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It was late, but Heero was still up. He was cleaning trophies, muttering obscenities as he went about his business. He had gotten detention for provoking Malfoy in the middle of a meal. The ensuing fight had been quite interesting. People were either laughing at Malfoy or taking his side and trying to protect him. The resulting battle hadn't taken long to spread to the other Houses.
The teenager was bored as hell. The thing was so shiny, he could have bet that it had been cleaned just last week. He sighed, and kept on cleaning.
It was worth it, the detention and the bruises. Tomorrow he'd try to find a way to see Wufei and... well.
Heero smiled. Tomorrow, he'd know.
---
Wufei crept along the corridor cautiously. He'd had to do Charms homework for one of Heero's Housemates to find out where the Slytherin's detention was, and even then he wasn't sure the girl hadn't told Filch. Still, they didn't have class with the Slytherins for another two days, and if he had to wait that long to find out what Heero had in store for him, he'd go insane.
He pushed the door open carefully. There was a light here -- and Heero turned around to face the door, visibly surprised. Wufei shut the door just as carefully behind him before greeting Heero. He didn't want to be heard.
"Hey," he whispered.
Heero grinned, his own smile widening slowly. "Hey."
Wufei smiled back, relieved. He hadn't been sure he would be welcomed.
Heero put the trophy down unceremoniously and went to Wufei. "What the hell are you doing here? If Filch catches you..."
Wufei arched an eyebrow elegantly. "He'll give me detention?"
Heero blinked, then, struck by the absurdity of the situation, he laughed. "We won't do much cleaning if you get detention too... Unless he tells you to do something else."
"Well, that's a risk I'm willing to take."
Heero watched him in silence for a few seconds, then asked the question that had been bothering him since he'd come in. "... Were you caught in the fight?" To his relief, Wufei snickered.
"No, not really. Although my camera was--it still works though."
"I want copies," Heero demanded, trying not to laugh. He stepped closer, but didn't reach out like he wanted to. He wasn't sure where he stood with Wufei.
"You have a computer, don't you?"
Heero blinked. "How did you know?" He didn't think anyone knew he had smuggled his laptop there. Muggle stuff wasn't common at Hogwarts, and most wizards wouldn't have recognized a computer for what it was even if they'd heard about it.
"I saw you reading a computer magazine once. It was unusual enough that I remembered it."
Heero blinked. And here he thought that before the incident that had landed them at the infirmary, he had never been anyone else for Wufei Chang than his Potions partner.
"Can you watch Mpeg files?" Wufei asked detachedly, holding out a CD. "It ends rather suddenly -- that's when Scotty elbowed me."
An evil grin spread slowly on Heero's face and he took the CD reverently, then, after hiding it in a pocket of his robe, raised the hand he still held to his mouth and kissed the inside of Wufei's wrist. His eyes were shining in unholy glee.
Wufei laughed at Heero's action, but didn't pull his hand away. He felt oddly flattered by the gesture, even though it was mostly a joke. He let Heero guide him to a windowsill, still holding his hand.
The windowsill was deep enough to serve as a seat. Wufei pulled himself up on it, a little nervous. He wasn't sure what to talk about now... This was all so new to him.
"So..." Heero fidgeted a little, unsure about the course of action now that he had Wufei where he wanted him. "...You owe me one wish. Anything I want," he said with a teasing smirk. "That is, if you honor your word."
"Would I have come here if I didn't?" Wufei asked with some trepidation. Finally, he was going to know what Heero had decided to do with him. "So, what is it?"
"Well," Heero answered, a very serious, nearly grave expression on his face.
"... yes?" the Chinese boy asked with a hind of trepidation.
"I don't know yet."
Wufei opened his mouth to yell 'You DON'T KNOW?' but decided he didn't want detention that much. "What?"
The bastard was laughing at him.
"I spent all day wondering what the hell it would be, and you don't know yet?"
Heero didn't seem to be able to stop laughing long enough to answer. Wufei poked him. "It's not funny."
Heero wiped tears of laughter from his eyes. Wufei huffed. "You're a very vindictive person, Yuy. I suppose," he added cattily, "if you have no need of me, I might as well go back to my house."
But Heero refused to let go of his hand. "Nuh-huh. You stay here and wait for me to decide."
Wufei stuck his tongue out at Heero and waited to see what he would decide.
Heero was playing with Wufei's fingers, looking deep in thought. He wasn't. He was just enjoying the closeness and had no desire to let go.
Feeling a little nervous, the Ravenclaw looked around for a subject of conversation. "You have to polish all of these? Or do you just have to be here until a certain time?"
"First answer," Heero answered glumly. "And when I'm finished it will be something else. I have eight days of detention."
"Eight? But--that's ridiculous!"
Heero shrugged. "Zabini broke his leg when Crabble knocked the table over. And there were lots of broken plates. Professor Snape was not amused. He doesn't like it when we fight in front of the other Houses."
"But still," Wufei protested, "you didn't even throw the first punch! And that meandering Neanderthal Goyle was the one who broke most of the plates."
Heero shook his head. "I was the one who provoked them, though. What professor Snape doesn't forgive, it's that I did it in the middle of the room, so that everyone could see how his students were behaving," he explained. "We're supposed to take care of grudges in private, discretely. 'Slytherin is the House of subtlety, after all'," he added, imitating Snape's cold, cultivated tone.
Wufei couldn't help but chuckle at that, and Heero smirked back. He liked Wufei a lot. He felt at ease with him. And though the Chinese teen didn't understand that his imitating Snape was not meant to be disrespectful, at least the guy wouldn't decide to turn fanatical to protect the professor's honor.
"So..." Wufei hesitated, tucking a stray strand of hair behind one ear.
The Slytherin was so caught up in watching the elegant gesture that he started. "Hmm?"
His eyes widened incredulously. Wufei had leaned in quickly and was kissing him, with no warning. Quite surprised, he still managed to kiss back.
Wufei had been nervous about this, but had decided that if he did it quickly he wouldn't have time to be worried. He was relieved when Heero didn't pull away. When Heero's hand began to caress his face gently as they explored each other's mouth, his eyes closed of their own will. At the moment, he was happy. So was the Slytherin, from the weird purring moan he was making.
"That's good," whispered Heero. "I don't have to use my favor to ask for another kiss after all."
He kissed Wufei again, lips only, teasing. Wufei chuckled. "I was getting tired of waiting. Subtlety is well and good, but sometimes, the direct approach is the best." He kissed Heero back, his tongue flickering along the other boy's palate, and pulled away before he could retaliate. "Wouldn't you agree?"
"Oh, yes, definitely," Heero purred as he slid his arms around his waist to pull him closer, their sides pressed together. Wufei complied, resting an experimental arm around Heero's neck. It felt right, comfortable somehow.
Heero would have liked to do more than hold him against his side, but it seemed too soon for that.
"... Hey, 'Fei... you don't mind if I call you Fei I hope?"
Wufei shook his head. "What?"
Unable to resist, Heero nuzzled his cheek briefly then pulled back, slightly surprised at his own audacity. It was becoming a little too intimate. Time to switch the focus to other things. "I was wondering... How do you know about Muggle things?"
"I suppose most Slytherins would not show an interest in such things ...Actually, a lot of Ravenclaws don't either," he added, muttering.
"You're Muggleborn?" Heero asked, not really concerned. He knew that lots of people from his house had issues with the Muggle world, but that was mostly the ones coming from pureblood families. That didn't mean that only pureblood wizards could get Sorted into Slytherin. As long as you fit with in the values of the House, you were in.
"I'm just wondering," Heero added to let him understand that he wasn't one of the snobs. "Most wizards don't know shit about Muggle artifacts, that's all. So, are you?"
"...Kind of."
Heero blinked.
"My family has magic, but it seems to skip a few generations."
"Oh, squibs."
"Not exactly. I'm Chinese, right? It works differently there. They have magic, but it's latent."
Heero nodded thoughtfully--he'd never really thought of it like that.
"Kind of like--do you know anything about genes and DNA?"
"A little, yeah," Heero answered, curious.
"My mother is a Muggle doctor. Anyway, she and my father were both carried of magical genes, although not wizards themselves."
"Well maybe that IS the definition of a Squib," Heero argued.
Wufei chose not to discuss the nature of Squibs with him and continued, not caring what label his parents were placed under. "They didn't think there was any chance of me having magic, so they moved here. And..." He shrugged.
Heero couldn't help but chuckle. "And here you are."
"Meiran's pretty much the same except her mother is a witch."
The less Heero could say is that he didn't care about Meiran, but since it could have been hurtful, he didn't say anything.
"What about you?" Wufei asked.
"... I'm from a wizarding family," Heero said, and chuckled. "Well, at least halfway. My mother was a witch. I don't know about my father," he added in a bland tone. He didn't want to be pitied. "Never cared to find out either."
Wufei wisely chose not to tell him he was sorry, Heero's voice told clearly that he wasn't sorry at all.
"I was muggle-raised, though. My stepfather's a Muggle. Odin and I were living in Norway when I was a kid. I should have gone to Durmstrang, but... We moved. And here I am."
"It's kind of funny," Wufei reflected thoughtfully, "that we both could have ended up in completely different places. And yet we didn't."
Heero's voice was strangely soft when he breathed a "yeah" against Wufei's lips. He kissed the black-haired boy with a gentleness he hadn't shown before. "I'm kind of glad. I doubt they had sexy as hell Chinese guys at Durmstrang," the messy-haired teenager teased, to hide his sudden fit of tenderness.
"Yeah, but they might have had sexy as hell Russian guys. You don't know what you're missing," the Ravenclaw managed to answer. He felt oddly pleased and flattered by Heero's words. It was a nice feeling.
Heero thought about that for a moment, and then chuckled, leaning against Wufei's shoulder, liking the feel of his thigh pressing against his own. "Hn. you're right. Damn, I missed something then."
Wufei poked the other teen sharply, his black eyes glittering with amused annoyance. "I could just go back to my dorm you know."
"Hey! "Heero protested, tightening his hold around Wufei's waist. "No you can't. I'm not letting you leave. You're mine," he added in a mock-sinister tone. He began to nibble on Wufei's shoulder, trailing little bites up toward his neck.
The Ravenclaw shivered. He was kind of pleased by Heero's reaction, but this was a little too intense for him.
"... Is this okay?" Heero whispered softly against his neck, pausing to make sure that he wasn't overstepping any boundaries.
Wufei looked for a way to change the situation. He smiled at Heero, hoping to soften his words. "I think that's enough for now--do you want a hand with the trophies?"
Heero kissed the base of Wufei's neck once in apology before he straightened up, conscious that he was going a little far.
"That would be nice," he answered with a smile. "That way, I'll have finished faster and I will be able to... do something else the other days," he finished in a glum tone, remembering that his detention had a set number of days and that the speed at which he would complete his tasks wouldn't change anything.
Wufei smiled at Heero and looked around for a cleaning cloth, trying to hide his sudden nervousness. What was Heero referring to by "doing something else"?
"This one okay?" he asked, holding a rag up.
Heero nodded and went to find his own cleaning rag, noticing how Wufei's nervousness seemed to dissipate slightly as he stepped away.
"You don't need to be nervous, I'm not going to jump you," he teased gently as Wufei joined him by the table where the trophies were strewn. "...Though, you're awfully tempting..."
He kissed Wufei's jaw before stepping away, smirking. Wufei huffed indignantly. "Who said I was nervous?" He was polishing so fast, Heero wondered if he wanted to wear a hole in the metal. "Anyway, I might not let you jump me."
Heero couldn't resist the temptation to have the last word. "Ah, but you might. You owe me one, you remember?"
But when he didn't hear a reply, and looked at his companion to see that he was sulking, Heero felt suddenly very uneasy. He hesitated before stepping close, putting a hand on Wufei's shoulder.
"... You know I'm kidding, right? I wouldn't ask that of you. I mean, I... sure, you're hot. But... I like you, and... I'd like you to like me too. You're not going to like me if I ask you things like that."
"I was fairly certain you wouldn't," Wufei answered calmly, his eyes glowing with amusement. "Otherwise I wouldn't have made that promise."
"...oh. Good."
Heero realized that he was blushing. He felt stupid now for having made such a big deal out of it. He looked down, attacking his trophy with renewed vigor.
Wufei couldn't help but kiss Heero's cheek briefly. While unnecessary, his concern was touching and he had not wanted to rebuke him.
"You're cute when you're flustered," he whispered in the short-haired boy's ear.
"Shaddap or I'll make you best buddies with Crabble," Heero said as he hugged the Ravenclaw without warning.
Wufei play wrestled with Heero, trying to get out of his hold. "Oh is that so?"
"Yeah!" the Slytherin growled as he managed to pin Wufei against a wall.
The Chinese teen growled back.
"I seem to have caught something..." Heero whispered, giving his captive one of his best leers.
"Is it a Slytherin trait to smirk like that?"
"It's not so much a trait as a trademark. We suffer through long, difficult lessons in the privacy of our dungeons to get it just right."
Wufei chuckled, and Heero had to kiss his nose for laughing so nicely.
"And is catching people in your nets included in those lessons as well?"
"Nah, that's covered in Seduction and Blackmail. We get it during first year."
"...please don't tell me that's how you learned to kiss."
Heero nuzzled his cheek, enjoying the feel of their bodies brushing against each other under the robes.
"Nah," he snickered, amused.
"'Good," Wufei exclaimed with relief. But the Slytherin hadn't been finished.
"THAT is from the seventh year tutors," he added with an innocent look, making it up as he went. "You know, the guys who make sure we don't get lost in the castle and do our homework and all that."
"Okay, that's not true," Wufei snorted loudly.
He wasn't completely sure about the way they were standing, but decided he liked it. But just at that moment, Heero laughed quietly and stepped back, freeing him. Wufei stayed leaning against the wall, vaguely disappointed.
"So ... you ever had a boyfriend?"
Heero blinked, not having expected the question.
"... err. yeah, kind of."
"Really?"
"Maybe you know him, he's in sixth year... what am I saying, of course you know of him. Duo Maxwell."
"Maxwell? The chaser in your House team?" Wufei asked to clarify. But he was pretty sure that it was the same guy, though. Duo was a pretty unique name. He was a pretty unique guy, too. There was a rumor that he could have been in Gryffindor, but he had decided that he "would have more fun in Slytherin" and thus, had finally been sorted in that House. He wasn't far behind the Weasley twins as far as practical jokes went. Far from stupid, too, and with decidedly unique looks. Damn, but it would be hard to compete against that.
"We were more friends with benefits though," Heero added, for some reason wanting Wufei to have a clear picture of how things were.
The raven-haired boy considered that bit of info. So Heero had had a chance to be Duo Maxwell's boyfriend and they had never gone farther than friends? He didn't know what that meant, but he would have time to think more about it later on. For now there was only one question that he wanted an answer for.
"Are you still... friends with benefits?"
He was very relieved when Heero shook his head. But it was sill curious... "Why not?"
"It was getting complicated," Heero shrugged, dismissing the matter.
Wufei only muttered "Oh". He wanted to ask how, mainly so that the why of their breakup wouldn't come back and bite him in the ass later, but he also didn't want to pry. He picked up his cleaning cloth again to distract himself, vowing not to get too curious.
Luckily Heero decided to explain a little.
"He's one of the few friends I have, I had enough of his girlfriends and boyfriends getting all suspicious and aggressive at me."
It took a moment for that information to process.
"When he was with someone, we never did anything, but since he has that bizarre habit of not lying and rare are those who don't believe that we still weren't having an affair behind their back..." he explained, shrugging.
Wufei felt vaguely relieved. "You're still friends though, right?"
"Oh, yeah, sure. Nothing more, though."
He saw Wufei's relief and felt relieved himself-- he had been afraid that he wouldn't believe him.
"So, only Duo?"
Heero nodded minutely, then said in a soft voice: "He's kind of touchy feely, but that's just the way he is... I hope you're not going to get jealous if you see him with me. He has this tendency to play with my hair or slide an arm around my neck."
"I'll keep that in mind. So...If you acknowledge the possibility that I get jealous ... does that mean you want to go out with me?"
Heero began to clean a House cup, trying to act as if he didn't really care. He didn't like offering his weaknesses to sight.
"Yeah, I'd like to go out with you," he said nonchalantly. "So, want to be my boyfriend?"
"I suppose I could do worse," Wufei deadpanned. He did a crappy job at hiding his happiness, though.
Heero mock-glared, but he couldn't keep it up long and ended up grinning.
They worked in companionable silence for a few minutes before Wufei decided that he needed to talk before he exploded.
"So, you have a computer. Any other Muggle stuff?"
"Um. A watch. Nothing else, really," Heero admitted, surprised by the sudden question. "I *cough* kind of connected my laptop to the Internet with a spell. It wasn't easy to mix it right. If the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Department hears about it, I'll be in trouble," he added with a wince.
Wufei nodded. "We have two computers in the Ravenclaw common room, and we have such a hard time adjusting the Internet to get past the castle's wards. On the plus side, we've never once gotten a virus."
"Why am I not surprised that Ravenclaw would break the rules. There's knowledge to be found on the net after all," Heero commented, chuckling.
"Actually, we applied to Dumbledore for permission."
Heero blinked. "And he gave it?"
"He was interested in the possibility of combining magic and programming."
"...Hn." He hadn't even thought of asking for permission, but then he was not a Slytherin for nothing.
Meanwhile, Wufei was continuing. "He even contributed some school funds towards our fundraising for the computers."
"I hate you," Heero grumbled.
Wufei laughed at him, and Heero gave him a mean scowl. "I don't care, my laptop is mine and no one else uses it, so there. And I bet my connection's faster than yours."
Wufei snorted and shook his head, then sighed.
"What's wrong, boyfriend?" Heero asked, feeling tingly to be able to call him that.
The Ravenclaw smiled at him. "Oh, nothing." He felt happy and quite silly. That was definitely unusual, he reflected as he finished his trophy and straightened up.
"Well, that's the last of these."
His companion put the trophies back in place before he turned back to face Wufei. "I have to go and see Filch to tell him I finished my task. You'd better hide... or do you want to go back to your dorm?" he asked, wanting Wufei to say that he could stay, even though they had school the day after.
But Wufei shook his head, refusing the proposition. "I'm going back to my room."
Heero felt horribly disappointed, and even the kiss Wufei brushed against his lips made it only slightly better. He kissed back, but he was rather unhappy.
"... I guess I'll see you tomorrow...?"
Wufei squeezed his boyfriend's hand, trying to cheer him up. "Yeah--you have detention in the garden, right?"
Heero nodded and let out a sigh. "Pruning some trees. What the heck is pruning anyway?" he added sulkily.
"Trimming a tree. In some case it includes removing branches altogether, although that is not included in the original definition. In pruning one wants to remove dead growth, making way for new, and improving the life and health of the tree."
Heero stared at Wufei for a few seconds, incredulous, then snorted. "Ravenclaw indeed."
"We had Herbology this morning," Wufei countered.
"Ah, it's funnier to think that my boyfriend knows everything. Don't break my illusions."
Wufei's chuckle changed into a yawn midway, and he knew that as nice as bantering with Heero was, he really shouldn't procrastinate any longer. "Night, boyfriend," he whispered, kissing Heero's cheek.
Heero watched him walk away, then once he had disappeared, shook himself out of his daze and went to find Filch.