Soon everyone returned to school to finish off the school year. Josie's first birthday flew by and she soon grew her first tooth. Quatre and Hilde still helped each other during dates. One of Quatre's dates kept spilling his food on his lap that Hilde burst out laughing in the middle of a fancy restaurant with Quatre in tow. It was embarrassing but the two friends knew it was a night to remember.
Summer arrived but to Trowa's disappointment, Quatre and the O'Neal family decided to go to Florida for the summer.
"Trowa? Earth to Trowa? You there?"
Trowa looked down at the girl in his arms. The two were sitting under the shade of a tree, Trowa leaning against the trunk and Dorothy leaning against him. "Yes?"
"You tend to space out a lot, you know that?" Dorothy tapped the boy's nose.
"I know."
"What are you thinking about?"
"Nothing."
"Liar. Should I say 'who are you thinking about?'"
"No."
"Guy or girl?"
"Dorothy…" Trowa warned.
"I think…a guy."
Trowa shook his head.
"Let me guess…you miss Quatre."
"Hm."
"That's normal you know. You're allowed to miss your best friend."
"Hm."
"But that's not all, is it? What's wrong?"
"How do you do it?"
"Do what?"
"Always know what goes on in my head?"
"Lover's intuition." She winked. "So what's wrong?"
"I'm worried."
"About…?"
"Quatre's roommate."
"Wait. Isn't his roommate a girl? Hilde, I think her name was. He called me some weeks ago and told me about her. What's to worry about? He seems to love her."
"That's it."
Dorothy bit her lip and studied her boyfriend. "You're worried about the fact that Quatre loves her even though you know he's gay. I don't get it. What's to worry about?"
"He's having a lot of fun with her…says she's his best friend…"
"Awww, Trowa Barton, you're a sweetie! You're jealous of a girl for being friends with your best friend. Awww."
"This is nothing to be awww-ing about."
"Yes it is. Didn't you go through with this with Heero?"
"Hm."
"Awww, you did! Should I be worried about this?"
"About what?"
"Your feelings for Quatre."
"What feelings? He's just my friend."
"Hmmm."
"He's just my friend, Dorothy. I feel nothing for him in a romance sort of thing."
"All right, all right. Well, you just remember that. There's no way that Quatre's just going to toss you aside if you guys are best friends. Even if she's his best friend, too, Quatre's not the type of person to dismiss someone for nothing."
"Yeah, okay. You're right."
"Aren't I always?"
"Hm." Trowa kissed Dorothy swiftly on the lips before returning to his lounging position under the tree.
* * *
School came after two short months. When Christmas came around, Quatre still didn't return to California since Tom's mother insist that the family join them in Quebec. That summer, Hilde decided to drag Quatre back to Maine with her and reminisce in the olden days. The next Christmas of Quatre's junior year of Julliard, Josie got sick so the family still couldn't go to California. Summer sprang in and Hilde thought it would be fun to travel through the first thirteen colonies of their country, taking pictures at every landmark along the way. Christmas of his senior year, Quatre was snowed in again, losing his chance to return to California again. In his last month of school, Quatre and many other selected students were sent to study in Italy before graduation. After their time in Italy, the students were allowed to return to their homes for a week before returning back to school for two last class days and the graduation itself. Luckily for Quatre, the O'Neal family had to travel to Quebec again for a visit to Tom's family. By the time Quatre would have returned from Italy, they would be gone, so Quatre arranged to go back home to California in time to see Trowa's graduation. Soon it was the day of Quatre's return and both Quatre and Trowa were giddy with excitement.
"Goodness, Barton. Calm down and deal the cards." Wufei barked.
The four boys were sitting around a poker table at Duo's house.
"Fine, fine."
"Leave him be, Wuffie." Duo poked the Chinese's shoulder. "Q-man's finally comin' home. We all are happy to see him again. Especially since you guys never talk."
"My name is Wu-FEI you imbecile. It's a wonder you got through college when you can't even get my name right."
"You don't seem to mind the name Wuffie when Sally says it." Heero smirked behind his cards.
Trowa snorted.
"That's different. Sally's my fiancée. She has a right to give me a name, no matter how inappropriate it may be. But when it comes from Maxwell, it's injustice."
"Blah, blah, blah." Duo smirked. "I win! I got forty-one!"
"Injustice!" Wufei stared at Duo's cards. "You must have cheated. There's no way…"
"I'm just good at this." Duo blew a raspberry at Wufei.
"Baka. What are those cards under your leg then?" Heero grinned.
"INJUSTICE!"
"It's just a game, guys." Trowa said. "And plus, we're playing for M&Ms."
"This is still injustice! Maxwell, you will pay!"
"I will not! Relax Wuffie. "
"Wu-FEI! Injustice!" Wufei launched himself at the braided boy while Heero and Trowa just sat back in their seats.
"Heero, help!"
"Hn. You're on your own, baka. Cheating is bad for you." Heero turned to Trowa. "So what time are you picking Quatre up?"
"At one. He sent this." Trowa tossed a little card towards Heero.
Heero glanced at the card. "Uh, Trowa?"
"What?"
"This doesn't say 'one.'"
"What?"
"Look here." Heero leaned over and showed Trowa the card. "There's a little stain there. Most likely oil. It smeared it. There's a little line right before this one right here. He gets here at eleven."
"Oh crap. What time is it?"
Heero glanced at his watch. "11:45."
"Crap. Bye, guys." Trowa bolted out the door and hopped into his car.
'Please be there, please be there. Dammit! I'm an idiot!' Trowa zoomed to the airport and arrived there fifteen minutes later. After circling the parking lot twice, he found a good enough spot to park and leaped out of the car into the airport.
'Please be here, please be here.' Trowa looked around at the arrivals area. He noticed a Customer Service booth nearby and approached it.
"Excuse me, but did the eleven o'clock flight arrive from New York already?"
"Yes it did. About an hour ago." The clerk said.
"Damn. Um, did a Quatre Raberba Winner come here?"
"Oh, are you Trowa Barton?"
"Yes! That's me. I'm him."
"Well, Mr. Winner left you this note after he called someone." She said handing a piece of paper to Trowa.
"Oh, thanks." He replied taking the note and reading it.
Trowa,
I don't know if you'll get this but if you do, I called your Dad to pick me up. Where are you? I waited for you for half an hour. By the end of that half hour I guess I just gave up waiting. By the way, I'm not mad so don't worry. I'll see you at home.
Quatre
'Man…' Trowa pocketed the letter before bolting to his car. He took the twenty-minute drive home the five extra minutes from waiting to pay for parking and hitting red lights at almost every light. When he got to his house, Trowa burst through the doors and raced up the stairs to Quatre's room. He knocked lightly but there was no answer. Trowa opened the door to see Quatre's luggage sitting by the bed buy no sign of the boy himself.
'Where'd he go?' Trowa slumped and walked back down the stairs.
"Trowa, where were you?" Mr. Barton asked, stepping out of his office. "Quatre-"
"I know. His flight came in at eleven but I thought the card said one. Dad, where is he?"
"He said that you'd know where to find him. That's it."
Trowa nodded. "Thanks, Dad." The unibanged boy dashed out of the house and hurried down the street to the elementary school and into his and Quatre's secret spot. He looked around the area but the blonde was nowhere in sight. Trowa slumped and felt something hit the top of his head. A small piece of paper bounced off his head and onto the floor. Trowa crouched down and opened the paper and read, "Look up, silly." Trowa looked up and sure enough, Quatre was sitting on his branch, legs swinging back and forth ideally.
"You, Trowa Barton, are late." He smiled.
"Quatre, I'm so sorry. I read the card wrong. I thought you were coming at one not-"
"Trowa shut up and give me a hug."
Trowa sighed before climbing up the tree and embracing his best friend. "I missed you, Quatre."
"Me too."
"I'm really sorry. I-"
"Trowa, I said 'shut up.' I don't care. I'm home now."
"But-"
"No buts. Shut up."
Quatre pulled away and flashed Trowa another smile before climbing down. "So what were you doing? Or do I not want to know?"
Trowa chuckled before following Quatre down. "I was at Wufei's with Heero and Duo. We were playing cards."
"Oh I see." Quatre jumped the last three steps. "Who won?"
"Duo." Trowa jumped the last five, being more acrobatic. "But he cheated."
Quatre laughed. "Can we go to Wufei's? I'd like to see them again, too."
"What, you're already tired of seeing my face?"
Quatre laughed again. "No, silly." He punched the taller boy's shoulder playfully. "It's just that I miss them too. And I want to spend time with everyone before I have to go back on Wednesday." He bent down and stepped out of the secret spot.
"Wednesday? I thought you're leaving Sunday." Trowa said, stepping through.
"What, you wanna get rid of me so soon?" The blonde giggled. "Seniors are pretty much done with school. All that's left is saying 'goodbye' and having parties in some classes. When Saturday comes, it's time for graduation."
"Oh."
The two were walking away from their elementary school and headed back for the Barton residence.
"I hope it's nice in New York." Trowa sighed.
"Huh?"
"I'm going with you."
Quatre stopped and watched his friend. "Really?" he smiled.
"Of course. I want to see your graduation too." Trowa said, stopping to look back at the blonde.
"Oh, but I won't be able to go back to California after that. I got a job offer in New York. I'm trying to find a place to live there."
"That's fine. I won't be going back either."
"What? Really?"
Trowa nodded and continued to walk. "You aren't the only who got a job offer. A man named John Wheatley saw some of my art and offered me a studio above his gallery for him to sell my stuff. He thinks my stuff is 'brilliant'."
"Trowa, that's great!" Quatre beamed, catching up to Trowa.
"Yeah. I don't even have to check in or anything. I can just go there to drop off paintings and pick up paychecks. Dorothy is going to New York too. She's got a job as a stockbroker. She has a place there already."
"Wow. That's awesome. Are you going to be staying with Iria until you find a place?"
"Nope. I already have an apartment. Mark, Cathy's husband, helped me find it. It's huge. Four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, and living room."
"Four bedrooms? I can't even find one."
"That's why I want you to move in with me."
"What? I can't do that."
"And why not?"
"Cause…um…"
"Hm. See, you have no excuse not to. You can have two of the bedrooms. One for your room and the other for a music studio. That's what I plan on doing but an art studio instead."
"But it's your place."
"Our place. I mean, it's not like you're gonna get away without paying half of the rent. That's all you need to do to have half of it."
"Oh. Don't you want to share with Dorothy?"
"She has a place and the apartment I got is further from her work. Come on, Quatre. Unless you don't want to live with me."
"No, no, no. It's not that at all. It's just…you don't feel like I'm intruding?"
"Why would I? I want you to live with me. Please?"
"I…okay."
"Great!"
"Trowa?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you."
"Hm."
The two friends continued home before driving off to Wufei's house. They waited patiently on the porch after Trowa rang the doorbell. The door immediately flew open.
"Q-MAN!!!" Duo tackled the blonde to the porch and smothered him with hugs and kisses on the cheeks.
"Heero, control your boyfriend." Trowa said.
"Hn. It's his life. And he knows that if he continues, it's the couch for him."
At that, Duo suddenly stopped and glomped Heero.
"You two are hopeless." Wufei shook his head. "Welcome back, Quatre. How was Italy?"
"Thank you, Wufei." Quatre smiled after Trowa helped him up. "Italy was great, but it was hard to find my way around without knowing much Italian."
"What'd you get me?" Duo bounced.
"Baka! The world doesn't revolve around you." Heero tugged on Duo's braid.
Quatre laughed. "I got all of you something. It's just in my luggage."
"Let's go then!" Duo smiled.
"Maxwell, you're inhuman. I don't think you deserve anything from Quatre."
Duo pouted.
"Don't worry, Duo. I'll give you your souvenir on Sunday."
Duo opened his mouth to say something but Heero cut in. "Sunday's fine. Let's play cards."
"And no more cheating, Maxwell." Wufei growled.
"Me? Cheat?" The braided boy gave Wufei his most innocent look.
Quatre laughed again. "Man it's good to be back."
"And it's good to have you back." Trowa smiled.
The five friends, reunited at last, took their seats around the poker table. They all shared stories from their time in school and their plans for the future. It was as if they hadn't left each other at all.
Author's Notes/Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. I own my pencil and eraser, though. Thanks to all of those who are reading and reviewing this story. And yeah.