A/N: No, this is not an update for any of my WIPs. This is, in fact, a new story. I apologize for not updating my current projects. To be honest, every time I start to update any of them I find myself just staring at the screen: I feel so disconnected from the characters and stories. I'm not abandoning them, but I'm taking some very solid advice to write what I am inspired to write at the moment. I will return to those fics, sooner rather than later, but I just need to get back into the flow of writing again.
A/N #2: This is an epic fic, in that it spans 13 years. It is split into 6 parts, each with multiple chapters. Each part will feature a different character POV and will run in roughly chronological order (Parts 3 and 4 are concurrent-ish).
A/N #3: My apologies. My French is terrible and I'm relying on online translation programs. Forgive me.
Warnings: AU, Angst, language, yaoi, lots of pairings (1x2, 2x3, 2x4, 2x5, 1x5, 2xH, 3x4, 1x3, 3xRalph) melodrama - probably I should add this warning to everything I write...
Special thanks to my beta Artemis Fenir.
This Time
Part 1: Chapter 2
Spring 2002
Trowa spent the winter vacation working his ass off at Catharine's restaurant. He was determined to save enough money so that he could live alone next year and he took every shift she gave him - waiting tables, bussing tables, cleaning dishes in the back. If there was work to be done then he did it.
As a result, Trowa was scheduled to work on New Year's Day and because fate hated him, he got to celebrate the new year by waiting on Gemma, Duo's grandmother.
"Trowa, what a delightful surprise," she greeted him coolly.
"Gemma," he returned. "I doubt it's much of a surprise to you."
She smiled slightly, and Trowa could see the faint resemblance between her and her grandson. Apparently it was a family trait to enjoy making his life miserable.
"I just found myself in the area and since I so enjoyed the last meal I had here..."
"Where's Duo?" Trowa found himself scanning the other tables, half expecting his roommate to jump out of thin air.
"David hates the cold. He is spending the last of his holiday with a friend. Some girl."
Trowa smiled despite himself.
"You're going to pretend that you don't know who she is? You've probably got her social security number memorized and her parents entire lives recorded."
Gemma snapped her menu open and Trowa laughed outright.
"Hilde Schiebecker," Gemma finally admitted. "They are in Cancun."
Trowa could all too easily imagine his roommate soaking up the sun and enjoying tequila shots.
"In any case, are you going to tell me the specials of day?"
Trowa did so quickly.
"I'll give you a few minutes to decide," he said and retreated to the kitchen.
Catharine saw the look on his face and put her hands on her hips.
"Don't tell me that you're quitting on me - in the middle of a shift."
"No. It's just that my roommate's grandmother is out there."
"Gemma?"
Trowa frowned in confusion.
"How do you know her? She's really being spying on me this whole time? What has she said to you? Has she -"
Catharine held up one hand.
"Calm down. She came in here a few months ago after a board of trustees meeting at Trinity College. This was before I had much business and she asked to speak to the chef... so we got to talking and realized we had you two in common. She comes in every few months."
"I can't believe this! She gave me this huge speech about staying away from Duo and her not trusting me and she's been stalking us this whole time!"
"Or she's brought all of her influential friends to eat at my restaurant and I now cater events for Trinity College and the Museum and -"
"Okay, I get it. She's bribing you into liking you."
"What, exactly, are you afraid of here Trowa? And what do you think she's afraid of?"
"I don't know! She invited me to dinner last semester and when Duo left the table she gave me this speech about how wonderful Duo was and how wonderful Duo thought I was but she didn't think I was wonderful and she didn't want anyone else to ruin Duo's life."
"Huh." Catharine said. She turned to her assist, Maria. "Take over in here for a minute, will you?"
"What are you -"
"Wait here," Catharine said to him and then walked out of the kitchen.
Trowa stood by the door and watched Catharine stalk over to Gemma's table.
He couldn't hear what they said, and both women's face remained frozen in neutral smiles. It was almost five minutes later when Catharine came back into the kitchen.
"She's having the duck salad," she said to him.
"What just happened?"
"Nothing. Just a chat."
"A good chat?" Trowa asked.
"Oh, I think so. Now get back out there and do your job or I'm going to have to fire you."
Trowa rolled his eyes and left the kitchen.
He was able to avoid Gemma's table until her food was ready and when he brought out the salad he wasn't surprised that she tried to speak to him again.
"It seems that I've misjudged you, Trowa. I would like to apologize."
"Thank you?" He had no idea what to say.
She inclined her head and Trowa escaped again.
It wasn't until Catharine dropped Trowa off at the train station five days later that he asked her again what she had said to Gemma.
"I just set her straight," Catharine said with a shrug, but she wouldn't meet his gaze.
"You told her about Quatre."
"No, well, some, yes. I assured her that if you were the kind of person who made friends with wealthy people just for their money then you had already had ample opportunity to live the rest of your life as a very wealthy man and had passed."
Trowa closed his eyes and shook his head.
"Catharine."
"Trowa," she replied in the same tone. "It's the truth."
"Except it's not - I'm not even friends with Duo."
She arched an eyebrow.
"Why not? He's funny - kind of cute too."
"Please tell me you haven't been engaged in an illicit affair with him this entire time."
Catharine snorted.
"Not my type. Why aren't you friends?"
Trowa hesitated in answering her.
"I don't really want friends," he finally confessed.
"Trowa, I look at you sometimes and I just want to apologize."
"For what? You've been amazing. All my life -"
"All your life I've loved you and I've let you do things your own way and that's helped make you this incredible person, but it's also meant that you've always done things on your own. You've never really had close friends and I guess... I should have stepped in sooner and said something. And now after everything that happened last summer... Trowa, it's like you're waiting for this point in your life when you're allowed to have fun. I'm worried that you aren't going to get there - I'm worried that you're going to spend your whole life chasing after this dream that won't ever come true and I'm sorry, because I should have stopped things before they got as far as they did. I never should have let you come to the Hamptons last summer."
"Cathy -"
"No, Trowa. I need to say this. I was there that day when Quatre came to see you in the hospital - when he told you about the ultimatum his father gave him. I watched him abandon you and I saw you... I saw you start to believe that you didn't deserve to be happy. I should have said something then but I was still so angry. Trowa, you deserve to be happy. You deserve so much more than a lifetime wishing to be with Quatre Winner."
Trowa tried to think of what to say.
"Now. Go back to college and make friends. Be happy."
He rolled his eyes.
"You don't have to be friends with your roommate," Catharine added, "but you don't have to hate him just because you're afraid of liking him."
"Don't worry, I'm not afraid of that ever happening," Trowa assured her.
-o-
When Trowa arrived back at his dorm that afternoon he found Duo and Hilde in their room, both clothed, setting up a television and some kind of game system.
"Heya!" Duo greeted him from a tangle of wires. "Welcome back to an all new semester of awesome!"
Both he and Hilde looked tan and happy and Trowa found himself actually envying Duo, just for a minute.
"What's that?" He asked and gestured towards the game system.
"An XBOX. Got it for myself for Christmas... that and a little game called Halo. Hilde called dibs this time around but you're welcome to play whenever you want. You can also watch movies... listen to music... it's pretty much the wave of the future."
Trowa nodded disinterestedly. He was sure this was just some new tool Duo would torture him with.
Sure enough, in almost no time Hilde and Duo were sitting in front of the television, laughing and screaming as they slaughtered aliens.
Despite himself, Trowa continually looked up from his textbooks, intrigued by the game dialogue as well as Hilde and Duo's reactions.
After two hours Hilde gave up, throwing down her controller in disgust and rising to her feet.
"Okay loser, I've got to go - I've got a hot date with my sketchbook."
"Ugh, don't remind me." Duo lay down on the floor and covered his hands with his eyes. "Everytime I sit down to draw I can only think about that guy you picked up in Cancun - what was his name?"
"Rupert," Hilde supplied with a grin. She looked over at Trowa and saw that he wasn't buried in his books. "This tool - he kept trying to tell us that he was an artist -"
"An artiste," Duo corrected.
Hilde giggled.
"Right. Anyway he tried to talk us into making this avant garde film with him."
"A sex tape," Duo corrected again. "He tried to talk us into making a sex tape."
"Because only when we are naked -"
"-can we truly come together as pure artistes," Duo finished for her and they both started to laugh again.
Hilde shuddered.
"Ugh. I need to go shower now after thinking about him again. Catch you two later." She waved and left.
Duo, still on the floor, stretched out and grabbed Hilde's controller.
"Wanna?"
Trowa's first instinct was to say no.
Duo grinned.
"We can play the multiplayer - it's got a player versus player thing. You can spend the next two hours killing me - well, killing me virtually. And don't tell me that doesn't sound like the best late Christmas present ever."
It did, and Trowa reached for the controller only to have Duo jerk it out of his reach.
"But," Duo added.
Trowa rolled his eyes. The torture was imminent, he was sure of it.
"But, each time I kill you, you have to answer a question about yourself."
Trowa scowled.
"We aren't fifth grade girls - I'm not playing truth or dare with you."
"And I'm not playing truth or dare with you," Duo agreed. "I'm playing Halo and I'm leveraging your desire to murder me against my desire to get to know you."
Put like that, Trowa felt like an asshole. He sighed.
"And when I kill you?"
Duo snorted.
"Not going to happen - but sure, let's say that if you kill me, yeah, you can ask me questions too."
Duo's cockiness irritated Trowa, but it soon became obvious that Duo had every reason to be arrogant - he killed Trowa three times before Trowa could even find out how to shoot his gun.
The questions Duo asked were disturbingly boring - what was his favorite flavor ice cream, did he like the Harry Potter movie, did he make a snowman over Christmas break - and their benign nature convinced Trowa that Duo was just lulling him into a false sense of security before asking anything worse.
Thankfully, however, Trowa's old gaming skills started to kick in once he figured out how to use the controller. Trowa had always been good at video games - when Quatre had owned a Nintendo 64 Trowa had routinely won every game they played - and now that he knew how to play he made a comeback. He escaped death at Duo's hands narrowly five more times before finally killing his roommate.
"Oh! Nicely played!" Duo chuckled at the sight of his lifeless body on the screen.
"What's your major?" Trowa asked.
Duo arched an eyebrow.
"That's your question? You've only got one shot at this and that is what you want to know about me?"
Trowa shrugged.
"I killed you once, I can do it again. Plus, you're assuming I have an interest in you - I just want to be able to plan my future classes so I can avoid you."
Duo smirked.
"Yeah, okay. I'm a studio art and art history double major. Also picking up a minor in chemistry - which sucks because I'll be spending the next two summers of my life taking classes. Chemistry classes, during the summer. Worst form of torture ever."
Trowa frowned.
"Why?"
"Why are they torture or why am I taking them during the summer? It's chemistry - so it's torture... no need to explain that. And I'm taking them during the summer because -"
"No, why are you minoring in Chemistry? And double majoring?"
The idea of his roommate devoting enough time to his classwork to double major and pick up a lab science as a minor did not fall inline with Trowa's impression of Duo as a lazy joy seeker.
Duo smiled.
"I thought you weren't interested in me. Besides, you've already asked your question. Back to the murder fest - unless you're afraid of losing?"
Trowa glared and picked up his controller.
-o-
Spring semester started off surprisingly well.
Trowa and Duo now had a standing 'murder fest' on Sunday nights that Hilde occasionally joined them for and, thanks to the bits of information he had gleaned that first Sunday, Trowa knew enough about his roommate to tentatively decide not to hate him anymore.
It didn't mean they got along, or that Trowa spent his free time with Duo - aside from Sunday nights - but Trowa no longer had the instinct to leave the room if he entered it and found Duo already there.
It also helped that the socks on the door and the parade of men - and women - through their room had slowed to a trickle. Either Duo was planning his encounters with more consideration for Trowa, or he had slowed down to just two hook-ups a week. Either way, Trowa appreciated no longer having to flee his own room.
He took Catharine's advice to heart and agreed to go to a Valentine's party with Kurt and Mags, two fellow history majors who had impressed Trowa from day one with their sarcasm and seemingly limitless knowledge of Tudor England.
The party was being hosted by a graduate student in the theatre department, and Trowa wasn't surprised when he didn't recognize a single person there other than Kurt and Mags.
He accepted the solo cup of pink champagne that was offered to him at the door and downed it quickly while he surveyed the crowd.
Kurt and Mags had quickly started an argument with a group of theatre students about the superior writing of Christopher Marlowe. Trowa thought about joining them - he didn't have much interest in theatre or Tudor England but he enjoyed watching Kurt and Mags decimate their opponents in arguments.
Before he could join them, however, the empty solo cup was plucked from his hand.
Trowa turned around.
A tall blonde man stood behind him with a smirk on face.
"You were empty - want me to get you another?"
Trowa shrugged. The champagne was bitter and pink but it was at least free.
The blonde man winked.
"Maybe something a little stronger?"
"Sure."
The man gestured and Trowa followed him out of the room and into the kitchen.
He watched man rummage around in a cupboard above a fridge and pull out a bottle of whiskey. He poured a liberal amount into two new cups and passed one to Trowa.
"Cheers."
Trowa nodded and took a sip. He decided that he should have stuck with the champagne.
"I'm Mike," the man said and held out one hand.
"Trowa."
They shook hands and Mike's fingers lingered on Trowa's wrist, lightly and subtly caressing his skin.
Trowa swallowed hard at the sensation.
"Are you a theatre major?" Mike asked.
"No. History. You?"
"English. I was invited by a friend of a friend who assured me this party was worth attending. Looks like he might be right."
Trowa was torn between laughter and embarrassment. The obvious line was ridiculous, but the way Mike looked at him made Trowa's entire body flush.
"I was invited by a few friends... but I think their only goal is to torture the theatre majors."
Mike arched an eyebrow.
"Did you want to go back to them?"
Trowa took a sip of his drink and fought back a scowl.
"No, I'm fine here."
It turned out that Mike was the most boring person Trowa had ever met. He was an English major - but he didn't like to read long books - nothing over two hundred pages. He was from North Carolina and he went to Carolina because he liked the school colors.
Trowa was ready to escape from him after fifteen minutes of the dullest conversation in his life - he was actually starting to wish Duo was there to liven things up - but Mike suggested they go back to one of their dorm rooms and get to know each other better and Trowa took him up on the offer.
They barely made it inside of Trowa's dorm before Mike starting undressing him.
Trowa broke free long enough to put a sock on the door and then he joined in Mike's efforts.
"You are hot," Mike informed him once Trowa was naked.
He wasn't exactly sure how to respond to the statement - or to the lustful admiration in Mike's eyes.
Mike clearly didn't expect a response from him, however. He quickly stripped himself and joined Trowa on the bed, straddling his hips and rubbing their groins together.
Trowa tried to sit up and kiss him, but Mike went the other way - bypassing Trowa's mouth and heading straight for his erection.
It felt good - there was no denying that - but it was also weird.
Trowa had only ever done this with Quatre, so he knew that his inexperience was probably coloring the situation, but surely it was normal to at least kiss someone before you went down on them?
Mike, however, seemed perfectly content to focus his energy on Trowa's cock and Trowa tried to just go with it.
He closed his eyes and tried to focus solely on the sensations of heat and -
"Hello, hello, holy fuck!"
Trowa opened his eyes to see Duo standing in the door, mouth open and eyes comically wide.
"Sock on the door!" Trowa shouted and pushed Mike - still happily sucking him off - away.
Duo's gaze dropped from Trowa's face to his crotch.
"My face is up here," Trowa ground out and Duo's gaze snapped back up.
"Um... I, uh, I... right." Duo turned around and closed the door.
Trowa fell back on the bed and covered his face with his hands.
The one time...
He felt Mike kneel back between his legs.
"Mike - no. This isn't - you seriously want to keep going?"
Mike smirked.
"Sure. The more the merrier, I say - he was pretty hot. Any chance you can get him to come back?"
"Get out."
-0-
Trowa was grateful that Duo didn't come back to the dorm room that night, and he spent the next day cleaning their room and studying for his upcoming French exam.
It was the one class he really struggled in - his translations were always good enough, but never the best. There were still nuances he missed - especially in the older passages - and it killed him that he had almost had an A- last semester. He needed to maintain a 4.0 to make sure his chances of getting into Yale were at their best, and he needed to be proficient in French in order to be accepted into the history graduate program.
It was almost eight when someone knocked on his door.
Trowa felt dread settle in his stomach at the thought that Mike might have come back for another chance.
The knocking continued and Trowa decided that Mike - who wouldn't read more than two hundred pages - couldn't be that determined.
He opened the door and found Hilde leaning against the frame.
"Trowa - hey." She tucked a strand of hair behind one ear and smiled seductively.
"Hilde."
"So, I need a favor." She bit her lower lip and Trowa had to roll his eyes.
"What is it?"
"I promised Duo I would bring him dinner - he's working late in the undergraduate studio over in the art department. But I can't because I've got a date in... fifteen minutes."
Before Trowa could protest she stuffed a ten dollar bill and a piece of paper into his hand.
"Great! Thanks - bye!" She waved and retreated.
Trowa glared after her but then sighed and pulled on his jacket.
He could do with a break from studying and, the more that he thought about it, the more he worried that last night might return his relationship with Duo to the way things had been last semester. Things weren't great now, but he didn't want to go back.
He followed the instructions on the paper scrap and went to Jersey Mike's, ordering a ridiculously complicated sandwich, and then navigated his way across campus to the art department.
He had to ask for directions three times but eventually found the undergraduate studio.
Trowa looked around the room. It was empty except for Duo, at the very back corner of the huge studio. Duo's back was to Trowa, but the canvas he was working on was completely visible.
He had never seen Duo's work – he hadn't even known that Duo was an art major until this semester – and Trowa wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but this certainly wasn't it.
At first glance it looked like Duo was painting a skyline, all in blues and violets, but the closer Trowa got to it the less it looked like buildings and the more it looked like trees, roots branching out and strong trunks rising up into a world of darkness.
"Hey," Trowa said eventually, feeling guilty for looking at his painting while Duo was completely unaware of his presence.
The sound of his voice did nothing to disturb Duo from his work, however, so Trowa walked closer, until he was standing beside his roommate, and tapped him on the shoulder.
Duo jumped back with an alarmed cry, his paintbrush went flying in one direction and his paint palette landed upside down on the floor with a loud splat.
"Jesus fuck!" Duo pulled ear bud headphones out and regarded Trowa warily. "Dude, what the hell are you doing here?"
Trowa frowned.
"I'm sorry. Hilde sent me with food." He held up the bag, as if to prove his intentions.
Duo shook his head.
"Man, way to scare the shit out of me."
"I said hey – you didn't hear me." Trowa could understand why – now that the headphones were off, he could actually hear the loud blare of Duo's music through them. He was willing to bet Duo wouldn't have heard a marching band walk through.
Duo knelt down and started to clean up the mess from his palette.
Feeling useless and out of place, Trowa put the bag of food down and picked up Duo's paintbrush.
"Any napkins in that bag?" Duo asked when Trowa handed him the brush.
Trowa found several and passed the handful over to Duo, who mopped at the oil paints on the floor.
"I'll have to clean this up with some paint thinner," Duo said with a sigh.
"I'm sorry," Trowa said again.
"Nah, don't worry about that. I just hate the sound of the flammables cabinet door opening – it's like a cat dying or something."
Duo got to his feet and walked across the room to a large yellow cabinet and as he opened the door Trowa had to wince. It did indeed sound like a cat dying.
While Duo scrubbed at the mess on the floor, Trowa took the opportunity to look at the painting more.
"This is for a class?"
"That?" Duo looked up and then shook his head. "No, class stuff is over there." He nodded towards a few canvases laying flat on a nearby table.
Trowa wandered over to them and was taken aback. One was a still life study, a bowl of fruit, but instead of looking lush and fresh the fruit appeared to be rotting, with flies and even a few maggots. It was vivid enough that Trowa actually felt slightly nauseous, and he could almost smell rotting fruit. The other painting was just as shocking, but for an entirely different reason.
"That's me."
He looked over and saw Duo's cheeks actually turn red.
"Yeah, we had to do a portrait…"
"Why me?" Trowa couldn't decide how he felt, staring at his own face rendered remarkably well by Duo's brush. "I look happy."
"You do, sometimes," Duo said, and there was a defensive note in his voice. He sighed. "I didn't want to do some kid or some chick – which is what everyone else was doing, and I kind of put it off until last minute so… I'm sorry."
"You don't have to apologize," Trowa said. He turned away from the paintings.
"Um, thanks for bringing me dinner," Duo said after an awkward moment of silence. He threw away the napkins and wiped his hands off on his jeans before opening the bag.
"Hilde said you'd starve otherwise."
Duo grinned slightly and then moaned in pleasure when he unwrapped the Jersey Mike's sandwich.
"Damn, dude, you even got the order perfectly right!" He was about to bite into it, but stopped to look at Trowa. "Have you eaten – do you want half?"
"No, thanks."
Duo sat down on the nearest table top and Trowa sat down beside him. His mission of feeding Duo had been accomplished, but he was hesitant to leave. He and Duo rarely spoke – not unless Duo felt the need to give a monologue on something he found to be important or Trowa grew irritated enough about something to actually complain or their shouting matches during Halo – and he found himself reluctant to end their conversation.
"Look, I'm sorry about last night," Duo said around a mouthful of sandwich.
"It's okay, I wasn't that into it anyway."
Duo arched an eyebrow.
"Not that into being gay?" he asked in disbelief.
"No, that into him."
Duo grinned broadly.
"I dunno, you seemed to be into him about as far as you could go."
Trowa refused to give Duo the satisfaction of being embarrassed or responding to the comment.
Duo rolled his eyes.
"But seriously – you weren't that into him?" Duo prompted.
Trowa shrugged.
"He was… kind of boring. We didn't have anything in common."
Duo snorted.
"Except for a love of cock. What do you mean he was boring? Did you expect him to be composing a symphony or something while he was going down on you?"
Trowa glared.
"No. But before that – we had nothing to talk about. He just wanted sex."
"Then send him my way, will you?" Duo shook his head and took another bite. "What's wrong with that?"
"Maybe I'd like to do more than just fuck my way through college," Trowa growled, irritated by Duo's tone and his general attitude towards sex.
"Maybe I would too," Duo agreed, not the least bit offended, "but I also like getting laid. Not everyone is going to be a winner, yanno."
"Do you even see the same guy more than twice – ever?" Trowa challenged.
Duo shrugged.
"A few times. But as a general rule, no. I'm nineteen, dude, I'm not looking for…"he frowned and then turned to face Trowa, a speculative look in his eyes. "Don't tell me… are you one of those morons who believes in fate and true love and all that bullshit?"
Trowa clenched his jaw against the immediate wave of anger and embarrassment he felt.
"Fucking hell, you totally are!" Duo shook his head. "You poor bastard. Who is he?"
"What?"
"Who is he – this one true love of yours? Because the only way people our age still believe in that shit is if they think they've found their true love. So out with it – who is he?"
Trowa sighed. He contemplated just leaving, but he felt strangely compelled to stay and talk to Duo. He didn't even like his roommate most of the time – almost none of the time, in fact – but he actually trusted him, and he wouldn't mind talking about Quatre to someone.
"Quatre Winner," Trowa said with a sigh. Duo arched an eyebrow.
"Quatre Winner?" He echoed, a note of surprise in his voice, and Trowa couldn't tell if he was making fun of the name or recognized it.
Trowa nodded. "My sister used to work for his family. Growing up, I'd see him during the summers, when he was home from boarding school."
"So he was rich."
"Yeah. I think his father owns a country or something. Anyway… he's it."
"So… why aren't you with him now?"
Trowa winced.
"His father caught us having sex, last summer, and threatened to disown Quatre if he didn't stop being gay."
Duo snorted. "Seriously? Stop being gay? How do you even –"
"I don't know, but he is. I mean, he told me we couldn't be together and he's… trying to be straight now."
"That is fucked up," Duo muttered, a dark look on his face. "So he's off fondling tits and you're… bored out of your mind and not that into it when a hot guy deep throats you."
"You seem really fixated on just how much of my cock was in his mouth," Trowa snarled.
Duo actually chuckled.
"Dude, I'm jealous. I saw how big you were when he freaked out – hell, I don't think that I could swallow that much of you. And I've had a few years of practice." Duo winked. "I'm just saying…"
"You only ever think about sex, don't you?" Trowa challenged him.
"Most of the time," Duo agreed with a grin.
Trowa shook his head.
"You don't want someone to talk to? Someone who means something more than… more than a blow job or a piece of ass?"
"Sure I do. But I'm not going to set myself up for disappointment by waiting around for 'happily ever after' – I'm doing just fine with 'happy for right now' instead."
Trowa frowned. It was similar to what Catharine had told him in January - but with a Duo spin on it that made it just feel wrong.
"Anyway," Duo said and crumpled up the sandwich wrapper, "I really appreciate the food."
"No problem," Trowa said and got off the table.
"Hey," Duo said to him as he started to leave, "you're still taking French this semester, right?"
"Yeah, Intermediate French II."
"Me too - I'm taking it with Madame Harcourt, you?"
"Madame Sylvie."
"I heard she's pretty cool - hey, want to join my study group?"
Trowa couldn't hide his surprise.
"You're in a study group?"
"How else am I going to practice my pick up lines?"
Trowa rolled his eyes and started to walk away again.
"No, but I'm serious - you'd actually like everyone else."
"When do you meet?"
"Wednesday and Saturday at six over in the Cobb study room."
"Okay."
-o-
Duo's study group was the most eclectic group Trowa had ever encountered.
There was Duo himself, and Hilde, but also a French major - Alice - a women's studies major - Max - and a political science major - Ralph. They appeared to have absolutely nothing in common except that they were all loud.
Trowa could hear them down the hall as he approached the study room, even though the door was closed.
When he actually opened the door he discovered the group shouting at each other - in French. They appeared to be arguing about which was better - Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame or Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac. Trowa felt simultaneously entirely out of his league and desperate to jump in.
They all spoke excellent French and their vocabulary was impressive.
Duo noticed him lurking in the doorway.
"Trowa! Je ne pensais pas que vous rendrait. Heureux que vous avez décidé de se joindre à nous, les réprouvés. Désolé - je voulais dire de futurs maîtres de l'univers."
Duo ushered him in and made introductions before shoving Trowa into the open seat beside Ralph and returning to the argument at hand.
Trowa could only sit back and listen.
It was clear that everyone in the room belonged in a higher level class than Intermediate French II, but it was even more clear that Duo was in a league of his own. His French was flawless, and if Trowa hadn't heard him speak English he would have assumed that Duo was a native speaker of French. He knew all the mannerisms, inflections and idioms that Trowa had seen his professors demonstrate.
The conversation moved from literature to history and Trowa was finally able to contribute - when Alice suggested the Vichy government was the only choice France had had during World War II Trowa was able to outline the various military and diplomatic options that would have allowed France to retain independence and he was gratified when Ralph jumped in to back him up with even more examples.
He returned Ralph's triumphant smirk when Alice leaned back in her chair with a curse.
It was almost eight when Hilde checked her watch and told them all she had to leave. Everyone started to pack up their things and Trowa couldn't help but feel disappointed that the session was over.
"I take it you'll come back next week?" Ralph asked him.
Trowa nodded.
"I'm not sure how much this will help me with my translations, but my conversational French is going to be amazing after this."
Ralph chuckled.
"That's true - but we don't just sit here and argue. I can't promise that your translations will ever be on par with Duo's but I can pretty much guarantee that they'll be awesome."
Trowa arched an eyebrow.
"That's a pretty bold statement."
Ralph shrugged.
"I stand by it. We're all at the top of our sections, so Duo wouldn't have invited you to join us if you weren't equally brilliant. But if you think you might need some private tutoring, I'd be happy to help."
Trowa found himself nodding.
"Thanks. I appreciate it."
Ralph smiled.
"Great. See you Wednesday!"
Trowa watched him leave and then fell into step with Duo as they walked back to their dorm.
"So... not too painful, was it?"
"No," Trowa agreed. "That might be some of the most fun I've had at college."
"Dude, we have got to get you out more often. Don't get me wrong - arguing with those guys is a blast, but there are more fun things to do out there."
Trowa glared at him.
"Things that involve clothes staying on."
Duo smirked.
"Hey, I never said this was an orthodox study group - sometimes we play strip-vocab-review."
"No you don't."
"No, we don't," Duo agreed. "But I'm working on it."
They walked in silence for a few minutes.
"So..." Duo started casually and Trowa instantly went on the defensive. "What did you think of Ralph?"
"He seems cool," Trowa said, hesitant to commit himself.
Duo nodded.
"Right? Met him last semester and we've been study buddies ever since. You know, he plans on being the first gay president."
"He's gay?"
"Yep. And single... and he's got some dumb ideas about not having one night stands and instead wanting to be in a meaningful relationship... blah blah blah... sound like anyone you know?"
Trowa shoved him off the sidewalk and Duo stumbled into the grass. He was back on his feet a minute later, grinning like a loon.
"That's what I thought."
-o-
Over the next few weeks Duo subtly forced Trowa and Ralph to sit next to each other at the study group meetings. He subtly invited Ralph over to play Halo and then had a last minute project he had to finish in his studio. He subtly dropped details about their personal lives to each other. He subtly suggested they work on translating a menu at a restaurant together.
By spring break it was clear that Duo was exasperated by the lack of progress his matchmaking scheme was making and Trowa himself was starting to wonder if Ralph actually had any interest in him.
At their final study group meeting before the break, Duo suggested that everyone spend the vacation watching French porn, glared at Trowa and Ralph, and stormed out of the room.
The others followed him out, but Ralph remained and gave Trowa a look.
"I think he's trying to tell us something," Ralph said.
Trowa arched an eyebrow.
"That he's gone insane?"
Ralph chuckled.
"That, and that he thinks I should ask you out."
"But you don't agree?"
Ralph shrugged one shoulder.
"I'm not saying I don't want to go out with you, but I don't want to get between whatever is going on with you and Duo."
Trowa had to laugh.
"The only thing going on between Duo and I is a battle over my sanity. He's my roommate - and a friend, I guess - but that's it."
Ralph still looked uncertain.
"There's not something else? Some disastrous failed attempt at dating or -"
"No. There's nothing else. He didn't even know I was gay until a few weeks ago."
Ralph smiled slowly.
"In that case - what are you doing tomorrow night?"
"I'm taking the train back to Connecticut. You?"
"Also taking the train - but to New York. What are you doing when we get back from spring break?"
Trowa picked up his notebooks and textbook.
"Hopefully going out on a date with you - but if you say anything to Duo I'm just going to deny it."
Ralph winced in mock sympathy.
"You don't want to just put him out of his misery?"
"Hell no."
-o-
Finals were only a few weeks away and Trowa could feel the stress of everyone around him like some kind of tangible, dark force. Even Duo fell prey to the stress - more than once Trowa woke up to find Duo up in the middle of the night, memorizing paintings and writing essays. It was almost unnerving, but also satisfying - Duo's superhuman ability to remain chipper was finally starting to fade, and Trowa was able to appreciate him more.
Even his rants grew more tolerable.
Aside from still trying to subtly push Ralph and Trowa together at every chance he got, Duo also focused his attention on the volume of noise generated by the football team housed on the floor above theirs.
Duo would wax eloquent on the likelihood of the jocks getting traumatic brain injuries or crippling spinal fractures and it sounded like he was reciting poetry when he talked about their job prospects after flunking out of college and not getting drafted into the NFL.
He also developed a burning passion for caf food - a passion that Trowa had felt since day one - and more than once Trowa came back to the dorm room to find Duo laying on his bed, eating fresh fruit or sushi that he generously shared with Trowa after delivering a monologue about the poor sanitation and terrible nutritional value of caf food.
Two weeks before finals, Duo came storming into their room one morning, soaking wet and wearing one towel wrapped low on his hips and another around his hair.
"That's it. I'm done. I'm moving off campus next year and I am never taking a shower here again."
Trowa was startled out of reviewing his notes and looked up.
"You're not going to shower for the next month?"
Duo glared at him.
"After. After the semester ends and I move off campus."
"What happened?"
"Some dumbass jock copped a feel. Again."
"And that's a problem because..."
"Because he thought I was a girl!" Duo pulled off the towel covering his hair in an angry gesture. "He saw the hair and thought I was a chick!"
Trowa tried not to laugh.
"Don't you dare laugh. It's not funny. This has happened five times now."
"Maybe you should get a tattoo on your ass - 'I'm a dude' or something."
"Maybe you -"
"Or you could cut your hair," Trowa continued.
"I'm not cutting my hair," Duo grumbled. "I'm moving off campus. Besides, the food is crap and this way I can eat what I want - when I want. No more football jocks keeping me up at night, no more fire drills at five in the morning..."
"No more roommate," Trowa added with a frown.
He hadn't given next year much thought, but if Duo moved off campus then Trowa would either have to find a new roommate - or he really would have to save up enough money to pay for a single dorm room.
He really didn't want to have to find a new roommate. It had taken him almost a year to start tolerating Duo - and Duo was smart, funny, thoughtful. Most of the guys their age were idiots, selfish and didn't think sitting around for hours arguing about French literature was fun.
Trowa thought it was possible to get enough money for a single next year but he realized that he didn't want to. He wanted to live with Duo.
"Well..." Duo said. "I mean, I figure that I've got you trained now - plus if your sister is a badass cook then surely you've got some kind of culinary skill... you could come with me. If you wanted to."
"I could," Trowa agreed slowly, trying to decide if this would end horribly.
Duo grinned broadly and Trowa actually found himself smiling back.
-o-
The day after finals ended Duo somehow managed to con Hilde and Max into helping them move out of the dorm and into their new apartment.
Trowa had asked Ralph to help, and when he showed up to start loading boxes into Duo's car, Trowa decided it was time to put Duo out of his misery.
"Hey," he greeted Ralph loudly enough for Duo to hear.
"Hey yourself," Ralph replied.
"I thought you couldn't stay," Duo spoke up.
Ralph shrugged.
"I rescheduled - I'm leaving tomorrow instead. I had to stay and help my boyfriend move into his new apartment."
Duo looked between them.
"Your boyfriend?"
"Yeah," Ralph kissed Trowa and then picked up a box.
"How long have you two been dating?" Duo asked.
"Since spring break," Trowa said.
Duo closed his eyes and shook his head.
"Fuck you both. I -"
"Oh, we do," Trowa assured him.
"I've created a monster," Duo decided. He hefted a box and walked past Trowa. "A monster."
-o-
TBC