Wufei woke suddenly to the unfamiliar sensations of pain in his bottom and slender arms wrapped around him, Quatre's hot breath tickling in his ear. Carefully, the Chinese boy unwound himself from the warm embrace and crept to the bathroom, determined to mask the pain. He had no idea how he'd get through the day sitting in those hard desk chairs, but nobody - especially Zechs - would be able to tell how much it hurt from looking at him.
He groggily started the shower running and stripped out of his soiled boxers, grimacing in distaste. Yuck. He went back for his trousers and carried them into the shower with him as well, scrubbing the stained clothing before moving on and washing himself. The water ran in a warm caress over his skin, and he closed his eyes, revelling in the purely sensual pleasure of it, his mind drifting back inexorably to those moments with Heero last night, cradled in strong arms, Heero's mouth nibbling at his neck, Heero's hands on him...
Wufei gasped, suddenly aware that his body was doing... that... again. Maybe it was a side effect of alcohol consumption that he hadn't read about. Hesitantly, he reached down with one hand to grasp the stiffened flesh... and his knees weakened at the intensity of the feeling. It must be related to the alcohol somehow! But if felt sooo good... He leaned his forehead against the cold shower tile to balance himself and stroked his hardened shaft the way Heero had done, curiously tasting the pearly drop that formed at the tip and grimacing at the bitter taste. The water pelted against his raw backside and his legs went rubbery as he started moving his hand faster and faster, urgently seeking completion, and suddenly his eyes rolled back in his head and his whole body convulsed in pleasure -
- and he froze in horror at the sound of the bathroom door opening behind him.
Morning dawned way too early for Duo Maxwell's tastes. Blindingly bright light spilled between the curtains and slanted across his face, causing him to fling one arm across his head to shield his aching eyes. He noted that he was still dressed in his school uniform, which obviously meant that Heero had had to pour him into bed last night.
"K'so," he muttered, even the slight sound of his own whispered voice making his head throb. His bangs were plastered to his forehead with a film of sweat, his tongue felt like it had grown a fur coat overnight, and his stomach rumbled threateningly...
Violet eyes flew wide suddenly, and he scrambled out of the bed, the blankets tangling around his feet and dragging behind him as he raced to the bathroom. He barely made it in time, his frantic gaze briefly registering the sight of a nude, golden body in the shower before his attention was consumed with more immediate matters. He was in almost as much of a hurry to get back to the sink in his room to rinse his mouth out.
"Maxwell, do you even understand what 'knock first' means?" Wufei grumped from the bathroom doorway, securely tucking a towel around his waist. Duo finished rinsing and splashed his face with cold water.
"Hey!" the hungover boy cried, his wide eyes rising to meet Wufei's as something he had noticed finally dawned on him. "What the hell happened to your ass?"
"You know as well as I do that I was paddled along with the rest of you," Wufei answered frostily, his eyes narrowing. Well, shoot. He couldn't help but notice that Quatre's fair skin was still marred by blushy paddle marks this morning, but he had hoped the damage wouldn't show on his bronze skin.
"Huh?" Duo asked, his mind sluggishly trying to catch up as he only now began to recognize the too-familiar pains in his own backside. "No, I mean your tattoo! It disappeared!"
"It was temporary," Wufei admitted, flushing darkly. "It washed off."
"It wuh..." Duo gaped at him, then burst out laughing, clutching at his aching head and slowly sinking to his knees.
"What the hell is going on in here?" Heero asked from the doorway behind him. Duo crawled over to him, still howling with laughter, and waggled an impotent finger at Wufei, who went back to his room without comment. Heero rolled his eyes, gave a long-suffering sigh, then pushed Duo into the shower stall and turned the cold water on.
"Waaah!" Duo cried, wriggling his way out of the frigid spray. "What are you doing?"
"Cleaning you up. You're ripe," Heero announced, adjusting the shower temperature. Duo's clothes were plastered to his body, and Heero had to help him peel the sodden garments off. The long-haired boy stifled a yelp of pain as the trousers slid down over his abused buttocks and the water hit the tortured flesh in a stinging spray.
"Shh, it'll be Ok," Heero said, kicking his shoes off and stepping in between Duo and the water. Duo smiled at him tremulously and allowed Heero to baby him, his lover gently washing him and carefully patting him dry before leading him back to the bedroom.
"Heero..." Duo mumbled, wanting to hold him and be held, to repay the kindness in the best way he knew how. Heero gently but firmly pushed him onto the bed, guiding him to lie face-down. The cold ointment stung as Heero began to rub it in, and Duo gritted his teeth, hissing in pain even though he tried to bear it silently. He knew it would numb the pain somewhat, but at times the cure was even worse than the original paddling. The pain eased, and Duo found himself beginning to relax under Heero's ministrations...
"Where were you earlier?" he asked sleepily. The hands on his bottom stilled briefly, and Duo rocked his hips to encourage Heero to continue rubbing.
"I went to ask Zechs-sama to excuse you from your early classes."
"Aah," Duo said, turning to smile slyly up at his lover. "Have fun?"
"I was only gone for ten minutes!"
"Oh." Duo turned back and closed his eyes again.
"But... uh..." One violet-blue eye opened to peer up at him, and Duo started grinning.
"I knew you got some somewhere! What happened?"
"Well, Wufei and I were a little drunk..."
"Oh, shit!"
"You're not upset, are you?" Heero asked, surprised. Duo had never been the jealous type before...
"You mean I had a chance to watch you two and I missed it? You'd better believe I'm upset! Damn! So tell me everything!" Heero smiled in amused relief.
"It'll have to wait," he said, giving Duo's bottom one last fond rub before rising and going to the sink to wash his hands. "You were excused, but I'm not. I have to change and get to class." Duo huffed in irritation, but watched avidly as Heero exchanged his sodden uniform for a fresh one. Watching Heero, clothed or not, was one of Duo's favorite pastimes.
"Why don't you tell me while you dress?" Duo asked as Heero finished buttoning the crisply starched shirt. The long-haired boy stifled a delighted cackle as Heero's face slowly reddened. "C'mon, tell me. You know you're going to spill it eventually anyway."
"No."
"Aw, c'mon, Heero, pleeeeeeeease? I'll just be a pest till you tell me! Tell me, tell me, tell me, pleeeeeeeease? Tell me!"
"Goodbye, Duo," Heero said, his lips twitching in a barely-suppressed smile as he pushed his shoes on and left, not bothering to take the time to tie them. He pulled the door closed behind him, snickering quietly as he heard Duo's last words shouted through the solid portal.
"Party pooper! Ow! Damn, my head hurts..."
Quatre woke as soon as he felt Wufei stir, but something deep inside him, some instinct he dared not question, told him to feign sleep. Somehow he just knew that Wufei would be better off not having to face anyone first thing in the morning. He waited until he heard the sound of the shower starting up, then gathered up his rumpled clothing and took one peek into the bathroom to be sure Wufei would be Ok -
-and his eyes bugged out at the sight of what Wufei was doing. Apparently, he was going to be more than Ok! Quatre stifled a giggle and scurried back to his own room, hoping there would be a little time for some quick morning affection from Trowa. A sight like that was enough to leave a fellow in need, after all. He didn't know how he'd manage to keep a straight face talking to Wufei today, but he'd have to do it somehow...
"Everything Ok?" Trowa asked, giving Quatre a sweetly sleepy smile as the golden-haired boy closed and locked the door behind him.
"He'll be sore, and we'll have to pretend not to notice," Quatre said, dumping his clothing in the laundry pile and climbing on top of Trowa.
"Un?" Trowa said, and Quatre kissed him fiercely, leaving no room for further conversation. It didn't take long at all for Trowa to get in the spirit of things... and for a while there was no sound in the room but flesh sliding against flesh and the occasional stifled moan.
After waiting for an agonizingly long hour and a half, Duo gave up on waiting for his head to shrink back to normal size, and decided he'd go see the nurse before his brain exploded. He could just imagine how irritated Heero would be, if he came back from class to find brains all over the place. Heero liked to keep things tidy.
With a half-amused snort, Duo rolled out of the bed and wove his way to the dresser to find something to wear. The grey sweatsuit would do. It wasn't an attractive outfit, but at least he'd be able to put it on all by himself. The shoes were another matter entirely. He ended up in a pair of scuffs because he couldn't seem to master the dexterity needed to tie the laces on the patent-leather shoes that had come with his uniform, and the glare off the shiny leather was irritating to his headache besides. He pulled his hair together into a loose ponytail and shuffled out of the room.
The morning was disgustingly bright, and he kept his head down, his squinting eyes partially shielded by long chestnut bangs as he trudged along. He was only glad that it was still class-time, and he didn't have to contend with the raucous sounds associated with a student body changing classrooms.
Another shadow joined his, and he squinted over to see that Fujisawa-sensei had fallen into step with him. The man looked about as bad as Duo felt. The two of them grunted their greetings to each other and trudged along in more or less companionable silence, two thin, slouched-over figures in sweatsuits and scuffs. If it weren't for Duo's long hair, it would be hard to tell them apart from a distance.
"Good morning," Sally-sensei said in a gratingly cheerful tone as they stepped in. Duo winced and nodded to her, and Fujisawa mumbled something incoherent in reply.
"Again?" Sally asked as she took in her colleague's disheveled state, a slight frown wrinkling her brow. She tsk'ed irritably and ushered them both to chairs, then poured two glasses of a thick, black viscous liquid.
"Drink it all," she instructed, glaring at Duo as he wrinkled his nose and shifted uncomfortably in the hard chair.
"I just need some aspirin..." he began, but Sally shot him a Look. Fujisawa didn't look any happier about the situation, but he took a deep breath of air and swallowed half the contents of the glass. His eyes bugged out and his face turned several different interesting shades before settling on a purplish red. After half a minute, he repeated the process.
"Ah! You're the best, Sally-sensei! Your hangover cure always works!" Fujisawa said cheerfully, handing Sally the glass with great deference. "What's in it?"
"Hair of the dog," Sally answered.
"No, I mean really."
"Really. Hair of the dog."
Duo glared down into the glass suspiciously. Were they putting him on? Fujisawa took his leave, apparently unconvinced that the cure contained dog hair, and Sally closed the door behind him and turned to give Duo her undivided attention.
"Really," she sighed. "I would've thought you, at least, would know better than to drink with Fujisawa-sensei."
"I didn't," Duo protested, squirming again in the chair. "I mean... uh..." he blushed and stammered, caught aback by Sally's scrutinizing glare. "I was drinking, but not with Fujisawa-sensei."
"So take the cure," Sally said with a stern glare. Duo gave her a pleading look, and when she ignored it he heaved a sigh and took a big swig of the repulsive stuff - and had to make a run for the bathroom as his stomach unequivocally rejected it. He was torn between being furious with Sally for inflicting this latest bout of vomiting, or grateful to her as she held his hair out of the way for him and wiped his face with a damp cloth.
"Ohayo!" a voice called as the door to the infirmary opened. Sally handed Duo the washcloth and stepped back into the main room.
"Zechs-sama!" Her voice sounded surprised. Duo winced. Damn the luck!
"I... came to speak to you about the Maxwell boy."
"He's here. Duo!" Well, there wasn't anything for it but to shuffle back out there. Zechs was smirking at him almost maliciously.
"Well, I'm glad you were able to make it here," Zechs said. "Your roommate stopped by to inform me that you were feeling unwell today." Duo merely nodded, unsure as to what response Zechs was looking for.
"He deserves any symptoms he suffers from," Sally said with some asperity. "There's nothing wrong with him that a little abstinence wouldn't have cured."
"Oh? I was aware he would be hung over this morning. I thought he came to complain of the pain inflicted on him as punishment."
"You paddled him?" Zechs nodded, and without another word Sally crossed the room and grabbed Duo's arm, then dragged him into a small examination room.
"I thought you were walking funny this morning. Drop your trousers," she said. Zechs followed them into the room, raising an eyebrow inquisitively as Duo hesitated. Duo blushed and gingerly pulled the sweat pants off, then leaned over the padded table at Sally's instruction. Sally hissed in reaction, and Duo buried his face in his arms as Zechs moved behind him to observe his handiwork.
"Really, Zechs-sama, must you use a paddle?"
"What would you have me do, then?" Zechs asked, eyeing the bruised flesh with satisfaction. "Lectures didn't work. This one, especially, has a talent for hearing only what he wishes to."
"Oh, I'm not questioning the need for discipline. It's just that a paddle is so... impersonal." Duo's head shot up as he felt one of Sally's cool hands stroking his sore bottom. "The lesson has so much more impact if you use your own hand," Sally said, and then the caressing stopped, the hand that had touched him rising to land on his backside again with a loud smack. Duo gasped, his eyes filming over with tears of pure pain as Sally began spanking him in earnest.
"I never, never, never want to see you hung over this way again, young man," Sally told him, her stern voice punctuated by agonizing slaps. Duo nodded frantically, unable to trust his own voice. When Sally had finished with him, she pulled his pants back up herself and handed him a tube of ointment and a small bottle of aspirin. "Use these for the pain, and don't ever put me in the position of having to discipline you again." Duo nodded silently and all but ran out of the infirmary, determined that he was never going there again, no matter how sick he got!
He sniffled a little , slowing to an odd, hitching walk as he made his way across campus. It wasn't fair, either. He'd been punished twice for the same incident! Well... at least he'd gotten the aspirin, and hopefully he'd be able to get Heero to massage him with the new ointment. Ever so slowly, a dangerous smile crept across his face, his eyes lighting up with inner fire. Somehow, some day, he would get even. Injustice like this wouldn't go unpunished! But first things first - he needed to do something for his aching backside. Maybe he could find a block of ice to sit on...
"Ah, thank you, Sally," Zechs said, brushing a tear of mirth from his eyes. "The look on his face was priceless!"
"The poor thing," Sally smirked. "He'll never know that his real sin was in showing up just when you and I finally had some time together."
"Shall we make the most of what time remains to us?" Zechs asked, his eyelids lowering as he smiled suggestively.
"Drop your trousers," Sally answered huskily.
The End
Yoiko -- Please send feedback to the author at: mightyyoiko@hotmail.com
(:./knm/wilmington8)
