Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Touched ❯ Chapter 7

Touched

(7 / 7)

Pairing : 2x5x2

Rating : R overall

Warnings : Yaoi, lime, mild angst/sap/violence

Disclaimer : GW belongs to Sunrise, Sotsu and Bandai. I wish I owned it though.

Summary : A mission finished at the expense of one pilot getting hurt. Two boys find themselves sharing space in the same safehouse, and finding a connection while learning to live with each other.

+++++ : Change of scene

~~~~~ : Scene break

< > : Recalled speech

// // : Thoughts

A/N : This doesn't follow the canon storyline. ^_^ Feedback appreciated!

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Carefully, the slender forceps clamped around the crystalline fragment, before lifting it away from flesh. A stifled groan followed, and an involuntarily jerk in the prone form.

Wufei's jaw worked as he efficiently and gently removed the small slivers of glass embedded in Duo's knees. When he was sure he had removed every single fragment he could possibly see with both naked eye and the magnifying glass, he laid the forceps aside, and sat back, grimacing from the ache in his back.

"Thanks," Duo murmured from where he lay.

Wufei acknowledged that with a grunt.

Neither of them had spoken much when Wufei had half-supported, half-lugged an exhausted Duo back to the safehouse. The weather had matched their moods to painful perfection. It rained mercilessly, the soaking wetness clinging to their skin, mingling with their perspiration, reducing both of them to nothing more than mechanically trudging, panting forms.

When they had finally stumbled, mud-streaked and all, into the safehouse, Wufei had been tempted to just lay there and sleep the night away in current their states. But Duo…

Wufei winced unconsciously, remembering the mess of flesh, blood and glass that were Duo's knees. He shook his head, clearing that unpleasant memory. "I'd like to hear your report now, if you please," he said pointedly, gaze darting to Duo.

The violet-eyed boy shrugged. "What else? Got spotted by OZ, and escaped. Still alive and kicking."

Duo was clearly just stating the obvious.

"Elaborate." Ignoring Duo's dramatic sigh, Wufei fished the kit for bandages. He turned his attention back to the punctured knees. He bathed them as gently as he possibly could. The disinfectant solution followed and Duo yelped in pain.

"Just a little more," Wufei muttered as he worked.

"Fucking hurts," Duo groaned as he leaned his head back against the wall and squeezed his eyes shut.

"I want to know what happened."

"Christ!" Duo snapped. "What do you wanna know? That I got shot at but miraculously survived? Or that I bombed the car up and killed *only* a couple of people in the process?"

"Soldiers? Or civilians?"

"I dunno…" the American boy said evasively as he leaned his head into one hand. "Most possibly soldiers," he conceded after a stern glance from Wufei.

"How did you get back here?"

Duo made a sound that was clearly of irritation, and perhaps resignation. He stared dolefully into air for a second, before speaking. "Took OZ transport. Disabled the tracker, hid the truck in the forest, and walked the rest of the way."

Wufei paused, as if digesting all that Duo said, before nodding slowly. "I'll put all that in the report." He rolled the bandages over the last knee and secured it firmly.

"Would you put your own little trek into the forest into the report too?"

Wufei kept quiet.

"That Pilot 05 clearly went against the rules when he left the safehouse and went after a team-mate with nothing but a torchlight, a gun with only four rounds left and a pair of legs?"

The Chinese boy's face turned ashen and he stood up abruptly. The small bathroom now seemed even smaller, and suffocating. He stepped backwards, nearly colliding with the closed door. "Yes I would," he fairly hissed.

A snicker escaped Duo as he slowly, unsteadily got to his feet. "You know how irrational that would make you look?"

Wufei's lips tightened into a grim line as he was slowly backed into the door. He held himself with admirable will and steadiness even as Duo's arms went to either side of him, palms braced against the door and effectively cornering him. The pale face, still grinning like a haunted jester's mask, lowered to within an inch of his own, so close he could feel the tickle of breaths across his skin.

"Why did you come after me?" Duo's voice was unusually layered, the suggestion and implication in his hoarse tone both beseeching, and commanding at the same time.

It was a potent combination that left Wufei fairly light-headed. His vision swam, and before his eyes, the dirty beige of the tiles ran into startling pristine white of Duo's bandages, and rapidly staining red by the reopened wounds beneath the fabric. He leaned back, just about as far as he could against the resisting pressure of the door behind him. And he bit his lip, as if it could help him escape from answering.

"Forget it," Duo shook his head almost sadly. "You don't have to tell me," he stopped, suddenly looking pensive, before hardening again. "You can show me."

Wufei knew he wanted Duo to do what he was about to do, even as the youth's violet eyes fluttered shut and his stuttered breathing drew closer and closer. But what Wufei wanted didn't mean he could have it.

"I'm sorry," Wufei said, and even he could feel his own words completely piercing the thickening emotion in the air. He felt the responding flinch from Duo, but he continued anyway, unable to stop and afraid of what could happen if he did.

"I can't." The final statement fell from his lips and he stopped, his mind in a daze, seeing yet not quite seeing Duo reel back in confusion.

He didn't stay any longer, turning quickly to pull open the door and stumbling out, his own confusion and near desperation driving him away.

++++++++++

//Beep. Just beep.// Duo found himself willing the machine silently. //Just make any goddamned sound and we'll all be happy.//

The laptop remained mockingly silent.

//Traitor.// Duo accused inwardly as he turned on the couch. His limbs were starting to ache; he could practically feel them creaking as he tossed again, trying to somehow make himself comfortable. The first night he had collapsed onto it, he and the couch had been at odds with each other. Right now, they were *still* at odds.

He stared out the lone window that provided his everyday view to the outside world. A mist hung low outside, obscuring much of his view. He used to like rain. No, he liked the after-rain - the freshness, the crispness of the air. He didn't feel that way now. The surroundings just felt drained and stripped by the earlier storm.

At least the fireplace was comfort, the warmth it permeated reassuring.

He stared into the flickering flames, recalling the explosion back in the small town. He supposed he should feel some measure of guilt about what he had done, but he felt little of it. Rather, he had been thankful to make it back to the safehouse, battered but alive nonetheless. God, he sighed and closed his eyes briefly. His self-centredness was reaching startling proportions.

It was thoughts like this that was still keeping him awake.

What transpired earlier helped too.

How could he have been so fucking stupid? Duo felt like banging his head on a wall sometimes. In his moment of madness, he had actually crossed the unspoken boundary between comrades. If there was reciprocation, it mightn't have been that bad…No, there *was*, Duo was defiant in that respect, just that it felt like complete defeat right now. He had tried everything he knew to reach his elusive comrade, but by the looks of it, he had failed spectacularly.

Wistfully, Duo rested his gaze on the still form lying just several feet away. He could barely see the Chinese boy, with him being almost totally covered by the sheet. What he could see, and guess however, was that Wufei was as awake as he was. Probably just as unhappy as well, which was why Duo needed the laptop to lapse into its annoying habit of beeping at all the wrong times right *now*. The sooner they leave, the better, or they might end up more enemies than friends after this.

//Make some noise, anything! You - //

Obediently, `some noise' was made, just that it wasn't the laptop.

Mind still caught up in mid-rant, Duo blinked, startled, as the object of his unrequited scrutiny sat up abruptly.

The sheet fell away, revealing an unearthly silent Wufei with his head bowed as if in deep thought. Without the band, his hair winged wildly about his face, obscuring most of it, so all Duo could make out was a clenched jaw, paled lips.

They remained in this strange tableau for several long, tensed moments - Duo with his heart his mouth, eyes widened into bewildered violet saucers, and Wufei, head still lowered, hands clutching tightly onto the hem of the sheet that had covered him.

At length, Wufei's head lifted, turned, so a glimpse of piercing obsidian eyes was offered from behind the raven hair.

"It's cold," the Chinese youth said softly, as if he were talking to himself.

Trembling, Duo sat up.

"Come," Wufei finished simply.

~~~~~~~~~~

Neither of them spoke. Not yet.

He tightened his arms, drawing the dark-haired boy deeper into his embrace, and himself pressing closer to the warmth of Wufei's body. He felt Wufei stiffening momentarily, before relaxing completely and sinking bonelessly against him. Wufei seemed so tired.

"Stop fighting, just for tonight," Duo murmured into the Chinese boy's hair.

Wufei shifted until he was face-to-face with Duo. "Can I?" he said, frustration lending an edge to his tone.

"You can. You just have to lay it aside for something else."

"There's nothing else!"

"There's me," Duo said without missing a beat.

This brought an answering half-smile to Wufei's lips. "Hn. What is so great about you?" he retorted with his characteristic smirk.

Duo couldn't help it then. Sometimes all it took was the right combination of timing, setting and the expression on Wufei's face. Tilting his head, Duo cupped the back of Wufei's head and brought their mouths together. It was a stolen kiss, he knew, but Duo threw caution to the wind as he gently took the first, then the second and third from Wufei's unresisting mouth. And when he finally did draw back, what he saw made him smile.

Wufei looked utterly at a loss…no, perhaps spellbound would be a better word.

"*That* is what's great about me," Duo teased as he gave the tip of Wufei's nose a quick peck. He was on a high himself, not quite believing he had actually just kissed a warrior famed for both mettle and fiery temperament - *and* not getting burnt in the process.

"Can we…" copper cheeks coloured.

"Do that again?" Duo guessed, and correctly so when Wufei looked down in acute self-consciousness.

It was a needless question.

Reaching out to cradle copper cheeks so Wufei couldn't lower his head any more than he had already done so, Duo leaned forward until he could see right into obsidian eyes. "Yes," he said seriously, and again pressed his lips to Wufei's.

It was deeper this time, yet experimental as Duo took his time exploring the contours of rosy caramel lips, learning the silky dips and curves, finding out that the taste of those lips was of innocence. Wufei might be as burdened by past and present as Duo was, but where physical pleasure came into play, the Chinese boy was almost completely untouched. And Duo was both grateful and intrigued to be the one to breach this barrier.

When he felt Wufei push back, he eased up on his own pressure, allowing the other boy to dictate. The kisses grew more awkward then, their mouths almost slipping as Wufei struggled to match, and they also grew sweeter…as any unsullied first intimacy between two man-children could be.

They pulled away only when both of them were breathless. Cheeks flushed, they merely stared at each other, a sense of wonder settling over both them. Duo's heart was beating triple time as he waited for Wufei. This was Wufei's invitation, and would be decided on his terms.

"I've…" the Chinese youth began apprehensively, his uncertain gaze darting around him, fixing on anything but Duo. "I've never…"

Duo understood the other boy's feelings of inadequacy, and strangely, he felt more charmed by that than anything else.

"I don't care," Duo said and meant it.

Still, Wufei hesitated, but not for long. He reached for the top of the intricate clasps of his tunic, undoing the first, pausing, then slowly, but steadily pulling the rest of the clasps free. The tunic was shrugged off, baring a tightly-muscled form, and the white bandage that still clung around his left arm. The deep blue sash followed next, unknotted and pulled free to allow the slipping of the white pants off legs as muscled as the rest of the body.

Duo watched wordlessly, aware that his own mounting desire was evident in his gaze as he followed each movement of his would-be lover, from methodical stripping to the shy crossing of legs. It was not until Wufei was completely naked and sitting there pink-faced from Duo's scrutiny, that Duo himself felt compelled to move. Grinning reassuringly, he unhurriedly pulled off his own clothes, then sat lotus-style in a mirror of Wufei's position, and waited again.

Obsidian eyes swept Duo from head to toe in blatant curiosity, embarrassment and - Duo believed - hunger.

Fascinated, Duo stared as copper limbs finally uncurled and Wufei reached clumsily for him, almost tumbling into Duo's lap as Duo felt himself being kissed. The lack of finesse faded in light of the pure want that Wufei poured into his kisses. Their hands roamed over each other in blatant exploration. Returning the fervour as best as he could, Duo didn't quite know how it got to that way when his eyes finally opened and he found Wufei lying on the mattress and himself half-inclined over both.

Duo drew back, not too much because of the copper hand wound tightly in his hair. This time, Duo was the one hesitating, looking deep into velvet eyes to make sure Wufei wanted this as much as he, then he dipped his head, brushing a kiss across Wufei's lips. He trailed his mouth down a pointed chin, the taut arc of neck and the smooth skin of firm chest.

Reaching an old scar, Duo paused, before laving his tongue over it. He felt the slight hitch in Wufei's breath, and looked up. "Where did you get this?" he asked softly. His question, seemingly trivial, dragged an apologetic shake from Wufei's head.

"Okay," Duo said, knowing not to push the issue. Pulling away, he lay back on the mattress and squirmed until he felt totally comfortable. Then, he beckoned to a surprised Wufei. "Come."

The dark-haired youth stretched himself out beside Duo, turning onto his side so they could face each other. Duo showed Wufei his bandaged hands. "Shit just happens, doesn't it?" he whispered ruefully. Before Wufei could answer, he took the Chinese boy's hands in his own and drew them up to his own face.

"Touch me," he breathed, releasing Wufei's hands.

They stayed at his face, fingers stroking his eyebrows, circling his eyes, trailing down the bridge of his nose, to his lips.

Duo leaned back to allow the firm, warm touch to sweep down his neck to his shoulders. He watched the different expressions flitting across obsidian eyes - the concentration, the curiosity, the want, and the silent question as copper fingers paused at his shoulder, above a patch of discoloured skin.

"Got it from a switchblade when I was eleven…" Duo heard himself saying softly. "Some older boy I pissed off came after me."

It became a sensual, bittersweet sort of game between them, then. Wufei's hands mapping over his skin, pausing at each scar, each mark, and Duo telling its story, not stopping even when his voice wavered. He kept his eyes trained on Wufei's face, drawing comfort from the sad understanding he found there. At his bandaged knees, he even thought he detected a trace of moisture in Wufei's gaze which they both pretended not to notice, preferring instead to dwell on Wufei's touch as it grew firmer, sliding over, sharp points of hips, rounded curves of buttocks, smooth thighs and between them.

Barely breathing, Duo turned in Wufei's embrace so they were spooned together. He had chosen it to be this way, and he was sure Wufei wouldn't hurt him, even if the dark-haired boy weren't.

They lay still for some time, bodies pressed so tightly together they themselves weren't sure where one's skin ended, and the other's began. Wufei's arms circling Duo, his legs twining around Duo's. When they did move, it was slow; a pale, bandaged hand stroking a copper hip in reassurance and a whispered litany of apologies from toast-coloured lips as each agonising slide of flesh brought their entangled bodies closer, and closer still.

"I care."

Those whispered words made all the difference, and answered everything.

Duo arched against the solid pressure cradling him on all sides, feeling no hurt, only safety. He barely glimpsed the flickering flames of light playing over their melded skin, but he did feel the unspoken near-love in their shared kiss, and he allowed the first of years of pent-up tears to slip from his eyes.

~*~ end Chapter 7 ~*~