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"Drabbles"Written By: Clara Barton Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. The following
is an intellectual exercise with no intention of profit. That said,
these characterizations, words, and situations are mine. Please ask
before reprinting. Rating: R A/N: For Cylina Nightshade, who requested "I
don't care if they're watching. I'm not done with you yet." I
decided to go with 2x3. (and threw in a little bit of surfer!verse
feels for Maeve). Okay but ALSO. This is way less kinky than cute.
But I AM putting this line on file for later use in a much kinkier
context. Warnings: language, sexy times Pairings: 2x3, 3x?
It was the last night of summer. Or, at least, the last night of summer when they would all be together. Duo and Heero left for Carolina in the morning, Quatre flew out to Princeton the day after, Wufei only had a few days left until he went out to California to start at Stanford, Meilin moved to New York City in three days, Hilde and Relena were driving up to Brown - had decided to turn it into a road trip and would leave tomorrow as well. Which meant, that after tonight, only Zechs, Solo, Cathy and Trowa would be left. Them, and the tourists who would continue to swarm the island until the end of September. Zechs still hadn't said a word about why he wasn't going back to Georgetown, and as much as Trowa wanted to know, he also didn't want to play to the other man's vanity by asking. It had been a bit awkward, texting everyone to invite them over for a crab boil at Cathy's insistence. And Trowa had snuck a beer from the fridge and gone to the back porch of their cottage, had stretched out on the hammock and given himself a brief get the fuck over it lecture before pulling out his phone and thumbing through his contact list. Quatre, first. The easy one. The only friend that Trowa hadn't made a complete fool of himself with. Mostly because Quatre had known, even before Trowa himself had, why Trowa was being such an idiot. I'm still your best friend, Trowa. Even if I'm in New Jersey and you're here. You're not going to get rid of me that easily. You're stuck with me forever. Cathy wants to do a crab boil on Sunday. Come by at 7. Only seconds later, his phone buzzed with the reply. Can't wait! I'll bring some dessert! And then, the harder texts to make. Meilin. Who maybe didn't want to ever speak to him again after that night two weeks ago, when she, Trowa and Wufei had gone sailing and they'd all had too much to drink, and Trowa had found himself between them, buried deep in Meilin while Wufei fucked him. It had been Trowa's first threesome, Wufei's first time period, and Trowa hadn't seen either of them since that night. The same text, but not surprisingly, there was no instantaneous response. His text to Wufei was a little different - Meilin, for all that she had never really seemed all that attracted to Wufei or Trowa, at least viewed sex as something that any normal eighteen year old could have or not have without it becoming an angst-inducing thing, had probably just shrugged off that night and decided to move on with her life. Wufei, on the other hand... Cathy is doing a crab boil on Sunday at 7. I'd like to see you again before you leave. If you don't mind. It wasn't quite the right thing to say, but Trowa wasn't really sure what was, so he sent the text anyway. The text for Relena would have been easy, would have been the easiest of them all. Should have been, but Trowa was, as he had proven time and time again this summer, a fucking idiot. He and Relena had been having sex for years now - they had been each other's firsts, and she was, after Quatre, his closest friend. She had probably realized there was a reason he wanted to spend more time with her this summer, a reason that every time they were alone he was working her out of her bikini and eating her out or, when he remembered to bring condoms, fucking her. But she just smiled and laughed, teased him the way she always had, and went along with it. Until the night she saw Trowa giving her brother a blowjob. That had been last month, and while she hadn't ignored him since then, neither had she had any interest in letting Trowa anywhere near her. He tried to figure out what he was supposed to say, how to apologize, how to explain - how to explain what exactly? That Trowa knew he was being abandoned by all of his friends, the people he had known since daycare, since their first fish surfboards as kids - that everyone was going away to college, to do great things and have amazing lives, and he was being left behind, was stuck on the island, and probably would be for his entire life. It was too pathetic to explain. I'm sorry that I'm an idiot. Cathy is doing a crab boil on Sunday at 7. Come? He didn't bother to text Zechs - Cathy saw him at work, every day at the marina, and if she wanted him to come, she could invite that asshole herself. Heero after that. Heero, who had had a crush on Trowa for years, had kissed Trowa when they were seven in front of everyone else and punched Otto, the eight year old who dared to call them fags, in the mouth. Heero, who Trowa had tried to keep at arm's length because Heero was brilliant and driven and even more socially awkward than Trowa, and Heero- Heero deserved better. Of course, in the middle of Trowa's Summer of Fucking Bad Decisions, Trowa had decided what the hell - if Heero really wanted him that much, if Heero really cared, then Trowa was an idiot to turn him away. So Trowa, tagging along with Heero while he worked - cleaning up beach houses after the weekly renters left and preparing them for the next clients - cornered him in the master bathroom of a house overlooking the south point of Pawleys Island, and spent four hours giving Heero what he had wanted for so long. That had been in June, and while Heero had acted like it was fine, had gone surfing with Trowa the very next morning and not said a word about it, Trowa knew that he had somehow disappointed him. Not surprising, all things considered. Trowa disappointed everyone. Cathy's doing a crab boil on Sunday at 7. The same text that he had sent to Quatre, more or less. He knew he owed Heero an apology, but he still wasn't sure how to word it, how to make things better between them. Hilde next. Hilde, who seemed to waver between hating Trowa on sight and being his comrade in arms for doing really stupid shit. It had been Hilde, after all, who had been by his side the night they were thrown in jail two years ago for lighting fireworks off on the 4th of July. She wasn't even really Trowa's friend. She was Duo's friend, and had joined their group because of him, and didn't seem to even like anyone else except for Meilin. Hilde had, not surprisingly, turned down Trowa's attempt to do something very stupid, had laughed and poked him in the chest, and told him to settle down. I don't like dick, Tro, and even if I did, yours wouldn't be my first choice. Or my second. Or my- Trowa had cut her off, getting the picture by that point. But it still stung, to be turned down like that, and every time she had seen him since that night at the end of June, she had grinned or, a few times, burst out laughing and had to walk away and compose herself. Crab boil at 7 on Sunday. No need to add on a please come or an apology - she'd come if she wanted to, and he wasn't going to apologize to her after giving her such an endless source of amusement. And that just left one text to make. Duo. Duo, who had grown up with even less money than Trowa. Duo, who woke up hours before dawn each day to check the crab traps for his brother, and then worked his ass off until mid-afternoon in the shack of a restaurant that Solo ran, that just barely scraped by even during the height of tourist season. Duo, who was brilliant and determined enough to get a full ride to Carolina. Duo, who wanted to escape the island more than any of them. Duo, who Trowa had been in love with since the day he had moved to Pawleys, since Trowa had first seen him on a surfboard, all of nine, riding the waves like he was a shark. Duo, who had completely freaked out when Trowa finally tried to kiss him, three days ago, when they had been waxing down their boards. Duo, who had jerked away with wide eyes, had mumbled something about maybe it not being a good day to surf after all. Duo, who had run the fuck away and hadn't talked to him since. Crab boil on Sunday. Please come? Trowa hadn't added the time, had purposefully and pathetically left it out in the vain hope that Duo would at least have to text him back, at least have to ask what time it was before he invented some excuse for not showing. Sure enough, five minutes later, as Trowa finished off the last of the beer and scrolled through the handful of replies - yesses from everyone - Duo's name popped up on his phone. What time? Trowa almost typed the wrong thing, almost typed in eight instead. 7. Can you make it? He was being pathetic. Was being pushy, and if there was one thing Duo hated, it was pushy. He liked to do things his way, and didn't like to have his hand forced. Can Solo come? Trowa didn't know if it was good or bad that Duo wanted his brother there. Maybe Solo wanted to kick Trowa's ass for daring to touch his little brother - Solo knew Duo could fight his own battles, but he'd had no qualms kicking the asses of shitty tourists over the years who gave Duo shit. Or maybe things were okay, and Solo just wanted to hang out because he and Cathy, who had dated in high school, never got to see much of each other because of their work schedules. Sure. Trowa didn't think Cathy would mind - and if it meant Duo would come, Trowa didn't really care if she did. K. We'll try. -o- Trowa spent all of Sunday in a foul mood. We'll try. What the hell did that even mean? It wasn't like there was a hurricane inbound, or as if he had anything more trying than a four hour drive ahead of him the next day - a drive by Heero, no doubt, who wouldn't let Duo behind the wheel of his truck ever again after the stunt Duo had pulled last year. We'll try. He cleaned up the cottage with a vengeance while Cathy was still at work, dusting and mopping and vacuuming angrily, until the cottage looked better than it ever had, until Cathy walked in at three and stared, open-mouthed and speechless. She'd asked what the hell was wrong with him, but Trowa, already in his board shorts, had just shrugged and walked past her on his way to the beach. The waves weren't great, the swells only three or four feet, but it wasn't as if Pawleys had good waves until September anyway. September and April, the best surfing of the year, and Trowa would be alone for it. Everyone else would be away. He lost track of time, as he always did when he was in the water, and by the time he walked the quarter-mile back to the cottage, he could see a line of vehicles parked out front. He was late. Of course. With a sigh, he stored his board and rinsed off in the outdoor shower, slicking his hair back and wishing he wasn't such a fuckup. Everyone was already there, and here he was, about to walk through the cottage half-dressed and soaking wet. They were all on the back porch, crammed together on the wicker loveseat and chairs, a few just sitting on the deck, and Duo and Relena sharing the hammock while Cathy tended the giant pot on the grill. "Hey!" Quatre greeted him. "You made it! We were about to send out a search party." Quatre sounded genuinely happy to see him, and Trowa managed a small smile. He could feel everyone's eyes on him, and there was too much he needed to say, too much he never could. "I'll just get changed," he gestured towards the interior of the house vaguely. "Not on our account," Meilin said with a wink. "I don't think anyone minds the view." Hilde snorted at that and rolled her eyes, but it made Trowa even more aware of the way that Heero and Wufei were looking at him. At the way that Duo and Relena weren't. "I'll be right back." He escaped, and wondered if maybe he could just go back to the beach instead. After all, it was Cathy who had wanted to do this in the first place. She- He sighed and grabbed a towel from the bathroom. He needed to pull it together and stop being such a coward. Trowa dried off, pulled on a clean pair of shorts and a light sweater, and went back outside. Solo offered him a beer, which Trowa thought probably meant he wasn't going to get revenge for anything. Solo and Cathy had always been nonchalant about drinking. They weren't stupid - teenagers were going to drink, and teenagers on Pawleys, who had little-to-no entertainment outside of the ocean or catching a ride to the mainland, were going to get into trouble. So, after Trowa turned sixteen, Cathy gave him a lengthy lecture about fucking up his liver or dying in a car crash, and told him to drink responsibly and not to become a heroine junkie. In Trowa's mind, the speech was right up there with her sex talk - which she had delivered to him when he was fourteen, preemptively. She had listed all of the ways he could die horribly or be disfigured by diseases, had told him exactly how rough his life would be if he got some girl pregnant - awful because Cathy would make sure that Trowa was a better father than theirs had ever been, and that meant he could say goodbye to surfing - and then she had demonstrated how to put a condom on a banana and told him that lube was going to be his best friend - whether he had sex with a girl, a guy or his own hand. As usual, the talk had left Trowa far more embarrassed than Cathy. There wasn't really anywhere for Trowa to sit, and he didn't want to stand beside Zechs, who was looking like his normal smug self and eyeing Trowa with way too much interest, so he found himself standing beside Solo and Cathy. It was awkward as hell, especially because Trowa was pretty sure he was cramping Solo's attempts to flirt with his sister. "Tro." He looked over to see that Duo and Relena had adjusted on the hammock, had swung around to dangle their legs over the side and made room for him. Swallowing hard, trying to coax saliva back into his dry mouth, Trowa crossed the deck and sat down between them. They had done this for years and Trowa had never felt like this, had never been so aware of Relena's thigh against his or Duo's arm pressed against him. He only had a few minutes to suffer - and enjoy it - before Cathy called out for him. "Tro, we're almost ready here. Why don't you go set up the table in the yard?" With a sigh, Trowa propelled himself up from the hammock. "I'll give you a hand," Duo offered, eyebrows raised in question. "Thanks." Duo followed Trowa down and waited for him to unlock the storage shed under the house. Trowa rooted around for the picnic blankets they stored in there, while Duo grabbed a few cinder blocks and set them up for the pot to rest on. Trowa finally found the blankets, and Duo helped him spread them out over the stubby grass. "Listen, Tro, about the other day-" "I'm sorry," Trowa interrupted him. He didn't want to hear Duo let him down, didn't want to hear Duo explain all of the reasons why they were never going to happen. "No, I'm sorry." Duo caught his arm when Trowa started back towards the stairs. "Trowa, at least just look at me?" He did and, like always, found himself lost in Duo's eyes. "I freaked out, and I'm sorry. I- Tro, I didn't think you... I didn't think you liked me like that. Not after..." Duo trailed off. "Not after what?" Trowa had to ask. Duo's face flushed, and he rolled his eyes toward the sky. "Not after you spent the summer hooking up - or trying to hook up with everyone but me." "What?" Trowa felt his face turn completely red. "I mean- you- Tro, you know Heero's been in love with you for years, and then you," Duo waved his hand vaguely at Trowa's crotch. "And then Wufei and Meilin, and- and Hilde told me-" "Of course she did," Trowa muttered. "She's my best friend! She and Relena! And what the fuck - you don't even like Zechs!" Trowa winced, at Duo's raised voice, at the reminder that he really was a complete fucking idiot. "And then... and then what? You'd made a mess of things with everyone else and I was your last pick?" Duo sounded hurt, his voice hoarse, and Trowa met his gaze again. "I thought- I thought finally, Trowa noticed me. Finally, Trowa wants me - but that wasn't it, was it? You just- I was just the last one left behind, wasn't I?" "No!" The word exploded from Trowa forcefully. He grabbed Duo's hand. "No. Duo-" Fuck. What was Trowa supposed to say? How could he fix this? "Duo, I've always noticed you. Ever since you cut off that guy on the turn when you were nine and he chased you across the beach." A smile tugged at one corner of Duo's lips, but he fought against it. "Duo, you- I've only ever wanted you." Duo frowned. "Then why the hell-?" "Because I'm an idiot. Because I didn't think you would ever want me, and I-" Trowa sighed. He might as well just say it all. Might as well just confess how truly pathetic he was. "All of you are leaving me behind. I just... I wanted to matter. I wanted to mean something to them and you. I-" "You are such a fucking idiot," Duo hissed. Trowa nodded in agreement. It was one of the reasons why he was stuck on the island - scraping through high school with Cs and a few Bs meant no scholarships, meant no chance to do anything other than a job at the Shell Station and, in the summers, lifeguard duty. "You matter to all of us, Tro. You- Trowa, you mean something. None of us are leaving you behind." Trowa opened his mouth to argue, but Duo spoke over him. "We're leaving the island, yeah, but we're not leaving you. You are always going to be our friend. You're always going to be the idiot who jumped off the pier to save that fucking dog. You think any of us could forget that? Could forget you?" Trowa sighed. "But-" "But nothing. And besides, we're coming back. Ro and I are only four hours away - we'll be back every break, every long weekend. The rest of them will come back for winter break - for the summer. You aren't losing us, Tro." Duo stepped closer, wrapped his arms around Trowa's neck and used his thumbs to tilt Trowa's face up so that they were looking in each other's eyes again. "And I've been in love with you since you hit that asshole with your surfboard and helped me get away from him. Tro- I've wanted you to kiss me for years, and when you finally did-" "I ruined everything." "No. No. You just- you caught me by surprise. And there was all of the other shit, the you being a fucking idiot crap. I just- you know I'm not good with surprises." Trowa nodded in agreement. "So... okay?" Trowa frowned. "Okay?" "Yeah. Just- I'm ready, this time. It won't freak me out." Trowa stared at him for a long moment, trying to figure out what the fuck Duo was talking about. What- Oh. It was different this time, so much better, and when Duo's lips parted under Trowa's, he could taste the ocean. He wanted to drown in it, in Duo. Trowa reached down, lifted Duo by the ass and hauled him up, changing the angle of the kiss, and Duo moaned in approval. Of course, then Trowa lost his balance and staggered backwards. They fell back onto the blankets and Duo laughed as he straightened up, straddling Trowa's hips and looking down at him with bright eyes. He looked over his shoulder, saw that their friends had gathered at the edge of the deck to see what the hell was going on, and he started to get up. But Trowa reached out, grabbed Duo's braid, and used it to haul him back down for another kiss. "I don't care if they're watching. I'm not done with you yet."
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