One Night in Albuquerque:
Part Three
By: Kitty E.
Duo sighed contentedly as he ripped open a box of sugar donuts, "Man, I haven't seen these in forever." He shoved one into his mouth, and took a sip of coffee from a Styrofoam cup. "Now this is a *real* breakfast," he said, spraying powdered sugar on the floor.
He continued down the hall, making his way back to his room to grab the last of his stuff. "Heero is just too much," he muttered. "He has us driving for twenty-four hours, and when he finally lets us rest it's only until five frickin' thirty."
"Who are you talking to?" came a rather gruff voice behind him.
"Me, myself, and I," Duo replied, as he whipped about. "Oh, crap," he hurried to steady his armful of foodstuffs. One donut managed to escape it's box, leaving a white trail on the carpet as it rolled over to Wufei's foot.
"What is that?" Wufei asked disdainfully.
"A donut, they're really good! Want one?" he asked.
"No," Wufei said coldly, kicking away the one near his foot.
"You're even more pleasant than usual. Whatsamatter, can't handle a little sleep deprivation?" Duo asked as the Chinese pilot stooped to wipe the remnants of powdered sugar off of his black shoes.
"I didn't get any sleep last night. The walls in this hotel are criminally thin," he said in an accusing tone.
"Oh, sorry man. I didn't mean to watch movies all last night, but it was a Death Ryder marathon. I wouldn't be Duo Maxwell if I could say no to a Death Ryder movie. Sorry about the noise," the braided boy offered up a semi apologetic, semi smug look to the other pilot. "It was off by twelve thirty."
"That wasn't the only disturbance last night," Wufei said, now glaring daggers at nothing in particular.
Mental note, don't sit next to Wufei in the car, Duo told himself, watching the other pilot turn abruptly and make his way down to the lobby. He turned to his door as Trowa emerged from the room he and Quatre had shared.
"Trowa-man, give me a hand?" Duo asked as he realized he couldn't juggle his handful well enough to open the door.
Trowa nodded, and held out his hands. Duo frowned, wondering why the taller pilot didn't come over to him. Shrugging, he moved over to Trowa and deposited his cargo into the boy's hands.
"Poor Wufei, didn't get a wink of sleep last night. Good thing he can handle it," Duo said, making idle conversation. He stepped into his room, and grabbed his duffel bag. "Ready?" he asked as stepped out
Trowa shrugged elegantly, and began walking down, only there was something wrong. Usually, Trowa moved with such natural grace, today his movements were short and jerky, almost as if he were in pain.
"Hey, Trowa, you okay?" he asked, shoving another donut in mouth, and taking another sip of bad coffee.
"Of course," he replied rather curtly. He seemed to move more naturally, but it looked for all the world as though it were forced.
Duo's mind was beginning to make a vague connection as they stepped out of the building, but he was quickly distracted by the sight of Heero stretching laboriously in the pale light of morning. He and Quatre were standing beside the car, obviously disagreeing over which route to take.
"Hey, Heero. Want some food?" he asked, stealing back his lover's attention.
Heero didn't really think fried cake batter dipped in powdered sugar constituted food, but once he got on the road he didn't like to stop. He took a donut from the box, ignoring the one Duo held out to him because he knew the unabashed boy meant to feed it to him. His eyes flicked over to the entrance of the hotel to see Wufei emerging, carrying his bag. The Chinese pilot cast them what could only be described as a rather nasty look and proceeded towards the other side of the parking lot.
"Ne, Wufei, where you goin'?" Duo asked.
"To borrow a car," he replied nonchalantly. For someone so devoted to justice, Wufei had few qualms about stealing a car today.
"Why? We already got one," Duo called after him.
"Iie!" he said sternly. "I'll rendezvous with you at the mission site at the appointed time, but I will go in peace, *alone.* Between your watching movies all night," he said, pointing his finger at Duo as though it were a weapon. "And your accursed libido," he moved his finger over a bit, now waggling it in Heero's direction. "I only got *two* hours of sleep last night! Complete and utter injustice. I travel alone from now on!" He hefted his bag over his shoulder, and stormed away.
Duo managed to suppress his laughter until Wufei was out of earshot, but after that he collapsed into hysterics.
"My accursed libido?" Heero asked, ignoring Duo's display quite effectively. "Duo, we didn't do anything last night."
Duo tried several times to stop laughing long enough to say something, but was only able to heave out a few syllables between giggles. Finally, he managed to say, "I don't think he was pointing at you, Heero."
Heero turned around to see Quatre still standing outside the car, only now he had his head buried in his hands. What little Heero could see of the fair skinned Arabian's face was stained bright red. Duo was making rather unattractive snorting noises as he got into the car, and when he looked inside he saw Trowa already in the back with his eyes closed. He would have thought the taller pilot asleep if it weren't for the fact he kept shifting in his seat. Heero didn't say anything, which wasn't really unusual, but the fact was, even if he had wanted to, he would have been at a loss for words. All he could do was, almost, *almost* smile.
Duo didn't stop laughing until they were well out of the city when someone dumped the remains of a cherry soda Mega Gulp down his neck.
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