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The Road to Kindness	By : shinigamiinochi Category: Gundam Wing/AC > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 7934 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing/AC, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 22
- 23
- 24
The
Road to Kindness

Chapter
7

Part
17

�� After the death of his father, Heero�s
mother had always been a bit� protective. It was the reason why she had seemed
so cold to Duo at first, not wanting her only child to be friends with anyone
who might betray him or use him for their own benefits, but after what had
happened in Boston,
she had gotten worse. After Duo and Heero had been kidnapped, she�d realized
the full extent of the sort of people that wanted to harm Duo and wasn�t
letting them have another chance to get them. She hadn�t gone near the
unbearable stage yet, but Heero didn�t dare to go anywhere unannounced, lest he
suffer her wrath. Even though he was just driving to the library, he called her
and informed her of where they were going. The rebel of the past that still
lingered in him hoped that she would grow out of this phase and soon, he hated
calling in like a little kid.

�� They didn�t stay at the library very
long, just enough to show Fai around and for Duo to get his book, since Wufei
confessed he had to pick up a pizza for dinner before he went back home. Fai
instantly fell in love with the place. He was terrible at sports and things of
that nature, but he had always loved reading. The library back home had a rule
that you could only take out three books at a time but here, in this huge, two
storey building, you could take out as many as you wanted! They even had study
corners and couches so you could read in the building! Duo caught Fai�s amazed
look as Wufei led them around the library and smiled at him.

�� When I was younger, whenever it was
cold out or raining, I�d spend as much time as I could in here. Even later on,
if I ever just wanted to be somewhere� quiet, I knew I could come here and be
left alone for awhile. When I learned how to read, the time I spent here grew
and grew. All the librarians would look at me oddly, this little kid, all by
himself, reading anything he could get his hands on, but this was the only
place I could get books for free and I loved to read, so I came here all the
time,� Duo told them. Behind him, unknown to Duo but seen by everyone else,
Heero smiled fondly at the image of a little Duo sitting on one of the plush
couches with a pile of books that was bigger than he was.

�� Just like Matilda!� Quatre said
brightly.

�� Ma� what?�
Duo asked in confusion. Heero and Quatre looked at him incredulously for a
moment, unable to believe that he didn�t know what �Matilda� was, especially
since he was American and they both knew that those sorts of books were popular
among American children nowadays. They quickly came to their senses, realizing
with sadness that it was just one of many normal things Duo had never known.

�� It�s a children�s book about this
little girl named Matilda who�s neglected by her parents, but she�s absolutely
brilliant, so she walks to the library all by herself, day after day, and reads
all these really advanced books. You�re just like that,� Quatre clarified. Duo
rubbed at the back of his head in embarrassment.

�� Well, I wouldn�t say the books I read
were really advanced, I just liked to read, and it helped me to practice,� Duo
murmured. Wufei snorted.�

�� I think it�s extraordinary, no matter
what you read. After all, you taught yourself how to read, without any teachers
or anything like that, just by trying. That�s pretty incredible, Duo,� he
pointed out. Fai looked from Duo to Wufei, curious and confused. He couldn�t
imagine what circumstances in Duo�s life had forced him to have to teach himself to be literate, but it must have been hard and it
was hard to believe Duo was so well-spoken and well-read if he once had to do
everything by himself. Still, he couldn�t help but want to know why and how his
life had led him to that method, but his manners kept him from saying anything.

�� Well, I should probably order the
pizzas now,� Wufei said, looking at his watch, �That way, by the time we get
there, they will be ready.�

�� Duo groaned.

�� I could go for some pizza right now
myself. I wonder what we�re having for dinner?� he said. He was always hungry
again by the time school let out and Name usually had snacks for them at home.
He knew that she was at a meeting until later tonight, so he had no idea if she
wanted them to pick up food too. He wondered if he could persuade Quatre that
pizza would be a good idea, too, though he knew the blonde wasn�t a big fan of
it.

�� Why don�t you come over to my house?�
Wufei offered, �I could order extra for you and we can hang out for a little
while. My parents aren�t going to be home until late and neither of us has gone
over to the other�s house before.�

�� That sounds like fun,� Fai said in
agreement. As much as he wanted to spend some alone time with his lover, it had
been, well, never since he had hung out with such a large group of friends, and
he was sure that dinner would taste better in such an environment.

�� I don�t see any problem with that,�
Quatre said, excited with the prospect of seeing Wufei�s home. He, Trowa, and
Heero had known each other since they were kids and they lived with Duo, whose
problems had forced all of them to become close to him quickly, but Wufei had
always felt a bit distant from them. Every now and then, Quatre could see
glimpses of the real person peeking out from behind the walls, a sharp witted
quip, his reverence for a blooming flower or a flying bird, his strong sense of
justice mixed with a sort of mature bitterness, he could see it in the way he
looked at Fai, affection combined with reverence, like he couldn�t quite
believe his luck.

�� Wufei was hiding from them. Quatre
didn�t exactly blame him for that. They all hid, in their own ways. Heero,
though staying entangled with his complicated emotions, often denied his
feelings, even things that had happened to him in the past by utterly refusing
to talk about them. Wufei hid in things that he had once known, his books
mostly, trying as hard as he could not to let things change around him. Quatre
buried himself in the people around him, trying to live through their emotions
while pretending that he was never upset, always cheerful. Trowa was silent,
even his expressions lacked any sort of truth, just� blankness. And Duo� Duo, for all of his attempts at honesty was able to
tell lies simply by not talking about himself at all.
He said he didn�t want to hide anymore, but he hardly ever talked about things
that bothered him unless he felt it would affect his friends in some way.

�� They weren�t like that all the time.
Quatre shuddered to think of how they would be like, and the terrible
circumstances that would lead them to act that way, if they were constantly
hiding from each other and everything else. He didn�t think anyone would want
to live that way.

�� But Duo had, Quatre reminded himself.
Not through choice, but Duo had been forced to not think about his
circumstances, really think, or risk being driven insane by them. Or was it
that, he had lived in those conditions for so long, he simply considered them
normal, something that didn�t need much thought? That conclusion was just as
painful, even more so.

But, it wasn�t like that anymore. They were helping
each other, weren�t they? Seeing that he wasn�t alone in his past, in his
experiences, Trowa was starting to open up more. Wufei was starting to let his
true self shine through, finally seeing that they would like him, the real him,
despite the turmoil he had put Heero and Duo through. For the first time in
years, Heero had talked to someone about his father. Duo, though sometimes
failing, was at least trying to be more open about what lay underneath, deep in
his heart.

Quatre shook his head, surprised that such dark
thoughts had snuck on him at such a moment. Or maybe it wasn�t so odd. He could
say that things were good, that all of the things that had bothered them in the
past, the things that had forced them all to hide in the first place were finally,
truly behind them, where they belonged, but that was a delusion. Heero and Duo
were hiding more than ever, from each other and from the people that they
couldn�t afford to hide from. He wanted to say that they all had an equal share
in Heero and Duo�s personal growth, but that really wasn�t the case. He wasn�t
jealous by it, but he could see, as plain as day, that the two of them needed
each other more than anything else.

�Well, if we�re agreed about this, you should call
your mother again,� Trowa urged Heero. Heero simply grunted at him, as though
Trowa didn�t exist, but he dialed his mother for a second time.

Quatre sighed. He was really getting sick of Heero�s
attitude towards Trowa. His lover would never show it or admit to it in any
way, but Quatre knew that Heero�s irritation with him was hurting Trowa. It was
hard enough for Quatre, seeing how distant Heero was from them now, but he was
being overly hostile towards someone that had once been one of his best friends
in the world. Quatre had no idea how he would react if Heero started to act
like that with him. He certainly wouldn�t take it lying down like Trowa was!
This whole thing was just so frustrating�

�� Duo covertly glanced over at Heero,
who had successfully reached his mother again, though he spoke to her in a
hushed, annoyed tone. It must be nice, Duo mused, to be the one in charge. He
wouldn�t know, he had always been the lowest wrung on the ladder, the one
stepped on, never the one giving orders, let alone the one deciding which orders
would be given. Name obviously was, even though she was currently in an
important meeting, she had answered the phone twice and hadn�t attempted to rush
Heero�s message. He knew that if someone�s cell phone rang during class, the
phone would be promptly confiscated by the teacher until the end of the day,
regardless if the kid answered it or not. Clearly, Name considered Heero�s
calls more important than business or her image as a corporate boss. Duo found
himself wondering if she would treat his own calls with as much importance.

�� Someone tapped Duo on the back of his
shoulder and he tensed, almost painfully. He still had trouble with people
touching him, especially when they were standing behind him; he always ended up
freaking out. So, he couldn�t help but feel a tiny bit proud that he only
tensed and didn�t jump or try to punch them in the face. He spun around to see
Trowa looking at him in concern and guilt at having forgotten how easily Duo
got spooked.

�� You just want cheese pizza and root
beer, right?� he asked. Duo saw the cell phone in the tall boy�s hand and
blushed, realizing he was just placing the food order. Across the room, one of
the librarians was watching them with a sharp look, making Duo very glad he
hadn�t yelled when Trowa tapped him.

�� Can I get some garlic bread, too?� he
asked shyly. Trowa smiled and nodded.

�� I�ll get some extra fries so you can
have some, too,� he offered.

�� Duo felt his embarrassment ease at
that. His appetite problems had finally stopped bothering him so much and had
settled into an on, off schedule. He went through his days with either no
desire to eat anything, or his appetite came back with a vengeance, making him
hungry nearly all day long. Today was the latter. Fortunately, Name seemed to
realize the problem, so whenever he had seconds for breakfast, she made him a
big lunch. He just hoped this weird� issue� would go away soon.

�� He was no stranger to stomachaches or
sickness, but he was tired of it, literally tired of being sick all the time.
He was supposed to be doing better now, right? He was well fed, happy, bathed
regularly, and aside from Boston, hadn�t been struck or fucked half to death in
a good long time, so why was his body still suffering? He supposed that he shouldn�t
complain. The occasional stomach pain, loss of appetite, nightmare, and
exhaustion weren�t so bad. He had just let hope in and he should have learned
by now the fallacy of that. Even if things weren�t so bad, nothing was quite as
painful as hope. As long as he had Name and Heero in his life, he felt that he
didn�t have the right to complain about anything.

�� At least today was looking up. Wufei�s
boyfriend wasn�t pissed at him, he had made a new friend, and his stomach
currently wasn�t making him question if he had swallowed a couple of razor
blades, or how he was going to force himself to eat dinner when he just wanted
to curl up into a fetal position until the pains and aches went away. So what
if he and Heero still weren�t talking? So what if one glance at Wufei and Fai
or Trowa and Quatre made him feel terribly lonely? So what if he suddenly felt
edgy and anxious for no reason?

�� Phone number?� Trowa ordered Wufei,
making the �give it here� motion with his fingers. Wufei grunted and gave him
the number. Duo caught Heero, finally off the phone, give Trowa a glare, but
couldn�t understand why Heero would be mad at his friend. For
offering him food? Was Heero so pissed at him that he didn�t even want
their other friends to be nice to him? No, Heero wasn�t that cruel and the
thing was� as much as he believed that Heero had to blame him, to hate him,
beyond not talking to him, Heero didn�t seem all that angry at him. At first it
had seemed like it, but Heero just seemed� mad, not at him, but at something
else. It was so confusing� especially considering what Trowa had told him. He
couldn�t help but think� what if all of his assumptions were wrong?

*****

�� The last time Duo had been in a
�normal� house, it had been little more than a decrepit, boarded up structure
of rotting wood and he had broken into it to survive a winter night on the
streets. As a prostitute, he had been well acquainted with apartments and hotel
rooms. Any man who had a house had never wanted to be seen bringing a kid or
scantily dressed teenager there and the place he was living in now was too big
for him to ever consider it a normal house, but Wufei�s definitely was.

�� It was neat inside and, somehow, Duo
had just known that it would be. It lacked the elaborate style of the Yuy�s
home, as well as the expensive paintings and the roses on the front table, but
the lush rugs and mahogany furniture spoke of wealth. Duo wondered if, had he
been born into a middle-class family instead of a dumpster, he would have grown
up in a house like this. Though everything was very well organized, there was
still a deep, welcoming warmth to the place that made
him think of his desire for a family while he was growing up.

�� You know,� Fai spoke up as they
entered the Chang�s house, Trowa carrying the pizzas, Wufei carrying the
drinks, and the various appetizers in paper white bags divided up between
Quatre and Heero, �I�ve been meaning to ask this, Wufei, why is this house
smaller than the one you had in China?�

�� Duo stared at him. The house seemed
plenty big to him, having lived in a two-bedroom apartment most of his life and
still not used to the size of his current home.

�� Oh, the Chang clan is one of the
wealthier families in our homeland. It�s not much compared to the Yuy or Winner
families, but enough to have quite some power, and as the heir, Wufei was
entitled to all of it. Since he denounced his title and left the clan, he
didn�t get all of it, but he still received a large fraction. That�s right,
isn�t it?� Fai asked Wufei, seeing Duo�s confused expression.

�� Yes,� Wufei said with a nod, �That
was the agreement between my Master and my father. In return for leaving the
clan and denouncing my claim as leader, I received half of what I could have
had if I had stayed.�

�� That doesn�t seem fair,� Duo
protested, �They just bribed you into exile! And just because
you didn�t want to marry. But isn�t your surname still �Chang�. If
you�re no longer allowed to be a part of their clan, didn�t you have to change
your name?�

�� No, nothing like that,� Wufei
explained patiently. In the past, he would have been angry at Duo�s questions,
but he now understood that the boy wasn�t being willfully ignorant or
obnoxious, he had simply never encountered his culture before and was trying to
understand.

�� In reality, my parents received the
better deal. When I stated that I refused to marry and when my sexuality was
discovered, I could have stayed as heir, but my clan�s reputation would have
been sullied and there would have been many strained feelings. My leaving for America
was irrelevant; I would still have been a part of the clan. By losing my
attachments to the clan, I allowed them to save face and replace me, all the
while getting an inheritance and safety in return. The name is not important,
it will always be mine, but because of this deal, I can never return to the
clan or reclaim my title of heir. That�s fine, leadership, though tempting,
would have never suited me. Leaving the clan and leaving China were two separate actions. I
agree with the former and not the latter. I do not think I was ever destined to
be a leader. I would have done poorly,� Wufei insisted.

�� Duo snorted.��

�� I still don�t think it�s fair that
you had to move across the world just because they couldn�t accept who you are.
I know your culture is different, but it still feels wrong,� he murmured. Wufei
gave him an amused look.

�� Coming from you, Duo, hearing you
describe my situation as unfair is
more than just a little depressing,� he said dryly. Duo blushed, worried that
he had insulted Wufei, but he still looked more amused than pissed.

�� Why is it depressing coming from
Duo?� Fai asked in confusion. Quatre, Trowa, Duo, and Wufei shared a look while
Heero looked a bit panicked, all unsure of what to say or do.

�� It�s complicated,� Trowa said with an
edge of finality. Fai let the subject drop, but he once again had to battle
with his curiosity. It was a little bit hurtful that Wufei couldn�t trust him
with Duo�s secret, but at the same time, he knew that it wasn�t up to his lover
to divulge the details.

�� The strained conversation dropped, though
not forgotten, the six of them sat down at the Chang�s kitchen table and
started to eat, enjoying both the food and the company. Fai took a slice of
cheese pizza, too afraid of the unknown American food to try anything more
complicated, and simply stared at it for several minutes. It didn�t look very
appetizing, yet his new friends were eating it happily. Truthfully, it didn�t
even look like food to him. Having
never had soda before, he had begged Wufei to order him a simple green tea, but
the cold, lime-colored liquid in the glass bottle looked� dubious to say the
least.

�� Just try it,� Wufei urged with a
small smile. Fai had always been nervous around things that were different from
the things he was used to. Fai reminded him, painfully, of a child given a new
chore. He didn�t know what to do and was terrified of doing something wrong
because he was sure he would be scolded or hit because of it. Wufei was sure
that, as a child, he had been. He had only met Fai�s parents a few times, but
he had started to hate them long before the first meeting. Every time Fai had
been nervous, self-conscious, self-hating, unsure of himself, every time he put
himself down, every time he called himself stupid, Wufei had hated them. Just
the thought of sending his lover back to them made Wufei want to chain Fai to
the bed, just to keep him here, safe and with him.

�� Fai struggled to open the bottle of
green tea, flinching at the obnoxious, loud �pop� the metal top made when he
got it off. The glass was indeed cold, which he hadn�t been expecting. It was
probably a good thing considering that the pizza was hot, but he still wasn�t
sure about drinking it. He took a sip, sure that, despite his doubts about the
tea, it would taste good anyway, and immediately made a disgusted face, glaring
at the tea. This tea tasted like the tea that one time his mother had
accidentally dumped a tin of sugar into it, only this tea was ice cold. How
could anyone drink tea that tasted more candy than beverage?!

�� Wufei couldn�t help but grin at his
boyfriend�s irritated, grossed-out look. But Duo took pity on him. He poured
some root beer into a clean glass and handed it to the other longhaired boy.

�� Here, this might taste better than
that,� Duo insisted. Fai eyed the glass filled with dark brown liquid with
distrust. The tea had been bad enough, but soda was notoriously sweet, so why
would Duo want him to drink it? He wanted to turn down the beverage, but to do
so would be to turn down Duo�s kindness as well. So, he drank it.

�� Fai blinked as he sipped down the root
beet. He had been right, it was sweet, yet it didn�t disgust him like the tea
had. The sweetness seemed� more natural. The drink itself,
despite the sharpness of the carbonation, tasted smooth, the ginger in it
pleasant instead of too strong or too bland. Fai�s
eyes widened in surprise as he realized he actually liked the soda. He hadn�t liked the tea because he had been
expecting one thing and had tasted something else. He took an experimental bite
of his pizza and found the root beer a perfect compliment to it. The pizza
itself was quite good and not nearly as greasy as the pizza in the school
cafeteria.

�� I�ll take that,� Quatre said
cheerfully as he grabbed the bottle of green tea. He was used to sweet teas as
they were more common in his homeland than in Wufei�s of that he was sure. In
fact, he couldn�t stand the sometimes bitterness of the tea Heero�s grandfather
seemed to cherish and always had on tap when they were kids.

�� I can�t believe that we�ve never been
to each other�s houses before,� Duo mused, �You two should come over tomorrow��
his voice trailed off as he realized it wasn�t really his place to suggest such
a thing. He was assuming too much, though he truly thought of the Yuy�s house
as his home, being so bold as inviting people over was crossing the line,
wasn�t it? He dared a glance at Heero, but he didn�t seem annoyed at all.

�� Of course they should!� Quatre said
diplomatically, �Name wouldn�t mind, but we should make something for dinner
instead of just ordering out.�

�� Wufei and Fai shared a nervous look at
the thought of eating dinner with Name Yuy. It was one thing to know Heero,
since he was pretty down to earth, even if he was acting like a jerk right now,
in Wufei�s opinion, and anyone who would take in a kid they barely even knew
and had saved them from a lifestyle like Duo�s had to be an exceptionally honorable person, and sure, he had met
Name before. She had driven him back home from Boston and had been nice then,
but had also been in what Quatre had once affectionately referred to as, �mission
mode�, so concentrated on getting them safe, that they hadn�t exactly had the
time to chat. Examining Heero�s reactions to anything involving Duo, Wufei
thought that this mission mode thing had to be genetic.

�� In any case, when Wufei thought about
Heero�s mother, the one image he had of her was at the hospital, a day after
Duo had divulged his story to them. It had been after hearing that story, and
insulting Duo. He had been kicked out of his room, but he had returned the next
day, hoping to speak to his ex-crush, only to be met with a furious Name Yuy,
ordering him to stay away from Duo, as long as he continued to be rude and
hurtful. She had said, in no uncertain terms, that she was willing to do
whatever she had to, to protect her new charge. He respected Name for her
actions back then, as well as recently, but that image of her, furious and
protective and hating his guts enough to, Wufei had been terrified enough to
think, send a hit squad after him, had stayed with him and she had easily
intimidated him. Even now, the thought of sitting down to dinner with the woman
was� terrifying.

�� I don�t know,� Wufei said cautiously.

�� But Name�s nice,� Duo protested,
quick to defend the woman that had given him a second chance at life, �she was
a little bit cold to me at first,� he admitted, �but she�s done so much for me�
and she really is nice. She�s not scary when you get to know her.�

�� Duo�s words did nothing to soothe the
two Chinese boys, but Wufei nodded.

�� It would be rude if we didn�t
accept,� Fai pointed out in agreement, but they could all tell that the idea
still scared him.

�� Like Duo said, Name isn�t scary,�
Quatre tried to assure them, �She can be a little bit� intimidating when you
first meet her, but she�s actually very kind and certainly not as cutthroat as
the media makes her out to be.�

�� Fai paled at that, feeling worse
instead of better.

�� Maybe towards you guys, but after
what I did�� Wufei pointed out, thinking again of his harsh words to Duo in the
hospital and sending Duo an apologetic look.

�� She knows you�re sorry,� Duo
insisted, �And trust me, she won�t make you jump through hoops to impress her.
When she first met me, she thought I was using Heero, but even then, she was
never cruel, and once she realized I just wanted to be his friend, she turned
out to be the nicest person I�ve ever met, besides Heero of course.�

�� Heero, who had been staying out of the
conversation by being immersed in eating his French fries, blushed at the
comment.

�� After all I�ve done to him after all
the bad things that have happened to him because of me, he still thinks of me
as someone kind. No, not only kind, the kindest person he�s ever met,� Heero
thought in astonishment. That thought filled him with hope, hurtful, but
shining. The moment was swiftly broken as they heard the front door open and
someone enter the house.

�� I thought your parents weren�t going
to be home until later tonight,� Fai mentioned as he glanced at his boyfriend.

�� Maybe Mom got off early,� Wufei
suggested. Duo heard his tone of doubt and felt fear prickle down his spine.
What if his worst fears were happening right now? What if Chris or Wes had
found him, again, and were going to hurt, not just him, but all of his friends?
But the strides of the people coming towards them were too small to belong to
tall men like Wes and Chris. What if they had decided to not dirty their hands
this time? What if they had sent someone else after him? What
if�

�� Duo abandoned the thought. He had to
stop doing this! Every bump in the night, ever shadow, every shiver down his
spine was not a monster, ready to come out of the dark and go after him! He was
being ridiculous and he knew it, but he couldn�t shake his fear, or his guilt.

�� A woman with long, ebony hair strolled
leisurely into the kitchen and gave them all an amused look. Duo quickly
recognized her as Wufei�s mother and relaxed. The two of them looked incredibly
similar, aside from the fact that they were both Chinese. They had the same
almost-tan skin color, the same straight, jet-black hair, the same delicate features;
they even had the same posture. Her eyes were lighter and her nose was a bit
smaller, but there was no doubt in Duo�s mind that this woman was Wufei�s
mother. She looked to be around Name�s age, but Name was taller. Her black
hair, which was longer than Wufei�s, but shorter than Fai�s, was up in a
frazzled ponytail, mussed in a way that practically screamed that she had just
come from work.

�� Well, that explains the strange,
expensive car in my drive way!� she said cheerfully as she looked from boy to
boy, �Wufei, I really wish you had told us we were to have company tonight! The
least I could have done was tidied up and cooked something better than pizza!�

�� That�s alright,� Quatre said,
standing up to greet their friend�s mother, �Pizza was fine. Your son has been
a wonderful host. I hope we�re not intruding.�

�� Wufei had the common sense to look
guilty when his mother�s sharp eye moved from Quatre to him.

�� I thought you and Dad weren�t going
to be home until later. I would have asked you permission if I had known you
two were coming back early,� he said.

�� You should have asked anyway,� she
pointed out, �But this is fine. I�m glad to have you boys over. I�ve wanted to
meet Wufei�s new friends for quite some time now. And you must be Duo Maxwell,�
her tone turned happy and excited as she noticed the longhaired American who
was helping Fai clear the table for Wufei�s parents to have their own dinner.

�� Y-yes, Ma�am,� Duo stammered,
stopping what he was doing. It still disturbed him how people he had never met
could pick him out of a crowd, but he supposed, if Wufei had told his parents
about him, with his eyes and hair, he was easily recognizable.

�� Wufei must have spoken about me a
bit,� he inferred.

�� Oh, all the time!� she informed him,
�but I actually know you from the hospital.�

�� Wufei and Duo paled at that fact.
Wufei had tried so hard to keep Duo�s secret. He hated lying to his parents,
but for Duo�s sake, he had had to keep things from them and� alter the truth a
little. Actually, it was just as much for his sake as Duo�s.

�� The hospital?�
Duo asked nervously. He didn�t remember ever seeing her there, but he had been
drugged up for so long, his memory of that depressing time was fuzzy.

�� Yes. I was on duty the night you were
brought in,� she said, �I don�t work in the children�s wing, that�s Dr. Stark�s
territory, but all the doctors and nurses were gossiping about you and your
connection to the Yuy family.�

�� So� you know what happened?� Quatre
asked cautiously. He hadn�t wanted anyone to find out about Duo�s dark past
this way, through whispers, rumors and gossip. Wufei�s mother nodded. Duo
suddenly felt sick. Did the whole damn hospital know that he had been raped?

�� Can you tell us what you heard had
happened?� Trowa asked.

�� Duo didn�t tell you?� she questioned.

�� Well, it would be nice to hear the
story from a doctor�s point of view. Duo was so sick at the time and his doctor
only really spoke to Mrs. Yuy,� Trowa pointed out. Wufei glared at him. He didn�t
know what the Italian was trying to pull, but, bad enough that his mother knew, he didn�t want Fai finding out this way. He wouldn�t mind
if he knew that it didn�t bother Duo, but by the paleness of his friend�s face,
Wufei knew that it did.

�� Of course, if it had been Wufei, he
would have been bothered to know that others knew, too. He had always been a
private person and something like this was just too dark and twisted for him to
ever share it with anyone. But then again, Wufei knew Duo was stronger than
him. If something like that had ever happened, he never would have been able to
survive it, let alone pull himself back out again like Duo had.

�� Well, one of the doctors told me that
Duo had an accident of some kind. His spleen had ruptured, but it was Heero who
had brought him in, yet his father never came for him. He had just� left him to
fend for himself! And Wufei said you�re living with the Yuy�s now, is that
right?� she asked Duo, who looked relieved, realizing that she didn�t know the
whole truth. He nodded.

�� You poor thing. Your father must be a
terrible person, to just abandon you when you were so sick� you could have
died!� she sympathized.

�� He� isn�t a very nice man, no,� Duo
confessed, �But the Yuy�s have been very kind to me.�

�� Fai stared at Duo. So, this was his
secret? It was no wonder Duo held Name in such high regard! If it hadn�t been
for her, he wouldn�t have gotten proper care or a home afterwards. What had his
father been thinking, just leaving Duo to die like that! He felt furious at the
thought, as well as a surge of pride and protectiveness towards Duo, that he
had survived such neglect. Did that mean that his father had actually been the
one who had hurt him, or had he only decided to abandon his child? Duo had said
his father wasn�t a nice man, did that mean he had been abusing him as well as
neglecting him? There were too many implications of that one statement, each
worse than the last.

�� Duo suddenly found himself wrapped in
a hug by Wufei�s mother. Wufei groaned in embarrassment. His mother always had
the urge to fix things, it came from being a doctor, she often said, but when
she realized she couldn�t make things better, she got depressed and emotional.

�� What was it with Duo and mothers,
Trowa wondered. It was like he projected a signal that screamed �hug me� to
everyone with a maternal instinct within ten miles. That particular image made
him snort in amusement. There was something about Duo, be it the things that
had happened to him in his life or it was just his character, that exuded this
need for affection and safety, yet he was far from pitiful or weak. Trowa had
seen this trait and had fallen prey to it more than once. The Chinese woman
quickly released the boy, but her warm, concerned look gave Trowa the
impression that she wanted to hug him again.

�� I want to thank you for befriending
my Wufei,� she said emotionally, �He doesn�t make friends easily, but he talks
about you all the time. You�ve been very good for him.�

�� Duo blushed as Wufei bit back another
groan. Trowa tried not to smirk at how uncomfortable Wufei was. He probably
hadn�t told his mother about how he
and Duo had met, but that was fine. No mother really wanted to know about the
stupid things her children did when she wasn�t looking.

�� It�s not a big deal,� Duo said,
squirming a little. He was terrible at taking compliments and he knew it. He
had spent his entire life being yelled at, called dirty, hurtful things, and scolded
so whenever anyone said anything good about
him, it took him by surprise and he didn�t know how to act.

�� It wasn�t all that long ago, just a
few months, that I was all alone, too,� Duo confessed, �I know how hard it is
to make friends and I�m glad that I met Wufei. He�s a good friend.�

�� Wufei tried to find some sarcasm in
Duo�s words, but to his shock, he realized that his friend was speaking the
truth, after causing him so much stress, Duo actually cherished his friendship.

�� You haven�t introduced yourself, have
you?� Wufei�s father asked in amusement as he walked into the kitchen, his short,
black hair still wet from the quick washing he had done while his wife had been
chatting.

�� Oh!� she exclaimed, �That was rude,
wasn�t it?�

�� Her husband smirked at her.

�� You�re still as disorganized as you
were when we were teenagers. Some things will never change,� he quipped,
earning a cold glare.

�� I�m Chang Lian, Wufei�s mother,� she
said, embarrassed by her behavior, �and this is my husband, Chang Zhi.�

�� That�s better,� Zhi joked.

�� Duo looked from Zhi to Lain.
Considering how Wufei had acted at first, and hearing about what the rest of
his family was like, he hadn�t been expecting Wufei�s parents to be so down to
earth.

�� Well, you certainly look better,�
Lian commented, looking at Zhi�s hair.

�� You just got off the site?� Wufei
asked. Zhi nodded.

�� I�m an architect,� he explained to
the other boys, �I construct as well as plan and this isn�t the first time I�ve
come home with sawdust in my hair,� he turned to Fai, �Did you enjoy sitting in
on Wufei�s classes.�

�� Fai nodded and Zhi�s
gaze turned thoughtful.

�� Would you like to come here more
often?� he suggested, �You know Wufei�s mother and I have no problem with your
presence in Wufei�s life. It would be nice for Wufei to keep a tie to our
homeland, to his past, and I know you make him happy. This is why we insisted
on moving away. We did not want our only child to be chained down by ancient
traditions if it will only bring him misery.�

�� Wufei looked away from his father in
shame. He had fought so hard against his parents� decision, and he still wasn�t
entirely happy with it, but he had never truly realized his parents� feelings,
and the sacrifices they had deemed worth it. Exile and shame for his happiness�
it made his complaints seem childish.

�� I would like that,� Fai said with a
spark of excitement in his eyes, �I want to visit Wufei and his friends as much
as I can, but to come here is so expensive and the jobs I have don�t pay much�
even if I could find a way to keep my father from stopping me again, it would
take several months to come back here. I am already in trouble when I return.
This trip was worth it, but my father will be keeping a strict eye on me for
quite sometime. I will have to find a different way to sneak away next time.�

�� Zhi frowned, feeling angry that his
son�s boyfriend had to go through such lengths just so they could see each
other for a week. It was like an old romance novel or drama, the star-crossed
lovers with fate itself conspiring against them.

�� I can talk to your father,� he
offered. Oh, he could have choice words with Fai�s father on more things than
just his attitude towards Wufei. Namely his attitude towards
his own son, his youngest son, the same attitude that had existed for as long
as Fai could remember.

�� No,� Fai interrupted, �there is
nothing you can say to change his mind. I have tried� he will never change. My
family will never change,� he said in a small, hurt voice. Trowa and Quatre
shared an emotional look, truly sympathizing with Fai. If it hadn�t been for
Iria, providing money, shelter, and a way out
in those early years of Quatre and Trowa�s relationship and Quatre�s decision
to break ties with his father, he never would have been able to leave home, to
be with Trowa.

�� Lian looked at her son with a great
sadness.

�� Alright, you guys, why don�t you go
up to Wufei�s room and play? We can clean up here,� Lian paused, realizing that
Duo had resumed trying to clean up their mess and she glared at Wufei, �Chang
Wufei, you will not make your guests
clean up after you!� she snapped, grabbing the empty soda bottles from Duo.

�� Gee, thanks for getting me in
trouble,� Wufei teased Duo, who rolled his eyes at him.

�� Well, someone around here has to be
responsible,� he countered.

�� Come on,� he grabbed Duo�s arm and
led him out of the kitchen, �There�s something in my room that I know you�ll
love.�

*****

�� Hamsters!�
Duo cheered excitedly, gravitating towards the tank-cage near Wufei�s bed,
which held two little, white, brown-spotted hamsters, one curled up near the
food dish, the other running on it�s wheel, squeaking happily. Trowa rolled his
eyes.

�� You would win him over with fuzzy
animals,� he chided in amusement as Duo watched the hamsters and Fai joined
them.

�� Hey, Shenny,�
Fai cooed at the running hamster.

�� I never thought of you as a rodent
man, Wufei,� Quatre teased.

�� I wanted a cat, but my father�s
allergic, so I got hamsters instead,� Wufei explained, �These two are actually
the third pair I�ve had. They�re both females.�

�� Can I hold them?� Duo begged with a
wide, kittenish expression.

�� Sure, they don�t bite,� he said, then narrowed his eyes as Duo slid the lid to the side and
gently lifted at the tiny creatures.

�� Don�t tell me you�re one of those
people who loves rats, Duo,� Wufei asked suspiciously.

�� Rats are cute!� Duo said defensively,
�In between the alley outside Wes� apartment and how I grew up, I got used to
them pretty quickly and before I had my cats, I talked to rats. I don�t get why
so many people are grossed out by them. Especially these little fluff balls!
They�re so cute!�

�� Wufei looked at Duo in horror.

�� Duo� you� you didn�t� um� when you
were a kid�� he struggled with the thought of Duo eating rats as a child. Duo
gave him a dark look, not one of hatred, but one of reflection and regret,
understanding what he was trying to say.

�� Sometimes,� he murmured, �If I had
to, if things were tough. I always hated it. Sometimes, I would wait too long,
just because I didn�t want to, but in the end�� he lapsed into silence. A
morbid, depressed air filled the room.

�� Fai had no idea what was going on, but
stayed quiet out of respect of the sudden, somber mood. Heero watched Duo with
a smile as he stroked the hamsters� fur with a soft, affectionate look. He had
missed that smile�

�� I guess this is my penance,� Duo
murmured, his smile growing as the more active hamster squeaked, almost in
agreement, and nuzzled his thumb. Wufei wanted to make a crack that only Duo
would feel guilty about killing rats for his own survival, but felt that it
would be cheap.

�� What are their names?� Duo asked
Wufei.

�� Shenlong
and Nataku,� Fai said smugly. Duo�s eyes widened.
Last semester�s history class had included world mythology, so he knew what
those names were and what they meant.

�� Fei, their names are bigger than
they are!� Duo exclaimed.

�� That�s what I told him!� Fai laughed.

�� Shut up!� Wufei snapped indignantly,
crossing his arms over his chest, �They are brave and noble warriors that were
saved from an unworthy death in a soup kitchen!�

�� What?!� Duo
shrieked in horror. Fai playfully punched his boyfriend in the shoulder.

�� Don�t tease him like that!� he
scolded, �Duo, we don�t eat hamster.�

�� Oh� well� that�s good,� Duo muttered,
holding the rodents protectively, �I always wanted a gerbil or something small
like that, but my cats, especially Toby, would just eat it.�

�� Fai immediately brightened.

�� You have cats?� he asked excitedly.

�� No, he has eight cats and a horde of
kittens that need to be given away,� Trowa said dryly, �You�ll be able to see
them when you come over tomorrow.�

�� Wufei shook his head.

�� I still can�t believe you have so
many. I know you love them all and they�re important to you, and you�re able to
take care of them. Still, I�m surprised that my dad didn�t start sneezing just
by being near you,� Wufei smirked.

�� Duo stuck his tongue out childishly at
him and put the hamsters back in their tank.

�� I�d like to see your cats,� Fai said
shyly, �I have one back home. Well, it�s not really my cat, it�s my eldest
brother�s, but he never fed her, even when she was a kitten. I was more
interested in her and ended up being the one who took care of her, so she
connected with me instead of my brother.�

�� Your brothers are idiots, all three
of them,� Wufei said angrily, thinking that Fai�s entire family treated Fai
just like they treated the cat, �He named the poor thing �T�nshŭ�,
first of all, but he and the other two just call her �Zhū.��

�� Fai gave Wufei an irritated look, but
he knew his lover was right.

�� What do those names mean?� Duo asked.

�� Well, you can make fun of my
hamsters� names, but Fai�s brothers were just cruel. When the cat was a kitten,
she had the brown and white coloring of a guinea pig. Now, she�s mostly white
with light brown spots, like my hamsters, but back then, she was named �T�nshŭ,� which is �guinea pig�, and now she�s �Zhū,� which is just �pig�.�

�� She�s not even fat,� Fai grumbled,
�And she certainly doesn�t look like a rat or a pig! I had always thought that
she looked like a pinto horse, so I named her �J�n.�
It means �spirited horse�,� he clarified for Duo. Wufei smiled fondly at him.

�� And now the little beast only answers
to J�n, Wufei mused.

�� Quatre squeaked as Heero�s phone made
a loud ping, signaling a new text message. The blonde glared at him.

�� Why is that thing up so loud?!� he
demanded, �What if it had gone off in the library or during dinner?!�

�� Heero just rolled his eyes and grunted
at his friend. He looked at the text and sighed.

�� Time to go,� he announced.

�� Is she pissed?� Trowa asked. Heero
shook his head.

�� No, but it�s
getting late and we have a lot of homework to do. We should go,� Heero
pointed out, though he didn�t want to go at all. He wanted Duo to play with the
hamsters some more, he wanted to watch him smile.

�� We�ll pick you two up tomorrow
morning and we can hang out after school,� Quatre said. Fai nodded. The four
boys said their goodbyes to Fai and Wufei and started to pile out of the room,
but Duo hesitated and looked back at Wufei.

�� Fei� about before, when I said your
situation was unfair, I�m sorry. I didn�t mean to insult you,� he apologized.

�� Wufei shook his head, a little bit
amused that Duo would feel guilty about something like that.

�� It wasn�t an insult to me,� he
assured him, �In fact; you have a very noble sense of justice. When you talk
about your past, you never seen outraged by it. To you, it�s just memories,
terrible things, but things that can�t be changed. I guess it�s impossible to
reconcile such� abuses with merely right and wrong, but you have to understand
that it worries all of us when you speak of them like that, like you�ve
accepted them. What Wes did to you� you should be furious, but you�re not.
Considering what happened� I�m honored that my situation has made you so
upset.�

�� It�s true,� Duo admitted, �I had to
accept what went on, all those dark things, because for so long, I thought I
deserved them, that it was my fault. If I hadn�t accepted them, if I had
thought that what he did to me was such an injustice� I would have gone insane.
I couldn�t fight; I could barely maintain� myself after all those years� I
thought that I had to be a bad
person, someone evil, for him to do those things to me� then, after awhile, I
just believed that it didn�t matter, things like wrong and right in my life
didn�t exist. Only good people could
possibly have a concept like that,� he ran a hand through his bangs, not
wanting to so much as think of those dark times, yet the words came easily
because, back then, he had thought of those things so often.

�� I only truly understood what justice
was when I saw how all of you, my friends, reacted to my past. Even you. Your
words hurt, I won�t insult you by denying that, but those words came out
because you believed that what had happened to me wasn�t right. You were
actually offended by my own
situation. Even from the start, you have always been more honorable than me.
Since I was a kid, I had been so sure that things like honor and justice didn�t
exist, that everyone in the world was as dark, twisted, and pessimistic as I
was, as the people I had met were. But I was wrong. I wouldn�t be here right
now if I had been right. You remember when Heero was almost expelled for
beating up that kid? A lesser person, someone without honor, would have gotten
him in trouble, they would have lied to get what they wanted, but you told the
truth. You did the right thing and helped him.�

�� Wufei snorted.

�� It�s no wonder you get along so well
with Meiran,� he mused, �You think you have no sense of honor? Most, including
my own family would think that getting all that money was the better deal, yet
you immediately were so concerned with my pride and freedom. I mean, you lived
so long being poor� I would have thought that you of all people would consider
money more important.�

�� I may have been poor for all of my
life, but I�ve also been chained down, stripped of a future, choices, and any
sort of personal identity, so I�ve learned that money is shit, unless you�re
someone you can be proud of. I always thought that what had happened was good,
hell, maybe that was a lie to rationalize why I stayed with Wes, because being
with him had to be better than being homeless, but now� when I think about him
and miss him, yearn for his presence because I was with him for so long,
because in really fucked-up way, he was the only stable thing in my life, I
absolutely hate myself. I don�t want
to like what he did to me; I don�t want to love him and think back to those
times and actually feel lonely for
him. When I think of that, I think it would have been better if I had just
starved to death on the streets than to have met him,� Duo�s strained words
were cut off as Wufei hugged him.

�� Fai felt a stab in his heart and
stomach, but it wasn�t from jealousy, seeing his lover hold his ex-crush so
affectionately. He had the impulse to hug him, too. He had no idea what they
had been talking about, but Duo�s words� no human being should feel that way.
When Duo had said that he hated himself, he had meant it with every inch of his
soul.

�� Duo�� Wufei sighed, his voice filled
with pain for his friend and he struggled not to let his fury at Wes to show,
in case Duo thought he was blaming him again. How could he have ever thought
that Duo�s past was entirely his fault? He let go of his friend and looked into
his stormy, violet eyes.

�� I�m not what you think I am. When I
was younger, I was just like you,� he confessed, �I didn�t believe in justice,
either, and, after everything you�ve told me, I�m still not sure it exists.
After all, that� bastard is still out there while you have to live with what he
did to you� but back when I was still engaged to Meiran, I had truly believed
that justice was created by people with power so they could justify their
actions. I didn�t believe in a true justice, a universal �right� and �wrong�,
but Meiran did. She believed it so passionately. Whenever I told her my beliefs,
she was so adamant that she was right. We fought so stubbornly about it� Then,
she sacrificed her freedom, and her pride, just so I could discover my true
path, my true happiness, yet through that sacrifice and her misery, she still
believed in justice, in honor. I saw that and I� I wanted to believe in
something so resolutely. I adopted her philosophy to honor her, and because I
was proud of her and wanted something in myself to be proud of.�

�� But you can�t just act a certain way
for someone else�s actions or because it sounds nice, you have to actually
believe in it. When you stood up for Heero, you weren�t doing it because you
thought it was something your cousin would do, you did it because you believed it was right. Meiran did
what she did because she knew that forcing you to do something that would make
you ashamed and miserable was wrong and you knew she was right in thinking
that,� Duo insisted.

�� Wufei smiled at him affectionately.

�� And she was right. Afterlife notwithstanding, our lives are short. In
meeting you, I have learned that anything can happen, good or bad, so we should
do whatever makes us happy, while we�re still alive and able to reach for it,
right?� he asked.

�� Duo nodded in agreement.

�� Then talk to Heero, Duo,� Wufei
nearly pleaded. Duo looked at him in shock.

�� I� I can�t,� he said softly, with a
great deal of pain. Fai quickly realized that his assumptions were right. The
one Duo was in love with was Heero. Was that why they weren�t speaking, because
Duo was too shy?

�� If that was the truth, Fai felt bad
for the both of them. He had been in love with Wufei for quite some time, but
he had been too shy, too scared, to say anything. If Wufei hadn�t taken the
first step, would he have never known how wonderful it was to be with him, as
lovers? He certainly hoped that that wouldn�t be the case for Heero and Duo, if
Heero felt the same way.

�� Yes, you can,� Wufei insisted, �He
makes you happy, we all know that he does. He saved you and the connection you
have with him is something the rest of us will never have with anyone. Without
him� you�re miserable. He�s miserable, too. You deserve happiness, Duo. You�ve
been denying yourself for so long. You�ve known pain and darkness, and the only
way you know to survive is to not try for the things you want most, because
you�re so sure you�ll fail, and that failure is so painful, it�s almost fatal. Don�t you get it? You�re not
distancing yourself from your best friend because of what happened in Boston. You�re doing it
because you�re terrified of being happy. Something you have no idea what it
feels like or how it will make you change. You�re scared to death of not being
miserable, of actually trying to hope
for something good and normal. You�re just using what had happened as an excuse
to push him away, but he�s gotten too close to who you really are something no one has ever done before.�

�� Duo�s eyes widened at the truth of
what Wufei was saying. He was� hiding from happiness? It was true that he was
scared of his new life at the same time that it was everything he had ever
wanted. Was he really pushing Heero away like he was trying to push his past
away, because he was terrified of seeing what was really hiding underneath it?
Were his feelings for his best friend like his past and his denial of their
existence just delaying the inevitable? Wufei was right, he was absolutely
terrified of letting Heero in, thinking that Heero was mad at him and that
Heero was in danger were just pitiful excuses.

�� The truth was,
his life was made up of moments of pain and darkness. He was death,
humiliation, and destruction, all rolled into one. And Heero�
Heero was light and hope, dreams and happiness. Reaching for him was like a
fish trying to walk on land. He had no idea what he really wanted, and what if
he failed, when his entire soul was
relying on succeeding? Wes really was his father. He and his mother, the cold,
uncaring streets, had created who he was now. What if he learned that who he
really was, was someone that Heero would be disgusted in, or worse, someone
that would only turn Heero into someone like him at the end of it all?

�� He wanted to be with Heero forever. He
wanted to become a better person for Heero. He just� he wanted to be proud of
himself. He wanted to be loved. He wanted to let go of his past.

�� I don�t want to be scared anymore,�
he murmured out loud.

�� I don�t want to be dirty anymore. I
don�t want to be tired, or sad, or see this� darkness, this distortion inside
of myself. I want to be whole. I want Heero� to love me for who I am, but in order
for that to happen� I have to be someone
else. How could he ever love my real self, when who I really am is so new and�
disgusting?� he thought, his heart feeling like it was being crushed by his
violent emotions.

�� Wufei and Fai saw the darkness in his
eyes and Wufei panicked, realizing he had brought something up that Duo hadn�t
been ready to think about, let alone talk about.

�� Duo, I�m so sorry,� he apologized in
a panic, �I�m an idiot. Don�t listen to me.�

�� He felt like slamming his head against
the wall. He wasn�t a therapist and he had no right to say these things to his
friend, who was still suffering through his past abuse and clearly wasn�t ready
to be psychoanalyzed, but he wanted Duo and Heero to be happy and attached at
the hip again.

�� No,� Duo murmured, his voice tight,
�You�re right. I�m terrified and I�m running away, because it�s easier. I need
to talk to him� but I�m too much of a coward.�

�� Being scared doesn�t make you a
coward,� Fai defended Duo, �You�ll find the strength to do it. I used to think
that I was useless and a coward, but my feelings for Wufei made me try to see
him again, and here I am. Those feelings are scary, but they�re beautiful, and
they give you strength, don�t they?�

�� Duo nodded, thinking of how his
feelings for Heero had led him to break off his deal with Zechs, run away from
Wes, and live through a near-death experience. Heero had said that he was
strong all on his own, but the night his spleen had ruptured, he had almost
died and, at that moment, seeing Heero again had been the only thing he had had
to live for. If those feelings had been strong enough for him to cheat death�
why couldn�t he face Heero and just admit that he was sorry for putting his
life in danger, but he lacked the strength to go on without him? He needed Heero;
it was as simple as that. So why was this decision so hard to make?

�� Thank you,� he said to both Fai and
Wufei. Wufei sighed.

�� Duo� just be happy and don�t worry so
much, ok?� he pleaded. Duo smiled at him.

�� You�re a good friend, Wufei,� he
said, �Don�t ever think differently.�

�� Wufei blushed as he watched Duo leave,
feeling immensely humbled.

�� Is he going to be ok?� Fai asked
worriedly. He knew that he was massively in the dark about Duo�s past, but he
felt that he knew enough about him to know there was something very deep
troubling him, and he had interacted with him enough to know Duo had a unique
inner strength, and for Fai to be deeply concerned about him.

�� I�m beginning to think that Duo can
survive anything,� Wufei said, �But right now, he really needs our support.�

�� Feeling weary, Wufei sat on the edge
of his bed and Fai joined him, pushing him down so they were both lying down.
Fai curled up against Wufei�s side; laying his head on the taller boy�s chest
and throwing an arm around his flat stomach so he could snuggle up to him easily.
Wufei curled his right arm around Fai�s slender back, stroking his hair with
his long fingers. Fai struggled against a deep feeling of pleasure and
relaxation, trying to stay awake. In between the smaller bedroom, the new food,
and Wufei�s strange, but companionable new friends, something as familiar as
lying with his lover was comfortable. They stayed silent, letting the strained
conversation with Duo fade into the background, reveling in each other�s
company.

�� You never told me why this house is
smaller than your old one,� Fai suddenly mentioned.

�� You don�t like it?� Wufei asked.

�� No, I love it,� Fai assured him,
�it�s still bigger than my house and I know your parents aren�t flashy, but they
could have comfortably bought something bigger. IS there a specific reason why
they chose this house?�

�� Wufei�s fingers traveled down to Fai�s
thin neck, which made the longhaired boy relax even more.

�� When my parents decided to move here,
they both wanted to make sure they would have jobs. Doctors are hard to come by
here because of the economy and, since medical technology and drugs have been
updated so constantly in the last ten years, all the older doctors have had to
get retrained, so Mom managed to get her current job pretty easily. However,
they had heard rumors and stories of immigrants losing their jobs before they
even reached America,
so they decided to save as much money as they could in case they ended up
losing steady income and got a smaller house. My father also told me that they
wanted me to fit in better, so they didn�t want to stand out too much and most
of this town is poor or middle class anyway.�

�� Fai frowned.

�� It must be so hard,� he mused out
loud, �To move from your home only to find you can�t get a job. Meiran must
have had such a hard time��

�� Wufei hummed in affirmative, then
smirked, getting a mischievous look in his dark eyes as Fai made a happy noise
deep in his throat at Wufei�s fingers on his neck.

�� Fai squeaked as Wufei rolled him over
so that Fai was on top of him, straddling his waist. Wufei grabbed his shirt
and pulled him down to kiss him. Fai�s amber eyes slid closed and he moaned
against Wufei�s lips as the other boy slipped his tongue into his mouth. He
returned the gesture, loving the taste of pizza and French fries on his
boyfriend�s tongue. The flavor remained even when they parted, the both of them
flushed.

�� Your parents,� Fai started to
protest, but his words ended in a low groan as Wufei slid one hand up his shorts,
trailing over his stomach and another down his jeans, slipping under his
underwear. Fai gasped again as those questing fingers found his slowly
hardening cock and wrapped around it, stroking the flesh gently, lovingly.

�� Fei�� he murmured breathlessly,
suddenly no longer caring about anyone walking in on them. How long had it been
since he had felt his lover�s knowing touch on his sensitive skin?

�� Just let me take care of you,� Wufei
pleaded. He couldn�t have stopped touching that wonderful part of his
boyfriend�s body, a part only he had touched. He could feel Fai�s cock, silky,
hard, and hot, twitch in his hand.

�� Fai stopped fighting and let Wufei
fondle his erection, his fingers tracing over the length and engorged head. If
he had been able to think as Wufei stroked him and simultaneously slid his
jeans and underwear down his legs, his other hand softly squeezing one of his
butt cheeks, he would have found that he truly hated his family for trying to
deny him this intense, intimate pleasure.

�� Suddenly, Wufei�s long middle finger
slid past Fai�s tight entrance, deep inside of his passage and he cried out.
Under his thoughts of love and desperate need, Fai prayed that the end of the
week would never come. He kicked off his jeans, not caring where they landed.
His hands, shaking with suppressed emotion, barely managed to unzip Wufei�s own
jeans, shocked at how hard Wufei�s own penis already was, but it had been a long time for both of them.

�� Lubricant?�
Fai choked out as he felt Wufei�s thumb rub relentlessly along the slit of his
cock, spreading the leaking pre-cum over his fingers and the head. His need to
feel Wufei�s cock inside of his body pulsed an intense
heat in his thighs, genitals, and gut. This was what his father was trying to
deny him, this passion? He couldn�t give this up, for anything. He couldn�t
think of why Wufei would have lubrication, but whether he did or not, he was
going to make love to him, even if it hurt. To his astonishment, Wufei dug a
tube of lube out of his pocket.

�� How?� he asked, his breath coming out
in heavy pants as Wufei slipped another finger inside of him, his arousal doing
a decent job of relaxing his muscles for him.

�� It�s Quatre and Trowa�s,� Wufei said
with a deep blush, studying Fai�s flushed, pleasurable expression with a
feeling of love and awe. He remembered how Quatre had slipped the tube to him
when they had been changing for gym. The blonde had told him that he would probably
need it and if he needed anymore, he should just ask him or Trowa. It had been
embarrassing, that Quatre would think he and Fai were going to have so much
sex, they needed another tube, but he was grateful.

�� He and Fai had never been� sex crazed,
but they were healthy teenagers and it felt so good, just to be together this way. He rolled them over so Fai was
lying down and he was hovering above him, so they could watch each other more
easily. It was a guilty pleasure of Wufei�s, to watch Fai�s expressions as he
made love to him. He pushed the longhaired boy�s shirt up, his fingers rubbed
at Fai�s lightly colored nipples and he leaned down to lick at one of them,
loving the soft feel and taste of his lover�s skin.

�� Fai gasped at the contact, spreading
his legs as he felt Wufei�s hand find his entrance again and he slid two inside
again, this time slick with lube that Fai hadn�t seen him use.

�� I had forgotten how soft you are down
here,� Wufei murmured, his fingers stroking Fai�s insides. Fai looked up at him
with half-lidded amber eyes. He wrapped his legs around Wufei�s waist, drawing
him closer to him, slid his hand in between their bodies, finding Wufei�s wet
erection. He shifted his body to rub his own cock against his lover�s, both
lengths slick with pre-cum. Wufei groaned, closing his eyes in pleasure as he
felt Fai�s rounded head slide and rub against his sensitive flesh. He could
feel his testicles press against his own, through his boxers, sending jolts of
pleasure through him.

�� I need�� he managed to gasp out, his
fingers slipping from his lover to grab at his thin hips.

�� I�m ready,� Fai told him, their
glazed eyes meeting. Wufei nodded. He used his hand to guide the head of his
cock to Fai�s slightly loosened entrance and pressed against it. Fai squeezed
his eyes tightly closed as he felt Wufei�s hot length start to push inside his
body. Ever since he had offered up his virginity to Wufei over a year ago, he
had always expected there to be a terrible pain, but there never was. The
occasional soreness, but never pain.

�� Wufei bit back a cry as his cock was
squeezed by tight, silky flesh that radiated heat. He loved this feeling� sometimes
he thought he could stay inside his boyfriend forever and never get enough. How
could anyone use this and turn it into something wrong and twisted? He suddenly
realized Duo�s pain more than he ever did. He had never known this� happiness.
What he knew of sex was that it hurt and was disgusting, he didn�t know how
good it could feel. How could he live that way?

�� Fai panted heavily as he felt Wufei�s
wonderful length slip out of him a little, only to thrust back inside of him,
sending huge shocks of pleasure through him. He arched his back and his hands
gripped at the sheets under his body. He could feel Wufei�s weight pushing down
on him and his arms wrapping around his arched back, pulling him into his arms.

�� Fai rested his head against Wufei�s
shoulder and let out a soft cry as he felt the thick rod inside of him slide in
deeper at the shift of position. Wufei�s arms remained around him, cuddling him
as he thrust inside of him over and over. He followed his lover�s rhythm,
moving his body with him.

�� Fai�s flushed, needy body pressed
against Wufei�s fully clothed one, his jeans rubbing against his bare lower
body. The taller boy�s cock was relentless, pushing and rubbing inside of him,
not giving him a single chance to catch his breath, making him want to scream
and plead with Wufei to slow down or he was going to climax too soon.

�� Wufei could feel that he was losing
himself in Fai�s hot insides, his thrusts becoming faster and more desperate.
Keeping one arm around Fai�s sweaty back, his shirt sticking to his skin, Wufei
wrapped his free hand around his lover�s erection, stroking it roughly. The
familiar grip made Fai�s muscles tighten, his entire body reacting to the
stimulation and pleasure making him moan loudly.

�� It had been too long and after a few
strokes, Fai gave out a keening cry and let go, climaxing harshly, his cum
spilling over Wufei�s hand. Wufei�s arm tightened around his lover as Fai
trembled in his grip, thrusting deeper and deeper inside of him. Fai�s insides
clenched at him, driving him into a startling orgasm that sent white lights
shooting through his vision. Wufei�s back became rigid as his semen filled his
lover�s passage.

�� Wufei lay the
two of them down on the bed, feeling his cum slipping out of Fai, but refused
to slide out of him so soon, even to clean up. His post-climatic bliss was cut
short as he felt Fai shaking and his shirt became wet with his tears.

�� Did I hurt you?!� Wufei demanded,
trying to pull out of his boyfriend, but Fai kept his legs tight around his
waist, keeping him from moving away.

�� No! It� it was wonderful,� he
sniffed. Wufei looked him in the eye and saw that his amber eyes were still
slightly glazed with pleasure, but also with a great sadness.

�� I just� I don�t want to go home,� he
said mournfully.

�� We still have five days until you
have to go,� Wufei tried to soothe him, but he understood the desire to not let
go of his lover.

�� Yes, then I have to go home and leave
behind everything that I love,� Fai said bitterly, �I just want to be with you,
forever, I don�t care where I am, I just want that.�

�� Wufei let Fai curl against him like a
child, finding it hard to say words that would comfort the both of them.

�� I love you,� he said passionately,
�And I will find a way to be with you. I won�t let anyone take this away from
us.�

�� If there was something Duo�s plight
had made him realize, it was how precious happiness was, that it was something
worth fighting for, even if it was small and complicated. His clan would call
what they had just done, the sex, the need for each other and only each other,
something that was wrong, and he refused to feel that way. He refused to let
them make him feel like Duo, confused about what he really wanted.

�� We�ll be together,� Wufei promised,
but didn�t feel nearly as sure as he sounded.

End
part 17

This
part was supposed to be really short, but Wufei and Fai�s relationship begged
more attention. I hoped you liked Fai, as well as the sex scene, which I have
to admit was a little bit rushed, but it was the first consensual, affectionate
sex scene in this huge fanfic (that�s kind of sad,
actually). Also, it�s really hard to write sex during a religion class where
half of the class believes more in supernatural powers than the power of the
human mind and placebos (half of the class didn�t even know what a placebo was
and more than a half of them honestly believed such a thing didn�t exist *slams
head against a wall*)
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The Road to Kindness