AN: NEW STORY UP, SORRY ABOUT NOT UPDATING MY OTHERS, BUT I CAN ONLY WRITE WHEN MY MUSE IS IN THE MOOD, AND SHE HAS MORE CHANGEABLE MOODS THAN LADY UNE.
SUMMARY: AS WUFEI STRUGGLES WITH HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH TREIZE KUSHRENADA, OZ COMMANDER MAJOR DUO MAXWELL, WARD AND PROTÉGÉ OF GENERAL KUSHRENADA, FINDS HIMSELF FALLING FOR PILOT 01.
PAIRINGS: 1X2 3X4 13X5 6X9 2+6
RATING: M FOR YAOI AND DUO'S MOUTH
DISCLAIMER: DON'T OWN IT
Chapter One
'Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favour fire.
But it if had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.' Robert Frost
Wufei awoke in the semi-twilight of Treize Kushrenada's bedroom. Faint slivers of moonlight peered between the half-closed curtains to cast eerie shadows on the luxurious carpet and to dance patterns on naked flesh.
Treize's bed was comfortable. In fact, the bed was so comfortable that in the half-consciousness that accompanied waking, Wufei was momentarily unsure of where he was. The night was cool, the early death of summer leading to a cool and damp autumn in the Oz base just outside of Paris. Despite the coolness of the night, Wufei awoke to find himself warm and comfortable, held tight in Treize's possessive embrace under the thick blankets.
Wufei reluctantly unwrapped himself from the General's embrace and slipped from the bed. He shivered in the cool evening breeze. He quickly padded around the bedroom searching for his hastily discarded clothes. He then slipped from the bedroom to search for his missing tank top, and was somewhat bemused to find it hanging from the chandelier in Treize's adjoining office.
The Gundam Pilot then returned silently to the bedroom and dressed swiftly, not wanting to wake the sleeping General. If Treize were to awake before Wufei left, then he would ask him not to leave. And Wufei did not know what he would do if the General were to ask this question. He knew it was only a matter of time before their fragile relationship was forced to adapt or die. He could not conceal the relationship from the other three pilots indefinitely and it was only lucky that he had not been found sneaking in and out of countless Oz bases for the liaisons he was unable to resist.
But still, Wufei was unable to stay away from the charismatic older man. Treize had an attraction for Wufei that he was both unable to define and to resist.
Wufei shivered, and it had nothing to do with the autumn chill. He turned back to the bed, lifting his katana from where it lay a few feet from Treize's discarded rapier. The scent of the earlier lovemaking was heady on the air and the rumpled sheets, as well as Treize's sleeping form, made it very hard for Wufei to leave. It always was.
Sometimes Wufei wondered what would happen if he were to stay after one of their trysts. To spend the night in Treize's bed and his arms. To wake in the General's embrace, to spend all that time in the one place where he truly felt safe, despite the fact that he was in an enemy base, in the arms of his most dangerous opponent. But Wufei could not think beyond that, and knew that to even think about it was stretching the boundaries of their tentative relationship.
So instead, he sheathed his katana and went to leave, pausing at the doors to gaze back at the sleeping general and murmur,
"Damn you, Treize. Every time it's harder to leave you. Damn you for doing this to me. And damn me for the fool who loves you."
And with that he left the room, not seeing the General's half-open blue eyes and the tear tracing its way down one sculpted cheek.
Wufei had not taken three steps from Treize's quarters when a voice spoke from the shadows,
"Now what's a boy like you doing in a place like this?"
Wufei whirled on his heel, drawing his katana and scanning the shadows. He could see no-one, yet the voice had definitely originated from the area which he was staring at. He growled,
"Reveal yourself."
The voice laughed,
"Now why would I want to do that. If you can see me, it's easier for you to try and kill me, 05."
Wufei paled,
"Who are you?"
There was a slight pause,
"Let's just say I'm a friend."
Wufei frowned,
"Maybe I don't want a friend."
Another pause,
"Who said I was yours?" 1
Wufei growled,
"Enough games, I grow tired of this foolishness. Show yourself."
Another laugh, then a sigh and a figure stepped from a shadowy alcove that Wufei had been certain was empty. The figure itself was almost as shocking as this blow to Wufei's surveillance skills. At first sight, he would have thought it was a girl, with the long hair, braided neatly to mid-back, and the pixie-like face with its glittering violet eyes.
A closer inspection, however, proved that the figure to be a boy about Wufei's age, dressed all in black, with a crucifix around his neck. Wufei frowned,
"What are you doing here?"
The figure laughed,
"I think the more important question is what you're doing here?"
Wufei scowled, he didn't like this impertinent stranger asking questions to which he did not yet know the answers himself.
"That's unimportant."
A frown twisted the fey face,
"A don't think so. I know what you're doing in an Oz base at the dead of night, 05. But what I want to know is why you're out here and not in there?"
Wufei frowned,
"What do you mean?"
He hated asking this stranger to explain, hated the need for any help as a sign of weakness. And he hated showing weakness to anyone, especially this laughing stranger. Except the stranger was not laughing now and when he spoke, his voice was serious,
"He needs you."
Simple, direct. Three simple words that shook the very foundation of Wufei's world. He didn't need to ask who 'he' was, there was only one he that the stranger could be speaking of.
"He doesn't need me, he doesn't need anyone."
It was a foolish denial and the stranger knew it,
"I didn't take you for a fool, Chang Wufei, don't act like one."
Wufei scowled, he knew that what he had said was foolish, but he didn't need this stranger critiquing his choices.
"I don't need you to tell me how to live my life."
The stranger sighed, gesturing Wufei to do the same, sat down cross-legged in the corridor.
"You do, you both do. But talking to Treize about you is like trying to get blood from a stone. So I thought I'd try to get you to see some sense about the matter."
Wufei frowned but said nothing, wanting to know why this stranger spoke of Treize with such familiarity. The stranger continued talking,
"You need each other. I think you know that at some level, and you know that what you have now can't last. So why are you out here?"
Wufei frowned and stuttered.
"I have to… am needed to… my Gundam… the other pilots…"
The stranger raised a hand to stop his feeble explanations,
"You're Gundam is safe and will remain so. And the other pilots won't miss you until later tomorrow morning. You'd be safe to stay this night."
Wufei shook his head in denial,
"I can't stay here…"
The stranger sighed,
"He would not ask you to. He knows he cannot have that, despite it being what he truly wants. But if you were to stay one night through, then it would do you both a world of good."
Wufei flinched,
"But I…"
The stranger rose and pulled him to his feet,
"Go back now, Chang Wufei, before your foolishness costs you both everything."
And with that, the stranger faded back into the darkness, leaving Wufei standing alone in the corridor. He stood there for a moment, before turning and walking back the few steps he had come from Treize's quarters. He paused slightly before the door, then, knowing that he was making a decision that would change everything, he pushed the door open and slipped inside.
He quickly crossed the drawing room, slash office and entered the bedroom. Once inside the dark room, he undressed, laying his clothes carefully with his katana on a chair. Then he crossed the room to the enormous bed that was a feature of Treize's quarters, no matter where he was.
Wufei slipped under the sheets, curling up close next to Treize, in the spot that was still warm from his earlier occupancy of it. For a moment he lay there, still, until he felt Treize's arms wrap around him, cocooning him in their security. Warm and safe, his heart at ease for the first time in nights, he slept.
Treize Kushrenada awoke to find a warm body snuggled against his chest. Unbound black hair was spread beneath his throat and a deceptively slender leg was hooked around his hip. He glanced down at his lover's face and smiled, Wufei's haughtily aristocratic features were gentler in sleep, so that he looked more like the teenager that he was in body than the warrior he was in spirit. Sunlight streamed in through the partially opened curtains, casting shimmering highlights on Wufei's bronzed skin.
He had stayed. Treize stared down at the young warrior, love warring with amazement as he studied Wufei's peaceful features. Wufei had never stayed. The fiery warrior would always slip from the bed at some time in the night, never staying for dawn's pastel loving of the sky.
As he watched, Wufei awoke, his momentary confusion as to his location showing in his eyes as they flicked around the room, until they met Treize's gaze. For a moment, Wufei hesitated, then he offered his lover a tentative smile. Treize found himself gaping and closed his mouth, saying dumbly,
"You stayed."
Wufei nodded slightly,
"I stayed… you're not angry with me?"
Treize frowned,
"Why would I be angry with you, mon amour?" 2
Wufei looked away,
"You never asked me to stay."
Treize made to answer, then decided that there was a much more efficient, and pleasant, way of calming Wufei's fears. Pulling Wufei close up against him, he lowered his head slightly and caught Wufei's lips and his expelled breath in a deep kiss. He smiled into the kiss as he felt the boy's slender arms twine around his neck and wrapped his own arms around Wufei's waist in response.
When he reluctantly pulled out of the kiss, they were both panting and Wufei's lips were swollen and his eyes dazed and lidded with passion. Treize rolled over so that Wufei was pinned beneath him. Renewing the kiss, he traced his hands down Wufei's slender torso, pausing to trace circles on the young pilot's breastbone and abdomen, enjoying the moans and whimpers he coaxed out of his responsive lover.
Just as things were about to get really interesting, a sharp knock sounded on the door. Treize groaned in frustration and rolled off Wufei, sitting up in the bed, allowing the sheets to fall to his hips. Wufei made an aborted effort to get out of the bed, which stopped when he realised that the door was opening and his clothes and katana were on a chair on the other side of the room.
Cursing, he slipped back under the covers and prayed to the Gods of his ancestors that it wasn't Lady Une about to walk in through the door. Treize, however, looked remarkably unconcerned at the thought of being found naked in bed with an equally naked Gundam Pilot. In fact, the bastard looked positively smug.
Wufei just about managed not to gape when he saw who had walked in through the door. It was the stranger from the previous night. Except he was now dressed in the ornate dress uniform of a full Major of OZ. The stranger rolled his vivid violet eyes at both of them and said,
"I hate to disturb the happy couple, but it's almost 0800, Lady Une is on the warpath, again, and I can't hide the Gundam for much longer without people asking questions. And you know how I feel about lying, Treize."
Treize sighed,
"Is there anything else?"
The stranger nodded,
"Zechs is back, but Noin dragged him off the moment he was out of his suit, we won't see them for a few hours, unless we go looking through broom closets out of perversity."
Treize rolled his eyes,
"And how many have you searched already?"
The stranger smirked,
"52 out of 397."
Treize blinked,
"There are 397 broom closets on this base?"
The stranger cackled slightly,
"Yep, I've got my work cut out for me."
Treize groaned,
"Why do I put up with you?"
Another insane cackle,
"Cos' I'm your ward and too unutterably gorgeous for words."
Treize raised his eyes, as if in supplication of some higher power. It obviously wasn't listening and Treize asked,
"Anything else, Duo?"
The stranger…Duo…nodded and said much more seriously,
"My… project… is going very well and Lady Une wants to talk to you about that project of hers."
Treize sighed,
"Thank you Duo, you should go back to your project."
Duo nodded and turned to Wufei,
"Your Gundam is where you left it, nobody should be anywhere near it, but I concealed it anyway."
With that, Duo cocked Treize a jaunty salute, smirked lasciviously at Wufei and sauntered out of the room, humming under his breath. Wufei stared after him for a moment and then turned to Treize and asked,
"Who was that?"
Treize sighed,
"He's my ward. His name's Major Duo Maxwell. He's from L2 and as far as we're aware, the only survivor of the Maxwell Church Massacre, it's partly because of this that he calls himself Shinigami."
Wufei stared at him for a moment and then got up from the bed and went to get dressed, trying not to flush as he felt Treize's eyes upon him, suddenly very conscious of his nudity. He got dressed quickly and, picking up his katana, he turned back to Treize. Trying not to meet his lover's eyes, he spoke to the floor,
"I…"
Treize stood up from the bed, utterly unself-conscious in his nudity. He crossed to where Wufei was standing and pulled the boy close against him, kissing him until both of their lips were swollen and bruised. Reluctantly he let Wufei go, who staggered slightly as Treize released him from his embrace. The Oz general spoke finally,
"You have to go, I know."
Wufei flinched at the sadness in Treize's voice,
"I want to stay, but it's not that easy."
Treize's voice was resigned when he spoke,
"It never is."
With that last comment dancing through his mind, Wufei slipped from the room, his heart breaking just a little. And Duo Maxwell watched from a window as the two men tore themselves apart just that little bit more.
TBC.