The statement about not being the same thing earns Duo a look. He knows they aren't, and that at best those people are more of an acquaintance than anything else, but at the same time, because none of this comes easily to him, he's willing to take whatever he can get. "I didn't call them 'friends'. There are few individuals here to whom that designation would apply in the slightest. Very few."

When Duo's words fade off, Heero is silent for a few moments before reaching out to shut the book he was using. "And what shit might that be?" He'll assume a little girl and her puppy, but he's never really broadcast that so the chances of the other knowing it aren't terribly high. It's one of the very few things he knows he's still allowing to bother him.