Chapter Nine
Quatre chuckled as he hung up on Duo after a long conversation then looked at his watch.
9pm.
He and Trowa had been riding for three hours now.
They managed to convince Rashid that it was best if they were left alone earlier, which almost guaranteed that they wouldn't be discovered gone until at least nine tomorrow morning. By that time they would be quite a long way away.
Quatre leaned gently against the 'cycle, shivering slightly in the night air despite his jeans and long sleeved shirt.
"You know," Trowa's voice emerged from behind him, startling Quatre, "I don't think I've ever seen you wear such dark clothes." He handed Quatre a coffee.
"Blame Duo," Quatre said before taking a sip. "He decided to take me shopping for 'normal' clothes last year. I'm lucky to have gotten away with such a mild outfit."
Trowa chuckled, taking a sip of his own drink. "It suits you, despite the unusual colours." Trowa looked around. "Do you think there's a motel around here?"
"Yeah, I think there's one in the next town over. We take the first exit." Quatre gestured into the night.
"Right, let's go find it." Trowa finished his drink and hopped on the 'cycle, putting his helmet on. Quatre put his own on after throwing his cup away and got on behind him and wrapped his arms around Trowa's waist. Trowa revved the engine up and took off from the parking lot of the highway gas station.
Half and hour later they finally found the small motel and had booked themselves into a moderately comfortable and —thankfully — clean room. Quatre put their bags down by the end of the huge bed and lay down across it and closed his eyes.
"I always get tired on trips," he yawned and turned on his side. He yelled suddenly and jumped up in surprise.
Trowa was sitting quietly next to him.
"Are you always that quiet when you enter a room?" Quatre asked sheepishly when Trowa raised an eyebrow at his actions.
"I never really noticed." Trowa smiled as Quatre sat down again, glaring at him for surprising him.
"Well, as punishment for making me jump you can sleep on the floor." Quatre poked his tongue out and moved so he now lay in the middle of the bed, spreading his limbs so that Trowa could only sit on the edge.
A smile appeared on Trowa's face at the childish antics and he suppressed the urge to make it bigger. "Who said I wanted to sleep with you anyway?" he played along.
Quatre raised his eyebrow in mock-suggestiveness. "You know you wanted to," he breathed.
Trowa snorted a laugh. "You're not as innocent as you appear Quatre." He was about to make another comment when he noticed that Quatre was completely still and his face was blank, as though he were trying to hide something. "Quatre?"
"I'm not you know." Quatre sat up and turned away. "There's some things about me that you'd be disgusted by." He wrapped his arms around his knees.
Trowa was immediately worried by his actions; they were so defensive and vulnerable. /What does he have to be afraid of? What does he have to be ashamed of?/
~~ You think he's really an angel? You think you know him Trowa? I know something about him that would you away in disgust …~~
/What did Odin mean?/ Trowa looked at the small fragile boy before him and realised it didn't matter, he didn't care what Odin knew or what he thought, he didn't care what this was about. He cared about Quatre and it killed him to see the cheerful boy like this.
"Quatre, everyone has secrets." Trowa sat down close to the boy and placed a hand on his shoulder. Quatre flinched away and Trowa pulled his hand back, a bit hurt. "No one's perfect," he continued regardless of Quatre's first reaction.
"It isn't about perfection, it's about innocence." Quatre finally looked up at him with pain-filled eyes. "And trust."
Trowa stared deep into those agonized aqua depths and knew he wanted nothing more than to protect the fragility he found. "I would never betray you."
Quatre managed a small grateful smile, but his eyes still reflected his pain. "Thank you Trowa. Do you want to get ready for bed now? We should probably be off early in the morning if we want to get there before noon so we'll need sleep." Quatre got up and grabbed his bag and moved into the bathroom, ignoring Trowa's frown.
/Why did he do that? He shouldn't keep things bottled up./ Trowa sighed and got up off the bed. /I guess Quatre's just like that, he keeps his own problems bottled up so he can help others with theirs. Such a kind heart doesn't deserve that pain it's burdened with./ Trowa grabbed his own bag and got changed quickly before Quatre got back from his shower.
When Quatre emerged from the bathroom, Trowa was lying on the bed, eyes closed and almost asleep. Quatre smiled gently at the image and walked quietly to the other side of the bed and got in, pulling the covers over both of them.
"Goodnight Trowa," the brunette heard in his sleepy stupor.
/Goodnight Quatre./
As awareness dawned again, so did the sun and Trowa tried to avoid it by rolling to the side.
He was stopped, however, by a warm body tucked against his own.
/What the …?/ Trowa's eyes shot open and he looked over at the foreign object.
Quatre's golden crown shone in the dawning light and Trowa calmed down a bit as the morning fog of waking receded and he remembered what he was doing in a motel with the angel cuddled up beside him. He tried to get up, but again was hindered by the fact that Quatre had a death grip on his waist.
/Damn, I don't want to wake him, but I've got to have a shower./ As if he had heard Trowa's thoughts, Quatre protested and tightened his grip and shifted as he slept. /Actually, this is kind of nice,/ Trowa thought lazily, realising that it would be close to impossible to get out of the embrace. /I'm sure it won't matter if I sleep for a bit longer./
His bladder disagreed.
Trowa groaned and looked at the peacefully sleeping Quatre resting his head on his chest. He had such a blissful expression on his face that Trowa regretted to wake him.
Then he saw the tearstains on those pale cheeks.
Trowa reached out his hand and gently touched a finger to them and brushed them away. /He shouldn't have to cry,/Trowa reflected sadly.
The gentle motions made the sleeping beauty stir and his eyelid fluttered. "Trowa?" he murmured and opened his eyes.
"I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to take a shower. You'll have to let me go, unless of course you wish to join me." Trowa looked at the drowsy boy slyly.
"Nani?" Quatre looked up at Trowa in confusion and blinked. Then he suddenly seemed to realise where he was. "Ah!" He released Trowa and sat up quickly, blushing furiously. "Gomen nasai Trowa-san." He looked away in embarrassment.
"It's okay." Trowa smiled at the boy's embarrassment. "I'm just going to be in the bathroom." Quatre nodded, still not looking Trowa in the eye.
Quatre quickly changed, still blushing, and fixed the room up. He didn't have to, but whenever he was nervous he needed something to do, so he cleaned while his thoughts whirled around his head in a huge chaotic mass.
/Gods, oh gods, oh gods oh gods! I cannot believe I was doing that! What must he think of me?! Argh! I can't believe this!/ He was so busy meticulously smoothing out every crease in the bedspread that he didn't hear the door to the bathroom open and close, nor did he notice the other presence return to the room.
"Quatre?" He whirled around at the sound of Trowa's voice. "Are you ready to go?" Trowa finished packing his own bag.
"Yeah." Quatre avoided Trowa's gaze by grabbing his own bag. "Let's get going." He walked out the door. Trowa locked the door behind him and went up to the office to return the key.
When Trowa came out again Quatre was once again leaning against the motorcycle looking out into the distance a serene expression on his face as he breathed in the crisp autumn morning air, the gentle wind lightly ruffling his golden fringe. It was a beautiful image and one Trowa made sure was etched into his memory.
"Ready to go?" Quatre smiled and nodded. They'd be there soon.