Setting: Just after the AC-195 war. Possibly AU, but it’s worked in so it doesn’t warp the TV storyline.

Pairings: 3x4, 1+2 (possibly more to come)

Rating: NC-17 eventually, but this is a milder chapter.

Warnings: Violence, possible OOC? lemon, angst. No NCS - you’ll see why I had to point that out. Several OCs but they don’t necessarily play a big part. Plus, if making Wufei into a bad guy bothers you, don’t read this. It’s not exactly the Wufei you’re all familiar with but… oh what the hell just find out.

Disclaimers: The only characters here that I own are any alter egos, Kazimiriel, Machiavel, Sarrow and Malvad and a few other characters that’ll pop up. Characters I don’t own include: Heero, Duo, Trowa, Quatre, Wufei, Zechs, Treize and any other good ones in fact.

Also, I would like to note that I am not Christian - anybody that wants to know why can pick one of two courses of action, either accept the fact that I’m a Mahayanist or email me and prepare for a very complex credo - and I’d like to add that this is just a story. If anything in it offends anyone, I apologize very sincerely.

Rough Peace - Part 3

Quatre slowly opened his eyes around seven hours later and instantly screwed them shut again with the intense pain coming from his right wing… ‘Wing? I fell asleep in my angel form! Oh no, oh please God, don’t let them have seen me… but I’m in a bed. Calm down, maybe it was Duo.’

“Quatre, love?”

‘Oh no… forgive me, please… I never meant for this to happen.’ He took the chance of opening his eyes, preparing himself for disgust or even fear on his lover’s face, but found none. All he saw was the trust, love and loyalty in Trowa’s eyes as he bent down for a sweetly quick kiss. “I love you Trowa… and… and I’m so sorry.”

Trowa took another kiss, but deeper this time, “I love you too. But what do you have to be sorry about?”

“I didn’t want you to find out like this,” Quatre explained, “I was going to tell you today. I’d planned on… on going with you to that quiet spot on the beach so I could explain myself to you. I was supposed to-”

The gymnast pressed a finger to the angel’s lips, “I believe you, angel,” he said, smiling at the pet name he’d often used for Quatre without realizing just how perfect it actually was. “I’m not angry, I promise.”

Quatre let out a huge sigh of relief and sat up, looking over to the point on his damaged wing where the pain was coming from, “You’ve done a good job with this,” he smiled as he folded in the wing and ran his hands along the bandage. “I didn’t know you were trained in divine physiotherapy.”

Trowa laughed and adjusted the dressing, “I just imagined I should use the same approach I used with doves, just on a larger scale,” he said, leaning forward and nuzzling the little blond’s cheek. “And a million times more beautiful,” he added in a whisper. Quatre blushed again and grinned coyly.

His smile was soon replaced with a more subdued face, “Is Wufei at home?” Quatre asked, hiding the trepidation that he felt.

“No, why?”

Quatre shook his head, “Oh… no reason. I… just know that he tends to keep control of stuff like painkillers and the first-aid kit and I just wondered if he could get me some,” he lied quickly, “My wing’s pretty painful.”

“You don’t need him for that,” Trowa reassured him. “I’ll be back in two seconds, just wait there.” With that, he left the room and went to the kitchen, leaving Quatre to worry over whether or not it was Wufei who attacked him. He knew Kreigan had a human alter ego but it was strangely improbable that he could be Wufei as well.

“They looked so similar…” he whispered to himself before Trowa came back with some aspirin. Quatre transformed back before taking it gladly from an even more confused Trowa. “What’s the matter?”

The Heavyarms pilot frowned, “I just don’t see how it’s painful if you’re wings aren’t there,” he explained hesitantly.

The angel smiled and realized just how much he was going to have to explain to Duo and Trowa, “I can still feel the pain from it, right here,” he replied, waving his hand over where his injured wing had been and washing through the spot of pain, intensifying it ten-fold. “It still hurts, it’s almost like a ghost limb. You know, when you can feel a part of you that isn’t there.”

Everything was blurred. ‘Where the hell am I?’ The pain in the back of his head was terrible and sitting up induced extreme dizziness.

Wufei held his head as his vision steadied and moved, only to be hit in the face by long, leafy branches. “What the hell?” he exclaimed, lashing out with his arms and scratching himself on the rose thorns. “Rose thorns… I’m *in* a bush? Wait a second. Am I down near the river?”

He got to his feet and saw the cluster of pine trees that he’d seen Quatre head for earlier. That last thing he remembered was seeing the Sandrock pilot leave the house and then following him out and through the yard. “And now I wake up in a rose bush…” ‘What the hell is going on here, I hope Quatre’s alright.’ He stepped out of the shrubs and out into the middle of the yard before noticing what looked like a pool of mercury on the floor.

Scratch that, a pool of mercury and several clumps of feathers. “It’s probably nothing,” Wufei told himself, “Maybe a silver bird exploded.” ‘And maybe Duo’s a quiet person.’ He shook his head and made his way back to the house before checking his watch.

“Ten thirty… how long have I been out here?” he whispered, opening the side door into the kitchen, finding Duo sat at the breakfast bar and Quatre stood with a bowl of cereal in his hands. “Good morning Quatre.”

The angel looked up and screamed in shock, dropping his food and then staring in terror at his fellow pilot. Duo looked up from his food at this intriguing exchange and noticed the way Quatre was looking at Wufei ‘Well, things are definitely starting to fall into place.’

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” Wufei said quietly as the little blond’s unwavering stare started to unnerve him, “are you alright, Winner?”

Quatre caught on that last phrase ‘Wufei always calls me by my last name… it can’t have been him’ “Uh… yeah,” he sighed, grabbing a cloth to clean up the mess on the floor, “sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. Here, let me help you with that,” Wufei remarked, grabbing a dustpan and brush to sweep up the shards of the broken bowl. Duo quietly slipped out of the room and went to talk with Heero about their little theory involving one highly suspect Altron pilot.

He went to knock on their bedroom door, not wanting to turn his brain to mush at a possibly naked Heero at this point in time. Duo bit his lip and imagined it, just for a few seconds before actually tapping on the door, “Hey, Heero it’s me.”

‘Oh yeah, now *there’s* a big surprise,’ Duo smirked, ‘on his laptop. Man I’m jealous of that thing. It gets to sit there all day and have Heero run his hands all over it.’ “Up for some more hypothesis over Quatre’s attacker?”

Heero looked up and stopped typing, “Like what?”

Duo dropped down onto his bed and shrugged, “Like the fact that, when Wufei walks in this morning - having been god knows where - all he says is ‘good morning Quatre’ and the poor guy completely freaks out and drops his breakfast on the floor. It’s getting more incriminating by the second, doncha think?” the braided boy asked lightheartedly.

The Japanese boy shut down his computer, closed the door and sat down next to Duo, “We need to be methodical about this,” he commented brusquely. “We have to consider what evidence we’ve got before we go convicting one of our best friends of something like attempted murder.”

Duo nodded and thought for a while, “Well… evidence *for* it would be a) the fact that Quatre said he couldn’t let Wufei see him in his angel body. b) We couldn’t find Wufei anywhere when Quatre was being assaulted. c) The fact that he’s usually in bed at five in the morning and d) Quatre’s reaction to him just a few minutes ago… It’s getting more solid isn’t it?”

Heero frowned, “mmm… in fact, the fact he wouldn’t normally do something like this to a friend is all we’ve got riding against all that.”

“I don’t wanna believe it,” Duo sighed miserably, “Wufei is… like you said, one of my best friends. It’s been a long time since I had as many people to care about this much and… I dunno. I just don’t want that taken away from me again.”

Heero opened his mouth to speak and then stopped at the look on Duo’s face ‘Solo must have been the last real friend he had. No wonder this is so upsetting for him.’ He put a hand on Duo’s shoulder, secretly wishing that he could just take him into his arms and kiss him better.

“You must think I’m pretty pathetic, huh Heero?” Duo sniffed, smiling weakly at him. He quickly looked up at the ceiling and blinked the few tears out of his eyes. “You know me, though. I mean, I don’t *ever* do stuff like this. It’s just so hard to believe that-”

“I understand,” Heero said sympathetically, still keeping his stone impression set nicely in place, “… and I don’t think you’re pathetic.”

Duo looked at him contentedly, “You don’t?” he asked, staring straight into his eyes. “I always thought you… well anyway, I appreciate it, Heero. I really, really do. As ashamed as I am to say this, you don’t know what it mean to have you say that to me.”

Heero raised an eyebrow, “I… uh… I’m just being honest.” ‘I seem to be going down the right track with this… maybe this is something he needs to hear right now.’ “You’re a very strong person and you outdo a hell of a lot of people I can think of.”

Their gazes stayed locked for a few moments longer and both seemed to forget just what they were doing. ‘Is he trying to tell me something?’ Duo wondered ‘I sure as hell hope so. If there is a God, me this *one* little good deed really would make up for the rest of my crappy life. Come on, you owe me big time!’

Heero took his hand from Duo’s shoulder and brushed his hair off his neck, “What happened here?” he asked, drawing his fingers across a scar that was hidden by the violet-eyed boy’s braid.

“Uh… I…” Duo cursed himself for having such a weak mind that Heero could turn his thoughts to goo in an instant, “oh that. I’ve had that scar for years. But people don’t normally… see it… there.” The look of want and indecision on the Perfect Soldier’s face was something of a rare occurrence to say the least but Duo was too far gone to notice anything like that.

“Duo I… um… what I meant was…” Heero’s vocabulary skills had finally deserted him in the face of Duo’s eyes. ‘This is the perfect opportunity to kiss him, just do it, Yuy… but what if he doesn’t feel the same way. Look down Heero, you can’t fake that kind of reaction. He wants you to do this, you’ll be doing us both a big favor here.’

The braided boy looked down and then made an attempt to cross his legs and cover how his body was reacting. Duo looked up again, noticed Heero’s eyes directed towards his lap and blushed, “Heero I… sorry, I don’t know what…”

“That’s okay,” Heero replied quickly, “I seem to have the same problem,” he added, feeling his own cheeks flush.

Duo smiled and sighed with relief, “Well, I guess we’re both in the same boat, huh? Heero… this might sound like a weird question, considering it’s you and everything but I just wondered if-”

The braided boy’s eyes widened as Heero wrapped his arms around his body and pulled him forward so that their noses touched. He was painfully hard and knowing what was coming only made it worse. Duo whimpered as their faces brushed and he felt Heero’s breath on his neck. The next few seconds were a haze as their lips touched and they finally shared a kiss.

TBC…

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