windandwater | a bunny for aoi-chan (Reply)

There was no rhyme nor reason to it.

He had had no nightmares; he had not been roused from slumber by the faces of countless people who had died under his blades. He had not been having a pleasant dream either; there were no lingering phantom touches and sweet caresses. But for some reason, Quatre Raberba Winner found his eyes snapping open at 2:44 AM. Quatre groaned, rolling over onto his stomach and burying his head under his pillow, trying to slip back into sleep. After laying huddled under his blankets for fifteen more minutes, Quatre reacted explosively, sitting up and throwing his pillow across the room where it impacted against the wall with a muffled thump and slid to the floor.

His stomach growled.

Quatre rubbed his eyes with his knuckle, digging sleep out of them the best he could. Finally, after sitting up in bed for another ten minutes, the blonde staggered to his feet and out of his room. The compound was quiet this late at night. Padding on bare feet, Quatre could make out the faint running lights of the Magunac mobile suits that were doing their patrols.

"At least it wasn't too cold," Quatre said idly, rubbing one hand against his bare arm. "Oh, great, Winner. Now you're talking to yourself. Ah, who cares? It's the middle of the night anyway. I can talk to myself if I want to."

Quatre's stomach growled in agreement.

Turning the last corner, Quatre was suprised to see a thin stream of light trickling through the crack of the kitchen door. Quietly, he pushed open the door and poked his blonde head in. What he saw was Duo Maxwell, kneeling on top of the kitchen counter and pawing through the uppermost cupboards.

"... goddamn... sonova... I know there's gotta be..."

"Duo?"

Duo gasped loudly at the sound of Quatre's voice. Quatre watched in mute horror as Duo lost his balance, flailed his arms frantically back and forth, then managed to catch hold of the cabinet door to keep from falling onto the tiled floor. Clutching his chest with one hand, Duo shot Quatre a particularly evil look from beneath his chestnut bangs.

"Jeezus, Quatre! Fire a gun next time and you'll kill me for sure!"

"I'm so sorry, Duo!" Quatre said, free of his paralysis and hurrying over stand next to the American. "I didn't know what would happen. Really, I'm very sorry!"

Duo waved off the apology, twisting himself easily so that he was now sitting on the counter instead of kneeling. "It's okay, Quatre. You just surprised me. I wasn't expecting anyone to be around this late."

"Oh, well I wasn't expecting anyone to be in the kitchen either."

Duo raised one eyebrow and kicked his sock-clad feet against the counter. "So what are ya doin' up so late anyway? I didn't figure you to be the night-owl type."

Quatre opened his mouth, but his stomach answered for him.

Loudly.

The Arabian boy could feel the warmth flooding his face as the American laughed.

"I guess that answers my question, ne, Quatre? I'm here for the same reason. There's just something about being able to eat in the middle of the night, when no one's around, that appeals to me."

Quatre looked up into Duo's violet eyes. "Oh... I'm sorry..." he stammered. "I'll just get something and go, if you want to be alone..."

Turning abruptly, Quatre was stopped when he felt a pull on the shoulder of his nightshirt. Quatre looked over his shoulder. What he saw was Duo's face, devoid of the merry expression that it previously had. Instead, there was a desperate, haunted sort of look that made Quatre's heart feel tight in his chest.

"No..." Duo said, tugging on Quatre's shirt just a bit. "Don't go." Then the desperate look disappeared and Duo dropped Quatre's sleeve. "Besides, you're already here. You can help me look for something good to eat that doesn't require cooking."

Quatre nodded and crossed over to the large walk-in cupboard as Duo scrambled up onto his knees again and yanked open another cabinet. There were a few minutes of silence as the two teenaged boys rustled through the cabinets, looking for food.

"Cereal?"

"Uh... what kind? Not that whole grain shit?"

"No... it's sugar... sugar... sugar something. I'm not awake and I can't read but the box has a lot of bright colors on it."

Duo laughed. "Sounds good to me. How about... eeeww... what the hell is this? Quatre, why do you have 'strained beets' in your cabinets? Forget that... I don't even wanna know. Ah! Graham crackers!"

The blonde wrinkled his nose at some far too healthy looking boxes of oat bran and yanked out a bag of chips from behind them. "I think the Magunacs are hiding all the good food," Quatre commented dryly. He fumbled past some cans of baked beans and managed to locate some dip and a bag of cookies. Carrying his armful out and placing it on the table, he looked up to where Duo was still pawing through the cabinets.

"So, Quatre... ever been kissed?"

The blonde was startled and banged his head against one of the shelves. With a muttered curse, he moved away from the cabinet and yanked open the refrigerator door instead. "What kind of question is that?"

Duo turned on the countertop and winked. "Aww, come on, man. It's pretty goddamn late. If I can't make stupid, inane conversation, what's the point? It's not supposed to be a stumper."

Quatre blushed slightly, ducking his head to peer into the bottom shelves of the refrigerator. "Aah... no. I was too busy with my tutors or with Father. I never really... you know. There weren't any... well... I wasn't..."

"No chicks caught your eye, huh?"

Quatre frowned at a box of baking soda. "Well, yes. What about you?"

Duo shrugged, tossing a bag of marshmallows onto the kitchen table. "I've kissed a couple of people in my time."

"You've kissed a girl?" Quatre asked, marine eyes blinking.

A bar of chocolate followed the marshmallows. "Among others."

"You've kissed *more* than girls?" Quatre asked, a jug of milk held loosely in his hands. He quickly put it on the table before he dropped it. "Like... like... like..."

"Boys? Yeah."

Quatre knew that he was blushing now, but struggled to be nonchalant about the whole affair. "You know, Duo... I think I really learned more than I wanted to know about you."

Duo stuck his tongue out at Quatre. "What's wrong? Jealous?"

"Of you? Hardly."

"You really don't know what you're missing, Quat."

"What? Kissing?"

"Yeah. It's pretty much the same with a guy as it is with a girl. It's after that the real differences happen."

Quatre blinked then turned to stare at Duo. "So you've...?"

Duo quirked an eyebrow. "I thought you didn't want to know?" At Quatre's embarassed stammer, Duo waved his hand. "No. I haven't been all the way. Going all the way with a girl means fathers with shotguns. 'Sides, I've been around G and the Sweepers too long. Not too much going on around there, if you know what I mean."

Quatre nodded and turned back to the cupboard. The conversation between the two boys lapsed again as they both searched out the best things to eat. The blonde threw a glance at where Duo was perched on the countertop and bit his lip. His heart still felt tight in his chest, and he wanted to know... but was it appropriate to ask? Well, didn't Duo say that now was the time to ask stupid questions?

"So what are you doing up so late?" he asked softly.

Duo paused in his search for a moment, then started again. "I was... just thinking too much, I guess. Couldn't sleep."

Quatre bit his lip and went back to the cupboard, poking around in a subdued manner. "Were you... were you thinking about...?" He couldn't even say the words.

"About the self-destruct? Yeah... yeah, I was."

Quatre looked down at the cold bottle of ketchup that he was clutching in his hands. The thick red paste just sat there in its glass prison, slowly oozing down the neck of the bottle. Thick red... red like... red like... Quatre shoved the ketchup back onto the shelf and grabbed a can of peaches instead.

"Do you think you ever could?" Duo asked.

Quatre's head snapped up and he looked towards Duo. The American was kneeling on the countertop still, his head bowed and his arms hanging limp at his sides. Though he had his back towards him, Quatre could still see the faint tremors that ran across Duo's shoulders and they way Duo's long chestnut braid twitched like a living thing with every movement.

"I... I don't know, Duo. If I had to, I think I would. If it was the only possible choice left. If I had a very good reason to."

"But not just because?"

"No. Not just because."

Marine eyes met violet across the space of the big kitchen. Slowly, Duo slid down off the counter, his socked feet not making a sound as he landed.

"I'm not so hungry any more," Duo said.

Quatre nodded.

They both left the kitchen.