When he thought about it later, it seemed as if there should have been a sign. Something should of happened, an omen of great portent, to give him a hint that he was just a few hours from a meeting with destiny. As it was, there was nothing in his walk to school that morning, nor in his four morning class periods that gave him any idea that he was about to step from a mundane, high schooler's life into a life of Purpose, and Passion, and, most of all, Obsession.
Further reflections on that day always led him to the simple fact that, even had he been warned, he could not have escaped the series of comedies and tragedies, small and large, that always *must* occur after meeting your One True Love.
For Zechs, it happened that day in the high school cafeteria.
"Damn, PB&J again," he muttered as he opened the bag his mother had thrown at him on her way out the door. He really couldn't begrudge it -- he hadn't remembered to fix his own and was already out of money for the week, having spent it all on Japanese comic books in Little Tokyo.
His mother, whom he loved dearly, was, nevertheless, a carefree artist who had raised him single-handedly, in between gallery showings and the ever-sacred Time In The Studio. She did her best and they'd gotten along fine so far, even with occasional bad lunch days.
He had taken out one of his manga to read, making sure he didn't drip boysenberry jam on it, and was now perusing it, working out the few letters he knew thoroughly enjoying the pictures of the pretty boys, who seemed to be the only characters in the story.
Everyone at Noventa High School -- or rather, everyone who knew a gossiper at Noventa High School -- was aware of the fact that Zechs Marquise was gay. That was why he ate his lunches alone. He'd had several friends his first year in school. He was a beautiful boy, with a well-muscled build, long legs, stunningly blue eyes and a shoulder-length mane of pale gold hair, and he never wanted for company, male or female. But last year, when he'd been a sophomore, he'd gotten tired of pretending he was straight, tired of watching
all the boys he liked go off on dates with the girls -- and had the same girls do their best to get asked out by him -- and at last he had come out to his best friend. Now, none of the boys he used to spend time with, nor any of the girls who'd flirted with him, would give him the time of day.
It had stung quite a bit then, and he wondered how he would get through the next two years, but that summer he had gone to a manga convention and had met a boy who asked him on a date. It had been an amazing time, being with someone who had the same kinds of feelings as himself, and he wasn't prepared for the race of desire he'd felt with his first kiss.
It had only been a week-long romance, but it had given Zechs a taste for what was possible, if only the right boy could be found.
Now he stifled a pleasurable sigh and reached for the other half of his sandwich, a cornsilk pony tail falling over his shoulder. His eyes happened to glance up for a moment and there was a momentary break in the continuous sea of students that had been passing from the lunch counter to the tables beyond him. And it was there, in that small moment of looking up and through the gap in the lunch line, that Zechs Marquise saw The Right Boy.
He was sitting alone, like Zechs, with small black bowl in front of him, and he seemed to be concentrating very hard on his food. His hair was gleaming black, so black it was blue in its highlights, and his skin was the color of fresh caramel. But it was his face -- the lovely oval face, with high cheekbones and huge, almond eyes, surrounded with lashes of dark ebony, and full lips that looked soft as a petal -- that's what captured the blond boy at first.
/He's exquisite... I could stare into his eyes forever... never come out again... I wonder who he is? Why haven't I seen him before? Would... would he talk to me, I wonder...?/
Zechs's eyes never moved from the boy's face as he stuffed his manga and uneaten sandwich into his backpack and stood on very weak legs to cross the floor. His mouth had gone completely dry and he could've sworn that anyone near him would be able to hear his heartbeat. He licked suddenly dry lips and stepped forward, now within a few feet of the lovely boy.
"H-Hello," he managed to say. "I... just saw you sitting by yourself and I..." Oh, *surely* his heart was going to beat right through his chest! "I... wonderedifyou'dlikesomecompany?" he said all at once, struggling to keep his breathing under control.
The boy looked up, lips poised open, eyes so brown they seemed black almost startled for a moment before he shrugged, head tilting to the side in curiosity. "I don't mind."
A sigh of relief, which he worried was far too audible, escaped the blond and he sat down, unable to resist a very happy grin at the other boy. "We haven't ever met, I don't think," he said, /Because if we had I'd be at your feet by now.../ "My name's Zechs." Fighting to keep his hand steady, Zechs stretched it across the table towards the other boy. /Oh, *please* let me touch you!!/
"Chang Wufei," the boy replied, watching him with a visible curiosity as he reached out his own hand towards Zechs. "But it's Wufei, not Chang."
Silky skin, cool to the touch, and all Zechs wanted in that moment was more of the creamy, coppery stuff to stroke and caress. It took all his energy to speak but he managed to say, "Wufei -- that's a cool name." They were staring at each other and Zechs knew he had to let go of that hand but, oh it was hard! Finally, though, he did and asked, "What year are you?"
"Junior," Wufei said, taking his hand away and tilting his head to the side. "You said your name was Zechs? That's different," he decided. "My name means flying five, more or less." That straight nose wrinkled slightly. "Nobody can say it right, either. You did very well, however," Wufei noted, even more curious now. He had a natural curiosity about most things, which stood him in good stead when it came time for studying.
Trying not to blush to the roots of his hair, Zechs smiled and said, "Thanks. I like foreign languages. I've already topped out in French and Spanish and I think I want to learn one of the Asian languages next." /It had been Japanese -- right up until this moment.../
That earned him a nod of that glorious black-haired head and Wufei said, "I'm told they're easier than the Romantic languages for English-speakers to learn in some ways because they're very not structured in quite the same manner. If you're proficient at those, though..."
/God, his voice -- I love his voice! And that gleam of blue-black as he moved his head... oh, *damn* what I wouldn't give for just one kiss.../
"Oh -- yes!" Zechs reined his thoughts in hard and smiled again. "Well, I'll probably be hopeless at it at first. I always am. But I'm pretty persistent, not easily discouraged."
There was a lull and Zechs thought frantically of a way to fill it so Wufei wouldn't decide to leave. "So, what do you think of Noventa?" he asked.
"They have challenging programs. The competition for valedictorian for my year is fierce, though..." Wufei bit his lip thoughtfully, and that was enough to send a tingle through Zechs's body just from the other boy's own teeth touching it that way!! "It's not as stupid as the magnet school I was attending," he seemed to decide, shrugging. "And I think I'll be all right. I just need to work hard enough and everything will be good!"
"What was stupid about the magnet school?" Zechs asked, eyes still on those lips before the sudden movement of a graceful hand, tucking black hair behind an ear, caught his eye and he was lost again. /I'll worship you... adore you... I'll give you the moon if you want me to.../
Wufei wrinkled his nose again and it was the most adorable thing imaginable, Zechs decided! "The competition for top spot began including bad pranks and popularity contests. I don't approve of that sort of thing," he said, tilting his head to the side as he realized that he hadn't asked the other boy what grade *he* was in. "What year are you?"
Azure eyes slightly glazed over, Zechs responded, "Me...? I'm a junior, too -- but I'm not the valedictorian type, I'm afraid. Only good at drawing and languages..." /Oh, GOD I shouldn't have said that!! He's really smart! He'll hate me!!/
The other boy smiled at him, though, and it seemed warm. "Those things have their places," he said. "Translators, artists, they're important to the world, especially artists, because they're so often dreamers."
/Uh... yeah... and I must be dreaming now,/ Zechs thought as he propped his head in his hand and smiled again. "What do *you* want to when you graduate? I mean, you're probably going to college but, what do you want to *do*?" /Aside from being my One and Only Love for the rest of your life.../
At that, a slight moment of consternation crossed Wufei's face. "I...." He paused. "I want to make my parents proud of me," he said, as if that was an answer in and of itself!
Zechs frowned slightly. "N-No, I mean... what would you like to end up doing, after college? You know, what kind of career do you think would be fun?"
"Oh," Wufei said thoughtfully. "I don't know. I think I'll probably take over my parents' business, then. They run a grocery store, Chinese goods, mostly..."
"Cool!" Zechs said, smiling broadly again. "Can I come see it? I love that kind of stuff." He stopped for a moment and then said, "Do you need to be valedictorian to be a grocery store owner?"
At that, Wufei blinked. "You can come and see it," he agreed slowly. "I work there in the afternoons, when I'm not studying. I don't guess you have to be valedictorian...." He paused thoughtfully. "I want to make them proud of me, though."
Zechs, head still propped in hand, nodded slowly. "Yeah, I know what you mean. I guess I want my mom to be proud of me, too. I *think* she is..." he looked thoughtful for a moment and added, "I *hope* she is!" Then he laughed. "So... can I come by today? After 7th period?"
"Um... sure," Wufei decided, thinking the blond boy a rather strange sort of fellow. He was awfully charming, though, and he smiled a lot, and that was nice, so it wasn't so bad! "I've got a bike," he said simply, "and I'll take that home...."
"Great, I've got blades, so... we can go together, okay?" Zechs said eagerly, nearly jumping as a loud bell signaled the end of the lunch period. "I can meet you by the flag pole out front if that's all right with you." /Or just follow you to all your classes from here on out... I could do that, too.../
Shrugging, Wufei packed away his bowl, chopsticks and another small container that Zechs had only just noticed. "At 3:20," he agreed, lifting a small black bookbag. "I have to stop by the library first."
"Right -- see you there." Zechs backed away, unable to stop looking at Wufei until the last possible moment, when he turned, and walked straight into a wall.
Rubbing his nose a bit he smiled sheepishly and waved. "See you then."
Shaking his head slightly, Wufei watched the other boy go. /Well,/ he decided. /THIS is going to be... different./ And he wasn't sure if that was bad or good, but at least one thing was certain.
It was going to be *interesting*!!
When the bell rang for the end of 7th period, Zechs practically leapt from his seat in the classroom and ran for his locker. Jamming sketch pads, pencils, and highly underused mathematics textbook, and a "Mandarin for Busy People" cassette (which he'd surreptitiously checked out of the library during a 6th period class trip) the blond boy tied on his in-line skates, shouldered his pack and headed towards the front of the campus. He got to the flag pole fifteen minutes early and proceeded to wait anxiously for Wufei's arrival.
/I'm going to see him in 10 -- no 9! --minutes! God, I hope he doesn't hear
me breathing like this... he'll think I'm a pervert for sure, then. I wonder
if there's any chance... oh, probably hardly at all, but I can *hope* can't
I?/
After all, they *did* say that hope was some kind of cardinal virtue, right?
Exactly on time nine minutes later, Wufei strolled up to the flag pole. "Hi," he said calmly. "Are you ready to go, then? The store and my home are several blocks from here."
"Ready to go," Zechs said, nodding, unable to stop smiling and just *looking* at the other boy through his lashes. Being able to see more of him, now when they were walking side by side to the bicycle racks, Zechs was feeling even more attracted to the boy. He was of small stature, especially compared to Zechs who had his long-gone father's height. With great pleasure, he noticed that the top of Wufei's head came to just above his shoulder. /Perfect cuddling height! Oh, *damn* this is so unreal.../
"Are you sure you're parents won't mind?" he asked, trying hard to keep his mind on wholesome topics.
"I don't bring many friends home," Wufei said honestly, kneeling down to unchain his bike -- a deep blue one with 'Nataku' airbrushed over one of the aluminum bars in purple and white. "But I don't think they'll mind, no, especially not if we do homework." He glanced at Zechs, head tilting to the side. "What classes are you in?" he asked, stuffing the chain into his bag as he stood up and shifted the kickstand, moving the bike back before bringing a leg up and over to seat himself momentarily.
Zechs got a cute flash of bottom as this happened and nearly moaned out loud. /Homework! Oh, I never dreamed it could go as far as homework! God, how would I ever concentrate... but I could be *alone* with him!/
"Uh, Modern World History, Trigonometry, Chemistry, Advanced English Comp, and Advanced Drawing -- how about you?"
"Calc, Advanced World History, Advanced Chemistry, Advanced English Comp, Choir and," Wufei paused, grimacing, "Home Ec." He shrugged. "It was all they could fit me into when I changed schools." A sigh and a shake of his head followed that. "It's uncomfortable, being in that room full of girls! They squeal, and none of them can *cook*!"
Zechs had to laugh at that. "Well, I chose shop because my mother told me that taking things apart would help me learn to draw -- and it has, really. Much easier to visualize the structure underneath of things now."
Wufei nodded as he started to pedal, Zechs following after him on his roller blades. "It's always best to look at all angles of a problem before beginning," he agreed.
Zechs smiled over at him. /I only needed one angle to know I wanted you.../ "So do you work a lot in the grocery store?" he asked.
"Mostly on weekends," Wufei confessed as they headed down the street, the traffic thinned out slightly as so many people had driven away from the school quickly. "My parents like for me to study during the week and on Sunday night.
Another sidelong glance, Zechs squinting into the afternoon sun. "I bet they expect a lot of you," he said, a bit softer than he'd intended.
"Sometimes," Wufei agreed. "But it's not more than I can give, and they're very good parents, so I don't complain."
"That's cool -- to have two parents like that. It's been just me and my Mom as long as I can remember. But she's great, so." He gave a little shrug.
"So you have decided that this is okay with you and therefore it is," Wufei finished thoughtfully. "If you're both happy, then that seems the way to be."
Zechs opened his mouth to say something and then thought a moment and realized there was nothing more to say, after such profundity. "Yeah," he said simply, shaking his head a little. Talking to Wufei was proving to be a little like reading several really interesting fortune cookie fortunes, one right after the other...
"Happiness is important," Wufei decided, "no matter what it is you do. You should like whatever it is you're doing. Sometimes, you can't, though, sometimes, it's just your duty to do it. Aside from that, though..."
Zechs skated out ahead of him and did a little turn in front of the bike so he could skate backwards and see Wufei. "Aside from that... what?" he asked, checking back to make sure the path was clear.
"Aside from that, you should try to be happy," Wufei replied, slowing down so that he didn't run into the tall blond. "Duty won't always make you happy, so you should take happiness when you can."
Zechs gave him a wide, disarming grin and then spun around so he was at the side of the bike again. "I certainly agree with *that!*" he said cheerfully, and then hazarded the question, "What make *you* happiest?"
"I... I don't know," Wufei said thoughtfully. "I mean to say, I'm not sure. Mostly, I do what I had ought to do, and then the day is full. I like comics," he decided. "That's pretty much it."
"You do?" Zechs said eagerly. "I do, too! I like the Japanese kind best, but American ones are okay, too. What's your favorite comic book store --do you know that one down on Jefferson? Those guys are the best!" He did another happy little spin.
At that, the Chinese boy couldn't *help* but laugh! "I like the one in Little Tokyo, the one on the square there? They have Chinese translations a lot, and some Chinese comics, and I can read those!"
"Cool! I pick up some of the words -- I'm trying to teach myself kanji and kana -- but mostly I just look at the pictures." He smiled a little sheepishly and swerved around the corner that Wufei was turning. "Little Tokyo's fun -- I go there every other weekend. Sometimes my mom comes along and we eat sushi until we're ready to burst." /And sometimes I go by myself so I can look at all the pretty Asian boys... none more beautiful than you though./
"I'm not that fond of sushi," Wufei confessed. "I like chicken better, but my mother cooks mostly with chicken and beef, and not with fish. Still, I like Japanese pastries," he confessed. "A weakness!"
Zechs nodded. "I like them to, because they're not too sweet. My favorite, though, is still green tea ice cream."
"Oh, yeah!" Wufei agreed, skidding to a halt. The shop was only a little way down, now, and for some reason, he wanted to drag out the moments it took to get there! "I love that. Sweets are bad for you, so I don't feel as guilty, then..."
"My mother always taught me that nothing is bad for you if you don't do too much of it." Zechs had to do a circle around Wufei's bicycle in order the prevent overshooting him. He put his head to one side and looked at the dark haired boy. "Why'd you stop?"
"We're almost there," Wufei said. "I thought we'd slow down for a few minutes..." Because he liked the conversation, and his parents didn't approve of comics very much. They took time away from studying!
Zechs looked worried for a moment. "Are you afraid your parents'll get mad at you for bringing someone to the store?" he asked. /I can't get this close and have it all end!!/
"No!" Wufei denied. "Especially not if it's for studying. They just don't approve of comics, that's all..."
"Oh, that rots," the blond said, looking sympathetic. "Well, what class should we say we're studying for?" /As if anything is going to sink in at the moment.../
The smile that answered him was shy. "Why not English? Or, I could say I'm going to tutor you in Chinese..."
"*Could* you?" Zechs said, "I mean, *really* tutor me a little? That would be so cool!"
The excitement was met with a tilted head, a thoughtful expression. "I could teach you the language," Wufei agreed. "I speak it all right."
/Oh, think of all the time we could spend!/ Zechs thought, smiling to himself and feeling deliciously warm all over. /Chinese must be a very difficult language to master... lots and *lots* of study dates!/
"That would be *great*," he finally said out loud. "Is there anything I should know about your parents before we go?"
"They're very traditional," Wufei told him, "and they like serious people. Other than that..."
Zechs brushed away the little doubt that sprung up in his mind when Wufei said, 'serious', and nodded his head. "Right, traditional and serious. I'll do my best." Then he had to grin at the look on Wufei's face. /God, you're adorable!/
"Good!" Pleased with himself and the world at large, Wufei kept walking. "It's at the end of the street, on the left," he told Zechs. "And home is only half a block away."
"So," Zechs said, skating again, but much slower this time, "do you usually prefer to eat lunch by yourself? Did I bug you too much, today?"
"I don't know anyone, so mostly I eat by myself. You didn't bother me," Wufei replied, though it wasn't an answer, exactly. The fact of the matter was that he *did* usually prefer to eat alone -- always had. He was a do-it-by-yourself kind of boy in a lot of ways, so it had never bothered him to be alone at lunch. His new friend, however, held the possibilities of that changing... "You?"
Zechs smiled a little wistfully out at the quiet neighborhood. "Oh, I guess if I had my way about it, I wouldn't be alone -- although I don't mind it much. I'm just not flavor of the month at this school." He gave an eloquent shrug and did a slow spin on his skates.
That brought a surprised expression from Wufei as he paused, tilting his head to the side. "I would think that everyone would like you. You seem like the sort who would be... likeable," he finished weakly.
"Do I?" Zechs said, trying to hide his pleasure at the comment. "Well, most of the people there don't... share my opinions of things," he said, realizing he was perilously close to admitting he was gay, and realizing that it was far too early for that.
"Ahhhh," Wufei said slowly. "You're different somehow. A mystery. It will be fun to find out how..."
Zechs laughed weakly. "Mystery? No really, not a mystery! I'm... practically boring! Well! Not *boring* boring, but just not *mysterious*... in any way..." Oh, there seemed to be no graceful exit to *this* topic!
It was too late for him, one way or another! "Would you like to guess how long it will take for me to figure out?" Wufei asked politely. "Or would you rather just wait and see?"
The little burst of laughter that came out at *those* words was nearly a soft shriek. "It's *nothing* really!" Zechs protested feebly. "Nothing..." He searched the area desperately for something to divert his new friend. "Is that the store? Over there?"
"You're nervous about it," Wufei said, eyes narrowing. "Well, we'll see. That's it, yeah."
The moved slowly towards the small grocery store, the sign outside both in English and Mandarin lettering. "Damn," Zechs said softly, "I haven't been this nervous since my last trigonometry test..."
"Sorry," Wufei said, smiling all the same as left his bike standing on the sidewalk before he pushed open the door, calling softly, "I'm home!"
A slim, dark-haired man behind the cash register looked up as they walked in, spectacle gleaming as he turned his head. "Hello, my son," he said softly and then slid his gaze up to Zechs. "Hello, sir. May I help you?"
"Uh..." Zechs wasn't sure what to say and looked over at Wufei, eyes a bit wide.
"He's from school, Poppa," Wufei said solemnly. "He needs some help with his homework and some tutoring in Chinese. I thought perhaps I could help..."
Wufei's father's look was a shade less than suspicious, more just very cautious, and he chided his son, "You bring someone home and you don't introduce them properly? Where are your manners?"
Zechs opened his mouth to introduce himself, but then thought better of it and shut it again.
When Wufei spoke, it was solemn. "I apologize, Poppa. May I introduce Zechs Marquise? He's a junior. Zechs, please allow me to introduce my father, Chang Tso-Lin."
"Very honored to meet you Mr. Chang," Zechs said, his mouth gone dry for some reason. The man was small, but so forbidding!
The older man inclined his head slightly towards Zechs and gave a tiny smile that made him seem slightly younger, more approachable perhaps. "And are you a good student?" he asked, looking towards Wufei.
"Ah... I try to be... sir," Zechs said, trying to smile back with confidence. "I try very hard."
"Very good," Mr. Chang said solemnly. "So you will be going straight home to study, boys?"
"Yes, sir," Wufei replied with just as much seriousness. "Is Momma at home?"
His father nodded. "She went to be sure that things were in place for your studies. She will return once you arrive."
"Thank you, Poppa," Wufei murmured, smiling at his father slightly. "I'll see you later..."
"It was very nice to meet you Mr. Chang!" Zechs said, reaching out and shaking the man's hand. "We'll study really hard!"
Expression a bit surprised, Wufei's father nodded. "Good luck," he told the boys before they headed out the door.
As they left the store, Zechs couldn't help but ask, "Well? Do you think he liked me? Did I do anything stupid?"
"You did okay," Wufei assured, smiling at him slightly. "You did just fine. No worries."
"Oh," Zechs said, a wave of relief flooding him. "Oh, okay... good. Now I guess I'll meet your mom, huh?"
That gained him a nod as Wufei began pushing his bike down the sidewalk. "She'll be in the kitchen, probably, making a snack for studying," he said. "Brain food and all that."
"Wow," Zechs said, "they really take care of you, don't they? Are you the only child, or do you have brothers and sisters?"
"I'm an only child," Wufei admitted solemnly. "They're very good parents, and they try hard to be certain that I'm happy and that things are going as they should..."
"That's nice," Zechs said softly, thinking of his own, somewhat flighty mother and her passion for art that was at least as strong as her love of him. "Nice that they can be there for you."
That gained him a solemn nod. "They're very concerned for me and they want me to do well," he replied. "It's the least I can do to fulfill their wishes."
"So, which one of these houses is yours?" Zechs said, looking down the street of well-kept homes.
"The gray one there," Wufei told him, "with the picket fence."
With a laugh to himself, Zechs realized that he'd been expecting something like a pagoda and he made a mental note to try and forget every stereotype he had of the Chinese. "I hope your mom doesn't mind me being here. Don't worry, I'll take off my skates when we're inside."
"My mother would appreciate it." The dark-haired boy had a dry sense of humor, and that statement brought every bit of it to the fore!
Reaching the front door of the house, Zechs slipped off his skates, leaving them on the porch and slipping on sneakers. They stepped inside to a modest entry hallway. Everything was quiet and immaculate, and Zechs felt another wave of anxiety, as if just by being there he was making the house disorderly.
"Nice house," he murmured in the silence.
"My mother will appreciate the compliment," Wufei told him, slipping off his own shoes to stack them carefully in a little shelf next to the door. "You'll want to leave your shoes here," he informed the other boy, smiling slightly.
"Oh, right," Zechs muttered, taking off the newly put on sneakers. "It's really quiet here," he said as they walked towards the kitchen. "At my house there's usually music or something like that."
The other boy nodded slowly. "I have a radio in my room. We can turn it on while we do homework, if you like, but not very loud, okay? I can't think as well if it's loud..."
"Oh, that's okay -- I was just thinking how different it is, you know." /Am I completely ruining my chances here? He's about as different from me as he can get.../ "My mom just likes playing music when she's in her studio," he said, smiling at Wufei. "Pretty loud, too."
"Ahhh," Wufei replied, smiling back. "I understand. Here, it's mostly quiet, since it's only my parents and me..."
Wufei led the way into the kitchen, where a small, slender Chinese woman was arranging food on a plate. She looked up and smiled at Wufei, her expression turning puzzled when she saw Zechs behind him.
"||Welcome home, Fei -- you have brought someone with you?||"
"||Yes, Momma. His name is Zechs Marquise. We're going to be studying together, if that's all right? He wants to learn our language, and we have some of the same studies, so I thought perhaps I could help him out,||" Wufei explained. "||I shall introduce you in English, Momma?||"
"||Yes, yes -- of course.||"
During this conversation, Zechs was looking back and forth at each one, secretly fearing that they were really saying something like:
"Who's the ugly white guy with you, dear?"
"Oh, he's some pest that leeched onto me at school and now I'm humoring him so maybe he'll get off my back. Shall we feed him something nasty and laugh at his big nose?"
"Absolutely dear -- he'll never know the difference!"
But, nonetheless, he smiled gamely at them and waited for something to be said in a language he could understand.
"Zechs Marquise, may I introduce you to my mother?" Wufei asked politely. "Momma, this is Zechs Marquise."
"It is very nice to meet you, Zechs," Mrs. Chang said, voice sweetly sibilant, a lovely soft soprano that seemed to match her looks as she lightly nodded to him. "You wish to learn our language, then, yes? My son will be a very good teacher. So smart, our boy!" she praised, and heat rose in Wufei's cheeks slightly as he looked over at the blond boy.
"Yes, I'm sure he is," Zechs said, hoping he could persuade the studious boy to lift his nose from his books someday and look at *him.*
"I've made extra bao*. Wufei, you take the plate and be sure to share with your guest. There's papaya nectar here in the pitcher. I have to go help your father with inventory." She smiled and bowed to Zechs, murmuring something about studying hard, and then she was gone.
Zechs was studying the plate Wufei held. "What are bao?" he said, puzzled.
"Steamed pork buns," Wufei told him, dark eyes bright. "They're delicious. My mother makes the *best* bao, and she knows they're my favorite. Would you like some juice?" he asked.
"Yeah, thanks," Zechs said, taking the plate from Wufei so he could pour. "And thank you for feeding me -- I usually end up at the taquito stand by the school. Never can make it to dinner..."
As if repeating something by rote, Wufei closed his eyes and held up a finger. "Growing boys must eat to have energy for studying and working hard!" Then, surprising Zechs so badly that he almost fell off of the chair, he winked. Wufei in his home was a slightly different Wufei than the one he'd met at school -- just as he was marginally changed from the serious Wufei who had introduced his parents. It was a multifaceted puzzle, and one that was more than a little fascinating. "Sorry, couldn't resist," he said, face straightening out again.
/Don't wink at me! How am I supposed to stay all polite and decent if you *wink* at me! Even if you were just imitating your grandmother.../
"A little speech you've been practicing?" Zechs teased, trying to get his mind out of the gutter with hardly any success.
"Heard it all my life," Wufei replied, glasses now in hand. "You want to go upstairs now?"
/*Yes* and I want to strip you naked and push you down on your little bed and kiss you and... oh, *damn*!/
"Yeah, that sounds great," Zechs said. He had never tried biofeedback but was desperately hoping he could start using it now, just to get his heart to stop beating so fast. "Lead the way."
Turning, Wufei went back into the foyer and headed up the stairs with Zechs behind him. His ass was right *there* in *front* of those blue eyes, and Zechs decided that his heart was never going to start up again!! After all, the other boy's jeans just seemed to *hug* parts of him that Zechs wanted to be licking and touching and it wasn't going to work out at all!!
He could feel his cheeks flush and a warm throbbing between his legs. Shifting his backpack, he held it in front of him, praying that he could sit somewhere with it on his lap so Wufei wouldn't see the prominent erection he'd gained. /I could just reach out... cup one of them in my hands and squeeze.../
"It's the first room on the right," Wufei told him as they turned left. "The bathroom is on the other side, though, okay? Just in case you want to use it..."
"Uh... you know, I think I will," Zechs said. The last few steps had been heaven and hell combined and he knew he had to do something about the ache between his legs. "I'll be out in just a minute," he managed to get out, before stumbling to the bathroom and shutting the door. He was panting as he hurriedly opened his jeans, freeing a long, slender shaft, already dripping. He leaned back against the door, closing his eyes and imagining the boy in the next room, the jeans coming off his pretty bottom, kissing and touching it, licking..." The image was enough and it only took a couple of long strokes to make him come silently, spilling into his own hand before hanging his head and trying to still his breathing.
/I don't think part of being a good guest involves jerking off in your host's bathroom,/ he thought ruefully as he flushed the toilet for good measure and then washed up.
He was flushed but infinitely calmer when he walked into Wufei's room.
"Hey," his newfound friend greeted, peering up at him through silver-rimmed glasses, round lenses flashing as he looked up. "I took out your grammar and comp for you, if you want to do English first. We're diagramming again. I hate diagramming..." He had also noticed the manga in Zechs's backpack -- Love Mode and Bronze, and it had made him color momentarily peeking through them. He wouldn't tell the other boy he'd seen them, though!
"English," Zechs muttered, trying to dredge up enough feeling to *care* about studying anything at all. "Right -- where should I sit?"
"Just anywhere you want," Wufei said, though he was on the floor. "It's okay..." The radio was on, but classical music was what came out of it, very softly. "Would you like a pillow or something?" the Chinese boy asked. "You can sit on the bed, too, if you want..."
"Oh, the floor's okay for me," the blond said, thinking the bed was *not* a good idea at this point, He settled down next to Wufei -- a respectful and agonizing distance away - opened his English book and began to leaf through it to the homework page. "I just *adore* participles and clauses," he murmured.
Wufei's nose wrinkled adorably. "And sentences where the subject is tucked away inside one of them so that your diagram looks like a spider when you're done... stupid things."
"I've been trying all year to figure out what kind of warped personality would become an English teacher, but I haven't gotten any clues yet." Zechs shook his head, a pale gold pony tail falling over one shoulder.
"The kind that enjoys watching children suffer," Wufei decided with a shrug. "Or maybe the fanciful kind with romantic notions of introducing them to Shakespeare..."
They worked for a while in silence, every movement Wufei made distracting Zechs from his diagrams. Finally he looked up, stymied by a tricky subordinate clause, and said, "How do you untangle *this* thing?"
"Like this..." The Chinese boy flipped over a page in his notebook -- he was one ahead of Zechs, but only one -- and showed him the diagram. "At least, I think that's how you do it."
Leaning over to see better, Zechs's hair brushed Wufei's arm. The blond boy could smell the clean scent of soap and the softer musk of boy underneath, and felt a race of pleasure go through him. For a moment, the diagram seemed to swim on Wufei's notebook page before resolving itself into something Zechs could understand.
"Ah -- got it," he said, and reluctantly pulled away to draw his own version.
Dark eyes peeked up at him from beneath black lashes and Wufei gave him a smile. "Good. You're smarter than you say you are," he said, nudging his new friend slightly.
It suddenly became much harder for Zechs to breathe, the gentle nudge sending little sparks through him. "T-Thanks... I think," he answered, looking over at Wufei. Their eyes met for a moment and Zechs felt he was sliding into dark brown canyons, helpless to stop himself falling, even if he'd wanted to.
"Are you okay?" Wufei asked, nudging him slightly again. "You have asthma or something? I think you stopped breathing," he noted, blinking steadily. "Zechs?"
"Wha-?" Zechs leaned back a bit, shaking his head. "Sorry. Just... daydreaming, I guess." The moment he said it he wished he hadn't and he went back to his textbook hurriedly muttering, "Must be lack of food." He reached for one of the bao and bit into it.
"Do you like it?" Wufei asked anxiously. His mother made the best bao, and he loved it, but sometimes Americans were funny about things... "Is it all right, then?"
Zechs nodded, in mid-bite. "Mm hm, delicious," he managed to say. But of course, at that point, he could have been eating cardboard and he would have said the same thing. Anything to make the boy across from him happy...
They studied for another hour -- an hour that seemed, to Zechs, to last for days, and then there was a faint knock on the door. Mrs. Chang stepped in, bowed to them both and then said, "||Fei, we have to leave in 30 minutes to take Uncle Pei his groceries.||"
She smiled and closed the door softly. Looking back over at Wufei, Zechs asked, "Time for me to go?"
The dark-haired boy nodded. "We're going to be taking some things to my Uncle Pei, so...."
Packing his English book away in his backpack, Zechs stood and stretched before allowing Wufei to lead them out of the room. "Thanks for letting me come over," he said, trying to memorize the other boy's face. "Maybe you could come over the my house sometime?"
"My parents would probably want to meet your mother first," Wufei told him solemnly. "Though if you want to study Mandarin, then you'll probably want to come here often... that is, if you want me to help you?" he asked tentatively.
"Oh yeah," Zechs said, "I want you to help me. I... just didn't want to be too much of a burden so... oh never mind. Coming over here is fine -- whenever it would fit in your schedule."
They were at the front hall now, and Zechs picked up his skates and opened the door, bending over gracefully to slip them on. "Okay, well -- thanks again, for having me over." He skated easily down the two long front steps and spun to face the boy in the door way. "It was really great meeting you today," he said, feeling his cheeks flush.
"Yes," Wufei agreed. "It was nice to meet you, too. Will you be at lunch tomorrow, then?" he asked almost shyly. "If you liked Momma's bao, I could perhaps bring a bit to share with you..."
The blond boy smiled brilliantly. "That would be great! I'll bring some extra hummus for you, too." /He wants to see me again! He wants to see me again!!?/
"See you tomorrow!" Wufei told him cheerfully, and waved as Zechs scooted back slightly on his blades.
Zechs did a happy little spin and waved back. "Tomorrow!" he called and headed down the street, backwards at first, to watch Wufei until he went into the house.
Once he was inside, the tall blond turned back around and skated down the street, heading for home. It was in the absolute opposite direction, and a little bit farther away from school than Wufei's house had been, but it wasn't too far since he was still extraordinarily happy and the blocks seemed to fly by easily enough.
He glided into his driveway twenty minutes later, took off his skates and opened the door. Something smelled like curry and for some reason he was absurdly grateful to his mother for not only being home, but for having made dinner as well -- a rare treat.
The house was an old, high-ceilinged place with warm, red cedar walls, hanging rugs, crowds of flourishing houseplants, and a definite 'lived in' look, especially when compared to the tidiness of Wufei's place.
"Mom? I'm home," Zechs called, wandering into the kitchen and lifting the top of a stew pot full of chicken curry.
"Hmmmm? Oh, *hello*, darling!" his mother told him, crossing towards the kitchen from her studio across the hall. "My sweet boy! How was school today?" Noin asked, brushing stray hair back out of her eyes and swiping clay across her cheek with the action.
"Great!" Zechs said, giving her a kiss on the clean cheek. "I aced the test in Shop and..." He turned away to put his backpack on the table. "I met this really nice guy."
His mother's eyes lit up with curiosity. "Oh, really, darling? Tell me about him! Was he cute? Is he gay?" She knew quite well that her son wasn't heterosexual in even the remotest sense of the word and she supported him terribly much. It was one of the best things about having her for a mother!
Zechs blushed a little, just thinking about him. "*Very* cute -- gorgeous, in fact. But I have no idea if he's gay." He hung his pack up on a nearby hook and started setting the table. "He's Chinese -- his parents run a grocery store and they seemed nice enough. Really quiet. He's sort of that way, too -- and really serious about studying." He gave a sigh as he set the plates down. "Opposites attract, eh?"
"You're my cute boy!" Noin told him, heading for the stove to check on supper. "I'm sure everything will work out just the way you want it to, darling!"
That brought a smile to Zechs's face. His mother was an eternal optimist. "Thanks, mom. We'll see how it works out. He did say if I ever wanted him to come over here that his parents would have to meet you first..." Zechs paused, water glasses in hand, at the idea of his wonderful but preoccupied mother meeting the Changs. /This could be okay... or it could be very, very bad./
"Ohh, how nice! Are they terribly serious, darling?" She looked at him, somehow innately KNOWING his worry. "If they are, I'll be on my best behavior. Cross my heart, sweetling."
Zechs grinned. "You're the best," he said, laying out the silverware. "I think we're ready to eat."
"I love you, too, my baby," Noin told him, winking. "Now, get some ice, and we'll eat!" With that, they settled in for the evening, and enjoyed one another's company.
For two weeks, Zechs and Wufei met for lunch everyday. Most of the time, they shared the food they'd brought, Chinese delicacies from Wufei's mother's kitchen, and an entire range of exotic dishes from Zechs's house, some homemade, some leftover take out from ethnic restaurants.
At first, they talked mainly about the food, their homework, and the differences between the two of them, Wufei with his quietly ordered life, and Zechs with his, much more non-traditional and spontaneous.
But after awhile, they hit upon things that were the same about them. They both liked manga, and had read some of the same ones. They both liked the idea of cooking, though neither of them was that practiced yet. And they both had very interesting, and often amusing, things to say about the "popular" students in school. Zechs's views tended toward dry little remarks about the passing person's taste in clothing or after school clubs, while Wufei's tended to be more frank appraisals of what he thought of their characters.
It proved immensely entertaining and Zechs came away from each lunch feeling gloriously happy, even if he was getting blue balls most days during 5th period.
He'd visited the Chang's house three additional times for study sessions and have also just happened to skate by the grocery store during the weekend, to say hi and give Wufei a brilliant smile.
They had almost fallen into a routine with each other when, on a bright spring morning full of clear air and flowers, a girl from the upper tiers of studentdom walked up to Wufei as he opened his locker on the way from his lass class of the day.
She was pretty, in a rather conventional way, with an hourglass figure and her honeygold hair in long curls on either side of her face. She was, in fact, the perfect teenaged girl, the type boys dream of -- always unattainable. Yet, here she was, slouched prettily next to Wufei's locker, as if waiting for him.
As he approached she looked him straight in the eye and said, "You're Wu-fee Chang, aren't you?" This was accompanied by a fetching tilt of her head to the side.
"I am Chang Wu*fei*, yes," he said slowly, looking at her. Wufei had never been too fond of females, as he often couldn't tell just what they were thinking, and this one was the epitome of what he didn't like about them -- fluffy, sort of, and obviously lacking in manners that she couldn't even attempt to say his name properly. Worse, he couldn't even begin to imagine what she wanted. She looked like the kind of girl who would run after jocks -- not the kind to talk to a quiet, smart boy like him!
"My name's Nicole," she said smoothly. "Can we chat? Over on the benches over there?" She inclined her golden head, indicating a deserted alcove along the hall of lockers.
"For a moment," he agreed suspiciously, tilting his head to the side. "I have to meet someone, however, so that's all I can spare."
As they walked over to the benches, Nicole lowered her voice and said, "That someone wouldn't happen to be Zechs Marquise, would it?"
"Yes," Wufei said firmly. "It would. Why?" After all, it was none of her business who his friends were, now was it?
She sat gracefully and waited for him to do the same. "A couple of us have noticed that he's been around you a lot, at lunch and between classes, and we decided that it's not fair to keep the truth about him from you. I mean, most people in school know anyway, but... well, you don't seem like the type that would be up on these things." She smiled, with just a shade of condescension, and then her eyes went wide and the look turned devastatingly sincere. "I didn't mean that as an insult of course. It's just that you spend all your time studying so it would be natural that you wouldn't know about him."
"Would't know what about him?" Wufei asked, frowning slightly at her. He didn't like gossip and he detested those who chose to do so. Perhaps, though, it had to do with that secret of Zechs's that had made him so curious at first... but was it right to hear about it through gossip? No. "I don't appreciate gossip," he told her stiffly, face marked with a little frown. "If you tell me something, I will ask him about it."
"Ask away," she said. "Who knows, maybe he's *proud* of it or something -- doesn't *care* that all of us who used to be his friends are wondering if we're going to catch something." Her pretty face held an expression of faint disgust. "I mean, what if he'd touched something I'd eaten? I know you're not supposed to be able to catch anything that way, but still, just the *thought* of it!"
"What is it that you believe to be wrong with him?" Wufei asked, frown becoming even deeper. He REALLY didn't like this Nicole girl!!
She laughed and winked at him. "It's not something I *believe*, it's a simple fact: your "friend" Zechs is queer. You know what that means, right? He likes to do it with boys, not girls. He's a freak, plain and simple." She gave him an appraising look. "Still want to eat lunch with him? Hmm?"
Paling slightly, eyes wide, Wufei looked at her. "Why would you say a thing like that?" The sudden realization that the blond boy had never said anything in particular about girls struck him and he gnawed at his bottom lip. "I think you must be very cruel, especially if you were once his friend and now say things like that. I will ask him about this... and if it's true, I will see what he says. You know, it isn't a disease. It isn't catching..." He thought...
"I told you that you can ask him, didn't I?" she said, smile turning to a smirk on her face. "We all thought you'd want to know. We didn't think he'd told you and it's obvious he didn't. Don't you find that a little suspicious?"
"What I find," Wufei told her firmly, roiling nervousness now in the pit of his belly, "is that you're a hateful, nasty girl bent on destroying someone for reasons of your own. Why? Didn't he want you when you came onto him?" A single black brow raised slowly. "Even if he did *not* tell me, that makes him no less my friend. *I* am not interested in boys, and therefore it does not make *me* any less of a man because someone else prefers them. You must be very insecure for something so insignificant to bother you!"
In an instant her look turned from slightly smug to total condescension. "Well, look who's got the big vocabulary, Mr. Brain. *I* was trying to be nice and warn you about him. Don't come crying to me when he tries something." She gave him a staggering glare and then turned on her heels and walked away.
"Bitch," he muttered under his breath, and then felt guilty that he'd said it. Instead, he stood up and walked back to his locker, dragging out his books before trudging out towards the flag pole.
Zechs was waiting for him, as usual, skates on, doing little spins around the pole. He'd kept his hair loose today, and it was catching every ray of the afternoon sun as he moved.
"Hey, Wufei! How did 7th period go?" he called cheerfully.
"It went okay," Wufei said slowly, coming to a standstill and looking at him. "A girl stopped me, afterwards..."
A little shiver of dread went through Zechs's body. /A girl? Someone who likes him? Someone *he* likes? Ah, *damn*... It shouldn't surprise me, but *still*.../ "Yeah?" he said, trying to sound casual. "A friend of yours?"
"No," Wufei told him. "This Nicole girl, and she wasn't very nice. She said some stupid things, and I said that I would ask you about them, because I didn't believe her, but even if they were true, it would make no difference between you and me. Friends are friends."
The blond boy glided to a stop, putting one hand around the flag pole and simply staring at Wufei for a moment. "Nicole, huh? Long blond hair, pretty face, lots of attitude?" He took a breath and looked out over the campus, now half-empty of students. "Well, I can guess what she had to tell you..."
"Is it true?" Wufei asked, tilting his head to the side. "Are you really... that way?"
"You mean gay?" Zechs said bluntly. "Yes, I am. Is that a problem for you -- for our friendship?"
"No," Wufei told him. "You might have said something to me about it so I would not have been surprised, but we're friends, and that seems a trivial thing to destroy friendship for, I think..."
Zechs sat down heavily on the round concrete circle under the pole. It was time for the Explanation, of why queers don't tend to tell new acquaintances about their sexual preferences. "Well, I would certainly like you to point out a time in the past two weeks that would have been appropriate to tell you. Perhaps when we first met? 'Hi, my name's Zechs and I'm queer. What was your name?' Or maybe something like, "Can you pass me the thesaurus, oh and by the way, I'm queer.'?
He stared at Wufei. "There *is* no good time, Wufei," he said in a voice soft as a whisper. "No good time at all."
"Ah," Wufei said slowly. "Did you except me to be like that Nicole person, perhaps? I'm not. It doesn't change my perception of who and what you are. You are Zechs, and I like you. This is not a lack in me, it is a lack in other people." He thought about it for a moment. "I can't imagine when a good time to tell me would have been. I only wish I had known. Then I could have said more to that girl. I don't like her," he said firmly.
"Well at least we're in agreement there," Zechs said, still not looking at Wufei. "She was a close friend of the guy here that used to be my best friend. She wanted to go steady with me and wouldn't take no for an answer. So she went to my best friend and he told her why. I had told him I didn't really want it gossiped about, but... well when it comes to Nicole, nothing is safe." Staring down at his laces, he murmured, "Guess they don't even want me to have other friends besides them... "
"*I* am your friend," Wufei told him firmly. "*I* will not gossip. Gossip is for those whose mouths will not stop long enough for their minds to take over. We will ignore them," he declared, "and we will not allow them to come between us. I..." Wufei paused, nipping at his lower lip before saying insecurely, "I like having you for a friend."
Zechs looked up at him, a half smile on his face. "Thanks, Wufei, I appreciate it..." He stretched long, slim legs out before him. "Most people would have a ton of questions to ask, so... well, do you have any? I'll answer them as honestly as I can."
"Can I think about it?" Wufei asked him, moving to unhook his bike. "Maybe later, when we're studying. Public places aren't the right kind of atmosphere for such questions and answers!"
"Oh..." Zechs looked around. The campus was nearly deserted now, most of the remaining students clustered in the Music and Drama building, or out on the playing fields in the back. "So, I'm betting that you need to talk to your parents before I'm invited back?"
The Chinese boy blinked almost audibly. "Why? Your sexual preferences are your own business. This will not interfere with who you are or who I am and therefore there's no reason to burden them with such a thing, I don't believe."
"They'd be upset if the knew, wouldn't they? Might even blame you for keeping it from them. Is that what you *want*?"
"Would you rather not come over again?" he was asked bluntly. "This, then, will be my problem, if they blame me. I will take care of it. For now, though, we'll go forward and not discuss it, I think. It doesn't change who you are."
Zechs felt miserable. The friendship he begun with Wufei had gotten off well, and was beginning to grow, but now that idiot had come and ruined the whole thing. Now the boy would forever be conscious of every move Zechs made. It had been light-hearted and fun, but now...
"Move forward and not discuss it," Zechs murmured under his breath. Then he shook his head and looked up at Wufei. "I can't hide it. It's part of who I am and if I tried to pretend it wasn't there, I'd be lying to myself." He looked solemnly at the Chinese boy. "I don't ever want to lie to myself again."
"So don't. You and I, we know, and we can talk about it," Wufei said, straddling his bike with a little frown. "But I don't have discussions concerning sex with my parents. Have you? In that case, it's none of their business, Zechs. It is yours, and mine, and it doesn't change who you are."
"Thanks, Wufei," Zechs said, and he hoped the warmth and sincerity he felt made it through the bitterness that came with the betrayal of former friends. And, of course, they was none of that sweetly hoped for revelation: 'You're gay? Well... I'm gay, too.' No, there was nothing of that in Wufei's eyes or in his words. Zechs could have friendship well enough, but nothing more.
"Well, let's go then," Zechs muttered, standing and spinning to be on Wufei's right. "Thanks for having me."
"You're my friend," Wufei told him. "I could do no less." A tentative smile slipped over his face. "Besides, now we can talk about Kizuna."
Zechs's head whipped around and he stared at the boy on the bicycle. "You know Kizuna?" he asked. "You've *read* it?"
Sheepishly, Wufei muttered, "I like Ran-chan. He's very brave."
"Ah... yeah, I suppose you could call him that," Zechs said, still looking at the boy in astonishment. "You *like* yaoi stuff?" he asked.
"...Some of it," came the almost embarrassed admission. "Some of it is very good, though..."
Zechs was now very thoroughly confused. There was no admission of gayness, no warm gesture of understanding, and yet, the boy liked looking at pictures of other boys getting screwed.
"Yeah... I like her style... " Then he thought of something and looked up at Wufei. "Ah... do your parents know?"
Both brows rose. "*They* don't like knowing I have Weiss Kreuz in the house. Kizuna is hidden in a box far under the bed wrapped in old pajamas and other harmless manga..." He smiled slightly. "I like Kodaka-san. She has some perspective problems, but her artwork is still beautiful."
"Yeah," agreed Zechs, "Beautiful, but inconsistent. I mean, Enjoji can have one look in one story and then look completely different in another. Not so much with Ran - he looks the same - but Enjoji definitely." He shook his head and, tiring of being confused, tried to force the issues a bit. "I've never been able to talk about yaoi manga with a straight guy before. This is a first. He was silent for a moment and then added, "Why would a guy like you buy that stuff?"
Pausing slightly, Wufei shrugged. "I don't know," he said, face flushing. "I just like it. It's pretty, and I like it."
"Oh, I see," Zechs said, not seeing at all, but not willing to press it. He felt he was on thin ice as it were.
There was a part of him that was going into deep mourning for the little bit of hope that had been taken away by Nicole, but it was too soon for him to really feel the impact of it yet. That night, probably, when he got into bed... that's when he'd start crying for lost fantasies.
"So... are you sure you're okay with all this?" Zechs asked.
"I think..." Wufei said slowly, "I think I would like to ask some questions, but those are for private moments and not public ones at all. I don't mind. I..." He paused, bit his lip. "Curious. I'm curious."
/That's what I'll be to him... just a curiosity. He'll ask me things and when I've gone home he'll shiver and be glad it's not *him* feeling this way... and then he'll start having other things to do, and then... that'll be it. Damn it all to hell!/
"I'm... sorry Nicole bothered you like that. She can be really obnoxious."
"I don't like her," Wufei informed Zechs firmly. "She's a nasty gossip mongering bitch." There was a certain amount of satisfaction in saying that, too!!"
*That* made Zechs's eyes go wide. He looked over at the other boy in astonishment and said, "Wufei! Was that really *you* who just said that?"
"Yes," came the decisive reply. "She told me to hurt you, and you are my *friend*. She isn't worthy of your time or worry in this matter, and if she would do such a thing, then she truly is nothing more than a bitch!"
"Sounds like Nicole," Zechs sighed. "She can be a real troublemaker. Likes to stir things up -- get people all worked up or something and then sit back and watch." He glanced over at Wufei as they passed through the quiet streets. "It's true though, you know -- after I came out, I didn't have any friends anymore."
It was a lovely thing to see Wufei's mouth compress that way! "Then they weren't worthy of being your friends! They weren't true! And I'm glad they showed themselves that way. People who don't love you in the face of adversity don't truly love you, I think," he said solemnly.
"Yeah, well -- that was the problem," Zechs said. "To me, being gay isn't adversity, but to them... it was."
"To many people, being gay is a wrong thing, for whatever reason they choose to believe it to be. This is adversity, in a way, for people who are not your friend may choose to be cruel to you because of it. A true friend would not decide to abandon you with that realization, with the learning of your preference, I think," Wufei told him, considering the matter. "At least, *I* don't feel that they would."
The earnestness of Wufei's face made Zechs smile in spite of himself. /He would have been *such* a wonderful boyfriend.../ "Thanks, Wufei," he said quietly. "I really do appreciate that."
"You're my friend," the other boy said slowly. "I could never have said or done anything different."
"Wow," Zechs said, staring at the ground as he skated beside the other boy. "You're one very cool guy, Wufei."
That brought on an incredible blush, one that Zechs almost couldn't believe had crossed those cheeks. "No," he said, smiling a little. "I'm just me, and I'm your friend, and I l..like you, and that makes all the difference. I don't have many friends," he continued solemnly. "But then, very few people like me much, and you... you're different, Zechs. I like that about you. You're fun and smart and... well. You're you."
Looking surprised, Zechs glanced over at the dark-haired boy beside him. "What do you mean 'not very many people like you much'? I can't believe that! I mean, after all, you don't smell bad, you don't wear funny clothes, you don't say idiotic things in class, and you probably haven't made an enemy in your life." He shook his head, blond hair swinging from side to side. "No, sorry -- not buying it!"
Wufei snorted. "Yes, but I look different, and I sound different, and therefore, I am different. Different is something people don't really like very much..."
"You know -- I've noticed that too," Zechs said with mild irony. "And I've learned to say, 'To hell with them if they can't understand!' I went through quite enough depression about the friends I lost already. I finally got over it last summer and there's no way I'm going back."
"That's a very good way to look at it," Wufei agreed, nodding. "That person wasn't worthy of you, Zechs, and obviously the others must not have been, either. You're worth more than that."
"Stop," Zechs said, smiling at him. "You're embarrassing me!" /Besides, I want so much more than sympathy... so much more.../
"All right," was the reply, "but only because it's embarrassing you!"
They arrived at Wufei's house and went through the routine that had become typical of them -- taking off shoes and skates, saying hello to Mrs. Chang, being offered food, Zechs trying to politely decline out of sheer guilt at the number of snacks he'd had there, Mrs. Chang insisting, and Zechs finally giving in and accepting, sometimes out of guilt, sometimes because the food just smelled so good.
"Thank you, Momma," Wufei told her, leaning forward and kissing her cheek. "We'll be upstairs working."
His mother flushed slightly and smiled at her son, obviously pleased. "I am going to help your father. Be good boys," she told them.
"Good bye, Mrs. Chang," Zechs said, "and thanks again." His mother had still not been able to get out of the studio or the galleries she was currently showing in, so the Changs had not yet met her and Wufei still had yet to see Zechs's house. The blond boy realized, as they headed to Wufei's, that it would be unlikely that he'd visit at all, now.
"So, what are we working on today?" Zechs said, trying to sound cheerful.
"Chemistry," Wufei answered decisively. "The big lab's coming up in a couple of weeks, so it seemed like a good time..."
"Right," Zechs sighed sitting on the floor and digging the thick chemistry book out of his backpack. "I think I've finally figured out dimensional analysis." /But do I care about dimensional analysis? I do not. I'm miserable. I want to go home and crawl in bed and cry./
That brought a smile to Wufei's face. "Cool!!"
For a while, they worked quietly, companionably, chemical equations sprawling across college-ruled paper, until finally, the Chinese boy looked up and said softly, "Zechs?"
The blond boy had been frowning down at his calculator, silently cursing molar equations and wondering what the hell use they'd ever be to him in life. He looked up at the sound of Wufei's voice, the remnant of a scowl on his face.
"Huh?" he said.
"Would now be an appropriate time to ask questions?" Wufei asked softly.
Zechs's face softened, even as his pencil slipped out of his hand. "Oh -- sure, I guess. What did you want to know?"
"How did you know? I mean..." Wufei thought about it for a second, gnawing on his lower lip. "What made you know that you were gay?"
Zechs thought for a moment, frowning down at his chemistry notes. "Well... I always liked looking at other boys -- even when I was in elementary school. I just... thought they were pretty and like to look at them." He settled back against the side of the bed and then continued. "Then in 6th grade I knew this other boy -- we were good friends --and I realized one day that I thought about him all the time. About the way he looked when he laughed, and what his hair looked like in the sun -- that kind of thing. I had the worst crush on him... didn't tell him, of course, but... well, I had it bad. He moved away after that summer and I thought maybe it was just something weird, you know, just with him."
Zechs laughed softly and looked out at the afternoon, glowing in the light of a setting sun. "When it happened three times the next year, my first year of junior high, I figured I was... *different* than other kids. I talked to my mom about it and she told me she understood." He looked down at his knees, drawn up close to him. "I'm glad *she* did, because *I* sure didn't for awhile!"
Wufei was still fretting at his lower lip over those words. "And girls?" he asked, head tilted to the side. It was worrying to him, those words. He'd never had a crush on anyone that he knew of, except maybe one person, and that... Well, he needed to ask about girls. He didn't like them much, but still, he needed to ask.
Zechs looked over at him, perplexed. "What about girls?"
"How do you feel about them?" Wufei asked, looking serious as he took the glasses perched on the end of his nose off and folded them. "I mean, are they annoying or...?"
"Oh, they're okay, I guess," Zechs said. "Well, when they're not like Nicole, that is. I don't mind having girls as friends - in fact I did, when I *had* friends -- but I just don't feel..." he shrugged eloquently, "attracted to them at all. Not anything like I do with guys."
After he'd said this last bit, he wanted to clamp his hand over his mouth and sink through the floor. /Stupid shit! Why did you *say* that! Now he probably thinks you're checking him out! And, of course, you *have* been, but *still*!/
That seemed to bring some sort of determination from his friend, for Wufei nodded firmly. "I've been worried, a little. I..." He bit his lip again. "I have... that is, I don't like... I mean..." He let out a huff of breath. "I don't like girls, they make me nervous," he spat out.
Zechs looked at him, wide-eyed, not expecting the disclosure. "Well," he said, trying not to smile, "that doesn't mean you're gay -- if that's what your worried about, I mean. Lots of guys get nervous around girls *because* they like them, you know? The same way I feel nervous around good looking guys..." He trailed off, willing himself to look away from those lovely, dark eyes, and not being able to do it.
"Actually," Wufei told him, "they make me queasy. That Nicole person made me queasy before she ever made me *mad*. Girls just seem so..." A frown marked that pretty face. "So... frivolous."
Zechs had to laugh, although he tried to contain it somewhat for Wufei's sake. "Frivolous? Uh... I'm not sure what you mean by that. Let's see the opposite of frivolous would be... essential? So guys are essential?" He shook his head, smiling. "No, I'm sure that's not what you meant..."
That gained him a rather dark frown. "No, it's just that onna... women... they're so silly about things! Frivolous, impractical and petty. Men aren't like that, or they shouldn't be..."
Zechs looked at him thoughtfully, thoughts coming out before he could stop them. "Sometimes it's nice to be impractical," he said softly, shifting his gaze to look at a picture on Wufei's wall. /I'll bet his parents put that up -- not him.../ "I mean, romance isn't very *practical*, but it's... it's *wonderful*... when it happens."
"I don't think that I would mind if YOU were impractical," Wufei mumbled, "but I really just don't... that is..."
Zechs looked puzzled and then laughed softly. "What makes me different?" he asked.
The other boy was back to biting at his lip again. "Well, you're... I mean, that is, you're *Zechs*," as if that said it all. "You're not some stupid girl," Wufei muttered finally.
A little flutter went through Zechs's belly at those words. 'You're *Zechs*...' He felt a wave of stupid hope, but tried to smile lightly anyway. "I don't make you queasy?" he said. "That's good to know." /What is he saying? What should *I* say?/
Wufei nodded thoroughly in response. "Yes," he agreed, "it is. Actually, its funny. I don't like many boys, either, but most of them aren't like you... I don't know," he said finally. "You're just different."
Zechs gave a half-hearted laugh. "Yeah, I am. I keep thinking that when I get out of Noventa it won't be so bad that I'm this way. High school is a very, very bad place to be different."
"High school is a very bad place to be *anything*," Wufei agreed. "I hope college will be better. Are... you going to college?" It was something they hadn't talked about before, and the sudden realization that there would only be one more year of high school after the one they were currently attending seemed somehow terrible, even though he'd been looking forward to it before. He didn't want to be parted from his friend...!
"Eventually," Zechs said, finally giving up on his chemistry book and closing it. "My mom wants me to travel first, though. She says no one can be a true artist unless they've done some traveling." He gave a sigh, letting his head fall back onto Wufei's bed. "I want to go to Tokyo, she wants me to go to Paris. With my luck we'll end up having to compromise and I'll end up in Kansas."
THAT brought laughter, a rarity from Wufei. "Kansas would be awful," he said in agreement, leaning back on the bed, too. "Tokyo would be really nice, but Paris is known for its artists, right? And it's the City of Romance. Seems like it'd fit."
Rolling his head to the side so he could look at Wufei, Zechs smiled."What? You think I'm the romantic type?"
"Yes." That was said without pause to think or consider that he might be anything else. "You are DEFINITELY the romantic type."
Laughing again, Zechs kept staring at the other boy. "And what evidence do you have for this?" he demanded.
There was a funny little smile on the Chinese boy's face. "You like Kizuna, and you read Love Mode and Bronze. Sorry," he apologized sheepishly. "I saw them in your bag one day."
"Oh dear," Zechs said, and then started laughing again. "What did you think when you saw them?"
"I thought, 'Here is someone I can talk to about anything I want, and they won't laugh'," Wufei told him solemnly.
A guilty look stole across the blond boy's face. "Ooops -- and here I am laughing. Sorry." He looked up at the ceiling for a moment and then back to Wufei. "You know, though -- you don't seem the type to have deep, dark secrets."
"Everyone has a few," Wufei told him. "And besides, I didn't mean you wouldn't laugh exactly like that. I meant... that you wouldn't make fun of me. You're the kind of person who laughs a lot. It's natural to you. It's part of who you are. What I meant was that you wouldn't be cruel about anything."
For a long moment, Zechs said nothing. Then, in a very soft voice, he said, "You're right... I wouldn't be cruel to someone. I've seen it and it's ugly and I don't want anything to do with it." He smiled up at Wufei. "So there's nothing to worry about on that account."
That earned him a firm nod and a smile. "I knew you wouldn't. Instinctive, you know. Besides," Wufei said, "I like you, in any case. You're a good person. I appreciate that."
"Thank you. You're a very good person, too," Zechs said, wondering why those words felt so good to hear, and so bad at the same time. /Wanted to more than just a good friend.../
"What's it like... kissing someone else?" Wufei asked him tentatively. "I mean, maybe, I mean how did you know? Have you? I think... that is to say, I'm curious... is that all right? That I'm curious? Can I ask you that?"
The blond opened his mouth and a blush stole through his cheeks. "Ah... well... You've never kissed anyone? Um..." He looked at the ceiling again quickly, scrambling to know what to say other than, 'I'll be happy to give you a lesson.'
"It's... great, if you kiss the right person. It makes your heart pound and you start feeling kind of warm and gooey inside... *if* it's the right person, that is."
"Would... that is, well..." Wufei seemed to be having some problems with words, and he wasn't looking at Zechs, either. "Wouldyoukissme?" he got out in a flurry.
For a long moment Zechs froze, unable to believe what he'd just heard. The he sat up slowly and forced himself to look at the other boy. "What?" he asked faintly. /If I move or even breathe the wrong way, he'll take it back! Be careful... be very careful.../
"You... you want *me* to kiss you?"
"If you don't want to, it's all right!" Wufei hurried to say, face deepening to crimson with shame. "I don't want you to do something that you don't want to do!"
"No! It's not that!" Zechs said, and then wanted to take it back for fear of looking like he's been wanting to all along -- which he had, but Wufei didn't need to know that! "I mean -- I'm just surprised... I didn't expect..." He was caught in those incredible eyes, his stomach feeling as if it had just dropped out the bottom of his sneakers.
"Sure," he said, a little breathily. "If you want me to..."
It gained him a timorous nod, Wufei's hands knotted together in his lap, the flush on his face still there, and so adorable. "That is, if you would," he whispered.
Zechs began to lean towards him and then stopped. "M-Most people... close their eyes," he said, feeling extremely self-conscious and excited all at once. What would if feel like? Would Wufei regret it? What if it was so good he couldn't live without it and then Wufei told him it was a mistake??/
"Okay," Wufei replied, closing his eyes. His mouth was slightly puckered as if to give or receive a child's kiss. In some ways, that was very sweet. In some ways, it was just a tad disturbing.
Smiling, Zechs put a fingertip softly to those lips. "Just relax," he whispered, and then leaned the rest of the way, heart pounding in his chest, and pressed a soft, chaste kiss to Wufei's mouth.
From the first touch, he knew he'd found heaven. Wufei's lips were warm, echoing the heat coming from his body, and it was all Zechs could do to stop himself from tangling his fingers in the dark, silky hair and begging to be let in further.
"Ohhh..." That sound seemed almost disappointed as Zechs drew away and Wufei sighed, eyes still closed. "That was very, very..." Wufei whispered, fingers rising to touch his mouth. What had it been? Beautiful, soft, sweet, *confusing*..... "Ohhh..."
"Are you all right?" Zechs asked, growing concerned when Wufei didn't open his eyes right away. "Was it okay?"
"It was wonderful," Wufei murmured in confusion, biting his lip. "It was... I'm fine, it was..."
Zechs put his head to one side, still trying to calm his own, overexcited body. "It was what?" he said cautiously. /Don't say disgusting! Oh, *please* don't say disgusting!/
"Wonderful," Wufei said again slowly, "and a little scary. I mean, no one's ever... that is, I've never...." He felt so stupid! "It was wonderful..." And oh, so confusing! He hadn't realized it would be like that to kiss another boy, and now his curiosity had well and truly sent him down a strange path, hadn't it?
"I didn't mean to frighten you," Zechs said. "Although, I remember my first kiss and... well it *was* a little scary, now that I think about it." He waited for Wufei to open his eyes and then asked, "Haven't you ever kissed a girl?"
"No," Wufei said, those dark eyes opening slightly, peering at Zechs through the lashes. "I told you. I don't... They make me queasy," he mumbled.
"Right," Zechs laughed softly. "I forgot. Thank God *I* didn't."
"Fei?" Mrs. Chang's voice came from outside the door. "It's getting late. Your friend needs to go home now."
"Yes, Momma!" Wufei called, nodding to Zechs. "Sorry... but... I'm glad you didn't, too..." That was said with the same diffidence of before, and a look of slight confusion. "I'll see you tomorrow, though? At lunch?"
"Uh... yeah," the blond boy murmured. Scrambling to his feet, he kept his backpack in front of the erection caused by the kiss. He was beginning to feel confused, too -- about what had just happened between them, about what it meant, about what in hell they'd talk about tomorrow!
Mrs. Chang opened the door at the moment and both boys jumped a bit.
"Hi... Mrs. Chang," Zechs said nervously. "I was just leaving!"
"We had to get our chemistry books together," Wufei blurted.
His mother only nodded, an eyebrow rising. "Ahhhh. Your mother called, and she wanted to tell you that she was cooking supper," she told Zechs.
"Oh, well... *that's* an occasion!" Zechs said, edging out the door. "Better not be late for that!"
For some reason he felt guilty just *looking* at Wufei's mother.
"I'll... see you tomorrow, Wufei. Good night!" He smiled at them as he backed all the way out to the front door, eyes catching Wufei's for a lingering moment before he bent down for his skates and took them outside. Moments later he was heading down the quiet street, holding a hand to his mouth. "God," he whispered, "did he just let me *do* that??"
Wufei definitely HAD, thought the why of it was still unknown. Zechs couldn't be sure of exactly what was happening or what Wufei wanted, but one thing was certain -- he'd at LEAST gotten to kiss the other boy, and it had been so sweet!
Now if only it could happen again....
Carefully, Wufei clicked off his bedside lamp and lay down flat on his back. On the ceiling, glow-in-the-dark stars that were imperceptible during the day gleamed back at him and made him sigh. /What a strange day.../
Well, it had been a weird day, in so many ways! There had been that Nicole girl and there had been Zechs...
He knew he didn't like the girl -- that she was one of those people who made themselves prominent by stepping on the weak and the different, by turning other students against the ones whom she considered inappropriate. Zechs had obviously been one of those people, or had turned into one when he refused her advances and she discovered he was gay. No, he definitely didn't like her, he decided, and he was going to have to do something about that, though just what, he didn't know....
One way or another, though, he was still going to be Zechs's friend! He wasn't such a worthless dishonorable cur as to abandon him just because some *girl* said so!
And then there was the kiss. The way it had felt... but *why* had it felt that way, when Zechs was just another boy? That wasn't the way it worked in the songs he heard on campus, the movies the other kids talked about, the books he'd read. It occurred to him in that moment that there might be something wrong with him, but if there were, why had it felt good? And if it felt good, what on earth would be wrong about that?
Oh, it was just going in circles in his head and he'd never get to sleep if he kept thinking about it! How could he not think about it, though, when it had seemed so wonderful? When he wanted it to happen *again*? He wondered if he would ask again. He wondered if Zechs had liked it....
Across town in his attic bedroom, Zechs was contemplating that same kiss. He *had* liked it. He'd loved it, even though it seemed now that the whole thing had been unreal, like something he'd only dreamed. Surely that nice, straight laced boy hadn't *asked* to be kissed! There must have been some other reason behind it. Maybe he was just curious, or just too afraid of girls to try to get one of *them* to kiss him. Most of the other boys that Zechs knew -- the ones who were queer -- liked being around girls. It made him feel a little more hopeless that Wufei was so nervous about them.
Was it nervousness or something else, though? It was almost too cruel, that little bit of hope that sprang eternal in his breast. Wufei was just so *perfect*, and he wanted badly to kiss him again, but if it *was* just nervousness, then Wufei wouldn't want him to do it again. On the other hand, he'd recognized Love Mode and Bronze, and he knew what Kizuna was... but then of course, *anyone* who knew anything about manga probably knew about that kind of stuff. He could have just seen it in a bookstore somewhere...
Oh this was so *frustrating*! He could still taste Wufei's lips, feel the softness and that little bit of heat he'd sensed coming from the other boy's body... what he wouldn't give to explore that. But those kinds of thoughts led him nowhere, just made him feel lonelier, and harder...
Definitely harder.
With a frustrated groan, Zechs rolled onto his belly, pulling his pillow over his head. /I can't keep on thinking like this!/ he decided. /I'm going to drive myself crazy!/
But how could he forget? He reached over and flicked on his bedside radio, and let the love ballads of a Top Forty station pour over him. It was only a matter of time before he got tired enough to stop thinking about the dark-eyed boy and get to sleep. But judging from the ache in his groin and the heaviness in his chest, it could be a very long time.
Three days later, Wufei glared at his locker. /Stupid bitch,/ he thought angrily to himself, ripping down the slanderous note declaring him a 'gaylord'. /Of all the ridiculous infantile *asinine* things.../
Not showing his anger, he opened the thing up, changed out his books and closed it again, almost coming nose to nose with the object of his thoughts for the second time that week.
"You don't listen to warnings, do you?" Nicole said, leaning casually and elegantly against the next locker.
"Not when they're given by hateful, slanderous, gossip-mongering bitches, no," Wufei returned coldly.
"Well, well -- that little goody-two shoes act is just that, isn't it -- an act. You can be a perfect little bitch if you want to, that's obvious. Why? Did Zechs do something to turn you queer? I told you to stay away from him for your own good."
The heat in his face came mostly from the memory of Zechs's kiss, but the deadly glare that came over those black eyes as he turned to look more carefully at her was purely on her own account. "No," he said slowly, coldly. "Zechs is my friend. What Zechs is does not affect what *I* am, and unlike *you*, I am capable of such a thing as friendship.
"When are you going to realize that he doesn't want to be your 'friend'?" She looked him up and down, her eyes cold and judgmental "He wants your little *ass*, honey. The friendship is just a disguise."
"When are *you* going to realize that whatever it is you want from me, you aren't going to get?" Wufei told her sharply. "He has yet to do anything to prove you right and has done everything possible to prove you *wrong* even without knowing of what you accuse. You're just hateful, a wretched person lacking in the proper decorum for a woman!"
Her face hardened, for a moment no longer lovely, but older-looking and bitter. "All right, little *boy* -- you don't think I'm right? *Ask* him. Ask him if he doesn't want you that way and see what he says. If he says he *does*, I want an apology from you."
That gained him a superior expression --one that Wufei was *very* good at, dark eyes glowering at her down his straight nose. "Chang Wufei apologizes to no woman."
"Well then *you* are just a snotty little boy with bad manners. Just like a little two-year-old." She was back to her pretty self. "Never mind -- just *ask* him. You'll see..."
She laughed at him then, and turned, walking away.
/I really HATE that girl,/ Wufei decided, scowling as he headed out towards the flag pole to see if Zechs was there.
He was, as usual, skating around it in lazy circles, hardly able to wait to see Wufei again. WHen he did, it was the same as always -- there was the little leap his heart gave, his knees went a bit weak and he could feel a flush in his cheeks. /Damn, he's so beautiful!/
"Hey -- what's up?" he said as the other boy walked up.
"Nothing much," Wufei answered a bit crankily. "That hateful girl was bothering me again, saying things that just aren't true. I really don't like her, Zechs," he admitted unhappily.
"Nicole?" Zechs asked. "Why is she bothering *you*?"
"She says you're not my friend, and that you only want to..." He flushed heatedly. "She says you're pretending to be my friend so that you can... YOU know! I don't believe her! What a spiteful, bitter bitch!"
Zechs turned redder, just imagining what Nicole had said to the other boy. What could he say? He *did* want that! He couldn't lie, but he *did* want the friendship too...
"Wufei... I know she's terrible... but... I think... I think I need to be truthful with you..."
"Zechs...??" Wufei whispered, eyes becoming round slowly.
"It's not that I don't want your friendship! I do! God, it's been... *incredible* to have someone to hang with... to just *talk* to about stuff. I *hate* to lose that! But..." Zechs looked up at him, ice blue eyes agonized. "I'm... I'm in love with you," he whispered. "Completely. Head over heels..."
The shocked expression on Wufei's face seemed to say so much, the other boy just looking at him for the moment, flush fading away and leaving him slightly pale. "You... I mean... but that doesn't mean we aren't friends, does it?" came the confused question. "I... I don't know, I..."
"I don't want it to mean we're not friends," Zechs said, staring at that pale face, trying to judge how badly he'd fucked up. "I... I know you don't feel the same way," he said quickly. "I know you're straight, and I would never do anything to make you feel uncomfortable! I just... well, with Nicole bothering you..." He stopped speaking for a moment and just stared at the other boy. /Damn it! We have something good and I have to go and fuck it all up because I can't keep it in!/
"I thought you needed to know the truth," he said at last, voice quiet and sad.
"It's all right," Wufei finally said, confused, but strangely... firm. "You're still my friend, and maybe the best friend I've ever had, so... so... it's all right."
"Maybe... maybe you don't want me coming over to your house any more," Zechs said, looking away and feeling a wave of mortifcation coming over him. Maybe I should just go home today..."
"Maybe today," Wufei said slowly. "I'd like time to think. But... I don't want you hiding from me or going away forever. Just for today. Okay?"
"Yeah, sure," Zechs said. /You weren't supposed to take me up on it!/ "I'll... I'll see you... soon..." He tried to smile, but it didn't reach his eyes, so he pushed off on his skates, turning around once to look back at Wufei, then headed off in the direction of his house.
With a sigh, Wufei watched him go. He didn't like seeing Zechs leave like that! No... he didn't, and he hadn't really wanted him to go, but he needed time to *think*. It wasn't every day that your best friend told you that he was in love with you -- especially when you were male! Miserable, the Chinese boy climbed onto his bike and headed towards home. Maybe a snack and a bit of homework would make him feel better, he decided, frowning thoughtfully.
The trip wasn't half as pleasant without Zechs along, and he stood his bike up outside the store when he arrived to go in and greet his father. "||Poppa!! I'm home!!||"
His father peeked out from behind a large crate of melons. "||Fei! Good to see you! How was school today?||"
"||Strange,||" Wufei told him, shaking his head. "||There's this girl there who doesn't seem to like me, so she keeps bothering me. I wish she would stop. It's disturbing...||"
"||Oh -- what kind of girl? Maybe she just wants to know you better?||" he said, wiping his hands on his apron and shifting another crate. "||Maybe she thinks you're good looking!||" he added with a smile.
Unable to help himself, Wufei smiled back, chuckling. "||No, she's a gossip monger. Not a nice girl, Poppa. If she was a nice girl, maybe that would be different!!||"
"||Maybe nice girls are to be found,||" his father said, winking at him. "||Now run on home -- your mother is waiting. Finish your studies because we have something special to talk about tonight.||" With that he heaved a sack of onions onto his back and wandered off to put them away.
"||Bye, Poppa! I'll study hard and see you at supper!||" Wufei said, heading out the door. Somehow, just talking with his father had made him lighter of heart, so by the time he got home to his mother, he was smiling again.
"||I'm home, Momma!||" he called as he walked in the door. "||Zechs isn't with me today! He had to go home, instead!||" Well, it wasn't untrue...
"||Ah, no friend today,||" his mother said, coming into the hallway. "||Maybe you get lots more studying done this afternoon. Sometimes I think that boy distracts you from what your doing.||"
"||It's nice to have a friend, Momma, and my grades are the same, and his are getting a little better, so maybe it's not so bad?||" Wufei asked her, smiling.
"||Still,||" she said as they walked into the kitchen, "||he comes so much! Wants to be around you all the time. It's better I think if only once in a while.||" She set out a steaming bowl of noodle soup for him, thick with pork and shrimp.
"||Yes, Momma,||" he agreed, though he didn't want to agree at all, and his face was so sad that she could tell it.
"||What is it Fei?||" she said, sitting down next to him. "||Why is my boy so sad?||"
"||It was just a not so good day,||" he admitted, spoon trailing along in his soup. "||I told Zechs he should go home, and there was a girl at school who's not so nice and who's been bothering me. It just wasn't a very good day...||"
"||A girl is bothering you?||" his mother said, perplexed. "||Why should she do such a thing?||"
"||She's not a nice girl. I don't know exactly what she wants from me... but she's the kind of girl who wants *something* or she wouldn't be bothering me at all. I don't like her,||" Wufei replied, shaking his head. "||She's not nice, no decorum.||"
His mother looked at him for a moment and then, strangely, her eyes got the same twinkle in them that his father's had in the grocery store. "||Decorum is important. When a girl has decorum, she can make a very good wife.||" For a moment her gaze lingered on him and then she smiled. "||Eat up and then go study. I'm making something special for dinner tonight.||"
"||What's such a surprise?||" he asked her curiously, tilting his head to the side. "||Is it a good surprise?||"
"||Oh yes, good news!||" she said, her back to him, standing at the sink. "||Very good luck for our family.||" One more smile and then she said no more.
"||May I take my soup upstairs? I can work at my desk,||" Wufei said tentatively.
She looked at him in mock severity. "||No spilling!||" she said, as if her tidy son would ever do such a thing. "||Study hard. I'll call you for dinner.||"
"||Yes, Momma,||" he replied, and that was that as he carried the bowl carefully upstairs so that his homework could be done.
It was almost two and a half hours later and he had just finished off his calculus when he heard her call from downstairs and called back. "||I'm coming!||"
When he got downstairs there was a veritable feast on the table. There was Happy Family and orange-ginger beef, egg flower soup and spicy shrimp balls. His parents were waiting for him and at his place was the red plate they always used for special occasions like birthdays and graduations. Both of them were seated and beaming at him.
It was absolutely, positively and *completely* unnerving!! "||What's so special?||" he asked with a smile, moving into the room. "||It must be something really wonderful!!||"
"||Yes, yes,||" his father said, "||come and sit down! We've had good news from my cousin in Shanghai. News that will bring happiness to all of us.||"
Respectfully, Wufei seated himself, tilting his head to the side and waiting to hear the good news.
His parents looked at one another, smiling, and then his father continued. "My cousin, Shao Lan, says in his letter that he has found a lovely girl from a very good family!||"
"||Shao Lan will be getting married? That's very good news!||" Wufei agreed, confused at the entire matter. Why would his parents be so excited about a cousin's marriage? It seemed awfully strange!
His mother and father looked at each other for a moment, and then burst out laughing. "||No, no, Fei!||" his mother said, waving a hand, "||for *you*! She will be your bride someday!||"
"||Yes,||" his father said, clapping him on the back, "||a beautiful girl for *you* son! Shao Lan says she will make an excellent wife!||"
He knew that he had probably gone visibly pale, his eyes widening impossibly. "I..." He paused, swallowing hard. "||For me? But... I'm so young, and....||" Wufei blinked almost audibly. He couldn't disappoint his parents! He didn't want to get married, but... how could he bear to disappoint them??
Carefully, he bowed his head, confusion written on his face. "||Yes, Poppa, Momma. It will be as you say,||" he murmured, not sure what to think. "||It just seems so... so... sudden!!||"
"||Well, it will not be until you finish school,||" his father said, still beaming at him. "You will have time to get to know each other.||"
"||Meiran will come to live with Auntie Bao-bao. She will learn English and also how to be a good wife to you. The marriage will be in a few years, after you study and graduate.||"
That didn't seem quite so bad, then. At least they'd have time to get to know one another, and maybe they could at least like one another....
But what about Zechs?
The mere fact that the other boy even came into his reasoning ought to have said quite a lot to him, but he was too busy adjusting to the thought of a wife... /Meiran.../ "||I hope that I can do things as you feel will be proper,||" Wufei told them. "||I hope it all goes well..||"
"||Excellent!||" his father said. "||Then let's eat this delicious feast your mother has prepared. If your new wife is half as good as your mother, you will be a lucky man indeed.||"
Mrs. Chang blushed deeply and passed the soup to her son.
Two days later, Zechs was sitting on his bed, staring into the mirror that hung on the opposite wall, above his dresser.
/It's only getting worse./
It was a difficult thought, one nearly impossible to comprehend: that his feelings for Wufei Chang were growing stronger, not weaker, despite his two day absence from school. He had talked to his mother, nearly cried in front of her, and she agreed he could have two days. He spent Thursday and most of Friday doing everything else he could think of other than brood about the Chinese boy, to no avail. Monday morning he would have to go back to school and face him and his crush had only gotten deeper.
It was Saturday afternoon, and spring was definitely in the air -- almost summer in fact, for the temperature was near 80 and the sky perfectly blue and cloudless.
/You're stupid to just sit here,/ he told himself in the mirror. /You want him. He didn't act *disgusted* really when you told him, only... shocked. But then, anyone would be, especially if he's not sure he feels the same.
/You should talk to him. He said he didn't want you to avoid him... Look, idiot, if you love him this much, isn't being around him in *any* way better than never seeing him? Admit it, you're going into serious withdrawal!
/All right then -- brush your hair, put on a better shirt, and go see him. He said he works in the grocery store on the weekends, so go see him.
/Right. I will./
With that rather dubious pep talk, Zechs left his room, told his distracted mother, who was covered in clay, that he was going out for awhile, and strapped on his skates. Wufei was going to have a visitor.
The skate over to the grocery store was actually fine -- after all, the day was beautiful, there was a nice breeze blowing so that he didn't get too hot, and it was a gorgeous morning. It was the kind of day where everything should have been perfect and there shouldn't have been so many butterflies in his stomach!!
When the door to the grocery store jingled open, Wufei looked up, dark eyes widening in surprise to see Zechs as he stood there in his little white apron, stacking oranges. "Hi!" he greeted, the unexpected visit making him smile a little. He'd been awfully nervous the past couple of days and he hadn't slept well. Who would, knowing that he was practically a married man and that his best friend was in love with him? "I wasn't expecting to see you!"
"I know," Zechs said, looking at him, drinking him in and trying not to be too obvious about it. "I've been... sick, for a couple of days. Thought I'd just stop by to say hi. How've you been?"
"Okay," Wufei told him, having a hard time not blurting out that he was getting married. "Busy. School has been quiet without you, even though I'm still getting some of the nasty notes." He shook his head. "That girl tried to bother me again yesterday and I told her off, but that's pretty much it for school..."
"I'm sorry that I caused so much trouble for you. I appreciate it, though -- you still being my friend."
Mr. Chang walked out of the store room near the back of the building and smiled hesitantly at Zechs. "Oh -- hello," he said, nodding.
The blond boy looked wildly around for something to buy, wanting to justify his presence there, and pick up a pack of red bean chewing gum. "I'll take this, please," he said, smiling at the man.
Wufei shook his head and smiled. "Zechs. You're no trouble. Come on," he said, smiling at his father. "||I'll take care of it, Poppa. May I go outside and talk to him for a moment? I'll be right back...||"
Zechs gave Wufei a little *look* and said, "Really, I'd like to buy this please. Can you tell me how much?"
Mr. Chang looked at his son, puzzled at why he wouldn't help a paying customer, and then said, "One dollar and six." He stepped behind the register and the transaction was complete.
As Zechs, still smiling, crammed a stick of gum into his mouth, Wufei's father looked at the two of them and shook his head. "Five minutes. We have to unload the shipment of strawberries."
"Yes, Poppa," Wufei answered, heading for the front door. It jingled again as he opened it and he smiled at Zechs as they stepped out into the sunlight. "I'm glad you're feeling better. I was worried that you were avoiding me, since you weren't at school..."
"No, no..." Zechs began and then his voice trailed off and he said, "Excuse me." He turned to a large trash container outside the store and discretely spit his gum into it. Looking back at Wufei he tried bravely to smile and said, "That tasted *awful!*"
At that, the Chinese boy couldn't help but laugh. "I tried to warn you," he said, shaking his head. "Silly boy." It was said with a smile, though, and meant warmly, so it wasn't a phrase that hurt so much as it seemed like a sweet thing to remember.
"So... how have you been?" Zechs asked, looking at Wufei more meaningfully now than he had in the store. "I've... missed you, kind of..." He was afraid to say it, but also afraid to miss a chance, any chance he might have.
"Yeah," Wufei admitted shyly. "I've missed you, too. And... it's been a really weird week without you..."
Zechs shifted on his skates, feeling suddenly awkward, not knowing exactly what to say and wanting, oh, wanting so much to touch the other boy, to ask for just one more kiss.
"So, would you like to study together on Monday? I was thinking of having my mom come by the store Monday morning -- she's free then -- so she could meet your parents..." /Come on, you can do it.../ "And then maybe... you could come over to my house after school."
There! He'd done it!
"That sounds like it would be okay," Wufei said slowly. "I'll have to talk to them and ask them about it first. They want me to spend more time studying, so we won't get to see each other as much, and... and there's something I should tell you, but not now, maybe at lunch Monday, because it's complicated and weird and I don't... I feel weird about it, so maybe I should tell you now... but I don't know. It's just so strange!"
/Oh, I don't like the sound of this.../ the blond thought, looking warily at the Chinese boy. "What is it?" he asked, his voice deep with concern. "Is everything all right?"
A great sigh came in answer. "It's weird and I don't know how to say it so I guess I just say it outright. My cousin found a wife for me in China and they're going to send her here to learn English and to learn to be a wife..."
Zechs's mind turned around a tiny molecule of a thought and instantly the world dropped out from beneath him. /Surely... it couldn't have been... he didn't really use that word. He's in high school. He's only sixteen. He asked me to kiss him.../
"A-A *wife*?" he stammered feebly, trying to close his partially gaping jaw and not succeeding at all. "You're getting married?"
"After college," Wufei said miserably. "They say she's from a good family. I don't... I don't know. I don't want to get married, but my parents are so happy..."
Trying to stop his brain from churning out twenty thoughts at once, Zechs shook his head a little and said, "Is this... someone you *know* from China? I mean... you've *met*, right?"
"I'd never heard of her until Wednesday night," Wufei said worriedly. "I have to go back inside, but maybe we can talk more about this tomorrow? Because I... I feel funny about it, and I don't know..."
There was nothing Zechs could do just then. Nothing but stand helplessly and ache at the words he'd just heard. It was really over. That last shred of hope he'd had, hope born of that one kiss, had disappeared like mist. Wufei was definitely straight... wasn't he?
Or was he?
Grabbing Wufei's arm, Zechs pulled him over the the shaded side of the building, where they couldn't be seen by passersby. "Is this really what you want?" he asked. "I thought you said girls made you nauseous."
"They do!" Wufei told him, shaking his head and looking... torn. That was the word. He seemed strangely ragged, worried. "I can't disappoint them, though! And it's at least another five years away. They worked so hard, and my cousin was looking for a long time, they said, to find a girl that was right!"
"Right?" Zechs said in disbelief. "You've never met her. How could she be *right*? And why are you letting your parents and some cousin you don't really know choose who you're going to marry?"
That expression of distress only increased. "Because that's the way things *are*!" Wufei told him. "I want to be a good son!"
Zechs went quiet for a moment. He studied the brick of the building for several seconds and then said quietly, "Why did you ask me to kiss you?"
"I don't know," Wufei said, flushing. "I... I don't know, I guess I..." He paused, gnawing at his lower lip. "I guess I wanted you to," he admitted, having a difficult time answering that question.
A moment's breath and then, "Do you still want me to?"
Confused shame seemed to cross Wufei's face as he looked around, uncertain before he whispered, "Yes," almost inaudibly.
Zechs didn't wait. He knew if he did, he'd lose his nerve. Leaning down, he caught Wufei's mouth in a firm kiss, nothing deep, but enough to let the boy know how he felt. It felt like paradise -- paradise revisited -- and every nerve in his body sang to him of desire and need.
The best thing about it, though -- the thing that made it beyond wonderful -- *was that Wufei kissed him back*!!
A moment later, the Chinese boy broke away, face burning hot. "I can't believe you did that in public!" he whispered, even more confused than before. "Zechs, I..."
"You like it, don't you?" Zechs asked, trying to look into his eyes. "I can tell you do. Do you want to just ignore that?"
"I don't know!" Wufei said, shaking his head wildly. "I don't know! I want to be a good son! I want to be... to be a good friend!!" And ohh, those things seemed to be running in completely opposite directions!
"Does being a good son mean giving up your entire life to them?" the tall blond whispered fiercely, not wanting Wufei's father to hear.
"I don't know!" Wufei spoke again, the distinct glisten of tears forming as he shook his head wildly, obviously upset. "I don't know!!"
Zechs pulled back. It was obviously too much for the other boy. He overdone it. He let himself skate backwards, eyes fixed on Wufei's face. "I'm sorry if I've made you upset. I didn't mean to... but I'm not giving up. I don't want you to marry that girl, whoever she is..." He hesitated and then said, all in one burst, "IthinkI'mbetterforyou!" and then kicked out with his feet and sped away back down the street.
"Zechs!" Wufei yelled, waiting to see if the other boy would turn back to him.
He did, for a moment, long legs gracefully pushing him backwards. His gaze was riveted on Wufei for just an instant, and then he turned again and disappeared around the corner.
"Zechs..." With a sigh, Wufei turned and headed back into the store. It was time to work on the shipment of strawberries!
A week went by -- a week of lunches spent talking, quietly, sometimes tensely, about what each one wanted, what each felt they had to do. Nothing was being settled, though.
On Friday, Zechs told Wufei that he wanted to come by the store again over the weekend.
"You can't," Wufei said solemnly. "We're going to meet *her* tomorrow. She's coming to Aunt Bao-Bao's late tonight, so my parents are taking a special holiday..."
"Oh," Zechs said, looking a little sick, but recovering quickly. "Oh." He toed the dirt with his rubber skate break and frowned. "You're going to see. You'll see she's not for you, I know it." He looked up at the face of the lovely boy across from him. "Just don't fall in love with her until you see me again, okay?"
"Okay," Wufei agreed, unable to believe he was even doing it. "Okay, Zechs. I don't..." He sighed. "I don't want to meet her. I'm worried." More like he was *scared*, but there was nothing to do about that.
The blond boy looked miserable. "I'll miss you until Monday... think of you a lot..."
"I'll miss you, too," Wufei admitted, poking slightly at his pork bun. His mother always sent the best things for lunch, but today, he couldn't bring himself to eat it, really. "I don't know what to do..." he sighed.
"So, where's she going to live?" Zechs asked, looking at Wufei from the corner of his eye. "With your aunt? Is she going to want to see you everyday?"
"I don't know," his friend said worriedly. "My mother said my aunt would teach her to be a proper wife. That's all I know."
Zechs took a rather savage bite of his hummus covered pita bread, and mumbled, "And what *is* a good wife?"
"Someone like my mother, I guess," Wufei said, sighing deeply. "She's always respectful and takes very good care of my father and me, and they're very affectionate. My parents' marriage was arranged, too, and they've been very happy..."
"So that's what you want from someone -- just to be respectful and keep house?" Zechs knew it sounded bitter, but he couldn't help it. He *did* feel bitter. "You want someone like your mom?"
"I love my mother!" Wufei answered stiffly, fierily. "I don't know what I want! I want them to be happy with me! I want to be a good son! I don't know! I haven't even met the girl!" Oh, he was nervous and upset!
"I just seem to be making you feel worse," Zechs said, crumpling his soda can and standing up. "I know you're nervous about all this... hell, anyone would be. And I know I need to give you some time to work it all out. I will, really, I just..." He scowled at the crumpled can and tossed it into a nearby recycling bin. "It's just hard for me. Listen, you have a good weekend, okay? I'll plan on seeing you on Monday?"
"Same bat time, same bat channel," Wufei agreed, trying to add a little lightness to their lunch. "I'll call you or something, maybe..." Especially since he was so worried about everything...
"Sure," Zechs said miserably. He was horrible at hiding his feelings, always had been, and this was no different than any other time. "I'd say 'good luck' but... I'll see you Monday."
"Monday," Wufei agreed with a sigh, watching him go. /Zechs,/ he thought unhappily. /I don't know what to do.../
His parents had told him to dress in his best suit and make sure his nails were clean and trimmed. His mother had fussed with his hair a bit, telling him once more that he really should cut it to look like his father's. Then they had all gotten into the car and driven over to Auntie Bao-Bao's house across town.
"[You remember all the things we told you, Fei?]" his mother said from the front seat. "[Be polite, act interested in her, make her feel at home...]"
"[Yes, Momma,]" Wufei replied quietly, more and more nauseous as the car rolled to a stop and they began to get out. "[I remember. I'll do as you say.]"
The stress on his face was more than obvious, and his father smiled encouragingly at him. "[It will be all right, Fei. This is just the hard part.]"
"[You'll do fine,]" his mother said. "[She's going to be very impressed by you.]" Her voice was rich with pride and she smiled at him from the rear view mirror.
They drove up to the house at 1pm and stepped out of the car. His father led the way up the front steps of the spacious house and rang the front door bell, straightening Wufei's tie one last time.
A fifty-ish woman answered, Auntie Bao-Bao herself, and smiled at them all as if they were the winners of a contest. "[Here you are!]" she said. "[Lucky family! Lucky father, lucky mother, lucky *groom*!]"
It was all Wufei could do not to throw up.
"[Bao-Bao,]" Tso-Lin greeted his sister, smiling at her. "[It's good to see you, this day...]"
"[Yes, and on such a happy occasion!]" his sister answered, ushering them into the house. "[Please, come in and meet our new family member. She just arrived yesterday from Shanghai.]" This last bit was said with a beaming smile at Wufei.
As they stepped into the living room, Wufei's eyes immediately latched onto the girl. She was pretty -- wide, dark eyes, a pretty soft mouth, straight nose, but he could tell from the little line between her lovely curved brows that she would be troublesome. The girl was dressed in red, pants and a Chinese style top with little gold silk frog closures that looked very pretty on her.
/I'm going to throw up,/ he thought, shivering.
"[Brother, this is Zhao Meiran, the girl your cousin has found to be the wife of your son.]"
Meiran performed a deep bow towards Tso-Lin and another as Wufei's mother was introduced. Then her eyes moved to Wufei himself, resting on him coolly.
"[Wufei, this is Zhao Meiran, your fiancee.]"
The girl waited for almost ten seconds before bowing to him as well.
Carefully, he bowed towards her, eyes slightly curious and also revealing a definite worry. Neither of them spoke as they looked at one another, and the air around them seemed to cool slowly before he murmured, "[It is very nice to meet you, Zhao Meiran.]"
"[I am honored to meet you and your family,]" she said in return, never moving her eyes from his.
Auntie Bao-Bao was beaming at the lot of them.
Wufei was *definitely* going to be ill! "Excuse me," he muttered in English and was gone in a flash, heading straight for the bathroom where lunch was lost hurriedly, or what was left of it. After that, he dry-heaved for a while before standing up, shaking, and flushing the toilet. He washed out his mouth and washed his pale face, trembling. /Oh, this is bad,/ he thought, shivering. /This is really bad!/
When he arrived back in the elegantly furnished living room, Auntie Bao-Bao was telling his parents all about Meiran's lineage, about her father's business in Shanghai, her mother's work in the postal service, her brothers and sisters. But instead of keeping her eyes demurely down, as she should have, she watched Wufei as he sat down next to his parents on the sofa opposite her. And she kept them there throughout the long, adult-centered conversation.
When they were done talking, they ate, though for the most part Meiran and Wufei only picked at the meal. Auntie Bao-Bao had done an exquisite job, as usual -- Wufei almost always loved to eat at his aunt's house, as she was an even better cook than his mother, though he would never have admitted to such a thing -- but he couldn't get anything at all down!
It seemed an interminable meal to him, but at last they were finished and his father looked over at him. "[I think now would be a very good time to take Meiran for a walk in the garden, Wufei. We will stay here and talk with your aunt. Run along now."]
"[Yes, Poppa,]" Wufei answered, standing and waiting for Meiran to do the same. When she did, he headed for the side door that would lead to his Auntie Bao-Bao's garden, expecting that the girl would follow him.
The garden was really more in the way of a side yard, filled with flowering bushes and roses, and no few day lilies in full bloom in the late May evening. "Do you speak English?" he asked finally, pausing in front of a clump of tiger lilies.
"Yes," she said simply. "I'm a little smarter in Shanghainese, but I do okay in English." Her voice was on the high side, with a soft, tonal accent.
"Oh, that's good," Wufei said with some relief. "It's okay. Your English will get better here, or worse. The Americans are a little lax about things..." He paused, looking at the flowers. "So. What do you think about all of this?"
She seemed to hesitate for a moment, as if she wanted very badly to say something, but then reached out a hand to one of the lilies and murmured, "America is very nice. So is your aunt.... What do *you* think of it?"
"I don't know," Wufei said. "I... I want to be a good son, but..." He shrugged. "I don't want to get married," he admitted.
A beat went by and then she folded her arms in front of her, staring at him. "What did you say? You don't want to get married, after I came here, just for you?"
"It's not you!" Wufei told her quickly. "It's just, I'm nervous. Girls make me nervous. That's all."
"Girls make you *nervous*!" she said, a touch of derision in her voice. "I was told you wanted a wife. You do, don't you?"
"A man has to have one," he told her, shrugging and frowning. "That's the way things are."
"Didn't they tell you that you were supposed to treat me nicely?" she said, her tone getting a bit strident. "Some romance. I come all the way here from China and what is my future husband saying? That he doesn't want me! Maybe I should say something to your parents..." She made as if to leave.
"Wait!" Wufei said, paling even farther. "I'm sorry. I'm just nervous. Aren't you?"
"Not enough to make myself sick over it," she said, turning back to him. Her frown turned into a smirk. "You got sick in the bathroom, didn't you?"
He flushed, unable to help himself, stiffening. "Yes," he admitted. "So? It's only natural."
"A man shouldn't be sick when he meets his fiancee," Meiran said, her tone almost scolding. "I worked hard to look my best and you haven't said anything about my hair or my clothes! You haven't even tried to kiss me!"
"You want me to kiss you?" It was all he could do not to wrinkle his nose. He didn't want to kiss her! He only wanted... to kiss... His eyes widened and he stepped forward, putting his hands on her arms. "Fine, then," he ground out, "I'll kiss you!" That said, he leaned forward and captured her mouth with his own.
She kissed him back, nothing very passionate, but making the best of it. Then she pulled away, searching his face for a moment before declaring, "Good. At least we've gotten *that* over with!"
"I suppose," he said. It hadn't been like kissing Zechs at all, no spark, no nothing, just... kissing. At least he'd known how. "Well, what do *you* think?"
She shrugged. "It could be worse." Her tone was diffident, but her face had relaxed and she no longer wore the frown that she had since they'd been out there. "So, you are in high school?"
"A junior," Wufei said, nodding. "Are you finished with school?"
"Yes. I finished this year, in April. I got the top grades in my class."
That gained another nod. "I also am getting top grades in my class. There is some competition, but nothing that can't be handled."
She seemed to like that and almost smiled. "My favorite subject was math, what is yours?"
"Chemistry, I think. Math isn't so bad. I do well at it. English grammar is the hardest. Sentence diagramming..." He shuddered. "It's no fun."
"English is a ridiculous language," she agreed, nodding. Then she turned a walked a ways down the path, obviously expecting him to follow. "So, do you have any American girlfriends? You'll have to give them up, you know."
"No," Wufei said. "Just one American friend, and he's a boy. There's a girl who annoys me a lot, but I don't like her. She gossips. I don't approve," he said firmly. "Worse, it's all hateful, so."
She glanced back at him and kept walking. "I don't gossip. I don't really want to know everyone's secrets. Knowing secrets can be a burden on the one who knows. Have to worry all the time about keeping it." Her head bent as she sniffed at a rose. "So what is your friend like? Will I meet him?"
"He's very unusual," Wufei said after a moment's thought. "Perhaps you will meet him. He's nice. I like him. He..." Wufei took a deep breath, deciding to trust her. "You can't tell, what I'm going to say to you. Not Auntie Bao-Bao or anyone. Okay?"
She looked over at him oddly and after several moments said, "All right."
Wufei bit his lip. "You can meet him, but he doesn't like girls. I mean, he likes boys. You know. So. He might be funny with you. I only just found out, a couple of weeks ago..."
Her eyebrows raised and she folded her arms again. "He's one of *those*?" she said in mild disbelief. "Hn -- I've seen men like that in Shanghai. They walk like women, act like them, too. I don't like them too much."
"He's not like that kind," Wufei said with a shrug. "I wouldn't have ever known if that nasty gossip-girl hadn't told me. He's not all girly or swishy like that."
"Still," she said, and then shrugged as well. "Why is he your only friend? Don't you like other people?"
"I changed schools at the beginning of the year," Wufei told her. "My old school had some bad pranksters, so I changed to one without them. I didn't approve."
She laughed suddenly. "You 'don't approve' of many things. What about me? Do you 'approve' of me?"
"I think so," Wufei said finally, relaxing. "You seem nice. It's a start, anyway, isn't it?"
"Yeah, I guess," she said. "You're okay, too." Her eyes lingered on him for a moment, as if she wanted to say something else, but she didn't. "They're probably expecting us to go back in."
"I guess," he agreed, nodding. "We should go in, then."
The afternoon went on fairly smoothly after that, the adults talking, the children listening and trying not to yawn in the summery warmth. At five o'clock, the Changs took their leave and drove back home.
Wufei's father looked at him from the rear view mirror. "[She's a very pretty girl -- seems smart too, Fei. It's a fortunate match.]"
"[She's very nice," Wufei agreed. "It's just kind of strange, Poppa...]"
His parents looked at each other. "[What do mean, Fei?]" his father asked.
"[Oh... getting married, I guess. That I'm supposed to marry her. It feels strange. Did you feel strange, Poppa? Momma?]" He sighed. "[At least she's nice. She's sort of bossy, but she's nice.]"
"[She'll keep you in line, then!]" his mother laughed.
"[It always feels strange at first,]" his father added, "[for every young man who meets his bride-to-be. But you will get to know each other and, if you're lucky, you will fall in love with her.]" He gave his wife a fond look.
Reluctantly, Wufei asked, "[What if I'm not?]"
His father shrugged. When he spoke, his words were hesitant, as if it were a possibility he didn't want to face. "[Then you get along with each other. You could do a lot worse than that in life. Remember that, Fei.]"
"[Yes, Poppa,]" Wufei replied almost sadly, looking out the window. /I don't want to get married. Her kisses don't tingle.../ Meiran's kisses didn't tingle, and Zechs's *did*.
He wondered about that... wondered if it was the forbidden matter of kissing a boy that had made them feel so wonderful or if it had more to do with Zechs himself. Wufei didn't know, but he knew that he would like to kiss Zechs again, to see if that was so. He wanted to try it, anyway, and maybe the results would tell him more.
Zechs was spending *his* Saturday in Little Tokyo. It was within skating distance of his house and once there he clipped his skates to his backpack and wandered around the shops, looking at all the food and toys, and the souvenirs that the shops sold for the white people who came to visit.
Eventually, he made it to the large bookstore that sold, among many other things, new and used manga. He knelt down in front of the shelves, fingers tracing lightly along the colorful spines, knowing the best titles and publisher's by heart, and lost himself for awhile in the pages.
He finally decided on five books, a Be-Boy Gold, the first volumes of two new stories he'd never seen, and the latest volumes of his two favorite series. He walked to the register, where a stunningly beautiful Japanese boy waited for him to step up with his purchases.
He set them down on the counter between them and smiled.
"Hi," the boy greeted him, voice absolutely lyrical. Dark brown eyes smiled at him, an uptilted nose cutely wrinkling a bit as the boy leaned forward. "Is that everything you want?"
"Yes, thank you," Zechs replied, trying to ignore the lovely eyes that reminded him so much... "I haven't seen you here before -- did you just start?"
"Yesterday," the boy replied with a smile. "I'm Tetsurou. You can call me Tetsu, if you want, though." He looked down at the manga, eyes widening slightly. "Ahhh, Be-Boy Gold! Nice choice. It's got the latest Kizuna installment, you know?" he said with a smile, leaning forward. "Kai and Masa almost make it, but the boy panics," he whispered. "Reminds him of what happened in volume two, you know."
Zechs was speechless for a moment. No one had ever commented on his choice of manga before, let alone this positively! The usual counter workers smiled at him in mild embarrassment and rang up his books as quickly as possibly, never making eye contact with him. But this...
"Really?" he said, rather breathless at the sudden attention. "They're one of my favorite pairings. Can't wait to read it." He handed over his cash and noted that the boy's hair was the same dark, silky color as Wufei's...
"It's gorgeous," Tetsu said with a wink. "I really think you'll like it..." He looked at the other four books. "Hmmm, Ludwig and Love Mode. Also very good choices. Hornig's name makes me laugh, though."
That got a grin from the long-haired blond, reached around and waved his pony tail at the other boy. "My mom says I look like him, but I'm glad I'm not. He gets beaten up a lot, it seems."
"Well," Tetsu told him with a sparkling smile. "You *are* pretty cute, so it's good to hear that you *don't* get beaten up a lot, hm?"
Zechs tried his best not to blush, but it didn't help, as a pretty wave of pink went through his cheeks. "Ah... thank you..." /Is he flirting with me? I think he's flirting with me! Damn, what do I do *now*?? Why couldn't this have happened a month ago??/
He was rendered otherwise speechless by the compliment and the only thing he could think of to do was hold out his hand for the change Tetsu was giving him.
"Thanks," Tetsu told him with a genuine smile. "Hey, come again... soon, okay?"
"Yeah, I will," Zechs said, giving the boy one last smile before leaving the store. His head was spinning a little. It had been awhile since anyone had flirted that openly with him and he still couldn't quite believe it had happened.
Deciding that food might be best to bring him back to reality, he stopped into his favorite noodle stand and bought a big bowl of miso ramen, carrying it carefully to a wide, concrete planter that stood just outside. A dozen other people were sitting on it, all eating lunch, and he felt a bit conspicuous at first, but soon settled into eating and forgot about how different he looked from everyone else.
"Hey, mind if I join you?"
It was Tetsu, and he was smiling at Zechs, standing very close to him. The Japanese boy was gorgeous from head to toe now that he was out from behind the bookstore counter, and he had a smile that was adorable enough to fairly light up the afternoon.
Zechs looked up and nearly choked on his ramen. "Ah, sure!" he said, moving over and making room. "Weren't... you just in the bookstore?" he said with a puzzled smile.
"Yeah, but it was lunch time," the other boy said with a cheerful laugh and a wink, settling down quite close to Zechs. "So, when I saw you out here, I thought maybe you could stand some company, hm?"
"Company's good," Zechs nodded, taking in golden skin, ebony hair, and deep, expressive brown eyes. He liked everything he saw, liked it very much, so why was he feeling this spasm of guilt? Like he was cheating...
"You like working in the bookstore?" he asked. "Get all the manga when they first come out?"
"LOVE it," Tetsu admitted with a laugh, unpacking a sandwich and a bag of chips. "It's really great, especially when the Be-Boys come in. There's some of the greatest *smut* in those things, you know?" He winked at Zechs. "But I don't have to tell you that, right?"
"Uh... no," Zechs laughed, very self-consciously, "no, you don't. I've read them for two years now." He looked sheepish for a moment and then added, "Well, I don't *read* them so much as figure out every 7th word and look at the pictures."
"Want some help with translations?" Tetsu asked. "My reading skills are pretty good, all things considered, and my mom can translate whatever I can't."
"Oh, wow -- that would be cool," Zechs said, trying to remain calm in the face of so much, so fast. "So, you're mom doesn't mind either?"
"My mom's just grateful I have a sister so she has some hope of grandchildren," Tetsu joked. "She's fine with it, actually. I take it your mom is, too, since you said 'either'..."
"Yeah, like I said, she thinks I look like Hornig, so... she kind of likes looking at them too. I always have to go hunting for them after I bring home the latest."
The Japanese boy laughed, nose wrinkling up adorably. "Hey, that sounds like the best kind of life! My mom just thinks they're filthy, but she loves me, so she got over it. It all works out pretty cool, in the end."
"Yeah, thank god for mom's who understand," Zechs agreed, slurping his noodles happily. "You like anime?"
"Who *doesn't*?" Tetsu asked with a laugh. "You seen Weiss Kreuz yet? The manga's cuter, but... Ohhh, *Crawford* is *so* hot in the anime! You know, that bitch slap thing, it's great!"
"Mmm -- I kinda like Omi and Nagi, myself," Zechs said. He could feel himself drawn to the other boy, especially the idea of someone so beautiful and so obviously *willing* to be with him. But it felt wrong, too. He was so much in love with Wufei...
"They're *so* sweet," Tetsu agreed with a smile. "That whole injured-boy syndrome, you know? I love that, too..."
"Yeah, there's that," Zechs said. /And they also happen to be small and beautiful and just the right size for... just like you, and him.../ "So what's your favorite shop around here?" he asked.
"DEFINITELY Tomato," came the answer. "Twenty flavors of pocky *can't* be argued against, you know?"
Zechs gave him a grin. "Yeah, I ate pocky for a year and then had to give it up cold turkey to keep my girlish figure." He leaned over to a nearby trash can and dropped his styrofoam bowl into it, along with his wooden chopsticks.
With a smile, Tetsu offered him chips --Funyuns, of all things. "Want one?" he asked with a smile.
"Sure," Zechs said, reaching out a hand. Despite his mother's preference for organic produce and whole wheat, he could eat junk food with the best of them.
"So, you live near here?" Tetsu asked, smiling at him. "I mean... You know."
Zechs didn't know -- didn't know in the slightest -- but he nodded and said, "About three miles -- west side of town. It's a good skate."
"Are you busy tonight?" came the next question along with one of those lovely smiles that made the other boy's nose wrinkle. "Well, what I mean is, want to go out? To the movies or someplace?"
"Me?" Zechs asked as automatically as if the response was a breath he needed to take. "You... you want to go out with *me*?"
"Hello," Tetsu said, sighing. "You're tall, blond, gorgeous, do you see me asking anyone *else* out around here?" Those dark eyes twinkled with fair humor. "So, come on. Why not? The worst that can happen is we'll both cry over the movie and go home without a goodnight kiss. Say yes."
Zechs laughed. "You're pretty smooth, aren't you?" he said. "Well..." /It would be cheating -- wouldn't it? I told Wufei that I was in love with him! But Wufei's with his 'fiancee' right now, so where does that leave me? He's getting married and you're going to turn down a date with this... this gorgeous boy to sit around and listen J-Pop by yourself all night?/
Hesitating just a bit longer, Zechs finally put an end to the squabble in his head and said, "Okay. Thanks, I'd like that. Um... where do you want to meet? I don't have a car."
"I can pick you up if you like," Tetsu offered, winking. "I've got a white Maxima. Wherever you want's fine. If there's a movie place near your house, we can just go there, and maybe catch something to eat on the way. My treat, since I'm the one asking. Okay?"
It was all happening so fast. The only thing Zechs could do was nod his head and scribble his address and phone number on the bookmark that Tetsu gave him. /But what about Wufei? What if he calls tonight? Calls? He never calls you! This boy is *delicious*, you could end up making out in the back seat -- or better! Don't be ridiculous -- you are *not* blowing this chance!/
They stood up and Zechs handed over the bookmark. "Okay, so, I'll see you at six?"
"Sharp," Tetsu agreed with a smile. "I've got to go back to work, so..."
"Okay. Bye." Zechs watched him go, silky hair catching the sun and the sweetest, tightest little ass he'd ever seen - except for Wufei's which was actually just a touch tighter and much sweeter... /Stop! Wufei is getting married! He's with a girl right now, discussing marriage plans! Stare at that boy, right now! That's an order!/
So he did, until Tetsu disappeared back inside the bookstore, leaving Zechs to don his skates again, and head home to feel guilty.
Wufei sighed, looking at the clock, its red digits detailing the time. 7:34 p.m. He'd been thinking about Zechs since 5:41 p.m., and to be honest, it was driving him absolutely crazy. /I don't know what to do. Maybe if I talked to him, I could stop thinking about him.../
That seemed like a course of action, which was just what Wufei needed. Decision made, he stood from his bed where he'd been reading (or pretending to read, anyway!) and headed downstairs.
Both of his parents had washed up the supper dishes already and were sitting in the living room quietly talking and playing cards, so it wasn't hard to slip past them and into the kitchen, picking up the portable phone there and dialing. He knew the number by heart, even though he'd never called it, so it wasn't hard, even though his heart was beating nearly out of his chest with nervousness.
"Hello?" It was a woman's voice.
"Ah... hi," Wufei said softly, feeling a bit intimidated. "May I speak with Zechs?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, he's not here right now," the perky voice replied. "Can I take a message?"
/Well, of course he's not there. He has better stuff to do on a Saturday than wait for me to call, right?/ Wufei told himself derisively. "Um, could you tell him that Wufei called, please?"
"Wufei! Hello! Zechs has told me so much about you!" The voice on the other end of the line was so warm and friendly it nearly crawled through the phone to him. "It's so nice to finally talk to one of Zechsy's friends. It's a banner day, I guess, I got to meet another one just an hour or so ago!"
"Ohh," Wufei said softly, confused. He hadn't really been aware that Zechs had many friends. "Um, it's nice to speak with you, too, ma'am...."
"He keeps telling me that I have to come and meet your parents," she went on, "but it's so hard to get away from the studio. I will come by soon, though. I know it's important to Zechsy."
"Yes, ma'am," Wufei murmured. "If he'll just let me know when, I'll tell my parents..."
"All right! He and I will work something out tomorrow. I'm not sure I'll be up when he comes in tonight."
"Yes, ma'am," was the polite reply. "Thank you. Goodbye..."
"Bye now!" the cheery voice said, and the line went dead.
With a sigh, Wufei hung up the phone and moved to the cabinet to fetch a glass and pour some juice. /Well,/ he decided, seating himself at the kitchen table. /That was a bust./
So why did he feel so miserable knowing Zechs had gone somewhere with somebody that he didn't even know?
"Did you like the movie?" Tetsu asked as they strolled out of the theater holding hands.
Yeah, it was pretty good, despite the presence of Julia Roberts," Zechs said. Things were going well. He had remained calm, no nasty voices had bothered him in the cinema, and Tetsu had slipped his hand into Zechs's halfway through the film. "Where to next?" he said casually.
"What do you like to eat?" was the question that came in response. "Burgers or something better?"
"Burgers are fine," the tall blond answered, feeling strange having the other boy pay. "How about that place across the street? There pretty good."
He couldn't remember the last time he'd had a date on Saturday night, if he ever had. It was fun, if he didn't think too hard about it. "I like your car," he murmured. "Must be nice to have your own wheels."
"It's got it's perks," Tetsu admitted with a laugh as they headed across the street to the little mom-and-pop place across the way. "I mean, paying for it has SUCKED, but it's nice to be able to get around, too. On the other hand, this town has bus systems that go everywhere, so..."
"True. I guess I don't go all that far. Just to school and around here... and Little Tokyo, of course." He smiled over at the other boy. "My skates usually do just fine."
"And you look *really* good with them on, too," Tetsu teased, pulling the door open for Zechs.
"Heh... thanks," Zechs said in a weak voice, heading in through the door. /*Damn* this boy is fast!/
Once in, they headed to a little table at the back where menus were given them promptly and Tetsu began to peruse the whole thing. "Wow! Chocolate sundaes! I love those things!"
"Don't tell me," Zechs said, "you're one of those people with the metabolism of a hummingbird. You can eat anything and everything you want, right?"
"All day long," was the cheerful admission. "But I'll bet you can, too. You probably skate it all off, am I right?"
"Yeah, pretty much. I used to be on the track team - that made it even better."
The middle-aged waitress arrived to take their orders and after they'd gotten burger and fries Zechs looked at Tetsu and asked, "So, what do you think of gaijins like me who hang out in manga shops? Do you think we're weird or anything?"
"Weird," Tetsu agreed with a nod, "but in a *really* nice way. I don't meet many gaijin like you," he winked. "So, when I do, it's definitely nice-nice."
"I would have thought you'd prefer Japanese guys for some reason," Zechs said, tackling his burger.
"Nah," Tetsu said. "They're all short and totally concerned about making their parents happy and meeting the right girl. At least, all of the ones *I* know are. 'S no fun. Gaijin's better," he said with a smile, dipping a french-fry in ketchup and sucking it off before doing it again. "You know?"
Zechs felt the blood rush to his cheeks. Never in his life had he seen anyone make eating french fries look erotic, but Tetsu just had. Swallowing very carefully, he took one of his own fries, eating it slowly before saying, "That's cool..." /Oh, *please*! It's been so *long*!/
With a little laugh, the other boy leaned his head on his hand and smiled for a moment before picking up his cheeseburger. "I'm starving," he confessed. "It's been forever since lunch, you know? And," came the sly admission, "I didn't ask for any onions..."
That was it, more than Zechs could take without commenting. He leaned his own head on his hand and looked the Japanese boy in the eyes. "Do you usually come on this fast to guys you've just met? Or is it something about me?" he said, smiling.
"Something about you," Tetsu said with a wink. "Besides, every guy's got the right to hope for a goodnight kiss, right?"
"Yeah, that's in the Bill of Rights, I think," Zechs said, holding his gaze and grinning. "Isn't America wonderful?"
"Right now," Tetsu said with a grin, "everything is right with the world."
It was 11:17.
Zechs hadn't called him back.
/He probably got home late,/ Wufei thought to himself. /That's all..../
Wufei's mother put her head in the door of his room. "[It's late, Fei. You should be going to bed soon. We're meeting Auntie Bao-Bao and Meiran for breakfast.]"
"[Sorry, Momma,]" he said with a smile. "[I'll turn out the lights and go to sleep.]"
She walked further into the room, her head tilted to the side. "[You okay, honey?]" she asked. "[You look sad.]"
"[I'm just worried,]" Wufei told her, curling on his side and scooting towards the other edge of the bed slightly as she sat down. "[I mean, I've never had a fiancee before.]"
"[Of course you haven't! You haven't been ready to think about that kind of thing. But you are getting older and the time between now and when you finish your studies will go so fast! It's a good thing to know ahead of time that you will have a good wife, isn't it?]"
He seemed to think about that for a moment. "[I guess," he said finally. "[I hadn't really ever thought about getting married before, though. I guess I don't know if I wanted to...]"
"[What do you mean?]" his mother said, looking surprised. "[Of course you will marry! Lots of grandchildren for your mother, and a good, solid family for your father. What else would you do if you didn't marry?]"
"[I don't know,]" Wufei said. "[I guess I just hadn't thought about it. I don't know if I'd like to do something different or not. I guess... that's all...]"
"[There is nothing different, Fei! You don't want to end up an old man who cannot look after himself. Young men need wives. You and Meiran look wonderful together.]" She gave him a sly smile. "[How was your walk, hmm?]"
He flushed, unable to help himself, and glanced away, smiling a little. "[Not so bad. She's kind of bossy, but nice enough.]"
'[There, you see? It will all work out. No need to be sad, with such good fortune.]" She leaned over and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek. "[You get some rest, okay? So you look your best for Meiran tomorrow.]"
"[Yes, Momma,]" Wufei said quietly. "[I love you, you know. I want to be a good son...]"
"[You already are,]" she said proudly and then left for her own bed.
Now, if only he could believe that it was true when it was Zechs that he wanted to kiss...
"Thanks for the burger. And for the night, I really enjoyed it." Zechs and Tetsu were sitting in his car, in front of Zechs's house.
"I'm really glad you agreed to come," Tetsu said, smiling and dropping his head back against the headrest to look over at Zechs. "I mean, you're really cute, and nice, and so that's great."
Zechs had to laugh. Here he was, sitting in the passenger seat, looking *down* at little Tetsu, who looked as if he was going to try to put his arm around Zechs. "You're rather gorgeous yourself," he said, trying not to redden. At least the car was dark...
Leaning forward and *up*, Tetsu smiled. "I'm glad you think so," he whispered. "Think I can steal a kiss?"
In the darkness, if Zechs looked at him just the right way, Tetsu could almost pass for Wufei and the blond boy's pulse sped up a bit. "Don't have to steal it," he murmured leaning down and letting the other boy lead. /If he's so set on being seme here.../
The sheer hunger of that kiss was delicious, soft and sweet... and utterly without the sheer *spark* that the feel of Wufei's mouth on his own made him feel. "Mmmmmm," Tetsu purred, kissing him again before nipping teasingly at his chin. "You're a wonderful kisser."
"Mmmm -- thank you," Zechs said, not knowing whether to go on. It just didn't *feel* the same, not anywhere near as good as it did with Wufei. But Tetsu was obviously enjoying it. /Give it another chance... he really likes you, likes this... Wufei doesn't feel like this about you.../
Gamely, he tried again, catching Tetsu's mouth this time and pressing against it, trying to feel the same hunger he had when he'd kissed Wufei.
No go. While the kiss stayed sweet and Tetsu opened to him eagerly, there wasn't that overwhelming urge for more. He noted the taste of bacon and tomato masked by peppermint a bit, and it was strangely pleasant, but....
But it wasn't like kissing Wufei.
They broke apart, and Zechs tried to find the words to say what he needed to say -- that he'd been wrong, that he shouldn't have come, that his heart was hopelessly tangled up with a boy who wasn't sure if he was gay or not but was getting married anyway.
But who could put all that into words that wouldn't give offense or hurt? And he could feel the boy's hand on his thigh...
"Ah -- Tetsu..."
"Time to go in, huh?" Tetsu asked softly, still smiling. He'd sensed some minor reluctance, and it was just as well to end the date on a good note. "'s all right. I know how it is."
Zechs looked at him, a little puzzled. "What do you mean?"
"It's a first date!" Tetsu said lightly. "Pushing my luck wouldn't be good, right? So, I'll take you home and maybe we can go out again sometime..."
Despite his best efforts, Zechs let out a sigh. "Tetsu," he began, "I'd love being friends with you, but... damn this sucks!" He took a deep breath and tried again. "There's this other guy... who I like... he thinks he's straight -- and he probably is, I mean, most people are, aren't? And he just got engaged to someone he doesn't even know, so I should just forget about him. But..."
Turning to look at the beautiful boy beside him, he shook his head. "You're so gorgeous, perfect, really. Everything I'd want if..."
"IF you weren't head over heels for this guy," Tetsu replied. He was still smiling, though it seemed a little sad. "It's okay, though. Really. I mean, we can be friends and... we'll see how things go. Does that sound okay?" The Japanese boy grinned. "Besides. Who *else* can I whine about yaoi manga to, huh?"
"You're amazing, you know that?" Zechs said, reaching a hand up and grazing a finger across one smooth cheek. "Thanks for understanding..." He grinned at the other boy, also a bit sadly. "I wish I understood it better myself. But thank you so much for tonight."
"Anytime you want to have some fun..." Tetsu offered with a smile, starting up the car. "You know where to call."
"Thanks, maybe I will." Zechs gave the other boy's hand a squeeze and then got out of the car, leaning down to say good bye once more and then watching what would have, a month ago, been his dream boy speed away down the street, practically untouched.
"I think there's something very, very wrong with me," he said softly to himself before heading into the house.
The sound of the front door shutting must have caught his mother's attention for she wandered from the living room, looking for him. "Hello, my sweetie. Did you have a good time?" she asked, opening her arms and waiting for him to hug and kiss her.
He did, squeezing extra tight before throwing himself on the couch and putting one of the pillows over his head.
"It was great -- and *horrible*!"
"Tell Mommy all about it," Noin encouraged, sitting down close to him.
He peeked up at her from behind the pillow. "Mom!" he groaned, "I'm not five years old, you know! He pulled the pillow back over himself and said, in a muffled voice. "He was wonderful... gorgeous... he -- well, *you* know how much I like Asian boys..."
"Of course I know!" she chuckled, reaching to tickle him. "I'm your *mother*! It pays to know these things! So if he was wonderful and gorgeous, what was so horrible about it?"
"Because," Zechs said, looking out from behind the pillow again, "he kissed me good night and all I could think about was Wufei... oh, what's *wrong* with me!!" The pillow was pulled back into place.
"Sounds like a bad case of *love*," his mother told him, shaking her head. "Sometimes, it's impossible that way. He called while you were out. I told him you'd gone off with a friend, but I didn't tell him it was a date."
Zechs tore the pillow off his head and stared at his mother, eyes wide and fair hair mussed. "He *called*? *Wufei* called *here*?? And I was... what if he thinks... oh, *damn*!!" he finally said. He was quiet for a moment and then said miserably, "Probably wanted to tell me all about his *date* with his *fiancee*."
"Oy vey, this you *didn't* tell your mother," Noin chided. "Fiancee? Oh, Zechsy..."
He was sitting up now, pillow in his lap. "No, mom, it's not just a fiancee," he said. "He doesn't even *know* this girl! His parents arranged it with someone in China and they brought her over here and expect him to *marry* her! It's *disgusting*!"
"Well, is he going to do it?" she asked him. "It doesn't *sound* right, but people are different, honey..."
Zechs scowled down at his hands, clasped together on top of the pillow. "He says he *has* to do it -- to be a 'good son', but *I* think making your kid get married to a total stranger is a ridiculous thing to ask. Besides..." He blushed a bit and muttered, "Heaskedmetokisshim."
"And did you?" Noin asked, wriggling her brows at him.
"Well -- *yeah,*" Zechs said, looking at his mother as if she were a lunatic. "Of course I did. If the person you were madly in love with asked you to kiss him, wouldn't you?"
"In a *heartbeat*," she told him with a grin, reaching over to ruffle his hair. "That's my boy! And did he like it?" was the next question, accompanied by a little smirk.
Zechs frowned thoughtfully. "I think he did. I think he even said 'wonderful.' And we've kissed *twice*, not anything really heavy but... kisses anyway." He covered his head with his hands for a moment. "And still he says he's going to marry this *girl*! Arrgh!"
Sighing heavily, he looked up at his mother. "What should I *do*?" he asked softly.
"Convince him otherwise, baby," she told him. "Or give him up. Either way, you might get a broken heart, but everything happens for a reason, and even broken hearts can be put back together..." And she would certainly know! She'd had more than a few!
"Sometimes... sometimes it feels like I'd die if I lost him," Zechs said. "I mean, I don't even really *have* him but... I keep hoping that there's this *chance*, you know? And because of that I can't stop thinking about him... wanting to be with him." He looked up at her. "We're meeting for lunch on Monday... he'll probably tell me about meeting her then."
"Maybe it won't be so bad for you, sweetheart. Maybe he'll hate her at first sight," Noin suggested.
"Naw -- he doesn't seem the type," Zechs said. "he's so quiet and gentle he could get along with anyone... *Damn* I wish I'd been here when he called!"
"Sorry, baby. I told him I'd let you know that he called. You could always call him back tomorrow," she suggested, eyeing the clock and realizing it was just past midnight.
"No, he'll probably be tied up with fiancee stuff," Zechs said glumly. "And I saw that look. I'm off to bed." He stood and crossed to the stairs, looking back at her. "Thanks, mom -- for listening, that kind of thing." He turned to go, but then stopped. "I got some new manga today. I'll leave them on your dresser when I finish them, okay?"
"Sure thing, sweetie," Noin said, waving at him. "I'll see you in the morning, honey. You sleep tight, and don't *worry* about it, all right?"
"Right," he said and then trudged up the stairs to his room.
Lunch was a terrible *eternity* in coming, and for once in his life, Wufei really hated Chemistry. Lab went on and on and *on*, and his stomach was rumbling by the time the bell *finally* rang. Grabbing his bookbag, he hurried along the stampede-filled hallway towards the door to the outside where he and Zechs had been eating lunch lately.
The weather had turned bad during the morning, though -- dark, windy, and full of rain. Every student in Noventa was crowding into the cafeteria, a mass of sweating bodies and wet jackets.
Zechs feeling a little claustrophobic just five minutes after getting there. When he saw Wufei walk up he nodded towards the adjoining gym. "There's a little practice gym off the main one. Want to eat there? It'd be quieter."
"Sounds perfect," Wufei muttered, shuddering slightly as he looked at the lunch room. There was no way he wanted to crowd into THAT!
Zechs led the way into the main gym, which was currently holding the overflow from the cafeteria. No one seemed to have noticed the smaller gyms yet, and they slipped into the farthest one, sitting down and spreading their lunches on the mats.
"So," Zechs said, wanting to get the worst over with quickly, "how... how was it?"
"She was nice," Wufei said, offering Zechs some of his stir fry. "She was kind of bossy. I don't know. She wants to meet you." He paused, tilting his head towards Zechs. "I threw up right after I met her."
Zechs had a bite of stir-fry halfway to his mouth. He looked down at it, a mild look of disgust on his face and put it down again saying, "Oh really? That must have made quite an impression."
"She laughed at me," Wufei said, shrugging. "I told my mother that... that I hadn't thought about getting married, and...." He sighed. "To be a good son, I have to do this thing..."
Zechs stared at him for a moment. "You keep saying that," he snapped. "Are you trying to convince me...or yourself?"
"Maybe both," was the unhappy answer. "I don't want to, you see? But I have to if I'm to be the good and respectful son that I should be..."
"It's *stupid*," Zechs said flatly. "What year are your parents living in? People marry who they want to marry, *if* they decide to get married at all! Besides... you don't love her, do you?" He stared at the Chinese boy, half afraid to hear the answer.
"She's nice, but I just met her!" Wufei told him, looking at Zechs askance. "You don't fall in love with someone you just met!"
That stopped the blond cold. He looked away, putting down the pita bread he'd had in his hands. "No," he said after a long time. "No, I guess not..."
/Nobody does that... only me, when I first saw you.../
"Besides," Wufei said, brows knitting together. "She doesn't... she doesn't..." He chewed on his lower lip, glanced around and whispered, "She doesn't kiss like you do."
Trying to believe that he'd just heard Wufei correctly, Zechs looked over at him in disbelief. "What do you mean by that?" he said slowly, and then, "You *kissed* her??"
"She *told* me I should!" Wufei told him. "What was I supposed to do?"
Zechs made a small sound of astonishment. "Tell her *no* of course! Unless you *wanted* to kiss her... was that it? Was she really pretty or something?"
"I don't *know*!" Wufei blurted out. "She looked kind of like *me*. It was like kissing a sister, all right!?" The fact that Zechs seemed obviously upset with him was somehow terrible, and he could feel his stomach knotting up with that displeasure.
"Then why even do it? If you didn't feel like doing it?" Zechs said in a quiet voice. "Was it an obligation?" He stopped and looked up at Wufei, a strange expression coming over him. "Was kissing me an obligation, too?" he asked slowly. "Something you had to do to be polite to the gay guy?"
The way Wufei paled seemed somehow awful, the Chinese boy looking at him with a wide-eyed wounded expression that seemed terrible. "So, you're going to hold that against me?" he almost asked.
"So it *was*? That... that kiss..." He stared at Wufei, hardly believing what he'd just heard.
"*Well damn* you and your obligation!" he shouted, then grabbed his books and headed out of the gym into the rain, leaving Wufei entirely confused and lost.
/I can't believe he's angry that I kissed her. It WAS an obligation to kiss her. Why would it be anything else? He can't think it was an obligation to kiss HIM, can he? If he thinks that about me, maybe he doesn't really like me at all. If he thinks that, maybe he doesn't know me, either.../ Miserably, Wufei poked at his lunch and sighed. "This is getting nowhere fast."
Rising, he packed his lunch up and headed out into the rain after Zechs.
The blond boy walked, head down into the rain, not knowing where he was going. His thoughts were reeling, though, trying to sift themselves into a place that wasn't painful, that wasn't sad, but they wouldn't fit. Wufei had only been polite when he'd asked to be kissed. He was, after all, a very polite boy. What else should Zechs have expected. Wufei would never want to hurt anyone. But *damn* it hurt! It hurt to lose that one little hope that things might someday be different between them.
"Wait!"
The call behind him was *definitely* Wufei's voice, and he could hear the other boy coming up behind him as he paused just off of the football field, near the concession stand. "Wait!" Wufei called again.
It made Zechs want to run, away from the voice and the lovely boy it belonged to, but it also gave him shivers he couldn't deny - shivers that had nothing to do with the rain coming down in sheets.
He stopped, hesitating for a moment, and then turned. "Go back inside. You're getting wet."
"You're already wet," Wufei told him, "and so am I. Why are you so angry? Because I kissed her? That was what I had to do. I didn't *want* to kiss her, exactly, not like I wanted to kiss you. I don't understand!"
"You said you kissed my because you felt obligated!" Zechs said, blinking at the other boy through the rain. "You said I shouldn't hold it against you!"
"I *meant* you shouldn't hold it against me that I kissed her! It wasn't like I could say, 'No, I don't want to'!!" Wufei told him, shaking his head so that wet strands of hair escaped the clasp he kept it in and fell forward.
For a moment, there was no sound but the steady pounding of rain on their backpacks. "Oh," Zechs said quietly. "Oh. I didn't pick up on that..." He stood looking at the ground for several more moments and then said, "You're really wet, you know."
"So are you," Wufei told him. "I think we should go inside and try to get dry..."
Zechs stared at the distant cafeteria building and then back at Wufei. "Or we could skip the rest of the day," he said quietly.
Those black eyes widened so much they nearly became round. "Skip?" Wufei whispered guiltily. "Won't we get caught?"
The blond boy shrugged. "It's just one time -- no big thing. We can say we got caught in the rain and we too soaked to go to class." His own idea was growing on him and he began to plan it out. "There's a bus stop right behind that row of trees," he said. "It goes by my house. We can go there and dry off -- *really* dry off. I mean, how are you going to concentrate on studying when you're shoes are squelching, huh?"
Wufei just knew they were going to get caught, and his parents would be upset if they knew he had gone to Zechs's house without their meeting his mother, but... "All right," he agreed anyway.
"Really?" Zechs said. He had expected to be arguing with the other boy for at least twenty minutes, and beamed at the sudden agreement. "Great! I mean, it's my stupid fault you're out here, sopping wet. It's my responsibility to make sure you get warm and dry, so you won't catch cold. C'mon!"
Grabbing Wufei's hand, he headed towards the trees at a run as a loud crack of thunder echoed across the field.
That, Wufei decided, was probably portentous of something. He really, REALLY hoped it wasn't the beginning of his being a very bad son...
They were lucky and a bus came along just minutes after they'd gotten to the stop. Zechs paid the fare for both of them and walked quickly to the back, not liking the driver's suspicious glances.
"It's only about a mile," he said rather breathlessly.
"I'm cold, so that's good," Wufei said, shivering a little.
Wishing he could put his arm around the other boy, Zechs sat in silence as the bus hissed though the swollen puddles and came at last to stop at the end of his block.
"This is us," he said, getting up and using the back exit. He pulled Wufei down the stairs as another thunderclap sounded, and headed towards a large old house, built of redwood and cedar. The arrived on the doorstep and Zechs fumbled in his pocket for the key, finally pushing the door open and letting the dripping Wufei inside.
Shivering, Wufei glanced around the entranceway. Everything was terribly neat and *very* colorful, and there was nowhere that he could see to leave his shoes. "Um..."
"Sweetie? Is that you? What are you... Oh, hullo," Noin said, standing in the doorway that led to her art studio. She was a bit rather obvious dressed to go out and even had bright yellow galoshes on, a raincoat in hand. "My goodness, Zechsy. What are you doing so wet?"
The blond boy looked sheepish. "Hi, Mom. Um... we kind of got caught in the rain -- all my fault -- and came back here to dry off. Oh, Mom? This is Wufei Chang." He gestured to the other boy, dripping quietly beside him in the hallway.
"Hello, ma'am," Wufei greeted politely, bowing to her.
"Oh, my! How sweet! I would've known you anywhere, the way Zechs talks about you," she said, tossing on her raincoat and reaching for a bright yellow hat. "Sweetie, I'm out of clay. I'm going to have to run down to Zephram's and pick some up, I'm afraid, so I'll be out of the house for a bit. There are some cookies in the kitchen --oatmeal raisin. I'm sure the two of you will manage to get dry soon, and then maybe I can take you back to school or something when I get back, all right?"
Zechs tried to glare a silent message at her - something to the effect of 'Take your time and please don't make us go back,' and could only hope she picked up on it. "I think you're out of glaze, too," he said, trying to reinforce his point.
"You know, you just might be right," she said, getting the hint. "Thank you for that reminder, sweetie. It might take me a while, so you boys be good, all right?" With that, she waved and grabbed an umbrella, toddling towards the door.
"Yes, ma'am," Wufei called, looking after the rather strange woman. A yellow raincoat, hat, galoshes *and an umbrella*??
"Thanks, Mom," Zechs breathed to her as she went out the door. Then he turned to Wufei and said, "Come on upstairs. I'll get us some towels."
"Should I take off my shoes here?" Wufei asked, indicating his soggy sneakers.
"Oh, sure," Zechs said. "I guess we both should." He stripped off his own, leaving them in a dripping heap at the side of the entryway and led the way upstairs. The bathroom was large and old-fashioned with a big claw-footed tub and a pedestal sink, but there were plenty of fluffy towels and Zechs handed one to Wufei, dropping another over his head and laughing. "You're *really* wet!"
Wufei looked kind of silly standing there smiling and dripping and he shook his head. "Can I borrow some dry clothes so that maybe we can toss these in the dryer or something?" he asked shyly. "I don't think we'll ever get dry like *this*."
"Yeah, sure," Zechs said, trying not to swallow audibly. "My room's down this way."
They walked down a long hallway and stepped into the room. Zechs went immediately to the dresser, and rummaged around, looking for something that might actually stay on Wufei's much smaller body. "Ah," he said at last, "this might work." He held up an old sweatshirt, from his junior high days, and a pair of sweatpants from the same era. They were both worn to buttery softness and smelled of fragrant soap as he passed them over to the wet boy. Then he pulled out another pair of sweats and began to undress.
"Thanks," Wufei said, flushing and trying his very best *not* to look at the long, lean body being displayed so easily nearby. He wasn't sure he wanted to undress in front of someone else! He hadn't done it in years, not even in phys ed classes. He'd always managed, somehow, to slip into the bathroom and change, so the notion was rather disturbing. He could feel his face heating as he hurried to strip himself down to his skin, getting the wet clothes off of him as he bit his lip.
/Oh dear god, *help*!/ Zechs thought, catching just a glimpse of that caramel colored body before turning his eyes away. /*No one* should be allowed to be that adorable and still be straight!/
"Do they fit?" he said, struggling not to look again.
"Sort of," Wufei said, peering down at himself. The t-shirt was a little big and the pants were a little long, but they fit all right other than that, and so he just smiled. "It'll be all right. They're dry, anyway."
"Yeah," Zechs said, wishing those baggy sweats weren't covering the angelic creature he'd just glimpsed. "I'll just... go throw our stuff in the dryer, 'kay?" Scooping up the wet clothes, he hurried out of the room, half-hard, leaving Wufei to stare at the manga and anime posters on his walls.
Dark eyes roamed over the walls, enjoying the things that he saw. Soujiro from Rurouni Kenshin, a pretty picture of Nagi and Omi from Weiss Kraus, a calendar picture of Klaus from Eroica... THAT one got a fair bit of attention before he moved on to the wall scroll of Yu Yu Hakusho's Hiei with a sigh and then paused before the bookshelf full of manga.
A *lot* of them were yaoi and shonen ai, but a lot of them weren't, and by the time Zechs came back, Wufei was fairly well embroiled in them.
"Snack?" he said, bringing in three little boxes of what was obviously leftover Thai takeout. "I've got noodles and peanut chicken and beef satay. I feel I owe you since you missed lunch on my account." Sitting down on the floor beside the other boy, Zechs opened each carton and then handed Wufei a fork. "Dig in!"
"You've got Yami no Matsuei," Wufei informed him, one volume in his hand as he looked at Zechs.
"Yup, every volume that's out. I love that series -- shinigami are seriously cool beings."
"They seem to suffer a lot, though," the other boy said, reaching for the noodles and taking a bite. "It's sort of terrible, you know? And then there's Muraki..."
"Yeah, but there's something with him that we don't know yet," Zechs said, extracting a skewer of beef, heavily fragrant with lime. "Some really horrible tragedy or something, in his past. And he's got some really weird relationship to Tsuzuki. I wish she'd write faster."
"Draw faster, you mean," Wufei said with a little laugh, pulling his legs up to his chest. "It makes me think of CLAMP in some ways and Weiss Kreuz in others. I mean, Hisoka and Tatsumi look enough like Nagi and Crawford in some ways to really give you the creeps!"
"Yeah -- maybe there's just this one little mangaka over there, churning all this stuff out so all the characters start to be repeats of themselves." He chewed thoughtfully for a moment and then asked, "So do you read more shounen or shoujo stuff?"
"A little of both. I mean, everybody likes Yu Yu and Ranma, right?" Wufei asked, choosing beef for himself and taking a bite. "But then there's stuff like Sorcerer Hunters, and how do you categorize that?"
"Yeah, or Kenshin," Zechs agreed. "Do Chinese people have the same kinds of stuff? Are there Chinese comics with these kinds of stories?"
"Some," Wufei said. "It's different, I guess. There's not as much of it. I like the Japanese stuff better, but the Chinese stuff, I can read a lot better..."
"Mmm." Zechs nodded and then shivered violently. "Damn this hair," he said, pulling it away from his neck, which was still very wet. He looked over at his companion and said slowly, "Would... would you mind... very much... if I asked a favor of you?"
"No," Wufei said, looking at him curiously. "I don't mind. What do you need?"
"Could you... could you help me dry my hair? It's making me really cold 'cause it's so wet."
He was mortified the moment the words were out of his mouth. Why had he asked? He was perfectly capable of drying his own hair! But he had gotten carried away with a brief thought of Wufei's fingers running through it and now...
Oh, lord, now he'd completely embarrassed himself!
"Okay." THAT answer surprised him and certainly lessened his embarrassment! "Where is your hair dryer?" Wufei asked. "Maybe I can dry mine, too."
"Yeah!" Zechs said quickly, turning around and getting the dryer from his dresser drawer, grateful for the minute or so it took to plug it in so he could try to calm the blush from his cheeks.
"Y-You can dry mine, and I'll dry yours. What do you say?" he said, handing Wufei the dryer with trembling hands.
"That sounds okay," Wufei answered. "How do I turn it.. Oh, here it is," he said, the dryer coming to life as he pointed it at Zechs and reached to diligently begin drying the other boy's hair.
Zechs shivered again at the first touch of those fingers. It wasn't from cold, though, because he suddenly felt very warm, his entire body relaxing back into the feeling of it, Wufei's hands carding through his hair. The wash of warm air from the dryer was almost erotic it was so pleasurable and he closed his eyes, giving off a little hum of pleasure.
"Tell me if I hurt you or anything, okay?" Wufei asked, lightly shifting the dryer over Zechs's blond hair. The strands were so soft, silky...
"No, it feels fine, thanks," Zechs managed to say, having to drag himself out of the contented haze he'd been in. "It's hard to get warm when your hair is still wet..." /And I love you more than ever because you're sweet and you followed me into the rain and you're drying my hair, you wonderful creature, you.../
Some moments later, Wufei turned it off, reluctant to pull his hands out of the soft, silky, pale stuff. "There. You're all dry, now..."
Zechs turned to look at him, a grateful smile on his face. "Thanks -- can I do yours now?" He wanted to be able to touch -- touch any part of Wufei. He wanted to treat him kindly and make him smile. He wanted to make him feel the same way he did. /Just settle for drying his hair, idiot.../
"All right," Wufei agreed shyly. He reached up and tugged the wet elastic out of his hair before turning so that Zechs could dry his hair, face slightly flushed.
Even wet, the Chinese boy's hair was amazingly soft. Zechs moved the dryer around, watching the dark strands turn just perceptibly lighter as they dried. Now and then his thumb brushed across the tender nape of Wufei's neck and made him ache to press a kiss to it, but he fought back the feeling and tried to concentrate on the warm silk in his hands.
The little sigh Wufei gave as hot air spilled around him certainly didn't help suppress that urge, and so the slim Chinese boy nearly shivered when Zechs brushed his fingers there again, unable to help himself. "Hmmm. It's almost dry, I think," Wufei told him a little sleepily.
"Mmm," Zechs murmured, reluctant to give it up so soon. "Do you like the way the warm air feels?" He was flickering the stream of air now, so it blew across Wufei's back, and around towards his cheeks and hands.
"Yeah," was the slightly dreamy answer. "Usually, I just let it dry itself, though. It's better when somebody else does it..." Wufei sighed.
Brushing aside the hair puddled on Wufei's shoulders, Zechs let first the warm air and then his fingers caress the skin there -- so very soft and vulnerable. "I'm glad you're enjoying it," Zechs said, his voice a bit breathier than he'd intended. "You look like a cat in a ray of sunshine..."
"I feel like one," Wufei agreed, eyes closed as he brought his knees up to his chest and rested his chin on them, sighing. "Hmmm."
Zechs let the warm air wander a little further, too entranced by the sight of Wufei's pleasure to turn it off. He reached it out in front of the boy -- just the slightest bit, so it washed over small, bare feet. /Mmmm... maybe it'll go in between his legs.../
"I'm all dry," Wufei said softly, enjoying the heat and the way that Zechs leaned over close to him. "Thanks for bringing me with you..."
Disappointed, Zechs turned off the dryer. So much for exploration. He sat back and picked up one more forkful of noodles. "It was my fault you got wet. This was the least I could do."
"I appreciate it," Wufei said with a sigh, smiling at him shyly. "I really did mean it. It wasn't an obligation to kiss you, Zechs. It was...." He flushed. "It was very nice. Better than nice, it was..."
Zechs waited. He wanted to hear it, wanted to believe it was true, and yet it made him confused when Wufei talked like this. If kissing him felt good, why was he denying it and getting married? If it didn't feel good... well maybe Wufei was just being polite, but that seemed to be less and less of a possibility.
"It was...?" he asked.
"Wonderful." That was said softly, the boy's face half-hidden by falling strands of black silk hair.
He couldn't help himself. The way that silky stuff was falling, the soft, blue sheen on it, was too much and he reached out a hand and brushed it away from Wufei's eyes. His fingertips lingered on one smooth cheek and he found himself having difficulty keeping his breathing regular.
"You're so beautiful," he whispered. "I could look at you forever..."
"Really?" Wufei asked insecurely. "Really? I don't think I see what you see when I look at me..." /But I think I see it when I look at you.../ "You're like a boy out of a shonen ai manga..."
"No I'm not," Zechs said, shaking his head a bit before giving Wufei's cheek a stroke. They're really gorgeous -- like you." /You're making my head spin... oh, I want you so much!/
"Zechs?" Wufei asked, brows knitting as he sucked momentarily on his lower lip. "If I asked you... would you do it again? I know I shouldn't, but I..."
"You really want it?" Zechs asked, wary but hopeful. "You're not just trying to be nice to me, right?"
That brought those brows even further together, a sharp line between them, a sign of imperiousness. "I wouldn't ask if I was trying to be *nice*!"
"Well, if you're sure then..." Zechs scooted just a bit closer, hand still stroking Wufei's cheek. "I... I dream about this, you know," he whispered, leaning in and brushing his lips to the dark-haired boy's. "And I wake up breathless..."
He closed the distance between them and felt his blood catch fire. That lovely little mouth, so firm and sweet, the smell of boy and soap, the tickle of silky hair on his face -- ah, Wufei was all pleasure for Zechs and it made his head spin to think about what they were doing. /Let me... just a little further.../
Lips parted Wufei's own and he let them, opening his mouth slightly to the invasion of Zechs's tongue. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest, wild and fluttering like some tiny bird, and he gave a little gasp of sound. Kissing Zechs was *SO* much better than kissing Meiran!!
Moaning softly, Zechs's hand cupped the back of the other boy's head, and held him there while he explored the heated cave of Wufei's mouth. So soft and yielding, so perfect, the way he always dreamt of it being, and he could feel a familiar hardening between his legs. He broke off for a moment, lips teasing, and murmured, "You feel so good... so sweet..."
Those caramel cheeks were flushed headily to match the warm carmine of kissed lips, and when Wufei opened his eyes to look up at Zechs, they were dazed, heated. "I love it when you kiss me," he whispered, not thinking about the words, only *saying* them.
"Then let me do it more," Zechs murmured, staring back, nearly drowning in the deep brown eyes. "Don't tell me to stop... oh, *please*..." He gave a softly huffed breath and his lips were on Wufei's again, his free hand slipping around the other boy's waist and pulling him closer. There wasn't such a thing as getting enough and he ate softly at Wufei's mouth, like a starving boy at a feast.
Every ounce of that kiss came back to him with interest, the smaller boy's head tilted back, his hands moving up to press against Zechs's shoulders as they shifted nearly unaware. Wufei didn't think of stopping -- his brain had stopped working the moment he'd agreed to come home with Zechs, really. Instead, he let Zechs kiss him, and he kissed him back, measure for measure, and he did not pause.
Holding Wufei even tighter in his arms, Zechs broke off gently and pressed fevered kisses to the boy's jaw, to his cheeks and the corner of his mouth. Every move was slow, calculated to have the greatest effect and the least intimidation. Each time Zechs's lips explored a little farther, they would come back to Wufei's and take them again, murmuring soft words of affection and tasting everything the Chinese boy had to offer.
Not a single word of resistance was given, only a greedy reciprocation that seemed delicious, those slim arms coming up and around his neck slightly, pressing them closer. "Zechs..." Ah, but that wasn't a protest, either, only the sound of his name on Wufei's breath, delicious to his ears and asking for more of the same.
It was too much to take, and Zechs, falling further into the pleasure of their kisses, pushed Wufei gently backwards, until they both lay on the floor, the larger boy sprawled lightly over the smaller one. Just the position was sheer intoxication for Zechs and he moaned into Wufei's mouth, need and desire in every sound. The slight shift of the other boy's hips beneath him excited him even more, because it was obvious from the hard pressure resting against his belly that Wufei was enjoying himself, too! A little moan spilled out between them, barely a whimper of sound, really, and Wufei's fingers were wrapped in Zechs's soft golden hair as he shuddered with the pleasure of it, giving soft little panting breaths of pleasure.
Just a tiny movement and their cocks rubbed each other. Zechs gave a soft cry, giving a little bite to Wufei's neck where he's been nuzzling. Another movement and this made him gasp -- so little and yet so much feeling. "Ah, Wufei..."
"Ohh!!!" The slender boy beneath him was shivering again, but this time it was with utter rapture. Little squirms seemed to press Wufei closer as he shook his head slightly, opening his throat to Zechs's mouth. "Ooohhh!"
A gentle rhythm seemed to take over Zechs's movements, and he pressed softly against the other boy. He wanted so much, things he didn't even know about really, just knew them as soft aches in his groin, his body seeking its own satisfaction and all he could do was whisper Wufei's name and kiss him until they were both senseless.
With a stuttered little sound, Wufei came, unable to help himself as the ground together. It was too wonderful, heated and all pleasure, and his back arched a little as he found his way to fulfillment, shuddering. "Oh!!!! *Ohhhh!!*"
The noises alone were enough to take Zechs over the edge. He never heard anything so sweet and he buried his head in Wufei's hair, whimpering with each exquisite spasm, left breathless and limp and lying halfway over the other boy.
A few panted moments later and embarrassment seemed to set in, Wufei coming to his senses. /I just came in Zechs's sweatpants!/ he thought, black eyes flying open wide. /Oh, God....!/
Zechs shifted to his side, not quite believing what they'd just done. "Are... are you okay?" he asked. "That was kind of... unexpected..."
"Zechs," Wufei whispered, suddenly a little ashamed. "I just... um, I'm afraid your pants... I..." Oh, he couldn't possibly get any redder! He knew he couldn't!!
"Oh, um... me too," Zechs said sheepishly. "Don't worry about it. Our stuff is probably dry... Want me to go get it?"
Wordlessly, Wufei nodded, giving him a little smile even though he was sort of ashamed. "Please," he murmured, unable to say anything more. It was all so confusing! He was supposed to marry Meiran... If he was supposed to marry Meiran, how... why... *WHY* did he like doing this so much better? Was there something wrong with him?
Reluctantly, Zechs pulled away from him, handing him a small blanket off of his bed. You can use the bathroom to clean up," he said, feeling shy now. "I'll bring your clothes there." He got up and walked, rather stickily, from the room and down to the washer. Thank god his mother hadn't gotten back yet. She was a free spirit, but seeing him like this might test even her limits!
In the bathroom, Wufei stripped, cleaning himself off quickly and then going to work on Zechs's sweatpants, trying to get the creamy stain out. /I can't believe we did that!/ Wufei thought, looking up at himself in the mirror. He was flushed but, oh, it was in such a pretty way, like... like Ran-chan or something, mouth full and flushed, too, and that made him feel awfully funny. /I don't know what I'm doing!/
There was a brief knock, and then the door opened. A solitary hand pushed through, holding his clothing in its fist. "It's all here," Zechs said from the other side.
"Thank you, Zechs," Wufei said shyly, taking them and clutching them to him as the door shut again, the thought running wildly through his head... /What am I doing?/
As for Zechs, he walked back to his room in a daze. There was still a hazy sense of pleasure hanging over him, an unreality that he was afraid to disturb. He got dressed very carefully, trying not to break the spell, staring down at the floor where they'd been. /That was so amazing... I've never felt that good doing *anything* before... even last summer... God I hope he lets me do it again sometime!/
A sound from the hallway turned into Wufei standing at the door, face gorgeously flushed, hair still everywhere. "Um... maybe we should go back to school?" he suggested shyly. He didn't know what else to do or say!
"Uh, yeah..." Zechs said, staring at him with an slightly open mouth. /Did *I* do that to him...?/ "We could --"
At that moment, they heard a key in the door and Zechs's mother called out, "I'm home!"
Zechs nearly jumped. He grabbed the railing along the hallway landing and leaned over, calling, "Mom? Can you give us a ride back to school?"
THAT surprised Noin. She'd figured the boys would spend the rest of the afternoon in Zechsy's room giggling over manga... "Sure thing, ducky. Come on down and we'll head right over!" The clatter of bare feet sounded, both boys on their way down, and if she wasn't wrong, she thought she witnessed the evidence of kissing on both of them. /Well, well, my boy./ "Pull your shoes on," she urged, smiling as Wufei hurried to obey, Zechs right behind him.
"Thanks, mom," he said, unable to quite meet her eye. "If we hurry we can just make the bell for fifth period."
/So we won't get caught skipping,/ Wufei thought with some relief. /Maybe.... I really hope we won't!/
"Tell you boys what, I'll drop you off close to wherever you sneaked out of, even. With umbrellas," Noin said with a smile. "How's that?"
Zechs smiled gratefully at her as they headed out. He could almost feel the tension coming off of Wufei, who had obviously never skipped a day of school in his life. It was the very last thing *he* wanted to do, of course, but he wouldn't dare say that to Wufei.
"Off like a herd of turtles!" Noin declared once they were in the car and on their way. "I'm glad I finally got to meet you, Wufei," she said as they crossed the few blocks to Noventa. "I'm sorry I didn't get to spend more time at the house. You know how it is when you're out of clay and glaze!"
He didn't, but he nodded politely anyway from the back seat and said, "Yes, ma'am. It's nice to meet you, too. I'm very sorry we can't stay longer, only I would really hate to miss school...."
Not that he'd be able to think while he was there anyway!!
She dropped them at the bus stop and drove off as they headed into the trees, coming out on the other side just as the bell was signalling the end of lunch. Their classes were all the way at the other side of campus. Looking over at Wufei, Zechs muttered, "looks like we'll have to run for it."
"Will I see you after school?" Wufei asked him as they began to hurry towards the building. Being a minute or two late would be all right, so long as they weren't skipping!
"I've got a dentist appointment," Zechs said unhappily. "I guess it will have to be lunch tomorrow, but..." He suddenly looked up. "Can I call you tonight?"
"Yeah," Wufei said, waving at him as they reached the main building. They had to go in two separate directions, there. "Talk to you then!"
The blond boy hurried on to his next class, every eye following him as he walked in a minute late. He could have sworn there was a large blinking sign on his forehead that said, 'Just dry humped his best friend'.
No one said anything to him, though, so he settled into his seat with a sigh and waited for the long afternoon to begin. "All right, class, take out your copies of Macbeth and turn to page 34..."
It was eight o'clock that night when, with trembling fingers, Zechs dialed Wufei's number and tried some of his mother's deep breathing exercises as he waited for the phone to be answered.
"Hello?" Ahh, that was Wufei's voice on the other end, a little nervous and soft!
"Hi, Wufei - it's Zechs. Is this an okay time to call? I could call back..."
"Oh, no, no," Wufei replied, sitting at the kitchen table. His parents were in the living room, reading, so it was a perfect time! "Now is fine. I've finished homework and dried dishes, so..."
"Figures," Zechs said warmly. "I've still got Shakespeare to read. I was modeling for my mom."
The question that came next was only natural -- Wufei was a curious boy! "What was she making?"
A bust," Zechs said. "She says she needs more practice with faces, so she's making a bust of me. It's kind of weird, but I don't mind. Gives us lots of time to talk."
"Really?" Ohhh, that made Wufei sort of tentative. "What... did you talk about??" /Today? Did you talk about what we did? I'd be so ashamed if anyone knew I had done that!/ Not because it was with Zechs, but...but because he'd done it with *anyone*!
"Oh, her work, my school stuff, manga -- that kind of thing. We don't see a whole lot of each other what with all her studio time, so we just catch up on things. Today she told me some about my dad."
"Oh?" Wufei asked. His curiosity was back again. "You don't know him really well?"
"No, I've never met him. He left when I was only a couple of weeks old."
"I'm sorry," Wufei said automatically.
"You don't need to be. I never knew him so I never missed him, you know? But I like to hear about him, what he was like, how they met, that kind of stuff. Sounds stupid, doesn't it? But I've always been the romantic type."
At that, heat rose in the Chinese boy's face. "Yeah," he said softly. "I could tell that."
"Oh, sorry," Zechs muttered, suddenly very self-conscious. "Look, about today... I hope I didn't make you mad at me. It just... it just felt really good and, well... it was hard to stop."
"No... it's okay. I mean, I did, too. I mean... ahm, you know...." Wufei trailed off, flushing. "It's really okay. Really."
"You regret it, don't you?" Zechs asked, suddenly bereft. Wufei was acting strangely, embarrassed and... well, maybe like he wished it hadn't happened. "You *are* mad at me."
"No, but..." Wufei breathed out a sigh. "It's hard to talk about on the phone," he confessed. "I don't know."
"I just want you to know... how much I love you," Zechs said, voice low and soft. "I've never felt this way about anyone before and I want to make you understand how important you are to me." There was a pause, a little hesitation and then Zechs's voice again. "I want you to feel the way I do."
"I don't know," Wufei said again softly, dark eyes turning darker. "I don't know what to do, Zechs..." He was so *lost*!
"Well *I* do," Zechs said. "I'm not going away, you know. I don't care what you say about that girl, Wufei, I know you don't want to get married. So I'm going to wait. I'm going to wait until you come to your senses and tell your parents that you don't love her." He stopped talking for a moment and when Wufei said nothing he said in a softer voice, "I'm going to do everything I can to make you love me. And I'm not giving up."
"....." Silence spread momentarily over the phone line. It felt as if no answer would ever come, no answer could be given, and then... "All right," Wufei whispered.
Across town, Zechs held the phone very tightly and smiled into it. "You're going to have to beat me away with a stick if you want me to leave," he said. "You'll see -- I'll make you change your mind. Because you're *my* Wufei. Only mine... so sleep good, okay?"
"Okay," Wufei said softly, face flushed. "All right. Good night... Zechs..."
"Good night, Wufei."
Zechs hung up the phone and then after a moment, wrapped his arms around it and hugged it tightly to him. "Mine."
End of Part One
(:./kumiko/gb1)
