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Everything was pitch black when Wolfwood came to. At first his body felt heavy. Impossibly heavy, like something was weighing him down. It was disorientating but he could feel cold metal under him and a light rumble shaking the floor. He tried to move his arms first, wanting to use them to sit himself upright, but they didn’t leave his sides. As he rapidly became more alert, he could tell that not only could he not move his arms but his hands were stuck behind his back as well. It dawned on him all at once. He was tied up.
He started to struggle, kicking his feet out into the imposing darkness that surrounded him. Not able to force them apart he realized they were tied at the ankles too. He let out an irritated groan. He tried to rack his brain to find a memory that was recent enough to explain this. What had happened?
“Your awake,” A voice came from somewhere in the room and Wolfwood stiffened in response before recognizing who it was.
“Needle Noggin?”
“Yea.”
Wolfwood made a noise of astonishment. How had someone managed to get the jump on both of them? Had they not been careful enough? Had they been knocked out by force? Or maybe something slipped in their food?
“What the hell happened?” He chose to ask, “Where are we?”
“A storage space somewhere in the Sand Steamer,” Vash’s voice replied but in the complete darkness Wolfwood was having trouble picking out where exactly it was coming from.
The explanation jogged his memory. It also explained the slight rumbling he could feel in the floor. It was because they were moving. He remembered getting on the Sand Steamer with Vash and those other two, the annoying reporters who followed him around, but after that he couldn’t recall anything that could explain why they were here now or what had happened.
He started to sit up but Vash’s voice called out in a warning, “Careful- there’s a shelf right over your head.”
“A what?” He stopped where he was and squinted up into the dark. Still, he couldn’t see anything at all that differed from the rest of the darkness. Nothing seemed to indicate anything was above him. He sat up slower than he’d first started to. Cautious of whatever he couldn’t see. Sure enough, as he sat up, he bumped right into some cold metal bars that sat only a few feet above his head.
“How’d you know that was there?” He asked, sending a questioning look ahead of him vaguely in the direction he thought Vash might be.
“Huh?”
“It’s completely pitch black. How could you see the shelf?”
“Oh… uh- a lucky guess?”
This guy was such a liar. Well, Wolfwood figured he could add seeing in the dark to the long list of weird inhuman abilities that the tall, blonde man had.
“I think we were drugged. Through the ventilation system. They must have put it in the air because we all just started to get real sleepy and next thing I know we wake up here.” Vash’s voice reaches him again, shedding some light on their situation.
“You remember more than I do Spikey,” Wolfwood sighed as he started once again to strain against the thick ropes that held his arms in place.
“They must not have been after us,” Vash continued, “But they obviously recognized us and threw us in here so we couldn’t make trouble.”
“Well, this is just great,” Wolfwood groaned. “Just what I needed. To be caught up in someone’s Sand Steamer hijacking.”
Vash laughed softly, “Ya, right. Now scooch over here so I can try to get the ropes untied.”
“Me? Why don’t you scooch over here! You’re the one who can see in the dark apparently!”
“They tied me to a pole. Now hurry up, cause I think I have a plan.”
Wolfwood grumbled to himself. This was really not what he wanted to be doing right now.
He started to move around. Able to wiggle like a caterpillar as he tried to follow his companions voice guiding him forward in the dark. He knew he probably looked really stupid right now and his face was hot with embarrassment, even though no one but Vash could see how foolish he was. Ungracefully he pushed himself across the cold metal floor before, after a while, pulling himself up on his knees.
“Okay this is ridiculous. Where are you?” He asked.
“Your almost there, I’m right in front of you,” Vash replied. His voice sounded closer now and a lot softer since he didn’t need to speak so loud to be heard. A touch of amusement slipped into his words and it was clear he was enjoying watching Wolfwood’s struggle.
“Ya ya, laugh it up pretty boy. It won’t be so funny when I get over there.” His threat was empty and only succeeded in making his companion giggle more.
“Idiot…” He mumbled, no real bite behind the insult.
Why did that laugh have to do things to him? He didn’t laugh genuinely very often but when he did it was so light and so weirdly attractive. The sound carried through the air right to Wolfwood’s ears and then straight down to his heart. He tried to push away the funny feeling it gave him.
He kept moving forward on his knees, searching clumsily through the dark. It wasn’t very easy to get around when your ankles and hands were tied up. Suddenly, without warning, the sand steamer lurched up like it had run over something large. It caused Wolfwood to lose his balance. And unfortunately catching himself wasn’t an option without the use of his arms and he fell forward. He braced himself to meet the hard metal floor but instead found himself drop onto something firm and warm.
Both him and Vash let out little grunts of surprise as they collided with each other. Wolfwood’s head falling right onto the others chest. They both stayed perfectly still for a moment from the shock of the suddenness of it.
“Well, you found me. That’s one way to do it,” Vash laughed again, this time a little nervousness slipping into it, and Wolfwood could feel the way his body vibrated beneath him with the action.
Vash had his legs pulled up but his knees were spread apart. Most likely he’d moved them when he realized that Wolfwood was about to fall into his lap, to help soften the landing. Wolfwood tried not to think about how solid the others chest felt under him or how that made him feel.
He tried to push himself back up, but with them both in this position and with Vash’s ankles still tied together, all he managed was to make the blonde grunt a bit in pain as he pressed uncomfortably into the soft part of his stomach.
“Sorry.”
“It’s fine,” Vash replied, “I think I can still cut your ropes from here.”
Wolfwood made a disbelieving face, “Cut them? With what?”
“I have a knife in my boot. Or maybe on my boot? I don’t really know what to call it but it’s there,” Wolfwood heard a swishing sound almost like a switch blade had just been flicked open.
“That’s kind of crazy, but also very helpful right now so I’m not going to complain,” Wolfwood chuckled.
He could now add having knife shoes to the list he had of Vash’s strange little quirks. It might not be as weird as being able to see in total darkness, but it was certainly a strange quirk none the less.
They both started squirming around, trying to get the knife to meet the ropes and to not accidently cut Wolfwood’s leg instead. It was a challenge with Wolfwood not being able to see and Vash’s view being blocked by the man being on top of him.
Maybe he was just being crazy. Or maybe it was because he was currently blind so his other senses seemed more alert, but the sounds of both their breathing and the feeling of Vash’s body rubbing against his felt so much more intense than it should have. The way the fabric of his clothes scratched at his skin unpleasantly. The way he had to blindly kick his legs up to try to meet a knife while also trying not to get stabbed. The way their breathing got quicker and louder as they used way too much energy writhing around in shallow desperate motions that achieved nothing. The fact his arms and legs were bound making him feel out of control and limiting his movements. It all was rapidly becoming too much to handle and he felt a drop of sweat drip down the side of his face.
He was getting frustrated. They were getting no where like this and without his vision everything else just felt too sensitive and overpowering. He stopped for a moment to take a breath. He wanted to calm down and try to really think about a strategy for how to cut the ropes so they could do that rather than continuing with whatever this was they were doing now.
After a second Vash stopped moving as well and Wolfwood felt his body go rigid as he suddenly tensed up under him. The taller man took in a sudden sharp breath, like he was nervous or startled by something. It was kind of confusing. It made Wolfwood wonder if Vash thought that he had stopped moving because he’d got cut by the knife. But Vash didn’t say anything. Actually, all at once he got really quiet. Even seeming to hold his breath.
“What’s up with you?” Wolfwood raised an eyebrow curiously and made an attempt to look up at him even though all he saw was darkness.
“Nothing!” Vash squeaked out in a voice that was definitely a pitch too high.
That was odd. Why was he lying? Was something wrong? Wolfwood couldn’t think of what it could be. He was acting perfectly fine just a few minutes ago.
He made a suspicious humming sound, but decided to let it go for now. Sometimes Vash just acted weird and Wolfwood had learned to accept that sometimes it was just impossible to figure out what he was thinking. Plus, right now the most important thing was to find a way out of these ropes.
“I think I need to move up,” He said, “I’m to far back to pull my legs up enough to reach it.”
“Huh?” Vash let out a questioning and anxious noise in reply.
“This position is clearly not working. I need to move up.”
“Oh… uh huh- right.”
Something was wrong with him. He was acting weird.
Wolfwood stayed in place for a moment, deliberating between saying something or ignoring it and just moving on. He decided it was best to just keep working on getting off the ropes. Otherwise, they’d be here all day.
He used his feet to push against the ground behind him and inch his way up the blonde’s body. Vash was sitting at a sort of angle. His back resting partially against whatever pole he was tied to. It made the effort a little less difficult.
It wasn’t until his face was almost level with the others neck that he felt something poke into the lower half of his body. He was a little confused at first. Not sure of what was going on or why it was there. It wasn’t until Vash started talking that it finally hit him what it was and why Vash had been acting so weird.
“Sorry! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to it just happened!” Vash explained, the words leaving his mouth so quickly it was hard to keep up.
Did Vash have a boner? Was he seriously hard right now? Wolfwood was conflicted between laughing at the absurd predicament they were in or just killing himself as quickly as possible so the awkwardness of it all could go away. He supposed all that squirming around they did had been somewhat against the others crotch so he could understand how this had happened but it didn’t take away from the shock of it.
He honestly had never imagined it possible, that this kind of thing could happen to the blonde. He always seemed so in control and Wolfwood always just kind of assumed he was… above it? Like sexual desires and needs were something that sinners like Wolfwood experienced and struggled with not someone as good as him. He realized how dumb that sounded now that he actually thought about it. Maybe he’d only really seen it like that because his own fantasies had made him so ashamed. Especially as of late, the fantasies that included the blonde man himself. Something Wolfwood was still trying to come to terms with.
“You, um… well… it’s fine.” Words tumbled out of his mouth, but they weren’t the ones he wanted to say. It was difficult to speak when the thoughts in his brain were moving a mile a minute. He felt the overwhelming desire to reassure him. Knowing the other man, the embarrassment was probably about to eat him alive and leave no crumbs. Still, he had no idea what to say.
A flush crept across his face. His ears burned with it and he could imagine something similar on Vash. His pale skin probably showing it off better. It made him somewhat upset he couldn’t see it in the dark.
Although, right now was a very bad time for this. The small storage room they were in wasn’t the edge of the world, and behind that door some type of Sand Storm hijacking, or robbery, or something like that was taking place. Vash must be worried about those reporter friends of his as well. Ya, this was very bad timing.
“It’s okay spikey. You don’t need to worry about it. Let’s just focus on getting the ropes off, alright?”
“Yup!” He wheezed out a quick reply.
Wolfwood’s legs still weren’t up far enough to reach the knife. As he pushed him body higher, he mentally sent Vash an apology. A noise somewhere between a hiss and a moan left his friend, giving Wolfwood no idea as to whether the motion hurt him or added to the heat between his legs. He could still feel him pressed against his lower abdomen, and tried desperately not to let it rile him up too. If he got hard now it wouldn’t be an accident. It would be because of how attracted he was to the other and how hot it made him feel to be on top of him like this. That was a hell of a lot less forgivable.
Luckily, he figured he was at a better spot now for Vash to cut the ropes. He waited a moment for Vash to move, but the body under him stayed completely still. He must have been scared to make the situation worse, so he was trying to stay as motionless as possible.
“Vash? Are you gonna cut the rope?” He instantly wanted to slap himself when he’d realized he’d forgotten to use a nickname. He almost never called him by his real name and using it now just dug his grave deeper. He was glad he was an undertaker so he could bury himself when this was over.
Instead of moving to cut the ropes Vash let out a frustrated sigh before jumping into an apology shpiel.
“I’m sorry Nick. I’m so awful. I can’t believe this. This, like, never happens and I’m never like this. So just blame the drugs or something, I don’t know. I’m so sorry, I-“
Wolfwood cut off the others ramble before he could possibly spiral any further, “Woah, woah, woah, Spikey calm down! It’s okay. This is totally the most normal thing ever to me, alright? I really don’t care. Also, I don’t think I was those types of drugs so I wouldn’t blame that…”
A short exhale of laughter left the blonde as Wolfwood trailed off on his sentence. A smile appeared on his face, happy to finally hear him laugh again. He loved his laugh. It was so much better to hear him laugh rather than struggle to mash out a word salad apology.
“I know it wasn’t the drugs…” Vash mumbled out. Wolfwood could hear the pout in his voice. “…I’m sorry.”
“Stop apologizing!”
“Okay! Alright… I’m sorry.”
“You just did it again!”
“Sorry!”
Wolfwood couldn’t help but snort. This guy was too cute sometimes. It was going to be the death of him.
“Oh my god, please stop laughing, this is so embarrassing!” Vash groaned.
“A little bit…” He conceded, “But It’s so obvious how much I like you. So, you can stop worrying about how I feel about this because I really don’t care. Plus, maybe I should be the one apologizing. I didn’t realize my presence would cause these kinds of issues for you~.”
The last part was a joke to lighten the mood.
“Please don’t say that you’ll make it worse!” Vash exclaimed, before pausing to reflect on his words and frantically adding, “The embarrassment! You’ll make the embarrassment worse not the boner!”
Wolfwood fell into a fit of laughter that he couldn’t possibly stop. And Vash started to snicker a little too at the absurdity of what he’d just said.
“You like me?” Vash teased when the laughing died down.
“Oh hush. You know I like you needle noggin,” His heart clenched up a little at his playful words. It made him nervous how much he meant it. How much he liked Vash. The other probably had no clue those words hid something behind them that was more than platonic.
“Let’s cut these ropes now. This shits getting uncomfortable.”
“Oh yeah! I almost forgot about that!” Vash said.
Just as they had both adjusted their position enough and Wolfwood could feel the knife coming close to the bindings at his ankles a voice rang out from somewhere outside the room.
“Vash! Wolfwood!?” It was Meryl’s voice. She was calling out. Trying to find them.
“We’re in here!” Vash shouted back. His voice suddenly taking on a much more serious tone.
A scraping noise came from their right and in a moment the door to the room was pushed open and light came bursting into the once pitch black room. Wolfwood cursed and turned away from it as his head throbbed at the brightness that came flooding back. He hadn’t been able to see for so long it was a shock to his body when so much light was suddenly in the room.
He blinked the painful feeling from his eyes and turned back to look at Meryl’s silhouette standing in the doorway.
“I finally found you guys! This place is massive, you know, it took way to long…...” Her voice trailed off and she took a moment to tilt her head as an inquiring look crossed her face. “What the hell happened to you two?”
Wolfwood struggled against the bindings for a second before just giving up and just falling back against Vash, “We got a little tied up…”
“Yep, I see that,” Meryl said with a nod.
Vash chuckled and Wolfwood looked up at him. Seeing his slightly embarrassed and dumb expression for the first time since waking up in this room. It was more blinding to Wolfwood’s eyes than the light had been. How could one person be so beautiful? It was annoying.
“Can you untie us now!” Wolfwood shouted over to Meryl with sudden irritation.
“Please?” Vash added nicer so that she actually would.