CHAPTER TWO: In Which Duo Admires
Duo was pretty certain that he'd loved Wufei as soon as he saw him.
He'd definitely wanted him.
The boy was entirely too pretty for his own good, even if he tried to hide it by scowling and scraping his hair back and dressing in loose, shrouding clothes.
And once he got to know him, he was... well, he was grouchy, and anal, and had a ferocious temper, and was fixated on the war. But Duo had caught glimpses - rare and fleeting glimpses - of someone gentler; a calm and quiet scholar with dreamy eyes.
And Duo loved both Wufeis.
Hopelessly, or so he'd always thought. Until that one night in the living room of Quatre's favorite safehouse; that night that still made his breath catch in his throat and heat pool in his groin when he thought of it. When Wufei had been stargazing, his eyes soft and unfocused, not realizing that his mask was down. The night Duo had snapped, lost control, and pounced on the other Pilot. He still remembered the confusion in those onyx eyes, the way the slim body had twisted beneath him, the deceptively frail-looking wrists held tight in his hands. Remembered the way that desire had pushed past the confusion, even if Wufei would never admit it.
Remembered how much he wanted to strangle Quatre for coming downstairs.
He still had trouble believing, when he stopped to think it over, that Wufei was his now. That he'd touched that body, stroked that hair, kissed those lips and seen the exquisite beauty of his face when he climaxed.
'Oh, smooth move, baka!' He scolded himself, 'now I'm all excited.' He turned the shower from warm to cold and let the water soak into him. He was tired, Wufei was tired. He'd seen the dark smudges under his eyes first thing. He'd have to corner Quatre and find out just how much sleep his lover had been getting. Quatre always knew.
Which left Duo wondering why he hadn't known Wufei was having nightmares? Of course, Quatre had told them something was wrong, he just hadn't been able to tell them what. That was back during those weeks when they'd been so worried about Wufei, watching him as the dark circles grew under his eyes and he got thinner and thinner.
Even Heero had expressed some concern; although all he had done was to wonder aloud if Wufei was fit to go on missions, Duo had known his friend well enough to know he really meant that he was worried about the other boy. Duo himself had worried so hard he was half-sick.
Then they'd come back from that mission to a visibly exhausted Wufei and a spotless, gleaming house.
Duo had promptly worried himself completely sick.
So sick that he'd had nightmares the next night.
He'd been ashamed of himself for about two seconds when Heero told him the next day. That feeling had been replaced by astonishment when 01 had added that Wufei had sat with them until Duo relaxed.
That had given Duo pretty much the first hope, ever, that Wufei might care about him. The little scene in the living room that night could have just been lust; wasn't like Wufei ever got any, after all. The fact that he'd let him hang out with him, was teaching him some martial arts, could be explained as boredom.
But nothing he could think up would explain why Wufei would spend half the night sitting outside his bedroom door just because Duo was having nightmares.
He sighed happily and turned off the shower. He didn't need to spend his time wondering anymore; he had what he'd always wanted. Had a warm Dragon in his bed whenever they were together, could touch him and hug him and hold him whenever he wanted. Well, so long as he didn't get too public with it; Wufei was loosening up nicely but he still had a long way to go.
Duo didn't mind. He wasn't going to push him.
Someday, Quatre would get to see them kiss. He snickered, knowing that the blond was looking forward to that.
Well, so was he. He'd always been a bit of an exhibitionist, and there would be the added bonus of Wufei finally being that comfortable around them.
Because, he admitted to himself as he was toweling off, his Dragon was nowhere near comfortable yet.
If he had been, Duo had a feeling the others wouldn't have let him sleep alone. Not that he thought they'd try anything sexual, but because then they could wake Wufei from his nightmares when he himself wasn't there to do it.
He dropped the wet towel in the hamper and picked up the heavy-duty comb from the sink. Good thing he kept his hair in a braid; if it had been loose and had all that mud in it, he would have had no choice but to cut it off. The mats and tangles would have been impossible to get out. He started pulling the comb through the clean-again chestnut strands, the motion soothing him to absolute calm like always.
Oh, he was tired. His eyelids were heavy, and his eyes felt like they were covered with sandpaper. But he still had to clean his boots and throw the clothes from his duffel bag - and probably the duffel, itself - into the washer or they'd be ruined forever.
When he finally wandered into the bedroom, however, he saw his boots, scrubbed clean, sitting on a newspaper beside the door. His duffel bag was also scrubbed down, empty, and sitting on another.
And Wufei was curled up on the bed, hugging Duo's pillow and sound asleep.
*
It was warm when Wufei woke up.
Very odd, because he knew he'd fallen asleep on top of the blankets.
There was a heavy weight on his chest and one leg and arm were pinned to the bed.
The only reason he didn't panic was because that last bit was quite familiar. Duo was using him as a pillow again. The chestnut head - slightly damp, he noticed - was on his chest, one arm wrapped tight around his ribs, the other underneath him with a hand on the small of his back. Almost all of Duo's body weight was pressing down on Wufei's numb left arm, and he shifted it carefully until it began to tingle with returning blood flow. Duo's legs were laying between his knees, pressing his left leg down, as well, but not so forcefully.
Wufei's own right arm was around his lover, hand holding tightly to the damp braid. The blankets had been worked out from under him and pulled back over them both. The room had the dim light of early evening and he sighed, hoping he would be able to sleep tonight after such a long nap.
Of course, he hadn't slept well in six days, perhaps he'd fall right back into slumber.
He could only hope.
There was a very delicious smell drifting into the room - it must be nearly time for supper. Wufei's stomach growled, reminding him that just like sleep, food had also been rare over the last few days. He hadn't felt like eating; his appetite had deserted him about five minutes after Duo walked out the door.
He was hungry now, though. He began to work his way out from under Duo, ready to replace his chest with a real pillow as soon as he got his arm and leg free.
The braided boy responded to his movement with an angry, growling moan and arms that held on tighter. Wufei rolled his eyes and decided to work on one limb at a time. His leg was barely held; he'd try to get that free first.
*
It wasn't nice for the bed to move.
Duo was caught up in a pleasant dream involving chocolate, whipped cream, feathers, and a certain dark-eyed boy in a leather outfit. If the bed didn't stop trying to get away, he was going to wake up!
...the bed was trying to get away?!
He blinked heavy eyelids open.
Oh. He was laying on Wufei, who was trying to get away.
Well, that wasn't acceptable, either!
He growled and wrapped both arms and both legs around the other boy, pulling him as close as he could and heaving a sigh of satisfaction.
"Duo... Duo, wake up."
Not a chance in hell.
"Come on, Duo, please wake up. It's time for supper. I'm hungry."
Supper? Food?
All right, so he'd wake up.
"What are we waiting for, then?" He yodeled, leaping to his feet and pulling a surprised Chinese boy to his. Wufei barely got his legs under him before he was being yanked down the hall, a hand holding his upper arm in a familiar grip.
He just rolled his eyes again and let himself be pulled. Might as well, there was no getting away from Maxwell when he was on his way to food and determined to take you with him.
"Oh, good, you're awake." Quatre smiled at them as Hurricane Maxwell hit the kitchen. "I was just wondering if I should call you."
"Quat, you angel, is that fried chicken? Where did you learn to cook that?"
"I didn't cook it. It's takeout; I didn't feel much like cooking this evening, so I walked down to one of the little restaurants in town."
"You were careful?" Wufei asked, and Duo saw a trace of concern in those dark eyes. He grinned.
Quatre smiled, too, easily picking up the emotion Wufei was trying to hide. "Yes, I was very careful. I wore a dress. There's salad and biscuits, too. And some very well-made gravy." He stopped when he realized both of the other boys were staring at him, mouths hanging open.
"Y-you did what?" Duo sputtered, eyes wide. "You wore a dress?"
"I was kidding." Quatre answered calmly. "I wore jeans and one of your T-shirts. Do you want gravy?"
"I find that almost as difficult to believe." Wufei had quickly regained his composure, and was reaching for the plate of chicken while eyeing Quatre's usual neat khakis, dress shirt, and vest.
Duo finally got his jaw back in place and laughed. "Good one, Q! Remind me to try that on Hee-chan and Trowa. When will they be back?"
Quatre's smile got wider. "Tonight or tomorrow morning. Trowa emailed me while you two were resting; their mission is complete and they're on their way." He watched, blue eyes satisfied, as Wufei ate a plateful of salad and a piece of chicken. That was already more than he'd eaten all day yesterday.
"That's good, glad they're coming back." Duo's voice was absently, his own eyes watching the same scene. They'd fought to put weight back on Wufei and he was already getting thin again. He didn't blame Quatre, of course; there was only so much an Angel could do against a stubborn Dragon. He just hoped Wufei kept eating.
Wufei didn't. He finished the salad and chicken, then put his plate in the sink and yawned.
"Why don't you two lay back down?" Quatre asked, eyeing Duo's own tired eyes. "You need to sleep after that mission, and Wufei can keep you company." That last was said teasingly. Wufei snorted but headed back toward the bedroom.
He was tired. Good. Hopefully he'd sleep the night through, and with Duo there...
Well, there shouldn't be any nightmares. And he could cuddle Duo instead of a pillow that smelled like Duo.
Duo followed him, his violet eyes hungry as he watched the flex of muscles in Wufei's backside and legs under that flowing silk. He used to wonder, while he was watching, exactly what Wufei's bottom half looked like - you could only catch glimpses of the outline in the traditional pants he wore. Then they went on that mission - it was horrible, but one good thing had come of it - and he saw the other boy in that tight black leather. He wished he'd given into carnal desires and jumped him right then, mission or no mission. Then Wufei would never have been hurt.
And he would never have found out what those nightmares were, and would probably still be sharing a room with Hee-chan.
He sighed. He never could decide whether that mission had been a good thing or a bad thing. Someday, when he felt a little more confident, he'd ask his lover's opinion.
Right now, he just wanted to crawl into bed and hold his warm Dragon close.
A/N: The bit with the weird dream and the lime in Chapter 10 of Perchance to Dream happens this night. I'm not going to rehash it, but it'll be mentioned in the next chapter, so if you've never read it, now's the time...