Moments of Haven Part 12
The Birds and the Bees
Duo collapsed on the picnic blanket, joyously winded. For a few moments, he just lay there on his back, catching his breath and staring up at the bright green leaves above him that were providing just barely adequate shade from the warm springtime sun. The depthless blue sky and the fluffy clouds that could be seen through the as yet sparse foliage of the tree were a pleasant sight to one born and raised on a colony. Heck, even the tree was a pleasant sight. Hadn't had very many of those, either, on L2.
Something nudged him on the shoulder. He turned his head and Ms. Suzuhara was there, holding out a water bottle to him in tacit offering. He accepted it, grinning his thanks, and sat up to break the seal and wet his throat with the slightly warm water. He didn't mind. There hadn't been much water on L2, either; he'd learned to appreciate it in almost any of its forms.
It didn't get warm on L2, either. The colony hadn't wanted to bother wasting the money and energy it would have taken to heat the entire colony adequately, so environmental control typically kept the temperature low outdoors, and folks generally had heating systems installed in their own homes. Rich folks, anyway, Duo thought cynically.
"Children didn't hurt you, I hope?" Ms. Suzuhara inquired, solicitously amused.
L2 didn't have very many children playing on grassy hills, either. This place was quite a pleasant contrast, with childish laughter ringing in the air as the kids romped about, carefree. Just now, Duo had been able to imagine himself one of them, just for a moment, as he played with them in the warm sunlight, and he thought how incredibly lucky these kids were, and how lucky he was, to be able to be a part of their lives.
He grinned again at Ms. Suzuhara. "Nah, maybe just my pride. I can't believe I lost at tag!" Ms. Suzuhara forebore to point out the obvious, that Duo wouldn't have lost at tag if he hadn't wanted to. There was no way that Brian could really have snuck up on the older boy like that unless Duo let him. "Although I really gotta teach Brian that 'tagging' a person doesn't mean pulling his braid like that." He pulled his braid over his shoulder and patted it comfortingly. "Oh, he's just jealous that he lost his own braid, that's all," he cooed at it.
Brian's father had given the boy a 'proper' haircut a couple of weeks ago, when Brian had attempted to use his own little Duo-braid as a paintbrush. If his hair had been as long as Duo's, then perhaps it might have worked. Alas, it wasn't anywhere near the length, and the poor boy had only succeeded in getting himself, and his immediate surroundings, covered in paint. His father had agreed to let the boy grow the braid only as long as the boy took good care of it, and consequently, off it went.
Duo pet his braid one last, conciliatory time before pulling off the band and unraveling the braid partway, to undo some of the damage the running around, tugging, and minor wrestling match had caused.
"He'd make such a good father, don't you think?" Ms. Suzuhara asked suddenly.
"Huh? Who?" Duo tied off his braid with a snap of elastic and followed her gaze to the solemn young man standing careful guard over the small group of children, his eyes watching vigilantly for trouble as the kids amused themselves by tumbling down the gentle incline. "Heero?" he asked, halfway incredulous.
"Yes, Heero. Look at them," she said, gesturing at the other two ladies on the hill, supposedly also chaperoning the children currently playing on this little picnic excursion. "Just chatting away with each other. Nowhere near as attentive as our Heero. He'd make a wonderful father."
They watched as Esther bouncily skipped up to the teen in question, and held out a circle of small yellow wildflowers chained together. The look on Heero's face was somewhat confused. "Take it," Duo whispered, a trifle exasperatedly, as if his words of wisdom could drift past all the noise and reach the other's needful ears.
Esther stamped her foot just a little, and pushed the flowers just a bit more aggressively at him. Heero finally picked up on the hint and took the ring, but then was left holding it rather cluelessly. There was a moment of him just staring pensively at the flowers in his hands, and then he murmured something, something brief, only Duo and Ms. Suzuhara couldn't hear from where they were.
Esther beamed happily, and then took a hold of Heero's hands and nudged them up. He looked at her, a little surprised and a little bewildered, and uttered a few more quiet syllables at the girl. She put her hands on her hips and cocked her head to one side, for all the world looking as if she were explaining something totally obvious as she spoke.
Heero's eyebrow lifted, and his gaze flickered away for just an instance as he checked on the other frolicking children again, but that was it until Esther started rather obviously tapping her foot in impatience. He gave an almost imperceptible shrug then, and dropped the ring over his head.
Duo snickered. The crown was a poor fit, tilting at a rakish angle and hanging just over one of Heero's eyebrows. It looked like the halo of a demented angel of spring, but Esther loved it, and jumped forward to suddenly seize Heero in a squeezing, low hug before releasing him just as suddenly and skipping away, leaving a blinking Heero in her wake. Eventually, he just resumed his careful watch of the children as if it were nothing out of the ordinary for him to be wearing a crown of bright flowers.
"Heero?" Duo repeated, just once more for confirmation.
"This only proves it. He's an absolute wonder with the children."
"He's absolutely clueless when it comes to the children," Duo responded, not entirely serious, but not entirely joking. It was true Heero had little moments like this one just now, where he had no idea what was required of him, but it didn't stop him at all from being terribly successful with them. Of course, trust Heero to be successful at almost anything. Duo had once asked him if there was anything he couldn't do. Heero had replied no, there were only things he hadn't yet tried. Somehow, coming from Heero, it hadn't sounded arrogant at all.
"Perhaps," Ms. Suzuhara conceded. "But that doesn't mean anything."
"Certainly. I'm not denying it...." Duo paused a moment as something struck him, and he stated his conclusion with a small smile, quietly, almost to himself. "He's made such a great daddy already, after all."
Ms. Suzuhara gave herself a few seconds, just to make sure she heard him correctly, then became slightly alarmed. "You boys didn't sleep around during the war, did you?" she asked, half sharply, half jokingly.
Duo blinked, and seemed to snap out of his small reverie with a start. "Huh? No, of course not! Well, I certainly didn't, anyway, and I really don't see the rest of the guys doing anything of the sort. Honestly! Hmpf."
"Well then, whatever did you mean?"
"About what?" he asked, a little confused. Ms. Suzuhara looked at him. She was so very good at that. Not nearly as good as Heero, of course, but still, rather good for any non-Heero entity. Duo blinked again. "Oh! That." For some reason, it had almost already slipped his mind.
"Yes. That," she said dryly.
"Well, it's simple, really," Duo explained. "Heero is the daddy of peace."
It was Ms. Suzuhara's turn to blink. "... And just who is the mommy?" she inquired, in the tone of voice that one would use when humoring the nice crazy man.
"Well, that would be Relena, of course. And Heero, just like a man, has abandoned the raising of the child to the mother. Really!" he huffed, ignoring Ms. Suzuhara's funny look, but then continued more normally, with a touch of fond nostalgia. "Oh, but you should have seen him, right after the war. It was the funniest thing. He watched over that war like the most nervous father, with this major case of separation anxiety, or empty nest syndrome, or something. His little baby, his darling little peace, had taken wing and flown off on its own, and he was all worried that it would falter and fall."
He took the moment to take a sip of his water before continuing, his eyes locked in the distance, in the direction of the very one he was talking about. "Right after the war, he was constantly monitoring the peace, almost obsessively, on the news, on the net, jumping at every threat to his baby.... Luckily he never had to jump back into the action, you know?"
"He's settled down now, hasn't he?" Ms. Suzuhara asked worriedly.
"Oh yeah. Definitely. That is not to say that he doesn't still worry about it, and want to protect it with everything he's got. But his little baby's growing up, facing the world, making friends. And its mommy is still with it, guiding it along. Heero will always be there for it, though, ready to catch it anytime, but he believes in it. He believes in its strength, and ability to prosper."
He chuckled, wondering to himself if Heero would hurt him for the offbeat idea. Nah, probably not. He'd more likely just give him a very, very funny look and then ignore him. "So, I guess yeah, based on precedent, Heero would make a really good dad.... And as with all parents," he added pensively. "I hope he doesn't outlive his child...."
That sounded just a little too ominous for Ms. Suzuhara, even though she was sure he just meant that he hoped the peace would live a long, long time, but still, she thought that it would be terribly appropriate if some clouds were to drift across the sun foreshadowingly right around now and deny them the warm, reassuring light. "So about this Relena...," she started. "Foreign Vice Minister Relena Peacecraft, to the colonies?"
"Yup, that's her."
"Think she'd be a good match for a young, handsome bachelor of our acquaintance?" Duo's arm stopped before the water reached his lips, which was a good thing, seeing as how it would probably be bad for him to spit out his water in surprise, or for it to go down the wrong tube. "I mean, since they've already got a child together and all."
"Suzuhara-san!" he whined in defense, turning to glare lightly at her. "You said you were going to stop trying to fix us up!"
She blinked innocently at him. "I was just wondering if she might be interested, that's all. It's not like I was going to call her up and ask to talk to her about my boys and their relationships."
"Yeah, whatever." He rolled his eyes derisively. "But Heero and Relena? Nah. They're way too alike. They both just give, give, give, and spend all their time looking after others, and completely forget to look after themselves. They'd merrily accompany each other as they gave everything they had away and burned themselves out. They're both the kind of people who need people like us to look after them, if you know what I mean."
"Oh, well that's too bad." She thought for a moment, as Duo took another sip of his water. "What about Relena and you?" she asked brightly.
Duo almost choked. "Suzuhara-san~!"
OWARI
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