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"Standing Outside the Fire"Written By: Honor Disclaimers: Mine! Mine! Mine! Pairings: 2x5, 3x4 Warnings: AU, language, twisted humor, lime, lemon,
some angst, significant OC, brief moments of sap, romance, a bit of
violence Archived: On Gundam Wing Diaries Betas: Velvet *huggles* Author’s Notes: You know those dreams that
you keep dreaming over and over again for weeks? The ones that don’t
go away until you write them down? Yeah, that’s exactly what
happened. I passed the idea by one of my betas, to see if it was worth
putting on paper. Her response was “Write it. NOW.” So I
wrote it. The rest is…ah, what follows after my insane notes.
Feedback is my diet…and I’m getting
pretty lean so send me something to munch on, okay? Flames will result in me tormenting you for your
inability to read warnings. And I’m good at tormenting. Just
ask the boys. *emphasized* /thought/ //phone// "Standing Outside the Fire"
/Sha zi. I’m flattered, a little, that he would remain true to our betrothal vows. But I hardly expect him to deny himself when we never planned on going through with our parent’s ridiculous notions in the first place!/ The problem was getting her obstinate fia—friend to agree with her. /I don’t care if I have to tie him up and carry him there, I’m not putting up with this for another ten minutes./ Ready for fight or flight, Meiran went hunting. Her quarry, at that moment, was ensconced in a huge reading chair in his room, a book open in his lap. To anyone it would appear that he was totally engrossed in the volume. To Meiran, it looked like he was moping. “Chang, I’m sick of this.” Wufei didn’t even raise his head. He really didn’t feel like dealing with Meiran right at that moment. “Leave me be, woman.” “I’ll not. You’ve been moping around this house for nearly three weeks, and its grating on my nerves. If you want him so badly, then go to him!” Wufei froze, barely daring to breathe. “I’m not an idiot like you are. I can see what’s in front of me. You’ve been in love with him ever since he threw your keys in the pool in order to keep you another two hours. It was obvious to anyone with eyes in their head.” Wufei slammed the book closed. “I cannot. You know I cannot.” “Don’t go there,” she growled. “Neither of us took this so-called engagement of ours seriously. I’m certainly not going to hold you to it. Go to him.” He didn’t say a word, but the battle was clear in his eyes. Honor dictated that he do as his family wished and married Long Meiran. And honor dictated that he go to where his heart yearned, instead of taking vows that he could not keep. Meiran groaned. There were times when Wufei’s sense of honor was a virtue, but there were also times when it was nothing more than a stumbling block as well. /Like now./ “Would it help if I burned our betrothal contract?” The conflict died in his eyes. “That is not necessary. But Meiran…” “Don’t say something ridiculous like ‘he might not want me’.” Her patience, never much to begin with, was paper thin at the moment. He looked away from her, out the window. “There is no guarantee he does. Or would.” That did it. Temper lost, she grabbed his wrist and forcefully tugged him out of the house. Wufei was just startled enough by the move to let her, until they reached the Honda Civic. Then he planted his feet, dragging them both to a stop. “WOMAN! What do you think you’re doing!” She rounded on him, dark eyes flashing. “We are going to Jamie’s house. YOU are going to talk to Duo, confess what you’re feeling, and let things run their course.” Wufei shook his head frantically. “No. Absolutely not. I’m not going *anywhere* with you.” + “Jamie!” Meiran called as she came through the front door. “We’re inviting ourselves in!” “That’s fine!” Jamie called back. A moment later she appeared in the hallway just outside of her study. “Hi! What’s up?” Meiran held up a finger to indicate that she should wait a moment, then turned a pointed look at a pale Wufei behind her. “Do I have to drag you to him?” “I can’t believe you did that.” “You’ll thank me for this later. GO, Chang.” Wufei wasn’t willing to provoke another Tickle Attack, and quickly moved a bit away from her before asking the obvious. “Where’s Duo?” “By the pool, I think.” Jamie watched him go through the house and out the back patio doors before turning a curious look at Meiran. “Just what have you coerced him into doing?” “We broke our engagement this morning,” Meiran informed her, moving so that she could see if Wufei had found Duo. “I got tired of him moping and pining.” Jamie heaved a sigh of relief. “Good. I wasn’t sure how much longer Duo could hold out before he exploded. The only thing keeping him back was you.” Meiran shook her head wryly. “I know. Both of them didn’t want to hurt me, and they were miserable doing it. Idiots. Like I couldn’t see what they were doing. Oh!” She perked up and almost pressed her nose to the glass when she saw Duo wave at Wufei from the pool, getting out to talk to him. “Show time.” + Duo was about to dump Wufei into the pool so that he could keep him for a few hours, but instinct warned him that was a bad idea. Wufei was too tense, and his eyes wouldn’t quite meet the American’s. A nervous knot began to develop in Duo’s stomach. /I haven’t done anything to piss him off, have I?/ “Hey, Fei. What’s up?” Duo’s voice was bright, eyes confused and a little worried. Wufei’s mouth worked for a minute, but the words ‘I love you’ kept choking him before he could get them out of his throat. After a long moment, he changed what he wanted to say into “We…broke off our engagement.” Seeing a spark of relief flash through Duo’s eyes, he found the emotional courage to continue. /Ancestors help me, I can’t lose him by fumbling this./ “Meiran…refuses to stay engaged to someone when she knows that they are in love with someone else.” It was hard, but Duo struggled not to jump to conclusions. /Just because he’s telling me this doesn’t mean that he’s in love with me. Get a grip, Maxwell./ His voice was tactfully neutral. “I can’t blame her. I wouldn’t want to do that either.” Wufei stepped forward a pace, his body moving of its own violation. “Duo…I…” /Zhou ma! Why can’t I tell him?!/ His hand clenched by his side, eyes searching Duo’s frantically for any hint of acceptance or hope. /He’s not even sure what I’m asking. And apparently it is beyond me to tell him straight out… Screw it./ Lunging forward he caught Duo by one hand around the back of the neck and pressed a quick kiss against his mouth. There was a brief impression of warm lips, hot breath, then Wufei had pulled away from him. On the second try Duo managed to swallow against his tight throat. Great god in heaven, did that mean…? “Fei…you mean to say that it’s…me?” Wufei nodded almost imperceptibly, flicking his tongue almost nervously around his mouth. He could catch a hint of how Duo tasted on his lips, and it only made him more nervous. /Say you love me back. Say that you CAN love me back. Damn you, Duo, say anything but just don’t stand there staring at me wide-eyed like that./ Duo was torn on how to react. His mind supplied at least three different ways to show how he felt about this, and it took a moment for him to decide which way to go. For the first time in his memory he had no idea what to say. Nothing seemed adequate. Finally he threw himself at Wufei, hugging him tightly. With eyes screwed shut against tears of relief he whispered, “Thank God. Thank God.” /He…loves me too?/ This was so different from how he imagined things would go, it took a second for Wufei to realize that he had won. He had gained the one thing he feared he would never have. Almost shyly he raised his hands up to Duo’s back and returned the hug. Duo relaxed against him once he felt Wufei’s arms close around him. Lifting his head he looked into those dark, slightly dazed eyes and smiled. “I love you, too.” Wufei whispered his lips against Duo’s, giddy and smiling like an absolute idiot. With a soft ‘mmm’ Duo tilted his head to accept the kiss and deepen it. Their arms shifted around each other, turning the embrace into a full body contact, tongues darting out to tease the other’s. “Now that one definitely had some tongue action in it,” Meiran’s voice observed brightly. With a gasp the two broke apart, spinning toward the French doors. Jamie stood with the digital camera in hand, clicking away like mad; Trowa with the video camera, grinning; Quatre and Heero were just watching and doing sideline commentary for the camera. Wufei flushed from the tips of his toes to the root of his hair. “Aw, how cute! A full body flush!” Jamie put the camera down long enough to indulge in a chuckle. “I’ve never seen one of those in real life,” Trowa murmured. “How very interesting.” Duo flipped them both off, sticking out his tongue for good measure and grabbed Wufei by the hand. “Come on. I know a good place for some privacy where we don’t have to worry about pesky relatives.” “Ah…right.” Wufei was more than willing to go wherever Duo led, as long as it was away from *them*. Duo stopped abruptly, nearly causing Wufei to crash into him. He turned and gave Meiran a soft smile. “Hey, Mei-rei? Thanks.” She gave him a thumb’s up. “I couldn’t take his moping anymore.” “I wasn’t moping!” Wufei glared at her. “Sulking, then.” “I wasn’t sulking either!” “Alright. What would you call it?” Meiran inquired sweetly. “…contemplating.” “Riiiight.” “Wooooommmaaaaannnn~!” ~*~*~*~ Honor: *does a computer chair dance* Another one bites
the dust! Do-do-todo-do-do Another one bites the dust!
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