Soul Mates - Chapter 10

Dear god in heaven it was Wufei.

With a shake of his head he struggled to do anything more than gape stupidly. Once the initial illusions of a face long dead cleared, he took a good look at the man before him. In truth he didn’t look at all like his Wufei. Aside from both of them being of Chinese descent, it would take several hundred thousand Euros in plastic surgery and dental work for his Wufei to look as fine as this man.

Deep love aside, Duo had to admit his Wufei was a rather plain looking man. If he were alive today he’d be completely unremarkable to the rest of the population. Staring at the man before him he took in the way bronze skin stretched smoothly over finely cut cheek bones. Sleek black hair was pulled into a neat tail. There wasn’t even a speck of lint on his very expensive looking suit.

This man was perfect in every way but it was still his Wufei in there. He was sure of it. Something deep inside his soul had started to resonate the instant he laid eyes on the other man.

Even if he doubted his own feelings for wishful thinking the way other man seemed to be affected as well would have confirmed it. He watched as the man’s hand rose up to touch him only to be halted when the man himself realized his appendage was moving of its own accord. In an attempt to cover the motion the man shifted he wayward hand into an open invitation of a handshake the man smiled shakily. “William Po.”

Duo held out his hand and gripped the other’s hand as if he was afraid it might vanish “Duo Maxwell.”

If it wouldn’t have been so humiliating, Duo would have burst into tears. As soon as their hands touched he felt the something rushing through the hole in his soul that Wufei had left but it wasn’t just a one way flow out of him. He also felt something rush into him from William. He felt as both forces rushed together in a clash then weave tightly together.

Wufei/William gasped in shock “What was…” he trailed off looking at a loss for words.

Duo grinned at him “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it. If you’d like I’d be more than happy to explain it to you better over dinner.” Duo mentally probed their bond mentally. It wasn’t as complete as the one he shared with Wufei. He couldn’t hear William’s thoughts or delve into his deepest secrets. Touching like this, all he could pick up were impressions.

Surprise definitely, mixed with a heavy dose of attraction that Duo was overjoyed to pick up and there was also triumph. Triumph like one would feel if they had finally found the solution to a particularly difficult problem.

Completely oblivious to their surroundings, the two of them stood their staring at each other with their hands still joined until Wufei/William broke the spell. “Dinner would be splendid. I just need to get my sword.”

The word sword helped shake Duo back to reality and he felt a brief war inside of himself about letting it go. Letting out a quiet sigh, he supposed if there was one person in the world more deserving of it than him it would be William. “Uh, right, I just have to have a word with a friend of mine… gah! Trowa!” Duo gave a little hop back in shock when he found the very person he was going to go talk to was standing less than an arms length away and he’d never noticed until that moment.

The lanky European was eyeing him with peculiar expression. As if he couldn’t decide to be amused or upset. “Ah! Just the person I was looking for.”

Trowa stopped him with a wave of his hand. “Don’t worry, I gathered you were going to be busy later already. The least you could do is introduce me to your new friends.” He said gesturing to the people around him. Strangely, Duo noticed that Trowa’s eyes were not fixed on Wufei like he figured they should have been, but on a point behind and above Duo’s head.

Following the gaze he managed to avoid another little jumping hop in shock when he realized Trowa wasn’t the only one who managed to sneak up on him while he was busy gazing into William/Wufei’s eyes.

A man who easily topped six feet and looked for all the world like a Norse god with long pale blond hair and icy blue eyes had been standing next to William. Duo did a quick scan of the area wondering if anyone else had manage to sneak up on him and was only a tiny bit relieved to see that the only other people around them were the ones from the auction house and they were busy removing the sword from the display case.

“These are… uh…”

At this point Dorothy who was still standing there looking highly entertained took over and introduced everyone but Duo was only half listening. By the time introductions were done Wufei… no William damnit, had his sword returned to him. It hurt letting the sword go, but it really was going to the right person. And hey it wasn’t as if Duo was going to let William out of his sight. Well maybe in a few years time he’d let him go to the corner store by himself, but only if Duo was far too busy to accompany him.

“Ready to go?” he asked. Receiving a nod of ascent the two of them left.

“Did anyone else see that?” Millardo asked the people around him.

“If you mean did we just see the uptight William Po go all starry eyed over a complete stranger than yes I did see it.” Dorothy asked amused.

“Oh good,” Relena answered “I thought I was hallucinating.”

“It must have been a mass hallucination then.” Millardo added.

“Fifty Euros says they don’t make it to dinner.” Dorothy bet with a small grin.

Relena looked a little scandalized but said nothing Millardo however seemed game “I’ll take that bet. As you mentioned before, William is pretty tightly wound he’ll. It will probably take him to dessert to come to some sort of rationale to warrant spending the night with said total stranger.”

“I don’t know about that,” a fourth voice that they had all but forgotten was there added. “Duo is renowned for his charm. He could probably sell ice to someone living in an igloo. I say they make it to dinner, but leave before dessert.”

The blond man leveled a glare at him “Your friend better not be toying with him.” He said darkly. “William is a friend of mine and I’d be very upset if he got his heart broken.”

Trowa shook his head “No, I doubt it. I’ve never seen Duo like this. He’s always cool and charming on the outside but past the mask he’s very closed off. I think your friend knocked him for a loop.” The others looked rather pleased to hear that.

Catching the first smile on her brother’s face in weeks Relena was almost tempted to say something or at least thank the newcomer. Then she caught the way the newcomer was looking at Millardo. Knowing very well how attractive her brother was she usually initially ignored that look because it was a normal reaction for anyone meeting him for the first time but this man had been looking at him like that the whole time.

Although it was still far too early for Millardo to let go of Treize he would have to someday and it wouldn’t hurt for him to have someone around who could make him smile… “Well Mr. Barton it seems you have been deprived of your companion. We were just about to go get some tea, would you care to join us?”

Dorothy gave her a puzzled look for a moment then caught on. “Yes please, you are welcome to join us. After all how are we supposed to find out who collects on our bet?”

Trowa won the bet, and he did collect.

Owari

OMG! Done! I really appreciate all of your reviews and your extreme patience with me in writing. Now that I have my new laptop, I’m hoping to write a little faster but it’s still not connected to internet yet so it is possible that you may get chapter clumps like this one.

Love to you all!