Warnings: Basket case!Quatre, silliness… ^^; The original fic, The Midwinter Candle (written in the Fushigi Yuugi fandom) is very romantic… This fic was written a long time ago but posted on my LJ. I thought it was time to put it here.

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"Is he crazy? Has he gone completely loopy?" Quatre stared at the content of the page, not understanding how this was supposed to get Wufei and Relena together.

"What are you reading?" Trowa said over his shoulder, probably wondering why he was trying to strangle the book.

Quatre slammed that shut with a loud bang and spun in his chair to face his friend. "Trowa!" He exclaimed… and then wished that he hadn't. Of course it was Trowa! He hadn't met anyone yet who could sneak up on him like that…well, maybe Duo, but Duo couldn't make his pulse race like this.

Trowa smiled, and then looked down at the book still clutched in Quatre's hands. "The author is… loopy?"

"What? Oh, no. Not her!" Quatre got up and put the book on the shelf behind his desk. "But nevermind that. Are you done unpacking?" He smiled up at his friend, who he hadn't seen in several months. "I'd rather catch-up with you. How's Cathy?"

"She's fine and sends her regards." Trowa eyed the bookshelf behind Quatre curiously. "The Compilation of Earth's Obscured Legends sounds very interesting. I didn't know you're into folklores."

Quatre chewed on his lower lip a little irritably. How did they get back on this subject? He wasn't prepared to tell Trowa anything about Duo's latest scheme… he wasn't even sure how he'd gotten dragged into it in the first place.

"You know me." He shrugged and waved his hands airily. "I'm curious about many things." And now to get away from the damn book. "Have you seen Dorothy's new painting? I have it hung up in the…" he trailed off when Trowa gave him a bland look. Right. Trowa still hadn't quite forgiven Dorothy for stabbing Quatre. "You know, that's okay. It's not that great anyway. The colors are all off." Quatre sighed and wondered how he had turned into a complete idiot over night.

"How about Rashid's hybrid rose collection?" He tried again, determined not to go anywhere near Duo's idiotic plan. "Those are very pretty."

Trowa laughed, shaking his head. Quatre swallowed. He loved it when Trowa laughed.

And while he was drooling over the man, said man was walking around his desk, and went straight for the book.

Eep!

And double 'eep!' when a piece of paper fell out from between the pages. Trowa bent down and gracefully retrieved it. Normally, Trowa was not the prying type and he probably wouldn't have read what was on that paper – or even go for a book that Quatre obviously wanted to keep from him - except that when Quatre hid things from him, it usually meant that Duo was up to something and when Duo was up to something… well, let just say that Trowa had a really strange sense of humor.

But no matter how strange, this particular scheme was just way out there.

Trowa scanned the content of the paper and looked up at Quatre, his expression much more amused than Quatre would have liked. See? Strange.

"He's loopy," Quatre explained, not wanting anything to do with that glint in Trowa's eyes… okay, technically one eye, since the other one was still hiding behind all that hair.

Trowa smiled. Quatre loved it when Trowa smile.

"I don't know." Trowa looked at the paper again. "Duo suggests that you get Wufei 'the candle'. I'm not sure what kind of candle but you know that Wufei uses them, especially when he meditates." Trowa shrugged. "How is that loopy?"

Quatre sighed. Against better judgment, he took the book from Trowa and turned to the page that would prove that Duo was indeed insane. He pointed to the title of the page, 'The Midwinter Candle' and tapped it a couple of times. "That is how."

And before Trowa could get comfortable reading the legend, he took the book away and glared at the picture of a white candle sitting on a windowsill.

Trowa chuckled and settled into Quatre's leather chair, stretching his legs to rest his feet on the edge of the desk. "Apparently I'm not reading it," he continued to sound amused. "Do you want to fill me in?"

No, absolutely not. "Wouldn't you rather see the roses?"

Trowa smiled again and looked pointedly at the book.

Quatre sighed. "You know how both Wufei and Relena are so stubborn?" Trowa raised an eyebrow but Quatre didn't wait for his answer and continued, "Duo sent me this…legend that he swore up and down works."

"How does he know it works?"

"He said that's how he got Heero."

"Really," Trowa mused, looking much more interested than he probably should. "So…how does it work?"

Quatre sighed in resignation. "According to the legend, you have to put a white candle by the window that's facing east, on Midwinter's Eve. Then you'll find your true love."

"Ah." Trowa looked thoughtful. "When is Midwinter, exactly?"

"I think it's the longest night of the year...in the legend." He didn't even want to think about which Earth's hemisphere was involved here.

Trowa nodded. "Luckily he's coming here for the winter holidays. I don't believe that New L5 has the 'longest night of the year'. It's all regulated to be the same year-round." Then Trowa glanced at the book lying deceptively innocent on the desk, looking thoughtful again. "There's also that challenge of the window facing east. I wonder how the legend will fare against artificial suns."

Quatre couldn't believe Trowa was actually talking about it so seriously. "Trowa, the legend shouldn't be 'faring' at all. The whole thing is full of holes. Like…what if you don't have a window. Or…or what if some one else shows up?"

Trowa raised his eyebrows questioningly.

"I mean, what if Relena isn't Wufei's true love? This would all be for nothing!"

After several seconds, Trowa asked softly, "Does it matter?"

Quatre's frown as he looked at Trowa. It should matter… he so wanted them to be happy together…but…

Trowa smiled. "As long as they're happy, I don't think it matters who they love."

Quatre should probably say something but he was afraid that something would be I love you, so he thought it was wiser to keep quiet. No need ruining a perfectly good friendship over something like that.

So Quatre nodded.

Trowa smiled again. Quatre didn't think that he's ever seen Trowa smile so much.

"You're really enjoying this, aren't you?" He accused his tall friend.

"It's been kind of slow at the circus this month."

AGH! He knew he should have kept Trowa from discovering this!

Trowa noticed the panicked look on his face and smiled again. Damn! There really wasn't much that Quatre wouldn't do for his friend when he smiled like that…

"Come on. What have you got to lose?" Trowa asked and nudge the book closer to Quatre. "What other supplies do we need?"

Quatre skimmed through the page again and shook his head. "Nothing."

"No salt? Wand? Broom?" Trowa questioned. "Athame?"

Quatre rolled his eyes. "It's not a pagan ritual, Trowa, just a very old obscure legend from earth."

Trowa shrugged. "Just wanted to make sure. How many do we need?"

"One but I was thinking that maybe…if we give one to Wufei and another to Relena, we'd have better chances."

"You were thinking, huh?" Trowa teased, but before Quatre could protest, he continued, "But wouldn't the effect of one candle cancels out the other?"

Quatre looked uncertain. "We're not talking about magnetic fields, Trowa…"

"Aren't we?" Trowa asked, his eyes glinting with amusement.

Quatre couldn't read the emotion from his friend – hadn't been able to in a long time. Was Trowa really serious about this?

"Okay, one candle. I guess we shouldn't mess with legends."

"I agree."

Quatre stared at the taller man. They were really going to do this.

"No, I am not insane or loopy as you called it." Trowa laughed. "Really, what have you got to lose?"

"But how are we going to get him to light it and put it in the right place?"

"You're the strategist," Trowa teased, brushing a stray strand of blond hair from his forehead, making Quatre catch his breath. "I'm sure you'll think of something."

"You don't think that this is way…I mean WAY out there?"

Trowa eyed the book for a moment, his expression almost wistfully before replying. "I think we could all use more magic in our lives, don't you?"

Quatre wished that he could read Trowa… it had been so long since the tall ex-pilot had allowed him any glimpses of his feelings… Quatre couldn't help but wonder what dark secrets his friend held in his heart. Quatre frowned, looking down at the picture in the book… the picture of a snow covered cabin with a single candle flickering by the window.

Quatre turned to look at his friend. "Do you believe in true love?"

Trowa's expression gave nothing away as he gazed into Quatre's eyes. "Yes," he said softly – so softly that it sent a strange thrill down Quatre's spine.

Quatre decided then, that Wufei wasn't going to be the only one with a candle on his windowsill.

===

Midwinter's Eve…

When lit on Midwinter's Eve, it will bring the two lovers together again.

Quatre stared at the candle in his hands and sighed. He was such a romantic. When he had read that part of the legend…his heart had skipped a beat. The story of forbidden love between the candle maker and his male lover was heartbreaking and brought tears to his eyes. Yet the triumph of their love was worth all the pain and hardship they've had to endure. That pulled at his heartstring the most - the thought that they would be reunited again and again…in all of their incarnations to come. That kind of love was more than he could ever hope for… it was certainly more than he deserve.

But Quatre couldn't help but hope. That was all he had left.

Quatre looked up and down the deserted hallway; this wing was hardly used and the rooms on this side of the mansion had windows facing east. He was glad that he had decided to spend more time on Earth – and that North America was above the equator. It made his condition closer to the legend… he really didn't want to deal with artificial sun and automatic climate control system.

When he reached one of the rooms that were unused, he quietly slipped in.

And nearly dropped his candle.

He blinked and rubbed his eyes, but it was still there – a candle, on the ledge of the large bay window.

He looked down at his unlit candle and then quickly up at the one flickering merrily on the windowsill.

At first he thought that he had walked into Wufei's room by mistake but then remembered that Wufei was on a different floor entirely. His heart skipped a beat when realization hit him. Trowa. He was the only one in the mansion besides Quatre, who knew about the Midwinter Candle.

Quatre's heart thumped loudly, almost painfully in his chest, and for a brief moment, he allowed himself to reach out to Trowa, dreading the thought that he would feel nothing.

And this time he did drop his candle when he felt a faint answering from the taller man.

Dare he hope?

His heart soared when the faint echo of Trowa's feeling became stronger. Quatre smiled, his entire body sang with elation. He must find Trowa.

Quatre lit his candle and set it next to Trowa's – he had no doubt now that it belonged to his friend. He spared magnetic repulsion a tiny thought and shook the warning off with a huge smile as he ran out of the room…

After all, he'd already found his true love…

- end -