Chapter 43: The Gallery

Une quietly assigned Duo back onto remote work and he didn't complain. She knew, without the need for a longer discussion, that he required time before getting back into the thick of things. The nice part about working in research was the freedom of schedule. He could work whatever hours of the day so long as his assignments were done on time. It was equally freeing and boring. He worked when he couldn't sleep and during the day had little to do. At some point he'd need to see Une face to face but avoidance was something he was good at.

Trowa's call to asking him to help pick out artwork for Quatre's place was a welcome excuse to get off his couch and still avoid going back to Preventers. They met in front of a fancy gallery in the middle of a work day.

Duo whistled in appreciation as they stepped into the building. The first great room was staggeringly large, with high ceilings and skylights. It was beautiful, but in his opinion a waste of space. He walked forward, spinning to see the scope of the immense gallery. "You got time for this, Tro? Could be here a while."

"Took the day off."

Duo stopped mid spin and faced Trowa as he walked backwards. "I like your style, Barton. Screw work! Break rules! There's life to live!" The remark earned him a grin.

"You may wish to walk forwards, Duo. Some of this artwork is worth millions."

Duo's face spread into a large smile and he spun back on his heels in one smooth motion. Trowa noted that while he wasn't quite as practiced as a circus performer, Duo definitely had swagger.

"We're here to find something for the study."

He saw Duo with his phone out, using the scanner to read information about the nearest work of art. Trowa recognized it as new. The last time he saw Duo's phone it had a crack in the screen. Before he could ask anything, Duo's eyes went wide. "No shit! This isn't bad or anything, but why's it worth 2.3 million?"

Trowa grinned. "Beats me. It's not really my area of expertise." He paused and gestures to the device in Duo's hand. "I thought Preventers gave your phone back?"

The way Duo's smile faltered he knew he said something wrong. But his friend swallowed whatever bad feelings the comment brought him. "They did, but it was useless. Those assholes who took it from me smashed it and every other phone they confiscated. This one's from my drawer of spares."

Without thinking Trowa asked "you have a drawer of spare phones?"

The comment made Duo beam. "Yeah. Get into as much trouble as I do, and you'd have spares, too." He continued to walk further into the gallery, his gait exaggerated and his arms swinging like a child doing his best not to be overly bored. Trowa thought that giving him a task might make the day more enjoyable, just in case he really was bored.

"My instructions were to get art that speaks to me, but I really don't know what that means. Think you can help?"

"Carte blanche? No editorial supervision from the blonde tyrant?"

Though Duo's voice was teasing the joke didn't land. Something about his demeanor rubbed Trowa the wrong way. "He's really trying, you know?"

All traces of amusement dropped from Duo's face. He responded, deadpan "That's what I keep hearing."

Trowa felt his stomach clench. Taking Duo out was supposed to be about showing him a good time, not getting into a fight. But he couldn't help himself. He felt a need to compulsively defend Quatre.

"You're not required to forgive him for anything but you should at least acknowledge the effort he's put into making things right. I've never seen him so desperate for anyone's approval as with you. And you won't even text him back."

Duo simply frowned. "I'm more concerned about him treating you right. I'm not the one who's choosing to live with him."

"I'm fine."

Standing in the middle of yet another a large room, Trowa suddenly realized that at some point they'd stopped walking. It must have been when the tone turned less than friendly. For the life of himself, he couldn't place just when or how any of it happened. The look Duo gave him didn't hide his disbelief, and it ignited a need in him to fight.

"The hell is that look for, Duo? I told you I'm fine."

Violet eyes narrowed and Duo held his ground. He seemed to be thinking something over, and when he came to a conclusion he breezily responded in a sing-song tone "okay! If you say you're fine, then you're fine." He made a flourishing gesture with one hand. "Shall we continue?"

A loud voice in Trowa's head told him this wasn't over and he should deal with it now, but instead he nodded and lead Duo into the next room of the gallery. He wondered if picking an art gallery for a meeting place was a bad idea. In the years they'd known each other there was nothing Duo did to indicate he'd enjoy browsing an art gallery, but there also wasn't any reason to think he'd hate it.

As they meandered and commented on the work displayed things fell back into a comfortable pattern. Duo appeared mostly disinterested in the paintings but displayed interest in sculptures, specifically metalwork. His eyes lit up at a few of them, and he eagerly asked how familiar Trowa was with welding techniques before lambasting the artist. "There's no way this has the tensile strength to hold up to a rigorous bend test. This art is going to fall apart! If I welded like this when I was a kid Howard woulda killed me. There's no reason for an adult to weld this way."

Trowa smiled.

"It's not meant to be strong. It's a display piece."

Duo pouted like a child and crossed his arms. "Well why the hell wouldn't you want your artwork to survive durability testing? If you're paying this much money it should at least come out intact from a one story fall or a low speed vehicular impact."

Trowa couldn't help but laugh. "What possible scenario would involve a low speed vehicular impact?"

Before he could answer Duo's eyes focused on something behind Trowa and he sidestepped around the taller man to get a closer look. Trowa turned to find Duo staring at a painting, no bigger than a small paperback book. The work was striking, but he wasn't sure why his companion appeared to be enamored. It didn't really seem his style, but it was also the first painting Duo showed any interest in.

"You like that one?"

Quietly Duo nodded, tilting his head slightly as he eyed the work more critically. Trowa reached into his pocket for his phone and scanned the code on the wall next to the artwork.

"I'm not sure who the artist is. I've never heard of her before. Mastinchana?" He whistled in appreciation. "That's a steep price for something so small."

"It's perfect."

That caught Trowa's attention, and he looked up from his phone to see how serious Duo was being. He wasn't joking, but he also wasn't elaborating.

"For Quatre's place?"

"No."

The answer left Trowa lost. Did Duo mean he liked it for himself? Curious, he asked "What do you like about it?"

Without missing a beat Duo responded, "texture."

"It does apply impasto liberally."

Duo glanced at him. "What?"

His confusion caught Trowa off guard. He wasn't used to being the most educated person in a room when it came to describing art. Typically he was the odd man out, surrounded by people who knew how to talk the talk, whether they really understood it or not. Quatre knew so much by comparison, yet he never made Trowa feel stupid. In all the years they were together his partner made sure no one could accuse him of being uneducated about fine art. If they were at an event Quatre seamlessly wove context into conversations so Trowa could keep up and participate if he wanted.

Quatre was so good at choosing his phrasing no one caught on to his scheme. The extra effort he went through to invite Trowa into his world was touching, and it made Trowa feel valued. Without realizing it, he appeared to have picked up some art terminology over the years. The role reversal, throwing him into the position of expert, was equal parts amusing and unsettling.

"Uh, impasto refers to how thickly the paint is applied. This canvas is small but you're right that there's lots of texture." He held up a hand and gestured at the artwork. "I bet if you looked at it from the side it would resemble a three dimensional topographic map of a mountain range."

He wasn't expecting Duo to abruptly advance on the painting, hugging the wall on which it hung and pressing his cheek against it to get a clear view of the side of the canvas. Trowa nervously looked around, certain if anyone saw them they'd be reprimanded and perhaps even kicked out, but no one came. He did, however, catch a security camera in the corner of his eye move to focus on their position.

"You're right!" Duo exclaimed, pushing off the wall. "Do you think it needs to be framed? I think it's good as is. A frame would cover too much. Sometimes I wonder how much art gets covered by frames when the artist intended for the canvas to be displayed as-is. I don't think I'll frame it."

Something about the casual way Duo spoke rubbed Trowa the wrong way. He was acting like they were in a consignment shop and not a high end gallery, and Trowa was worried he didn't realize how generally unattainable the artwork for sale here was to people without Quatre's endless funds. The last thing he wanted was to get Duo excited about something he couldn't afford.

"Duo, that little thing is over 2,000 credits."

He watched Duo freeze, and he got the sense that his friend was bristling but trying to hide it. Trowa's keen eye caught the briefest flash of hurt in his body language before Duo laughed it off, made a joke about money, and walked away.

Things were not going as planned. The goal was to get Duo out of his apartment and remind him that the world was always moving forward and there were good friends and good times to still be had. All Trowa felt he succeeded in doing was taking Duo somewhere new to feel empty. Months ago, when he was uncertain where they stood, Duo told him the way you had my back was definitely friendship. Now those words, which he previously cherished, haunted him. He didn't feel like he had Duo's back in any meaningful way. Instead he felt like he was failing at friendship. Worse, it dawned on him that while Quatre made him feel welcome in this sort of environment, he'd done the opposite for Duo.

With new resolve, he rushed to catch Duo a few rooms away. He was standing in a room of paintings, all of which had questionable quality. The look on Duo's face was a mix of confusion and disgust.

"Hey, Duo!" He tapped his friend's shoulder and gestured towards the exit. "You want to ditch this place and do something else?"

"I dunno, man." Duo turned to him, his eyes holding in laughter. "This art is really good. I mean where else can you find work of this quality?"

Trowa felt a spark of excitement. He knew this social cue. They'd played this game before. He was good at this game, and he was certain it was a game friends played.

"You're right" he said, bringing a hand to his face to stroke a beard he didn't have. "It's exquisite work. Just look at how the artist plays with color."

Duo wasn't smiling. He was playing along deadpan. "Yes, and the use of motion and passion in those strokes." He pointed to a canvas. "I think this one has a lot to say about the meaning of life."

He was pointing to a white canvas with three long red rectangles in the center.

Trowa nodded. "Childhood, adulthood, and old age. It's beautiful. Symmetry even."

"This is why humankind colonized space."

"For the artistic expression."

"For the cultural growth."

"For the cheese."

Duo didn't miss a step. "Space cheese is the best cheese. And sometime between childhood and adulthood" he pointed to two of the rectangles "everyone needs to try cheese made in zero gravity."

"It started out as poor people's food in the colonies."

"But now everyone on earth wants space cheese."

"We should start a business."

"Swindle the masses."

"Become emperors of enterprise."

"Put Quatre out of business."

Trowa faltered. He knew he'd lose the game if he said anything serious but he couldn't help himself. Then again, he'd never actually won this game. He wasn't sure if there were rules, let alone winning conditions. But he knew he never won. "I wouldn't want to put Quatre out of business."

He saw some of the light fade from Duo. It wasn't much, but if he was bright with excitement seconds ago he was a few shades dimmer now. Duo turned to him and the sincerity of his tone surprised Trowa.

"Nah. I guess you wouldn't."

Taking a chance, Trowa asked "How are you two so at odds when he and I aren't? I thought you and I were pretty alike."

Duo smiled in the rueful way he so often did. "Well that comes downta two things. First: I'm not attracted to nor in love with the guy, so I don't have rose colored glasses. But second… We may have similarities in how we grew up, but you're quiet and I'd argue dignified. I'm… the opposite."

"Loud and uncouth?"

That earned him a real Maxwell smile. "How come everyone's always calling me uncouth? You all have the same vocabulary or somethin?"

They smiled at each other, and Trowa finally felt he was doing an okay job at being Duo's friend. The day no longer felt like a waste. It was nice to connect. He hoped with everything in him that Duo felt the same. All he wanted was to continue to have his friend's back.

Duo cleared his throat and raised a hand to rub the back of his neck. He looked sheepish. "For real though, I toldya before that I don't think he's a bad guy." He released his grip and gestured with the same hand. "That's actually what I hate most about him. If he was an asshole he'd be easy to dislike."

"Did you just say you hate him because you can't hate him?"

"No one said I wasn't contradictory."

Trowa chuckled. "Oh yeah, I'll vouch for that."

"Hey!"

"You're the one who brought it up."

Duo blew air abruptly through his bangs and rolled his eyes. "Pfft. Whatever man."

"You think he'll like this painting?"

Trowa gestured to an unstructured modern work with no specific color palette two canvases down. It didn't look simple or stylized. Trowa understood and appreciated that kind of art for what it was, and sometimes quite enjoyed it. This painting was not simple and stylized. It looked like a petulant five year old was given paints and unleashed upon a canvas.

Duo's eyebrows raised and his nose wrinkled. "Not at all."

"Good. Then I'll buy it."

Duo was stunned. "What? You for real?"

Trowa smiled, still staring at the artwork. "Sometimes a man just needs a painting his partner can't stand."

"Do you even like it?"

The tone of Duo's voice caused him to laugh out loud. They'd known each other long enough that he didn't need to glance over to know the playful and shocked expression on Duo's face. "Honestly? I'll probably never look at it much. I read in the room where it'll hang. But Quatre's going to see it all the time. He's hellbent on showing that his house is mine, too. But I don't actually have preferences on décor. So why not get something that keeps him on edge for a while? It's his penance, after all."

"Tro. If you buy that for whatever ridiculous price it's listed at you're telling the market it's actually worth that amount."

Trowa smiled. "I'm not paying a dime. Quatre is."

Duo chuckled and Trowa could see his arms cross in his peripheral vision. "Gotta hand it to you, Tro. Maybe those rose colored glasses don't obscure as much as I thought. This thing will drive him insane."

Trowa nodded solemnly. "Yes, but that's the price he pays for being a little shit to you. If you thought I'd let him off the hook so easily, you're wrong. Insulting me is one thing, but hurting you is a whole other ballgame. No one hurts my friends and gets away with it."

An intense energy came off of Duo, and finally Trowa turned to look at him. To his surprise Duo was absolutely beaming. This wasn't the fake happiness he hid behind to make others feel better. This was pure joy. His face couldn't smile bigger if he tried. Trowa didn't really understand what he did to cause his friend to react like that, but he'd take the win.

Reaching forward, he scanned the painting's info with his phone and two clicks later Quatre was charged a hefty fee for a very large, very ugly canvas. It was, undoubtedly, a farce of a painting. But now Trowa could say he really did love the artwork.

Looking at it would always remind him of Duo's bright smile, and remind him that he could be the good friend he always hoped to be.