Concealed – Make Things Right

It had been ten days. Ten hollow, lifeless days since Trowa last spoke to Quatre. He knew it was hard to get over someone you cared about. He had read it in books and had seen it on TV countless times. But this was actually the first time he ever felt the pain that was so insufficiently described in those stories. He never understood the extent of their pain. But now he could. He never understood why it was so hard for those characters to get over the one who had rejected their heart. But now he could. And it sucked.

Life was mechanical for him since then. He went through all the motions with ease. But it was easy to see he was lacking in drive and passion. This hollowness is what scared Heero Yuy the most.

"It's like he's dead inside." The stoic boy said as he walked down the school hall with his boyfriend attached to his arm. He was genuinely worried about his friend, though he wouldn't really admit that to anyone but Duo.

Duo frowned. "It's the same with Quatre. What happened between them?"

"I… I don't know…"

It was now break time and the two were headed over to the clearing where they knew Quatre would be. And sure enough, the blonde was sitting against a tree, his head hanging, looking defeated. It had been that way for the past ten days.

Duo took a seat next to his friend, throwing his arm around the smaller boy's shoulders. "Hey Cat. How are ya?"

The blonde merely shrugged.

"Quatre? You hungry?" Heero tried.

The boy solemnly shook his head "no."

Both Duo and Heero looked at each other with the same worried expression. The long-haired boy stood and walked over to the other brunette. "What're we gonna do?" he whispered.

"What can we do?" Heero frowned. "Honestly Duo, this is their problem. There's nothing we can do if they're not responding to anything. We tried. We failed."

Duo shook his head. "There's still more we can do-"

"Duo." Heero said firmly. He sighed and looked back at Quatre before looking up into Duo's purple irises and cupping his cheek in the palm of his hand. He pressed his forehead against his boyfriend's. "Duo, just let them handle things on their own. No more handcuffing them together. No more matchmaking schemes."

"It's not just about matchmaking anymore, Heero. They're not even friends now… There's got to be something-" The sound of the school bell rang throughout the entire campus, cutting Duo short. He sighed.

"Just… be good, okay? Try not to make things worse for them. Let them handle things."

Duo frowned. "Fine…" He looked over at his blonde friend, seemingly unfazed by the sound of the school bell. Duo shook his head and walked over to the smaller boy. "Quatre? Time to go."

The blonde head drooped a bit more before the mechanics took over and forced him to stand and drape his satchel over his shoulder. He headed over towards the school building without a word.

Heero shook his head and took his boyfriend's hand in his. "They'll get through this. Somehow."

Duo let a small smirk grace his face, making sure to hide it from Heero. 'Oh they'll get through it. I'll make them get through it no matter what it takes.'

---

"Trowa? You okay?"

Trowa didn't respond and simply continued to stare at the blank TV screen.

"Yoo hoo, Trowa? Earth to Trowa?" Catherine frowned at her brother's lack of response. She waved her hand in front of his face, poked his side, and tugged on his hair in an attempt to pull her brother out of his stupor. However, her attempts were futile.

"Trowa, if you don't say something, I'm gonna take a glass of ice cold water and dump it down your pants."

"…Something…"

"That's not exactly what I meant."

Trowa simply laid himself down on the couch and began to stare at the ceiling.

"Tro? What's wrong? You haven't insulted me the entire time I've been here. Are you sick?"

"…No."

"Then what is it?"

"It's…nothing."

Catherine sighed. "Well I'm meeting Mark in an hour. Do you want anything?"

"…What I want…"

"Yes?"

"…You can't give me."

Catherine ran her hand through her brother's hair. "Oh, Trowa… things'll be okay. No matter what it is that's bothering you, it'll all be okay."

"…"

"I should get going." She kissed him on the forehead. "Take care of yourself, okay?" She stood and headed towards the door.

"Cathy?"

Stopping, she turned to look at her brother on the couch who was still staring at the ceiling. "Yes?"

"…You smell awful."

Catherine rolled her eyes and gave her brother a smile. "Thanks for trying, Tro."

"Hm."

---

The next day, Quatre was only vaguely aware of what Duo was saying as they were going from their first class to their next.

"Quatre, did you hear me?"

He turned his head slightly towards his friend.

"I said to wait up for me after school at the clearing. I know Miss Oden's been kicking your ass about your math work so I'll go home with you and help."

Quatre, despite everything else he was feeling, was very grateful for his friends. Heero and Duo had been very supportive through everything and even now, they continued to help. Quatre looked up at Duo and offered him a small, grateful smile and a nod.

"Hey, that's the spirit!" Duo grinned, throwing an arm around his friend's shoulder. "We'll show those formulas who's boss! I'll see ya later, okay? And remember. The clearing after school. I'll keep reminding all day if I hafta."

Quatre just nodded a small nod again. 'Duo's a really good friend. I'm glad to have him and Heero as my friends…' A small ache struck his heart at the word 'friends.' But he quickly pushed the feeling aside and proceeded to go to his next class.

---

Lunch came and went without much change. But Heero was very aware of his boyfriend's incessant reminders to Quatre to meet him after school. Considering his current state, it wasn't hard to see why Quatre couldn't pick up on anything strange, but after the third reminder, Heero couldn't help but be a little suspicious. 'Duo, what are you up to? It better not be another one of your schemes…' He pulled his boyfriend to the side.

"Duo? What are you up to?"

Duo frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"Why do you keep reminding Quatre to meet you after school? I think he's got it by now."

"Well, he's pretty out of it. He might forget. Plus, if you saw the look on Miss Oden's face when she handed back Quatre's homework…"

"Just… promise me you're not scheming things."

But before Duo could promise, the bell for classes interrupted them again. "Don't worry about it, Hee-chan. I'm not planning anything drastic."

Heero watched as his boyfriend gathered his things and proceeded to remind Quatre once again. Heero sighed. 'Duo, it'd be more comforting to know that you were planning anything, period.' He shook his head before joining his friends back to class.

---

By the time school was out for the day, Trowa was headed over to the gym for basketball practice. He still felt pretty numb all over, but moved in autopilot none-the-less. It took him a while to realize that someone was calling out his name.

"Trowa!"

The green-eyed boy turned to see Duo hastily running up to him. "Duo? What's wrong?"

The braided boy stopped in front of his friend and panted. "Tro- Tro-" he said through breaths.

"Duo, calm down. What's up?"

Duo took a deep breath. "It's Quatre. He's hurt."

Trowa's heart leapt into his throat. "What? Where is he?"

"The clearing. I didn't know what to do. You're the first person-"

But before Duo could finish his sentence, Trowa was already running at full speed towards the clearing with panic, worry, and fear coursing through his veins and chilling his very core.

---

Quatre looked at his watch again. 'Where on Earth is Duo?' He had been waiting in the clearing for a good twenty minutes, yet Duo was still a no-show. He was getting tired of being at school. He just wanted to go home.

Suddenly, a figure darted around the corner into the clearing, slightly startling the small boy. "It's about time, Du-" Quatre froze when he saw who he was talking to. "Oh..."

"Quatre?" Trowa panted. "Are- are you okay?"

"What… what are you doing here?"

"I thought… Duo said you were hurt."

"No…"

Another figure poked his head around the side of the building, a friendly grin on his face.

Trowa frowned at the sight of Duo. "Duo? What's this about? You said-"

Duo just frowned in return. He walked over to the taller brunette and gave him a shove towards Quatre. And with that, he walked away, leaving the two to themselves.

Both boys just stared at where their friend had just disappeared. The blonde shook his head. "Stupid Duo…"

Trowa turned and looked at Quatre. "He said you were hurt. I-I thought you were hurt."

Quatre crossed his arms over his chest and scowled. "And I thought that you didn't care about me."

The brunette blinked at the cold words. He returned the scowl. "That's right. I don't."

"Well good!"

"Good! I'll just leave then!"

"Then GO!"

"FINE!" Though his mind screamed for him to move, Trowa remained rooted to the spot. He couldn't bring himself to leave. Not again.

"It's your fault, you know…" Quatre snubbed.

"And just what exactly is my fault?"

"Everything! It's your fault for being so mean to me, for kissing Jenna, for-"

"And I'm sure it had nothing to do with you being so clingy with Jamie Collins?"

"I was not clingy with Jamie!"

Trowa stormed forward, stopping a mere foot away from the other boy. "I saw you first, Quatre! Why him? Why not me?"

"What? Am I just some stupid prize for you to win?"

"No!" He ran a hand through his brunette locks. "What does he have that I don't?"

Quatre didn't respond.

"Did you even feel anything for me? Was I the only one who felt something?" With Quatre's silence, Trowa let out a frustrated sighed and began to walk away.

"Of course not! You're the first one in a long time that I could finally open up to!" Trowa turned and saw Quatre with tears welling in his eyes. "You were the first friend I've had that I felt completely comfortable with since my freshman year in high school! Despite only knowing you for such a short time, you mean more to me than I could have ever imagined, especially with everything I've been through these past few years." Quatre looked down and wiped his eyes with his sleeve. "I never thought I could find someone who makes me feel the way you make me feel…"

"Quatre…" He heard the smaller boy sniffle.

"I don't feel anything for Jamie. I was trying to tell you that the other day. How on Earth could I possibly feel anything for him when you're the one who has my heart? You're the only one, Trowa…The only one…" By then, his tears had caught up with him and words could hardly be formed coherently. His sobs shook his small frame as he poured his heart out to the one he cared most for. And the next thing he knew, strong arms were wrapped around him in a comforting, but more importantly, loving embrace. He clung to Trowa as if his life depended on it.

The two were quiet for a while, savoring the moment. Quatre's tears slowly calmed as Trowa's hands massaged the smaller boy's back.

"Quatre?" In hearing his name, the blonde opened his eyes, but didn't move. "Quatre, do you… love me?"

The boy in question closed his eyes again and nodded and Trowa couldn't stop the smile that graced his lips. He cradled Quatre's cheek in his hand and wiped the remaining tears with his thumb. Quatre finally looked back up into they eyes of the boy he fell in love with and felt a warmth return to his body. Trowa bent down and placed a gentle, loving kiss on Quatre's lips. When their lips parted, Trowa stared deep into Quatre teal irises. "I love you, too…"

And at that moment, nothing else mattered.

---

"See, I told you it would work…" Duo smiled.

Both he and Heero had been watching their friends from a distance, but now had allowed them their privacy once their feelings had been known and accepted.

"Duo, I thought you had agreed to back off."

"But I'm the matchmaker! And look! This time the plan actually worked!"

"You still went against your word…"

"For a good reason!"

"You're naughty…"

Duo pouted, playfully. "Are you gonna punish me?"

Heero pinned his boyfriend up against a nearby tree and kissed him hard, making sure to give Duo's bottom lip a tiny bite as he pulled away. "Like you wouldn't believe…" And with that, Heero walked away to return to basketball practice.

"Wait! Where are you going? Hee-chan? Hee-chan! Where's my punishment!"

Author's Notes/Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Gundam Wing characters, though I wouldn't mind if I did.

Duo's final attempt paid off. Cool.

EDIT 10/27/06: No this isn't the end of the story. In fact, it's probably only halfway done. I've been making such a big deal about these basketball games, how on Earth could I not write about the final game that these boys have been practicing so hard to get to? And there's hardly enough Wufei in this and I like Wufei. Even the name Wufei is interesting to me.

And why did these two finally talk to each other after ten days when it seems more likely that they would just ignore each other during this final meet? Well think about it. Both of them bottled up their emotions and hid behind their 'everything's-not-fine-but-I-can-handle-it-on-my-own' masks.

In Quatre's case, he's mad that he let himself grow attached to Trowa. When he hears that Trowa was worried, he's surprised and a little caught-off-guard but in seeing Trowa again, he's a little heartbroken and bitter so that's why Quatres's cold to him, especially since Trowa was cold in the last chapter. It's also apart of his defense mechanism, kind of like how he reacted when Trowa surprised him that first time they met. But really, Quatre does care about Trowa and that's why it hurt him so much that Trowa pushed him away. So when he finally hears what Trowa's got to say, he bursts. There's so much emotion going on in Quatre at this time that of course he's gonna cry. Cry. Not bawl. Not sob. Cry.

In Trowa's case, he was worried. He panicked when he heard that Quatre's in trouble. Why? Cause he loves Quatre. It's a natural thing to panic for a loved one when you hear that they're in trouble. So after pushing away all these emotions he has for Quatre, those emotions come hurdling right back towards him when he panics. But when he arrives to Quatre's side and sees that Duo lied, Trowa's confused. And in hearing Quatre's cold words, Trowa tries to push away those emotions all over again. But you can't push away feelings like his in the blink of an eye so when he wants to walk away, he can't. Because he cares about Quatre. After bottling up his emotions, he just explodes. Though it may not seem very Trowa-esque, he hasn't really been able to be the same Trowa when it comes to Quatre.

Whew.