This time, when Duo woke up, he was on a hard floor, but he was warm and dry. You win some; you lose some, apparently. He turned his head slightly to see Wufei splayed out half over his chest and squirmed free, feeling in dire need of a shower. It never even occurred to him to take any clothes with him when he grabbed his towel and moved to the bathroom in the pre-daylight hours, not even bothering to turn on a light.

Wufei awoke a moment later, and a nasty taste made itself known. "Uck." Wufei smacked his mouth, willing the taste to go away. He pushed himself up, wondering briefly where Duo was before deciding that brushing his teeth was more important than locating Duo for the moment, then a shower. He shook his head over his own thoughts, almost amused that he wasn't immediately seeking Duo out.

Duo in the meantime was already stripped and about to enter the shower when Wufei made his appearance, his bloody hair not having a tie, but held in place with the dried muck to it's braided shape. "Mornin' Fei." Wufei grumbled and just headed for the sink in search of his green toothbrush. He found it, distractedly getting ready to brush his teeth but stopped as he caught sight of himself in the mirror, an undignified squeak escaping him. He looked horrible! His loose hair was matted and his face was half covered in dirt, while his white shirt was torn open, completely missing the left side, revealing his red tank top... That had been white at the start of the mission. There were even grass and sticks in his hair. His pants weren't unscathed either as they were covered in grass stains, dirt, and blood.

"What is it Fei?" Duo stepped sleepily into the shower, cranking on the water to rinse off the gore. His own clothes, though ripped and filthy, were black, so no new coloring could be distinguished.

"I look like Sasquatch!" Wufei wailed and dropped the toothbrush in the sink in despair. He then dropped his toothbrush into the sink, well aware that the little thing was far from sufficient to freshen up with now.

"Oh, is that all? I look just as bad, so I'm washin up see? You get it next then." Duo closed his eyes, quickly cleaning himself with the economy only the colony born can achieve, nearly finished with the first go within just a couple minutes, his hair being the biggest of the obstacles as he finally managed to unbraid it.

"Fuck that." Wufei replied and grabbed the shower curtain, throwing it open to join Duo in the stall. "I'm getting clean *now*"

"Oh, well. Fine then, help me get my hair ungunked and I'll clean your back." Duo took it in stride, trying to rinse his hair enough to get the remaining stubborn section of the braid undone. Wufei grabbed the muddy braid and started to pull the sections apart, not caring that he was still wearing his clothes, nor that Duo was butt naked. He was acting like this was just another part of a normal day. Though it was starting to become obvious that the braid was starting to irritate him with it's resistance to his efforts as he yanked on it harder than needed.

"Hey, hey calm down man, if you yank too hard I might just have to punch you!" He turned, moving the spray a bit and started to pull Wufei's bloodstained and ruined clothes off of him. "Clothes off in the shower man. Might make you feel less aggressive!"

"Hn..." Wufei purred. "Clothes off..." He closed his eyes and leaned forward into the spray, just letting Duo handle it. Duo quirked his lips with the sound, negligently tossing the bloody shirt that Wufei had been wearing in a heap next to the shower, then dropping to his knees to work at Wufei's shoes. "While I'm down here, please help with my braid a bit more gently?" Wufei didn't say a word in reply, instead simply picking it up off his back and pulling it under the spray in hopes of wetting the gunk enough to untie the strands. Duo adjusted himself in his kneel, bringing his weight off his wounded leg as his hands moved up, removing Wufei's pants with the same single-minded attention.

Wufei, now nude, could only sigh in relief over the change. The filth had made him feel horrible, there was far too much of it. Wufei noticed the subtle shift of weight and tugged Duo up by the shoulders so they were face to face. "How's your wound?"

"It doesn't hurt like it should actually... I guess it wasn't that bad after all." Duo smiles, tilting his head back to soak the top of his hair before looking around for the shampoo and offering the majority of the spray to Wufei while he worked the suds through his hair. It never once occurred to him that this was far from normal for the two of them.

Wufei leaned forward, pleased to finally rinse the majority of the red tinged mud from his hair. "Duo?" he asked. "Could you pull some of these leaves and sticks out of my hair?"

"Certainly." Duo gave Wufei the Shampoo to free his hands, his own hair partially sudsy near the top, but otherwise ignored. He started picking at the little sticks and leaves, dropping them on the pile next to the shower, his fingers worked through and got out all the stuff caught up in the black strands even as he ignored his own hair. Wufei was the one that took care of that, returning the actions at the same time to pick any debris from the finally unbraided strands. Duo's hair had far less in the way of foliage, appearing to simply be filthy with blood and dirt as though having been neglected for weeks. Wufei smiled, closing his eyes as he gave in to the pleasure of allowing Duo to care for him.

"How was it that we got so dirty? You'd think we were rolling around in the gore and dead bodies before we got here." Duo sounded bemused, casually reaching over and soaping his hands before rubbing them back through the raven locks, carefully cleaning out the remaining dirt.

Wufei very nearly purred with the feeling, leaning into the massaging hands. "Had a rough escape I think... I don't really remember. We must have been tired...too tired..."

"Must have, I don't really remember anything past going down in that firefight myself." Duo backed Wufei under the spray, reaching around him for the washcloth then scrubbing the dampened cloth along Wufei's spine.

"I am completely filthy. We are going to have to shower for at least four hours to get clean. What a waste of water..." Wufei sighed.

"Well, we won't have to clean up again for a while after this at least, I heard once that blood has conditioning properties." Duo giggled at his own words, seeing something funny within the statement. "You're still half asleep aren't you Fei?" Duo continued to chuckle to himself, scrubbing off the remainder of gore from Wufei's back before bringing the cloth around the front and cleaning there as well since Wufei was taking on his hair for him. "Though I doubt it'll take four hours."

"Perhaps... I still feel rather disgusting though...I just want to stay here for a while."

"Hmm, well, we've got most of the gore off, but rinsing might help deal with the yuck factor, don't you think?" Duo grinned, pushing Wufei so he was directly under the spray.

"Yeah..." Wufei paused and just closed his eyes, relaxing into the warm spray, enjoying the feel of the layers of filth just peeling off his body. "Hand me the soap." Duo moved, retrieving the asked for soap before lifting Wufei's hand to put it in his palm. There was a millisecond when it occurred to him that something was off base before the feeling was pushed aside, blown away by something he didn't remember. Wufei closed his fingers around the soap and proceeded to rewash, simply enjoying the fact that he was finally feeling *clean* again.

Duo laughed quietly to himself, and stepped forward to rinse his hair out. He lathered himself again, just to get the remaining bits of grime off, then rinsed to be sure he was fully clean. "I don't know about you, but I feel guilty using a shower when I'm all clean already."

"Wash my back?" Wufei asked and slowly turned around...He was still feeling rather dirty. *I'll probably need a second washing...*

"Of course!" Duo rinsed out the cloth and rubbed the soap into it before applying it to Wufei's back again, making sure to get every bit of gore in sight off of him. "I think you might have gotten dirtier than me Fei babe."

"I don't know how that would happen." Wufei didn't mind contributing to the conversation this morning. "Make sure you scrub really hard. I don't know why...I feel really disgusting for some reason..." Wufei flexed his body slightly for a few moments.

"Of course. Maybe it's because you were still going when I went down that you have more on you..." Duo put more force into the scrubbing without question, even making Wufei's skin turn a little pink with the force he put behind it before he stepped back and re-rinsed the cloth. "There, all scrubbed."

Wufei shook himself off slightly and stood under the spray again to be sure he rinsed himself off. A sudden surge of electricity passed through him when he felt Duo's nude body near him but it was gone before he could even identify what it was or what had caused it. He closed his eyes and thought hard, trying to grasp onto it...but whatever it was, was gone.

Duo turned, giving Wufei a curious look, as though he was aware of something himself, then shrugged. "I should likely get started on drying this mess Fei, otherwise I'll never manage to get it back into a braid. Are you done?"

With one last rinse, Wufei nodded and turned off the shower. He ran his hands through his hair, quickly squeezing out water before flicking his hands over himself, making sure he wouldn't drip everywhere. After he was certain in his evaluation, he pushed the curtain open. "I just have to brush my teeth. It's what I originally came in here for after all."

Duo responded with an amused laugh, nodding a little. "I did that before I jumped into the shower. I felt like I ate a dead skunk." He flashed Wufei a wide grin and stepped out of the shower, going to the cupboard for towels and tossing Wufei one.

"Thanks." Wufei grabbed the towel out of the air and wrapped it around his waist, then moved to the mirror. He grabbed his toothbrush again, noting that his image in the mirror was much more pleasing this time. "Nice and clean" he said through the paste in his mouth and attempted a smile at Duo through the mirror.

Duo giggled at the comical picture and wrapped a towel around his hair, then bent over so he could better squeeze the water out. "You bet, all clean."

Wufei spat the paste out and gave his mouth a rinse with water and smiled a toothy grin at his reflection. "Let's get dressed and have some breakfast." Wufei said and moved towards the bathroom door.

Duo nodded, standing back up and moving to the door, entirely ignoring his nude state, excluding the towel wrapped around his hair. "Yeah, I have a hella mess of knots to deal with before I can eat." Wufei shrugged and followed Duo's lovely naked ass back to the room where their clothes were, and acting as though he saw Duo nude everyday. Duo got back to the room, skirting around the mess near the door where they fell over the night before and making a beeline for his bag, puzzled to see the dust that was on it. He shrugged his puzzlement away and got out a white undershirt with a pair of his pants. He put on both before digging around his bag to grab his brush, then flopped onto his bed. "I think I'm glad I took your lead man, otherwise I'd have to clean my sheets before I could have sat down!"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Wufei was a tad more modest, but something struck him as odd, about being nearly naked around Duo. The thought was fleeting and he shrugged it off. Wufei dug through his bag before he pulled on some loose jeans and a blue tank top, pulling a white dress shirt over that but leaving it unbuttoned, Wufei never wore underwear.

"You know, the mess on the floor by the door, if you hadn't decided to sleep there, I wouldn't have clean sheets still!" Duo was quickly brushing out the knots in his wet hair, fingers flying as he moved from brushing to braiding. It only took a minute or so for him to finish. Deciding that he wasn't wearing enough, he moved back to his bag and pulled a black overshirt, slipping it on then nodded as the chill left him. "To breakfast?"

"I slept on the floor? I must've been tired...I don't remember..." Wufei seemed suprized at the very notion of sleepin on the floor when a bed was nearby. Covering his bare feet with socks, Wufei nodded to Duo's question. "Yes. I'm rather hungry."

Duo slinked over to Wufei and grabbed his arm, pulling him along out the door the moment he answered. This once would have been met with hostility, but now just seemed natural, and Duo didn't question that Wufei would let him lead him around. Wufei seemed to share the sentiment, feeling it perfectly natural to have Duo on his arm. He Wasn't questioning it like he would have before that last mission as they walked arm and arm into the kitchen

Heero was intensely studying his laptop screen at the kitchen table as the pair entered the room, a piece of dry toast in his hand. Duo instantly went stealthy, certain that Wufei would follow his lead. Wufei complied, completely ignoring Heero as he latched onto Duo tighter, though not even aware of the action as he did it. Not yet aware of the pair that was approaching him, Heero continued to tap away at his laptop, searching for any word on the two people who were standing just out of his line of sight. Duo took advantage of his preoccupation, reaching out and resting his hand on Heero's shoulder. "Boo!"

Heero started in an aggressive way, gun out and pointed in a second at the pair who'd dared sneak up on him. Wufei immediately tensed seeing a gun pointed at Duo, ready to spring at Heero and attack him should any harm come to his Duo. He didn't like seeing him threatened.

Duo turned his gaze away from Heero the moment he felt the tension coil in Wufei, ignoring his former partner in a heartbeat. "Saa, Wufei, he was just startled." Heero watched them both, lowering the gun slowly with a pole-axed expression.

Wufei didn't relax until he saw Heero put the gun away. He then immediately grabbed Duo's arm and leaned forward to whisper into his ear, not really caring if Heero could hear or not "He threatens you again, I kill him." Wufei blinked for a moment, wondering what had come over him before he continued his task of guiding Duo into the kitchen, his stomach protesting the halt that would not result in food.

"Fei, calm down man, if he hadn't pulled his gun, I would have been disappointed. You know he only does that when he gets confused." Duo let himself be led, talking normally as he was moved along into the kitchen. The moment the two were out of sight, Heero was out of his chair, making a beeline to find Trowa and Quatre.

"Then he better not get 'confused' anymore." Wufei replied with his tone implying that the conversation was over. Wufei then opened the fridge and poured himself a glass of juice. After a moment he poured Duo one too and handed it to him.

Duo took the offered juice, shaking his head in amusement. "You're taking away all my fun with that one. Much as he threatens, he's never shot me. I've shot *him* but he's never shot *me*." He giggled softly, sipping at his glass and moving around in search of cereal.

Wufei just shook his head and went about preparing some cream of wheat. "You want some of this?" He started to boil some water, enough for two cups of tea. Wufei paused for a moment, something telling inside of him telling him that he was doing everything in twos, and that this was unusual, but he shook it off, something else was yelling at him even louder to protect and take care of Duo.

"Sure!" Duo stopped looking for cereal and instead got out sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon from the cupboards. "Hey, when did Quatre get all the dessert stuff? I coulda sworn this stuff wasn't here yesterday."

"You shouldn't have so many sweets for breakfast." Wufei chastised as he stirred the cereal and got out two bowls for himself and Duo.

"I need the extra or I'll turn into bones! Not to mention that I'm practically starving today, you'd think I didn't eat before we left!" Duo shook his head, getting out a pair of spoons and setting one of the counter by the bowl even as he turned to get milk and butter for his breakfast. "You can have yours plain if you want. I like the extras."

"Alright." Wufei smiled softly. He didn't want to deny Duo something that would make him happy, Wufei knew that Duo had grown up without the option of a little sugar on his breakfast grits, and if he could have it now... Well, who was Wufei to deny it to him?

Duo smiled so brightly you'd think he just turned on the sun, then he gave Wufei a quick hug. "Thanks for understanding man!" Duo then bounced over to his bowl, pouring a little of each of his ingredients into it before Wufei could even put the grits in, then gestured for him to add it while he put the cold stuff away.