I Backward Cast My E'e Part 29

"Hey, Howard."

"Hey, kid," the older man replied amiably, barely twitching his newspaper down in acknowledgment.

"I take it Duo hasn't been back yet?"

"Nope." This did call for lowering his newspaper somewhat. "Don't you know the brat's schedule even better than he does?"

Heero shrugged, leaning against the counter. There weren't any customers in the market at this time in the afternoon. "Just confirming. Means he probably hasn't checked his e-mail yet, either."

"Why? Oh, you mean you've heard back?"

He nodded. "I got my e-mail today, and there was someone else who applied to one of the programs who said he got an e-mail today, too, so I expect Duo will probably be getting his answer back, too. You should be prepared for whatever happens."

"You in?"

"Yep."

Howard squinted at him through his ubiquitous sunglasses. "Are you just that calm, or were you just that confident?"

Heero chuckled briefly. "Calm, I guess. I did the best that I could with my interview, my application. After that, it was out of my hands. No point in worrying about it anymore. There are other opportunities out there, anyway."

"Try telling Duo that," Howard muttered.

"Duo's not really worrying about the job itself, so much as... well, everything else."

"All the 'growing up' nonsense?"

"Yeah."

Howard produced a scornful sound. "Kid's all ready for it, whether he wants to be or not. Just needs to stop thinking so damn hard about it."

"That's our Duo."

He had a strange moment of realization, Howard did, where something he had already understood just chose to step up this moment and officially declare itself. He now shared his Duo with this young man standing in front of him now, and it was entirely possible and highly probable that one day, Duo would be more Heero's than his.

It wasn't a particularly traumatic realization. It was, perhaps, even a welcome one. It was with some wonder that he had managed to get Duo this far in life in one piece. It probably wasn't a bad idea to hand that responsibility off to someone else before his miraculous run of luck evaporated.

An idle scratch of his nose was about all that showed of his thoughts. "Think he got the job?"

Heero opened his mouth to answer, but then paused and shook his head with a slight smile. "Duo would kill me if I jinxed him. But... I think he is absolutely capable of doing the job and an excellent candidate for the position. It's merely a question of his competition."

Howard nodded agreeably. "You guys should have dinner here tonight. To celebrate."

"What if he doesn't get in?"

"You got in. We'll celebrate. If he didn't get in, he'll probably be happy to have something else to think about anyway." He waved his hand airily toward the interior of the market. "I'm sure we've got what you've need to whip up something special."

A corner of Heero's mouth tilted up in amusement. "I have to cook for my own celebration?"

"Of course not. You're cooking for Duo."

"I could do that at my own place."

"You can have dinner here and we can celebrate together. Then you two can go back to your place after and celebrate your own way." He grinned knowingly.

Heero looked at him blandly. "I'm not sure what you're implying."

Howard snorted. "You're two young, healthy guys. Doesn't take a genius to figure out what you two get up to in your private little love nest."

Heero's expression twitched. "Love nest?"

"I call it as I see it, kid."

He didn't see much point in denying anything, though he didn't see much point in admitting anything, either. Whether Duo wanted Howard to know or not, Heero wasn't going to be the one to tell him. "Is this where you threaten me to treat him right or else?"

Howard outright laughed this time. "As if..." He trailed off as his nephew walked in the door. "Hey, kid."

"Hey-ho," Duo answered back, bumping into Heero in greeting.

"Hey," Heero responded softly. "I take it you haven't checked your e-mail yet?"

"Huh? No, not since this morning. Why?" His eyes widened a little. "No way. They're here? Hang on--" He took a step toward the back before swinging around and latching onto Heero's arm. "Wait, you've heard? You in?"

Heero nodded.

"Awesome!" He kissed Heero quickly before making his way swiftly to the computer in the back office. Heero followed at a more leisurely pace, and by the time he got there, Duo had logged into his mail account and staring at his new messages. As soon as Heero came within range, Duo snagged his sleeve and dragged him over, pointing at the subject line of the e-mail from the program coordinator. "'You've been accepted...'!" he crowed softly.

Heero wrapped his arms around him and kissed his cheek.

When Howard came ambling in, Duo was busy scanning the body of the e-mail, so Heero gave him a calm thumbs up. Howard smirked in satisfaction. Seemed he was going to have a nice dinner tonight. "What, no whooping? No shouting? No dancing?"

Duo finished scanning the rest of the e-mail quickly before turning to stick his tongue out at his uncle. "Thought I'd be grown-up about things for once."

"Well, that didn't last long," Howard observed wryly. He managed to avoid Duo's retort by hearing the chime in the front go off, signifying the entry of a customer. With a congratulatory punch to his nephew's shoulder, he scurried off to attend the front of the market.

Heero squeezed him lightly around the middle. "Just glad the suspense is over?"

Duo leaned into his warmth. "Sort of... Not really the suspense, but just... the uncertainty. Like, now it's official, now it's no more guessing, now we can actually make solid plans instead of trying to be ready for anything."

"Do you want to start making plans?"

A faint shiver danced down his spine at the soft question. He laughed it off nervously. "We still have to graduate, first."

"It's all downhill from here."

"Ha, yeah, downhill with a crapload of potholes at the bottom known as 'finals'."

"You haven't failed anything yet. You wouldn't start now."

"And presentations..."

"Your designs are already done. You're just in report-writing mode now, aren't you?"

"And that petition to graduate..."

"Paperwork. A formality."

"And... uh... taking the walk..."

"Even if you manage to trip on the hem of your robe and fall flat on your face on your way to accepting your diploma, they'll still let you graduate."

"Oh, gee, thanks, Yuy. You've totally jinxed me now."

Heero chuckled in his ear as he reached out to rap his knuckles against the wood surface of the desk. "Enough. Howard has commanded that we cook up a celebratory feast, so let's go raid the market."

TBC...

 

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