Author: Badmomma
Warnings/Pairings: None. Gen fic.
Timeline: In universe, approximately 1 yr after Mariemaeia coup.
AN: Part of the Snapshots Series
Disclaimer: Belong to me, they do not. Play with them, I do.
The intercom came to life with a chirp. "Mr. Winner?"
"Yes Marlene?"
"Mr. Maxwell is on channel two for you, may I put him through?"
"Yes, thank you."
Audio and video took but a moment to connect once Quatre pressed the button to accept the call. The image of his friend came into sharp focus, his face already turning back to the camera as he nodded at someone off screen.
"Duo." Even he could hear the warmth in his voice at the welcome sight of his friend.
Duo grinned widely, eyes crinkling, and waved. "Hey Q-man! How's it hanging?"
Quatre snickered at the usual greeting, ready with a response today. "A little longer in front than in the back." At Duo's hesitation and slightly curious gaze, he raised a hand to his head and pushed his overgrown bangs up from his face.
"Aaaaah! Very good! I think that one deserves... 6 points."
"Only 6?" He feigned indignation. "You gave me 8 for the monkey comment!"
"Well yes, but that one was very metaphorical, this was much more literal. It's good, but not as good. Keep practicing, grass-ha-pah." He bowed low before the camera, only partly hiding his widening smile.
Quatre chuckled goodheartedly. It was a game between them, to come up with obscure answers to commonly used expressions; extra points were often awarded for creativity and reaction. Which reminded him.
"I think I should get an extra point for your reaction."
"Who says I didn't already give you one?" Duo narrowed his eyes at Quatre, challenging him.
"Your initial assessment was 'very good'. If good automatically rates a 5, very good should at least rate a 6, that means I deserve an extra point for reaction. I stumped you, plain and simple. You might have gotten it eventually, but I had to explain. Therefore, I invoke the stump rule and take another point."
Duo threw his hands up in surrender and chuckled lightly. "Note to self, never to go up against Quatre in the conference room, I'll lose every time."
He reached for something at the side of his phone and Quatre could hear the scratch of pencil on paper.
"Alright, my good man, that brings you to a whopping 52 points. You've still got a ways to go before catching up to me, but you're doing better all the time!" Duo sounded slightly patronizing and if Quatre hadn't know it was all in fun, he might have been insulted.
They both settled back in their chairs, as if on command, which elicited a round of snickering on both their parts. When the humor had settled slightly Quatre gave in to his curiosity.
"I talked to you just last week Duo, is everything OK?"
"Yeah, yeah. Everything's fine. Just thought you might be in need of my translation services."
"Translation ser- Heero sent an email!?" Even as he was answering his own question, he was opening up his email program to check for messages. Sure enough, there was an email from Heero that had come in during the second of his three meetings that morning.
He opted to open it, but was already turning back to Duo before the screen had populated. "Alright, go ahead." He answered the grin that met him with one of his own.
"OK, Heero says that he's doing great. He's still going through J's old crap and figuring out what to do with it. His lazy ass still hasn't gotten a phone; and he probably won't because he doesn't think he'll be there much longer. Um, what else... oh yeah! He's apparently made contact with some of J's old associates, people he knew or worked with, and they've given him some excellent information, so all's good on that end; I think he might actually have gotten some answers to the questions he had about himself. And uh... oh, he'll probably enroll in school, college I would imagine, within the next few months. In closing, hugs and kisses to everyone, he hopes we're all doing well, and we should call him if we need anything."
Duo was grinning like a loon when Quatre finally turned back to the monitor. He'd been skimming the text of Heero's email as Duo had been giving his interpretation of what had been sent. It had been their experience that their quiet and, as Duo put it, verbally challenged friend sent almost identical emails to the two of them.
"He signed 'Gambatte' and 'Ja ne' Duo, not 'hugs and kisses' and all that other crap."
"Yeah, yeah, but you know as well as I do if he's using Japanese it's because he couldn't find any words in another language that meant the same, just as efficiently. That's just him being frugal."
He had a point, that was a very typical thing for Heero to do. While the quality and length of the emails had improved over the last year, they were still short, concise and almost written in code. To anyone that had never met the pilot of Wing Zero the messages made little sense; to those who knew him, they were cryptic at best.
He looked over the email one more time and turned a skeptical face back at his friend. "I think you exaggerated on the 'he's doing great' part."
"Au contraire, mon frere! Please note the wording of his greeting, he says, and I quote, 'I am well.' That, in Heero-speak, means he's doing great. Remember, you have to multiply by a factor of at least 5. And dieing hurts like hell!"
They both laughed at that. Ever since he'd heard the story from Trowa, Duo had used those same words to emphasize any understatement.
"OK, fair enough, but what about the bit about his going to school. He wrote in mine," he turned back to make sure he got the wording right, "'I anticipate continued education is imminent.' Wouldn't that just mean that he's going to keep trying to find answers for his questions?"
"I don't know." He watched Duo's eyes stray upward and become unfocused, thinking hard about his conclusions. Duo looked back at the monitor when resolution came. "Nope. I think it means he's going to school. See, to Heero what he's doing right now is... think of it as research, he's prepping. He's getting himself ready to move on with his life. That wouldn't be 'education' it would be 'investigation'. So if he says 'education is imminent', he means that he's thinking about going to school. It would make sense to him, I mean, it's not like any of us have any records to show for ourselves."
Quatre pointedly cleared his throat.
"Oh sorry, I forgot. Some of us do." He quickly made a face like he'd swallowed something sour, but it settled back to normal as he continued with his reasoning. "Look, he'd want to have something to prove that he was worthy or capable of doing whatever job he decides to go after and a diploma of some sort would do that. He's got enough smarts that he doesn't need to waste time in high school, so he'll probably forge a diploma for that and apply to a university. At least that's what I think." He shrugged.
Relaxing back against his chair, Quatre gave it some thought.
That reasoning did seem to be very Heero-like. It amazed him sometimes that Duo had managed to get such a good handle on Heero's personality and thought processes. During the wars, the two of them had worked together more than any of the others had, but in Quatre's mind it wasn't nearly enough to truly have figured each other out. And Heero had been a tough nut to crack back then, especially at the beginning. They'd apparently also had some contact in the year of quiet that separated the two conflicts; but with Heero's periodic disappearances and Duo's courier work, it couldn't have been enough to warrant such a thorough understanding. And yet Duo had accurately predicted quite a few of Heero's moves over the last year, the most impressive of which was knowing how and when Heero's updates would arrive. He'd predicted Heero would contact them only four times a year, on the same day of the month and only in text format – he'd insisted there would be no live calls. He'd been right, too. Heero's emails came once every three months to the day and he'd never yet done anything but email.
Quatre sighed at the enigma that was Heero Yuy. He wished he better understood what drove his friend and could figure out a way to help him.
"Cheer up, man. At least we know he cares. We've just gotta give him a little more time, Quatre. The boy's had it rough and I got the impression that while his doc didn't treat him badly, per se, he didn't exactly nurture much either. Heero just needs time to come to grips with some things."
"I know! Believe me I completely understand that. I just wish there was something I could do to help. We're his friends, he should know he can rely on us. I just feel like he doesn't trust us to know how to help!"
"Dude, we keep having this conversation. This is Heero we're talking about. To him, leaning on us when he's not sure what he can offer in return – or if what he can offer is 'worthy' – is just plain wrong. It's gotta be like-for-like, Quatre. Until he figures out who he is for himself, he can't figure out who he can be for us. In the mean time, we wait. And consider ourselves lucky that he cares enough to keep in touch."
Huffing a disgruntled breath, because it was an old and well discussed topic between them, he leaned forward propping an elbow on his desk. "You gonna write him back?"
"Don't I always?"
"And copy me?"
"Do I need to repeat myself?" was accompanied by a smirk.
Eyes rolled then became serious. "Think there's any cha-"
Duo huffed loudly. "You know damn well what the answer is, so stop asking!"
"Fine! But I don't like it!"
"Yeah? And? Lobsters don't like butter, either. You don't hear them whining about it!"
"I am not whining!" He pounded his hand on the desk in frustration. "And what the hell do lob"
Duo erupted into laughter. "Ahahahahah! Got you- ooh-ooh ooh-ooh!" He was doing a little victory dance in his seat. "I knew it! I knew it was coming. God, you're like clockwork! I got you bad! Uh-huh, uh-huh! Oh yeah, that's puts me at uh, 98 points. Ha!"
"Don't flatter yourself, it wasn't that good." He was trying to sound unimpressed and put out, but his growing smile was interfering.
There was a soft tap at the door before it opened a crack, Marlene ducking her head inside. "Sorry to interrupt." She said quietly. "Your 11:30 just arrived. I took them to the conference room. Do you need me to do anything else?"
"No, thanks, I'm all set." He motioned to the stack of handouts on the credenza. When he looked back at the monitor Duo was pouting sympathetically. He shrugged. "Duty calls."
"Don't it always." Duo shook his head. "Take care man, I'll be in touch."
"You too Duo. And you know you don't have to wait until the rent is due to call."
A quiet understanding passed between them. Duo always checked in with him at the first of the month. "Right." There was a knowing chuckle. "I think the berth fees are due around the fifteenth."
"Hmm, interesting. I think my berth fees are due around the seventh, and then the fuel bill has to be settled on the twenty-first." He stood and straightened his shirt. "Gambatte, Duo, ja ne."
He got a nod in response, "Gambatte, Q-man, ja!"
The connection was dropped.
Fini.
