Moments of Haven Part 54
Sunset on the Sands
Though the summer solstice had come and gone, the sun was still obliging to a couple of young men interested in catching the show after dinner. Through recon from another trip to the sands, they located what they had pegged as prime real estate and got themselves situated. The hour was reasonably late for beachgoers, though a few still lingered to catch the last of the sun's rays. None were near their chosen stake in the sand.
There really wasn't all that much sand at the sands. Or maybe that was the Sands, capital 'S'. It was the local term for the beach area, which included a few strips of beach, a neighborhood of artsy stores, a scattering of restaurants and cafes, the obligatory row of souvenir shops interrupted by surf shops, and of course, the aquarium on the outskirts.
The sand itself was coarse, growing finer as one approached the waterline. The shoreline was flat, but past the beach section the land rose. There was a boardwalk of sorts up there, and a few structures perched on the edge of the very short cliff the land had provided. It was beneath the Shoreline Services building, where their feet were safe from the tides and their backs were safe from snipers, that they planted themselves.
They sat with their legs bent, knees knocking together occasionally in pleasant companionship. Duo struck up conversation with a whimsical question to pass the time. "Favorite fish of the day?"
And there had been plenty to choose from, all fascinating enough that they had each chosen not to order fish for dinner, despite dining at a modest seafront restaurant. Heero's mind wandered lazily over the exhibits, trying to pick one that stood out more than the rest. "The archerfish was interesting."
Duo laughed with an incredulous undertone. "The sniper fish. You chose the sniper fish."
He shrugged. And why not? There had been an interactive demonstration of the archerfish's ability to pick off a cricket at one hundred fifty centimeters with a small bead of water. "It was impressive."
"It snipes for its food."
"It spits." Not that the distinction was all that important. But if Duo wanted to be contentious, then Heero could match him blow for blow.
"Call it a water cannon, if you want. Either way, it's still a sniper fish."
Well, an archerfish, really. "And yours?" he asked, complacent with knowing that Duo's selection would no doubt be every bit as quirky as his own.
Duo put aside his archerfish jokes for a few thoughtful seconds, contemplating his choices. At length he grinned. "Vampyroteuthis infernalis!"
Covering his face with a hand for a moment, Heero made a sound of fond amusement. "The vampire squid from hell? Why am I not surprised?"
"Hey, it was cool!" He knocked their knees together in emphasis. "I mean, between that and the blue-ringed octopus, cephalopods are ranking pretty damned high in my book."
"We don't know all that much about the squid..."
"But what we do know is enough to make it cool. It's got, like, stealth systems, Heero! And glowy countermeasures! And spikes! And a cool name!"
Heero bumped up against his shoulder. "You're just jealous you didn't have a suit named 'Deathscythe infernalis'."
He bumped back harder. "And that would sound so much cooler than 'Wing infernalis'."
Heero tried a different approach. "There's never been a V. infernalis in captivity anywhere, so we certainly didn't see one today. Choose another."
Since that hadn't been a disagreement, Duo accepted the challenge, though not without a playful pout on his lips. He came up with another. "The sarcastic fringehead."
His partner rolled his eyes. "I'm guessing you just like that one's name, too."
That was certainly a part of the appeal. "The 'fringehead' part, I get. I'm wondering where the 'sarcastic' part comes from. I mean, did it mouth off at the first guy who caught it? And did you read the little blurbie thing on it? They live in whatever they can find to hide in, and they're extremely territorial and like to attack anything that moves. Quite the little scrappers, they are."
If there were reasons besides the name to inspire the attraction, then Heero would not push the point any further. "So neither of us liked the sharks, then?"
"Nah, they were cool, too." He let his hand fall casually on top of Heero's in the sand. "And we actually got to touch a few of those, even if they were just the smaller ones. Texture wasn't at all what I was expecting. Bigger ones were disappointingly docile during feeding, though."
Heero snorted.
"Okay, reassuringly docile, but still. They lived up to expectations, but they were still disappointingly fish-like. Not like they had huge killer sharks or whatever they are. Not that I really want to see one mangling a seal or something, but you know. They were just like every other fish in the end. Only blatantly carnivorous. I wouldn't be as impressed if I just saw one without all the pretty window dressing."
"Sorry."
Duo laughed. "Not your fault that sharks are just fish, man. We saw other cool stuff anyway, so it's not like the whole trip was a bomb." He squeezed Heero's hand briefly. "Hell, my mind is still blown by the concept of fish themselves, sometimes, let alone corals and sea anemones and giant squid and whales and... and stuff! Earthborn think space is the final frontier, but I tell ya... how can the biodiversity not humble them? Even if they've been living with it for years and years. Spacers live with space all the time, and they're still humbled by it."
"Earthborn can ignore it. They can live in their cities and forget all about the oceans and the forests, even space. But spacers can't afford to forget about space." Earthborn could take things for granted, and colony-born could get jealous of things they'd never had. Seemed like a recipe for disaster, really.
"They get such nice sunsets, too." The sun was about to kiss the horizon, and soon it would bleed out all over the ocean as well. It sank a couple more degrees before he spoke again. "Think we could paint one of our rooms orange?"
Heero's imagination failed him, despite the colors before his eyes, and all he could think of was the color often referred to as safety orange, or maybe tangerine, or even kumquat. "Orange?"
Duo brought his legs in closer so he could use an elbow on his knee to prop up his chin. "Well, maybe not orange exactly... but something warm."
"Something warm," he agreed, much more comfortable with the mental images that conjured up. Mostly involving the two of them cuddled up with each other. Warm, indeed.
"Dunno which room that'd be appropriate, though. Being that we're starting with the downstairs bathroom and working our way up, I guess it'll be a while."
The bedrooms seemed like a good idea. Much warm cuddling to be had there. Well, there, and the sitting room. And sometimes even the kitchen. And occasionally in the front living room. It was probably a good idea to keep the entire house following the same general color scheme, anyway. "Do you think we'll have to get new furniture, too? If we go painting the walls, that is. What if it all doesn't match?"
He blinked. "Huh. Never thought of that." Interior design had never been listed as one of his strong points. Nor was it Heero's, he thought, but there he was, thinking about color matching. Who would have guessed? "Well... what if we just choose colors that match?"
Good idea. Their furniture was perfectly serviceable, though if he followed the same reasoning that had led to their remodeling ideas, it would probably be replaced eventually. "Why do I get the feeling that this is going to be more complicated than it first sounded?" Then again, they did like a challenge, didn't they?
Duo pushed up against his shoulder again, leaning briefly against him. "You started it."
"You agreed," he immediately retorted. Wasn't it the job of the other to balance things out? They weren't supposed to multiply each other's... little quirks. "Do you realize how many houses we worked on when we first came to Haven? We helped build them, but..."
His partner hmmed thoughtfully. "But only... 'structurally', I guess is the word. For all that home improvement we did, we don't know crap about interior stuff, do we?"
He wasn't fond of not knowing things. "We did some wiring, plumbing..."
Duo snorted. "Yeah, and we carried stuff into and out of houses, too. Even if it was on the inside, don't think that counts, babe. We built frames and roofs... and stuff."
With his free hand, Heero drew patterns in the sand. He thought they were meaningless until he recognized that the square with the triangle on top of it was a caricature of a house. "We built the stuff of houses, Duo... but did nothing that made a home."
A shiver ran through Duo's body, and he avoided wondering whether it was the cold or the quiet truth revealed that caused it. They had restored a home's status, perhaps, but had worked on only practical, straightforward concerns. If it was broken, they fixed it. If it was missing, they added it. That was all. "Well... guess we're about to change that, huh?"
"Guess so."
"Hmm." They had learned a lot of things about a house's structure from the experienced workers that had been on the reconstruction project at the beginning. Most of them had moved on. Heero and Duo had thought they would be moving on as well. How very wrong they had been. "Do you suppose that's why our house never got the full treatment that some of the other houses did? I mean, we weren't planning on staying. We just, well, did. And by that time, things were wrapping up and most of the guys were moving on, and there was just so much, 'wow, we're staying!' that..."
Heero made a contemplative sound. "I think we can finally get over that part."
"You sure? Good god, Heero. Suburbia. We've been assimilated by suburbia! I think I'll still be reeling from that fifty years from now."
He smiled, turning his head just slightly towards his partner so he could catch it out of the corner of his eye. "Fifty years from now."
Duo blinked, then blinked again. "Whoa. Fifty years from now. Did I just say that?"
"Yeah."
"Fifty years. In suburbia." He laughed, surprised when it came out a warm sound. He'd been expecting something cynical. "Wow."
The orange trickled slowly out of the sky, leaving them in a twilight peace. At some unspoken signal, they got up and prepared to leave their little spot on the beach. Heero was sparing a final look towards the horizon when he jumped at the feeling of a hand patting his butt. He turned to look over his shoulder, and found Duo grinning back at him.
"Just taking advantage of the moment to unrepentantly grope you," he said, continuing to merrily brush the sand off of Heero's backside. When he was done, he turned. "Grope me?"
And with a short laugh, Heero did. As soon as he completed his task, Duo faced him, planted a hand on one of his arms, and ran a circle around him, spinning them both around. After he had finished a quick three hundred sixty degree reconnaissance over Heero's shoulder and ascertained their solo status, he pulled Heero close and kissed him with a joyously light feeling he hadn't felt for a while.
His wide grin lingered afterwards until it faded into a confused, then surprised and giddy look. Duo raised a hand until his fingers hovered just above his lips. "Wow. I knew you were good, Heero, but honestly..."
Heero tilted his head inquisitively. "Hmm?"
Duo chuckled with pure delight before whispering as if confiding a soul-deep secret. "My lips are tingling!"
It took a few blinks to finally register what was happening. Heero shook his head with an almost relieved air. "That's my lip balm, idiot." He pulled the omnipresent tube out of his jacket pocket, recalling that he had reapplied a coat after dinner. "If it's tingling, you know it's working."
"No way?" Duo took the small tube and examined the label in the fading light. Finding no brightly advertised claims there, he popped the cap off and used some himself, rolling his lips against each other as he investigated the sensation. "Heh, whaddya know? It is the lip balm."
Heero reclaimed the tube with a tolerant attitude. "Not that I'm saying that I'm not that good, of course."
"I'm not saying that either," Duo agreed amiably. "Just saying, didn't think I'd actually get all tingly over it. Next thing ya know, bubbles and sparklies would be coming outta nowhere, and that'd just get weird."
He was pushed playfully in the direction of their jeep.
OWARI
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