A/N: Maeve suggested this idea and it was too big for the 31 Days of Smut. Duo and Relena fail a test, decide to blow off their day and drive to the beach where they encounter beach!Trowa. This also features one of the 31 Days of Smut prompts worked in, courtesy of AmberlyinViolet (I have way more than 31 prompts and this one was one of my favorites: 2x3xR with Trowa holding down Duo tickling him… and things).
A/N 2: I love reviews. I crave them. They make me smile and they make my fingers fly when I sit down to write. They introduce me to wonderful people who I become friends with and who give me all kinds of headcanons and ideas that will not go away until I sit down to write them (true story: Unexpected happened because of Luvsanime02; Entanglement because of Miss Murdered; countless one-shots from other amazing people). So, please, take the time to review.
A/N 3: I've got a bunch of ref images for this on my tumblr page "at" claraxbarton that you might want to check out.
A/N 4: Wake Forest, Duke, Davidson= great private schools in NC. Oak Island=lovely beach on the coast of NC. Davidson is about 20 minutes north of Charlotte, NC as a reference point.
A/N 5: Title from the lyrics of Peaches by In the Valley Below
Warnings: angst, smut, language
Pairings: 2x3xR
Working on a Feeling
It was small, Relena couldn't help but notice as she looked around the interior of the house, with the kitchen, living room, dining room and bedroom all occupying the open space of the house, a few doors indicating where a bathroom and closets probably were. While the floorboards underfoot looked old and warn, the walls and most of the furniture were a white that, even in the soft light from the kitchen, seemed clean and fresh.
Duo arched an eyebrow at her.
"Think it looks like the home of an axe murderer?" He asked as he pulled off his wet sweater.
Relena shook her head. She wasn't sure what the home of an axe murderer looked like but she didn't think this was it.
She followed Duo's example, taking off her wet clothes and rubbing her body dry while he sorted through the things Trowa had left for them.
"You can have the plaid," Duo suggested and passed Relena a pair of plaid flannel pajama bottoms and a plaid button up shirt that in no way matched.
"Oh, you know how I love plaid," Relena snarked but she stepped out of her underwear and gamely pulled on the pajama bottoms. They were loose, riding low on her hips and dragging the floor, but they fit.
She put on the shirt and started to button it up while Duo, already in a pair of sweatpants, pulled on a faded Princeton sweater.
"You look good in that," she said with a smirk.
Duo rolled his eyes but returned the smirk.
"I look good in everything," he said. "And you look like a kid wearing oversized grown up clothes," he said, smirk changing into a smile as Relena finished buttoning up the shirt and started to roll up the sleeves.
"That's because I am," Relena muttered. She couldn't deny a certain amount of pleasure at the feeling though, at wearing the clothes of this ridiculously good looking stranger.
"Here," Duo reached out and unbuttoned the top two buttons of the shirt.
"Duo -" Relena stepped back but he batted her hands away when she went to button it back up.
"Come on, Relena - even if you don't want to fall into bed with the guy, what's the harm in flirting a little?"
"Maybe he isn't interested? Maybe we'll just be throwing ourselves at this gorgeous guy - and who knows if he even likes girls or guys much less both!"
"Hey, I know the odds are like, legitimately never with us - but I think we should give it a shot. What's the worst that could happen?"
"I could end up pregnant and with STDs while you end up chopped up in a dumpster?"
Duo cocked his head to the side and stared at her.
"Okay, that was way too detailed to have been the first time you worried about that happening to us and also - if he doesn't have condoms then it's a no go. Deal?"
"You really expect me to agree to try to have a threesome with a total stranger?"
"Yeah?"
Relena opened her mouth to start listing even more ways this was a very, very bad idea when Trowa, followed by a rather wet Cathy, entered the house.
Cathy ran over to them, wagging her tail madly and whining until Relena leaned down to pet her.
He stared at them for a moment, frowning slightly.
"Er… is this - were we not supposed to -?" Duo tried to ask.
"No, no, it's fine. Sorry. I'm just not used to seeing other people in my clothes," Trowa shrugged.
"Not your girlfriend?" Duo asked. "Or boyfriend?" He quickly, hopefully, added.
Relena rolled her eyes at him.
"Haven't had one of those in a while," Trowa said with another shrug.
He took the bundle of wet clothes from Duo.
"I'll put these in the wash," he said and walked past them to one of the doors.
Relena gave Duo a look.
"What? I was just asking - and don't act like you aren't just as curious as I am," he whispered.
Relena was, but she also really didn't think she should be.
"He said he hadn't had one of those in a while," Duo continued. "Do you think that means - do you think he's gay or straight - or bi?" Duo added in a slightly dreamy voice that had Relena hitting him again.
"Ow! Seriously, Relena. He could be bi, this could be our chance to -"
"They should be ready to switch over in half an hour or so," Trowa spoke up.
Duo flushed and Relena rolled her eyes. He should be embarrassed. Fantasizing about hooking up with a stranger they had just met.
Though, now that he had put the idea out there, Relena couldn't help but agree that it had a certain merit to it. A certain merit that still, absolutely, did not outweigh all the possibilities for disaster. It would be much safer to just forget the whole thing.
Trowa called Cathy back to his side and put out a plate of food for her.
"Can I get you anything?" Trowa asked. "I have water, beer… I'd offer you dinner but all I have is left-over pizza. Are you hungry?"
"No," Relena said immediately, "we're fine."
Despite her assurance, her stomach growled, as though to protest her lie.
Trowa arched an eyebrow and his sensuous lips twitched.
"Are you sure?"
"I'm not," Duo said, "I love left-over pizza."
Trowa nodded and moved into the kitchen area.
With his back turned, it was Duo's turn to give Relena a look.
"C'mon, Relena," he muttered, "if the hot beach guy wants to give us pizza, let him give us pizza."
She rolled her eyes but spoke up.
"I'd like some too," she said.
Trowa turned to nod at her over his shoulder.
A few minutes later they were sitting around his small kitchen table, eating cold pizza and drinking water.
"So why did you drive down for the day? Celebrating an anniversary or something?"
"Oh, no, we aren't dating," Relena said reflexively. So many people assumed that she and Duo were either a couple or siblings. She wondered if that would be Trowa's next guess.
But Trowa just arched one of his elegant eyebrows.
"We're friends, best friends," Duo added. "Have been for years. And while I'm Relena's back-up for drunken make-out sessions and she's my back-up for cuddling, I generally prefer guys and she generally prefers guys with shorter hair - kind of like yours."
Relena turned on Duo with wide, furious eyes.
He just grinned back at her and Trowa snorted a laugh.
Relena turned her angry gaze on him.
"Sorry," Trowa held up one hand, "I just find it hard to believe that either of you has to rely on a back-up for making out or cuddling."
That… sounded suspiciously like flirtation.
"We just have high standards," Duo said, thankfully jarring Relena out of staring at Trowa.
Relena forced herself to eat the pizza and put all thoughts of Duo's insane plan out of her mind. They were just going to eat cold pizza, wait for their clothes to be clean and dry, and then make the four hour drive back to Davidson so they could go to classes the next day.
"So Princeton?" Duo asked and plucked at the sweatshirt he wore.
Trowa nodded, but didn't elaborate.
Which, now that Relena thought about it, was odd. Trowa looked their age, but he could be older. Had he already graduated? And what was he doing at the beach during the offseason? Living in this miniscule cottage on the beach?
"Did you, ah… graduate?"
"No," Trowa said neutrally.
Relena stared at him. He didn't sound ashamed, didn't sound… anything about it.
"Why not?" She found herself asking, realizing the second she did how incredibly inappropriate the question was, even without Duo giving her a look of horror.
Trowa offered her a small, bitter smile and a shrug.
"Because sometimes deviating from the life that's been planned out for you is the only way to realize you're even still alive."
The words hit Relena hard. It wasn't just the sad tone Trowa said them in, wasn't just the bitterness on his face, it was the realization that it was exactly how she felt - exactly what she had been looking for.
She found herself looking at Trowa with renewed interest while, Duo, across the table, frowned slightly at both of them.
"And you two?" Trowa asked.
"Juniors at Davidson, no plans to throw away our lives though," Duo said.
Trowa arched an eyebrow at the words and the tone but he shrugged again.
"I wouldn't say I had thrown my life away."
"Yeah - let me guess, you've got buckets of money so it's okay for you to sit around here in your little beach hut and do nothing with your life?"
Trowa looked amused by Duo's irritation, while Relena found herself wondering, not for the first time, if Duo ever resented the fact that she had money.
"I hate to ruin this narrative you're working on but no. My uncle left me the house, but I work at the island animal shelter and I get a few shifts a week stocking the grocery store."
Duo's face turned bright red and he lowered his eyes to the table.
Relena could understand his embarrassment - Duo had had a lifelong struggle foot-in-mouth disease as he called it, and she had been on hand to see it turn situations horribly wrong.
"I, uh… why would you drop out of Princeton for this?" Duo asked, despite his clear discomfort.
"Because I realized that becoming a stockbroker wasn't going to make me happy. When my uncle… when he killed himself I realized that I was going to become him - I was going to wake up in thirty years and realize that my life had ended a long, long time ago. So I dropped out of school, moved to a place I love, got a job doing something I love, and I get by. Would you like me to return the favor and make assumptions about you based on the fact that you go to Davidson and still took off in the middle of the week, probably skipping classes?"
Duo, still red faced, shook his head.
"No ah, I'm good. And I'm sorry."
There was a long, painfully awkward pause as both men stared at the pizza in front of them, mouths tight and jaws clenched.
"You know, I've never met anyway who had such a passion for stocking groceries. I admire that."
They both looked at her like she was crazy. Trowa realized first that she was making a joke, was trying to ease the tension and he smirked, just slightly, but he also sat back and relaxed in his chair.
Duo let out a breath and shook his head.
Before he could say anything else, a distant buzzer sounded.
"I should switch those over," Trowa said and got up from the table.
As soon as he was on the other side of the room, Relena kicked Duo under the table.
"Ow! Jesus, I'm sorry!"
"You're the one with all the big plans for a threesome - now look at you ruining them."
Duo arched an eyebrow.
"And look at you all interested in him now that you know he's a burnout."
She glared at Duo.
"He just put into words exactly how I'm feeling."
"So, what, you going to drop out of school and go get a job as a camp counselor and hospital janitor on the side?"
"No," Relena hissed. "It's not like that. It's - "
She cut herself off when Trowa walked back over to them and sat down, an amused expression on his face.
"If you're talking about me behind my back - which is rude since you're guests in my house - I hope it's at least something interesting."
Duo rolled his eyes.
"We weren't," Relena said. "Not really," she added, blushing, as she thought about Duo's idea once again. "And we really appreciate the food - and the chance to have dry clothes."
Duo nodded in glum agreement.
"So said earlier your day was already ruined - what happened?" Trowa asked.
"Oh you know, asshole lab partners who think you aren't good enough to wipe their asses let alone you know, work with you as a partner. That and sexist, pervert faculty," Duo added with a gesture to Relena.
Trowa frowned.
"So you... "
"Cut class and drove down to the beach? Yeah."
Trowa smiled for a second before compressing his lips and nodding.
"What?" Relena asked.
"Oh? Nothing. No judgement here," Trowa said and held up both hands.
Duo rolled his eyes.
"Just say it."
Trowa shrugged.
"It sounds a lot like what I did."
"Yeah but this is a one day thing," Duo argued.
"So was mine until it wasn't."
That gave Duo pause.
"So is this… it for you?" Relena had to ask. "Working two jobs to get by for the rest of your life?"
Trowa shrugged.
"I don't know. I'm not sure I see myself here in ten years but for the moment, this is what I want to be doing."
"You don't worry about the future?"
Trowa shrugged again.
"Like I said, I realized before that planning out my whole life and sticking to it was going to get more nowhere. At least nowhere that I wanted to be."
It was clear that Duo was still nonplussed, but his frown had softened slightly the more Trowa spoke.
"And you're… happy?" Duo asked hesitantly.
"Yes," Trowa answered, voice amused. "Besides, if I hadn't dropped out of Princeton and moved down here I never would have had the chance to meet you two."
Duo snorted and even Relena rolled her eyes at that.
Trowa stood up and moved to clear away their empty plates.
"Oh, I've got it," Duo jumped up and took the plates from Trowa's hands.
Trowa smirked and sat back down.
"Just put them in the sink, I'll take care of them later."
"Well," Duo said, "now that we've gotten the awkward insults out of the way what should we talk about?" He gave s self-deprecating smirk that had both Relena and Trowa smiling softly at him in return.
"There's always your plan to seduce me - you could go into more detail about how you see that happening," Trowa offered.
Duo's smirk fell away as his mouth opened and he stared at Trowa in horror.
"Or is that off the table now that you know I dropped out of college?"
"I, uh… look it's not like it was a plan per se so much as me just talking out of my ass and… a little help here Relena?"
She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms.
"It wasn't my idea," she felt the need to point out.
Duo huffed at her betrayal. His face was flushed again and he looked, she couldn't help but think, as adorable as he had accused her of looking earlier.
"So you're not interested?" Trowa asked, looking over at her with a raised eyebrow.
Relena felt her mouth go dry.
Trowa's green eyes seemed to be laughing at the shocked silence his question provoked.
He waited, seemingly content to have both Duo and Relena blushing and speechless.
"I wouldn't say that I'm not interested," Relena finally said. "It just seems...I don't know, like a fantasy?"
"How do you even know about it, anyway?" Duo asked.
Trowa smirked.
"That's a screen door," he said, jerking his finger towards it, "and this is a small house."
"Okay, that's fair. So I'm not the world's quietest person."
"No?"
Duo stared at Trowa, clearly trying to decide if he should be offended by the sarcastic comment.
"Look," Duo finally said. "You're - you know, all gorgeous and smirky and you've got the freckles and the confidence but Relena's right, it was just a fantasy. Just a… you know, me saying shit to try to make this day seem better."
Trowa nodded thoughtfully.
"Easier to just think of me as a fantasy when you didn't know anything about my life, wasn't it?"
"Yeah…" Duo laughed and shook his head. "Fantasy and reality don't really blend too well together."
"Too bad," Trowa said. He got up from the table and walked over the the refrigerator.
Relena watched as he pulled out a bottle of Blue Moon, opened it, and took a sip.
"I even have plenty of condoms - and lube," he added before tossing the beer cap into his trash can.
Duo stared, slack-jawed, and even Relena was flustered by the show Trowa was clearly putting on.
This guy was definitely confident and definitely willing to use their attraction towards him to his advantage.
Duo looked over at Relena and arched an eyebrow in silent question.
She lifted her shoulders. She no longer thought it was the worst idea ever - but she still didn't see how this was going to happen.
Duo nodded, as if able to understand what she was thinking.
"So we haven't ever…"
"You're virgins?" Trowa asked in disbelief.
"What? No!" Duo scoffed. "We've had sex it's just -"
"Not with each other," Trowa guessed.
"No, no, we've done that too."
They had decided, the summer before they went to college, to be each other's firsts. Duo's logic - he didn't want his first time with another person to be a drunken mess at a party, Relena's - she wanted her first time to be with someone she cared about. Over the years that had had sex a few more times - and it had always been good, always been fun, but also always something that just sort of happened when they weren't dating people.
"You've never had a threesome," Trowa concluded, finally guessing correctly.
Relena nodded.
Trowa shrugged.
"Neither have I. But I got into Princeton, and while Davidson isn't an Ivy, you two don't strike me as too lacking in intelligence. We could probably figure out what goes where."
Duo clearly wanted to take umbrage at the slight to Davidson and their intelligence, so Relena spoke up before he could.
"I'm not into anal sex," she said.
Trowa raised an eyebrow and she shrugged.
"I want to be very clear about this, if we're going to do it. It won't be me in the middle of this."
Duo raised a hand.
"I don't mind anal," he said, "that is, if you…"
"Neither do I," Trowa smirked.
Relena felt her heart thud and she was sure it was loud enough for them to hear.
Was this really about to happen?
"So, do we, ah…" Duo scratched at the back of his neck, "what happens now?"
-o-