Title: Strawberry Swirl (2/P+5)
Author: Bronze Tigress
Pairings: 2+5/5+2; mention of past 5xM
Genre: get-together?
Rating: PG13, maybe...

WARNINGS: barely shounen ai, some minor language and angst, implied
minor violence; spoilers for Episode Zero

Disclaimer: Not my characters, and most of the past events they're
talking about? Weren't my ideas either... The research, however, is all
mine. So are assorted members of Wufei's extended family, and this
story itself.

//thoughts//
*emphasis*

~*~*~*~*~

Apr.9, AC197, 2130hrs
PHQ single residency apt. #205
(current home of Chang Wufei)

Braiding Duo's hair doesn't take Wufei very long, and he is soon asking
for the elastic to wrap around the end. The skill itself is a familiar
one, although when he learned it, he had been expecting to use it on
his own queue, and not on a fellow ex-pilot's fingertip-length mane. And
'fellow' is exactly right, Wufei reminds himself. He is suddenly
concerned, given Duo's quick request to get his hair finished, that he is
being overly personal by resting his hands so. He knows well that the
rules on contact differ here from those he grew up with, even given the
difference between public and private spaces; he has seen a couple of...
vigorous rejections of too-familiar contact in the short time he has
been living in Sanq, and does not wish to have to defend himself against
one. //Not that I couldn't defend myself! But I do *not* want to end
up hurting Duo more in the process.//

So, Wufei is very careful how he phrases his next words. "There, your
hair is all done. Hmm... This bench is too narrow to work on your
back properly without a lot of shuffling, and this lovely industrial
carpeting is not nearly as comfortable to lie on as a tatami would be; we
could use the bed, though..."

Duo nods his thanks, then stands up and peers at the two closed doors.
"Sounds like a good idea. I'm guessing that door is the bathroom,
right? I think I need to visit there first..."

"Yes, it is; I'll just go... straighten up or something." //That went
well... I think...//

Five minutes later, Duo peeks carefully around the corner of the
bedroom doorway to see Wufei straightening the already perfectly-flat covers
on the bed. Grinning a little to himself, he backs just as silently
out of the room before 'making his exit' from the bathroom with a little
less stealth. When he pokes his head around the doorframe this time,
Wufei is sitting nonchalantly on the bed, apparently just waiting, and
rolling a small bottle between his palms to warm it.

"Wufei? Ah, there you are... where do you want me?"

"Just here will be fine. You will need to take the shirt off, too, so
I can see what I'm doing better - and so that I have not been warming
this for no purpose," he smiles wryly, holding up the bottle. //Much as
I like that lovely tight red shirt *on* you, I'm sure it will look
lovely on my floor as well.//

Duo smiles as well, and moves to undo the zipper at the throat of his
red pullover shirt. However, when Duo grasps the shirt hem to pull it
off over his head, he gasps suddenly, dropping the shirt and clutching
his wrist instead. "Shit! That hurt..." Wufei is already standing
beside him, concern written on his face, by the time he opens his eyes
from squeezing them shut against the sudden pain of twisting the cracked
bones against each other.

"Are you alright?" he asks. Duo nods slightly, so Wufei continues, "Do
you want to try again, or do you want some help?"

"Uff. I think I can manage, Wufei - just as long as I remember not to
*twist* it again..." he replies wryly, reaching for the shirt again.
This time he manages to slip the shirt off over his head with no further
problems.

Wufei takes the opportunity, while Duo hangs his shirt carefully on the
doorknob and then stretches himself out, catlike, face down on the near
side of the bed, to appraise and admire the view. Duo's frame is still
as slight as it ever was, although he, like all of the boys, has grown
a little taller since the end of the Eve Wars. Nobody really had the
time to notice things like that the last time they worked together, but
there are now a few variations in height. Duo is nearly as tall as
Trowa now, and Quatre is lagging behind the others somewhat. On the other
hand, it seems likely that Wufei himself has nearly finished growing.
If things keep on at this rate, Duo may well end up the tallest of the
lot, Wufei muses. By the time Wufei's thoughts reach him again, Duo is
situated and still, and Wufei moves to kneel on the bed beside him,
leaning over slightly.

Wufei's hands are warm on Duo's shoulders where they first come to
rest, almost impossibly gentle as they move his hair out of the way, brush
away a few stray tendrils that didn't quite want to go into the braid,
and moves the fine silver chain out of his way. //Lovely...// Pouring
a small amount of the warmed massage oil into his palm and recapping
the bottle, he starts, first skimming lightly over the upper part of the
shoulders, then coming back again, more firmly, questing for the sore
points, and finally settling in to work out the knots. The process is
repeated on Duo's neck, after a murmured command and the guidance of
gentle hands to turn his head straight.

When the muscles in Duo's neck have relaxed somewhat, Wufei enquires
after stiffness or headache, and isn't terribly surprised to get
affirmative answers to both. He thinks for a moment, thumbs still idly working
the long muscles beneath them. //Well, he isn't Yui, after all, so
perhaps it would be best... yes, he won't have the opportunity to tense
up beforehand that way, but...//

"Do you trust me?" It seems an odd question given their relative
positions to Duo, yet it spills from Wufei's lips as if it were the most
natural thing in the Earthsphere to ask at this moment. Normally, Duo
Maxwell wouldn't - *doesn't* - trust *anyone* as far as he could
comfortably spit out a live rat. Make friends with, sure. Keep close? You
betcha. Watch like a hawk? Abso-fucking-lutely. Trust? Hell, no.

On the other hand, this is Wufei, who has been saving the world
alongside him, for the last two years, off and on, and whom he has never known
to be less than honourable - although, to be sure, his choice in causes
has been rather questionable from time to time. Still, it looks like
he has currently chosen to spend his evening looking after one Duo
Maxwell - and Wufei is not one to lightly change his mind. And after all,
he realizes, he has already turned his back on the man... to say
nothing of letting down his hair, or taking half his clothes off. In fact,
now that he thinks about it, the question has, really, already been
answered. //I wonder just when *that* happened...// The frozen moment of
decision and realization ended, Duo nods, voicing a mumbled agreement
as well.

Wufei nods as well, unaware of the full magnitude of the half-voiced
confession but still somehow sensing some of its import. "Hmm... roll
over, then, and slide down a little; it will make this next part
easier..." Wufei stands up, and moves to the head of the bed, directing Duo
to move downwards a little bit further. Duo is both confused by and
curious about the request, but goes with it, purely on trust, for the
moment. "Good, that's fine right there. Now relax, let your head be
heavy..." Wufei instructs.

A knee settles beside one of Duo's shoulders, and then another by the
other, and one strong hand comes to cradle the back of Duo's skull just
at the base, stroking the muscles in his neck gently yet with a firm,
sure movement of calloused fingers. Duo's eyes open wide as he stares
up into those of the man who is now kneeling over his head.

Wufei looks down with a confident, yet somehow soft expression. With
his free hand, he traces a finger down Duo's forehead, then down the
bridge of his nose, and he says, softly, in a voice like warm honey,
"close your eyes, Duo, and just... let go." Duo's eyelids obediently
flutter down, as if dragged by voice and hand alike.

//Waitasec, did he just use my name?//

The finger skips from the tip of Duo's pert nose down to his chin and
then a hand cups around his jaw. There is a sudden sharp *twist* and
*jerk* and *crackcrackcrackpop* (1) and the hand on his jaw is moving
smoothly and gently to trace along his jawbone and brush across the soft
skin beneath his ear even as Duo's eyes are flying open and his hands
are coming up off his chest to - well, to do *something*, before his ears
register the liquid voice still speaking softly and steadily.

"Relax, Maxwell, I know exactly how hard I have to push before your
pretty neck is in any danger, and that wasn't anywhere near hard enough,"
Wufei chuckles. "Although you nearly tagged me there. It does sound
horrible, I know. Now, hush, relax again, let your head fall and we'll
do the other side."

//Maybe not... but...//

The hands change position, the other one taking over the tracing of
features this time, hesitating slightly at the dip of his chin before the
hand settles on his jaw, and the thumb moves almost as if in a caress
as it tightens before the *jerk*twist*pOP* is repeated in the other
direction. Duo tenses and shudders involuntarily at the sensation and most
especially the sound, but once again it is done before he can really
react.

"All done, Maxwell," comes Wufei's voice again, and Duo lets his eyes
and fists unclench, as he takes a deep breath.

//Pretty neck? Did he just say... Oh, man... Please let me be
reading him right, please...//

The movement Wufei makes is almost definitely a caress as the hand he
has on Duo's chin moves to join the one already under his head, and then
hard fingers press into the points where the neck and skull meet,
seeming almost to be seeking to separate the two. Again, Duo's eyes fly
open, once again meeting Wufei's warm gaze. "Afraid I might take your
head off?" Wufei gives another slight chuckle at Duo's somewhat wide-eyed
expression. "I promise, I'll put it back on again. I thought I might
as well check some of the configuration switches while I had it off,
though; has everything been running alright for you?" The barest hint of
a smile, and a decided twitch to one eyebrow, pass across Wufei's face,
and Duo blinks in shock, then laughs softly in answering humour.

"Leaving aside the fact that I'm not entirely sure I haven't just been
called an idiot," he pauses, questions in eyes and voice. //Gentle
hands... never guess they belonged a warrior...//

"Never that, Maxwell. You, too, were chosen by the Gundam,"(2) Wufei
answers him. "I merely thought you might like a check of your volume
settings; you have been very quiet this evening, and I was c...
surprised."

//I wonder what he was *going* to say before he caught himself?//
"It's been a very long day for me, Wufei - the time difference and all -
and it's the busiest I've been in a while. Working in the scrapyard
doesn't usually give you quite the same sort of adrenaline rush as saving
the world! On the other hand," Duo continues, a light smirk dancing
about the corners of his mouth, "maybe I *ought* to have my head examined;
here I am lying half-naked in a strange man's bed, with my head in his
lap, and all I can think of is that I wish he'd roll me over and work
out some of my kinks..." //And man am I going to need to have it
examined if I've read him wrong - right after they scrape me off the
walls...//

Wufei's eyes widen almost comically as several possible implications of
that particular phrase cross through his mind. //Ancestors, don't tell
me he's *flirting* with me! Then again, maybe that isn't a bad
thing...//

"Oh, don't look at me like that," Duo continues, laughing, "you *are*
kinda strange, Chang-san, and I mean that in the nicest way. Nobody
else quite like ya." //Still in one piece, that's good...//

"Aah, I suppose there is that." //Then again, if he *is* flirting with
me...// A smirk of his own crosses Wufei's face before he adds, "but,
right now, I want you to roll over, and tell me *all* about these kinks
you would like to have me work out."

//Oh, Great Shinigami.// Duo chokes back a surprised snort on hearing
these most unlikely words from his normally serious friend, then
chuckles and rolls over, fetching up with his face pressed against one hard,
well-muscled, uniform-clad thigh. "I can't believe you - *you*, of all
people - just said *that*... heeheehee... Jeez - that's *my* line..."

Duo's head rubs lightly against Wufei's leg as his shoulders shake with
quiet laughter, and his arms have landed on either side of Wufei's
knee, one hand nearly brushing his ankle. Wufei freezes. //Too close, too
damned close...// For an instant, he stops breathing altogether,
before he grabs for his self-control again. //Ancestors! Does he know how
good that feels? Breathe, Chang...// Slowly, too slowly, he calms.

When Duo's laughter subsides somewhat, Wufei lays a hand lightly on his
back before moving, easing his knee out of Duo's hands before swinging
off the bed. He grabs the bottle of oil again before taking the two
steps down and back onto the bed to kneel straddling Duo's hips, knees at
his waist, and carefully avoiding making any other contact. //No, that
would probably not be a good idea,// he thinks, even as his hands begin
their work on his patient's upper back. //I can't read him well enough
to guess how he'd react to *that*... even if he *was* flirting with me
just now. He may not lie, but that doesn't mean he would not *imply*
something that was not, and a flirtation need never be serious...//

From there, things proceed smoothly for a while. Wufei concentrates on
the job at hand, and as Duo's muscles relax down as far as the bottom
of his ribs, so does some of the peculiar tension that has taken up
residence halfway between Wufei's navel and heart. //Enjoy the moment
while it is here, Chang; it is never the same river twice.//

As he gets to the small of Duo's back, however, he realizes his
self-appointed task extends down past the waistband of Duo's pants. A few
tentative passes over the heavy material convince him of the futility of
trying to work through them. //Oh, damn it all; these things will have
to come off to finish this properly. And I'll be damned if I can
figure out whether that's a good thing or a bad one...// "Ah, Maxwell?
Would you mind taking these off too?"

//Pants off? oh, shit...// "Um, are you sure you want me to do that,
Wufei? I'm kinda not, uh..." //Sure picked a good day to go
commando...//

"Ah." Without further words, Wufei opens a nearby drawer and reaching
in blindly, grabs a small towel. "Drape that over your hips if it
makes you feel better? I'll be right back, I need to get something..."

//Yeah, Chang - try an ice pack. What are you *thinking* of, or are
you? Has it truly been *so* long since you laid hands on... no, check
that, it *has* been that long... but *Duo*?// All the possible
objections - that he is a foreigner, male, a nameless child of the streets,
and quite probably most emphatically *not* willing or even interested,
despite his teasing behaviour - flit through his mind and are dismissed
as irrelevant except as they affect the last. Wufei stands in the
middle of the kitchen for a good minute, staring unseeingly at the empty
teapot on the countertop, before he realizes that the small rustling
noises from the bedroom have stopped. //Get it *together*, Chang.//

Opening the fridge on impulse, he grabs a couple of cans of cold soda
instead - something clear and nearly flavourless, but sweet and bubbly.
//Good, I've still got these in here. I'm not used to the bubbles yet,
and it'll help clear my head. I could use a clear head right about
now...//

Heading back towards the bedroom door, he calls ahead, "Duo? Are you
all set?"

"Yeah, I'm all ready for ya..."

//Oh, that is *so* not helping...// Wufei rounds the corner of the
doorframe, eyes automatically going to the bed and its occupant. //Well,
*shit*. That's the towel I gave 'Lan, just before we... No, don't go
there.// Wufei sets one of the cans down on the bedside table and pops
the tab on the other, taking a long slam before sitting down gingerly
on the edge of the bed. //Do *not* go there...//

When Wufei looks up again, Duo is leaning up on his elbows, injured
wrist resting on the bed, and taking a considerably more polite swallow
from the second can. "Thank you, Wufei," he smiles.

A long silence follows, with no further movement on Wufei's part.
"Wufei? You ok?"

"Ah. Yes. I... just realized which towel I grabbed; it brings
back... memories."

"I'm sorry; do you want to get a different one?" //What memories?//

"I doubt it would help, Maxwell; it was just the crowning touch. That
towel - it was part of the... gift I gave to my Nataku to apologize to
her after our first fight - literally. She challenged me, mind you -
something ridiculous about showing me her justice. I won the match, and
lost the argument, although it took a lecture from Master O before I
saw that. My... apology ended with more than just the massage; after
that, we got on together a lot better."(3)

//Nataku was a woman? For sure his *Gundam* never challenged him...
More than just... Oh!// "And this was bad, how?" Duo's question seems
to startle Wufei.

"Ah..." Wufei begins, then pauses again, entirely at a loss for words.

"Hmm. Lemme guess - it's been *way* too long since you last saw her,
and seeing me here in just this particular towel didn't help." //Skin
hunger, for sure, but what else?//(4)

Wufei nods his head at the concise summation of his current difficulty
- even if his reasons are not quite what he suspects Duo believes to be
the case.

//He isn't *afraid* to keep going, is he? Of what he might do? Am
I?// Duo sips again, then carefully sets the can down on the bedside
table before twisting around to look directly at his friend. "Wufei -
after all we've been through together, *I* trust you, even if you don't
trust yourself. With my life - literally; I think we just proved *that*
one. I think I can trust you with my body - or I wouldn't *be* here.
Shinigami hasn't been around this long without learning a few things
about staying out of trouble. I know you're not the most hands-on kinda
guy normally, but..." He trails off somewhat uncertainly.

"But?" Wufei prompts, setting his own drink aside.

//No, he might *want* to, but... that's just not him.// Duo looks
directly into Wufei's face, searching for something there, before he
continues speaking. "Look, maybe I'm getting the wrong conclusion here, but
just listen, okay? I wouldn't have even come home with you in the
first place if I had been the least bit worried that you'd do something
dishonourable - whether I had any other options or not. I slept on the
streets for most of my life, I can do it again. I'm *here*, though.
With you. I *trust* you, Wufei."

Wufei bows his head, thoughts whirling, and Duo guesses at his
confusion. "Wufei - have you ever had a cat?" A nod. "Where I grew up - the
cats, they always knew who they could go up to and who to keep away
from. I like to think I learned something from them." Wufei cocks his
head in inquiry, and Duo continues, "and I'd be..." then shakes his head
to clear the image of waving paws from his thoughts. "No, that's
beside the point. Look. I was really enjoying what you were doing. It's
okay, you can touch me. Hell, do whatever you want - I know you're not
gonna do anything to hurt me. Please - continue?"

"Even knowing that I...?" //that I don't want to let you go, that I
ache to hold someone close so that I can pretend for a night that someone
cares a little for me, that I want there to be more to this than just
the kinship of having a common foe?//

"Wufei!" Duo sounds just a little exasperated by now. "I don't lie,
remember? And I trust you. Okay?" //Knowing what? Guessing lots,
but...//

"As you wish, then," Wufei replies softly, standing to turn and then
climb back onto the bed. This time, he kneels straddling Duo's thighs,
so that he can easily reach the muscles of his lower back, and picks up
where he left off.

In the end, Duo falls asleep under Wufei's touch. With a sigh of
mingled relief and disappointment, Wufei slips into the bathroom to change
into pajama pants (feeling the need to actually wear them to sleep in
for a change). He takes a moment then to straighten the room up a
little, and fetches the spare blanket from its drawer on his way back to the
bedroom, where he stands looking down at Duo's sleeping form for a
minute.

//He did say he missed sleeping with someone else, and there should be
enough room for us both. Che. Never thought I'd actually be glad to
be so small.// After a moment's consideration of the rough blanket, he
folds the quilt back over top of Duo before spreading the blanket over
the whole bed. Then he turns out the lights and pads carefully back to
slip under the sheets on his side, turning to face away from Duo, his
back just barely making contact with the warm, solid presence there. It
isn't long before he, too, is asleep.(5)

~*~*~*~*~

(1) Do *NOT* try this at home. I cannot stress this enough. Done
incorrectly, the technique may cause serious injury, paralysis, or death.
Do not attempt it. Yes, I do think Wufei would be familiar with the
technique, and even more so with its lethal counterpart.

(2) ...and Quatre must be strong, and not succumb to hate, for the
same reason. ;)

(3) author's interpolation of events portrayed in Episode Zero, taken
with comments from the directors concerning Wufei's ABC experience;
it's fairly clear *something* happened to change her attitude towards him,
and there can't have been that much time between their fight and the OZ
attack...

(4) skin hunger - an intrinsic need for physical contact and comfort

(5) yes, the Preventers kindly supply twin-sized beds for their
single-resident units; think a little bigger than student dorm rooms, but not
by much.

Next ---> Strawberry Swirl 3

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