This is a really
difficult story for me to write—hard because it hurts, and hard because I’m
trying a new style of narration.
Because of this, I’m really anxious for feedback on this one. The story itself, or rather, Trowa’s part in
it, was inspired by Mika Yoshikawa’s “Phillip” in One Hundred and One Ways. If you haven’t read the book, please
do—it’s wonderful.
Special thanks
to Q-sama for her helpful character psychoanalysis and to Lilias for keeping me
on my toes.
This story takes
place about two years after Endless Waltz. I imagine Quatre’s about eighteen.
SHADES OF LIGHT
by the Space Pirate Ryoko
I knew Trowa was dead a week before
Duo’s quiet voice and tight expression told me on the vid-com, two weeks before
Heero appeared on my doorstep, hollowed-out inside and obviously broken. Later, Rashid and his men attributed my
knowledge to my space heart, some psychic connection between me and the world
around me, but I never was linked to Trowa like that. I knew because his ghost had come to stay with me, haunting the
corners of my apartment all day, the corners of my bedroom all night.
It
was a midsummer night when I woke to find him sitting on the floor of my room,
bathed in milky-white moonlight. He was
naked and pale and comfortingly androgynous—the area beneath his navel lacked
definition or clarity. He reminded me
of old-fashioned paintings of waif-thin children. I didn’t try to speak to him, knowing instinctively that I’d get
no answer—instead I simply stared, searching his empty eyes for some kind of
explanation.
His
expressionless gaze made me sad—unbearably sad and lonely in a way I’d never
been before. Then I knew he was dead,
that this wasn’t some illusion or fantasy.
I rolled over in my bed, wondering why he’d come to me, and I what I was
supposed to do about the ache that was building itself inside of me, the pain
that I knew would grow until it consumed me.
I stared at the wall until the morning sun had risen and shifted into
afternoon.
When
I finally got up, I was numb and cold, but I moved habitually through the
routine of showering and getting dressed.
Trowa watched me from the windowsill, his dark eyes never wavering. It took a long time to get used to the deep
intrusion of his presence—days of sitting beneath his watchfulness, letting the
reality of living life without Trowa—but with his vigilant ghost—sink in.
Rashid
called a few times that first day, then finally came up to the apartment to see
what was keeping me away from my work and my family. I couldn’t say the words out loud—how could I trust my voice when
I couldn’t understand what my eyes showed me? Someone would have sent word.
My hyperactive imagination created this. I looked into the kitchen, where Trowa was perched on the
counter, still watching. A creeping
sort of grief moved through me and I made some bland excuse to Rashid.
The
knot in my chest grew larger each day, until I was more aware of the tightness
than of the rest of me. At first I
slept and ate by the clock—eight hours of sleep and a meal for every five I was
awake—but as the week wore on, the days and the nights mingled. The blinds in my windows made a
twenty-four-hour dusk and soon I had crawled inside of myself, unaware of
everything but my own emptiness and Trowa’s black, black eyes.
Duo called—the sound of the beeping
computer pulled me slowly from my void.
The date on the vid-com screen showed me that seven days had
passed. Duo’s face was pinched and pale,
and I knew he was just going to verify what I already knew—what I had already
stopped struggling against.
“It was an accident
during a Preventor mission; you don’t want the details.”
For once I agreed. Gory particulars couldn’t make this any more
real for me.
Duo’s voice was soft and
distant, as though he could guess the impact this news would have on me. I tried not to get angry—how could he know
how much worse it was for me? Trowa’s
shade had crept close during our conversation—I could feel his chill on my
skin—and I turned, expecting to see curiosity lighting his fragile face. I was disappointed by the lack of
expression.
“Quatre,” Duo’s voice
was gently insistent. “We’re all
worried about Heero.” He’d simply left
upon hearing the news, just walked away without anything; even his precious
laptop computer was still on his desk.
I knew. Rashid wasn’t far off when he talked of
space hearts and psychic powers—what he never knew was that it was always Heero
on the other end of that connection.
For years I’d been feeling his emotions, living his sensations—and
nothing had hurt Heero more than the loss of Trowa. I had been sleeping when he found out—his panicked despair yanked
me from unconsciousness and I was shaking too hard to get back to sleep.
Duo fell silent,
uncharacteristic even in tragedy. He was
uncomfortable discussing Heero with me.
I almost thought it funny—no one had ever told me that Heero and Trowa
had been lovers; they all kept discreetly silent, as though my previous
rejection of Trowa somehow obligated him to love me forever.
I promised to take care
and get some sleep—the lines on my face were obvious to my friend, even if
their source escaped him—and I unplugged the communicator, unwilling to go
through the same conversation with Relena, Noin, and then Wufei.
Sometime that same
afternoon, Abdul knocked on my door. I
didn’t answer for hours, but he’d left a box full of soups and toiletries on my
mat. It was heavy or I was weak—I
dragged it inside and leaned on the closed door, out of breath. By the time I stirred again, the sun had set
and Trowa peered at me through almost total darkness.
As I dragged myself up
and into the bathroom, I was consumed by loneliness and regret—their pangs were
almost a comfort after the numb emptiness that I’d come to expect. By the dim glow of the nightlight, I
studied my unfamiliar face in the mirror.
My hair was unwashed and uncombed, my cheeks were hollow, and my eyes
looked flat and dull. I peeled my
clothes from my body, tossing them onto the floor as I stepped onto the cold
tiles. I washed my hair, then stood
under the hard pressure of the shower’s flow, letting the hot water burn and
pucker my skin until it was brilliant red.
Trowa once noticed how fair my complexion was—unusual for a child of the
desert. I didn’t move until the hot
water had turned icy and goose bumps pulled at my skin.
I didn’t bother with a
towel, dripping water onto the wooden floor as I made my way toward the
bed. I knew he was watching me, but I
couldn’t tell if he took any interest in my naked body. I paused by the window, pushing it open to
let the warm summer breeze brush past me.
Dropping onto the bed, I
let my fingers mimic the air, sliding slowly over my cool, damp skin. Years of practice had fine-tuned my skills,
and I knew just where to put pressure, just which areas to linger over to give
myself the most pleasure. I closed my
eyes and let the sensations wash over me as I tried to picture the prettiest
girls I knew. Noin’s lovely face came
to mind, and I groaned, imagining her beneath me, her head thrown back, my
hands gripping her dark hair.
Unbidden, the image
shifted, becoming Trowa, his deep green eyes long-lashed and heavy. My breath caught and my pulse
quickened. The rhythm of my hands
altered, becoming more urgent as my longing intensified. The boy in my mind smiled and whispered—an
old confession of love that I’d memorized and carried with me for over a
year. I was growing dizzy with the idea
of his hands—his mouth—all over my body.
I imagined that the dampness of my skin was from his kisses. Crying out, I let the fantasy come to
shuddering finish and the world momentarily swirled around me.
Still shaky, I opened my
eyes, scanning the room cautiously. As
I expected, Trowa was watching me, crouched at the foot of my bed. For an instant I was ashamed of my
display—was it cruel to take such pleasure in front of a boy who had no
body? How well could he remember these
sensations? Did he think of Heero and
the things they had done to each other?
I searched his eyes for some kind of hunger, some sort of loneliness
that would show me his thoughts. I
found nothing.
He moved, gliding to his
feet as he watched me. He leaned
closer, stretching a pale hand toward me.
Still close to my fantasy, I anticipated his touch, my spine arching
toward him. Crawling over the tousled
sheets, he barely seemed to move. His
translucent hand skimmed my thigh and hips, not quite touching me, but making
me feel the phantom sensation of his skin.
He looked deeply into my eyes. I
bit my lip, suddenly terrified at his nearness.
When his hand came to
rest on my abdomen, I sucked back a scream.
The room grew impossibly dark and I felt like I was falling into a deep
chasm. Images swirled behind my eyes—things
I couldn’t imagine, much less name. I
heard the crunch of bones breaking, of ligaments tearing away, and I understood
the sticky sick sound of death. My
breath froze; icicles seared my chest before it exploded entirely. I heard myself scream. I heard Trowa’s voice—his last gurgling
words before the blood in his throat choked us both.
How can I do that? How am I supposed to do what you ask?
Panic made
me weak—hot tears streamed down my cheeks and I begged for the pain to
stop. I wanted it all to end; I wanted
to follow Trowa into nothingness.
Suddenly it was over. I was back.
I shivered, aware of the breeze on my naked body. My skin was damp and my hair still dripped
onto my shoulders and face. Calming my
sobs, I lay still and concentrated on breathing. Trowa had moved away; his back was to me as he gazed out the
window.
I had just witnessed his
death—from the inside.
After a while I pulled
myself up, yanking a sheet from the bed.
It was damp with sweat and water and felt clammy against my skin, but I
didn’t care. I wrapped it close around
me as I stumbled toward the dresser. I
was freezing—I needed clothes.
I found a pair of
worn-out khakis and a clean white t-shirt.
No need to dress up—I wasn’t going anywhere. I glanced again at Trowa.
I was afraid of him—afraid of what he’d shown me, what he’d asked of
me. I wanted to run away, to leave him
here in this tiny apartment and get away somewhere where I could forget. I knew it was no use—Trowa had come for me. He’d follow.
I needed to let go of
what I’d seen, what I’d felt. I saw my
violin—gathering dust where I had left it over a week before. I picked it up and started to play, not
caring about what time it was or who I’d wake.
The instrument felt alive in my hands, the wood trembling and the
strings warm beneath my fingers. I
closed my eyes, shutting out the ghost who had turned to watch me once more,
and let the music fill the emptiness that had grown inside of me.
I played the dark
melodies my father had taught me as a child, while he was still mourning the
loss of my mother. I played the
languorous pieces I’d learned later; the music that kept me playing at a time
when I resented everything my father had ever given me—including my
violin. The music seemed visible in
the air, curling around me in a protective barrier. Trowa watched silently from the window, or the floor, or the
sofa.
Days and nights
passed.
Rashid called from the
hallway but didn’t intrude. I was
singing countermelody to a tune I’d never heard before. I bowed steadily and my fingers moved
religiously up and down the slender neck of the quivering violin. I didn’t know if I was composing my own work
or if I’d stumbled into the memories of my ancestors, playing the music I’d
been born to, but never learned.
Either way, I couldn’t
stop.
The sound of the bow
scraping, of the notes drifting from the curved wooden body—it kept me
full. I poured all of my energy, my
purpose, into the violin—everything that needed to be said but had no words,
everything that should have been shared but was hoarded, it came out as
music. For hours I stared at Trowa’s
shade, playing for him. My neck grew
stiff and painful, my wrist cramped and spasmed, but I was afraid of what I’d
have to face if I quit. Finally, when
the indentations on my fingers split, when blood seeped down the strings and
onto my bow—I stopped.
I stumbled to the
bedroom, only half-alive with exhaustion.
Disregarding the sunlight that strained to break through the blinds and
drapes, I fell onto my bed. For the
first time in nearly a week, I slept.
When I woke, the room
was dark. I glanced at the clock: four forty-seven. Trowa kept his silent vigil near the closet and I groggily
searched for the source of my disturbance.
My pillow and sheet were spotted brown with dried blood from my fingers,
but otherwise, nothing in the room had changed.
Rubbing my throbbing
neck muscles, I staggered to my feet.
The rest of my apartment seemed normal—two weeks’ worth of clutter piled
on the coffee table, including the t-shirt I’d shed while playing. I made my way past the kitchen and to the
door, nearly tripping over the disregarded box of food. Without being absolutely sure why, I
unlocked the door and pulled it slowly open.
Heero was standing in
the hallway, too thin and slightly out of breath. His shoulders hunched and his eyes were dull—defeated. It looked like he hadn’t eaten or slept in
days. His feet were bare and
filthy—they stumbled when he saw me—with his weedy arms, he caught himself on
the doorframe. He looked drained and
insubstantial.
“I heard your music,” he
explained hoarsely.
I’d known he would. “I wasn’t playing for you.”
Somehow we made it all
the way back to my bedroom before collapsing in exhaustion. Heero was out even before his body had
settled on the mattress, hunger and fatigue having beaten him, finally. I lay beside him and glanced at Trowa, whose
gaze was fixed on the young, battered pilot.
I fell asleep a moment later, wondering if Heero had even noticed him
lurking in the shadows.
We slept tangled
together like uninhibited children—in the lethargic half-consciousness between
dreams, I noticed his long hair nestled against my chest, my thin arms wrapped
tightly around his narrow body. I wondered briefly how we could sleep like
that, invading each other’s space like lovers, but then I was sleeping again, aware
only of the warmth of another body.
Hours later, when I
emerged completely from slumber, Heero was gone. I missed his body heat, but I was relieved. I was ashamed of how we’d slept, embarrassed
by the intimacy I’d shared with another man—Trowa’s lover. I wasn’t sure why he’d come to me—not to be
taken care of, I hoped.
I tried to sit up, but a
stabbing pain in my neck kept me on the pillow.
Heero appeared at the
doorway, Trowa’s ghost lingering behind him.
He’d showered and changed—now wearing the one pair of jeans I owned,
apparently not mindful of the paint splattered across one thigh. He looked clean, but not better. His eyes were still hollow, as though
someone had scooped his insides out.
Wordlessly, he came to me, massaging the tense muscles of my neck with
his strong fingers until I was able to move again.
It was strange, letting
him touch me so deliberately. We’d been
close once, a long time ago, when the Sanq Kingdom was more than a historical
footnote. Since then, things had changed. We’d avoided each other, barely speaking for
more than a year.
“The sun’s still down,”
I noticed, looking at the dark window.
“Again,” Heero
corrected, his voice distant. “It’s
about nine thirty.”
Following his lead, I
took a shower. I was mildly surprised
to see Trowa standing by the door when I pulled open the curtain. I dried myself and dressed, watching the
ghost curiously. I thought that with
Heero here, I’d be left alone.
Heero was waiting for me
with a first-aid kit. Disinfecting the
fingers on my left hand, he bandaged them up carefully. I tried not to look at my mangled
fingertips; they were still deeply dented with the impressions of my violin
strings, the skin cracked and bloody.
“You look like hell,” Heero commented blandly.
I felt worse. My neck was still sore and my fingers stung,
both wrists were stiff, and my body was still vibrating with phantom strains of
music. Inside I was nothing but a tight
knot of grief, so painful and unbearable that I was thankful for the external
pain. If I focused on my muscles and
joints, then I wouldn’t have to face the emptiness.
I watched his fingers
shake as he carefully snipped the gauze.
His face was lean and sallow; his hair, clean now, hung limp and
lifeless over his eyes. My old jeans
sagged on him; he wore them low on his hips like an emaciated fashion
model. I wasn’t surprised when, once my
fingers were tended, he wandered into the kitchen.
A few minutes later, he
emerged with two Styrofoam cups of instant ramen. Abdul must have left some in that box I’d been ignoring. Heero put one on the coffee table in front
of me.
“Eat.”
I stared at the steamy
mass of overcooked noodles and underspiced broth. My stomach lurched, repulsed.
Meanwhile, my guest was slurping his up with a passion I envied.
“How long has it been
since you’ve eaten?” he demanded.
I couldn’t
remember. Before the violin. Maybe before Duo’s call. I picked up the cup and tasted the broth. It was terrible, but I was suddenly
ravenous. I gulped down the rest of it
within a couple of minutes.
I wasn’t prepared for
the cramping pain in my abdomen. I
doubled over as my stomach tried to reject the food, somehow managing to keep
it all down. Heero and Trowa watched, one
curious, the other expressionless.
Heero commented that I must be in worse shape than he was. I doubted it, noting the crease of pain that
lined his forehead.
After another half-hour
or so of pointless attempts at conversation, we fell silent.
Heero stayed, and I
didn’t protest. Entire days went by without
us so much as speaking to one another, but I think we were both grateful for
the company. It took me about three
days to realize that he couldn’t see the naked spirit that followed me around. Trowa stopped watching Heero once the
novelty of having his former bedfellow in the apartment wore off, making me
realize that he’d come to me alone. I
felt guilty, thinking of how Heero would probably give up anything to see Trowa
just one more time, and here he was, visible only to me.
Heero and I had an unspoken
truce, now that the source of our feud was gone. He watched out for me, forcing me to eat when too much time had
passed since my last meal, and I made sure he went to bed from time to time,
rousing him from his nearly-permanent position on the couch. I couldn’t make him blink, though—some days
he did nothing but stare at the blank television screen. I understood those bad days; I longed for a
chance to get back to my music, but even after my fingers had begun to heal,
Heero kept my violin from me, insisting that escape wasn’t the answer.
Then I didn’t know what
was.
It was probably
mid-August when I started to cry. I
didn’t mean to—one morning, tears just came as I stared at the bloodstained
pillow beneath my head. Once they
began, they refused to stop, coursing down my cheeks in streams as I hiccupped
and sobbed. It was stiflingly hot in
the apartment—the air conditioner had broken down days before, and neither
Heero nor I cared to call to have it fixed—and my tears felt cool on my flushed
face. When they finally seemed to run
dry, I felt no better, just weak and emptied out again. Heero didn’t comment on my red eyes and pale
face—he was busy staring out the window at the clouds.
Later, I awoke from a
dream sometime in the late afternoon—the clock on the nightstand was blinking
twelve o’clock from a power outage about a week before. The dream had been about Trowa, a long time
ago, when he and I had been such good friends, before the complications. I woke up to find I’d already begun to
cry—this time because I missed him, because I regretted everything that had
come to pass since those days. I sobbed
until my stomach hurt and my head spun.
At some point, Heero
came into my room, roused from his own sleep on the sofa, either by my muffled
chokes and sobs, or by that link that lets him know when I’m in pain, and
vice-versa. He put his hands on my
back, whispering soothing words he must have learned long ago, before they took
him from his mother. He spoke in
Japanese, a language I’d never associated with tenderness, but in such a gentle
voice that he slowly coaxed me from my tears.
Despite the terrible
heat, I leaned against him, enjoying the sweaty comfort of his chest as he
pulled me into his arms. I didn’t feel
self-conscious with him, even as I leaned my cheek against the bare skin over
his heart.
“I loved Trowa,” I
confessed softly. I’d never said the
words out loud before, not even to myself, and I was startled to hear how
easily they came.
Heero sucked in his
breath, gulping the air like it was nourishment. I glanced up. His dark
blue eyes were glassy with unshed tears.
He nodded curtly. “He knew.”
I glanced nervously at
Trowa’s ghost, who sat on the floor by my dresser, his knees pulled up to his
chest. As usual, he watched me, expressionless. None of us moved for a long time—me, Heero,
or the spirit in the corner—and by the time the sun had set and the room was
hidden behind the darkness, I was drifting back to sleep. Heero hadn’t slept in my bed since that
first night, but he slid naturally onto the pillow beside mine, not letting go
of me until morning.
When I woke he was in
the shower; the sound of the water reminded me how long it’d been since I’d
washed my hair or anything other than my face and hands. I glanced down at the pants I wore—they were
limp with sweat and dirt. I walked to
the mirror, barely recognizing the boy who stared back at me. My hair had grown long and unruly—the
once-golden locks fell over my eyes, their color muted and grimy. My face and body were impossibly thin; I
could easily count my ribs where they jutted out, and my shoulders—once proudly
sculpted—were lanky and narrow.
When Heero emerged from
the bathroom, he looked better—the heat had given his cheeks a healthy-looking
flush, making his leanness look fashionable.
I noticed how his waist tapered toward his small hips, how he wore my
pants gathered and bunched beneath his belt.
I tried to smile as he walked past me, but lack of exercise made my
mouth muscles twitch, and I failed miserably.
I took off my pants in
the bathroom and stepped into the shower.
Turning the hot water up, I scrubbed myself from head to toe, enjoying
the feel of the grime rinsing away. I
was looking forward to slipping into a clean pair of pants and a crisp
t-shirt. It was the first time I could
remember looking forward to anything since Trowa died.
Heero was waiting for me
when I came into the living room. His
arms were crossed over his bare chest and he wore a tight expression on his
face. The smile I’d been practicing
slipped, unnoticed. I pushed my damp
hair from my forehead, nervous.
“Why didn’t you tell
him?”
He was referring to my
confession, to that distant day when Trowa asked me, point-blank, if I cared
for him, and I’d said no. I swallowed
hard, wondering if Heero really had any right to my secrets. But I’d already begun, the night before,
with my drastic admission.
I sat down on a chair,
painfully aware of the fragile-looking wraith that hovered nearby. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes,
willing another confession to surface.
“I didn’t want him to touch me,” I admitted slowly, trying to keep my
voice steady. “I lied to him because I
didn’t want him to touch me.”
Heero’s sharp intake of
breath and sad expression was enough to shame me. I fled to my bedroom and, for the first time since he’d come to
stay with me, I shut the door. Lying on
my bed, I studied the ceiling and invited in the thoughts I usually pushed from
my head.
We’d fought over
Heero. We were seventeen, newly-made
Preventors, happy just to be working together.
Then he told me his secret: he’d
fulfilled his favorite fantasy. I
thought he meant Sally, or maybe even Une—I was shocked, but proud of my best
friend’s daring. Then he said it. Heero.
I just slept with Heero Yuy.
I felt sick
to my stomach and terribly betrayed. I
lashed out, demanding to know how he could’ve done such a thing. I couldn’t imagine Trowa—my Trowa—kissing
Heero, touching him. I was repulsed,
disgusted, and hurt more deeply than I could understand at the time.
He misunderstood my
anger, or maybe he knew me better than I knew myself. A few days later I felt no better—vicious words kept coming to
mind when I saw Heero at work—but I allowed Trowa to come to my room. I assumed he was ready to apologize and promise
he was just experimenting, that it’d never happen again.
Instead he
confessed. I love you, Quatre. I have since that day you found me at the
circus, when I didn’t know you, but heard music in your voice.
I stared at him,
shocked. I thought that everything I’d
believed about Trowa, everything I’d counted on, was wrong. He asked me if I cared, if I could love him
the same way he loved me. I could tell
by the light in his eyes that he expected me to say yes. His joy was immeasurable and so was my
horror. I loved him—in that moment I
felt the vast swell of my emotions, the overpowering urge to hold him close and
kiss him until we were both drunk with it.
I was terrified. I said no.
I shoved him out of my
room as quickly as I could, but not too soon to see the sheen of tears in his
vivid green eyes. I quit the Preventors
and left the next day, but I was never able to forget that certain shade of
light where green looks like Trowa and it hurts so much.
I didn’t come out of my
room for hours. Heero was working at
the computer when I was finally brave enough to face him. Rather, the computer was on, but Heero was
just staring. The curve of his spine,
the glow of the screen reflected on his face, it reminded me of another day,
years ago, when Heero promised to find Trowa for me. Not for himself—he was barely able to care for his own life, much
less someone else’s—but for me.
Somewhere along the way,
Heero had learned to give, and I learned to close myself up. My heart hurt suddenly, and he looked up at
me, startled. I saw my own pain
reflected in his eyes before I slipped away.
I’d left a book on the
floor of my bedroom weeks before. I’d
started it before Trowa’s ghost moved in.
Now, not wanting to think of Heero or Trowa and the trust we’d once had
in each other, I picked it up and remembered how to read.
The book occupied my
entire day. Trowa waited patiently,
curled up on the opposite side of the bed, watching. I looked up when the light outside dimmed—it seemed too early for
nightfall, even to my confused sense of time.
I went to the window and pulled up the shade, startled by the dust that
swirled up and choked me.
The sky was dark with
angry-looking clouds. I opened the
window. The hot, stale air in the room
came to life, dampening with the cool of the storm and billowing through the
drapes. Lightning cracked—I counted
seven seconds before its companion thunder boomed.
While I stood there, it
started raining as it can only in summer.
Clouds burst and there were torrents of water falling heavily from the
sky. The air seemed charged with
static, making my hair prickle and my skin tingle. After a while, lightening became more frequent, the space before
the following crash of thunder lessened.
It made me feel alive, and I was shocked to realize that I liked the
feeling.
I stood there for an
indefinite amount of time—long enough to feel cold through and through, long
enough for the slanting rain to soak through my clothes and puddle at my
feet. I pushed my hair from my
forehead, idly thinking of those goggles I used to wear—Rashid’s—and how they’d
come in handy, to keep the rain out of my eyes.
Lightning hit
nearby. The windows rattled and the
floor beneath me shook. I could barely
take a breath before thunder bellowed around me.
I was still enjoying the
ringing in my ears when rough hands pulled me from the window. “Damn it, Quatre!” Heero disparaged in an
uneven voice. “You’re not the one who
died!” He pushed me out of the way and
slammed the window shut, turning on me with a glare.
I wanted to agree with
him, wanted to explain how the electricity of the storm made me feel like part
of the earth again, but his eyes were dark and wild and I found myself
wondering, instead, if he’d ever looked at Trowa with such confused fury. My teeth started to chatter.
Stifling a curse, Heero
yanked my t-shirt over my head; it landed on the floor with a wet, dull
sound. I didn’t protest, though the
feeling of his hands skimming the skin of my sides and back made me shiver more
than the rain. His fingers fumbled with
the button on my pants, but in a moment, those too were shucked off my body and
I was naked.
Ignoring the flush that
colored my face and chest, Heero turned from me, digging his way through the
drawers of my dresser until he found a pair of pajama pants. I slid into them gratefully, hiding my face
beneath my hair. I hadn’t seen those
particular pajamas since I’d moved—Trowa had given them to me for Christmas two
years before, so they’d ended up shoved into a bottom drawer, unused since I
ran away. I didn’t bother to tell Heero
that I wasn’t supposed to wear them anymore.
The room shook as
thunder clapped nearby. Pulling down
the shade, Heero quieted the room with darkness. I crawled into bed, suddenly drained of the lightning’s energy. To my surprise, he joined me.
We didn’t speak. I turned away from him, closing my eyes
against the shade of Trowa who lingered beside the bed. Heero settled against his pillow. I listened to the arc of the rainstorm—how
it intensified before fading slowly into the evening. Soon I could hear only the water dripping from the soaked drapes
and the gentle sigh of three people breathing.
From that night forward,
Heero slept in my bed each night, only to have disappeared by the time I woke
in the morning. Awake, we kept a
respectable distance from each other, but I suspected—I knew—that in sleep our
bodies found one another, twining together as they did that first night. I tried not to think about it too much.
The next weeks were
quiet, almost routine. We didn’t talk,
but his silent company was satisfying.
We ate together and moved within the same forty-two foot square that was
my tiny apartment. Each day was no more
interesting than the last, but I rediscovered my passion for reading and Heero
spent more and more time on the computer—communicating with the outside world
in a way I wasn’t quite ready for.
Slowly, very slowly, the
knot in my chest began to loosen. We
had our bad days—days when I cried into my pillow for hours, missing the way
Trowa used to communicate with just his face and that quirk of a smile that
never failed to make me laugh—days when Heero climbed out the window onto the
roof, not moving at all except to watch the clouds with his eyes. Trowa still hovered in the shadows. Still, we got better. I remembered how to smile—albeit
wistfully—and waking each day was less of a chore.
It was nearly autumn
when Heero opened the door. I had been
in the bedroom, reading, when the knock came.
I jumped to my feet; Rashid was back for his weekly check—I usually
called out through the closed door these days, not ready to face him and the
life I used to lead. When I got there,
Heero had already unlocked the stiff bolts and pulled the door open. Trowa clung to the shadows behind him, observing.
Rashid’s large body
crowded the hallway, filling the doorway in a way that would have been
menacing, if it weren’t so comfortingly familiar. I froze, feeling a little like a naughty child facing his father.
The lines on his face
had deepened—I could see that concern for my well-being all these months had
taken a toll on him. He stared at me,
and I suddenly felt very small—too skinny with my naked chest and shaggy
hair. His face broke into a
half-relieved smile and tears welled up in his eyes. It hurt. I was glad I’d
gotten back into the habit of showering each day—the grimy, unkempt behavior of
before would have worried him more.
Rashid didn’t speak—or
maybe he couldn’t. Blinking furiously,
he handed a steaming paper sack to Heero, nodded affectionately at me, and
left.
He’d brought us Chinese
food. For months we’d eaten nothing but
canned soups and instant ramen—Heero and I attacked the sesame chicken and
pepper steak with vehemence. After we’d
devoured every morsel of rice and Heero dropped his chopsticks on the table
next to my fork, I got up to make tea.
I was still thinking of
Rashid and the paternal pain that was etched on his face.
“Have you called
Duo?” I asked softly, handing Heero a
cup and saucer.
He nodded, sipping the
steaming drink. “Last month. I told him we’d be okay.”
I nodded too, studying
the scarred grooves in the fingertips of my left hand. We would be okay, in spite of
everything. His hand reached out, his
fingers covering mine suddenly. I
looked up, startled by the gesture.
“You do believe me,
don’t you, that we’ll be all right?”
His eyes were wide beneath the fringe of his hair, which was longer than
mine.
“Yes,” I whispered.
That night when I
slipped into my pajamas and covered myself with the sheet, I found myself
staying awake, looking forward to Heero turning off the computer screen and
coming to bed. My heart beat
erratically when the light in the other room finally blinked out.
Heero stretched
languidly, yawning as he unbuttoned the shirt he wore—it was one of my
favorites, and the light blue that always made my hair more golden enhanced his
eyes in a way that made me nervous. He
threw the shirt onto the pile that had formed in the corner and stepped out of
his pants. He had no pajamas to wear,
so he wore just his shorts. I closed my
eyes as he climbed onto the bed.
His breath didn’t alter,
even as his body relaxed. I opened my
eyes, looking at Trowa and wondering why Heero’s mind was staying alert.
“Quatre.” His voice was low, almost inaudible. “You know I’ve always felt you here.”
I rolled over to face
him. He was tapping his chest with two
fingers, a soft look on his face. “But
lately, since I heard your music and followed it here,” he took a deep breath,
his eyes never leaving my face. “Lately
I haven’t been able to tell where you begin and I end.”
I took stock of
everything, gripping the sheet to keep the room from spinning. I thought of Trowa’s declaration—his
confession in simple words that weren’t anything like Heero’s—and I realized
that I couldn’t let myself make the same mistake twice. Panic edged its way into my mind, but I
stomped it down.
Licking my lips, I tried
to speak, stopping only when I realized that I had nothing worked out to
say. Heero had become important, a
fixture in my life lately that I hadn’t even noticed until it was too late to
change things. Over time I’d found
myself looking forward to meeting his eyes over breakfast, to finding the
shower stall already wet and smelling of soap in the morning. I listened for the clack of his typing when
I read, watched for the telltale droop in his shoulders at night when he got
sleepy. Though I’d denied it for a long
time, I slept better now that he shared my bed.
I’d come to depend on him,
to care about him.
It scared me.
I had to say
something. “Heero,” I managed, my voice
more of a croak.
He put his finger on my
lips. “Shh,” he urged softly. I had a hard time not tasting his
fingertip. “Don’t say anything. Just sleep.”
He rolled over and I
stared at his back for what seemed like hours.
The skin was thin, exposing his knobby backbone and shoulder
blades. I wanted to trace words over
the smooth part near his waist. I
love you, Heero Yuy.
His breathing deepened
and his muscles relaxed as he fell into sleep.
In the darkness, I learned the subtle tapering of his waist to his hips;
I memorized the slight swell of his triceps, the curve of his neck muscles that
tightened when I breathed on him.
Careful not to wake him, I gathered him close to me, spooning against
him as I leaned my face in his hair. He
instinctively nestled closer, and for a mortifying moment I thought he’d wake
to discover my erection against his backside.
He didn’t.
The next morning over
breakfast, he suggested we go for a walk.
After a lot of coaxing
and pointing out all the reasons that it would be good for us, Heero convinced
me. I showered and put on shorts, a
t-shirt, and running shoes. While tying
my shoes, I looked at Trowa meaningfully—I was afraid he’d be gone when we
returned, so I tried to let him know that I wanted him to stay.
It felt strange when we
stepped out of the apartment, watching Heero carefully lock the door and slip
the key into his pocket. We sneaked
past the posted Maganac—I wasn’t surprised to see that the apartment building
was being watched. Clearly Rashid
wanted to know if we left, but it was important to me that no one found out
about our excursion—I wasn’t prepared to move on with life the way it used to
be.
The air was clear and
held just a hint of autumn that excited my senses. I’d never gotten used to temperate seasons—the idea that summer
could change into fall was still new and exhilarating to me. Heero and I walked to a nearby park where
children were running around while adults played tennis or chatted on
benches. We followed a running path
that wound through a wooded area.
Beneath the deep green awning of the treetops, Heero’s hand brushed against
mine. My senses burst to life; then I
spent the next twenty minutes wondering if it had been intentional. The woods opened up to a clearing with a
small, man-made lake. There weren’t too
many people on that end of the park, and those that were there were reading or
napping in the grass.
Without a word, Heero
and I clamored up onto a rock that hung out over the water. It was warm with sunshine, so we lay down,
soaking up the nutrients we’d neglected by staying inside all summer. We had been pretty quiet all day, but it was
the good kind of silence, where nothing needed to be said. Lying in the sun, however, the mood shifted,
and somehow I knew that Heero had something to tell me.
I prompted him,
wondering if it had anything to do with what he’d said the night before. Maybe he’d changed his mind, or hadn’t meant
to say anything at all. My pulse raced
at his tense expression as he knit his eyebrows together. I smiled anyway, hoping to encourage him.
“I used to resent you so
much,” he began. I was startled by his
words, but managed to nod slowly. “That
night—” He faltered, sitting up a
bit. “The night you broke up with
Trowa,” he clarified. “I took him to
bed. You see, he’d left me once, just a
few days before, and I wanted to make sure he wouldn’t leave me again.”
My chest tightened at
the sound of shame in Heero’s voice.
The story was an old one, but it had to be told. I understood.
“He said he loved you,
that he knew you loved him, too. He
wanted to go back, that night, to talk with you again. I seduced him. The next day, you were gone.
I thought I’d won.” Heero
squinted his eyes, looking at the sky near the sun. “But he still loved you.
I loved him for a long time that way, knowing that he would rather have
been still sleeping with you.”
Still? I sat up, shading the
sun from Heero’s eyes with my shadow. “Trowa
and I were never lovers,” I corrected him slowly. I felt my face turn red with embarrassment. “We never even kissed.”
He looked at me a
moment, disbelieving, but soon a small smile crept onto his lips. “Never?” he asked softly.
I shook my head, lying
back down to study the water. I’ve
never really kissed anyone.
Later that evening, I reclined onto my
pillows, exhausted. Heero was making
dinner out of groceries we’d bought on the way home from the park. Sharp-eyed Abdul was keeping watch this
time, so we had to come up with a tricky plan to get back inside. It turned out that neither Heero nor I were
in as good shape as we had been—climbing up the side of the fire escape really
wore us out.
I was
relieved to see that Trowa was still haunting the apartment when we
returned. I was afraid of him leaving,
especially if it was because Heero and I were getting along so well. As I closed my eyes in the dim bedroom, listening
to the bang of pots and pans as Heero fumbled in the kitchen, Trowa appeared in
the room, kneeling on my bed. Looking
at his blank green eyes made me sad and lonely.
“Hey,
Trowa,” I said softly, half-afraid of startling him. I knew he couldn’t—or wouldn’t—talk back, but there were things I
needed him to know. “You’ll always be
my best friend, Trowa.” I could feel
tears stinging the corners of my eyes, but I was determined not to cry. “I want you to understand that I was hurt,
and the change in my feelings really scared me. It’s different now; I understand—” I gulped, stumbling over the words. “I understand who I am, now.”
Trowa’s
ghost moved closer, his arms and legs looking pale, but solid. He was beautiful. Even without any expression on his face, his features were
perfect and lovely. I lost my breath,
looking at him. “Trowa,” I
whispered. “I loved you. So much.”
The
phantom raised his hands—white like ivory in the dim evening—and touched my
face gently. I closed my eyes,
half-afraid of a repeat of the last experience with Trowa’s hands. I was equally terrified that I’d live to
forget this moment. His hands were cool
and smooth on my face—they were shaking.
“Quatre?” Heero’s voice intruded; I opened my eyes to
see him standing in the doorway, oven mitts on his hands. Trowa’s spirit dissipated, reappearing next
to Heero in the next moment. Something
flicked in Heero’s eyes and he glanced around the room. “You okay?
I thought I heard you talking.”
I shook my
head, mumbling something about being tired.
It was time to eat, so I followed Heero into the other room. A backward glance verified that Trowa still
watched.
Heero
didn’t come to bed until late that night.
I lay awake for hours, listening to the rhythmic clacking of his fingers
against the keyboard—by two o’clock I was convinced that I’d be able to recognize
Heero’s typing in a line-up. It was a
little after three when he finally pulled off his clothes and slid into bed.
He didn’t
notice I was awake. I held my breath,
wondering if I’d been wrong about his words the night before, wrong about
everything. He’d avoided coming to bed
for so long. I stared at the closet
door, where Trowa sat curled on the floor; I wondered what I should do.
After a
moment I noticed how irregular his breathing had become, how stiffly he held
his body. Heero was nervous.
I was encouraged.
“Heero,” I
began softly, not shifting my position or taking my eyes off the glint of the
closet’s mirror. “Heero, I want you.”
I heard
his sharp intake of breath, that Japanese word that always sounded like
swearing. He didn’t move either, but I
could feel him watching me. “Are you
sure?” The words came out in a growl,
and startled, I flipped over to look at him.
He was
shaking. His eyes were glassy in the
darkness and he clutched the sheet unconsciously in two fists. “Are you really sure?” he asked again, his
eyes searching my face.
I’d
thought this through. I loved him. I lay awake at night fantasizing about his
lean body and soft mouth—about the things he could do with them. Trying my hardest to keep my hands from
trembling, I touched his hair. He
closed his eyes. I slid my fingertips
down his face, over his jaw, and onto his throat. When they rested on his collarbone and my heart was pounding so
hard that it hurt me, I answered him.
“Yes,” I whispered. “I’m
sure. I want you.”
He opened
his eyes slowly, and I was startled to see naked longing gleaming in them. His breaths came in short bursts, as though
he’d been running. I stared at him, not
knowing what to do, how to funnel the passionate love I was feeling into
action.
Leaning up
onto his elbows, he touched his lips to mine gently—more softly than I ever
imagined a kiss could be. He tasted me
slowly, running his tongue along my bottom lip. I thought I’d explode with the pleasure of it, all focused into a
spot as small as my mouth. I kissed
back instinctively until he pushed away, breathless.
“I’ve been
waiting for you,” he whispered against my mouth, his voice husky.
I still
couldn’t move, so he kissed me again, pressing his mouth against mine. He moved
his lips slowly, so that, this time, mine opened beneath him. He tasted like toothpaste, like water, like
everything delicious I had ever eaten.
His tongue slid around mine, curving up to brush against the roof of my
mouth. I shivered as shockwaves coursed
down through my stomach and lower.
“I’m
here,” I answered, blushing as his thumbs flicked over my nipples, making them
hard. I could hardly bear the almost
painful urgency of my body’s arousal, but Heero was determined to take it
slowly. He stared at me through the darkness,
apparently learning my face by heart.
In all the years I’d known him, I’d never seen such fierce elation in
those moody blue eyes. For an instant,
it made me feel like a fraud for making him think I was so significant. But then he smiled as he kissed my throat,
my chest, my stomach, and I knew not to question the luck—or providence—that
brought us there. He licked a trail
across my ribs, sending shudders through me.
I looked
away when he hooked his thumbs beneath the waistband of my pajamas, stretching
the elastic so they’d slide smoothly over my hips. His blatant admiration embarrassed me, as did his lively attempt
to even things out by shucking off his own shorts and flinging them aside. I’d seen naked men before, but not when they
were aroused. Certainly not aroused by
me.
Heero was
a surprisingly playful lover; he kissed me all over, refusing to allow me to
touch him in return. “For you,” he
insisted, gradually focusing his calculated caresses—a fantasy come to life as
his tongue skimmed over smooth skin.
I was
dizzy with the sensations, feeling like I was falling and at the same time
flying. Heero’s mouth drove me wild,
his hair felt sleek and smooth in my hands.
Everything was building around me, spiraling upward, and I realized too
late that I couldn’t control things—I fell back against the pillows, crying out
as warm tremors washed over me.
Surfacing
from my ecstasy, I realized that I’d done it too soon. My face grew warm as I recognized the
consequence of my inexperience.
Heero
looked delighted. He swallowed hard and
smirked as he licked his lips playfully.
“Guess I should’ve saved that, huh?”
He laughed, crawling up to kiss me on the mouth before snuggling against
my chest. “There’s always more where
that came from, though,” he added reflectively, his hot tongue flicking out to
tease my skin.
Hours
later, when the pale blue light of early dawn teased the edges of the shaded
windows, Heero finally fell into an exhausted sleep. My own eyelids were heavy, and my muscles were already tightening
into knots of soreness, but I couldn’t sleep.
I was too wound up to do anything but think. I rolled the whole night through my mind—already a cherished
memory. Heero had overwhelmed me with
the frequency of his smile, the laughter in his eyes. He’d looked gentle and beautiful and terribly young. My chest felt saturated with the
comprehension that someone so breathtaking could care for me, and gradually,
the emptiness that had lurked inside of me for so long was filled.
I gazed around
the gray room—Trowa had stopped watching during the night, slipping away to
wherever ghosts go. Now I wondered if
I’d get to see him again—I didn’t know if it’d hurt him to see me so intimate
with Heero. I rolled over, pulling the
thin blanket up around my ears. Still,
I was only mildly surprised to find him there, stretched out on the bed next to
us, his hands casually tucked behind his head.
Trowa was
smiling.
A lump
filled my throat as I studied the subtle expression I thought I’d never see again—the
smile I thought I’d lost any rights to.
For so many months he’d been blank—I hadn’t known he was able to smile.
He reached
for me, pushing my hair from my eyes as he gazed at me. His eyes were green even in the
dimness. I closed my eyes, leaning into
his hands to learn the texture of them on my face. His voice echoed in my mind.
Quatre, take care of Heero.
Love him for me.
I nodded,
finally able to agree to my best friend’s last words.
Trowa
leaned forward, brushing my mouth with his phantom lips—a feather-light feeling
that left me giddy.
A moment
later, the heady feeling intensified—Trowa’s hands, his face, even his body,
were disappearing before my eyes, falling into me until I could feel him
inside, occupying the vacant spaces left in my soul. A warmth like relaxation spread through me, and I realized that
he wanted to stay there, to love me from inside for as long as I’d let
him. Trowa’s breath within me felt like
heaven.
It wasn’t
until I looked at Heero that I knew how much Trowa longed to keep him,
too. An overpowering rush of emotion
filled me as I gazed at my sleeping lover, and I understood. My friend had love enough for us both.
Tears
filled my eyes as I nuzzled Heero’s neck, basking in the smell of my shampoo in
his hair, the feel of his warm skin close to mine.
He blinked
at me, groggy but startled by the hot moisture that slid across his skin. “What is it?” he asked, alarmed. “Did I hurt you?” He twisted and put his hand on the back of my head, cradling it
protectively.
I shook my
head—it was my turn to be sheepish.
“It’s just—” I didn’t know the
words, if any words existed, to explain
the wide range of emotions that flooded me in that instant. About us, about Trowa; I didn’t know where
to begin. “Heero, I—“
Heero covered
my lips with his own, silencing me. “I
know,” he whispered. “I feel it, too,
remember?”
And I knew
I would love him for a very long time.