Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Infidelity ❯ One-Shot

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
Title: "Infidelity"
Disclaimer:If I owned Gundam Wing, do you think I would have killed off Trieze? Well, actually, I probably would have, but Zechs wouldn't have survived either!
Author: Me! (In my 3 AM loopyness)
Archive: You want it, go ahead. You don't even have to ask me for it as long as you give me proper credit. I do however reserve the right to ask that it be taken down if you're using it as an anti-whatever example (anti-yaoi, anti-Quatre, anti-GW, you know the deal).
Pairings: 3x4 main, implied 1+R, 2+H, C+OC, unrequited D+4
Warnings: Some swearing, homophobia, Wufei-bashing, angst
Rating: PG-13
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"So how's Quatre?" Hiiro put down his coffee and glanced at his taller, green-eyed partner.

"Fine" Coffee with Hiiro had become a weekly ritual. Every Wed. they went to the L3 Deli (which was certainly not from L3) down the street from Preventors HQ. Any other day they might eat lunch over reports, go out with their significant others or simply grab a bite from the vending machine, but every Wed. barring a mission, they ate together at the deli. Coffee, cream and two sugars, and Caesar salad for Hiiro, coffee black and Italian sub for Trowa. "Working late."

"He's been doing that a lot lately?"

"Hn." Trowa took another sip of coffee.

"Don't you ever worry?"

"About what?"

Hiiro toyed with his fork. "When Relena's working late, sometimes I wonder . . ." Trowa made an inquisitive noise. "I wonder if she's cheating on me."

"Hiiro-"

"I know, I know. I trust her. But sometimes I wonder what she could possibly see in me. And I'm scared that someday she's going to wake up and realize that she could do so much better and throw me out of her life."

Trowa felt a thrill of terror run up his spine. "Re-Relena's not like that. She wouldn't . . ."

Hiiro offered him a slow smirk. "I know. But that doesn't mean I don't wonder sometimes." He took another sip of coffee. "You're lucky you don't have those doubts."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Thank you for accompanying me to this function, Trowa." Relena smiled up at her escort's face.

He gave her a quick smile. "The Perfect Soldier brought down by a common cold. Who would believe it?"

Relena sighed and wound her arm with his. "The war is over. None of you have to be perfect anymore; you don't need to put the mission in front of your humanity. I'm still trying to convince Hiiro that's it's alright to have flaws, he doesn't need to be a superhuman for me. Can you believe it took me two hours to persuade him that I'd be safe with you as a bodyguard? He was all dressed and armed to go out when I got home from the Senate."

He chuckled. "I believe it." He'd do the same thing if it had been Quatre and he'd been in the same position as Hiiro.

"Still, I wish he was here." She unwound her arm from his and straightened her coiffure. "For the support?"

"Partially." Apparently satisfied with her hair, she took his arm again and started moving towards the entrance. "Partially because it cuts down on regrets."

"Regrets?"

"Oh not real regrets." She laughed it off easily. "Just might-have-beens. Sometimes I look around and see an aquaintance I remember from school, and I wonder what would have happened if I had never met Hiiro, if I had lived a more normal life."

Another stir of unease. This reminded him of his conversation with Hiiro from two days ago. "Do you think you would be happier?"

"No, of course not." She seeemed surprised. "It's just nostalgia for a childhood dream. White picket fence, a dog, 2.5 children, kiddy things. When Hiiro's present it reminds me off how much better reality is, but when we're apart . . . sometimes I wonder what it would have been like."
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"TRO-DUDE!!!" Twin enthusiastic shouts were his only warning before double glomps nearly knocked him over.

"Duo. Hilde"

"And Q-Man!"

"Quatre!"

"Greetings Duo. And Hilde, lovelier than ever." He bowed and kissed her hand. Hilde tittered while Duo fake-pouted. "Stealing my wife Winner? Then I'll just have to make-out with Ol' Stoneface here."

"Get off." Duo immediatly began mock-crying and throwing himself on Trowa. "Don't you love me anymore?"

"Food's over there."

"What! Where? Show me!" Duo started to drag him off. Hilde turned to Quatre. "Look at that! My boyfriend obviously loves food more than he loves me!"

"His loss then. Would the beautiful lady care to dance with my unworthy self as compensation?"

"Of course!"

Trowa watched Duo pile his plate at the buffet table. "Hilde's dancing with Quatre." he informed Duo.

"Aw, shucks, I guess I'll just have to claim all the slow dances with her then." They made their way over to a corner, away from traffic. "I've got a question I've been meaning to ask you."

" . . . "

"Do you ever get jealous?"

"About what?"

Duo shrugged and swallowed. "About all the flirting he does."

"No why should I?"

"Just curious." He took another bite, chewed and swallowed. Trowa waited patiently for him to continue. "Hilde used to get so mad at me when I flirted with men or other women. It wasn't until we got together that I realized how scared she was that I might leave her."

"Would you have?"

"Back then? Maybe. But we're well past that point now."

"Hn"

"You mean you've never thought about it? Wow, you really trust Q doncha?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Did you miss the circus?"

"Yes"

"Did you miss me?"

" . . . "

"So how is work?"

"Fine"

"And your friend Duo?"

"Fine"

"Argh! Can't you say anything other than fine!"

" . . . "

"How about Relena?"

"Fine"

"What about Hiiro?"

"He has the flu."

"At least that's not a fine." Catherine mumbled under her breath. "How are things with Quatre?"

" . . . "

"I see." She stirred the soup for a while. "You know it won't last."

" . . . !"

"Have the two of you ever discussed children?" She turned to look out the window, where her own son David was playing with her husband Evan. Evan was one of the trapeze artists with the circus.

"What does that have anything to do with it?"

"He needs an heir Trowa." She turned back and placed a bowl of broccoli and cheese in front of him. "Do you think he's going to fail his family and not secure their buisness? He needs an heir of his own blood, and you can't give that to him."

Trowa got up, violently knocking over his chair and causing the soup to slosh over the edge of the bowl onto the table. "What are you trying to say? That Quatre would discard me just to please his family? That he doesn't love me?"

"Maybe, maybe not. But all he needs is an heir. Does it even matter if it's legitimate or not?"
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"Quatre Raberba Winner! How nice to see you again!" If Dorothy had been anyone else, Trowa would have said she was gushing, but Dorothy never gushed. " . . . "

"And Quatre Raberba's shadow, of course." She peeked around Quatre's shoulder to look at Trowa. "Buenos noches por tu tambien."

"Dorothy" Quatre chastised. "That was not very nice."

"Oh, but my dear, my dear." She smiled, all teeth in Trowa's humble opinion. "I'm always nice. You do agree with me, don't you darling?" she tossed off in Trowa's direction. He glowered threateningly. Quatre may have forgiven her for the Libra incident, but Trowa would never forget how close he came to losing his lover because of her.

"You are a very kind woman, Dorothy, but I wouldn't call you nice."

"Well, would you be kind enough to take this poor wallflower out for a turn on the floor?" Quatre kissed her hand. "You are far, far too flamboyant to ever be a wallflower Dorothy. Still, I would be honored to dance with you." He gave a slight smile to Trowa before escorting Dorothy out onto the floor, but any reassurance he might have gained from the gesture was lost to the smirk Dorothy gave him behind Quatre's back.

He watched quietly as they waltzed through the first dance, then as Dorothy begged and recieved a second. As they continued through a third (against Quatre's protests), he felt himself get angrier and angrier. He watched every movement like a hawk; from Quatre's gentle smiles to the woman who had stabbed him to her open flirtations to his lover. He bit his lip and tasted copper.

"Hey Tro-WOAH!" Trowa turned around to spot Duo, looking slightly out of place in his tuxedo with the frilled violet shirt and fire-engine red cummerbund. "Dude, you're bleeding!"

At first Trowa thought Duo was referring to his lip, but when he raised his hand, he realized that he had crushed the fragile champagne glass in his grip and had shards of glass embedded in his palm. "Didn't realize" he grunted sourly.

Duo gave him a wierd 'what's-this-guy-on' look. "I'd better go get you some ice for that.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Here's our report." Hiiro handed the stack of paperwork to Wufei. He grunted his thanks and quickly leafed through it. "Everything seems to be in order." he begrudged. "Oh, and before I forget." He handed two badges to the two of them. Trowa examined them carefully. "We've been promoted to Majors?"

"Yuy's been promoted to Major. Your promotion was probably just courtesy."

"What the hell do you mean by that?!?" Ever since the end of the Second Eve Wars, relations had been strained between Pilots 03 and 05, but lately it seemed that Wufei really had it in for Trowa.

"I meant what I said. Do you really think they would have bothered to promote you if it wasn't as a sop to Yuy?"

"Wait a minute, Chang. Are you implying Trowa hasn't been pulling his weight on my team?" Hiiro usually ignored these regular spats between his partner and his superior, but something really seemed to have gotten into Wufei this time. Hiiro didn't like the way the conversation was going, but they needed to get this out in the open.

"I'm not questioning Barton's competency Yuy."

"Then why don't you think Trowa deserves his promotion?"

Wufei glared at him. "It's not important Yuy."

"Like hell it's not!" Trowa exploded. "What the fuck is your problem Chang!"

"It's not my problem Barton, it's yours!"

"And what the fuck do you think is my problem?"

"YOU'RE A GODDAMN HOMOSEXUAL PEDOPHILE!"

Dead silene filled the office.

"What did you just say?"

"You're a freak! They shouldn't be promoting fags like you, they should be locking them up!"

"Is that how you really feel about me?" Trowa's voice could have frozen the sun.

"Yes!"

"And Quatre?" Forget the sun, this would have cooled the Big Bang.

"No, I don't blame Quatre. It's pretty obvious you coerced him into satisfying your perversions. Innocents like him should be protected from fiends like you!"

"SHUT UP!" No one in Preventors HQ had ever heard Hiiro scream before. "Both of you!" he interjected when Wufei and Trowa opened their mouths to protest. "I'm going to Lady Une right now to get this cleared up. Trowa-" he turned to his partner. "Calm down and stay quiet. Wufei-" he turned back to their superior. "Cool off and think really hard about what you just said. I don't think Une, Sally or Noin are going to agree with your views." Hiiro stalked off.

Wufei and Trowa stared at each other, temporarily quieted by Hiiro's outburst. Trowa stepped away and leaned back against the wall, determined not to set off another argument. Unfortunately, Wufei had no such compulsion. "They can say what they like, I know I'm right." he taunted.

" . . . "

"Frankly I think Quatre's already come to his senses. It's only a matter of time before he dumps you for some pretty secretary or Doro-" Trowa slammed his fist into Wufei's jaw, knocking him out.
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Trowa looked up at the corporate Headquarters of WEI. He felt sick at heart. The past weeks had been horrible. It seemed that everyone he met was determined to shake his faith in his lover and the doubts had gone from quiet whispers to a screaming 20th century hard rock band with superpowered speakers and a million fans all crammed into a fire-safety challenged stadium. And worse, his lover had been working late for over a month now, skipping lunches, leaving home early or not coming home at all. Trowa had tried to be strong, but he desperately needed to see his lover.

The building was in no way reassuring. At this time of night he expected it to be dark and quiet, with only the guards patroling on rounds. From outside though, he could see several lights, especially at the top floor where Quatre worked, even though he was assured by the night guard that everyone had already gone home. Were his suspicions true?

He took the elevator to the second to the top floor, then walked up the stairs to the top. He walked past the empty desk of Quatre's secretary and reached the only room that was occupied. Quatre's office. He slowly opened the door and was greeted by . . .
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"Whose there?" a soft weary voice asked. "Oh Trowa, come in." There was Quatre, looking stressed and tired. "I'm sorry I've been ignoring you but . . ." he gestured helplessly to the piles of paper that surrounded him. "The factory explosion was a month ago and I'm still wading through paperwork for it."

"That's alright." Trowa smiled. Not the small, stiff, polite part smirk part grimace that he used when babysitting VIPs at formal occasions but a real one. In fact it was all he could do to keep from singing praises to the artificial skies of L4. "I thought you could use a break."

"What I wouldn't give for one. But if I finish just this one stack tonight" He patted the column just to his right which seemed considerably smaller than the others. "Then I can delegate the rest of these to subordinates tomorrow. After that I'll probably sleep for two days, but then I'm giving myself a week's worth of vacation. It's been far too long since I've had anytime to myself."

"What luck." Trowa replied. "I've got the next week off myself. Courtesy of Hiiro's debating skills. I'm sure I can stretch it so we can spend the entire week together."

If Quatre had just a bit more energy he might have purred. "That would be perfect." He arched his back and rolled his neck around. He then noticed what Trowa was carrying. "What's that?"

"Oh, ummmm, just some pastries from the Circadian Bakery down the street. The 24-hour one." Trowa's cheeks gained a slight reddish hue. He didn't want to admit that he had gotten them as a sort of comfort food, just in case his faith had been misplaced. "I thought you might need a snack."

"My lover" Quatre got up from his desk and embraced Trowa. He buried his face in Trowa's chest and nuzzled like a kitten. Trowa dropped the pastries onto Quatre's desk and cuddled him in return. "You're so wonderful, so thoughtful. Have I told you how much I love you?"

"Not today." Trowa teased back. He finally pulled himself away from the Arabian and cupped his face in his hands. "Now, where's your coffee pot? The sooner you finish that paperwork, the faster we can be relaxing at home."
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FIN
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Author's note: This entire story was written just for those last two scenes. That scenario actually happened to someone I know in real life. People kept going on and on about what a ladies' man her husband was and she thought that he was having an affair at the office. So one night she snuck in and found him stressed-out, sitting at his desk with a pile of papers. He really had been working late! I'm sorry for the Wufei bashing, I had originally intended for this to be a light-hearted comedy, but it sort of took on a life of it's own as I was writing it. Wufei kind of wrote himself in as another of Trowa's doubts; I had not intended to include anything about homophobia in the story.