The Things We Do For Love

“Tell me again exactly how you managed to talk me into this.”

An extremely irate Trowa Barton stood with his hands on his hips, doing his best to glare his smaller friend into submission.

“Oh, Trowa, relax,” Quatre replied, completely ignoring the way Trowa was looking at him. He’d faced down Death Glares from Heero Yuy before, so Trowa’s attempts didn’t have much effect on him. “You’ll have fun, I promise.”

“Fun,” Trowa repeated flatly. “You talked me into taking out Dorothy Catalonia on a date just because Relena thinks her little friend is lonely?”

“She is lonely, Trowa,” said Quatre airily. “And so are you. See, you make a perfect match.”

“I am not lonely!” Trowa said angrily. “Just because I don’t socialise with every person in the stratosphere like you do doesn’t mean that I’m a recluse.”

“Well you would be if it weren’t for Cathy and I,” Quatre muttered. “You’re going to end up like one of those old women who only have their sixteen cats for company. Only you’d have lions.”

“Well I like lions,” Trowa protested. “I’d rather talk to them than other people.”

“And there’s your problem!” Quatre said triumphantly. “You should be thankful that you have a best friend like me who’s willing to do things like this for you.”

“Some best friend,” Trowa grumbled. “I still can’t believe you decided to take me out shopping. I hate malls.”

“Oh, Trowa, stop complaining,” Quatre told him firmly. “You are going out with Dorothy tonight whether you like it or not. Before that though, you and I are going to look in every men’s clothing department store there is to find you something good to wear.”

“What’s wrong with these?” Trowa asked, plucking at the collar of his turtleneck.

“There is no way I’m going to allow you to go on a date dressed like that,” Quatre said. “Not that there isn’t anything wrong with the way you dress,” he added quickly. “But I just thought you might need a new look, that’s all.”

“I don’t need a new look,” Trowa told him. “I don’t need to go changing myself or even my image just for this one date that doesn’t even mean anything to me.”

“What do you mean?” Quatre asked, sounding somewhat distracted. At present, he was rifling through a rack of trousers, picking out the sizes.

“What I mean is that the only reason I’m going out with Dorothy tonight is because you’re my friend and you have this habit of talking me into doing anything that I don’t want to.” He thought for a moment before adding, “And besides, however much I don’t want to show up, I know she’d be pissed at me if I didn’t. The last thing I need is her challenging me to another fencing match.”

“Oh, you really do like her don’t you?” Quatre said, giving Trowa his brightest smile. “You don’t want to disappoint her. How sweet of you!”

“I don’t like her!” Trowa said quickly, glancing at his friend irritably. “Not in that way.”

“Just keep telling yourself that,” Quatre replied with a smirk, patting Trowa’s arm. “Enough of this chit-chat, we need to find you something to wear.” He stroked his chin absently as he stared at Trowa. “Hmm, green is definitely a possibility as it does go with your eyes and even blue would look good on you. ”

“If I do have to play mannequin for you, just don’t dress me up in anything that’s pink,” Trowa told him.

“Are you suggesting that pink isn’t a good colour?” Quatre asked mock-sternly. “Well, maybe for me, but not for you.” He turned from Trowa again and set off for another part of the store. “We’ll start with the pants, then we can work up from there,” he called over his shoulder. “You can choose anything you like as long as they’re not jeans.”

Trowa hurried after the smaller boy, scowling at his back. He had better things to do than shop for new clothes. His present ones were just fine in his opinion. Once his sister had found out that he had a date, however, she’d all but thrown him out of his trailer and demanded he go shopping with Quatre for something to wear.

“Oh, Trowa, these would look great on you!”

Trowa followed the sound of Quatre’s voice and eventually found him with a pair of black pants draped over his arm. Black pants? Well, he supposed that wasn’t too bad…until he got a little closer that was.

“Quatre, those are leather pants!” he exclaimed in surprise. “I can’t wear these!”

“Why not?” asked Quatre cheerfully. “Go on, put them on,” he said, handing them to Trowa and pushing him in the direction of the changing rooms. “They’re in your size, but just give me a yell if they’re too small and I’ll find you another pair.”

Trowa took the pants from Quatre, eyeing them dubiously. Quatre nodded at him encouragingly and Trowa sighed defeatedly and headed into the changing rooms. He re-emerged a couple of minutes later, standing in front of Quatre and feeling self-conscious.

“See, Trowa? I told you they’d look good on you!” Quatre announced with a grin.

“Trowa stared at himself in the full-length mirror and frowned slightly. “They’re a little…tight,” he said uncertainly, turning around and craning his neck to see how he looked from behind.

“So? What’s your point?” Quatre queried. “I thought you liked your pants that way. Besides, you want to give Dorothy a good view, don’t you?” he added slyly.

“No I don’t!” snapped Trowa, his cheeks colouring a little. “Look, thanks for the help and all, but this was a stupid idea. We should just walk out of here and go home.”

“Oh, but you can’t walk out yet,” Quatre protested. “Not until you’ve paid for the pants at least!”

“Who said I was even buying them?” Trowa asked irritably.

“I did,” Quatre told him firmly. “You go and get changed. We still have to find you something to match those pants with. I’d say go with an all-black outfit like Duo wears. Maybe we can find you a black muscle tee shirt to go with it or something?”

Trowa quickly ducked back into the changing room before Quatre could say anymore. He slipped out of the pants he had just tried on and back into his usual jeans. When he came out of the changing rooms however, Quatre had disappeared and Trowa sighed to himself, setting off in search of his friend.

He found him flipping through an array of different tee shirts, occasionally picking one out, lifting it up to inspect it and then frowning as he put it back on the rack.

Trowa rolled his eyes at the sight. Quatre was taking this way too seriously. Trowa couldn’t even begin to guess where he had picked up his skill for shopping. He supposed that having twenty-nine sisters probably did that to you. Luckily for Trowa, he only had the one and that was more than enough.

Turning away from Quatre, Trowa’s gaze fell upon the sweater section and he wandered over, not even sure what he was looking for. The selection of turtlenecks caught his eye. At last, something he was familiar with!

‘Well, I suppose I should buy another one,’ he thought to himself. He’d owned the one he was wearing now going on two years. Maybe it was time for a new look. Or at the very least, a different coloured turtleneck.

“Hmm, I think one of those in black would look good.”

Quatre’s voice in his ear almost made Trowa jump out of his skin. “Jeez, don’t do that!” he said with a frown. Quatre ignored him, pushing past Trowa and pulling out a black turtleneck, holding it up against the taller boy.

“Yep, I think this would go well with the pants,” he said thoughtfully. “What do you think, Trowa?”

“Oh, you ask for my opinion now,” Trowa muttered. “Sure, I’ll take it.” He allowed Quatre to drag him over to the check out counter and paid for his new clothing with Catherine’s credit card. When she’d thrown him out that morning, she’d also given him her credit card and told him to spend however much he wanted as long as it was on decent stuff.

Trowa had been reluctant to take her up on her generosity, but had swiftly changed his mind upon seeing the price tag that came with the leather pants.

“Okay, now we have to accessorise,” Quatre announced as they left the shop.

“Accessorise?” Trowa echoed, his face blank. “Why should I do that?”

“Oh, Trowa, you need more than a sweater and a pair of pants,” Quatre informed his grandly. “We need to get you something to go with them, like a belt possibly… You’ll also need new shoes of course and maybe even underwear…”

Trowa groaned in defeat as Quatre chattered away happily, dragging him off for another round of the torture known as shopping.