After a boring bus ride and a confusing map, everyone trudged along a sandy beach to the house they were all going to share.
Poor Quatre was especially exhausted with the trip, as his ankle still hurt pretty badly.
After about twenty minutes and Duo complaining, and Quatre’s ankle feeling sore, they finally got to the house. It was a pretty decent (and big) house, and it had a pretty balcony and a pool.
Everyone ran in and claimed rooms, and unpacked.
When everyone had settled down and was sitting in the Living Room, Duo bounced in, and said, “Hey you guys, we should try out the pool!”
Wufei, Heero and Trowa nodded mutely, while Quatre looked extremely nervous.
“I—I can’t swim.” he said, sounding a bit embarrassed. “Maybe I’ll just stay in…”
But Duo shook his head. “You’re coming out with us and you will be in your bathing suit, and just to make sure you’ll come…”
Duo grabbed Quatre’s arm and dragged him off to his room.
“Aaaah! Duo, get off, Mmmm!” Quatre’s pleads were muffled when Duo covered his mouth with his hand.
Heero, Wufei, and Trowa did a three-way glance, and broke out laughing.
In Quatre’s room, Duo was shuffling through his clothes.
“Duo, you’re messing up my room!” Quatre cried as a pair of his boxers flew past him.
“Aha! I’ve found one!” Duo exclaimed triumphantly, holding up a bathing suit of Quatre’s.
Duo then ran into his room to get into his bathing suit, and ran back to Quatre’s room, to find him sitting on the bed in his trunks, looking embarrassed.
“I think I’ll just put on a shirt too,” Quatre said, and put on the white button-down shirt.
Duo grabbed him by the arm and dragged him outside to the pool.
“Ow! Duo, that hurts! Please, put, me, down!”
But Duo didn’t let go until he got to the pool, and when he saw Heero, he immediately let go and gawked at him.
“Ow, Duo, that hurt!” moaned Quatre, rubbing his butt. “And my ankle is sore!”
He limped to a beach chair, but when he saw Trowa, he nearly fainted.
He looked cuter than ever in his bathing suit. He his muscular arms were folded over his equally muscular chest, his eyes seemed greener than ever, and his hair couldn’t ever have had looked more mysterious.
The same held true for Duo. He was still staring at Heero, who was in the same pose as Trowa. His bangs just covered his gorgeous cobalt eyes, and he was so, so well built (ahem). Duo felt weak in the knees, but before his legs gave way, he looked away and immediately regained his leg’s steadiness.
Heero also couldn’t help but stare at Duo. His braid was becoming undone, which gave him an adorable messy-untidy-I-just-woke-up look. He also had a slight blush rising in his cheeks. He certainly didn’t look anything like a god of death at the moment.
Trowa, like the others, was staring at his love-interest. Quatre’s gorgeous blue eyes were wide and innocent, and his golden hair was glinting in the sun. Also, for some reason, he was blushing.
Wufei saw everyone staring at each other and gave a little chuckle. He went to a beach chair and took out a book to read.
Finally everyone snapped out of their funk, and continued on. Duo ran to the diving board, and screamed, “Cannonball!”
“No, Duo, No!”Quatre shrieked, but it was too late, he was enveloped in Duo’s tremendous splash, and stood there drenched.
Duo’s head popped out of the water, and when he took one look at Quatre, he burst out laughing.
“It’s not funny!” Quatre screeched, but then everyone broke out laughing, and Quatre just crossed his arms and stood there.
“S—sorry Q,” Duo said, wiping a tear from his eye, “But now that you’re wet, will you at least sit by the edge of the pool?”
Quatre glowered. “Fine,” he said, and sat on the edge, just his feet and legs in the water.
“You’d better not pull me in, Duo, because if you forget, I can’t swim, and my ankle.”
Duo just gave him a grin.
Quatre gave Duo a skeptical look and watched Trowa do a perfect dive off the board, followed by Heero, who Duo watched when he did a flip and landed in the water perfectly.
“Showoffs!” Duo shouted at the boys.
Heero just smirked, and Trowa gave a small smile.
Duo swam a few laps around the pool, and when he stood up in the shallow end, his braid came out all the way.
Heero saw Duo’s hair become undone, and he watched it fan out in the water. Heero thought Duo looked adorable with his hair not in a braid for once, but of course he thought Duo looked cute either way.
“Oops,” Duo said, finding the hair band that came out, “Hey, Q, could you braid my hair again?”
“Sure,” Quatre agreed, and Duo came over. Quatre braided his hair automatically, having done it so many times before. Quatre was thinking about how his job kept him mostly busy from thinking about something: No one seemed to like him.
Quatre must have had a vague look on his face, because when he was done braiding Duo’s hair, Duo turned around and said, “Hey, Q, what’s wrong?”
“Hmm? Oh, nothing.” Quatre said distractedly.
Duo looked as though he didn’t believe him, but decided to leave the matter alone, and swam off.
Trowa was worried. What was bothering Quatre?
While watching everyone swim, Quatre wished he knew how. It’s just in the desert, there aren’t many lakes to practice swimming in, and even if there were, no one would have ever taken the time to teach him anyway. Quatre sighed. It wasn’t fair. No one liked him but Duo, and that was just friendship.
He stood up and walked inside without telling anyone where he was going.
“Quatre?” Duo asked, now clearly worried, and jumping out of the pool, he wrapped a towel around his waist, and ran in after Quatre.
Everyone was sort of nervous. “I wonder what’s wrong with Quatre,” Trowa wondered out loud.
Quatre had walked through the house and through the front to sit in front of the ocean.
Knees drawn up to his chest, Quatre looked onto the ocean and felt angry tears well up in his eyes. It’s not fair! He thought furiously. Liking someone who you thought didn’t like you back is an especially nasty feeling, especially as Quatre had felt no one had loved him his whole life.
A few tears slipped out, and he wiped them away angrily.
Duo ran in the house and straight into Quatre’s room, but he wasn’t there.
He heard footsteps behind him. He turned around. “Quatre—?”
But it wasn’t. It was Heero.
Duo seemed sort of surprised at seeing Heero, but he soon forgot his surprise when Heero said something.
“You haven’t found him?”
“No… Heero, what do you think is wrong? Was it something we did?”
Heero didn’t answer; He was looking out a window. Following his gaze, Duo looked out and saw Quatre sitting in front of the ocean.
Duo saw Quatre put his hand up and wipe something off his face.
“He’s crying,” Duo said immediately.
Heero looked surprised. “How do you know?” he asked Duo.
“I know Quatre,” Duo replied with a worried glance out the window at Quatre.
They were quiet for a few moments until they heard footsteps down the hall, and Trowa and Wufei came around the corner.
“What—” Trowa began, but then Duo shook his head sadly, and Heero motioned out the window.
Trowa saw Quatre sitting outside. Trowa looked bewildered. “Is he crying?”
Duo and Heero nodded noiselessly.
Trowa gave a grimace of frustration.
“What’s causing him so much stress?”