Devil's Gap

Devil's Gap
By: Camui
Pairing: 2x5x2
Warnings: All apply. Language, alternate universe, lemon, homosexual erotica, paranormal situations.
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing, nor do I make any profit from this writing. Devil's Gap, however, is indeed a road on the local Indian Reservation. The legend behind it is real, as well. I do not own it or take credit for using it in this piece of fiction. (folklore at the end of the chapter available)

Enjoy.

~*~

It wasn't the first time that Wufei had to drive out into the middle of nowhere in his Mercedes, getting the beautiful automobile dirty with dust, mud, and various other liquidy brown things that he'd rather not think about. But because his landlady was old and frail, he often took on chores for her that needed to be done. Living on a ranch wasn't exactly his ideal place, but it kept him in shape during the off-season of soccer, and the lady was nice enough to let him eat, sleep, and board there for free - in exchange for the young Chinese boy's help on occasion. In retrospect he actually liked the farm; it was a nice change from the dirty city that clogged his lungs with pollution. Waking up and taking a deep breath here made him forget to complain about anything. Even when every other step got his boots covered in manure.

Today he had to go out and get one bale of hay. Just one. He thought it odd, at first, since usually Grams requested a ton and had him drive the old pickup, but today she asked for just one bale. She said she was working on decorating the front porch to make the ranch look more inviting - soon they were going to turn it into a horse boarding business, and she wanted to let the possible clients know that it was a friendly, cozy place. Of course Wufei wouldn't complain. Because he was going out of his way, driving an hour and a half to the middle of nowhere to get some hay, he was going to get a good meal tonight. He loved Gramma's pot roast and red potatoes, and would gladly drive across the country if it meant getting a good helping of it.

It'd been so long since he started living with Grams, it was a natural way of life. The memories of being abandoned by his parents on the streets were far ones; he was so young, and it's probable cause that he blocked out all of the negative memories before Gramma came and saved him. At first she thought he was a little girl, with his long black hair matted to his face from the rain, his large golden eyes watery with tears. She had offered her umbrella and shooed Wufei into her beat up station wagon, and took him away without a word. Sometimes he wondered how she knew he was abandoned - why didn't she ask him where his parents were, why he was out in the rain without a jacket. Maybe it was because in return Wufei didn't say anything, the six year old making a silent agreement with the old woman. In the past fifteen years they had bonded as if they were related by blood, closer even, and Wufei dutifully helped her with anything and everything, even if she didn't ask. It was their lack of words that made such a strong communication between them, and to outsiders it would seem almost as if they disliked each other. But if one looked closely they would see the warm gazes they sent to each other, notice Wufei's careful eyes watching Gramma and making sure she didn't fall, or hurt herself.

Sighing and leaning back in his seat, the smell of hay filled his car. He smiled lightly and glanced in the rear-view mirror, the sights behind him blocked by the trunk that was propped open to make room for the hay bale in the back. No way in Hell was that thing coming inside of his car. Adjusting his side mirrors properly to see what he needed to, he returned his attention to the road and hummed along to the one old country radio station that came in fuzzy.

A vibration started in his pocket, and Wufei dug out his cell phone, bewildered that he even got reception. "Old Hag" flashed on the screen and he touched the phone lightly to answer, holding the technology to his ear.

"Yeah?"

"Oh, good! I've been trying to get ahold of you and finally you have reception."

Yeah, make it quick before I lose it again. He thought idly, furrowing his brow a bit. "Did you need something else?"

"Well I just want you to be as quick as possible, we're expecting a guest for dinner tonight."

"Ah, ok. I'll take a shortcut then." He said, his voice rather stiff. Gramma wasn't offended by his tone of voice, she had grown to learn that it was just Wufei's way of communicating. He could be very straight-laced and she accepted that.

"Ok, drive safe Wufei. Love you."

"Love you." He hung up the call and glanced around the flat lands of wheat and oats, wondering if there was another road that would take him into town quicker. Leaning forward a bit, as if it would make his eyesight better on the cloudy day, he spotted a street sign and slowed down, rolling down his dirty window to get a better look at it.

DEVIL'S GAP

Wufei raised a brow. Ok, he knew he was on the Indian reservation because they bought from the farmers out here. But really, did they have to be so dramatic with their names? Picking up his Blackberry Storm™ he started to Google his location, to check to see if Devil's Gap would take him to town quicker. Sure enough, it would cut his time in half, and with a light smirk he locked his phone and put it away as he started to turn down the street.

The name rang a bell, though, and he thought for a few moments. Roads like this always had rumors behind them, especially if they were named something so... incriminating. Surely with a name involving DEVIL meant that bad things happened on the road.

"Tch." Wufei wasn't terribly superstitious - of course with his Chinese heritage he had his beliefs, but he was also quite the skeptic. As he started the drive down the crappily paved road, the skies darkened a bit and a few drops of rain hit his windshield. "... how cliché," he muttered, turning on his wipers. Oh well, at least his car would get a bit cleaner. Not that he wasn't going to wash it when he got home, though.

Letting out another light sigh, he glanced at the stereo when the already fuzzy station started to get static-y. George Strait's words were fading in and out, and Wufei rolled his eyes and shut off the stereo. As it were, his CD player was broken due to one of Gramma's sweet grandkid thinking it to be a good idea to shove a stick into the slot.

Brat.

The rain started to get a bit heavier, and Wufei slowed down his car to make sure not to crash on the slippery roads. That'd be the last thing he wanted, since pot roast was waiting for him at home. It was the simple things in life that make a man homely, right? Right. Something like that.

For 4 o' clock in the afternoon, it was dark as night. His brights were on and there wasn't a car for miles, which normally would make someone a bit uneasy, but hey. This is the countryside. Everyone's probably covering their bales and making sure their house doesn't flood.

After a good ten or so minutes, another pair of headlights appeared through the sheets of rain. Wufei wasn't sure, but it looked like the car wasn't moving... in fact, the closer he got, the headlights started flashing at him. A distress signal of sorts, he assumed.

He glanced at the digital clock on his dash, biting his lip. Get home on time for Gramma and pot roast, or help out a stranger...

Damn it, if Gramma didn't raise me so well... Wufei slowed his car down to a halt, his wipers squeaking lightly on his windshield. The stalled vehicle was rumbling dangerously, the exhaust backfiring every now and then. It shut off and the driver door opened, a shrouded figure exiting and darting through the rain towards the passenger door of Wufei's car that the Chinese had reached over and opened for the stranger.

The first thing that struck Wufei was the scent of lavender. A soft, feminine scent. A woman? He watched as his new companion tugged off of the soaked hood of their coat and dropped it down, shaking their head lightly. Long brown hair flew about, and Wufei felt himself blushing. Had he rescued a damsel in distress? His heart started to pound as amethyst eyes turned towards him, a breathtaking smile accompanying the slightly rosy cheeks.

"Thanks dude!"

...

Wufei's jaw dropped as the masculine tenor sailed from between the petal-soft lips of the long-haired stranger.

"Man, it's comin' down hard huh?" The stranger peered out of the windshield, a look of appreciation on his face as some thunder rumbled in the distance. "I woulda been a goner." He turned an easy smile towards the dumbfounded Chinese man. "I'm not too fond of big storms y'see." The man finally noted Wufei's expression, and tilted his head. "You ok man?"

Wufei nodded dumbly, placing both hands on the steering wheel and starting to drive away from the other man's dead vehicle. Great, some damsel. Just some trashy local with a trashy truck and trashy clothes -

"Sweet ride you got here, dude."

"Quite so." Wufei said between clenched teeth, hands gripping the wheel tightly as he thought about the havoc the man's wet clothes were wreaking on his upholstery.

"Cozy." The brunet grinned and settled further into the seat, cuddling into himself. He didn't even bother to put his seatbelt on, which Wufei would have said something about if he genuinely cared about this strangers' well-being. "I'm Duo, by the way. Duo Maxwell."

The man, Duo, held out a wet cold hand to shake, one that Wufei pointedly ignored.

"Chang Wufei."

Duo seemed nonplussed by Wufei's obvious rejection; instead he seemed even more intrigued with Wufei's name, leaning over in his seat and scrutinizing the Chinese man's appearance.

"Chang, eh? Not many chinks around these parts nowadays. Most stay in the city."

Clenching his jaw, Wufei held back his own choice words for the American boy, and continued to drive. Maybe if he slammed the passenger side into a tree the guy would croak on impact? That would be lucky - ah, no, the car is too precious for that kind of torment. Maybe pushing him out while going 60 in the middle of nowhere...?

"So you work on a ranch or something?" Duo asked, and Wufei nodded tersely. "That's cool, coming out to the rez to pick up some hay. But uh," Duo glanced back at the open trunk. "It's getting kinda wet."

"... Shit." Wufei cursed under his breath and pulled the car over, knowing that wet hay would not be what his Grams wanted. Grunting and reaching into the backseat for the tarp he kept there, he picked it up and opened his door to step out into the storm. Using some cables he strapped the tarp to the trunk and the bumper, tucking the sides in to make sure no more water leaked in. Deeming it at least as an effort he got back into the car, the few moments out in the rain already soaking him to the core. Shivering, he turned on the heat and started off again, cursing at himself mentally.

"I myself work on a ranch," Duo commented, lacing his fingers behind himself as he reclined the seat a bit. "Devil's Gap Ranch."

Wufei nodded, pretending he was listening. At the moment, though, he was just trying to focus on pot roast, red potatoes, carrots, corn on the cob, and sweet corn bread. But after a few seconds' silence, Wufei blinked as some information flashed across his mind's eye.

"... didn't Devil's Gap Ranch burn down years ago?" He asked, turning to look at Duo, who blinked over at him plaintively.

"Yeah."

"... and didn't everyone there die...?"

Duo avoided that particular question and shrugged. "I stick around to maintain what's left of it. Most of the horses have gone wild by now, but the crops are still ok. Best corn stalks for miles around!"

The Chinese man raised a brow, wondering why Duo shirked off the main question. Something was fishy about this guy. Was he really from Devil's Gap Ranch? Wufei tapped his fingers on the wheel lightly, thinking to himself and chewing on his lip out of habit.

"Hey," Duo leaned over a bit and poked at the side of Wufei's head, making the oriental man blink and startle a bit. "What's yer hair look like let down?"

"None of your business." Wufei grit out. His hair was a sensitive topic - he kept it shoulder-length like his father used to, and he always had it pulled back. Not only did it get in the way when he was working in the fields, but he hadn't worn his hair down since Gramma rescued him that day fifteen years ago.

"It's really pretty," Duo commented, pulling his long braid from over his shoulder. "I can imagine it's a bitch to wash, a lot like mine."

"Not really." Wufei looked at the braid out of the corner of his eye; Duo's hair had to be down to his waist, maybe longer, when let down. That would be way more of a chore than Wufei had to deal with, when it came to showering.

Duo shrugged, smiling lightly at Wufei. His arm reached out and his fingers brushed against the Asian man's neck ever so lightly, a phantom of a touch. Wufei shivered involuntarily, his shoulders raising a bit, and when Duo returned to his seat, Wufei felt his hair fan out and rest on his shoulders and neck.

Blushing profusely - in both anger and embarrassment - Wufei's hand automatically went up to tuck the loose locks behind his ear. Duo laughed lightly, the stoic boy liking the sound (what!?) coming from the man's lips, and then the American pat Chang's shoulder lightly.

"See? It's beautiful."

The blush on the Asian man's face darkened at being called such a feminine name, but in the back of his mind he was secretly liking the attention. What the hell was wrong with him? He was a man, with pride and dignity, and - oh, the hand massaging his shoulder gently was starting to send tingly sensations through his very frame.

"'Fei?"

Golden eyes blinked and refocused on the road, when had his vision gone blurry?, and he corrected the slight drift that he was starting to make into the other lane. Even though there were no cars for miles, Wufei was a bit of a stickler for most everything he did being perfect and to a T.

"You know, you should loosen up, dude."

Wufei resisted the urge to roll his eyes, but his shoulders were square despite the hand massaging the left one so nicely, urging it to relax. But it wouldn't give in. Chang Wufei wasn't one to give in easily. Duo let out a breath that sounded a bit exasperated, then retracted his hand. Wufei glanced over with a slim, raised brow, and Duo grinned a 100-watt smile.

"A guy would melt with a smile from you."

The corner of the Asian man's lips lifted slightly, and Duo nodded, lifting a cold finger to prod at the other corner, urging it to lift as well.

"You're a good kid, Chang Wufei." Duo commented, making Wufei's brows furrow lightly. "Grams'll be proud of you."

Brows knitting closer together, Wufei let his eyes wander back to the road for a few seconds to make sure he was heading back into town instead of further out into nowhere - streetlights ahead of him assured him that he was going the right way. An ice-cold draft swept through the car despite the heat being on high, making the Chinese man shiver violently again. Face relaxing into a bit of confusion, he reached out a hand to make sure that the fans were indeed on full-blast, testing the warmth. The heat surged back once more, filling the car up with a cozy breeze along with the light scent of lavender once again, and Wufei made a noise of contemplation.

"Huh." He glanced over to say something to Duo, but when the empty passenger seat greeted him, Wufei paled considerably and slammed on the breaks. Sputtering lightly, not sure what to make of the situation, he checked all of his mirrors to see if Duo was on the side of the road somewhere, given the slight chance he may have bailed. The Asian even backed up his vehicle about a hundred feet, but the American was nowhere in sight.

Heart pounding a million miles a second, Wufei put the pedal to the metal and sped home as fast as he could.

Maybe Devil's Gap wasn't such a good idea.

But little did Wufei know... bad luck tends to follow the unlucky.

~*~
A/N: Just a bit of a prelude to an idea I had while coming back from the reservation, driving along Devil's Gap road.

Rumor has it that a few decades ago, a white family was coming back from a fishing trip with some of their Native friends. The white family left early, saying that they had other things to do. On the way back they decided to take a short cut; Devil's Gap. Rumor says that they saw a man standing next to a broken down car, waving the family down. The family, being nice enough and back in the 70's when picking up strangers was a normal everyday thing, picked the man up and drove him into town so he could get some oil and gas. They took him back to his car, and when he thanked them and started working, the family started off again. Only, when the father and mother looked in the mirrors to get one last good look at the man they'd just saved, nothing but empty road and hay fields greeted them.

It's said that the devil roams those roads, and anyone who stops for any reason will encounter him. Bad luck will follow for a few days or weeks, depending on how nice or mean the family/person was. It also seems to only happen to white people - the Natives are smarter than to mess with the devil.

Silly siopies :B
(I am not a Native American. I am simply dating one and going off of a legend she told me when I asked about Devil's Gap. Though because I am just a stupid white person... I'd LOVE to take a drive along there and stop. XDD I also have no idea how to spell "siopi", but I know it is pronounced "see-op-ee". Fail.)

Next chapter coming soon, depending on the reaction of readers / reviewers / hits.

- Camui