I will simply state this is the second chapter. Oh, and review!
"Bed...?" Quatre blinked in confusion after Duo. Duo never got tired until midnight at least, even if he had been up since the early, early morning.He could last a week before sleeping out of exhaustion. He knew, since they had once had a contest. And Duo would never, EVER give up the chance to tease Wufei about losing the card games.
Quatre turned to Heero. "Did everything go okay in the mission, Heero?" he asked, since Duo had kind of avoided the direct question.
"Everything went as planned perfectly," he replied. "Why do you ask?"
"Duo seems a little off...," he murmured, then shrugged it off and went into the livingroom, Heero following.
"You have to come to be-e-ed!" Quatre whined, pulling at Wufei's arm playfully. "I'm cold. You have to warm my toes!" Wufei rolled his eyes and set down a card, a smile playing with his lips even so.
"Hello, koi," Heero whispered into Trowa's hair, placing a kiss on his ear. Trowa reached a hand up and then followed it with his body, and they joined in a deep, warm kiss. "You ready for bed?"
"Now I am," Trowa replied, and they left together.
"Wu-fei!" Quatre continued whining, and Wufei sighed. He suddenly whipped his arm forward, dragging Quatre straight onto his lap, then proceeded to pepper his nose with kisses.
"Shall." Kiss. "We." Kiss. "Warm." Kiss. "Your." Kiss. "Toes." Kiss. "Now?" Kiss, kiss, kiss. Quatre stopped his giggles long enough to say yes and Wufei scooped him over his shoulder and went to climb the stairs. Quatre wriggled, then sighed.
"I hate it when you do this," his rosy lips fell into a pout.
"You love it and you know it," Wufei replied. He entered their room and dropped Quatre on the bed, then began changing into his red silk pajamas, a gift from Quatre. He slipped under the slightly chilly covers and grabbed Quatre's toes with his own.
"Mmm, thank you, love," Quatre murmured, and, planting one last long kiss on Wufei's lips, snuggled down into his chest. Wufei sighed in bliss and closed his eyes, then opened them again as Duo made his way into his thought process for a split second. He was sure Duo was fine, since Heero had been fully functional and Quatre hadn't been upset at all, but Wufei would have prefferred to see the braided boy to make sure he was alright for himself. He always worried geatly about Duo when he was on a mission, and he didn't really know why. He had told himself that it must probably be because, if Duo ever was to die, Wufei would miss his teasing and chasing him and tackling him. He would miss Duo's happy smile, and those rare moments when his eyes sparkled with incredible joy. He would miss his carefree attitude, his radiant aura of danger when he was pissed off...
"Stop thinking," Quatre complained, wriggling to get more comfy.
"How do you know?" Wufei chuckled, looking down at his small koi. He was incredibly happy that Quatre wasn't in the Preventors. Not that Quatre's position was safe, but at least Trowa was there to take care of him and he wasn't purposely going into the dangerous areas.
"You breathe different," Quatre replied, before fading into slumberland. "And, by the way, Duo's fine." Wufei ran a hand through his little blonde's hair and then closed his own eyes, breathing in the scent of his small love, sighing at the fact that he could never hide anything from him.
Duo closed his door behind him and sunk to the ground. He sat there, simply focusing on breathing. He heard footsteps, and immediately recognized them as Trowa's and Heero's going to bed. A moment after, another person's footsteps came up, and he heard Quatre speaking, then Wufei, then their door close. He sighed in longing. He had no one to kiss him goodnight, no one to cuddle him, no one to even tuck him in or wish him a good night's rest. Heck, even a sweet dreams would be welcome, not that it would give him sweet dreams.
He stood up and made his way over to the bathroom. He went in, locked the door, and rifled through his drawer until he found a razor. He sat on the toilet seat, and began cutting. It was regular routine, almost a tradition for after a mission. Bleed the memories out. Add your blood to that which is shed. Innocent blood. He wanted to be innocent, like them. They felt no pain any more, and neither did he...five similar and semmetrical lines dripping crimson appeared on his skin before he saw the blood forming on the marble floor and moved to clean it up. He soaked it up with a towel, then threw the towel out. He wrapped a bandage around his arm and left the bathroom.
Duo had ridden himself of the memories for a little while now, feeling somewhat atoned for his sins, but he faced a new dilemma now. Thoughts and questions and worries that he was suicidal started to flood his mind, just as they always did. He felt incredible guilt for hurting himself, and shame for wanting to, and worry that someone would find out. His body tensed and would not relax.
"D-damn," Duo stuttered. "I n-need a sm-moke." He dug in his drawer, his hand shaking, and withdrew a pack of smokes. He pulled one out, opened the window, and sat below it, lighting it up. His finger idly ran up and down the older, fainter scars from past times, past missions. Trmebling, he shuddered and took another puff, enjoying it as the smoke relaxed his muscles and freed his mind. He hated enjoying it, though. He hated smoking, but he couldn't quit. He lived in fear that one of the boys would find out he smoked, and then would find out he cut himself, and then would find out about the images and the nightmares and the real Duo.
Duo went through four smokes before putting the pack back and closing the window. He stripped of his clothes and slipped into bed in his boxers. Looking at the clock, he noticed it was ten thirty. It was actually early for him to be sleeping, not to mention not exactly as late as the others went to bed. He burrowed deep into the warmth, bunching the blankets around his body, and closed his eyes. And Duo slept.
Duo gasped as his cobalt blue eyes shot open. His eyes danced around the room in fear, until he realized he was in his room, in his bed...alone. He sat up, pulling his knees under his chin and breathed, trying to calm his racing heart. He was sweating, yet trembling as if he was cold. After a few long moments of breathing and calming down, he looked at the clock. It read exactly midnight. It was odd how he always woke up at the hours or half hours. One and a half hours, and he had already had a nightmare. He took one last deep breath to calm his nerves and stood up. Grabbing his pillow and blanket off the bed, he left his room silently and went downstairs to the television room. He flopped down on the couch and turned on the TV. After nightmares, television was the only thing that could distract him enough. That was, if he wasn't silently crying.
There was a late night documentary on, and Duo watched, actually interested, as they explained all about the antics of small fish called Cherubs. He could understand the name, as they were round and cute and shiny. He wouldn't mind having one, if they weren't so endangered and he wouldn't accidentally kill it, like he had with the other five. He lay lengthwise on the couch, his mind absorbing the little fish.
I will simply state this. Move on, peoples. The next chapter is waiting for you. But you must review to get there...well not really, but...oh, who cares. Just please review.