{Title}: Sweet Enigma

{Author}: Sweet Charisma

{Chapter}: 4. Give Me a Reason.

{Notes}: Ashen Skies: Whoops. X3 Sorry. I don't realize sometimes that I keep shifting back and forth from Role-Play modes. My tenses keep getting mixed up.

Jania: Basically, Quatre was just really tired as he said that. =D He really meant it, of course. He was just sleepy. Trowa just wanted to get him into his comfy bed as soon as possible.

Thanks again for the reviews. The more, the quicker the chapters go up.

Regents are nearly finished. I'll finally have more time for this. =)

Warning: Duo's inner-conflict arises in this chapter. He reflects on exactly how out of character he seems to himself. I was really into writing this chapter. X3 I was just so emotionally drawn into it.

Have as much fun reading as I did writing

---and remember. Flames aren't nice.

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Duo awoke with the immaculate sun's rays shining upon his face through slits of the blinds in his window. He gripped the blue satin sheets of his bed and stretched his muscles before opening his eyes. Fluttering them open slowly, he yawned and threw the covers sleepily off his drowsy body.

He lay there for a minute trying to recall what happened, why he was there, and what the hell time or day it was. His eyes shifted to the clock on his wall. It was only about 9:30 a.m. The last he remembered was looking down on the sleeping form of Quatre while watching Queen of the Damned. He must have fallen asleep too. Had Quatre awoken and carried him into his bed? It couldn't be. Quatre was one tough cookie but Duo was just a little too heavy for the small blond's weight to carry.

'…well there's a first time for everything.' He thought. He didn't know. Duo was just too tired to think about such complexity at the moment.

Yawning, Duo propped himself out of the bed reluctantly. If he wasn't so worried about making an impression on Heero he'd have stayed in bed for hours on end. The stoic piolet just wasn't one for laziness.

'Besides,' He thought, 'I'm too hungry to sleep.'

He thought for a couple of more minutes. Did he really want to face Heero after not receiving a single glance last night? Would it just be shameful? Humiliating? This was nothing new, but it sure did hurt.

On the other hand, Quatre was always up by now. He always had breakfast set out on the table and many comforting things to say . Not to mention the ways to break tension between himself and Heero.

Duo reflected on this for a while and, after a few thoughts of Quatre and his fabulous breakfast pastries, the chestnut haired boy was motivated. There was no way he was going to let a guy come in between him and his best friend. ---and his best friend's cooking.

The chestnut haired boy walked out of his room, stomach growling and aching from hunger. He'd had popcorn and fudge last night, that was about it. But, as he walked into the vast hallway of Quatre's mansion, he didn't smell the usual breakfast. No usual clatter of dishes. No chit chat of Quatre, Trowa, and Wufei while Heero grunted and nodded at everything.

Instead, nothing. Duo frowned. If Quatre wasn't up yet, was something wrong? That was a little out of the ordinary.

As he turned the corridor of the kitchen and the hallway, (his room was always fairly close to the kitchen.) he saw Wufei sitting on the counter, fully clothed already. Duo's heart skipped the beat when he saw Heero sitting at the head of the table with a cup of coffee in his hands. A newspaper lay in front of him as his eyes skimmed it, rugged-looking brown hair draped into his eyes. He wore a pair of jeans, his chest bare. Striking. He was truly beautiful on the outside. Why wouldn't Heero let him see the person on the inside?

'Great.' He thought sarcastically. 'Just the two I needed.'

Duo extracted a breath as he drew near the table. Wufei looked up from whatever he was thinking about.

"Good morning, 'fei." Duo greeted, voice monotone with simplicity.

Wufei cocked a brow as if he weren't used to the tranquility of his ally. "Eh. Good morning, Maxwell."

Heero looked up from the paper. "Hm," was all that came from his mouth. The most complex greeting he would give.

Duo's heart lurched. He wasn't in the mood for this behavior today. He wanted to work on getting Heero to open up. He wanted it so badly. But he couldn't deal with it.

"Qu-atre…" He choked out, voice hoarse from holding back tears. His teeth in a tight clench as he spoke. He turned to Wufei, finding he was looking in his direction. Surprisingly, he was concerned.

The American boy saw Heero look up from the corner of his eye, an unaffected look in the deep Prussian of his eyes. Duo swallowed hard. He couldn't look at Heero. He couldn't.

"Damn it, 'fei!" Duo cried, holding back tears. He wanted to get out of there. He wanted to talk to Quatre. "Where is Quatre?"

Wufei looked slightly startled, but more offended. He looked like he was holding back an urge to dispute. "Calm down, Maxwell." he retorted with a slightly snobbish detest on his face. "Him and Barton are just still sleeping."

Duo paused. Tilting his head slightly, he looked off course. His features molded into a damaged look. "W-hat? Both of them?"

Wufei nodded. "Yes…the both of them. In Winner's room I suppose. Barton's is empty."

Duo felt his heart constrict with a tinge of jealousy. He wanted what Quatre and Trowa had together with Heero. Even before last night when Quatre revealed his feelings of Trowa to Duo, it was evident. Evident in the way they looked at each other. Smiled at each other, laughed with each other. Even the way Quatre opened Trowa's heart. A fragile boy through whose soul you could see had been through so much when they first met was now able to feel so much more than pain and insignificance .

Oh, God. He should be happy for Quatre. He should have been spending his time right then to rejoice on Quatre's mutual love. But, how could he when he felt so alone? When all he wanted was the comfort of a friend? He couldn't disturb them.

Wufei looked about to say something. His lips parted, words ready to flow from them. Duo didn't know what but he didn't care to stick around and find out. He turned around and made his way quickly back to his room. His pace sped until it was a jog.

When he closed himself in his room Duo looked ahead of him to his private bathroom. The tears welled in his eyes but his pride wouldn't allow them to flow.

Duo made his way to the mirror of the bathroom. He studied himself. There were bags under his eyes for hell knew what reason. Probably from stress. He tugged his long, messy hair out of it's braid and pursed his lips. His shoulders surrounded now with thick, brown, and wavy locks of hair.

'Maybe I should stop making it seem I think I'm a god.' He thought to himself with a pensive frown. What he once thought were antics that would do none other than lighten the mood could be what was chasing Heero away.

"What do you wish of me, Heero? What!?" He wanted to scream. He wanted to be everything Heero wanted. He wanted to collapse and cry for hours. But, the Shinigami didn't cry. He knew no pain. Just the happiness in which it took somebody like Quatre to see right through. Duo just never stressed so much over love. It was a just a stupid, ludicrous, and daft little emotion that caused him nothing but hurt. It never hurt him. Never. Why should it start now? Why should some stoic, emotionless, thick-headed Gundam pilot ruin his outlook on himself? Why should he feel so obligated to change his personality because it doesn't draw Heero's attention?

Why? Why did he love this boy so much? Duo shut his eyes tightly. It was so much deeper than he liked. He loved Heero's soul. The hidden soul he wanted to see. He wanted to embrace Heero and whisper to him that everything didn't have to be so serious and distant.

Duo surrendered to his feelings when he saw a tear drip down his cheek through the mirror. So early in the morning yet it was such a hard day already. He took a tissue from the box on the sink and wiped his face. He bit his lip as his gaze drew to the bathtub.

"You deserve it, Duo." He nearly heard Quatre whisper. In the back of his mind he saw his best friend lecturing him to relax. Quatre didn't mean to be absent at the moment. He'd be right by Duo's side if he knew Duo was feeling this way.

Duo sighed. How could he have not been happy for the blonde in the first place? A smile crept across Duo's fatigued face, finally. He would talk to Quatre when he woke up, but for now a bath was in order. Duo walked over and took a seat at the edge of the tub and turned on the water. He checked the faucet's warmth and gave a satisfactory nod to himself. It was time to relax. Then maybe he'd ask Quatre out to breakfast to chat about everything. He'll be damned if Quatre didn't tell him every single detail about Trowa.