The Immortality of the Gods

I suppose we had thought we were invincible. Nothing could hurt us, nothing at all. We had known that wasn't true in the beginning, but, by the end of all the fighting, at the end of all the wars, we had forgotten. No, not forgotten. We had allowed ourselves to slip into that frame of thinking-that we were immortal. And no one could, no one would convince us otherwise. We were taking our lives, we were taking each other for granted. Not anymore.

Trowa was finishing up the last leg of his tour with the circus, Wufei was on a break from his job at the Preventers, and Quatre was "on vacation" from his family's business. So I had my room to myself, Duo had his roommate back, and Quatre had his old room to himself until Trowa's tour was done. Though it was Trowa who was gone, the apartment did seem rather quiet.

Wufei came into the kitchen, retying that greasy ponytail of his. He looked like he had just woken up, and he didn't look too happy about it.

"Duo snoring again?" I asked, grabbing the Fruit Loops from the pantry. The box was nearly empty. Too bad for Duo and Quatre. I poured the last of the contents of the box into the bowl, then poured the last of the milk into it too. Hey, if they want cereal and milk in the morning, they should get up earlier. Ahh, Duo usually did the shopping anyway, although now that the others were back, I might need to do it.

I grabbed a spoon from a drawer and sat down at the table. Wufei poured himself his coffee, black, and sat down across from me. I started to eat, wincing at the excessive sugar in the cereal.

"How can you eat that crap?" Wufei asked, sipping his coffee.

"It's not that bad," I said.

"Going soft, Yuy? I never thought that you would eat such a sugared down child's cereal," he joked. I don't know why, but he has always joked with me like I was an old buddy or something. Maybe he felt like I could relate to him. Maybe I could. I'm not so in touch with myself that I would know.

"I don't do the shopping around here."

"Figures that Duo would buy some sugarshit like that," he said, sorely. Duo is the only one of us Gundam pilots that Wufei cannot stand in the slightest.

Quatre's light footsteps were heard coming down the hall. The blonde trudged in, yawning and rubbing his eyes. He looked odd in his large, ratty, grey college T-shirt and enormous blue faded pajama pants (***author drools on keyboard, envisioning sweet little Quatre in pajamas***). I was so used to seeing him in his neatly pressed slacks and shirt that, I don't know, it was just odd. But then again, all of the other's pajamas were odd. Even mine. Duo wore something similar to Wufei's normal getup. Trowa was a boxer man himself. Wufei wore his boxers and this really weird white shirt with a big picture of this really funky looking horse head on the front. It is one of the strangest things I have ever seen. And me, well I had my boxers and I had this really really funny T-shirt. I swear, it's one of the funniest things you've ever seen, I got it at a vintage store. It's green and on the front it says "Make 7" and on the back it says "Up Yours." I love that shirt.

"Good morning," he said politely. I grunted in reply. Wufei didn't acknowledge Quatre's presence. I don't think he knew what to make of Quatre.

Quatre went to the pantry and opened it. He stared into it blankly, then closed it and moved to the fridge. Again, there was that blank stare, which would be a grunt or a choice word if it had been someone other than Quatre. He sighed and moved to the counter, where he grabbed a small orange and a napkin, then came and sat down at the table between Wufei and me.

"Late night?" I asked as he clumsily peeled the orange.

"Yeah," he said, "I was up until three o'clock but I finally finished that proposal."

"I thought you were on vacation," I said between mouthfuls.

He just laughed and went back to his orange. I went back to my Fruit Loops. Wufei went back to his coffee. And we all ate in silence.

"I wonder if that idiot roommate of mine is awake yet," Wufei muttered over his mug.

"You shouldn't be so hard on him," said Quatre. Wufei directed his harsh stare at the blonde head.

"You don't have to share a room with that snoring slob."

"Oh he can't be that bad.

Wufei just snorted and went back to his coffee.

Almost on cue, Duo walked past the kitchen to the door. He was fully dressed and re-braided. He grabbed his coat from the closet and was about to head out the door.

"Where're you going, Duo?" Quatre asked, brightly.

Duo gave him one of those deer-in-headlights looks, then quickly said, "Breakfast date with Hilde."

"While you're out, pick up some more milk and Fruit Loops. We're all out," I said.

"Yeah yeah, sure sure," he said, quickly dashing out the door.

"Don't hurry back," Wufei muttered. Quatre just shook his head and began to pick apart the orange. Me, I was eating Fruit Loops.

After breakfast is when we all wait our turns for the bathroom. Quatre got there first, and after he had gotten dressed, he retreated to the living room to work on some papers or something. Wufei went to attempt to clean up his room, which basically meant throwing all of Duo's crap under the bed. I wandered to my room, but there wasn't anything to clean. There wasn't anything to do. I've never been one for reading for fun, I only read for research, and I'm not a big fan of music, so I was at a loss. I wanted to go watch some TV, but Quatre was working in there, and I've always been rather embarrassed by the shows I watch. I wouldn't want the others to find out. I mean, I know that Quatre wouldn't make fun of me for it, but he's so clueless he might mention something to Wufei, or worse, Duo, and then I would never hear the end of it. That would suck.

At about one thirty or so, I heard Quatre close the door to his room and start to play his violin. Maybe now he'd take a break. And maybe now I could watch some TV.

I went into the living room and flipped on the TV to ****** (what, you think I'd tell you what I watch? Yeah, right.)

I nearly jumped (don't tell anyone) when I heard the key turn in the lock. I flipped the television to CNN.

Duo walked in the door, empty-handed. He didn't seem to notice me at all.

"Forgot to stop at the supermarket, I see," I said.

He shook his head and looked at me. He blinked, and then you could just see that light bulb go off in his head.

"Oh dammit," he said, not sounding all to sincere, "sorry Heero." He came around and flopped down on one of the chairs and stared blankly at the TV.

"Hey Duo, I thought I heard you come in," said Quatre, poking his head in from the hallway. "How's Hilde?"

Duo stared a little longer, then said, "She's good," and offered no more.

Quatre didn't seem to mind. He walked past me and gathered the mountain of papers on the coffee table.

"I thought you were almost done with the paper work," I said. For some reason I was feeling a little talkative, maybe because Duo wasn't meeting all of our daily quotas for some reason.

Quatre smiled and laughed, "I did too." He retreated back to his room again.

I glanced at Duo. He was staring off into space in the general direction of the television screen. I was annoyed, I wanted to watch my shows, but I had a certain façade to maintain, and I wasn't about to betray it. So I tried to follow the report that was on. Soon enough, I realized that I was just studying the lines in the bald anchorman's forehead. Fascinating, I know.

I can't believe it but I actually sat there for thirty minutes. During that time I discovered that all TV anchors are named after rocks, one of them wears a tupee, and that I was about to hurl from sheer boredom. I waited until the story looked over, then turned off the TV. Duo still sat there.

"Date didn't go well?" I asked.

"What?" he said, looking at me quickly.

"You're unusually quiet. Did you and Hilde get into a fight or something?" I asked, trying to sound monotone.

"No, it was fine."

"Then why are you so quiet all of a sudden." He looked at me, a little amused, I think.

"Well hey, Heero, I didn't know you cared. You know, I think this is the most you've ever said to me in a conversation without turning all introverted anti-socialman." He laughed to himself as I smoldered. I guess whatever had been wrong before he had gotten over.

I got up and went to grab my jacket from the closet.

"Where ya goin'?" Duo asked.

"The market."

"Oh, yeah. Hey, don't forget to grab some extra stuff. Trowa and Kathrine will be here day after tomorrow."

"Yeah."

I had nearly forgotten that Katherine was coming too. That meant I would either be taking the couch or Duo's bunk and Duo would be taking the couch. Either way, Kathrine would be getting my room. Quatre had insisted, so that everything would remain "decent." He was pretty worked up about them coming for some reason. I mean, sure Trowa was his best friend but the day before they arrived, Quatre was running all around the apartment, cleaning anything he could get his hands on. He straightened his room and hid away all of the papers (the first time I had seen him away from those stupid papers in three weeks) and even managed to tame Duo and Wufei's room. Wufei stood silent in shock, staring at the carpet.

"I had forgotten it was blue," he said, his voice lost in utter bewilderment.

I stood and watched him a moment, I almost-ALMOST-wanted to smile, but then I heard some noise coming from my room.

"What the…?"

Quatre emerged, rushing to find something else to clean. I peeped in. It was sunny. He had taken out all of the crap and hung some cheery curtains that Relena had sent us. He made the bed, put a pillow on it. It looked like a girls room. I just shuddered and went to set up camp in Duo and Wufei's room. They would both be in their bunk beds, and I would be in a sleeping bag on the floor. A room with Duo and Wufei, the two most extreme of us. It'll build character, I told myself.

Wufei's alarm went off before dawn the next morning. I could hear Wufei stirring in his top bunk, and crawled out of my sleeping bag as I heard him come down the ladder.

"I thought you weren't going to set the alarm," I growled at the flannel-clad boy.

"I didn't," he snarled back, with equal venom.

I blinked and looked around the room. Wufei moved over to the dresser and grabbed some clothes and stuff to take to the shower. Duo was still asleep in his bottom bunk. Wufei shot him an angry look.

"WAKE UP YOU LAZY GOOD FOR NOTHING PIG!" he yelled, hurling a shoe with incredible aim out our resident braided baka. The footwear landed right in Duo's stomach, and he woke with a yelp. Wufei snorted and stormed out of the room.

Duo watched him go, then sighed and settled back down to go to sleep.

"I wouldn't go back to sleep if I were you," I said, "Katherine and Trowa will be here in an hour or two."

He groaned and shook his head. "I'll be ready. Just let me catch another half hour, just a half hour."

I looked at him. It was common knowledge that Duo Maxwell WAS NOT a morning person in the slightest, but this was odd. I don't know why, but while Duo's predicament seemed just as comical as always, he seemed to be radiating serious undertones.

"Duo, are you okay?" I asked, trying to sound more reprimanding then concerned.

He sat bolt upright in bed, nearly cracking his head on the top bunk, and looked at me, giving me the same deer-in-headlights look he had given Quatre the day before.

"Yes, of course I'm fine," he said, all to quickly and all to squeakily, "why wouldn't I be?"

"You seem to be acting strange this morning."

"Haha," he laughed animatedly, unnaturally loud, "Heero, you're crazy. I'm acting normal. Are you going loopy on us, Mr. Perfect Soldier?"

I was silently kicking myself as I left the room to go to the kitchen.

Quatre was practically skipping through the apartment. He was fully dressed and polished, and had given up trying to look busy, simply resolving to pace aimlessly through the rooms. The rest of us were lounging around in the living room, waiting for Trowa and Katherine. They were ten minutes overdue and I thought Quatre was going to run himself into a sweat. But I was the only one watching. Wufei was deeply engrossed in some disgustingly thick book, and Duo was listening to his headphones annoyingly loud. It was obvious that he was fighting the urge to sing along to his CD of this really old band called The ranberries (***Cranberries just for you, Haruka!***). I hated watching those two, I hated watching how engrossed they could be in such boring pastimes. Since I've never actually found music or reading entertaining, the only thing I could do was watch Quatre zip around, unstraightening then straightening everything that wasn't nailed down. I have never seen him so worked up. He let out a small shriek when the doorbell finally rang. I was about to get up to get the door, but by the way Quatre sprinted to it, I figured it best to just sit. Quatre threw open the door. Wufei, Duo, and I all stood and moved to the door. Quatre gave Trowa a short hug, as did Duo. Wufei and I simply shook his hand. I looked at Trowa, he hadn't changed a bit. Except that there was a certain lightness about him, like there was something happy in his eyes, but I didn't look at it long. I was distracted by the sight of Quatre and Katherine, engaged in a kiss so passionate that one might have mistaken the two for enemies trying to suck each others faces off. It would be an understatement to say that Wufei, Duo, and I were not all completely shocked by the spectacle.

Trowa chuckled. "When Quatre came to visit me at the circus for a few days, he and Kathy just hit it off, and all of a sudden this guy was showing up at every town we played at, and all of the other circus people are walking around talking about what a cute couple Kathy and Q make." Wufei scowled at such a public display of affection, I tried my hardest not to stare. Duo made no such effort. He continued to gawk at them, until he finally uttered "Damn."

Katherine and Quatre parted from the kiss, both gasping for breath. The blonde turned and smiled sheepishly at the rest of us.

"Uhh, hehe, I guess I forgot to mention…" Quatre began.

"Yeah yeah, whatever," Duo said, impatiently, "hey, now that these two are here, let's go out! We're all back together again! We gotta go celebrate!"

"That doesn't seem like such a bad idea," Trowa mused, thoughtfully. I nodded in agreement. A night on the town did sound like fun.

Duo stopped and gawked at us, wide-eyed. "Really?"

"Yeah Duo, good thinking. But let's just wait until me and Kathy get unpacked," Trowa said.

"Let's all go somewhere fancy then!" Duo declared, "someplace really ritzy, where they'll kick you out if you have the wrong socks or something!"

"Alright Duo," Quatre said, smiling at Duo's enthusiasm. Kathrine, who was grinning slyly, leaned over to Quatre and whispered (rather loudly) "I brought the little red dress." Quatre paled and nearly fell out of his chair.