*sweatdrops* I'm still alive... so are they *points at muses* It's her fault though! *points at Cloudy* She got me so sold on writing a PoT fic... that I dropped everything to do it... the muses wouldn't allow anything else until it was done. ^_^ Good thing it was a short one! Then injuring my shoulder slowed me down too...
Without You Part 3
Morning came more quickly than Quatre would have preferred it to. He'd spent most of the night lying awake and thinking of his father's words. He finally came to the realization that no matter what he did or how well he did it, his father was never going to believe that he was strong enough to stand on his own. Another price the blonde was going to have to pay for his illness as a child.
He groaned lightly and buried his head under his pillow, trying to ignore the sounds of his roommate moving around the room. Finally he opened his eyes and peered at the tall brunette.
"Don't you believe in sleeping in?" He asked weakly.
Trowa turned and looked at him, his green eyes surprised. "Classes start tomorrow we should be getting use to getting up early."
Quatre sighed and threw his pillow into the corner above his head. "I guess." Then he sat up and looked around the room. "I have an appointment in a couple of hours anyway. I suppose I should be getting ready for that. It'll take me about a half an hour to walk into town."
"I can give you a lift."
"Excuse me?"
"I'm not doing anything later, I'm sure I can use Heero's car if you'd like a lift into town."
Quatre paled visibly. "Ah... no... that's alright. The exercise will be good for me." Good going, Winner. Why don't you just scream your problems from the rooftop for everyone and get it over with.
Trowa studied him for a moment and then shrugged his shoulders. "Suit yourself." He said before walking out of the room. Strange, it's almost as if he doesn't want me to know where he's going, Trowa thought as he entered the hallway.
"I can't believe you." Heero's voice growled through the hallway.
"What!? What did I do!?" Duo replied, obviously confused.
"Um, good morning you two." Trowa said walking up to them. "Problems?"
"Ohayo." Heero replied curtly. "You should see how he set up his schedule."
"It's my schedule... I'd think that I can set it up in any manner I wish!" Duo retorted.
Heero glared at him. "You're supposed to be learning responsibility. NOT scheduling classes for three o'clock in the afternoon!"
"Whoah! Enough!" Trowa cut in. "You're giving me a headache, not to mention probably scaring most of the people on this floor. Let's go get some breakfast and try to talk about this like the adult we are supposed to be."
~*~
"Well, Mr. Winner. Everything seems to be fine." A young woman with dark blonde hair and smiling blue eyes told him as she scribbled something on a chart and set it on her desk.
"That's good to hear. Maybe my father will settle down some."
"I said seems to be fine. That doesn't mean it is. Your color is good and your weight is up. I didn't hear a sign of a skip... beyond what you have normally. But, that can change and you know it better than I." She said leaning forward on her desk. "This is not something to fool around with. You've already admitted that you've been exhausted since you came here, although that may change once you settle into your schedule."
Quatre sighed in resignation. "I know this, but can't I at least live a normal life for a change?"
"No. Life is never going to be completely normal for you. Now, I will send a copy of this to your family doctor and discuss it with him. Right now, I'm recommending that you stay on the medications that you are currently taking. If anything, and I mean anything, changes you are to call me immediately, even if it's at my home. Understood?" She stood and held out a slip of paper. "Here are my private numbers."
He nodded as he rose and took the slip of paper from her.
"Do you know where the pharmacy is from here?"
"Yes. Thank-you Dr. Po." He shook her hand and she smiled.
"Sally. Now, just take it easy. We'll get you through this, despite how your father feels, alright?"
"Yes." He smiled brightly and left her office.
She sat back down and wrote a couple more things in his chart. Then laying her pen aside she looked up at the door with a frown on her face. It's too bad... one as young and vibrant as he...
~*~
Trowa returned to his room, after having dinner with his friends, to find it empty. He was almost glad to see that his roommate wasn't there. For a solitary person such as he, it was hard getting used to having another person under foot all the time; whether they were attempting to be his friend or not. He threw his jacket over his chair and picked up a book, lying on his bed to read. Every now and then his eyes strayed to Quatre's side of the room and then he would snap them back to his reading.
He hated to admit that the slender blonde had caught his interest.
He jumped as the door to the room was flung open and Quatre leaned against the frame gasping.
"Are you alright!?" Trowa asked sitting up.
The blonde staggered in and sat limply on his bed, his face chalky, chest heaving with his effort of catch his breath.
"Quatre?" Trowa got up and went to kneel in front of him.
"I-I'm fine..." He gasped. "I just need to catch my breath. I'll be fine." The pain will stop, it always does.
"What happened?" Trowa asked watching Quatre's face. He's so pale!
"N-nothing." Quatre stammered jumping to his feet. "Just leave me alone, okay?" He whispered rushing into the bathroom.
Trowa sat back and winced as the door slammed. So much for trying to be friendly, he commented to himself as he heard the sound of water running in the other room.
~*~
Later that night, Quatre had come out of the bathroom and gone straight to bed; Trowa deciding that his light would probably bother him, decided to try to go to sleep as well. From what he had seen after Quatre had emerged from his bath, there was no real sense in trying to talk to him.
As the slender brunette lay staring at the dark, he thought he heard the sounds of soft sniffles coming from across the room. Finally he rolled onto his side and raised himself up on one arm. "Quatre."
Silence.
Sigh "I know you are still awake. I can hear you." Damn, I'm no good at this. Just do like you do with Duo when things get too much for him. You do fine there. I've known Duo since seventh grade, he argued with himself.
He sat up on his bed and looked in the direction of where Quatre was. He's all alone here... you know what that's like. Finally with another sigh, he got up and slowly made his way across the room. He hesitated for a moment and then sat on the edge of the bed.
"Quatre, you really should talk. It's better." He said quietly, laying a hand of the blonde's shoulder.
At his touch the boy jumped and shot to the other side of the bed. "I'm fine." His voice was miserable.
"No. You're not." Trowa replied reaching up and turning on Quatre's lamp. "If you were then you wouldn't still be awake." He turned back and his heart went out to the small form huddled in the corner, his face pale except for his red rimmed eyes and nose, pink for crying. "And you wouldn't be doing this," He added softly reaching out to wipe a tear from the boy's cheek.
"It's ridiculous, crying at my age." The blonde sniffed.
"Not really." Trowa said quietly. "Duo's known to do it."
"D-Duo?" *sniffle*
"Yeah. He can be pretty emotional."
Quatre looked away from him, obviously thinking. Then he started to talk in halting sentences.
Trowa sat on the side of his bed and listened silently while he talked of the problems he was having with his father. How the man didn't want him here to begin with. How they had fought each other every step of the way since he'd decided he wanted to come. Then today, when he'd come back from town, he had discovered the man waiting for him. He'd come to collect his son and take him home. Quatre had flatly refused to go with him.
Trowa noticed that the blonde never mentioned why his father didn't want him here. He didn't ask, figuring that if Quatre wanted him to know, he'd tell him.
He started to cry again and this time the brunette acted instinctively, reaching out and drawing the boy's slim form into his arms and holding him. Quatre, craving some kind of comfort, curled up against his chest, shaking with the force of his tears.
"He told me that if I didn't come back now, he was going to withdraw his financial support in order to force me back home."
"Does this mean you're going to have to leave?" Trowa asked softly, not understanding why the thought disturbed him so much.
Quatre shook his head. "No. My elder sister holds a trust for me, from my mother. She told me before that if needed, she'd release the account to me and I could use that to pay my tuition." A muffled sniff rose from Trowa's chest. "It's j-just... my father has never spoken to me like that. N-no one in my family ever has."
Trowa tightened his arms around him, closing his eyes. "You're lucky then. You've known kindness from him most of your life. Maybe he's just scared of you leaving him. And you do still have your sister, right?"
The blonde nodded slightly, still crying, more softly now.
"And you have new friends here."
"Thank-you."
Trowa didn't respond, he just sat there holding the distraught boy. This was so alien to him... trying to comfort. Up until now, the only person he'd ever done this with had been Duo. But this was different. And somehow... it felt right. Like he should be here like this with this person.
He felt Quatre's slight body relax against him and glanced down in surprise. Then moving carefully on the small bed, he leaned his back against the wall and closed his eyes, the little blonde curled up against him, fast asleep.
Imagine that. He thought as he drifted to sleep, strangely content in the knowledge that this person trusted him and had gained some comfort in his clumsy attempt at consoling him.
TBC...
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