Concealed
"Are you really gonna go on a date with Jamie Collins? I thought you liked Trowa."
"I never said that. Duo, you're imagining things."
The two boys were sitting on the ground in their clearing. Quatre was leaning against the tree with Duo sitting in front of him while Heero stood against the tree, listening to the other two.
"Oh, come on Quatre. Admit it." Duo leaned closer to his blonde friend.
"Duo, leave him alone." Heero said. "His business is his business. You have no right to pry."
Duo sighed. "Fine."
Two minutes of silence passed. And then...
"So what happened yesterday? You both looked about ready to rip each others' throats out." The braided boy noted.
"Duo!" Heero groaned.
"It's fine, Heero." Quatre looked up at the other boy. Heero simply shook his head at his boyfriend's insistence. "We just had an argument. Nothing to fuss over. It's not like he's my boyfriend or anything."
Duo sighed. He wanted nothing more than to shove his friends in a closet somewhere so they could work out their frustrations. But he promised Heero that he would interfere no more. And a promise is a promise. Duo flopped down onto the grass and stared at the sky.
Quatre watched Duo. The naturally bubbly boy was awfully quiet today. But Quatre was a little grateful for that. He had his own thoughts to sort out.
'I don't know why Trowa overreacted. It's not like I'm gonna marry Jamie. And if he claims to not like Jenna so much, why is it so easy for him to kiss her? Ugh...Trowa Barton...the things you do to me...' Quatre buried his face in his knees. 'I knew I shouldn't have gotten close to him... I'll just stay away from him from now on. No more emotional roller coaster for me, thank you.' The blonde sat up against the tree and sighed. "I should find Jamie."
At this, both Duo and Heero's heads shot towards their friend.
"What?" Duo stared in disbelief.
"Jamie Collins. I need to find him."
"But why?"
"Well, we are gonna go out on a date. I need to find out the details.
Duo sat up again and looked at Quatre. "Nope, I'm not gonna tell ya. Nuh-uh."
"He hangs out by the gym." Heero answered. Duo just gaped at his boyfriend.
"Thanks Heero. I'll see you guys later." Quatre picked up his things and left.
Once Quatre was out of earshot, Duo glared at Heero.
"What do you think you're doing? Why'd you tell him?"
Heero rolled his eyes. "He asked so I answered."
"But...why? Quatre's supposed to be with Trowa."
"Duo, you don't know that. He could be meant for Jamie for all we know." With the look on Duo's face, Heero added, "Just trust me on this, okay?"
"Why? What good will come out of Quatre going on a date with Jamie? Especially when he's meant for Trowa."
"Duo, you're just gonna have to have patience and faith. If anything's supposed to happen between Quatre and Trowa then a little bump in the road won't hurt."
Duo scoffed. "You and your faith. What's so great about your faith?"
Heero walked over to the pouting boy. He bent down and cradled Duo's chin in his hand. "Faith got me you." Heero bent down further and kissed his boyfriend on the lips.
---
"Uh, Jamie?" Quatre found Jamie without any problems. The strawberry blonde was with his friends a blue-eyed boy Quatre recognized from English class named Ralph Flores and a girl with purple hair that he didn't know.
At the sound of his name, Jamie turned around and smiled. "Oh, hey Quatre. What brings you here?"
"Sheesh, Jamie. Aren't you going to introduce us?" The purple haired girl walked over to Quatre and slung her arms around him. "You're a cutie, aren't you?"
Jamie rolled his eyes. "Hilde, Ralph, this is Quatre. Quatre, Hilde Schbeiker and Ralph Flores."
"Um, hello." Quatre waved.
"Awww! You're adorable!" Hilde pinched Quatre's cheek, much to the boy's chagrin.
"Hilde, get off him. You're making Ralph jealous." Jamie smirked.
Ralph responded by flippin' his friend the bird.
"Well, that's his own fault for not admitting that he likes me yet." She placed her hands on her hips and faced the blue-eyed boy. "Come on, Ralph. Everyone knows it, just admit it."
Ralph cocked an eyebrow and frowned. "I admit nothing.'
"I hope you're wearing your bathing suit cause you're swimming in denial." Hilde retorted.
"You have to excuse Hilde, here." Ralph said to Quatre. "She thinks the world revolves around her."
"I do not!"
"Yeah, you do!"
Jamie wrapped an arm around Quatre's shoulders and directed him away from the bickering friends. "Don't mind them. They're always like that. They have a strange love-hate relationship."
"I see..."
"So, did you want to talk to me about something?"
"Yeah. About the date-"
"Wait." Jamie stopped and stepped in front of the smaller boy. "Don't tell me you're gonna cancel on me cause I already have to night planned out and everything."
"No, that's not it. I just want to know when."
"Oh. That's a relief." Jamie smiled. "How 'bout tomorrow night? There's a game that night that everyone will be at so places won't be so crowded when we get there."
"That's fine."
"Great. I'll pick you up at six."
"Okay. I'll see you then. Bye Jamie."
"Later, Quatre."
---
Trowa was particularly grumpy this afternoon during basketball practice. Nothing bad had happened to him. He was just still upset over the whole 'Quatre/Jamie date' thing. But it did help him during practice as he blocked shots, intercepted passes and mainly just got in everyone's way out of frustration.
"That's more like it, Barton!" Coach Richards yelled. "You play like this tomorrow and we'll squash those Jackals, no problem."
But Trowa didn't hear any of this. All he could hear was Jamie's voice saying "Go on a date with me" and Quatre's reply "I said 'yes'." He was so frustrated, he didn't realize how fast he was charging at Heero until he felt the pain in his shoulder from the collision.
Heero shoved the taller boy off of him and began to curse in Japanese.
Trowa shook his head in an attempt to clear his mind. "Heero, I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"
"Kuso!" Heero glared at his teammate. "What the hell's your problem, Barton?!"
Coach Richards jogged up to the two players. "You two hurt?" Both shook their heads. "Right. Now get off my court and cool off. We don't need no fighting before our game."
Both boys took a seat on the bench and watched the rest of the team resume play.
"Look, Heero. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to run into you like that, honest."
"Trowa, if you hadn't noticed, we're playing basketball, not football. You're not supposed to run into people, period."
"I know. I'm sorry. I just have a lot on my mind." The green-eyed boy ran a hand through his hair.
"Trowa? Why don't you just tell him?"
"What? Tell who?"
"Quatre. Just tell him how you feel already."
"How I feel? I don't feel anything for Quatre. Why would I have any feelings for Quatre?" Trowa responded a little too hastily.
Heero rolled his eyes before turning to face his friend. "You can deny it all you want, Trowa. But that doesn't hide the way you've been acting. From what I can tell, Quatre has more of an affect on you than you realize."
"I told you already, Heero. I'm worried about college. So many choices. It has nothing to do with Quatre."
Heero shook his head and returned facing the court. "If you say so..."
Trowa sighed. 'I already know how much he affects me. But he wants to go out with Jamie. Stupid Jamie. I saw Quatre first! He should be with me...Ugh...Quatre Winner...the things you do to me...'
Author's Notes/Disclaimer: The GW characters aren't mine but I'm claiming Ralph, Jamie and Coach. Yeah!! I rule.
Trowa running into Heero like that. Maybe it was intentional in my part. Cause Heero told Quatre where Jamie was. So, why not knock him down? Just kidding. It wasn't totally intentional. Heero was just unlucky. Everyone needs to be patient. Sheesh. Sorry this was a short one.
Thanks to all reviewers and a special thanks to Taylor Mercury for that particularly long review and for singing the spackled ham...errr...song. Meh.