Shampoo Suds

A/N: A shameless PWP for Vash and Wolfwood, just because you don't see enough of them floating around.


There was a certain pleasure to being alone; Wolfwood had to admit, as he threw himself onto the bed, staring up at the blank ceiling. Without noticing what his fingers were doing, he lit a cigarette and brought it to his lips, taking in a breath and smiling as he felt the smoke infiltrate his lungs, filing him with that heady feeling that only nicotine could inspire. Having someone else constantly around could be nice sometimes, but more often than not it was just a huge inconvenience and hassle, especially when one was used to wandering around the desert alone. Having someone always around made private moments a huge achievement, one that Nicholas was determined to enjoy to the fullest.

He smiled at the sound of the shower water spurting to life. It would be at least twenty minutes before Vash emerged. He always did enjoy his showers. Twenty minutes left him plenty of time in which to ponder, smoke, and perhaps move on to other, more enjoyable activities. He’d better finish this smoke first though. Wouldn’t do to catch the sheets on fire. They had enough money problems without the added hassle of having to pay for a new bed. Thin wisps of smoke escaped towards the ceiling as he slowly blew out a breath through his nostrils, thinking of the person who was currently using up the entirety of hot water. Looked like another cold shower for Wolfwood. He could deal. He’d had worse. What would prove to be most difficult was the person who was taking the shower.

Nicholas groaned as thoughts of the blonde gunman unwelcomingly surfaced, bringing introspection that he wished he didn’t have along with them. He didn’t know exactly what his feelings were, but they sure as hell weren’t those of mild annoyance or begrudging tolerance, and that alone bothered him. Every time he tried to define exactly what he felt a strange feeling would sweep through him, one that he’d never felt before. The closest comparison he had to it was the feeling that he had when he thought of the orphanage and Aunt Melanie, but somehow that seemed wrong too. It was deeper than that somehow, more beautiful, more precious, and yet more painful at the same time. Wolfwood couldn’t see it and couldn’t fight it and this bothered him. When he got bothered, he got irate, and snapped more than usual at a certain nauseatingly cheerful Stampede. That brought the hurt pout onto his face, which made Wolfwood feel like an asshole for hurting him, yet he couldn’t figure out why he cared so much about being an asshole. He hadn’t cared before. This thought would make him snappish again, starting off the entire vicious circle again. This had been going on for a week. It was a miracle that he hadn’t killed several towns by now.

He did know at least one thing however. The feelings that he had towards Vash sure as hell weren’t platonic. He’d figured that out this afternoon, when Vash had somehow gotten hold of ice at the restaurant that they were eating at. He’d smiled so very enticingly before sticking the cube into his mouth, crying out in surprise at the unexpected chill against his tongue. Then he’d brought the cube out again and held it between two fingers while his tongue, kitten-pink, had darted out to lap delicately at it. Wolfwood could feel his breath catching in his chest as he watched this entire movement, unable to stop thoughts of what that tongue would feel like on certain parts of his anatomy from surfacing and making sitting cross-legged difficult at best. And the tiny little moans that would escape his perfect lips-those grunts and sighs were enough to drive him wild-certainly enough to have him excuse himself from the table and not come back for ten minutes. And best of all, Vash had just looked innocently at him and smiled, asking him if everything was all right, if he’d eaten enough. Really, he was just too much. Had it been anyone else, Wolfwood would have said that they were trying to pull off a well-planned slow seduction, but it was Vash and Nicholas just didn’t think that he had it in him. Too innocent. No, he was just being his normal self-just with ice-cubes, licking, and moaning.

Wolfwood paused, listening to the water flow that had not ceased since Vash had stepped into the bathroom. He had at least fifteen minutes left. That would be plenty of time. Hissing in anticipation, he arched his hips as he slid his zipper down, unbuttoning his pants with delicate care. He slid his hand into his cotton boxers, letting out a low, almost inaudible moan as his fist closed around his already weeping cock, pumping slowly. He bit his lower lip, keeping in his appreciative groans as he began to pump faster. So close…then after this just a nice shower and to bed…life really can’t get any better…

“Wolfwood?” a plaintive voice cried from the shower. Nicholas groaned, feeling his body rebel up against him at the sound of Vash’s voice and the stilling of his motions. What he wouldn’t give to hear that voice, in this exact scenario, except not that whining, pained tone in it-more breathy, more husky, more urgent…His hand made a few more swift strokes at that thought. Maybe he could finish after all-“Wolfwood!”

“What?” he snapped as his hand fell away from his groin. There was no way that he could go back to his comfortable solitude, not with Vash sounding like that. The world once more became the vast and barren wasteland that it had been as Wolfwood pulled up his pants and walked towards the shower. He pulled out his shirttails as he took a deep breath, running his hand through hopelessly tangled and messy black hair in a futile attempt to look absolutely normal. Of course, that would fall apart within seconds if Vash took oh, maybe, two seconds to actually look carefully at him, but hopefully he’d just dropped the soap and didn’t feel like getting it. Hope hadn’t killed anyone, as far as he knew.

“I need your help,” Vash said, voice sounding tiny and pained. Wolfwood sighed, hand on the doorknob. “It’s an emergency. It hurts.”

“Look Tongari, if you stubbed your toe against the shower wall, it’s not an emergency,” Wolfwood snarled, feeling irritated that Vash had completely ruined his moment for something as trivial as what this was turning out to be. At the moment, the only thing that he would have been actually worried about was if Vash’s leg had suddenly and inexplicably fallen off. And even that was a touch and go matter.

“Don’t sound so mad,” Vash said, and this time there was a definite whine of pain to his voice. Wolfwood pressed his upper body against the door, the first beginnings of worry sneaking down his back, icy cold and stabbing.

“What happened?” he asked, his sharp tone diminished somewhat, now more concerned than anything else.

“I got shampoo in my eye,” Vash said miserably and Wolfwood thought that it was a damn good thing for the gunman that the Punisher wasn’t within arm’s reach. Orders and friendship be damned, this was a killing offense at its best. “Wolfwood, please!” Vash wailed at the sudden absence of sound from the other side of the door. “I can’t see anything and it really hurts!”

“Figure it out yourself,” Nicholas groaned, hitting his head repeatedly on the door. He had been so goddamn close and now it was all getting ruined because Vash was an idiot who couldn’t figure out how to get some fucking shampoo out of his fucking eye! Wolfwood dearly wished for assassins to pile into the room at that exact moment, just so he would have a good excuse for opening fire and killing many, many people at once. Killing Vash would be the obvious solution to his problem but unfortunately the satisfaction would only last for a few moments and then he would have to deal with being alone again, not to mention other concerned parties would be rather upset that Vash the Stampede was dead. Wolfwood shuddered and it was the thought of Knives and Legato angry, Knives and Legato controlling his every move, using him to hurt Vash that made him grasp the doorknob. At that moment, even dealing with Vash sounded better than being alone with nothing but his thoughts.

“Vash, I’m coming in, grab a towel or something,” Wolfwood called through the door, giving Vash thirty seconds to grab a towel. If he had to look at that, there was no way that his raging boner would let him do anything else other than grab the blonde and fuck him senseless, much less get the goddamn shampoo out of his eyes.

After he thought that enough time had passed he turned the knob and slowly slid inside the bathroom, shutting the door swiftly behind him to keep the same dense, moist atmosphere that was present. The idea of being in the same room with a basically naked Vash the Stampede was making his groin pulse uncomfortably in a way that no amount of shirttails would ever be able to hide. Ok. Time to just finish this and jump out of a window. At least then he’d get some peace, though the authorities might have trouble trying to figure out why his corpse was still sporting a boner. Actually, that was rather amusing. That scenario beat a lot of ways that he imagined himself going out.

If the thought of being with a technically naked Vash had him harder than he’d ever been before, actually being with a fully naked Vash had his mind shutting down, all of the available blood in his body flowing directly towards his groin. He was so hard that it actually hurt, his straining cock trying to burst through his pants to move straight towards Vash. Wolfwood actually let a little whimper escape his lips as his eyes roamed over Vash’s body, taking in the horrific scars with a lurch of his stomach. He could not stop the surge of anger that moved through his body when he looked at Vash’s body, determination to find those who did this to him and kill every last one of them. They’d dared to touch him, to mark him, when he was Wolfwood’s and only Wolfwood’s…Wolfwood shook himself violently to rid himself of those thoughts. If he didn’t say anything soon Vash would wonder why not and although the other man liked to act like an idiot he was actually one of the smartest people Nicholas had ever met. He’d figure it out easily, or at least get the basic idea of what was happening.

“I said to grab a towel,” he couldn’t help muttering, waiting in anticipation to hear what Vash’s answer was to this question. This took being a tease a little too far, leaving the ice-cube from earlier far behind in the dust.

“I couldn’t see,” Vash whined, fisted hands scrabbling pathetically at his tightly closed eyes. Wolfwood rolled his eyes as he stepped closer, unable to stop his eyes from following the tiny water droplets that slid down the pale skin from where the shower head still thundered above them-He hadn’t turned off the fucking water, what the hell was he trying to do, make sure that Wolfwood jumped him in the shower? The fucking water! “And it hurt but I couldn’t see what I was doing so I couldn’t get the shampoo out and it hurt really bad,” he said plaintively, looking pathetically at Nicholas.

“Well don’t freak out now,” Wolfwood said, trying to sound gruffer to cover up the fact that almost his entire body was trembling with desire. He could see the slight tremor of his hand as it held a damp washcloth and moved it towards Vash’s face. “Don’t move,” he commanded, leaning forward. Unfortunately the tub was too far off the ground and Vash was too tall and for some reason refused to bend over to make Wolfwood’s life easier. Did nothing ever go his way? With a sigh that was meant to keep him more in control than anything else, he stepped over the ledge and into the tub, ignoring the water that hit his shirt, soaking it to perfectly transparent fabric in seconds. Oh Jesus…self-control Wolfwood. Self-control. What he absolutely could not do was to grab Vash, shove him against the wall and kiss him like there was no tomorrow, shove his hand down, grab hold of his innocently dangling member and coax it up to full hardness, squeeze him until he screamed for mercy…That was what he absolutely could not do.

“Turn your head,” Wolfwood commanded, taking the corner of the washcloth to Vash’s tightly closed eyes. Vash sighed in relief as the pleasantly cool fabric moved over his eyelids, washing away the small suds that had gathered at the corners of his eyes. He dabbed perhaps a few more times than he needed to, leaning unnecessarily close towards him, bracing himself against the wall with his hand as he moved the washcloth gently over Vash’s face, his fingertips accidentally on purpose brushing Vash’s cheekbones. He finally had no excuse to keep on touching Vash’s face and pulled the washcloth away, though he couldn’t bring himself to pull away from Vash, keeping his face just barely an inch away from the gunman’s.

Vash slowly pried his eyes open, nearly stunning Wolfwood with their brightness. He’d known that Vash had vivid eyes, but he’d never had the opportunity to examine them up close before. With his eyes only millimeters away they were nearly blinding. “Thanks,” Vash whispered, blinking once but other than that never taking his eyes off of the priest. Wolfwood stayed stationary, not exactly sure of what he was going to do, but knowing that moving away was not an option.

“Yeah,” Wolfwood said, feeling his heart beating much faster than it had a right to. It suddenly occurred to him, as if he hadn’t noticed it before, that he was standing in the shower, with a naked man, with water beating down around them. His hair was plastered to his forehead and he shook his head to clear his bangs out of his eyes, splattering Vash’s face in the process. “Sorry,” he said, reaching up to brush the droplets off of the blonde’s face.

“It’s all right,” Vash said, taking Wolfwood’s wrist in his hand and holding it firmly. Instead of fighting against the grip like he thought he would have done, Wolfwood welcomed it, Vash’s hand feeling oddly comforting, his fingers shifting, pressing against his pulse. Wolfwood felt a slight worry that Vash would know just how this was making him feel, but he decided that it didn’t matter too much as Vash tilted his head and his eyes fluttered closed.

Wolfwood felt a tiny voice in the back of his head railing at him as his head moved slowly forward, shouting every reason that this was bad-Gung-ho Gun, his mission, his kids, not to mention the troubling fact that he was still a priest, no matter how twisted his training and practicing was, and he was fairly certain that being with another man was definitely on God’s lists of big no-nos. But every single thought that he had was wiped out when he lowered his head those last few inches and his lips closed firmly over Vash’s.

Vash’s small gasp of surprise and the sudden arm snaking around his waist were more than enough reason for Wolfwood to press his body firmly against the gunman’s, winding his arm up the back and inwardly smiling at the soft moans that escaped Vash’s mouth when his fingers touched his bare flesh. Nicholas took the opportunity to slide his tongue into the gunman’s mouth, exploring thoroughly, not even caring that he most likely tasted exactly like an ashtray at that particular point in time. Vash didn’t seem to mind either, as he responded eagerly; his tongue caressing Wolfwood’s gently, running over every inch of the priest’s mouth that he could. Wolfwood’s fingers fisted in Vash’s hair, reveling in how the damp strands wound through his fingers almost like water itself. He pushed himself against Vash, wanting the contact, demanding the closeness, knowing that no matter how close he could get it would never be enough-not with Vash moaning up against him and rubbing his groin against Wolfwood’s thigh, letting him just how much he wanted this.

With a groan Wolfwood broke the kiss and lowered his mouth to Vash’s neck, running his tongue over the slightly raised skin of a scar that wound its way up to just beneath his ear. Vash moaned and he clutched Wolfwood’s shoulders tightly in order to stay upright, clenching the sodden fabric of his shirt in his hands. Wolfwood gasped and his head flew back as Vash cupped his groin, sending sparks flying through his mind. A low moan escaped Wolfwood’s throat as he realized that he had entirely too many clothes on his body.

His fingers fumbled with the buttons, slipping far too many times for his liking. He finally had a majority of the buttons open and with a snarl of impatience, simply ripped the garment from his body, tossing it over his shoulder and letting it fall to the floor. He attacked Vash’s mouth once more, moaning as the blonde’s hands roamed over his chest and whimpering when Vash’s thumbs circled around his nipples, actually crying out when the blonde gave them a small tweak. He held Vash’s shoulders tightly, certain that if he didn’t keep this grip then he was doomed. It occurred to him as he became aware of a keening noise that was coming from the back of his throat, that he’d never lost this much control before, never allowed himself to be manipulated like this before. Any other time it would have felt like coercion, but here, with Vash, it felt good, it felt natural, felt like everything was finally falling into place. Nicholas tried to think about why that was, but soon found out that thoughts were really not going to happen while this crazy sex thing was happening as well. Difficult to think when Vash had lowered his head to his chest and his lips closed over one of his nipples, teeth biting down gently. Difficult to think while your world was being turned upside-down.

Wolfwood’s mind wasn’t exactly working so he felt that he couldn’t be blamed when Vash turned, reversing their positions so that he was pushed up against the wall, the cold tile biting into his bare skin. He gasped when Vash kissed the sensitive spot just underneath his ear, turning his head and baring his throat to his ministrations. Vash took full advantage of this opening and went to work on his neck, laying kiss after kiss along his vein, nipping lightly and making Wolfwood shudder with need. When Vash reached the juncture of his neck and shoulder he bit down hard enough to leave a mark, making Wolfwood groan aloud and clutch Vash’s shoulders for support. He felt more than saw Vash dropping to his knees, trailing his hands over his chest and feeling all of the muscles beneath his fingertips, and felt his knees trembling in anticipation.

He’s not, he can’t be…oh God yes, he is…He could feel Vash’s hands on his hips and then they slowly traveled down and towards his groin, cupping him in both hands as he gently rubbed the cloth of the priest’s pants against his trapped member. Wolfwood’s hips moved of their own accord, forward into Vash’s hands as he tried to find some hold in the wall that would keep him from falling flat on his face. Vash’s hands moved up to his waist, swiftly undoing his belt and then unbuttoning his pants. Wolfwood found himself breathing through his mouth as Vash slid his zipper down and then slid his pants off of his hips, along with his shorts. He winced as the water hit his exposed groin, but that miniature discomfort was soon done away with as Vash took him into his mouth in one smooth motion.

It was lucky that Vash’s hands were holding onto his hips, because Wolfwood almost thrust directly into his mouth, his entire mind gone with the pleasure of finally feeling that mouth on him, and seeing for himself what that tongue that had previously held so many promises was capable of. It was everything he’d dreamed of and yet so much more. So, so, so much more-Wolfwood moaned in appreciation, one hand moving down to rest atop Vash’s head, feeling the damp hair as he clenched his fingers. He knew that this was probably uncomfortable for the other man, but he was swiftly moving to a place where he didn’t care about anyone else, not even himself. The world ceased to exist, and all that was present was the moist heat between his legs, sucking for him for all he was worth.

“Oh God, yes,” Wolfwood finally moaned out as Vash’s tongue trailed a long path all the way down his cock and back up again, circling the head before flicking against the small, leaking slit. His pace increased until Wolfwood thought that he was going to become absolutely insane, pressure building up within him until it demanded to be released. He felt himself growing lightheaded and gritted his teeth as his body began to shake. Vash’s head moved underneath his hand as his mouth continued to work him lovingly, tongue slowly moving up and down, twisting and swirling. Wolfwood felt the heat in his body gathering to a single point, intensifying until he exploded in a loud groan.

Wolfwood cried out as a warning to Vash, unable to form a coherent sentence to tell him what was happening. Vash continued sucking him, throat working against him as he swallowed, making Wolfwood groan appreciatively. He fell forward, catching himself on Vash’s shoulders and using them for support until he regained his breath. Vash slowly separated from his body, looking up at him, amusement sparking in his aquamarine eyes.

“God,” Wolfwood finally whispered, leaning against the wall so that Vash could stand up. The gunman stood up, careful grace in his movements, considerate of the other man even though his own desire was obvious by the still raging erection between his legs. Wolfwood looked at Vash through heavily-lidded eyes and lifted a corner of his mouth in the closest thing to a smile that Vash had ever seen. “Come here,” Wolfwood whispered, winding his arms around the blonde and pulling him close to his body, whimpering slightly as Vash’s erection touched his still-sensitive skin.

One of Wolfwood’s hands crept down Vash’s stomach, taking time to feel the muscles beneath his fingertips, caressing every inch of skin that they could reach on their path downwards. He felt the skin where he knew that the scars lurked, taking more time there than anywhere else, knowing that not only would that skin be more sensitive and receptive to his touch, but also that Vash needed the reassurance, needed the knowledge that he would never be considered flawed, at least not here, not with him. Wolfwood was sure of that fact-he wanted Vash to know that everything would be all right while he was with him. He would take care of everything, just like he was taking care of it at the moment.

His fist closed around Vash’s cock, a small breathy noise coming out of the Stampede’s mouth as Wolfwood’s grip tightened and he began to move his fist slowly, igniting every inch of skin that he could. He continued to kiss Vash, tongue invading his mouth easily and searching every inch of it, drinking in his essence. His hand began to move faster, grip alternatively tightening and loosening as he mercilessly teased Vash, hearing his tiny whimpers and loving every moment of them. Vash gripped his shoulders tightly, his hips thrusting shallowly into his hand, his thrusts gradually becoming more powerful and less coordinated as his need grew.

Vash soon broke away from Wolfwood’s mouth, biting his lip as he whimpered helplessly. Wolfwood lowered his head, returning the bite that Vash had given him, pressing down hard enough on the light skin to leave a mark. “Nicholas,” Vash moaned, and the sound of his given name falling from those perfect lips was almost enough to both make Wolfwood entirely hard and just come again right there. He tried to block out his own desires that had just been woken again and concentrate entirely on the gunman who was trembling with need. Nicholas knew he was close, could tell it by the ragged breaths that were escaping his mouth in harsh pants, knew by the desperation with which those fingernails were digging into his skin that this wouldn’t last for much longer.

Wolfwood’s grip tightened by a miniscule amount, but it was enough to make Vash stiffen and then explode, his hips thrusting shallowly into Wolfwood’s hand as he braced himself on the priest’s body, face buried in his shoulder. Several ragged, sobbing breaths were stolen from his body as he jerked with the force of his orgasm. He stood still for a few moments afterwards, trying to regain control over himself, but slowly pulled himself back together. He looked up at Wolfwood, only to find his lips claimed in a viciously possessive kiss. He responded willingly, wrapping his arms around the priest, pulling him closer. Vash felt like he couldn’t ever be close enough to Nicholas, that even this left too much space between them.

“Vash,” Wolfwood whispered against his lips when they separated to catch their breaths. “Vash,” he whispered once more, tilting Vash’s head forward so that he could brush his lips against his forehead in a feather-light kiss. Vash froze in disbelief before melting into the embrace that Nicholas offered, his forehead resting against the priest’s. This was the first time that he could recall Nicholas ever calling him by his actual name, not any of the many and creative nicknames that he’d come up with. Vash actually wondered where he managed to come up with those, whether he just took time out of each day and thought up of new ways to torment him.

Wolfwood’s powerful arms wrapped around Vash’s thin body, pulling him closer, his fingernails digging in dully in the skin of Vash’s back. He rested his head against the blonde’s, feeling the increasingly cold water hit his body as he continued to lean against the wall. Even though his legs were aching in protest and the water was not comforting and tantalizing so much as stabbing and painful, he felt like he could stay like this forever, with just him and Vash.

“Come on,” he finally murmured, loosening his grip on Vash just enough so that the Stampede could step away from him. “The water’s getting cold,” he told Vash, his lips quirking upwards for a fraction of a second before they returned to their normal position. That split-second was enough for him to wonder what it would feel like to do that more often, try to imitate the blonde gunman still held loosely in his embrace.

“Bed?” Vash suggested with a wicked twinkle in his eye. Wolfwood looked at him and smiled, stepping out of the shower and then helping Vash out as well. Vash smiled shyly at him, darting his head forward to steal a swift kiss before he scampered off to the bedroom. Wolfwood could feel where their lips had pressed together, lit up white-hot and tingling. He reached up and gently patted the spot, smiling deviously as he watched the gunman dive into the bed and pull the sheet up over his body. Oh, if only he knew what he was in store for, what he’d awoken…

He took a second to turn off the water, now freezing cold and looked around the bathroom, trying to rein in his swirling emotions. His eyes lit on a small, innocent bottle on the edge of the bathtub. Wolfwood smiled ironically when he saw the name of the shampoo brand and reached out to cap it shut in one decisive motion.

Thank you, my painful friend, he thought, slowly walking out of the bathroom and into the main room, getting on the bed and crawling forward until he was positioned directly over Vash.

Thank you so very much…