Chibi Kisses 01 – Cry Baby

(written for Ery, co-conspirator in chibi plot bunnies! ^_^)

Pairing : 1+5
Ratings : PG
Warnings : AU, cutesiness, fluff
Disclaimer : Gundam Wing belongs to Bandai, Sotsu, Sunrise and associated affiliates, not me.

Summary : Chibi Heero stumbled upon a crying Wufei. What's wrong with the chibi, and how can Heero help? ^_^

The teacher looked up from the exercise book, obviously pleased. Perfect ten again, for the tenth time in a row. She smiled at the brightest child in her class. Only seven, but this boy had the brains and temperament of more than his years.

So adorable in his seriousness, the child gazed back at her from large, deep-blue eyes. Still beaming away, she reached into her bag and retrieved a gaily-coloured case. The moment she opened it, the prettiest colours flashed from the case. She ran her fingers over the long, nicely-sharpened pencils, and finally picked out one with twirls of gold, blue and silver. There! A reward for the boy for getting his sums correct without fail since the first exercise.

She presented the gift to the child, and couldn't help ruffling his chocolate-brown bangs as she did so. "You've done *very* well, Heero!" she praised him, smiling when he accepted the gift solemnly, although unable to hide the shine in his eyes. "Now run along. Your Mummy and Daddy must be waiting."

Polite as ever, Heero bowed quickly, before trooping out of the classroom, the pencil clutched at his chest.


++++++++++


The moment he was out of the school, he carefully placed the pencil in his pencil-case, but not before admiring those bright colours for one last time.

He suddenly heard the soft noises. At first, they sounded like the mewling from a cat, but gradually, they sounded more and more like crying. Puzzled, he turned his head this way and that. He couldn't see anyone else, but he could still hear the crying. It came from right behind the bus-stop.

He tried to keep from feeling afraid of what he might find, but he had to find out who was making all these noises. Taking a deep breath, he edged around the bus-stop, then he stopped short.

At first, he thought it was a weird-looking ball on the ground, then he saw it wasn't a ball but a person like him, curled up so tightly it looked like a ball. He circled the ball-person carefully, able to hear the sniffling noises coming from it, but unable to see anything other than the weird white stuff it was wearing and dark hair pulled back into a tiny tail.

The ball just kept on sniffling and crying, but not moving.

Tired of walking around in circles, Heero finally crouched before the ball. Extending a finger, he tentatively poked what he believed was an arm. To his surprise, it was soft, like cream. Then to his greater alarm, the ball froze, then it expanded into a flurry of arms and legs and he was suddenly looking into enormous black eyes.

"Hello," Heero said with a solemn nod.

The little boy – now Heero could see it *was* a little boy even littler than he – blinked kittenishly back at him. He was small and wore a white tunic. He was also round everywhere! A round black-haired head, big round eyes, a tiny button nose that looked like it should belong on a pixie, and a mouth now turned down at the corners as he sniffled noisily.

Without warning, the little boy stood up and made as if to scamper away.

"Wait!" Heero cried. "Why are you crying?" he ran after the boy, easily catching up and grabbing a small arm.

"Leggofme!" the boy screamed.

And Heero let go.

The little boy stumbled, tottering unsteadily on his feet before landing with a plop on his bottom. Small legs stretched out before him, he gazed miserably up at Heero, two big tears gathering in his watery black gaze, before drowning the corners of his eyes and spilling over fat cheeks. Mortified, Heero squatted before the little one, wiping at those cheeks with his hands, trying to dry the soft, damp pads of flesh under his childishly awkward touch. It took a while before the boy stopped crying, although tears still clung stubbornly to his thick, long lashes.

"Why are you crying?" Heero asked again.

The boy's lower lip trembled, but he bravely held back his tears. He held up a quivering fist. Heero took it in his own larger hands, gently prying away each chubby finger until he saw what lay in the palm. It looked like the bottom half of what used to be a pencil.

"Bwoke" the little boy sniffed.

Oh, broke. Heero decided not to ask how it got broken like that. The kid looked ready to cry again as they both stared at the miserable stump of a pencil. Then, Heero had an idea. Moving fast, he dropped his schoolbag and pulled the top open. He grabbed his pencil-case and opened it.

His new pencil gleamed under the sunlight, all of its gold, blue and silver colours in merry swirls.

Heero looked up, and saw the little boy staring wide-eyed at the pencil. There was such childish longing in his eyes that Heero felt quite ready to part with his precious gift. He dearly loved his new pencil too, but he could always get another one from his teacher if he scored well again. Besides, this little boy seemed so pitiful. Making up his mind, Heero held it out to the kid.

The little one clearly wanted it badly, but he hesitated, as if unsure what to make of a stranger giving him something so nice.

"Take it," Heero urged.

Slowly, carefully, and pulling back a few times, the little boy finally curled his fingers around the offered pencil. He gazed at it in rapt fascination, mouth forming a little 'o' of wonder. Then, he tested it, waving it a little to see the bright colours flashing under the sunlight, and making little mewls of pleasure when they glittered so prettily.

Heero felt pleased with himself. He was happy that the little boy was happy.

Now considerably cheered up, the little one squirmed shyly as he regarded Heero, and finally he smiled. His dainty mouth curled up and tiny dimples appeared in his rosy cheeks as he gave Heero the cutest and brightest smile he had ever seen on another person.

Amazed at the adorable change in the kid's expression and his youthful heart warmed by such a sight, Heero leaned down to the little boy and kissed the tip of his pert nose. He felt the soft flutter of eyelashes as the younger child blinked in surprise. Then, he petted the boy's round dark head, pleasantly surprised when the boy giggled.

Heero would have liked to stay longer and but Mrs Luke was right. His parents were waiting. But where were the parents of the boy? As if on cue, the little boy laughed suddenly.

"Ma-mee!" he got clumsily to his feet, and pointed excitedly. "Ma-mee!"

Heero turned and saw a woman hurrying towards them. She had the same black hair and eyes as the kid. Petting the little one on the head again, Heero said goodbye. He had not taken even five steps, when he turned his head. He saw the black-haired boy led away by the woman by the hand, but even as his little feet padded along, his head was also craned to look back at Heero. Seeing Heero, he waved his free hand. Or fist rather, with all the fingers curled around his new pencil.

Heero smiled and waved back.

He had made a new friend today.

~*~ fin ~*~
October 2003