Duo buried his face in the pillow, tears streaking his cheeks. Another offhand comment from Heero, an annoyed glare from Trowa. Quatre and Wufei were away on separate missions, so the blonde pilot wasn't there to provide his sympathetic smiles. Thankfully, Wufei wasn't there either; Duo didn't think he would be able to handle another disdainful comment about his braid and how ridiculous it looked. Things had never been this bad before, but now that missions were slow and all the Gundam pilots were contained in one safe house, Duo felt that he was getting on everyone's nerves. Never one to enjoy silence, he needed the constant chatter to remind himself that he wasn't alone. That was another thing he definitely did not enjoy.....being alone. How he wished that he had friends! Sure, he had the other pilots, but they were simply....business partners, in one sense of the phrase. Quatre was the only one that could possibly be considered more than an acquaintance and even he had snapped at the braided boy before he left on his mission.
But now he lay awake, 3:30 in the morning, waiting for tomorrow so he could put on another fake smile and be everyone's favorite braided baka. Another term he hated. Maybe if it was said affectionately, then Duo wouldn't have minded. But it never was.
The roar of a Gundam startled him out of his reverie. Either Quatre or Wufei were home from their mission. Maybe it was Quatre and he could talk to him....Duo thought and a quick decision had him out of bed and headed towards the kitchen.
Damn! It was Wufei. Duo turned, hoping the Chinese boy hadn't seen him.
"Hello Maxwell. What are you doing up so late?"
"Couldn't sleep." Duo swallowed hard, turning to face Wufei.
"You all right?" Wufei furrowed his brow. A mission gone well had put him in a good mood and he wasn't beyond showing concern for the other pilot.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Duo found tears welling in his eyes at the simple question. He had never really heard a question of concern from anyone other than Quatre and to hear it from Wufei, found him reduced to tears.
"You sure?" Wufei was almost positive now that something was wrong. "You want me to make you some tea or something?"
"No, that's all right. I'll let you get to bed. You've gotta be tired after doing your mission and all."
"Maxwell! Slow down. I was going to make some for myself anyway. Would you like some?" Duo nodded, sitting at the table. He watched as Wufei silently boiled the water and then poured it over two teabags. "Here." Wufei smiled, handing the cup as well as the bowl of sugar to Duo.
"Thanks, Fei." Duo said softly, accepting the two objects. He quickly added six teaspoons of sugar and tasted the sweet mixture.
"No wonder you can't sleep." Wufei laughed, "If I had that much sugar in my system, I wouldn't be sleeping either."
"That's not why I couldn't sleep." Duo traced his fingers along the rim of the mug.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Wufei asked, sipping his own drink. Duo shook his head no, then yes and finally shrugged his shoulders, feeling tears burning in his eyes. "I don't know." He said, "You'll think I'm stupid. Braided baka, remember?" Duo tried to laugh, but Wufei could see the pain in his eyes. He downed the rest of his drink and stood. "Thanks for the tea." Duo started to leave the room, but Wufei called him back.
"Duo." The braided boy stopped, not turning. "I don't think you're stupid Duo. You can talk to me." Duo felt the tears leave his eyes and drip down his cheeks. He sniffed, giving his anguish away. "Duo, what's wrong?" Wufei stood and walked over to the other pilot, genuine worry in his voice. "Why are you crying?"
"Why do you all hate me?" Duo cried out, his voice echoing throughout the kitchen.
"Sshh..Duo, keep your voice down." Wufei cautioned, not wanting the other pilots to wake up. Heero, however, appeared in the kitchen a second later.
"What's going on?"
"Nothing." Duo turned his face away, trying to hide the tears streaking his face.
"Are you crying again, Duo?" Heero sighed, a disgusted look on his face. "Grow up1" Duo looked up in shock and a cry escaped his throat, as he fled to the sanctity of his bedroom.
"Heero!" Wufei was appalled that Heero could be that uncaring, but Heero just shrugged. Wufei stalked out of the room, heading in the direction of Duo's bedroom. He knocked softly, "Duo, it's Wufei. Can I come in?" There was no answer, but for the muffled sound of someone crying. "Please Duo, let me come in." Still no answer, and Wufei slowly opened the door. Duo sat on the other side of the bed, staring out the window. His braid hung down his back, the moonlight reflecting off his form. Silently, Wufei moved across the room and climbed onto the bed behind the boy. For the moment, Wufei ignored the fact that Duo was crying and with gentle fingers, he undid the band at the bottom of Duo's braid and began to undo the strands from the tight formation that they were contained in. Duo let out a gasp of surprise at Wufei's touch on his hair, but soon relaxed as the Chinese boy ran his fingers through Duo's hair. He smoothed out all snarls and tangles with minimal pain and soon was simply running his hands through smooth brown silk. "Why were you crying Duo?" Wufei asked, as his soothing ministrations had dried Duo's tears.
"It's stupid." Duo shrugged. Wufei rebraided the boy's hair and said sternly,
"Anything that makes you cry is not stupid. Please tell me what's wrong and why you were crying? You said something about all of us hating you....is that what you think?" Duo could only nod. "Oh Duo, no." Wufei felt his heart clench at the thought of Duo feeling that pain for nothing.
"Then why does everyone always tell me that I'm stupid? Braided baka, remember?" Duo echoed his earlier line.
"Duo, we don't mean it like that...." Wufei was at a loss for words. Duo was right, they were all guilty of cutting remarks.
"It hurts, Fei! I hate being alone and even though I live here with four other people, I always feel like I am!" Duo cried out, twisting around to face the other boy.
"I'm sorry, Duo." Wufei gathered the boy into his arms and leaned against the headrest of the bed. Duo stiffened, not entirely sure what Wufei was doing. But as Wufei began to stroke his braid, Duo relaxed against the other boy, not flinching as Wufei wiped away the remnants of tears. "I really am sorry Duo. I guess we don't realize how much our teasing hurts you. But I really don't think you're stupid or anything else that I have called you."
"Thanks Fei." Duo whispered, the empty feeling in his heart throbbing a little less. "Fei?"
"Uh-hum?"
"Can you stay in here tonight?" Duo asked, yawning.
"Sure." Wufei slid himself down under the covers, but continued to hold Duo against him. On instinct, he leaned over and placed a light kiss on the other boy's lips, smiling as Duo returned the kiss.
"Are we friends, Fei?" Duo asked, sleep very nearly overtaking him.
"Of course we are Duo. Of course we are." Wufei smiled as Duo drifted off into sleep, a smile of his own on his face. "Sweet dreams baka." Wufei kissed the boy's forehead and floated off into dreams of his own.
So what do you think?