Heero made a face at the nasty coffee Relena served him and reached for the sugar.

�gThat�fs so terrible,�h Relena said softly, her little coffee spoon twirling idly on its own in her cup. �gDo you really think he doesn�ft love you?�h

Heero scolded at the sugar cubes as he dropped a few into his cup. He hated how the damn girl was able to get his whole life story out so easily, but he himself was dying to tell someone about his worries over Duo. He needed to get it out in the open somehow, or it would have killed him.

�gI don�ft know,�h he replied before retasting his coffee.

�gWell, of course you don�ft, you poor thing,�h she soothed, patting Heero�fs hand sympathetically.

Maybe he should have spilled his beans to someone else, he thought sourly. Another pilot, Sally, hell even Zechs wouldn�ft be this�c overly sympathetic.

After all the dust-clearing and the life-rebuilding, Duo and he ended up together, to the delights to those who knew him. Relena, in particular, had known Heero was gaa-gaa over Duo for ages, so she would have made it her priority to extract everything about the relationship out of Heero, sooner or later.

�gBut I really thought he would be more, I don�ft know, open with his affections if he did,�h she said, her face tilted in a thoughtful expression.

Heero thought so too, after seeing and feeling all the warmth Duo would show in friendship. But that was the only thing Heero had felt from Duo: friendship. No romantic affection at all, except in the bedroom, but even there, there�fs a friendly coldness to Duo that, after sex, would cause Heero to shake in anger in hurt.

It had gotten so bad that Heero had to move out last week. Duo didn�ft look that happy when he started packing, and looked even worse when he said he was going to stay with Relena for a few days, she was the closest person he could crash in on. And, even thought Duo acted very upset over it, he didn�ft stop him. He let Heero go.

�gMaybe he�fs not gay,�h she said next, which snapped Hero out of the sad little thoughts in his head.

�gWhat?�h

�gMaybe he�fs not gay,�h she repeated in that same thoughtful way.

�gAre you joking?�h Heero�fs face began to flush a bit in anger. �gWe have had sex.�h

�gThat doesn�ft mean he�fs gay.�h

�gYes, it does.

�gMaybe it means that he knows you love him, and he doesn�ft love you, but wanted to comfort you none the less.�h

�gYou�fre fishing, Relena,�h he warned, but that was what he was thinking, too.

�gEven if I am, you�fre unhappy, right?�h Heero gave a short, affirmative nod. �gThen leave it up to me.

He gave her a cautious look. �gWhat are you going to do?�h

She licked the bit of coffee still on her spoon with a pop. �gProve he loves you. Or, at the very least, that he�fs straight.�h

�gI don�ft know what you�fre thinking of doing, but I know I already hate it.�h He stirred some more sugar into his coffee. �gHow many soap operas have you been watching lately,�h he added with more than a hint of suspicion.

�gSoap operas? I grew out of them years ago,�h she replied coyly.

�gThen how many romance novels?�h he rephrased.

�gA few,�h she replied with a blush and a smirk, �gbut this plan will work.�h He shot her a skeptical look.

�gYou�fll see,�h she said with a wink as she drank the rest of her coffee.

The house was dark and empty nowadays, so Duo simply refused to go home. It was merely the aftermath of not having anyone to share the space with, he would tell himself numbly as he tossed and turned in the big bed he used to share with Heero. It was the loneliness anyone would feel in this situation, he would convince himself whenever he drank a beer in his dark kitchen to the tune of some classical piece being played on the radio. It was because he missed Heero�fs company, and that was it, he repeated to himself until the mantra broke and became useless.

He wasn�ft kidding anyone but himself, but to admit that was foolish. Who would he admit it to, Heero? The man would love to rub it in his face that he missed him after he moved out. He may even say that it was proof that Duo reciprocated the love Heero had for him, but that was hodgepodge. Just because he had sex with him certainly didn�ft mean he loved him.

All that was, to him, was a sort of comfort, the same sort of comfort he seeked out during the war, and that Heero willingly participated in then. He was the foolish one to fall in love with Duo just because Duo liked the sex.

But, then again, the only person Duo was kidding was himself.

So Duo, feeling the need for distractions from his terminally empty place and botched self-denials, went with a few coworkers out for drinks one night. He was already very much tired of drinking alone in his kitchen. And to think, it has only been a few months since Heero�fs departure to wherever.

As he desperately tried to forget the emptiness Heero left behind, and his coworkers settled themselves into the happy hour mood, he made bad jokes and laughed with them in a smoky bar on a weeknight.

He wasn�ft sure how it happened, perhaps it was destiny, but as he laughed roughly at a very bad joke, he looked up and saw the most breathtaking woman he had ever seen walk into the bar alone. He wasn�ft even sure what made her breathtaking, but the sight of her took his breath away and something whispered to him that this woman was his 100% perfect match.

She made her way to the bar and sat at a stool, her solitary presence made all the more forlorn as she lifted a delicate, silver-accented hand for a drink. She looked sensible, with her flat, black heels and short dark hair, but the frilly skirt she was wearing softened whatever hardness she possessed.

He stole glances of her every chance he got from his seat at their table, so much so that his coworkers began teasing him fiercely for it. In spite of his protests, they pushed him towards her to see if will sink of swim.

Sadists, he though angrily, even as his somewhat nervous feet steered him towards her. At the feel of his approach, she lifted her eyes from her drink and stared at him from behind dark eyelashes. That in itself made his pulse jump a couple of speeds.

He tried to say something, but his mouth was dry, and his palms, conversely, were sweating something terrible. She must have felt some sort of pity as she signaled to the seat next to her with silver-bangled wrist. �gWould you like to sit down?�h she asked, or rather commanded in a low, nasally whisper of a voice.

Duo stammered his thanks as he dropped into the stool next to her. �gUm,�h he tried, �gI�fm Duo, and you are?�h

�gSingle,�h she replied, without any seductive sweep, or bedroom growl. It was so simple and point-of-fact that Duo half-thought that really was her name.

�gSay what?�h

�gSingal,�h she enunciated for him, taking up the cherry on her girly drink and playing with it in no sexual way at all. Duo was feeling rather disappointed.

�gWell, nice to meet you, Singal,�h Duo said, unsure of what else he could do. The lack of sexual vibe was almost discerning.

�gHave you ever,�h she said, resting her silver-accented hand on Duo�fs forearm, just in case he was trying to escape, �ghad a Tequila Shakedown?�h

Duo blinked, a bit surprised by the question. �gWhat, is that a new drink?�h

Singal nodded her head, letting her short, barely shoulder-length hair bob up and down. There was a cohesive thickness to it, which made it bob as one piece. She then shot him a look that made him shiver with that same �esoul mate�f sort of way when he first saw her, but with the added something of familiarity. �gIt�fll knock you out if you let it, but it�fs very good.�h

He thought about it for a moment. He really wasn�ft aiming to get drunk tonight, but this woman, with her silver wrists and dark-mascara eyes made him feel as he found what he needed to fill the void Heero had left. A void he wouldn�ft admit to anyone, even himself, was the result of a love lost, but if this woman asked, he would give her everything, and tell her all the secrets of his foolish little soul.

Tequila Shakedown. Main ingredient: only the best tequila from Mexico, and if that isn�ft enough to get the tightest lips to loosen up, nothing aside from truth serum could. Relena had for a good while planned the whole thing out, and even though it seriously smacked of pure soap opera dramatics, it was so far working.

Duo, of course, didn�ft take Singal�fs advice with the drink all that seriously. She said, in her low, nasally whisper of a voice, that the best way to drink it was slowly, with a lot of water to dilute. Unfortunately, she gave him that advice just after he drank half of it in one gulp.

His coworkers left him to his own devices hours ago, and still he was there, listening to bad karaoke with a beautiful, perfect woman sipping her Shakedown twice for every glass of water she finishes. He, by contrast, looked alright for a person that drank half a Shakedown in one gulp, but he should have just finished it, for all the help the first half gave. He was calmly, half-drunkenly talking about everything that was crossing his mind at that moment. It was as if his idiotic train of thought jumped the tracks and decided to roll right out of his mouth.

But Singal wasn�ft all that perturbed by the situation. She actually smiled and nodded her head to all the nonsense he was saying. She even signed Duo up for a song because he mentioned he could sing a whole lot better than that couple that butchered Diana Ross or that cow that screamed out Enrique Iglesias. So when his turn came up to sing whatever it was she scribbled down, he couldn�ft keep a lid on whatever he was blabbering about to sing the damn song.

The DJ gave him the mike and as the song cued up, he looked at Singal and sighed into the microphone. �gYou know, Singal,�h he said, admiring how the dim lights were caught and flashed by her silver bangles, �gI think you�fre the 100% perfect girl for me, shit, I shouldn�ft say that. But, it�fs true, and man, in this light you really look like Heero. You know, I shouldn�ft have said that either, but I miss Heero. No, I don�ft think you know him. He doesn�ft know anyone, anyway, that guy. He left months ago and he said he really loved me, but he left, and I miss him, and can I call you Heero? Oh, I�fm sorry.�h

Several of the other patrons were silent, just listening to his rambling, but he couldn�ft stop himself. Not after half a Shakedown. �gBut I miss him, and maybe I think I love him. I love him. Damn, I really shouldn�ft have said that. But, it�fs true, isn�ft it? Because I miss him? And I think about him all the time? I said that already, didn�ft I?�h

Singal got up from her stool and walked towards Duo. Her silver bangles flashed in the light as she touched his face gently.

�gAnd it�fs so hard going home and knowing he�fs not there,�h he continued into the mike, looking at Singal as if he had both seen her and never seen her before. �gAnd I hate knowing that he hates me because I didn�ft love him, and you really, really, really look like him.�h

Singal gently pulled the mike away from his face, her small lips forming a loving smile just before she kissed him. He fell into her lips, soft, yet firm and familiar. And something finally snapped into place as he looked straight into Singal�fs eyes, and recognizing whatever it was that let Duo know.

The stunned bar just watched as Duo began to say, �gYou�fre Heero, you�fre Heero,�h over and over as the woman grabbed their few things and led him out the back door to the final strings of Duo�fs ill-picked song.

~~~end

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