It was still too early to rise for even the ever-ready Gundam pilots. So after Heero helped Duo back up to his room and back safely to Trowa's sleeping side, he returned to his own bed. Quatre, perhaps out of habit, rolled away to give him room. They'd spent so much time perfecting sleeping without touching. Now though, Heero looked over the smooth shoulder and ridged back of the blonde youth, and thought of all the times he'd wanted to touch him. So he reached over, sliding his hand up that pale arm, over Quatre's shoulder and neck, and into his golden hair as he snuggled against him. Molding himself against Quatre's smaller frame. Heero's arm went securely around Quatre's trim waist, and he buried his face in the smooth curve of the blonde's neck. Here was Heaven he was sure. Inhaling the other boy's scent, his essence. Sharing warmth. Even though he knew he wouldn't sleep, he was content to lie there until the morning brightened. Quatre sighed and snuggled back more closely yet. The sudden, unexpected friction was brief but strong. Heero's eyes shot open and he went still as steel. The stirring in his groin was familiar. He was still a man after all. Secretly he had looked upon the other boys and longed for them before. Quatre in particular. Now his mind swam with visions of Quatre naked and glorious, writhing and moaning beneath him. His fine nails biting into Heero's shoulders and back. As hard as he tried, he couldn't push the visions away, and he felt his member swelling against the soft curve of Quatre's ass. Embarrassment washed over him. Slowly he tried to disengage without waking the blonde.

"Mmm… Heero?" came Quatre's sleepy voice. Heero froze. "Is it morning?"

"No, go back to sleep," God bless the years of training that kept his voice steady.

"Duo…" Quatre murmured, stirring more, making as if to turn toward Heero.

"What about Duo?" Heero quarried, his brow furrowing. In this place of half dreams and half waking that Quatre was in, was it Duo he saw? It made Heero's heart twinge in yet another new way.

"He should be wanting more pain pills," Quatre groaned as he gave a mild stretch. And that was when the boy realized how close they were.

He stopped, became so very still. Heero heard him swallow hard. Watched the muscles of his throat strain for a moment. And then Quatre turned, very slowly, in Heero's arms. Just enough to face him. Their eyes met in the ever brightening dawn. Those soft blonde whisps dangling before aquamarine depths. Heero felt so hard beside him. Like the unyielding earth cradling to the ever fluid water. Like a monster holding a child. He constantly had to remind himself that Quatre was no child. Not at all. He had killed me. As many as the rest of them had. He had killed men he did not know, and men that he did. He had killed them, perhaps with regret, but without second thought. The way Quatre stared up at him now though was neither the look of a child or a killer. It was just… Quatre. So raw and open to the confusion. The hope…

"I'm… sorry…" Heero mumbled, making to pull away.

"No," Quatre's hand on his arm, not gripping or holding, just a touch, stopped him more than the word. "It's alright. I wondered why I was sleeping so well," his smile was easy and soft. It made Heero smile too, just a little. But there was still one problem.

"I should probably get up though anyway," he did regret leaving this warmth. "Wufei is probably already up. I think it's my day to make breakfast."

"But you make terrible breakfast," Quatre quipped with a bright, though still a little sleepy smile. "Your specialty is definitely lunch," that did make Heero chuckle as he carefully withdrew from the blankets. Careful not to show his front openly to the blonde.

"Cold sandwiches, chips, and sodas," he replied with a quirked brow. "I'll keep it simple. Cereal. Put the boxes, the milk, the bowls, and the spoons all out on the counter."

"Mmm…" Quatre smirked as he stretched languidly before rolling back over into the blankets. "Perfect. Don't let Duo eat all the Captain Crunch…" the words got a little slurred as sleep began to over-take him yet again.

Heero let a smile slip, small and sweet even to his own lips. Gently he brushed his fingertips over Quatre's golden hair before he left the room, adjusting himself quickly before he entered the hallway. He hadn't really expected Wufei to be leaving his room as well. The two met gazes across the hall before silently moving to the stairs.

"Sleep well?" Wufei asked easily. He was already dressed, but was still in the process of tugging his black hair back into his trademark short ponytail. He hit the stairs first and headed down. As silent and light-of-foot as ever.

"I suppose," was Heero's bland reply. His wall was back up.

"I heard Duo thumping down the stairs earlier. Then there was murmuring," they both rounded the corner to the kitchen. "Was he talking to himself or did you go down and help him?"

Heero reached into the cabinet and began collecting bowls for everyone. And then cereal. And so on.

"I was already up," he replied.

"But you went back to bed," there was no judgment in Wufei's voice. No hint to what he was getting at, yet Heero was sure he was getting at something. Wufei reached over Heero's arms and starting putting the bowls and such back. "You're terrible at breakfast," he said simply.

"I went back and laid down for a while," Heero didn't protest. He just went to the fridge to retrieve the orange juice.

"I heard Quatre cry out last night," still nothing in the China-man's voice. A quick subject-change presented itself in Heero's sudden memory.

"Did you leave Trinity alone?" he snapped around to face the other boy.

"She's showering," Wufei said calmly as he continued to gather eggs and frying pans and things. "You should get some of Quatre's sweats and maybe a t-shirt of his. Those would fit her best while we wash her clothes."

"Since when do you care about an enemy's comfort so much?" Heero was more baffled than annoyed.

Here Wufei paused before he carefully set down what was in his hands. Slowly he turned to Heero, and those brown eyes, so dark they were often black, met his gaze. He hesitated a moment before speaking.

"She… doesn't feel like an enemy, Heero," he said it quietly. As if he was ashamed. "She feels like a victim. Like us."

"We're not victims," Heero interjected quickly.

"But we are," Wufei turned away now, and Heero sensed that his preparations of breakfast were just an excuse to hide his face. "These people… This war…" he gripped the handle of the knife he was used to cut the packaging of the bacon. "They stole our lives."

"Some of us didn't have lives before this, Wufei," Heero said it as gently as he knew how. "They stole nothing from us."

"They stole your future," the Chinese boy went back to cutting the package. "They stole my life. Quatre's life. Trowa's identity. Your future. Duo's future," at last he had the bacon free. "And they stole Trinity's entire being."

Heero sighed softly. He reached out and put a hand on the other boy's shoulder, though he was uncertain how Wufei would react to such contact. He had expected Wufei to be the most angry really. Duo's hatred would be hot and brief. Trowa's silent. Quatre's tearful. But Wufei. Wufei who put so much on honor and nobility. He had expected the midnight-eyed China-man to never forgive him. And now it seemed as though he'd never hated him at all.

"Without them, Trinity would have had no being," he said softly. "Without them… I would have nothing. I would be a lost boy in the system. So would Duo. Floating from family to family until we were legal. They… gave Trowa an identity. I think… I think he forgot his somehow…" here he had to take a moment to regain himself. Wufei hadn't looked at him once, but he stood still beneath his hand. "You and Quatre… it's true you've lost so much and I wish… I wish I could give that back to both of you somehow but… Forgive my selfishness, Wufei. As wretched as this war is, it gave me a purpose."

"I came from a world where they bargained children's lives for livestock and land," he nearly whispered it. "But I loved my wife… Because I didn't know I had a choice. Because she was young and sweet and knew no better than me. I joined this war for vengeance," he moved away from Heero then to lay the bacon into the warm frying pan. "I think I do too much in the name of vengeance."

Heero didn't know what to say to that. He wondered what was harder to fight for. Vengeance or love? Maybe, it was kind of the same. About that time though, Duo and Trowa came hobbling slowly down the steps, Duo cursing all the way. Quatre was close behind, scrubbing sleepily at his eyes. The sun was dawning brightly over the lake. And for a moment, it was just them. Just the 5 of them. Like it had been for so many weeks now. Just the 5 of them. Like it should be.