When junior high arrived, Quatre's days as a human punching bag quickly dissolved. He was constantly surrounded by friends, especially girls who would blush every time he said "hi" to them. Quatre would just smile and continue with what he was doing. He was once again the outgoing boy that Iria had remembered. Quatre had a heavenly glow about him. His hair would sparkle while his eyes danced. His smiles appeared more often, radiating his happiness.
Trowa noticed these things and felt happy for Quatre. As for himself, Trowa was pretty popular, especially amongst the ladies. His odd hairstyle that covered half of his face gave him an air of mystery. He rarely showed any facial expressions, although his eyes said everything he concealed. His smiles were limited to family and Quatre and a few funny movies. He still hardly said more that a few sentences at a time, which added to his mystery.
Trowa picked up an interest in art during his time in junior high. He decided to take it as an elective and absolutely loved it. The class to him was a breeze, and his teacher absolutely adored everything Trowa turned it. She even called him the next Da Vinci or Michelangelo. So while Quatre would practice his music, Trowa would sit near by and draw or paint whatever picture came to him through Quatre's music. Listening to Quatre play seemed to open Trowa's mind to new creations, while seeing what Trowa had created seemed to inspire Quatre to play. It was a mutual exchange.
In their experience in junior high, they met a boy from Chicago named Duo Maxwell. He had very long hair tied into a braid that reached just below his hips. Duo was very energetic, making jokes about everyone and everything. His violet eyes would sparkle every time he smiled, which basically meant all the time.
They had also met a Chinese boy by the name of Chang Wufei. Wufei tended to always be serious and constantly studying. Duo would often say something about it, only to get socked in the jaw in response. Wufei had black hair that he pulled back into a ponytail, although it wasn't nearly as long as Duo's braid. His seriousness gave him a very intimidating look, causing almost everyone else to quiver before him. Wufei loved this.
The four became very good friends, while Trowa and Quatre grew to be the best of friends. They continued to walk to school with each other everyday. During break, the mature name for recess, they would wander around campus like they did in elementary. When lunch came, since they couldn't go to their hiding spot, they settled with sitting in a corner next to the band room. It had an overhang that provided shade and shelter on rainy days. There were two benches positioned at an "L" that squared off their area. They would meet Duo and Wufei there where they would just talk about their classes or classmates. Quatre and Duo did most of the talking while Trowa listened and Wufei studied. Even though they were close, Trowa and Quatre never brought Wufei and Duo to the hiding spot. They didn't even mention it in their presence. Both figured that the spot should be kept a secret for only them to share.
Soon, Catherine and Iria ventured off into the world of college, leaving the men to fend for themselves. Quatre would often find himself at the Barton residence from lack of life in his own home. Mr. Barton was always delighted to see Quatre and heard him play on the violin Trowa had given to him a few years ago. Trowa tried to give Quatre another birthday present that Quatre politely refused. Quatre on the other hand tried his best to treat Trowa to dinners and movies and anything he could spend money on to repay Trowa. They even decided to go bowling, dragging Duo and Wufei along. Of course, Wufei won, claiming that it was only a matter of figuring out the speed of which the ball must travel, at what curve it must be thrown to get a specific pin, and a whole bunch of other geometric mumbo jumbo that no cared to listen to.
One day, Quatre noticed Duo fidgeting around during lunch.
"Duo? You okay? You look like you need to go to the bathroom..."
Duo turned to look at Quatre. "Huh? What? Did you say something, Q?"
"He asked if you were okay. You've been hopping around like an idiot all lunch." Wufei said, not looking away from his book. Trowa looked up from his sketch for a second before returning to his drawing.
"I'm fine..." Duo smiled and continued fidgeting.
"Duo? You can tell us." Quatre assure him.
Duo looked away. "Well, guys..."
Trowa looked up from his sketch again and watched Duo bite his lip.
"How do you guys feel about...homosexuals?" Duo choked out. He glanced at his friends.
"Why?" Trowa asked.
"Well..." Duo bit his lip again.
"Jesus, Maxwell!" Wufei barked, looking up from his book. "Out with it already."
"Well...cause I'm...you know..."
All three of Duo's friends stopped what they were doing and looked at him.
"I understand if you don't wanna be my friends anymore..."
"Why wouldn't we wanna be your friends?" Trowa blurted out. Duo stared at him.
"Well, I thought...I don't know..."
"Maxwell, we don't care what you find attractive as long as you don't hit on us." Wufei said returning to his studies. Trowa nodded.
Duo glanced at Quatre who was examining his shoes. Quatre was biting his lip and fiddled with the hem of his jacket.
"Q?" Duo asked a little worried of how Quatre felt about his sexuality.
Quatre's head shot up as he looked at Duo. Quatre smiled. "Yes?"
"Are you, uh, okay with, you know?" Duo stammered.
"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?" Quatre smiled, assuring Duo that it wasn't a problem.
"Well..." Duo started. Just then the bell rang for the last class of the day.
Trowa watched his friends. Quatre smiled at Duo again before picking up his bag and walking away. Duo stared at Quatre's retreating figure.
"Tro?" He asked turning to Trowa.
"Don't worry about it."
"Funny, that's exactly what I'm doing."
"Well don't. I'm sure he's fine with it."
Duo sighed. He picked up his bag and walked off. Trowa collected his things and glanced over at Wufei who was still studying. Trowa shook his head, picked up his bag, and nudged Wufei. Wufei looked up and around.
"Where'd they go?"
"Bell rang."
"Shit."
* * *
"What's the deal with lunch?"
"What are you talking about?"
"You know. You got weird."
"What?"
"About Duo."
Quatre sighed and swung his legs back and forth. Trowa looked up at his friend from one of the lower branches where he was sketching.
"I didn't get weird. You're exaggerating."
"No. I saw you. You got weird."
Quatre sighed again.
"Are you uncomfortable about it, Quatre? You can tell me."
"It's not that..."
"Then what is it?"
Quatre looked down at Trowa. He began to climb down and jumped the last few steps. He wiped his hands on his pants before looking at Trowa who was watching him. Quatre sat down in the branch Trowa was sitting cross-legged upon. Quatre drew in the dirt with the tip of his shoe while Trowa patiently waited for an answer.
"Well..." Quatre bit his lip. He glanced up at Trowa and looked back down. Trowa had a feeling he knew what was coming.
"You promise you won't get all weird on me?"
"Promise."
"I mean it, Trowa. I don't want this to ruin our friendship."
"I promise, Quatre. Now tell me what's bothering you."
"Well...I'm gay..." Quatre winced, afraid of Trowa's reaction. Trowa smiled slightly and continued watching Quatre. Quatre glanced at Trowa expectantly.
"And..." Trowa arched his eyebrows in added effect.
"Whaddaya mean 'and'? Don't you have anything to say to that?"
"What am I supposed to say?"
"I don't know. 'Ewww, get away' maybe?"
"And why would I say that?"
"Cause...you're disgusted with me."
Trowa sighed. He put his sketchpad aside, swung his legs over the branch, and scooted over to Quatre. He wrapped an arm around Quatre's shoulders and leaned his head against the smaller boy's head.
"Quatre, you're my best friend. You're gonna have to hump a cow for me to be disgusted with you."
"Bad visual..."
"If I didn't have a problem with Duo, why on Earth would I have a problem with you?"
"I don't know. I'm pathetic."
"No you aren't."
"I thought you'd freak out or something."
"To be honest, I kinda already guessed that you were."
"What? How?" Quatre turned his head to look at Trowa in the eyes.
Trowa pulled away and smiled at Quatre. "Quatre, how can I not know about my best friend? It was kinda obvious to me that you're more interested in guys than girls."
"It's that obvious?"
"Only cause I've known you for sometime now."
"Geez..."
"I think you should tell Duo. He was worried when you walked away. I think he thinks that you're uncomfortable with him."
"Hmmm. I'll go call him. C'mon. Let's go." Quatre hopped off the branch, picked up his things and walked out through the fence with Trowa right behind him.
"So...Quatre. If you didn't know me, and you saw me walking down the street, what would you think?"
"What are you talking about, Trowa?"
"Humor me."
"I would think 'My God...what a snob.'"
"I'm serious."
"And what makes you think that I'm not?"
Trowa stopped. Quatre stopped after a few steps and looked at his friend. He rolled his eyes and sighed. "Trowa Barton, you have no sense of humor."
Trowa continued walking. "You think I'm a snob?"
"No. I was kidding."
"Hm."
Quatre sighed. "Trowa, if I didn't know you and I saw you walking down the street one day, I would think 'Hey, he's got nice eyes.'"
Trowa stopped again. Quatre sighed and stopped again. He turned and faced his friend who was grinning.
"What are you so smug about?"
"You think I'm cute."
"Don't flatter yourself." Quatre walked on.
Trowa shrugged and hurried to catch up with Quatre.
* * *
"Maxwell, residence. Whaddaya want?"
"Uh, can I talk to Duo?"
"Who's this?"
"Quatre."
"All right, all right. Hold on."
Quatre waited patiently as he heard Duo's brother, Dante, say something to Duo.
"Yellow? Q?"
"Hey."
"Hey. What's up?"
" I wanted to talk to you about lunch."
"Oh. Hold on. Oy! Dante! Get off! Dante! Hmm. Can I meet you somewhere? My brother's being a prick."
"Uh sure. Where?"
"I'll meet you at your house, then we'll go from there."
"Uh, okay."
"All right. I'll see you later Q-man."
"Later, Duo."
* * *
About ten minutes later, Duo arrived on Quatre's doorstep.
"Hey Duo."
"Hey." Duo grabbed Quatre's wrist. "Let's go."
"Where are we going?"
"Don't worry about it." Duo said, pulling Quatre along.
Duo made his way down the street and up The Bartons' driveway.
"What're we doing at Trowa's house?" Quatre asked as Duo rang the doorbell. Trowa answered the door in a pair of shorts and a shirt and stared at the two boys standing before him.
"How can I help you?" he asked.
"Can we come in?" Duo asked.
Trowa cocked an eyebrow. "Uh, sure." He stepped aside and let Duo drag Quatre in.
"What're you doing, Duo?" Quatre asked.
"Well, I wanted to talk to both of you. I wanted to talk to Wufei, too, but he was too busy. I want you guys to be completely and utterly honest with cause you guys are the only friends that I got and I don't want you guys to think any less of me cause of what I told you and I would hate it if you hated me and that you don't wanna be my friends cause even though I told you I like guys doesn't change me, really, it just changes what you know about my sexuality and it's not like I'm gonna check you guys out cause I know you guys aren't like that and I hope you can accept me for who I am and not who I like and-"
"Duo, stop!" Trowa barked, shaking his head trying to digest all the things Duo had just said. Quatre just stared at Duo, amazed that he could talk so much with just one breath.
"Sorry."
"We don't hate you." Trowa said.
"But do you feel awkward?"
"No. You're still Duo no matter what."
Duo nodded and gave Trowa a small smile. He turned to look at Quatre who still hadn't recovered from Duo's extended sentence.
"Quatre?" Duo asked worriedly.
"Quatre, snap out of it." Trowa nudged Quatre knocking him out of his trance.
"Wha?"
"How do you feel? And be honest cause I don't want it to be weird between us since you're the only one who talks back."
Quatre smiled at Duo. "Don't worry about it, Duo. I don't mind. Not at all."
"In fact, Quatre has something to tell you. Right, Quatre?" Trowa added.
"Uh, sure. Well, Duo. You see...uh. Me too."
"You too?"
Quatre nodded. "Me too."
Duo gave a huge grin, walked over to Quatre and gave him the biggest bear hug in the world. "That's great!"
"I...can't...breathe..."
"Oh." Duo released Quatre. "Sorry. Heh."
"It's okay."
"You know what's gonna be cool about this, Quatre? Us two can finally check out guys with each other without having to worry about it." Duo winked. Quatre simply smiled.
"Ah-hem." Trowa cleared his throat. Duo and Quatre glanced at him.
"Feeling left out, eh Trowa?" Duo smiled. "It's okay. You can check out guys with us."
"Hm. If you don't mind, I'd like to stick with girls."
"Suit yourself. But this means we get to talk about you." Duo winked at Quatre again.
"And what on Earth are you going to talk about?"
"What nice legs you have..." Duo smiled mischievously at the brunette. Trowa choked causing Duo and Quatre to laugh. He got up and walked into the kitchen.
"So, Quatre. What do you think about Trowa?" Duo whispered.
"Whaddaya mean?"
"Do you think he's cute?"
"Duo! He's my best friend. I can't think of him that way."
"Sure you can. Just don't make it seem like you want to rape him or anything."
"Duo!"
Duo laughed. Trowa walked back in with a glass of water in his hand.
"Quatre, you never answered me." Duo said.
"And I don't think I ever will."
"What'd you ask?" Trowa said, taking a sip of water.
"I was just wondering if he thought that you're cute cause I do." He purred.
Trowa spit out his water with shock. Quatre and Duo laughed at a flustered Trowa. Trowa glared at his friends.
"Why do I feel like I'm going to regret letting you two in?" Quatre and Duo just laughed again.
"If you don't mind, I have to head home before my mom gets mad at me for being out too late. I'll catch you two tomorrow." Duo said heading towards the door. Trowa and Quatre followed behind him. "Oh and Quatre, tomorrow, we should walk around campus and look at..the view." Duo winked before running off towards his house.
Quatre walked off Trowa's porch before tuning to look him in the eye.
"Sorry about that, Trowa. We were just kidding, you know."
"Yeah, yeah. I know."
"Uh, I'll see you tomorrow." Quatre turned to go home.
"Hey, Quatre?"
"Yeah?" he turned around.
"You never answered Duo's question."
Quatre scoffed. "Like I said earlier, Trowa. Don't flatter yourself." Quatre winked before turning and heading home.
Author's Notes/Disclaimer: Don't own. Don't sue. The whole Dante thing...I don't think Duo really has a brother named Dante in the series. I borrowed Dante from Fablespinner's story entitled "Greased Wing." And for you people who wanted the other pilots, here they are. Don't worry. Heero will make an appearance soon enough.