Duo hummed tunelessly to himself as he padded down the corridor to the bathroom. It was late, and the moon was bright outside the window, sending long shadows around him. Ahead of him was Heero's room. A light shone from underneath the door. Duo frowned curiously- what was he doing at the hour? He stopped whistling as to not disturb Heero, and made a mental note to check it out after he had visited the bathroom.

~*~

Heero couldn't sleep. He had been squeezing his eyes shut all night, but they refused to remain closed, and his mind declined to settle. Eventually he gave in to his eyelids and got out of bed, intending to finish some mission reports. He breathed out deeply and sat on the side of his bed for a moment, stroking his arm comfortingly. His shoulders relaxed, and he stood up shakily.

Though as Heero switched on his computer, mission reports were set far back in his mind. He had something he wanted to do instead.

'Dear… Duo…'

~*~

Duo woke up to the sound of his Barney the Purple Dinosaur alarm clock chortling loudly in his ear. He groaned and slammed his fist down on it, burying himself further down in his covers. He could hear the chickens clucking outside and scraping around in the dirt- and the sound of somebody knocking agitatedly on his door.

'Hey, Duo! Get up you lazy son of a bitch!'

Duo raised his eyebrows and hopped out of bed, intending to find out who was being so offensive. The knocking continued more rapidly. He opened the door and found Wufei standing with a deeply furrowed brow.

'You're so crude.' Duo stated.

'Onna.' He muttered and skulked off.

Duo sighed and scratched his head, got his hand embedded in some deep knots, winced, and went to find a hairbrush.

Eventually, when he had braided his hair and got dressed in some casual clothes, he went downstairs for some breakfast. By now it was around eleven, and the rest of the boys were already starting the days activities. Trowa was washing up dishes in the kitchen.

'Hey Trowa,' Duo said and took a plate from the pile of freshly washed and dried. 'So, what you planning on doing in the next five days break?'

'Don't know. Probably catch up on some reports.'

Duo snorted. 'You sound just like Heero,' he looked at Trowa with mock alarm. 'It's scary.'

Just on cue, Heero entered the room. His eyes were dull and downcast. Suddenly Duo remembered; he had meant to check up on him last night. He must have forgotten in his half-awake state.

'Late night?' he asked. He wanted Heero to tell him, rather than make him ask.

'What? Oh, no.'

Duo felt a pang of annoyance in him at his lie, but didn't pursue it any further. It was probably nothing anyway. By now Trowa had left the room, and Heero was searching through the cupboards for something to eat.

'Sit down, I'll get you something.' Even if Heero wouldn't tell him with words, his numbed state told Duo that he used up a lot of energy last night.

Heero nodded and sat down at the table. Duo slid a box of cereal and milk onto the table and sat down next to him. They ate in relative silence. Heero lingered on every mouthful and watched as Duo shovelled the meal into his mouth. Duo burped and caught his gaze.

'… What?'

Heero shook his head wearily and looked down at his bowl.

Might as well take the bull by the horns, Duo thought, Can't think of anything else to talk about anyway.

'What were you doing last night?' He said.

'I told you, nothing.'

'I saw a light on in your room, around two.'

Heero was silent. He stood up and put his bowl in the sink. When he turned around, he avoided Duo's stare and shrugged.

'I can't remember. I must've heard a noise, or something.'

'…. Ok then.' He knew that was a reasonable enough explanation, but something nagged at Duo in the back of his mind. He dismissed it and cleared the table.

~*~

Heero looked at the clock on his wall, watching as the shadow of the second hand ticked around the face. One thirty. An owl hooted outside the window and the trees whispered as the faint wind laced through their branches. He rolled his shoulders and continued typing. An hour passed before he finally got up and had a walk around his room. His throat was dry, so he went silently downstairs into the kitchen for a drink. A light was already on, and he could hear the kettle hiss as it came to boiling point. Heero hesitated outside the door, then went inside. Duo looked up from the table and smiled. He was clasping a cup of something hot, his chin positioned above the steam rising from its surface.

'Hi,' He said softly. 'Couldn't sleep?'

'No.' Heero said and poured himself a cup of coffee. He leaned against the work surface and sipped it cautiously.

'Sit down.' Duo said. Heero went and slowly levered himself down opposite him.

'So, uh, why are you up?' he ran his finger around the rim of his cup and looked at Duo. His bangs were shooting out in every direction, and his braid managed to keep only a few strands of hair in place. It occurred to him that he had never seen Duo in this state-messy, childlike. He kind of liked seeing him like this as well, knowing that Duo was comfortable enough to let him.

'Couldn't sleep.'

They both smirked uncertainly as they watched the trickle of conversation sink into the sand. Duo bowed his head and closed his eyes. Heero could tell because his long dark eyelashes sank slowly and didn't rise again. He realised that he was staring and looked down quickly at his cup. The heavy silence sucked all the air out of the room, until Heero felt like he was almost suffocating in it. He drained his cup and stood up. Duo looked at him expectantly as he moved then quickly looked back down. Heero paused and looked at his bare back, tracing the lines up to the nape of his neck with his eyes.

'You need to brush your hair.' He said. Duo brought up a hand and lost it in his matted hair.

'Yeah, I guess so.'

'I'll do it.' Heero's heart beat stalled. That was never meant to come out…'I- if that would help.' He added quickly in an attempt to save some face.

What Heero couldn't see, was Duo's eyes bug and his pupils widen, and what he couldn't feel, was how his breath stopped sharply and his heart skip a beat.