Title: Vignettes [2/?]- Jasmine
Rating: G
Author: Darkwood

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    “Yeah, well your training sucks,” Duo responds, finishing his lunch and getting up to go put his tray away. You’d think that he’d at least have the decency to try and act normal, and a little friendly towards me sometimes, but no, not Heero.

    Not to worry, I suppose, the next mission will come in soon and I won’t have to worry about him anymore.

*

But the next mission never did quite come the way Duo expected it, and before he knew quite what was happening, there were no more schools to go to, and no more dorm rooms to worry about, and no more cafeterias and no more lunches to try and goad Heero into talking to him over. It was zero hour, and all of the pilots found themselves onboard the Peacemillion.

*

    “Some great name for a ship,” Duo mutters, staring out the port window in the lounge to look out at the stars.

    “What was that, Duo?” Quatre asks, looking up from his chess game with Wufei.

    “Ah nothing, I was just commenting on what a spiffy name Howard chose for his ship.”

    “I don’t see you coming up with anything better, Duo,” Trowa comments, reading over some reports on a computer quietly.

    In response, Duo grins. “Well, I’d love to stick around for such stunning conversation, but I-”

    “Where do you think you’re going?” Heero’s cold, nasal voice interrupts his sentence.

    “For your information, Heero, I’m going to go to bed. You die hard tough soldiers and chess masters are too fast paced for me. I’m worn out.” Standing, Duo stretches to the full extent of his compact body, and then scratches the back of his neck. He glances over at Heero, “Unless I suddenly need your approval on my bed time?”

    Heero narrows his eyes slightly and looks like he’s going to respond for a moment until Quatre breaks up the impending clash of tempers. “I think that’s a good idea. I’m going to turn in as well.”

    “We can continue the chess game in the morning, Quatre.”

    Recognizing Quatre’s attempt at peacekeeping, Duo walks out of the lounge, hands shoved deep into the pockets of his pants. Heero’s eyes follow the braided Shinigami out of the room until the doors close behind him.

    Trowa remains seated at the small computer, reviewing the repair reports on Heavyarms Custom.

    “Well, goodnight,” Quatre says to the three stoic pilots that remain in the lounge, waving.

    “Duo!” Quatre calls, moving quickly to catch up.

    “I’m not in the mood for talk right now, Quatre.”

    Reaching Duo and laying a hand on his shoulder to stop him, Quatre inquires, “I was just wondering if you wanted to switch rooms for the evening… since we’re both going to bed at the same time and all…”

    “You don’t need to worry about Heero and me killing each other, Quatre,” Duo says in a low voice before turning and grinning at his blond friend. “It’s just been a long couple of days.”

    “You’ve got that right.”

    “And I really am rather tired. See you in the ‘morning’.”

    “Or at the first alarm.”

    “Right,” Duo throws Quatre a thumbs’ up and moves off towards the room he shares with Heero.

    “You’re slipping, Heero,” Trowa comments, continuing to type on the small computer.

    Wufei rises and leaves the room, putting Heero and Trowa in relative silence and solitude. “How do you mean, slipping?”

    “You’re always so controlled in everything else, Heero. Something’s making you short of temper with Duo.”

    Heero doesn’t respond, but stands.

    “Where are you going?”

    He doesn’t dignify that with a response either, but leaves the room in relative silence, and Trowa alone with his maintenance reports.

    Stripping off his tee-shirt with a groan, Duo tosses it into a bag ready for laundry, and takes his hair down to start brushing it out. I’ll shower… later, he decides, stripping off his pants and sitting on the small bunk as he finishes brushing his hair and rebraids it. With a sigh he debates for a moment and then shrugs, It couldn’t hurt, I suppose.

    When Heero enters the room, he is surprised to find Duo kneeling beside his bunk. The braided pilot is perfectly still, and after a moment he seems to decide that he’s been in the position enough and stands, stretching again before moving to climb into his bunk. He catches sight of Heero and starts.

    Heero ignores his roommate, still choosing to sleep in a room with the ever-chattery Deathscythe pilot over any of the other pilots after nearly a year of fighting and getting to know everyone else, and moves towards the shower.

    Duo catches his breath and climbs into his bunk, stretching out and falling asleep almost instantly.

    Hearing the gentle snores from the main area of the room, Heero leans back to let his eyes fall on Duo’s form in the bed. He sighs. With all the missions and all the stress, I guess I keep forgetting that we’re only human, afterall. Duo turns over a little, and Heero ducks back into the bathroom quickly, hoping to avoid detection, but Duo is still asleep.

    After a quick shower to get the sweat off, Heero returns to the main part of the room and dresses for bed, leaping nimbly into the upper bunk and laying down, facing the ceiling as the lights turn off. He closes his eyes, and inhales.

    Doesn’t he shower?

    Annoyed, he opens his eyes and stares at the ceiling, trying to figure out why it bothers him that Duo hasn’t taken a shower. It isn’t that he stinks, because really, he doesn’t smell any worse than any of us ever do after climbing out of our cockpits.

    Actually, he smells sort of like…

    “Jasmine?” he puzzles aloud.

    A soft snort from below and he’s half afraid that he woke Duo up with that muttered comment.

    “Checkmate,” Duo crows happily, hopping up from his seat at the table across from Quatre and doing a little victory dance.

    Stepping into the lounge, Heero inwardly rolls his eyes at Duo’s antics and gets himself some coffee. “What are you flailing about like that for?”

    “I don’t get it,” Quatre mutters.

    “I just beat Quatre at chess, that’s what.”

    “Don’t you have better things to do with your time than-” Heero pauses and blinks.

    “Yup, you heard it right,” Duo responds, settling down to get himself something to drink.

    “Hate to break up the party,” Sally says from the doorway. “But we’ve just cited White Fang mobile suit carriers on their way here.”