Author: Tenshi-chan
Warnings: Shounen ai, AU
Pairings: 1+2, 3+4
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Don't own them... wish I did.
Of House and Home Part 1
A woman with short dark hair frowned as she reviewed four files in front of her. "These four, huh?"
A man with long blonde hair nodded. "Yes... Heero Yuy, age 15. Abandoned as a child and has been bounced from foster home to foster home. The boy has not had a steady environment for twelve years."
The woman pulled out the next file. "Trowa Barton... orphaned when a fire burned his home down about three months ago. Age 16, so he is considered too old to be put up for adoption, but is emotionally unstable due to the fact that he thinks he could have saved his family. Poor kid!"
The man nodded and grimaced. "I'm handling this kid's case. Quatre Winner. Youngest son of a large family. He was removed from the house when he was discovered locked in the basement... the boy's father was actually glad to be rid of him. He's been emotionally neglected for most of his life. Father blames him for mother's death. Age 14."
The woman sighed. She had seen the assessment interview and had been near tears at the end of it. Quatre was such a sweet boy. She pulled out the final file. "Wufei Chang, 15 years old. Left home bound and determined to make it on his own, and failed miserably. He said he would rather die than return home a failure." She shook her head and smiled. "I think they're a nice group, Mil."
The man nodded. "So do I, Lucy. So do I. I look forward to meeting them."
*****
June 3
Trowa stared out his window as the car stopped. The driver stated that since it was on the way, they were going to pick up another housemate. He looked at the place... a nice little home for people who had mental problems. He saved his judgement for when he actually met whoever it was they were picking up. He watched the driver talking to someone and a small figure emerging. After the good-byes were exchanged, the driver of the car led the person to the car.
When they were close enough, a pair of inquisitive aquamarine eyes met intense green eyes. The boy ducked his head shyly as he was led to the other side of the car.
Trowa kept his eyes focused on the small patch of wild flowers as he heard and felt the process of the boy getting in. He waited patiently for five minutes before turning to look at the boy beside him. He saw immediately that the boy was daydreaming, so he gently broke the silence. "Hi! I'm Trowa Barton."
The blonde snapped his eyes onto Trowa and blinked a few times as if to get re-oriented, then offered a shy smile. "Quatre." There was a pause before Quatre spoke again. "Do you think there will be trees and flowers at this place Miss Noin is letting us stay in?"
Trowa thought before nodding. "I think so. It's in a nice area... a lot of trees, from what I've heard."
Quatre's smile widened and he settled back in the seat. "I hope I can climb one. I've never climbed a tree before."
"I could show you how. It's not that hard. I used to have a tree house when I was a kid." Trowa blushed as Quatre stared at him in awe. "What?"
"I read about tree houses once... what are they like?"
Trowa laughed at the question. "Depends on who builds them. Where did you read about tree houses?"
"Swiss Family Robinson and Tarzan. There might have been more, but those are the only two I can think of." Quatre liked talking to Trowa. Trowa was the first person who didn't talk down to him or treat him as if he were incapable of understanding.
Trowa smiled a little, glad to get more than a few words out of the boy. "Those are two really good books. Which part of Tarzan did you like the most?"
Quatre felt suddenly ill. What if he answered the question wrong? He felt on the verge of tears when he heard Trowa's concerned tone. "Huh?"
"Are you okay? You look kinda pale!"
He couldn't look at Trowa while he answered the first question. "I... I liked the part where Tarzan gave up everything rather than ruin his cousin."
"Really? That was a good part, even if it was the ending." Trowa, personally, liked when Tarzan was victorious against Sabor. Quatre seemed so unsure of himself, however, that Trowa didn't have the heart to tell him that they had different favorite parts.
That Trowa hadn't yelled at him, made Quatre feel secure enough to answer that statement. "It may have been the ending of THAT story, but I found that every ending leads to a new beginning. I... I know that sounds corny, but..."
"Not at all! You're right, in a way. After that book, there was a whole series of Tarzan books. I never really bought into the 'Happily Ever After' endings." There! Quatre was smiling again. "What's your favorite book?"
"It's a kid's book... but I've always loved the Moon Singer." When he saw the confusion on Trowa's face, he decided to elaborate. "It's about a boy who sneaks into the woods and sings to the moon. He catches the attention of royalty, and they bring him to the palace to sing to the queen. For some reason, however, he can't get his voice to work right so they send him home."
Trowa frowned. "That's not good!"
Quatre bounced a little, glad that Trowa understood. "No it wasn't, because the people who raised him were making all this fuss, and were really mad at him. So they threw him out. He wandered around for a bit until farmers found him half-dead. They nursed him back to health and let him stay with them. After a while, he got the urge to sing again, so he went into the woods and started singing to the moon. He was really happy because he hadn't been able to sing since he'd been brought to the palace." He couldn't believe Trowa was letting him chatter like this.
"What happened then?" Trowa was really interested to learn.
"Well... word got back to the queen that the boy was singing. The man who brought the boy was angry and said they should force him to sing, but the queen had a better idea because she was smart! She decided to go into the woods and listen to the boy sing. She liked it and an advisor told her that if she brought him to the palace again, she'd be able to hear her sing whenever she wanted to." Quatre had to swallow in order to moisten his throat. "Her reply was that the boy would never be happy in the palace, and she COULD listen to him whenever she wanted to... and that's just what she did. Whenever she wanted to hear him, she'd just go to the woods and listen to him and never revealed herself."
"I'd like to read it if you still have it." Trowa now wondered what Quatre was doing in a mental institution. He seemed perfectly normal. A little out of it, maybe, but if he were from a troubled home then it was understandable for him to be a bit out there.
"Only place they could put me." Quatre turned to the window. "At least it wasn't a dark basement. I got a lot of light."
"What?"
Quatre turned back to Trowa and smiled a small, almost vacant smile. "You wanted to know why I was in a mental institution. They were really nice to me there." He looked out the window again. "Thank you for talking to me like I was a real person."
"You ARE a real person. Who told you that you weren't?"
"The man they say is my father."
Trowa frowned. Quatre had said it as if it didn't matter. "The man they SAY is your father?"
Quatre bit his lip... not wanting Trowa to see how deeply hurt he was. "He never said he was my father. He certainly didn't treat me as if I were his son."
Trowa placed his hand on Quatre's shoulder and suddenly found his arms filled with a trembling blonde. "Hey... hey, there. It's okay. You ARE a real person. It's okay" He rubbed Quatre's back in soothing circles. "All right. It's all right." Trowa kept holding Quatre comfortingly for the rest of the trip.
TBC...
Notes: "The Moon Singer" is a book by Clyde Robert Bulla. I'm sad to say it's out of print and very hard to find. (copyright 1969)
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