Warning/Pairing: 4x3 Post Endless-Waltz

December 9th

Open Doors

Trowa was standing outside my house with a duffle bag slung over his shoulder. I pushed open the window and stuck my head out to glare at him. "I suppose you want me to let you in?"

"Merry Christmas, Quatre."

"Christmas was a week ago." I pointed out, picking up the apple I'd brought upstairs to eat while I read my book.

"Happy New Year's Eve, then."

"If you got here any later, you'd have missed that as well." I weighed the apple in my hand. Society dictated that proper gentlemen did not throw temper tantrums. I nodded.

Then I leaned out and threw the apple as hard as I could. He dodged exactly the way I thought he might and I smirked when the apple nailed him hard in the shoulder.

"Fuck!" He grabbed his arm and glared up at me and I smiled and shrugged.

"Oops, it slipped."

Irritation quickly slid into indignant surprise. "Are you mad about something?"

I would have thrown another apple but I'd only brought the one with me. I settled for pointing my finger at him instead.

"If you ever pull another double-agent/triple-agent stunt without telling me, I'm going to have to break your legs." I informed him sweetly. Then I shut the window and went downstairs to let him in.

Trowa was a lot like a stray cat. He'd wander in and stay for a couple days or sometimes a couple weeks and then wander away again. I enjoyed his company when he was here, and swore I wouldn't let him back in every time he left.

He never wrote or called. He'd just show up, bag in hand and wait until I opened the door.

And damn him if I didn't every time.

He dropped his bag on the floor in the entry way and I ignored it, heading toward the library to find the Christmas gift I'd stuck in a drawer somewhere. He followed behind me, footsteps silent.

He was always silent. Never making a sound as he moved around. It probably would have bothered me more if I hadn't become used to it when Duo stayed with me during the first war. That man could stalk his own shadow.

"I have something for you." I told him, opening and closing drawers, shoving papers aside and trying to remember where the hell I put that present.

He carefully moved the fencing foil off the sofa and propped it in the corner of the room. "Were you going to run me through as well?"

I paused in my search, startled, and then laughed. "No, Dorothy stopped by to talk about some project or other. Melon-fencing, I think she called it."

He looked at me quizzically and I shrugged. "Apparently some of her friends have too much time and not enough to do."

I pulled the last drawer open and found the package I'd been looking for. "Here you go."

He took it from me but didn't look at it, instead raising a hand to touch a spot on my side making me shiver. "Dorothy and swords are a bad combination."

I shook my head, "It's not like she was asking me to be the melon. Mostly she just wanted to know if I knew anyone who might be interested."

He wasn't really listening though, intent on pulling my shirt out of my pants which was making it rather difficult to concentrate. "You know . . . "

"Yes?" He looked up at me then and I lost the urge to finish my sentence. Instead I pulled his face close to mine and kissed him.

I could chew him out some more later. In the meantime, it was New Year's Eve and I planned to celebrate in style.