Where You Least Expect It

By Kay

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing... not yet, at least. It's only a matter of time. They will beg before me to own it soon. Yes... soon... *cackles* Eheheheeee.

Author's Notes: ^__^ My first large scale Gundam Wing fic for a while-- most of the others were never posted, either. But I figured I'd give it a try and take a short break from Everworld and other anime for a while... hope y'all enjoy!

Shounen ai (3x4, 2x5, 1x?)

And before anyone asks... I know this chapter's a little boring, but it's more of an introduction than an actual chapter. Things heat up biiiiiiig time in the next one. :D Quatre will appear soon! I promise! Wufei a little later... s'all good. Don't worry. I just need to keep them with me for a while longer, so I can put sparkly glitter on them...

Wufei: INJUSTICE! -_- Onna, you're depraved.

I know... ^__^

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It all began on a normal Tuesday morning, when Trowa Barton couldn't find his car keys.

Now, it was altogether possible for any human to misplace or lose their only set of car keys. Standard procedure in most homes included a mad dash, scrambling around trying to discover where they'd been left last, and finally finding the elusive set of keys sitting harmlessly on the kitchen counter. It's very normal for people to loose such a small item, as keys are very inconspicuous things.

However, before you jump to conclusions, dear reader-- consider the person we're speaking of.

Trowa Barton, age twenty and definitely of the male variety. He was a simple soul that ran deep in eloquent silence and appreciation, and often kept to himself in the small town he lived in. Having grown up west in a similar home, raised by his doting older sister Catherine, he was well-adjusted to the normal life the people lived here. The neighbors believed he was a kind boy -- often they would look outside to see him feeding stray dogs in the community, laying out steak remains and gently scratching the grateful brutes behind the ears. In this statement, there is truth, because Trowa was indeed a very warm-hearted young man.

He didn't live a difficult or complex life, preferring instead the solitude and peace of routine. Every morning, he would get up at precisely 7:32, if not five or so minutes later, and drink his morning coffee. Columbian roast, two spoons of sugar. Then he would take his keys from the hallway table of his small but humble home, and drive to the small but humble job he had earned in a bookstore downtown.

The entire town knew Trowa Barton. They smiled at him, waving good morning every time he passed their way on the streets, all good-natured. Once in a blue moon, they would get a polite nod for their efforts, or once, a young girl claimed he allowed a soft smile to pass over his features. Of course, no one believed a myth like that, as Trowa Barton had not smiled once in the entire time he'd lived in their town. How preposterous.

But to come back to the point, dear reader, Trowa Barton was not the type of man to loose his car keys. Every night he came home, he laid them on the hallway table, resting next to a simple lamp and vase of flowers. Every morning, he picked them up again with a tiny clang, and exited the house. Nothing ever changed in his home. The furniture stayed the same, the rooms stayed the same, the atmosphere stayed the same-- and everything was always in the place it was before.

In fact, it was such a routine, that on that dreary Tuesday morning, Trowa had made it all the way out to his car before he realized -- that he had no keys in his hand.

"…"

Feeling slightly foolish, he walked back to the house and went straight to the hallway table. Glancing momentarily in the mirror set up over it, a single emerald eye blinking on a face half expressionless and half hidden by a wall of handsome chestnut hair, Trowa reached again for his keys.

Which were not there.

The dark green eye blinked again.

"… huh?" Gaping for a second at the empty hallway stand, Trowa stood uncertainly in the hallway. Then, in an abrupt motion, he bent and peered beneath the table suspiciously. A dusty wooden floor met his eyes.

Nope, they weren't under there.

Straightening, and feeling slightly put out, Trowa hesitated. It wasn't that he didn't know what to do-- obviously, he needed to find his keys before he was late for the first time in his entire employment. But it felt strange to have this break of the routine he'd had for over a year. And he honestly had never had to look for keys before… where would they be, anyway? It's not like he ever took them any farther into the household.

He went to the kitchen. Stood awkwardly in the doorway, surveying the clean white countertop, and knew without a doubt they wouldn't be there. Walked back to the hallway to check under the table again.

The tall young man stopped in the doorway, staring oddly at the surface of the table.

Because there, laying innocently on the mahogany wooden tabletop, were his set of car keys.

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Later in the day, he told his friend Duo Maxwell what had happened.

"Look, it's not like it's a big deal, okay? Car keys go missing all the time. I can never find mine when I need 'em!"

Trowa sighed slightly, shoving another thick volume on the shelves, between the rows of cramped books. It scraped against the other covers, protesting loudly. Next to him, ignoring the sigh, the human whirlwind he had come to know as his best friend continued his tirade.

"I mean, just yesterday, I swear I left my watch on the bedroom table, y'know? Except it wasn't there. Even though there's no way they could have walked off on their own, y'know. And I mean, I searched the entire damn house, too, but the stupid thing was hiding from me or something…" He paused, wrinkling his nose cutely and narrowing his trademark violet eyes at the books Trowa was currently attempting to shelf. Although the tall youth had arrived late to his job at Once Upon a Bookstore, his stern boss, Mrs. Une, had overlooked it in favor of getting her favorite employee to put up all the new shipped in books from over the weekend. While it wasn't his favorite thing to do, Trowa found it hard to complain when he was keeping his job.

"I can't believe you got stuck with shelving duty, man," Duo said. Trowa ignored him, continuing to study the titles on the book bindings and put them in their place.

Both Duo and Trowa had worked at the bookstore since moving into the town, finding a lack of other good jobs available. Duo Maxwell had come far before Trowa Barton had, arriving from the distant land of New York City only four years ago, and finding a home in the sleepy town so different from his original origin. The effects of city life remained on him in the form of his eccentrics-- the long mahogany braid that trailed down his back, a love of exciting thrills, and the dangling silver earring he had in his left lobe. With his heart-shaped face and enticing good looks… and the wide grin that always got him out of trouble… half the town had fallen in love on sight with him.

The other half fell in love the second time they saw him.

Still, the adorable exuberance he maintained had created difficulty in finding a steady job for him. The barmen thought he was too young to hire, the café thought his hair was too long, and all the serious jobs thought he was just too… friendly. In the end, it was only Mrs. Une who would hire him. (And although she would never admit it anyone but herself, she had grown very fond of the two helpers under her care.)

Trowa himself hadn't won the town's love, but their companionship and understanding. When he arrived, quiet and withdrawn, Mrs. Une immediately offered him a job-- hoping to counterbalance Duo's hyperactivity in her store. After he accepted the offer and began working with the enthusiastic soul, he found Duo's light-heartedness endearing. In return, Duo attempted to pull Trowa farther out of his shell of solitary confinement.

They made a great pair. And the fact was, though the boys didn't realize it, their odd companionship and opposite natures brought more business to Once Upon a Bookstore than any book had.

Those personality contradictions were currently far at work. While Trowa shelved dutifully, his violet-eyed partner watched from the counter, his braid snaking down over the side where he leaned over. It wasn't that Duo didn't work… just that he didn't like to.

"Anyway," the human whirlwind said. "It's not like you couldn't find them or anything again. You're here after all, unless you got a ride from someone else… I doubt it, though. Your neighbor," and here he made a face, "Mr. Zechs, is really creepy. He looks like an ax murderer."

At this, Trowa stopped what he was doing and turned. Raising an inquisitive eyebrow at his friend, he asked, "An ax murderer? Duo, he's the school history teacher. He has wind chimes on his porch. I doubt that he'll be out chopping innocent children's heads anytime soon."

"You don't know that," urged Duo, widening his eyes. "I bet it's all a cover up, so no one will suspect him when all the people begin to go missing!"

"He's lived in this town for his entire life."

"So?"

"So," Trowa answered calmly, beginning to shelf again. "I think if he felt like doing away with the town children, he would have done it by now."

"Another ploy," Duo replied lazily, leaning so far forward over the counter that his chin touched the cool surface. He blinked steadily. "Anyway, you didn't get a ride from him, I'd guess. So you did find your keys. Where were they?"

"On the hallway table."

"What?" The boy frowned in confusion. "I thought you said they weren't there?"

"They weren't," Trowa explained placidly, a small frown marring his features as soon as he said it. "But when I came back to check again, they were laying right where they usually were."

Duo's eyes widened further, and he raised his head to look at his best friend in wonder and amazement. He pushed a few strands of oak-brown hair behind his ear, a grin breaking out over his face.

"Dude, you have a poltergeist living in your house!"

"Do not," the emerald-eyed boy said in exasperation. "Poltergeists are generally loud and obnoxious. All I did was have my keys show up unexpectedly. I suspect my mind played some sort of trick on me…"

Duo sagged against the counter again, his braid flopping down to smack against the side when he did so. He pouted, leaning on his arms. "You take all the fun out of everything, Trowa, my man. Where's your sense of adventure? Your curiosity for the unknown?"

"I was accidentally born without it." That was the nearest Trowa Barton had ever come to a joke. It was a constantly running theme between Duo and himself, the differences in their excitement factors. While Duo was a tornado of energy, always running off to do something wild and shake up trouble, Trowa had been as steadfast and lone as a rock in his social situations.

It wasn't that he didn't like people… he just didn't love them like Duo did. Pondering this thought with another sigh, Trowa shelved another book.

"Yeah, well, you need to open your eyes to other possibilities," Duo suggested, still watching him. "And get yourself laid. That, too."

"Duo, you haven't had a serious date for as long as I've known you. Isn't that a little hypocritical?"

"Yeah," he grinned. "But I never said it wasn't."

"…hm." Trowa shook his head in amusement, and shelved another book.

"Either way," Duo continued cheerfully. "You need some excitement in your life, buddy. Flair! Style! Something to spice up our dreary, depraved lives."

"Our dreary lives?" Trowa arched an eyebrow at him. "Finally feeling a little confined in this small town?"

"Nope, just sayin' I wouldn't mind it if something exciting happened."

"Easier said than done."

Duo snorted-- and was interrupted by the ringing of the doorbell that jangled in the store, alerting them to a customer. They both turned, but not before the violet-eyed boy managed to say one thing under his breath.

"Maybe it was a pixie, ch'."

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To Be Continued: ^_^ Well, how was it? I know it was pretty boring, like I said, and a little lame. But next chapter should get pretty interesting, as all the pranks and strange happenings in Trowa's house start up... hee hee, poor, poor Trowa.

Thanks for reading! *hugs* EEEEE, go read "Banana Fish" now, bwahahahaa. Now that is a great comic series.

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