"Greeting Cards"

Written By: Kaeru Shisho

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Gundam Wing or its characters, nor do I make any monetary profit off this story.

Rating: NC 17

Warnings: Yaoi, funeral practices, AU, fluff

Pairings: 1+4, 1x2x1, 3+H, 5xH, 3x4, 6x9

Summary: Each chapter is based on Heero’s greeting cards and Duo's mortuary.

"Greeting Cards "

Chapter 16 --

Note Cards, Part 3

A young red-haired goth woman lolled in the door frame, while another, petite and blond in Lotita garb, stood at the wide open door.

"Oh, Lord! You look great, Q-pie. Oh, yum. Introduce me to the pretty boyfriend with you tonight. Or is he for me?"

Trowa' eyes widened in disbelief. I didn't blame him. The youngest of my sisters, who was still a year older than me, was not cut from the Winner mold. But since I wasn't either, it was natural for us to gravitate together over time.

"This is Trowa, a good friend of mine," I said by way of introduction. "And, this is my sister Arula, and is that Joyce with red hair?" Joyce had had rainbow hair and a bohemian look the last time we met.

"Yeah. She and I are meeting our beaus downtown later. You here for the nightlife?"

The shorter girl with the straight red hair and beady eyes bounced off the wall toward Trowa and let loose a rapid-fire spiel. "Hey, just call me 'The Fox'. Get it? 'Cause I'm so foxy. What do you think?"

Trowa dipped his chin in a non-committal nod.

My sister, not to be out done when it came to outrageousness, piped up again. "She's the Fox and I'm de Bomb, get it? Ha, ha, ha!"

"I thought your friends called you 'The Bomber' because you 'bombed out' so many times at the Cavern," I said with a grin. I had scored a point on my sister, but they both chose to ignore me in favor of Trowa anyway. She still knew how to push my buttons.

"Whoa, are you cute! Tall and cut." Joyce had him by one arm, fawning over him in a manner I know was embarrassing him. If she didn't back down, it would be time for me to get tough.

"Um, yeah," Trowa replied. I was afraid he was going to sink into the floor and disappear.

"Hey, dude whateveryournameis, your bangs are like...I don't know...wire or something. Shit, if mine would do that, I'd grow'em out. How'd ya get it to do that?" Joyce pawed at Trowa's whiskey-colored hair, strands sliding between her fingers.

Trowa blinked at a glacial pace, too stunned to speak or move away. Only the driving beat of the music behind us broke the silence. Trowa was without words, so I helped him out.

"Leave off. I think Trowa, that's T-r-o-w-a, in case you missed the intro earlier, is pretty cool looking, too, but enough." He's with me.

"Oh, I think he's awe-some," Arula put in, pushing herself to the forefront. Anything else she was going to say was over-ridden by the start-up of a new, even louder song.

"You'd be wrong, then. Kitty-Quat called him Tro-wa. Ha! Ha!" Joyce laughed at her own cleverness.

"Listen, while we're all here," I began, "we're hitting the clubs and when I was packing to come here I couldn't find a few of my things. Is my stuff still stored at your apartment, or have you guys sold it all?"

"Sold my dear baby brother's gear? Never, never, never! How could you think that? Naw, it's back in the storage closet on the floor behind the pile of books. We should get out of here, too."

"So that's where it was," Joyce scratched at red mop. "I was wondering..."

"Anything's pretty much lost to you if it's near books," I muttered beneath my breath. "Joyce is here on a softball scholarship," I explained to a slightly glazed-looking Trowa, my sister walked out the door of the noisy club.

Arula yelled from over her shoulder, "This your senior year, isn't it?"

"Yeah, then I'm goin' into the pros, hah, ha. Naw, I quit school a ways back, but Bomber here made me come back and finish-- just one more year. I'm gonna be a market analyst."

"No wonder folks complain about losing their money," Trowa said to me as we also exited the club.

No one else heard, but I did and laughed. He was looking livelier in the bracing night air. He was looking so ethereal in the dark. A sparkle here, a sparkle there—just watching him move like a big cat, stalking...ummm. I wanted to rub up against him, speaking of cats. I became so aroused, I wondered if he could feel the heat off my body when I leaned into him? Everyone else probably did.

Arula giggled and bumped me hard enough that I fell backwards into Trowa. I grabbed at one of his arms and somehow my other hand latched onto his hip—almost something far more embarrassing. Our bodies impacted gently, and that was because he was quicker and had me in a firm grip.

"Oh! Sorry!" I said.

"No problem," he said with quick smile.

"Ooh, your boyfriend likes you in leather, Q-pie."

Now my sister was embarrassing us both, but Trowa still had an arm around my shoulders, so he couldn't have been too bothered by the teasing. I needed a clever rejoinder to same the moment, and found one: "He's just happy I didn't put him in a getup like mine." I felt him chuckle at that. Good. "Okay, this is where we part company," I said. "Good bye, sis, Joyce. Come on, Trowa. Let's do the city."

Joyce glued herself to the side of Trowa unoccupied by me. She had a parting shot. "I thought you were a bit stiff at first, but I can tell you're all right."

He shrugged, which meant his side moved against me and his fingers tightened on my arm. I felt so protected.

"I don't scare easily," he told her.

"Hey, cool. Me neither. I'm rooming with that girl over there and she's doing grad work in chemical engineering." Joyce patted my sister on the shoulder with pride. "She makes bombs, so we call her Bomber."

"I thought that was because she bombed out at some club," Trowa muttered.

"Nah, it's the work." Joyce slid her hands over her tiny, tight black skirt peeking our from under the getup she was wearing and yanked it straight.

I did not want to share Trowa with my sister and her gabby friend any longer. "Goodbye!" I said, making it very clear that it was time to bring this party to an end.

They got the message, finally, and pealed off in another direction with a chorus of "Bye's" and giggles.

"At last," I sighed.

"It wasn't so bad. Someday I'll introduce you to Catherine."

"And then we can commiserate over the younger brother syndrome?" I flashed him a smile and he returned one that made my knees go weak.

"Okay?" he asked, supporting me with a hand under my elbow.

"Yeah." And I know I said that in a dreamy voice, too.

He released me to stand on my own two feet, and then we were on our way, crossing to the other side of the street. If I had been attracted to Trowa before, now I was in danger of losing my heart. He was strong and starting to trust me enough to share his thoughts sometimes. I wanted to run my hands over those muscles like crazy and kiss that Mona Lisa smile so bad. And when I tested the air, I could tell he wanted me, too. The kilt had been an excellent choice!

(o)

"I'll grab a couple drinks and you find a table," Quatre told me.

I was getting a bit tired of being ordered around, but then again, I never showed much initiative around my friends, so what did I expect? If I wanted him to stop, I'd have to assert myself more. So, I gave it a whirl.

"Make mine a beer." Well, it was one small step at a time.

"Ooh, that's sounds good for me, too!"

Small steps work. I didn't have to be a doormat for Quatre to like me. Which begged the question: what did he like about me then? My ghoulish job? Hell, he'd dated the mortuary boss man before me so dating one of the minions couldn't carry much weight.

He did, however, carry both drinks back to our table and set them down with a plate of lime wedges. Fruit? I would have preferred chips.

"What's the lime for?" I asked.

Quatre crushed the juice of his slice into his glass before filling it to brimming with beer and dropping in the peel. "Mexican beer. Just try it."

I gave a piece of lime a squeeze but passed on floating the peel. "Not bad." I took another sip. "I don't know a thing about wine, but beer? This is good stuff."

"Isn't it? I'm no expert, but I like this and try something new every so often. Oh, look up there! See?"

There was a narrow catwalk circling the room and disappearing into the next. "Yeah, I see the walkway."

"We'll go up there in a minute. It's the gallery."

"I thought maybe it was the route to the bathrooms. It would discourage guys from just walking in off the street to use the john."

"I'd say you're right about that. Anyway, there is a gallery up there with all kinds of art. Paintings, sculpture...and it changes." Quatre looked over my shoulder, frowning at someone I couldn't see. "They're back."

We greeted Arula, Joyce, and the two young men accompanying them, Jay and Tod. Both men were around our same size and ages, maybe a few years older, I estimated. They wore their hair long, held back in ponytails, and they were dressed in short kimono shirts left open to the waist and tied with sashes with loose silky-looking pants underneath.

Jay shared the same penchant for makeup as Quatre, although where Quatre looked Egyptian, the other guy looked more like a Japanese Geisha than anything else I could come up with.

Tod, on the other hand, was fresh-faced, and wore a large gold earring in his right earlobe. They were trying out for a club job later that night, the nature of which I paid no attention to.

"I like your hair," Tod told me.

"Thanks. Quatre 'sparkled' it for me."

"Nice job. Joyce keeps trying to get me to glam up, but..." he shook his head.

Yep. Some guys should avoid the glam, ones like Duo and Quatre, who were pretty enough already.

"So," Jay interrupted gently, "I've been told you two are boyfriends. That's cool with us. We're grad students in religious studies and martial arts at the university. How about you?"

I wasn't into discussing my relationship, thank you. "Um, chemistry, I guess, I work full time now, in Sanc where I live, and I haven't really decided whether to come out or not." I nearly batted my eyelashes, but I was actually afraid some of the eye makeup might fall in and blind me.

"Oh? Tell us what's stopping you and we'll do everything to change your mind!"

Tod said this with such good intentions, that I couldn't help but wonder what he was getting at. Straight guys usually preferred pretending gays were straight when sharing a table. And then Quatre giggled.

"He's joking, guys," Arula said. "With makeup like that?"

"Oh, you fit in fine here." Joyce had had a drink or two and I was having a problem following her. "Creeps are everywhere and will diss you, but not so many. And whatever you do in Sanc, I'm sure gets done here and you could find a job. So, if you lived here, that's not gonna change. Besides, we think you are beautiful and perfect together, so it doesn't matter."

"Now you have to come back. We won't have it any other way!" Arula chided me, and then they all laughed.

"I'm making no promises tonight," I said and left it at that.

Quatre avoided my eyes but didn't seem uncomfortable at all. He hadn't brought me here to find a new home, I was pretty sure. I assumed it was to help me remember my past here and I hoped it was to end up in bed together. It could be my lucky night, if I was reading Quatre right. I decided I should kiss him and find out. Finding the right time to do it was the hitch.

"Have you been upstairs yet?" Tod asked me.

"No, Quatre was telling me about it."

"You guys go on up. We'll meet you," Jay said. "I haven't talked to Q-ball in a long time."

Q-ball? That was pretty funny. Quatre rolled his eyes and mumbled something to the guy I couldn't hear over the music. Q-pie? Kitty-Quat? He did have a kittenish quality, when he wasn't ordering me around.

"Okay." I might as well look at the pictures. What I really looked forward to was getting up there in the rafters. My muscles clenched across my back. Yeah, missed the ropes, the high bars, swinging like a monkey.

As the soles of our shoes hit the metal rungs of the staircase going up, there was a scrape and a ringing sound. I had a sharp image of Duo and Heero doing the same thing. It came and went in a flash. Funny that I'd associate them with the sound of metal.

"The collection here is really very experimental art," Tod explained.

I tested the structure and wondered if the supports would hold if I tried a few pull ups, maybe even a somersault?

"Oh, how can you lean out like that?" he asked me. "I get vertigo, I think."

Heights had never bothered me. I imagined that I had been a bird in a former life, but I knew it had to do with my college gymnastics and circus background, whatever that had been. Catherine had photo albums she'd kept with pictures of me at different ages doing a bit of everything. I'd been the animal keeper and acrobat, a clown and a knife thrower; at least, according to the pictures. I'd have to have Catherine show those to Quatre. He was into costumes; he'd get a good laugh from the clown pictures.

"I don't. Great view from up here."

I looked out over the railing to see figures bobbing to the best of the music and couples hunched over tables, heads together to be heard over the noise. Somewhere down there was my boyfriend, but I couldn't make him out in the gloom. I'd never been out with anyone like Quatre, of that I was sure. He was cute and caring, but also rather more daring that I'd thought he would be. He hadn't made many moves on me yet, though. So far, we could have been cousins. Maybe he was waiting for me to act. I could do that, couldn't I?

Hell. If a pretty boy like Duo couldn't get anywhere with him, what chance did I have? A good one, I guess, because it was Quatre that invited me on this overnight. I had to keep reminding myself of that. And I did.

When Tod tapped me on the shoulder, I remembered where I was and that he was standing there. I turned around and noticed the whitewashed brick wall to his other side was dotted with paintings and drawings framed each in a unique style.

"Watch your head!" he pointed out. Above us hovered a mobile which dipped and swayed with the air currents, nearly clipping me. I must have had another inch in height over Tod.

I read one of the more garish painting's label aloud: "'Psychological Studies.' A bit strange. It one looks like one of my bad dreams."

"I guess its something you share with the artist. The common theme to these pieces is symbolism. You ever study art? You have a feel for interpretation."

"Not that I remember, but I think I'd like to."

"So, you thinking more like you'd want to come here again? You'll make friends, I promise."

There was that push again, but it was an honest offer of friendship, I think. I saw the earnestness in the guy's face, and blushed hotly. I wasn't sure if he was coming on to me or not. "I'm leaning more toward coming back sooner rather than later, I think."

Tod stepped into my personal spaced and gushed, "Oh, that's terrific. You'd love it here."

I had the uneasy feeling that I might have suddenly become the object of this young man's affection, which was not intentional or desirable from my point of view. I didn't want to say anything to hurt his feelings or insult him and make him mad. What if I was wrong? I'd been wrong before; at least I think I remembered asking a straight guy out by mistake once.

"Actually, I lived around here for awhile once. Now, I gotta good job in Sanc, so visiting is all I'll be doing."

Tod responded with a sympathetic smile. "Well, think about giving Nova one more try. Oh, here's my favorite piece!"

Half an hour later, we rejoined Quatre, Jay, and the girls back at our table.

"Jay suggested that we go to Cool Matter," Quatre said. "They've got a new conceptual art thing going on there. Or we can stay here longer, if you like, but Jay and Tod are heading out and the girls are hooking up with some other friends."

He was asking if I wanted to be with him or in the safety of numbers. I wanted Quatre all to myself. "Let's go then," I decided. "Complete our art an' alcohol tour. We still have the Cavern to go to, right?"

"Oh, yeah. I save the best for the last." He was beaming, so I know I made the right decision. I raked him over with my eyes. I couldn't help looking him over. Did he know just how much skin he was showing? For a straight-laced business grad student, he was far more courageous in public than I had expected. I hoped it was a show for me.

Quatre and I wound our way out of the club and out the door. The streets were full of kids out on the town, just like us. It was party time. Everywhere we walked people paused and stared to mark our passing. I was tall, lean, and sculpted naturally by body tossing and gymnastics. And I sparkled.

And then I had Quatre, who could make a stir all by himself in any crowd with his otherworldly appearance, at my side; it was a sight no one could miss. I couldn't help notice that we were being drooled over by females and males alike, and my confidence in my attractiveness grew. I would occasionally meet the eyes of some attractive girl and smile. It was fleeting and anonymous, and I avoided the pretty guys like the plague, so it wasn't very brave of me, but it was something.

He and I bumped hips and smiled. The beers had loosened him up a little, that and the friends. I bet that he had set this all up with his sister before leaving Sanc. And it, well, it had sure paid off. Me? Had I been out on my own I would have been smashed by now, but not happier. What made it good was Quatre, not the booze or the music, just him.

Duo had told me that Quatre wasn't much of a drinker, and he was right. It amused me how my blonde gladiator had been carefully regulating both of our consumptions of alcohol. I hadn't said anything to the contrary, except when I asked for that beer when I think it was 'soda turn'. He'd taken that in stride. Hadn't enforced his rules. He'd even had a drink with me. Mexican beer...with lime.

Man, he was awfully cute and entirely different looking from his usual khaki slacks and button-done oxford shirt with a vest. I know I kept thinking about that, but he really just had on straps of leather on top and a short skirt-- a kilt. See the legs? They lead right up to... oh, fuck.

He looked really hot.

I'd just let him continue to be the one doing the ordering. If I had his strategy correctly figured out, the next place we entered would be a no-alcohol stop. He seemed happy to have a modicum of control over me. Well, more than that. I wondered if he'd be that aggressive later in bed, but his being so inexperienced made it hard for me to imagine it. He hadn't even been able to look at the bed in the hotel. Oh, course, neither had I.

I'm sure he never felt he was the one in control when we was with Maxwell—that made me smile. But then I'd only ever really seen Duo at work and as my boss. Still, I couldn't see Quatre in control there. So, letting Quatre feel in command around me maybe would give him the courage to have sex. So it was all for his benefit, and mine. Yeah, sure.

"You look like you're having fun. Are you?" Quatre asked me as we strolled to the next club.

"Yeah, actually, I am. I haven't obsessed about my forgotten past for the last few hours. I haven't given a moment's thought to that random birth certificate, and how it is that my mother wasn't who I thought she was. And I don't care right now."

"Did looking at the art exhibit do all that for you? Wait till you see this exhibition."

He was about to skip ahead, but I grabbed his hand. "Hey."

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

"No, but I thought we could walk together." I looked down at our hands and locked fingers, and then slowly raised my eyes to his face. "Okay?"

God, he was so cute. His smile was just for me.

"I wasn't sure if you wanted to advertise." His voice was low, his eyes wide and sincere.

"You're kidding. I'd wear rainbows and... and lipstick, if you asked."

He laughed and leaned into me. "You are wearing lipstick and eyeliner, or did you already forget?"

I had. "Doesn't mean I didn't mean it."

"I know," he whispered in my ear. He had to stand on his tiptoes to reach.

I don't remember the walk from there to the next club as it was. What I remember was holding Quatre's hand and feeling this upwelling of pride inside. There were lights and music and the ground moved beneath our feet carrying us forward. He had this silly laugh, half giggle, and this brilliant smile, but genuine kindness shown from his eyes. I was a goner. Going, going, gone.

Poof! My memory clicked in again.

"Cool Matter Club. Yeah, I've been here. I know this place," I told him. "I remember that it had formerly been an old house and that the owner had died awhile back. There hadn't been any family interest in living there, so it stood empty for years until the youngest grandson saw it as an opportunity, and poured the rest of his inheritance into creating a unique club."

"Really? I'm glad your memory of the place is so clear," Quatre said looking surprised, "but how did you know all that?"

"Read it," I smiled, "right here on this framed review. See? '...and poured the rest of his inher...'"

"Oooh, you are so mean!" Quatre laughed and pounded on my shoulder. Hard.

"Man! Do you work out or something?" I asked.

"Or something." Back came the sunshine. One thing about Quatre, he couldn't hold an angry expression very long. "Lightweight boxing, if you have to know. At school."

"I like a fighter," I said, and, yeah, I put as much innuendo into it as I could.

My little gladiator's face, neck and chest turned red. Aw, I embarrassed him again. "Shall we go in?"

I nodded and he jerked on my arm. I did have some recollections of the club. It still had many rooms, which partitioned off different activities. Dancing occurred in the 'front room'; the bar occupied what had once been a kitchen.

Conceptual art was exhibited throughout. In a 'bedroom' the floor was covered in turf, the grass crushed by the many feet passing through. The title: Outside In.

"Well, it smells like rotting compost," I said as I exited the room to check the next.

Quatre hesitated at the entry to the next room. "What do you think?"

"The cages are extreme, but the people inside them probably belong there."

He laughed. He always laughed at my dry humor. I loved to hear him laugh.

"You don't mind if I skip this one?"

He could skip anything he wanted. I was so totally captivated by him it scared me. "No. If you pass the bar, I'd like a beer. Something simple."

"Okay!" Quatre fairly lit the room with another dazzling smile. I could love him just for that smile.

When he was out of sight, I approached one of the cages with a girl inside. It was 4 feet by 3 feet, so I crouched low beside it to talk to her. "So, how're you doing in there? Need anything? Food? Water?"

"Yeah, but then I'd have to go and my shift's not over for two more hours so... no...thanks. You part of a show?" She had an unkempt look, but I thought it had something to do with her incarceration.

"No, this is...natural," I said as I gauged her response.

She took in my exotic sparkly hair, which couldn't possibly be natural, then shrugged. "Nice."

"You get paid to do this?"

"No, I'm a grad student doing a favor for a friend. Over there, the girl in the smaller cage? It's her master's thesis. She'll help me out when the time come for me to do mine."

"Oh, so you're a student at the university."

"Yeah, isn't everybody?" she asked.

I smiled. It was funny that she mistook me for another student, maybe one her age. "Yeah, mostly. Well, see you around, eh?"

"I'll see you for sure. Maybe you'll do a thing for me?"

"For one of your art projects? Not likely. I got this job in Sanc now."

"That's cool. I'm Nicene."

"Trowa."

I left the room and went looking for Quatre, wearing a wry smile and decided that everything was going to be just fine. I could work and save money, then get Quatre to room with me and come back here on holidays. Here. I could get to think of this as a second home, I was sure of it. Well, maybe. I'd see. Quatre would have to agree.

I located Quatre on the dance floor. So much for my beer. He was a shrewd one. He was going to be oh so agreeable, yet deny me enough drink to get sick.

He was dancing alone, or with five other people, it was hard to tell. Feeling good about life in general and Quatre specifically, I danced out to meet him. We stayed with a mixed crowd of guys and girls for the next few songs. The music was alternative from local bands passing out free CD's trying to get publicity.

At one point, I found myself pinned between two guys, getting closer than comfortable. Using my athleticism, I leaped and spun and slid out of the ever tightening cluster, and took off to join up with Quatre again.

"Thirsty?" I asked.

"Am I? Yes, and famished!"

We floated over to the bar, where we both ordered sodas and nachos. I asked the expert, "Why is it that there are so many... you know...gay guys at these bars?"

"They're mostly gay bars." Quatre took a long drink and let his words soak in. "You have two kinds of bars here. There are the hip hop music bars and the gay bars for different music. Oh, well there's a biker bar and a couple other rough hangouts, but I didn't think those were for us."

He smiled prettily and I agreed automatically that places like that weren't for him. For me, maybe, but definitely not for Quatre Raberba Winner.

"Anyway," he went on, "most folks end up infiltrating the gay bars and turning them into mainstream. Plus the lines are fuzzy."

"What lines?"

"All kinds of lines, Trowa. Like the one parting you from your missing past. Or the one separating your working with Duo and dating him, and keeping me from still being with him. Then there are the lines you don't seem to want to cross with me."

A sudden daring took control of my body and I moved on him. "Oh? So, you wouldn't mind if I did this?" I leaned in and brushed his lips with mine. And from the enthusiastic response, I gathered that he didn't mind at all. I'm not a demonstrative person, especially in public like that, but I wanted him so much.

Desire really can drive you nuts. This time it drove me to kiss him for the first time. Right there at the bar. In public.

We parted reluctantly when a knot of kids bumped us. I cleared my throat which had constricted up with excitement. "Um, we have one more club to go to?"

"Yeah, if you want to, but it's a special one."

"Let's get going then."

I was curious about this Cavern club, but I was about ready to get my hands on my little fighter. We left the Cool Matter Club with dispatch heading uptown. Along the way a familiar looking place caught my eye.

"How about that place over there?" I pointed out Hot Rocks!

"Hip hop music and druggie hangout," Quatre said simply.

"Heh, heh... sounds like the dorms I used to lived in." I smiled at the not-so-old, tattered scrap of memory I had of my college days before I moved into my current apartment.

Quatre gave me a rare suspicious look. "Were you a party guy?"

"Shit no. I was a chem. major! I was in labs for hours on end and had too much work to do much. Hey, I'm clean. Weaned off pain killers, no growth hormones, or anything. I'm sure I was clean back in college, too, whether my memories are complete about that time or not. I know I haven't changed that much. I'm not a very social guy."

"Just social enough," he assured me. "I avoid drugs too, which can be hard at college get-togethers, can't it? I mean, you escape reality and you quickly run into a dead end."

"I'd tell someone considering drugs, to sit in on a few autopsies and see what it does to you. The kids are heartbreakers and the older folks are pitiful."

Quatre held up his hands to ward off any explicit descriptions, and then broke into low-toned giggles. "I'm clean, too! I'm convinced! Please don't make me watch you do an autopsy!"

Trowa nodded. "Squeamish."

"I'm not...well, okay. I am. But that doesn't make me girly!"

"Heh, did I ever give you the impression I thought you were my tough little gladiator?"

"What did you think of me when we met in the coffee shop?" Now he wanted serious answers that I was loathe to talk about. But I'm not good at denying him what he wants.

"Of you? First off, I recognized you and I thought Maxwell was the luckiest fucker on earth."

Quatre's mouth fell open. "Then you knew who I was?"

"Oh, yeah. I had lost my memories for the most part. I knew nothing of my parents, my childhood, my...anything except how to do my job and zip my pants, well practically, and yet...I knew you."

"Really? Pretty weird."

"Yes and no. I knew who you were, where I'd first seen you, and the color of your car, which in my college days was blue... That's how I knew you'd be important in my life. What other reason did my brain have to select you for me to remember? For some reason I knew we had no history together, that you never even knew I existed, but I think I was being given a chance to change that."

His eyes took on a dreamy expression. "Lust at first sight. How romantic."

Love not lust. But damn! I wasn't going to go that far and say that on this trip.

"Ah, not exactly, but I had nothing to lose by hanging out at the coffee shop. Except, I got to like Maxwell—and Yuy. Man, he was strange."

"Heero? Isn't he? He's an amazing artist, but there were times when he kinda scared me."

"There were times when I thought he was planning how best to kill you when you were dating Duo. He'd just stare."

"Ooh, don't do that!" Quatre pounded on me again for having given him the evil Yuy eyeball. "I could feel that he resented me, but I thought he hated gays."

"I hadn't known you were partial to men until you showed up hanging all over Duo. That was something that surprised me."

"I wasn't hanging on him. I was trying to come out proud and not hide. What I didn't know was that Duo kept his homosexuality more hidden than that. I really blew it for him a few times."

"Yeah, that wasn't good for him. It helped me out, though. I couldn't guess who was what. I guess I don't read people very well," I admitted cautiously.

"And I read more about people than I want to."

"You've mentioned being rather sensitive. And that hypnosis thing you did? So, what can you tell about me?"

His expression underwent a rapid change from serious to wickedly mischievous; making me think of Duo at a moment I'd rather have not.

"You want in my pants so bad you'll go to anyplace, put up with anything from me."

Oof, that was blunt, and true! That was a surprise! I couldn't speak my mind, or I could but my mind couldn't string two coherent thoughts in a row. "Wha--? I, ah, not true! No! I wasn't... what I..."

Quatre was holding his mid-section and laughing so hard he was bent double.

"Quatre? Cut it out. You know what I'm saying, right? Right? Stop it, Quatre! People are staring."

"Peeeeeeople are ssstaring!" Quatre howled like a maniac. "Trowa, look at us! People have been staring for blocks!"

At which point I caught a glimpse of and thought about those tiny black briefs under the kilt. And he was absolutely right. I wanted him bad, so bad. And he could tell. I was deeply embarrassed and wanted to disappear. I needed to get away, so I just took off at a full run.

"Trowa! Stop!"

Chapter 17

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