22-Apr-2000
Hi hi! Well this isn't exactly a fic, for right now it's just an out-take,
but it may become a fic in the future if anyone likes it. This was inspired
by (sorry if I mis-spell) Casazza Aurelie's fic just recently posted,
specifically the line "Give me mind-blowing memories". That line just ran
through my head so many times that it suddenly developed its own plot, so I
have to give credit for this to that author (thank you! Love ya!) Anyway no
warnings on this one but yaoi. Feed me and thanks for reading! ~TB
Disclaimer: GW isn't mine even though I spent my last
tooth wishing for that. :(
"And this is Trowa and Quatre at the kennel," Wufei said, holding up the next photograph. Obediently Treize took it and examined it, his polite expression not entirely masking his growing boredom.
"And this one, it's just Duo." Wufei held on to that one for a moment, staring down at the image of his friend. It was a very good print. Of the many pictures he had brought with him, it was his favourite. "He's the kind of person you fall in love with," he sighed, and handed it to Treize.
"He's exquisite," the ginger-haired man agreed. "But then, so are you." Smiling, he leaned forward to brush a kiss over Wufei's cheek, prompting a slight blush to appear on the bronzed skin. "Wufei," he asked seriously, tapping the rather large pile of photos between them with a tapered finger, "what is the point of all this? Why show me these things?"
Wufei blinked. "Why?" he repeated stupidly.
Treize was patient. "Why would you risk the security of your team to bring me--well, evidence? Why would you risk these photographs falling into the hands of your enemy?"
Wufei slowly spread the pictures out across the bedspread, his fingertips brushing over the faces of his--friends--yes, his friends. "You already know what we look like," he retorted, lamely.
Treize watched him solemnly, closely, trying to catch his eyes for some time, but Wufei stubbornly refused. After a while, the OZ director gave up and randomly selected an image to study. Duo again. There were more of him than any other pilot. "I meant, dragon, that the existence of these prints in an OZ facility would indicate a leak. An informer. You might find yourself branded a traitor, and all for a whim. A childish whim, if you excuse me for saying that... "
Wufei, frowning, finally looked up. "It's not childish, and it's not a whim," he said.
Treize waved a hand. His expression was gentle. "I'm not disparaging you, dragon. But explain to me. Please. Why bring me these things?"
Wufei was silent for a while. Then, in a move that was uncharacteristic of him, he pushed the pictures aside and shifted until he lay against Treize's strong body, in the surprised circle of his embrace. The slight young boy leaned his cheek against the chest of the man who, until his confinement, had been his greatest enemy. Wufei fiddled with a button on his lover's shirt, and softly began to speak.
"Duo thinks in material terms," he murmured. "It's not much of a revelation, if you consider his up-bringing. He's the one who took most of these pictures. I, on the other hand, have always been taught that--that material things are--transient, I suppose; unimportant in the long run. Strength comes from inside, not from outer bastions or accumulation of *things* to which you have assigned false value.
"Lately, I think I'm starting to... grow up. I'm learning to see viewpoints other than my own. It started with M-meiran." He paused for a moment, then decided to push on and ignore that stumble. Treize already knew all about his dead wife. "Then you, being with you is changing me, for all that I'm not really *with* you. And the other pilots, Heero Yuy and Quatre and Duo--When I'm with them, sometimes I find myself thinking thoughts that I would never have even dreamed of before I met them."
Treize began to stroke his shoulders, but the absence of any other movement in his warm, relaxed body indicated that he was listening closely.
"One of those thoughts came from talking to Duo. I asked him why he takes all these pictures--partly because he never pays for the cameras or the development of the film, he always borrows money from one of us--but mostly because of the same reasons you asked me. I thought it was wrong to leave possible evidence lying around to be used by our enemies.
"He said to me, 'I want to have something to remember this by. If one of us dies, I won't have anything, any piece of them. I want something, something that won't go away.' It took me a long time to understand exactly what he meant. He's the only survivor of the Maxwell Church Massacre, you know, and before that he lived through a plague on L2 without any medication--but everyone else he loved died. That's why he wears a braid. So he can remember them. Now, he wants pictures, something substantial, something that will never pass away if one of us does--if he does. Material memories. It took me a long time, but eventually I really did understand what he meant. And I... I want something like that, too, Treize. Something of us, that won't... die. If one of us does."
Now Treize was quiet for a long time, thinking. Then he asked, "What exactly do you want, my dragon? A photograph? You know we can't; it's too much a peril for my peace of mind. If *anyone* untrustworthy were to find a picture of us together, Wufei--including your pilot friends--"
"Not a picture," Wufei interrupted mutedly. "I'm not that careless. Believe in me enough for that, Treize."
The older man smiled slightly, and resumed his caresses. "Then what?"
"Memories. The same as Duo's, just as permanent, perhaps just as dangerous... just memories, Treize, good ones. That is all I want."
"Those may be few and far between," the OZ warrior whispered, his breath stirring Wufei's unbound hair.
"Then make them worth the effort."
Treize smiled. "Well said, my dragon."
End part 1
(:./erin/nothing1)
