I went on a little writing spree! I got this done in almost one
sitting! (One sitting = three hours, of course.) But yes! Okay,
so this is another kind of light part, but it ends in a
cliffhanger! ^^ *insert evil grin here* All sorts of fun
arguments in this chapter.
Warning: Slight OOCness again. (Obviously, this whole story's been OOC)
***
Over the next few days, Wufei seemed to have just vanished into thin air. His bed remained perfectly made, in fact, Heero said that the Chinese pilot had yet to take a step into their bedroom since his and Duo's little tiff the day they returned.
Duo kept well more to himself than usual, Quatre even checked his temperature once or twice to see if he was sick because of his odd lapses of silence that became more frequent as time passed. Finally, Trowa, of all the pilots to do so, brought the issue up on the fifth morning before Duo had woken up and come downstairs.
"Those two haven't been right since the mission." He stated simply.
"I know, it's got me worried. I wish I knew what happened, I'm actually beginning to miss all the noise and insanity," Quatre replied sheepishly. "I think it's worse without the commotion than with it."
"Hn...I agree." Heero allowed grudgingly. "More than likely, Chang's holed himself up in Shenlong."
"Yes, we all tend to close ourselves up in our Gundams if we want privacy," Quatre nodded in assent.
"But those two aren't going to tell us anything," he indicated matter-of-factly. "We never do unless it's important and all they were supposed to do was eliminate another base."
"Could you be any more uncaring? Oh wait, Heero Yuy is the Perfect Soldier and Perfect Soldiers don't bother with that sort of trivial nonsense, do please forgive me for forgetting that." That immediate got Quatre surprised looks from the other two, Heero not the least. "I'm sorry, but I really am worried, and you can't act any more cold about this even if you tried."
"Quatre, the mere actuality that we're discussing this is concern enough," Trowa reassured him.
"We just leave all the worrying up to you since you seem so good at it."
"You're not helping any here, Heero."
"Neither are you Trowa."
"Fine!" Quatre interrupted, glaring at them both. "I say we give it another day or two, and if this hasn't blown over after a week since coming back, well, then we'll get involved."
Heero and Trowa only shrugged and he sighed exasperatingly, but didn't say anything.
***
After they had retreated to bed, or to a laptop, that night, Duo emerged from his room cautiously and crept downstairs. Nothing extraordinary, he was just plain hungry and wasn't in the mood to be questioned by Quatre or the others, so he had to wait until they cleared out to their rooms. With his shoulder out of commission, he hadn't been able to braid his hair, and not realizing that until -after- he had unraveled it to brush it, it hung in dark brown waves almost down below his butt.
Another fairly good reason, he thought, to stay hidden. He looked like a girl and that was all he needed, to have the pilots thinking he was girlish. Of course, that wasn't going to happen.
It was how Wufei found him that night, as Duo was pilfering around in the kitchen, with basically the same idea in mind, not wanting to be grilled and deciding to wait until later to pop inside from spending all day in Shenlong's cockpit.
Just as Duo was about to head into the living room, Wufei slipped in through the garage door on the other side and saw him. He came to a dead stop mid-step and immediately turned to sidle back out again, but it was too late. Duo had heard him.
"Wufei?" he asked hesitantly.
He didn't respond, but came in and shut the door behind him.
"Listen, I'm sorry about gettin' pissed at you the other day and all- and there's no excuse for the way I snapped- I hate being immobile with this stupid damn shoulder, which -is- because of my not payin' attention-"
"-Duo."
"What?"
"Breathe. You're babbling. And I already told you; you're -not- to blame. 'What ifs' and accusations won't change the current predicament." Wufei said flatly.
Duo took a deep breath and sighed, seeming to visibly deflate right before his eyes. "I know, I know...But still, I can't do -anything-! And it's startin' to be a royal pain in the ass."
"I don't think I noticed," he replied wryly. "As odd as this sounds coming from me, all you have to do is ask for help. Because sitting around and sulking in your room until it heals will only make matters worse."
"Oh yeah, that definitely sounds funny comin' from you, Fei. What have you been doin' the past few days, eh? Shackin' up in Shenlong for no apparent reason whatsoever-"
"That's different."
"How? Huh? I don't see a difference, except for that you can use all your limbs." Duo scoffed. "You don't have to 'sulk', as you so kindly put it, around lookin' like a girl, damn it!" He glowered darkly.
"Do you want help with that?" Wufei smirked as he glared.
"Unless you know how to braid, then I don't see why I should bother 'cause I really don't wanna ponytail that cuts off the blood flow to my brain, thank you very much," Duo snorted derisively.
"Fortunately for you, I can, and very well too. But if you're going to joke about my style of choice, then I think I -should- let you sulk around looking like an onna until your shoulder heals," Wufei answered mockingly, beginning to open the garage entrance again.
"No! C'mon! I'm sorry! I didn't mean it! Pleaseeeee, pleaseeeee, pleaseeeee," Duo launched across the kitchen and grabbed him by the arm, dragging him away from the door. "C'mon, it's bad enough that -you- saw me, you gotta help me out, Fei, my good ole buddy. Please? See, I asked nicely now." His Chibi Eyed Pout packed as much power as Heero's Death Glare.
Wufei stumbled, caught off guard, and got pulled off into the living room. Duo switched on the lamp beside the large armchair and settled himself down on the carpet. He sat in the chair and glanced at the staircase nervously, if any of the others were to happen to come down at that moment, their situation would be really awkward. But Wufei had led himself into a wide-open attack in a way and his subconscious dimly wondered if he had done it on purpose as he gathered Duo's silky fine hair in his rough hands. Meticulously splitting it into three parts, Wufei twisted the strands for what seemed like forever, tilting farther and farther away as it grew.
"God, Duo, I knew your hair was long, but this is ridiculous!" He muttered, leaning forward again so that his face hovered by his ear. "You wouldn't happen to have a rubber band or something on you, would you?" Duo handed him a thick black one. "There, done."
They both instantly got to their feet and he whirled to thank him not aware he had rose at the same time, ending up face-to- face with barely more than a couple of centimeters separating them.
***
Chibi Eyed Pout! Buwaha! I just -had- to have my own little trademark here. ^^;;; I can just picture Duo's kawaii face in the Chibi Eyed Pout...*snuggle* Too kawaii.
Warning: Slight OOCness again. (Obviously, this whole story's been OOC)
***
Over the next few days, Wufei seemed to have just vanished into thin air. His bed remained perfectly made, in fact, Heero said that the Chinese pilot had yet to take a step into their bedroom since his and Duo's little tiff the day they returned.
Duo kept well more to himself than usual, Quatre even checked his temperature once or twice to see if he was sick because of his odd lapses of silence that became more frequent as time passed. Finally, Trowa, of all the pilots to do so, brought the issue up on the fifth morning before Duo had woken up and come downstairs.
"Those two haven't been right since the mission." He stated simply.
"I know, it's got me worried. I wish I knew what happened, I'm actually beginning to miss all the noise and insanity," Quatre replied sheepishly. "I think it's worse without the commotion than with it."
"Hn...I agree." Heero allowed grudgingly. "More than likely, Chang's holed himself up in Shenlong."
"Yes, we all tend to close ourselves up in our Gundams if we want privacy," Quatre nodded in assent.
"But those two aren't going to tell us anything," he indicated matter-of-factly. "We never do unless it's important and all they were supposed to do was eliminate another base."
"Could you be any more uncaring? Oh wait, Heero Yuy is the Perfect Soldier and Perfect Soldiers don't bother with that sort of trivial nonsense, do please forgive me for forgetting that." That immediate got Quatre surprised looks from the other two, Heero not the least. "I'm sorry, but I really am worried, and you can't act any more cold about this even if you tried."
"Quatre, the mere actuality that we're discussing this is concern enough," Trowa reassured him.
"We just leave all the worrying up to you since you seem so good at it."
"You're not helping any here, Heero."
"Neither are you Trowa."
"Fine!" Quatre interrupted, glaring at them both. "I say we give it another day or two, and if this hasn't blown over after a week since coming back, well, then we'll get involved."
Heero and Trowa only shrugged and he sighed exasperatingly, but didn't say anything.
***
After they had retreated to bed, or to a laptop, that night, Duo emerged from his room cautiously and crept downstairs. Nothing extraordinary, he was just plain hungry and wasn't in the mood to be questioned by Quatre or the others, so he had to wait until they cleared out to their rooms. With his shoulder out of commission, he hadn't been able to braid his hair, and not realizing that until -after- he had unraveled it to brush it, it hung in dark brown waves almost down below his butt.
Another fairly good reason, he thought, to stay hidden. He looked like a girl and that was all he needed, to have the pilots thinking he was girlish. Of course, that wasn't going to happen.
It was how Wufei found him that night, as Duo was pilfering around in the kitchen, with basically the same idea in mind, not wanting to be grilled and deciding to wait until later to pop inside from spending all day in Shenlong's cockpit.
Just as Duo was about to head into the living room, Wufei slipped in through the garage door on the other side and saw him. He came to a dead stop mid-step and immediately turned to sidle back out again, but it was too late. Duo had heard him.
"Wufei?" he asked hesitantly.
He didn't respond, but came in and shut the door behind him.
"Listen, I'm sorry about gettin' pissed at you the other day and all- and there's no excuse for the way I snapped- I hate being immobile with this stupid damn shoulder, which -is- because of my not payin' attention-"
"-Duo."
"What?"
"Breathe. You're babbling. And I already told you; you're -not- to blame. 'What ifs' and accusations won't change the current predicament." Wufei said flatly.
Duo took a deep breath and sighed, seeming to visibly deflate right before his eyes. "I know, I know...But still, I can't do -anything-! And it's startin' to be a royal pain in the ass."
"I don't think I noticed," he replied wryly. "As odd as this sounds coming from me, all you have to do is ask for help. Because sitting around and sulking in your room until it heals will only make matters worse."
"Oh yeah, that definitely sounds funny comin' from you, Fei. What have you been doin' the past few days, eh? Shackin' up in Shenlong for no apparent reason whatsoever-"
"That's different."
"How? Huh? I don't see a difference, except for that you can use all your limbs." Duo scoffed. "You don't have to 'sulk', as you so kindly put it, around lookin' like a girl, damn it!" He glowered darkly.
"Do you want help with that?" Wufei smirked as he glared.
"Unless you know how to braid, then I don't see why I should bother 'cause I really don't wanna ponytail that cuts off the blood flow to my brain, thank you very much," Duo snorted derisively.
"Fortunately for you, I can, and very well too. But if you're going to joke about my style of choice, then I think I -should- let you sulk around looking like an onna until your shoulder heals," Wufei answered mockingly, beginning to open the garage entrance again.
"No! C'mon! I'm sorry! I didn't mean it! Pleaseeeee, pleaseeeee, pleaseeeee," Duo launched across the kitchen and grabbed him by the arm, dragging him away from the door. "C'mon, it's bad enough that -you- saw me, you gotta help me out, Fei, my good ole buddy. Please? See, I asked nicely now." His Chibi Eyed Pout packed as much power as Heero's Death Glare.
Wufei stumbled, caught off guard, and got pulled off into the living room. Duo switched on the lamp beside the large armchair and settled himself down on the carpet. He sat in the chair and glanced at the staircase nervously, if any of the others were to happen to come down at that moment, their situation would be really awkward. But Wufei had led himself into a wide-open attack in a way and his subconscious dimly wondered if he had done it on purpose as he gathered Duo's silky fine hair in his rough hands. Meticulously splitting it into three parts, Wufei twisted the strands for what seemed like forever, tilting farther and farther away as it grew.
"God, Duo, I knew your hair was long, but this is ridiculous!" He muttered, leaning forward again so that his face hovered by his ear. "You wouldn't happen to have a rubber band or something on you, would you?" Duo handed him a thick black one. "There, done."
They both instantly got to their feet and he whirled to thank him not aware he had rose at the same time, ending up face-to- face with barely more than a couple of centimeters separating them.
***
Chibi Eyed Pout! Buwaha! I just -had- to have my own little trademark here. ^^;;; I can just picture Duo's kawaii face in the Chibi Eyed Pout...*snuggle* Too kawaii.