Liuli Story

by wind_chijmes

Pairing : 2x5
Rating : PG
Warnings : Yaoi, sap, slight angst
Archive : Other than Bee-chan and Kohaku, any other site-owners
please ask for permission (or at least inform me beforehand!). Thank You!
Disclaimer : GW belongs to Sunrise, Bandai and Sotsu Agency.
NOT ME. Don't sue.

Spoilers : None

Author's note : A short, sappy story I thought up when I was
daydreaming (ahem). Spur of the moment. Not a lot of plot involved.
But, comments and constructive criticism more than welcomed!
Flames will be duly ignored. Hope you guys will like this!

< > : thoughts

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Liuli Story

by wind_chijmes

"Uh, Fei? Where you goin'?"

"Out."

"Can I come too?"

"No."

Duo blinked at the terse reply. "Why not?" He persisted,
just managing to keep the hurt out of his tone.

"Stay here, Duo."

The violet-eyed man fell silent as his raven-haired lover slip
quietly out of the door without so much as a backward glance.

Duo stared at the door for a very long time. These days he must have
seen this door more times than he had seen Wufei. He pulled his braid
over one shoulder, hands playing absently with the loose ends.
Yesterday Quatre had asked him, very gently, if everything was all
right? He had laughed instead of saying anything; he couldn't lie to
Q and he couldn't tell the truth either.

Everything was not all right.

People had told him it was a stupid mistake to get involved with Wufei.

Chang is a completely insensitive ass. He cares only about his work,
his ideals, himself. When has he told you he love you? Yes, those
three little words. Never? Expected.

It was no wonder people gossiped, made malicious comments about
them. Chang Wufei and Duo Maxwell were simply so different from
each other. It had shocked many when they reached that six-month
milestone. Duo was just troubled that he and Fei might not even catch
sight of the twelve-month mark at the way things were going.

They were both Preventers, they worked in the same building. But
starting from several weeks ago, for some reason or other, their
missions were always mistimed. More often than not, Duo would find
himself facing an empty apartment when he returned exhausted from
a mission. And even when Fei *wasn't* away on mission, he'd stay
out late at work. Tonight, there was no overtime, but he didn't want
Duo with him when he went out.

Maybe Wufei found someone else.

Why would he? Duo thought miserably. What could have driven
Fei away? His chatter? Fei had often told him to please pipe down
so he could concentrate on whatever he was doing. Maybe his
outlook? He remembered Fei looking a little disapproving when Duo
had casually mentioned there was no real justice in the world. His
living habits? He was chaotic and spontaneous by nature; Fei lived
by rules and regulations. Duo bit his lip. Maybe…his eyes? Does
Wufei even like violet eyes? His looks? His laugh? His smile? His hair?

Duo looked down at his hands clutching his braid. They were shaking.

<Maybe it's just me.>

It was all starting to hurt.

++++++++++

He wasn't quite sure when he had fallen asleep. But something at
his cheek felt ticklish.

Violet eyes cracked open. Blinked dazedly. Still feeling that
soothing caressing of his cheek.

"Duo."

Huh? Duo stared upwards, vaguely making out a face hovering
just above his in the darkness of the living room. Deep raven
eyes, such a dark colour Duo couldn't discern eyes from shadows
in that moment.

"Fei?" He scrambled up into a sitting position.

"You should be in bed." Fei sounded as stern as ever even as he
pulled back and rested his elbows on the couch head.

"I guess." Duo whispered, moving to get off the couch and back to bed.

"Wait. I have something to say."

The American froze. He had never heard that tone from Wufei
before. So tensed, and pregnant with apprehension. He swung
around and faced his solemn-faced lover, carefully keeping one
hand on the little decorative tabletop so he wouldn't fall. If…if this
is really it, if Wufei really wants out, Duo would take it as stoically
as he ever could. No begging. No tears.

The _expression in obsidian eyes was undecipherable.

Duo waited. And waited. He wanted to scream, shout, do
something to break this deathly silence! But he didn't dare.
Why was Wufei taking his own sweet time about this! It's killing him!

"Not to say, actually." Wufei said at length. "To give."

"Oh." Duo blinked. He was starting to feel a little out of it.

The Chinese man nodded gravely. Reaching into his pocket, he
retrieved something, cupping it in one fist so Duo couldn't see what
it was. Still in the same cryptic manner, he leaned down towards the
wide-eyed American and trailed his hands over the pale column of throat.

There was a whispery touch of something long and thin at his neck.

When Wufei pulled away, Duo looked down to see, hung on a
slender length of braided thread around his neck, the most intricate
piece of carving resting against the fabric of his black shirt.

"Wha - what - " Duo began, only to be gently hushed by tapered
copper fingers at his lips.

The same copper hand curved around the pendant and held it up
so they both could see it.

"Liuli." Wufei said softly. "Chinese glass art."

Duo nodded dumbly, studying the exquisite pendant with out of
rounded, reverent violet eyes.

A clear glass, stained with swirls of translucent green and amber,
interspersed with paler hues of milky gold. The Liuli was beautiful.
It might not be as brilliant as a diamond nor did it possess the rainbow
radiance of crystal, but there was beauty in its earthliness.

There were Chinese characters in the centre.

"Du~O." Wufei spoke his name with a melodic lilt to both syllables.
"Your name in Mandarin, Duo."

"My name? Mandarin?" And now Duo was amazed. He peered
hard at the characters. He wanted to ask Fei more about it! About
those pretty curving and angling strokes that turned his English
name into Mandarin. But his voice choked in his throat when he
noticed something else.

Surrounding those characters, framing them, and as if guarding a
treasure, was the long, winding coil of a dragon. Its proud, crowned
head beginning at the top of the pendant, and its scaled body forming
a circle around Duo's name. Guarding the characters.

Guarding Duo.

"They say every piece of Liuli art has a story behind it." Wufei's
quiet tenor broke Duo out his thoughts. The Chinese man took
Duo's hand and squeezed it. "This one is about us."

"Us." Duo barely managed from the slow vice squeezing his throat.

The obsidian eyes softened. "One year anniversary."

"But - " Duo blanched. Their one-year anniversary was a month away.

"Not that one." Wufei smiled wistfully. "You know, Duo, exactly
one year ago on this day, I fell in love with a man. A funny man.
He has a rope for hair, eyes that are purple - I don't know how
that's possible - laughs like a maniac, and he looks like an imp."
His smile grew softer and his deep obsidian eyes shone with
unusual tenderness. "I fell in love with someone who can't even
plan a schedule to save his life."

There was a wry note in his voice. "But most importantly, I don't
know why that man would stay with me. Even at his worst, he is
everything I'm not. But that's what I'm here for, I suppose. So I can
find out why. Maybe - "

Whatever he was going to say next was lost when two arms flung
around his waist and a warm face pressed against his neck.

"Here's why. I love you too, you idiot."

Wufei stroked the wiry shoulders, listening to the quiet, muffled
sounds against his neck. "Don't cry." He spoke against wavy
chestnut hair. "Duo Maxwell is made for laughter. Not tears."

Duo lifted his head with a shaky laugh. "Now where did you get
*that* from?" He swiped away the last remnants of damned tears
with the back of his hand. His violet eyes however, still gleamed
a little too bright. He sighed as Wufei dipped his head to kiss him.

It was the simplest meeting of lips, but it was still far sweeter than
anything Duo had ever tasted.

"I'm sorry for behaving like a wall these days." There was a mixture
of guilt and apology in Wufei's tone when he pulled away to speak.
I was using all my spare time on working up the courage to give
you that pendant."

It hit Duo then. How he had allowed his fears to cloud his eyes.
How he had mistaken Wufei's recent coldness for rejection, when
the poor man was only trying to come to terms with the monumental
task of vocalising his feelings.

Wufei looked even more troubled. "I really am sorr - "

"Don't be!" Duo pulled the delicate, worry-etched face down and
pressed a brief kiss to the pursed lips.

"So, my little Wall. How would you say we add another chapter to
our story?" Duo lifted the pendant and dangled it in front of
Wufei. "Let's go eat!"

"Supper?" Wufei, still a heady from the sudden change in mood,
stared at that swinging pendant. It was beginning to have a
hypnotising effect on him. "It's two in the morning."

"And?"

Wufei sighed. "And we shall go for supper of course."

"That's right! Now you stay here. And wait for me."

The Chinese man just rolled his eyes as his lover dashed up the stairs.

When Duo appeared again, Wufei raised an eyebrow. The
violet-eyed man had changed his black shirt into a white one with
an open collar and the top two buttons undone. Against his bare,
pale skin, the gold cross that Duo had worn since a child, and the
Liuli pendant he had just given Duo were displayed for all to see.

"So the whole world would know of our story." Duo smiled.

It was the sweet, lopsided, and slightly bashful smile that was
reserved only for Wufei.

A slow, answering smile lifted the corners of Wufei's mouth. "Come
on, then." The Chinese man took the other hand in his own and
tugged them towards the door.

++++++++++

The night air was crisp, still, ringing only with the occasional chirp
of crickets and the laughter from two voices.

Two voices, sounding as one.

Against the dark of the night sky, amber light from the street lamps
shone like a path of beacons, reflecting off the merry twinkle of the
gold cross, and the warm glow of Liuli.

~*~ fin ~*~

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Additional notes : The Liuli Gongfang, the foremost establishment
in the creation of Liuli glass-art, was founded by Yang Hui Shan
and Chang Yi after years of blood, sweat, and effort. The Chinese
Liuli is a man's study of the natural world, a kind of training of the
self, and a mending of one's life. It reflects a simple beauty, a morality,
and more often than not, every piece of Liuli art has a story behind it.

comments? e-mail Wind Chijmes!