yet, and I ... well, not knowing where to go at all, just went to class to sit in my desk. The class was empty, and I was thankful for that. I didn't want Mueller showing up, especially when I was alone in a dark classroom.
I let last night's events once again rearrange themselves in my head. As I thought, I unzipped the front pocket of my backpack and was going to take out a pen to write on the desk with. But as my fingers traced around in the pocket, I felt something familiar. Taking out the pen and the strange object, I dropped my backpack to the floor. In my hand, was a normal black pen and my ... bracelet that I had technically given to Heero. I felt my throat clench. I let go of the pen and it dropped onto the desk. Hilde's words echoed in my head.
People don't want to make friends with people like—us, you know why? Because we're... we're just so goddamn different.
Maybe Heero wasn't like us. Maybe he was like Relena. Maybe he never really liked me at all. I was just so self-absorbed that I... didn't realize how he felt about me. I just wanted him to like me, so I guess I just put it in my head that he did when he didn't. Maybe he just hung out with me yesterday because I was the first person that he had actually met. Relena was the second. Or maybe she was first in line. I bit my lower lip harshly. Why the hell didn't I think of that?
Slipping the bracelet on my wrist with the others, I picked up the pen and began scrawling on the desk. Random letters, random words, and random designs and pictures that... somehow connected to how I felt. I sat with my arm spread on the side of the desk and my head leaning on it as I drew.
It wasn't long before people started to trail into the classroom. I felt a hard punch on my shoulder and a threat, indicating Mueller was here. But I could care less at the moment.
Then I heard Relena and her zombies walk in. It wasn't too hard to miss their cheery laughter. Even if Heero did walk in, I failed to notice him. I didn't want to hear it. I didn't want to be here. I wanted to be at home. I wanted to be in my room. God, it was hot today.
I faintly remember passing out on my desk, where my head was lying. Even if someone did see me, they might have thought I was asleep. In a way, I was.
___xx
“Duo?” Ms. Noin asked, slightly annoyed. “Do you have the answer to the question?”
The tall woman made her way down the row where the sleeping braided boy sat. His head was lying on the desk, his arms around his head, a pen in one of his hands, braid falling down his slim back with the thin, dark red shirt.
Giggles fell from the classroom girls, and snickering from the boys as Duo failed to wake up. Heero Yuy, on the other hand, who sat a seat in front of Duo, turned around. He hadn't bothered to wake Duo up when he had sat down. He had thought Duo needed the sleep. He didn't know he was still asleep, though.
“I know you may find this class exhilarating, but you're required to at least stay awake.” Ms. Noin placed a hand on Duo's shoulder, nudging him slightly. “Mr. Maxwell.”
Duo's position shifted and he slipped off the chair. He fell slack on the floor. His mouth fell slightly open and his arms were sprawled out in front of him. His legs were still under the desk. When he had fallen, he looked just like a plastic doll, his long braid falling to the floor to pool around his back as if it were water.
The class fell in utter silence. Heero was on the floor moments after. He shook Duo for a second without a word, and then lifted one of Duo's eyes open. He looked up towards the teacher.
“Relena, call the nurse,” Ms. Noin said, keeping her calm.
“Yes, ma'am!” Relena stood from her seat and rushed to the phone that hung on the wall beside the door.
“He's unconscious,” Heero stated, looking back towards Duo. He lifted the boy gently and draped one of Duo's arms over his shoulders.
“I'd hate to leave the class—Heero, would you be kind enough to take him to the nurse?” She turned to the class, “Would anyone else help?”
“I've got it under control,” Heero stated plainly as he wrapped an arm around Duo's waist.
“Thank you, Heero.”
Heero made his way out of the classroom, passing Relena who was on the phone, saying, “Yes, one of our classmates is...”
___xx
I opened my eyes to meet a pair of Prussian blue ones and a discontented face, which seemed to have a white aura around it. I must have been dreaming. I reached up to touch the cheek of the boy who was hovering above me in that dreamscape and I smiled. But the funny thing was, it felt so real. I let my fingers trail around the jaw line of the face hovering over me. “What a crazy dream I'm having,” I muttered, smiling dumbly.
“You're awake,” a voice said from somewhere else.
I blinked and my arm instantly jerked away. “Who the hell—” I mumbled as leaned farther back into my pillow, not taking my eyes off of Heero even though I was talking to the other voice.
“Your mother is not answering her phone and, since you've woken up, we're not taking you to the hospital.”
“What...”
“You fell unconscious,” Heero said, leaning back. I suddenly realized that the ‘white aura' I thought was around Heero was just the white ceiling.
I groaned. “What the hell happened?”
“You fell unconscious,” the voice in the doorway repeated. I turned to see who it was. I remembered that woman from last year. Catherine Bloom was her name and she had been the school nurse. I've seen her countless times. She smiled at me. “We're glad you're all right. You had us all worried.”
“Us?”
“Yes, Heero brought you here.”
“Helen's here?” I almost gasped.
Catherine smiled. “No. We couldn't get a hold of your house.”
“Good,” I muttered as I sat up. I was extremely hungry. I had forgotten to eat this morning... and last night... and I didn't have lunch yesterday, either. How the mind slips. Maybe that's why I'm so godforsaken bony. No, I'm not skinny. I'm fucking bony.
I ran a hand through my bangs shakily, staring down at myself.
“Why aren't you back in class, Heero?” I blurted.
“I stayed here,” he said simply, leaning back into his chair so his back was pressed against it. His hands hung limp over the sides as I eyed him through the corner of my eye.
Then I turned towards him, my mouth open, as I was about to say something. But, for the first time in a long time, I really, truly, was at a loss for words. Oh, God. I even touched him, thinking it was a damn dream. I must have looked so stupid. I forced a smile. Everything was okay, really, it was.
“Duo?”
“Yeah?” I answered.
“School's over in two minutes and forty seconds. Are you going to go home?”
I smiled at his calculations. “No,” I said, “my parent's aren't home anyway.”
“Want to come over? My uncle's gone until nine tonight.”
I looked over to him, slightly shocked. “Sure. Yeah. I'm okay now. I guess I was just... hungry... and tired... and took too less last night... and... God, I'm hungry.”
“Let's go.”
Heero wiggled something around in his fingers. It took me a moment to realize they were car keys. Good, because I didn't feel like walking at all. I swung my legs over the side of the cot I was lying on in the nurse's room and stood up. Heero stood beside me and I grabbed onto his shoulder quickly using it as support to balance my shaky legs. I felt Heero flinch, so I let go.
Catherine bid us farewell, saying she would keep on trying to contact my house. I knew better than to attempt and talk her out of it. When we reached Heero's car, a small, dark red Volkswagen bug, he unlocked the door and I plopped down on the passenger's seat, closing the door. I let my head fall back on the headrest, letting out a breath of air.
Heero sat down in the driver's seat and turned on the car. When he was pulling out, I stated, “Nice car,” with a smile.
“It's my uncle's.”
“Yeah? Doesn't he kind of need it for work?”
“He takes the bus. Doesn't like to drive.”
I smiled. There was a comfortable silence after that as he drove. Reaching for the radio, I switched it on. Heero looked at me for a moment, then looked back towards the rode. I switched radio stations for a few seconds before I found a good song: Jefferson Airplane, Somebody to Love.
I listened to the lyrics for a moment before I turned to Heero, who was quiet, staring at the road we were driving on. Don't you want somebody to love? Don't you need somebody to love? Wouldn't you love somebody to love? You better find somebody to love. Jesus Christ, those lyrics were ... just terrible for this moment. Or were they just wonderful? I couldn't tell which one. I jerked my vision away from Heero to stare out the window. The houses we were driving by were getting slightly nicer. Maybe we were going on the good side of town.
There were a few other cars on the road, but not many. My thoughts proved wrong when we made a sharp turn into another neighborhood. I mean, my house was not upper or middle class material, but... compared to the houses we were passing now, yeah, it was. Tyrone lived in this neighborhood. He called it the ghetto. Damn right.
The car stopped in front of an apartment building. It wasn't as rundown as the other houses and buildings, but it could still be called ‘ghetto.' Heero parked the car and got out. I followed him out and he locked the doors to the dark red car. I smiled at him from across the top of the car. He stared at me for a moment, then turned around, making his way to the apartment building. I followed him to a door and he unlocked it.
I could hear the shouting of a recently married couple echo throughout the parking lot. Then I heard the sound of breaking glass. Heero seemed as if he didn't notice it. Maybe he was used to it.
He opened the door for me and I walked in. I hadn't gotten the chance to lead him into my house. I was ... well, out of it.
Heero was watching me as he shut the door behind him, locking it. I would have gave him back a stare, but I was really too hungry right now. He brushed past me, not giving me eye contact as he made his way to the kitchen. I followed him, thankful, and sat down at the table. I was handed a bowl of Cheerios cereal as well as a spoon. Heero then handed me a gallon of milk and sat down beside me at the small, scratched wooden table. I poured the milk onto the cereal and then shoved the cereal in my mouth as if I hadn't eaten in days, which was sort of true.
Heero watched me eat. He was studying me so closely, man, I thought I was getting interrogated silently or something.
“You're so ... skinny, Duo.”
I paused, looking at him for a moment, to see he was still staring at me, his face contorted in almost puzzlement. I smiled at him slightly him and then swallowed. “Yeah. Sometimes I forget.”
“How could you forg...”
“Drugs.”
He closed his mouth and looked down to his hands. “How long have you gone without eating?”
“A few days... No big deal. It feels like nothing when you're... stoned.” I looked at him, and he looked at me. “Sorry if you don't like me doing that stuff...”
He shrugged, rolling his eyes slightly.
“I just... I need it, I guess.”
“Why?”
“I guess ... it's like ... a replacement of things that I can't have. It's like this crazy feeling that I need to feel to realize that, yeah, I'm here in Southern California, in eleventh grade, and I have the longest hair ever. Sometimes, the line between reality and unreality... sometimes they blur, for me. Sounds stupid, but that's why I do it.”
“There are replacements for drugs, Duo.”
I shoved a spoonful of cereal in my mouth.
“From what you're telling me, I get that you think drugs are a replacement for things you can't have—like people, emotions.” And this was coming from someone who I hardly seen any emotions from. There was so much more to this kid than what I was seeing on the outside. “If you just take away the drugs, and get some good friends like Hilde, then you'll be okay. Hilde also takes drugs. The only other person she has is you, isn't it? You say you're both there for each other. But, Duo, look at you.”
I hesitated.
“Hilde doesn't even look out for herself.”
I looked at my cereal bowl. I suddenly wasn't hungry anymore. What was he trying to say? Hilde wasn't a good friend? I was a fucking slack off that didn't care about anything else except drugs? God, I cared about a lot of things. I cared about Hilde, about my past, about... him. “What are you trying to say, Heero?”
“Nothing. I just want you to take a good look at yourself.”
“You... you don't know me. How could you say that stuff? You don't know about Hilde. You...”
“I've seen a lot in the past two days, Duo. I'm sure this doesn't happen all the time. If it does, well, what I've been saying is a definite understatement.”
“It doesn't... Heero... Are you saying that I...”
“Yes. Because that's all that I've seen come out of you. Even when Mueller threatened you, all you did was sit back and take his threats like any little doll would. When you fell out of your chair... I could have sworn you were some fucking doll. You looked so... unreal. If this is the real you, I can't just sit back and watch you do this to yourself.”
“I just didn't want to fight Mueller. I don't want to get into something I can't get out of. I just want to... God, I don't know.”
I shoved another spoonful of cereal into my mouth and forced it down my throat.
“I don't mind you doing drugs. I don't mind your sexual preference. I don't mind a lot of the things you do. Usually, I can't stand people. I don't really like Hilde much. But what I do mind is how you handle yourself.”
“Shit, Heero,” I cursed, laughing to cover up my own uneasiness, “You're beginning to sound like Helen.” I swallowed. Oh, shit. Why was I... What's he doing to me? I felt a stinging in my eyes.
“From what I saw yesterday, your mom is in the same position you're in.”
I bit my bottom lip, dropping the spoon in the bowl. It made a loud clang. God, his voice... Sometimes I would die to hear his voice. Sometimes it was the greatest thing I ever heard... But now, I just wanted him to shut up. “Heero...” I began, not able to finish because I knew my voice would shudder. Sure, I could have taken stuff he said about me. I let the Hilde subject pass... But when he spoke about my parents...
My hands came to my forehead and I let my fingers trail across it, feeling it warm. I was sweating.
“Wanna watch TV or something?” I said quickly. I didn't care if he thought I was chickening out of talking. I didn't want to talk about this.
Heero stood, leaving the cereal and milk out on the table. He made his way down the hall and I stood, following him. He opened the door, and I found that the room was his bedroom. I sat down on the edge of his bed and he walked to the radio. The room was ... gray. He turned on the radio. He stopped switching radio stations when he heard The Beatles.
I smiled at him. He stared at me for a moment before he sat down on the chair. “We don't have a TV. You can lay down if you'd like.”
I did so. His bed was soft. I took in a deep breath. It smelled like him. I liked that smell. I closed my eyes. “Where's your uncle at?” I asked.
I heard a shuffling of papers from the desk that held the radio on it. I opened my eyes to see Heero with a pencil in his hand, a pad of paper leaning against his knee that was propped up on the edge of the chair he sat on. Without looking up from his paper pad that had some Japanese kanji on it, he said, “He's at work.”
I smiled, bringing my legs up onto the bed. “What does he do?”
“Some kind of scientist.”
The radio then switched songs to The Who's, ‘I Can See for Miles.' I smiled. I liked The Who far more than The Beatles. Heero let his hand reach for the radio, and for a moment, I thought he'd turn it off. But he ended up turning the volume louder. I grinned, scooting up so I lay on Heero's pillow, which I pulled out from under his folded blankets.
“Some kind of scientist,” I repeated, amused.
“Yeah,” he said, erasing something on the paper he was writing on.
“What're you doing?”
He didn't answer.
Brushing it off, I shut my eyes, just listening to the music. I don't know how long had passed, but no talking coming between us was comforting. The music was enough.
Heero's room was slightly bland, but I figured it was because this wasn't actually his room. He was living with his uncle, after all. I don't know when he came to down here, but...
“Hey, where are you from in Northern California?” I asked, without opening my eyes.
“San Francisco.”
“Mm,” I grinned. “Nice.”
“I think you'd like it there.”
“I think I would, too.”
“Hn,” he breathed.
“What're you doin', Heero?”
Again, I thought he was going to ignore my question. “I'll show you when I'm done.”
I opened my eyes and grinned. “I want to see now.” I stood, and made my way over to him, leaning on his shoulder as I stared down at the paper he was writing on.
But he wasn't writing at all. He had been drawing. He had been drawing... me. I unconsciously gripped his shoulder.
“Heero...”
“Well, I know it's bad...”
Was he kidding me?! That was my position on the bed. He was drawing how I exactly was. The posture was so perfect... But it wasn't finished yet. Damn my impatience. “Man, what are you thinking? That's ... great. God, Heero. You're really good.”
“Hn.” He paused, letting his pencil trace around my back on the sketch. “Thanks.”
“You taking art or something at school?”
“No. My uncle wants me to major in science in college.”
“Damn. But you're so good at this... What do your parents say?”
Heero was silent for a moment. “Duo,” he began, letting out a breath. “I'm… not a transfer student. My parents died when I was very young. I was living up at an orphanage while in elementary school in San Francisco. But my uncle decided to take me in because I just began to start eleventh grade.”
Duo bit his bottom lip for a moment, looking down at Heero who stared at the boy in the picture. “Didn't like kids?”
“My uncle hates kids. But he figured since I'm older now, I won't get in the way of his work.” He grunted. “Wasn't like I'd get in the way anyway. I didn't have much friends in San Francisco anyway.”
“Heero…”
“When I was five, my uncle, J is his name, tried to convince the orphanage to ship me off to Tokyo, since Japanese was the only language I knew until I was eleven, when I began to study English. I don't even remember the last time I spoke Japanese. Just a few months ago, my uncle agreed I could stay with him. I'm going to be out of high school, out of San Diego, in a couple of years, anyway.”
Heero's voice was so dark. He said his uncle's name and the word ‘English' like it was some kind of swear word. I could only lick my lips, which were dry, and stare down at him. He looked up at me. I looked down at him.
“Well, my parents ditched me when I was little, too… two weeks old, in fact. Helen and Solo took me in as my parents when I was one or two, I think.” I let my hand gently move to his neck, my fingers stroking his long hair that was over his ears. “I guess I could understand that.”
Heero looked away, down to his drawing. I think he was at a loss for words. I think that was the most I could get out of him for today.
“Oi, Hee-kun,” I said, “Would you like to get a cup of coffee or something at the café downtown? I think I have some extra change we could use.” I think I surprised him. I knew a little Japanese myself—but just a little, which wasn't enough to impress him. I smiled at him brightly though.
The edge of his mouth quirked slightly as he stood, placing his sketchpad over top of his radio. I let my hand fall from where it was over him and I shoved both of my hands in my pockets. I watched him turn off the radio and he turned to me.
“That'd be nice,” he said quietly as he stared at me.
My eyes half-lidded and I suddenly felt the need to lay back down in the bed again. But I smiled at him. “I… but do you mind if I sleep a little first? Five minutes… I'm a little tired.” My smile gave him an apology.
He nodded, sitting back down. “I thought so. You can pull the covers off on the bed if you'd like.”
I was already lying on the bed, my arms around his pillow as I hugged it tightly to my chest. I already closed my eyes, muttering an “Arigatou.”
I heard him sigh almost sadly.
___xx
The ride to the café was uneventful, to say the least. It was around six o' clock. I figured Hilde would be there. She always ate at the café at any chance she got. She loved the atmosphere and usually just went there to converse with the beatniks and the other ‘cool' kids.
When we shoved our way through the black doors that led to the smoke-and-incense filled café, I instantly spotted Hilde sitting at a large table. There was another girl with her with really, really, long blonde hair.
I grinned, making my over to her by dragging Heero along by the wrist, as well. She blinked at me as I just sat down across from her and the girl, and sat Heero down beside me by jerking him downwards. He looked to me and blinked.
I put my elbows on the table, hands supporting my chin as I batted my eyelashes at her. “Well, hello, ladies.”
“Hey, Duo,” Hilde smiled. “I heard what happened! Are you all right?” The surprised look on her face instantly vanished. I looked towards the other girl, recognizing her as the blonde that Hilde had went off to talk to before school that morning. Dorothy was her name, I think.
“I'm fine. Hee-kun here took care of me, didn'tcha?”
Heero nodded, looking around the café. It was semi-crowded. There was a small stage with dark red curtains, a spot light set on a young guy that I instantly recognized as Trowa, who played the bongos, eyes closed dramatically. There were people crowded around the edge of the stage, smoking cigarettes or talking quietly.
I smiled, nudging Heero in the side with my leg. He looked towards the stage as well. He looked back at me, shrugging his shoulders the slightest.
“Well, Duo,” Hilde began, “This is Dorothy.”
Dorothy then smiled at me, almost grinning. “Hello, Duo. And you,” she leaned forward, looking towards Heero with her arms folded in front of her chest on the table. Her voice lowered, “You must be Heero… the Heero Yuy that was invited to Relena's party. The funny thing was… I knew Relena before I moved here. But the funny thing was…” she repeated as her strangely colored eyes looked around as if paranoid.
“Was?” I pressed, leaning forward as well.
“Is… that I wasn't invited. But I'm going anyway.”
I grinned almost like she had. “You're going to trash it?”
“You could put it that way. Ingenious, if I do say so myself.” She paused, looking to Hilde. “I think Relena is embarrassed to have me around her,” she said as she looked back at Heero and I. “I do have to put an end to that, now don't I? Her popular appeal is a lot more important than ones she loves.” Dorothy snorted. Despite her crafty appearance, she almost seemed hurt. But she hid it well. Maybe I just had a talent to actually see under people's skin.
“Well, nice to meet you Dorothy-chan.” Heero shifted beside me at my word usage. “I guess I'll just have to accompany you and Heero to the party. How about it, Hilde?”
Hilde nodded vigorously.
“It's good as done,” I said. “We see Relena degraded just by our appearance, Heero snaps her in half, I'll completely embarrass her, and Dorothy, well, you do what you'd like, as for you, Hilde.”
“Spectacular,” Dorothy said, leaning back into her seat, pushing the long blonde hair behind her ears. She eyed Hilde. “Friday night at seven.”
I looked over to Heero and grinned. He raised his eyebrows at me comically. I nudged him in the thigh again with my leg, “Oi, Hee-kun. You like me attempting Japanese?”
He paused for a moment, before saying very quietly, “Hai.”
Dorothy giggled almost slyly. “It was nice meeting you two. I am going to see Quatre backstage now. Care to come, Hilde?” My short black-haired friend stood, reaching out to grab Dorothy by the side and pulling her close for a second before they both giggled and walked away.
I blinked, then took my braid and held it in my hands as I looked down to it. Was Hilde and Dorothy…? Nah. They couldn't be. They just knew each other for, what? Two or three days? Well, I have known Heero for two days. I couldn't help but look over to Heero, who was watching the stage intently, and grin.