Half-Asleep

Duo loved it when Heero returned exhausted from a mission. He would force the other pilot to eat and drink before allowing him to collapse into bed.

He would then sit and watch Heero's body relax in increments until he was just past the threshold of sleep. That was his favorite part.

It was something Duo had discovered by accident. He spent a lot of his time Heero-watching, and almost as much time talking, trying to find a subject that Heero would find interesting enough to toss a complete sentence back Duo's way. It had just been another round of rapid-fire questions that night that Duo had discovered a secret.

Heero talked in his sleep.

In fact, in the moments just after he fell asleep, Heero could answer questions. Duo didn't know if this was something J had never found out about, or if J had done this on purpose. After some thought, Duo decided on the former explanation; J seemed way too paranoid to willingly leave such a weak chink in his "Perfect Soldier's" armor.

Heero never remembered the conversations.

Duo first considered it a game. He'd ask Heero about his favorite foods, color, animal, and other silly, trivial stuff. Then he'd mess with the guy for the next few days, bringing home shrimp-flavored ramen and casually explaining it as being "someone's favorite," or instigate a pro-cat argument and force Heero to defend the pro-dog side. This game got him some puzzled looks from more than one of his friends, and kept him amused for several months.

By then the war had started to wear Heero down. Hell, it was affecting all of them. Wufei had his meditation, and Trowa and Quatre had each other (it wasn't announced officially, but it was so obvious to Duo). Duo figured he was doing pretty okay; he had no inclination to try to stifle his feelings for the sake of appearances, so when he was mad, he yelled and when he was happy, he laughed. Heero, however, didn't seem to have any outlet.

"Hey, Hee-chan," Duo whispered one night after Heero had staggered into bed. "What's the worst feeling?"

Heero just breathed for a couple seconds before murmuring, "Lonely."

Duo studied his friend's face, but Heero seemed to be peacefully asleep despite the fact that he'd just answered a question. "Lonely" certainly wouldn't have been at the top of Duo list of guesses. Heero seemed to go out of his way to keep a distance from the rest of them.

"How often do you get lonely?"

"...All the time," Heero replied. There was a strange quality in his voice that startled Duo; it was small and vulnerable and gave Duo the urge to hug him. The braided pilot restrained himself and stayed in his chair.

"Anything I can do to make you feel better?"

There was a long stretch of silence. Duo had just figured that Q&A time was up when Heero's answer came.

"Touch me."

"What!" Duo shouted, falling with a thunk out of his chair. The commotion woke Heero up. Being Heero, that meant Duo was nose-to-nose with a handgun as soon as he lifted his face from the carpet.

"I just fell outta my chair! I didn't mean to wake you up! Go back to sleep!" Duo said desperately, shoving the pistol away. He stomped into the bathroom and glared in the mirror, damning his stupid, teenaged mind. When Heero had mentioned touching, Duo's brain had come up with images of naughty touching- which was certainly not what Heero meant!

Duo silently scolded his dirty mind and got ready for bed.

It took a few days for Duo to work up the courage to try Heero's self-prescribed treatment. After all, there was a good chance that he'd get a black eye, or a gun in his face, an "omae o korosu," or at the very least another of Hee-chan's all-purpose death glares.

Duo's first trial was a friendly (but not too friendly) slap on the back as he greeted Heero while walking past him to join him and Quatre at the breakfast table. He got a sideways glance- if it was a glare, it was the mildest one Duo'd encountered yet.

While it didn't give Duo any particular feeling of encouragement, he decided to continue the experiment. A hand on his shoulder as he leaned over Heero to look at the map he was studying earned no comment. Neither did the elbow-nudge Duo used to punctuate a joke he made. Ruffling Heero's hair earned him a glare, but it was half-hearted at best. Once, in a hyper mood, Duo made a running jump to glomp Heero as he came through the door, but was thwarted by Wufei grabbing his hair. In retrospect, he probably owed Wuffie big time; Heero had looked blankly at the two of them, then stomped up to his room without comment.

There was a long stretch where Heero had no demanding missions. Duo kept up his casual touches and was getting the feeling that he was making progress. It was a slow war of attrition, but Heero seemed much less tense than he had been before. His tiny flinches at the merest graze of skin went away, and Duo swore that when they shared the couch Heero leaned slightly against him.

One day Heero came in from a mission. Snow had fallen in his hair on the walk back from hiding Wing. Duo bounced to the door and lifted a hand to brush it off when his eyes met Heero's. They were intense (okay, Heero was usually intense, but this was intensity of a different sort), and Duo felt blood pump up- and down- and felt a wave of heat rush through him. He averted his gaze and ran his hand through Heero's wild hair once before bouncing right up the stairs in a panicky, non-bouncy way.

Duo was relieved when Heero returned exhausted from a two-day mission soon after that incident.

He sat in his usual Sleeping-Heero Interrogation chair and craned his neck to get a good view of his subject's face. "Who do you like?"

His breath caught on the first word of Heero's response, then rushed out with an acute feeling of disappointment.

"Duo. ...Quatre. ...Trowa an' Wufei."

"Not Relena?" Duo chewed his lip.

Duo had to stifle giggles at the cute way Heero wrinkled his nose. "Too much pink."

He was sure too much time had passed when by the time he had mustered up the courage to ask his next question. He figured, though, that Heero would surely be too deeply asleep to answer.

"...Who do you love?" He studied the way two walls met the ceiling of the room in three lines.

"Duo."

Duo was really involved at staring at that corner. Staring at that corner, and preparing himself to hear silence or the name of somebody Duo'd never met, or-

"Duo."

-Or the name of some person from-

Duo was wrenched around by his shoulders. He blinked at Heero's wide open eyes. "What?" He said numbly.

Heero's eyes softened suddenly. "Baka." He wrapped his arms around the braided pilot.

Duo was yanked out of his daze by the fact that Heero was hugging him. "What the heck are you doing? Are you outta your mind?"

"I hope not." Duo couldn't see Heero's face, but the guy had responded directly next to Duo's left ear.

Duo sat still for a few seconds before tentatively reaching up to pat Heero's back. "Um, what's this all about, buddy?"

"You ask me questions when I'm half-asleep," Heero said.

"Yeah, I- WAIT! You know about that?"

"You've been doing it for months."

Duo gaped. Heero didn't seem to be pissed off... but maybe he had broken him. Yup, any second Heero was going to snap and snap Duo's neck, and-

Nope. Nothing. Duo was still alive. Breathing, however, was debatable.

"But you've been letting me do it!"

Heero snuggled (Heero snuggled! Duo's mind cried out in shock) his head into the crook of Duo's neck and shoulder. "Hai." Heero finally took pity on poor Duo Maxwell's short-circuited brain. "It's a lot easier for me to talk when I'm half-asleep."

Duo asked, "Then why'd you decide to wake up tonight?"

Heero loosened his embrace and sat back on his heels in front of Duo's chair. Looking fearlessly into Duo's eyes, he replied, "Because your question deserved a better answer than I could give you half-asleep." His right hand placed itself gently on Duo's left cheek as his left hand wrapped loosely around the back of Duo's neck.

"I thought I should tell you 'I love you' like this," Heero said, before kissing Duo.

It took two seconds for Duo's brain to reboot itself then enthusiastically encourage him to kiss back. Duo's body was quicker on the uptake about these sorts of things, and was already clutching Heero against him.

"Oh god," Duo gasped when their lips parted.

"I'm not a god," Heero replied, and Duo absently wondered when the hell he'd gone and gotten himself a sense of humor.

A sudden thought hit Duo. "But that time with the gun! You woke up, and pointed your gun at me!"

Heero shrugged apologetically. "Habit. Training."

Duo noticed the circles under Heero's eyes. "Get back in bed," he said, gently pushing Heero away.

"Only if you'll come with me?" There was something vulnerable in Heero's face. Duo debated with himself.

"You need to sleep." And there's proof of mind over matter; a teenage boy thinking with his head instead of his dick.

"I'll sleep better with you with me," Heero said seriously, which made Duo's heart melt into an ooey-gooey mess. Metaphorically, of course.

Duo switched off the light and they both got in Heero's bed. It was narrow, which required Heero to cuddle up against Duo's back- not that either of them minded.

Heero waited until Duo's breath evened out but hadn't started the soft snoring that he usually did while sleeping.

"You think you can love me back?" Heero asked quietly.

"Already do," Duo murmured, half-asleep.

Note: Aww, the fluff! Wanted to write some 1x2 lovin' without jumping ahead in the "Sharing Warmth," the long story I'm working on. Then I decided to keep it a T rating, mostly to keep it short. Hence, the fluffy sappiness. Please let me know what you think!