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"Keep In Time"Written By: Dentelle_noir Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing AC or the
characters. They belong to Bandai, Sotsu and associated parties. This
is a work of fiction and written for fun, not profit Rating: R Warnings: AU, sap, angst, fluff Pairings: 3x4. Summary: A suspicious accident leaves Trowa without
a skating partner, sentencing him to a year without competition. Quatre
is an injured dancer, trying to find a way to live without his joy.
Together, they make new rules and find a new path. "Keep In Time" Chapter 19 School on Friday was a tense, hostile environment for Quatre. After the stunt at the movies, Quatre had been snubbed all day by his off-beat friends. He wasn’t smart enough to fit in with the brainiac group, and he sure wasn’t popular enough to be allowed near that table. Trowa was at school on Friday, but he managed to find Wufei Chang and sit next to him all lunch getting tutoring help in the math he was slowly failing. Trowa hadn’t even looked up as Quatre passed by. And Trowa hadn’t answered any of Quatre’s phone calls, either. Each message got a little more painful, until mid-Friday, when Quatre stopped calling between each class. The only respite Quatre had from the social blackballing was during stretch class, but even there he noticed that word of Quatre supposedly backstabbing a skater had gotten around. Only July (who knew what was really going on) and Cosette (Who really didn’t give a shit) would be his stretch partners, but at least he had those two helping him. And he was grateful for it. He didn’t do well being a loner. But it was only for a short time. By Monday, both July and Cosette, along with Heero, Duo, Relena, and the remaining students of the private academy would be amalgamated into the public school system, and then he would have another table to sit at, at least. With his real friends there, he would have a place where he would be welcomed without having to bend over backwards to conform. Quatre tried to meet Trowa at his car Friday afternoon to talk, but the skater skipped out of last period. He was probably at the rink already practicing, and practicing all night with Dimitri to best avoid Quatre. Saturday morning, Quatre tried calling again. He even thought about going to the rink. Trowa still wasn’t answering his calls. But as much as he wanted to go to the rink and beg Trowa to talk to him, he had more self-respect than that. He stopped calling by 11. Trowa wasn’t about to start picking up the phone now, was he? He was just wasting time still calling. But that didn’t mean that he didn’t spend all Saturday afternoon on his couch, miserable, flicking through channels and wishing Trowa would just suck it up and call back, even if was just to yell at him. That was where Duo and Heero found him a few hours later, still in the same spot on the couch flipping through the channels with a box of cookies on one side of him and a pyramid of empty pop cans on the other. “Ew,” Duo said first, walking in and picking up the cookies first, “Why are you doing this to yourself, Quatre! You’re a mess!” and Duo walked into the kitchen to put them away before he was tempted to have one, too. Duo was training for soccer season, though, and he was on a strict diet. He was the best power forward in the city and he wasn’t going to be able to slack at all if he wanted to keep his status at the new school. The spring training season was starting tomorrow, and he would have to be up at the crack of dawn for tryouts. He couldn’t afford to eat cookies! Heero sat down where the cookies used to be and sighed, “You really liked this guy, didn’t you, Quat?” Quatre couldn’t help himself from leaning over, relaxing in his cousin’s arms, letting Heero hold him and rock him gently, “That should be ‘really like this guy.’ As in… ‘still do.’ He’ll come around. He’s just really angry at me. I can’t blame him.” Heero sighed, pulling Quatre against his side to give him a tight hug, just letting him snuggle against him. “You can’t stay miserable like this, though. It’s not like you, Quatre. You’re scaring me. I’m worried. You’re my best friend. We’ve been best friends since I was born. I joined skating the same year you finally convinced your dad to let you do ballet. Do you remember our promise? We’re in this together, right?” and Heero help up his pinky. It was an old gesture between the two of them, since they were both so young that they never could remember who came up with it first. They pinky swore on anything important; Heero treating Duo right;Quatre swearing not to tell about Heero’s sexuality until he was ready; Heero swearing to back up Quatre when he came out; or who got to have the last brownie at the family reunion! It was a vow never broken. Quatre knew that Heero was trying to help. Quatre help up his hand, and locked his and Heero’s pinky together, “Okay. We’re in this together. I won’t be miserable on my own again.” A bright smile broke onto Heero’s face, and he nodded, “Good. I think you need some cheering up. How about we go out? It’s Saturday night, and that big party everyone is talking about is tonight. You can be my date?” Heero said. Quatre lifted a brow, “Won’t Duo be jealous that you’re dating me now?” he said sarcastically. Duo grinned, “Naw. I’m the wet blanket. I have soccer tryouts tomorrow morning. I gotta leave the party early, get some sleep. I won’t even have my phone on. But I can give you guys a ride there and you can cab home or catch a ride with someone else when you’re ready to go home. Sounds good? Wanna go?” Heero grabbed Quatre’s pinky and held it hostage, reminding him of his promise. Under that pressure, Quatre caved with a sigh, “Fine. I’ll go. But just for a few hours. And if Jason’s there…” “Then Duo and I can kick his ass for you, no problem.” Heero said with a grin. Quatre snorted, brightening immediately, “Then he’d be beaten down by TWO male figure skaters?! HA! Priceless!” Heero wanted to ask why Trowa had creamed the idiot previously, but didn’t want to remind Quatre about him if at all possible. So Duo grinned excitedly and ran upstairs to Quatre’s room, going through his closet to find something for the blonde to wear. Quatre almost forgot how much he missed Trowa, what with having to restrain Duo from dressing him up in something ridiculous, or stopping Duo from putting him in Iria’s heels, he had no time to let his thoughts wander even a little. By the time they piled into Duo’s little car, he was laughing and actually enjoying himself, looking forward to the party. Too bad that wouldn’t last very long.
Trowa remained at the rink as long as possible on Saturday. He practiced, worked out, did his homework, and even ate there, just so he didn’t have to go home. He knew Cathy would be getting ready for the big party, and she would probably try to convince him to give her a ride. He couldn’t handle her anymore. He didn’t understand her. When had she become more concerned with her image than her skating? Obviously he missed it, because she was willing to go to extremes to get the attention she wanted. He hated being alone, but Trowa wasn’t willing to sacrifice his dignity for her attention, so he stayed at the rink and focused on his skating. It worked before, and he hoped it would work again. Sitting alone in the weight room, Trowa found himself fishing in his bag for his cell phone… He had turned it to silent hours ago so he wouldn’t hear when Quatre called. This morning it just made him angry to hear it, but now, once he settled down a little… He missed his voice. Sitting in the weight room, on the leg-press machine, everything reminded him of sneaking a call to Quatre for the first time from up there. He would have been in trouble, but he had missed hearing Quatre’s voice so much he risked getting caught slacking off just to call. He didn’t regret doing it then. Or now, really. And he really missed his voice. Still. He wondered bitterly if Quatre was whispering sweet nothings in Jason’s ear now while Trowa sat here, or if Quatre had gone to the party with Heero and Duo, dancing between the two other guys… He knew in his head that Heero was Quatre’s cousin, but he was so jealous of their closeness that he couldn’t seem to think rationally! When it came to Quatre, it was like he couldn’t put together any coherent thoughts! He couldn’t think with his head. Or at least not the one on his shoulders. He reached for his cell phone and held it, the display blinking. New text messages, new voice messages… All Quatre, he was sure. He didn’t think he wanted to hear them. But then, he just wanted to hear his voice… He started with the text messages, reading each and every one… Quatre’s tone turned from upset, to frustrated, to angry, to upset and hurt but Trowa kept reading. He couldn’t stop. Quatre wanted to talk this through, Quatre missed him, Quatre worried how he was going to pass math if he didn’t show up to class… Trowa could feel himself slowly coming undone under the emotional onslaught. Over all, Quatre seemed annoyed at his behavior, but he was willing to give him a chance to fix it. He should have stopped there. If he wanted to stay mad, he should have stopped at the text messages, but he still was desperate to hear Quatre’s voice. Even if it was yelling at him… But when he checked his messages, it wasn’t anger he heard. There was frustration, apology, and overall a sense of hurt. He was hurt because Trowa believed that he was cheating on him. Trowa felt terrible. Really, really terrible. He knew Jason was a manipulative snake, he should have known it wasn’t a date, but instead of questioning Duo more he just believed him at face value, which had been stupid! Duo probably would have said anything to make Trowa leave! Duo hated him. Why did Trowa believe him anyway? He wanted to apologize to Quatre. He wanted Quatre to apologize to him for putting him in this stupid situation. He wanted to end this fight, but he just didn’t know what to say! Trowa leaned back on the leg-press machine, looking at his phone… holding it. Should he call? Should he text? No. Quatre was at that big merge party with Heero and Duo. He had left a message saying that. Trowa didn’t want to put him in a tight spot by calling him THEN. What if Duo answered? Or was hanging over Quatre’s shoulder? No. he wouldn’t call. He would let Quatre come to him when he was ready to talk. He decided that he would wait for the next call, and then he would let Quatre tell him his side of the story. Then he would apologize and ask if they could see each other again. Yes. He was still angry about the whole thing, but… He had worked out most of his anger on the ice, and all that was left was unanswered questions. And only Quatre held the answers. He hoped he would call soon.
Duo pulled up to the huge manor house that was hosting the merge party. The patio was full of teenagers drinking spiked punch and smoking joints in the corners away from the more conservative party goers. There was a pool in the back filled with bikini-clad girls and guys in swim trunks playing water-basketball, and above them girls and guys swayed on the large balcony, dancing along to the music blasting from the stereo. Red thong, Party's on, Love this song, sing along. Come together, leave alone, see you later back at home. Heero got out of the car first, and then Duo walked out, grabbing his boyfriend’s hand and entwining their fingers absently. Quatre followed along a little behind the two, looking around carefully for any signs of Jason or, more importantly, Trowa. But he was disappointed again. No Trowa. Unfortunately, though, he saw Cathy easily enough. Her cast stuck out like a sore thumb on the balcony. He knew it would be coming off soon, but he knew she would milk recuperation for all it was worth. She enjoyed her skating-free life too much to give it all up to go back to endless practice for only seconds in the spotlight. “Come on, Quatre!” Duo whined, grabbing his arm and tugging, “I wanna have some fun before I have to leave! I only have an hour, and that’s pushing it! Let’s get something to drink then go socialize!” Quatre had no choice but to let himself be dragged along behind his friend, Heero following behind them at a more sedate pace, intensely happy to see Quatre receiving the treatment Duo usually gave him! They didn’t even get near the door; the property was massive but people were everywhere! They bypassed the main house and made their way to the back where the pool was and where some friends of Duo’s were already playing a little round of drunken-soccer on a free patch of cement. Duo let Quatre’s arm go, finally, and joined in with a grin. He head-butted the soccer ball and shouldered his way into the game excitedly. Already he was making friends. Quatre took a deep breath of freedom, and when he opened his eyes, taking in the surroundings, Heero was standing beside him with a smirk on his face and a plastic cup of punch in his hand, passing one to his cousin. It wasn’t that bad. The punch wasn’t too strong, and the music wasn’t as loud as he thought it would be. After a little while, he began to have a bit of fun, letting Heero pull him over to the pool-side where people were dancing to the music. With the incentive of dance, and Heero watching his back, Quatre began to relax and enjoy himself. Before he even noticed time elapsed, Duo was coming over and kissing Heero goodnight, leaving to get ready for tryouts. But he and Heero kept dancing, and even turned a few ladies around the impromptu dance floor. July, Cosette, and all Quatre’s friends streamed in slowly as the night wore on, and soon he had a whole group of people he trusted around him, watching out for each other. It was a great feeling. Here he fit in. What he didn’t know was that someone else was watching them, too, waiting for an opportunity. And when Heero left to refill his drink, leaving Quatre doing salsa moves with one of his dancer friends, she found the perfect opportunity to strike.
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