Wolfwood is going to punch Vash when he sees him.
Of course, once Wolfwood knows he’s alright. But Vash is definitely getting an earful from him.
Wolfwood woke up to insistent knocking on his bedroom door early in the morning, who he can assume is Meryl. Grumbling, he gets out of bed, not bothering to put a shirt on, and opens the door with a deep scowl. He is greeted with Meryl's pensive face—still in her pyjamas.
"This better be good Shortie or I'm kicking you out to sleep with the Tomas." Wolfwood grunts.
Meryl ignores his bitchy mood and moves to the side to look past him and peek into his room. She asks, “Is Vash in your room?”
Wolfwood leans against the door frame, raising an inquisitive eyebrow. “Why would he be in my room?”
"We can't find Vash and I was hoping he was in here since it’s the last place we haven’t checked." Meryl is getting more anxious, biting her nails.
"What do you mean you can't find him?"
"Milly and I looked everywhere! The three of us were supposed to do our morning exercises but he didn't show up. So we went to his room, he wasn’t there, and looked everywhere!" She wrings her hands in anxiety.
Right, the three of them like to do their little routines every other day or something. Wolfwood doesn’t keep track, mostly because he likes to sleep in. He takes advantage of the slow days they have when they don’t have bounty hunters up their asses. Having a house on the outskirts of Hopeland provides as a hideout for Vash and Wolfwood is close enough to the Orphanage to keep a close eye on it if trouble comes lurking. For the most part, the nearby town is pretty tranquil which Meryl and Milly like to visit on their days off.
Wolfwood crosses his arms. “So what do you want me to do?”
“I don’t know, look for him!”
“He’s a big boy, he can look after himself.” Meryl gives him a look.
Wolfwood sighs. "He’s probably sunbathing on the roof or some shit"
"I checked, he’s not."
“Maybe he went for an early run.”
“I don’t think so…he told us himself yesterday that he was gonna join us this morning.”
Vash always tries to keep his word, always promises impossible things. But keeping his word on this wasn’t impossible. Unless there was a change in plans that Vash didn’t foresee. Something doesn’t seem right.
So Wolfwood—putting a shirt on now—decides to look everywhere and come to the conclusion himself that Vash is missing. It takes Wolfwood ten minutes to search the entire place. The place is lightly furnished and has barely any places for a grown man to hide; only having three bedrooms, a living room, and a kitchenette. Wolfwood goes outside to scope the perimeter of the building and the roof. No sign of Vash. Wolfwood stands in front of the house, arms crossed and staring at the empty roof where he thinks Vash would be resting if he were here.
Meryl and Milly look at Wolfwood as if he knows what to do in this situation.
Milly is the first to speak. “Do you think he’s going to come back?”
Wolfwood hums. “Yes, he will.” Or Wolfwood is going to go looking for him—search the entire planet—and drag him back if he doesn’t.
“Well, looks like you two ladies have to do your routine with a man down.” Wolfwood starts walking back inside.
Meryl shouts after him, “What are you going to do?”
Wolfwood looks over his shoulder to look at her. “Smoke.” And pretend Vash is just on a morning walk instead of missing or worse—ran away.
Soon, Wolfwood can’t ignore that it’s way past the time one would come back on their morning jog. Wolfwood is going to strangle Vash for not saying anything to either of them. He's giving Vash until tomorrow morning before setting off to find his ass. And drag him back kicking and screaming if he has to.
All of them go about their day, as much as they can without worrying about Vash. Meryl and Milly decide to go into town after lunch to pass the time and look around for Vash if he is in town. Wolfwood stays at his place, grinding his teeth as he goes through cigarettes and reads a random newspaper the reporter girls brought. He goes outside to read it on the porch under the shade of the house. He reads the paper about twice over until he gives up and decides to gaze at the open desert. Wolfwood thinks he should catch up on knitting and stitch up some of his clothes that need fine-tuning but he decides against it. He’d probably prick himself.
It isn’t until an hour before sundown that Wolfwood hears something in the distance. His eyes open—dozing from doing nothing—when he hears the pitter-patter of feet running on the sand. He recognizes the sound of a Toma running. Turning slightly to the right, Wolfwood squints through the haze of the desert and the glare of the twin suns to see the Toma in the distance. He then sees a figure riding it—red.
Wolfwood exhales heavily through his nose, feeling relief and annoyance simultaneously.
Wolfwood removes the burnt-out cigarette from his mouth and flings it off to the side. He doesn’t move as Vash gets closer to the house; waiting until he’s close enough. Vash must not see Wolfwood from where he’s approaching the side of the house to settle the Toma. As Vash halts the Toma, Wolfwood can see him bring an arm around his stomach for a brief couple of seconds.
“Good to see you back Spikey,” Wolfwood calls out from where he’s sitting.
Vash stills. He brings his gaze up to look at Wolfwood. Wolfwood can see through the tinted sunglasses that Vash’s eyes look tired and wary. They also look like they are struggling to focus on him. Vash gives him a smile that matches his eyes.
“Hey, Wolfwood.”
Wolfwood gets up and strides over to him as Vash dismounts from the Toma. There’s another brief moment where Vash stills after getting off, with an arm around his stomach. Wolfwood can’t see his face with his back turned towards him. The moment ends with Vash moving to tie the Toma’s leash around one of the porch columns. Wolfwood stops a pace behind him as Vash turns back towards the Toma to pet its head.
“I have to give this Toma back to Ms. Summers. The nice lady down the road from us,” says Vash.
Right, the ranch lady who raises a bunch of Tomas. Wolfwood doesn’t care about that right now.
Wolfwood tries not to growl. “Where the hell have you been?”
Vash looks over his shoulder to glance at him and then turns away, continuing to touch the Toma.
“Sorry, I had to leave early in the morning. I had to help a Plant that was nearby.”
The nearest town that had a Plant was four hours away by Toma.
“Why didn’t you tell any of us?” Wolfwood asks.
Vash sighs. “I was really in a rush and I didn’t want to disturb any of you. It’s been a while since any of us got any rest.” Then he says to himself, “I have to apologize to Meryl and Milly for bailing them this morning.”
“I would’ve come with you!”
“Wolfwood please, I can tell you haven’t been getting enough sleep.”
“This isn’t about me! You shouldn’t have gone off on your own with your stupid bounty and lack of self-preservation!” Wolfwood hisses. “And don’t think I can’t see that you're hiding something!”
Wolfwood grasps Vash’s shoulder to finally turn him around to face him. Vash lets out a gasp at the movement. For the brief second that their eyes meet, Wolfwood sees Vash’s eyes glaze over through his sunglasses before he collapses. Wolfwood quickly grabs his biceps and brings them both to the ground on their knees. Vash leans into him—forehead on his shoulder with both arms hugging his abdomen.
Wolfwood curses. "Are you injured?!”
He doesn’t wait for a response. Wolfwood lets go of his arms and moves Vash’s arms away to feel around his stomach. Vash whimpers when Wolfwood’s hands catch the feel of warm blood. Wolfwood didn’t see the blood earlier because of Vash’s stupid red coat.
“I kinda got shot at,” Vash answers the unsaid question.
Of course.
“I’m going to end you,” Wolfwood barks in response.
Vash lets out a wet laugh that sounds more like a cough. “Can you take out the bullets first?”
Wolfwood raises his eyebrows in response to that. “You didn’t take them out?” He feels Vash shake his head against his shoulder.
“I wanted to come back as soon as I could and my body is weak still to push them out,” Vash mumbles into his shoulder.
Wolfwood may actually strangle him in frustration. Vash, who has gone off on his own fully knowing that sharing his energy with a Plant will make him vulnerable leaves a sour taste in Wolfwood’s mouth. He almost feels offended that Vash didn’t tell any of them, didn’t tell him. Wolfwood thought Vash was getting better at asking for help but old habits die hard. He will make sure that Vash gets a scolding once he’s taken care of.
Wolfwood must have been silent for a bit too long—stuck in his thoughts—since Vash lets out a quiet, “Wolfwood?”
Wolfwood sighs in exasperation. “I’m gonna clean you up and then you are heading straight to bed.”
Vash sags in resignation. “Okay.”
Vash knows he has fucked up and his punishment is in the form of Wolfwood’s silent anger.
He didn’t want to inconvenience anyone when he left early in the morning. He really thought he could make a quick trip—it’s only four hours away, he’s done worse—and be back in the afternoon. Instead, he got unlucky with encountering bounty hunters after he took care of the Plant. Even more unlucky that some of their shots landed. The uncomfortable pain in his abdomen had made the trip on the Toma unbearable and longer than it should have.
Vash didn’t want to inconvenience Wolfwood but he’s gone and done that right now anyway.
Vash slowly pulls away from Wolfwood to get up. He struggles to lift his weight—he’s so tired. Vash hears Wolfwood say, “Yeah, that’s not happening.” He lifts Vash up with arms supporting his legs and back. Vash’s breath stutters at maneuver and hooks an arm around Wolfwood’s shoulders.
“What are you doing?”
Wolfwood huffs. “Carrying your ass. Do you really want to walk like that?”
No, but the guilt and embarrassment from being carried like this make him squirm.
“That’s what I thought.”
Vash can only scrunch his nose and grimace as he’s carried inside. Wolfwood strolls into the kitchen area and pulls out a chair with his leg to set Vash down on it. Wolfwood takes off Vash’s sunglasses and puts them on the table. Then he rolls up the sleeves of his white shirt and kneels in front of him to unbutton Vash’s red coat. Vash moves his hands to help unbutton but they are slapped away.
“Stop that.”
Vash huffs and pouts in response and just sits doing nothing as Wolfwood works on his coat. Once all the buttons are unfastened, Wolfwood moves the coat away to reveal his black turtle neck undersuit and the blood that’s both caked and wet on it. He looks at it for a couple of seconds and doesn’t comment.
Why isn't Wolfwood yelling at him? By this time he would be already cursing. They have done this song and dance before. Vash does something stupid and Wolfwood yells at him. The only indication of Wolfwood being mad at him is that he’s not talking; it makes Vash wish he was spitting curses at him. Vash would call him petty if he didn’t feel like he deserved the silent treatment.
Instead, Wolfwood removes the coat past Vash’s shoulders. This time Vash moves his arms out of the coat sleeves. Wordlessly, Wolfwood lifts Vash with an arm under his armpit and around his back to remove the coat underneath him. The coat is folded up and tossed to the side on the floor.
Vash forlornly looks at his coat on the floor. “My coat.”
Wolfwood snorts. “Your coat needs to be washed and stitched.” He reaches for the bottom hem of his black undersuit. “Can I take this off?”
Vash hesitates for a second. It’s not like he hasn’t seen the scars before. Although he doesn’t like the face Wolfwood makes the few times he has seen them. Vash lifts his arms above his head, giving Wolfwood his consent. Wolfwood stands as he raises the undersuit, being mindful of the injury, and removes it. It gets tossed to the suit on top of the red coat. Wolfwood kneels to get a good look at the bullet wounds; three in total with blood slowly dripping down. He squints at them as if offended.
Vash squirms. “The bullets are not that deep, you can probably push them out.”
Wolfwood glances up at him and doesn’t say anything. He stands up and moves towards the kitchen. Vash sees him get a trash can, bandages, a cloth, and a basin of water. Wolfwood comes back to his previous position on the floor in front of Vash with the addition of the supplies around him. He dampens the cloth in the basin and starts to clean the blood on his abdomen. Vash winces from the feeling of the fabric against the tendered skin. Wolfwood carefully cleans up the wounds and wrings out the blood into the basin. Once satisfied, he raises his hands to one of the bullet wounds.
“I’m going to take out the bullets,” Wolfwood states.
Vash takes in a deep breath and exhales, trying to relax his worn-out body. “Okay.”
Wolfwood slowly pinches the area and Vash tenses, inhaling sharply.
“Relax.”
Vash breathes deeply as Wolfwood goes through the process of taking out the bullets one by one. He tosses the bullets into the trash and goes back to grab the cloth to clean the wound again with water. Then he grabs the roll of bandages and stands to wrap them around Vash’s torso. Vash lifts his arms slightly to give him some room. All the while, Wolfwood is silent.
Vash is getting frustrated.
“Hey-.”
Vash is interrupted by the front door opening and Milly’s voice. “We’re back!”
Wolfwood just looks at him knowing that he was going to say something but got cut off—he gives a lop-sided smirk at his expense as he finishes tying up the bandages. Vash glowers at him.
“In the kitchen!” Wolfwood calls out.
Vash hears Meryl’s voice as both of them walk across the house towards the kitchen. “Hey Wolfwood, why is there a Toma outside? Is Vash back?” She enters the kitchen doorway and stops when she sees him, stumbling when Milly bumps into her. “Vash!”
Vash turns towards Meryl and Milly who both have their eyes wide in surprise; he gives them a wave.
“He’s all yours,” says Wolfwood, gesturing in Vash’s direction. He gathers up the things on the floor and moves away as Meryl and Milly are immediately in front of Vash.
“Where have you been?!” Meryl shouts in concern. She looks at the bandages. “What happened?”
Vash rubs the back of his neck. “Sorry for worrying you guys and missing today’s workout. I had to go help a Plant early in the morning. Unfortunately, I got hurt a bit.”
Wolfwood pipes up from across the kitchen, “If you think bullet wounds in the stomach are ‘a bit’ then I don’t want to know what ‘a lot’ means to you.”
“You got shot?!” Meryl asks. Vash sinks into his chair, sulking.
Milly puts a hand on Meryl’s shoulder to calm her. She looks at Vash with teary eyes. “Mr. Vash don’t scare us like that again. It’s alright that you couldn’t join us this morning but you can let us know when you need to go somewhere.”
Meryl chimes in, “That’s right! Don’t go off on your own like that again. We’ll come with you or we’ll make Wolfwood go with you.”
“Oi!” says Wolfwood at his name being mentioned.
Vash raises his hands to placate them. “There’s no need for that, really! I can take care of myself.”
Meryl gives him a look, Milly gives him puppy dog eyes, and Vash hears Wolfwood grumbling. Vash sighs in defeat.
Milly speaks up, “We know you can take care of yourself but we want to help you. You can rely on us!” Meryl nods vehemently beside her.
Vash doesn’t know how to ask for help. Sometimes he really wants to but the guilt or the feeling of not wanting to bother beats that want down. Now he feels guilty for worrying them.
Vash looks down at his hands. “I know, I’m sorry.”
He hears Meryl sigh. “Alright, we shouldn’t yell at you too much. You need to rest.”
Wolfwood chooses this moment to place a bowl of oatmeal and a spoon on the table near Vash. Vash immediately scrunches his nose in distaste at it.
Wolfwood points at him. “You need to eat first. I’ll spoon-feed you if I have to.”
Vash scooches the chair forward to get closer to the table. “It looks depressing.” He whines.
“It has nutrients!”
Milly looks at the oatmeal in delight. “I want Wolfwood’s cooking!”
Wolfwood grins at that. “At least somebody appreciates.” Vash sticks out his tongue at him.
Wolfwood and Milly walk to the stove so she can get a serving. Vash stares at the oatmeal, wishing it was more sugary. He plans to get a donut tomorrow. Meryl startles him by placing a hand on his bare shoulder.
“You know he means well,” she states.
Vash clicks his tongue. “He doesn’t have to be a jerk.”
Meryl shrugs with her hands open. “Yeah, but that’s how he shows that he cares.”
Vash half-heartedly agrees. He looks over at Wolfwood who is talking with Milly by the stove. Milly is enjoying her bowl of oatmeal while talking about what she and Meryl did in town today and Wolfwood listens. Vash turns back to his oatmeal; he picks up the spoon and starts eating. The oatmeal tastes better than the last time he had it—Wolfwood must have put more sugar this time. Vash mindlessly eats while the other three chatter. He doesn’t pay attention to the conversation as he drowsily eats. By the time he finishes eating, his head is already drooping down towards the table and dozing off. He doesn't know how much time has passed before a voice and a hand on his shoulder shake him back into awareness.
“You need to go to bed.” Wolfwood.
Wolfwood loops an arm around Vash’s front to lift him. Vash grumbles at the movement. He groggily notices that Meryl and Milly are not in the kitchen anymore and gone back to their room. His clothes are not on the floor either and he halts Wolfwood’s movement.
“Where is my coat?”
Wolfwood answers, “It needs to be washed.”
Satisfied with the answer, Vash lets Wolfwood support half his weight with an arm around his shoulders and his own arm around Wolfwood’s. Wolfwood brings him to his room and maneuvers him to sit on the bed. He then kneels in front of Vash to untie and take off his boots. Vash stares at him while doing so. The boots are moved to the side of the bed and Wolfwood gets the pajamas off the floor that were carelessly taken off this morning. He tosses them onto Vash’s lap. Vash just looks at them blankly.
“What, do you need help putting on pants?”
Vash’s mind blinks alert at the words and flushes. “Uh, no! That won’t be necessary.”
Wolfwood turns away to head into the bathroom, giving Vash some privacy. Vash slips on a T-shirt and shimmies out of his tight pants—mindful of his wounds—to put on his pajama bottoms. Wolfwood comes back from the bathroom with a wet cloth. Before Vash realizes what the cloth is for, he feels the touch of the damp fabric against the side of his face. He flinches away.
“Easy Spikey, I’m just gonna wipe the sand off. Won’t be comfortable sleeping like that.”
Vash looks at the cloth hovering near his face and then at Wolfwood. He closes his eyes and leans his head forward slightly, giving Wolfwood permission. Vash feels the coolness of the cloth brush across his face gently—cleaning his cheeks, forehead, nose, and chin. When the fabric touches his eyes, Vash feels a wave of emotion overcome him and he clenches his jaw to steady himself, breathing deeply through his nose. The cloth moves towards his hairline, wiping the mop of hair and making strands fall in front of his face. Wolfwood pulls away once he’s satisfied that his hair doesn’t have any sand or grime. Vash opens his eyes when he leaves; his hands grip the bed sheets.
“Why are you doing this?” He doesn’t filter his words.
Wolfwood turns around from where he walking towards the bathroom to put away the cloth. He raises a brow. “Huh? Doing what?”
Why aren’t you yelling at me, why are you helping me? Vash moves his hands away from the sheets and looks down at them on his lap.
"Why aren't you talking?"
"What do you mean by why aren't I talking?"
"Why aren’t you yelling?" Vash clarifies.
Wolfwood stares at him from across the room. “Do you want to be yelled at?”
Vash takes a second to think it over. Does he?
Wolfwood continues insinuating, “Are you asking me to yell at you?”
Vash looks up at Wolfwood and sees the incredulous look he’s giving him. Vash can see the hurt behind the look. He immediately backtracks. “No, I-.”
“Vash, what the hell are you thinking about?”
Vash snaps his mouth shut; a wave of shame overcomes him. He’s so tired that it makes the shame feel ten times worse. It’s also making him think ridiculous things like wanting to get yelled at for making his friends worry, for making them feel like they can't be trusted, for making Wolfwood feel like he can’t be trusted.
Wolfwood pinches the bridge of his nose. “You drive me nuts.”
Vash doesn’t take that comment well and bristles. "I'm sorry, okay? I didn't want to wake you up this morning—you needed rest—and you didn't have to clean me up. So can you just get it out of your system and leave?"
Wolfwood gives him a bewildered look. "What?"
Vash huffs, blinking away unshed tears. "I'm sorry for bothering you, having to clean me up and deal with all this." He gestures wildly at himself.
Wolfwood continues to give him an incredulous look. "Are you serious? You think I'm bothered about patching you up and cleaning you?"
Vash fumbles a bit. "Well not just cleaning but-."
Wolfwood cuts him off. "What I'm bothered about is you doing shit by yourself!" he growls. “And second! I get to decide whether I want to come with you or not, not your needle brain.”
Vash puts his head in his hands. He doesn't know what to say to that besides whining, “I’m sorry!”
Wolfwood walks over and stands over him. “I already heard you the first two or three times.”
"And by the way." Wolfwood crosses his arms looking down at him. "I didn't want to have this kind of conversation when you look like you're out of your mind. You always get like this when you talk to your Plant friends. You were gonna get yelled at once you stop looking like a mopey bastard."
Vash pouts at that. "Am not."
Wolfwood flicks his forehead and Vash yelps. "See your moping, stop that. And while you're at it, stop guilt-tripping yourself too. You almost make me feel bad for getting mad at you. Sheesh."
"Sorry."
Wolfwood sighs in exasperation with a facepalm. "I can smell your guilt from a mile away. It'll do you some good to get used to asking for help or appreciate the help without making a fuss."
Vash fiddles with his hands. “I know,” he whispers. It will take a while to get used to.
Vash leans back to lie down on the bed. He turns on his side facing away from Wolfwood. He hears Wolfwood grab a chair and drag it next to the bed. Then he hears Wolfwood patting himself down.
“If you are gonna smoke, leave,” Vash grumbles, turning to look at him.
Wolfwood is sitting on the chair backwards with an unlit cigarette in his mouth. He raises his hands in surrender. “I ain’t gonna smoke.”
“You can leave so I can sleep.”
Wolfwood rests his arms on the chair. “Can’t have you hold a pity party without me invited before you fall asleep.”
Vash is about to snark back at him when he remembers what Meryl said early.
Wolfwood does care.
"Meryl is right, you do mean well."
Wolfwood pulls a face. "What does Shortie have to do with this?"
“Nothing,” Vash says while smiling.
Vash shifts to lie on his back, staring at the ceiling. He feels his eyelids start to sag—his body finally able to relax. Before falling asleep, he feels a hand brush against his forehead. He smiles.
Vash wakes up in the middle of the night.
He doesn’t know what woke him up. He still feels achy from the wounds and drowsy from not getting a full night’s rest. A noise can be heard to his right and he opens his eyes. Wolfwood is asleep; upper body slumped forward on the bed, arms pillowing his head, and still sitting on the chair. His unlit cigarette is somehow still in his mouth. Vash looks at him for a moment; he turns on his side to face Wolfwood and reaches out a hand to touch his hair. Slightly intrigued, Vash ruffles his hair a bit. Wolfwood doesn’t stir, breathing in and out steadily.
Deep sleeper, Vash thinks. Also cute.
Another thought pops into his head—for what Wolfwood’s been through, he can still let his guard down when he sleeps, and keep someone like him company. Vash smiles at that.
“You drive me sane,” he whispers to nobody.
He curls his body closer and moves his hand to rest on Wolfwood’s arm. Soon, he goes back to sleep.
When he wakes in the morning in the same position and catches himself staring fondly at Wolfwood who is still asleep, his mind is filled with stunning clarity—and embarrassment—as one would get after a good night’s sleep.
In his dawning realization, he is completely smitten with Wolfwood.
And if he is enamoured with Wolfwood yelling at him that same morning, nobody will know (except Meryl).