24-September-2001
Title: An Honorable Enemy Part 5/8
Author: Enigma
Written: August - September, 2001
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: {wait and see}
Category: Angst, Mild Shonen Ai, Friendship, Morality, Squick, OOC
Enigma Story Category: G-Boys High Adventure!
Archive: GW Addiction, Sweet&Sweet
Warnings: Angst, very mild shonen ai, friendship, morality, squick, sermonizing on the treatment of prisoners of war, language, plot-related OOC, etc.
Reference Point: In case you don't recognize the OZ pilot, he appears in Episode 13 teamed with Lt. Alex and while he appears to be a real bastard there, I envision him differently here. The action in this fic fits into the series timeline between Episodes 10 and 12.
Disclaimers: I don't own any of the GW Universe. I'm not making any money off this story. It's written out of love, so please don't sue me.
Notes: When captured and badly beaten by OZ, Wufei's existence hangs in the balance. What could possibly motivate an enemy pilot to risk his own life to save him?
//thoughts//
Feeling an odd sense of fear and hope mixed together, Wufei waited to hear the reason why the dark-skinned OZ pilot had rescued him from certain doom.
"Of course I like you, Wufei, but I had no idea that I would until last night, actually," Mueller finally responded with confusion of his own until he caught the slight rose hue painted across the other boy's face and then he laughed gently as realization struck him. "Oh! I get it, you want to know if I brought you here and am taking care of you because I want something from you in return, right? Something along a *very* personal line, I take it?" The last words were said with a gentle smile and a hesitant touch to the nervous boy's shoulder as Mueller hoped the contact might help ground them both as a possibly difficult subject was dealt with.
Almost frightened almond-shaped eyes flickered over the dusky hand caressing the mostly naked skin beneath his tanktop strap and Wufei swallowed the growing lump of nervousness in his throat and answered with a slight squeak in his voice, "Yes, that's exactly what I'm asking. Well, is it?"
A fond smile crossed Mueller's face and he shook his head a little as he answered, "I'm afraid not, Wufei. You're not my type." The physical contact between them was then lost as Mueller negligently moved his hand off of Wufei's shoulder, further muddling the issue.
Puzzled by how strong his sense of relief was upon hearing that, Wufei also felt the tiniest bit of disappointment, and that confused the injured youth even more as he wondered, "What do you mean, I'm 'not your type'?" Even as the first waves of drug-induced relaxation were beginning to flood his being, the smaller youth added in an insulted tone, "What 'type' do you think that I am, anyway, Mueller?"
Blinking at the unexpectedly mixed reaction to his statement, Mueller then said firmly, "The 'type' I was referring to is 'taken', Wufei. Please don't be insulted."
It was Wufei's turn to experience a temporary lack of intelligence and he cocked his head imprudently, asking, "Nani?" then groaned as he regretted the pain-inducing motion, "Oh shit, that was stupid of me. Gomenasai, Mueller, I think I'm losing it again, but what did you mean by that?"
"I meant," the older boy said gently as he replaced the now familiar warm and reassuring hand on one bronze shoulder, "I don't go after someone else's lover, Wufei. As I said, you're taken. Even if I *had* been interested in you that way, which I wasn't, I'd drop it now since there's someone else already in your heart. Understand?"
Biting back a yawn as the effects of the drugs became stronger, the ShenLong pilot barely kept himself from shaking his head in confusion.
The older youth noticed and swiftly moved his hand to cradle the injured boy's cheek, trying to keep Wufei's head immobile to lessen the pain even as he smiled down at him adoringly. A vague thought flowed through Mueller's mind that if this was how nice it felt to care for a little brother, he wished yet again that he hadn't been an only child.
Totally baffled by the contradiction between the man's words and his deeds, Wufei remarked in honest exasperation, "Damn it, but you really *are* confusing as hell, Mueller! I've never even had a date, much less a lover! What *are* you talking about?"
"Maybe I'm wrong, but I doubt it," Mueller said, gentle smile firmly in place despite the fact that he wished this conversation had waited until the injured boy wasn't in so much pain or under the influence of the powerful drugs. "But there *is* someone in your heart whether you're ready to admit to it or not."
An argument was clearly trying to put itself together in Wufei's fuzzy thoughts and the taller teen cut it off easily by asking, "Tell me, who *is* this 'Trowa' you were talking about?"
Dark eyes flew wide, the haziness lost for a moment as Wufei gasped and spluttered, "Tr-trowa?! When was I talking to *you* about *him*?!" Realizing he was overreacting as well as possibly exposing a fellow Gundam pilot's identity to an enemy soldier, he added, "I mean, well, I have no idea who you mean. Um, yeah, right, that's it. No clue."
Suffice it to say, Wufei couldn't lie his way out of a paper bag, much less out of the very obvious reality that not only did he know someone named "Trowa", he was obviously quite in love with him as well.
If the hand holding his cheek hadn't been there, the embarrassed youth would have most assuredly tried to turn his head away, but Mueller wouldn't let him do that and add to the pain he was enduring already. Wufei tried to glare at him for all he was worth, but the drugs had started to overcome the momentary burst of clarity and the younger man sighed and just looked at his companion waiting to be called a liar.
The attempt to look defiant followed by what Mueller assumed was guilt made the older teen chuckle softly and then he shook his head saying, "Don't worry about it so much, Wufei. You were talking in your sleep and you mentioned the name quite a few times, that's all. You haven't told me anything that I shouldn't know. Besides, someone's first name is certainly not enough to put him at risk, whoever he is."
Gratitude flooded the smaller teen and his eyes slid shut briefly in relief as he realized that Mueller had just assured him that Trowa's name wouldn't be mentioned as a possible terrorist any more than his own most likely would. The two enemy warriors had formed an unspoken agreement that anything they wished to discuss would remain confidential and Wufei had realized it at that very moment.
A softly sighed word of thanks fell from Wufei's lips and then his eyes opened once more, face and voice filled with tenderness as he explained, "Trowa is someone that I met recently. Something," he paused as his throat tightened in shame at the memory of being on his knees before the leader of OZ but then he forced himself to continue, "went terribly wrong and he was there to help me through it. Nothing happened between us that night and I don't even know if he remembers my name, but I can't stop thinking about him."
Lost in remembrance of the period after the debacle with Khushrenada off the coast of California, Wufei failed to realize that the situation with Mueller was actually somewhat similar. He had been in danger and a handsome young man had been there to help when he needed it most. But when the South African teen touched him there had been no spark of recognition of two souls speaking to one another at their deepest levels as there had been with the mysterious pilot of the Gundam HeavyArms.
As the older boy moved his hand back to rest on Wufei's shoulder comfortingly, Mueller commented in a soothing tone, "Sounds like he must be a pretty terrific guy, this Trowa of yours. I'd be awfully surprised if he's forgotten your name, though, Wufei. You're a pretty great guy yourself, you know."
Narrow black brows drew together and Wufei frowned, "No, that's not true. I screwed up again getting captured yesterday and all. It's my fault that you're probably going to have a hard time going back because you rescued me, and… "
The ShenLong pilot interrupted his own guilty ramblings to interject around a yawn caused by drug-induced sleepiness, "Wait a second, if you didn't do that because you liked me, then why *did* you do it?"
Mueller frowned as his own thoughts flashed back to the serious topics that this question entailed but offered instead, "Wait a minute, Wufei. I think that this isn't the time to talk about it, okay? You're half asleep and you really need to let your body rest if you ever want to get back to that young man of yours. I promise to tell you all about why I did what I did later if you'll promise to try to sleep for awhile now, okay?"
"Well," Wufei frowned and yawned several times in a row and then wearily agreed, "All right, I guess I don't have much of a choice anyway. What're you going to do while I sleep? I'm sorry I'm no help right now."
The additional remark that Wufei considered himself useless at the moment was luckily lost in another deep yawn and he lay blinking up at Mueller kittenishly as slumber tried to pull him away.
"Oh, don't you worry, I'm working on 'secret plans'," Mueller assured with a cocky smirk, which then softened into the usual fond smile. "Even if you were at 100% you couldn't help me with what I'm working on, so go to sleep. When you wake up again, I'll try to remember to answer your questions *before* I give you any more pain killers, all right?"
A softly sighed acknowledgement drifted from the nearly sleeping Chinese boy and then Wufei forced his onyx eyes open one last time to add, "Thanks for everything, Mueller. I appreciate it."
"You are very welcome, Wufei. Now rest," Mueller squeezed the other boy's shoulder briefly then used both hands to bring the blankets up around the now chilled bronze shoulders, feeling the tension flowing out of them as Wufei plunged headlong into a deep and healing sleep.
Knowing that his words would never be heard, Mueller commented thoughtfully, "I meant what I said, Wufei. You're obviously not terribly impressed with yourself, but I sure hope that Trowa feels differently. It's not weakness to let someone care about you and while I'm not the man for the job, maybe he is? Either way, we need to find you some place safe to go and I need to see if Scott's come through for me, otherwise I'll continue to be a fugitive myself." [1]
The look of sadness that crossed Mueller's face as his soliloquy came to an end was something he probably couldn't have explained if he'd been asked to do so.
The South African teen did find Wufei attractive, very much so, but the simple truth was that they were fundamentally very different people. They fought on opposing sides and that couldn't be overcome without them compromising their sense of duty, something neither had any intention of doing or asking for.
More importantly, however, Mueller had an undeniable feeling that they were too far apart in age and experience. He'd made the same mistake Lucrezia Noin had made and had drastically underestimated Wufei's age, presuming the fifteen year-old to be closer to fourteen due to his small stature. As for experience, there really was no comparison between his years of military training at the Academy compared to Wufei's solitary experiences training under Master O, but the Aries pilot was unaware of this fact. All Mueller knew was that it seemed obvious that Wufei had precious little experience dealing with other people in a full-time basis and that was more than enough to explain the apparent differences in experience.
Knowing the other boy did have someone he cared about, though, was reassuring and Mueller finally stopped worrying about Wufei's emotional needs, focusing instead on what it would take for both of them to get on with their lives once they left their hiding place in the Chinese countryside.
Booting up the laptop, he sincerely hoped that his luck would hold, otherwise he might have doomed them both by rescuing Wufei less than twenty-four hours prior to that chilly morning.
End Part 5
Author's Notes:
1. Well, did you get it right? Scott McNeil, the talented Canadian VA who provides Duo Maxwell with such an interesting voice, receives a small salute here as Mueller's friend. Here's hoping that the Ocean Group got the contract for the new English language version of "Weiss Kreuz"! I'd love to hear him as Ken, wouldn't you?
Enigma
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