Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ This Time Around ❯ One-Shot

A/N: I wanted to write a 3x4 fic, soo here it is! *laughs*

 

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This Time Around

 

 

 

Quatre had walked out on me. He had turned to me with the most angelic face and beautiful blue eyes and told me that he couldn't live with someone who didn't love him. He would remain my friend forever, but living with me was not an option anymore. I had been too shocked to elicit any reaction, so I just stood there, wide-eyed, as he explained that I didn't have to live alone in this house, that Duo had offered me a room in Heero's and his house. Then he had walked away.

 

I was stunned. Quatre was one of the few friends I had ever made in my life; in fact he was my best friend. I had started living with him on Earth after the war, living with what I thought was a comfortable routine. Needless to say, me gaping like a goldfish at him while he walked out the door hadn't ranked high in my list of what could happen.

 

I had tried living on my own for awhile, but I found that without Quatre around, my routine didn't seem right. So I took up Duo's offer on the room and moved from Earth to L2.

 

Duo had dispelled any notion of discomfort about disrupting Heero's and his lives when he had glomped me the moment I walked out of the shuttle port. He had babbled about how glad he was to see me while he dragged me to where Heero was waiting with the car, and I couldn't help the small smile tugging at my lips. It was good to have friends.

 

After settling in, I had felt vaguely displaced even though I had found a job and lifestyle that could suit me. I couldn't put my finger on why, but I knew something was wrong. It was Duo who had finally sat me down one day over the little dining room table and made things clearer.

 

“Tro, what's wrong?” he had asked.

 

I had shrugged noncommittally. I had no idea really, it was a niggling thought deep within my brain that I couldn't locate.

 

Duo had looked off to the side, and asked me casually, “Do you miss, Kat?”

 

That had taken me by surprise. Did I miss Quatre? I still talked to him nearly every week over the phone, but I found myself realizing that I did miss Quatre, more than just talking to him would ever solve. I nodded slowly, a little confused.

 

Duo had sighed, running his hands through his hair. “Look, Tro. As much as I want to see Quatre happy again, I need to know something.” I was even more confused. How could what he had to ask make Quatre happy? Was Quatre not happy? He had seemed a little distant when I talked to him, but I had thought it was stress. Quatre always had lots of stress. My confusion must have been plain, because Duo had continued with a simple question that sent my mind into more turmoil: “What do you feel about Kat?”

 

My mind worked overtime and finally I said, “He makes me feel comfortable. He knows what I like and dislike and living with him is nice. He understands me without my having to say anything.”

 

Duo had frowned before asking, “Don't Heero and I fit under that description as well?” At my hesitant nod, he had said, “Is it the same feeling? Come on, Tro, tell me something here.”

 

I thought about it. While Heero and Duo both fit into the same criteria of comfortable and understanding, albeit in their own ways, it was by no means the same. Quatre made me feel as if he wanted me in his life. No, that wasn't right because Heero and Duo clearly wanted me too. Not in the same way, a little voice said. With Quatre, I had felt as if I belonged, as if he completed me. As the thought clicked and my brain finally realized what my heart had known all along, I looked at Duo.

 

He had just grinned and taken something out of his pocket and slide it across the table to me. I looked at it in disbelief: a redeemable plane ticket for one Trowa Barton to L4. Duo that sneaky bastard. How had he known? I was about to ask him, but he just got up and sauntered away, braid swinging, and told me cheerfully to get out of his house, stat, and that he would see me at the next Christmas reunion.

 

I couldn't help the small smile forming on my face. I had hurried to my room and packed a few changes in clothing into a small duffel and made my way quickly to the door. Along with the ticket, Duo had included a shuttle schedule and I had to get to the shuttleport in less than an hour to get on the next one. Duo could send the rest of my stuff later, he would understand. I was met by an impassive Heero standing by the front door. He had glanced at my bag and the ticket in my hand, and told me he'd drive me.

 

When we arrived at the shuttleport, Heero had suddenly broken the silence and said quietly, “Don't break his heart again, Barton.”

 

I glared at him before saying the words that I knew had been true since the beginning, “I love him, Yuy.”

 

His lips twitched. “Yes, I know. That baka has been telling me all along that was the case. You just didn't come to terms with it yet.”

 

Duo that sneaky, intuitive bastard. Then I had given my own smirk, “Don't wait too long to come to terms and tell Duo either.” I had walked away feeling the satisfaction of having seen the Wing pilot gaping at me as I had done at Quatre.

 

One long shuttle flight later, I had walked out of the port, feeling suddenly nervous. What if Quatre didn't want to see me again? I had been an idiot. But any notion of running away had fled as I had stared into the onyx eyes of the Shenlong pilot waiting for me outside the gate. Duo that sneaky, intuitive, scheming bastard.

 

Wufei had driven me to Quatre's, explaining how the logistics for his project to rebuild L5 required him to work on L4. He hadn't minded, since dealing with WEI meant that he would talk directly to Quatre and avoid any “incompetent money-guzzling nobodies intent only on personal gain”. My lips had twitched, as I was forcefully reminded that Wufei had not changed a bit since the last I saw of him.

 

When we had finally arrived at Quatre's mansion, Wufei had turned to me seriously as I stood outside his car and told me, “Barton, Winner was hurt last time. Don't do it again. I had enough of it the first time.”

 

And now… Now I was standing like an idiot outside the main gates of the Winner mansion on L4 watching as Wufei drove off. I started feeling nervous again, what if Quatre hadn't forgiven me? What if he would never look at me the same way he did before? What if, what if. Duo that sneaky, intuitive, scheming, sadistic bastard.

 

I didn't realize my hand was shaking until I missed the doorbell as I went to press it.

 

“Master Barton?” inquired a voice. I whirled around to see Rashid standing next to me. I had been so nervous I hadn't seen him approach. His eyes were unreadable as he stared at me. Finally he said, “Come, I will show you to Master Quatre.”

 

As I slowly trailed Rashid through the grounds, my mind wandered over what could happen. As my thoughts started getting steadily worse, I spoke up, waveringly, “Rashid, do you think that he will forgive me?”

 

Rashid turned to me, a sympathetic smile gracing his lips. “Master Quatre does not see that you have done anything wrong. There is nothing to forgive. There is only acceptance. Now come, his door is right around the corner.”

 

Rashid knocked on the door, and Quatre's voice - it seemed forever since the last I heard it - came through the door inquiringly. Rashid answered calmly that he had a visitor. Quatre was quiet for a few moments and then the door opened. Rashid bowed slightly at Quatre before disappearing down the hall, but he barely noticed. He was staring at me in disbelief.

 

I swallowed hard before offering him a small smile, “Can I talk to you?”

 

Quatre nodded, dumfounded before gesturing for me to enter. We stood staring at each other for a couple heartbeats. I studied him and the changes that had occurred since I had last seen him. He was thinner and paler, probably due to overstress and over work. His eyes looked strained as if he was constantly exhausted. I frowned inwardly. Then Quatre broke the silence by asking hesitantly, “Why are you here, Trowa?”

 

I didn't stop to think and said the first thing on my mind, “Quatre, you haven't been taking care of yourself. You're too thin and worn out.”

 

Quatre's bright aquamarine eyes that had held a swirl of emotions instantly shuttered. He gave me a polite smile, and his said in a voice that was also so polite, “Thank you for worrying Trowa, but I'm a big boy. I can take care of myself. It's not your job.”

 

The politeness grated at me. I frowned slightly before starting to pace around the room. “Of course it's not, but I love you and I want to care for you. You've been so overworked trying to maintain your father's company that you haven't had much time to rest. You haven't been eating properly either, probably as a result of your forgetfulness -”

 

I broke off my rant when I found that Quatre had quietly stolen his way to my side. He was looking at me with an unreadable expression on his face, and I swallowed. Twice.

 

“Do you mean that??” His voice was quiet. I thought over what had just burst out of my mouth and then swallowed again. Oh yeah, I had said I loved him. I nodded slightly, not trusting my voice.

 

Then Quatre broke into the biggest smile I had seen since before that fateful day that he had decided to walk away from me. I couldn't help the grin that spread across my face as I leaned in to give Quatre a small kiss, finally feeling like I was back home again. Wherever Quatre was, I was definitely home.

 

Duo that sneaky, intuitive, scheming, sadistic, manipulative bastard. Maybe I should thank him later.