maybe all the chickens SHOULD be in one basket....?

[salamandere]

I posted this about 9 days ago at mirth4merith, for a wonderful lady who deserves a lot of happiness and i thought i should maybe put it here, too :) So, please excuse me those of you who've already seen this :)

It turned out a lot longer than I thought. It also turned out more cohesive--it was supposed to just be blocks of time or slices of life. ah, well, there goes planning.

Fic: GW
Author: salamander
Title: Blocks
warnings: AU, little KID!gw pilots.
word count: 10,050

Blocks

Heero had a problem. It was a basic problem that could be easily taken care of and Heero even knew how to solve it. What he lacked were the components for solving it. He stood on one small, yellow-sneaker-clad foot and then the other, biting his lip and the fingernail of his thumb alternately (not -sucking- his thumb like Duo did), staring at a fixed point across the road, deep in thought. He could go back and get an adult but he’d already come all this way and going back now would be a big waste of time.
Heero looked up and down the street once more. Cars came and went slowly but no people passed by. Heero was starting to get anxious. He’d said he’d be there in five minutes and it was probable that fifty had passed. What if Duo thought Heero wasn’t coming over? What if Duo went out and played with someone else instead? Someone not Heero who Heero didn’t even know or even like? Also, what if that other someone made fun of Duo (because it happened a lot) and Heero wasn’t there to make them pay?
Heero revised the logic of that. He didn’t think Duo would play with the mean kids. But what if he went somewhere with Quatre or Wufei and they ran into mean kids? What then?
Heero cast a long look alllll the way down the block to his house on the far corner. He looked at the street. He looked allll the way up the next block to Duo’s house, almost hidden by the big evergreen tree in the yard. He fidgeted some more and made a final decision. He would do it. It was against house rules and it was dangerous but he felt the reward outweighed the risk. With a final look in either direction Heero stepped off the sidewalk and into the road separating his block from Duo’s. Nothing catastrophic happened. He did not get splattered by a car. He made a run for it.

The sidewalk on the other side seemed different than the sidewalk on his side. Higher maybe. Freer. He slowed for a moment to take in the effect of it all but began to run again when he thought about his mission.

At Duo’s house he rang the doorbell and Duo’s mom answered the door. Heero didn’t have a mom so he was especially partial to Duo’s who always smiled (except when Duo was in trouble, which happened a lot) and who always patted him on the head and sometimes ran her fingers through his hair in a motherly sort of way, which felt good.
“Hi Heero,” she said brightly but this time Heero was too worried that Duo left without him to really spend time with her.
“Hi is Duo here?”
“Yes, he’s upstairs waiting for you. Did you come here all by yourself, Heero?”
“Yes, I walked. I crossed the street.” He felt the need to tell her. If he confessed his transgressions then he felt he would get kinder consideration during any punishment.
But she didn’t seem to be angry. With him at least.
“Oh, your Uncle J didn’t walk you? Why not?”
Heero shrugged. He wanted to see Duo.
“He was busy in the garage.”
Heero was used to his uncle spending a lot of time in the garage with all kinds of cool mechanical pieces. Sometimes he even showed Heero what he was working on and how it all went together. Heero liked that.
“Hm,” Duo’s mom said, scrunching her pink lips into a tight corner of her mouth.
“Can I see Duo now?” Heero wanted to know.
“Sure, cupcake,” Duo’s mom said, smiling again and patting him on the head. “You know where to go.”
Heero wasted no time in running upstairs. Duo was lying on his bed on his stomach, making an action figure jump around, with his thumb stuck right in his mouth. Heero thought he should get Duo to stop doing that soon. No wonder he got teased sometimes.
“Hi,” he said a little breathlessly.
“Hi!” Duo said, popping right up and smiling a wide smile like his mom had. “What took you so long?”
“I crossed the street,” Heero said with significance and Duo’s mouth dropped.
“Alone?”
“Yeah,” Heero said, standing up on his tip-toes a bit.
“Wow!” Duo said. He ran to his window and plastered half of his face against the glass, straining to see down the street where the crosswalk was. “Cool!”
Heero felt very happy at Duo’s admiration. Even though the other kids teased Duo for his longish hair (girl!), thumb-sucking (little baby!) and funny eyes (alien!), Heero confidently knew Duo was the most fun kid in the whole world. He liked to impress Duo when possible.
“Wow,” Duo said again, turning those purplish eyes to Heero again. “Your Uncle let you?”
Heero shook his head. He felt slightly guilty about it already but Duo grinned what could only be described as a mischievous grin. “Ooooh. You broke the rules!” he sang with glee and stared openly at Heero like he couldn’t believe such a great thing had happened.
Heero felt unnerved. Duo really liked to break rules sometimes and Heero didn’t want him to think it was going to become a regular occurrence.
“I had to,” he justified. “Or I would never have made it here. I waited to ask someone to walk me but no one came by.”
Duo just flopped back on his bed and grinned. Heero was really cool. He was daring. Duo was proud of him.
“Maybe we can both cross the street later?” he asked, sort of hopefully. He’d never done it but now that Heero had he wanted to.
Heero looked at him blankly for a minute, obviously torn between two emotions, and then said ‘sure,’ turning his face away, but not before Duo saw a little tiny smile. That was probably good.
“Can we go to the park now?” Heero wanted to know suddenly.
“Oh, yeah!” Duo said, bounding up again. “Let’s get my mom.”

In the kitchen Duo bounced up to his mother and grabbed one of her hands. “Mom, park! Park! Can you bring us to the park?”
“Please,” Heero supplied, sending an admonishing look at Duo.
“Yeah, please mom?”
Ms. Maxwell happened to be making lunch and she turned to hand each boy a turkey sandwich. “Take those to the table and we can go to the park as soon as you finish eating.”
“Aw, let’s go now!” Duo said, looking dubiously at his given meal. Heero had chosen to accept his sandwich and take it to the table as asked and was currently taking a cautious first bite.
Duo’s mom patted her son on the butt and shooed him towards the table. “Look, rebel, Heero’s eating his. Go sit next to him and eat like a good boy.”
Duo made a face but hopped off to sit down. He proceeded to cram as much of the sandwich into his mouth as possible and gulped the milk that his mom placed in front of them.
Heero found Duo’s eating habits slightly shocking, though he supposed a best friend couldn’t be perfect in -every- way. Anyhow he was used to it by now. He finished his meal off in good time while Duo, having finished, stared at him and tapped his foot restlessly against the table leg.
“Thank you,” Heero said, carrying his plate to the sink and earning himself a very nice head-pat from Duo’s mom.
Duo left his plate on the table but ran to grab his mom’s hand. His bright smile, full of miniscule teeth, won her over before he said a word. “Now can we go? Please!” he wanted to know, excitedly bouncing on the balls of his feet, with Heero nodding in the background.
Ms. Maxwell was temporarily overcome with a youthful giddiness that attested to her young age. She’d never meant to have children but now that she did the joy Duo brought her was sometimes completely overwhelming (when he wasn’t being a handful and a half). She admitted inwardly to being blessed to have such a happy, energetic child; such a smart, beautiful boy. She scooped Duo up and grasped Heero’s hand and together they set out for the park.

________

Heero surveyed the area. Their friend Quatre was at the park. He was over in the sandbox. There were some older kids by the swings and a cluster of parents on the benches. Heero didn’t see any immediate threats so he waved goodbye to Duo’s mom and together they went towards the sandbox. Duo waved to Quatre who looked up and smiled and hailed back with a little green shovel.

“Hi Quatre,” Duo said when they arrived, plopping down next to him in the sand. “’Cha makin’?”
“A space ship,” Quatre said, pointing to an oblong construction in the sand. “To go to Mars.”
“Oooh!” Duo said. “I’ll make a space house so they can live somewhere when they get to Mars.” He began digging with the small trowel Quatre immediately offered.

Heero wasn’t especially fond of sand. It got everywhere. He much preferred the swings and the slide and even the monkey bars, but it wouldn’t be much fun without his friends. He sat carefully on the edge of the box and alternately watched Duo and Quatre create their space world and practiced his letters in the sand with a stick he found lying nearby. J really insisted Heero know the whole alphabet and how to read all kinds of words by himself. In Kindergarten they were learning letters but they were only to ‘H.’ Heero could usually get through the whole alphabet without a mistake these days.

As the final stroke of the ‘Z’ was performed Heero noticed Duo and Quatre had stopped talking about the Space creations. He looked up to find them staring at his handiwork.
“Wow Heero!” Quatre said, crawling closer for a good look. “You’re a very good writer!”
Heero smiled a little. “I know all the letters.”
Duo was nodding. “Heero taught me my own letters!” he said, telling Quatre. “See?” He drew his name with his finger. It was a little wobbly, but very nice, Heero thought.
“Oooh, can you teach me mine?” Quatre wanted to know. Quatre had been feeling a little impatient in school these days because most of his letters were all the way at the back of the alphabet.
Heero nodded seriously. “Okay.” He began to draw a letter but then he realized he didn’t know how to spell Quatre’s name. “How do you spell it?” he asked.
Quatre looked a bit troubled. “Umm,” he hummed, biting his lip. Knowing of the letters didn’t mean he knew how to put them together.
“Let’s ask my mom!” Duo volunteered but Quatre was worried she might not know. He thought he’d better ask his sister. He ran over to her where she sat with some parents. Heero and Duo stayed behind to guard their position in the sandbox.

“Irea!” Quatre called when he got near enough. She turned to him quickly, breaking off in the middle of a sentence to someone with a stricken look on her face. Quatre wished he hadn’t yelled. Irea always made a big deal about things.
“What is it, Quatre? Are you hurt? What’s wrong? What happened?” She stood and intercepted him, grabbing his small shoulders and looking him over critically as he squirmed. “Nothing’s wrong!” he kept saying but she wouldn’t rest until she’d inspected every inch of his clothing, arms, face and legs. “I just want to know how to spell my name!”
This, for some reason, made her giggle and she patted his cheek. “Oh, I see. You scared me, silly boy.”
Quatre felt bad for scaring his sister but she was sixteen now and practically an adult so he thought she shouldn’t be so scared of things anymore. “Come show my friends, please.”
Irea let herself be led to Quatre’s little schoolmates and obligingly said the letters slowly and clearly so the serious little boy could draw each letter in the sand. When her job was complete she kissed Quatre on the head and told him she’d be at the benches if he needed her again.

“Cool, Heero!” Duo said after Quatre’s sister had gone. Duo silently vowed to get better at his letters so he could write them all like Heero. He didn’t like not being able to do something that Heero could.
“Yeah, cool!” Quatre said brightly. He’d tried copying the new letters until he felt he remembered them. “Thank you.”
Heero nodded. He liked being of service to his friends. That felt good.

“Look at these babies pretending to write!” came a voice over Quatre’s head suddenly. All three looked up to see Alex and his bully friend Mueller (whose first name was Francis and so he killed anyone who said his first name) standing menacingly at the box edge. They were in second grade but Duo thought that was pretty unimpressive since everyone went to second grade eventually. Heero had to agree but poor Quatre really hated any kind of fighting, no matter what grade you were in. Heero sighed. He had just had a feeling they would have to see mean kids today.

Duo stood up in front of Quatre. Heero rose where he was on the opposite box edge with a glance towards the benches where Duo’s mom was in conversation with some lady and not looking their way.
“Go away,” Duo said, crossing his arms over his chest.
The two older boys shared a look and then refused.
Heero walked up to Duo’s side. “Go away,” he repeated. “Or I’ll make you go.”
Duo didn’t know where Heero came up with this stuff, but it sure was tough!
Alex and Mueller looked fleetingly worried but shucked that look once they remembered that Heero was only a Kindergartener.
“Oh yeah? How?” they taunted, leaning into Heero’s face. Heero’s fists were slowly rising when Quatre stood up and inched out from behind Duo. He put on a beatific smile and said eagerly, “Hello Sister Lucia!”
Alex and Mueller, at the mention of the fearsome Sister who co-ran the children’s home where they lived turned like deer in headlights, only to find the air behind them completely empty. While Duo fell down laughing, Heero’s fists had made their way to punching height so Alex and Mueller took that as their cue to head out. They made gruesome faces and then trotted away, thinking about how to get back at that stupid, rich, snotty baby!

“Hehehe!” Duo laughed, rolling in the sand. “Good one, Quatre!”
Heero nodded his approval and caught Quatre’s eye, who turned a light shade of pink and shrugged.
“Uncle J says strategy is key,” Heero repeated the lesson, hoping it applied to this situation like he thought it did. “You’re good at being…good at strategy,” Heero finished, Duo nodding fervently beside him. Quatre beamed. He would have to ask Irea what that meant exactly but he could tell it was cool and kind of tough, too.

By the time Duo’s mom and Irea came to collect them it was getting dusky out and there was a whole space colony residing in the sand. Duo didn’t feel like going home at all and ran around the playground a few times before his mom could catch him. Quatre and Heero watched him run as they sat together on the bench with Irea, who kept laughing.

When a squirming, laughing Duo was securely wrapped under his mother’s arm Irea took Quatre’s hand and the two set out for home.
“Bye Heero, Bye Duo!” Quatre called. “Thanks for teaching me my letters!”
“Bye!” the boys called back. Heero offered his hand to Duo’s mom, who took it in her free hand and led them from the park.

Duo and his mom walked Heero home. They waited until J, wearing his welding mask, came to the door and let Heero inside. Duo’s mom ran her fingers through Heero’s hair and told him goodnight and Duo waved, saying he’d see Heero tomorrow at school.
Heero let the door close on them walking hand-in-hand back up the block with a feeling of something like sadness.

J had gone back to the kitchen where a large piece of machinery was taking up the kitchen table.

“Did you have dinner?” he wanted to know.

“No,” Heero said, pulling up the stool so he could see what J was doing. “What are you making?”

“I’m improving the engine,” J said distractedly. Heero knew not to ask too many questions when J was working but he wanted to know -which- engine.

“Which-” he started to say but J spoke at the same time.

“Go open a box of soup and heat it in the microwave,” he suggested.

Heero nodded and slid down off the stool. He brought the soup box (Golden Squash) to J, who loped the corner off with his pocket knife and then he brought it back to the counter. Heero’s blue bowl received the soup just before the microwave did.

Heero brought the bowl back to the stool and sat eating and watching contently until J noticed it was 9:30 and Heero wasn’t in bed yet.

_________

There was a new kid today. He got on the bus two stops after Heero and Duo did, the one in front of St. Cordelia’s Home for Children. He was standing a little ways apart from stupid Alex and stupider Mueller, clutching a green book bag, looking down the street in the direction the bus had just come from.

Duo, who Heero always let have the window seat, saw him first. “Hey, look!” he said. “A new kid. Do you think he’ll be in our class?”
Heero leaned over Duo to get a good look. “He looks older,” Heero said. He was as tall as Alex, at least.
“He does not,” Duo countered, looking again. “He’s just tall.”
Heero shrugged. They would find out as soon as they got to school, anyway. He went back to arranging his superhero cards.

Duo couldn’t let it go so easily, though. He craned his neck to watch the new kid climb onto the bus and watched while he looked for a place to sit. There was an empty seat at the front of the bus though, so the kid sat there and then Duo couldn’t see him anymore. He sat back against the seat with a huff and was nuts with suspense.

Once Duo’s restless squirming penetrated Heero’s concentration, he tried to distract Duo by showing him the two new cards he’d gotten on Saturday when J had taken him along to the convenience store. It worked for a while. Duo was especially impressed with the invisibility cape of one of the heroes but by the time the bus pulled into the school yard Duo was practically jumping out of his seat again to see the new kid get off the bus. Heero was disobligingly slow repacking his cards. Duo was bouncing in his seat. His mom often called him a new-born kitten, because he just couldn’t seem to contain his curiosity, but geez, things were interesting! When Heero had finally placed his cards in his backpack’s inner safety pocket and moved into the aisle Duo vaulted over him and ran up the bus, hopping down the stairs to see where the kid had gone. Heero came placidly down the stairs a few moments later and Duo grabbed his wrist.
“See! He’s going into our room! See? See?”
Heero saw. The kindergarten classroom had an outside door so the students could enter directly from the bus, and sure enough, the new kid was walking up to that door. A stab of uncertainty cut into Heero. He sincerely hoped this new kid was not -too- much fun. He might just make it plain to the new kid that Duo already had a best friend, if necessary.

Duo and Heero took off their coats and put them in the coat room. Duo put his lunchbox in the refrigerator there for that purpose. Heero had to buy school lunch everyday so he went and got them good seats on the rug.

Every morning they started school by sitting in a big circle on the rug and reciting the alphabet up to the point they’d learned and by sharing anything interesting they’d done after school the day before. You didn’t have to say anything. Heero never did. Sometimes Duo did but generally they agreed that it was a boring practice. Most kids went on about their piano lesson or the slide at the park.

Today, however, started differently. Miss Passman quieted everyone and then brought the new kid out from the shadow by the flags to introduce him to the class.
“Class, today we are very lucky to have a new friend join us! Please help me welcome Trowa Barton. Say hi to Trowa.” The kids chanted hello to Trowa and Miss Passman began to clap in his general direction. Most of the kids followed suit but Trowa looked highly embarrassed and shocked in light of the activity so Heero didn’t participate and Duo was generally against doing anything the masses seemed to be doing, so they just stared openly at him until he was instructed to take a seat next to Wufei Chang, since now they were learning to sit in alphabetical order and Trowa was the only ‘B.’ Heero had to remember to put his superhero cards in alphabetical order. It was such a logical system.

So far all the kids with last names up to ‘H’ had to sit in a specific way each morning but the kids with other last names could still be all jumbled up until it was their turn to join the line. Heero, though never one to shy away from organization or knowledge, was quietly dreading this occurrence since it would mean the end of sitting next to Duo. Unfairly, ‘M’ and ‘Y’ were nowhere near each other in the alphabet.
“He’s quiet,” Duo whispered to Heero. “He looks shy.”
Heero looked to where Trowa was staring at the rug, having only said the briefest of hellos to Wufei.

Throughout the day Duo gave Heero reports on his thoughts about Trowa Barton. “He is kinda tall, huh?” he said, when they had to line up to go to the water fountain.

“He looks sad,” Duo observed at nap time, scooting over to Heero on his blanket like an inch worm. Trowa Barton was sitting on his own little blanket, picking dispiritedly at the loose strands of yarn. “He looks confused,” Duo went on. “Do you think he didn’t have to do naps where he was before?”

“Do you think he doesn’t understand Miss Passman?” Duo wanted to know when Trowa remained silent all morning, despite some very easy questions concerning the letters A and B and the primary colors.

“Do you think he likes pizza?” Duo wondered aloud at lunch. “I do,” he said, taking a big bite of the slice in his lunch box.

At recess Duo observed, “Trowa is good at dodge ball.” And finally, during art Duo voiced a thought that had been bothering him all day. “Do you think he can see through his hair?”

Heero wasn’t quite sure about any of these queries. He thought he had better get to know Trowa before he made any rash conclusions. Duo was happy to assume and then find out the rest later but Heero couldn’t abide by that kind of random supposition.

During art time on the following day Heero saw his opportunity for information gathering. He asked Trowa if he could borrow his blue paint. Trowa handed it to him without a word.
His excuse over, Heero retreated.
He’d have to rethink this.
Bringing the paint back after a minute he thanked Trowa. Trowa nodded.

Heero wasn’t really a friend-maker. He was Duo’s friend because he’d desperately wanted to be (and Duo was easy to get to know and naturally friendly) and he was Quatre’s friend because Quatre was Duo’s friend (and also easy to know and very amiable). It was different from how he’d burned and burned to be Duo’s friend, but he wanted to figure out Trowa. He felt bad that Trowa -did- seem rather sad. And something else, too, that he couldn’t quite figure out.

As Trowa was setting the blue paint down, Heero made his move. “Where are you from?” Heero asked him.
Trowa looked at him and blinked. He shrugged.
Heero thought he understood. “I don’t really remember either.”
That seemed to get Trowa’s attention. He looked at Heero carefully. “Oh,” he said. “You don’t live at the Home, though.”
“I have a guardian,” Heero explained.
“Oh,” Trowa said again. “Is that nice?”
Heero had never considered that before. Well, sometimes he thought about Duo’s house when he was stuck at his own, but he supposed that wasn’t conclusive.
“It’s nice,” he said after a minute.
Trowa nodded.
“Is the Home nice?” Heero asked in return.
Trowa shook his head.
“Why not?”
“I liked where I’m from better.”
“But you don’t remember where that is?”
Trowa looked away and down at the floor. Heero felt bad. He looked around for Duo, who usually knew what to do in these situations, but Duo’s hands were being held under the tap as Miss Passman scrubbed red paint off him from his fingertips to his elbows.

Instead he caught Quatre’s eyes and made a little signal to get him to come over.
Quatre put down his paper and walked over curiously, trying to understand Heero’s meaning.
“Quatre,” Heero said when he’d arrived. “This is Trowa. He misses home.”
He didn’t usually blurt things out like that but he didn’t like the growing miserable look on Trowa’s face.
“Oh!” Quatre said in surprise. Heero would never have thought of it but he felt it was good when Quatre threw his arms around Trowa and squeezed him, saying how nice it was to meet him and how much fun there was to be had around here. Trowa seemed astounded at first but then sort of relaxed. He said hi when Quatre introduced himself and even shook Quatre’s little offered hand. Heero thought that was progress.

Duo was back at their station, now experimenting with the black paint, so Heero thought he’d let Quatre take care of the rest and go save Duo from a serious non-toxic disaster.

_______

The weekend after Trowa Barton came to his first day of school Heero found himself standing in the garage with J, holding two pieces of sheet metal together so J could bolt them down to the main frame. They had been there since morning and Heero thought enough time had passed to make it very late, but the sun was still coming in through the window. Whatever the time, he was hungry. Sometimes J didn’t eat food all day because he got so preoccupied, as he said, but Heero wanted lunch. Or dinner. Depending on what time it was.

Heero asked if he could go inside and eat. J looked up at that and then looked wildly around at the windows. “Well well!” he said. “How times flies. I suppose we had both better stop for lunch. Good nutrition shouldn’t be comprised, don’t you think, Heero? One needs to keep in top form! Keep the engines running, as it were!” Heero agreed as long as he got to eat. He didn’t really need J to make him something, being perfectly self-sufficient, but since it was within his ability to remind J about eating too, he might as well.

Inside J rummaged in the refrigerator for a time and then moved to the cabinets. Heero sat at the table and waited until J turned to his little charge with an almost sheepish smile. “We seem to have run almost dry here, Heero! We’ve got some tomato paste, an egg and a block of cheese along side various inedible items. What do you say, would you like a scrambled egg with cheese and then we’ll go to the grocery?”
Heero nodded but squished his lips into a corner as J got out a pan. “What will you eat?”

J chuckled as he cracked the egg. “I’ll eat after we’ve been to the store.”

“Will you make it?” Heero wondered. J had told him about all the horrible things that happened if your engine ran dry.

J chuckled again and nodded. “I’ll make it.” He scrambled the egg and added slices of cheese. He considered putting a bit of the tomato paste in, for flavor and vegetables but decided against it. A kid shouldn’t really be eating tomato paste unless it was in a sauce. It just said something about the state of his parenting that he didn’t want to have materialized in front of him in the form of a tomato paste egg. He set the plate in front of Heero, who thanked him and dug in. While the boy ate J considered him. His dark, messy hair; the thin, serious little mouth; big blue eyes; scuffed up legs swinging back and forth under the table.

How’d he come to be in charge of this boy? Of course, it was a rhetorical query, since he did know and yet was continually surprised to find solemn little Heero Yuy walking around his house. Find his miniature socks in the laundry and that sort of thing. He sighed. He was trying his best but he wasn’t meant to parent. He hoped, for Heero’s sake that he wasn’t utterly failing.

At the grocery J took care to ask Heero what he wanted to eat. He tried to buy food that 5-going-on-6-Heero could make for himself, like the soup, in case, when he was working he ever forgot to feed him. He bought an abundance of fruit and vegetables, oatmeal, cereal, bread, peanut butter, jelly, yogurt and tuna fish in the easy-to-open pop-top cans. Heero didn’t seem to have developed rigid opinions for or against certain foods, a mercy for which J was grateful. It never occurred to the older man to purchase things like sweets (or children’s medicines or kid-sized toothbrushes in lieu of the gigantic ones) and Heero didn’t seem to notice he was missing out on anything so the omission remained.

At the cash register Heero read all the numbers that popped up on the screen, although sometimes individually and not as whole numbers. J said they’d have to work on it but that overall he did well.

“Your total is 64.03,” the sales woman said. J nodded and handed over a card. The woman asked to see his ID. At its presentation the woman squealed. “Oh, I knew it was you, Dr. J!”

Heero looked up at the sales woman. He didn’t recognize her, but she seemed to know Uncle J so he supposed he’d just forgotten her. Uncle J was smiling, so that was probably it.

“This is very rare, indeed!” Uncle J said. “I’m rarely recognized off campus. Recognized happily, I should say.”

“I’m a huge fan of your work, sir. I’ve read your collected essays on space development a million times! I’m so honored. I’m taking night classes on the subject right now!”

The girl shook J’s hand and the two of them began to talk. Heero became bored. He wandered down the aisle past the cash register, to where their groceries sat. He liked watching them go down the conveyor belt. J had taught him about conveyor belts and how they worked. It made them even more interesting. Duo always said he wanted to sit on one while it moved.

“Hi cupcake,” said a voice above Heero’s head. He looked up and was surprised to see Duo’s mom standing in front of him. He’d walked all the way down the row of check-out counters. “Where’s your uncle, hm?”

“Hi,” Heero said and pointed back the way he had come. He looked around for Duo.

“He’s not watching you very closely, is he?” she asked and her voice sounded a little like when she was telling Duo to sit down and behave.

Heero decided he could not answer that question. He shrugged and looked for Duo again.

Duo’s mom ruffled his hair and then hooked her finger under the strap of his overalls. “Stay right here with me, sweetie,” she said. She was handing the man at her cash register a little card. Once he’d pushed some buttons on the register Duo’s mom took her bag of groceries under one arm and looked back down at Heero.

“Let’s find your Uncle, okay?”

“Okay,” Heero agreed. “Where’s Duo?” he wondered hopefully.

“At home. Irea Winner is watching him for me.”

“Oh,” said Heero. He was very disappointed. “Is Quatre there too?”

Duo’s mom shook her head. “No. It’s just them.”

Irea never came to his house, so he didn’t know what she and Duo would do together, he only knew it wasn’t fair that she got to be there and he wasn’t.

They had reached Uncle J. Heero saw that he was still conversing with the woman.

“Excuse me,” Duo’s mother said breezily. “J, I found Heero wandering at the front of the store.”

“I wasn’t lost,” Heero said quickly. His Uncle warned him once about getting lost and how inconvenient it was to everyone.

Uncle J turned to Duo’s mom. “Oh, thank you,” He studied Duo’s mom as though he couldn’t quite remember her name. “Heero usually knows better than to walk away from me. Don’t you, Heero?” J asked sternly, directing his eyes to Heero’s.

“Yes,” Heero said quietly.

“That’s all fine,” said Duo’s mom. “But children can’t be held accountable for their actions all the time.” She had a very stern expression on her face. Heero thought he might be in trouble with Uncle J and Duo’s mom, which was very unpleasant to think about. “I think Heero would benefit from a bit more attention, if you understand me,” she said not unkindly, but seriously.

J looked very surprised, Heero thought. He rarely looked that way. “I…see,” he said. He was quiet for a moment as he looked at Duo’s mom, then he roused himself. “Well, thank you again, but we really must be on our way.” J got his plastic card back and handed one bag to Heero while he took the other two. “Goodbye.”

The girl behind the counter waved but Duo’s mother watched them go with an inscrutable expression. Heero’s bag needed two arms to stay upright so he just called, “Tell Duo Heero said hi,” and trotted after Uncle J.

__

Heero was in his pajamas, the blue ones with the feet, and was maneuvering his adult-sized toothbrush over his mini-chiclet-sized teeth when the phone rang. It rang several times and Heero could not hear J’s footsteps going to get it. He put his toothbrush down and spit out his toothpaste. There was a phone in J’s room that was closest. He ran down the hall and picked it up.

“Hello,” he said politely like J had shown him.

“Heero, is that you?” came a girl’s voice.

“Yes, this is me,” Heero said matter-of-factly. “Who is this please?” J told him to absolutely always get the name of the caller.

“It’s Quatre’s sister, Irea. Is your uncle home?”

“Probably,” Heero said. “But I don’t know where he is right now. Do you want me to look for him?”

“Sure, sweetie, thank you.”

“OK, hold on please,” Heero said. He put the phone down and ran back down the hall. Uncle J was not in the bathroom, because Heero had just been in there. Heero stuck his head in the laundry room and in his own bedroom but Uncle J wasn’t there either. He ran down the stairs, holding onto the banister for maximum speed AND safety. Uncle J wasn’t in the kitchen or the living room or the dining room. He wasn’t in the downstairs bathroom. Heero thought he must be outside. Stopping only to push his feet into his sneakers, Heero opened the back door and scrambled down the back stairs that were a bit broken and rotted, so you had to know just where to step. He went to the garage but the door was locked. He knocked very loudly. He learned that J never heard him unless he knocked with a lot of fist banging. He threw in a ninja kick to the door for good measure. Nobody came to the door. Heero was puzzled. He ran around to the front yard but J wasn’t there either. Maybe he had missed him in the house. He ran to the back door again and pushed it. It wouldn’t open.

“But…” Heero said aloud in bewilderment. He was pretty sure he left it ajar. He pushed it again and jiggled the doorknob. It wouldn’t turn. He was locked out. Heero put his tiny hands on his non-existent hips. “Hmmph,” he said angrily. He did not enjoy unexpected obstacles. Heero walked back to the garage. Maybe Uncle J just hadn’t heard him. He knocked very hard a few more times, but nothing happened. Heero leaned against the garage and considered his options. He could sit by the back door and hope that if Uncle J was inside, he would eventually notice Heero wasn’t there, but sometimes, even when Heero was inside, Uncle J tended to forget about him. He could try to find another way to get inside. Maybe a window was open. Heero thought that was a good plan. The back door and the garage were on the right side of the house and Heero set off that way, coming to the front of the yard. There was a second story window open, but nothing on the first floor. There was a big pipe on the side of the house, but it wasn’t near enough to the window, even if he could climb it. Heero wished there was a tree in his yard, like in Duo’s. Then he could just climb the tree and crawl into the window. A thought suddenly struck Heero. He should go to Duo’s house! It was getting late and he couldn’t stay outside all night long and if Uncle J never knew Heero was missing he would have to sleep in the grass. Besides, he could see Duo!

Heero mulled over the fact that he technically didn’t have permission to go, but he thought this situation nullified most of the rules of asking, since there was no one to ask. Heero cautiously stepped off the front lawn onto the sidewalk and craned his neck to see Duo’s house sitting at the far end of the street, across the crosswalk. Heero saw two older people walking waaay ahead of him up the street and a woman walking a dog on the other side of the road. Uncle J was still nowhere to be seen so Heero tied his sneakers, firmed his resolve, and began to run up the street. If he was breaking any rules he wanted to break them quickly before he thought better of it, but at the cross walk he paused, like he had before. Even though he had crossed it successfully last time he wasn’t sure if he should risk it again. This time Uncle J didn’t even know he was going. If he got splashed against a car Uncle J might never learn what had happened to him. Besides, the sun was setting and he’d never done it at night. The time before there hadn’t been anyone around and he’d been forced, but he couldn’t really justify that logic this time. The young woman walking her dog was almost parallel to him across the street. He knew his chance was now or not at all. He took a deep breath and yelled, “Excuse me!” in her general direction.

The woman slowed and looked around herself, finally noticing Heero across the road. She blinked at him in gentle confusion. Heero urged her over with a miniature hand motion and waited semi-impatiently as she seemed to figure out what he wanted. The woman looked both ways and then jogged right across the street, not even on the crosswalk, with her small, fluffy dog.

“Hey there,” she said sweetly. “Are you lost?”

“No,” Heero replied. “Can you walk me across the street?” He held his hand up for her to take.

The woman’s eyes got very large and, inappropriately, Heero thought, she let go a little laugh. “Sure, buddy. Do you know where you’re going?”

“Yes,” Heero said as she took his hand in hers. “On the cross walk, please,” Heero said, just in case.

They started crossing, the woman looking at him curiously. Heero walked fast and then quickly let go of her hand once they had safely reached the other side. “Thank you,” he said, and began to run again.

“Wait a minute, pal!” the woman called. “What are you doing out alone? Where’re your mum and dad?”

“I don’t have those,” Heero explained. “I have a guardian.”

“Honey, just wait a sec,” the woman said, jogging up alongside him easily. “Where are you going?”

“Right there,” Heero answered, pointing to the big evergreen tree in Duo’s yard. He hadn’t counted on the woman following him. He didn’t need her help anymore and he didn’t like her walking with him. Duo was going to think he couldn’t handle walking up here by himself! And he didn’t like her dog. It kept yipping.

“Is that your house?” the woman wanted to know.

Heero didn’t think he ought to tell her, so he just ran on. He bounded up the porch steps, reached high on tip-toes for the doorbell and then stepped back to wait. The woman was hovering behind him on the sidewalk. Heero wished she would go before Duo saw.

A few moments later Duo’s mom opened the door. She looked straight out the door first and saw the woman on the sidewalk and then down, at the little head of messy dark hair.

“Oh my goodness!” she said. “Heero, what are you doing here?” She opened the screen door and knelt down, putting her hands on his shoulders.

“I’m locked out,” he explained.

“Is he yours?” the woman with the dog suddenly called. “I don’t know where he came from but he asked me to help him cross the street. He was walking all by himself.”

Duo’s mom straightened up. “He’s not mine but he’s a family friend. Thank you for sticking with him. I’ll see he gets home alright.”

“He’s too young to be out by himself,” the woman went on, a slight edge to her voice.

“I agree,” Duo’s mom said simply. “Thank you again. I really appreciate it.”

“It’s okay,” the woman said slowly. With reluctance she turned and whistled for her dog to follow.

Duo’s mom turned back to Heero. “You’re locked out of your house?” she asked. “How did that happen?”

“I went to look for Uncle J and the door shut and it was locked.”

“Come on in,” Duo’s mom said, looking serious. “Sit right here,” she directed him to the couch in the living room off the front hall. “I’m going to call your house, okay?”

“Okay,” Heero said. He had picked up one of Duo’s books and was already looking through the pictures. “Where’s Duo?” Heero asked, but his mom was already in the kitchen. He put the book down and slid off the couch. He shucked his sneakers and went to find Duo.

All the lights were off upstairs and it was very quiet. The shadows from the windows and the downstairs lights made strange shapes on the walls. Heero moved quickly up the steps. He always told Duo that there was nothing to be afraid of in the dark (that’s what Uncle J said when Heero had bad dreams) but now that he was walking through it alone he felt a little differently. He’d never been to Duo’s house at night before. It creaked and squeaked in different ways than Heero’s house did. When he reached the top of the stairs Heero broke into a run and threw himself into Duo’s room as fast as possible.

The light was off in here, too, but Heero could make out a small shape of something on Duo’s bed. Remembering that he too should have been in bed, he thought Duo must be already asleep.
“Duo?” he whispered. “Duo.”

Heero bit his thumbnail.

“Heero?” Duo’s mom called from downstairs. Heero flinched and ran back into the hallway. He went down a couple steps to where it was light again, then stuck his face between the railings under the banister and said, “Yeah?”

“Sweetie, your phone is giving me a busy signal. Could your Uncle be making a long call?”

Suddenly Heero remembered. “I didn’t hang up because I had to look for Uncle J,” he said hastily.

“Were you talking to someone?”

“Quatre’s sister,” Heero said. He felt bad. He didn’t use his phone manners very well.

Suddenly the phone Duo’s mother had in her hands started ringing. She looked at Heero and then answered it. “Hello?”

Heero could not hear the other person on the end but soon Duo’s mother was saying, “Don’t worry. He’s here with me. I’m not sure. Yes, I do. Can you come and pick it up? Duo is asleep so I don’t want to leave. Okay, thanks. Bye.”

“You sleepy, cupcake?” Duo’s mom asked once she had hung up. Heero shook his head no. “I bet it’s past your bedtime,” she said in knowing, motherly sort of way. “You’re in your p.j.’s,” she pointed out, smiling a little.

Heero nodded. “They’re my blue feet ones,” he said, pulling at the fabric.

Duo’s mom chuckled. “I can see that. They’re very nice.”

“But I can’t sleep outside,” Heero pointed out carefully. “Maybe I could stay here. I could share with Duo. And I already brushed my teeth,” he added as an after-thought.

“We’ll see, okay?” Duo’s mom said. “We’re going to try to find your Uncle.”

Footsteps could be heard climbing the porch stairs outside, followed quickly by a knock. Duo’s mom put up her finger to say ‘wait a moment,’ and went to answer the door.

Quatre’s sister Irea walked in looking very distraught.

“Thanks so much. I didn’t know what to do. I’d called to let Dr. J know that Heero was invited over this weekend and Heero said he’d go to look for him and he never came back! Of course I thought terrible things! I didn’t know what to do! I rushed over here and no one answered at Dr. J’s house! I thought you might have a spare key, so, well, that’s what I called for, of course!”

Duo’s mom had ushered Irea into the living room and was rummaging through a drawer. “Here it is,” she said, holding up a tarnished gold key. She looked appraisingly at Irea for a moment and then looked to Heero, still sitting on the stairs. “You don’t know where your Uncle is, Heero?” she asked.

“No,” Heero said. “I looked all around but he wasn’t there.”

Duo’s mom pressed her lips together. “I think I better go over there, Irea,” she said seriously. “Can you watch the boys for me? I’ll call you if I need anything.”

Irea looked torn and then nodded. “Sure thing. Thanks.”

Duo’s mom nodded and then slipped her shoes on. “I’ll be right back,” she said and left the house.

Irea stood up after a moment of silence and walked over to Heero. “Bed time, huh?” she said with a soft smile.

“I’ll share with Duo,” Heero said happily and turned tail to run up the steps.

Irea laughed. “Okay. I’m coming up to tuck you in!”

Heero did not know what that meant, but he ran on, pushed Duo’s door open more and hopped once, grabbing onto the mattress to haul himself the rest of the way up. He crawled up to where Duo was snuggled up in a heap and wedged himself between Duo and the wall. It felt very nice.

In another moment Irea came into the room and bent over Heero’s satisfied expression. “Goodnight, Heero,” she said softly. “Sweet dreams.” She ruffled the hair on his forehead and tapped the tip of his nose.

“Goodnight,” said Heero. He watched Irea walk to the door and leave it slightly ajar, so the light from the lamp she had turned on in the hallway would glow faintly in the room.

Heero sighed happily and burrowed deeper under the blanket. He turned his head to look at Duo and found Duo looking at him.

“Hi,” Heero said.

“Hi,” Duo whispered. “How come you’re in my bed?”

“I got locked out,” Heero said gravely. He wanted Duo to understand how serious it was.

Duo looked at him fully for a few moments and then closed his eyes heavily. “Okay…”

“Duo? Duo?” Heero whispered after it was apparent Duo wasn’t opening his eyes. Duo gave a little murmur and fidgeted a bit before becoming calm and silent.

Heero’s eyes felt heavy too. He supposed it was alright to tell Duo about being locked out tomorrow. He looked happily around the darkened room. Yes, this felt very nice to have a friend nearby when he was going to sleep. With a helpful hand Heero eased Duo’s thumb out of his mouth and settled down to rest.

+++

The first thing Heero laid eyes on when he awoke was Duo, sitting up in bed, watching Heero with an excited expression on his face. The way Duo was hovering over him Heero could only deduce that he’d been woken up by Duo’s little hands shaking him.

“Let’s play caves,” Duo said as soon as Heero opened his eyes, as if he simply couldn’t wait any longer. Heero sat up.

“Okay,” he agreed.

There was a hook halfway up the wall against which Duo’s bed was pushed, that sometimes held hats or calendars. This hook was excellent for securing a blanket to and making a pseudo-tent on top of the bed. Duo jumped up and knocked the current hat off, sending it flying over the end of the bed. Heero curled up into a little ball against the wall and Duo clambered on top of his back so that he could easily hook the blanket up. This was a system that they had discovered after many failed attempts to jump high enough to fold the blanket edge just right so that it stayed.

Once their cave was constructed Duo and Heero crawled inside.

“Time to make a campfire,” Duo announced. “This cave is so cold.”

“Yes,” Heero agreed and faked a shiver. Duo enjoyed that and faked a dramatic one of his own.

“Hurry!” he ordered. “Before we become ice pops!”

Heero and Duo mimed collecting wood and had fun arranging the logs to make the biggest and warmest fire.

Heero was just beginning to roll the imaginary stick in his hands to produce the flames (neither were sure how they appeared from this action, they just knew it worked), when Duo’s mom came into the room.

“Time for school, boys!” she said. “Time to get up!”

“Aw, no,” Duo said with disappointment, pouting a little. School always interfered with the things he wanted to do. All this constant ‘putting his life on hold’ business wasn’t fun.

“It’s okay,” Heero said calmly, crawling out of the tent. “We’ll play again later.”

“Yeah,” Duo agreed reluctantly. They inched off the bed and received their morning hugs. His mom firmly believed in tangible expressions of love, having missed out on them in her own childhood. Heero got a full good morning hug, complete with hair ruffle, but Duo, used to the routine, hugged her leg quickly while she bent over to squeeze Heero and then dashed downstairs to the kitchen, calling them after him.

Two bowls of oatmeal were set out on the table and Duo was halfway through his by the time Heero and his mom got downstairs. Heero said thank you quietly as he took his seat and proceeded to eat.

“Listen up, guys,” Duo’s mom said. “Today’s going to be a little bit different than usual.”

Heero and Duo looked at each other. Good different or bad different?

“How come?” Duo ventured.

“Heero is going to go to school with us, today,” she explained. “So kid,” she said, pinning her eye on Duo. “You’ll have to share your clothes and let Heero borrow a lunchbox, okay? Then after school Heero will come home with us.”

Duo nodded and grinned. “’Course!” he said and looked excitedly at Heero, who smiled back.

“Alright,” Duo’s mom said. “So let’s go get dressed!” She clapped her hands together and corralled the boys upstairs.

She chose an outfit for Duo and one for Heero from Duo’s clothes. Duo managed to put his pants on backwards and completely mis-button his shirt, so that by the time his mom had straightened him out Heero had been silently waiting for over five minutes. Duo was delighted by the look of Heero in his own clothes and his mom thanked the heavens that though he was an only child, he was a very generous one already.

Duo’s lunch was packed quickly into his red lunchbox and Heero’s went into an old blue one. Heero had never had a packed lunch before. He wanted to open it right away to see what he might get in there, but practiced a bit of restraint. He’d open his with Duo, at the lunch tables and it would be even better for it.
Then they got into the car. Duo and Heero didn’t have to ride the bus today since his mom wasn’t going into work. They talked excitedly together. Heero felt very good. He had on his own sneakers since he’d worn them over to Duo’s, but everything else was his friend’s. It was nice to share. And he had a packed lunch and they didn’t have to ride the bus and he was going to go back to Duo’s house after school! Yes, he felt very nice.

At school Duo immediately told Quatre that Heero had spent the night on a SCHOOL night. Quatre and Trowa, who was now never too far away from Quatre, both looked shocked.

“That’s lucky,” Quatre said a little wistfully, looking over at Trowa. He’d been wanting to ask Trowa on a sleepover, but his sister said the kids from St. Cordelia’s weren’t allowed nights at friend’s until they were ten years old! Quatre’s insides sighed and squirmed just thinking about how far away that was. They’d be in 5th grade by then! Simply an eternity.

Wufei, who sat next to Trowa now, wandered into their little group. “Hello,” he said regally. “What are you talking about?”

“Sleepovers,” said Quatre readily. “And my sister told me that you guys will come to my house on the weekend for a party. But not sleepover,” he added, chancing a little yearning look at Trowa.

“What kind of party?” Duo wanted to know.

Heero could only think of one kind, a birthday party, but that’s not what Quatre said.

“Just a regular one,” he said, half-shrugging and looking like a ‘regular party’ was completely normal. “For friends,” he added when everyone still looked confused.

“You mean,” Duo said slowly, taking the measure of Quatre with a critical eye. “That you are having a party just because?” His eyes were huge and wide. He, like the others, could not fathom this.

Quatre looked uncomfortable. “Well, it’s my sister Abia’s birthday party. But my dad said I could invite my friends so I have someone to play with. All my sisters get to invite their friends and now I’m old enough, too!” he finished with a touch of pride.

“Well, cool!” Duo said eagerly, accepting the idea since anyway, it just meant they could go to a party, which meant they could probably get cake there. The others nodded their agreement.

Trowa looked steadily at Quatre. “I’m invited too?” he asked quietly, unsure and surprised.

Quatre seemed ready to fall over. “Of course you are, Trowa! My sister already called the Sisters and asked.” Quatre knew this because he had begged and begged Irea to call and had stuck by her until she did.

Trowa looked very pleased.

__

After school, Duo and Heero were picked up by Duo’s mom. They sat at the kitchen table while she made them a snack of celery and peanut butter, with raisins. Heero found this delicious and satisfyingly crunchy, while Duo simply licked all the peanut butter out of the celery and left the vegetable alone.

“Heero,” Duo’s mom said, coming to sit beside them at the table. “I’d like to tell you something.”

Heero looked up from his snack and Duo stopped licking. His celery fell off his tongue and onto the table.

Heero had misgivings. He felt sure he hadn’t done anything to get into trouble. Unless being locked out and crossing the street at night were what this was about. He looked at Duo’s mom and tried not to appear guilty.

She smiled, reading his expression easily enough. “You’re not in trouble, kiddo. It’s about your Uncle J, that’s all.”

Heero nodded and tilted his head. “Because he wasn’t in the house last night?”

“Right,” Duo’s mom answered. “It turns out he was in the garage, but he had fallen asleep from exhaustion. Do you know what that is?”

Heero shook his head and looked at Duo, to see if he knew, but Duo was shaking his head no.
“It means he was very, very tired and dehydrated. A maybe a little underfed, too,” Duo’s mom added as an afterthought. “So he fell asleep and he couldn’t wake up to hear you looking for him.”

“His engine went dry,” Heero said sagaciously.

Duo’s mom’s lips quirked up. “Yeah, it did,” she said, smiling kindly. “He’s doing just fine now. He had to get checked out, but he’s alright and no harm done.”

“Checked for oil?” Heero asked. Uncle J always said that if your engine busted, the first thing to check was the oil.

“Um, nope, checked by the doctor, to see if he’s healthy.”

“Oooh,” Heero said in understanding. “He doesn’t eat often,” he explained to Duo’s mom. He thought she should know.

“I guess not, huh?” she said. She turned to Duo. “That’s why I always tell you to eat your veggies, mister! Put that celery in your mouth and chew. I want to see a whole piece disappear!”

“Boo,” Duo said, but dutifully shoved the entire piece of celery into his mouth and crunched it.

“Not the whole-oh, well. Good job. Next time how about a bite at a time though.”

Duo nodded and grinned through his mouthful.

--

Heero went back to his Uncle’s house that evening. Uncle J looked the same as ever, but this time he was sitting on the couch, reading a book and there was a half-eaten sandwich on a plate next to him. Heero climbed up next to him and said, “You shouldn’t have let your engine bust. Duo’s mom said you did.”

Uncle J chuckled. “I did, Heero. It was my own fault too. And here I am, always telling you! Well, now you see what can happen when you don’t listen to good, solid, facts.”

“Uh-huh,” said Heero, looking at the half-sandwich. “Are you going to finish that?” he wanted to know.

“Why, are you hungry?” J asked.

Heero made a stern expression. “No, I ate at Duo’s. You have to finish that!”

J chuckled again and took a big bite of the sandwich to appease his little charge. Heero however, was not satisfied until the whole thing had gone from the plate and a glass of milk had washed it all down.
“You’re like your mother was,” J said affectionately and to Heero’s surprise, ruffled his hair. It felt really good.