Title: A Walk In The Irish Rain
Author: Shi-chan
Archive: GWA (Willow)
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Gundam Wing does not belong to me. However the original characters within this work of fiction, as well as the plot and premise, do.
Warnings: dialect driven characters, virile parturiency
Thanks: I want to thank all those who preread for me at various times, there were a good number of you and I appreciate all your help.
Summary: After the Wars ended, Heero Yuy set out on his own to acclimate himself to civilian life. What he forgot about acclimation is to include his friends in the process. Now he has returned to them, wanting to take up those friendships once more. However, life goes on... and sometimes the direction it takes is not what one would have imagined.
"Forever more I've stepped ashore
My sailing days are over, oh
Through time and tide and by your side
Together we'll grow old."
-- A Walk in the Irish Rain (folk song)
-
A Walk in the Irish Rain
Chapter 3
by Shi-chan
-
Rathfarnham,
County of South Dublin,
Republic of Ireland,
ESUN
A.C. 203
-
Morning dawned in subdued brightness. The disbursed light filtering in through the gauzy drapes lending a lazy air to the day.
Even Heero Yuy wasn't immune to the warmth that cocooned him on such a day, lingering in bed long past the time he would normally arise. If anyone asked, he'd blame jet lag.
A piteous mew finally dragged him from his nest of blankets to allow the feline out of his room. "I thought cats were supposed to be lazy animals," he muttered to himself, running a hand through unruly hair.
Once he'd swiped a cup of tea from the kitchen and had a nice long shower, Heero felt more willing to face the day. First order of business... phone Relena.
He found Hilde in the kitchen making oats. "Good morning, Hilde."
"Heero," the woman acknowledged.
"Might I use your terminal?" He asked, refilling his cup.
"Go right ahead," she returned, shooing him out of the kitchen -- apparently mornings were her alone time and she wanted to get as much of it as possible in before Pádraic and Duo woke.
Fresh cup of tea in hand, the former pilot settled himself before the antiquated terminal, taking a small moment before entering a collect call to the Vice Foreign Minister's direct line.
"Heero," the young blonde woman answered with a bright smile. "What can I do for you this morning? I'm guessing this is not a social call since you dialed collect."
"Maybe I just didn't want the bill to go to my hosts?"
"Considerate of you," she mused. "How have you been, Heero?"
"I'm well as can be," he replied vaguely. "Yourself?"
Her blonde hair shook as she gave a small laugh. "I'm still adjusting to this more verbal Heero Yuy. To think you once wouldn't have bothered with cordiality let alone a clever comeback..." her smile softened, smoothing out into something settled, content. "I'm doing splendid. I think Gregory is planning to propose any day now, but don't tell him I know," she winked.
"I'm glad to hear things are going well. If anyone deserves happiness, it's you..."
"Pish-tosh! I'm supposed to be giving you that line, Mr. Hero, not the other way around!" She chided, teasingly. "You guys deserve happiness more than anyone else on the planet and colonies."
"Whatever you say, Your Highness," he acquiesced, using the pet name he knew Duo enjoyed annoying her with. Even before anyone knew she was royalty, the braided boy had dubbed their blonde dove with the title.
"It really is good to hear from you, Heero. But you don't typically make social calls this early in the morning," she said soberly. "Something's on your mind."
"I always said you'd make a great politician... or a great shrink. You read even me too well," he told her, giving a small smile.
"You were the subject of my childish school girl obsession for quite some time," Relena quipped, playfully mocking herself. "If anyone should be able to read you, it would be me."
"Indeed," Heero conceded. "You're right, though. As nice as it is to speak to you, I have ulterior motives. I was wondering if you'd heard from Duo lately?"
"We keep in touch pretty regularly," she smiled. "In fact, I'm planning to visit him come spring."
"For Pádraic's birthday?" He asked pointedly watching as her blue eyes widened and her face paled slightly. Her expression however remained unchanged, unfazed by the subject as she replied.
"Yes, for Pádraic's birthday."
"Relena," Heero sighed.
"I didn't mean to deceive you, Heero. It's just..." she stopped herself and shook her head. "You have no idea how hard it was after you left. How he seemed to dim before our eyes.
"When he told me he wanted a child--You must know we've become great friends in your absence, Heero, even before you physically disappeared. When he told me he wanted a child, I orchestrated things so that he could have something of you. All he had to do was reach out and take it.
"It took a bit of finagling... some well concealed organizing and planting, but... Even you must see how happy he is now?"
"Relena, please. It's alright," he told her once she stopped to take a breath. "You don't have to defend your actions, least of all to me. I know you only had his best interests at heart. I was merely confirming my suspicions about how things came to pass."
"I'm guessing you're there now?" She asked, already knowing the answer.
"Yes..."
"You know he loves you right?"
There was a lengthy pause before finally Heero spoke, "Yes..."
"Heero..."
"I don't know yet," he confessed. "I've only been here a day. I just found out last night that my best friend is in love with me and that he and I have a 3 year old son...
"Worse yet: They're... defensive and yet not... It's like they want to welcome me, want me to be part of their 'family' again; and yet are holding themselves back. Hell, Wufei almost tore my head off when he saw me; and Kieran gave me the 'hurt my family and you'll pay' bit. Hilde threatened to cut off my balls and feed them to me with vinegar if I so much as upset Duo..." Heero let out a blustery sigh, scrubbing his face with his hands to refrain from pulling at his already messy hair.
The blonde woman seemed to relax then before smiling at him placatingly.
"Happens when the fire that burned returns to the hearth," Relena soothed. "They don't want you to get too close until you prove you're not going to up and leave again..." Among other things, Heero thought. It seemed Relena was as up on what was going on with Duo as the rest were. And if he knew Relena, no amount of baiting would get her to bite and confess what she knew. The Japanese man was also beginning to get the feeling that he was the only one out of the loop.
---
From there the conversation turned to more inane everyday subjects before they each said their goodbyes and promised to talk again soon.
After they disconnected, Heero sat back in his chair, scrubbing his face with his hands for a moment before sitting forward again. Next on the agenda: breakfast... perhaps Hilde had left him some oats... That in mind, he made for the kitchen.
"All done with the terminal?" Hilde piqued, glancing up from her stacks of papers as he entered. The former pilot of Wing smiled in amusement as he noted copies of something along the lines of 'Home & Garden' mixed in with the technical manuals and legal contracts.
Nodding in response, Heero smirked. "Called her collect. Any breakfast left?"
"Oats are on the stove. Should still be warm. The milk's in the fridge, and honey is in the cabinet above the stove. Help yourself," she informed him, attention returning to the paperwork at hand. "I have to go into town today," the dark-haired girl continued after a moment. "If there's anything you need me to pick up while I'm out, make note of it."
Nodding his thanks around a mouthful of oats, Heero reached for a scrap sheet before digging a pen from beneath the towering piles. Scribbling down a couple things he thought were necessary if he were to be staying, the Japanese man handed the list back and went about finishing his breakfast.
"House shoes?" Hilde asked, raising an eyebrow before dropping her eyes back to her work, 'though her amusement showed as she continued to speak. "Kieran said he'd be back around three-thirty, said you guys had a 'man date'."
'Man date' indeed, Heero thought, almost laughing out loud. "I suppose you could call it that. Getting to know the other person is what one does on a first date, after all," he mused aloud, smirk resting on his lips.
"Hah! He just wants to see how drunk he can get you," Hilde snorted. "It's the way the Irish get to know newcomers and Kieran's a true Irishman. Drink him under the table and he'll respect you for the rest of your life." [1]
"I'll keep that in mind," the dark haired man smirked. "Would you mind picking me up a newspaper as well?"
"Sanqian Times or Wall-Street Journal?"
"Whatever's local," the blue-eyed man said, waving off the other more worldly newsprints and earning himself another raised eyebrow. Hilde, however, refrained from commenting, merely added his requested items to the list and continued sorting her paperwork.
---
Before long the rest of the household woke, breaking the cool quiet of the morning as rambunctious strawberry-blond and not-quite-awake chestnut joined them.
"No coffee," Hilde reminded the braided man pointedly as, out of habit, Duo made for the pot.
The thwarted let out a mild curse under his breath, mindful of little ears. "Good thing I have you around to remind me, Hil. Whatever would I do without you?" Duo asked, giving the German woman a tired smile.
The former OZ-pilot paused, glancing at Heero significantly before returning the smile along with a good-natured jibe. "Oh, well, I suppose you'd fail miserably at life."
"Harsh, Hilde-sis, harsh," Duo laughed, throwing a dramatic hand across his forehead as he leaned back against the counter. "You see how they treat me, Heero? I fail at life but they keep me around for a good laugh!"
Heero grunted mildly, "Where are your socks?"
Violet-blue eyes widened comically, face turning down to observe his bare feet on the tile floor before returning to lock with rich Prussian. "Not you too! Spirits save me! I'm surrounded by Mother Hens!"
Heero was saved from answering as tiny hands wrapped themselves around his wrist, pulling slightly to gain his attention. "Good morning, Pádraic," the dark haired man said gently, warmth welling up in his chest as he gazed upon his son.
The boy's blue eyes pleaded with him, bright smile plastered across the child's heart-shaped face.
"He wants you to fix his breakfast for him, Heero," Duo chuckled as he passed the two, headed back toward his bedroom. Probably to retrieve his socks, Heero noted. "One spoon honey and a good bit of milk," the braided man called back over his shoulder.
By the time the former-Deathscythe pilot had returned, the boy was sitting in Heero's lap, happily munching on his oats with a sippy cup of orange juice at hand.
The Japanese former pilot glanced up, meeting the gaze of his braided friend. Duo's eyes had taken on a soft look to them, an almost misty quality as he looked upon them: his friend and their son. A brilliant smile blossomed on the slender man's face before he made his way over to take up his own breakfast.
"So do you have plans for the day, Heero?" the brunet asked, cutting up a strawberry to mix in with his bowl yogurt and granola.
"Other than meeting Kieran later, not really," Heero confessed, wiping Pádraic's chin where a bit of milk was dribbling its way toward his shirt. The three-year-old grinned up at him before shoving the sippy spout into his mouth.
Duo smiled as a bit of the orange juice also made its way down the boy's chin, prompting Heero to wipe that away as well. "Would you like to take Pádraic to the park with me, then?" the braided man offered.
At the word 'park', the boy perked up. Large eyes turned from his Daddy to the Japanese man. Even if Heero had wanted to say no, he couldn't have denied the boy anything when pinned with that look. "That sounds fantastic," Heero smiled.
---
By the time Duo and Pádraic were ready to leave for the park, Hilde was already gone.
"Jackets," Heero told them, passing on Hilde's parting reminder. Duo rolled his eyes, but shirked on his own windbreaker before helping Pádraic into his own. "Ready to go?" the Asian man inquired, scooping up an armful of child.
"To the park!" Duo crowed, reaching up to ruffle the boy's blond hair as they stepped off the porch.
Well manicured gardens [2] lined their path as they trailed down the sidewalk. "This once was a bustling community, back before the colonies," Duo told him conversationally. "After the second World War the community thrived, but by the end of the century the populace had plummeted -- the kids grew up and moved away. By the time the colonies were founded the township was more like a village..." the braided man smiled, "Everyone here knows each other and watches after everyone else's kids. It's nice..."
There was a bittersweetness in the tone of his friend's voice that told the former Perfect Soldier that the other was thinking of his own childhood. "It seems like the perfect place to raise a family..." the dark haired man offered, shifting the burden on his hip.
"Yeah," Duo breathed, gifting the other man with a soft smile.
They walked in silence for a while, Heero eventually letting the squirming boy down to walk hand-in-hand between his parents. The day itself was decently warm, the sun burning off the mist that had clouded the morning sky. Occasionally Duo would greet a neighbor as they passed, but otherwise they walked on... past the gnarled and aged wrought iron fences, past the cobbled alleys.
Before Heero knew it they had arrived.
Pádraic bounced gleefully between them, gazing imploringly up for permission to run free. "Sandbox?" Duo asked the excited child, earning a fervent nod. "Alright, don't get out of my sight."
As Pádraic ran for the sandbox, he and Duo ambled their way toward the swings. With a sigh, the braided man seated himself on the hard plastic swing.
"About what you said last night," Heero began, pausing as Duo visibly tensed up. "I need to know what you want from me, in regards to Pádraic..."
The former soldier realised his mistake in phrasing when his friend spoke.
"I don't want anything from you, Heero," the braided man replied icily. "I just... needed to tell you."
"That's..." Heero scrubbed his face with one hand, silently berating himself. Hilde was going to have his balls... "I didn't mean it like that, Duo. The idea of having a son... I want to share in his life. But I need to know how much you're willing to allow me. I realise I haven't been the most reliable person in your life; and I understand it is your decision to make..."
At his words, Duo relaxed, even smiled a little. "Are you going to stick around, Heero? 'Cause that's going to determine what role I'll allow you..."
"I asked Hilde to bring me a newspaper," the dark haired man offered, earning a confused look from his braided companion. "I'm looking for a place to rent, either here in Rathfarnham or perhaps in Dublin city."
"I suppose, then, we'll just have to see how things play out, won't we?" Duo asked, refusing to give a solid answer. That was fine by Heero. He would prove to Duo and his 'family' that the former Wing pilot wasn't going anywhere any time soon.
TBC
Footnotes:
[1] Not necessarily true... but it's a common thought. Although a good sum of the other Irish-Americans I know, most of whom I attend Pub with on Thursdays, do tend to judge you by WHAT you drink: Guinness - Good man! Killian's - Well, it'll do. Black & Tan : Are ya bloody out o' yer mind, mate?! Yeungling : Don't care to play with the big boys? Woodchuck : Well, it has more alcohol by volume than me draught does...
[2] For the Americans : In the UK, particularly suburbia, the 'lawns' are small and called gardens. The Compact Oxford English Dictionary defines 'garden' as "a piece of ground adjoining a house, typically cultivated to provide a lawn and flowerbeds."
Enunciation table:
Pàdraic (PAW-drik/Pah-drik)
Kieran (KEE-ran)