Chapter Fourteen

It had been very quiet when they arrived back at Wufei's house. His parents were out for the weekend, visiting other friends in the area. Save for their twice nightly paranoid phonecall to their very capable and responsible son, no one spoke a word. Wufei thought about instigating a conversation, but decided against it after a few attempts of opening his mouth a few times to say nothing. Quatre was obviously too upset about many things to talk, and Trowa …

Wufei glanced over at the tall brunette. His hair hid most of his face, as usual which only added to Trowa's air of mysteriousness and distance to others. What Wufei could see of his face was void of emotion and expression, which Wufei recognised as Trowa's typical show to the world. He had been to school with Trowa almost as long as Quatre and had seen this expression on the face of his peer many times before. It seemed that the only times he didn't wear this defensive mask of indifference was when playing basketball or being with Quatre recently.

Wufei frowned almost imperceptibly. Trowa had finally started to change recently, thanks to Quatre and drop his mask to show the boy he was beneath. But something must have happened, someone must have said something or made him think about something he'd done and now the mask was almost fastened back into place.

Almost.

The Chinese boy noticed the way those emerald eyes drifted towards the golden angel unconsciously and the small smile emerging after such a glance. Then Trowa would catch himself and replace his stoic mask, only to have it slip again. Wufei wondered why he bothered.

/Why does he feel he has to hide? What does he have to fear from us? From Quatre?/

Wufei got up and walked out of the room, feeling very uncomfortable in there and made his way to the kitchen to make tea.

Neither of his guests noticed his departure.

/Thinking clouds my judgement? What did she mean?/ Trowa was deep in thought, pondering Dorothy's cryptic advice. He snuck another glance at Quatre, who looked upset. /I hope I didn't do anything to upset him? I'd hate myself if I knew I had caused him such pain./ Trowa caught himself again and frowned slightly. /He's probably just upset about Dorothy and having to leave./ He stared at his golden angel again. /I wish I could make him happy, I'd love so much to hold him, but I don't think he wants that. I won't ruin my friendship and hurt Quatre in any way, even if that means I can never have my feelings returned./ Trowa sighed and looked out the window.

This action finally caused Quatre to blink and come away from his thoughts. He stared at Trowa looking out the window, his gaze fixed firmly on the distant sky.

/Gods he looks so good in the moonlight./ It was true, the pale light highlighted Trowa's sharp features while at the same time throwing them in shadow. He looked alluring and mysterious. /I wish that he would want me as much as I do him, but I doubt that he does. He probably doesn't even want to know me after what he's heard, despite what he said to me./

Quatre looked away.

Then he suddenly thought about something.

Why was it so dark? And quiet? And where was Wufei?

Quatre got up, causing Trowa to look at him questioningly. "What's up?"

"I don't know where Wufei is." Quatre looked around.

"I'm here." Wufei entered the room again, a tray in hand laden with tea, honey, biscuits and other various items for a supper. He placed the tray on a small table and offered his guests a cup which they accepted. "I see that the two of you have finally woken up," he commented dryly as he passed Quatre his cup.

"Nani?" Quatre looked a bit confused. "We were awake."

Wufei snorted. "I couldn't tell." He passed Trowa his then poured tea for himself.

Trowa took a cautious sip. He'd never actually drunk tea before, but he thought it might be rude to decline. /There's always a first time for everything,/ he thought. Surprisingly, it had a refreshing herbal flavour and Trowa found himself liking it, though he did manage to burn his tongue with the first sip.

They managed to sit in a contented silence, not like the awkward one of before, but a gentle silence that calmed them and soothed their worries. At least, they managed to sit in that silence for a short while.

A furious pounding on Wufei's front door startled the three teens from their ease. Quatre jumped and spilled a bit of tea on his shirt. He smiled apologetically and excused himself to the bathroom. Wufei got up and walked to the door, knowing only one group of people would be calling over at this time of night. He opened the door cautiously.

"Wufei!" Iria flung herself at him. The startled boy had little time to prepare for the onslaught and Iria's motions carried them both back and they slammed, none too gently, into a wall.

"Itai! Iria, it's nice to see you, but you know I'm not too fond of such enthusiastic greetings." Iria smiled sheepishly, she knew this, and removed herself from Wufei.

"Gomen, but Quatre's not the only one who's missed you." She looked down at the ground, giving him a guilty look. Wufei groaned silently. She and Quatre had perfected this technique and they knew it always worked, especially with him. He could never keep up his cool macho act when they did this to him.

Wufei sighed and offered her a small smile. "I missed you too Iria."

Iria grinned. "I know." She looked around. "You've got a very nice house Wufei."

"Thank you. It's bigger than our old one, but … " he looked away. "I miss everyone still."

"Oh, how sweet." Catherine peeked in and smiled. "Hello, Wufei, it's nice to see you again."

"Cathy." Wufei smiled and inclined his head. He asked her in and she complied, leaving only one other person to enter the house.

"Mr. Winner, it certainly is a pleasure to see you again." Wufei bowed to him and bid him enter.

The tall man nodded his head to Wufei. "Chang. May I inquire after my son?"

Wufei nodded and lead them down the hall. "He is currently in the bathroom."

"And Trowa?" Catherine piped up.

"Here." Trowa came out from the sitting room to greet his sister. "Hello Catherine, Iria, Mr. Winner." He nodded his head towards Mr. Winner when he spoke his name.

"Trowa!" Catherine launched herself at her brother then started scolding him. "Do you have any idea how worried you had us? Iria called me this morning and told me you and Quatre were nowhere to be found we were hysterical. First you get into a fight in school then you disappear without telling us. You've been acting rather strange for the past few days, what on earth are we to think?!"

"I'm sorry, Catherine." He looked up at Mr. Winner. "I apologise sir, this was all my idea, I didn't think about the consequences of my actions."

"Don't blame it all on Trowa." Everyone turned to look at Quatre who had entered the hallway again. "It's not all his idea. He did suggest it, but neither of us had to go through with it, especially not without thinking it through first." Quatre bowed low. "Gomen nasai, I did not mean to upset you all."

Iria hugged her younger brother. "We were worried, you know how we get sometimes."

Quatre smiled at her then looked up at his father. "Tousan, I … I acted rashly. I do not expect your forgiveness and I do not deserve your worry and I would like to make this up to you somehow."

Everyone was silent as they looked at Mr. Winner, trying to gauge his reaction to Quatre's words. His young son stood before his scrutiny, determined not to waver in his apology to his father. The elder man spoke. "How is Dorothy?"

Quatre blinked and smiled. "She's awake, and back to her old self." Trowa snorted and everyone laughed, all having experienced similar episodes with Dorothy. The tension in the air dissipated and Wufei invited everyone to sit in the room for tea. Iria offered to help him in the kitchen while Trowa was occupied by Catherine's worried embrace.

Quatre looked up at his father as he put an arm around his son's shoulder. "I can understand your reasons, Quatre," he whispered. "Next time though, could you just ask me or Rashid, we would have both been willing to take you to see Dorothy. I can see that it has done wonders for you." Mr. Winner looked over at the siblings sitting and chatting quietly in the room. "Or is it something else that has sparked this reaction in you?"

Quatre blushed and smiled slightly. "I guess I needed to do this, and Trowa was the only one who seemed to understand that I didn't necessarily need people to talk to me about it. You and Iria and Rashid have all been so kind and thoughtful to me, but I didn't want sympathy, I just wanted someone who would take my mind off everything until I was ready to talk about it and deal with it properly." Quatre looked over at the smiling brunette. "Like a friend would."

AN: I am so sorry for not updating sooner, I know you've been hanging out for this and I'm sorry if it's not quite up to my usual standard, but I had major writer's block and started back at school. Argh! Darn school! Anyways, I should be posting the next chappie soon, again, sorry if I don't. luv, Vialana.