Pairings: 6x2 (primary), also 1x3 (just in chapter 1)
Disclaimer: The characters belong to Sotsu, Sunrise, Bandai Entertainment, I neither claim them nor certainly make any money off them!
Rating: Lemony in places
Archive: "Orphans" is at "Tresses: The 6x2 ML Archive" at: http://6x2ml.cjb.net/ (This story will be archived there as well.)
Time Setting: Post-series, three years later (minus events in Ground Zero, Blind Target, Endless Waltz as when I started "Orphans", I hadn't seen or read about these yet)
Summary: Zechs and Duo are planning to get married.
Note: The vast bulk of this was written well over a year ago, all but chapter six. Just FYI.
Disembarking from the shuttle, Duo raised a hand to wave at his brother. "Hey, Heero! Look whom I'm dragging along to the wedding!!"
Heero looked tightly at Wufei, who still looked confused. But at least Wufei didn't seem to be holding Duo prisoner... at least now. "You're late! Zechs is a mess!" Heero called to him.
"Oh, shit," Duo groaned, jogging over to him, but to his surprise, Heero strode right past him and up to Wufei. "Huh?" Duo turned just in turn to see Heero punch Wufei on the jaw, decking him immediately.
Smirking, Duo came back to lean on Heero's shoulder as they looked down at the stunned and pained Wufei. "Heh, Wufei, I believe you know my *brother* - and that's for making me miss my wedding," he added, his expression tightening.
Wufei stumbled to his feet, fending off another strike from Heero. "Your what? Hey, guys, I'm past that... Duo, I'm so sorry! Okay, you're right about Zechs, and I'm a shithead. You win! I blew it! Now can we just get you the hell to your wedding, please?"
"Those are the magic words," Duo smirked, clapping Wufei hard on the back as they got into the car Heero had waiting.
In the car, Heero made two calls. "Sally? Meet us at Peacegarden. Yeah. We'll try to keep Zechs from him... if we can. Everything is a go. See you in a few minutes." The other call was to the orphanage. "Tro? Put Zechs on." He handed the radio to Duo, whose hand was shaking.
"Z...Zechs?" Duo asked tremulously. In spite of having been abducted, he was fearing Zechs would blame him for this somehow.
The voice was the only thing that could have gotten through to the miserable blond man. "D...Duo?"
"Wufei just needed a little tour of C-125, not a big deal, sorry to worry you," Duo explained hastily. "Are you okay?"
Tears fell from the crystal blue eyes, finally released. "I... I don't think so..."
"Oh, Heart, baby, I'm coming right now! Everybody still there, right?"
"Y...yes..."
"Will you marry me, Heart? Can I marry you? Today?" Duo, his heart breaking, knowing how distraught Zechs must be, pulled out all the stops, hoping to reach his lover, shake him back into himself.
"Oh..." was all Zechs managed to say before Relena took the radio from him. "Duo??" she asked, excited.
Duo frowned and mouthed "Relena" to Heero, who rolled his eyes. "Hey, babe, you keeping my man together for me?"
"Oh, Duo, we were so worried! We've got your Sank clothes here, and everything's ready! We just need you!"
Trowa took the radio from her. "Du, just get your butt over here. Zechs needs you."
"Oh, really!" Relena exclaimed at Trowa's language, but he just winked at her over Zechs's back.
"Ah, planning to do just that, Tro-man!" Duo exclaimed. "Start the music!"
"Roger that," Trowa smirked, and shut it off.
Duo and Heero looked at Wufei again. "What?" Wufei asked, startled. "I said I was sorry!"
"You're going to apologize in public?" Heero asked tightly.
Wufei opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again. "Yes, I'll apologize in public."
"Then you'll kneel down and beg forgiveness of your wife, whom you've frightened terribly?"
Duo's eyes went wide. "Your wife?"
Wufei's nose twitched. "Sally. Yes, I have lost face grievously and must atone. I will do as you say."
"Well, well," Duo snickered. "So you weren't after me for yourself after all!"
"DUO!" Wufei yelped.
"Heh, heh, just kidding," Duo chuckled.
Wufei looked hurt. "Can... can you ever forgive me, Duo?"
"I'll think about it," Duo murmured, his thoughts returning again to his fiance.
Wufei shivered.
At Peacegarden, Duo strode into the courtyard where all their friends were gathered and clapped his hands for their attention. "Hey, everyone, there's going to be a wedding!"
The well-wishers started clapping, immensely relieved, and started talking amongst themselves excitedly, but Duo was clapping his hands again. "Just not right away, but, hey, you didn't have anything else planned this evening, right?" He chuckled while they tittered. "Well, first of all, someone has something they'd like to say..." He gestured to the side of the garden.
Wufei came forward, assisted by a light push in the center of his back from Heero's hand. He bowed deeply, his expression serious. "Good people, please forgive me for delaying this occasion." He straightened and pressed his palms together in a gesture of blessing. "Duo, I wish you many happy years in your marriage."
"Thanks, Fei," Duo murmured, then gestured toward Sally, who now sat at the front with Relena.
Wufei nodded, and came before his wife to kneel before her. "Oh, Wufei," Sally murmured, blushing.
"Please forgive me for worrying you, my love," Wufei whispered warmly, then took her hand and kissed the back of it. "Everything is okay. I hope."
"Music!" Duo called, as everyone started to whisper again. "I'll be back in a few minutes!" He had to get to his man immediately.
Retreating to the office, Duo nodded tightly to Heero and took his formal clothes from Trowa. "Wait here, guys."
"You got it," Heero muttered. "Good luck."
Duo disappeared inside the office, locking the door behind him.
"He's going to need it," Trowa observed, leaning on the wall beside his lover.
Within the office, Duo set down the suit of clothes and approached his lover cautiously. Zechs was still sitting in a bit of a stupor.
"Oh, shit," Duo muttered under his breath, and without hesitation, climbed into Zechs's lap, his legs straddling his fiance's, laying his body against him to get the most contact. "Heart, baby, talk to me, your Duo's back, your angel..." He wrapped his arms around him, worried at how rigid Zechs was. "I'm here, love, I'm here..."
"D...D...Duo??" Zechs's voice croaked finally.
"Yes, baby, it's me, your lover boy!" Duo wriggled a little, then started to kiss every part of his lover he could reach: hair, ear, jaw, chin, forehead, brow, cheek. "Come back to me, Heart, please! I know you're in there somewhere, just come on back out. I'm back, see? I'm okay, it's really me..."
When strong arms abruptly came up around his back to hold him, he blew out an immense sigh of relief. "Hey... Zechs?"
"Duo-angel," Zechs breathed fervently, not caring if he were dreaming or dead, or if this was actually real. "Need you..."
Duo, his heart breaking and melting with love all at the same time for his powerful yet vulnerable lover, wriggled into his fiance's embrace all the more, arms tightening about him. "You got me, forever and ever, baby," Duo told him fervently, hoping his body and his words were reaching his lost love. "And in a few minutes, once we're all pulled back together again, we're going to get married! Oh, Heart, my dearest, darling love, I'm here and it's all right, everything is okay..." A tear trailed down his cheek, unnoticed.
[He...he's here!] Awareness was penetrating through the thick fog protecting Zechs's emotions. [My darling angel... is really here?] Zechs took a deep, gasping breath, his arms tightening. "Duo!"
"Yep, 'ats me, baby, your feisty little angel, your huggy-beastie-baby-boy!" Duo, sensing he was getting through, let loose a whoop, almost bouncing in Zechs's lap.
Outside Heero and Trowa exchanged a glance, hearing the "war whoop". "Figures," chuckled Heero.
Suddenly Zechs was all the way back, his every sense alive and filled gloriously with Duo. "Oh, God, you ARE here!" he exclaimed, abruptly rocking where he sat, holding on tightly to his little lover. "You came back!"
"Yeah, we both did!" Duo exclaimed, then emitted an "Oooompf!" when his mouth was suddenly ravaged. Laughing in the kiss, he filled his hands with satiny platinum hair, petting his love's scalp and neck.
After a long minute, Zechs pulled out of the kiss, breathing hard. "What... what happened?"
[Better get this all out now,] Duo thought, and launched quickly into the explanation. "Wufei was afraid for me, wanted to take me back to Earth, I talked him into going to C-125, we went to Peacegarden, he saw your picture and the garden and had a lovely little chat with Judo, then he was cool and we came back here, and Heero punched him, God, you should have seen it, Wufei hit the deck, BAM! And then we called in on the way and now we're here! Wufei apologized to everyone and even got on his knees to beg Sal's forgiveness. How about that for theater, eh?"
Zechs shook his head, dazed by the onslaught of verbiage. "Um, ah, Wufei was *afraid* for you?" The babbling, though, told him Duo had been very worried... for him, he realized.
Duo, still perched in his lover's lap, supported by the strong arms around his lower back, had drawn the long platinum hair over to Zechs's chest and was avidly playing with it. "Yup, silly boy, he didn't know you at all. Bastard, he didn't listen to me, but you know me, I talked him to death, and he gave in, let me drag him over to 125 and Peacegarden. Hee hee, nothing but a batch of kiddies to chop the Dragon Warrior down to size!"
Zechs could almost sympathize with Wufei's plight. [No doubt Duo was enraged...] "But you went with him, right? He didn't pull you into the car?" [Why does that make me feel sick?]
"Huh?" Duo looked up from the hair he was messing up. "Oh, Heart, let me explain. I was getting a newspaper and his car pulled up. Hey, I thought we'd have a chat, you know, he could give me a lift to school... but he, ah, stuck me with a needle or something. Next thing I knew, I was on this shuttle, and..."
"He DRUGGED you?" Zechs exclaimed, his eyes going dark.
Alarmed, Duo started to talk fast again. "No, it's okay, big misunderstanding, BIG, just a concerned friend, you know? Anyway, Heart, it's all over, it's PAST, and, and... hey, it's time to get married!"
Zechs stared at him with an extremely intense gaze. Duo felt like his heart would stop. "Z...Zechs? Hey, I don't hold it against Wufei. I should have made him stop and call at least Heero, but all I could think about was making him SEE, making him understand that you'd changed, that you were such a beautiful man now..."
Before Duo's eyes could finish filling with tears again, Zechs pulled him close and kissed him deeply and slowly.... reclaiming him.
Duo was a puddle of ex-pilot when their lips parted. "Ohhhh, I'm a mess now," Duo sighed deeply, sagging against his big lover. "So we getting married or what? And if you say no, I'm going to go out there and kill Wufei myself, save you the trouble, at least if I can get there before Heero...ooompf!" His mouth was taken yet again to stop the running commentary.
[I should say no,] Zechs was thinking, blinking back his own tears as his heart ached from the return of the high emotions of the moment. [What happened to me? I was... shut off. How did that happen? I couldn't deal with Duo being missing, could I? What good was I to him in that condition? Clearly I still need therapy... and can I let him marry me, knowing I'm still not well?]
But the answer was in his arms. [This is needed... and I'll keep healing and will heal completely with my husband to help me. This is already helping now...] Slowly Zechs withdrew from the kiss. When he opened his eyes, two serious cobalt blue eyes were staring at him intently, waiting for an answer.
"Yes, baby," Zechs whispered, rubbing his nose against Duo's, "we're getting married. But after our trip, when we come back home, I'm going to resume therapy with Dr. Sehn. I...I never want you to have to bring me out of something like that again."
They'd planned a tour of the other Peacegardens, a way of celebrating their marriage with the rest of the orphans who couldn't come to C-241 for their wedding, then were going to Earth to visit the former Sank Kingdom for a few weeks. They'd be home in a month when Duo had to resume his college work.
"Heart, that's a good idea," Duo whispered back, sniffling. "You did scare me... and I wish like hell I'd have been able to prevent the whole thing so I didn't scare *you* so much. Damn ol' Wufei..."
"Apparently he meant well," Zechs reminded him, managing a little smile. "Now, if we're going to have this wedding, you need to get ready... and I need to wash my face and brush my hair." He glanced down at Duo's lower half, wrapped around his. "Although I do love you right where you are..."
Saucily Duo wriggled a last time, then climbed off Zech's lap. "Hold that thought," he snickered, pulling his lover to his feet by the hands. "You first," he added, pushing him toward the office's private bathroom. "I'll go use the little pilots' room down the hall." He snagged up the formal clothes. "Be back in a jiffy!"
When Duo emerged into the hallway, Heero and Trowa both shoved off from the wall. "Everything all right?" Heero asked intently, studying his "brother's" face.
"Yep! We got a weddin' to put on!" Duo crowed, grinning. Then he held up the clothes, which Relena had had made for them here in the colonies from her own design, a rush order. "Care to help me put on these duds? I don't want to put anything on backwards!"
"Hn," Heero muttered, and grabbed Duo's elbow to steer him down the hall to the restroom.
Trowa was about to go see if Zechs needed anything when the tall blond stepped into the hall, looking considerably more himself. "You okay?"
"Yes, thank you," Zechs replied, touching Trowa on the shoulder. "Thanks for all your help."
Trowa gave him a little smile. "All in the family."
Zechs smiled. "Yes. I'm glad that we're going to be that. And now I have a little favor to ask of you."
"Sure, what is it?"
"I want to meet Chang Wufei. Now."
Trowa looked up into those pale blue eyes, surprised. To his relief, Zechs did not seem angry. [But I'd better stay close...] "Sure thing," he replied and left for the courtyard area.
In moments, a solemn Chang Wufei... a purplish bruise visible on the right side of his jaw... approached the former commander of the White Fang, Trowa at his back and intending to stay there.
"Wufei," Trowa spoke up, seeing that Zechs was first going to bore holes in the little Chinese man with his sharp eyes, "this is Milliardo Peacecraft. And Zechs Merquise - we still call him that in our little family circle. Zechs... Chang Wufei."
"Welcome to Peacegarden, Wufei," Zechs murmured with only a hint of coolness as he studied the face of the man who had abducted his angel. "I regret that the Peacecraft Foundation, the parent organization of these orphanages, is not more well-known on Earth. I had no wish to trumpet my achievements. I hope you understand."
Wufei was as serious as Trowa had ever seen him. "Zechs, I apologize for overreacting to Duo's engagement to you," he said quietly. "I regret that I had heard nothing of you since the war." He glanced at Trowa for a moment. "And I'm sorry that I've been away from everyone." He looked back up at Zechs. "I did not hurt Duo. I would never have."
Zechs had the thought suddenly: [Did Heero say anything to him about arresting him for the abduction? Does this misguided young man fear that?] "I accept your apology... and I will speak to Duo's brother about deferring possible charges as you seem sincere and are not likely to make this mistake again."
[Charges!] Wufei felt cold suddenly. [Heero's with the Justice Department! And Trowa... but they didn't mention charges! Though that is certainly what I deserve.] He glanced at Trowa and then bowed to Zechs. "You are most kind, gracious sir," he murmured, reverting into the safe comfort of traditional formality. Then, because his curiosity was getting the better of him, he looked sidelong at Trowa as he straightened and asked, "Why is Duo calling Heero his brother now?"
Trowa exchanged a quick smile with Zechs. "Heero and Duo have, you might say, adopted each other as brothers. Heero has frequently used Duo's last name in the colonies... and they just decided to be family. As Heero and I are engaged, that makes us all family. We like that."
Wufei's eyes widened. "I see I've missed so much... Sally and I have been busy on Earth, I guess, starting our own family..."
TBC