Friends Old & New
Make new friends, but keep the old,
one is silver and the other's gold.
A circle is round, it never ends,
That's how long I'm gonna be your friend.
- old Girl Scout song
~12345~
"What are we doing here?" Wufei grumbled, looking around the busy park with displeasure.
"We are waiting to make the acquaintance of Maxwell's new companion," Heero said. His stoic expression stated firmly that neither shrieking children nor grouchy friends would prevent him from fully carrying out this duty to the best of his abilities.
"It's a dog, Yuy. Not a boyfriend." Wufei's sense of duty towards his braided friend had trouble extending to furry creatures and noisy places first thing on a Saturday morning, especially after peace had allowed him to discover the joys of sleeping in on weekends. He would be there but he refused to be happy about it.
"Animals are people too," Trowa interjected quietly.
"I'm not sure that can grammatically be correct," Quatre hesitantly objected. "Animals aren't people. People are people."
"Oh, and that made so much more sense, Winner," Wufei muttered.
Trowa was not to be deterred from his point though. "They have personalities and feelings and more sense than a lot of people with opposable thumbs I've met."
That got a grudging laugh from Wufei and a smirk from Heero. Quatre just looked pained – more from the truth of it than any outrage on behalf of his species.
"He said 10:30! Where is that braided baka?"
"Right here, Fei-Fei. And my little dog, too!"
"Maxwell, what the…?"
"Little, huh?"
"Oh my, Duo."
"Hn." *Smirk*
It took a moment for a semi-sort of calm to regain control again, and Wufei had no problem being the first to break it again. "I though you got a dog, not a pony, Maxwell."
"If you wanted something to ride, Duo, you could have borrowed one of the horses at the Circus," Trowa gently teased.
"It is rather big, Duo." Quatre was obviously worried about what would happen if the dog got out of control.
Heero had a more pressing practical question. "What is it?"
Duo scowled and threw an arm around the dog in question's shoulders, prepared to vehemently defend his new friend from any real or imagined slight. It was easy for him to reach the dog's shoulders since the beast's head reached touched his collarbone and his back stood well above his 'master's' waist. Not that Duo himself reached any great heights at the age of 18. Being colony-born with a prior history of malnourishment to boot had its disadvantages, but his new dog would easily be able to lick the face of even the tallest Maquanacs if he chose to stand on two legs. The coat of long dark grey hair and rectangular snout made the creature seem like a cross between a shaggy pony and a skinny bear. "He is a purebred Irish Wolfhound. And I'll have you know that he is the sweetest and friendliest dog in the world, aren't you boy?" Duo knelt next to his pet putting his face in easy face-washing range, which the hound delightedly rewarded by thoroughly licking every inch of exposed skin on his beloved master. Duo laughed and protected himself by burying his face in sun-warmed fur and hugging the wriggling mass of happy dog close.
Even Wufei couldn't help but smile at the obvious affection between the braided boy and his dog, though he watched where that tail was swinging warily.
"Sit, boy, sit!" Duo smiled sheepishly up at the others. "We're still working on the whole obedience thing."
Trowa moved forward and let the dog sniff him then stroked the fur on the long back letting the dog get used to the scent and feel of him. Then he gently pushed down on the dog's rump reiterating the command. "Sit!" Immediately, the back end went down and the dog sat panting with his tongue lolling as if to say, 'oh, was that all you wanted? I can do that no problem.' "Good boy," Trowa praised with more petting sitting down nearby. "I can help you with his training, but mostly you need to keep commands simple and firm."
"Thanks, Trowa." Duo smiled at his stoic friend then turned to the others. "Come on, he won't bite."
Wufei snorted at the implication he was scared and immediately stuck out a hand to get sniffed then smoothed it over the shaggy fur when he was accepted. Emboldened by the friendly reception the others had gotten, Quatre followed his example, smiling broadly when the large dog gently licked his hand and nuzzled it asking for pats.
Heero watched the interactions of former pilots and canine with folded arms and a blank expression, making no move to join in with the others.
"Heero?" Duo asked hesitantly. "You want to join us, buddy?" He liked the former Wing pilot and considered him a close friend, but that emotionless face and shuttered cobalt eyes made reading him difficult at the best of times and Duo could never predict how he would react in a civilian situation. The last thing he wanted was to have his best human buddy consider his doggy buddy a threat!
This time though Heero was more worried about social issues than threat levels. "You have not properly introduced us," Heero stated. "I cannot meet your pet until you share with us his name."
"Oh, that's right!" Quatre exclaimed in surprise. Social issues were usually his affair more than Heero's but the former Wing pilot did tend to approach responsibilities to friends with the same logic and seriousness as missions, and despite his reticence, Heero considered Duo a very important friend. "You never told us your dog's name."
"Can't you guess?" Wufei asked sardonically, teasing Duo in his own sarcastic way. "Considering what he named his Gundam and himself, I'd say some sort of derivation of Shinigami or Deathscythe."
"The tail is like a scythe," Trowa added, completely deadpan.
"Grim for the Grim Reaper?" Quatre suggested brightly in the spirit of the game.
"Mort," Heero stated, ignoring the looks he received.
"Actually, nothing like that," Duo said almost shyly. "It's just… it's been awhile since the Mariemeia stuff and… I really think this peace thing might last. So, my buddy here and me, we don't need fighting names anymore. We can worry about living for awhile." He stopped there as though waiting for someone to laugh, but the sincere emotion they all shared behind the halting words brought only approval.
Quatre beamed proudly while Trowa and Heero's eyes reflected their own quiet joy. Wufei honored Duo with a short bow, recognizing the wisdom of the sentiment as well as silently apologizing that his teasing had led to such serious considerations though it had been well meant. "Maxwell, you speak for us all. So, what name have you chosen for your companion?"
Duo blushed lightly. "Well, umm… everybody meet Bear."
The former pilots all turned to look at the dog who had lain down while all the boring talking had been going on. Bear lifted his head and barked happily at the sound of his name, then insinuated as much of his upper body into Duo's lap as possible, nuzzling him in a plea for attention. Duo ended up cradling the dog's head with one arm while the other scratched behind floppy ears and stroked as much of the dark grey fur as he could reach.
It was Trowa that finally asked the question. "Bear because of his size or because he likes to cuddle?"
Duo blushed dark behind his long chestnut bangs and refused to raise his head or answer.
Quatre attempted to come to the rescue with a bright smile as he declared, "I think it's a lovely name. It's a nice to meet you, Bear."
Wufei itched to tease his verbal sparring partner further, but decided that enough had been said about names that morning. And besides he consoled himself, there was nothing wrong with saving ammunition for future games of wit. Instead, he merely sighed and said, "Well Bear, I don't think you know what you're in for getting involved with this one. It'll take a lot of hard work to train him on how to be a proper owner. I recommend waking him up early every day and taking him for long walks to help keep him in shape."
That won him a grin from the 'owner-in-training' but it was Heero who got the smile positively beaming with joy when he said, "Hn, welcome to the family."
Duo wanted to throw his arms around them all but settled for hugging Bear close and pressing a kiss to the top of the shaggy grey head. "My family," he whispered, affirmation and prayer. Then he patted the dog's side and gently pushed the substantial weight off of him and stood up. Bear lunged to his feet and pranced around his master and master's friends while Duo stretched out the kinks. "Come on then, let's go play fetch for awhile since we're here then we can go back to my place for lunch."
Heero immediately started heading for an open area of grass not too densely populated by kids playing tag or other pet owners. Quatre chattered excitedly about the possibility of getting a pet of his own while Wufei protested against being involved in childish games half-heartedly and followed anyways. Trowa looked oblivious but interjected sly comments into both conversations that kept them both going strong. And Duo ran ahead with Bear perfectly content knowing that his family was following close behind.
Author's Note: I was walking in Kirkwall and internally squealing over the cute puppies when I asked myself the question, "What kind of dog would Duo get himself?" Almost immediately I decided that there's no way he'd go for a little noisy one and conversely the biggest is a wolfhound which I could picture so easily - not so tall Duo with this huge dog that loves him to bits romping around in the park. Of course then I had the other pilots' voices in my head reacting to the idea of Duo with this huge dog, and when I tried to decide on a name for this hypothetical dog I could hear them all giving suggestions and Duo's surprisingly philosophical answer. Thus a story was born and pretty much fully developed in about 5 minutes. Of course I didn't actually write it down until months later let alone put it up. Then it kind of mutated into a writing exercise on how the characters talk and interact with each other, their takes on peace, etc, with the dog being the catalyst more than the focus of the story. Still I think it's a nice bit of fluff and I also think that I captured the pilots pretty much in character. You're welcome to disagree with me of course. Just review and tell me how to do better. : )