Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, it belongs to Bandai, Sotsu and associated parties. I just borrow the guys from time to time and return them a whole lot happier. I do own the plot and any other characters, especially the equines, that you will find in this fic. Please do not take them without permission. Written for pleasure not profit.
Pairing: 2x1x2, 3x4, 13x6, H+C
Warnings: Yaoi, lemon, sap, angst, vet themes, AU
Rating: NC 17
Archive: gundam-wing-diaries. 150m. com and gundam-wing-diaries. foreverfandom. net Anyone else please ask.
Betaed by Karina *snugs*
Summary: Set 2 years after Equus and Heero is doing so well in his own business that he's taken June on as a working pupil. The qualifying shows for the International teams are well underway and it looks like it will be a good year for Heero, his pupils and horses... until Mother Nature steps in.
AN: This fic, although a complete work of fiction is based partially on fact. I will add notes at the end of chapters where necessary to clarify events and provide links where needed.
Dedication: To Leslie and Karina. Leslie for giving me the original idea for Equinity and encouraging and supporting me through the writing of all the fics thus far in the arc. And Karina for not just taking over as my much needed beta, (poor woman needs a medal!), but for also poking and prodding Fred until he went on strike, refusing to work on anything at all until I let him start this. Needless to say, we managed to come to a compromise... Fred gets to write a chapter of this one week... the next week he has to write a chapter of 'Bound'... Did I ever tell you all I hate my muse? :-)
Fic 5 in the Equine Intervention Arc.
Commenced December 2013 – ShenLong
"Rival Riders"
Chapter 2
"Heero?" June asked a little concerned when her boss failed to say anything in response to her information.
"Sorry," Heero replied and shook himself from his stupor. A smile lit his face and he pulled June into a hug. "Congratulations," he said sincerely.
"Thank you." June beamed. "Umm... I haven't had all the information come through as yet from the EFA, but it looks like I'm going to have to attend a weeks camp at some place called Waybridge, which means I'll need to take some time off work."
"June, I think we should go up to the cottage once the rest of the horses have been put out and discuss this a little more."
"Ah, okay." June's face fell when she heard the words. "If it's going to be a problem-"
"June," Heero said, cutting the woman off. "It's not going to be a problem, per say, but we will need to discuss it as I've also been short listed with Nataku...'
"You have?!" June squealed. "That's great!" June bounced forward and hugged Heero again.
Maybe I should put a sign on my head saying 'huggy toy' Heero mused.
#
With the horses all out in the paddocks, Heero led the way through the raceway to the back of the cottage. Slipping his shoes off he padded into the kitchen to put the kettle on and make them both a drink.
"I didn't know you were trying to get Nataku selected, Heero," June commented when Heero placed a mug of tea in front of the woman and sat opposite her with his coffee.
"I wasn't sure if she would be good enough to make the short list, but she has been jumping really well lately so I thought I'd give it a shot," Heero replied.
"What about the Olympics?" June asked slyly.
"I'm hoping to qualify Shinigami again for that. If he doesn't make the short list or the team then I'll probably look at retiring him to stud in a couple of years and work with Wing. I've also got Mischief to work with next year as she will be old enough to break in and start educating."
"Do you think Orion would make the Olympic grade?"
Heero thought long and hard for a moment. He could see that June trusted his judgment and he knew he had to be careful with his words. "To be perfectly honest, I'm not one hundred percent sure. He's a very capable and clever jumper, no doubt about that and I see no reason why he shouldn't make the Nations Cup team. The Olympics though is a completely different kettle of fish. There's a lot of pressure there, so you need a horse that can remain calm and obedient under that pressure. You also need a horse that has that extra spark, that grit and determination to want to win."
June's mind chewed on Heero's words for a few minutes, Heero giving her the silence she needed to think on what he'd said. "I guess the best way to find out if Orion has what it takes is to see how he handles the training camp and if we're lucky enough to be selected, the Cup itself. He's certainly improved and come a long way these past couple of years."
"Yes, he has and I think you're being very sensible in your approach to all of this. I would love to see both you and Orion selected for an Olympic team in the future and I sincerely think if you work hard enough you will achieve that. Getting to the Nations Cup short list is an achievement in itself and you should be proud of yourself for getting this far. If Orion can handle the pressure, I can't see any reason why you shouldn't try him out for selection for an Olympic team."
"Thanks, Heero. I appreciate you being honest with me." June smiled at her boss and mentor. "Now, if we're both on the short list and this camp is coming up, how do you want to work things?"
Before Heero could reply, the back door opened and Duo stepped into the kitchen, a small bundle in his arms. "Heero, you in here?" Duo called out then paused as he entered the kitchen. "Oh, hi, June. Sorry, I didn't realize you had company, Heero."
"Hi, Duo. Sorry to invade your kitchen," June replied.
"That's fine, no problem at all." Duo walked over to the pantry and began to rummage around inside, the bundle still held securely in one arm. June looked to Heero who shrugged his shoulders.
"Umm... Duo?"
"Yeah?" came Duo's muffled voice from inside the pantry.
"Is there anything in particular you're looking for? And what the hell have you got there?" Heero asked, an amused smile on his face.
"Oh, sorry." Duo reversed out of the pantry, a tin in one hand. "It's a joey." Setting the tin on the kitchen counter, Duo moved to the pair at the table and lowered his arm a touch. He pulled back the top of the blanket to expose the small head of a baby kangaroo.
"Oh, Duo, he's gorgeous," June said softly.
"Where the heck did you get him from?" Heero asked and ran a finger tip gently over the joey's head.
"A client brought him in this morning. Seems someone ran over his mother. They saw the body of the 'roo on the side of the road and noticed this little fellow trying to get back into the pouch. They couldn't leave him out there so they caught him, wrapped him up and dropped him into the surgery about an hour ago."
"What a shame," June said, a tremble in her voice. "What's going to happen to him now?"
"Right now I'm going to try and get some food into him. That's what I was looking for in the pantry. I knew I had a tin of formula in there, special stuff for the native marsupials. I've contacted the local wildlife service and the shelter is sending someone out to collect him later this afternoon; in the meantime, he needs to be fed and kept warm."
"Is he going to be okay?" June's lower lip trembled a touch.
"I've checked him over and from the veterinary side, he's perfectly healthy. What he needs now though is good food, lots of rest, warmth and cuddles." Shifting the bundle slightly, Duo handed it over to June. "Would you care to hold him while I prepare the formula please?"
June's eyes widened. "You sure?"
Duo grinned. "He needs a mother's warmth and touch. Of course I'm sure." Plonking the bundle in June's arms, Duo didn't give her any time to argue.
Watching the woman, Heero's smile grew in his amusement. Whilst Heero was a soft touch when it came to animals – and so was his husband – there was just something about a woman when she was confronted by a helpless creature that put a man's concern to shame.
June carefully cradled the bundle in her arms, pulling the blanket back just a touch so she could see the little joey. "Hey there, little one," she crooned and gently stroked the kangaroo's ears. "Duo will look after you until the shelter people get here. I know it's not the same as having your mom, but they will take good care of you and you can grow up to be big, strong and healthy."
Diverting his attention from the woman and orphan, Heero glanced across to where Duo was busy mixing up the formula. "Need a hand?" he asked.
"Nah, I'm fine thanks," Duo replied as he whisked the powder with some of the hot water from the kettle. Once the powder was dissolved, Duo fetched a bottle of water from the fridge and added it to the formula, testing the warmth of it from time to time by tipping a few drops from the spoon to his wrist. Once he was satisfied with the temperature, he filled a small bottle and attached a rather long, thin teat to the end of it. Walking back to the table, he set the bottle down before taking the joey back from June and settling into a seat.
Both Heero and June watched as Duo folded the blanket back a bit, picked up the bottle and teased the teat across the joey's muzzle. Smelling the milk, the joey's mouth opened and he sucked the teat in. His little mouth worked furiously, hungrily sucking the formula down.
"He's certainly got an appetite on him," June mused. "Reminds me a bit of Max when he was a baby and feeding."
Heero snorted and muttered under his breath "Reminds me of someone else at times too."
"You say something, Heero?" Duo asked in all innocence, knowing full well what his partner had said.
"Ah, no."
"So, how come you two are in here? It's a little early for your tea break, isn't it?" Duo asked, his eyes still fixed on the joey as he drank.
"We came up to discuss the horses and the week of the camp at Waybridge. June had a letter yesterday. She's also been short listed for the cup team," Heero said and waited for the words to register in his partner's brain.
"Huh?" Duo looked up sharply and blinked. He looked from Heero to June and back again, trying to see if Heero was joking or not. His partner had a smug look on his face and June's wore one of excitement. Not joking then, he thought.
"That's great news, June. Congratulations. I'd shake your hand or give you a hug, but I'm kinda busy right now," Duo said with a warm smile.
"Thanks Duo and it's fine, the joey's dinner is more important."
"Not that I'm trying to put a dampener on things here, but if you're both on the short list and both attending the camp, what's going to happen to the horses that are here?"
"That's what we came up to the cottage to try and work out," Heero sighed.
"Good luck," Duo said with a snicker.
"What are you doing regarding Nataku, Heero?" June asked. "Are you going to commute each day, stay the week or something else?"
"I will most likely take Nataku there and leave her at Waybridge for the week, then all I have to do is commute each day. That seems to be the best option for me." Heero finished off his coffee.
"I was thinking along similar lines with Orion. I can't really stay the week as I have Max and Geoff to look after."
"If you want my input," Duo began and looked up as the silence hit him to see both sets of eyes fixed on his face. "Umm, I would suggest stabling both horses at Waybridge and all of us commute together each day. That way the horses here can still be fed, stable work done and then you'll both be back here in the afternoon afterwards to settle them all for the night. Plus it will save money if we all go in one car as opposed to two."
"Are you going too?" June asked. "I mean, I know you usually do go with Heero as a groom for the shows, but I didn't know if you would be going to a training camp in that capacity."
"Yeah. I generally do. It helps Heero out quite a bit plus I get to learn new things too," Duo replied.
"Actually, your idea sounds pretty good, Duo," Heero said, his mind locked in thought. "I can always get up a bit earlier in the morning and work Wing and Shini before doing the stables and putting the horses out. When we get back in the afternoon I can work Lunar and give Frank his lesson on his lesson day."
"If I do the same, that is, come here about an hour or two earlier than usual, I can continue to work Sandfire before going to the camp and give you a hand with Missy when we get back. I'm sure Carl would be happy to help out too and no doubt Frank will be here to work Jester each day and would also put him in and rug him up so all we have to do is feed him when we get back and do the others," June said.
"Sounds like a pretty viable plan to me. What do you think, Heero?" Duo asked, removing the now empty bottle from the joey's mouth and sitting the 'roo up a little.
"I think that could work quite well. I'll speak with Carl and Frank when they call in later today."
"Did Frank try out for the Nations Cup team?" June asked as she stood up and collected the empty cups, taking them to the sink to wash.
"No, he hasn't," Heero replied. "He has sent off his forms for the next Olympics though. He said he was really committed to trying to get selected for the games instead of the Nations Cup."
"Well, good luck to him, I hope he makes the short list for them, he does deserve it as Jester's jumping really well," June said as she walked back to the table and sat down. She glanced across to Duo who was absently gently rubbing the joey's back through the soft towel the baby kangaroo was wrapped up in.
"I have every faith he will make the short list," Heero said and turned to look where June's attention had gone. He couldn't help the smile.
"I don't think baby animals need to be burped after a feed, Duo," Heero said with a grin of amusement.
"What? Oh," Duo responded and gave the pair a sheepish look. The joey took that moment to open his mouth and emit a soft burp. "There you go, feel better now?" Duo said to the joey and tucked him further into the soft towel. Turning back to Heero, Duo looked his lover in the eye and said, "You were saying?"
"Ah, nothing," Heero muttered.
June gave a laugh. "You know something, Duo? You would make a great father."
# # #
Time literally flew by for Heero and over the course of the following weeks all the final arrangements were put into place to allow both himself and June to attend the camp with minimal interruption to the horses' routines.
Both Wing and Shini would remain stabled and in full work, Heero planning on riding the pair either before or after each day's session at the camp. Lunar would also remain in work, but Carl had offered to work the mare for Heero to give him a little more time. Whilst Carl had lost his nerve for jumping – which is why he had Heero jump the mare for him – he was still a capable rider and more than comfortable with working Lunar on the flat.
Heero had agreed to Carl riding the mare out in the bush and schooling paddock, it would do her the world of good to have a break from jumping, not that Heero jumped his horses everyday, usually popping them over jumps two or three times a week. Frank was happy to work his horse and bring him in each evening which would help a bit when it came to the evening stable work.
Comet was in foal to Zero so Heero decided he would leave Comet out in the paddock for the week. He also decided to put Angel in with her so the two mares would have each other for company and it would mean two less stables to clean in the mornings. Mischief, or Missy as she was affectionately called was in the early stages of being broken in and Heero thought it best to turn her out for a week as well. It wouldn't make a great deal of difference to the filly's education in the long run. Zero, being the senior stallion would remain stabled. Given how the gray was getting on in years and would be twenty one on his next birthday, Heero felt the stallion had earned the right to remain in his comfortable stable.
The other two horses Heero currently had on the property; Sandfire, a chestnut gelding of sixteen hands and Hyperion, a brown gelding of fifteen three, were currently stabled in the walk-in-walk-out stables and yards outside so they would remain there. Heero had picked up both horses cheap out of the Salsbury Times livestock for sale section and had broken them both in. Now he was in the process of educating them and getting them started in the showjumping game with the view to selling them on when the right offer (and person) came along. June was currently working Sandfire and Heero was very pleased with the way the chestnut was coming along.
Wufei and Meiran had gotten over their shock of having their horse short listed and were now proudly letting anyone and everyone know that their horse was in with a chance at representing her country. Heero had approached them both to see if they wished to attend the camp as Nataku's groom and whilst both had been flattered and touched that Heero would have considered them in this way, they politely refused, happy to let Duo take on the job.
Wufei had informed Heero that as much as he would have liked to be the mare's groom, he really couldn't spare the time away from his business. Meiran had been more honest; she refused on the grounds that she didn't have a clue what she would be doing.
Both did promise to try and get to the camp a couple of times during the week though to see how things were progressing and said they would definitely be there on the final camp day to see if Nataku made it into the team.
Duo spoke with Hilde and Zechs to try and rework the roster a touch so he would be free to assist Heero at the camp. With Treize also qualifying he knew Zechs would want to try and attend as well wherever possible. In the end, Duo took all the evening consults with Hilde and Zechs alternating the evenings and both working the morning consults. Surgeries were rearranged so they had just two days of the week where they booked anything in that needed surgery, that way Zechs would be free after morning consults to spend the afternoons at Waybridge. Hilde offered to be on call each day and handle anything that came in.
It was a bit of a mash up, but it would work and everyone was happy with the outcome.
Now all that remained was for the start of the camp itself to arrive.
# # #
"Out, Heero."
"But..."
"No. Out and stay out," Duo demanded, hands on hips as he blocked the entry to the tack room.
"But, Duo..."
"Heero, I am quite capable of sorting out and packing the gear that Nataku will need for the week. I've done it before when you had Zero at the camp and I can do it again. It will be far quicker and less traumatic if you leave me alone to get on and do it," Duo insisted.
"Is there a problem here?" June asked, appearing by the tack room door.
"Yes."
"No."
June looked from Heero to Duo and back again. "Okay, I give, what's up?"
"Duo won't let me into the tack room to sort out Nataku's gear for the week," Heero huffed.
Turning to look at the vet, June raised an eyebrow. "Does he try to pack like he does for a show?" she asked the vet.
"Yep, only with it being a week he needs spares for the spares. I said I would sort the gear out for him."
June moved across to stand next to Duo, folding her arms across her chest and setting her feet. "I'm with Duo on this one," she informed Heero.
Heero threw his arms up into the air. "Fine! Have it your way," he snapped and stormed off.
Once Heero was gone, June and Duo turned to each other and high fived. "Thanks, June. I should be sorted and ready to load the car in about half an hour," Duo said with a grin.
"No problem, Duo, but it will cost you."
"Eh?"
"You can sort out what I need for Orion and put that ready for me if you don't mind?"
Duo shook his head. "Sure," he said in defeat.
"Thanks." June gave a little wave, smiled and disappeared to get her horse.
"Why me? Why am I always the one to get duped?" Duo muttered to himself as he wandered into the tack room to start getting all the gear ready for the camp.
# # #
"Are you sure you've packed everything?"
"Yes, Heero, I'm sure," Duo sighed and crawled into bed next to his husband. Reaching over he turned off the bedside lamp before pulling the covers up and snuggling against his husband.
"I wonder who else is going to be there, if there will be the same number as there has been in the past?" Heero mused.
"I'd say there will be around eight of you," Duo replied from where his head rested on Heero's chest, arm slung across the rider's waist. He wormed a leg over Heero's to rest between his partner's.
"I really hope June gets selected," Heero said softly and pressed a kiss to the crown of Duo's head. "She's worked really hard for this and Orion's starting to hit his peak."
"Well, I hope you all make it," Duo replied sleepily.
"There's only four spots on the team, and the reserve; not eight," Heero teased.
"Idiot, I know that. Just think what a good advertisement it will be for the business though if both you and June get selected for the final team."
"I never thought about that," Heero mused. "I guess you could be right though."
"I'm always right," Duo mumbled, his brain being overtaken by sleep.
"Even when you're wrong?" Heero snickered.
"Yeah."
# # #
When Duo awoke the following morning Heero's side of the bed was cold and empty, indicating his lover had been up for some time. A glance at the clock showed him it was just before seven. The sun was up, the light filtering in a touch behind the drapes and Duo thought he'd better get up and see what he could do to help his partner. Stretching, Duo yawned and closed his eyes for a second. Moments later he gave a startled yelp as something landed on his stomach.
A pair of yellow eyes stared at him.
"Shit, Smokey, you frightened the living daylights outta me," Duo complained but reached a hand forth to stroke the cat. "Guess you want your breakfast, hey?" Smokey purred loudly and began to 'knead' the quilt. "Okay, okay, I get the message." Duo dragged himself from the bed and went about his morning routine.
#
"Come on, girl," Heero coaxed, Nataku following him up the ramp and into the float. Ducking under the chest bar, Heero tied the mare up. Moments later June joined him having led Orion in next to Nataku. Ducking under the haynets they exited the front of the float through the small door, June securing it whilst Heero went to the back to give Duo a hand with the tail gate.
"You got everything?" Heero asked June.
"Yes. I've checked and double checked," June replied.
"Then I suggest we better get underway." Running his eye over the tow hitch one last time just to satisfy his mind, Heero climbed in behind the wheel and shut the door. Duo slipped into the passenger seat while June got into her own car to follow them.
They had settled on taking the two cars to the camp for the first day as there wasn't quite enough room in Henrietta for all of June's gear as well as Heero's. Even though Duo had sorted everything out and packed the car, Heero had managed to sneak in a couple of 'extras', things he thought he might need.
Starting the car, Heero slipped it into gear and brought up the clutch. The gears engaged and the car began to roll slowly out of the yard and onto the road. June followed along behind.
"We're off to see the wizard..."
"Duo?"
"Yeah?"
"Shut up."
tbc...