Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ 3 Ties That Bind ❯ Nine ( Chapter 9 )

“I couldn’t do it for Alex,” I muttered sweetly to Duo. “What with Mikhail and all…I just couldn’t do that, so I didn’t. But I had this urge for a puppy, lover,” I added the affection in Cantonese.

“It’s beautiful, uncle,” Ashley whispered, stroking her hand gently down the back of her brand new puppy as it sniffed at her curiously.

“I hoped you’d like it,” I reassured her, stroking the thing’s chin.

Maybe it’d been rude of me, seeing as Selena was due in about a month and a half, but it was the same thing Duo’d done with Dusty.

Duo popped his neck, watching his daughter without responding to me.

“Duo?” I asked, looking up to him again.

He met my eyes, almost like I’d startled him out of his thoughts.

“You didn’t hear me, did you?” I accused.

“We should name it Wufei,” he whispered to his little girl.

Ash’s mouth rounded in an almost offended O.

“Ass…” I started.

“See how he’s standing perfectly,” Duo added to her…not even looking at me as he indicated the animal’s stance and brought me up short. “It looks kinda like a martial arts stance, ne?”

“Yeah,” she noted, tilting her head as she ran her hand down his black back. “And his hair is like raven,” she looked at me. “Like his,” she noted to her father, also not seeing me.

“And he loves the attention,” Duo noted in a tone that was for me.

“Yeah,” she agreed with that innocence that meant she had no idea what her father really meant.

Duo met my eyes, his own glowing. “Considerate of you, lover,” he also added the affection in Cantonese.

I grinned at him, then pet the puppy more as it sat down and licked at Ashley’s palm. He’d taken right to the girl when I’d passed him over, and the whole thing about it was that I’d made sure he was a submissive creature. There was no way in hell Duo would have been able to tolerate a dominant dog, so when I’d found the litter—a little girl in the park’d had them with a free-sign—I’d gone through them all and found three that were on the calm end, and tested them all by holding them with their belly’s exposed to me. This one hadn’t met my eyes, but the other two had.

I gave Duo a look.

“I don’t know why I’m not jealous of you two,” Selena muttered, moving into the room from the hall. “For some reason I can’t find you a threat, Wufei.”

“That’s either really good, or really offensive,” I noted, raising my eyes to hers. “What say you?”

There was a firm knock on the door and Duo’s very sudden and intent focus caught both our attention.

Selena started for the door, but Duo stopped her before moving with that same intense focus. I could see hints of his difference in those movements, like he was barely controlling himself or forcing himself very hard to do it.

“Sir,” I heard Ryu’s voice. “You needed me?”

I saw the smirk cross his face before he stepped back, making a gesture of invitation to the place and muttering pleasantries to the young man.

It’d been a week and a half since Ryu had formally entered as a trainee to our boot-camp. He’d had some sloppy manners initially, but I hadn’t bothered myself with him at all. I’d known he’d assumed he’d get special treatment for being around so long, not to mention that the only chastisement offered him while he was with Duo was that he needed to wear a proper uniform. He’d had a chip on his shoulder, and the fact that I didn’t acknowledge him in ranks would bring him back down to earth.

He stepped into the apartment with a curious look on his face before seeing me and falling instantly into formal stance.

“As you were,” I reassured him, gesturing at him slightly. “We’re not on duty.”

“Sir,” he muttered, then bowed somewhat to Selena and focused on Ash curiously.

“It’s my daughter’s birthday today,” Duo noted, gesturing toward us. When Ryu started for us uncertainly, Selena rolled her eyes as her husband looked the recruit over in a way I knew he’d only do in front of his wife—and that didn’t mean it was an innocent consideration. “You can get brownie points or do as you’re told.”

Ryu smiled in an almost shy fashion. “I kinda like the first option better.”

“I thought you might…" the American noted. "I just wanna know where my points would come in handy.”

That made Ryu really smile. “I don’t see where it’d hurt,” he noted happily.

“My wife, boy,” Duo teased in Cantonese.

Ryu grinned and turned to look at the woman to see her response.

Selena…snapped her fingers, pointing at the ground as she studied her husband’s eyes.

Duo shifted his weight back and shook his head very slightly at her.

“Daddy,” Ashley reprimanded.

Duo gave her a slightly disbelieving look.

Ryu was staring at Selena with very wide eyes.

“You don’t have to worry,” Selena noted, giving him a small smile. “My husband has more energy than is good for him and needs to simmer-down before I remind him why he got into that fight with the king before we got married.”

I smirked as Ryu looked to me for guidance.

Duo laughed an evil laugh that made the recruit shift to one side to look at him properly.

“That’s an adult laugh,” Ashley informed him, rolling her eyes. “He’s thinking adult things and will tell you to ask when you’re older.”

Duo laughed a naughtier laugh.

“From the mouth of babes,” I noted, focusing on the knight.

“What?” Duo protested. “You want me to tell her what I’m thinking?”

“I’m more noting that your seven year old daughter knows when you’re thinking adult thoughts.”

“No,” she shook her head at me. “No, for adults only. They’re usually stupid thoughts.”

Selena laughed delightedly, touching her daughter’s shoulders approvingly.

“That’s just cruel,” Duo pouted to the recruit. “I’m outnumbered for another three years, at least, and then my baby’s gonna wanna keep his mommy happy.”

“The endeavor of all intelligent men,” Ryu noted, smiling slightly at her.

I looked away at the same time as Duo.

“You are a smart boy,” Selena noted happily.

Ryu blinked at her as it connected in his mind that someone would have told her he was smart in order for her to say that, then turned to look at us.

“Why don’t we get to the point where you tell him what you want him to do,” Selena suggested.

Duo’s mouth opened, and I could see the glow in his eyes as Selena watched him expectantly and Ryu started to turn and look at him.

I smacked him hard in the arm and he absolutely died laughing, dancing out of arm’s reach as the puppy jumped and ran behind Ashley at the sudden movement.

Ryu’s eyes went wide as he looked to the knight and I uncertainly.

“I need you to run some papers to central for me,” Duo added, meeting Ryu’s eyes. “I also need a couple files from my office…and if you’re not otherly engaged, you can feel free to hang out for the party.”

“I…I’m supposed to report to the mess hall at noon,” he said quietly.

I grinned at the guy and looked to Duo as Duo looked to me and we smirked at each other.

“What?” he asked us, looking down to Ashley as she moved and grabbed his wrist and blinking.

“Daddy’s in charge of everything,” she explained. “And Wufei is in charge of everything else…and Trowa, and Quatre, and Heero.”

Ryu’s eyes widened as the girl’s negligent reference to the king and all his knights made sense to him.

“And Aunt ‘Lena is the queen. If Daddy says you stay, then you stay.” Ryu kneeled down so they were eye to eye as she went on. “He makes everyone run in circles, my mom says so. He says do it now in his mean voice and if they don’t do it they end up out on the street.”

“Your daddy ever use his mean voice on you?”

“No!” she protested, evidently offended. “My daddy’s nice to me! Mom says he spoils me.”

“From the mouths of babes,” Duo noted to me.

Ryu grinned and nodded, then leaned forward almost like imparting a secret. “He uses his mean voice on me.”

She giggled wickedly, but the puppy jumped up and licked at her…and for some reason this translated into chase as she disappeared into her bedroom.

“Uh,” Ryu rose to his feet and looked at us. “What papers, sir?”

Duo’s smile…wasn’t his normal smile…and Ryu returned an innocent smile that stated this was normal and that he had no idea what it truly meant.

Selena rolled her eyes.

“Here I thought someone would have gotten the child a puppy,” Heero protested from the door.

Ryu’s eyes flashed before he looked to the door with that expression of disbelief that made me realize that he’d never been in the king’s presence…at least, not casually. “Majesty,” he almost whispered, bowing low.

“Ryu,” Heero greeted like he was surprised. “Haven’t been leading my knight astray have you, boy?”

“I’m gonna kick your ass,” Duo started, stepping forward.

“I meant Wufei,” Heero half-confided.

I started sniggering as Ryu blinked at me in confusion.

“Good to know you have a guilty conscious,” Heero added in Japanese.

“Adult thoughts, huh?” Ryu asked in kind.

I laughed delightedly.

“You speak this?” Heero asked sweetly.

“I speak many languages, sir,” Ryu ducked his head.

“Makes it rather difficult for us to have our normal conversations,” Heero noted to me in Russian.

“Um,” Ryu thought.

“Oh good,” Heero smiled sweetly at him, then looked back to Duo. “Where’s the puppy?”

“Ash!” Duo called, looking to her room.

“Coming, Daddy,” Ashley replied, coming out of the room…with the puppy on her heels.

Duo gestured at it for Heero’s benefit.

“Uncle!” Ash squeaked, darting across the room to absolutely jump into his arms.

“Happy birthday, baby-girl,” Heero muttered. “You like the puppy? Wufei thought he was being sneaky when he carried him through my apartment.”

Ashley giggled a wicked little giggle that sounded almost exactly like her father’s.

“Unnerving, I know,” I muttered to the recruit as he looked up at the man. “She’s just as cute as her father, but she’s a little girl. She has us all wrapped neatly around her finger.”

“Daddy?” Faye asked, moving into the room.

At this, Ryu’s breath caught.

“Daddy, can you put my stupid hair up?”

“Nope,” Heero replied. “I found someone I like more than you.”

Faye giggled, swatting his butt before tugging at Ashley’s ankle.

“My dad can do it,” Ash noted, looking down to her cousin. “He does my hair more than my mom.”

“Faye? Ro?” Relena asked, moving into the apartment.

Ryu bowed low to her and held it, and I got the feeling he wasn’t even looking at her feet.

“Oh, Ryu,” she muttered in a pleased fashion. “What are you doing here, darling?” she brushed her fingers through his hair as she moved to take Ash from her husband.

Ryu raised his head to look at her with very wide eyes.

She smiled at him, kissing Ash’s cheek. “Happy birthday, huh? Oh, do stand up,” she added. “That can’t be comfortable, no matter how worked your abs are.”

His cheeks colored as he straightened and looked at me.

“There are two files on my desk,” Duo added, moving toward the kitchen counter. He gathered up a folder and passed it to the boy. “Take these to central.” He passed the kid a single key. “Come back here with them immediately.”

“Yes, sir,” he muttered, taking the key and turning toward the door before stopping and bowing low to Relena again…then ran.

“He’s cute,” Relena noted, looking over to me. “You sure you’re not screwing him?”

Ashley and Faye gasped as Duo smacked a hand to his forehead.

“Oops,” Relena noted, blinking.

“That is so beyond bad,” Heero retorted, staring at her disbelievingly. “Can you stop warping our children? We don’t expect any more from Duo, but you…” the man quickly jumped away backwards, since both Relena and Duo had moved at him.

“That was beyond bad,” I reprimanded him as the puppy sniffed at his feet. “You don’t say it in front of both of them!”

Duo laughed happily as Relena huffed…and Ashley broke into giggles since the puppy had hopped up to lick her foot.

I grinned, moving up beside Som as he watched the kids around us in amazement. “You look startled.”

He glanced at me, but looked away quickly. “You don’t really seem like a…child person,” he explained. “I wouldn’t imagine you having so many around.”

“I love children,” I countered, leaning against the wall to watch them cavorting with the puppy around my living room. It was October twenty-third, and the weather out of doors was blustery. “My daughter is the biggest blessing of my life, and she’s going to know it from here to eternity.”

“So you do spoil her?” he asked, glancing at me again.

“Horribly,” I agreed with a grin. “Kinda like Heero and Faye,” I pointed across the room where the man was holding his daughter.

“I still can’t believe the entire royal family showed up while I was there this morning.”

“We used to live in a house together, there was no avoiding Heero then.”

Som smiled at me again—it was a cute smile.

“Once I was a fairly devout catholic,” I noted, studying my friend across the room as he looked to me curiously. “Drove him absolutely insane.”

“You?” Som asked blankly. “But I thought, I mean…”

“I lost my faith when my fiancé died,” I explained, brushing my hair from my face as Heero focused on my companion and his eyes narrowed. “I went out and did everything short of incest or treason.”

That got me a real look. Little boy wasn’t meeting my eyes much anymore. Hadn’t been since just before he joined the actual army.

“I don’t have a family, so the first would be hard. The second would have put me on the map to be found.”

Heero was picking his way through the children, setting Faye down by Ash.

“You ever take kaseen?”

Som’s eyes went very wide as he met mine.

I grinned at him a bit evilly, taking another drink of my soda. “Majesty.”

Som instantly bowed, though I doubted he’d realized the man was there.

“Oh, stop that,” Heero muttered, making a brush away gesture at the boy. “What are you doing, sir knight?”

“Picking up a bedmate at my daughter’s birthday party,” I retorted, meeting his eyes.

“I wouldn’t put it past you,” he noted, blinking languidly at me.

“So let me know next time you and ‘Lena fight,” I suggested.

He raised an eyebrow at me, then looked to my toy. “How are you?”

“I’m good,” Som muttered, looking down. “Kinda nice to be out of the barracks. They’re nice and all, but…”

“It’s just so you react to orders, you know,” he returned. “That way when you’re in combat you don’t start thinking for yourself.”

Som flashed him an almost guilty grin.

“You have no idea,” I informed the boy. “He was raised to have no emotions.”

“Sucks a little bit,” Heero noted, thinking about it. “Took me a year or two to get out of the habit, and I still fall back on apathy before finding the emotion.” Heero moved to stand on the other side of the boy. “Get me pissed enough and I just do whatever I’m gonna do…but that never once included males,” he added pointedly to me.

“The lord forgives all sin,” I retorted with another grin as I sipped at my glass. “And the devil fucks us all.”

Som was blinking at me in disbelief.

“You’re a married man, sir knight,” he retorted.

“Now, whatever makes you think I was discussing the state of my marriage, Majesty?”

He started laughing at that as Som frowned at me as if asking what the hell we were talking about.

“Sorry,” I returned. “Heero and I have been secret lovers since we were fifteen.”

Heero, who’d been in the middle of taking his drink, spit half of it out before covering his mouth with one hand and looking at me as several other party members looked to us in confusion and Relena started grabbing napkins.

“What?” Som asked in sheer disbelief.

“You’re not supposed to tell people,” Heero protested at me…and we both died laughing.

Som was looking between us with wide and guilty eyes as Relena moved to stand in front of her husband with an expectant demanding look, offering the napkins.

“Sorry,” Heero returned, wiping at his mouth. “Duo was telling state secrets again.”

I laughed even harder as Som’s cheeks colored.

“What did you say?” she demanded, studying the boy. “You know not to believe what they say don’t you?”

I was laughing even harder.

“They pretend I don’t know they’ve been lovers, but they aren’t very good at being sneaky.”

And…we died laughing again as Relena giggled and rolled her eyes.

“Um…” Som wasn’t looking at any of us.

“Heero is woefully straight,” I informed the kid. “Obviously Relena is worried about his jokes, huh?”

She laughed more, smacking lightly at me before giving her husband a look.

“What?” he protested. “I didn’t say anything.”

Relena smacked him as well as he started to laugh, then leaned forward to kiss him.

“Hurry up and have the baby,” he ordered her, kissing her again.

“Hahaha!” I informed him. “Ha!”

Som blinked at me.

Heero gave me a look, and Relena leaned over to kiss my cheek before smiling and rolling her eyes to Som and starting away.

“Ha,” I added.

“Oh, shut-up,” Heero ordered, rolling his eyes at me.

“Oh no,” I returned, grinning more at him. “This is my moment, and I’m going to glory in it.”

Heero started laughing weakly, and I decided to focus on the recruit.