At first he liked her. All of them did, even Wufei. She was pretty, smart, and very nice, with an upbeat attitude to keep up with Duo's. That was always a plus. But as the months wore on, the boys saw more and more of her personality that they didn't like or appreciate. She actually was quite lazy, stingy, and inconsiderate. It came down to the point where nobody wanted her around, and Wufei had to be supervised in her presence.

"I can't believe you!"

"What do you mean ‘you can't believe me?!' I can't believe you!"

"Duo, I told you I wanted that last poptart. Why would you go ahead and eat it?!"

"Hilde, you said you wanted it two days ago. I was hungry and I'm not going to let it sit in the breadbox until it grows fur waiting for you to eat it!"

"Fine. If that's how you feel, you can just sleep on the couch or in Quatre's room!" Hilde quickly turned around and left the apartment, slamming the door shut.

"Wait! You don't walk out on me–" The rest of what Duo said was drowned out as he followed Hilde outside. Trowa winced as the door was slammed shut a second time, rattling the walls and knocking a picture down. Cursing silently, he stood up from where he was perched on the couch, watching Jerry Springer, to the dining room. The picture was a black and white school photo of Duo, Heero, Quatre, Wufei and himself in their basketball uniforms during their first year of high school. He slowly walked up to the fallen portrait and picked it up gingerly, careful of the broken glass. He sighed softly over the picture as he remembered those days. He was captain of the team. The rest of them were his best players, then later his best friends. They have always stuck together through thick and thin through their four years of school. They all even were going to the same college. He thought they were all inseparable until that ugly and horrific thing entered their lives. Dating.

Heero is single (not to anyone's surprise), and even though he didn't date much, he went so far as to turn down Relena Dorlian when she asked him out. That was the talk of campus for weeks. Duo has been seeing Hilde (off and on) for almost a year now, Quatre is single (to everyone's surprise) and Wufei is seriously seeing Sally Po (again, to everyone's surprise). Other than that, the five boys have been as close as they always have been. However, the past few months have proven to be trying for all of them.

The door opened and closed again, this time without being slammed. Trowa shook himself out of his reverie and made sure the nail was secure on the wall before placing the picture back up.

"What happened? Those two morons were slamming the door again?"

Trowa smiled slightly at the venom in his roommate's voice. "Yeah Wufei. They were having another argument."

Wufei walked over to the couch where he dumped his book bag on the floor and went to the kitchen, grabbing a Snapple. "Oh, and what were they fighting about this time? Did he drink the last of the milk or was he two minutes late picking her up where it would've taken her ten minutes to walk home?"

Trowa snickered quietly to himself as Wufei went on rambling. He has expressed many times with Duo how much he disliked Hilde. He's surprised she still shows her face around here. "No, this time he ate the last poptart."

"Well shit! She CAN go to the store and buy more, can't she? Hell, the girl acts like food is to be worshiped, not eaten." Wufei plopped on a couch that sat across from Trowa. "Wow Tro, the apartment looks great. You cleaned up today. I appreciate it."

Trowa glanced around their two bedroom, two bathroom apartment. Their rooms were at opposite ends, but Wufei's room was the master bedroom. The dining room consisted of a wooden kitchen table and chairs, but that was used for placing books, shoes and bills rather than eating. The living room had two couches of the same length, the entire couch made of a green plaid cloth material and a dark green recliner that almost matched. Their TV was a 32" which sat on top of a nightstand neither boy used. The light brown coffee table did not match anything in the apartment, but served its use as a foot rest and magazine holder.

"No problem Wu. You had two tests this week. I knew you'd be too tired and busy to worry about it. Plus they were driving me crazy. I had to do something."

"Who was driving you crazy? Don't tell me that those two were arguing here?" Trowa nodded his head. "What the hell is going on?"

Trowa sighed. Here it comes.

"They were arguing here? As in," Wufei pointed to the floor, "this apartment?"

"Yep."

He threw his arms up in the air. "I don't believe this. Why do they keep coming here? It has been, how long has it been?"

"Three weeks–"

"Three weeks since they moved out and Quatre moved in with them to help out and they still keep coming here? Trowa, don't let them do that."

"Do what?"

He looked at Trowa like he grew horns. "Don't let them bring that garbage in here. They wanna fight, they can do it somewhere else. That's why Heero kicked them out in the first place."

There was a polite knock at the door before it opened and closed, a tired groan coming from the new person. "Hey guys."

"Hey Quatre," they both chimed simultaneously.

Quatre went to the frig and grabbed a root beer before settling down next to Wufei. "Wu, how did your anatomy test go?"

He made a face. "Okay, I think. I'll just be glad when I graduate."

"Well, we're only sophomores. And you will be in school for a while since you're majoring in physical fitness. Gotta get use to it."

"Look whose talking. You're in business. If you're going for a masters like you say you are, you'll be there a while too."

"I know, I know," Quatre sighed. "We'll both be old men by the time we get through, unlike some mechanics majors." He gave Trowa a knowing smirk.

Trowa just shrugged. "I can't help it if I'm good."

Quatre scoffed. "Hey guys, is it okay if I crash here tonight?"

Wufei answered as Trowa flipped to the Oprah show. "Sure thing Quatre. We gave you a key here for a reason. Come over anytime you like, especially with those two living with you. You're making the same mistake as Trowa and I did."

Trowa put down the remote when he flipped to HBO. The previews for ‘The Sopranos' was on. After that ‘South Park' the movie was supposed to be showing.

"Okay, tell me what I got into. Duo told me what happened, but Hilde was with him so I'm sure many of the details were left out. I don't understand why all the juicy stuff happened when I went home for Christmas break." Quatre took another large gulp of root beer and sat back, ready to listen.

Wufei started. "Did you know that Heero kicked them out?"

Quatre gasped. "What?! No way! I was told that you and Trowa offered them to move in with you!"

"We did," Trowa offered softly. "You see, one night, around eight thirty or so, Wu and I got a call from Heero. He stated that he had just thrown Hilde and Duo out, and that they would be on the street until they found a place of their own. He also told us not to let them move in with us, or else we'd be sorry." Trowa gave Wufei a smirk. "He was right."

"Wait wait wait, I don't get it," the blond interrupted. "Out of all of us, Heero and Duo were the closest. Hell, they were even lovers at one time. What happened to make him kick both Hilde AND Duo out?"

Wufei pointed across the street, to where Quatre lived. "Those two fussing. You know how protective Heero is of Duo and the rest of us, but they wore his patience down. He lives twenty miles from the rest of us, so he can't hop over whenever he gets frustrated like you can. Plus, he's not going to let that bitch chase him out of his own place."

Quatre frowned. "I'm not letting them chase me out. My name isn't even on the lease, so I technically have no right to be there. And Wufei, you shouldn't call her a bitch."

"Fine fine fine," Wufei resigned. "He wouldn't let that snot nose bitch chase him out of his own place."

"Now Wufei–" That was all Trowa heard before Wufei retorted and the two of them were fussing back and forth. Shaking his head slightly, he got up and put his shoes on. Snatching his keys off the ever present ironing board that stood resolutely near the wall, he shouted over the other two to be heard. "I'm going to Popeyes. Should I get us the 12--piece chicken or the 15--piece?"

"15--piece!" They both shouted at him before returning back to their previous ‘heated' discussion. Trowa only shook his head and smiled, then grabbed his wallet and one of their cell phones. Closing the door and locking it behind him, he allowed his eyes to adjust to the dwindling sunlight. On one of the slides on the playground, which sat in the center of the apartment complex and fifteen feet in front of him, was Duo and Hilde, making out.

He only rolled his eyes before he crept quietly down the stairs. If he wanted to see that kind of thing he would've stayed in the campus dorms. After double checking to make sure that he wasn't seen by the couple, Trowa easily strolled to where his car was parked.

Jumping in his 195 Toyota Corolla, he put the key in the ignition and turned, waiting for the car to start. It didn't. Sighing, he fell back into the seat, waiting a few minutes. "Great, now I have to get that fixed too," he murmured to himself.

While waiting, Trowa thought back on the past two years and how everything happened so fast. Of course, Heero and Duo broke up right before graduation, but he figured as much. Their relationship had cooled down a great deal during their senior year of high school. Their freshman year in college was a huge party from start to end. The five of them lived in the campus dorms: he and Quatre were roommates, Heero and Duo were roommates, and Wufei had the only single. During that year, Duo had met Hilde at a club, and needless to say, things got complicated then.

After their freshman year, (and a 2.8 GPA) Trowa decided to move off campus because it was too distracting. Wufei went along with him, and the two became tenants of the Stable Bridge apartment complex. Six months down the line, he gets a call from Heero about Duo and Hilde. Living with those two for three weeks was incredibly trying. "How did Heero deal with this for six months?" He said out loud to himself. He figured that after they moved out and Quatre moved in to help with bills, since they rented a town house, everything will work out okay. Nothing was further from the truth.

Every dispute they had, it was at his apartment. Every time Hilde wanted to complain, she'd call Trowa or come over to see him, despite the dirty looks Wufei would give her. She would then eat all of the food and leave, without cleaning her mess, and even ran up their phone bill. Trowa was trying to be patient. Unfortunately, for her, he was losing the battle.

He turned the key and the car jumped into life. Pleased, but with a growling stomach, he carefully backed out of his space and drove to the gate, punching in his code. He was pretty sure that Hilde would invite herself to their dinner, no matter what Duo would cook for her. So, with a gleam in his eye, he decided that spicy chicken and the new hot Cajun jambalaya would be a small, but great way, to get vengeance.

(tbc)