This chapter's been dedicated to Starlightgirl who without the emotional boost from the review I would still be too depressed to write anymore.
@----|--
Duo awoke slowly the next morning, this being the first time he had slept in a bed as comfortable as this. A lazy smile crept across his face as he yawned and stretched, but found his arms restricted. Looking down he saw Quatre with a large smile on his face, arms wrapped round his waist tightly and head resting gently on his chest above his heart. The sight warmed Duo and he hated to disturb it but living on the streets made him an early riser, and it was hard habit to break. He steadily extricated himself from the tangle of limbs and laid Quatre's head softly on the pillows. He then crept out of the bed with the stealth he had acquired from the streets and exited the bedroom. He made his way to the living area that Trowa had showed them last night, expecting to be the first one up. So it came as a surprise to him to find Trowa sitting in a chair reading, already dressed. But it was no problem; in fact it was the perfect time to ask him about yesterday.
"Hey Trowa. Good morning! Did ya sleep alright last night?"
"Morning Duo. I slept fine. How about you? Did you sleep okay?"
"Okay?! I slept more than okay! The bed was great! Thank you so much for letting us sleep here."
"You're welcome, Duo." There was silence while Duo worked up the nerve to ask such a personal question. Trowa sensed the tense atmosphere so he waited for Duo to make the first move.
"Umm…Trowa? Do you mind if I ask you a question?"
"Okay. But I'm not sure I'll be able to answer it."
"Okay…Last night-" But he never finished the question because at that moment Quatre came into the living room.
"Morning Trowa! Morning Duo!" Why he was chirpy at this time in the morning, the world may never know.
"Cat? What are you doing up this early?"
"Heh! I could ask you the same thing!" Quatre laughed, "My source of warmth disappeared from the bed so I decided to get up, seeing as how I wasn't going to get back to sleep!" Quatre sat himself down next to Trowa, seeming to have gotten over his tongue-tied ness. Duo, seeing as he could never ask the question now, sat down on the floor by the fireplace. He gave Trowa a I'll-speak-to-you-about-this-later look before turning to Quatre, who was about to speak again.
"So what are you doing up this early?" Disbelief was clearly visible on his pale features.
"I usually get up this early, Cat. It's a habit I've gotten used to having grown up on the streets"
"And I have to go and feed the animals soon." Quatre turned to Trowa with barely contained excitement.
"Can we help you to feed the animals?" It was now Duo's turn to look disbelievingly at Quatre.
"What do you mean by 'we'?! If you're talking about those lions you were playing with yesterday then you have got to be kiddin' me! I quite like my head where it is, thank you very much!" Quatre burst out laughing. He was laughing so hard that he fell off his chair onto the floor. But that didn't stop him. He just laughed harder.
"Calm down, Duo. Don't worry. They're-"
"Calm down?! Don't worry?!" The pitch of Duo's voice was rising in hysteria and Quatre was still on the floor laughing. Tears were streaming down his face from his laughter. "They're bloody lions! Why the hell should I calm down? They're gonna eat me for-"
"Duo!" The fact that Trowa had shouted instead of using his usual softly spoken voice got through to Duo. Ever since he had met Trowa he had never heard Trowa raise his voice louder than necessary. "They're practically harmless. If you don't antagonise them then they have no reason to hurt you." He then turned to Quatre "We'll leave after my sister has made breakfast." Duo had finally recovered from his bout of hysteria.
"What? We're not gonna eat breakfast too?" This sent Quatre into another bout of uncontrollable laughter. He was still on the floor. Trowa quirked the corners of his lips in a small smile and Duo grinned.
"Trowa! Breakfast is ready!" Before the voice had even uttered the 'fast' part of 'breakfast' Duo was up like a shot and ran towards where he thought the kitchen was. Trowa walked calmly towards where the kitchen really was.
"5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1…"
"Trowa! Help! I'm lost! Quick! Before I miss breakfast!" Quatre collapsed into laughter again. He was red in the face and more tears were running down his cheeks. He had never laughed this much in his life!
"Duo, tell me what room you're in."
"Well I don't know." Came the indignant reply. Trowa rolled his eyes before answering.
"Describe it to me then." There was silence. Then…
"Okay! There's some corsets, a few skirts, one dress, some…knives? Okay…" There was a lot of mumbling after that then suddenly…
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh!" Quatre was doubled over trying not to fall over from the terrified scream that Duo let out and Trowa…Well Trowa couldn't take it anymore. So he burst out laughing. Catherine – Trowa's sister – poked her head round the doorway of the kitchen. In all the time she'd known Trowa, she'd never heard him laugh so hard. She smiled. 'It's about time too!' she thought.
Trowa came back, dragging Duo by the scruff of his shirt. Duo, on his part, looked a little pale. Quatre calmed down his laughter enough to ask,
"Duo, what's wrong?" Duo shook his head, refusing to answer. Trowa rolled his eyes again and answered for him.
"Duo stumbled into my sisters room and happened to come across her underwear." He explained before calling out, "Cathy! I thought I told you clean up your room."
"I don't need to!" She shouted back, aggravated, "Because, no one should be in my room except me!" Trowa got the no-so-subtle hint. Duo, still a bit shaken, staggered over to the chair and collapsed into it.
There was silence.
Then…
"Hahahaha!" That came from Quatre. Trowa just stood there snickering and Catherine sighed angrily before returning to the kitchen.
"Yeah. Laugh it up Quatre. I'll remember this." Duo muttered under his breath. Catherine's angry voice floated out of the kitchen yet again.
"If you don't get your butts into the kitchen NOW, there will be now breakfast for any of you. And that includes you as well, Trowa Barton!" Duo, having returned to normal – well, what he believes is normal and no one has had the heart to correct him yet - jumped up and ran to where he knew the kitchen, because he saw Catherine go in it. Quatre was having a hard time regaining his breath from all that laughter, made his way slowly while calling out,
"Duo Maxwell! There better be some food left in the kitchen for me or you'll be sorry!" Trowa, shaking his head from the madness displayed this morning, strolled into the kitchen as well.
*****
"Oh no! You are not getting me anywhere those lions. I know you said that they're safe Tro, but I'm not taking any chances." He was backing away slowly from the cages and waving his hand out in front of him to ward them off. Quatre rolled his eyes in exasperation before reaching out, trying to grab onto Duo but Duo danced out of his reach with such agility that it made Quatre stumble a bit. Quatre stood there, trying to think of a way of getting Duo over here. He gnawed his lip in concentration before he had an idea. It was like a light bulb going off in his brain, which is impossible since light bulbs weren't invented then.
"Hey, don't tell me that you afraid of them, Duo. That the Duo Maxwell is scared of a lion when little ol' me isn't. Don't tell me Duo, that you're a coward." Duo's eyes widened before they narrowed dangerously, a smirk on his lips. He strode forward in sure confident steps while rolling up his sleeves.
*****
They returned home long after the Sun had set, muddy but laughing joyfully about what had happened that day. They managed to get Duo to put his head in the lion's mouth but he hastily removed it when Quatre yelled out 'Bite him!' causing Trowa to burst out laughing, and Duo went red from anger. Then he growled before lunging at Quatre. Quatre - who was prepared for any sort of hostility from Duo - was able to dodge and ran away as fast as he could because Duo was hot on his heels. He ran around the campsite before taking refuge behind Trowa. Duo then just stormed off. When he returned he was running with a piece of bread in his hand, Catherine just behind him, yelling obscenities, waving back and forth a steel ladle. It was then that Duo hid behind Trowa fearing the wrath of a woman scorned. Trowa had to do some smooth talking to get Duo out of that.
Quatre had never had this much fun in the castle. He was hardly ever allowed outside the castle walls and there was nothing to do inside. When he was doing something, it was preparing to be the next king of Arnlea. Sure he had fun with his sisters and talked to his mother, but the only other male in the castle was his father. He and his father never saw eye to eye. When his father found out that his only male heir didn't like women, they just seemed to drift farther and farther apart until they were strangers living together. The knowledge of this hurt Quatre more than any of the arguments that he and his father have ever had, but it too late to try and reconcile their relationship.
Ever since Solo had been killed, Duo had been drifting. He had nothing to do, nowhere to go. Solo had been his only family and when he died, a part of Duo died with him. He never shed any tears because Solo had told him the boys don't cry. But each and every day his heart and his soul cried and screamed out in anguish and each and every day he buried the pain deeper thinking that if it was buried deep enough then maybe it would just…vanish. He wouldn't, couldn't let the pain out because back then there were people depending on him. And now, he didn't know how to let the pain out; he'd worn the mask for so long he didn't know who he was and who was the lie. He felt he would be dishonouring Solo's memory by moping around for the rest of his life, so he sucked it up and carried on. He had an ache deep inside of him that only Solo could fill but now that he'd met Quatre and now Trowa, he felt that maybe they'd be able to ease that ache. That maybe they could help him to let the pain out so he could finally put Solo spirit to rest. And maybe, just maybe fill Solo's position as his best friend. Not to replace Solo, because no one could do that, but fill in the position. So Duo didn't feel so alone anymore. Not so empty.
------------------------------------------
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what I call a filler chapter. I thoroughly enjoyed writing this chapter and I hope you enjoyed reading it.
That part at the end is my first time trying to do angst. So tell what you think of it. Fantastic? Okay? So bad that you'll never read anything by me again? No? Then click on that button and tell me!
Starlightgirl: Thank you SO much for your review! I was getting kinda depressed but you review made me feel so much better. That's why this chapter's been dedicated to you! I hope you enjoyed!
Until next time minna! ^_^
