"D-2." Heero said, his voice monotonous. The table shook.

"Oi! Man, ya' sunk my battleship!" Duo moaned, slamming his fist down on the table.

"Hn."

"So, how many does that make for you?"

"16 wins. No losses."

"Oi! I just don't see how ya' get so good..."

"You're predictable."

"Am not!"

"Hn."

* * *

"Maxwell! What are you doing!?!" WuFei bellowed, his voice furious.

A pair of mischievous amethyst eyes blinked owlishly. A wide grin appeared on the American pilot's face as he twisted quickly around to face the just-opened door.

"Oh, nothing..." Duo replied innocently, his hands behind his back. He was doing a miraculously good job at keeping himself from laughing.

WuFei jumped easily over the sitting pilot of Shinigami, landing gracefully behind him. Looking at what Duo had been hiding, WuFei's jaw dropped open.

"What have you done here?" the Chinese pilot yelled, enraged. Behind Duo's back was a pile of shredded clothing, a pair of scissors lying atop the pile. The metal of the tool was tarnished, and the blade looked to be in need of sharpening, but the scissors were still serviceable.

"Well, ya' see... I was in town this morning, buying some octopus puffs and chocolate chip cookie dough ice-cream... Did you ever know that Heero really likes that flavor? I was pretty surprised when I found out. I mean-"

"Get on with it, you dishonorable wretch." WuFei growled. Duo shrugged, his grin widening.

"Hmm... Okay. Anyway, as I was trying to say before you so rudely interrupted me, Wu-man..." Duo continued. His eyes were sparkling happily again as he readied himself to dodge the blow he knew would come.

"Don't call me Wu-man. My name is WuFei!" the Chinese pilot spat loudly, obviously straining to keep himself from striking his comrade before he finished his explanation. After all, Duo might actually have an honorable reason for doing something for once... Although that wasn't too likely. He did his best to always give him the benefit of a doubt, however, unless the idiot was being blatantly stupid or immoral.

Duo stuck out his tongue, quickly pulling it back into his mouth before the sword-loving pilot decided to slice it off. That would never do; how would he be able to talk without his tongue?

"Yeah, yeah... Sure... Whatever. Like I was saying, I went into town earlier today to grab something to eat. I was hungry again, and there's nothing good in this stupid house. Nothing new there. Anyways... On my way to the store, I saw this little girl sitting on the curb of the street, playing with a beat-up looking old doll. She looked kinda' lonely, so I decided to go over and play with her."

"Playing with dolls now, Maxwell? Don't tell me you're turning into a weakling onna." WuFei scoffed. His voice was almost enough to get Duo upset, but he saw something suspiciously like approval in his friend's eyes.

Duo somehow managed to ignore him and finish his story. "The girl's doll didn't look that bad, but its clothes weren't much better than dirty rags. I played with the kid for about half an hour or so, and she was really sweet. I was going to buy her some doll clothes, but they were priced way too high. So I decided to make some myself instead." He looked satisfied and slightly smug by the end of his tale.

"Let's see you find something wrong with that, Mr. Holier-Than-Thou." He thought to himself. "After all, charity is an honorable thing, right?"

"You can sew? What a womanly task... And why did you use my clothes?" WuFei still had an `I'm better than you are' look on his face, but Duo could tell that he was actually at least a little bit interested, and slightly less angry.

"I learned how to sew when I was living in a church as a kid. And I didn't use just your clothes..." Duo pointed to another pile of material nearby, and WuFei could recognize clothing scraps from the other four Gundam pilots. He even saw one of the outfits worn by Quatre's Maganacs.

WuFei stared in shock at a few pieces of material he knew had come from one of Heero's outfits. "D-dishonor, injustice! How dare you steal clothes from us rather than asking for them?" WuFei finally stuttered, sounding shocked, appalled, and furious-or, rather, almost furious...

"Oi, don't be so ready to always assume the worst about me! Even if it is true most of the time... I asked Heero, Trowa, Quatre, and Rashid before I took anything of theirs!" Duo protested, his face bearing an expression of highly over-done insult; he liked being dramatic, thank you very much!

"And they all said yes?" WuFei asked unbelievingly.

"Well, not exactly..." Duo began. WuFei winced, but was actually amused, truth be told. He had the feeling that Duo's explanation would be quite interesting. They almost always were.

"Yeah... Uhhm... Ya' see... I only got one `Yes', but that one was from Quatre! He said I could have one of his outfits and an old Maganac outfit. Trowa didn't say anything, so I took that as a yes." The braided pilot explained quickly.

"And Heero?" WuFei asked suspiciously. Duo sweatdropped, made a face, and shrugged.

"Aaa... Ano... He gave me his usual `Hn.' the first two or three times I asked, and on my fourth try I got an `Omae o korosu.' So I decided that both responses were multipurpose and he just had to mean `yes' at least one of those times... So I waited `til he left the room, grabbed an outfit, and ran!"

WuFei sighed and shook his head disapprovingly. "Really, Maxwell... Some day this reckless behavior of yours is going to get you in trouble." he scolded.

Duo shrugged, obviously not too worried about that. "Yeah, probably... But one of you will help me get out of it, right?" he asked cutely, fluttering is eyelashes. WuFei looked quite flustered.

"Depending on others to get you out of trouble is a weakness." The Chinese pilot replied, sounding like he was quoting scripture. Or advice from a cheap fortune cookie.

"Oh, so... You... You wouldn't come save me?" the American asked, sniffling and giving the other pilot his best sad puppy-dog look.

It took a much colder man than WuFei to resist Duo when he got that expression on his face. A much colder man.

"I... I didn't say that!" he protested, looking quite serious but also rather guilty.

Duo's face lit up. "So, you would help me?" he gushed, his eyes sparkling.

"Of course I would. It would be beyond dishonorable to abandon you in a time of need. Companions in a war watch each others' backs." WuFei replied seriously.

A rare moment of silence ensued for a few moments; it wasn't often that Duo was this quiet. When he finally did speak, it wasn't in his normal manner.

"Thanks, WuFei... That really does mean a lot to me, you know..." Duo said, his voice not much above a whisper.

WuFei looked at Duo for a moment, a thoughtful look on his face.

"Is... something wrong, WuFei?" the American asked worriedly. It was strange to not hear WuFei ranting about dishonor and injustice...

"Can I help you with your doll clothes?" WuFei asked hesitantly. He sounded very shy. Duo looked at him and was surprised to find him blushing slightly.

"Kawaii..." Duo thought to himself. Then, resisting the temptation to glomp onto the Chinese pilot, he replied out loud, "Sure. Do you know how to sew?"

"Of course I don't! Why would I- That is.. No. I've never had the need to learn such a womanly skill before,"

Duo's face fell, and he started to grow angry, but he quickly brightened again when WuFei continued, "But... I'd be willing to learn, if you'd teach me how..."