Let's face it, I'll never own them, I don't even have anything cool to trade for them. Oh but the wacky adventures they would get in if I did own them. So here's the next installment, the title is a song I heard a little while ago on the radio, you guys probably know it, it's by Dashboard Confessional, a pretty freakin' sweet band. Anyway the lyrics are confused and bounce around like Duo's mind, plus vindicated can mean not to blame, which is kind of the theme of the chapter.

These Boots Were Made for Racing

Vindicated

Quatre sat patiently at the oval table he and Trowa had chose, and watched out the window as people walked by on the sidewalk outside. He glanced across the room where Trowa was ordering their drinks from the coffee house.When Trowastarted walking toward himwith a couple of sandwiches that he bought at the counter, Quatre quickly looked away pretending he hadn't noticed the other boy. He didn't want to get caught staring at the young man, but it had been so long and theolder boylooked as wonderful as ever. Trowa sat down and handed the sandwich to Quatre who pretended like he stillhadn't noticed thetall boy returningto sit down. Trowa faintly smiled at the blonde's profile as thehe stared purposefully out the window.

"I got something for you to eat, I thought you might be hungry after today's race." It felt as though nothing had changed, they were still hiding from each other and Quatre was still blushing in his company. Trowa had always loved the boy's innocence, he was so reluctant to believe that anybody found him attractive and tried so hard to hide his own feelings. The green-eyed engineer was done hiding his feelings for the young man in front of him, he just hadn't found a way to tell his companion that yet.

"Thank you Trowa, you didn't have to." The blonde gave him one of his dazzling smiles before he took a bite of the sandwich that had been given to him. "It's good, thank you."

"The veggie with no mayo, I assumed you were still vegetarian." Trowa said after taking a bite out of his own lunch.

"I can't believe you remembered." Quatre laughed softly and took a quick glance at Trowa. It had been too long since he was able to enjoy these kinds of feelings. He never realized how much he had missed the jittery yet intoxicating effect the handsome older boy had on him.

"I have a good memory when it comes to things I'm interested in." Trowa tried to keep his eyes on his plate, but he couldn't stop himself from compulsively glancing up at the boy before him. Occasionally they would make eye contact and hurriedly look out the window or at their food. Quatre kept up pleasant conversation, asking Trowa what he had been doing lately and any other general question about life he could come up with.

"Here are your drinks boys. That's a strawberry ice tea for the cute blonde, and an iced mocha for Mr. Cool here." The young waitress put both their drinks on the table, first laying down napkins that had the shop's logo on them. The place had a new-age vibe, and the woman serving them had short spiked black hair with red streaks in it, she wore the black T-shirt that was her uniform and a pair of black stonewashed jeans. "If you need anything else just holler, my name's Alana."

"Thank you." Quatre said, politely as ever, when the waitress walked away, the heels of her boots clicking with each step. "I like this place, it seems very modern, very accepting of people of all walks of life. Duo would like it a lot too, I should bring him here one of these days, while we're still in town for the race." Quatre had a small smile on his lips, and his eyes were a little distant. He looked like he was lost in a thought.

"Duo, he and you are very close. Have you known him long?" Trowa did not look up when he asked this question, he was sure his eyes would betray his feelings.

"Oh yes, I've known Duo since I was twelve years old, we were best friends from the start. When I graduated almost a year early and went to college he and I always stayed in contact. Fortunately I had taken so many AP courses and college courses over my summers, that I already had a degree in physics after taking one fluid mechanics course. Then all I had to do was take a few engineering courses and in less than a year I had a Mechanical Engineering degree. It was shortly after that Duo called me saying he could use the best engineer out there, his words not mine, and so I figured 'what the heck?' and I joined my best friend's team." Qautre blushed and laughed nervously before biting into his sandwich.

"I knew you were intelligent, but I had no idea. So he's your best friend, nothing else, you guys just seemed so close, and he gave me a funny look whenyou hugged me." Trowa gazed out the window, his face a picture of calm indifference, but inside he was a nervous wreck.

"Not you too, everybody thinks we're a couple the first time they meet us, I don't understand why. And he gave you a funny look because he's actually very protective of me. Despite his devil-may-care attitude, there is nothing Duo cares about more than his friends. He was sizing you up, seeing if you were good enough to be left alone with me, he's actually physically thrown a guy across a room once because he tried to touch me when I said no. I believe Duo almost lost his license for that stunt too." Quatre smiled into his ice tea and took a sip, deciding that it still needed a little sugar he reached out for a new packet, on it's way though, his hand encountered an obstacle. Quatre looked down to find Trowa's hand had intercepted him, the crazy-haired young man's long fingers intertwined with his own. The blonde looked up into forest green eyes, Trowa had a faint but beautiful smile on his lips and his eyes had softened.

"If you tell me stop, I will." He whispered as he leaned across the table, pausing a couple inches from Quatre's face.

"Oh Trowa, I've been waiting for this, I...I want this." Quatre closed his aquamarine eyes, he could feel Trowa's breath against his lips, the smell of the sweet coffee drink was faint. Trowa placed his free hand on the back of Quatre's head, burying it in that soft blonde hair, and pulled him closer. Their lips met and Qautre had never felt anything so amazing, Trowa's lips were velvet soft but so firm. He opened his mouth slightly and Trowa sucked lightly on his bottom lip. Quatre let the tip of his tongue dart out and swipe at Trowa causing the other boy to stop in his ministrations to run along Quatre's tongue with his own in a teasing way. After a while Quatre pulled away to breathe, he was panting by this time but couldn't stop thinking about what had just happened. He kept playing the sensations over and over in his head.

"That was amazing," Qautre said with his fingertips pressed to his lips. He was blushing faintly, but he couldn't tear his eyes away from Trowa's.

"I would have to agree." Trowa said with a smirk, he still hadn't let go of Quatre's hand. "I'm glad I wasn't too late. I know it took me a while, I was hoping you hadn't found someone else." Trowa stroked the blonde's hand with his thumb.

"I could never, besides who would I date, Duo?" Quatre laughed, he felt so happy, like a giant weight had been lifted off him.

"Well I had to make sure, I wasn't about to go and kiss a taken man." They got up and headed over to the counter to pay for the drinks, both were ready to head back to the hotel and talk, it was getting late anyway and they needed to get ready for the club.

"Speaking of Duo, I hope he hasn't caused too much trouble, at the very least I hope he hasn't drove Heero to murder." Trowa paid for their lunches after much protesting from Quatre, and they stepped out of the shop. Trowa paused on the sidewalk and looked at Quatre out of the corner of his eye. Then without another thought, he took Quatre's hand into his own and they walked to the car.

Back at the hotel Duo had put on a pair of sweats and a tank top and currently sat cross-legged in one of the large white hotel couch chairs. His dampbraid trailed over the side of the chair's arm, and a small puddle wasstartin toformfrom the water drippingoff the tip.

"So seriously, how the hell did you get in here?" Duo asked as he stared at the man he hadn't seen in almost a year. The young man looked as severe as ever with his jet-black ponytail and near raven eyes. He had been one of Duo's closest friends in childhood. The braided boy had always been the only one who could approach the child and not wind up sobbing. The other boy's parents had lived down the street from where Duo grew up, and every day he waited for their playtime together. As they got older they became known by the whole neighborhood as the odd couple. Duo was a ball of energy that was disorganized, loud, and rambunctious. The serious boy, Wufei, had been raised in a strict traditional household. He was extremely tidy, spoke only when necessary, and in general contained a lot of self-control. Actually, despite appearances, the two were very alike in that respect. Since he was two years old Wufei had been in love with a girl named Meiran, thoughthey acted like they hated each other. It was one of those relationships where the boy pushing the girl into the mud meant that he had a crush on her. Their parents would always get them together on the weekends for play dates. Sometimes Duo would go to, he really liked Meiran, as they got older and the three of them spent more time together Duo knew that those two were perfect for each other. It was his favorite joke with Wufei for nearly ten years, because Wufei would passionately deny his feelings to the point of threatening Duo's life.

When they entered middle school Wufei finally admitted to Meiran how much he liked her, and her response was to punch him in the gut and tell him he took too long, but ever since that day they were an amazing couple, especially when they thought no one was looking. Another great thing that happened when they entered middle school was they met Quatre, which was good because Duo was having a little trouble adjusting to Wufei and Meiran acting like a couple. When Quatre came along, all of Duo's growing loneliness and jealousy was swept clean. The four of them would always hang out with each other,in and out of school, but there was a definite shift, Duo would always sit next to Qautre at lunch and Wufei next to Meiran. On weekends Duo would call Quatre to see what he wanted to do, then they would invite the couple along.

When high school came along, they were all still the best of friends, but this is when Duo and Quatre started getting mistaken for a couple a lot. They were all outcasts but the two boys were especially picked on, this however, only made them closer. It wasn't until junior and senioryear that they started to really drift apart, Quatre graduated early, Duo was starting to try to get into the races, Wufei and Meiran finished out school and started the same college. Duo hadcontinued to talk to Quatre at his college, he would even go down to the campus and visit him every once in a while, but he had lost touch with Wufei.

"I told the guys downstairs I was part of your team. It's good to see you again, I'm glad you finally got what you wanted." Wufei's stern expression didn't hold Duo back, he knew the man in front of him better than the guy knew himself, and he could see the smile in his eyes.

"I've missed you Wufei, why did we ever loose touch?"The braided manwas flashing huge grins at his old best friend. Duo kicked at the towel he had dropped in front of his chair just to give himself something to do.

"Because I could only handle one nagging woman in my life." Wufei shot at him with a smirk.

"Watch it Wufei, you're walking on this ice with comments like that. Meiran would kill you if she heard you." Duo laughed at his joke and Wufei chuckled too. He really had missed the longhaired man too. He hadn't meant to loose touch, but when Duo left to join the track, things with Meiran had gotten really serious, and he was applying to colleges, it was a very stressful time.

"Maxwell, you haven't changed a bit, I 'm glad. I also have a favor to ask you." Duo quirked his eyebrow at this, Wufei was a man of honor and pride, boy was he proud, he asked for help from no one. Duo remembered a time when the boy was six and got stuck in the big tree in the park on their corner. He was there for nearly an hour refusing all help Duo offered him until his parents got the fire department out there and he had no choice but to take their help.

"Well then Fei, this must be pretty serious if you're willing to ask for help from someone as lowly as me." Duo emphasized the use of one of his many nicknames for the young man. He theatrically waved his hands about and drawled his sentence to exaggerate the fact that boy had never asked for his help.

"I wouldn't ask anyone else for this favor. Duo, Meiran's been hinting that she wants me to propose, and I just wanted to ask you if you would be my best man when we do finally go through with it." Duo was shocked that Wufei had used his first name, ithad to be the first time since they were four. Wufei stared intently at the braided boy and for a moment Duo wondered if Wufei thought he would say no. 'Maybe he thinks I'm mad or something because he never called, but hell I didn't pick up the phone either, and I could never be mad at Fei-babe.'

"You sure you want to let me do that, you know I get to make a speech right?" Duo laughed for a minute, but then looked very seriously at his friend. "Of course I will Wufei. I would be honored, you two are my favorite couple."

"Alright, then as my best man you've got to help me." Duo was definitely confused by this statement.

"Geez Wuffers you guys have been engaged since you were two, you don't need my help." Duo was having a good time with his old buddy. They had instantly fallen back into the routing of Duo's barbs, and Wufei's feathers getting ruffled.

"We have not! That was a joke our parents made that we've never lived down. "Will you help me?" The guy could be begging for a favor and he still sounded like he was putout by you, like he was doing you a favor by asking for your help. It was a damn good thing Wufei went into law, this was a talent that Duo had always respected once he got used to it and knew Wufei didn't mean it like that at all.

"What pretend to be your lover to get her off your back?" It had been so long since Duo had someone who reacted so much to his teasing, this was practically the basis of their entire friendship. Then again Heero had been so much fun to tease, what the hell was he thinking, he barely knew Heero. Shit why couldn't he keep that guy off his mind. Despite that interruption in his thoughts,Duofound himselfeasily sinking back into old habits, andwas feeling younger than he had in a long time.

"No Maxwell, help me ask her to marry me, I don't know how." Duo laughed for a minute straight, that was totally unexpected.

" Geez Wuffles you just go get a ring, get down on one knee and ask her." Duo was still fighting off laughter, and the look on Wufei's face when he said this just put him over the edge into another fit.

"I'm well aware of the tradition, Maxwell. I was thinking something a little less overdone, Meiran isn't easily satisfied." And Duo's laughing only increased ten fold.

"Hah, I'm sure she ain't." Wufeisputtered at the innuendo.

"Shut up Maxwell, that's not what I meant."

"Oh really, then you guys haven't . . ."

"Maxwell Shut up and help me." Wufei was glaring by now, but Duo knew that the boy was having a good time, he could see it. He was the only one who could always tell when Wufei was joking around.

"Seriously Fei, she loves you, she doesn't care how you do it, just do what's natural and comfortable." At seeing the dissatisfied look on Wufei's face, he sighed. "Alright, we'll come up with something super cool, spectacular,and romantic."

"Thanks Duo." Wufei faintly smiled at his best man, and Duo returned a huge grin. He jumped out of his chair and grabbed his hotel key ring, taking the key off of it as walked over to kneel in front of Wufei.

"Maxwell, what are you doing?" Wufei squirmed in his chair, and looked questioningly down at the crazy braided man in front of him.

"I still say the classics should be cherished, observe." He continued to kneel and took Wufei's hand and faked kissing it in a very animated way. Wufei tried to pull his hand back, but Duo was busy putting the key ring on it.

"Wufei, my love, my life, my inspiration. My raven haired beauty." Duo cooed theatrically.

"Raven haired beauty?" Wufei said sardonically with the raise of his eyebrow.

"Don't ruin the mood Wuffers. Now how about I give my blushing bride a kiss." Duo laughed and came at Wufei with his lips puckered, pretending to try and kiss him. Wufei struggled, pushing against Duo's chest as Duo pushed his body forward making obnoxious kissing noises. Duo made a final lunge and unfortunately caused the chair to tip over and the two to tumble out of it. Duo landed on top and was cracking up, even Wufei couldn't refrain from laughing.

"Aww Fei-cakes, I didn't know you cared." And Duo continued to fake kiss Wufei about a foot away from his face until he heard a faint gasp somewhere behind him.

He leaned up further and glanced around behind where he saw Heero standing in the doorway. Duo stared at the young man and noticed a pink slip of paper in his hand. 'He came to give me the papers for his car, he would seriously give me his car? Man I thought Wufei had honor.'

"I...just came to give you these. I... I'm sorry I interrupted." Heero's dark monotone ripped through Duo like a knife. Sure the guy wasn't all that expressive normally, but in the car he had joked and stuff. Heero dropped the papers and turned abruptly, closing the door behind him.

"What was that about?" Wufei asked still lying under his best man. Duo was confused, what the hell had just happened. He looked at the door, then down at Wufei, then at himself, then back to the door, back to his position. He could think of only one word to described what just dawned on him.

"Shit."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thanks to everyone still reading and reviewing. For cHixOr Neko, tada here is Wufei, thanks for all your reviews. If anyone has a question, or a comment, please go ahead and review.uncomfortable pause 'cough'Soooo . . . anyone know any good jokes? No? How about the one about the woman formerly known as Robert?Scared to find out? Aww your no fun.Ok ok, I'll go. See you next chapter!