For Amberly, thank you for the prompt and for dragging me to a happy place. The prompt: Duo and Trowa introduce their daughter to the kitten that Quatre has given her.
A/N: Always, always thank you to Ro for the beta reading and support.
Pairings: 2x3, past 3x4
Good Things
Duo had just finished drying off the last of the breakfast dishes when the doorbell rang.
It was just after nine in the morning on a Saturday, and Duo couldn't think of anyone who would be venturing out that early or venturing anywhere near his house.
With a frown, Duo set down the dish towel and looked towards the back porch. His family was still there, where he had exiled them after his request to help clean the dishes had once again turned into 'let's see how miserably wet we can make Duo.'
They were still there, the closed door meaning they likely hadn't heard the doorbell ring.
Cautiously, Duo stood on his toes and reached up to grab the gun they kept on the top of the highest row of cabinets. He slid the bullet clip into place but left the safety on and held the gun behind his back as he approached the front door.
They had only lived in the house for three months, had suffered through the overwhelming parade of disturbingly polite neighbors and scared off even the most determined without meaning to. It had been weeks since a well-meaning, too-wide smiling neighbor had rung their doorbell.
Duo hugged the walls as he made his way through the living room and down the entry hall and then pressed himself against the side of the door to look through the keyhole.
A familiar head of blond hair, looking a little tousled, filled up most of his view.
Duo opened the door.
"Quatre?"
The man turned around, a bright smile on his face and a cardboard box in his hands.
Duo looked from the smile to the box, wondering why there were holes punched into the top of the sides.
"Why do you have a gun?"
Feeling like an idiot, Duo struggled to shove the gun into the back of his sweatpants, having to shove the barrel under the band of his underwear to keep it in place.
Please don't let me shoot my own ass off, he prayed.
"Just, you know… habit. What, uh, what are you doing here? I didn't think you were dirtside until June."
Quatre's grin, if possible, grew even more blinding.
A smile that had legendary abilities to set people at ease and get him exactly what he wanted in even the trickiest business negotiations. He had such perfect teeth, and a face that seemed to be genetically engineered to smile.
A smile that Duo had always envied.
"Well," Quatre held the box a little higher, "after your call on Tuesday, I went to see Michaela and one of her shelter cats had had a litter three months ago, and there were still two kittens who hadn't found homes yet and-"
"Wait, wait." Duo held up one hand as he tried to process what Quatre was saying. "You… what, woke up on Wednesday morning, hopped a shuttle to the moon and got a kitten from your sister and then… flew down to Earth? What about- wait. What about customs?"
Quatre gave him a look.
"You want to lecture me about customs? Duo Maxwell, the man who smuggled an entire family off of the moon?"
"Well, that was for-"
"Look, I might not have your finesse, but I can manage to get a cat through customs."
Duo arched an eyebrow and Quatre huffed out a sigh.
"Yeah, I bribed a few people."
"Is, uh, is anyone going to come looking for this thing?" Duo had to ask, imagining how that conversation would go down, imagining Wufei's glee in spreading the story of Duo getting busted by Terran customs by being in possession of a lunar cat.
Quatre looked as if he was giving the question serious thought for a moment.
"Probably not," he concluded, and Duo had to wonder if Quatre was fucking with him or genuinely thought there might be a possibility of customs hunting down this cat.
"Anyway," Quatre continued with a bright smile, "you mentioned a kitten, and Michaela was more than happy to offer up one of hers. She's had a round of vaccines and things, and we gave her a mild tranquilizer for the trip. It should be wearing off very soon."
"I, uh… thank you."
Duo finally thought to take the box from Quatre.
It had just been a passing comment during their weekly video chat with Quatre. Trowa had stepped away and Duo, always a little awkward when he was left in any one-on-one situation with Quatre, even with millions of miles between them, had muttered something about kids and pets, and Quatre's face had lit up immediately. Duo had figured it would only be a matter of time - had guessed that come Christmas or the next birthday, Quatre would deliver a cat.
But this was a lot sooner than he had counted on.
"We, uh… doesn't it need food and… litter?"
The box was both heavier and lighter than he had anticipated. Duo could sense exactly where the tiny body was curled into a corner.
"Yes, but I've got all of those things for her in the car!" Quatre made a vague gesture towards the street and the shiny black car parked beside the beat-up truck that Duo insisted ran fine and Trowa kept hinting about driving to a scrap yard.
"Oh. Uh. Wow. That's… you really thought of everything."
Quatre was still smiling, and Duo saw the blond haired man's eyes look past him, into the house.
"Oh, right. Come in. We, uh... I'll get them and you can- you can give her the cat and-" Duo started to hand the box back to Quatre, but the other man pushed it back against his chest.
"No, no. She's yours - it was your idea, Duo. You give her the cat."
"Yeah, but, I was just talking and you- you did everything and-"
"Duo." Quatre's smile had slipped, concern in his eyes and weighing down the corners of his expressive lips.
And Duo immediately felt like an asshole.
"Duo, you had the idea. They're your family, Duo. I… I got overzealous," Quatre realized with an increasing frown. "I shouldn't have presumed to-"
"No, no, no!" Duo rushed to stop him, the feelings of being an asshole going into overdrive. "You weren't, you aren't! You just- you're just doing your perfect Quatre thing, and it's great. Seriously. It's awesome. We- I- It's great." Duo drew in a deep breath and forced all of his feelings of insecurity down. "Come in. Come say hi and give her the cat. She's going to be crazy excited.
Quatre shook his head and reached out to squeeze Duo's shoulder.
"No, really, Duo. I didn't do this to- I'd rather just wait here, while you do it."
They could, Duo was pretty sure, stand here and argue about it until Trowa found them and forced the issue. Which Duo absolutely didn't want.
So he sighed, adjusted the box, and opened the door wider.
"At least, here, if you want to come in and… They're out on the back porch right now."
Quatre nodded. He knew the layout of the house; had, in fact, been the one to send the listing to Trowa in the first place and suggest it as a perfect home for them to move to once Duo and Trowa had agreed that raising a fearless child on the sixth floor of a two centuries old apartment building wasn't the best possible thing to do.
"I'll wait in the kitchen, then?" Quatre suggested.
"Sure, sure. I… Yeah."
Duo stepped aside and allowed Quatre into the house.
He closed the door and followed the other man back to the kitchen, watching as Quatre's gaze swept over every surface.
"I like it," he said with a soft smile. "I hoped it would be a good fit for you."
He turned to Duo, still smiling, and there was so much warmth in his eyes that Duo had to look away.
"Yeah, yeah, it's perfect. You were right. Plenty of room, close to work but not too close, and the schools are great for- Yeah. You, uh, you were right. You were perfect, as always."
He always was, but even after fifteen years Duo still struggled to figure out how Quatre just seemed to know and understand everything.
"Duo, it's not a competition, you know."
The words had Duo looking over at the other man again.
"I- I know that."
Quatre arched one eyebrow.
"He made his choice, Duo. And it was the right one. All I want is for him to be happy, and he is, with you. And I want you to be happy, Duo. You're one of my oldest and closest friends and- and Trowa chose you because you are perfect."
They had had a version of this conversation a few times, over the years. And each time Duo felt like more of a jerk for all of his insecurities.
"Go on," Quatre nodded towards the back porch. "Introduce them."
Duo felt like he should say something but, as usual, he really couldn't think of what to say to Quatre that would properly express what he was thinking and feeling.
He just nodded, though, and followed Quatre's direction.
"Wait!" Quatre suddenly called out, and before Duo could turn, he felt the man's nimble fingers pluck the gun from his waistband.
"Thanks. It goes up above the cabinets."
When he opened the door to the back porch, he had to smirk as he looked down at the chaos.
Trowa had been the one to suggest adopting, had been the one to talk Duo down from all of his sleepless night musings about how thoroughly inept and awful he would be at parenting. When the agency had called, three years ago, and told them that their child, their daughter, was waiting for them, Duo had never felt more terrified or hopeful in his life.
Helen was almost five now, and even after three years Duo had a hard time looking at her and wrapping his head around the idea that she loved him, that just seeing him made her smile and laugh, and the feel of her thin, strong arms wrapping around him and the sound of her laughter gave him more pleasure than he had imagined was possible.
Currently, she and Trowa looked to be in the process of building a space elevator, or maybe it was just a very, very tall tower of blocks that looked more precarious with every second.
It was tall enough that Trowa had to pick Helen up so she could add the next block.
She did, and the tower wobbled, held, and then collapsed.
Helen shrieked in delight and Trowa smirked down at her, kissing her head before kneeling down to start collecting the blocks.
"Well, if the engineers want to take a break, I've got something special for a certain someone."
They both looked up at his voice, Trowa's gaze immediately going to the box. He raised an eyebrow but remained silent.
Helen's gaze also zeroed in on the box, and her brown eyes grew wide.
"What is it?" she asked, not reaching for the box but instead waiting, her hands clasped together as she rocked on her feet eagerly.
A few too many curious explorations of sensitive packages and materials that Duo and Trowa brought home from work had taught her to wait before touching things in boxes.
"I dunno. Why don't you find out?" Duo suggested, and set the box down.
Helen approached it cautiously, lifting the folded flaps slowly and then-
"LOOK!"
She reached into the box and pulled out a ball of fluff with huge ears and sleepy gray eyes.
Trowa now raised both eyebrows at Duo, who jerked his head towards the kitchen.
He watched Trowa look through the window, watched the curve of his lips as he spotted Quatre, and he tried very, very hard to tamp down on his jealousy.
"Dad, look!" She practically shoved the kitten into Trowa's face, and he chuckled.
"I see. It looks like you've got a little friend to take care of."
Helen's eyes grew even wider and she turned back to Duo, cuddling the kitten against her chest, and Duo hoped she wasn't crushing the thing.
"Does- Is she mine? Daddy, Daddy, she's mine?"
Duo had to roll his eyes.
"Yeah, little bean, she's all yours. And Tro's right - she's yours to take care of. Do you think you can handle that responsibility?"
Helen's face grew solemn and she held the kitten out, staring into its eyes.
"Yes," she decided. "I promise to take care of her, just like you and Dad take care of me."
She grinned up at him, and Duo felt his heart constrict a little.
"Good," he said, and then cleared his throat. "Why don't we go inside and you can give her a tour?"
Helen practically skipped into the house.
"This is where we live!" she announced, and Trowa chuckled again.
"A kitten?" he asked, just as Helen spotted Quatre in the kitchen.
"Uncle Quatre! Look what my daddy got for me!"
Duo winced at that, but he allowed Trowa to wrap him into a hug.
"Yeah, I mentioned it to Quatre the other night because some kids at storytime were talking about their pets and Helen did that thing where she bites her lip and looks like she's about to ask for the world but doesn't want to so… Plus, there's this guy who keeps saying that a cat would be great to have around the house..."
Trowa nudged Duo's face upwards and kissed him gently.
"Thank you."
"It was Quatre who got the thing. All I did was-"
Trowa kissed him again, a lot less gently, and by the time Duo pulled back to draw in an unsteady breath, he wasn't thinking about Quatre anymore.
Trowa smirked, and Duo rolled his eyes.
"Smirk all you want now, just wait until tonight, Mr. 'Hey, Helen, The Faucet is Totally a Toy and Duo is Totally a Target'. We'll see who's smirking after you handle bathtime."
It was Trowa's turn to roll his eyes, but before he could say anything, Helen came running back, kitten still in hand, Quatre trailing behind her.
"Uncle Quatre asked me what her name is! Daddy, what's her name?"
Duo looked over at Trowa, who shrugged.
"Well, kiddo, I think that's up to you. What do you think her name should be?"
"Hmm." Helen considered the kitten very seriously, stroking over her fur with one hand while she gave the question thought.
"Solo," she announced with a grin.
"Solo?" Duo echoed.
Helen nodded earnestly.
"Dad said he was your brother, but he died a long time ago and you miss him."
Duo looked over at Trowa, wondering how the hell Solo had come up, and knowing with certainty that he did not want to know.
Trowa gave him an apologetic look.
"Solo sounds like a wonderful name," Quatre spoke up.
"Yeah," Duo cleared his throat. "That's… that's perfect, little bean."
Helen gave him a bright smile, and then turned her attention back to the kitten.
"Come on, Solo. I'll show you our room. That's where we sleep at night. And where we nap. And where we keep our books. And our toys. And it's where Daddy tells us bedtime stories. And Dad helps us build a spaceship. And-"
She was out of earshot and out of sight in no time, trooping up the stairs with the kitten in hand while the three adults watched with bemused expressions.
"Well," Quatre said with a sigh, "I should probably be going. I've got a few meetings to get to this afternoon. I'll just run out to the car and get the supplies and-"
"You should come back, tonight. For dinner. It's Trowa's turn to cook so I can't promise it'll be edible, but you should come back."
Trowa looked like he was trying to decide between kicking and hugging Duo.
Quatre, however, clearly had no trouble deciding on his reaction.
He smiled that million volt grin again.
"I would love that."
-o-
Okay so there was SOME angst but like… mostly fluff.