"Meditations on the Colour Blue"

Written By: Waterliliylf

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing. All rights remain with Bandai, Sotsu and associated parties. No profit being made here.

Rating: NC 17

Warnings: Sap, angst, fluff

Pairings: Wufei/Zechs get together. Background 1x2, 3x4

Summary: When Wufei takes a sabbatical to finish his new book, his aim to write loses focus due to noisy neighbours...but is that such a bad thing when one of them happens to be a handsome prince?

"Meditations on the Colour Blue"

Chapter 6:

Chang Wufei was a man who liked to live his life according to a fixed, even rigid, routine. Monday mornings, even though he disliked them, were no exception.

He didn't have any classes until eleven o'clock, but he was expected to attend a faculty meeting at nine; almost always a complete waste of time. Then he was supposed to spend the hour before class in his office, to meet students who wished to discuss their academic progress, and talk about any problems.

He wouldn't have minded discussing the progress, or even trying to help with any problems. However, the students who did turn up at his door - interrupting valuable writing time - invariably were only after one thing; extensions for projects or assignments. The fact that he had only granted one such extension in several years, and that on the death of a parent, didn't seem to deter anyone. If anything, it seemed to spur the more recalcitrant students on to create more and more extravagant excuses.

One would have preferred for students at a prestigious university to have better uses for their time. Still, there was the added bonus that most of lazier members of his class were still abed so early on a Monday morning, recovering from the weekend's excesses. There were some blissful mornings when no one disturbed him at all.

Anyway, it was a part of his weekly routine, and that was that.

Which didn't explain why, on this particular Monday morning, in early April, Wufei was steering a sailing ship across the sun-sparkled blue expanse of the Mediterranean. And loving every minute of it.

If he kept his gaze resolutely ahead, he couldn't even see the Spanish coastline, only the glittering turquoise sea. He could pretend to be one of those Spanish or Portuguese explorers heading for the New World to find treasure and glory. Or a pirate.

A pirate was more appealing, really. Those explorers were presumably answerable at some level to their monarchs, with orders to follow. Pirates did just as they pleased.

The last year they'd been together, Trowa had dragged him to a couple of ridiculously swashbuckling pirate films, full of inaccuracies and anachronisms, . He'd hated them at the time, but now he was starting to see the attraction of a boat responding to one's hand on the wheel, and an infinity of sea and sky ahead.

Even the laughing, chattering group of teenage girls at the front of the boat could be easily enough transferred to his pirate fantasy. Captured Christian slaves, bound for the great slave markets of the East.

That would be the best place for them, Wufei decided. They'd finally taken the hint that he had no desire to flirt or chat with them, but it had taken several quite determined rebuffs. And their teacher was no better; she'd even asked him at one point to rub sun oil into her back.

Duo, who'd been standing beside him, had had mild hysterics at that point.

Lamentable behaviour on what was supposed to be a biology field trip for the girls from a local convent school. It would do them all good to be sold on the block and perhaps teach them a little respect for their elders.

Not that he was much better, Wufei thought ruefully. Duo had trusted him to steer while he looked over the boat's snorkelling equipment and he was indulging in the most ridiculous flights of fancy. It was so out of character; historians dealt in proven facts, not daydreams, but then so much of what he'd done since coming to Spain was out of character.

Zechs would be a glorious pirate. Wufei visualised all that magnificent hair tied back with a silk scarf and dressed him in tight leather breeches and one of those ruffled shirts.

Ooh.

'Ahoy, me hearty!' Duo called cheerfully, stepping beside him and turning the wheel just a little to the left. 'Try to hold this course if you can. No sloping off to Cartagena to sack the city of gold!'

Wufei blushed furiously, too startled even to dissemble. 'How the hell did you know what I was thinking?'

Duo grinned. 'It's what everyone thinks the first time they come abroad. Wait 'til you see her under sail. You'll really be ready to take off and attack the Spanish fleet. Heero and I play pirate games all the time where there's no one else on board.' He followed that up with a broad wink, leaving Wufei in no doubt as to the nature of those games, and firmly cementing the blush in place.

'Oh! Aren't you going to - I don't know the technical term - put up the sails?'

'Raise canvas, you mean,' Duo informed in a mock sailor's drawl. 'Nope, not today. It's a bit tricky when I'm by myself, especially when I need to keep an eye on all these passengers. Besides, there's not that much wind today and these ladies want to make a couple of snorkelling stops and then land on a beach. It's easier just to use the engine.'

'How many people do you need to sail her then?'

'Oh, I can do it by myself. Just shift the wheel a degree to starboard. No, starboard's right. Perfect.'

'Would you like to take over?'

'No, you're doing great. Gives me a chance to take a break, too.' He flopped down on the planks, long legs sprawled in front of his and face lifted to the sun. He was almost over-dressed by his usual standards in baggy t-shirt and shorts; no doubt because he had paying customers on board. 'Enjoying yourself?'

'Absolutely!'

'Cool!' Duo grinned up at him. 'Just relax a little bit; try to imagine the ship's alive. You can't force her to do what you want, but you can guide her, if you get it right. It's sort of like riding a horse, if you've ever done that. You don't want to get too tense. This is meant to be fun. And there's nothing you can bump into until you hit Africa. You'd probably see that in time to change course.'

Wufei laughed, loosening his white-knuckle grip on the wheel and feeling the ship dance under his hand. 'Is this all right?'

'Perfecto! If you're not careful, I'm going to conscript you as Peacemillion's newest crew member.'

'I don't think I'd mind that,' Wufei confessed. Honestly, what would his friends say if he told them he'd run away to sea? What would Trowa think? Well, his ex wouldn't be able to accuse him of being predictable and conventional any more. 'I keep meaning to ask, what does Peacemillion mean?'

'No idea. Howard came up with the name one night when he was pissed and could never remember where he got it from. It's considered bad luck to change a ship's name; you have to have a ceremony to propitiate Neptune and stuff and at least Peacemillion's an original name.' He flicked his braid over one shoulder and stretched out full length, soaking up the sun's warmth. 'God, I love days like this.'

'It's wonderful. Thank you so much for inviting me.'

'Well, you're doing all the work, so you're more than welcome. Anyway, you were asking about sailing. If I've got a group of passengers, I like to have at least one other person with me, just in case something goes wrong; an experienced person if we're actually under sail. Heero comes out when he can get time off work, or Zechs sometimes, or a friend of mine called Hilde. Otherwise, I take her out by myself. I've sailed her across the Atlantic alone, which was damn stupid really, so I can handle her without help.'

'Across the Atlantic?' Wufei echoed. 'Really? From Spain?'

'Yes, yes, and yes. That's what ships are for, you know. For getting places.'

'Well, yes, but still. It sounds very impressive. I've never met anyone who's sailed across an ocean before. Sailed anywhere really.'

'It was dumb.' Despite his words, Duo looked rather pleased at Wufei's reaction, pulling himself up to look at him properly. 'Heero and I had this massive row a couple of years ago, and I just took off.'

'Across the ocean?' Wufei goggled at him, trying to imagine reacting like that. He and Trowa had almost never argued about anything; they'd had mature, logical discussions leading to mutually acceptable compromises. Even when they'd broken up, they'd been perfectly adult about it. Of course, back then, he hadn't thought the break up would last. He'd thought that Trowa was indulging in some premature midlife crisis and would come back once he'd realised that all his romantic fantasies about finding the perfect soul mate were just dreams. Instead, he'd met Quatre.

Looking back, maybe they should have fought about things.

'It must have been a massive row,' Wufei said, immensely awed by the young man at his feet, who had taken a small, wooden vessel to another continent. 'What happened? I'm sorry; I don't mean to pry into your private business or anything.'

'That's OK. It was just a stupid argument, actually. I sort of over-react to stuff sometimes, and it happened just after my friend Howard died so I was pretty sensitive about things. By the time I came to my senses, I was in the middle of this massive storm. Scared the shit out of me.'

'And then what happened? Did you go back to Heero?'

'Not exactly.' Duo looked down at the braid coiled in his lap, an odd little smile dancing on his lips. 'He came after me.' One shoulder lifted in a rough shrug. 'Said he'd drag me home by the hair if he had to, but I was going back with him, and that was that. He's really cute when he goes all caveman.'

Wufei shook his head. If anyone ever threatened to drag him anywhere by the hair, he would…well, he didn't know what he would do, but it would be very bad. He couldn't remotely understand why Duo, who seemed a very independent and intelligent person, had put up with something like that. 'How did you two meet?' he asked finally. It wasn't too invasive a question, but maybe it would help him to understand this odd relationship.

'Here. Exactly here.' Duo tapped the steering wheel. 'Two years and four months ago, pretty much. Howie and I were running evening cruises around the bay coming up to Christmas. Corporate groups and office parties; that sort of thing. Well, we were booked on Christmas Eve for a group from the Lowe Marine Institute, which is where Heero works. I was putting fairy lights around the wheel, just where you're standing now. When I looked up there was this guy standing on the pier, glaring at me, and asking if I knew anything about health and safety regulations at sea. I thought he was a total prick at the start, even if he was super- hot, but then we got talking. Poor Howard ended up having to do everything himself. When we got back into port, Heero stayed to help me clean up, and he's pretty much been around ever since.' He glanced up and grinned. 'That's my big romance. So what's the story with you and Zechs?'

Wufei stared very hard at the horizon, hoping to see a pirate ship or a sea monster, or anything that might distract Duo from this line of questioning. He should never have started asking personal questions, but he had and Duo had answered, and now he had to reciprocate somehow.

Instead, the other man jumped to his feet. 'Oops. Gotta take a rain check on that. Looks like our lovely ladies are ready to go snorkelling. Just hold her steady while I drop the anchor, OK?'

When the last girl had vanished over the side, Duo wandered back. 'There! We can relax now for a bit. They'll be gone for about an hour. I've got some spare equipment, if you fancy jumping in. You have snorkelled before, haven't you?'

Wufei shook his head, feeling horribly inadequate. It was a new feeling, and one he disliked intensely.

'Right. I'll give you a lesson when we stop at the beach for lunch. Zechs says you're a good swimmer, so you should be fine. I'd rather stay on board while the girls are in the water, just to do a head count every now and then.' He flicked Wufei one of those naughty grins. 'Probably safer not to strip off in front of them, anyway. I hope you brought your chastity belt?'

'What?'

The grin widened, impossibly. 'Just a joke Heero and I have. But seriously, we'll be lucky to escape with our virtue today. Teenage girls are damned scary sometimes! I thought those two blonde babes were going to jump you earlier. The ones who were trying to get you to adjust their bikini straps.'

Wufei snorted. 'Well, thank you for your help, in that case.'

Duo tried to look soulfully innocent. 'I would have helped you, but I had the ship to look after. And I thought you liked blondes, no? You seem to like Zechs all right.'

Ah, back to that.

'I've only just met him.'

'Mmmm.' Duo plainly wasn't going to let it go that easily. 'I was there when you met him. Remember? I saw the way you looked at him.'

'I did not look at him in any particular way,' Wufei said it with dignity, wondering if he could swim to land if Duo kept this up. How had he looked at Zechs anyway? He'd been furious with the inconsiderate, selfish neighbour whose noise had kept him from working; he'd been prepared to state his grievances plainly and then leave. He hadn't looked at Zechs.

'Hey, chill. He's a seriously hot guy, right? I don't blame you. Are you looking forward to your date with him tonight?'

'Naturally,' the Chinese man said stiffly, turning to lean against the rail. Of course he was looking forward to seeing Zechs again. He couldn't wait, in fact. But he wasn't in the habit of confiding that sort of information.

'Wufei, listen.' Duo's voice was very quiet, serious for once. 'I'm sorry if I pissed you off. It's just - well, this is all strange for you, right? You're in a new country; you're miles from your normal life; you don't have your friends around, and I thought you might like to talk to somebody about stuff. If you don't, that's cool.'

'No, I'm sorry,' Wufei said abruptly, disarmed both by Duo's tone and the obvious extension of friendship. Since everything else about his life was new, maybe he could start to confide in someone? 'That's very kind of you. This is all rather strange, just as you say. My life at home is very ordered, every day is precisely laid out. Since I got here, everything is upside down! Even being out with you on a Monday morning. I should be teaching a class on Chinese epic poetry right now, not lounging in the sun!'

Duo pulled a face. 'Bit of a difference, all right. Which one d'you think is more fun?'

Fun? Wufei's life was ordered by duty and responsibility and the desire to please his employers and his family. None of them were activities that left a great deal of time for fun. 'This. Very definitely.'

'That's OK then. Seriously, I know we don't really know each other, and I know you've got Zechs, but if you'd just like to talk or to hang out with someone, I'm usually around. Despite what you probably think, I am capable of keeping my mouth shut when I want. And I do know what it's like to meet someone and then suddenly be thrown into this group of friends who've known each other for ever.'

Wufei nodded. 'You and Zechs seem to get on well enough.'

'Oh, he's the best,' Duo said enthusiastically. 'His sister, Relena, is a sweetheart as well, and her best friend Dorothy is great fun. And Otto; you met him on Saturday night. The guy who was minding the gate.'

Wufei was just wondering if he'd deliberately omitted Quatre from the list of Zechs' friends when Duo gave him a sidelong grin. 'Is it really weird, that we all know Quat? Given that he's with your ex?'

'I suppose it would be, if I let myself think about it too much.' He hadn't though. It was easier not to; the same way that it was easier not to dwell on the fact that he was living in Quatre's house. He'd never intended any of this, when he'd applied for his sabbatical. He'd assumed that life would just go on as normal, except that he wouldn't have to take classes. Then the university authorities had informed him that his apartment on campus was needed for a visiting professor, and he'd abruptly been homeless. Trowa had told him that Quatre almost never used the Spanish house, and it had seemed a good option for a couple of weeks, until he sorted out other arrangements. 'It's almost weirder that you've all met Trowa.'

'Oh, yeah. I suppose. I've only met him once though, at a dinner party Quatre gave.' His tone was studiously bland. 'Doesn't have a lot to say for himself, does he?'

'He is rather quiet,' Wufei agreed. He somehow couldn't imagine Trowa getting along with Duo.

'How did you two meet?'

'At university. We met in our first week, when we both joined the judo society.'

Duo looked surprised, eyes widening. 'So you were both - what? Eighteen? I hadn't realised you'd been together for so long.'

'We weren't. We were just friends for years.'

'Yeah? What, you didn't want to mess up the friendship or you didn't think he was interested?'

'I don't know, really,' Wufei answered, thinking back. 'I suppose a little of both. Then after we graduated, we ended up sharing an apartment and we eventually got together. It just made sense, I suppose. We were best friends, we both had similar career goals, we already knew that we were compatible as housemates. And we had interests and friends in common; in fact, most of our friends thought we'd already been a couple for ages..'

'No offence, but that doesn't sound madly romantic.'

'Maybe it wasn't, but we were happy. Well, I thought we were happy, but I was apparently wrong.' He couldn't help the little note of bitterness that crept in there. It was true; he had thought they were a happy, well suited couple until Trowa had left.

'That sucks,' Duo's voice was gently sympathetic. 'That must still hurt, right? Even if it has been a while since you broke up. It's been well over a year, right?'

'It does hurt, sometimes.' It was the first time he'd admitted it. 'It hasn't been that long, actually. Technically we split up about a year ago, but we were still friends and we still saw each other frequently. Neither of us was dating anyone else, so we sometimes…well, you can use your imagination. To be honest, I was sure he'd come back eventually. He had all these silly notions about how he wanted to find his soul mate or some such. I was so sure that at some point, he'd realise it was nonsense, and then he met Quatre.'

The other man frowned. 'Wait a sec. I thought Quat met Trowa around this time last year. What the hell was he doing; two timing you both or something?'

'No! it was nothing like that. He had met Quatre through work; he designs computer software and he was installing some new systems at Winner Industries. He just never thought that Quatre would be interested, or even if he was gay.'

'Oh, please,' Duo scoffed. 'He must be blind if he wasn't sure about that. Quatre practically has his own private rainbow shining down on him.'

'Well, whatever. I think he never thought Quatre would be interested, and then they gradually got to know each other as friends and then started dating.'

'So he strung you along 'til he was sure of him, is that it?' Duo demanded. 'Sweet guy; keeping his ex on the side while he tried to hook up with someone else. Shit; you're better off without someone like that.'

'It wasn't like that, Duo,' Wufei protested. It hadn't been. Of course not. He didn't want to admit that his oldest friend and former lover was capable of something like that. 'Trowa was totally honest with me about his feelings for Quatre. As soon as he knew Quatre felt the same way, he finished with me.'

'Oh, big deal. And meanwhile, he kept you hanging for how long? Months? When you could have been getting on with your life and meeting some one who'd treat you right. Bastard.'

'Don't. He's still one of my closest friends. And it wasn't all his fault. I went along with it, and I was often the one pushing him to stay the night.' God, he'd never blushed so much in his life. Well, apart from yesterday morning when Zechs had seen him in the pool.

Duo gave him a long stare. 'You know, it's OK to admit that you were hurt. Even by a friend. You might want to talk about that with him sometime, if you two are all that close. Let him know how you feel.'

Wufei murmured something non-committal, knowing he'd never do it. He couldn't talk about something like that to Trowa, and there was no point anyway. What was done was done. Trowa was blissfully happy with Quatre, and he'd met Zechs.

Duo jumped up. 'Probably time to do a head count. Check that none of the little darlings has been gobbled up by a shark.' He hesitated, one arm flung over the rail. 'Can I just say one thing and then I swear I'll stop interfering? Just give Zechs a chance. I know you've been burned and all, but try not to shut yourself off to being with someone amazing, OK?'

Wufei nodded. It was odd, but he wasn't really averse to giving Zechs that chance. In fact, he might be inspired to take a chance or two himself.

 

~ * ~

Chapter 7

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