by Anne
Disclaimer: Gundam Wing belongs to Bandai, Sunrise and Sotsu Agency. I promise to return the characters in one piece, more or less, when I'm finished, but hold no liability for any physical injury or psychological trauma sustained by them in my fiction.
I don't own the song "Right Here Waiting" by Richard Marx either.
This ficlet was written for lil_1337’'s request on the mp3 drabble meme on LJ.
Quatre sat back in his chair, watching his sister and her new husband take centre stage on the dance floor. He still couldn't believe that Alimah had got married after a whirlwind romance. She and Dawud were a good match; he was patient, kind but wouldn't allow himself to be bullied by her. They were also very much in love.
"They look good together." Trowa moved his chair over closer to Quatre and smiled. "She seems happy."
"Yes, she is." Quatre returned the smile. "I'm pleased you came."
"I let you down last time." Trowa shook his head. "I told you I wouldn't do it again. We're together; your family will have to deal with it." He glanced around the room; several of Quatre's sisters turned away from him quite deliberately. "It must have been very difficult for you. I'm sorry."
"It's in the past." Quatre squeezed Trowa's hand. He didn't want to remember the mistakes they had made; they were both guilty of those. This was the first time they had been out since he'd been off his crutches; he intended to make the most of it. His family had not been happy when Alimah and Dawud had included Trowa on the guest list as Quatre's date, but Alimah had told them with some very choice words just what she thought of their reaction. She had always liked Trowa, although Quatre suspected she had also told Trowa exactly what she would do to him if he hurt Quatre again. He had got the same lecture in regard to Trowa and a very pointed comment about communication being a wonderful thing and that being hit by a car had been a rather drastic way to sort out their relationship. Next time she would lock them in a room together; it would be easier on her nervous system.
The song finished playing, and the next one started. Trowa stood. "Would you dance with me, Cat?"
Blushing, Quatre nodded, offering Trowa his hand to lead them both out onto the dance floor. It was slow song. Sliding his arms around Trowa's waist, Quatre leaned his head on his lover's shoulder, ignoring the glares from the other couples. All that was important was Trowa, and the fact they were in each other's arms.
The piano introduction finished and Trowa began moving slowly, pressing himself against Quatre, and singing softly along with the lyrics. It was a song they both knew. "Oceans apart, day after day, and I slowly go insane."
Quatre tilted his head up to look in Trowa's eyes, kissing him gently. "Wherever I go, whatever you do, I will be right here waiting for you." His voice choked; the lyrics were a little too close to home.
"Whatever it takes, or how my heart breaks." Trowa's voice faltered. "If I see you next to never, how can we say forever."
They stilled, holding each other, the music continuing on around them. Quatre stroked Trowa's cheek. Trowa leaned into his lover's touch, placing his hand over Quatre's. "I love you," Quatre whispered. "I don't care about the past. I only care about our future."
Even though he spoke the words and believed them, the past seemed determined to haunt them, if not with this song and the events of the past few months, then in the nightmares of the war. They had fought for their beliefs so that others could have a future, but their actions refused to stay in the past where they belonged.
"The past shapes our future, Quatre." Trowa's voice didn't quite hide his underlying pain; Quatre could feel as well as hear it. "If we ignore it we keep repeating the same mistakes."
"No." Quatre shook his head. "I can't ignore the past, but I want to move on from it." Too many things had happened between them, the accident, the war, zero, but those incidents had shaped them, their past and their future. He wasn't sure they could ever totally leave it behind; he knew his guilt wouldn't allow him that luxury. "I don't want to make the same mistakes. I can't."
Trowa's lips brushed his. Quatre leaned into the kiss, and they began moving to the music again. "You will, and so will I. We're human, Cat. That’s one of the things I love about you, that you are so very human." He smiled sadly. "You feel so very strongly about what you believe in. I believe in us, that you are my future and I am yours."
"I believe in us too, but what if it's not enough? I want a future with you, Trowa, but what if the past won't leave us behind?" Quatre sighed. Around them people were dancing, ignoring them, disregarding his and Trowa's relationship in the hope that it would go away. Trowa had been right in thinking that his family would not accept them, but Quatre didn't care. He never had. The two sisters who were important to him, Iria and Alimah supported them; the rest could go to hell. This mattered to him far more. He would give up everything for Trowa. Position and power were empty without love.
"Then we face it together." Trowa brushed Quatre's hair from his eyes. "I've had a glimpse of a future without you and it scared me."
"It scares me too," Quatre admitted. He was leaning heavily on Trowa, his bad leg beginning to ache. They would have to sit the next dance out. "I don't want to be waiting for you; I want to be with you."
"You need to sit down." Trowa frowned. "This was a mistake. I'm sorry."
"No, it wasn't," Quatre shook his head. "I'm in your arms, you're in mine. We support each other. That's what love is about, good times and bad, through whatever comes."
"Through forever." Trowa helped Quatre back to his seat, pulling his own alongside so they could remain close. "I meant what I said, Cat. I love you and I don't care who knows. As long as you know, that's what is important."
"I know, my love, I know." Quatre leaned over and kissed him again, slowly and deeply this time. "Could you take me home? I think I'd like to be alone with the man I love."
"I'd like that too." Trowa broke the kiss reluctantly. "I wondered if once you've rested that maybe we could dance again. Just the two of us, alone, to whatever music you'd like."
"You, Trowa." Quatre smiled. "You are the music I'd like, I love." He always had been. The dance was life, and even though the melody and beat would change in time, this was one duet Quatre never intended to let go.
"And you are mine." Trowa stood. "I'll go get our coats and then we can say goodbye to Alimah. Stay here, you need to stay off your leg."
"I'll wait," Quatre promised, watching Trowa disappear through the now crowded dance-floor. He closed his eyes, singing the rest of the song softly under his breath, "But in the end if I'm with you, I'll take the chance. Whatever it takes, or how my heart breaks, I will be right here waiting for you."
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