When Heero arrived home, I was watching a news broadcast, with Trowa dozing on my arm. It was nothing that I hadn't known about six months past due to my work with Preventers, so I wasn't annoyed at the disturbance, and Trowa was sleeping lightly enough that he awoke when Heero sat on the couch opposite us.
"How is Quatre doing?" I wondered.
"He's getting better," Heero said, slumping in his seat, obviously tired. "The doctor says he may be released by the end of the week."
"That's wonderful news. Did you eat dinner?"
"I ate at the hospital, with Quatre."
"Ah. How long ago?"
"A few hours. Why?"
"I was wondering if either of you would join me for a midnight snack. Although... I'm not even sure what time it is. It barely seems to matter around here. Anyway, I'm sure we bought some cookies when we purchased snacks last. They'll only go to waste at this rate. What do you say?"
"I wouldn't mind," Heero replied, and Trowa merely nodded his head against my shoulder, still too shy to speak. I moved to get up, but Heero was up before me. "I'll get it," he said.
"Are you certain?" I asked with a frown. I didn't want him to think I was using him, or showing favoritism. Heero merely smirked in amusement at me.
"I have spent several years as a Collar slave. I don't think a tray of cookies is beyond my capacities."
"Alright, then," I said with a laugh, settling back down as Heero moved into the kitchen. I only settled for a moment, though, because I decided that Trowa would need to sit up to eat, and I saw no hint of him moving on his own.
"Come on, sleepyhead," I teased, sitting up and moving toward the center of the couch, leaving space for Heero on my other side. Trowa obediently moved down, sitting so that his side rested against mine.
Heero returned with a bowl of cookies and three glasses of milk. He handed me the tray before plopping down on my other side, leaning in close to reach the cookies which I situated on my lap. I leaned back, nibbling on my own cookie as the two teenage boys munched their way through several to my single. Ah, the metabolism of youth.
It wasn't long before, bellies full and content, the two boys began to doze off, one leaning on each of my shoulders. It was only when I began to feel myself nodding off, and a subsequent almost dropping of the tray, that I decided it was time for bed.
Quietly, I shifted the tray to the floor, careful not to move the boys. Then, with my skills as an assassin and spy, I managed to slip out from under the two heavily slumbering boys. Trowa almost awoke as the movement of my shoulder, which his head rested one, disturbed his peace, but a quiet command from me had him right back in dreamland. Whether he heard it and intentionally obeyed for my sake or whether he simply did what his body told him he should I was uncertain of, but the result was the same, so it didn't really matter at the time.
Regardless, neither boy woke and I was able to get into a position to pick Heero up without waking Trowa. It was a testament to how exhausted Heero was that he barely stirred when I picked him up, simply mumbled to himself and went back to sleep. I was glad that Heero was wearing only a loose Greek-style robe over his nude body, for I knew I couldn't have undressed him without waking him up. Instead I managed to simply slip him under the covers, then was off for my second burden.
Trowa was completely naked, sleeping quietly on the couch, but nudity had become so much a part of my daily life that I hardly noticed except to realize that I wouldn't need to change him into nightclothes either.
Trowa, unlike Heero, awoke with a startled gasp as I lifted him. He seemed less certain of being carried and I assumed that, because of his height, it was less likely that masters would carry him around. It wasn't difficult for me, being several inches taller than he was, but he seemed awkward in my arms, squirming as though he didn't know how to hold himself. He eventually settled for fisting his hands in my shirt until I instructed him to put them around my neck. A few seconds later, we had reached our destination and I calmly slipped him into bed, then climbed over top of him and settled down between my two slaves. Mindless of each other, one half asleep and one fully there, they both curled against me. I held them both close to me, feeling one of the waves of protectiveness that regularly washed over me.