This came out a lot sooner than I had planned, but that's probably good news for all of you out there who have been dying for a new chapter. However, I still haven't figured out just where this fic is going, so things may slow down again soon. Key word being 'may.'

Last Time: Quatre had lunch at Trowa's, where he found out that a certain someone likes shounen-ai, and he got his first kiss. Okay, so maybe it wasn't a real kiss, but he got kissed!

++

            It was somewhat of an unspoken code of law for music and drama students to congregate in the Little Theatre prior to the first bell of the day, hanging out before classes while there was time to talk. Duo would usually spend the time getting homework help from any of the available geniuses; those selfsame honors students usually slumped over in varying positions throughout the theater. Nicki would sit at the piano and fumble her way through some Beatles or Broadway, making some ridiculous face whenever her small fingers couldn't reach the next chord. She was working her way through "Piano Man" this morning, trying to remember all of the words and just kind of mumbling until she got to the chorus, when everybody would burst into song. However, things were about to get totally interrupted as Quatre came tap-dancing into the room through the stage-side door.

            The small blonde boy slid down the curved banister, soft-shoeing across the carpet. He threw his bag, not quite hitting Zechs but coming fairly close, in his attempts to channel Gene Kelly. And he was singing as well, full-voiced Broadway belting.

            "Fish gotta swim and birds gotta fly, I'm gonna love one man 'til I die…"

Everybody stopped where they stood, and those who could sing chimed in with multiple part harmonies. "…Can't help loving that man of mine!"

Sally arched an eyebrow approvingly. "So I take it that the thing with Trowa went well?"

            "Yeah, I had a great time," Quatre admitted sheepishly, coming down off of his early-morning high. He'd be slumped over in a dazed stupor before long and usually tried to make the best of it by being rather sociable while he still could. Nicki whipped around, her long hair radiating static sparks off of her plaid shirt.

            "So then ask him out, idiot," she said matter-of-factly.

Duo got up from where he was scrutinizing his chemistry book, flicking his finger into the air as if he'd been struck by a sudden light bulb over his head. "Idea!"

He bounded over to Quatre and put him in a headlock, the blue-eyed boy flailing wildly to get free, to no avail. "We're all going to see Darkness Falls on Friday, you should come and bring Trowa along!"

            "Darkness Falls?" he repeated once he squirmed free of the headlock. "Duo, I hate horror films, haven't watched one since The Exorcist. I'd be too scared."

Sally and Hilde folded their arms, Sally pursing her blood-red lips. "That's the whole point."

            "Yeah!" Hilde added. "You'll get to jump in Trowa's lap the minute you start to freak! It's the best way to get close to a guy, never seems to fail, not even for the soap opera stars."

Lia glowered at all of them. "You guys are so cruel. It's a good idea…but it's still cruel."

At that moment Trowa happened to walk into the room, asking what was a cruel idea, and looking as though he were missing out on one of the biggest secrets of the century.

            "Duo, 'gundanium' is not on the periodic table, that's 'gallium.' We're going to see Darkness Falls Friday night, you feel like coming?" Heero asked brusquely, not bothering to look up from where he was aiding his boyfriend.

            "Sure, why not? It's that or stay home with Sylvia and her friends, and Sylvia's friends bother me," the Italian replied, nodding a greeting at Quatre.

Of all his luck, Quatre just had to be dragged off to a horror film. He couldn't stand watching them, he really couldn't. He didn't care how bad they were, how fake the monster was, or how terrible the acting was, they still scared him. Trowa or no Trowa, this still wasn't his idea of an enjoyable way to spend a Friday night. Maybe he could find some way to weasel out of it between now and then.

++

            "I can't believe I'm doing this. I can't believe I let you guys talk me into doing this," Quatre was muttering as he sat down at one of the tables at the mall food court Friday night, his head in his hands, a seven-thirty ticket to Darkness Falls by his elbow. Somehow, between a history test, a physics project and an English paper, Friday had snuck up on him and there was no choice but to comply and go along with the gang. It would be fun, his sisters assured him. He'd have a blast, they said. He never gets out of the house anymore, his father pointed out. And so, the blue-eyed blonde found himself here, going to see a horror film despite his absolute loathing of such. Hilde patted his head reassuringly.

            "It'll be fine, Q. I read the review in the paper, they said the film sucked and it was more or less a waste of eight bucks. The only reason we're here is for shits and giggles and an excuse to hang out and make out," she informed him, promptly kissing Duo with a loud 'smack.'

            "If it is any consolation, I was dragged here against my will also," Wufei stated, glaring at Sally. The blonde senior was innocently eating an order of fries, swinging her legs under the table like a small child. "Damn onna."

Lia shook her head, playing with the strings on her black drama sweatshirt. "You guys are such assholes. You're not making Quatre feel any better about coming with us…hell; you're not making me feel any better about coming! I'm just about as scared as he is!"

            "Your fear of this movie is pointless. It's all psychological," Heero stated nonchalantly. "And Hilde is correct, it will be a stupid waste of our time and money."

            At that moment, the rest of the gang appeared, walking in with a crowd of gothic teenagers that were already plotting to cause mischief in their torn fishnets, leather, thirty pounds of black eye makeup and fluorescent plastic Mardi Gras beads. They looked like refugees from a Madonna video, and the group of normal, almost preppy-looking high school kids had the misfortune of coming through the Blue Entrance the same time they did. Noin was giving the pack of kids death-glares, Zechs was grumbling about kids going to Hell, Nicki was happily oblivious and humming Yellow Submarine, and Trowa just looked pensive.

            "Hey guys, sorry we're late," Noin said, leaning on the table. "Zechs had to take twenty minutes finding a parking space close to the entrance. We're practically parked at Best Buy."

            "Well excuse me, maybe I was concerned for our safety. Do you really want to walk a long way back to the car at night in a cold and deserted parking lot? It's the plot of one of those Lifetime specials," the tall senior retorted.

Nicki was completely ignoring them. "Hey, how come I didn't know Trowa lived in my neighborhood? Noin comes to pick me up, and there he is in the backseat. How cool is that?"

            "Fabulous," Wufei drawled sarcastically. "Now go get your ticket, onna, before they sell out and you have to see Treasure Planet instead."

The four late-coming Lakers paid the ridiculous eight dollars for the matinee showing before everyone stocked up on jumbo-sized bags of overly buttered popcorn, sodas to sink an ocean liner, and several boxes of proper theater candy. Then, arms laden with food and chattering like a troupe of monkeys, they clamored their way past the aging ticket-checker.

            It is a scientific law that has been proven with conclusive evidence that any time you go to see a movie, it will be playing in one of the last theaters in the hallway. It doesn't matter if it's showing on four screens; the movie you're going to see will be one of the last theaters. Darkness Falls was the second-to-last door on the right.

            "We still have plenty of time before the movie, you know," Sally pointed out.

Duo shrugged. "This way we can claim seats, y'know? So we're not scrambling to find places to sit when it gets dark and you end up having to sit beside some smelly grandma."

Seating arrangement was thus: Heero sat about three-quarters of the way in, about halfway down the theater, with Duo beside him and Hilde on the other side of Duo. This was strategic maneuvering so that the violet-eyed young man could adequately focus his attention on both of his dates. Nicki sat beside Hilde, followed by Lia, who was complaining that she would inevitably be stuck behind some tall person. Quatre moved in next to Lia, with Trowa beside him on the end. Wufei and Sally sat behind Hilde and Nicki, Zechs and Noin following them. Theater arrangement was somewhat of an art, and somewhat of a science. There was a delicate balance, one that had to be carefully arranged. Actually, it was just putting the couples together, with Lia next to Quatre so they could both scream and flip out together.

            "Katore, you're not shaking already, are you?" Trowa asked, glancing over at him. Quatre nodded sheepishly.

            "I really, really don't like scary movies. I watched The Exorcist once, but that's about it," he said, gripping the armrest until his knuckles turned white. Trowa rested his own olive hand over the pale one clenching the cupholder.

            "It'll be fine, Katore, you will laugh about this one day."

The operative phrase would be 'one day,' as Quatre was starting to hyperventilate, sweating bullets, and they were still only showing those annoying movie trivia things. Nicki glanced over at him and rolled her eyes. She lived for horror flicks, especially ones that were supposed to be stupid, as Darkness Falls had been proclaimed. The auburn-haired girl gave Lia a hard jab in the side and jerked her head in Quatre's direction.

            "Oh for the love of…that does it, we're playing the Triton Bloom game before Quatre goes into cardiac arrest," she declared. "Ready set go."

Trowa waved his free hand wildly. "Wait, what's the Triton Bloom game?"

            "We try to guess Triton's nationality and the last person to make a guess before the previews start wins. Sometimes we'll play the Gundam Multiplication game, but that's a different story," Noin explained. "Ooh, and Latino!"

            "You're only saying that because every fanfic author says Latino. He's French!" Zechs countered, tapping her nose with a straw.

            "German. He's German," Wufei said irritably.

            "Germans are not as swarthy," Hilde commented. "I'm going with Portuguese."

Duo popped back a handful of Junior Mints. "He's Romanian, duh. Circus performer."

Green eyes flicked down at the shuddering junior, who had calmed slightly and seemed to be deep in contemplation over the nationality of a cartoon character that never had one to begin with. Quatre could somehow sense that Trowa was watching him, and felt himself blush deeply.

            "You are all wrong," the tall brunette stated, almost arrogantly. The group of students stared at him as he drew out the pause to an almost obscene length. "He's Italian!"

And that was when the lights flickered out and the projector overhead whirred to life, displaying a Coke commercial. Everyone groaned in defeat, realizing that they'd been beaten by a newcomer. It was rather disheartening, an injustice according to Wufei. A Ziploc bag of oatmeal cookies fell into Trowa's lap, accompanied by a wink and a thumbs-up from Lia, who declared that the food offering was his prize, homemade by her mother and smuggled in.

            "Remember, Katore, it is a movie. Nothing can hurt you here."

The sound of Trowa's voice whispering huskily in his ear sent shivers down Quatre's spine and for that one glorious instant of reaching his melting point, sloshing into a puddle on the gooey theater floor, he forgot about being afraid of the monster that hadn't even made its appearance yet.

++

            During the first five minutes of the movie, while the preteen audience that crammed themselves into the theater and probably snuck their way in because they were too young to see the movie, a large cup of soda came flying through the air from about two rows down, over their heads, before landing in Wufei's lap. He was hissing Chinese curses through his teeth while Sally laughed at him.            

About fifteen minutes later, Quatre was shivering and whimpering again, his teeth gritted, chanting a mantra of "Triton Bloom, Milliardo Peacecraft, Raberba Khalib al-Winar" over and over. Trowa was quietly laughing at him.

            "Are you that scared, Katore?" he whispered.

            "A little. That policeman's gonna die. The flashlight's about to go out and she'll swoop down from behind those boxes and…oops, there he goes," he replied, predicting the almost too stereotypical movements of the characters on the screen. The teenager really wasn't as scared as he thought he would be, but the demonic Tooth Fairy was still an unnerving sight, even for a cheaply computer animated villainess. Besides, Trowa's hand was still firmly clasped over his. 

            Popcorn and a couple handfuls of Sour Patch Kids sailed through the air and rained down on Wufei again as the protagonists of the film ran around the darkened hospital, sacrificing minor characters to the Tooth Fairy from Hell. Sally was practically wetting herself laughing so hard at Wufei, who could only manage to sputter "kisama" in his anger. Zechs and Noin were half out of their seats, fumbling around in the darkness. Duo was alternating back and forth between partners, Nicki muttering about how someday he'd have to pick between them. Lia had picked up Quatre's mantra and was now whispering it herself, clinging to the strap of her purse as if it were a lifeline.

            "And that orderly will be followed by that nurse," Quatre predicted to Trowa. The nurse was picked off first, then the beefy orderly extra. "Damn."

Junior Mints and half a roll of wintergreen Life Savers soared backwards, shattering on impact with the floor, but mostly hitting Wufei.

            "Wonder where all of that is coming from," Trowa observed, watching a lone Life Saver join its brethren. "Scared kids?"

            "Probably some idiot teenager who's bored," Quatre replied. "Knowing Wufei, he'll hunt the kid down after the movie's over and give them a super-long lecture on proper theater etiquette."

++

            "Wow, it's only quarter to nine. I thought the movie would be much longer than that," Hilde remarked after they all stumbled out into the light, blinking like mole people.

Noin shrugged. "Gives us time to wander the mall, I guess."

Wufei was glancing around warily, looking for any suspicious characters that looked like they could have been responsible for the flying food. And then a handful of Gummy Bears hit the back of his head with a squishy thump.

            "Argh! Injustice!" he screamed, clutching the back of his head as if it had been a bullet wound and not colorful and fruity bears. A group of giggling girls proved to be the culprits, and apparently, they knew Wufei.

            "Bleckley, Riley, you damn onnas! I should have known you'd be the ones to do something as stupid as that! You are immature and weak, you hear me, immature and weak!"

The girl known as Bleckley smiled, wiggling a bandaged finger. "Just call it revenge for our little incident with the Bunsen burner in chemistry on Thursday, Wuffie."

            After that, they left the theater and the food court completely, congregating around a bench outside of the FYE and the Hot Topic. Wufei was still complaining about his sodden, candy-besmirched pants, and everyone else was having a chuckle at his expense. Heero then muttered something to Duo, who nodded, the both of them taking off towards the arcade.

            "We're all going to go off and do stuff, so meet us back here by nine-thirty and we'll take you home, kay?" Noin stated, linking her arm around Zechs and dragging him off. Sally and Wufei went their own way, as did the other three girls. Trowa and Quatre exchanged glances, shrugged, and decided to wander their way towards the Borders at the other end of the mall. It would be rough going, fighting a sea of scary preteens who seem to celebrate perpetual Halloween, as well as families with strollers and screaming kids and the occasional annoying survey-taker.

++

            "You survived, Katore."

The blonde boy glanced up from the copy of Ceres: Celestial Legend he was flipping through. "Uh-huh. I'm still going to sleep with all the lights on tonight, though."

Trowa laughed, running his hand through his bangs as he picked up a copy of Gundam Wing: Battlefield of Pacifists. "Not really!"

            "Yeah really!" he countered. "It may have been a stupid movie, but I'm still creeped out at the thought of some demon thingy coming after me once all the lights are off."

            "You are something else, Katore. Really something else."

He blushed, fumbling to put the manga away before he noticed that the next issue of MARS was in. He pumped his fists enthusiastically and grabbed it and several other books off of the shelf, holding in his arms a thick stack of graphic novels.

            "Can you afford all of those?" Trowa asked.

Quatre rummaged around in his pocket and whipped out his wallet, opening it and counting the money inside quickly and one-handedly. "Yup. My uncle gave me a huge wad of cash last time I saw him, and he told me to spend it all."

            "Lucky. I had to borrow ten dollars off of Sylvia so I could see the movie. But it was worth it, I had a good time."

            "Yeah, me too. I'm just sorry you had to put up with me and my whimpering."

Trowa shook his head, green eyes glittering handsomely. God, those eyes were incredible, absolutely amazing. "No, don't say that! It wouldn't have been as much fun if you weren't there. I like you, Katore. You're a good friend. I don't think there's anyone back in Italy like you."

A good friend? A good friend?! Quatre felt his insides lurch, and it wasn't from all of the theater food. He should have known that Dorothy and her 'system' would prevail again. Nine out of ten guys are straight, she always told him, and the tenth guy would be gay but either not interested or way too gay. Then again…he'd only met Trowa a few weeks ago, maybe there was still hope. Maybe. He slapped on his most endearing smile, hoping it didn't look too fake.

            "I'm glad, Trowa. Let me just pay for these," he indicated his stack of manga, "and we can meet back up with Noin and the others. They're probably wondering what's taking so long."

The tall Italian shrugged. "Let them wait, they made me put up with their flirts all the way to the mall. Lucrezia, she nearly got Zechs to drive into a phone pole."

Quatre could only guess what they'd been doing, wondering why straight people had to be so damn crazy. He also harbored the secret desire that one day he too could suffer such distractions at the hands of a lover. Ah, hope sprang eternal. Especially for the fact that the checkout line at the front of the store snaked all the way into the world languages section, and showed no signs of moving. Trowa abstained from waiting in the line with Quatre, standing patiently near the front, absently rifling through the new releases. The blonde boy noticed how every now and then, he would glance up from the book table, his head cocked at an almost flirty angle, the flip of russet bangs that oftentimes obscured his features serving to accentuate the casual flirtation his eyes and utterly sensual mouth were innocuously posing. Quatre would glance around from time to time, just to make sure he was the one Trowa's gaze had poleaxed. As far as he could tell, he was.

++

            "We-ell, aren't we the tardy fellows?" Duo sang, rocking on his heels. He had some plush creature tucked under his arm and his fingers sufficiently Chinese finger-trapped. Heero gave him a swift jab to the ribs with his elbow and a warning glare.

            "Sorry, the line at Borders was unbelievable. I can't believe how understaffed it was!" Quatre panted, as he and Trowa had been sprinting since the Disney Store to make it back in time. Everybody else simply shrugged, as if the world would, in fact, survive Quatre's being late by three and a half minutes.

            "Well, I guess we should get going, eh Zechs?" Noin asked. "It's going to take us at least an hour to get to the car."

The senior boy glared at his girlfriend with icy blue eyes. "Lucrezia…"

Nicki nodded, still engaged in a rapid conversation with Lia and Hilde, waving in the universal 'I'll be right there' sign. Quatre realized that Trowa would have to leave as well, and just when he'd gotten his hopes back up after the 'good friend' comment.

            "Pen…" he muttered, patting down his pockets. "Lia, gimme a pen!"

The petite brunette rummaged around in her purse and tossed a black stick pen in his general direction. Quatre whipped the receipt out of his bag and wrote his name and phone number on the blank side of it, thrusting the paper into Trowa's hand.

            "Call me sometime this weekend, maybe you and I can do something. You do owe me that gelato."

Trowa smiled, well, more like grinned. "Sounds great. I'll see you later, Katore," he said, kissing Quatre's cheek for the second time in about a week. "Sleep well, don't let the Tooth Fairy get you."

Every pair of eyes, blue and brown, black and violet, darted from the retreating form of the handsome exchange student as he followed the others to the car, to the wobbling and dazed blonde as he tried very hard not to scream for joy.

            "Holy tonsil hockey, Hee-man, Quatre's been kissed!" Duo yelped.

Heero shrugged, not as fazed as the rest of them. "It was just a peck on the cheek."

Lia and Hilde were dancing around in a wildly spinning ring, the blue-haired girl remarking, "But a peck on the cheek could soon lead to a pe…"

            "Don't even finish that remark, Schbeiker. You dirty onna," Wufei cut in.

Sally slugged him gently. "And you didn't want to see this movie, Quatre."

He nodded, wearing the same stupid grin he had on the last time. "Uh-huh. I think I'll be going to horror flicks a lot more often."

++

I don't know about you, readers, but I think Trowa's up to something. Special shout out to Katie-Katie, who begged me to let her torment Wufei. True fact: when I went to see Darkness Falls with her and Meg (Riley), a cup of soda did in fact land in our row and sloshed Meg with Coke. I also yelled at some loser junior high kids talking during the previews. Word to the wise: do not mess with a PMS-stressed junior and her previews.

Next Time: Trowa spends the night with the Winners, which may or may not lead to some late-night confessions. Will he find out Quatre's little secret? And what do you mean, his name isn't really Trowa?! Find out next chapter!