Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ In a Child's Eyes ❯ Duo ( Chapter 2 )

“Ah. You must be Mr. Yuy.” Said the blonde priest.

 

Heero nodded and held out his hand, which the other man shook with enthusiasm.

 

“I'm Quatre Winner. Why don't we have you sign a few things while Duo finishes his dinner.”

 

Father Winner led Heero to his office and invited him to sit down. As the blonde man took his own seat his smile faded.

 

“Mr. Yuy. I just want to make sure this is really what you want to do. We usually don't do things this way, or this fast. Do you have space for this child? Are you going to be able to devote some of your schedule to this child? Will…”

 

Heero held up a hand to stall the questions. “I assure you the child will be well taken care of. Now, if we could please get to the forms? I'm a very busy man.”

 

Sighing, Father Winner slid a small stack of papers to the young Mr. Yuy and asked him to read and sign each of the papers.

 

“You do realize that children require a lot of patience, don't you Mr. Yuy?”

 

Heero waved a hand in the air. With his attention still on the paperwork, he said, “Oh I'm very patient.”

 

At the impatient dismissal, Quatre's eye began to twitch. “You know… I don't know if this is a very good idea Mr. Yuy…”

 

The businessman looked up and glared at the priest. “Do you want the donation or not?”

 

The thirty year old opened his mouth, but shut it quickly when he reminded himself he was doing the best he could for the greater number of children. Besides, Duo was a fun loving, happy child and despite, or maybe because of, the hardships the boy had gone through in the past, Quatre felt the long haired boy would be perfect for this situation.

 

When Heero finished with the papers he pulled out his check book and looked at the priest for a moment before beginning to fill out the check. Tearing the check from the checkbook, Heero handed the paper to Quatre and said, “I believe this will keep you going for a while.”

 

When Quatre took a look at the amount he nearly fainted. A while? This will keep us going for five years at least! He thought. With a shaking hand, Quatre filled out a receipt for the donation and handed it back to the young Japanese man. “Thank-you for your donation… I'm sure the Lord will bless you for it.” Quatre said faintly. Heero nodded as a knock sounded on the office door.

 

“Come in.” Father Winner called out.

 

A nun opened the door, let in a small child and excused herself from the room. Heero looked at the child. With the soft features and the long braid it would be easy to mistake the child for a girl at first glance, but Heero concluded after taking in the clothing that this child was definitely a boy.

 

Quatre stood and made his way around the desk. “Heero Yuy this is Duo Maxwell.” The priest turned to the boy. “Duo this is Mr. Yuy. He's going to be taking care of you for the next six months. I'm sure the two of you will have a lot of… interesting… times together.”

 

Duo nodded at Father Winner's words then smiled happily up at the Japanese man he had just been introduced to. Heero grunted and looked over the boy. Besides a small backpack, Duo had nothing else with him. “Where's the rest of your stuff?” Heero asked.

 

Duo smiled and pointed to the backpack.

 

Heero shook his head. “Besides that.”

 

Duo gave the Japanese man a confused look then looked at Father Winner. “That's all he has, Mr. Yuy.” Quatre said.

 

Heero nodded, stood and shook Quatre's hand again. “Alright. We'll see you in six months.”

 

“We'll be calling periodically to check up on Duo. It's the regulations… but, uh… Mr. Yuy… please don't hesitate to call us if you have any problems…” The blonde man said.

 

“I'm sure we'll be fine.” Heero looked down at the small boy. “Let's go kid.”

 

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

 

The warm August air hit Duo's face as he stepped outside, trying to keep pace with Mr. Yuy. The dark haired man walked really fast and the small boy had to almost run to keep up. When Duo saw the car Heero was getting into his eyes lit up.

 

“Wow! Is that your car Mr. Yuy?” Duo asked in excitement.

 

“No. I'm stealing it. What do you think?” The Japanese man answered sarcastically as he vaulted the door and landed in his seat.

 

The sarcasm was obviously lost on the boy because he said with a frown, “I think stealing is bad…”

 

Heero sighed in exasperation. “Kid. This is my car. Now get in.”

 

“How come it doesn't have a roof?”

 

“Because it's a convertible.”

 

Duo threw his backpack in the seat and looked up at the man. “What's a convertible?”

 

“Just get in.”

 

Duo smiled and started to climb up the door.

 

Heero's eyes widened and he yelled. “Not like that! Use the door!” But it was too late. Duo had already climbed over the door and plopped into the passenger seat next to Heero.

 

Eyes large and frowning, Duo looked up at the twenty-one year old business man. He had obviously done something wrong... “I'm sorry…”

 

Heero breathed out in a controlled manner before getting out of the car and checking out Duo's door. The silver paint had a couple of long scratches marring its surface. Breathing heavily, Heero looked down at the small braided boy.

 

Working hard to keep his temper in check, Heero said, “Don't. Ever. Do. That. Again.”

 

“But… you did it… Duo whimpered.

 

“It's not your car. It's mine. Look at these scratches…” Heero made a growling sound in his throat.

 

“I'm sorry…” Duo whimpered again.

 

Heero waved a hand, obviously still fuming, and walked around to his side.

 

Duo kept quiet as they began to drive and Mr. Yuy got on his cell phone.

 

“Yes I need to get some scratches covered.” A pause. “Heero Yuy… no with two Es… H E E R O. Yes. It's a BMW. M3 Convertible. Silver. Yes. Yes. Tomorrow.” Another pause. “What do you mean you're all filled up tomorrow...? I guess Thursday will have to work won't it? Fine… Right. I'll have my secretary bring it in… Relena Darlian.”

 

Duo looked up when he heard Mr. Yuy growl. “Darlian…. D A R L I A N. Yes that's how you spell her name… Yes I'm sure… She works for me, I think I know how to spell her name… alright… fine…” Heero slammed the phone down as they reached a stop light. “How the hell did that idiot get a job there… Don't they require their fucking employees to know how to spell…”

 

A small whimper reached Heero's ears and he looked over at his small passenger. Heero rubbed his eyes.

 

“… I'm sorry…” Was all Duo dared to say in the face of the Japanese man's anger.

 

Heero waved the apology away. “Don't worry about it. I'll bill you when you're older.”

 

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

 

Heero pushed the button to close the garage and opened the door that led into the laundry room. Sighing, he took his shoes off and put them neatly on the shoe rack before slipping on a pair of soft soled slippers and walking into the living room through the kitchen.

 

Duo followed until the Japanese man stopped and turned around. Opening his mouth to give Duo the `tour', Heero stopped what he was about to say and growled. Duo thought really hard but couldn't figure out why Mr. Yuy looked un-happy with him.

 

Heero kicked Duo's shoe covered foot with his slippered one. Duo looked down, back up to Heero, then down again before kicking Heero back. This must not have been what Duo was supposed to do because seconds later Duo found himself lifted off the carpet and carried back to the laundry room.

 

Heero put the small boy down. “Whenever you come in the house you take your shoes off and put them on the rack.” Duo nodded. “Well…?” Heero exclaimed irritably. Duo sat on the floor and pulled off his shoes in such a hurry that one of them popped off his foot, flew out of his hands and hit Heero in the shin.

 

Another growl.

 

Heero picked up both the shoes and set them heavily on the rack. “We'll go tomorrow and get you some slippers but for tonight make sure you keep your socks on when you walk on the floor.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Because if you walk barefoot on the carpet, oils from your feet get into the carpet and dirt sticks to the oils making the carpet dirty and breaking down the fibers.”

 

Duo looked at the man like he was from a different planet.

 

“Nevermind. Just know that when you come in the house you take off your shoes and put on slippers, alright?”

 

Duo stood and nodded.

 

“Fine. Follow me and I'll show you around. This is obviously the laundry room… This is the kitchen. If you make a mess you're responsible for cleaning it up...” And so the tour went. The kitchen was open to the `dining room' which curved around to the living room. The living room and the dining room had large windows that extended from the floor to the ceiling. Duo wanted to look out of the blinds and see what was outside, but controlled the urge as Mr. Yuy continued with the rest of the tour. There were four rooms on the main floor. The master bedroom, an office and two empty rooms. The master bedroom and the two empty rooms were on one side of the `main entrance' and the office was on the other side of the `main entrance' along with a bathroom. The main bedroom and the empty rooms each had their own bathrooms and large closets. (1)

 

Next to the bathroom there were stairs leading down and when Heero said nothing about them Duo asked, “What's down there?”

 

“The basement. It's not finished down there. I got a deal on this place by taking it without the basement being done.” The dark haired man explained.

 

“Ooooh…”

 

“You're going to have to sleep on the couch tonight because I don't have another bed in the house… We'll have to add that to the list of stuff we need to get…” Pulling out a slim PDA, Heero began a list.

 

“Slippers, bed, guess it will need sheets and blankets…hmm…pillow…” Heero looked down at the boy and his small backpack. “What do you got in there?”

 

Duo slipped the pack off and opened it. A pair of pants, two shirts, two pair of socks, three boxers, a pair of PJs, a toothbrush, a hairbrush, a small box of crayons and some paper.

 

“That's it?” Heero asked, mildly surprised at how little there was. When Duo nodded, Heero added clothing to his list along with toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner and soap. Slipping the PDA back into a pocket in his suit jacket, Heero glanced at the clock. It was a little after seven. “Well kid, I've got some stuff I need to get done. Don't stay up too late.” And with that said, Heero made his way to the office leaving Duo alone in the living room.

 

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

 

Duo sat on the couch for ten minutes not sure what he should be doing. Mr. Yuy had said something about going to bed, but it was still early. He didn't usually go to bed until eight-thirty. Duo got off the couch and walked to the doorway of the office. The Japanese man's concentration was fully on whatever he was typing. Duo walked silently behind Heero and watched the young business man work for about five minutes.

 

“What are you doing?” Duo asked.

 

Heero turned around quickly. “Holy shit! How long have you been there?”

 

Duo shrugged then grinned. “I scared you.”

 

“What? No you didn't.”

 

“Yes I did.”

 

“No you didn't.”

 

“Yes I did.”

 

“No you … what do you want?”

 

“I'm bored.” Duo complained in a whine.

 

“So go watch some TV.” Heero said.

 

Duo shook his head.

 

“Why not?” Heero growled.

 

“I'm not aloud to watch TV by myself.”

 

“Why not?”

 

“Because Father Winner says that there's a lot of evil stuff on TV and so we have to have grown-ups there so that we watch good stuff.” Duo explained.

 

“Well Father Winner isn't here is he?”

 

Duo shook his head.

 

“That's right. I'm in charge and I say you can watch whatever you want, okay?”

 

Duo nodded but didn't move.

 

“Well? I'm busy here.”

 

Duo sighed and left Heero to his work and returned to the living room. There were shelves cut into the wall for all of the electronics so they didn't stick out. Duo spent another five minutes examining the novelty of it all before he turned on the TV and started channel surfing. It took Duo about twenty minutes to get bored with what was on TV and he walked back to the `entertainment center' were he remembered seeing some DVD cases.

 

As Duo looked through the DVDs his face began to get warm. There were naked people on all the cases. Choosing one of the DVDs, he put the disk in the player and what showed up on the screen made his mouth fall open.

 

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

 

Heero sent the e-mail he had been working on and stretched. It was strange to not be at the office. Heero usually only spent weekends at his official place of residence, and that was when he wasn't on business trips.

 

As Heero leaned over his keyboard to start another e-mail a sound from the living room caught his attention. The Japanese man cocked his head and listened to what was coming from the front room. Suddenly his eyes went wide and he rushed out of the office and into the living room where he found a very red faced boy standing in front of the TV, eyes wide, mouth open.

 

Heero pushed the stop button on the DVD player and glared at the kid. “You don't need to be watching that kind of stuff.”

 

Duo looked at the Japanese man and said, “You said I could watch whatever I wanted.”

 

“Well you can't watch that, it's not for kids.”

 

Duo opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it instead and shrugged. Heero shook his head and began to walk back to the office when a tug on his suit coat stopped him.

 

“What?”

 

“I'm bored.”

 

The dark haired man sighed. “What do you usually do at the orphanage?”

 

“Play games and stuff.”

 

Heero pulled out his PDA and added games to the list. “We'll get you some games tomorrow, alright?”

 

Duo nodded and Heero went back to the office and worked peacefully… for ten minutes.

 

“Mr. Yuy?”

 

Heero growled. “What now?”

 

“I'm hungry.”

 

“Didn't you already have dinner?”

 

“Yeah…”

 

“Then why are you hungry?”

 

Duo looked as though he was thinking hard before he shrugged and said, “I don't know…”

 

“Well, you know where the kitchen is.”

 

Duo nodded and left, but didn't stay gone for too long.

 

“Mr. Yuy.”

 

Heero said nothing, just turned his head slowly to look at the boy.

 

“I can't find anything to eat.”

 

Heero sighed in exasperation and headed to the kitchen. He found a one pound bag of sugar in one of the cupboards and a few packets of herbal tea. In the fridge he found an outdated pint of cream and a couple of condiments. The freezer held two containers of coffee and some ice trays.

 

The blue eyed man closed the freezer, leaned against the appliance and looked down at the eight-year old for a few silent minutes before pulling a phone book from a drawer.

 

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

 

Duo watched as Heero unloaded the food from the sacks and opened the containers. Duo wasn't sure what the Japanese man had ordered but it all smelled really good.

 

“What's that?” Duo asked, pointing to some food he didn't recognize.

 

“Sushi.”

 

“What's sushi?”

 

“Rice, nori, fish, and sometimes vegetables.”

 

“What's nori?”

 

“Seaweed.”

 

“Eww…” Duo looked closer at the offending sushi. “I don't think they cooked the fish very well…”

 

“It's suppose to be raw.”

 

Duo reared his head back and exclaimed “Eww!” before looking over the rest of the food. The braided boy recognized the rice but it was all sticky, there were some fried vegetables and shrimp that Mr. Yuy called tempura and some kind of soup called miso. The miso soup was for breakfast Mr. Yuy explained.

 

Duo ate most of the tempura and after much persuasion, Heero managed to get the boy to try the sticky rice, which Duo loved. The sushi, however, was left to Heero since the boy was completely unwilling to try it and said, “Ewww.” Every time Heero ate a piece.

 

When Heero returned to the office, Duo was still munching and the young business man had a whole hour of undisturbed work time before he realized he hadn't heard anything from the living room for a while.

 

Slowly Heero made his way to the dining room and saw Duo still sitting in his chair with his head on the table. As Heero made his way closer to the boy, he noticed Duo had begun drawing and fallen asleep on his artwork. The Japanese man picked up the sleeping boy, laid him on the couch and covered him with a throw blanket before returning to the table to clean up the leftovers.

 

When all the food was put away, Heero picked up Duo's artwork and smirked. Duo had drawn a fish in what looked like a sushi roll and a bubble that said, “Don't eat me!” in it. Heero set the paper and the crayons on the coffee table near the couch and turned off the lights.

 

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1 - The descriptions given about Heero's place are taken from a place I've been before. The only thing untrue to the real thing is that the basement wasn't unfinished in the house I was in.