The first time I met Trowa Barton, I was throwing paint on my walls.
Wait. Let me explain some things first.
You see, my parents believe that my sister, Iria, and I should be able to express our artistic natures. This includes doing whatever we want with our rooms. During a dark stage in my like, I painted my walls a deep, eerie, black, to match my attitude. But it was hard walking around at night since I was constantly crashing into my walls and so I decided that I should change it up. My parents bought me cans of blue, green, and teal paint so I could use to do just that. And so I did.
Why the dark period, though? Well, I had just come to terms with the idea that I could be gay. No particular person had sparked my interest. It was more like the fact that I checked out guys more than I checked out girls that made me start thinking of the possibility. Of course, I wouldn't admit that to anyone, which cause the dark period to occur. I hate bottling things up. Especially when I have to keep things from my sister. She and I are pretty close except for a few petty arguments here and there but that's normal for siblings. She tells me everything that's on her mind and even searches for my approval when she brings a boyfriend over. So far, I've rejected three.
So when Iria burst through my door with a grin on her face and her friend in tow, I wasn't too surprised.
"Hey lil' bro." She looked me up and down. "Lookin' good." She winked at me.
I rolled my eyes and looked over my outfit. I was wearing my shredded jean short shorts and a paint splattered black shirt that did anything but hide my stomach. Not that I'm ashamed or anything. I'm very proud of my abs, thank you very much.
"Ever heard about knocking, Iria?" I asked, accusingly. She knew that I didn't really mind her bursts so long as I wasn't naked or changing my pants.
"Of course I have, but it's more fun this way." She smiled. "By the way, Kitty-Cat," she yanked on her friend's arm and shoved him in front. Not a very nice way to treat your friends if you ask me. "This is my friend Trowa Barton. Trowa, this is Quatre."
"Nice to meet you Trowa." I held out my hand to him, thinking that he wouldn't take it since I was up to my wrists in paint.
He proved me wrong. Trowa stepped forward and took my hand in his. "Hello Quatre. It's nice to meet you." He looked around. "You know what? You have a really nice room. I bet once you're finished, it'll look terrific. You're a great artist." He smiled at me.
I just blushed. "Uh, thanks."
Trowa released my hand and looked down at his own.
My blush deepened but then I remembered that he was the one that took my hand. "Oops. Sorry about that."
"No problem. If you're as artistic as I think you are, I might not wash this hand just to say that I shook hands with the famous Quatre Winner."
"Hardee har har." Iria rolled her eyes. "Quatre, Trowa and I are gonna be studying in the den. Do you need anything?"
"Nope, I think I can manage. I am sixteen, now. Or have you forgotten?"
"Must have slipped my mind…" she smirked before stepping out the door.
"It was nice meeting you, Quatre." Trowa smiled.
"You too."
As he followed my sister out the door, I returned to my paint. After a few minutes of slapping splotches here and there, I realized that I was getting kinda thirsty which was weird because I was hardly wearing anything and tossing paint around isn't too much work to do. Even with this in mind, I was still thirsty and walked on down to pop myself a cold one. Man, do I love my Coca Cola.
"Ack! Quatre, why don't you put some clothes on?" Iria teased me as I walked into the kitchen. She was pouring some popcorn into a bowl.
I simply glared at her and proceeded to the refrigerator.
"But seriously, Quatre. I don't see why you keep those shorts. They're short, tight on you, and don't leave much to the imagination." She walked up behind me and playfully tugged at the bottom hem of my left pant leg.
"I wear them," I slapped away her hand. "Because they fit and because they're comfy. You're just jealous that I have nicer legs than you do."
"Puh-lease." She rolled her eyes. "Then what about this shirt?" She tugged at the collar of said shirt. "It's all worn and tattered."
"I don't know, Iria. I think I like the shirt." Trowa walked into the kitchen, smirking at us.
I blushed. I had completely forgotten that Trowa was there. Suddenly, I felt utterly exposed.
"It's a nice shirt." He continued.
"Lay off it." I snapped. I didn't really mean to, but at the moment, my emotions were going haywire.
"Sheesh. Pardon the little one. He can be so sensitive…" Iria informed her guest.
Feeling pretty stupid and guilty for snapping at him, I hurried past the two and went back into my room. "Stupid, stupid, stupid…" I murmured to myself. I didn't know why I felt awkward downstairs when he had seen me in my outfit not too long ago. Luckily, I was already paint splotching, which was a good thing to do to release tension. I pulled the lid up off the green can, dipped the paint stick into it, sat down, and began stirring.
Looking at the paint, I realized it reminded me of him. Trowa's eyes were a striking emerald green with one hidden behind a lock of chestnut brown hair. He was taller than me standing at what I assumed to be 6'3" while I stood at 6' even. I also assumed him to be Iria's age, eighteen, two years older than me and a freshman at Iria's college. From what I could tell, he had a nice body too.
A knock at my door interrupted my thoughts.
"It's open." I called, staring back at the green paint.
"Quatre? It's me." Trowa stepped into my room and closed the door behind him. He stood not too far from where I was sitting. "I didn't mean to make you mad."
I shrugged. "Don't worry about it. It's no big deal." Damn me for not telling him that I wasn't even mad. More like embarrassed.
"Even still…I'm sorry."
I stopped stirring and looked up at Trowa. His face showed nothing but sincerity. "…Okay…" I couldn't believe that my brain couldn't think of anything else to say. Anything.
Trowa took a step towards me and held out his hand. "Friends?"
I merely nodded and took his hand in mine.
Trowa looked at our joined hands and chuckled. "You got me again."
Instantly, I pulled my hand away and blushed. "Sorry."
Trowa just smiled.
"Trowa?" Iria called from the first floor.
"I guess I should get going. We have a huge test coming up."
"Right then."
"I'll see you some other time then. Bye Quatre."
"Yeah. Bye Trowa." That was the first time I said his name. It made my stomach feel all fluttery. He smiled again and left.
If I had any doubts about my sexuality before, the mere thought of his smile swept them all away. The image would forever be burned in the back of my mind and made me feel mushy inside. But then I remembered something. Trowa is Iria's friend. And usually when she wants any of her male friends to meet me it's so I can tell her if he is or isn't a potential boyfriend. I shook my head.
"Oh shit…I'm falling for my sister's boyfriend…"
* * *
Ever since that first meeting, I saw Trowa a whole lot more. Well of course I did. I saw him in my dreams, my daydreams, and almost every other thought was about Trowa. And yes he did come over in reality as well. Iria seemed to have a lot of fun with Trowa and the two seemed to be getting very close. This thought made my spirits droop a bit which made me want to return my walls back into its dismal black state. But I didn't because the green splotches reminded me of his eyes. That last wall I finished after meeting Trowa seemed to have more green splotches in it than any of the other walls.
* * *
"Quatre? Can I ask you something?" Iria poked her head in through my door.
I was lying on my stomach on my bed, flipping through a magazine, pausing only when I saw a cute guy wearing a turtleneck that clung to him like a second skin. "You just did, Iria. So if you'll excuse me…"
"Brat." She stepped in, closed the door behind her and took a seat on the side of my bed. And then she asked it. "What do you think of Trowa?"
At the sound of his name, my stomach flipped. "He's…nice…I guess."
"That's it? Nice?"
"I don't know, Eye. What do you want me to say?"
"I want you to say what you think of him."
Yeah right. Like I'm gonna tell her that I have the hots for her potential boyfriend. "Well, I don't know. I hardly know the guy." That in itself was a true fact. I only knew that he was kind and that he was cute but I opted to not tell my sister that last part and she already knew that I thought he was "nice".
"Then there you go!" Iria clapped and abruptly stood. "I think you and Trowa should get some bonding time. I'll invite him here tomorrow and I'll have Cathy call me as if there's an emergency so then you and Trowa can talk."
"Iria I don't think-"
"Come on, Cat. This'll be good. And I really wanna know what you think of him."
"Then why don't you just wait until he comes over on his own before forcing me to talk to him?"
"Because Cathy and I should have it all planned out and have the timing just right. If not, it could blow the whole purpose of my scheme-er…idea. Plus, he said that he likes coming over, anyway."
"Eye…"
"Just do this for my Quatre. All you have to do is talk to him. What could that hurt?"
Other than all dreams that I could possibly have of him where instead of him kissing me he's kissing my older sister? Ugh. The things I do for my family. "Fine. I'll talk to him."
Iria grinned. "Great! You're the best little brother in the world." She winked at me and left.
"What have I gotten myself into?" I groaned and ducked my face into my pillow.
* * *
It was show time.
Trowa had come over willingly as he had on previous occasions. He, my sister and I were on the couch watching a show about some kid with a yellow rat that spouted out the word "pikachu" and only the word "pikachu". At precisely four on the dot, the phone rang.
"I'll get it." Iria said in a singsong voice. How inconspicuous was that? "Hello? Cathy? Oh my gosh! Really?" I hope she sounded really fake just because I knew that it was in fact fake. "I can't believe this! Hang on for a sec." The covered the receiver with her hand and turned to Trowa and me. "Trowa, Cathy's got some big emergency I've got to deal with. You can go ahead and talk to Quatre while I take this."
"Uh, that's for your permission." Trowa said in return but Iria was already talking to Cathy.
"Do you think we should go up to my room? I don't think we want to hear this." I suggested. Now why the hell did I want to do that? What's wrong with me?
"Sure."
I nodded and lead the way up the stairs into my room. Once there, he stood by the doorway and looked around.
"Wow. You really do have talent." He smiled at me. Damn that charming smile.
"Uh, thanks." I racked my brain for something to say. I looked at his hand. "I see you washed your hand." How lame was that? Of course he washed his hand.
Trowa looked at said hand and chuckled. "Actually, it just faded naturally."
"Oh." Damn my mouth for not saying anything more. Damn my brain for not thinking of anything more productive to say. Damn it all. Damn me and my splurge of the word damn.
"So what's with Iria?" Trowa asked me.
"Huh?"
Trowa smirked. "I overheard her tell Cathy to call her at four." He looked at my bedside clock. "And it's now four o' three."
"Shit…" I sat down on my bed. Damn my sister for not being sneakier. Couldn't she check if Trowa was around before blabbing to the world what her plans were?
"So what's with Iria?" he repeated.
"Well, she thought that you and I could use some 'bonding time'."
Trowa cocked an eyebrow.
I sighed and looked at my hands. "She wants to know what I think of you. It's something she does when she looks for potential boyfriends. For some reason, she needs my approval." There. Hate me now for putting you through this.
After some time, we stayed silent. I began to feel awkward and looked up at the brunette. He had puzzlement written all over his face.
"I…I don't get it." He finally said.
I opened my mouth to explain to him again that it's what she does when looking for a boyfriend but he continued on.
"Why would Iria think of me as a potential boyfriend when she knows that I'm gay?"
I couldn't believe what I heard. In fact, I didn't believe what I heard. "Come again?"
"I met Iria at the University's Gay and Straight Alliance. I told her that I was gay when we first went out and did something together. Why would she think of me as a potential boyfriend?" Trowa walked over to where I was sitting and sat on the floor.
"Wait, wait, wait." This was just too confusing. What the hell was Iria thinking? That she could turn Trowa straight? "If you're not interested in my sister in 'that' way, then why do you come over as often as you do? I know Iria's not that interesting."
Trowa blushed. "I…erm…I have a different motive to come over."
I must have died. If I did, I wouldn't have been surprised. Just what was it that he was implying? "And that would be?"
Trowa looked down and took one of my hands in his. He looked back up at me. "The chance to see you…"
Time stopped. My heart stopped. Everything stopped. All that was left was Trowa and me as his words drifted through the air. I could feel his hand wrapped around my smaller one as his eyes bore down deep into mine. Shortly after, I realized that his lips were moving and that there were sounds coming from those lips.
"Quatre? Quatre?"
I felt his hand's grip lessen on mine while dejection surfaced in his green irises. I shook myself out of my reverie and held his hand tightly within mine to give him assurance that I felt something for him. He obviously got the assurance that he needed and smiled at me. And for the first time, I smiled in return. He tugged me down off the bed so that I was sitting in front of him, our hands still intertwined with each other's.
"Trowa…what…what now? I mean, I'm pretty new to the whole idea of being gay."
He simply chuckled. "We do whatever we want to do. It's no different from if you were straight."
"Then…" I pulled my hand out from his grasp. "May I hug you?"
Trowa chuckled again. "Quatre, you don't have to ask for my permi-"
But I was already on him before he could finish. I threw my arms around Trowa's neck and snuggled in close to him as I possibly could. I could tell that he was smiling.
"Awww…look how cute you are…"
I looked at my door to see Iria's head poking in. I pulled away from Trowa although he didn't release his hold around my waist. "Iria!"
"No, no, no. Don't spoil the Kodak moment." Even though she was smiling, she was being serious.
"But…how did you…?"
"Know that you were as straight as lightning bolt?" She laughed at her own silly joke. "Call it a woman's intuition."
I looked at Trowa then back at my sister. "So you decided to play matchmaking and find me a boyfriend at your school's GSA?" I turned back to look at Trowa. "And you went along with it?" What'd she do? Post a sign?
"Quatre, it was nothing like that." Trowa said, wrapping his arms tighter around me as if he didn't want me to leave him. "I knew nothing about you before the first day that I came over. After that, I wanted to know everything about you."
"Then why were you there in the first place?" I asked Iria.
"It is a Gay and Straight Alliance, Cat. And I think I qualify for at least one of those." Oh yeah. I felt dumb. "Plus, I wanted to know what I could do for you when and if you ever decided to come out to me. You're my little bro. I wanna support you in any way that I can."
If Trowa didn't have his arms around me, I would have jumped up to hug Iria. Instead, I wrapped my arms back around Trowa's neck. "Thank you, Eye."
She smiled again. "No problem, Cat." Her smile grew into a grin. One of a mischievous kind. "I guess I should leave you two alone." She winked and closed the door behind her.
I looked back at Trowa, into his beautiful green orbs. I smiled. "Should we make good use of my sister's assumptions?"
He smiled right back at me. "I wouldn't have it any other way." And with that, he leaned forward and kissed me.
I could tell that this was the start of a beautiful relationship.
Author's Notes/Disclaimer: I do not own the GW characters and I do not own the idea of this story. I just mixed the two together and tinkered with it to suit what I had going for the characters. The story comes from Laurel Winter's short story Somebody's Boyfriend. I am not making any money off of this so please don't sue me. Please?
No, I didn't copy and paste and rewrite his name to be Trowa's name or Quatre's name. I actually typed it out from memory and changed a bit of the storyline. In the original, the sister was actually looking at her friend as a boyfriend and planned for her brother to find out if he felt the same. The brother, who was just coming to terms with his sexuality, felt the same way about the friend as his sister did. The friend liked the sister as only a friend and liked the brother as a boyfriend. In the end, there was unresolved problems that the brother would have to deal with with his sister. I didn't want that for Quatre and so I just made Iria think of Trowa as a potential boyfriend for her brother. Yeah. And sorry if OOC disturbs you. I couldn't help it!