He opened one eye. Staring straight back at him, unwavering, was the alarm clock, beaming in that segmented bright red. It read 9:13 a.m. His class started at nine. In the amount of time it would take him to get up and get dressed (foregoing a shower of course), drive the 20 and so odd miles to school, fight for a parking space and walk to class, he would catch, oh, the last three minutes of lecture. The class after that, politics, was so boring, students often threatened to commit suicide during lecture. And because of the mood he was in, that didn't seem like a good idea.

/Looks like I'm homebound today,/ Trowa thought to himself. Rolling on his back, he stared at the perfectly white ceiling and listened to himself breathe. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the white blinds blow in slightly from the breeze passing through the open window.

He closed his eyes only to open them sharply, images of what occurred the night before suddenly flashing behind his lids. "Oh yeah, that," he commented dryly to himself as he got out of bed and slid into a pair of sweat pants.

Trowa went into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator door, peering at the contents. A sad sigh escaped his lips when he realized that there wasn't a trace of alcohol to be found. Settling for a root beer, he waded back into his room, but left the door cracked. After flipping through his CD case, he found the Jimi Hendrix song that he was looking for and popped it in the stereo system, fast forwarding it to ‘Purple Haze.'

"Just one more thing," Trowa breathed as he went to his dresser drawer and pulled out his last pack of blacks. [1] Sitting down in front of the open window, he lit the cigar, sat back against the wall, and enjoyed the feel of the breeze against his skin as it blew and filtered the smoke in his room.

He managed to get two puffs off of the cigar when his door opened, startling him. A head with twists attached to it swung around and Trowa relaxed visibly.

"Sorry for scaring you. Can I come in?"

"Sure," he said, blowing the smoke out the window. "Mi casa is su casa."

Sally snorted in humor. "Thanks." Walking over a pile of clothes, she sat down across from Trowa, enjoying the breeze as well.

"Sorry if I woke you. I didn't realize the music was that loud. Plus I didn't know you were here."

"No no no. You didn't wake me. I went in the kitchen to get something to drink and I thought I heard some Hendrix. As I got closer to your room, I realized that's where the music was coming from and decided to pop in, since you and Wufei seem to be skipping class today."

Trowa raised an eyebrow. "Wufei's still here? Wow. The game must've worn him out."

Sally gave Trowa a rather sly smirk. "Oh, I'm afraid I kept him up and busy til about an hour ago. The poor man's exhausted."

"Why did I even doubt you?" he asked, shaking his head and smiling. "I should've known better than to think otherwise."

"Yep, you should've." She smiled back. "Now, what's bothering you cyclops?"

Trowa gave her a questioning look as he blew more smoke out the window. "What makes you think something's bothering me?"

"Come on. I know you Trowa. Since the first day Wufei introduced me to you and the others, you and I hit it off like fireworks. In a past life, I swear you and I were identical twins. I feel like I've known you forever, so I can tell that something's bothering you. What happened?"

He sighed again, blowing more smoke out the window, before turning back to Sally. "You can't tell anyone what I am about to say. Even Wufei and the guys don't know, understand?"

The sheer flatness and seriousness in his voice wiped the smirk off Sally's face as she answered him. "I'll take it to the grave."

"Good. The remote is by your hand. Can you fast forward to ‘Along the Watchtower' and put it on repeat? I like that song the best." She did as she was asked and placed the remote back down by her side. Taking a sip of her Dr. Pepper, she waited for Trowa's story.

He turned his head to face the window, watching a car drive down the street. "Duo and I had sex last night after you all left." He heard her gasp, but didn't comment. "That's not the first time we've done it though." He turned back to Sally, and smiled slightly at the confused look on her face.

"But how? I mean not ‘how' how, but when have you two done it before? I've known Wufei since our first year in college, and I met you guys a short time after, and knew of Hilde even then."

Trowa snorted and took a sip of his root beer. "It was two years ago. See, it was after graduation. The basketball team we all were on took a trip up to L2 amusement park. We spent the whole day there. I don't know how it happened to this day, but somehow the guys got separated from Duo and I, so we went ahead and spent the day together. Built into the amusement park was a water park also, where Duo and I spent the majority of our time. Later that night, on the bus ride back home, I helped Duo put on some cream to help his sunburn. You see, at the water park, he didn't have any sun screen on, so he was burnt to a crisp. While doing that Duo kissed me, and we had sex on the bus in the bathroom."

"There was a bathroom on the bus?"

He blew smoke out the window again. "Yeah, it was one of those charter buses, so it had a bathroom, TVs, a VCR, a CD player, the works."

"Oh, cool," she said, pulling on a twist. "So, what happened after that?"

He shrugged. "The next day, Duo acted like nothing happened. I didn't know what to do about it. We never really talked about it since then. It was like a fluke and I thought that he was ashamed of it. I didn't care, but Duo's sensitive when it comes to his image. So then I figured he was probably on the rebound from Heero, and I didn't say anything either. And since none of the guys came up to us chewing us out or whatever, I knew he didn't say anything to them. It just died and I forgot about it for a while, until he brought it up last night."

"Hn. Do you love him?"

He nodded slightly. "I love them all, you understand. But there is some underlying feelings between Duo and I. How can anyone not love him? With that hair and those eyes? Hilde is a damn idiot for acting the way she does. I've seen girls punch each other to bloody pulps to get anywhere near him, and she has the guy on his hands and knees just about. I think for a while, she was even threatened by you when he talked about you and Wufei."

Sally smiled. "Duo is a looker, I'll give him credit for that, but he's not my type. I love my dragon." She grinned proudly. Trowa only laughed. "And you say none of the guys know? Wow. You are good at keeping secrets."

He shrugged again. "I know Heero thinks something happened, but he's not going to butt in. That's his way. He pulled me aside a few days later and asked if we were fighting or something because we kept avoiding each other when we were together, you know? We weren't making eye contact or we kept our distances when we walked together. I told him something did happen, but we'll fix it on our own. Since then, he hasn't bothered me about it."

"Well, seems like everything's okay, but what are you going to do about last night? And what about Treize and Zechs?"

He threw the finished cigar out the window. "I don't know. I want to see my sister today and find out what she thinks. She's always been good with advice. Treize is not an issue. I can't stand the man. Zechs, I'm not sure about. It's more of a ‘whatever' type of relationship with him."

Sally nodded. "Why did Duo push Treize off a balcony?"

Trowa smiled. "He said something to me that Duo didn't like. See, he and I were out on a balcony on his parents' apartment window. Treize played basketball too, but for Spain. It was time for him to go back, but wanted me to go with him."

"Okay, then what?"

"Well, I told him no, and he grabbed me by the neck and started to choke me."

"Oh my!"

Trowa laughed. "It wasn't that bad. In a quick move I could've had him on his back, but before I even considered touching him, Duo bolted through the door, damn near picked him up and tossed his ass over the balcony."

"What did you do?"

"Well, Heero made sure he wasn't dead, Quatre and I had to pin Duo down on the couch, and Wufei did nothing but laugh."

Sally covered her mouth with her hands. "He laughed?!" she asked incredulously.

"Yep." He took another sip. "He laughed like he would never stop. He can't stand Treize."

Sally continued to giggle. "Wow. What I would give to have been there."

Trowa smiled weakly. "What I would give to have not been there."

"And what are you two doing?"

Both occupants of the room turned to see Wufei standing in the doorway, a hand on his hip with his white robe barely closed.

"We were talking about you babe," Sally answered, winking at Trowa. "I was telling Trowa how much of an animal you were last night."

"Sally!"

Both she and Trowa laughed at the expression on Wufei's reddened face. "Oh well cyclops, I'm gonna go ahead and take a shower." She stood up and walked gracefully to the door, brushing against Wufei. "Coming babe?"

He wiggled his eyebrows to Trowa before turning back to Sally. "Oh yeah." Both of them disappeared from view, and he could hear Wufei's bedroom door close loudly.

Trowa only shook his head and got up to find a clean change of clothes. He really did want to see his sister today, but before he knew it, it will be late. So after he snatched a pair of pants off a hanger, he went to his bathroom to take a quick shower. Of course, he would've waited until Wufei was finished, but from the looks of things, that might be a while.

***

"You and Duo did WHAT?!"

Trowa flinched at her high pitched voice. He hated it when she did that. "It's not like it was intentional, Cathy. It was an accident."

"Oh yeah, sure Trowa. He ‘accidentally' fell on your lap and you ‘accidentally' stuck your twain twain up his ass repeatedly."

"Cathy!"

"Don't ‘Cathy' me boy. I know you better than you know yourself." She poured some iced-tea in his cup, and sat down at the table across from him. "I just don't want you to get hurt again. The last time you two were together, nothing became of it and you were crushed. I don't want it to happen again."

He sighed. "I don't want it to either. I don't know what to do though. What do you think?"

She took a deep breath. "First off, understand this. You are my kid brother, and I have to look out for you. Your friends mean a lot to you, so it's because of that close friendship with them that I won't kill Duo." She smiled, he snorted. "But Trowa, both of you need to sit down and talk about this. To me, it looks like you're being used. He breaks up with Heero and runs to you. He breaks up with Hilde and runs to you. Every time something happens, it's you everyone runs to, and I don't like it. He's your friend and that's what they're suppose to do, but what Duo is pulling, I don't like."

"So I should just talk to him. Hate to tell you this sis, but I'm not very good at expressing myself."

She smiled. "How about this. I won't be working this weekend because we are taking the animals for their checkups at the circus. I'll drive down to your apartment, and sit with you and Duo as you two talk. I'll come down tomorrow, that's Saturday right?"

"Yeah." He frowned. "But I think that would bother him."

She shook her head. "No, I used to do it with Heero and Duo all the time. He won't care. In fact, it might be like old times."

He nodded. "Yeah, that is true–"

"I can't believe you slept with him."

He looked up sharply at her. "What, you don't approve?"

"No, I approve, but you all are too wild. You have no self control."

"What do you mean?"

She sat back in her chair, crossing her arms across her chest. "What's going on with Treize?"

Trowa rolled his eyes. "You just HAD to say that didn't you? I don't plan on seeing him again."

"And Zechs?"

"He's...he's..."

"And that lieutenant, what was his name, Nichol?"

"He's in the military. Right now he's probably in Turkey."

"What about Mueller?"

"Mueller? It's been like a whole two weeks since I last talked to him–"

"And Septum's son? I forgot his name."

"Shit Catherine, why don't you just call me a whore and get it over with?"

"All I'm saying is that you go through men like women do pantyhose. One day it's this guy, the next that guy. This is not some dude you met at a gas station, okay? This is one of your best friends. Both of you have something to lose if you're not careful."

Trowa paused, pondering over what she said. "You're right. If it's one thing I'm good at, it's screwing things up."

She pouted in thought. "Not screwing things up actually. I would say you make things harder than they have to be. Now get going or else you'll be late for work."

He smiled at his sister, and after an exchange of hugs and kisses, he left the trailer, hopped in the car, and raced off to work before the lunch crowd got too heavy. But even as he drove, despite his sister's encouragements, he still felt as confused as he did the night before.

(tbc)

Also, the whole scene of Trowa talking with Sally and with Catherine and the balcony did not occur. I never told anybody, and no one was thrown off a balcony. I pushed him down the stairs. Oh yeah! There wasn't any sex on the bus either. I threw that in there.