At precisely twelve a.m., Trowa stepped into Quatre's room and climbed into the blonde's bed. Quatre unconsciously rolled over and held Trowa loosely in his arms with a light smile playing on his lips. Trowa held Quatre close to him. "Happy Birthday, Quatre…" he whispered into the platinum blonde hair.
"Thank you, Trowa…" Quatre mumbled before falling back into a deep slumber.
* * *
Quatre woke up and smiled at the sight of Trowa. 'He's so adorable when he's asleep…'Quatre giggled.
The movement in his arms caused Trowa to wake up.
"Morning…" Quatre whispered.
"Hm…"
"Leggo."
"Why…"
"Breakfast."
"Is your burfday…go sleep…rest is good…"
"Breakfast is better. Now let me go."
"Mmmm." Trowa buried his face in a pillow and tightened his hold.
"Trowa!" Quatre tried to get out of the other boy's grip. "Come on!"
Trowa didn't lighten up but instead gently moved his fingers back and forth against the blonde's ribs.
Quatre laughed. "No! Don't do that!" Quatre smacked away the hand only to have it return and tickle the boy even harder. "Trowa! Ah Hahaha! Stop! Tro-ah Hahaha! Quit!" Quatre pushed away the hand but it kept coming back, tickling the smaller boy.
By this time, Trowa was grinning. He rolled Quatre onto his back and placed himself on top of the blonde. He straddled the boy and tickled the boy even harder.
"Ah Hahaha! Stop! Stop! Ah Hahaha! Leave me-Hahaha!"
Trowa stopped and sat on his heels above Quatre. Quatre's normally pale skin was flushed from all the laughing. His hair was tossed all over his face and aqua eyes gazing back up at the green-eyed boy. 'So beautiful…' Trowa smiled and climbed off of his friend and pulled him into a hug. "Happy Birthday, Quatre."
Quatre giggled. "You already told me that. But thank you, again."
"Oh!" Trowa pulled away. "I have something for you. Stay here." Trowa darted out of the room and charged into his own. He grabbed a small box off the nightstand and darted back to Quatre's room. Quatre was sitting on the edge of the bed so Trowa fell to his knees in front of the boy.
"Here." Trowa handed over the little box. It was wrapped in shiny blue wrapping paper and had a little silver bow attached.
Quatre took the box and carefully pulled off the ribbon.
"Oh, come on!" Trowa threw his hands up in the air.
Quatre giggled, knowing how Trowa hated when Quatre opened presents slowly and cautiously. The blonde pulled at some tape on the side and carefully removed a small velvety box out of the paper.
"Trowa! It's a beautiful box!" Quatre cheered sarcastically.
"Ugh. Open the damn box."
Quatre opened it to see a ring. It was a simple silver band with intricate Celtic designs around it. The silver had a bluish shine to it as well. "Wow…"
"Look. I got it engraved." Trowa said.
Quatre pulled the ring out and brought it up to his face to examine what it said. "Pour La Vie…what's that?"
"It means 'For Life' in French. You and me, friends for life."
"Awww. Thank you, Trowa." Quatre threw his arms around his friend's neck for a brief hug. "It's beautiful."
"I don't know if it'll fit you. I think it may be too big."
Quatre tried placing the ring on each finger and sure enough, the ring easily slipped off. "I'm sorry."
"There's nothing to sorry about, Quatre. In fact, I knew that it would happen so I got you something else to go with it. Stay here."
Trowa jumped up and ran in to his room again and grabbed another box. This time, it was longer. He dashed out of room and returned in his position in front of Quatre. "Here. Open it." Quatre smiled. "Open it quickly." The brunette added.
This time, Quatre obliged and flipped open the box since it wasn't wrapped. Inside was a silver chain that looked blue when seen in a different angle. "Wow…pretty…"
Trowa took the chain out of the box, the ring out of Quatre's hands, attached the ring to the chain, and slipped the necklace around the blonde's head. "There. Perfect." Trowa smiled.
Quatre held up the ring and looked down at it. Then he looked up at Trowa, eyes misty with tears.
Trowa's smile quickly faded into a look of concern. "What? What's wrong? You don't like it?"
"No! I do! I love it! It's beautiful." Quatre smiled and hugged Trowa for the third time. "Thank you. It's wonderful. You're wonderful."
Trowa smiled again. "You're welcome."
Just then, a knock came at the door causing the two to pull apart. Quatre stood and pulled a shirt over his head before proceeding to the door. When he opened it, a bouquet of a dozen blood red roses was there to greet him, the giver's face hidden from view at the moment.
"Wow." Quatre blinked.
The roses moved to reveal the face of a boy with black hair and hazel-eyes. Taylor Quinn. "Happy Birthday, love. I came to give you these," Taylor handed Quatre the roses. "And this." He pulled the smaller boy against him and kissed him forcefully upon the lips.
After a few moments, Taylor finally pulled away, slightly breathless. "Go get dressed. I'm taking you out for breakfast."
"Uh, okay." Quatre turned around and headed into the apartment with Taylor right behind him.
At the sight of Taylor, Trowa frowned and growled. Taylor noticed the boy out of the corner of his eye and smirked. Quatre was in the kitchen placing the roses in a vase. After that, the blonde hurried off into his room to change.
"Well, isn't this nice? Me, taking Quatre, your best friend, out to breakfast. I plan on spending the whole day with him, Trowa. We'll have a wonderful time. Today is the day I finally claim my prize, no matter what." Taylor smirked.
"Taylor…" Trowa growled.
The black-haired boy just laughed. "You're pathetic, Barton."
"Taylor, you better not hurt him…"
"Oh hush. When the time comes, he'll probably be begging me to take him." Taylor laughed.
"What's so funny?" Quatre asked, sliding his vest on.
"It's nothing, love. Just a little joke." Taylor eyed the blonde like a wolf with a sheep. "Shall we go?"
"Uh, yeah."
"Oh, and Trowa. Don't worry. We'll bring you back a doggy bag." Taylor laughed at his own stupid joke and stepped out of the apartment.
Trowa was trying very hard to remain calm. When Taylor was out of earshot, Trowa grabbed Quatre's arm and pulled him close.
"Quatre, promise me something…" he whispered into the blonde's hair.
"Sure. What?"
"Don't do anything you aren't comfortable with or anything you don't want to do. Okay?"
"Trowa? What?"
"Promise me." Trowa said urgently.
"Yeah, of course. I promise."
Trowa pulled Quatre into a tight embrace. "Remember, it's your birthday. Today is your day."
"Trowa is there something I should know?"
Just as Trowa was going to tell him, Taylor popped his head back in. "Come on, Quatre. We have a long day ahead of us."
"Yeah, coming." He called back. He turned to Trowa and gave him a brief hug. "I'll see you later. Bye, Trowa."
"Yeah…bye…"
Quatre turned and left to join Taylor.
'Be careful, Quatre…please be careful…'
* * *
"Hello?" Heero said, answering the phone.
"Hey."
"Oh hey, Trowa. How's it going?"
"A few years ago, you said that me and Quatre have a different type of friendship than you and Quatre have. You remember that?"
"Uh…oh yeah. So?"
"Did you mean that?"
"Trowa, what's this about?"
"Did you mean that?" Trowa asked more urgently.
"Yeah. It's obvious. Duo sees it too. But it was only after I pointed it out. Why?"
"I know what you meant." Trowa paused. "And I really do."
Heero nearly dropped the phone. "Come again? Are we thinking the same thing?"
"Only if you think that I'm in love with Quatre."
"And you are?"
Trowa paused again. "Yes. Deeply."
"Wow…since when?"
"I'm not sure. But I know that I have for a while now. But right now, I need advice."
"Huh? On what?"
"Quatre found a boyfriend and he's getting pretty fond of him. His boyfriend is a real jerk and only wants to use Quatre. Sure he may be in love with Quatre but I'm just worried that Quatre'll get hurt."
"Whoa, whoa, wait. He has a boyfriend that he likes and who likes him back. And you're afraid that Quatre's gonna get hurt from being used by this guy. And you love Quatre?"
"Yes. On all accounts. Especially the last one."
"Wow. How could Quatre get himself a boyfriend if you told him that you loved him?"
"Uh, I never told him."
"What?!"
"I never found the right time to…I guess."
"Trowa, you need to tell him. How's he gonna know how you feel if you don't tell him?"
"I know, I know. But what do I do about him and his boyfriend."
Heero thought. "Well, there's nothing you can do. Quatre's a grown man now and you have to trust him to make the right decisions when the time comes. I don't like the idea of this guy using Cat but it's not like I have the right to tell him not to see him. It's his own choice to be with this guy whether we like it or not."
"But I'm worried…"
"It's all right to worry. Just remember that Quatre knows what he's doing. Just be sure to be there if anything goes wrong."
"Hm. Thanks Heero."
"Yeah, yeah. Tell him I said 'Happy Birthday'. And good luck, too."
"Thanks."
"Oh. By the way, Duo wants to visit you two in a week. You can tell me what happened by then."
"Yeah. All right. Bye."
"Bye."
Author's Notes/Disclaimer: I don't own the GW boys or Taylor.
I recently went to a Renaissance Faire and the Celtic ring is sort of my tribute to it, I guess. Merci beaucoup to Kaeruchan who, a while ago, informed me that it is Pour La Vie instead of Pour Vie. And now you all know part of the reason why I chose For Life as the title of this fanfic.
Thank you to all readers and reviewers.