Sorry this is late. I'm seriously thinking about moving this to Sunday instead of Monday. Perhaps I won't be so busy then, like I sometimes am on Mondays.

Part 4 of ?

It was several minutes before Wufei finally pulled out of his immobility. He looked around, a little surprised to find himself alone in the room. For an instant more he looked bewildered, then

his expression firmed. Standing up almost violently, he headed for the stairs, going up without hesitation and striding firmly towards Duo's door. And stopped. Once there he seemed to argue with himself, several times turning away, until he finally got up the courage to knock. And waited. There was no answer. He knocked again, more firmly this time. There was still no answer.

The Chinese pilot looked up and down the hallway as if trying to decide what to do next. He reached for the doorknob, then pulled his hand back. It would be an unhonorable breach of privacy to go in without an invitation, but... With a scowl at his own wishy-washyness, he opened the door and strode in without another seconds hesitation.

Duo walked out of the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel around his hips and another around his hair. He jerked to a stop as he saw Wufei entering the room, scowling. He sighed and dropped his eyes, totally missing the way the other boy's eyes had widened in surprise, pleasure and hunger.

Wufei quickly glanced away. He hadn't expected this. The idea that Duo might have been in the shower had never occurred to him. It was all he could do not to reach out and touch all of that beautiful silky skin. He clenched his hands into fists to keep from tearing off that towel and seeing the rest.

Duo's downcast eyes saw Wufei's hands curl into fists, and adding it to the scowl on his face when he walked in, came to only one conclusion. But the other boy didn't move. Finally, Duo lost his patience. "Will you just go ahead and deck me?"

Wufei's head jerked up. Once more, Duo had totally shocked him. Before he could get a word out, Duo was talking.

"Look, I'm sorry I kissed you okay? I wasn't thinking and I didn't really mean to. I'm sorry if it disgusted you or whatever, but will you just go ahead and hit me and get it over with?"

Wufei frowned fiercely and took a step closer to the other boy. His hand came up towards Duo's face and he flinched, before forcing himself to stand still. But the hand only touched his chin, forcing his head up. Unwillingly, he looked into deep chocolate eyes. Deep chocolate eyes that didn't seem to be mad at all.

"Are you listening to me, Duo Maxwell?" Wufei said almost savagely.

Duo nodded as best he could with the hand still holding his chin up.

"I would never be so unjust as to hit you for expressing your feelings, especially at a time like that. What I want to know, is did you mean it?"

This time it was Duo's turn to be shocked speechless.

When Duo didn't answer, Wufei nodded and dropped his hand away. "So, it was just a moment's aberration." He turned and walked to the door.

As he reached for the handle, Duo finally got his act together. "No!" he almost shouted. He strode over to the other pilot and put his hand up as if to touch him, but didn't quite dare. Instead his hand hovered over his shoulder as he continued softly. "I meant it."

As Wufei turned to look at him, the still hovering hand brushed against his cheek. Duo started to draw it away, but Wufei reached up and pressed it to his cheek, leaning slightly against it.

Duo gulped, but started to speak. "I wanted to kiss you," he said in almost a whisper. "I've wanted it for a while. But we were finally becoming friends, and I didn't want to lose that so I never said anything. But you'd been so nice. You didn't have to hold me, down there. I wanted it, but I didn't expect it. And you were so gentle and I wanted to thank you, and I wanted to kiss you, and I never wanted to have to get out of your lap. I didn't really mean to kiss you, I wasn't thinking about it. But I did mean the kiss. I'd been dreaming about kissing you."

Wufei smiled only slightly, but Duo was still caught in it, for the other boy's eyes were glowing with happiness. "So, how did it compare?" Wufei asked slyly.

"Huh?" Duo asked, still caught in his eyes.

"The kiss, how did it compare to your dreams?"

Duo finally started to truly hope. "Well, it was a little short," he smiled, a true smile, and Wufei, like Quatre before him, knew what it for the gift it was. "To make a decent comparison I mean," Duo continued.

"Does that mean you require more experimentation?" Wufei's eyes were dancing, and Duo was still caught. These were expressions he'd never expected to see on Nataku's pilot. Expressions he didn't think anyone else had ever seen either, and he gathered them into his memory like rare gems.

"I think it's only fair. We wouldn't want the test results to be tainted by inaccurate information, would we?"

Still not quite believing it was happening, but not about to give up the chance, Duo stepped closer. Slowly, he brought their heads together until their lips pressed against each other. It was a sweet, chaste kiss, for a moment. Surprisingly, it was Wufei who took it to the next level, opening his mouth slightly, and teasing Duo into opening his.

Their tongues danced back and forth, not battling for dominance, but just trying to experience the most they could. Wufei raised his hands to Duo's back. The feel of warm, bare skin under his fingertips was like a shock to the system. Instantly the kiss changed as lust flared. Wufei's hands clutched tighter as his mouth became more demanding, the kiss transforming from soft and sweet to hot, hard and needy.

Duo whimpered slightly even as he opened more for the invasion. His hands moved, one clutching the other boy closer, the other reaching to pull out the hairband and burying his hand in the satin strands of his love's hair.

/I think not./

Duo yawned. His eyes widened in comic disbelief that he would do so while being kissed.

Wufei chuckled as he backed away. "Was it so boring, then?"

Duo shook his head violently. "Nuh-uh. It was... oh man, it was better than I dreamed. But I think I need more evidence." He grinned widely.

Wufei looked at the vision in front of him. How could anyone possibly resist him? Dressed only in a towel, his skin flushed and glowing from arousal, his eyes violet pools deep enough to drown in, his lips moist, parted and deeply red... and yawning. Wufei aborted his move towards the other at this evidence that he was obviously more tired than he thought.

Duo pouted as his eyes drooped. It was an absolutely adorable sight, though Wufei found himself thinking he looked like a young child with that expression on his face.

"I don't know why I'm suddenly so *yawn* tired," Duo brought up one hand to cover his mouth. "I wanted to kiss some more."

Wufei leaned forward and brushed a kiss against the pouting lips in front of him. "If you're this tired then you need to get some sleep."

"But..." Duo could hardly keep his eyes open.

"You would be no good to us if you fall asleep in the middle of a mission," Wufei admonished. He saw the flash of hurt in the purple slivers that were all he could see of Duo's eyes. He quickly added, "besides, it's hard to kiss you when you're yawning, and I want you to enjoy it as much as I will." His reward was a repeat of that perfect smile before Duo yawned once more and swayed on his feet. Wufei jumped forward to catch him. "Let's get you into bed before you fall down," he urged.

"Why Wufei, you're so forward. Trying to get me into bed already? I don't put out on the first date you know." Duo joked even as he climbed into the bed Wufei had considerately turned down.

Wufei blushed brightly even as he pulled the covers up to Duo's chin. "Gonna read me a bed time story too, Fei-chan?" Duo murmured as he slipped into sleep.

"Anything you wish, beautiful one," Wufei whispered, bending to ghost a kiss across Duo's forehead. He walked to the door and took one more look back, before walking out and closing it behind him.