Daddy Duo
Chapter 12
I Need a Heero
Duo was playing "Jet Fighter Pilot" on his laptop when Heero came into his small office.
Seeing the look on Heero's face, he said, "I'm on break," and stuck out his tongue.
"I wasn't going to say anything," said Heero, folding his arms. "At least this game will improve your piloting skills."
Duo threw a stapler at him, which he deftly dodged. "Ah, you made me lose, godammit," he said loudly, reaching up and yanking on his braid in self- punishment.
"Whatcha need?" asked Duo. "Or are you here to make sure I'm working on that report?"
"My request is personal, that's why I'm here on your break," said Heero.
"Personal?" repeated Duo. "Do you need to use my bathroom?"
"No," said Heero shortly, and his mouth quirked downward slightly.
"I want to ask you to be best man at my wedding."
Duo fell off his swivel chair.
"ME?" he asked from under his desk.
"There is no one else here that I would be asking, is there?" said Heero, coming over and sitting on the corner of Duo's desk.
Duo went to stand up and hit his head on the computer tray that was still pulled out.
"OW!" he yelled loudly, "Sunofabitchingodammthing!" he said.
He stood up, avoiding the tray this time and slammed it back in place. He kicked the desk with his boot to show it who was boss.
Heero was still waiting patiently, watching Duo impassively.
"You know, anger management classes would do you a world of good," he said to Duo. There was a hint of a smile on his face.
Duo's eyebrows went up to his hairline and his mouth went slack.
"You made a joke," said Duo in an amazed tone.
"Did someone recharge your batteries finally? Get your neck bolts tightened? Rewind your key?" asked Duo, starting to grin widely.
Heero scowled at him. "Don't push your luck," he growled at Duo.
"Back to normal already," said Duo, sighing. "Well, it was fun while it lasted."
"Why me?" he asked again, plopping back down in his chair and putting his boots up on his desk.
"Because it is customary to ask one's best friend," replied Heero, looking at the blotter on Duo's desk.
"I'm your best friend?" asked Duo.
"Of course," said Heero. "At least, I assume you are. If you do not want the honor, I can ask someone else, but I was hoping.."
"No, no, that's fine," Duo interrupted him. "I'd be, um, honored," he said, sticking out his hand.
"Am I really your best friend?" asked Duo again, with his hand sticking out in mid air.
Heero finally took the offered hand and shook it solemnly. "Yes," he said simply.
"Aw man," said Duo tearily, coming around his desk. Before Heero could disengage Duo's hand, he grabbed him up in a bear hug.
"Can't breathe," muttered Heero inaudibly, unable to get away. He made a mental note to increase his training time.
"I love you too, man," said Duo, finally releasing Heero and wiping his eyes on his sleeve.
Heero looked at the wet spot on his shirt and sighed imperceptibly.
"Sorry bout the shirt, man," said Duo, still choked up.
"I have another," said Heero, shrugging.
"Bout time you and Relena made it permanent," said Duo.
"Her brother threatened to have me arrested if I didn't marry her," said Heero. "Although on what charge I cannot imagine. She's over 21."
"Did he..?"
"Yes, he caught us together," said Heero. "We were going to announce it in a few months anyway, but I was .. Put under duress to speed things up."
Duo began to laugh. "I wish I'd been there." He wiped his eyes again.
"I thought you got those bruises on a mission!" laughed Duo.
"It was quite a fight," said Heero. "He was equally damaged." There was a hint of smugness in his tone.
"Who won?" asked Duo. "Relena," said Heero shortly. "She pulled a gun on us."
Duo laughed so hard he almost fell off the chair again.
"I definitely wish I'd been there."
"I should have never given her that antique nickel plated engraved Glock 9mm for her birthday," sighed Heero.
"That's what you ended up getting her for her birthday?"
"Yes."
"I remember, I was supposed to ask Hilde about that, but then we got sort of distracted."
"I understand," said Heero. "The baby."
"You should come over and see him," said Duo. "The baby I mean."
"I'm not really a baby person," said Heero. "No offense."
"You don't have to be," said Duo. "I promise I won't sic him on you. And Relena's a girl. Girls like babies, usually."
"All right," said Heero. It was hard to tell if he was reluctant or not.
"So, how does Relena feel about me being best man?" asked Duo.
"She said it was one way to make sure you didn't wear a light-up bow tie to the wedding."
Duo laughed. "She must have seen me buying it."
"You actually own a light up bow tie?"
"Doesn't everyone?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Duo nervously checked his periwinkle blue shirt and black slacks in the mirror in the hallway to make sure there was no baby spit-up on them.
"Good to go," he nodded to himself. Hilde came out of the bedroom holding Solo, who was wearing a slightly silly looking red and navy sailor suit that Relena had sent him for a gift.
Duo called him "Admiral Solo" when Hilde put him in it. Solo, somehow sensing even at 5 months old that he looked a little ridiculous, frowned. It even had a little sailor hat that went with it. Solo pulled it off of his head and threw it on the floor. He had learned to both grab and let go of things.
"You look nice," Duo said to Hilde. She was wearing a dark blue silk shift that looked very complementary with her blue black hair and blue eyes.
"Thanks," said Hilde. "It'll be nice to have company, even though I am a bit nervous."
"Don't worry about Relena," Duo said. "She's not stuck up, really. She just looks that way on TV."
"I just haven't had time to get to know her better," said Hilde.
"And you know Heero," said Duo. "You can't impress him anyway, and even if you did, you'd never know it."
Hilde chuckled. "Well, no matter what I do, Solo is NOT wearing this hat, so I hope she's not offended."
"He's a baby," said Duo. "Babies get away with murder."
"He shouldn't be wearing a hat indoors anyway," said Duo. "Bad manners."
They went to answer the doorbell, which rang at that moment.
Heero and Relena were there, Relena in a soft buttercream yellow shell and skirt and Heero wearing a dark blue shirt and slacks.
"Come in, please," said Hilde. Solo looked wide-eyed at Heero and ducked his head against Hilde's shoulder, looking coy.
"He's adorable, Hilde," said Relena. "He's wearing that silly sailor suit my secretary picked out, I see," she giggled a little. "He looks like a baby admiral!"
Hilde grinned, relaxing. "It's kind of cute, but Solo is a bit too active for dress clothes. He prefers a diaper and a t-shirt, to be honest."
Duo exhaled. "Wanna beer, Heero?" he asked. Heero nodded, still looking at Solo like he was some rare alien fauna.
"I've never seen a baby up close before," he finally said, taking the beer from Duo.
"Babysitting wasn't exactly on our mission list," said Duo. "But I guess you weren't around too many kids, period."
Heero shook his head.
Hilde was getting Relena a glass of lemonade. "I'm driving," she said, taking the glass.
"He's just a person, only little," said Duo. "Wanna hold him?"
Heero almost dropped his beer. "No!" he said shortly.
"Scared?" said Duo, grinning a mischievous smile.
"Don't tease him, Duo," admonished Hilde. "He doesn't have to hold the baby if it makes him uncomfortable."
"Chicken!" said Duo, ignoring Hilde. Relena raised her eyebrows, but just sipped her lemonade.
"I accept your challenge," said Heero suddenly.
He went over to Hilde. "Show me what to do," he said in a commanding tone.
Hilde looked at Duo, who grinned and nodded. "All right," said Hilde, looking at Relena.
Relena was hiding behind her glass of lemonade, trying not to laugh.
"Just hold our your arms and make sure you have a firm hold on him, but not too tight," said Hilde. "He's a little wiggly."
Solo looked warily at Heero as Hilde place him in the man's arms.
Heero held Solo stiffly, but not too hard, as he'd been told.
"He doesn't like me," said Heero, looking at Solo's face.
"He feels your not comfortable," said Duo. "Just relax and he will too."
Heero took a deep meditative breath and let it out, relaxing visibly.
Solo looked around and suddenly reached up and grabbed a lock of Heero's messy bangs and grinned widely.
"He's pulling my hair," said Heero quietly. "Which makes it hard to relax!" he said with gritted teeth. Relena smirked and quickly took a drink.
"Let go, buddy," said Duo, going over and unwrapping Solo's fingers from Heero's hair.
"Sorry, I forgot to warn you about that," said Duo. "He almost yanks me bald-headed all the time."
"Are all babies like this?" asked Heero.
"Pretty much," said Duo. "From what I know, anyway. They sort of grow on you, though. Do you want me to take him?"
"No," said Heero. "I'll watch him from now on. He won't do it again."
He gave Solo a glare as he reached again for Heero's bangs and Solo withdrew his chubby fist.
"Teach me how to do that, will ya?" asked Duo, impressed.
Heero sat down in a large armchair with Solo on his lap and proceeded to drink more of his beer.
Relena and Hilde stopped talking for a moment and looked, then went back to their conversation about the upcoming wedding.
Solo sat still, gazing at Heero curiously with wide eyes.
Finally, he sighed, yawned and closed his eyes, snuggling into the crook of Heero's arm. In a few minutes, he was asleep.
"You're pretty good at this baby thing," said Duo.
Heero shrugged. "What's difficult about it?" he asked.
Duo took Solo and went to put him in his crib, gently slipping off the restrictive sailor suit and putting a blanket over him. Heero looked over his shoulder.
"Thank you," he said to Duo.
"What'd I do?" asked Duo.
"I've never held a baby before, now I have," said Heero.
"Oh," said Duo. "It was nothing," he added.
"We should go ahead with dinner before he wakes up," said Duo. "A kid- free dinner is a wonderful thing."
They went back into the living room.
"Funny, I never pictured you as a babysitter, but you're on the top of my list now," joked Duo. "You should become a nanny, honestly!"
Heero snorted. "Baka," he said.
Chapter 12
I Need a Heero
Duo was playing "Jet Fighter Pilot" on his laptop when Heero came into his small office.
Seeing the look on Heero's face, he said, "I'm on break," and stuck out his tongue.
"I wasn't going to say anything," said Heero, folding his arms. "At least this game will improve your piloting skills."
Duo threw a stapler at him, which he deftly dodged. "Ah, you made me lose, godammit," he said loudly, reaching up and yanking on his braid in self- punishment.
"Whatcha need?" asked Duo. "Or are you here to make sure I'm working on that report?"
"My request is personal, that's why I'm here on your break," said Heero.
"Personal?" repeated Duo. "Do you need to use my bathroom?"
"No," said Heero shortly, and his mouth quirked downward slightly.
"I want to ask you to be best man at my wedding."
Duo fell off his swivel chair.
"ME?" he asked from under his desk.
"There is no one else here that I would be asking, is there?" said Heero, coming over and sitting on the corner of Duo's desk.
Duo went to stand up and hit his head on the computer tray that was still pulled out.
"OW!" he yelled loudly, "Sunofabitchingodammthing!" he said.
He stood up, avoiding the tray this time and slammed it back in place. He kicked the desk with his boot to show it who was boss.
Heero was still waiting patiently, watching Duo impassively.
"You know, anger management classes would do you a world of good," he said to Duo. There was a hint of a smile on his face.
Duo's eyebrows went up to his hairline and his mouth went slack.
"You made a joke," said Duo in an amazed tone.
"Did someone recharge your batteries finally? Get your neck bolts tightened? Rewind your key?" asked Duo, starting to grin widely.
Heero scowled at him. "Don't push your luck," he growled at Duo.
"Back to normal already," said Duo, sighing. "Well, it was fun while it lasted."
"Why me?" he asked again, plopping back down in his chair and putting his boots up on his desk.
"Because it is customary to ask one's best friend," replied Heero, looking at the blotter on Duo's desk.
"I'm your best friend?" asked Duo.
"Of course," said Heero. "At least, I assume you are. If you do not want the honor, I can ask someone else, but I was hoping.."
"No, no, that's fine," Duo interrupted him. "I'd be, um, honored," he said, sticking out his hand.
"Am I really your best friend?" asked Duo again, with his hand sticking out in mid air.
Heero finally took the offered hand and shook it solemnly. "Yes," he said simply.
"Aw man," said Duo tearily, coming around his desk. Before Heero could disengage Duo's hand, he grabbed him up in a bear hug.
"Can't breathe," muttered Heero inaudibly, unable to get away. He made a mental note to increase his training time.
"I love you too, man," said Duo, finally releasing Heero and wiping his eyes on his sleeve.
Heero looked at the wet spot on his shirt and sighed imperceptibly.
"Sorry bout the shirt, man," said Duo, still choked up.
"I have another," said Heero, shrugging.
"Bout time you and Relena made it permanent," said Duo.
"Her brother threatened to have me arrested if I didn't marry her," said Heero. "Although on what charge I cannot imagine. She's over 21."
"Did he..?"
"Yes, he caught us together," said Heero. "We were going to announce it in a few months anyway, but I was .. Put under duress to speed things up."
Duo began to laugh. "I wish I'd been there." He wiped his eyes again.
"I thought you got those bruises on a mission!" laughed Duo.
"It was quite a fight," said Heero. "He was equally damaged." There was a hint of smugness in his tone.
"Who won?" asked Duo. "Relena," said Heero shortly. "She pulled a gun on us."
Duo laughed so hard he almost fell off the chair again.
"I definitely wish I'd been there."
"I should have never given her that antique nickel plated engraved Glock 9mm for her birthday," sighed Heero.
"That's what you ended up getting her for her birthday?"
"Yes."
"I remember, I was supposed to ask Hilde about that, but then we got sort of distracted."
"I understand," said Heero. "The baby."
"You should come over and see him," said Duo. "The baby I mean."
"I'm not really a baby person," said Heero. "No offense."
"You don't have to be," said Duo. "I promise I won't sic him on you. And Relena's a girl. Girls like babies, usually."
"All right," said Heero. It was hard to tell if he was reluctant or not.
"So, how does Relena feel about me being best man?" asked Duo.
"She said it was one way to make sure you didn't wear a light-up bow tie to the wedding."
Duo laughed. "She must have seen me buying it."
"You actually own a light up bow tie?"
"Doesn't everyone?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Duo nervously checked his periwinkle blue shirt and black slacks in the mirror in the hallway to make sure there was no baby spit-up on them.
"Good to go," he nodded to himself. Hilde came out of the bedroom holding Solo, who was wearing a slightly silly looking red and navy sailor suit that Relena had sent him for a gift.
Duo called him "Admiral Solo" when Hilde put him in it. Solo, somehow sensing even at 5 months old that he looked a little ridiculous, frowned. It even had a little sailor hat that went with it. Solo pulled it off of his head and threw it on the floor. He had learned to both grab and let go of things.
"You look nice," Duo said to Hilde. She was wearing a dark blue silk shift that looked very complementary with her blue black hair and blue eyes.
"Thanks," said Hilde. "It'll be nice to have company, even though I am a bit nervous."
"Don't worry about Relena," Duo said. "She's not stuck up, really. She just looks that way on TV."
"I just haven't had time to get to know her better," said Hilde.
"And you know Heero," said Duo. "You can't impress him anyway, and even if you did, you'd never know it."
Hilde chuckled. "Well, no matter what I do, Solo is NOT wearing this hat, so I hope she's not offended."
"He's a baby," said Duo. "Babies get away with murder."
"He shouldn't be wearing a hat indoors anyway," said Duo. "Bad manners."
They went to answer the doorbell, which rang at that moment.
Heero and Relena were there, Relena in a soft buttercream yellow shell and skirt and Heero wearing a dark blue shirt and slacks.
"Come in, please," said Hilde. Solo looked wide-eyed at Heero and ducked his head against Hilde's shoulder, looking coy.
"He's adorable, Hilde," said Relena. "He's wearing that silly sailor suit my secretary picked out, I see," she giggled a little. "He looks like a baby admiral!"
Hilde grinned, relaxing. "It's kind of cute, but Solo is a bit too active for dress clothes. He prefers a diaper and a t-shirt, to be honest."
Duo exhaled. "Wanna beer, Heero?" he asked. Heero nodded, still looking at Solo like he was some rare alien fauna.
"I've never seen a baby up close before," he finally said, taking the beer from Duo.
"Babysitting wasn't exactly on our mission list," said Duo. "But I guess you weren't around too many kids, period."
Heero shook his head.
Hilde was getting Relena a glass of lemonade. "I'm driving," she said, taking the glass.
"He's just a person, only little," said Duo. "Wanna hold him?"
Heero almost dropped his beer. "No!" he said shortly.
"Scared?" said Duo, grinning a mischievous smile.
"Don't tease him, Duo," admonished Hilde. "He doesn't have to hold the baby if it makes him uncomfortable."
"Chicken!" said Duo, ignoring Hilde. Relena raised her eyebrows, but just sipped her lemonade.
"I accept your challenge," said Heero suddenly.
He went over to Hilde. "Show me what to do," he said in a commanding tone.
Hilde looked at Duo, who grinned and nodded. "All right," said Hilde, looking at Relena.
Relena was hiding behind her glass of lemonade, trying not to laugh.
"Just hold our your arms and make sure you have a firm hold on him, but not too tight," said Hilde. "He's a little wiggly."
Solo looked warily at Heero as Hilde place him in the man's arms.
Heero held Solo stiffly, but not too hard, as he'd been told.
"He doesn't like me," said Heero, looking at Solo's face.
"He feels your not comfortable," said Duo. "Just relax and he will too."
Heero took a deep meditative breath and let it out, relaxing visibly.
Solo looked around and suddenly reached up and grabbed a lock of Heero's messy bangs and grinned widely.
"He's pulling my hair," said Heero quietly. "Which makes it hard to relax!" he said with gritted teeth. Relena smirked and quickly took a drink.
"Let go, buddy," said Duo, going over and unwrapping Solo's fingers from Heero's hair.
"Sorry, I forgot to warn you about that," said Duo. "He almost yanks me bald-headed all the time."
"Are all babies like this?" asked Heero.
"Pretty much," said Duo. "From what I know, anyway. They sort of grow on you, though. Do you want me to take him?"
"No," said Heero. "I'll watch him from now on. He won't do it again."
He gave Solo a glare as he reached again for Heero's bangs and Solo withdrew his chubby fist.
"Teach me how to do that, will ya?" asked Duo, impressed.
Heero sat down in a large armchair with Solo on his lap and proceeded to drink more of his beer.
Relena and Hilde stopped talking for a moment and looked, then went back to their conversation about the upcoming wedding.
Solo sat still, gazing at Heero curiously with wide eyes.
Finally, he sighed, yawned and closed his eyes, snuggling into the crook of Heero's arm. In a few minutes, he was asleep.
"You're pretty good at this baby thing," said Duo.
Heero shrugged. "What's difficult about it?" he asked.
Duo took Solo and went to put him in his crib, gently slipping off the restrictive sailor suit and putting a blanket over him. Heero looked over his shoulder.
"Thank you," he said to Duo.
"What'd I do?" asked Duo.
"I've never held a baby before, now I have," said Heero.
"Oh," said Duo. "It was nothing," he added.
"We should go ahead with dinner before he wakes up," said Duo. "A kid- free dinner is a wonderful thing."
They went back into the living room.
"Funny, I never pictured you as a babysitter, but you're on the top of my list now," joked Duo. "You should become a nanny, honestly!"
Heero snorted. "Baka," he said.
