------------------------
Dinner with Ms. Suzuhara
~~ A Moment of Haven ~~
------------------------
	Heero was off on a business trip, and Ami was sleeping over at 
Jen's house, so Ms. Suzuhara had invited Duo over for dinner.  To keep 
an old woman company, she had said, although Ms. Suzuhara was only in 
her early thirties, and rarely acted her age.  Duo had happily agreed.  
Ms. Suzuhara loved to cook, and he would take her cooking over his own 
any day, although he himself wasn't too shabby.

	Duo gallantly pulled Ms. Suzuhara's chair out for her and seated 
her with a flourish.

	"Why, thank you, Duo," she said.  If she were younger, she just 
might be blushing.  "It's not every day I have such a fine, young 
gentleman attend me."

	Duo took his own seat with a gentlemanly bow.  "Only for you, 
Ms. S."  He winked saucily at her and offered her some sauteed beans.

	She accepted the plate of greens.  "I bet you say that to all 
the girls, Duo."

	He laughed a little.  "Girls?  What girls?"

	She fixed him with a stern look.  "Girls?  Didn't I hear just 
the other day that you went out with young Hope?"

	Duo's eyebrows rose.  "Yeah?  News to me.  When was this?"

	"Three days ago."

	Duo shrugged.  "That?  Nah, we just went out for some dinner 
after the shift."  The moment the words came out of his mouth, he froze, 
right in the middle of fetching the salt.  He carefully withdrew his 
hand from across the table as Ms. Suzuhara looked at him curiously.  
"Uh-oh."

	"Uh-oh?" she repeated.  "I don't like the sound of that."

	Duo cringed.  "Hope thought it was a date, didn't she?"  He 
really didn't want to hear the answer.  In fact, he was pretty sure he 
already knew the answer.  "Damn!"  He glanced guiltily at his companion.  
"Ahem.  Darn!"

	Ms. Suzuhara looked skeptically at him.  "You didn't think it 
was a date?"

	"No," Duo denied vehemently.  "No, I didn't think that at all!  
I just thought, it's around dinner time, we're working together, let's 
get some food before going home, you know?  Argh!"  He pulled on the end 
of his braid, a bad habit he'd picked up long, long ago when he was 
feeling worried.  "But if she thought it was a date... I haven't called 
her since then or anything, nothing but a 'hi' when I saw her in passing 
yesterday....  Ugh, she's going to hate me!"  He emphasized the 
statement with a wild tug on his hair.  He turned pleading eyes towards 
Ms. Suzuhara.  "What do I do now?"

	Ms. Suzuhara could do nothing but laugh for a moment.  Trust Duo 
to get himself into this sort of mess.  But she had to believe that he 
was earnest and that it was, truly, just a misunderstanding.  Duo was 
too nice a person to play with someone's feelings like that.  "You don't 
want it to have been a date, I take it."  His bangs swung wildly in the 
denial as he shook his head.  "And you haven't been friendly with any of 
the other girls since then, have you?"

	He shook his head emphatically again.  "Girls?  I've got better 
things to do than girls."  He said it with such a 'duh.' hanging off the 
end of that sentence.

	Ms. Suzuhara chuckled again.  That was the sort of line you 
expected out of a prepubescent male, which, as all the young ladies in 
town could tell her, Duo was definitely not.  It was terribly 
disappointing to them all, though, that none of them had managed to bag 
him, or his handsome housemate, yet.  Of course, that didn't stop them 
from trying.

	"Well, it's not like any of them really expect to catch you, 
anyway, Duo."  Duo gave her a uncomprehending stare.  Was the boy really 
that oblivious to his drooling fan club?  "Look, I expect that the whole 
thing will just blow over, if you give it time.  Just continue to be 
friendly to her, just like you are to all the girls, and don't talk 
about it.  Hope will undoubtably cover your little faux pas for you with 
the other girls, since, well, not only will she not want to be 
embarassed, but frankly, they all think you're a perfect young god 
anyway.  They'll excuse your actions for you.  Hope will sigh 
dramatically over the one who got away, the other girls will swoon 
tragically over it with her, they'll romanticize the whole thing, and 
you'll still be the perfect young god that nobody can catch."  She 
reached across the table and patted his arm reassuringly.  "Don't worry 
about it."

	"Well, you know more about these things than I do...," he 
trailed off uncertainly.  "But surely you're exaggerating the matter."

	She smiled mysteriously.  "Am I?"  And she calmly took a bite of 
her food, chewing placidly as a faint blush slowly spread across Duo's 
features.  He was so cute.  The perfect blend of boyish charm and 
confident maturity.  It was no wonder all the girls liked him.  Cursing 
his fair complexion, he took a large bite to cover his growing 
embarassment, and concentrated solely on that for a while.

	"Are you sure?" she asked after a while.  "Sure you're not 
interested in any of those girls?"

	Duo used his current mouthful of food to think the matter over.  
He swallowed and nodded.

	"Because you've got better things to do?  Like what?"

	He gestured vaguely with his eating utensil.  "Things.  I've got 
things."  Ms. Suzuhara's look clearly said that this was not a 
satisfactory answer.  "I've got...."  He sighed.  "I've got so many more 
*things* to experience, you know?  So many more things to learn, about 
this world, about myself.  I don't need some girl to settle down with, 
not when I can't promise that I can devote myself to her.  That's just 
not fair.  I don't need some girl to try to change me.  I don't need 
some girl to make my life complete.  Maybe...."  He sighed wistfully 
again, and took another moody bite, chewing and swallowing before 
finishing.  "Maybe at some point down the road.  But not right now.  Not 
when there are so many other things for me to be doing.  I want my own 
life before I start trying to merge it with someone else's.  I don't 
have the time to stop and worry about someone else.  I know that sounds 
horrible.  Terribly selfish.  But, I can't help but feel that trying to 
look for someone would just ... get in my way.  You know?"

	Ms. Suzuhara smiled understandingly.  "Well, I wouldn't worry 
about this too much, either, Duo.  I myself put off getting married 
until I felt ready, and until I found the right man.  Even though we had 
so little time together, I'm glad I waited for him."  Ms. Suzuhara's 
husband had actually died before Ami had even been born.  "But didn't 
you date Carrie for a little bit, last year?"

	Duo shrugged dismissively.  "Yeah.  Didn't work out.  She kept 
trying to change me."

	She thought a bit more.  "And what about Annie?"

	Duo shook his head.  "Was trying to make her ex jealous."

	She raised her eyebrow.  "Hmm.  Didn't know that.  What about 
Kitty?  How long did that one last?"

	Duo held up two fingers.

	"Two... weeks?"

	"Two dates.  Didn't get me at all, she said.  I'm inclined to 
agree."

	"And so now you've sworn off women altogether?"

	"You make it sound so dramatic," he mock scowled at her.  "None 
of them seem to get me.  That's all.  I can name people, good friends, 
who do, and they are not among them.  None of them compare at all."

	"Do you think you're being just a little bit choosy, here?" she 
suggested.  She didn't really think so, but thought she'd mention it 
anyway.

	He shook his head again.  "Not at all.  Is it that bad to want 
someone who will accept me for who I am?  Someone who could be my best 
friend, too, not just someone I live and sleep with?  I mean, we're 
talking about the rest of my life, here.  I'm not interested in 
short-term relationships, and I know it's possible.  You can accept me, 
Heero can accept me....  Well, geez, Ms. S.  Why can't you be a few 
years younger?  That would solve all of my problems!"

	They laughed.  "Because I'd still think of you as a son I never 
had.  You're just so darn motherable."

	Duo's laugh faded.  "Do you think it's ... unrealistic?" he 
asked hesitantly.  "To think that that right person will come?  I mean, 
romantically speaking, if it was meant to be, she'd just show up.  And 
idealistically, if she was really so right for me, we'd click, right?  
Without even having to try.  Without having to date, or fuss around, or 
be uncomfortable, or anything....  She'd just ... take up residence in 
my life, somehow, and one day, I'd just realize that she's the one and 
she's been with me all the time and ...."  He shook his head, dismissing 
the dream, and laughed a little self-deprecatingly.  "Well, it's not 
like I really expect that to happen or anything," he said hastily, a 
little bit defensively, even.  "I'm well versed in how real life sucks 
and all."

	Ms. Suzuhara sighed, caught up in the dream herself.  "But 
that'd sure be nice, wouldn't it?  But you're still so young, you and 
Heero.  You've got all the time in the world to find that special 
someone."

	Duo just chewed in silence.  Ms. Suzuhara joined for a bit 
before striking up another thread of conversation.

	"What about Heero?  Does he have an eye on any of the girls?"

	Duo choked slightly on his food.  "Heero?"

	"Yes, Heero."

	He rolled his eyes dramatically.  "What is it with the tendency 
of people to try to set others up?"

	"Well, I just want you two to be happy," she explained.

	Duo nodded in a 'uh-huh, yeah right' sort of way.  "Well, 
believe you me, Heero and I are happy just the way we are, thank you."

	Ms. Suzuhara took a sip of her tea.  "Well, if the both of you 
are comfortable with that, then I'll stop trying to fix you up.  It's 
not like there's a lack of interested girls around here anyway."  Duo 
glared at her.  "I'm sure you two will manage just fine on your own, 
without my pesky interference."  Duo glared harder at her, not willing 
to fall prey to the guilt card.  "Oh, relax, I'm just playing with you.  
I can see that it makes you uncomfortable, having to fend off the hordes 
of females throwing themselves at you.  I'll see what I can do about 
keeping them off your back, okay?"

	The glare dissolved instantly.  "You'd do that?  Hey, think you 
could add Heero to that?"

	She nodded agreeably.  "If that's what he wants."

	Duo sniggered, thinking back on previous conversations he'd had 
with his housemate.  "Yeah, I'd say he's even less inclined towards 
dating than I am.  He's barely even realized girls, no, relationships, 
exist."

	"All right, then.  The both of you, it is.  Awful nice of you to 
watch out for his interests while he's not around," she noted.

	He shrugged.  "Hey.  What are friends for?"

	"You do know he's got his own little fan club, don't you?"

	Duo sort of halfway pretended to sputter.  "What could they 
possibly be fans of?  I'd wager none of them even knows him!"

	Ms. Suzuhara rolled her own eyes.  He just didn't get it.  He 
got it when it came to everyone else, but almost not at all when these 
sorts of issues landed themselves on his own doorstep.  "That's it 
entirely.  They're attracted to the dark, mysterious, and handsome part 
of him.  Half of them wouldn't care a whit about him anymore if they 
knew him as well as you do.  What do they care if he's got a sense of 
humor?  He's got *tragedy*.  He exudes it.  He's broody and moody and 
standoffish.  It's insanely appealing.  They don't *want* to find out if 
he's got a sense of humor -- it would ruin everything."

	"Well, I can certainly see how you could just ignore his sense 
of humor if you wanted to," he commented.  "It's easy to miss if you 
blink.  Well.  Then we'll just have to find him someone who doesn't 
ignore it.  Someone who can look beneath all that wonderful tragedy and 
see the kind, compassionate guy on the inside.  He's got a lot of charm, 
if he bothers with it.  We'll have to work on that.  It's definitely a 
marketable trait, and --"

	"Ahem," she interrupted with a pointed look.  "Marketable?"

	"Um, yeah, well...."  He chuckled sheepishly a little and 
scratched the back of his head.  "You know, before we had this 
conversation, if you'd have asked me, I'd have said that what Heero 
needs is a nice girl to settle down with, one who'll take care of him, 
'cuz you know how Heero can be when it comes to taking care of himself.  
He has the most remarkable tendency to forget about himself when it 
comes to others.  But after this little conversation...."  He laughed 
again.  "Seems kinda hypocritical, don't you think?"

	"Aha!" she said, triumphantly.  "You see?  There's nothing wrong 
with wanting to watch out for your friends.  You both know how good it 
is to have someone to watch your back, right?"  Duo's eyebrow lifted at 
the oblique reference to their soldiering days.  That was usually about 
as obvious as she got in referring to them.  Otherwise, she tended to 
avoid the issue altogether and treat them simply as 'her boys'.  "How 
about this?" she proposed.  "If we're not going to find him a nice girl 
to take care of him, we'd better take care of him ourselves.  Deal?"

	Duo grinned solemnly.  "Deal."  He reached his hand out across 
the table, and they shook on it.

_________________________________________
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Kyuuketsuki Miyu, et al., is the property 
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http://www.cs.hmc.edu/~jchew/misc/gw.html

last modified : 6/23/2001 18:35:48 PST