Howdy, y'all! ^_^ Some of you may know that I recently hit 40,000 on my GWA page. Megan K. was my 40,000th visitor, and her request for a gift fic was a flufflet with Wufei and Duo. Now, I really did intend to write a brand-new story for my gift-fic, but... Tzi and I had this one already mostly done and collecting cobwebs. So! I dusted it off, and we tweaked it a little, and here it is - one genuine fluffy Duo and Wufei-type thingie! Megan, I hope you enjoy it, and thank you!
I guess I should go ahead and mention that we don't own Gundam Wing, and this fanfic is not meant to be taken as a claim to copyright of the characters or situations which were not created by us. Also, we're not making a penny off of this, and no offense or disrespect is intended towards the creators and rightful owners. There are characters from other anime series making cameo appearances later on, and we don't own them, either, nor is any offense intended by our misusing them the way we have. *^_^*
"I thought that was supposed to be the warmup," Gourry said some time later, after the football players had recovered consciousness. Fortunately for Gourry, Ranma was too sore and tired to whap him on the head.
Yamcha groaned, reaching out and thwapping in Gourry's general direction, missing by a mile. "Uh.... maybe the little ones will be easier..."
"Yeah..." Ranma replied, grunting as he staggered to his feet. Who'd have thought those two pretty little sissy-boys could pack such a wallop? "C'mon, guys, let's see if we can find the little ones. We'll show them who's boss!"
Wufei sat in the second floor study parlor, fingers lightly dancing over one end of the piano keys as Heero played on the other end. It had been a rather startling revelation, that *HEERO*, of all people, knew how to play the piano, but that he knew the same classical pieces Wufei did... well! That was entirely pleasant, and they'd been playing together with the doors shut for almost an hour, so that even if someone could *hear* them, no one would see them. Wufei rather thought he'd die if somebody saw him playing the piano. That was *his* secret, and a well-kept one. He suspected that Heero felt the same.
Heero, for his part, was delightedly enjoying the lilting tune he and Wufei were creating when suddenly the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. He froze, and turned to face the door a fraction of a second before it opened.
"Well, well, well," Vegeta purred from the doorway. "Lookee what we've got here. Two little- bitty pretty boys playing piano! Kinda queer, wouldn't you say?"
Both of Wufei's eyebrows shot straight up as he looked at the bruised crew in the door. "Deep subject for such a shallow mind, wouldn't you say?"
Heero merely raised an eyebrow, automatically taking stock of the newcomers as they crowded into the room and loomed threateningly.
"Hey! We are *not* shallow!" Gourry said indignantly, wincing as Ranma whapped him on the head.
"We're not here to *talk* with 'em, remember?" Ranma asked, then turned to face the soon-to-be- battered piano players. "We're here to teach them a lesson." Seeing the slight smirk pulling at Heero's lips, he snarled, "What are you smiling at, faggot? You want some of this?"
"Are you trying to pick a fight?" Heero asked, cocking his head to the side curiously. It was certainly a strange way to go about it, if they were. He was more accustomed to fights that started out with a gunshot or a missile or two.
"Yeah!" Ranma yelled, wadding up a booklet of sheet music and throwing it at Heero. "Come and get me, you little creep!"
"Ryokai," Heero answered with a negligent shrug. Since Peace had settled over the Earth and Colonies, he supposed a paper missile would have to do for a fight-starter.
Heero's calm was certainly a thing to see; but after seeing the music wadded up into a ball and thrown, Wufei's *fury* was a much worse thing to see.
"This," he told the football players, "is going to hurt... YOU."
With a sneer, Yamcha and Vegeta closed in, moving towards the little Chinaman.
"...did we teach 'em a lesson, boss?" Gourry mumbled, and if Ranma hadn't been so battered that he could barely move, he would have knocked that empty blond head till what passed for Gourry's brain rattled.
"Shut up," he snapped, dragging his reluctant body upright by force of sheer will. "Any of you so much as breathes a *word* of this to anyone, and I'll kill you."
"Ok, boss," Gourry said meekly. "Would you like me to help untie the piano wire?"
"Yes!" Ranma shouted. "Get me the hell outta this mess, before someone comes in. With our luck, *we'll* end up getting the blame for ruining the piano, if anyone sees us!"
"Ahem," said a voice from the doorway. Ranma and the others turned, eyes wide with horror, to see the music professor giving them the Icy Glare of Death (TM).
Wufei nodded grimly at Heero as they approached their rooms. "That takes care of *that*," he pronounced with firm vindication.
"It was over too soon," Heero grumbled. "No satisfaction in it."
Sighing, Wufei nodded. "Defeating the weak because you are strong is never satisfactory," he agreed.
"Nh." Heero thought about it for a moment. "Doughnuts would be satisfying, though. Would you like to go to the doughnut shop?"
"If you'll buy the doughnuts, I'll buy the milk," Wufei offered agreeably.
"Ah," Heero said quietly. He wondered if there were any subtle way of asking to invite Quatre along, decided he was being ridiculously teenager-y about the whole thing, and added, "we should invite Duo and Quatre. It would be polite."
The two of them glanced away from one another, and Wufei felt his own cheeks heating up. "Yes," he agreed, fidgeting slightly. "That would be polite. Do you suppose they're back from the library yet?"
"Probably," Heero answered. "I doubt it would take either of them much time to do the project."
"Mmm," Wufei agreed, opening the door to his room and peering in. "Duo's not back yet."
"Hn," Heero said, trying to hide his disappointment.
"Try your room," Wufei prompted.
"Ah."
"Heero!" Duo cried as the former soldier opened the door to his room. Heero blinked in surprise as he noted that Duo was just tying off the end of his neatly-redone braid, and Quatre was buttoning up his shirt. Damn, he'd missed a chance to see the hair? And Quatre without his shirt? And... had those two... nah, couldn't be.
"What happened?" he asked, hoping that his tone didn't sound surly or impolite.
"Had a little tussle with some homophobes," Duo replied, grinning. "Worked up an appetite. Are you hungry? And have you seen Wufei anywhere?"
The Chinese boy peeked over Heero's shoulder. "We were going to go for doughnuts," he said inanely, tilting his head to the side. "Now that the piano wire's ruined."
Heero stifled a sigh of relief at the explanation; after all, Duo never lied. Then he turned partway to see Wufei. "It's not ruined; once they untie it, it'll be recyclable."
"What'd you do to the piano?" Duo asked. "I thought you guys were gonna go run laps at the gym."
"Er..." Heero hoped that the blush heating his face wasn't a noticeable one. "Had a little tussle with some homophobes."
"Ah," Duo said, nodding wisely. "That explains the piano wire. Granny knots, or square knots?"
"Larkspur hitch," Wufei said easily.
Quatre only laughed softly at that, hugging Heero once he saw the bright blush the other boy was now sporting. "I wonder if it was the same ones.... If they do it again..." His face darkened slightly, and they all knew what *that* meant.
"If whaffump muffool blare," Heero replied, unwilling to back away from the embrace even though his words were hopelessly muffled against Quatre's chest. Hesitantly his arms circled Quatre's waist and gave him a gentle return squeeze.
"It was the football players?" Duo repeated, grinning. "Those are the same guys, then." Heero might have denied the existence of tact in Duo Maxwell's repertoire, but the long-haired boy carefully didn't mention the fact that Heero was actually *hugging* Quatre *in front of them.* It wouldn't do to embarrass him into spontaneously combusting, after all. Instead, he settled for gently nudging Wufei and grinning like a kid at Christmas, because nothing could make him happier than seeing Heero and Quatre get together... except, perhaps...
He deliberately broke that train of thought, knowing that impossible dreams, no matter how lovely, are nevertheless impossible. Wufei was straight, and there was just no getting around the fact. He stifled a sigh, and concentrated on how happy he'd be for Heero and Quatre.
If he'd only looked, he'd have seen that same wistful expression on Wufei's face as he watched, followed by deliberate self-loathing. /I'm not *worthy* of any sort of affection, from... from Duo or anybody else./ Meiran had taught him that... hadn't she?
"Tell you what," Quatre was saying by the time Wufei stopped berating himself. "Let's go out to eat. *REAL* food, okay? I'm buying!" It was a marvelous excuse to take Heero out, and he was positively flushed from the thought.
"Voumph gupha me," Heero said.
"Yeah, sounds good to me, too," Duo replied, laughing. "As long as there's no asparagus, right, Wu-chan?" Greatly daring, he slung a comradely arm over Wufei's shoulders and gently guided him from the room. "C'mon, old man, we'd better get washed up. Just don't try any creative piano-wire tricks on me."
"You have to eat your vegetables," Wufei told him as they exited the room, sounding little-old- lady-ish.
"Aw, but that would be good for me!" Duo said in a mock whine. "Can't have that, Wu-man. C'mon, if Quatre's paying we're probably gonna have to get duded up."
Once they were gone, Quatre hugged Heero again, and smiled. "You know," he said very quietly, "they'd make a *cute* couple."
Heero merely nodded in reply, afraid of breaking the moment. He was beginning to think he'd never get enough of Quatre, of just being close to him. He closed his eyes, drinking in the sweetness and security of being wrapped up in Quatre's arms, surrounded by his scent. No, he'd definitely never get enough of it.
With his arm still resting on Wufei's shoulders, Duo wasn't able to unlock the door, so he reluctantly pulled away from Wufei's warm, compact body and breezed into the room, hurriedly going to splash cold water on his face. The shock of it was enough to dampen the sharp, needy urges he'd been feeling, and he turned to face Wufei with a close approximation of his usual confident smile.
"Maxwell," Wufei said softly, chewing at his bottom lip yet again. "I..." He paused, letting out an inaudible sigh. He simply couldn't. He... couldn't, even though those football players knew. A mortified flush crept over his cheeks at the thought. /If everyone knows, then why would it matter?/ The answer was really simple, when he got right down to it. /Because I still want him to be my friend.../
"Sorry about that, Wu-chan," Duo said, shamefacedly. "I don't mean to be presuming, or at least not with you. Anyway, I'm gonna go take a shower. Be back in a few." With that, he scooped up his toiletries and all but ran out of the room, reminding himself sternly -- AGAIN -- that Wufei was Off Limits.
A cold shower wouldn't hurt.
The slump that momentarily took over Wufei in that moment was probably unnoticeable, to most anyone else, maybe even to Duo. He sighed again, quietly, and said, "All right. I think I'll just change clothes."
Twenty minutes later, Duo was dressed, ready, and chilled to the bone. He carefully tucked his dusky-violet silk shirt into the tight, black jeans he wore, then donned his favorite black leather jacket with a practiced flip of the braid.
"Ready, Wu-chan?" he asked, forcing a bright smile as he watched Wufei tugging his tank top in place. Damn, that cold shower hadn't been long enough...
"Yes," Wufei said simply, buckling his belt over the lightweight white silk pants and pulling on the matching Chinese over-shirt. "I am."
"Uh... yeah. Yeah," Duo said, forcing himself to swallow. Mentally berating himself for drooling over a straight guy, he grabbed up his keys and led the way to the door.
Quatre and Heero waited in the hallway outside, close together as they leaned against the wall beside their door.
"That took long enough," Quatre teased lightly, tugging his own carefully pressed shirt down to his wrists. He seemed to just keep growing... and he'd been worried he'd never get any bigger! Ha!
Heero was busy resisting the urge to fidget with the cuffs of his own shirt, or to straighten his tie, so in an effort to distract himself from the desire to preen he noticed rather more than he would have normally. If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he would never have believed that Duo Maxwell could make google-eyes at anybody without cracking up, let alone at Wufei.
Hiding a smile behind his hand with a delicate fake cough, Heero composed himself and said, "Shall we go?"
"I refuse to ride on the side with no seatbelt," Wufei said suspiciously as they moved to the door.
The ride to the restaurant was a mostly uneventful one. Heero gladly sat in the back behind Duo so Wufei could have the seatbelt; the benefit for Heero was that he now had a mostly unobstructed view of Quatre. Duo received something of a surprise as he glanced in the rear-view mirror. If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he'd never have believed that Heero Yuy was capable of making google-eyes at anybody, let alone Quatre. Coughing to mask a laugh, Duo clicked the radio on.
"You guys wanna hear some music?" he asked, biting the insides of his cheeks to keep from grinning.
"Not any of that loud stuff," Wufei said sternly.
Quatre smiled. "Something classical would be nice."
Duo sighed inwardly -- loud music would have been a welcome distraction -- and found a classical station, then settled back comfortably in his seat and forced himself to concentrate his attention on the road. He couldn't resist occasionally glancing in the rear-view mirror to catch a glimpse of Wufei, but he hoped nobody would notice.
Heero smiled softly, thinking that Quatre's choice had been perfect. The music added a magical, ethereal quality to the atmosphere which Heero found almost as enchanting as Quatre himself. For the most part, the soft strains of violin kept the blond Arabian entranced; eyes closed, head tilted back on the headrest, long legs squished despite the fact that he was not in the back seat. He hummed slightly along with the sounds, entirely pleased with himself. Things were moving at a nice pace with Heero -- he could feel it -- and that was even more pleasant. As for Wufei and Duo...
Quatre sighed slightly, opening his eyes to glance to the side and catching Duo glancing into the rear- view mirror. He wondered when Duo would realize that what he felt for Wufei would be entirely reciprocated. For that matter, he wondered when Wufei would come to the same conclusion! /For intelligent guys, they're sometimes rather *dense*,/ he thought to himself, eyes closing again. He hoped Duo would realize something soon -- he knew full well that Wufei would never do anything about it.
The Chinese ex-pilot sat in the back seat, happy to be where he was, to hear the music flooding the raggedy little car. He had the seatbelt, for which he was grateful (Duo's driving skills really DID make his hair want to stand on end!), they'd had a good rousing fight, he was in the company of very good friends... still, he sighed. /If only..../
"Well, we're here," Duo said. "Was that a smooth enough stop for you, Wu-chan? I did my best." He grinned less than humbly as the others seemed to suddenly realize the car was parked.
"Not bad," Heero conceded, sighing quietly as Duo shut off the engine, cutting off the music and breaking the mood. "Let's see how you do on the ride home."
Wufei sniffed. "I haven't lost any limbs, so it must have been all right. You drive too fast, Duo." The name alone revealed much of the tender thoughts that had been occupying his mind, and he flushed slightly.
"We *are* all here in one piece, though," Quatre said jauntily, removing his seatbelt. "That's the important part!"
Duo hadn't missed the familiar use of his name, and he turned to smile at Wufei before gracefully climbing out of the car. He wished that Wufei hadn't sat on the other side, because he would have liked to help the Chinese boy out of the car... well, hell. He just wanted any reasonable excuse he could think of to touch Wufei or at least be near him. As it was, he ended up trying not to dither as Heero clambered out beside him. He doubted an offer of help would be well-received by the former Perfect Soldier.
On the other side of the car, Quatre had unfolded himself and was standing tall beside it as he watched Wufei struggle his way out of the back seat, short leg searching for the pavement before finally gaining solid ground.
"I'm starving!" the tall blond said with an utterly angelic smile. "I hope everyone else is, too!"
"Oh, yeah!" Duo agreed enthusiastically, and circled around the car to help Wufei to his feet. He didn't care if Heero and Quatre laughed at him and Wufei got irritated; he wasn't just going to stand there and watch Wufei struggle to get out by himself.
Heero quirked an eyebrow, noting the show of chivalry, then his eyes automatically turned toward Quatre. Quatre was smiling, and Heero felt an odd, weightless sensation in his chest. He wondered if it would be polite to tell Quatre that being around him was like being in zero gravity.
Surprisingly enough, Wufei made no complaint about being helped out of the car. He simply mumbled something about being a dwarf and turned red, shifting helplessly for a moment before he gave Duo a tentative and very rare smile.
Duo smiled in return, clapped a friendly hand on Wufei's shoulder and left it there just a fraction longer than necessary, then, blushing slightly, went about locking up the car.
It was so encouraging that Quatre almost cheered. Instead, he turned to Heero and offered him the sweetest of smiles. "Shall we?" he said.
"Yes, let's," Heero replied, a tiny smile curving his lips as he all but floated into the restaurant. /Just like zero gravity,/ he thought, and his smile widened slightly.
End Part 9
Yoiko
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