It was just a matter of finding that one proper edge to wedge his fingers under and start prying.
As Duo was contemplating the best angle at which to tackle the problem, the lanky form of Trowa appeared in the doorway, with his usual wraithlike silence.
He leaned against the frame with his arms crossed, watching the pair before him with his tell-nothing gaze, and thought once again as he had several times this week, how impossible it was to catch Quatre alone now. At first, after Heero's death, it had been difficult to pull the blonde from his room. It had become a trying game to see if one could make the little Arabian speak with them, open up, or get even a flicker of the happiness that used to exist naturally in his aqua eyes. Now, at least he wasn't isolated.
He's just a little bit smothered.
Not that he could really blame Duo for his clinginess. One would have had to have been blind not to notice the way the braided baka had eyed Quatre, from the time even before Heero and the blonde had made their unlikely union. Duo was always a shade in the background, peering in Quatre's direction with mournful, wanting eyes. Now he had his chance, and in a way, Trowa thought it was only to be expected that he used it to the very best he could.
… But sometimes it tried his patience. Like right this second.
He wouldn't deny Duo his closeness, but his little friend was also one of those beautiful beings that couldn't survive in a cage. Sometimes, when he came upon scenes like this, with Duo perched at the table and watching Quatre with a vulture's intensity, he wondered if Quatre knew that's what it looked like.
Most likely not, or he was sure he'd start seeing the boy start trying to gently separate himself. The question Trowa most often wondered, was how Duo would react to that?
If he'd been asked a year ago if the braided boy was one of those people that needed someone, needed to be seen and always in the front of someone's mind in order to really feel alive and worth something, he would have said no. He wasn't so sure of that any more.
Finally the brunette walked into the room, with a step that was heavier than normal, to alert the pair and not startle them. Within seconds both had glanced his way, Quatre with a soft smile of welcome, and Duo with… Well, a grin.
But was the scowl before that aimed at me?
Paranoid. You're getting paranoid.
Trowa moved over to one of the chairs to the side of Duo, nodding his greeting and getting a cheeky little salute in return, and dropped his long body into it in a draping sprawl.
"Morning, Trowa. Are you hungry? I'm making more than enough for all of us."
His lips quirked up in what the others accepted to be his own version smile. Of course he did. Enough to feed the neighbors too most likely, if they decide they want pancakes. "A little. Thank you."
"Not at all." He sounded happy with the answer, or just happy to put any of his skills to use. All of them probably had moments like that, since their 'main' talent had fallen into a state of unwelcome at the end of the last battle. It was likely the same inward swell of joy Trowa got when he found something to do with the body he'd spent years training, and perhaps what Duo felt when his sneaky talents were needed.
"Quatre? I've got something to tell you."
Duo looked over first, his expression oddly one of suspicion before it melted into mere curiosity, and if Trowa hadn't been watching out of the corner of one green eye, he doubt he ever would have suspected that one-second-to-the-next change.
He might have called Duo on it, tired of the foul cast-off glances he got daily now, as if he was suddenly going to snag his blonde friend and run, except for the fact that Quatre was turning and gazing at him expectantly. For a bit, he was still tempted, just to see if it would put an end to it, but something in the blonde's faintly pained eyes made him decide that now wasn't the time to start picking at minor things.
"Wufei called earlier. He's still in the city."
"'Course he is," Duo huffed, but looked mildly amused, "He lives for his job. I'm surprised he doesn't just move into his office already!"
"Actually… That's what the call was about."
Duo raised an eyebrow, teasing set aside, and Quatre just looked at Trowa with wounded eyes that were likely already guessing at what that meant.
"He wants to get an apartment closer to the company. The transit is bothering him, and he's been thinking about it for some time. He's looking around this weekend, and was hoping to get a hold of you later and see if you'd be willing to help, Quatre."
Of course Quatre had known their little misfit family was temporary, but after losing his own due to his choices in the war and because of his mistakes, it still caught him off guard and left one hand creeping along the cool tile counter to get a grip as the world tilted it's perspective yet again. "Oh… Oh, yeah, I guess that's fine. Good planning, really. If he calls again, just let me know, okay?"
Trowa watched him turn back to his cooking, watched the thin shoulders tense, then slump in resignation he doubted Quatre even knew he felt or showed… Then looked to the side, and saw the resentful light in Duo's eyes. Apparently it was his fault that he'd had to tell Quatre, and that the little blonde was taking it badly.
He could have said something then, have slung an accusatory glare right back Duo's way before finally dragging the American out of the house and trying to figure out just what in the hell was going on, but… He just couldn't make himself. Not yet. Quatre's unhappiness was always a contagious thing with them, like his smiles, and it weighed heavy on the Latin pilot's shoulders and he turned and slipped from the kitchen as silently as he'd come.
Duo watched him go, and was glad.
Fucking doomsayer. World's just full of miserable creeps who are eager to share these days, isn't it? And now just look at Quatre… Violet orbs shifted to the curved back, to the pale side profile of the youth's face, and then down to the unsteady bow of his mouth. He coulda handled that better. Hell, Wufei should have come back and told him himself, or better yet, shoulda considered just getting a better, closer job. But nooooo, not Wufei, heaven forbid the prick think of someone other than himself, right?
Now he's still upset, with me and with this, and it's going to take forever to shake him out of this funk and get him to smile for me again. My precious smiles.
Unless, of course… He smiled, mind ticking quickly away in the palpable quiet.
Getting up, Duo moved across the linoleum floor and a second later, wound his arms around Quatre's slim waist. He rested his chin on one shoulder after darting in and gently kissing the valley of the blonde's throat. "Hey. It'll be okay. Wufei can take care of himself, and you know things have been tense lately when he's been home anyway. He just…"
He shrugged, letting his boyfriend feel the motion against his back, and suppressing the grin that wanted to come when Quatre sank back against him. "He needs to stretch his wings, you know that, Quat. He's still your friend, and still needs you, he just needs to know he can do it too. It's part of that healing process you're always talking about, isn't it?"
Reluctantly, the Arabian nodded. "I guess."
"No guessing. It is." One long finger crept up, tapping Quatre's nose and making him huff and wiggle to dislodge it. "You know he'll likely be around even more if he gets his own place too? He'll get lonely and want to hang out, and then we'll be happy to see each other, so there won't be half as much fighting as there is now when he comes back."
"Probably." Grudgingly that was given, but Duo had learn to pick up on Quatre's signals, and the blonde was listening closely now, and caving.
"It'll be better in the long run, and make us all closer." And then, the careful step to what Duo was really wanting. "Maybe you and I should even start thinking about getting our own place. You know, together?"
Quatre turned in his arms like a top, large eyes meeting Duo's in surprise and searching demandingly there. "What?"
He expected such a reaction, and Duo managed to fix the proper look of sheepish shyness on his face, shrugging almost casually as though he was now uncertain… Which, of course, he wasn't. He knew exactly what he wanted, but he also knew people dealt to things when confronted with the things they'd come to expect. "Well… You know." He leaned in, nuzzling his nose to the roundness of one cheek. "It's be kind of nice. A little place that was just ours. Somewhere where you can have full decorating rights and not have to worry about rumbling someone's feathers. Maybe even start that garden you keep talking about… And get a cat? And somewhere I can put up all my posters finally without having to worry about Wufei ripping em down in a fit of rage? And maybe even with a garage so I can consider getting that bike I wanted without worrying about it being stolen? A little place. A you and me spot."
The Arabian stared for a long second, until Duo felt like he'd start squirming under that watchfulness, then an uncertain smile started to creep on his mouth. "Isn't that kind of a big step?"
"Quatre," He gave the boy an honest smile, briefly touching his lips to the corner of that pert mouth, "Aren't we kind of a big thing? I mean… I want to be with you. I have for a while now. And now that I am… I don't have any doubts about where I want this to go."
Duo turned his expression into a puppy-dog look. "Why? Do you?"
When Quatre's eyes widened in surprise and hints of guilt, he knew the battle was mostly over. God forbid his little blonde make anyone feel bad, and he knew it. It got easier and easier to wrangle the other male into whatever was needed. Rather than making him bored, Duo was amazed that each time he felt his love deepen a bit more. It was just another piece of Quatre that he now, gloriously, owned.
"No, of course not! I know I love you, Duo. I love all of you guys. I just don't want to regret this later, so I thought…"
"-You'd give me a chance to back out of it, right?" He smirked when the blonde slowly nodded. "Well, I don't need one, kitten. I just need you. I want us to get our own place."
Before acceptance and joy could even fully blossom on Quatre's pretty face, Duo was facing one of the blonde's many unfounded (in his opinion) worries. "What about Trowa though? He lives here too… And what if he's not ready to get a place all on his own? If he doesn't have the money, or wants to stay here, or with us? Duo, we can't possibly-"
"Quatre," He hushed the boy with another swift kiss. "Let me worry about that, okay? This was just a suggestion for you to think about, not a plan set in stone. I'll mention it to Trowa, and see what he thinks, then we'll talk again, all right? If he's not into it, well… Forget it. We'll work something out later."
Reassured that he wasn't immediately going to be putting his friend out of a home, Quatre gave him a nod. The matter was more or less resolved between them then, as was the fight from earlier forgotten. Duo lingered where he was, wrapped around the beautiful blonde and drinking in that unique scent and warmth to his heart's content, fully confident in the knowledge that within a month, he would have Quatre all to himself in their own place. He'd make sure of it.
It had been too easy to see that Quatre would be the type to crave that kind of closeness in a relationship, that kind of commitment, and after thinking on it for a few weeks, Duo had seen the perks himself. No more competing with the others for attention, no more limits on his personal items and style, no totally strict rules between them. Perhaps best of all, no more middle-of-the-night worries about if one of his other teammates might not have it in them to scoop the blonde out of his hands when he was -so- close to finally having and keeping him.
It had been Heero's mistake, that lack of some sign of devotion, and he'd watched the dense brunette make it time and time again. Watched Quatre's tears flickering into being, and then be blinked away. Seen Heero be forgiven, but never forgotten for those little things. He'd also watched how a single show of it, a card on his birthday, a flash of protectiveness, could make the blonde turn into putty in his hands. Heero hadn't known how to work that, how to twist it and keep his lover satisfied and by his side smiling.
But Duo did.
It would just be Quatre and him then, and who knew what knew closeness could grow between them without any interruptions?