Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Ghosts In The Attic ❯ Ghosts In The Attic ( One-Shot )

By: ~Moonsliver~

Disclaimer: *insert your favorite version of "No, Moonsliver doesn't own them, and she is neither claiming to nor making any profit from this" here*

Warnings: Yaoi. 6x5. Sap.

AN: *points at Ponderosa* Her fault. She was handing out bunnies, and this one attached itself to my right leg. ^^;;; This fic was inspired by a yummy pic of hers involving a nineteen year old Wufei in Zechs' jacket and Treize looming in the background. She posted the sketch on her lj, and a couple of plot-bunny suggestions accompanied it. The 6x5 bunny latched onto me while I was brushing my teeth…and this is the result.

Also, a "Thank you" goes to Jayni for beta-reading this fic. ^_^

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Clutter.

Wufei sighed as he ran his fingers through his raven-black hair that was loosely brushing his shoulders, absently pushing a few wayward strands that had fallen into his face aside. He leaned against the side of the door, frowning as he surveyed the mess that was his attic. Plastic storage crates and open boxes were stacked haphazardly along the walls; some were even piled to the ceiling and others caved in under the weight on top of them.

The Chinese man closed his eyes and shook his head. He couldn't remember when he had gotten so much…stuff. The majority of his belongings had been destroyed with A0206, his birth-colony, during the One Year War. Yet somehow he had accumulated all of this -- his eyes swept the room again -- in the two short years that he had lived in this small townhouse on Earth.

A sad smile ghosted across WuFei's face as he knelt down next to the nearest pile of boxes and bins. The majority of the things in the attic weren't even his; they belonged to his lover.

His lover was, at the moment, on a mission for the Preventers in the L3 colony cluster. He had already been gone for several days. With the difference in time and the fact that Wufei had been finishing up his term papers and studying for his final exams, the two of them hadn't spoken to each other since he had seen Zechs off at the local spaceport.

WuFei's finals had ended three days ago. Since then, he had found himself feeling increasingly restless. He had nothing to occupy his time, as it would have been a waste to ask Lady Une to re-instate him for his brief winter break. He had asked to be placed on reserve that fall, when Zechs had finally convinced him to return to school.

Though he hadn't simply sat around the house since exams had ended. He had visited with friends -- even having had lunch with Sally earlier that day. He'd finished shopping for the upcoming holidays and had even started to glance through his books for next term. The rest of the time, he was simply in the house and without suitable distraction, it was so empty.

He'd taken to doing the little things that he and Zechs had put off -- minor repairs like removing the cracked caulk from the bathtub and replacing it, and fixing a broken tile in the kitchen. The little repairs were simple enough, and currently all complete. Even the broken garbage disposal had been replaced. Now, he stared determinedly at the attic, intent on at least organizing it by himself, so that the two of them could return to it later and actually clean it. It was a project that he and Zechs had discussed frequently, but never quite gotten around to doing.

None of the boxes were labeled, and many of the cardboard ones needed to be replaced with plastic bins. Most of Zechs' things had simply been thrown in their containers haphazardly by the household staff of his younger sister. Wufei knew that Pagan and his subordinates had meant well, given the young Miss Darlian had been grieving her brother at the time, and surely she hadn't expected for all of her brother's belongings to be handed over to her so shortly after the war had ended.

Still, Wufei was beginning to regret not taking the time to clean up the mess when the things had been returned to them -- especially now that the itch to find and put up all of the holiday decorations had seized the Chinese man. It was normally Zechs who pulled them out, as holidays were important to the tall blonde. His lover had never explained why, but Wufei assumed that it had something to do with memories of his family and his youth in Sanq.

Having the decorations up when Zechs returned home would be a nice surprise for him.

Though that meant that Wufei had to find them first. With a disgruntled moan, WuFei pulled the lid off the nearest plastic bin and began to dig through it.

The bin was filled with pictures -- Zechs' graduating class from Lake Victoria, the blonde in his old uniform and standing proudly on the shoulder of a freshly completed Tallgeese, Treize on his estate with his hunting dogs and rifle. There were photos of Noin, and even of Une, from the early days of the Specials, of Zechs before he had put on the silvery mask, and of soldiers that Wufei only recognized. Some he could place names to, like Zechs' dear friend Otto, while others were a mystery.

He sat down on the floor and stretched out his legs, still shifting through the photos as he looked as his lover in his youth. There were many pictures of him with Treize, not that Wufei was surprised. The two of them had been quite close in their youth, and though it had never been said, he had suspected that they were even lovers.

As he finished with each photograph, he set it on the floor next to him and went to the next, until a small flash of silver caught his eye in the dim light. Reaching underneath the layer of pictures, he pulled out a broken half of the mask that Zechs had worn at the beginning of the first war. The surface was dull and dusty from neglect. Turning it over in on hand, the fingers of the other traced the ragged edge where it had shattered. Small flecks of red stained the inside of the helm, and Wufei frowned sharply at the sight of them.

He gently sat the mask back into the box and shifted the photos around. What else was at the bottom of the bin, he wondered. His fingers brushed over plastic, the cool surface crinkling under his touch. Careful not to harm the photos, he pulled out a neatly folded package.

The clear plastic and tissue paper did not disguise the bright red jacket held within. Yet another thing that Wufei and not seen since the first war. He peeled off the layers of protection that had enclosed it.

He held it up to study the black and gold accents, and sighed softly as his eyes caught the signs of battle damage that the jacket still carried. The gold trim was singed, and the jacket smelled of smoke and exhaust from the engine explosion of Libra. He carefully gathered up the coat and drew it close to him, inhaling the strange mix of smoke, fumes and must. Underneath all of it, he could still pick up a scent that was strangely, uniquely Zechs.

It reminded Wufei of how much he was missing his lover, though he'd never admit it to anyone.

Not pausing to rationalize with himself, though mindful of its tattered state, he swung the jacket around his shoulders and slipped it on. Though he had grown much since the wars had ended, the arms were a bit too long on him. The shoulders were heavy from the weight of the decorative fringe. His loose black hair was trapped close to his neck by the tall collar. He shifted inside the jacket, noticing that other than arms, the jacket fit him well and it was warm in the cool, damp chill of the attic. He settled back onto the floor and began to place the photos in the box.

Soft footsteps on the stairs caused him to jump, his instincts spinning him around as he pushed his body into a crouch. His weight balanced easily. The Chinese pilot had assumed a familiar fighting stance with his hands open, rigid, and ready to strike before he even had a chance to register the familiar shadow in the doorway.

"The color suits you," a soft, strong voice said.

Wufei straightened and pursed his lips, doing his best to not look embarrassed as the blonde approached him. Zechs smiled calmly, his cornflower blue eyes glimmering in amusement. "Missed me, I take it," he whispered as he slipped his arm behind WuFei's head and pulled the other man's black hair free from the collar.

"I was trying to find the Christmas lights," was all Wufei offered in way of an explanation. He then looked down at the box of photos. "And these belong in a proper album; they will get ruined being kept up here."

"I had thought that you would rather not see that part of my life," Zechs murmured in reply. He glanced absently at the open box. "I did not want my past to…interfere with my present. But if you insist, then we will put them in albums." He smiled again, leaned in and pressed his lips to WuFei's.

"I insist," the black-haired man answered. He stepped closer, wrapped his arms around the blonde and deepened the kiss.

"Very well then," Zechs replied as he pulled free of WuFei's hold. The blonde eased himself down onto the floor, pulling the other man with him. The former Gundam pilot turned around and leaned back on his lover's chest, sighing as one of Zechs' arms encircled his waist. The blonde reached up and brushed aside WuFei's rich, black hair to nip playfully at his neck.

"And just so you know," Zechs murmured in the Chinese man's ear with a small chuckle, "the lights are in the basement."

End