Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ One Step Forward, Two Steps Back ❯ The Mistake ( Chapter 8 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Quatre went to his personal gym and started to practice his karate. It would be enough to work off his rotten mood without anyone thinking anything of it.

Boy, was Quatre upset. He had thought that he was finally getting somewhere with Trowa. He had thought that he might even be able to tell Trowa that he was gay and liked Trowa. He had even started to think that Trowa might have felt the same way about him.

Quatre knew better now though. The way Trowa had looked at that skinny blonde cheerleader proved that he wasn' t interested in boys. Quatre would never get Trowa to look at him that way. Not in a million years would Trowa ever look at him like that.

Quatre executed a quick kick to the right and inhaled deeply.

It wasn' t fair! Duo was gay and he had found Heero on the first day. Even if Heero' s intentions were a little shady, the point was that at least Duo had someone who would like him back. Duo liked someone who liked him back. There were no complications in figuring that out.

However, Quatre had just happened to fall head over heels for a straight boy. Talk about injustice! Quatre wished that he could get that stupid blonde cheerleader alone so that he could rip that smile right off her face. He'd see just how much Trowa liked her when she was scarred literally for life.

Quatre sighed and shook his head. No, there was nothing he could do. He was just going to have to face the fact that Trowa was heterosexual.

"Quatre? Phone call for you." Quatre' s uncle said as he held out the phone to Quatre.

Quatre stopped his exercise and grabbed the phone. He mouthed 'who is it?' at his uncle but the older man merely shrugged and turned away, leaving the room.

"Hello?" Quatre asked as he held the phone up to his ear.

"Quatre? Is that you?" The voice sounded familiar but Quatre couldn' t quite place it in his mind.

"Yes. Who is this?" Quatre moved to sit down on the floor.

"It' s Trowa," the voice answered. "How are you? Your uncle said that you were in the gym practicing your kicking or something like that."

"Yeah, I took a couple of fighting classes when I was younger. It' s a good way to blow off some steam when you' re mad," Quatre replied. " I' m okay now. Thanks for asking."

"You' re welcome." Quatre could almost see Trowa' s handsome face smiling back at him. Quatre almost swooned and had to force himself to listen as Trowa continued to talk. "I just phoned to ask you if you would like to walk to school with me on Monday. You don' t have to but I thought that it would be nice. Besides, you could see all of the flowers and such."

"Sounds like fun. I' d love to."

"Cool. I' ll meet you at the end of your driveway on Monday morning at about eight, then."

"All right. See you at eight."

"Bye." With that Trowa hung up.

"At eight, huh? You' d better be planning a study and not a date, Quatre," his uncle said from the driveway which he had appeared in when Quatre wasn' t paying any attention. "You know your father will not approve at all."

"A new friend of mine wants to walk with me to school so we can talk about a project we have to complete," Quatre lied quickly, hoping that his uncle would buy it.

"A boy?"

"Yes." Quatre said, reluctantly.

"Watch what you do when you answer questions and talk about people, Quatre. It gives you away," his uncle said. " One minute you' re upset and the next you' re excited, and the only different between the two is that you talked to a boy. Be happy that I' m not going to leak this information to your father. Otherwise, he' d be here in an instant."

Quatre watched as his uncle turned to leave. "Wait!"

"What?" His uncle paused in his track.

"Why aren' t you going to tell my dad?" Quatre looked questioningly into the eyes of his uncle.

"Let's just say that I know what it' s like to not be allowed to care about someone that you want to." Quatre' s uncle left the room quickly, leaving Quatre unable to ask any more questions.

Quatre sighed and moved to the mats again to continue his exercises.

If his uncle had been told not to love someone that he had truly cared for earlier in his life, then why did Quatre' s father allow him to take care of Quatre? It made no sense. Wouldn' t it be smarter to put Quatre in the company of someone who wouldn' t have any sympathy for Quatre; someone who wouldn't give Quatre help?

What was his father planning?

Quatre forced himself to think of something else. There was no reason to depress himself with thoughts of his father' s plans when they probably wouldn' t be put into action for a long time.

Besides, Trowa had phoned him. Trowa was going to walk him to school on Monday.

Even if Trowa was interested in some petite little blonde, he was going to walk Quatre to school, not her.

Which, in Quatre' s mind, put him in the victory position, not her. That was all that mattered.

" Hello you must be Duo. I' m Heero' s father." Heero could hear his father answer the door even as he headed down the stairs. Heero raced down the hallway, slowing down only when he approached the door.

"Hey Duo, come on in." Heero nodded to his father and then grabbed Duo' s hand and pulled him up the stairs and to his room.

"Whoa! What' s the rush? Is your pool going to turn back into a puddle in an hour?" Duo joked as he almost tripped in his attempt to keep up with Heero. " Come on, slow down. I' m serious. I can' t keep up!"

"Sorry." Heero apologized as he let go of Duo' s hand and opened his bedroom door. " I just don' t want you to get interrogated by my dad. It would be embarrassing."

"Why? Does he have to check out all of your boyfriends?" When Heero flashed him a look, Duo' s eyes widened. " You didn' t tell him that I was a guy, did you?"

"I told him that you were a guy." Heero replied sheepishly. " I just didn' t tell him that I was out with you specifically last night."

Duo closed his eyes in frustration. " Great Heero, really great. What, are you embarrassed of me?" Duo turned to leave but Heero grabbed his hand.

"Look. I' m sorry. Don' t go. I just didn' t know how to tell him about you." Heero smiled softly. " But my mom knows about you, if that makes you feel any better."

"You told Kaida Yuy that her son is gay?" Duo looked like he was about to faint. As if to prove this, Duo grabbed for Heero' s hand to support himself. " Oh, I' m sure that this is going to be easy to keep out of the newspaper."

"It doesn' t matter to me, Duo," Heero replied. " If the whole world knows, I won' t care as long as you' re not embarrassed by any of it."

"Me? Embarrassed? You' re the one who -" Seeing the look on Heero' s face, Duo stopped. " Sorry. So are we going to swim or what?"

Heero nodded. " Of course." Heero motioned to the bed where a few pairs of swimming trunks were laid out. " I don' t wear thongs or anything like that so you're stuck with trunks. Pick a pair and then it' s yours for as long as you want it. Then you can either change in here or you can go to my bathroom to change."

"If I change in here, where will you be?" Duo asked, a small blush spreading across his face.

"Depends, where do you want me to be?" When Heero saw the blush on Duo' s face spread, he laughed. " I'll be in the bathroom, don' t worry."

Duo exhaled visibly which caused Heero to chuckle. Duo glared at Heero and then grabbed some dark-blue swim trunks and mockingly stomped off to the bathroom. " Wow! This bathroom is just for you?"

"Yeah."

"Cool." Heero could hear Duo' s zipper get pulled down and the soft flutter of his pants falling down.

Heero forced himself to not think about it any more and he moved to take off his own pants.

"Hey Heero!" Duo called out.

"What?"
"Never mind," Duo said quickly.

Heero shrugged and removed his belt, throwing it onto his bedside chair. He slipped his pants down in one fluid movement. Then he heard Duo' s breath intake sharply and the door of the bathroom slam closely behind it. Heero quickly realized what had happened and he smiled smugly, knowing that at least Duo had liked the view. Quickly finishing, Heero changed into a pair of trunks he grabbed from the bed. Then he went over to the bathroom door and knocked on it.

"Are you all right in there? Need any assistance?"

Heero tried not to laugh as he heard the muffled sound of clothes being hurriedly put on. Duo whipped the door open and smiled at Heero which clashed horribly with the bright red blush on his face. " Of course I am. Why would you think any differently? Come on, I came here to swim, you know."

Heero just smiled in response and led Duo down the stairs to the backyard where a beautiful, sparkling pool was waiting for them. The water splashed gently around the edges and the sun reflected off the surface in a way that made it look like summer was already upon them.

Duo didn' t wait for Heero to say that it was okay nor did he stand there and admire the beauty. Instead, Duo ran to the pool and jumped into it-- a clean dive-- and disappeared under the water. Heero tried to look for him but the sun blinded him as he tried, and therefore he was forced to look away.

"Come on in," Duo shouted as he emerged.

Making his way to the edge of the pool, Heero nodded and jumped into the pool himself. He disappeared under the water and then waited a while to get Duo worried. Then he grabbed onto him by the ankles, hugged him close and then swam up to the top.

They both emerged soaked and gasping for air. Heero looked down at Duo with a small smile but Duo was pushing him away with a look on his face that was anything but amused by the situation.

"What the hell do you think you were doing?" Duo asked, hitting Heero in the shoulder. " You could have killed me!"

"I had you at all times Duo. Nothing could have happened to you," Heero tried to reassure the other boy as he moved closer again. " Don' t worry."

"Don' t worry!" Duo snapped. "That' s what you always say! Don' t worry. I' ve changed my beliefs about relationships. Don' t worry. I have enough money for this meal. Don' t worry. I wasn' t going to kill you!"

Heero fell silent as he just stared at Duo. They stood there for a moment before Heero moved to climb out of the pool. " I have to go and do something."

He disappeared back into the house and when he finally came out five minutes later, Duo was gone. Heero didn' t know if he was glad that Duo had left or not. It was just too complicated. He had thought that Duo was great. He really did. But now he didn' t know what to think. He didn' t know what to say or when or anything.

Heero swam for a while and then decided that he should phone Duo and apologize. He had been wrong in attacking Duo like that when he didn' t know how Duo would take it. He had thought that Duo would know that it was all fun and games, but he had been wrong.

"Hello, is Duo there?" Heero asked when someone answered the phone.

"Speaking." Came the response. "Who is this?"

"Hey Duo. It' s Heero. I just want to apologize for my behavior today."

"Whatever. It' s no big deal. Don' t worry." The last part was dripping with sarcasm.

"Duo-"

"I gotta go. Talk to you later." With that the line went dead.

Heero stared blankly at the phone. He had phoned to apologize and Duo had completely dismissed it. What the hell was that? Didn't Duo realize that Heero knew he'd done something wrong, and that he was trying to make up for it? Then again, maybe he was still upset about the whole thing. Maybe Heero should wait until he calmed down to try and talk to him again.

Heero sat down and watched a movie but all of his attention was focused on the phone. He half hoped that it would ring and Duo would be on the line to accept his apology and tell him that it was okay.

As soon as the movie was over, Heero picked up the phone again.

"Oh, Heero!" Duo' s adopted mother exclaimed, but then her tone darkened with sorrow. "I' m sorry, but Duo doesn' t want to talk to you right now. Perhaps I can give him a message?"

Heero' s spirits sank as he heard the woman tell him that Duo didn' t want to talk to him. How could Duo get so upset over something so stupid? After leaving a message that he would talk to Duo on Monday, Heero hung up.

Glaring at his hands, Heero wondered why he had done that anyway. If Duo didn' t want to talk to him, then why did he even try again? Why should he care?

No, Heero shook his head, that was something his father would say.

"What' s wrong son?" Heero' s father asked as he walked into the room. "Don' t look so glum. We' re having a party tonight. Why don' t you invite that girlfriend of yours?"

For a split second, Heero had an urge to just blurt out that his girlfriend was actually a boyfriend and that Duo was mad at him and wouldn' t be coming.

Instead, Heero merely nodded dumbly. " Yeah dad, I' ll invite her."

"Good. Our friends will be over in an hour." His dad said and then dismissed him, just like Duo had just done.

Heero sighed. Great, now he had to find a date for this stupid party. But who would he ask? There was no way Duo would come and he didn' t actually know any girls.

On a whim, Heero picked up the phone. " Hello?"

TBC