LOVE
She walked into the living room, took a deep breath and approached her parents. Her father was behind his laptop, working, he did not even look at her. Her mother was reading and signing some documents, but she stopped for a second to greet her daughter with a smile.
Aoi stood there, shifting her weight from one foot to the other, while she gathered her courage. She was sixteen… It was about time. Or so she liked to believe. But then why was she so worried?
'I need to talk to you.'
Heero stopped typing and met her eyes. 'Go on.'
'We're listening.' Relena agreed. 'Would you like to sit down?'
Shaking her head, she shifted from foot to foot again and cleared her throat. 'I have a boyfriend.'
'A boyfriend? Since when?' Relena asked naturally, allowing her daughter to relax a little bit.
'We've been going out for about seven weeks.'
'Do you love him?'
'I do. Actually… he's here.'
'Well, then bring him in.' she watched the girl leave obviously tense and sighed.
'Boyfriend?' Heero whispered sceptically.
'Just be nice. Aoi clearly likes him… And you don't even know him. He might be a good boy.'
'There are no good boys, Relena. After all we've been through… I thought you knew that.'
'Just because you cannot trust anyone, does not mean our daughter shouldn't.'
'I trust you. And Aoi. And that, to me, is more than enough.'
'The wars have left too many scars.' She stood up to greet the blushing boy who followed Aoi into the room uncertainly.
Trust was a concept Heero did not even consider anymore. If life had taught him one thing it was not to trust anyone or anything. It was true he had, with no little difficulties, learned to trust Relena completely and he trusted his daughter because he knew how she had been raised and by whom. She carried their values, but that boy…
Aoi claimed to love him, but love was untrustworthy. What was there to love about him anyways? He was no Apollo and certainly did not look like an Einstein either. He may be sweet and educated, but did he love her back? Were they not too young to know what love was?
Heero sighed, remembering how young he had been when he realised he had fallen in love with Relena. He put his work aside for a moment, for the sake of his daughter, and greeted the young man with a firm – maybe too firm – handshake. The demonstrations of power between men never changed… At least that was something he could trust.
Besides what was hidden in his own heart.