Can’t Stop LH-chan ’01 He comes racing into my room. A wide grin on his face. "He~ero!" Sometimes, I’d swear he’s mimicking Relena. "Duo, could you keep it down." Why can’t I ever just tell him to shut up and go away? "You gotta come with me, Heero! I’ve got something to show you!" I stare at my laptop. But I stop typing in mid-code string. Yeah, I’m listening to him. But he doesn’t say anything else. Instead, he grabs my hand and pulls me to my feet, nearly knocking my laptop to the floor. I could stop him easily. But I don’t. Not even when He drags me past the other pilots in the common room of this safehouse. Not even when he drags me barefoot out the front door into the cold; too excited to stop long enough for either of us to put on our shoes. He’s laughing. Laughing as he pulls me along. ...something about him when he’s like this... ...I want to laugh with him. He pulls me nearly to the edge of the steep cliff-face this safehouse is built upon, releases my hand, and throws his arms out wide toward the ocean beyond. A dark sky...a dark sea...stars twinkling in each. "The stars are bright tonight, ne, Heero?" The loud exuberance in his voice is gone now. He sits down quietly on the very edge of the cliff, dangling his legs over the edge. Waiting for my reply. "Hn..." I’m not watching the stars. Or the sky. Or the sea. I know our Gundams are in the hangar built into the cliff beneath us. But I’m not making a visual inspection of the hangar doors; though I could see them easily from this vantage. I’m watching the sea spray and my frozen breath mingle together and become ice crystals in his dark hair as I stand behind him. The muted light from the safehouse windows catching their facets and making them sparkle. ...his hair looks so soft... I’ve got to stop! I’m too focused on him...I’m neglecting my mission. I’m not paying attention to more important things. ...but what’s more important? NO! I’ve got to stop this! I’m a soldier! My mission is the most important thing! The only thing. "You can’t stop you know." Duo’s voice pulls me roughly from my internal conflict. "Eh!" "You can’t stop," he tells me again. He’s turned toward me now, the light from the windows shining in his violet eyes. "What do you mean?" I ask. How can he know what I was thinking? I know my expression never changed. "You can’t stop being human. Whether you like it or not," he says. He pauses a moment. He’s unsure. Then he takes my hands quickly in his own, and pulls my arms around his shoulders, pulling me to the ground behind him as he does so; pressing my hands together in his. Over his heart. "And you can’t stop me from wanting to be with you, too," he says, his cheeks reddening ever so slightly. "So you might as well just enjoy it while you can...just like these bright stars." He lets go of my hands and leans back against my chest... relaxing... "It doesn’t matter if we die tomorrow," he mutters softly...peacefully, "as long as we can be together as long as we last before that." I let my hand fall gently onto the top of his head, tangling my fingers in his, indeed soft, long hair. Allowing myself to relax as well, for the first time I can clearly remember since I came to Earth. For a moment, I can forget about the cold, the war, everything but this peace here...with him... Staring out toward the star-flecked horizon... At the dark sky. At the dark sea. At the bright stars. For as long as we last... Owari.