A/N: My first Gundam Wing oneshot, so please be nice.
Thinking
One-shot
Duo had always wondered. He thought a lot, even if people said different. The reason they say different was because Duo thought about things irrelevant to missions. That wasn't entirely true. Duo thought about missions, too. After all, he wasn't ignorant. He just tended to think more about people than he did about missions. And there was on person in particular who he thought about. Sometimes he didn't know why, but he just did.
That person? Chang Wufei.
As previously mentioned, he didn't know why. Maybe it was his attitude and the day after day of training, the graceful movements of Kung Fu and Tai Chi that Duo always caught a glimpse of before the end. Or perhaps he was just curious; curious to figure out the other pilot, wonder about why he does what he does or do what he feels he has to do.
Duo didn't feel anything wrong with being curious. He would watch when the other wasn't looking and catch glimpses every now and then. He didn't consider himself a stalker or a pervert. He kept his distance—mainly because if he pissed Wufei off, the Chinese pilot would threaten to cut his braid off. And Duo loved his braid, dammit. It was a part of him and a reminder for himself. But even thinking about his braid didn't keep his thoughts about Wufei away.
Duo surmised it must've been the hair. Wufei always brought it back, slick and tight, to the back of his head. Duo could understand keeping the hair out of his eyes so he could fight both with his fists and inside his Gundam, but he didn't understand why Wufei didn't put it down around others or on casual days. It always looked too tight against his head; never free to feel the wind. Duo would've bet that Wufei didn't put it down even when he went to bed—which would've explained the spike at the end of the small ponytail. Nevertheless, Duo's curiosity grew, as he could not find a reason for Wufei's hair to always be brought back so tightly.
It was one night, at Preventer's headquarters, in his office, that Duo finally brought himself to ask. He had walked in earlier, asking Wufei to come and join him and the rest of the pilots to a party. Wufei just gave him a look before returning to typing, giving a silent answer of no.
Duo frowned. "Come on, Fei, even Heero's coming along."
"This report isn't going to finish itself, Maxwell," was the stoic reply. It was cold and automatic, as if he said it everyday. Who knows? Maybe he did say it everyday...
Duo sighed, smacking his forehead. 'Great, I'm dealing with another Heero-robot... anti-social and thinks he needs to work the days and nights away...'
There was a silence in the room, then. It was somewhat uncomfortable and seemingly very awkward. Perhaps this was as best a time to ask as any, Duo supposed. "Wufei, why do you tie your hair back all the time?"
The clicking of keys on the keyboard paused for a brief moment as onyx eyes glanced up to meet the curious violet. "One would ask that about your hair."
"Yeah, but mine's hell of a lot longer than yours," Duo replied, fiddling with the end of his braid. "Besides, I put mine down at least some of the time. Why don't you?"
"No reason to."
What? He needed a reason to? Now that was fucked up...
"You need a reason?" Duo asked incredulously as the Chinese pilot went back to typing up the mission report. Wufei didn't reply, but Duo took that as a silent "yes". Duo sighed and ran a hand across his forehead, fingers tangling in his spiky bangs. He played with one for a moment before he shook his head and walked over to where Wufei was sitting at his desk, coming up behind the pilot.
The fingers paused in their clicking for the second time that night. "What are you doing?"
Duo grinned slightly, bringing up his hands to the top of Wufei's head. "It's not healthy to always confine your hair like this."
"What I do with my hair is none of your business, Maxwell," Wufei growled. Yes, he growled. Because he was pissed. He kept his hair the way he wanted it—needed it—and damn whoever was going to try to get him to do otherwise. He brought his hands up, intent on flipping Duo over the desk, or at least getting his hands off his head. But he froze when those said hands began to move against his scalp, rough, but gentle fingers sliding back through his slick hair.
Duo noticed the odd tenseness in Wufei's shoulders, but that didn't deter him from his mission of bringing out the Chinese pilot's hair. He worked his fingers back and forth a little, knowing Wufei was getting angrier by the minute, but he would do all he could. In fact, Duo was surprised that Wufei hadn't knocked him out already, with how much martial arts he could do: Tai Kwon Do, Tai Chi, Kung Fu, you name it. He knew them. He could perform them flawlessly.
Wufei knew he shouldn't be sitting there, letting Duo do as he pleased. He should've already beaten the shit out of him for even daring to interfere with his schedule. But he hadn't. He could feel the hands in his slick hair. He wanted to slap those hands away as they dried the hair a little, making a few strands fall forward in his face. But he remained frozen. Although he hated to admit it, he liked the hands on his head. The rough working hands of a pilot being so gentle, moving carefully as if he were glass and damn, it felt good.
Duo grinned again as he noticed that Wufei had relaxed slightly. A mischievous glint shone in his purple eyes as the hair against his hands that seemed wet was now becoming dry and falling forward. So, Wufei used hair gel. Duo made a mental note to steal whatever hair gel he had so that he didn't bring his hair back like this. It was as if he were restricting himself. Wufei may not care, but Duo secretly bet that Wufei's hair sure as hell did, and it was shouting out to Duo, saying, "Free me!"
And Duo was doing that now. After all the time he had waited, he was finally doing what he longed to do. And the hair was cooperating. Dry and silky now, it fell forward. Duo ran one hand through the part that was down while the other pulled out the ponytail in the blink of an eye.
Wufei winced as the pilot took out his ponytail, but it went away as his eyes narrowed at the strands falling down on either side of his face. Why was he letting Duo do this?
He heard a chuckle. "Man, Fei, how much gel did you put in your hair?" That was the first sentence that broke the silence and tore through Wufei's thoughts. Said pilot didn't reply and instead glared out at nothing. Perhaps he was glaring at the fire alarm by the door that always seemed so tempting to pull, but he didn't really care. His head felt... lighter. A lot lighter. And he found that... he liked it. A lot.
Duo's grin faded a little and his hands seemed to pout with him, as there was nothing more to do for the Chinese pilot's hair. It was no longer stuck to his head, but rather, it had fallen down on all sides except for Wufei's front. The hair framed his face while a few strands fell in front of one of his eyes. The back of his head had hair that reached down to the bottom of his neck. Duo's hands didn't stop massaging Wufei's scalp and the Chinese had about had enough. Despite what his mind had said, this had gone on long enough.
"The style was in respect for my clan and you're degrading it, Maxwell," Wufei said suddenly. His voice wasn't as cold as it could have been. Was it because he secretly enjoyed his hair down? He could move his head and the hair wouldn't bother him much. It just felt so much... lighter. He felt the hands stop what they were doing and he inwardly cursed. 'Dammit!'
Duo frowned as he heard Wufei's statement and they removed themselves from the silky black strands. "Sorry, Fei..."
Wufei continued to curse forwards and backwards in every language he knew inside his head. He then registered Duo's apology and shook his head, causing a few strands to fall in front of his eyes. "Don't worry about it." He brought up a hand to put the stray strands behind his ear while the rest hung down limply, the white sheen gone with the gel, but returning in the room's glow.
"I just thought..." Duo stopped himself. "Ah, never mind. But I think you look better with it down."
Wufei gave the pilot a look, both an odd one and a confused one. "Why?"
Duo smiled. Not grinned. Smiled. His purple eyes weren't shining with mischief now. Just satisfaction. Happiness. Approval. Respect. "Cause it seems more you. 'Sides, I bet all that hair gel is expensive..."
'He's got a point,' he thought. Wufei brought up a hand to fiddle with one of the free strands. His hair seemed happier with this. How he could tell that, he didn't know. "It feels lighter," he commented.
Duo's smile changed to a grin. "Well duh! That's the whole point! You don't have all that hair gel sticking it down against your skull." The grin faded a little, but that didn't mean Duo was frowning. His eyes now displayed a deep seriousness. "And you do look better with it down."
Wufei frowned for a moment before he sighed. "I suppose..."
Duo was satisfied. More than satisfied. Not only had he found out about the secret to Wufei's hair, but he'd also been able to bring it down for once. And damn, it was sexy. It was still somewhat nice the other way, but with Duo's respect for hair and love of it—hence the braid—he could almost feel that Wufei had called out to him and said, "I feel constricted. Give me freedom. Even if just for a moment... free me."
Duo frowned then. From what he had gathered, Wufei was the last of his clan and he had a lot of a burden on his shoulders. Just as Heero had to be the Perfect Soldier, Quatre had to inherit his family's fortune, the bitch Relena had to be queen of the goddamn world... ok, the last one he didn't give a shit about. Really. Bitchy Relena was just that. A bitch. Enough said. Anyway, away from her and back to Wufei, cause he's much more important.
The Chinese pilot wasn't focusing on the computer screen as his face seemed to; his dark eyes were staring off into space, thinking, as a single finger played with one of the longer strands. Duo had never seen Wufei this pensive before. It seemed so different. Not so different from normal that Wufei was going to spring up and do the khan khan on his desk any minute, but that wasn't the point.
Duo leaned over on the desk, staring at Wufei. "Whatcha thinking about?"
The onyx eyes finally looked up and blinked before the owner of the eyes realized what he had been doing. Wufei shook his head, causing the same stray strands to fall from behind his ear and into his face. "Nothing."
Duo grinned. "Good. Now we can go to the party!"
Wufei gave him a weird look. "You expect me to go like this?"
Duo playfully rolled his eyes. "Duh."
A shake of the head. "You're an insane idiot."
"Maybe, but I'm also a defiant insane idiot and this idiot is gonna sit here until you say you're coming."
"..."
"C'mon, Wu-man! Just this once?" And Duo brought out the big guns. The big guns are what, you ask? Puppy eyes. Big, teary, glimmering puppy eyes. They normally didn't work on Wufei, and Duo knew that all too well, but he brought out the big guns anyway. It made him look cute.
Wufei sighed. At this rate, Duo was going to keep bugging him through the night if he'd have to and the report would never get done anyway. But the report wasn't even due for another week and a half... Wufei sighed. Of all the things he could be doing on a night—reading a book, practicing martial arts, doing work... he was giving consent to go to a party.
"All right."
And Duo had brightened. Wufei noticed the sudden change immediately. The purple eyes sparkled and seemed to glitter a shade lighter, making them look like amethyst stones and the brown braid, from beginning to end, seemed to shine with golden streaks at his consent; that and adding on to the smile from Duo's lips. Yes, the American pilot was definitely happier.
Wufei brushed a few of the stray strands back behind his ear. Duo watched his every move. 'Damn... I should've done this a long time ago...'
Wufei caught his staring. "What?"
Duo chuckled once. "Nothing. Just thinking about how I'm going to steal all your hair gel so you can keep this style more often."
"You touch my gel and I'll kick your ass."
Duo just chuckled. Wufei may have said the threat and very well could back it up, but Duo didn't hear the same maliciousness behind it this time. Wufei didn't mean it. And for now, Duo could just enjoy the new Wufei. He had feelings and emotions, but he wouldn't say them. Not yet.
A/N: I realize my other fics need help, but for those who read them, half of them are on hiatus until further notice. I apologize for the inconvenience. So how was it? Good? Bad? OOC? IC? A nice oneshot? A load of BS? Feedback is appreciated! Arigatou and ja ne for now!
Saphira Nakare Ruakara
