Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ A Year of Love ❯ A Year of Love ( One-Shot )

A Year of Love

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

March: Lent

Quatre watched silently as Trowa walked into their shared apartment

and then slumped onto the sofa. "Something wrong?" he asked.

Trowa shook his head. "Hilde and I broke up."

Quatre immediately scooted over to hug his best friend. "I'm so

sorry! Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Don't be." Trowa leaned into the embrace. "We realized that we

were both using each other; her to make Duo jealous and me

because . . ." He trailed off. "We're still friends."

"Are you sure you don't need anything?"

"I'm just feeling a little lonely."

"Don't worry Trowa. As long as I'm here, you'll never be alone."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

April Showers:

Trowa entered the apartment and felt a sense of deja-vu. Except this

time Quatre was crying his heart out on the couch. Trowa quickly

locked the door and sat on the sofa, pulling Quatre into a strong

embrace. "What happened?"

Quatre turned a tear-streaked face up to him. "D-dorothy, I, I, I

found h-her in the" he broke off and buried his head in Trowa's

shoulder. "I found her in the staff room."

"And?"

"She and Nichols." It was barely loud enough to hear, but more than

enough to let Trowa know what happened. He cuddled Quatre closer and

kissed his hair. "It's alright Quat. I'm here for you. I'll always

be here for you."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

May Flowers:

Quatre glanced out the window of his office. Days like this were

made for being outdoors. Not stuck in an office doing paperwork. He

sighed; of course no one else could do his job so he should just shut-

up and bear it. Maybe if he was lucky he would get out early enough

for a short walk before dinner.

*zzt* #Mr. Winner, there's an officer from the Preventors here.#

~What does Une want now?~ Last time it had been an investigation on

mobile suit production. More specifically, on whether ~he~ was

building Gundams. Which he was, but that was neither here nor

there. ~I spent a month chasing down leaks last time. Allah, not

again!~ "Send him or her straight in."

"Did I catch you at a bad time?" Trowa was standing there, in full

Preventor regalia, holding something behind his back. "Trowa!"

Quatre started to smile, but then stopped. "What does Une want?"

"I told your secretary that Une wants you to help her investigate

some suspicious cousins of Trieze Kushrenada." He stepped up to the

desk. "But that's a lie. It's just an excuse to kidnap you and take

a break for the rest of the day. Oh, and to give you these." He

held out a small bunch of dandelions.

"Dandelions?" Trowa shrugged uncomfortably. "I couldn't think of

anything that you couldn't buy yourself. I don't think any flower

shop would sell these though."

Quatre reached up and took the flowers from Trowa's hand. "Why thank

you! And you're right, they're something you can't exactly buy, you

have to go out and get them yourself."

"Duo suggested it."

Quatre nodded. "Not surprised. Dandelions are his favorites."

Trowa ducked his head. "So?"

"So?"

"Are you coming, or would you rather stay here and work on . . .

whatever it is you're working on?" Quatre glanced at the dandelions,

then the paperwork, dandelions again. Finally he looked up at

Trowa. Trowa appeared calm as ever, but his eyes seemed to be asking

him to come. He looked down at the paperwork one last time and made

his decision.

"I'm sorry Trowa, but thousands of workers of WEI depend on this."

Trowa gave him puppy-dog eyes. Quatre tried to keep up a stern

facade but he really did want to go with him. "What about a

compromise? I'm still not going to leave now, but I promise to leave

early tonight."

"Four."

"Four? But-"

"Nope. Be out of here by four o'clock, or I drag you out now."

Determined green eyes met hesitating turquoise. Cat finally gave

in. "Alright." Trowa nodded and gave Cat a self-satisfied smirk and

sat down. "Trowa?"

"I'll just stay here and make sure you really do leave. You really

do need someone to take care of you Cat."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

June: Jitter Bugs

"Feh, how did Maxwell drag us all here?" Wufei muttered darkly to

himself, tugging on the collar of his tuxedo.

"Oh it's not that bad Wufei." Quatre smiled at the struggling

Chinese pilot. Rather than rent a tuxedo, a decision Wufei was

clearly regretting, his own navy suit was custom made. Not

comfortable by any stretch of the imagination, but better than

wearing something three inches too long in the leg and two sizes too

small in the jacket.

"Yeah! Besides, it's not like people like us get invited to the

debut of royalty everyday!" Maxwell was also wearing a tuxedo, but

it was as flamboyant as possible. Tails, a frilled violet shirt, red

cummerbund and oversized gold cufflinks in the shape of skulls.

Flamboyant, perhaps a better word would be morbid. Still, he managed

to carry it off.

"Stupid Western custom." Wufei said this under his breath but Duo

managed to hear him anyway. Grabbing Wufei's head he turned him

towards the dance floor. "Stupid maybe, but I'd say that more than

makes up for the inconvenience, doesn't it?"

Hiiro and Relena were dancing together. Relena was resplendent in a

blue strapless and pearls while Hiiro matched her in a maroon full

suit. No tails, but vest, tie and jacket all matched. But the

former pilots weren't looking at the couple's clothes, but rather at

the smiles that blossomed over their faces.

"You're right." Wufei conceded. "Hiiro should have a chance to be a

normal person once in a while. If it means a little discomfort on

our part; that's not a great price. This is justice."

"Ahb-sou-loot-taly!" Duo gave Wufei a clap on the back that almost

knocked him over then went off into the crowd. "Oh Hilde" he sang

out. "You owe me money! I won our bet!"

"A bet? Do I want to know what they bet about or should I revel in

my ignorance?" The last member of their party spoke up. Trowa

hadn't bothered with a tuxedo. Like Hiiro, he only wore a suit

jacket over formal slacks and shirt, but the jacket was currently

off, revealing what Hilde called an 'amusing' set of suspenders.

"You're better off not knowing." With that comment Wufei also

abandoned the corner, seeking his own date of the evening, Sylvia

Noventa.

"So are you enjoying yourself Quatre?"

"Not really. I mean, I thought since I didn't go through this

myself, I might want to experience it, but frankly not having anyone

to take with me . . . it's depressing."

"Depressing? It's not as if you're being deprived of anything."

"You mean all the girls who keep coming up to ask me to dance?" He

made a slight face before smoothing his expression out. "No, I mean

I wish I knew someone well enough to feel comfortable bringing them

here. Even you asked Catherine to accompany you."

"I only asked Catherine because she wanted to see what a debut was

like." He straightened up and looked out over the crowd. "However,

she seems to be spending most of her time around the buffet so I'm

not sure how much she's actually getting out of it."

"Still, you feel comfortable enough to bring her. If I had had time

for something like this . . ." Quatre trailed off and shook his

head. "What? Go on." Trowa urged.

"No, I was just thinking about Dorothy again." He gestured to Hiiro

and Relena. "Relena asked Hiiro to accompany her because they have a

strong relationship."

"They love each other."

"No, not yet. Maybe in a few years or so. But the point is I have

no one I'm really close to, not even as a friend." Trowa quirked an

eyebrow and said, "So what am I, lion bait?"

Quatre giggled a bit at that. "Not lion ~bait~, no. Lion tamer

perhaps." He sobered up. "Yes, maybe you. But it's not as if I can

ask you out on the dance floor for a waltz."

"Well if not on the dance floor . . ." Another song was starting

up. He grabbed Quatre's hand and dragged him out to the

balcony. "May I have this dance, Quatre Winner?"

Quatre blinked. Once. Twice. "Ah, Trowa . . .?"

"Cathy won't mind, she's stuffing her face down there. Besides no

one can see us up here."

Quatre looked at their joined hands. "Sure why not."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

July: Independence Day

"And once again Maxwell has dragged us to another pointless American

ritual." This time Wufei was with Sally Po, who was trying to stuff

him full of junk food. Duo had introduced the good doctor to cotton

candy and she'd been snacking on the stuff all day, leading to her

insane sugar high, wild giggles and other very un-Sally Po-ish

behavior.

"Don't be rude Wufei." Relena admonished him gently. "We're here to

see Trowa and Catherine's new act too."

Wufei was not appeased. "And where the hell is Barton? He should-"

Wufei was cut off by someone tapping him on the shoulder. Turning

around, prepared to give a long rambling rant to whoever was foolish

enough to annoy him; he received a face full of water. Sputtering,

he realized it was Trowa, holding one of those gag flowers that

clowns and Duo seem to think are funny. "You looked a bit hot and

irritated, so I borrowed this to cool you off." Quatre giggled at

that and Trowa glanced over at him, flashing a small smile.

"Why-of all the-dishonorable-INJUSTICE!" Wufei stormed off, or at

least, he tried to. Sally and Duo had too firm a grip on his arms to

let him get away. "Yo, chill Wu-babe, it's only water! Good ole H(2)

O y'know . . ."

Trowa ignored the chaos that always accompanied his friends. "Cathy

and I have saved you a bunch of seats up front, so if we're all

ready?" A chorus of assents answered him and they all started moving

towards the main tent. Trowa dropped back to speak with Quatre, who

was trailing behind everyone. "You alright?"

"Ah, um, yes." Quatre roused himself a bit. "Just a busy week and

too little sleep kicking in all at once."

"And too little food if I know you. You really need someone to take

care of you, Cat." Worried green eyes traced over his best friend's

slender form.

"I'm alright. Just don't expect me to take part in the late night

keggerfest Duo's planning. I'll probably keel over right after the

fireworks."

"Why don't you stay the night here? I don't trust you driving home

in this condition." Hazy turquoise eyes looked up at Trowa's face.

Before he could get his question out, Trowa overrode it. "Cathy

won't mind if we share the guest bed."

Blink. Once. Twice. "If I wasn't so tired I'd be arguing with

you. But as is . . . as long as she doesn't mind . . . I have no

objections."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

August: Pool Party

"It's toooooo hooooot here." Duo complained lazily. "Let's go to

Siberia again. Or the Antarctic. Or Mt. Everest. Anyplace cold."

Quatre had been in Kuwait visiting the Magaunacs in August. His

friends had all flown in for the week, to give him a surprise

birthday party. The surprise had been welcome, the heat wave that

had come the last part of the week was not.

"You could just go inside if you're that uncomfortable. The house

~is~ air conditioned." Quatre seemed amused by his guests'

lethargy. "I made lemonade for everyone."

"Oh, you're a lifesaver Quatre! Marry me, please?" Hilde grabbed a

glass off the tray he was holding.

"I thought you were seeing Duo?"

"I don't mind sharing!" Duo declared. "Three's better than two!"

"That's enough!" Trowa growled suppresively. He looked up at their

host. "Aren't you hot in that?" Quatre was wearing his old outfit,

khakis and pale rose buttoned-up shirt. No vest and the shirt was

untucked, but still a lot on such a hot day.

"Nope, it's only 32 today, not that bad."

"Not that bad!?!?" That was from Duo.

"You forget, I grew up in this type of climate. You think it's bad

now, wait until the thermometer hits 40 or so. Then you can complain

to me."

"Still" A gleam of mischief in Trowa's eyes. "You should cool down

a bit, don't want to get a heatstroke now, do we?" He waved Hiiro

over and they began stalking Quatre.

"What do you mean?"

"This" Then Trowa and Hiiro grabbed Quatre and tossed him into the

pool.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

September: School Days

"I don't understand why I have to go to school with these

intellectual vegetables!"

"What's wrong Marimeia?" Quatre wasn't a full time Preventor the way

Trowa and Wufei were, but he was occasionally called in as a

consultant.

"I already know all the stuff they're teaching in school. It's

boring, crowded, and everyone's so ignorant!"

"Why aren't you making any friends?"

Marimeia looked up with tears in her eyes. He'd hit on the biggest

issue straight on. "I can't talk to anyone. All the girls want to

talk about are pop stars, clothes and boys! They don't understand

anything!" It was difficult maneuvering around the wheelchair, but

Quat managed it and pulled her into a warm embrace. "Whenever I try

to talk about what Relena's doing in the colonies or new mobile suit

laws or even Lady Une's work they stare at me as if I was speaking

nonsense! Even if I'm making chit-chat about Kefka's Metamorphosis

or Dostoyevski (1) they act like I'm a freak!"

She started to cry. "Hush now, you're not a freak. You're just

advanced for you're age, which makes you very precious and unique."

"Tell Lady Une I shouldn't be in school, please Uncle Quatre. I

don't need it; the only thing I really need help on is math and you

could help me with that! Please, Uncle Quatre?"

"I'm not sure if we should stop you're schooling altogether, but

maybe we could move you a few grades up. Or perhaps you should go to

the school that Relena's founding, it might be more suitable for

you." He pulled a handkerchief out of his sleeve and dried her

eyes. "Now go wash your face. Then I'll take you out to visit

Noin's new baby. Would you like that?"

"Yes! Thank you, Uncle Quatre!" Marimeia wheeled herself off.

"You handled that well." Trowa had been watching from a darkened

alcove in the lobby.

"I went through something like that right after the war." Quatre

turned towards him. "My father had hired tutors for all of us, so I

wanted to experience ordinary high school. He made a face. "I

didn't last six months." Trowa looked incredulous. "It wasn't the

work, it was the environment. Too easy and too many hormones in the

air to really feel comfortable. So I left and went back to running

WEI and just hired some tutors."

"You're still . . ."

"I'm going to apply for college next year. I'm setting up the

business so that Iria, Yui and Juri can run it while I'm in college,

then I'll take full control after my 21st birthday."

"Hm." Then a non-sequitur. "You're going to make a great father

someday."

"I beg your pardon?"

"The way you handled Marimeia, it was perfect."

"Uh, thanks, I think." Quatre seemed to lose a bit of his cheer. "I

don't think I'll get an opportunity though. And even if I did, I'd

probably be as bad at it as my father was."

"What? You seem great with children."

"I know, but . . ."

"Your father?"

"He tried Trowa, he really did." Quatre seemed defensive in his

outburst. "But it's easy to get lost among 29 other siblings, not to

mention I always felt that we all came second to the business. I

don't want to turn out like that."

"You won't. I'm sure of it."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

October: Halloween

Another holiday, another party. Somewhere in the background was the

sound of Wufei attempting to kill Duo for dragging them to 'another

stupid American ritual'. Trowa stumbled about, trying to avoid being

groped by the various guests the American invited. The general party

atmosphere was making people uninhibited, but Trowa was uninterested

in the casual one-night stands that every random stranger and his

mother were making him. Who were these ~people~?

He had almost made it out when he was stopped at the door. "Good

evening" a soft, semi-familiar contralto voice whispered to him. The

speaker was short and dressed in a thin pale blue dress. A pair of

angel wings were attached to the back. The girl had short, almost

boyishly-cut blonde hair streaked with blue glitter, which matched

the pale blue make-up that she used to highlight her high cheek bones

and sky-blue eyes. She was actually fairly beautiful, in his

opinion. And uncannily familiar too.

"Wanna suck my blood, bad boy?" Trowa grimaced, he should never have

agreed to dress as Dracula. "That line went out with the CE

calendar."

"Geez Trowa, don't you recognize me?"

"Sally has gone as an 'innocent Catholic school-girl', Relena is a

doctor and Sylvia is a harlequin. I don't know any other blondes. I

don't know you and I don't care to."

"I guess my costume works better than I thought." The voice dropped

a bit into the tenor range.

"Oh . . . my . . . god. QUATRE?!?!" Trowa was flabbergasted. "You

look great! I didn't even realize it was you!"

Cat chuckled. "That's the point." He adjusted the top of the

dress. "I borrowed this from Relena. She said it would hide the

falsies. But I guess I still need to work on my pick up lines a bit."

Trowa nodded. "Still, very realistic for you first time." He held

out his hand. "Wanna go scare Duo?"

Quatre smiled back and gleefully took the offered hand. "Of course!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

November: To Give Thanks

*SLAM*

"Trowa? What's wrong?" Quatre got up from where he had been reading

Agatha Christie's 'Murder on the Orient Express' and made his way

over to the still cursing Trowa.

"It's just been a really horrible day Cat." Trowa quickly went off

to wash the rain and stress away.

When he cam back out of the bathroom he noticed a tray with two mugs

of hot cocoa topped with whipped cream on the coffee table. Quatre

was seated on the couch with a large quilt pulled around him. Upon

seeing Trowa, he gestured that he should join him under the quilt.

Trowa gratefully took advantage of the opportunity. Once he had laid

down and was cuddled in Quatre's embrace, the tension, which had not

been alleviated by the shower, started to fade. "Just tell me all

about it." Cat whispered to him. "I'm ready and willing to listen."

"It's just so stupid. I woke up this morning and realized that my

alarm hadn't gone off so I was late. Because of that I missed

breakfast and only had a cold cup of tea to start off with. I was in

such a rush I forgot my umbrella and it's been raining hard all day.

My car's still in the shop and I missed the bus so I had to walk to

work, which made me even more late. When I got there Une was pissed

that I hadn't finished my report on the last mission, and I had left

all the paperwork for my medical examination at home. She threatened

to fire me. The coffee machine exploded while I was standing next to

it, thanks to Duo; one of the secretaries brought in her whiny kid,

who ended up smearing ~something~, I don't know what, all over my

desk; I got caught in a half-hour argument with Wufei on the matter

of Relena's security measures, a pay-cut, two paper cuts, spilled

coffee over the report that was due to Une yesterday, then finally

missed the bus again on the way home." He took a deep breath after

his rant. "And that's it."

Quatre was silent for a moment, digesting all that his flatmate had

told him. "Well, I can't do anything about the weather or you

missing the bus. However I did buy you a new alarm clock because I

saw the old one was broken. And the shop called saying we could pick

up your car tomorrow. I saw the copy of your report and paperwork

here so I dropped it off with Une this afternoon; after I had gone

with Duo to buy a replacement coffee-brewer for the one he had

broke. I noticed your desk on the way out, and cleaned that off

too. I can talk to Une about your salary, and I already cleared up

the Darlian security situation with Wufei on the phone a half-hour

ago. As for the paper cuts, where are they?" Trowa held up his left

hand. Quatre quickly kissed the two thin lines of broken

skin. "It's not antiseptic, but it always made me feel better when

Iria did that." He readjusted the comforter to better cover

them. "Now, did anything good happen today?"

Trowa smiled for the first time that day. "I didn't think so, but

looking back . . . I got a letter from Kathy with a picture of the

new trapeze artist. Duo bought cappuccinos for us to make up for

blowing up the coffee-brewer. You called me at lunch to tell me how

Marimeia is doing in Relena's school. And I ran out of shampoo and

had to use yours."

"How is using my shampoo a good thing?"

"I don't know, it just is." Trowa sipped a bit more of his

cocoa. "And finally, I came home to a best friend willing to make

hot cocoa for me and listen to all my problems and to hug them away.

Now that I think about it, it wasn't such a bad day after all."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

December: Mistletoe

"Okay, now that ~everyone~ is here" Duo mock-glared at the Merquise

Family, Milliardo, Noin and little Stephen, who had arrived just

before dinner. "We can finally start opening presents." He reached

out to grab a shiny wrapped package from his pile but Hiiro stopped

him. "Youngest first." He said succinctly.

"Aw, man." Hiiro death-glared at Duo; not that it did much good

since Duo was long since grown resistant to Hiiro's death-

glares. "Go ahead Marimeia."

She chose Quatre's, which was wrapped in soft navy-blue crepe

paper. "Be careful" he said. "It's fragile." Opening it revealed a

small glass orb, with the continents of the world frosted onto

it. "Quatre, it's beautiful." she gasped.

"Um, it's kind of tactless too, isn't it? It's not exactly the

Earthsphere, but . . . well"

"It's lovely. I'll take good care of it."

The first round of presents went like this: Relena received 'Men are

from Mars, Women are from Venus' from Wufei (which promptly was

returned, at a speed that would have concussed if it had impacted),

Hiiro got a pair of tickets for sky-diving from Sally ("Geez Sal,

trying to kill him already?"), and Duo got an forgery of a Mona Lisa

from Sylvia ("I'd tell you how, but that would be incriminating

myself."). Hilde got watercolor painting by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law

from Quatre, Trowa got a new sweater from Kathy, and gave her a

cookbook. Quatre received a subscription to 'Playboy' magazine from

Duo, Sylvia got homemade fruitcake from Hilde ("Trust me, this isn't

the factory produced version, this is a Scheibeiker specialty with

enough rum to get you drunk off a single slice.") and Hiiro gave

Wufei a scroll depicting the Legend of Nataku on it. Relena gave

Sally a mini-Wing figurine made of Gundanium from L1. Une's gift to

the Merquise was a rose clipping from Trieze's bushes and in return

got a stack of 'How to be a good parent'. She promised solemnly to

read them.

The second round was quite similar: Relena got a set of white lace

underwear from Duo and gave him, in addition to a rather nasty glare,

the entire 'Paradise Kiss' manga. Hiiro received a book of poetry

and Hilde got two season's passes from Trowa who in turn got an

annotated copy of the Kama Sutra from Wufei. Duo was laughing so

hard at this that they didn't continue until five minutes later.

Kathy received another cookbook from Wufei ("Are you people trying to

tell me something?"). Quatre also got a book from Wufei, the 'Tales

of Genji', which induced yet another round of snickering. Trowa gave

Sylvia a CD of him performing Galway on his flute, Wufei got a

decorative dagger from Une and Sally a check for an antique bookstore

from Hiiro. Une got a framed picture of her and Marimeia with a poem

written thanking Une for taking care of her. Zechs and Noin were

presented with baby clothes for Stephen from Marimeia as well.

Probably the oddest gift of that round was a copy of

Machiavelli's 'The Prince' from Relena to Marimeia.

The third round, things started getting interesting. Sylvia gave

Trowa an authentic Renaissance mask and Cathy a vase of Venetian

glass. Quatre got a sweater and a scarf from Cathy, Sylvia a gold

and topaz necklace from Quatre and Wufei a "How to Kiss for Dummies"

book from Sally. Sally received a book of Bradshaw's poetry from

Noin and Sappho's from Zechs. Wufei gave Marimeia a wooden dove that

he had handcrafted himself, Une got a set of hair pins from Duo and

the Merquise received a set of stationary, pens, ink and whatnot from

Relena. Hiiro gave Relena another Teddy Bear.

"Is that it?" Duo accused. "Another Bear? You're not planning on

leaving again are you?"

"What would you suggest?"

"Watch this." Then Duo reached into his braid and withdrew a small

velvet box. Getting down on one knee before Hilde he spoke those

cliche, but still romantic words: "Hilde, I love you. I can't

imagine life without you. Would you marry me?"

She promptly burst into tears, but she was smiling, nodding and

laughing while doing it.

Of course, you can't really top that kind of present, so the party

broke up and agreed to finish unwrapping tomorrow morning. Quatre

and Trowa stayed down to help Hiiro and Relena clean up and so were

the last to get to bed.

"Uh, Quatre?"

"Yes, Trowa?" Trowa handed a small CD to Quatre. "I thought I

should give this to you in private, and this seems like the perfect

time."

"Why thank you Trowa. I'm afraid my gift to you is still downstairs

though." Trowa waved it off. "What is it?"

"It's everything I could find on a woman named Quaterine Raberba,

including her personal diary and many family pictures of her."

Quatre was shocked. He looked at Trowa with wide eyes and his mouth

was slightly parted. "Wha-wha-what?" Trowa smirked, leaned down

then kissed him. Quatre jerked back. "What the heck was that for?"

Trowa pointed upwards. "Mistletoe" Quatre stared blankly at him for

a moment, then chuckled. "Very funny, Mr. Barton."

"Hm. Merry Christmas Quatre."

"Merry Christmas Trowa. Good-night and sweet dreams."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

January: New Beginnings

"Now don't forget guys, if you don't kiss someone at the stroke of

midnight you'll have bad luck for the next year." Duo laughingly

addressed this to Quatre and Trowa who were watching the upcoming New

Year's celebration from the balcony of Relena's house. "Come on

Duo!" Hilde shouted from below. "The countdown's gonna start soon!"

"Bad luck, hmm?" Trowa turned to his companion. "Too bad we have no

one to kiss."

Quat gave him a bittersweet smile. Last time they had celebrated the

New Year's, Trowa had been dating Hilde and he had been with

Dorothy. But this was no time to thinks about it, they had all

broken up months ago. "I suppose we could kiss each other. I don't

mind if you don't."

"Not at all."

From down below came the countdown. "10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-HAPPY NEW

YEARS!" All the couples were already engaged in liplocks, Hiiro and

Relena, Duo and Hilde, Zechs and Noin. Marimeia kissed little

Stephen and surprisingly Une stole one from Wufei. Cathy and Sally

apparently decided not to take their chances and were kissing each

other, while Sylvia kissed her new beau, a Marcus from Relena's old

school.

Trowa and Quatre were also kissing. Quat had intended a quick peck

just to be safe but Trowa had different ideas. It was long and hot,

and when Quatre opened his mouth in surprise, Trowa plundered it with

his tongue. Finally pulling back and breathing heavily, Trowa leaned

so forward so that he was looking deeply into Quatre's eyes, their

panting breaths intermingling. "My dear, dear Quatre." he

whispered. "It's a time for new beginnings. And I think it's a new

beginning for us as well."

". . ."

"I love you Quatre."

"NO! I HATE YOU!" Quatre ripped himself from Trowa's embrace and

fled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

February: Valentine's Day

Quatre slumped against the lintel of the door. He had moved out of

the apartment he shared with Trowa and into a larger house. He had

thrown himself into WEI, trying to forget what had happened New

Year's Eve. All that led to him coming home tired after a strenuous

week, to a lonely empty house. Today had been particularly trying,

especially with so many people leaving early for the

holiday. "Praise Allah, it's Friday." he muttered to himself. He

locked the door behind him, took of his coat and turned around to be

confronted by a warm fluffy towel. Looking up, he saw Trowa, at

least he did before he was wrapped in the towel and briskly rubbed

down.

"Wha-what are you doing here?" He asked.

"Taking care of you." Trowa replied. "I've made you're favorite,

beef tournedoes in mushroom and wine sauce, rice pilaf and vegetable

stir-fry. I've got a hot bath set up for you, with one of those

pearl things you like." He picked up Quatre and started towards the

bathroom. "I've got other things prepared, but I'll tell you after

dinner."

"Why are you doing this?" Trowa kissed Quatre on the ear. "Because

I love you."

Quatre looked away. "I hate you."

"Whatever you say." And they continued to walk up the stairs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(1)Russian authors are not my specialty. Give me Petronius or Cicero

any instead.

Niu Shiy-Ue