--------------------- Seeing Other People ~ A Moment of Haven ~ --------------------- "Well, if manual labor puts you into such a good mood, Duo, I'd be more than happy to hire out your services, make a little money for the church." He paused in the middle of his whittling. Had he been whistling or something? "Good mood? I dunno if I'd call it a 'good mood'... I just like fixing stuff, I guess." Maybe Father MacKenzie couldn't send Duo out to make money for the church, but the young one was certainly good for saving the church some money. "You seemed unusually interested in polishing candlesticks earlier, too." "Hey, what can I say? Me and candlesticks go way back." He shrugged the matter off uneasily, shaking off the brief surge of bittersweet nostalgia by turning his attention back to shaping the new joining for the railing of the choir box. Father MacKenzie inhaled the scent of shaven wood as he filed some papers away. "You were fixing things up around the house, weren't you?" "Yeah, we're still working on that... Just a little at a time, when the mood strikes, yanno? No hurry. Just... doing whatever we feel like doing." Despite their enthusiasm for the task, they had decided to renovate in a freeform fashion. Schedules and timetables would drain the life from the adventure. "What color did you end up painting your living room?" "Umm. We still haven't, yet." When had they last spoken on the topic? Weeks ago? "Procrastinating? How does Heero allow such a thing?" Heero allowed Duo to get away with a lot of things, so he supposed perhaps there was an advantage or two to this love thing. "We're not procrastinating. We're just... taking the time to make a good, sound decision." It was just paint. It was unlikely to peel off the walls and burn their house down if they made the wrong decision, unless something had changed in paint technology recently that Father Mac didn't know about. "How many factors are you taking into consideration here?" "Oh, you know... this and that." That sounded strangely familiar coming from Duo's direction. "You're just having trouble making up your mind, then?" "Of course," Duo answered defensively. "This is important! The color of a room will set the mood! And then we'll have to coordinate everything afterwards, right?" The hard labor of construction and installation came easily to them, but interior decorating was still a little bit beyond them. "Well, do you at least have an idea? What sort of mood are you trying to go for?" "Heero says 'warm'." And he usually managed to exude 'warm' from his very pores while he said it, too. "And you say?" "Warm is good." He usually got a little warm himself, just thinking about it. Being removed from the project, the solution seemed remarkably simple to the minister. "So choose a warm color." "But there's so many!" "Are you waiting for the 'perfect' color?" Duo sighed, setting his work down for a moment. "I know there is no 'perfect'. If everything were perfect, then Heero'd always get his way, and where'd the fun be in that? ...We've had this conversation before, haven't we? I remember figuring out that me and Heero wouldn't always be perfect. No, actually, I think I figured out that I didn't want us to be perfect. Or maybe I figured out that I did, even though I don't. Or something like that." "I think you had that conversation with yourself, and I just happened to be in the room at the time." Then Duo had left abruptly, and the next time he saw the two of them, they seemed to have patched things up. Problem solved, even if he couldn't quite take the credit for it. "...Oh." He saved Father Mac the trouble of not being a part of the conversation again and chewed on it by himself as he sanded down the surface of his wood joining. "Am I shooting myself in the foot again?" "I have no idea." And how could he, given that he had missed out on most of the discussion? Luckily, Duo was remarkably convenient in that he needed very little guidance. "I don't want to not ever paint the walls. If we wait around forever, then everything that follows from that step is going to be put on hold, too. That sucks. Guess that means we should just pick a color." Easier said than done. He wanted it to feel *right*. Was that too much to ask? But maybe they'd only find out if it was 'right' after they had lived with it for a while. Or maybe it would become 'right'. And right or wrong, it would be theirs. That would make it right, wouldn't it? "I mean, so we choose the wrong color. Big deal. We can always paint over it, right? Well, what about the coordinating... Aw, who am I kidding? Coordinating everything's for magazines and photo shoots and chicks with good fashion sense. We should just pick a nice neutral color, yeah? That way it'd match everything. A nice neutral warm color. Hm, that's kinda boring... but practical. Oh, I know! Accent walls! Those are in these days, right?" Father Mac shrugged bemusedly. "Yeah!" He seemed to remember reading it in a magazine or two. Their reference materials were sure to be lying around somewhere. "And it'd be much easier to repaint just one wall instead of all the walls. Especially depending on what we put in front of it. Hey, this could work..." "Glad I could help." Duo grinned. "Yeah, thanks," he answered, ignoring the dry tone. "It's just useful to talk things out some times." "I thought that's what Heero was for." Unless the problem involved Heero, but this wasn't one of those problems. "Yeah, usually, but sometimes it's just hard to get anywhere with him. Sometimes he's a real hardass about things, and sometimes he just lets it all slide. That's why I told him I thought we should see other people." Caught in the act of sliding his file cabinet closed, Father Mac accidentally let it get away from him and it shut with a loud thud. "I beg your pardon?" After thinking his words over a little, Duo hurried to correct himself. "Um. Not like that. I mean, literally. We should see other people sometimes. You know. Get out of the house. Hang out with someone other than each other. Take a breather. See another perspective once in a while. That sort of thing. It might be nice being able to ask him how his day went, yanno? Since I'm usually there for the whole thing and all. Start running out of things to say. And... wow. You don't really notice how completely absorbed you are in each other until you take a step back. I don't think it's unhealthy or anything, just... good to remember that there's a whole other world out there." Father MacKenzie smiled. "Absorbed, eh?" "...Yeah." He felt a sudden stab of uneasiness. Though he had spoken of their relationship with the Father in the church before, this whole love thing had so far only taken a breath within the confines of their own home -- 'love nest', a little voice snickered inside his head -- and the great outdoors abruptly seemed far too open and vulnerable for his liking. Hell, they really did need to get out more. He ducked for cover behind a tangent and gave himself a chance to hide shyly in the shadows and take measure of the world before brazenly stepping forth into it. "Our overlords have been talking about seminars in the city, so that'll probably be a nice change for us..." ************ Heero listened to the pleasant chatter behind him as he went about his job, glad in a sense that Duo wasn't there to assist him. While it was always helpful to have his partner around to lend an extra hand, he thought that perhaps it would be disadvantageous in this particular situation. Suzuhara-san's laundry room did not leave him much room to maneuver, and the gas and exhaust hoses were somewhat short, which resulted in his current position, draped over the top of the dryer, butt in the air as he hung over the back to reach down to the bottom. Had Duo been present, he was certain his task would have been a little more 'interesting'. The laundry room was connected to the kitchen, where Suzuhara-san now worked, nearby in case he needed something. Ami kept her company, telling her about the latest antics going on at school. "...Boys are so stupid. Heather accidentally picked up Joe's juice bottle during lunch and drank from it, and then all of the stupid boys were all joking about how she was going get pregnant from it, and other stupid things. And then Heather got all mad and ran off and I was left with Tina to tell the boys how stupid they all are." "Stop calling people 'stupid', dear. It's not nice." "It wasn't nice for them to start being so stupid to begin with." His head tucked safely away behind the brand new dryer, Heero smiled in satisfaction. Ami was growing up into a fine young lady. Her mother huffed in exasperation. "Ami. You stop that, now, you hear? You shouldn't say things you wouldn't want someone else saying to you." "Why would they say something like that to me? I'm not the one being stupid like them." "Ami!" Heero contributed his two cents to the matter, his voice sounding odd from his position. "Ami. People don't like it when you call them stupid. It makes them do things that are even more stupid, and why would you want to do something to add to the stupidity in this world?" "Heero!" Suzuhara-san chided, especially when Ami seemed to take his words to heart. Granted, Heero was taking her side in this matter, but he was being far too practical about things. You just weren't supposed to call people names. It wasn't nice. "Okay!" Ami chirped after a few seconds of thought. "What else can I call them, then?" "Ami," her mother sighed. "It's still not being nice by replacing one name with another." It could be if she used a more neutral name instead. "How about 'immature'?" Heero suggested. That was a good one. It implied the possibility of change for the future, the potential for growth. He liked the potential for growth. "Okay!" Suzuhara-san rolled her eyes. She didn't like the idea behind it, but the word would work. "Ami. I hope you weren't too harsh with them." She hmpfed in smug superiority. "Of course not. They were just being stupid and... and 'ignorant'," she answered, using the word proudly, if carefully. It was another word that Heero-niichan had taught her, and she honored that trust by using the knowledge properly and wisely. "It's not their fault that adults never tell kids anything." "Well, Ami, there are some things that it's difficult for children to understand." "It's not hard to understand you can't get pregnant from drinking out of the same juice box. Boys are so stupid. Oh, um, I mean... 'immature'. Boys are so immature. I don't even know why they bother teaching us anything in class." "Oh, that's right. They taught you about where babies come from in class, didn't they?" Obviously those boys hadn't been listening. Ami made a sour face. "Yeah, but they didn't teach us very good. Heero was much clearer." It didn't occur to Heero to wince at the ominous silence that stretched for a few seconds after that proclamation. He was far too occupied with using what little room he had to slowly tighten the joint between the gas line and the dryer. The uncomfortable position and the lingering fumes of natural gas conspired to narrow his focus down to his single task. "Heero told you all about it?" Suzuhara-san said eventually. Ami nodded her head cheerfully. "Yup. He told me it was the egg from the girl, and the, um, sperm from the boy, and that it gets there when the boy--" "Heero... ooh, whatever your middle name is, Yuy! You get your head out here this instant!" He blinked, processing the last few seconds of the conversation behind him. Um. Uh-oh? He took the time to finish tightening the nut one last turn before worming his way out from behind the dryer to set his feet on the floor. Oof, his abdominal muscles protested at him, but they were glad he was done. "Yes?" She glared ineffectually at him. "Heero Yuy! What do you think you're doing?" Go with the obvious? Or go with the other, equally obvious answer? It was a toss up. He settled for neither and blinked calmly at her. As expected, she continued without his prompting. "What did you tell her?" "The truth. She asked me a question. I answered it, honestly and truthfully." "*Thoroughly*?" "Thoroughly." As if he was ever not thorough. "But not minutely. And not sordidly." Her glare doubled as she attempted to divine the severity of his crime. While she could not associate Heero with 'sordid' in any way, she still found this highly inappropriate. "You're sure?" "You can ask her. Ami, what did you think about sex?" Ami frowned. "It sounded boring. I still don't get why it's such a big thing." "See?" "She doesn't get why it's such a big thing!" her mother cried. "Mom~!" she protested loudly. "Don't get mad at him!" Heero cut her off with a firm murmur of her name, and she fell silent, leaving him to his own self-defense. "Would you rather I have filled her head with romantic nonsense? Or more vague handwaving, the kind they do at school?" "Romantic nonsense?" Ooh, what sort of relationship was he engaged in with Duo? 'Romantic nonsense', indeed! She would have to keep a closer eye on them, and be sure to ask Lena what she knew of this. "She doesn't understand what's so special about it, Heero. If it's not a big thing to her, then what's to stop her from treating it like it's nothing in the future?" "She'll stay out of trouble. Boys are stupid, and sex is boring." Boys were stupid, indeed. "I don't think I approve of your methods of teaching and warnings, Heero." He turned around to push the dryer back into place against the wall. "I've just given her the technical facts, Suzuhara-san. You may fill her head with whatever romantic nonsense you wish and properly impress upon her its significance. I will gladly leave such things to be settled inside the mother-daughter relationship." It seemed like there ought to have been some sort of reprimand for the birds and the bees talk to have fallen upon someone other than a responsible mother, but she looked for the censure and didn't find it. "Hm. I'm not sure I would want you telling her your notion of 'romantic' anyway. It probably involves... power tools and oil changes or something. In the future, however, I would appreciate it if you were to leave such personal discussions to me." "Mom~!" Ami interrupted again, frustrated at the way they were talking over her. "It's not my fault he's the only one that ever tells me things!" "He tells you things you don't need to be told." "I do no such thing," he cut in, putting his tools back into his bag. "I don't believe that knowledge should be withheld from a person without extraordinary circumstances surrounding the situation. 'Youth' does not qualify. The facts can be diluted to a level where understanding is possible, if necessary, but if further inquiry is pursued, then it should be addressed. We should not stifle a person's drive to learn." "Well... I'm not trying to 'stifle' anything," Suzuhara-san responded defensively. "But there's no point in trying to tell someone something they won't understand." "You can always phrase it in such a way that they will understand. Sometimes children understand much more than you think. I'm going to turn your gas back on now." With no further words, he exited the kitchen through the door to the back. A little girl trailed defiantly in his wake. "You use a lot of big words, Heero-niichan." "I know. I grew up around a lot of adults, a lot of very smart people." "Did they tell you everything you wanted to know?" "More than I wanted to know, sometimes." "Like about what?" He squatted down next to the gas valve and avoided the question. "See this, Ami? This turns off the gas going to your house. If there's ever an emergency or disaster, like an earthquake or a gas leak, you'll want to turn off your gas to make sure things don't get worse." He proceeded to teach his attentive audience about the tool necessary to accomplish such a task, and demonstrated the steps for proper safety. While he was turning the gas back on, Ami pouted. "Mom shouldn't have gotten mad at you. She's such a --" "You don't want to finish that sentence, Ami." He was certain it would have been innocuous; nevertheless, people could be thoughtless. "She's only doing what she thinks is best for you." "That's what they always say." "And I'm saying that, too. I don't answer your questions because I like answering questions, Ami. I answer them because I think it's good for you to know things. I'm not so different from 'them'. I just have a different idea of what's best." She seemed a little hurt by his betrayal at first, but decided it was an okay motive in the end since everything worked out. Another exasperated sound then escaped her. "I still don't get what's so special about this sex thing, and why adults won't talk about it. They shouldn't keep so many secrets from kids." "Maybe they're embarrassed," he offered, though her mother certainly didn't seem embarrassed about it when it came to him and Duo. "Maybe they think that if you don't know about it, you won't do it. You're too young for it yet." "I'm too young to *drive*, but I don't see them not talking about that." She was a sharp one. "Your mother never said she didn't want to tell you about sex, Ami. She just didn't want me to tell you about it. Maybe it's just a discussion that's more appropriate between a parent and child." "Did your parents tell you anything about it?" Tricky question, and perhaps in a case like this, he could understand why it wouldn't do to tell a child the entire truth. But that didn't mean he would just brush the question off with something meant to be reassuring. "...I grew up around a lot of adults that had somewhat strange ideas about child-rearing. They are not a good example." She accepted that in favor of another line of questioning. "So do you think it's boring?" "I haven't gotten there yet, Ami, but when I do, I don't think I'll be telling you." "Heero-niichan!" "Not because you're young. Because it's private. I won't tell you, or your mother, or anyone. Except maybe Duo." Who would probably spontaneously combust. Which could be interesting. "Besides, I'm supposed to let your mother fill your head with all of the romantic stuff now." "But I want to hear what you think before that." He was done turning the gas back on, but he stayed by the valve for a while, answering softly. "I think... that like many things in this world, it can be good or bad, boring or exciting. I think it has a lot to do with whom you're with, and what you want it to be. I think it's different for everyone, and I don't think you should let anyone else tell you what it is. And I don't think you need to be in such a hurry to find out, either." "I don't really care, you know," she rebutted immediately. "It's boring, after all. I just wish Mom and all the grownups would stop keeping things secret." "Good," Heero smiled. "If that's the case, then maybe I won't get into trouble yet. Your mother would kill me if she thought I made you so interested in sex." He stood and began leading the way back into the house. "Should I let Mom fill my head with all that romantic stuff?" As if he was going to say 'no'. Especially with Suzuhara-san trying to listen discreetly to their conversation near a window inside the house. "I think you should listen to what she has to say. But I don't think you should let her fill you up. You should leave room in there for other possibilities. Life is full of possibilities. It doesn't make any sense at all to limit yourself to just one or two." They reached the back door, and Suzuhara-san was there waiting for them. "That's enough for that," she stopped him gently, if firmly. Despite being reassured that Heero hadn't been filling her daughter's head with complete nonsense, she still needed to reassert her authority. "You leave the rest of the romantic stuff to me, thank you very much, if you've such a lack of romantic notions in your head." Heero laughed quietly, but refused to explain what was so amusing about that accusation. _________________________________________ This piece of fiction is the intellectual property of the little turnip that could. The basis for this fic, i.e. Gundam Wing, Kyuuketsuki Miyu, et al., is the property of someone else. The author can be con- tacted at jchew at myrealbox.com. This has been an entirely automated message. http://www.cs.hmc.edu/~jchew/misc/gw.html last modified : 11/15/2005 00:08:05 PST