I Backward Cast My E'e Part 30
Duo smoothed down the collar of Heero's shirt with a faintly smug air. "Well, don't you look dapper today."
"You know, I've just realized that we'll need to stock up on relatively professional-looking clothing."
"You going to start dressing like Odin now?"
"You going to start dressing like Howard ever?"
"I did for Halloween once. It was kind of awesome, even if no one really got it."
"I got it," Howard noted proudly. "It really was kind of awesome. I've got the pics floating around somewhere. I'll have to dig them out."
Duo hummed thoughtfully. "You know, I always thought those words would be accompanied by a sense of dread on my part, but no, actually I don't mind sharing my awesomeness this time around."
Heero shook his head as he handed Duo's folder to him and gestured out the door. "Well, time to show our awesomeness off to the rest of the world. Come on. It's inevitable that our presentation set-ups have A/V problems, so let's go sort them out."
"It's kind of amazing that no one has managed to invent something yet that just magically takes care of all that nonsense. Anyway. We're off."
Howard waved them out of the market. "See you later, kid."
Heero waited until they were a few steps away from the door before he asked. "Is Howard attending one of your sessions?"
"Yeah, not sure exactly which one since it'll depend on what traffic's like in the market, of course, but he'll go for it."
"Is that why he's wearing one of his loudest shirts today?"
Duo hid his face in his hand briefly. "'Heckling would be unprofessional,' he said."
"So he decided to be 'loud and proud' in his own special way?"
"Yep." He paused for a moment of contemplation, having understood the 'loud' part of the equation quite easily, but only now realizing how much 'proud' there might be mixed in there as well. Well, at least the presentations weren't intended to be completely formal. They had to pretend they were, but most of the attendees would be friends and family, so chances were high that people wouldn't be sticking to the fiction unless a company representative stuck his head in the door. With his job in the bag, Duo was beyond caring, but he'd still do right by his teammates, if it came to that. "Hey, is Odin coming?"
"Odin?" Heero's tone indicated a little bit of surprise. "No. I... We talked about the presentations, but I didn't ask him to come, and he didn't volunteer. Is that bad, do you think?"
"Nah," Duo was quick to reassure him. "I'm sure if Howie didn't just want to embarrass me, he wouldn't come, either. I know you've discussed your project with Odin before anyway, so he's probably already heard more than he wanted to know about it."
"But there are a couple of physics presentations..."
"You think he'd blow his whole day by coming out here for, what, thirty minutes? You know he's proud of you, Heero, whether he's here or not."
"I guess."
"He's coming to graduation, right?"
"Of course."
"And that's the important one, right? Presentation Day is only important as proof that you managed to get through the year without killing your teammates."
"I could have killed my teammates. I just would have to give the presentation on my own."
"I kinda wish I could give our presentation on my own."
"Not good public speakers, the others?"
"Yeah, and unfortunately, we'd look pretty dorky if we put two people on working the slides." Duo paused for a few moments as he mentally reviewed his presentation schedule for the afternoon. "Hey, when's Trowa's graduation? He's your best bud, right? Can you go? Or will he be coming here?"
"No, he finishes up a week before we do, but I have my last final that day, so it's not a good idea. And then Quatre graduates the same time we do, so of course, he'll be going up there, instead."
"I guess it's bad enough having to sit through your own round of commencement speeches, without having to listen to other people's. Not flying out for Wufei's graduation, right?"
"I don't think he expects any of us to. He has Meiran with him, so he won't be alone."
"Oh yeah, that's cool. He's always getting shafted, being the only guy on the other side of the country, out of your group. Harder to come home for holidays and all that."
"Well, his family's never been that big on celebrations anyway, and there's plenty of stuff to do out there. But of course they're all going out for his ceremony. I'm sure they wouldn't miss that for the world."
Duo spent a few seconds of his life wondering what he would have done if his uncle hadn't rather conveniently lived near a highly-ranked college, if he'd have had the gumption to go somewhere far away and alone to get the education he needed. Then it got weird and uncomfortable and he stopped. "I swear, this whole ceremony thing is more for other people than it is for ourselves. Like it makes parents feel better about all that money they just shelled out for our educations."
"Well, if baking under the sun in a black robe for a few hours is all that takes, I'll do it."
"Oh, hey, did I tell you? So I was talking to Howie a bit about the job, going over some of the info that I got on it, and you'll never guess -- Howie knows my advisor!"
That warranted at least a blink or two. "What?"
"I know, right? He's even tight enough with the guy for a nickname. Called him 'G'. How crazy is that? Well, assuming Howie's not pulling my leg or anything."
"Ah, is he an old friend from Howard's time in 'higher' education?"
Duo rolled his eyes in remembrance of his uncle's cheerful pun. "Apparently. I'm kind of flipping back and forth on this one. It could be really cool to work with the crazy scientist version of Howie. On the other hand, it could be really... not-cool." He made a funny face to express the depths of his concern.
Heero chuckled. "That's kind of funny, if you think about it."
"I've thought about it, and I'm not sure that 'funny' is the word that I would use."
"No, I mean... You were worried about leveraging Odin as a reference when you were applying... And all this time, you didn't even have to. If Howard had just -- wait, did Howard know that his friend worked there?"
"Nah, I guess they hadn't talked for a while or something. Howie was kinda vague, actually, which got me worried. I mean, what if they had some kind of fight or something and now I get to deal with left-over drama?"
Heero shook his head. "If there was a fight, and Howard didn't show any sign of it, it probably wasn't over anything more important than who ate the last brownie."
Duo opened his mouth to retort, but shut it again with a disgusted sigh. "That's... probably depressingly accurate."
He patted Duo comfortingly on the shoulder, and seeing that they were on the road alone on their way in to campus, he let his hand slide down Duo's arm before breaking contact. "Well, assuming you're not caught in the middle of anything... What I was saying was, Howard could have established a direct connection for you with your future advisor. That would have been an even stronger reference than anything Odin could have done for you."
"Well, yeah, but the reason I didn't want to use Odin's good name was just 'cuz of the whole... you know." Duo waved his hand vaguely, debating whether or not he wanted to specify any further. He decided that perhaps there wasn't any harm in it. "Dads are kind of a sore point with me."
"Maybe they shouldn't be. Odin's connections or Howard's connections... My dad's connections, or your... 'dad's connections. Howard's the one that fills that role for you, not... he-who-shall-not-be-mentioned."
Duo mulled that over for the length of a block, close enough now that they could see the activity on campus. "Yeah... I guess so," he concluded quietly, tilting a small smile at his boyfriend. "Howie let me know that Elizabeth's thinking about sending flowers over on the big day. She asked if he thought that'd be okay."
"And?"
"Well, Howie already said 'yes' before asking me," he answered wryly. "In fact, I don't think he was even asking me so much as informing me. But... yeah, I think that's okay. It's pretty harmless, isn't it?"
Heero nodded agreeably.
"Yeah, she's... turning out to be kind of classy, given the situation and all that. That's... okay. And pretty harmless. Isn't it?"
"Yeah. I think so." Heero nodded again, and added an encouraging smile to his words to round out their conversation before they crossed paths with some fellow students.
TBC...
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