All Because of a Fight

Hey everyone, guess who has made their return? … Ok, so I haven't written anything fanfic related in about eight months... Sorry about that, for the most part college was kicking my ass and between writing a shit ton of essays, I really didn't have the time to write, college came first, and it paid off since I am now a graduate, so that's why I wasn't writing at first, but after I finished my program? Yeah, I don't really have an excuse for that, I was just being super lazy. So sorry about that, but I am happy to be back, so enough with the excuses, let's get to the story! Some quick notes: This is another AU, TDI never happened, Trent and Gwen are in college/university this time, and they're in their early twenties. Oh, and another thing, a quick heads up for Duncney fans, I'm not 100% confident in how I wrote them in this, so apologies if Duncan and Courtney are acting out of character.

Disclaimer: As per usual, I have no ownership over Gwen, Trent, or TD, those rights go to FreshTV, Jennifer Pertsch, and Tom McGillis. If I did own TD, Gwen and Trent wouldn't have broken up.

Trent sat in front of his laptop, trying desperately to think of how to start his paper. Trent groaned in frustration, silently cursing himself for putting his music essay off until he had about twenty-four hours to get it done. Trent also cursed whoever thought that writing anything other than songs was needed in the Music Industry Arts program. The only saving grace to this situation was that Trent's dormmate was out, and Trent was hoping that his dormmate wouldn't be back for a while, because if Trent had any chance at finishing this assignment on time, he would need complete and utter quiet to complete it.

Just as Trent was about to finally start typing, his thought process was interrupted by the sound of the front door being slammed, Trent whipped his head up, looking as his closed door that led to the dorm living room, where he knew his roommate has just entered, and was obviously not in a good mood, and Trent had a good guess to why, and Trent could only hope that he was wrong. Unfortunately, Trent heard a second slam of the front door and then- "DUNCAN SLATE! DON'T YOU DARE WALK AWAY FROM ME!" And there it was, Trent let out another groan of frustration and brought his head down so his forehead connected with the edge of his desk. Why today of all days? Why now? Just why? Trent's roommate, Duncan, was having yet another argument with his girlfriend Courtney. Great. Just great. How am I going to finish this crap now? Trent pondered this while rubbing his temples, he had already been sitting in front of his laptop for what felt like forever, and now he would have to try to get his essay done while a Duncan and Courtney argument was happening just outside his room? It sounded like an impossible task. Trent tried to think of another option, he could try to play peacemaker and get both of them to calm down, but as an already experienced Duncan and Courtney fight breaker-upper, Trent knew that could take forever, and he definitely didn't have time to spend on trying to understand what silly thing they were bickering about this time. What were his other options? Trent thought desperately, until finally, a light bulb went off in his head. If Courtney was here, then that meant her dorm was fair game.

Trent quickly gathered up his stuff, and stepped out his room cautiously, he was hoping to get out of the dorm without Duncan or Courtney noticing him, Trent had no interest in being dragged into their argument. Thankfully, Duncan and Courtney were standing in the middle of the living room, looking at each other, and were bickering furiously, neither of them noticed as Trent quickly slipped out of the dorm. As Trent was walking towards Courtney's dorm, he realized he had no clue if Courtney's roommate was at home, well hopefully she was, because if not, Trent would probably just sit in the hallway and work on his essay. Trent certainly wasn't going back to his dorm at this point. Trent found himself standing in front of Courtney's front door, he knocked twice, it took a moment before the door was opened, and Trent found his apple green eyes connecting with a pair of charcoal coloured eyes that stood out against the young woman's snow-white skin. "Hey Gwen." Trent greeted her. "Oh, hey Trent." Gwen replied, she looked at him curiously. "Not to be rude or anything, but what're you doing here?" Gwen asked. "I hate to bother you Gwen, but I was hoping maybe I could stay here for bit. I have a paper due in less than twenty-four hours at this point, and Duncan and Courtney are currently in my dorm and well-" Gwen held her hand up to silence him. "Say no more." Then Gwen opened her door wider and swept her arm in a 'come on in' gesture. "You may use my dorm as your storm shelter away from the category five Duncney hurricane." Trent sighed in relief as he stepped into Gwen and Courtney's living room. "Thanks Gwen, you're a lifesaver." "No problem, I'm working on an Art History essay anyway, so we'll both be working on our own thing." Trent got set up on the couch, while Gwen grabbed her stuff from her room, then came and sat down next to Trent, and for the next little while, they both focused on their respective assignments, not saying much, just keeping each other company while they typed.

It had been couple hours, and Trent was feeling a lot better about where he was in his essay rather than where he been when he had started. Trent figured he was about seventy percent done at this point, Trent looked up from his laptop and stretched his arms out, happy he was finally on the track getting this assignment done and in on time. Out of the corner of Trent's eye, he noticed that Gwen had pushed her laptop away from herself and was standing up. "I need coffee." Gwen announced, she turned to Trent. "Want to take a break, and come grab a snack with me from the café?" Trent opened his mouth to answer, but got cut off by his stomach growling. Gwen snickered. "Well, I guess that answers my question." She said in an amused tone. Trent smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, I could do with a break." He admitted. "Great." Gwen said, she went over the closet that was the entrance of their dorm and grabbed a light coat, and an umbrella, then she fished her wallet out of her purse and stuck it in her coat pocket. Trent's eyes widened as he saw Gwen's wallet. "Oh, I don't have any money, Gwen. I should run to my dorm so I can-" But Gwen waved him off. "Don't worry about it, I'll cover for you." Trent frowned. "You sure?" Gwen looked directly at him. "Positive." Trent stared at her, Gwen looked so earnest and determined that Trent just couldn't say no to her. "Alright fine." Gwen smiled. "Alright, come on then." She said as Trent followed her out of the dorm and into the hallway. "Besides." Gwen added as he turned to lock the front door. "This is a twenty first century, a girl can pay for the meal." Trent raised an eyebrow at her. "Are you implying this is a date?" A light pink blush rose on Gwen's cheeks. "What? No! That's not what I-" Trent chuckled and nudged Gwen gently with his elbow. "I was joking, Gwen." Gwen huffed and punched Trent lightly in the shoulder. "Not funny." But the sternness of Gwen's tone was pretty ineffective due to the fact that Trent could tell she was trying hard not to smile. "Uh huh, whatever you say, Gwen." Trent said with a grin as he took the lead as they walked through the hallway, and as they were walking, Trent couldn't get Gwen's light blush of his mind, had it just been out embarrassment or had there been more to it?

The pair didn't spend too long in the café, Gwen ordered herself a coffee and a blueberry muffin, while Trent got himself a coffee and a scone. Gwen and Trent sat down for a little bit while they ate, but as soon as they were done with their snacks, they agreed that they should head back to Gwen's dorm to finish their assignments. They left the café, sticking close together under Gwen's umbrella, as rain drizzled lightly around them as they crossed the College campus. Trent took a sip of his coffee. "You think Courtney has returned to your dorm?" Gwen shrugged. "Not sure, we'll find out when we get there." "You know, I kind of thought that Duncan and Courtney would argue less once they started dating." Trent admitted. Gwen raised an eyebrow at Trent. "Seriously? You thought they would argue less? I don't think you know Duncan or Courtney as well as you think you do, Trent." Trent shrugged. "Yeah, I don't know what I was thinking either. I mean, they do get along, but the bickering-" "Is a lot more noticeable than the getting along." Gwen finished for him. "That's just the way Duncan and Courtney are, I think. They like pushing each other's buttons and getting under each other's skin. But honestly, Trent, try not to spend too much time trying to understand how Duncan and Courtney's relationship works, you'll spare yourself a lot of ulcers." Trent rolled his eyes. "I'll keep that in mind."

Gwen and Trent returned to Gwen's dorm, and found it completely empty. "Looks like Courtney hasn't returned yet." Gwen observed. "Honestly, I'm okay with that. It means I can finish my assignment... Right?" Trent looked at Gwen hopefully, he realized he had been imposing on Gwen's space for a few hours now, and there was chance that he might be overstaying his welcome at this point. Gwen went silent for a moment. "Well, actually..." Trent tensed, was she going to kick him out? "You can stay." Trent let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. "Gwen! That wasn't funny!" Trent exclaimed. Gwen smirked. "It was little funny. I enjoyed the anxious look that crossed your face for a moment there." Trent pouted. But after a moment of pretending to be hurt, Trent sat back down on the couch and returned to his assignment, Gwen joined him after moment, going back to her assignment as well.

Trent clicked the button to email his assignment to his professor and stretched his arms above his head. "Thank God that's done." Trent said with relief. Gwen looked up from her computer. "You're done?" She asked. "Yup" Trent said with a grin, he turned to look at Gwen. "How's your assignment coming along?" "Good, it's due in a couple days, so I don't need to finish it tonight." "Ah, starting your assignment ahead of time. Smart." Trent muttered, feeling slightly annoyed with himself for putting his assignment off until the last minute. "Don't beat yourself up too badly, we wouldn't have had these lovely few hours together if you hadn't procrastinated." "True..." Trent looked over at the goth, his friendship with Gwen was something that meant a lot to Trent. He had only known Gwen for a few months, but Duncan and Courtney dating had brought Trent pretty close to Gwen, and he was glad for it. Gwen was definitely something special, her snarky, and slightly cynical attitude, her gothic style, Trent couldn't deny that Gwen intrigued him. "Uh, Trent?" "Hm?" Trent blinked, coming out his train of thought when Gwen spoke. "You spaced out for a moment there." Trent felt his cheeks heating up. "Sorry, I was just... Thinking." Gwen looked at him with an unreadable expression, Trent felt like Gwen was doing an x-ray of him with only her eyes. "Okay." Gwen said suddenly, then she stood up. "Want me to walk you out?" Gwen offered. "Oh, yeah, sure." Trent said as he stood up as well. "Thanks for letting me stay here, Gwen." "Oh, no problem, Trent. You're welcome here any time."

As they stepped out into the hallway, Gwen spoke up once more. "We should do this again sometime." "Hopefully with less procrastinating involved next time, but yeah, I'd like that." Trent said. "And maybe we can have another not-date next time." Trent added jokingly. Gwen snorted. "A 'not-date'? Is that what we're calling them?" Gwen asked with an unimpressed tone. "Hey, you're the one who said it wasn't a date." Trent pointed out. Gwen blushed. "I didn't mean that it wasn't a date, I just meant that..." Gwen's voiced trailed off. "You just meant...?" "Well, I don't know! You caught me off guard with your joke about the date, and maybe I wanted it to be a date but-" That was all Trent needed hear, and he quickly cut Gwen off. "Well, if you want, maybe next time, it could be an actual date?" Trent asked hopefully. Gwen went silent once more, then she smiled. "Yeah, I'd like that." Trent grinned. "Alright, cool." Trent placed his hands on Gwen's waist, and he was just starting to lean into Gwen's face, when all of a sudden- "Well, well, what do we have here?" A familiar sarcastic drawl interrupted Gwen and Trent's moment. The pair whipped around to find Duncan and Courtney standing behind them, Duncan was smirking, while Courtney was giving Duncan a stern glare, clearly, she didn't approve of Duncan ruining the moment for Gwen and Trent. "Uh, hey guys." Trent said, as he removed his hands from Gwen's waist, instead opting to hold her hand while they both turned to look at Duncan and Courtney. "So, you finally decided to come back to our dorm, Courtney." Gwen stated. Courtney opened her mouth to speak, but Duncan spoke first. "Yeah, I'm just here to drop her off. I didn't think I'd find my roommate nearly kissing my girlfriend's roommate." "I believe Gwen was talking to me, not to you, Duncan." Courtney said with an irritated tone. "Oh, come on, Princess, I'm just having some fun with them." "Well, I think you should leave Gwen and Trent alone." Courtney said sternly.

It was almost like Duncan and Courtney had forgotten that Gwen and Trent were standing right in front of them, as they started bickering once more. "And there they go again." Gwen said dryly. Trent shrugged. "It isn't that bad when you're not trying to study, and it wouldn't be Duncan and Courtney without the bickering." Trent pointed out. "True, I can't argue with that." "You think we should tell them that the whole reason we're going to a date is because I was trying to escape their arguing?" "No way!" Gwen exclaimed. "Giving Duncan the impression that he somehow was the reason we're dating is a terrible idea!" "Yeah, true." Trent went quiet for a moment. "Want to walk me back to my dorm? We can get away from those two." Trent said as he jerked his head towards Duncan and Courtney. Gwen raised an eyebrow. "I though you said you didn't mind the bickering." "I don't, but I also wouldn't mind having a moment alone with you." "Hm, Duncan did ruin our previous moment, didn't he?" Trent nodded. Gwen smiled. "Sure, let's get out of here." And with that, Trent grabbed Gwen's hand and they headed towards Trent's dorm, leaving a bickering Duncan and Courtney behind in their wake.

End