Brightly colored surprise
Author notes: A late Easter fic I wrote. It's sweet with a bit of a hint of angst near the end. I rather enjoyed writing it. Inspired by a tiny brightly colored Easter egg
Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC's.
Chapter 1,
Wufei blinked at the small brightly colored item in his hand. He'd no idea where it came from. That morning he'd gone to the park to spend some time reading there as the weather was nice and some kids had been there searching for something with two nuns there watching over the little ones, but he'd ignored it as some type of game and gone to sit in his usual spot to read.
For nearly three hours he'd been able to tune out the excited shrieks of the children as they found more and more of whatever they were looking for. However he had been unable to concentrate on his book as not the noise of the children, but one small colorful item half hidden in a tall clump of grass kept distracting him and begging him to inspect. He tried hard to ignore it and read his book while telling himself a million and one items that could be laying in the grass and were colorful.
Finally curiosity got the better of him though and so he moved to pick it up with the thought of tossing it in the trash. Upon picking up the item he realized it wasn't trash or some toy. It was a small chicken egg. Someone had spent many hours drawing little flowers on it and a sun and a bunch of clouds also and grass between the flowers. The detail was amazing and Wufei found himself wondering why anyone would take the time to paint an egg so prettily just to throw it away. A few feet from the egg he'd just picked up he saw another this one had a multi colored metallic paint job; like it'd rolled through a spill of several colors of metallic paint. Wufei blinked and picked it up as well. He frowned as he looked around and noticed another in a tree hollow and one under a bench.
Soon Wufei had three brightly colored eggs in one hand and two in the other. He pondered on what to do with them as between his feet lay a sixth egg. His book lay forgotten under the tree as the Chinese ex-gundam pilot had forgotten all about it in favor of exploring the wondrous trail of brightly colored eggs. After another moment's thought Wufei smiled at the simple solution he found for his dilemma and pocketed the eggs he'd found already very carefully before picking up the sixth egg and studying its color pattern.
"Hey mister ya gotta get a basket or ya can't join the egg hunt!" a young boy's voice said; drawing Wufei away from his inspection of his recent find.
"Egg hunt?" he asked confused.
"Yeah, ya go to the sisters n father n they give ya a basket n then you search for eggs like the one yer holding. If yer find one ya put em in the basket and ya can keep the ones ya find. Whoever finds the most eggs wins." the boy explained nodding his head which caused his messy blond hair to fall over one green eye. Wufei nodded to the boy's explanation and walked over to where the boy had indicated the sisters to be figuring he'd give them the six eggs he'd found and get back to his reading.
Upon locating the sisters he found himself smiling at the slew of toddlers all trying to show them their finds.
"Joining the hunt Fei?" a familiar voice asked. Wufei turned smiling at his war time comrade and close friend.
"Not really." he said smiling. The other boy looked just like he remembered him chestnut rope of hair and all; only taller.
"Then why you got pockets full of eggs huh?" Duo teased.
"Found them." Wufei mumbled uncertain. He felt silly for standing here before the other boy with two pockets full of eggs and a silly white egg with pink hearts on it in his hand.
Duo chuckled. He'd been busy helping the toddlers with the yearly egg hunt when he spotted Wufei talking to one of the elder kids before walking over carefully. When Wufei approached the sisters Duo realized that the item the other was carefully cradling in his hand was a tiny Easter egg with hearts on it. Wufei patiently waited as a slew of toddlers was occupying the sisters' time. Finally he made up his mind and approached Wufei. Upon his question of the other joining the hunt he got a vague answer and upon pushing the matter he noticed Wufei pulled up his usual defensive wall of stubborn silence.
"Well the basic idea of an egg hunt is to find the eggs Fei." Duo said chuckling as Wufei's cheeks tinged lightly pink. Duo was shook his head and picked up a basket from the ground.
"Put the eggs in here. We'll split em among the kids that couldn't come. We got two broken legs, one pneumonia case and a very sick little girl who is waiting for a donor kidney. Getting eggs after all ought to cheer em right up." Duo said handing Wufei the basket and smiling as the Chinese youth stared at it in utter confusion before putting his eggs into the basket.
"Do ya know about Easter Fei?" Duo asked kindly.
"Resurrection of Jesus Christ in Christian religion." Wufei said wondering what this had to do with the basket and the eggs.
"Well yeah, that too. I mean the more commercial side of Easter. See some religions see Easter as a time of new beginnings and new life. A lot of baby animals are born around spring and in some religions a bunny or hare is a symbol of fertility. At some point in time they created the idea of the Easter bunny who hides eggs everywhere on Easter morning and it changed into its own little celebration for Easter where kids gather up eggs the Easter bunny left. Mostly it's just another way for stores to make money, but for the kids the whole idea of a bunny painting eggs and hiding them in the grass to make kids happy is something similar to Santa bringing gifts at Christmas. " Duo explained before watching as the information sunk into Wufei's brain.
"I see, so it's some sort of game then?" Wufei asked after pondering this new information.
"Well yeah. A lot of families also decorate eggs that they will then eat at breakfast. The orphanage hides the eggs here in the park that we especially rent off for it thanks in no small part to Quatre so the kids can safely hunt eggs. It's fun to them Fei. For a lot of these kids it's something to look forward to and enjoy. Most of em are orphans, half of em live on the streets still. An event like this is a chance to pretend to be a normal kid with a family. Seeing them smile when they find the eggs makes it worth staying up three nights in a row to finish painting all these eggs." Duo said smiling warmly and gesturing around them.
Wufei smiled. He knew he was most likely the only one Duo had trusted with his past; granted they were both dying at the time and didn't think they'd have to worry about the other telling anyone. He knew that seeing these kids happy meant a lot to Duo. It was why the braided haired American had gone back to his home colony and until now refused to join preventors.
"Do you think the sisters will allow me to hunt a few more eggs for those ill children you spoke of?" Wufei finally asked smiling. Duo's face cleared right up from the grave look it'd taken after his explanation and the smile he gifted Wufei with was one of his rare genuinely happy smiles that lit up the darkness in Wufei's own heart.
Several hours later as darkness began to set in and the sisters were coaxing sleepy children into the bus that would take them back to the orphanage; Duo found Wufei. The Chinese youth was sitting with his back to a tree and had a group of at least seven toddlers lying on and around him; a fairytale story book lay in the relaxed grip of his left hand. Duo smiled knowing how much Wufei loved to read especially if he had an audience. A mission that had them undercover at a pre-school had shown Duo this during the war. He knew if ever Wufei left Preventors he'd make a great teacher or parent should the occasion arise.
Another hour later Duo had finally extricated the last toddler without waking Wufei or the child up and handed it off to Sister Kelly who smiled.
"He's a good person." she whispered smiling.
"Yes and he's not looking." Duo said winking at the young sister playfully. Kelly laughed at this quietly as she walked off with the sleeping toddler on her arm.
"Duo-kun you know I've dedicated myself to the lord almighty and sisterhood. I'm married to my religion, but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate a fine looking specimen of the human race." she said chuckling quietly.
Duo shook his head and swatted down to wake Wufei up carefully. He'd made the mistake once before of kicking Wufei to wake him and would not be doing that again. He'd not much liked being face planted to the ground and having his limbs bent in ways they shouldn't technically be capable of bending. Granted Wufei had let up upon realizing who it was that woke him, but that hadn't kept Duo from suffering a dislocated shoulder. No carefully and ready to run was a much better option for waking Fei up.
"Hey buddy wakey, wakey. The sun's going to bed. Can't have ya sleeping in the park tonight." Duo said gently before carefully placing a hand on Wufei's shoulder. Wufei yawned and rubbed the sleep from his eyes in a way that Duo had always found so endearing. It was that few seconds of time between sleep and full awakening where Wufei's mask was off and Duo was treated with the innocent soul that was Chang Wufei. He knew he also had this right after waking up, but only when on mission with the Chinese pilot could Duo relax enough to actually sleep.
"Hm, must have been more tired than I thought…I fell asleep half way through." Wufei mumbled looking around and noticing they were the only two still in the park.
"Yeah the sisters took the kids home now so I guess we should head for home or in your case hotel I guess?" Duo asked nodding.
"Uhm no I didn't plan on staying this long." Wufei said crossing his arms with an annoyed huff.
"Trouble?" Duo asked as the two of them walked out of the park and down the many streets of L2.
"Something like that yeah, I wasn't told before leaving for L2. The mission got canceled at the last moment because our supposed 'guy on the inside' was a no show…I'd planned to head back to earth this afternoon…so I never booked a hotel or anything." Wufei said quietly.
"I see well my place is your place. It ain't much I live there alone, but I got a fold out couch so there's at least a flat surface for ya to sleep on and some decent food to eat." Duo said smiling. Wufei smiled and nodded to this.
He'd given Duo a very brief glance over of his day until he got to the park. He'd not seen the other boy in nearly four years and didn't want their first real talk after so long to be about how perfectly stupid this mission had been and how one no show made it a waste of both his time and effort. The lady would find an at least twenty page report on how much he was not happy with the arrangements on her desk first thing Wufei returned.
The two walked home talking about anything and everything. Wufei wanted to know what Duo had been doing since the war. Duo told him of how he worked for Howard most of the time doing all kinds of tinkering on things and running deliveries and such, but in his spare time he would help out at the newly rebuilt Maxwell Church Orphanage. Duo asked what Wufei had been up to aside from preventors and Wufei admitted to having Preventors take up most of his time. In this fashion questions were shot back and forth between the two until they reached Duo's house and Wufei after a quickly whipped up dinner apologized to Duo and went to bed early.
Duo sighed as he trotted soundlessly down the stairs. He hated when he woke in the middle of the night and hoped he'd not awoken Wufei. The other needed his rest. He quietly slipped past the closed living room door to the kitchen and found himself staring at Wufei who sat at the kitchen table with two mugs of hot liquid readily waiting.
"Can't sleep either huh?" Duo said smiling apologetically. Wufei nodded and gestured to the awaiting mug of coffee.
"Black, triple strength; for nightmares." he said quietly. Duo's smile faltered a moment as he sat down.
"You remember?" Duo asked quietly after a while.
"Yes, black with two spoons of sugar during the day when you're tinkering, double strength hold the sugar after missions and triple strength only at night after bad dreams." Wufei said quietly rubbing his temple as he spoke.
"Wow, you really do remember huh?" Duo said smiling affectionately at this.
"Yes, not just yours. Heero's, Trowa's, Quatre's even Sally's. I remember everything." Wufei said quietly. Duo frowned at the thought of Wufei knowing for the others too.
"How do you remember all that?" Duo asked out of curiosity mostly and if he was honest with himself for a small part out of jealousy.
"I observe. It's something I've done since I was only a very young child. I observe and learn. I remember because I can't forget…" Wufei said quietly before taking a sip of his tea. Duo blinked at the sudden defensiveness on Wufei's part.
"Why can't you forget Fei?" he prompted quietly. Wufei closed his eyes and Duo waited patiently knowing his friend would speak when he was good and ready and no sooner.
"I have a rare form of hyperthymestic syndrome. I remember everything I hear and see. Normally this syndrome makes that people remember every memory of their life, but for me it's a bit more complicated. I remember vast quantities of data and trivia also. Every single thing I ever saw, read, heard or experienced is stored in my memory. Where normally a lot of this information is lost over one's life span and when the information transfers from your short term to your long term memory I seem to have no short term memory and everything is stored into my long term memory and it doesn't fade ever…even if I want to I cannot ever forget…no…I will never forget…it will always be clear as the day I saw it happen…." Wufei explained. Duo blinked as the last part seemed to be directed more to himself.
A faint memory from one of their rare war time moments of peace where he and Wufei got to really talk bubbled up from Duo's memory and he watched his friend quietly. He didn't know what to say. He didn't know what to do. Wufei had been witness to the death of his wife just one year after their arranged marriage and to the self detonation of his colony by the hands of his own relatives. Wufei could never unsee those images. They were permanently burned into his mind. Duo couldn't possibly begin to fathom what it would be like to remember the destruction of the Maxwell church that clearly; every sound and smell and every feeling etched into his mind.
For several long moments they sat in silence and drank their respective drink. Suddenly Duo got up and hurried to his fridge. He dug around inside it for a long while until he found what he'd been looking for and returned to the table. Wufei still sat in the same position cradling his mug and staring at the now cold tea inside it.
"Hey Wufei?" Duo said quietly. Wufei looked at him and Duo could see the pain hidden deep in those dark eyes.
"You might not be able to forget the bad things, but you will also always remember all the good things right?" Duo said smiling warmly as he placed the item he'd taken out of the fridge onto Wufei's hand.
Wufei blinked and looked down at the gift Duo had placed in his hand. There on the palm of his hand lay an egg; brightly colored with hand painted flowers in every hue. Slowly a smile spread on Wufei's face as the memories of that day returned; the laughter of the children, the warmth of the sun, the smell of the grass and the happiness he'd felt in the simple task of searching for brightly colored surprises.
Hope you enjoyed it!