Observations

I do not know what Yuy sees in that braided idiot. I really don't.

I knew Maxwell was the first gundam pilot Yuy ran into out of all of us, but other than that any details of their meeting were obscure to me. Even so, Yuy's behavior around the American for the first few months was just as cold and unfeeling as it was around the rest of us, as the perfect soldier should be. Therefore, when the perfect soldier suddenly started to growl less at said baka and actually didn't flinch at physical contact it came as quite a shock to me. Though the bigger shock was when I found out that the two of them had a thing.

Barton and Winner I could see much easier than the other two, Barton was tall and silent with secrets just like all of us while Winner had that gentle understanding nature that complemented the other beautifully I admit. But the other two, one was loud and brash and annoyingly clingy at times while the other was aloof and focused on the mission. It just didn't add up to me.

"Wufei?" Winner's soft voice broke me out of my inner musings and I looked up in time to stop walking before I ran into Barton's back. "We've got two rooms, do you want to share with Trowa and I or Heero and Duo?"

It took me a second longer than it should have for me to remember that we were currently taking refuge in a rundown motel in some dingy part of town while awaiting further orders from the doctors in between missions. It took me another second to realize that I was stuck between a couple and another couple. Either way I wasn't going to get a restful night's sleep.

"I don't care." I replied flatly, deciding to let them determine who I was going to have to endure that night.

"Wuy can stay with Hee-chan and I!" I suddenly had a fully armed, gun and grenade rigged Maxwell hanging all over me.

"Maxwell, kindly get off of me before something on you detonates and we both blow up." I said as calmly as I could while resisting the urge to grab my katana and let him have it.

Well, it wasn't going to be a total loss. At least, that's what I had to tell myself upon entering the more than a little cramped room that smelled musty from all the dust and had two narrow sunken beds that looked like moths had attacked them. At least now maybe I could discern, through observing the two, what the hell Yuy could possibly see in the other.

"Well, it could be worse." Maxwell said brightly as he started stripping off all his gear and throwing it in a pile by the door.

"Careful." Was all Yuy said as he too undid his gear and carefully put it away in his battered duffle.

"Hm, suppose you're right. Wouldn't want to blow this place up ne?" Maxwell grinned before flopping on the bed closest to the door, causing a miniature dust storm to erupt.

Turning away from the two of them I cautioned a peek out the tiny window only to see that it was boarded up with old rotting planks of wood. Pleasant. Turning back to the room I got my laptop out to start my mission report and glanced up to see Yuy taking his out as well before handing it to Maxwell, which surprised me seeing as how he nearly beheaded Winner that one time he'd asked to borrow it.

"You first." At least being with Maxwell hasn't corrupted him enough to make him start blathering on like the baka tended to do on an almost minutely basis. Maxwell stuck his tongue out before accepting the laptop and opening it up.

The room was, for the next half an hour at least, filled with only the sound of our two laptops being typed on while Yuy was lying on his back next to Maxwell just simply staring up at the ceiling. The peace was an unusual treat, at least until, "Done!" Maxwell's triumphant shout nearly made me wince as it shattered the silent.

"Hn." Yuy sat up and took his laptop back before moving to the floor at the foot of their bed to start his own report.

For a while all was quiet again, until Maxwell seemed to tire of twiddling his ridiculous braid through his fingers and decided to start jumping on the bed. If the thing was ready to collapse before the added strain of having a teenager jumping on it like a lunatic then I have no idea how the heck it held up through the bouncing. Pausing in my typing to glare over my computer screen at the childish idiot I had a distant thought that the twitch threatening to develop near my right eye could not be a good thing.

"Duo." With one last jump the braided one landed on the bed and stayed there. The bed was not the only one to groan in relief at the ceased jumping.

"Hai Hee-chan?" Amethyst eyes blinked curiously at the pilot sitting on the floor.

Yuy didn't say a word but started to search one handedly in his duffle for something. Whatever it was, it made Maxwell squeal in the most annoyingly feminist fashion before leaping off the bed to sit next to Yuy like an obedient dog. It was frankly quite pathetic to watch. When Yuy withdrew his hand from the duffle he continued to, to my utter surprise and confusion, place something that resembled a red ball on top of Maxwell's nose. Report completely forgotten about I just watched as Maxwell started to balance the thing on his nose, eyes going slightly cross in concentration. I had no idea what to think of the situation.

"What's my record Hee-chan?" Maxwell asked as he continued to keep the ball from rolling off his nose.

"Four minutes twenty seven seconds." Yuy replied, eyes having never left his computer screen as he continued to type his report.

I just sat there for who knows how many minutes as I watched this very peculiar scene before me of Yuy calmly typing on his laptop as always and Maxwell next to him looking for all the world like a human seal trying a ridiculous balancing act. I would never know why he was chosen as a gundam pilot.

Maxwell had started to wiggle across the floor as he tried to keep the ball balanced but eventually gave up and, with a toss of his head, sent the ball in the air before catching it between his teeth and biting down. "Time?"

"Four minutes forty three seconds." Yuy replied without missing a beat.

"That's fifteen seconds better than last time!" Maxwell whooped before sitting down to chew on what I now guessed was a gumball.

Seeing as the show was over I turned back to my report to wrap it up. I hadn't typed more than a line before I heard a pop. I looked up just in time to see Maxwell prepare to blow another bubble. I think that inkling of a twitch from before was getting stronger now.

Pop

Twitch

Smack. Pop

Twitch

SmackSmackPop

PopSmackPop

…

Pop

"Maxwell!!"

Big eyes looked up at me with all innocence in them.

Pop

"Eek!! Spider!" Maxwell came hurtling out of the bathroom and fairly flew into Yuy's lap, clinging onto his body with arms and legs locked securely around him. I could feel my twitch threatening to return as I looked up over the top of my book.

"Duo." Yuy sighed as he got off the bed and walked into the tiny bathroom, still with Maxwell hanging onto his front like a koala bear with wide frightened eyes. A loud thump later and Yuy came back out, closing the bathroom door behind him as the shower came on.

"It's cold!"

Yuy simply flipped on the outdated television set to the news.

Maxwell reappeared fifteen minutes later in black boxers and tank top, hair still dripping wet from the shower as he rubbed a towel through it. He plopped down on the bed grumbling under his breath about heating systems and pest control. The reporter on the television continued to drone on unperturbed as the American glared unseeingly at him.

Wordlessly, Yuy reached into Maxwell's own duffle and drew out a battered looking brush with a wooden handle before positioning the Deathscythe pilot between his legs and removing the towel. I watched as Yuy gently ran the brush through long chestnut locks with quiet patience as the news continued on in the background. The chore took another quarter hour but Yuy kept up his slow brushing without a single word as Maxwell continued watching the television. To me it actually looked as if the simple act of brushing Maxwell's hair was relaxing the normally rigid soldier, causing his shoulders to relax and sharp eyes to soften.

When he was finished brushing he started the next task of braiding the mass of silk he'd spent so much time on. Deft hands that held guns on a daily basis and could fly over a keyboard were now braiding hair just as easily and with obvious practice. When he reached the end of the braid he gently rested a hand that could bend steel on Maxwell's neck, causing him to reach his right hand up and allow Yuy to remove the black hair tie on his wrist.

"Thanks koi." Maxwell turned to kiss Yuy on the cheek.

The whole thing seemed so normal and commonplace for the two of them that it sort of floored me. I would have never pegged Yuy to be the domestic type nor could I have ever imagined Maxwell actually sitting quietly still for so long, but other than his freak out over the spider and the water he hadn't said a word in half an hour.

The lights were out and the room was pitch black dark without even a streetlamp from outside to filter in any amount of weak light. I was trying hard to get comfortable in my ready to fall apart bed after two hours of laying in the dark. I could hear two sets of even breathing from the bed beside me and had to resist the urge to growl in annoyance. The two of them laying down had to practically sleep on top of each other to fit onto a dilapidated bed and yet they still managed to fall asleep within minutes of snuggling into each other. I was just rolling onto my side to see if it was any better when a quiet whimper came from the other bed.

"No! Please…please don't take me…I didn't do it." Maxwell was whimpering under his breath.

"Duo." A quiet rustling of the covers and the whimpering stopped.

"Heero?" Quiet, questioning, and still with traces of fear.

"Hai. You have another nightmare?"

"Yeah."

"You want to talk about it?" Concern in the perfect soldier's voice, something I never thought possible.

"It's stupid, not something you'd want to be bothered with." Sheepish, self degrading tone, yet another thing I never would have thought possible from the sometimes overly arrogant American.

"Duo, you know I'm always here for you."

Why do I suddenly have the feeling I should not be listening to this? I feel like I'm intruding on a private moment I have no right to intrude in on. Maybe, just maybe…

"Heero?"

"Yeah?"

"You wouldn't let flying monkeys take me away would you?"

There's that twitch again.

"No Duo, I wouldn't."

"That's good." A stifled yawn. "Night love."

Silence.

"Stupid monkeys."

Nope. I still don't know what Yuy sees in him.

A/N: Yes, I know, the part with Duo and the gumball is a lot like in Lady and the Tramp, but that was such a cute scene in the movie and I could just so see Duo doing that so ^-^