"Wish Upon a Star "

Written By: Waterliliylf

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing. All rights remain with Bandai, Sotsu and associated parties. No profit being made here.

Rating: R

Warnings: sap, angst, fluff, AU

Pairings: 3x4

Summary: When you wish upon a star, it makes no difference who you are, unless you're the heir to the Winner business empire. So when you do find a means of escape, how long can you hold on to the fantasy, and the man of your dreams, before reality takes over?

"Wish Upon a Star "

Chapter 15:

Trowa taught him to skim stones just as the sun was setting. The beach was nothing like Quatre had imagined; he'd had visions of palm trees and endless golden sands, but Trowa drove him to a pebbly little cove just as the sun was setting. They'd had to clamber over rocks to reach the water, which was grey and rather rough and far too cold to paddle in. Quatre's new leather shoes hadn't given much of a grip, and he hadn't realised the slimy green mould was slippery at first.

It had got much easier once he'd taken the shoes off, even if the pebbles hurt his feet a little bit.

"It's all in the flick of the wrist,' Trowa explained patiently. He was a good teacher, full of praise and encouragement and delicious, tongue-borne rewards when Quatre made a good throw.

'Hmm. So I hear.' Quatre glanced behind him and gave his boyfriend – his boyfriend, officially – a sly little smile. 'Of course they say that about lots of things, don't they?'

'Must be true then.' Trowa stepped closer, wrapping both arms around Quatre's waist. That felt heavenly. It was getting chilly, what with the seabreeze and his wet feet. Sanque was colder than L4, once the sun started to go down. 'If they say it.'

'Must be,' Quatre echoed, not really paying attention, just revelling in Trowa holding him. They were going to have the whole evening together, and the whole night, and they'd be able to wake up in each other's arms again. He couldn't, remotely, imagine what could be better.

He just had to find a way to stop Trowa hating his entire family. That might help.

'Cold?' Trowa nuzzled his ear, warm tongue flickering playfully. 'You're shivering a little bit.'

'Well, your tongue is in my ear,' Quatre pointed out. 'It's possibly because of that.'

'You think?' Trowa asked dryly. 'Still, it is getting a little cold and you don't have a jacket. Maybe we should head back to the car? Your friend Heero's coming for dinner, remember?'

'OK.' He didn't want to leave, really, but it was cold. 'Are you quite sure you didn't mind me inviting him? I know I should have checked. We could always go out somewhere instead.'

'Cat, you've apologised for that about a billion times, and I have no problem with you asking your friend, who's flown across the galaxy to see you, for dinner. I can just defrost something when we get back; it's no trouble. We really should be going though. You look like you're slowly freezing to death.'

'I never thought of bringing a coat. I forgot it gets cold here in the evenings.'

'I'm sort of glad you didn't,' Trowa grinned at him. 'It'd be a shame to cover up the way your ass looks in those pants. Very sexy.'

'Honestly?' Quatre, very daringly, attempted a sexy little wiggle and fell straight into a rock pool.

'I can't bring you anywhere, can I?' Trowa asked ruefully, hauling him out and removing a long piece of seaweed from his hair. 'It's amazing; like you have this natural talent for getting yourself into trouble.'

'I do not!' Quatre grabbed the slimy, nasty-feeling seaweed and whacked Trowa with it. 'I normally never get into trouble; it must be your evil influence.'

'Me?' Trowa gave him a look of wounded innocence. 'I'm the one who just saved you from drowning; or possibly from being nibbled by wild crabs.'

'Ugh.' Quatre shivered; that didn't sound good. 'I don't think I'd like that.'

'The death of a million pincers,' Trowa intoned solemnly. 'Particularly painful. An ancient Sanque torture for sexy blond guys who don't make their adoring boyfriends happy. You'd better watch yourself.'

'Crabs don't really eat people, do they?' Quatre wondered, keeping a firm grip on Trowa's hand in case he fell in again. His only prior acquaintance with crabs was on a plate, but some of them were big. Maybe the things were carnivorous.

Trowa burst out laughing. 'God, you're adorable. I love the way you Colonials go on sometimes. Duo was just like that when I met him first.'

Quatre sniffed. 'Does that mean Duo is adorable too?'

'In his own way, yes. Jealous?'

'Certainly not!' Quatre said haughtily. 'Um, should I be?'

'No. I told you; we're just friends. There's no one you have to worry about.' He helped Quatre over an especially slippery patch of rock; the tide was starting to move closer now and he could feel the cold spray on his skin. 'I mean that, you know.'

'Thank you,' Quatre said, meaning it. 'Ah, you don't have to worry about anyone else either. There's never been anyone all that serious.'

'The guy in Canada?' Trowa flung him one of those suddenly intense glances.

'That was five years ago. We tried to keep in touch for a while, but then we were both busy and he met somebody else.' Years later, Quatre still remembered crying over that particular email. As an idealistic, in-love, idiotic teenager, he'd really believed they would somehow stay together. So stupid. 'Now we just send Christmas cards.'

And the occasional blackmail demand, of course.

He shrugged slightly. 'It's not all that easy having a relationship if you live somewhere where it's illegal to be gay.'

'It must be tough.' Trowa made the comment lightly enough but his eyes were very serious.

Quatre nodded. 'I hate it. All the hiding and deception. Today's been so wonderful; we'd never be able to behave like this on L4.'

'Ever considered moving to Earth, then?'

'I couldn't, ever,' Quatre told him sadly. 'My father's sick, and I'm the only son. I can't just abandon him. And if –when – dies, I'll be expected to take over and run the business, and look after my sisters.'

'Hey.' Trowa grabbed his hand, pulling him into a very thorough kiss. 'I told you, we'll figure something out.'

'OK.' Quatre gave him a weak little smile that wobbled a bit at the edges. It was such an enticing fantasy, but of course it could never happen. And if Trowa really knew who he was, he wouldn't want it to.

They'd reached the little path to the car park by then. Quatre sat on a boulder to put on his shoes.

'Let me do that.' Trowa squatted in front of him, rubbing Quatre's bare feet. 'You're shivering. I'm sorry, Cat. I forgot you're not used to the cold.'

'I'm all right. I think it's just because I'm wet,' Quatre told him, trying to sound cheerful. Wool felt horrible when it was damp, clingy little fibres crawling against his skin.

'Right then. Time to get you back to the car and warm you up,' Trowa announced and before Quatre could protest he was swept up in those strong arms.

'Trowa! What if someone sees us?'

'Then they'll have to be jealous of me. Now, calm down. This isn't L4; no one's going to care about me having an armful of really cute blond. When we get back to the car, I'll turn the heater on full blast and steam up the windows a bit and then we can make out before we head home. That should warm you up a bit.'

It did.

Being driven by Trowa, Quatre decided on the way home, was rapidly becoming one of his favourite things. Trowa kept a firm hold of his hand, and they talked and kissed whenever they had to stop at traffic lights.

It was still nice to get home, though; the first time he'd seen the bookshop lit up in the evening.

There were no customers but Duo was standing at the counter watching a small, red-haired girl play chess with Heero Yuy.

'Duo?' Trowa moved purposefully into the shop, looking suspiciously at Heero.

'Hey, Tro.' Duo, interestingly enough, glanced up for one second, and then his eyes swivelled back to the pair on the couch. It was Heero he was looking at, Quatre noticed. 'Hey, Cat. You guys have a good time? Your friend's here, Cat. I guess you can see that.'

'Heero,' Trowa guessed, holding out his hand. 'I'm Trowa. Good to meet you.'

'Hi, uncle Trowa,' the girl piped up. 'He keeps beating me! Can you tell him to let me win one match? Who's that?' She gave Quatre a highly suspicious glare, the exact mirror of her uncle's when he'd first seen Heero.

'This is my friend Cat. Cat, this is my niece Eleanor Bloom.'

'Ellie,' the girl insisted. She nodded in Quatre's direction. 'Hi. Are you my uncle's boyfriend?'

'Eleanor! What have I told you about personal questions? It's rude. Now get up and say hello properly.'

'It wasn't personal,' she argued. 'It was a factual yes or no question.' She offered her hand to Quatre politely. 'Are you his boyfriend?'

'Ellie!'

'No, it's fine.' Quatre smiled down at the little girl, liking her directness. He rarely saw his nieces and nephews except when they were shown off at family occasions, all on their best behaviour, and under strict instructions not to bother uncle Quatre. 'Yes, I am. Is that all right?'

'I suppose. You look nice and you're Heero's friend and I like him. Even if,' those dark green eyes, so disconcertingly like Trowa's in her delicate, feminine face, glared at Heero, 'he keeps beating me.'

'He's annoying like that,' Quatre agreed, trying not to laugh at the sight of his friend's abashed expression.

'What books do you like?'

'I just started the Narnia Chronicles yesterday.' Quatre hoped that would be acceptable; this felt a bit like a job interview.

'That's cool. Have you seen the films? Did you like them?'

Quatre shook his head. 'I didn't know there were films. Are they good?'

'She nodded. 'My uncle has the DVDS. Duo downloaded them but you can't tell people 'cause it's illegal. Uncle Trowa, you should let him watch the movies tonight.'

'We'll see. Ellie, where's your mother? She's late picking you up.'

Eleanor made a face. 'She had to get her hair done. And she's going to ask if I can stay here tomorrow. She's got a date. And Duo's got a boyfriend. He sent him those really ugly flowers.'

'They're not ugly!' Duo protested. 'They're …exotic.'

'And cost a fortune by the look of them,' Trowa said softly. 'From Zechs? I thought you weren't interested in him.'

'Yeah, well.' Duo blushed, playing with his hair and very obviously not looking in Heero's direction. 'He's not that bad.'

'Really? Listen, Cat, you should go up and get changed before you catch pneumonia. Do you want to take Heero up with you? I'll just be a couple of minutes.'

'OK.' It felt oddly like a dismissal; he obviously wasn't the only one with family issues.

Still, he needed to talk to Heero.

His friend followed him into Trowa's bedroom, sitting on the bed as Quatre rummaged for something to wear. 'How long have you been here? I thought you were going to take a rest and then go sightseeing this afternoon.'

'I wanted to see this place,' Heero said simply. 'Duo was having computer problems so I helped him with that, and then I just stayed on. Is he really going out with Zechs?'

'They went on one date, last night.' Quatre pulled one of the little cashmere t-shirts Heero had chosen for him. That would be OK, and he could wear the black jeans with it. Trowa seemed to like black. 'I thought Zechs just wanted to ask him questions about Trowa, but he must like him if he's sending him flowers.' Clothes decision made, he sat back on his heels, regarding his friend. 'You like him, don't you?'

Heero just shrugged. 'It doesn't matter how I feel about him. He's already got a boyfriend.'

'Hardly,' Quatre retorted. 'They've only been out once. And I think he likes you too; he couldn't take his eyes off you downstairs. I think you'd be better for him than Zechs anyway. For one thing, Zechs is bound to tell him who I am at some point. It's so annoying! All I want is a few days alone with Trowa and I do not need Zechs hanging around. This is all getting ridiculously complicated.'

'Yes,' Heero agreed, dry as desiccated toast crusts. 'And it was all so very simple before.'

'Ha ha. It's not funny! It's all turning into some sort of stupid soap opera.'

'Trowa seems nice,' Heero offered, a peace offering.

'He is. He's wonderful.' Quatre rummaged in his case for underwear. 'Except the most awful thing happened. It's like Romeo and Juliet!'

Heero gave him a look of pure puzzlement. 'His family has an ancient feud with yours? I find that a little hard to believe.'

'Of course not! But he hates the Winners. Everyone in Sanque does, from what he told me. They use the name Winner as an obscenity!'

Heero shrugged. 'Didn't you know about any of that?'

'NO! How was I supposed to know?'

'Newspapers, TV, internet?' his friend suggested. 'I know you only ever read the business pages but seriously, Quatre, even I know about the protests they've had in this country. How can you not know anything about it?'

The blond flushed. 'Iria told me there had been a few problems, but she said it had just been rabble-rousing anarchists and nothing to worry about.'

'Well, maybe it's time you stopped listening to everything Iria said and started to work things out for yourself.' Heero sighed. 'Stop beating yourself up over this. There's nothing you can do. And Trowa doesn't seem to have a problem with you, personally, as a Winner, so what's the problem?'

'I didn't tell him, Heeero. I couldn't. He went on and on about how we're going to rape his country for profit and he called Iria a harpy, whatever that is, and I don't want him to hate me.'

Heero shook his head. 'You're going to have to tell him sometime. Wouldn't it be better to do it now and get it over with? You can't keep deceiving him.'

'I will tell him. Just not yet. Not until I sort all of this out. I have to convince him that the Winner family isn't totally evil, and then I'll tell him.'

'And how exactly are you going to convince him that you're not evil?' Heero was looking far too amused over all this.

'It isn't funny!'

'It is, a bit.' Heero winced as Quatre glared at him.

'No, it isn't. It's not funny at all. I just have to get a whole forest designated as a protected area, so we can't cut down the trees.'

'Oh. Well, if that's all, it's all right then. Anyway, what happened to you today? Did Trowa drag you up a mountain by the hair?'

'Oh, I fell down a hill. And then I fell into a couple of rock pools. And that's not funny either. I could have been eaten alive by crabs!'

'Crabs don't eat humans.' Heero fell about laughing.

'Well, I didn't know that.' Quatre gathered up an armful of clothes and headed for the bathroom, trailing wounded dignity and little drops of water.

He tried to work out an agenda as he soaped himself.

Save forest. Convince Duo that Zechs wasn't a viable proposition as a boyfriend. Have sex with Trowa. Make popcorn. Save the trees…. Trowa would hate him forever if all those beautiful, ancient trees had to die. He'd hate himself. Snuggle on the couch while watching the film.

Concentrate. Trees. So beautiful, with their leaves the colour of Trowa's eyes…

Oh, forget it.

The trees would survive him taking one night off. He'd save them in the morning.

 

~ * ~

Chapter 15

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