A/N: Sorry for the length of time between updates. I don't do well with writing happiness, apparently. Anyway, I made it angsty and suddenly I was able to write again. Enjoy.
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: Congrats to Pentaghast for having excellent taste in movies! I will be writing a one-shot for her (or maybe not a one-shot since she's inspired me now...) and posting that very soon. I know someone said there was an Almost Famous quote... if there is it was totally unintentional... and where was it? I'm so confused.
Warnings: AU, Angst, language, yaoi, lots of pairings (1x2, 2x3, 2x4, 2x5, 1x5, 2xH, 3x4, 1x3, 3xRalph... Zechs and Treize will probably make appearances in people's beds too) melodrama - probably I should add this warning to everything I write...
Special thanks to my beta Artemis Fenir.
This Time
Part 1: Chapter 6
Spring 2004
"Okay, okay – just – just give it one more try. I promise. It gets better."
Duo sounded desperate and Trowa gave in.
He leaned back on the couch with a sigh and Duo kissed him.
"I'm serious. You aren't going to regret this," he promised before kissing him again.
Trowa returned the kiss. He could taste the fancy German chocolate Catharine had loaded them up with at Christmas on Duo's lips and he deepened the kiss.
Duo's hands snaked under Trowa's sweater and even though they were cold, Trowa leaned into his touch as Duo kneaded the muscles in Trowa's back.
Trowa pulled back and started to kiss his way down Duo's throat, pausing to nibble on the sensitive spot he had discovered by Duo's collarbone.
Duo groaned and arched against him.
Trowa maneuvered them backwards on the couch so that he covered Duo's body with his own. He loved the feeling of Duo's body, hard angles and lean muscles, and when Duo shifted so that their clothed erections came into contact Trowa groaned.
Duo smirked up at him and shifted his hands downwards towards Trowa's ass.
Trowa pulled Duo's sweater off, impatient to have access to his body.
"It's impossible to get anything accomplished with you around," Duo moaned when Trowa licked and kissed his way down Duo's chest, carefully avoiding his more ticklish spots.
"Speak for yourself," Trowa said, "I'm getting plenty accomplished."
Duo laughed, but his voice had a slightly breathless quality to it. Duo's laughter abruptly ended and he gasped.
"Oh Jesus Christ - every time you do that I think I'm going to cum immediately," Duo panted. He threaded his fingers through Trowa's hair - not quite pulling him or guiding him, but clearly indicating that he wanted Trowa to continue his current course of action.
Trowa was happy to oblige him and continued to lavish attention on Duo, bringing him closer and closer to orgasm until finally Duo came, Trowa's name a plea on his lips as he arched up one last time.
"Oh man, that was amazing."
Duo had that lazy, contented smile on his face that was quickly becoming Trowa's favorite expression to see. Duo always smiled that way after sex, but also sometimes after intense kissing or after one of their hour long debates on something completely irrelevant.
"Of course it was," Trowa affirmed with a smirk. "We've certainly been practicing enough for it to be."
Duo chuckled at that and stretched. He noticed Trowa looking over his naked body, unable to avert his gaze.
"Did you want to take this to a bedroom?" Duo suggested.
"No, someone keeps whining about this awesome TV show I have to watch," Trowa responded, injecting a fair amount of scorn into his voice.
"It is an awesome show. Plus, you said you would give it another try," Duo sat up and started to pull on his clothes.
"If I have to," he said.
Duo glared at him.
"What do you mean if you have to? If it's going to be that much like torture you –"
"Duo, it's cowboys in space."
"Exactly! But you need to say it more like this, 'it's cowboys in space' - see how I make it sound awesome?"
Trowa arched an eyebrow.
"At least tell me the doctor turns out to be gay."
Duo gave Trowa an apologetic smile.
"Does anyone die horribly? Maybe the pilot or something?"
Duo shook his head in the negative.
"So it's just a television series about a happy band of reprobates traveling around the galaxy... not rebelling against the government, not dying horribly and not... really accomplishing anything?"
"Yep."
"No wonder it was canceled," Trowa mused.
Duo rolled his eyes.
"It was canceled because Fox is the devil and Joss Whedon -"
"Okay, okay," Trowa held up his hands in surrender. He had already heard Duo rant about this subject. "Let's watch another episode of Firefly. At least Nathan Fillion's ass looks good in those ridiculously tight pants."
The past six weeks had been filled with days like this.
That first night together, after arriving home from Catherine's at the end of Thanksgiving Break, had been frantic and awkward, with a fair amount of stumbling around in the dark and a brief argument about whose room to go to, ending with them laughing, exhausted and bruised because they had decided to forgo both rooms and use the floor in the living room instead.
There had been no going back after that, not that Trowa had ever wanted to go back. The end of the semester, with the crushing workload of papers and exams to complete, had loomed over them and meant that almost every hour of each of their days was spent apart - studying, working and writing.
Somehow they had managed to find the time to be together, though. Duo tracked him down in the library at odd hours and barricaded them into study lounges for makeout sessions that left Trowa desperate and aching. Trowa had visited Duo in the art studios late at night on three different occasions, engaging in his first, second and third acts of sex in a public place.
Their schedules were different enough that they rarely saw each other at the apartment. A few times Duo came home early enough at night that Trowa was still awake and they would spend an hour or two together in bed before Duo would leave again to study or work on papers and exams.
When exams finally ended they spent two days in bed, exploring each other's bodies and starting to learn where and how to touch each other.
It was amazing and completely unlike anything Trowa had previously experienced. He had loved Ralph, had found him attractive and lusted for him. But he had never spent this much time committing Ralph's body to his memory, had never put in the effort to catalog his reaction to Trowa's touches or tried to learn the difference in his smiles.
Of course, he had never spent quite this much time naked with Ralph.
Without classes and schoolwork to keep them separated, Duo and Trowa spent nearly every day of the Winter Break together, and it felt like they were living in a porno. They could be doing something as mundane as cleaning up the apartment and invariably it ended with both of them naked and panting on the freezing hardwood floor. Trowa had never had so much sex before, and he was grateful that Duo seemed to actually prefer frot and oral sex to anal sex. Trowa doubted either of them would be able to walk straight otherwise.
The only time they hadn't had sex multiple times in one day had been the four days they spent with Catharine for Christmas.
Trowa had practically had to beg Duo - and he was convinced that Catharine had made more than one threatening phone call - but Duo finally agreed to spend the holiday in Connecticut. Despite the fact that Catharine had teasingly offered to let Duo share Trowa's room, the long haired man insisted on sleeping on the downstairs couch. Even though Catharine was at work most of the time, Duo still kept things PG - lots of kissing and some heavy petting but nothing approaching the level of intimacy they had at home.
Of course, as soon as they were back in their apartment in North Carolina things went back to the standard clothing optional policy they had adopted and Trowa brushed it off as Duo being uncomfortable having sex with him at Catharine's house. Trowa tried to imagine his reaction to the possibility of having sex with Duo if Gemma was still around and knew that the fear of her walking in on them would have prevented him from getting any kind of erection.
-o-
Spring semester got off to a hectic start.
The morning of the first day of classes Duo had finally convinced Trowa to try yoga with him. The end result had been, predictably, abandoning yoga for sex on the floor and then sex in the shower. Which meant that Trowa walked into his Thesis Seminar class five minutes late, unshaved and out of breath because he had had to sprint across campus.
He and Duo had agreed to meet back at the apartment for lunch, though neither had food in mind and after forty five minutes they both hurriedly dressed and rushed off to their afternoon classes.
When they met up with everyone else for drinks that night at The Brewery, Trowa was honestly exhausted, mentally and physically.
It seemed that all of his professors were intent on instilling the fear of failure in him - each stressed the monumental amount of work expected for their classes and the devastating consequences of getting even one B on an assignment. His Thesis Seminar class had been the most terrifying of all. The professor, Dr. Bearden, had begun class by asking each student about their proposed field of study and graduate school. He had then systematically crushed each of their dreams - either their field was too obscure or too bloated; their graduate school would never accept mediocre work and they had yet to show any inspiration or greatness. No one was safe from his criticism and Trowa, who was actually one of Bearden's advisees, had fared worse than most. Bearden actually laughed when Trowa mentioned Yale and American Colonial history. Bearden had suggested that he might as well write about UFO sightings during the American Revolution because at least that would be original.
It had been a rough start to the day, and the rest of his classes had merely built upon the looming sense of failure Trowa was currently drowning in.
He was the last to arrive at The Brewery and he sat down in the booth with Alice, Kurt, Mags, Hilde and Hilde's latest boyfriend - who enthusiastically introduced himself as Michael.
Duo was at the bar, laughing with Carl about something. He looked happy and stress free. It was clear that he hadn't been called a failure in every single one of his classes.
Trowa watched Carl hand Duo two bottles of beer and couldn't help but notice the way Carl's hands lingered on Duo's. Or the way Carl winked at him as Duo laughed and turned away.
Duo slid into the open spot beside Trowa and passed him one of the beers.
"So, first day back in the land of torture, how did everyone fare?" Duo asked brightly.
Almost everyone groaned.
"At least I didn't run out of French Seminar in tears," Alice muttered. "Professor Favreau made two people cry and one person actually changed their major. It was awful."
"Pretty much the same thing in our seminar," Kurt agreed and Mags nodded. "Professor Smithton laughed off most of our thesis topics and told all of us that we would be lucky to get into the graduate school at the University of Florida and to forget about even applying to Cambridge or Oxford."
"Sounds like you had it easy," Hilde said with a scowl. She looked over at Duo. "Our seminar started off with a portfolio review and Professor Henry told all of us we should apply for jobs teaching art to kindergarteners -"
"Except those jobs were above our skill level," Duo interjected, clearly imitating the voice of their instructor.
"How did your Art History seminar go?" Hilde asked him.
Duo rolled his eyes.
"About the same. Patrick told all of us it was pointless to even care about the past because the iPhone and the digital age didn't care about anything that was more than a week old and blah blah blah."
Duo nudged Trowa's shoulder.
"And you? Did Bearden crush your hopes and dreams, too?"
Trowa nodded, but he had to smile in relief.
"Yeah. I thought it was just me - I didn't realize it was a campus wide conspiracy to destroy all of our souls."
Michael laughed and everyone turned to him expectantly.
"Oh, sorry. I'm getting my Master's in Biochemistry. They don't do that kind of shit to us."
"Anyway," Kurt said loudly and held up his glass. "Here's to becoming functional alcoholics."
"Here, here," Duo agreed and everyone else raised their glasses to join in the toast.
Several hours and many beers later Duo and Trowa walked home together, leaving the others engaged in a heated game of darts.
"You know you're going to get into Yale, right?" Duo said. "Don't let Bearden freak you out - this is just some sort of hazing thing they do to us right before our senior year."
Trowa shrugged.
"I guess. But it's Yale - and Bearden's right - my field is already crowded."
"So? No one has your perspective or your ideas. Prove that you're unique and important."
Trowa snorted.
"Yeah, because that's easy to do."
"I didn't say it would be easy. But you are unique and important. You're an amazing writer and great at research. You're going to kick ass on your thesis and you will get into Yale. I'll bet you fifty bucks that ten years from now you're going to be a hot shot professor at an Ivy League school with two books published and -"
"Okay, let's take a few steps back from fantasyland," Trowa said. "I still need to graduate from here and get into Yale - and -"
"And I'm thinking that you are thinking too much," Duo interrupted him. He stepped in front of Trowa and kissed him.
"You've got this," Duo assured him. "Now, let's get our asses home because it's freezing out here and -"
"And you hate the cold."
"I was going to say that I wanted to get you naked and I doubted you would appreciate that out here, but yeah, I hate the cold too."
-0-
After a few weeks they had to cut out the sex break during lunch. They still managed to spend an obscene amount of naked time together, and Trowa felt confident that sex with Duo was the only thing keeping him sane as the semester crept along and his workload steadily increased.
They fell into a routine fairly easily. Yoga in the mornings - it took a few tries, but eventually Trowa was able to focus on the exercise and not Duo's body - followed by sex in the shower and then they went their separate ways for classes and work. Duo usually tracked him down at the library in the afternoons to hang out, make out or bring him a snack before he went to the art studio to work. Trowa had started to cook more often - he had started it last semester in an attempt to lure Duo into eating after Gemma died - and Duo usually came by the apartment to eat with him, have sex, and then went back to the studio or the library to work for a few hours. Most nights Trowa was asleep by the time Duo got home, but if he was awake Duo would challenge him to Halo for an hour or so before Trowa, cranky and tired, would go to bed.
A few nights a week they still met up with their group for drinks or dinner. Aside from the near suicidal panic everyone seemed to feel over their assignments, everything and everyone felt normal. It was easy and comfortable and Trowa wondered why the hell he and Duo hadn't had this relationship from the start.
-o-
When Alice turned twenty-one she decided to punish them - specifically Duo who teased her mercilessly for being so young - by having her birthday at a roller skating rink.
Hilde and Alice, as it turned out, had actually been speed skaters in their high school days and the two girls seemed to be having a blast while the rest of them struggled along.
Trowa hadn't been skating since he was in middle school and the feeling of the heavy, awkward skates on his feet was enough to bring back bad memories.
"This is torture," Duo shouted to him over the music as they slowly made their way around the wooden floor.
"You shouldn't have teased her so much," Trowa shouted back. "I'm the youngest anyway."
"No kidding," Duo responded and then cursed as a kid half his size barreled into him, sending them both sprawling to the floor.
Trowa helped him up and Duo gave him a sheepish look.
"Thanks," he said.
"Anytime."
Kurt and Mags skated by, hand in hand, smiling at each other delightedly. They weren't as proficient as Hilde and Alice, but they weren't the disaster that Duo and Trowa were either.
"You know, this is the perfect excuse to hold hands in public," Duo said.
Trowa looked around at all of the teenaged kids and couldn't help but remember the last time he had tried to hold hands with a boy while skating.
"No," he said. "No need to give Hilde more ammunition to tease me with."
"Fair enough," Duo agreed with a shrug. "I think I'm going to slowly make my way over to the arcade. I might not be able to skate, but I can sure as hell dominate kids on Street Fighter."
Trowa watched Duo skate off, smiling slightly at the awkward shuffle of Duo's feet on the floor.
"Heya!" Hilde greeted him and came to an elegant, twirling stop in front of him.
Trowa had to roll his eyes at her.
"You love this, don't you?"
"Absolutely!" Hilde agreed with a broad smile.
"I hope you know how evil you are," Trowa muttered.
"Come on," Hilde said and looped one of her arms through his.
She expertly guided him around the rink a few times and then steered them off to one of the dark corners that Trowa had seen a few kids using to make out earlier.
"So..." Hilde sat down and looked at him expectantly.
Trowa gingerly sat down beside her.
"Yes?"
Hilde shrugged.
"I figure we're at a skating rink - you might as well pretend you're back in middle school and ask me for advice."
Trowa rolled his eyes.
"What do I need advice on now?"
"Duo, obviously."
Trowa frowned.
"I don't - "
"Oh come on! You two still aren't dating! It's been months and months and months and -"
Trowa stared at her blankly.
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about the fact that the two of you can't keep your eyes off each other and that you keep flirting like crazy but you still aren't dating!"
"Hilde, Duo and I have been together since Thanksgiving."
She stared at him for a solid minute.
"And Duo hasn't said anything to me this whole time?"
"No?"
Hilde crossed her arms, looking petulant and thoughtful at the same time.
"So you two have been together since November, but you aren't like a couple?"
Trowa frowned.
"I don't know what you're getting at."
"I'm getting at the fact that the two of you are acting just like you always have - like friends. Friends who flirt but friends. I thought you wanted to date him."
"We are dating, Hilde. This is Duo - and me. We aren't Kurt and Mags, we're not me and Ralph. Things are fine. Things are good."
"Uh huh." Her voice was full of disbelief.
"Look, maybe Duo didn't say anything to you because he didn't want you meddling in his life again - not after the last time. Stop trying to turn everything into some dramatic situation that you need to fix."
As soon as he said the words Trowa caught himself.
"Well, say what's really on your mind, Trowa," Hilde said, a small, bitter smile on her face.
Trowa sighed.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be so harsh, but honestly - Hilde - we're good. We aren't going to slow dance in public or hold hands or anything but -"
Trowa frowned, thinking about Duo's suggestion that they hold hands while they skated.
"Okay, it's fine. You're right," Hilde agreed. "I just think it's weird that none of us even knew the two of you were together."
"I'm sorry Duo didn't tell you," Trowa said.
"Yeah, me too but it's not like you said anything either."
"What I'm supposed to make some big announcement or something? Hilde, this isn't some romantic comedy, it's real life."
Hilde sighed and shrugged.
"Fine. Fine. You're right. Besides, it's none of my business."
She stood up and skated off, leaving Trowa alone.
It took him almost fifteen minutes to make his way back to the others, all gathered around an air hockey table where Duo and a nine year old were engaged in a fierce game.
Trowa was able to watch as Duo lost the game by one point and made a dramatic gesture as he accepted the taunts from the kid.
"Can we please finally get out of here, now that my humiliation is complete?" Duo asked Alice.
She rolled her eyes.
"Fine. Sure. Let's go get drunk at the Brewery - I expect all of you to buy me enough shots that I don't even remember my name tomorrow."
When they got to the Brewery they were able to snag their usual booth at the back. It was a slow night at the bar so Carl came over and did a round of shots with them to celebrate Alice's birthday.
"And don't forget," Carl said as he came back with a second round and deposited the shot glasses in front of everyone, " Valentine's Day is just around the corner. Drinks are half-priced for all you single people," he said and gave Duo a meaningful look.
Duo snorted and rolled his eyes.
"Good - maybe you can finally find a decent guy to hook up with!"
Carl smiled and shrugged.
"I keep hoping," he said. "Happy birthday again, Alice!"
He kissed her on the cheek and then went back to the bar.
"Here's to our baby finally growing up!" Duo saluted Alice.
She glared at him but downed the shot along with everyone else.
"I completely forgot about Valentine's Day," Hilde mused, giving Duo a significant look.
"Me too," Alice said, her voice a wistful sigh. "Half price drinking sounds like fun, though - Hilde, want to hang out with me that night?"
Hilde smiled at her.
"Sure. Us two single ladies are sure to have the single guys falling all over themselves to buy us drinks. Duo, want to join us?"
"No," Duo said with a scowl on his face. "You know how I feel about Valentine's Day."
Hilde rolled her eyes.
"Duo, it is not the worst day in your life."
"No, there are definitely worse days - but they only happened once. This one happens every single year."
Trowa looked over at Duo. They had never discussed their feelings on Valentine's Day, and while Trowa himself was fairly ambivalent towards the day he had had no idea that Duo felt so strongly against it.
Hilde sighed.
"Fine. What about you, Trowa? Any plans for the big day?"
He barely refrained from rolling his eyes. He refused to let her bait him into this.
"No plans. I'll probably do something productive and work on my thesis." He gave her a faint smile and she returned it, her eyes narrowed in challenge.
"And what about you two lovebirds?" Hilde asked Mags and Kurt.
"Probably stay at home, get a pizza and watch some movies - just something casual and romantic." Mags answered for them and leaned back against Kurt with a contented smile.
Trowa felt a wave of irritation. He and Duo watched movies and ate pizza - he and Duo did casual and romantic things together. Just because they didn't hold hands or cuddle in public did not mean they weren't a couple.
Things were good.
-o-
On Valentine's Day Trowa capitulated to the week of less than subtle barbs Hilde had slung his way and he decided to take Duo out on a date that night. It took twenty minutes and a great deal of lying but he managed to convince the hostess at The Melting Pot to put him down for an eight o'clock reservation, despite the fact that they were fully booked.
Trowa called Duo that afternoon between classes.
"Hey," Duo answered and Trowa could actually hear the smile in his voice.
"Hey yourself," Trowa responded. "I know you were planning on working late at the studio tonight - were you planning on coming back to the apartment for dinner or just grabbing something on your own?"
"Oh. I, uh, I hadn't really thought about it."
"Why don't you come by the apartment and we can go get something together?" Trowa suggested casually, thinking that openly inviting Duo on a Valentine's Day date would backfire and Duo would refuse because of his antipathy for the day. "Maybe around seven-thirty or so?"
"What? Oh, yeah, sure. Fine." Duo sounded distracted.
"Okay then - see you later."
Trowa hung up the phone, convinced that could have gone better.
On his way home from classes he stopped by the chocolate store a few blocks from campus. Not surprisingly it was packed with people desperate for last minute Valentine's Day gifts. Trowa waited in line, sneaking a peek at the counter every minutes to make sure that the Cayenne Pepper Ganaches that Duo liked weren't sold out.
After nearly forty-five minutes he was finally able to collect a box of the Ganaches and he made his way back to the apartment with just enough time to shower, shave and change before seven-thirty.
At eight there was no sign of Duo and Trowa called him.
"Hey," Duo answered after the fifth ring.
"Hey - are you still stopping by for dinner?"
"Oh - yeah, I'm sorry. I got caught up here and didn't even think about it. You know - I'm not even hungry and I'm kind of in the flow on this piece. I'll just see you later?"
"Okay. Sure."
Trowa hung up and glared at the wall.
A few minutes later his phone rang and he answered it, cautious at the sight of an unfamiliar number.
It was The Melting Pot, and the hostess gave him an earful for wasting her time and taking away a table from a couple who actually wanted to celebrate their love for each other. Her tirade went on for long enough that Trowa began to wonder if other customers were listening in from her side and when her voice started to choke up with tears he hung up. It was clear that she, like Trowa, was not having a good Valentine's Day.
He stripped out of his nice clothes and pulled on sweatpants and a t-shirt before making himself a grilled cheese sandwich.
He spent the next few hours parked in front of the xbox, playing Fuzion Frenzy and happily destroying all of the old high scores that he and Duo had set together.
It was after midnight when Duo finally came home, and by that time Trowa's frustration at being stood up had crystallized into anger.
"You're still up," Duo greeted him.
Trowa arched an eyebrow at him.
"I wasn't tired."
Duo nodded. He glanced towards the television and spotted the golden box of chocolates on the coffee table.
Trowa followed his gaze.
"Happy Valentine's Day," he said and tossed the box to Duo.
Duo caught the box awkwardly and watched as Trowa turned off the television and xbox.
"Night," Trowa said and left him alone in the dark.
He was angry at Duo and himself but he couldn't find the right words to express himself and he would just as soon not fight. Now that Duo was home, everything Trowa had wanted to say to him seemed to just leave his brain.
"Wait," Duo followed Trowa to his bedroom when Trowa didn't stop.
Trowa squinted against the lights when Duo turned them on.
"I'm sorry - Trowa, I'm sorry, okay?"
He turned to see Duo standing in the doorway, still holding the chocolates and an uncertain expression on his face.
"I made reservations for us, for a date tonight," Trowa told him.
Duo frowned.
"I didn't know - you said you didn't have any plans before and -"
"And I called and asked you if you wanted to get dinner tonight," Trowa reminded him.
Duo scratched at the back of his neck.
"I'm sorry. It didn't sound like it was - I didn't realize you -" Duo caught himself and sighed. "I just thought you wanted to fool around and grab a pizza or something and I didn't - I mean I just -I'm sorry. I screwed up." Duo rarely struggled this much with figuring out what to say and it made Trowa wonder what he wasn't saying.
"I didn't want to grab a pizza - I made reservations at the Melting Pot," Trowa said, unable to keep the irritation out of his voice.
Duo stared at him for a moment and then he started to smile, his lips curving upwards at the corners just slightly.
"You made reservations for us at the Melting Pot?"
"Yes - and I had to spend twenty minutes begging the hostess for a table and then another twenty minutes listening to her yell at me for missing the reservation."
Duo was now smiling openly and it was that contented smile that Trowa liked best.
"You wanted to take me out on a date for Valentine's Day to the Melting Pot."
Trowa rolled his eyes.
"Yes - that's what I said. It's what I've -"
Duo kissed him.
Trowa's anger, frustration and irritation seemed to slip away as Duo's mouth and tongue caressed him. None of that seemed to matter as Duo's skin met his own and the same electric friction Trowa always felt between them traveled across his body. Soon, Trowa was past the point of caring about anything but more contact with Duo, more skin and more heat and when it was over and they were both naked, sweaty and tangled together in Trowa's bed, none of it mattered at all.
"Thank you," Duo said to him and kissed him again.
"You're welcome? And I'm pretty sure it's me who should be thanking you," Trowa responded.
Duo's mouth twitched upwards briefly.
"I meant thank you for wanting to go out for Valentine's Day," Duo clarified.
"Well, I'm not going to thank you for standing me up," Trowa muttered but he kissed Duo again.
"I'll let you sleep - I know you've got that test in the morning," Duo said and started to ease out of the bed.
Trowa rolled over onto his side and watched Duo start to dress.
"You could stay," Trowa pointed out.
Duo pulled on his boxers.
"No, I don't want to bother you."
"I've shared a bed before, it's not going to bother me to sleep with you."
Duo shook his head.
"I'd probably keep you awake and I wanted to go over my Art History notes."
He collected the rest of his clothes and left the room.
As Trowa settled back against his pillows he finally had to admit the truth to himself.
Things weren't fine.
-o-
Trowa was smart. He was well-read and eloquent. He could easily and succinctly debate on most topics and win. His research papers were consistently the best in his classes and his professors routinely complimented him for his in-class discussions. Trowa could communicate ideas and facts and he could argue almost any viewpoint.
But he couldn't talk to Duo about their relationship. Trowa had never been good about talking - not when things involved him.
History was easy - it was already done with, it was over and while Trowa could tease out the meaning behind events, it sill, in the grand scheme of things, didn't matter. But Duo mattered and being with him wasn't just a timeline of dates to memorize.
By the time Trowa's birthday rolled around in March things had become noticeably strained between them.
The sex was still good - it was great, even. It felt like the only time things were right between them, and Trowa found himself almost desperate to get Duo into bed.
They spoke less though. For the entire time that Trowa had known Duo they had been able to sit down and argue with each other for hours about the most eclectic subjects, but these days Duo would just shrug, smile, and say that Trowa was probably right.
Duo smiled less, and even after sex Trowa rarely saw his contented smile anymore. He also started to spend more time at the Brewery alone and whenever they all went out together as a group Duo seemed to divide his time between drinking with them and laughing with Carl at the bar.
On the Wednesday before Trowa's birthday Duo asked him what he wanted to do. They were in the shower together that morning and as much as Trowa enjoyed the feeling of Duo's slick, naked body in close quarters with his own he found his mind drifting.
"I know it's your twenty-first birthday and it's on a Friday so I'm guessing you're going to want to get really, really drunk," Duo said. "Did you want to go anywhere special or...?"
Trowa couldn't help but remember last year, when Ralph had shown up before his morning classes, barged into the apartment and packed a backpack with Trowa's clothes and then kidnapped him to spend the weekend skiing before the snow melted for the year.
He hated himself for even thinking about comparing Ralph to Duo. But now he had, and started to remember how good it had felt waking up next to Ralph or the familiar, warm weight of Ralph's arm over the back of whatever chair Trowa was sitting in. Even the casual way that Ralph used to kiss him hello or goodbye in front of other people made Trowa feel an acute sense of something missing in his relationship with Duo.
"You could always try to get revenge on Alice for her crap birthday party and drag everyone to Chuck E Cheeses," Duo suggested when Trowa didn't say anything. "Or... we could try going to the Melting Pot again? I promise not to stand you up this time."
Trowa had to smile at that. For the past few weeks, every time they made any kind of plans, Duo invariably promised not to stand him up again.
"That sounds nice. I think Kurt and Mags were saying they wanted to try it out. It's kind of expensive but -"
"Oh, yeah. I guess they'd like it and Hilde and Alice are fans of stabbing raw meat with long pointy forks so I'm sure they'd be interested." Duo shrugged. "And don't worry about the cost." He winked. "Consider it Gemma's treat."
Trowa watched Duo's mouth tighten after he had said the name of his dead grandmother and Trowa kissed him.
"Just imagine how horrified she would be if she knew what we were doing together right now," Trowa told him, trying to tease Duo back into levity.
Duo winced.
"Well that mental image is going to put me off shower sex for a while."
-o-
Dinner at the Melting Pot had been a great idea. Despite the battles over which color fork someone had been using or who got the last mushroom cap, it was delicious and everyone had a great time. Maybe it was the vast quantity of wine Trowa had consumed, but looking around at his friends over the desert course filled him with nostalgia. He knew this would be one of those nights he looked back on, in the years to come, and fondly remember 'the good old days.' He wondered what it would be like this time next year - everyone would have their plans for post-college in place and be thinking about the future. Even in six months everyone would be so focused on their thesis and capstone projects that nights like this would be few and far between.
By the time they finished their three hour meal everyone was stuffed and well on their way to being drunk, but Hilde insisted they go the Brewery for the sake of tradition and buy Trowa shots.
When they arrived at the bar Duo insisted on getting the first round of shots and headed straight for the bar and Carl.
Kurt, Mags and Alice snagged the open pool table and Trowa couldn't decide whether to join them or Duo.
Hilde walked up and knocked her shoulder against his.
"So, how are those intimacy issues coming along?" Hilde asked casually.
Trowa arched an eyebrow at her.
"Oh come on, I've known him just as long as you have - don't tell me he's magically transformed into a relationship genius and there are zero problems right now."
Sometimes Trowa really hated Hilde's uncanny ability to know exactly what was going on with Duo.
"You know what I think would be the worst thing about dating your best friend?" She continued, clearly feeling that Trowa didn't need to verbally participate in the conversation. "Who are you going to talk to about your relationship problems? You can't talk to your best friend - since he's part of the relationship - so you're basically on your own, trying to figure things out, praying you don't screw up the best thing that's ever happened to you."
Trowa rolled his eyes.
"And you think I should talk to you?" He suggested.
"Well, yeah. I know Duo better than anyone - not to mention I've got a vested interest in seeing him happy. Which means that I want you to be happy, since he seems to think that's important. And... aside from being an idiot, you're a good guy."
"Thanks," he muttered.
"But I'm serious. I know Duo and I know he's got a freight train of emotional baggage."
Trowa sighed.
"He doesn't sleep with me," he finally admitted.
Hilde looked at him in confusion.
"Dude, the two of you screw like bunnies - what are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about sleeping - the actual act of closing your eyes and going to sleep."
"Oh. Ohhh."
"He says he doesn't want to bother me. I don't even know what that means - but if I try to sleep in his bed he doesn't stay either, and then I just feel like the asshole who kicked him out of his own bed."
"Well -"
"And he always let's me win when we argue. It's not like we fight often or anything - but he always just... gives up and agrees with me."
"He's got abandonment issues. Hardcore issues of abandonment- it's not just that his mother and Gemma died, but his father and brother disowned him. Half his family died on him and the other half chose to abandon him. So, of course he's going to let you win all the fights. He doesn't want to give you a reason to leave him."
Trowa shook his head.
"You're forgetting the fact that his mother chose to die," he muttered.
"Which makes it even worse. He cares about you, a lot, and he's wanted to be with you for years."
"But this doesn't even - it doesn't even feel like a relationship anymore. It's just..."
"Roomates with benefits?" Hilde supplied, giving him a knowing look.
"He's finally talking to you about us, isn't he?" Trowa guessed.
Hilde crossed her arms.
"Not really, actually. He admitted that the two of you were together, but he doesn't ever talk to me about it... which is weird, Trowa."
He still didn't understand the inner workings of Duo and Hilde's relationship, but Trowa remembered Hilde telling him that Duo told her everything. So if Duo wasn't talking to her about him, then what did that mean?
Duo was still at the bar, chatting away with Carl while the bartender seemed to take his sweet time pouring the shots.
"Have you talked to him about it?" Hilde asked, drawing Trowa's attention away from Carl.
"No," Trowa admitted. "I don't even know what to say. It's not - he's not - I could talk to Ralph. He was easy to figure out, once I really knew him and Duo isn't. I've known him for three years and I still don't know what he's thinking, most of the time. What if he likes the way things are? What if all he wants is roommates with benefits?"
Hilde frowned.
"Well, if that is all he wants, isn't it better to know? And do you really think that he's happy right now? With the way things are?"
Her question reminded Trowa of that summer years ago when Catharine had confronted him about secretly dating Quatre. It also reminded him of the way Quatre had looked, towards the end of the summer and the way that he had seemed sad and distant, despite everything, and that Trowa had been helpless to do anything.
It was exactly how he felt now. He knew Duo wasn't happy. He wasn't as depressed as he had been last year after Gemma died, but he was distant and sad.
"I'm not good at this," Trowa muttered, speaking more to himself than Hilde.
"Not good at what?" She prompted him.
Duo finally walked away from the bar, carrying the shot glasses on a small tray, a strange expression on his face.
"Not good at anything that doesn't involve books," Trowa answered her.
"Or sex," she said and shrugged when he looked at her. "The only thing Duo has told me about you two is that the sex is great. So you must be good at that, too," she said and walked past him to join the others at the pool table.
"Hey," Duo greeted him as he approached. "Ready to get shit faced?"
Trowa saw Carl looking at them, a frown on his face. Carl saw Trowa looking and seemed to shake himself before he turned away.
"Is Carl okay?" Trowa asked.
"Yeah, he's good," Duo said. "Just, you know, Carl." He handed Trowa one of the shot glasses. "Now quit stalling and start drinking."
-o-
The next morning Trowa woke up and felt unbelievably good.
His mouth was dry and he was hungry, but considering the amount of alcohol he had consumed last night, Trowa didn't understand how he was conscious, much less waking up without a hangover.
He rolled out of bed, amazed when the room remained stationary. Maybe he had imagined emptying a bottle of tequila with Hilde last night?
He pulled on a t-shirt and sweatpants before going into the bathroom to brush his teeth and relieve his very full bladder - that part, at least, seemed to indicate that he had had a lot to drink last night.
Duo was in the kitchen, and from the smell of things he was making French toast using the recipe that Catharine had given him over Christmas.
"Morning champ," Duo greeted him with a smile. "How do you feel?"
"Weirdly good," Trowa responded. He hoisted himself up onto the counter across from the stove and watched Duo move about the kitchen with ease. It was a stark contrast to last year. When they had first moved into the apartment Duo's culinary skills hadn't extended past boiling water to make macaroni and cheese.
"Good, I didn't want you to suffer through the whole day with a hangover."
Trowa had to arch an eyebrow at that, and then he thought back to last night.
"That's why you kept making me drink water after every shot."
"Yeah - and the charcoal pill probably helped too. No offense, buddy, but you are miserable company when you have a hangover and I didn't think you'd want to spend your first day as a legal alcoholic like that."
"I appreciate it," Trowa said.
He accepted the plate Duo handed him, piled with delicious looking just-burnt-enough French toast.
"So what was up with Carl last night?" Trowa asked after taking a few bites and savoring the food.
Duo, leaning back against the fridge while he ate his own toast, looked up in confusion.
"Whaddya mean?"
"I mean he kept giving you weird looks all night. Did you two get into a fight at yoga class or something?"
Duo laughed nervously.
"Nah, our yogacharya is pretty strict about no fighting at yoga class," Duo tried to joke.
Trowa was positive there was something Duo wasn't telling him.
"So then what?" He persisted.
Duo sighed and set down his plate.
"It's nothing. He just - look, it's nothing. He's just being Carl."
Trowa held his gaze.
"He asked me out, okay?" Duo finally admitted. "Last night he asked me out."
"What did you say?" Trowa asked.
Duo stared at him, mouth open.
"What do you think I said? I told him I wasn't available. Because I'm not, right?"
There was a strange tone to Duo's voice. Trowa set his plate down.
"Do you want to date him?"
"Do I want to date Carl?"
Trowa shrugged.
"Why the hell would I want to date Carl? All I want is -" Duo stopped himself and shook his head. His eyes searched Trowa's face. "It doesn't matter, anyway, does it? I've already fucked this up. Just - look, we don't have to do this thing where we pick a fight. We can end this without doing that, okay?"
"You want to end this?" Trowa felt as though he had been sucker punched.
"I mean - whatever this is - it's not working, is it? It's not what you want. I'm not what you want and -"
"Duo, what the hell are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about this - about us and this thing we're doing together! This isn't - is this what you want? I know I'm not Ralph or - fuck I know I'm not Quatre but - Jesus, I can't even do this part without fucking it up."
Trowa got down from the counter.
It was strange, but Duo's frustration and panic suddenly made it easier for Trowa to think about the situation and decide what, finally, to say.
"You're right," he agreed. "This isn't working. It's not what I want and I don't think it's what you want either. But I don't want to end it. I want to talk about it. We never talk anymore," he continued. "You run away all the time and I can never think of the right words and we just... stopped talking."
Duo ran a hand through his hair.
"Yeah, well, I don't know what you want me to say. I don't know what you want me to do or be - I just don't know and it's just... it's easier to keep my mind on other things."
"I want you to be you," Trowa said, "but I want you to be happy. You aren't happy."
"Well maybe I don't want to be me," Duo said, his voice bitter.
"I don't understand."
"I'm not happy - I don't want to be your roommate that you have sex with all the time. I don't want to be your long-term one night stand. I want more than just sex and Halo, okay?"
The sense of equilibrium Trowa had felt only a moment before vanished.
"So do I," he said.
Duo nodded.
"Of course you do. So that's what I'm saying... go and find someone you want to be with."
"Duo, I want to be with you."
He snorted.
"No, you don't. It's easy, I guess - because I live here and the sex is really good - but you don't want to date me. The one time you did think about going out with me I ruined it and I get it. I'm not the guy you date."
"You're the one who won't sleep in my bed! You won't even tell your best friend that we're together."
"I didn't say anything to Hilde because I'm tired of having to tell her that she's always right!"
"What do you mean?"
Duo sighed.
"She told me this would never work out and that I would never be that guy for you."
"When did she say this? And what do you mean that guy?"
"Remember when I taught you how to waltz? Then - it was after that. Because I'm never going to be that guy that you learn how to waltz for. I'm not going to be the guy that you brave your fear of spiders to go camping with or the guy that you kiss in public or the guy that you call your boyfriend. I'm not that guy. I'm - I'm Mr. One Night Stand Man, right? I get it. I'm good for sex and hanging out and - hell, I can even teach you how to waltz but I'm just not the guy you want to waltz with."
"Duo - you're the guy that I take home to my family. You're the guy that I watch the entire season of Firefly with twice, even though I hate it. You're the guy that I do yoga with just so I can be with for another half hour. You're the guy that always tries to fix things that go wrong. You're also the guy who doesn't do boyfriends. You're the guy who has never, as far as I know, been in a relationship that lasted more than a few nights. You're the guy who hates Valentine's Day and you're the guy who won't even sleep in my bed."
They stared at each other for a long moment. Trowa watched the muscles in Duo's jaw working.
"What the fuck have we been doing for the last three months?" Duo muttered. He ran a hand over his face and Trowa could see that his eyes were bright with what looked like tears.
"Being idiots," Trowa answered. "We can fix this. We need to fix this."
Duo's lips twitched.
"Maybe we should make a few rules, for boyfriend togetherness or whatever?"
Trowa had to laugh at the reference to their freshmen year.
"Yeah," he agreed, "but you're not going to be the one making the rules this time."
Duo shrugged.
"I might make some amendments."
"Fine - rule one, we talk about problems."
Duo nodded.
"That goes both ways - you have to tell me when I'm doing something wrong," he said.
Trowa had to sigh at that.
"Two - you stop agreeing with me all the time. I miss arguing with you. I'm not going to get pissed off and just leave you. And I'm not always right, anyway. You're supposed to be the one who tells me when I'm wrong."
He waited for Duo to nod before continuing.
"Three - we go out, on dates. Together - just the two of us." Looking back, Trowa realized that Duo had actually been trying to ask Trowa out, just the two of them, for his birthday. First Duo had stood him up and then Trowa had more or less done the same to him.
"Four - I don't like to hold anyone's hand. I hated it whenever Ralph tried to do that and it doesn't mean I don't think of you as that guy."
"So... no touching in public?" Duo asked.
"No, it's not touching in public that bothers me, it's just holding hands."
"Okay," Duo agreed with a smile. "We're not twelve year olds at a skating rink anyway."
"I want to add one in here," Duo said. "You've got to stop thinking about Carl. At least - stop thinking I'm going to cheat on you with him."
"I -" Trowa started to protest.
"I know you look at us whenever we talk at the bar and I know you hate the fact that we do yoga together on the weekend. But I'm not interested in him. You have to believe me."
Trowa felt like an asshole.
"I never thought you would cheat on me. I just thought you would realize how much more attractive he was."
Duo rolled his eyes.
"Carl has more muscles than you. And he's a good looking guy - but he's not more attractive than you. Even if he does smell amazing. Okay?"
Trowa nodded and Duo breathed out a sigh of relief.
"Okay. We can do this."
"One more, you have to tell me why you won't sleep with me," Trowa added.
Duo sighed.
"It's not - I don't want to -"
"Don't give me the crap about not wanting to bother me," Trowa interrupted. "We just agreed to talk about our problems. This is a problem. Do I snore obscenely loudly?" Trowa asked.
Ralph had never said anything to him about it.
"No, not that I've ever noticed," Duo said with a sigh. "It's not you."
"Is this a personal space thing?"
"No, I just... I don't sleep much and when I do - I just don't sleep well, okay?"
"It's not going to bother me if you toss and turn at night," Trowa said.
"I talk in my sleep and I have nightmares, okay?" Duo confessed in a rush. "Because clearly I'm not a functioning adult and even my sleep is screwed up. When I say I don't want to bother you, it isn't crap - I'm telling you the truth."
"It's not going to bother me," Trowa protested.
"It is. It sure as hell bothered my roommate at boarding school."
"Okay... if it bothers me too much we'll work something out. But you get that it's normal for a couple to sleep together, right?"
"Yeah, I get that. But I don't want you to -"
"Duo, I'm not going to leave you. I'm not just sitting back making a list of things you do wrong and waiting for the last straw before I leave you. Stop thinking that everything is going to add up to me leaving you. I'm not going to."
Duo swallowed hard.
"Everyone else has," he said, his voice a whisper. "And you - Trowa, I'm going to fuck this up. I'm going to do or say something and you're going to realize what a waste of time I am. You're going to remember how much you hated me that first semester of college and you're going to wonder why you were ever stupid enough to like me in the first place."
Trowa really hoped he met Duo's brother and father one day. He didn't consider himself a violent person, but he desperately wanted the chance to punch them both in the face and tell them what assholes they were.
"First off, I'm not stupid. I'm a genius, so stop questioning my intellect. Second - you are not a waste of time. You're an amazing person and I wish - I wish you could see yourself the way that I see you or Hilde sees you - or your professors or even Kurt, Mags and Alice. Hell - even Carl appreciates you more than you do. Even Ralph," Trowa added, "even Ralph knew how amazing you are. You have nightmares and terrible taste in television. So what? You're still Duo. And that's a good thing."
-o-
Midterms were only two weeks after Trowa's birthday and everyone agreed to one last night of drinking a week before midterms began and they all locked themselves away to study and write papers.
They met up at the Brewery and Trowa forced himself not to look at Duo as he ordered drinks from Carl at the bar. Which meant his gaze landed on Hilde. She smirked at him.
"What?" He asked.
"Nothing," she said and took a sip from the beer in front of her. "Just, you know, happy to be here... with my friends... celebrating the upcoming nightmare of midterms...thinking about all the good things in life..."
Trowa rolled his eyes.
"So he talked to you," he guessed.
She nodded happily and Trowa actually felt relieved. As much as he resented the fact that Hilde had told Duo that Trowa would never think of him as that guy, it had been a year ago and, at the time, Trowa hadn't thought of Duo as that guy. Hilde wanted the best for Duo - and if she was happy now, then it was a good sign.
"Here ya go," Duo slid into the booth beside Trowa and passed him a beer. They had been on a Red Stripe kick lately, but Carl always served the beers with slices of lime, which Duo hated. He passed the green wedge over to Trowa with a grimace.
"Okay, here's to not sleeping for the next two weeks," Duo said and raised his bottle.
Everyone else joined in the toast.
"So I was thinking, when we do make it past midterms," Mags said. "We should do something together for Spring Break this year. To celebrate."
"We aren't having another Hilde Disaster Party at my apartment," Duo muttered.
"It was not a disaster party," Hilde protested.
"I was thinking more like renting a beach house together - down at South Port."
Alice made an approving noise.
"A week at the beach... drinking way too much, getting sun and going for midnight walks in the sand? Count me in!"
Hilde smiled at her enthusiasm.
"Me too, actually. I haven't been to the beach since Duo and I went to Cancun."
Trowa looked over at Duo, who shrugged.
"Could be fun," Duo said.
"The water is going to be cold this early in the year," Trowa felt the need to point out.
Duo snorted.
"You're the guy who spent his summers in the Hamptons - this will feel like boiling lava compared to those frigid Yankee beaches."
Trowa was about to make a retort about Duo's California heritage but Mags interrupted.
"Great," she said and pulled out a folded piece of paper. "I've already rented the house."
"Thanks for asking," Duo muttered but smiled when Mags glared at him.
"As if anyone could say no to her," Kurt pointed out.
"Fair enough," Hilde said. "Either you're hopelessly in love with her," she gave Kurt a pointed look as she cleared her throat, "or you're terrified that she's been spending too much time research medieval torture devices and might decide to try them out on you."
Mags rolled her eyes.
"Anyway, it's a great place - right on the beach. It has two screened in porches, an awesome kitchen so Trowa can make us all something delicious, and three bedrooms. The master - which Kurt and I are taking, and then there's a room with bunk beds and another with a king sized bed." She looked over at Hilde. "Do you think you'll be bringing anyone along or do you mind sharing a bed with Alice?"
Hilde shrugged.
"If I bring anyone along he can sleep on the couch." She bumped shoulders with Alice. "I don't mind shacking up with my girl here."
"Great, so you boys can take the bunk beds," Mags turned to Duo and Trowa.
"Actually," Trowa started to say.
"I think we'd prefer the room with the king sized bed," Duo finished.
"Duo's afraid of heights," Trowa added when Kurt, Mags and Alice gave them questioning looks. "That's why we never bunked our beds when we lived on campus. Even though we would have had a lot more room if we did."
Duo rolled his eyes.
"You're never going to let that go, are you?"
Trowa shrugged and took a sip of his beer.
"But aside from my problem with heights, don't you think the sex will be better on a king sized bed than a bunk bed?"
Trowa nodded in agreement.
"Absolutely."
Duo grinned at him.
Trowa saw Kurt slowly shake his head and then pass Alice a twenty dollar bill.
"I knew it," Mags said triumphantly.
"So did I," Alice said and snapped the bill in Kurt's direction. "You two have totally been hooking up all semester, haven't you?"
Mags shook her head.
"No way - they only started acting like a couple after Trowa's birthday party. I'll bet Duo confessed his undying love to you for your birthday present, didn't he?"
"No," Kurt said, a pensive expression on his face, "they probably started this back around Valentine's Day - remember how they both said they weren't going to do anything and were so casual about it?"
"Or," Hilde, who knew the truth, jumped in, "maybe they've been secretly hooking up since freshmen year and just now blew their cover."
Duo gave Trowa a pained look.
"I'm thinking this might be the reason why we never said anything to them," Duo muttered.
-o-
For perhaps the first time in his academic life, Trowa did not become a zombie during midterms. Trowa had no doubt that it was Duo's influence that kept him sane. Duo visited him at the library and stayed up late studying and writing papers with him every night of midterm week.
Of course, the fact that the weeks leading up to midterms had been filled with some of the best sex of his life didn't hurt either.
It was Duo who first came up with Study Sex a few weeks into the semester.
One night in February Duo came into Trowa's room, completely naked and carrying a stack of index cards that he tossed to Trowa.
"Quiz me," Duo instructed as he climbed into bed and started to kiss Trowa.
"That's a little distracting," Trowa moaned as Duo nibbled on his ear.
He could feel Duo smile.
"Good thing you aren't the one who needs to memorize these, then."
So Trowa spent the next two hours quizzing Duo on the names, dates and current locations of paintings from the Baroque era. In that same time Trowa had four orgasms and decided that he would try Study Sex out next.
Three weeks later, when Trowa needed to review for an upcoming test in his Twentieth Century American Political History course, he gave Duo notecards and proceeded to torture him for two hours.
The end result was that Trowa aced his test. The downside was that taking the test was uncomfortable as hell. When Trowa tried to remember key figures and dates he did so, easily, but he also remembered Duo, naked and straining under him.
Trowa would forever associate Eugene Debs with Duo's collarbone. Alice Paul made Trowa think about Duo's thighs. Theda Skocpol tasted like Duo's mouthwash. The New Deal felt like the thick, heavy length of Duo's cock. Sidney Hillman was the tight, hot sensation of entering Duo. Eleanor Roosevelt was the feeling of orgasm, buried deep inside Duo. And Joseph McCarthy would always, always make Trowa think about the way Duo's cum tasted.
Study Sex made studying for midterms far less painful and when Trowa turned in his last paper on the Friday before Spring Break he felt good. It didn't feel as though his brain was empty or his soul drained - he felt accomplished and relaxed.
Duo was already back at the apartment when Trowa arrived that afternoon.
"Hey," Duo greeted him with a kiss before sitting down in front of the xbox and starting to pack it up for the trip to the beach. "Get everything turned in?"
"Yeah, and for once I don't feel drained of purpose or hope."
Duo smiled at him.
"Study Sex - I need to patent that or something. It totally helped you relax and study, didn't it?"
Trowa shrugged.
"Yeah, except I kept visualizing your cock as I wrote my paper on Alexander Hamilton."
Duo smirked.
"Don't kid yourself, you would have done that anyway."
"Probably," Trowa agreed. "Don't forget to pack Halo - it's been too long since we crushed Kurt and Hilde. Their egos need to be taken down a peg or two."
"I dunno, it sounds like Mags is planning on imprisoning you in the kitchen and making you cook all week. You'll be lucky to even see the sun, let alone Halo."
"As if I need to actually look at the game to destroy those noobs," Trowa said with a disdainful snort.
"God, I love you," Duo said, his voice a happy sigh.
He froze almost instantly though and he regarded Trowa warily.
"What's not to love?" Trowa tried to joke. He hated when Duo retreated like this. Duo was bold and at times appeared to be afraid of absolutely nothing; but at other times he seemed to think that one wrong move would end the world.
"I'm the absolute best Halo player you'll ever meet. I'm a genius. I know more about the Revolutionary War than any sane person should."
Duo started to relax.
"Not to mention," Trowa added and ducked down to kiss Duo. "I love you too."
-o-
End of Part I
TBC in Part II