Author's Note: Sorry all for the slightly lengthy lapse of time. I've been trying to get a new job, while at the same time rolling out a major system add on where I am the main port of contact for about 200 people. My writing time, which happens to be at work, hasn't really been in existence.
On the bright side, part of the reason for not posting is that I was on a roll, obviously if I mention to a fellow author I am stuck, I immediately get unstuck and write several chapters. The only problem is that they have to be edited, which I hate doing.
This chapter has been the bane of my existence for a while now. It went back and forth between my beta and myself a few times and I couldn't get it to where I wanted it to be, so I decided to scrap almost everything but two conversations. I like the conversations.
Warnings: Nothing really.
Disclaimer: GW isn't mine. Though I would like pilots one and two.
Chapter 14 – Nothing Special
Monday morning heralds the official beginning of the new school year and the end to my ability to have the world rotate around my relationship with Trowa. I startle in Trowa's arms, and we both grumble at the sound of the alarm. As we untangle our limbs, I get tangled up in the sheets and unceremoniously fall out of bed in the process. He begins chuckling to himself, and I glare back at him, mumbling something about him stealing all my grace, which only causes him to laugh at me more.
With a great force of will, I free myself of the sheets, get up, and go to change into my running gear. A feat which, as I have found out since I started dating Trowa, turns out to be a major challenge since we can't seem to keep our hands off of each other. Not that I am complaining, mind you, it just is not all that helpful when you are trying to get outside for a run. Running shorts are comfortable and all, but they don't exactly leave a lot to the imagination. Luckily for us, we manage to get changed and outside before Heero and Duo show up a minute or two later.
Wufei and Zechs both nod at Trowa and I, and Zechs motions for us to take a seat on the ground next to him. I take the space on the ground right next to the blonde prince, and he gives me a smug smile as if he knows something. What that something is, I choose not to think about and return his 'knowing look' with a questioning one. I barely hear a deep rumble of a chuckle emanate from him, and I give him a nasty look and say something crude about his royal heritage. Luckily for us, or maybe everyone around us, I don't know right now since I'm still not fully awake, Duo bounds up to the four of us and draws all attention off of me and on to him. My best friend sits down (more like wedges himself) between Prince Charming and myself, which causes Wufei to mutter something slightly out of character about leaving his boyfriend alone and inches closer to Zechs.
My brow furls at Wufei's reaction and I look past Duo to Zechs. "So what was that look for?" The smitten son of a bitch just winks at me and proceeds to ignore the fact that I just asked him a question. Heero seems to just appear behind Duo, and in a swift motion he grabs his fiancé under the armpits and drags him back a few feet, so he is no longer between Zechs and myself. I look at Trowa, who just shrugs and brings his body flush with his legs in a stretch. I look around at my friends, who all seem way too alert this morning, and grumble something about wanting to be back in bed, asleep.
I allow myself to regret not still being in bed curled up with my boyfriend until Trowa elbows me in my side and whispers, "Stop thinking."
I bounce to my feet, stick my tongue out at him. "I wasn't thinking, just realizing that I don't want to stretch any more." For some reason, I feel like I am in the twilight zone and I've shown up to run naked. Shaking off the feeling, I reach for Trowa and Duo's hands and pull them up onto their feet and tug them away from those left on the ground. Zechs stands up and adjusts his knee brace, while Wufei watches him with a possessive look in his eyes. I just shake my head and start jogging away.
Heero and Duo stand up last, and we begin running. Heero and Duo run to the front and skip the usual, warming up pace, in favor of a more grueling one, a pace that could be interpreted as 'we're running like our lives depend on it.' "What the hell, you two?" I shout ahead of me as I try to find the pace. Duo cackles to the morning sun and continues running without answering me. As we all settle into the fierce cadence, Duo and Heero run in synch, chatting about something I can't quite hear, but I'm fine with that since Trowa and I are talking about what the coming week is going to look like for us. Zechs and Wufei take up the rear and seem to be in a deep conversation about some very existential topic that I only have interest in when I am stoned.
When Heero and Duo finally lead us back to the parking lot, we have run a little more than eight miles in the time it usually takes for us to run five, and we all are running topless with our shirts tucked into the back of our shorts. We walk a few laps around the parking lot to begin cooling down, and Duo trots up next to me and makes a shooing motion towards Trowa. My boyfriend smiles, laughs, and shakes his head. "Have fun." He says, before kissing me and trotting over to walk with Heero.
"So?" Duo looks at me expectantly.
"So, what?" I return the look.
"So. You have a goofy grin on your face." He crosses his arms across his bare chest.
"I do not." Then after a pause. "We did not." I add.
"Really?" He raises an eyebrow and turns so he is walking backwards and facing me.
"Yes, really."
Duo watches me for a moment without saying anything. "No, I don't suppose you did. So for a straight, how did he do?"
I feel heat spread across my neck and face. "It was nice." I say, not meeting his eyes.
"Just nice?"
I give him the 'not now' look, and he smirks and moves back to walk by my side.
I slow our pace down a tad, putting more distance between ourselves and Trowa and Heero "I like him a lot, Duo."
Out of the corner of my eye, I see his features soften and a warm smile caress his lips. "I know. Just be careful. And I know I can't tell you to not let him capture your heart, because he's already done that. All I can say is to be careful with what happens from this point forward. But I'm not really one to talk. I went from hating Heero to being so in love with him that it hurts at times." I nod. "Just make sure he's the one you want to give your heart to. It's been trampled on enough by other assholes who you thought really cared for you, but turned out to be the worst type of user fag." He stops and gives me a cheeky grin. "But on a slightly lighter note, I don't think there is any more doubt in my mind that he's queer."
"Oh, yeah? Why?"
"Because, he looks at you like he wants to devour you whole. In that way you only do when you truly want the person, not in that day-dreamy 'I want to fuck that movie star' way or in that 'you'd be a fun quick lay' way. It is the way Heero and I look at each other. And, for that matter, the way Chang and Blondie look at each other."
From behind us there is a low growl. "Maxwell." Chang warns.
"Oh come off it, Wuffie. I know you and your drop dead gorgeous partner fuck whenever you can." Duo says waving his hand dismissingly without turning around.
I, on the other hand, have to see Wufei's face and look over my shoulder in time to see Zechs grab his boyfriend's arms, pull him into a tight embrace and give him a quick, calming kiss. Before Zechs pulls his head away, I see his lips move, and his boyfriend begins to sputter. "I do not." Wufei says loudly and then attempts to shrink from sight as all eyes turn to him due to his outburst.
Duo laughs heartily and resumes our conversation just as Trowa's eyes look me over before he turns back to resume his conversation with Heero. "See it's that look."
"That's lust." I observe.
"Nah, not completely. There's something else there."
"You're such a pain in the ass."
"Only to Heero's ass, and only when we're playing really rough." He winks and trots off to his fiancé.
Monday and Tuesday fly by in an almost euphoric haze. Trowa and I go to classes, pass notes in the sociology class we both have, meet whenever we can throughout the day, and finally meet up at 'home.' We spend the rest of the night doing homework and rewarding ourselves with heated make-out sessions which culminate in blow-jobs and mind-blowing orgasms. Really, I can't complain too much. Though, by this morning, Wednesday, the need to take him and be taken by him is steadily growing stronger, and I can't stop thinking about what making love to him is going to be like. And thinking about it isn't making the situation any better. In fact, it is making things worse, and all I want to do is uncharacteristically pound him into the mattress.
"Fuck!" I mutter as I walk back to my apartment to get ready for the ritual Wednesday night dinner. I've either got to jerk off or get head before we go, or I'm not going to make it through dinner without getting hard in the middle of the restaurant, and I would like to avoid that potentially awkward and embarrassing situation.
I bypass my apartment and make my way to his to see if he's beaten me back from classes. His door is open, and I knock as I walk in. He peeks up from the text book he is reading and smirks. I close the door as he rises, and we meet in a passionate kiss complete with grinding hips and groping hands. Clothing quickly becomes a moot point as we strip the offending garments off and we fall onto the futon, the wood groaning from the force of our impact.
We waste no time getting each other off, neither of us lasting long at all. My hypothesis is that knowing we're supposed to be somewhere else, instead of sixty-nine-ing each other, heightens the sensation for both of us. Sometimes time constraints can be fun. After righting ourselves on the couch, Trowa gets up and stretches in all his naked glory. Allah, I don't think I'll ever get tired of watching him do that. "Hey," he says as he finishes the stretch.
"Hi." I grin, stand up, and pull him close. "That was fun."
He kisses me. "It was." The corner of his mouth turns up in wicked little smile.
"Hold that thought for after dinner." I push away from him.
Trowa smirks. "I can't promise that it'll wait until after dinner, but I'll try." This time he pulls me close and kisses me with an intensity that goes straight to my groin.
With a protesting groan, I place my hands on his chest and push gently. "Get dressed. We need get going." He steps back until his hands can no longer reach me, and we go looking for the location of the clothes we haphazardly tossed across the room earlier.
Quickly, we get dressed and leave, making a quick stop at my apartment to brush our teeth and make ourselves presentable. As we pull up to the restaurant, we see that Duo's Mazda, Wufei's bike, and Sally's Suburban have all beaten us here. I give Trowa a sheepish look and he leans over and kisses me. "They were going to assume we were doing something even if they hadn't beaten us." He says with a grin and gets out of the car.
As we walk towards our table, Duo bounds over to me and wraps his arm around my neck. "How ya doing Q-ball." He gives me a toothy grin, and I push him off of me.
"I'm doing fine Duo." He cocks his head to the side as if to say are you doing fine or are you doing fine. "Fuck off you perv." I say playfully and punch him squarely on the bicep.
"Oh, you wound me to the deep, Quatre." Duo mock swoons and Heero catches him by the braid and pulls him back to the table.
"What the hell did you feed him?" I ask Heero, who shrugs. Just as he sits down, he flashes me a mischievous smirk and turns his attention to the group at the table.
I, too, look around the table and notice a new face sitting next to Sally. I also notice a lack of faces. Dorothy and Relena are missing, as well as Catherine and Hilde. "Where the hell are the girls?" I ask Zechs, knowing that out of everyone, he would know.
As Sally gives me the evil eye, Zechs answers. "Well the Good Doctor is here." He motions to Sally. "My sister and Dorothy are at a meeting that they absolutely could not miss. Catherine, I believe, is working on an essay due tomorrow morning, and Hilde is picking Noin up at the airport. I don't think we'll be seeing them tonight." He says with a coy smile.
I walk around to Sally and give her a hug. "So, you going to introduce me?"
She sighs and shakes her head. "For someone who should have class oozing out of your pores, Winner, you are sometimes severely lacking in tact." She squeezes one of my hands and looks over at her date. "This is Brad. Brad this is Quatre, and the tall, quiet one is Trowa."
My jaw drops. "Brad? As in your med school rival?"
She sighs again. "There is that lack of tact again, Winner. And yes, that Brad."
I grin and lean over Sally and extend my hand to Brad. "Good to finally meet you. I'm glad you could join us tonight."
He takes my hand and shakes it firmly with a smile. "Thank you. Sally's told me all about you all, so it is nice to finally meet everyone. Well, almost everyone, as the girls are MIA" He says with a cheeky grin as Sally swats violently at his shoulder.
"Anyone want some wine?" Then she shoots a look to Duo. "None for you, Maxwell."
"Yes, mother." He says, sits down next to Heero and plays with his silverware.
"Or you, for that matter, Winner." I grumble dramatically and sit next to Duo, while Trowa takes the seat between me and Sally. Not like I actually wanted any alcohol, but it is fun to get Sally all huffy.
The rest of dinner proceeds smoothly and enjoyably. I steal a quick glance around the table and note that everyone seems to be enjoying each other's company. For the most part, Duo and Heero are in their own world. So much so, that they disappear for a bit of time between dinner and dessert. Wufei and Zechs are conversing with Sally and Brad, while Trowa and I throw our two cents in every so often. I cannot help but smile as I watch the two newcomers to the group. Both Brad and Trowa seem to have found a comfortable place in our circle, and from what I can tell, the others are more than willing to bring them into the fold.
As dinner comes to an end, Zechs reveals the plans for the weekend. The party is to be held at the Peacecraft Palace. Festivities will begin around ten in the morning on Saturday and more than likely continue into Sunday. All we have to do is bring ourselves and make sure we have things needed for staying over and swimwear if we want to relax in the jacuzzi. With that out of the way, the couples part ways and go home.
The remainder of the week goes by quickly. Trowa and I continue to spend every free hour with each other, whether it be while doing school related work or other more pleasurable activities. Still, we do not venture past oral sex. Though I'm breathless and stupid by the time he's done going down on me, I am physically satiated, but mentally, I still want more. In my moments alone, the memories of the intense love making sessions Tristan and I would have keep surfacing. And I know I want that level of intimacy with Trowa.
I'm frustrated with myself and my constantly comparing Trowa and Tristan. But it seems logical to a point, like I'm using Tristan as a scale to gauge Trowa against. But that doesn't seem all that fair either. How can a new lover possibly compare with the memory of my first love? He can't. Fuck!
I let out an overly dramatic sigh and an arm snakes around my waist. "Sleep, and stop thinking too much." Trowa mumbles sleepily.
"Huh?" I pause and look over my shoulder at him. I can barely see his silhouette from the light of the streetlamps outside. "How did you know?"
"You tensed up and then exhaled like you were thinking hard." He pulls me backwards so he is spooning me. "Go sleep. Fun day tomorrow. Need rest." He mumbles as he buries his face into my hair.
"Ok." I say softly, squeeze his hand, and settle back into his embrace.
"Good." He barely whispers and kisses the back of my head.
I fall asleep moments later to the soft rhythmic breathing of the man spooning up behind me. And it would not be the first time I think this, but things really seem to be going someplace wonderful.