A/N: Just a one shot to get back into writing, and then I'm going to tackle some prompts and… revisit a fic I've abandoned and try to revive it.
A/N 2: For Amberly - thanks so much for all of the support but also, of course, for chatting about this idea!
A/N 3: As always, a thousand thank yous - and still not enough - to Ro for beta reading and always supporting me.
Warnings: language, sex
Pairings: 5x2 (ish), 1xR, MxH, 3x5
The Green Door
10:45
Wufei blinked his eyes open slowly, staring at the slightly blurry screen of his phone as the alarm continued to blare through the speakers, impossibly loud.
He scowled, fumbling to turn it off before he reached past the phone on his nightstand and snagged his glasses.
It was Sunday morning. Why the hell had his alarm gone off when-
Fuck.
He scrambled out of bed as he remembered last night - or rather, this morning at three - when Meilin had called him to say that her flight had been grounded, had apologized and bitched about being stuck in the airport with Hilde, who not only hated flying but hated the smell of airports, and had finally gotten to the point of her three a.m. phone call to ask Wufei to run the store on Sunday because she wouldn't be there.
The store, which opened at eleven on Sundays.
And for some reason, Wufei had thought that fifteen minutes would be enough time to get ready. Wufei, who had spent all of Friday and Saturday running the store so that Meilin and Hilde could go skiing, who had been at the store until one a.m. last night closing up, and then not gotten home until five a.m. because he had promised to go see Trowa's band and one thing had led to another, which had, as usual, led to Wufei drinking just enough to ensure the faintest - and most annoying - of hangovers the next day and, again as usual, a rushed, bruising fuck in Trowa's battered SUV.
Wufei emptied his bladder, feeling the dull headache already, and he worked his tongue around his dry mouth, asking himself - as he did nearly every Sunday morning - why the hell he thought he could still stay out until five in the morning like he had when he was eighteen.
After brushing his teeth and downing a glass of tap water, Wufei pulled on clean clothes, spent a good three minutes searching for his keys before he found them by the cat food - which thankfully reminded him to feed Nataku - before he slammed out of his apartment.
10:57
It was a seven minute drive to the shop from his apartment, and since Wufei was already going to be late, he might as well stop for coffee on the way.
Coffee and a bottle of water.
And a bagel.
It was 11:15 when he finally pulled into the parking lot and, because the universe wasn't his biggest fan, there was a car parked in the parking lot and a figure clearly visible in the driver's side, drumming on the steering wheel.
Wufei sighed in irritation - he should have set his alarm earlier. He hated it when other people were late, and he never allowed himself to be late. But it had been a long few days and an exhausting night.
He balanced his coffee, water and bagel in one hand while he fished for his keys with the other, and managed to successfully unlock the front door without incident.
Dropping the food off by the front counter, Wufei worked quickly to get the store ready and, just two minutes later, walked towards the front and flicked on the neon light above the door.
The Green Door.
It had been Meilin's suggestion - both the name and the store.
Wufei was pretty sure that it was all an elaborate and not at all subtle way to give her parents the finger for disowning her when she came out.
Of course, his own parents weren't exactly comfortable with the knowledge that their only child was bisexual, but instead of out-right cutting him off, they preferred to parade attractive and accomplished women in front of him every time he begrudgingly agreed to attend a family event.
They hadn't been thrilled about the shop either, actually staring at him in open-mouthed shock when he announced that he was using the money he had inherited from his uncle to go into business with his ex-girlfriend and open up an adult novelty store.
He wondered, but hadn't cared enough to ask, what they told the prospective wives they tried to lure him in with - he doubted his mother was even capable of saying the sentence, "My son owns a sex toy shop."
Probably they lied, or at least attempted to make it sound better - they probably just said he owned his own business, or that he was an investor.
The reality - their queer son sold vibrators, and was just as likely to bring home a man as a woman - was probably something they couldn't even admit to themselves.
Wufei settled behind the counter, turning on the iPad and getting the register set up, and finished off the coffee as he prepared himself for a very, very boring Sunday.
It had been Meilin's idea to open the store on Sundays, after Hilde, who worked in a head shop down the road, mentioned that they had a lot of business on Sundays. Not surprisingly, to Wufei, The Green Door only did a slow trickle of business most Sundays.
Since Meilin usually took the Sunday shifts - Wufei didn't give a damn about honoring the Christian sabbath but he did care about sleeping in after his usual late nights on Saturday - it wasn't usually that big of a deal.
Wufei had only managed a few bites of his bagel when the front door opened and a customer - probably the one who had had to wait for Wufei to arrive - walked in.
Chewing frantically, Wufei looked up.
The customer - a young, lean man dressed in tight, dark jeans and a fitted black t-shirt - had a long braid of brown hair flipped over one shoulder and sunglasses over his eyes that, as Wufei watched, he removed to reveal startling blue eyes.
Wufei swallowed and coughed, catching the man's attention.
"Morning," Wufei managed to say after taking a sip of water. "What are you looking for today?"
The man nodded, his cheeks pinking up.
"Morning. I'm just… just looking."
He sounded nervous, anxious, and his body language - hands shoved into his pockets and shoulders hunched - suggested that he was embarrassed as well.
Wufei let him wander for a few minutes - watching as he looked at the wall of vibrators, the row of butt plugs, and the row of dildos while his blue eyes got progressively wider and his cheeks progressively pinker.
Finally, Wufei walked around the counter and approached him.
"Anything I can help you with?"
The man's cheeks blazed with color and he shook his head.
"No, no, I'm just… I'm just l-"
"Just looking. So you said. What are you looking for?"
The man turned to Wufei with a scowl.
"I'm not going to steal anything, dude. You don't need to hover over me or anything."
"Shame," Wufei drawled, looking over the man again, "I was curious to see you try to smuggle Black Beauty out of here." He nodded towards the oversized black dildo that sat on display near the front of the store.
The man's eyes widened comically.
"Dude… I… That thing is fucking huge."
Wufei smirked, but nodded in agreement - it was fairly intimidating.
"Not what you came in for?" he asked.
The man shook his head.
"No, no. I, uh… I'm looking for a... friend. He and his boyfriend broke up and it's his birthday, so I figured…" the man trailed off and scratched the back of his neck, his cheeks once again pink.
He was, Wufei decided, adorable.
And clearly lying.
Wufei had been doing this for long enough to know that most customers who came in looking for gifts for "friends" usually weren't nervous about it - unless the friend was really themselves.
"That's very considerate of you, and unfortunate for him," Wufei said, fighting to keep his voice neutral.
The man shrugged, hands back in his pockets.
"I mean, it was mutual or whatever, I guess. Only really shit thing was having to get a new apartment, you know - two years living together and…" he trailed off and shook his head. "Anyway. Just wanted to get him something…"
Wufei nodded, and then gestured at the rows around them.
"What kind of toy is your friend interested in?"
The man looked a little panicked as he looked around again.
"Vibrators, dildos, plugs, rings, masturbators, nipple toys, probes, prostate toys, anal beads, pornography?"
"Uh… I mean, he's… you know, I guess pretty vanilla or whatever?" The man's cheeks were once again red, and he bit the corner of his lower lip. "So...I… I guess a vibrator?"
Wufei gestured towards the wall of vibrators, organized by color at Meilin's insistence, so that it presented a giant rainbow that took up the back wall of the store. Because of the color organization, anal vibrators and vaginal vibrators were mixed together, and Wufei had, more than once, had to tell female customers that the toy they had chosen was likely to be unfulfilling.
He walked over, the other man following him slowly, and decided that, instead of asking him for any specifics - size, style - he should just show him a few.
"This is one of our most popular," he said, and picked up a clear blue vibrator. "The Blue Dolphin," Wufei said, his lips twisting into a smirk. "Totally waterproof - so you can use it in the shower or in bed."
"Er, not me - my friend."
"Right. Sorry."
Wufei held the vibrator out, but the man just stared at it.
He took it back and twisted the bottom dial, starting the vibrator going on a low speed.
The man's eyes widened.
"It's variable speed and only an inch wide, so it's pretty slim."
"Uh huh."
Wufei couldn't tell if the man was just overwhelmed or unimpressed, so he turned it off and set it back on the shelf before stepping around the man to reach for another vibrator, this one a pearlescent turquoise.
"This is the Midnight Vibrator - the shaft is curved, so it's better for prostate stimulation."
"It's bigger," the man said.
Wufei nodded in agreement.
"Seven inches long, an inch and a half wide… I'm not sure what your friend is used to; do you think he wants something slimmer?"
"No, no - bigger is better. I mean - not like big," the man gestured towards Black Beauty again, "but, like… seven inches is fine. Right?"
Wufei felt his lips twitch at the man's need for support on this.
"Yes. It's a pretty standard size in vibrators. On the larger size, but not huge."
The man nodded, sighed, and once again refused to touch the vibrator when Wufei held it out.
So, once again, Wufei turned it on to demonstrate the vibration control.
"It's not waterproof - you can still wash it with soap and water, but it can't be submerged. It's also made out of PVC, not silicone."
"Oh. PVC? Like… the really bad shit?"
Wufei, who regularly donated to GreenPeace and routinely wrote and called both his elected representatives to push for more sustainable energy production and pollution controls, couldn't help but sneer and nod.
"Uh, I think I'll pass."
Wufei took the man over to the far end of the wall, where rows of black vibrators stood out against the colorful wall.
"Tom of Finland makes some of my favorite vibrators," Wufei said, picking up the somewhat intimidating vibrator that consisted of five stacked balls.
The man bit his lip.
"That looks pretty big."
Wufei nodded in agreement.
"It's nine and a half inches - seven inches that you can insert - but it is two inches wide." So pretty big, he agreed. "Too big?"
The man hesitated.
"No, I don't think so. I mean… I think my friend might… appreciate that."
Wufei held out the vibrator and, once again, the man just stared at it like it was a poisonous snake.
"You're already here. You might as well touch it," Wufei pointed out.
The man very gingerly accepted the black vibrator, and Wufei turned it on to the lower vibration speed.
"It has two speeds," he said, watching the man swallow hard and lick his lips before again biting his lower lip.
He was, Wufei amended his earlier thought, sexy as hell when he did that. Adorable, yes, but sexy as hell too.
"It also has three different vibration patterns - so a lot of options to figure out what you like best. What your friend likes best," Wufei corrected himself.
The man nodded, his long fingers running over the smooth black surface of the vibrator.
"What's it made of?"
"Silicone. It's also not porous - so you can used water based lubricants. And, of course, it's hypoallergenic." Wufei tapped the top, and then the bottom ball, with his index finger. "These two are the most powerful - in terms of vibration - so it's decent for prostate stimulation. Not great, but better than most vibrators."
"Do you… do you think something else would be better?"
"For prostate stimulation?"
The man nodded, and Wufei smirked.
"Of course there is. Let's put this back - unless you wanted to hang onto it?"
The man passed it over with a sheepish look, and Wufei took him away from the wall of vibrators and towards the row of mostly black prostate toys.
The man's eyes were wider than ever, and Wufei could understand why. The prostate stimulators were shaped very differently than any of the vibrators or dildos that the man had looked at previously, or was likely to be familiar with considering his level of nervousness.
"The Rocks Off line is really good." Wufei indicated the top shelf. "I have the Rude-Boy and the Bad-Boy. Both are silicone, decent sized, and, because of the bullet vibrator, it's going to give you very intense orgasms."
"You… have a lot of these."
Wufei shrugged.
"It's good to know the products I'm selling."
"Sure, but you're…" the man gestured at Wufei, and Wufei arched an eyebrow.
"I'm what?"
"I don't know… I just… figured a guy like you wouldn't really need to use something fake or…"
Wufei snorted a laugh.
"There's nothing fake about pleasure, and I think it's important for everyone to be able to give themselves pleasure and appreciate their own body. There's no shame in using a toy to get off solo - or to enhance sex with a partner."
The man sighed, and his shoulders relaxed.
"Yeah?"
"Of course. Now, these work by inserting this end into the rectum, while this end nestles against your perineum so you feel vibrations against your prostate from two directions."
"Wow."
The man accepted the Rude-Boy that Wufei handed him, gingerly thumbing on the bullet vibrator himself and, once again, biting his lower lip.
"It's… not as big as the regular vibrators."
"No," Wufei agreed. "Most of these are only four or five inches of insertable length. This one," he picked up a three point massager, "is just a little longer and has three points of vibration."
"Three? Where does the third point go?"
Wufei smirked at the man's reaction.
"Supposedly, it's another stimulation along the rectum. I don't know - I haven't tried it. But it is bigger."
"Right."
The man looked between the three point vibrator and the Rude-Boy still merrily vibrating away in his hand.
"Bigger isn't always better," Wufei said.
The man smirked, and then snorted a laugh.
"Yeah. Fair enough. Okay… I guess… let's go with the Rude-Boy?"
Wufei took the test vibrator back from him and picked up one of the unopened boxes on the shelf. He passed it over and the man took the box with both hands, cheeks once again flushed.
"Do you want to get lube and cleaner - while you're here?"
"Huh?"
"For your friend. In case he… didn't take lube with him when he moved. And in any case, you should clean toys before and after every use."
"Oh. Right. Uh, sure. He could use some lube."
Wufei picked up a spray bottle of cleaner and then took the man towards the display of anal lubricants.
It was at that moment that the bell over the door rang, signaling the entrance of another customer.
The man swore, fumbling with the box he held, and dropped it.
Wufei picked it up for him, passing it over and noticing the man's bright red cheeks.
"I'll be right with you," Wufei called out to the man and woman who stepped inside.
"No, no," the braided man mumbled, "I'm uh, I'm fine. I can get the lube without any help."
"You know what kind he uses?"
The man gave Wufei an exasperated look, and Wufei had to smirk slightly.
"Just go up to the counter when you're ready," Wufei told him."
"Yeah, sure thing."
Wufei watched him walk over towards the lube, and then turned to walk over to the couple perusing DVDs.
After pointing out the collection of BDSM films when they asked, Wufei noticed the braided man was standing awkwardly by the register.
He moved over to him, taking the bottle of System JO lube from him, the cleaner and the Rude-Boy box.
"Anything else?" Wufei asked as he rang up the purchases. "Any films or other toys?"
"No, I think this is probably a good start."
Wufei nodded in agreement, waiting while the man swiped his debit card and entered in his PIN number.
Wufei bagged the items and slipped in the store's business card.
"If you have any questions - or your friend does - feel free to call."
"Yeah?" The man raised an eyebrow.
"Of course. I'm Wufei, by the way."
"Duo," the man held out a hand, and Wufei shook it. "I, uh, appreciate the help. For my friend."
They shared a smirk.
"My pleasure," Wufei assured him.
Duo let go of his hand and stepped away, walking towards the front door and then pausing as he looked back at Wufei.
It was Wufei's turn to arch an eyebrow, and Duo drew in a deep breath and walked back.
His cheeks were once again pink.
"Look, uh, I don't know if… I mean, this is probably way off base and you probably get asked out at work all of the time, and it's probably annoying as fuck, but if you- I mean, would you- Could I-"
Wufei picked up another store card, his movements halting Duo's rambling.
He wrote his cell number on the back of the card.
"Why don't you call me sometime - you can tell me how the Rude-Boy worked out. And you can ask me out when I'm not at work."
Duo took the card, his lips turning up into a happy smirk and his eyes glittering.
"Yeah, okay. I will."
-o-
