Pairings: 2+5 / 5+2
Disclaimer: Duh.

Part 3

Duo watched as Wufei took off his shirt, his bronze chest slowly coming more and more into view. His mouth went dry, and his heart started beating faster. Wufei was just to goddamn sexy for his own good. Just like another pilot, one from Japan...Duo mentally slapped himself, remembering what had happened this morning in the kitchen. He had laid his heart out, and Heero had crushed it. There was no way he was going to risk that again.

But Wufei was just so freakin *attractive*...

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Wufei took off his shirt, and laid it out on the bed by Lien to dry. The baby gurgled, and grabbed at it. Wufei sighed, and after he took it from her, he laid it across a chair, where she couldn't get to it. Lien pouted, her would-be chew toy taken away, and turned back to her ducky.

Wufei looked up to see Duo staring at him, eyes a little wide. Wufei shot him a weird look, and Duo blinked, then giggled self-consciously before he began to unbutton his shirt. The Chinese boy shook his head, and watched as Duo began to undress his upper-half.

As Duo took off his shirts, Wufei thought about how he had found Duo. Why had he been crying? Was it because of what had happened between Duo and Heero in the kitchen this morning? If it was, then it was none of his business. It only concerned Heero and Duo. Then his attention was abruptly taken from his thoughts.

Duo had taken off his shirts, and was kneeling down to lay them on the floor to dry. As he hunched over, Wufei's eyes went wide at the sight of Duo's bare back, at the sight of the smooth pale skin, which must feel so silky, just like the wondrous length of brown hair which just begged to be taken from its braid. He found himself longing to run his hands threw Duo's hair, and caressing Duo's back....

He shook himself, and turned away to watch Lien. The raven-haired baby was teetering on the edge of the bed, trying to get her ducky which had fallen to the floor. Alarmed, Wufei ran to Lien, and after putting her a safe distance away from the edge, gave her back her ducky. She played with the yellow duck for a few seconds before losing interest in it, and began to reach out to Wufei, wanting to be held. Wufei sighed, and picked the baby up. She squealed happily, and began to tug on Wufei's ponytail. Wufei looked back over to were Duo was, and saw the American grinning at him.

"She loves you, you know," Duo said, watching the baby play with Wufei's hair. Wufei was about to respond when the band in his hair broke, and his hair cascaded around his face in a black wave. The baby squealed with delight, and after grabbing handfuls of the thick black hair, she yanked on it. Wufei yelped more out of surprise than pain, and jerked backwards, yanking his hair from Lien's grasp.

"No, Lien, that was bad. You don't yank on Papa's hair," Wufei said sternly, scolding the child. Lien looked back at him, eye's going wide, lip trembling. Wufei saw this, and knew in an instant what was going to happen. She opened her mouth, and wailed.

The baby began to cry, her chest heaving, large tears rolling down her face. She had never been scolded before, and to have it done by her most loved one was even worse.

Duo saw this, and motioned to Wufei to give the baby to him. When the child was in Duo's arms, he gently held her, rubbing her back and stroking her hair, trying to calm her down. Wufei flopped onto the bed in a very un-like Wufei manner, and pressed his hands to his forehead. Duo finally succeeded in calming the baby down, and after he wiped the tears from her face, she whispered to him, "Da-ee, I sowwy I poo' Papa haiw." "You're sorry you pulled Papa's hair?" The baby nodded, and Duo grinned, "Well, why don't you go tell him that?"

He walked over to the bed, and gently set the baby down by Wufei. Lien crawled over to the Chinese boy, and sat down on his chest. Wufei opened his eyes, and took his hands away from his forehead. He was getting the beginnings of a headache.

Lien solemnly looked at him and in as serious a voice that a baby could manage, said, "Papa, I sowwy I poo- you haiw."

Wufei hid the beginnings of a smile, and said, "Are you sure you're sorry? Did Duo tell you to say you're sorry to me?"

The baby shook her head no, and replied, "No, Da-ee no tell me to tell sowwy. I sowwy."

Wufei's eyebrows went up as he looked at Duo. "Daddy?"

Duo blushed. "She just started calling me Daddy out of no where today."

He looked back at Lien. "Okay, little one, I forgive you. But don't do it again." Lien nodded, and smiled at Wufei cautiously, and when Wufei smiled back, she giggled and began carefully picking up strands of his still loose hair to look at. She ran her chubby little fingers through, being very careful not to pull Papa's hair anymore.

Duo watched her play with Wufei's hair, and smiled at the scene. He sat down next to Wufei on the bed, and Wufei turned his head to look at him. Duo saw the sympathy concealed way down in the black-ish eyes, saw the pity, saw confusion. Wufei knew.

Silence spread between them for a few minutes, as Wufei looked back at Lien, and glanced at Duo every once in a while. Duo just stared down into his lap, growing more and more uncomfortable as the minutes passed, and neither one made any sound, with the exception of Lien's gurgling.

Finally, Duo broke the silence. "So, how old is Lien, do you know? She seems a little less than a year. She is so cute, and sweet, and she looks just like you. I mean she has the same shiny black hair, and the same pretty black-brown eyes. She's just so adorable...." he trailed off, trying not to babble. Wufei always hated it when he babbled.

Wufei however, wasn't concentrating on the babbling. He had picked out one choice word from the description of Lien. "Same pretty black-brown eyes...." he said, saying it so that it was half question-half statement.

Duo's eyes widened, as he realized what he had just said. "Well, not pretty exactly, more like...uh...nice....soulful...no, not soulful...beautiful...no wait, that's not right...they're uh...nice!" he finished, cheeks turning more and more red. Wufei merely raised one eyebrow at him, and turned back to Lien. She gurgled, finally growing tired of Wufei's hair, and crawled off his chest back to where her abandoned ducky had been lain. Wufei sat up, and scooted back so that he was slightly behind Duo.

He looked up to see Duo watching him with wide eyes, and he felt very self-conscious all of a sudden. "What? Why are you staring at me like so?"

Duo shook his head, and returned his attention to his lap. He had just realized that him and Wufei were still un-dressed from the waist up. But it wasn't like seeing Wufei's bare chest was something to complain about....

Remembering the sympathy deep down in the Chinese boy's eyes, Duo knew that he had at least some explaining to do to the pilot. He had, at least, found him on his bed sobbing his heart out.

At the reminder of exactly why he had been crying, Duo's back stiffened up, and he clenched his hands together so hard, the knuckles began to turn white at the pressure. Being with Wufei had made him almost forget the ordeal he himself had started this morning with Heero.

Wanting, desiring for the pressure inside his chest to just go away, Duo finally began to talk. Wufei just looked down at his hands and listened.

"I don't know if any of you guys noticed, but I've sorta kinda maybe had a thing for Heero since we first all teamed up. I mean, out of all of us, with the possible exception of you, Heero was the most quiet, the coldest. I took that as a challenge to my people-skills, and after I tried to make him talk, I found myself falling for him. I think I even fell in love with him." Duo waited till Wufei looked up at him and nodded for him to go on, before he continued.

"So after a few months of trying to earn his affections, trying to make him act just a little friendlier, I thought that maybe he might feel something for me. He's not as *cold* as he used to be, he evens smiles at me sometimes. I thought that maybe...me and him...we might...you know....get together or something...I told him that this morning...." Duo fought tears as he said this part, his throat occasionally closing up on him.

Wufei looked over at the American pilot, watching as Duo's shoulders trembled, saw the shimmery brightness in the violet eyes from the tears. The shimmer made those eyes look like glass, clear and beautiful.

Duo went on, his speech going faster and faster as his emotions began to get really worked up. "And so when I told him, he smiled at me, and you know, seeing that, I thought I actually had a chance, but then he said something along the lines of 'I don't want to ruin our friendship', and 'You're not really my type' or some bullshit like that, and so my heart was totally crushed, and all that bastard could do was give me a quick hug, something he's never done, and walk away! He just left me there, with no other explanation. And when he said that, there was this sadness in his eyes, this *pity*, he felt *sorry* for me, the bastard, and I *hate* it when people pity me! I don't need his fucking pity!" Duo finished, his breath racing, chest heaving, tears forming in his eyes, and falling down his cheeks in big drops. He swiped at them, trying to make them stop, but not succeeding very well. His breathing began to hitch, and little sobs began to form.

Wufei watched this, wanting to comfort the boy, but not knowing how. He started to talk to him, trying to form the right words to make the American feel better. "Duo, I'm sure that....well, someday....you'll eventually find that someone...." For the first time in a long time, Wufei was at a loss for words, and Duo just started crying harder at his words. Wufei mentally kicked himself. Wrong choice of words.

The Chinese boy sighed. What could he do? Tentatively, he reached out one hand to touch Duo on the shoulder, as a sign of comfort. Duo looked up at the deep, black brown eyes, and after he let out one shaky, broken sigh, he threw himself into Wufei's arms.

Wufei sat there, not believing he now had a lap full of sobbing, beautiful violet-eyed Duo. After the initial shock, he carefully put his arms around the crying boy, not sure what to do. Duo wrapped his arms around Wufei, and buried his head in the Chinese pilot's neck.

Swallowing hard, remembering what Duo had did to calm Lien down when she had been crying, and hoping that that tactic worked on teenage boys as well, Wufei began rubbing Duo's back with one hand, and stroking his hair with the other. Slowly, but surely, Duo's sobs calmed down to hiccups, and his breathing came down from racing to hitching every couple seconds.

Finally, Duo pulled back slightly, and Wufei let his arms drop to his sides on the bed. His front immediately got colder from the subtraction of Duo's warmth. Duo swiped at his face self-consciously , and looked down at his lap.

"I'm sorry, Wufei, I....I didn't mean to start crying like that...I guess I'm just a big whiny weak baby in your eyes, huh?" he laughed nervously, plucking at his pants with his hands.

Wufei reached out one hand without thinking about it to lift up Duo's chin. When he finally got the violet eyes to meet his, he said in a clear voice, "Duo, you are not a whiny baby. And you are definitely not weak. You are one of the strongest people I know, and one of the most mature, even if you don't act like it all the time. From what you've told me, you took a great risk letting your feelings go into the open, and although I don't approve of crying in general, your reason's for it are acceptable." As he finished talking, he looked straight into Duo's eyes, not letting them look away.

Duo's breath was stolen away from him. Although Wufei would never know, his opinion of Duo mattered a great deal, and hearing these compliments made his world a great deal lighter. And those eyes....

"You're gonna make some lucky person really happy someday, you know that, 'Fei?" he said, smiling as the Chinese boy's eyes widened, and he flushed ever so slightly. "Thank you, very much. I'm so glad you're my friend." As he said this, he put his hand over Wufei's, which was still under his chin.

Wufei's breath caught, and he unconsciously moved his hand to touch the side of Duo's face. Duo closed his eyes, and rubbed his cheek against his hand. He opened his eyes, and Wufei's chest tightened. He had never seen such gratefulness in someone's face, just for him...but there was something else, something else in Duo's eyes that looked familiar, but he just couldn't name the emotion.

Duo saw the warmth and tenderness in Wufei's eyes, and smiled. Without knowing it, he began to lean just a bit forward, getting closer and closer to the Chinese pilot. Wufei started to close his eyes, and Duo did the same.

Wufei's hand went up to Duo's neck, and Duo's hand traveled down Wufei's arm and side to rest on his waist. They got closer, and their lips just barely brushed....

...when they heard a sneeze from behind them. They both jumped apart, and looked behind Wufei for the source. There sat Lien, rubbing her nose. And then, she sneezed again, her face scrunching up into a pouty look. Then she coughed, and sneezed again, for the third time. When she was done, she sniffed, and looked absolutely miserable.

"Poor little one, are you sick?" Wufei asked, reaching out to put Lien in his lap. He pressed one hand to her [forehead], and then his eyes widened. "Duo, go get Quatre and tell him I need a thermometer and medical supplies. She's burning up!"

*~*~*~*~*

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