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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"
Chapter Fourteen: What matters most To knock a thing down, especially if it is cocked at
an arrogant angle, is a deep delight of the blood.
“That’s a stupid question, Q,” Duo told him cheerfully. “Fudge doesn’t last three hours in this house.” Wufei looked at the clock on the DVD player and raised a dubious eyebrow at the blond. “It’s almost eleven.” “So?” Quatre replied defensively. “I still want chocolate.” “Uh-huh.” Trowa looked at him sideways. “Is there something we need to know about…?” Quatre glared at him darkly. “Ha ha. Duo, go to the store with me.” Duo considered this. “Do I get to drive?” “Sure.” “Let’s go.” + They barely made it in and out of the local Albertson’s before it closed, but they managed it. As they walked out of the store, Duo noticed that there was another car parked near his. In the nearly desolate parking lot, that was a little odd. Four beefy teenagers were leaning on it, and they turned to watch Duo and Quatre approach. Quatre stiffened in alarm as he recognized Rodney. “This…really isn’t good.” “Nope.” Duo’s voice was cheerful, but he was carefully looking around them to see if there were anyone dumb enough to try to ambush them. It didn’t look like it, which meant that the four ahead of them were the only ones they had to worry about. Good. “Hey, Q-man how good are you at bloodying people up?” “I’ve been in Hopkiddo and Tae Kwon Do since I was six,” Quatre answered shortly. “Then I’ll let you handle the two bastards on the right, and I’ll handle the bastards on the left.” Quatre recognized the tone of voice and looked sharply at his friend. Duo was wearing a strange half-smile, and he swallowed hard as he realized that it wasn’t Duo any longer. Shinigami moved forward, loose and easy. “Hiya.” “Oooh,” Rodney muttered, a glint of satisfaction in his eyes. “*Two* fags. We got lucky tonight, guys.” “Yeah, lucky,” Shinigami purred. “Or we should say *un*lucky.” Quatre carefully slid their package in the front seat, out of the way, before moving to stand a little to the side of Duo. “Don’t kill them,” he murmured to Duo. “Naw,” Duo muttered back “where’s the fun in that?” Quatre held some hope at that moment that this wouldn’t end in body-bags. Duo apparently hadn’t gone completely Shinigami. Maybe if they got out of there without fighting at all— Rodney stopped leaning against his car and rose to his full height, cracking his knuckles. “I get blondie.” Duo moved so fast that Quatre wasn’t sure if he even really saw him move. One moment Rodney was cracking his knuckles—the next he was trying to put his broken jaw back together with his hands, screaming inarticulately in pain. Shinigami landed in a defensive crouch from the kick he delivered, taking only a moment before diving to the left. Quatre took that as a signal of sorts and went for the one closest to him. Aaron saw the defenseless looking blond go for him and grinned. Now this was more like it. He cocked back a fist and threw a punch for Winner’s face. Maybe if he bloodied him up a little, then he would learn to be afraid of them. Quatre shifted aside, letting the fist fly by his face. He caught it easily in one hand, putting his other hand under Aaron’s elbow. Before the other could quite comprehend that he was no longer in control of the situation, Quatre heaved upwards, breaking Aaron’s elbow and dislocating his shoulder. Aaron screamed in pain and blindly lashed out, striking Quatre against the cheek. Quatre saw the blow and avoided the brunt of it, but still staggered slightly at the impact. He caught the teenager’s uninjured arm and twisted it sideways, forcing his opponent to double over immediately if he didn’t want his other arm dislocated. Then without compunction he slammed him headfirst into their car. Duo slipped sideways as Jenkins lunged for him. The idiot had better reflexes than Duo had imagined he possessed and managed to stumble back out of Duo’s range before he could sweep his legs out from under him. But the move had disturbed whatever balance he had, and when Shinigami came for him again he wasn’t steady enough on his feet to avoid it. Duo caught him by his hair and slammed Jenkin’s head down onto his rising kneecap. The fragile bones of the nose broke under the pressure, splattering blood everywhere. Duo let him drop, spinning to see how Quatre was doing. Quatre was doing fine. The last member of this bigoted quest hadn’t the same skill as his other three friends. His punch had been very sloppy, and easily caught in the Arabian’s hand. Quatre twisted it up behind his back, letting him meet the trunk of his car with more intimacy than most wanted to experience. “I’m going to let you walk away with nothing more than a bruise,” Quatre hissed in his ear. “And the only reason why I’m going to let you is because your three friends are in no shape to get themselves to a hospital. Be grateful I was here, because if you had taken on Duo alone, he wouldn’t have spared you.” Duo was standing in the middle of the massacre, shaking a little. “They went down too easy.” Quatre froze up at what was before his eyes. If Duo had been only half-way in Shinigami before, that wasn’t true now. The fight had pushed him completely over. Quatre approached warily, wishing desperately that his boyfriend or Heero were here. Their input would have been a godsend right about now. Duo didn’t move when he put his arms around him, so Quatre tightened his hold. “Duo. Calm down. The bad guys have been vanquished. Just calm down.” Shinigami shivered, but it wasn’t from the night air. “I need to finish them off. They’ll try again and hurt you if I don’t finish them off.” “Shh. They won’t try this again. They’re too smart, not to mention wimps when it comes to pain, to come after us again.” Quatre kept his tone level, soothing, even as his hands rubbed up and down Duo’s back. /Not good. He’s not calming down./ “Calm down, okay?” Duo’s instincts said that Quatre was right. The four dickheads wouldn’t try this again. He took in deep breaths, focusing on Quatre’s voice as he tried to calm down. For a few eternal minutes he stayed still, letting the adrenaline work through his system. Quatre nearly collapsed in relief when he felt Duo return the hug. “You back with me?” “Yeah. Sorry, Q. I haven’t lost it like that for a while.” “No problem. All for a good cause, right?” Gently he pulled back and started to steer him to the Corvette. “Should I drive?” “No way. Nobody drives my Bad-mobile but me.” “Let me see your hands.” Duo held out his hands, palm up. They were rock steady so Quatre shrugged and let him drive. They had pulled out of the parking lot and were well on their way to Jamie’s when Duo said, “Hey Q?” “Yeah?” “The next time you want fudge at eleven at night, call up a police escort or something, okay?” + The two victorious warriors had barely made it through the front door before Jamie pounced on them. “WHAT ON EARTH HAPPENED?!” Confused, they looked at each other. And saw the reason for her concern. The wan lighting in the parking lot had hid much from view. Quatre’s cheekbone was a mottled color of blues, purples, yellow and green. Duo’s shirt was splattered with blood, as was his kneecap and he had a rather impressive shiner developing around his right eye. Duo caught her hands before she could tacitly investigate to see if they had any other injuries. “The Fag Patrol caught us outside of Albertson’s. Don’t worry, it’s no big. We’re not even hurt, besides the obvious.” Jamie made herself calm down. “Fag Patrol?” “DUO?!” Wufei had heard Jamie’s raised voice and had wandered into the hall to see if his boyfriend was back. He rushed to him, grabbing his shoulders anxiously. “I’m fine,” Duo assured him quickly. “Just the shiner. The blood is all the other guy’s.” Wufei wasn’t very appeased by this, but he accepted it for now. “Who did this?” “Rodney, Jenkins, Aaron Smith and some guy I didn’t recognize,” Quatre informed him tersely. “Don’t worry, they won’t be troubling us for a long time. And all but one of them is going to be in a cast for a while.” “Good for you,” Jamie approved. Trowa appeared at this moment, took one look at his boyfriend’s face, and saw red. “And where are they now?” Quatre recognized the murder in his eyes for what it was and quickly went to him, holding onto him tightly. “Honestly, we don’t know. Trowa, calm down. They’ll be in a hospital for what they tried tonight. I got my revenge.” Trowa didn’t truly relax, but he forced the anger aside so that he could focus on what was truly important: Quatre. “Let’s get some ice on that cheek.” “And some painkillers?” Quatre inquired hopefully. “It’s beginning to throb.” “Sure.” Wufei simply took the more expeditious route with Duo and slung him into his arms. “You’re taking a bath.” “Why ‘Fei—” Duo purred, wrapping both arms around his boyfriend’s shoulders “—if you wanted me wet and naked, all you had to do was say so.” “I just did,” Wufei retorted. Duo hid a wince as he heard the slightly bitter weight to the words. “Hey, babe, relax okay? We came out on top. Nothing more than a few bruises and some sore muscles to show for it.” “And the blood?” “All the other guy’s. His face accidentally met my kneecap.” “Ah.” Silence fell as Wufei carried him upstairs to the hallway bathroom. He sat Duo on the counter so that he could start the bath water running. Duo stayed quiet as he watched him, gnawing on his lip. “Are…you mad at me?” “No.” Wufei sighed, releasing the building anger that had been growing in his chest. Duo didn’t need him to rant and rave just now. Turning to face him, he jerked his shoulders upwards in a parody of a shrug. “I just don’t like the idea that someone attacked you.” “And you weren’t there to defend me,” Duo finished quietly. “You can defend yourself, Duo. I know that. I just wish…” “I know,” Duo soothed, hopping down lightly and bringing Wufei into his arms. “I know. I feel the same way about you.” Wufei rubbed his face against Duo’s hair, feeling the last of his pent up anger dissipate. “Let’s get you in the water.” “Okay by me.” Duo stepped back and stripped off his shirt, then unbuttoned his jeans before looking up with a slow smile. “Would you considering joining me, boyfriend?” Wufei swallowed and glanced back at the tub—that was large enough to hold three people easily. “There’s…room…” he admitted almost shyly. “More than.” Duo’s agreement was cheerful and lecherous. He reached out and tugged Wufei’s shirt over his head. The Chinese teen ducked to allow this, falling to his knees once the shirt had been tossed aside and pulling Duo’s pants and boxers the rest of the way off. Duo was already half-hard, swelling rapidly in front of Wufei’s heavy-lidded stare. “’Fei, are you going to—nnahhh!” Duo nearly collapsed when Wufei abruptly pulled him into his mouth, sucking hard. Wufei’s hands caught him by the hips and slowly lowered him down onto the bathroom rug, mouth still working over Duo’s length. The brunette shook hard against the ribbons of hot sensation that his lover was pulling between his legs. He slid his hands into Wufei’s hair, breaking the hair tie so that he could tangle his fingers in the black silk. Heat rose and perspired on his skin and he arched helplessly into Wufei’s mouth—whether to escape or heighten the contact, he wasn’t sure. Wufei’s mind abruptly reminded him that there was water running behind him. Swearing softly he pulled away and arched over the rim of the tub, yanking the faucets off. And just in the nick of time, too. This brief three seconds let Duo regain a bit of sanity and he sat up, jerking Wufei’s face to his and devouring his mouth urgently. They both reached for the remainder of Wufei’s clothes, Duo trying to simply yank them off while Wufei went for the more conventional way. If the damn zipper would just cooperate, or his hands stop shaking, then Wufei could finally get somewhere. Wufei belatedly realized that he would actually have to focus on getting the tab down and broke away from Duo’s too-tempting mouth long enough to take a relaxing breath. His boyfriend groaned in protest and drug their mouths back together, kiss fierce and hungry. Wufei gave up and let Duo have his way—it was easier than trying to argue with his pants. Duo managed what Wufei couldn’t, slipping the zipper down and a hand inside the open fly. Wufei gave a low rumble of pleasure as Duo’s hand wrapped around his length and squeezed. “Mmm…you’ve got a nice size on you, ‘Fei.” Duo smirked as he ran a thumb over the slit, watching as those dark, intelligent eyes went blind with pleasure. “It’s gonna feel fantastic when you’re on top of me, riding me—” his voice dropped to a sensual purr “—fucking me through the floor.” Wufei hissed as Duo’s words penetrated. He was already turned on—Duo’s words just threw gasoline on the fire. He fought for enough control to let him mimic what Duo was doing to him. Duo’s head fell back as Wufei’s hand went back to his throbbing erection, tormenting him with long strokes and the hard press of his palm. It felt good—beyond good, and he couldn’t last. “’Fei…love what you’re doin’ to me…love you…” Wufei’s hand spasmed tight at the words and Duo lost his control with a sharp cry, spilling himself in a hot wave over Wufei’s hand and thighs. His lover was only a beat behind him, groaning low. They fell against each other, propped like two sides of a lean-to as they caught their breath. Duo broke the comfortable silence with a chuckle. “I really need that bath now.” “We both do,” Wufei admitted, creaking to his feet. He made a mental note to himself to find a place more comfortable than the bathroom floor the next time he made out with Duo. “Coming?” Duo looked at the invitingly large tub, filled with hot water, then to Wufei standing naked and flushed in front of him. “You betcha.” + Trowa didn’t stop fussing until Quatre was settled on the couch with an icepack against his cheek and two painkillers swallowed. Out of things to do, he frowned and started to pace before Heero caught him and forced him to sit on the coffee table. “Stop fidgeting,” his brother ordered sternly. “He’s fine.” Trowa knew that, but he still didn’t like what had happened. He looked at his lover, who was spread out on the couch, and frowned. “Were they purposely waiting for you?” “It looked like it,” Quatre admitted frankly. “They were parked right next to the ‘vette.” Heero grunted. “It’s the one drawback to our cars. They’re very easy to recognize.” “Hn,” was Trowa’s only comment. Jamie came into the room, blushing a little. She had gone up to see if Duo needed anything. The sounds coming from the locked bathroom door assured her that her presence was *completely* unnecessary. “Quatre, how are you feeling?” “Tired,” the blond admitted with a stifled yawn. “And a little exhilarated. It’s fun beating up the bad guys.” Jamie rolled her eyes. “Men.” “Jamie, will you help me make some fudge?” Quatre blinked up at her hopefully. “Quatre, it’s almost twelve-thirty,” Trowa protested. “So? I went through a lot of trouble to get the ingredients. I’m not going to let a little fight stop me after the fact.” Jamie grinned. This was a boy after her own heart. “Of course I will. Come on, Quatre.” Quatre hopped off the couch, still holding the icepack to his cheek as he went into the kitchen with Jamie. Trowa and Heero exchanged glances, then shook their heads ruefully. “We’d better get in there and help,” Heero noted. “Quatre might set the house on fire otherwise.” Trowa had seen his lover in the kitchen before. The results had not been pretty. “Right.” ~*~*~*~ Honor: I am Vic~tor~ious! |
