It's actually here O.O [shocking music]
-Me

Name, Author, Archive & Feedback: Eh, you should know all this by now...
Couples: 15 & 2x3x4 (Um...you wouldn't be here if ya didn't like these)
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Story Time With Trowa or Once Upon A Cross Dresser
Chapter Fifteen

On Wednesday morning at approximately 10:30 the bathroom was filled with the loud belting of a random pop song. The shower was at full blast, but despite the water's valiant effort its sound was all but drowned out. Steam filled the air; it twisted in delicate patterns when the shower's occupant made even the slightest movement. Because said occupant was dancing in his random gleeful singing, every inch of the waterlogged air swirled and whooshed around him in a miniscule backup dance. But as every one does, the show had to end; signaled by a twist of the faucet and a swish of the plastic shower curtain.

His concert finished, Duo grabbed a couple of towels. Once they were in place—one around his waist and the other somehow covering every inch of sopping wet golden-brown hair, Duo wiped off a small circle of condensation from the bathroom mirror and flashed it his best grin. He quickly dropped it and winced before grabbing his toothbrush and some 'paste. Another grin when he was done and a finally satisfied Duo opened the door, taking no notice of the cloud of airborne water following him out. He then jogged over to his room to grab some clothes for the coming day.

It should be said here that humans are naturally beings of routine, and that even some of the most flexible and easy going people fall victim to their own habits. This is exactly why Duo Maxwell ran face first into his door.

His forehead met two inches of solid wood with a wince-inducing thunk, followed quickly by a shouted curse that would have made Quatre scowl had he been witness. Duo rubbed his sore forehead and glared at the locked door. Never, since the room had been his, had his door been locked. If asked, Duo probably couldn't have told you if the door even had a lock, since he never technically tried it.

Duo knocked loudly with the hand that wasn't nursing his wound. "Fei? You in there?"

There was a sudden shuffling. "Yes." Wufei grunted from inside.

Duo cleared his throat and tried to keep from laughing. "What are you doing...?" he inquired in a suggestive tone.

The door opened quickly with a mussed and angry Wufei within. "What is it?" he demanded impatiently.

Duo crossed his arms over his chest. "Oh, I dunno. Since this is my room, I thought I'd visit it a sec."

"I'm busy." Wufei huffed and started to reclose the door.

Duo shot out a hand to stop it from shutting. "Hey! I'm naked here!" He pushed against the door. "I need clothes!"

"This is urgent!" Wufei grunted as he struggled to push the door closed.

"It's my room!" Duo shouted back and threw all his weight against the door.

He didn't quite think the action through, and consequently lost both towels in the struggle. Duo, well used to being nude, did not noticed this. Wufei however, did. He turned bright red and abruptly stopped pushing against his side of the door. Duo's weight swung it open without any resistance, sending him right through the doorway and into Wufei. Having no chance against Duo's force in his condition, Wufei immediately lost his balance and they both landed on floor in one confused, pissed and embarrassed heap.

Duo winced and propped himself up on this palms. This is about when he realized that he was A) naked and B) all but straddling a C) half naked Wufei. This was about when Duo turned as red as the man beneath him.

"Get off of me." Wufei growled.

"Gladly!" Duo chirped and crawled awkwardly backward. Before he could get completely off of the bright red ball of discomfort, Duo's bare hind pieces met interference.

"Well, this is interesting." Trowa's overly calm voice floated from behind him, cracked a little by a snicker quickly disguised as a cough.

Duo stood quickly and grinned at his amused lover, his face still on fire with embarrassment. "Hey Tro'! Wanna take over for me? Thanks!" The door to Quatre's room was closed behind the nude Duo before Trowa could open his mouth.

Trowa watched him go with barely contained laughter. He glanced back at Wufei, who was straightening his pants. He was, for one reason or another, lacking a shirt. Trowa didn't say anything; he just shut the door and left Wufei to whatever he was doing before...whatever he and Duo were doing to end up on the floor with only a pair of pants between them...

"But he's been locked in there all day!" Quatre exclaimed, gesturing in the general direction of Duo's room.

Duo was sitting on Quatre's bed, trying to look completely absorbed in picking at the pale blue sweater he had borrowed earlier. "He's fine. He'll come out when he wants to. You have anything...darker?"

Quatre crawled on to his bed and over to kneel in front of Duo, his lip dipped in the tiniest of pouts. "You saw him earlier right? Trowa said you guys had a..." he thought for a moment. "A group activity... or something like that... Was he okay?"

"At least a darker blue?" Duo asked.

Quatre tackled Duo in a hug, shocking him into paying attention. "I'm serious Duo!"

Duo laughed and pushed Quatre back a little. "He's fine, I promise."

"Quatre? Duo?" Trowa called from another room.

"We're in my room!" Quatre called back, bouncing out of Duo's arms to open his bedroom door.

Trowa appeared a moment later, pulling Quatre over to the bed with a light smile. "I thought that since Wufei is...occupying himself." He glanced quickly over to Duo. "We could continue Once Upon A Cross Dresser...?"

()

Wufei slowly came into consciousness. He had dreamt again, but the image faded as reality started to seep back into his mind. The dream was gone before he opened his eyes.

The sun was dim, already fading as the day grew old and night snuck onto the horizon. The room was deathly quiet and when Wufei raised his head he found himself alone. The bedroom was larger than any he had slept in, or even been inside before. The bed was so large that he could roll over three times and not fall off, and it only took up a fraction of the room. There was a small bed a few feet away, which Wufei figured was temporarily his mother's.

'What does that make this, your permanent bed? Is this your room now?' His inner cynical voice inquired.

Wufei's heart sped up and his stomach lurched in the same instant at the memory of Heero's tender visit. He had seen so much in Heero's eyes when he spoke his fears... The most frightening of which he was trying to deny.

'You know what you saw...You have seen it in yourself... He is in love with you!'

Wufei hunched over and pressed his palms to face. "No!" he growled. This couldn't happen! It was okay if Wufei loved Heero, he could leave and no one else would be hurt... but if Heero returned his feelings...

Wufei threw the covers off of himself and jumped out of bed. The world seemed to skew suddenly and Wufei had to shut his eyes and grab onto the nearest solid object before he fell over. When the dizzy spell passed, a few choice curse words popped into his head. This wasn't going to be easy, it probably wasn't smart and he would most likely make himself worse, but his lies were making him more ill than whatever made his limbs so weak. It was far past the time to let them go.

With his teeth gritted in determination, Wufei pushed away from the bed and fought for balance. Once he was somewhat stable he shuffled foreword, paying sharp attention to his balance. If he fell even once outside his room, he would be bound to his bed for days, he was sure.

Wufei's fingers curled around his bedroom door frame, his other pale and clammy-palmed hand wrapped carefully across his stomach to conceal his laboring breath. He was fatigued already and he had yet to leave his room. Another inward curse set him off on his search. But where to look? Would he be training still? Or in some library studying?

Wufei's hands prickled. The royal library... How much knowledge could such a place hold? Wisdom of countless centuries, from this and surrounding countries collected and placed in one room. The Royal Library... the promised land for philosophers...

"'ufei!" A young Meiran pulled at his sleeve, causing him to drop the book in his hand and loose the page he had been reading.

"Meiran!" Wufei yelled and tore his arm away from her pudgy fingers. "Look at what you did!" He snatched the book up from the grass and dusted it off with a frown.

Meiran's little jaw clenched and her eyes narrowed. "'ufei! I wanna play!" She pulled at his arm again, careful not to knock the book from his hands this time. She hated when he yelled at her. "Books are boring!"

Wufei's soul ached as the memory came back, an insignificant shard of time that nevertheless sliced at his heart. His throat tightened and his eyes stung but he forced himself to breathe and continue walking. He had to go on.

The palace looked large from the outside, but trying to navigate through it without any knowledge of where he was or where he was going, it was infinitely massive to Wufei. Remarkable and most unlucky was the fact that he wasn't running into anyone. No servants, residents, other guests, his family...no one.

Wufei's eyes were losing focus and with every step his limbs lost strength. He stopped and leaned against a nearby wall. His hair was sticking uncomfortably to his neck with the perspiration that covered his body. His chest heaved and his head ached. He slid down the wall and onto the floor, one hand to his chest and the other still clutching his stomach. Tears flowed freely from his eyes as he now lacked the strength to hold them back. He could have stayed there for hours, resting and crying for all he knew or cared, but after an unknown amount of time he was interrupted.

"Um...excuse me but, are you okay?" A kind feminine voice inquired.

Wufei opened his eyes slowly, lacking even the strength to do that.

A young girl in the off-white robes Wufei had seen servants wear stood a few feet away, a basket with the contents covered with a cloth held in her arms. She had shoulder-length dark red hair that held large natural curls that cupped her ears and brushed against her face. She looked concerned and a little hesitant.

Wufei opened his mouth to speak, but once again his voice refused to work.

The girl frowned a moment, then her eyes widened. "You're that girl! The prince's..." She stopped and bowed as deeply as her burden allowed her. "Forgive me!" She looked up, still bent over in a bow. "Are you hurt?"

Wufei bit his cheek. He hated the thought of asking for help, especially from a girl many years younger than he. He would also be admitting how sick he was, which meant he would be bound to that damn bed for even longer. He shook his head and, biting his cheek until coppery blood bloomed from the spot, he stood. His back slid up the wall as he struggled to keep his knees from giving out.

The servant girl watched him with a maternal sort of worry, but she kept silent.

Once he was stable—or close to it, anyway—Wufei glanced around him, trying to remember which way he had come.

"Are you lost?" The girl asked, eager to help.

Wufei reluctantly nodded.

"Are you trying to get to your room?" she asked, her voice automatically taking on the voice one uses with a child.

Wufei repressed his anger. She was his only hope at finding Heero and he couldn't risk it, no matter how satisfying it would be to give her a little fright... He shook his head in answer to her question.

The girl frowned. "The doctor?"

Wufei shook his head again, his hopes dropping.

The girl thought for a moment, her hands twisting around the handle of her basket.

Wufei looked at the basket she held. The cloth that covered it was uneven and lumpy and the smell that escaped from it made Wufei's long empty stomach growl. Loudly.

The girl giggled, a light and joyous sound that made Wufei's heart ache again. "The kitchens?" she asked with a warm smile. "That's where I was going."

Wufei shook his head slowly, his eyes never leaving the basket.

The girl's smile dropped but she reached inside and under the cloth. A small loaf of bread was produced and given to Wufei, still warm from the oven. "Just because you aren't going there, doesn't mean you aren't hungry."

Wufei dipped his head as he accepted the bread, something that made the servant momentarily uncomfortable. "Well..." She shifted her weight. "Where could you be going then...?"

Wufei pulled a bit off of the loaf and ate it as slowly as he could with his stomach rumbling in protest.

"Well...the only other thing I can think of is the prince..." she mumbled.

Wufei nearly choked on his bread. He nodded quickly to the girl as he tried to swallow and cough at the same time.

The girl smiled and clapped. "I guessed it!" She then realized Wufei's struggle. "Oh!" she put down her basket and ran over to him. "Are you okay?" She asked, patting Wufei on the back.

Wufei nodded and swallowed.

When Wufei stopped coughing she spoke again. "I have to get the bread over before it gets cold...will you be okay by yourself?"

Wufei nodded.

The girl frowned. "If you're sure..."

She gave him directions and they parted with a bow that made the girl uncomfortable again. As Wufei walked away chewing his bread and looking for the hallway he was supposed to turn at, he realized that she never told him her name.

()

Wufei paced the small strip of clear floor that he had created in Duo's room for that very purpose. The room was dark; the only existing light was the flickering glow of Duo's computer screen. It ran through searches that Wufei had lost hope in as he paced, trying to come up with another idea. He had spent all day in front of that computer with no progress. Admittedly he wasn't the best hacker of the group...he was probably the worst in fact, but he should have been able to come up with something by now.

The flickering stopped and Wufei wearily glanced over. His breath hitched and he rushed over.

MATCH: 01 FOUND

Wufei's stomach tightened as his eyes fell on the match: a phone number. No name or address, just a phone number. It was so simple, only a collection of digits... It was only a number, but it made Wufei simultaneously nervous and exited. It could be wrong... but what if it wasn't?

Wufei dropped into Duo's chair and stared at it.

What if it worked?

()

'Down the hall, turn left on the fourth corner, right on the next...' Wufei went through the directions in his head, partially to remember but mostly to stay focused. It was a miracle that he didn't need to take stairs, but it was still a long way to the room the servant girl thought Heero was in.

'Large double doors at the end...' Wufei turned the last corner and with overwhelming relief, found the doors he was looking for. He shuffled over as quickly as he could manage as the unpleasant image of a desert wanderer finding water popped into his head. He rapped on the heavy and ornately carved wooden doors with a disgusted look at his sickly pale hand.

The door opened to a very large guard with a blank look and sharp looking spear.

Wufei was too tired and too...Wufei...to be intimidated. He glared at the man and tried to come up with a way to mime his needs.

"Who is it?" A woman's voice came from somewhere behind the bulk of guard.

The guard analyzed Wufei a moment before barking, "Who are you?"

Wufei tapped his throat and opened his mouth a few times, a defiant hardness in his eyes that let the guard know that he was not happy about making a fool of himself.

The guard had obviously never played charades. "What?" he looked quite puzzled.

Wufei dropped his hand and glowered at the man. He wasn't very threatening however, being covered in sweat and unsteady with one arm wrapped tightly around his waist.

The woman spoke again. "Oh just let them in! There are so many guards in here they'd be stupid to try anything." She sounded bitter at the fact.

The guard looked oddly at Wufei one last time before stepping aside. Wufei walked past him with a smug smirk.

The room wasn't as big as his bedroom, but since it was apparently a study of some sort, it was not inconsiderable. Two walls had large windows that overlooked the palace gardens, which was a stunningly beautiful sight but completely wasted on an uninterested Wufei. A large desk stood in the middle of the room, covered entirely with pieces of paper and scraps of fabric. A couple of overstuffed chairs sat in front of the desk and shelves full of old pottery and glass lined one of the windowless walls.

Behind the desk a woman stood, flanked by four more burly guards. The woman's dark hair was held back in a pearl studded net with a few strands carefully curled around her face. She had pale skin and eyes the color of the sky as it turned to night. She was older, a few strands of her hair were an elegant silver, and when she smiled at him her face wrinkled slightly to show the expression was used frequently. She looked strangely familiar.

"You must be Wufei." She spoke with a hint of girlish glee.

"Bow." The guard behind him said gruffly, more of an order than a suggestion.

Wufei did so a little grudgingly. It wasn't that he didn't want to bow, he was just angry that he had not done so earlier and had to be instructed.

She was smiling when Wufei lifted his head again. "I'm Heero's mother." She said. "I've heard so much about you, I'm glad we finally meet." She laughed. "And alone, no less."

Wufei glanced around, so caught up in the situation that he hadn't noticed Heero wasn't there. 'Great.' He thought gloomily. 'I've heard a lot about you too. I would really rather not face you alone...'

"Please, sit." The queen gestured to one of the chairs. "You must be so excited about the party."

'Party?' Wufei dipped his head and gratefully sat down.

"Oh dear! Are you okay?" Heather touched her hand to her lips in concern, only then noticing Wufei's strain. "Oh!" it dawned on her. "Your sickness! I'm so sorry..." she turned to one of the guards. "Take her back to—"

Wufei waved his hands and shook his head quickly, which a sharp headache made him regret.

Heather jumped back and stared at him oddly. "What?!" then after a moment her surprise cleared. "Oh! You came all this way to see Heero and I'm trying to send you back."

Wufei's eyes widened. She actually understood him?

Heather smiled softly. "I was a young girl once too, you know. Ahh..." she looked off with a wistful sigh. "Summer days spent giggling with my sisters over courtiers..."

Wufei had to quickly hide his anger at being thought of as a love-struck teenage girl.

()

Wufei shut Duo's door behind him without really realizing he was moving. His mind was working nonstop behind his constant mask of annoyance, so his body was currently on autopilot. That is, until he walked past Quatre's door and heard the low hum of Trowa's voice. He was speaking in the hushed and steady tone that Wufei had connected to the odd story he was telling Quatre and Duo.

'They started already?' Wufei thought, oddly disappointed that he missed some of it.

He called it morbid fascination and avidly denied that it could be narcissism. Truthfully, he knew that it stung him deep in an old wound he had tried to forget.

He lay down on the floor in front of Quatre's door, his ear near the crack between the bottom of the door and the carpet. Wufei slipped his hand inside his pocket and withdrew a small bit of notepaper. He didn't look at it. He didn't need to because he knew exactly what it said. It was only a number. A simple phone number.

()

"...the decorations will be blue and pure white, I'm thinking..." Heather was a good fifteen minutes into a long and mind numbingly detailed description of her planning phases for a party of some sort. Wufei was apparently supposed to know what party she was speaking of. "Simple, yet elegant. Much like my dear son I should think." She said with a smile.

Wufei swallowed the bark of laughter that tried to jump out this throat, then immediately regretted it as it may have been the only noise he had produced from his defective throat.

The doors creaked loudly behind him and Wufei turned just as Heather's voice toned a light-hearted "speak of the devil" from behind her desk.

Heero didn't even glance at his enraging—though well meaning—mother. His eyes immediately went to Wufei and didn't leave him the entirety of his visit.

"And what good fortune too." Heather continued. "I was just discussing the plans for your party with your..."

"Not now." Heero spoke to his mother as he did to Hilde, briefly and with a constant undertone of annoyance. He was already at Wufei's side and was now kneeling to gently touch his forehead. "What are you doing here?" he asked with a hint of bewilderment.

'Just chatting with your dear mother, or rather, being talked at for five solid hours about napkin rings while you take your sweet time getting here. I'm here to see you anyway! Nearly killed myself to get here only to have your mother as my reward!' Wufei thought with a venomous glare that he hoped conveyed this.

Heero's lip twitched, the only sign of his well contained humor. "I'll take you back."

"Ohh..." Queen Heather sounded genuinely disappointed. "We were getting along so well too. You sure you don't want to stay? I do have a few questions I need answering, we only have a couple of days left to plan..." Her helplessness was, however, obviously not genuine.

"You have a fever." Heero spoke to Wufei and ignored his mother. "You shouldn't have left your bed." He said sternly.

Once again Wufei was going to do something that was both stupid and hazardous to his health. He had searched Heero out to be a man, admit his lies and honorably accept the consequences. Maybe he had romanticized it a bit in his head but even so, Heero's condescending admonishment cut at Wufei's all too important pride. He may be lying, cross dressing and a possible suspect of gold digging but he was still a man (contrary to popular belief) and a man had his pride if nothing else!

Wufei pushed away Heero's hand, though later he would remember that tenderness with a mixture of unease and secret pleasure. It took an unnerving amount of energy to push himself to stand from his chair, but he did so with a face as untroubled as a still pond—the image he kept firmly in his head as his vision skewed and his legs shook.

"Wufei...?" Heero looked up at him from where he was still kneeling, oblivious to his insult.

Wufei wouldn't have answered if he could. He simply walked out of the room as calm and steady as that pond's image.

Once the door was closed behind him by a couple of unsure guards, Wufei fell against the wall and gasped in breath. There was new sweat on his skin that made everything uncomfortable and his limbs felt numb and useless. None of this mattered, however, in the shadow of his victory. He had shown his strength! He would accept no help or pity for his sickness and he damn well wouldn't allow that kind of talk to be directed at him again!

"A lovely girl, very spirited and a wonderful listener." Heather said softly. "I see now why you're so taken with her."

Heero looked so adorably uncomfortable. Heather made a wicked mental note to share this with her daughter. "Now dear, about the main course..."

Heero turned swiftly and walked towards the door.

Heather pouted. "If you don't choose, I will choose for you and you won't like it!" The double doors closed on her last word.

Wufei was leaning heavily against the wall a few feet away, but straightened immediately after the door closed.

Heero was torn between worry and anger. To say that she looked ill was an understatement. It was scaring him as much as, but in a different way than when he found her on the forest floor.

She didn't look at him right away. She seemed to be concentrating extremely hard on the floor in front of her and the arm that remained constantly around her stomach was clenched harder than her jaw, which looked as though she would soon crush her teeth.

Heero's anger quickly diminished. He was at her side in a moment. "What's wrong?"

She pushed him away, which was aggravating but not at all surprising. He was glad she couldn't speak at the moment, otherwise he was sure her mouth would be running with words as scorching as the look in her eyes.

Heero's anger came back stronger. "I'm not apologizing for being concerned. You should be in bed." He said in his coldest and calmest voice.

This seemed to piss off Wufei to her striking point. Now she glared at him quite often, it was so common that Heero had deciphered a hidden language in them. The way she looked at him now most clearly said something in the area of: "Die slowly by my hand." She started to walk away.

Heero was once again torn. He could either go back to his mother's "study" (Which, by the way, was never used for what one would usually call studying) and get his part of the planning over with, he could stay there until Wufei was out of sight and head up to his rooms, or he could go after her and make sure she got to her rooms without fainting.

His lip twitched. 'Who am I kidding?' he thought while jogging the little way that Wufei had gone during Heero's turmoil.

Wufei pointedly ignored him as they walked. She tried to walk steadily, but she swayed and walked into Heero a few times, which made her even angrier, if that were possible. She was also breathing audibly, which worried Heero more than anything.

Finally, when she swayed so much that she was in danger of falling over, Heero grabbed her by the shoulders. "Will you stop?" he snapped.

The "die" glare returned.

"I know you're strong." Where others would raise their voice when they were angry, Heero's got lower and quieter. He was so upset now that his muscles were twitching and his voice was so low that that it hummed in his chest. "But you aren't proving anything but blind stubbornness! If you keep this up I will have to carry you back unconscious like the day I brought you back from the forest!"

Wufei's anger dropped and she looked shocked.

So he had said it on purpose because he knew she didn't remember, but he needed a little vengeance after what she put him through. It was enough to vent his anger. He took her arm and placed it across his shoulders, took her by the waist to relieve some of her weight. She was frighteningly thin, but Heero wasn't about to risk her storming off again by mentioning it.

Whether she was still in shock or finally accepting his help, he didn't know. The important thing was that she didn't pull away and actually let him help her for the rest of the way back.

"My mother likes you." Heero spoke after a while. "She says you're a great listener." His lip twitched. "I can't wait for her to meet you once you can speak again."

She actually smiled. It was weak and she was trying to hold it back but it was there, and it helped to ease Heero's hesitance about speaking.

"She's going too far with this party..." he said without thinking. The party... he had yet to speak a word about it to Wufei. How much had his mother told her? "It's for my birthday." He said and looked sideways at her.

Wufei's face seemed to clear and she made a small "oh" with her lips.

Heero relaxed considerably. If she didn't know that, she couldn't possibly know everything.

By the time they reached Wufei's room, Heero was doing most of her walking for her. She looked exhausted but glad they were finally there. When they entered, Wufei's mother was waiting. She looked worse than Heero felt when he first saw Wufei in Heather's study. She said something under her breath in a language Heero didn't understand and rushed up to help.

Wufei's mother was obviously saying the same kind of things Heero had, though he wasn't exactly sure. She was giving a long and fluid speech of some sort and shaking her head as she led them to Wufei's bed. Heero was shocked into complete silence. Wufei just kept her head down and let her mother go on without any anger whatsoever. He followed the woman's orders on where to lay her down without a word and stood back until she was done with her speech.

Wufei's mother took a few deep breaths as she looked down at her daughter with a disappointed frown. She then turned to Heero and bowed. "I'm sorry for your trouble. My daughter is foolish."

Heero was still shocked. He glanced past her to Wufei, but her eyes were cast away in... 'shame?!' To say that Heero was confused would be an understatement.

Wufei's mother bowed again. "I'm sorry, but she needs her rest..."

Heero nodded. "I would like to speak to her alone for a moment."

Mrs. Chang hesitated. From the bed Wufei gave Heero a quick glare.

"Please?" Heero added with a questioning look to Wufei.

Mrs. Chang was frowning, but she nodded and left the room.

When the door closed, Heero went over to sit on the edge of the bed. As he looked down at her he felt the sudden need to touch her, to make some kind—any kind of contact, but she was covered to her neck. He knotted his fingers together and tried to focus on speaking. "It's okay for your mother to worry about you?" his voice came out colder than he meant it.

Wufei smirked and nodded. Her eyes may have been dropping and her every breath was a yawn, but she was never too tired to piss him off.

Heero's anger twisted in his stomach but he kept it from his words. "You need to be well for my birthday." He said. "I need you to be there." He tried to keep his voice even but he was afraid that his nervousness seeped through.

Wufei's face was unreadable to him. She only nodded.

She fell asleep shortly after. Heero stayed in the room until her mother came to shoo him away, and for a while after he lingered in the hall. He felt nervous when he thought of his coming party. He was nervous about asking Wufei to marry him, but now it was different somehow... It wasn't nervousness at all, now that he thought about it. It was...dread?

Later, Wufei awoke to a dark room and overwhelming frustration. He had somehow completely forgotten to tell Heero he wasn't a woman...again.

()

Trowa listened to the delicate song of the breath of his two lovers at his sides, staring blindly in the dark as he went over the story in his mind. Slowly, without realizing it until it reached its destination, Trowa's gaze drifted to Quatre's door and down to the space between it and the carpet. As with his door gap, Quatre's had no light from the hallway seeping through.

Trowa stared at it for a good long while, his mind blank and meditative. He then carefully removed his arms from the boys at his sides and slid out of bed. His bare feet made no noise on the plush carpet as he moved in the darkness. He placed his hand on the cold steel doorknob and twisted slowly. It turned without a sound, and the door opened just as silently as he pulled it even slower.

It was as he suspected, but the answer to his miniature mystery was upsetting nonetheless. Stretched in front of Quatre's door and sleeping quite soundly was none other than the make-believe cross dresser himself, Chang Wufei.

Trowa carefully closed the door and slid back into bed with one thought and one thought only: 'Why am I still alive?'

To be continued...

Next Chapter:
In which the fateful party begins, and we are reminded of just how this story began.

Author End-y Note:
Thank you for reading! I'm off to Anime Expo XD
Reading through the reviews (and believe me, I love all of them ) I noticed some questions. If you have any, please feel free to email me or post a comment in my live journal (preferably on the post announcing the new chapter, but it isn't a rule) and I will answer what I can (without revealing too much). It would seem odd to me to post a reply in my review thingy ;;
As always, I love you all and I'm sorry I'm not better at this ;;;

PS Yay fun with QuickEdit hopefully I can improve the formatting in future chapters.