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"Caught Between Two Worlds"Written By: Honor Disclaimers: Never say die! Never surrender! Pairings: 4x5, 1x3 established Spoilers: Nope! Warnings: AU, paranormal elements, yaoi, romance,
my weird and twisted humor, language, brief violence Rating: I’m thinking…NC-15 Betas: Velvet and Caitilin Archived: Gundam Wing Diaries and http://honordemandoren.livejournal.com/ Author’s Insane and often Incomprehensible
Rambling: Once again, I can blame this plot bunny on someone! I love
being able to do that. It means nothing is my fault. Emily quite nicely
asked for a story for her birthday. (Hi Emily! Sorry it’s late.)
So here it is. Em, I *still* think you bribed Quatre somehow. And
your story about Milo inspired the plot for this, so the whole thing
really can be blamed on you. *grin* ::ghost talking:: *emphasized* <phone conversation>
" Caught Between Two Worlds"
It was late at night—my eyes were too out of focus to see the time on my alarm clock on the nightstand—and I was still mostly asleep. Unfortunately, I had a jabbering ghost right next to my head that was being very persistent. I cracked open an eye to see who it was this time. He was probably in his late forties—or had been, before he died. Very agitated, but then ghosts usually were. Considering how strong his spirit was my guess is that he’d only been dead a few hours, if that. Darn. It was the recently dead that was the most persistent. Groaning, I shoved an arm underneath me and propped myself up a little. “What do you need?” Because I knew he needed something. ::Please come with me! I need to tell my wife something, but she can’t hear me!:: I finally got my eyes focused enough to make out the time. Four-thirty. Why do people die so freakin’ early in the morning? “Okay, okay. Let me get dressed.” By the time I stumbled out of bed, into clothes, and let myself out of the house it was closer to five. I’m not very functional in the mornings, but then I doubt anyone is functional at four-thirty. There was one upside to this, however. Being up so early meant that I could talk to the ghost out loud without looking insane. This is a plus, believe me. I stopped in front of my house, looking up at him. “Which way?” He smiled at me, so obviously relieved that I was going to help him. ::She’s in the Harwood Hospital right now.:: That was roughly four blocks from where I lived. I nodded and, stifling another yawn, started walking down the street. “So what do you need to tell her?” I was really praying it wasn’t something too personal. I’ve had ghosts wake me up before to convince their spouse that they had a lovechild somewhere that needed to be taken care of. Those kinds of messages were absolutely no fun, let me tell you. ::My wife is a very firm believer in psychics. She has one with her right now that is trying to convince her that I want her to sell the house and live in some kind of commune for the rest of her life.:: I didn’t need to ask what his opinion of this was. The disgusted expression on his face was very clear. “Ah. Well, I’m going to need to know certain things that only you and she will know. Just to convince her that I’m telling the truth. Is she sensitive at all?” Most people that believed in psychics weren’t, by some odd twist of fate. ::No. I’ve been yelling at her for the past hour and she never even batted an eye.:: Figures. I was about to ask him another question when something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. Ever had the feeling that you shouldn’t look, but you do so anyway? Wufei was standing just beside a house, obviously on the way inside, dressed only in loose pants. He was sweating heavily, hair sticking to his face. Had he been exercising? Who exercises at five in the morning? I couldn’t look away from him, slightly flushed from exertion, all smooth muscle and glistening skin. Actually, he looked good enough to eat. That only made the whole situation worse. He was staring at me with the oddest look on his face, and I just knew that he had seen me talking to the ghost. Only from his viewpoint, it would look like I was talking to thin air. Despite my words to Duo earlier, I really had hoped that this time I might have a chance with someone I liked. That hope shattered completely as I looked at him. I just wanted to cry, or hide somewhere for the next century. The ghost turned to see where I was looking, and he grew still for a moment. ::Friend of yours?:: Not anymore. I just shook my head and kept walking. I could feel Wufei’s eyes on me until I turned the corner, and out of his line of sight. Only then could I really breathe easy. ::Sorry.:: He did sound honestly contrite. “It’s okay,” I assured him quietly. Actually, it wasn’t, but I couldn’t blame this on him. “Don’t worry about it.” I needed to change the subject. I just couldn’t focus on what had happened with Wufei. “Is there anything you can think of that only you and your wife would know?” As I waited for the answer, a small part of my mind wondered what might have happened, if Wufei hadn’t caught me like this. It was foolish to even think like that, and I shoved the thought out angrily. I wouldn’t think about that. I wouldn’t. + It took several hours to convince the ghost’s wife that her psychic was a lying bitch, and explain what the ghost had set up for her in the case of his death. By the time I ran home, got changed, and headed to school I was thirty minutes late. This just wasn’t going to be my week. My history teacher gave me an arch look when I came in, but I tried to ignore it. I came in late so many times, it was no wonder that I was on his black list. I just sat down as quickly as possible, yanked out my notebook and started taking notes. The class bell rang, at which point I quickly grabbed everything and bolted out the door before Mr. Johnson could catch me. I didn’t need another ‘lecture’ on being on time. Duo caught up to me just as I reached my locker. “Hey Q! I take it that you had another late night visitor?” I sighed, slamming my history book inside the locker with a tad more force than necessary. “More like early morning visitor.” Duo winced. “Sorry, man. What time did you get up this time?” “Four-thirty.” “Ewwww.” Duo, even as a morning person, did not choose to get up before seven. “No wonder you’re in a bad mood.” I hesitated, almost tempted to tell him that being woken up before dawn was only half the reason. No…no, I didn’t want to focus on that. And if I mentioned it then Duo would know I had, in fact, really liked Wufei and started to hope for something. No, it was better if I just stayed quiet. “I guess I’ll eventually get used to this. Let’s get going, we’re going to be late to the next class.” + The problem with high school is that you’re jamming roughly three thousand people filled with hormones and little self-control or morals into one place—without any real control over the situation. The average teenager didn’t have a lot of tolerance for the different, and when you put a group of them together, whatever tolerance they might have had was chucked out the window. I had three strikes against me. One, I was ‘weird’ because I was a Sensitive and could hear and see something that they couldn’t prove existed. Two, I was *not* physically imposing in the slightest and looked like an easy target. And last but not least, I was gay. I might as well have painted a target on my forehead. Most people left me alone, on a day to day basis. That probably had something to do with Duo, Heero and Trowa. The last time that I had been ambushed, I’d fought my way out of it but at a price. My arm had been broken, and I’d had a slight concussion from having my head thrown against a locker. When my three best friends found out, they had retaliated like a Fury. My attackers had actually wound up in the hospital. Ever since then, people were very cautious on how rough they treated me. I let them get by with hassling, because I’m not going to develop the habit of whining over every little thing. I can take care of myself. Unfortunately, they knew I wasn’t going to rat them out on the small things and pushed their limits every chance they got. The worst offender was Dan Wilkinson. He was the star wrestler of the school, and by far the most pigheaded ass that has ever walked the earth. His best friend, Nichol, was just as bad. Every week or so they’d suddenly remember that I existed and show up just to give me a hard time. I’d barely gotten my locker open during break when I was abruptly body checked into it. I didn’t have to look up to know who it was. Dammit, this was a really rotten day. Maybe I should ditch the rest of school and go home, climb into my bed, and pull the covers over my head. “Hello, Dan,” I grumbled. “Hey, it’s the faggot!” Dan’s voice was so loud, every person within a five-mile radius probably heard him. “Whatcha doin’ here, queer? Didn’t I tell you I didn’t want to see your scrawny ass here again?” I didn’t care if he outweighed me by a hundred pounds of muscle. I refused to be intimidated. I looked him straight in the eye, playing it cool and amused. “Why Dan, have you been checking me out again? You know your girlfriend is going to get jealous.” He went so red I thought for a second a blood vessel had popped. “Shut up ass-kisser! Get lost!” “Dan, they took a vote on who would be the center of the universe last night, and I hate it to break it to you…but it wasn’t you.” I turned my English book in my hands sideways, ready to jam it into his sternum and run for it. He actually started to go purple in rage, shaking like he was plugged into a live wire. “That’s it, you’re dead—” Before either of us could move, a hand shot out, grabbing Dan by his hair and jerking him down to his knees. I was so unbalanced by this unexpected rescue it took a second for me to realize that Dan was actually kneeling in front of me, whimpering in pain. Then it took another second for me to recognize *who* was saving me. …Wufei? *Chang Wufei had come to my rescue*?! I just stood there gaping as Wufei jerked his handful of hair, making Dan’s neck snap back into a painful angle. Those wicked black eyes were hard like black granite as they looked down into Dan’s face. “Are you bothering my friend, Wilkinson?” Dan’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. After a second he swallowed hard and rasped, “You hangin’ out with faggots now, Chang? Oh wait, I forgot, you *are* a faggot.” The whole world took on a surreal feeling. No way. I just couldn’t believe this. Wufei was gay? “Yes, I am,” Wufei returned with deceptive mildness. He leaned down slightly, pinning Dan in place with his eyes. “I’m your worst nightmare, Wilkinson—I’m a queer that fights back. I’m going to say this only once—do not hurt my friend. Don’t even acknowledge that he exists. If he has bruises, you’re going to have broken bones. Am I clear?” If someone had told me that Dan Wilkinson was afraid of anything, I would have laughed in their face and asked if they were adjusting their medication. Wufei was half this guy’s size, but Dan was shaking in sheer raw terror at his feet. He finally closed his eyes and croaked, “Got it.” “Excellent.” Wufei casually let go and walked around him to stand next to me. I couldn’t help but stare up at him in astonishment. This morning he saw me—I *know* he saw me! But he was acting like nothing was out of the ordinary, and that I was his friend, and…this whole thing was making me dizzy. I jerked around before I could keep staring at him and quickly grabbed the last book that I needed out of my locker. I could hear Dan scrambling to his feet and quickly retreating. I think he left tread marks on the floor he ran so fast. Only then did I calm down a little. Venturing a peek up at Wufei I gave him a smile. “Thanks.” “How badly are you hurt?” A shiver raced down my spine, setting up warm chills as I looked up into those concerned eyes. Why does he even care? Why is he doing any of this? “Just a bruise, I think. Nothing to worry about.” What I was more concerned with at the moment was something else entirely. I did not feel comfortable talking about it in a crowded hallway, however. Maybe Wufei reads minds. He grabbed me by the wrist and started towing me down the hallway. Confused, I just followed along as he dragged me into the library, then into one of the back ‘study’ rooms. They were pretty much soundproof, so I was guessing whatever Wufei wanted to say to me was something he didn’t want overheard. I admit that I tensed up a little when he closed the door and faced me. He’s just a little scary when he focuses on something. “Quatre, about this morning—” Oh. That. I waved it away before he could complete the sentence. “I know. It looked weird, like I was talking to myself. I can explain—” “You don’t have to explain,” he interrupted. I froze. What did he just say? My head snapped around so that I could look at him. He saw me talking to thin air and doesn’t need an explanation for it? There’s no way…wait, maybe he is like me… A slight smile tilted his mouth as he shook his head. “No, Quatre, I’m not a Sensitive. Not like you. My cousin is, however. Actually, most of my family is to one degree or another. I’m considered the odd one in the family because I can’t sense anything at all.” Oh. I deflated a little. But only a little. “Then, you know that I was talking to a ghost this morning, right? That I’m not crazy and just holding conversations with myself?” “I recognized what you were doing,” he assured me dryly. “I’ve seen Meiran do the same thing millions of times before.” My relief was so strong at hearing that it nearly bowled me over. “I’m so glad. I was wondering how to explain without sounding even crazier.” My bad week had suddenly morphed into a great day. Apparently, minor miracles are possible. Thank god. The warning bell rang shrilly over our heads. I gave it an annoyed glare. I want to talk to Wufei more! Curses. He was wearing the same annoyed expression, then sighed in resignation. “Come, we can’t be late for class. I’ll meet you at Campbell’s room during lunch? I want a rematch.” I grinned at his challenging stare. Maybe I can do a little teasing. “Now, Wufei,” my tone was slightly patronizing, “you can’t beat me. Just give it up.” “For that comment alone, Winner, you *are* going down.” Well. This ought to be an interesting game. ~*~*~*~ Honor: Note to Caitlin. That comment about ‘ghost
to ghost networking’ you made on this fic had me in stitches.
I just *had* to include it.
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